cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Use of a 96-well plate reader to evaluate proliferation of equine satellite cell clones in vitro

We have adapted a methylene blue staining assay to measure proliferation of equine satellite cell clones in a 96-well format. This technique allows rapid and accurate measurement of proliferating satellite cells which is a considerable enhancement over manual counting methods. Methylene blue is incorporated into the nuclei and intracellular matrix of satellite cells and then released into the aqueous phase. Absorbance of stained cells is read at 620 nm and correlates with increasing numbers of cells (range tested from 1 × 103 to 4 × 104). This method was used to determine the response of equine satellite cells to FGF, both human recombinant and bovine, and to IGF-1. This format is very efficient in measuring and comparing the proliferation of equine satellite cells. However, fusion of cells to form multinucleated myotubes cannot be assayed using this method because it lacks the sensitivity and specificity to differentiate multinucleated from mononucleated cells, and to detect expression of myogenic proteins. The assay could be accurately applied from 0 to 144 hours, before significant fusion and differentiation takes place. Using this assay will reduce analysis time to quantitate the proliferation response of equine satellite cells to different growth factors.
'Surgical mules': the smuggling of drugs in the gastrointestinal tract.

The presentation to surgical units of patients carrying illegal drugs in the gastrointestinal tract is a frequent occurrence at hospitals sited close to international airports. Drugs, usually heroin or cocaine, are wrapped in cellophane packets or condoms. The packages are intracorporeally concealed by being swallowed or passed into the rectum. The majority of drug traffickers carrying intracorporeal drug packages do not require any medical intervention. Recent reports have suggested that these patients are best treated expectantly avoiding any operative procedures. However, the quantity of drug in any one of the ingested packets is usually above the toxic dose and acute drug toxicity, as well as bowel obstruction, can result in fatalities. We report a series of five patients who presented over a period of 2 years to a hospital close to Heathrow International Airport, London. The presentation and treatment are reviewed and the management of such 'surgical mules' discussed. We have shown that conservative treatment is appropriate providing bowel obstruction or package perforation has not occurred.
Table-lookup algorithms for elementary functions and their error analysis

Table-lookup algorithms for calculating elementary functions offer superior speed and accuracy when compared with more traditional algorithms. It is shown that, with careful design, it is feasible to implement table-lookup algorithms in hardware. A uniform approach for carrying out a tight error analysis for such implementations is presented. The advantages of table-lookup algorithms over CORDIC and ordinary (without table-lookup) polynomial algorithms are described. >
Characterization of pituitary IGF-I receptors: modulation of prolactin and growth hormone

There have been no studies in any vertebrate that have localized insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I receptors in prolactin (PRL) cells or that have correlated pituitary binding to the potency of IG...
The Homegrown Mobile Catalog: A Quick, Inexpensive Approach to Expanding Access

A combination of cascading style sheets, hypertext markup language, and JavaScript can be used to create interfaces that work for both full-screen and mobile/small-screen devices. This approach can be applied to a library's online public-access catalog to create a mobile-friendly interface that retains the features of the full online public-access catalog. In this article the author documents the design and implementation process, including some specific coding examples, to improve access to the library catalog.
A Gibbs Sampling Algorithm for a Changing Regression Model with Pooled Binary Response Data

This article presents a Gibbs Sampling algorithm for a changing regression model with a pooled binary dependent variable. A Gibbs Sampling algorithm for a changing regression model with a continuous dependent variable is extended to binary response data using the chained data augmentation of Tanner (1996). The proposed algorithm is applied to numerical examples with a single change point and multiple change points. The results suggest that this algorithm robustly provides accurate estimates of change points, and that this algorithm also provides sharper estimates of regression parameters when it is applied to a pooled data with a larger cross-section sample size.
Hydrogen Chemisorption on Potassium Promoted Supported Ruthenium Catalysts

Abstract The interaction of hydrogen on potassium promoted catalysts prepared by both sequential and co-impregnation methods was studied by proton NMR spectroscopy. Potassium addition decreased the amounts of both hydrogen adsorbed on the metal (site blocking) and the support hydroxyl groups. No evidence for a ruthenium-mediated (through-metal) electronic interaction between potassium species and adsorbed hydrogen was found. During catalyst preparation, potassium was incorporated on the support by an exchange with the Si(OH) groups forming Si(OK) species, thereby reducing the amount of surface silanol protons. The sequential impregnation technique proved to be more efficient in depositing potassium on the metal surface.
Communicative Social Capital and Collective Efficacy as Determinants of Access to Health-Enhancing Resources in Residential Communities

