cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Increased skeletal muscle mitochondrial free radical production in peripheral arterial disease despite preserved mitochondrial respiratory capacity.

NEW FINDINGS What is the central question of this study? What is the degree to which skeletal muscle mitochondria-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) production is linked to impaired skeletal muscle function in patients with early-stage peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and what is the impact on mitochondrial respiratory capacity? What is the main finding and its importance? This is the first study to document increased mitochondria-derived reactive oxygen species production associated with elevated intramuscular oxidative stress, despite preserved mitochondrial respiratory function, in patients with PAD. Furthermore, systemic inflammation, mitochondria-derived ROS production and skeletal muscle oxidative stress were strongly correlated to disease severity, as indicated by ankle-brachial index, in patients with PAD. ABSTRACT Skeletal muscle mitochondrial dysfunction, which is not fully explained by disease-related arterial occlusion, has been implicated in the pathophysiology of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Therefore, this study comprehensively assessed mitochondrial respiratory function in biopsies from the gastrocnemius of 10 patients with PAD (Fontaine Stage II) and 12 healthy controls (HC). Intramuscular and systemic inflammation, mitochondria-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and oxidative stress were also assessed to better understand the mechanisms responsible for the proposed PAD-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. Interestingly, mitochondrial respiratory capacity, assessed as complex I (CI) and complex II (CII)-driven State 3 respiration, measured separately and in combination (State 3 CI+II), revealed no difference between the patients with PAD and the HC. However, mitochondria-derived ROS production was significantly elevated in PAD (HC: 1.0 ± 0.9; PAD: 4.3 ± 1.0 AU (mg tissue)-1 ). Furthermore, patients with PAD exhibited significantly greater concentrations of the pro-inflammatory markers tumour necrosis factor α in plasma (HC: 0.9 ± 0.4; PAD: 2.0 ± 0.3 pg ml-1 ) and interleukin 6 in both plasma (HC: 2.3 ± 0.4; PAD: 4.3 ± 0.5 pg ml-1 ) and muscle (∼75% greater). Intramuscular oxidative stress, assessed by protein carbonyls and 4-hydroxynonenal, was significantly greater in PAD compared to HC. Ankle brachial index was significantly correlated with intramuscular inflammation, oxidative stress and mitochondria-derived ROS production. Thus, elevated intramuscular inflammation, oxidative stress and mitochondria-derived ROS production are likely to contribute to the pathophysiology of the skeletal muscle dysfunction associated with PAD, even in the presence of preserved mitochondrial respiratory function in this population.
The impact of wearable devices and performance payments on health outcomes

Abstract In this paper, we study a healthcare system consisting of a healthcare provider and a patient. We first look at a patient with a chronic condition, such as asthma or diabetes, where the patient needs to go through a restorative treatment when she falls sick and through an occasional full treatment. We assume that the health condition of the patient deteriorates faster over time; hence, the need for the full treatment. Borrowing from maintenance/reliability techniques to describe a system prone to failure, we model the health condition of the patient as a reliability problem and find the optimal frequency of full treatment visits to the hospital. We then assume that the patient can use a wearable device that can reduce the health deterioration rate due to more accurate and real-time information; it can also be used to partially administer restorative treatments. The healthcare provider chooses the optimal technology level of the wearable devices, and depending on the cost, we find that they might not always go for the most advanced technology available. We also show that the use of wearable devices increases the overall health condition of the patient. We then apply the same procedure to a patient with a critical condition where each bout of sickness needs to be treated fully instead of a corrective/restorative treatment of the chronic patient. We then quantify the benefits of wearables (especially in terms of patient wellness) in a numerical study.
AMERICAS, CENTRAL | Early Cultures of Middle America

Middle America, comprised of Mexico and upper Central America, was one of the two wellsprings of indigenous high civilization in the Pre-Columbian New World. The origins and early development of its inhabitants, who ultimately created the Maya, Aztec, Zapotec and other great nations of Mesoamerica, are topics of avid, sometimes contentious, archaeological research. Still disputed, for example, is when the first humans set foot in the Americas and from where they originated. The date of initial arrival has recently been pushed back from 12 000 to more than 13 000 years ago, but an increasing number of archaeologists argue for multiple migrations beginning as early as 30 000 to 40 000 years ago. Southeast Asia, across the Bering Strait, is considered the primary source of immigration, although other places and routes have been hypothesized. As the Paleoindian period hunters and wild food gatherers expanded into Middle America, they devised a variety of subsistence strategies to deal with their new and changing post-Pleistocene habitat. Ultimately they abandoned their mobile foraging and collecting lifeway for an agricultural mode of subsistence and settled in permanent villages. This remarkable but incompletely understood Archaic period transformation, commencing around 11 000 years ago, laid the foundation for the complex societies that ensued.
Barry Cooper, MD: a conversation with the editor

