cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Impact of Obesity on Complications and 30-Day Readmission Rates After Cranial Surgery: A Single-Institutional Study of 224 Consecutive Craniotomy/Craniectomy Procedures

Background The prevalence of obesity is increasing at a disparaging rate in the United States. Although previous studies have associated obesity with increased surgical complications and readmission rates, the impact of obesity on surgical outcomes after cranial surgery remains understudied. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of obesity on complication and 30-day readmission rates after cranial surgery. Methods The medical records of 224 consecutive patients (nonobese, n = 164; obese, n = 60) undergoing either craniotomy or craniectomy at a major academic institution in 2011 were reviewed. Preoperative body mass index equal to or greater than 30 kg/m 2 was classified as obese. The primary outcome investigated in this study was the rate of intraoperative and postoperative complications and 30-day readmissions after craniectomy/craniotomy. Results Baseline patient characteristics and comorbidities were similar between the cohorts. The mean body mass indexes for both cohorts were significantly different (nonobese, 22.8 ± 4.2 kg/m 2 vs. obese, 45.1 ± 15.9 kg/m 2 ; P P = 0.75). Compared with the nonobese cohort, the obese cohort had significantly higher estimated blood loss (nonobese, 209.9 ± 201.3 mL vs. obese, 284.9 ± 250.0 mL; P = 0.04), but similar length of operation (nonobese, 187.3 ± 89.4 minutes vs. obese, 209.6 ± 100.5; P = 0.14). Length of hospital stay and rate of postoperative complications were similar between both cohorts. Obese patients had increased rate of 30-day readmission, but this was not statistically significant (nonobese, 3.1% vs. obese, 6.7%; P = 0.25). Conclusions Our study suggests that obesity may not have a significant impact on surgical outcomes after cranial surgery.
The 21st–century Corporation

The Chairman of General Motors outlines his vision of a "2lst–century Corporation", in which offices will be computerized and paperless and linked by worldwide communications, factories will be fully automated and robotized. Artificial intelligence will play a large part in service routines. To evolve into such a company will require modern fully integrated systems, but many companies have not yet learned to take a systems approach to their organization. It will also need the key ingredient of trained people.
Abstract 40: Neighborhood Grocery Store Density is Associated with Daily Self-efficacy Among Individuals Enrolled in a Behavioral Weight Loss Intervention Study

Introduction: Neighborhood factors may play an important role in the treatment of obesity. However, it is unclear if exposures to certain neighborhood factors influence self-efficacy among individu...
Psychologically Flexible Self-Acceptance

The term “self-acceptance” sounds simple but anyone trying to define it quickly realizes that it is not. What does “acceptance” mean? What is being “accepted?” Who is the “self” we are speaking of? Is the “self” doing the acceptance? Or is the “self” being accepted?
Mitral Valve Surgery With Severe Left Ventricular Dysfunction

The management of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) has become an international health care problem. In the ever-aging population, advances in basic cardiac care that have extended the average life expectancy have also left more people living with chronic cardiac disease than ever before. In the United States alone, nearly 4.9 million suffer from heart failure, yet of the 500,000 new patients diagnosed annually, fewer than 3000 are offered transplantation because of limitations of age, comorbid conditions, and donor availability.
Logical lateration – A cognitive systems experiment towards a new approach to the grounding problem

Abstract Human beings are able to extract linear ordering information, such as preferences, rankings, priorities, temporal ordering, and other numerical or quasi-numerical representations as well as estimations of spatial positions in mental maps or mental images from purely qualitative statements. From the perspectives of both cognitive science and logics, it is an interesting question how such imagery can arise from logical structures as provided by language. This article presents a cognitive system, for brevity called imaginer, which is built around a non-monotonic reasoning mechanism, called logical lateration. The system numerically evaluates model sets of knowledge bases. We show results from an experiment showing that the model sets by themselves, i.e., without any ontology, give rise to context-dependent coordinate representations of a knowledge base, which the system can draw. Being both a logic-based as well as an analogous cognitive system, the experiment provides a fresh perspective on the grounding problem.
Use of Hairy Root System to Study Signaling Pathways During Nodule Formation

