cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
In Vitro Measurement of Effects of Processing on Protein Nutritional Quality1

Effects of processing on protein structure and its nutritional consequences, and progress towards development of more rapid in vitro assays of nutritional quality are reviewed. Heat and/or alkali processing of proteins initiates Maillard and carbonylamine reactions, causes β-elimination of cystinyl and substituted seryl and threonyl residues, and causes racemization of certain residues. Depending on the extent of these reactions, as determined by the severity of processing conditions, resulting changes may adversely affect bioavailability. Chemical methods for assaying quality have been developed such as the "Chemical Score," which is based on amino acid analysis of acid hydrolysates, and methods for determining available lysine by reaction with FDNB. Recently a more rapid fluorometric method for measuring available lysine based on reaction with o-phthalaldehyde and mercaptoethanol was developed. Progress is also being made toward improvement of amino acid scores by replacing acid hydrolysis with total enzymic hydrolysis, which should be sensitive to chemical modifications of residues that are eliminated by acid hydrolysis. Reactors containing combinations of immobilized proteinases and peptidases are being characterized for this purpose. Some improvement of amino acid scores is also afforded by adjustments for protein digestibility. Studies of model digestive systems composed of immobilized gastric, pancreatic and intestinal mucosal proteinases and peptidases indicate that such systems may provide parameters reflecting bioavailability.
Creating a predictive model for parking on campus: nifty assignment

Students often complete assignments from which faculty hope they learn specific techniques and concepts. However, it is more difficult to design an assignment that involves the entire problem solving process. In a data warehousing class, a group of juniors and seniors completed a comprehensive project that created a statistical regression model to predict the number of cars in university parking lots. This data, and the model developed, could then be used to identify potential solutions to parking congestion on our campus.
Importance of measuring discharge and sediment transport in lesser tributaries when closing sediment budgets

Abstract Sediment budgets are an important tool for understanding how riverine ecosystems respond to perturbations. Changes in the quantity and grain size distribution of sediment within river systems affect the channel morphology and related habitat resources. It is therefore important for resource managers to know if a river reach is in a state of sediment accumulation, deficit or stasis. Many sediment-budget studies have estimated the sediment loads of ungaged tributaries using regional sediment-yield equations or other similar techniques. While these approaches may be valid in regions where rainfall and geology are uniform over large areas, use of sediment-yield equations may lead to poor estimations of loads in regions where rainfall events, contributing geology, and vegetation have large spatial and/or temporal variability. Previous estimates of the combined mean-annual sediment load of all ungaged tributaries to the Colorado River downstream from Glen Canyon Dam vary by over a factor of three; this range in estimated sediment loads has resulted in different researchers reaching opposite conclusions on the sign (accumulation or deficit) of the sediment budget for particular reaches of the Colorado River. To better evaluate the supply of fine sediment (sand, silt, and clay) from these tributaries to the Colorado River, eight gages were established on previously ungaged tributaries in Glen, Marble, and Grand canyons. Results from this sediment-monitoring network show that previous estimates of the annual sediment loads of these tributaries were too high and that the sediment budget for the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam is more negative than previously calculated by most researchers. As a result of locally intense rainfall events with footprints smaller than the receiving basin, floods from a single tributary in semi-arid regions can have large (≥ 10 ×) differences in sediment concentrations between equal magnitude flows. Because sediment loads do not necessarily correlate with drainage size, and may vary by two orders of magnitude on an annual basis, using techniques such as sediment-yield equations to estimate the sediment loads of ungaged tributaries may lead to large errors in sediment budgets.
Speciation Dynamics of the Fruit-Eating Bats (Genus Artibeus): With Evidence of Ecological Divergence in Central American Populations

An increasing number of studies have identified complex diversification patterns of Neotropical faunal groups. One example of such complexity is found in bats of the widely distributed and locally abundant Neotropical genus Artibeus, wherein both allopatric and hybrid speciation events have been hypothesized. However, conflicting hypotheses regarding the timescale of diversification for Artibeus exist, and therefore, temporal inferences of the speciation events within the genus remain in doubt. We examine hypotheses regarding the chronology of diversification events within Artibeus. Our results indicate the most parsimonious time of origin for the genus was during the late Miocene to early Pliocene, with multiple speciation events during the early Pleistocene. Considering this evolutionary timescale, we revisit a century-old systematic debate regarding the status of Central American populations known as Artibeus lituratus intermedius. We present nuclear genetic data that indicate intermedius is distinct from lituratus and hypothesize that this distinction was ecologically driven, likely involved sympatry and reinforcement, and occurred during the late Pleistocene or early Holocene. Collectively, the data from Artibeus indicate that multiple speciation processes underlie extant levels of diversity within the genus. Our analyses provide further evidence for complex origins of the Neotropical fauna and contribute to a greater understanding of the natural processes underlying the origin of species.
Review: In patients with a first VTE, extended testing for undiagnosed cancer does not reduce mortality

