cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Modeling the pasture-associated severe equine asthma bronchoalveolar lavage fluid proteome identifies molecular events mediating neutrophilic airway inflammation

Background: Pasture-associated severe equine asthma is a warm season, environmentally-induced respiratory disease characterized by reversible airway obstruction, persistent and non-specific airway hyper-responsiveness, and chronic neutrophilic airway inflammation. During seasonal exacerbation, signs vary from mild to life-threatening episodes of wheezing, coughing, and chronic debilitating labored breathing. Purpose: In human asthma, neutrophilic airway inflammation is associated with more severe and steroid-refractory asthma phenotypes, highlighting a need to decipher the mechanistic basis of this disease characteristic. We hypothesize that the collective biological activities of proteins in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of horses with pasture-associated severe asthma predict changes in neutrophil functions that contribute to airway neutrophilic inflammation. Methods: Using shotgun proteomics, we identified 1,003 unique proteins in cell-free BALF from six horses experiencing asthma exacerbation and six control herdmates. Contributions of each protein to ten neutrophil functions were modeled using manual biocuration to determine each protein's net effect on the respective neutrophil functions. Results: A total of 417 proteins were unique to asthmatic horses, 472 proteins were unique to control horses (p<0.05), and 114 proteins were common in both groups. Proteins whose biological activities are responsible for increasing neutrophil migration, chemotaxis, cell spreading, transmigration, and infiltration, which would collectively bring neutrophils to airways, were over-represented in the BALF of asthmatic relative to control horses. By contrast, proteins whose biological activities support neutrophil activation, adhesion, phagocytosis, respiratory burst, and apoptosis, which would collectively shorten neutrophil lifespan, were under-represented in BALF of asthmatic relative to control horses. Interaction networks generated using Ingenuity® Pathways Analysis further support the results of our biocuration. Conclusion: Congruent with our hypothesis, the collective biological functions represented in differentially expressed proteins of BALF from horses with pasture-associated severe asthma support neutrophilic airway inflammation. This illustrates the utility of systems modeling to organize functional genomics data in a manner that characterizes complex molecular events associated with clinically relevant disease.
The One and the Many: Enduring Legacies of Spearman and Thurstone on Intelligence Test Score Interpretation.

Charles Spearman and L. L. Thurstone were pioneers in the field of intelligence. They not only developed methods to assess and understand intelligence, but also developed theories about its structu...
Infectious Mononucleosis Presenting with Severe Thrombocytopenia, Positive Anti-Platelets Antibodies, and Peripheral Blood Blasts.

Abstract Case Report: 18 year old male presents with 2 weeks history of sore throat, fever, and hemoptysis. Physical examination revealed exudative and hemorrhagic tonsillo-pharyngitis, posterior cervical lymphadenopathy, mild splenomegaly, and petechieal rash involving the extremeties and the trunk. On presentation, CBC showed Hgb of 15.5gm/dl, WBCs of 11.8 K/uL, Platelets count of 4 K/uL. Differential count showed lymphocytes of 56%, reactive lymphocytes 1%. Monospot test was positive. CT abdomen confirmed the physical finding of splenomegaly, and showed mild hepatomegaly. Treatment was initiated with pulse methylprednisone 1g/d, and IVIG 1g/kg/day. Both were given for 2 days. One unit of SDP was transfused on days 2, 4, 5. On day 4 platelets count was 6 K/uL. 2–3% blasts were detected on the peripheral smear on days 4 and 5. Bone marrow biopsy and aspiration were done on day 5. They revealed reactive marrow changes with no increase in blasts. Flow cytometry revealed reactive marrow lymphocyte subpopulations and no inrease in immature myeloid cells. Subsequently, EBV serology was reported; EBV capsid IgM and IgG were both positive at >4-fold higher than upper normal limit. In addition, Platelets antibodies were reported positive for IIB/IIIA, IB/IX, and IA/IIA. Platelets count on day 7 was 58 K/uL without platelets transfusion in the previous 24 hours. Conclusion: Literature review reveals rare cases of Infectious Mononucleosis presenting with severe thrombocytopenia. Most of these cases were treated successfully with steroids and /or IVIG, similarly to ITP. However, no previous association with peripheral blood blasts has been described. Moreover, only two previous reports have described the association between Infectious Mononucleosis and the presence of platelets antibodies but without details of the receptors involved.
Stem cell therapy for perianal Crohn's.

