cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
G124 Big Poisons: What Ingested Substances Cause Significant Harm to Young Children?

Accidental poisoning of young children by ingestion of medicines and other substances is a relatively common reason for attendance at hospital in the UK, but infrequently results in significant harm. There is limited data regarding which substances cause major morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to identify which medicines and other substances are associated with death and serious illness in pre-school children. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) was contacted and provided data relating to deaths in children due to poisoning between 2000 and 2010. The UK Paediatric Intensive Care Audit network (PICANet) was contacted and provided data relating to children admitted to intensive care as a result of poisoning between 2002 and 2012. Where possible, demographic data and the individual substance or class of drug was extracted. 21 deaths of children aged under 5 years occurred where the primary cause was poisoning due to medication between 2000 and 2010. Methadone was responsible for 9 of these deaths. 214 children (124 male:90 female) aged under 5 years were admitted to PICU between 2002 and 2012 as a result of poisoning with a median length of stay of 1 day (range 0.1 – 17.2 days). The causative medicine was often not recorded and admissions due to therapeutic misadventure or idiosyncratic drug reactions were included within these numbers. The commonest medicines, where recorded, were benzodiazepines (24 admissions) and methadone (19 admissions). 4 children died (2 methadone, 1 benzodiazepine and 1 caustic alkali). Existing databases are useful sources of data relating to poisoning in children but are limited, and it is not possible to differentiate easily between exploratory poisoning and therapeutic misadventure. However, the data available suggest that methadone is a significant danger to young children. It is vital that the presence of young children in the households of those on methadone programmes are taken into account, and alternatives are explored. More robust and systematic data collection might help identify other substances associated with significant risk and assist with targetted prevention measures.
Continuous Development of the L/V 32/40 and L/V 48/60 MAN B&W Engines

Fierce competition, particularly in the market for medium-speed four-stroke diesel engines, requires the continuous technical development of the products available in that market. Alongside the continued pressure on reducing prices and demands for low fuel consumption rates without compromising power/bulk ratios and reliability, optimization work on medium-speed engines is increasingly also dominated by a tightening of emission regulations. Soot concentrations in the exhaust below the visibility level and constantly falling NOx exhaust concentrations place ever greater demands, particularly on the combustion process, supercharging and fuel injection systems. Recent years have seen extensive basic development work in this field using simulation calculations and tests on our 1L 32/40 research engine. This work produced an array of measures with which the trade-off between soot, NOx and specific fuel consumption can be effectively reduced. This paper discusses how these customer and market led measures are being implemented by our design engineers in our 32/40 and 48/60 engine types.Copyright © 2002 by ASME
Contemporary outcomes of open complex abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.

Objective The recent commercial availability of fenestrated stent grafts is likely to result in increasing endovascular repair of complex (juxtarenal and suprarenal) abdominal aortic aneurysms (cAAAs). Whereas most studies providing benchmarking for outcomes after open repair have been from high-volume centers, we sought to evaluate outcomes after elective open cAAA repair vs infrarenal AAA repair at a regional level. Methods We used the Vascular Study Group of New England registry, which recorded 1875 open AAA repairs in New England from 2003 to 2011. Data from 14 hospitals performing both AAA and cAAA repair were used to assess the impact of clinical and technical factors on outcomes of cAAA repair. Results There were 443 patients who had elective cAAA repair as defined by use of a suprarenal (n = 340; 77%) or supraceliac (n = 103; 23%) clamp, with median survival follow-up of 35 months (interquartile range, 47 months). Compared with AAA repair, patients undergoing cAAA repair were more likely to be female; to have hypertension, congestive heart failure, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and to have a higher baseline creatinine concentration. cAAA cases were repaired through a retroperitoneal incision in 40% of cases, with hypothermic renal perfusion use in 15%, mannitol in 73%, and renal bypass in 13%, with wide variability in the application of these adjuncts. Complex aneurysm repair vs routine AAA repair was associated with a higher independent risk of 30-day mortality (3.6% vs 1.2%; P = .002), respiratory complications (19% vs 10%; P P P = .02) and amount of intraoperative blood transfusion (OR, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.3-6.2; P = .01). In the subgroup undergoing cAAA repair, there were no predictors of operative mortality. Renal or visceral ischemia time was the only technical factor during cAAA repair that independently predicted cardiac (OR, 1.01; 95% CI, 1.00-1.03; P = .04), respiratory (OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01-1.04; P P P P = .008), and preoperative creatinine concentration (per mg/dL; HR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.05-2.9; P = .03). Conclusions These data highlight excellent operative outcomes for open cAAA repair across the New England region despite significant variation in operative conduct across hospitals. Patients tolerating cAAA repair have durable long-term survival.
Ionic liquid gating on atomic layer deposition passivated GaN: Ultra-high electron density induced high drain current and low contact resistance