Nodule formation by a specialized group of plants is one of the most beneficial plant-environment interactions, where atmospheric nitrogen is biologically fixed into ammonia, which is subsequently converted to nitrates and amino acids. The molecular basis of nodule formation has been studied in detail, and work done in the past few years has led to seminal discoveries, connecting the initial signal perception by the root hairs to the downstream signaling events and finally to cellular and developmental changes that result in organogenesis and nodule formation. Although the physiology of biological nitrogen fixation has been well known for many years, the exquisite molecular details of nodule formation have been made possible, mostly, by using the transgenic hairy roots on composite plants. Development of hairy roots by Agrobacterium rhizogenes (A. rhizogenes) infection provides an excellent experimental system to rapidly and efficiently evaluate the effect of changes in the expression of specific genes or gene families on a range of root phenotypes. By using this system, the Nod factor receptor-mediated signaling has been linked to the infection thread formation and nodule organogenesis, two critical events of nodulation. The use of hairy root system has made it possible to uncover the details of signaling and developmental events using molecular genetics, genomics, proteomics, and cell biological approaches, making the nodulation signaling pathway one of the best understood in leguminous plants. This article provides an overview of multiple rhizobium-legume interaction studies that utilized the hairy root system to uncover the signaling pathways and offers perspectives on its future uses in the context of the development of novel gene-editing capabilities in plants.
The implementation of a pulmonary embolism response team in the management of intermediate- or high-risk pulmonary embolism.

Abstract Background Massive and submassive pulmonary embolism (PE) can be life-threatening. Treatment options include anticoagulation, fibrinolysis, catheter-directed or open surgical thrombus removal, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. With increasing patient complexity and advanced therapeutic options, the approach to optimal care for patients with intermediate- to high-risk PE is not clearly established. Multidisciplinary, rapid response teams can optimize risk stratification and expedite management. A PE response team (PERT) composed of specialists from cardiology, vascular surgery, emergency medicine, pulmonary and critical care, interventional radiology, cardiac surgery, hospital medicine, and pharmacy was created at our institution. The team is tasked with evaluating and treating patients with massive and submassive PE by use of a risk stratification and treatment algorithm. We describe our initial experience with this approach. Methods The records of patients treated by the PERT since inception in October 2015 through May 2017 were reviewed (intervention group). The diagnoses codes of the PERT patients were retrieved from the Vizient database. A retrospective control cohort group was created using these specific diagnoses and a matching set of demographics (age, sex), Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Group, admission severity of illness, and admission risk of mortality. Statistical analysis was performed using the Fisher exact test, the Pearson χ2 statistic, Student t-test, and Cochran-Cox approximation. P Results During the time interval, 77 patients with massive or submassive PE were treated by PERT activation; 992 patients included in the control group were treated at the discretion of an attending physician without use of the algorithm from October 2013 to 2016. Both groups had similar demographics, similar distribution of risk of mortality and severity of illness, and similar average Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Group weighting. There was no statistically significant difference in the mortality rate between the two groups. The PERT group had significantly lower intensive care unit stay and overall length of stay. No difference was seen in direct cost between the two groups despite higher use of interventional treatment modalities in the PERT group. Conclusions In our institution, assembly of a dedicated team to treat patients with massive or submassive PE according to a clinical algorithm resulted in expedited treatment and reduced variation of care. Intensive care unit stay and overall length of stay were reduced by this approach, with no impact on direct cost despite the use of advanced modalities of treatment. We believe that this paradigm can be of potential value in other disease entities, particularly when multiple disciplines are involved.
Salmon aquaculture, Piscirickettsia salmonis virulence, and One Health: Dealing with harmful synergies between heavy antimicrobial use and piscine and human health

Abstract In two recently published articles in Aquaculture, Mardones et al. (2018) discuss the emergent fish pathogen and cause of salmonid rickettsial syndrome (SRS), Piscirickettsia salmonis, while Avendano-Herrera (2018) discusses the heavy use of antimicrobials in Chile to prevent and treat salmonid bacterial infections including SRS. Mardones et al. put forward a research agenda that focuses largely on P. salmonis and its relation to the biology of SRS. We believe a broader view of the problem would be beneficial. An extended examination of the scientific literature suggests that P. salmonis is likely an opportunistic environmental pathogen with low levels of virulence and pathogenicity and/or an endogenous pathobiont colonizing the normal salmonid microbiome. Multiplication of this bacterium and its ability to produce SRS is at least in part triggered by shortcomings in piscine husbandry that negatively affect salmonid health and well-being. This explanation is consistent with the limited efficacy of vaccines and antimicrobials in preventing and modifying the course of SRS, and suggests that efforts focused on geographical concentration of aquaculture sites; high densities of cultured fish at these sites; levels of nutrients and eutrophication; co-infections with bacteria, viruses and sea lice; excessive use of antimicrobials and other treatments for these infections; and climate change would deserve increased research consideration in the future. In their analyses and proposed research agendas, neither of these articles takes into account the negative effects of excessive and perhaps unnecessary antimicrobial use on piscine, human and environmental health as understood by the One Health paradigm.
The Effect of Exclusive/non-exclusive Breastfeeding on Asthma Risk in Children Aged 3-5 Years: A Study Based on the National Survey of Children’s Health 2011-2012

