cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Functional Cooperation of Two Independent Targeting Domains in Syntaxin 6 Is Required for Its Efficient Localization in thetrans-Golgi Network of 3T3L1 Adipocytes

To identify the targeting domains of syntaxin 6 responsible for its localization to the trans-Golgi network (TGN), we examined the subcellular distribution of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) epitope-tagged syntaxin 6/syntaxin 4 chimerae and syntaxin 6 truncation/deletion mutants in 3T3L1 adipocytes. Expression of EGFP-syntaxin 6 resulted in a perinuclear distribution identical to endogenous syntaxin 6 as determined both by confocal fluorescence microscopy and subcellular fractionation. Furthermore, both the endogenous and the expressed EGFP-syntaxin 6 fusion protein were localized to a brefeldin A-insensitive but okadaic acid-sensitive compartment characteristic of the TGN. In contrast, EGFP-syntaxin 6 constructs lacking the H2 domain were excluded from the TGN and were instead primarily localized to the plasma membrane. Although syntaxin 4 was localized to the plasma membrane, syntaxin 6/syntaxin 4 chimerae and syntaxin 6 truncations containing the H2 domain of syntaxin 6 were predominantly directed to the TGN. Importantly, the syntaxin 6 H2 domain fused to the transmembrane domain of syntaxin 4 was also localized to the TGN, demonstrating that the H2 domain was sufficient to confer TGN localization. In addition to the H2 domain, a tyrosine-based plasma membrane internalization signal (YGRL) was identified between the H1 and H2 domains of syntaxin 6. Deletion of this sequence resulted in the accumulation of the EGFP-syntaxin 6 reporter construct at the plasma membrane. Together, these data demonstrate that syntaxin 6 utilizes two distinct domains to drive its specific subcellular localization to the TGN.
Effect of the range of interactions on the properties of fluids. Phase equilibria in pure carbon dioxide, acetone, methanol, and water

The effect of the long-range Coulombic interactions on the vapor−liquid equilibria properties of polar and associating fluids has been investigated, by considering typical representatives of these classes of fluids, namely, carbon dioxide, acetone, methanol, and water, defined by realistic intermolecular pair potential models. Using the same decomposition of realistic potential models into a short-range part and a residual part as in previous papers [Kolafa, J.; Nezbeda, I. Mol. Phys. 2000, 98, 1505−1520. Kolafa, J.; Nezbeda, I.; Lisal, M. Mol. Phys. 2001, 99, 1751−1764], we carried out Gibbs ensemble simulations on both the full and short-range models to determine the thermodynamic properties of the considered compounds along the vapor−liquid coexistence curve. In addition, we also considered methanol in two homogeneous phases, liquid and supercritical, to determine its structure and thermodynamic properties. We have found that the long-range interactions affect all considered properties only marginally ...
Critical Phenomena in Nanoscale Multilayer Materials

We present a review of critical phenomena in a variety of nanoscale multilayer materials. Discontinuities of interdiffusitives at low temperatures, “the Supermodulus effect” and the “softening” of elastic constants of fcc-bcc structures, other mechanical properties at critical layer thickness are also presented. Some new calculations of elastic constants of (111) fcc and (110) bcc metallic superlattices show large changes as a function of homogeneous lattice strains. The effect of structural relaxations on a number of electronic and magnetic properties is discussed and a new analytical model is developed to explain the origin of interference effects when interfaces are apart by a few interplanar spacings. This model can predict relaxations at interfaces for a variety of materials including metals, semiconductors and ceramics.
Methods of Modeling

This chapter deals with the basics of numerical modeling as these relate to the microwave domain. None of the methods described is specific to NDT, but rather, general methods for modeling. The unique aspects of NDT are manifest in the way the techniques are used and the material properties and geometries.
Epigenome: the program for human health and disease.

A colleague of mine once took a small vial out of his pocket, and placed it on the table in front of him before he sat down for a conference. As the conference drew to a close, he carefully picked up the vial, and announced, “This is a vial of DNA, and in the past two days, it hasn’t done a damn thing!”. Like a computer, DNA is impotent without its software, the epigenome, telling it when, where and how to work. ‘Epigenome’ simply means ‘above the genome’, and it refers to a heritable chemical marking system, comprised of DNA methylation, histone marks and noncoding RNA species, that alters gene expression without relying on a disturbance in the underlying genetic code. In contrast to the genome, the epigenome is different in every cell type in the body. The ability to modify epi genetic programming is indeed critical for cellular differentiation and the development of complex living organisms from a single set of genomic instructions. The epigenome is also more malleable than the genome, producing a conduit by which the environment can readily and rapidly affect change in gene function. Such variation can be acted upon by natural selection, ultimately resulting in adaptive responses; however, it can also increase susceptibility to diseases.
Primary malignancies of the hepato-biliary-pancreatic system in organ allograft recipients

