cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Aqueous Extract of Herba Scutellaria Barbatae, a Chinese Herb Used for Ovarian Cancer, Induces Apoptosis of Ovarian Cancer Cell Lines

Abstract Objective Given the increasingly common use of complementary medicine in cancer patients, we tested the in vitro cytotoxicity of aqueous extracts of 15 traditional Chinese herbs with purported anticancer properties on ovarian and breast cancer cell lines. Methods Cell viability after treatment with herbal extract was measured by metabolism of a tetrazolium substrate. Apoptosis was measured by nuclear and DNA fragmentation and Annexin V binding. Results One herb, Herba Scutellaria barbatae, was cytotoxic to 100% (11 of 11) of actively proliferating ovarian lines tested and 50% (2 of 4) of actively proliferating breast cell lines tested. Confluent cultures were resistant to killing by herb, whereas subconfluent cultures were sensitive. Resistant proliferating cell lines expressed higher levels of bcl2. Transfection of the most sensitive ovarian cancer cell line (A2780) with bcl2 resulted in a noticeable protection against apoptosis, but there was no protection in other transfected lines. Conclusion These results will be useful in guiding future studies of herbal aqueous extracts, as well as providing information for clinicians when patients are concurrently using these herbs along with conventional cancer therapies.
Analytic many-body perturbation theory MBPT(4) response properties

Abstract The full MBPT(4) response density matrix has been derived and implemented. This allows for the analytic determination of MBPT(4) one-electron properties at a fraction of the cost of traditional numerical calculations. Dipole moments and polarizabilities are compared with full CI results for CH 2 , F − , and HF. In addition, an extended basis set for H 2 O is investigated.
A Permanent Income Model of Public Consumption

Abstract This paper tests the permanent income hypothesis (PIH) for public consumption. Unlike private agents, a government is a representative national, infinitely-lived agent that usually faces no liquidity constraints. Thus, the expectation is that the PIH restrictions should not be rejected for public consumption. However, using U.S. data, the paper is unable to find evidence supporting the permanent income model of public consumption. Public consumption is found to be sensitive to lagged public income and too smooth relative to permanent public income. The results therefore cast doubt on the characterization of the public sector as a social welfare optimizing agent.
The immune paradox of fondaparinux

Comment on Warkentin et al, page [3791][1] In this issue of Blood, Warkentin and colleagues demonstrate that fondaparinux elicits an immune response to PF4/heparin. Antibodies induced by the drug do not recognize complexes of PF4/fondaparinux but, paradoxically, bind complexes of PF4/heparin and
Use of Lead Compounds and Tetracycline to Mark Scales and Otoliths of Marine Fishes

mark the scales'and otoliths of fishes (Fry et al., 1960) and two reports on the use of tetracycline to mark the bony tissues of fish (Weber and Ridgway, 1962; and Kobayashi et al., 1964) have dealt with fresh-water or estuarine species. We report here our results with lead acetate, lead versenate, and tetracycline on four marine species: the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), the Atlantic tomcod (Microgadus tomcod), the summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus), and the winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus).
Detecting novel steganography with an anomaly-based strategy

Popular press and congressional record report a belief by the intelligence community that Al Qaeda members communicate through messages embedded invisibly in images shared via the Internet. This is certainly plausible as steganography has a rich history of military and civilian use. Current signature-based approaches for detecting the presence of hidden messages rely on discerning "footprints" of steganographic tools. Of greater recent concern is detecting the use of novel tools for which no signature has been established. This research addresses this concern by using a method for detecting anomalies in seemingly innocuous images, applying a genetic algorithm within a computational immune system to leverage powerful image processing through wavelet analysis. The sensors developed with this system demonstrated a surprising level of capability to detect the use of steganographic tools for which the system had no previous exposure, including one tool designed to be statistically stealthy.
Somatic Mosaicism in the Human Genome

Somatic mosaicism refers to the occurrence of two genetically distinct populations of cells within an individual, derived from a postzygotic mutation. In contrast to inherited mutations, somatic mosaic mutations may affect only a portion of the body and are not transmitted to progeny. These mutations affect varying genomic sizes ranging from single nucleotides to entire chromosomes and have been implicated in disease, most prominently cancer. The phenotypic consequences of somatic mosaicism are dependent upon many factors including the developmental time at which the mutation occurs, the areas of the body that are affected, and the pathophysiological effect(s) of the mutation. The advent of second-generation sequencing technologies has augmented existing array-based and cytogenetic approaches for the identification of somatic mutations. We outline the strengths and weaknesses of these techniques and highlight recent insights into the role of somatic mosaicism in causing cancer, neurodegenerative, monogenic, and complex disease.
Economic Comparisons of Cheddar Cheese Manufactured with Defined-Strain and Commercial Mixed-Strain Culturesa

