cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Structures, energetics, and effects of stacking faults in MgB 2

We investigate the structure, energetics, and effects of stacking faults in ${\mathrm{MgB}}_{2}$ by means of first-principles density-functional calculations. Two structurally different stacking faults were determined with displacements of $\mathbf{R}=[01/20]$ and [2/3, 1/3 0], and formation energies calculated to be 956 and 932 ${\mathrm{e}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{g}/\mathrm{n}\mathrm{m}}^{2}$, respectively. Significant expansions were found at both stacking faults. The partial density of states showed that the B atoms in these stacking faults present large reductions in the density of states around the Fermi energy. However, due to their low density, these stacking faults may not cause a significant decrease of the transition temperature of ${\mathrm{MgB}}_{2}.$
Erythropoietic Stimulation in the Hypertransfused Guinea-Pig following Injections of Human Urinary Erythropoietin

CONSIDERABLE evidence has accumulated in recent years that supports the concept of a humoral component as part of the mechanism for control of erythropoiesis. The humoral agent has been termed erythropoietin or erythropoietic stimulating factor, and has been obtained from plasma and urine of various anaemic animals and from urine of patients with various haematological disorders. Erythropoietin does not appear to be species specific; thus, human, rabbit and sheep erythropoietin stimulate erythropoiesis in the mouse, rat and rabbit.
Does how much a resident teaches impact performance? A comparison of preclinical teaching hours to pathology residents' in-service examination scores.

BACKGROUND: While others have studied the effects of resident teaching on medical student performance, few have examined the benefits to the resident educator. Our study compared the quantity of pathology residents' didactic teaching with their performance on in-service examinations. METHODS: The academic records of anatomic/clinical pathology residents over 10 years were reviewed. Scores on step I of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE(®)), the annual percentile on the in-service examination, and preclinical teaching hours for each resident were obtained. RESULTS: Average annual teaching hours showed a weak positive correlation with mean in-service examination performance. Those below the 50th percentile had a lower number of teaching hours (average 7.8) than above the 50th percentile (mean 10.4, P=0.01). The incremental positive association between the two metrics increased by year in training and was strongest among senior residents, even controlling for USMLE performance (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: There is an association between the amount of pathology residents' preclinical educational activity and their mean performance on in-service examinations.
Systems biology in physiology: the vasopressin signaling network in kidney

Over the past 80 years, physiological research has moved progressively in a reductionist direction, providing mechanistic information on a smaller and smaller scale. This trend has culminated in th...
Effect of species differences, pollutant concentration, and residence time in soil on the bioaccumulation of 2,2‐BIS (p‐chlorophenyl)‐1,1‐dichloroethylene by three earthworm species

Laboratory experiments were conducted to study the effects of species differences, soil concentration, and contaminant- residence time in soil on the bioaccumulation factor (BAF; dry-weight ratio of contaminant concentration in the tissue to that in the soil) of 2,2-bis ( p-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethylene ( p,p9-DDE) for three species of earthworms. In four field-weathered soils, the BAF for Eisenia foetida, an epigeic species (surface habitat), was approximately 10-fold higher than those for Lumbricus terrestris, an anecic species (deep habitat) and Aporrectodea caliginosa, an endogeic species (habitat within the soil profile). Preliminary analysis indicates that BAF may decline with increasing pollutant concentration in soil. With regard to contaminant- residence time, the BAF for E. foetida was lower in weathered soils relative to that in freshly amended soils, but age of p,p9-DDE did not significantly alter the BAF forA. caliginosa. These data suggest total chemical concentration alone is not a reliable indicator of the toxicological significance of a contaminated soil and that species-specific differences and environmental factors significantly impact overall exposure and risk.
Craving Activity and Losing Objectivity Effects of General Action Concepts on Approach to Decision-Consistent Information

In light of U.S. society’s ever increasing need for activity, the authors used three experiments to examine how general action concepts, activated by subtle priming methods, influence choices to ap...
Stimuli-responsive hydrogel thin films

In this brief review we address a range of interesting applications and prospects of responsive hydrogel thin films for the fabrication of “smart” responsive surfaces, membranes, sensors with various transduction mechanisms, micro/nanoactuators, and capsules. We show that hydrogel thin films compete with grafted polymers and demonstrate strong advantages for the fabrication of robust multifunctional and multiresponsive surfaces. This article reviews recent publications on the synthesis of responsive hydrogel thin films and hybrid films with entrapped nanoparticles and reagents by the chemical crosslinking of reactive polymers, layer-by-layer deposition, and block-copolymer self-assembly, as well as examining those publications to determine a range of applications.
Protein Kinase A–Mediated Acceleration of the Stretch Activation Response in Murine Skinned Myocardium Is Eliminated by Ablation of cMyBP-C

