cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Rhythmic calcium transients in smooth muscle cells of the mouse internal anal sphincter.

Background The internal anal sphincter (IAS) exhibits slow waves (SWs) and tone that are dependent upon L-type Ca2+ channels (CavL ) suggesting that phasic events (ie, SWs) play a fundamental role in tone generation. The present study further examined phasic activity in the IAS by measuring the spatiotemporal properties of Ca2+ transients (CTs) in IAS smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Methods Ca2+ transients were recorded with spinning disk confocal microscopy from the IAS of SM-GCaMP mice. Muscles were pinned submucosal surface up at two different lengths. Drugs were applied by inclusion in the superfusate. Key results Ca2+ transients displayed ongoing rhythmic firings at both lengths and were abolished by nifedipine and the KATP channel activator pinacidil indicating their dependence upon CavL . Like SWs, CTs were greatest in frequency (average 70.6 cpm) and amplitude at the distal extremity and conducted proximally. Removal of the distal IAS reduced but did not abolish CTs. The time constant for clearing cytoplasmic Ca2+ averaged 0.46 seconds and basal Ca2+ levels were significantly elevated. Conclusions & inferences The similarities in spatiotemporal and pharmacological properties of CTs and SWs suggest that SW gives rise to CTs while muscle stretch is not required. Elevated relative basal Ca2+ in the IAS is likely due to the inability of cells to clear or sequester Ca2+ between rapid frequency voltage-dependent Ca2+ entry events, that is, conditions that will lead to tone development. The conduction of CTs from distal to proximal IAS will lead to orally directed contractions and likely contribute to the maintenance of fecal continence.
Oxidative Stress Enhances Dendritic Cell Responses to Plasmodium falciparum

Malaria is a highly inflammatory disease caused by the protozoan parasite Plasmodium. During the blood stage of infection, patients exhibit fever with high levels of inflammatory cytokines in their blood. However, when cells of the immune system are incubated with the parasite in vitro, their cytokine response is low. In particular, human primary dendritic cells (DCs) respond to Plasmodium falciparum–infected erythrocytes by upregulating maturation markers and chemokines but lack a substantial cytokine response. Because oxidative stress is a trigger of inflammatory cytokines in malaria and synergizes with P. falciparum to induce IL-1β secretion by macrophages, we assessed whether oxidative stress has an impact on DC maturation and function in response to P. falciparum. Using xanthine oxidase, a reactive oxygen species– (ROS) producing enzyme that is increased during malaria, we observed that exposure to extracellular ROS potentiated DC maturation in response to the parasite. Xanthine oxidase–derived ROS increased parasite-induced cytokine secretion and CD80 surface expression in DCs. This enhanced maturation phenotype boosted the DCs’ ability to prime autologous naive CD4+ T cells, resulting in higher T cell proliferation in vitro. Xanthine oxidase–derived ROS did not have an effect on the cytokines produced by primed T cells. We propose that oxidative stress during malaria contributes to the inflammatory response by enhancing the magnitude of DC and CD4+ T cell responses without changing the quality.
Combined Femoral-Sciatic Nerve Block is Superior to Continuous Femoral Nerve Block During Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in the Pediatric Population.

Background Despite advancements in minimally invasive arthroscopic surgical techniques, post-operative pain management following ACL reconstruction remains a concern. This study compares the effectiveness of two common intraoperative pain management strategies - a femoral nerve catheter (FC) versus a combined femoral nerve catheter and single injection sciatic nerve block (FSB) - in pediatric patients undergoing ACL reconstruction. Methods The medical records of patients age 8 to 18 who underwent ACL reconstruction at our institution were reviewed retrospectively. All subjects underwent general anesthesia with either FC or FSB. Multivariable linear regression, or modified Poisson regression were used to compare outcome variables across groups. Propensity scores were used to minimize bias due to the non-randomized allocation of the regional anesthesia protocol. Results The study population included 18 subjects in the FC group and 32 subjects in the FSB group. There was no difference in incidence of nausea or opioid prescription refill requests between groups. Total intravenous (IV) morphine equivalent dose, maximum numerical rating scale (NRS) pain score, and percentage of subjects requiring one or more opioid doses in the PACU were significantly greater in the FC group relative to the FSB group. PACU length of stay (LOS) was also significantly greater in the FC group than the FSB group. Conclusion This study suggests that FSB may be a more effective pain management technique for reducing the total IV morphine equivalent dose, maximum NRS pain scores, number of PACU postoperative opioid doses, and PACU LOS following ACL reconstruction in the pediatric population.Level of Evidence: III.
Characterization of Heparin Binding Site Residues on the Catalytic Domain of Factor XIa

