cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Response of the thyroidal iodide pump and thyroid weight to goitrogens in rats fed low or high iodine diets.

Rats fed a diet rich in iodine and killed in groups 1–23 days after the initiation of goitrogenic regimens (methylmercaptoimidazole in the drinking water or propylthiouracil injected subcutaneously) showed a prompt and progressive rise in the thyroid-serum radioiodide concentration ratio (T/S) and the thyroidal radioiodide space; goiter developed more slowly. In rats on a low iodine diet treated with the same goitrogens the initially high T/S was significantly diminished during the first week of antithyroid treatment and even the thyroidal radioiodide space showed transient contraction; the goitrogenic effect of propylthiouracil manifested itself earlier than in the rats on the high iodine diet. No significant depression of the. T/S was achieved when rats fed the low iodine regimen were injected with thyrotrophin; thyroidal radioiodide space and thyroid size increased. The same dose of hormone given to rats on the high iodine diet markedly raised the T/S and expanded the thyroidal radioiodide space, but i...
Identifying suicidal symptoms in prostate cancer survivors using brief self-report

Purpose Prostate cancer (PC) survivors are at elevated risk for completed suicide even many years post-treatment. Despite this risk, practical and efficient methods for assessing these symptoms have not been established. We sought to determine if suicidal symptoms could be effectively and efficiently identified in a cohort of PC survivors, and whether these men were receptive to emotional health interventions.
Assessment of Clinical Laboratory Techniques in the Measurement of Oxygen Saturation in Whole Blood

The accuracy and advantages of determining percentage of hemoglobin oxygen saturation of whole blood by advanced instruments of oximetry, gas chromatography, and the computation of oxygen saturation from pO2 and pH data are compared with the Van Slyke-Neill manometric method. It was found that oximetry is extremely fast, less expensive, and more accurate than in the past, the apparatus requires little training to operate and has diminutive service maintenance. The gas chromatograph proved to be highly accurate and could serve as a standard calibration check method in place of the more time-consuming Van Slyke-Neill apparatus for oximetry and pO2 and pH electrode instrumentation. Computation of O2 saturation from pO2 and pH data also proved to be accurate, confirming that this method is more useful during cardiac surgery because it can provide additional acid-base information. In the low oxygen saturation range (less than 60%), all three methods proved to be of similar sensitivity.
Second moments of ESR signals from poly(p‐phenylene) and the deuterated analog

The second moments of the ESR signals obtained from poly(p-phenylene) (PPP) and deuterated PPP were measured at 9.5 and 35 GHz. The theoretical and experimental contributions to the second moments were considered. It is shown that for deuterated PPP, deuteron hyperfine splitting makes a negligible contribution to the observed second moment. The proton hyperfine contributions to the second moments of the radical species in PPP and p-sexiphenyl were estimated and it was concluded that the unpaired electron was delocalized over only 2-4 phenylene units. A rationale is offered in terms of polarons present as defects in the PPP chains.
Do determinants of online shopping differ for personal shoppers and professional shoppers

Purpose – Individuals use the web for shopping for both personal and professional objectives. The purpose of this paper is to show that the demographic profile of individuals who shop online for personal reasons is different from that of those who shop for professional reasons.Design/methodology/approach – Based on marketing literature, hypotheses were generated regarding the relationships between proclivity to purchase online and demographics. The data were collected through online surveys, and the hypotheses tested with an ordinal regression model.Findings – This research indicated that individuals with children, high incomes, and large internet experience are more likely to shop online for personal purposes and younger men with large internet experience are more likely to shop online for professional purposes.Research limitations/implications – One of the limitations of this study is that it focuses on only the demographic determinants, and ignores others, such as reputation and size, service quality, ...
The effect of sex on the uptake of very low density lipoprotein triglyceride fatty acid from the plasma of the rat in vivo.

Abstract Radioactive very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) was prepared by perfusion in vitro of livers isolated from normal fed male and female rats with [1-14C] oleate or [9, 10-3H] oleate, respectively. These VLDL, whose properties differed due to sex, were mixed. Aliquots of the mixture were injected intravenously into fasted male and female rats and the decay of the radioactivity (14C and 3H) was measured. Disappearance of radioactivity from plasma triglyceride was more rapid in female animals. Plasma half-life of 14C and 3H was 42.5±3.7 and 49.7±4.4 minutes, respectively, when the VLDL mixture was injected into male rats. The corresponding values in female rats were 28.3±1.1 and 30.7±1.7, respectively. These data suggest strongly that the rate of utilization of VLDL triglyceride fatty acid is more rapid in the female than in the male, and that the properties of the VLDL particles are of less importance than innate sex differences in the recipient for the rate of clearance of triglyceride fatty acids.
Studies on vitellogenesis in the American cockroach

