cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
How Much Pre-Polarization is Ideal for Fixed-Charge MD Simulations?

A fixed-charge MD force field by definition requires a compromise in the electrostatic model used. For example, amino acids in the hydrophobic core of a protein are modeled with the same partial charges as amino acids on its water-exposed surface. In the case of the widely used AMBER ff94 force field (and its descendants), these charges were derived using a relatively low-quality gas phase ab initio model. This model was chosen because it yielded charges that were systematically overpolarized and therefore thought to be representative of condensed phase charges. By contrast, the new AMBER ff13 force field is based on charges derived using a high-quality ab initio method in an aqueous environment. While this model is no doubt more consistent and likely more accurate than the previous one, it is unclear if this amount of charge polarization is the best compromise for biomolecular simulations. In this work we investigate several charge models derived in various dielectric environments to determine which model(s) might offer the best overall accuracy across a wide range of experimental observables. After optimizing the van der Waals parameters for each model, we find that we are able to achieve satisfactory agreement with experimental enthalpy of vaporization and density data using any of these charge models. Upon examining other observables (e.g., solvation free energy, dielectric constants, etc.) not used in the optimization process, however, we find that the highest overall accuracies are obtained using charge models with dielectric environments characteristic of polar solvents.
NEUROHORMONES OF MOLLUSCA

of the occurrence of neurosecretory sub? stances in axons was also made by Scharrer on Pleurobranchaea. It is now generally recognized that neurosecretory substances are formed in the cell body of a neuron and are carried by axoplasmic flow to the terminals for storage and release. In a series of papers, Gabe (1949, 1951, 1953a and b, 1954, 1955) reported finding neurosecretory cells in a wide variety of molluscs, including a scaphopod, some 25 species of prosobranchs, 35 species of opis? thobranchs, and representatives of four orders of lamellibranchs. No one, to my knowledge, has yet found neurosecretory cells in amphineura or cephalopods, and, thus far, a properly fixed specimen of the monoplacophoran, Neopilina, has not fallen into the hands of a neurosecretion enthusiast.
Transmural coronary vasodilator reserve, and flow distribution during tachycardia in conscious young swine with right ventricular hypertrophy.

Regional distribution of myocardial blood flow (MBF) was examined in eight normal and nine pulmonary artery banded (PAB) pigs before and during pacing induced tachycardia (heart rates: 175, 225 and 275 beats·min−1) as well as during iv adenosine infusion (1.5 mg·kg−1·min−1; maximal coronary vasodilatation) using radionuclide labelled 15 μm diameter microspheres that were injected into the left atrium. It was observed that MBF per unit myocardial mass in the hypertrophied right ventricle (RV) of PAB pigs was similar to that in the RV of normal pigs. Also, minimal coronary vascular resistance per unit myocardial mass was similar between the two groups of pigs for RV as well as left ventricle (LV). This suggests that the increase in RV myocardial mass of young PAB swine was attended by appropriate adjustments in functional cross-sectional area of the RV coronary vascular bed. Despite similarity of maximal coronary vasodilator capacity in the two groups of swine, during pacing induced tachycardia MBF in the hypertrophied RV subendocardium as well as the right and middle layers of the interventricular septum in PAB pigs increased to a significantly lower level than in normal pigs and the RV endo:epi perfusion ratio, unlike in normal pigs, decreased to near unity. Increments in transmural LV MBF of PAB pigs were also attenuated during pacing at 225 and 275 beats·min−1 but the LV endo:epi perfusion ratio for the two groups of pigs remained similar. These findings suggest a possible overall depression of myocardial function in PAB swine.
7 S RNA: A single site substrate for the RNA processing enzyme ribonuclease E of Escherichia coli

7 S RNA accumulates at non-permissive temperatures in an RNAase E strain containing the recombinant plasmid pJR3 delta which carries a single 5 S rRNA gene and expression sequences. 7 S RNA is a processing intermediate that contains the complete sequence of 5 S rRNA as well as a stem-and-loop structure encoded by the terminator of rrnD. 7 S RNA can be processed in vitro by RNAase E. Structural analysis of the products (5 S rRNA and the stem) of in vitro processing of 7 S RNA revealed that the cleavage site of RNAase E in 7 S RNA is 3 nucleotides downstream from the 3' end of the mature 5 S rRNA. The cleavage generates 3'-hydroxyl and 5'-phosphate termini.
Apparent thermal conductivity, water content, density, and porosity of thermally-processed ground chicken patties

Changes in thermal conductivity, density, and porosity during heating were evaluated for commercially manufactured ground chicken breast patties in a temperature range of 23 to 85C. The thermal conductivity of the meat, heated in a closed container, decreased approximately 8% with increasing temperature. In a separate test series, where water was free to leave the meat during cooking, the water content decreased approximately 15% over the same temperature range. The thermal conductivity of the meat was modeled as a quadratic function of temperature. Changes in the water content were modeled as a linear function of temperature. The solid density increased approximately 6%, and the porosity more than doubled with a temperature increase from 23 to 85C.
Applied variance reduction - some concepts and examples