Abstract Exclusive use of defined-strain cultures has resulted in manufacturing improvements of significant economic importance for several Pacific Northwest cheese plants. Starter failure from bacteriophage infection was eliminated. Exclusive use of defined strains in cheese making resulted in greater cheese uniformity, day-to-day consistency, and upgraded cheese quality. The percentage of total cheese graded A was increased by almost 10%. Because of predictable starter activity, manufacturing procedures were standardized. Ripening times were eliminated, cheese-making times shortened, and culture rotations were replaced with a single culture-blend. Some factories increased cheese yields by adding whey cream to cheese milk. These improvements resulted in a revenue increase of over $1 million for a cheese factory producing 11.35 million kg of cheese per year. The combination of these improvements, all based on defined-strain technology, enabled factories to increase production – some by nearly 50%. To date, more than 113 million kg of Cheddar cheese have been manufactured with the defined-strain cultures.
Two Dimensional Generalization of Raizer's Analysis for the Subsonic Propagation of Laser Sparks

An extension to two dimensions of Raizer's analysis for the steady state, subsonic propagation of laser sparks is presented. A solution in closed form is obtained for a simplified, two dimensional energy equation, yielding both axial and radial temperature profiles as well as the relationship between incident laser intensity, laser radius and propagation velocity. The propagation mechanism is assumed to be thermal conduction and radiation losses are included in a phenomenological manner. The solution is obtained for a laser spark propagating in a channel and therefore can be used to investigate the effect of a boundary on spark propagation. The solution also allows calculation of the radial heat conduction parameter A introduced by Raizer for use in one dimensional approximations. Sample calculations are presented for air sparks of .15 and .50 cm radius.
Exchange patterns, boundary formation, and sociopolitical change in Late Bronze Age Southern Caucasia: preliminary results from a pottery provenance study in northwestern Armenia

Abstract In the South Caucasus—roughly the territory of today's Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan—the transition from the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) to the Late Bronze Age (LBA) is equated with fundamental shifts in settlement patterns, subsistence economy, and political strategies. During the mid-2nd millennium BC, nomadic pastoral societies that had dominated the region began to settle down and construct stone fortresses along the foothills of the Lesser Caucasus; these fortifications largely replaced the expansive and often opulently adorned kurgan burials as the most prominent expression of political dominance on the landscape. After a decade of intensive archaeological study at various fortifications, very little remains known about the political and economic relationships among fortresses on a regional scale that might improve our understanding of the roots of these sociopolitical transformations. In this paper, we highlight the results of a recent neutron activation analysis (NAA) of ceramics from elite and non-elite contexts at a selection of LBA fortresses on the Tsaghkahovit Plain in northwestern Armenia, and offer some preliminary interpretations about political and economic organization and boundary formation. Most strikingly, the NAA data suggest that the fortresses on the Tsaghkahovit Plain appear to have isolated themselves economically from surrounding valleys, perhaps in an attempt to forge boundaries and legitimating ideologies attendant to new political formations that were quite distinct from their nomadic predecessors in the MBA.
Decomposition strategies for large-scale dynamic optimization problems

Abstract Recently, efficient strategies have been developed to solve dynamic simulation and optimization problems in a simultaneous manner. These rely on the ability to obtain an accurate algebraic discretization of the differential equations as well as the ability to solve large optimization problems in an efficient manner. These concerns have been addressed by applying orthogonal collocation on finite elements to these systems and solving the nonlinear program (NLP) with a reduced space successive quadratic programming (SQP) approach. In a recent study we discussed theoretical properties of these differential algebraic equation (DAE) systems and cautioned that application of orthogonal collocation may not yield a stable discretization nor an accurate solution to the control problem. As a result of this, preanalysis of the DAE system is required and appropriate approximation error criteria must be embedded within the nonlinear program. In this paper we tailor this approach to the accurate solution of optimal control problems. The optimal control problem has a natural partitioning of control variables and state variables for the NLP. Note here that partitioned spaces are not orthogonal. We develop a decomposition strategy to: (1) exploit the block matrix form of the discretized differential equations which results from using collocation on finite elements, and (2) allow us to perform the optimization in the control space. Here the state variables for each finite element are determined by linearized differential equations, and a coordination step is used to update the control variables and integration length. Information is passed from element to element by chainruling the state information. While the approach has much in common with earlier quasilinearization approaches, the nonlinear programming strategy has a great deal of flexibility in determining control variable discontinuities, enforcing a wide variety of state and control variable constraints and ensuring the accurate determination of both state and control variable profiles. Two classes of problems are investigated; first we consider problems where the differential equations are linear in the state variables and then we consider the general nonlinear (states and controls) problem. Example problems are illustrated for both classes of problems.
Numerical modeling of ductile crack growth in 3-D using computational cell elements

