cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Tonic Regulation of Excitation–Contraction Coupling by Basal Protein Kinase C Activity in Isolated Cardiac Myocytes☆

Abstract A high-speed imaging technique was used to investigate the effects of inhibitors and activators of protein kinase C (PKC) on the [Ca2+]i transients and contraction of fura-2 loaded rat ventricular cardiac myocytes. The amplitude of the [Ca2+]i transient was reduced following treatment with 100 n m phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate (PDBu), whereas the PKC inhibitors staurosporine (0.5μ m ) and calphostin C (10μ m ) increased [Ca2+]i transient amplitude, elevated basal [Ca2+]i and slowed the decay of the [Ca2+]i transient. These changes were paralleled by similar alterations in the rate and extent of cell shortening. The activity of nitrendipine-sensitive Ca2+ channels was monitored indirectly as the rate of Mn2+ quench of cytosolic fura-2 in electrically-paced cells. PDBu reduced Mn2+ influx by six-fold, whereas staurosporine and calphostin C increased the influx rate by eight-fold and seven-fold over basal quench, respectively. The caffeine releasable Ca2+ pool was reduced in the presence of PDBu and increased transiently in presence of staurosporine. The effects of PKC activation and inhibition on sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ content may be secondary to alterations of sarcolemmal Ca2+ influx. However, the PKC inhibitors also decreased the rate of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ uptake in permeabilized myocytes, suggesting that a direct effect of PKC on the sarcoplasmic reticulum may contribute to the prolongation of the [Ca2+]i transient under these conditions. The present work demonstrates that basal PKC activity has a potent depressant effect, mediated primarily through inhibition of sarcolemmal Ca2+ influx, which may play a key role in setting the basal tone of cardiac muscle.
Determination Of In-Situ Fracture Toughness

Abstract Theoretical analyses of closing pressure on the process zone give an “actual” fracture toughness value under confining pressure or in-situ measurements. This value is compatible with the fracture toughness measured under laboratory bench conditions, evidencing the authors' assumption that the increase of “apparent” fracture toughness is due to the confining pressure acting on the reduced process zone.
Interview with Dan Mishell

CJ: Tell me about the earliest days. How did Contraception happen? DM: “You have to realize the climate on contraception was much different in 1969...than it is today. There were very few people in the field. It was sort of a rough area of investigation, with very little science, and it couldn’t compare to the endocrinology and gynecologic societies doing high quality research. “ (Dr. Mishell goes on to tell of his meeting with Dr. Ralph Dorfman, at a meeting of the Latin American Society of Human Reproduction in Brazil. Dorfman had worked with the pioneering scientist Greogry Pincus at the Worcester Institute on the development of the first generation of birth control pills. At the time of the Brazil meeting, Dorfman was at the Syntex Corporation, which was continuing with the development of new types of oral contraceptives). DM: “So Dr. Dorfman gave a talk at this meeting. I gave a talk at this meeting....And one evening after dinner, Dr. Dorfman says, ‘I own a little publishing company and I
Nonradiative Capture of Electrons in Quantum Wells and Wires by Shallow Donor Impurities

The capture of electrons in a quantum well or wire by shallow donor impurities due to the interaction with an acoustic phonon is considered. Wave functions of several lowest bound states are found by the variational method. The rates of transitions between the free and bound states as well as between different bound states are calculated. In the case of well or wire width L less than or of the order of the effective Bohr radius and greater than the phonon wavelength, the transition rates are proportional to E −5 (n E + 1/2 ± 1/2) L −6 , where E is the transferred energy, and n E a phonon occupation number
EFFECTIVE NONVANISHING OF CANONICAL HECKE L-FUNCTIONS

Motivated by work of Gross, Rohrlich, and more recently Kim, Masri, and Yang, we investigate the nonvanishing of central values of -functions of ``canonical'' weight Hecke characters for , where is prime. Using the work of Rodriguez-Villegas and Zagier, we show that there are nonvanishing central values provided that and . Moreover, we show that the number of such satisfies
Shock-enhanced alpha to beta phase transformation in Si3N4 powders

Abstract Shock-compression was used to make Si 3 N 4 powder compacts (80–85% theoretical density) in order to investigate its effect on the α – β phase transformation occurring during post-shock thermal treatments. Crystallite size reduction to half of the starting powder size was attained, and residual strains in crystallites in excess of 10 −3 –10 −2 , corresponding to dislocation densities of the order of 10 15 –10 17 cm −2 , were generated due to shock compression. Transmission electron microscopy showed evidence of defects in the form of irregular striations (fringes), hexagonal dislocation arrays, sub-grains, and vacancy clusters in the interiors of the individual crystallites, with contrast-free amorphous regions along interparticle boundaries. Upon subsequent annealing (sintering) of the shock-densified compacts, the α – β phase transformation was observed to occur at temperatures of ≈200°C below that in unshocked powders, with no obvious change in density. The amount of α – β phase transformation increased with increasing temperature and time, with up to 87% conversion to β -phase in the compact heated for 5 h at 1650°C. The apparent activation energy for the α – β phase transformation in the shock-compressed silicon nitride powder compacts was determined based on the measured fraction transformed as a function of time and temperature, and was found to be in the range of 154–286 kJ mol −1 . The results provide evidence that shock compression activates and enhances the reactivity of Si 3 N 4 powders, by creating defect sites for heterogeneous nucleation of the β -phase, and thereby causing the α – β phase transformation to occur in the solid state and at reduced temperatures.
Phospholipid composition of the boll weevil,Anthonomus grandis boheman

