cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
User-defined backtracking criteria for symbolic execution

Symbolic execution is a path-sensitive program analysis technique that aids users with program verification. To avoid exploring infeasible paths, symbolic execution checks the prefix of a current path for feasibility by adding a branch constraint to the path prefix and passing the formula to an off-the-shelf SMT solver for an evaluation. If the solver returns SAT/UNSAT, then the prefix is marked as feasible/infeasible. However, the solver can also return an UNKNOWN result, which means it cannot evaluate the formula. In addition, an operation occurring before a constraint can cause over-approximation that propagates to the solver's result. Moreover, symbolic execution might time out the solver if it takes too long to run. A symbolic execution tool might handle these uncertainties by backtracking or by continuing its exploration of the prefix. This paper examines the behavior of path constraints beyond uncertain backtracking points. String and integer constraints are collected from concrete program execution via dynamic symbolic execution. These constraints are used to analyze how over- approximation in a path prefix affects the completeness of its extensions. We also examine variations in time required to decide a path constraint. Our findings suggest that a custom backtracking criteria defined by the user does improve the completeness of symbolic execution.
The first Lp-cohomology of some finitely generated groups and p-harmonic functions

Let G be a finitely generated infinite group and let p>1. In this paper we make a connection between the first Lp-cohomology space of G and p-harmonic functions on G. We also describe the elements in the first Lp-cohomology space of groups with polynomial growth, and we give an inclusion result for nonamenable groups.
Protection of the Membrane Permeability Barrier by Annexins

Biological membranes are exposed to a number of chemical and physical stresses that alter the structure of the lipid bilayer in such a way that the permeability barrier to hydrophilic molecules and ions is degraded. These stresses include amphiphilic molecules involved in metabolism and signaling, highly charged polyamines, reactive oxygen species, and osmotic stress. As annexins are known to bind to lipid headgroups in the presence of calcium and increase the order of the bilayer lipids, this study addressed whether this activity of annexins provides a potential benefit to the membrane of protecting the bilayer against disruptions of this nature, or can promote restoration of the permeability barrier after damage by such agents. The release of carboxyfluorescein from large unilamellar vesicles composed of lipids characteristically present in the inner leaflet of cell membranes (PS/PE/PC/PI/cholesterol) was used to measure membrane permeability. It was determined that in the presence of calcium annexin A6 reduced baseline leakage from the vesicles and reduced or reversed damage due to lysophosphatidic acid, ceramide, arachidonic acid, spermidine, osmotic shock, or lipid peroxidation by H2O2. The annexin was also found to protect or restore the integrity of a natural biological membrane, the chromaffin granule membrane, challenged by lysophosphatidylcholine or sphingosine. In a cell, it is likely annexins would move to sites of breakdown of the permeability barrier because of the calcium-dependent binding of annexins to membranes at sites of calcium entry. Because of the fundamental importance to life of maintaining the permeability barrier of the cell membrane, it is proposed here that this property of annexins may represent a critical, primordial activity that explains their great evolutionary conservation and abundant expression in most cells.
Nonlinear amygdala response to face trustworthiness: Contributions of high and low spatial frequency information

Previous neuroimaging research has shown amygdala sensitivity to the perceived trustworthiness of neutral faces, with greater responses to untrustworthy compared with trustworthy faces. This observation is consistent with the common view that the amygdala encodes fear and is preferentially responsive to negative stimuli. However, some studies have shown greater amygdala activation to positive compared with neutral stimuli. The first goal of this study was to more fully characterize the amygdala response to face trustworthiness by modeling its activation with both linear and nonlinear predictors. Using fMRI, we report a nonmonotonic response profile, such that the amygdala responds strongest to highly trustworthy and highly untrustworthy faces. This finding complicates future attempts to make inferences about mental states based on activation in the amygdala. The second goal of the study was to test for modulatory effects of image spatial frequency filtering on the amygdala response. We predicted greater amygdala sensitivity to face trustworthiness for low spatial frequency images compared with high spatial frequency images. Instead, we found that both frequency ranges provided sufficient information for the amygdala to differentiate faces on trustworthiness. This finding is consistent with behavioral results and suggests that trustworthiness information may reach the amygdala through pathways carrying both coarse and fine resolution visual signals.
Authors’ response for “antral follicle count in clinical practice: analyzing clinical relevance”

We must not be so restrictive in our practices as to disallow patients the opportunity of genetic parenthood by refusing them IVF simply because of a low antral follicle count.
Revisiting Louisiana Drug Interdiction: Drug Profiling in the Louisiana Justice System:

Drug profiling by the Louisiana State Police Criminal Patrol Unit (LSP-CPU) and the deputies of the St Martin Parish Sheriff's Office (SMSO) has been through in-depth analyses by Ruiz (2000) and co...
A tourette‐like syndrome following cardiopulmonary bypass and hypothermia: MRI volumetric measurements