Abstract An ootheca is produced approximately every 6 days by the female American cockroach. Feeding takes place on the first 2 or 3 days of this 6 day cycle and the blood protein level peaks on the fourth day. Most of the yolk protein is deposited on the last 2 days of the cycle. Total RNA concentrations have been determined for both the midgut and fat body during the cycle, and the results of these experiments suggest that both organs take part in blood protein synthesis. Ultrastructural examination of these two tissues support this contention. Cauterization of the medial neurosecretory cells results in a decrease of blood protein levels. Allatectomy causes a rise in blood protein and prevents vitellogenesis. Implantation of three active corpora allata restores both the normal blood protein level and vitellogenesis. A humoral control of blood protein synthesis is postulated and the hormonal and/or nervous control of vitellogenesis and subsequent ootheca production is discussed.
Using an Animal Model to Assess the Long‐Term Behavioral and Biological Consequences of Adolescent Abuse and Exposure to Alcohol

: During adolescence or adulthood, male hamster siblings were divided into control and experimental groups and exposed to periods of either mild or traumatic stress outside their individual nests. Mild stress is the simple exposure to a novel environment while the traumatic stressor is repeated daily subjugation by a dominant hamster. Over adolescence and adulthood, animals had free access to alcohol. The behavior and neuroendocrinology were assessed over these developmental periods in response to these environmental conditions. As adults, animals with a history of traumatic stress in adolescence showed inappropriate and excessive aggressive behavior. Their aggression was context dependent. In the presence of equal size hamsters, they showed little aggression; however, they were excessively aggressive toward smaller, younger animals. Testosterone levels and reproductive behavior were normal after adolescent subjugation; however, release of cortisol during agonistic encounters was suppressed. In comparison, hamsters exposed to chronic social subjugation as adults had low plasma testosterone, reduced reproductive behavior, and exaggerated cortisol release during agonistic encounters. Self-ingestion of alcohol during adolescence enhanced testosterone release around the peripubertal period but reduced plasma testosterone levels in adulthood. Exposure to alcohol as adolescents enhanced aggression in adulthood. These data demonstrate a pronounced difference in behavior and neuroendocrinology between adolescent and adult hamsters in their response to traumatic stress.
Influence of lung volume on respiratory responses to spontaneous bladder contractions

Abstract Spontaneous bladder contractions (SBCs) in decerebrate, vagotomized, paralyzed, ventilated cats have been shown to decrease phrenic and hypoglossal inspiratory nerve activities, as well as the activities of other respiratory motor nerves. To determine whether vagal afferents from the lung influence the respiratory inhibition associated with SBCs, we recorded phrenic and hypoglossal nerve activities in decerebrate, paralyzed, vagally intact cats. The animals were ventilated by a servo-respirator, which inflated the lungs in accordance with integrated phrenic nerve activity. Maintained increases in end-expiratory lung volume were produced by the application of 2–10 cm H 2 O positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP). SBCs were accompanied by decreases in both phrenic and hypoglossal peak integrated nerve activities, as well as by marked decreases in respiratory frequency. The reduction of respiratory frequency was greater with higher levels of PEEP, a few animals becoming apneic during SBCs. After bilateral vagotomy, SBCs continued to decrease phrenic and hypoglossal peak integrated nerve activities as previously reported, but the reduction of respiratory frequency was much less striking than when the vagi were intact. These results indicate that activity of vagal afferents from the lung augments the respiratory influence of SBCs. Furthermore, SBCs in vagally intact animals can induce periodic breathing.
Charge Translocation by the Na+/K+ Pump under Na+/Na+ Exchange Conditions: Intracellular Na+ Dependence

The effect of intracellular (i) and extracellular (o) Na+ on pre-steady-state transient current associated with Na+/Na+ exchange by the Na+/K+ pump was investigated in the vegetal pole of Xenopus oocytes. Current records in response to 40-ms voltage pulses from -180 to +100 mV in the absence of external Na+ were subtracted from current records obtained under Na+/Na+ exchange conditions. Na+-sensitive transient current and dihydroouabain-sensitive current were equivalent. The quantity of charge moved (Q) and the relaxation rate coefficient (ktot) of the slow component of the Nao+-sensitive transient current were measured for steps to various voltages (V). The data were analyzed using a four-state kinetic model describing the Na+ binding, occlusion, conformational change, and release steps of the transport cycle. The apparent valence of the Q vs. V relationship was near 1.0 for all experimental conditions. When extracellular Na+ was halved, the midpoint voltage of the charge distribution (Vq) shifted -25.3+/-0.4 mV, which can be accounted for by the presence of an extracellular ion-well having a dielectric distance delta=0.69+/-0.01. The effect of changes of Nai+ on Nao+-sensitive transient current was investigated. The midpoint voltage (Vq) of the charge distribution curve was not affected over the Nao+ concentration range 3.13-50 mM. As Nai+ was decreased, the amount of charge measured and its relaxation rate coefficient decreased with an apparent Km of 3.2+/-0.2 mM. The effects of lowering Nai+ on pre-steady-state transient current can be accounted for by decreasing the charge available to participate in the fast extracellular Na+ release steps, by a slowly equilibrating (phosphorylation/occlusion) step intervening between intracellular Na+ binding and extracellular Na+ release.
Performance optimization of a commercially available iminodiacetate resin for the determination of Mn, Ni, Cu, Cd and Pb by on-line preconcentration inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