Herein, we report on achieving ultra-high electron density (exceeding 1014 cm−2) in a GaN bulk material device by ionic liquid gating, through the application of atomic layer deposition (ALD) of Al2O3 to passivate the GaN surface. Output characteristics demonstrate a maximum drain current of 1.47 A/mm, the highest reported among all bulk GaN field-effect transistors, with an on/off ratio of 105 at room temperature. An ultra-high electron density exceeding 1014 cm−2 accumulated at the surface is confirmed via Hall-effect measurement and transfer length measurement. In addition to the ultra-high electron density, we also observe a reduction of the contact resistance due to the narrowing of the Schottky barrier width on the contacts. Taking advantage of the ALD surface passivation and ionic liquid gating technique, this work provides a route to study the field-effect and carrier transport properties of conventional semiconductors in unprecedented ultra-high charge density regions.
Approximate matching of persistent LExicon using search-engines for classifying Mobile app traffic

We present AMPLES, Approximate Matching of Persistent LExicon using Search-Engines, to address the Mobile-Application-Identification (MApId) problem in network traffic at a per-flow granularity. We transform MApId into an information-retrieval problem where lexical similarity of short-text-documents is used as a metric for classification tasks. Specifically, a network-flow, observed at an intercept-point, is treated as a semi-structured-text-document and modified into a flow-query. This query is then run against a corpus of documents pre-indexed in a search-engine. Each index-document represents an application, and consists of distinguishable identifiers from the metadata-file and URL-strings found in the application's executable-archive. The search-engine acts as a kernel function, generating a score distribution vis-'a-vis the index-documents, to determine a match. This extends the scope of MApId to fuzzy-classification mapping a flow to a family of apps when the score distribution is spread-out. Through experiments over an emulator-generated test-dataset (400 K applications and 13.5 million flows), we obtain over 80% flow coverage and about 85% application coverage with low false-positives (4%) and nearly no false-negatives. We also validate our methodology over a real network trace. Most importantly, our methodology is platform agnostic, and subsumes previous studies, most of which focus solely on the application coverage.
Differentialdiagnose Mycosis fungoides-verdächtiger Hauterscheinungen

Die Erkennung und besonders die Fruhdiagnose der Mycosis fimgoides ist eine Aufgabe, die haufig an den Dermatologen herantritt, und die sowohl dem Kliniker wie dem Pathologen manchen Kummer bereitet. Die Verantwortung ist gros. Sowohl im positiven, wie im negativen Sinne zu irren, kann dem Kranken viel Leiden, Zeitverlust und Geldausgaben verursachen, die eine richtige Diagnose ihm erspart hatten.
Patient-reported symptom distress, and most bothersome issues, before and during cancer treatment.

INTRODUCTION Frequently reported symptoms and treatment side effects may not be the most bothersome issues to patients with cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate patient-reported symptom distress and bothersome issues among participants with cancer. METHODS Participants completed the Symptom Distress Scale-15 before treatment (T1) and during cancer treatment (T2) and reported up to two most bothersome issues among symptoms rated with moderate-to-severe distress. We compared symptom ratings and perceived bother and explored two approaches predicting patients' most bothersome issues: worst absolute symptom score or worst change from pretreatment. RESULTS Significantly, (P≤0.0002) more patients reported moderate-to-severe distress at T2 for eight of 13 symptoms. At T1, 81% of patients reported one and 56% reported multiple symptoms with moderate-to-severe distress, while at T2, 89% reported one and 69% reported multiple symptoms with moderate-to-severe distress. Impact on sexual activity/interest, pain, fatigue, and insomnia were the most prevalent symptoms with moderate-to-severe distress. Fatigue, pain, and insomnia were perceived most often as bothersome. When one symptom was rated moderate-to-severe, predictive accuracy of the absolute score was 46% and 48% (T1 & T2) and 38% with the change score (T2-T1). When two or more symptoms were rated moderate-to-severe, predictive accuracy of the absolute score was 76% and 79% (T1 & T2) and 70% with the change score (T2-T1). CONCLUSION More patients experienced moderate-to-severe symptom distress after treatment initiation. Patient identification of bothersome issues could not be assumed based on prevalence of symptoms reported with moderate-to-severe distress. The absolute symptom distress scores identified patients' most bothersome issues with good accuracy, outperforming change scores.
Linear complex-field coding for cooperative networking

Commonly used protocols involving J cooperating communicators are based on repetition encoding and achieve diversity of order J with bandwidth efficiency 1/J. We introduce a protocol capable of achieving the same diversity with bandwidth efficiency essentially equal to 1/2. The protocol is based on linear complex-field coded (LCFC) relay transmissions over orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) subcarriers. Cooperators provide diversity by repeating delayed versions of the original packet, thereby generating a frequency-selective multipath channel. The so enabled diversity is collected by standard LCFC-OFDM decoders. Analysis and corroborating simulations establish that the novel protocol achieves diversity order equal to the number of users.
Graphic Geopolitics: An Interview with Comics Artist Joe Sacco

