cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Investigation of chloride-induced depassivation of iron in alkaline media by reactive force field molecular dynamics

The passivity of iron in alkaline media enables the use of carbon steel as reinforcement in concrete, which makes up the majority of modern infrastructure. However, chlorides, mainly from deicing chemicals or marine salts, can break down the iron passive film and cause active corrosion. Despite recent advances in nanoscale characterization of iron passivity, significant gaps exist in our understanding of the dynamic processes that lead to the chloride-induced breakdown of passive films. In this study, chloride-induced depassivation of iron in pH 13.5 NaOH solution is studied using reactive force field molecular dynamics. The depassivation process initiates by local acidification of the electrolyte near the film surface, followed by iron dissolution into the electrolyte, and iron vacancy formation in the passive film. Chlorides do not penetrate the passive film, but mainly act as a catalyst for the formation of iron vacancies, which diffuse toward the metal/oxide interface, suggesting a depassivation mechanism consistent with the point-defect model.
Teaching an Old Virus New Tricks: A Review on New Approaches to Study Age-Old Questions in Influenza Biology.

Abstract Influenza viruses have been studied for over 80 years, yet much about the basic viral lifecycle remain unknown. However, new imaging, biochemical, and sequencing techniques have revealed significant insight into many age-old questions of influenza virus biology. In this review, we will cover the role of imaging techniques to describe unique aspects of influenza virus assembly, biochemical techniques to study viral genomic organization, and next-generation sequencing to explore influenza genomic evolution. Our goal is to provide a brief overview of how emerging techniques are being used to answer basic questions about influenza viruses. This is not a comprehensive list of emerging techniques, rather ones that we feel will continue to make significant contributions to field of influenza biology.
Would You Refer This Patient With Cancer to a Palliative Care Specialist

The importance of palliative care is often emphasized in the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases. However, the necessary features of such care, as well as the term palliative care itself...
The ‘Truth’ About Pakistan: Knowledge Production and Circulation in International Relations

This chapter argues that even though research in International Relations has often sought to explore how representational identities are constructed, they have seldom analyzed the processes within the International Relations community through which these identities are produced and circulated to the wider International Relations community. The chapter analyzes the discourse on Pakistan by exploring the knowledge-production processes through which the International Relations community has come to ‘know’ Pakistan. Instead this study investigates another question. How is the meaning of Pakistan fixed or stabilized via practices of the International Relations community? The chapter initially explores top journals in the field of International Relations and analyzes dominant trends in the study of Pakistan. Through an analysis of these academic contributions the chapter firstly explains how knowledge-production processes and their intrinsic connection to pedagogy become conduits for the circulation of truth and in doing so implicitly construct the representational identity of Pakistan. Secondly, the chapter analyzes how knowledge on Pakistan is circulated in policy thinking by academics pursuing policy-proximate roles. Finally, a discourse analysis of the most cited texts on Pakistan in International Relations Journals unveils the discursive construction of Pakistan’s identity.
Flux Crystal Growth of Lanthanide Tungsten Oxychlorides, La8.64W6O30.45Cl, Ce8.64W5.74O30Cl, and Ln8.33W6O30Cl (Ln = Pr, Nd): Structural Stability in the Presence of Extreme Cation and Anion Disorder.

A series of lanthanide tungsten oxychlorides with compositions of La8.64W6O30.45Cl, Ce8.64W5.74O30Cl, Pr8.33W6O30Cl, and Nd8.33W6O30Cl was synthesized as single crystals via a high-temperature flux growth method. The reduction of Ce(IV) to Ce(III) was performed in the synthesis of Ce8.64W5.74O30Cl using Zn metal as the reducing agent. All four compounds crystallize in the tetragonal space group P42/nmc with a highly disordered and rather unusual arrangement of Ln(III) and W(VI) cations. The three-dimensional crystal structure consists of a complex network of Ln cations occupying multiple coordination environments, including LnO8 cubes. The level of complexity the disorder adds to the overall structure was considered using calculations for the total information content of the crystal. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility of Pr8.33W6O30Cl and Nd8.33W6O30Cl was measured, and both compounds exhibit paramagnetic behavior across the entire 2–300 K temperature range measured.
Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as a prognostic indicator for overall and cancer-specific survival in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

BACKGROUND Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a biomarker that is correlated with systemic inflammation and poor prognosis in solid tumors. We investigated the value of NLR in predicting survival in a large population of head and neck cancer patients in the United States. METHODS We performed a retrospective cohort study of Veterans Affairs patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) diagnosed between January 2000 and December 2017. We compared 5-year overall survival and cancer-specific survival for different NLR tertiles using cox proportional hazards modeling with adjustment for covariates. RESULTS The primary cohort consisted of 14 644 subjects of which 99% were male. Relative to patients with NLRs in the lower tertile, patients with NLRs in the top tertile had an 71% increased hazard of all-cause mortality (P < .001) and 44% increased hazard of cancer-specific mortality (P < .001) at 5 years. CONCLUSIONS Elevated NLR in HNSCC confers a poor prognosis.
Losing a Family Member to Incarceration: Grief and Resilience

