cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Activity and kinetic properties of basal aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase during proliferation in the transformable C3H 10T12; CL8 cell line☆

Abstract Basal aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) activity and its kinetic properties were studied as a function of proliferation in C3H mouse embryo 10T 1 2 CL8 cells. Activity was low in freshly plated cells, increased during exponential growth, peaked at confluency, and then declined. The apparent Km-values for benzo[a]pyrene (BP) and NADPH were less in proliferating (approx. 0.37 μM BP, 3.3 nM NADPH) than in confluent cells (0.74–1.39 μM BP, 33.4–53.4 nM NADPH). Cells at different growth states responded differently to benz[a]anthracene (BA) and aminophylline, an inhibitor of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases. When cells were harvested at the mid log phase of growth, 12 h of exposure to aminophylline caused maximum induction, while 24 h of BA treatment were required. In contrast, at early confluence, 12 h of BA treatment gave the greatest levels of activity, while exposure to aminophylline did not induce AHH. In fact, decreases in activity were observed. These differences are indicative of different regulatory mechanisms for BA and aminophylline induction. They also suggest the regulation of basal AHH by cyclic nucleotides changes during growth. The exposure times giving maximum activity were used to determine the kinetic properties of BA-induced activity. As with basal AHH, the Km-value for BP was less in log phase (0.2–0.4 μM BP) than in confluent cells (0.64–1.05 μM BP). Moreover, the Km-values for BP and NADPH in control cultures at confluency (0.10–0.14 μM BP, 15.4–23.2 nM NADPH) were less than those for BA-treated cells (0.64 μM BP, 37.9–54.8 nM NADPH) under the same nutritional conditions. The finding that the Km-value for BP is lower in rapidly dividing cells than in confluent cells may help to explain why proliferating cells are more susceptible to transforming agents.
Abstract 618: Identification and quantification of human DNA repair protein NEIL1 by liquid chromatography/isotope-dilution tandem mass spectrometry as a potential cancer biomarker.

Accumulated evidence points to DNA repair capacity as an important therapeutic factor in cancer in predicting patient response to DNA-damaging agents such as chemotherapeutic drugs and ionizing radiation. Recent findings suggest that some types of malignant tumors possess increased DNA repair capacity that may affect the therapy and outcome of cancer. Thus, the knowledge of the over-expression or under-expression levels of DNA repair proteins in tumors and disease-free tissues will help develop and guide treatment strategies that will likely lead to the best treatment results for patients. In this context, DNA repair proteins are becoming predictive, prognostic and therapeutic factors in cancer, and also promising drug targets for cancer treatment as DNA repair inhibitors are being developed to increase the efficacy of cancer therapy. We developed assays for the mass spectrometric measurement in tissues of the human DNA repair protein NEIL1 (hNEIL1), which is involved in base excision and nucleotide excision repair pathways of oxidatively induced DNA damage. There is strong evidence for a critical role of NEIL1 in maintaining the genetic stability and in prevention of diseases such as cancer and metabolic syndrome. We applied liquid chromatography/isotope-dilution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), using the fully 15N-labeled analogue of hNEIL1 (15N-hNEIL1) as an internal standard, which we produced, purified and characterized. Both hNEIL1 and 15N-hNEIL1 were hydrolyzed with trypsin. Eighteen tryptic peptides of each protein were identified by LC-MS/MS on the basis of their full-scan mass spectra. These peptides matched the theoretical peptides expected from trypsin hydrolysis of hNEIL1, and provided a statistically significant protein score that would unequivocally identify hNEIL1. The product ion spectra of the tryptic peptides of both proteins were recorded and the characteristic product ions were defined. Selected-reaction monitoring was used to analyze mixtures of hNEIL1 and 15N-hNEIL1 on the basis of product ions. We also showed the detection of these proteins following their separation by gel electrophoresis and in-gel trypsin digestion. Our results suggest that the assays developed would be highly suitable for the positive identification and accurate quantification of hNEIL1 in tissues in vivo as a potential cancer biomarker. . Citation Format: Miral Dizdaroglu. Identification and quantification of human DNA repair protein NEIL1 by liquid chromatography/isotope-dilution tandem mass spectrometry as a potential cancer biomarker. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 618. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-618
Measuring parallelism in computation-intensive scientific/engineering applications

Describes COMET, (concurrency measurement tool), a software tool for measuring parallelism in large scientific/engineering applications. The proposed tool measures the total parallelism present in programs, filtering out the effects of communication/synchronization delays, finite storage, limited number of processors, the policies for management of processors and storage, etc. Although an ideal machine that can exploit the total parallelism is not realizable, such measures would aid the calibration and design of various architectures/compilers. The proposed software tool accepts ordinary Fortran programs as input. Therefore, parallelism can be measured easily on many fairly big programs. Some measurements for parallelism obtained with the help of this tool are also reported. It is observed that the average parallelism in the chosen programs is in the range of 500-3500 Fortran statements executing concurrently in each clock cycle in an idealized environment. >
Avian nucleus isthmi and its relation to hippus.