This article contributes to the burgeoning literature on the social determinants of health disparities. The authors investigate how communication resources and collective efficacy, independently and in combination, shape residents' access to health enhancing resources (including healthcare services, sources of healthier food options, and public recreation spaces) in their communities. Using random digit dial telephone survey data from 833 residents of South Los Angeles communities the authors show that communicative social capital-that is, an information and problem-solving resource that accrues to residents as they become more integrated into their local communication network of neighbors, community organizations, and local media-plays a significant role in access to health resources. This relationship is complicated by individuals' health insurance and health status, as communicative social capital magnifies the sense of absence of resources for those who are in worse health and lack insurance. Communicative social capital builds collective efficacy, which is positively related to access to health-enhancing resources, but it also mediates the negative relationship between communicative social capital and access to health resources. Residents with richer stores of communicative social capital and collective efficacy report better access to health resources. The authors conclude with a discussion of implications of these findings and suggestions for future research.
Abstract 2267: Natural product-inspired drug discovery: Chemistry and biology of oridonin analogs with unique scaffolds and enhanced anticancer profiles .

ABSTRACT: Oridonin, a complex ent-kaurane diterpenoid isolated from Chinese traditional herb Rabdosia rubescens (Chinese name "Donglingcao"), has demonstrated great potential in the treatment of various human cancers due to its unique, safe and remarkable anticancer pharmacological profile. Nevertheless, the clinical development of oridonin for cancer therapy has been hampered by its relatively moderate potency, limited aqueous solubility and bioavailability. Up to now, the oridonin-based structural modifications and relevant structure-activity relationship remain sparse partially because of the challenging synthesis and structural complexity. To develop novel oridonin derivatives with enhanced anticancer potency and solubility, a sizable compound library of oridonin analogs with unique scaffolds is being established in our laboratories through diversity-orientated synthesis. Our successful synthetic strategies include heterocycle-fused ring A construction, and ring A-based α,β-unsaturated enone formation, as well as other stereoselective and regioselective approaches. A number of novel nitrogen-enriched heterocyclic oridonin derivatives and dienone analogs such as CYD0554, CYD0618, CYD0628, CYD0630, CYD0686, and CYD0692 have been identified with potent anti-proliferation effects against breast, pancreatic, and prostate cancer cells with low micromolar to nanomolar IC 50 values. Moreover, some of them also exhibit significantly improved aqueous solubility and enhanced anticancer profiles for the treatment of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative including triple-negative breast cancer in comparison with oridonin. Our success in the chemical design, synthesis and biological characterization of these new molecules opens new avenues to develop promising natural product-like drug candidates for cancer therapy. Key Words: Natural products, Oridonin analogs, Diversity-orientated synthesis, Anticancer agents, Drug discovery Citation Format: Chunyong Ding, Yusong Zhang, Haijun Chen, Zhengduo Yang, Lili Chu, Christopher Wild, Mark A. White, Qiang Shen, Jia Zhou. Natural product-inspired drug discovery: Chemistry and biology of oridonin analogs with unique scaffolds and enhanced anticancer profiles . [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 2267. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-2267
Synthetic Musk Fragrances in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario Sediment Cores

Two sediment cores collected from Lake Ontario and Lake Erie were sectioned, dated, and analyzed for five polycyclic musk fragrances and two nitro musk fragrances. The polycyclic musk fragrances were HHCB (Galaxolide), AHTN (Tonalide), ATII (Traseolide), ADBI (Celestolide), and AHMI (Phantolide). The nitro musk fragrances were musk ketone and musk xylene. Chemical analysis was performed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), and results from Lake Erie were confirmed using gas chromatography/triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS). The chemical signals observed at the two sampling locations were different from each other primarily because of large differences in the sedimentation rates at the two sampling locations. HHCB was detected in the Lake Erie core whereas six compounds were detected in the Lake Ontario core. Using measured fragrance and 210Pb activity, the burden of synthetic musk fragrances estimated from these sediment cores is 1900 kg in Lake Erie and 18 000 kg in Lake Ontario. The input of these compounds to the lakes is increasing. The HHCB accumulation rates in Lake Erie for 1979-2003 and 1990-2003 correspond to doubling times of 16 +/- 4 and 8 +/- 2 years, respectively. The results reflect current U.S. production trends for the sum of all fragrance compounds.
Minimal affinizations as projective objects

We prove that the specialization to q = 1 of a Kirillov-Reshetikhin module for an untwisted quantum affi ne algebra of classical type is projective in a suitable cate gory. This yields a uniform character formula for the Kirillov-Reshetikhin modules. We conjecture that these results holds for specializations of minimal affi nization with some restriction on the corresponding highest weight. We discuss the connection with the conjecture of Nakai and Nakanishi on q-characters of minimal affi nizations. We establish this conjecture in some special cases. This also leads us to conjecture an alternating sum formula for Jacobi-Trudi determinants.
Reliability challenges in 3D IC packaging technology

