cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Placental Insulin/IGF-1 Signaling, PGC-1α, and Inflammatory Pathways Are Associated With Metabolic Outcomes at 4-6 Years of Age: The ECHO Healthy Start Cohort.

An adverse intrauterine environment is associated with the future risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Changes in placental function may underpin the intrauterine origins of adult disease, but longitudinal studies linking placental function with childhood outcomes are rare. Here, we determined the abundance and phosphorylation of protein intermediates involved in insulin signaling, inflammation, cortisol metabolism, protein glycosylation, and mitochondrial biogenesis in placental villus samples from healthy mothers from the Healthy Start cohort. Using MANOVA, we tested the association between placental proteins and offspring adiposity (percent fat mass) at birth (n=109) and infancy (4-6mo, n=104), and adiposity, skinfold thickness, triglycerides, and insulin in children (4-6y, n=66). Placental IGF-1 receptor protein was positively associated with serum triglycerides in children. GSK3β phosphorylation at serine 9, a readout of insulin and growth factor signaling, and the ratio of phosphorylated to total JNK2 were both positively associated with midthigh skinfold thickness in children. Moreover, PGC-1α abundance was positively associated with insulin in children. In conclusion, placental insulin/IGF-1 signaling, PGC-1α, and inflammation pathways were positively associated with metabolic outcomes in 4-6-year-old children, identifying a novel link between placental function and long-term metabolic outcomes.
A randomized phase II trial of adjuvant pembrolizumab versus observation following curative resection for stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with primary tumors between 1-4 cm: Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium BTCRC-LUN18-153.

TPS8583Background: There are approximately 35,000 cases of stage I lung cancer in the United States each year. While these patients have better 5-year overall survival (OS) rates than their counter...
Ultrashort Electron Bunches from Laser-Plasma Accelerators

Trapping of plasma electrons in the self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) via the coupling of Raman backscatter to the wake is examined analytically and with 3D test particle simulations. The trapping threshold for linear polarization is much less than for circular and occurs well below wavebreaking. Self-channeling provides continuous focusing of the accelerated electrons which, along with relativistic pump laser effects, can enhance the energy gain by a factor ≥ 2. The colliding pulse method for injecting electrons in the standard LWFA is examined. Simulations of test electrons in 3D fields indicate the production of relativistic (≥ 25 MeV) high-quality electron bunches with ultrashort durations (few fs), small energy spreads (few %), and low normalized emittances (1 mm-mrad).
P47-M Comparison of Pyrosequencing and Fluorescent Dideoxynucleotide Sequencing for Measurement of CpG Methylation

In mammals, cytosine methylation at CpG sites is an important epigenetic mechanism for altering gene expression in normal and cancer cells. Sequencing of PCR products from bisulfite-treated genomic DNA provides the most direct measurement of methylation at individual cytosines. To compare the relative ability of pyrosequencing and fluorescent dideoxynucleotide sequencing to accurately quantify cytosine methylation, I designed primers for amplification of a 197-bp region within the IGF2 gene. Two sets of primers were synthesized: (1) a set containing a 5′-biotin on the reverse primer (used for streptavidin purification of the template strand prior to pyrosequencing) and (2) a set containing the M13 forward and M13 reverse primer sequences as 5′ extensions of the forward and reverse PCR primers, respectively. Only the first set was used to generate PCR products for pyrosequencing; both sets were used to make amplicons for fluorescent DNA sequencing. Following PCR amplification of eight bisulfite-treated human genomic DNAs, templates were purified and subjected to both DNA sequencing technologies. Pyrosequencing was able to measure percent methylation at 7 CpG sites, while the fluorescent chemistry was able to interrogate up to 12 sites, due in part to its longer read length. The percent methylation measured by each technology differed for a given CpG site and genomic DNA: the value obtained by pyrosequencing was usually 10–15% less than that obtained by the fluorescent chemistry. In order to determine which chemistry measures percent methylation more accurately, experiments with known ratios of fully methylated and unmethylated templates are underway.
View/edit/compile/run Web-based programming environment

A Web-based environment has been developed for students to perform C, Java, and shell programming. The environment runs on a Unix server, uses password authentication, and provides each student with separate project subdirectories that cannot be seen by other students. Options are available to view fiks, edit source code, compile, run, run in debug mode, run with output plotted and displayed as a GIF image, display C preprocessor output, display generated assembly code, display optimized assembly code, and insert compiler error messages as comments into the source code. The environment is implemented using a combination of C code, peri, and shell scripts, and is freely available (open source). The source code of the environment itself can be used as examples in an advanced Unix/C programming or security course. The environment has been used successfully in both sophomore and senior-level C programming courses, a graduate Unix/C programming course (C and shell programming), and a senior/graduate computer communications security course (Java programming).
Avoiding Common ICU Errors