Beta-adrenergic agonists induce protein kinase A (PKA) phosphorylation of the cardiac myofilament proteins myosin binding protein C (cMyBP-C) and troponin I (cTnI), resulting in enhanced systolic function, but the relative contributions of cMyBP-C and cTnI to augmented contractility are not known. To investigate possible roles of cMyBP-C in this response, we examined the effects of PKA treatment on the rate of force redevelopment and the stretch activation response in skinned ventricular myocardium from both wild-type (WT) and cMyBP-C null (cMyBP-C(-/-)) myocardium. In WT myocardium, PKA treatment accelerated the rate of force redevelopment and the stretch activation response, resulting in a shorter time to the peak of delayed force development when the muscle was stretched to a new isometric length. Ablation of cMyBP-C accelerated the rate of force redevelopment and stretch activation response to a degree similar to that observed in PKA treatment of WT myocardium; however, PKA treatment had no effect on the rate of force development and the stretch activation response in null myocardium. These results indicate that ablation of cMyBP-C and PKA treatment of WT myocardium have similar effects on cross-bridge cycling kinetics and suggest that PKA phosphorylation of cMyBP-C accelerates the rate of force generation and thereby contributes to the accelerated twitch kinetics observed in living myocardium during beta-adrenergic stimulation.
A novel activation pathway for mature thymocytes. Costimulation of CD2 (T,p50) and CD28 (T,p44) induces autocrine interleukin 2/interleukin 2 receptor-mediated cell proliferation.

Prior studies have shown that thymocytes, unlike peripheral T cells, do not proliferate in response to mitogenic combinations of anti-CD2 mAbs. The present study demonstrated that stimulation by a mitogenic anti-CD2 combination (9-1 plus 9.6) with anti-CD28 induced vigorous thymocyte proliferation in the absence of exogenous IL-2. This thymocyte proliferation was IL-2 dependent as shown by the complete inhibition using anti-IL-2-R mAbs. Induction of IL-2-R transcripts was detected in thymocytes stimulated by the anti-CD2 antibody combination alone or the anti-CD2 combination plus anti-CD28 antibody. However, induction of IL-2 transcripts was observed only in thymocytes triggered jointly by the anti-CD2 combination plus anti-CD28 antibodies. The double-negative (CD4-8-) or CD1+ thymocytes isolated by sorting or by panning were unresponsive to CD2/CD28 triggering. The same mitogenic signal could induce vigorous proliferation of thymocytes with a mature phenotype, i.e., CD3+CD4+ or CD3+CD8+ thymocytes. Immunofluorescence studies demonstrated that the majority of CD3+ thymocytes were CD28+, and most of the CD28+ cells were located in the medullary compartment of thymus. These results indicated that the T cell lineage surface molecules CD28 and CD2 are involved in the regulation of expansion and further differentiation of mature thymocytes.
Mechanism of action of starch as a tablet disintegrant I: Factors that affect the swelling of starch grains at 37°

A study was initiated to determine if starch grains swell at 37° and what environmental conditions may influence swelling. To determine the extent of swelling which starch undergoes in various media, individual grain dimensions were measured microscopically. Full factorial experiments were conducted, and analyses of variance were calculated to determine whether significant differences in the mean grain sizes could be demonstrated when environmental conditions were changed. Potato, corn, and arnioca starches and moisture content showed significant swelling in distilled water and simulated gastric fluid U.S.P. This was postulated as due to initial size difference of the grains being maintained during the experiment. Variation in pH had very little effect on swelling; however, evidence was obtained to show that the less acid medium produced more swelling than the media of lower pH. Salts did affect swelling, and results indicated that salts of polyvalent cations produced more swelling than the salts of monovalent cations. Analysis of the effect of time on swelling indicated that. any swelling of the starch grains is apparently instantaneous.
Approaches for probing the sequence space of substrates recognized by molecular chaperones

Neurodegeneration, the progressive loss of function in neurons that eventually leads to their death, is the cause of many neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases. Protein aggregation is a hallmark of most neurodegenerative diseases, where unfolded proteins form intranuclear, cytosolic, and extracellular insoluble aggregates in neurons. Mounting evidence from studies in neurodegenerative disease models shows that molecular chaperones, key regulators of protein aggregation and degradation, play critical roles in the progression of neurodegeneration. Although chaperones exhibit promiscuity in their substrate specificity, specific molecular features are required for substrate recognition. Understanding the basis for substrate recognition by chaperones will aid in the development of therapeutic strategies that regulate chaperone expression levels in order to combat neurodegeneration. Many experimental techniques, including alanine scanning mutagenesis and phage display library screening, have been developed and applied to understand the basis of substrate recognition by chaperones. Here, we present computational algorithms that can be applied to rapidly screen the sequence space of potential substrates to determine the sequence and structural requirements for substrate recognition by chaperones.
Systolic temporal arithmetic: a new formalism for specification and verification of systolic arrays