Source Citation Robertson L, Yeoh SE, Stansby G, Agarwal R. Effect of testing for cancer on cancer- and venous thromboembolism (VTE)-related mortality and morbidity in people with unprovoked VTE. C...
Analysis of Carbonyl Compounds in Ambient Air by a Microreactor Approach

Aldehydes including formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acrolein are toxic organic components of air pollution that cause lung cancer and cardiovascular disease with chronic exposure. The commonly used method for determining the levels of carbonyl compounds based on the derivatizing agent 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine is of limited use for ketones and unsaturated aldehydes because of issues such as low capture efficiencies, unstable derivatives, and long sample collection times. This work details the analysis of carbonyls in ambient air by a microreactor approach. The microreactor is fabricated on a silicon wafer and has thousands of micropillars in a microfluidic channel for uniformly distributing the air flow through the channel. The surfaces of the micropillars are coated with a quaternary ammonium aminooxy reagent, 2-(aminooxy)ethyl-N,N,N-trimethylammonium iodide (ATM), for chemoselective capture of carbonyl compounds by means of oximation reactions. ATM–carbonyl adducts are eluted from the microreactor and ...
Spreading, Penetration, and Capillary Flow in Metallic Systems

The thermodynamics of wetting and spreading in metallic systems has been more extensively studied during the last few years than the respective kinetic problems. Exceptions usually have been limited to studies of the dependence of contact angle upon relative movement between liquid and solid, in circumstances where this relative movement is slow and where a finite contact angle is stable at stationary equilibrium.
Network Structure Description and Analysis of Amine-Cured Epoxy Matrices

Epoxy polymers have emerged as the dominant form of matrix material employed in the manufacture of carbon fiber reinforced composite parts for load bearing structural applications. The variety of epoxy systems that are available, as well as the fact that their properties depend strongly on the network structure they form, has provided a strong motivation for studies on the description of the network.
Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin or Mitomycin C in the Treatment of Carcinoma in situ of the Bladder following Prior Pelvic Radiation Therapy

AbstractA total of 20 patients received intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) or mitomycin C for the treatment of carcinoma in situ following previous pelvic radiation therapy. Of the patients 14 (70%) responded completely after 1 or 2 courses of intravesical therapy. Mean followup from diagnosis of carcinoma in situ currently is 15.7 months. Complications of BCG and mitomycin C therapy were compared to the established complications of intravesical therapy with these agents. The incidences of fever greater than 103F, hematuria and bladder contracture were increased in patients receiving BCG following radiation therapy, although the cause of bladder contracture was probably multifactorial in our patient population. Our data suggest that BCG and mitomycin C are safe and biologically effective agents for the intravesical treatment of carcinoma in situ after pelvic radiation therapy.
Some Applications of the Ecosystem Approach to Environmental Problems and Resource Management

A new definition of ecology is proposed to overarch the schism between biotic and abiotic efforts. The ecosystem approach to ecological questions often emphasizes energy flow and nutrient flux and cycling, but incorporates much more within the concept. Ecosystem science has addressed difficult, large-scale questions such as estimates of regional weathering or atmospheric dry deposition.
Lambert-Eaton Syndrome

The Lambert-Eaton syndrome (LES) is an autoimmune presynaptic disorder of peripheral cholinergic neurotransmission characterized by proximal weakness and autonomic dysfunction. Approximately 60% of cases are associated with small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC), which can appear before or after the clinical manifestations of LES. The P-/Q-type voltage-gated calcium channel in motor nerve terminals, classified by structure and function as Cav2.1, is the presumptive target of antibodies that cause LES. Antigenically similar calcium channels are expressed in the surface membranes of SCLC tumor cells. When neuronal Cav2.1 channels are functionally impaired, nerve-stimulated quantal release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) is reduced. This lowers the safety margin for synaptic transmission at the neuromuscular junction and in certain autonomic nerve terminals, leading to weakness at rest that is temporarily improved by exertion, as well as xerostomia, impotence, and hypohidrosis. The diagnosis of LES is based on clinical manifestations, abnormalities on nerve conduction studies and EMG, and serological testing. Weakness predominately affects hip flexor muscles but can be generalized. Nerve conduction studies classically demonstrate low-amplitude compound muscle action potentials at rest with facilitation induced by exercise or by high-frequency repetitive stimulation. Needle EMG testing typically demonstrates small varying motor unit potentials without fibrillations. P-/Q-type voltage-gated calcium channel antibodies are detected in serum in more than 90% of LES patients. Treatment of weakness is symptomatic, with agents that improve the safety margin of neuromuscular transmission (e.g., 3,4-diaminopyridine in combination with pyridostigmine) and immunosuppressant therapy, and is cancer-directed in paraneoplastic cases.
Direct: Deep Discriminative Embedding for Clustering of Ligo Data

In this paper, benefiting from the strong ability of deep neural network in estimating non-linear functions, we propose a discriminative embedding function to be used as a feature extractor for clustering tasks. The trained embedding function transfers knowledge from the domain of a labeled set of morphologically-distinct images, known as classes, to a new domain within which new classes can potentially be isolated and identified. Our target application in this paper is the Gravity Spy Project, which is an effort to characterize transient, non-Gaussian noise present in data from the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, or LIGO. Accumulating large, labeled sets of noise features and identifying of new classes of noise lead to a better understanding of their origin, which makes their removal from the data and/or detectors possible.
Intimate relationship dynamics and women's expected control over sex and contraception.

