cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Plasticity and Structure

The dialectics of change and continuity, of differentiation and integration, of plasticity and structure form the fabric of developmental psychology. Looking back, we can see emphasis being given to one polarity or the other within different subject-matter areas over the years (e.g., intelligence and language) and, less often, find a true appreciation of their interplay.
Regenerative Medicine Approaches for the Treatment of Pediatric Physeal Injuries

The physis, or growth plate, is a cartilaginous region at the end of children's long bones that serves as the primary center for longitudinal growth and characterizes the immature skeleton. Musculoskeletal injury, including fracture, infection, malignancy, or iatrogenic damage, has risk of physeal damage. Physeal injuries account for 30% of pediatric fractures and may result in impaired bone growth. Once damaged, cartilage tissue within the physis is often replaced by unwanted bony tissue, forming a "bony bar" that can lead to complications such as complete growth arrest, angular or rotational deformities, and altered joint mechanics. Children with a bony bar occupying 50% of their physis undergo corrective osteotomy or bone lengthening procedures. These approaches are complex and have variable success rates. As such, there is a critical need for regenerative approaches to not only prevent initial bony bar formation but also regenerate healthy physeal cartilage following injury. This review describes physeal anatomy, mechanisms of physeal injury, and current treatment options with associated limitations. Furthermore, we provide an overview of the current research using cell-based therapies, growth factors, and biomaterials in the different animal models of injury along with strategic directions for modulating intrinsic injury pathways to inhibit bony bar formation and/or promote physeal tissue formation. Pediatric physeal injuries constitute a unique niche within regenerative medicine for which there is a critical need for research to decrease child morbidity related to this injurious process.
The Effect of Continuous-Flow Left Ventricular Assist Device Duration on Postoperative Outcomes

Background This study evaluated the effect of continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (CF-LVAD) duration on postoperative outcomes in heart transplant patients. Methods United Network of Organ Sharing heart transplant follow-up data from 2005 to 2015 were obtained. Patients supported by CF-LVADs who subsequently underwent cardiac transplantation were studied. The study population was divided into three groups by CF-LVAD duration of less than 1 year, 1 to 2 years, and more than 2 years. Multivariable Cox regression analysis was used to identify predictors of overall postoperative graft survival. Kaplan-Meier survival functions were used to estimate actuarial survival at 1, 2, and 5 years after transplant. The association between CF-LVAD duration and postoperative acute rejection episodes before and after hospital discharge was assessed. Results Of 21,336 recipients, 4,382 had CF-LVADs before cardiac transplantation: 2,603 (59.4%) had CF-LVADs for less than 1 year, 1,178 (26.9%) for 1 to 2 years, and 601 (13.7%) for more than 2 years. Donor age, high body mass index, dialysis dependence, and poor functional status at transplant were significant predictors of poor posttransplant graft survival. CF-LVAD duration was associated with increased incidence of acute rejection before hospital discharge (odds ratio, 1.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.02 to 1.28; p = 0.019). Duration was not related to acute rejection episodes after discharge. There was no difference in survival among patients with increasing time durations (hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.89 to 1.15; p = 0.824). Graft survival at 1, 2, and 5 years among patient groups was not significantly different ( p = 0.824 by log-rank test) Conclusions Duration of CF-LVAD support does not affect posttransplant graft survival. Longer duration of support increases acute rejection episodes; however, this may not translate into diminished survival.
Null preference and the resolution of the topological social choice paradox

Abstract We investigate the role of contractibility in topological social choice theory. The Resolution Theorem states that there exists an aggregation map that is anonymous, unanimous, and continuous if and only if the space of individual preferences is contractible. Here, we turn a non-contractible space of social preferences (modeled as a CW complex) into a contractible space by adding the null preference which models full indifference of society, following the possibility results of Jones et al. (2003) which is based on a topology first considered but rejected by Le Breton and Uriarte (1990). We prove the corresponding extension of the Resolution Theorem by showing that the null preference as a social outcome precisely captures those voter profiles that represent a “tie” under a Chichilnisky map. Further, the space of these tie profiles is shown to have measure zero in the case that the space of individual preferences is a sphere in any dimension.
Social isolation reduces serotonergic fiber density in the inferior colliculus of female, but not male, mice.

