cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
TPP-dendrimer nanocarriers for siRNA delivery to the pulmonary epithelium and their dry powder and metered-dose inhaler formulations

The regulation of genes utilizing the RNA interference (RNAi) mechanism via the delivery of synthetic siRNA has great potential in the treatment of a variety of lung diseases. However, the delivery of siRNA to the lungs is challenging due to the poor bioavailability of siRNA when delivered intraveneously, and difficulty in formulating and maintaining the activity of free siRNA when delivered directly to the lungs using inhalation devices. The use of non-viral vectors such as cationic dendrimers can help enhance the stability of siRNA and its delivery to the cell cytosol. Therefore, in this work, we investigate the ability of a triphenylphosphonium (TPP) modified generation 4 poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer (G4NH2-TPP) to enhance the in vitro transfection efficiency of siRNA in a model of the pulmonary epithelium and their aerosol formulations in pressurized metered dose inhalers (pMDIs) and dry powder inhalers (DPIs). Complexes of siRNA and G4NH2-TPP were prepared with varying TPP densities and increasing N/P ratios. The complexation efficiency was modulated by the presence of the TPP on the dendrimer surface, allowing for a looser complexation compared to unmodified dendrimer as determined by gel electrophoresis and polyanion competition assay. An increase in TPP density and N/P ratio led to an increase in the in vitro gene knockdown of stably green fluorescent protein (eGFP) expressing lung alveolar epithelial (A549) cells. G4NH2-12TPP dendriplexes (G4NH2 PAMAM dendrimers containing 12 TPP molecules on the surface complexed with siRNA) at N/P ratio 30 showed the highest in vitro gene knockdown efficiency. To assess the potential of TPP-dendriplexes for pulmonary use, we also developed micron particle technologies for both pMDIs and DPIs and determined their aerosol characteristics utilizing an Andersen Cascade Impactor (ACI). Mannitol microparticles encapsulating 12TPP-dendriplexes were shown to be effective in producing aerosols suitable for deep lung deposition for both pMDI formulations (fine particle fraction of 50-53%) and DPI formulations (fine particle fraction of 39%) with no impact on the in vitro gene knockdown efficiency of the siRNA. This work demonstrates the potential benefits of utilizing TPP-conjugated dendrimers in the formation of dendriplexes for siRNA delivery to the pulmonary epithelium and their aerosol formulation for local delivery to the lungs using portable inhalers.
Dose/Exposure‐Response Modeling to Support Dosing Recommendation for Phase III Development of Baricitinib in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Baricitinib is an oral inhibitor of Janus kinases (JAKs), selective for JAK1 and 2. It demonstrated dose-dependent efficacy in patients with moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a phase IIb study up to 24 weeks. Population pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PopPK/PD) models were developed to characterize concentration-time profiles and dose/exposure-response (D/E-R) relationships for the key efficacy (proportion of patients achieving American College of Rheumatology 20%, 50%, or 70% response rate) and safety endpoints (incidence of anemia) for the phase IIb study. The modeling suggested that 4 mg q.d. was likely to offer the optimum risk/benefit balance, whereas 2 mg q.d. had the potential for adequate efficacy. In addition, at the same total daily dose, a twice-daily regimen is not expected to provide an advantage over q.d. dosing for the efficacy or safety endpoints. The model-based simulations formed the rationale for key aspects of dosing, such as dose levels and dosing frequency for phase III development.
Influence of the North Atlantic Subtropical High on wet and dry sea-breeze events in North Carolina, United States

This project was partially funded by the Climate and Large-Scale Dynamics and the Physical and Dynamic Meteorology programs of the National Science Foundation’s Division of Atmospheric and Geospatial Sciences, Award AGS-1118141.
Benchmark First-Principles Calculations of Adsorbate Free Energies

Adsorbate free energies are fundamental quantities in the microkinetic modeling of catalytic reactions. In first-principles modeling, finite-temperature free energies are generally obtained by combining density functional theory energies with standard approximate models, such as the harmonic oscillator, the hindered translator, or the two-dimensional ideal gas. In this work, we calculate accurate free energies directly from first-principles potential energy surfaces combined with exact quantum mechanical solutions for the translational energy states to benchmark the reliability of common approximations. Through a series of case studies of monatomic adsorbates on metal surfaces, we show that no one free energy model performs satisfactorily in all cases. Moreover, even combinations of different approximations sometimes deviate significantly from the free energies calculated by our first-principles approach. Using observations from these case studies, we discuss how a full quantum mechanical approach can be ...
Bioavailability of Mineral-Bound Iron to a Snow Algal-Bacterial Coculture and Implications for Albedo-Altering Snow Algal Blooms

