cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of exhaust gas recirculation on diesel particulate matter morphology and NOx emissions

AbstractDiesel particulate morphology and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions were investigated in detail to reveal the effects of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). The different rates of EGR were precisely controlled by using a customized engine control unit in a 1.7 l turbocharged common-rail direct-injection diesel engine. The tests, which combined two different EGR modes (i.e. constant boost pressure (CBP) and constant oxygen-to-fuel ratio (COFR)), were designed to decouple the effects of EGR thermal and dilution processes. Particulate samples were collected directly from the raw engine exhaust by using a novel thermophoretic soot-sampling system. The samples were examined and imaged with a high-resolution transmission electron microscope and quantitatively analysed by using a customized image-processing/data-acquisition system. Results showed that the particulate dimensions, number density of primary particles, and soot yield all changed significantly under various EGR rates. The NOx emissions also varied...
Barium de-wetting and thermionic emission from Ba on W

The wetting behavior of Ba metal on polycrystalline tungsten foil was observed in thermionic and photoelectron emission microscopy. The wetting behavior of Ba on W included droplet formation and selective wetting of W grains.
Contestations at the last mile: The corporate–community delivery of water in Manila

Abstract The privatization of basic needs provision has seen a related and increasing reliance on corporate–community partnerships in serving the “last mile.” These relationships often seem promising because they suggest mutual benefit—corporations expand their customer base, while communities gain access to improved services. Indeed, the success of Manila’s water privatization project hinges in large part on the two utilities’ partnerships with community-based organizations to extend services to low-income areas. Despite the promise of mutuality, Manila has seen localized contestations over this setup, as some communities sense disparities between their terms of access and those of households that are directly served by the utilities. However, rather than being targeted at the utilities, those challenges largely focus on the small providers—paradoxically, it is the community-based cooperatives and entrepreneurs that are accused of capitalistic exploitation. By distancing themselves from low-income communities, the utilities become relatively intangible, state-like entities, their financial motivations obscured from ordinary citizens. In contrast, community-based organizations are at the frontline—collecting payments, monitoring for theft, and seemingly earning profits at the expense of their neighbors. Corporate–community partnerships thus create an uneven terrain of empowerment, cooptation, and politicization, refocusing debates at a local level. In so doing, they alter the ways in which citizens view public, private, and community entities, complicating the public/private binaries that often dominate debates on privatization.
Temporal reproduction of duration as a function of numerosity

One, three, or five dark dots were tachistoscopically presented for 300, 600, or 900 msec to subjects. Temporal reproduction of stimulus duration was shown to be a monotonically increasing function of numerosity of dots. Accentuation of this monotnicity took place when changes in stimulus duration were made less frequent, not when changes in numerosity were made less frequent.
Non‐Canonical Amino Acids in Protein Polymer Design

Protein polymers can be prepared with essentially absolute control of chain length, sequence, and stereochemistry through biological synthesis in microbial hosts. But for the polymer chemist, the twenty “canonical” amino acids provide an unacceptably small set of starting materials for macromolecular design. In the past several years, powerful techniques have been developed to introduce non‐natural (non‐canonical) amino acids containing a wide variety of functional groups into recombinant proteins. This review presents the methods currently available for the introduction of non‐natural amino acids into engineered proteins both in vitro and in vivo. Methods for multiple‐ and single‐site introduction are described. Recent applications of these methods are also addressed, particularly the development of biosensors, novel surfaces, and materials.
Multiple System Atrophy and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in a Family With Hexanucleotide Repeat Expansions in C9orf72

Importance Here we report a family with coexistence of multiple system atrophy (MSA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with hexanucleotide repeat expansions in C9orf72 . Observations A 65-year-old woman had a 2-year history of ataxia with autonomic dysfunction but without motor neuron signs. She was diagnosed as having MSA based on her clinical history and the hot cross bun sign on brain magnetic resonance imaging. Her 62-year-old brother had progressive weakness, fasciculations, hyperreflexia, and active denervation on electromyography without cerebellar ataxia. He was diagnosed as having ALS. Both patients had a greater than 1000/2 hexanucleotide expansion in C9orf72. Conclusions and Relevance Patients with hexanucleotide repeat expansions in C9orf72 can present with MSA as well as ALS or frontotemporal dementia. We report this family with coexisting MSA and ALS, highlighting the phenotypic variability in neurologic presentations with hexanucleotide repeat expansions in C9orf72.
Intermittent Copious Discharge in a Premenarchal Girl

