cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Co-occurring psychosocial problems predict HIV status and increased health care costs and utilization among sexual minority men

Sexual orientation related health disparities are well documented. Sexual minority men appear to be at risk for mental health problems due to the stress they experience in establishing and maintaining a minority sexual identity. These mental health issues may combine synergistically and lead to higher medical costs to society. We examine whether sexual minority specific syndemic indicators were associated with higher health care costs, health care utilization, or the risk of being HIV-infected. Health care consumers at a community health center (N = 1211) completed a brief screening questionnaire collected over 12 months. Self-reported data were linked with participants’ clinical billing records. Adjusted logistic regression models identified that four syndemic indicators (suicidality, substance use, childhood sexual abuse, and intimate partner violence) were each significantly related to each other. Multiple syndemics significantly predicted higher medical care utilization and cost, and were associated with 2.5 times the risk of being HIV-infected (OR 2.49, 95% CI 1.45–4.25). Syndemic indicators did not significantly predict the number of mental health visits or costs per patient. These results confirm and extend earlier findings by relating syndemics to health services use and costs for sexual minority men.
Cellular-resolution, extended depth of focus optical coherence tomography catheter toward in vivo cardiovascular imaging (Conference Presentation)

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been a useful clinical tool for diagnosing coronary artery disease through a flexible catheter, but its full promise relies on resolving cellular and sub-cellular structures in vivo. Previously, visualizing cellular structures through an imaging catheter is not possible due to limited depth of focus (DOF) of a tightly focused Gaussian beam: typically, a Gaussian beam with 2-3 μm resolution has a DOF within 100 μm, which is not sufficient for in vivo catheter imaging. Therefore, we developed a self-imaging wavefront division optical system that generates a coaxially-focused multimode (CAFM) beam with a DOF that is approximately one order of magnitude longer than that of a Gaussian beam. In this study, we present a high-resolution, extended DOF catheter based on self-imaging wavefront division optics. The catheter generates a CAFM beam with a lateral resolution of 3 μm and a DOF close to 2 mm. To correct the aberration introduced by catheter sheath, we incorporated a cylindrical prism to compensate the sheath astigmatism. When the catheter is incorporated into a micro-resolution OCT (μOCT) system with rotational scanning mechanics, cellular-resolution cross-sectional images of the coronary artery wall can be obtained. The device serves as an important step toward characterizing cellular and sub-cellular structures in vivo for coronary artery disease diagnosis.
Imipridone ONC201: combination therapy in hematologic malignancies.

While much progress has occurred in the treatment of relapsed and refractory (RR) hematologic malignancies eg. 4 new drugs were approved in 2015 for the treatment of RR multiple myeloma, unfortunat...
Adaptive geometry transformation and repair for hybrid manufacturing

Abstract In recent years, hybrid manufacturing has transitioned from research and development to commercially available industrial machine tools. This proliferation has led to a growing interest in the unique capabilities of these machines. Manufacturers in the mold and die, oil and gas, and aerospace industries are investigating hybrid manufacturing as a means of repairing high value components to reduce operating costs. As these parts become worn or damaged and taken out of service, each has its own unique distorted and worn geometry, and requires a distinct repair plan. This requires the repair strategy for these components to adapt to these fluctuations in geometry by modifying the re-manufacturing process on a part by part basis. This paper details a method of model transformation for adaptive part repair for use in a commercial hybrid manufacturing system. Nominal CAD geometry of the component is transformed based on data captured from the actual part geometry in a two-step process. The nominal geometry is first rigidly registered to the measured part data using an iterative algorithm. Then, individual cross sections of the nominal model are then deformed to match the actual data. After this transformation, final profile geometry can be constructed by using these informed transformations. This overall hybrid repair framework is shown to be of high accuracy and capable of yielding significant improvements in material usage efficiency and processing time compared to conventional repair approaches.
The impact of U.S. deportation of criminals on gang development and education in El Salvador

Abstract This paper links American criminal deportations with gang activity and reduced schooling in El Salvador. Regions with greater business density before the deportations are argued to be suitable for future gangs, as extortion of businesses is their primary source of income. These regions are shown to become disproportionately more violent with more criminal deportations. Using variation in time and location, I estimate a difference-in-differences model to study the impact of gang exposure on children's education. Gangs hinder basic education (comparable to U.S. grades 1–9), with boys experiencing a greater loss in schooling. I reject the threat of a pre-existing trend and selective migration in high business density areas. The results do not appear to be explained by violence alone, but by a weakening economy in gang-prone areas that could have lowered the returns to schooling. Boys' involvement in gangs and increased employment could explain their larger loss of schooling.
Functional redundancy of frizzled 3 and frizzled 6 in planar cell polarity control of mouse hair follicles

