cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Longitudinal tractography with application to neuronal fiber trajectory reconstruction in neonates

This paper presents a novel tractography algorithm for more accurate reconstruction of fiber trajectories in low SNR diffusion-weighted images, such as neonatal scans. We leverage information from a latertime-point longitudinal scan to obtain more reliable estimates of local fiber orientations. Specifically, we determine the orientation posterior probability at each voxel location by utilizing prior information given by the longitudinal scan, and with the likelihood function formulated based on the Watson distribution. We incorporate this Bayesian model of local orientations into a state-space model for particle-filtering-based probabilistic tracking, catering for the possibility of crossing fibers by modeling multiple orientations per voxel. Regularity of fibers is enforced by encouraging smooth transitions of orientations in subsequent locations traversed by the fiber. Experimental results performed on neonatal scans indicate that fiber reconstruction is significantly improved with less stray fibers and is closer to what one would expect anatomically.
KCNE1-Dependent Sumoylation of KV7.1 Subunits Determines the Voltage-Dependence of Cardiac IKs Channels

KV7.1 and KCNE1 subunits assemble to form IKs channels, which are fundamental to cardiac repolarization. Here, we identify SUMOylation of IKs channels as a fundamental regulatory pathway in the heart. A report (Qi et al. Neuron. 2014) that partial deficiency of SENP2 deSUMOylase in mice produced seizures, bradycardia and sudden death in association with hyperSUMOylation of M-current channels (KV7.2/KV7.3) led us to study IKs currents in neonatal mice. We found intracellular application of SENP2 to increase IKs current due to a −20 mV shift in the voltage-dependence of activation (V1/2); in contrast, SUMO2 application decreased the current due to a +20 mV shift in V1/2. A 40 mV excursion in V1/2 between the deSUMOylating and SUMOylating conditions was seen also when mouse or human KV7.1 and KCNE1 subunits were expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) confirmed co-assembly of YFP-SUMO2 and IKs channels formed with KV7.1-CFP. Consistent with SUMOylation, mutation of a single target residue in KV7.1 abolished FRET and the effects of SENP2 or SUMO2 on IKs current density. To count the number of SUMO2 subunits in IKs complexes, total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy with simultaneous two-color photobleaching was used. IKs channels carry a maximum of four SUMO2s, one on each Kv7.1 subunit. Unexpectedly, Kv7.1 channels studied in the absence of KCNE1 carry at most two SUMO2s despite having four available Kv7.1 SUMO-sites. Modification of both Kv7.1 channels and IKs channels by two SUMO2s produced a 20 mV shift in V1/2 while four SUMO2s produced a 40 mV shift in IKs channels. We propose that KCNE1-dependent SUMOylation of KV7.1 is required to yield the native biophysical attributes observed for IKs channels in mammalian cardiac myocytes.
Central European history since 1989: Historiographical trends and post-wende turns

In a luncheon address at the annual meeting of the German Studies Association in 2013, David Blackbourn delivered an impassioned plaidoyer to “grow” German history, i.e., to rescue it from the temporal “provincialism” that has, he believes, increasingly characterized the study of Germany over the past two decades. Blackbourn was critical of the growing emphasis on the twentieth century and especially the post-1945 period—not because of the quality of the work per se, but rather because of the resultant neglect of earlier periods and the potential loss of valuable historical insights that this development has brought in its wake. There have been other seemingly seismic shifts in the profession as a whole that have not left the history of Germany and German-speaking Central Europe untouched: greater emphasis on discourse analysis and gender, memory and identity, experience and cultural practices (i.e., the “linguistic turn” and the “new” cultural history). Accompanied by a decline in interest about Germany exclusively as a “nation-state,” the last decade in particular has seen a spike in “global” or “transnational” approaches. And, like other fields, the study of Germany has also witnessed greater interest in the study of race, minorities, immigration, and colonization—what Catherine Epstein referred to as the “imperial turn” in a piece that appeared in the journal Central European History ( CEH ) in 2013.
Midnight flash model of energetic neutral atom periodicities at Saturn

The Ion Neutral Camera (INCA) on the Cassini spacecraft made images of energetic H atoms (25-55 keV) over a 3-day span in 2017. The images were projected onto the equatorial plane of Saturn, and a keogram was made by interpolating the projections in local time at 9 RS (1 RS = 60268 km). The keogram intensities show strong periodicities near the 10.79h period of Saturn's energetic particles and exhibit a slope commensurate with corotation at that period. These periodic fluxes intensify near midnight but are weaker near noon. A “midnight flash” model can explain this behavior in terms of a searchlight rotating at 10.79h that intensifies in the midnight sector. The model can also describe similar activity in Saturn's kilometric radiation and magnetic fields, although the “flash” must be shifted to the dawn-to-noon sector.
Spot size converting fiber with a 4-pm mode field diameter for low-loss coupling to silicon photonic circuits