The patient is an 8-year-old girl who was in her usual health until 4 months prior to her visit when she had an 8-day episode of copious orange-to-red thin liquidy discharge. The discharge was worse early in the morning and pads needed to be changed every 20-30 minutes. There was no change in bladder or bowel habits. There were no fevers chills nausea or vomiting. Her pediatrician saw the patient and her exam was within normal limits. She underwent an abdominal ultrasound which was normal. The discharge stopped after 8 days and the patient was fine until one month later when she again had copious orange-to-red discharge. Since then it has intermittently continued occasionally orange-red more often now clear in appearance. Usually there is some abdominal cramping and within 3-4 seconds a large gush of liquid appears. This usually soaks through her clothes and she has been wearing pull-ups on occasion. (excerpt)
Sedimentation and porosity enhancement in a breached flank margin cave

San Salvdor Island, Bahamas, provides unique opportunities to study modern geologic processes on carbonate platforms as a result of constraints in time and space. The time span of exposed geology is limited to the middle Pleistocene through Holocene (<500 ka), and the island lies on an isolated platform (12 by 19 km). Altar Cave, formed within an oxygen isotope substage 5e eolianite (approximately 125 ka) of the Grotto Beach Formation on San Salvador, is a classic example of a flank margin cave that has been exposed during hillslope retreat. The nature of Altar Cave (restricted entrance, simplistic morphology, and easy access) facilitates a sedimentation study. Sediment profiles from trenches dug at three locations in Altar Cave show that the deposits in the cave formed as an early stage of development of a Holocene strand plain that is present today between the cave and the beach. Altar Cave was breached by Holocene coastal processes;14C dates show sand fill deposits in the cave to be Holocene (4.7 ka).14C dates, XRD, and geochemical analyses show the surficial sediment to be recent (0.6 ka), and that leaching has altered the bedrock floor of the cave. Petrologic study of the floor rock has provided evidence of autogenic sedimentation prior to breaching of the cave in the form of dissolution residuum accumulating during cave development. Petrologic analysis shows that this leaching has resulted in increased bedrock porosity below the sediment profile. Also, introduced organics have contaminated the late Pleistocene bedrock with young carbon, resulting in14 C ages of 14 ka at 0.3 m in depth and 28 ka at 1.3 m in depth. The results of this study demonstrate a potential method of porosity enhancement in young carbonates by vadose leaching. Porosity-enhanced zones have implications for our understanding of recharge to fresh-water lenses on carbonate islands.
Solid-Phase Luminescence of Several Rare Earth Ions on Ion-Exchange Films:

The development and characterization of a novel ion-exchange film for solid-phase fluorometry and phosphorimetry is reported. This new cation-exchange material is suitable for spectroscopic applications in the ultraviolet and visible regions. It is advantageous because it, as a single entity, is easily recovered from solution and mounted in the spectrofluorometers. After preconcentration on the film, the luminescence intensity of lanthanide ions is several orders of magnitude greater than that of the corresponding solution, depending on the volume of solution and the amount of film. This procedure allows emission spectral measurements and determination of lanthanide ions at solution concentrations of < 5 (micro)g/L. The film may be stored for subsequent reuse or as a permanent record of the analysis. The major drawback to the use of the film is slow uptake of analyte due to diffusion limitations.
A systemic approach to governance in extended enterprise systems

This paper is an effort to introduce Enterprise Systems Governance (ESG) as a new systemic approach to governance within the System of Systems (SoS) environment. The proposed interdisciplinary approach combines theories of complexity and social sciences with those developed for systems and networks to: theorize problems of Extended Enterprise Systems (EES); explore how they are governed; and study how their governance structure strives for effectiveness over time. ESG adopts qualitative insights from complexity theories fundamentals, organizational behavior studies, systems thinking tools, and social sciences, and supports them with quantitative procedures and techniques such as agent-based modeling, social network analysis, dynamic systems analysis, and game theory to create new set of methodologies, tailored for governing EES. We believe that ESG can be expanded to become a new field of science that will address the need for a fundamental understanding of how organizational architectures evolve around technological systems and processes to generate complex network-based structures. It will also offer effective and holistic solutions to resolve major challenges regarding the governance of socio-technological and large-scale extended enterprises, SoS, and adaptive complex systems, such as the financial system as well as development programs and infrastructure systems.
Satellite Observations of Radio Noise in the Magnetosphere

ATS 2 satellite observations of enhanced radio noise bands in ionosphere and magnetosphere, noting plasma waves generation and coupling
The Time Period A.D. 1400–1980 in Central Greenland Ice Cores in Relation to the North Atlantic Sector

This paper presents a review of the time period A.D. 1400–1980 based on Greenland ice cores from the central west Greenland averaged record, and from winter and summer seasonal isotopic records from the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2). This time period includes the so-called “Little Ice Age”. The concept of the “Little Ice Age” has evolved from the idea of a simple, centuries-long period of lower temperatures to a more complex view of temporal and spatial climatic variability. In the central Greenland ice core isotopic signals, the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries show multi-decadal excursions above and below the mean reference. The sixteenth and mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries are notable for decade-to-decade swings (high-low) in the isotopic signal, while multi-decadal low excursions dominate the seventeenth century. The “subdued” nature of the “Little Ice Age” isotopic signal in central Greenland is probably influenced by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), which presents opposing temperature excursions between west Greenland and northern Europe. Changes in the prevailing atmospheric circulation (Iceland Low) can explain some of the spatial and temporal variability between the central Greenland isotopic records and Iceland temperature.
High-aspect-ratio microstructure-covered sheets: fabrication and function

