cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Airborne particulate metals in the New York City subway: A pilot study to assess the potential for health impacts

A prior study in New York City observed that airborne concentrations of three metals found in steel - iron, manganese, and chromium - are more than 100 times higher in the subway system than in aboveground air. To investigate the potential for health effects of exposure at these levels, we conducted a pilot study of subway workers comparing personal exposures to steel dust with biomarkers of metal exposure, oxidative stress, and DNA damage in blood and urine samples. Workers wore a personal air sampler operating at 4L/m for one to three work shifts with blood and urine samples collected at the end of the final shift. We found that PM(2.5) exposures varied among subway workers on the basis of job title and job activity. The subway workers' mean time-weighted PM(2.5) exposure was 52 microg/m3, with a median of 27 microg/m3, and a range of 6-469 microg/m3. The observed concentrations of PM(2.5), iron, manganese, and chromium fell well below occupational standards. Biomarker concentrations among the 39 subway workers were compared with a group of 11 bus drivers, and a group of 25 suburban office workers. Concentrations of DNA-protein crosslinks and chromium in plasma were significantly higher in subway workers than in bus drivers, but no significant difference was observed for these biomarkers between subway workers and office workers. Urinary isoprostane concentrations were significantly correlated with the number of years working in the subway system, and were detected at higher, though not significantly higher, concentrations in subway workers than in bus drivers or office workers. At the group level, there was no consistent pattern of biomarker concentrations among subway workers significantly exceeding those of the bus drivers and office workers. At the individual level, steel dust exposure was not correlated with any of the biomarkers measured.
Identification of epidermal growth factor, transforming growth factor-α, and epidermal growth factor receptor in surgically induced pelvic adhesions in the rat and intraperitoneal adhesions in the human

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to determine the presence and cellular distribution of epidermal growth factor, transforming growth factor-α., and epidermal growth factor receptor in surgically induced pelvic fibrous adhesions in rat uterine horns subjected to burn, crush, and debridement injury and intraperitoneal fibrous adhesions formed to various organs in the human. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 15 injured and five uninjured rats were used in this study, and fibrous adhesions and intact peritoneum were removed for processing 2 weeks after surgery. Fibrous adhesions formed to uterine, ovarian, and oviductal tissues and the peritoneal wall from eight patients who had gynecologic surgery were also collected. The tissues were processed for immunohistochemical localization of epidermal growth factor, transforming growth factor-α, and epidermal growth factor receptor with specific antibodies to human and rat epidermal growth factor and transforming growth factor-α and the extracellular binding domain of the epidermal growth factor receptor. RESULTS: All the cell types in the rat fibrous adhesion immunostained for epidermal growth factor, transforming growth factor-α and epidermal growth factor receptor. The highest immunostaining intensity for epidermal growth factor was associated with inflammatory cells infiltrated into the fibrous adhesion, followed by arteriole endothelial and smooth muscle cells, fascial striated muscle, and fibroblasts of the fibrous adhesion. In the uterine tissue at the site of injuries myometrial smooth muscle cells, in addition to inflammatory cells that migrated among stromal cells, also immunostained for epidermal growth factor. Fibrous adhesions also immunostained for transforming growth factor-α with three separate polyclonal antibodies to the amino and carboxy termini of transforming growth factor-α precursor and the mature transforming growth factor-α, with no substantial differences in their intensity and pattern compared with epidermal growth factor. The pattern and cellular distribution of epidermal growth factor receptor was similar to that seen for epidermal growth factor and transforming growth factor-α. Fibrous adhesions from patients with intraperitoneal adhesions immunostained for epidermal growth factor, transforming growth factor-α, and epidermal growth factor receptor with a pattern and intensity similar to that observed in fibrous adhesions in the rats. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that epidermal growth factor and transforming growth factor-α may play a key role both in normal mechanism of peritoneal repair after injury and formation and maintenance of fibrous adhesions.
Mechanics of active salt diapirism

Abstract An active diapir forcefully intrudes its overburden, driven by diapir pressure that overcomes the resistance of the overburden strength. Possible causes for the driving pressure are differential loading of the source layer and a density contrast with the overburden. Possible resisting forces derive from the mass of the roof block and resistance to the faulting and folding that accommodate the intrusion. For a typical density contrast between salt and a sedimentary overburden, a simple force balance demonstrates that the diapir height must be more than two-thirds to three-quarters the thickness of the surrounding overburden to initiate substantial active diapirism. Narrow diapirs must be even taller. Physical and numerical modeling show that typical structures of active diapirism are a central crestal graben flanked by relatively unstrained flaps that rotate upward and outward. Curved reverse faults can separate the flaps from the regional overburden. Normal faults in the crestal graben propagate downward, with new faults created farther outward as the roof arches over the rising diapir. Thin, wide roofs develop multiple grabens separating a relatively flat roof from the rotating flaps. In cases leading to emergence, the piercing diapir evolves from a pointed crest to a progressively rounded and widening crest as the flaps rotate outward. The numerical models show that overburden flexure contributes to early formation of active diapir structures, but piercement does not continue to emergence unless the diapir is very wide or tall relative to the overburden thickness. Active diapirism becomes progressively more difficult for diapir crests ranging from a rectangle, a round-cornered rectangle, a semicircle, to a triangle with a pointed crest.
Pesticide loadings of select organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides in urban public housing