Given virtually infinite computational speed and resources - in terms of both people and machines - we would all carefully structure deterministic methods. The absence of such capabilities is what motivates Monte Carlo simulation; it should not, however, cause us to abandon systemic approaches. Unfortunately, in most applications of Monte Carlo simulation, the judicious selection of sampling techniques is ignored, often at great expense. In addressing this point, the “benchmark” solution to an apparently simple (but delusive) problem provides a method of gauging the merits of some basic sampling tactics. Parallel synchronous techniques substantially reduce the sample size needed to compare alternatives on a relative basis but do little for absolute measures. On the other hand, perfecting the distribution of a short-term sequence of psuedorandom numbers can meaningfully improve the rate of convergence of estimates of the mean. These techniques can also contribute to the efficiency of large simulation models and find utility in (strict) Monte Carlo applications.
Nitrogen recycling from fuel-extracted algal biomass: Residuals as the sole nitrogen source for culturing Scenedesmus acutus

Abstract In this study, the reuse of nitrogen from fuel-extracted algal residues was investigated. The alga Scenedesmus acutus was found to be able to assimilate nitrogen contained in amino acids, yeast extracts, and proteinaceous alga residuals. Moreover, these alternative nitrogen resources could replace nitrate in culturing media. The ability of S. acutus to utilize the nitrogen remaining in processed algal biomass was unique among the promising biofuel strains tested. This alga was leveraged in a recycling approach where nitrogen is recovered from algal biomass residuals that remain after lipids are extracted and carbohydrates are fermented to ethanol. The protein-rich residuals not only provided an effective nitrogen resource, but also contributed to a carbon “heterotrophic boost” in subsequent culturing, improving overall biomass and lipid yields relative to the control medium with only nitrate. Prior treatment of the algal residues with Diaion HP20 resin was required to remove compounds inhibitory to algal growth.
The molecular species of phosphatidic acid, diacylglycerol and phosphatidylcholine synthesized from sn-glycerol 3-phosphate in rat lung microsomes

The species pattern of phosphatidic acid, diacylglycerol and phosphatidylcholine synthesized from [14C]glycerol 3-phosphate was measured using a newly developed HPLC technique yielding 13 molecular species. A direct comparison of these species patterns presupposes determination of the lipolytic activity of lung microsomes. The lipolytic activity was quantitatively determined by measuring the changes of the endogenous concentration of diacylglycerol, triacylglycerol and free fatty acids. The species pattern of endogenous diacylglycerol measured in the time-course of lipolysis did not show any changes up to an incubation period of 20 min, suggesting that the lipolytic activity showed only a very low selectivity for individual substrate species. Diisopropylfluorophosphate (5 mumol/mg microsomal protein) strongly decreased the lipolytic activities as well as the microsomal phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activity, as measured by means of exogenous phosphatidic acid, and also the generation of phosphatidic acid from [14C]glycerol 3-phosphate. In lung microsomes, labeled phosphatidic acid and diacylglycerols were synthesized from the endogenous free fatty acids and sn-[14C]glycerol 3-phosphate, which had previously been added. By addition of CDPcholine to the prelabeled microsomes the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine was measured. After hydrolysis of phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylcholine with cytoplasmatic phosphatidate phosphohydrolase or phospholipase C, respectively, the de novo synthesized species patterns of these two lipids and of the diacylglycerol were determined. Comparison of the species pattern of de novo synthesized phosphatidic acid with that of diacylglycerol largely showed the same distribution of radioactivity among the individual species, except that the relative proportion of label was higher in the 16:0/16:0 and 16:0/18:0 species of phosphatidic acid and lower in the 16:0/20:4 and 18:0/20:4 species than in the corresponding species of diacylglycerol. The species pattern of de novo-synthesized diacylglycerol showed no differences from that of the phosphatidylcholine synthesized from it. From this result we concluded that the cholinephosphotransferase of lung microsomes is nonselective for individual species of the diacylglycerol substrate. The 16:0/18:1 and 16:0/18:2 species of phosphatidic acid, diacylglycerol and phosphatidylcholine showed a higher synthesis rate than their 18:0 counterparts, whereas the 16:0 or 18:0 analogues of species containing 20:4 and 22:6 fatty acids showed nearly the same synthesis rates.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Subinterfacial cracks in bimaterial systems subjected to mechanical and thermal loading

Abstract The effect of temperature on the propagation paths of subinterfacial cracks is studied. An aluminum/polymethylmethacrylate bimaterial specimen with large mechanical and thermal mismatches is used to investigate the effect of combined thermal and mechanical loads. The stress intensity factor (SIF) generated by mechanical loading in the presence of a temperature gradient is obtained by means of experiment and analyzed using the finite element method. A full-field optical shearing interferometry technique was used to measure the crack tip stress state. The results show that thermal effects can alter the SIFs sufficiently large enough to change the fracture behavior of subinterfacial cracks.
Some alternative reproductive strategies in artificial molecular machines.

