cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Kinematics of the thorax under dynamic belt loading conditions

This research was completed as part of an ongoing effort to characterise human thoracic response to belt loading in a well controlled and repeatable laboratory environment. This paper presents the results of eight tests conducted on three post-mortem human subjects. The sled test environment provides realistic occupant kinematics and restraint interaction in the inertial environment of a vehicle collision, but is too complex for detailed analysis of thoracic deformation under belt loading. To study in more detail the kinematics of the chest when loaded anteriorly by a seat belt, three male post-mortem human surrogates (31-62 years of age) were mounted on a stationary apparatus that supported the spine and shoulder in a configuration comparable to that achieved in a 48 km/h sled test at the time of maximum chest deformation. The belt was positioned across the anterior torso with attachments at D-ring and buckle locations based on the geometry of a mid-sized sedan. The belt was attached to a trolley driven ...
Prereferral MRI use in patients with musculoskeletal tumors is not excessive.

Background Inappropriate MRI use has been targeted as a particular area of concern in orthopaedics, but it is unclear whether and to what extent its use is inappropriate in musculoskeletal oncology.
Towards an ab initio flexible potential for water, and post-harmonic quantum vibrational analysis of water clusters

We describe a full-dimensional, flexible potential energy surface for arbitrary numbers of water monomers built from ab initio 2- and 3-body potentials. These potentials are each permutationally invariant fits to roughly 30 000 electronic energies. Tests of these potentials are made against direct high-level ab initio results for the water dimer and trimer. An application to the hexamer (prism isomer) is made along with a review of recent ab initio calculations of harmonic frequencies. One-mode quantum calculations of the OH-stretch fundamentals are done with these potentials and their accuracy is assessed by comparisons with coupled MULTIMODE calculations for the water dimer and trimer. Local-mode calculations of OH-stretch fundamentals are presented for the hexamer and decamer, where it appears that the bulk limit is being approached. A new local-monomer model is presented and tested for the water dimer and trimer.
Reconstructing Polyhedral CAD Models by Recognizing Extrusion Features From Single-View Drawings

At the conceptual product design stage, designers prefer sketching initial design ideas on paper before using more sophisticated 3D CAD systems for their creativity and flexible design changes. At the later detailed design stages, however, precise 3D CAD modeling is a better choice for design analyses and downstream manufacturing applications. For an integrated digital product development, the 2D drawings need to be converted to 3D CAD models manually through some laborious and time-consuming processes. For decades, many researchers have contributed to the studies on reconstructing 3D geometric models from 2D sketches, but few describe constructing parametric feature-based CAD models that are currently widely used in the detailed design stages. In this paper, a procedure for constructing a feature-based 3D CAD model directly from a single-view 2D drawing is presented. The input sketch is assumed to be an exact orthogonal projection of a 3D model viewed at a general orientation. The model geometry is limited such that it can be constructed by a Boolean combination of extrusions of polygonal profiles.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Measurement of elastic constants of mantle-related minerals at temperatures up to 1800 K

Abstract The main purpose of this paper is to describe in some detail an experiment which allows the measurement of elastic constants of mantle minerals into the temperature range exceeding T θ = 1.5 , where θ is the Debye temperature. We need these experimental data to establish firmly the thermodynamic and mechanical behavior of solids well into the classical range of T , which is of especial interest to lower mantle geophysics. The second purpose is to describe two applications of the experiment, of special importance to geophysics: (1) the determination of υ p and υ s seismic velocities up to upper mantle temperatures, and the method of extrapolation to lower mantle temperatures; and (2) the calculation of critical parameters for use in mantle thermodynamics. The experiment is called rectangular parallelepiped resonance (RPR).
Theoretical and Experimental Study of an Air Solar Collector with an Evacuated Tube Cover

Theoretical calculations and experimental data on an evacuated tube solar collector with an air heat transfer medium are presented. The collector is a conventional flat plate design except that the front cover, instead of being made up of one or two sheets of flat glass, consists of a raft-like arrangement of evacuated glass tubes. The calculations indicate that an evacuated tube cover, together with a high heat transfer absorber, could give a solar collector with superior thermal performance. Experimental measurements are given for an air collector using uncoated evacuated tubes and a screen absorber. Results on internal temperatures are used to infer the effectiveness of the heat transfer between the absorber screen and the air flow. When account is taken of the measured absorber properties, the performance of the evacuated tube cover is in reasonable accord with the theory.
Model reduction of mechanical systems

A reduced model of a stable mechanical system with proportional damping represented in modal coordinates is developed, based on a procedure reported by Commault and Guerin (1978). In this model, model error is calculated a priori and is used to determine the dominant modes. Two examples are presented showing that reduced models generated as described will be better or at least as good as those produced by the popular modal cost analysis scheme of Skelton and Hughes (1980).
Early Prediction of Acute Antidepressant Treatment Response and Remission in Pediatric Major Depressive Disorder.

