cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Independent Contribution of Uterine Blood Flow to Birth Weight and Body Composition in Smoking Mothers.

Objective This study aims to evaluate the relationship of maternal smoking to uterine artery hemodynamics and examine independent contributions to birth weight and fetal body composition. Study Design Women were enrolled in a prospective randomized controlled study targeting smoking abstinence. Uterine artery Doppler ultrasound was performed and volumetric blood flow was calculated. Third trimester ultrasound estimates of fetal body composition were performed and birth weight was recorded. Results Uterine artery volumetric flow and resistance index (RI) were significantly correlated with birth weight adjusted for gestational age (R = 0.35, p = 0.002; R = − 0.27, p = 0.02). Volumetric flow was significantly associated with fetal fat mass (R = 0.30, p = 0.018). Smoking status did not have significant effects on lean body mass (t [61] = 0.60, p = 0.55), fat mass (t [61] = 1.67, p = 0.10), or volumetric flow (t = 0.86, df = 87, p = 0.39). Stepwise regression identified volumetric flow (β = 0.81, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.35–1.27, p Conclusion No direct relationship of smoking to uterine artery hemodynamics was demonstrated. Volumetric flow was an independent contributor to birth weight and was associated with fetal fat deposition, while smoking was not independently associated with either outcome.
Insatiable Appetites: Imperial Encounters with Cannibals in the North Atlantic World. By Kelly L. Watson. (New York, NY: New York University Press, 2015. Pp. xii, 239. $40.00.

In this analysis of the confrontation between fifteenth‐century European imperial ideologies and New World peoples, the indigenous groups were perceived as “other,” and as practitioners of inhumane...
Role of molecular diffusion in heterogeneous, naturally fractured shale reservoirs during CO2 huff-n-puff

Abstract Shale reservoirs are characterized by high degree of heterogeneity and ultra-low matrix permeability. Natural fracture (both macro and micro) systems are important to increase the performance of shale reservoirs by providing flow path for the hydrocarbon from the nanopores in the matrix to the wellbore. Configurations of natural fractures also have significant implications for the recovery performance of shale gas and oil reservoirs. CO2 huff-n-puff or cyclic injection has been suggested to be a feasible way to recover oil from shales and the flow process is complex. Molecular diffusion is an important transport mechanism of the mixture of CO2 and oil, especially in tight formations. Based on these knowledge, various configurations of the natural fracture system in shale reservoirs with the dual porosity and dual permeability model were constructed, regarding Dykstra-Parsons (DP) coefficient and correlation length. Dykstra-Parson (DP) coefficient ranges from 0.40 to 0.78, and correlation length ranges from 50 ft to 3000 ft. Based on the geological setting of the Middle Bakken formation and the Bakken live oil PVT data, compositional models were performed to simulate the CO2 huff-n-puff process. CO2 injection begins after the primary recovery factor reaches 3% and both multiple-cycle and single-cycle of injection were investigated regarding the oil recovery performance and CO2 injectivity behavior. In the multiple-cycle scheme the period of one cycle is short; the injection, soak and production time are 10 days, 10 days and 100 days, respectively. In the single-cycle scheme, the period of one cycle is long, and gas injection volume is set to be constant with the soak time of 100 days. The impact of molecular diffusion during the huff-n-puff process is compared in different simulation scenarios. Findings in this work reveal the importance of the configuration of the pre-existing natural fracture system for the performance of the huff-n-puff process. Reservoir heterogeneity hampers primary production. However, during the puff production process, the negative impact of heterogeneity is less as the correlation length increases when the molecular diffusion is taken into account. There exists a threshold correlation length value wherein heterogeneity becomes favorable for improved oil recovery instead of hampering oil recovery, after taking into account of the molecular diffusion, which is approximately 1500 ft in this simulation study. The value of correlation length also affects the performance of multiple-cycle and single-cycle huff-n-puff processes differently because CO2 injectivity behavior is different in reservoirs characterized by different DP coefficients and correlation length: there exists a threshold time point when a longer correlation length begins to favor the injectivity, and the threshold time point is delayed for a scenario with a larger DP coefficient.
Patient Positioning and Trocar Placement for Robotic Procedures

Sound knowledge and application of correct patient positioning and port placement for gynecologic robotic procedures allow surgeries to be completed efficiently and safely. Most commonly, gynecologic procedures require Trendelenburg and dorsal lithotomy positioning. Incorrect placement of patients into this position can result in serious effects, including nerve injuries. Robotic port placement most commonly requires the use of a conventional “M” configuration directed at the target pathology. When ports are not placed optimally, target anatomy and pathology can be more challenging to access. This results in great frustration and oftentimes prolonged surgical times. Understanding of the key steps in patient positioning and port placement is essential for all novice and master gynecologic robotic surgeons.
Meaning without fulfilment

Some philosophers argue that a necessary component of a meaningful life is positive affect. The implication of this type of view is that a meaningful life necessarily feels good. I respond primaril...
Tissue expansion in dermatologic surgery.