Joe Sacco is best known for works that blend journalism with the format and structure of comic books. Sacco’s prior work has considered themes of political conflict, legacies of violence, and margi...
SIMBER: Eliminating Redundant Memory Bound Checks via Statistical Inference

Unsafe memory accesses in programs written using popular programming languages like C and C++ have been among the leading causes of software vulnerability. Memory safety checkers, such as Softbound, enforce memory spatial safety by checking if accesses to array elements are within the corresponding array bounds. However, such checks often result in high execution time overhead due to the cost of executing the instructions associated with the bound checks. To mitigate this problem, techniques to eliminate redundant bound checks are needed. In this paper, we propose a novel framework, SIMBER, to eliminate redundant memory bound checks via statistical inference. In contrast to the existing techniques that primarily rely on static code analysis, our solution leverages a simple, model-based inference to identify redundant bound checks based on runtime statistics from past program executions. We construct a knowledge base containing sufficient conditions using variables inside functions, which are then applied adaptively to avoid future redundant checks at a function-level granularity. Our experimental results on real-world applications show that SIMBER achieves zero false positives. Also, our approach reduces the performance overhead by up to 86.94% over Softbound, and incurs a modest 1.7% code size increase on average to circumvent the redundant bound checks inserted by Softbound.
Characterization and purification of proteins suitable for the production of antibodies against 'Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus'.

Abstract The citrus disease huanglongbing (HLB), which is caused by ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (CaLas), is one of the most devastating pathogens of citrus, and with no effective method of control, poses a serious threat to citrus production throughout the world. In a previous study we described the production of single chain antibodies against several CaLas proteins that provide the basis for efficient and accurate detection of CaLas in citrus tissues. The isolation of a sufficient amount of purified antigen is a key step in the production of functional antibodies. The current report details purification procedures for six protein antigens used to select recombinant and produce polyclonal antibodies. These proteins include a flagellar biosynthesis protein (FlhA), a dinucleoside polyphosphate hydrolase (InvA), a portion of the major outer membrane protein (OmpA), a component of type IV pilus (CapB), the polysialic acid capsule expression protein (KpsA) and the outer membrane efflux protein (TolC). Results of purification under completely native or denatured conditions were not satisfactory. Therefore different hybrid purification conditions were optimized for each of the different proteins. The results of bioinformatic analysis also indicated that the six proteins contained a great diversity of potential antigenic epitopes, which varied in number, and that the antigenic clusters were not uniformly distributed throughout the proteins. The purified proteins are useful for the development of highly specific antibodies capable of differentiating specific strains of Liberibacter.
Towards a Data-Centric Research and Development Roadmap for Large-Scale Science User Facilities

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science (SC) operates approximately four dozen large-scale science user facilities (SUFs), each of which generates a tremendous amount of scientific data from experiments, observations and computations. To better understand the data needs and challenges, DOE has run many workshops in recent years to identify and articulate data-centric challenges and opportunities at varying resolution, from facility to community scale. Building on those workshop reports, as well as others from elsewhere in the community, this article goes beyond the findings-recommendations typical of workshop reports to consider how one might structure a broad, technology- and data-centric, coordinated research effort that would realize progress towards solutions that address the well documented challenges and opportunities. We focus on identifying practical issues of strategic relevance, along with offering a view about the focal points for a coordinated research and development effort that would target meeting data-centric needs of a broad set of science users and SUFs. These focal points would, by their nature, engage a spectrum of researchers from computer science, computational and experimental sciences, and data science in a coordinated fashion.
Socioeconomic variation in the association of marriage with depressive symptoms

Abstract Although the health-relevant resources that marriage is argued to provide vary by socioeconomic status (SES), little research has examined whether the association of marriage with psychological well-being varies by SES. Focusing on depressive symptoms as an outcome and using a two-stage Heckit procedure with multilevel modeling, results from analyses of four waves of data (n = 4340 person-waves) from the American Changing Lives Survey (ACL) shows that differences in depressive symptoms between never-married and married adults varies by adjusted household income. Depressive symptoms are highest among the never married, and differences from the married greatest, at the lowest levels of income. As income increases these differences are eliminated. The conditioning effect of income is partially mediated by financial security, self-efficacy, and social support from friends and relatives. The implications of these findings for U.S. marriage promotion policies are discussed.
“You can never understand a culture until you experience it”: How an experiential learning course prepared students for practice with Latino communities through learning for advocacy

This study used grounded theory to analyze focus group data of students participating in an experiential learning course developed in partnership with a local Latino-serving community agency. A cen...
CHANNELS OF OXYGEN TRANSPORT FROM BLOOD TO MITOCHONDRIA

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the channels of oxygen transport from blood to mitochondria. Many molecules leave capillaries through the gaps between cells or by means of specific carriers. Oxygen and other lipid-soluble molecules on the other hand are believed to be able to cross the cell bodies themselves. The finding that oxygen is only sparingly soluble in cytosol indicates that its diffusion within the cells of the capillary wall cannot be uniform. The chapter discusses a study to determine if there is any impediment to the egress of oxygen from capillaries in which liver slices of 70 μm thicknesses were studied. These slices were approximately two cells thick and, thus, corresponded in structure to the liver muralium.
Predicting recurrence of Clostridium difficile infection following encapsulated fecal microbiota transplantation.