This pocket book succinctly describes 318 errors commonly made by attendings, residents, interns, nurses, and nurse-anesthetists in the intensive care unit, and gives practical, easy-to-remember tips for avoiding these errors. The book can easily be read immediately before the start of a rotation or used for quick reference on call. Each error is described in a short, clinically relevant vignette, followed by a list of things that should always or never be done in that context and tips on how to avoid or ameliorate problems. Coverage includes all areas of ICU practice except the pediatric intensive care unit.
Observation of impulsively excited THz acoustical vibrations in PbTe quantum dots

We have investigated the femtosecond nonlinear dynamics of PbTe quantum dots grown in a glass matrix and observed impulsive excitation of acoustic resonances of the dots. We have further studied the wavelength dependence of the amplitude, frequency, and damping rate of these phonons. Such data, in conjunction with absorption spectra and femtosecond spectroscopic studies, may provide a new and interesting method for evaluating the size distributions of nanocrystallites.
Staging Entrapment in Mexico City

Five actors move around an almost empty theater stage carrying ubiquitous gray building bricks; they are costumed in jeans, skirts, shirts, and blouses that have been dyed to produce a whitish mottled coloring, as if covered in brick dust from construction work. Gradually, at center-front stage, they collectively construct a single-layer square platform of bricks—a stage on a stage. Standing side by side behind the square of bricks, the actors leap into the air in unison, gesturing upward. Together they take a step onto the brick stage, facing the audience square on. > —It was the day of the fiesta of our lord Huitzilopochtli. We were celebrating in the temple…. The plaza was full of people … > —There were snipers on the roofs. > —Those who were going to kill us covered one hand with a white glove. > —Suddenly there was a gunshot in the distance. We didn’t know where it came from. > —“Get down!” someone shouted. “They’re going to kill us!” > — They closed the eagle entrance in the smaller palace … and when it was closed, they all took their positions. > —The plaza was a mousetrap. The actors gaze out into the darkness of the auditorium, staring directly at the audience, as intensive bright lights shine in their faces, illuminating expressions of fear and terror. Pressed together they form a tight cluster of bodies. Standing huddled, the bodies push, touch, crouch, and lean sideways, falling … falling as one body, in slow motion, bodies contorted, awkward, one on top of the other, heads falling slowly down to the ground. > —I remember perfectly the blood running down the forehead of someone who was by my side. > —I had blood in the sides of my shoes, in the hem of my dress. > —“Everyone against the wall! Everyone on the ground, and whoever …
Generation of THz radiation from dielectrics

We review generation and application of terahertz bandwidth electromagnetic radiation from dielectrics. We discuss THz beam generation by transient photocarriers and by nonlinear susceptibility by using femtosecond laser pulses. >
Modeling, optimization, and computer control of the cephalosporin C fermentation process

In this study, a cephalosporin C producing strain, Cephalosporium acremonium (ATCC 36225), was chosen to determine the optimal conditions that maximize antibiotic production in a mixed substrate of glucose and sucrose. A model for cell growth and cephalosporin C production at different pH and temperature was developed and the associated parameters were evaluated experimentally. Pontryagin's maximum principle, in conjunction with the model, was used to predict the optimal temperature and pH control profiles to maximize the production of antibiotic.
Modification of an ophthalmic laser for use in sedated, reclining children.

• The headrest of a neodymium-YAG ophthalmic laser was modified to accept a reclining patient. Laser procedures were then performed on children who were resting in a lateral decubitus position on a stretcher before the laser. Very little manipulation or stimulation of the children was required, and so the procedures could be done using intravenous sedation or ketamine hydrochloride without endotracheal intubation. The modified head-rest can increase the indications for laser surgery in uncooperative children by making the procedure less troublesome.
Ethnicity, modernization, and regime support in Russia's regions under Yeltsin

Throughout the 1990s, Russia's regions exhibited patterns of political behavior related to their ethnic status and levels of socio‐economic development. The ethnic regions tended to support the Yeltsin regime while tending to lag behind the rest of the country in levels of development and inclination to undergo economic reforms. Using quantitative analysis, we analyse the complex interrelationship of ethnicity, socio‐economic development, and regime support in Russia's regions under Yeltsin, and offer a series of possible explanations as to why the ethnic regions exhibited the patterns of electoral behavior they did during the years of the Yeltsin presidency.
Florid hyperplasia of mesonephric remnants involving prostate and periprostatic tissue: Possible confusion with adenocarcinoma

Two cases of florid hyperplasia of mesonephric remnants occuriring in the prostate are described. One case was originally interpreted as invasive adenocarcinoma on transurethral resection (TUR), resulting in radical proslatectomy. In the second case, a TUR specimen was diagnostic for adenocarcinoma,
Simultaneous effects of phylogenetic niche conservatism and competition on avian community structure.