We present the case of an adolescent boy who developed a variety of simple and complex motor and vocal tics (Tourette-like syndrome), along with inattentiveness and obsessive-compulsive behaviors after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass and profound hypothermia. A single photon emission computed tomography study 2 months after surgery showed reduced uptake in the left hemisphere and 2 years later a perfusion defect in the basal ganglia. Serial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies were normal. Volumetric MRI studies were obtained 4 years after surgery and compared with published values for normal individuals and children with Tourette syndrome (TS), including subsets matched for age, sex, and handedness. Measurement of basal ganglia structures showed a right-dominant asymmetry of the caudate and putamen, in part similar to findings previously reported in patients with TS. Other volumetric abnormalities included a > 2-SD reduction of cortical gray matter, a small decrease of total cerebral volume, and increase in cerebral white matter. Although a variety of neurological problems may occur after cardiopulmonary bypass, to our knowledge this case represents the first report of a chronic tic disorder following cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass and hypothermia.
Fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of low temperature two-phase micro-channel heat sinks – Part 1: Experimental methods and flow visualization results

Abstract A new cooling scheme is proposed where the primary working fluid flowing through a micro-channel heat sink is pre-cooled to low temperature using an indirect refrigeration cooling system. Cooling performance was explored using HFE 7100 as working fluid and four different micro-channel sizes. High-speed video imaging was employed to help explain the complex interrelated influences of hydraulic diameter, micro-channel width, mass velocity and subcooling on cooling performance. Unlike most prior two-phase micro-channel heat sink studies, which involved annular film evaporation due high void fraction, the low coolant temperatures used in this study produced subcooled flow boiling conditions. Decreasing coolant temperature delayed the onset of boiling, reduced bubble size and coalescence effects, and enhanced CHF. Heat fluxes in excess of 700 W/cm 2 could be managed without burnout. Premature CHF occurred at low mass velocities and was caused by vapor flow reversal toward the inlet plenum. This form of CHF was eliminated by decreasing coolant temperature and/or increasing flow rate.
Limb Regeneration: Induction in the Newborn Opossum

The marsupial Didelphys virginiana (the North American opossumn) is uniquely suited for studies of mammalian limb replacement. By transplanting nervous tissute to the limb, regeneration has been successfully induced in this mammal.
Computing bounds on steady state availability of repairable computer systems

One of the most important performance measures for computer system designers is system availability. Most often, Markov models are used in representing systems for dependability/availability analysis. Due to complex interactions between components and complex repair policies, the Markov model often has an irregular structure, and closed-form solutions are extremely difficult to obtain. Also, a realistic system model often has an unmanageably large state space and it quickly becomes impractical to even generate the entire transition rate matrix. In this paper, we present a methodology that can (i) bound the system steady state availability and at the same time, (ii) drastically reduce the state space of the model that must be solved. The bounding algorithm is iterative and generates a part of the transition matrix at each step. At each step, tighter bounds on system availability are obtained. The algorithm also allows the size of the submodel, to be solved at each step, to be chosen so as to accommodate memory limitations. This general bounding methodology provides an efficient way to evaluate dependability models with very large state spaces without ever generating the entire transition rate matrix.
Comparative paleoecology of Paleogene and Neogene mammalian faunas: Trophic structure and composition

Abstract Trophic structure and composition are examined in two important biotic records, one the Paleogene of Wyoming and Montana, and the other from the Neogene of Pakistan. The Paleogene sequence spans approximately 10 million years and encompasses four North American Land Mammal Ages (Torrejonian, Tiffanian, Clarkforkian, and Wasatchian). The Neogene sequence spans approximately 17 m.y. and includes most of the Miocene and Pliocene with the best documented interval spanning from 16 to 7 Ma. Five basic trophic categories (primary consumers: herbivores, frugivores, omnivores: secondary consumers: insectivores, carnivores) are recognized for Paleogene and Neogene mammals based on tooth morphology, body size, and analogy with modern mammalian groups. The Paleogene mammalian biota is characterized as one in which both trophic structure and taxonomic composition change through the history of the record. The Neogene mammalian biota maintains a relatively consistent trophic structure through most of the record, although taxonomic composition changes substantially through time. Based on comparisons of trophic structure from the Paleogene and Neogene records with that of selected modern mammalian faunas, Paleogene habitats fluctuated between closed, humid forests and more open, drier woodlands. Neogene trophic structure indicates that savanna woodlands were the typical habitat present through most of the sequence. Only after 7 Ma did these woodlands give way to more open grasslands in Pakistan.
There has to be a better way: evolution of internal filtration glaucoma surgeries.

