cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Aberrant gene expression profile in a mouse model of endometriosis mirrors that observed in women

Objective To define the altered gene expression profile of endometriotic lesions in a mouse model of surgically induced endometriosis. Design Autologous experimental mouse model. Setting Medical school department. Animal(s) Adult C57Bl6 mice. Intervention(s) Endometriosis was surgically induced by autotransplantation of uterine tissue to the intestinal mesentery. Endometriotic lesions and eutopic uteri were recovered at 3 or 29 days after induction. Main Outcome Measure(s) Altered gene expression was measured in the endometriotic lesion relative to the eutopic uterus by genome-wide complementary DNA microarray analysis and was confirmed by real-time reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction for six genes. Relevant categories of altered genes were identified using gene ontology analysis to determine groups of genes enriched for altered expression. Result(s) The expression of 479 and 114 genes was altered in the endometriotic lesion compared with the eutopic uterus at 3 or 29 days after induction, respectively. Gene ontology enrichment analysis revealed that genes associated with the extracellular matrix, cell adhesions, immune function, cell growth, and angiogenesis were altered in the endometriotic lesion compared with the eutopic uterus. Conclusion(s) According to gene expression analysis, the mouse model of surgically induced endometriosis is a good model for studying the pathophysiology and treatment of endometriosis.
Maternal health antecedents of infant and early childhood mortality and morbidity.

The article reviews the maternal demographic factors the availability and accessibility of health care services preconceptual care risk assessment breast feeding the training of traditional birth attendants (TBAs) adolescent health care and family planning (FP) as antecedents of infant and early childhood mortality and morbidity. The maternal demographic factors which affect infant outcome are the age of the mother the mothers age at marriage marital status education poverty and family size and use of FP. Many of the maternal demographic factors are closely associated with insufficient prenatal care. Prenatal care services need to be easily available and accessible to all and be culturally sensitive. Understanding of a womans nutritional needs and broader living conditions is also needed. Tetanus immunization is required. Low birth weight can be reduced with early and regular high quality prenatal care. Womens general health before pregnancy can be assured with good personal habits nutrition treatment for medical conditions and safe environmental conditions. Preconceptual care involves risk assessment health promotion immunization against tetanus and intervention and followup. Only low risk women should deliver at home. Criteria for high risk need to be identified and might include: cephalopelvic disproportion in short women hemorrhage in a high parity or a history of previous postpartum hemorrhage and previous history of complications in pregnancy labor and delivery. Breast feeding particularly through the hazardous period of infancy is recommended. Nutrition of lactating women is an important consideration TBAs should be trained in hand-washing and safe umbilical cord care as well as more comprehensive training in anemia screening recognition of twins and abnormal presentations by palpation application of prophylactic eye ointment and assessment of at-risk pregnancies. Women should be referred for prenatal care and FP services. Predisposing factors to infant mortality may be grand multiparity poor nutrition unwanted pregnancy and overwork. FP can help birth spacing of more than 2 years and provide protection for young and older women. Health education and family life education are also needed.
Magnetic anomalies at charge-density-wave transitions in niobium triselenide

Abstract The magnetic susceptibility of niobium triselenide is suppressed at temperatures below each of the two charge-density-wave transitions previously observed. The reduction in the Pauli susceptibility is compensated to a large extent by an increase in the Van Vleck component associated with the appearance of the band-gaps.
Small-molecule Bax agonists for cancer therapy

Bax, a central death regulator, is required at the decisional stage of apoptosis. We recently identified serine 184 (S184) of Bax as a critical functional switch controlling its proapoptotic activity. Here we used the structural pocket around S184 as a docking site to screen the NCI library of small molecules using the UCSF-DOCK programme suite. Three compounds, small-molecule Bax agonists SMBA1, SMBA2 and SMBA3, induce conformational changes in Bax by blocking S184 phosphorylation, facilitating Bax insertion into mitochondrial membranes and forming Bax oligomers. The latter leads to cytochrome c release and apoptosis in human lung cancer cells, which occurs in a Bax- but not Bak-dependent fashion. SMBA1 potently suppresses lung tumour growth via apoptosis by selectively activating Bax in vivo without significant normal tissue toxicity. Development of Bax agonists as a new class of anticancer drugs offers a strategy for the treatment of lung cancer and other Bax-expressing malignancies.
Charge-trapping metastability in doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Transient capacitance measurements on n- and p-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) junction structures show metastable hole and electron trapping above the defect-equilibration temperature. Both electrons and holes can be trapped in the same doped layer. Each charge has its own annealing activation energy, virtually independent of dopant type. In both doping types, the majority carrier has the faster annealing time. These features result from making measurements above the isokinetic temperature.
New multiplier methods for summing classical eigenfunction expansions

On unifie et on generalise un certain nombre de resultats en theorie de sommabilite classique pour des developpements de Sturm-Liouville regulier et singulier
Survival of falling robots