We currently have only a partial understanding of how phylogenetic relation ships relate to patterns of community structure, in part because, for most groups of organisms, we do not know the extent to which ecological similarity results from common ancestry. Associations between phylogenetic relatedness and local community structure are particularly interesting for groups in which many species that span a gradient of phylogenetic divergence occur in potential sympatry. We explored the relationship between evolutionary relatedness and current species co-occurrence among the North American wood-warblers (Aves: Parulidae), a group of songbirds known both for its species diversity and for exhibiting high levels of sympatry at breeding sites. Species co-occurrences were derived from North American Breeding Bird Survey transects comprising 160000 census points distributed across North America. The nested point-within-transect structure of this survey provides an unusual opportunity to remove larger-scale geographical effects on local community composition and thereby consider patterns of co-occurrence only among regionally sympatric pairs of species. We indexed evolutionary relatedness among all pairs of taxa by genetic distances based on long mitochondrial DNA protein-coding sequences. Most regionally sympatric taxon pairs rarely co-occur at local sites, and the most closely related never exhibit high local co occurrences, as predicted if past or present competitive effects are strongest for these recently separated lineages. Quantile regression shows that, for a subset of taxa, local co-occurrence does increase with time since common ancestry, and that this apparent relaxation of competitive exclusion is strongest for distantly related species that have differentiated in fundamental ecological and behavioral traits, such as terrestrial vs. arboreal foraging. Comparisons against a null model of species co-occurrence further demonstrate that these patterns occur against a background of phylogenetic niche conservatism: across all phylogenetic distances, sympatric species co-occurred at higher rates than expected by chance, a pattern that might stem from a tendency by these species to show conservatism in their selection of similar general habitat types. Considered in concert, these analyses suggest the simultaneous mediation of local community structure by the ecological similarity of closely related species and by trait divergence among a subset of more distant lineages.
Ethanol- and diazepam-withdrawal hyperlocomotion is not due to 5-HT3 receptor stimulation

The effect of 5-HT3 receptor antagonists such as ondansetron, ICS 205–930, MDL 72222, metoclopramide, and zacopride was investigated on the ethanol as well as diazepam withdrawal phenomena in the present study. There was a significant increase in locomotor activity in the ethanol- as well as diazepam-withdrawn rats. The treatment of rats with 5-HT3 receptor antagonists during withrawal phase did not modify the effect. The ethanol-withdrawn rats were more sensitive to pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced convulsions as compared to control animals. 5-HT3 receptor antagonists did not attenuate the increased sensitivity of ethanol-withdrawn rats to PTZ. These observations indicated that 5-HT3 receptor antagonists are ineffective in attenuating hyperlocomotor activity following abrupt termination of chronic administration of ethanol or diazepam, and increased sensitivity to PTZ in the ethanol-withdrawn rats.
Thermal and mechanical constraints on the lithosphere beneath the Marquesas swell

The Marquesas Islands, like most active or recently active hotspot chains, lie on anomalously shallow sea floor, and their subsidence history points to a fundamentally thermal origin for the swell1, as do heat flow and subsidence data for the swells beneath Bermuda2 and Hawaii3,4. Here we apply a new linear filtering technique to geoid height and depth anomaly data over the Marquesas, to constrain the depth to the high-temperature, low-density material responsible for elevating the swell. We determine an isostatic compensation depth of 45±5 km for the swell, and best-fitting values for lithospheric flexural rigidity and island load density of 5×1022 N m and 2,700 kg m−3, respectively. The swell's shallow compensation depth and low flexural rigidity call for anomalously high temperatures within the lithosphere5,6.
α- Relaxations in strong and fragile glass forming liquids

The basis of Angell's classification of liquids into the strong, intermediate or fragile classes is given an interpretation by way of the coupling model. The cause or physical mechanism of the fragility of liquids is found.
Children's experiences of violence: some have much more than others.

Objective: To assess the role of multiple victimization, or what is termed in this article "poly-victimization," in explaining trauma symptomatology. Method: In a nationally representative sample of 2,030 children ages 2-17, assessment was made of the past year's victimization experiences and recent trauma symptoms. Results: Children experiencing four or more different kinds of victimization in a single year (poly-victims) comprised 22% of the sample. Poly-victimization was highly predictive of trauma symptoms, and when taken into account, greatly reduced or eliminated the association between individual victimizations (e.g., sexual abuse) and symptomatology. Poly-victims were also more symptomatic than children with only repeated episodes of the same kind of victimization. Conclusion: Researchers and practitioners need to assess for a broader range of victimizations, and avoid studies and assessments organized around a single form of victimization.
Techniques for Fast Physical Synthesis

The traditional purpose of physical synthesis is to perform timing closure , i.e., to create a placed design that meets its timing specifications while also satisfying electrical, routability, and signal integrity constraints. In modern design flows, physical synthesis tools hardly ever achieve this goal in their first iteration. The design team must iterate by studying the output of the physical synthesis run, then potentially massage the input, e.g., by changing the floorplan, timing assertions, pin locations, logic structures, etc., in order to hopefully achieve a better solution for the next iteration. The complexity of physical synthesis means that systems can take days to run on designs with multimillions of placeable objects, which severely hurts design productivity. This paper discusses some newer techniques that have been deployed within IBM's physical synthesis tool called PDS that significantly improves throughput. In particular, we focus on some of the biggest contributors to runtime, placement, legalization, buffering, and electric correction, and present techniques that generate significant turnaround time improvements
The effect of piezoresistive microcantilever geometry on cantilever sensitivity during surface stress chemical sensing

