cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of phenytoin on the cyclic nucleotide system in the motor nerve terminal.

SUMMARY The effects of phenytoin on the motor nerve terminal were evaluated on the in vivo cat soleus nerve muscle preparation. Phenytoin, 10 mg/kg, reduced the repetitive aftercharges in motor nerve endings due to tetanic conditioning. It also reduced the repetitive activity due to adenylate cyclase activation with NaF, or to exogeneous dibutyryl cyclic AMP. These effects of phenytoin could be reversed by administering theophylline, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, or by increasing the extracellular concentration of calcium. The effects of phenytoin could also be reversed by 3-aminopyridine, but not by tetraethylammonium chloride. Verapamil, a calcium current antagonist, produced effects that were identical to phenytoin. It is concluded that phenytoin blocks a cyclic nucleotide-mediated calcium influx that is associated with transmitter release. This calcium flux also appears to control a slow potassium current that is responsible for post-tetanic hyperpolarization.
Frailty Models in Survival Analysis by WIENKE, A.

Frailty Models in Survival Analysis (A. Wienke) David Oakes Logistic Regression Models (J. M. Hilbe) Annette J. Dobson Design of Experiments: An Introduction Based on Linear Models (M. D. Morris) Gary W. Oehlert Models and Judgment for Valid Comparisons (H. I. Weisberg, Bias and Causation,) Judea Pearl
The glow test for metals of the platinum group

Abstract 1. (1) The theory of contact catalysis and the factors which influence the glow reaction are discussed. 2. (2) Experiments are described which investigate the factors involving; the nature of the support, heating the catalyst, temperature of gas and catalyst, kind of gas, limit of glow test, and nature of the solutions. Curtman and Rothberg's method may be applied safely, only in the absence of copper, cobalt, nickel or silver. 3. (3) A modified procedure is given which makes the glow reaction a more reliable test for the platinum group metals.
Nondeterminism and boolean operations in pda's☆☆☆

Abstract There are nondeterministic context-free languages that cannot be expressed as a Boolean formula over deterministic context-free languages. The closure of the context-free languages under intersection does not yield closure under complementation.
Digital Romanticism in the Age of Neo-Luddism: the Romantic Circles Experiment

The Romantic Circles Website, along with a number of other major projects in digital Romanticism, came online around 1995, a historical moment that also saw the emergence of neo-Luddism, in part as a reaction to the techno-hype of the Internet boom. At the time. neo-Luddites often claimed as a precedent the original historical Luddism of 1811-16, but they usually also Romanticized that collective labor subculture to fit their own late-twentieth-century ideas of “technology.” This essay looks back at the interlinked assumptions in the air around 1995–neo-Luddite and Romantic–as the context out of which Romantic Circles defined its own engaged experiment in technology. Iw ill cite specific examples of digital technologies from our first year (two editions about technology, including the technology of texts), and one from our most recent year (an experiment in podcasting), in order to explain how we at Romantic Circles have attempted to work at the crossroads of Romanticism and technology, while stubbornly refusing to play the role of "natural Luddites,"
On the Voltage Gain of Complementary Graphene Voltage Amplifiers With Optimized Doping

An electrostatic doping approach has been implemented in graphene voltage amplifiers operating in a complementary configuration. The employed controllable electrostatic doping enables the operation of both pFET and nFET at the maximum transconductance point for an optimized voltage gain. In this context, the impact of supply voltage and channel length has been studied in detail. We have identified an unusual scaling trend of the voltage gain as a function of the supply voltage, which is most prominent for shorter channel devices. Our findings also indicate that the voltage gain reported in previous works can be improved threefold by proper pFET/nFET doping, as discussed here.
Scaling and using large pandemic agent-based models

The NIH NIGMS MIDAS grant is focused on building global agent-based models for studying world-wide epidemics. As the chief architect of the MIDAS project, I am part of a team providing informatics support to our researchers from Hopkins, Emory, and Virginia Tech. Because of the number of agents and complex social networks we are dealing with, our models tend to require very large amounts of computational resources. We are working with a combination of high level modeling tools, automated means of scaling models and balancing work across grids and clusters, and sophisticated tools for managing complex simulation experiments. A goal is to integrate these functions into a software workbench that minimizes many of the distractions on the researchers in order to allow them to stay focused in a rapid iterative research and development mode.
Origin offset and axes misalignment compensation in complex form parameter estimation using CMM

Coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) play an important role in industry to verify dimensions and tolerances of manufactured parts. The accuracy of measurements using CMMs depends on the capability of the mathematical models to represent the geometry of the part and on the fitting algorithms to find the best solution that will correct the axes orientation and origin offsets between the measurements and of the nominal form. This study describes two approaches: a dynamic angle approach that was developed to improve the performance of the Limacon approximation; and a free-form orientation approach that models the assessed form and cancels out the axes misalignments by using the flatness model. The accuracy of these models was tested using data that was available from previous studies. Results from this analysis showed that the two developed approaches improve the calculation of the zone of error of circular, spherical, cylindrical, and toroidal features; and the estimation of the parameters, origin offsets, and axis misalignments. Therefore, it can be concluded that the developed approaches performed quite efficiently for adoption in product metrology.
Nitrogen and Phosphorus Release from Mixed Litter Layers is Lower than Predicted from Single Species Decay