As mobile robots are used in more uncertain and dangerous environments, it will become important to design them so that they can survive falls. In this paper, we examine a number of mechanisms and strategies that animals use to withstand these potentially catastrophic events and extend them to the design of robots. A brief survey of several aspects of how common cats survive falls provides an understanding of the issues involved in preventing traumatic injury during a falling event. After outlining situations in which robots might fall, a number of factors affecting their survival are described. From this background, several robot design guidelines are derived. These include recommendations for the physical structure of the robot as well as requirements for the robot control architecture. A control architecture is proposed based on reactive control techniques and action-oriented perception that is geared to support this form of survival behavior.
Role of Aβ-receptor for advanced glycation endproducts interaction in oxidative stress and cytosolic phospholipase A2 activation in astrocytes and cerebral endothelial cells

Abstract Blood–brain barrier (BBB) dysfunctions have been implicated in the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Cerebral endothelial cells (CECs) and astrocytes are the main cell components of the BBB. Although amyloid-β oligomers (Aβ42) have been reported to mediate oxidative damage to the CECs and astrocytes and trigger the downstream mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MAPK/ERK) pathway, the cell surface binding site for Aβ42 and exact sequence of these events have yet to be elucidated. In this study, the receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE) was postulated to function as a signal transducing cell surface receptor for Aβ42 to induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation from NADPH oxidase and trigger downstream pathways for the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2) and cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2). We found that Aβ42 competed with the anti-RAGE antibody (AbRAGE) to bind to RAGE on the surfaces of CECs and primary astrocytes. In addition, AbRAGE abrogate Aβ42-induced ROS production and the colocalization between the cytosolic (p47-phox) and membrane (gp91-phox) subunits of NADPH oxidase in both cell types. AbRAGE as well as NADPH oxidase inhibitor and ROS scavenger suppressed Aβ42-induced ERK1/2 and cPLA2 phosphorylation in CECs. At the same time, only AbRAGE, but neither NADPH oxidase inhibitor nor ROS scavenger, inhibited the ERK1/2 pathway and cPLA2 phosphorylation in primary astrocytes. Therefore, this study demonstrates that NADPH oxidase complex assembly and ROS production are not required for Aβ42 binding to RAGE at astrocytic surface leading to sequential phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and cPLA2, and suggests the presence of two different RAGE-dependent downstream pathways in the CECs and astrocytes.
Scaling violation in the pion structure function

TheQ2-dependence of the pion structure function extracted from high transverse momentum π0 production cross sections is examined. We find, in thex→1 region, that this dependence can be parametrized by a power of (1−x) increasing as ln lnQ2. This is in agreement with the expectations of asymptotic freedom and also seen in the structure function extracted from dilepton production. It is not possible to fit all of theQ2-dependence with a simple power law term.
Periodontal and Other Soft Tissue Considerations in Esthetic Dentistry

Esthetic considerations are playing a greater role in the treatment planning of dental care, especially in the restoration of anterior teeth. Much attention has been paid to both operative and prosthodontic techniques that are available in esthetic restorative dentistry. Less attention has been given to soft tissue esthetics, the shape of the face and position of the lips, and the contours, color, and overall appearance of the gingiva and associated soft tissues. This article reviews a basic approach to soft tissue esthetics, the appearance of the gingiva, the interrelationship of the gingiva, teeth, and restorations, and outlines several common soft tissue problems and their management.
A statistical simulation study finds discordance between WHO criteria and RECIST guideline

Abstract Objective Tumor shrinkage has been adopted as an end point for evaluating the effectiveness of new anticancer agents. The WHO (World Health Organization) criterion suggested measuring the tumor shrinkage by the change in the product of maximal diameter (MD) and the corresponding largest perpendicular diameter (LPD). The RECIST (Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumor) guideline proposed using the change in MD only, based on the observation that this measure is more linearly related to tumor cell kill than the cross product (MD ∗ LPD). Both criteria classify patients into four categories of response: complete response (CR: total disappearance), partial response (PR), stable disease (SD), and progressive disease (PD) but the criteria used in the definition of PD vary. It was anticipated that patients' actual response categorization would not be considerably affected by utilizing the RECIST criteria instead of WHO. Empirical evidence supporting this fact was provided by retrospective analysis of several large datasets. Study design and setting A statistical simulation is performed to generate tumor measurements and patient response data under meaningful probability distributions with parameters based on data from 130 patients on clinical trials at a cancer center. Concordance measures between the two response criteria (Kappa coefficient and percentage disagreement per response category) are assessed systematically over various combinations of the percentage of elliptical tumors at baseline and the percentage of tumors changing shape from baseline to follow-up. Results The overall percentage of disagreement between the two methods of response assessment is found to be in the range of 14–20%. The patients categorized by WHO in the PR, SD, and PD groups fall into a different category when assessed by RECIST between 8–16%, 3–12%, and 32–35% of the times, respectively. The kappa coefficient ranges between 0.68–0.77. The proportion of elliptical tumors at baseline does not greatly impact the concordance, but the magnitude of the change in the aspect ratio has a large impact. Conclusion Response assessment as measured by RECIST, with both a change in the underlying metric and change in definition of progression, often results in different categorization of response compared to WHO. The difference in response categorization may be problematic when new experimental therapies are compared to conventional agents whose response rates have been established in historical trials. The apparent lower rate of disease progression with RECIST may mean that more patients remain on therapy. Higher percentages of patients with SD need to be interpreted cautiously by distinguishing those due to the change in the response criterion as opposed to those induced by drugs using pathways such as angiogenesis where disease stabilization is expected rather than shrinkage of tumor.
ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF RAT STRIATAL NEURONS IN VITRO FOLLOWING A UNILATERAL LESION OF DOPAMINE CELLS