We have designed, fabricated, and tested five piezoresistive cantilever configurations to investigate the effect of shape and piezoresistor placement on the sensitivity of microcantilevers under both point loading and surface stress loading. The experimental study reveals that: (1) high aspect ratio cantilevers that are much longer than they are wide are optimal for point-loading applications such as microscopy and force measurements; (2) low aspect ratio cantilevers that are short and wide are optimal for surface stress-loading scenarios such as those that occur in biological and chemical sensor applications. The sensitivity data for both point loads and surface stress are consistent with previously developed finite-element models.
New models of interstellar gas—grain chemistry — II. Surface photochemistry in quiescent cores

The photodissociation of surface species, caused by photons from the cosmic-ray-induced and background interstellar radiation fields, is incorporated into our combined gas-phase and grain-surface chemical models of quiescent dense interstellar cores. For the cores studied here, only cosmic-ray-induced photons are important. We find that photodissociation alters gas-phase and surface abundances mainly at large cloud ages (≳106–7 yr). The abundances of those surface species, such as H2O, that are readily reproduced on the surface following photodissociation are not strongly affected at any time. The abundances of surface species that are, on the other hand, reformed slowly via surface reactions possessing activation energy (e.g. CH3OH) are reduced, while the abundances of associated surface photoproducts (e.g. CO) increase. In the gas phase, inclusion of surface photodissociation tends to increase molecular abundances at late times, slightly improving the agreement with observation for TMC-1.
Management of hereditary angioedema in 2012: scientific and pharmacoeconomic perspectives.

Clinical Presentation and Impact Hereditary Angioedema (HAE) is an autosomal dominant disease characterized by recurrent episodes of edema involving the skin, GI tract, and/or airway. With a prevalence of about 1 in 50,000, HAE is rare, affecting fewer than 10,000 people in the US1. There is a range of severity and frequency of symptoms in HAE patients. Some experience relatively mild symptoms on rare occasions, others have symptoms one or more times each month, and still others have recurrent debilitating attacks that may lead to tragic outcomes, including narcotic addiction and/or inappropriate surgery due to recurrent acute abdominal pain from intestinal edema. Laryngeal edema leading to death or near-death from asphyxiation may also occur, sometimes in patients who had not previously had severe symptoms2. As a group, HAE patients are more likely to require frequent Emergency Department visits and hospitalizations, consistently miss work or school, and they also endure the negative psychosocial impact of HAE as a chronic disease3. The morbidity and potential mortality of HAE, if untreated, is therefore profound, especially for those with moderate or severe symptoms.
Sampling Radius of a Porous Cup Sampler: Experimental Results

Laboratory experiments were conducted to examine the radius of soil (sand) sampled (Sr) by a porous cup sampler. Sr was defined by the detection of potassium bromide (KBr) in a sample when KBr was injected at horizontal distances of 5, 10, 15, 30, and 45 cm from the sampler. For quasi-static soil moisture conditions, the relation between Sr as defined by the arrival time of KBr (t) at the sampler (evacuated with a constant vacuum of 70kPa) after it was injected at a distance (x) was described by t = 1.4x2.3. As expected, desaturation occurred most rapidly near the sampler (0-5 cm). The amount of KBr collected on a mass balance basis was greatest when KBr was injected near the sampler and decreased with injection distance. The injection of KBr into the soil at a prescribed distance from the sampler was a better method for predicting Sr for a given time than change in matric potential of the soil.
A robotic assistant for trans-oral surgery: the robotic endo-laryngeal flexible (Robo-ELF) scope

This paper describes the continued development of the Robotic EndoLaryngeal (Robo-ELF) Scope System, a simple clinically usable robot for manipulating flexible endoscopes, particularly in laryngeal surgery. The system includes a robot with three active and two passive degrees of freedom, a five degree of freedom passive positioning arm, a malleable scope shaft support, and a custom joystick controller. The Robo-ELF Scope allows a surgeon to control a flexible endoscope with only one hand and also to release the controls and perform bimanual surgery if desired. We have evaluated the Robo-ELF Scope system in both phantom and cadaver studies and found it superior to hand manipulation of flexible endoscopes and conventional rigid endoscopes.
Easy-to-use equipment for the accurate microinjection of nanoliter volumes into the nuclei of amphibian oocytes

Abstract Microinjection of Xenopus oocytes has become a valuable technique for studying many aspects of control of eucaryotic gene expression. Previously published methods for controlling and monitoring the volume of sample injected into oocytes are time consuming and tedious and require considerable expertise to obtain reproducible results. The construction and manner of usage of micropipets are the most critical parts of a successful injection technique. Methods for the construction of micropipets and ways to assess the accuracy and precision of the injection of nanoliter volumes into amphibian oocytes are described. Construction of pipets is done almost entirely using instruments that are relatively inexpensive and allow for a high degree of reproducibility. Micropipets made in this manner have several advantages: (1) They inflict little damage on the oocytes during the injection process; greater than 95% of the oocytes survive after microinjection. (2) Oocytes do not require defolliculation prior to microinjection. (3) One micropipet can be used to inject as many as 100 oocytes before needing to be refilled with sample and without acquiring a blockage. Using the microinjection techniques described, the accuracy of sample delivery was within 9% of the mean and the precision increased with increasing volume: the standard deviations of volumes in the 5-nl range were within 9% of the mean and volumes in the range 10–50 nl were within 4–6% of the mean.
A parallelized Eno procedure for direct numerical simulation of compressible turbulence