Ecosystem-level nutrient dynamics during decomposition are often estimated from litter monocultures. If species effects are additive, we can statistically predict nutrient dynamics in multi-species systems from monoculture work, and potential consequences of species loss. However, if species effects are dependent on interactions with other litter species (that is, non-additive), predictions based on monoculture data will likely be inaccurate. We conducted a 3-year, full-factorial, mixed-litter decomposition study of four dominant tree species in a temperate forest and measured nitrogen and phosphorus dynamics to explore whether nutrient dynamics in mixtures were additive or non-additive. Following common approaches, we used litterfall data to predict nutrient dynamics at the ecosystem-level. In mixtures, we observed non-additive effects of litter mixing on nutrient dynamics: the presence of nutrient-rich species in mixture facilitated nutrient release, whereas nutrient-poor species facilitated nutrient retention. Fewer nutrients were released from mixtures containing high-quality litter, and more immobilized from mixtures containing low-quality litter, than predicted from monocultures, creating a difference in overall nutrient release between predicted and actual dynamics in litter mixtures. Nutrient release at the ecosystem-level was greatly overestimated when based on monocultures because the effect of species interactions on nutrient immobilization was not accounted for. Our data illustrate that the identity of species in mixtures is key to their role in non-additive interactions, with repercussions for mineral nutrient availability and storage. These results suggest that predictions of ecosystem-level nutrient dynamics using litter monoculture data likely do not accurately represent actual dynamics because the effects of litter species interactions are not incorporated.
Allergic hypersensitivity to the insecticide malathion in BALBc mice

The widely used insecticide malathion (diethylmercaptosuccinate, S ester with O,O-dimethylphosphorodithioate) has been reported to cause allergic responses in some exposed people and in guinea pigs. In this study, IgE antibodymediated and cell-mediated hypersensitivity to malathion was evaluated in female BALBc mice. To elicit malathion-specific antibodies of the IgE class, a conjugate of the anhydride of the diacid metabolite of malathion (MMA) with keyhole limpet hemocyanin was administered ip with aluminum hydroxide as adjuvant. Sera collected following three sequential sensitizations were tested for specific IgE with the passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) test in Sprague-Dawley rats. MMA coupled to bovine serum albumin was used as the challenge antigen. Specific IgE was produced following the second and third sensitization in the mice receiving 10 and 100 μg of conjugate and following the third sensitization in the mice receiving 1 μg of conjugate. A paper radioallergosorbent test (PRAST) was as sensitive as and showed a good correlation with the PCA assay for samples analyzed by both procedures. Malathion applied epicutaneously on 2 days or over 4 weeks failed to elicit delayed-type hypersensitivity as determined by change in ear thickness, 5-[125I]iodo-2′-deoxyuridine incorporation in the ear, and histology of the ear following ear challenge, with or without pretreatment of the mice with cyclophosphamide. MMA-specific IgE antibodies were not detected by the PCA test in the serum of mice treated epicutaneously for 4 weeks.
Synchronization of Animal-Inspired Multiple High-Lift Fins in an Underwater Vehicle Using Olivo–Cerebellar Dynamics

The development of neuroscience-based control methodologies and their integration with the high-lift unsteady hydrodynamics of control surfaces inspired by swimming and flying animals are the subjects of this paper. A biology-inspired rigid autonomous undersea vehicle called the biorobotic autonomous undersea vehicle (BAUV) has been developed at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Newport, RI. The BAUV is equipped with six simultaneously rolling and pitching fins for generating large unsteady control forces for performing agile maneuvers. First, as an exploratory example, we introduce the van der Pol oscillator as an oscillatory controller for the BAUV and we describe experiments performed to examine the fin forces (thrust and lift) and electric power requirement, and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the oscillator's limit cycle property for disturbance rejection effectiveness. We then describe a BAUV control system that includes six inferior-olive (IO) neuron models for control of the pitch and roll motion of the six foils. These IO neurons exhibit limit cycle oscillation (LCO). For control of the BAUV, these IO neurons must oscillate in synchronism with specific relative phases. We present here four feedback linearizing control systems of varying complexity for control of the relative phases of the IO neurons. It is shown that each of the IO control systems accomplishes asymptotic regulation of the phases and thus enables the foils to produce the required control forces. The first controller has a global synchronization property, but the remaining controllers accomplish local synchronization. We present simulation results for tracking piecewise, time-varying phase angle commands as well as experimental results for control of the BAUV by IO neurons. The results show that with appropriate phasing of the fins, an optimal graceful gait of the BAUV is achieved where no untoward force or moment is present. An analog hardware version of the local controller with a cluster of six IO neurons has also been built, which allows five of the signals to rapidly synchronize to the reference, with or without prescribed phase shift, much like in the simulations. The designed controllers can be used in any platform or multivariate BAUV-like system requiring fast, accurate phase control. Laboratory test results for the phase synchronization of two servomotors (roll and pitch) using the designed analog hardware controller are also shown.
Sensitivity analysis for liver iron measurement through neutron stimulated emission computed tomography: a Monte Carlo study in GEANT4