Abstract Objective We examined whether women’s experiences across and within their intimate relationships affect their expected level of control over sex and contraceptive use. Study design We used data from 648 women ages 18–20 in the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) study, which interviewed a random, population-based sample in a Michigan county. We used ordered logistic regression with fixed-effects to control for individual- and relationship-level characteristics. Results We found a u-shaped relationship between intimacy/commitment and expected control, with the lowest expected control in the least intimate/committed and the most intimate/committed relationships, and the highest expected control in the intermediate relationships. Women expected more control in their long-term compared to short-term relationships, and expected control increases over time in a specific relationship. Women also expected less control in their conflictual and/or asymmetric relationships – those with older and/or violent partners, and expected control decreases after experiencing violence or a partner’s non-monogamy. Conclusions Our results are consistent with cross-sectional research suggesting that women in violent relationships experience more reproductive coercion than women in non-violent relationships, but we also found that other aspects of intimate relationships are important determinants of expected control over sex and contraception. Implications Intervention strategies should consider a wider range of intimate relationship characteristics – beyond violence – to improve women’s control of their reproductive behaviors.
A fast Gauss transform in one dimension using sum-of-exponentials approximations.

We present a fast Gauss transform in one dimension using nearly optimal sum-of-exponentials approximations of the Gaussian kernel. For up to about ten-digit accuracy, the approximations are obtained via best rational approximations of the exponential function on the negative real axis. As compared with existing fast Gauss transforms, the algorithm is straightforward for parallelization and very simple to implement, with only twenty-four lines of code in MATLAB. The most expensive part of the algorithm is on the evaluation of complex exponentials, leading to three to six complex exponentials FLOPs per point depending on the desired precision. The performance of the algorithm is illustrated via several numerical examples.
Study of Triple Negative Breast Cancer and Lymph Node Involvement Among Eastern Indian Patients- An Institutional Experience

ABSTRACT Background Breast Cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Indian women. Recent reports from India suggest a significant increase in the incidence of Estrogen and Progesterone receptor negative (ER-/PR-) breast cancer. Recently the targeted therapies improving the prognosis, so, know about receptor status becoming important. Yet very little is known about the specific histological subtypes or receptor status of breast cancer in women of eastern India. So a hospital based study was undertaken. Objectives This study was conducted to understand the frequency of occurrence of specific breast cancer subtypes and risk factors associated with the age, histologic subtypes among the patients and find the clinical features in relation to receptor status. Methods 224 breast cancer patients, who are operated during the period of Mar 2009 to Nov 2011 from our cancer hospital, were selected for the study. Personal history (i.e. Age, age of Menarche and menopause status etc), case report and histopathology report were analyzed. Statistical analysis was performed using Software SPSS version 16.0 Results Average age of the Patients 46.9 ± 1.32 Invasive- Ductal 66.51% Invasive- Lobular 10.71% Others (Fibrodenoma, infiltrating duct carcinoma etc.) 22.76% Tumor Grade Grade I 13.83% Grade II 54.46 % Grade III 31.69% Average Lymph Node Size 1.85 c.m ± 0.09 ER-/PR- Breast Cancer 45.53% ER-/PR-/Her2neu- (Triple Negative) 23.21% Average lymph node number of Triple negative cancer patients 12 ±0.54 Among the triple negative patients average age 44.9 ± 3.24 Average lymph node number of without Triple negative cancer patients 5.71 ±0.44 Her2neu+ 56.25% Conclusions Invasive Ductal carcinoma is very common among the eastern Indian patients. Maximum patients contains Garde II tumor. Among ER, PR negative breast cancer patient 50% does not possess Her2Neu receptor (triple negative). The Triple negative cancer patients contain a significantly high number of Lymph node (p Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Feeding Guidelines for Infants Following Intestinal Surgery.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to determine the cost-effectiveness of postoperative feeding guidelines to reduce complications in infants with intestinal surgery compared to standard feeding practices. METHODS Using outcomes from a cohort study, Markov models from health care and societal perspectives simulated costs per hospitalization among infants fed via guidelines versus standard practice. Short-term outcomes included intestinal failure-associated liver disease, necrotizing enterocolitis after feeding, sepsis, and mortality. Effectiveness was measured as length of stay. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) compared cost over length of stay. Univariate and multivariate probabilistic sensitivity analyses with 10,000 Monte Carlo Simulations were performed. A second decision tree model captured the cost per quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) using utilities associated with long-term outcomes (liver cirrhosis and transplantation). RESULTS In the hospital perspective, standard feeding had a cost of $31,258,902 and 8296 hospital days, and the feeding guidelines had a cost of $29,295,553 and 8096 hospital days. The ICER was $-9832 per hospital stay with guideline use. More than 90% of the ICERs were in the dominant quadrant. Results were similar for the societal perspective. Long-term costs and utilities in the guideline group were $2830 and 0.91, respectively, versus $4030 and 0.90, resulting in an ICER of $-91,756/QALY. CONCLUSION In our models, feeding guideline use resulted in cost savings and reduction in hospital stay in the short-term and cost savings and an increase in QALYs in the long-term. Using a systematic approach to feed surgical infants appears to reduce costly complications, but further data from a larger cohort are needed.
Distributed and Asynchronous Active Fault Management for Networked Microgrids