ABSTRACT Snow algae can form large-scale blooms across the snowpack surface and near-surface environments. These pigmented blooms can decrease snow albedo and increase local melt rates, and they may impact the global heat budget and water cycle. Yet, the underlying causes for the geospatial occurrence of these blooms remain unconstrained. One possible factor contributing to snow algal blooms is the presence of mineral dust as a micronutrient source. We investigated the bioavailability of iron (Fe)-bearing minerals, including forsterite (Fo90, Mg1.8Fe0.2SiO4), goethite, smectite, and pyrite as Fe sources for a Chloromonas brevispina-bacterial coculture through laboratory-based experimentation. Fo90 was capable of stimulating snow algal growth and increased the algal growth rate in otherwise Fe-depleted cocultures. Fo90-bearing systems also exhibited a decrease in the ratio of bacteria to algae compared to those of Fe-depleted conditions, suggesting a shift in microbial community structure. The C. brevispina coculture also increased the rate of Fo90 dissolution relative to that of an abiotic control. Analysis of 16S rRNA genes in the coculture identified Gammaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, and Sphingobacteria, all of which are commonly found in snow and ice environments. Archaea were not detected. Collimonas and Pseudomonas, which are known to enhance mineral weathering rates, comprised two of the top eight (>1%) operational taxonomic units (OTUs). These data provide unequivocal evidence that mineral dust can support elevated snow algal growth under otherwise Fe-depleted growth conditions and that snow algal microbial communities can enhance mineral dissolution under these conditions. IMPORTANCE Fe, a key micronutrient for photosynthetic growth, is necessary to support the formation of high-density snow algal blooms. The laboratory experiments described herein allow for a systematic investigation of the interactions of snow algae, bacteria, and minerals and their ability to mobilize and uptake mineral-bound Fe. Results provide unequivocal and comprehensive evidence that mineral-bound Fe in Fe-bearing Fo90 was bioavailable to Chloromonas brevispina snow algae within an algal-bacterial coculture. This evidence includes (i) an observed increase in snow algal density and growth rate, (ii) decreased ratios of bacteria to algae in Fo90-containing cultures relative to those of cultures grown under similarly Fe-depleted conditions with no mineral-bound Fe present, and (iii) increased Fo90 dissolution rates in the presence of algal-bacterial cocultures relative to those of abiotic mineral controls. These results have important implications for the role of mineral dust in supplying micronutrients to the snow microbiome, which may help support dense snow algal blooms capable of lowering snow albedo and increasing snow melt rates on regional, and possibly global, scales.
Effect of Administration Method on Near Point of Convergence Scores in a Healthy, Active, Young Adult Population

Near point of convergence (NPC) is an emerging concussion assessment tool and researchers have reported NPC scores using different administration methods which may influence assessment interpretation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of different administrative methods on NPC scores in healthy, active young adults. NPC was measured using two different accommodative rulers and a fingertip, with three different placements. No significant difference in NPC score was observed between rulers. Significant differences were observed between ruler placements. Furthermore, fingertip use was significantly different compared to all ruler placements.
Asian Trauma Survivors: Immigration, Identity, Loss, and Recovery

Psychological trauma in Asian American communities has been increasingly visible in recent years. This paper examines the impact of several variables, including migration, interdependence of the Asian family structure, and acculturation on the experience of trauma. Case illustrations are discussed to illustrate the interplay of cultural ideology, family dynamics, and intrapsychic experiences in the lives of many Asian and Asian American trauma survivors. Psychotherapeutic issues are explored from cultural and psychodynamic perspectives.
Prevention of HLA alloimmunization: role of leukocyte depletion and UV-B irradiation.

HLA alloimmunization is a major cause of the platelet refractory state. The stimulus for HLA alloimmunization is believed to derive from incompatibility between the recipient's lymphocytes and the passenger donor lymphocytes contained in transfused red cells or platelet concentrates. Two techniques to prevent post-transfusion HLA alloimmunization include filtration, which physically removes the donor lymphocytes, and UV-B irradiation, which renders the donor leukocytes biologically inactive. The role of these two techniques in the prevention of HLA alloimmunization is the focus of this review.42 references.
Statistical Fracture Mechanics — Basic Concepts and Numerical Realization

The apparent randomness of brittle fracture is closely associated with the distribution of defects on various scales within a solid. The presence of microdefects is modeled by a random field of specific fracture energy γ following the framework of Statistical Fracture Mechanics (SFM). A brief summary of SFM is presented. SFM is the only model which explicitly incorporates the fractographic information, e.g. fractal characterization of fracture surfaces in the probabilistic description of brittle fracture. At the same time, the model has limitations in engineering applications, mainly due to its mathematical complexity. In this paper the Monte Carlo technique is employed to overcome these limitations. It allows one to combine the physical insight and modeling of the fracture mechanisms in SFM with the flexibility of the Monte Carlo method. Probability distributions of the fracture parameters such as a critical load, critical crack length, and fracture toughness are simulated and compared with experimental observations. Dependency of the conventional measure of fracture toughness on roughness of crack profiles, specimen and grain size, as well as load level is discussed. The ambiguity of the concept of fracture toughness in a probabilistic setting is addressed.
Näherungsverfahren für den optimierten Betrieb eines Traktionsantriebs mit permanenterregter Synchronmaschine