Barry Cooper (Figure ​(Figure11) was born on January 22, 1945, in Louisville, Kentucky, and that is where he grew up. His parents had 4 sons, and Barry was the second. One of Barry's brothers also became a physician, and the other two brothers became lawyers. After graduating first in his high school class, Barry Cooper went to Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, made Phi Beta Kappa as a junior, and graduated in 1967. He then entered The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, graduating in 1971. He interned and did his assistant residency in medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and after completion of those 2 years became a clinical associate in the endocrine section of the Gerontology Research Center of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). After completing that research, he was a fellow in the hematology division of the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital of Harvard Medical School from 1975 to 1977. He then joined the Harvard faculty, where he remained for 2 years before coming to Dallas, Texas, and Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) in 1979.
Abstract # 3120 Tocilizumab uncouples the association between baseline and subsequent fatigue in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant recipients

Historically, sickness symptomatology in cancer patients has been studied as aggregated phenomena arising from a similar inflammatory etiology. A parent clinical trial analyzed depression, anxiety, fatigue, sleep, and pain as separate variables in hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients experiencing cytokine blockade with an interleukin-6 receptor antagonist, tocilizumab. Contrary to initial hypotheses, tocilizumab recipients had worse post-HCT levels of depression, anxiety, pain, and sleep. Interestingly, we found that fatigue, as assessed by the Fatigue Symptom Inventory (FSI) administered at baseline and post-transplant days + 28 (D + 28), D + 100, and D + 180, was not similarly affected. Fatigue levels did not differ between the 25 patients who received one prophylactic dose of tocilizumab prior to allogeneic HCT and a historical control group of 63 HCT patients who did not receive tocilizumab. In addition, whereas fatigue scores pre- and post-HCT were correlated in control patients (0.54 at D + 28, p
Processing and Frequency Analysis of Random Signals

In this chapter, we discuss the effect of basic signal processing operations performed on random signals, such as linear filtering and modulation. Most of the attention is focused on WSS random signals, since such signals can be analyzed in the Fourier domain by using their power spectral density (PSD), which as explained in Sect. 8.3 provides a picture of the frequency composition of the signal of interest. The effect of linear filtering on the mean and autocorrelation of random signals is described in Sect. 8.2. The PSD and its properties are analyzed in Sect. 8.3. In this context, it is explained that WGN is undistinguishable from bandlimited WGN when passed through filters with a finite bandwidth, which explains why WGN is so convenient for performing noise computations. The Nyquist–Johnson model of noisy resistors is extended to RLC circuits in thermal equilibrium in Sect. 8.4. Techniques for evaluating the PSDs of PAM and Markov-chain modulated signals are described in Sect. 8.5. Then in Sect. 8.6, it is shown that a bandlimited WSS signal with bandwidth B can be reconstructed in the mean-square sense from its uniform samples provided the sampling frequency is greater than twice the signal bandwidth. This result extends to the WSS case the classical reconstruction result of Nyquist and Shannon for deterministic signals. Finally, Sect. 8.7 presents Rice’s model of bandpass WSS signals, which represents a bandpass WSS signal with occupied bandwidth 2B centered about ωc as a quadrature modulated signal with carrier frequency ωc and WSS in-phase and quadrature components of bandwidth B. This model is used routinely to analyze modulated bandpass communications or radar receivers by examining an equivalent baseband problem, thereby removing the the effect of modulation from consideration.
The American model of federal administrative law: remembering the first one hundred years

O modelo americano de direito administrativo federal: lembrando os primeiros 100 anos In this article, I want to explore the question of why early administrative law has been mostly invisible. In the course of that exploration I hope to do several things: first, I want to challenge the notion that federal administrative law was nonexistent during the first 100 years of the Republic. Second, I want to suggest a general model of the reach and functions of administrative law and compare the way that we understand that model to operate today with the way it operated in the period 1787 to 1887- roughly, the nineteenth century. Finally, I want to argue that recognizing the shape of nineteenth-century American administrative law can help us both to better understand the system or model of administrative law that we currently observe and to motivate inquiry into parts of that system that are currently neglected. In the end, I will argue that much of our administrative law remains mostly invisible and that we would do well to bring it into the light. Neste artigo, pretendo explorar a razao pela qual o direito administrativo tem permanecido, majoritariamente, invisivel. No curso dessa exploracao, pretendo fazer varias coisas: inicialmente, pretendo desafiar a nocao de que o direito administrativo federal foi inexistente, durante os primeiros anos da Republica. Em segundo lugar, pretendo sugerir um modelo geral de pesquisa e funcoes do direito administrativo e comparar a forma pela qual percebemos que esse modelo opera, atualmente, com a forma como este operava, no periodo compreendido entre 1787 e 1887 - aproximadamente, no seculo XIX. Finalmente, pretendo defender que reconhecer o formato do direito administrativo americano do seculo XIX pode nos ajudar tanto a entender melhor o sistema do modelo do direito administrativo, atualmente observado, quanto a motivar o questionamento em relacao as partes desse sistema que sao, atualmente, negligenciados. No final, argumentarei que muito do nosso direito administrativo continua, majoritariamente, invisivel, e que fariamos o correto trazendo-o a tona.
Outcomes of en bloc simultaneous liver-kidney transplantation compared to the traditional technique.