This study describes a 3-D computational framework to model stable extension of a macroscopic crack under mode I conditions in ductile metals. The Gurson-Tvergaard dilatant plasticity model for voided materials describes the degradation of material stress capacity. Fixed-size, computational cell elements defined over a thin layer at the crack plane provide an explicit length scale for the continuum damage process. Outside this layer, the material remains undamaged by void growth, consistent with metallurgical observations. An element vanish procedure removes highly voided cells from further consideration in the analysis, thereby creating new tractionfree surfaces which extend the macroscopic crack. The key micro-mechanics parameters are D, the thickness of the computational cell layer, and f 0 , the initial cell porosity. Calibration of these parameters proceeds through analyses of ductile tearing to match R-curves obtained from testing of deep-notch, through-crack bend specimens. The resulting computational model, coupled with refined 3-D meshes, enables the detailed study of non-uniform growth along the crack front and predictions of specimen size, geometry and loading mode effects on tearing resistance, here described by J-Δa curves. Computational and experimental studies are described for shallow and deep-notch SE(B) specimens having side grooves and for a conventional C(T) specimen without side grooves. The computational models prove capable of predicting the measured R-curves, post-test measured crack profiles, and measured load-displacement records.
Nonuniform thermal environmental effects on space truss structural reliability

A three-bay, space, cantilever truss is probabilistically evaluated to quantify the range of uncertainties of buckling loads and member forces due to nonuniform thermal loads, applied loads and moments (mechanical loads), and combination of both. The truss members are assumed to be made from (1) aluminum tubes or (2) high modulus graphite-fiber/intermediate modulus epoxy-matrix composite tubes. Cumulative distribution function results show that certain combinations of thermal loads with mechanical loads reduce the probabilistic buckling loads and increase the magnitude of the member axial forces for aluminum truss. However, the reverse is true for composite truss due to very low coefficient of thermal expansion and higher stiffness of the composite. Finally, the sensitivities associated with the uncertainties in the structural, material, and load variables (primitive variables) are investigated. They show that buckling loads and member axial forces are most sensitive to the uncertainties in spacial (geometry) variables.
Selective Solubility of Organometallic Complexes in Saturated Fluorocarbons. Synthesis of Cyclopentadienyl Ligands with Fluorinated Ponytails

Cyclopentadienes bearing varying length fluorinated “ponytails”, C5H5[(CH2)n(CF2)mF] ([n.m] = [0.8], [0.10], [0.12], [2.6], [2.8], and [2,10]) have been prepared by reaction of the corresponding fluoroalkyl iodides and triphenylphosphine with nickelocene. From these, the 1,1‘-bis[2.6]-, 1,1‘-bis[2.8]-, and 1,1‘-bis[2.10]-disubstituted ferrocenes and [2.10]-substituted [Mn(CO)3L], [Re(CO)3L], and [Co(CO)2L] derivatives (L = η5-C5H4[2.10]) were prepared. Although the anions of the [0.m] compounds were thermally unstable, the corresponding [0.8], [0.10], and [0.12] cobalt dicarbonyl complexes were prepared directly from the cyclopentadienes. The solubilities of these compounds in both saturated fluorocarbon (fluorous) and conventional solvents was found to depend strongly on the length of the fluoroalkyl tail and on the temperature. These compounds all dissolve in fluorous solvents, and the 1,1‘-bis[2.10]ferrocene partitions selectively into the fluorous layer of a biphasic perfluoro(methylcyclohexane)/tolue...
Endocrine Control of the Adrenal in Chickens

The sulfuric acid-induced fluorescence of corticosterone in the adrenal venous plasma of immature White Leghorn cockerels was studied following hypophysectomy, autotransplantation of the pituitary to the kidney, and following accidental or deliberate damage to the median eminence. That the fluorescence technique measures corticosterone in chicken plasma is supported by observations that the concentration of fluorescing material in the adrenal venous plasma of the chicken (a) was twice that found in the peripheral plasma, (b) increased following injection of ACTH or crude chicken anterior pituitary powder, (c) decreased after hypophysectomy, and (d) had the greatest intensity in that area of a thin-layer chroma togram which had the mobility of standard corticosterone. Significant decreases were observed in adrenal weights and in the corticosterone concentration in the adrenal venous plasma of hypophysectomized birds, and birds bearing pituitary autografts, when compared to sham-operated controls. These dat...
Accessed, accessible, and inaccessible: Where to draw the phenomenal line

One can distinguish among perceptual states that have been accessed by working memory, states that are accessible, and states that are inaccessible. Block compellingly argues that phenomenology outstrips access but wrongly implies that phenomenology outstrips accessibility. There is a subjective difference between Sperling cases and inattentional blindness, which suggests that phenomenology occurs under conditions of accessibility, and not inaccessibility.
Group modeling of impacting spray dynamics

Abstract A ‘Group’ model has been developed for impacting sprays. This model uses droplet groups to represent the spray, employs the Lagrangian approach to trace the motion of groups, and considers the turbulent dispersion of droplets within each group. Each group has a dimension and grows during its motion. Droplet dispersion within a group is described by a probability density function. Application to impacting water sprays shows that this ‘Group’ model is very efficient and realistic. The computation time is about a factor of 20 times less than the corresponding calculation using the Stochastic Separated Flow (SSF) approach. The calculated results provide the important information of droplet diameter effects, droplet trajectories, impact velocities, and the impact angles of spray impaction dynamics.
USING FUZZY REASONING TO SUPPORT AUTOMATED PROGRAM UNDERSTANDING