In a series of 10 151 organ allograft recipients who developed 10 813 de novo malignancies after transplantation, 755 involved the hepato-biliary-pancreatico-duodenal (HBPD) area. If nonmelanoma skin cancers and in situ carcinomas of the uterine cervix were excluded (as they are from most cancer statistics), then the HBPD area was affected by 10% of neoplasms. Many of the tumors encountered were uncommon in the general population. The largest group of neoplasms was 474 lymphomas, which comprised 63% of the total. Other major malignancies were hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC; 15%), pancreatic carcinomas (11%), cholangiocarcinomas (3%), Kaposi's sarcomas (3%), and other sarcomas (1%). Lymphomas occurred at a younger age than other tumors (average, 39 versus 50 years), appeared earlier after transplantation (average, 24 versus 77 months), and were more frequently associated with immunosuppressive therapy with the antilymphocytic agents (ALG/ATG) and/or (OKT3) (59% versus 28%). Lymphomas were localized to the HBPD area in only 18% of patients, whereas in 82% there was involvement of other organs or sites. The liver was involved in 95% of lymphomas. Lymphomas frequently involved allografts, the liver in 84%, and the pancreas in 59%. Of 292 patients treated for lymphomas 67 (23%) had complete remissions lasting 6 months or more. HCC was frequently associated with hepatitis B or C infection. Kaposi's sarcomas were rarely confined to the HBPD area, and in 25% of cases there were no associated skin lesions. An unusual subset of tumors were leiomyosarcomas involving hepatic allografts of pediatric patients. The poor prognosis of most tumors in this series may be related to delays or problems in making the diagnosis in these immunosuppressed patients and, perhaps, it may also be related to the unusually aggressive behavior of some tumors.
Proceedings of the Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute (PASI) on Physics and Technology at the Nanometer Scale

The Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute (PASI) on “Physics and Technology at the Nanometer Scale” was held in San Jose, Costa Rica, June 25–July 3, 2001. This PASI school was the first to focus on recent developments in various areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology in condensed matter systems such as quantum dots, molecular electronics, carbon nanotubes, spintronics, buckyballs, scanning probe techniques, etc. PASI is a joint program supported by the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy, designed to facilitate the interaction of participants from all countries in the Americas at advanced graduate and postgraduate levels.
Newborn neurobehavioral patterns are differentially related to prenatal maternal major depressive disorder and serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment.

Background—Prenatal serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) exposure has been related to adverse newborn neurobehavioral outcomes; however these effects have not been compared to those that may arise from prenatal exposure to maternal major depressive disorder (MDD) without SRI treatment. This study examined potential effects of MDD with and without SRI treatment on newborn neurobehavior. Methods—This was a prospective, naturalistic study. Women were seen at an outpatient research center twice during pregnancy (26–28 and 36–38 weeks gestational age (GA)). Psychiatric diagnoses were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV; medication use was measured with the Timeline Follow-Back instrument. Three groups were established based upon MDD diagnosis and SRI use: Control (N=56), MDD (N=20) or MDD+SRI (N=36). Infants were assessed on a single occasion within 3 weeks of birth with the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Assessment Scale (NNNS). Generalized Linear Modeling was used to examine neurobehavioral outcomes by exposure group and infant age at assessment. Results—Full-term infants exposed to MDD+SRIs had a lower GA than CON or MDD-exposed infants and, controlling for GA, had lower quality of movement and more central nervous system stress signs. In contrast, MDD-exposed infants had the highest quality of movement scores, while having lower attention scores than CON and MDD+SRI-exposed infants.
A Day in the Life of a Corporate Retail Pharmacist

As a community pharmacist, I cannot be expected to be a patient's primary care provider. However, it seems that improving the patient-centeredness rather than the profit-centeredness of pharmacy ca...
Gate Voltage Dependence of MOSFET $\hbox{1}/f$ Noise Statistics

In this letter, we present experimental and theoretical analysis of the gate voltage dependence of MOSFET noise variations. Under low gate overdrive, noise power variability as much as 12.2 dB is reported from a population of moderately sized FETs. However, the variability is reduced to 4.4 dB for the same population of devices at high gate overdrive. The relationship between inversion layer density within the vicinity of a trap and the trapped-charge-induced mobility fluctuation is investigated. The spatial gradient of the inversion layer profile is shown to impact the variability of noise. As the inversion layer becomes more uniform across the channel, noise variability is reduced. TCAD simulations and noise measurements are in agreement with the proposed theory.
Implantation Techniques and Chronic Lead Parameters of Biventricular Pacing Dual‐Chamber Defibrillators

