cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Quantitative Study of the Association Thermodynamics and Kinetics of DNA-Coated Particles for Different Functionalization Schemes

Surface functionalization with complementary single-stranded DNA sticky ends is increasingly used for guiding the self-assembly of nano- and micrometer-sized particles into larger scale ordered structures. Here we present measurements, formulas, and graphs that allow one to quantitatively predict the association behavior of DNA-coated particles from readily available Web-based data. From experiments it appears that the suspension behavior is very sensitive to the grafting details, such as the length and flexibility of the tether constructs and the particles' surface coverage. Thus, if one wants to control the interactions and assembly processes, insight is needed into the structural and dynamical features of the DNA coatings. We demonstrate how a straightforward measurement of the particles' association-dissociation kinetics during selected temperature cycles, combined with a simple quantitative model, can reveal the relevant properties. We used this method in a systematic study where we varied the temperature cycle, the bead concentration, the particles' surface coverage, and the DNA construct. Among other things, we find that the backbone that tethers the sticky ends to the surface can have a significant impact on the particles' dissociation properties, as it affects the total number of interparticle bonds and the configurational entropy cost associated with these bonds. We further find that, independent of the tether backbone, self-complementary "palindromic" sticky ends readily form intraparticle hairpins and loops, which greatly affect the particles' association behavior. Such secondary structure formation is increasingly important in faster temperature quenches, at lower particle concentration, and at lower surface coverage. The latter observations are especially useful for the design of so-called self-protected DNA-mediated interactions, which we pioneered recently and for which we expect to find an increasing use, as they enable more versatile assembly schemes.
Two-dimensional spectral shearing interferometry for few-cycle pulse characterization and optimization

We demonstrate a new pulse measurement technique, two-dimensional spectral shearing interferometry, which is particularly amenable to the optimization of few-cycle lasers. The method only requires the calibration of the spectral shear and is stable to incoming beam perturbations. We show initial results of measurements from a 5 fs Ti:sa oscillator.
Analytical solutions for oblique wave growth from a ring-beam distribution

Analytical solutions are presented for the linear growth rate of oblique plasma waves in a magnetized plasma due to resonant interactions with a model ringbeam distribution. Explicit closed-form solutions for the angular dependence are obtained in terms of modified Bessel functions of the first kind. In the limits of either quasi-longitudinal or quasi-transverse propagation the analytical solutions take the form of simple algebraic expansions, which allow an immediate comparison of the relative contributions from different harmonic resonances, and which also determine the conditions for marginal stability for any specific resonance. The results can be applied, for instance, to the growth of waves following ionization of neutrals originating from cometary, planetary, or interstellar material in the solar wind. In a weakly unstable plasma the analytical results also provide an important check on the complex numerical codes that hitherto constituted the only method available for evaluating the growth of oblique plasma waves.
Banking Employment in the 1990s: Regional Effects of Consolidation

The effects of consolidation in the banking sector on employment are analyzed using data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's Statistics on Banking. Previous efficiency studies of consolidation find that there is no relationship between consolidation and non-interest expenses (a proxy for employment). This study finds a negative relationship between consolidation and employment. It also finds no positive employment effects in states that were net beneficiaries of the savings and loan (S&L) bailout.
Studies on Nonoxynol-9. II. Intravaginal absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion in rats and rabbits.

Abstract Some pharmacological aspects of Igepal CO-630, used by some pharmaceutical companies as the source of nonylphenoxypoly(ethyleneoxy)ethanol (Nonoxynol-9, N-9) in various spermicidal formulations, were studied. It was found that Igepal CO-630 contains at least 13 components, 70% having molecular weights near that of N-9. After intravaginal administration, the detergent is rapidly and quantitatively absorbed through the vaginal wall into the systemic circulation. The rate of vaginal absorption of N-9 depends on the vehicle in which the detergent is carried. Once in the blood, N-9 is excreted by liver-bile-feces and the kidney-urine routes, the first being more effective in rats, the latter in rabbits. Following intravaginal or intraperitoneal injection of radio-active N-9, the highest content of radioactivity was found in the liver and kidney. The detergent was detected in the milk of lactating rats and the serum of their pups within two hours after the intravaginal dose.
Identification of Diverse Lipid Droplet Targeting Motifs in the PNPLA Family of Triglyceride Lipases

Members of the Patatin-like Phospholipase Domain containing Protein A (PNPLA) family play key roles in triglyceride hydrolysis, energy metabolism, and lipid droplet (LD) homoeostasis. Here we report the identification of two distinct LD targeting motifs (LTM) for PNPLA family members. Transient transfection of truncated versions of human adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL, also known as PNPLA2), PNPLA3/adiponutrin, or PNPLA5 (GS2-like) fused to GFP revealed that the C-terminal third of these proteins contains sequences that are sufficient for targeting to LDs. Furthermore, fusing the C-termini of PNPLA3 or PNPLA5 confers LD localization to PNPLA4, which is otherwise cytoplasmic. Analyses of additional mutants in ATGL, PNPLA5, and Brummer Lipase, the Drosophila homolog of mammalian ATGL, identified two different types of LTMs. The first type, in PNPLA5 and Brummer lipase, is a set of loosely conserved basic residues, while the second type, in ATGL, is contained within a stretch of hydrophobic residues. These results show that even closely related members of the PNPLA family employ different molecular motifs to associate with LDs.
Link structures, information flow, and social processes