In this paper we describe how fuzzy reasoning can assist an automated program understanding/fault localization tool with program understanding tasks. We are developing such a tool called BUG-DOCTOR, which is based on a blackboard framework. A fuzzy reasoner is proposed as a component for one of its knowledge sources, the Plan Processor. The Plan Processor retrieves a set of program plans from a plan library using indices called signatures. These plans are candidates for matching against the code we are trying to understand. The fuzzy reasoner will support the Plan Processor with the task of ranking the retrieved plans in order of similarity to the target code. The most highly ranked plan can then be used for the complex plan/code matching required for automated program understanding. Experiments with a fuzzy reasoning prototype are promising, and we believe that this approach to plan processing may eliminate the need for exhaustive plan library searches. The success of the fuzzy reasoning approach could lead to automated program understanders that scale up for use on large software systems from a variety of problem domains.
Older Spouses: Similarity of Health Promotion Behaviors:

Families provide an important context within which individuals select and perform health-promoting behaviors. The spouse is a particularly important family influence among married older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent of similarity in health-promoting behaviors reported by older married women and men. Subjects answered an open-ended question about health behaviors and completed the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP). Statistically significant correlations between HPLP scores werefoundfor exercise, nutrition, interpersonal support, self-actualization, and health responsibility. Corresponding similarities werefound between spouses' responses to open-ended questions. Suggestions for future research include investigations of the pattern of influence among healthy couples and among couples experiencing health deviations. Thesefindings suggest that, although individual variation continues even among long-married persons, the older couple may provide a targetfor nursing interve...
Optimal planning and design of seawater RO brine outfalls under environmental uncertainty

Abstract Increasing demand for water in urban areas and agricultural zones in arid and semi-arid coastal regions has urged planners and regulators to look for alternative renewable water sources. Seawater reverse osmosis desalination plants have become an essential supply source for the production of freshwater in such regions. However, disposal of hypersaline wastes from the plants in many of these regions has not been fully and properly addressed. A simulation–optimization approach is proposed to design a system for safe disposal of brine wastes. We use a hydrodynamic model to assess the initial dilution of hypersaline effluent discharged into coastal waters. A regression model is developed to relate the input and output parameters of the simulation model. We then formulate an optimization model to determine the design of a brine disposal system with multiport diffusers in which the regression model replaces the simulation model. The design parameters are the length, diameter and number of ports of the disposal system. Given the parameter uncertainty, a chance-constrained programming model is used. This simulation–optimization framework provides planners with effective tools that meet environmental permitting requirements and restrictions, while achieving cost savings and adequate hydrodynamic performance. A case study demonstrates the applicability of the proposed methodology.
Oxygen isotopic disequilibrium in coccolith carbonate from phytoplankton blooms

Abstract Particulate carbonate was concentrated with a flow centrifuge out of the waters from a coccolithophore bloom in the Gulf of Maine for δ 18 O CaCO 3 measurement. The particulate samples were composed of diverse organic materials, but most samples were observed to be dominated by Emiliana huxleyi CaCO 3 . The oxygen isotopic fractionation associated with these E. huxleyi populations were determined by comparing oxygen isotope ratios in coccoliths with those of anbient waters at the time of collection. The observed isotopic fractionations were large (up to 2.8%), but did not match well with the expected values based on previous laboratory experiments. The temperatures calculated from the isotopic values of surface samples averaged 7.4°C cooler than the waters from which this carbonate was collected. These discrepancies may indicate that the coccoliths were precipatated in cooler water 10–20 m below the surface waters were they were captured, or that the waters had warmed since the coccoliths grew.
Comparison of end‐tidal and transcutaneous measures of carbon dioxide during general anaesthesia in severely obese adults

Background Patients with severe obesity (body mass index (BMI) greater than 35 kg m−2) present difficulties for end-tidal carbon dioxide (F e ′CO2) monitoring. Previous studies suggest that transcutaneous (TC) carbon dioxide measurements could be valuable, so we compared F e ′ and TC measures with PaCO2 in severely obese patients during anaesthesia. Methods We studied patients with severe obesity (BMI ≥40 kg m−2) undergoing gastric bypass surgery. Carbon dioxide was measured with both F e ′ and TC devices. The difference between each measure (F e ′CO2 and TC-CO2) and the PaCO2 was averaged for each patient to provide one value, and data compared with a non-paired, two-way t-test, Fisher's exact test. Results We studied 30 adults (aged 18–54 yr, mean 41, sd 8.0 yr; weight: 115–267 kg, mean 162, sd 35 kg). The absolute difference between the TC-CO2 and PaCO2 was 0.2 (0.2) (mean, sd ) kPa while the absolute difference between the F e ′CO2 and PaCO2 was 0.7 (0.4) kPa (P e ′ vs arterial carbon dioxide. Conclusions Transcutaneous carbon dioxide monitoring provides a better estimate of PaCO2 than F e ′CO2 in patients with severe obesity.
Angular momentum flow in the sun