Neutron stimulated emission computed tomography (NSECT) is being developed as a non-invasive imaging modality to detect and quantify iron overload in the human liver. NSECT uses gamma photons emitted by the inelastic interaction between monochromatic fast neutrons and iron nuclei in the body to detect and quantify the disease. Previous simulated and physical experiments with phantoms have shown that NSECT has the potential to accurately diagnose iron overload with reasonable levels of radiation dose. In this work, we describe the results of a simulation study conducted to determine the sensitivity of the NSECT system for hepatic iron quantification in patients of different sizes. A GEANT4 simulation of the NSECT system was developed with a human liver and two torso sizes corresponding to small and large patients. The iron concentration in the liver ranged between 0.5 and 20 mg g−1,* corresponding to clinically reported iron levels in iron-overloaded patients. High-purity germanium gamma detectors were simulated to detect the emitted gamma spectra, which were background corrected using suitable water phantoms and analyzed to determine the minimum detectable level (MDL) of iron and the sensitivity of the NSECT system. These analyses indicate that for a small patient (torso major axis = 30 cm) the MDL is 0.5 mg g−1 and sensitivity is ~13 ± 2 Fe counts/mg/mSv and for a large patient (torso major axis = 40 cm) the values are 1 mg g−1 and ~5 ± 1 Fe counts/mg/mSv, respectively. The results demonstrate that the MDL for both patient sizes lies within the clinically significant range for human iron overload.
Physiologic and Radiographic Evidence of the Distal Edge of the Proton Beam in Craniospinal Irradiation

Purpose: Fatty replacement of bone marrow resulting from radiation therapy can be seen on T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images. We evaluated the radiographic appearance of the vertebral bodies in children treated with proton craniospinal irradiation (CSI) to illustrate the distal edge effect of proton radiotherapy. Methods and Materials: The study cohort consisted of 13 adolescents aged 12–18 years who received CSI with proton radiotherapy at Massachusetts General Hospital. Ten of these patients had reached maximal or near-maximal growth. Proton beam radiation for these 10 patients was delivered to the thecal sac and exiting nerve roots only, whereas the remaining 3 patients had a target volume that included the thecal sac, exiting nerve roots, and entire vertebral bodies. Median CSI dose was 27 [range, 23.4–36] cobalt gray equivalent (CGE) given in 1.8-CGE fractions. Magnetic resonance images of the spine were obtained after completion of radiotherapy. Results: Magnetic resonance images of patients who received proton radiotherapy to the thecal sac only demonstrate a sharp demarcation of hyperintense T1-weighted signal in the posterior aspects of the vertebral bodies, consistent with radiation-associated fatty marrow replacement. Magnetic resonance images of the patients prescribed proton radiotherapy to the entire vertebral column had corresponding hyperintense T1-weighted signal involving the entire vertebral bodies. Conclusion: The sharp delineation of radiation-associated fatty marrow replacement in the vertebral bodies demonstrates the rapid decrease in energy at the edge of the proton beam. This provides evidence for a sharp fall-off in radiation dose and supports the premise that proton radiotherapy spares normal tissues unnecessary irradiation.
Propagation characteristics of femtosecond pulses in erbium-doped monomode optical fibers

The spectral and temporal characteristics of femtosecond optical pulses (durations of approximately 120 fs, wavelength of 1.5 mu m) propagating in erbium-doped monomode fibers have been experimentally studied in detail. Distinct spectral broadening and shifting processes have been observed for three types of fibers (two different dopant concentrations and one erbium-free sample for comparison). Whereas only a small amount of spectral broadening occurs in the Er-free fiber, there is a major spectral extension (1.3-1.7 mu m) for the low-doped erbium fiber, in which a self-phase-modulation mediated four-wave-mixing process has been observed. Autocorrelation data for the exiting pulses indicate the existence of strong pulse shaping and breakup effects in the Er-doped fibers. >
Role of lipid in forming an infectious prion

The infectious agent of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or prion diseases, has been the center of intense debate for decades. Years of studies have provided overwhelming evidence to support the prion hypothesis that posits a protein conformal infectious agent is responsible for the transmissibility of the disease. The recent studies that generate prion infectivity with purified bacterially expressed recombinant prion protein not only provides convincing evidence supporting the core of the prion hypothesis, that a pathogenic conformer of host prion protein is able to seed the conversion of its normal counterpart to the likeness of itself resulting in the replication of the pathogenic conformer and occurrence of disease, they also indicate the importance of cofactors, particularly lipid or lipid-like molecules, in forming the protein conformation-based infectious agent. This article reviews the literature regarding the chemical nature of the infectious agent and the potential contribution from lipid molecules to prion infectivity, and discusses the important remaining questions in this research area.
Susceptibility of Magnetic Graphite-CoCl 2 Intercalation Compounds