The effects of a unilateral 6 to 19-week lesion of dopamine cells on the excitability of rat striatal neurons were investigated in vitro using the intracellularly recorded membrane properties of neurons obtained ipsilateral and contralateral to 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) injection sites. Neurons ipsilateral to the lesion site and in striatal tissue depleted of dopamine exhibited resting membrane potentials and membrane resistances similar to those recorded in contralateral striatal neurons. Denervation appeared to have no appreciable effect on the proportion of neurons exhibiting various patterns of neuronal spiking (repetitive, bursting, or single spike) evoked by depolarizing current pulses. Current-voltage determinations revealed nominal rectification in the majority of neurons and marked nonlinearty consistent with inward rectification at potentials hyperpolarized and depolarized to rest in a large proportion of the remaining neurons. Neurons ipsilateral to 6-OHDA lesion sites exhibited these relationships in the same proportion as contralateral control cells. However, ipsilateral neurons with nominal rectification exhibited an average rate constant for the early onset of small hyperpolarizing membrane transients which was significantly smaller than that of controls. This finding suggests that intrinsic membrane parameters regulating the excitability of certain striatal neurons may be under the influence of dopamine or other factors closely associated with nigrostriatal nerve terminals. Published 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Step Returns in Threshold Public Goods: A Meta- and Experimental Analysis

One important determinant of voluntary contributions to public goods is the value of the public good relative to that of the forgone private good. Isaac, Walker and Thomas (1984) formalized this relation in the Marginal Per Capita Return (MPCR) and demonstrated its influence on the provision of linear public goods. This paper develops a parallel concept, in the context of a threshold public good, the Step Return (SR). After providing a meta-analysis of the effect of SR in previous experiments, we compare contributions in threshold public goods games with low, medium and high SRs. Results show that subjects respond to the SR in this setting just as they respond to the MPCR in the linear public goods setting: higher SRs lead to more contributions.
Complexities of a 3-D plasmoid flux rope as shown by an MHD simulation

[1] The results of a global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of a pair of magnetospheric substorms on 11 August 2002 are presented. Comparisons of data with simulation results reveal a good agreement regarding the sequence of events during substorm development. We give particular emphasis to results in the simulation of a flux rope formed during the second substorm. Unlike standard 2-D depictions of reconnection and plasmoid release during the substorm sequence, the simulation shows a highly complex structure that has considerable winding of both closed and open field lines. Additionally, the simulated flux rope does not move tailward uniformly, but rather it has asymmetric motion in which the dawn flank portion moves tailward prior to the dusk portion of the flux rope. This results in a skewed flux rope structure that runs almost parallel to the tail axis instead of perpendicular to it. The simulation compares well with both prior flux rope simulations as well as satellite observations of flux ropes. We use the global simulation to map flux tube properties to the ionosphere, which allows the complexity of the mapping of the magnetic field structure from the tail to the ionosphere to be seen in a novel manner.
The absorption of a weakly absorbing thin layer

The ratio of the radiant absorption A to the transmittance T of a weakly absorpting lamina is expressed in terms of its extinction coefficient k, index n, and thickness.
Activation of Latent HIV Using Drug-Loaded Nanoparticles