At the moment, a major paradigm change, from 2D IC to 3D IC, is occurring in microelectronic industry. Joule heating is serious in 3D IC, and vertical interconnect is the critical element to be developed. Also reliability concerns will be extremely important. For example, in order to remove heat, a temperature gradient must exist in the packaging. If we assume just a difference of 1 °C across a micro-bump of 10 μm in diameter, the temperature gradient is 1000 °C/cm which cannot be ignored due to thermomigration. Equally challenging reliability issues are electromigration and stress-migration. Since the 3D IC structure is new, the details of reliability problems are mostly unknown. This paper presents a projection of the reliability challenges in 3D IC packaging technology on the basis of what we have known from flip chip technology.
Relative Afferent Pupillary Defects in Optic Neuritis

We measured relative afferent pupillary defects in 105 patients with various stages of optic neuritis. We detected pupillary defects in 96% of acute unilateral cases, 92% of recovered unilateral cases, 91.7% of acute cases with evidence of optic neuropathy in the other eye, and 65.8% of recovered bilateral cases. With careful testing, one can find relative afferent pupillary defects in nearly all patients with unilateral optic neuritis and in most patients with bilateral disease. A patient without a pupillary defect after apparent unilateral optic neuritis frequently has evidence of disease in the other eye when visual-evoked potentials are tested
Imaging and osteoarthritis: what is the predictive value?

Recent protocols for standardized knee radiography, which attempts to image the knee with reproducible, parallel alignment of the medial tibial plateau and radiograph beam, possess many theoretic advantages. As a group, they permit measurement of tibiofemoral joint space width with remarkable precision—the sine qua non of sensitive detection of change. However, only limited longitudinal data are available in peer-reviewed publications to permit a direct evaluation of the suitability of these protocols for use in multicenter clinical trials and studies of biomarkers of osteoarthritis (OA) progression. Longitudinal data from several National Institutes of Health-supported studies of OA progression, as reflected in radiographs acquired with high levels of standardization for radioanatomic positioning of the knee, should be available in the next several years. Alternatively, data from the placebo groups of several industry-supported phase III trials of purported diseasemodifying OA drugs, which were terminated prematurely because of adverse events or lack of efficacy, may be made available for rapid analysis regarding the performance of current standardization protocols with respect to their sensitivity to disease progression.
CFFT Bridge Columns for Multihazard Resilience

AbstractBridges play a significant role in postevent recovery and disaster resiliency of communities. Recent megadisasters, such as the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, have prompted the technical community to understand the robustness of infrastructure when subjected to extreme events and the shortcomings of conventional structural systems under multiple hazards. Columns are the most critical load-carrying elements of bridge structures. Enhancing the robustness of bridge columns can improve the resiliency of the bridge itself and the surrounding community by reducing repair costs and downtime after an extreme event. In recent years, the concrete-filled fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) tube (CFFT) system has been widely investigated as a durable and cost-effective alternative design for more robust bridge columns. However, the current AASHTO guide specifications are limited to nonductile, unreinforced CFFT elements. This study summarizes the findings of blast, fire, and seismic experiments performed on CFF...
Predicting Problematic Internet Use in Men and Women: The Contributions of Psychological Distress, Coping Style, and Body Esteem

Abstract Problematic Internet use (PIU) is becoming a prevalent and serious problem among college students. Rates of PIU are higher in men, which may be due to psychological variables, such as comorbid psychological disorders and beliefs about one's body. We examined the ability of psychological distress, coping style, and body esteem to predict levels of PIU in men and women in a sample of 425 undergraduate students (46.8 percent male; mean age = 19.0, SD = 1.7). For men, phobic anxiety, wishful thinking, and overweight preoccupation were significant predictors of increased PIU. For women, depression, keeping to oneself, and decreased tension reduction were associated with increased PIU. The findings suggest that men and women may have different psychological reasons for excessive Internet use, including different types of psychological distress and coping styles. Unlike women, men may use the Internet because of weight concerns.
Ontogeny of oxytocin-like immunoreactivity in the Brazilian opossum brain.

Abstract The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been shown to function as a neurotransmitter and/or neuromodulator in addition to its hormonal function in the periphery in the adult central nervous system (CNS). Previously, we have studied the postnatal neurogenesis of the paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei and ontogeny of arginine vasopressin-like immunoreactivity in the Brazilian opossum brain, Monodelphis domestica . In this study, we have described the ontogeny of oxytocin-like immunoreactivity (OT-IR) in the opossum brain. As a marsupial, opossum pups are born in an extremely immature state, with neurogenesis and morphogenesis continuing into the second week of postnatal life. Thus, opossum pups are a good model for developmental studies. In the adult opossum brain, OT-IR was localized in regions as reported for the adult rat and other species, except for a few differences. These findings suggest similar functional roles for OT in the adult opossum brain as in other mammals. Unlike the prenatal expression of arginine vasopressin, OT-IR was first detected in the forming median eminence on day 1 of postnatal life (1 PN). Between 3 and 5 PN, OT-IR was present in the hypothalamic supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei and posterior pituitary. At this time, neurogenesis of these nuclei is not completed. By 10 to 15 PN, OT-IR was seen in several brain areas, and begins to resemble that of the adult between 45 and 60 PN. These results indicate that the time course of appearance of the OTnergic system does not directly parallel the early expression of the vasopressinergic system. However, the expression of OT-IR in the opossum brain before neurogenesis and morphogenesis is completed suggests a potential role for OT in developmental events. Similar to arginine vasopressin, oxytocin may also be involved in the regulation of autonomic functions that are essential for the opossum's adaptation to an ex utero environment. Future studies utilizing experimental manipulations of the OTnergic system will help determine the significance of this peptide in the neonatal opossum.
Recovering social memories from the past: the 1884 novelRamonaand tourist practices in turn‐of‐the‐century southern California

