cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An analysis of natural hybridization between the pocket gophers, Thomomys bottae and Thomomys umbrinus, in Arizona.

Natural hybridization between Thomomys bottae and T. umbrinus at a contact locality in the Patagonia Mountains of southern Arizona is documented utilizing chromosomal and exomorphological characteristics. The hybridization is unbalanced in favor of F1 production with little evidence of backcrossing. Moreover, there is no indication of genic introgression between the two species. A post-mating reproductive barrier due to meiotic imbalance results in nearly complete sterility in male hybrids and a significantly lowered reproductive potential in female hybrids. Partial development of a pre-mating barrier based on differential parental habitat selection and behavioral differences is suggested, and reasons why such secondary barriers have not developed fully are discussed. Ecological relationships between T. bottae and T. umbrinus at this locality suggest that the niche of the former species is best considered a subset of the latter.
Effects of Apple Leaf Allelochemistry on Tufted Apple Bud Moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) Resistance to Azinphosmethyl

The dihydrochalcone glycoside phloridzin is a dominant allelochemical in foliage of apple. This allelochemical varies within and among apple cultivars and can influence distribution and abundance of tufted apple bud moth, Platynota idaeusalis (Walker), in orchards. Laboratory bioassays were used to investigate the influence of phloridzin on tolerance of both susceptible and resistant colonies of P. idaeusalis to the organophosphate insecticide azinphosmethyI. Addition of phloridzin to diet did not influence tolerance of first ins tars of the susceptible strain to azinphosmethyI. Third instars of the susceptible strain exhibited reduced tolerance to azinphosmethyl in the presence of phloridzin, and this response was associated with inhibition of the activities of glutathione transferase, esterase, and aniline hydroxylation enzymes. Neonate larvae of the resistant strain fed on diet with phloridzin were more tolerant to azinphosmethyl at high insecticide concentrations only. Third instars of the resistant strain were equally tolerant to azinphosmethyl in the presence and absence of phloridzin. Although phloridzin inhibited glutathione transferase activity in resistant larvae, as in the susceptible strain, it increased activity of esterases. Our data provide further evidence that both host-plant allelochemistry and insect selection history influence results of pesticide bioassays.
Research of Monitoring Method for the Protection of Nitrogen-Based Atmosphere of Heat Treatment Furnaces Based on DPCA

Aviation structural material is a kind of special material for aircraft components. This material is usually produced in nitrogen-based atmosphere to protect furnace. To ensure the production operation safety and to guarantee product quality, process monitoring technology has been paid essential attention in this field. By analyzing the heating process, details including input monitoring variables, process parameters, and data pretreatment method are determined. Then DPCA method is used to deal with problems occurred in the nitrogen-based atmosphere to protect furnace heating process. Simulation experiment based on data collected from production field is conducted. The DPCA monitoring method is verified to be effective by the experiment results, and is proved with better performance in comparison with results of MPCA.
Cause Analysis on Soil Erosion in Construction of Power Transmission Project in Xi'an Plains

Through the analysis of soil erosion characteristics of power transmission construction project during construction in Xi'an plains as well as projects the relation between project constniction and soil water conservation,the paper proposes several soil water conservation measures to reduce the soil erosion in power grid construction and protect the ecological environment,and also provides a scientific basis and foundation for building the database of the soil erosion assessing.
Supply Chains Optimization and Coordination Mechanisms Mode with a Risk-averse Supplier (or Retailer) and a Risk-taking Retaile (or Supplie)

This paper introduces conditional value-at-risk and conditional value-at-risk-taking to study risk-averse and risk-taking supply chains optimization and coordination mechanisms problem.First,for a two-echelon supply chain with a risk-averse(or risk-taking)supplier and risktaking(or risk-averse) retailer,we construct the conditional value-at-risk and conditional value-at-risk-taking model,the optimal ordering quantity model and the returns contract model based on CVaR or CVaRT under radom demand.Then,we analyze the model and reveal the impact of risk aversion on supply chains coordination,the optimal ordering quantity and the returns price decisions.Finally,we have also given numerical results to verify the conclusions presented in this paper.
The Structure of Incentives

The structure of incentives in an economy has a pervasive influence on the pace and pattern of development. Public expenditure is, of course, important, and in some cases decisive, but in the great majority of developing countries the public sector employs directly only a small fraction of the labour force and produces substantially less than half of all goods and services in the economy. Most people obtain their livelihood in the private sector, and most goods and services originate there. What is produced, how much is produced and what methods of production are used are questions decided largely in the private sector and primarily in response to the set of incentives which the private sector faces. The set of incentives, in turn, is strongly influenced by public policy, both directly and indirectly, and hence in formulating a human development strategy a good place to begin is by examining the structure of incentives.
DECOMPOSITIONS OF COMPLETE GRAPHS INTO KAYAK PADDLES