This paper reports optical fibers for low-loss coupling with silicon photonic circuits. We fabricate both singlemode fibers and polarization-maintaining fibers with a mode field diameter of 4 pm for matching with an edge coupler. We demonstrate fusion splicing with standard transmission fibers and optical coupling with silicon photonic devices. Low-loss splicing is achieved by utilizing the thermally expanded core (TEC) technique. Additionally, a low-loss coupling of 2.5 dB/2 facets is obtained using these TEC fibers.
Energy systems and communication networks real-time simulation for controller hardware in the loop

In this paper we describe the controller Hardware In the Loop (HIL) capability of our laboratories. To allow for testing of multimodal systems highly interconnected through information technology both the energy aspects as well as the communication aspects are emulated or simulated in real-time. To allow testing of algorithms with various computational needs and input output requirements several prototyping platforms are considered. The use of the described capability is demonstrated through three examples.
Macrophage Krüppel-like factor 4 regulates response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection

Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) is a transcription factor that polarizes macrophages towards an anti-inflammatory (M2) phenotype, which suggests that it may regulate immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), as immune evasion by Mtb may be due to an overabundance of anti-inflammatory mediators in response to infection. We hypothesize that myeloid KLF4 is permissive of immune evasion by Mtb, causing decreased control of Mtb infection. There are no prior in vivo data on the role of KLF4 in infection. Using mice with myeloid-specific knockout of KLF4 (LysM Cre/Cre KLF4 fl/fl , abbreviated Mye-KO) we observed decreased Mtb CFU in macrophage cultures in vitro and in lungs of Mye-KO mice early in infection (day 14) relative to wild-type controls. However, these experiments also revealed complexities to the KLF4-Mtb relationship. Despite their improved control of early infection, at later time points Mye-KO mice developed worsened clinical disease features, such as wasting, which suggests that the loss of KLF4 results in pathologic immune state. In addition, we found discrepancy between KLF4 RNA and protein expression during Mtb infection, suggesting that KLF4 is regulated at a posttranslational level during infection. We are designing an in vitro system in which to study the molecular mechanisms of KLF4 regulation and activity in macrophages. Our data indicate that KLF4 plays an important role is regulating immune responses to Mtb with the potential to both diminish host defense mechanisms and repress host-damaging immune mechanisms.
Toward Automated Information-Flow Integrity Verification for Security-Critical Applications.

We provide a largely automated system for verifying ClarkWilson interprocess information-flow integrity. Information-flow integrity properties are essential to isolate trusted processes from untrusted ones, but system misconfiguration can easily create insecure dependences. For example, an untrusted user process may be able to write to sshd config via a cron script. A useful notion of integrity is the Clark-Wilson integrity model [7], which allows trusted processes to accept necessary untrusted inputs (e.g., network data or print jobs) via filtering interfaces that sanitize the data. However, Clark-Wilson has the requirement that programs undergo formal semantic verification; in practice, this kind of burden has meant that no information-flow integrity property is verified on most widely-used systems. We define a weaker version of Clark-Wilson integrity, called CW-Lite, which has the same interprocess information-flow guarantees, but which requires less filtering, only small changes to existing applications, and which we can check using automated tools. We modify the SELinux user library and kernel module in order to support CW-Lite integrity verification and develop new software tools to aid developers in finding and enabling filtering interfaces. Using our toolset, we found and fixed several integrity-violating configuration errors in the default SELinux policies for OpenSSH and vsftpd.
Bacterial motility and chemotaxis.

Publisher Summary This chapter summarizes the basic features of bacterial motility and chemotaxis. Bacterial chemotaxis represents one of the simplest behaviors that can be studied. Its popularity as an experimental system stems from several sources. The genetic and biochemical tools have been developed to investigate the biology of enteric bacteria. The motility and chemotaxis can be virulence factors for intestinal and urogenital-tract pathogens. Flagella constitute one of the most effective bacterial antigens and the immune system directs its counterattacks against it. Chemotaxis also occurs in bacteria within the rhizosphere and in aquatic environments. Polar flagella arise at the morphologically definable ends of rod-shaped or curved bacterial cells. Bacteria can move in two or in three dimensions. Those that move on surfaces without flagella exhibit gliding motility, whereas those that rely on flagella to move on surfaces exhibit swarming motility. Any movement in three dimensions is called swimming. Bacteria have chemoreceptors, namely, proteins that bind to the effector ligands in a stereospecific way. The bacteria sense spatial gradients by means of a temporal mechanism. In addition to being attracted to or repelled by specific chemicals, bacteria exhibit phototaxis, magnetotaxis, osmotaxis, galvanotaxis, and thermotaxis. The chapter also describes the chemoreceptor structure and ligand binding and outlines the subsequent steps in signal transduction.
An Effect Etching Time on Structure Properties of Nano-Crystalline p-type Silicon