Die vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt Regelungsstrategien fur die permanenterregte Synchronmaschine (PSM) als Fahrmotor in einem Traktionsantrieb. Es werden Naherungsverfahren fur den statorstromminimalen Betrieb bzw. den Betrieb mit maximalem Leistungsfaktor bei vorgegebenem Drehmoment vorgestellt. Die Ergebnisse der Naherungsverfahren stimmen, in Abhangigkeit der Parameterkonstellation und der Drehmomentanforderung, sehr gut mit den gewunschten Maschinengrosen uberein. Die Tauglichkeit der Verfahren wird durch Simulationsergebnisse nachgewiesen.
SLEEPING GIANTS: ANOMALOUS CORONARY ANATOMY LAYING DORMANT FOR DECADES

Congenital coronary anomalies have varied forms, presentations and malignant potential. Understanding the dynamics of flow is essential for management. A 73 year old female with new angina was found to have cardiomyopathy and severely elevated pulmonary artery pressures. A coronary angiogram
Concurrent Prefix Recovery: Performing CPR on a Database

With increasing multi-core parallelism, modern databases and key-value stores are designed for scalability and presently yield very high throughput for the in-memory working set. These systems typically depend on group commit using a write-ahead log (WAL) to provide durability and crash recovery. However, a WAL is expensive, particularly for update-intensive workloads, where it also introduces a concurrency bottleneck (the log) besides log creation and I/O overheads. In this paper, we propose a new recovery model based on group commit, called concurrent prefix recovery (CPR). CPR differs from traditional group commit implementations in two ways: (1) it provides a semantic description of committed operations, of the form "all operations until time Ti from session i"; and (2) it uses asynchronous incremental checkpointing instead of a WAL to implement group commit in a scalable bottleneck-free manner. CPR provides the same consistency as a point-in-time commit, but allows a scalable concurrent implementation. We used CPR to make two systems durable: (1) a custom in-memory transactional database; and (2) Faster, our state-of-the-art, scalable, larger-than-memory key-value store. Our detailed evaluation of these modified systems shows that CPR is highly scalable and supports concurrent performance reaching hundreds of millions of operations per second on a multi-core machine.
Ulcerative, granulomatous glossitis and enteritis caused by Rhodococcus equi in a heifer

Rhodococcus equi infection in horses is common and is characterized by pyogranulomatous pneumonia and ulcerative enterocolitis. R. equi clinical disease in cattle, however, is rare and typically manifests as granulomatous lymphadenitis discovered in the abattoir. A 19-mo-old female Santa Gertrudis had a history of intermittent inappetence and weight loss for a 3-mo period before euthanasia. Gross and histologic examination revealed severe, chronic, ulcerative, and granulomatous inflammation in the tongue, pharynx, and small intestine. Also, the heifer had severe, granulomatous pharyngeal and mesenteric lymphadenitis. Bacterial cultures from the ileum, tongue, and liver yielded numerous-to-moderate numbers of R. equi. PCR analysis of the isolate detected the linear virulence plasmid vapN, which is often identified in bovine isolates (traA- and vapN-positive). The bacteria also lack the circular plasmids vapA and vapB that are associated with virulence in horses and swine, respectively. We report herein an atypical and unusual clinical presentation of R. equi infection in cattle, which has zoonotic potential.
Teacher Accommodation of Academic Language During Head Start Pre-Kindergarten Read-Alouds

AbstractLittle analytical scrutiny has been devoted to teacher accommodation of academic language at the early childhood level, despite being a critical school-level factor to consider when address...
The one-stage prothrombin consumption test; clinical value in the identification of thromboplastin-deficiency diseases.

1. The results of the one-stage prothrombin consumption test, performed in a group of patients with various abnormalities of the hemostatic mechanism, are reported. It appears that the test accurately identifies those conditions such as hemophilia and thrombocytopenic purpura which involve a deficiency of available thromboplastin. Other conditions examined in which a hemorrhagic tendency may develop (hypoprothrombinemia, polycythemia vera, pseudohemophilia) showed a normal consumption of prothrombin. In the hypoprothrombinemia due to dicumarol therapy, the limited amount of available prothrombin appears to have been well utilized during the process of coagulation. 2. It appears that correction of the results obtained for accelerator activity of serum is hardly ever necessary, since this effect is not of such magnitude as to modify the results of the prothrombin consumption test to any extent. A formula for such correction is given.
Fracture of Ceramics

Fracture mechanisms observed in ceramic single crystals and poly-crystals will be reviewed. Discussion of single-crystal behavior will emphasize the role of plastic deformation in the nucleation, growth, and propagation of cracks. Discussion of polycrystalline behavior will emphasize the application of the Von Mises criterion to ceramic materials. The effect of temperature on dislocation mobility and slip band structure will be used to describe the brittle-to-ductile transition in both single- and polycrystalline ceramics.
Association between FDG-PET/CT imaging and length of hospital stay in an academic medical center.