The normal cytology and connections of the mesencephalic nucleus isthmi were examined in cell and fiber preparations of the brains of seven avian forms which included those of chicken, guinea hen, duck, ibis, turkey buzzard, pheasant and sparrow. In all these forms the isthmi complex consisted of three parts which appeared to be associated by position, connections and function. The magnocellular part begins at the region of junction of the diencephalon and the mesencephalon and lies ventral to the nucleus mesencephalicus lateralis pars dorsalis. The parvocellular portion of the nucleus isthmi is the largest subdivision of the complex. It appears and disappears within the rostrocaudal extent of the magnocellular portion of the nucleus. The third, most posterior, and most diminutive division of the nucleus isthmi is the nucleus semilunaris. The above description excludes the nucleus isthmo-opticus as a representative of the nucleus isthmi. Connections of the isthmi complex, as assayed from normal and experimental methods, include the lateral lemniscus, the tectoisthmal, the isthmotectal, the isthmocerebellar, the isthmo-oculomotor and the isthmostriatal pathways. Anatomicophysiologic investigation of the nucleus isthmi further supports its homology with scattered reticular cells along the lateral lemniscus in mammals rather than with the medial geniculate nucleus of mammals. The presence of the avian hippus might provide a useful investigative tool.
Avidin/biotin‐liposome system injected in the pleural space for drug delivery to mediastinal lymph nodes

The objective of this study was to develop a more effective liposome-based method for delivering drugs to mediastinal nodes. Nodal uptake was determined after intrapleural injection of the avidin/biotin-liposome system in normal rats. The effect of injection sequence (avidin injected 2 h before biotin-liposomes and vice versa), volume injected, and administered dose of the agents is described. Pharmacokinetics of the avidin/biotin-liposome system was monitored with scintigraphic imaging by labeling the biotin-liposomes with technetium-99m ((99m)Tc). To identify the nodes during the biodistribution studies, patent blue dye was encapsulated in the biotin-liposomes. Tissue biodistribution studies were performed 22 h after injection of the (99m)Tc-blue-biotin-liposomes. When avidin was injected before (99m)Tc-blue-biotin-liposomes, better mediastinal node targeting (15.7%; p < 0.05) was achieved than when biotin-liposomes were injected first (8.3%) or when only biotin-liposomes were injected (1.0%). Injection of a small dose of liposomes (0.5 mg phospholipid) and avidin (0.5 mg) resulted in the most favorable drug delivery to mediastinal nodes and other organs. Intrapleural injection of the avidin/biotin-liposome system could potentially be used for drug delivery to disease processes such as lung cancer, anthrax, and tuberculosis that invade mediastinal nodes and use them as centers of incubation and dissemination.
Human finger joint synergies for a constrained task applied to a dexterous anthropomorphic hand

This work deals with the complex task of unscrewing a bottle cap with a dexterous anthropomorphic hand. To that end, human motion profiles of nine test subjects were recorded using CyberGlove II and the data were analyzed for unscrewing a bottle cap. Results showed that the periodic motions exhibited by the finger joints shared a common frequency for each subject, but differed in amplitude and phase. From the gathered data, a set of sinusoidal trajectories were developed to approximate this motion for a robotic hand. Because the joint trajectories share the same frequency, a single sinusoidal input can be used in the path planning of the robot to achieve this task. A reference joint is given a sinusoidal input, and the remaining joints are scaled in phase and amplitude with respect to this reference joint. This significantly reduces the computational cost and complexity of the task. Simulation results show that the developed sinusoidal trajectories show a close correlation with the motion profiles seen from human experiments. Using the developed sine trajectories, the robotic hand successfully unscrewed the bottle cap in all five conducted trials.
A framework for an in-depth comparison of scale-up and scale-out

When data grows too large, we scale to larger systems, either by scaling out or up. It is understood that scale-out and scale-up have different complexities and bottlenecks but a thorough comparison of the two architectures is challenging because of the diversity of their programming interfaces, their significantly different system environments, and their sensitivity to workload specifics. In this paper, we propose a novel comparison framework based on MapReduce that accounts for the application, its requirements, and its input size by considering input, software, and hardware parameters. Part of this framework requires implementing scale-out properties on scale-up and we discuss the complex trade-offs, interactions, and dependencies of these properties for two specific case studies (word count and sort). This work lays the foundation for future work in quantifying design decisions and in building a system that automatically compares architectures and selects the best one.
Multiscale method for feature-preserving compression