We investigated the magnitude and distribution of pyrethroid and organophosphate pesticide loadings within public housing dwellings in Boston, Massachusetts and compared the results using various sampling methods. We collected dust matrices from living room and kitchen in 42 apartments and analyzed for eleven pyrethoids (e.g., permethrin and cyfluthrin) and two organophosphates (chlorpyrifos and diazinon) in house dust using GC/MS. Agreement between sampling methods were evaluated using Spearman correlations and Kappa statistics. Permethrin and chlorpyrifos were detected in kitchen floor wipes in all homes, followed in frequency of detects by diazinon (98%), cypermethrin (90%) and cyfluthrin (71%). At least six pesticides were detected in kitchen floor wipes in the majority of the homes (range 3-8). Positive and statistically significant correlations among dust matrices were observed between kitchen floor wipes and living room vacuum dust, including for diazinon (r=0.62) and cyfluthrin (r=0.69). Detection of several pesticides including banned or restricted use products in some public housing units, underscore the need for alternative pest management strategies that embrace the safe and judicious use of pest control products.
Integrating Electronic Resources into Collection Development Policies

Collection development policies are vitally important to librarians as a set of directions for the orderly selection, acquisition, and management of the materials they make available to their patrons. The policy provides a guideline for decisions on the selection and retention of materials in specific subjects, to specific levels of collection depth and breadth, defined in a number of ways (Osbum 1977). Carpenter (1984) states that without a collection development policy a library is engaged only in acquiring-spending money and adding books not in rationally and systematically developing its collection. The collection development policy provides a focus for the collection and identifies specific subject areas of greater and lesser concentration. This may hold true for collecting of electronic resources as well as for collecting of books. Incorporating electronic resources into the collection development policy allows the resources to take their place in the collection as supportive of the library's goals for each specific area. Selection of electronic resources outside the guidance of a collection development policy leads to haphazard unfocused groupings of resources that may or may not support the mission of the library.
Photoinduced decolorization of 2, 6-dichloroindophenol by 2-anthraquinone sulfonate treated nylon.

Photoactive 2-anthraquinone sulfonate sodium (2-AQS) can produce hydroxyl radical and other reactive oxygen species under UVA irradiation. Because of its acid dye like feature, 2-AQS was immobilized onto nylon fibers through an acid dyeing process, and the dyed nylon was employed as a photoactive self-cleaning material. As a model study, decolorization of representative colorants such as 2,6-dichloroindophenol (DCIP) by the material was investigated. The results revealed that DCIP was first absorbed on the fibers and then degraded by hydroxyl radicals and other reactive oxygen species generated by 2-AQS on the surfaces upon UVA exposure. The photo degradation pathway of DCIP was further studied by directly using aqueous 2-AQS solution, and the degraded products in the solutions were analyzed by LC-MS. Different light sources and hydrogen donors were investigated in degradation of DCIP. The photoactive functions on the 2-AQS-dyed nylon fibers were quite durable and maintained similar decolorization effect ...
Advanced development of boundary element method for two-dimensional dynamic elasto-plasticity

Abstract In this paper, the formulation and numerical implementation of two-dimensional transient dynamic elasto-plasticity by the boundary element method is presented. This formulation considers material non-linearity and is based on an initial stress approach. It is the first ever attempt to solve two-dimensional dynamic plasticity problems by the boundary element method. The boundary integral equations are cast in an incremental form and are solved using a time stepping technique. The Newton-Raphson iterative scheme is adopted in conjunction with the non-linear constitutive equation to determine the incremental initial stresses. This formulation incorporates quadratic isoparametric elements for both the boundary and volume discretizations. The accuracy and stability of the methodology are demonstrated via numerical examples. It has been implemented in a general purpose, multi-region boundary element software known as GPBEST.
Tobacco Smoke Exposure in Either the Donor or Recipient Before Transplantation Accelerates Cardiac Allograft Rejection, Vascular Inflammation, and Graft Loss

Background— Tobacco exposure in cardiac transplant recipients, before and after transplantation, may increase the risk of cardiac allograft vasculopathy and allograft loss, but no direct evidence for this phenomenon is forthcoming. In this experimental study, we investigated early consequences of tobacco smoke exposure in cardiac transplant donors and recipients with an emphasis on alloinflammatory mediators of graft outcome. Methods and Results— Using heterotopic rat cardiac transplantation, we tested the effects of donor or recipient tobacco smoke exposure in 6 groups of animals (rat heterotopic cardiac transplantation) as follows: tobacco-naive allogeneic rejecting controls (n=6), tobacco-naive nonrejecting controls (n=3; killed on day 5 to simulate survival times of tobacco-treated animals), isografts (n=3), both donor and recipient rats exposed to tobacco smoke (n=4), only donor rats exposed to tobacco smoke (n=7), and only recipient rats exposed to tobacco smoke (n=6). Polymerase chain reaction st...
Skinner on the prediction and control of behavior

