cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Collaborative Reasoning and Collaborative Ontology Development in CRAFT.

We present CRAFT (Collaborative Reasoning and Analysis Framework and Toolkit), a tool for collaborative investigation, reasoning, and analysis. Analysts use CRAFT to represent their collective knowledge and reasoning via interconnected graphical models built upon a shared evolving ontology. These semantic models help connect analysts to digital information sources and to each other, and the aggregated knowledge and findings of many analysts may be analyzed and visualized. We also summarize the results of a preliminary user study of collaborative, implicit ontology evolution using this tool.
Multifaceted Effects of Guggulsterone as Anti-obesity Agent

Obesity is associated with pathological expansion of white adipose tissue (WAT) and is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In this study, we explored the multifaceted effects of...
A brief history of health care ethics and clinical ethics consultation in the United States

Case example On April 15, 1975, 21-year-old Karen Ann Quinlan attended a friend's birthday party at a bar near her home in New Jersey. Karen was on a strict diet at the time, and she was also taking the anti-anxiety drug diazepam (Valium ® ). After several drinks at the party, Karen felt faint, and friends took her home and put her to bed. When they checked on her fifteen minutes later, she had stopped breathing. They attempted to revive her and called for assistance. Emergency medical technicians arrived, continued cardio-pulmonary resuscitation efforts, and transported Karen to a nearby hospital, where she was placed on a mechanical ventilator . Karen remained hospitalized, on ventilator support, for the next several months, but she did not regain consciousness. Neurologists diagnosed her condition as a “persistent vegetative state,” a form of irreversible unconsciousness caused by lack of oxygen to her brain during the time when she was not breathing. Karen did, however, retain some brain activity. She did not meet established brain-oriented legal and medical criteria for death (sometimes called “brain death”), since those criteria require a finding of “irreversible cessation of total brain function.” Her physicians were convinced that Karen could not survive without ongoing ventilator support . Karen's parents, Joseph and Julia Quinlan, had consented to all recommended life-sustaining treatments for their daughter during the first three months of her hospitalization. By the end of July 1975, however, they reached the conclusion that Karen would not want continuing life-sustaining treatment in a state of permanent unconsciousness. The Quinlans were devout Roman Catholics; after consultation with their parish priest, they requested that Karen's ventilator support be discontinued and that she be allowed to die. Karen's physicians responded that they could not honor this request, on the grounds that removing Karen's ventilator support would be a form of euthanasia that would be immoral, illegal, and contrary to medical standards of care. Karen was a patient at St. Claire's Hospital, and the hospital supported the physicians’ decision to continue ventilator support. What should have been done to resolve this disagreement? With the rapid expansion of health care services in the United States in the decades immediately following World War II, patients, health care professionals, and the American public at large confronted new and challenging moral questions about what treatments should be offered and provided, especially near the beginning and the end of human life.
Fabrication, characterization, and modeling of a biodegradable battery for transient electronics

Abstract Traditionally, emphasis has been placed on durable, long-lasting electronics. However, electronics that are meant to intentionally degrade over time can actually have significant practical applications. Biodegradable, or transient, electronics would open up opportunities in the field of medical implants, where the need for surgical removal of devices could be eliminated. Environmental sensors and, eventually, consumer electronics would also greatly benefit from this technology. An essential component of transient electronics is the battery, which serves as a biodegradable power source. This work involves the fabrication, characterization, and modeling of a magnesium-based biodegradable battery. Galvanostatic discharge tests show that an anode material of magnesium alloy AZ31 extends battery lifetime by over six times, as compared to pure magnesium. With AZ31, the maximum power and capacity of the fabricated device are 67 μW and 5.2 mAh, respectively, though the anode area is just 0.8 cm2. The development of an equivalent circuit model provided insight into the battery's behavior by extracting fitting parameters from experimental data. The model can accurately simulate device behavior, taking into account its intentional degradation. The size of the device and the power it produces are in accordance with typical levels for low-power transient systems.
The synthesis and characterization of some group VII bromo-substituted furyl complexes

ABSTRACTFuran-based chemistry offers an alternative to thiophene and pyrrole semiconductive materials and has been largely unexplored despite furan's availability from biomass feedstocks. Halogenated furoyl complexes (e.g., 5-bromo) have the potential to be polymerized via coupling reactions. Incorporation of a redox-active transition metal (Mn, Re) allows for “tuning” the electronic properties of the material by changing the metal's oxidation state. The furoyl complexes [Mn(CO)3{η5-1,2-C5H3(CO-(5-BrC4H2O))2}] (4a) and [Re(CO)3{η5-1,2-C5H3(CO-(5-BrC4H2O))2}] (4b) have been synthesized in relatively high yields and characterized by NMR and IR spectroscopy and Direct Analysis in Real Time MS. Both complexes were synthesized from a convenient route beginning with 5-bromo-2-furoyl chloride, with their results reported herein.
The Effects of Generational Identification Accessibility and Normative Fit on Hostile Media Perception