Reconstructive scar revision as a result of cutaneous malignancy, trauma, or cicatricial inflammatory disease can be augmented by tissue expansion. This more complicated, two- staged procedure provides expansion of adjacent, normal skin that is advanced as a flap to reconstruct defects with tissue of good color and texture match. Its adaptation in dermatology to scalp reduction for cicatricial alopecia and other cutaneous disease is described.
Computational study of Passive Neutron Albedo Reactivity (PNAR) measurement with fission chambers

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS x CHAPTER
The Character and Effects of Sanctions Imposed on Russia in Consequence of Aggression Against Ukraine

The economic sanctions imposed on Russia have adversely affected the development of the Russian economy. Russia’s GDP has decreased, GDP growth rate has slowed down, global demand has declined, prices and interest rates have risen. Inflation has increased, the rouble has become devalued, the amount of foreign exchange reserves has gone down, and life quality of Russian citizens has deteriorated. The sanctions of the Western states against Russia as well as the sanctions reciprocally applied by Russia against the broadly understood foreign countries have negatively influenced the economies of many Western states which have also been affected by worse conditions of economic growth after 2014.
Lawyers at the Peak of Their Careers: A 30‐Year Longitudinal Study of Job and Life Satisfaction

A decade ago, we conducted a 20‐year longitudinal study of career and life satisfaction among the class matriculating at the University of Virginia School of Law in 1987. Here, we extend our repeated measures follow‐up from 20 to 30 years—from the time when respondents were a mean of 43 to the time they were a mean of 53 years old. The 2017 survey employed substantially the same instrument used in 2007, with the addition of a new section assessing potential period effects occurring over the past decade that might have influenced respondents' working conditions, including a stronger stress on economic sustainability. The 2017 response rate was 81 percent of those who had responded to the 2007 survey (constituting 58 percent of the class matriculating in 1987). We found respondents to have taken diverse career paths, with no single work setting accounting for more than one‐quarter of the respondents and with fully one‐third of the respondents changing jobs in the past decade. Marked gender differences in the professional lives of respondents persisted (e.g., women continued to be much more likely than men to forego full‐time employment “in order to care for children” (30 percent vs. 4 percent)). Working conditions at large private law firms stayed problematic, with the portion of respondents negatively affected by a stronger stress on economic sustainability being twice as high among those working in large firms (77 percent) than among those working in other settings (38 percent). Finally, both career satisfaction and life satisfaction again were found to be high, with 77 percent of respondents satisfied with the decision to become a lawyer, and 91 percent satisfied with their lives more broadly.
Predicting Future Cardiovascular Events in Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease Using Electronic Health Record Data.

Background: Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) are at risk of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events. There are no readily available risk scores that can accurately identify wh...
Assessing Left Ventricular Unloading and Wall Tension to Predict the Need for Durable Mechanical Circulatory Support after Peripheral VA-ECMO

Purpose Peripheral veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (pVA-ECMO) has gained increasing value in the management of advanced cardiogenic shock. Unloading the left ventricle (LV) while reducing myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2) are crucial for myocardial recovery during pVA-ECMO. To study the effects of a pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP)-directed protocol in patients on pVA-ECMO (goal: PCWP Methods Following IRB approval, we identified 99 patients with advanced cardiogenic shock undergoing pVA-ECMO and at least one formal transthoracic echocardiography study (TTE) during pVA-ECMO. We analyzed demographic data, routine laboratory data, hemodynamic parameters, and TTE results. We used PCWP measurements and calculations of LV systolic wall tension (LVSWT) to assess LV unloading and MVO2 during pVA-ECMO, respectively. Statistical analyses included Mann-Whitney-U test and logistic regression modeling. Data are given as median (interquartile range). Results Survival to hospital discharge was 60.6%. 27.3% of all patients required transition to dMCS to be weaned off pVA-ECMO. 10.1% of all patients developed refractory LV distention with pulmonary edema despite maximum medical treatment and required either atrial septostomy or additional mechanical support. Minimum PCWP readings during pVA-ECMO were 12.8 mmHg (11.0-14.4) in patients without and 10.0 mmHg (8.0-17.0) in patients with need for dMCS (p=0.236). Minimum LVSWT during pVA-ECMO were 2.7 × 105 dynes/cm (2.0-3.5) in patients without and 3.5 × 105 dynes/cm (3.1-4.0) in patients with need for dMCS (p=0.002). Adjusting for age and race in a logistic regression model revealed that only post-cardiotomy pVA-ECMO and LVSWT, but not minimum PCWP were independently associated with need for dMCS after pVA-ECMO. Conclusion We show that strict medical management can lead to LV unloading, i.e. minimum PCWP
Capitalism, For and Against: A Feminist Debate

