cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Folate Nutrition and Older Adults: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract Folate fortification of bread and grains has been directed to prevent neural tube birth defects. Research has also challenged previous concepts of folate nutritional status and suggested that folate may play a role in reducing the risk of vascular disease. Although folate status of many elderly people is adequate according to traditional, hematologic criteria, some elderly persons have elevated blood concentrations of the metabolite homocysteine, which indicates subclinical deficiency of folate or vitamin B-12. Higher homocysteine concentrations, even within the normal range, are associated with increased risk of vascular disease. Elderly people with better folate and vitamin B-12 status have lower homocysteine concentrations and may have lower risk for vascular disease. Although the new folate fortification rules provide the benefit of increasing folate in the food supply, they could be a risk for the elderly because excess folate intake can mask vitamin B-12 deficiency, thereby delaying diagnosis. Elderly people have a higher prevalence of vitamin B-12 deficiency as a result of absorption problems. Those deficient in vitamin B-12 should be treated to prevent irreversible neurologic damage. Modern approaches to screening the elderly include using higher cutoff points for serum vitamin B-12 and obtaining blood concentrations of the metabolite methylmalonic acid, which is elevated in deficiency of vitamin B-12 but not folate. To examine current folate intake and food sources, food frequency questionnaires were administered to 308 elderly volunteers aged 65 to 94 years. Mean (±standard error) folate intake from food was 299.6±5.8 μg/day. Supplements (median dose=400 μg/day) were consumed by 47% of participants. Only 3.2% of the sample had total folate intake greater than 1,000 μg/day, the recommended upper limit, and these were taking high-dose folate supplements (≥800 μg/day). Breakfast cereals provided 25.6% of folate intake; vegetables, 23.2%; fruit, 20.8%; refined breads/grains, 6.7%; dark bread, 5.0%; legumes/nuts, 5.9%; dairy products, 5.8%; meat/poultry/fish/eggs, 5.1%; other, 1.9%. Mean folate intake would increase 16.5% if enriched bread and grains were fortified. Such fortification could help some persons to lower serum homocysteine concentration and vascular disease risk. Dietitians should be aware of modern protocols for screening the elderly for vitamin B-12 deficiency. J Am Diet Assoc. 1997;97:167–173 .
Optimal Repair of a Series System

A single repairman maintains a series system whose components have exponential failure and repair distributions. It is desired to assign the repairman to maximize the expected total discounted working time or average working time for the system. Whenever the failure rates of all components are equal, the time to repair the system from any initial state is stochastically independent of the operating policy. The Laplace transform of time to repair the system and the long-run average time that the system works are explicitly available. For the two-component series system the repair time is stochastically minimized if the failed component with longest expected lifetime is always under repair. This is true even if the repairman experiences random periods of time during which repair is not allowed. For an n-component series system the policy that always repairs the failed component with longest expected lifetime stochastically minimizes the repair time over the class of policies, that repair failed components in a predetermined order. We apply the results to a queuing system.
Relation of chemokines to BMI and insulin resistance at ages 18-21.

In obesity, adipose tissue becomes a significant source of chemokines and inflammatory cytokines that are associated with chronic systemic low-grade inflammation and may lead to insulin resistance. Studies in children have mainly focused on inflammatory cytokines and there are limited data for chemokines in adolescents and young adults. We studied the relation of chemokines to cardiovascular (CV)-risk factors, insulin resistance and adipocytokines in 18–21-year-old individuals. Cross-sectional data collected in a cohort originally enrolled at mean age 13, with data for the present study obtained from 252 examined at age 18.7±0.1 years. Multiple linear regression models were used to analyze the associations among chemokines (monocyte chemotactic protein-1, macrophage inflammatory protein-1β (MIP-1β), visfatin and interleukin-8 (IL-8)) and between chemokines and body mass index (BMI), glucose, lipids, blood pressure (BP), insulin resistance (euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp) and adipocytokines (IL-6, TNF-α and adiponectin). Chemokine levels were significantly intercorrelated. Significant associations (P<0.05) with adjustment for age, race and sex included: MIP-1β with waist circumference and IL-6, IL-8 with systolic BP and visfatin with IL-6. No other significant relations were found between the chemokines and the other variables. Further adjustment for BMI did not alter these conclusions. Considered in the context of prior studies in children and adults, these results suggest that in large part, the association between chemokines and CV risk or inflammatory factors does not appear to develop until adult life.
Strategic Asymmetric Deception and Its Role in the Current Threat Environment

President Bill Clinton's Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, once stated that the post-Cold War world of the 1990s was a "paradox [where] American military superiority actually increase[d] the threat of... attack against [the U.S.] by creating incentives for adversaries to challenge us asymmetrically." He was alluding to the fact that the Cold War's closure was supposed to bring about a situation that encouraged peace, nation-building, and unilateral comfort for the United States. The reality that America has come to know is quite different, and some might even argue that, given the option, many people would return to a security situation comparable to the bipolar world of the Cold War. This article is available in Journal of Strategic Security: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss/vol3/iss1/7 65 Strategic Asymmetric Deception and Its Role in the Current Threat Environment
BUCKLING OF AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION CLUTCH PLATES DUE TO THERMOELASTIC/PLASTIC RESIDUAL STRESSES