Scholars studying social memory have identified a priority for future work: using the study of documented social memories to understand constructions of the past and social identities in the present. Recovering such lived, individual engagements with social memory is challenging when those engaging the memory are deceased, yet that is what this article attempts to do: Through fine‐grained study of archival traces, I explore the lived practices of tourists in an attempt to understand how the immensely popular 1884 novel Ramona changed the way people thought about southern California's past, creating a new, Ramona‐inspired social memory for the region. In so doing I suggest that those interested in recovering social memories (like these) from the past use such detailed analysis, paying close attention to even the tiniest of details.
Ecosystems as evolutionary complex systems: Network analysis of fitness models

Understanding and managing ecosystems as biocomplex wholes is the compelling scientific challenge of our times. Several different system-theoretic approaches have been proposed to study biocomplexity and two in particular, Kauffman's NK networks and Patten's ecological network analysis, have shown promising results. This research investigates the similarities between these two approaches, which to date have developed separately and independently. Kauffman (1993) has demonstrated that networks of non-equilibrium, open thermodynamic systems can exhibit profound order (subcritical complexity) or profound chaos (fundamental complexity). He uses Boolean NK networks to describe system behavior, where N is the number of nodes in the network and K the number of connections at each node. Ecological network analysis uses a different Boolean network approach in that the pair-wise node interactions in an ecosystem food web are scaled by the throughflow (or storage) to determine the probability of flow along each pathway in the web. These flow probabilities are used to determine system-wide properties of ecosystems such as cycling index, indirect-to-direct effects ratio, and synergism. Here we modify the NK model slightly to develop a fitness landscape of interacting species and calculate how the network analysis properties change as the model's species coevolve. We find that, of the parameters considered, network synergism increases modestly during the simulation whereas the other properties generally decrease. Furthermore, we calculate several ecosystem level goal functions and compare their progression during increasing fitness and determine that at least at this stage there is not a good correspondence between the reductionistic and holistic drivers for the system. This research is largely a proof of concept test and will lay the foundation for future integration and model scenario analysis between two important network techniques.
Efficient Buffer Management for Scalable Media-on-Demand

Widespread availability of high-speed networks and fast, cheap computation have rendered high-quality Media-on-Demand (MoD) feasible. Research on scalable MoD has resulted in many efficient schemes that involve segmentation and asynchronous broadcast of media data, requiring clients to buffer and reorder out-of-order segments efficiently for serial playout. In such schemes, buffer space requirements run to several hundred megabytes and hence require efficient buffer management techniques involving both primary memory and secondary storage: while disk sizes have increased exponentially, access speeds have not kept pace at all. The conversion of out-of-order arrival to in-order playout suggests the use of external memory priority queues, but their content-agnostic nature prevents them from performing well under MoD loads. In this paper, we propose and evaluate a series of simple heuristic schemes which, in simulation studies and in combination with our scalable MoD scheme, achieve significant improvements in storage performance over existing schemes.
Respiratory adjustments of an estuarine coelenterate to abnormal levels of environmental phosphate and oxygen

Abstract 1. 1. Anaerobic glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid cycle are the major pathways for hexose oxidation in the estuarine coelenterate Diadumene leucolena . 2. 2. Oxygen consumption is increased in normal and starved D. leucolena at exogenous inorganic phosphate (P 1 ) concentrations of 0·.1 mM. 3. 3. Oxygen consumption falls at P 1 concentrations above 0·.1 mM if the pH of the sea water bathing medium decreases. No change in respiration of normal- or oxygen-deprived animals is observed at neutral or alkaline pH as P 1 above 0·.1 mM precipitates from the solution. 4. 4. Estuarine coelenterates tolerate a temporary anaeobiosis at the expense of aerobic respiration and show no obvious adjustments in the major oxidative pathways.
On indexing, retrieval and the meaning of about