In this paper, a finite-difference based ENO (essentially nonoscillatory) procedure has been chosen for the direct numerical simulation (DNS) of compressible turbulence. The implementation of the ENO scheme follows the relatively efficient procedure in Shuet al. (1992), but the latter has been modified in the present paper to admit scalar conservation equations and to run on the iPSC/860 Paragon parallel supercomputer. DNS results with our procedure are in excellent agreement with pseudo-spectral and Pade approximation calculations in two and three dimensions. This is the case for a variety of initial conditions for compressible turbulence. The parallel algorithms presented are simple but quite efficient for DNS, with a speedup that approaches the theoretical value. Some of the attractive features include 1) minimum communication whereby a processor only communicates with two neighbors, 2) almost one hundred percent load balancing, 3) a checker-board approach to solve the Poisson equation reduces communication by a factor of approximately 2, and, 4) obtaining turbulence statistics is based on a ‘global collect’ approach, which is implemented to ensure that a single number, rather than a large matrix of numbers, is communicated between processors. The ENO code presented in this paper should be quite useful in its own right, while the parallel implementation should allow the simulation of fairly realistic problems.
Quality of life in children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder: base rates, parent–child agreement, and clinical correlates

The presence of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been linked to decreased quality of life (QoL) among adults, yet little is known about the impact of OCD on QoL in pediatric patients. Sixty-two youth with OCD and their parent(s) were administered the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale following a clinical interview. Children completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory and parents completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Parent Proxy Inventory and Child Behavior Checklist. QoL scores for OCD patients were significantly lower than for healthy controls, but similar to QoL in a general psychiatric sample on the majority of domains. Parent-child agreement on QoL was moderate to strong across age groups. Results indicate that, in youth with OCD, QoL is reduced relative to healthy controls, related to OCD symptom severity per parent-report, and are strongly predicted by the presence of comorbid externalizing and internalizing symptoms.
Short-term memory for figure-ground organization in the visual cortex.

Summary Whether the visual system uses a buffer to store image information and the duration of that storage have been debated intensely in recent psychophysical studies. The long phases of stable perception of reversible figures suggest a memory that persists for seconds. But persistence of similar duration has not been found in signals of the visual cortex. Here, we show that figure-ground signals in the visual cortex can persist for a second or more after the removal of the figure-ground cues. When new figure-ground information is presented, the signals adjust rapidly, but when a figure display is changed to an ambiguous edge display, the signals decay slowly—a behavior that is characteristic of memory devices. Figure-ground signals represent the layout of objects in a scene, and we propose that a short-term memory for object layout is important in providing continuity of perception in the rapid stream of images flooding our eyes.
Fermi surface measurements in layer chalcogenide crystals

Abstract Quantum oscillations in the frequency range 0.04–8 MG have been observed in the magnetoresistance of single crystals of 4Hb-TaS 2 . These have been studied as a function of applied pressure up to 7 kbar. Pressures in this range depress the charge density wave in the trigonal prismatic layers and the effects on the amplitudes and frequencies of the magnetoquantum oscillations have been studied. Application of pressure produces a dramatic reduction of amplitude for most oscillations, and several undergo definite frequency shifts. These effects are interpreted as resulting from a sensitive pressure dependence of the charge density wave gaps which dominate the Fermi surface topology. Magnetic breakdown and interference orbits may also play a role.
Islet cell transplantation for Type 1 diabetes.

Islet transplantation is an attractive concept for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes because of its potential high efficacy and minimal invasion to patients. The treatment may effectively control blood glucose for brittle Type 1 diabetes, resulting in a marked reduction in hypoglycemic episodes and improvements in HbA1c. In addition, approximately 70% of transplanted Type 1 diabetic patients have achieved insulin independence. However, there are still important issues to be addressed before this treatment is widely applicable, including difficulty in maintaining insulin independence, low islet isolation success rate, multiple donor requirements, and side effects associated with the use of immunosuppressants. Donor shortage is another dilemma. To address the issue of donor shortage, living donor islet transplantation and bioartificial islet transplantation using pig islets are being evaluated. Bioartificial islet transplantation could be the ultimate solution of the donor shortage. Currently, overcoming immunological hurdles, establishing reliable islet isolation methods, and controlling porcine endogenous retrovirus are the primary obstacles to the implementation of this treatment. If bioartificial islet transplant becomes a clinical reality, it may even be applicable in the treatment of select Type 2 diabetic patients. β-Cell regeneration from naive pancreas and β-cell generation from embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells are the next-generation treatments for Type 1 diabetes.
Caffeine potentiates the discriminative-stimulus effects of nicotine in rats