519 Objectives: The aim of this retrospective study was to characterize the inpatient population undergoing non-cardiac F-18 FDG-PET/CT (PET) at an academic medical center and the impact of PET on hospital length of stay. Methods: We reviewed the clinical records of 100 consecutive patients (50 women; mean age 59.5 years) undergoing PET during inpatient hospitalization between 7/3/2017 and 10/11/2017. Exams were categorized by indication: Initial Treatment Strategy for biopsy proven pathology (ITSBP), Initial Treatment Strategy for suspected pathology without biopsy (ITSSP), Subsequent Treatment Strategy for biopsy proven malignancy (STSBM), and evaluation for suspected infectious/inflammatory pathology (EIIP). Time from hospital admission to PET and total length of stay (LOS) were collected. Results: The mean LOS of the entire population (n=100) was 15.2 days, standard error (SE): 1.5 days; range: 2-83 days. There was no correlation between age and LOS. There was trend to shorter LOS in women (P=0.06). Although there was no statistically significant difference in LOS among subgroups, the LOS was shorter for ITSSP patients (n=39; mean 14.2; SE: 2.1; range: 2-72) and STSBM patients (n=32; mean 12.4; SE: 2.1; range: 2-45), slightly longer for EIIP patients (n=15; mean 17.7; SE: 4.0; range: 2-58), with the longest LOS observed in ITSBP patients (n=14; mean 21.5; SE: 6.3; range: 3-83). There was a significant correlation between time from admission to acquisition of the PET scan and the total LOS (r=0.71; P
What Are “Regular Meals”? A Dietary Quality-Driven Definition Supports a Meal-Specific Day-to-Day Consistency Approximating 0–120 Minutes

Objectives Develop a definition of “regular meals” that aligns with optimum dietary quality.
Perovskite solar cells

In the following sections of this chapter, we first discuss the structural and optoelectronic properties as well as the defect tolerance of halide perovskites for solar cell applications. We then compare the various common device architectures for PSCs and discuss several perovskite fabrication strategies, including solution deposition and vacuum processes, that are key to preparing high -quality perovskite thin films for high-performance PSCs. Many research and development (R&D) challenges exist that must be addressed to ready PSCs for practical applications. We review key issues on stability (moisture, thermal, light, and chemical compatibility), material toxicity (Pb and Pb-free PSCs), and scaling up (material, device architecture, and coating approach selection). A key focus area for further PSC development is characterization. Since perovskite behaves differently than conventional semiconductors, specific characterization protocols must be established to reliably evaluate the progress among different research groups. Stability characterization needs special attention given the complexity of perovskite in response to various external stress factors. Finally, we provide an outlook on the research trends in PSC development toward commercialization.
Diet-related interventions for cancer-associated cachexia.

Cancer-associated cachexia is a common condition in patients with advanced cancer, and is associated with extreme and involuntary weight loss and irreversible muscle wasting. Despite its high morbidity and mortality, there is no known treatment to reverse its effects. Thus, there is increasing interest in whether diet and exercise can assist in the minimization of cancer-associated cachexia. We reviewed the literature on the impact of dietary patterns, dietary components, and exercise on the progress and severity of cancer cachexia. Although most studies have produced inconclusive or controversial findings, some promising studies using animal models and early human clinical trials suggest that dietary and physical therapy interventions may alleviate cancer-associated cachexia. Moreover, many studies suggest that controlling diet and exercise nevertheless improved the quality of life (QoL) for cancer patients with cachexia. Ongoing studies will continue to examine whether different forms of multimodal therapy—combinations of cancer treatment, dietary regimens, anti-inflammatory therapy, and physical therapy—are effective methods to improve outcomes in advanced cancer patients with cachexia. Moreover, future studies should examine the effects of such interventions on long-term QoL and establish nutritional guidelines for the management of cancer-associated cachexia.
CRKSPH-compatible discretization of the SUPG and SAAF transport equations

The self-adjoint angular flux and streamline-upwind Petrov-Galerkin transport equations are discretized using reproducing kernels with the collocation method to produce a discretization that is compatible with conservative reproducing kernel smoothed particle hydrodynamics. A novel second derivative is derived for the diffusion-like term in the self-adjoint angular flux equation. The resulting equations involve only evaluations of kernels and physical data at the nodal centers.
The Financial and Tax Considerations of Social Security and Early Retirement

While individuals who delay the receipt of social security benefits are entitled to larger monthly payments, 57% of recipients elect to receive benefits early. This article compares the present value of social security benefits when taken early to the present value of benefits taken at the full or maximum retirement ages, taking into account factors such as average life expectancy and the time value of money. Furthermore, we expand on prior research by investigating how tax rates may affect these comparisons. Overall, our analyses suggest that taking social security early may be advantageous for many individuals. Key Findings ▪ Electing to receive social security benefits early may yield a higher expected present value stream of payments for those with a moderate risk profile. ▪ Early election may be most beneficial for retirees with the majority of their savings in tax-free accounts. ▪ However, the benefit of electing early appears to persist even for those with retirement portfolios subject to substantial taxation.
State Policies, Racial Disparities, and Income Support: A Way to Address Infant Outcomes and the Persistent Black-White Gap?