Antiretroviral therapy is currently only capable of controlling HIV replication rather than completely eradicating virus from patients. This is due in part to the establishment of a latent virus reservoir in resting CD4+ T cells, which persists even in the presence of HAART. It is thought that forced activation of latently infected cells could induce virus production, allowing targeting of the cell by the immune response. A variety of molecules are able to stimulate HIV from latency. However no tested purging strategy has proven capable of eliminating the infection completely or preventing viral rebound if therapy is stopped. Hence novel latency activation approaches are required. Nanoparticles can offer several advantages over more traditional drug delivery methods, including improved drug solubility, stability, and the ability to simultaneously target multiple different molecules to particular cell or tissue types. Here we describe the development of a novel lipid nanoparticle with the protein kinase C activator bryostatin-2 incorporated (LNP-Bry). These particles can target and activate primary human CD4+ T-cells and stimulate latent virus production from human T-cell lines in vitro and from latently infected cells in a humanized mouse model ex vivo. This activation was synergistically enhanced by the HDAC inhibitor sodium butyrate. Furthermore, LNP-Bry can also be loaded with the protease inhibitor nelfinavir (LNP-Bry-Nel), producing a particle capable of both activating latent virus and inhibiting viral spread. Taken together these data demonstrate the ability of nanotechnological approaches to provide improved methods for activating latent HIV and provide key proof-of-principle experiments showing how novel delivery systems may enhance future HIV therapy.
Stimulation of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Nonstructural Protein 3 (NS3) Helicase Activity by the NS3 Protease Domain and by HCV RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) possesses multiple enzyme activities. The N-terminal one-third of NS3 primarily functions as a serine protease, while the remaining two-thirds of NS3 serve as a helicase and nucleoside triphosphatase. Whether the multiple enzyme activities of NS3 are functionally interdependent and/or modulated by other viral NS proteins remains unclear. We performed biochemical studies to examine the functional interdependence of the NS3 protease and helicase domains and the modulation of NS3 helicase by NS5B, an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). We found that the NS3 protease domain of the full-length NS3 (NS3FL) enhances the NS3 helicase activity. Additionally, HCV RdRp stimulates the NS3FL helicase activity by more than sevenfold. However, the helicase activity of the NS3 helicase domain was unaffected by HCV RdRp. Glutathione S-transferase pull-down as well as fluorescence anisotropy results revealed that the NS3 protease domain is required for specific NS3 and NS5B interaction. These findings suggest that HCV RdRp regulates the functions of NS3 during HCV replication. In contrast, NS3FL does not increase NS5B RdRp activity in vitro, which is contrary to a previously published report that the HCV NS3 enhances NS5B RdRp activity.
The Adenovirus L4-22K Protein Is Multifunctional and Is an Integral Component of Crucial Aspects of Infection

A variety of cellular and viral processes are coordinately regulated during adenovirus (Ad) infection to achieve optimal virus production. The Ad late gene product L4-22K has been associated with disparate activities during infection, including the regulation of late gene expression, viral DNA packaging, and infectious virus production. We generated and characterized two L4-22K mutant viruses to further explore L4-22K functions during viral infection. Our results show that L4-22K is indeed important for temporal control of viral gene expression not only because it activates late gene expression but also because it suppresses early gene expression. We also show that the L4-22K protein binds to viral packaging sequences in vivo and is essential to recruit two other packaging proteins, IVa2 and L1-52/55K, to this region. The elimination of L4-22K gave rise to the production of only empty virus capsids and not mature virions, which confirms that the L4-22K protein is required for Ad genome packaging. Finally, L4-22K contributes to adenovirus-induced cell death by regulating the expression of the adenovirus death protein. Thus, the adenovirus L4-22K protein is multifunctional and an integral component of crucial aspects of infection.
Novel InAs/(Al,Ga)Sb FET with direct gate-to-channel contact

A new type of FET has been fabricated in which the gate is in direct contact with the channel. There is no intervening charge separating layer. Instead, the separation of gate and channel carriers is achieved by using the staggered band alignment of InAs/(Al,Ga)Sb such that a p/sup +/ (Al,Ga)Sb gate layer is placed in direct contact with the n-type InAs channel. At 77 K the measured devices show both current gain and voltage gain, and a maximum transconductance of 500 mS/mm has been observed. >
Racialization and Rescaling: Post-Katrina Rebuilding and the Louisiana Road Home Program

This article examines the interlocking nature of racialization and rescaling in post-Katrina New Orleans, focusing specifically on the implementation of the Louisiana Road Home program, the largest housing recovery program in US history. Based on interviews and long-term ethnographic fieldwork, I conceptualize the Road Home program as a racialized spatial strategy to revalorize disaster-devastated spaces and enhance the exchangeability of damaged property. I trace the logic of rescaling in post-Katrina New Orleans and reveal the ways in which state policies to accelerate the turnover time of flood-damaged housing reflect and reinforce the racialization of space. New Orleans stands as a valuable laboratory for the study of government intervention under conditions of widespread upscaling, downscaling and outscaling processes, pushing trends found elsewhere to their limits while revealing the negative consequences of rescaling for local institutions and residents. The article illustrates the localized dynamics of rescaling in times of crisis and offers a novel processual account of the drivers and consequences of rescaling processes in a disaster-impacted territory.
Rotationally invariant field theory on lattices. I. General concepts

By considering an ensemble of lattices we show that a Poincar\'e-invariant theory with positive energy and unitary $S$ matrix can be constructed without letting the lattice size shrink to zero. Causality is violated at lattice time scales; however, we take the lattice scale to \ensuremath{\sim} ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}33}$ cm. Thus causality violations are negligible.
Hierarchical and adaptive finite-element reduction-recovery method for large-scale power and signal integrity analysis of high-speed IC and packaging structures