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an effective treatment for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (rCDI). The use of freeze-dried, encapsulated donor material for FMT (cap-FMT) allows for an easy route of administration and remains clinically effective in the majority of rCDI patients. We hypothesized that specific shifts in the microbiota in response to cap-FMT could predict clinical outcome. We further evaluated the degree of donor microbiota engraftment to determine the extent that donor transfer contributed to recovery. In total, 89 patients were treated with 100 separate cap-FMTs, with a success rate (no rCDI 60 days post cap-FMT) of 80%. Among responders, the lower alpha diversity (ANOVA P < 0.05) observed among patient’s pre-FMT samples was restored following cap-FMT. At 1 week post-FMT, community composition varied by clinical outcome (ANOSIM P < 0.001), with similar abundances among families (Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae, and Bacteroidaceae) in responder and donor samples. Families that showed differential abundances by outcome (response vs. recurrence) from samples collected 7 days following cap-FMT were used to construct a regression tree-based model to predict recurrence. Results showed a training accuracy of 100% to predict recurrence and the model was 97% accurate against a test data set of samples collected 8–20 days following cap-FMT. Evaluation of the extent of engraftment using the Bayesian algorithm SourceTracker revealed that approximately 50% of the post-FMT communities of responders were attributable to donor microbiota, while an additional 20–30% of the communities were similar to a composite healthy microbiota consisting of all donor samples. Regression tree-based analyses of microbial communities identified taxa significantly related to clinical response after 7 days, which can be targeted to improve microbial therapeutics. Furthermore, reinstatement of a healthy assemblage following cap-FMT was only partially attributable to explicit donor engraftment and continued to develop towards an overall healthy assemblage, independent of donor.
Alkyl Sulfinates: Radical Precursors Enabling Drug Discovery

The modern constraints of drug discovery demand a rigorous validation process of all new reactions prior to widespread implementation. To this end, sulfinates (now marketed as Diversinates) have seen alacritous adoption by the medicinal chemistry community, as evidenced by the recent outpour of both patent and primary reports. Featuring more than 50 examples, this review seeks to highlight those particularly compelling cases published in the past 5 years, with an eye toward the identification of robust and predictable trends in reactivity.
Communication Constrained Trajectory Alignment For Multi-Agent Inspection via Linear Programming

This paper reports on a system for estimating the alignment between robotic trajectories under constrained communications. Multi-agent collaborative inspection and navigation tasks depend on the ability to determine an alignment between robotic trajectories or maps. The properties of the underwater environment make determining such an alignment difficult because of extreme limitations on communication and the lack of absolute position measurements such as GPS. In this paper, we propose a method that takes advantage of convex relaxation techniques to determine an alignment between robotic trajectories based on sparse observations of a low-dimensional underlying feature space. We use a linear approximation of the l2-norm to approximately enforce that the estimated transformation is an element of SO(2). Because the relaxed optimization problem is linear, we can take advantage of existing convex optimization libraries, which do not require an initial estimate of relative pose. In addition, because the proposed method does not need to perform data association, we can align trajectories using low-dimensional feature vectors and can thus decrease the amount of data that must be transferred between agents by several orders of magnitude when compared to image feature descriptors such as SIFT and SURF. We evaluate the proposed method on simulated datasets and apply it to real-world data collected during autonomous ship hull inspection field trials.
Development and psychometric properties of the tobacco and nicotine consequences scale (TANCS) to screen for cigarette and e-cigarette misuse in community settings.

Abstract Introduction To date, there are no existing measures of tobacco or nicotine misuse (i.e., negative consequences). The goal of the present study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of a novel scale, the Tobacco and Nicotine Consequences Scale (TANCS) to assess tobacco and nicotine misuse among cigarette smokers and e-cig users. Methods This cross-sectional study collected data using an anonymous survey to assess tobacco and nicotine use expectancies, behaviors, and negative consequences of use. Of the 607 participants who attempted the survey, 491 participants (80.8%) completed the TANCS items. A split-half validation method was used to assess the structure and validity of the TANCS using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Results The exploratory factor analysis produced a five-factor solution, and the confirmatory factor analysis supported the factor structure with results providing an excellent fit to the data (CFI = 0.995, TLI = 0.994, RMSEA = 0.015, SRMR = 0.052). A total of 17 items were retained. The overall scale showed excellent reliability (α = 0.91) with subscale alphas between 0.68 and 0.90. The scale was significantly correlated to nicotine dependence and smoking expectancies, measured by the Fagerstrom Test Cigarette Dependence and Smoking Effects Questionnaire, respectively, suggesting the TANCS is a valid measure of tobacco and nicotine misuse. Total and subscale scores differed between participants preferring cigarettes or e-cigarettes. Conclusions The TANCS is a brief, reliable measure of tobacco and nicotine misuse that is correlated to tobacco and nicotine expectancies, use, and dependence. Future work should explore the test-retest reliability and incremental validity of the scale for tobacco use disorder.
A geochemical baseline for clays of the Toluca Valley, Mexico