A distributed and asynchronous active fault management (DA-AFM) method is developed to manage networked microgrids’ (NMs) performance under balanced or unbalanced grid faults. The DA-AFM aims to (1) enable NMs’ fast fault ride-through capabilities, (2) limit the total fault contributions by coordinating heterogeneous microgrids in the NM system, and (3) deploy software-defined networks (SDN) to ensure highly resilient AFM. The problem is formulated in an optimization form that can incorporate various fault management objectives and constraints in a programmable and flexible fashion. The scalability and resiliency of the DA-AFM system are guaranteed by adopting an SDN-enabled distributed and asynchronous surrogate Lagrangian relaxation (DA-SLR) algorithm, which avoids single point of failure, preserves privacy, and eliminates the idle waiting of other subproblems. Case studies are performed on a six-microgrid NM system to validate the effectiveness and efficacy of DA-AFM. Testing results show that DA-AFM has excellent convergence performance, supports plug-and-play, is resilient to communication delay and failures, meets real-time requirements and is scalable.
Perceived discrimination, emotion dysregulation and loss of control eating in young men.

Abstract Experiences with discrimination may account, in part, for race-related disparities in obesity. Yet, there is minimal understanding of the link between perceived discrimination and health behaviors that contribute to obesity. This study examined the link between perceived discrimination and loss of control (LOC) eating in 798 African American, Asian/Asian American, and Hispanic/Latino men (18–30y; M = 24.0 ± 3.6). Emotion dysregulation was examined as a moderator. Participants completed an online survey assessing perceived discrimination; emotion dysregulation; and LOC eating frequency in the last 28 days. Negative binomial regression models were conducted within each racial/ethnic group, as each group completed different measures of perceived discrimination. In Hispanic/Latino men, perceived ethnic discrimination was positively associated with LOC eating frequency (p
A cyclic plasticity model for metal-matrix-composites using an anisotropic yield surface

ABSTRACT A cyclic plasticity model is proposed here to predict the behavior of directionally reinforced metal matrix composites. A six parameter general anisotropic yield criterion is proposed and used here. This anisotropic plasticity model uses a non-associative flow rule, a kinematic hardening rule of Phillips type and the usage of a modified form of the bounding surface to model cyclic behavior. Also a new form for evaluating the plastic modulus for anisotropic materials is proposed here. The experimental data of Dvorak et. al. (1988) and Nigam et. al. (1993) have been used in the evaluation of the various parameters, and for comparison of results.
Model predictive control of microgrids for real-time ancillary service market participation

Abstract This study develops two model predictive control approaches to optimize microgrid dispatch, one with participation in real-time ancillary service markets and the other without participation. Results are compared to a baseline logic-based control with case study data taken from a grid-tied 326 kW solar photovoltaic, 634 kW/634 kWh battery, and 350 kW diesel generator microgrid portfolio designed to serve an office building. Annual performance evaluations show that model predictive control algorithms can reduce operating expenses by up to 13.73% when compared to logic-based controls, and through participation in ancillary service markets, model predictive control can reduce net operating expenses by up to 23.47%. Revenue from ancillary service equated to 12.03% of operating costs, with approximately two-thirds of revenue from spinning reserve and one-third from non-spinning reserve. Model predictive control with ancillary services maintained battery state of charge an average of 38.78% higher than batteries dispatched by model predictive control without market participation. This reduced battery cycling losses, minimized battery operation and maintenance expenses, and improved battery lifetime. Sensitivity analyses indicate that model predictive control with more granular time steps and longer prediction horizons changes the dispatch schedule to further reduce operating costs. Intraday simulations indicate that both model predictive control algorithms can adapt to differences in environmental conditions and pricing signals to minimize operational costs. This generalizable finding suggests the inherent modularity, scalability, and robustness of the proposed algorithms can benefit a variety of microgrid configurations and use cases.
Editorial Comment on "Diagnostic Accuracy of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT for Initial Detection in Patients With Suspected Prostate Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis".