Acknowledgements Part I. For Capitalism as a Feminist Ideal and Reality Ann Cudd: 1. Introduction 2. The empirical case for capitalism as an actually existing system 3. The theoretical explanation of capitalism's success 4. Feminist critiques of capitalism 5. Fetishism 6. Enlightened capitalism: a feminist capitalist manifesto Part II. Against Capitalism as Theory and as Reality Nancy Holmstrom: 7. Introduction 8. Capitalism in theory: ideals and limits 9. Capitalism in reality 10. Human interests are women's interests 11. Conclusion. What is the alternative and what should feminists do now? Part III. Responses: 12. Ann Cudd's reply to Nancy Holmstrom 13. Nancy Holmstrom's reply to Ann Cudd.
Formalizing Assistive Teleoperation

In assistive teleoperation, the robot helps the user accomplish the desired task, making teleoperation easier and more seamless. Rather than simply executing the user's input, which is hindered by the inadequacies of the interface, the robot attempts to predict the user's intent, and assists in accomplishing it. In this work, we are interested in the scientific underpinnings of assistance: we formalize assistance under the general framework of policy blending, show how previous work methods instantiate this formalism, and provide a principled analysis of its main components: prediction of user intent and its arbitration with the user input. We define the prediction problem, with foundations in Inverse Reinforcement Learning, discuss simplifying assumptions that make it tractable, and test these on data from users teleoperating a robotic manipulator under various circumstances. We propose that arbitration should be moderated by the confidence in the prediction. Our user study analyzes the effect of the arbitration type, together with the prediction correctness and the task difficulty, on the performance of assistance and the preferences of users.
The role of hydrophilic finishes in frictional electrification and charge decay of woven fabric from polyester

AbstractThe effect of different concentrations of Hydroperm T (a hydrophilic surface finishes) on the electrostatic charging and decay properties of filament polyester fabrics, has been investigate...
Loss of XBP1 Leads to Early-Onset Retinal Neurodegeneration in a Mouse Model of Type I Diabetes.

Retinal neuronal injury and degeneration is one of the primary manifestations of diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of vision loss in working age adults. In pathological conditions, including diabetes and some physiological conditions such as aging, protein homeostasis can become disrupted, leading to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Severe or unmitigated ER stress can lead to cell death, which in retinal neurons results in irreversible loss of visual function. X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1) is a major transcription factor responsible for the adaptive unfolded protein response (UPR) to maintain protein homeostasis in cells undergoing ER stress. The purpose of this study is to determine the role of XBP1-mediated UPR in retinal neuronal survival and function in a mouse model of type 1 diabetes. Using a conditional retina-specific XBP1 knockout mouse line, we demonstrate that depletion of XBP1 in retinal neurons results in early onset retinal function decline, loss of retinal ganglion cells and photoreceptors, disrupted photoreceptor ribbon synapses, and Muller cell activation after induction of diabetes. Our findings suggest an important role of XBP1-mediated adaptive UPR in retinal neuronal survival and function in diabetes.
Narrative and Cognitive Science; Literature and Medicine

This chapter surveys recent scientific studies of Theory of Mind, empathy, and vicarious experience in cognitive psychology and presents 13 “features” of literary analysis useful to instructors and students in the health science and to healthcare providers. It focuses on Grace Paley’s story “A Conversation with My Father” and Abraham Verghese’s description of his first meeting with patients in his book My Own Country. The goals of this chapter are to survey work in cognitive psychology that demonstrates the usefulness of literature to training in healthcare providers and to set forth features of literature that will focus the attention of careful readers.
Conceptualizing Callous-Unemotional Traits in Preschool through Confirmatory Factor and Network Analysis.

Callous – unemotional (CU) traits are a key factor in understanding the persistence and severity of conduct problems. Most research has used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the structure of CU traits; however, most CFA models have yielded marginally acceptable fit, and little research has examined the structure of CU traits in preschool. This gap highlights the need for a more nuanced approach in understanding the structure of CU traits during preschool via statistical examination of inter – item relationships (i.e., network analysis). Therefore, the current study used both CFA and network analysis in a sample of 104 preschool children (M age = 4.76). CFA results best supported a two – factor structure of the ICU, comprised of callous and uncaring factors, using 12 of the original 24 items from the ICU, although fit was only marginally acceptable. Network community analyses identified four clusters of items characterized as Uncaring, Lack of Remorse, Unconcerned, and Callous. Items identified as most central to the network were: Does not care who he/she hurts to get what they want, Does not care if he/she is in trouble, and Seems very cold and uncaring. Overall, network analysis suggests several important potential refinements to CU structure including possible alternative factor models which merit consideration in future work. In addition, the identified central items could be useful for screening.
Ecological momentary assessment of stress, racism and other forms of discrimination during pregnancy using smartphone technology.