Purpose: The prevalence of childhood asthma in the U.S. has increased drastically. The potential protective effect that breastfeeding can have against asthma in the context of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is of great interest. Previous research that has examined the association between breastfeeding and asthma has not considered the mediating role that psychosocial stressors such as ACEs may have in asthma onset, exacerbations, and inadequate control. The purpose of this study was to determine whether duration and exclusive breastfeeding was associated with a lower asthma …
Tyrosyl-DNA Phosphodiesterase I N-Terminal Domain Modifications and Interactions Regulate Cellular Function

The conserved eukaryotic DNA repair enzyme Tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase I (Tdp1) removes a diverse array of adducts from the end of DNA strand breaks. Tdp1 specifically catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphodiester linked DNA-adducts. These DNA lesions range from damaged nucleotides to peptide-DNA adducts to protein-DNA covalent complexes and are products of endogenously or exogenously induced insults or simply failed reaction products. These adducts include DNA inserted ribonucleotides and non-conventional nucleotides, as well as covalent reaction intermediates of DNA topoisomerases with DNA and a Tdp1-DNA adduct in trans. This implies that Tdp1 plays a role in maintaining genome stability and cellular homeostasis. Dysregulation of Tdp1 protein levels or catalysis shifts the equilibrium to genome instability and is associated with driving human pathologies such as cancer and neurodegeneration. In this review, we highlight the function of the N-terminal domain of Tdp1. This domain is understudied, structurally unresolved, and the least conserved in amino acid sequence and length compared to the rest of the enzyme. However, over time it emerged that the N-terminal domain was post-translationally modified by, among others, phosphorylation, SUMOylation, and Ubiquitinoylation, which regulate Tdp1 protein interactions with other DNA repair associated proteins, cellular localization, and Tdp1 protein stability.
Skill-specific changes in cortical preparatory activity during motor learning

Animals have a remarkable capacity to learn new motor skills, but it remains an open question as to how learning changes neural population dynamics underlying movement. Specifically, we asked whether changes in neural population dynamics relate purely to newly learned movements or if additional patterns are generated that facilitate learning without matching motor output. We trained rhesus monkeys to learn a curl force field task that elicited new arm-movement kinetics for some but not all reach directions. We found that along certain neural dimensions, preparatory activity in motor cortex reassociated existing activity patterns with new movements. These systematic changes were observed only for learning-altered reaches. Surprisingly, we also found prominent shifts of preparatory activity along a nearly orthogonal neural dimension. These changes in preparatory activity were observed uniformly for all reaches including those unaltered by learning. This uniform shift during learning implies formation of new neural activity patterns, which was not observed in other short-term learning contexts. During a washout period when the curl field was removed, movement kinetics gradually reverted, but the learning-induced uniform shift of preparatory activity persisted and a second, orthogonal uniform shift occurred. This persistent shift may retain a motor memory of the learned field, consistent with faster relearning of the same curl field observed behaviorally and neurally. When multiple different curl fields were learned sequentially, we found distinct uniform shifts, each reflecting the identity of the field applied and potentially separating the associated motor memories. The neural geometry of these shifts in preparatory activity could serve to organize skill-specific changes in movement production, facilitating the acquisition and retention of a broad motor repertoire.
Capitalizing on the promise of item-level analyses to inform new understandings of word reading development

This special issue was expressly designed to illustrate how item-level analytic models can be employed to answer new questions in the field of reading. To accomplish this, we present a compilation of six empirical studies that explore how item-level analyses can be used to advance the field's understanding of word reading development. In this introduction to the special issue, I summarize the unique advantages of item-level analyses and discuss how the papers in this special issue are valuable examples of how item-focused analyses can be used in a variety of ways to address important questions across orthographies, word characteristics, and tasks.
Stranger Danger!: How Hackers Break into School Databases to Steal Student Data, and What Legislatures Should Do about It

Inadequate data security practices in K-12 public schools leave students’ personal information vulnerable to exposure, theft, and marketing on the dark web. In 2017, schools across the country reported 122 cybersecurity incidents, and those were only the events school officials detected and disclosed; the real number is likely much higher. These security breaches are costly for student victims and their families, often costing them hundreds or thousands of dollars in credit repair and identity recovery services. Though this problem affects every school in the United States, there is no federal law that establishes a standard for a school’s duty to its students in dealing with their personal information. Furthermore, though every state in the country has passed some form of school cybersecurity legislation, no state has gone beyond requiring that schools have a cybersecurity policy to articulate exactly how schools should protect this valuable student information. Worse, neither the federal nor state governments have provided any financial remedy for student victims of data theft or exposure. This Article presents one unprecedented legislative solution to remedy this growing national problem: Congress should pass legislation that establishes uniform standards for how schools should collect and protect student data, and how they should respond when cybersecurity breaches occur. It should also provide financial recompense for victims of the breaches so that they might move forward with little financial burden in the wake of such an event.
Virotherapy treatment of central nervous system tumors