Abstract Early-life experiences, including maternal deprivation and social isolation during adolescence, have a profound influence on a range of adult social behaviors. Post-weaning social isolation in rodents influences behavior in part through the alteration of neuromodulatory systems, including the serotonergic system. Of significance to social behavior, the serotonergic system richly innervates brain areas involved in vocal communication, including the auditory system. However, the influence of isolation on serotonergic input to the auditory system remains underexplored. Here, we assess whether 4 weeks of post-weaning individual housing alters serotonergic fiber density in the inferior colliculus (IC), an auditory midbrain nucleus in which serotonin alters auditory-evoked activity. Individually housed male and female mice were compared to conspecifics housed socially in groups of three. Serotonergic projections were subsequently visualized with an antibody to the serotonin transporter, which labels serotonergic fibers with relatively high selectivity. Fiber densities were estimated in the three major subregions of the IC using line-scan intensity analysis. Individually housed female mice showed a significantly reduced fiber density relative to socially housed females, which was accompanied by a lower body weight in individually housed females. In contrast, social isolation did not affect serotonergic fiber density in the IC of males. This finding suggests that sensitivity of the serotonergic system to social isolation is sex-dependent, which could be due to a sex difference in the effect of isolation on psychosocial stress. Since serotonin availability depends on social context, this finding further suggests that social isolation can alter the acute social regulation of auditory processing.
The dynamics of coliphage plaque formation. I. Macroplaque experiments

Abstract On phage assay plates, bacteria multiply to form many small clones; phage infecting one bacterium multiplies, infects the clone, and the progeny diffuse to infect other clones. This process continues until changes take place in the bacterial population to impede or halt multiplication. An analysis of some of the events taking place during this growth process is presented. This analysis is based on the special properties of phage T4 38 . This virus requires a cofactor, l -tryptophan, for adsorption to its host bacterium, Escherichia coli . If the cofactor is allowed to diffuse from wells punched in the agar, large, sharply defined, circular zones are formed. From the dependence of the diameter of these zones on the amount of cofactor supplied in the well, the time and the concentration of cofactor associated with a critical process in the multiplication of the virus can be calculated. It is concluded that for plaque formation a certain fraction of the clones must be infected before the clones grow beyond a critical size. Second-generation virus is then able completely to infect the remaining microclones, giving rise to complete clearing. When less than this critical number of infections take place in a given region of the plate, bacterial growth continues uninterrupted in extent under certain conditions, or under partial inhibition in the case of haloed regions.
Techniques for visualizing website usage patterns with an adaptive neural network

At any given Website, the flow of users' visitations represents a valuable source of information for Web professionals. However, the identification and interpretation of Web usage patterns is not necessarily an easy task. The sheer volume and complexity of the browsing patterns captured in the Website server logs makes understanding users a difficult, time-consuming task. The present chapter explores the use of an adaptive neural network to visualize the Website usage patterns. This visual representation supports the identification of clusters of Web pages that are frequently visited together by users. A Website designer can see, at a glance, the primary groups of Web pages that visitors browse. Further, the site structure can be readily compared to the usage clusters to measure how well the links at the Website support the actual use of the site.
Infrastructure to enable deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and storage in the United States

In February 2018, the United States enacted significant financial incentives for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) that will make capture from the lowest-capture-cost sources economically viable. The largest existing low-capture-cost opportunity is from ethanol fermentation at biorefineries in the Midwest. An impediment to deployment of carbon capture at ethanol biorefineries is that most are not close to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) fields or other suitable geological formations in which the carbon dioxide could be stored. Therefore, we analyze the viability of a pipeline network to transport carbon dioxide from Midwest ethanol biorefineries to the Permian Basin in Texas, which has the greatest current carbon dioxide demand for EOR and large potential for expansion. We estimate capture and transport costs and perform economic analysis for networks under three pipeline financing scenarios representing different combinations of commercial and government finance. Without government finance, we find that a network earning commercial rates of return would not be viable. With 50% government financing for pipelines, 19 million tons of carbon dioxide per year could be captured and transported profitably. Thirty million tons per year could be captured with full government pipeline financing, which would double global anthropogenic carbon capture and increase the United States’ carbon dioxide EOR industry by 50%. Such a development would face challenges, including coordination between governments and industries, pressing timelines, and policy uncertainties, but is not unprecedented. This represents an opportunity to considerably increase CCUS in the near-term and develop long-term transport infrastructure facilitating future growth.
Typical: A Theory of Typicality and Typicality Explanation

AbstractTypicality is routinely invoked in everyday contexts: bobcats are typically short-tailed; people are typically less than seven feet tall. Typicality is invoked in scientific contexts as wel...
Leveraging a Big Dataset to Develop a Recurrent Neural Network to Predict Adverse Glycemic Events in Type 1 Diabetes

Patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) do not produce their own insulin. They must continuously monitor their glucose and make decisions about insulin dosing to avoid the consequences of adverse glucose excursions. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems and insulin pumps are state-of-the-art systems that can help people with T1D manage their glucose. Accurate glucose prediction algorithms are becoming critical components of CGM systems that can help people with T1D proactively avoid the occurrence of impending hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia events. We present Glucop30, a robust data-driven glucose prediction model that is trained on a big dataset (27,466 days) to forecast glucose concentration along a short-term prediction horizon of 30 minutes. Our proposed prediction method is composed of (i) a recurrent neural network with long-short-term-memory (LSTM) units that predicts the general trend of future glucose levels, followed by (ii) a patient-specific smoothing error correction step that accounts for inter- and intra-patient glucose variability. We retrospectively test our proposed method on a clinical dataset obtained from 10 T1D insulin pump users who were continuously monitored during a 4-week trial under free-living conditions (255 days), and assess the impact of the size of the training set on the accuracy of the proposed model. In addition, we report on the accuracy of our method when both CGM and insulin data are used for prediction; however we discovered that adding insulin as an additional input feature improves prediction accuracy by only 1%. Glucop30 achieves leading performance as measured by the RMSE of 7.55 (SD = 2.20 mg/dL) and MAE of 4.89 (SD = 1.43 mg/dL) for an effective prediction horizon of 27.50 (SD = 2.64) minutes. Moreover, Glucop30 accurately anticipates the occurrence of 97.79 (SD = 5.35)% of hyperglycemia events (glucose > 180 mg/dL), and 90.87 (SD = 6.79)% of hypoglycemia events (glucose < 70 mg/dL) with remarkably few false alerts (1 and 2 false alarms per week for hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia events, respectively).
44-P : ANTIBODIES AGAINST DENATURED C-LOCUS ANTIGENS IN TWO PATIENTS WITH VENTRICULAR ASSIST DEVICES (VAD)

Aim To investigate discrepancies between different solid phase HLA antibody detection platforms. Methods Sera from two patients implanted with a VAD were tested for Class I and II antibodies using FlowPRA screening beads, HLA phenotype beads (flow cytometry), single antigen beads (SAB; by Luminex) and a cell based crossmatch assay (flow cytometric). Antibody profiles were analyzed for each patient on all platforms. Results No HLA Class I antibodies were detected by the FlowPRA assay while antibodies to HLA-C∗01, C∗12 and C∗15 were identified by SAB testing. To resolve these discrepencies, sera were tested with HLA phenotype beads and a flow cytometric crossmatch using cell lines expressing individual HLA-C locus antigens. These assays were negative for antibodies to HLA-C, supporting the results of the FlowPRA screen. Hence, the SAB assay was the outlier. Importantly, the HLA-C locus expressing cell lines that were crossmatch negative were the same cell lines from which solubilized HLA-C locus antigens were isolated and conjugated to SABs. Conclusions There should be agreement among the solid phase platforms currently in use to detect and identify HLA antibodies. As reported here, some antibodies detected on the SAB platform (using recombinant HLA antigen targets) are undetectable by other solid phase assays and cell based assays (where the HLA antigens are in native configuration). The adherence of purified recombinant HLA-C antigens to a plastic matrix likely results in conformational changes and/or exposure of cryptic epitopes not seen with native antigens. We speculate that the HLA-C locus antibodies to denatured HLA-C antigens developed as a consequence of VAD implantation. Since antibodies to denatured antigens do not appear to be clinically relevant, at least in the short term, it is important to determine whether antibodies detected in the SAB assay are to native or denatured antigens. Failure to do so can negatively impact a patient’s access to an allograft.
Monoclonal antibody J11d.2 recognizes cell cycle-dormant, primitive hematopoietic progenitors of mice

It was reported that monoclonal antibody (MoAb) J11d.2 reacts with mature blood cells of mice but not with their progenitors. We tested in culture studies whether this antibody could be used for enrichment for primitive marrow progenitors. The majority of colony-forming cells including multipotential progenitors in the marrow cells from 5- fluorouracil (5-FU)-treated mice were J11d.2+, whereas most of the progenitors from normal mice were J11d.2-. In addition, formation of multilineage colonies from J11d.2+ in both 5-FU-treated and normal mice was augmented by interleukin 6. These observations indicated that MoAb J11d.2 recognizes cell cycle-dormant progenitors. We have recently described a simple method that provides 800-fold enrichment for the progenitors in post-5-FU marrow cells using MoAb D7 (anti-Ly-6A/E). When this method was modified to include sorting with MoAb J11d.2, D7+ J11d.2+ cells were 2,250-fold enriched for multipotential progenitors. Micromanipulation and culture of individual D7+ J11d.2+ cells showed that average plating efficiency of the cell population is approximately 70% and that about 30% of the progenitors are lymphohematopoietic in nature. These data demonstrate that J11d.2 is a useful MoAb for the isolation of primitive hematopoietic progenitors of mice.
Sharing the Road: Experienced Cyclist and Motorist Knowledge and Perceptions

Bicycling is an increasingly popular activity, but safely sharing the road with motorists presents challenges. This study explores two factors that may contribute to negative interactions on Virginia roadway: insufficient understanding of cycling-specific laws and differential hazard perception for cyclists and motorists. Surveyed motorists reported not knowing bicycle-related laws and demonstrated some misunderstanding that was concerning. The results unexpectedly indicate that motorists rate potential road hazards as riskier to cyclists than cyclists rate the same hazards. This suggests that motorists recognize the vulnerability of cyclists on the roadway. But, our findings also highlight that motorist do not actively monitor for the same hazards as cyclists. A lack of similar hazard awareness could be leading to the regular close calls cyclists are reporting. It may also be this lack of fundamental knowledge that contributes to motorist frustration during cyclist encounters.
Reconstitution of the regulatory functions of beta-adrenergic receptors.