Precise measurements of the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility for stage 2 and 5 graphite-CoCl2 intercalation compounds are reported. Comparison of the experimental results with theoretical calculations based on a two-dimensional planar model show agreement with theory, suggesting that graphite intercalation compounds represent ideal two-dimensional magnetic systems.
Enhancing software reliability with speculative threads

This paper advocates the use of a monitor-and-recover programming paradigm to enhance the reliability of software, and proposes an architectural design that allows software and hardware to cooperate in making this paradigm more efficient and easier to program.We propose that programmers write monitoring functions assuming simple sequential execution semantics. Our architecture speeds up the computation by executing the monitoring functions speculatively in parallel with the main computation. For recovery, programmers can define fine-grain transactions whose side effects, including all register modifications and memory writes, can either be committed or aborted under program control. Transactions are implemented efficiently by treating them as speculative threads.Our experimental results suggest that monitored execution is more amenable to parallelization than regular program execution. Code monitoring is sped up by a factor of 1.5 by exploiting single-thread instruction-level parallelism, and by an additional factor of 1.6 using thread-level speculation. This results in an overall improvement of 2.5 times and a sustained 5.4 instructions-per-cycle performance. A monitored execution that used to be 2.5 times slower executes with a degradation of only 12% when compared to the performance on the baseline machine. We also show that the concept of fine-grain transactional programming is useful in catching buffer overrun errors through a number of real-life examples.
Autoinflammatory Disease Reloaded: A Clinical Perspective

Our understanding of the etiology of autoinflammatory disease is growing rapidly. Recent advances offer new opportunities for therapeutic intervention and suggest that the definition of what constitutes an autoinflammatory disease should be reassessed.
The Mutation, a Key Determinant of Phenotype in ADPKD

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is one of the most common monogenic diseases (frequency 1:500–1000) and a classic dominant disease with a penetrance of practically 100%, if defined as the development of multiple bilateral cysts in a family member that inherits a defined
Trypsin Inhibition of System II Electron Transport

Chloroplasts reactions associated with Photosystem II appear to be more sensitive to external agents and physical disruption than reactions of Photosystem I. KATOH & SAN PIETRO (1967) found that oxygen evolution from Euglena chloroplasts could be inhibited by mild heat treatment, while DCMU sensitive electron transport could be restored by ascorbate. BOHME & TREBST (1969) and BEN-HAYYIM & AVRON (1970) showed respectively that ascorbate and Mn+2 could successfully compete with water in untreated chloroplasts as a donor for Photosystem II. Several compounds, e.g. EDTA (IZAWA et al 1969), hydroxylamine (CHENIAE & MARTIN 1968), CCCP (KIMIMURA et al. 1971), and Tris (YAMASHITA & HORIO 1968), have been found to specifically inhibit electron transport on the oxidizing side of Photosystem II. In some cases compounds have been found which donate electrons at sites after the sites of inhibition, partially restoring DCMU sensitive electron transport (IZAWA et al. 1969, YAMASHITA & BUTLER 1968, 1969, VERNON & SHAW 1969).
Orchelimum superbum (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Conocephalinae) on the Great Plains of North America

Abstract The meadow katydid Orchelimum superbum was previously known from scattered localities along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of North America. We found this species to be widespread and locally common on the Great Plains in a variety of habitats, including tallgrass prairie, wetlands, and roadsides. We found no evidence for cryptic species after studying the morphology of the male terminalia, comparing body size, and analyzing 14 calling song characters. Individuals from the Great Plains are consistently larger in body size than individuals from the historical range. From patterns of body size variation and abundance, we hypothesize that the eastern Great Plains is the center of distribution for O. superbum and that the coastal localities, including the type locality, are peripheral populations. We compare the songs of O. superbum and O. vulgare, showing that these two sympatric but allochronically separated species share most buzz-mode characters including statistically indistinguishable syllable re...
Case series: Combined spinal epidural anesthesia for Cesarean delivery and ex utero intrapartum treatment procedure.

Purpose: To report the use of regional anesthesia and iv nitroglycerin to provide anesthesia and uterine relaxation for three Cesarean deliveries (CD) involving ex utero intrapartum treatment (EXIT) of potentially life-threatening airway obstruction in the newborn. Clinical features: Case 1 - a 36-yr-old woman at 38 weeks’ gestation was scheduled for an elective CD for fetal skeletal dysplasia and micrognathia. Case 2 - a 34-yr-old woman at 35 weeks gestation had a fetal ultrasound revealing fixed neck flexion and micrognathia consistent with fetal arthrogryposis. Case 3 - a 27-yr-old woman presented at 38 weeks gestation for CD for severe fetal micrognathia, with mandibular growth below the fifth percentile. For each case, a combined spinal epidural anesthetic was performed with 0.75% bupivacaine, fentanyl and morphine intrathecally followed by placement of a multiorifice epidural catheter. Prior to uterine incision patients received a loading dose followed by an iv infusion of nitroglycerin. Uterine relaxation was sufficient in all cases for delivery of the fetus, and allowed for evaluation by direct laryngoscopy and intubation while maintaining fetal-placental circulation. The surgical procedures were completed without incident. Conclusions: Anesthesia and uterine relaxation for CD and EXIT procedures can be safely provided with regional anesthesia and iv nitroglycerin.
Sex-specific Changes in Walleye Abundance, Size Structure and Harvest Following Implementation of Regulation to Protect Broodstock