Background In the United States, there are considerable racial inequities in adverse perinatal outcomes. Exposure to racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression may help explain these inequities. Objectives To describe the application of real-time data collection using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and smartphone technology to assess exposure to stress, racism, sexism, microaggressions, and other forms of oppression. Methods The Postpartum Mothers Mobile Study (PMOMS) is an ongoing longitudinal cohort study that began recruitment in December 2017. Participants delivering at a hospital in Pittsburgh, PA are recruited by 29 weeks' gestation. Using smartphones and smart scales, participants complete daily surveys related to psychosocial, behavioural, and contextual factors and weigh themselves weekly for approximately 15 months. We provide a preliminary descriptive analysis of EMA self-reported measures of stress, racism, sexism, and microaggressions; and non-EMA measures of stress and major discrimination. Results The sample (n = 230) is 63.5% White, 24.8% Black/African American, and 7% Hispanic origin. The most commonly reported item from the Major Discrimination Scale is being unfairly fired (18.1% of the sample). Of those, 31.7% and 17.1% attribute unfair firing to their gender and race, respectively. From the random EMA measures, on average, participants report experiences of racism and sexism at least once daily, in an average 12-hour day over the 4-week period. Black participants indicate about two experiences per day of racism, and White participants indicate more than 1 per day of sexism. Mean stress levels from the EMA measures were similar to the stress measures collected at baseline. Conclusions The methods applied in PMOMS provide real-time data regarding how participants' daily experiences of stress and discrimination influence their lives. Future work will include understanding if and how these EMA measures may relate to already established measures of racism, sexism, and stress; and ultimately understanding associations with perinatal inequities.
La Creación De Un Náufrago Llamado Pedro Serrano: Una Historia Intercalada En Los Comentarios Reales De Los Incas

En este ensayo, analizo como en una historia intercalada de los Comentarios reales de los Incas (1609), el Inca Garcilaso construye el mito americano del naufrago Pedro Serrano. Para la construccion de este mito, me basare en las cuatro fuentes que forman el conjunto. Primero, examinare las cartas de marear, que situan la isla donde Pedro Serrano naufraga. Segundo, el Inca Garcilaso se vale de la tradicion oral: la historia que le conto Garci Sanchez de Figueroa, quien afirmaba haber conocido al naufrago. Tercero, descarto la cronica de maestre Juan como fuente directa del Inca Garcilaso. Aunque la cronica de maestre Juan y el relato del Inca Garcilaso estan muy conforme en lo principal, se distancian en sus respectivos finales. Cuarto, conecto a Pedro Serrano con otro mito extremeno: la Serrana de la Vera. Asi, en este complejo proyecto cultural convergen cartas de marear, la tradicion oral, una cronica y mitos intertextuales.
Non-Alcoholic Beverages, Old and Novel, and Their Potential Effects on Human Health, with a Focus on Hydration and Cardiometabolic Health

The Beverage Guidance System has established dietary recommendations for daily intake of commonly consumed beverages including water, tea, coffee, milk, non-calorically sweetened beverages, and calorically sweetened beverages. As obesity in America continues to be a growing problem, this guidance becomes of increasing importance due to many beverages' potential links to Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), Cardiovascular disease (CVD), and numerous other harmful health effects. However, the growing popularity of "better for you" beverages is causing a shift in the market, with consumers pushing for healthier beverage alternatives. Beverages simultaneously present advantages while posing concerns that need to be evaluated and considered. In this review, health effects of nonalcoholic beverages are discussed including various aspects of consumption and current trends of the beverage market such as the novel Soft Seltzer category as an alternative to Hard Seltzer and various mashups. A variety of advisory boards and agencies responsible for dietary guidelines in various countries suggest drinking water as the preferred practice for hydration.
Spatial response of laser powder bed additively manufactured Ti6Al4V to temperature variation of aqueous electrolyte

The electrochemical response of laser powder bed additively manufactured Ti6Al4V is often considered at room-temperature conditions; however, structural Ti6Al4V components in a warm marine environment tend to respond differently. In light of this, the present work investigates the electrochemical response of the Ti6Al4V fabricated using laser powder bed fusion, in aqueous NaCl solution at varying temperatures (20, 35, and 50 $$^\circ$$ C). The potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance measurement also detected the spatial variation of corrosion resistance that was rationalized using a finite-element model which indicated spatially varying thermokinetics. The pitting potential of additively manufactured Ti6Al4V was reduced significantly at 50 $$^\circ$$ C (43.08 $$\%$$ ). The possible pitting mechanism and its thermally influenced activity were realized through the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The microstructural analysis revealed the surface morphology variation within the pit region, which was correlated to the varying energy level associated with grain orientation and phases present in it.
Structural analysis of the master regulator Rns reveals a small molecule inhibitor of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli virulence