A canoe paddle is a cycle attached to an end-vertex of a path. It was shown by Truszczynski that all canoe paddles are graceful and therefore decompose complete graphs. A kayak paddle is a pair of cycles joined by a path. We prove that the complete graph K2n+1 is decomposable into kayak paddles with n edges whenever at least one of its cycles is eve. DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.22342/jims.0.0.17.39-44
4.45 – Human Olfactory Psychophysics

The field of psychophysics deals with describing the relationship between physical stimuli and their resultant perceptual phenomena within a rigorous, quantifiable framework. Here we report on the state-of-the-art in human olfactory psychophysics. Olfactory perception can be described in functionally hierarchical terms as consisting of a basic behavior of olfactory detection, followed by the more demanding task of olfactory discrimination which calls upon short-term memory, and culminating in olfactory identification that consists of not only detecting and discriminating the stimulus, but also pairing it with verbal-semantic labels stored in long-term memory. Here, we use this functional hierarchy as an organizational guide. Regarding olfactory detection thresholds, the existing data is typified by extreme variance, both within and across laboratories. This variance is primarily the result of differences in methods of odorant delivery and the application of statistical criteria. Despite this variance, there is general agreement that human olfactory detection thresholds are very low, or in other words, the human nose is a first-rate chemical detector. For example, if we were to add just three drops of ethyl mercaptan into one of two Olympic swimming pools, an average person would be able to detect which pool had the added odor. Regarding olfactory discrimination, humans can discriminate very small differences in concentration or molecular structure between olfactory stimuli. For example, increases in odorant concentration are perceived as increases in odorant intensity. When using a suprathreshold concentration of n-butyl alcohol as a standard, humans can discriminate changes in concentration as small as 7%. This fraction is similar to those found in vision and audition. Similarly, the smallest of changes in odorant molecular structure, such as the addition of a single carbon to a carbon chain, results in clearly discriminable stimuli. Regarding olfactory identification, perception of odor mixtures suggests that the olfactory system identifies odor objects, whose formation depends on previous associations. The rules underlying the link between particular structural odorant properties and odorant identity have been difficult to establish, due in part to variability in the use of language to describe odor. Understanding these rules remains the biggest question in olfactory psychophysics, and arguably in olfaction in general, and we outline several methods that are being used in an effort to solve this mystery.
Unforeseen Consequences of a Trump Presidency

When one political party loses an election to the winning party, there is always a ritual transition of power and the notion of a peaceful transition to power is one of the defining features of the political ideal of U.S. democracy. One of the most shocking events of the last days of the election was when Donald Trump would not promise that he would concede to Hillary Clinton if the vote count indicated that she won, as complaints about a “rigged election” and a system that “protected” the Clintons was one of Trump’s closing lines.
Nucleic Acid Sensing Machinery: Targeting Innate Immune System for Cancer Therapy.

Background Nucleic acid sensing is an essential strategy employed by the innate immune system to detect both pathogen-derived nucleic acids and self-DNA released by host apoptotic or necrotic cells. The presence of nucleic acids that gain access to the cytoplasm is perceived by mammalian cells as "stranger" or "danger" signals that trigger a myriad of immunological responses. Recent publications have highlighted the importance of nucleic acid sensing machinery as mediator of innate and adaptive immunity, and cGAS, STING and RIG-I agonists have been validated as immunooncology agents in cancer therapy. Objective The crucial role of cGAS and STING in eliciting innate and adaptive immune responses provides a scientific rationale for using cGAMP and STING agonists both in human preventive vaccine and immunotherapy settings. Thus, search for natural and synthetic STING agonists and development of cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs)-based adjuvants were strongly intensified. Furthermore, with their ability to induce tumour cell death and lymphocyte cross priming, RIG-I ligands are among the most promising molecules for the development of new immunostimulatory adjuvants in cancer vaccines. Results This work focuses on relevant recent patents (2010-2017) that entail the use of nucleic acid sensing machinery to elicit innate and adaptive immune responses, highlighting a new approach in immune-mediated cancer therapy. Several patents describe compositions and methods that may be used as immuno-oncology agents for the treatment of cancer patients. cGAS and/or STING pathways modulating compounds alone or in combination with pharmaceutical compositions are discussed. New approaches to improve DNA-vaccine induced adaptive immunity for cancer therapy through increasing the level of plasmid-mediated activation of innate immune signalling pathways are also discussed. In addition, a targeted selection of very recent clinical studies describing the employment of innate immunity targeting compounds is reported. Conclusion It is highly relevant to deepen the study of the nucleic acid-sensing mechanisms to develop new pharmacological approaches to engage these pathways within the tumour microenvironment. Indeed, further clarification will be functional to develop advanced anticancer strategies or to design new vaccine formulations.
Determinants of survival after inferior vena cava trauma.