Biventricular Pacing.Introduction: The aim of this study is to describe implantation techniques and lead performance for biventricular pacing, dual-chamber implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). Methods and Results: A dual-chamber ICD with biventricular pacing was implanted in 87 patients with congestive heart failure (ejection fraction: 0.21 ± 0.09), prolonged QRS duration (161 ± 22 msec), and an indication for ICD therapy. Left ventricular pacing was achieved with a thoracotomy approach (n = 21) or a nonthoracotomy approach (n = 66). With a thoracotomy, biventricular devices were implanted successfully in all patients. During follow-up (17 ± 11 months), 9 patients died (43%), 2 underwent transplantation, and 2 required left ventricular lead revision. At last follow-up, biventricular sensing and capture threshold were 11 ± 5 mV and 1.5 ± 0.8 V, respectively. For nonthoracotomy procedures, two types of coronary sinus (CS) leads were implanted: an over-the-wire lead (n = 45) and a shaped lead (n = 21). The rate of successful implantation (overall: 89%) (over-the-wire 93% vs shaped 81%; P = 0.1) and durations for CS lead placement (66 ± 50 vs 58 ± 34 min, P = 0.6) and the procedure (133 ± 58 vs 129 ± 33 min, P = 0.8) were not different between the two CS leads. During follow-up (11 ± 9 months), 9 patients died (14%), and the shaped CS lead dislodged in 3 patients (3 shaped vs 0 over-the-wire, P = 0.01). At last follow-up, biventricular sensing and capture threshold were 10 ± 4 mV and 1.8 ± 0.7 V, respectively, and there was no difference between over-the-wire and shaped leads. By multivariate analysis, mortality was associated with absence of spironolactone therapy but not procedural features. Conclusion: Nonthoracotomy CS lead implantation is feasible, with a success rate of about 90% and few adverse events. For the remaining 10%, a thoracotomy approach can be completed safely in these ill patients without increased risk for death.
Assessment of the protein‐structure refinement category in CASP8

Here, we summarize the assessment of protein structure refinement in CASP8. Twenty-four groups refined a total of 12 target proteins. Averaging over all groups and all proteins, there was no net improvement over the original starting models. However, there are now some individual research groups who consistently do improve protein structures relative to a starting starting model. We compare various measures of quality assessment, including (i) standard backbone-based methods, (ii) new methods from the Richardson group, and (iii) ensemble-based methods for comparing experimental structures, such as NMR NOE violations and the suitability of the predicted models to serve as templates for molecular replacement. On the whole, there is a general correlation among various measures. However, there are interesting differences. Sometimes a structure that is in better agreement with the experimental data is judged to be slightly worse by GDT-TS. This suggests that for comparing protein structures that are already quite close to the native, it may be preferable to use ensemble-based experimentally derived measures of quality, in addition to single-structure-based methods such as GDT-TS.
The synthesis of specifically deuterated N‐acetyl‐6‐hydroxy‐5‐methoxytryptamine (6‐hydroxymelatonin) for use as an internal standard in mass spectrometry

Specifically deuterated N-acetyl-6-hydroxy-5-methoxytryptamine has been synthesised. The mass spectra of the labeled and unlabeled analogs are reported.
Singular non-Gaussian measures in detection and estimation theory

If a mathematical model of a signal detection problem is such that there exists a detector which achieves zero error, the model is called singular. Such models are usually not acceptable. In this paper, various sufficient conditions for singular detection and estimation are presented. For the case of a known signal, second-moment conditions are given which imply singularity of detection in the most general kind of noise. For the case of random signals, no such general result exists. Let the signal be a known function of some random parameter s(t; \gamma(\omega)) and let the detection problem corresponding to each value of \gamma(\omega) be singular. It is shown that if \gamma(\omega) has a discrete distribution or if the noise n(t) is Gaussian, then detection is singular. Finally, if n(t) is wide-sense stationary, if the signal is the sum of randomly spaced Fourier transformable signals, and if certain moment conditions are satisfied, then one can not only singularly detect the signal, but can also singularly estimate the unknown parameters of the signal--at least when n(t) is Gaussian.
A modern approach to teaching computer organization and assembly language programming

Given technological trends toward high level programming tools, abstract data mechanisms, logical systems organization, knowledge engineering, and human interfaces, greater emphasis must today be placed on understanding how a machine and its architecture support more abstract concepts and models. The historical approach to teaching computer organization and related machine language issues has been to train students to be proficient with some particular hardware. Indeed, many such courses attempt to prepare students for careers involving particular types of computers. Our philosophy is quite different for two basic reasons. First, fewer individuals are required to be proficient machine or assembly language programmers; instead, ability to think abstractly and to employ more powerful (more conceptual) tools is demanded. Second, the rapidity with which new machine types are introduced suggests that learning any specific machine will necessarily miss the mark; instead, students must become familiar with the generic machine, that is, the conceptual machine common to almost all computer hardware designs. (Even the so-called non-Von Neuman machines are usually comprised of systems of sequential machines.) We advocate that these undergraduate courses be oriented to teaching from the framework of abstraction and concept and that the machine vehicle for the course be chosen to support this framework.
Electron microscopic studies of capillary permeability in normal and ames waltzer deaf mice.