A class of artificial molecular machines consisting of folded and interconnected chains of basic artificial molecule constituents is described. Such machines are shown capable of carrying out any effective computational procedure. They can also produce molecule strings which are coded descriptions of themselves. It is then shown how such machines might reproduce themselves by (1) templating from a coded description, (2) employing their descriptions as blueprints for the active construction of copies of themselves, or by (3) employing partial or complete copies of themselves as blueprints. To obtain these results, the strategy is the following. First it is shown how the tape accessing, tape movement, instruction types, and transfer operation of a Wang Universal Turing Machine can be achieved in the molecular machine format. Then a way of implementing, in a molecular machine, the result by C. Y. Lee that Wang Turing machines can describe themselves, is demonstrated. The self-describing tactic is then successively elaborated, the molecular machine capabilities augmented, and the molecule-machine structure re-designed to obtain the results noted.
Glomerular filtration rate and brush border debris excretion after mercuric chloride and ischemic acute renal failure: mannitol versus furosemide diuresis.

Tubular obstruction is an important pathophysiologic mechanism in acute renal failure (ARF). The anatomic basis for this obstruction may be impaction of the pars recta of the proximal tubule with slou
Some Reflections on Democracy and Their Implications for American Public Administration

merican public administration, as an academic field of inquiry, has long been concerned with the idea of democracy. Indeed, a good argument can be made that the field originally emerged in America out of a question about how to reconcile an efficient and energetic public administration with the values of a democratic state. In light of this history, some of the ideas presented in five recent books may be of interest to readers who are concerned about the relationship between public administration and democracy. These books raise a number of interesting questions with regard to democracy:
An evaluation of cell type finite difference methods for solving viscous flow problems

Abstract Cell (integral) type equations are examined and compared with grid point techniques for 1-D compressible flow problems. An anlysis of Burger's equation for weak wave propagation is made in order to establish the nature of the cell scheme for both constant cell properties and for linear variation of cell properties. The results of the analysis yield insight into the bahavior of the Godunov cell method for inviscid flows as well as the Lax-Wendroff technique. This understanding is employed to extend Godunov's method to viscous flow calculations. Tests of the method for the complete 1-D compressible vicous flow equations are conducted.
Revised Ages for Laminated Sediment and a Holocene-Marker Diatom from the Northern California Continental Slope

Conventional and accelerator mass spectrometry 14C ages indicate that laminated sediment in three cores from the northern California continental slope near 38°N and 39°N were deposited between 42,000 and 25,000 yr B.P. This revises and refines our previous estimates that laminated sediment accumulated during the late Pleistocene to early Holocene (J. V. Gardner and E. Hemphill-Haley, 1986, Geology 14, 691-694). Preservation of laminated sediment on the upper slope in this area suggests a period of intense coastal upwelling, high primary productivity, and resultant depletion of oxygen in bottomwaters preceding the onset of global glacial conditions. The transition from Pleistocene to Holocene conditions, and the establishment of a modern climatic regime driven by the California Current, included the incursion of the subtropical diatom, Pseudoeunotia doliola. P. doliola is common in sediment younger than about 10,000 yr and thus is a reliable marker species for identifying Holocene deposits off northern California.
DISSOCIABLE ASPECTS OF MENTAL WORKLOAD: EXAMINATIONS OF THE P300 ERP COMPONENT AND PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS

Advanced technologies have enabled the choice of either visual or auditory formats for avionics and surface transportation displays. Methods of assessing the mental workload imposed by displays of different formats are critical to their successful implementation. Towards this end a series of investigations were conducted with the following aims: 1) developing analogous auditory and visual versions of a secondary task that could be used to compare display modalities; and 2) to compare the sensitivity of neurophysiological, behavioral and subjective indices of workload. Experiments 1 and 2 confirmed that analogous auditory and visual secondary oddball discrimination tasks were of equivalent difficulty as indicated by P300 amplitude, RT, accuracy and subjective ratings of workload. Experiments 1–3 revealed that RT and accuracy for target detections were generally more sensitive to changes in primary task difficulty than P300 responses and subjective ratings. However, Experiment 3 indicated that P300 amplitude was sensitive to increased perceptual demands (resulting from driving in heavy fog versus clear visibility) not revealed by changes in either behavioral or subjective indices. Together the results of the current investigations indicate that a battery of assessment techniques will provide the most sensitive assessment of workload in complex environments.
Testing and Analysis of Access Control Policies

Policy testing and analysis are important techniques for high assurance of correct specification of access control policies. We propose a set of testing and analysis techniques for access control policies and tools for empirically investigating and evaluating the proposed techniques. We propose a fault model for access control policies and investigate various fault types and their frequencies of occurrence in policy development; we develop a mutation testing framework that implements the fault model; we propose and investigate various coverage criteria for testing access control policies; we develop various test generation techniques and evaluate them using the coverage criteria and mutation testing framework; we develop a policy model to facilitate refactoring, performance optimizations, dependency identification, and other types of static analysis. To make our discussion concrete, we choose to present our techniques in the context of XACML. Note that since XACML is an application- independent, generic access control policy language, our techniques can be equally applied to test policies written in other languages.
Effect of chronic caffeine administration on theophylline concentrations required to produce seizures in rats.