Objective Less than half of youths achieve remission (minimal to no symptoms) after acute antidepressant treatment. Early identification of who will or will not respond to treatment and achieve remission may help clinicians formulate treatment decisions and shorten the time spent on ineffective treatments. In a prospective open-label fluoxetine study, we investigate indicators of acute treatment response and remission.
Decentralized Cooperative-Control Design for Multivehicle Formations

DOI: 10.2514/1.33009 In a decentralized cooperative-control regime, individual vehicles autonomously compute their required control inputs to achieve a group objective. Controlling formations of individual vehicles is one application of decentralized cooperative control. In this paper, cooperative-control schemes are developed for a multivehicle formation problem with information flow modeled by leader–follower subsystems. Control laws are developed to drive position and velocity errors between vehicle pairs to zero. The general control law for the ith vehicle tracks its lead vehicle’s position and velocity, as well as a reference position and velocity that the whole formation follows. Rate-estimation schemes are developed for the general control law using both Luenberger-observer and passive-filtering estimation methods. It is shown that these estimation methods are complicated by the effects that the estimated rates have on formation stability. Finally, the development of a rate-free controller is presented, which does not require state informationfromothervehiclesintheformation.Thecontrolschemesaresimulatedfora five-vehicleformationand are compared for stability and formation convergence.
The effect of helium-oxygen mixtures on body temperature

Abstract When animals breathed a mixture of cold helium-oxygen, while also exposed to it, their rectal temperature fell three times faster than when they were exposed to cold nitrogen-oxygen mixture. In further studies using a special chamber, the addition of helium to the inspired air and to the ambient air, promoted faster cooling than when helium was used in the inspired air alone or in the ambient air alone, demonstrating that helium can be used to regulate body temperature, when the gas temperature is controlled by a heat exchanger. Temperature regulation with helium may be useful for pediatric anesthesia, treatment of malignant hyperthermia, induction of hypothermia in neonatal cardiac surgery, and for resuscitation of hypothermic neonates.
Information Ratios for Validating Mixture Analyses

Abstract Determining the number of components in a mixture of distributions is an important but difficult problem. This article introduces a procedure called minimum information ratio estimation and validation (MIREV), which is based on a ratio of Fisher information matrices. The smallest eigenvalue of the information ratio matrix is used to determine the number of components. A measure of uncertainty may be obtained using a bootstrap technique. Simulations illustrate the effectiveness of the procedure. For mixtures of exponential families, an expression for the observed information ratio matrix provides insight to the success of the procedure. Cluster analysis attempts to identify and characterize subpopulations believed to be present in a population. A wide variety of methods, are available, including criterion optimization, hierarchical methods, and various heuristic methods. Criterion optimization techniques, such as mixture analysis, fuzzy clustering, and partitioning methods are popular because they...
Vortex-induced vibration of a cylinder with two degrees of freedom

Abstract In this work, we study the response of an elastically mounted cylinder, which is free to move in two degrees of freedom in a fluid flow, and which has low mass and damping. There has been a great deal of work concerned with bodies restrained to move in the direction transverse to the free stream, but very few studies which comprise motion in both the transverse ( Y ) and in-line ( X ) directions. In such cases, it has generally been assumed that in-line response would dramatically change the character of the wake vortex dynamics as well as the transverse body response. We find in the present work that, surprisingly, the freedom to move in two directions has very little effect on the transverse response, the modes of vibration, or the vortex wake dynamics (for a body of similar low mass ratio (relative density) in the range m ∗ =5–25 ). For low values of normalised velocity ( U ∗ ∼2–4 ) below the classical synchronisation regime for transverse response, we find two in-line vibration modes, which are associated with symmetric and antisymmetric vortex wake modes, corresponding well with the modes discovered by Wooton et al. and by King for a flexible cantilever. Coupled with a parallel effort by D.O. Rockwell's group at Lehigh, these experiments form the first such studies in which both the oscillating mass and the natural frequency are precisely the same in the X and Y directions. A principal conclusion from this investigation is that it demonstrates the validity, for bodies in two degrees of freedom, of employing the existing comprehensive results for bodies restrained to vibrate only in the transverse Y -direction, even down to low mass ratios of m ∗ =5 .
Non-Markovian Protein Dynamics in a Near-Critical Membrane Model

Recent experiments in Giant Plasma Membrane Vesicles isolated from living cells have suggested that cell membranes are tuned close to a liquid-liquid critical point. Perturbations which influence membrane criticality - anesthetics and cholesterol level modulators - also affect the functioning of a large number of membrane-bound receptors and ion channels. This motivates us to develop a model for a membrane-bound protein that is allosterically regulated by interactions with its surrounding near-critical membrane. We consider a two dimensional lattice where Ising spins represent membrane lipids, and a two-state protein is represented as a group of like spins that must flip together. In our model, the full state of the system, including both protein and membrane degrees of freedom, obeys Markovian dynamics. However, when the protein is considered in isolation, as is typical experimentally, its dynamics become non-Markovian. We show that this phenomenon arises as information about the past state of the protein is stored in membrane degrees of freedom. Our model suggests a unified mechanism underlying the susceptibility of various ion channels to both anesthetics and cholesterol modulation and presents a new role for membrane lipids in the collective allosteric regulation of proteins.
Pareto Tail Index Estimation Revisited