Requirements for a good shape representation lead to descriptors that are object centered and that have the notion of scale. These representations usually take the form of shape skeletons at multiple detail levels. Classical tool for skeleton extraction is the grassfire equation, in which the process is lossless and the equation can be run backwards in order to obtain shape boundary from the shape skeleton. Many complicated strategies have been devised to assign significance to skeletal points in order to arrive at the skeleton scale space. A recent alternative approach is to introduce regularization directly to the skeleton extraction process, by combining diffusion with grassfire. Very recently, techniques, similar in spirit, which combine nonlinear smoothing of the shape boundary with the grassfire, in order to extract an axis based description, are presented independently. When diffusion is introduced into the formulation, inverse equation is no longer stable. This is the issue we will be addressing in the context of the method presented by Tari and Shah for extraction of nested symmetries from arbitrary images in arbitrary dimension. The basic tool used in the method is a specific distance function which is the steady-state solution of an elliptic boundary value problem. We present an inverse equation and show how one may obtain the whole distance surface from a sparse representation, providing a means for determining the shape boundary from the shape skeleton. The presented technique can be used for feature-preserving compression.
The transhipment problem: Smuggling and welfare in Paraguay

Abstract This paper studies the effects of contraband on resource allocation and welfare using Parguayan data. A major portion of exports from this economy involves the transhipment of goods from third countries through Paraguay to Brazil and Argentina to avoid trade taxes, both explicit and implicit via quantitative restrictions and multiple exchange rates. Using international and Paraguayan databases for 1990, we calculate that contraband accounted for 58% of exports and 31% of imports. Finally, we estimate that such trade increased welfare by 2.1% of GDP.
Derivation of the optical autocorrelation function from Raman scattering of diffusing particles

Raman scattering is an inelastic scattering process with chemical specificity to molecular bonds. Because it is a coherent process, the autocorrelation function of its intensity fluctuations can be treated similarly as in the case of the quasi-elastic scattering that is the basis of photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS). This article discuses the possibility of such a new optical characterization method, Raman correlation spectroscopy (RCS). If the phase behavior of Raman scattering is constant or slow enough compared to the diffusion of particles in a dispersion, RCS can work as a variation of PCS with similar instrumentation as PCS and could become a useful addition for nanoparticle characterization research. This article also discusses the effect of incoherent fluorescence in the data analysis of RCS.
Biochemical Characterization of Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigen 3A and 3C Proteins

Abstract Among the viral proteins expressed in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-infected B cells are a family of nuclear proteins known as the Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigan 3 (EBNA-3) proteins. Two of these, EBNA-3A and EBNA-3C, have an essential but uncharacterized role in the transformation of primary B cells by EBV. EBNA-3C increases expression of two genes likely to be important for B cell growth transformation by EBV, the B cell activation antigen CD21 and the EBV latent membrane protein-1. Since EBNA-3 proteins exhibit DNA-binding capability in crude protein extracts from EBV-transformed cell lines and EBNA-3C contains sequences homologous to a basic leucine zipper motif found in one class of mammalian transcription factors, it is likely that EBNA-3C functions as a transcriptional transactivator. In this paper, we have overexpressed EBNA3A and -3C in the baculovirus-expression system. To determine whether the ability to bind to DNA is an intrinsic property of the EBNA-3 proteins, we have examined the ability of the recombinant protein to bind to DNA-cellulose. Unlike EBNA-3 proteins in lysates from EBV-transformed cells, neither recombinant protein exhibits significant DNA-binding capability as evidenced by the inability to bind to double-stranded DNA-cellulose. Since this difference in DNA binding could be a result of post-translational modifications, we have examined the phosphorylation status of the EBNA-3 proteins both in EBVtransformed cells and in infected insect cells EBNA-3A and EBNA-3C were phosphorylated in both cell types. Therefore, if indeed these proteins function as transcriptional transactivators, they may bind to DNA via an indirect mechanism. The recombinant proteins will be invaluable in the further clarification of the role of EBNA-3A and EBNA-3C in EBV-induced immortalization of B cells.
The defective dorsal discs gene of Drosophila is required for the growth of specific imaginal discs

The wild-type allele of the gene defective dorsal discs (ddd) is required for the normal development of the dorsal thoracic discs in Drosophila melanogaster. In ddd mutant larvae the dorsal discs (wing, haltere, and humeral) are greatly reduced in size or absent while the ventral discs (leg) are unaffected. We have examined the function of the ddd+ gene in wing development. The ddd+ product is not involved in the initial determination of wing cells but rather is required for their subsequent proliferation during the larval period. Analysis of chimaeras shows that there is a requirement for ddd+ gene expression in wing discs, but it is sufficient for normal development that only some cells in a disc express the gene. We propose that the ddd+ product is involved in the synthesis of a factor which is required for the normal growth of wing discs and which can be transferred between wing disc cells.
Science-Technology Society Education in the Social Studies: A Status Report

The teaching of Science/ Technology/Society (STS) content can become an inte gral part of the existing social studies curriculum. This writ er explains why, and how.
Eccrine angiomatous hamartoma.