Abstract Theories of the solar core rotation are first reviewed. The sun's surface rotation rate being relatively low as stars go has led many authors to believe the sun has lost most of its angular momentum and has this low rotation rate throughout. This low rotation rate is supported by heliometer observations of the roundness of the sun around the turn of the century as well as by recent experiments of Hill and colleagues. Dicke and Goldenberg, however, observe a more oblate appearance indicative of a rapidly rotating solar core. This rapid rotation appears to be explicable in terms of angular momentum released as the solar core contracts due to hydrogen burning. Three calculations of solar core rotation rates yield values of the pierod near one day. The author contends that the sun has a rapidly rotating core, but not fast enough to favour the Brans-Dicke theory of general relativity over the Einstein theory. The surface rotation of the sun is also reviewed. Four theories which appear as candidates for the explanation of the sun's differential rotation are anisotropic viscosities, Rossby waves, giant cell convection, and solar wind drag at the poles. All appear reasonable and there does not appear to be overwhelming support for any one.
Karl Marx and World Literature

S.S. Prawer, Karl Marx and World Literature (London: Verso, 2011) Perhaps the most crucial lesson that arises from the dialectical materialist method designed by Marx and Engels is the contradictio...
Did branch banking restrictions increase bank failures? Evidence from Virginia and West Virginia in the late 1920s

Abstract This paper investigates the role of bank branching restrictions in explaining the likelihood of state bank failure during 1925–1929 by comparing the experiences of Virginia (which allowed bank branching) and West Virginia (which did not). The results indicate that branching restrictions were associated with a higher incidence of bank failures, even after controlling for banks’ financial health, market structure, regulatory environments, and economic conditions in the markets in which the banks operated. The relationship between the lower incidence of bank failures and branching appears to come from the fact that branching allowed banks to exploit cost advantages by becoming larger and better diversified institutions, and by extending their depository base. The results are consistent with the notion that bank branching restrictions were an important cause of the bank failure experience of the late 1920s.
Fitness trade‐offs of Selenastrum capricornutum strains selected for rapid growth on copper‐spiked solidified nutrient medium

Stock (ancestral) cultures of Selenastrum capricornutum grew optimally in low Cu liquid nutrient medium (LNM) containing 0.004 μg L−1 Cu2+. Growth of stock cultures was optimized on low Cu solidified nutrient medium (SNM) containing 20 μg L−1 Cu2+. Cell strains (clones) were isolated from unusually large colonies on high Cu SNM (1,000 μg L−1 Cu2+). Most isolated strains performed the same as ancestral populations in high Cu LNM (50 μg L−1 Cu2+), but three strains grew more slowly. These “variant strains” were Cu tolerant on SNM (equal growth with low and high Cu) and produced larger colonies than did the ancestral population on both low and high Cu SNM. In contrast, colonies from ancestral cell samples grew more slowly in high versus low Cu SNM. No significant growth differences were observed between ancestral populations and variant strains in low Cu LNM, suggesting low fixed costs of adaptation to SNM. However, slower growth of variant strains in high Cu LNM constituted a fitness trade-off associated with adaptation. Rapid adaptation to pollution may often result in important biological trade-offs even when costs of adaptive mechanisms are low.
Correlates of Intentional Tanning Among Adolescents in the United States: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Purpose Exposure to ultraviolet radiation and a history of sunburn in childhood contribute to risk of skin cancer in adolescence and in adulthood, but many adolescents continue to seek a tan, either from the sun or from tanning beds (i.e., intentional tanning). To understand tanning behavior among adolescents, we conducted a systematic review of the literature to identify correlates of intentional tanning in the United States.
CLONING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A NOVEL UPSTREAM UNTRANSLATED EXON OF THE MOUSE FGF-1 GENE

Abstract Fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF-1 or aFGF), is the prototype member of the heparin-binding growth factors which are capable of angiogenesis in vivo. FGF-1 has been implicated in atherosclerosis, cancer, wound repair and inflammatory autoimmune diseases. As part of an effort to understand the role of FGF-1 in the etiopathogenesis of inflammation and cancer, we have undertaken steps to isolate and characterize the mouse Fgf-1 gene. Southern blotting and sequence analysis displayed considerable conservation within the coding and upstream untranslated regions of Fgf-1 in human, mouse, hamster, rat and bovine. By using primers derived from the 5′-untranslated exon of a rat prostate-specific Fgf-1 cDNA, a 220-bp product was amplified from mouse genomic DNA via PCR. Sequence analysis of this amplicon showed that there was 80% similarity with the corresponding region of the rat FGF-cDNA sequence. Primers designed from this amplicon and the Fgf-1 coding region were used to isolate multiple overlapping genomic clones spanning the entire mouse Fgf-1 gene. Sequencing analysis of the genomic sequence upstream from this novel 5'-untranslated exon did not reveal typical TATA, CCAAT sequences. It appears that the occurrence of multiple untranslated exons for FGF-1 is a highly conserved theme for this gene across species.
Polyglutamine-expanded androgen receptor interferes with TFEB to elicit autophagy defects in SBMA