The plates of multidisk automatic transmission are known to buckle under extreme operating conditions. Axisymmetric (coning) and nonaxisymmetric (potato chip) modes can be obtained. It is shown that these modes result from in-plane axisymmetric residual bending moments in the disk and the critical value for each mode is found. A numerical algorithm is then developed to determine the residual moment due to a prescribed axisymmetric thermal history. Allowance is made for the temperature dependence of yield stress, elastic modulus, and coefficient of thermal expansion. The results show that susceptibility to buckling depends on a dimensionless geometric shape factor, the material properties, and the magnitude of the largest thermal excursion. With steel disks and typical design values for the shape parameter, buckling is predicted for temperature differences of about 600°C between inner and outer radii
Trabeculated (non-compacted) and compact myocardium in adults: the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis.

Author(s): Kawel, Nadine; Nacif, Marcelo; Arai, Andrew E; Gomes, Antoinette S; Hundley, William; Johnson, Craig; Prince, Martin R; Stacey, Brandon; Lima, Joao A; Bluemke, David A
Characterization of multidrug resistance-associated protein 2 in the hepatocellular disposition of 4-hydroxynonenal.

Abstract 4-Hydroxynonenal (4HNE) is a major product of peroxidative membrane lipid destruction and exerts a variety of deleterious actions through formation of covalent adducts with cellular nucleophiles. Consequently, a number of cellular enzyme systems exist that are capable of detoxifying this reactive aldehyde by oxidation, reduction, or conjugation with glutathione. In this investigation we characterize the multidrug resistance-associated protein 2 (MRP2) as the primary transmembrane transport protein in hepatocytes responsible for extracellular export of 4HNE–glutathione conjugate (HNE-SG) from the intracellular site of its formation. Suspensions of freshly isolated hepatocytes (10 6 cells/ml) prepared from either wild-type (WT) Wistar rats or TR − rats possessing a mutated Mrp2 gene were incubated with 4HNE (50 nmol/10 6 cells). The formation of 4HNE metabolites, 4-hydroxynonenoic acid (HNA) and HNE-SG, was quantified in the intracellular and extracellular fractions. These studies demonstrated that freshly isolated hepatocytes from both WT and TR − rats formed and exported the oxidized metabolite (HNA) to similar extents. Likewise, both populations of hepatocytes displayed nearly identical rates of glutathione conjugation with 4HNE. However, the rate of HNE-SG export from TR − hepatocytes was approximately fourfold less than that of WT hepatocytes. In TR − hepatocytes, HNE-SG accumulated and remained predominantly intracellular throughout the time course, suggesting an absence of compensatory export by other hepatocellular transporters. In conclusion, these data demonstrate that although WT and TR − hepatocytes are similar in their conjugative and oxidative metabolism of 4HNE, export of 4HNE-SG is mediated by the MRP2 transporter, a transport system distinct from that involved in HNA efflux.
Prehospital intravenous access in children

Study objective: To examine the ability of a unified metropolitan paramedic system to provide IV access in children when indicated. Design: Retrospective, descriptive clinical study. Setting: A large metropolitan area in Canada. Participants: Five hundred thirteen children from birth through 18 years of age who were transported by paramedics. Measurements: Indications for IV access, rates of successful placement, and time to achieve access were determined. Criteria for IV line placement were developed and applied retrospectively. Main results: Intravenous line attempts were made in 300 children (58%). Intravenous line placement was obtained in 253 (84% of the patients attempted). One hundred fifty-nine children met criteria for IV placement in the field. Six of these children were clinically dead and received no on-scene resuscitative efforts and were excluded from data analysis. Of the remaining 153 children who met criteria, 122 (80%) had IV attempts made, and 104 (68%) had an IV line placed successfully. For children who met the criteria for IV placement, a significantly smaller proportion of children younger than 6 years had an IV line placed successfully (49%) compared with children 6 years or older (75%) ( P P Conclusion: Although paramedics had an 84% success rate at establishing IV lines in children in the field, half the children younger than 6 years who required intravascular access did not receive an IV line in the prehospital setting. Multiple IV line attempts should be discouraged because additional attempts yield little benefit and may prolong transport times.
Diacylglycerol and phorbol esters enhance LHRH and prostaglandin E2 secretion from median eminence nerve terminals in vitro.