This study examined the effects of generational identification of young South Koreans on hostile media perception, with an emphasis on the accessibility of the social categorization and the fit between the political ideology of the generation group and that of individual members. A pretest established that generational identification was as strong among young South Koreans as their nationality or gender identification. It also confirmed that the generational identification was equally strong among liberals and conservatives, although the generation group’s political norm is liberalism. In a subsequent experiment, young South Koreans perceived a political news article more biased against their position, when their generational categorization was made accessible. Also, the hostile media perception was more pronounced among liberals whose political predisposition was a good fit with the normative political predisposition of their generation group. A regression analysis revealed that the fit, but neither accessibility nor hostile media perception exerted a significant impact on their intention to engage in political talk with their generational group members.
Colonic organoids derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells for modeling colorectal cancer and drug testing

With the goal of modeling human disease of the large intestine, we sought to develop an effective protocol for deriving colonic organoids (COs) from differentiated human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Extensive gene and immunohistochemical profiling confirmed that the derived COs represent colon rather than small intestine, containing stem cells, transit-amplifying cells, and the expected spectrum of differentiated cells, including goblet and endocrine cells. We applied this strategy to iPSCs derived from patients with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP-iPSCs) harboring germline mutations in the WNT-signaling-pathway-regulator gene encoding APC, and we generated COs that exhibit enhanced WNT activity and increased epithelial cell proliferation, which we used as a platform for drug testing. Two potential compounds, XAV939 and rapamycin, decreased proliferation in FAP-COs, but also affected cell proliferation in wild-type COs, which thus limits their therapeutic application. By contrast, we found that geneticin, a ribosome-binding antibiotic with translational 'read-through' activity, efficiently targeted abnormal WNT activity and restored normal proliferation specifically in APC-mutant FAP-COs. These studies provide an efficient strategy for deriving human COs, which can be used in disease modeling and drug discovery for colorectal disease.
The Kurdish image in statist historiography: the case of Simko

ABSTRACTThis article focuses on the uprising in 1918–1922 of Ismail Agha of Shikak (a.k.a. Simko) in Iranian Kurdistan and how he has been portrayed in Persian historiography. Painting Simko simply as another Kurdish rebellious chief with no nationalist aspirations leaves important questions unanswered. Simko introduced a number of firsts in Kurdish political history to Iranian Kurdistan, yet his innovations have generally been overlooked. Simko was conscious of, informed by, and founded his politics upon the communal distinctions deemed to legitimize varying degrees of Kurdish self-rule. In addition to his political and military activities, Simko co-founded the first Kurdish school in Iran, published the first Kurdish–Persian newspaper, and made Kurdish the official medium of his reign. This article draws on memoirs, personal accounts, and other unexplored primary documents to show a more complex picture of Simko's resistance, problematizes some idees recues about Simko and his ethno-nationalism, and exp...
Seeded Chemical Vapor Transport Growth of Cu2OSeO3

We present an optimized seeded chemical vapor transport method for the growth of Cu2OSeO3 that allows for chemical control in a system with many stable phases to selectively produce large phase-pure single crystals. This method is shown to consistently produce single crystals in the range of 120 to 180 mg. A Wulff construction model of a representative crystal shows that the minimum energy surface is {1 1 0}, followed by {1 0 0}. Analysis of the lowest index planes revealed that cleavage of Se–O bonds has a large energy cost, leading to an overall high surface energy. The seeded chemical vapor transport demonstrated here shows promise for large single crystal growth of other functional materials such as Weyl semimetals, frustrated magnets, and superconductors.
Viral Vector Biosafety in Laboratory Animal Research

Viral vector research presents unique occupational health and safety challenges to institutions due to the rapid development of both in vivo and in vitro gene-editing technologies. Risks to human and animal health make it incumbent on institutions to appropriately evaluate viral vector usage in research on the basis of available information and governmental regulations and guidelines. Here we review the factors related to risk assessment regarding viral vector usage in animals and the relevant regulatory documents associated with this research, and we highlight the most commonly used viral vectors in research today. This review is particularly focused on the background, use in research and associated health and environmental risks related to adenoviral, adeno-associated viral, lentiviral, and herpesviral vectors.
Key amino acid residues conferring enhanced enzyme activity at cold temperatures in an Antarctic polyextremophilic β-galactosidase