Macroautophagy (hereafter autophagy) is a key pathway in neurodegeneration. Despite protective actions, autophagy may contribute to neuron demise when dysregulated. Here we consider X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), a repeat disorder caused by polyglutamine-expanded androgen receptor (polyQ-AR). We found that polyQ-AR reduced long-term protein turnover and impaired autophagic flux in motor neuron-like cells. Ultrastructural analysis of SBMA mice revealed a block in autophagy pathway progression. We examined the transcriptional regulation of autophagy and observed a functionally significant physical interaction between transcription factor EB (TFEB) and AR. Normal AR promoted, but polyQ-AR interfered with, TFEB transactivation. To evaluate physiological relevance, we reprogrammed patient fibroblasts to induced pluripotent stem cells and then to neuronal precursor cells (NPCs). We compared multiple SBMA NPC lines and documented the metabolic and autophagic flux defects that could be rescued by TFEB. Our results indicate that polyQ-AR diminishes TFEB function to impair autophagy and promote SBMA pathogenesis.
About the Bishop: The Episcopal Entourage and the Economy of Government in Post-Roman Gaul

St. Amand could count among his many feats the extraordinary achievement of social equilibrium. “The way he was in the midst of the rich and the poor,” his hagiographer marveled, “the poor saw him as a poor man, and the rich treated him as their better.” On a resume of miracles performed and peoples converted, this accomplishment was no less impressive. Bishops in the post-Roman kingdoms of Gaul/Francia maintained an ongoing balancing act between seeking social and political distinction, on the one hand, and fulfilling their obligation to defend the poor, on the other. Their authority increasingly depended upon both, even as it engendered a tension between elitism and inclusivity. To study bishops' choice of company is therefore to highlight the difficulty inherent in an ambitious pastoral and political positioning. Linked to the subject of the episcopal entourage, and to the issue of episcopal authority and its representation more generally, was a change in the culture of Merovingian government, for bish...
Incidence of cocaine-associated rhabdomyolysis

Study hypothesis: Rhabdomyolysis is a common complication of cocaine use, and muscle symptoms fail to predict its development. Study population: A prospective, convenience sample of patients presenting to the emergency department of a large inner-city hospital with complaints related to cocaine use were eligible for inclusion. Patients were excluded if they had other potential causes of elevated creatine kinase (CK) levels or rhabdomyolysis. A control group comprised patients who were not cocaine users and satisfied the exclusion criteria. Sixty-eight patients were studied. Methods: Initial evaluation included determination of the presence of muscle pain or swelling and total CK levels. Patients with a CK level of more than 800 U/L had additional tests, including a urine myoglobin, urine drug screen, and serum phosphorus. Rhabdomyolysis was defined by a serum CK level of more than 1,000 U/L (more than fivefold that of normal). CK levels were compared by two-tailed Student's t test. Muscle symptoms were compared with the development of rhabdomyolysis by Fisher's exact test. Results: The CK level in the cocaine group was 931 ± 1,785 U/L (mean ± 1 SD). The CK level in the control group was 242 ± 168 U/L ( P = .028). Of the cocaine users, 24% (eight of 34) had rhabdomyolysis; one developed multiorgan failure and died. No patient in the control group had a CK level of more than 1,000 U/L. Only one cocaine user who developed rhabdomyolysis had muscle symptoms. Three cocaine users had muscle symptoms but did not develop rhabdomyolysis. No patient in the control group had muscle symptoms or developed rhabdomyolysis. Muscle symptoms did not predict the CK level ( P = .55). Conclusion: This study revealed that 24% of the cocaine users had rhabdomyolysis. Many of the cases of rhabdomyolysis were not predictable from history or physical examination, making laboratory evaluation essential.
Choledochal cysts diagnosed in pregnancy: a case report and review of treatment options

An 18-year-old woman at 18 weeks' gestation presented with abdominal pain and jaundice. After extensive evaluation, she was diagnosed as having a choledochal cyst. Ten days after percutaneous drainage, she underwent complete excision and Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy anastomosis. At term, she delivered vaginally without complications. Although choledochal cysts are rare in pregnancy, it is important for the obstetrician to be familiar with the presentation and the best treatment modalities available. Delay in diagnosis and inappropriate treatment can result in maternal morbidity and fetal mortality.
Informing the Consent Process