Inferior vena cava (IVC) injuries continue to be associated with mortality rates of 21 to 66 per cent despite advances in prehospital, surgical, and critical care. The purpose of this study was to evaluate outcome of patients with IVC injury after treatment at a major urban trauma center and to identify factors predictive of survival. Between 1989 and 1995, 158 patients presented to the Los Angeles County + University of Southern California Medical Center with IVC injuries. One hundred thirty-six patient records were available for review, and 69 data points were collected and analyzed. Mean age was 26 years (range, 6-54), and 122 (90%) patients were male. Mechanism of injury included gunshot in 88 (65%) patients, stab in 23 (17%) patients, shotgun in 7 (5%) patients, and blunt trauma in 18 (13%) patients. The mean Injury Severity Score was 25. Seventy (52%) patients were hypotensive. Eleven (8%) patients died before surgical intervention, and 25 (18%) patients died before operative repair. Repair (79), ligation (20), or observation (1) was accomplished in 100 (74%) patients. Overall survival was 48 per cent and 65 per cent in the 100 patients surviving to operative repair, including 5 of 20 patients requiring IVC ligation. Significant differences (P < 0.001) between survivors and nonsurvivors included Injury Severity Score, Glasgow Coma Score, hematocrit, hypotension, emergent thoracotomy, blood loss, level of injury, tamponade, and associated aortic injury. Logistic regression analysis identified hypotension, anatomic level of injury, and associated aortic injury as significant predictors of outcome (P = 0.001). Survival is predominantly determined by severity and anatomic accessibility of the IVC injury and by the absence of associated major vascular injuries. Ligation may control otherwise exsanguinating injuries and should be considered early in the management of complex injuries.
Analysis of pulmonary vascular injury and repair during Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection-induced pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome:

Herein we describe lung vascular injury and repair using a rodent model of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) during: 1) the exudative phase (48-hou...
Non-native plant species show a legacy of agricultural history in second-growth forests of southeastern Ohio

In second-growth forest the abundance and diversity of non-native plant species often differ considerably with stand age and the history of disturbance. To understand the role of agricultural history in shaping non-native forest floras, we compared successional trajectories between second-growth stands that were formerly cultivated and pastured, two historically common land uses differing in soil disturbance and vegetation structure. Successional change was inferred from a replicated chronosequence consisting of 40 second-growth stands in southeastern Ohio, USA. The non-native flora was described in terms of community composition and individual species abundance and compared across biotic and abiotic gradients. Abundance of non-native species generally declined through the chronosequence in both land-use categories but was significantly greater in formerly cultivated sites. Non-native richness in the oldest post-agricultural sites was significantly greater than in undisturbed forest, implying that the nonnative flora has not stabilized after 80 years. Species dispersing seeds by ingestion were more abundant in formerly pastured sites; clonal species were more common in cultivated stands. Thus, the non-native forest flora shows a long-lived legacy of variation between stands of different agricultural histories. The distribution of non-native species suggests colonization of established forest as well as relictual survival from the open, agricultural stage. Although non-native abundance declines with successional time, a subset of shade tolerant species should be considered a long-term component of the second-growth flora.
Static Stress Redesign of Structures by Large Admissible Perturbations

The LargE Admissible Perturbation (LEAP) methodology is developed further to solve static stress redesign problems for shell elements. The static stress general perturbation equation, which expresses the unknown stresses of the objective structure in terms of the baseline structure stresses, is derived first. This equation depends on the redesign variables for each element or group of elements; namely the plate thickness. LEAP enables the designer to redesign a structure to achieve specifications on modal properties, static displacements, forced response amplitudes, and static stresses. LEAP is implemented in code RESTRUCT which post-processes the FEA results of the baseline structure. Changes on the order of 100% in the above performance particulars and in redesign variables can be achieved without repetitive FEA’s. Several numerical applications on a simple plate and an offshore tower are used to verify the LEAP algorithm for stress redesign.Copyright © 2005 by ASME
Performance evaluation of deception system for deceiving cyber adversaries in adaptive virtualized wireless networks

Malicious actions by cyber-adversaries are growing exponentially which makes it difficult to combat cyber-attacks for emerging networked cyber physical systems (CPS) and Internet of Things (IoT). Furthermore, wireless networks - major communication media for most emerging CPS and IoT applications - are highly vulnerable to cyber attacks because of their nature of open communications. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of the cyber deception system to combat cyber adversaries in virtualized wireless networking framework where software defined network (SDN) controller creates mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and continuously senses the network, observes the connections and creates deception MVNO to direct cyber adversaries. The deception MVNO can be used to learn about cyber adversaries in terms of their capabilities, intent and how much damage they can do in the system and so on. Thus, the cyber deception can help secure legitimate users from cyber adversaries. Performance of the proposed approach is evaluated with results obtained from Monte Carlo simulations.
Population-Based Registry Linkages to Improve Validity of Electronic Health Record-Based Cancer Research.