The orientation of mouse hair follicles is controlled by the planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway. Mutations in PCP genes result in two categories of hair mis-orientation phenotype: randomly oriented and vertically oriented to the skin surface. Here, we demonstrate that the randomly oriented hair phenotype observed in frizzled 6 (Fzd6) mutants results from a partial loss of the polarity, due to the functional redundancy of another closely related frizzled gene, Fzd3 Double knockout of Fzd3 and Fzd6 globally, or only in the skin, led to vertically oriented hair follicles and a total loss of anterior-posterior polarity. Furthermore, we provide evidence that, contrary to the prevailing model, asymmetrical localization of the Fzd6 protein is not observed in skin epithelial cells. Through transcriptome analyses and in vitro studies, we show collagen triple helix repeat containing 1 (Cthrc1) to be a potential downstream effector of Fzd6, but not of Fzd3. Cthrc1 binds directly to the extracellular domains of Fzd3 and Fzd6 to enhance the Wnt/PCP signaling. These results suggest that Fzd3 and Fzd6 play a redundant role in controlling the polarity of developing skin, but through non-identical mechanisms.
Application of front-face fluorescence spectroscopy as a tool for monitoring changes in milk protein concentrate powders during storage.

ABSTRACT This study investigated the feasibility of front-face fluorescence spectroscopy (FFFS) to predict the solubility index and relative dissolution index (RDI) of milk protein concentrate (MPC) powders during storage. Twenty MPC powders with varying protein contents from 4 different commercial manufacturers were used in this study. The MPC powders were stored at 2 temperatures (25 and 40°C) for 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, and 12 wk. The front-face fluorescence spectra of tryptophan and Maillard products were recorded and analyzed with chemometrics to predict solubility of MPC powders. The similarity maps showed clear discrimination of the MPC samples stored at 25 and 40°C. Partial least squares regression models were developed using the fluorescence spectra of tryptophan and Maillard products to predict the solubility index and RDI measurements of MPC powders, and the prediction models were validated using an independent test set. Coefficients of determination (R2) of 0.76, 0.84, and 0.68 were obtained between fluorescence spectra (tryptophan emission, Maillard emission, and Maillard excitation, respectively) and solubility index. The R2 values for the RDI predictions were 0.58 and 0.60 for the data set of tryptophan emission and Maillard emission, respectively. The ratio of prediction error to standard deviation was >2 for Maillard emission fluorescence spectra and solubility index measurements, indicating good practical utility of the partial least squares regression prediction models. The results indicated that the solubility and dissolution behavior of MPC powders were related to their protein content and storage conditions that could be measured using FFFS. Hence, FFFS can be used as a rapid nondestructive analytical technique to predict the solubility and dissolution characteristics of MPC powders.
Finding Resilience in Hiaki Ritual Knowledge: An Interpretation of Waehma

The interpretive lens commonly employed in the study of the Hiaki that sees their religious expression as Roman Catholic, or as a native version of Roman Catholicism, is too ethnocentric to be usef...
Association between Treatment Facility Volume and Mortality of Patients with Hodgkin Lymphoma

Abstract Background Hodgkin lymphoma is a rare hematological malignancy, with 8,500 new cases per year in the United States. Prior studies in oncology have shown that higher patient volume, whether at the treatment facility or provider level, is associated with reduced mortality and improved overall survival (OS). We used a national oncology data set to test our hypothesis that a volume-outcome relationship may also exist in classical Hodgkin lymphoma. Methods Using the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), we identified patients diagnosed with classical Hodgkin lymphoma between 2003 and 2014. The NCDB is a nationwide oncology outcomes database for ~70% of newly diagnosed cases from more than 1,500 accredited cancer programs in the United States and Puerto Rico. We classified the facilities by quartiles (Q; mean patients with HL treated per year): Q1: Results There were 47,633 patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma treated at 1,310 facilities. The median age at diagnosis was 40 years, and 54.2% were men. The median annual facility volume was 2.7 patients per year (range, 1 to 42.8). The distribution of facilities according to patient volume was: Q1: 58.4%, Q2: 22.4%, Q3: 13.3%, and Q4: 5.9%. After a median follow-up of 58 months, the highest volume quartile (Q4) had significantly higher 5- and 12-year overall survival rates compared to Q1-Q3 (Table 1). Overall survival by quartile is depicted as a Kaplan-Meier curve (Figure 1). Compared to the patients treated at Q4 facilities, those treated at lower-quartile facilities had a higher risk of death (Q3 hazard ratio [HR], 1.18 [95% CI, 1.10 to 1.27]; Q2 HR, 1.21 [95% CI, 1.13 to 1.30]; Q1 HR, 1.19 [95% CI, 1.11 to 1.28]) after adjustment for the sociodemographic factors discussed in our methods. Multivariable analysis showed that facility volume as a continuous variable was independently associated with all-cause mortality (Figure 2) (P Conclusions Patients treated for classical Hodgkin lymphoma at higher-volume facilities had a lower risk of mortality compared with those treated at lower-volume facilities. This adds to the growing body of evidence that a volume-outcomes relationship exists in some of the less common hematologic malignancies. Further research is needed to ascertain whether such differences in survival are related to provider-level or facility-level attributes, and whether patients with Hodgkin lymphoma will benefit from referral to high-volume centers. Download : Download high-res image (361KB) Download : Download full-size image Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Playwrights on Television: Conversations with Dramatists