A 50-year-old Korean man had an erythematous patch on the left side of his chest since birth ( Fig. 1). We first regarded this lesion as nevus flammeus because of the resemblance of the lesion to an erythematous patch that blanched with pressure. Physical examination revealed an 8×5 cm erythematous patch with a central profuse sweating zone surrounded by a flame-like non-sweating zone ( Fig. 2). The patch was sharply demarcated from the normal skin. Sweating was evoked by physical exercise or emotional stress. There was no history of pain or tenderness for the lesion. The patient had no history of any other vascular disease. Histopathologic examination of the central zone showed an increased number of eccrine glands in the mid and deep dermis. Some dilated vascular channels that were not associated with the eccrine glands were present in the upper dermis and subcutaneous tissue ( Fig. 3). Immunohistochemical stain with anti-factor VIII-related antigen showed reactivity on the endothelia of the vascular elements which were not associated with eccrine glands in the upper dermis. Histopathologic examination of the surrounding zone showed non-specific findings, except for the dilated vascular channels in the upper dermis. Figure 1. (A) hyperhidrotic erythematous patch on the left side of the chest Figure 2. (A) sharply demarcated 8×5 cm erythematous patch with a central profuse sweating zone surrounded by a flame-like non-sweating zone Figure 3. Several eccrine angiomatous lobules in the mid and deep dermis, and hyperplasia and dilation of vascular structures in the upper dermis and the subcutaneous fat (hematoxylin and eosin, ×100)
Poverty Limits School Choice in Urban Settings

Choice plans abound and are touted to be the panacea for the major ills of education. This article, although not arguing against choice as a reform option, presents the position that there are circumstances in poverty settings that will continue to further disenfranchise segments of our society from education even with choice. These segments of society, because of their limited productivity, are costly to sustain. Their circumstances limit the prerequisites for high-quality school choice by parents, and if left unconsidered will result in even worse conditions in urban schools. Recommendations are suggested based on successful programs in these settings.
Deformation inhomogeneity and representative volume in Pb/Sn solder alloys

To verify whether the deformation of the bulk test specimens represents that of small solder joints, we have used the concept of “representative volume.” The representative volume is defined as the smallest volume which represents the average inelastic and inhomogeneous deformation of the entire body. We have performed the first set of experiments to determine this representative volume by measuring the microscopic deformations of a large Pb/Sn eutectic alloy specimen as a function of applied strain. The results show that the representative volume of the specimen is very large compared to the size of the solder joints.
Simplicial collapsibility, discrete Morse theory, and the geometry of nonpositively curved simplicial complexes

Understanding the conditions under which a simplicial complex collapses is a central issue in many problems in topology and combinatorics. Let K be a finite simplicial complex of dimension three or less endowed with the piecewise Euclidean geometry given by declaring edges to have unit length, and satisfying the property that every 2-simplex is a face of at most two 3-simplices in K. Our main result is that if |K| is nonpositively curved [in the sense of CAT(0)] then K simplicially collapses to a point. The main tool used in the proof is Forman’s discrete Morse theory, a combinatorial analog of the classical smooth theory developed in the 1920s. A key ingredient in our proof is a combinatorial analog of the fact that a minimal surface in \({{\mathbb R}^{3}}\) has nonpositive Gauss curvature.
Gravitational radiation from coalescing binary neutron stars.

We calculate the gravitational radiation produced by the merger and coalescence of inspiraling binary neutron stars using 3-dimensional numerical simulations. The stars are modeled as polytropes and start out in the point-mass limit at wide separation. The hydrodynamic integration is performed using smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) with Newtonian gravity, and the gravitational radiation is calculated using the quadrupole approximation. We have run several simulations, varying both the neutron star radius and the equation of state. The resulting gravitational wave energy spectra $dE/df$ are rich in information about the hydrodynamics of merger and coalescence. In particular, our results demonstrate that detailed information on both $GM/Rc^2$ and the equation of state can in principle be extracted from the spectrum.
Deviance " Down Under" Or How a Deviance Assignment Became a "Folk Devil"

In a common introductory sociology assignment in many departments in the United States, students commit a "deviant" act and record the reactions to that act. In social problems courses, students often are encouraged to explore the process by which "putative" social conditions become transformed into "social problems" (Spector and Kitsuse 1977). Not often, however, do students have the opportunity to observe how deviant acts themselves can become the focus for the attempted creation of a local social problem.
Risk of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis: evaluation of gadolinium chelate contrast agents at four American universities.

Purpose: To retrospectively determine the benchmark incidence of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) related to the confirmed use of different gadolinium chelate contrast agents at four U.S. university tertiary care centers. Materials and Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained for this HIPAA-compliant multi-institutional study; the requirement for informed patient consent was waived. Patients who had a diagnosis of NSF between January 2000 and December 2006 were identified at four tertiary care centers with renal transplant and dialysis services. A standard checklist was used to acquire reliable data from the four centers. The diagnosis of NSF was confirmed histopathologically in all patients. The association of NSF development with gadolinium chelate contrast agent administration in each patient was assessed. The type and cumulative dose of contrast agent administered to each patient with NSF were determined at each center by using the standard checklist. The benchmark incidence of NSF...
Modeling the antimasking effects of the olivocochlear reflex in auditory‐nerve responses to tones in noise.