When phospholipids of newly-emerged adults of the boll weevil,Anthonomus grandis Boheman, were studied in detail, phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl ethanolamine were found to be the major phospholipids; sphingomyelin and cardiolipin were present in smaller amounts, and four other minor components were identified. Fatty acid analyses performed on the intact phospholipids and on the enzyme degradation products of phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl ethanolamine demonstrated that oleic and linoleic acids were the major fatty acids present in the glycerophosphatides; the sphingomyelin contained fatty acids in the range of 20–22 carbons.
Structural sensitivity, response, and extinction of diffusion and premixed flames in oscillating counterflow

Abstract Effects of sinusoidal velocity oscillation on counterflow diffusion and premixed flames were computationally investigated as functions of imposed frequency and amplitude and with detailed descriptions of chemistry and transport. The phenomena of interest investigated are: (1) the structural sensitivity of premixed versus diffusion flames; (2) the effects of nonequidiffusion on the dynamic response of premixed flames; (3) the transient sensitivity of the premixed flame burning rate; and (4) the modification of the extinction limits of premixed and diffusion flames. Results show that premixed and diffusion flames, respectively, exhibit weak and strong structural responses, that the dynamic response of the premixed flames to mixture nonequidiffusion can be qualitatively disparate for mixtures with Lewis numbers (Le) greater and less than unity, and that the transient burning rate characterized by the spatially integrated reaction rate profile is a better physical representation than that based on the local mass flux. It is further demonstrated that for sufficiently rapid oscillations the flame may not have enough time to extinguish before the flow condition again becomes favorable for burning, and as such with increasing frequency a flame can persist beyond the range of the stretch rate in which steady-state flames do not exist, and that for premixed flames with Le > 1, the transient extinction response can be nonmonotonic because of the freely standing nature of the flame and the relatively stronger sensitivity of the flame temperature to stretch rate variations.
Role of bias conditions in the hot carrier degradation of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

The impacts of gate bias and device temperature on carrier energy distributions are reported for AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors. The lateral electric field and the average carrier energy are the highest at the end of gate on the gate-drain access side. The number of high energy carriers is the greatest in the semi-ON operating condition, with maximum energies exceeding the activation energy of defects in the AlGaN. There is a significant decrease in the number of very high energy carriers (greater than 2 eV) as the device temperature increases whereas the number of moderately energetic carriers (between 1 to 2 eV) is higher at elevated temperatures.(© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Facing Extinction in Real Time

A sense of impending doom has enveloped the community of amphibian biologists for more than two decades, as evidence has built that the subjects of their research are in severe difficulty. What at first was a puzzle based mainly on anecdotes ( 1 ) became an evident fact when intensive studies were completed: Throughout the world, amphibians are in decline, and many species—perhaps 40%—face imminent extinction ( 2 ). Recent studies have elucidated some agents for amphibian losses and projected the likely prospects for amphibian survival across the globe. The picture that emerges is disturbing.
The Contemporary Meaning of Kamakura Buddhism

are gathered together to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the birth of Shinran Sh6nin and the great creative phase of Japanese Buddhism Vin the Kamakura Period in which Shinran was a central but by no means a solitary figure.* I will have something to say about Shinran and also about D6gen, whom I will treat as representative figures of Kamakura Buddhism, although there are others at these meetings far more qualified than I to speak of them. What I want to concentrate on mainly is the question, How can something that happened 800 years ago mean anything to us? Especially when it is a question of anything so evanescent as religious experience, how can we even understand, much less participate in, something so long ago? I will try to deal with those problems by adapting some concepts from Miki Kiyoshi's Philosophy of History.' Following Miki, we can speak of any historical event as involving 1) experience, 2) expression, 3) documents, and 4) re-enactment. Experience refers to the immediacy of events as individuals participate in them. Expression refers to the cultural forms that people create out of their
Neighborhood amenity packages, property price, and marketing time