The basic residues of the 170-helix (chymotrypsinogen numbering) in the catalytic domain of the procoagulant serine proteases are known to interact with heparin and facilitate their rapid inhibition by specific plasma serpins. The homologous loop of factor XIa possesses three basic residues (Lys-170, Arg-171 and Arg-173). To investigate the role of these residues in the heparin-mediated inhibition of fXIa by C1-inhibitor (C1-INH) and antithrombin (AT), we expressed the monomeric light chain fragment of fXIa containing only the catalytic domain of the protease in wild-type and mutant forms in which the three basic residues of the 170-helix have been substituted individually, or in combinations, with Ala. The catalytic properties of fXIa derivatives were compared to wild-type fXIa (fXIa-WT) with respect to their ability to hydrolyze the chromogenic substrate S2366 and to undergo inhibition by C1-INH and AT in the absence and presence of heparin. All mutants exhibited normal amidolytic activity, hydrolyzing S2366 with catalytic efficiencies similar to fXIa-WT. All mutants were also inhibited by both C1-INH and AT with normal rate constants in the absence of heparin. However, the heparincatalyzed inhibition of mutants by both serpins differed to varying degrees relative to fXIa-WT, with the Arg-171 to Ala substitution mutant exhibiting ~3-fold lower rate of inhibition by C1-INH and requiring ~3-fold higher concentration of heparin for observing optimal inhibitory effect. In reactions with AT, all three basic residues appeared to make similar contributions to the heparin-catalyzed inhibition of fXIa by the serpin as evidenced by all three mutants exhibiting dramatically lower inhibition rate constants in the presence of heparin. A bell-shaped heparin concentration dependence for the fXIa inhibition by both serpins suggested that the template effect of heparin primarily accounts for the acceleration mechanism. However, a comparison of the heparin bell-shaped dependence inhibition of the dimeric plasma-derived wild-type fXIa with that of the isolated single chain catalytic domain suggested that the optimal concentration of heparin for the acceleration of the protease has been increased from ~50 nM for the dimeric protease to ~250 nM for the isolated catalytic domain, possibly suggesting further contribution to affinity of the fXIaheparin interaction from the Apple-3 domain of the non-catalytic domain on which a binding-site for heparin has been reported.
Correlation of Baseline Visual Acuity with Outcomes of Treatment with Anti-VEGF in Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Purpose Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nv-AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in individuals 55 years and older. The advent of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy has greatly altered the visual acuity (VA) prognosis in these patients. While many studies have described treatment outcomes, few have explored the impact of early detection on VA outcomes. Patients and Methods This retrospective cohort study consisted of treatment-naive eyes with nv-AMD (ICD9 diagnosis code 362.52) that were treated with bevacizumab, ranibizumab, and aflibercept by four physician investigators in a large urban tertiary center from March 2008 to October 2015. Eyes were categorized by baseline VA into good (20/50 or better), intermediate (20/50-20/200), and poor (20/200 or worse) initial VA. VA and optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings were evaluated throughout the treatment period. Results 224 eyes were evaluated. Of eyes with good, intermediate, and poor initial VA, 14.1%, 37.2%, and 58.3% showed an increase in 2 or more lines of vision on LogMAR, respectively [p < 0.001], while 71.8%, 40.7%, and 16.7% of eyes had a final VA of 20/50 or better, respectively [p < 0.001]. Average final Snellen VA in eyes with good, intermediate, and poor initial VA was 20/47, 20/96, and 20/277, respectively. Change in VA for good, intermediate, and poor initial VA groups was ΔLogMAR of +0.117, +0.041, and -0.230, respectively. Of eyes with good, intermediate, and poor baseline VA, 42.3%, 20.9%, and 20.0%, respectively, showed resolution of fluid on OCT [p = 0.003]. Conclusion Patients with good initial VA were more likely to maintain good vision and show resolution of fluid on OCT through follow-up. Patients with poor initial VA tended to gain more vision, however, had poorer final VA. This underscores the importance of early detection and treatment of nv-AMD in maintaining superior outcomes.
Computationally-efficient and accurate particle PDF simulations of turbulent combustion using coupled pre-partitioned adaptive chemistry and tabulation

Abstract LES/PDF methods are known to provide accurate results for challenging turbulent combustion configurations with strong turbulence-chemistry interactions. These methods are generally applicable as they do not make any assumptions on the topology of the underlying flame structure. However, this added generality comes at an increased computational cost. To mitigate this added cost, the majority of the LES/PDF computations performed to date utilize reduced mechanisms. We recently presented a coupled pre-partitioned adaptive chemistry (PPAC) and tabulation (ISAT) methodology (Newale et al., Comb. Th. Mod., 2019), which retains the fidelity of the detailed mechanism, while keeping the computational cost affordable. This methodology was tested in a partially-stirred reactor configuration. In this work, we describe the developments required for a holistic integration of PPAC-ISAT with a LES/PDF framework. We examine the performance of this coupled methodology in two LES/PDF configurations of Sandia flame D. A smaller simulation domain is initially utilized to characterize the efficiency and accuracy of standalone PPAC and coupled PPAC-ISAT in detail. Then, the performance of PPAC-ISAT is examined in a full-scale LES/PDF simulation. We show that the coupled PPAC-ISAT LES/PDF captures the resolved mean and RMS profiles of temperature and major species mass fractions to within 2% and OH to within 5%, with a reduction in the average simulation wall clock time per time step of 39% over an ISAT implementation using the detailed mechanism.
The Complexities of Conscience: Reconciling Death Penalty Law with Capital Jurors’ Concerns