Simultaneous liver-kidney transplantation (SLKT) is indicated for patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD) and concurrent renal insufficiency. En bloc SLKT is an alternative to traditional separate implantations, but studies comparing the two techniques are limited. The en bloc technique maintains renal outflow via donor infrahepatic vena cava and inflow via anastomosis of donor renal artery to donor splenic artery. Comparison of recipients of en bloc (n = 17) vs traditional (n = 17) SLKT between 2013 and 2017 was performed. Recipient demographics and comorbidities were similar. More recipients of traditional SLKT were dialysis dependent (82.4% vs 41.2%, P = .01) with lower baseline pretransplant eGFR (14 vs 18, P = .01). En bloc SLKT was associated with shorter kidney cold ischemia time (341 vs 533 minutes, P < .01) and operative time (374 vs 511 minutes, P < .01). Two en bloc patients underwent reoperation for kidney allograft inflow issues due to kinking and renal steal. Early kidney allograft dysfunction (23.5% in both groups), 1-year kidney graft survival (88.2% vs 82.4%, P = 1.0), and posttransplantation eGFR were similar between groups. In our experience, the en bloc SLKT technique is safe and feasible, with comparable outcomes to the traditional method.
Analysis of proportional reasoning and misconceptions among students with mathematical learning disabilities

Abstract We investigated not only the effects of schema-based instruction (SBI) on the mathematical outcomes of seventh-grade students with mathematical learning disabilities (MLD), but also extended prior work to analyze students’ written explanations on open-ended items involving ratio and proportion situations—ratio, proportion, and percent of change problems— to understand the ability to reason about proportions and identify misconceptions. The sample of 338 students with MLD [scored below the 25th percentile on a proportional problem solving (PPS) pretest] was taken from Jitendra, Harwell, Im, et al. (2019), which randomly assigned classrooms to either the SBI or control condition. Students with MLD in SBI classrooms outperformed their counterparts in control classrooms on proportional problem solving and general mathematics problem solving. Similar results, favoring the SBI condition, were found on the open-ended items; however, overall mean scores across pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest were low. Findings provide evidence for the limited understanding of fractional representations of ratios and highlight students’ persistent use of numerical and additive reasoning in explaining their low performance on the open-ended items.
The Natural History of Food Allergy

On a population level, it is well recognized that some IgE-mediated childhood food allergies, such as milk and egg allergies, are more likely to resolve than others, such as peanut and tree nuts allergies. Unfortunately, some studies suggest that resolution rates may have slowed compared with impressions from past decades. The clinician can apply the knowledge of the epidemiology of these allergies to describe likely patient outcomes, and direct management in a general manner. However, the ability to evaluate and predict the natural course of specific food allergies for individual patients is essential to inform personalized patient care. Data are accumulating to assist in identifying whether a child's allergy has likely resolved, informing the timing of oral food challenges or subsequent testing. Exciting recent studies are increasingly identifying early prognostic markers as well. Emerging food allergy therapies carry risks and costs. Identifying which egg-allergic patient has likely persistent allergy, and which patient with peanut allergy may experience natural resolution, is becoming an important goal to identify the best candidates for these therapies. Although more work needs to be done to identify reliable predictive markers and validate them, there is already much known about the natural course of food allergies that can be applied by the clinician to improve patient care.
Predictions of Covid-19 Related Unemployment On Suicide and Excess Mortality in the United States

Abstract Importance The Covid-19 pandemic has driven behavioral and governmental responses with large impacts on economic activity. Estimates of indirect health effects of economic impacts may inform societal action. Objective To estimate the size of the impact of Covid-19 unemployment on suicides and deaths from all causes. Design Risk assessment applying of pooled effects hazard ratios from published meta-analyses of observational epidemiological studies, post-Covid-19 unemployment, current labor force composition data, and current age-adjusted mortality rates. Results This risk assessment estimates approximately 9,700 excess annual deaths from suicide and 66,000 annual deaths from all causes among those recently unemployed due to Covid-19. Conclusions and Relevance Indirect health impacts of societal responses to Covid-19 are identifiable, multiple and quantifiable. Adverse health impacts, such as those from unemployment, may endure longer than those of the Covid-19 pandemic itself. Decision-makers can include indirect health impacts in policy-making calculi for Covid-19 mitigation and suppression strategies. Key Points Question What are the expected impacts of post Covid-19 unemployment on excess suicide and premature death. Findings A risk assessment applying pooled summary risk estimates from meta-analyses of observational studies predicts approximately 9,700 excess annual deaths from suicide and 66,000 annual deaths from all causes among those recently unemployed due to Covid-19. Meaning Indirect health impacts of societal responses to Covid-19 are identifiable, multiple and quantifiable.
From Air Pollution to the Climate Crisis: Leaving the Comfort Zone