Purpose of review Perianal Crohn's disease is a morbid and disabling condition, notoriously difficult to successfully treat with conventional medical and surgical therapies. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are an emerging novel therapy for perianal Crohn's disease. Recent findings Over 300 patients with perianal Crohn's disease have now been treated with MSCs in the context of clinical trials. All trials have demonstrated safety, and efficacy superior to conventional therapy with biologics and surgical intervention. This was consistent despite the heterogeneity in study protocols including variability in cell dosing, mode of delivery, repeat dosing, and allogeneic versus autologous donors. Sustained healing to 1 year has also been demonstrated in a recent extension of the largest phase III study confirming superior efficacy of MSCs to placebo at 1-year follow-up. However, several outstanding questions regarding the use of MSCs for perianal Crohn's disease remain, which, if answered, could enhance MSCs' treatment efficacy. These include defining the optimal MSC donor, optimal MSC source (e.g., bone marrow versus adipose tissue), investigating a potential alloimmune response following allogeneic cellular delivery, and determining the optimal mode for MSC delivery. In addition to these unanswered questions, significant challenges in the required infrastructure and cost required for cell-based therapies may drive future research toward identifying novel acellular therapies. Summary Novel regenerative therapies offer promising new treatment options for perianal Crohn's disease, without the risk of opportunistic infection seen with biologics and incontinence with surgical techniques. Future research will help define the optimal MSC product and treatment protocol, and may even expand our horizon of regenerative medicine into acellular therapy as well as cell-based therapies.
Deep learning, transparency, and trust in human robot teamwork

Abstract For autonomous AI systems to be accepted and trusted, the users should be able to understand the reasoning process of the system (i.e., the system should be transparent). Robotics presents unique programming difficulties in that systems need to map from complicated sensor inputs such as camera feeds and laser scans to outputs such as joint angles and velocities. Advances in deep neural networks are now making it possible to replace laborious handcrafted features and control code by learning control policies directly from high-dimensional sensor inputs. Because Atari games, where these capabilities were first demonstrated, replicate the robotics problem, they are ideal for investigating how humans might come to understand and interact with agents who have not been explicitly programmed. We present computational and human results for making DRLN more transparent using object saliency visualizations of internal states and test the effectiveness of expressing saliency through teleological verbal explanations.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Use Among Patients Followed by a Multidisciplinary Cleft and Craniofacial Team.

Objective:To establish preliminary data describing the number of patients who visit a multidisciplinary cleft and craniofacial team who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) supports...
Cell-Penetrating Peptides Escape the Endosome by Inducing Vesicle Budding and Collapse

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are capable of delivering membrane-impermeable cargoes (including small molecules, peptides, proteins, nucleic acids, and nanoparticles) into the cytosol of mammalian cells and have the potential to revolutionize biomedical research and drug discovery. However, the mechanism of action of CPPs has remained poorly understood, especially how they escape from the endosome into the cytosol following endocytic uptake. We show herein that CPPs exit the endosome by inducing budding and collapse of CPP-enriched vesicles from the endosomal membrane. This mechanism provides a theoretical basis for designing CPPs and other delivery vehicles of improved efficiencies.
The Impact of Allocation Changes on Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Since the establishment of the Milan criteria, liver transplantation (LT) has been identified as an optimal therapy for selected patients with early stage, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) complicating cirrhosis, although a major limitation is the critical shortage of available deceased donor liver allografts. This review focuses on the evolution of liver allocation for HCC in the United States and what the most recent revisions to the allocation system mean for patients with HCC.
Using Deep Space to Produce Power and Cooling

Deep space can be thought of as a cold thermal reservoir. In this talk, I will discuss our recent work using the night sky to produce power and mitigate climate change.
Quantifying Uncertainties in Estimates of Income and Wealth Inequality

I measure the uncertainty affecting estimates of economic inequality in the US and investigate how accounting for properly estimated standard errors can affect the results of empirical and structural macroeconomic studies. In my analysis, I rely upon two data sets: the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), which is a triennial survey of household financial condition, and the Individual Tax Model Public Use File (PUF), an annual sample of individual income tax returns. While focusing on the six income and wealth shares of the top 10 to the top 0.01 percent between 1988 and 2018, my results suggest that ignoring uncertainties in estimated wealth and income shares can lead to erroneous conclusions about the current state of the economy and, therefore, lead to inaccurate predictions and ineffective policy recommendations. My analysis suggests that for the six top-decile income shares under consideration, the PUF estimates are considerably better than those constructed using the SCF; for wealth shares of the top 10 to the top 0.5 percent, the SCF estimates appear to be more reliable than the PUF estimates; finally, for the two most granular wealth shares, the top 0.1 and 0.01 percent, both data sets present non-trivial challenges that cannot be readily addressed.
Hybrid consensus-based formation control of UAVs

In this paper, hybrid consensus based formation control for a team of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) is considered. A hybrid consensus based formation controller is applied for UAV’s moving at fixed altitudes to drive them to a goal point while maintaining a specified formation. The proposed hybrid automaton consists of two discrete states, each with continuous dynamics: a regulation state and a formation keeping state. The controller in the regulation state uses local state information to achieve its objective while the formation controller utilizes the state and controller information of neighboring UAV’s. Consequently, the UAV’s switch between the control objectives of formation keeping and goal seeking in route to their goal points. The switching behavior creates hybrid dynamics from the interactions between the continuous and discrete states making the stability analysis of the system more complex than considering purely discrete or purely continuous. Therefore, the stability of the hybrid approach is proven by using multiple Lyapunov functions and also considers the switching conditions between the regulation and the formation states. The Lyapunov based approach demonstrates that the formation errors converge to a small bounded region around the origin and the size of the bound can be adjusted by using the switching conditions. Convergence to goal position while in formation is also demonstrated in the same Lyapunov analysis, and simulation results verify the theoretical conjectures.
Trends in Testosterone Therapy use in Prostate Cancer Survivors in the United States.