A systolic temporal arithmetic (STA) formalism suitable for describing arithmetic operations in dynamic environments is introduced. It can be used for formal specification and verification of systolic arrays at the array architecture level. Besides providing value and operation abstraction from the lower level, it also exploits several features of systolic arrays, such as synchrony, regularity, repeatability, modularity, pipelinability, parallel processing ability, and spatial and temporal locality. STA provides constructs and verification techniques for simple, efficient, and effective systolic-array specification and verification. Verification techniques such as mathematical induction are suggested to exploit these systolic array features so as to speed up the process. STA overcomes several limitations of other existing specification and verification techniques and can be used with lower-level formalism for multilevel reasoning of systolic arrays. A brief description of this formalism and examples of how the formalism can be applied for formal specification and verification of two systolic arrays are discussed. Other applications of STA, such as simulations, fault diagnoses, and test generation for systolic arrays, are also suggested. >
Scattering by a planar aperiodic strip grating

An analytical method for analyzing the electromagnetic scattering by an aperiodic planar strip grating is presented. Results on single and multiple planar strip gratings are given for various strip sizes, spacings and widths. The test case was a 2.0 wavelength strip illuminated at normal incidence. >
A Service-Oriented Solution for Retail Store Network Planning

Diverse knowledge and techniques are required in retail store network planning (RSNP), which involves indispensable and interdependent strategic decision processes such as performance evaluation, trade area analysis, market potential forecasting and retail network optimization. On the one hand, these processes are often tightly related and need to be integrated to solve the complex business optimization problems. On the other hand, the required information, e.g. external geographic and demographic information and internal store information, and decision units are usually geographically dispersed. Decentralization is required at both data administration level and decision process level. To offer a feasible loose-coupled and easy-to-implemented solution, this paper proposes a service-oriented framework for RSNP. Detailed specification of RSNP services, process model and corresponding messaging mechanism are also detailed. The RSNP implementation case for retail chain store operators is finally presented to illustrate how the proposed solution improves the flexibility and interoperability of existing RSNP practices.
Hispanic Graduate Students’ Mentoring Themes: Gender Roles in a Bicultural Context

Male and female focus groups at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) discussed mentoring of Hispanic graduate students. Using Thematic Analysis, investigators identified three main themes: Relation...
In-Flight Anomalies and Lessons Learned from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission

The Mars reconnaissance orbiter mission has as its primary objectives: advance our understanding of the current Mars climate, the processes that have formed and modified the surface of the planet, and the extent to which water has played a role in surface processes; identify sites of possible aqueous activity indicating environments that may have been or are conducive to biological activity; and thus, identify and characterize sites for future landed missions; and provide forward and return relay services for current and future Mars landed assets. MRO's crucial role in the long term strategy for Mars exploration requires a high level of reliability during its 5.4 year mission. This requires an architecture which incorporates extensive redundancy and cross-strapping. The overall MRO architecture is discussed in this context. Because of the distances and hence light- times involved, the spacecraft itself must be able to utilize this redundancy in responding to time-critical failures. The architecture of MRO's semi-autonomous fault protection (FP) software, known as SPIDER (spacecraft imbedded distributed error response), is described. For cases where FP is unable to recognize a potentially threatening condition, either due to known limitations or software flaws, intervention by ground operations is required. Each of MRO's significant in-flight anomalies is examined, with lessons learned for redundancy and FP architectures and for ground operations.
Control of Toxic Metal Emissions from Combustors Using Sorbents: A Review

This paper constitutes a review of the control of toxic metal emissions using sorbents. The objective of sorbent-injection methods is to effectively capture the metal species (preferably transform it to an environmentally benign form) and to suppress the fraction in the submicrometer mode. The design of an effective sorbent-injection methodology thus requires an understanding of the fate of the metallic species and its transformation pathways (transfer to the gas phase, subsequent chemistry at high temperatures, and aerosol formation and growth dynamics) in the combustor. Several different sorbent methodologies used for metals capture are discussed, and a mechanistic description is provided. The need for further experimentation and pilot scale testing is also emphasized.
Estimating uncertainties in individual eddy covariance flux measurements: A comparison of methods and a proposed new method

We present a review of four methods that are currently and formerly used to estimate random flux measurement uncertainties in eddy covariance instrument systems, examining their theoretical basis. In our review, we illustrate a few of the strengths and weaknesses of each, paying particular attention to the explicit and implicit assumptions made. We then evaluate the practicality, ease of use, and relative performance for the methods reviewed. We also describe a new method of random flux uncertainty estimation that is designed to only be sensitive to random instrument noise, and compare its predictions with other methods on both real and synthetic data. We conclude that our new method is a good complement to the others examined. We also suggest that when our proposed technique is used with one or more of the other methods, new information is obtained about how contributions to the total uncertainty are distributed among their various causes.
Use of Intravenous Bisphosphonates in Older Women with Breast Cancer