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to introduce modeling of common neighborhood amenities as packages, rather than as separate independent variables in a single model. Results from the standard modeling technique of including separate controls for each amenity are provided for comparison. A secondary purpose is to provide price and time‐on‐market implications for amenities in seasoned versus newly constructed properties.Design/methodology/approach – Common neighborhood amenities are grouped according to the total amenity bundle offered by each neighborhood. Hedonic pricing, hazard modeling, and two‐stage least squares regression are used to estimate price and time‐on‐market impacts for six common amenities.Findings – Neighborhood tennis courts, clubhouses, boating facilities, and golf courses, as well as several amenity packages, significantly impact property values. Valuation of particular amenity packages differs between newly constructed and seasoned homes. Time‐on‐market results are less convincing...
Latex allergy in the operating room: Case report and a brief review of the literature

A patient with a history of spina bifida and cerebral palsy was anesthetized for an ileal conduit. The procedure was uneventful until penetration of the abdominal cavity, immediately after which the patient suffered severe hypotension and her peak inspiratory pressure doubled. The patient's skin became flushed and the capnogram tracing was consistent with bronchospasm. The patient was treated with phenylephrine hydrochloride (Neo-Synephrine), and then epinephrine. This was followed with an epinephrine infusion, intravenous (i.v.) methylprednisolone sodium succinate (Solu-Medrol), inhaled albuterol sulfate, and diphenhydramine hydrochloride (Benadryl) i.v.. The patient responded to these interventions and the procedure was completed without further incident. A diagnosis of latex allergy was made based on the patient's clinical status, underlying diseases, and positive postoperative radioallergosorbent test (RAST). Anesthesiologists must be able to diagnose the signs and symptoms of allergic reactions in patients under anesthesia. This article will review the types of hypersensitivity reactions involved, define the risk groups, and examine the treatment protocols available for latex allergy.
Task scheduling neural networks

In this paper a neural network approach to a particular class of scheduling problems is described. It uses a `k-cluster' network to enforce a non-preemptive time duration constraint and a `subset-sum' network to generate feasible schedules with a balanced load distribution. The two networks are super-imposed and the interactive nature of the parallel distributed processing inherent to Hopfield-Style neural networks negotiates the multiple constraint satisfaction requirements.
An Examination of the Effects of Sport Involvement on Ethical Judgments in Sport and Business

Popular press headlines frequently reveal unethical or illegal activity in business and sports. Given these parallel ethical lapses in business and sport, our study examines potential relationships between student sport involvement (active and passive) and ethical judgments regarding issues in sport and business. Our results, based on a sample of 202 undergraduates in an upper-division management class, indicate a significant negative relationship between high passive sport involvement and ethical judgments about sport issues as well as a consistent significant positive relationship between female gender and ethical judgments about sport and business issues.
Pb, Sr, and Nd isotopes in basalts and sulfides from the Juan de Fuca Ridge

Isotopic Pb, Sr, and Nd data were collected by the Alvin submersible from seven basalt glasses in the southern Juan de Fuca Ridge (JFR), giving similar ratios for Pb-206/Pb-204 of about 18.45, for Pb-207/Pb-204 of about 15.47, for Pb-208/Pb-204 of about 37.81, for Sr-87/Sr-86 of about 0.70249, and for Nd-143/Nd-144 of about 0.51315. Data suggest that the basalts are all cogenetic, and that four of the samples are also comagmatic. It is concluded that isotopic data for the JFR and seamount basalts provide additional support for the mantle blob cluster model (Allegre et al., 1984), suggesting the involvement of multiple components in the genesis of ridge basalts, and including an unusual end-member that has nonradiogenic Sr and variable Pb-206/Pb-204 isotopic compositions.
Fibroblast growth factor deficiencies impact anxiety-like behavior and the serotonergic system

Serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DR) are organized in anatomically distinct subregions that form connections with specific brain structures to modulate diverse behaviors, including anxiety-like behavior. It is unclear if the functional heterogeneity of these neurons is coupled to their developmental heterogeneity, and if abnormal development of specific DR serotonergic subregions can permanently impact anxiety circuits and behavior. The goal of this study was to examine if deficiencies in different components of fibroblast growth factor (Fgf) signaling could preferentially impact the development of specific populations of DR serotonergic neurons to alter anxiety-like behavior in adulthood. Wild-type and heterozygous male mice globally hypomorphic for Fgf8, Fgfr1, or both (Fgfr1/Fgf8) were tested in an anxiety-related behavioral battery. Both Fgf8- and Fgfr1/Fgf8-deficient mice display increased anxiety-like behavior as measured in the elevated plus-maze and the open-field tests. Immunohistochemical staining of a serotonergic marker, tryptophan hydroxylase (Tph), revealed reductions in specific populations of serotonergic neurons in the ventral, interfascicular, and ventrolateral/ventrolateral periaqueductal gray subregions of the DR in all Fgf-deficient mice, suggesting a neuroanatomical basis for increased anxiety-like behavior. Overall, this study suggests Fgf signaling selectively modulates the development of different serotonergic neuron subpopulations. Further, it suggests anxiety-like behavior may stem from developmental disruption of these neurons, and individuals with inactivating mutations in Fgf signaling genes may be predisposed to anxiety disorders.
Ultra-sensitive Transition-Edge Sensors for the Background Limited Infrared/Sub-mm Spectrograph (BLISS)