Abstract This paper presents the results of the INAA of 28 geological clay samples from the Toluca Valley (Upper Lerma) in the State of Mexico, Mexico and the immediately adjacent areas to the north, west, and south. While preliminary, these results demonstrate that there are internal elemental clines within the Toluca Valley, based on elevation (Na, K) and latitude (Cr), among other patterns. These samples also demonstrate that the underlying geology of the Toluca Valley can be systematically differentiated from that of the adjacent Basin of Mexico based on higher Ba and lower K concentrations. This study confirms the results of prior analyses of archaeological ceramics from the Toluca Valley, and provides new avenues for dividing the region into multiple sub-regional source areas in future archaeological analyses.
Comparative Evaluation of the In Vitro Activities of WCK 5222 (Cefepime-Zidebactam) and Combination Antibiotic Therapies against Carbapenem-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The in vitro activity of WCK 5222 (cefepime-zidebactam) was compared to that of several available combination therapies among 30 clinical carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRP) strains using gradient diffusion strips. The combinations included nonsusceptible β-lactams (cefepime, ceftolozane-tazobactam, and meropenem) with amikacin and fosfomycin. WCK 5222 MICs ranged from 2 to 32 mg/liter, and 97% were ≤16 mg/liter, while 105/146 (72%) combinations demonstrated inhibition below established susceptibility breakpoints. WCK 5222 monotherapy may be preferred over the combinations assessed for CRP infections.
Draft Genome Sequence of Larkinella sp. Strain BK230, Isolated from Populus deltoides Roots.

ABSTRACT Larkinella sp. strain BK230, a heterotrophic bacterium of the phylum Bacteroidetes, was isolated from the roots of a field-grown eastern cottonwood tree (Populus deltoides) located in Georgia. The draft 7.27-Mb genome has a G+C content of 53.4% and contains 6,026 coding sequences, including 41 tRNA genes.
Chronic loss of inhibition in piriform cortex following brief, daily optogenetic stimulation.

Summary It is well established that seizures beget seizures, yet the cellular processes that underlie progressive epileptogenesis remain unclear. Here, we use optogenetics to briefly activate targeted populations of mouse piriform cortex (PCx) principal neurons in vivo. After just 3 or 4 days of stimulation, previously subconvulsive stimuli trigger massive, generalized seizures. Highly recurrent allocortices are especially prone to “optokindling.” Optokindling upsets the balance of recurrent excitation and feedback inhibition. To understand how this balance is disrupted, we then selectively reactivate the same neurons in vitro. Surprisingly, we find no evidence of heterosynaptic potentiation; instead, we observe a marked, pathway-specific decrease in feedback inhibition. We find no loss of inhibitory interneurons; rather, decreased GABA synthesis in feedback inhibitory neurons appears to underlie weakened inhibition. Optokindling will allow precise identification of the molecular processes by which brain activity patterns can progressively and pathologically disrupt the balance of cortical excitation and inhibition.
Design of Traffic Signal Clearance Intervals to Consider Impacts of Buses

Traffic signal design procedures use only light-duty vehicles in the design of yellow and clearance intervals. For quantification of the impact of buses on yellow and clearance times, a controlled field experiment was conducted. In the study, 864 stop and run records were collected for a 56 km/h (35 mph) approach speed; participant bus drivers encountered a yellow indication initiation at different distances from the intersection. Participant drivers were selected randomly from three age groups (i.e., younger than 40 years old, 40 to 64 years old, and 65 years or older), and an equal number of male and female participants was included in each age group. Data collected were used to generate two linear mixed models: one for bus driver perception–reaction times and one for deceleration levels. Both models considered roadway surface and environmental parameters, driver attributes (i.e., age and gender), roadway grade, approaching speed, and time and distance to the intersection at the onset of yellow. The pro...
Alzheimer's disease and models of computation: Imaging, classification, and neural models

Prediction or early-stage diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) requires a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the disease and its progression. Researchers in this area have approached the problem from multiple directions by attempting to develop (a) neurological (neurobiological and neurochemical) models, (b) analytical models for anatomical and functional brain images, (c) analytical feature extraction models for electroencephalograms (EEGs), (d) classification models for positive identification of AD, and (e) neural models of memory and memory impairment in AD. This article presents a state-of-the-art review of research performed on computational modeling of AD and its markers. The review covers the following approaches: computer imaging, classification models, connectionist neural models, and biophysical neural models. It is concluded that a mixture of markers and a combination of novel computational techniques such as neural computing, chaos theory, and wavelets can increase the accuracy of algorithms for automated detection and diagnosis of AD.
A study of the reaction of glyceraldehyde with glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase.