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a common cause of diarrheal disease worldwide and a frequent cause of travelers′ diarrhea. In addition to the production of enterotoxins, studies with human volunteers established ETEC virulence is dependent upon the production of proteinaceous adhesive pili for attaching to the intestinal wall. Although pilins are highly immunogenic, vaccines incorporating them have yet to be proven efficacious. An additional challenge for vaccines is the heterogeneity of ETEC pili, as 20 different pilus types have been identified. However, the expression of a significant number of pilus types is dependent upon Rns, an AraC family transcription factor. Furthermore, Rns also regulates the expression of the virulence factor CexE, an outer membrane coat protein. To determine how Rns functions and is regulated we solved its structure by X-ray crystallography to 3 &Aring resolution. Rns forms a dimer via its N-terminal domain and its structure is consistent with the dimer binding looped DNA. Our analyses also revealed a fatty acid, decanoic acid, bound within the Rns structure. Although Rns was not known to specifically bind small molecule ligands, biochemical analysis showed decanoic acid specifically stabilized Rns in a dose dependent manner. Lac reporter assays further showed that decanoic acid inhibits Rns function at both activated and repressed promoters. In situ, exogenous decanoic acid inhibited the expression of Rns-dependent CFA/I pili and CexE in different ETEC strains. Thus, our study reveals for the first time a naturally occurring small molecule ligand specifically inhibits Rns activity and potently suppresses the expression of ETEC virulence factors. Our findings provide an alternative approach to vaccines for inhibiting ETEC pathogenesis by using the Rns structure as a framework for rational drug design.
Entrepreneurship, Financing, and Business Performance in China

Access to external ﬁnancing is a major obstacle for starting a new business across various country contexts. Ethnic minorities, in particular, tend to face more extreme ﬁnancial constraints, although the linkages between ethnicity, ﬁnance and entrepreneurship has never been previously studied in China. Relying on a new proprietary dataset, this paper compares ethnic-based differences in external ﬁnancing from both formal and informal sources used to start a new micro-enterprise or a small-and-medium sized enterprise (SME) and the implications on post-entry business performance in China. The main results show that Han households tend to rely more on initial formal ﬁnancing, but not initial informal ﬁnancing, to start a new business. Furthermore, Han-operated businesses tend to perform better than their minority-operated counterparts, although this perfor-mance gap disappears given similar access to initial external ﬁnancing.
Development of the genomic inflammatory index (GII) to assess key maternal antecedents associated with placental inflammation.

INTRODUCTION Placental inflammation is associated with a variety of adverse health outcomes, including poor pregnancy outcomes as well as later in life health. The current clinical methodologies for evaluating placental histology for inflammation are limited in their sensitivity. The objective of this study was to develop a genomic inflammatory index (GII) that can be utilized as a biomarker to effectively quantify and evaluate placental inflammation. METHODS RNA-sequencing of n = 386 placentas from the Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborn (ELGAN) cohort was conducted. Transcriptional data for a biologically-targeted set of 14 genes, selected for their established role in pro-inflammatory signaling pathways, were aggregated to construct the GII. Multiple linear regression models were used to examine relationships between 47 perinatal factors and the GII. RESULTS The GII demonstrated a nine-fold difference across subjects and displayed positive trends with other indicators of placental inflammation. Significant differences in the GII were observed for race where women who self-identified as Black displayed higher levels of placental inflammation than those who self-identified as White women (p < 0.001). Additionally, married Black women showed reduced placental inflammation compared to those who were unmarried (beta value: 0.828, p-value: 0.032). Placentas from women who were treated with steroids during the delivery of the infant displayed higher GII levels than those who were not (p = 0.023). DISCUSSION Overall, the GII demonstrated an association between various perinatal factors and placental inflammation. It is anticipated that the GII will provide a novel genomics tool for quantifying placental inflammation, allowing for further investigation of causes, and ultimately the prevention, of inflammation in the placenta.
Introduction of the cereal leaf beetle parasitoid Tetrastichus julis (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) into California

In 2013, cereal leaf beetle was reported for the first time in California. Most likely it moved south from Oregon into the state’s northern region. In response, the gregarious larval endoparasitoid...
Five Ways Not To Fool Yourself: Designing Experiments for Understanding Performance

Performance experiments are often used to show that a new system is better than an old system, and to quantify how much faster it is, or how much more efficient it is in the use of some resource. Frequently, these experiments come toward the end of a project and - at times - seem to be conducted more with the aim of selling the system rather than providing understanding of the reasons for the differences in performance or the scenarios in which similar improvements might be expected. Mistrust in published performance numbers follows from the suspicion that we measure what we have already optimized.
Reflections of a Beer Auxotroph

In this chapter, the author relates his experiences with John Roth, who called him a beer auxotroph. He illustrates the impact John had on the author's career. John Roth Nancy Kleckner and David Botstein published a review describing how transposable genetic elements, such as Tn10, had revolutionized strain construction. In the late 1970s bacteriophage Mu was being used, which itself is a transposable element, and λ to construct lac fusions. These fusions proved to be powerful tools for studying gene regulation and protein secretion, for example. For each of the five years that the author taught the ABG course, John was an invited speaker. Papers from John’s lab are models of logical clarity, and they stress the power of genetic analysis, a point that the author emphasizes in his course. As examples, the author presents a couple of papers he used for years. The PNAS paper offers a very clear picture of regulation by attenuation. The paper focuses on RecBCD and tries to correlate the known biochemical activities of this remarkable enzyme with recombination phenotypes.
Surveillance of Epstein-Barr virus infection as a risk factor for post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder in pediatric renal transplant recipients.