This paper proposes a hierarchical and adaptive finite-element reduction-recovery method for power and signal integrity analysis of high-speed IC and packaging structures. This method rigorously reduces the matrix of a multilayer system of O(N) to that of a single-cell one of O(1) regardless of the original problem size. More important, the matrix reduction is achieved analytically, and hence the CPU and memory overheads are minimal. In addition, the reduction preserves the sparsity of the original matrix. As a result, the matrix factorization cost of the proposed method is reduced to a constant. The CPU cost at each time step scales linearly with the number of unknowns to be recovered. Furthermore, an adaptive reduction-recovery scheme is developed to perform reduction and recovery in the active layers only, and hence further reducing the complexity of the proposed method. Numerical and experimental results demonstrate its performance.
Differential impact of adults and nymphs of a generalist predator on an exotic invasive pest demonstrated by molecular gut-content analysis

Generalist predators have the capacity to regulate herbivore populations through a variety of mechanisms, but food webs are complex and defining the strength of trophic linkages can be difficult. Molecular gut-content analysis has revolutionized our understanding of these systems. Utilizing this technology, we examined the structure of a soybean food web, identified the potential for adult and immature Orius insidiosus (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) to suppress Aphis glycines (Hemiptera: Aphididae), and tested the hypotheses that foraging behaviour would vary between life stages, but that both adults and immatures would exert significant predation pressure upon this invasive pest. We also identified the strength of trophic pathways with two additional food items: an alternative prey item, Neohydatothrips variabilis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), and an intraguild predator, Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). A. glycines constituted a greater proportion of the diet of immature O. insidiosus, but N. variabilis DNA was found in greater frequency in adults. However, both life stages were important early-season predators of this invasive pest, a phenomenon predicted as having the greatest impact on herbivore population dynamics and establishment success. No adult O. insidiosus screened positive for H. axyridis DNA, but a low proportion (2.5%) of immature individuals contained DNA of this intraguild predator, thus indicating the existence of this trophic pathway, albeit a relatively minor one in the context of biological control. Interestingly, approximately two-thirds of predators contained no detectable prey and fewer than 3% contained more than one prey item, suggesting the possibility for food limitation in the field. This research implicates O. insidiosus as a valuable natural enemy for the suppression of early-season A. glycines populations.
Vision-based range estimation using helicopter flight data

Computer-vision-based methods provide one general approach for obstacle detection and range estimation for pilot assistance during low-altitude flight. Results obtained using helicopter flight data with a feature-based range estimation algorithm are presented. A method for recursively estimating range using a Kalman filter with a monocular sequence of images and knowledge of the camera's motion is described. The helicopter flight experiment and one of four resulting datasets are briefly discussed. The performance of the range estimation algorithm is examined by comparing the range estimates with true range measurements collected during the flight experiment. >
Relationship of Echocardiographic Dyssynchrony to Long-Term Survival After Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

Background—The ability of echocardiographic dyssynchrony to predict response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has been unclear. Methods and Results—A prospective, longitudinal study was designed with predefined dyssynchrony indexes and outcome variables to test the hypothesis that baseline dyssynchrony is associated with long-term survival after CRT. We studied 229 consecutive class III to IV heart failure patients with ejection fraction ≤35 and QRS duration ≥120 milliseconds for CRT. Dyssynchrony before CRT was defined as tissue Doppler velocity opposing-wall delay ≥65 milliseconds, 12-site SD (Yu Index) ≥32 milliseconds, speckle tracking radial strain anteroseptal-to-posterior wall delay ≥130 milliseconds, or pulsed Doppler interventricular mechanical delay ≥40 milliseconds. Outcome was defined as freedom from death, heart transplantation, or left ventricular assist device implantation. Of 210 patients (89) with dyssynchrony data available, there were 62 events: 47 deaths, 9 transplantations, ...
A cooperative repair method for a distributed scheduling system

For some time, we have been studying the issues involved in job-shop scheduling in an environment of cooperative distributed agents, none of which has a complete view of the resources available, or of the tasks to be scheduled. Schedules produced cooperatively by such distributed agents using constraint satisfaction methods are often not optimal because of the inherent a synchronicity of the distributed scheduling process, the bounded rationality of the scheduling agents, and the difficulty in completely integrating meta-level heuristics into an agent's local scheduling processes. This paper describes a modification to distributed scheduling in which the loosely coupled distributed processing methods are supplemented with a tightly coupled parallel repair process. We explore the implications on the repair process of a distributed environment in which the designer of the repair algorithm must address issues of agent communication and organization. We describe a search algorithm and a set of heuristics for guiding the repair process and present some experimental results in the context of the Distributed ARM, an airline resource scheduling system.
Semantic annotation of multimedia using maximum entropy models