In the ongoing movement toward socially-produced information resources, we are increasingly able to look through the content being created and see the individuals, incentives, and larger social processes at work. Designing and working with large-scale participatory social computing applications requires that we think not just about technological issues, but also about fundamental principles of human social interaction. Through the digital traces that these applications generate, we can begin to quantify and reason about such principles at unprecedented levels of scale and resolution.In this talk, we consider a crucial type of social process in this setting - the mechanisms by which information flows through groups of people engaged in sharing and synthesizing knowledge. As information, ideas, opinions, and beliefs spread through an underlying social network, their dynamics resemble that of an epidemic, moving "contagiously" from person to person. But social contagion is different from biological contagion in many respects; understanding the analogies and contrasts between these two kinds of processes leads us to consider the rich temporal characteristics of information flow within a network and the complex decision rules by which people choose to act on new information. The result is a richer picture of the communities that create knowledge and its interlinkages, and of the resources that ultimately arise from these processes.
Iron-dextran as a magnetic susceptibility contrast agent: flow-related contrast effects in the T2-weighted spin-echo MRI of normal rat and cat brain.

Iron–dextran (1 mmol Fe/kg) was used as an intravascular, paramagnetic contrast agent in rat and cat brain in conventional spin-echo T2-weighted (TR 2800/TE 100) 1H magnetic resonance imaging. The resulting images displayed differential decreases (30–50%) in intensity whose pattern was similar to that obtained with the superparamagnetic particulate iron oxide AMI-25 (0.18 mmol Fe/kg). Postcontrast images displayed improved anatomic detail, and contrast effects were observed to be greater in cortical and subcortical gray matter than in adjacent white matter. Intravenous injection of acetazolamide after administration of iron-dextran caused a small additional decrease in image intensity. Measurement of whole blood and plasma at 5 min postinjection of either contrast agent revealed significant increases in their volume magnetic susceptibilities. The contrast effect appears to be related to magnetic susceptibility changes brought about by the iron–dextran it has both blood volume and blood flow components. The static model of magnetic susceptibility effects in brain capillaries is modified to include bolus flow of erythrocytes, providing a mechanism for the observed flow effects. © 1992 Academic Press, Inc.
Identifying frequent items in a network using gossip

We present algorithms for identifying frequently occurring items in a large distributed data set. Our algorithms use gossip as the underlying communication mechanism, and do not rely on any central control, nor on an underlying network structure, such as a spanning tree. Instead, nodes repeatedly select a random partner and exchange data with that partner. If this process continues for a (short) period of time, the desired results are computed, with probabilistic guarantees on the accuracy. Our algorithm for identifying frequent items is built by layering a novel small space ''sketch'' of data over a gossip-based data dissemination mechanism. We prove that the algorithm identifies the frequent items with high probability, and provides bounds on the time till convergence. To our knowledge, this is the first work on identifying frequent items using gossip.
Monoclonal antibodies against human ovarian tumor associated antigen NB/70K: preparation and use in a radioimmunoassay for measuring NB/70K in serum.

Murine monoclonal antibodies (MCAs) against human ovarian tumor associated antigen NB/70K have been prepared. One of these MCAs, NB12123, was chosen for the development of a radioimmunoassay for measuring serum NB/70K levels. In this assay, the average NB/70K level in 75 normal, healthy controls was 11.9 activity units (AU) with an SD of 14.9 AU. The normal cut off value for this assay was set at 45 AU (mean +2 SD). 24 of 46 (52%) ovarian cancer patients, 7 of 18 (39%) patients with benign ovarian cysts or tumors and 3 of 85 (4%) control samples had elevated serum NB/70K levels. Comparison of NB/70K levels measured in the NB12123 assay with levels measured in an assay using a polyclonal antiNB/70K previously developed in our laboratory [13] indicated that although both assays had approximately the same percentage of positive ovarian cancer patient samples, there appeared to be no correlation between the absolute NB/70K levels measured by the two assays. The rank of ovarian cancer patient samples was also different for the two assays. Also, almost 40% of patients with benign ovarian cysts and tumors had elevated serum NB/70K levels as measured by the NB12123 assay as compared to 0% for the polyclonal assay. Reciprocal cross-blocking experiments, absorption studies, and immune precipitate analysis indicated that both the monoclonal NB12123 assay and the polyclonal antiNB/70K assay measured the same population of NB/70K molecules. However, the polyclonal antibody recognizes epitopes in addition to that recognized by NB12123. Taken together, these results suggest that the epitope recognized by NB12123 is not as specific for malignant ovarian tumors as the epitope(s) recognized by polyclonal antiNB/70K and/or that more than the one epitope detected by the MCA is responsible for the specificity for ovarian cancer of the polyclonal NB/70K assay. In spite of this, the greater sensitivity and range of the monoclonal NB12123 assay make it possible to monitor serum NB/70K levels in ovarian cancer patients. In four patients examined, the fluctuating serum NB/70K levels appeared to correlate well with clinical status
Simplification of the constraints in the dirac formalism for general relativity