Mass incarceration affects many families, creating an ambiguous loss. Although living, the incarcerated person is removed from daily life with consequences for relationships and meeting material ne...
Sytematically Skewed Beliefs

We have a tendency to overestimate the commonness of our own preferences. This paper investigates if this overestimation is limited to our beliefs about a single statistic (such as the median or mean), or if it extends to our beliefs about an entire distribution. In a laboratory experiment, I elicit subjects’ beliefs about the distribution of other people’s types, and check if subjects systematically skew their beliefs in relation to their own types. Experiment results strongly suggest that they do. In particular, all subjects overestimate the density around their own types. Using experimental data to estimate PDFs of actual and predicted distributions, I show that predicted distributions can be presented as skewed transformations of the actual distribution, where the size and direction of skewness is determined by a subject’s own type.
Detecting early onset of anthracyclines-induced cardiotoxicity using a novel panel of biomarkers in West-Virginian population with breast cancer

Cardiotoxic manifestation associated with breast cancer treatment by anthracycline regimen increases patients’ susceptibility to myocardial injury, reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction and complications associated with heart failure. There is currently no standardized, minimally invasive, cost effective and clinically verified procedure to monitor cardiotoxicity post-anthracycline therapy initiation, and to detect early onset of irreversible cardiovascular complications. This study aims to create a panel of novel biomarkers and circulating miRNAs associated with cardiotoxicity, further assessing their correlation with cardiac injury specific markers, troponin I and T, and demonstrate the development of cardiac dysfunction in breast cancer patients. Blood obtained from West Virginian females clinically diagnosed with breast cancer and receiving anthracyclines showed upregulated level of biomarkers and circulating miRNAs after 3 and 6 months of chemotherapy initiation with increased levels of cardiac troponin I and T. These biomarkers and miRNAs significantly correlated with elevated troponins. Following 6 months of anthracycline-regimens, 23% of the patient population showed cardiotoxicity with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction. Our results support the clinical application of plasma biomarkers and circulating miRNAs to develop a panel for early diagnosis of chemotherapy related cardiac dysfunction which will enable early detection of disease progression and management of irreversible cardiac damage.
Talented, Yet Seen with Suspicion: Surveillance of International Students and Scholars in the United States

The attacks of September 11, 2001, put terrorism at the forefront of the American political landscape. Donald Trump played into these fears of terrorism through his political rhetoric during his presidency, particularly targeting international students as “threats” to the nation. However, we argue that the labeling of international students as security threats was not started after 9/11 nor invented by Trump. Through historical records and accounts across decades of policies related to this issue, we seek to answer two questions: How has the U.S. government monitored visa policies and programs for international students? How have U.S. national policies evolved to view international students as national security threats? We find that mistrust of this population has been embedded throughout U.S. immigration history and that federal tracking policies emerged incrementally from long-held security concerns. We discuss why the entire population of international students should not be scapegoated due to fear.
Impact of Nitrogen Removal in Wastewater Treatment on NDMA Formation at Downstream Drinking-Water Treatment Plants

AbstractDe facto reuse (DFR) occurs when surface waters receiving wastewater effluent are used as source water by a downstream drinking-water treatment plant (DWTP). Wastewater effluent may contain...
Localism All the Way Up: Federalism, State-City Conflict, and the Urban-Rural Divide

One characteristic of this age of political polarization is increasing conflict between states and their cities. Pandemic-related regulation has been a recent flashpoint, with governors and mayors at loggerheads over public health regulations. But conflicts between state and city officials preceded that global emergency. Though popular electoral maps can sometimes suggest that red state and blue state divisions are driving our current politics, state-city conflicts are more representative of the actual political cleavages that afflict “our federalism” in the twenty-first century—a federalism that is characterized by the decline of regional political affiliations and the rise of metropolitan ones, the broader conflict between urbanizing municipalities and rural counties, the fact of uneven economic development, and the consequent values bifurcation between low and high productivity places. This form of sectional conflict is less amenable to federalism doctrines that contemplate state-by-state divergence; those doctrines can only serve as crude proxies for the political cleavages that are operating within states, not between them. Recognizing the metropolitan origins of our polarized politics is important for two reasons. First, reorienting the conversation away from state-national conflict highlights the disadvantages of state-based federalism as a mechanism for managing ideological cleavages. And second, focusing on state-city conflict suggests the necessity of intra-state institutional reform as a way forward. State-city conflict is not federalism writ small; it is instead what federalism—albeit mediated through a pre-urban Constitution that still gives primacy to states—has become. Instead of “federalism all the way down” as a way to characterize the multiple vertical layers of authority in the U.S., a better description might be “localism all the way up”: conflict at the metropolitan scale is driving important aspects of our national political life.
The Nutrition Support Team