The hormone-sensitive adenylate cyclase system acts as the intracellular effector for numerous neurotransmitters and hormones whose receptors are located on the cell surface. Multiple inhibitory and stimulatory receptors with specificities for different ligands can act simultaneously on a single target cell to modulate the activity of adenylate cyclase on the inner face of the plasma membrane. In addition to acute control, several different mechanisms exist for the long-term regulation of the enzyme, of individual receptors, and of the coupling process. Inhibitory control of adenylate cyclase is discussed by Drs. Ui and Aktories in this volume, and Harden (1) has thoroughly reviewed refractoriness and other modes of chronic regulation of adenylate cyclase recently. Here, we will discuss the biochemical events that couple transmitter binding to its receptor with the stimulation of adenylate cyclase.
Management of Radiation-Induced Superior Mesenteric Artery Stenosis with Small Bowel Ischemia

A 70-year-old female underwent resection of the small bowel and cecum secondary to an acute-on-chronic ischemia resulting from radiation-induced superior mesenteric artery stenosis and inferior mesenteric artery occlusion in March 2008. She had deployment of two overlapping balloon-expandable stents in the superior mesenteric artery. Patient presented with small bowel obstruction secondary to ischemic stricture and underwent small bowel resection in July 2008. She developed superior mesenteric artery stent thrombosis for which patient underwent thrombolysis with TPA and balloon angioplasty. She did not experience any recurrent symptoms of bowel ischemia but had on average three bowel movements a day from July 2008 onward, until her death in 2019.
A Brief Literature Review and Survey of Adult Perceptions on Biometric Recognition for Infants and Toddlers

Over the past decade, analyses of biometric recognition for infant and toddler identification have emerged. These efforts are critical since existing child identification programs are solely utilized in missing children cases; such programs are not employed in the wider spectrum of societal issues that child identification efforts could help to resolve, such as baby swapping in hospitals, illegal adoption, and inadequate vaccination tracking. As such, this paper provides a brief literature review on biometric recognition for infants and toddlers. We cover the range of potential applications for biometric identification of infant and toddler-aged children, along with current research findings, especially those involving fingerprint recognition due to the permanence of fingerprint features and the practicality of implementing fingerprint recognition systems for younger children. In addition, we investigate the acceptability of biometric technologies for infants and toddlers by conducting an online survey (N = 133), wherein we gather the opinions of adults on the utility of biometric systems for young children, how these systems might help solve societal issues, and problems users may face if such a system were available. Key results show that while over half of respondents are comfortable with a biometric system for infants and toddlers, and parents in particular are more likely to view biometric recognition useful for helping to resolve societal issues than non-parents, data storage, privacy, and the child's inability to provide consent on their own are common concerns.
Results of the PROPINE randomized controlled trial: determining the ever-elusive target, the optimal plan for relapses of nephrotic syndrome in children

Best treatments for initial presentation and relapses in children with nephrotic syndrome (NS) are still to be defined. The PROPINE study, published in this issue of Kidney International, demonstrates for relapse of childhood NS, the non-inferiority of a short taper (over 36 days) after remission with steroids. This study reinforces the need for more well-designed studies and the incorporation of predictive biomarkers, genetic studies, and other details to personalize treatment for each child with idiopathic NS.
Electronic thin-film reliability

Thin films are widely used in the electronic device industry. As the trend for miniaturization of electronic devices moves into the nanoscale domain, the reliability of thin films becomes an increasing concern. Building on the author's previous book, Electronic Thin Film Science by Tu, Mayer and Feldman, and based on a graduate course at UCLA given by the author, this new book focuses on reliability science and the processing of thin films. Early chapters address fundamental topics in thin film processes and reliability, including deposition, surface energy and atomic diffusion, before moving onto systematically explain irreversible processes in interconnect and packaging technologies. Describing electromigration, thermomigration and stress migration, with a closing chapter dedicated to failure analysis, the reader will come away with a complete theoretical and practical understanding of electronic thin film reliability. Kept mathematically simple, with real-world examples, this book is ideal for graduate students, researchers and practitioners.
mTOR inhibition protects diabetic heart against ischemia/reperfusion injury through STAT3 activation (1078.5)

Objective: Diabetes is a major risk factor for myocardial infarction. Rapamycin, mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) inhibitor, preserves cardiac function and reduces infarct size after myocardial...
Assessments of tritium breeding requirements and breeding potential for the STARFIRE/DEMO design

This paper presents assessments of tritium breeding requirements and breeding potential for the STARFIRE/DEMO design. The assessment of breeding requirement is described based on two design considerations; i.e., (1) tritium inventory and doubling requirement; and (2) computational uncertainties associated with the breeding calculation. The lithium-containing materials considered include: solid Li/sub 2/O and LiAlO/sub 2/ and liquid lithium and 17Li-83Pb.
Interrelationships among ECHO virus types 1,8, and 12.