Background: There is tremendous potential to leverage the value gained from integrating electronic health records (EHR) and population-based cancer registry data for research. Registries provide diagnosis details, tumor characteristics, and treatment summaries, while EHRs contain rich clinical detail. A carefully conducted cancer registry linkage may also be used to improve the internal and external validity of inferences made from EHR-based studies. Methods: We linked the EHRs of a large, multispecialty, mixed-payer health care system with the statewide cancer registry and assessed the validity of our linked population. For internal validity, we identify patients that might be “missed” in a linkage, threatening the internal validity of an EHR study population. For generalizability, we compared linked cases with all other cancer patients in the 22-county EHR catchment region. Results: From an EHR population of 4.5 million, we identified 306,554 patients with cancer, 26% of the catchment region patients with cancer; 22.7% of linked patients were diagnosed with cancer after they migrated away from our health care system highlighting an advantage of system-wide linkage. We observed demographic differences between EHR patients and non-EHR patients in the surrounding region and demonstrated use of selection probabilities with model-based standardization to improve generalizability. Conclusions: Our experiences set the foundation to encourage and inform researchers interested in working with EHRs for cancer research as well as provide context for leveraging linkages to assess and improve validity and generalizability. Impact: Researchers conducting linkages may benefit from considering one or more of these approaches to establish and evaluate the validity of their EHR-based populations. See all articles in this CEBP Focus section, “Modernizing Population Science.”
Solitary fibrous tumor involving the pancreas: report of the cytologic features and first report of a primary pancreatic solitary fibrous tumor diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration biopsy.

Introduction Solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) of the pancreas is rare, with only 16 reported cases in English studies. The cytologic features of pancreatic SFT have not been well described. We report 2 cases of SFT (1 primary and 1 metastatic) involving the pancreas and discuss the cytomorphologic findings, including the first primary SFT of the pancreas specifically diagnosed using cytology. Materials and methods The cases of 2 patients with a diagnosis of SFT of the pancreas from material obtained via fine needle aspiration (FNA) are reported. Clinical information was retrieved from the patients’ medical records. The FNA cytology slides, previous relevant surgical pathologic findings, and findings from subsequent pancreatic resections were reviewed. Results Of the 2 patients, 1 had had secondary involvement of the pancreas from a primary central nervous system SFT, and 1 had had a primary pancreatic SFT diagnosed by FNA. Immunohistochemistry for STAT6 was crucial for establishing the diagnosis using FNA. Conclusions We have reported 2 cases of SFT involving the pancreas, including the first reported case of primary pancreatic SFT diagnosed preoperatively using FNA. Metastatic SFT from central nervous system primaries should be considered when diagnosing SFT of the pancreas.
Evaluating the co-use of opioids and cannabis for pain among current users using hypothetical purchase tasks.

Background:Cannabinoids may potentiate opioid analgesia and therefore could be used to reduce reliance on opioids for analgesia.Aims:The current study evaluated whether the concurrent availability ...
Transient electrohydrodynamics of a liquid drop at finite Reynolds numbers

Transient electrohydrodynamics of a liquid drop at finite Reynolds numbers is studied by computer simulations. The governing equations of the problem are solved using a parallelized front tracking/finite difference method in the framework of the Taylor–Melcher leaky dielectric theory. The effect of the dielectric properties of the fluids on the dynamic response of the drop is studied by considering three representative fluid systems, which encompass all the regions of the deformation–circulation map. A parametric study is performed over a range of capillary number . A long-standing misconception regarding the oblate region is also rectified by development of a normal stress map, which determines the relative importance of the electric pressure and the normal hydrodynamic stress in setting the sense of the deformation of the drop.
The Polyadenosine RNA Binding Protein ZC3H14 is Required in Mice for Proper Dendritic Spine Density