Because the legal and ethical aspects of informed consent are often foremost in clinicians’ minds, it is easy to forget that the purpose of informed consent is to aid in decision making. Informed consent forms, for example, are often written with legal and institutional priorities in mind,1 and patients in turn assume that the primary purpose of such forms is to protect physicians and their institutions.2 Indeed, it is understandable that clinicians may take little intrinsic interest in the informed consent process when seen as an external legal requirement. Article See p 21 What would happen if the informed consent process were truly seen as an opportunity for optimizing decision making? The traditional attempts at improving informed consent tend to focus only on patient outcomes, typically on whether their factual understanding or satisfaction improves. In this issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes , Arnold and colleagues3 describe their initial experience using a Web-based individualized risk assessment tool (the Patient Refined Expectations for Deciding Invasive Cardiac Treatments [PREDICT]) as part of the informed consent process for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The results of their study show that, in comparison with historical controls, patients undergoing the customized consent were in general much more involved (and perceived themselves to be so) in the consent process, and, interestingly, the customized consent seems to have affected the choice of stents used. These data …
Self-perceived gender typicality, gender-typed attributes, and gender stereotype endorsement in elementary-school-aged-children

This study examined relations among self-perceived gender typicality, gender-typed attributes, and gender stereotype endorsement with a sample of elementary-school-aged children (N = 100, ages 6–12) from the Midwestern United States. Children who perceived themselves as more gender-typical were more interested in same-gender-typed activities and occupations and less interested in other-gender-typed activities and occupations than children who perceived themselves as less gender-typical. Gender typicality was linked to gender stereotype endorsement, as predicted based on Liben and Bigler’s (2002) dual-pathway model of gender development, with children who perceived themselves as less gender-typical having more egalitarian (less stereotyped) attitudes than children who perceived themselves as more gender-typical. The observed relations between gender-typed attributes and self-perceived gender typicality and between self-perceived gender typicality and gender stereotype endorsement did not differ across gender or age. These findings indicate that even young elementary-school-aged children use their knowledge of cultural gender roles to make subjective judgments regarding the self, and, conversely, that views of the self may influence personal endorsement of cultural gender stereotypes. Although the majority of extant research has focused on negative outcomes associated with low self-perceived gender typicality (e.g., low self-esteem), this research indicates that positive outcomes (e.g., flexible gender role attitudes) may also be associated with low self-perceived gender typicality.
Investigation of sequence isomer effects in AB-polybenzimidazole polymers

In the present work, a unique series of random polybenzimidazole (PBI) copolymers consisting of the recently reported novel isomeric AB-PBI (i-AB-PBI) and the well known AB-PBI were synthesized. The i-AB-PBI incorporates additional linkages (2,2 and 5,5) in the benzimidazole sequence when compared with AB-PBI. Random copolymers, varying in composition at 10 mol % increments, were synthesized to evaluate the effects of sequence isomerism in the polymer main chain without altering the fundamental chemical composition or functionality of a polymer chain consisting of 2,5-benzimidazole units. Polymer solutions were prepared in polyphosphoric acid (PPA) and cast into membranes using the sol–gel PPA process. The resulting polymers were found to have high inherent viscosities (>2.0 dL/g) and showed elevated membrane proton conductivities (∼0.2 S/cm) under anhydrous conditions at 180 °C. Fuel cell performance evaluations were conducted, and an average output voltage ranging from 0.5 to 0.60 V at 0.2 A/cm2 was observed for hydrogen/air at an operational temperature of 180 °C without applied backpressure or humidification. Herein, we report for the first time glass transition (Tg) temperatures for AB-PBI, i-AB-PBI, and an anomalous Tg effect for the series of randomized PBIs. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014, 52, 619–628
Dead Soldiers and Their Posthumously Conceived Children

The potential for conceiving a child in vitro through the use of cryopreserved gametes of a deceased person, or those of a person who has become incompetent, raises many legal concerns. A decision to harvest sperm or eggs from a deceased or incompetent person and use the harvested gametes to produce a child has implications for inheritance, estate planning, will drafting, trusts, social security claims, child support responsibility, and custody issues. This article focuses on the issues arising from the posthumous use of reproductive material to produce a child in the context of the use of cryopreservation by members of the military. Although individuals on active duty in the military make up only one half of one percent of the general population of the United States, a solution to the problems created by posthumous conception of children in the military may have many ramifications for civilians as well. For example, a civilian may cryopreserve his or her gametes before undergoing aggressive cancer treatment in the hope that the person will still have the ability to conceive a genetically connected child whether they survive the treatment or not. Civilians have also requested the removal of the sperm or eggs of an injured or recently killed person and the use of such cryopreserved materials to produce a pregnancy. In the civilian context, posthumous conception of children may be sought for many different reasons: providing tribute to the deceased loved one, producing a sibling for a previously born child, or reducing the cost of conceiving a child using donor gametes provided by a clinic. The military context provides a useful opportunity to explore posthumous conception, including issues of consent, rights of survivors, and access to public benefits that depend on a child's relationship to the deceased or incompetent genetic parent.
Research networks in biomedical sciences

The goal of this proposal k to encourage and foster communications and collaborations among scientists with common goals and interests. Through electronic Research Networks in Biomedical Sciences (RNI3S) groups of investigators will be supported to communicate and coordinate their research efforts across disciplinary, organizational, institutional and geographical boundaries. Innovative ideas from different agencies and organizations (NIH, NSF, NASA, European Commission, IEEE, SPIE) for implementing novel networking strategies to promote research coordination and collaboration that enable Provide the US and non - US universities, research centers and organizations with an opportunity to expand its participation in the international research arenas.
The technological dimension of decision making: the case of the Aswan High Dam.