Berg, Gerald (Robert A. Taft Sanitary Engineering Center, Cincinnati, Ohio), Norman A. Clarke, and Paul W. Kabler. Interrelationships among ECHO virus types 1, 8, and 12. J. Bacteriol. 83:556–560. 1962.—Antigenic relationships among ECHO 1, 8, and 12 viruses were investigated. Three strains of ECHO 1 virus, one of which had been purified, could not be differentiated by neutralization tests. Antiserums produced with these three strains neutralized ECHO 12 virus. The neutralizing material, absent from preimmunization serums, was not absorbed by rhesus kidney cells, was heat-stable, and, therefore, may be viral antibody. Reciprocal neutralization was achieved with all three types. Disagreement of these data with those published by others is discussed.
Radiated emissions from printed circuit board traces including the effect of vias, as a function of source, termination and board characteristics

The radiation from a printed circuit board (PCB) trace (microstrip) is analyzed including end effects. The end effects are due to the "vias" which connect the trace to the circuit board ground. The PCB trace currents are calculated from closed-form transmission line equations which includes dielectric effects of the board. The board ground plane is assumed to be infinite. Electric field magnitudes are then found from these currents using a free space Green's function ignoring the board dielectric. This is compared with full-wave method of moments (MoM) analysis for finite size ground planes. The effect of ground plane size variations is noted. The worst case electric field magnitude is calculated from 50 to 2000 MHz at numerous points on a sphere with a 3-meter radius. The via radiation is isolated from the PCB trace radiation to observe the relative magnitudes. The motivation for this work is twofold. We wish to quantify the magnitude of radiation, which occurs from differential mode currents flowing through horizontal components such as PCB traces and vertical components such as vias, and package leads. Also, we wish to see how this radiation is affected by source, termination and board characteristics.
Specifying and Proving Properties of Guardians for Distributed Systems

In a distributed system where many processors are connected by a network and communicate using message passing, many users can be allowed to access to the same facilities. A public utility is usually an expensive or limited resource whose use has to be regulated. Guardians are abstractions that can be used to regulate the use of resources by scheduling their access, providing protection, and implementing recovery from hardware failures. We present a language construct called a primitive serializer which can be used to express efficient implementations of guardians in a modular fashion. We have developed a proof methodology for proving strong properties of network utilities e.g. the utility is guaranteed to respond to each request which it is sent. This proof methodology is illustrated by proving properties of a hardcopy guardian which manages two printing devices.
Probing Atomic and Molecular Processes with Synchrotron Radiation

For over two decades synchrotron radiation (SR) has been utilized to probe atoms and molecules with photons having energies large enough to ionize or excite to neutral levels well above the ionization limit, such as inner-shell or two-electron excitations. The early use of SR for this purpose led to considerable growth of interest in and successful understanding of configuration interaction effects in atomic and molecular systems. Inversely, early results in atomic spectroscopy first demonstrated the power of SR for experimental research and stimulated its exploitation in other fields, such as solid-state physics and surface science, and later materials science and biology. In the early 1970’s, the advent of multiphoton spectroscopy and laser-related VUV sources brought a further surge of interest in experimental and theoretical atomic and molecular physics. Beginning in the late 1970’s this was followed by the exploitation of more intense dedicated SR sources and increasingly sophisticated apparatus to perform multiple spectroscopies on atomic and molecular systems, for example, angle and energy-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, polarized fluorescence from molecular ions aligned by SR photoionization, and detection of polarized electrons from SR photoionization. Finally, the inevitable marriage has taken place between SR and laser sources used in combination to prepare and analyze atomic and molecular systems and their photoionization products.
A signalling theory of law enforcement hiring

ABSTRACTUsing qualitative interviews with 31 police chiefs, the present study explores the police hiring process in Minnesota. This is the only US state that mandates law enforcement candidates earn at least a two-year degree from a regionally accredited college or university and successfully complete a programme of professional police officer education before being hired. This system creates a large pool of ostensibly identical licence-eligible candidates, hence this article examines how hiring managers separate the high quality ones from their low quality counterparts, including methods of screening and, eventually, selecting them. Through the novel application of signalling theory, it demonstrates how the quality of any given licence-eligible police officer is assessed by evaluating observable signs of him or her that chiefs believe to be correlated with unobservable trust-warranting properties, such as honesty, loyalty, and cultural competency. Quotes from the chiefs are employed throughout the articl...
Interfacing, often a performance bottleneck between ATE and device under test