Playwrights on Television features interviews with writers of award-winning stage plays and celebrated television shows reflecting on the successes and challenges of being a playwright in the post-network television era. In these conversations, eighteen dramatists consider their professional paths and creative choices, from training and education to thoughts on craft and technique, and discuss a range of issues relevant to the development of dramatic writing today. Theatergoers and TV aficionados alike will find new perspectives on the journeys traveled by some of their favorite plays and series, such as The Affair, The Americans, Boardwalk Empire, GLOW, House of Cards, Insecure, Mad Men, Orange Is the New Black, Shameless, She’s Gotta Have It, Vida, and The West Wing. A valuable resource for aspiring stage and television writers, as well as theater and media scholars investigating the works of these dramatists, Playwrights on Television sheds light on the role of the contemporary playwright in the latest Golden Age of television.
The GTPase Rab39a promotes phagosome maturation into MHC-I antigen-presenting compartments.

For CD8 T lymphocytes to mount responses to cancer and virally-infected cells, dendritic cells must capture antigens present in tissues and display them as peptides bound to MHC-I molecules. This is most often accomplished through a pathway called antigen cross-presentation (XPT). Here, we report that the vesicular trafficking protein Rab39a is needed for optimal cross-presentation by dendritic cells in vitro and cross-priming of CD8 T cells in vivo. Without Rab39a, MHC-I presentation of intraphagosomal peptides is inhibited, indicating that Rab39a converts phagosomes into peptide-loading compartments. In this process, Rab39a promotes the delivery of MHC-I molecules from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to phagosomes, and increases the levels of peptide-empty MHC-I conformers that can be loaded with peptide in this compartment. Rab39a also increases the levels of Sec22b and NOX2, previously recognized to participate in cross-presentation, on phagosomes, thereby filling in a missing link into how phagosomes mature into cross-presenting vesicles.
Endosidin20 is a broad-spectrum cellulose synthesis inhibitor with an herbicidal function

Cellulose is an important component of plant cell wall that controls anisotropic cell growth. Disruption of cellulose biosynthesis often leads to inhibited cell growth. Endosidin20 (ES20) was recently identified as a cellulose biosynthesis inhibitor (CBI) that targets the catalytic domain of Arabidopsis cellulose synthase 6 (CESA6) to inhibit plant growth. Here, we characterized the effects of ES20 on the growth of some other plant species and found that ES20 is a broad-spectrum plant growth inhibitor. We compared the inhibitory effects of ES20 and other CBIs on the growth of cesa6 plants that have reduced sensitivity to ES20. We found that most of the cesa6 with reduced sensitivity to ES20 show normal inhibited growth by other CBIs. ES20 also shows synergistic inhibitory effect on plant growth when applied together with other CBIs. We show ES20 has a different mode of action than tested CBIs isoxaben, indaziflam and C17. ES20 not only inhibits Arabidopsis growth under tissue culture condition, it inhibits plant growth under soil condition after direct spraying. We demonstrate that plants carrying two missense mutations can tolerate dual inhibition by ES20 and isoxaben.
Clinical Approach to Type 3 von Willebrand Disease

Type 3 von Willebrand disease (VWD) is a severe quantitative deficiency of von Willebrand factor (VWF) that results in negligible circulating factor levels. As VWF is the carrier protein for factor VIII (FVIII), there is an accompanying FVIII deficiency. Patients with type 3 VWD experience more frequent bleeding symptoms than other VW types. Spontaneous internal bleeding, like joint and muscle bleeding, can also occur. Diagnosis is made by quantifying VW antigen and activity levels, which are typically <10%. Factor replacement is the mainstay of therapy, and this is for both VWF and FVIII. Adjunctive therapies are limited to antifibrinolytic agents, as desmopressin is not helpful in type 3 VWD.
Chapter 09 – Personalized medicine

“Personalized medicine” is still largely an attractive sound bite rather than a practical reality. Every serious physician has always wanted to tailor the treatment to the patient. The medical, technical, and scientific basis for being able to do so is improving. The hindrances to progress are about how to organize the huge amounts of data, the shrinking amount of time the physician has per patient, and our ability to pay ever increasing costs. Patients’ genetic information is becoming cheaper to generate and more routinely requested, but interpretation and practical application are often lagging far behind. Knowledge of a mutation has not helped us with therapy; we still try to intervene at the level of the faulty protein. Discovering genetic mutations can also, especially in the United States, compromise a patient’s insurance protection. Good future medicine will depend on pharma companies being able to select patients more appropriately for any clinical trial, while doctors may still prescribe medicines for their less well-selected patients. Very few drugs are currently approved only for patients with a genetically determined profile. The pharma industry still obtains more revenues from “one size fits all” drugs. Pharmacogenomics can help us reduce the incidence of adverse drug reactions, which are still a leading cause of death. Knowledge management will be the enabler for greater advances in personalized medicine, where patients will be less likely to be prescribed drugs that will not work for them.
My God, why have you abandoned me? Sexual abuse and attitudes towards God among Orthodox Jews

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) correlates with disruptions in core beliefs, which within Orthodox Judaism may be linked to God. We hypothesise that CSA may negatively alter attitudes towards God for ...
Abstract B28: Estrogen receptor alpha (ERa) promotes protein synthesis by fine-tuning the expression of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 subunit f (eIF3f)