The Antarctic microorganism Halorubrum lacusprofundi harbors a model polyextremophilic β-galactosidase that functions in cold, hypersaline conditions. Six amino acid residues potentially important for cold activity were identified by comparative genomics and substituted with evolutionarily conserved residues (N251D, A263S, I299L, F387L, I476V, and V482L) in closely related homologs from mesophilic haloarchaea. Using a homology model, four residues (N251, A263, I299, and F387) were located in the TIM barrel around the active site in domain A, and two residues (I476 and V482) were within coiled or β-sheet regions in domain B distant to the active site. Site-directed mutagenesis was performed by partial gene synthesis, and enzymes were overproduced from the cold-inducible cspD2 promoter in the genetically tractable Haloarchaeon, Halobacterium sp. NRC-1. Purified enzymes were characterized by steady-state kinetic analysis at temperatures from 0 to 25 °C using the chromogenic substrate o-nitrophenyl-β-galactoside. All substitutions resulted in altered temperature activity profiles compared with wild type, with five of the six clearly exhibiting reduced catalytic efficiency (kcat/Km) at colder temperatures and/or higher efficiency at warmer temperatures. These results could be accounted for by temperature-dependent changes in both Km and kcat (three substitutions) or either Km or kcat (one substitution each). The effects were correlated with perturbation of charge, hydrogen bonding, or packing, likely affecting the temperature-dependent flexibility and function of the enzyme. Our interdisciplinary approach, incorporating comparative genomics, mutagenesis, enzyme kinetics, and modeling, has shown that divergence of a very small number of amino acid residues can account for the cold temperature function of a polyextremophilic enzyme.
Title of dotation 7 - integrated project of country's mikroregions

The Program of the country's renaissance (PCR) belongs to the greatest regional developing programs of the Czech Republic. The basis of the National Plan of the country's renaissance creates just PCR. The National Plan provides factual and financial frame of SAPARD's realization. The country's municipalities associate themselves to microregions, where problems of area and possibilities of its future prosperity are solved with other municipalities of determinated area. They can see also possibility of faster and more efficient development of their municipality and the whole attraction's area in integration to microregions.
New Bio-Inspired Multiphase Thermal Functional Fluid

Efforts in harvesting the potential benefits of mimicking the gas exchange in alveolar capillary for channel heat transfer processes has led to a new bio-inspired multiphase thermal functional fluid (MTFF). This MTFF is originally conceived as encapsulated phase-change material particles, with diameter comparable to the channel size, flowing with the cooling liquid. The two main benefits of this new MTFF are not only the phase-change effect of the particles in the heat transfer process, but also the specific geometry of the particle and channel leading to the sweeping of the boundary layer in the channel. This last effect is believed to be responsible for the very high efficiency of the gas exchange taking place in the alveolar capillaries. Preliminary numerical simulation results seem to confirm the benefit of both effects. A groundbreaking experimental apparatus, designed as a pumpless flow loop, uses vortical effects created by a magnetic stirrer to set the liquid and particles of the MTFF in motion, overcoming the settling and clogging difficulties so characteristic of a multiphase fluid flow. Experimental tests, with octadecane paraffin (EPCM) particles or with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic particles (with no latent heat capacity), both flowing in water, have been performed and the results compared to results obtained with clear (of particulates) water flow. All tests indicate the advantages of using the MTFF in comparison to clear water, even at relatively low particle concentrations. Moreover, the tests seem to confirm the same behavior found in capillary blood flow, namely the detrimental effect of increasing the particle concentration beyond an optimum concentration, either leading to a reduction in the boundary layer sweeping effect or to an increased competition among particles for the heat transfer. This effort highlights the importance of learning from efficient biological systems.
Luteovirus-associated viruses and subviral RNAs.

Among the plant viruses, those in the family Luteoviridae (luteovirus is used here to refer to all definitive and tentative members of this family) are some of the most widespread and economically important (Miller 1994). They cause important diseases worldwide in nearly all of the crops human beings grow for food and fiber (Dueeus 1977; Miller 1994). They are obligately vector transmitted from plant to plant by specific aphids, and, once acquired, a vector aphid may carry a corresponding luteovirus for the remainder of the aphid’s life; the virus:vector transmission relationship is circulative:nonpropagative (Gildow 1987). Within the plant host the luteovirus infection is limited to the phloem tissues, and luteoviruses are generally classified as nonmechanically transmissible (D’Arcy et al. 1998).
Neuromodulation of Small Neural Networks in Crustacea

One of the important goals of motor systems research is to elucidate the neural networks that underlie simple rhythmic movements.1 In some cases, the component neurons and synaptic connectivity of such networks (sometimes called Central Pattern Generators, or CPGs) have been partially or even fully elucidated.2 Despite a relatively fixed neuroanatomical structure, the motor patterns that these networks generate are extremely flexible and plastic, allowing the animal to adapt its behavior to changing demands of the environment. This flexibility arises from sensory feedback and from modulatory inputs to the motor networks from other neural centers. Modulatory inputs can change the intrinsic electrophysiological properties of the neurons in the network and alter the strength of the synaptic connections within the network.3 This causes a reconfiguration of the network’s motor output, leading to an altered behavior.
The Basic Biology of Metastasis

It is the ability to metastasize that makes cancer a fatal disease. Of the 555,500 cancer-related deaths expected this year in the United States, the vast majority are due to the development of metastatic disease rather than the primary tumor (Jemal et al., 2002). Although treatment is available for patients with metastatic cancer, options are limited and responses can be quite variable. Furthermore, complete remissions tend to be limited in both scope and duration.
Peri-operative Fluid Optimization