THE last three decades have featured a remarkable growth in public concern about the relationships between modern technology and society. Although controversies surrounding technological change are not new, both the awareness of the potential hazards of technological developments and the resulting ambivalence toward technologies themselves have increased dramatically. To date, however, the literature examining the role of technological factors in public decisions has been relatively limited.' Scholars have not been primarily concerned with the ways in which decision makers deal with technological issues2 (with the possible exception of weapons procurement). Consequently, we know far too little about the linkages between technical and political aspects of the decision-making process, the problems of selecting and assessing policy options that have large technological components, or the appropriateness of various theories of decision making to technical controversies. In this article, we seek to make a contribution to the resolution of these issues by focusing on the case of the Aswan High Dam, a case that permits an examination of the relation between technological choices and political considerations from several points of view: those of an advanced industrialized nation, the United States; a less developed country, Egypt; and an international organization, the World Bank. The study examines not only the immediate costs and benefits of technological policy choices, the first-order consequences, but also highlights the longer-term secondary and higher-order effects of such decisions. Before turning to a discussion of these
The Methods of Ethics , Edition 7, Page 92, Note 1

This essay, one of the last that Frankena wrote, provides a scrupulously detailed exploration of the various possible meanings of one of Sidgwick's most famous footnotes in the Methods Long intrigued by what Sidgwick had in mind when he said that he would explain how it came about that for moderns it is not tautologous to claim that one's own good is one's only reasonable ultimate end, Frankena uses this note as a point of departure for a penetrating review of Sidgwick's insights and ambiguities on the differences between ancient and modern ethics.
Identification of Large Structures in Compressible Mixing Layers using Filtered Rayleigh Scattering

High Reynolds number compressible planar free shear layers were investigated using a visualization technique based on filtered Rayleigh/Mie scattering. Two convective Mach numbers, Mc=0.51 and 0.86, were studied in the developing and fully developed regions. Scattering was collected from condensed water particles; both product formation and passive scalar methods were utilized. A molecular filter was used to eliminate the background scattering from walls and windows. The large structures in the Mc=0.51 case appear as nominally two-dimensional spanwise rollers possessing relatively well defined core and braid regions, and experience amalgamation and tearing processes similar to those observed in incompressible free shear layers. The Mc=0.51 plan and spanwise views indicate the presence of organized streamwise vortices in both the developing and fully developed regions. The structures for the Mc=0.86 case are much less organized than the Mc=0.51 case and highly three dimensional. There is no clear evidence of streamwise vortices for this case. However, the large structures seem to typically be spanwise oblique in the fully developed region.
Semilobar holoprosencephaly with midline 'seam' : a topologic and morphogenetic model based upon MRI analysis

We present an MRI-based anatomic analysis of a series of seven human brains with the semilobar form of holoprosencephaly. The analysis defines a set of common descriptors for a pattern of topological anomaly which is uniform for the set of seven brains. The core of the anomaly is a rostro-caudally aligned midline gray matter 'seam' that extends from the telencephalic-suprachiasmatic junctional region to abut the posterior aspect of the callosal commissure. The seam forms the ventricular roof throughout its extent. Rostrally it is formed by the conjoined heads of caudate/accumbens nuclei. It continues caudally as a gray matter bridge in the fundus of the interhemispheric fissure, where it bridges right and left neocortex. Fornix, septal nuclei and septal limb of the choroid plexus are absent, and the telencephalic ventricles communicate with the diencephalic via open septal limbs of the choroid fissures. By contrast, the temporal limb of hippocampal formation and the choroid plexus are normal and the temporal limb of the choroid fissure is closed. This topological anomaly of conjoined left and right cortical and nuclear gray matter into a midline seam and absent septal structures is thus confined to the region of the midline telencephalic hemisphere evagination. Total telencephalic growth is strongly correlated with the length of this topologically abnormal midline telencephalic segment. The set of findings is consistent with graded failure of induction of rostral to caudal specification in the midline rostral telencephalic zone.
STUDIES OF LINKAGE IN POPULATIONS. XIV. HISTORICAL CHANGES IN FREQUENCIES OF GENE ARRANGEMENTS AND ARRANGEMENT COMBINATIONS IN NATURAL POPULATIONS OF DROSOPHILA ROBUSTA

Data are reported showing large directional changes in the frequencies of some gene arrangements and arrangement combinations in certain natural populations of Drosophila robusta in the eastern United States. The changes involve the same X-chromosomal inversion differences in two of the three localities studied and similar autosomal inversions in all three. These genetic changes provide a rare opportunity to observe evolutionary forces at work in nature. They are interpreted as being due to natural selection.