Abstract The present experiments were designed to evaluate the role of protein kinase C activation on the secretion of the neural peptide, LHRH, from hypothalamic nerve terminals in vitro . Two specific protein kinase C activators, diacylglycerol (1,2-didecanoylglycerol, DiC 10 ) and a phorbol ester (12,13-dibutyrate, PDBu) were used as probes. In addition to LHRH, secretion of prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ) was also measured, since previous studies from our laboratory indicate that this arachidonic acid metabolite is intimately involved in the LHRH secretory process. PDBu at a dose of 200 nM significantly enhanced LHRH secretion from median eminence nerve terminals; in addition, a more modest but significant stimulation of PGE 2 release was also observed. DiC 10 (100 μM), on the other hand, enhanced PGE 2 release but had no clear effect on LHRH secretion. Release of LHRH, however, was clearly stimulated when the lipoxygenase inhibitor nordihydroguaiaretic acid was added to the medium, suggesting that some arachidonic acid metabolites are inhibitory to LHRH secretion. The results indicate that protein kinase C activation leads to an enhanced secretion of LHRH. In addition, they suggest that 1,2-diacylglycerol may also activate the formation of arachidonoyl residues inhibitory to LHRH release.
Cytotoxic activity of sera from scleroderma and other connective tissue diseases. lack of cellular and disease specificity

It has been suggested that serum-mediated endothelial cell injury in scleroderma might contribute to disease pathogenesis. We compared the effect of serum from 28 scleroderma patients on human umbilical cord vein endothelial cell and human foreskin fibroblast proliferation with sera from 28 healthy controls, 13 patients with isolated Raynaud's disease, 22 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, 19 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and 15 patients with other connective tissue diseases. Five sera (2 scleroderma, 1 morphea, 12 rheumatoid arthritis, 1 systemic lupus erythematosus) markedly suppressed 3H-thymidine incorporation into both endothelial cells and fibroblasts (to greater than 3 SD below the mean of the control group). These sera were also cytotoxic to endothelial cells and fibroblasts in a 51Cr release assay. Three additional sera (1 Raynaud's, 2 controls) suppressed endothelial cell proliferation moderately (greater than 2 SD but less than 3 SD from control mean) but did not affect fibroblasts. Mean 3H-thymidine incorporation by endothelial cells and fibroblasts in scleroderma serum was comparable to that of the other disease and control groups. In contrast to previous studies, we found serum-mediated endothelial cell cytotoxicity occurred infrequently in scleroderma, occurred also in other connective tissue diseases, and was without target cell specificity. Furthermore, scleroderma serum did not appear to stimulate fibroblast proliferation.
A hot companion to MU Sagittarii : an opportunity to sound the atmosphere of a B8 IA supergiant.

It is argued that the bright supergiant star Mu Sagittarii is accompanied by a smaller and hotter star, of spectral type approximately B1.5 V. The single-line radial-velocity curve of the B8 star leads to a fairly large mass function, f(m) = 2.64 solar masses, implying that the companion should have at least 50 percent of the mass of the visible star. Older optical observations indicated the presence of a shallow eclipse at the time of the conjunction with the supergiant behind the companion. Since the Copernicus, IUE, and Voyager observations show that the companion is the hotter component, that eclipse must have been the secondary eclipse (if it was an eclipse at all). A deeper, primary eclipse has been predicted by Plavec in 1978. It was indeed observed as a marked decrease of the far-ultraviolet flux from the system both with the Copernicus and the IUE satellites. The presence of a hotter but smaller component in Mu Sagittarii offers a unique opportunity to study the outer atmospheric layers of a supergiant which is of a much earlier spectral type than the supergiants in the Zeta Aurigae systems.
Scientific and Engineering Issues in Design and Forecasting for Floods

ABSTRACT The article assesses problem areas identified in publications dealing with the 1993 flood on the Mississippi and Missouri river basins. This event, because of its long duration, gave federal and state agencies an unequaled opportunity to marshal1 data-gathering teams who collected data as the event progressed. Recent development of new instruments and strategies for measuring streamflows and bathymetry quickly and accurately enhanced this opportunity Major areas deserving future emphasis are identified as development of highly trained teams for gathering, transmitting, and assembling field data during large flood events, and refinement of methods of real-time forecasting.
Reinterventions for stent restenosis in patients treated for atherosclerotic mesenteric artery disease

