cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Receptors, G-Proteins, and Egg Activation

At fertilization, an intricate series of signals passes back and forth between the sperm and egg. This paper concerns the signal from the sperm that causes the egg to activate and begin development. Evidence is presented in support of the hypothesis that this process involves a guanine nucleotide binding protein (G-protein) in the egg membrane, and perhaps a related receptor as well. In this respect. the process of sperm-egg interaction may have a close resemblance to the interaction of certain neurotransmitters and hormones with their target cells.
Mitotane-induced dyspnoea: an unusual side effect

Mitotane is a cytostatic antineoplastic agent that is used in the treatment of adrenocortical carcinoma and Cushing's syndrome. The commonly reported side effects associated with mitotane are anorexia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, decreased memory, rash, gynaecomastia, arthralgias and leucopenia. We present a case of a 68-year-old female who developed gradual dyspnoea concurrent with the use of mitotane for the treatment of adrenocortical carcinoma. To the best of our knowledge and literate review, this is the first reported case of dyspnoea associated with the use of this medication. The purpose of this case report is to raise awareness about this uncommon adverse effect of mitotane that may have gone unrecognised on postmarketing surveillance because of under-reporting, lack of case follow-up or other comorbidities masking shortness of breath.
The force needed for leg autotomy in the crab Hemigrapsus nudus

ABSTRACTAutotomy is the ability to shed an appendage, and arthropods can autotomize to escape predation or a fouled molting event. Myriad aspects of autotomy have been previously explored, yet quantitative data on the force needed to induce autotomy is lacking. We tested three leg types in Hemigrapsus nudus, and our results showed that hind legs require the most amount of force to autotomize (~45 N-s) compared to claws (~28 N-s) or middle walking legs (~22 N-s). These results rejected our null hypothesis that all legs require an equal amount of force to autotomize as well as our alternate hypothesis that larger legs would require more force than smaller legs. Previous research has suggested that the propensity to autotomize could correlate with the type of appendage, and while we are unable to provide an evolutionary explanation for our results, it is exciting to have some quantitative force data for future studies.
Formative research to underpin a text messaging home safety intervention for young mothers

Objective:Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death for infants and young children in the USA, and the children of young mothers are at an even higher risk. Mobile health (mHealth) interve...
Insurance coverage does not predict outcomes of genetic testing: The search for meaning in payer decisions for germline cancer tests.

In this work, we explore the results of germline cancer genetic tests in individuals whose insurance would not cover this testing. We enrolled 31 patients with a personal history of cancer whose health insurer denied coverage for a clinical germline cancer panel genetic test recommended by a medical genetics provider into a study providing exome sequencing and return of cancer-related results. Five participants (16%) had a pathogenic variant identified related to increased cancer risk. Three participants (10%) had a variant of uncertain significance (VUS) in a gene related to their cancer history. These rates are not significantly different than the 12% rate of pathogenic or likely pathogenic (P/LP) variants and VUS in 1,462 patients approved by insurance to have a similar clinical germline cancer test (p = .59 for P/LP variants; p = .87 for VUS; Shirts et al., Genet Med, 18:974, 2016). Health insurance guidelines may not meaningfully differentiate between patients with cancer who are likely to benefit from germline cancer genetic testing and those who will not. Failure to identify pathogenic variants in this research cohort would have led to suboptimal care. Strategic evaluation of current germline cancer genetic testing coverage policies is needed to appropriately deliver precision medicine.
Comparing drug safety of hepatitis C therapies using post-market data.