While climate change poses existential risks to human health and welfare, the public health research community has been slow to embrace the topic. This isn't so much about a lack of interest as it ...
The Spillover Effect of Suspending Non-essential Surgery: Evidence from Kidney Transplantation

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an epic challenge to healthcare operations across the U.S. Between March and May 2020, multiple states issued guidances to suspend non-essential surgery. The suspensions prompted the healthcare industry to shed millions of jobs and limit the availability of resources necessary for essential procedures. In this paper, we estimate the potential spillover effect of state guidances for non-essential surgeries on patients’ access to essential health services, using deceased-donor kidney transplantation as the clinical setting. Through analyzing a unique nationwide dataset, we observe a steep reduction in the number of kidney transplants across all states amid the pandemic. However, the states with guidances for non-essential surgery experienced far steeper reductions than those without. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we estimate the issuance of a state guidance for non-essential surgery led to a 20.7% drop in the number of deceased-donor kidney transplants. The subsequent resumption of non-essential surgery, after each guidance expired, led to a 15.7% rebound in the transplant volume. By analyzing this unique “on” and “off” setting, our study reveals the spillover effect of state guidances on patients’ access to essential services such as deceased-donor kidney transplantation. Our results suggest that attempts to curb non-essential procedures may end up hurting the availability of essential ones, because hospitals may respond to such attempts by curbing support needed across all procedures. In a future pandemic, instead of suspending all non-essential surgery, policymakers should explore more granular approaches to safeguard the healthcare workforce and resources critical for supporting essential care.
Herd Stratification to Reduce the Spread of Johne's Disease

Johne's disease (JD) is a chronic, progressive enteric disease of ruminants caused by infection with Mycobacterium avium subspecies Paratuberculosis (MAP). Johne's disease causes major economic losses to the cattle industry. There is an age susceptibility to JD with younger cattle being more susceptible. Calves are generally infected as neonates. After a prolonged incubation period of two to ten years, initial clinical signs may develop, including severe progressive diarrhea and gradual weight loss, despite the persistence of a normal appetite. Typically, the infection develops in the ileum and gradually spreads to regional lymph nodes and other viscera. Over time, cattle become lethargic, emaciated and, in the terminal stages of disease, exhibit cachexia and severe watery diarrhea. MAP survives in the soil and the cattle environment for extended periods of time. Environmental contamination contributes to the pathogen load and infection rate of neonatal calves. In an attempt to reduce the pathogen load that neonatal calves are exposed to, these two cow herds were stratified by age and stage of production.
Cloning and sequencing of Escherichia coli murZ and purification of its product, a UDP-N-acetylglucosamine enolpyruvyl transferase.

The Escherichia coli gene murZ, encoding the enzyme UDP-N-acetylglucosamine enolpyruvyl transferase, has been cloned and sequenced. Identified by screening an E. coli genomic library for clones that conferred phosphomycin resistance, murZ encoded a 419-amino-acid polypeptide and was mapped to 69.3 min on the E. coli chromosome. MurZ protein was purified to near homogeneity and found to have the expected UDP-N-acetylglucosamine enolpyruvyl transferase activity. Sequence analysis of the predicted product revealed 44% identity to OrfR from Bacillus subtilis (K. Trach, J.W. Chapman, P. Piggot, D. LeCoq, and J.A. Hoch, J. Bacteriol. 170:4194-4208, 1988), suggesting that orfR may also encode a UDP-N-acetylglucosamine enolpyruvyl transferase enzyme. MurZ is also homologous to the aromatic amino acid biosynthetic enzyme enolpyruvyl shikimate phosphate synthase, the other enzyme known to catalyze an enolpyruvyl transfer.
Using speculative multithreading for general-purpose applications

As multi-core technology is currently deployed in computer industry primarily for limiting power consumption and improving system throughput, continued performance improvement of a single application on such systems remains an important and challenging task. Using thread-level parallelism (TLP) to improve instruction-level parallelism (ILP), i.e. to improve the number of instructions executed per clock cycle, has shown to be effective for many general-purpose applications. However, because of the program characteristics of these applications, effective speculative schemes at both thread and instruction levels are crucial. In the past few years, we have seen significant progress being made in the architectures and the compiler techniques to support such thread-level speculative execution model. In this talk, we will discuss these architectural and compiler issues, in particular, the compiler techniques that could support speculative multithreading for general-purpose applications.
Lack of Toxicity of Helminthosporium maydis-Invaded Corn and Culture Filtrates to Chicks and Mice

