cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Clinical Approach to Diagnosing Acute and Chronic Tubulointerstitial Disease.

Tubulointerstitial diseases are a relatively common cause of acute and/or chronic kidney disease. Acute tubulointerstitial nephritis (ATIN) most commonly develops in patients exposed to various medications; however, it can occur from infections, autoimmune and systemic diseases, environmental exposures, and some idiopathic causes. Chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis may develop in patients with previous ATIN or may be the initial manifestation of an autoimmune, systemic, environmental, or metabolic process. It can be challenging for clinicians to differentiate the various causes of acute and chronic kidney disease. In particular, distinguishing ATIN from other causes of acute kidney injury, such as acute tubular necrosis or a rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis, is important as treatment and prognosis are often quite different. To this end, clinicians use clinical assessment, certain laboratory data, and various imaging tests to make a diagnosis. Unfortunately, most of these tests are insufficient for this purpose. As a result, kidney biopsy is often required to accurately diagnose ATIN and guide management. For chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis, kidney biopsy is needed less often as available therapies for this entity, with a few exceptions, are limited and primarily supportive.
Therapeutic inhibition of miR-375 attenuates post-myocardial infarction inflammatory response and left ventricular dysfunction via PDK-1-AKT signalling axis.

Aims Increased miR-375 levels has been implicated in rodent models of myocardial infarction (MI) and with patients with heart failure. However, no prior study had established a therapeutic role of miR-375 in ischemic myocardium. Therefore, we assessed whether inhibition of MI-induced miR-375 by LNA anti-miR-375 can improve recovery after acute MI. Methods and results Ten weeks old mice were treated with either control or LNA anti miR-375 after induction of MI by LAD ligation. The inflammatory response, cardiomyocyte apoptosis, capillary density and left ventricular (LV) functional, and structural remodelling changes were evaluated. Anti-miR-375 therapy significantly decreased inflammatory response and reduced cardiomyocyte apoptosis in the ischemic myocardium and significantly improved LV function and neovascularization and reduced infarct size. Repression of miR-375 led to the activation of 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (PDK-1) and increased AKT phosphorylation on Thr-308 in experimental hearts. In corroboration with our in vivo findings, our in vitro studies demonstrated that knockdown of miR-375 in macrophages modulated their phenotype, enhanced PDK-1 levels, and reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines expression following LPS challenge. Further, miR-375 levels were elevated in failing human heart tissue. Conclusion Taken together, our studies demonstrate that anti-miR-375 therapy reduced inflammatory response, decreased cardiomyocyte death, improved LV function, and enhanced angiogenesis by targeting multiple cell types mediated at least in part through PDK-1/AKT signalling mechanisms.
Income Equalization Does Not Confer Net Social Benefits

Income Equalization Does Not Confer Social Benefits In the modern era, there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth about income and wealth disparities. The premise upon which these complaints are based is that egalitarianism is an unambiguous good, and that any and all steps would be taken to reduce gaps between the wealthy and the poor. The present paper is an attempt to right this imbalance; it makes the case that income and wealth differences should be neutral with regard to public policy: they should not be artificially increased or reduced. This view is defended on both economic and ethical grounds. On the economic side, the impossibility of interpersonal utility comparisons, the existence of loss aversion, questions about productivity responses to redistribution, and the undeniable reality of bureaucratic costs all call into question the wisdom of income redistribution. On the ethical side, a rights-based approach calls into question the egalitarian basis for income redistribution policies. In the end, income equality or inequality falls outside the realm of valid policy concerns.
Akhmediev breathers in nonlinear partially coherent environments

We show that Akhmediev breathers can appear even in partially coherent nonlinear systems. We find that the degree of coherence can significantly affect the onset of these waves and can critically alter their ensuing dynamics.
Stress intensity factor solutions for similar and dissimilar spot welds in lap-shear specimens under clamped loading conditions

Abstract In this paper, analytical stress intensity factor solutions for similar and dissimilar spot welds in lap-shear specimens under pinned and clamped loading conditions are derived. Closed-form solutions for similar welds in lap-shear specimens of equal thickness under pinned and clamped loading conditions are derived to show explicitly the effects of the clamped edges on the stress intensity factor solutions. Finite element analyses are also employed to obtain the stress intensity factor solutions for similar and dissimilar spot welds in lap-shear specimens under pinned and clamped loading conditions. Both computational and analytical solutions indicate that the clamped loading reduces the stress intensity factor solutions for the given specimen geometries by up to 7% for similar welds and by about 20% for dissimilar magnesium/steel welds.
Hepatic Chemoembolization Resulting in Chemical Cholecystitis

Transarterial chemoembolization therapy is a method of administrating localized chemotherapy directly into a liver tumor. PET/MR imaging can help evaluate for residual metabolic activity and assessment of liver lesions post embolization. Inadvertent embolization of the cystic artery can result in chemical cholecystitis.
Development of Strategic Thinking: Reports from the Field - Results Employing Virtual Environments

Governance requires strategic thinking and some have a proclivity for it and some do not (Jacques & Cason, 1994). How can leaders develop and enhance strategic thinking in and for their organizatio...
Specific Circumstances: Asthma and COPD

Patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, are a challenging patient population to ventilate in the ED. These patients are at risk for air trapping, manifesting as increased autoPEEP, which can lead to decreased venous return and hemodynamic instability. These patients require sufficient time to exhale, which can be achieved with low respiratory rates, low inspiratory to expiratory ratios (I:E ratios), low inspiratory times, and high inspiratory flow rates. AutoPEEP should be monitored periodically or after any ventilator change with an expiratory hold maneuver.
Encountering Dignity: Building Human Community.