Caffeine as well as the antiasthmatic drug theophylline can cause seizures when administered to humans or animals in excessive doses. Studies on rats have shown rapid development of functional tolerance to caffeine-induced seizures whereas repeated pretreatment with theophylline had no significant effect on the theophylline concentrations required to produce seizures. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether chronic exposure to caffeine can affect susceptibility to the convul- sant effect of theophylline. Rats received caffeine, 40 mg/kg, or solvent twice a day for 7 days as an intravenous injection. On the eighth day, theophylline was infused intra- venously until the onset of maximal seizures. At this pharmacologic end point, rats pretreated with caffeine had significantly higher theophylline concentrations in the brain and cerebrospinal fluid than did control (solvent-pretreated) animals. Although the concentration differences were relatively small (-1 YO), they demonstrate in principle the development of caffeine-induced tolerance to the neurotoxic effect of theophylline. Additional experiments showed that the caffeine effect on theophylline neurotoxicity is not acutely mediated by paraxanthine, a major metabolite of caffeine.
Cortisol and wake time in nursing home residents with behavioral symptoms of dementia.

Alterations in sleep and behavioral symptoms are consistently reported among nursing home residents with dementia. Disregulation in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), indexed by basal cortisol levels, offers one explanation. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between wake time and cortisol slope in residents with behavioral symptoms. The study included 27 residents aged 71 to 84 years with dementia and behavioral symptoms. Using a within-subject longitudinal design, the researchers documented wake time and collected saliva samples for 4 consecutive days upon waking and at 30 min, 6 hr, and 12 hr after waking. Within-person cortisol slopes were categorized into zero-positive and negative slopes. The zero—positives (35%) exhibited an earlier wake time than the negatives (65%). These preliminary results suggest both a relationship between wake time and HPA diurnal profile and an association between the sleep-wake cycle and cortisol secretion among nursing home residents with...
Isolation and Characterization of the Cryptococcus neoformans MATa Pheromone Gene

Cryptococcus neoformans is a heterothallic basidiomycete with two mating types, MATa and MATalpha. The mating pathway of this fungus has a number of conserved genes, including a MATalpha-specific pheromone (MFalpha1). A modified differential display strategy was used to identify a gene encoding the MATa pheromone. The gene, designated MFa1, is 42 amino acids in length and contains a conserved farnesylation motif. MFa1 is present in three linked copies that span a 20-kb fragment of MATa-specific DNA and maps to the MAT-containing chromosome. Transformation studies showed that MFa1 induced filament formation only in MATalpha cells, demonstrating that MFa1 is functionally conserved. Sequence analysis of the predicted Mfa1 and Mfalpha1 proteins revealed that, in contrast to other fungi such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the C. neoformans pheromone genes are structurally and functionally conserved. However, unlike the MFalpha1 gene, which is found in MATalpha strains of both varieties of C. neoformans, MFa1 is specific for the neoformans variety of C. neoformans.
Sex hormones differentially influence voluntary running activity, food intake and body weight in aging female and male rats.

The aim of this study was to examine the longer-term effects of reduced gonadal hormones on food intake, food efficiency, voluntary running activity and body weight in mature male and female rats, compared to age-matched controls. We hypothesized that hormonal effects would differ for rats that were not rapidly growing and our results are consistent with this hypothesis. 6–8 month male and female rats were divided into four groups: Female and male control groups and a female and male experimental group. Control groups were intact for 46 weeks. Experimental groups were intact during Phase I (16 weeks), ovariectomized or orchidectomized during Phase II (20 weeks), and received estrogen or testosterone hormone replacement therapy (HRT) during the final Phase III (10 weeks). Food intake and running distance were monitored daily and body weight was recorded weekly for 46 weeks. Contrary to findings for young and growing animals, we did not observe a (1) stabilization of food intake in female rats following OVX, (2) loss of body weight with ORX in males, or (3) complete restoration of running activity in ORX males given testosterone, compared to females given estrogen. Feeding efficiency was not affected by aging in females or males. Loss of estrogen increased energy intake whereas reduced testosterone in males resulted in a negative energy balance. Findings suggest variable hormonal effects for aging male/female rats.
Coherent phonon excitation and manipulation in bismuth using temporally shaped ultrafast pulses

The authors employed ultrafast pulse trains generated by a pulse shaper to measure the time-resolved reflectivity of Bi. It is shown that coherent phonon vibration can be manipulated by the pulse train. Also, the materials' removal is independent of the separation time of the pulse train.
On the resonances of a dielectric BOR buried in a dispersive layered medium