Approximately two-thirds of all breast cancer cases are estrogen receptor (ER) positive. The treatment of this breast cancer subtype with endocrine therapies is effective in the adjuvant and recurrent settings. However, their effectiveness is compromised by the emergence of intrinsic or acquired resistance. Thus, identification of new molecular targets can significantly contribute to the development of novel therapeutic strategies. In recent years, many studies have implicated aberrant levels of translation initiation factors in cancer etiology and provided evidence that identifies these factors as promising therapeutic targets. Accordingly, we observed reduced levels of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 (eIF3) subunit eIF3f in ER-positive breast cancer cells compared to ER-negative cells and determined that low eIF3f levels are required for proper proliferation and survival of ER-positive MCF7 cells. The expression of eIF3f is tightly controlled by ERa at transcriptional (genomic pathway) and translational (non-genomic pathway) level. Specifically, estrogen-bound ERa represses transcription of the EIF3F gene, while promoting eIF3f mRNA translation. In regulation of translation, estrogen activates the mTORC1 pathway, which enhances the binding of eIF3 to the eIF4F complex and, consequently, the assembly of 48S preinitiation complexes and protein synthesis. We observed preferential translation of mRNAs with highly structured 59 untranslated regions (UTRs) that usually encode factors involved in cell proliferation and survival (e.g., cyclin D1 and survivin). Our results underscore the importance of estrogen-ERa-mediated control of eIF3f expression for the proliferation and survival of ER-positive breast cancer cells. These findings may provide rationale for the development of new therapies to treat ER-positive breast cancer. Citation Format: Rafael Cuesta, Marina K. Holz. Estrogen receptor alpha (ERa) promotes protein synthesis by fine-tuning the expression of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 subunit f (eIF3f) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Targeting PI3K/mTOR Signaling; 2018 Nov 30-Dec 8; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2020;18(10_Suppl):Abstract nr B28.
Dorothy Leavitt Cheney: Life and Work

Dorothy L. Cheney studied the social behaviour, communication, and cognition of monkeys. Her goal was to uncover the selective forces that have shaped the evolution of the human mind.
Unraveling a trifecta of weak non-covalent interactions: The dissociation energy of the anisole-ammonia 1:1 complex

Abstract The anisole-ammonia 1:1 complex is a challenge for both experiment and theory. Early studies supported a non-planar structure, involving a trifecta of weak non-covalent interactions: N-H/O, N-H/π, and C-H/N. The calculated structure and binding energy of the complex proved remarkably sensitive to the level of theory employed. Here, we report the first experimental measurement of the ground state dissociation energy of the complex, and derive an excited (S1) state dissociation energy that is in excellent agreement with the cutoff observed in the experimental excitation spectrum. Results are compared with previous predictions and new calculations based on benchmarked Density Functional Theory methods.
It's lights out for presynaptic terminals.

Reliable optogenetic tools for sustained, projection-specific presynaptic silencing have been elusive. Recently in Neuron, Mahn et al. (2021) and Copits et al. (2021) describe how the light-activated inhibitory GPCRs eOPN3 and PPO can be used to reversibly suppress synaptic transmission in mice.
Obergefell, Retroactivity, and Common Law Marriage

The Obergefell Court recognized that the Constitution protects marriage equality. The Court’s retroactivity jurisprudence suggests that this holding should be given retroactive effect in most if not all cases and the former statutory bars to same-sex marriage should be treated as if they had never existed. Same-sex couples living in jurisdictions recognizing common law marriage might thus be viewed as having contracted such marriages years before Obergefell was decided in 2015. This result would greatly benefit some couples but might impose onerous burdens on others. The Court must explain the conditions under which Obergefell should be given retroactive effect for the sake of the affected individuals themselves and society as a whole.
Tumor diameter response in patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma is associated with overall survival.

Abstract Objective Tumor shrinkage of at least 10% after presurgical targeted molecular therapy (TMT) in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients has been associated with better overall survival (OS) outcomes. We characterized primary and metastatic tumor diameter response and OS in patients with metastatic clear cell RCC (ccRCC) who received preoperative TMT, immunotherapy, or both followed by deferred cytoreductive nephrectomy (dCN). Materials and Methods Patients with metastatic ccRCC (n = 198) who underwent preoperative therapy and dCN from 2005 to 2019 were identified retrospectively. Longest primary and metastatic tumor diameters were calculated using cross-sectional images obtained before systemic therapy and dCN using the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors. Patients were stratified by tumor shrinkage of at least 10% in the primary and/or metastatic tumors after systemic therapy. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate OS, and Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association of patient characteristics with OS. Results In total, 31.31% of patients had only metastatic tumor shrinkage (MTS) ≥ 10%, 8.08% had only primary tumor shrinkage (PTS) ≥ 10%, 32.32% had PTS and MTS ≥ 10%, and 28.28% had PTS/MTS Conclusions Intermediate risk score and shrinkage of at least 10% in the primary tumor, metastases, or both were associated with better OS outcomes in patients with metastatic ccRCC who underwent dCN independent of the type of preoperative systemic therapy.
Differentiation and Integration