Hepatitis C affects about 3 % of the world’s population. In the United States, about 3.5 million have chronic hepatitis C, and it is the leading cause of liver cancer and the most common indication for liver transplantation. In the last decades, new advances in therapy have substantially increased the cure rate of hepatitis C to more than 95% with the use of antiviral agents. However, drug safety of the new treatments remains one of the major concerns. Data from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) and the Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems provide crucial post-market information to evaluate drug safety. Currently, quantitative evidence of drug safety of hepatitis C treatments based on post-market data are still limited, and there is also a lack of a standard statistical procedure to systematically compare drug safety across multiple drugs using FAERS and EHR. In this study, we presented a statistical procedure to compare the difference in adverse events (AE) across multiple hepatitis C drugs using data from FAERS and EHR, and to assess the consistency of results from two data bases. Through three major steps, including descriptive comparison, testing for difference among groups, and quantification of association, the proposed method can provide a quantitative comparison on safety of multiple drugs. Specifically, we compared drugs that were approved by FDA to treat hepatitis C before 2011versus those approved after 2013. We used spontaneous AE reports submitted between 2004 to 2015 from FAERS data base and medical records between 1999 to 2015 from the Cerner health facts data base to estimate and compare the rate of AE after drug use. We studied 30 most frequently reported AEs after treatment of hepatitis C, comparing the difference between drugs approved before 2011versus those approved after 2013. Our results showed that there was difference in rate of AE between the two groups of treatment. We reported the AEs that have significant statistical difference, and estimate the difference attributable to variation of age and gender between the two groups of drug users. Our findings are consistent with results in existing literature. Moreover, we compared the results obtained from FAERS data and EHR data, and evaluated the consistency of evidence. The proposed procedure is a general and standardized pipeline that can be used to compare and visualize drug safety among multiple drugs to support regulatory decision-makings using post-market data. We showed that there was statistically significant difference in AE rates between the new and old therapies for hepatitis C. We showed that both FAERS and EHR contained large information for research of post-market drug safety, but each has its own strength and limitations. Cautions should be taken when combining evidence from the two data resources and there is a need of more sophisticated informatics and statistical tools for evidence synthesis.
A post-processing algorithm for building longitudinal medication dose data from extracted medication information using natural language processing from electronic health records

ABSTRACT Objective We developed a post-processing algorithm to convert raw natural language processing output from electronic health records into a usable format for analysis. This algorithm was specifically developed for creating datasets that can be used for medication-based studies. Materials and Methods The algorithm was developed using output from two natural language processing systems, MedXN and medExtractR. We extracted medication information from deidentified clinical notes from Vanderbilt’s electronic health record system for two medications, tacrolimus and lamotrigine, which have widely different prescribing patterns. The algorithm consists of two parts. Part I parses the raw output and connects entities together and Part II removes redundancies and calculates dose intake and daily dose. We evaluated both parts of the algorithm by comparing to gold standards that were generated using approximately 300 records from 10 subjects for both medications and both NLP systems. Results Both parts of the algorithm performed well. For MedXN, the F-measures for Part I were at or above 0.94 and for Part II they were at or above 0.98. For medExtractR the F-measures for Part I were at or above 0.98 and for Part II they were at or above 0.91. Discussion Our post-processing algorithm is useful for drug-based studies because it converts NLP output to analyzable data. It performed well, although it cannot handle highly complicated cases, which usually occurred when a NLP incorrectly extracted dose information. Future work will focus on identifying the most likely correct dose when conflicting doses are extracted on the same day.
Curability of Multiple Myeloma.

Abstract Abstract 3864 Poster Board III-800 Background Among patients with multiple myeloma, superior drug combinations and the wider application of early intensive therapy (HDT) have induced more frequent partial (PR) and complete remissions (CR), with consequent longer survival. A recent multivariate analysis identified complete or partial remission status, ISS Stage I disease and HDT as independent variables for long survival and we therefore sought to examine these relationships further. Methods We updated our experience with 829 patients, aged Results Induction therapy was followed by early HDT within first year for 53% of patients, so that the myeloma of 21% of patients was in CR within 18 months. Frequencies of CR increased serially from 16% with primary D (alone, with interferon, melphalan or VAD), to 29% with added thalidomide (T) and to 42% with added T and bortezomib (or lenalidomide) (p 10 years who had been treated with primary D between 1987 -1997. Using the log rank test, the median age was less (46 vs 54, p=.04), while the chi-square test showed ISS Stage I more common (64 vs 40%, p=.11), and early HDT more frequent (73 vs 26%, p. 10-19 years (median 16.2 years). Thus, prolonged CR was more frequent with younger age, stage I disease, and early HDT. Conclusions Assuming that prolonged CR for more than 10 years translates into potential cure, we calculated a “cure fraction” of 2% for patients treated between 1987 -1997. Such favorable outcome with potential cure should be more likely with current programs associated with more frequent HDT and CR. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
14) Perioperative use of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation in Traumatic Bronchial Avulsion in Children