A method-of-moments (MoM) analysis is applied to the problem of determining late-time resonances of dielectric bodies of revolution buried in a lossy layered medium, with application to plastic-land-mine identification. To make such an analysis tractable, we have employed the method of complex images to evaluate the layered-medium Green's function. The application of this method to resonant structures characterized by complex resonant frequencies, introduces numerical issues not manifested at real frequencies (i.e., for driven problems) with such discussed here in detail. Numerical results are presented for several buried targets in which we demonstrate, for example, the spiraling character of the resonant frequencies of particular targets as a function of the target depth.
The CLEO II detector

Abstract The CLEO II detector is being constructed as a replacement for the CLEO detector which has been in operation at the Cornell electron storage ring since 1979. The primary new component is an electromagnetic calorimeter constructed from optical quality crystals of thalium doped cesium iodide viewed by silicon photodiodes. A new, larger superconducting coil is being constructed so that this CsI shower counter will be placed inside the coil within the magnetic field. An improved drift chamber and vertex detector have already been constructed for CLEO II and are now installed in CLEO. New time of flight scintillation detectors are under construction and will be located just outside the drift chamber and just inside the CsI shower counter. A new steel yoke and hadron absorber as well as new muon detectors are being fabricated. This paper gives a brief description of these components and schedule of the project.
Compact, broad-stopband elliptic-function lowpass filters using microstrip stepped impedance hairpin resonators

A compact elliptic-function lowpass filter is developed. Multiple cascaded microstrip hairpin resonators operated at different 3-dB cutoff frequencies are used to design the filter. The filters are evaluated by experiment and simulation with good agreement. The return loss is better than 12.84 dB from DC to 0.81 GHz. The insertion loss is less than 0.5 dB. The rejection is greater than 35.7 dB from 1.5 to 10 GHz. This compact, low loss, sharp cutoff frequency response, and broad stopband lowpass filter should be useful in many wireless communication systems.
What Future for Niagara Falls

The recession of Niagara Falls up the thalweg of Niagara River will be marked by five major events. Event No. 1: The Horseshoe Falls will first lower the level of the Chippawa–Grass Island Pool below the bottom of the American Channel and unwater the American Falls. The level of Lake Erie may be lowered a few feet at this time. The falls will split into two Horseshoes at Navy Island, and the Lockport Gorge, the extension of the Upper Great Gorge in the Lockport Dolomite, will fork into two gorges; the right hand one in the Tonawanda Channel carrying 70 percent of the flow of the river and the left one in the Chippawa Channel carrying 30 percent. The rate of erosion of the Lockport Gorge will vary with the configuration of the Horseshoe, faster during notch shape and slower during arch shape, with shallow and deep plunge pools, respectively, as the Upper Great Gorge has eroded. Event No. 2: The Horseshoe in the Tonawanda Channel will split into two waterfalls at the upper end of Navy Island and for a short period there will be three Horseshoe waterfalls until the left one in the Chippawa Channel, due to its faster erosion in the softer rocks of the Salina Group, intercepts the flow on the right side of Navy Island. This event will leave the right Horseshoe as a dry falls. Event No. 3 : The Chippawa Horseshoe will decline in height as the Lockport Dolomite dips upstream to the south until, at a height of ∼50 ft, it will no longer have the capability of recession and will remain as a quasi-stationary waterfall. Event No. 4: The Salina Group will erode to a broad, gentler sloped gorge in the bottom of which the steep-sided Lockport Gorge will be eroded as far upstream as the quasi-stationary waterfalls. The rapid erosion to form stepped rapids in the Salina Gorge will lead it upstream to intercept the water in the Tonawanada Channel and divert it into the Chippawa Channel. Event No. 5: This will result in the unwatering of the Tonawanda Channel and the creation of another dry falls. Near the head of the river beneath the Salina Group, the more resistant Bertie Dolomite and its underlying Onondaga Limestone will be encountered into which the Bertie-Onondaga Gorge will be cut with a much slower rate of recession by a new Horseshoe, the Final Falls. The Final Falls; will be much lower than the preceding Horseshoes and may be so slow in recession as to be a quasi-stationary falls, without immediate change in the level of Lake Erie.
Interstitial Lung Disease in Systemic Sclerosis: Pathophysiology, Current and New Advances in Therapy

Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune connective tissue disorder characterized by fibrosis of the skin and visceral organs. Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a major complication of this disease and along with pulmonary arterial hypertension is the leading cause of mortality in scleroderma patients. The pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis is characterized by epithelial cell injury, activation of the coagulation pathway and inflammation, which create a profibrogenic environment in the lung in the setting of autoimmunity. The current standard of treatment for ILD in systemic sclerosis is cyclophosphamide. In view of the modest benefits in pulmonary function seen with cyclophosphamide in two recent trials and its significant toxicity, the search for alternative treatments is ongoing. With the advances in our understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms of pulmonary fibrosis, many promising therapeutic agents have come into view, but their efficacy needs to be evaluated before they can be recommended clinically. This review discusses the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis with a focus on the potential target pathways, the current treatment options and recent advances in the treatment of ILD in systemic sclerosis.
Combined cardiomyocyte PKCδ and PKCε gene deletion uncovers their central role in restraining developmental and reactive heart growth