Low-birthweight and preterm births vary by state, and black mothers typically face twice the risk that their white counterparts do. This gap reflects an accumulation of psychosocial and material exposures which include interpersonal racism, as well as differential experience with area-level deprivation like residential segregation, and other harmful exposures that we refer to as "institutional" or "structural" racism. We use logistic regression models and a data set that includes all births from 1994-2017, as well as five state policies from this period-Aid to Families with Dependent Children/Temporary Aid for Needy Families, Housing Assistance, Medicaid, Minimum Wage and Earned Income Tax Credit-to examine whether these state social policies, designed to provide a financial "safety net," are associated with risk reduction of low birthweight and preterm birth to black and white mothers, and whether variations in state generosity attenuate the racial inequalities in birth outcomes. We also examine whether the relationship between state policies and racial inequalities in birth outcomes is moderated by the education level of the mother. We find that the EITC reduces the risk of low birthweight and preterm birth for black mothers. The impact is much less consistent for white mothers. For both black and white mothers, the benefits to birth outcomes are larger for mothers with less education.
Depressed Adolescents’ Pupillary Response to Peer Acceptance and Rejection: The Role of Rumination

Heightened emotional reactivity to peer feedback is predictive of adolescents' depression risk. Examining variation in emotional reactivity within currently depressed adolescents may identify subgroups that struggle the most with these daily interactions. We tested whether trait rumination, which amplifies emotional reactions, explained variance in depressed adolescents' physiological reactivity to peer feedback, hypothesizing that rumination would be associated with greater pupillary response to peer rejection and diminished response to peer acceptance. Twenty currently depressed adolescents (12-17) completed a virtual peer interaction paradigm where they received fictitious rejection and acceptance feedback. Pupillary response provided a time-sensitive index of physiological arousal. Rumination was associated with greater initial pupil dilation to both peer rejection and acceptance, and diminished late pupillary response to peer acceptance trials only. Results indicate that depressed adolescents high on trait rumination are more reactive to social feedback regardless of valence, but fail to sustain cognitive-affective load on positive feedback.
Three ways to make a vesicle

Cargo molecules have to be included in carrier vesicles of different forms and sizes to be transported between organelles. During this process, a limited set of proteins, including the coat proteins COPI, COPII and clathrin, carries out a programmed set of sequential interactions that lead to the budding of vesicles. A general model to explain the formation of coated vesicles is starting to emerge but the picture is more complex than we had imagined.
A Bayesian Approach to Ridge Fitting in the ω - k Diagram of the Solar Five-Minute Oscillations

The acoustic oscillation modes of the Sun cluster along ridges of power in the ω-k plane. Fitting curves to these ridges provides input for methods that reveal information about the Sun’s interior. This curve-fitting task is difficult due to noise in the data, close spacing between ridges at low k, and heuristic approaches to the fitting problem. The procedure we are investigating employs a simple but powerful rule from Bayesian decision theory in an effort to minimize the impact of such problems. This Bayesian approach allows one to make systematic use of prior physical and phenomenological information to assign a prior probability that a candidate curve gives the best fit to a ridge. Bayes’ rule then permits one to update this probability using the new ridge power data. The maximally probable candidate curve given both new and prior information is chosen as the best fit.
b‐Type Cytochrome Electron Carriers: Cytochromes b562 and b5, and Flavocytochrome b2

b-Type cytochromes form a class of proteins that contain a heme (iron-protoporphorin IX) bound non-covalently to its polypeptide chain with two of its side chains coordinated to the iron. One of these side chains is always histidine and the other can be histidine or methionine. Cytochromes b5 and b562 are simple mono-domain proteins that contain heme as the only prosthetic group and histidine and methionine, respectively, as the second heme ligand. Flavocytochrome b2 also contains histidine as the second heme ligand, but contains a second prosthetic group, flavin mononucleotide (FMN), that resides in a separate domain. Cytochromes b5 and b562 each mediate intracellular electron transfer between redox partners, the former within the endoplasmic reticulum of mammalian cells and the latter within bacteria. Flavocytochrome b2 catalyzes the oxidation of lactic acid within yeast mitochondria, with the cytochrome domain mediating electron transfer from substrate-reduced FMN to exogenous cytochrome c. The structural, electrochemical, and catalytic properties of these three proteins are presented, along with the results of mutagenesis. 3D Structure Keywords: cytochrome; electron transfer complex; flavoenzyme; oxidation/reduction; mutagenic studies
“The North Chose Us”: Selected Poems by Nils-Aslak Valkeapää as Expressions of Sami Cultural Ecology and Indigenous Rights Concerns

This article analyzes three poems by acclaimed Sami poet Nils-Aslak Valkeapaa. The author examines poetic language to underscore its ability to evoke Sami identity and the geography and ecology found where the Sami live in Fennoscandia (the far north of Sweden, Norway, Finland, and northwestern Russia). The author also weaves together each poem’s theme(s) in order to emphasize the importance of the Sami’s distinct perspective toward the lands surrounding them, and the Sami’s place as its first inhabitants. Throughout the article, the author connects poetic structure, form, and content, bringing together aesthetic and indigenous rights concerns, especially Sami rights to determine their own cultural practices, which involve a deep relationship with Fennoscandia’s ecologically-specific co-inhabitants: for example, its reindeer, fish, and birds.
Urban Policy, Press, and Place: City-Making in Florida’s Miami-Dade County