This Editorial Comment discusses the following AJR article: Diagnostic accuracy of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT for initial detection in patients with suspected prostate cancer: A systematic review and meta-an...
Tráfico de saberes: Agencia femenina, hechicería e Inquisición en Cartagena de Indias (1610-1614)

In Trafico de saberes, Ana Maria Diaz Burgos offers an interdisciplinary close reading of the only trial for sorcery in Cartagena de Indias known to have survived in the Inquisition archives. The t...
Competitive Exclusion and Metabolic Dependency among Microorganisms Structure the Cellulose Economy of an Agricultural Soil

Microorganisms that degrade cellulose utilize extracellular reactions that yield free by-products which can promote interactions with noncellulolytic organisms. We hypothesized that these interactions determine the ecological and physiological traits governing the fate of cellulosic carbon (C) in soil. We performed comparative genomics with genome bins from a shotgun metagenomic-stable isotope probing experiment to characterize the attributes of cellulolytic and noncellulolytic taxa accessing 13C from cellulose. We hypothesized that cellulolytic taxa would exhibit competitive traits that limit access, while noncellulolytic taxa would display greater metabolic dependency, such as signatures of adaptive gene loss. We tested our hypotheses by evaluating genomic traits indicative of competitive exclusion or metabolic dependency, such as antibiotic production, growth rate, surface attachment, biomass degrading potential, and auxotrophy. The most 13C-enriched taxa were cellulolytic Cellvibrio (Gammaproteobacteria) and Chaetomium (Ascomycota), which exhibited a strategy of self-sufficiency (prototrophy), rapid growth, and competitive exclusion via antibiotic production. Auxotrophy was more prevalent in cellulolytic Actinobacteria than in cellulolytic Proteobacteria, demonstrating differences in dependency among cellulose degraders. Noncellulolytic taxa that accessed 13C from cellulose (Planctomycetales, Verrucomicrobia, and Vampirovibrionales) were also more dependent, as indicated by patterns of auxotrophy and 13C labeling (i.e., partial labeling or labeling at later stages). Major 13C-labeled cellulolytic microbes (e.g., Sorangium, Actinomycetales, Rhizobiales, and Caulobacteraceae) possessed adaptations for surface colonization (e.g., gliding motility, hyphae, attachment structures) signifying the importance of surface ecology in decomposing particulate organic matter. Our results demonstrated that access to cellulosic C was accompanied by ecological trade-offs characterized by differing degrees of metabolic dependency and competitive exclusion.IMPORTANCE Our study reveals the ecogenomic traits of microorganisms participating in the cellulose economy of soil. We identified three major categories of participants in this economy: (i) independent primary degraders, (ii) interdependent primary degraders, and (iii) secondary consumers (mutualists, opportunists, and parasites). Trade-offs between independent primary degraders, whose adaptations favor antagonism and competitive exclusion, and interdependent and secondary degraders, whose adaptations favor complex interspecies interactions, are expected to affect the fate of microbially processed carbon in soil. Our findings provide useful insights into the ecological relationships that govern one of the planet's most abundant resources of organic carbon. Furthermore, we demonstrate a novel gradient-resolved approach for stable isotope probing, which provides a cultivation-independent, genome-centric perspective into soil microbial processes.
Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Guidelines from the VA/DoD.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Department of Defense published guidelines for the primary care management of COPD.
Chronic exposure to odors at naturally occurring concentrations triggers limited plasticity in early stages of Drosophila olfactory processing

ABSTRACT In insects and mammals, chronic exposure to odors at high concentrations in early life alters olfactory function, but the role of odor experience-dependent plasticity in more naturalistic contexts is less clear. We investigated olfactory plasticity in the Drosophila antennal lobe by exposing flies to odors at concentrations that are typically encountered in natural odor sources. These stimuli also strongly and selectively activated only a single class of olfactory receptor neuron (ORN) input, facilitating the investigation of input-specific plasticity. Overall, chronic exposure to three such odors elicited limited plasticity in the odor responses of second-order projection neurons (PNs). Exposure to some odors elicited mild increases in PN responses to weak stimuli, extending the lower bound of the dynamic range of PN signaling. When present, plasticity was observed broadly in multiple PN types and thus was not selective for PNs receiving direct input from the chronically active ORNs. Chronic E2-hexenal exposure did not affect PN intrinsic properties, local inhibitory innervation, ORN responses, or ORN-PN synaptic strength, but modestly increased broad lateral excitation evoked by some odors. These results show that PN odor coding is only mildly affected by strong persistent activation of a single olfactory input and highlight the stability of early stages of insect olfactory processing to significant perturbations in the sensory environment.
Adjustment in an Open Economy with Two Exchange-Rate Regimes