The on-line preconcentration performance characteristics of a commercially available iminodiacetate resin (Toyopearl AF-Chelate 650M) were investigated. The method was optimized for several parameters, including buffer pH, rinsing of matrix salts from the resin, elution acid type and strength, and the nebulizer gas flow rate. An ammonium chloride buffer with a pH of 8.80 was mixed with the sample on-line prior to loading. This pH was found to be optimal for Mn, Cu, Cd and Pb, whereas a pH of ≥9.2 was optimal for Ni analysis. Column rinse experiments showed that both buffer and water reduce Na concentrations to <100 μM in the rinse solution within 3 min. It was also determined that using 1 M HNO3 acid for column elution yielded higher intensities for Mn, Ni, Cu and Pb, while 1 M HCl yielded higher count rates for Cd. The change from the optimization solution, with a 0.2% HNO3 acid concentration, to the 10% elution acid required a reduction in the nebulizer gas flow rate of 0.05 l min−1 in order to obtain reduced blank intensity ratios. Calibrations performed using standard solutions (1 ml) with concentrations ranging from 0 to 10 pg ml−1 (ppt) resulted in regression coefficients of 0.990–0.998. Method detection limits of 1.1, 0.08, 0.47, 0.06 and 0.16 pg ml−1 for Mn, Ni, Cu, Cd and Pb, respectively, were obtained. Accuracy was demonstrated by results from runs of the certified standard reference materials (SRMs), CASS-4, a newly available coastal seawater reference standard and NASS-4, an open ocean seawater reference material.
Splenic artery aneurysm rupture: the seventh instance of maternal and fetal survival.

Rupture of a splenic artery aneurysm is an uncommon occurrence but carries a high maternal and fetal mortality rate. This article presents the seventh case of both maternal and fetal survival and discusses some features salient to spontaneous rupture of a splenic artery aneurysm.(Obstet Gynecol 67:291, 1986)
Isotopic evidence for eolian recycling of pedogenic carbonate and variations in carbonate dust sources throughout the southwest United States

Using isotopic ratios of Sr, C and O, we trace calcium carbonate through surface systems across a wide region of semi-arid terrain in Arizona, southwestern USA, in order to evaluate the contribution of cations from silicate weathering to soil carbonate. We present 87Sr/86Sr ratios of soil carbonate, parent rock, dry river course silts, floodplain, playa, dust and rain samples, as well as δ18O and δ13C values of selected samples. Results show that both parent rock and dust are important sources of cations for soil carbonate in this inland setting where bedrock is dominated by silicate lithologies. Dust in southeast Arizona has higher 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7100–0.7123) than Phanerozoic sea water (0.7070–0.7096). These high ratios derive ultimately from silicate rocks. Our δ18O and δ13C data show clearly that the dominant source of carbonate dust is eroded older soil carbonate, not bedrock limestone. Because dust contributes significantly to newly-forming soil carbonate, some products of silicate weathering may reside in soil carbonate two or more times before being removed from the region, and this recycling retards the rate at which the products of silicate weathering enter the sedimentary system. Comparison of the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of carbonate dust from southeast Arizona with those from surrounding regions shows that dust 87Sr/86Sr ratios, and by inference carbonate dust sources, vary on a scale of 200–300 km in the southwest United States.
A Two-Level Community Intervention Model for Homeless Mothers with Mental Health or Substance Abuse Disorders

ABSTRACT This paper describes a two-tiered community intervention model in response to a call from the Center for Mental Health Services for the development of best-practice strategies for homeless mothers with mental health and/or substance use disorders and their children. This model incorporates best practice principles gained from previous research projects pitched at the system and client levels. The model has been conceptualized, presented, and funded by CMHS and is currently being implemented in a local community. This model is unique in that it develops an intervention that addresses both levels of service delivery (i.e., system and client) in a single project. Blending systems integration/wraparound service philosophy and consumer-driven/strength-based development approaches provides a model that encompasses interventions at the individual client level via supported case management, and improved coordination and collaboration at the service system level. While this model was developed for a speci...
Influences on the choice of primary care. Today's gatekeepers to the medical care delivery system.

tional Advisory Committee (GMENAC). The charge of the committee was to advise the Secretary on two major national health planning objectives: 1) the appropriate number of physicians required to meet the health care needs of the nation, and 2) the most appropriate specialty distribution of these physicians. After 3 years of comprehensive health manpower analysis, GMENAC identified the major health manpower imbalances and shortages. The findings of GMENAC regarding medical specialty distribution showed shortages in some disciplines that ranged from 8,000 in general psychiatry and 4,900 in child psychiatry to 1,100 in pediatric hematology/oncology. It also showed surpluses in many disciplines
Alkaline hemolysis fragility is dependent on cell shape: results from a morphology tracker.