Accelerating progress in biomedical engineering1 and the ability to live image and understand delicate outflow structures2 have produced an abundance of new surgical options in the last few years for an ancient disease that stubbornly defies the best hands and minds. Glaucoma, first described by Hippocrates 400 BC as vision loss in the elderly that is different from cataract,3 is now a leading cause of irreversible blindness with increasing prevalence in an aging population.4 Despite the many new arrivals, the concepts behind recent names like Trabectome,5 iStent,6 Hydrus,7 Xen,8 Solx,9 Cypass,10 Canaloplasty,11 ECP12 are not entirely new: open angle glaucoma has been surgically treated for 150–100 years by either increasing external filtration,13 internal filtration (angle surgery;14 suprachoroidal drainage15) or ciliodestruction.16 Development of new devices and technologies was spurred by the realisation that the standard surgeries performed today for glaucoma—trabeculectomy and epibulbar glaucoma drainage device surgery—have unacceptably high failure and complication rates even when performed as primary surgeries.17 While not as rudimentary and unsuccessful as at the time of their inception in the form of guarded external filtration by Sugar in 1962,18 or the gold wire shunt by De Wecker in 1876,19 both present iterations seem almost as primitive given that urgent postoperative interventions have to be performed in astonishing 74% of trabeculectomies and 27% of tube shunts.20 Serious, vision-threatening early postoperative complications occur in 39% of trabeculectomy and 22% of tube shunt patients, while additional serious complications during 5-year follow-up occur in 38% …
The neurobiology of opiate tolerance, dependence and sensitization: mechanisms of NMDA receptor-dependent synaptic plasticity.

Long-term administration of opiates leads to changes in the effects of these drugs, including tolerance, sensitization and physical dependence. There is, as yet, incomplete understanding of the neural mechanisms that underlie these phenomena. Tolerance, sensitization and physical dependence can be considered adaptive processes similar to other experience-dependent changes in the brain, such as learning and neural development. There is considerable evidence demonstrating that N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors and downstream signaling cascades may have an important role in different forms of experience-dependent changes in the brain and behavior. This review will explore evidence indicating that NMDA receptors and downstream messengers may be involved in opiate tolerance, sensitization and physical dependence. This evidence has been used to develop a cellular model of NMDA receptor/opiate interactions. According to this model, mu opioid receptor stimulation leads to a protein kinase C-mediated activation of NMDA receptors. Activation of NMDA receptors leads to influx of calcium and activation of calcium-dependent processes. These calcium-dependent processes have the ability to produce critical changes in opioid-responsive neurons, including inhibition of opioid receptor/second messenger coupling. This model is similar to cellular models of learning and neural development in which NMDA receptors have a central role. Together, the evidence suggests that the mechanisms that underlie changes in the brain and behavior produced by long-term opiate use may be similar to other central nervous system adaptations. The experimental findings and the resulting model may have implications for the treatment of pain and addiction.
The application of alpha spectrometry to the discovery of new elements heavy-ion beam bombardment☆

Starting with polonium in 1898, alpha spectrometry has played a decisive role in the discovery of new, heavy elements. For even-even nuclei, alpha spectra have proven simple to interpret and exhibit systematic trends that allow extrapolation to unknown isotopes. The early discovery of the “natural” alpha decay series led to the very powerful method of “genetically” linking the decay of new elements to the well-established alpha emission of “daughter” and “granddaughter” nuclei. This technique has been used for all recent discoveries of new elements, including Z = 101, thin samples suitable for alpha spectrometry were prepared by chemical methods. With the advent of heavy-ion accelerators, new sample preparation methods emerged. These were based on the large momentum transfer associated with heavy-ion reactions, which produced energetic target recoils that, when ejected from the target, could be thermalized in helium gas. Subsequent electrical deposition or a helium jet technique yielded samples that were not only thin enough for alpha spectrometry, but also for alpha and beta-recoil experiments. Many variations of these methods have been developed and will be covered in this paper. For the synthesis of element 106, an aerosol-based recoil transport technique was devised. In this most recent experiments, alpha spectrometry has been coupled with the magnetic analysis of the recoils. The time from production to analysis of an isotope has thereby been reduced to 10−1−100s for helium jets and 101−103 s for rapid chemical separations. Experiments are now in progress to synthesize super heavy elements (SHE) and to analyse them with These latest techniques. Again, alpha spectrometry will play a major role, since the expected signature for the decay of a SHE is a sequence of alpha decays followed by spontaneous fission.
Atherosclerotic Aortic Occlusion

This 46-year-old woman had lifestyle-limiting claudication of the legs. She had hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and a history of smoking. A computed tomographic angiogram showed aortic occlusion just below the origin of the renal arteries (red arrowhead).
NKL homeobox genes in leukemia

NK-like (NKL) homeobox genes code for transcription factors, which can act as key regulators in fundamental cellular processes. NKL genes have been implicated in divergent types of cancer. In this review, we summarize the involvement of NKL genes in cancer and leukemia in particular. NKL genes can act as tumor-suppressor genes and as oncogenes, depending on tissue type. Aberrant expression of NKL genes is especially common in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). In T-ALL, 8 NKL genes have been reported to be highly expressed in specific T-ALL subgroups, and in ~30% of cases, high expression is caused by chromosomal rearrangement of 1 of 5 NKL genes. Most of these NKL genes are normally not expressed in T-cell development. We hypothesize that the NKL genes might share a similar downstream effect that promotes leukemogenesis, possibly due to mimicking a NKL gene that has a physiological role in early hematopoietic development, such as HHEX. All eight NKL genes posses a conserved Eh1 repressor motif, which has an important role in regulating downstream targets in hematopoiesis and possibly in leukemogenesis as well. Identification of a potential common leukemogenic NKL downstream pathway will provide a promising subject for future studies.
Protein kinase A antagonizes platelet-derived growth factor-induced signaling by mitogen-activated protein kinase in human arterial smooth muscle cells.