Rationale. Caffeine and nicotine are the main psychoactive ingredients of coffee and tobacco, respectively, with a high frequency of concurrent use in humans.
Sources of Fine Organic Aerosol. 9. Pine, Oak, and Synthetic Log Combustion in Residential Fireplaces

Combustion of wood in residential fireplaces contributes approximately 14% on an annual average of the total primary fine particle organic carbon (OC) emissions to the Los Angeles urban atmosphere and up to 30% of the fine particulate OC emissions on winter days. This paper presents comprehensive organic compound source profiles for smoke from burning pine, oak, and synthetic logs in residential fireplaces. Mass emission rates are determined for approximately 200 organic compounds including suites of the n-alkanes, n-alkenes, cyclohexylalkanes, n-alkanals, n-alkanoic acids, alkenoic acids, dicarboxylic acids, resin acids, hydroxylated/methyoxylated phenols, lignans, substituted benzenes/benzaldehydes, phytosterols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and oxy-PAHs. Wood smoke constituents reflect to a great extent the underlying composition of the wood burned: pine and oak logs produce smoke that is enriched in lignin decomposition products, pine smoke is enriched in resin acids and their thermal alteration products, while smoke from the synthetic log burned here bears the major signature of the petroleum products combined with traces of the sawdust components from which it is made. Resin acids are discussed as potential wood smoke tracers in the environment, and it is shown that the time series of resin acids concentrations in the Los Angeles atmosphere follows the extreme seasonal variation in wood use reported in previous emissions inventories for the Los Angeles urban area.
A serendipitous finding in face recognition

During learning, an experimental group heard verbal descriptions of criminal or noncriminal activities of persons whose faces were displayed. A control group saw the faces without the descriptions. An immediate recognition test indicated that the experimental group’s performance on new faces was superior to that under all conditions except those for which no crime was described. Apparently a context/contrast effect occurred such that experimental subjects responded as if they knew that new faces had not previously been accompanied by descriptions of crimes. Emotionality and severity of crime dimensions of the descriptions did not correlate with recognition.
Determination of exchangeable calcium and magnesium in soil by ion-selective electrode method

Abstract The potentiometric measurement of calcium ion activity with a calcium ion electrode and of magnesium ion activity with a divalent cation electrode in the presence of EGTA at pH 7 has been successfully applied to the determination of exchangeable calcium and magnesium in soil after the soil sample is extracted with ammonium acetate and the soil extract is evaporated to dryness and ignited. The results obtained by the ion-selective electrode methods are in good agreement with those obtained by the reference methods.
Tiltmeter measurements in Long Valley Caldera, California

In 1983, the U.S. Geological Survey instrumented Long Valley caldera, near Mammoth Lakes, California, with an array of borehole tiltmeters to detect the rapid deformation that might accompany incipient volcanic activity, such as the intrusion of a dike at shallow depth. The array consists of seven sites, within and surrounding the zone of the 1983 earthquake swarm. Five of these sites have instruments installed at a depth of 6 m and consist of two closely spaced installations, one containing a Rockwell/Kinemetrics instrument and the other an instrument designed by J. Westphal of the California Institute of Technology. The sixth site consists of two of Westphal's instruments and one Rockwell/Kinemetrics instrument, and the seventh site has two of the Rockwell/Kinemetrics instruments only, installed at a depth of 2 m. Since July 1985, all but one site have been equipped with a telemetry system that uses the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES). Most sites are also equipped with a telemetry system based on telephone lines and radio links. This tiltmeter array affords a unique opportunity to compare the relative merits of different instrument types and installation techniques under similar settings. In general, the results are similar for the two different instruments and installations, but local geologic conditions substantially affect the performance at each site. The records from the 6-m-deep boreholes have better stability and lower noise than those from the 2-m-deep boreholes. At one site, the tilt record appears to be dominated by perturbations related to local geothermal production. Performance at most other sites indicates that sudden deformation, with time spans shorter than about 1 week and amplitudes of about 5–10 μrad or greater, should easily be detected by the instruments within the array.
Cough-Induced Hemiplegic Migraine with Impaired Consciousness in Cystic Fibrosis†