This article enhances the notion of city-making by explicating its communicative processes and functions within the press. Through a quantitative content analysis and qualitative textual analysis of Miami Herald news coverage related to incorporation and annexation policies and practices over a period of 3 years, we argue for a stronger implication of the press in coverage of local policy- and place-making. Through a quantitative content analysis of 437 articles from the Miami Herald about communities affected by incorporation and annexation and a qualitative textual analysis of 51 articles related to general coverage of geographic policy-making in Miami-Dade County over a 3-year period, we argue that this coverage reveals the press as being a central feature and function of policy-making through the lens of city-making.
Horace Walpole's Letters: masculinity and friendship in the eighteenth century

George E. Haggerty's Horace Walpole's Letters: Masculinity and Friendship in the Eighteenth Century is an ambitious and rewarding project, not least because it takes Horace Walpole's famously copio...
K-theory of C*-algebras of b-pseudodifferential Operators

We compute K-theory invariants of algebras of pseudodifferential operators on manifolds with corners and prove an equivariant index theorem for operators invariant with respect to an action of $ \Bbb {R}^k $ . We briefly discuss the relation between our results and the $ \eta $ -invariant.
The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis in asthmatic children

Reduced responsiveness of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in patients with various chronic allergic inflammatory disorders and a blunted HPA axis response of poorly controlled asthmatics before long-term treatment with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) have been reported. It seems that pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines might be involved in the attenuation of cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) responses to stress in these patients. Although long-term ICS treatment might produce mild adrenal suppression in some asthmatic children, improvement of adrenal function has been detected in the majority of cases. We postulate that the anti-inflammatory effects of ICS result both in asthma remission and HPA axis improvement. Adrenal suppression of some asthmatic patients on maintenance ICS seems to be a separate phenomenon, possibly constitutionally or genetically determined.
A randomized trial to assess the efficacy of point-of-care testing in decreasing length of stay in a pediatric emergency department

Objectives: To compare the effect of point-of-care (POC) testing versus traditional laboratory methods on length of stay in a pediatric emergency department (ED). Methods: This study was a prospective, randomized, controlled trial of patients solely requiring blood work that a POC device was capable of performing. Two hundred twenty-five patients presenting to a tertiary hospital ED in an urban setting enrolled after informed consent. Of all patients studied, 114 were randomized to the POC group, 111 to routine laboratory analysis. Exact times of critical phases of management and patient flow were recorded by dedicated research assistants. Medical management decisions were made at the discretion of the supervising physicians. Results: Similar waiting periods were noted in both groups for time spent in the waiting room, time waiting for first physician contact, and time waiting for blood draw. Significantly less time was required for results to become available to physicians when POC testing was used (65.0 minutes; P < 0.001). Significant decrease in overall length of stay was also noted, with patients randomized to the POC group spending an average of 38.5 minutes (P < 0.001) less time in the ED. Conclusions: Point-of-care testing can significantly decrease the length of stay in select pediatric patients in an ED setting. Point-of-care devices may prove to facilitate patient flow during busiest periods of service demand.
The geometric mean distance

Given N points in K-space, the O(N2) distances between them may be characterized by their minimum[1, 2], maximum [3], mean[4, 5, 6], or median [7]; since these problems are geometrical, it may be Interesting to consider the geometric mean - or, which is equivalent, the product - of the distances between all pairs.
An adenosine-3',5'-monophosphate activated adenylate cyclase in the slime mold physarum polycephalum.

The participation of cyclic AMP (CAMP)* in chemotaxis and differentiation has been established in the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum. In that organism, CAMP is the chemotactic agent that directs the movement of cells to aggregate into a multicellular organism [l] . The multinucleate acellular slime mold Physantm pot’ycephalum, which grows as an expanding plasmodium and moves by a transfer of mass called ‘shuttle streaming’ [2] , has been shown to be chemotactic toward certain metabolizable and non-metabolizable carbohydrates and amino acids [3] . Despite behavioral and morphological differences between cellular and acellular slime molds, the involvement of CAMP in sensory processes is very likely a unifying feature of the sensory systems of these organisms. Physarum provides an advantageous system for a study of molecular phenomena related to sensory transduction, not only because of convenience of culture and growth of synchronous cells having rapid and measurable motile responses but also because the behavioral and biochemical events that can be studied take place within a single giant cell, uncomplicated by population effects and intercellular interactions. Components of CAMP metabolism of Physarum have not been studied in any detail, although intracellular
Symposium on Consumption Smoothing in Developing Countries