Jurors exercise unique legal power when they are called upon to decide whether to sentence someone to death. The Supreme Court emphasizes the central role of the jury’s moral judgment in making this sentencing decision, noting that it is the jurors who are ‘best able to express the conscience of the community on the ultimate question of life or death.’” Many lower courts nevertheless narrow the range of admissible evidence at the mitigation phase of a capital trial, insisting on a standard of legal relevance that interferes with the jury’s ability to exercise the very moral judgment the Supreme Court has deemed essential. Combining moral theory and original empirical evidence, this Article breaks new ground by linking these to a legal framework that gives full effect to the Supreme Court’s vision of the jury. Aided by a novel dataset of federal capital jury verdict forms, the Article focuses on three types of evidence frequently excluded in state and federal courts: the impact of the defendant’s execution on loved ones, co-participant sentences, and the government’s negligent facilitation of the murder. The data show that jurors consistently find all three forms of evidence highly salient in their mitigation deliberations. Further, two of these—execution impact evidence and co-participant sentences—have a statistically significant correlation with the jurors’ sentencing decision. This Article’s empirical and moral account of juror behavior strongly supports expanding the admissibility of this evidence to reflect the Supreme Court’s evolution in defining the relevance of mitigating evidence as a moral, rather than legalistic, question, appropriately recognizing the jury’s normative role.
Public Speaker Characteristics at Meetings of the Dermatologic and Ophthalmic Drug Advisory Committee and the Ophthalmic Devices Panel.

Purpose We investigated meetings of the Dermatologic and Ophthalmic Drug Advisory Committee (DODAC) and the Ophthalmic Devices Panel (ODP) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to determine whether a relationship exists between receipt of industry payments by speakers of the Open Public Hearing (OPH) portion and the nature of their recommendations regarding treatment approval. Design Cross-sectional study. Methods We reviewed publicly available transcripts of all DODAC and ODP meetings from February 2009 to December 2019. For each meeting, information about each public speaker including presence of conflict of interest (COI) and whether their testimony regarding the drug or device was positive, negative, or neutral toward treatment approval was extracted in a blinded fashion using a pilot-tested Google Form. Results Of the 86 speakers, 66 (76.7%) included a COI disclosure statement and 41 (47.7%) disclosed a COI. Regarding classification of the speakers' testimonies, 70 (81.4%) of 86 were positive, 9 (10.5%) of 86 were negative, and 7 (8.1%) of 86 were neutral. Each one of the 41 speakers with a COI gave a positive testimony. Speakers who disclosed a COI were significantly more likely to give a positive testimony than speakers who did not (P Conclusion We recommend the DODAC and ODP require full disclosure of COI information and introduce stricter policies to manage COIs, allowing the committee to fully understand the context of the public speakers' comments, including the possible influence of COI on these comments.
Confident identification of subgroups from SNP testing in RCTs with binary outcomes

In modern drug development, genotype information becomes more frequently collected in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for individualized risk prediction and personalized medicine development. Finding single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are predictive of differential treatment efficacy, measured by a clinical outcome, is fundamentally different and more challenging than the traditional association test for a quantitative trait. With the objective to confidently identify and infer genetic subgroups with enhanced treatment efficacy from a large RCT for an eye disease, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), where the clinical endpoint is binary (progressed or not), we propose a novel SNP-testing procedure for binary clinical outcomes. Specifically, we formulate four contrasts to simultaneously assess all possible genetic effects on a logic-respecting efficacy measure, the relative risk (between treatment and control). Our method controls both within- and across-SNP multiplicity rigorously. We then use real genotype data to perform chromosome-wide simulations to evaluate our method performance and to provide practical recommendations. Finally, we apply the proposed method to perform a genome-wide SNP testing for the AMD trial and successfully identify multiple gene regions with genetic subgroups exhibiting enhanced efficacy in terms of decreasing the AMD progression rate.
Measuring the impact of spin-triplet exciton orientation on photocurrent in an organic transistor

The dynamics of triplet and singlet exciton populations in organic semiconductors offer interesting possibilities in improving optical device efficiency, while also attracting interest for future applications as manipulable states for quantum-state based computing. For technological applications, transduction of the exciton state is essential, thus detailed information on how the exciton dynamics affect device outputs is required. In this study, we measure the magnetic field response of the photocurrent in organic transistors to investigate the electrical signal resulting from singlet–triplet exciton dynamics. We find that controlling the orientation of the magnetic dipole orientation of the triplet by varying both the magnitude and orientation of the magnetic field with respect to single crystal axes in anti-2,8-difluoro-5,11-bis(triethylsilylethynyl)anthradithiophene (adiF TES ADT) allows us to manipulate the amount of current detected as a result of singlet fission.
Militancy and Imperial Masculinity in Sugi Takeo’s “Revenge” and Vicente Amorim’s Dirty Hearts