We report progress in fabricating ultra-sensitive superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) for BLISS. BLISS is a suite of grating spectrometers covering 35–433 μm with R∼700 cooled to 50 mK that is proposed to fly on the Japanese space telescope SPICA. The detector arrays for BLISS are TES bolometers readout with a time domain SQUID multiplexer. The required noise equivalent power (NEP) for BLISS is NEP=10−19 W/Hz1/2 with an ultimate goal of NEP=5×10−20 W/Hz1/2 to achieve background limited noise performance. The required and goal response times are τ=150 ms and τ=50 ms respectively to achieve the NEP at the required and goal optical chop frequency 1–5 Hz. We measured prototype BLISS arrays and have achieved NEP=6×10−18 W/Hz1/2 and τ=1.4 ms with a Ti TES (T C=565 mK) and NEP∼2.5×10−19 W/Hz1/2 and τ∼4.5 ms with an Ir TES (T C=130 mK). Dark power for these tests is estimated at 1–5 fW.
High throughput growth and characterization of thin film materials

Abstract It usually takes more than 10 years for a new material from initial research to its first commercial application. Therefore, accelerating the pace of discovery of new materials is critical to tackling challenges in areas ranging from clean energy to national security. As discovery of new materials has not kept pace with the product design cycles in many sectors of industry, there is a pressing need to develop and utilize high throughput screening and discovery technologies for the growth and characterization of new materials. This article presents two distinctive types of high throughput thin film material growth approaches, along with a number of high throughput characterization techniques, established in the author's group. These approaches include a second-generation “discrete” combinatorial semiconductor discovery technology that enables the creation of arrays of individually separated thin film semiconductor materials of different compositions, and a “continuous” high throughput thin film material screening technology that enables the realization of ternary alloy libraries with continuously varying elemental ratios.
Two dimensional Doppler echocardiographic/M mode echocardiographic and phonocardiographic method for study of extracardiac heterograft valved conduits in the right ventricular outflow tract position

Significant concern exists over the long-term results of right ventricular outflow tract repair using heterograft valved conduits. Because these conduits and valves are difficult to image using ultrasound, a serially applicable two dimensional Doppler echocardiographic, M mode echocardiographic and phonocardiographic method for noninvasive investigation was developed and applied in 15 children. The method provides two dimensional echocardiographic imaging of valve contour and motion, as well as M mode and phonocardiographic analysis and quantitative range-gated Doppler information about the timing of flow through the conduit. Conduit diameter in two dimensional echocardiographic images correlated well with known conduit size (r = +0.96). A thickened and stenosed heterograft valve was predicted in two patients before hemodynamic investigation. This new method provides serially obtainable information to aid in the management of children and infants with a valved conduit placed for repair of congenital heart malformations and aids in planning the timing of hemodynamic follow-up studies.
Roles of pectin in biomass yield and processing for biofuels

Pectin is a component of the cell walls of plants that is composed of acidic sugar-containing backbones with neutral sugar-containing side chains. It functions in cell adhesion and wall hydration, and pectin crosslinking influences wall porosity and plant morphogenesis. Despite its low abundance in the secondary cell walls that make up the majority of lignocellulosic biomass, recent results have indicated that pectin influences secondary wall formation in addition to its roles in primary wall biosynthesis and modification. This mini-review will examine these and other recent results in the context of biomass yield and digestibility and discuss how these traits might be enhanced by the genetic and molecular modification of pectin. The utility of pectin as a high-value, renewable biomass co-product will also be highlighted.
Generation and expression of a Hoxa11eGFP targeted allele in mice

Hox genes are crucial for body axis specification during embryonic development. Hoxa11 plays a role in anteroposterior patterning of the axial skeleton, development of the urogenital tract of both sexes, and proximodistal patterning of the limbs. Hoxa11 expression is also observed in the neural tube. Herein, we report the generation of a Hoxa11eGFP targeted knock-in allele in mice in which eGFP replaces the first coding exon of Hoxa11 as an in-frame fusion. This allele closely recapitulates the reported mRNA expression patterns for Hoxa11. Hoxa11eGFP can be visualized in the tail, neural tube, limbs, kidneys, and reproductive tract of both sexes. Additionally, homozygous mutants recapitulate reported phenotypes for Hoxa11 loss of function mice, exhibiting loss of fertility in both males and females. This targeted mouse line will prove useful as a vital marker for Hoxa11 protein localization during control (heterozygous) or mutant organogenesis. Developmental Dynamics 237:3410–3416, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Critical Appraisal of Two Methods for Determining Aluminum in Blood Samples