In any classical theory in canonical form, the Poisson bracket relations between the constraints are preserved under canonical transformations. We show that in the Dirac formalism for general relativity this condition places certain limits on the degree to which one can simplify the form of the constraints. It implies, for instance, that the constraints cannot all be written as canonical momenta. Furthermore, it is not even possible to reduce them all to purely algebraic functions of the momenta by means of a canonical tansformation which preserves the original configuration space subspace of phase space.
Secondhand Smoke Exposure Among Nonsmoking Pregnant Women in New York City

INTRODUCTION Although secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure during pregnancy has detrimental effects on fetal health, little is known about levels of SHS in nonsmoking pregnant women. We examined disparities in SHS exposure among nonsmoking, ethnic minority pregnant women in New York City. METHODS We used self-reported smoking and serum cotinine collected from 244 pregnant women from the Bronx who self-identified as African American, Caribbean American, or Black Hispanic to examine smoking prevalence (>3 ng/ml) and, in an adjusted logistic regression model, risk factors for SHS (≥ 0.05 ng/ml and ≤ 3 ng/ml). RESULTS Although only 4.1% of women self-reported they were smokers, 10.7% had serum cotinine levels indicating they were smokers. Among the 218 nonsmokers, 46.8% had serum cotinine levels indicating SHS exposure. Women at highest risk included those with less than a high school degree (66.7%) and those who were U.S.-born Black Hispanic (63.2%) or African American (63.0%). Women with more than 12 years of education were less likely to have detectable SHS exposure than women with fewer than 12 years (adjusted odds ratio 0.39, 95% CI = 0.17, 0.91). Compared with African American U.S.-born women, those who were African American foreign-born or Caribbean American and either U.S.-born or foreign-born were less likely to have detectable SHS exposure (all p ≤ .05). CONCLUSIONS Nearly half of nonsmoking pregnant women in New York City had elevated cotinine levels despite living in a city with comprehensive tobacco control policies. Health professionals need to assess sources of SHS exposure during pregnancy and promote smoke-free environments to improve maternal and fetal health.
Novel benzoic acid congeners of bilirubin.

Three regioisomeric bilirubins and biliverdins with propionic acids replaced by benzoic acids were synthesized from the corresponding xanthobilirubic acids by oxidative coupling. The rubins were found to exhibit widely varying polarity, spectroscopic properties, and stereochemistry. The isomer with ortho benzoic acids (1o) was much less polar than either the meta (1m) or para (1p) because 1o (but not 1m and 1p) can adopt a folded conformation with both carboxylic acids intramolecularly hydrogen bonded to the opposing dipyrrinones. The consequences of such conformational differentiation are found in the varying 1H NMR, UV−vis, and circular dichroism spectral properties.
Invariant subrings of a certain kind

The theorem which we shall prove here states that if a subring of a prime ring is invariant with respect to a certain class of automorphisms then a dichotomy of the Brauer-Cartan-Hua type exists.
Long-term changes in the neuromuscular synapses of a crayfish motoneuron produced by calcium influx

Abstract Previous in vivo studies of crustacean neuromuscular synapses have shown that a chronic increase in the impulse activity of a previously ‘inactive’ motoneuron produces a reduction in initial transmitter release and greater resistance to synaptic fatigue. To explore the mechanisms of this synaptic change, we have developed an in vitro procedure for examining this activity-dependent reduction in initial transmitter release. We report that depolarization selectively applied to the proximal region of the neuron (cell body or axon) of a phasic motoneuron produces a reduction in initial transmitter release from the motor terminals. This synaptic change is observed 4–5 h after the beginning of depolarization. Proximal depolarization decreases initial transmitter release without reducing the capacity of the terminals to release transmitter during repetitive stimulation. Application of a calcium channel blocker during conditioning prevents the reduction in initial transmitter release. These results demonstrate that prolonged calcium influx produce a long-term reduction in initial transmitter release, and that calcium influx in distant regions of the motoneuron can influence transmitter release from motor terminals. The relationship of these findings to previously reported activity-dependent synaptic changes is discussed.
Comparing Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers on Benefits Beyond Blood Pressure