Cell growth is orchestrated by changes in gene expression that respond to developmental and environmental cues. Among the signaling pathways that direct growth are enzymes of the protein kinase C (PKC) family, which are ubiquitous proteins belonging to three distinct subclasses: conventional PKCs, novel PKCs, and atypical PKCs. Functional overlap makes determining the physiological actions of different PKC isoforms difficult. We showed that two novel PKC isoforms, PKCδ and PKCe, redundantly govern stress-reactive and developmental heart growth by modulating the expression of cardiac genes central to stress-activated protein kinase and periostin signaling. Mice with combined postnatal cardiomyocyte-specific genetic ablation of PKCδ and germline deletion of PKCe (DCKO) had normally sized hearts, but their hearts had transcriptional changes typical of pathological hypertrophy. Cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction induced by hemodynamic overloading were greater in DCKO mice than in mice with a single deletion of either PKCδ or PKCe. Furthermore, gene expression analysis of the hearts of DCKO mice revealed transcriptional derepression of the genes encoding the kinase ERK (extracellular signal–regulated kinase) and periostin. Mice with combined embryonic ablation of PKCδ and PKCe showed enhanced growth and cardiomyocyte hyperplasia that induced pathological ventricular stiffening and early lethality, phenotypes absent in mice with a single deletion of PKCδ or PKCe. Our results indicate that novel PKCs provide retrograde feedback inhibition of growth signaling pathways central to cardiac development and stress adaptation. These growth-suppressing effects of novel PKCs have implications for therapeutic inhibition of PKCs in cancer, heart, and other diseases.
Repeated sampling affects Tree Swallow semen characteristics

Abstract Male Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) face intense sperm competition because mated pairs copulate frequently, extra-pair copulations are common, and females store sperm. We examined the effects of repeated sampling on the characteristics of Tree Swallow semen by manually expressing semen from 15 males immediately after capture (T0) and then hourly for 4 h (T1–T4). The semen characteristics of individual males varied in response to repeated sampling. The total number of sperm cells we obtained from each male over the 4-h sampling period varied from 104–107. Semen samples lacking sperm increased from 6.7% of T0 samples to 26.7– 33.3% of subsequent samples. Forty percent of males provided at least one semen sample that lacked sperm. There were no significant differences among hourly samples in semen volume, sperm concentration, or in the total number of sperm cells obtained from each male. However, there were significant differences among males in each of these variables. Semen volumes represente...
Esophageal intramural pseudodiverticulosis, a rare cause of food impaction: case report and review of the literature

Esophageal intramural pseudodiverticulosis (EIPD) is a rare, benign condition of uncertain etiology and pathogenesis, which usually presents with either progressive or intermittent dysphagia. Acute presentation with food impaction, requiring emergency esophago-gastroduodenoscopy (EGD), is rare. We report a case of EIPD presenting as food bolus impaction in an elderly black female. The patient had no previous history of dysphagia or odynophagia. Currently accepted risk factors, such as diabetes mellitus, chronic alcoholism, and reflux esophagitis, were not present in our patient. Emergency EGD established the diagnosis and also dislodged the food bolus. Histopathological evaluation of the mucosa diagnosed co-existent acute candidal infection. Medical treatment with proton pump inhibitor and azole antifungal led to resolution of her symptoms. Review of the literature revealed that stenosis, strictures, perforation, gastro-intestinal bleed, and fistula formation are potential complications of EIPD. Multiple motility abnormalities have been described but are not consistent. Treatment of the underlying inflammatory and or infectious condition is the mainstay of management of this unusual condition.
Continental Types and Their Controls

The ecoregions on the Earth’s land masses are arranged in predictable patterns and are causally related to macroclimate, i.e., the climate that lies just above the local modifying irregularities of landform and vegetation. These macroclimates are regularly arranged with reference to several controlling factors.
The Ethical and Socio-Political Dimensions of the Financial Crisis of 2007–2008 and the Subsequent Recession

In this chapter I make use of the publications of Reinhart and Rogoff, Reich and Rajan to understand the causes of the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the ensuing recession. Reich and Rajan go beyond a purely economic analysis and introduce socio-political factors such as the income gap between the very rich and the rest of society in the decade before the crisis, the lack of regulations of the financial sector, the use of easy mortgages to keep the American dream alive, and the fraudulent treatment of some mortgages and the derivatives based on them. These socio-political factors touch upon ethical problems. The ethical dimension in economic thinking has been captured by Musgrave’s concept of merit goods. Reich and Rajan make use of seven of my eleven categories of merit goods to explain both the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the characteristics of the ensuing recession. I end the chapter by showing that the American political system is currently not capable of delivering the merit good decisions required for dealing in a reasonable way with the challenges that led to the financial crisis and the recession caused by it.
Enhancing the architecture of interactive evolutionary design for exploring heterogeneous particle swarm dynamics: An in-class experiment