We report two methods for determining aluminum concentrations in blood. Method 1, proposed for routine monitoring of patients with chronic renal failure, includes a collection procedure that can be adopted by any renal dialysis unit, with a minimum of sample contamination. Plasma samples are diluted fourfold with HNO3/Triton X-100 matrix modifier. Method 2 is proposed for determining aluminum concentrations in patients with normal renal function, e.g., in drug studies and environmental monitoring. Samples are diluted with an equal volume of Mg(NO3)2 matrix modifier and atomized from a L'vov platform. By either method, analytical recovery of aluminum added to serum ranged between 92% and 105% throughout the linear calibration range. The reference interval (mean +/- SD) for aluminum in 22 healthy subjects by method 2 was 0.044 +/- 0.030 mumol/L.
Late mortality and morbidity of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma treated in adulthood

8547 Background: Increased late mortality and morbidity have been observed among adult survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) treated in childhood, but are less well characterized for patients treated in adulthood. Methods: We investigated the late mortality and morbidity of adult patients treated at our center from 1975 to 2000. The study population consisted of all patients treated on one of 6 consecutive first-line trials of combined modality therapy (CMT), one of which included a chemotherapy-only arm. Cause-specific mortality was determined by chart review and National Death Index. Survival was estimated using the method of Kaplan-Meier, and cause-specific mortality using competing risk methodology. Self-report surveys were distributed to surviving patients to assess the prevalence of late morbidity; severity of morbidity was scored based on a published adaptation of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events. Results: 746 patients were eligible for assessment. At time of survey, 227 patients (30...
An experimental analysis of DCT-based approaches for fine-grained multiresolution video

In the future, video-streaming systems will have to support adaptation over an extremely large range of display requirements (e.g., 90×60 to 1920×1080). This paper presents the architectural trade-offs of bandwidth efficiency, computational cost, and storage cost to support fine-grained multiresolution video over a large set of resolutions. While several techniques have been proposed, they have focused mainly on limited spatial resolution adaptation. In this paper, we examine the ability of current techniques to support wide-range spatial resolution adaptation. Based upon experiments with real video, we propose an architecture that can support wide-range adaptation efficiently. Our results indicate that multiple encodings with limited spatial adaptation from each encoding provide good trade-offs between efficient coding and the ability to adapt the stream to various resolutions.
Upper and lower bound eigenvalues of a conservative discrete system

Abstract The Timoshenko quotient and a lower bound formula, which are available for continuous systems, are presented here for discrete systems. With both the upper and lower bound known, the estimation of eigenvalue becomes certain. Errors associated with these upper and lower bounds are discussed and an illustrative example given.
Fatal Glory: Narciso Lopez and the First Clandestine US War against Cuba

Until now, the story of Narciso Lopez's daring invasions of Cuba has remained one of the great lost sagas of American history. Wildly famous during the mid-nineteenth century as the leader of a filibuster, a clandestine army, Lopez led the first armed challenge to Spain's long domination over Cuba. While U.S. historians have tended to view Lopez as an agent of pre-Civil War southern expansionism, Tom Chaffin reveals a broader, more complicated picture. Although many southerners did assist Lopez, the web of intrigue that sustained his conspiracy also included New York City, steamship magnates, penny press editors, Cuban industrialists, and nothern Democratic urban bosses.Drawn from archives in both the United States and Cuba and enlivened by first-person accounts and reports from federal "special agents" assigned to spy on Lopez, Fatal Glory holds appeal for both scholars and the general reader with an interest in Cuba, U.S. foreign policy, or the U.S. sectional crisis of the 1850s.
Nonpeptidergic Circuits Feel Your Pain

Pain consists of both a sensory component and an affective component. In this issue of Neuron, Braz and colleagues genetically targeted the transneuronal tract tracer wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) to nonpeptidergic nociceptive neurons. They found that these neurons give rise to a specialized multisynaptic circuit that links pain signals in the periphery to limbic/affective regions of the brain.
Assignment of reference to reflexives and pronouns in picture noun phrases: evidence from eye movements.

Abstract Most structural Binding Theories predict a complementary distribution between reflexives and pronouns in picture noun phrases containing possessors (e.g. “Ken's picture of himself/him”). In two head-mounted eye-tracking experiments, listeners frequently violated Binding Theory predictions for reflexives, often interpreting the reflexives as taking an antecedent outside of the binding domain, and violating complementarity assumptions. Moreover, the pattern and timing of the eye movements showed Binding Theory violations for reflexives during the earliest moments of reference resolution. The results demonstrate that either binding constraints must be reformulated to decouple pronouns and reflexives or all reflexives in picture noun phrases must be treated as logophors, and thus exempt from structural Binding Theory.
Features of apoptotic cells measured by flow cytometry