Abstract Background Physician prescribing patterns surrounding the use of testosterone therapy (TTh) in men with a history of prostate cancer (CaP) is not well described. Aim To characterize the demographics and usage patterns of testosterone therapy in men with a history of prostate cancer in the United States. Methods This was a retrospective review using Optum's De-identified Clinformatics Data Mart database. Administrative diagnosis, procedural, pharmacy, and laboratory codes were used to identify male subjects 40 years and older with prostate cancer treated with surgery or radiation between 2003 and 2018 who went on to receive TTh. Demographic and clinical factors are identified. Temporal trends in TTh usage were reported. Outcomes The main outcomes were rates of testosterone prescriptions in men with treated prostate cancer and associated laboratory values such as Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) and testosterone levels before TTh. Results 126,374 men completed treatment for CaP during the study period (42,515 surgery, 75,186 radiation, 8,673 both). Of these, 3,074 men (2.4%) received testosterone after CaP treatment. Men who received testosterone were younger, more likely to have erectile dysfunction, depressive disorder, and lower pretreatment PSA values compared to men who did not receive. Median PSA levels before TTh initiation were 0 – 0.2 depending on CaP treatment modality and median total testosterone level was Clinical Implications These findings provide insight into trends in testosterone prescriptions in men after prostate cancer treatment and may aid in clinical decision-making, as well as areas for improvement in cancer survivorship care. Strengths and Limitations Strengths include the large sample size, length of data coverage, and real-world analysis of testosterone prescribing patterns across the United States. Limitations include the reliance on insurance claims data, the retrospective study design, and lack of additional relevant clinical variables that may impact decision making regarding TTh. Conclusion National trends in testosterone prescriptions for men with treated prostate cancer suggest that many men are treated with TTh after prostate cancer therapy with patterns of indications and monitoring consistent with the general population. Chen T, Li S, Eisenberg M. Trends in Testosterone Therapy use in Prostate Cancer Survivors in the United States. J Sex Med 2021;18:1346–1353.
Deep Touch: Sensing Press Gestures from Touch Image Sequences

Capacitive touch sensors capture a sequence of images of a finger’s interaction with a surface that contain information about its contact shape, posture, and biomechanical structure. These images are typically reduced to two-dimensional points, with the remaining data discarded—restricting the expressivity that can be captured to discriminate a user’s touch intent. We develop a deep touch hypothesis that (1) the human finger performs richer expressions on a touch surface than simple pointing; (2) such expressions are manifested in touch sensor image sequences due to finger-surface biomechanics; and (3) modern neural networks are capable of discriminating touch gestures using these sequences. In particular, a press gesture based on an increase in a finger’s force can be sensed without additional hardware, and reliably discriminated from other common expressions. This work demonstrates that combining capacitive touch sensing with modern neural network algorithms is a practical direction to improve the usability and expressivity of touch-based user interfaces.
Oculomotor Dysfunction Due To Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension And Thiamine Deficiency (P2.302)

Objective: To report a case of Idiopathic intracranial hypertension and Thiamine deficiency presenting with oculomotor dysfunction. Background: Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) presents with clinical signs and symptoms like headache, papilledema and vision loss. Transient visual obscurations occur in about 2/3rd of patients with papilledema. Intermittent or continuous horizontal diplopia due to 6th CN palsy is well known. Thiamine deficiency causes classical triad of Wernicke’s encephalopathy (WE)- ataxia, ophthalmoplegia and encephalopathy. Absence of one or more of the classic symptoms can leads to under diagnosis. Oculomotor manifestations of WE include nystagmus, lateral rectus palsy and conjugate gaze palsies. Design/Methods: Retrospective review of medical records. Results: A 23-year-old female presented to her primary care physician with headache, blurred vision and diplopia. She was found to have bilateral papilledema and bilateral 6th cranial nerve palsy and was diagnosed to have IIH. She was started on acetazolamide. MRI brain showed multiple T2 hyperintensities, so she was referred to Neurology. On exam she had bilateral abduction weakness and her papilledema had resolved. She got spinal tap, opening pressure was 19cm of H2O and spinal fluid analysis was normal. Repeat MRI brain and orbits was negative for optic neuritis and multiple T2 hyperintensities persisted. She had extensive autoimmune and infectious workup which were negative. She had low thiamine level’s [3nmol/L (8-30nmol/L)] and was started on intravenous thiamine. She was discharge home on acetazolamide and thiamine. Her diplopia had resolved when she was seen in the clinic 2wks later. Conclusions: Idiopathic intracranial hypertension and Thiamine deficiency are well known to cause oculomotor dysfunction. Most patients with IIH will have significant nausea and vomiting and are prone to develop vitamin deficiencies. Measuring thiamine levels can help us diagnose and treat Wernicke’s encephalopathy and prevent significant morbidity. Disclosure: Dr. Srikanth-Mysore has nothing to disclose. Dr. Marky has nothing to disclose.
Reduction: A Philosophical Analysis