The LIGA process is being further developed to fabricate large surfaces covered with high aspect ratio microstructures (HARMs). A HARM is defined as a structure hundreds of micrometers in height and with a height and with a height/characteristic lateral dimension which is five or greater. The molding step of the LIGA process provides one method to rapidly and inexpensively fabricate HARM-covered sheets. Molding experiments were performed to determine combinations of processing parameters which produce high quality, high density polyethylene HARMs. In addition to developing an inexpensive process to manufacture HARMs, uses for HARM-covered sheets are being investigated. One example is heat transfer enhancement. Microfins were added to the surface of a cylinder and experiments quantified their effect on the rate of convective heat transfer for a cylinder in crossflow.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Soil Streptomyces communities in a prairie establishment reflect interactions between soil edaphic characteristics and plant host

Diverse perennial grasslands represent an attractive goal for biofuel production, but are difficult to establish on formerly cultivated land. Nurse species have been used to aid in establishment, but the mechanisms by which facilitation occurs remain poorly understood. In this study, we test the hypothesis that nurse plants accumulate beneficial, pathogen-suppressive bacterial communities. Fourteen native, invasive, and crop plant treatments were planted in a field previously in a corn-soybean (Zea mays – Glycine max) rotation. Soil microbial community characteristics were measured, specifically the density of Streptomyces soil bacteria, and the density and proportion of pathogen-inhibitory Streptomyces isolates, due to the demonstrated role of this bacterial genus in soil-borne disease suppression. After one growing season, no significant differences were observed among plant treatments in Streptomyces density, the density or proportion of inhibitory isolates, or the intensity of inhibition observed against two common soil-borne pathogens. Streptomyces density and soil organic matter were significantly correlated among plots, though in differing directions in legumes and forbs. Our results suggest that one growing season is insufficient for perennial plants to condition soil for increased pathogen-suppression in a nutrient-rich agricultural soil.
Slow Progress in Rational-Emotive Therapy Outcome Research: Etiology and Treatment'

It has been observed that outcome research has had limited impact on rational-emotive therapy (RET) theory and practice. This paper argues that slow progress in this area has resulted in part from ambiguities in the definition and measurement of RET interventions and of irrational beliefs. Also, advances in treatment outcome research methodology, such as calculation of the clinical significance of therapy effects, have not been incorporated. Finally, there has been little research on some important issues specific to RET, such as whether specialized RET is superior to other forms of cognitive behavior therapy for a particular type of patient, and whether forceful disputation of irrational beliefs is more effective than more subtle approaches to changing patients' ideas. A number of recommendations are offered to try to facilitate progress in RET outcome research and enhance its contribution to theory and practice.
The relationship between author gender and the methods and topics used in the study of college students

The research on college students published between 1969 and 1983 in eleven periodicals was used to examine the substantive topics and research methods preferred by male and female authors. Gender differences persisted over the fifteen year period and became sharper after 1975.
Ultraviolet photometric assay of thiopental and pentobarbital in blood and plasma

A procedure for the determination of sodium pentobarbital and sodium thiopental under rigidly standardized conditions of extraction, using Allen's absorption factor, is described. This method makes possible the reliable quantitative determination of 1 mcg./ml. or smaller concentration differences. In an appendix Allen's absorption factor for sodium pentobarbital is derived.
Maximizing Student Performance in Summary Writing: Managing Cognitive Load

Summarizing skills are essential in an academic setting due to the frequency of summary assignments, the potential for using summarizing as a study aid, and the need for these skills in more complex assignments involving the incorporation of source material in original discourse. Yet summarizing is a highly complex, recursive reading-writing activity involving constraints that can impose an overwhelming cognitive load on students, thereby adversely affecting performance. External constraints include such factors as purpose and audience of the assignment, features of the assignment itself, discourse community conventions, nature of the material to be summarized, time constraints, and the working environment. Internal constraints consist of L2 proficiency, content schemata, affect, formal schemata, cognitive skills, and metacognitive skills. This paper provides an overview of these constraints in relation to summarizing, and suggests pedagogical approaches to mediating the cognitive load.
Infrared (IR) investigation of the structural changes of silica glasses with fictive temperature

Abstract Effects of fictive temperatures on the structure of silica glass were investigated using infrared (IR) spectroscopy. From the IR peak positions of the three fundamental structural bands (asymmetric stretching, bending, and rocking vibrations), the average values of the silica structural parameters – central force constant, α, non-central force constant, β, and Si–O–Si bond angle, θ – were obtained. It was found that the Si–O–Si bond angle and the non-central force constant decreased, while the central force constant increased with increasing fictive temperature.
'The Civilising Road': American Influence on the Development of Highways and Motoring in China, 1900-1949