In this paper, we propose a maximum entropy based approach for automatic annotation of multimedia content. In our approach, we explicitly model the spatial-location of the low-level features by means of specially designed predicates. In addition, the interaction between the low-level features is modeled using joint observation predicates. We evaluate the performance of semantic concept classifiers built using this approach on the TRECVID2003 corpus. Experiments indicate that our model performance is on par with the best results reported to-date on this dataset; despite using only unimodal features and a single approach towards model-building. This compares favorably with the state-of-the-art systems which use multimodal features and classifier fusion to achieve similar results on this corpus.
Low temperature hydrogen broadened linewidths of ammonia in the (0,1,0,0)←(0,0,0,0) band at 200 K

Fourier transform spectra of the (0,1,0,0)?(0,0,0,0) band of ammonia have been measured for values of the hydrogen broadened linewidth parameters at a temperature of 200 K. The halfwidths for >200 lines have been determined with an average RMS of 5% in the interval between 750 and 1250 cm(-1). No measurements of the widths in the (s)R branch, and only 12 widths in the (s)Q branch, were obtained because of severe lending of the J-K manifolds. The broadening coefficients vary between 0.06 and 0.14 cm(-1)/atm. for (J,K) < (12,12).
The sources of co-morbidity between major depression and generalized anxiety disorder in a Swedish national twin sample.

Background. Prior studies report high levels of co-morbidity between major depression (MD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and suggest that these disorders are closely related genetically. The personality trait of neuroticism (N) is substantially correlated with risk for MD and GAD. Method. Bivariate twin models were applied to lifetime diagnoses of modified DSM-IV diagnosis of MD and GAD obtained at personal interview in 1998–2003 with 37 296 twins from the populationbased Swedish Twin Registry. A trivariate Cholesky model with N, MD and GAD was applied to a subset (23 280 members of same-sex twin pairs) who completed a self-report questionnaire assessing N in 1972–1973. Results. In the best-fit bivariate model, the genetic correlation between MD and GAD was estimated at +1 . 00 in females and +0 . 74 in males. Individual-specific environmental factors were also shared between the two disorders with an estimated correlation of +0 . 59 in males and +0 . 36 in females. In the best-fit trivariate Cholesky model, genetic factors indexed by N impacted equally on risk for MD and GAD in males and females. However, in both sexes, genetic risk factors indexed by N contributed only around 25% to the genetic correlation between MD and GAD. Conclusion. Genetic risk factors for lifetime MD and GAD are strongly correlated, with higher correlations in women than in men. Although genetic risk factors indexed by the personality trait of N contribute substantially to risk for both MD and GAD, the majority of genetic covariance between the two disorders results from factors not shared with N.
Effect of sampling array irregularity and window size on the discrimination of sampled gratings

The effect of sampling irregularity and window size on orientation discrimination was investigated using discretely sampled gratings as stimuli. For regular sampling arrays, visual performance could be accounted for by a theoretical analysis of aliasing produced by undersampling. For irregular arrays produced by adding noise to the location of individual samples, the incidence of perceived orientation reversal declined and the spatial frequency range of flawless performance expanded well beyond the nominal Nyquist frequency. These results provide a psychophysical method to estimate the spatial density and the degree of irregularity in the neural sampling arrays that limit human visual resolution.
Tumoricidal activity of high‐dose tumor necrosis factor‐α is mediated by macrophage‐derived nitric oxide burst and permanent blood flow shutdown

This study investigates the role of tumor nitric oxide (NO) and vascular regulation in tumor ulceration following high-dose tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF) treatment. Using TNF-responsive (MethA) and nonresponsive (LL2) mouse tumors, tumor NO concentration was measured with an electrochemical sensor and tumor blood flow by Doppler ultrasound. Mice were also pretreated with a selective inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibitor, 1400 W. Tumors harvested from TNF-treated mice were cryosectioned and immunostained for murine macrophages, or/and iNOS. MethA tumor-bearing mice were depleted of macrophages. Pre- and post-TNF tumor NO levels were measured continuously, and mice were followed for gross tumor response. In MethA tumors, TNF caused a 96% response rate, and tumor NO concentration doubled. Tumor blood flow decreased to 3% of baseline by 4 hr and was sustained at 24 hr and 10 days post-TNF. Selective NO inhibition with 1400 W blocked NO rise and decreased response rate to 38%. MethA tumors showed tumor infiltration by macrophages post-TNF and the pattern of macrophage immunostaining overlapped with iNOS immunostaining. Depletion of macrophages inhibited tumor NO increase and response to TNF. LL2 tumors had a 0% response rate to TNF and exhibited no change in NO concentration. Blood flow decreased to 2% of baseline by 4 hr, recovered to 56% by 24 hr and increased to 232% by 10 days. LL2 tumors showed no infiltration by macrophages post-TNF. We conclude that TNF causes tumor infiltrating, macrophage-derived iNOS-mediated tumor NO rise and sustained tumor blood flow shutdown, resulting in tumor ulceration in the responsive tumor. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Optimal allocation of resources in a biomarker setting