ZC3H14 (Zinc finger CysCysCysHis domain-containing protein 14), an evolutionarily conserved member of a class of tandem zinc finger (CCCH) polyadenosine (polyA) RNA binding proteins, is associated with a form of heritable, nonsyndromic autosomal recessive intellectual disability. Previous studies of a loss of function mouse model, Zc3h14∆ex13/∆ex13, provide evidence that ZC3H14 is essential for proper brain function, specifically for working memory. To expand on these findings, we analyzed the dendrites and dendritic spines of hippocampal neurons from Zc3h14∆ex13/∆ex13 mice, both in situ and in vitro. These studies reveal that loss of ZC3H14 is associated with a decrease in total spine density in hippocampal neurons in vitro as well as in the dentate gyrus of 5-month old mice analyzed in situ. This reduction in spine density in vitro results from a decrease in the number of mushroom-shaped spines, which is rescued by exogenous expression of ZC3H14. We next performed biochemical analyses of synaptosomes prepared from whole wild-type and Zc3h14∆ex13/∆ex13 mouse brains to determine if there are changes in steady state levels of postsynaptic proteins upon loss of ZC3H14. We found that ZC3H14 is present within synaptosomes and that a crucial postsynaptic protein, CaMKIIα, is significantly increased in these synaptosomal fractions upon loss of ZC3H14. Together, these results demonstrate that ZC3H14 is necessary for proper dendritic spine density in cultured hippocampal neurons and in some regions of the mouse brain. These findings provide insight into how a ubiquitously expressed RNA binding protein leads to neuronal-specific defects that result in brain dysfunction.
Assessing the Magnitude of Nonworker Deaths During Workplace Homicide Incidents: An Epidemiological Analysis Using the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS).

BackgroundRecent workplace homicide investigations have noted that the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) has several limitations that reduce our ability to understand who dies as part of...
Beyond Bostock: Implications for LGBTQ+ theory and practice

The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County is a landmark piece of case law that offers fundamental rights to LGBT persons. This essay reflects on how this case arrived at the...
Unanticipated Polarity Shift in Edge-Contacted Tungsten-Based 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Transistors

Creating metal edge contacts in transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) transistors is a promising path to advance transistor miniaturization for future technology nodes. Current experimental demonstrations nearly exclusively focus on MoS2 as the channel material. Here, we create edge-contacted WSe2 and WS2 transistors using a convergent Ar+ ion beam source integrated within an e-beam evaporator chamber for in-situ processing. An unanticipated polarity shift was observed compared to top-contact behavior for Ti-WS2 devices, which displayed p-type conduction. Meanwhile, three distinct metal contact materials yielded comparable p-branch-dominant performance on WSe2. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) imaging with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis indicated the existence of a residual layer of W (and chalcogen atoms to a lesser extent) beneath the metal contacts, even though the substrate was over-etched. The images presented a physically pure edge interface. This intriguing etching effect could carry significant implications for the design of tungsten-based, edge-contacted TMD transistors.
Modeling Coarticulation in Synthetic Visual Speech

After describing the importance of visual information in speech perception and sketching the history of visual speech synthesis, we consider a number of theories of coarticulation in human speech. An implementation of Lofqvist’s (1990) gestural theory of speech production is described for visual speech synthesis along with a description of the graphically controlled development system. We conclude with some plans for future work.
Structural investigations of hydrogen cyanide polymers: new insights using TMAH thermochemolysis/GC-MS.

Hydrogen cyanide polymers form spontaneously from HCN and traces of base catalysts. It is probable that these polymers played an important role in the early stages of chemical evolution. Nevertheless, their full structural characterization has still not been accomplished. A number of mass spectrometric methods have now been applied to this structural problem including FAB-MS, thermal desorption EI-MS, ESI-MS, APCI-MS and off-line TMAH thermochemolysis/GC-MS. This latter method causes bond cleavage and in situ methylation producing a suite of products which provides valuable insight into the substructural features of HCN polymers and also promises to serve as a sensitive diagnostic tool for detecting the presence of HCN polymers in samples from diverse sources.
Soil Nitrogen Cycle

Nitrogen is an essential element for life. Microorganisms and their activities are crucial to supplying biologically available nitrogen; in fact, only certain prokaryotes can produce such nitrogen. In general, microorganisms play a key role in the transformation of nitrogen into its many available forms and thereby influence primary productivity in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. An understanding of nitrogen cycling in soils is critical to sustain the productivity of natural and managed ecosystems without environmental degradation. Keywords: nitrogen; nitrogen cycling; prokaryotes; microorganisms; ecosystems; degradation; dinitrogen fixation; ammonification; assimilation; nitrification; denitrification
Reflection imaging of deep structure beneath Montserrat using microearthquake sources

[1] The SEA-CALIPSO experiment was designed to image structure related to active volcanism beneath the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean. As part of that experiment, over 200 Texan recorders with 5 Hz geophones were deployed in 3 linear arrays at a nominal spacing of 100m, primarily to record an airgun source towed offshore around the island. Because the recorders were operating in continuous mode for three days, a number of shallow microearthquakes under the active summit of Soufriere Hills Volcano (SHV) were also recorded. 20 events were sufficiently well recorded and located that they could be used to identify and map reflections from deep subsurface structure. Here we report on the processing of those recordings as multichannel CMP reflection sources, with emphasis on careful statics correction and coherency enhancement. The resulting reflection images indicate subhorizontal layering at depths between 6 and 19km which we interpret as sills.
Automated Assume-Guarantee Reasoning by Abstraction Refinement