INTRODUCTION i.v. bisphosphonates reduce skeletal events in women with bone metastases from breast cancer, but little is known about the prevalence and duration of bisphosphonate use. METHODS Patients were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare database who were aged > or =65 years and were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 1995-2002. Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System codes were used to identify patients treated with pamidronate and zoledronic acid. Descriptive statistics were used to describe patterns of use. Multivariate analyses were performed to determine the predictors of bisphosphonate use. RESULTS In total, 55,864 women with breast cancer were included, with 307,467 person-years of follow-up. Overall, 1.26% of women with all stages of breast cancer received i.v. bisphosphonates. In 2004, 2% of all breast cancer patients and 32% of patients with distant stage disease received bisphosphonates. Approximately two thirds of patients treated with bisphosphonates received zoledronic acid and one third received pamidronate in 2004. Multivariate analyses showed that patients who were > or =75 years old were less likely to receive bisphosphonates (75-79 years versus 65-69 years: odds ratio [OR], 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.70-0.93; 80+ years versus 65-69 years: OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.42-0.57). The use of bisphosphonates dramatically increased over time. The majority of living patients were continued on i.v. bisphosphonates once started (83% at 1 year, 64% at 3 years, 50% at 5 years), but the median survival time after initiation of i.v. bisphosphonates was only 21 months. CONCLUSIONS i.v. bisphosphonates appear to be underused in patients with metastatic breast cancer, particularly among those patients >75 years of age.
Optical resonators with nonuniform magnification

The geometrical-optics properties of a new class of resonators are derived. The resonator magnification is defined by sequential ray positions at one cavity mirror and is assumed to be a function of the transverse coordinate. This function alone is sufficient to determine the geometrical eigenvalues and mode-intensity functions of the cavity. In the opposite sense, if one mode-intensity function is specified, the required magnification function can. be derived. The eigenvalues depend solely on the value of the magnification at the resonator axis. To determine the geometry of the resonator and of the wave front uniquely, additional information must be specified. Mirror-sag formulas are derived for two cases, the self-correcting resonator and the half-symmetric resonator.
Canonical quantization of abelian Chern-Simons solitons

Abstract We quantize canonically the one-soliton solution of non-relativistic matter coupled to a Chern-Simons gauge field. We introduce collective coordinates for the soliton zero modes, and expand the hamiltonian to quadratic order in fluctuations about the soliton. The quantum soliton is displayed as a coherent state in the usual multiparticle Hilbert space, and we find the collective coordinate wavefunctions of the one-soliton eigenstates of the hamiltonian in the quadratic approximation.
Stress relaxation effect in elastico-viscous lubricants in gears and rollers

The stress relaxation effect in an incompressible elastico-viscous fluid is investigated for the case of the lubrication of line-contact rollers. Two extreme cases are considered: that of low pressures with rigid surfaces and constant viscosity and that of heavily loaded elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication. In order to solve this problem, a new invariant material time derivative is suggested. This derivative is referred to a co-ordinate system attached to the principal axes of the strain-rate tensor, while the former derivatives have been referred to the fluid particle. It is shown that, unlike the previous derivatives, the new one enables a separate parametric description of the stress relaxation process and the first normal-stress difference. The results show that a significant increase in the load capacity is obtained, owing to the relaxation time of the fluid. The investigation is for fluids with a relaxation time small compared with the transit time of the lubricant through the bearing.
Near-field thermal-hydrological behavior for alternative repository designs at Yucca Mountain

three-dimensional calculations that explicitly represent a realistic mixture of waste packages (WPs) are used to analyze decay-heat-driven thermal-hydrological behavior around emplacement drifts in a potential high-level waste facility at Yucca Mountain, Calculations, using the NUFT code, compare two fundamentally different ways that WPs can be arranged in the repository, with a focus on temperature, relative humidity, and liquid-phase flux on WPs. These quantities strongly affect WP integrity and the mobilization and release of radionuclides from WPs. Point-load spacing, which places the WPs roughly equidistant from each other, thermally isolates WPs from each other, causing large variability in temperature, relative humidity, and liquid-phase flux among the drifts. Line-load spacing, which WPs nearly end to end in widely spaced drifts, results in more locally intensive and uniform heating along the drifts, causing hotter, drier and more uniform conditions. A larger and more persistent reduction in relative humidity on WPs occurs if the drifts are backfilled with a low thermal conductivity granular material with hydrologic properties that minimize moisture wicking.
Data streaming algorithms for the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test