Abstract An estimator of the tail index of a Pareto distribution is given that is based on the use of the probability integral transform. This new estimator provides performance that is comparable to the best robust estimators, while retaining conceptual and computational simplicity. A tuning parameter in the new estimator can be adjusted to control the tradeoff between robustness and efficiency. The method used to compute the estimator also can be used to find a confidence interval for the tail index that is guaranteed to have the nominal confidence level for any given sample size. Guidelines for the use of the new estimator are provided.
Molecular Analysis of TTP, a Key Regulator of TNF Activity.

RESULTS. We have determined that various cell types undergo programmed cell death in response to constitutive low-level TTP/TIS11 protein expression. This cell death involves DNA cleavage, caspase activation, and stimulation of the mitochondrial death machinery, indicating that it proceeds by apoptosis. Mapping experiments revealed that both the zinc finger region and C-terminal domain of TTP are necessary to induce significant apoptosis. Surprisingly, expression of TTP but not TIS11b or TIS11d sensitizes cells to the apoptotic effects of TNFα, 4. Upon conducting a yeast-2-hybrid analysis to screen for interacting proteins, we identified 143-3 as a potential interactor with the C-terminal domain of TTP. We verified that this interaction could also occur in a mammalian system via co-immunoprecipitation of overexpressed TTP and endogenous 14-3-3. All three TTP/TIS11 proteins can bind to GST-143-3. Binding is phosphorylation dependent, and different 14-3-3 isoforms appear to bind to a varying pattern of phosphorylated forms of TTP. We have also identified a TTP point mutant with diminished binding to 14-3-3. DISCUSSION. Our findings that modest levels of TTP/TIS11 expression induce apoptosis suggest that all three of these proteins may influence growth or survival pathways. TTP alone however is able to sensitize cells to TNFα mediated cell death, leading us to postulate that
Small-angle x-ray scattering studies of Escherichia coli L-asparaginase.

Abstract Small angle X-ray scattering studies on Escherichia coli l -asparaginase solutions show that the enzyme has a radius of gyration of 34.0 A ± 0.5 A at pH 7. The radius of gyration of the dissociated monomer is 16.0 A ± 1.0 A; it has the general shape of a prolate ellipsoid with an axial ratio of 1.4. A tetramer of four such ellipsoids arranged with 222 symmetry gives good agreement between measured and calculated radii of gyration if the distance between subunit centers is 43 A. The tetramer dissociates on dilution below 1% and at pH values below 3.0. Acid-induced denaturation at pH 2.0 is irreversible in contrast to the reversible guanidine-HCl-induced denaturation.
A REGIMEN OF FLUID RESTRICTION IS ASSOCIATED WITH A DECREASE IN CHRONIC LUNG DISEASE IN THE VERY LOW BIRTHWEIGHT INFANT. 1179

A REGIMEN OF FLUID RESTRICTION IS ASSOCIATED WITH A DECREASE IN CHRONIC LUNG DISEASE IN THE VERY LOW BIRTHWEIGHT INFANT. 1179
Cartesian diver observations of double frequency pressure fluctuations in the upper levels of the ocean

Pressure oscillations having a narrow spectrum centered at 0.175 Hz have been measured in the deep sea at depths between 100 and 300 m. At these depths the nonlinear interaction between oppositely directed sea surface gravity waves causes pressure fluctuations, the intensity of which varies inversely with the square of the depth, uninfluenced by microseismic Rayleigh waves propagating on the seafloor below. The observed pressure fluctuations are consistent with the interaction between waves having a unimodel beam pattern whose half beam width is slightly larger than 90 degrees or with a shoreward propagating pencil beam of swells interacting with a small component reflected from the shore.
Critical role for Gab2 in transformation by BCR/ABL

The BCR/ABL oncogene causes chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in humans and a CML-like disease, as well as lymphoid leukemia, in mice. p210 BCR/ABL is an activated tyrosine kinase that phosphorylates itself and several cellular signaling proteins. The autophosphorylation site tyrosine 177 binds the adaptor Grb2 and helps determine the lineage and severity of BCR/ABL disease: Tyr177 mutation (BCR/ABL-Y177F) dramatically impairs myeloid leukemogenesis, while diminishing lymphoid leukemogenesis. The critical signal(s) from Tyr177 has remained unclear. We report that Tyr177 recruits the scaffolding adaptor Gab2 via a Grb2/Gab2 complex. Compared to BCR/ABL-expressing Ba/F3 cells, BCR/ABL-Y177F cells exhibit markedly reduced Gab2 tyrosine phosphorylation and association of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) and Shp2 with Gab2 and BCR/ABL, and decreased PI3K/Akt and Ras/Erk activation, cell proliferation, and spontaneous migration. Remarkably, bone marrow myeloid progenitors from Gab2 (-/-) mice are resistant to transformation by BCR/ABL, whereas lymphoid transformation is diminished as a consequence of markedly increased apoptosis. BCR/ABL-evoked PI3K/Akt and Ras/Erk activation also are impaired in Gab2 (-/-) primary myeloid and lymphoid cells. Our results identify Gab2 and its associated proteins as key determinants of the lineage and severity of BCR/ABL transformation.
Correspondence of morphology, phylogeny and reproductive barriers in Phacelia subgenus cosmanthus (Hydrophyllaceae)1