Abstract The popularity of walleye Sander vitreus fishing has resulted in the development of specialized regulations that are designed to protect these fisheries. In the case of Sherman Reservoir, Sherman County, Nebraska, the walleye population provides a sportfishing opportunity and serves as broodstock for the state. In 2009, for the primary purpose of protecting female broodstock, the regulation changed from a harvest limit of four walleye with 457-mm minimum length to allowing a reduced harvest limit of two walleye within a harvest slot (381–508 mm) and one walleye more than 711 mm. This study examined existing data sets to assess the percentage of spawning walleye protected with each regulation, sex-specific differences in relative abundance and size structure during broodstock collection and angler effort, total catch, and harvest of walleye. The new regulation has increased protection of female walleye by more than 90%, but decreased protection of male walleye by more than 60%. The relative abunda...
Reading Aid: 2 Maccabees and the History of Jason of Cyrene Reconsidered

This article investigates the prefatory material in 2 Maccabees (2:19-32; 15:38-39) in order to reveal the motivation and attitude of the epitomator of 2 Maccabees toward the text he is adapting. The article argues that the concept of auxiliary texts, recognized in Graeco-Roman and Hellenistic texts by classicist Markus Dubischar, is the lens through which to properly understand the preface and therefore the scribe’s motivation for textual adaptation. The article further employs these conclusions to question whether other texts from the Judean milieu might also be best understood in this category.
Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I (IGF-I) Attenuates Jejunal Atrophy in Association with Increased Expression of IGF-I Binding Protein-5 in Parenterally Fed Mice

Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) induces dramatic mucosal hypoplasia in rat small intestine that is attenuated by insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I). Our aim was to determine the extent of TPN-induced intestinal atrophy and its response to infusion of IGF-I in mice. Male C57BL/6 mice (18-22 g) were maintained with TPN, TPN plus co-infusion of recombinant human IGF-I [2.5 mg/(kg . d)] or oral feeding for 5 d. Body weights did not differ among the groups although serum IGF-I was increased by 78% with IGF-I infusion. IGF-I prevented the significant 25% reduction in mass of the intact small intestine due to TPN compared with oral feeding. Greater TPN-induced atrophy was noted in duodenum and jejunum than ileum. Jejunal atrophy induced by TPN reflected significant decreases in muscularis mass and concentrations of protein and DNA; mucosal cellularity was not altered by TPN. TPN induced a significant decrease in jejunal muscularis width that was reversed by IGF-I with no differences in mucosal villus height and crypt depth. Local expression of IGF-I binding protein (IGFBP)-5 positively modulates the intestinotrophic effects of IGF-I. Jejunal atrophy due to TPN and growth due to IGF-I were directly associated with expression of IGFBP-5 mRNA. TPN decreased IGFBP-5 mRNA by 60% and IGF-I increased IGFBP-5 mRNA by 200% with no change in IGF-I mRNA compared with oral feeding. In summary, TPN induces significant 25% atrophy of the mouse small intestine that is attenuated by IGF-I in association with increased expression of IGFBP-5. Compared with rats, TPN-induced atrophy is less severe and occurs primarily in the jejunal muscularis layer in mice.
How Antitrust Law Could Reform College Football: Section 1 of the Sherman Act and the Hope for Tangible Change

This speech discusses how the absurdity came to pass where college football has become a multibillion dollar business, yet a majority of college football players live below the poverty line. This speech also discusses how antitrust litigation against the National Collegiate Athletic Association and its member colleges could serve as the much-needed impetus for reform to the system, and why a proper antitrust remedy could yield economic reform and tangible change in college sports. Overall, this is a speech built on optimism, but only optimism presuming that the courts properly recognize that the NCAA’s current mode of business violates federal antitrust laws, and only if the courts ultimately require changes to better protect the legal rights of all stakeholder groups within the collegiate sports industry.
Management of patients with transient ischemic attack in the emergency department

An estimated 5 million people in the United States have experienced a TIA.1 Most of these people visited an emergency department for their immediate evaluation and treatment. The decisions regarding what investigations will be performed, what treatments will be initiated, and in what setting these events will occur vary greatly across the country.
Influence Factors of Process for Presulfiding HydrogenationCatalyst

Presulfuration of hydrogenation catalyst is one of the essential technologies. That can enhance the catalyst activity, optimize operation of hydrogenation catalysis, obtain ideal economic efficiency. In order to obtain the ideal presulfiding effect, must strictly control the conditions of various stages. Introduced the principal of presulfuration of hydrogenation catalyst,discussed the factors that has affected the effect of presulfuration in presulfiding process. In the presulfiding operation, the temperature is one of most sensitive factors.
Acute Infectious Gastroenteritis