Current automated approaches for compositional model checking in the assume-guarantee style are based on learning of assumptions as deterministic automata. We propose an alternative approach based on abstraction refinement. Our new method computes the assumptions for the assume-guarantee rules as conservative and not necessarily deterministic abstractions of some of the components, and refines those abstractions using counterexamples obtained from model checking them together with the other components. Our approach also exploits the alphabets of the interfaces between components and performs iterative refinement of those alphabets as well as of the abstractions. We show experimentally that our preliminary implementation of the proposed alternative achieves similar or better performance than a previous learning-based implementation.
A student's perspective on reaching full potential in academic medicine.

At 1 am, watching televised comedy, hoping to avoid my dissertation but remain productive, I read the Question of the Year via the Twitter feed of the Association of American Medical Colleges and immediately thought, “I’m not realizing my full potential—and I have something to say about it.” I began questioning Dr. Kanter’s question, first focusing on what he meant by full potential. That term must be defined before it can be developed, so who defines it? By stating “their full potential,” I suspect Dr. Kanter believes potential is defined by the individual, but most individuals don’t have the foresight to know their full potential or how close they are to reaching it. I changed Dr. Kanter’s question into one more specific and asked, “What methods are available to help trainees identify and reach their full potential?”
Phylogenetically Conserved Binding of Specific K Homology Domain Proteins to the 3′-Untranslated Region of the Vertebrate Middle Neurofilament mRNA

As axons mature, neurofilament-M (NF-M) expression rises, contributing to maturation of the axonal cytoskeleton and an expansion in axon caliber. This increase is partly due to a rise in NF-M mRNA stability. Such post-transcriptional regulation is often mediated through the binding of specific proteins to the 3′-untranslated region (3′-UTR) of mRNAs. Vertebrate NF-M 3′-UTRs are remarkably well conserved, prompting us to test whether similar proteins bind the 3′-UTRs of different vertebrate NF-Ms. Identification of such proteins could lead to insights into the regulation of NF-M expression during development and in response to trauma or disease. Ultraviolet cross-linking analysis of proteins isolated from adult frog (Xenopus laevis), mouse, and rat brains revealed three ribonucleoprotein complexes (97, 70, and 47 kDa) that were present in all species and bound specifically to NF-M 3′-UTRs. Affinity purification of NF-M 3′-UTR-binding proteins from rat brain followed by mass spectrometry and immunoprecipitation assays identified heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) K and hnRNP E1 as the proteins forming the 70- and 47-kDa complexes, respectively. These RNA-binding proteins of the KH domain family recognize CU-rich motifs identical to ones present in NF-M 3′-UTRs. Ultraviolet cross-linking assays performed on Xenopus embryos at different stages of neural development demonstrated that whereas hnRNP K binding occurred at all stages, hnRNP E binding occurred only at the most mature stages of axon development. Since hnRNP E is known to stabilize mRNAs, these results raise the hypothesis that these proteins may contribute to the increases in cytoplasmic levels of NF-M mRNA that accompany axonal maturation.
Caries prevalence and bottle-feeding practices in 2-year-old children with cleft lip, cleft palate, or both in Taiwan.

Abstract Objective: The purposes of this study were to investigate the caries prevalence in cleft lip, cleft palate, or both in children under the age of 2 years and to evaluate parental attitudes toward bottle-feeding, dental care, and their relationship to baby bottle tooth decay (BBTD) in Taiwan. Design: Randomized and prospective study. Setting: Institutional setting. Patients and Methods: One hundred twenty-three 2-year-old children (68 boys and 55 girls) with cleft lip, cleft palate, or both were selected for this study. A questionnaire that asked questions about knowledge of oral health, knowledge and beliefs about BBTD, children's feeding habits, children's dental care, and parenting attitudes toward children with clefts was completed by the parents or caretakers. Children were divided into bottle-feeding and non–bottle-feeding groups according to the questionnaire responses of parents or caretakers. Each child was examined with a dental mirror and explorer under focused flashlight using defs inde...
Design and development of an ultrasound calibration phantom and system