In the first three sections of this chapter, we investigate differentiability properties of functions of bounded variation. We begin by introducing the upper and lower derivatives of a function defined on a closed bounded interval [a, b] in Sect. 4.1, where important properties of these derivatives are established (cf. Lemma 4.1). Functions of bounded variation are introduced and their properties are investigated in Sect. 4.2. The main result (Theorem 4.8) of Sect. 4.3 asserts that a function of a bounded variation on [a, b] is differentiable almost everywhere on this interval.
New Dimensions of Corporate Culture: A Construct for Stakeholder Ethics in a Spiritual Workplace

The topics of corporate ethics and workplace spirituality have become increasingly important management issues throughout businesses in the United States during the past several years. This renewed interest in ethics and spirituality can be partially attributed to the many illegal and unethical acts of corporate executives that have cost stakeholders billions of dollars. Our objective is to analyze stakeholder ethical theory and its implications within the culture of a spiritual workplace environment. One original premise is that stakeholder theory focuses on the belief that management decisions must be made in light of their impacts upon all stakeholders that may be impacted by these decisions (Freeman, 1994). These stakeholders include stockholders, employees, customers, managers, suppliers, and local communities (Beauchamp & Bowie, 2004). Within the context of this analysis, the primary focus is on one specific group of stakeholders which is employees. Additionally, employees shall be used in this paper as including managers and all subordinate employees actively involved in employment with the organization. As previously mentioned, in addition to the increased focus on corporate ethics, there is a resurgence of spirituality among the American workforce. This interest in spirituality transcends into every aspect of life including homes, relationships, and businesses. Thus, there is a broader spectrum of factors to be evaluated within the context of stakeholder ethics in a spiritual workplace environment. There has been limited research on the impacts of stakeholder ethical theory and its potential impacts on decision making in a spiritual workplace environment. The primary objective of this paper is to analyze the impacts of a construct of stakeholder ethics within a spiritual workplace environment.
Plastocyanin and the 33-kDa subunit of the oxygen-evolving complex are transported into thylakoids with similar requirements as predicted from pathway specificity

Plastocyanin and the 33-kDa subunit of the oxygen-evolving complex (OE33) are two of several thylakoid lumen-located proteins that are made in the cytosol, imported into chloroplasts, and subsequently transported into thylakoids. Recently, competition studies showed that there are two pathways for protein transport into the thylakoid lumen and that plastocyanin and OE33 are on the same pathway (Cline, K., Henry, R., Li, C., and Yuan, J. (1993) EMBO J. 12, 4105-4114). Our expectation is that transport requirements reflect the steps of the process and that proteins on the same pathway share similar requirements. Unfortunately, the transport requirements for plastocyanin and OE33 are not well established. Here, we investigated transport in a reconstituted system with isolated thylakoids. Efficient transport of OE33 and plastocyanin was only obtained when stromal extract was included in the assay. Heat or protease treatment of stromal extract eliminated its ability to stimulate transport. Transport was abolished by treatments designed to deplete ATP or to prevent its formation and was greatly reduced in the presence of ionophores that dissipate the trans-thylakoidal proton gradient. These results show that transport of OE33 and plastocyanin requires ATP and is stimulated by stromal protein(s) and the trans-thylakoidal proton gradient. Taken together, these and previous results suggest that there are two mechanistically distinct pathways for protein transport into the thylakoid lumen.
Rites to Reform: The Cultural Production of the Reformer in Urban Schools

As neoliberal reformers are appointed to manage the “crisis” of U.S. public schools, their power has become a pressing reality for grassroots movements in education. I examine how the Small Schools movement in Oakland, California—just as the school district fell under state administrative control—employed rites of passage to socialize a grassroots identity: the reform officer. These rites represent a form of grassroots cultural power that disrupts the conditions of neoliberal domination. [neoliberalism, school reform, counterhegemony, community organizing, cultural production]
The Effect of Alpha-Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone on Aldosterone Production in the Rat

Aldosterone production in the rat is increased following one week of salt restriction. Maintenance of the aldosterone response to sodium depletion, depends upon the integrity of pituitary function. Two days following hypophysectomy of sodium restricted rats, adrenal weight, in vitro corticosterone production, and in vitro aldosterone production are decreased. Treatment with sub-cutaneous injections of purified porcine ACTH plus growth hormone maintains normal adrenal weight and function for two days following hypophysectomy.Treatment with sub-cutaneous injections of alpha-MSH plus growth hormone maintains adrenal weight for two days following hypophysectomy. Although aldosterone production by hypophysectomized sodium depleted rats treated with alpha-MSH and growth hormone is not maintained at normal levels, it is maintained at levels significantly higher than that of those seen in untreated hypophysectomized salt depleted rats. This effect cannot be ascribed to ACTH contamination of the MSH preparation as...
Arginine and Ornithine Catabolism by Clostridium botulinum