Abstract The goal of this study was to examine the taxonomy, ecology, molecular phylogenetics and biosystematics of two apparently closely related species and to elucidate congruent patterns from these often divergent sub-disciplines of systematics. Phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences showed that Phacelia fimbriata and Phacelia purshii are sister species that demonstrate species-specific differences in germination but little morphologic or genetic differentiation. While a geographic region of sympatry exists, elevation differences preclude co-occurrence. The widespread P. purshii supports higher levels of morphological and genetic diversity compared to the narrow endemic, P. fimbriata. Gene flow between members of this closely related species pair is blocked by hybrid inviability whose expression occurs following normal pollen tube growth and apparent fertilization. Hybrid seeds are inviable, an effect likely caused by an embryo-endosperm incompatibility that, following fertilization, permits developme...
Data Markets and the Production of Surveys

Statistics may be interpreted as a normative theory of guessing the features of a population wlhile havinig access to information on only part of it, and the field obviously hias a long history.t Absent from this history, however, but highly present in the actual production of statistics on hiuman populations, is the influence that market forces have on the economic exclhanges made between suppliers and denianders of observations. These market forces are important because statistics exists due to economic constraints. For if there were no economic constraints, then statistics, in the sense defined above, would not be necessary: data for the wlhole population would always be produced. The very essence of statistics is therefore economic, but this paper argues that economics has not been fully utilized in statistics. This is particularly apparent in the failure to address the question of the optimal production of data, as opposed to their consumption. Although economists appreciate well-produced data unlike many other fields of empirical inquiry, they seldom produce their own data. That is, economists are more often consumers than producers of data. This is manifest in the focus of econometrics on the consumption aspects of data, with virtually no attention given to their production.) In particular, despite the fact that sainple survevs provide the cornerstone for empirical researchi in all fields of positive economics, little attention has been paid by economists to their production. This paper argues that this focus among economists is misguided because production biases in surveys may be larger than those introduced by the analysis of the resulting data. Therefore, a systematic understanding of the market incentives involved in the statistical exchanges underlying the production of data is important in order to lower the magnitudes of these production biases. The main argument of the paper is that a better understanding of data production may be gained by recognizing the labour economic
Gene-based therapeutic angiogenesis.

Stimulating new blood vessel growth in ischemic hearts or limbs is a hopeful new approach for patients with advanced vascular disease. This approach is based generally upon the hypothesis that sufficient exposure of a vascular bed to an angiogenic protein will stimulate neovascularization. Most angiogenic proteins have a markedly short serum half-life. To overcome this, researchers have turned to gene therapy to ensure continuous expression of angiogenic proteins and prolonged exposure in the targeted vascular beds. This field is still evolving, and although early clinical trial results suggest angiogenic gene therapy can be successful, many questions remain. As we continue to learn more about the complex interplay and coordinated action of the various factors involved in regulating angiogenesis, it is likely that strategies for therapeutic angiogenesis will continue to change. This review addresses the current state of angiogenic gene therapy, contrasts gene therapy with angiogenic protein delivery, describes early and recent clinical trial data, and discusses potential new directions in the field. © 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Electronic signatures of large amplitude motions: dipole moments of vibrationally excited local-bend and local-stretch states of S0 acetylene.

A one-dimensional local bend model is used to describe the variation of electronic properties of acetylene in vibrational levels that embody large amplitude local motions on the S0 potential energy...
How nation-states create and respond to refugee flows.

"The ideal type of political organization is the nation-state, which leads to a presumption of state legitimacy when the state represents a community, based on ethnic origin or shared political values, that claims a right to persist. A nation-state tends to produce forced migration for three reasons: it contains more than one nation; the populace disagrees about the structure of the state or economy; or the state implodes due to the lack of resources. This paper elaborates a theory of refugee production and policy formation based on the dynamics of the nation-state. It concludes by addressing international refugee policy and practice in light of this theory and political changes following the end of the cold war."
Mega, monster or misplaced? Do portion size brand extensions meet consumer needs?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the brand extension tactics of food marketers, considering the implications in view of public health concerns related to obesity.Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides examples of food marketers that have introduced and promoted healthy menu or product options and examples of product line extensions that are based on larger size as the differentiating attribute.Findings – The paper finds that brand extensions that are based solely on introducing larger sizes may meet consumer needs and benefit organizations in the short term, but at the risk of diluting brand equity and compromising society's long‐term health goals.Practical implications – The paper suggests that food marketers should consider long‐term brand equity issues and societal needs as well as short‐term corporate goals and immediate consumer needs when extending their brands.Originality/value – The paper provides guidance for food marketers, identifying the potential shortcomings in app...
Diversity and Relatedness of Common Carpetgrass Germplasm