At no stage after birth do Ames waltzer mice show evidence of auditory function. Fluid spaces of the organ of Corti fail to develop normally. Later, hair cells and spiral ganglion cells degenerate and disappear. These deaf mice exhibit no other morphological defects. The saccule is normal. Circulation and innervation are anatomically normal during maturation.The tracer substance, horseradish peroxidase, escapes from capillaries by passing between endothelial cells in the peripheral circulation. Tight junctions of brain capillaries prevent penetration of this substance. In the stria vascularis, horseradish peroxidase passes out of capillaries into the fluid spaces of the epithelium, but it is stopped at marginal cell tight junctions. This is added evidence that the effective barrier between high-potassium endolymph and high-sodium extracellular fluid is the marginal cell tight junction.Histamine increases peripheral capillary permeability to horseradish peroxidase in moderate dosage. It does not facilitate...
Role of Prior Exposure on Anaerobic Degradation of Naphthalene and Phenanthrene in Marine Harbor Sediments

The anaerobic degradation of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) naphthalene and phenanthrene was investigated in several marine harbor sediments. In sediments from Boston Harbor that were heavily contaminated with petroleum, [ 14 C]-naphthalene and [ 14 C]-phenanthrene were oxidized to 14 CO 2 without a lag, suggesting that the microbial community was adapted for anaerobic PAH oxidation in situ. The addition of molybdate, a specific inhibitor of sulfate-reducing microorganisms, inhibited PAH mineralization which suggested that sulfate reducers were involved in the anaerobic oxidation of the PAHs. PAHs were also anaerobically oxidized at another site in Boston Harbor that was less heavily contaminated, but at a slower rate than in the most heavily contaminated sediments. Sediments not contaminated with petroleum did not significantly oxidize the PAHs. A similar correspondence between rates of anaerobic PAH oxidation and the degree of PAH contamination was observed in sediments from Tampa Bay and San Diego Bay. When relatively pristine sediments from San Diego Bay that did not have a significant capacity for anaerobic PAH oxidation were exposed to high concentrations of naphthalene, they developed a potential for naphthalene degradation that was comparable to that in sediments that had a history of PAH contamination. The increase in potential for naphthalene degradation in the sediments exposed to naphthalene was associated with an increase in naphthalene-degrading microorganisms. These results suggest that many marine harbor sediments contain microorganisms capable of anaerobically oxidizing PAHs under sulfate-reducing conditions and that these microorganisms will respond with an increase in their activity when PAHs are introduced into the sediments. Thus, if PAH inputs into harbor sediments from petroleum can be reduced there may be a widespread potential for microorganisms to remove this PAH contamination from the sediments, despite anaerobic conditions.
Metal electromigration damage healing under bidirectional current stress

The AC electromigration lifetime, without DC component, has been studied in a wide frequency range (mHz to 200 MHz) and found to be linearly proportional to the repetition frequency of the AC stressing current. This behavior is observed in both of the metallization systems (Al-2% Si and Cu) investigated. This provides further confirmation that AC lifetime is orders of magnitude longer than DC lifetime and that CMOS signal lines may be called upon to carry much larger current than allowed in present practice. >
Unsteady Gaseous Diffusion Associated With a Fully Cavitating Oscillating Flat-Plate Hydrofoil

We give an analysis of convective gaseous diffusion into a full cavity behind an oscillating flat-plate hydrofoil in a turbulent flow. The unsteady diffusion theory accounts for fluctuations of cavity gas pressure and length which are assumed to be harmonic oscillations but are not necessarily in phase with the hydrofoil motion. A diffusive lag function is found which, for a given reduced frequency, determines the instantaneous diffusion rate as a product of the lag function and the quasisteady mass diffusion.
Streptococcus mutans Out-competes Streptococcus gordonii in vivo

Streptococcus gordonii and Streptococcus mutans avidly colonize teeth. S. gordonii glucosyltransferase (GtfG) and amylase-binding proteins (AbpA/AbpB), and S. mutans glucosyltransferase (GtfB), affect their respective oral colonization abilities. We investigated their interrelationships and caries association in a rat model of human caries, examining the sequence of colonization and non- vs. high-sucrose diets, the latter being associated with aggressive decay in humans and rats. Virulence-characterized wild-types of both species and well-defined mutants of S. gordonii with interrupted abpA and gtfG genes were studied. While both S. gordonii and S. mutans were abundant colonizers of rat’s teeth in the presence of either diet, if inoculated singly, S. mutans always out-competed S. gordonii on the teeth, independent of diet, strain of S. mutans, simultaneous or sequential inoculation, or presence/absence of mutations of S. gordonii’s abpA and gtfG genes known to negatively or positively affect its colonization and to interact in vitro with S. mutans GtfB. S. mutans out-competed S. gordonii in in vivo plaque biofilm. Caries induction reflected S. mutans or S. gordonii colonization abundance: the former highly cariogenic, the latter not. S. gordonii does not appear to be a good candidate for replacement therapy. These results are consistent with human data.
Spherical Random Features for polynomial kernels