The medial olivocochlear reflex (MOCR) has been hypothesized to provide benefit for listening in noise. Strong physiological support for an anti-masking role for the MOCR has come from the observation that auditory nerve (AN) fibers exhibit reduced firing to sustained noise and increased sensitivity to tones when the MOCR is elicited. The present study extended a well-established computational model for normal-hearing and hearing-impaired AN responses to demonstrate that these anti-masking effects can be accounted for by reducing outer hair cell (OHC) gain, which is a primary effect of the MOCR. Tone responses in noise were examined systematically as a function of tone level, noise level, and OHC gain. Signal detection theory was used to predict detection and discrimination for different spontaneous rate fiber groups. Decreasing OHC gain decreased the sustained noise response and increased maximum discharge rate to the tone, thus modeling the ability of the MOCR to decompress AN fiber rate-level functions. Comparing the present modeling results with previous data from AN fibers in decerebrate cats suggests that the ipsilateral masking noise used in the physiological study may have elicited up to 20 dB of OHC gain reduction in addition to that inferred from the contralateral noise effects. Reducing OHC gain in the model also extended the dynamic range for discrimination over a wide range of background noise levels. For each masker level, an optimal OHC gain reduction was predicted (i.e., where maximum discrimination was achieved without increased detection threshold). These optimal gain reductions increased with masker level and were physiologically realistic. Thus, reducing OHC gain can improve tone-in-noise discrimination even though it may produce a “hearing loss” in quiet. Combining MOCR effects with the sensorineural hearing loss effects already captured by this computational AN model will be beneficial for exploring the implications of their interaction for the difficulties hearing-impaired listeners have in noisy situations.
The Selectivity and Sustainability of a Pd―In/γ-Al2O3 Catalyst in a Packed-Bed Reactor: The Effect of Solution Composition

This study tested the selectivity and sustainability of an alumina-supported Pd–In bimetallic catalyst for nitrate reduction with H2 in a continuous-flow packed-bed reactor in the presence of: (i) dissolved oxygen (DO), an alternative electron acceptor to nitrate, (ii) variable NO3 −:H2 influent loadings, and (iii) the presence of a known foulant, sulfide. The sustainability of the catalyst was promising, as the catalyst was found to be stable under all conditions tested with respect to metal leaching. The presence of DO at concentrations typical of treatment conditions will increase H2 demand for NO3 − reduction, but has no negative impact on the selectivity of the catalyst. Under optimal conditions, i.e., a pH of 5.0 and a high NO3 −:H2 influent loading, low NH3 selectivity (5%) was achieved for extended periods (36 days), resulting in sustained levels of NH3 that approached the European legal limit. The biggest challenge to the sustainability of the catalyst was the addition of sulfide, that initially increased NH3 selectivity and ultimately resulted in complete deactivation of the catalyst. Further work is required to identify regeneration methods to restore sulfide-fouled catalyst activity and selectivity; however, the most effective use would be to remove sulfide prior to catalytic treatment.
The use of endoscopic ultrasound in the diagnosis of solid pseudopapillary tumors of the pancreas in children.

Since the first description by Frantz in 1959 of a papillary cystic tumor of the pancreas, solid pseudopapillary tumors have been increasing in incidence. However, management of these lesions remains controversial. Patients under the age of 20 years more often undergo local excision than do their older counterparts, resulting in increased recurrence rates. The cause of this discrepancy is not clear but may be related to an inability to make a definitive preoperative diagnosis. The authors report a case of a solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas in a 13-year-old girl in which the diagnosis was established preoperatively by endoscopic ultrasound scan with fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA). EUS-FNA represents a diagnostic technique commonly used in adults that may be useful in identifying the rare pediatric patient with pancreatic malignancy.
HGSPRAY: A complete model of spraying unconfined gaseous releases

The model presented here, HGSPRAY, is an expanded and refined version of the GAS-SPRAY model presented by this author in an earlier study. HGSPRAY simulates the momentum, mass and energy interactions between several water sprays and a turbulent plume of a heavy gas (HG) in air; the model can predict the flow velocities, temperature, water vapour and gas concentration fields in two-dimensional large geometries for spraying in any direction. The model has been verified with the data obtained from the Hawk field experiments of hydrofluoric acid (HF) mitigation, at the DOE Nevada Test Site.
Correction to “Master Regulators, Regulatory Networks, and Pathways of Glioblastoma Subtypes”

The authors of Bozdag S, Li A, Baysan M, and Fine HA. Master Regulators, Regulatory Networks, and Pathways of Glioblastoma Subtypes. Cancer Informatics. 2014;13(S3): 33–44. doi:10.4137/CIN.S14027 wish to advise that a hyperlink provided in the paper for obtaining the molecular subtype and G-CIMP calls of the studied dataset samples, from the data freeze package by TCGA analysis working group, was incorrect. The link given was to a page that is not accessible to the public. The correct link is: https://tcga-data.nci.nih.gov/docs/publications/gbm_2013/.
Rapamycin inhibits cell proliferation in type I and type II endometrial carcinomas: a search for biomarkers of sensitivity to treatment.