The 112-year relationship between Japan and Brazil has always been predicated on an exchange of labor and capital. Since 1908, following the closure of Anglophone countries to Japanese immigration due to racism and xenophobia, Japan’s so-called surplus population (kajō jinkō) was encouraged by both governments to emigrate and provide labor on coffee plantations in Brazil. By the onset of World War II, 189,000 first-generation Japanese immigrants had permanently settled in the interior of Sao Paulo and neighboring states in the heart of the coffee-growing region. Prior to the war’s end, the immigrants considered themselves to be kaigai dōhō, or overseas brethren, still subjects of the Empire of Japan. After the war, they would have to negotiate a new diasporic identity in Brazil following Japan’s unconditional defeat and loss of empire. This chapter comparatively frames Sugi Takeo’s short story “Fukushū” (Revenge 1938), published in the Japanese-language literary journal Chiheisen (Horizon), and Vicente Amorim’s critically acclaimed film Dirty Hearts (Coracoes Sujos, 2011). While taking into account the very different critical and historical contexts for these works, I will analyze their portrayals of loyalty in the decisive era prior to the construction of a new, Japanese Brazilian Nikkei identity.
Zebrafish Blunt-Force TBI Induces Heterogenous Injury Pathologies That Mimic Human TBI and Responds with Sonic Hedgehog-Dependent Cell Proliferation across the Neuroaxis

Blunt-force traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects an increasing number of people worldwide as the range of injury severity and heterogeneity of injury pathologies have been recognized. Most current damage models utilize non-regenerative organisms, less common TBI mechanisms (penetrating, chemical, blast), and are limited in scalability of injury severity. We describe a scalable blunt-force TBI model that exhibits a wide range of human clinical pathologies and allows for the study of both injury pathology/progression and mechanisms of regenerative recovery. We modified the Marmarou weight drop model for adult zebrafish, which delivers a scalable injury spanning mild, moderate, and severe phenotypes. Following injury, zebrafish display a wide range of severity-dependent, injury-induced pathologies, including seizures, blood–brain barrier disruption, neuroinflammation, edema, vascular injury, decreased recovery rate, neuronal cell death, sensorimotor difficulties, and cognitive deficits. Injury-induced pathologies rapidly dissipate 4–7 days post-injury as robust cell proliferation is observed across the neuroaxis. In the cerebellum, proliferating nestin:GFP-positive cells originated from the cerebellar crest by 60 h post-injury, which then infiltrated into the granule cell layer and differentiated into neurons. Shh pathway genes increased in expression shortly following injury. Injection of the Shh agonist purmorphamine in undamaged fish induced a significant proliferative response, while the proliferative response was inhibited in injured fish treated with cyclopamine, a Shh antagonist. Collectively, these data demonstrate that a scalable blunt-force TBI to adult zebrafish results in many pathologies similar to human TBI, followed by recovery, and neuronal regeneration in a Shh-dependent manner.
The Encore active target detector: A Multi-Sampling Ionization Chamber

Abstract The Encore active target detector is a Multi Sampling Ionization Chamber developed at Florida State University (FSU). Encore has been successfully used to measure fusion reactions with CH 4 gas as well as ( α ,p) and ( α ,n) reactions using helium gas in the detector. The portability, self-normalizing, high-efficiency, and versatility of the Encore detector makes it ideal for measurements with low-intensity radioactive beams. This paper provides details on its development, operation, and analysis procedure. It also presents the results of benchmark experiments and comparison with existing data and calculations.
Effects of Self-Efficacy and Self-regulated Learning on LMS User Satisfaction and LMS Effectiveness

Over the past decade, numerous studies examined the critical factors that affect the learning outcomes and student satisfaction in asynchronous online learning courses including learning management systems (LMS). This research focuses on the effects of learner’s psychological variables (e.g., self-efficacy) and psychological learning process (e.g., self-regulated learning management) on student satisfaction with the e-learning management system and e-learning systems’ effectiveness. The survey questionnaire is selected from a multi-dimensional model for assessing e-learning systems success (ELSS) from the perspective of the e-learner. The 674 sample consists of 140 business students and 534 non-business students. The research model is tested using WarpPLS, which is the structural equation modeling (SEM)-based Partial Least Squares (PLS) methodology. Statistically significant evidence was found to suggest students’ psychological variables (e.g., self-efficacy) and psychological learning process (e.g., self-regulated learning management) had effects on student e-learning satisfaction. Finally, this study made a new contribution to e-learning literature by providing new empirical evidence that e-learners’ self-self-efficacy has a strong positive relationship with a higher level of e-learners’ self-regulated learning management.
The skeleton of the eye. I. Conjunctival papillae and scleral ossicles.