The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) is one of the main regulators of blood pressure, renal hemodynamics, and volume homeostasis in normal physiology, and contributes to the development of renal and cardiovascular (CV) diseases. Therefore, pharmacologic blockade of RAAS constitutes an attractive strategy in preventing the progression of renal and CV diseases. This concept has been supported by clinical trials involving patients with hypertension, diabetic nephropathy, and heart failure, and those after myocardial infarction. The use of angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) in clinical practice has increased over the last decade. Since their introduction in 1995, seven ARBs have been made available, with approved indications for hypertension and some with additional indications beyond blood pressure reduction. Considering that ARBs share a similar mechanism of action and exhibit similar tolerability profiles, it is assumed that a class effect exists and that they can be used interchangeably. However, pharmacologic and dosing differences exist among the various ARBs, and these differences can potentially influence their individual effectiveness. Understanding these differences has important implications when choosing an ARB for any particular condition in an individual patient, such as heart failure, stroke, and CV risk reduction (prevention of myocardial infarction). A review of the literature for existing randomized controlled trials across various ARBs clearly indicates differences within this class of agents. Ongoing clinical trials are evaluating the role of ARBs in the prevention and reduction of CV rates of morbidity and mortality in high-risk patients.
Factors Supporting Cambodian American Students' Successful Adjustment into the University.

The current article examines the experiences of successful Cambodian American students as a unique ethnic group to understand their patterns of social and academic college integration. Cambodian American students' sense of academic belonging related closely to perceptions of personal connections. Our data suggest that integration into the campus environment and maintaining contact with the prior community are both important for Cambodian American students' successful adjustment. These data offer direction for college administrators, student affairs staff, and faculty in supporting the retention and academic success of Cambodian American college students.
Phase Modulated Waveforms for Transponder-Based Radar Sensing: Signal Optimization and Experiments

Both the theoretical and engineering aspects of using transponder-based signal waveforms, such as pulse-position-modulated 1090-MHz Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, for noncooperative target sensing are discussed in this article. The random binary phase modulation coding technique is applied to the original transponder signal waveforms to improve the autocorrelation and sidelobe performance. A detailed study of the characterizations of this waveform and its potential for target detection is presented. The impact of random phase coding is analyzed from both signal spectrum (based on stochastic signal model) and radar ambiguity functions (based on deterministic signal model). The combination of pulse-position modulation and maximum length binary random phase coding sequence is shown to have satisfactory performance. In terms of optimal receiver, the traditional correlation receiver (or matched filter) and mismatched filters with different criteria are analyzed. The tradeoffs of receiver design for transponder-based radars are discussed. The experimental implementation of a transponder-based radar sensor with arbitrary waveform generator and commercial, off-the-shelf components is introduced and discussed. The experiment results show that noncooperative target detection using such a radar sensor is feasible with appropriate design of waveforms, system architecture and signal processors.
A multi-scale analysis of dynamic optical signals in a Southern California chaparral ecosystem: A comparison of field, AVIRIS and MODIS data

Abstract Using field data, Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) imagery, and Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, a multi-scale analysis of ecosystem optical properties was performed for Sky Oaks, a Southern California chaparral ecosystem in the spectral network (SpecNet) and FLUXNET networks. The study covered a 4-year period (2000–2004), which included a severe drought in 2002 and a subsequent wildfire in July 2003, leading to extreme perturbation in ecosystem productivity and optical properties. Two vegetation greenness indices (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)), and a measure of the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by vegetation (fPAR), were compared across sampling platforms, which ranged in pixel size from 1 m (tram system in the field) to 1000 m (MODIS satellite sensor). The three MODIS products closely followed the same seasonal trends as the tram and AVIRIS data, but tended to be higher than the tram and AVIRIS values, particularly for fPAR and NDVI. Following a wildfire that removed all green vegetation, the overestimation in MODIS fPAR values was particularly clear. The MODIS fPAR algorithm (version 4 vs. v.4.1) had a significant effect on the degree of overestimation, with v. 4.1 improving the agreement with the other sensors (AVIRIS and tram) for vegetated conditions, but not for low, post-fire values. The differences between MODIS products and the products from the other platform sensors could not be entirely attributed to differences in sensor spectral responses or sampling scale. These results are consistent with several other recently published studies that indicate that MODIS overestimates fPAR and thus net primary production (NPP) for many terrestrial ecosystems, and demonstrates the need for proper validation of MODIS terrestrial biospheric products by direct comparison against optical signals at other spatial scales, as is now possible at several SpecNet sites. The study also demonstrates the utility of in-situ field sampling (e.g. tram systems) and hyperspectral aircraft imagery for proper interpretation of satellite data taken at coarse spatial scales.
Wireless network security for users