Objective Mesenteric artery angioplasty and stenting (MAS) has been plagued by high restenosis and reintervention rates. The purpose of this study was to review the outcomes of patients treated for mesenteric artery in-stent restenosis (MAISR). Methods The clinical data of 157 patients treated for chronic mesenteric ischemia with MAS of 170 vessels was entered into a prospective database (1998-2010). Fifty-seven patients (36%) developed MAISR after a mean follow-up of 29 months, defined by duplex ultrasound peak systolic velocity >330 cm/s and angiographic stenosis >60%. We reviewed the clinical data, radiologic studies, and outcomes of patients who underwent reintervention for restenosis. End points were mortality and morbidity, patient survival, symptom recurrence, reintervention, and patency rates. Results There were 30 patients (25 female and five male; mean age, 69 ± 14 years) treated with reintervention for MAISR. Twenty-four patients presented with recurrent symptoms (21 chronic, three acute), and six had asymptomatic preocclusive lesions. Twenty-six patients (87%) underwent redo endovascular revascularization (rER) with stent placement in 17 (13 bare metal and four covered) or percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) in nine. The other four patients (13%) had open bypass, one for acute ischemia. There was one death (3%) in a patient treated with redo stenting for acute mesenteric ischemia. Seven patients (27%) treated by rER developed complications, including access site problems in four patients, and distal embolization with bowel ischemia, congestive heart failure and stent thrombosis in one each. Symptom improvement was noted in 22 of the 24 symptomatic patients (92%). After a mean follow-up of 29 ± 12 months, 15 patients (50%) developed a second restenosis, and seven (23%) required other reintervention. Rates of symptom recurrence, restenosis, and reinterventions were 0/4, 0/4, and 0/4 for covered stents, 2/9, 3/9, and 2/9 for PTA, 5/13, 8/13, and 5/13 for bare metal stents, and 1/4, 4/4, and 0/4 for open bypass. For all patients, freedom from recurrent symptoms, restenosis, and reinterventions were 70% ± 10%, 60% ± 10% and 50% ±10% at 2 years. For patients treated by rER, secondary patency rates were 72 ± 12 at the same interval. Conclusions Nearly 40% of patients developed mesenteric artery in-stent restenosis, of which half required reintervention because of symptom recurrence or progression to an asymptomatic preocclusive lesion. Mesenteric reinterventions were associated with low mortality (3%), high complication rate (27%), and excellent symptom improvement (92%).
Self-Concordant Barriers for Cones Generated by Chebyshev Systems

We explicitly calculate characteristic functions of cones of generalized polynomials corresponding to Chebyshev systems on intervals of the real line and the circle. Thus, in principle, we calculate homogeneous self-concordant barriers for this class of cones. This class includes almost all "cones of squares" considered in [Y. Nesterov, High Performance Optimization, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2000, pp. 441--466]. Our construction, however, is applicable to a much broader class of cones.
Rotational spectrum of five isotopologues of cyclopropylmethylgermane: Ab initio calculations, barrier to internal rotation and nuclear quadrupole coupling constants for the 73Ge nucleus

Abstract Rotational spectra have been measured for five naturally occurring isotopologues of germanium in the gauche conformer of the cyclopropylmethylgermane molecule by Fourier-transform microwave spectroscopy. Internal rotation of the methyl group caused all rotational transitions to be doubled and analysis of these A and E states with an internal rotation Hamiltonian furnished a barrier to rotation of approximately 4.7 kJ mol−1 for each isotopic species. In addition, the quadrupolar nature of the I = 9/2 73Ge nucleus caused nuclear quadrupole hyperfine structure to be observed for all transitions belonging to this isotopologue, allowing a determination of nuclear quadrupole coupling constants for the 73Ge nucleus. Dipole moment components have also been measured via the Stark effect. Ab initio results will be presented and compared with experimental rotational constants, dipole moment components and electric field gradients at the Ge nucleus.
Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor

Pathologies of Power uses harrowing stories of life--and death--in extreme situations to interrogate our understanding of human rights. Paul Farmer, a physician and anthropologist with twenty years of experience working in Haiti, Peru, and Russia, argues that promoting the social and economic rights of the world's poor is the most important human rights struggle of our times. With passionate eyewitness accounts from the prisons of Russia and the beleaguered villages of Haiti and Chiapas, this book links the lived experiences of individual victims to a broader analysis of structural violence. Farmer challenges conventional thinking within human rights circles and exposes the relationships between political and economic injustice, on one hand, and the suffering and illness of the powerless, on the other. Farmer shows that the same social forces that give rise to epidemic diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis also sculpt risk for human rights violations. He illustrates the ways that racism and gender inequality in the United States are embodied as disease and death. Yet this book is far from a hopeless inventory of abuse. Farmer's disturbing examples are linked to a guarded optimism that new medical and social technologies will develop in tandem with a more informed sense of social justice. Otherwise, he concludes, we will be guilty of managing social inequality rather than addressing structural violence. Farmer's urgent plea to think about human rights in the context of global public health and to consider critical issues of quality and access for the world's poor should be of fundamental concern to a world characterized by the bizarre proximity of surfeit and suffering.
Surface Site Heterogeneity and Lateral Interactions in Multipoint Protein Adsorption

Studies carried out using engineered proteins have demonstrated that protein adsorption to functional surfaces involves multiple interactions between specific groups on the protein and complementary binding sites distributed on the surface. A consequence of multipoint interactions is that protein binding affinity should depend strongly on the distribution of surface binding sites. In this investigation we present a thermodynamic framework for multipoint protein binding to a random arrangement of surface binding sites that also includes lateral interactions among adsorbed protein molecules. This framework results in reversible adsorption behavior analogous to that predicted by the Temkin model and chromatographic behavior analogous to that predicted by the “stoichiometric displacement” model (SDM). Using this framework we can now interpret the semiempirical parameters obtained using these models for protein binding in chromatographic systems in terms of thermodynamic parameters for protein−surface interact...
Theory of Surface Energies in Pure Superconductors