Abstract The eye wall of the chicken contains a skeleton composed of membrane bone and hyaline cartilage. The membrane bones or scleral ossicles (usually 14 in number) form an imbricated ring surrounding the corneal limbus. During development, the scleral ossicles are foreshadowed by a ring of papilliform thickenings in the conjunctival epithelium. The conjunctival papillae appear during the eighth day. They correspond in number and location with the bones which subsequently develop in the mesenchyme underlying them. They begin to disappear on the twelfth day just as the ossicles are beginning to ossify. During its brief existence, a papilla undergoes a characteristic series of changes which appears to result in the liberation of PAS- and Feulgen-positive granules, as well as basement membrane-like strands into the underlying mesenchyme. If a papilla is removed surgically prior to these events the mesenchyme beneath it does not form an ossicle. Once removed the papilla does not regenerate. The number of papillae and ossicles which form depends, in part, on the rate of growth of the eye between the fourth and the eighth days. Mutual inhibition of adjacent ossicles is one of the factors that shape the ossicles.
Gender Schematization in Adolescents: Differences Based on Rearing in Single-Parent and Intact Families

Summary The study explored three aspects of adolescents' schematization of gender roles: the adolescent's perceptions of socially-idealized gender roles (ideal gender roles), the adolescent's perceptions of their own gender role (personal gender role), and the fit between an adolescent's ideal and personal gender roles. Of the participants sampled, 124 were Caucasian, 31 were African-American, 12 were Asian-American, and 2 were Hispanic-American. Participants' family of origin's current yearly incomes ranged from $10,000 to $150,000, with a median income of $34,000. Because parental gender models in one- and two-parent families differ, the gender roles of adolescents raised in one-versus two-parent families may differ. Differences in personal and idealized gender roles were found between students raised in one- versus two-parent families (students from both types of families valued androgyny, a person who has strong masculine and feminine characteristics). A discussion of the results follows.
Comments on “Efficient Signal Conditioning Techniques for Brain Activity in Remote Health Monitoring Network”

The main purpose of this paper is to remove misconceptions among biomedical signal processing researchers concerning the implementation of adaptive noise cancelers using the sign-error least mean fourth (SELMF), sign-sign least mean fourth (SSLMF), and their variant algorithms.
Language Development in Childhood

The field of language development is marked by serious disagreement with respect to both what the correct explanation of language development will look like (when we know what it is) and how best to discover that explanation. There is, however, an abstract level at which all researchers in the field are trying to answer the same question: What is the nature of the human capacity to acquire language? This chapter describes current theory and research within four different approaches to answering this question: the biological, the linguistic, the social, and the domain general cognitive. Topics include the neurobiological and genetic bases of language development, learnability theory and Universal Grammar, the social bases of language development, and the contribution of general learning capacities to the acquisition of language. For each approach, the chapter outlines the associated theoretical premises and arguments, provides illustrative examples of the research generated, and evaluates its contribution to our understanding of how children learn to talk. Keywords: biological perspectives on language acquisition; language acquisition; language development; language development as a social process; language development as domain-general learning; linguistic nativism
Using UML Statecharts with Knowledge Logic Guards

This paper describes an extension of UML statecharts, called K-statechart, suitable for the formal specification, modeling, and runtime verification of system behavior that depends on knowledge and belief in distributed multi-agent systems. With K-statecharts, statechart transition guards allow the use of knowledge-logic formulae, a form of modal logic used for reasoning about multi-agent systems. We demonstrate the proposed formalism using an example of a multi-agent system that consists of three traffic-light controllers. We also describe a newly developed K-statechart code generator that is part of the StateRover Eclipse-IDE plug-in for statechart-based modeling and formal specification.
Research on floorplanning

Summary form only given. We discuss our recent progress of block placement for floorplanning. We first extended zone refinement to cluster refinement. We then devised an O-tree floorplan representation for efficient and effective floorplan operations. Lately, we explored the relations between floorplan representations, i.e. slicing O-tree, sequence pairs, corner block list, O-tree, and twin binary trees.
Developmental Consequences of Trace Mineral Deficiencies in Rodents: Acute and Long-Term Effects

Approximately 3% of infants born have at least one serious congenital malformation. In the U.S., an average of 10 infants per thousand die before 1 y of life; about half of these deaths can be attributed to birth defects, low birth weight or prematurity. Although the causes of developmental abnormalities are clearly multifactorial in nature, we suggest that a common factor contributing to the occurrence of developmental abnormalities is suboptimal mineral nutrition during embryonic and fetal development. Using zinc and copper as examples, evidence is presented that nutritional deficiencies can rapidly affect the developing conceptus and result in gross structural abnormalities. Deficits of zinc or copper can result in rapid changes in cellular redox balance, tissue oxidative stress, inappropriate patterns of cell death, alterations in the migration of neural crest cells and changes in the expression of key patterning genes. In addition to well-recognized malformations, mineral deficiencies during perinatal development can result in behavioral, immunological and biochemical abnormalities that persist into adulthood. Although these persistent defects can in part be attributed to subtle morphological abnormalities, in other cases they may be secondary to epigenetic or developmental changes in DNA methylation patterns. Epigenetic defects combined with subtle morphological abnormalities can influence an individual's risk for certain chronic diseases and thus influence his or her risk for morbidity and mortality later in life.
Financing Vaccines for Adolescents: A Position Paper of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine

An increasing number of vaccines are now recommended for adolescents. These vaccines may greatly improve the health of adolescents and their communities. However, adolescent vaccine coverage rates lag behind those for infants and behind goals set by Healthy People 2010 [1]. Financial constraints have been reported to be a significant obstacle to immunizing adolescents and young adults [2]. At the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, we believe that to achieve increased vaccine coverage in this age group, financial barriers to immunization must be removed.
Activation of protein kinase C in the hypothalamic ventromedial nucleus or the midbrain central gray facilitates lordosis