This article explores the American influence on the development of highways and motoring in China in the first half of the twentieth century. The author demonstrates how Henry Ford, Oliver Todd, General Wedemeyer and other Americans planted the seeds of motorization in China. The author reports on the levels of imports of American and British vehicles before World War I, noting that the pre-eminence of American vehicles is impressive, given that British traffic rules prevailed in the Treaty Ports (thus resulting in American cars having their steering wheel on the "wrong" side). Henry Ford had a keen interest in China and the Ford Motor Company quickly dominated the China market. The author considers how American car manufacturers went about convincing China's merchant aristocracy that an automobile was a safe, reliable, and practical means of transport. The author also discusses the interplay between road development and motorization of the country. An additional section describes the work of the American Red Cross and John Earl Baker, as they bring roads and relief to four provinces suffering famine from a vast crop failure due to a drought in northern China (1920-1921). A final section describes the change from driving on the left to driving on the right side of the road, a change instigated during World War II by General Albert C. Wedemeyer in an effort to reduce the number of traffic accidents occurring in troop and supply transit.
Gaba receptor-mediated modulation of 3H-diazepam binding in rat cortex

Abstract Three membrane preparations of rat cortex were used to examine the effects of GABA, bicuculline and bicucine on specific 3H-diazepam binding. In the crude synaptosomal fraction, GABA had no effect on either the maximal binding capacity (Bmax) or dissociation constant (KD) of 3H-diazepam binding. Bicuculline and bicucine both decreased binding affinity. This was antagonized by adding GABA. In the repeatedly washed membrane preparation, and in the washed, frozen and thawed preparation, GABA increased binding affinity and, at high concentrations, increased Bmax. Increased binding affinity was observed with as little as 10−8 M GABA in the washed, frozen and thawed preparation. Bicuculline inhibited the effect of GABA on 3H-diazepam binding. It was found that about 3 × 10−5 M GABA was present in the assay medium containing crude synaptosomal fraction. These results suggest endogenous GABA is present in, and influences the results of 3H-diazepam binding assays. Furthermore, it appears that GABA and bicuculline affect 3H-diazepam binding through their binding to the specific GABA binding site.
Pharmacokinetics of famotidine in infants.

Although famotidine pharmacokinetics are similar in adults and children older than 1 year of age, they differ in neonates owing to developmental immaturity in renal function. Little is currently known about the pharmacokinetics of famotidine in infants aged between 1 month and 1 year, a period when renal function is maturing. To characterise the pharmacokinetics of famotidine in infants. Design: This was a two-part multicentre study with both single dose (Part I, open-label) and multiple dose (Part II, randomised) arms. Thirty-six infants (20 females and 16 males) who required treatment with famotidine and who had an indwelling arterial or venous catheter for reasons unrelated to the study. Infants in Part I were administered a single dose of famotidine 0.5 mg/kg; the dose was intravenous or oral according to the judgement of the attending physician. Infants receiving 0.5 mg/kg intravenously were divided into two groups by age, and pharmacokinetic parameters in infants 0–3 months and >3 to 12 months of age were compared. Infants in Part II were randomised to one of the following treatments: 0.25 mg/kg/dose intravenously or 0.5 mg/kg/dose orally on day 1 and subsequent days, or 0.25 mg/kg/dose intravenously or 0.5 mg/kg/dose orally on day 1 followed by doses of either 0.5 mg/kg/dose intravenously or 1 mg/kg/dose orally on subsequent days. From day 2 onwards, age-adjusted dose administration regimens (once daily in infants 3 months of age) were used; the total number of famotidine doses ranged from 3 to 11 and the total number of days of dose administration ranged from two to eight. In infants 3 months of age. Pharmacokinetic parameters for the older infants (i.e. those >3 months) were similar to those previously reported for children and adults. Approximate dose-proportionality, no accumulation on multiple dosing and an estimated bioavailability similar to adult values were also observed. A short course of famotidine therapy in infants appears generally well tolerated, and the characteristics of famotidine pharmacokinetics during the first year of life are explained to a great degree by the development of renal function, the primary route of elimination for this drug.
Isolation of alligator gar (Lepisosteus spatula) glucagon, oxyntomodulin, and glucagon-like peptide: amino acid sequences of oxyntomodulin and glucagon-like peptide.