Abstract Kinetic data indicate that rabbit muscle glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase possesses two types of diphosphopyridine nucleotide-binding sites. The actual chemical reaction (oxidation-reduction) occurs at tight sites. Binding of DPN to loose sites activates the reaction at the tight sites. These results are consistent with the concept that the enzyme is "double headed," with oxidation-reduction heads (which contain the tight sites) and transfer heads (which contain the loose sites). Light scattering data are consistent with the concept that (in the absence of arsenate or phosphate) the enzyme can exist as a dimer (with an apparent weight average molecular weight of 2.8 x 105) which can dissociate upon dilution into monomers (with molecular weights of 1.4 x 105). Dimerization is inhibited by high concentrations of arsenate (0.05 m). This inhibition is overcome by adding DPN to the loose sites. The monomer is unreactive in the absence of arsenate and is markedly activated by adding DPN to the loose sites. The dimer is reactive in the absence of arsenate and is only slightly activated by adding DPN to the loose sites. A kinetic mechanism is proposed which agrees with these and most other observations. This mechanism is sequential with the addition of DPN and then the aldehyde to the oxidation-reduction head. This is followed by the addition of arsenate and then DPN to the transfer head. The mech anism of the reaction with glyceraldehyde and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate seems to be the same.
Aquaglyceroporin HC-3 mediates hypotonicity-induced cell volume and shape changes in cultured erythrocytes from Cope’s gray treefrog, Hyla chrysoscelis (1099.4)

Freeze tolerant Cope’s gray treefrog, Hyla chrysoscelis, accumulates glycerol during a process of cold-acclimation in anticipation of freezing. Glycerol acts as a cryoprotectant to control osmotic ...
A US perspective on technology transfer: the changing role of the university.

Technology transfer — the patenting and licensing of university research results — is now a standard part of university activities in the United States. The effect on the economy, and particularly on new start-up companies, is large. As this activity is emulated around the world, several questions arise. What lessons can be learned? How will it change the university — for good or bad? How can the change be thoughtfully controlled?
Adolescent Sexuality and Pregnancy

The implications of sexual activity in teenagers have become an important concern in our society. Although there is some disagreement on the incidence of coitus among teenagers, there is substantial evidence of an increase in the past three decades. In 1948 and 1953, when Kinsey published his data, he reported that 3% of females and 40% of males under age 15 and 20% of the females and 71% of the males between 16 and 20 were sexually active (Kinsey et al., 1948, 1953). A study by Kantner and Zelnick (1972), however, reported that 13.8% of 15-year-old females and 46.1% of 19-year-old females had had intercourse. Seventy-five percent of this group did not use contraceptives regularly, and 26% had become pregnant (Kantner and Zelnick, 1972). Sorenson (1973) reported somewhat higher figures with 19% of females and 38% of males having had intercourse by age 15. The impact of this sexual activity is clearly seen in the high incidence of pregnancy and in its repercussions for the adolescent.
The association between exposure to violence, alcohol, and drugs and psychosocial and behavioral outcomes among Mexican-American adolescents of low socioeconomic status.

El objetivo de este estudio es estudiar la asociacion que la exposicion a la violencia, las drogas y el alcohol tienen en la configuracion del perfil psicosocial de los adolescentes mexicano-americanos de bajo nivel socioeconomico. Se trata de un estudio transversal, conducido con una muestra de 881 adolescentes de origen mexicano que describieron su exposicion a la violencia, las drogas y el alcohol; mientras que sus padres respondieron a un cuestionario para determinar problemas sociales, emocionales y de conducta de sus hijos. La informacion sobre los participantes se extrajo de bases de datos electronicas de seis clinicas pediatricas en El Paso, Texas, en la frontera de Estados Unidos con Mexico. Un total de 463 adolescentes (52,6%) informo no haber estado expuesto a ninguno de los riesgos. Los 418 adolescentes restantes (47,4%) indicaron una sola categoria de exposicion: violencia (25,1%), alcohol (24,9%) y drogas (8,6%). Ademas, algunos adolescentes informaron sobre exposiciones combinadas: violencia y alcohol (13,4%), alcohol y drogas (14,6%) o, violencia, alcohol y drogas (13,4%). La asociacion entre la exposicion combinada a la violencia, las drogas y/o el alcohol y los perfiles psicosociales y de conducta de estos adolescentes muestra un aumento del riesgo de problemas emocionales y de conducta. Existe poca informacion sobre la salud mental de estos adolescentes viviendo en la pobreza en barrios de frontera entre EEUU y Mexico que estan expuestos a los riesgos del alcohol, la violencia y las drogas. Estos resultados muestran la importancia de la asociacion entre la exposicion a estos riesgos y la necesidad de intervenciones efectivas dirigidas a estos subgrupos de jovenes mexicano-americanos y sus familias.
Control of Nonaxisymmetric Magnetic Field Perturbations in Tokamaks