Clostridium botulinum 62-A was shown to catabolize l-arginine via citrulline to ornithine, NH(3), and CO(2). The individual enzymes of the dihydrolase system were all demonstrated in extracts of cells, spores, and germinated spores. There was no liberation of urea from l-arginine, so no functional arginase enzyme is present, but there was some transamidinase activity in cell extracts. l-Ornithine was degraded at a significant rate by cells grown in an l-ornithine-supplemented medium; it was partially decarboxylated to putrescine and partially fermented to NH(3), CO(2), volatile acids, and delta-aminovaleric acid. Results from the fermentation of l-ornithine-C(14), -1-C(14), and -2-C(14) demonstrated that essentially all of the CO(2) was derived from carbon 1, and volatile acids from carbons 2 to 5. Assays for the products of l-ornithine-C(14) fermentation revealed that the volatile acids consisted of acetate, propionate, valerate, and butyrate (in order of decreasing concentrations), and that delta-amino-valerate was the primary reduced product. A small amount of citrulline was formed during the fermentation. The carbon and redox balances indicated that l-ornithine is fermented as a single substrate. Preliminary experiments demonstrated that the fermentation of l-ornithine is carried out by cell extracts with the production of volatile acids.
Activation of mitochondrial lysophospholipase by mitochondrial depolarization: role in organelle turnover (758.4)

Mitochondria contain a Ca2+-independent phospholipase A2 (iPLA2) that is activated by loss of membrane potential (ΔΨ). Accumulation of unsaturated fatty acids, determined using heptadecanoic acid a...
Functional differentiation of chick gonads following depletion of primordial germ cells

The endocrine capacity of embryonic chick gonads depleted in germ cells was compared to that of controls to determine whether the somatic elements of germ-cell-depleted gonad$ will undergo normal functional sex differentiation. Primordial germ cells were removed from early embryos, Hamburger and Hamilton stages 7-11, by excision of the anterior germinal crescent. Embryos were sacrificed at 14 days of incubation, and their gonads were analysed for functional differentiation by: (1) electron microscopy to detect ultrastructural cellular morphology characteristic of steroid-secreting cells; (2) growth in cell culture to detect development of characteristic cell morphologies; (3) radioimmunoassay of cell-culture media to detect androgens and oestrogens (androstenedione and oestradiol 17 β) secreted by gonadal cells; and (4) measurement of steroid levels produced by cultures treated with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) to detect the ability of gonadal cells to increase steroid production in response to gonadotropin stimulation. As a bioassay of gonadal endocrine activity, a gross morphological analysis was performed on the genital ducts, the development of which is ovary-dependent in females and testis-dependent in males. This study demonstrated that both male and female embryonic gonads exhibit normal functional differentiation following a significant reduction in the number of primordial germ cells. These results confirm and extend our previous finding that morphological differentiation of sterile embryonic gonads is normal (McCarrey & Abbott, 1978). It is concluded frofn the present study that a normal complement of germ cells is not essential to either morphological or functional sex differentiation of the somatic elements of the embryonic ovary or testis, thus arguing against any inductive role for the germ cells in this process.
Inhibitory Effect of Fatty Acids on the Entry of the Lipid-Containing Bacteriophage PR4 Into Escherichia Coli

Various unsaturated fatty acids (notably palmitoleic acid and oleic acid) interfered with plaque production by the lipid-containing bacteriophage PR4 on lawns of Escherichia coli. Addition of fatty acid to give 50 mug/ml ( approximately 0.2 mM) at the time of infection prevented phage replication. If, however, the fatty acid was added after infection, normal amounts of phage were produced. If the fatty acid was added (to 50 mug/ml) to the host cell culture a long enough time before infection such that the fatty acid concentration in the growth medium at the time of infection was reduced to less, similar5 mug/ml (due to fatty acid incorporation by the host cells), normal phage replication occurred also. Neither palmitoleic acid nor oleic acid prevented PR4 attachment to E. coli. Several types of experiments indicated that it is the entry process of the virus that is inhibited by these fatty acids. Specifically, if the fatty acid was added at the time of infection, the host cells were not killed by the virus and no detectable amounts of viral protein were synthesized. In addition, experiments using purified radioisotope-labeled virions showed directly that entry is inhibited. Mutants of PR4 that did replicate in the presence of oleic acid arose spontaneously at a frequency of 10(-6). Three of these mutants that have been further characterized have protein and phospholipid compositions indistinguishable from those of wild-type PR4.
On the bubble rise velocity of a continually released bubble chain in still water and with crossflow

The rise velocities of in-chain bubbles continually released from a single orifice in still water with and without crossflow are investigated in a series of laboratory experiments for wobbling ellipsoidal bubbles with moderate Reynolds number. For the limiting case in still water, that is, crossflow velocity = 0, the theoretical turbulent wake model correctly predicts the in-chain bubble rise velocity. In this case, the bubble rise velocities VB are enhanced compared to the terminal velocities of the isolated bubbles V0 due to wake drafting and are scaled with flow rate Q and bubble diameter D. Here, we also derive an updated wake model with consideration of the superposition of multiple upstream bubble wakes, which removes the nonlinear behavior of the non-distant (i.e., local) wake model. For the cases with crossflow, the enhancement of the in-chain bubble rise velocity can be significantly reduced, and imaging of the experiments shows very organized paring and grouping trajectories of rising bubbles no...
Metabolic Effects of FGF-21: Thermoregulation and Beyond

Fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-21, a member of the FGF family, is a novel hormone involved in the control of metabolism by modulating glucose homeostasis, insulin sensitivity, ketogenesis, and promoting adipose tissue "browning." Recent studies demonstrated that brown adipose tissue is not only a target for FGF-21, but is also a potentially important source of systemic FGF-21. These findings support the hypothesis that FGF-21 plays a physiologic role in thermogenesis and thermogenic recruitment of white adipose tissue by an autocrine-paracrine axis. This review examines the role of FGF-21 in thermogenesis from the perspective of cell-based, animal model, and human studies. We also present recent advances in the characterization of FGF-21's regulation of metabolism.
Regulation of glycine-insensitive desensitization of the NMDA receptor in outside-out patches.

1. Regulation of desensitization of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors was studied in outside-out patches from cultured rat hippocampal neurons. The progressive increase in a glycine-insensitive...
Improved device performance by migration-enhanced epitaxy

Migration-enhanced epitaxy (MEE) has been employed successfully to grow high quality GaAs buffer and InGaAs channel layers at 300°C. Planar-doped GaAs MESFETs with a thin MEE GaAs buffer layer have been fabricated for comparison with devices using conventional MBE buffers. Our preliminary data indicate that the MEE buffer alternative offers reduced side-gating effect, lower output conductance, better pinchoff characteristics and higher channel current. RF measurements indicate an improvement in output power density, gain and efficiency for the MEE-buffered MESFETs. High electron mobility transistor (HEMT) devices fabricated on modulation-doped pseudomorphic AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures with a thin MEE buffer layer yield higher transconductance (gm), transistor gain, and unity current gain cutoff frequency (ƒT) compared to the conventional MBE-buffered devices. Moreover, HEMT devices with an MEE InGaAs channel grown at 300°C achieve comparable gm and ƒT to those with a conventional MBE channel grown at ∼500°C. Critical layer thickness of InGaAs on GaAs using the MEE method, under the growth conditions reported here, is found to exceed that of MBE.
A-431 cells and human keratinocytes synthesize and secrete the third component of complement.

Biosynthetic radiolabeling studies demonstrate that A-431 cells, a human epidermoid carcinoma cell line, and human keratinocytes synthesize and secrete C3 as two disulfide-linked polypeptide chains of 120 and 75 kD. Moreover, epithelial cell-derived C3 co-migrates in SDS-PAGE with that produced by HepG2 cells, a human hepatoma cell line previously used to elucidate complement component biosynthesis. Pulse-chase studies in A-431 cells demonstrate that epithelial cell-derived C3 is produced as a 195-kD precursor molecule, pro-C3, which is processed intracellularly by limited proteolysis into 120- and 75-kD C3 alpha and beta chains. Comparative studies demonstrate that A-431 cell-derived C3 is synthesized, processed, and secreted in parallel but in lower quantity than that produced by HepG2 cells. Treatment of biosynthetically labeled A-431 cell culture supernatants with normal human serum and zymosan produces C3 alpha chain cleavage and specific C3 fragments that are not present in control culture supernatants treated with heat-inactivated human serum and zymosan. Northern blot analysis of total cellular RNA extracted from A-431 cells, human keratinocytes, and HepG2 cells reveals qualitative identity of a 5.1-kb C3 rnRNA species in these three cell types. Epithelial cell-derived C3 may play an important role in local inflammatory and immunologic reactions including such reactions in human skin. Moreover, epithelial cell C3 synthesis may have direct relevance to the recent demonstration of C3d,g within selected normal primate epithelial basement membranes, including epidermal basement membrane.
Serum Cholesterol in Treatment-Resistant Depression

Objective: Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) may have significant differences in cholesterol levels compared with healthy controls. A previous study by our group reporte
Note: A realization of graph associahedra

Given any finite graph, we offer a simple realization of its corresponding graph associahedron polytope using integer coordinates.
Can we do better than a single estimated GFR threshold when screening for chronic kidney disease

The Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation has been used to screen for and diagnose chronic kidney disease (CKD). A fixed estimated glomerular filtration rate cutoff point has been advocated by the National Kidney Foundation to diagnose CKD. However, data derived from healthy individuals challenge this approach and suggest that age- and gender-specific reference values may be more useful in the screening setting.
Localization of a memory trace in the mammalian brain

The localization of sites of memory formation within the brain has proven to be a formidable task even for simple forms of learning and memory. In order to localize a particular site of memory formation within the brain, the rabbit eyeblink response was classically conditioned while regions of the cerebellum or red nucleus were temporarily inactivated by microinfusions of the gamma-aminobutyric acid agonist muscimol. Cerebellar inactivation completely blocked learning but had no effect on subsequent learning after inactivation, whereas red nucleus inactivation did not prevent learning but did block the expression of conditioned responses. The site of memory formation for this learned response thus appears to be localized within the cerebellum.
Mitochondrial DNA evidence for the 19th century introduction of African honey bees into the United States