Introduction: In cases of traumatic bronchial avulsion, the standard approach has been emergent lobectomy versus primary repair. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is used to support patients with acute severe pulmonary and/or cardiac failure and could potentially serve as a bridge to allow cardiorespiratory stabilization after surgical intervention or …
INTRACAVITARY GRADIENTS IN MICE WITH EARLY REGIONAL REMODELING AT THE COMPENSATORY HYPERACTIVE STAGE PRIOR TO LV TISSUE DYSFUNCTION

Human myocardial dynamics is relatively preserved in LV hypertrophy (LVH). While septal basal hypertrophy is an early change, LV intracavitary blood velocity (LVIBV) is lower in 8 week mice with transverse aorta constriction (TAC) compared to RAS transgenic mice. It remains unclear whether TAC
Adsorption of cold agglutinins with rabbit red blood cells.

CONCLUSIONS Cold-reactive autoagglutinins may mask the presence of underlying clinically significant alloantibodies. Adsorption with rabbit red blood cells (RBCs) or stroma can remove cold autoagglutinins found in the patient's plasma/serum that are directed towards antigens expressed on the surface of rabbit RBCs. By removing these cold autoagglutinins, it is then possible to determine whether any underlying alloantibody reactivity is present. Although this method may also unintentionally adsorb alloantibodies directed towards antigens found on rabbit RBCs, it is still a widely used and convenient method to remove cold autoagglutinins.
Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales causing secondary infections during the COVID-19 crisis at a New York City hospital.

Background Patients with COVID-19 may be at increased risk for secondary bacterial infections with MDR pathogens, including carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE). Objectives We sought to rapidly investigate the clinical characteristics, population structure and mechanisms of resistance of CPE causing secondary infections in patients with COVID-19. Methods We retrospectively identified CPE clinical isolates collected from patients testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 between March and April 2020 at our medical centre in New York City. Available isolates underwent nanopore sequencing for rapid genotyping, antibiotic resistance gene detection and phylogenetic analysis. Results We identified 31 CPE isolates from 13 patients, including 27 Klebsiella pneumoniae and 4 Enterobacter cloacae complex isolates. Most patients (11/13) had a positive respiratory culture and 7/13 developed bacteraemia; treatment failure was common. Twenty isolates were available for WGS. Most K. pneumoniae (16/17) belonged to ST258 and encoded KPC (15 KPC-2; 1 KPC-3); one ST70 isolate encoded KPC-2. E. cloacae isolates belonged to ST270 and encoded NDM-1. Nanopore sequencing enabled identification of at least four distinct ST258 lineages in COVID-19 patients, which were validated by Illumina sequencing data. Conclusions While CPE prevalence has declined substantially in New York City in recent years, increased detection in patients with COVID-19 may signal a re-emergence of these highly resistant pathogens in the wake of the global pandemic. Increased surveillance and antimicrobial stewardship efforts, as well as identification of optimal treatment approaches for CPE, will be needed to mitigate their future impact.
Dissociation of large gaseous serine clusters produces abundant protonated serine octamer