Abstract Virotherapy is a rapidly developing field for the treatment of tumors that are incurable by current standard-of-care therapies, such as glioblastoma in adults and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma in children. Oncolytic viruses, including both wild-type and genetically modified strains, preferentially infect and kill tumor cells with relative sparing of nonneoplastic cells. Viral immunotherapy acts by stimulating the host immune system to recognize and attack tumor cells. Gene therapy with viral vectors can selectively target neoplastic cells for the activation of prodrugs or expression of cytotoxic or immunomodulatory genes. Many clinical trials have been completed or are currently in progress for adults with newly diagnosed or recurrent high-grade/malignant gliomas as solo agents or in combination with immunotherapeutic agents, including programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitors. This chapter reviews virotherapy clinical trials using adenovirus, herpes simplex virus, measles, parvovirus, poliovirus, reovirus, retroviral replicating vectors (i.e., Toca 511), and vaccinia, with a focus on published results including overall survival and neuropathological characterization. Several trials have shown early promise due to enhanced targeting and death of tumor cells and/or enhanced immune system activation; however, definitive survival benefit has yet to be demonstrated in phase 3 trials, necessitating further study.
Utility Function Determination for Bidding Models

Two basic decision criteria which may be used in bidding models are maximization of expected monetary value and maximization of expected utility value. The utility function is used in the latter type of models so that the contractor’s personal goals and risk preferences may be reflected in the suggested markup levels. The utility function is determined by presenting the contractor with a number of hypothetical bidding opportunities within the framework of the von Neuman-Morgenstern utility axiom system. The utility function results obtained in the illustrative example indicate that the contractor tended to be risk averse when considering all markup levels on large size projects and favorable markup levels on small size projects. He tended to gamble when confronted with small or large markup levels on small size projects.
The practice of theory: Rorty and the mirror of nature: hermeneutics and the possibility of social change

When Richard Rorty published Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature in 1979, he codified what had already become apparent – the human and the natural sciences, along with philosophy (the primary subject of Rorty's book) had taken a decided turn away from “objectivity” and “realism,” and had questioned the methodologies fundamental to the disciplines themselves. There had been rumblings of such a structural revolution early in the previous decade: Thomas Kuhn (one of Rorty's unsung heroes in Philosophy and subsequent books) had done for the sciences in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions what Rorty had done for philosophy with his book. Within two decades, normative science and positivist philosophy of science – each of which had a tradition stretching back to the early renaissance – had been overthrown, and what resulted was, depending upon how you look at revolution, either wholesale chaos in which scientists and philosophers had to rethink their centuries-old modus operandi without so much as a roadmap; or a fecund multidisciplinary soup, in which the boundaries between traditionally demarcated fields broke down to yield shared methodologies and borrowed metaphysics. Of course, this revolution did not come overnight. Careful readers of Kuhn had seen it coming for a while. The natural sciences had not been up to the task of explaining the phenomena they took for their job to explain, not because their theories were not complex enough, but because the paradigm within which theoretizing could be done at all had become threatened by methodologies that grew up in the human sciences; and analytic philosophy, far from failing to theorize the epistemological and ontological problems it had set for itself, found instead that the very questions it had been asking were mooted by problems articulated by Foucault and Derrida and raised by others before them.
Gross conformation of Escherichia coli acyl carrier protein.

Abstract Physicochemical studies indicate that acyl carrier protein, in its native state, is a typical globular protein, with a low frictional coefficient and an optical rotatory dispersion curve indicative of a high degree of ordered structure. Like other globular proteins, acyl carrier protein is reversibly denatured by the addition of guanidine hydrochloride.
Applications of Rate- and State-Dependent Friction to Models of Fault-Slip and Earthquake Occurrence

The rate- and state–dependent constitutive formulation describes characteristic dependencies of fault friction on slip, slip rate, slip history, and normal stress history observed in laboratory studies, and it provides a unified framework for predictive modeling of diverse sliding phenomena observed for faults in nature and in the laboratory. Simulations of fault slip that employ rate–state friction provide representation of the conditions required for, and the characteristics of, stable and unstable fault slip, including the onset of slip instabilities, earthquake afterslip, and aseismic creep events. Laboratory observations and theoretical models indicate that earthquake nucleation is highly time–dependent and consists of a long interval of self–driven accelerating slip. The dimensions of the nucleation zone follow scaling relations for the minimum critical length for unstable slip, and also define a minimum fault length for earthquake slip. A formulation for earthquake rates, which is derived using rate- and state–dependent friction, forms the basis of an integrated approach to quantitatively model the effects of stress changes on earthquake rates. Foreshocks, aftershocks, and triggering phenomena are modeled. The earthquake rate formulation has been used in an inverse mode to infer stress changes from changes of seismicity rates.
Customer Service Behavior