The molecularization of biology has led to a renewed interest in the possibility of reducing biological phenomena to physical interactions. Keywords: reduction
Presentation of Evidence and Factfinding Precision

For at least a century a debate has been raging about the relative advantages of the adversary and nonadversary presentations of evidence as tools in the quest for the truth.1 Most of the time this debate proceeded in a mild sfumato of conceptual ambiguity: Differences in the styles of developing evidence were often conflated with differences in arrangements concerning the collection of evidence, admissibility rules, and similar related issues. Beyond that, until quite recently, the arguments advanced were speculative, and information was exclusively in the form of impressions and intuitive insights. In our age, so enamoured of scientific methodology and so desirous of replacing "soft" by
Effect of megestrol acetate on quality of life in a dose-response trial in women with advanced breast cancer. The Cancer and Leukemia Group B.

PURPOSEThe impact of the side effects of megestrol acetate on the quality of life of noncachectic women with advanced breast cancer was studied in a dose-response clinical trial of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB 8741). Side effects of appetite increase and weight gain at higher doses were predicted to have a negative effect on quality of life.PATIENTS AND METHODSStage IV breast cancer patients were randomized to receive either 160, 800, or 1,600 mg/d of megestrol acetate. Quality of life was assessed in 131 patients at trial entry and at 1 and 3 months while on treatment, by telephone interview, using the following measures: the Functional Living Index-Cancer (FLIC), Rand Functional Limitations Scale, Rand Mental Health Inventory (MHI), the Body Image Subscale, and linear analog scales of drug side effects.RESULTSAt 3 months, women treated with 160 mg/d reported less severe side effects (P < .0005), better physical functioning (FLS, P < .0005), less psychologic distress (MHI, P = .008), and an imp...
Detection of Seizure Activity in the Paralyzed Neonate Using Continuous Monitoring

In experimental animals neurologic damage may occur during seizure activity whether the seizure is accompanied by motor activity and hypoxemia or whether the animal is paralyzed and normoxemic. These findings suggest that it may be important to detect seizure activity in the paralyzed neonate. Nine infants who were mechanically ventilated and paralyzed with pancuronium had their condition diagnosed as seizure activity. Vital signs were continuously monitored and six infants had either oxygen saturation or transcutaneous oxygen measured during seizure activity. For the group as a whole, rhythmic fluctuations in vital signs, cardiac rhythm, and oxygenation occurred every four minutes (range one to seven minutes) and lasted two minutes (range one to four minutes). In seven patients whose seizures were not accompanied by cardiac arrhythmias the following mean increases were noted: systolic arterial blood pressure, 15 mm Hg (range 7 to 36 mm Hg); heart rate, ten beats per minute (-11 to 30/min); oxygen saturation, 12% (range 4% to 20%); and transcutaneous oxygen, 31 mm Hg (range 14 to 45 mm Hg). Seizures in the two patients with cardiac arrhythmias were accompanied by a decrease in systolic arterial blood pressure of 27 mm Hg (range 15 to 40 mm Hg) and in oxygen saturation of 24% (range 20% to 28%). The presence of rhythmic fluctuation in vital signs and oxygenation should alert the physician to the possibility of seizure activity in the paralyzed neonate.
Abortion and the Beginning and End of Human Life

The doctrine that it is wrong to end the existence of something because it is a human life (unless special circumstances obtain) I call “the standard view.” I argue that attempts by proponents of abortion choice to avoid the implications of the standard view by suggesting that we don't know when life begins or by suggesting that fetuses are only potential lives fail. Nevertheless, opponents of abortion choice should not base their arguments on the standard view, for the standard view is false. I propose a substitute for the standard view that avoids the difficulties with it, that explains why most people believe that the standard view is true and that also underwrites opposition to abortion choice.
Evaluating elementary functions with Chebyshev polynomials on pipeline nets

Fast evaluation of vector-valued elementary functions plays a vital role in many real-time applications. In this paper, we present a pipeline networking approach to designing a Chebyshev polynomial evaluator for the fast evaluation of elementary functions over a string of arguments. In particular, pipeline nets are employed to perform the preprocessing and postprocessing of various elementary functions to boost the overall system performance. Design tradeoffs are analyzed among representational accuracy, processing speed and hardware complexity.
Reverse turns in blocked dipeptides are intrinsically unstable in water.