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) represents a heterogeneous group of abnormal lymphoid proliferations, generally of B-cells, that occur in the setting of ineffective T-cell function because of pharmacological immunosuppression after organ transplantation. The vast majority of PTLDs are associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, as manifested by the presence of EBV within the malignant tissue. Surveillance for the presence of primary or reactivated EBV infection may have the potential to prevent the development of PTLD by early intervention. However, there are, at present, no means of discriminating between innocent infectious mononucleosis syndromes and PTLD. Furthermore, standardization of measurement of EBV copies between centers is urgently required for the definition of “high” EBV viral load. Because of a lack of a close relationship between viral load and the occurrence of PTLD, other strategies such as the combined analysis of EBV viral load and EBV-specific T-lymphocytes may be better to assess the risk for the development of PTLD. Whereas the mainstay of therapy for overt PTLD is reduction of immunosuppression, such reduction based solely on a high EBV viral load without clinical evidence for PTLD is not based on scientific evidence. This strategy could result in the under-immunosuppression of many transplant recipients in the absence of a real risk for PTLD, with potentially harmful consequences such as an increased rate of acute rejection episodes.
Cutting Edge: Developmental Regulation of IFN-γ Production by Mouse Neutrophil Precursor Cells

Neutrophils are an emerging cellular source of IFN-γ, a key cytokine that mediates host defense to intracellular pathogens. Production of IFN-γ by neutrophils, in contrast to lymphoid cells, is TLR- and IL-12-independent and the events associated with IFN-γ production by neutrophils are not understood. In this study, we show that mouse neutrophils express IFN-γ during their lineage development in the bone marrow niche at the promyelocyte stage independently of microbes. IFN-γ accumulates in primary neutrophilic granules and is released upon induction of degranulation. The developmental mechanism of IFN-γ production in neutrophils arms the innate immune cells prior to infection and assures the potential for rapid release of IFN-γ upon neutrophil activation, the first step during responses to many microbial infections.
The Language of Outsourced Call Centers: A corpus-based study of cross-cultural interaction

The Language of Outsourced Call Centers is the first book to explore a large-scale corpus representing the typical kinds of interactions and communicative tasks in outsourced call centers located in the Philippines and serving American customers. The specific goals of this book are to conduct a corpus-based register comparison between outsourced call center interactions, face-to-face American conversations, and spontaneous telephone exchanges; and to study the dynamics of cross-cultural communication between Filipino call center agents and American callers, as well as other demographic groups of participants in outsourced call center transactions, e.g., gender of speakers, agents’ experience and performance, and types of transactional tasks. The research design relies on a number of analytical approaches, including corpus linguistics and discourse analysis, and combines quantitative and qualitative examination of linguistic data in the investigation of the frequency distribution and functional characteristics of a range of lexico/syntactic features of outsourced call center discourse.
Opening of the replication origin of Escherichia coli by DnaA protein with protein HU or IHF.

Opening of the three tandem repeats of a 13-mer in the replication origin (oriC) of Escherichia coli is a prime event in the replication in vitro of minichromosomes (Bramhill, D., and Kornberg, A. (1988) Cell 54, 915-918). DnaA, the initiator protein, requires protein HU or IHF, along with a millimolar level of ATP and negative superhelical density in the plasmid to open this region. The extent of opening, as judged by cleavage by a single-strand-specific endonuclease (i.e. P1 nuclease), correlated closely with replication of the oriC plasmid. In an initial complex, preceding opening of the 13-mers, the footprint of DnaA protein bound by ATP covered its four 9-mer recognition sequences. The footprint of the nucleotide-free form of the protein, by contrast, was more extensive and thus, less specific.
Semantic building blocks in genetic programming

We present a new mechanism for studying the impact of subtree crossover in terms of semantic building blocks. This approach allows us to completely and compactly describe the semantic action of crossover, and provide insight into what does (or doesn't) make crossover effective. Our results make it clear that a very high proportion of crossover events (typically over 75% in our experiments) are guaranteed to perform no immediately useful search in the semantic space. Our findings also indicate a strong correlation between lack of progress and high proportions of fixed contexts. These results then suggest several new, theoretically grounded, research areas.
Effect of Packaging on Stability of Drugs and Drug Products

Governing bodies as well as pharmaceutical companies are paying great attention on stability of drug products to enable delivery of the products to the final consumer in good quality. Packaging plays a major role in providing stability to the pharmaceutical products. This article discusses factors influencing stability of drugs and the techniques of packaging to maintain stability of the products. Keywords: pharmaceutical companies; stability; packaging; pharmaceutical products; drug products
Application of the Hoch-Arpshofen model to the thermodynamics of the Cu-Ni-Sn, Cu-Fe-Ni, Cu-Mg-Al, and Cu-Mg-Zn systems