Oxyntomodulin, glucagon, and a glucagon-like peptide (GLP) have been isolated from the endocrine pancreas of the alligator gar (Lepisosteus spatula), a ganoid fish. The three peptides were isolated by gel filtration and HPLC and were identified by size, composition, and glucagon-like immunoreactivity. The amino acid sequences of the oxyntomodulin and GLP were determined. The oxyntomodulin contains 36 amino acid residues and its sequence is H S Q G T F T N D Y S K Y L D T R R A Q D F V Q W L M S T K R S T K R S G G I T. The composition of the glucagon is identical to the N-terminal 29 residues of the gar oxyntomodulin. The single form of GLP found contains 34 amino acid residues in the following sequence: H A D G T Y Y S D V S S Y L Q D Q A A K K F V T W L K Q B Q D R R E. These findings sugest that all three peptides are derived from a common precursor.
First-principles approach for effective elastic-moduli calculation: Application to continuous fractal structure

We present a new first-principles approach to the calculation of effective elastic moduli of composites based on the iterative solution of the Dyson equation for elastic wave scatterings in inhomogeneous media. Application of the method to the examination of elastic scaling behavior of a continuous fractal shows that the moduli associated with different elastic eigenmodes exhibit distinct exponents in scaling with the size of the system.
Implications of an evolutionary biopsychosocial model

Mealey's work has several interesting implications: It refutes the charge that sociobiology paints a cynical portrait of human nature and adopts a one-sided reductionism; it exemplifies a general theoretical scheme for constructing evolutionary biopsychosocial models of human behavior; and it has the practical effect of promoting and informing early intervention in children at risk for psychopathic disorder.
Early origins of the gradient: the relationship between socioeconomic status and infant mortality in the United States

Although relationships between social conditions and health have been documented for centuries, the past few decades have witnessed the emergence of socioeconomic gradients in health and mortality in most developed countries. These gradients indicate that health improves, although decreasingly so, at higher levels of socioeconomic status. To minimize problems with reverse causality, I tested competing hypotheses for observed socioeconomic gradients for infant mortality outcomes. I found no support for the income-inequality hypothesis and negligible support for the occupational-grade hypothesis. The results indicate that absolute material conditions are the most important determinants of socioeconomic effects on the risk of infant mortality and that while poverty has the most pronounced effect on risk, income is decreasingly salutary across the majority of the mortality gradient.
Delayed and sustained activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase in human keratinocytes by UVA: implications in carcinogenesis.

Exposure to the sun's UV radiation appears to be the most important environmental factor involved in the development of skin cancer. UVA is the major portion of UV radiation in sunlight and is considered to be a human carcinogen. In this study, we have investigated the delayed and sustained activation of ERK MAPK by UVA exposure. In parallel, a delayed Ras activation with a similar time course was observed after UVA exposure. The activated Ras was found to be localized in endomembranes such as the Golgi apparatus instead of plasma membranes. Expression of dominant negative Ras (N17Ras) abolished ERK activation by UVA. The presence of AG1478, an epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor (EGFR) kinase inhibitor, had no effect on ERK or Ras activation, indicating that EGFR kinase activity is not involved in ERK activation by UVA. In contrast, protein kinase C (PKC) depletion by chronic 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate treatment nearly abolished UVA-induced ERK and Ras activation. The presence of the Ca2+-dependent-PKC inhibitor Go6976 had a similar effect. These findings suggest that ERK activation by UVA is mediated by PKC in a Ras-dependent pathway. In addition, a gradual increase in intracellular calcium level after UVA exposure was detected by flow cytometry. The presence of the PLC inhibitor U73122 or the calcium chelator 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N, N′,N′-tetraacetic acid tetrakis (acetoxymethyl ester) (BAPTA-AM) blocked both ERK and Ras activation, suggesting that both PLC and calcium are required for ERK activation. Our findings demonstrated that, different from UVC and UVB, UVA-induced delayed and sustained ERK activation is EGFR kinase activity-independent, but PLC/calcium/PKC-mediated. The delayed and sustained ERK activation provides a survival signal to human HaCaT keratinocytes, which may serve as an important mechanism for cell transformation and potential skin carcinogenesis in vivo caused by UVA exposure.
A silicon on sapphire thermometer for small sample low temperature calorimetry

Abstract A silicon on sapphire (SOS) resistance thermometer/heater device with very low thermal mass is described. Methods for using this device for low temperature calorimetry on superconducting thin films, wires, and tapes in the 1.5–40 K range are described.
Virilio, War and Technology: Some Critical Reflections

Paul Virilio is one of the most prolific and penetrating critics of the drama of technology in the contemporary era, especially military technology, technologies of representation, computer and information technologies, and biotechnology. For Virilio, the question of technology is the question of our time and his life work constitutes a sustained reflection on the origins, nature and effects of the key technologies that have constituted the modern/ postmodern world. In particular, Virilio carries out a radical critique of the ways that technology is transfonning the contemporary world and even the human species. Yet I want to argue in this study that Virilio has a flawed conception of technology that is excessively negative and one-sided, thus missing the empowering and democratizing aspects of new computer and media technologies. My argument is that his vision of technology is overdetermined by his intense focus on war and military technology and that this optic drives him to predominantly technophobic p...
Targeting poverty alleviation in priority setting for agricultural research.