Problems in adapting the interface of VLSI test systems to the device under test (DUT) are reviewed. The focus is on efforts to avoid the electrical degradation of the DUT, especially with increasing operating speeds and increasing pincounts. The channel cards or pin electronics of the automatic test equipment (ATE) have to be flexible and as close to the DUT as possible, and the electromechanical interface, known as the device interface board (DIB) or loadboard, has to be of high quality. For an ATE of given and known performance, the final results therefore very often depend on the performance of such DIBs. Variations of test results caused by wiring on the DIB may decrease the total yield or let the device get binned into a lower category. In the production test areas, there is an inherent tendency to save costs and hence use a so-called 'mother-daughter' board concept for DIBs. For slower NMOS devices and generally for devices with uncritical timing, this concept is acceptable. However, for modern CMOS devices with fast switching outputs, the insertion of pogo pins in the transmission line and the availability of fewer pins for the ground connections could severely degrade the performance of testing. >
“Collection Bias” and the Importance of Natural History Collections in Species Habitat Modeling: A Case Study Using Thoracophorus costalis Erichson (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Osoriinae), with a Critique of GBIF.org

Abstract When attempting to understand a species' distribution, knowing how many collections should be surveyed to achieve an adequate sample (exhaustiveness) is important. A test for exhaustiveness using species distribution models created with Diva-GIS was performed on county level locality information recorded from more than 4,900 specimens of Thoracophorus costalis Erichson (Staphylinidae: Osoriinae) borrowed from 38 collections. Size and location of distribution models based on specimens from single collections varied greatly, indicating “collection bias.” At least 15 collections needed to be combined before the resultant model averaged 90% of the area of a reference model created from all available specimens. By themselves, alternative distribution data from literature, Bugguide.net, and GBIF.org performed poorly, resulting in models with less than 15% the area of the reference model. Comments on the use of online data, the importance of maintaining and growing regional collections, and the future o...
Structure and DNA Modification of Endogenous Mu Elements

The high mutation rate of Mutator stocks of maize is the result of transposition of Mu elements. Most standard stocks of maize contain sequences homologous to Mu elements, yet they show no genetic activity characteristic of Mu transposition. We have determined the sequence, structure, and genomic organization of several Mu-homologous elements from non-Mutator lines. Our results suggest that these elements transposed into their current genomic positions. We discuss the relationship of these endogenous Mu elements to active elements and the role DNA modification may play in their apparent inactivity.
Augmented Lagrangian Approach to Design of Structured Optimal State Feedback Gains

We consider the design of optimal state feedback gains subject to structural constraints on the distributed controllers. These constraints are in the form of sparsity requirements for the feedback matrix, implying that each controller has access to information from only a limited number of subsystems. The minimizer of this constrained optimal control problem is sought using the augmented Lagrangian method. Notably, this approach does not require a stabilizing structured gain to initialize the optimization algorithm. Motivated by the structure of the necessary conditions for optimality of the augmented Lagrangian, we develop an alternating descent method to determine the structured optimal gain. We also utilize the sensitivity interpretation of the Lagrange multiplier to identify favorable communication architectures for structured optimal design. Examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the developed method.
Investigation into the Elastic Scattering of Σ ± Hyperons on Hydrogen

An investigation has been made into the elastic scattering of $\ensuremath{\Sigma}$ hyperons on hydrogen. The experiment was based on a sample of 12 000 $\ensuremath{\Sigma}$ particles formed in a propane bubble chamber by the interactions of 1.15-Bev/c ${K}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ mesons. A total track length of 210 meters in the energy range 100 to 700 Mev has been examined.Ten examples were found of the reaction ${\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{+}+p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{+}+p$, and six of the reaction ${\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}+p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}+p$. The estimates of the cross sections for the two processes are, respectively, ${38}_{\ensuremath{-}14}^{+18}$mb and ${10}_{\ensuremath{-}4}^{+6}$mb. The scattering angle distributions in the c.m. system appear isotropic for the ${\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{+}$ particles, and peaked forward for the ${\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ particles. The results are discussed in relation to various theoretical predictions, and, in particular, some evidence is found favoring the Gammel-Thaler method of treating the triplet odd-parity nucleon-nucleon potential.
Role of Calpain in Spinal Cord Injury: Effects of Calpain and Free Radical Inhibitorsa.