This chapter provides a contingency approach to the understanding, prediction, and influence of customer service behavior. Customer service behavior is defined as any activities of an employee specifically directed toward affecting service quality. Specific characteristics of services that influence how organizations promote customer service behavior are described: service intangibility, simultaneity of service production and consumption, coproduction or active customer participation, relationship vs. encounter nature of the service, role-prescribed vs. extra-role nature of the behavior, standard vs. customized nature of the service, and the nature and level of customer contact. These characteristics of services are then discussed in relation to research on customer service behavior in the areas of performance management, employee selection, organizational climate and employee attitudes, emotions, training, motivation, and job design. The manner by which the characteristics of services would alter how one approaches interventions in each of these areas are discussed, and questions for future research are raised. Keywords: customer service behavior; service providers; service quality
Hemoglobin L Ferrara in a Jewish Family Associated with a Hemolytic State in the Propositus

A Jewish family in which Hb L Ferrara (α247 Asp → Gly β2) occurred is reported. Studies of some of the properties of this hemoglobin demonstrated that its oxygen equilibria, number of readily reactive-SH groups, and spectro-photometric tyrosine titration were indistinguishable from Hb A. Nevertheless, Hb LF was more unstable than Hb A at 55 C. The propositus had accelerated blood destruction although six other heterozygotes for Hb LF did not. A second defect in red cell enzymes or red cell lipids of the propositus was not demonstrable with the technics used but the possibility that the simultaneous occurrence of Hb LF and an otherwise "silent" red cell defect may lead to a hemolytic state remains an attractive explanation. The data provided by this family study did not permit a definite conclusion about the relationship of clinically evident hemolysis in the propositus to the presence of the abnormal hemoglobin.
Enzymes of alkaloid biosynthesis—I.

Abstract A crude enzyme system prepared from young castorbean seedlings catalyzes the oxidation of 1-methylnicotinonitrile to the corresponding 4- and 6-pyridones. The implications of this reaction for the biosynthesis of the alkaloid ricinine are considered. Other pyridone alkaloids might be formed by similar reactions.
Waves in the Developing and the Diseased Brain

Finally, in this chapter, a variety of topics regarding wavelike phenomena in the developing and diseased brain are presented. First, the possible role of calcium and retinal waves in early development is summarized. There is then a detailed description and analysis of cytoskeletal waves involved in neurite growth and cell polarization. This introduces another interesting phenomenon, namely, wave pinning. Three distinct examples of waves in the diseased brain are considered: spreading depression and migraine auras, epileptic waves, and the spread of neurodegenerative waves due to protein aggregation. In order to tackle the latter two phenomena, a review of complex network theory is included, covering topics such as small-world networks, scale-free networks, neuronal avalanches, branching processes, and epidemics on networks.
The State Complaint Procedure under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

IDEA complaint managers in 35 states responded to a survey asking how their state interprets and implements the state complaint procedure under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Although complaints increased as a percent of the special education population during the years surveyed, most respondents believed that neither educator nor parental awareness of the complaint procedure had increased since its reinsertion in the 1992 IDEA regulations. Although respondents preferred mediation over other dispute resolution options, nonetheless, a majority concluded that the complaint procedure had reduced the number of due process hearings in their state. Although continuing study of the efficacy of the state complaint procedure is needed, greater awareness of its utility should be fostered.
Arnold's canonical matrices and the asymptotic simplification of ordinary differential equations

Abstract Let A ( x , e ) be an n × n matrix function holomorphic for | x |⩽ x 0 , 0 0 , and possessing, uniformly in x , an asymptotic expansion A(x,e)∾Σ ∞ r=0 A r (x) e r , as e →0 + . An invertible, holomorphic matrix function P ( x , e ) with an asymptotic expansion P(x,e)∾Σ ∞ r=0 P r (x)e r , as e →0 + , is constructed, such that the transformation y = P ( x , e ) z takes the differential equation e h dy dx = A(x,e)y,h a positive integer, into e h dz dx = B(x,e)z , where B ( x,e ) is asymptotically equal, to all orders, to a matrix in a canonical form for holomorphic matrices due to V.I. Arnold.
Substance Abuse Prevention Among Elementary School Students

SUMMARY Designed to test the effectiveness of a substance abuse prevention curriculum, this study involved third to sixth-grade students in 11 suburban midwestern elementary schools (N = 2,475). An experimental group received a curriculum that teaches personal, social, decision-making, assertiveness, and environmental skills. Introduced by a robot during an interactive assembly, the curriculum was subsequently emphasized for eight weeks in the classroom. Students in the experimental group and those in a control group were pretested and then posttested twice, immediately after the intervention and six months later. Results of repeated measures analysis provide evidence of the efficacy of this type of prevention strategy with suburban youth. Subjects who received intervention showed less actual and potential substance use than students in the control group over time. Intervention group subjects also reported greater self-respect, responsibility and environmental awareness.
Germanium nanowires: from synthesis, surface chemistry, and assembly to devices