Encounters with dignity are learning moments that foster humanization and communal values, even in settings of radical difference. This article probes the potential of such learning, reviewing peda...
Optimizing certain combinations of spectral and linear$/$distance functions over spectral sets

In the settings of Euclidean Jordan algebras, normal decomposition systems (or Eaton triples), and structures induced by complete isometric hyperbolic polynomials, we consider the problem of optimizing a certain combination (such as the sum) of spectral and linear$/$distance functions over a spectral set. To present a unified theory, we introduce a new system called Fan-Theobald-von Neumann system which is a triple $(V,W,{\lambda})$, where $V$ and $W$ are real inner product spaces and ${\lambda}:V\rightarrow W$ is a norm preserving map satisfying a Fan-Theobald-von Neumann type inequality together with a condition for equality. In this general setting, we show that optimizing a certain combination of spectral and linear$/$distance functions over a set of the form $E={\lambda}^{-1}(Q)$ in $V$, where $Q$ is a subset of $W$, is equivalent to optimizing a corresponding combination over the set ${\lambda}(E)$ and relate the attainment of the optimal value to a commutativity concept. We also study related results for convex functions in place of linear$/$distance functions. Particular instances include the classical results of Fan and Theobald, von Neumann, results of Tam, Lewis, and Bauschke et al., and recent results of Ramirez et al. As an application, we present a commutation principle for variational inequality problems over such a system.
Inflammatory Arthritis Is a Risk Factor for Multiple Complications After Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Population-Based Comparative Study of 68,348 Patients.

BACKGROUND Patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA) are likely at higher risk of postoperative complications following total hip arthroplasty (THA), from the underlying disease, the degree of articular deformity, and immunosuppressive medications. The purpose of this study was to perform a comparative study of the risk of complications after THA between IA and osteoarthritis. METHODS A national private insurance database was used to select patients undergoing unilateral primary THA. Patients were categorized to the inflammatory cohort if they had a diagnosis of IA and treatment with an IA-specific medication within the year before surgery. Patients with no diagnosis of IA were considered osteoarthritis. Risk of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-reportable complications and 90-day readmission was compared between cohorts using multivariate logistic regression controlling for age, gender, length of stay, comorbidities, and corticosteroid use. RESULTS A total of 68,348 patients were included; 2.12% met criteria for IA. Patients with IA were found to have higher risk of transfusion (odds ratio [OR], 1.29; P < .01), mechanical complications (OR, 1.35; P = .01), infection (OR, 1.96; P < .01), and 90-day readmission (OR, 1.35; P < .01). There were no differences in risk of venous thromboembolism or medical complications. CONCLUSION Patients with IA have significantly higher risk of transfusion, mechanical complications, infection, and readmission following THA. Efforts should be made to optimize their health and medications before THA to minimize their complication risk. Additionally, hospitals should receive commensurate resources to maintain access to THA for patients with IA who are prone to higher resource utilization. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE III.
Synthesis of sulfur-substituted phosphatidylethanolamines and inhibition of protozoan cyclopropane fatty acid synthase

Abstract A phosphalidylethanolamine(it1) containing two 9- thiastearyl groups was prepared by chemical synthesis. This compound and its methyl sulfonium derivative were found to be inhibitors of the cyclopropane fatty acid synthase from parasitic protozoan Crithidia fasciculata.
Optimizing Pre-germination Techniques for Kentucky Bluegrass and Perennial Ryegrass1

Abstract Many intensively trafficked areas such as athletic fields and golf courses require constant overseeding to maintain suitable turfgrass cover. Rapid seed germination and development are cri...
Improving Activity Recognition in Smart Environments with Ontological Modeling

The problem of activity recognition in smart environments has produced multiple divergent paths of research in an attempt to improve the usability and usefulness of smart environments. In this paper we merge these research paths by defining a method for mapping smart environment sensor activities into an ontologically defined semantic feature space. We show that by using this approach we are able to improve activity recognition by between 5–20 %.
UN ACERCAMIENTO A LA MODERNIDAD HETEROGÉNEA EN CHANGÓ, EL GRAN PUTAS, DE MANUEL ZAPATA OLIVELLA