Abstract Stimulation of aortic smooth muscle cells with platelet-derived growth factor BB homodimer (PDGF-BB) leads to the rapid activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and MAPK kinase (MAPKK). Compounds that increase cAMP and activate protein kinase A (PKA)--prostaglandin E2, isoproterenol, cholera toxin, and forskolin--were found to inhibit the PDGF-BB-induced activation of MAPKK and MAPK. Forskolin, but not the inactive analogue 1,9-dideoxyforskolin, inhibited PDGF-BB-stimulated MAPKK and MAPK activation in a dose-dependent manner. PKA antagonism of MAPK signaling was observed at all doses of PDGF-BB or PDGF-AA. PKA did not inhibit MAPKK and MAPK activity in vitro, and MAPKK and MAPK from extracts of forskolin-treated cells could be activated normally with purified Raf-1 and MAPKK, respectively, suggesting that PKA blocked signaling upstream of MAPKK. Neither PDGF-BB-stimulated tyrosine autophosphorylation of the PDGF receptor beta subunit nor inositol monophosphate accumulation was affected by increased PKA activity, suggesting that PKA inhibits events downstream of the PDGF receptor. This study provides an example of cross talk between two important signaling systems activated by physiological stimuli in smooth muscle cells--namely, the PKA pathway and the growth factor-activated MAPK cascade.
Digital-Assisted Asynchronous Compressive Sensing Front-End

Compressive sensing (CS) is a promising technique that enables sub-Nyquist sampling, while still guaranteeing the reliable signal recovery. However, existing mixed-signal CS front-end implementation schemes often suffer from high power consumption and nonlinearity. This paper presents a digital-assisted asynchronous compressive sensing (DACS) front-end which offers lower power and higher reconstruction performance relative to the conventional CS-based approaches. The front-end architecture leverages a continuous-time ternary encoding scheme which modulates amplitude variation to ternary timing information. Power is optimized by employing digital-assisted modules in the front-end circuit and a part-time operation strategy for high-power modules. An S-member Group-based Total Variation (S -GTV) algorithm is proposed for the sparse reconstruction of piecewise-constant signals. By including both the inter-group and intra-group total variation, the S-GTV scheme outperforms the conventional TV-based methods in terms of faster convergence rate and better sparse reconstruction performance. Analyses and simulations with a typical ECG recording system confirm that the proposed DACS front-end outperforms a conventional CS-based front-end using a random demodulator in terms of lower power consumption, higher recovery performance, and more system flexibility.
Deformable Contour Method: A Constrained Optimization Approach

In this paper, a class of deformable contour methods using a constrained optimization approach of minimizing a contour energy function satisfying an interior homogeneity constraint is proposed. The class is defined by any positive potential function describing the contour interior characterization. An evolutionary strategy is used to derive the algorithm. A similarity threshold Tv can be used to determine the interior size and shape of the contour. Sensitivity and significance of Tv and σ (a spreadness measure) are also discussed and shown. Experiments on noisy images and the convergence to a minimum energy gap contour are included. The developed method has been applied to a variety of medical images from CT abdominal section, MRI image slices of brain, brain tumor, a pig heart ultrasound image sequence to visual blood cell images. As the results show, the algorithm can be adapted to a broad range of medical images containing objects with vague, complex and/or irregular shape boundary, inhomogeneous and noisy interior, and contour with small gaps.
Low‐Calcium Diets Enhance Phytate‐Phosphorus Availability

This study showed that, in chickens, the negative effects of phytate-phosphorus in a low inorganic phosphorus diet could be completely reversed through the additive effects of reduced dietary calcium and increased cholecalciferol. In the future, perhaps greater reliance on more readily available plant phosphorus sources may be instituted in developing countries, where cheap sources of inorganic phosphorus are difficult to obtain.
Archaeobotanical Evidence for Indigenous Burning Practices and Foodways at CA-SMA-113

AbstractOn the central California coast, the low incidence of lightning fires, coupled with a relatively predictable regional vegetation succession pattern, leads to the expectation that in the absence of regular anthropogenic burning, the landscape would have been dominated by dense woody shrubland and forest cover with few plant food resources. Assessment of historical vegetation change in the Quiroste Valley research area supports this hypothesis. Archaeobotanical research at site CA-SMA-113 indicates that during the late Holocene (ca. cal AD 1000–1300), site inhabitants relied heavily on grassland seed foods, producing archaeobotanical assemblages much like those in contemporaneous interior central California sites. The CA-SMA-113 assemblage also contains several culturally or ecologically fire-associated plants in proportions higher than would be expected in the absence of anthropogenic burning. The CA-SMA-113 wood charcoal assemblage is composed mostly of taxa that are compatible with low intensity ...
Perceptual Computer application in Learning Outcome evaluation