This paper reports the influence of the etching time on structural characteristics of porous silicon manufactured by electrochemical etching (ECE) anodization p-type silicon wafers. Micro and nano-structural features of the samples are mainly investigated by XRD and AFM techniques. The morphological properties of PS layer such as nano-crystalline size, the structure aspect of PS layer and lattice constant have been investigated. Nanocrystals size (grain size) computing from XRD data (145 to 85) nm is resulting the increasing etching time.AFM investigations reveal increase in (RMS) roughness, Sz.(Ten Point height) and average diameter of the porous structure with increase in etching time.
Outcomes of Implementation of a NICU-Based Late Preterm Infant Feeding Guideline.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Late preterm (LPT) infants are at risk for feeding difficulties. Our objectives were to reduce the use of intravenous (IV) fluids and increase breastfeeding at discharge among LPT infants admitted to our NICU. METHODS: We implemented a feeding guideline and evaluated its effect using a pre-post design. We examined rates of our main outcomes, IV fluid use, and any or exclusive breastfeeding at discharge, as well as several secondary outcomes, including hypoglycemia (glucose 8 hours of life, by using χ2 and t tests. We excluded infants that were 8 hours of life, or needed IV fluids at ≤8 hours of life for a medical reason. We used multivariable logistic regression to examine odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals of our main outcomes. RESULTS: Fifty percent of infants were eligible. Of those eligible, 18 of 52 (35%) vs 14 of 65 (22%) received IV fluids at >8 hours of life (P = .06). In the 24 hours before discharge, 35 of 52 (75%) vs 46 of 65 (78%) received any breast milk (P = .67), and 10 of 52 (30%) vs 10 of 65 (21%) received exclusive breast milk (P = .43). More infants had hypoglycemia in the posttime period (16 of 65 [25%]) compared with the pretime period (3 of 52 [6%]; P = .01). CONCLUSIONS: After implementation of a LPT feeding guideline in our NICU that defined specific expected feeding volumes, we did not find changes in IV fluid use or breastfeeding.
An urban university campus support program for students from foster care: Services and outcomes

Abstract Purpose This study is an outcome evaluation of the Guardian Scholars Program (GSP) at San Francisco State University, which supports current and former foster care youth on the campus. GSP services include: case management, year-round housing, career planning, social activities, leadership opportunities, and scholarships. Methods This study examined a sample of all 194 GSP students ages 17 to 30 who received services from the Guardian Scholars Program between 2005 and 2017. Results The program saw an 84% sophomore year retention rate, an 82% overall retention rate, and a 70% six-year graduation rate. These outcomes are better than the outcomes for the SF State general population of students, SF State Pell Grant recipients, and nationwide public university students. Conclusions Although descriptive in nature, this study offers early evidence that comprehensive campus support programs may lead to improved academic outcomes for foster youth in undergraduate studies at four-year universities.
Development of a passive prosthetic ankle with slope adapting capabilities

In this work, the authors first study different designs of prosthetic ankles. Then, a new design is proposed, and its dynamics are discussed. Various experiments are conducted to verify the concept. The results of the experiments are discussed, and a conclusion is drawn based on the discussion. An OpenSim simulation is run to emulate the effects of the prosthesis on an amputee’s residual leg. Further iterations of the same design are then discussed and presented. Finally, a conclusion is drawn on the usability of the ankle along with some suggestions for future research.Copyright © 2018 by ASME
A sociocultural examination of body image among Black women

Abstract In this integrative review, we highlight the legacy and contributions of Thomas Cash as it relates to Black women’s body image concerns. In addition, utilizing intersectionality and objectification theories, we contend that Black women’s body image disturbances must be placed within a sociocultural context based on the intersections of gender and racial oppression. Together, these systems of oppression create unique body image disturbances for Black women. We highlight literature that focuses on the specific ways in which Black women may encounter body image concerns—ways that differ from the experiences of White women to whom Black women have historically been compared. We conclude this review by highlighting factors that may foster body satisfaction among Black women, with a focus on strengths and protective factors.
The Use of Acellular Dermal Matrix in Combination With Pedicled Buccal Fat Pad in Wide Cleft Palate Repair: A Case Report and Literature Review:

We describe a case of the combined use of acellular dermal matrix and pedicled buccal fat pad (BFP) in a wide U-shaped cleft palate repair. Acellular dermal matrix was used as a "patch" repair for the nasal mucosa defect as opposed to the conventional inlay graft. The advantages include reduced cost and a smaller avascular graft load. Lateral relaxing incisions were made to ensure tension-free closure of oromucosa at midline. Lateral oromucosa defect closure with well-vascularized pedicled BFP ensures enhanced healing, less palatal contracture and shortening, and reduced infection. The palate healed with mucosalization at 2 weeks, and no complications were noted at 6 months follow-up.
Pathological Factors Affecting Outcomes in Oral Cancer

Squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity represents an intriguing diagnosis with variable outcomes over the past 50 years of recorded observation. While our understanding of the pathogenesis and treatment of this disease has increased during this time, the prognosis of these cancers has demonstrated only slight improvement. To this end, many pathologic factors impacting the prognosis of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma are recognized, including grade, depth of invasion, perineural invasion, positive margins, the histologic status of the cervical lymph nodes, and the presence of human papillomavirus. It is the purpose of this chapter to discuss these prognostic indices of oral squamous cell carcinoma while reporting on the international literature that assesses the role of adjuvant therapy when adverse features are identified that impact the patient’s prognosis.
Hyoid bone impingement contributing to symptomatic atherosclerosis of the carotid bifurcation.