The WKBJ variational scheme developed by Bardeen et al. which simplifies the Bogoliubov theory for inhomogeneous superconducting states, has been applied to study normal-superconducting phase boundaries in pure metals. The surface energy of a planar phase boundary at absolute-zero temperature is found for various values of the Ginzburg-Landau parameter. The order parameter and the magnetic field are also determined in this variational procedure. The present theory differs from the existing ones in its being microscopic and nonlocal, but the nonlocality of our theory is found to have small, though not negligible, effects. Near the transition temperature the free-energy expression for planar phase boundaries is examined by an asymptotic expansion method.
Adults as discriminative stimuli for different reinforcement contingencies with retarded children.

Abstract One adult dispensed food and praise for play behavior, while a second adult reinforced the retarded children in a group setting on a noncontingent fixed interval schedule. Two children were selected as targets for individual analysis. The entry of the contingent adult evoked play; the noncontingent adult did not influence behavior. After extinction, the adults reversed roles. Conditioning was replicated, supporting the conclusion that contingent reinforcement outweighed the other differences between the two adults (sex, familiarity, status, etc.). Four subsequent tests of one S were conducted to evaluate the generality and strength of control. The adults acquired discriminative properties when paired with specific reinforcement contingencies.
Visualization of crack blunting using secondary fluorescence in soft polymers

A fluorescence-based technique was developed to visualize crack blunting and propagation in soft polymers. The technique, as demonstrated on poly-di-methyl siloxane, can also be applied on intrinsically non-fluorescent polymers after inducing secondary fluorescence with a suitable dye during the specimen preparation. The experimental results indicate enhanced performance of the technique in terms of spatial resolution and contrast compared to white-light microscopy. A dynamic plastic cohesive zone was observed ahead of the blunting crack tips in mode I loading, which was correlated to the computed emitted light intensity gradients. The fractured specimen surfaces were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy to discuss the validity of the interpretations of the experimental data.
Automatic landmarking of magnetic resonance brain images

Landmarking MR images is crucial in registering brain structures from different images. It consists in locating the voxel in the image that corresponds to a well-defined point in the anatomy, called the landmark. Example of landmarks are the apex of the head (HoH) of Hippocampus, the tail and the tip of the splenium of the corpus collosum (SCC). Hand landmarking is tedious and time-consuming. It requires an adequate training. Experimental studies show that the results are dependent on the landmarker and drifting with time. We propose a generic algorithm performing automated detection of landmarks. The first part consists in learning from a training set of landmarked images the parameters of a probabilistic model, using the EM algorithm. The second part inputs the estimated parameters and a new image, and outputs a voxel as a predicted location for the landmark. The algorithm is demonstrated on the HoH and the SCC. In contrast with competing approaches, the algorithm is generic: it can be used to detect any landmark, given a hand-labeled training set of images.
Text and Temporality: Patterned‐Cyclical and Ordinary‐Linear Forms of Time‐Consciousness, Inferred from a Corpus of Australian Aboriginal and Euro‐Australian Life‐Historical Interviews

It is argued that autobiographical texts, such as life-historical interviews, provide the richest possible source of information about a person's temporality and a culture's historical past. It is proposed that time-consciousness can be inferred from such texts. To this end, ethnographic and other studies of Australian Aboriginal time-consciousness were used to construct a seven-part model of patterned-cyclical time-consciousness. Turning these seven attributes of patterned-cyclical time-consciousness into their opposites yields seven features of one-dimensional, ordinary-linear time-consciousness, thereby establishing a structured temporal polarity. A lexical-level, content-analytic methodology, Neurocognitive Hierarchical Categorization Analysis (NHCA), is introduced, in which folk-concepts of time from Roget's International Thesaurus were used to construct wordlist indicators for 9 of the 14 definitional components. Then, using NHCA for a comparative analysis of texts consisting of life-historical interviews, earlier results of an empirical study were briefly re-presented. Australian Aborigines, compared to Euro-Australian controls, used a significantly smaller proportion of words for an index of ordinary-linear time but a higher proportion of words for an index of patterned-cyclical time, indicating a time-consciousness that is primarily patterned-cyclical rather than linear. Females were less linear and more patterned-cyclical than males in both cultures. These cross-cultural results contribute predictive validity to the proposed polarity of time-consciousness. Implications for the culture-and-cognition paradox and its resolution in dual-brain theory are addressed.
Mining for Computing Jobs