We developed Swarm Chemistry 1.2, a new version of the Swarm Chemistry simulator with an enhanced architecture of interactive evolutionary design for exploring heterogeneous self-propelled particle swarm dynamics. In the new version, each evolutionary operator acts locally and visually to part of the population of swarms on a screen, without causing entire generation changes that were used in earlier versions. This new architecture is intended to represent cognitive actions in human thinking and decision making processes more naturally. We tested the effectiveness of the new architecture through an in-class experiment with college students participating as designers as well as evaluators of swarms. We also measured the effects of mixing and mutation operators to the performance improvement of the design processes. The students' responses showed that the designs produced using the new version received significantly higher ratings from students than those produced using the old one, and also that each of the mixing and mutation operators contributed nearly independently to the improvement of the design quality. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the new architecture of interactive evolutionary design, as well as the importance of having diverse options of action (i.e., multiple evolutionary operators in this context) in iterative design and decision making processes. This work also presents one of the few examples of human-involved experiments on the statistical evaluation of artificial lifeforms, whose quality (such as “livingness“) would be hard to assess without using human cognition at this point.
New insights into mechanisms of biomolecular control on growth of inorganic crystals

The interactions of biomolecules with atomic features on crystal surfaces lead to dramatic changes in morphology and growth rate. Molecular scale studies based on atomic force microscopy and computational modeling have provided new insights into the mechanisms that lead to these changes. We examine the key factors that are emerging from those studies and link the mechanisms of modification to the underlying structural and chemical relationships between modifier and crystal surface.
SYSTEMIC VIRAL MATERIAL IN THE CELLS OF THE FRESHWATER RED ALGA SIRODOTIA TENUISSIMA (HOLDEN) SKUJA

SUMMARY A cytoplasmic inclusion consisting of polygonal viral particles surrounding a spherical viroplasm is described in the cells of Sirodotia tenuissima but not in other species of Sirodotia and Batracliospermum investigated. Some polygonal viral particles are also found associated with nucleolar material in the nucleus of S. tenuissima. The viral material is present in the apical cell and appears to be distributed to the daughter cells during division of the apical cell.
Catalytic Pyrolysis of Pinyon–Juniper Using Red Mud and HZSM-5

Pinyon and juniper are invasive woody species in the western United States that occupy over 30 million hectares of land. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has embarked on harvesting these woody species to make room for range grasses for grazing. The major application of harvested pinyon–juniper (PJ) is low-value firewood. Thus, there is a need to develop new high value products from this woody biomass to reduce the cost of harvesting. We investigated the fractional catalytic pyrolysis of PJ using both HZSM-5 catalyst and red mud at 475 °C in a fluidized bed reactor at atmospheric pressure. Both the HZSM-5 and the red mud were effective catalysts for producing low-viscosity pyrolysis oils. Oils that were catalyzed with red mud had a lower viscosity (96 cP @40 °C) than oils that were catalyzed with HZSM-5 (213 cP @40 °C). In both cases, the yields of liquids ranged from 42 wt % to 49 wt %. The mechanisms of catalysis by the two catalysts were quite different. The HZSM-5 rejected oxygen mostly as carb...
Improved in vitro efficacy of gold nanoconstructs by increased loading of G-quadruplex aptamer

This paper describes how in vitro efficacy of aptamer-loaded gold nanostars (Apt-AuNS) can be enhanced by the increased loading of a G-quadruplex homodimer AS1411 (Apt) on the AuNS surface. In a low pH buffer environment, the loading density of Apt on AuNS was increased up to 2.5 times that obtained using the conventional salt-aging process. These highly loaded AuNS nanoconstructs (*Apt-AuNS) were taken up in pancreatic cancer and fibrosarcoma cells ca. 2 times more and at faster rates compared to Apt-AuNS. When a similar number of AuNS carriers was internalized by the cancer cells, the amount of AS1411 delivered via *Apt-AuNS was effectively double that of Apt-AuNS, and *Apt-AuNS resulted in an average of 42% increase in cell death. These results suggest that increasing the loading density on AuNS could provide a simple means to improve uptake as well as in vitro efficacy of the nanoconstructs in cancer cells.
Islet cell changes in the rat following injection of homogenized islets.