Nutrient intake is often measured with substantial error both in commonly used surrogate instruments such as a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and in gold standard-type instruments such as a diet record (DR). If there is a correlated error between the FFQ and DR, then standard measurement error correction methods based on regression calibration can produce biased estimates of the regression coefficient (λ) of true intake on surrogate intake. However, if a biomarker exists and the error in the biomarker is independent of the error in the FFQ and DR, then the method of triads can be used to obtain unbiased estimates of λ, provided that there are replicate biomarker data on at least a subsample of validation study subjects. Because biomarker measurements are expensive, for a fixed budget, one can use a either design where a large number of subjects have one biomarker measure and only a small subsample is replicated or a design that has a smaller number of subjects and has most or all subjects validated. The purpose of this paper is to optimize the proportion of subjects with replicated biomarker measures, where optimization is with respect to minimizing the variance of ln(λ). The methodology is illustrated using vitamin C intake data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study where plasma vitamin C is the biomarker. In this example, the optimal validation study design is to have 21% of subjects with replicated biomarker measures.
Recent, Temperate, Sub-Photic, Carbonate Sedimentation: Rockall Bank, Northeast Atlantic

ABSTRACT Rockall Bank (56°N to 58°N and 13°W to 16°W) is approximately 20,000 km2 in area and 100 m to 300 m deep, and is effectively removed from present day terrigenous sedimentation by surrounding deep water. Water temperature ranges from 8° C to 12°C. Carbonate sediments presently accumulate on the bank burying Tertiary and older rock outcrops and Pleistocene boulders of glacial origin. Superficial samples were collected by grabbing and dredging and the environments of carbonate production and deposition were observed by underwater television. Component analyses of the sediments indicate a roughly concentric zonation of lithofacies with coarse bryozoan and serpulid remains dominant in the shallow central portion less than 120 m deep. The inner zone is sur ounded by a zone rich in bivalve and echinoderm fragments and benthic foraminifera, which covers most of the bank from depths of about 120 m to 220 m. The peripheral zone below 220 m is dominated by pelagic foraminifera. In water 200 m to 400 m deep, 10 m to 20 m wide patches of I m high living colonies of the branched coral Lophelia pertusa abound and form an annular zone around the bank margin. The bulk of the carbonates are calcitic with some aragonitic remains present in the shallow (molluscan) and deep (coral) zones. Microbial borings are rare in sediments from agitated waters less than 100 m deep but very abundant in sediments (particularly mollusc, echinoderm and coral) from calmer deep waters. The bioerosion of coral framework is probably more rapid than the rate of burial of the upright colonies which will lead to their preservation as irregular bands of broken branches. Below 200 m many pelagic tests are filled with diagenetic glauconite and rarely silica, though conspicuous evidence f inorganic carbonate dissolution or precipitation is absent. The carbonate deposits are not very thick but if accumulation continues to keep pace with the subsidence of the bank, aphotic temperate limestones will ultimately be formed, having a central zone of coarse fragments of benthic organisms rimmed by pelagic deposits containing bands rich in corals.
Mechanisms That Regulate Silencing of Gene Expression from Retroviral Vectors

The propensity of retroviruses toward transcriptional silencing limits their value as gene therapy vectors. Silencing has been shown to be particularly robust when stem cells are used for transduction, posing a significant problem for gene therapy of hematologic diseases. Stability of proviral expression with newer generation vectors is significantly improved over that obtainable with original vectors based on Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV). However, strategies to increase resistance further to retroviral silencing are needed, because newer generation vectors have been shown to remain prone to a significant degree of silencing that could limit their efficacy as gene therapy vectors. Proviral silencing has been attributed to known mechanisms of cellular gene repression, such as DNA methylation and histone modification, as well as uncharacterized mechanisms that act independently of DNA methylation. A further understanding of transcriptional silencing that occurs in stem cells and during hematopoietic development is needed for design of effective vectors for gene therapy of hematologic diseases.
Re-imagining heritage interpretation: enchanting the past-future

Russell Staiff's new book suggests that the notion of cultural heritage and its meaning are complex and dynamic concepts that involve various dimensions and subjectivity in ways to experience and i...
Adaptation to the waste anesthesia gas system: Gaps in knowledge and opportunities for positive environmental impact

Canisters containing activated charcoal are commonly used in the laboratory setting to collect waste anesthetic gas (WAG). This requires the weighing of the WAG canister after each use and for investigators to maintain an accurate time log of anesthesia duration. A typical rodent anesthesia station may include the use of 3 WAG canisters; one for the anesthesia induction box, one for the operative table, and one for gas monitoring. To simplify the anesthesia breathing circuit, we have developed a T connector that replaces the need for having multiple WAG canisters. The T connector directs the waste anesthetic from multiple sources; the anesthesia induction box, operative table and gas monitor into a single WAG canister. Use of the T connector appears to be a safe, acceptable device that conveniently directs waste gas while improving charcoal adsorption within the canister. In addition, this device may have a positive impact on the environment with a secondary benefit of possible cost savings associated with the purchase and disposal of the hazardous waste contents. http://dx.doi.org/10.5455/javar.2015.b106
Emotional Processes in Psychopathy