Gastroenteritis caused by infectious agents still poses an annoying and sometimes serious problem even in well sanitated populations. Infectious non bacterial gastroenteritis, after many years of neglect, is now again receiving the investigative attention it deserves.
Technical Note: An investigation of polarity effects for wide-angle free-air chambers

Purpose: Wide-angle free-air chambers (WAFACs) are used as primary standard measurement devices for establishing the air-kerma strength of low-energy, low-dose rate brachytherapy seeds. The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) is commissioning a primary standard wide-angle free-air chamber (NRC WAFAC) to serve the calibration needs of Canadian clients. The University of Wisconsin has developed a similar variable-aperture free-air chamber (UW VAFAC) to be used as a research tool. As part of the NRC commissioning, measurements were carried out for both polarities of the applied bias voltage and the resulting effects were observed to be very large. Similar effects were identified with the UW VAFAC. The authors describe the measurements carried out to determine the underlying causes of the polarity effect and the approach used to eliminate it. Methods: The NRC WAFAC is based on the WAFAC design developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the USA. Charge measurements for 125I and 241Am sources were carried out for both negative and positive polarities on the NRC WAFAC and UW VAFAC. Two aperture sizes were also investigated with the UW VAFAC. In addition, measurements on the NRC WAFAC were carried out with a small bias between the collecting electrode and the shield foil at the downstream end of the chamber. To mitigate all of the polarity effects, the downstream surface of the collecting electrode was covered with a thin layer of graphite on both the NRC and UW chambers. Results: Both chamber designs showed a difference of more than 30 % between the charge collected with positive and negative bias voltages for the smallest electrode separation. It was shown for the NRC WAFAC that charge could be collected in the small gap downstream of the collecting volume by applying a voltage between the shield foil and the collecting electrode, even though an insulating foil (Mylar or polyimide film) separated the conducting surface from the small gap region. The unwanted additional current was shown to be proportional to the size of the aperture for the UW VAFAC. The extra ionization produced in the small gap region was eliminated for both chambers by covering the insulating side of the collecting electrode with a grounded conducting layer. Conclusions: The small gap region downstream of the collecting electrode in the NRC WAFAC and UW VAFAC can serve as an unwanted source of ion current. It is concluded that a residual electric field in the small gap region may lead to ion transport and to charge being trapped on the surface of the foil. The foil then acts as a capacitor with an equal charge, but of opposite sign, being attracted to the conducting surface. Covering the back of the collecting electrode surface with a grounded conducting layer eliminated the polarity effect.
TGFβ inhibits GM-CSF-induced phosphorylation of ERK and MEK in human myeloid leukemia cell lines via inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-k)

3783 The activation of SMAD-independent 44/42 MAPK (ERK1/2) signal by Transforming Growth Factor-beta (TGFβ) has been recently reported in various cell types for different biological activities including cell arrest and death. However, the mechanisms for the linking between the SMAD-dependent and -independent pathways are poorly understood. In this study, we investigated whether TGF-β activates the ERK1/2 pathway and how TGFβ communicates with the MAP kinase signals for proliferation in several human myeloid leukemia cell lines. TGFβ dramatically suppressed the proliferation of MV4-11 and TF-1 in culture without detectable phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of ERK1/2 and MEK1/2 for the duration of 48h detected by MTT assay and Western blot, respectively. In contrast, Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor (GM-CSF) induced a rapid and transient phosphorylation of MEK1/2 and ERK1/2 and upregulated the cell proliferation. Both GM-CSF-induced ERK1/2 activation and cell proliferation were significantly inhibited by TGFβ. GM-CSF also induced a time-dependent increase in the phosphorylation of the p85 subunit of PI3-kinase in MV4-11 cells. Corresponding to this change, the p85 PI3-k was found to bind to GM-CSF receptor-α subunit (GMRα) in response to GM-CSF stimulation detected by immunoprecipitation and Western blot. PD98059, a selective inhibitor of MEK blocked GM-CSF induced phosphorylation of MEK and ERK but not PI3 kinase. However, TGFβ and LY294002, a potent inhibitor of PI3-K, significantly inhibited phosphorylation of both PI3-k and ERK1/2. These studies thus indicate that TGFβ does not activate ERK pathway in the absence of a mitogen but turns off GM-CSF induced ERK signal via inhibition of PI3-K-Akt pathway in human myeloid hematopoietic cells. Since both GM-CSF receptor and SMAD proteins are able to react with PI3-k, our data suggest that PI3-k may play a key role in the crosstalk between SMAD and the MAPK pathways (Supported by NIH-NIGMS MBRS RISE Grant R25 GM059244, Barry University).
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's Evolving Impact on Claim Construction