Six isolates of Helminthosporium maydis, obtained from southern leaf blight-damaged corn, were grown separately on autoclaved corn and fed to chicks and mice to evaluate their toxigenicity. Two-, three-, and four-week-old culture filtrates from three pathogenic isolates grown separately on modified Fries medium were also evaluated for toxigenicity. None of the invaded corn samples or culture filtrates affected the weights of chicks or mice when compared to controls. Postmortem examinations did not reveal significant gross lesions. H. maydis was not toxigenic under our experimental conditions.
Who's Left Standing for State Sovereignty?: Private Party Standing to Raise Tenth Amendment Claims

Although the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years has reaffirmed the substantive force of the Tenth Amendment, it has not resolved the fundamental question of who has standing to raise claims under the Amendment. The Court’s reticence on the matter has sparked a rapidly intensifying split between those U.S. courts of appeals that allow private parties to raise claims under the Tenth Amendment and those—currently the majority—that allow only states to raise Tenth Amendment claims. This Note argues that circuit courts denying private parties standing erroneously rely on dicta from the Supreme Court’s 1939 decision in Tennessee Electric Power Co. v. Tennessee Valley Authority, and that other Supreme Court precedent implicitly recognizes private party Tenth Amendment standing. Because recent Supreme Court Tenth Amendment jurisprudence, along with the history and text of the Tenth Amendment, indicate that the Amendment safeguards an individual right, this Note concludes that private parties should be able to assert Tenth Amendment claims whenever they demonstrate distinct, personal harm and satisfy other traditional standing requirements.
Ad-hoc multi-hop underwater optical network for deep ocean monitoring

We present a fully ad-hoc, optical multi-hop underwater optical sensor network. All network nodes are identical, uncabled and battery operated with the exception of the master node which represents the terminal link to land for real-time monitoring capability. Multi-hop functionality allows for high-bandwidth underwater communication without sacrificing range. Ad-hoc capability allows for nodes to dynamically enter and exit the network, forming arbitrary topologies. Onboard sensors imbue every network node with monitoring capability. Redundant onboard data storage and automatic rerouting of communication paths create a mesh sensing network ideal for high-density, large-area sensor networks deployed to regions with high-risk of node loss and intermittent connectivity. Multi-hop and dynamic ad-hoc capabilities were tested in salt-water pools. The communications algorithm and high-level node design are presented.
Before Forgiveness: The Origins of a Moral Idea

1. What is forgiveness? 2. Before forgiveness: Greeks and Romans on guilt and innocence 3. Did they forgive? Greek and Roman narratives of reconciliation 4. Divine absolution: the Hebrew and Christian bibles 5. Humility and repentance: the church fathers 6. Enter forgiveness: the self transformed.
The Impact of an Urban Growth Boundary on Land Development in Knox County, Tennessee: A Comparison of Two-Stage Probit Least Squares and Multilayer Neural Network Models

The impact of an urban growth boundary (UGB) on land development in Knox County, TN is estimated via two-stage probit and neural-network models. The insignificance of UGB variable in the two-stage probit model and more visible development patterns in the western part of Knoxville and the neighboring town of Farragut during the post-UGB period in both models suggest that the UGB has not curtailed urban sprawl. Although the network model is found to be a viable alternative to more conventional discrete choice approach for improving the predictability of land development, it is at the cost of evaluating marginal effects.
Modular Protein Interaction Domains in Cellular Communication

Publisher Summary This chapter explains the modular protein interaction domains in cellular communication. Interaction domains play a critical role in the selective activation of signaling pathways through their ability to recruit target proteins to the activated receptors, and to regulate the ensuing assembly of signaling complexes. Such interaction domains can control not only the specificity of signal transduction but also the kinetics with which cells react to external and intrinsic stimuli, and they can thereby generate complex cellular behaviors. A principal mechanism by which protein-tyrosine kinases engage downstream targets is through the ability of Src homology 2 (SH2) domains of cytoplasmic proteins to recognize specific phosphotyrosine-containing peptide motifs of four to eight residues, such as those found on activated receptor tyrosine kinases. SH2 domains contain approximately 100 amino acids, which normally form an N-terminal α-helix, a central β-sheet, followed by a smaller β-sheet, a second α-helix, and a C-terminal β-strand. This results in a bipartite structure in which the central β-sheet of the SH2 domain separates a conserved phosphotyrosine binding pocket from a more variable surface that often engages residues C-terminal to the phosphotyrosine. Phosphopeptide binding requires a conserved arginine residue in the SH2 domain that anchors the phosphorylated tyrosine residue through a buried ionic bond. This phosphotyrosine recognition provides about half of the binding energy in the interaction of an SH2 domain with a phosphopeptide, and for this reason SH2 domains generally bind phosphorylated sites with about 1000-fold higher affinity than their non-phosphorylated counterparts.
THE SUPERMATRIX EIGENPROBLEM: AN INTERPRETATION OF THE PRIORITY VECTORS IN THE ANALYTIC NETWORK PROCESS