The Perceptual Computer (Per-C) is an application of Zadeh's theory of computing with words (CWW) in the field of assisting people to make subjective judgments. This paper describes an application of the Per-C to evaluate Learning Outcomes (LOs) in an outcome-based education (OBE) system. The evaluation problem in this paper is viewed as a hierarchical decision making problem. In the first level of the hierarchy, the crisp score of each assessment is mapped into an interval type-2 fuzzy set (IT2 FS) for each student. The assessments are then aggregated to obtain the performance of each LO. The linguistic weighted power mean (LWPM) is used as the CWW engine, so that some mandatory requirements can be implemented. Finally, by aggregating the performance of all LOs, the final performance is obtained. We also present an example of our proposed Per-C using a fictitious course.
Surfactant protein B and C analogues.

Abstract Mammalian lung surfactant is a mixture of phospholipids and four surfactant-associated proteins (SP-A, SP-B, SP-C, and SP-D). Its major function is to reduce surface tension at the air–water interface in the terminal airways by the formation of a surface–active film highly enriched in dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC), thereby preventing alveolar collapse during expiration. SP-A and SP-D are large hydrophilic proteins, which play an important role in host defense, whereas the small hydrophobic peptides SP-B and SP-C interact with DPPC to generate and maintain a surface-active film. Surfactant replacement therapy with bovine and porcine lung surfactant extracts, which contain only polar lipids and SP-B and SP-C, has revolutionized the clinical management of premature infants with respiratory distress syndrome. Newer surfactant preparations will probably be based on SP-B and SP-C, produced by recombinant technology or peptide synthesis, and reconstituted with selected synthetic lipids. The development of peptide analogues of SP-B and SP-C offers the possibility to study their molecular mechanism of action and will allow the design of surfactant formulations for specific pulmonary diseases and better quality control. This review describes the hydrophobic peptide analogues developed thus far and their potential for use in a new generation of synthetic surfactant preparations.
Avoiding collisions: the Spaceguard Foundation

Abstract The Earth has a long and violent history of collisions with extraterrestrial bodies such as asteroids and comet nuclei. Several of these impacts have been large enough to produce major environmental changes, causing mass extinctions and severe alterations to weather patterns and geography. There is no reason to suppose that the likelihood of such collisions will be any less in the future and the spread of human settlement, civilisation, and particularly urbanisation, makes it much more likely that a future impact, even relatively small, could result in the massive loss of human life and property. Despite the fact that the technology exists to predict and to some extent prevent such events, there is currently no co-ordinated international response to this threat. This article presents a realistic assessment of the threat to Earth from NEOs, describes the (underfunded) efforts so far made to counter it and makes a plea for further action to produce a fully functioning Spaceguard Foundation.
Distribution and isotopic abundance of biogenic elements in lunar samples

A review of the abundance of six biologically important elements (H, C, N, O. P and S) demonstrates that they are present in trace amounts only in lunar matter analysed to date. To the endogenous lunar content, elements are contributed by solar wind irradiation and meteorite impacts. However, it is not yet possible to determine the relative importance of the three sources. Enrichment of the heavy isotopes, C13, O18, S34 suggest that these elements may be lost from the lunar surface by ‘hydrogen stripping’ (from solar wind protons) as volatile gases. The general lack of water, suggests that organic synthesis could not easily be accomplished in lunar rocks. High energy irradiation of the lunar surface may result in rapid destruction of organic matter not protected by a silicate matrix. It is apparent from present data available, that the ambient lunar surface could not support metabolism of known microorganisms.
Isolation and purification of an outer membrane protein of Edwardsiella ictaluri and its antigenicity to channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)

Abstract An outer membrane protein of Edwardsiella ictaluri was isolated, purified, partially characterised, and its antigenicity compared to that of crude preparations. Two major proteins, with apparent molecular mass of 36 and 18·5 kDa were detected in the cell extract preparations. After 30 passages of the bacterium on laboratory media, only the 36-kDa protein was still detectable on sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gels. Thirty-six, 42·5 and 18·5-kDa proteins were present in the purified outer membrane preparation of E. ictaluri , but only the 36-kDa was obtained in sufficient quantity to study further because the other two were lost after repetitive subcultivation of E. ictaluri . The immune response of channel catfish ( Ictalurus punctatus ) to the purified outer membrane protein was significantly ( P >0·05) less than that produced by five-fold greater quantities of cell extract and crude membrane protein.
Combined antiviral effects of paired nucleosides against guinea pig cytomegalovirus replication in vitro.