El objetivo de este articulo es analizar las negociaciones linguisticas de dos personajes en la segunda parte de la novela, “El muntu americano”: Pupo Moncholo y Domingo Falupo. A partir de estas s...
Novel Use of GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Therapy in HNF4A-MODY

Maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) is an inherited form of diabetes caused by a mutation in a single gene. The frequency of mutation carriers for HNF4A-MODY has been reported to be 1.2% (1). Our group has previously published on the successful use of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) therapy in three consecutive generations of a family with an HNF1A-MODY (2). Although GLP-1 RA therapy has been studied in patients with HNF1A-MODY (3), it has not been studied in patients with HNF4A-MODY. In this father-son cohort, we demonstrate successful use of GLP-1 RA therapy in two patients with c.790:1 bp deletion of G; codon:264 mutations of HNF4A. The son first presented with neonatal hypoglycemia, then later developed diabetes and …
Impact of Daylight Exposure on Sleep Time and Quality of Elementary School Children

The purpose of this study was to examine how daylight exposure affects the health and well-being of elementary school children. Sleep actigraphy data were the main dependent variables in this study. Independent variables were total light and daylight levels elementary school children were exposed to inside their classrooms as well as outside. Participants were composed of elementary school children (46% female, mean age = 7.27 years, ~33% African American) attending a rural and urban schools in the mid-west, each set of children divided into groups according to classroom orientation. Eighty participants in total wore light-sensor equipped actiwatches for one-week to measure sleep quality and exposure to ambient light levels. To assess light levels students were exposed to beyond the one-week of actigraphy measurements, data logging light meters were placed in various locations within the classrooms for an entire semester. Our results seem to indicate that studying in daylit classroom spaces would lead to higher sleep time and quality compared to those who receive little or no daylight. We measured differences as large as 36 minutes. We recommend, therefore, that classroom design need to pay attention to the daily daylight exposures elementary school children are receiving.
Role of Heat Shock Factor 1 in Neural Development and Disorders

Introduction The Heat Shock Response (HSR) pathway plays a pivotal role in regulating various aspects of fetal Central Nervous System (CNS) development under normal non-stressed conditions. Its disruption, by prenatal exposure to various environmental stressors, hampers fetal neurodevelopment resulting in deficits that are in some cases obvious, such as in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), and in others pernicious, such as an increased predisposition for adult-onset psychiatric illnesses. This chapter explores how stressors, acting alone or with genetic predispositions, can impair the ability of the HSR pathway in facilitating normal fetal neurodevelopment.
COMPARTMENT SYNDROME SECONDARY TO VIRAL MYOSITIS AS INITIAL PRESENTATION IN COVID-19 PATIENT.

Abstract Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease typically manifested as a respiratory infection with a range of symptoms from a mild viral illness to a severe acute respiratory syndrome with multiorgan failure and death. We report a case of a young man presenting with compartment syndrome secondary to COVID-19 viral myositis, with a protracted hospital course further complicated by extensive venous and arterial thrombosis. As the coronavirus pandemic evolves, our understanding of the virus continues to improve; however, a host of unanswered questions remain about atypical presentation and management and treatment options.
To Incorporate or Not to Incorporate AI for Critical Judgments: The Importance of Ambiguity in Professionals’ Judgment Process

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are promising to transform how professionals are conducting their work. In many cases of professional work, AI is being used to augment rather than replace human judgment as professionals are still expected to take responsibility for the outcome. Yet, organizational researchers are only starting to understand how this augmentation unfolds in practice. We add to this emergent understanding by conducting an in-depth field study in a major US hospital where AI tools were being used within three different diagnostic radiology specialties for critical diagnoses: breast cancer, lung cancer, and bone age. Only in one of the three diagnostic settings did professionals meaningfully incorporate AI results into their final judgments, while in the other two settings, AI results were consistently overruled. This study unpacks how professionals manage ambiguity in their judgment-forming processes and how it relates to the way they experience opacity of AI tools. In order to make a diagnosis and take professional responsibility for their judgment, physicians have developed approaches of reducing ambiguity through sequential stages of their judgment-forming process. Their use of AI tools, however, tended to increase ambiguity because physicians lacked the practical ability to interrogate AI results and their professional judgments often conflicted with these results. Professionals ended up incorporating AI’s results into their judgments only when they were able to reduce this overall ambiguity in subsequent stages of their judgment process. Our findings unpack the challenges involved in augmenting professional judgment with opaque, but powerful technology.
Evaluation of a resilience training program for college student-athletes: A pilot study.