The coughing paroxysms of patients with cystic fibrosis may occasion neurological symptoms. Although cough syncope is well-known, and is associated with headache and paralysis, a migrainous mechanism has not been reported. We reviewed the medical records, autonomic testing results, and responses to treatment in two cystic fibrosis patients with similar presentations of cough-induced impairment of consciousness followed by headache and paralysis. A 24-year-old woman and an unrelated 38-year-old man, both with cystic fibrosis, developed post-tussive neurologic deficits. Both patients reported infrequent dramatic spells, always preceded by major hemoptysis, and associated with left-sided paralysis, transient blindness, nausea, and severe pulsating headaches. Autonomic testing demonstrated only postural tachycardia and a near-vasodepressor episode in the woman, and mild, generalized sympathetic dysfunction in the man. Treatment for presumptive migraine with aura with verapamil nearly eradicated symptoms in both patients. Discontinuation of verapamil in the woman was associated with symptom recurrence and a stroke, with significant persistent residual left hemiparesis. In conclusion, cough-induced neurologic deficits were previously reported with cystic fibrosis, without clear understanding of the mechanism of impairment of consciousness. Based on the hemiparesis, nausea, and throbbing headache, which repeatedly followed the events in both patients, and based on the response to verapamil, we hypothesize a migrainous mechanism in both of our patients. The pathophysiology that links the hemoptysis to the spells deserves further investigation.
Lipoprotein-Associated Phospholipase A2 and Prognosis After Myocardial Infarction in the Community

Objective— We evaluated the role of lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A 2 (Lp-PLA 2 ), an inflammatory biomarker, in defining risk after myocardial infarction (MI). Methods and Results— Olmsted County, Minn, residents who experienced an MI meeting standardized criteria between 2003 and 2005 (n=271) were prospectively identified and followed. Lp-PLA 2 levels were measured at baseline and evaluated along with traditional risk indicators. Lp-PLA 2 was modestly associated with total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, smoking, and age (inversely) but not with MI characteristics or severity, comorbidities, C-reactive protein, or the time from symptom onset to blood sampling. During the first year of follow-up, 42 deaths occurred. The survival estimates (95% confidence intervals [CI]) at 1 year were 92% (86% to 98%), 85% (78% to 93%), and 74% (65% to 84%) in the lowest, middle, and upper Lp-PLA 2 tertiles, respectively ( P =0.007). After adjustment for age and sex, the hazard ratios for death in the middle and upper Lp-PLA 2 tertiles were 2.20 (95% CI: 0.88 to 5.54) and 4.93 (95% CI: 2.10 to 11.60), compared with the lowest tertile, respectively ( P trend 2 also contributed to risk discrimination as indicated by the increases in the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves obtained in each of the models examined (all P ≤0.05). Conclusions— Among community subjects presenting with MI, increased Lp-PLA 2 levels measured early after MI are strongly and independently associated with mortality and provide incremental value in risk discrimination over traditional predictors.
A reinvestigation of the rate of the C/+/ + H2 radiative association reaction

It is noted that new experimental results and statistical theories have prompted a reinvestigation of the rate coefficient of the interstellar reaction in which C(+) + H2 yields CH2(+) + h(nu) in the 10-100 K temperature range. The results presented here indicate a rate coefficient between 10 to the -16 and 10 to the -15 cu cm/s at all temperatures studied. In applying the modified thermal and phase space theories, it is expected that they will be as accurate as for radiative association as for three-body association, provided the ab initio value for the radiative decay rate is correct. It is expected that the calculated values of the rate coefficient will be accurate to within an order of magnitude and will have the correct temperature dependence.
Increased Bone Turnover with Decreased Bone Formation by Osteoblasts in Children with Osteogenesis Imperfecta Tarda

Iliac crest bone biopsies from nine children (6-15 yrs old) with osteogenesis imperfecta tarda (OI) have been studied by bone histomorphometry after double fluorescent labeling with tetracycline and compared to five unlabeled biopsies from normal children in the same age group. The results indicate that children with OI have a low trabecular bone volume associated with an increased bone turnover rate. Bone formation is increased at the tissue level despite a decrease in the activity of individual osteoblasts. The original defects in OI seems, therefore, to be in the rate of matrix synthesis by osteoblasts. It is, however, compensated by an increase in the number of these cells. These results suggest that these children were not losing bone at the time of the biopsy, which fits with the clinical stability of OI with age. Our study therefore suggests that the osteopenia observed in OI is most likely due to an inability to accumulate bone during growth, as normal children do, rather than to a progressive net loss of bone.
Calreticulin regulates transforming growth factor-β-stimulated extracellular matrix production.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is an emerging factor in fibrotic disease, although precise mechanisms are not clear. Calreticulin (CRT) is an ER chaperone and regulator of Ca2+ signaling up-regulated by ER stress and in fibrotic tissues. Previously, we showed that ER CRT regulates type I collagen transcript, trafficking, secretion, and processing into the extracellular matrix (ECM). To determine the role of CRT in ECM regulation under fibrotic conditions, we asked whether CRT modified cellular responses to the pro-fibrotic cytokine, TGF-β. These studies show that CRT−/− mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and rat and human idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis lung fibroblasts with siRNA CRT knockdown had impaired TGF-β stimulation of type I collagen and fibronectin. In contrast, fibroblasts with increased CRT expression had enhanced responses to TGF-β. The lack of CRT does not impact canonical TGF-β signaling as TGF-β was able to stimulate Smad reporter activity in CRT−/− MEFs. CRT regulation of TGF-β-stimulated Ca2+ signaling is important for induction of ECM. CRT−/− MEFs failed to increase intracellular Ca2+ levels in response to TGF-β. NFAT activity is required for ECM stimulation by TGF-β. In CRT−/− MEFs, TGF-β stimulation of NFAT nuclear translocation and reporter activity is impaired. Importantly, CRT is required for TGF-β stimulation of ECM under conditions of ER stress, as tunicamycin-induced ER stress was insufficient to induce ECM production in TGF-β stimulated CRT−/− MEFs. Together, these data identify CRT-regulated Ca2+-dependent pathways as a critical molecular link between ER stress and TGF-β fibrotic signaling.
The Early Development of the American Cotton Manufacture