Abstract We have carried out molecular dynamics simulations to study the conformational equilibria of two blocked dipeptides, Ac-Ala-Ala-NHMe and trans -Ac-Pro-Ala-NHMe, in water (Ac, amino-terminal blocking group COCH 3 ; NHMe, carboxy-terminal blocking group NHCH 3 ). Using specialized sampling techniques we computed free-energy surfaces as functions of a conformation co-ordinate that corresponds to hydrogen-bonded reverse turns at small values and to extended conformations at large values. The free-energy difference between hydrogen-bonded reverse turn conformations and extended conformations, determined from the equilibrium constants for reverse turn unfolding, is approximately −5 kcal/mole for Ac-Ala-Ala-NHMe, and −10 kcal/mole for Ac-Pro-Ala-NHMe. These results demonstrate that reverse turns in blocked dipeptides are intrinsically unstable in water. That is, in the absence of strongly stabilizing sequence-specific inter-residue interactions involving side-chains and/or charged terminal groups, the extended conformations of small peptides are highly favored in solution. By thermodynamically decomposing the free-energy differences, we found that the peptide-water entropy is the primary reason for the exceptional stability of the extended conformations of both peptides, and that the differences between the two peptides are primarily due to differences in the peptide-water interactions. In addition, we assessed the “proline effect” on the conformational equilibria by comparing the differences in configurational entropies between the reverse turn and extended conformations of the two peptides. As expected, the extended conformation of the Pro-Ala peptide is destabilized by reduced configurational entropy, but the effect is negligible in the blocked dipeptides. Finally, we compared our results with the results of several other experimental studies to identify some of the specific interactions that may be responsible for stabilizing reverse turns in small peptides in solution.
Report from the Field: The Army's Land Grab

: The U.S. Army proposes tripling the size of its Pinon Canyon maneuver site for live fire exercises. Pinon Canyon is rich in cultural, archaeological and paleontological resources. There is a lack of transparency about military objectives, skepticism about the Army's true rationale, and concern for the military's desire to continue to expand. The Pinon Canyon case tests the boundaries of civilian primacy over the military, and the strength of civil society in asserting its rights in the face of military power.
On the possibility of detecting very hot gas through absorption-line studies

The possibility of detecting hot (T greater than or approximately equal to 10 to the 6th K) diffuse interstellar and intergalactic gas through absorption-line studies is assessed. Optical studies of semiforbidden lines are shown to be just beyond feasibility. X-ray absorption-line studies are concluded to be within the capability of future soft X-ray spectrographs, however. In particular, it is shown that the Bragg crystal spectrometer aboard Einstein could possibly have been used to detect O VII and O VIII lines against the Crab if they are present at plausible levels. Improvement of instrument parameters by only a small factor could make this the most important method available for studying hot interstellar, galactic halo and possibly even intergalactic gas.
Measuring material relaxation and creep recovery in a microfluidic device

We present a novel method of testing creep recovery in a microfluidic device. This method allows for the measurement of relaxation time of fluids at low strain. After applying a steady pressure-driven flow along a microchannel, the pressure is released and the fluid is allowed to relax and come to rest. Local strains are observed via the time-dependent velocity profiles and are fit to a general viscoelastic model to obtain the fluids' relaxation times. The use of polymeric solutions of various molecular weights allows for the observation of time scales for strains ranging from 0.01 to 10. Results are consistent with data obtained in a macroscopic rheometer and with a viscoelastic constitutive model.
Lipid peroxidation and biosynthesis of l-ascorbic acid in rat liver microsomes

On incubating l-gulonolactone with rat liver microsomes, l-ascorbic acid is formed. l-Ascorbic acid, once formed, acts as a catalyst for the formation of a 2-thiobarbituric acid-reacting substance(s), tentatively lipid peroxide. The lipid peroxide, on the other hand, irreversibly inactivates the l-gulono dehydrogenase. Hence, in such a system, the amount of l-ascorbic acid formed does not give a true value of the enzymic activity. However, when a chelating agent or an antioxidant is added to the system, the formation of lipid peroxide is completely inhibited and the amount of l-ascorbic acid formed represents the true activity of the enzyme system. The use of a chelating agent has a further advantage. In the presence of 0.001 M KCN, it completely prevents the oxidation of l-ascorbic acid, so that the l-ascorbic acid synthesized can be estimated by simple titration with 2·6-dichlorophenol indophenol.
Optical studies on glycine sodium nitrate: A semiorganic nonlinear optical crystal

Abstract A semiorganic non-linear optical single crystal of glycine sodium nitrate has been grown from aqueous solution by unidirectional crystal growth method. The phase of the grown crystal was identified using single crystal X-ray analysis. The functional groups present in the crystal were identified using FTIR analysis. Optical absorption studies have confirmed that the grown crystal possess less absorption in the entire visible region. A stable broad peak in the violet region was observed in the emission spectrum. Thermal stability and melting temperature of the as grown crystal was identified from TG-DTA analysis. The mechanical strength and the work hardening co-efficient were determined from Vicker's microhardness measurements for different loads. Dielectric behaviour of the grown crystal was studied and the results are discussed in detail.
A New TV Video/Sound Detector IC