AbstractThe theory of control of nonaxisymmetric perturbations is dominated by the wide sensitivity range of a tokamak plasma to externally produced magnetic perturbations. External perturbations are characterized by their normal magnetic field on the unperturbed plasma surface. The first spatial distribution of on the unperturbed plasma surface in a sensitivity series is that distribution that at the smallest amplitude has a significant effect on plasma properties. The second distribution of in that series is the distribution to which the plasma has greatest sensitivity while being orthogonal to the first. Two distributions are orthogonal if the integral of their product over the unperturbed plasma surface is zero. Only a limited number of distributions in the sensitivity series can be driven to an unacceptable amplitude by credible construction errors in ITER. Essentially any external coil set that produces a nonaxisymmetric magnetic field of adequate strength with a controllable toroidal phase can null...
A Change in the Ion Selectivity of Ligand-Gated Ion Channels Provides a Mechanism to Switch Behavior

Behavioral output of neural networks depends on a delicate balance between excitatory and inhibitory synaptic connections. However, it is not known whether network formation and stability is constrained by the sign of synaptic connections between neurons within the network. Here we show that switching the sign of a synapse within a neural circuit can reverse the behavioral output. The inhibitory tyramine-gated chloride channel, LGC-55, induces head relaxation and inhibits forward locomotion during the Caenorhabditis elegans escape response. We switched the ion selectivity of an inhibitory LGC-55 anion channel to an excitatory LGC-55 cation channel. The engineered cation channel is properly trafficked in the native neural circuit and results in behavioral responses that are opposite to those produced by activation of the LGC-55 anion channel. Our findings indicate that switches in ion selectivity of ligand-gated ion channels (LGICs) do not affect network connectivity or stability and may provide an evolutionary and a synthetic mechanism to change behavior.
MIBA: A Micro-Benchmark Suite for Evaluating InfiniBand Architecture Implementations

Recently, InfiniBand Architecture (IBA) has been proposed as the next generation interconnect for I/O and inter-process communication. The main idea behind this industry standard is to use a scalable switched fabric to design the next generation clusters and servers with high performance and scalability. This architecture provides various types of new mechanisms and services (such as multiple transport services, RDMA and atomic operations, multicast support, service levels, and virtual channels). These services are provided by components (such as queue pairs, completion queue, and virtual-to-physical address translations) and their attributes. Different implementation choices of IBA may lead to different design strategies for efficient implementation of higher level communication layer/libraries (such as Message Passing Interface (MPI), sockets, and distributed shared memory). It also has an impact on the performance of applications.
Opinion #1: Thalia Segal, MD

If the case in question were merely an example of a missed diagnosis that perhaps presented atypically or subtly in its early stages, misconduct would not be an issue. Uncertainty is inherent to the nature of health care. With the tincture of time, diagnoses become clarified, and the last opinion is closest to the “correct” diagnosis. It is the luxury of one giving a second opinion not to stumble over the same pitfalls as one's predecessor. Unfortunately, it appears that this is not a situation of an unusually …
Morphology and Tracer Coupling Pattern of Alpha Ganglion Cells in the Mouse Retina

Alpha cells are a type of ganglion cell whose morphology appears to be conserved across a number of mammalian retinas. In particular, alpha cells display the largest somata and dendritic arbors at a given eccentricity and tile the retina as independent on- (ON) and off-center (OFF) subtypes. Mammalian alpha cells also express a variable tracer coupling pattern, which often includes homologous (same cell type) coupling to a few neighboring alpha cells and extensive heterologous (different cell type) coupling to two to three amacrine cell types. Here, we use the gap junction-permeant tracer Neurobiotin to determine the architecture and coupling pattern of alpha cells in the mouse retina. We find that alpha cells show the same somatic and dendritic architecture described previously in the mammal. However, alpha cells show varied tracer coupling patterns related to their ON and OFF physiologies. ON alpha cells show no evidence of homologous tracer coupling but are coupled heterologously to at least two types of amacrine cell whose somata lie within the ganglion cell layer. In contrast, OFF alpha cells are coupled to one another in circumscribed arrays as well as to two to three types of amacrine cell with somata occupying the inner nuclear layer. We find that homologous coupling between OFF alpha cells is unaltered in the connexin36 (Cx36) knockout (KO) mouse retina, indicating that it is not dependent on Cx36. However, a subset of the heterologous coupling of ON alpha cells and all the heterologous coupling of OFF alpha cells are eliminated in the KO retina, suggesting that Cx36 comprises most of the junctions made with amacrine cells.
Ecovillages, values, and interactive technology: balancing sustainability with daily life in 21st century america