Continuing the previous articles on interpretation of the solutions obtained in the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and in the Analytic Network Process (ANP) with outer dependence, the current work considers a general ANP problem and shows that the solution for its supermatrix, obtained by raising the supermatrix to powers is equivalent to solving the eigenproblem for this matrix. Thus, the global priority solution for an ANP model is an eigenproblem of its supermatrix, and the principal eigenvector of the supermatrix itself gives the mean priorities for the whole network of the compared items. This approach provides an easy way to describe complex ANP interconnections, and gives an explicit interpretation of the priority results convenient for practical managerial decisions. http://dx.doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v5i1.132
Confocal Imaging of Intracellular calcium Cycling in the Intact Heart

Laser scanning confocal imaging has allowed for the investigation of cellular cardiac function with both high temporal and spatial resolution for nearly 20 years. Nearly all of the studies of cellular cardiac function to date have been performed in isolated cardiac myocytes, giving enormous insights into cardiac cellular electrical properties and intracellular Ca cycling. Recently, however, a number of studies have used this technique to measure Ca cycling in myocytes of intact heart in situ [1–3], often giving dramatically different results from those obtained from isolated myocytes, even from the same species. The focus of this chapter is to describe how confocal microscopy can be applied to measure intracellular Ca cycling in intact hearts, particularly from rodents, although we have also used this approach successfully in atrial and ventricular preparations from larger animals as well. The advantages of this approach are the same as those in isolated myocytes: very high scan rates allow high-resolution temporal measurements of rapid Ca cycling and selective line placement allows for high-resolution spatial measurements within cardiac myocytes but now in the intact heart. Furthermore, recordings made in intact hearts allow for measurements of Ca cycling in many cells simultaneously so that the native heterogeneities in cellular function can be explored, which is especially important during rapid pacing and cardiac arrhythmias. Even higher spatial resolution is now becoming available with the use of rapid two-dimensional (2-D) imaging (e.g., the Zeiss 5/7Live confocal microscope), which permits imaging of microscopic Ca events at micron resolution on a millisecond timescale. The applications of this form of Ca imaging are only now being explored. So far they range from high-resolution Ca imaging during physiological and pharmacological manipulations (altered heart rates, arrhythmia induction, ischemia and acidosis, drug effects on Ca cycling, among others) to the determination of the extent of integration of exogenous cells transplanted in normal and injured hearts in vivo. No other currently available approach can provide definitive answers to the question of whether or not transplanted cells actually integrate into surrounding myocardium. In addition, there is some evidence suggesting that imaging of transmembrane voltage, perhaps even simultaneously with Ca imaging, may be accomplished in intact hearts using confocal microscopy. However, this approach is difficult and falls outside the scope of the current discussion, which is focused on the use of confocal microscopy for high-resolution Ca imaging in the whole heart. The future development of combined voltage–Ca imaging could provide an enormous advance in the imaging of cellular function in the intact heart.
Calixarene-Mediated Liquid-Membrane Transport of Choline Conjugates.

A series of supramolecular calixarenes efficiently transport distinct molecular species through a liquid membrane when attached to a receptor-complementary choline handle. Calix-[6]arene hexacarboxylic acid was highly effective at transporting different target molecules against a pH gradient. Both carboxylic- and phosphonic-acid-functionalized calix[4]arenes effect transport without requiring a pH or ion gradient. NMR binding studies, two-phase solvent extraction, and three-phase transport experiments reveal the necessary and subtle parameters to effect the transport of molecules attached to a choline “handle”. On the other hand, rescorin[4]arene cavitands, which have similar guest recognition profiles, did not transport guest molecules. These developments reveal new approaches towards attempting synthetic-receptor-mediated selective small-molecule transport in vesicular and cellular systems.
Improving noise in measurement systems (frequency standards)

Several specialized items of equipment have been developed for measuring Allan deviation and power spectral density of phase and amplitude on a variety of equipment types, covering frequency ranges to 10 GHz. These include improved zero crossing detector and offset generator electronics, low noise mixers and frequency multipliers used for frequency translation, high stability bandpass filters, temperature control methods, and a fiber optics signal transportation link to the data processing computer that is immune to spurious signal contamination. The design and use of these items, along with measurement data, are presented. >
An assessment of several linear change detection techniques for mapping forest mortality using multitemporal landsat TM data

Forest canopy changes can be detected by a variety of methods of analysis of multitemporal satellite images. Issues surrounding the use of remote sensing in operational forest monitoring include which change detection method is most appropriate, and to what extent scenes should be preprocessed for the minimization of irrelevant interdate differences. Results indicate better performance for principal component analysis and a multitemporal Kauth-Thomas transformation as compared to the Gramm-Schmidt orthogonalization process. There is little evidence to suggest that preprocessing beyond simple DN matching methods improves results. Relationships between change components and mortality are found to be specific to the particular image data being used and the particular forest type under study. Canopy change can be detected reliably, but precise estimates of mortality levels require calibration using field data in all new situations. Change in Kauth-Thomas wetness is the most reliable single indicator of forest change.
The Advertising of Services: Meeting the Challenge of Intangibility