A low temperature synthesis of single crystalline Ge nanowires via chemical vapor deposition is enabled by balancing the feedstock and its diffusion in growth seeds. Understanding and optimizing the synthetic chemistry leads to deterministic nanowire growth at well-defined locations and bulk quantity production of homogeneous nanowires, both of which greatly facilitate the assembly toward parallel nanowire arrays. Surface chemistry studies reveal that p- and n-type Ge nanowires undergo different oxidation routes and the surface oxide induced states cause opposite band bending for nanowires with different doping. Furthermore, long chain alkanethiols form a dense and uniform protection layer on Ge nanowire surfaces and therefore afford excellent oxidation resistance. Finally, high performance field effect transistors are constructed on Ge nanowires with both thermally grown SiO2 and atomic layer deposited HfO2 as gate dielectrics.
Effects of HMGN1 on Chromatin Structure and SWI/SNF-mediated Chromatin Remodeling

The dynamic modulation of chromatin structure is determined by many factors, including enzymes that modify the core histone proteins, enzymes that remodel the structure of chromatin, and factors that bind to genomic DNA to affect its structure. Previous work indicates that the nucleosome binding family of high mobility group proteins (HMGN) facilitates the formation of a chromatin structure that is more conducive for transcription. SWI/SNF complexes are ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling enzymes that alter nucleosome structure to facilitate the binding of various regulatory proteins to chromatin. Here we examine the structural consequences of reconstituting chromatin with HMGN1 and the resulting effects on hSWI/SNF function. We demonstrate that HMGN1 decreases the sedimentation velocity of nucleosomal arrays in low ionic strength buffers but has little effect on the structure of more highly folded arrays. We further demonstrate that HMGN1 does not affect SWI/SNF-dependent chromatin remodeling on either mononucleosomes or nucleosomal arrays, indicating that SWI/SNF functions independently of HMGN1.
Historical Overview of Research in Reconfigurable Flight Control

AbstractThis article presents a historical overview of research in reconfigurable flight control. For the purpose of this article, the term ‘reconfigurable flight control’ is used to refer to softw...
Effect of Salmonella in young chicks on competitive exclusion treatment

The potential of Salmonella contamination in hatching cabinets to 1) generate seeder chicks and 2) interfere with the efficacy of competitive exclusion (CE) treatments was investigated in six experiments. Hatchery-generated seeder: chicks were produced by hatching in the same hatcher with inoculated eggs (immersed in a 1.0 x 10(5) cfu/mL suspension of Salmonella typhimurium or inoculated with 10(5) to 10(6) cells on the air cell membrane). Salmonella spread through the hatching cabinet to chicks hatching from uninoculated eggs in adjacent trays. In two experiments, Salmonella was isolated from 31 and 100% of the chick rinses after the birds were held in groups for 3 d in isolation units. When these hatchery-generated seeder chicks were stocked in floor pens at a 1:10 ratio with uncontaminated contact chicks, the pen environment became contaminated to the extent that greater than 50% of the contact chicks became contaminated. In two experiments with only one to three inoculated eggs per 200 egg hatching cabinet, 98% of uninoculated chicks were intestinally colonized with Salmonella after the birds were held 1 wk in isolation cabinets. This hatchery-acquired Salmonella substantially reduced the effectiveness of subsequent CE treatments to prevent Salmonella colonization of the young chicks. These studies demonstrate that control of Salmonella in hatching cabinets is critically important for control of Salmonella in broilers.
Impact of flow cytometry on the diagnosis and characterization of lymphomas, chronic lymphoproliferative disorders and plasma cell neoplasias