The management and provision of nutritional care of hospitalized patients is complex and involves doctors, nurses, dietitians, and pharmacists. Consequently, the most effective way of running a nutritional support service is to form a multidisciplinary team that includes members of each of these sectors. The nutrition team is most effective when it rounds together and examines each patient in the hospital before offering recommendations.
An Asthma Policy Model

Despite many proven advances in patient care over the last 10 years, asthma continues to impose a large and growing burden on society. Persistent clinician non-adherence to recommended practice is well documented, but little is known about the clinical impact and economic costs of alternative approaches to asthma patient care. In this chapter, we introduce the Asthma Policy Model, a state-transition simulation that we have developed to forecast asthma-related symptoms, acute exacerbations, quality-adjusted life expectancy, health care costs, and cost-effectiveness. We begin with a detailed survey of the epidemiological, clinical, and policy context that motivates our work. With a modeling audience in mind, we then describe the considerations that produced the current analytic structure and input datasets. We illustrate the policy relevance of the model by describing our recent work on the cost-effectiveness of inhaled corticosteroid therapy in a population of adult patients with mild-to-moderate disease. We close the chapter with a discussion of plans for future refinements and applications.
Optimal tree structure for key management of simultaneous join/leave in secure multicast

As applications of secure multicast in networks continue to grow, the demand for an efficient scheme to manage group keys for secure group communication becomes more urgent. In this paper, we propose a new key tree structure for group key management. With this optimal tree structure, system resources such as network bandwidth can be saved. We devise an algorithm to generate this optimal tree and show that it can be implemented efficiently. We also design an adaptive system for group key management which consists of four components: a request receiver, a key tree update controller, a delay calculator and a request predictor. This system can maintain the optimality of the key tree dynamically. It is verified by theoretical analysis and simulation result that the performance of our scheme is better than other schemes based on traditional tree structures.
Absence of IFNγ increased brain pathology in EAE-susceptible DR3DQ8 HLA transgenic mice through secretion of IL-17 and induction of pathogenic monocytes/microglia into the CNS (BA14P.202)

Among all the genetic factors linked with multiple sclerosis (MS), MHC class-II molecules show the strongest association. Generation of HLA class-II transgenic mice has helped to elucidate the role of HLA class-II gene in MS. We have shown that the human HLA-DR3 (DRβ1*0301) gene predisposes to proteolipid protein (PLP)-induced EAE, whereas HLA-DQβ1*0601 (DQ6) was resistant. We also showed that the DQ6 molecule protects from EAE in DR3DQ6 double transgenic mice by producing anti-inflammatory interferon gamma (IFNγ). To further confirm the role of IFNγ in protection, we generated DR3DQ8 mice lacking IFNγ (DR3DQ8.IFNγ-/-). Immunization with PLP91-110 peptide caused atypical EAE in DR3DQ8.IFNγ-/- mice characterized by ataxia and spasticity, hallmarks of brain-specific disease. Severe brain specific inflammation and demyelination in DR3DQ8.IFNγ-/- mice with minimal spinal cord pathology further confirmed brain-specific pathology. Severe disease in DR3DQ8.IFNγ-/- mice was due to increased encephalitogenicity of CD4 T cells and its ability to produce higher levels of IL-17 and GM-CSF compared to DR3DQ8 mice. Further, areas with demyelination showed increased presence of CD68+ inflammatory cells suggesting an important role for monocytes/microglia in causing brain pathology. Thus, our study supports a protective role for IFNγ in inflammatory and demyelinating disease through down regulation of IL-17 and induction of neuro-protective factors in the brain by monocytes/microglial cells.
Evaluation of excitation light sources for incident immunofluorescence microscopy.

A variety of fluorescent excitation light sources were compared using a standard fluorescein solution or a bacterial conjugate with immunofluorescent microscopy. Quantitative data were obtained with microscope photometric apparatus. Both the quantitative data and comparative conjugate titering suggest that the 450-W xenon arc excited significantly more fluorescence than did the more commonly used 250-W mercury arc or the 100-W halogen lamp. The conjugate could be diluted 4 to 32 times more using the 450-W xenon. Additional advantages of 450-W xenon excitation include sufficient energy of wavelengths between 470 to 490 mm, thus permitting narrow-band excitation resulting in less autofluorescence and the ability to perform fluorescent-antibody procedures without the darkening of ambient room light.
Epidermal growth factor (EGF) and hormones stimulate phosphoinositide hydrolysis and increase EGF receptor protein synthesis and mRNA levels in rat liver epithelial cells: evidence for protein kinase C-dependent and -independent pathways