Compact explicit feature maps provide a practical framework to scale kernel methods to large-scale learning, but deriving such maps for many types of kernels remains a challenging open problem. Among the commonly used kernels for nonlinear classification are polynomial kernels, for which low approximation error has thus far necessitated explicit feature maps of large dimensionality, especially for higher-order polynomials. Meanwhile, because polynomial kernels are unbounded, they are frequently applied to data that has been normalized to unit l2 norm. The question we address in this work is: if we know a priori that data is normalized, can we devise a more compact map? We show that a putative affirmative answer to this question based on Random Fourier Features is impossible in this setting, and introduce a new approximation paradigm, Spherical Random Fourier (SRF) features, which circumvents these issues and delivers a compact approximation to polynomial kernels for data on the unit sphere. Compared to prior work, SRF features are less rank-deficient, more compact, and achieve better kernel approximation, especially for higher-order polynomials. The resulting predictions have lower variance and typically yield better classification accuracy.
Evaluating Internet Sales Tax Proposals

The author evaluates proposals regarding the taxation of Internet sales. He suggests that an attempt should be made to equalize the tax burdens of state and local vendors. He suggests that the Streamlined Sales Tax Project's proposals provide the best policy alternative.
Simulating individual, group, and crowd behaviors in building egress

Studies of past emergency events have revealed that occupants' behaviors, local geometry, and environmental constraints affect crowd movement and evacuation. Design of egress systems should take into consideration the social characteristics of the occupants and the unique layout of the buildings. This paper describes an agent-based egress simulation tool, SAFEgress, which is designed to incorporate human and social behaviors during evacuations. The unique feature of SAFEgress is its flexibility to model different individual, group, and crowd behavior. Simulations are conducted to examine egress performance of a museum floor plan for three scenarios: 1 expected occupancy load during peak hours; 2 group behaviors among museum visitors; and 3 measures to reduce pre-evacuation delay. By assuming different occupants' behaviors in the simulations, engineers, designers, and facility managers can study the important human and social factors on an egress situation and, thereby, improve the design of safe egress systems and procedures.
Multilevel full-thickness eyelid resection for the correction of severe acquired ptosis in the poorly functioning eyelid.

Six eyelids (4 patients) with severe myogenic (4 eyelids), neurogenic (1 eyelid), or mechanical (1 eyelid) ptosis underwent surgical correction with a multilevel full-thickness resection of eyelid tissue combined with a plication of the levator aponeurosis-Muller's muscle complex. All eyelids had poor levator function, fair to poor orbicularis function, and a poor Bell's phenomenon. In all cases, the upper eyelids were elevated to an acceptable functional level without exposure keratopathy. This resection procedure preserves orbicularis function while allowing correction of severely ptotic eyelids with poor levator function, providing an acceptable alternative to other techniques for correcting this problem.
Studies on zinc absorption: 65Zn binding by homogenates of rat intestinal mucosa.

SummaryApproximately 60% of the 65Zn in labeled homogenates of rat intestinal mucosa was recovered in a 45,000g supernatant, and about 50% of the counts in this supernatant could be recovered in a 45-80% ammonium sulfate precipitate. The bound 65Zn in the ammonium sulfate precipitate could be resolved into two peaks by gel filtration on Sephadex G-100. The first radioactive fraction consisted of substances having molecular weights of 150,000 or more, and the second tion consisted of substances having molecular weights in the range of 10 to 15,000. Electrophoresis of the material from the first Sephadex peak always yielded 10 or more visible protein bands; whereas material from the second peak yielded either 3 or 4 visible bands. It was not possible to determine which, if any, of the protein bands were originally labeled, as the 65Zn dissociated during electrophoresis and migrated to the cathode. To date, there is no evidence to link any of these compounds with intestinal absorption of zinc.
Metabolism of an Antarctic Fish and the Phenomenon of Cold Adaptation