Common carpetgrass (Axonopus fissifolius Raddi) is a stoloniferous, sod-forming species used sparingly as a turfgrass. No information is available regarding the relationships between germplasm accessions of this species. Accordingly, the initial objective of this study was to evaluate the relatedness of common carpetgrass germplasm for morphological and turfgrass performance traits. This was accomplished using principal component and cluster analysis. Resulting principal components were separated into related traits that influenced plant architecture, aesthetic appeal, and inflorescence characteristics. The secondary objective was to identify if collection location impacted genotype performance. This was completed by arranging genotypes into groups on the basis of their geographic origin within the collection area and subsequently analyzing the groups to determine if collection location impacted growth and performance. Differences were found for winter color, establishment, and seedhead density between the SE group and other groups (SW, NE, and NW) which were not different from each other. Groups refer to regions; specifically, SE represents south of 31° N latitude and east of 86° W longitude, SW represents south of 31° N latitude and west of 86° W longitude, NE represents north of 31° N latitude and east of 86° W longitude, and NW represents north of 31° N latitude and west of 86° W longitude.
Private combinatorial group testing

Combinatorial group testing, given a set C of individuals ("customers"), consists of applying group tests on subsets of C for the purpose of identifying which members of C are infected (or, more generally, defective in some way). The outcome of a group test reveals only the presence or absence of infection(s) in that group, but a number of group tests exactly identifies all infected members.Although the main motivation for group testing is economic - it drastically cuts down the number of necessary tests - it has an interesting privacy side-effect, namely, that each individual customer is "hiding in a crowd" (the groups within which it is being tested). This privacy side-effect is currently thrown away because the analysis that pinpoints who is infected is carried out by the same entity that prepared the test samples. This paper gives a protocol in which these two duties are separated between Alice and Bob: The protocol informs each customer who is infected privately, and without either Alice or Bob learning who is infected. An interesting feature of our protocol is that a customer need not have any computational power, i.e., the customer can be notified by mailing her (possibly paper copies of) two random strings - one from Alice and one from Bob - so all she has to do is visually check whether these two strings are equal or not.
Rheological Information from Geological Structures

The contrast in rheological properties between layers of different composition or texture, and between stiff inclusions and their matrix, gives rise to perturbations in flow that result in structures. Theory and modeling allow us to understand the conditions necessary for such structures to form and, conversely, we can use the form of the structures to infer possible rheological conditions for the rocks during natural deformation. We review here several structures and their use as indicators of rheological behavior, based on theory, numerical and experimental models, and observations on natural structures.
Biomechanics of Intervertebral Disk Degeneration

Degenerative changes in the material properties of nucleus pulposus and anulus fibrosus promote changes in viscoelastic properties of the whole disc. Volume, pressure and hydration loss in the nucleus pulposus, disk height decreases and fissures in the anulus fibrosus, are some of the signs of the degenerative cascade that advances with age and affect, among others, spinal function and its stability. Much remains to be learned about how these changes affect the function of the motion segment and relate to symptoms such as low back pain and altered spinal biomechanics.
Novel x-ray diffractometer for liquid surface studies

An x‐ray diffractometer for studying the structure of the liquid–vapor interface is described. It is designed to permit reflectivity and scattering studies from liquid surfaces for angles varying from grazing incidence, below the critical angle for total external reflection up to angles ∼3° using a rotating anode x‐ray generator. In principle the diffractometer system can be used to study both the density profile normal to the surface and in‐plane structural features. The former is determined by deviations of the measured reflectivity from the Fresnel law of classical optics and the latter from nonspecular scattering. Results obtained using this spectrometer to measure the density profile normal to the surface of water and a liquid crystal are presented.
Aerogel-platform optical sensors for oxygen gas

Abstract We have developed aerogel-platform gas sensors that respond rapidly to changes in oxygen concentration. The aerogels are prepared via a novel one-step supercritical extraction technique, which employs a metal mold and a commercial hydraulic hot-press. The lack of a solvent extraction step facilitates the entrapment of probe species within the aerogel matrix. The three probes used, tris(2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) [ Ru ( bpy ) 3 2 + ], ruthenium(II)4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline [ Ru ( dpp ) 3 2 + ], and platinum octaethylporphine [PtOEP], respond to variations in ambient oxygen concentrations through marked changes in their fluorescence intensity. The probe is added to a tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) precursor mixture before the mixture is poured into the mold; hence, the probe becomes physically entrapped within the aerogel matrix as it forms. We investigated the response of the probes to oxygen in xerogels and in aerogels. Both the aerogels and xerogels have high porosity, which allows for rapid diffusion of gases into these materials. The sensors respond rapidly and reversibly to changes in oxygen concentration. As oxygen concentration decreases, the Ru ( dpp ) 3 2 + and PtOEP probe fluorescence intensities increase dramatically. The change in intensity of Ru ( bpy ) 3 2 + is more modest. Ru ( dpp ) 3 2 + -doped aerogels and xerogels respond within 10 s and 50 s, respectively, whereas PtOEP-doped aerogels respond within 20 s.
The Factory Model of Disease