Lymphocytes can become neoplastic at any stage of their development. When the neoplastic change occurs early on in their ontogeny, they act aggressively, producing a disease designated as lymphoblastic leukemia, invading the marrow, the blood, and sometimes, solid tissues (the latter are called lymphoblastic lymphomas). The antigen profile of these neoplastic cells recapitulates that of lymphoid precursors. When the oncogenic change takes place after lymphocytes have acquired maturation, the neoplastic progeny exhibit the phenotype of adult elements. If these more differentiated lymphocytes infiltrate lymph nodes or other lymphoid tissues or organs, we use the term lymphoma. When mature neoplastic lymphocytes circulate in the blood, they usually produce indolent ailments, generally designated as chronic lymphoproliferative disorders (CLPD). Differences between lymphomas and CLPD are not always distinct, since malignant lymphocytes may simultaneously involve tissues and blood. The term myeloma applies to systemic neoplasias of the bone marrow that are composed of plasma cells, the latest stage in the life of the B-lymphocyte. The nomenclature of lymphoid neoplasias has evolved over time and this process is certain to continue, as new biological advances are made. Until recently, characterization of the lymphomas and lymphoproliferative disorders was largely descriptive and based exclusively on microscopic observations. While useful, this approach is very limited, since the identity of neoplastic cells cannot always be established, nor can their clonal nature be recognized. Descriptive terms, such as large or small, follicular or diffuse, granular, intravascular, anaplastic, plasmacytic, etc., which were prevalent in earlier classifications, are still being used to characterize malignant lymphoid cells, even in modern taxonomies, like the World Health Organization (WHO) classification (1). However, this classification scheme now incorporates more meaningful biological properties for their category definitions, including extensive descriptions of the immunophenotype of the neoplastic cells. Flow cytometry (FCM) has been used in the analysis of human lymphomas since the late 1970s. The earlier studies focused mainly on the measurement of cell cycle phases and ploidy, exploiting the simplicity of measuring DNA content by this technology. In the 1980s, we witnessed a rapid increase in the use of FCM analysis of lymphoid tumors, as the understanding of the biology of the immune cells became much clearer and the production of specific markers such as monoclonal antibodies expanded rapidly. Today, FCM analysis is an accepted and essential medical practice in the clinical evaluation of lymphoid neoplasia. This technology assists in the diagnosis and characterization of lymphomas and CLPD, and in the detection of low-level disease. In patients with plasma cell dyscrasias, FCM is playing an ever-growing role, providing diagnostic support and prognostic information.
The immunoregulatory effects of prolactin in mice are time of day dependent.

The effects of timed administration of PRL on immune activities were investigated in male BALB/c mice. Ten daily injections of PRL (1 mg/kg) were made 0/24, 4, 8, 12, 16, or 20 h after light onset (HALO). On day 11, spleen cells were harvested between 1-3 HALO and cocultured with gamma-irradiated C57BL/6 spleen cells for 5 days, and proliferative responses to alloantigen were assayed (mixed lymphocyte reaction). When given in vivo at 4-12 HALO, PRL strongly stimulated proliferation by more than 2-fold, whereas PRL injections when given at 24 HALO substantially inhibited proliferation and had no effect when given at 16-20 HALO. When endogenous PRL secretion was stimulated for 7 days with injections of domperidone or 5-hydroxytryptophan, the splenocyte response increased by 48% and 64%, respectively, when injections were given at 9-10 HALO, but did not increase when they were given at 23-0 HALO. Inhibition of endogenous PRL secretion for 7 days with bromocriptine (2.5 mg/kg.day) inhibited splenocyte respons...
Silicon Carbide: Progress in Crystal Growth

Silicon carbide (SiC), with a favorable combination of semiconducting and refractory properties, has long been a candidate for high temperature semiconductor applications. Research on processes for producing the needed large-area high quality single crystals has proceeded sporadically for many years. Two characteristics of SiC have aggravated the problem of its crystal growth. First, it cannot be melted at any reasonable pressure, and second, it forms many different crystalline structures, called polytypes. Recent progress in the development of two crystal growth processes will be described. These processes are the modified Lely process for the growth of the alpha polytypes (e.g. 6H SiC), and a process for the epitaxial growth of the beta polytype (i.e. 3C or cubic SiC) on single crystal silicon substrates. A discussion of the semiconducting qualities of crystals grown by various techniques will also be included.
Positive pion reactions with 12C

Abstract Positive pion scattering and absorption by spherical nuclei are considered. The opticalmodel treatment of the former process includes a non-linear dependence upon the density of scattering centers originally suggested by Kroll. Explicit results are given for the 12C nucleus and compared with those obtained with the Kisslinger model. Pion optical-model wave functions, both with and without the Kroll modification, are used in a distorted wave calculation of differential cross sections for proton emission following pion absorption, and the results are compared with each other and with experiment for the case of 12C.
Accountability, Integrity, Authenticity, and Self-legislation: Reflections on Ruediger Bittner’s Reflections on Autonomy

In this paper I consider three widespread assumptions: (1) the assumption that we are accountable for our intentional actions only if they are in some special sense ours; (2) the assumption that it is possible for us to be more or less “true to” ourselves, and that we are flawed human beings to the extent that we lack “integrity”; and (3) the assumption that we can sometimes give ourselves reasons by giving ourselves commands. I acknowledge that, as Ruediger Bittner has argued, each of these assumptions is problematic, and that the failure to appreciate the problems has led many philosophers astray. I try to show, however, that it is possible to make sense of each assumption in a way that addresses Bittner’s concerns.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Moderates the Relation Between Documented Childhood Victimization and Pain 30 Years Later