Protonated serine octamer is especially abundant in spray ionization mass spectra of serine solutions under a wide range of conditions. Although serine octamer exists in low abundance in solution, abundant clusters, including octamer, can be formed by aggregation inside evaporating electrospray droplets. A minimum cluster size of 8 and 21 serine molecules was observed for doubly protonated and triply protonated clusters, respectively, formed by electrospray ionization of a 10 mM serine solution. Dissociation of these clusters results in charge separation to produce predominantly protonated serine dimer and some trimer and the complimentary charged ion. Dissociation of clusters significantly larger than the minimum cluster size occurs by sequential loss of serine molecules. Dissociation of all large clusters investigated leads to protonated octamer as the second most abundant cluster (protonated dimer is most abundant) at optimized collision energies. All larger clusters dissociate through a combination of charge separation and neutral serine loss to form small doubly protonated clusters, and the vast majority of protonated octamer is produced by dissociation of the doubly protonated decamer by charge separation. Protonated octamer abundance is optimized at a uniform energy per degrees of freedom for all clusters indicating that simultaneous dissociation of all large clusters will lead to abundant protonated octamer at an optimum ion temperature. These results provide evidence for another route to formation of abundant protonated octamer in spray ionization or other methods that promote formation and subsequent dissociation of large clusters.
Safety and efficacy of sargramostim (GM-CSF) in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction Inflammatory markers have long been observed in the brain, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and plasma of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, suggesting that inflammation contributes to AD and might be a therapeutic target. However, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug trials in AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) failed to show benefit. Our previous work seeking to understand why people with the inflammatory disease rheumatoid arthritis are protected from AD found that short-term treatment of transgenic AD mice with the pro-inflammatory cytokine granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) led to an increase in activated microglia, a 50% reduction in amyloid load, an increase in synaptic area, and improvement in spatial memory to normal. These results called into question the consensus view that inflammation is solely detrimental in AD. Here, we tested our hypothesis that modulation of the innate immune system might similarly be used to treat AD in humans by investigating the ability of GM-CSF/sargramostim to safely ameliorate AD symptoms/pathology. Methods A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in mild-to-moderate AD participants (NCT01409915). Treatments (20 participants/group) occurred 5 days/week for 3 weeks plus two follow-up (FU) visits (FU1 at 45 days and FU2 at 90 days) with neurological, neuropsychological, blood biomarker, and imaging assessments. Results Sargramostim treatment expectedly changed innate immune system markers, with no drug-related serious adverse events or amyloid-related imaging abnormalities. At end of treatment (EOT), the Mini-Mental State Examination score of the sargramostim group increased compared to baseline (P = .0074) and compared to placebo (P = .0370); the treatment effect persisted at FU1 (P = .0272). Plasma markers of amyloid beta (Aβ40 [decreased in AD]) increased 10% (P = .0105); plasma markers of neurodegeneration (total tau and UCH-L1) decreased 24% (P = .0174) and 42% (P = .0019), respectively, after sargramostim treatment compared to placebo. Discussion The innate immune system is a viable target for therapeutic intervention in AD. An extended treatment trial testing the long-term safety and efficacy of GM-CSF/sargramostim in AD is warranted.
Electrochemistry of PUREX: R is for reduction and ion transfer

The PUREX (Plutonium, Uranium, Reduction, EXtraction) process is the foundation of all industrial activities that involve the recycling of plutonium and uranium from used nuclear fuel. With over 70...
Overconfidence and Underconfidence: When and Why People Underestimate (and Overestimate) the Competition

It is commonly held that, especially for outcomes under their control, people believe themselves to be better than others. However, such overconfidence is not universal. This paper presents evidence showing that people believe that they are below average on skill-based tasks that are difficult. A simple Bayesian explanation can account for these effects and for their robustness: On skill-based tasks, people generally have better information about themselves than about others, so their beliefs about others' performances tend to be less extreme than their beliefs about their own performances. This explanation is tested in two experiments that examine these effects' robustness to experience, feedback, and market forces. The discussion explores the implications for strategic planning in general and entrepreneurial entry in particular.
Children's Reaction to Mothers Wearing or Not Wearing a Mask During Face-to-Face Interactions (preprint)

Infants’ reaction to their mothers wearing masks.Ed Tronick and Nancy SnidmanThe iconic Madonna and Child has been replaced by surgical mask wearing mothers and child 1,2 . A concern about mask wearing is that the mask distorts the emotional communication between mother and child, disrupting their relationship and stressing the child with long-term developmental consequences. 3-5 Over the past year we have received numerous inquiries from parents and professionals who work with young families, about the effects of masks on the parent-child relationship. These inquiries often argue that mask wearing is similar to the classic Face-to-Face Still-Face Experiment in which mothers remain still faced and inactive while face-to-face with their infants. In response the children get distressed by her lack of response. 6,7 Given the concerns and developmental issues associated with mask wearing we carried out an in-home experiment using smart phone video to record the interaction between mothers and their infants when the mother was wearing or not wearing her mask. Surprisingly, we found that while almost all the infants reacted in varying ways to the mother putting on, as well as taking off the mask, the mask wearing itself did not disrupt their ongoing interaction. These findings challenge current hypotheses about the critical nature of the face and in particular mouth for communication and the organization of the brain for face perception. Funding: This project was self-funded. Declaration of Interest: None to declare. Ethical Approval: The study was approved by the IRB of University of Massachusetts Boston. All participants gave informed consent.
Understanding and Harnessing Epithelial‒Mesenchymal Interactions in the Development of Palmoplantar Identity