Abstract Symptomatic carotid artery disease caused by hyoid bone compression is rare, although scant reports describe cerebrovascular events due to this mechanical interference leading to entrapment, embolism, dissection, atherosclerotic stenosis, and pseudoaneurysm formation. This report describes a patient presenting with left-sided paresis and paresthesia who was found to have focal right carotid stenosis secondary to impingement of the carotid bulb by an elongated hyoid bone. Whereas previous cases describe hyoid bone resection, we describe successful management with endarterectomy and carotid mobilization without hyoid resection, with long-term follow-up demonstrating a widely patent carotid system without recurrent impingement.
The Effectiveness of Embedded Writing in Teaching Nonprofit Advocacy

Research by the American Association of Colleges and Universities has found that student learning improves when writing of various forms is embedded throughout the curriculum. Writing-intensive courses are particularly well suited for nonprofit management education because nonprofit leaders must produce a variety of types of writing products, including memos, case statements, strategic plans, grant proposals, grant reports, and annual reports. The purpose of this study was to test whether a writing-intensive pedagogy would improve students’ ( n = 81) perceptions of nonprofit advocacy, including beliefs about their own future practices as emerging nonprofit leaders. Findings were statistically significant and indicate that writing is an effective pedagogy for nonprofit advocacy. We discuss how writing can be integrated throughout the nonprofit management curriculum and provide resources for instructors to replicate the assignment. Subscribe to JNEL
TangoChain: A Lightweight Distributed Ledger for Internet of Things Devices in Smart Cities

Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging technology that have been attracting significant attention from diverse application domains ranging from smart homes, smart cities to smart healthcare and manufacturing. Especially in smart city context, IoT devices play a significant role since the city of the future is an interconnected one, where distributed devices communicate with one another, constantly exchanging streams of real time data. However, the fundamental challenge on deploying such technology is the inherent limitations on IoT device’s computational power, network connectivity, energy consumption, which in turn hinders secure deployment. The introduction of Blockchain technology for digital cash offers a promising data security scheme for IoT applications in trust-less environments. Blockchain promises an elegant approach for secure information dissemination, machine-to-machine micro-transactions, and access control in a smart city context for IoT devices. However, the computational and storage requirements for original Blockchain model presents difficulties for IoT deployment. In this paper, we propose an experimental lightweight distributed ledger for IoT devices, TangoChain, utilizing a directed acyclic graph as underlying ledger data structure. We discuss the rationale behind our design approach, then present our in-progress proof-ofconcept prototype implementation details, and highlight the potentials for secure IoT device deployments in a smart city context.
Civilization critical: energy, food, nature, and the future: by Darrin Qualman, Halifax and Winnipeg, Fernwood Publishing, 2019, 320 pp., ISBN 9871773630861 (paperback)

It is a difficult task to communicate dynamic and rigorous theoretical insights to a general audience, but Civilization Critical successfully executes this task with strikingly simple explanations ...
Multiple Dynamics in Tumor Microenvironment Under Radiotherapy

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is an evolutionally low-level and embryonically featured tissue comprising heterogenic populations of malignant and stromal cells as well as noncellular components. Under radiotherapy (RT), the major modality for the treatment of malignant diseases [1], TME shows an adaptive response in multiple aspects that affect the efficacy of RT. With the potential clinical benefits, interests in RT combined with immunotherapy (IT) are intensified with a large scale of clinical trials underway for an array of cancer types. A better understanding of the multiple molecular aspects, especially the cross talks of RT-mediated energy reprogramming and immunoregulation in the irradiated TME (ITME), will be necessary for further enhancing the benefit of RT-IT modality. Coming studies should further reveal more mechanistic insights of radiation-induced instant or permanent consequence in tumor and stromal cells. Results from these studies will help to identify critical molecular pathways including cancer stem cell repopulation, metabolic rewiring, and specific communication between radioresistant cancer cells and the infiltrated immune active lymphocytes. In this chapter, we will focus on the following aspects: radiation-repopulated cancer stem cells (CSCs), hypoxia and re-oxygenation, reprogramming metabolism, and radiation-induced immune regulation, in which we summarize the current literature to illustrate an integrated image of the ITME. We hope that the contents in this chapter will be informative for physicians and translational researchers in cancer radiotherapy or immunotherapy.
Stock Market Prediction using Text-based Machine Learning