Since the introduction of an African subspecies into Brazil in the mid-1950's1, descendent ‘Africanized’ honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) have spread throughout the Neotropics and into temperate North America. Restriction enzyme analysis of 422 feral honey bee colonies collected from non-Africanized areas in the southern United States revealed that over 21% of them had mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) derived from a European race established in North America by the 17th century, 77% of them had mtDNA common in honey bees maintained by beekeepers and about 1% exhibited African mtDNA. Further analysis revealed that the African mtDNA was derived from a north African subspecies imported to the US in the 19th century.
Golgi GDP-mannose uptake requires Leishmania LPG2. A member of a eukaryotic family of putative nucleotide-sugar transporters.

Abstract The synthesis of glycoconjugates within the secretory pathway of eukaryotes requires the provision of lumenal nucleotide-sugar substrates. This is particularly important for eukaryotic microbes such as Leishmania because they must synthesize considerable amounts of extracellular and cell surface glycoconjugates that play significant roles in the infectious cycle. Here we used properly oriented sealed microsomes to characterize lumenal uptake of GDP-Man in Leishmania donovani In this system, GDP-Man uptake was saturable with an apparent Km for GDP-Man of 0.3 μM and facilitated its use as a donor substrate for lipophosphoglycan (LPG) synthesis. A lpg2− deletion mutant showed loss of GDP-Man but not UDP-Gal uptake, which was restored by introduction of the gene LPG2 Immunoelectron microscopy localized an active, epitope-tagged LPG2 protein to the Golgi apparatus. Thus, LPG2 is required for nucleotide-sugar transport activity and probably encodes this Golgi transporter. LPG2 belongs to a large family of eukaryotic genes that potentially encode transporters with different substrate specificities and/or cellular locations. In the future, the amenability of the Leishmania system to biochemical and genetic manipulation will assist in functional characterization of nucleotide-sugar transports from this and other eukaryotes. Furthermore, since LPG2 plays an important role in the Leishmania infectious cycle and mammalian cells lack a Golgi GDP-Man transporter, this activity may offer a new target for chemotherapy.
Development of depletion perturbation theory for coupled neutron/nuclide fields

A perturbation formulation is developed for the space-energy dependent burnup equations describing depletion and transmutation of nuclide densities in a coupled neutron-nuclide field, such as a reactor core. The formulation is developed in a form consistent with the computational methods used for depletion analysis. The analysis technique currently employed in most burnup calculations is first reviewed as a method for describing the nonlinear coupling between the flux and nuclide fields. It is shown that based on the present formulation three adjoint equations (for flux shape, flux normalization, and nuclide density) are required to account for the coupled variations arising from variations in initial conditions and nuclear data. The adjoint equations are derived in detail using a variational principle, and an algorithm is suggested for solving the coupled equations backward through time. Perturbation expressions are used to define sensitivity coefficients for responses that depend on the coupled interaction between the neutron and nuclide fields. The relation between coupled and noncoupled sensitivity theory is illustrated. Finally, two analytic example problems are solved that determine the sensitivity of some final nuclide concentration to changes in initial conditions. Results obtained from direct calculation and from the coupled perturbation theory are compared.
Is Scientific Knowledge Useful for Policy Analysis? A Peculiar Theorem Says: No

Conventional wisdom dictates that the more we know about a problem domain the easier it is to predict the effects of policies in that domain. Strangely, this wisdom is not sanctioned by formal analysis, when the notions of "knowledge" and "policy" are given concrete definitions in the context of nonpara- metric causal analysis. This note describes this peculiarity and speculates on its implications.
Subtractive renormalization of the chiral potentials up to next-to-next-to-leading order in higher NN partial waves

We develop a subtractive renormalization scheme to evaluate the $P$-wave $\mathit{NN}$ scattering phase shifts using chiral effective theory potentials. This allows us to consider arbitrarily high cutoffs in the Lippmann-Schwinger equation (LSE). We employ $\mathit{NN}$ potentials computed up to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in chiral effective theory, using both dimensional regularization and spectral-function regularization. Our results obtained from the subtracted $P$-wave LSE show that renormalization of the NNLO potential can be achieved by using the generalized $\mathit{NN}$ scattering lengths as input---an alternative to fitting the constant that multiplies the $P$-wave contact interaction in the chiral effective theory $\mathit{NN}$ force. However, to obtain a reasonable fit to the $\mathit{NN}$ data at NNLO the generalized scattering lengths must be varied away from the values extracted from the so-called high-precision potentials. We investigate how the generalized scattering lengths extracted from $\mathit{NN}$ data using various chiral potentials vary with the cutoff in the LSE. The cutoff dependence of these observables, as well as of the phase shifts at ${T}_{\mathrm{lab}}\ensuremath{\approx}100$ MeV, suggests that for a chiral potential computed with dimensional regularization the highest LSE cutoff it is sensible to adopt is approximately 1 GeV. Using spectral-function regularization to compute the two-pion-exchange potentials postpones the onset of cutoff dependence in these quantities but does not remove it.