The primary objective of this paper is to examine the concept of about as it is used in its information retrieval sense when, for example, an indexer judges that a document is (or is not) about some given subject. The problem with about is that it is a very complex notion and we are unable to say precisely what it is we do when we make judgment of aboutness. Since about is at the heart of indexing, how are we to formulate any proper theory of indexing if we cannot explicate precisely the key concept of about? In this paper we look at this concept of about and offer a solution to the problem mentioned; it consists of an operational definition of about which interprets about in terms of search behavior. A second objective of this paper is to show that about is, in fact, not the central concept in a theory of document retrieval. A document retrieval system ought to provide a ranked output (in response to a search query) not according to the degree that they are about the topic sought by the inquiring patron, but rather according to the probability that they will satisfy that person's information need. This paper shows how aboutness is related to probability of satisfaction.
Effects of Acetylene Addition on Yields of the C1−C10 Hydrocarbon Products of Catechol Pyrolysis

To better understand the role of C2 species in the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from complex solid fuels, we have performed pyrolysis experiments with the model fuel catechol (ortho-dihydroxybenzene)—a phenol-type compound representative of structural entities in coal, wood, and biomass—in an isothermal laminar-flow reactor, with acetylene added as a dopant. The catechol pyrolysis experiments are conducted at a residence time of 0.3 s, at temperatures of 500−1000 °C, and at a fixed catechol-to-acetylene molar feed ratio of 0.785. The pyrolysis products are analyzed by high-pressure liquid chromatography with ultraviolet–visible absorbance detection and by gas chromatography with flame-ionization and mass spectrometric detection. Product quantification reveals that acetylene addition to the catechol pyrolysis environment does not change catechol conversion or the yields of most C1−C5 hydrocarbon products. Acetylene addition does, however, increase the yields of the C3 products and fa...
The Role of the Central Nervous System in Osteoarthritis Pain and Implications for Rehabilitation

It has been known for some time that central nervous system (CNS) pain amplification is present in some individuals with osteoarthritis; the implications of this involvement, however, are just starting to be realized. In the past year, several research reviews have focused on evidence supporting shared mechanisms across chronic pain conditions for how pain is generated and maintained in the CNS, irrespective of the underlying structural pathology. This review article focuses on current literature describing CNS amplification in osteoarthritis by discussing peripheral sensitization, central sensitization, and central augmentation, and the clinical manifestation of central augmentation referred to as centralized pain, and offers considerations for rehabilitation treatment and future directions for research.
Tuberculin testing in patients with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

After declining for decades, the incidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is increasing. The Mantoux tuberculin skin test, which uses purified protein derivative (PPD) of tuberculin, has been used for years as a screening device to detect the presence of exposure and infection to tuberculosis. However, the advent of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has elicited many questions regarding the validity of traditional standards for PPD administration and interpretation. The uncertainties in interpreting tuberculin skin tests in immunocompromised individuals is part of the challenge that is being faced by the health-care profession in this 2nd decade of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. This article will help advanced practice nurses understand the relationship between the immune system, tuberculosis, and the PPD skin test; the problem of anergy with immunocompromised patients, particularly those who are HIV-infected; issues involved in placement and interpretation of the results of the PPD test; new Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) standards for PPD interpretation with HIV-infected persons; the "booster" effect and two-step PPD testing; concerns regarding bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccine; and the use of a critical pathway to aid in rapid identification and isolation of the patient with HIV admitted with a potential diagnosis of tuberculosis versus Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia.
Analysis and interpretation of3H and3He form factors. - II

A detailed analysis of the form factors of3H and3He has been made to examine the influence of various assumptions upon quantities determined from the form factors of3H and3He. It is found that meson exchange currents andSD state (apart from their large contributions to the magnetic moment form factors of3H and3He) may also contribute to the charge form factors of3H and3He, in particular at high q2 values. The probability of anS′ state of mixed spatial symmetry has been estimated from 0% to 2%, which is in agreement with other observations. The analysis shows that the Gaussian wave function is slightly preferred to the Irving and exponential wave functions for the three-nucleon systems. It is concluded that the role of e-3H,3He scattering experiments as independent means of determining the charge form factor of neutron within reasonable accuracy is rather uncertain.
Evidence for the three-stage cooling history of olivine-porphyritic fluid droplet chondrules

A three-stage model for the cooling of olivine-porphyritic fluid droplet chondrules found in ordinary chondrites is proposed, in light of an experimental examination of three haplochondritic melts to determine thermal parameters in a pre-accretionary chondrule environment. The model encompasses: (1) initial continuous cooling from at least liquidus temperatures, at 300-4000 C/hour, to about 1300 C, over approximately 5-60 min; (2) interruption of the initial cooling by a short-duration isothermal event at about 1300 C; and (3) quenching. This thermal model, in which the entire history of fluid droplet chondrules is only a brief process in the early history of the solar system, suggests a specific and restricted physical origin for chondrules which is not likely to have been achieved by such repetitive, small-scale events as planetary surface impact splattering or volcanism. A single, large-scale event is postulated.
Uniqueness in cauchy's problem for elliptic equations with double characteristics