A Web content mining approach identified 20 job categories and the associated skills needs prevalent in the computing professions. Using a Web content data mining application, we extracted almost a quarter million unique IT job descriptions from various job search engines and distilled each to its required skill sets. We statistically examined these, revealing 20 clusters of similar skill sets that map to specific job definitions. The results allow software engineering professionals to tune their skills portfolio to match those in demand from real computing jobs across the US to attain more lucrative salaries and more mobility in a chaotic environment.
EFFECT OF FETAL THYROIDECTOMY ON THE METABOLIC RESPONSE TO BIRTH IN LAMBS

The effect of perinatal changes in thyroid function on adaptation at birth as reflected in plasma free fatty acids (FFA's), catecholamines, glycerol and biophysical parameters was assessed in thyroidectomized (TX) (n=5) and sham (n=4) operated (control) fetal sheep. Surgery was done at 133±1 days gestation followed by cesarean delivery at 146±1 days gestation into a room held at 72°F. Measurements were made in utero before delivery and at timed intervals after birth. Blood gases, rectal temperature, pulse, respiratory rate, mean blood pressure, plasma glycerol and plasma norepinephrine levels were similar. Plasma epinephrine levels were markedly elevated after delivery in the TX animals with a mean (±SEM) peak level of 1849±593 pg/ml compared to a mean peak level of 263±129 pg/ml (p<0.01) in controls. FFA's were decreased in the TX animals with lower levels measured at 15 min (237±81 (SEM) μEq/L vs 688±79, p<0.01) and 30 min (439±66 vs 1026±230, p<0.01). T3 increased after delivery in controls (260-360 ng/dl) and was measurable but did not increase after delivery in the TX animals (8-45 ng/dl). Conclusions: 1) thyroid hormones play an important role in non-shivering thermogenesis after birth as reflected in decreased plasma FFA's in the TX animals; 2) altered thyroid status results in an augmented epinephrine response to birth; 3) absence of the perinatal T3 surge does not affect body temperature when the animal is exposed to a mild cold stress.
Land observation sensors in perspective

Abstract The use of spaceborne sensors for gathering earth resources information has developed greatly in the last two decades. However, compared to what is possible from the space vantage point, the potential for further advancement is enormous. In this paper a generally applicable framework for the design of earth observational information systems is presented. It provides a perspective against which to judge and visualize how the further development of such technology could take place. The economic and sociological value of such information-gathering technology suggests that the further development of such technology should proceed.
Life Cycle Assessment(Lca) of the Power Generation System for the Establishment of Environmental Management System in Korea

The development of electricity technology from the environmental aspect has become the key factor for competitiveness, i.e., environmental friendliness is one of the most important considerations for technology development. Under the monopolised electric industry of the past, there was little motivation for individual companies to actually manage their company. However, because of the increasing demand for energy and the concerns for the environment, energy policies are shifting towards a sustainable development, which considers both the economics and environmental protection. According to the paradigm shift of the energy policy, it is necessary to compare two major electricity sources from the view of environmental management issues. It is effective with the common dimensionless unit concerning the various environmental categories including the radiological and non-radiological points of view, which can be realized by the new environmental impact assessment methodology such as the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This study aims at a comparison of the environmental impacts of the nuclear and coal power generation systems using the LCA methodology. These results are very preliminary ones, however, this study will be helpful in making a decision on a long term electricity plan and the energy mix optimization when considering the environmental aspect in Korea and also the power generation companies could enhance their images by showing off their willingness to improve the environmental quality.
Nonhypotensive autonomic agents in veterinary ophthalmology

The parasympathetic and sympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system are involved in homeostatic control of a wide variety of ocular functions, including accommodation, pupillomotor control, lacrimation, eyelid position, and aqueous humor production. Familiarity with the functional anatomy of the autonomic nervous system is paramount to the understanding and application of the large number of autonomic drugs used in veterinary ophthalmology. The cholinergic and adrenergic agents discussed in this article are commonly employed to facilitate routine ophthalmic examination, in the diagnosis of autonomic dysfunction, and in the treatment of a variety of ocular diseases.
Hydration and interfacial water in Nafion membrane probed by transmission infrared spectroscopy.

Infrared spectroscopy was applied to probe water inside pores and channels of Nafion membrane exchanged with either proton (H+) or sodium ions (Na+). Transmission measurements were performed on freestanding Nafion 112 (∼50 μm thickness) in a cell that enabled adjustment of the relative humidity. Experiments that employed Na+-exchanged Nafion focused on relative humidity environments at or below about 32% generated through the use of humectants. Under these conditions, narrow features in the O−H stretching spectral region near 3650-3720 cm-1, previously attributed to interfacial water, were detected and matched to bands in vibrational sum frequency (VSF) spectra of water/air, water/organic, and salt-solution/air interfaces. The features correspond to the stretching mode of the “free” OH group of water oriented with one hydrogen atom toward other water molecules and interacting through hydrogen bonding and the other straddling the interface extending into fluorocarbon-rich regions (∼3668 cm-1) or air-filled...
Some dilute-solution parameters of the levan of streptococcus salivarius in various solvents

The intrinsic viscosities, weight-average molecular weights (Mw), and radii of gyration [(R2g)12≈] of Streptococcus salivarius levan in various solvents were respectively obtained from viscosity and light-scattering measurements. The data showed that the levan in water is not aggregated by hydrogen bonds, and that the values of both the refractive index and (R2g)12 are lower in water than in aqueous solutions of urea. Urea may break intramolecular hydrogen-bonds, e.g., between branches, allowing the molecule to expand.
Clustered 11q23 and 22q11 breakpoints and 3:1 meiotic malsegregation in multiple unrelated t(11;22) families.