Emotion is important to understanding aggression and violence because it is the force that drives behavior. Individuals who behave violently usually do so because they are moved to do so by strong emotions. However, empirical research indicates that psychopaths are highly aggressive, but also detached and unemotional. To resolve this apparent contradiction, it is necessary to consider that there may be different forms of aggression and different aspects of psychopathy. This paper outlines a theoretical model of emotion, and a methodology (the startle-probe technique), for investigating basic emotional processes in normal and abnormal individuals. Recent research of this kind in criminal offender populations suggests that the detached, predatory style of the “true” psychopath is related to a weakness in the defensive system of the brain that governs negative emotional response. In turn, this emotional weakness is related to a particular set of temperament traits, and specific forms of aggressive behavior.
Dynamic Docking of Conformationally Constrained Macrocycles: Methods and Applications.

Many natural products consist of large and flexible macrocycles that engage their targets via multiple contact points. This combination of contained flexibility and large contact area often allows natural products to bind at target surfaces rather than deep pockets, making them attractive scaffolds for inhibiting protein–protein interactions and other challenging therapeutic targets. The increasing ability to manipulate such compounds either biosynthetically or via semisynthetic modification means that these compounds can now be considered as starting points for medchem campaigns rather than solely as ends. Modern medchem benefits substantially from rational improvements made on the basis of molecular docking. As such, docking methods have been enhanced in recent years to deal with the complicated binding modalities and flexible scaffolds of macrocyclic natural products and natural product-like structures. Here, we comprehensively review methods for treating and docking these large macrocyclic scaffolds a...
The World Bank Group’s Human Rights Obligations Under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

The United Nations Human Rights Council unanimously adopted the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (the Guiding Principles) on June 16, 2011. The Guiding Principles set forth three general principles: (1) States have a duty to protect against human rights abuses; (2) business enterprises must respect human rights; and (3) both States and business enterprises have an obligation to establish access to effective remedy for those harmed by businesses. Although the Guiding Principles are broad, applying “to all States and to all business enterprises,” the State and business enterprise binary makes it difficult to apply to the World Bank Group, an international financial institution with characteristics of both a State and a business enterprise. As such, the World Bank Group’s human rights obligations under the Guiding Principles are unsettled. This paper argues that, despite its State-like features, the World Bank Group should be considered a business enterprise. Under the Guiding Principles, the World Bank Group is obligated to establish sufficient access to effective non-judicial remedies for those harmed by the projects that it funds. The World Bank Group currently offers two mechanisms—the Inspection Panel, covering the World Bank Group’s public sector lending, and the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), covering its private sector lending. This paper evaluates both of these mechanisms under the effectiveness criteria established in Guiding Principle 31. It concludes that, although there are significant aspects of the mechanisms that do not meet the standards of Guiding Principle 31, these mechanisms provide access to an DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15779/Z38227C * J.D., University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (expected May 2016). Special thanks to Professor Jamie O’Connell and Sarah Singh, Director of Strategic Support at Accountability Counsel, for their encouragement and feedback on this Note. Published by Berkeley Law Scholarship Repository, 2015 Berkeley Journal of International Law, Vol. 33, Iss. 2 [2015], Art. 5 490 BERKELEY JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 33:2 important, and in some instances the only, remedy to people harmed by one of the world’s largest international financial institutions.
Na(+)-H+ exchange in basolateral plasma membrane vesicles from neonatal rat liver

Basolateral plasma membrane vesicles (BLMV) were used to determine the activity of the Na(+)-H+ exchanger in neonatal compared with adult rat liver. Imposition of an outwardly directed H+ gradient (pH 5.5in/7.5out) markedly stimulated the uptake of 1 mM 22Na+ by adult and neonatal BLMV above rates observed under pH-equilibrated conditions (pH 7.5in/7.5out) and resulted in a transient uphill accumulation ("overshoot") of Na+ to levels 1.5- to 2-fold higher than at equilibrium. 22Na+ uptake via Na(+)-H+ exchange (identified as the amiloride-sensitive component of total Na+ flux) was greater in BLMV from neonatal compared with adult liver under both pH-gradient and -equilibrated conditions. These age-related differences in Na+ uptake could not be explained by membrane potential effects or by differences in membrane permeability to H+. Kinetic analysis revealed a saturable process with a similar Km for Na+ (8.6 +/- 1.6 vs. 8.1 +/- 1.5 mM) but with a 2.5-fold higher Vmax (8.06 +/- 0.67 vs. 3.20 +/- 0.40 nmol.mg protein-1.min-1; P less than 0.01) in neonatal vs. adult vesicles. We conclude from these studies that basolateral membrane vesicles from neonatal rat liver exhibit enhanced Na(+)-H+ exchange as a result of an increased number or translocation rate of carriers in the plasma membrane.