Abstract This paper examines adjustment in a model with three economies, two exchange-rate regimes, and varying capital mobility. In the benchmark scenario, the U.S. dollar fluctuates against the euro and the Chinese yuan, but capital mobility is high in the former and low in the latter case. This generates offsetting exchange-rate adjustments, which affect the efficacy of U.S. fiscal policy. In the next two scenarios, the yuan is fixed against the dollar. Rate pegging by a large country like China “interferes” with U.S. macro adjustment and undermines U.S. policy autonomy.
Effects of nicotine on local cerebral glucose utilization in the rat

We used the autoradiographic 2-deoxy-D-[1-14C]glucose (14C-DG) method of Sokoloff to identify brain areas with altered rates of local cerebral glucose utilization (LCGU) in vivo in response to peripheral I-nicotine administration (0.1, 0.3, 1.0, and 1.75 mg/kg, s.c.). Nicotine stimulated LCGU primarily in areas reported to contain nicotine binding sites, indicating that the sites are true receptors. Increases in LCGU of 100% or more over control were obtained in the medial habenula, fasciculus retroflexus, superior colliculus, and median eminence. Substantial stimulation (50-100% increases) also was obtained in the cerebellar vermis, interpeduncular nucleus, and anteroventral and interanteromedial thalamic nuclei. Moderate increases (20-50%) were observed in the reticular nucleus of the medulla, paramedian lobule, nucleus of the spinal tract of the trigeminal nerve, presubiculum, subiculum, red nucleus, ventral tegmental area, substantia nigra, nucleus ambiguus, nucleus tractus solitarius, dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus, mammillothalamic tract, and fornix. The greatest stimulation in most affected areas was obtained with 0.3 mg/kg nicotine administered at 2 min, but not longer, before 14C-DG. Effects of nicotine on LCGU were antagonized by mecamylamine. The findings indicate that the interaction of nicotine with specific binding sites is coupled to cerebral energy metabolism. The distribution of in vivo cerebral metabolic effects of nicotine implicates various brain regions in the behavioral and physiological effects of nicotine.
Exploiting execution context for the detection of anomalous system calls

Attacks against privileged applications can be detected by analyzing the stream of system calls issued during process execution. In the last few years, several approaches have been proposed to detect anomalous system calls. These approaches are mostly based on modeling acceptable system call sequences. Unfortunately, the techniques proposed so far are either vulnerable to certain evasion attacks or are too expensive to be practical. This paper presents a novel approach to the analysis of system calls that uses a composition of dynamic analysis and learning techniques to characterize anomalous system call invocations in terms of both the invocation context and the parameters passed to the system calls. Our technique provides a more precise detection model with respect to solutions proposed previously, and, in addition, it is able to detect data modification attacks, which cannot be detected using only system call sequence analysis.
Enhancement-Mode Buried-Channel $\hbox{In}_{0.7} \hbox{Ga}_{0.3}\hbox{As/In}_{0.52}\hbox{Al}_{0.48}\hbox{As}$ MOSFETs With High- $\kappa$ Gate Dielectrics

The operation of long- and short-channel enhancement-mode In0.7Ga0.3As-channel MOSFETs with high-k gate dielectrics are demonstrated for the first time. The devices utilize an undoped buried-channel design. For a gate length of 5 mum, the long-channel devices have Vt= +0.25 V, a subthreshold slope of 150 mV/dec, an equivalent oxide thickness of 4.4 +/ - 0.3 nm, and a peak effective mobility of 1100 cm2/Vldrs. For a gate length of 260 nm, the short-channel devices have Vt=+0.5 V and a subthreshold slope of 200 mV/dec. Compared with Schottky-gated high-electron-mobility transistor devices, both long- and short-channel MOSFETs have two to four orders of magnitude lower gate leakage.
Nonvanishing of Fourier coefficients of modular forms

Let f = Σ∞n=1 a f (n)q n be a cusp form with integer weight k > 2 that is not a linear combination of forms with complex multiplication. For n > 1, let i f (n):= max{i: a f (n + j) = 0 for all 0 < j < i}. Improving on work of Balog, Ono, and Serre we show that i f (n) << f,Φ Φ(n) for almost all n, where Φ(x) is any good function (e.g. such as log log(x)) monotonically tending to infinity with x. Using a result of Fouvry and Iwaniec, if f is a weight 2 cusp form for an elliptic curve without complex multiplication, then we show for all n that i f (n) << f,e n 69/169 +e. We also obtain conditional results depending on the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis and the Lang-Trotter Conjecture.
Maternal and infant health of Mexican immigrants in the USA: the effects of acculturation, duration, and selective return migration.