Abstract This paper provides a brief overview of research priority setting methods at various levels in national research systems, noting the changing emphasis from supply- to demand-driven approaches at both macro- and micro-levels of priority setting. The scope for incorporating a poverty dimension into priority setting is then reviewed within a general framework that recognises the complexity of the link between research investments and poverty alleviation. The effectiveness of this targeting is likely to be very situation specific. A case study of macro priority setting in Pakistan shows the limited scope to target benefits to the poor through re-allocation of research resources among commodities, relative to a ranking based on the efficiency objective. Given present knowledge, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of research systems in promoting broad-based technical change should be emphasised more than major efforts to target poverty directly. This will involve a combination of supply- and demand-driven approaches to priority setting at different levels in the research system that will enhance both the efficiency and poverty alleviation impacts of research.
Contribution of Basic Residues of the Autolysis Loop to the Substrate and Inhibitor Specificity of Factor IXa

The autolysis loop (residues 143-154 in chymotrypsinogen numbering) plays a pivotal role in determining the macromolecular substrate and inhibitor specificity of coagulation proteases. This loop in factor IXa (FIXa) has 3 basic residues (Arg143, Lys147, and Arg150) whose contribution to the protease specificity of factor IXa has not been studied. Here, we substituted these residues individually with Ala in Gla-domainless forms of recombinant factor IX expressed in mammalian cells. All mutants exhibited normal amidolytic activities toward a FIXa-specific chromogenic substrate. However, Arg143 and Lys147 mutants showed a approximately 3- to 6-fold impairment in FX activation, whereas the Arg150 mutant activated factor X normally both in the absence and presence of factor VIIIa. By contrast, Arg143 and Lys147 mutants reacted normally with antithrombin (AT) in both the absence and presence of the cofactor, heparin. However, the reactivity of the Arg150 mutant with AT was impaired 6.6-fold in the absence of heparin and 33- to 70-fold in the presence of pentasaccharide and full-length heparins. These results suggest that Arg143 and Lys147 of the autolysis loop are recognition sites for FX independent of factor VIIIa, and Arg150 is a specific recognition site for AT that can effectively interact with AT only if the serpin is in the heparin-activated conformation.
KIDS' APPROACHES TO WHITENESS IN RACIALLY DISTINCT SUMMER DAY CAMPS

This study explores how preadolescents engaged in different interactional approaches to whiteness in racially distinct summer camps. Kids in the predominantly white and predominantly black contexts created peer cultures that differed in the following ways: (1) how they marked and defined whiteness, (2) how they made subject positions toward whiteness problematic, and (3) how they maintained different racial hegemonies. Mere numerical majority/minority relations, as well as differences in racial hegemony, caused kids to vary the meanings of whiteness, especially as the value of maintaining color-blind and color-aware orientations fluctuated. The findings suggest that the racial composition of a context may be key to encouraging recognition that white racial subjectivities are as subject to multiple interpretations, expressions, and embodiment as are racial subjectivities of color.
Inter-dependence of dimerization and organelle binding in myosin XI

Cytoplasmic streaming is a ubiquitous process in plant cells that is thought to be driven by the active movement of myosin XI motor proteins along actin filaments. These myosin motors bind to organelles through their C-terminal globular tail domain, although recent studies have also suggested a role for the central coiled-coil region during organelle binding. Here we have investigated the relationship between these two protein domains of MYA1, an Arabidopsis myosin XI, in a series of in vivo experiments demonstrating that dimerization of the coiled-coil region stabilizes organelle binding of the globular tail. Surprisingly, yeast two-hybrid assays, bimolecular fluorescence complementation, Forster resonance energy transfer and in vitro pull-down experiments all demonstrated that dimerization of the 174-residue MYA1 coiled coils by themselves was unstable. Furthermore, only the first of the two major coiled-coil segments in MYA1 contributed significantly to dimer formation. Interestingly, dimerization of myosin tail constructs that included the organelle-binding globular tail was stable, although the globular tails by themselves did not interact. This suggests an inter-dependent relationship between dimerization and organelle binding in myosin XI, whereby each process synergistically stimulates the other.
800-1 Total Coronary Calcified Volume is Highly Correlated with Total Plaque Volume: A Histologic Study of 723 Segments