vironments. When fish and many other poikilotherms adapted normally to moderate and high temperatures are acclimated to a given low temperature, their metabolism tends to drop to a level below that of species normally adapted to the given low temperature. The comparatively high metabolism of the cold adapted forms is known as "cold adaptation." In terms of oxygen consumption rates, Scholander et al. ( 1953) note that oxygen consumption by tropical fishes at 30? is about 5 times the rate for arctic species at 0? compared to 30-40 times the hypothetical rate of tropical forms at 0?. The physiological explanation of cold adaptation is not well understood although there are many published references on the subject as indicated inl the reviews of Bullock (1955) and Fry (1958). While activity may be involved, it should be pointed out that both active and sedentary fishes occur in most environments regardless of temperature. If the metabolic level of the arctic fishes, which are adapted to seasonal temperatures from -20 to 0? up to 10? to 150, is displaced upward from tropical and temperate species, then an antarctic species continuously adapted to icecold temperatures should have its metabolic level at comparative temperatures displaced upward even more. Unfortunately there are few year-long field studies of fish metabolism which make comparisons of seasonal changes in metabolic levels possible. According to data from Wohlschlag and J uliano (1959), metabolic levels of the warm temperate bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) vary from the 0? standard level (Krogh 1916) in winter up to the 30? tropical level (Scholander et al. 1953) in summer. From various sources of data presented by Fry (1957), it is apparent that normal metabolic levels of fish usually lie
Variable definitions and distributions of exposure data from a consortium study on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Insufficient sample size causes lower statistical power that may hinder findings of relationships between occupational physical exposures and musculoskeletal disorders. To solve this problem, researchers often want to pool data with similar study designs together to increase the statistical power. However, a recent consortium study on the relationships between physical exposures and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) found that due to slight differences in variable definitions, data collection procedures, data processing approaches, and data analysis methods, pooling data from multiple studies can be challenging. Using data independently collected by six research groups in 54 US workplaces in 10 US States, this paper presents some of the challenges in data pooling, and final selections of comparable variables. Distributions of the selected exposure data of 3010 subjects and variable definitions are presented. This abstract is based on a recent publication in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
The Role of Oxidative Reactions in Decompression Ischemic Edema

Rapid decompression of an expanded extradural balloon is followed by intracranial hypertension, cerebral edema, and not uncommonly fatal outcome. Although the exact mechanism remains conjectural, it has been documented that this decompression is accompanied by cortical hypoperfusion, vascular injury of cortical microvasculature, and cerebral edema (Busto 1984, Yamaguchi 1976)
Review Essay on British Economic Growth, 1270-1870 by Stephen Broadberry, Bruce M. S. Campbell, Alexander Klein, Mark Overton, and Bas van Leeuwen

British Economic Growth, 1270-1870 makes a big leap forward in our understanding of the long-run performance of what became the leading nineteenth-century economy and the workshop of the world. It does so by implementing a giant quantitative enterprise, one that will make it the standard data source for studying the evolution of the British economy for decades to come.
Factors associated with persons with disability employment in India: a cross-sectional study

Over twenty million persons with disability in India are increasingly being offered poverty alleviation strategies, including employment programs. This study employs a spatial analytic approach to identify correlates of employment among persons with disability in India, considering sight, speech, hearing, movement, and mental disabilities. Based on 2001 Census data, this study utilizes linear regression and spatial autoregressive models to identify factors associated with the proportion employed among persons with disability at the district level. Models stratified by rural and urban areas were also considered. Spatial autoregressive models revealed that different factors contribute to employment of persons with disability in rural and urban areas. In rural areas, having mental disability decreased the likelihood of employment, while being female and having movement, or sight impairment (compared to other disabilities) increased the likelihood of employment. In urban areas, being female and illiterate decreased the likelihood of employment but having sight, mental and movement impairment (compared to other disabilities) increased the likelihood of employment. Poverty alleviation programs designed for persons with disability in India should account for differences in employment by disability types and should be spatially targeted. Since persons with disability in rural and urban areas have different factors contributing to their employment, it is vital that government and service-planning organizations account for these differences when creating programs aimed at livelihood development.
A Dual Stream Model of Carbon Pickup based on Carbon Activity

An improved model of carbon pickup (CPU) in cupolas was derived from a previous model. The improved model assumes that, upon melting, (1) the liquid iron and steel descend the cupola without interm...
Abstract 1245: Peroxiredoxin induction in breast cancer

Cancer cells possess elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can enhance genomic instability and alter redox signaling. Aberrant antioxidant expression has also been recognized in many cancers, suggesting an adaptive response to the cancerous state. Breast cancers express significantly elevated levels of Peroxiredoxins (Prdxs), a family of thiol-specific antioxidant proteins involved in regulating cell growth and proliferation in many cell types. We previously reported overexpression of many Prdx proteins in the MCF-7 breast cancer line, as well as their importance in doxorubicin-resistance in this line. In the present study, we analyzed Prdx levels in several human breast tumor samples, and further investigated possible mechanisms of Prdx regulation in MCF-7 cells. Comparison of breast tumor and adjacent normal breast tissue from almost 20 patients showed that most patients exhibited elevated levels of several Prdx proteins in the tumor tissue. To begin to understand possible regulators of Prdxs in breast cancer, we focused on transcriptional regulators known to be aberrantly expressed in breast cancer, and also implicated in antioxidant regulation. Sequence analysis revealed potential binding sites for NF-κB, Nrf2, and AP-1 in several peroxiredoxin promoters. We found high levels of NF-κB in MCF-7 cells, as compared to normal breast epithelial cells. We further showed that a chemo-resistant MCF-7 culture generated from 14 days of doxorubicin treatment exhibited markedly decreased NF-κB expression. We then used both siRNA and chemical inhibition of NF-κB to examine the effect on Prdx regulation in these cells and found gene-specific effects. Similar studies are currently underway for Nrf2 and AP-1. This investigation will help to elucidate the role of peroxiredoxins in breast cancer cell survival, and the mechanism by which these cells alter Prdx levels to avoid death and achieve chemoresistance. Citation Format: Valerie Buurma, Brendan Freeman, Akosua Adzenyah, Gregory Pettit, Felicitas Heinen, Jillian Muhlbauer, Shelley A. Phelan. Peroxiredoxin induction in breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 1245. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-1245
The role of cytotoxic chemotherapy in the management of progressive glioblastoma