More than 230 million major surgical procedures are undertaken worldwide each year [1]. Data from the USA and Europe suggests that approximately 18 % of patients undergoing surgery will develop a major postoperative complication and 3–5 % will die before hospital discharge [1–4]. If this rate is applicable worldwide approximately 40 million patients undergoing surgery each year will die or develop a major postoperative complication. Those patients who develop a postoperative complication and survive to hospital discharge have diminished functional independence and reduced long-term survival. In a landmark study Khuri and coworkers demonstrated that survival up to 8 years after major surgery was strongly related to the development within 30 days of surgery of a major postoperative complication [4]. In this study, independent of preoperative risk, the occurrence of a 30-day complication reduced median patient survival by 69 %. In both the USA and Europe there are large variations in postoperative morbidity and mortality within healthcare systems [2, 3, 5]. Interventions that reduce the risks of postoperative death and complications, particularly in high risk patients have become a priority in perioperative medicine [6]. Interventions such as the use of perioperative beta-blockers, statins and tight glycemic control have proved disappointing [7, 8]. Pre-emptive goal-directed hemodynamic therapy (GDT) appears to be a promising approach to reduce postoperative complications and deaths.
A Server Coordinated Predictive Buffer Management Scheme to Reduce Bandwidth Requirement for Synthetic Multimedia Movies over the Internet.

Currently, for the display of synthetic and archived multimedia movies and clips, buffers are managed at the server end (push mode), at the client end (pull mode), or in the push-pull mode to avoid excessive server side disk access time, avoid hot spots for multiple disk accesses for the same media objects, and/or to smoothen the effect of variations in transmission delay. However, the current schemes suffer from the lack of static analysis and the coordination between server and the clients to reduce jitters. In this paper, we describe a server coordinated predictive buffer management scheme for mobile devices that integrates static analysis of frame based synthetic movies and server directed client side management to reduce the retransmission of reusable multimedia objects over the Internet. Performance evaluation shows that the scheme reduces the jitter significantly while maintaining the needed QoS, and the scheme outperforms popular rendering formats.
Developments in American Archaeology: Fifty Years of the National Historic Preservation Act

Since its enactment over five decades ago, the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and the organizations, policies, and regulations implementing it have strongly influenced how archaeology is...
Neuroborreliosis and Neurosyphilis.

ABSTRACTPURPOSE OF REVIEWThis article presents an overview of the current diagnosis and management of two spirochetal infections of the nervous system, neuroborreliosis (Lyme disease) and neurosyphilis, focusing on similarities and differences. Although neuroborreliosis was first identified almost a
A pilot study of team-based learning in one-hour pediatrics residency conferences

Active learning has been shown to improve knowledge retention, facilitate feedback, and motivate learners. Despite this evidence, lecture, a passive mode of instruction, is the most widely utilized instructional method for residency educational conferences. Team-based learning fosters active learning but is infrequently used during residency training. Three team-based learning sessions (one introductory and two content-based) were held during noon conferences in a pediatrics residency program. A pre-post static-group design was used to evaluate learner satisfaction and knowledge gains. Additional data was collected about facilitator preparation, session attendance, and readiness assurance test scores. Descriptive statistics and qualitative content analyses were conducted. Forty-seven residents and students participated (81%, 47 of 58). Prior to the introductory session, the majority of participants (55%) were not familiar with team-based learning. After the three sessions, 65% of residents and students reported high levels of satisfaction with team-based learning. When compared to traditional, lecture-based noon conferences, 76% of participants reported more engagement and 48% perceived more learning in team-based learning sessions. Challenges included low completion rates of the assigned reading prior to the session and abridged discussions due to time limitations during sessions. Each session required 10 hours of preparation for curriculum development. Team-based learning resulted in greater satisfaction and engagement among learners when compared to lecture-based formats. However, it did not prove to be a feasible instructional method during one-hour residency conferences. Adaptations that promote learner preparation for sessions and overcome time limitations during sessions may improve the feasibility and impact of team-based learning during one-hour conferences. Not applicable.
Object-level Perception Sharing Among Connected Vehicles

Advances in vehicular communication technologies have made Connected Vehicles (CVs) a near-term reality. Compared to models where vehicles rely solely on their own perception to sense and make decision on the environment, CVs have the potential to allow information sharing among vehicles to improve sensing and decision making collectively. A first concrete step towards this goal is enabling vehicles to share perception-related information, to overcome limitations of their respective sensors (e.g., partial awareness due to occlusions). Sharing processed information vs raw sensor data has the advantage of reducing the amount of data to be transmitted, and the required computation burden at the receiver side.This paper proposes an approach to enable object-level sharing among vehicles. Following state-of-the-art object-level management techniques, we developed a two-layer architecture that handles object tracking and fusion from dynamic remote sources of information. We implemented our approach and showed that it can achieve realistic performance, and robustness both in terms of quality of information and computation.
Search for jet quenching effects in high multiplicity pp collisions at s=13TeV