The quantitative relationship between calcification of the coronary artery wall and the atherosclerotic plaque area has not been defined. This relationship may have substantial importance because Electron Seam CT (EBCT) can noninvasively measure volume of coronary calcification in the living patient. We thus studied the three major coronary arteries of 13 autopsy derived hearts. The arteries were sectioned at 3 mm intervals resulting in 723 sections. All vessels were processed with non-decalcifying methodology in order to completely preserve the amount of calcium in the vessel. Areas enclosed by the arterial lumina and internal and external elastic lamina (IEL and EEL) were planimetered with a calibrated digital computer. Calcified area in each section was measured densitometrically by pixel counting in digital image analysis. Plaque area was calculated as the difference (IEL-Lumen) area, as was histologic percent stenosis (% Sten). A highly significant relationship between calcific volume and plaque area was found (r = 0.68). Conversely, a poor relationship existed between the artery lumen size (r = 0.17) and percent histologic stenosis (r = 0.4). Conclusion Histologic coronary arterial calcification correlates well with total plaque area and poorly with percent histologic stenosis. Lumen area, and by extension angiographic stenosis correlates poorly with calcium. The total plaque area of all segments appears to be accurately estimated by calcific area, suggesting that calcification by UFCT may be used to determine total plaque volume in the coronary trees of living patients.
Evaluation of the Delivery of Mesenchymal Stem Cells into the Root Canal Space of Necrotic Immature Teeth after Clinical Regenerative Endodontic Procedure

Abstract Introduction Immature teeth with open apices treated with conventional nonsurgical root canal treatment often have a poor prognosis as a result of the increased risk of fracture and susceptibility to recontamination. Regenerative endodontics represents a new treatment modality that focuses on reestablishment of pulp vitality and continued root development. This clinical procedure relies on the intracanal delivery of a blood clot (scaffold), growth factors (possibly from platelets and dentin), and stem cells. However, to date, the clinical presence of stem cells in the canal space after this procedure has not been demonstrated. The purpose of this clinical study was to evaluate whether regenerative endodontic procedures are able to deliver stem cells into the canal space of immature teeth in young patients and to identify the possible tissue origin for these cells. Methods After informed consent, the first appointment consisted of NaOCl irrigation and treatment with a triple antibiotic paste. One month later, the root canal space was irrigated with sterile saline, and bleeding was evoked with collection of samples on paper points. Real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunocytochemistry were conducted to compare the gene transcripts and proteins found in the root canal sample with levels found in the systemic circulation. Results Molecular analyses of blood collected from the canal system indicated the significant accumulation of transcripts for the stem cell markers CD73 and CD105 (up to 600-fold), compared with levels found in the systemic blood. Furthermore, this effect was selective because there was no change in expression of the differentiation markers ALK-P, DSPP, ZBTB16, and CD14. Histologic analyses demonstrated that the delivered cells expressed both CD105 and STRO-1, markers for a subpopulation of mesenchymal stem cells. Conclusions Collectively, these findings demonstrate that the evoked-bleeding step in regenerative procedures triggers the significant accumulation of undifferentiated stem cells into the canal space where these cells might contribute to the regeneration of pulpal tissues seen after antibiotic paste therapy of the immature tooth with pulpal necrosis.
Mammography use may partially mediate disparities in tumor size at diagnosis in women with social security disabilities.

ABSTRACT Objective: This study determined the association between screening mammography and tumor size at diagnosis in older women whose original reason for entitlement to Medicare benefits was disability (SSDI). Methods: A retrospective study of female Medicare beneficiaries older than 69 years diagnosed with breast cancer using Surveillance Epidemiological End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked database. Multiple linear regression techniques were used to determine the effect of screening mammography use on tumor size. Main Findings: The total number of women was 413 with SSDI and 8,989 without. Bivariate analysis showed that significantly fewer women with SSDI used screening mammography (45% vs. 38%, P = 0.0006) during the two years prior to diagnosis. Mean tumor size at diagnosis was 2.91 mm (95%, CI = 1.10, 4.73) larger in the group with SSDI. Conclusion: This study found that older women whose original reason for Medicare benefits was disability present with larger tumors at breast cancer diagnosis compa...
Nuclear DNA content of occult sclerosing and frank papillary carcinoma of the thyroid.

The nuclear DNA content was measured in 6 cases of so-called occult sclerosing papillary carcinoma of the thyroid, 5 cases of frank (clinically detectable) papillary carcinoma, and one borderline atypical papillary lesion. One hundred neoplastic cell nuclei were measured in each case. Most of the cases in both groups of papillary carcinoma had a nuclear DNA distribution with a stem-line in the near-diploid region. After correcting to normality by logarithmic transformation and adjusting for S-phase cells, the “corrected computed modal values” in the majority of the cases were significantly hypodiploid. In 3 cases, correction for S phase cells was not applicable because the modes were not discrete. There was a widely spread aneuploid DNA distribution.
The Math Gene: How Mathematical Thinking Evolved And Why Numbers Are Like Gossip