To determine if a resilience training program improved knowledge of and intention to use adaptive coping strategies among college student-athletes; and explore college student-athletes’ experiences...
Replies to Commentators

My goal in writing Our Moral Fate: Evolution and the Escape from Tribalism, as with all of my work, was not to have the last word on the subject it addresses, but rather to say enough of value to stimulate better thinkers to go farther. The quality of comments by professors Corradetti, Sterelny, Tiribelli, and Murphy show that I have succeeded. I won’t be able to do justice to their constructive (and charitable) insights in the space allotted; I can only hope to engage as constructively with them as they have with me.
Contribution of Verbally Aggressive TV Exposure and Perceived Reality to Trait Verbal Aggression

This study examined the contributions of verbally aggressive TV exposure and perceived reality to trait verbal aggression. Verbally aggressive TV exposure, categorized by genre, was assessed by res...
Picometer Level Dimensional Sensing Using Microspherical Glass Shell Whispering Gallery Mode Resonators

We present sub-picometer displacement measurement using a high quality-factor (Q) whispering gallery mode (WGM) borosilicate glass microspherical resonators. Calibrating the expansion of the WGM resonator using a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) upon absorption of thermal radiation, 3.7 pm of dimensional change can be experimentally resolved using a 1 mm diameter and $8.4\ \mu \mathrm{m}$ thick glass microspherical shell resonator. COMSOL models presented show that an unprecedented displacement resolution of 89 fm is possible for a microspherical shell resonator with a diameter of 2 mm and a thickness of $2\ \mu \mathrm{m}$ .
Stenting of the Right Ventricular Outflow Tract as Initial Palliation for Fallot-Type Lesions

The initial management of severely cyanosed patients with tetralogy of Fallot-type lesions remains challenging. True neonatal repair of these lesions remains the exception (1–3). The creation of a Blalock-Taussig (BT) shunt is well established but continues to have a high early and late complication rate and mortality (4). Earlier attempts at transcatheter interventions (either balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty or stenting the right ventricular outflow tract) were rather high risk or yielded unpredictable results (5–8). It is only recently that several groups have revisited stenting of the right ventricular outflow tract (9–12) in the initial palliation of symptomatic patients with Fallot-type lesions.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Its Therapy: Clinical and Polysomnographic Manifestations

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome was studied in 32 children, aged 2 to 14 years, in the sleep-wake disorders center at Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center during the years 1977 to 1980. All children underwent all-night polysomnograms; 17 of these children had surgery to relieve airway obstruction and seven had a repeat polysomnographic study 4 to 6 weeks following the surgery. There was a significant improvement in the number of obstructive apneas and in other apnea indices following surgery. There was no significant effect on the durations and the proportions of the various sleep stages, on sleep efficiency, or on the number of awakenings.
Secondary injury mechanisms in acute spinal cord injury

Experimental studies in animal spinal cord injury models suggest that preservation of a relatively small number of spinal axons can support neurological recovery. The second National Acute Spinal Cord Injury Study (NASCIS 2) was the first clinical trial to demonstrate that a treatment given after injury can enhance neurological recovery. In this trial, patients treated with high-dose methylprednisolone within 8 hours of spinal cord injury recovered more sensory and motor function than did those treated with placebo. In addition to demonstrating the first effective pharmacological intervention in central nervous system injury, NASCIS 2 identified several critical issues that must be investigated in future preclinical and clinical research. These include drug dose, initiation time, and duration of treatment, as well as combination therapy and injury severity. Addressing these issues systematically will require more reproducible animal models and more accurate outcome measures.
Explicit Proofs in Formal Provability Logic

In this paper we answer the question what implicit proof assertions in the provability logic GL can be realized by explicit proof terms. In particular we show that the fragment of GL which can be realized by generalized proof terms of GLA is exactly S4 ? GL and equals the fragment that can be realized by proof-terms of LP . In the final sections of this paper we establish the disjunction property for GLA and give an axiomatization for GL ? S4 .
A Stubborn Legacy: The Overwhelming Importance of Race in Jury Selection in 173 Post-Batson North Carolina Capital Trials