Image-guided surgery systems are often used to provide surgeons with informational support. Due to several unique advantages such as ease of use, real-time image acquisition, and no ionizing radiation, ultrasound is a common medical imaging modality used in image-guided surgery systems. To perform advanced forms of guidance with ultrasound, such as virtual image overlays or automated robotic actuation, an ultrasound calibration process must be performed. This process recovers the rigid body transformation between a tracked marker attached to the ultrasound transducer and the ultrasound image. A phantom or model with known geometry is also required. In this work, we design and test an ultrasound calibration phantom and software. The two main considerations in this work are utilizing our knowledge of ultrasound physics to design the phantom and delivering an easy to use calibration process to the user. We explore the use of a three-dimensional printer to create the phantom in its entirety without need for user assembly. We have also developed software to automatically segment the three-dimensional printed rods from the ultrasound image by leveraging knowledge about the shape and scale of the phantom. In this work, we present preliminary results from using this phantom to perform ultrasound calibration. To test the efficacy of our method, we match the projection of the points segmented from the image to the known model and calculate a sum squared difference between each point for several combinations of motion generation and filtering methods. The best performing combination of motion and filtering techniques had an error of 1.56 mm and a standard deviation of 1.02 mm.
Orphan nuclear receptors control neuronal remodeling during fly metamorphosis

Pruning of excess branches is essential for the maturation of developing neuronal circuits. Cross-talk between TGF-β signaling and two antagonistic orphan nuclear receptors governs the pruning of larval γ neurons in the Drosophila pupa.
Regulation of thymidine kinase activity by 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphate and deoxythymidine 5'-triphosphate

Abstract A comparison was made of the inhibition of deoxythymidine kinase derived froin Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells by 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphate and deoxythymidine 5'-triphosphate. The inhibition produced by the halogenated triphosphate derivative was observed to be qualitatively similar to deoxythymidine 5'-triphosphate over a rangs of pH, temperature and substrate concentrations; however, 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphate was quantitatively more inhibitory. Although the apparent K m for thymidine was not significantly different at pH 5.0, 6.5 and 7.5, the inhibitory effect of deoxythymidine 5'-triphosphate and 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphate was 43- and 26-fold larger respectively at pH 5.0 compared to pH 6.5; whereas the inhibitory effect for both compounds at pH 6.5 was about 4-fold greater than that at pH 7.5. In the presence or absence of the inhibitors, analysis indicated “allosteric” kinetics prevailed at pH 5.0 and 6.5, whereas Michaelis competitive kinetics occurred at pH 7.5 for both. These triphosphate derivatives protected thymidine kinase froin thermal inactivation (65°, 30 min); however, the halogenated derivative was effective at lower concentrations. Thus the halogenated triphosphate not only exerted a greater inhibitory effect than deoxythymidine triphosphate, but also afforded greater protection to thermal inactivation. A Hill plot indicated cooperative interactions at pH 5.0 and 6.5 but not at pH 7.5, and the presence of either triphosphate derivative increased the Hill coefficient ( n ) at pH 5.0 and 6.5 but not at pH 7.5. The order of addition of the substrate (thymidine) or of the inhibitory effectors had no significant effect on the amount of inhibition observed.
The effect on localization of frequency-specific gain reduction schemes when matched and mismatched across ears

AbstractObjective: To evaluate the impact of non-adaptive matched and mismatched gain reduction schemes on localization in spatially-separated noise. Design: Inspired by the function of commercial noise reduction algorithms, five frequency-specific gain reduction filter schemes were created, three for a modulated babble-noise and two for an unmodulated speech-shaped noise. Applying these schemes as both matched and mismatched conditions across ears, localization of five everyday sounds in noise was measured in a virtual environment using insert earphones. The performance in the reference scheme (no gain reduction in either ear) was measured as well. Study sample: Twenty-four adult bilateral hearing-aid users were enrolled in this study. Results: One of the two mismatched gain reduction schemes for the unmodulated noise had a small but negative impact on localization compared to the reference scheme. For that scheme more high-frequency reduction was noted than for the other schemes. Matching gain reduction...
Design and Realization of Organic Viticulture Monitoring System Based on WSN

According to the demands of organic viticulture for small environment regulation and management automation, a grape production monitoring system based on wireless sensor networks (WSN for short) was designed, so as to solve the low management automation level, great workload and other problems that exist in traditional viticulture. The system includes a WSN and a planting management-oriented viticulture management system. The WSN consists of twelve environment monitoring nodes equipped with 168 sensors and 12 video capture cards, a sink node and a monitoring center. And it is also free to customize the functions of acquisition, processing, transmission and storage the data, such as soil moisture, soil temperature, air temperature and humidity, rainfall, solar radiation, wind direction, wind speed and so on. The communication between two nodes follows ZigBee protocol. GPRS is used to realize the communication between sink node and monitoring center. Production data collection and analysis, farming management, production decision, insect pest and disease warming are also achieved through GPRS. An experiment on data package transfer rate in grape veraison and mature stages is carried out. Six out of ten sensor nodes have transfer accuracy above 90%, and two below 35%. The reason is that the solar power supply circuit of one node has excessive energy consumption, and deployment location of the other node is influenced by environment which leads to the network instability. Through analysis, results can be got that the power supply and network environment are important factors for performance of WSN in the fields. The design and development of this viticulture monitoring system provide an effective tool for the production information monitoring and analysis decision of organic vineyard.
Electrocardiographic changes associated with ritodrine-induced maternal tachycardia and hypokalemia