Service advertisers often are confronted with the problem of how best to communicate the intangible qualities of a service to their target audiences. In this conceptual article, the author describes what intangibility means, discusses how it influences the service advertising task, and derives propositions to handle that task. The article (a) identifies five conceptual properties of intangibility, (b) describes the advertising challenge of each, (c) suggests approaches to meet each challenge, and (d) elucidates the power of transformational advertising in embedding intangible service performance into a consumer’s life experiences. The author argues that in services, intangibility can contribute to value rather than detract from it and that it is well within the advertising’s special talent to communicate intangibility. The author advances propositions to guide copy and creative strategy for service advertising managers.
Chlorinated phenol analysis using off-line solid-phase extraction and capillary electrophoresis coupled with amperometric detection and a boron-doped diamond microelectrode.

The analysis of chlorinated phenols (2-chlorophenol, 3-chlorophenol, 4-chlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, pentachlorophenol) in river water was accomplished using off-line solid-phase extraction (SPE) and capillary electrophoresis coupled with electrochemical detection. A key to the sensitive, reproducible, and stable detection of these pollutants was the use of a boron-doped diamond microelectrode in the amperometric detection mode. An off-line SPE procedure was utilized to extract and preconcentrate the pollutants prior to separation and detection, with ENVI-Chrom P, a highly cross-linked styrene−divinylbenzene copolymer, being employed as the sorbent. Pollutant recoveries in the 95−100% range with relative standard deviations of 1−4% were achieved. The diamond microelectrode provided a low and stable background current with low peak-to-peak noise. The oxidative detection of the pollutants was accomplished at +1.05 V vs Ag/AgCl without the need for electrode pretreatment. The metho...
Democratic Peace Research: Whence and Whither?

The democratic peace has become a topic about which every IR scholar must hold an opinion. Empirical and theoretical scepticism about the peace endures, but the consensus seems to be that it is real and only needs explaining. Predictably, rationalists and constructivists, broadly defined, differ on what causes the peace: rationalists now emphasize how democracies reveal more information; constructivists, how they adhere to distinctive norms. Although strictly speaking, the democratic peace does not constitute a Lakatosian research programme, a ‘democratic distinctiveness’ programme has emerged, whose core includes the proposition that relations among democracies are qualitatively different from those among non-democracies or between democracies and non-democracies. Future research should focus on the conditions under which the international system selects for democracy; the links between democratic peace and international power, especially US hegemony; and what democratic peace and European integration can tell us about one another.
Warriors, Tributaries, Blood Money and Political Transformation in Nineteenth-Century Mauritania

The middle of the nineteenth century witnessed the demise of a System of political power that had existed in the southern Mauritanian region of Brakna since the eighteenth century. Until the 1840s, tolls levied on the Senegal River gum trade had sustained the hegemony in southern Brakna of the Awlad al-Siyyid, an Arabic-speaking warrior group. Unlike more mobile warriors of the Saharan interior who depended for their livelihood on tribute extracted from nomadic pastoralists, the Awlad al-Siyyid had specialized in the control over a small area near the Senegal River, and over seasonal trading posts, known as escales, through which gum arabic was exported to the Atlantic economy. However, their increasing dependence on this trade allowed French administrators to manipulate relations among Awlad al-Siyyid chiefs by recognizing the taxing privileges of some while withholding recognition from others in a way that led, from the early 1840s on, to a bitter factional struggle within the group. The resulting conflict weakened the control of warriors over tributaries, harratin (freed slaves) and others, and caused a crisis within the political and social hierarchy of Brakna. An increasingly desperate struggle developed among Brakna warriors over a diminishing number of tributaries. This paper examines that struggle through the lens of an affair of diyya , or blood money, that emerged during the late 1840s and came to preoccupy all of the warrior groups and factions in the Brakna conflict. By competing for portions of the diyya owed to a small pastoral group as compensation for homicides, Brakna warriors, chiefs from neighboring regions and powerful tributaries in the process of repudiating their tributary status engaged in a symbolic duel that revolved around the increasingly unstable role of the warrior as a consumer of tribute and dispenser of ‘protection’.
Automatic retinal blood vessel parameter calculation in spectral domain optical coherence tomography

Measurement of retinal blood vessel parameters like the blood blow in the vessels may have significant impact on the study and diagnosis of glaucoma, a leading blinding disease worldwide. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a noninvasive imaging technique that can provide not only microscopic structural imaging of the retina but also functional information like the blood flow velocity in the retina. The aim of this study is to automatically extract the parameters of retinal blood vessels like the 3D orientation, the vessel diameters, as well as the corresponding absolute blood flow velocity in the vessel. The parameters were extracted from circular OCT scans around the optic disc. By removing the surface reflection through simple segmentation of the circular OCT scans a blood vessel shadowgram can be generated. The lateral coordinates and the diameter of each blood vessel are extracted from the shadowgram through a series of signal processing. Upon determination of the lateral position and the vessel diameter, the coordinate in the depth direction of each blood vessel is calculated in combination with the Doppler information for the vessel. The extraction of the vessel coordinates and diameter makes it possible to calculate the orientation of the vessel in reference to the direction of the incident sample light, which in turn can be used to calculate the absolute blood flow velocity and the flow rate.
HEAT TRANSPORT IN A NUCLEAR ANTIFERROMAGNET