Objectives Our goal was to evaluate the effect of rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor, in type I and II human endometrial cancer tumor explants.
Dynamics Explorer Program

Man's near-space environment is dominated by energy from the sun, which arrives in the vicinity of the earth in two forms: as electromagnetic radiation and as the plasma flow of the solar wind. This energy interacts with the earth's magnetosphere and atmosphere in a variety of ways. The study of these interactions has been a major goal of NASA's Explorer programs. Most of the solar electromagnetic energy lies in the visible region of the spectrum and passes directly through the upper atmosphere. However, part of the solar energy in the ultraviolet interacts strongly with the upper atmosphere and produces the ionospheric and ozone layers. Understanding how this radiation controls the ionosphere and thermosphere has been a primary objective of the Atmosphere Explorer program.
Vector repacking algorithms for power-aware computing

In this paper we experiment with practical algorithms for the vector repacking problem and its variants. Vector repacking, like vector packing, aims to pack a set of input vectors such that the number of bins used is minimized, while minimizing the changes from the previous packing. We also consider a variant of vector repacking that stores additional copies of items with the goal of improving the performance of vector repacking algorithms. In addition, our algorithms are parameterized so that they can be effectively optimized for a variety of resource allocation applications with different input characteristics and different cost functions.
LI KANG: A RHAPSODY ON THE BANYAN TREE

The banyan tree, a species of fig, with its curious and striking habit, is widely distributed in southern Asia, but commonly thought of in connection with India. It is not unknown in China, however, and has attracted considerable attention there in folklore and literature because of the great canopy-like structure formed by the descent of aerial roots from its branches. These strike into the ground to form a series of new trunks, and ultimately enclose a cavernous space ideally suited for a retreat for men from the burning tropical sun. Chinese literature, like Indian literature, has emphasized the peculiarities of the tree. Chi Han j , in his Nan-fang ts'ao-mu chuang i 7~j it 7~ *IJ (Ts'ung-shu chi-ch'eng edition, b. 7. Hereafter cited as NFTMC), makes much of the feature of the aerial roots and their
Cohesive Energy Studies of Intercalated Graphite Compounds: The Madelung Energies of C6Li and C8K

Abstract The Madelung energies EM of the lamellar intercalated compounds C6Li and C8K are -4.571 eV/atom of Li and -2.478 eV/atom of K respectively, assuming full charge transfer. EM becomes more negative when the counterion coordination becomes greater, and depends critically on Coulomb contributions in directions normal to the graphite planes. Born-Haber cycle estimates of the enthalpy of formation of C8K (-0.93 eV to -1.79 eV, depending on which band theory estimate of the Fermi energy shift is used) bracket the experimental value of -1.208 eV.
Microbial presence and potential in eastern oil shale

Abstract Samples of Indiana New Albany oil shale have been examined for their content of microorganisms and for the potential of using isolates to reduce the sulfur content prior to fluidized bed hydroretorting. Shale samples have been used as inocula for culture development. Standard microbial culture methods revealed the presence of 1 × 105 to 1 × 106 microorganisms/gram of shale. The organisms found appeared to be primarily a mixture of unidentified Gram-positive bacteria and several fungi. An electron microscope procedure was developed to quantitatively examine microparticulates and to obtain their X-ray spectra. Pieces of shale several hundred grams in weight were ground in a ball mill or by mortar and pestle and wet or dry sieved into three fractions designated +200, −200 and −325, based on the mesh size of the sieve used. Equal weight samples of the ground-sieved shale were taken up in distilled, demineralized water and passed through a 0.45 μM nitrocellulose filter. The dried filters were softened, coated with a thin layer of carbon, dissolved and recoated with carbon to prepare a carbon film sandwich which entraps microparticulates and is suitable for examination in the TEM. Results of the direct TEM examination of shale indicated that the ground material contained about 1 × 109 to 1 × 1010 microbial cells/gram of shale in a surprising variety of sizes and shapes. Examination of X-ray spectra from individual microparticulates was inconclusive but suggested variability in particulate content. Quantitative X-ray analysis of bulk sieved samples was also performed. Shale, used as a growth medium supplemented with glucose but limited in sulfur, was inoculated with shale isolates. Reduction in sulfur content was measured quantitatively using the X-ray spectrometer. Results suggest that about 63–65% of the total sulfur could be removed when you include a pretreatment with HNO3 acid.
Production‐location problems with demand considerations

The production-location problem of a profit maximizing firm is considered. A model is developed for a single firm, facing the joint problems of determining the optimal plant location, the optimal input mix, and the optimal plant size. A homothetic production function is used as the model of the production technologies, and the existence of a sequential “separability” between the production, or input mix, problem and the location problem is demonstrated.
Delta oscillations induced by ketamine increase energy levels in sleep-wake related brain regions