We propose space-efficient algorithms for performing the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test on streaming data. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test is a non-parametric test for measuring the strength of a hypothesis that some data is drawn from a fixed distribution (one-sample test), or that two sets of data are drawn from the same distribution (two-sample test). Unlike some other tests, Kolmogorov-Smirnov does not assume that the distribution has a known form (e.g., it is normal), and in the two-sample case it need not know anything about the distribution, other than that it is continuous. Motivated by the challenges of big data, we present algorithms for both the one-sample and the two-sample tests for data processed in a stream. We demonstrate the accuracy of our algorithms via extensive experimentation on both real and synthetic datasets. We show that our algorithms are superior to sampling and that they accurately perform the test with several orders of magnitude reduction in data.
On Insurrectionality: Theses on Contemporary Revolts and Resilience

AbstractThis analysis asks are civil uprisings by adaptable popular resistance groups of insurrectionists openly allowed in today's unstable world system? Does power legitimize its rule by constantly sparking revolts only to contain and suppress them in spectacles of control to evince the resilience of established regimes? Such embedded cycles of regimes collapsing, and then reconstructing their rule, illustrate this dynamic of ‘insurrectionality’. Like other ideologies of good works, including ‘accountability’, ‘diversity’, or ‘sustainability’, do the logics of insurrectionality unfold tactics of flexible control to maintain a new globalized regime of resilient power? An emergent logic for maintaining order might mobilize disorder to generate new power and knowledge for renewing order. And, these strategies appear to be implemented by permitting groups of insurrectionists to exist openly and tolerate, to a large degree, the legitimacy of insurrectionism as a civil/political/social freedom, if not, a new ...
A knotless bidirectional-barbed tendon repair is inferior to conventional 4-strand repairs in cyclic loading.

UNLABELLED We divided 21 flexor digitorum profundus tendons in the index, middle and ring fingers in seven cadaver hands into three groups. The tendons were cut in zone 2 and repaired using a 4-strand cruciate core suture repair with one of the following three materials in each group: (1) a knotless repair with a 2-0 bidirectional-barbed suture, which has similar tensile strength as a 4-0 non-barbed suture used in the other two groups; (2) a knotted locking repair with a non-barbed 4-0 conventional suture; and (3) a non-locking repair with a non-barbed 4-0 knotless suture. The repaired fingers were cyclically loaded through a simulated active range of motion to a 5 N load. We monitored and recorded the gap sizes at regular intervals during the test. The 2-0 bidirectional-barbed suture group and non-barbed suture groups developed gaps of 2.2 mm after 10 cycles and 2.4 mm after 20 cycles, respectively. Over 1000 cycles, the mean gaps were 3.2 mm in the 4-0 conventional suture group and 9.1 mm in the 2-0 bidirectional-barbed group. The tendons in the 2-0 bidirectional-barbed group gapped earlier, with statistically significant differences compared with those in the locking repair with a non-barbed 4-0 knotless suture group. The repair strength of the barbed suture technique was inferior to the cruciate repairs using a conventional 4-0 non-barbed suture tested in this cyclic-loading model. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Level V.
Introduction to Using Informal Reading Inventories in Research and Practice

In an era of sweeping educational reform initiatives (e.g., the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, the American Recovery and Rein...
Food Habits of the Plains Pocket Gopher in Eastern Colorado

The contents of the stomachs of 298 Geomys bursarius taken in the sandhills of eastern Colorado were examined microscopically. As a basis for judging food preferences, floral composition estimates were made at each capture site. Approximately 64% of the yearly diet was grass, although forbs were preferred when they were succulent in spring and summer. The plants most commonly eaten by pocket gophers and the percentages of the yearly diet they comprised were: Stipa comata , 22%; Agropyron smithii , 14%; Bouteloua gracilis , 12% and Opuntia humifusa , 9%. The four most highly preferred plants and their preference indices were: Opuntia humifusa (25.0); Astragalus spp. (10.0); Stipa comata (5.5) and Sphaeralcea coccinea (5.0). Aboveground parts of plants (leaves and stems) were most important in the diet in July, and least important in February and made up 26% of the yearly diet. The food habits of the different sex and age-classes differed slightly. Young animals ate significantly more aboveground vegetation than did adults, and young and adults had different preferences for certain plants.
Introducing Defects into Metal-Seamed Nanocapsules Using Mixed Macrocycles

The synthesis and single-crystal X-ray diffraction structure of a dimeric zinc-seamed nanocapsule using a mixed pyrogallol/resorcinol[4]arene are presented. The use of "mixed" macrocycles results in an incomplete seam of coordination bonds around the nanocapsule's typically octa-metalated belt. The self-assembly of the nanocapsule occurs such that the single resorcinol moiety of each macrocycle aligns transversely. This yields a hepta-metalated capsule where the defect occurs in such a way as to provide minimal disruption to the overall structure of the nanocapsule.
Antioxidant and lysosomotropic properties of acute D-propranolol underlies its cardioprotection of postischemic hearts from moderate iron-overloaded rats.