Abstract The Hoch-Arpshofen model was used to calculate the enthalpy of mixing in the liquid Cu-Ni-Sn system, the enthalpy of mixing, activities, and the miscibility gap in the solid Cu-Fe-Ni system, and the enthalpies of formation of congruently melting compounds in the Cu-Mg-Al and Cu-Mg-Zn systems. In all cases the agreement between calculated and measured quantities was very good. In no case was the introduction of ternary parameters necessary, and in all cases five or fewer binary parameters were used.
The Innovative and Collective Capacity of Low-Income East African Women in the Era of HIV/AIDS: Contesting Western Notions of African Women

Historically, African women have been viewed through a colonizing and Eurocentric lens emphasizing poverty, oppression, and suffering. A postcolonial, feminist approach to our two qualitative studies with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected women in Malawi and Kenya led us to depart from this discourse, highlighting women's capacity. Through this article, not only is a forum created for African women's voices to be heard as subaltern knowledge leading to transformational change, but also health care providers are made aware, through women's words, of how they might capitalize on grassroots women's movements, particularly in resource-poor communities, to implement effective HIV prevention and treatment strategies.
A physiological role for luteinizing hormone release-inhibiting factor of hypothalamic origin.

A 12 KD peptide, LH release-inhibiting factor (LHRIF), extracted from rat hypothalamus has been shown to inhibit LHRH-stimulated LH release from cultured anterior pituitary cells. In the present study this partially purified material also blocks LHRH-stimulated LH release in pentobarbitalblocked proestrous rats. Administration of a polyclonal antiserum to partially purified LHRIF potentiates estrogen-induced LH release and antagonizes the inhibitory effect of estrogen and progesterone on LH release in ovariectomized rats. These results suggest that a hypothalamic LHRIF plays a physiological role in regulating LH release in the rat. (Endocrinology 121: 1099–1103, 1987)
Differential Lead Retention in Zircons: Implications for Nuclear Waste Containment

An innovative ultrasensitive technique was used for lead isotopic analysis of individual zircons extracted from granite core samples at depths of 960, 2170, 2900, 3930, and 4310 meters. The results show that lead, a relatively mobile element compared to the nuclear waste-related actinides uranium and thorium, has been highly retained at elevated temperatures (105 ° to 313 ° C) under conditions relevant to the burial of synthetic rock waste containers in deep granite holes.
Response of pigs to recent isolates of Coxsackievirus B5

Abstract Coxsackievirus B5 (CB5) was serially passaged five times in pigs in an attempt to establish clinical disease. No clinical signs were seen although some pigs had a transient rise in rectal temperature. Viremia was not detected although virus was isolated from nasal swabs and fecal samples. No CB5 specific fluorescence or virus was detected in any tissues of five passages by immunofluorescent test and tissue culture methods, respectively. Brain lesions were noted in all passages; extensiveness of lesions increased slightly up to the third passage although no evidence of increasing viral replication was found. No increase in brain lesions was found in the fourth and fifth passages. The development and progress of brain lesions were similar to but less extensive than those caused by swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV) in most pigs examined. Contact pigs also showed more brain lesions than inoculated pigs. In some passages, microscopic changes also were found in the heart. All pigs exposed to CB5 had positive neutralizing antibody titres against CB5 and SVDV but became ill after challenge with SVDV. There was an anamnestic response to both viruses following challenge.
Osmotically induced changes in brain steady potential and auditory evoked response.

Abstract Cerebral steady potential (SP), ECoG and auditory evoked responses were recorded simultaneously incident to i.v. injection of hypertonic solutions of NaCl, KCl and sucrose in forty-seven cats (acute experiments). When the surface cortical electrode was led against an extracerebral reference, NaCl and sucrose solutions produced an SP shift. No significant change was seen in transcortical records. The effect with KCl differed in that the polarity of the SP change was opposite to that observed with NaCl and sucrose. Also, with KCl isotonic as well as hypertonic solutions produced a shift. Similar shifts were recorded from cerebellum following hypertonic NaCl; only minor SP departures were observed in spinal cord and none were recorded from muscle. Evoked responses (to click) and ECoG were first depressed (1 min) and then augmented (70 min or more) by all hypertonic solutions tested (NaCl, KCl and sucrose). The same changes in response were observed when auditory cortex was activated by stimulation of the auditory radiation, proving that cortical excitability is altered directly by the changes in osmotic pressure. Augmentation of the cortical responses occurred with either positive or negative shifts and could remain altered long after SP had recovered to the baseline. Such findings suggest that osmotically induced SP changes and altered cortical excitability are separate and unrelated phenomena. In ten additional animals, auditory evoked responses were studied incident to topical application of sucrose and NaCl (hypertonic and hypotonic solutions). The results differed from those observed following i.v. injection. Both hypertonic and hypotonic solutions of sucrose and hypotonic NaCl caused response augmentation; hypertonic NaCl depressed the response. It appears that with surface application the chloride ion exerts an important effect and overpowers any changes that might occur from local altered osmolality.
Inhibition of spinal opioid analgesia by supraspinal administration of selective opioid antagonists.