The aim of the paper is to give an ontologically informed account of disease that can aid in the construction of disease ontologies. The paper begins by distinguishing cases of diseases from what are purely structur al abnormalities, referred to as 'disorders'. The paper then presents a causal model apt for the understanding of disease that distinguishes dis eases from both their causes and their potential effects. The analysis of disease defended treats disease in terms of distortions of standard cellular
B-RAF Inhibitors: An Evolving Role in the Therapy of Malignant Melanoma

Immunotherapy and chemotherapy benefit few patients with metastatic melanoma, and even fewer experience durable survival benefit. These poor results come from treating melanoma as a single homogeneous disease. Recently, it has been shown that targeting activated tyrosine kinases (oncogenes) can mediate striking clinical benefits in several cancers. In 2002, a mutation at the V600E amino acid of the BRAF serine/threonine kinase was described as present in over 50% of melanomas. The mutation appeared to confer a dependency by the melanoma cancer cell on its activation of the MAP kinase pathway. The frequency and specificity of this mutation (95% at V600E of BRAF) suggests that it may be a potential target for therapy, and recent results with one inhibitor, PLX4032/RG7204, bare this out. This review updates the status of BRAF inhibitors in melanoma and what may be on the horizon.
A note on the Neyman-Johnson technique

A statistical problem which frequently arises in educational and psychological experimentation is that of testing the significance of the difference of the mean scores of two groups on some criterion variable, where the differential effects of one or more variables which are correlated with the criterion must be statistically eliminated. The usual analytical technique for this type of problem is the analysis of covariance (9). The Neyman-Johnson technique (7) provides another, and substantially different, approach. A computational procedure is suggested here which utilizes the advantages of both techniques without an undue increase in computational labor. In addition, the Neyman-Johnson technique is generalized to the case ofn predictor variables. Its application has heretofore been limited to a maximum of three predictor variables.
The use of chondroitin sulfate in prolonging survival of adult skin allografts

Abstract The placenta supplies immunologic protection for the fetus. Chondroitin sulfate, which is in trophoblastic cells in the placenta, and its immunosuppressive effects were investigated in regard to survival of skin allografts. Heparin, an antithrombogenic agent like chondroitin sulfate, showed its immunosuppressive capability and was used as a control agent. CBA mice and C57 mice served as skin allograft models, with groups divided into controls; heparin high and low dosage groups; and chondroitin sulfate high and low dosage groups. Heparin and chondroitin sulfate were given 2–6 hours postgrafting and daily till total slough of the graft or until death of the animal. The control allografts sloughed as predicted after an average of 7±3 days but in the high-dosage group 22±2 days.
Early Mortality after TIPS in a Liver Transplant Recipient.

Very few studies have evaluated transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) insertion in liver transplant recipients. In general, it appears to be a viable long-term treatment option in some patients and may serve as a bridge to retransplantation in others. The overall risk of early mortality appears to be similar to patients without transplants; mortality is more common in patients with advanced liver and kidney disease.
Chemotactic response of embryonic limb bud mesenchymal cells and muscle-derived fibroblasts to transforming growth factor-β

Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) was tested for its ability to stimulate a chemotactic response in Stage 24 embryonic chick limb bud mesenchymal cells and muscle-derived fibroblasts. TGF-β stimulated dose-dependent chemotaxis in both cell populations. Maximal chemotaxis was achieved with a concentration of 5 ng/ml for limb bud cells and as low as 15 pg/ml for muscle-derived fibroblasts. TGF-β was not chemokinetic at these levels. Several other proteins found in hone, namely fibronectin, type I collagen, and osteonectin, were not chemotactic. However, both Bone Glaprotein and basic-FGF were found to be chemotactic but less effective than TGF-β. Comparison with extracts of adult hone indicates that while TGF-β is a potent chemoattractant, it does not account for all the chemotactic activity found in adult bone.
Female Reproductive Arterial Blood Flow and Its Relation to Infertility