Abstract The ALICE Collaboration reports a search for jet quenching effects in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV , in events selected on high multiplicity compared to the minimum bias population. The measurement is based on the semi-inclusive acoplanarity distribution of jets recoiling from a high-pT trigger hadron. Significant broadening of the recoil jet acoplanarity distribution is observed in high multiplicity pp collisions, in both data and in simulations based on the PYTHIA model. Analysis is ongoing to elucidate the origin of this effect.
Does pathologic upstaging to PT3A portend a worsened prognosis when compared to non-upstaged PT3A renal cell carcinoma: Analysis of the National Cancer Database.

624Background: Pathological T3a (pT3a) renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is often diagnosed at the time of final pathological analysis, though impact of lack pre-treatment detection on surgical outcomes i...
An experimental study of minimum mean cycle algorithms

We study algorithms for the minimum mean cycle problem, a parametric version of shortest path feasibility (SPF). The three basic approaches to the problem are cycle-based, binary search, and tree-based. The first two use an SPF algorithm as a subroutine, while the latter uses a parametric approach. When implementing the SPF-based methods, one has a choice of SPF algorithms and incremental optimization strategies. There are also several ways to handle precision issues. This leads to dozens of variants, which we systematically compare. Our experimental setup is more comprehensive than in previous studies. In our experiments, the tree-based method and two implementations of the cycle-based method outperformed other approaches, including binary search.
La Réserve De Stabilité Du Marché Européen Du Carbone. Le Phénix Renaîtra-T-Il De Ses Cendres? (EU Carbon Market: The Market Stability Reserve. Will the Phoenix Rise from the Ashes?)

French Abstract: Fort attendue, la decision (UE) 2015/1814 du Parlement europeen et du Conseil du 6 octobre 2015 qui cree une reserve de stabilite pour le marche carbone a ete largement occultee par les enjeux de la COP 21 alors qu’elle pourrait contribuera a l’elargissement du marche carbone au niveau mondial. English Abstract: Decision (EU) 2015/1814 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 October 2015 which creates a stability reserve for the carbon market, has been largely overshadowed by the Paris Agreement, even though it might contribute to increasing the market for carbon on global level. Before analysing the impact which this reserve is likely to have on the allowance price, it is necessary to set out briefly the regulatory framework within which Decision 2015/1814 was adopted, the pitfalls with which the carbon market has been confronted in the past as well as the attempts by the European Commission to re-inject dynamism into this market.
Big bees spread disease: body size mediates transmission of a bumble bee pathogen

Trait variation can have important consequences for the outcomes of species interactions. Even though some traits vary as much within species as across related species, models and empirical studies typically do not consider the role of intraspecific trait variation for processes such as disease transmission. For example, many pollinator species are in decline because of a variety of stressors including pathogens, but the role of intraspecific trait variation in mediating disease dynamics is rarely considered. For example, pollinator body size could affect pathogen transmission via differences in resistance, foraging behavior and physiology. We tested effects of body size on pollinator pathogen transmission using the common eastern bumble bee Bombus impatiens in field tents, introducing an infected "donor" microcolony of large or small workers with an uninfected average-sized "recipient" microcolony and allowing bees to forage for 9-16 d. Small donor bees had nearly 50% higher infection intensity (cells/0.02 μL) than large donor bees, but large donor bees were twice as likely to transmit Crithidia bombi to recipient bees. Both behavioral and physiological mechanisms may underlie this apparent paradox. Compared to small bees, large bees foraged more and produced more feces; simulations showed that foraging and defecation rates together had stronger effects on transmission than did donor infection intensity. Thus, effects of bee size on contact rates and pathogen supply may play significant roles in disease transmission, demonstrating the multifaceted impacts of traits on transmission dynamics.
Preparedness and Experiences of Novice Teachers in the Sociopolitical Context of Heightened Immigration Enforcement: Evidence From a Survey of California Teachers:

For teachers of immigrant-origin students and their peers, emerging research notes the challenge of facilitating a high-quality education for students subject to traumatic events related to harsh i...
Enterobius vermicularis-associated appendicitis: A 22-year case series and comprehensive review of the literature