The North Carolina Racial Justice Act of 2009 created a state claim for relief for defendants currently on death row who can show that race was a significant factor in the exercise of peremptory challenges in their cases. A defendant who makes such a showing is entitled to have a death sentence reduced to life without parole. The RJA expressly deems a broad range of evidence relevant by allowing claimants to prove their cases using “statistical evidence or other evidence, including, but not limited to, sworn testimony of attorneys, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, jurors, or other members of the criminal justice system or both.” This Article presents the results of a study undertaken in order to evaluate the potential for statistical evidence to support claims under this part of the Racial Justice Act. In particular, we examined how prosecutors exercised peremptory challenges in capital trials of all defendants on death row in North Carolina as of July 1, 2010, to assess whether potential jurors’ race played any role in those decisions. We found substantial disparities in which potential jurors prosecutors struck. Over the twenty-year period we examined, prosecutors struck eligible black venire members at about 2.5 times the rate they struck eligible venire members who were not black. These disparities remained consistent over time and across the state, and did not diminish when we controlled for information about venire members that potentially bore on the decision to strike them, such as views on the death penalty or prior experience with crime. The evidence presented in this article constituted the primary evidence in support of the first Racial Justice Act claim to reach a decision. On April 20, 2012, Judge Gregory Weeks in Cumberland County, North Carolina, found this study highly reliable and that the defendant had shown race to be a significant factor in the exercise of peremptory challenges at the time of his trial. Based on these findings, he vacated the defendant’s death sentence and resentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a disorder characterized by altered bowel habits and abdominal pain in the absence of a detectable structural abnormality. There are no clear diagnostic markers for this illness and all definitions are based on clinical symptoms. Getting an accurate history from a child can sometimes be difficult and until recently IBS was not a common diagnosis made in children. Some pediatricians still view IBS as nothing more than a somatic manifestation of psychological stress. Availability of better techniques to study bowel motility and sensory function along with advancements in functional brain imaging has improved our understanding of the pathophysiology of IBS. It is now thought that IBS symptoms result from the convergence of multiple factors including a genetic predisposition, an infectious or inflammatory injury to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract leading to altered sensory perception by the brain, and an underlying bowel dysmotility. Functional abdominal pain and visceral hypersensitivity can co-exist in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Emerging data suggest that there may be an overlap in the symptoms and etiopathogenesis of IBS and IBD. In this chapter we will discuss how to make a symptom-based diagnosis of IBS and review the pathophysiology and management of IBS. We will also discuss the sensory perception and enteric nervous system changes in IBD patients and how these can predispose to the development of functional GI symptoms.
Control of male production in the swarm-founding wasp, Polybioides tabidus

In social insect colonies, male production may involve conflicts over the sex ratio, worker vs. queen reproduction, and each queen's contribution to the males when there are multiple queens. We examined male production in the swarm-founding, multiple-queened wasp, Polybioides tabidus, for which previous work suggested worker control of the sex ratios. We found that queens produced the males in accord with the collective worker preference. We also found that diploid males were produced, but only in association with haploid males. Simulations show they should have been produced in other colonies as well and their absence indicates that they were killed in some of these other colonies. The pattern of their removal indicates that P. tabidus cannot distinguish diploid from haploid males, and that haploid males would have been removed from these colonies too. This provides evidence that the workers are able to manipulate male production when collective preferences dictate.
The market size, entrepreneurship, and the big push☆

Abstract The logic of “balanced growth” or “big push” hypothesis does not provide the rationale for the comprehensive central planning, unless coordinated expansion across industries is difficult to achieve through spontaneous responses by creative entrepreneurs. To make this point, I model the difficulty of coordination by adding some inertia in the entrepreneurial decision processes in the Murphy-Shleifer-Vishny model of the big push and analyze the transition explicitly. The “critical minimum effort” is defined and derived as a function of the market size and entrepreneurship and used to determine whether the economy is caught in the poverty trap or can achieve a take-off.
The sex by race interaction in cognitive measures

Abstract Data consisting of 79 cognitive measures from Project TALENT for 100,000 white and black high school students have been analyzed for possible race by sex interactions. Control variables included geographical area, grade in high school, and socio-economic class. Race by sex interactions are largest when socioeconomic class is controlled and are highly related to the size of the main effect of sex as well. White boys and girls differ more than black boys and girls whether the overall sex difference favors males or females. Sex by grade and, to a lesser extent, sex by area interactions were also moderately large and consistent with the size of the main effect of sex. Since there are no consistent relationships with other main effects, and since the measures producing sex differences also tend to produce the interactions, it is concluded that sex differences and the interactions with sex share the same causes. Differences between these results and those of Jensen are also discussed.
Do Political Attitudes and Religiosity Share a Genetic Path

Social scientists have long recognized and sought to explain a connection between religious and political beliefs. Our research challenges the prevalent view that religion and politics constitute separate but related belief sets with a conceptual model that suggests the correlation between the two may be partially explained by an underlying psychological construct reflecting first principle beliefs on social organization. Moreover, we also push this challenge further by considering whether part of the relationship between political and religious beliefs is the result of shared genetic influences, which would suggest that a shared biological predisposition, or set of biological predispositions, underlies these attitudes. Using a classic twin design on a sample of American adults, we demonstrate that certain religious, political, and first principle beliefs can be explained by genetic and unique environmental components, and that the correlation between these three trait structures is primarily due to a common genetic path. As predicted, this relationship is found to hold for social ideology, but not for economic ideology. These findings provide evidence that the overlap between the religious and the political in the American context may in part be due to underlying principles regarding how to understand and organize society and that these principles may be adopted to satisfy biologically-influenced psychological needs.
Reconstitution of Core Light-Harvesting Complexes of Photosynthetic Bacteria Using Chemically Synthesized Polypeptides. 2. Determination of Structural Features That Stabilize Complex Formation and Their Implications for the Structure of the Subunit Complex†

Chemically synthesized polypeptides have been utilized with a reconstitution assay to determine the role of specific amino acid side chains in stabilizing the core light-harvesting complex (LH1) of photosynthetic bacteria and its subunit complex. In the preceding paper [Meadows, K. A., Parkes-Loach, P. S., Kehoe, J. W., and Loach, P. A. (1998) Biochemistry 37, 3411−3417], it was demonstrated that 31-residue polypeptides (compared to 48 and 54 amino acids in the native polypeptides) having the same sequence as the core region of the β-polypeptide of Rhodobacter sphaeroides (sphβ31) or Rhodospirillum rubrum (rrβ31) could form subunit-type complexes. However, neither polypeptide interacted with the native α-polypeptides to form a native LH1 complex. In this paper, it is demonstrated that larger segments of the native Rb. sphaeroides β-polypeptide possess native behavior in LH1 formation. Polypeptides were synthesized that were six (sphβ37) and ten amino acids (sphβ41) longer than sphβ31. Although sphβ37 exhi...
Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors before kidney transplantation.