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulated the rapid accumulation of inositol trisphosphate in WB cells, a continuous line of rat hepatic epithelial cells. Since we previously had shown that EGF stimulates EGF receptor synthesis in these cells, we tested whether hormones that stimulate PtdIns(4,5)P2 hydrolysis would increase EGF receptor protein synthesis and mRNA levels. Epinephrine, angiotensin II, and [Arg8]vasopressin activate phospholipase C in WB cells as evidenced by the accumulation of the inositol phosphates, inositol monophosphate, inositol bisphosphate, and inositol trisphosphate. A 3-4-h treatment with each hormone also increased the rate of EGF receptor protein synthesis by 3-6-fold as assessed by immunoprecipitation of EGF receptor from [35S]methionine-labeled cells. Northern blot analyses of WB cell EGF receptor mRNA levels revealed that agents linked to the phosphoinositide signaling system increased receptor mRNA content within 1-2 h. A maximal increase of 3-7-fold was observed after a 3-h exposure to EGF and hormones. The phorbol ester, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA), which activates protein kinase C also stimulated EGF receptor synthesis. Pretreatment of WB cells for 18 h with high concentrations of TPA "down-regulated" protein kinase C and blocked TPA-directed EGF receptor mRNA synthesis. In contrast, the effect of EGF on EGF receptor mRNA levels was not significantly decreased by TPA pretreatment. Epinephrine-induced increases in EGF receptor mRNA were reduced from 4- to 2-fold. Similarly, 18 h TPA pretreatment abolished the effect of TPA on EGF receptor protein synthesis but did not affect EGF-dependent EGF receptor protein synthesis. The 18-h TPA pretreatment diminished by 30-50% the induction of receptor protein synthesis by epinephrine or angiotensin II. We conclude that in WB cells EGF receptor synthesis can be regulated by EGF and other hormones that stimulate PtdIns(4,5)P2 hydrolysis. In these cells, EGF receptor synthesis appears to be regulated by several mechanism: one pathway is dependent upon EGF receptor activation and can operate independently of protein kinase C activation; another pathway is correlated with PtdIns(4,5)P2 hydrolysis and is dependent, at least in part, upon protein kinase C activation.
Self Scaled Regularized Robust Regression

Linear Robust Regression (LRR) seeks to find the parameters of a linear mapping from noisy data corrupted from outliers, such that the number of inliers (i.e. pairs of points where the fitting error of the model is less than a given bound) is maximized. While this problem is known to be NP hard, several tractable relaxations have been recently proposed along with theoretical conditions guaranteeing exact recovery of the parameters of the model. However, these relaxations may perform poorly in cases where the fitting error for the outliers is large. In addition, these approaches cannot exploit available a-priori information, such as cooccurrences. To circumvent these difficulties, in this paper we present an alternative approach to robust regression. Our main result shows that this approach is equivalent to a “self-scaled” l 1 regularized robust regression problem, where the cost function is automatically scaled, with scalings that depend on the a-priori information. Thus, the proposed approach achieves substantially better performance than traditional regularized approaches in cases where the outliers are far from the linear manifold spanned by the inliers, while at the same time exhibits the same theoretical recovery properties. These results are illustrated with several application examples using both synthetic and real data.
Noggin Is Required for Correct Guidance of Dorsal Root Ganglion Axons

Abstract Members of the bone morphogenetic protein family of secreted protein signals have been implicated as axon guidance cues for specific neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans and in mammals. We have examined axonal pathfinding in mice lacking the secreted bone morphogenetic protein antagonist Noggin. We have found defects in projection of several groups of neurons, including the initial ascending projections from the dorsal root ganglia, motor axons innervating the distal forelimb, and cranial nerve VII. The case of the dorsal root ganglion defect is especially interesting: initial projections from the dorsal root ganglion enter the dorsal root entry zone, as normal, but then project directly into the gray matter of the spinal cord, rather than turning rostrally and caudally. Explant experiments suggest that the defect lies within the spinal cord and not the dorsal root ganglion itself. However, exogenous bone morphogenetic proteins are unable to attract or repel these axons, and the spinal cord shows only very subtle alterations in dorsal–ventral pattern in Noggin mutants. We suggest that the defect in projection into the spinal cord is likely the result of bone morphogenetic proteins disrupting the transduction of some unidentified repulsive signal from the spinal cord gray matter.
Intercalation of poly(propyleneoxide) amines (Jeffamines) in synthetic layered silicas derived from ilerite, magadiite, and kenyaite

The synthetic layered silicates Na+-ilerite (Na2Si8O17·nH2O), Na+-magadiite (Na2Si14O29·nH2O), and K+-kenyaite (K2Si20O41·nH2O) were converted to the corresponding layered silicic acids (silicas) through the stoichiometric replacement of the gallery alkali metal ions with protons. The protonated derivatives were subsequently used as hosts for the intercalation of poly(propyleneoxide) amines that are normally used as curing agents for thermoset polymers. The amines of interest were the commercially available α,ω-diamines known as Jeffamine D-series amines and Jeffamine T-series glycolitic triamines with molecular weights in the range 400–5000. Low molecular weight Jeffamines (MW∼400) intercalate in all three layered silicas as lateral monolayers in which the PPO chains are oriented parallel to the silica sheets and the gallery heights are restricted to values of 4.0–4.9 A. Amines with MW values of 1000–5000 afford intercalates in which the gallery heights are 2.6–9.0 times as large as the thickness of the host layers and the PPO chains adopt coiled conformations in the galleries. Substantial de-intercalation of the high MW amines occurs upon mild extraction with ethanol–water mixtures, as expected for an intercalation mechanism that involves hydrogen bonding between the amine head groups and silanol groups on the basal surfaces of the host silicas. The ability to control the amine to silica ratios in these intercalates should prove to be advantageous in applying these materials for the preparation of epoxy-layered silicates nanocomposites and other thermoset nanocomposites derived from amine monomers.
Influence of sleep on focal slow wave activity correlation with epileptogenic and non-epileptogenic lesions