Palmoplantar skin has several unique characteristics such as increased thickness, high resilience, hypopigmentation, and lack of hair follicles. The establishment of palmoplantar identity occurs through keratinocyte‒fibroblast interactions, with keratin 9 expression and Wnt signaling playing key roles. Understanding how palmoplantar features develop may help efforts to reproduce them at both palmoplantar and nonpalmoplantar body sites.
Electronically-controlled optical tweezing using space-time-wavelength mapping

We propose electronically controlled optical tweezing based on space-time-wavelength mapping technology. By using time-domain modulation, the location and the polarity of force hot-spots created by Lorentz force (gradient force) can be controlled. In this preliminary study we use 150 fs optical pulses that are dispersed in time and space to achieve a focused elliptical beam that is ~20 μm long and ~2 μm wide. We use an electro-optic modulator to modulate power spectral distribution of the femtosecond beam after temporal dispersion and hence change the intensity gradient along the beam at the focal spot. We present a theoretical model, and simulation results from a proposed experimental setup. The results show that we can achieve ±200 pN forces on nano objects (~100 nm) without mechanical beam steering. The intensity of wavelengths along the spectrum can be manipulated by using different RF waveforms to create a desired intensity gradient profile at the focal plane. By choosing the appropriate RF waveform it is possible to create force fields for cell stretching and compression as well as multiple hot spots for attractive or repulsive forces. 2D space-time-wavelength mapping can also be utilized to create tunable 2D force field distribution.
Impression Management on Facebook and Twitter: Where Are People More Likely to Share Positivity or Negativity with Their Audiences?

Social media allows for people to present themselves to others however they choose. This article examines the impression management people engage in on Facebook and Twitter, specifically. Previous studies and personally conducted surveys and interviews administered within a first-year university student population were analyzed. Based on the results, this article argues that impression management is a true phenomenon and that each website creates its own type of user interactions based on various factors. This study further contributes to our knowledge of impression management in the online world and the idea that what people share with their online audience does not always accurately reflect their true selves.
Corpus evidence for preference-driven interpretation

We present the Cards corpus of task-oriented dialogues and show how it can inform study of the ways in which discourse is goal- and preference-driven. We report on three experimental studies involving underspecified referential expressions and quantifier domain restriction.
The Precarious Migrant Status and Precarious Employment: The Paradox of International Rights for Migrant Workers

Many civil society organizations and advocacy groups consider international human rights norms to offer a more promising avenue for protecting migrant workers from precarious employment than do claims based upon citizenship and the nation state. However, there is little research on how international right instruments specifically designed to protect migrant workers’ rights address the factors that make migrant workers’ employment precarious. The paper provides a taxonomy that maps the link between migrant status and precarious employment, which it uses to explore the nexus between precarious migrant status and precarious employment in the three “low-skill” streams – the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program, the Live-in-Caregiver Program, and the Pilot Project for Occupations Requiring Lower Levels of Formal Training (NOC C and D) – in the Canadian Temporary Foreign Worker Program. After demonstrating the relationship between precarious migrant workers and precarious employment, the paper evaluates the capacity of international human rights instruments specifically designed for migrant workers to the address the problem of precarious employment. It finds that the main problem with relying on the international migrant workers’ rights instruments is that they defer to the principle of state sovereignty over immigration policy and accept the right of states to impose restrictions on non-national’s employment rights in exchange for the privilege to enter host state territory. What these instruments do is limit the duration of employment restrictions to two years. The problem is that allowing states to tie a migrant worker’s work authorization to a specific employer for two years permits state-sanctioned subordination of migrant workers to employers and creates a situation ripe for abuse. To break the link between precarious migrant status and precarious employment it is crucial for nation states to develop forms of restrictions on migrant workers mobility, such as sectoral and occupational work authorizations, that are less likely to be as exploitative as authorizations that tie migrant workers to specific employers.
Appendix and γM-antibody formation: VII. Rosette-forming cells in rabbits immunized with sheep erythrocytes☆