This project seeks to provide a rich account of the adaptive process that occurs as individuals with explicit value commitments interact with information technology. Specifically, ethnographic methods are being used to investigate the information technology adaptive process as it unfolds in the daily life of two ecovillages, communities made up of individuals striving to balance their use of technology with a lifestyle that is environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. Anticipated research outcomes include: (1) an analytic description of information technology adaptive process; (2) a categorization of technological functionalities which support or constrain certain values, (3) an empirical extension of Value Sensitive Design, and (4) an analysis of the negotiation around tensions which emerge as a community's values influence the use of information technology features and, reciprocally, as information technology features influence a community's values. Most broadly this work contributes to our larger understanding of how the information technology adaptive process influences the human experience.
Impaired renal mevalonate metabolism in nephrotic syndrome: A stimulus for increased hepatic cholesterogenesis independent of GFR and hypoalbuminemia

Increased hepatic lipogenesis in the nephrotic syndrome is not adequately explained by hypoalbuminemia. In this disorder an enhanced delivery of the cholesterol precursor mevalonic acid (MVA) to the liver may be an unidentified stimulus to cholesterogenesis. Since the kidneys are the major site of mevalonate excretion and metabolism by either the sterol or nonsterol shunt pathways, an impairment of any of these metabolic alternatives could result in redistribution of mevalonate to the liver. Male Sprague-Dawley rats rendered nephrotic by puromycin aminonucleoside had their kidneys perfused with Krebs-Henseleit-bicarbonate buffer containing albumin, glucose and 5-14C-MVA. The number five carbon label was utilized so that any 14CO2 produced would represent mevalonate shunt pathway activity. The isolated perfused kidney was used to eliminate confounding variables. In eight control kidneys perfused for 2 hr 62 +/- 2% of the MVA was removed from the perfusate compared to 50 +/- 2% in five nephrotic kidneys (p less than .006). Urinary MVA recovery was 22 +/- 2% in controls. 15 +/- 1% in nephrotics (p less than .05). The incorporation of 14C into renal tissue lipids was not different in the two groups. Recovery of 14CO2 was two times greater in controls than in nephrotics (p less than .006). Inulin clearance per gram of kidney and sodium reabsorption were similar for the two groups. Isolated perfused kidneys from nephrotic rats metabolize MVA abnormally such that less is excreted, less is oxidized, and more is available for recirculation to the liver. This occurs independently of hypoalbuminemia, a change in glomerular filtration rate, or an overt histo-pathologic lesion. These events create an environment for increased hepatic cholesterol synthesis.
RAY JACKENDOFF'S PHENOMENOLOGY OF LANGUAGE AS A REFUTATION OF THE 'APPENDAGE' THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Since Jackendoff has shown that language facilitates abstract and complex thought by making possible subtle manipulations of the focus of attention, and since the kind of attention relevant here is attention to aspects of intentional objects in conscious awareness, it follows that the abstract and complex thinking that language facilitates owes much to the working of a conscious process. This, however, conflicts with Jackendoff's view of consciousness as something which does not play a direct part in thinking, but is only a byproduct of a non-conscious computational process in the brain which does the real thinking. I argue that, since Jackendoff s phenomenology of language shows that attention plays such an important part in thinking, yet language can help us attend only to what we are conscious of consciousness does play an important part in thinking. Moreover, consciousness cannot be merely an epiphenomenal byproduct separable in principle from underlying physical mechanisms, because this would imply that consciousness itself is not physical, which would lead to dualism. But if consciousness is inseparable from its physiological substratum, then it also causes whatever effects the physiological substratum causes.
Liquid surface area effects in a wetted‐wall column

Vaporization of methanol and carbon tetrachloride into air and carbon tetrachloride into helium was carried out in a counterflow wetted-wall column at 10° to 20°F. These data show an influence of liquid rate upon the mass transfer coefficients. Liquid rate influence has been empirically accounted for by a function of surface area increase caused by rippling of the liquid film.
Plasma catecholamine and cardiovascular responses following hypothalamic stimulation in the awake cat

Ninety-three hypothalamic sites were electrically stimulated, using constant parameters, in awake, restrained cats to determine those regions which maximally activated the sympatho-adrenal (SA) and cardiovascular (CV) systems. Plasma catecholamine levels were measured over time following hypothalamic stimulation; levels of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) served as indices of adrenergic neural and adrenal medullary activities, respectively. CV parameters of heart rate (HR) and mean intra-arterial blood pressure (MAP) were continuously monitored. The greatest elevation in plasma catecholamines was elicited by stimulation of sites in the perifornical area, ventromedial nucleus, and medial forebrain bundle. Several sites were identified which preferentially elevated one of the sympatho-adrenal neurotransmitters. A differential increase in plasma E was most frequently obtained from sites around the border of the ventromedial nucleus and in the medial forebrain bundle. Differential elevation of plasma NE was observed following stimulation of sites in the anterior commissure, central preoptic area, and dorsal perifornical region posterior to the ventromedial nucleus. Sites which activated the CV and SA systems were not always coincident; those sites which activated the CV system alone tended to be located in the lateral hypothalamus.