Abstract 1. 1. The influence of sleep on focal delta activity appearing in the EEG while awake was studied in 54 patients with a variety of cerebral pathology. 2. 2. It was found that the sleep state differentiates focal delta activity into two groups. (A) There may be focal depression of the normal slow wave activity of sleep with a smoothing out of the tracing and diminution of potentials as compared with the homologous normal side. This pattern was classified as “depressed sleep activity”. (B) There may be focal slow wave activity distinguished from the normal slow activity of sleep of the opposite hemisphere by disimilarities not only in voltage but in form and time of occurrence. This pattern appearing independently from the normal sleep rhythm was classified as “persistent delta focus”. 3. 3. The analysis of the clinical data and EEG findings suggests that the persistent delta focus correlates well with focal epileptogenic brain damage.
Transmural Distribution of Myocyte Contractile Properties in Aging F344 Rats

Age-associated diastolic heart failure occurs when the amount of blood filling the heart between beats is reduced due to slow relaxation and increased passive stiffness of the left ventricle. We are testing the hypothesis that slowed active relaxation in diastolic heart failure is caused in part by age-dependent alterations in the contractile function of different transmural regions of the myocardium. Cardiac myocytes from endocardial, midmyocardial, and endocardial regions of the left ventricular free wall were isolated from hearts of 6, 18, and 22-month-old female Fischer 344 rats (n = 2 at each age). Cells were placed in a superfusion chamber controlled at 25oC and field stimulated at 0.5 Hz. Unloaded sarcomere shortening was measured in an average of 27 cells per myocardial region per animal. In five of the six animals, significant differences in relaxation (time from peak shortening to 50% re-lengthening, tp50) were observed among cell subtypes (p < 0.05, ANOVA). Analysis of collated data showed that tp50 was significantly affected by age, tending to increase in older animals (p < 0.01, two-way ANOVA). Aging appeared to have the greatest effect on relaxation of epicardial and midmyocardial cells.
Impact of truncation to the reconstruction with a small number of projections

Dedicated cardiac SPECT systems have the advantage of high speed and sensitivity at no loss or even a gain in resolution. The purpose of this paper is to investigate segmented parallel-hole collimation, develop a tailored Maximum-Likelihood Expectation-Maximization (ML-EM) algorithm for reconstructing truncated projections, and find the minimal number of view-angles required. We simulated and compared three image configurations, including two segmented-parallel-hole detectors based on the conventional and large detectors, and one small multi-detector. To study the effects of truncation and the number of angular sampling, the number of view-angles was varied from 10 to 60 and the truncation degree increased from 91% to 95%. For each view-angle, the root-mean-square error (RMSE) between the reconstructed image and the phantom was calculated and used to give a measure of the accuracy of the reconstructions. Distortion was observed from the shape difference maps of the heart. A tailored MLEM algorithm was used in the reconstruction, wherein the true-projection to forward-projection ratios outside of FOV were set to one instead of zero before backprojection. Finally, an NCAT phantom and GATE Monte Carlo simulation tool were used to verify the conclusions. Computer simulation results show that truncation has little effect on the reconstructed images when sufficient view angles are provided, while it affects the reconstruction with few number of views in terms of reducing contrast and introducing bias to the reconstructions. Based on visual inspection only, 10 view-angles is sufficient to reconstruct the image without shape distortion. To reconstruct both value and shape correctly, 20 view-angles is the minimum requirement for truncated projections. Two segmented conventional detectors are sufficient to reconstruct the image without distortion. Uniform angular sampling gives a considerable improvement in the image quality, but a small rotation is required.
Isolation and characterization of two actins of the Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei

Two actin genes named actinT1 and actinT2 were isolated and sequenced from the Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, by screening from a shrimp eyestalk cDNA library. L. vannamei actinT1 cDNA has a 1,128-bp open reading frame encoding for 376 amino acids while L. vannamei actinT2 cDNA has a 1,131-bp open reading frame coding for 377 amino acids. Alignment of the actinT1 and actinT2 cDNA sequences showed that these two actin genes share a sequence identity of 86% at amino acid residues. When compared with actins of several other invertebrate and vertebrate species, the nucleotide sequence of actinT1 is highly homologous (97–100%) with beta-actins, while actinT2 shares 86–95% identity with alpha-actins on the nucleotide level. Phylogenetic analysis and BLAST searches indicated that the ActinT1 protein is identical to crustacean beta-actins, while the ActinT2 protein is highly homologous to crustacean alpha-actins. Constitutive expression of the actinT1 and actinT2 genes were detected by RT-PCR in all adult shrimp organs, including brain, eye-stalk, gill, heart, hemolymph, hepatopancreas, muscle, swimming legs, and stomach, as well as in the shrimp zygote, nauplius, and mysis life stages. These data will facilitate attempts to clone and identify more shrimp genes and constitutive shrimp promoters.
Mechanism of fibroblast growth factor-binding protein 1 repression by TGF-β