While prediction is a necesary requirement for the acceptance of a scientific theory, the prediction and control of behavior is not a neutral criterion for evaluating psychological theories. Appeal to prediction and control of behavior as a criterion, or objective of psychological theory is intelligible only if Skinner's conception of man is accepted. Emphasis upon control as criterion, as elaborated by Skinner, is not only inadequate but also dangerous. Finally some questions are raised about the relationship between psychological theories and methodology, and background conceptions of man.
Realistic artificial DNA sequences as negative controls for computational genomics

A common practice in computational genomic analysis is to use a set of ‘background’ sequences as negative controls for evaluating the false-positive rates of prediction tools, such as gene identification programs and algorithms for detection of cis-regulatory elements. Such ‘background’ sequences are generally taken from regions of the genome presumed to be intergenic, or generated synthetically by ‘shuffling’ real sequences. This last method can lead to underestimation of false-positive rates. We developed a new method for generating artificial sequences that are modeled after real intergenic sequences in terms of composition, complexity and interspersed repeat content. These artificial sequences can serve as an inexhaustible source of high-quality negative controls. We used artificial sequences to evaluate the false-positive rates of a set of programs for detecting interspersed repeats, ab initio prediction of coding genes, transcribed regions and non-coding genes. We found that RepeatMasker is more accurate than PClouds, Augustus has the lowest false-positive rate of the coding gene prediction programs tested, and Infernal has a low false-positive rate for non-coding gene detection. A web service, source code and the models for human and many other species are freely available at http://repeatmasker.org/garlic/.
Cell type-preferred expression of maize cab-m1: repression in bundle sheath cells and enhancement in mesophyll cells.

Abstract Different sets of genes for photosynthesis are expressed in mesophyll cells (MCs) and bundle sheath cells (BSCs)--the two adjacent but morphologically and functionally distinct types of photosynthetic cells in leaves of maize and other C4 plants. For example, light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding proteins of photosystem II, which are encoded by a family of cab genes, are 3- to 4-fold more abundant in maize MCs than in BSCs. Each maize cab gene is different from the others in its relative expression in MCs vs. BSCs and in its degree of photoresponsiveness. The gene cab-m1 is positively photoregulated and is highly preferentially expressed in MCs. A 159-bp sequence in the 5' flanking region of this gene (-1026 to -868 relative to the translation start site) is required for MC-preferred expression of a reporter gene in greening maize leaves. Deletion as well as gain-of-function experiments have now shown that all of the sequence information required for MC-preferred expression resides within this mesophyll-specifying region and that cab-m1 is preferentially expressed in MCs because of the presence of two types of sequence elements: one is required for suppressing expression in BSCs and the other for promoting expression in MCs. One of the four cis-acting regions mapped within the mesophyll-specifying region resembles the AT-1 box of some plant gene negative regulatory elements. Various combinations of such MC-specific enhancing and BSC-specific repressing regions could make maize cab gene family members different from one another in their relative expression in MCs vs. BSCs.
Negative self-evaluations among dysphoric college students : A difference in degree or kind?

The tendency to engage in globally negative self-evaluations (i.e., overgeneralization) is quite prevalent in depression but the precise nature of this tendency is little understood. This research examined whether the self-evaluations of dysphoric individuals differed in “degree” or “kind” from those of nondysphoric individuals. Dysphoric and nondysphoric students imagined themselves in various hypothetical situations and rated how they would evaluate themselves on 49 trait dimensions that varied in globality. Subjects also rated how depressed or happy each situation would make them feel. Subjects then estimated how they would feel and evaluate themselves 3 days after the original negative events. Results showed that the self-evaluations of dysphoric and nondysphoric subjects differed in both degree and kind. That is, dysphoric subjects rated themselves more negatively than nondysphorics across both global and specific traits, but this negativity was particularly pronounced for global traits. Moreover, supporting the position that globally negative self-evaluations influence the persistence of a depressive episode, globally negative thinking by dysphoric subjects predicted their estimated mood 3 days after the imagined negative events, as well as predicting their actual recovery from depression over the course of a 5-week period. Results are discussed as supporting Teasdale's (1988) differential activation hypothesis regarding the onset and persistence of depression.
Oligomerization State-dependent Activation of NF-κB Signaling Pathway by Adipocyte Complement-related Protein of 30 kDa (Acrp30)