The benefits of acute d-propranolol (d-Pro, non–β-adrenergic receptor blocker) pretreatment against enhanced ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury of hearts from moderate iron-overloaded rats were examined. Perfused hearts from iron-dextran-treated rats (450 mg/kg/week for 3 weeks, intraperitoneal administration) exhibited normal control function, despite iron treatment that elevated plasma iron and conjugated diene levels by 8.1-and 2.5-fold, respectively. However, these hearts were more susceptible to 25 mins of global I/R stress compared with nonloaded hearts; the coronary flow rate, aortic output, cardiac work, left ventricular systolic pressure, positive differential left ventricular pressure (dP/dt), and left ventricular developed pressure displayed 38%, 60%, 55%, 13%, 41%, and 15% lower recoveries, respectively, and a 6.5-fold increase in left ventricular end-diastolic pressure. Postischemic hearts from iron-loaded rats also exhibited 5.6-, 3.48-, 2.43-, and 3.45-fold increases in total effluent iron c...
Generation of oxygen free radicals in thyroid cells and inhibition of thyroid peroxidase.

We examined whether superoxide (O2-) is produced as a precursor of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in cultured thyroid cells using the cytochrome c method and the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) method. No O2- or its related radicals was detected in thyroid cells under the physiological condition. The presence of quinone, 2, 3-dimethoxy-1-naphthoqulnone (DMNQ), or 2-methyl-1, 4-naphthoqulnone (menadione), in the medium produced O2- and hydroxyl radicals (OH); the amount of H2O2 generation was also increased. Incubation of follicles with DMNQ or menadione inhibited iodine organification (a step of thyroid hormone formation) and its catalytic enzyme, thyroid peroxidase (TPO). This inhibition should be caused by reactive oxygen species because the two quinones, particularly DMNQ, exert their effect through the generation of reactive oxygen species. It is speculated that the site-specific inactlvatlon of TPO might have occurred at the heme-linked histidine residue of the TPO molecule, a critical amino acid for...
Therapeutic Implications of Peripheral Nerve Hyperexcitability in Muscle Cramping: A retrospective review.

Purpose:Muscle cramping due to peripheral nerve hyperexcitability (PNH) is poorly characterized. This retrospective study examines the prevalence of PNH and response to treatment.Methods:The Duke EMG Database was queried to identify patients with muscle cramping tested for PNH from 2010 to 2015. Per
Microgrid/Macrogrid Energy Exchange: A Novel Market Structure and Stochastic Scheduling

This paper explores the stochastic scheduling of microgrids where energy exchange with the macrogrid must be coordinated ahead of time. In particular, a market structure is proposed in which microgrid operators make day-ahead energy exchange commitments. Microgrids are fined for deviating too far from commitments and a maximum difference between commitments in subsequent hours is enforced. These constraints are included to reduce the burden placed on the macrogrid by distributed generation. Under this market structure, a scheduling problem is formulated for a microgrid system consisting of microturbines, a photovoltaic array, a battery bank, and a bi-directional connection to the macrogrid. Chance-constrained optimization is used to minimize operational cost and ensure the energy exchange commitments are met. The problem is transformed into a mixed integer linear program, and is solved to show that these commitments can be satisfied with a high level of certainty and to illustrate inherent tradeoffs between microgrid performance and level of regulation.
Reconstructing Forces from Continuous Connections Using SWAT

During an environment, it is desirable to know the forces or inputs on the system of interest. With the inputs, one can directly use a finite element or experimental model to predict responses not measured in a field test. One can attempt to measure point forces using force gauges, however, these gauges are insufficient due to the inability to place a gauge at a forcing interface or to measure a force applied over an area. SWAT (Sum of weighted acceleration technique) is a method that uses mode shapes as a modal filter with measured accelerations and to solve the inverse problem and calculate the forces and moments on the system. This paper will examine an application where the use of a force gauge is impossible due to the external forces being applied over an area. The paper will calculate the sum of the forces and moments imparted on the system and will use a finite element model to check the plausibility of the calculated forces.
Respuesta a rumores de dopaje y acusaciones en el ámbito de la comunicación deportiva: La utilización de estrategias de reparación de la imagen por parte de Rafael Nadal

The rumors derived from false or unproven accusations carry relatively small attention in the research on crisis communication. Most times the literature on this topic focuses on how to react to serious incidents or, if anything, to rumours derived from these events. However, rumors founded or unfounded, true or false, can have a big impact on the quality of the relationships that an organization or individual (in the case of sports) has with its stakeholders. In particular, especially in the sport of elite, rumors affect the legitimacy or the perceived congruency between the athleteâ€™s behavior and the social norms. Obviously, the accommodative strategies have no place when accusations are based on assumptions which have not been proved. But neither the mere denial that keeps alive the controversy. The case of doping accusations to Rafael Nadal is a demonstration of that. Only when Nadalâ€™s team moved from denial and bolstering to implement corrective actions in an effort to create transparency, media controversy stopped. This case demonstrates that, in a digital era of full disclosure, single elite athletes should advocate for maximum transparency, beyond legal standards, in order to protect the legitimacy of their achievements.
El arte y la condición de víctima: lo político y lo estético de “hacerse visible”