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) is the prototypical member of a family of growth factors that play important roles in normal development and human diseases. We identified the gene for fibroblast growth factor-binding protein 1 (FGF-BP1) as being significantly repressed following TGF-beta treatment. FGF-BP1 is an extracellular matrix bound protein that enhances fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling. We demonstrate here that TGF-beta signaling significantly represses FGF-BP1 expression in mesenchymal and neural crest cells undergoing in vitro smooth muscle differentiation. Analysis of the downstream signaling pathways shows that Smad2/3 are crucial for efficient FGF-BP1 repression by TGF-beta. Furthermore, we identified a novel element in the region from -785 to -782 bp of the FGF-BP1 promoter, which represents a known binding site for Hypermethylation in Cancer-1 (Hic-1), necessary for repression of FGF-BP1 by TGF-beta. These data define the molecular mechanism of transcriptional repression of an important target of TGF-beta signaling during angiogenesis.
High-throughput assessment of CpG site methylation for distinguishing between HCV-cirrhosis and HCV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma

Methylation of promoter CpG islands has been associated with gene silencing and demonstrated to lead to chromosomal instability. Therefore, some postulate that aberrantly methylated CpG regions may be important biomarkers indicative of cancer development. In this study we used the Illumina GoldenGate Methylation BeadArray Cancer Panel I for simultaneously profiling methylation of 1,505 CpG sites in order to identify methylation differences in 76 liver tissues ranging from normal to pre-neoplastic and neoplastic states. CpG sites for ESR1, GSTM2, and MME were significantly differentially methylated when comparing the pre-neoplastic tissues from patients with concomitant hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to the pre-neoplastic tissues from patients without HCC. When comparing paired HCC tissues to their corresponding pre-neoplastic non-tumorous tissues, eight CpG sites, including one CpG site that was hypermethylated (APC) and seven (NOTCH4, EMR3, HDAC9, DCL1, HLA-DOA, HLA-DPA1, and ERN1) that were hypomethylated in HCC, were identified. Our study demonstrates that high-throughput methylation technologies may be used to identify differentially methylated CpG sites that may prove to be important molecular events involved in carcinogenesis.
Hypothermia for hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy in infants ≥ 36 weeks

Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy is a serious condition affecting infants which can result in death and disability. This is a summary of pathogenesis of HIE, animal studies of cooling for hypoxic and ischemic models, human hypothermia trials, and the American Academy of Pediatrics publication on hypothermia for HIE. Hypothermia for neonatal HIE is continuing to evolve as a therapy. Studies, gaps in knowledge and opportunities for research are presented herein.
A Facile Method for the Symmetrization of Organomercury Halides

Abstract Diarylmercury compounds are formed in high yield when an arylmercury halide is passed through an alumina column treated with sodium cyanide. Alkylmercury chlorides are converted to alkylmercury cyanides under the same conditions.
Addressing health disparities in highly specialized minority populations: case study of Mexican Mennonite farmworkers

The Kansas Statewide Farmworker Health Program (KSFHP) has developed a unique set of culturally competent health interventions in response to the pressing public health needs of the state’s underserved farmworker population. Key among these are its health education and translation efforts on behalf of the fast-growing Low German-speaking Mexican Mennonite farmworker population. Linguistic, religious, and cultural values have created unique and complex health disparities and barriers to care that can be broken down only through innovative approaches. KSFHP first conducted a health needs assessment survey of the farmworker population in 2003, which indicated prenatal care practices as a significant health disparity, especially among the Low German-speaking Mexican Mennonite population. In response, KSFHP successfully lobbied the state health department to implement a new standard of health behavior data collection that includes primary language data as a method of delineating population subgroups, making Kansas one of the first two states in the country to collect this information. KSFHP also developed culturally competent Low German-language recordings on health topics such as prenatal care in accordance with the information delivery needs of the Low German-speaking Mexican Mennonite farmworker population. Currently, a pilot program is in progress that offers additional outreach, health education, and interpretation, among other services. The work of the KSFHP has significant implications for further research into health disparities, specialized minority populations, and culturally competent data collection methods.
Fiscal Adjustment to Currency Devaluation in Selected African Countries: An Empirical Analysis