Adipocyte complement-related protein of 30 kDa (Acrp30)/adiponectin is an adipocyte-derived hormone that affects lipid and glucose metabolism in muscle and liver, but its physical and biochemical properties are poorly characterized. Here we have used several approaches to show that Acrp30 expressed in and purified from Escherichia coli and human embryonic kidney 293T cells forms trimers and hexamers; 293T cells also produce a higher molecular weight species. Similar Acrp30 oligomers were found in mouse serum as well as in 3T3-L1 adipocyte-conditioned medium, although in different proportions. In parallel, we assessed whether Acrp30 is a signaling molecule by searching for promoter or enhancer elements that respond to Acrp30 or its isolated trimeric globular C-terminal domain, gAcrp30. Acrp30 addition to C2C12 myocytes or myotubes led to activation of NF-kappa B transcription factor in a manner dependent upon phosphorylation and degradation of I kappa B-alpha. Importantly, only hexameric and larger isoforms of Acrp30 activated NF-kappa B; trimeric Acrp30 or gAcrp30 could not activate NF-kappa B. Our data indicate that oligomerization of Acrp30 is important for at least some of its biological activities, and changes in the relative abundance of each oligomeric isoform in plasma may regulate Acrp30 activity.
In vivo electrochemical recording — a new neurophysiological approach

Abstract The neurophysiologist's understanding of the on-going electrical activity in the brain has reached an extremely high state of development. The corresponding knowledge about the dynamic neurotransmitter chemistry of the CNS — which, in fact, produces the electrophysiological signals — is far less advanced. Until a few years ago, postmortem assays were the only means of detecting what was happening biochemically some time earlier in the brain. Even today, the most advanced methods for sampling brain chemicals, such as push-pull cannuloe and ‘cortical cups', operate with external analyses. What is needed is an in situ microprobe capable of detecting continuously the ebb and flow of neurotransmitter species with a minimum of perturbation to the mammalian brain. The electrochemical approach described here by Ralph Adams is a very limited but promising step in that direction.
Regulation of hypothalamic proopiomelanocortin by leptin in lean and obese rats.

The mechanisms by which leptin influences energy homeostasis are not entirely understood. Several observations indicate that proopiomelanocortin (POMC) is involved in the regulation of food intake and
Rapid binding of PMB to non-SH groups on hemerythrin☆

Abstract Using the flow dialysis technique we find that p-mercuribenzoate binds to the non-heme iron protein hemerythrin at a number of sites other than the sulfhydryl group. This non-sulfhydryl binding probably occurs faster than formation of the sulfur-mercury bond.
Homologous Recombination Based Gene Therapy

Background/Aims: Most of the current expression vector based gene therapy protocols fail to achieve clinically significant transgene expression required for treating genetic disease
Enterprise Intelligence: A Case Study and the Future of Business Intelligence

This paper examines the key issues associated with current and future implementations of business intelligence (BI). The authors review the literature and discover both the growing importance and emerging issues associated with BI. The issues are further examined with an exploratory, but detailed, case study of organizations from a variety of industries, yielding a series of lessons learned. The authors find that organizations are rapidly moving to an enterprise perspective on BI, but in an unsystematic way. The authors present a prescription for the future of BI called â€œenterprise intelligenceâ€ (EI). EI is described in a framework that combines elements of hierarchy theory, organization modeling, and intellectual capital.
Older Women's Retirement Security: A Primer

This article provides an overview of the basic facts of old age in the United States, including a description of the retirement programs commonly available to the elderly and an examination of gender differences in the retirement experience. Women's greater economic insecurity relative to men during the retirement years is closely linked to their different work experiences, including differences in earnings, years of employment, Social Security earnings records, and likelihood of pension participation and receipt. Decisions about marriage, childbirth, and caregiving, as well as societal expectations and arrangements, also affect women's retirement security. Women are also disproportionately affected by risks associated with their longer lifespans and chronic health conditions that often result in women outliving their income and assets, losing access to a spouse's resources, paying high out‐of‐pocket medical expenses, and requiring long-term care. Many more older women than men live alone and among the el...
New nonlinear control algorithms for multiple robot arms

Multiple coordinated robot arms are modeled by considering the arms as closed kinematic chains and as a force-constrained mechanical system working on the same object simultaneously. In both formulations, a novel dynamic control method is discussed. It is based on feedback linearization and simultaneous output decoupling technique. By applying a nonlinear feedback and a nonlinear coordinate transformation, the complicated model of the multiple robot arms in either formulation is converted into a linear and output decoupled system. The linear system control theory and optimal control theory are used to design robust controllers in the task space. The first formulation has the advantage of automatically handling the coordination and load distribution among the robot arms. In the second formulation, it was found that by choosing a general output equation it became possible simultaneously to superimpose the position and velocity error feedback with the force-torque error feedback in the task space. >
Mixed versus pure strategies in many-person decision problems

In many-person decision problems, the optimal strategy has been searched for among the class of pure, as opposed to mixed, strategies. It is proved that if the payoff functions satisfy certain convexity conditions, optimal pure strategies are also optimal in the expanded class of mixed strategies.
A Data-Agnostic Approach to Automatic Testing of Multi-dimensional Databases