Context—Assessing the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors is an essential step in developing risk profiles and individualizing interventions to reduce the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality of kidney transplant recipients.Objective—To examine the prevalence of pretransplant modifiable, potentially modifiable, and nonmodifiable cardiovascular risk factors in patients who received kidney transplants between January 1, 1994, and December 31, 1996.Design—An exploratory, retrospective nested case-control design was employed to assess pretransplant cardiovascular risk factors in kidney transplant recipients with documented posttransplant cardiovascular events (n = 12) and kidney transplant recipients with no documented posttransplant cardiovascular events (n = 66). Data were analyzed using frequencies, unpaired t tests, and χ2 analyses.Results—Significantly higher means of body mass index values greater than 25 kg/m2 (32.3±5.8 kg/m2 vs 28.8±3.4 kg/m2) and serum total cholesterol levels greater than 20...
Toward 16 megapixel focal plane arrays

Mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) and long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) 1024x1024 pixel InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs based quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP) focal planes have been demonstrated with excellent imaging performance. The MWIR QWIP detector array has demonstrated a noise equivalent differential temperature (NEΔT) of 17 mK at a 95K operating temperature with f/2.5 optics at 300K background and the LWIR detector array has demonstrated a NEΔT of 13 mK at a 70K operating temperature with the same optical and background conditions as the MWIR detector array after the subtraction of system noise. Both MWIR and LWIR focal planes have shown background limited performance (BLIP) at 90K and 70K operating temperatures respectively, with similar optical and background conditions. It is well known that III-V compound semiconductor materials such as GaAs, InP, etc. are easy to grow and process into devices. In addition, III-V compound semiconductors are available in large diameter wafers, up to 8-inches. Thus, III-V compound semiconductor based infrared focal plane technologies such as QWIP, InSb, and strain layer superlattices (SLS) are potential candidates for the development of large format focal planes such as 4096x4096 pixels and larger. In this paper, we will discuss the possibility of extending the infrared detector array size up to 16 megapixels.
A connection between Raman intensities and EXAFS Debye-Waller factors in amorphous solids

Abstract For tetrahedrally-bonded amorphous systems a connection is derived between the Raman scattering intensity and the Debye-Waller factor in the Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS). Specifically it is argued that mechanisms contributing to the reduced Raman intensity would yield spectra proportional to the projected density of modes contributing to the EXAFS Debye-Waller factor, provided correlations in bond-bond motions are negligible. Model calculations support this conjecture. An expression for the coupling constant appearing in the Raman intensity is also obtained.
Distinct roles of jasmonates and aldehydes in plant-defense responses.

BackgroundMany inducible plant-defense responses are activated by jasmonates (JAs), C6-aldehydes, and their corresponding derivatives, produced by the two main competing branches of the oxylipin pathway, the allene oxide synthase (AOS) and hydroperoxide lyase (HPL) branches, respectively. In addition to competition for substrates, these branch-pathway-derived metabolites have substantial overlap in regulation of gene expression. Past experiments to define the role of C6-aldehydes in plant defense responses were biased towards the exogenous application of the synthetic metabolites or the use of genetic manipulation of HPL expression levels in plant genotypes with intact ability to produce the competing AOS-derived metabolites. To uncouple the roles of the C6-aldehydes and jasmonates in mediating direct and indirect plant-defense responses, we generated Arabidopsis genotypes lacking either one or both of these metabolites. These genotypes were subsequently challenged with a phloem-feeding insect (aphids: Myzus persicae), an insect herbivore (leafminers: Liriomyza trifolii), and two different necrotrophic fungal pathogens (Botrytis cinerea and Alternaria brassicicola). We also characterized the volatiles emitted by these plants upon aphid infestation or mechanical wounding and identified hexenyl acetate as the predominant compound in these volatile blends. Subsequently, we examined the signaling role of this compound in attracting the parasitoid wasp (Aphidius colemani), a natural enemy of aphids.Principal FindingsThis study conclusively establishes that jasmonates and C6-aldehydes play distinct roles in plant defense responses. The jasmonates are indispensable metabolites in mediating the activation of direct plant-defense responses, whereas the C6-aldehyes are not. On the other hand, hexenyl acetate, an acetylated C6-aldehyde, is the predominant wound-inducible volatile signal that mediates indirect defense responses by directing tritrophic (plant-herbivore-natural enemy) interactions.SignificanceThe data suggest that jasmonates and hexenyl acetate play distinct roles in mediating direct and indirect plant-defense responses. The potential advantage of this “division of labor” is to ensure the most effective defense strategy that minimizes incurred damages at a reduced metabolic cost.
QUANTITATIVE STUDIES ON ENZYMES IN STRUCTURES IN STRIATED MUSCLES BY LABELED INHIBITOR METHODS. II. CONFIRMATION OF RADIOAUTOGRAPHIC MEASUREMENT BY LIQUID-SCINTILLATION COUNTING.