Question What is the impact of cytotoxic chemotherapy on disease control and survival in the adult patient with progressive glioblastoma?
Dietary Patterns and Obesity among Chinese Adults: Results from a Household-Based Cross-Sectional Study

The key dietary pattern other than dietary factors influencing obesity has been reported by several large epidemiological studies. This study was carried out between 2010 and 2012 including 1613 adult residents in Zhejiang Province. Dietary patterns were extracted by factor analysis based on 24-h dietary recall. Associations with dietary patterns and obesity were examined and adjusted for age and gender by logistic regression. Five dietary patterns were identified by factor analysis with their eigenvalues greater than 1: ‘cereal, animal, and plant food’, ‘high protein food’, ‘plant food’, ‘poultry’, and ‘beverage’. After adjustment for age and gender, the ‘cereal, animal, and plant food’ and ‘beverage’ pattern was associated with obesity (OR = 2.924, 3.257; 95% CI = 1.147–7.463, 1.372–7.692). In conclusion, ‘cereal, animal, and plant food’ and ‘beverage’ dietary patterns may be associated with increased risk of obesity. ‘Cereal, animal, and plant food’ dietary patterns may be associated with increased risk of obesity resulting from increased total energy intake by increased protein and fat intake; while a ‘beverage’ dietary pattern may be associated with increased risk of obesity resulting from increased total energy intake by increased carbohydrate intake. The findings are valuable in targeting future nutrition education.
Kinematic modeling of a RHex-type robot using a neural network

Motion planning for legged machines such as RHex-type robots is far less developed than motion planning for wheeled vehicles. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of kinematic and dynamic models for such platforms. Physics based models are difficult to develop for legged robots due to the difficulty of modeling the robot-terrain interaction and their overall complexity. This paper presents a data driven approach in developing a kinematic model for the X-RHex Lite (XRL) platform. The methodology utilizes a feed-forward neural network to relate gait parameters to vehicle velocities.
Funding a Clinical Trial

An excellent idea for a clinical trial will never get off the ground unless your vision for the importance of the information gained is shared by others who can afford to make your vision a reality. Your passion must be directed at enlisting a patron or patrons who have the resources to pay for your vision. They are willing to do so in the form of a grant if you can show how spending their money can enhance their mission to improve health care for an identifiable segment of the population or for specific disease or specific sufferer. Aligning your needs and their interests is the key beginning for a successful application. Choosing the right agency and applying on time with a well-written application that includes a meticulous protocol are all important elements for success. Getting the money to fund your work is an important accomplishment in its own right but using it effectively is equally important and your key to being funded in the future.
Challenges and Opportunities in Wearable Systems

Wearable systems offer great promise in application domains as varied as healthcare, eldercare, augmented work, education, athletics, entertainment, parenting, travel, and personal productivity. In this keynote lecture I outline some of these opportunities and identify some of the many challenges we face in developing wearable technology that realize those opportunities. Notably, I anticipate wearable technology raising significant security risks and privacy issues--challenges we must address as we design and develop wearable devices, systems, and applications if we hope to see this technology widely accepted and adopted. Strong (and usable) security mechanisms are essential for safety-critical applications; meaningful privacy protections are essential for systems that accompany us through our private and public life. By raising these concerns today, I seek to ensure the wearable systems of tomorrow will have strong and usable security and privacy properties.
Reflections: An eModule for echolocation education

An Android-based eModule app has been designed and developed for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The eModule consists of: (1) an Android demonstration of echolocation; (2) a set of notes describing the functionality of the app, the basics of echolocation, and its application to advanced signal processing systems such as RADAR, LIDAR, and SONAR; (3) quizzes to test the concepts introduced by the demonstration and the notes; and (4) companion videos. The eModule is, therefore, a holistic teaching and learning app that can be used across various grade levels including K-12, undergraduate signals and systems, and graduate DSP education.
LT codes on partial erasure channels

LT codes are a class of rateless codes designed for data dissemination on erasure channels. In this paper, we present a decoder for LT codes on partial erasure channels, which were recently introduced for multi-level read storage channel applications. We compare the efficiency of LT codes on these channels to those on the q-ary Erasure Channel (QEC).
An Evaluation of a Social Skills Application for Children Who Are Homeless

Purpose:Homeless children are more likely to have social skills deficits relative to same aged peers and may benefit from a social skills intervention. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to a...
The impact of the false ID laws on alcohol consumption among young adults: New results from the NLSY97.