This paper presents a data-agnostic testing technique for multi-dimensional databases (OLAP cubes), with a fault-model, a test-coverage-model, a test automation technique and a technique for tests generation. The test generation is mostly suitable for systems with little or no transformation between the data loaded from the source, relational system and the data loaded into the target, analytical one, while the faults and coverage model discussions are broadly applicable. We present the main design considerations for the proposed testing approach and describe the implementation of the framework for test automation and of the test generation tool. The gains in tests maintainability, reliability and failure analysis effort are assessed in comparison with a record-and-replay technique using as show-case the test suites for the OLAP cubes delivered out-of-the-box with the Business Intelligence modules of the Microsoft Dynamics AX® Enterprise Resource Planning system.
Optimizing stored light efficiency in vapor cells

We present a preliminary experimental study of slow and stored light in Rb vapor cells under the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We study the efficiency of light storage as a function of pulse duration, storage time, retrieval field intensity, etc. We demonstrate that atomic diffusion in-and-out of the laser beam plays an important role not well described by previous analysis.
Introduction: Legitimating Ideologies

This special issue focuses upon the creation, maintenance, and use of legitimating ideologies by authorities, institutions, and societies. Such ideologies provide normative justifications for existing policies and practices through which they are seen as appropriate, reasonable, and fair and are, consequently, more readily accepted.
Broadband Shock Noise in Internally Mixed Dual-Stream Jets

Broadband shock noise (BBSN) has been studied in some detail in single-flow jets and recently in dual-stream jets with separate flow exhaust systems. Shock noise is of great concern in these latter cases because of the noise created for the aircraft cabin by the underexpanded nozzle flow at cruise. Another case where shock noise is of concern is in the case of future supersonic aircraft that are expected to have bypass ratios small enough to justify internally mixed exhaust systems, and whose mission will push cycles to the point of imperfectly expanded flows. Dual-stream jets with internally mixed plume have some simplifying aspects relative to the separate flow jets, having a single shock structure given by the common nozzle pressure. This is used to separate the contribution of the turbulent shear layer to the broadband shock noise. Shock structure is held constant while the geometry and strength of the inner and merged shear layers are varying by changing splitter area ratio and core stream temperature. Flow and noise measurements are presented which document the efforts at separating the contribution of the inner shear layer to the broadband shock noise.
Modeling of partially confined hot fragment conductive ignition

The purpose of this work is to establish a comprehensive theoretical model for studying the degree of vulnerabilityof nitramine-based propellants subjected to hot fragments within a partially confined enclosure. The model simulates the complicated processes of heat transfer and displacement of the hot fragments, generation of a foam layer caused by liquefaction and decomposition of the propellant, and regression of the propellant. A lumped-parameter analysis is considered for the determination of instantaneous temperature, pressure, and species concentrations of the gas phase within the enclosure. A reduced chemical kinetic scheme for RDX decomposition has been adopted to simulate the chemical reactions at the propellant/foam layer interface, the foam layer, and gas-phase regions. The developed model has been used to study the effects of initial temperature of hot fragment, size of hot fragment, and size of chamber exhaust port on ignition of XM39 propellant. The go/no-go ignition boundary of the highly confined case was found to be lower than that of a partially confined condition by about 150 K and is in good agreement with data obtained from experiments. This is mainly caused by the fact that under highly confined conditions, the accumulation of pyrolysis products and results chamber pressurization significantly enhance the exothermic heat release associated with the gas-phase reactions between CH2O and NO2 species.
Reaction of Cr+, Mn+, Fe+, Co+, and Ni+ with O2 and N2O. Examination of the translational energy dependence of the cross sections of endothermic reactions

Reactions of Cr + , Mn + , Fe + , Co + , and Ni + with O2 and N2O to yield metal oxide ions are examined using an ion beam apparatus. Reaction cross sections sigma as a function of ion translational energy E are reported. With one exception, Fe + +N2O, the cross sections exhibit an energy threshold Eo. Several models are used to interpret the excitation functions for the O2 reactions and it is concluded that the classical line-of-centers form sigma alpha (1–Eo/E) is most useful. Bond energies derived in this manner are D°(CrO + ) = 3.45±0.1 eV, D°(MnO + ) = 2.48±0.1 eV, D°(FeO + ) = 3.01±0.1 eV, D°(CoO + ) = 2.76±0.1 eV, and D°(NiO + ) = 1.95±0.1 eV. Since these bond energies are all greater than D°(N2–O) = 1.7 eV, the observation of energy thresholds for the reactions with N2O are surprising. These results are explained in terms of a qualitative view of the electronic potential energy surfaces involved.
CCN2 Suppresses Catabolic Effects of Interleukin-1β through α5β1 and αVβ3 Integrins in Nucleus Pulposus Cells: IMPLICATIONS IN INTERVERTEBRAL DISC DEGENERATION