Background The morphometric analysis of red blood cells (RBCs) is an important area of study and has been performed previously for fixed samples. We present a novel method for the analysis of morphologic changes of live erythrocytes as a function of time. We use this method to extract information on alkaline hemolysis fragility. Many other toxins lyse cells by membrane poration, which has been studied by averaging over cell populations. However, no quantitative data are available for changes in the morphology of individual cells during membrane poration-driven hemolysis or for the relation between cell shape and fragility. Methods Hydroxide, a porating agent, was generated in a microfluidic enclosure containing RBCs in suspension. Automatic cell recognition, tracking, and morphometric measurements were done by using a custom image analysis program. Cell area and circular shape factor (CSF) were measured over time for individual cells. Implementations were developed in MATLAB and on Kestrel, a parallel computer that affords higher speed that approaches real-time processing. Results The average CSF went through a first period of fast increase, corresponding to the conversion of discocytes to spherocytes under internal osmotic pressure, followed by another period of slow increase until the fast lysis event. For individual cells, the initial CSF was shown to be inversely correlated to cell lifetime (linear regression factor R = 0.44), with discocytes surviving longer than spherocytes. The inflated cell surface area to volume ratio was also inversely correlated to lifetime (R = 0.43) but not correlated to the CSF. Lifetime correlated best to the ratio of cell inflation volume (Vfinal − Vinitial) to surface area (R = 0.65). Conclusions RBCs inflate at a rate proportional to their surface area, in agreement with a constant flux model, and lyse after attaining a spherical morphology. Spherical RBCs display increased alkaline hemolysis fragility (shorter lifetimes), providing an explanation for the increased osmotic fragility of RBCs from patients who have spherocytosis. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Understanding microchannel culture: parameters involved in soluble factor signaling.

While the importance of autocrine–paracrine signalingin vivo is clear, the ability to study the effects of secreted endogenous factors in vitro is hampered by canonical culture platforms. In multi-well plates, the large air–liquid interface gives rise to convective flows that continually mix the fluid disrupting the local diffusion-based accumulation. Simple microchannels provide a more controlled microenvironment that can be used to study secreted factor effects. Here, we utilize microchannel culture to examine basic culture parameters and their interactions using normal mammary gland epithelial cells (NMuMG). The following parameters were studied: (1) cell density (80 vs. 240 cells mm–2), (2) exogenous growth factors (epidermal growth factor [EGF] vs. fetal bovine serum), (3) medium change frequency (1 h, 4 h, 12 h), and (4) culture platform (microchannels vs. 96-well plates). The cells exhibited increased growth rates in microchannels as compared to 96-well plates. Cell proliferation increased as the frequency of media change decreased. For the microchannel geometries used, important threshold concentrations were reached in a few hours. In aggregate, the results indicate that the function of the four factors and their interactions on NMuMG growth are spatially and temporally related by molecular diffusion in the controlled microchannel space. The convective-free microchannel environment may prove useful for studying soluble factor signalingin vitro, and to test models and predictions of autocrine–paracrine signaling.
Differential Regulation of Type I and Type VIII Ca2+-stimulated Adenylyl Cyclases by Gi-coupled Receptors in Vivo

Coupling of intracellular Ca2+ to cAMP increases may be important for some forms of synaptic plasticity. The type I adenylyl cyclase (I-AC) is a neural-specific, Ca2+-stimulated enzyme that couples intracellular Ca2+ to cAMP increases. Since optimal cAMP levels may be crucial for some types of synaptic plasticity, mechanisms for inhibition of Ca2+-stimulated adenylyl cyclases may also be important for neuroplasticity. Here we report that Ca2+ stimulation of I-AC is inhibited by activation of Gi-coupled somatostatin and dopamine D2L receptors. This inhibition is due primarily to Giα and not βγ subunits since coexpression of βγ-binding proteins with I-AC did not affect somatostatin inhibition. However, βγ released from Gs did inhibit I-AC, indicating that the enzyme can be inhibited by βγ in vivo. Interestingly, type VIII adenylyl cyclase (VIII-AC), another Ca2+-stimulated adenylyl cyclase, was not inhibited by Gi-coupled receptors. These data indicate that I-AC and VIII-AC are differentially regulated by Gi-coupled receptors and provide distinct mechanisms for interactions between the Ca2+ and cAMP signal transduction systems. We propose that I-AC may be particularly important for synaptic plasticity that depends upon rapid and transient cAMP increases, whereas VIII-AC may contribute to transcriptional-dependent synaptic plasticity that is dependent upon prolonged, Ca2+-stimulated cAMP increases.
Effect of Sex and Race Identification on Instrument Assignment by Music Educators