This Article explores the potential impact the The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) could have on broader claim construction doctrine. It starts by offering an overview of claim construction in the courts and in the USPTO. It then considers the potential unintended consequence of a particular Federal Circuit decision, Marine Polymer. Marine Polymer decided a seemingly narrow question: whether the defense of intervening rights could be triggered only by a narrowing amendment at the USPTO or whether a disclaimer of claim scope could also create intervening rights. The court decided the former such that disclaimers of claim scope, absent an amendment, do not trigger intervening rights. A number of PTAB decisions have taken this holding more broadly, prohibiting parties in IPR proceedings from arguing for any disclaimer. Patent holders in this position can be in a bit of a bind because the PTAB has also been very reluctant to allow patent claim amendments during IPR proceedings. If the Federal Circuit agrees with the PTAB’s approach, it could signal a waning of the use of prosecution disclaimer.The PTAB’s approach presents some interesting issues that the next part of the Article explores. It examines the difference between a formal claim construction by an examiner or the PTAB versus the seemingly implicit construction that is reflected in prosecution disclaimer doctrine. At times the Federal Circuit has noted it is not bound by USPTO constructions yet, in estoppel-like fashion, it does bind the patent holder to potentially narrowing arguments made during a USPTO proceeding. What really is the difference? And if the USPTO is increasingly performing formal claim construction, what role, if any, remains for prosecution disclaimer? Could the statutory estoppel provisions and collateral estoppel step in to eliminate the use of prosecution disclaimer at least for those patents that go through IPR proceedings?Finally, this Article explores the potential for issue preclusion to arise from PTAB claim constructions. The Supreme Court recently affirmed the use of BRI in IPR proceedings, which means the claim construction standard between PTAB post-issuance proceedings and district courts will continue to differ. Nevertheless, the potential for issue preclusion remains. The Supreme Court held, in B & B Hardware, Inc. v. Hargis Industries, Inc., that a decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) can preclude relitigation of the issue of likelihood of consumer confusion, even though that standard varies widely across the country. This Article considers the parallel situation of PTAB claim construction determinations in light of that Supreme Court precedent, concluding that issue preclusion very well may arise from PTAB claim construction determinations.
Look who's talking: a practical approach for achieving scheduled wifi in a single collision domain

We ask the following question in this paper: Can the goals of centralized WiFi scheduling be achieved using purely distributed operations? We present a solution called Look Who's Talking (LWT) that allows for arbitrary schedules to be distributed to nodes in a WiFi network. The nodes in the network then use purely local and distributed operations to achieve the prescribed schedule. The scope of LWT in this paper is restricted to a single collision domain (single or multiple cells), but we discuss how LWT can be extended to multiple collision domains. We use both experimental evaluations (using a WARP-based testbed) and simulation-based analysis (using ns3) to evaluate LWT.
Rigid, Conjugated Macrocycles for High Performance Organic Photodetectors.

Organic photodetectors (OPDs) are attractive for their high optical absorption coefficient, broad wavelength tunability, and compatibility with lightweight and flexible devices. Here we describe a new molecular design that enables high performance organic photodetectors. We use a rigid, conjugated macrocycle as the electron acceptor in devices to obtain high photocurrent and low dark current. We make a direct comparison between the devices made with the macrocyclic acceptor and an acyclic control molecule; we find that the superior performance of the macrocycle originates from its rigid, conjugated, and cyclic structure. The macrocycle’s rigid structure reduces the number of charged defects originating from deformed sp2 carbons and covalent defects from photo/thermoactivation. With this molecular design, we are able to suppress dark current density while retaining high responsivity in an ultrasensitive nonfullerene OPD. Importantly, we achieve a detectivity of ∼1014 Jones at near zero bias voltage. This i...
Clear cell sarcoma of kidney involving a horseshoe kidney and harboring EGFR internal tandem duplication.

Clear cell sarcoma of kidney (CCSK) is a rare renal malignancy, previously unreported in horseshoe kidney (HSK). B-cell lymphoma 6 corepressor (BCOR) gene internal tandem duplication (ITD) was identified as a recurrent somatic alteration in approximately 85% of CCSKs. This and the YWHAE–NUTM2B/E fusion, the second most common recurrent molecular alteration in CCSK (10%), are considered to be mutually exclusive. However, there is a subset of CCSKs that do not harbor either the BCOR-ITD or YWHAE–NUTM2 translocation and lack known molecular alterations. Herein, we report the first case of CCSK arising in HSK and harboring epidermal growth factor receptor ITD.
Toponyms: Neglected wallflower or pot of plenty

Threats of imminent extinction motivate language documentation; they also allow place name neglect. This paper examines settlement names within Africa’s Edoid group. Village nomenclature converges on a restricted range of conventions; however, interethnic contact has led to non-Edoid toponyms for three villages. Two derive from the trade language Hausa. A third links to Igbo blacksmiths supporting rainforest penetration with iron tools, as is evident in cognate vocabulary. Iron use most naturally follows a pastoral era outside the rainforest, which number prefixes on herd-animal nouns support. Toponymic studies thus remind us of the benefit accrued when documentation looks beyond “the single ancestral code.”
Review of Some Exact Methods for the Solution of the One-Dimensional Inverse Problems