One hundred twelve patients in preterm labor were followed prospectively, with electrocardiograms taken before ritodrine therapy and at 6 and 24 hours of treatment. Ninety-six percent of patients developed sinus tachycardia. Other changes were seen in 79% of the study group. These changes included ST segment depression in 70%, T wave flattening or inversion in 55%, and prolongation of the QT interval in 35% of our sample. None of the electrocardiograms showed the presence of a significant axis deviation, a change in QRS interval, or arrhythmia. No correlation was seen between symptoms of ischemia and electrocardiographic changes. A drop in potassium concentration was noted initially, but a direct correlation between potassium concentrations and frequency of electrocardiographic changes was not present. We conclude that the electrocardiographic changes that are often observed during myocardial ischemia may be frequent in asymptomatic patients treated with ritodrine and that these changes may be a physiologic expression of ritodrine-induced tachycardia or hypokalemia. The validity of the use of the presence of electrocardiographic changes as the only criterion for discontinuation of ritodrine therapy is questioned.
Effects of angle, distance, and illumination on visual reception of speech by profoundly deaf children.

Two adult females presented lists of 240 common nouns to small groups of profoundly deaf children (N = 3 to 6). Lipreading performance was measured under several conditions of speaker angle, light-...
Diblock Copolymer Micelles and Supported Films with Noncovalently Incorporated Chromophores: A Modular Platform for Efficient Energy Transfer

We report generation of modular, artificial light-harvesting assemblies where an amphiphilic diblock copolymer, poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(butadiene), serves as the framework for noncovalent organization of BODIPY-based energy donor and bacteriochlorin-based energy acceptor chromophores. The assemblies are adaptive and form well-defined micelles in aqueous solution and high-quality monolayer and bilayer films on solid supports, with the latter showing greater than 90% energy transfer efficiency. This study lays the groundwork for further development of modular, polymer-based materials for light harvesting and other photonic applications.
SOCIAL COMPARISON THEORY AND THE UNIVERSALITY OF EXPERIENCE

Social comparison theory (1) predicts that clients in clinical settings will compare their own thoughts, experiences, and behaviors to those of others because what other people do is considered normal. Schachter (4) further predicts that people who are anxious and unsure about themselves will seek out others who are in similar situations and that the information they obtain through social comparison will increase their self-esteem. Group psychotherapy makes use of these dynamics through the therapeutic power of the universality of experience (2 ) . Psychological education ( 5 ) may increase self-esteem rhrough classroom interventions. This article reports the use of peer tutors to facilitate social comparison. All students registering in a course designed to "help students gain better understanding and acceptance of themselves and others" met in small groups for 45 min. twice per week. They also attended a 45-min. lecture on issues in adjustment each week and were assigned readings and given tests. The small groups were led by peer tutors who had completed the class satisfactorily the previous quarter. The small groups' task was to discuss personal concerns and how members dealt with them. The Janis-Field Feelings of Inadequacy Scale (3) was administered to the students on the first and last days of class. Self-esteem significantly increased from pre- to postrests (t = 5.71, p = .001). Answers to items on the post-treatment questionnaire indicate that this increase was based on receipt of information through social comparison. For example, self-esteem increased for those students who found the group activities "worthwhile" (r = 32, j~ = .037), those saying such classes should provide information through social comparison (r = .48, p = .003), and those saying they got such information from the group (r = .61, p = .001). These results provide convergent evidence that obtaining information through social comparison increased self-esteem. This occurred after group discussions led by peer tutors whose only role was to facilitate social comparison. Practitioners and researchers may look to social comparison theory as the theoretical basis for interventions which stress the universality of experience and help change perceptions associated with feeling alone, deviant, or abnormal.
Management of the Infant of a Mother With Viral Hepatitis

Viral hepatitis includes a spectrum of conditions that result in clinically similar diseases that differ in etiology and epidemiology. An understanding of liver function tests and specific serologic tests is necessary to rapidly diagnose the cause of the hepatitis episode so that prophylaxis can be provided when appropriate. Hepatitis B virus infection is the best defined of the agents that cause viral hepatitis with regard to neonatal transmission and prophylaxis. Rapid diagnosis of pregnant women who are HBsAg carriers is critical so that prophylaxis can be given to their new-born infants to eliminate the carrier state and the potential for devastating future complications.