Fragments of mouse diaphragm and sternomastoid muscles were incubated in diisopropyl-fluorophosphate (DFP)-3H in conditions known to saturate all the available DFP-sensitive reaction sites. After being extensively washed, the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChase) was specifically reactivated by treatment with pyridine-2-aldoxime methiodide (2-PAM). The radioactive DP-groups released into solution by 2-PAM were measured by liquid scintillation counting, and related to the known number of motor endplates present. Considerable difficulty was encountered in reducing the excess, adsorbed radioactivity to acceptable levels: long washing routines, extraction with organic solvents, and removing excess muscle fiber by microdissection were necessary. Six experiments gave a mean value of 2.4 x 107molecules AChase per sternomastoid endplate, in reasonable agreement with the previously reported measurements by radioautography.
Role of ESCRT Proteins in Controlling the Lysosomal Degradation of KCa3.1 in HEK and Endothelial Cells

In a previous study we have shown that KCa3.1 is rapidly internalized from the plasma membrane and has a short half-life in HEK293 and endothelial HMEC-1 cells (Biophys. J. 2008 94: 529). The aim of the present work was to investigate the molecular mechanisms controlling this fast degradation of KCa3.1. Using the Biotin-acceptor-KCa3.1 construct, recently engineered in our lab, the channel was fluorescently labeled at the cell surface and the cells were incubated at 37°C for different periods of time. The fate of the endocytosed channels was addressed by confocal microscopy.After 5 h incubation at 37 °C, almost all protein was degraded, as demonstrated by a very low fluorescence level inside the cells. However, when the same treatment was applied in the presence of lysosomal proteases inhibitors leupeptin/pepstatin, we observed an accumulation of the channel inside the cells, suggesting that lysosomes are involved in KCa3.1 degradation.Next, we addressed the possible role of the endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) components in this process. We have investigated the role of TSG101 (a member of ESCRT-I complex) and SKD1/VPS4 (ESCRT-III). Cells were doubly transfected with Biotin-KCa3.1 and either the wild type construct or a dominant negative form of SKD1/VPS4 (E235Q) and TSG101, respectively. For SKD1E235Q and mutant TSG101 cells, we observed a lack of channel degradation, as compared to control cells.These results show for the first time the role of ESCRT family proteins in targeting KCa3.1 for lysosomal degradation in HEK and HMEC-1 cells.This work was supported by AHA Grant 0825542D.
Regulation of muscarinic acetylcholine receptor mRNA expression by activation of homologous and heterologous receptors.

Abstract Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChR) in the embryonic chicken heart undergo agonist-induced internalization and a subsequent decrease in receptor number (downregulation). Cloning studies have identified two subtypes of mAChR expressed in the embryonic chicken heart, the cm2 and cm4 receptors. We report here that persistent activation of the mAChR in cultured chicken heart cells with the cholinergic agonist carbachol causes significant decreases in the levels of both cm2 and cm4 mRNA, as measured by solution hybridization analyses. The half-lives of the cm2 and cm4 mRNAs are not altered by agonist treatment, indicating that agonist most likely regulates mRNA levels by regulating the rate of gene transcription. Activation of mAChR in chicken heart causes both inhibition of adenylate cyclase activity and stimulation of phospholipase C activity. To test whether changes in the levels of intracellular second messengers were involved in the changes in mAChR mRNAs observed following agonist exposure, we determined the effects of incubation with agonists for the A1 adenosine receptors (which inhibit adenylate cyclase in chicken heart) and angiotensin II receptors (which stimulate phospholipase C) on mAChR receptor number and mRNA levels. Activation of these pathways together through heterologous receptors resulted in decreased mAChR number and mRNA levels, although these changes were not as large as those seen with direct activation of the mAChR. These results suggest that regulation of adenylate cyclase and phospholipase C activities may be involved in the regulation of mAChR gene expression.
Tandem Cuff Artificial Urinary Sphincter as a Salvage Procedure Following Failed Primary Sphincter Placement for the Treatment of Post-Prostatectomy Incontinence