Abstract Several promising antiviral nucleosides have been tested in paired combinations against guinea pig cytomegalovirus (GPCMV) replication in guinea pig embryo (GPE) cells by plaque reduction assay; these are [9-(2-hydroxy-1-3-2-dioxaphosphorinan-5-yl)oxymethyl]-guanine P-oxide (2′nor-cGMP, compound 164), [4-amino-5-bromo-7-(2-hydroxyethoxymethyl)-pyrrolo(2,3-d)pyrimidine] (compound 102), (S)-1-(3-hydroxy-2-phosphonylmethoxypropyl)cytosine (HPMPC), 9-(1,3-dihydroxy-2-propoxymethyl)guanine (DHPG), 9-(2-hydroxyethoxymethyl)guanine (acyclovir, ACV) and 3′-azido-3′-deoxythymidine (zidovudine, AZT). Various degrees of interactions were observed; i.e. synergistic reactions were noted in the presence of compound 164/compound 102 and compound 164/DHPG combinations at all concentrations tested. HPMPC/DHPG combinations were synergistic at relatively lower concentrations of DHPG, but became antagonistic as the concentration of DHPG increased. Combinations of compound 164/ACV and DHPG/AZT were antagonistic.
Trimethyltin as a selective adrenal chemosympatholytic agent in vivo: effect precedes both clinical and histopathological evidence of toxicity.

Trimethyltin (TMT) is a potent neuronotoxiciant but there is little data regarding its systemic effects. In this study, female BALB/c mice were administered either 0.9% saline or 2.75 mg TMT/kg intraperitoneally (i.p.). The animals were then housed in room air or in glass chambers flushed with either 10%, 40%, or 100% oxygen. Mice were sacrificed at 4, 8, 24, and 48 h after treatment and adrenals analyzed for various neurotransmitters by ion-pairing HPLC with electrochemical detection. In addition, adrenal S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and blood ketone bodies were determined Sections of adrenals were evaluated by electron microscopy for histopathological changes. In vivo treatment with the toxicant resulted in a significant decrease in adrenal epinephrine and norepinephrine levels as early as 8 h following treatment. This effect preceded the appearance of both clinical signs and histopathological changes in the hippocampus by 12-24 h. With exposure to TMT in room air, mouse adrenal content of epinephrine fell from 1861.3 +/- 97.3 ng/4 mg to 1493.3 +/- 137.0 ng/4 mg while norepinephrine levels fell from 779.6 +/- 32.3 ng/4 mg to 503.4 +/- 44.3 ng/4 after 8 h. Supplementation with 40% oxygen did not attenuate this effect but in the case of mice treated with TMT and housed in 100% oxygen for 48 h, actually exacerbated the adrenal epinephrine depletion. Housing in approximately half normal atmospheric oxygen (10%) neither prevented nor enhanced the effects of TMT. The epinephrine/norepinephrine ratios were: control, 2.44; TMT (room air), 1.56; TMT (10% O2), 1.72; TMT (40% O2), 1.44; TMT (100% O2), 1.07. None of the conditions used in this study caused a decrease in adrenal dopamine, 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) or in the level of SAM. TMT treatment significantly increased blood ketone bodies indicating additional metabolic dysfunction. The significance of these findings in relation to TMT neuronotoxicity and fatty liver syndrome are discussed.
The U.S. accelerator transmutation of waste program

Abstract A national project to develop a future capability to separate actinides and long-lived fission products from spent fuel, to transmute them, and to dispose off the remaining waste in optimal waste forms has begun in the United States. This project is based on the Accelerator-driven Transmutation of Waste (ATW) program developed during the 1990s at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and has its technological roots in several technologies that have been developed by the multi-mission laboratories of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). In the Fiscal Year 1999 Energy and Water Appropriation Act, the U.S. Congress directed the DOE to study ATW and by the end of FY99 to prepare a “roadmap” for developing this technology. DOE convened a steering committee, assembled four technical working groups consisting of members from many national laboratories, and consulted with several individual international and national experts. The finished product, “A Roadmap for Developing ATW Technology – A Report to Congress,” recommends a five-year, $281 M, science-based, technical-risk-reduction program. This paper provides an overview of the U.S. Roadmap for developing ATW technology, the organization of the national ATW Project, the critical issues in subsystems and technological options, deployment scenarios, institutional challenges, and academic and international collaboration.
Pitfalls on the road to measurement: The dangerous liaison of human resources with the ideas of accounting and finance

This article discusses the numerous pitfalls and measurement biases that need to be considered in building effective measurement systems to assess human resources. It presents arguments that there is little convincing evidence that existing measurement practices do very well in dealing with these issues and much to suggest they do not. One further issue is raised which potentially dwarfs the other concerns: the politics of the measurement process and its likely effect on the human resource function. An alternative perspective is also offered to that traditionally advanced by, for example, finance, which sees the firm as a portfolio of assets to be bought and sold. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Studies on Palamodov's algorithm for cone-beam CT along a general curve