The present review describes several methods to characterize and differentiate between two different mechanisms of cell death, apoptosis and necrosis. Most of these methods were applied to studies of apoptosis triggered in the human leukemic HL-60 cell line by DNA topoisomerase I or II inhibitors, and in rat thymocytes by either topoisomerase inhibitors or prednisolone. In most cases, apoptosis was selective to cells in a particular phase of the cell cycle: only S-phase HL-60 cells and G0 thymocytes were mainly affected. Necrosis was induced by excessively high concentrations of these drugs. The following cell features were found useful to characterize the mode of cell death: a) Activation of an endonuclease in apoptocic cells resulted in extraction of the low molecular weight DNA following cell permeabilization, which, in turn, led to their decreased stainability with DNA-specific fluorochromes. Measurements of DNA content made it possible to identify apoptotic cells and to recognize the cell cycle phase specificity of the apoptotic process. b) Plasma membrane integrity, which is lost in necrotic but not apoptotic cells, was probed by the exclusion of propidium iodide (PI). The combination of PI followed by Hoechst 33342 proved to be an excellent probe to distinguish live, necrotic, early- and late-apoptotic cells. c) Mitochondrial transmembrane potential, assayed by retention of rhodamine 123 was preserved in apoptotic but not necrotic cells. d) The ATP-dependent lysosomal proton pump, tested by the supravital uptake of acridine orange (AO) was also preserved in apoptotic but not necrotic cells. e) Bivariate analysis of cells stained for DNA and protein revealed markedly diminished protein content in apoptotic cells, most likely due to activation of endogenous proteases. Necrotic cells, having leaky membranes, had minimal protein content. f) Staining of RNA allowed for the discrimination of G0 from G1 cells and thus made it possible to reveal that apoptosis was selective to G0 thymocytes. g) The decrease in forward light scatter, paralleled either by no change (HL-60 cells) or an increase (thymocytes) of right angle scatter, were early changes during apoptosis. h) The sensitivity of DNA in situ to denaturation, was increased in apoptotic and necrotic cells. This feature, probed by staining with AO at low pH, provided a sensitive and early assay to discriminate between live, apoptotic and necrotic cells, and to evaluate the cell cycle phase specificity of these processes. i) The in situ nick translation assay employing labeled triphosphonucleotides can be used to reveal DNA strand breaks, to detect the very early stages of apoptosis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
A Cost Estimation Tool Integrated into FIPER

The estimation of a part’s manufacturing cost in all phases of the design stage is crucial to concurrent engineering. To better estimate the cost for a product, data must be available from both engineering systems and business systems. This paper presents a cost estimation system being developed to support design time cost estimation using FIPER; the Federated Intelligent Product Environment, which is being developed as part of the NIST Advanced Technology Program. The FIPER project will be developing an architecture that interconnects design and analysis software tools in a peer level architecture using JAVA to support Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation, Design for Six Sigma and Robust Design.
Mobile, collaborative, context-aware systems

We describe work on representing and using a rich notion of context that goes beyond current networking applications focusing mostly on location. Our context model includes location and surroundings, the presence of people and devices, inferred activities and the roles people fill in them. A key element of our work is the use of collaborative information sharing where devices share and integrate knowledge about their context. This introduces a requirement that users can set appropriate levels of privacy to protect the personal information being collected and the inferences that can be drawn from it. We use Semantic Web technologies to model context and to specify high-level, declarative policies specifying information sharing constraints. The policies involve attributes of the subject (i.e., information recipient), target (i.e., the information) and their dynamic context (e.g., are the parties copresent). We discuss our ongoing work on context representation and inference and present a model for protecting and controlling the sharing of private data in context-aware mobile applications.
Oxidative Stress and Response to Thymidylate Synthase-Targeted Antimetabolites

Thymidylate synthase (TYMS; EC 2.1.1.15) catalyzes the reductive methylation of 2ʹ-deoxyuridine-5ʹ-monophosphate (dUMP) by N5,N10-methyhlenetetrahydrofolate, forming dTMP for the maintenance of DNA replication and repair. Inhibitors of TYMS have been widely used in the treatment of neoplastic disease. A number of fluoropyrimidine and folate analogs have been developed that lead to inhibition of the enzyme, resulting in dTMP deficiency and cell death. In the current study, we have examined the role of oxidative stress in response to TYMS inhibitors. We observed that intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) concentrations are induced by these inhibitors and promote apoptosis. Activation of the enzyme NADPH oxidase (NOX), which catalyzes one-electron reduction of O2 to generate superoxide (O2●−), is a significant source of increased ROS levels in drug-treated cells. However, gene expression profiling revealed a number of other redox-related genes that may contribute to ROS generation. TYMS inhibitors also induce a protective response, including activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (NRF2), a critical mediator of defense against oxidative and electrophilic stress. Our results show that exposure to TYMS inhibitors induces oxidative stress that leads to cell death, while simultaneously generating a protective response that may underlie resistance against such death.
The State of Affairs for Management Education And Social Responsibility