Predicting stock market price movements can be a difficult task for traditional algorithms as random events can vastly change a stock’s value. The goal of this research project is to design machine learning algorithms to predict these changes based upon communal discussion. The discussions that are being analyzed will be from forum posts of users that have varying levels of involvement with the company of focus. The posts themselves should contain information related to the current events, problems, community sentiment and other factors that would influence buyers and sellers. The proposed algorithm to make these predictions with a recurrent neural network (RNN) that will be able to analyze patterns in word use and order, placing reactions to forum posts into a category based upon expected price movement over various lengths of time. These methods show promise in predicting performance over many time frames.
Generalized \(\psi \)-Fractional Quantitative Approximation by Sublinear Operators

Here we consider the approximation of functions by sublinear positive operators with applications to several Max-Product operators under generalized fractional differentiability. Our study is based on our generalized fractional results about positive sublinear operators. We derive Jackson type inequalities under iterated initial conditions. So our approach is quantitative by producing inequalities with their right hand sides involving the modulus of continuity of generalized fractional derivative of the function under approximation. See also [4].
Fraternize or Not to Fraternize at the Community College

Current research shows how bullying in the workplace at community colleges need to be addressed (Hollis, 2016). In this paper, issues surrounding bullying in the workplace at Southern Defamation Community College (SDCC) will addressed. Working at SDCC, administration realize bullying may stem from the dangers of fraternization in the workplace, leadership dynamic evolving around employee dating, and having no policies and procedures regarding relationship dating in the place of work. The dangers of fraternization in the workplace was presented by Hollis (2016) where a case study was done at SDCC indicating a defamation of character and bullying by a disgruntle employee.
Auric Goldfinger, Henry Morgenthau, and Camp David: August 1971

There were two dramatic changes in United States (U.S.) government policy toward the monetary role of gold in the last 100 years. The first was in 1933-34. Private holdings of gold were nationalized in March 1933. Then, the U.S. Treasury adopted a new parity for the U.S. dollar of $35.00 an ounce at the end of January 1934. Gold production surged, the private demand for gold fell sharply and the U.S. experienced large increases in the foreign demand for U.S. dollar securities. There was a massive flow of gold to the U.S. The second change in U.S. gold policy followed a meeting at Camp David in August 1971 when the U.S. Treasury closed its gold window because of the perception that there might be a run on its gold holdings as they declined toward $10 billion. Some U.S. officials sought to diminish the monetary role of gold, which was accomplished by, in effect, setting the U.S. monetary price at zero. The anticipation of some U.S. officials at the Camp David meeting was that the persistent U.S. payments problem would disappear once foreign currencies no longer had parities in terms of the U.S. dollar. The prices of these foreign currencies would increase and the U.S. trade surplus would become larger. Instead, many foreign central banks became even larger buyers of U.S. dollar securities, which led to a higher price of the U.S. dollar and a U.S. trade deficit. The U.S. international investment position morphed from the world’s largest creditor country to the world’s largest debtor.
What could be the Great Debt to Frege? or Gottlobius ab paene omni naevo vindicatus

espanolEn este trabajo examino dos interpretaciones sustanciales de la critica de Wittgenstein a la concepcion de logica de Frege. Una se basa en el rechazo de Frege del psicologismo y alega que este rechazo engendra una tension que es resuelta en el Tractatus. La otra se basa en la afirmacion de que hay patrones de inferencias involucrando lo que se conoce como adscripciones de actitudes proposicionales las cuales la concepcion de la logica de Frege no esta capaz de manejar. Yo demuestro que ninguna de estas interpretaciones constituye una critica contundente de Frege. Arguyo entonces que Wittgenstein heredo de Frege las ideas de afirmacion, negacion y lo «opuesto» de un pensamiento, pero llego a ver que estas entran en conflicto con la concepcion de Frege de la negacion como (expresando) una funcion de verdad. Esto lleva al Grundgedanke del Tractatus: ni la negacion, ni ninguna otra «constante logica» tienen un papel representativo en nuestro retratar del mundo. EnglishIn this paper I examine two substantial interpretations of Wittgenstein’s criticisms of Frege’s conception of logic. One is based on Frege’s rejection of psychologism and alleges that this rejection engenders a tension that is resolved in the Tractatus. The other is based on the claim that there are patterns of inference involving what are now known as propositional attitude ascriptions that Frege’s conception of logic is not equipped to handle. I show that neither of these interpretations present a compelling criticism of Frege. I then argue that Wittgenstein inherited from Frege the ideas of affirmation, denial, and the “opposite” of a thought, but came to see that these conflict with Frege’s conception of negation as (expressing) a truth-function. This leads to the Grundgedanke of the Tractatus: neither negation nor any other “logical constant” is a representative in our picturing of the world.
Overeating to impress: conspicuous food consumption among males (811.15)

To what extent is overeating among men an artifact of women's mate preferences or intrasexual competition? While previous research concerning sexual selection pressures upon eating behaviors has fo...
Hemophilia B (Christmas disease) in a female.