Many neurotransmitters and neuropeptides can act through the hypothalamic ventromedial nucleus (VMN) or midbrain central gray (MCG) to facilitate lordosis. Since these lordosis-facilitating agents can also stimulate the phosphoinositide (PI) second-messenger pathway, it was hypothesized that direct activation of this pathway can also potentiate the behavior. To evaluate this possibility, a phorbol ester, TPA (12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol 13-acetate), was used to activate a key enzyme, protein kinase C (PKC), of the PI pathway in ovariectomized (OVX) rats either primed or not primed with estrogen. These female rats were paired with males for mating tests before and after an intracerebral infusion of TPA, and both the lordosis quotient (LQ) and the lordosis strength (LS) were measured. Bilateral infusion of TPA (5 micrograms/0.5 microliter or 0.2 microgram/0.2 microliter, but not 0.1 microgram/0.2 microliter/side) into the VMN or MCG of estrogen-primed subjects facilitated both LQ and LS in 30 min, peaked at 60-90 min, and the facilitation lasted for more than 180 min. This facilitatory effect of TPA was: (1) not observed in OVX rats not primed with estrogen; (2) not observed if the infused TPA did not reach both sides of the VMN or MCG; (3) not mimicked by 4 alpha-phorbol 12,13-didecanoate, which does not activate PKC; (4) blocked by PKC inhibitors (H7 10 mM or staurosporine 1 microM, 0.2 microliter/side), which by themselves did not facilitate lordosis; and (5) was not affected by pretreatment of the progestin antagonist RU486.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Role of IV iodinated contrast material in 18F-FDG PET/CT of liver metastases.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of our study was to investigate the role of IV iodinated contrast material in the evaluation of hepatic metastases at 18F-FDG PET/CT.MATERIALS AND METHODS. We retrospectively identified 39 patients (25 men and 14 women) with suspected isolated hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer who underwent FDG PET/CT. The CT protocol included acquisition of unenhanced and multiphase contrast-enhanced CT images through the liver. At two separate sittings, four readers (two radiologists and two nuclear medicine physicians) noted and characterized all hepatic lesions in consensus, first based on PET and unenhanced CT images and later based on PET and contrast-enhanced CT images. The nature of detected lesions was established by histopathologic or clinicoradiologic correlation.RESULTS. A total of 178 hepatic lesions were identified, consisting of 137 metastases and 41 benign lesions. Using lesion-based analyses with Obuchowski's method for paired observations, 172 of 178 lesions (97%) were dete...
Optimised parameters for A-DNA and B-DNA

Abstract Atomic coordinates and other stereochemical parameters are presented for the A and B conformations of DNA. The molecular structures presented have the most probable values of bond-lengths, bond-angles and furanose ring conformations as defined by accurate X-ray crystallographic analyses of relevant monomers. Conformation-angles have values that provide the best (least-squares) fit with the X-ray diffraction data observed from the polymers themselves. The major difference between A- and B-DNA is in the conformation of the furanose ring that is (C3- endo ) for A and (C3- exo ) for B.
API 20 strep identification system may incorrectly speciate enterococci with low level resistance to vancomycin

The API 20 Strep system was used to speciate 46 enterococcal isolates with vancomycin MICs between 16-32 microg/mL. All were identified as Enterococcus faecium. Further testing revealed that 42/46 isolates had been identified incorrectly. Enterococci with low-level vancomycin resistance should not be speciated solely with the API 20 Strep system.
Large Predators Limit Herbivore Densities in Northern Forest Ecosystems

There is a lack of scientific consensus about how top-down and bottom-up forces interact to structure terrestrial ecosystems. This is especially true for systems with large carnivore and herbivore species where the effects of predation versus food limitation on herbivores are controversial. Uncertainty exists whether top-down forces driven by large carnivores are common, and if so, how their influences vary with predator guild composition and primary productivity. Based on data and information in 42 published studies from over a 50-year time span, we analyzed the composition of large predator guilds and prey densities across a productivity gradient in boreal and temperate forests of North America and Eurasia. We found that predation by large mammalian carnivores, especially sympatric gray wolves (Canis lupus) and bears (Ursus spp.), apparently limits densities of large mammalian herbivores. We found that cervid densities, measured in deer equivalents, averaged nearly six times greater in areas without wolves compared to areas with wolves. In areas with wolves, herbivore density increased only slightly with increasing productivity. These predator effects are consistent with the exploitation ecosystems hypothesis and appear to occur across a broad range of net primary productivities. Results are also consistent with theory on trophic cascades, suggesting widespread and top-down forcing by large carnivores on large herbivores in forest biomes across the northern hemisphere. These findings have important conservation implications involving not only the management of large carnivores but also that of large herbivores and plant communities.
Legal Concepts in a Natural Language Based Expert System