The objective of the study was to examine the regulation of CCN2 by inflammatory cytokines, IL-1β, and TNF-α and to determine whether CCN2 modulates IL-1β-dependent catabolic gene expression in nucleus pulposus (NP) cells. IL-1β and TNF-α suppress CCN2 mRNA and protein expression in an NF-κB-dependent but MAPK-independent manner. The conserved κB sites located at −93/−86 and −546/−537 bp in the CCN2 promoter mediated this suppression. On the other hand, treatment of NP cells with IL-1β in combination with CCN2 suppressed the inductive effect of IL-1β on catabolic genes, including MMP-3, ADAMTS-5, syndecan 4, and prolyl hydroxylase 3. Likewise, silencing of CCN2 in human NP cells resulted in elevated basal expression of several catabolic genes and inflammatory cytokines like IL-6, IL-4, and IL-12 as measured by gene expression and cytokine protein array, respectively. Interestingly, the suppressive effect of CCN2 on IL-1β was independent of modulation of NF-κB signaling. Using disintegrins, echistatin, and VLO4, peptide inhibitors to αvβ3 and α5β1 integrins, we showed that CCN2 binding to both integrins was required for the inhibition of IL-1β-induced catabolic gene expression. It is noteworthy that analysis of human tissues showed a trend of altered expression of these integrins during degeneration. Taken together, these results suggest that CCN2 and inflammatory cytokines form a functional negative feedback loop in NP cells that may be important in the pathogenesis of disc disease.
THERMOSTABLE COMPOUNDS OPPOSING TOXICITY OF THE CARCINOGEN 4-NITROQUINOLINE N-OXIDE TO FLAGELLATES AND BACTERIA.

SYNOPSIS. In defined media growth inhibition of the flagellates Ochromonas danica and Euglena gracilis, the photosyn thetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris, and Coryne bacterium bovis was overcome for each organism, for concentrations of 4-nitroquinoline N-oxide (4-NQO) to ca. 5 μg/ml, by a combination of L-tryptophan, riboflavin, nicotinic acid, L-tyrosine, and less sharply, thymine and naphtho quinones. Tryptophan used alone was effective only in rather high concentrations—ca. 0.2 mg/ml for 4-NQO 2 μg/ml; it was competitive with 4-NQO through this range. At least for Euglena, gramine and 5-methyl-DL-tryptophan were about as effective. 4-NQO uptake may therefore be via the trypto phan transport system. 4-NQO may be a uniquely stable, accessible counterpart of the more polar, more carcinogenic compounds into which mammals oxidatively convert the azodye carcinogens by N-hydroxylation and the hydrocarbon carcinogens by hydroxylation and ketonization.
Intracellular volume of osmotically regulated C‐6 glioma cells

The intracellular volume of neoplastic brain cells was investigated with regard to the effects of hypo-osmolality and hyperosmolality utilizing double isotopic labeling with 3-0-methyl-D-glucose or tritiated water to measure the total volume of the pellet and inulin or polyethyleneglycol to measure the extracellular volume of the pellet. The cellular pellets were rapidly separated from the incubation medium by centrifugation after addition of an oil mixture. After 60 minutes incubation in Hanks balanced salt medium, the intracellular volume was 7.50 +/- 0.64, 8.48 +/- 0.19, and 2.97 +/- 0.18 ml H2O per 10(6) packed cells for C-6 glioma cells, N18TG-2 neuroblastoma cells, and NG108-15 neuroblastoma X glioma hybrid cells, respectively. The extracellular trapped space of these cultured cells was about one third of the intracellular volume. The intracellular volume of C-6 glioma cells was increased in hypotonic environment, whereas it was decreased with hyperosmolality. Both intracellular sodium and potassium were increased with increased osmolality of the incubation media. These data indicate iso-osmotic regulation by tumor cells, i.e., there is a good correlation between the intracellular volume, intracellular cations and lactate levels of C-6 glioma cells under various osmotic conditions.
Stability of interindividual differences in serotonin function and its relationship to severe aggression and competent social behavior in Rhesus Macaque females

Few studies have investigated longitudinally interindividual stability of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) concentrations in adult nonhuman primates across time and between baseline and stressful conditions. Furthermore, whereas studies with male macaques consistently have reported a significant, negative correlation between CSF 5-HIAA and rates of spontaneous aggression, wounding, and severe aggression, very few studies have examined this relationship in adult female nonhuman primates. Even fewer studies have investigated correlations between CSF 5-HIAA and competent social behavior, such as social dominance, in female monkeys. In the present study, two social groups of adult rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were formed by placing 16 females (aged 42 to 180 months, mean age: 68 months) in one of two indoor-outdoor enclosures with one or two adult males. CSF norepinephrine (NE), monoamine metabolites, and behavioral data were collected systematically over a 24-week period. In week 5 of the study, one additional female, not familiar to any of the other subjects, was added to each social group. Thereafter the groups were left undisturbed, and data characterizing spontaneous aggressive wounding and severe wound injuries in the females were collected for an additional year. The results showed that both group introduction and the addition of a new subject into each group resulted in increased monoamine turnover in the animals within the social groups. Interindividual differences in CSF concentrations of each of the monoamine metabolites and NE were highly stable from the baseline period to the stress samplings, and between stress samplings. Females with low CSF 5-HIAA exhibited higher rates of spontaneous aggressive wounding, and they were more likely to be removed from their social groups for aggressive wounding and/or treatment of injuries. CSF NE concentrations also were negatively correlated with rates of spontaneous aggression. In contrast, competitive aggression, i.e. noninjurious aggression used to maintain social dominance ranking, was not correlated with CSF 5-HIAA or NE. Females with above average CSF 5-HIAA prior to and following group formation were more likely to attain and maintain a high social dominance ranking within their social group than females with below average CSF 5-HIAA. The present findings indicate that CNS monoamine functioning in adult female rhesus macaques is traitlike, showing a high degree of interindividual stability across time and setting. These findings also suggest a role for serotonin in controlling impulses that regulate aggression and that competent social behavior among nonhuman primates may require average or above average serotonin functioning.
Su1597 Predictive Factors for Percutaneous Drainage Placement in Patients Developing Bilomas From Bile Leaks