Keynote address to the AACSB International Deans Conference by Judith Samuelson, Founder and Executive Director of The Aspen Institute's Business and Society Program.1 Written by Mary C. Gentile and Judith Samuelson. Delivered February 10, 2003 and will be forthcoming in Academy of Management Learning and Education.
Self-assembly of plasmonic/excitonic silicon nanocrystals into photonic crystals

In this work, photonic crystals of plasmonic/excitonic semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) were assembled from non-thermal plasma-synthesized boron (B)-doped silicon (Si) NCs. The photonic crystals form an inverse opal structure with larger refractive index than the conventional crystals made from silica nanoparticles and are aimed at controlling light propagation via excitonic and plasmonic absorption of the B-doped Si NC as well as the photonic band gap of the photonic crystal. Furthermore, we demonstrate self-assembly of mesoscopic photonic crystal particles consisting of B-doped Si NCs with well-defined inverse opal structure via simple aerosol processing.
Adaptation of neurological practice and policy to a changing US health-care landscape

Summary Health care in the USA is undergoing a drastic transformation under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is driving major health-care policy changes by connecting payment for traditional health-care services to value-based care initiatives and emphasising population health and innovative mechanisms to deliver care. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, neurological practice will need to adapt and transform. Therefore, neurological policy should consider employing a new framework for neurological residency training, developing interdisciplinary team approaches to neurological subspecialty care, and strengthening the primary care–neurological specialty care interface to avoid redundancies and other medical waste. Additionally, neurological policy will need to support a more robust review of diagnostic and care pathway use to reduce avoidable expenditures, and test and implement bundled payments for key neurological diagnoses. In view of an anticipated 19% shortage of US neurologists in the next 10 years, development of new neurological policy under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is paramount.
The Structure of Communicative Acts

Utterances of natural language sentences can be used to communicate not just contents, but also forces. This paper examines this topic from a cross-linguistic perspective on sentential mood (declarative, interrogative, imperative). Recent work in this area focuses on conversational dynamics: the three sentence types can be associated with distinctive kinds of conversational effects called sentential forces, modeled as three kinds of updates to the discourse context. This paper has two main goals. First, it provides two arguments, on empirical and methodological grounds, for treating sentential force (context update rules) as part of a compositional dynamic semantics, rather than a dynamic pragmatics. Second, it formulates a minimal dynamic semantic analysis that covers the data at the heart of these arguments, incorporating existing analyses of the three major moods, evidentials and conjunction. A further aim of the paper is to sharpen the distinction between sentential force and utterance (illocutionary) force, and discuss its implications.
Effects of Substrate Pretreatments on Growth of Polycrystalline Diamond Thin Films on Si(100) Substrates

Microstructures of polycrystalline diamond thin films deposited on silicon (100) substrates which were pretreated by (a) wet polishing, (b) dry polishing, (c) sonication and (d) acid etching, respectively, have been studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HREM). The thin films were deposited by using a Hot Filament Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (HFCVD) technique, with a methane to hydrogen ratio of 0.5%. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was used to characterize substrate surfaces after the different pretreatments. The wet and dry polishing produced substrates with scratch type of defects while the sonication and acid etching caused pit type of defects. Planar and cross-sectional SEM studies indicated that diamond films on the wet and dry polished surfaces were continuous and had a high density of nucleation sites while the films on the sonicated and acid etched surfaces were discontinuous in nature under the same deposition time (8 hours) and condition. Cross-sectional HREM studies did not reveal any intermediate layers such as SiC and amorphous carbon between the thin films and substrates. Tungsten carbide nano-sized crystals, however, were observed to be dispersed at the interface region. These particles were believed to be formed during carburizing a fresh tungsten filament and deposited on the substrate during initial stage of growth.
Genetic Manipulation Used Against a Field Population of House Flies: 3. Males and Females Bearing a Heterozygous Translocation; Releases Begun After Initial Seasonal Peak Population Level Reached

Fluorescent pigment-marked male and female Musca domestiea L., heterozygous for a reciprocal translocation between chromosome II, III, and V (that reduced their fertility to 32.5% in outcrosses), and for 2 recessive mutant marker genes bwb (brown body color-III) and oera (ocra eye color-V), were released into a native population for 7 generations at a pig-rearing installation near Gainesville, Florida. Males and females homozygous for the mutant markers bwb and oera were also released. All released females had mated before release with one of the two types of males. The releases were startcd (July 6, 1970) after the native population had reached its initial seasonal peak. The mixed population, measured by grid counts and estimated to be 20,000 flies before the releases were started, remained at a fairly consistent density throughout the entire release program, even though an average of 1500–5000 marked flies were released at the site each day. The number of released flies recovered by netting never exceeded 1% of those released, and no mutant homozygotes ( bwb; ocra ) were ever recaptured. The low rate of recovery of translocation or mutant-bearing pupae collected near the release site indicated that most of the released flies migrated from the release area, probably because the incipient population had saturated the existing environment. For whatever reason, the number of translocation-bearing males and females that remained in the vicinity of the release site and that participated in the reproductive cycle was not large enough to cause a very significant reduction in fertility of the native females.
Abstract 1837: Exosomal non-coding RNAs as mediators for cell-cell communications .

Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC Introduction: Exosomes are 30-100nm membrane vesicles of endocytic origin containing proteins, mRNAs, microRNAs and lincRNAs. MicroRNAs are small and lincRNAs are large intergenic non-coding RNAs. They are emerging as key regulators of diverse cellular processes including cancer. In this study, we investigated the exosome-mediated transfer of microRNAs and lincRNAs, regulation and functional significance in breast cancer. Approach: Exosomes were isolated by ultracentrifugation and stained with PKH26 dye for cellular uptake in different cells by confocal microscopy. This uptake was also shown by exosome isolated from stable 293T cell line overexpressing the pCDH-CD63-GFP fusion protein. To determine the effect of nSMase2 on exosome secretion, stable cell lines were established with smpd3 gene. Levels of microRNAs and lincRNAs secreted in media were determined by real time PCR and their function validated through western blot and cell invasion. Results: We first showed that exosomes can be transferred among different cell lines through direct uptake. We found that miR-10b is highly expressed in metastatic breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells as compared to non-metastatic breast cells. Also, nSMase2 promoted the exosome-mediated miR-10b secretion whereas ceramide inhibitor suppressed this secretion. Importantly, western blot revealed that upon uptake, miR-10b can still reduce the protein level of its target genes. We also found lincRNA 21A and BC200 to be secreted through exosome in cell type dependent manner with functional significance. Conclusion: We found that the exosomes secreted from cancer cells containing microRNA and lincRNA can be taken up by other cells and have functional role in the recipient cells suggesting the importance of exosome-mediated RNA transfer in tumor microenvironment. Citation Format: Ramesh Singh, Yin-Yuan Mo. Exosomal non-coding RNAs as mediators for cell-cell communications . [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1837. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-1837
Structure of Silicon-Based Thin Film Solar Cell Materials: Annual Technical Progress Report, 1 April 2002--31 August 2003

The purpose of this research is to achieve a better understanding to improve materials used as the intrinsic layers of amorphous and microcrystalline silicon-based solar cells. Fundamental structural properties will be investigated on atomic and nano-scales. A powerful combination of techniques will be used: analytical high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), including special associated spectroscopic methods, small-angle scattering techniques (SAXS, ASAXS, SANS), and conventional wide-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD).
Hypoxia and acidification in ocean ecosystems: coupled dynamics and effects on marine life.

There is increasing recognition that low dissolved oxygen (DO) and low pH conditions co-occur in many coastal and open ocean environments. Within temperate ecosystems, these conditions not only develop seasonally as temperatures rise and metabolic rates accelerate, but can also display strong diurnal variability, especially in shallow systems where photosynthetic rates ameliorate hypoxia and acidification by day. Despite the widespread, global co-occurrence of low pH and low DO and the likelihood that these conditions may negatively impact marine life, very few studies have actually assessed the extent to which the combination of both stressors elicits additive, synergistic or antagonistic effects in marine organisms. We review the evidence from published factorial experiments that used static and/or fluctuating pH and DO levels to examine different traits (e.g. survival, growth, metabolism), life stages and species across a broad taxonomic spectrum. Additive negative effects of combined low pH and low DO appear to be most common; however, synergistic negative effects have also been observed. Neither the occurrence nor the strength of these synergistic impacts is currently predictable, and therefore, the true threat of concurrent acidification and hypoxia to marine food webs and fisheries is still not fully understood. Addressing this knowledge gap will require an expansion of multi-stressor approaches in experimental and field studies, and the development of a predictive framework. In consideration of marine policy, we note that DO criteria in coastal waters have been developed without consideration of concurrent pH levels. Given the persistence of concurrent low pH–low DO conditions in estuaries and the increased mortality experienced by fish and bivalves under concurrent acidification and hypoxia compared with hypoxia alone, we conclude that such DO criteria may leave coastal fisheries more vulnerable to population reductions than previously anticipated.
Role of the neuroendocrine system in aging

The study involves 3 aspects of neuroendocrine control over the organism functions in aging: the decline in reproductive functions, the reduction of growth hormone secretion and the decrease in thymic functional activity and the altered relationship between neuroendocrine and immune systems. The role that an age-related decrease in dopamine and noradrenaline production by hypothalamic neurones plays in the above age changes in neuroendocrine control has been traced. The age-related decrease in functions of hypothalamic catecholaminergic neurones is apparently caused by the damaging effect of hormones (prolactin, glucocorticoids and, especially, estrogen), free radicals and toxins, both of the endogenous and exogenous origin. The restrained nutrition increases lifespan of the experimental animal owing to reduced "wear out" of the neuroendocrine system and organs and tissues that are controlled by this system.