Transvaginal color Doppler offers a closer look at blood flow within the reproductive organs. Recent literature using this technique demonstrates that 1) blood flow in the uterine and ovarian arteries is related inversely to estrogen levels, 2) no significant difference is seen between right and left uterine arteries among fertile and infertile patients, and 3) high resistance in uterine and ovarian arteries is correlated directly with poor pregnancy outcome. The question remains: Is there an resistive index or pulsatility index value, representing a cut-off point, for predicting successful outcome in the patient undergoing in vitro fertilization?
Iron Replacement in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND A number of controlled trials and prospective studies have compared intravenous (IV) to oral (PO) iron for the treatment of iron deficiency anemia with mixed results. METHODS We conducted a systematic review of trials published on 2014 that compared IV with PO iron to treat in patients with IBD. Meta-analysis was performed to generate effect estimates. Quality assessment was also performed according to GRADE criteria. RESULTS Five studies met our inclusion criteria, enrolling 694 patients. For the primary outcome of "response" (hemoglobin rise >2 g/dL), there was no significant difference between IV or PO iron; risk ratio for response with IV was 1.08 (95% CI, 0.9-1.2; P = 0.2). For the secondary outcome of mean change in hemoglobin (g/dL), the mean difference between PO and IV iron was not statistically significant (mean difference, 0.6 g/dL, 96% CI, -0.1 to 1.3; P = 0.08). IV iron was associated with a significantly greater initial rise in serum ferritin compared with PO iron (mean difference 89 ng/mL; 95% CI, 29-148, P = 0.003). There was a lower risk of withdrawal due to adverse events in these trials in the IV iron cohorts when compared with PO iron (risk ratio, 0.4; 95% CI, 0.1-1.0; P = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS We found no significant difference between IV and PO iron in correcting iron-deficiency anemia in patients with IBD in this meta-analysis. Patients who received IV iron had a greater rise in serum ferritin and were less likely to stop treatment due to adverse events, when compared with those who received PO iron.
Isolation, genomic organization, and expression analysis of Men1, the murine homolog of the MEN1 gene

The mouse homolog of the human MEN1 gene, which is defective in a dominant familial cancer syndrome, multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1), has been identified and characterized. The mouse Men1 transcript contains an open reading frame encoding a protein of 611 amino acids which has 97% identity and 98% similarity to human menin. Sequence of the entire Men1 gene (9.3 kb) was assembled, revealing 10 exons, with exon 1 being non-coding; a polymorphic tetranucleotide repeat was located in the 5'- flanking region. The exon-intron organization and the size of the coding exons 2-9 were well conserved between the human and mouse genes. Fluorescence in situ hybridization localized the Men1 gene to mouse Chromosome (Chr) 19, a region known to be syntenic to human Chr 11q13, the locus for the MEN1 gene. Northern analysis indicated two messages-2.7 kb and 3.1 kb-expressed in all stages of the embryo analyzed and in all eight adult tissues tested. The larger transcript differs from the smaller by the inclusion of an unspliced intron 1. Whole-mount in situ hybridization of 10.5-day and 11.5-day embryos showed ubiquitous expression of Men1 RNA. Western analysis with antibodies raised against a conserved C-terminal peptide identified an approximately 67-kDa protein in the lysates of adult mouse brain, kidney, liver, pancreas, and spleen tissues, consistent with the size of human menin. The levels of mouse menin do not appear to fluctuate during the cell cycle.
Phase transition energetics and thermodynamic properties of ferroelectric PbTiO3

The ferroelectric phase transition in polycrystalline PbTiO3 was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry and high-resolution x-ray diffraction. The specimen studied was a highly crystalline powder sample carefully prepared by the solution-gelation synthesis technique. The behavior of the excess specific heat, excess enthalpy, excess entropy, and spontaneous tetragonal deformation near the Pm3m ↔ P4mm transition was examined. The thermal evolution of the thermodynamic order parameter as obtained from the specific heat measurements was compared to that determined from the behavior of the spontaneous elastic strain. The coefficients of the relevant Landau potential for lead titanate were deduced from these data. The results provided additional information regarding the basic thermodynamic properties of lead titanate and confirmed that a simply formulated Landau-Devonshire polynomial, having temperature independent higher-order dielectric stiffness coefficients, affords a satisfactory and self-consistent description of the single-domain ferroelectric behavior.
Load Transmission Through Ice Rubble on the Gulf Molikpaq

A test program has been performed in an ice modeling basin to measure the load apportioning through ice rubble around Gulf's Molikpaq, a steel caisson offshore structure. A model of the Molikpaq and its supporting submarine berm was built at a 1:75 scale. The Molikpaq and berm were instrumented independently, so the load apportioning could be determined. Thirty-six ice-loading events, including rubble formation from level ice as well as impacts through the rubble by extreme ice features, were analyzed. The results of the tests show that the ice rubble can deform and transmit load to the structure at force levels well below those predicted by a rigid-body analysis of the rubble.
α7 Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor knockout selectively enhances ethanol-, but not β-amyloid-induced neurotoxicity