Su1596 A Suggested Method for Preventing Post Palliative SEMS Cholecystitis in Selective Patients With Courvoisier’s Gallbladder, a Preliminary Study Tariq A. Hammad*, Yaseen Alastal, Muhammad Ali Khan, Usman Ahmad, Muhammad Z. Bawany, Osama Alaradi, Ali Nawras Internal Medicine Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH Background: Cholecystitis is a potential complication for self-expandable Metallic stents (SEMS) that occurs in about 2-12% of patients. Objective: This study suggests a method to minimize the risk of post palliative SEMS cholecystitis in very high risk group of patients. This method has been adapted at our institution after having few incidences on post SEMS cholecystitis requiring interventional treatment.Design: Single arm study and single center design.Setting: University tertiary medical center. Patients: Five consecutive patients with obstructive jaundice and Courvoisier’s gallbladder (GB) secondary to suspected malignant pancreatic-biliary tumor.Intervention: Endoscopic ultrasound guided decompression of the Courvoisier GB by fine needle aspiration. Patients underwent a single session of EUS-FNA for diagnosis and staging of the tumors, and ERCP for possible palliative SEMS. Once the patients were assigned to palliative SEMS based on the clinical, radiographic and cytopathologic findings (table 1); the need for GB decompression was carefully assessed based on several factors (Diagram). Patients with Courvoisier GB whom CD’s were not visualized during the ERCP underwent this procedure. Results: All patients had the procedure without complications. None of the patients developed any clinical symptoms or signs of post SEMS cholecystitis. Conclusion: Endosonographic guided Courvoisier GB decompression post simultaneous palliative SEMS placement and diagnostic EUS -FNA is a suggestive method for preventing cholecystitis. Larger studies are required to validate these results. Patients’ Characteristics.
Ringing in Proliferation: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb Network

The nuclear nonproliferation regime has come under attack from proliferation determinists, who argue that resolute proliferants connected by decentralized networks can be stopped only through the use of aggressive export controls or regime change. Proliferation pragmatists counter that nuclear aspirants are neither as resolved nor as advanced as determinists claim. A technical review of recent proliferators' progress reveals that Iran, North Korea, and Libya (before it renounced its nuclear program) have been unable to significantly cut development times; the evidence that these regimes are dead set on proliferating and cannot be persuaded to give up their nuclear programs is not compelling. Because these states lack tacit knowledge, the most effective way to dissolve the hub-and-spoke or star-shaped structures of their nuclear and ballistic missile networks is to target the hubs-that is, second-tier proliferators such as Pakistan that have assisted these states with their nuclear and missile programs. Pa...
COCORP seismic profiling of the Appalachian orogen beneath the Coastal Plain of Georgia

A southeastward extension onto the Coastal Plain of an earlier COCORP traverse, which confirmed large-scale, thin-skinned thrusting of crystalline rocks of the southern Appalachians, has provided some of the most spectacular reflections yet seen in crustal seismic data. Most of the reflectors can be interpreted as either fault surfaces or as metamorphosed strata of late Precambrian—early Paleozoic age. They are consistent with the hypothesis that a major detachment extends eastward beneath this part of the orogen, although other interpretations with a more complex pattern of detachments or sutures are also possible. Large-scale overthrusting provides a mechanism for incorporating sedimentary rocks into the lower crust and may help to explain many of the layered features on crustal seismic data. Reflections from deep beneath the Coastal Plain indicate that the structural configuration of the rocks is complex and that the remains of a collision zone are being observed. Several east-dipping horizons, which bear strong similarities to thrust faults in Valley and Ridge sedimentary rocks, are seen in the basement at shallow and mid-crustal levels beneath the Coastal Plain. The Augusta fault, for example, displays a reflection which extends at a low angle some 80 km or more southeast of its surface position. In conjunction with surface geologic information, these new data demonstrate that late Paleozoic compressive deformation was pervasive and resulted in lateral movements in the upper crust extending from the Valley and Ridge to the crystalline rocks beneath the Coastal Plain — a distance of 400 km or more. A large antiform, cresting at about 2.3 sec, or about 6 km below the surface, and other structures beneath the Coastal Plain of Georgia deserve further consideration for petroleum exploration, although metamorphism may have eliminated petroleum from these rocks. Refracted arrivals and fault geometries indicate two Triassic rift basins beneath Coastal Plain sedimentary rocks, one of which has apparently not been recognized previously.
Hospital work environments, nurse characteristics, and sharps injuries.