Network security technology generally concentrates on protection of the network infrastructure and, by implication, protection of the user. While this is true for the larger public network, the local network environment of the user is very vulnerable to denial-of-service, "man-in-the-middle" and other attacks that can be devastating. In this paper, we examine the issues of wireless security from the perspective of the user and the local network. We look at airlink attacks by specialized transmitters and intercept receivers. Examples are taken from the technologies used in IS-95 CDMA cellular radiotelephones and IEEE 892.11 wireless LANs.
Analysis of telescope arrays based receiver for deep-space optical communications with Mars

Telescope arrays receivers are analyzed for deep-space optical communications between Earth and Mars. It is shown that data rates up to 14 M bits/sec are possible when Mars is at the farthest range from the Earth.
Sociodemographic Factors Associated With Nephrectomy in Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma

Purpose: Studies suggest that radical nephrectomy imparts a survival benefit in select patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. We determined the roles of patient age, gender, race and in particular marital status in the decision to pursue nephrectomy and the ensuing effect on overall survival.Materials and Methods: Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database we identified 11,182 patients between 1988 and 2004 who were diagnosed with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Patients were separated into 2 groups, including those who underwent nephrectomy and those who did not, and they were stratified by the mentioned variables. Logistic regression and Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to determine the likelihood of undergoing nephrectomy and of overall survival in the cohorts.Results: In the final cohort 3,443 patients (31%) underwent radical nephrectomy. These patients experienced longer median survival than those who did not undergo surgery (11 vs 4 months, p <0.001). The survival benefit ...
Large-scale regulatory network analysis from microarray data: modified Bayesian network learning and association rule mining

We present two algorithms for learning large-scale gene regulatory networks from microarray data: a modified information-theory-based Bayesian network algorithm and a modified association rule algorithm. Simulation-based evaluation using six datasets indicated that both algorithms outperformed their unmodified counterparts, especially when analyzing large numbers of genes. Both algorithms learned about 20% (50% if directionality and relation type were not considered) of the relations in the actual models. In our empirical evaluation based on two real datasets, domain experts evaluated subsets of learned relations with high confidence and identified 20-30% to be "interesting" or "maybe interesting" as potential experiment hypotheses.
Chromium tracer diffusion in NiO crystals

Abstract Diffusion of 51 Cr in NiO single crystals in air has been studied by the tracer-sectioning technique. In the temperature range 1192–1642°C, the diffusion coefficient can be expressed by the Arrhenius expression D = D o exp(- Q/RT ), with D o =(8·6±1·2)×10 −3 cm 2 /sec and Q =67·4±1·1 kcal/mole. The use of a high specific-activity tracer and a special configuration for the diffusion anneal prevented the self-dopling effect found by Seltzer and the evaporation of chromium from the sample surface. The present results, in conjunction with published results on nickel self-diffusion in NiO and interdiffusion in the NiO−Cr 2 O 3 system, are used to determine a chromium ion-vacancy binding energy of about 5 kcal/mole in pure NiO.
Evaluation of Polynomial Fitting Functions for Use with CCD Arrays in Raman Spectroscopy

Calibration of wavelength is vital to the accurate assessment of Raman shifts using multichannel detectors, such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) detector in combination with multistage spectrometers. Although in zeroth order, the position in the image plane (i.e., CCD) may be approximated as linearly related to wavenumber, this approximation fails badly for accurate determinations of band position at even moderate spectral coverage (>50 cm−1). A Gaussian development of the imaging properties of a Czerny-Turner spectrometer leads to a quadratic relationship. However, the use of flat-field optics in modern triple monochromators results in position-wavenumber relationships that are not described well by a quadratic expression and are best fit by empirical relationships. Establishing the goodness of fit of several trial functions is the purpose of this current work. One way to achieve the relationship between position, or pixel number, and wavelength, as dispersed by a grating spectrometer, is to observe a standard sample that has several Raman lines of accurately known wavenumber shift. Indene, C9H8, has been used as such a standard for many years due to its well-calibrated and evenly spaced spectral features. This paper will explore the use of indene as a Raman shift calibration standard for CCD based spectrometers in the diagnostically important range of 700 to 1600 cm−1.
Spectroscopic determination of the size of cadmium sulfide nanoparticles formed under environmentally relevant conditions

A multi-technique approach was adopted using UV/visible spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in the characterization of cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles. CdS nanoparticle sizes could be determined by the Brus equation, which relates the UV/vis spectroscopic properties of CdS nanoparticles to size based on the quantum confinement effect. The diameters calculated from the wavelength of absorbance in UV/vis spectra were within 10% of the mean nanoparticle diameter measured in TEM. UV/vis spectroscopy provided an aqueous phase measurement of the CdS core size of the nanoparticles (<2 nm to ∼10 nm diameter) that is based on a physical property rather than light scattering. CdS nanoparticles readily formed upon addition of sulfide to a Cd(II)–thiolate complex with the thiolate molecules acting as capping agents that passivate the nanoparticle surface, thereby preventing bulk mineral precipitation. Using UV/vis as a method of nanoparticle sizing, we were able to demonstrate how aqueous conditions dictate the resulting nanoparticle size. High pH, capping thiolate concentration and Cd : S ratio all resulted in smaller nanoparticles. Ionic strength did not influence nanoparticle size, but DLS data indicate the formation of aggregates above ionic strengths of 0.1 M.
Chemical Profile of the Dentin Substrate in Non-Carious Cervical Lesions