Abstract After intravenous immunization with sheep red blood cells the rabbit spleen shows a sharp rise in the number of plaque-forming cells but there is no detectable rise in PFC in the appendix or mesenteric lymph node of the same animals. Repeated immunization via an appendicostomy blind loop results in virtually no local PFC and only a small rise in splenic PFC. In lethally irradiated animals neither thymocytes nor appendix cells alone restore the splenic PFC response. Simultaneous injection of the two cell types restores both direct and indirect plaque formation. The injected cells were labeled with tritiated adenosine and a standard rosette assay for specific antigen-binding cells applied to recipients' spleen cells following immunization. Rosettes appeared by 3 days after immunization whether thymocytes or appendix cells were labeled. Labeled rosettes were observed only in animals receiving labeled appendix cells. This result demonstrates the presence of rosette forming cell precursors in rabbit appendix cell populations and suggests that the cells of gut-associated lymphoid tissues include antibody-forming cell precursors which are normally seeded to the spleen and draining lymph nodes.
Verification Using Tabled Logic Programming

The LMC project aims to advance the state of the art of system specification and verification using the latest developments in logic programming technology [CDD+98]. Initially, the project was focussed on developing an efficient model checker, called XMC [RRR+97], for value-passing CCS [Mil89] and the modal mu-calculus [Koz83] based on the XSB logic programming system [XSB00]. We developed an optimizing compiler to translate specifications in a dialect of value-passing CCS to compact labeled transition systems [DR99], improving verification performance several fold. The core principles of this translation have been recently incorporated in SPIN [Hol97] showing similar gains in performance [Hol99]. The XMC system can be downloaded from http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~lmc.
Advances in laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) for measurements of gas properties in combustion systems

Laser absorption is ideal for monitoring reactive systems with applications ranging from fundamental studies of combustion chemistry to control of power plant emissions. Sensor design, new schemes for sensitivity in harsh environments, and successful applications are reviewed.
Electron Micrograph Study of the Asci and Ascospores of Metschnikowia Kamienski

Internal and surface structures of asci and ascospores were studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to establish the character and number of ascospores within the ascus of Metschnikowia krissii. Enzyme digestion with snail gut enzymes and SEM examination suggested the presence of a single ascospore enclosed in a thick sheath of epiplasmic materials. Two closely associated ascospores without an epiplasmic sheath were clearly distinguishable from asci of M. bicuspidata var. chathamia when similarly treated. Ultramicrotomy and TEM established conclusively that M. krissii produced a single ascospore per ascus. Neither SEM nor TEM revealed any morphological detail of the ascospores of taxonomic significance.
A fuzzy ARTMAP based classification technique of natural textures

Describes an approach to the classification of textured gray-scale images using a technique based on image filtering, the fractal dimension (FD) and a fuzzy ARTMAP neural network (FAMNN). 12 FD features are computed based on 12 filtered versions of the original image using directional Gabor filters. Features are computed in a window and mapped to the central pixel of this window. We implemented a variation of the testing phase of a fuzzy ARTMAP that exhibited a performance that was superior to the standard fuzzy ARTMAP and the 1-nearest neighbor (1-NN) method in the presence of noise. Training was performed using patterns that were extracted from 20 different textures. The classification performance is also studied with respect to a testing set. Segmentation results are also presented to illustrate that the classification algorithm and its specified parameters are adequate so that more than one texture can be identified in the same image.
CD40 ligand in pathogenesis of autoimmune ovarian disease of day 3-thymectomized mice: implication for CD40 ligand antibody therapy.