This paper is concerned with the question of local uniqueness of solutions of Cauchy's problem for elliptic partial differential equations with characteristics of multiplicity not greater than two. Let P(x,~) be a homogencous,mth degree elliptic polynomial in ~=(~1,~:2 ..... ~n) with complex coefficients of class C 2 in a closed neighborhood D of the origin in Rn. For a given vector O#NERn, we define S(N) to be the class of all C m surfaces having normal N at the origin. We are interested in determining conditions on P which insure tha t solutions of Cauchy's problem for the equation P(x, D)u +Q(x, D)u = 0
Effects of Signal-to-Noise Ratio on the Auditory Brainstem Response to 0.5 and 2 kHz Tone Bursts in Broadband Noise and Highpass Noise or Notch Noise

This study investigated the effects of signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) on the latency and amplitude of the auditory brainstem response (Wave V) using 0.5 and 2 kHz tone bursts in highpass/notch noise and broadband noise. Normal listeners were presented with 40 and 80 dB nHL tone bursts in quiet and in noise at S/Ns of 10, 15, 20, and 25 dB. The latency data suggest that, at moderate and high intensities, highpass/notch noise or broadband noise is preferred to the quiet condition because of the improved frequency specificity provided by the masking. Highpass/notch noise appears preferable to broadband noise when testing at moderate to high levels because the former produced larger Wave V amplitudes to 0.5 and 2 kHz tone bursts at 80 dB nHL. The 80 dB nHL data also suggest that S/Ns of 15–25 dB should be selected when the highpass/notch noise is mixed with moderate to high level 0.5 and 2 kHz tone bursts. In contrast to the 80 dB nHL data, Wave Vamplitudes to the 40 dB nHL tone bursts suggest that testing in qu...
Late effects of chemotherapy for childhood cancer

Childhood cancer is rare accounting for approximately 0.5% of all cancer cases in the UK. Significant improvements in survival over recent decades mean that the majority of children diagnosed with cancer can now expect to survive long term. It is estimated that one in 700 young adults are survivors of childhood cancer. Improved survival has come at a cost, and survivors are at risk of significant morbidity and mortality due to their previous cancer and its treatment. Long term health problems that occur as a result of cancer treatment are known as late effects. They can affect any organ system or tissue and sometimes do not become clinically apparent until many years after completion of treatment. Appropriate surveillance plans and long term follow up must therefore be put in place for this growing population. This review focuses on the potential late effects of chemotherapy for childhood cancer.
Biophysical Properties of ClC-3 Differentiate It from Swelling-activated Chloride Channels in Chinese Hamster Ovary-K1 Cells *

ClC-3 is a highly conserved voltage-gated chloride channel, which together with ClC-4 and ClC-5 belongs to one subfamily of the larger group of ClC chloride channels. Whereas ClC-5 is localized intracellularly, ClC-3 has been reported to be a swelling-activated plasma membrane channel. However, recent studies have shown that native ClC-3 in hepatocytes is primarily intracellular. Therefore, we reexamined the properties of ClC-3 in a mammalian cell expression system and compared them with the properties of endogenous swelling-activated channels. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 cells were transiently transfected with rat ClC-3. The resulting chloride currents were Cl− > I− selective, showed extreme outward rectification, and lacked inactivation at positive voltages. In addition, they were insensitive to the chloride channel blockers, 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)-benzoic acid (NPPB) and 4,4′-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2′-disulfonic acid (DIDS) and were not inhibited by phorbol esters or activated by osmotic swelling. These properties are identical to those of ClC-5 but differ from those previously attributed to ClC-3. In contrast, nontransfected CHO-K1 cells displayed an endogenous swelling-activated chloride current, which was weakly outward rectifying, inactivated at positive voltages, sensitive to NPPB and DIDS, and inhibited by phorbol esters. These properties are identical to those previously attributed to ClC-3. Therefore, we conclude that when expressed in CHO-K1 cells, ClC-3 is an extremely outward rectifying channel with similar properties to ClC-5 and is neither activated by cell swelling nor identical to the endogenous swelling-activated channel. These data suggest that ClC-3 cannot be responsible for the swelling-activated chloride channel under all circumstances.
Young Children's Strategies in Learning the "Book Language" of Information Books.