Abstract Introduction Enterobius vermicularis is known to be associated with appendicitis, however a causal relationship between Enterobius and appendicitis has not been established. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between appendiceal Enterobius and histologic appendicitis. Methods A retrospective review was performed of all pediatric appendectomies between 1997 and 2019. Patients with diagnosed with Enterobius were included for analysis. Patient demographics, operative findings, and pathologic reports were queried. Data were entered into an encrypted database and subsequently analyzed. A comprehensive review of the literature was also conducted. Results Thirty-eight cases of Enterobius-associated appendicitis were identified out of 3541 (1.07%). Grossly normal appendices at operation were seen in 27% of patients. Inflammatory infiltrate was noted on histopathology in 78.3%, and Enterobius was considered to be the cause of that inflammation in 68.4%. The comprehensive literature review revealed 19 articles (1.87% incidence) that noted 35% of patients with appendiceal Enterobius had appendicitis on either histopathology or gross evaluation. Conclusion The high rate of inflammation on pathology found among our patients with pinworm appendicitis suggests an association with presentation as acute appendicitis. Our comprehensive review revealed a higher proportion of Enterobius appendicitis. Treatment with antihelminthic therapy is recommended. Level of evidence (LOE) Level IV(4)-case series and comprehensive review.
Neodymium catalysts for polymerization of dienes, vinyl monomers, and ε-caprolactone

Among the rare-earth catalysts, neodymium-based catalysts are systematically investigated due to their efficiency and versatility. Still, the correlation between the complex structure and the catalytic coordination polymerization is not yet fully established. The discovery of new neodymium catalytic systems that are homogeneous, well-defined, thermally stable, and producing polymers in high yield and stereospecificity is an important research direction. Ziegler–Natta catalysts were developed to polymerize olefins and dienes and showed good activity. Later, lanthanide-based Ziegler–Natta type catalysts were reported for improved stereospecificity and activity for the polymerization of dienes. Out of the lanthanide catalysts reported, neodymium-based catalysts exhibit better catalytic performance for the polymerization of dienes and are also valuable for making vinyl polymers and polycaprolactones. This review discusses various neodymium catalysts for stereospecific polymerization of dienes, vinyl monomers, and e-caprolactone.
Whistle Blowing and CEO Compensation: The Qui Tam Statute

A purported dark side to powerful equity-based incentives is that they may induce a CEO to manipulate stock prices. With this in mind, recent theoretical models predict that firms will grant more equity-based compensation to their CEOs when the detection of any information manipulation is more likely. We provide confirming empirical evidence using three different tests. First, we use the qui tam statute as an experimental setting to test this prediction. This statute gives whistle blowers in the healthcare industry large financial incentives to reveal corporate fraud. Controlling for characteristics that might vary between the healthcare and other industries, we find that the proportion of equity-based compensation to total annual compensation is around 9% higher in the healthcare industry. Second, as third parties, such as the press, focus their investigative efforts towards large firms, we use an indicator variable to identify the largest firms in our sample and find that these firms are granted more equity-based compensation than others firms. Third, we use the passage of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) as an exogenous shock that increased the frequency of meritorious lawsuits. We find that equity-based compensation increased significantly after the passage of PSLRA. Using a difference-in-difference specification, we document that the effect of PSLRA on equity-based compensation is more pronounced for the healthcare industry and for the largest firms. The collective evidence appears consistent with theoretical models that predict that the detection likelihood of information manipulation affects the structure of CEO compensation.
ERP evidence for memory and predictive mechanisms in word-to-text integration

During reading, word-to-text integration processes proceed quickly and incrementally through both prospective (predictive) and retrospective (memory) processes. Across a sentence boundary, where prediction may be less functional, memorial processes may be especially important. We tested predictive and memory mechanisms with event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded on the first content word across a sentence boundary by manipulating the direction of association between this word and one from the preceding sentence. For comparison with this text comprehension (TC) task, we tested these same word pairs in a word meaning judgment (MJ) task. In both tasks we found reduced N400 amplitudes over central scalp electrodes when the two words were either forward-associated (FA) or backward-associated (BA), relative to task-specific baseline conditions. In the MJ task, FA pairs produced a greater reduction in the N400 reduction than BA pairs over right parietal areas. However, in the TC task, BA pairs produced a greater N400 reduction than FA pairs over left parietal electrodes. A temporal principal component analysis of TC and MJ data showed a component reflecting the central N400. Additional components from TC data reflected FA-BA differences during early (N200) and late (parietal N400 and LPC) phases of processing. Comprehension skill predicted association effects in the MJ task, especially FA, and the BA central N400 effects in the TC task. The results demonstrate that, beyond N400 indicators of prediction effects, ERPs reflect the role of memory processes in word-to-text integration across sentences, part of a dynamic interplay between anticipatory and memorial processes that support comprehension.
Childhood bullying: a review and implications for health care professionals

Childhood bullying continues to be a serious threat to the physical and emotional health of children and adolescents in the United States. This article provides the prevalence and general information about bullying as well as the common characteristics of bullies and victims, the short- and long-term consequences of bullying, and the recommendations of various organizations, which can help health care providers to assess and provide interventions to children affected by bullying.
Noradrenergic Nuclei that Receive Sensory Input During Mating and Project to the Ventromedial Hypothalamus Play a Role in Mating-Induced Pseudopregnancy in the Female Rat