Neuronal signaling consumes much of the brain energy, mainly through the restoration of the membrane potential (MP) by ATP-consuming ionic pumps. We have reported that, compared with waking, ATP levels increase during the initial hours of natural slow-wave sleep, a time with prominent electroencephalogram (EEG) delta oscillations (0.5-4.5 Hz). We have hypothesized that there is a delta oscillation-ATP increase coupling, since, during delta waves, neurons exhibit a prolonged hyperpolarizing phase followed by a very brief phase of action potentials. However, direct proof of this hypothesis is lacking, and rapid changes in EEG/neuronal activity preclude measurement in the naturally sleeping brain. Thus, to induce a uniform state with pure delta oscillations and one previously shown to be accompanied by a similar pattern of neuronal activity during delta waves as natural sleep, we used ketamine-xylazine treatment in rats. We here report that, with this treatment, the high-energy molecules ATP and ADP increased in frontal and cingulate cortices, basal forebrain, and hippocampus compared with spontaneous waking. Moreover, the degree of ATP increase positively and significantly correlated with the degree of EEG delta activity. Supporting the hypothesis of decreased ATP consumption during delta activity, the ATP-consuming Na+-K+-ATPase mRNA levels were significantly decreased, whereas the mRNAs for the ATP-producing cytochrome c oxidase (COX) subunits COX III and COX IVa were unchanged. Taken together, these data support the hypothesis of a cortical delta oscillation-dependent reduction in ATP consumption, thus providing the brain with increased ATP availability, and likely occurring because of reduced Na+-K+-ATPase-related energy consumption.
Large-scale dam removal on the Elwha River, Washington, USA: Erosion of reservoir sediment

Abstract Base-level lowering of reservoirs impounding upstream sediment supply triggers a series of channel evolution steps such as degradation, lateral erosion, and redeposition that can dramatically alter the reservoir landscape and decouple the relationship between stream power and sediment supply. Many case studies exist for small dam removals with a few years of sediment storage or dam breaches triggering instantaneous large sediment releases. However, quantitative information for a controlled drawdown initiating erosion of a large sediment deposit is rare. We investigate reservoir sediment response to the phased and concurrent drawdown of two reservoirs on the Elwha River, Washington, USA, during the largest dam removal in history by measuring changes in reservoir topography and channel morphology as a function of base-level lowering, river discharge, and cohesion. After two years, the Elwha Dam was completely removed, and three-quarters of Glines Canyon Dam were removed. Reservoir drawdown increments of 3 to 5 m were sufficient to initiate channel degradation and delta progradation across the width of the receding reservoir, redistributing decades of accumulated delta sediment throughout the reservoir while the lake still remained. The first year of dam removal resulted in up to 5 m of incision through the Lake Aldwell delta down to the predam surface and in just over 20 m of incision through the Lake Mills delta. In contrast, delta progradation resulted in a few meters of deposition in Lake Aldwell and 2 to 10 m in Lake Mills on top of prodelta and lakebed deposits. In coarse, noncohesive sediment, a braided channel developed and widened up to tenfold across the entire width of the reservoir. The most extensive lateral erosion occurred in noncohesive deposits during multiweek hold periods coinciding with flows greater than the mean annual flow, but less than a 2-year flood peak. Channel widening in more cohesive fine sediments of the prodelta and lakebed was less than half of that in the coarse, noncohesive delta sediments. Dam removal resulted in the erosion and downstream release of 23% of the sediment in Lake Aldwell (1.12 ± 0.07 million m3) and 37% of the sediment in Lake Mills (5.95 ± 0.12 million m3), representing nearly four decades of sediment supply from the upstream watershed within a two-year time frame. A significant portion of the reservoir sediment is expected to remain as sediment terraces within the reservoir landscape, but additional erosion is expected after the remainder of the Glines Canyon Dam is removed and during future floods until the river reaches quasi-equilibrium. After phased dam removal, the reservoir landscape consists of a series of sediment terraces of varying heights composed of prograded coarse sediment overlying fine lakebed deposits. The predam surface is exposed along the river corridor, and abundant 1- to 3-m stumps from pre-removal forests create unique morphology where the river interacts with the predam landscape.
Bovine Milk Glycome

Bovine milk oligosaccharides have several potentially important biological activities including the prevention of pathogen binding to the intestinal epithelial and as nutrients for beneficial bacteria. It has been suggested that milk oligosaccharides are an important source of complex carbohydrates as supplements for the food and the pharmaceutical industries. However, only a small number of structures of bovine milk oligosaccharides (bMO) are known. There have been no systematic studies on bMO. High-performance mass spectrometry and separation methods are used to evaluate bMO, and nearly 40 oligosaccharides are present in bovine milk. Bovine milk oligosaccharides are composed of shorter oligomeric chains than are those in human milk. They are significantly more anionic with nearly 70%, measured abundances, being sialylated. Additionally, bMO are built not only on the lactose core (as are nearly all human milk oligosaccharides), but also on lactose amines. Sialic acid residues include both N-acetyl and N-glycolylneuraminic acid, although the former is significantly more abundant.
Dicer Partner Proteins Tune the Length of Mature miRNAs in Flies and Mammals