Abstract Objective The molecular structural nature of the dentin substrate in non-carious cervical lesions (NCCLs) is poorly understood. This investigation characterized the chemical structure including inhomogeneities, composition, mineral crystallinity, collagen organization of normal dentin and affected dentin substrates within NCCLs using Raman microspectroscopic mapping/imaging. Materials and methods Three extracted human pre-molars affected with NCCLs were selected and cavities matching the natural lesion with respect to size and location were prepared on the lingual/palatal surface of each tooth to serve as controls. The specimens were sectioned to expose the gingival and occlusal margins of the NCCLs and the control cavities. Micro-Raman spectra and imaging were acquired at 1.5 μm spatial resolution at positions perpendicular to the lesion surfaces. Results The Raman spectra and imaging comparisons showed the distinct compositional and structural alterations in mineral and matrix components of NCCL affected dentin. A heterogeneous hyper-mineralized layer, with characteristic features such as high phosphate/low carbonate content, high degree of crystallinity and partially denatured collagen were revealed in affected dentin substrate of NCCLs. Significance Generating Raman images based on different strategies from the same data set provides a powerful means to study the structural alterations within heterogeneous dental tissues. Direct overlay of the images indicated that the changes in chemical structure and composition are synchronized. Further studies are required to understand the role that these alterations play in response to acid etching and bonding to these clinically relevant substrates.
Role of the Hypervariable Hinge Region of Phosphoprotein P of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus in Viral RNA Synthesis and Assembly of Infectious Virus Particles

The phosphoprotein (P protein) of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is an essential subunit of the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and has multiple functions residing in its different domains. In the present study, we examined the role of the hypervariable hinge region of P protein in viral RNA synthesis and recovery of infectious VSV by using transposon-mediated insertion mutagenesis and deletion mutagenesis. We observed that insertions of 19-amino-acid linker sequences at various positions within this region affected replication and transcription functions of the P protein to various degrees. Interestingly, one insertion mutant was completely defective in both transcription and replication. Using a series of deletion mutants spanning the hinge region of the protein, we observed that amino acid residues 201 through 220 are required for the activity of P protein in both replication and transcription. Neither insertion nor deletion had any effect on the interaction of P protein with N or L proteins. Infectious VSVs with a deletion in the hinge region possessed retarded growth characteristics and exhibited small-plaque morphology. Interestingly, VSV containing one P protein deletion mutant (PΔ7, with amino acids 141 through 200 deleted), which possessed significant levels of replication and transcription activity, could be amplified only by passage in cells expressing the wild-type P protein. We conclude that the hypervariable hinge region of the P protein plays an important role in viral RNA synthesis. Furthermore, our results provide a previously unidentified function for the P protein: it plays a critical role in the assembly of infectious VSV.
Platelet-Rich Plasma Promotes the Proliferation of Human Muscle Derived Progenitor Cells and Maintains Their Stemness

Human muscle-derived progenitor cells (hMDPCs) offer great promise for muscle cell-based regenerative medicine; however, prolonged ex-vivo expansion using animal sera is necessary to acquire sufficient cells for transplantation. Due to the risks associated with the use of animal sera, the development of a strategy for the ex vivo expansion of hMDPCs is required. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of using platelet-rich plasma (PRP) for the ex-vivo expansion of hMDPCs. Pre-plated MDPCs, myoendothelial cells, and pericytes are three populations of hMDPCs that we isolated by the modified pre-plate technique and Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS), respectively. Pooled allogeneic human PRP was obtained from a local blood bank, and the effect that thrombin-activated PRP-releasate supplemented media had on the ex-vivo expansion of the hMDPCs was tested against FBS supplemented media, both in vitro and in vivo. PRP significantly enhanced short and long-term cell proliferation, with or without FBS supplementation. Antibody-neutralization of PDGF significantly blocked the mitogenic/proliferative effects that PRP had on the hMDPCs. A more stable and sustained expression of markers associated with stemness, and a decreased expression of lineage specific markers was observed in the PRP-expanded cells when compared with the FBS-expanded cells. The in vitro osteogenic, chondrogenic, and myogenic differentiation capacities of the hMDPCs were not altered when expanded in media supplemented with PRP. All populations of hMDPCs that were expanded in PRP supplemented media retained their ability to regenerate myofibers in vivo. Our data demonstrated that PRP promoted the proliferation and maintained the multi-differentiation capacities of the hMDPCs during ex-vivo expansion by maintaining the cells in an undifferentiated state. Moreover, PDGF appears to be a key contributing factor to the beneficial effect that PRP has on the proliferation of hMDPCs.
Set Manipulation with Boolean Functional Vectors for Symbolic Reachability Analysis