The operation of multiplier and video amplifier circuits used in present TV IF detector ICs is explained. A new detector is described which uses a separate sound detector to allow conventional trapping before the video detector. The sound carrier output is buffered and the video detector features differential inputs and special circuitry to handle input overloads. An NPN video amplifier uses differential to single-ended conversion to improve linearity and dc stability. The 14 lead device also includes an auxiliary video output, a carrier source for AFT, and a sync separator device.
Government–nonprofit partnership: a defining framework

Partnership has emerged as an increasingly popular approach to privatization and government–nonprofit relations generally. While in principle it offers many advantages, there is no consensus on what it means and its practice varies. Following a review of partnership literature, the article refines the partnership concept, developing two definitional dimensions: mutuality and organization identity. Based on these dimensions, partnership is defined on a relative scale and is distinguished from other relationship types: contracting, extension, and co-optation or gradual absorption. Examples of each are provided. The model enables actors to assess their relative tolerance for partnership approaches, and provides a common language among potential partners. Linking its defining dimensions to partnership's value-added assists partners to advocate for partnership approaches from an instrumental as well as normative perspective. The model and inter-organizational relationship matrix can inform continuing theory building and practical experimentation both to refine defining dimensions and indicators of partnership practice, and to enhance responsiveness to partners' expectations of partnership. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Structure and analysis of phospholipase D gene from Ricinus communis L

Phospholipase D (PLD; EC 3.1.4.4) has been proposed to play a pivotal role in various cellular processes, but molecular understanding of this enzyme is rather limited. This report describes the nucleotide sequence, structure, and genomic organization of a PLD gene from castor bean (Ricinus communis L. cv. Hale). The PLD gene was isolated from a castor bean genomic library using the PLD cDNA as a hybridization probe. Sequence comparison with the PLD cDNA revealed that the PLD gene consisted of four exons and three introns, one of which interrupts the 5'-untranslated region. Southern blot analysis indicated that the cloned PLD gene was present as a single-copy gene, and yet there were other PLD or PLD-related sequences in the castor bean genome.
Congenital neuroblastoma in a neonate with isotretinoin embryopathy.

Summary: We describe a neonate with isotretinoin embryopathy and an incidental finding of congenital neuroblastoma. Diffuse liver metastases led to the decision to provide oncologic therapy followed by tumor resection. Despite the possible need for chronic care related to the comorbidities of the isotretinoin embryopathy and oncologic management, the patient remains disease-free. Because of the uncertain etiology of neuroblastoma, it remains unclear whether exposure to isotretinoin during embryogenesis and fetal development had an oncogenic effect on this patient.
Reasoning About Multi-Lingual Exception Handling Using RIPLS

Building multi-lingual software is a practical necessity. At present, with object-oriented programming the dominant paradigm, it is common to assemble software systems comprising components written in at least two different object-oriented languages. Modern object-oriented languages provide exception handling mechanisms as a means of enriching the signatures of methods with a specification of what to do if the method ''fails'', i.e., cannot carry out its intended (normal) function for some reason. Indeed, Java and C++ (and many other object-oriented languages, including C#) have remarkably similar exception handling mechanisms. As we demonstrate, however, those exception handling mechanisms do not necessarily interoperate smoothly when used in multi-lingual software systems. We believe that our long-term goal of maximally effortless and error-free multi-lingual programming requires automated tools that are based on solid formal foundations. Toward that end, we have developed a formal language, which we call RIPLS, that can be used to rigorously study properties of multi-lingual software. In this paper, we demonstrate RIPLS and our approach by using it to study exception handling in multilingual object-oriented systems, and show how use of our methods can identify problems that standard techniques cannot. We then exhibit a correctly-working version of multi-lingual exception-handling and use our methods to confirm its correctness. Finally we discuss how experience with these RIPLS-based methods has informed our designs for automated tools that will implement correctly-working multi-lingual exception handling. This work makes a significant contribution by demonstrating that formal, theoretical foundations can be used to solve practical problems in multi-lingual software development.
Triple whammy: three giant saphenous vein graft aneurysms.