This symposium explores how households in low-income countries, even without access to formal credit and insurance markets, find ways to smooth consumption in the face of large shocks to their income. This general area of risk sharing and consumption smoothing has received a great deal of attention from development economists in the last five years. The papers highlight the extent to which theoretical work in mechanism design, contract theory, and information economics has informed recent work in development economics. These papers also underscore the ways large, detailed household level data sets have recently been applied in developing country research.
Risk-Based Comparison of Classification Systems

Performancemeasures for families of classification system families that rely upon the analysis of receiver operating characteristics (ROCs), such as area under the ROC curve (AUC), often fail to fully address the issue of risk, especially for classification systems involving more than two classes. For the general case, we denote matrices of class prevalence, costs, and class-conditional probabilities, and assume costs are subjectively fixed, acceptable estimates for expected values of class-conditional probabilities exist, and mutual independence between a variable in one such matrix and those of any other matrix. The ROC Risk Functional (RRF), valid for any finite number of classes, has an associated parameter argument, which specifies a member of a family of classification systems, and for which there is an associated classification system minimizing Bayes risk over the family. We typify joint distributions for class prevalences over standard simplices by means of uniform and beta distributions, and create a family of classification systems using actual data, testing independence assumptions under two such class prevalence distributions. Examples are given where the risk is minimized under two different sets of costs.
Effects of dry cow grouping strategy and prepartum body condition score on performance and health of transition dairy cows

Multiparous Holstein cows (n = 337) on two commercial dairy farms were used to determine the effects of feeding a close-up diet for 21 (treatment S) or 60 d (treatment L). Milk yield was not affected by treatment; however, cows fed treatment S tended to have increased yields of fat, 3.5% fat-corrected milk, and protein during the first 5 mo of their subsequent lactation compared to treatment L. Cows fed treatment L gained more body condition score (BCS) during the dry period and had longer days to first service. As a secondary objective, relationships of BCS at dry off and subsequent performance were evaluated. Cows with initial BCS ≤3.0 (thinner) tended to produce more milk during early lactation than cows with initial BCS ≥3.25 (fatter). A trend for an interaction of treatment and initial BCS existed for milk yield such that thinner cows fed treatment S produced the most milk and fatter cows fed treatment S produced the least amount of milk; cows fed treatment L regardless of BCS produced an intermediate amount of milk. Subsequent reproductive performance was similar among thinner and fatter cows. These data indicate that 2 group nutritional strategies for dry cows are preferred, and BCS at dry off should be considered when determining grouping and nutritional strategies for dry cows. Furthermore, moderately thin cows at dry off do not have impaired performance during their subsequent lactation compared to cows of greater BCS.
An Association Between Precocious Puberty and Fragile X Syndrome

Abstract Study Objective To determine the FMRl gene status in a 10-year, 10-nlonth-old girl with a history of precocious puberty and a family history of fragile X syndrome. Design Case report. Setting The outpatient facility of the Division of Adolescent Medicine and the Division of Genetic and Metabolic Disorders at Children's Hospital of Michigan and the Medical Genetics and Birth Defects Center of Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan. Participant A 10-year, 10-month-old girl with a history of precocious puberty. Intervention Evaluation for menorraghia, DNA extraction, and fragile X gene analysis of blood samples from the patient and her mother. Main Outcome Measures Identification of a full mutation in the FMR1 gene. Results Southern blot analysis of the FMR1 gene identified a full mutation in the daughter with approximately 750 repeats of the eGG sequence. Methylation studies showed that the full mutation was conlpletely methylated. FMRl DNA studies on her mother identified a premutation of approximately 100 repeats. Conclusions This report identifies a young girl with a history of precocious puberty and fragile X syndrome. It is also the first report of molecular genetic FMR1 studies in a female with precocious puberty. A possible association between the two conditions is suggested and warrants further investigation.
Voice and Ellipsis

Elided VPs and their antecedent VPs can mismatch in voice, with passive VPs being elided under apparent identity with active antecedent VPs, and vice versa. Such voice mismatches are not allowed in any other kind of ellipsis, such as sluicing and other clausal ellipses. These latter facts appear to indicate that the identity relation in ellipsis is sensitive to syntactic form, not merely to semantic form. The VPellipsis facts fall into place if the head that determines voice is external to the phrase being elided, here argued to be vP; such an account can only be framed in approaches that allow syntactic features to be separated from the heads on which they are morphologically realized. Alternatives to this syntactic, articulated view of ellipsis and voice either undergenerate or overgenerate.
Effect of sodium and betaine in culture media on development and relative rates of protein synthesis in preimplantation mouse embryos in vitro