Abstract We report the first measurements of heat transport due to thermal magnons in mono-domain single crystals of U2D2 3He. Between about 0.95Tc and 0.65Tc we find clear evidence for umklapp scattering with an activation energy of 5.8±0.3 mK, with a much weaker temperature dependence at lower T. Our limiting mean free paths varied from 0.3 μm to 3 μm depending upon crystal orientation. We have also measured the thermal resistance between the U2D2 solid and the bulk B superfluid phase between 0.35 mK and 0.6 mK, where we find an activated conductivity with an energy of 4.5±0.3 mK. The heat path involves both the solid-liquid boundary resistance and the resistance of superfluid in a 1 mm diameter tube.
It's Different Here! The Early College: A New Secondary School Culture

The Early College High School (ECHS) initiative was developed through collaboration with state, federal, and private entities to create high schools that develop a college-bound/college-ready culture. Linked with postsecondary partnerships and targeting those underrepresented in postsecondary education, ECHS curricula allows opportunities for the average student to earn up to two years college credit while in high school at no cost to the student. ECHS students choose to forego a traditional high school setting and, instead, follow curricula plans designed to prepare students to be successful in postsecondary education programs of study and, ultimately, in the workforce. While attending ECHS, secondary school students complete dual-credit coursework aligned with career paths and postsecondary degree plans. A study of the motivations and aspirations of ECHS students was conducted utilizing student interviews and focus groups discussions at five Texas ECHS campuses. From this research, an educational cultur...
The negotiation of paradox in the analytic process

The negotiation of paradox may be considered as an essential vehicle of the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis. The paradoxes inherent to the psychoanalytic experience are considered here with particular reference to Winnicott's writings, which abound in, and require, paradox. These paradoxes are evident in the following juxtapositions: the subjectively conceived object versus the objectively perceived object; personal isolation versus relatedness; ruthlessness versus concern; and dependence versus independence. In analysis, the framework for the transitional area of illusion is maintained through a continuing intersubjective process of negotiation, by which analyst and patient seek to straddle the paradoxes of their many‐layered relationship. This ongoing process of negotiation carries both the potential for structure building and the delicate hope for a reworking of repetitions in the transference‐countertransference construction. Exploration of these issues includes consideration of the analyst's and...
Tilting of lamellar domains on neutral random copolymer brushes

Thin films of lamellar poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) (PS-PMMA) block copolymers were prepared on brushed silicon substrates with a range of thicknesses. The brushes are expected to eliminate preferential interactions at the substrate, thereby enabling perpendicular domain orientations relative to the interfaces. Using a combination of surface microscopy and grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering, we demonstrate that i) the brushed substrates are weakly preferential to PMMA; and ii) the average lamellar domain orientation is perpendicular to the substrate, but some domains are mis-oriented by up to 40o. We propose that PMMA domains deform to increase their contact area at the slightly preferential substrate, and this behavior drives the formation of out-of-plane defects such as bent or tilted domains. These outcomes suggest that depth-resolved measurements are needed to fully optimize materials and processes for block copolymer lithography.
Juvenile Psychopathy: A Clinical Construct in Need of Restraint?

ABSTRACT Interest in psychopathic traits and their potential applicability to youths appears to be increasing precipitously in the social sciences. Although research on the causes, correlates, and course of traits that appear phenotypically similar to adult psychopathy potentially may inform clinical and legal decision making for youths some day, there are numerous problems with taking measures of these putative traits “outside the lab” at present. This article highlights several unresolved questions regarding juvenile psychopathy that seriously limit its applied utility in clinical and forensic decision making. Examiners who plan to use instruments intended to measure this construct among youths are advised to be familiar with these limitations and their implications for practice.
Ethnicity and the politics of heritage in Uzbekistan

The UNESCO office in Uzbekistan has been relatively successful in nominating cultural practices to The Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Selection for the List conveys prestige and draws international attention to local culture that is deemed of universal value. What is striking about the first successful nominations from Uzbekistan is that they point to the inseparability of Tajik and Uzbek culture, a touchy subject for both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. In this article the author looks at how the politics of ethnic cultural heritage play out through these projects, highlighting the tensions between a rhetoric of diversity promoted both by UNESCO and by the official national ideology, and practices that demonstrate a more mundane, ethnically exclusive sense of national culture. Although ostensibly celebrating the rich diversity of Uzbekistan's national culture and eschewing the strict delineation of Tajik culture from Uzbek culture, the effect of UNESCO Intangible Cultural...