Inspired by Katsevich's exact helical cone-beam formula, Palamodov made the first attempt to perform exact image reconstruction from cone-beam data collected along a general scanning trajectory [1]. In contrast to the well-known general exact cone-beam reconstruction schemes formulated by Tuy, Smith, Grangeat and Katsevich, respectively, Palamodov's algorithm was intended to work with truncated data and without the need to specify any weighting function. In this paper, after reformulating Palamodov's formula and comparing it with Katsevich's helical cone-beam formula, we find that Palamodov's algorithm is not theoretically exact due to an inaccurate estimate. Then, we numerically implement it using a planar detector array and simulate the case of cone-beam CT with a nonstandard saddle curve as the scanning trajectory. The reconstruction results suggest that Palamodov's algorithm is an attractive algorithm for approximate cone-beam reconstruction in the case of general cone-beam scanning.
Initial Operation Of A Polarization-Controlled Beamed ECH Launcher

A system for launching 53.2-GHz electron cyclotron heating (ECH) power is being installed on the Advanced Toroidal Facility (ATF) fusion experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The launcher provides a narrow linearly polarized beam. The plane of polarization is easily rotated. Measurements indicate that the launcher will have a -20 dB beam width of 15 cm at the plasma center and polarization purity of >97%. The ATF (1) requires 53.2-GHz microwave power for ECH plasma ionization and heating; this power is generated by a 200-kW cw gyrotron. Theoretical ray tracing studies have shown almost complete first-pass power absorption is possible if the power is within the saddle point in the proper polarization (2). Therefore, a narrow-beam-width launcher with adjustable polarization is being developed. In ATF the confining magnetic field can operate continuously at 1 T or in long pulses at 2 T. Either second harmonic or fundamental ECH absorption occurs, depending on the field strength, and it is of interest to operate experiments using both values. With perpendicular propagation and low-field-side launch, the ECH power must be in the extraordinary mode (X-mode, Erf perpendicular to Bo) for second harmonic (co = 2 wee) or in the ordinary mode (0-mode, Enr parallel to Bo) for fundamental (o) = c),) operation. The magnetic field in ATF is formed primarily by helical windings, which produce a shear in the plane of the field along a radial chord. This shear may cause polarization rotation of the ECH wave as it travels through the outer plasma regions because of the unequal 0- and X-mode phase velocities at higher plasma density (similar to Faraday rotation). The ECH resonance zone is a 10-cm-wide saddle point near the plasma center.
Rationality and Bureaucracy: Maoist Contributions to a Marxist Theory of Bureaucracy*

The assessments of the role of bureaucracy in socialism offered by Weber and Lenin are seriously weakened by their reliance on an inadequately developed category of rationality. A genuinely Marxist...
Ovine fetal-maternal water transfer is independent of fetal prolactin levels.

Prolactin (PRL) has been shown to inhibit water transfer in vitro when placed on the surface of the human fetal chorioamnion. We have shown previously that water flow from amniotic fluid (AF) to the maternal circulation (following maternal mannitol infusion to the ewe) is diminished when AF PRL levels are increased. To examine the effect of PRL on transplacental water flow, we infused mannitol (500 ml in a 20% solution) over 10 minutes into 5 chronically catheterized ewes (121-134 days' gestation). Fetal and maternal blood gases, pH and osmolality (OSM) were measured at −6, −3 and 0 minutes before and at 10 minute intervals for 1 hour after the mannitol. One day before or after, an identical amount of mannitol was infused into the same ewe during the second hour of a 2 hour infusion of PRL (40 ± 2.2 μg/hr) into the fetal circulation, with similar q 10 minute sampling. Maternal mannitol infused without PRL evoked a rise in mean (± SEM) fetal OSM (baseline 294 ± 2.4 mOsm/kg vs post-mannitol 307 ± 2.0 mOsm/kg) similar to that following maternal mannitol during fetal PRL infusion (298 ± 2.2 vs 309 ± 2.2 mOsm/kg). Fetal blood gases and pH did not change during the studies.
A concentration function estimate and intersective sets from matrices

We give several sufficient conditions on an infinite integer matrix (dij) for the set R = {Σij∈α, i>jdij: α ⊂ ℕ, |α| < ∞} to be a density intersective set, including the cases dnj = jn(1 + O(1/n1+e)) and \(0 < d_{nj} = o(\sqrt {n/\log n} )\). For the latter, a concentration function estimate that is of independent interest is applied to sums of sequences of 2-valued random variables whose means may grow as \(\sqrt {n/\log n} \).
Explaining the Widening Education Gap in Mortality among U.S. White Women

Over the past half century the gap in mortality across education levels has grown in the United States, and since the mid-1980s, the growth has been especially pronounced among white women. The reasons for the growth among white women are unclear. We investigated three explanations-social-psychological factors, economic circumstances, and health behaviors-for the widening education gap in mortality from 1997 to 2006 among white women aged 45 to 84 years using data from the National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality File (N = 46,744; 4,053 deaths). Little support was found for social-psychological factors, but economic circumstances and health behaviors jointly explained the growing education gap in mortality to statistical nonsignificance. Employment and smoking were the most important individual components. Increasing high school graduation rates, reducing smoking prevalence, and designing work-family policies that help women find and maintain desirable employment may reduce mortality inequalities among women.
Google Scholar Author Citation Tracker: is it too little, too late?