The blockade of CD40 ligand (CD40L) is effective in autoimmune disease prevention. Recently, a brief period of CD40L mAb treatment was reported to induce tolerance and enhancement of CD4 + CD25 + regulatory T cell activity. We therefore determined the efficacy of CD40L mAb treatment in autoimmunity that resulted from CD4 + CD25 + regulatory T cell deficiency. Autoimmune ovarian disease (AOD) and oocyte autoantibody response of day 3-thymectomized (d3tx) mice were inhibited by continuous CD40L mAb treatment from day 3, or from days 10–14, whereas CD40L mAb treatment confined to the neonatal week was ineffective. The enhanced expression of memory markers (CD44 and CD62L low ) on CD4 + T cells of the d3tx mice was unaffected by CD40L mAb treatment. In contrast, their increased T cell activation markers (CD69 and CD25) were eliminated by CD40L mAb treatment. Moreover, ex vivo activated T cells of d3tx mice expressed elevated intracellular IFN-γ, and this was also blocked by CD40L mAb. The memory T cells, although nonpathogenic in CD40L mAb-positive environment, transferred severe AOD to CD40L mAb − neonatal recipients. Most importantly, CD40L mAb treatment inhibited AOD in recipients of T cells from d3tx donors with severe AOD and led to regression of AOD in d3tx mice documented at 4 wk. Therefore, 1) the continuous presence of CD40L mAb both prevents and causes regression of AOD in the d3tx mice; and 2) the multiple steps of the d3tx autoimmune disease, including T cell activation, cytokine production, T cell-mediated inflammation, and tissue injury, are CD40L dependent.
Modeling surfactant removal in foam fractionation: II — Experimental investigations

Abstract Experiments were conducted to evaluate a mathematical model developed for surfactant removal by foam fractionation. Concentration changes of proteins which were believed to be the major surfactants in fish culture water were analyzed for different fractionator operating conditions. Experimental results indicate that a foam fractionator operated under batch conditions can be treated as a completely mixed reactor. The diffusion coefficient of proteins as surfactants was in the order of 10−12 m2/s. Protein removal rate by a foam fractionation process was proportional to the protein concentration in bulk solution and air flow rate. Other pertinent parameters that were also evaluated included bubble size and bubble rising velocity. Predictions of protein removal rates were given for fractionators operating at batch mode conditions.
Expression of the lacZ gene targeted to the HPRT locus in embryonic stem cells and their derivatives.

Transgenes in mice often exhibit different expression patterns in different transgenic lines. While the basis for this phenomenon is not understood, it is widely believed that the site at which the transgene becomes integrated into the mouse genome is a major factor in determining the pattern of expression. Most transgenic mice have been produced by microinjection of DNA into the male pronucleus, which results in integration of tandem arrays of the transgene at random chromosomal sites. In the experiments described in this report, electroporation of embryonic stem (ES) cells was used to place single copies of alacZ transgene into either random sites or into the HPRT (hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase) locus of the mouse genome. Expression oflacZ was assayed by histochemical staining forEscherichia coli β-galactosidase activity in ES cells and in differentiated derivatives obtained by teratocarcinoma formation. Several of the randomly integrated cell lines expressedlacZ at high levels in a variety of cell types present in the tumours, but most notably in epithelial cells. Targeted cell lines withlacZ in opposite orientation to the direction of HPRT gene transcription also expressed well in epithelial cells, but the targeted cell lines did not express in a wider variety of cell types than some of the nontargeted cell lines. Targeted cell lines transcribinglacZ in the same orientation as HPRT transcription did not express high levels oflacZ in any differentiated cell type. Analysis of transcripts suggested that this orientation effect may have been the result of transcriptional interference perpetrated by the HPRT gene promoter.
Role of cytoskeleton and elastic moduli in cellular response to nanosecond pulsed electric fields

Nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEFs) are known to increase cell membrane permeability to small molecules in accordance with dosages. As previous work has focused on nsPEF exposures in whole cells, electrodeformation may contribute to this induced-permeabilization in addition to other biological mechanisms. Here, we hypothesize that cellular elasticity, based upon the cytoskeleton, affects nsPEF-induced decrease in cellular viability. Young’s moduli of various types of cells have been calculated from atomic force microscopy (AFM) force curve data, showing that CHO cells are stiffer than non-adherent U937 and Jurkat cells, which are more susceptible to nsPEF exposure. To distinguish any cytoskeletal foundation for these observations, various cytoskeletal reagents were applied. Inhibiting actin polymerization significantly decreased membrane integrity, as determined by relative propidium uptake and phosphatidylserine externalization, upon exposure at 150 kV/cm with 100 pulses of 10 ns pulse width. Exposure in the presence of other drugs resulted in insignificant changes in membrane integrity and 24-hour viability. However, Jurkat cells showed greater lethality than latrunculin-treated CHO cells of comparable elasticity. From these results, it is postulated that cellular elasticity rooted in actin-membrane interaction is only a minor contributor to the differing responses of adherent and non-adherent cells to nsPEF insults.
Acidic tumor microenvironment and pH-sensing G protein-coupled receptors