ABSTRACTPurpose: Management of post-artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) urethral atrophy can be difficult for the treating physician, yielding unsatisfactory results for the patient. As with many incontinence procedures, initial results are generally encouraging. We determined the durability and success of tandem cuff placement for urethral atrophy following AUS placement.Materials and Methods: We reviewed the records of 18 patients with a mean age 74 years who underwent tandem AUS placement from 1994 to 2001. Mean followup was 3.3 years. All patients originally underwent AUS placement for post-prostatectomy stress urinary incontinence and they had subsequent incontinence secondary to urethral atrophy. Adjuvant radiation in 3 cases, hormone therapy in 3, cuff size and pressure, and multiple continence procedures prior to tandem cuff placement in 5 were evaluated as risk factors for cuff erosion. Long-term followup was obtained through office examination and telephone interview using a standardized question...
Diiron μ-vinylcarbyne complexes have unusually low barriers to vinyl rotation because conjugation is maintained throughout rotation

Rotational Barriers of diiron μ-vinylcarbyne complexes were measured by temperature dependent 1H and 13C NMR line shape analysis. The planar vinylcarbyne ligand in [C5H5(CO)Fe]2(μ-CO)[μ-C-E-CHCHC6H4-p-N(CH3)2]+BF4− (5) was found to possess three measurable rotational barriers. Rotation of the entire vinylcarbyne ligand has the lowest barrier to rotation, ΔG‡218 10.6(1) kcal mol−1. Rotation of the N(CH3)2 group has a barrier of ΔG‡210 10.9(1) kcal mol−1, and rotation of the aryl group has a barrier of ΔG‡275 13.0(1) kcal mol−1. Fenske-Hall molecular orbital calculations reveal that diiron vinylcarbyne complexes have low barriers to ligand rotation because the bridging carbyne carbon has orthogonal p orbitals which can accept electron density from the vinyl unit throughout rotation.
Weak Strand Displacement Activity Enables Human DNA Polymerase β to Expand CAG/CTG Triplet Repeats at Strand Breaks

Abstract Using synthetic DNA constructs in vitro, we find that human DNA polymerase β effectively catalyzes CAG/CTG triplet repeat expansions by slippage initiated at nicks or 1-base gaps within short (14 triplet) repeat tracts in DNA duplexes under physiological conditions. In the same constructs, Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I Klenow Fragment exo− is much less effective in expanding repeats, because its much stronger strand displacement activity inhibits slippage by enabling rapid extension through two downstream repeats into flanking non-repeat sequence. Polymerase β expansions of CAG/CTG repeats, observed over a 32-min period at rates of ∼1 triplet added per min, reveal significant effects of break type (nick versus gap), strand composition (CTG versus CAG), and dNTP substrate concentration, on repeat expansions at strand breaks. At physiological substrate concentrations (1–10 μm of each dNTP), polymerase β expands triplet repeats with the help of weak strand displacement limited to the two downstream triplet repeats in our constructs. Such weak strand displacement activity in DNA repair at strand breaks may enable short tracts of repeats to be converted into longer, increasingly mutable ones associated with neurological diseases.
Automated Anthropometric Measuring Devices for Use in Mass-Screening:

Abstract : The purpose of this report was to determine the state of the art in anthropometric measuring devices used for mass screening. In addition, technologies which could be used for mass screening were identified and described. Finally, straw-man requirements for an anthropometric measuring system were proposed. A review of the literature identified only two operational anthropometric measurement devices currently used for mass screening. One was developed for the US Navy by Provost, Gifford and Thazo (1965). The other, Anthropometric Measurement System (AMS) was developed by Ergotech, a firm in Pretoria, South Africa, to "facilitate the efficient issuing of clothing items to defense force personnel." A prototype of an improved system, Automated Anthropometric Data Measurement System (AADMS) was developed by Moroney, Hughes & Spicuzza (1984), but was never used operationally. A variety of potentially applicable measurement techniques were identified and described. Acoustic, light, electro-magnetic, and digitizing arm technologies could be used to measure individuals. Data describing the capabilities and limitations of these systems are also provided. Finally a series of requirements to be included in a straw-man requirements document was provided.
The effect of heat treatment time on lithium-containing Al2O3SiO2 gels: a study by 7Li NMR

Samples with nominal composition 15(LiCl)2−7.7Al2O3−77.3SiO2 were prepared by the sol-gel method and heat treated at 500°C for 5, 10, 20 and 100 h. Both powder X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy data confirm that the heat-treated gels are amorphous. The transmission electron microscopy data and the temperature dependence data of the spin-lattice relaxation time, T1, of the 7Li nucleus by NMR, do not differ within experimental error for gels heat-treated for different times. Two types of relaxation processes are observed in the gels. A fast relaxation of T1f = 1.5 ± 0.08 is attributed to network-associated lithium ions, in which the lithium ions are either associated with non-bridging oxygens on the silica tetrahedra or with four-coordinated aluminum for charge compenation. A slow relaxation process T1s = 0.20 ± 0.01 is ascribed to lithium in nano-scale particulate LiCl in the pores of the gel. The T1 data indicate that the difference between these two relaxation processes is averaged as the temperature increases.