The object of this paper is to examine the fiscal consequences of exchange rate adjustment in the context of selected African economies. The paper identifies the salient channels through which the exchange rate is expected to influence fiscal variables, describes the behaviour of these indicators in the sample countries, and formulates and estimates an empirical model that links the real exchange rate with real fiscal revenue and expenditure. It finds that currency devaluation — where launched — has, on balance, resulted in real depreciation and that the latter has increased real fiscal revenue, with imperceptible effect on real expenditures. The fiscal deficit is found to exert no statistically significant influence on the behaviour of the real exchange rate. Ce document examine les consequences budgetaires de l’ajustement du taux de change dans un certain nombre de pays africains. Il determine les principales voies par lesquelles le taux de change est cense influer sur les variables budgetaires, decrit le comportement de ces indicateurs dans les pays concernes, elabore et evalue un modele empirique etablissant un lien entre le taux de change reel et les recettes et depenses budgetaires reelles. Il constate que la devaluation, la ou elle est intervenue, s’est en definitive traduite par une veritable depreciation, qui a entraâne un accroissement des recettes budgetaires reelles et exerce un effet imperceptible sur les depenses reelles. En outre, sur le plan statistique, le deficit budgetaire n’exerce pas d’effet significatif sur le comportement.
Ion-molecule reactions studied by nuclear decay technique. Tritiated naphthylium ions

Abstract Naphthylium ions generated by β tritium nuclear decay of 1,4-bitritionaphthalene were allowed to react in the gas phase with benzene. The reaction was studied at benzene pressures ranging from 5 to 60 torr, in the presence of a thermal radical scavenger [O 2 ]. The effect of the gaseous base [(CH 3 ) 3 N] and of a noble gas [Ar] on the reaction were also investigated. The naphthylium ions react with benzene in the gas phase, yielding 1- and 2-phenylnaphthalenes, whose ratio markedly increases with the pressure of benzene and the concentration of the base. At the higher benzene pressures, and in the presence of the base, the isomeric composition of the products appears kinetically controlled and corresponds to a ratio 1:2 phenylnaphthalenes of 5.75. Moreover, this ratio reaches the value 7.33 in the presence of 400 torr of Argon. The mechanism of the gas phase naphthylation is discussed.
Antithamnion nipponicum (Ceramiaceae, Rhodophyta), incorrectly known as A. pectinatum in western Europe, is a recent introduction along the North Carolina and Pacific coasts of North America

Female and male reproductive structures in material from California known as Antithamnion hubbsii are illustrated and described for the first time. This partly prostrate species is characterized vegetatively by pinnae arranged in distichous opposite pairs, bearing adaxial and abaxial pinnules, with the distal-most pinnules restricted to the abaxial side of pinnae. Basal cells of the pinnae produce multicellular rhizoids with digitate holdfasts as well as indeterminate lateral axes, and gland cells originate adaxially alongside the lower pinnule cells. Antithamnion nipponicum has been placed in synonymy with Antithamnion pectinatum, a species described from Auckland I., New Zealand. The latter is here recognized as a separate southern hemisphere species bearing adaxial and abaxial distal-most pinnules and new indeterminate lateral axes in place of pinnae. The correct name for the invasive species known in western Europe as A. pectinatum is A. nipponicum. Our phylogenetic analyses of rbcL sequence data also...
Computerized assessment of motion‐contaminated calcified plaques in cardiac multidetector CT

An automated method for evaluating the image quality of calcified plaques with respect to motion artifacts in noncontrast-enhanced cardiac computed tomography (CT) images is introduced. This method involves using linear regression (LR) and artificial neural network (ANN) regression models for predicting two patient-specific, region-of-interest-specific, reconstruction-specific and temporal phase-specific image quality indices. The first is a plaque motion index, which is derived from the actual trajectory of the calcified plaque and is represented on a continuous scale. The second is an assessability index, which reflects the degree to which a calcified plaque is affected by motion artifacts, and is represented on an ordinal five-point scale. Two sets of assessability indices were provided independently by two radiologists experienced in evaluating cardiac CT images. Inputs for the regression models were selected from 12 features characterizing the dynamic, morphological, and intensity-based properties of the calcified plaques. Whereas LR-velocity (LR-V) used only a single feature (three-dimensional velocity), the LR-multiple (LR-M) and ANN regression models used the same subset of these 12 features selected through stepwise regression. The regression models were parameterized and evaluated using a database of simulated calcified plaque images from the dynamic NCAT phantom involving nine heart rate/multi-sector gating combinations and 40 cardiac phases covering two cardiac cycles. Six calcified plaques were used for the plaque motion indices and three calcified plaques were used for both sets of assessability indices. In one configuration, images from the second cardiac cycle were used for feature selection and regression model parameterization, whereas images from the first cardiac cycle were used for testing. With this configuration, repeated measures concordance correlation coefficients (CCCs) and associated 95% confidence intervals for the LR-V, LR-M, and ANN were 0.817 [0.785, 0.848], 0.894 [0.869, 0.916], and 0.917 [0.892, 0.936] for the plaque motion indices. For the two sets of assess-ability indices, CCC values for the ANN model were 0.843 [0.791, 0.877] and 0.793 [0.747, 0.828]. These two CCC values were statistically greater than the CCC value of 0.689 [0.648, 0.727], which was obtained by comparing the two sets of assessability indices with each other. These preliminary results suggest that the variabilities of assessability indices provided by regression models can lie within the variabilities of the indices assigned by independent observers. Thus, the potential exists for using regression models and assessability indices for determining optimal phases for cardiac CT image interpretation.
Free amino acids as indicators of little leaf in zinc deficiency in the pistachio (Pistacia vera L. cultivar ‘Kerman’)