. A new approach to the formalization of concepts used in legal reasoning such as obligation and cause is presented. The formalization is based on the linguistic use of the concepts both in legal language and in ordinary language, and has been motivated by work on a legal expert system with a natural language interface. Particularly for the concept of obligation this yields quite different results from those obtained by the usual approach of deontic logic: So-called paradoxes are avoided, quantification over obligations becomes possible, no restriction to a “single-agent system” is required, and collisions of obligations can be formulated.
An Empirical Study of Innate Consumer Innovativeness, Personal Characteristics, and New-Product Adoption Behavior

This article explores the relationships between innate consumer innovativeness, personal characteristics, and new-product adoption behavior. To do this, the authors analyze cross-sectional data from a household panel using a structural equation modeling approach. They also test for potential moderating effects using a two-stage least square estimation procedure. They find that the personal characteristics of age and income are stronger predictors of new-product ownership in the consumer electronics category than innate consumer innovativeness as a generalized personality trait. The authors also find that personal characteristics neither influence innate consumer innovativeness nor moderate the relationship between innate consumer innovativeness and new-product adoption behavior.
Finitistic dimensions of semiprimary rings

LetR be a semiprimary ring. We show that if the left generalized projective dimension (defined below) ofR(R/J2) is finite, then the injectively defined left finitistic dimension ofR is finite.
DO SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS CONTINUE TO OPERATE OUT OF A NARROW TESTER-REPORTER MODEL IN SPITE OF RECOMMENDATIONS TO CHANGE?

This research explored assumptions that school psychologists operate out of a narrow tester-report writing model, fail to consult with teachers, and are restricted in their role. The members of the New York State Association of School Psychologists were mailed a survey designed to test these assumptions. While the results should be viewed as exploratory and tentative due to the geographical limitations of the sample, the data obtained did not appear to support these assumptions: 85% indicated freedom in role performance, and 100% indicated some type of consultation regarding psychological findings. The average time spent testing and report writing was 40%, and this was viewed as less than indicating a narrow tester-report writing role.
Impact decision support diagrams

Abstract One way to frame the job of planetary defense is to “find the optimal approach for finding the optimal approach” to NEO mitigation. This requires a framework for defining in advance what should be done under various circumstances. The two-dimensional action matrix from the recent NRC report “Defending Planet Earth” can be generalized to a notional “Impact Decision Support Diagram” by extending it into a third dimension. The NRC action matrix incorporated two important axes: size and time-to-impact, but probability of impact is also critical (it is part of the definitions of both the Torino and Palermo scales). Uncertainty has been neglected, but is also crucial. It can be incorporated by subsuming it into the NEO size axis by redefining size to be three standard deviations greater than the best estimate, thereby providing a built-in conservative margin. The independent variable is time-to-impact, which is known with high precision. The other two axes are both quantitative assessments of uncertainty and are both time dependent. Thus, the diagram is entirely an expression of uncertainty. The true impact probability is either one or zero, and the true size does not change. The domain contains information about the current uncertainty, which changes with time (as opposed to reality, which does not change).
Women-Friendly Campuses: What Five Institutions Are Doing Right

Some institutional traits greatly facilitate student success, traits so well known that a research consensus has emerged about them. For example, research suggests that students do better when they get one-on-one attention from faculty. Further, providing ample opportunities for extracurricular involvement in campus life helps students to achieve both socially and academically (Astin, 1992; Chickering & Reisser, 1993; Kuh, Schuh, Whitt, & associates, 1991; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). Much of this research looks at students broadly—not disaggregated by race and gender. The implicit assumption is that all students need basically the same types of institutional support to encourage their development and to enhance the likelihood of their achieving success. This is not necessarily a false assumption. However, it should be questioned, given the ample
Affiliation/dissociation decision models in demand and capacity sharing collaborative network

Abstract This research addresses affiliation/dissociation (A/D) decision models in a collaborative network (CN) of enterprises when an enterprise or a set of enterprises needs to evaluate the anticipated reward of enterprise collaboration. In this research, a set of enterprises forms a CN for the purpose of sharing their demands and capacities by predefined protocols. An enterprise in the CN determines an affiliation decision with the CN when the collaborative condition of the enterprise has been altered. On the other hands, the CN determines a dissociate decision with a member enterprise of the CN when its performance impairs entire enterprise collaboration. Under the assumption used in this research, experimental results and analyses indicate that a single enterprise always prefers to affiliate with the CN in terms of demand fulfillment rate and total profit. The CN should, however, dissociate from a particular member enterprise of the CN when this enterprise's mean demand (or capacity) is at least a value that can be calculated relative to the mean demand (or capacity) of all the other collaborating enterprises.
Measurement of the Rayleigh wave polarization using 1D Laser vibrometry

The paper presents measurement procedures for the evaluation of velocity/displacement components of surface elastic waves through a single beam Laser Vibrometer. The developed technique is applied for the estimation of Rayleigh wave polarization in aluminum specimens. The estimated polarization orbits are compared with the analytical ones to demonstrate the effectiveness of the measurement technique. The estimations rely on the preliminary analysis of the recorded signals in the frequency/wavenumber domain, as enabled by the fine spatial resolution provided by a scanning Laser vibrometer, which allows identification and separation of Rayleigh waves from the recorded wavefield. In addition, comparison of polarization measurements performed on untreated and shot-peened samples suggests the measurement technique as a tool for the estimation of the effect of residual stresses on the polarization properties of surface waves.
Synthesis and alkali metal ion-binding properties of a chromium(III) triacetylide complex