The article opens with some ethnographic considerations on art as a means tonarrate the historical contours of the conflict and reconciliation processes inColombia. It examines how artwork created by conflict victims impinges onthe politics of victimhood and processes of integral reparation. To analyzethese issues, I propose a theoretical framework based on notions of visuality,transparency, and images and relate them to concepts of governance, nationformation, and models of restorative justice. I defend an approach that considersthat art produced by victims not only is as a form of resistance that makespolitics visible, but also is part of the apparatus of transitional justice.
Incidence of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia in lower-extremity free flap reconstruction correlates with the overall surgical population.

Summary Background Lower-extremity free flap reconstruction is a growing trend in the management of lower extremity wounds. Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a significant risk to free flap reconstruction. The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of HIT in patients receiving lower-extremity free flap surgery. Methods We conducted a retrospective, single center, IRB approved cohort study in which we reviewed all patients who received lower-extremity free flap surgeries between 2011 and 2016. The 4T and HIT Expert Probability (HEP) scores were calculated to assess the likelihood of HIT. Results One hundred patient charts revealed three patients with HIT. One patient was excluded due to a prior diagnosis of HIT. HIT incidence in patients receiving lower-extremity free flaps was between 1% and 3%, which is consistent with the national average. 4T scores indicated that two of three HIT-positive patients had a high probability of HIT (approximately 64%), and one of three HIT-positive patients had an intermediate probability (approximately 14%). HEP scoring indicated that all the three (100%) patients had HIT. Conclusions These data suggest that the incidence of HIT in patients receiving lower-extremity free flaps correlates with the incidence of HIT nationally. The use of available scoring methods and other algorithms, combined with patient history helps to assess the immediate perioperative risks of HIT in the absence of rapid immunologic confirmatory tests. This knowledge can allow for successful free flap salvage or for performance of free flaps in patients with a history of HIT.
Interpretation, Social Science, and Educational Research

This introductory essay provides a philosophical analysis of interpretation in educational research. It describes the historical development of interpretation as a central feature of social science, explains contemporary views of interpretation in terms of epistemology (post-positivism) and ontology (hermeneutics), and clarifies the key ideas and arguments of epistemological and ontological interpretation. The essay also compares and contrasts epistemological and ontological interpretation and considers the implications of each view for educational research. Differences between epistemological and ontological views of interpretation are not easily resolvable, the essay concludes. This situation is not cause for despair, however. Instead, it can inspire educational researchers to think about profoundly meaningful questions. It also can invite all who are interested in improving education to continually re-imagine the aims and practices of educational research.
First-Principles Theoretical Methods for the Calculation of Electronic Charge Densities and Electrostatic Potentials

Recent years have seen dramatic and exciting advances in computational chemistry, due to important developments in both hardware and software technology. One of these has certainly been the increasing availability of supercomputers for research purposes, as for example at the centers supported by the National Science Foundation and at government laboratories such as the Naval Research Laboratory or the Air Force Supercomputing Center. A complementary factor has been the expanded use of personal computers, workstations and graphics terminals that allow the researcher to interact with supercomputers and mainframes, and to visually monitor and examine the results. At the same time, there has been a mushrooming of software packages at all levels, ranging from ab initio to empirical, which permit continually improving computational treatments of systems ranging from individual molecules to molecular aggregates.
45 – Cigarette Smoking: Trends, Determinants, and Health Effects

Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death among women in America, killing more than 152,000 women each year, primarily from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and respiratory diseases. Lung cancer now exceeds breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths among women. For women, trends in smoking are strongly correlated with education; income and occupation are more weakly correlated. Several important determinants of smoking among women and girls have been identified, including the role smoking plays in meeting the developmental needs of the adolescent, weight concerns, and nicotine addiction. The health effects of an adolescent's decision to smoke cigarettes are devastating. Effective smoking cessation treatments have been identified to break the cycle of nicotine addiction, and smoking cessation clinical trials indicate that the same treatments benefit both women and men. These treatment strategies are reviewed and summarized in the Agency for Health Care Policy's clinical practice guideline for smoking cessation, which concludes that smoking cessation interventions offer health care providers their greatest opportunity to improve health of all Americans.
Glass Reference Standards for Trace Element Analysis of Geologic Materials

Five glass standards were prepared for quality control of the trace element analysis of rocks. One standard is a blank, and the other four each contain 46 added elements at uniform concentration levels aimed at 500, 50, 5, and 0.5 ppm, respectively. The blank represents the matrix composition approximating an average igneous rock. Preliminary evaluation spectrochemically of the trace element content and homogeneity of these glasses has demonstrated their usefulness as reference standards.
Lifestyle: The Power of Tobacco Over Our Lives