Cross-sectional designs and self-reports of maltreatment characterize nearly all the literature on childhood abuse or neglect and pain in adulthood, limiting potential for causal inference. The current study describes a prospective follow up of a large cohort of individuals with court-documented early childhood abuse or neglect (n=458) and a demographically matched control sample (n=349) into middle adulthood (mean age 41), nearly 30 years later, comparing the groups for risk of adult pain complaints. We examine whether Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) mediates or moderates risk of pain. Assessed prospectively across multiple pain measures, physically and sexually abused and neglected individuals generally showed a significant (p<.05) but notably small (η(2)=.01) increased risk of pain symptoms in middle adulthood. Although PTSD was associated with both childhood victimization (p<.01) and risk of middle adulthood pain (p<.001), it did not appear to mediate the relationship between victimization and pain. However, across all pain outcomes other than medically unexplained pain, PTSD robustly interacted with documented childhood victimization to predict adult pain risk: Individuals with both childhood abuse/neglect and PTSD were at significantly increased risk (p<.001, η(2) generally=.05-.06) of pain. After accounting for the combined effect of the two factors, neither childhood victimization nor PTSD alone predicted pain risk. Findings support a view that clinical pain assessments should focus on PTSD rather than make broad inquiries into past history of childhood abuse or neglect.
β-Carbolines in rat arcuate nucleus

Abstract The arcuate nucleus of the rat exhibits a brilliant yellow-green fluorescence when irradiated in situ with a He-Cd ultraviolet laser microfluorimeter employing 325 nm incident light. Fluorescent emission spectra demonstrated peaks at 445 nm, 470 nm and 520 nm. The latter peak undergoes rapid photodecomposition. This spectral pattern, including the photodecomposition, is characteristic of β-carbolines. The presence of β-carbolines was confirmed by extraction of arcuate nuclei with organic solvents and subsequent thin-layer chromatography. Two compounds were tentatively identified: 6-methoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-β-carboline and 1-methyl-β-carboline. The effect of treatment of rats with certain pharmacological agents on the arcuate fluorochromes was determined by measuring the fluorescent intensity at 520 nm. Chlorpromazine treatment decreased the fluorescence by 90% while acetaldehyde and 5,6-dihydroxytryptamine produced increases of 40 and 100% respectively. Treatment with nialamide or reserpine did not significantly effect the fluorescence intensity.
Risk of first and recurrent stroke in childhood cancer survivors treated with cranial and cervical radiation therapy.

Purpose To assess, in a retrospective cohort study, rates and predictors of first and recurrent stroke in patients treated with cranial irradiation (CRT) and/or cervical irradiation at ≤18 years of age. Methods and Materials We performed chart abstraction (n=383) and phone interviews (n=104) to measure first and recurrent stroke in 383 patients who received CRT and/or cervical radiation at a single institution between 1980 and 2009. Stroke was defined as a physician diagnosis and symptoms consistent with stroke. Incidence of first stroke was number of first strokes per person-years of observation after radiation. We used survival analysis techniques to determine cumulative incidence of first and recurrent stroke. Results Among 325 subjects with sufficient follow-up data, we identified 19 first strokes (13 ischemic, 4 hemorrhagic, 2 unknown subtype) occurring at a median age of 24 years (interquartile range 17-33 years) in patients treated with CRT. Imaging was reviewed when available (n=13), and the stroke was confirmed in 12. Overall rate of first stroke was 625 (95% confidence interval [CI] 378-977) per 100,000 person-years. The cumulative incidence of first stroke was 2% (95% CI 0.01%-5.3%) at 5 years and 4% (95% CI 2.0%-8.4%) at 10 years after irradiation. With each 100-cGy increase in the radiation dose, the stroke hazard increased by 5% (hazard ratio 1.05; 95% CI 1.01-1.09; P =.02). We identified 6 recurrent strokes; 5 had available imaging that confirmed the stroke. Median time to recurrence was 15 months (interquartile range 6 months-3.2 years) after first stroke. The cumulative incidence of recurrent stroke was 38% (95% CI 17%-69%) at 5 years and 59% (95% CI 27%-92%) at 10 years after first stroke. Conclusion Cranial irradiation puts childhood cancer survivors at high risk of both first and recurrent stroke. Stroke prevention strategies for these survivors are needed.
Interpreting International and Domestic Law Concerning Refugees: The U.S. Government vs. the Sanctuary Movement

In order to assess the relative merits of these two contrasting views about U.S. obligations under international and domestic law concerning refugees, this article first examines briefly the relevant international law (the 1951 U.N. Convention and 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees and the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, "Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War") and the U.S. 1980 Refugee Act. Next it reviews the policy of the U.S. government concerning Central Americans who have come to the United States since 1980 and critiques U.S. policy based on the views of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the lawyers for the defense in the Jack Elder case, the General Accounting Office (GAO) and other recent research on Mexican and United States refugee policy. The article then assesses recent developments concerning Central American asylum applicants in southern Texas and the significance of court cases related to their treatment by the INS. Finally, it concludes with a look at some policy options available to the United States government that would bring its treatment of Central American migrants more in line with international and domestic legal expectations.