Abstract Zinc deficiency of commercial pistachio trees is characterized visually as ‘little leaf’, analytically by low levels of zinc, and internally by increases in N, P and total soluble N. Under a range of zinc deficiencies, blocks in metabolism arise which lead to the accumulation of free arginine N. Over the growing season, arginine N in healthy leaves is normally used for amino acid and protein synthesis. The physiological states induced by zinc deficiencies reversibly alter the internal correlations among free amino acid components of the soluble N pool. Several correlations are rigidly maintained over the growth and developmental age of leaves, so as to support the visual indices for zinc deficiency.
Linearized homogeneous constraints in structural design

Abstract Properties of the linearized truss optimization problem are presented. It is shown that since the nodal displacements and member stresses are special homogeneous functions in the design variables, the linearized constraints have interesting and useful properties. The nature of the linearized structural problem in the cross-sectional and compliance design spaces are evaluated and compared. The theory is illustrated with examples from the classical three-bar truss problem.
Gays and Queers: From the Centering to the Decentering of Homosexuality in American Films

This article examines independent cinema's depictions of homosexuality from 1990 to 2000. Using mainstream Hollywood films of the 1990s as the context for their development, I show significant differences in how homosexuality is represented outside mainstream films. Specifically, I divide independent films into two types: gay and lesbian standpoint films, and queer cinema. Gay standpoint films are distinguished by their narrative focus on a gay and lesbian subculture, whereas queer cinema generally depicts representations of a character's sexuality as decentered. I suggest that if we understand gay and lesbian standpoint films as a response to mainstream Hollywood ones that exclude subcultural depictions, then queer cinema can be seen as a challenge to both gay and lesbian standpoint films, and mainstream Hollywood films that center and normalize homosexual identity.
Reduction of π-Bound Nitriles to π-Bound Imines in a Tungsten(II) Bis(acetylacetonate) Coordination Sphere

Addition of MeOTf (OTf = CF3SO3) to complexes of the type W(CO)(acac)2(η2-N≡CR) (acac = acetylacetonate) [R = Ph (1a), Me (1b)] yields cationic iminoacyl triflate salts of the type [W(CO)(acac)2(η2-MeN═CR)][OTf]. Complexes 2a and 2b undergo nucleophilic attack at the iminoacyl carbon with Na[HB(OMe)3] or MeMgBr to form neutral η2-imine complexes of the type W(CO)(acac)2[η2-MeN═C(Nuc)R] [Nuc = H (3a, 3b), Me (4)]. Hydride addition to 2b results in W(CO)(acac)2(η2-MeN═CHMe), 3b, a complex that exhibits interconversion of diastereomers at ambient temperature on the NMR time scale. X-ray structures of cationic iminoacyl complex 2a and neutral imine complex 4 confirm η2-C═N bonding of both the iminoacyl and imine ligands.
Calculation of electron-phonon interaction strength from first principles in graphene and silicon

The calculation of electron-phonon interaction from first principles has recently become feasible using density-functional perturbation theory (Quantum Espresso) [1] and the small displacement method (GPAW) [2]. We determine the strength of the electron-phonon interaction using the Vienna Ab-Initio Simulation Program (VASP) [3] with the small displacement method using PHONOPY [4]. We illustrate our approach using graphene and calculate the interband deformation potentials for bulk Si relevant for Band-to-Band Tunneling (BTBT).
JSAE REVIEW SPECIAL ISSUE PAPERS FROM AVEC 2000

This issue of the JSAE review contains 18 edited papers from the 5th International Symposium on Advanced Vehicle Control (AVEC 2000) which was held August 2000 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. These papers fall into 3 major categories: engine/powertrain, vehicle chassis control, and intelligent/autonomous vehicles. The broad scope of topics includes modeling, diagnostics, hybrid-electric powertrains, electric steering GPS based guidance, and tire dynamics
Head and Neck Lesions Commonly Found in Musicians

Common problems in playing musical instruments include soft tissue lesions, tooth mobility, malocclusion, TMD and endodontic pathoses. This article illustrates the basic playing positions of the instruments and their effects on head and neck structures to help dentists provide appropriate diagnosis and treatment.
Shortest path network interdiction with asymmetric information

We consider an extension of the shortest path network interdiction problem. In this problem an evader attempts to minimize the length of the shortest path between the origin and the destination in a network, while an interdictor attempts to maximize the length of this shortest path by interdicting network arcs using limited resources. We consider the case where there is asymmetric information, i.e., the evader and the interdictor have different levels of information about the network. We formulate this problem as a nonlinear mixed integer program and show that this formulation can be converted to a linear mixed integer program. Computational results demonstrate improvements in the objective function values over the shortest path network interdiction problem with symmetric information. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, 2008