A case of hemophilia B in a girl, who is the product of a marriage between a hemophilic father and a probable carrier mother, who are first cousins, is described.
Don't call it city planning: Misguided densification in large US cities

Abstract This study analyses the failures of the zoning system in large cities in the USA. The ease with which waivers have been granted to developers in return for amenity provision has made nonsense of town planning. The long construction lead times of transport and public utility systems never allows them to catch up with contemporary densities. City councillors see no political advantage in concerning themselves with planning for the city as a whole. A change in attitude must bring about higher-level planning if over- or misguided densification is to be halted.
Sinorhizobium Meliloti Products Increase Carbon Metabolism in Alfalfa

It is well-known that roots colonized by microorganisms evolve more CO2 than sterile roots ( Meharg and Killham, 1991), but the source of the extra CO2 is difficult to determine when both roots and microbes are respiring (Cheng et al., 1993). The increase in root-plus-bacterial respiration may occur when soil microbes respire carbon compounds in root exudates (Meharg and Killham, 1991), but alternative explanations should also be considered. For example, cell wall fragments from pathogenic fungi directly increase plant cell respiration (Norman et al., 1994), and it is plausible that products from rhizosphere bacteria have similar effects.
Encomium and Thesis in Galen’s De parvae pilae exercitio

Galen’s tract on the benefits of ball-playing, assessed in terms of the handbooks of rhetoric, can be seen to take the rhetorical form of a thesis organized around the headings of the encomium of a human practice.
Are All Trauma Centers Created Equally? A Statewide Analysis

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2010; 17:701–708 © 2010 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Abstract Objectives: Prior work has shown differences in mortality at different levels of trauma centers (TCs). There are limited data comparing mortality of equivalently verified TCs. This study sought to assess the potential differences in mortality as well as discharge destination (discharge to home vs. to a rehabilitation center or skilled nursing facility) across Level I TCs in the state of Ohio. Methods: This was a retrospective, multicenter, statewide analysis of a state trauma registry of American College of Surgeons (ACS)-verified Level I TCs from 2003 to 2006. All adult (>15 years) patients transferred from the scene to one of the 10 Level I TCs throughout the state were included (n = 16,849). Multivariable logistic regression models were developed to assess for differences in mortality, keeping each TC as a fixed-effect term and adjusting for patient demographics, injury severity, mechanism of injury, and emergency medical services and emergency department procedures. Outcomes included in-hospital mortality and discharge destination (home vs. rehabilitation center or skilled nursing facility). Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for each TC were also calculated. Results: Considerable variability existed in unadjusted mortality between the centers, from 3.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.7% to 3.9%) to 24.2% (95% CI = 24.1% to 24.3%), despite similar patient characteristics and injury severity. Adjusted mortality had similar variability as well, ranging from an OR of 0.93 (95% CI = 0.47 to 1.84) to an OR of 6.02 (95% CI= 3.70 to 9.79). Similar results were seen with the secondary outcomes (discharge destination). Conclusions: There is considerable variability in the mortality of injured patients at Level I TCs in the state of Ohio. The patient differences or care processes responsible for this variation should be explored.
Emotional Problems and Prevalence of Medication Overuse in Pediatric Chronic Daily Headache

Chronic daily headaches are an increasingly recognized neurologic issue in children. Frequent headaches can be a source of significant disability and family discord with work/school absenteeism. Medication overuse and emotional disorder would significantly impact treatment and progression. This study examined the frequency of emotional and behavioral problems in children and adolescents with chronic daily headache compared with age-related healthy controls. Prevalence of medication overuse in this chronic daily headache group was evaluated. Otherwise healthy children and adolescents with chronic daily headache (according to International Classification of Headache Disorders-II criteria) were enrolled from the Headache Clinic. Healthy controls were prospectively enrolled from physician offices. Multiple psychological rating scales, headache diaries, presence of medication overuse, and disability surveys (Pediatric Migraine Disability Assessment Survey) were completed. A total of 57 healthy controls and 70 patients were studied. The sample consisted largely of females, many of whom (60%) had medication overuse before medical treatment. Headache patients had significantly more symptoms of anxiety, depression, and somatization compared with controls. Patients with chronic daily headache were at higher risk for emotional disorders, and medication overuse was a significant occurrence, suggesting a need for multisystem treatment approach.
TU‐C‐342‐01: Image Guidance During Minimally Invasive Cardiac Interventions : Beyond Fluoroscopy