This work about maths and language is from the NPR commentator Keith Devlin. Why is maths so hard? And why, despite this difficulty, are some people so good at it? If there is some inborn capacity for mathematical thinking which there must be, otherwise no one could do it, why can't we all do it well? Keith Devlin has answers to all these difficult questions, and in giving them shows us how mathematical ability evolved, why it's a part of language ability, and how we can make better use of this innate talent. He also offers a theory of language development - that language evolved in two stages, and its main purpose was not communication. Devlin goes on to show that the ability to think mathematically arose out of the same symbol-manipulating ability that was so crucial to the emergence of true language. Why, then, can't we do maths as well as we can speak? The answer, says Devlin, is that we can and do, we just don't recognize when we're using mathematical reasoning.
TBP binding to the TATA box induces a specific downstream unwinding site that is targeted by pluramycin

Abstract Background : The TATA-binding protein (TBP) is one of the major components of the human TFIID multiprotein complex. It is important in directing the initiation of RNA transcription at a site immediately downstream of the TATA sequence (TATA box) found in many eukaryotic promoters. The crystal structure of TBP complexed with an oligonucleotide containing the TATA box revealed a protein with an approximate two-fold symmetry which apparently has symmetrical interactions with DNA. It is not known how an asymmetric effect involving downstream activation can be produced by an apparent symmetric complex. We set out to examine the state of DNA in the TBP-DNA complex using pluramycin, a small molecular weight probe of DNA accessibility. Results : Binding of TBP to the TATA box facilitates intercalation of pluramycin at a defined site immediately downstream of the TATA sequence through an apparent transient unwinding of the DNA. Pluramycin adducts are detected by the production of DNA strand breakage products upon heating. Incubation of pluramycin with the TBP-DNA complex facilitates the trapping of the specific complex by intercalation. Gel mobility shift and circularization assays reveal that the binding of pluramycin on the 3′-side of the TATA box region considerably stabilizes the TBP-DNA complex. Conclusions : We propose that the TBP-DNA-pluramycin ternary complex is a ‘specific' binding mode in which TBP and pluramycin make compensatory alterations in DNA, accounting for the improved stability of the ternary complex. We also propose a model of the ternary complex that explains the observed asymmetric effect of TBP binding to the TATA box.
Demography of two Mexican spotted owl populations

: The Mexican Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis lucida) is a threatened subspecies of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Although threatened, little is known about its population status. We studied the demography of the Mexican Spotted Owl in one study area in Arizona and one in New Mexico from 1991 to 1997. We estimated annual survival rates (φ), fecundity rates ( b), and abundance ( N) to test the hypothesis that population trends were stationary. Although annual fecundity rates ( for Arizona and 0.380 for New Mexico) and annual juvenile survival rates ( for Arizona and 0.109 for New Mexico) differed in magnitude between the study areas, they exhibited similar temporal patterns. Annual survival for territorial owls varied randomly in Arizona but declined linearly in New Mexico. Mean annual survival for territorial owls was 0.814 in Arizona and 0.832 for owls ≥3 years old and 0.644 for owls 1–2 years old in New Mexico. Based on survival and fecundity estimates, the annual rates of change (λ^) indicated that both populations were declining at ≥10% a year. These estimates were corroborated by observed declines in abundance. Some regional factor may have been affecting fecundity, whereas a combination of factors may have been affecting survival. Two possible reasons for the population declines are declines in habitat quality and regional trends in climate. Resumen: La lechuza moteada mexicana (Strix occidentalis lucida) es una subespecie amenazada del suroeste de los Estados Unidos y norte de Mexico. A pesar de estar amenazada, poco se conoce de la situacion de sus poblaciones. Estudiamos la demografia de la lechuza moteada mexicana de 1991 a 1997 en un area de estudio en Arizona y una en Nuevo Mexico. Estimamos las tasas de supervivencia anual (φ), las tasas de fecundidad ( b) y la abundancia ( N) para probar la hipotesis de que las tendencias poblacionales son estacionarias. Aunque las tasas de fecundidad anual ( para Arizona y 0.380 para Nuevo Mexico) y las tasas de supervivencia de juveniles ( para Arizona y 0.109 para Nuevo Mexico) difieren en magnitud entre las areas de estudio, estas exhibieron patrones temporales similares. La supervivencia anual para lechuzas territoriales varia de manera aleatoria en Arizona, pero declino linealmente en Nuevo Mexico. La media anual de supervivencia para lechuzas territoriales en Nuevo Mexico fue de 0.832 para lechuzas ≥3 anos de edad y 0.644 para lechuzas 1–2 anos de edad. En base a las estimaciones de supervivencia y fecundidad, las tasas anuales de cambio ( λ^) indicaron que ambas poblaciones estan declinando un 10% al ano. Estas estimaciones fueron corroboradas por disminuciones observadas en abundancia. Algunos factores regionales pueden haber afectado la fecundidad, mientras que la combinacion de factores pudo haber afectado la supervivencia. Dos posibles razones que podrian explicar estas disminuciones son la disminucion en calidad de habitat y las tendencias regionales del clima.