For both smokers and nonsmokers, tobacco can determine one’s daily activities, livelihood, relationships, and health. Tobacco can determine matters from as important as keeping or losing one’s job to matters as trivial as deciding where to have lunch. If one is allergic or addicted, the entire day’s routine, indeed, one’s whole life must take into account this fact: A chronic smoker cannot leave the house without her cigarettes and lighter and can only go where she will be able to smoke; a nonsmoker with severe allergies must also plan his daily activities to avoid exposure to smoke and other irritants.
Extended Thin-Film Electrocatalyst Structures via Pt Atomic Layer Deposition

Extended thin-film electrocatalyst structures based on PtNi nanowires, synthesized via spontaneous galvanic displacement, have shown great promise as efficient and durable catalysts for the oxygen ...
Marine Internal Combustion Engine Mathematical Model

A mathematical model of single-cylinder, two-stroke, low-speed marine internal combustion engine is presented. The simulation algorithm allows to perform diagnostics of the engine during a single cycle. The developed model is universal. The required number of cylinders is recruited by combining their mathematical models. The system makes it possible to evaluate the effect of fuel oil supply amount controlling on the engine operation.
The reverse TCA cycle and reductive amino acid synthesis pathways contribute to electron balance in a Rhodospirillum rubrum Calvin cycle mutant

Abstract Purple nonsulfur bacteria (PNSB) use light for energy and organic substrates for carbon and electrons when growing photoheterotrophically. This lifestyle generates more reduced electron carriers than are required for biosynthesis. It is essential that this excess reducing power be oxidized for photoheterotrophic growth to occur. Diverse PNSB commonly rely on the CO2-fixing Calvin cycle to oxidize excess reducing power. Some PNSB additionally utilize H2 production or reduction of electron acceptors, such as dimethylsulfoxide, as alternative reductive pathways to the Calvin cycle. Rhodospirillum rubrum Calvin cycle mutants defy this trend by growing phototrophically on relatively oxidized substrates like malate and fumarate without H2 production or access to electron acceptors. How Rs. rubrum Calvin cycle mutants maintain electron balance under these conditions was unknown. Here, using 13C-tracer experiments and physiological assays, we found that Rs. rubrum Calvin cycle mutants use a reductive arm of the tricarboxylic acid cycle when growing phototrophically on malate and fumarate. The reductive synthesis of amino acids stemming from α-ketoglutarate is also likely important for electron balance, as supplementing the growth medium with α-ketoglutarate-derived amino acids prevented Rs. rubrum Calvin cycle mutant growth unless dimethylsulfoxide was provided as an electron acceptor. Fluxes estimated from 13C-tracer experiments also suggested the preferential use of a reductive isoleucine synthesis pathway when the Calvin cycle was genetically inactivated; however, this pathway was not essential for growth of a Calvin cycle mutant. Importance The lifestyle by which PNSB use organic carbon and light for energy comes with a challenge in managing electrons. Excess electrons from the organic substrates can be coupled to the assimilation of CO2 in the Calvin cycle, avoiding a buildup of reduced electron carriers that would halt metabolism. As an exception, Rs. rubrum can grow without the Calvin cycle when provided with light and relatively oxidized substrates. By tracking stable isotopes in a Rs. rubrum Calvin cycle mutant, we observed the reversal of an arm of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, feeding electron-requiring amino acid synthesis pathways. Providing the mutant with these amino acids prevented growth, suggesting that their synthesis is required for electron balance. Our results highlight the contribution of biosynthetic reactions to electron balance and the metabolic diversity that exists between PNSB, as most PNSB cannot grow without the Calvin cycle under the conditions used in this study.
Free & Green: A New Approach to Environmental Protection

Most Americans consider themselves environmentalists, yet most experts are dissatisfied with existing environmental regulations, which are both inefficient and inequitable. Worse, many don't serve environmental goals. This article outlines an alternative approach to environmental policy based on market institutions and property rights rather than central-planning and bureaucratic control. The aim is both to improve environmental protection and lessen the costs ? economic and otherwise ? of achieving environmental goals. It seeks to ensure that Americans' environmental values are advanced without sacrificing the individual liberties the American government was created to protect. The problem with current regulatory approaches is not merely that they are inefficient or overly bureaucratic. Rather, it is the reliance upon centralized, regulatory institutions to prioritize and pursue environmental goals. An alternative paradigm for environmental protection is grounded in market institutions, property rights in particular. This approach, often referred to as "free market environmentalism," focuses on institutions and the incentives that they create. It advances environmental protection by incorporating environmental resources and values into the marketplace, rather than regulating them outside economic institutions. This paper provides a theoretical overview of a property-based approach to environmental protection and the outlines a series of principles that should guide those interested in a more efficient, effective, and equitable approach to environmental protection with specific examples of policy reforms that can reconcile environmental protection and market institutions.