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of sex and race identification on the assignment of instruments to beginning band students. Participants (N = 201) were music educators solicited by university professors across the United States. Participants completed an online survey about instrument assignments. Half the participants were sent to a site that had full-head pictures of 14 students and assigned them to one of six beginning band instruments. The other half of the participants were sent to a site that had pictures of the same students, but only the lips and dental aspects of the students' faces were visible. Results indicated that the ability to identify the sex and race of students had an effect only on the assignment of an instrument for 2 of the 14 students. No clear reason for the few differences could be linked to any sex or race factors; therefore, the assessment decisions are thought to be artifacts of individual pictures/students. The authors conclude that, generally, differen...
Spanish Herod, Dutch Innocents: Bruegel’s Massacres of the Innocents in Their Sixteenth‐century Political Contexts

This article approaches the famous Bruegel painting by establishing possible precursors for the politicization of the Massacre of the Innocents in European drama and art. With the wars, the theme moves, suddenly popular, from Italy to the north. I argue that there are, in fact, two distinct compositions of the subject by Bruegel the Elder, the other being much less well known but probably derived from him (both were later much copied), which I place with new evidence in the context of Spanish repression, and other politicized versions of the theme by other Flemish artists. By indicating the severity of the repression well before the arrival of Alva in 1567, I show that arguments in favour of the one autograph version (Hampton Court) having a contemporary application do not depend on a later dating, and that any resemblance of the commander of the massacre to the Duke of Alva in the Vienna version and other copies, is due to their having been done a ‘safer’ generation later. Other relevant political works by Bruegel are adduced, notably the Census and Preaching of St John. A consciousness of Spanish tyranny and slaughter is carried into the later part of the century, via anti-Spanish cartoons, paintings of (non-biblical) killing and plundering and other Massacres of the Innocents, notably and climactically those by Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem, which must have been affected by his childhood experience of the Siege of Haarlem in 1573.
Topographical reproducibility of small scotoma using computerised dynamic fixation target

The computer assisted dynamic fixation technique uses the patient's eye movements to locate the test stimulus in the central visual field in relation to a randomly meandering fixation target. The patient looks at the moving fixation target on a high resolution monitor and tries to keep it inside a circle using a joystick. The stimuli are presented at predetermined locations in a seemingly random manner and the awareness of the stimuli is registered by the patient pressing the joystick button. That novel fixation maintenance technique has been combined with suprathreshold static light offset (dark-on-bright=light decrement) stimuli created on a cathode ray tube and used in mapping of the physiological blind spot in 10 healthy eyes. Each eye was examined twice with the same test program in order to document the repeatability of the results. On two consective tests, the physiological blind spot measured an average of 5.7 degrees horizontally and 6.4 degrees vertically, using 15% (17 dB) contrast, 16 mm2, single intensity offset stimuli. The moving eye method and the light offset stimuli, on repeated testing, yielded an average topographical reproducibility rate of 73% in mapping of the scotomas, with an average of 1.4 degrees and 0.6 degrees variability in the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the blind spot respectively.
Numerical and Experimental Tests of a Supersonic Inlet Utilizing a Pylon Set for Mixing, Combustion and Thrust Enhancement

A pylon set is proposed for installation in the supersonic inlet of an air-breathing propulsion system. For rectangular and axisymmetric inlets, the pylon set is installed near the cowl front edge. This set contains 3 – 4 airfoil-shaped strips or cross-section rings depending on the type of inlet. The pylons are located at different distances (tiers) from the forebody. Fuel injection takes place through these pylons, which provides uniform mixing downstream. The mutual locations, sizes and angles of these pylons are very important for efficient application. Optimal values of geometrical parameters were determined from multi-parametric Navier-Stokes Equations (NSE) numerical simulations of the laminar and turbulent external/internal flows. These simulations have shown substantial benefits for mixing, combustion and thrust of the proposed approach by comparison with traditional well-known designs. In this paper, numerical simulation and experimental test results are presented for the cases with and without the pylon set installed in a supersonic inlet without fuel injection through the pylons. These tests are intended for examination of several phenomena. First, if a supersonic flow regime can be reached with the installed pylon set in the NASA LaRC Mach 4 Blowdown Facility. Second, comparison of inlet performance with and without pylons. Third, comparison of numerical simulation and experimental test results. And finally, improved inlet design based on results obtained in this preliminary stage of our research project. The experimental tests at the NASA LaRC were conducted in September, 2004. Some numerical simulation results for the case with fuel injection (hydrogen and helium) were obtained using the NASA VULCAN code. Details of these numerical simulation results and experimental test results obtained at the NASA LaRC Mach 6 Facility will be presented at the next appropriate AIAA Conferences. Preliminary numerical simulation results have shown the efficiency of this approach for mixing, combustion and thrust enhancement. Mach 4 numerical simulations and experimental tests results are illustrated in Figures 3 – 11 and a numerical simulation result for Mach 6 with helium injection is shown in Figure 12. _________________________________________________________ ** Research Professor, Hampton University, Senior AIAA Member ** Research Assistant, Hampton University Aeropropulsion Center *** Professor, Hampton University Aeropropulsion Center **** Professor, Hampton University Aeropropulsion Center ♦ Aerospace Engineer, NASA Langley Research Center ♦♦ Aerospace Engineer, NASA Langley Research Center ♦♦♦ Aerospace Engineer, NASA Langley Research Center + Senior Technologist, NASA Glenn Research Center, AIAA Associate Fellow 43rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit 10 13 January 2005, Reno, Nevada AIAA 2005-21
The Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD): a resource for comparative toxicological studies.