The demonstration of increased calpain activity, immunostaining, and expression at the gene (mRNA) and protein levels concomitant with ultrastructural degeneration and loss of axon and myelin proteins in lesioned cord have implicated a pivotal role for calpain in tissue destruction in spinal cord injury (SCI). Calpain, stimulated by free radicals, also mediates apoptotic cell death. These findings suggested that the use of calpain and lipid peroxidation drugs as therapeutic agents would protect cells and maintain the axon-myelin structural unit by preventing protein degradation. In order to examine this hypothesis, we treated SCI animals with calpain inhibitors (calpeptin) and/or methylprednisolone (MP), an antiinflammatory and free-radical inhibitor. SCI (40 g/cm) was induced by weight-drop, and 1 mg calpeptin or 165 mg MP/kg were given intravenously (i.v.) for 24 hours. Untreated injured animals receiving vehicle served as controls. Lesion 68-kDa and 200-kDa neurofilament proteins (NFPs) were analyzed by sodium dodecylsulfate polyarcylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and chemiluminescence, and the extent of protein loss was quantitated. Loss of protein in the lesion of untreated cord amounted to 47% compared to sham control, while that for calpeptin- or MP-treated rats was 25-30%. Combination treatment with calpeptin and MP was slightly more effective in preventing NFP degradation, compared to either when used alone. Apopotic cell death in SCI as characterized by internucleosomal DNA fragmentation was also reduced following treatment with the inhibitors. The inhibition of cytoskeletal protein degradation suggests that calpain and free-radical inhibitors may rescue cells and preserve and maintain membrane structure by preventing protein breakdown, preserving motor function, and being neuroprotective.
A human T-cell line resistant to cytopathic effects of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

Abstract Infection of human helper T lymphocytes with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) results in a rapid induction of cytopathic effects and cell lysis. We isolated a variant of the human T-lymphoblastoid cell line, CEM, that is fully susceptible to HIV infection but resistant to virally induced cytopathic effects. Exposure of the cells, designated CR10, to HIV resulted in the expression of viral antigens in 100% of cells within 6–9 days. Virus-infected cells remained fully viable and could be cultivated under standard culture conditions for a desired period of time. Parental CEM cells died within 9–12 days after HIV infection. Proviral DNA could be detected in the HIV-infected CR-10 cells by Southern blot and molecular hybridization 4–5 days after infection; the relative amount of proviral DNA reached maximum at Days 6–10 and remained stable during an 8-month follow-up period. Virus production by HIV-infected CR-10 cells was documented by electron microscopy and detection of reverse transcriptase activity in cell culture supernatants. HIV-infected CR-10 cells exhibited a down modulation of the OKT-3, OKT-4, OKT-4A, OKT-8, and OKT-11 T-cell surface markers, but not of the OKT-9 (transferrin receptor). One of the HIV persistently infected CR-10 cell clones has been kept in continuous culture for over 8 months. During this period, the cells remained fully viable, 100% positive for HIV antigens, and negative for most of the T-cell surface markers tested and continued to produce biologically active HIV. The CR-10 and HIV-infected CR-10 cell lines will be useful in studies on the biology of HIV and in the isolation and large-scale propagation of this virus.
Influence of energy balance and body condition on estrus and estrous cycles in Holstein heifers.

The objective was to determine effects of energy balance and body condition on estrous behavior and estrous cycles in Holstein heifers. Before the experiment heifers were fed so body condition remained moderate or they became fat. During the 2 × 2 factorial experiment, moderate and fat heifers were in positive or negative energy balance. Heifers were fed individually twice daily, and energy balance was calculated daily. Heifers were observed for 30 min every 3 h, and all standing and mounting events were recorded for three consecutive estrous cycles. When progesterone in serum was <1 ng/ml, standing and mounting activity were profiled. Area, peak, and duration of activity profiles were examined among groups of heifers. Negative energy balance or fat body condition did not reduce peak or duration of estrous behavior and thus did not reduce detectability of estrus. Onset of diestrus was delayed in heifers that were fat and in negative energy balance relative to other heifers. We suggest that fat body condition, coincident with negative energy balance, may reduce accuracy of timing artificial insemination relative to ovulation and may consequently reduce fertility in cattle.
Editorial: New analytical and statistical approaches for interpreting the relationships among environmental stressors and biomarkers

AbstractThe broad topic of biomarker research has an often-overlooked component: the documentation and interpretation of the surrounding chemical environment and other meta-data, especially from visualization, analytical and statistical perspectives. A second concern is how the environment interacts with human systems biology, what the variability is in “normal” subjects, and how such biological observations might be reconstructed to infer external stressors. In this article, we report on recent research presentations from a symposium at the 248th American Chemical Society meeting held in San Francisco, 10–14 August 2014, that focused on providing some insight into these important issues.
Comparative taphonomy, taphofacies, and bonebeds of the Mio-Pliocene Purisima Formation, central California: strong physical control on marine vertebrate preservation in shallow marine settings.