A 70 year-old male with a history of coronary artery bypass graft surgery presented with an episode of syncope. Chest X-ray revealed a large mass in the right mediastinum (Fig. 1, left panel). Echocardiogram showed two large masses that appeared to be compressing the right and left atria, respectively (Fig. 1, right panel). Computerised tomographic imaging revealed that these masses were vein graft aneurysms - two of which involved a graft to the right coronary artery and one that involved the graft to the left circumflex artery (Fig. 2). Coronary angiography confirmed the presence of these aneurysms (Fig. 3) and indicated that these graft aneurysms were thrombosed with no flow
Predeposited autologous blood transfusion for surgery in infants and children

Abstract Homologous blood transfusions have associated infectious and immunological risks. Since 1989 the authors have conducted predeposited autologous blood transfusions (PABT) for infants and children in whom transfusions were expected to be required during an elective operation. Autologous blood was deposited in 13 patients ranging in age from 9 months to 10 years (median, 21 months) with weight from 7.3 kg to 33.6 kg (median, 10.5 kg). They included eight patients with Hirschsprung's disease, three patients with benign tumors, and two others. The volume of predeposition was calculated to maintain the patients' hematocrit at 30% after collection. Blood was deposited once or twice, 1 to 2 weeks before the operation. The actual volume of predeposited blood was 19.1 ± 2.4 mL/kg in infants with Hirschsprung's disease, and 21.8 ± 10.0 mL/kg in children with Hirschsprung's disease, and 12.6 ± 2.2 mL/kg in children with other diseases. Nine patients were operated on using only PABT, 2 patients required homologous blood transfusions in addition to PABT, and 2 patients did not require any blood transfusions. No complications occurred as a result of PABT except preoperative anemia. PABT is a safe and effective means of procuring blood for intraoperative transfusions in infants and children undergoing major elective general pediatric surgical procedures.
The village institutes experience in Turkey

Abstract This paper sheds light on the Village Institutes experience in Turkey from the late 1930s to the mid‐1940s. The Institutes have given rise to many academic and political controversies, and have remained an issue of confusion. This was owing partly to the lack of understanding of the real nature of the growing interest by the Kemalist elite in rural issues in the 1930s, and partly to the way that the power and importance of peasantist ideology had been underestimated, especially as it had gained wide currency amongst the governing elite in the 1930s and 1940s. This article begins by analyzing the historical and intellectual context of the period, and moves on to the development of the concept of the Village Institutes, assessing its most important and controversial characteristics. Finally, a new theoretical interpretation is offered within a critique of existing, widely‐held explanations that have dominated the theoretical literature on the issue for so long.
Conservation of complex expression domains of the pdm-2 POU domain gene between Drosophila virilis and Drosophila melanogaster

The closely linked pdm-1 and pdm-2 genes of Drosophila are expressed in complex patterns that suggest diverse roles in segmentation and nervous system development. A D. virilis pdm cDNA clone was isolated and sequenced. It shares sequence similarity with just the POU domain region of pdm-1, but shares extensive sequence similarity with the largest exon of pdm-2. In situ hybridization to D. virilis embryos shows that virtually all aspects of pdm-2 expression are conserved between D. virilis and D. melanogaster. This includes initial expression in a gap gene-like posterior domain, expression in ectodermal stripes during germ band extension, broad expression in the neurectoderm followed by limitation to discrete subsets of CNS cells, and expression in specific PNS neurons and support cells. The conservation of these expression domains supports the idea that the pdm genes are important for a variety of cell fate decisions in Drosophila development.
Computer-assisted image analysis of the distributions of peptidergic terminals in the central nucleus of the amygdala: A preliminary study

When viewed under dark-field illumination, peptidergic terminals in sections stained by the Sternberger PAP immunocytochemical method are seen as individual points of light. Under high magnification, the degree of brightness of various areas of immunoreactive terminals is seen to be a function of the density of terminals in these areas. By analyzying the relative brightness of the immunostained central nucleus of the amygdala (CNA) with an EyeCom II PDP-11/34 image analysis system, we have obtained a relative evaluation of the density distribution of neurotensin (NT)-, substance P (SP), VIP-, angiotensin II (AII), m-enkephalin (m-ENK) and somatostatin (SS)-immunoreactive terminals in terms of normal morphology and following a brain lesion. The EyeCom II system divides the presented image into 307200 picture elements (pixels) and assigns one of 256 grey values to the average brightness with each pixel. We have aggregated the grey level frequencies into 5 levels where level 1 corresponds to the highest terminal density and level 5 to the lowest density. At level 1, only NT- and VIP-immunoreactive terminals occupy a significant percentage of the cross-sectional area of the CNA (20%). About 15% of the area of the CNA has VIP terminals with level 5 density. The distributions of the top 20% of the terminal density range of NT, SP, AII and VIP support a classical medial/lateral division of the nucleus. The distribution of the same range of SS- and ENK terminals suggests a dorsoventral division of the CNA. A preliminary study indicates that comparison of grey level frequency histograms generated by image analysis from homologous lesioned and unlesioned sections of the CNA can yield useful information regarding post-lesion changes in the distribution of immunoreactive terminals.
Precision measurements of relativistic and QED effects in helium-like boron.