In female rats, vaginal-cervical stimulation (VCS) received during mating induces bicircadian prolactin surges that are required for the maintenance of pregnancy or pseudopregnancy (PSP). The neural circuits that transmit VCS inputs to the brain have not been fully described, although mating stimulation is known to activate medullary noradrenergic cell groups that project to the forebrain. In response to VCS, these neurones release noradrenaline within the ventrolateral division of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl) and the posterodorsal medial amygdala (MePD), two forebrain sites that are implicated in the initiation of PSP. Noradrenaline receptor activation within the VMHvl is both necessary and sufficient for PSP induction, suggesting that noradrenaline acting within the VMHvl is particularly important in mediating the effects of VCS towards the establishment of PSP. We therefore investigated whether or not endogenous, VCS-induced noradrenaline release within the VMHvl is involved in PSP induction in the rat. Before the receipt of sufficient mating stimulation to induce PSP, a retrograde neurotoxin, dopamine-β-hydroxylase-saporin (DBH-SAP), was infused bilaterally into the either the VMHvl or the MePD to selectively destroy afferent noradrenergic nuclei in the brainstem. DBH-SAP infusions into the VMHvl lesioned mating-responsive noradrenergic neurones in A1 and A2 medullary nuclei and reduced the incidence of PSP by 50%. Infusions of DBH-SAP into the MePD had no effect on the subsequent induction of PSP. These results suggest that VCS is conveyed to mating-responsive forebrain areas by brainstem noradrenergic neurones, and that the activity of noradrenergic cells projecting to the VMHvl is involved in the induction of PSP.
Rocket Measurements of the Galactic Background at 100 μ

Measurements of the diffuse background radiation in the 85–115 μ band are presented, as observed from altitudes close to 190 km with a rocket-borne, liquid helium cooled telescope. Evidence is given for detection of the galactic background due to thermal grain emission at galactic latitudes of 5–35°, and at a galactic longitude of ~ 163°. At small latitudes, the background intensity is measured to be ~ 9 × 10-11 W cm-2 sr-1; the average number density of grains derived is consistent with the optically determined measure. The 100 μ data is compared with 20 μ data taken on the same flight, in order to draw some conclusions about the grain emissivity and temperature.
Examination of the DNA-Binding Ability of Estrogen Receptor in Whole Cells: Implications for Hormone-Independent Transactivation and the Actions of Antiestrogens

We describe an assay employing the competitive binding of estrogen receptor (ER) with basal transcription factors on a constitutive promoter (cytomegalovirus-hormone response element[s]-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase [CMV-(HRE)n-CAT, containing a hormone response element(s) between the TATA box and the start site of transcription]) to examine the DNA-binding ability of the human ER in whole cells. We used this promoter interference assay to examine the DNA binding of ER in cell lines containing high and low levels of endogenous ER, as well as in CHO cells expressing wild-type and mutant ERs from cotransfected expression vectors. The ER is capable of binding to the promoter interference constructs in the absence of added ligand, and estrogen (estradiol) or antiestrogen (trans-hydroxytamoxifen or ICI 164,384) enhances or stabilizes this interaction. The binding of unoccupied ER to reporter gene activation plasmids results in ligand-independent transactivation, presumably due to the TAF-1 function of the receptor. DNA binding of ER in the absence of ligand is observed in cells containing endogenous ER, or expressed ER, and occurs in cells with high or low receptor contents. Although estrogen- and antiestrogen-occupied ER complexes bind to DNA and reduce the template promoter activity, the extent of suppression achieved by ICI-bound ERs is consistently less than that achieved with the other ligands, presumably caused by the fact that ICI rapidly reduces the level of ER in most of the cells examined. However, the ICI-ER complexes that remain are in sufficient quantity to bind to gene activation reporter constructs, and in these cells, ICI still behaves as a pure antagonist of gene transcription and does not activate reporter genes. Hence, obstruction of ER DNA binding or reduction of ER in target cells may contribute to, but cannot fully explain, the pure antagonist character of the antiestrogen ICI 164,384. In addition, DNA binding by the ER alone is clearly not sufficient for ensuring full activation of transcription and argues for an intermediate in the receptor activation of promoters.
Dynamical Basis of the Enhancement of the Enzymatic Activity of Factor VIIa by Tissue Factor