The effect of repeated subcutaneous injections of homogenized rat islets on the morphology of the pancreas of the injected animals was determined. Male Wistar rats were injected with fifty homogenized islets every two weeks and were killed in groups of two to three over a twelve-month period beginning two months after the first injection of islets. The chronic injection of islet homogenates produced fibrosis of the islets in the injected animals with marked distortion of the architecture of the islets and the deposition of hemosiderin in the peri-insular tissue. In a few instances, lymphocytic infiltration was observed in the peri-insular area. The cause of this unusual islet lesion was presumably due to an antigen-antibody reaction in the islets. None of the injected animals developed either hyperglycemia or glycosuria.
IPM Use With the Deployment of a Non-High Dose Bt Pyramid and Mitigation of Resistance for Western Corn Rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera)

Recent detection of western corn rootworm resistance to Bt ( Bacillus thuringiensis ) corn prompted recommendations for the use of integrated pest management (IPM) with planting refuges to prolong the durability of Bt technologies. We conducted a simulation experiment exploring the effectiveness of various IPM tools at extending durability of pyramided Bt traits. Results indicate that some IPM practices have greater merits than others. Crop rotation was the most effective strategy, followed by increasing the non-Bt refuge size from 5 to 20%. Soil-applied insecticide use for Bt corn did not increase the durability compared with planting Bt with refuges alone, and both projected lower durabilities. When IPM participation with randomly selected management tools was increased at the time of Bt commercialization, durability of pyramided traits increased as well. When non-corn rootworm expressing corn was incorporated as an IPM option, the durability further increased. For corn rootworm, a local resistance phenomenon appeared immediately surrounding the resistant field (hotspot) and spread throughout the local neighborhood in six generations in absence of mitigation. Hotspot mitigation with random selection of strategies was ineffective at slowing resistance, unless crop rotation occurred immediately; regional mitigation was superior to random mitigation in the hotspot and reduced observed resistance allele frequencies in the neighborhood. As resistance alleles of mobile pests can escape hotspots, the scope of mitigation should extend beyond resistant sites. In the case of widespread resistance, regional mitigation was less effective at prolonging the life of the pyramid than IPM with Bt deployment at the time of commercialization.
Metabolic Actions of the Type 1 Cholecystokinin Receptor: Its Potential as a Therapeutic Target

Cholecystokinin (CCK) regulates appetite and reduces food intake by activating the type 1 CCK receptor (CCK1R). Attempts to develop CCK1R agonists for obesity have yielded active agents that have not reached clinical practice. Here we discuss why, along with new strategies to target CCK1R more effectively. We examine signaling events and the possibility of developing agents that exhibit ligand-directed bias, to dissociate satiety activity from undesirable side effects. Potential allosteric sites of modulation are also discussed, along with desired properties of a positive allosteric modulator (PAM) without intrinsic agonist action as another strategy to treat obesity. These new types of CCK1R-active drugs could be useful as standalone agents or as part of a rational drug combination for management of obesity.
APPLICATION OF BP ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK ON CALCULATING RESERVOIR WATER SATURATION

Compared with the traditional comprehensive interpretation and digital processing well logging, BP artificial neural network methods have overwhelming advantages and suitability, it requires no well logging interpretation equation based on testing which the traditional interpretation and processing methods does, it needs the original logging and the practical data for solution, only the original logging data is enough in the process of the parameter prediction, which provides a new and practical approach to well logging comprehensive interpretation and digital processing for the complicated formations and specials.
Magnetic resonance elastography identifies fibrosis in adults with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency liver disease: a prospective study

Author(s): Kim, RG; Nguyen, P; Bettencourt, R; Dulai, PS; Haufe, W; Hooker, J; Minocha, J; Valasek, MA; Aryafar, H; Brenner, DA; Sirlin, CB; Loomba, R | Abstract: BackgroundLimited data exist on the clinical presentation and non-invasive detection of liver fibrosis in adults with homozygous Z genotype alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency.AimsTo compare demographic, biochemical, histological and imaging data of AAT deficient patients to normal-control and biopsy-proven non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients, and to assess the diagnostic accuracy of magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) in detecting fibrosis in AAT deficiency.MethodsStudy includes 33 participants, 11 per group, who underwent clinical research evaluation, liver biopsy (AAT and NAFLD groups), and MRE. Histological fibrosis was quantified using a modified Ishak 6-point scale and liver stiffness by MRE. Diagnostic performance of MRE in detecting fibrosis was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.ResultsMean (±s.d.) of age and BMI of normal-control, AAT and NAFLD groups was 57 (±19), 57 (±18), and 57 (±13) years, and 22.7 (±2.5), 24.8 (±4.0) and 31.0 (±5.1) kg/m(2) respectively. Serum ALT [mean ± s.d.] was similar within normal-control [16.4 ± 4.0] and AAT groups [23.5 ± 10.8], but was significantly lower in AAT than NAFLD even after adjustment for stage of fibrosis (P l 0.05, P = 0.0172). For fibrosis detection, MRE-estimated stiffness had an area under the ROC curve of 0.90 (P l 0.0001); an MRE threshold of ≥3.0 kPa provided 88.9% accuracy, with 80% sensitivity and 100% specificity to detect presence of any fibrosis (stage ≥1).ConclusionsThis pilot prospective study suggests magnetic resonance elastography may be accurate for identifying fibrosis in patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Larger validation studies are warranted.