Although there has been a lot of research on young children learning about the book language of written story discourse recently, very little is known about how they acquire understandings of other nonstory genres. This article first describes several distinctive discourse features of typical information books written for young children by comparing them to aspects of book language realized in typical storybooks. Then 4 kindergarteners’ repeated “pretend readings” of three typical information books are analyzed to reveal the strategies by which these children learn the characteristic linguistic properties of this genre.
A selective cysteine protease inhibitor is non-toxic and cerebroprotective in rats undergoing transient middle cerebral artery ischemia

Ischemic neuronal injury mediated by cysteine proteases such as calpains and caspases has been demonstrated in various experimental models. Cathepsins B and L are also cysteine proteases which may contribute to neuronal death after ischemia. The authors measured in vitro and in vivo toxicity and post-ischemic cytoprotective effects of a cysteine protease inhibitor which does not block calpain or caspase but, rather, is relatively selective for cathepsins B and L. The compound belongs to the peptidyl-diazomethane family (cysteine protease inhibitor 1, termed CP-1). In vitro toxicity was measured using an assay of cell viability, and in vivo toxicity was measured by histological tissue analysis after infusion of CP-1 in rats. Two hours of middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion in rats was performed by the intravascular suture method. Immediately following reperfusion, intravenous infusion of CP-1 or vehicle was performed for 4 h at 0.9 ml/h. After a 7-day survival, the infarct volumes were measured. CP-1 was non-toxic to cultured glial cells to a local concentration of 200 microM, and relatively non-toxic to cultured endothelial cells at concentrations of 100-200 microM. No animal exhibited toxic effects at any of the doses used. Histologic comparisons revealed no signs of tissue toxicity. CP-1 significantly reduced hemispheric infarct volume compared to control (37+/-8.2%) at concentrations of 10, 50, and 250 microM [22+/-15%, P=0.008; 20+/-13%, P=0.002; 23+/-15%, P=0.022, respectively (mean+/-standard deviation; N=7-10 per group)]. CP-1, at the concentration of 50 microM, improved the functional score of the animals, but did not significantly alter cerebral blood flow. This study supports the hypothesis that the lysosomal cathepsins B and/or L contribute to cerebral injury after focal ischemia with reperfusion. Cysteine protease inhibitors which are relatively selective for cathepsins B and L, but not the calpains or caspases, are effective at reducing infarct volume after intravenous post-ischemic administration.
Potential Anticancer Agents II: Antitumor and Cytotoxic Lignans from Linum Album (Linaceae)

A phytochemical study of Linum album (Linaceae), guided by bioassay with the 9KB cell culture, resulted in the isolation of podophyllotoxin and a new lignan, 3′‐demethylpodophyllotoxin; α‐ and β‐peltatins were identified by comparative TLC.
General ray-tracing procedure

Computing formulas are presented for tracing skew rays through optical systems containing cylindrical and toric surfaces of arbitrary orientation and position. Particular attention is given to the treatment of diffraction gratings and a vector form of the diffraction law is suggested.
Childhood stuttering and dissociations across linguistic domains: a replication and extension.

Abstract The purpose of this investigation was to replicate the methods of Anderson, Pellowski, and Conture (2005) to determine whether a different sample of preschool children who stutter (CWS) exhibit more dissociations in speech-language abilities than children who do not stutter (CWNS; Study 1) and to examine the relation between dissociations and specific characteristics of stuttering (e.g., most common disfluency type) using a much larger sample size (Study 2). Participants for Study 1 were 40 CWS and 40 CWNS between the ages of 3;0 and 5;11. Participants for Study 2 were the same as for Study 1 plus the 45 CWS and 45 CWNS used by Anderson et al. (2005) for a total of 85 CWS and 85 CWNS. Participants were administered five standardized speech-language (sub)tests and a conversational speech sample was obtained from each participant for the analyses of speech disfluencies/stuttering. Standard scores from the standardized speech-language tests were analyzed using a correlation-based statistical procedure (Bates, Applebaum, Sacedo, Saygin, & Pizzamiglio, 2003) to identify possible dissociations among the speech-language measures. Findings from Study 1 supported Anderson et al.’s findings that CWS exhibited significantly more speech-language dissociations than CWNS. Results from Study 2 further revealed that CWS who exhibited dissociations were more likely to exhibit non-stuttered (other) disfluencies as their most common disfluency type. Findings provide further support for the possibility that dissociations among various aspects of the speech-language system may contribute to the difficulties that some children have establishing normally fluent speech. Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (a) summarize findings from previous studies examining the speech and language performance of children who do and do not stutter; (b) describe the concept of “dissociations” in the speech and language skills of young children; (c) compare the results of the present study with previous work in this area; and (d) discuss speculations concerning the manner in which dissociations might affect fluency development in children who stutter.
Components of change in adolescent fertility, 1971-1979.