Chronological table by states of the foundation of cotton factories. Comparison with contemporary statistics, 453. — Accuracy of the dates, 456. — Omission of defunct factories from the table, 458. — Chronological table by states of textile companies incorporated, 460. — Inferences from the tables. Importance of the period of the war of 1812, 463. — Relation of factory establishments to tariff legislation, 468.
The ionization structure of planetary nebulae. VIII - NGC 6826

Spectrophotometric observations of emission-line intensities over the spectral range 1400 to 1700 A were made in seven positions in the planetary nebulae NGC 6826. The O(++) electron temperature varies little from 8900 K throughout the nebula; the Balmer continuum electron temperature averages 1500 K higher. The wavelength 4267 C II line intensities imply C(++) abundances that are systematically higher than those determined from the wavelength 1906, 1909 C III lines, but because of uncertainties in the intensities of the ultraviolet lines relative to the optical ones, this discrepancy is less conclusively demonstrated in NGC 6826 than in other planetaries in this series. Standard equations used to correct for the existence of elements in other than the optically observable ionization stages give results that are consistent and also in approximate agreement with abundances calculated using ultraviolet lines in the few cases where the relevant ultraviolet lines are measurable. The results of the logarithmic abundances differ somewhat from the recent study by Aller and Czyzak, in part because their measured electron temperatures are somewhat higher. The Ar, Ne, and, to some extent, O and S abundances appear to be somewhat low, suggesting that the progenitor to NGC 6826 like that to NGC 7662, may have formed out of somewhat metal-poor material.
A general business-oriented language based on decision expressions

The structure of a digital computer programming language which covers a wide class of business and file processing applications is presented. Such a structure, based on identifying and incorporating into a compiler the aspects common to all processes of such class, permits writing extremely compact programs, even for comparatively complex applications, in terms of tables of control expressions which express only information characteristic of the particular application. Furthermore, local changes of a process (e.g. changes affecting only one of the output files involved) can be effected by local modifications in the program (e.g. modification of only one entry of the tables). This structure also allows for inexpensive preparation of loading-speed compilers which translate the source programs into efficient machine codes.The approach adopted here departs from conventional mechanical language design philosophies. It stresses the structural analysis of the class of processes to be represented in the languages, as opposed to emphasizing formal (i.e., contents-independent) syntactical definitions. It relies exclusively on nonprocedural representation of processes as sets (tables) of relations between data and results (there are no control statements such as GO TO, etc.), instead of using procedure descriptions (which are one-to-one translations of flowcharts). Here an invariant pattern of procedure is identified as characteristic of the class of all batch file processes.
Contractile dysfunction and ATP depletion after transient calcium overload in perfused ferret hearts.

Although a number of lines of evidence hint that an elevation of intracellular calcium leads to myocardial injury, the cellular consequences of transient Ca overload remain unclear. To determine the contractile, histologic, and metabolic sequelae of transient Ca overload, we measured developed pressure (DP) in isovolumetric Langendorff-perfused ferret hearts at 37 degrees C before and 20 min after three 5 min periods of perfusion with a 10 mM [Ca]o, 1 mM [Mg]o solution (high-Ca group, n = 8) without ischemia, and in control hearts (n = 5) exposed transiently to the same total divalent cation concentration without a change in [Ca]o (9 mM [Mg]o, 2mM [Ca]o). DP, measured at various [Ca]o (0.5 to 5 mM), was depressed in the high-Ca group relative to control (p less than .001). Representative hearts from the control group were histologically normal, whereas hearts from the high-Ca group exhibited rare foci of predominantly "reversible" injury (mitochondrial swelling, glycogen deposition, and clumping of nuclear chromatin). Maximal Ca++-activated pressure (MCAP), measured from tetani after exposure to ryanodine, was also decreased in the high-Ca group (230 +/- 4 vs 262 +/- 6 mm Hg, p less than .001). Cao sensitivity, determined by normalization of the DP-[Ca]o relationship to the corresponding MCAP, was shifted to higher [Ca]o in the high-Ca group. Phosphorus nuclear magnetic resonance spectra were obtained in four high-Ca hearts. [ATP] declined by 30% to 40% after exposure to high [Ca]o, but inorganic phosphate, phosphocreatine, and pH remained unchanged. These results indicate that transient exposure to high [Ca]o without ischemia leaves behind distinctive contractile, metabolic, and histologic sequelae. The possible implications for the pathogenesis of postischemic contractile dysfunction are discussed.