Abstract The effect of intracerebroventricular administration of a selective μ- (CTOP) or δ- (ICI 174,864) opioid receptor antagonist on the antinociceptive effects produced by intrathecal administration of selective μ- (DAMGO), δ- (DPDPE) and κ- (U50-488H) opioid receptor agonists was evaluated using the Randall-Selitto paw-withdrawal test, in the rat. While the intracerebroventricular administration of CTOP or ICI 174,864, alone, had no effect on nociceptive thresholds, intracerebroventricular administration of CTOP and ICI 174,864 produced marked antagonism of the antinociceptive effects of intrathecal DAMGO. The antinociceptive effects of intrathecal administration of DPDPE or U50,488H were not antagonized by intracerebroventricular administration of CTOP or ICI 174,864. These data suggest that, in the rat, along with the established descending antinociceptive pathways, there is an ascending antinociceptive control mechanism projecting from the spinal cord to the brainstem. The ascending antinociceptive control involves μ- and δ-opioid agonism at supraspinal sites and appears to be mediated selectively by μ-, but not by δ- or κ-opioid agonism at the spinal level.
Ubiquitylation of MEKK1 inhibits its phosphorylation of MKK1 and MKK4 and activation of the ERK1/2 and JNK pathways.

MEKK1 is a MAPK kinase kinase that is activated in response to stimuli that alter the cytoskeleton and cell shape. MEKK1 phosphorylates and activates MKK1 and MKK4, leading to ERK1/2 and JNK activation. MEKK1 has a plant homeobox domain (PHD) that has been shown to have E3 ligase activity. (Lu, Z., Xu, S., Joazeiro, C., Cobb, M. H., and Hunter, T. (2002) Mol. Cell 9, 945–956). MEKK1 kinase activity is required for ubiquitylation of MEKK1. MEKK1 ubiquitylation is inhibited by mutation of cysteine 441 to alanine (C441A) within the PHD. The functional consequence of MEKK1 ubiquitylation is the inhibition of MEKK1 catalyzed phosphorylation of MKK1 and MKK4 resulting in inhibition of ERK1/2 and JNK activation. The C441A mutation within the PHD of MEKK1 prevents ubiquitylation and preserves the ability of MEKK1 to catalyze MKK1 and MKK4 phosphorylation. MEKK1 ubiquitylation represents a mechanism for inhibiting the ability of a protein kinase to phosphorylate substrates and regulate downstream signaling pathways.
Differences in the transfer RNA methyltransferases from normal rat liver and Novikoff hepatoma

Abstract Transfer RNA methyltransferases from normal rat liver and Novikoff hepatoma have been compared by using a variety of tRNAs as substrates, after the enzymes had been precipitated with 60 % (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , and fractionated on hydroxylapatite columns. The methyltransferases from rat liver and from Novikoff hepatoma differ in the rate, extent and pattern of methylation of heterologous tRNAs.
Exploration of platinum-based dose-intensive chemotherapy strategies with amifostine (Ethyol®)

The preclinical evaluation of amifostine confirms selective protection of normal tissues against toxicity due to cisplatin therapy while maintaining the antitumour effects. The mechanism of protection relates to the selective uptake of the free thiol, amifostine, into normal tissue compared with tumour tissue, intracellular binding and therefore detoxification of anticancer drugs, as well as through the scavenging of oxygen free radicals. Although vigorous hydration schedules have helped to alleviate nephrotoxicity, ototoxicity and cumulative dose-related peripheral neuropathy, these side effects remain important dose-limiting toxicities related to cisplatin therapy. The preclinical and clinical results to date demonstrate that amifostine can protect against cisplatin toxicities, in particular nephrotoxicity. Recent studies have demonstrated that higher single and cumulative cisplatin doses have an important impact on survival outcome; however, the improvement in survival comes at the cost of increased acute and cumulative haematological, renal and neurological toxicities that can result in serious morbidity. The role of amifostine as a unique supportive measure to reduce these toxicities offers the possibility of improving the quality of life of patients receiving chemotherapy.
Metastatic neuroblastoma to the mandible: an unusual presentation

Neuroblastoma is an uncommon cause of a mandibular mass. We describe an 8-month-old child who presented with loosening of his dentition, poor oral intake, and a large mandibular mass. Thorough radiographic study and subsequent biopsy of the oral lesion revealed the diagnoses of metastatic neuroblastoma. Ultimately, he was successfully treated with surgery and chemotherapy. The unusual presentation and pathophysiology of this malignancy will be reviewed. Neuroblastoma presenting as a mandible mass associated with natal teeth is rare, but it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of pediatric mandibular lesions.
Management of the Neck in Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

Differentiated thyroid cancer is characterized by an excellent long-term prognosis, which unlike other head and neck carcinomas, is not influenced definitively by regional lymph node metastasis. The relative rarity of the disease, together with its tendency for delayed metastasis and its low mortality, makes a prospective randomized trial comparing treatment outcomes difficult. As a result, the effect of cervical lymph node metastases on survival is unclear, making meaningful recommendations for their management somewhat subjective. This article discusses guidelines for the management of the neck in differentiated.