Purpose – Seven years after the release of Google Scholar in 2004, it was enhanced by a new module, the Google Scholar Author Citation Tracker (GSACT), currently a small subset of the complete Google Scholar (GS) database. The aim of this paper is to focus on this enhancement.Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the Google Scholar Author Citation Tracker, its features, potential benefits and problems.Findings – GSACT allows registered users to create and edit their scientific profiles and some bibliometric indicators, such as the h‐index, total citation counts, and the i10 index. These metrics are provided for the entire academic career of authors and for the most recent five‐year period. The new module also offers some long overdue essential options, such as sorting result lists of the documents by their publication year, title, and the citations receivedOriginality/value – The paper shows that, at present, GSACT may be too little, too late. However, with an extension of the current clean‐up...
On Estimating The Quantile Function For Distributions Constrained by Star-Shaped Ordering

Consider distributions F and G such that G -1 F is star-shaped. In the problem of estimating the quantile functions for lifetime distributions, the estimators developed by Rojo (1998) are compared with the commonly used empirical quantile function. Both the one-sample and the two-sample methods of estimation are considered for a wide class of lifetime distributions. In addition, the behavior of the estimators is examined for star-shaped ordered lifetime distributions of the important class of coherent k- out-of-n reliability systems. Results of a Monte Carlo study are presented which compare the behavior of the new estimators with that of the empirical quantile function interms of bias and mean-squared error. As the behavior of these estimators typically depends on the tail behavior of the underlying distributions, the examples presented here include distributions with short, medium and long tails. A formula for the inverse of the Kaplan-Meier estimator is provided and used to generate the simulations in ...
Law as Movement Strategy: How the Islamophobia Movement Institutionalizes Fear Through Legislation

Islamophobia is a strategic movement led by a small, tightly networked group of misinformation experts that institutionalizes fear and suspicion of Islam through bills and ballot initiatives. This profile examines the ways in which the Islamophobia movement uses law as a strategy, framing the anti-Muslim movement as a subject of constitutional concern. By strategically inserting Islamophobia into the legal sphere, movement participants shift the ways in which audiences perceive and legitimize the movement. Over time, the successful use of law as movement strategy can shift broader discourses, giving constructed frames institutionalized, political power.
Declines in Mobility and Changes in Performance in the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Among Mildly Disabled Community-Dwelling Older Adults

BACKGROUND: Gait speed is as an important predictor of mortality, volume of medical care, hospitalization, onset of activities of daily living (ADL) disability, and nursing home placement. We examined associations between change in gait speed and change in observed performance in the instrumental ADL (IADL) in a sample of mild-to-moderately disabled older adults. METHODS: Participants in the Sources of Independence in the Elderly project (n = 375) were approached to complete a 4-m gait assessment and a performance test of IADL competency at three points over 2 years. IADL competency was assessed by occupational therapists, who rated participants using the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) and who also made a global rating of need for help or supervision. Linear mixed models were developed to assess change in motor AMPS score relative to baseline status and change in gait speed and AMPS process scores. RESULTS: Baseline gait and change in gait were significant correlates of change in the AMPS motor ability measures in models that adjusted for cognitive status and AMPS process ability. Even respondents with gait speeds of 1 m/s at baseline were at risk of declining AMPS motor ability and an occupational therapist rating of IADL disability if gait speed declined. CONCLUSIONS: Slowing in gait speed is an important risk factor for IADL disability in mild to moderately disabled older adults. Language: en
Genistein Inhibits p38 Map Kinase Activation, Matrix Metalloproteinase Type 2, and Cell Invasion in Human Prostate Epithelial Cells

Epidemiologic studies associate consumption of genistein, in the form of dietary soy, with lower rates of metastatic prostate cancer. We have previously shown that genistein inhibits prostate cancer cell detachment in vitro, that it is well tolerated in an older cohort of men with prostate cancer, and that it alters cell signaling in that same cohort. We have also shown that p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) is necessary for transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta)-mediated increases in prostate cancer adhesion. Although cell invasion is closely linked to metastatic behavior, little is known about how this process is regulated in prostate cancer or what effect, if any, genistein has on associated processes. We now show that genistein inhibits matrix metalloproteinase type 2 (MMP-2) activity in six of seven prostate cell lines tested, blocks MMP-2 induction by TGF-beta, and inhibits cell invasion. Efficacy was seen at low nanomolar concentrations, corresponding to blood concentrations of free genistein attained after dietary consumption. Inhibition of p38 MAPK by either SB203580 or dominant-negative construct blocked induction of MMP-2 and cell invasion by TGF-beta. Genistein exerted similar effects and was found to block activation of p38 MAPK by TGF-beta. This study shows that p38 MAPK is necessary for TGF-beta-mediated induction of MMP-2 and cell invasion in prostate cancer and that genistein blocks activation of p38 MAPK, thereby inhibiting processes closely linked to metastasis, and does so at concentrations associated with dietary consumption. Any potential causal link to epidemiologic findings will require further investigation.