Drosophila Dicer-1 produces microRNAs (miRNAs) from pre-miRNA, whereas Dicer-2 generates small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) from long dsRNA. Alternative splicing of the loquacious (loqs) mRNA generates three distinct Dicer partner proteins. To understand the function of each, we constructed flies expressing Loqs-PA, Loqs-PB, or Loqs-PD. Loqs-PD promotes both endo- and exo-siRNA production by Dicer-2. Loqs-PA or Loqs-PB is required for viability, but the proteins are not fully redundant: a specific subset of miRNAs requires Loqs-PB. Surprisingly, Loqs-PB tunes where Dicer-1 cleaves pre-miR-307a, generating a longer miRNA isoform with a distinct seed sequence and target specificity. The longer form of miR-307a represses glycerol kinase and taranis mRNA expression. The mammalian Dicer-partner TRBP, a Loqs-PB homolog, similarly tunes where Dicer cleaves pre-miR-132. Thus, Dicer-binding partner proteins change the choice of cleavage site by Dicer, producing miRNAs with target specificities different from those made by Dicer alone or Dicer bound to alternative protein partners.
Convergent and Discriminant Validity of Five Interest Inventories.

Abstract This study investigated whether interest inventories that purport to measure the same constructs actually yield scores that correspond. The study examined the empirical relation of scores for similarly and same-named scales on five widely used interest inventories: the Campbell Interest and Skills Survey , the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey–Form DD , the Self-Directed Search , the Strong Interest Inventory–Skills Confidence Edition , and the Revised Unisex Edition of the ACT Interest Inventory . Comparisons were made among scores for (a) vocational interests measured by homogeneous, rationally based scales; (b) occupational interests measured by heterogeneous, criterion-based scales; and (c) self-efficacy for RIASEC tasks. The participants consisted of 80 women and 38 men employed as career counseling practitioners and professors. Results from analyses of multitrait–multimethod matrices indicated that similarly and same-named scales correlated moderately and that, with few exceptions, these matched scales demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity. These conclusions were interpreted by distinguishing between the linguistic explication and operational definition of constructs in theories of vocational and occupational interests. The implications of these interpretations were considered for both the science of vocational psychology and the practice of career counseling. Future research should investigate both the profile validity and the interpretive validity of interest inventories that yield scale scores derived from different scaling strategies.
Identification of individual steroids in biological matrices by mass-analyzed ion kinetic energy spectrometry.

Abstract Individual steroids can be distinguished by their mass-analyzed ion kinetic energy (MIKE) spectra. These spectra are taken for the protonated compounds generated by chemical ionization and they yield characteristic fragmentation patterns for different steroids. Isomeric steroids can be differentiated by their MIKE spectra. In some cases this can also be achieved by examining a single ionic reaction rather than the entire spectrum. For example, protonated dehydroepiandrosterone undergoes spontaneous elimination of water while its isomer, testosterone undergoes this reaction with a lower cross-section and then only when excited by collision with target gas. Mixtures of steroids can be analyzed qualitatively. This is illustrated by the analysis of birth control pills (Ovral) for ethynylestradiol and norgestrol. Analysis of urine specimens for particular steroids without pretreatment or preconcentration is possible in some cases.
PARAMETRIZATION OF THE THREE-BODY D FUNCTION. II.

A new parametrization of the three-body $D$ function based in part on numerical investigation is presented. It is correct in both weak coupling and the Efimov limit, and agrees remarkably well with "exact" numerical calculation in a boson model. It has the correct singularity position but not the correct strength at the three-body threshold. In the neutron-deuteron quartet system it agrees very well with exact calculation and casts light on the relative model independence of these calculations. We also show that the Efimov states become virtual states with increasing coupling.
Computer simulation of growth of anastomosing microvascular networks.

Stochastic growth of polygonal microvascular networks was simulated on computer by dichotomous terminal branching and bridging (anastomosing with an existing segment). The model was applied to describe microvascular growth into a rectangular plane from the sides when vessels bifurcate in a probabilistic manner. The angle of bifurcation was drawn from a normal distribution, the mean of which was varied between 40° and 80°. The resulting networks contained an average of 88–104 nodes of which 30–38% were due to bridging. Number of nodes, number of branches, number of vascular polygons and a fractal dimension representing the density of nodes were calculated for each simulated network. Capillary density increased when mean angle of bifurcation was increased between 40° and 80°. Distributions of normalized vessel lengths and polygon shapes were compared with those of a mesenteric vascular network. The distributions were not found to be significantly different ( p