The etiology of most chronic diseases involves interactions between environmental factors and genes that modulate important biological processes (Olden and Wilson, 2000). We are developing the publicly available Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD) to promote understanding about the effects of environmental chemicals on human health. CTD identifies interactions between chemicals and genes and facilitates cross-species comparative studies of these genes. The use of diverse animal models and cross-species comparative sequence studies has been critical for understanding basic physiological mechanisms and gene and protein functions. Similarly, these approaches will be valuable for exploring the molecular mechanisms of action of environmental chemicals and the genetic basis of differential susceptibility.
To Anticoagulate or not to Anticoagulate? A Common Dilemma for the Provider: Physicians’ Opinion Poll Based on a Case Study of an Older Long-term Care Facility Resident With Dementia and Atrial Fibrillation

Objective Anticoagulation therapy is an acceptable strategy for the prevention of thromboembolic events in the presence of atrial fibrillation. However, this strategy is controversial in older subjects particularly in the presence of dementia. We conducted an opinion poll regarding the decision to anticoagulate or not among physicians in practice and in various levels of training (residents and fellows) that was based on a specific, yet not unusual, case scenario in the nursing home. Setting A university teaching hospital in the Bronx, NY. Methods A survey questionnaire was distributed to physicians to solicit opinions on the decision to anticoagulate based on an actual case from a LTCF and the results were analyzed. Results One hundred seven completed surveys were returned from 49 residents, 20 fellows, and 38 attending physicians. The majority (85%) felt that long-term anticoagulation therapy was not indicated in the case patient. However, most (88%) felt they would provide an antiplatelet agent, with the choice being 78% aspirin, 20% clopridogel, and 2% aspirin-dipyridamole. The most cited reasons for not providing anticoagulation were risk of falls (98%), dementia (40%), and short life expectancy (32%). However, 92% of respondents felt that the patient was a candidate for short-term anticoagulation therapy. Interestingly, the choices (yes, no, uncertain) to the questions were similar for all physicians irrespective of their level of training or years in practice (or faculty) after training. Conclusions Although long-term anticoagulation for thromboembolic events in atrial fibrillation is considered beneficial, recent reports suggest that warfarin is underused in older adults, especially in the long-term care setting. Our physician poll, based on a specific case scenario, is consistent with this opinion as reflected by both trainees and practicing physicians. While there are absolute and relative contraindications to the use of long-term warfarin, decisions should be individualized and based on risks, benefits, and quality of life of the resident.
Autoimmunization against β-endorphin increases food intakes and body weights of obese rats

Opioid peptides in the brain are postulated to mediate the hunger component of the control of food intake and regulation of body weight and concentrations are increased in the pituitaties of genetically obese rodents. However, systemic increases in opioids have been associated with satiety. Thus a chronic decrease in systemic concentrations of the opioid β-endorphin induced by autoimmunization was predicted to increase food intake and body weight. Zucker obese (n=20, 568±13 g) and lean (n=20, 299±16 g) rats were autoimmunized against bovine serum albumin (BSA) or BSA conjugated to β-endorphin (BSA-BE). Eight weeks after immunization serum from BSA-BE rats bound at least 7 times the circulating concentration of β-endorphin. Food intakes were greater in BSA-BE obese (31.7 vs. 30.4 g/day, p<0.001) and lean rats (21.4 vs. 21.0 g/day, p<0.007) during weeks 5–8 and only obese rats, weeks 9–12 (31.8 vs. 30.3 g/day, p<0.009). Body weight gains were greater for BSA-BE than BSA obese rats during weeks 1–4 (1.34 vs. 0.92 g/day, p<0.05) and 9–12 (0.95 vs. 0.43 g/day, p<0.01). At 8 weeks the plasma concentrations of “free” β-endorphin were decreased 78% (34 vs. 154 pmol/l, p<0.001) and “total” (“free” plus antibody-bound) β-endorphin were increased (427 vs. 101 pmol/l, p<0.001). These results suggest that systemic concentrations of β-endorphin may play an important role in the control of food intake and regulation of energy balance.
Studying inter-core data reuse in multicores