Background. A significant body of research on minority health shows that while Hispanic immigrants experience unexpectedly favorable outcomes in maternal and infant health, their advantage deteriorates with increased time of residence in the USA. This is referred to as the ‘acculturation paradox.’ Objective. We assess the ‘acculturation paradox’ hypothesis that attributes this deterioration in birth and child health outcomes to negative effects of acculturation and behavioral adjustments made by immigrants while living in the USA, and investigate the potential for the existence of a selective return migration. Design. We use a sample of Mexican immigrant women living in two Midwestern communities in the USA to analyze the effects of immigrant duration and acculturation on birth outcomes once controlling for social, behavioral, and environmental determinants of health status. These results are verified by conducting a similar analysis with a nationally representative sample of Mexican immigrants. Results. ...
Pressure Prediction Technology of the Deep Strata Based on BP Neural Network

. The accurate prediction of strata pressure is the base for safely, quality and efficiently drilling, decreasing hole problems and reasonable development of the reservoir. Because of the high cost, long cycle of the formation pressure measured method, which may influence the safety of drilling operation, thus a new method for predicting strata pressure, based on the BP neural network, is presented in this paper, and establishing process of the neural network forecast model are discussed in detail. This method takes the acoustic time, natural potential, natural gamma ray log data and pipe pressure test data as study sample, which has a very high accuracy. The paper predicts strata pressure of the Saertu oil field and Xingshugang oil field in Daqing, and the results show that relative error between the predicted data and experimental data is less than ±8.9%.
Dynamic modularity: A distributed decision mechanism in system of systems

Effective use of modularity in distributed systems is a key to accommodate complexity arising from having multiple stakeholder requirements and increased environmental uncertainties and facilitates efficient dynamic resource allocation of the system. In this paper, a formal framework that links various classes of systems modularity to distributed decision complexities is presented by formulating modularity as an emergent phenomenon rising from environmental heterogeneity. The work also demonstrates behavioral and mathematical formulation of the problem as well as agent-based simulation of sample networked systems to verify the results.
A Method for Architecting Product Platforms

Consider a group of products sharing common parts and assemblies. The products in question we call a product family, and the common elements, the platform. In this paper, we present a method for designing product platforms and the derived family that takes into consideration both the technical performance requirements as well as the cost of the product family. The design of a platform-based product family is formulated as a general optimization problem in which the advantages of designing a common platform must be balanced against the constraints of the individual product variants and constraints of the family as a whole. This optimization approach forms the basis for a practical implementation as an interactive, team-based negotiation model for designing a family of interplanetary spacecraft based on a common platform. The approach is used to consider and specify different subsystems that could be made common to all the missions. It is also used to evaluate the impact of those platform design decisions on the performance of the product family, and thus be able to select from among feasible platform designs.
Influence of soil type and storage conditions on sensory qualities of fresh‐cut cantaloupe (Cucumis melo)

On-farm cantaloupe (Cucumis melo) production as well as fresh-cut storage duration can affect postharvest fruit sensory attributes. Both effects of soil type during production of cantaloupe fruits and storage temperature after fresh-cut processing on sensory flavour and texture attributes were determined. Melons grown in sandy loam vs heavy clay soil were lower in sweet aromatic and sweet taste and higher in moisture release and fermented flavour. Fruity/melon, sweet aromatic, surface wetness, hardness and moisture release attributes decreased while fermented and sour flavour increased during storage regardless of soil type. During storage an increase in peroxidase activity occurred in fruits produced in sandy loam soil but decreased in fruits produced in clay soil. Clay soil appeared to have some advantages over sandy loam soil in producing cantaloupe fruits with better sensory quality attributes. Storage temperature conditions in this experiment (4 °C for 10 days or 4 °C for 4 days plus 10 °C for 6 days) did not have a statistically significant effect on these sensory attributes. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry
Caenorhabditis elegans and the study of gene function in parasites

The free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a tractable experimental model system for the study of both vertebrate and invertebrate biology. Its most significant advantages are its simplicity, both in anatomy and in genomic organization, and the elaborate methods that have been developed to attribute function to previously uncharacterized genes. Importantly, >40% of parasitic nematode genes exhibit high levels of homology to genes within the C. elegans genome. Studying such genes using the C. elegans model should yield new insights into key molecules and their possible implications in parasite survival, leading to the discovery of new drug targets and vaccine candidates.
Two-photon Absorption Cross-section Measurements in Common Laser Dyes at 1·06 μm

Using a comparative fluorescence method, two-photon absorption cross-sections at 1·06 w m for seven common laser dyes were measured with a moderate power, Q-switched Nd: YAG laser and an intracavity second harmonic generator. The dyes were Rhodamines (560, 590, 610 and 640), DODCI, DCM and Oxazine 725. Using a new method for a direct determination of the Rayleigh length of the focused incident laser beam, all the parameters needed for the experimental determination of the two-photon absorption cross-section are discussed and independently determined by measurements.
Polarized single crystal reflection spectra of auramine perchlorate

Abstract Polarized specular reflection spectra have been obtained for three natural faces and one cleavage face of crystalline auramine perchlorate. These spectra are interpreted in terms of known solution properties through the development of a model for the orientation of the cationic dye species in the crystal and the application of classical dispersion theory. The crystal model has been further substantiated through the study of the variation of the principal directions with wavelength on each face. Various applications of reflection spectroscopy illustrated or suggested by the present work are discussed.
Drug user settings: a crack house typology

Both lay persons and members of the scientific community have come to view the inner-city crack house as a facility where drug dealers and crack addicts sell, buy, and use crack cocaine. It is sugg...
Update on pediatric dermatologic surgery from tots to teens.