Abstract In volume 36 of this journal, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, 1997 Cohort (NLSY97), Yoruk (2014) finds that the false ID laws with scanner provision (FSP laws) significantly reduce underage drinking. In a recent paper, Zheng (2018) argues that analyses based on the NLSY97 data fail falsification exercises and uses data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) to estimate the effectiveness of the FSP laws. This paper replies to Zheng (2018) and provides new results from the NLSY97, which show that the FSP laws were effective reducing several indicators of alcohol consumption among minors.
Piaget’s Use of the Phenocopy Principle to Explain Cognitive Change

The boy’s eyes flickered and widened. The ball had flown to hit the ceiling, had seemed to hit it, had paused like a bird fluttering above its nest, and had descended. “Did you see it? Did you?” shouted Paul. A bouyancy flooded through him. The beauty of the ball’s subtle non-touch exalted him, so that now he bent down to the boy, eager that he too should understand. Yet though excited he felt shy. He alone possessed the knowledge and thus the power to expound it. He wished to tell, to make the boy understand. If the boy would only clap—or dance? Then, even if the boy had not understood he would have at least been strengthened by the boy’s acceptance. Another’s acceptance would help him to think. The idea would germinate more freely. Some closed door quivering in his skull would open and reveal a room filled with white revealing light.
Environmental Clastogens Detected by Meiotic Pollen Mother Cells of Tradescantia

Many airborne agents are routinely produced in large quantities from industrial effluents, vehicular emissions, agricultural fumigations and sprays, and from natural or man-made explosions. These common air pollutants, in both gaseous and particulate forms, are dissipated into the open air of large geographic areas of the globe. Other airborne agents, e.g. cigarette smoke, volatile cosmetics and common household pesticides, are more commonly release into small confined areas more intimately related to daily life. Humans are frequently acutely exposed to these latter pollutants at relatively high concentrations. The possible harmful effects of each of these agents and the possible synergistic interactions between them are essential topics in environmental studies.
Hybrid control issues in Air Traffic Management Systems

The modeling and control of multi-agent, scarce resource systems requires both discrete protocols which coordinate the interplay among agents, and continuous control laws which regulate each individual agent. In a new research project at Berkeley, we are studying such systems in the context of Air Traffic Management Systems (ATMS). In ATMS, a large number of aircraft are required to converge from many directions to a few well defined airspace routes which lead to the airport runways.
Laser Facial Resurfacing

Successful laser facial resurfacing presupposes a thorough knowledge of the skin’s structure and the physiology of wound healing. Achievement of a youthful postoperative appearance following laser treatment relies upon dermal regeneration from deeper, less photo-aged cells. The laser, itself, does not resurface the skin. It is simply a tool employed to ablate aged skin layers while minimizing the injury to healthier surrounding skin structures. The surgeon and patient working in tandem create the conditions necessary for successful wound healing following laser tissue ablation. Basic principles of laser-tissue interaction apply to all types of lasers. Laser energy may be transmitted, absorbed, scattered, or reflected by varying tissue types. The majority of skin resurfacing lasers (carbon dioxide, Er:YAG) vaporize the skin while minimizing the surrounding zones of coagulative necrosis and thermal conductivity. The volume of tissue ablated varies directly with laser power density, whereas the thermal damage to adjacent tissue varies directly with the intensity and duration of laser exposure. For example, a carbon dioxide laser with a wavelength of 10,600 nm will be primarily absorbed by the water content of the skin resulting in a typical single pass penetration depth of 120–200 μ and a collateral thermal effect of 40–60 μ. Increases in power density will result in deeper penetrations but will also increase the risk of thermal injury unless dwell times are minimized. Typically, the depth of skin penetration will determine the degree and nature of skin regeneration in a patient with normal skin adenexae. Lasers may freshen the appearance by ablating just the epidermis or may achieve more significant corrections of superficial blemishes and wrinkles by penetrating into the papillary dermis. Correction of deeper wrinkles by more aggressive ablation into the reticular dermis involves greater risks and requires more healing time. Histologically, the upper reticular dermis heals by reorganization and the lower reticular dermis heals by scar formation. Chapter
Integrating Randomization and Discrimination for Classifying Human-Object Interaction Activities

In this chapter we study the problem of classifying human–object interaction activities in still images. The goal of our method is to explore fine image statistics and identify the discriminative image patches for recognition. We achieve this goal by combining two ideas, discriminative feature mining and randomization. Discriminative feature mining allows us to model the detailed information that distinguishes different classes of images, while randomization allows us to handle the huge feature space and prevent over-fitting. We propose a random forest with discriminative decision trees algorithm where every tree node is a discriminative classifier that is trained by combining the information in this node as well as all upstream nodes. Besides human action recognition in still images, we also evaluate our method on subordinate categorization. Experimental results show that our method identifies semantically meaningful visual information and outperforms state-of-the-art algorithms on various datasets. Using our method, we achieved the best results and won the award in PASCAL VOC action classification challenges in 2011 and 2012.