Background Taphonomic study of marine vertebrate remains has traditionally focused on single skeletons, lagerstatten, or bonebed genesis with few attempts to document environmental gradients in preservation. As such, establishment of a concrete taphonomic model for shallow marine vertebrate assemblages is lacking. The Neogene Purisima Formation of Northern California, a richly fossiliferous unit recording nearshore to offshore depositional settings, offers a unique opportunity to examine preservational trends across these settings. Methodology/Principal Findings Lithofacies analysis was conducted to place vertebrate fossils within a hydrodynamic and depositional environmental context. Taphonomic data including abrasion, fragmentation, phosphatization, articulation, polish, and biogenic bone modification were recorded for over 1000 vertebrate fossils of sharks, bony fish, birds, pinnipeds, odontocetes, mysticetes, sirenians, and land mammals. These data were used to compare both preservation of multiple taxa within a single lithofacies and preservation of individual taxa across lithofacies to document environmental gradients in preservation. Differential preservation between taxa indicates strong preservational bias within the Purisima Formation. Varying levels of abrasion, fragmentation, phosphatization, and articulation are strongly correlative with physical processes of sediment transport and sedimentation rate. Preservational characteristics were used to delineate four taphofacies corresponding to inner, middle, and outer shelf settings, and bonebeds. Application of sequence stratigraphic methods shows that bonebeds mark major stratigraphic discontinuities, while packages of rock between discontinuities consistently exhibit onshore-offshore changes in taphofacies. Conclusions/Significance Changes in vertebrate preservation and bonebed character between lithofacies closely correspond to onshore-offshore changes in depositional setting, indicating that the dominant control of preservation is exerted by physical processes. The strong physical control on marine vertebrate preservation and preservational bias within the Purisima Formation has implications for paleoecologic and paleobiologic studies of marine vertebrates. Evidence of preservational bias among marine vertebrates suggests that careful consideration of taphonomic overprint must be undertaken before meaningful paleoecologic interpretations of shallow marine vertebrates is attempted.
Validation of a simplified mathematical model for the stress analysis of human aortic heart valves.

Abstract Validation studies to justify comparatively simple modeling of human aortic heart valves for the purposes of stress analysis are described. The effects of including the adjacent portion of the aorta along with the leaflet in the mathematical model and of incorporating geometric nonlinearities into the formulation are examined and it is concluded that a linear analysis of the leaflet alone is conservative from the standpoint of the determination of the magnitude of the stresses within the leaflet.
CRITICAL REVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN FLUORESCENCE DETECTION FOR CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS

Recent developments in capillary electrophoresis with fluorescence detection are reviewed. Instrumental advances have led to increased sensitivity and, therefore, a growing number of applications. Capillary electrophoresis has been coupled with various techniques to achieve multi-dimensional separations. Other advances have focused on temporal resolution when sampling from biological environments, increased sample throughput especially for DNA analysis, and fast separation times. New technologies including chip and channel electrophoretic separations with fluorescence detection are also discussed.
Rates and correlates of influenza vaccination among HIV-infected adults in the HIV Outpatient Study (HOPS), USA, 1999-2008.

Abstract Background We sought to describe rates of vaccination among HIV-infected adults in care and identify factors associated with vaccination. Methods Using data abstracted from medical records of participants in the HIV Outpatient Study (HOPS) during 8 influenza seasons (1999–2008) and negative binomial models with generalized estimating equation methods, we examined factors associated with increased prevalence of annual influenza vaccination. Results Among active patients, 25.8% to 43.3% were vaccinated for influenza each year (annual mean = 35%, test for trend p = 0.71). Vaccination rates peaked in October and November of each season and decreased sharply thereafter. In multivariable analysis, patients who were male (67.2%), non-Hispanic white (70%) or Hispanic (66%), had lower HIV viral loads (73.5%), were prescribed antiretroviral treatment (72.7%), or had a greater number of clinical encounters per year (86.7%) were more likely to receive influenza vaccination. Discussion The decreased likelihood of vaccination among women and non-Hispanic black patients suggests the need for focused efforts to reduce disparities. Increasing patient and clinician education on the importance of universal vaccination, and ensuring that vaccination activities continue in HIV clinics during the later months of the influenza season may improve influenza vaccine coverage.
Immunocytochemical localization of glycine in a subset of cartwheel cells of the dorsal cochlear nucleus in rats

Glycine is an inhibitory neurotransmitter and a glutamate cofactor for N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the central nervous system. The distribution of glycine in the auditory system will therefore provide clues as to synaptic mechanisms underlying auditory signal processing. Previous studies have reported the immunocytochemical presence of glycine in the dorsal cochlear nucleus of a variety of mammals, but the specificity with respect to particular cell types has proven elusive at the light microscopic level. We sought to identify cell types in the superficial regions of the dorsal cochlear nucleus that were immunoreactive to glycine using light and electron microscopy in the rat. At the light microscopic level, glycine immunoreactivity was present in some but not all medium-sized cells in layers I and II. The somata of pyramidal and granule cells were not stained. At the electron microscopic level, using previously published ultrastructural criteria, we examined the glycine-labeled cells and determined that many but not all cartwheel cells were labeled. We also observed unlabeled unipolar brush cells, Golgi cells, and stellate cells. As some of the labeled cells could not be identified, we could not determine whether unipolar brush cells, Golgi cells or stellate cells had both labeled and unlabeled subpopulations. Our observations indicate that within the population of cartwheel cells, only a subset are glycine-immunoreactive.