Results of recent experiments indicate that the improved development of mouse embryos in medium containing a low NaCl concentration (85 mM) or the inclusion of the organic osmolyte betaine in a medium containing a high NaCl concentration (125 mM) is correlated with the maintenance of intracellular sodium concentrations that more closely approximate those found in freshly isolated embryos (Biggers et al., 1993, Mol Reprod Dev 34:380-390). We examined the effect of these different culture media on the relative rates of protein synthesis since increased levels of intracellular sodium inhibit protein synthesis; a reduced rate of protein synthesis could therefore account for the differences in development in the different media, since cell division requires protein synthesis. We observe that the ability of these media to support development and to maintain more physiological concentrations of intracellular sodium is correlated with their ability to support increased relative rates of protein synthesis. Reducing the NaCl concentration from 125 mM to 85 mM leads to a greater fraction of the embryos developing from the 2-cell stage to the 8-cell stage after 1 day of culture and a substantially improves extent of development to the morula stage after 2 days of culture. This reduction in NaCl concentration also leads to a 2.4-fold increase in the relative rate of protein synthesis in 4-cell embryos. Moreover, addition of betaine to medium containing 125 mM NaCl increases the relative rate of protein synthesis. This finding provides an explanation, at least in part, for the increase in development to the blastocyst stage exhibited by mouse embryos cultured in these media.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Statistical discrimination between pollen tube growth and seed set in establishing self incompatibility in Gaura lindheimeri

The University of Minnesota Gaura breeding program is developing USDA Z3-4 winter-hardy genotypes via interspecific hybridization of G. lindheimeri (Z5-6) and G. coccinea (Z2-4). Prior to commencing interspecific hybridization, the reproductive barriers operating in both parental species need to be characterized. The objective of this research was to determine the type and stability of reproductive barriers operating in G. lindheimeri by statistical comparisons between pollen tube growth and seed set in a full-sib diallel. Slowed or aborted pollen tube growth in the style indicated the presence of a gametophytic self incompatibility (SI) system. A statistical method, female (FCC) and male (MCC) coefficients of crossability, was used to verify that a stable SI system was operating and that other reproductive barriers were present. Several genotypes also expressed stage-specific inbreeding depression and incongruity. The simple linear regression equation for FCC/MCC, using pollen tube growth, was Y = 0.0124 + 0.974X, which was much closer to the expected Y = 0.0 + 1.0X (indicating a stable SI system) than the equation for seed set, Y = 0.012 + 0.910X. Using pollen tube length, both general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) values were highly significant for G. lindheimeri (P ≤ 0.001). Histograms were used to delineate cut-offs to identify intra-incompatible/inter-compatible classes and S allele groups. Four possible classes were identified, but further research is needed to verify S allele genotypes.
Effects of repeated exposure to cocaine on group II metabotropic glutamate receptor function in the rat medial prefrontal cortex: behavioral and neurochemical studies.

Rationale Repeated exposure to cocaine progressively increases drug-induced locomotor activity, which is termed behavioral sensitization. Enhanced excitatory output from the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which can be modulated by group II metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR), is thought to play a key role in the development of sensitization to cocaine.
A Boundary Layer Theory - Part II: Extension of Laminated Finite Strip:

Using a newly developed boundary layer theory for laminated compos ites, a complete analytical solution is obtained for all the interlaminar shear stresses as well as the normal or "peel" stress of a finite strip in unidirec tional extension. Results obtained by the present analysis are compared to the finite-difference solution of Pipes and Pagano, and to the analytical solution of Puppo and Evensen.
Forgetting the Past

Based on arguments developed more fully in the author's History Matters: Patriarchy and the Challenge of Feminism (2006), this article urges historians of women and gender to develop a richer appreciation of the distant past. The article uses data from recent conferences and journals to demonstrate that our field is now overly focused on the modern era, and especially the last century. Then, in the spirit of encouraging further discussion and debate, the article lays out some reasons for this contemporary tilt, some ways we might right the balance and some benefits of doing just that.
Experimental Compaction of Ooids under Deep-Burial Diagenetic Temperatures and Pressures: ABSTRACT

Modern ooid sand particles were experimentally compacted at temperatures of 150°and 200°C (302°and 392°F) and at pressures varying between 824 and 1,565 kg/cm2 (11,700-22,250 psi) consistent with pressures caused by 3.5-6.5 km (11,000-21,000 ft) of overburden. Bulk volume reductions of 21-26% under the above experimental conditions were more substantial than usually considered reasonable. Particle breakage and deformed particle contacts developed that are comparable to those reported for similar lithologic characteristics from the rock record. Pressure solution can be produced successfully on compaction in ooid sand particles. This demonstrates that initial pore-volume reduction through mechanical grain adjustments and ultimate pressure solution are the major processes in the diagenetic evolution of limestones. This appears to solve the problem of mass balance. Additionally, ooids were noted to have been plastically deformed, giving rise to longitudinal and concavo-convex contacts. End_of_Article - Last_Page 454------------
On physical models for gate oxide breakdown

Electrical breakdown of thin (32-nm) SiO 2 films subjected to constant-current stressing is studied. By studying the effects of reversing the polarity of the constant-current bias and the effects of thermal annealing on the charge-to-breakdown it is determined that electrical breakdown of SiO 2 is not caused by the widely-cited accumulation of trapped electrons. Rather it is caused by the buildup of positive charges near the cathode at localized areas. The positive charges are not mobile ions but exhibit many characteristics of trapped holes. We conclude that electrical breakdown in SiO 2 is caused by the accumulation of holes, generated by impact ionization in the oxide.