Summary The t(11;22) is the only known recurrent, non-Robertsonian constitutional translocation. We have analyzed t(11;22) balanced-translocation carriers from multiple unrelated families by FISH, to localize the t(11;22) breakpoints on both chromosome 11 and chromosome 22. In 23 unrelated balanced-translocation carriers, the breakpoint was localized within a 400-kb interval between D22S788 (N41) and ZNF74, on 22q11. Also, 13 of these 23 carriers were tested with probes from chromosome 11, and, in each, the breakpoint was localized between D11S1340 and APOA1, on 11q23, to a region ≤185 kb. Thus, the breakpoints on both chromosome 11 and chromosome 22 are clustered in multiple unrelated families. Supernumerary-der(22)t(11;22) syndrome can occur in the progeny of balanced-t(11;22) carriers, because of malsegregation of the der(22). There has been speculation regarding the mechanism by which the malsegregation occurs. To elucidate this mechanism, we have analyzed 16 of the t(11;22) families, using short tandem-repeat–polymorphism markers on both chromosome 11 and chromosome 22. In all informative cases the proband received two of three alleles, for markers above the breakpoint on chromosome 22 and below the breakpoint on chromosome 11, from the t(11;22)-carrier parent. These data strongly suggest that 3:1 meiosis I malsegregation in the t(11;22) balanced-translocation–carrier parent is the mechanism in all 16 families. Taken together, these results establish that the majority of t(11;22) translocations occur within the same genomic intervals and that the majority of supernumerary-der(22) offspring result from a 3:1 meiosis I malsegregation in the balanced-translocation carrier.
Conscious Capitalism: A Better Way to Win: A Response to James O'Toole and David Vogel's “Two and a Half Cheers for Conscious Capitalism”

Rajendra S. Sisodia is a Professor of Marketing at Bentley University and co-founder and Chairman of the Conscious Capitalism Institute.
Occurrence of inflated swimbladders in five species of lanternfishes (family myctophidae) from waters off southern California

The swimbladders of three species of myctophid fishes (Symbolophorus californiensis, Tarletonbeania crenularis and Diaphus theta, collected in the Southern California Bight between 1963 and 1978), previously observed to have both inflated and noninflated swimbladders as adults, were examined to determine if the swimbladders either vary in their inflation on a diel basis or cease to be inflated and possibly become nonfunctional in some individuals. The swimbladders of two lanternfishes reported to lack inflated swimbladders as adults (Lampanyctus regalis and L. ritteri) were included in the study for comparison. Only the swimbladder of L. regalis did not increase in size with increasing fish size. In the remaining four species, both the lengths and volumes of noninflated swimbladders were positively correlated with fish standard length (SL). Although the swimbladder continued to increase in size, inflated swimbladders were not found in L. ritteri>2 mm SL. Inflated and noninflated swimbladders occurred in overlapping size ranges of S. californiensis, T. crenularis, and D. theta. Only 11% of the D. theta swimbladders were inflated, and the occurrence of inflated swimbladders dit not differ significantly with day vs night capture or fish size. Although the frequency of occurrence of inflated swimbladders decreased significantly in larger S. californiensis, both S. californiensis and T. crenularis caught at the surface at night with a neuston net had significantly higher proportions of inflated swimbladders than did those collected below the surface with either daytime or night-time trawls. The swimbladder does not appear to become nonfunctional in either species. Rather than maintaining either constant volumes or constant masses of gas in their swimbladders during their vertical migrations, both species may inflate their swimbladders only while in the surface waters at night, and have noninflated swimbladders while at other depths of their vertical ranges.
Say it with music: An instructional technique for the first course in interpersonal communication

This article describes an instructional technique which requires the beginning student in interpersonal communication to analyze and evaluate the advice given on interpersonal relations as stated in the lyrics of popular songs.
Pleiotropic age-dependent effects of mitochondrial dysfunction on epidermal stem cells.