We have made precision wavelength measurements on the 1s2s $^{3}$${\mathit{S}}_{1}$--1s2p $^{3}$${\mathit{P}}_{0,1,2}$\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} transitions in heliumlike boron using fast-beam laser excitation. These measurements are accurate to 2 parts in ${10}^{7}$ of the transition energy and test the most recent calculations at a level of 0.1% of the Lamb shift. The relatively high Z of boron, in comparison to helium, makes the transition energies sensitive to higher powers of \ensuremath{\alpha}Z in the calculations, and our measurements show discrepancies which may be due to these uncalculated higher-order terms.
Diplomatic Mediation as an Independent Variable

Successful third-party diplomatic mediation illustrates diplomacy as a causative, independent element in world politics. This article asks how mediators forge agreement between force-prone, deadlocked parties in intractable diplomatic conflict, and why some such conflicts are more difficult to mediate than others. It compares three interstate and three intrastate mediation cases, each probed as a deviant episode, and tests the conventional view that intrastate conflict presents the more difficult mediation challenge. Confirming that intrastate conflict is more difficult to mediate than its interstate counterpart, the study narrows and refines the sources of the added difficulty.
Accelerating cultural capital: reproducing silicon valley culture in global ecosystems

A combination of infrastructure developments, accessible platforms and easy to use tools have dramatically lowered the barriers to entry for technology startups in recent years. Alongside this, seed accelerators, which provide the soft infrastructure and training to foster high-tech startups have spread rapidly worldwide. But little is known about how accelerators are impacting the global tech startup landscape. Through fieldwork at an accelerator in Singapore, we investigate the expansion of this Silicon Valley model of innovation, the cultural values inherent in its practices, and how it is transformed and implemented in other contexts. Drawing on Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital, we frame accelerators as sites of complex cultural interaction, reproduction, and tension. Accelerators both explicitly and implicitly propagate cultural values from Silicon Valley. We highlight the complexities this presents for founders of different backgrounds as well as the value and recognition it gives them in the startup community.
Paradoxical Roles of Perivascular Adipose Tissue in Atherosclerosis and Hypertension

Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) is the fat tissue surrounding most of the vasculature and it has long been considered solely as vessel-supporting connective tissue. There are 2 major types of adipose tissue widely distributed throughout the body: white (WAT) and brown (BAT). PVAT is similar to BAT in rodents, but it was believed that only WAT existed in adult humans and BAT was present only in infants. However, the presence of functional BAT in adult humans is now accepted. The main function of BAT is to generate heat, and it is essential for adaptive thermogenesis and energy expenditure, whereas the main function of WAT is to store lipids. Besides the different functions of WAT and BAT, growing evidence suggests that different depots of adipose tissue have different functions. Similar to other fat depots, PVAT produces various adipokines, growth factors and inhibitors that affect functions of adjacent layers of the vasculature. Pathophysiological conditions such as obesity, vascular injury, aging and infection could cause PVAT dysfunction, leading to vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cell dysfunctions. In this review, we discuss the function and dysfunction of PVAT on atherosclerosis and hypertension. (Circ J 2013; 77: 11–18)
Differences between cytoplasmic glucocorticoid-binding proteins shown by heterogeneity of nuclear acceptor sites.

IT is now widely accepted that most, if not all, glucocorticoid responses in target tissue are mediated by specific steroid receptor molecules in the cytoplasm1,2. Following association between steroid and receptor, there is transport of the steroid to the nucleus where subsequent interaction with the genome presumably alters transcriptional processes3. This scheme does not yet satisfactorily explain the widely differing responses of various tissues to glucocorticoids. Specificity of the kind of response observed could lie in differences in the receptor molecule itself and/or in the ability of a common receptor molecule to interact only with certain ‘exposed’ parts of the nuclear material in a given cell. Some evidence has favoured the latter interpretation4, but there has not yet been support for the former contention. In this report, we present evidence that at least some degree of specificity of response may be mediated by subtle differences in the cytoplasmic corticosteroid-binding proteins between tissues with differing kinds of responses to glucocorticoids. Our data further suggest that there are intranuclear binding sites for cytoplasmic glucocorticoid receptors which are of high affinity and saturability and which can distinguish between glucocorticoid receptors of differing origin.
Capital punishment: The canadian experience

In recent months events reported by the news media have rekindled the controversy concerning capital punishment and protagonists have surfaced with arguments covering a range from morality to expediency. Economists, generally speaking, have tended to make their contributions within the scope of their own discipline either through theoretical analyses or by the presentation of empirical evidence to support their hypotheses (1, 8, 9, 12). Unfortunately empirical work employing data from the United States has yielded conflicting results (1, 9, 10, 11, 12). Despite this set of circumstances, a consensus appears to be developing in favor of deterrence asthe aspect of the issue which lends i t se l f best to investigation and debate. This is undoubtedly a commentary on the pragmatic nature of the discipline, since deterrence tends to smack of expediency. Unfortunately, the poor quality of American data has generated various econometric problems with the result that an early resolution of the issue appears unlikely. In the l ight of these problems i t occurred to the investigators that an examination of Canadian experience concerning capital punishment might be useful. The f i r s t part of the study wi l l be devoted to presenting the historical and inst i tut ional aspects of the Canadian situation. Following that a model wi l l be tested using Canadian data.