Minimally invasive cardiac procedures using endovascular access have enabled treatment of patients that previously would have required open‐heart surgery. Such procedures are typically carried out in the interventional suite, with x‐ray fluoroscopy used to guide the placement of a catheter, followed by a phase of the procedure in which x‐ray fluoroscopy provides little to no information on the treatment. C‐arm CT has been under development since the early 90's, but has now entered a new phase as the ability to visualize soft tissue and low‐contrast lesions improves. By generating 3D images utilizing the x‐ray system in the interventional suite, the error prone and time‐consuming spatio‐temporal registration with prior CT or MRI exams can be avoided. However, C‐arm CTimaging in the presence of cardiac motion remains a challenge due to the slow rotation speed of the gantry, and the slow readout rates of the flat‐panel detectors. Three main data acquisition approaches to circumvent these limitations will be discussed: multi‐sweep retrospective ECG gating for myocardial visualization, single‐ or double‐sweep with volume image fusion for left atrium and pulmonary vein visualization and single‐sweep with retrospective gating for coronary artery visualization. Approaches to improve image quality, both hardware and software, such as optimized acquisition timing, motion compensation approaches and algorithms for non‐idealities such as x‐ray scatter, detector lag, limited field‐of‐view or angular coverage, data insufficiency and noise will be presented. With these developments the ultimate goal is to accomplish faster and more accurate catheter based interventions with an equivalent success rate as surgical procedures (80–90%). The C‐arm CT technology described here could eventually impact many minimally invasive procedures such as RF ablation for atrial fibrillation and coronary stenting, and also future procedures as they become available, such as endocardial injection of stem cells for treatment of myocardial infarction. Educational Objectives: 1. Learn how 3D cardiac imaging is done in the interventional suite: acquisition protocols, injection protocols, challenges and solutions. 2. Learn how image quality of 3D cardiac images can be improved using hardware and algorithm approaches.
CLIP-based prediction of mammalian microRNA binding sites

Prediction and validation of microRNA (miRNA) targets are essential for understanding functions of miRNAs in gene regulation. Crosslinking immunoprecipitation (CLIP) allows direct identification of a huge number of Argonaute-bound target sequences that contain miRNA binding sites. By analysing data from CLIP studies, we identified a comprehensive list of sequence, thermodynamic and target structure features that are essential for target binding by miRNAs in the 3' untranslated region (3' UTR), coding sequence (CDS) region and 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) of target messenger RNA (mRNA). The total energy of miRNA:target hybridization, a measure of target structural accessibility, is the only essential feature common for both seed and seedless sites in all three target regions. Furthermore, evolutionary conservation is an important discriminating feature for both seed and seedless sites. These features enabled us to develop novel statistical models for the predictions of both seed sites and broad classes of seedless sites. Through both intra-dataset validation and inter-dataset validation, our approach showed major improvements over established algorithms for predicting seed sites and a class of seedless sites. Furthermore, we observed good performance from cross-species validation, suggesting that our prediction framework can be valuable for broad application to other mammalian species and beyond. Transcriptome-wide binding site predictions enabled by our approach will greatly complement the available CLIP data, which only cover small fractions of transcriptomes and known miRNAs due to non-detectable levels of expression. Software and database tools based on the prediction models have been developed and are available through Sfold web server at http://sfold.wadsworth.org.
Discourse analysis of the representations of women in Moroccan broadcast news

An interesting area of research that as yet has received little or no attention is the study of the representations of women in Moroccan media [Ennaji, M., 1995. A syntactico-semantic study of the language of news in Morocco. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 112 (1), 97–112. Sadiqi, F., 2003. Women, gender, and language in Morocco. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic. Skalli, L.H., 2006. Through a local prism: gender, globalization, and identity in Moroccan women's magazines. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. Van-Mol, M., 2010. Arabic media and corpus linguistics: a first methodological outline. In: R. Rassiouney, ed. Arabic and the media: linguistic analysis and applications. Boston, MA: Drill, 63–79]. This article is an effort to fill the gap in this research area and contribute to the ongoing debate about the status of women in Morocco by analysing discourse representations of women in Arabic television news on the two main Moroccan television channels: 2M and Al Aoula. Women's repres...
Cerebral Perfusion of Metabolic Inactivators: A New Method for Rapid Fixation of Labile Lipid Pools in Brain

This paper describes a new method for the rapid fixation of labile lipid pools in the brain. Perfusion of the brain with 0.9% saline containing esterase inhibitors (p-bromphenacyl-bromide and diisopropyl fluorophosphate), an antioxidant (nordihydroguaiaretic acid) and a Ca2+ chelator (EDTA) resulted in a substantial reduction in the levels of free fatty acids, a biochemical marker for the degradation of labile membrane lipids. Levels of unesterified polyunsaturated fatty acids in whole brain were decreased by 90–96% as compared to levels in brains perfused with saline alone. Levels of docosahexaenoic acid approximated levels obtained after microwave irradiation. Unlike microwave irradiation, this perfusion technique perserves the cellular structure of the brain, thereby allowing subcellular fractionation with minimal postmortem changes in lipid pools. The release of arachidonic acid during isolation of the P2 (synaptosomal) fraction was completely inhibited by the presence of the metabolic inactivators. The results of this study demonstrate a new and useful technique for the postmortem inactivation of enzymes responsible for the degradation of labile lipids in the brain. Further, the data underscore the key role of phospholipase A2 and Ca2+ in mediating the release and accumulation of free fatty acids in the ischemic brain.
Cutaneous lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma

We report a case of cutaneous lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma with multiple recurrences. The patient's disease has been controlled with local radiotherapy, excision, and low dose chemotherapy. During the 9 years of his disease, he has not experienced extracutaneous involvement. This case demonstrates the indolent nature that may characterize cutaneous extramedullary plasmacytomas.
Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution – By Benjamin L. Carp

In this book, the author returns to a problem that many past historians have considered: the importance of cities for the American Revolution and of the Revolution for American cities. Carl Bridenb...
Cultural Adaptation to Threatened Disaster

Social and behavioral scientists have recently undertaken to describe and analyze human behavior under the extreme conditions of disaster, an interest with compelling practical and applied value that has attracted considerable research support, particularly through the former Committee on Disaster Studies of the National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council. In the resultant body of literature various problems and approaches have been identified and defined, usually couched in terms of the personal and social consequences of sudden, unexpected disasters. The archetype paradigm seeks to establish empirically in natural disasters laboratories modeled after projections of surprise attack and looks for classes of "disaster behavior" that can be predicted in such events. While it is generally conceded that the pre-impact situation (variously defined) has a bearing on emergent behavior in a disaster, relatively little of the effort has been devoted to conceptualizing and defining research problems wi...
The effects of amphetamine on tachistoscopic performance in the monkey.

Amphetamine was administered (0.75–1.5 mg) to rhesus monkeys trained to perform choice-responses to pairs of briefly presented (10 msec) visual cues. Slight improvement of mean accuracy and significantly shorter reaction time were found in the performance of the animals after injections of the drug. These results are similar to those previously obtained by electrostimulation of the mesencephalic reticular formation, and appear to support the hypothesis of a reticulotropic action of amphetamine.
Single breath CO2 measurements of deadspace in ducks.

Abstract We measured deadspace ( Vd ) in ducks using CO2 expirograms (plots of expired PCO2vs expired volume) obtained during artificial ventilation at different tidal volumes ( Vt ) and respiratory system volumes ( Vrs ). Conventional analysis of the expirograms for Bohr and Fowler Vd indicated both were larger than anatomic Vd . Most expirograms at Vt ≤ 100 ml had terminal slopes greater than predicted for lungs gas and violated the usual assumptions of the Fowler calculation. Bohr Vd was not affected by Vrs but increased with Vt . This can be explained by expired PCO2 not reaching lung values at low Vt and an expiratory mesobronchial ventilatory shunt. We propose a measure of mesobronchial shunt corresponding to a volume of gas exhaled in one breath from caudal air sacs through the mesobronchus ( Vm ). Vm / Vt changes with pump vs constant flow ventilation indicating sensitivity of Vm to flow pattern. We estimate mesobronchial shunting is greatest at the beginning of expiration and approaches zero only near the end of a 200 ml expiration with constant flow ventilation.
Echocardiographic left ventricular mass to differentiate chronic hypertension from preeclampsia during pregnancy.

Abstract In order to differentiate pregnancy-induced hypertension from chronic systemic hypertension, we measured left ventricular mass for comparison in each trimester of pregnancy in 11 normotensive patients and 14 patients with chronic hypertension and in the third trimester in 10 patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension. The mean left ventricular mass was comparably increased above normal in the patients with chronic hypertension in all three trimesters. In the third trimester in the nomotensive women, left ventricular mass (147 ± 12 gm) was similar to that of the group with pregnancy-induced hypertension (157 ± 16 gm), whereas the group with chronic hypertension had an elevated left ventricular mass (238 ± 39 gm) (p
Establishment of the Ernest Beutler Memorial Lecture.

Although acute leukaemia was not a principal research interest of Ernie’s, he did establish the haematopoietic stem cell transplantation programme at the City of Hope Medical Center in 1975 and recruited Karl Blume to develop it. He and Karl and other colleagues at the City of Hope published one of the early papers establishing the utility of transplantation in first remission for patients with AML [2]. Karl went on to establish the haematopoietic stem cell transplantation programme at Stanford, and his disciples have scattered throughout the land to establish or lead other transplantation programmes. Thus, according to Karl, this made Ernie the father, grandfather and great-grandfather of transplant programmes throughout the United States, a contribution integral to the interests of the attendees of this forum. It is fitting that Drs. Rowe and Tallman have named the keynote lecture in Ernie’s memory. And I am confident that Ernie would be very pleased that Joseph Bertino was the inaugural speaker, a fellow physician-scientist of distinction and accomplishment. Ernie Beutler was the quintessential physician scientist. His knowledge of genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, nutrition, cell physiology, medicine, haematology and other fields was unparalleled and allowed him to apply his experience and keen insights into a remarkable array of human disorders. There is a German proverb, which translated states: ‘‘Much is known, but unfortunately in different heads.’’ Ernie was an exception to this adage. He had it all in one head, and he had so many other characteristics that made him a great scientist. Two that stood out were that he chose important problems, and he stayed with them. At the time of his death, Ernie was still involved with a malaria