Tissue homeostasis declines with age partly because stem/progenitor cells fail to self-renew or differentiate. Because mitochondrial damage can accelerate aging, we tested the hypothesis that mitochondrial dysfunction impairs stem cell renewal or function. We developed a mouse model, Tg(KRT14-cre/Esr1)20Efu/J × Sod2tm1Smel, that generates mitochondrial oxidative stress in keratin 14-expressing epidermal stem/progenitor cells in a temporally controlled manner owing to deletion of Sod2, a nuclear gene that encodes the mitochondrial antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase 2 (Sod2). Epidermal Sod2 loss induced cellular senescence, which irreversibly arrested proliferation in a fraction of keratinocytes. Surprisingly, in young mice, Sod2 deficiency accelerated wound closure, increasing epidermal differentiation and reepithelialization, despite the reduced proliferation. In contrast, at older ages, Sod2 deficiency delayed wound closure and reduced epidermal thickness, accompanied by epidermal stem cell exhaustion. In young mice, Sod2 deficiency accelerated epidermal thinning in response to the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, phenocopying the reduced regeneration of older Sod2-deficient skin. Our results show a surprising beneficial effect of mitochondrial dysfunction at young ages, provide a potential mechanism for the decline in epidermal regeneration at older ages, and identify a previously unidentified age-dependent role for mitochondria in skin quality and wound closure.
The Combination of Twice Daily Luteinizing Hormone-Releasing Factor Administration and Renal Pituitary Homografts Restores Normal Reproductive Organ Size in Male Hamsters with Pineal-Mediated Gonadal Atrophy*

Light deprivation by bilateral orbital enucleation led to testicular and accessory sex organ regression in male hamsters within 12 weeks. Blinding also significantly depressed circulating levels of immunoreactive LH, FSH, and PRL. Twice daily injections of LRF did not prevent atrophy of the testes and accessory sex organs in blind animals even though they stimulated the release of both LH and FSH. Likewise, the restoration of normal plasma levels of PRL, due to the implantation of two pituitary homografts under the kidney capsule of blind hamsters only slightly stimulated testicular and accessory organ growth in the animals. However, twice daily LRF injections into lightdeprived hamsters bearing subcapsular pituitary transplants completely restored normal testicular and accessory sex organ sizes. The results suggest that LH, FSH, and PRL act to restore normal testicular function in hamsters suffering from pinealinduced gonadal atrophy due to light deprivation. The possibility that the pituitary homografts...
Copper-based hybrid fabrication of a 50 W, 5 MHz 40 V-5 V DC/DC converter

A prototype 50 W, 40 V to 5 V DC/DC converter operating at 5 MHz and constructed with chip and wire hybrid techniques on a ceramic substrate with copper thick-film conductors is presented. A brief discussion of the thick-film process is given to point out the special issues concerning copper-based conductor systems. Some of the specific trade-offs that arise with regard to the construction of a power circuit with hybrid techniques are discussed. A method by which transformers may be fabricated to have very little leakage inductance, both internally and in their connection to rectifiers, is then described. The performance of a power circuit, the dual resonant forward converter is presented. >
The Relationship between Vasectomy and Angiographically Determined Atherosclerosis in Men

Long-term prospective studies in monkeys have shown that vasectomy is associated with an increase in atherosclerotic disease. The purpose of the present investigation is to evaluate whether vasectomy in men is associated with atherosclerotic disease in the coronary arteries. In this study information was obtained on the vasectomy status in a series of 7,420 men who had previously been referred for coronary angiography because of cardiovascular symptomatology and have been followed for as long as 9 years to evaluate coronary artery bypass surgery and the natural history of the disease. It was found that 5.0% had a vasectomy prior to angiography. Two different data analysis procedures were used to determine whether the vasectomized men had a greater degree of angiographically determined coronary occlusive disease than the nonvasectomized men. Subgroups with minimal and extensive coronary artery disease were also analyzed. Results of all analyses show that the vasectomized men did not have more coronary occlusive disease. Possible patient selection biases in this study are discussed.
The Impact of Thermal Boundary Resistance in Phase-Change Memory Devices

Thermal conduction governs the writing time and energy of phase-change memory (PCM) devices. Recent measurements demonstrated large thermal resistances at the interfaces of phase-change materials with neighboring electrode and passivation materials. In this letter, electrothermal simulations quantify the impact of these resistances on the set to reset transition. The programming current decreases strongly with increasing boundary resistance due to increased lateral temperature uniformity, which cannot be captured using a reduced effective conductivity in the phase-change material. Reductions in programming current from 20% to 30% occur for an interface resistance of 50 m2middotK/GW. The precise spatial distribution of thermal properties is critical for the simulation of PCM devices.
Least and most disjoint root sets for Daubechies wavelets

A new set of wavelet filter families has been added to the systematized collection of Daubechies (1988) wavelets. This new set includes complex and real, orthogonal and biorthogonal, least and most disjoint families defined using constraints derived from the principle of separably disjoint root sets in the complex z-domain. All of the new families are considered to be constraint selected without a search and without any evaluation of filter properties such as time-domain regularity or frequency-domain selectivity. In contrast, the older families in the collection are considered to be search optimized for extremal properties. Some of the new families are demonstrated to be equivalent to some of the older families, thereby obviating the necessity for any search in their computation.