Symbolic techniques usually use characteristic functions for representing sets of states. Boolean functional vectors provide an alternate set representation which is suitable for symbolic simulation. Their use in symbolic reachability analysis and model checking is limited, however, by the lack of algorithms for performing set operations. We present algorithms for set union, intersection and quantification that work with a canonical Boolean functional vector representation and show how this enables efficient symbolic simulation based reachability analysis. Our experimental results for reachability analysis indicate that the Boolean functional vector representation is often more compact than the corresponding characteristic function, thus giving significant performance improvements on some benchmarks.
Biosimilars: new promise for reducing healthcare costs.

After much anticipation, approval of the first U.S. biosimilar medications may be around the corner. Biosimilars hold the promise of reducing healthcare spending by offering lower-cost alternatives to high-priced biologic drugs. Biosimilars are not generic versions of existing biologics, however. Generic medications contain an active ingredient identical to that in the reference (“brand-name”) product. A biosimilar may contain an active ingredient slightly different from the reference product, as long as the differences are not clinically meaningful. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) describes a biosimilar as highly similar to the reference product notwithstanding minor differences in clinically inactive components and for which there are no clinically meaningful differences between the biological product and the reference product in terms of safety, purity and potency of the product.[1].
FDA PROCESSING OF ADR REPORTS

The rewrite of the NDA regulations has imposed major changes on the processing of ADR reports for both industry and government. This is one of three ten-minute presentations explaining the new ADR reporting requirements and the recent changes made by the FDA to become more responsive and capable of dealing with the new regulation. The organization and procedural changes recently implemented by the FDA and their anticipated impact are explained.
A sorted RSSI quantization based algorithm for sensor network localization

Range estimation is essential in many sensor network localization algorithms. Although wireless sensor systems usually have available received signal strength indication (RSSI) readings, this information has not been effectively used in the existing localization algorithms. In this paper, we present a sensor network localization algorithm based on a sorted RSSI quantization scheme that can improve the range estimation accuracy when distance information is not available. The range level used in the quantization process can be decided by each node using an adaptive quantization scheme. The new algorithm can be implemented in a distributed way and has significant improvement over existing range-free algorithms. The performance advantage for various sensor networks is shown with experimental results from our extensive simulation with a more realistic radio model.
The Televised Sports Manhood Formula

Recent research indicates that the televised sports that U.S. boys watch most include pro basketball, pro football, pro baseball, Extreme sports, sports highlights shows, and the dramatic pseudosport of pro wrestling. Based on a textual analysis of these televised sports shows and their accompanying commercial advertisements, the authors identify 10 recurrent themes concerning gender, race, aggression, violence, militarism, and commercialism that, together, they call the Televised Sports Manhood Formula. This formula is a master ideological narrative that is well suited to discipline boys’ bodies, minds, and consumption choices in ways that construct a masculinity that is consistent with the entrenched interests of the sports/media/commercial complex. However, the authors note some discontinuities and contradictory moments within and between sports media texts and call for audience studies to explore the various ways that boys interpret, use, or negotiate the Televised Sports Manhood Formula.
CHALLENGES IN PREPARING TOMORROWS TEACHERS TO USE TECHNOLOGY: LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM RESEARCH

Today one of the most challenging factors for teachers and schools of education around the world is technology. With the advent of new technological tools; educators, parents, politicians, and administrators are seeking alternative ways of successfully educating the new generations to use these new technologies in their daily lives and to develop new skills to better compete with others. This task, of course, requires teachers who have the knowledge and skills to integrate these technologies in their curricula. Research shows that colleges of education are not doing their jobs effectively in preparing such teachers. This article focuses on research findings that address this issue and attempts to extract lessons that could be useful for other teacher education programs all around the world. The article concludes that there is a growing need of research studies which reports the currently utilized technologies and their impacts on the education and training of teacher candidates.
Memory-efficient optimization of Gyrokinetic particle-to-grid interpolation for multicore processors

We present multicore parallelization strategies for the particle-to-grid interpolation step in the Gyrokinetic Toroidal Code (GTC), a 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) application to study turbulent transport in magnetic-confinement fusion devices. Particle-grid interpolation is a known performance bottleneck in several PIC applications. In GTC, this step involves particles depositing charges to a 3D toroidal mesh, and multiple particles may contribute to the charge at a grid point. We design new parallel algorithms for the GTC charge deposition kernel, and analyze their performance on three leading multicore platforms. We implement thirteen different variants for this kernel and identify the best-performing ones given typical PIC parameters such as the grid size, number of particles per cell, and the GTC-specific particle Larmor radius variation. We find that our best strategies can be 2x faster than the reference optimized MPI implementation, and our analysis provides insight into desirable architectural features for high-performance PIC simulation codes.
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha modulates CCAAT/enhancer binding proteins-DNA binding activities and promotes hepatocyte-specific gene expression during liver regeneration☆