Activation of coagulation factors is regulated by their binding to and complex formation on the surface of anionic membrane resulting in an increase of the enzymatic activity by several orders of magnitude. Complex formation of tissue factor (TF) and factor VIIa (FVIIa) on anionic membranes constitutes one of the key steps in the coagulation cascade. The mechanisms for the enhancement of the enzymatic activity of FVIIa by TF is not fully understood, primarily due to the lack of atomic models for the membrane-bound form of the TF:FVIIa complex.We report a first membrane-bound model of the TF:FVIIa complex resulting from large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. The dynamics of FVIIa and soluble TF (sTF) was investigated in solution and on the membrane, both in their isolated and complex forms. Our model of membrane-bound GLA domain was used to construct the membrane-bond models of the TF:FVIIa complex and monomers. All-atom simulations were performed for tens of nanoseconds to investigate the protein dynamics after establishing optimal protein-protein/protein-lipid interactions.The results reveal that sTF restricts the motion of FVIIa, thus optimally orienting its catalytic triad for the interaction with its substrate factor X (FX). Several direct interactions between the membrane lipids and the side chains of sTF, including the regions of K159-K166 and D180-N184 that form the exosite of the substrate FX, are observed. Interestingly, sTF sustains two distinct orientations against the membrane and different conformations of the K159-K166 loop, in the isolated and complex forms. These findings suggest that TF orients itself on the membrane surface through the interactions both to the membrane and FVIIa, independent of its trans-membrane anchoring helix and that the exosite on TF is available for FX binding only after TF:FVIIa complex is formed.
(Na+ + K+)-ATPase: effects of detergents on the cross-linking of subunits in the presence of Cu2+ and o-phenanthroline.

Abstract When (Na + + K + )-ATPase is reacted with Cu 2+ or Cu 2+ -phenanthroline, cross-linking of the two subunits (α and β) occurs. The major products are α,β- and α,α-dimers. The α,β-dimer is unstable in the presence of EDTA, but becomes stable when it is first exposed to digitonin or Triton X-100. Conversion of α-Cu 2+ -β to α-S-S-β is suggested. If the enzyme that is pretreated with these detergents is used, only the stable α,β-dimer is obtained, and the formation of α,α-dimer is inhibited. The data are consistent with α 2 β 2 quaternary structure of the enzyme.
Molecular surveillance of rubella viruses in Taiwan from 2005 to 2011.

Rubella has been listed as a mandatory notifiable disease in Taiwan since 1988. Because of high coverage rates with an effective vaccine, rubella cases have decreased dramatically in Taiwan since 1994. However, rubella outbreaks still occur due to imported transmission. Five large clusters were detected in Taiwan from 2007 to 2011. In 2007, one cluster was caused by rubella genotype 1E viruses that were imported from Vietnam, whereas another cluster was caused by genotype 2B viruses and was untraceable. In 2008, two clusters were caused by different lineages of genotype 1E viruses that were imported from Malaysia. In 2009, a cluster that was caused by genotype 2B viruses was associated with imported cases from Vietnam. The rubella viruses from 124 confirmed cases from 2005 to 2011 were characterized, and the data revealed that these viruses were distributed in the following four genotypes: 1E (n = 56), 1h (n = 1), 1j (n = 4), and 2B (n = 63). Of these viruses, 93 (75%) were associated with imported cases, and 43 of 56 genotype 1E viruses were associated with imported cases from China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia. One genotype 1h virus was imported from Belarus, and three of four genotype 1j viruses were imported from the Philippines. Of 63 rubella genotype 2B viruses, 46 were imported from Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Germany, and South Africa. Molecular surveillance allows for the differentiation of circulating rubella viruses and can be used to investigate transmission pathways, which are important to identify the interruption of endemic virus transmission. J. Med. Virol. 85:745–753, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus infection

In the United States, an estimated 200,000 persons are infected with both hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). As the lives of HIV-infected persons have been prolonged by use of highly active antiretroviral therapy, liver disease has emerged as an important, and in some settings, the leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Human immunodeficiency virus infection appears to adversely affect all stages of hepatitis C infection, leading to increased viral persistence and accelerated progression of HCV-related liver disease. In turn, hepatitis C may affect the management of HIV infection, increasing the incidence of liver toxicity caused by antiretroviral medications. The medical management of hepatitis C in HIV-infected persons remains controversial, in part because of the complexity of both infections and potential drug interactions, but chiefly because there is so little published information. Nonetheless, the burden of liver disease is too high to delay management of HIV/HCV-coinfected persons while awaiting better data. Instead, the management of hepatitis C today must be based on data generated on persons without HIV and an understanding of both infections. Properly designed studies of therapy in HIV/HCV-coinfected persons are needed to help guide management of these patients in the future.
Thermodynamics of a New Cyclic Reaction System Involving BaS and BaSO4 for Converting Sulfur Dioxide to Elemental Sulfur

A new process for converting SO2 to elemental sulfur by a cyclic process involving CaS and CaSO4 was earlier developed through thermodynamic and experimental investigations. In this process, the raw material CaSO4 is reduced to produce CaS, which is used to reduce SO2 to elemental sulfur and produce CaSO4. The latter is then reduced to regenerate CaS. It has been shown that the reaction temperature for the reduction of SO2 to elemental sulfur is limited to approximately 1100 K for a reasonable degree of equilibrium conversion. It is the purpose of this paper to present the more favorable thermodynamic aspects of a similar cyclic process that involves BaS and BaSO4. It is shown that the reaction between SO2 and BaS is favorable to a much higher temperature of about 1400 K and the hydrogen reduction of BaSO4 to BaS is favorable in a much wider range of temperature.