Purpose of reviewChildren and their parents typically present to pediatricians to discuss treatment options for melanocytic nevi, nevus sebaceus, port-wine stains, and hemangiomas. Each of these conditions may be medically managed, but in some situations surgical intervention may be preferable.Recen
Diagnosis and treatment of genitofemoral and ilioinguinal neuralgia.

During the past 8 years, a total of 36 patients were diagnosed as having either ilioinguinal or genitofemoral neuralgia. A multidisciplinary approach (surgeon, neurologist, anesthesiologist) as well as local blocks of the ilioinguinal nerve or paravertebral blocks of L1,2 were essential to determine which nerve was likely to be entrapped. Seventeen of the 19 patients having a diagnosis of ilioinguinal neuralgia after previous inguinal herniorraphy were completely free of pain after resection of the entrapped portion of the nerve. Seventeen patients were diagnosed as having genitofemoral neuralgia after previous inguinal herniorraphy, blunt abdominal trauma, or another operation. Neurectomy of the genitofemoral nerve proximal to the entrapment controlled the persistent pain in 12 of 17 of these patients. Ilioinguinal or genitofemoral nerve entrapment neuralgias are rare complications of operations in the inguinal region. When the diagnosis is made by a multidisciplinary approach, neurectomy is frequently successful in relieving severe pain and paresthesias without serious morbidity.
Improvement in survival among HIV-infected individuals in the Republic of Korea: Need for an early HIV diagnosis

There is little information describing survival in HIV-infected patients after primary diagnosis in Korea, and changes in survival over time. This study investigated survival times, survival characteristics, and changes in survival after initial HIV diagnosis. Survival was characterized by evaluation of the immune status at primary HIV diagnosis nationwide. A total of 5,323 HIV-infected individuals were registered with the government and followed until the end of 2007. Survival following HIV diagnosis was estimated based on epidemiological characteristics. We examined 3,369 individuals with available initial CD4+ T-cell counts within 6 months of HIV diagnosis to estimate survival based on immune status at diagnosis. The association between epidemiological variables and survival times was analyzed with univariate and multivariate Cox's proportional hazards model. Individuals died during the study period (n = 980), and 45% of the individuals died within 6 months of HIV diagnosis. The median survival following HIV diagnosis was 16.7 years. Survival were longer in women, in younger persons, in individuals diagnosed at blood centers, and in individuals diagnosed later in the study period. Survival were shortest in individuals with CD4+ T-cell counts <200 cells/mm3 at HIV diagnosis. These results suggest that early HIV diagnosis in Korea is imperative to increase survival and to promote the quality of life for HIV-infected individuals with governmental support. The median survival time of HIV-infected individuals following HIV diagnosis was 16.7 years in Korea. The survival was significantly lower in individuals with CD4+ T-cell counts <200 cells/mm3 at HIV diagnosis and higher by introduction of drugs and development of therapy.
The Case of Vipul Bhrigu and the Federal Definition of Research Misconduct

The Office of Research Integrity found in 2011 that Vipul Bhrigu, a postdoctoral researcher who sabotaged a colleague's research materials, was guilty of misconduct. However, I argue that this judgment is ill-considered and sets a problematic precedent for future cases. I first discuss the current federal definition of research misconduct and representative cases of research misconduct. Then, because this case recalls a debate from the 1990s over what the definition of "research misconduct" ought to be, I briefly recapitulate that history and reconsider the Bhrigu case in light of that history and in comparison to other cases involving tampering. Finally, I consider what the aim of a definition of research misconduct ought to be, and argue that the precedent set by the reasoning in this case is problematic.
Stem cell–derived erythroid cells mediate long-term systemic protein delivery

We demonstrate here the capacity of erythroid cells to mediate long-term, systemic and therapeutic protein delivery in vivo. By targeting human factor IX (hFIX) expression to late-stage erythropoiesis, we achieve long-term hFIX secretion at levels significantly higher (>tenfold) than those obtained with an archetypal ubiquitous promoter in a mouse model of hemophilia B. Erythroid cell-derived hFIX is biologically active, resulting in phenotypic correction of the bleeding disorder. In addition to achieving high expression levels and resistance to transcriptional silencing, red cell-mediated protein delivery offers multiple advantages including immune tolerance induction, reduction of the risk of insertional oncogenesis and relative ease of application by either engrafting transduced hematopoietic stem cells or transfusing ex vivo-generated, stem cell-derived erythroid cells.