This article disaggregates change in adolescent fertility between 1971 and 1979 into four components: change in marriage patterns, in nonmarital sex, in pregnancy, and in birth. It also assesses quantitatively the relative contribution of each component to the change over time in two fertility outcomes: the probability of a nonmarital live birth and, given a live birth, the odds of its being nonmarital. The changes in the probability of sexual debut prior to marriage and in marriage patterns themselves are the two most important contributors to these changes. The influence on the change in adolescent fertility outcomes of the decreased likelihood of marriage following a nonmarital pregnancy was compensated for by the increased use of abortion to ter-minate the pregnancy.
Thoughts on The Squam Lake Report: Reengineering the Financial System to Better Withstand Extreme Volatility

The most important contributions of The Squam Lake Report are its analysis and recommendations not for eliminating the possibility of future crises, but for enabling the financial system to better withstand the bouts of volatility that are a natural outcome of market forces. In this regard, the Report's most promising proposal is its prescription that systemically important financial firms issue “contingent capital” that converts from debt to equity when a financial firm's solvency is at risk. But if contingent capital is a good idea, the author argues that the Squam Lake proposal should be complemented by three features not addressed by the report. First, systemically important financials must be required, not just encouraged, to issue contingent capital. Second, contingent capital should not count toward normal regulatory capital requirements but function as a supplemental cushion against the possibility of crisis. Third, financial institutions should be prohibited from holding contingent capital securities issued by other financials so that losses are channeled outside of the financial system. In addition, the actual conversion of contingent capital should not depend on regulators' declaration of a financial crisis, but should occur once critical capital thresholds are breached.
Investigation of doped-gadolinium zirconate nanomaterials for high-temperature hydrogen sensor applications

The incorporation of selective nanomaterials, such as common metal oxide semiconductor compositions, into resistive-type gas sensors has been shown by many researchers to lead to very high sensitivities and response rates, especially for micro-sized chemical sensors for room-temperature applications. The same strategy utilizing sensing nanomaterials has not been demonstrated for high-temperature sensors due to the intrinsic instability of typical metal oxide semiconductor nanomaterials at temperatures >500 °C. Within this work, doped Gd2Zr2O7 (GZO) nanomaterial compositions were investigated for H2 resistive-type sensors for applications between 600 and 1000 °C. This paper investigates the mechanism of H2 sensing for doped GZO nanomaterials and SnO2/GZO nanocomposites at the elevated temperatures. By integrating 10 vol.% nano-SnO2 into yttrium-doped GZO nanomaterials, a sensitivity of 4.15 % was retained for 4000 ppm H2 levels with a low signal drift of 0.42 %/h at 1000 °C in a 20 % O2/N2 gas stream. The signal drift was reduced by more than half of that compared to pure nano-SnO2 at the same conditions. The nano-GZO limited the grain growth of the nano-SnO2 particles and also prevented the nano-SnO2 from fully reducing to Sn at high temperatures in a low oxygen atmosphere. It is among the first resistive-type sensors operating at 1000 °C with sensing times of <5 min. This demonstration provided an example of a strategy of combining traditional metal oxide semiconductor and refractory nanomaterial compositions to form sensing nanocomposites with new sensing mechanisms, as well as, enhanced chemical and microstructural stabilities in high-temperature environments.
A role for ICAM-1 in maintenance of leukocyte-endothelial cell rolling interactions in inflamed arterioles

A key endothelial receptor in leukocyte-endothelial cell (EC) interactions is ICAM-1. ICAM-1 is constitutively expressed at low levels on vascular ECs, and its levels significantly increase followi...
WE‐C‐204B‐02: Disparity between 4DCT and CBCT Reconstruction of Internal Target Volumes

Purpose: Internal target volumes (ITVs) generated from different imaging modalities may not be identical. These differences could be due to inherent limitations in image reconstruction, and in this study we investigate the differences between 4DCT‐MIP generated ITVs and CBCTreconstructions of moving targets. Methods/Materials: A cork lung phantom with three embedded targets was attached to a programmable motion platform to simulate lung and tumor motion. Ideal sinusoidal motion and other simulated patterns were used to compare ITV dimensions reconstructed from 4DCT and CBCT. Four 4DCT and ten CBCT generated ITVs from four lungcancer patients were also compared using a physician's contour as ground truth. Results:CBCT targets along the direction of motion were consistently smaller than the 4DCT equivalents (by 0.49 +/− 0.50 cm) in the phantom measurements. The amplitude was varied during a single scan from 1 to 4 cm, and both 4DCT and CBCT under‐represented the ground truth dimension by 2.13 (+/−0.64) cm and 2.69 (+/−0.50) cm. Patient lungtumors did not reveal a similar pattern of smaller ITVs from CBCT. Lateral motion due to proximity to the heart resulted in lateral discrepancies for two patients, with CBCT ITV 0.32 cm and 0.68 cm larger than the 4DCT ITV. For the two other patients, the CBCT ITV was larger along the tumor's primary direction of motion. Conclusions: Even under ideal periodic motion, CBCT generated ITVs can deviate from their 4DCT counterparts. These variations are often assumed to be due to physiological changes, but may actually occur due to limitations in CBCTreconstruction. If irregular motion in actual patient cases is observed, the discrepancy between the 4DCT ITV and the CBCT counterpart can be greater than 5mm and adaptive re‐optimization based on CBCT ITV may not be beneficial.