Abstract The α7 subtype of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) has been implicated as a potential site of action for two neurotoxins, ethanol and the Alzheimer's disease related peptide, β-amyloid. Here, we utilized primary neuronal cultures of cerebral cortex from α7 nAChR null mutant mice to examine the role of this receptor in modulating the neurotoxic properties of subchronic, “binge” ethanol and β-amyloid. Knockout of the α7 nAChR gene selectively enhanced ethanol-induced neurotoxicity in a gene dosage-related fashion. Susceptibility of cultures to β-amyloid induced toxicity, however, was unaffected by α7 nAChR gene null mutation. Further, β-amyloid did not inhibit the binding of the highly α7-selective radioligand, [125I]α-bungarotoxin. On the other hand, in studies in Xenopus oocytes ethanol efficaciously inhibited α7 nAChR function. These data suggest that α7 nAChRs modulate the neurotoxic effects of binge ethanol, but not the neurotoxicity produced by β-amyloid. It is hypothesized that inhibition of α7 nAChRs by ethanol provides partial protection against the neurotoxic properties of subchronic ethanol.
Comparison of the Nutritive Value of Yeasts Grown on Hydrocarbon Feedstocks under Varying Processing Conditions

Abstract Samples of yeasts produced on different hydrocarbon feedstocks with variations in methods of processing were evaluated as sole protein sources in chick diets. Net Protein Utilization (NPU) and Nitrogen Efficiency Ratio (NER) values were determined as relative index of quality in comparison to an isolated soybean protein. All diets were supplemented with 0.3% DL-methionine so as to place emphasis upon the value of the other essential amino acids. NPU values for the yeast samples ranged from 40.8 to 73.5 in comparison to a value of 85.5 for the soybean protein. NER values ranged from 4.91 to 15.55 for the yeasts in comparison to 19.70 for the soybean protein. A large portion of the nitrogenous fraction of the yeasts is not in the form of amino acids which tend to downgrade the value of these products when compared on the basis of total nitrogen.
Young citizens, American TV newscasts and the collective memory

Using a life history method and comparing results with earlier research on newspapers, we examine college students’ life experiences with television news, particularly those related to its role in citizenship. Results show differences in how television news is understood and used by gender, age, ethnicity. The research suggests a fundamental reevaluation of that role is necessary.
Evaluation of two computerized data collection devices for research in zoos

Computerized data collection devices can aid research in zoos if applied carefully to the research study. This article provides guidelines for use of two models of a representative data collection device, the Datamyte. The general features of each model are presented and compared in two hypothetical zoo studies. In addition, a human engineering analysis of the placement of keys and the physical enclosure was conducted at our laboratories. Procedures to overcome minor flaws in construction and design are discussed. The Datamyte 801 is less complicated, has limited data storage capacity, and is easier for use by novice observers than the Datamyte 1000. Therefore the Datamyte 801 is recommended for limited, short-term focal animal studies. The Datamyte 1000 is capable of complicated coding schemes at the expense of field analysis of the data, and simplicity in its basic operation.
Kinetics and multilayering in the adsorption of polyelectrolytes to a charged surface

The kinetics of radiolabeled poly(styrene sulfonate) adsorbing at a positively-charged surface were determined using a surface-charged plastic scintillator as substrate. In situ measurements indicate diffusion-limited adsorption with the final adsorbance dependent on the solution concentration of polyelectrolyte. An absence of self-exchange of unlabeled for labeled polymer suggests a thermodynamically irreversible process, at least for highly-charged polymers on highly-charged surfaces in the weak screening limit. Charge compensation of sulfonate was determined by displacement of labeled calcium ( 45 Ca 2+ ) probe ions. Compensation is complete for surface sites and only partial for interior sulfonates. The use of radiometric techniques facilitates studies of polyelectrolyte multilayer formation.
ELECTROSTATIC FORCES BETWEEN CLAY AND CATIONS AS CALCULATED AND INFERRED FROM ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY

Equivalent conductivities of adsorbed cations were determined in clays saturated with Na+, Cs+, Ca++ and with mixtures of these cations. Measurements were also made on Ca++ clays which had been forced by previous drying into bundles of platelets or tac-toids. The average mobility of adsorbed Ca++ and Cs+ is much lower than that of adsorbed Na+.
Energy-Efficient Base Station Deployment in Heterogeneous Networks

In this letter, we address the base station (BS) deployment problem in heterogeneous networks (HetNets) and propose an energy-efficient solution. Supporting the network with additional BSs increases the total capacity of the network. However, this process may reduce the energy efficiency of the network. The proposed algorithm studies the energy efficiency aspect of the micro BS deployment problem. The deployment problem can be divided into two subproblems: choosing candidate locations for micro BSs and selecting the optimum set among these candidates. Inhomogeneous distribution of the candidate locations is misleading for different user sets. Selecting the optimum micro BSs among the candidate locations is a combinatorial problem. To provide an approximate solution to this problem, we propose a greedy algorithm. Our simulation results demonstrate that by optimizing the BS location and the number of BSs to be deployed, the energy efficiency of the system with only macro BSs can be improved up to 1.4-1.65 times for a range of realistic micro BS transmit power levels.
Properties of Dopamine Release and Uptake in the Songbird Basal Ganglia

Vocal learning in songbirds requires a basal ganglia circuit termed the anterior forebrain pathway (AFP). The AFP is not required for song production, and its role in song learning is not well unde...