Background A growing body of research links working conditions, such as staffing levels and work environment characteristics, with safety for both patients and workers in health care settings, including sharps injuries in hospital staff nurses. Methods Surveys of 11,516 staff nurses from 188 Pennsylvania general acute care hospitals in 1999 were analyzed. Hospital work environments, measured using the Practice Environment Scales of the Nursing Work Index—Revised, and staffing were tested as predictors of experiencing at least one sharps injury in the preceding year, both before and after controlling for nurse risk factors, use of safety-engineered devices, and hospital structural characteristics. Results Nurses with less than 5 years of experience, perioperative nurses, and those performing routine venipuncture for blood draws were more likely to be injured. Nurses working in hospitals with the most favorable working environments were one-third less likely to be injured. Staffing levels were not associated with sharps injuries. Conclusions Across a large state, nurses working in acute care hospitals with better practice environments had fewer sharps injuries. Work environment conditions and specialty- and setting-specific risk factors deserve continued attention in sharps injury research.
Direct trabecular meshwork imaging in porcine eyes through multiphoton gonioscopy

The development of technologies to characterize the ocular aqueous outflow system (AOS) is important for the understanding of the pathophysiology of glaucoma. Multiphoton microscopy (MPM) offers the advantage of high-resolution, label-free imaging with intrinsic image contrast because the emitted signals result from the specific biomolecular content of the tissue. Previous attempts to use MPM to image the murine irido-corneal region directly through the sclera have suffered from degradation in image resolution due to scattering of the focused laser light. As a result, transscleral MPM has limited ability to observe fine structures in the AOS. In this work, the porcine irido- corneal angle was successfully imaged through the transparent cornea using a gonioscopic lens to circumvent the highly scattering scleral tissue. The resulting high-resolution images allowed the detailed structures in the trabecular meshwork (TM) to be observed. Multimodal imaging by two-photon autofluorescence and second harmonic generation allowed visualization of different features in the TM without labels and without disruption of the TM or surrounding tissues. MPM gonioscopy is a promising noninvasive imaging tool for high-resolution studies of the AOS, and research continues to explore the potential for future clinical applications in humans. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full
Social coordination dynamics: Measuring human bonding

Spontaneous social coordination has been extensively described in natural settings but so far no controlled methodological approaches have been employed that systematically advance investigations into the possible self-organized nature of bond formation and dissolution between humans. We hypothesized that, under certain contexts, spontaneous synchrony-a well-described phenomenon in biological and physical settings-could emerge spontaneously between humans as a result of information exchange. Here, a new way to quantify interpersonal interactions in real time is proposed. In a simple experimental paradigm, pairs of participants facing each other were required to actively produce actions, while provided (or not) with the vision of similar actions being performed by someone else. New indices of interpersonal coordination, inspired by the theoretical framework of coordination dynamics (based on relative phase and frequency overlap between movements of individuals forming a pair) were developed and used. Results revealed that spontaneous phase synchrony (i.e., unintentional in-phase coordinated behavior) between two people emerges as soon as they exchange visual information, even if they are not explicitly instructed to coordinate with each other. Using the same tools, we also quantified the degree to which the behavior of each individual remained influenced by the social encounter even after information exchange had been removed, apparently a kind of social memory.
Microvascular network shear rate is disrupted with elevated tissue bath glucose in normal mice

Abstract-Blood glucose levels reflect interstitial glucose in both normal and diabetics patients. Long term elevated blood glucose adversely affects shear sensing in the microcirculation. We have shown that there is a predictable axial gradient in shear within arteriolar networks. We hypothesized that elevated interstitial glucose levels in non-diabetic mice would disrupt axial gradients in shear rate (SR). Networks were observed in the cremaster muscle of anesthetized (n ) C57BL/ mice before and after 2 hours exposure to tissue bath glucose (Glc). Diameter (D) and red blood cell (RBC) velocity (V) were measured and SR rate was calculated ( V/D). In controls, SR was lower for the feed compared to associated branches, with SR in the upstream branches higher and more variable than in the last branch of the network. With Glc SR decreased in the feed all cell flux was diverted from upstream branches to the last branch of the network. Feed diameter dilated, but branch diameter was unaffected by glucose thus changes in SR were not attributed to changes in resistance alone. We conclude that only 2 hours of high glucose adversely affected flow distribution and axial shear gradients within this muscle preparation.
Design and implementation of a Fuzzy controller to improve non linearities in the operation of an airplane with an autopilot in the longitudinal mode

This paper presents a technique of removing the unstable modes in the airplane with an autopilot in the longitudinal mode by using a rule based Fuzzy controller. The use of fuzzy controller also improves the steady state error and system response. In addition to this a comparison between conventional and Fuzzy controller is also mentioned.