Abstract The inverse problem in geophysics is the determination of the inhomogeneous structure of an elastic medium from experimental observations. In this presentation, we first briefly review the Gelfand-Levitan and the Marchenko methods for the solution of the related quantum inverse problem. In these approaches, as well as in the methods for the geophysical problem we will discuss, the desired information is recovered from the solution of certain integral equations. Next, we consider the construction of a computational scheme for the inversion of geophysical data based on one of the methods. We will further show that the resulting algorithm is stable under small perturbations to the data. We will finally demonstrate the inversion scheme by inverting noiseless and noise-corrupted synthetic seismograms.
STBVH: a spatial-temporal BVH for efficient multi-segment motion blur

We present the STBVH, a new approach for rendering multi-segment motion blur using a bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) that stores both spatial linearly interpolated bounds and temporal bounds. The approach is designed for different number of time steps per mesh or object. While separating the individual meshes using standard partitioning techniques, it performs temporal splits for locations with large or curved motion inside the meshes. Our approach uses a modified motion blur surface area heuristic (MBSAH) that calculates probabilities in the presence of spatial-temporal bounds and works on linear motion segments of primitives rather than on full motion curves. We show that our approach is able to handle challenging scenes with varying degrees of motion blur per mesh, using significantly less memory and having competitive rendering performance compared to building separate linear motion blur BVHs per global time segment.
Sabotaging Presentations to Generate Fundamental Questions and Integrate Theory and Practice

Many teachers who assign scientific research projects to students require them to present their research to their classmates. Although it is important for science students to develop research presentation skills, it is questionable whether class presentations are an effective learning tool for audience members. In this article, we describe a dynamic and interactive presentation exercise that can be used for either formative or summative assessment, which challenges students to share their expertise with their peers via a unique motivating structure. Students practice their presentation skills while engaging authentically in a process of developing crosscutting, interdisciplinary fundamental scientific questions that integrate scientific theory and practice. This exercise may be useful in science courses in which students are expected to critically and creatively engage in and reflect upon scientific processes and content.
Studies of Bending Effects of Microvilli of Leukocyte on Rolling Adhesion

It has been widely acknowledged that further understanding about the cell adhesion (e.g., leukocyte rolling adhesion) can help us gain more knowledge about the causes of relevant diseases and design more effective treatments and diagnoses. Although recent simulation studies considered the deformability of the leukocytes, most of them, however, did not consider the bending deformation of microvilli. In this paper, an advanced leukocyte model based on an immersed boundary lattice-Boltzmann lattice-spring model (LLM) and an adhesive dynamics (AD) is presented in details. The flexural stiffness of microvilli is introduced into the model for simulations of leukocyte rolling adhesion. This innovative model is applied to investigate the influences of bending deformation of microvilli on the process of leukocyte rolling adhesion and the underlying mechanism at different shear rates. It is demonstrated that the bending deformation of microvilli can be influenced by the flexural stiffness of microvilli and shear rates, resulting in the different rolling velocity of leukocytes, number of receptor-ligand bonds, and bond forces. The findings clearly indicate that the bending of microvilli plays a crucial role in the dynamics of leukocyte adhesion.
Islet xenografts in fully xenogeneic (rat----mouse) chimeras: evidence for normal regulation of function in a xenogeneic mouse environment.

Type I diabetes is a systemic autoimmune disease state that results in destruction of the insulin-producing β-islets and other severe complications. It has been demonstrated that the severity and incidence of diabetes-associated complications (microangiopathy, blindness, and renal failure) is influenced by the metabolic control of glucose homeostasis, in that hyperglycemia results in accelerated progression of the complications associated with diabetes. Attempts to achieve normoglycemia with exogenous insulin have been limited by hypoglycemia and patient noncompliance. It is now believed that transplantation of the insulin-Producing β-cells as a whole pancreas, or as a free cellular graft, is the most physiologic approach to achieve complete glucose homeostasis. Cellular transplantation offers the following advantages: (1) the ease of the surgical approach, (2) ability for cryopreservation or in vitro manipulation with transplantation at a later date, and (3) avoidance of the requirement for anastomoses and exocrine drainage associated with whole-pancreatic graft placement.1-3 However, this approach has been limited by graft rejection that has not been controlled by conventional immunosuppressive agents and a shortage of pancreases available for transplantation.4 Attempts to modify the immunogenicity of transplanted islets by a variety of approaches have achieved only limited success.5-12 The induction of donor-specific transplantation tolerance across a species barrier has been suggested as one approach to overcome both graft rejection and the shortage of donor organs. We recently developed a model to induce donor-specific transplantation tolerance through preparation of bone marrow chimeras (rat → mouse). Transplantation of untreated rat bone marrow stem cells into recipient mice conditioned by total-body irradiation resulted in donor-specific transplantation tolerance in vivo and in vitro, excellent survival, and stable multilineage chimerism.13,14 Donor-specific pancreatic islets were permanently accepted (> 180 days) by the chimeric recipients, whereas major histocompatibility complex (MHC)–disparate grafts were rejected rapidly.15 We have now examined whether regulation of function and maintenance of glucose homeostasis could be achieved in a xenogeneic environment. We report here that donor-specific rat islet xenografts are functional and normally regulated in function in a xenogeneic mouse environment in fully xenogeneic (rat → mouse) chimeras.