Most of existing research on emerging multicore machines focus on parallelism extraction and architectural level optimizations. While these optimizations are critical, complementary approaches such as data locality enhancement can also bring significant benefits. Most of the previous data locality optimization techniques have been proposed and evaluated in the context of single core architectures. While one can expect these optimizations to be useful for multicore machines as well, multicores present further opportunities due to shared on-chip caches most of them accommodate. In order to optimize data locality targeting multicore machines however, the first step is to understand data reuse characteristics of multithreaded applications and potential benefits shared caches can bring. Motivated by these observations, we make the following contributions in this paper. First, we give a definition for inter-core data reuse and quantify it on multicores using a set of ten multithreaded application programs. Second, we show that neither on-chip cache hierarchies of current multicore architectures nor state-of-the-art (single-core centric) code/data optimizations exploit available inter-core data reuse in multithreaded applications. Third, we demonstrate that exploiting all available intercore reuse could boost overall application performance by around 21.3% on average, indicating that there is significant scope for optimization. However, we also show that trying to optimize for inter-core reuse aggressively without considering the impact of doing so on intra-core reuse can actually perform worse than optimizing for intra-core reuse alone. Finally, we present a novel, compiler-based data locality optimization strategy for multicores that balances both inter-core and intra-core reuse optimizations carefully to maximize benefits that can be extracted from shared caches. Our experiments with this strategy reveal that it is very effective in optimizing data locality in multicores.
Electron affinity states of metal supported phthalocyanines measured by tunneling spectroscopy

Orbital Mediated Tunneling Spectroscopy OMTS (elastic electron tunneling) was employed in measuring electron affinity levels (EA) of unsubstituted, alkylated, sulfonated, and metalated phthalocyanines (Pc) adsorbed as single molecules or aggregates on metal substrates and imbedded in metal-insulator-metal (M-I-M) devices. MPc complexes were vapor deposited, solution phase doped, or transferred as Langmuir-Blodgett films. It was determined that while the nature of the substituents has a large effect on the gas phase electron affinities, they play a minimal role on the electron affinities of metal supported phthalocyanines. Moreover, the orientation of monolayer films and the method of film deposition (vapor, solution, Langmuir-Blodgett) also appear to play only a minor role in determining the electron affinities. Electrochemical reduction potentials obtained for the solution phase molecular systems are compared to the OMTS data and a strong correlation is observed. In contrast, the predicted EA values for the gas phase molecules show little correspondence with their OMTS equivalents for adsorbed phthalocyanines. Inelastic scattering from phthalocyanine pp* transitions and metal centered d-d transitions are observed for chromophores imbedded in tunnel diodes. Both the observed lowest spin forbidden transitions and the calculated gas phase HOMO-LUMO gaps are only weakly affected by Pc substitution and surface orientation.
Seasonal activity patterns of Ixodes pacificus nymphs in relation to climatic conditions.

Abstract In western North America, the tick Ixodes pacificus Cooley & Kohls (Acari: Ixodidae) is the primary vector to humans and domestic animals of the disease agents causing Lyme disease and granulocytic ehrlichiosis. We examined the seasonal activity patterns of I. pacificus nymphs over a 4-year period, including the wet and cold El Nino winter/spring of 1998, in a dry oak/madrone woodland, and for one year in a cooler and moister redwood/tanoak woodland in Mendocino County, California. Linear regressions were used to estimate when nymphal densities first exceeded and then fell below 25, 50 and 75% of the recorded yearly peak densities. In oak/madrone woodland, nymphs typically were active by mid-March, reached 50% of their yearly peak densities in early to mid-April, peaked by early May, fell below 50% of their peak densities by early to mid-June, and were absent by late July to mid-August. The lengths of the periods with nymphal densities exceeding 50 and 75% of the recorded yearly peaks in oak/madrone woodland were associated positively with rainfall and negatively with maximum air temperatures during April–May. Moreover, nymphal numbers typically reached 50% of their peak 10–15 days later, remained at levels above 50% of the peak 1.3–1.5 times longer, and started declining 4–6 weeks later under cooler, moister climatic conditions (oak/madrone woodland in 1998 and redwood/tanoak woodland in 2000) relative to warmer, drier conditions (oak/madrone woodland in 2000–2001). In oak/madrone woodland, nymphal densities typically started to decline when mean maximum daily air temperatures exceeded 23°C. Nymphal densities were higher in dry oak/madrone relative to moist redwood/tanoak woodland from mid-March to late May 2000, similar in both habitat types in early June, but higher in redwood/tanoak woodland from late June onwards. We conclude that large-scale studies of the density of I. pacificus nymphs in California need to consider spatial variation in the length of nymphal activity periods and select temporal sampling regimens that yield representative data for all included habitat types.
Matching and stabilization by the method of controlled Lagrangians

We describe a class of mechanical systems for which the "method of controlled Lagrangians" provides a family of control laws that stabilize an unstable (relative) equilibrium. The controlled Lagrangian approach involves making modifications to the Lagrangian for the uncontrolled system such that the Euler-Lagrange equations derived from the modified or "controlled" Lagrangian describe the closed-loop system. For the closed-loop equations to be consistent with available control inputs, the modifications to the Lagrangian must satisfy "matching" conditions. Our matching and stabilizability conditions are constructive; they provide the form of the controlled Lagrangian, the control law and, in some cases, conditions on the control gain(s) to ensure stability. The method is applied to stabilization of an inverted spherical pendulum on a cart and to stabilization of steady rotation of a rigid spacecraft about its unstable intermediate axis using an internal rotor.
Communication systems for railway traffic control