Abstract Injury-related cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF), may preserve liver-specific gene expression during the subsequent regenerative response by modulating the activity of transcription factors, including CCAAT/enhancer binding proteins (C/EBPs), which regulate differentiated gene expression in hepatocytes. To test this theory, rats were treated with neutralizing antibody to TNF or nonimmune immunoglobulin before partial hepatectomy (PH) and regenerative changes in the messenger RNAs (mRNAs), proteins, and DNA-binding activities of C/EBP isoforms and the expression of a C/EBP-regulated gene, phosphoenol pyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), were compared. Before PH, the expressions of C/EBP-α, C/EBP-β, and C/EBP-γ were similar in the two treatment groups. Dimers containing C/EBP-α and C/EBP-β accounted for virtually all of the C/EBP DNA binding activity and mRNA for PEPCK, the rate limiting hepatocyte enzyme for gluconeogenesis, was barely detected. After PH, in control rats, mRNA and nuclear protein concentrations of C/EBP-β and C/EBP-γ increased approximately fivefold by 3 hours after PH. This was accompanied by increased DNA binding activity of these C/EBP isoforms and decreased DNA binding activity of C/EBP-α. mRNA levels of PEPCK, a gene that is strongly transactivated by non-α C/EBP isoforms, increased fivefold. Pretreatment with anti-TNF antibodies prevented regenerative induction of C/EBP β and γ expression and DNA-binding activity. The nature of dimers binding to C/EBP cis-acting elements remained similar to that observed in liver before PH and increases in PEPCK mRNA were blunted. These results support the theory that TNF helps maintain liver-specific gene expression during liver regeneration by altering transcription factor complexes that regulate differentiated gene expression in hepatocytes.
A family of SiGe quadrature oscillators for microwave applications

A family of quadrature oscillators for operation in the 14-26 GHz range has been designed in a 0.25 /spl mu/m SiGe BICMOS technology with an f/sub t/ of 47 GHz. These oscillators employ a transmission line tank, an emitter degenerated cross-coupled pair, and SiGe HBT or CMOS 50 /spl Omega/ buffers. Output powers of between -2.5 dBm and -32 dBm are displayed, with phase noise ranging from -99.18 dBc/Rz to -83.10 dBc/Hz. This family of quadrature oscillators exhibits the highest oscillation frequency relative to f/sub t/ of any SiGe quadrature oscillator reported to date.
Fast capacitance extraction of general three-dimensional structures

K. Nabors and J. White (1991) presented a boundary-element-based algorithm for computing the capacitance of three-dimensional m-conductor structures whose computational complexity grows nearly as mn, where n is the number of elements used to discretize the conductor surfaces. In that algorithm, a generalized conjugate residual iterative technique is used to solve the n*n linear system arising from the discretization, and a multipole algorithm is used to compute the iterates. Several improvements to that algorithm are described which make the approach applicable and computationally efficient for almost any geometry of conductors in a homogeneous dielectric. Results using these techniques in a program which computes the capacitance of general 3D structures are presented to demonstrate that the new algorithm is nearly as accurate as the more standard direct factorization approach, and is more than two orders of magnitude faster for large examples. >
How Do We Manage Infected, Obstructed Hydronephrosis?

Kidney stone disease is an increasingly encounteredmalady. Indeed, in a recent issue of European Urology, Scales and associates reported that kidney stones now affect approximately 11% of the American population [1]. In this analysis, Scales’ groupalso foundthatkidneystone formersweremore likely to be diagnosed with comorbid conditions such as obesity and diabetes. Given our understanding of the dramatic increase in prevalence of all three of these diseases over the past decades, there is no reason to believe that the near future will hold anything other than a continued increase in the prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and—perhaps most important to the urologist—stone disease. In recent years, our understanding of kidney stone disease has been greatly informed by the analysis of largescale data sets. In their study, Scales and associates did just that, investigating stone prevalence through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data set. In the present issue of European Urology, Sammon and associates [2] have used another large-scale data set, the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), to better define practice patterns in the management of patients with infected renal and ureteral calculi. Although individuals with a symptomatic kidney stone commonly present to an emergency department for their initial care, onlyanunfortunate fewwill actuallyneed tohave an emergent intervention for themanagement of their stone. Most patients treated for a kidney stone in an emergency department setting will be discharged from the emergency department in good condition [3]. However, when an emergency intervention is required, it may be a lifesaving maneuver, as in the case of obstructed pyelonephritis, a disorder characterized by bacterial infection trapped in an obstructed renal collecting system. This condition represents a true urologic emergency and requires immediate decompression of the infected collecting system. As a consequence