A simple triacetylide complex of chromium(III) is synthesized for use as a potential precursor to metal-dicarbide clusters. Reaction of Me3SiCCLi with [(Me3tacn)Cr(CF3SO3)3] (Me3tacn = N,N‘,N‘‘-trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane) in THF generates [(Me3tacn)Cr(CCSiMe3)3], which subsequently reacts with Bu4NF to supply [(Me3tacn)Cr(CCH)3] as an air-stable orange solid. The crystal structure of this unprecedented triacetylide complex reveals octahedral coordination of the chromium center, with linear Cr−C⋮C bond angles and C⋮C bond distances essentially identical to the corresponding distance in acetylene. Crystallization of the complex from a DMF solution containing K(CF3SO3) leads to the sandwich complex {[(Me3tacn)Cr(CCH)3]2K}+, in which the K+ ion is coordinated in a side-on fashion by each of the six C⋮C units. With the larger Cs+ cation, a triangular {[(Me3tacn)Cr(CCH)3]3Cs}+ complex is instead observed. The magnetic properties of these alkali metal complexes are indicative of weak antiferromagnetic exc...
Hydrogen uptake deficient mutants of Rhodopseudomonas capsulata

Mutants of Rhodopseudomonas capsulata lacking uptake hydrogenase activity have been isolated among those unable to grow photoautotrophically. Studies with these mutants showed increases in nitrogenase mediated H2 production from all substrates tested. In addition, photosynthetic synthetic growth on N2 with malate as carbon source was not affeced by the block in H2 uptake even under low light. Under these growth conditions hydrogen was observed to accumulate in mutant but not in wild-type cultures. This finding suggested that H2 was evolved by nitrogenase during N2 fixation by this photosynthetic bacterium and was efficiently recycled in the wild type.
O-acylsalicylamides as possible prodrugs for salicylamide I. Kinetics and mechanisms of their degradation and reaction with enzymes and sodium bisulfite

Abstract Three prodrugs of salicylamide, O-acetylsalicylamide (1), O-acetylsalicylsalicylamide (II), and O-glutarylsalicylamide (III) were prepared and their rates of degradation were studied over a wide pH range. These compounds were found to undergo O → N acyl transfer to the corresponding imide even in acidic environments. This reaction was followed spectrophotometrically at 355 nm. The effect of horse serum esterases on the hydrolysis of compounds I and III was also studied. In the presence of esterases and human plasma, the above prodrugs were found to cleave exclusively to salicylamide and not to the imide. In the presence of sodium bisulfite, the prodrugs I and III were found to undergo two parallel reactions and resulted in the formation of the imide and salicylamide.
Behavioral effects of α,α,β,β-tetradeutero-5-MeO-DMT in rats: comparison with 5-MeO-DMT administered in combination with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive tea prepared from a combination of plants that contain a hallucinogenic tryptamine and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). Behavioral pattern monitor (BPM) experiments demonstrated that the combination of 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) and a behaviorally inactive dose of an MAOA inhibitor such as harmaline or clorgyline induces biphasic effects on locomotor activity in rats, initially reducing locomotion and then increasing activity as time progresses. The present study investigated whether the biphasic locomotor profile induced by the combination of 5-MeO-DMT and an MAOI is a consequence of a reduction in the rate of 5-MeO-DMT metabolism. This hypothesis was tested using a deuterated derivative of 5-MeO-DMT (α,α,β,β-tetradeutero-5-MeO-DMT) that is resistant to metabolism by MAO. Confirming our previous findings, 1.0 mg/kg 5-MeO-DMT (s.c.) had biphasic effects on locomotor activity in rats pretreated with a behaviorally inactive dose of the nonselective MAOI pargyline (10 mg/kg). Administration of 5-MeO-DMT alone, even at doses greater than 1.0 mg/kg, produced only reductions in locomotor activity. Although low doses of α,α,β,β-tetradeutero-5-MeO-DMT (0.3 and 1.0 mg/kg, s.c.) produced only hypoactivity in the BPM, a dose of 3.0 mg/kg induced a biphasic locomotor profile similar to that produced by the combination of 5-MeO-DMT and an MAOI. Receptor binding studies demonstrated that deuterium substitution had little effect on the affinity of 5-MeO-DMT for a wide variety of neurotransmitter binding sites. The finding with α,α,β,β-tetradeutero-5-MeO-DMT indicates that the hyperactivity induced by 5-MeO-DMT after MAO inhibition is a consequence of reduced metabolism of 5-MeO-DMT, leading to prolonged occupation of central serotonin receptors. These results demonstrate that deuterated tryptamines may be useful in behavioral and pharmacological studies to mimic the effects of tryptamine/MAOI combinations.
Validation of the Image of Science and Scientists Scale

The Image of Science and Scientists Scale was developed to assess high school students' attitudes toward science as a field of study. Reliability and three types of validity evidence are reported for the scale.