CONTROL of railway traffic from a central location requires the transfer of large amounts of information between the central location and many points along the railroad. The number of wayside information points depends on the type of signaling installed, which in turn depends on the type and amount of traffic handled by the railroad. Certainly, effective communication is required with all locations where track switches and controlled signals are situated. Information must also be available from a sufficient number of points to keep the dispatcher informed about the location and progress of all trains.
Exploiting architectural techniques for boosting base-station anonymity in wireless sensor networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) often serve mission-critical applications in hostile environments and may be thus a subject to attacks. Since the sensor data are collected at in situ base-station (BS), an adversary can inflict the maximal damage to a WSN by pinpointing the BS. In this paper, we propose three novel approaches for boosting the anonymity of the BS nodes to protect them from potential threats. We first explore the deployment of multiple BS nodes and provide guidelines on a cost versus anonymity trade-off to determine the most suitable BS count for a network. Second, we exploit the mobility of BS nodes and categorise the effect of relocating some of the existing BS nodes to the lowest anonymity regions. Finally, we pursue dynamic sensor to cluster re-association in order to change the traffic pattern and confuse the adversary. The effectiveness of the proposed approaches is validated through simulation.
Electroanatomic Left Ventricular Mapping in the Porcine Model of Healed Anterior Myocardial Infarction Correlation With Intracardiac Echocardiography and Pathological Analysis

Background—Catheter ablation for ventricular tachycardia in healed infarction is limited to patients with inducible, tolerated arrhythmias. Strategies that would allow mapping during sinus rhythm might obviate this limitation. Methods and Results—Two sets of experiments were performed in adult pigs to refine a new technique for left ventricular mapping. First, detailed endocardial maps were done in 5 normal pigs and 7 pigs 6 to 10 weeks after left anterior descending coronary artery infarction to characterize electrograms in normal and infarcted tissue by electroanatomic mapping (CARTO, Biosense). Electrogram recording sites were verified by intracardiac echo (ICE, 9 MHz) and grouped by location: infarct (area of akinesis by ICE), border (0.5-cm perimeter of akinetic area), and remote. Compared with remote sites, electrograms from infarct sites had smaller amplitudes (1.2±0.5 versus 5.1±2.1 mV, P<0.001), longer durations (74.2±26.3 versus 36.3±6.4 ms, P<0.001), and more frequent notched or late components...
A trustworthy identity management architecture for e-government processes in Pakistan

The frequent developments in the field of Information and Communication Technologies impel the governments around the world to provide online services to facilitate the citizens. The gentle move of the governments from traditional approaches of providing services towards online interaction with the citizens bring along additional challenges. Some of these challenges like uniquely identifying citizens and authenticating them before providing online services needs to be addressed. As private credentials of citizens are exchanged between different organizations for rendering different services the integrity of the platforms on these organizations also needs to be verified. This ensures that the user's credentials will not be compromised. Trusted Computing Group has defined an open set of specifications for the establishment of trustworthiness among different participants through a hardware root-of-trust. In this paper we present an identity management architecture for e-government processes in Pakistan, which uses the concept of electronic identity based on Public Key Infrastructure as a substitute to the password based authentication system. We present the concept of electronic signatures which is an alternative to the handwritten signatures. We also include measuring the integrity of different platforms involved in e-government processes as a design goal. The integrity measurement provides a mechanism for establishment of trust on these platforms.
Aromatase Activity in a Rat Leydig Cell Tumor

Male Wistar-Furth rats bearing the transplantable LTW(m) Leydig cell tumor have elevated serum estradiol (E2) concentrations. We measured the ability of these tumors to aromatize testosterone (T) to E2 by two methods. First, tumor minces were incubated with [7–3H]T, and the resultant [3H]E2 and [3H]estrone were purified and measured. In addition, tumor cell cultures were incubated with [1β–3H]T, and the resultant [3H]H2O was determined as a measure of aromatization. Tumor minces aromatized more actively than normal rat testicular tissue (3.30 ± 0.15% of the T added was converted to E2 by the tumor vs. 0.30 ± 0.25% by normal testis). Most of the aromatizing activity was localized to the microsomes. Using cell cultures the maximum velocity was 6.1 pmol/h-5 × 105 cells, and the Km was 98 nM. In neither minces nor cell cultures were we able to show stimulation of aromatization with hCG, (Bu)2cAMP, or phorbol esters, although we could show stimulation by these agents in normal testicular cells. We were unable ...
On the stability of the Kapchinskij-Vladimirskij equation

We discuss the stability of the linearized Kapchinskij-Vladimirskij (KV) equation around a matched solution, which is a linear periodic Hamiltonian system. By using the averaging method and asymptotic analysis, we find stability boundaries for the linearized beam envelope system without integrating the KV equation numerically.