The tumor microenvironment is acidic due to glycolytic cancer cell metabolism, hypoxia, and deficient blood perfusion. It is proposed that acidosis in the tumor microenvironment is an important stress factor and selection force for cancer cell somatic evolution. Acidic pH has pleiotropic effects on the proliferation, migration, invasion, metastasis and therapeutic response of cancer cells and the function of immune cells, vascular cells, and other stromal cells. However, the molecular mechanisms by which cancer cells and stromal cells sense and respond to acidic pH in the tumor microenvironment are poorly understood. In this article the role of a family of pH-sensing G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) in tumor biology is reviewed. Recent studies show that the pH-sensing GPCRs, including GPR4, GPR65 (TDAG8), GPR68 (OGR1), and GPR132 (G2A), regulate cancer cell metastasis and proliferation, immune cell function, inflammation, and blood vessel formation. Activation of the proton-sensing GPCRs by acidosis transduces multiple downstream G protein signaling pathways. Since GPCRs are major drug targets, small molecule modulators of the pH-sensing GPCRs are being actively developed and evaluated. Research on the pH-sensing GPCRs will continue to provide important insights into the molecular interaction between tumor and its acidic microenvironment and may identify new targets for cancer therapy and chemoprevention.
Effects of social status and moderate alcohol consumption on mammary gland and endometrium of surgically postmenopausal monkeys.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of social subordination stress and chronic moderate alcohol consumption on indices of breast and endometrial cancer risk. DESIGN: Forty-six adult, ovariectomized, cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) were trained to voluntarily drink a placebo or a two-drink/day equivalent of ethanol (0.5 g/kg), 5 days a week for 26 months, the latter resulting in average blood alcohol levels of 42 mg/100 mL. Indices of cell proliferation and sex steroid receptor abundance were measured. RESULTS: Compared with dominants, socially subordinate females had increased cell proliferation and proportions of glandular (P 0.10). The adipocyte hormones leptin and adiponectin were correlated with indices of cell proliferation and sex steroid receptor abundance. CONCLUSIONS: These observations suggest that social status was more important than chronic moderate alcohol consumption in endometrial and breast biology of surgically postmenopausal females. Endogenous sex steroid metabolism was not significantly affected by chronic moderate alcohol exposure consistent with the lack of estrogen-like effects on breast and endometrium. Social subordination stress was associated with initial cellular changes that may increase endometrial cancer risk. Ovariectomized cynomolgus monkeys may be a useful model for the study of effects of social factors and obesity on breast and endometrial cancer risk.
Asymmetric graph coloring games

We introduce the (a,b)-coloring game, an asymmetric version of the coloring game played by two players Alice and Bob on a finite graph, which differs from the standard version in that, in each turn, Alice colors a vertices and Bob colors b vertices. We also introduce a related game, the (a,b)-marking game. We analyze these games and determine the (a,b)-chromatic numbers and (a,b)-coloring numbers for the class of forests and all values of a and b. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 48: 169–185, 2005
Mechanisms of iron photoreduction in a metal-rich, acidic stream (St. Kevin Gulch, Colorado, U.S.A.)

Abstract Iron photoreduction in metal-rich, acidic streams affected by mine drainage accounts for some of the variability in metal chemistry of such streams, producing diel variations in Fe(II). Differentiation of the mechanisms of the Fe photoreduction reaction by a series of in-stream experiments at St. Kevin Gulch, Colorado, indicates that a homogeneous, solution-phase reaction can occur in the absence of suspended particulate Fe and bacteria, and the rate of reaction is increased by the presence of Fe colloids in the stream water. In-stream Fe photoreduction is limited during the diel cycle by the available Fe(III) in the water column and streambed. The quantum yield of Fe(II) was reproducible in diel measurements: the quantum yield, in mol E −1 (from 300 to 400 nm) was 1.4 · 10 −3 in 1986, 0.8 · 10 −3 in 1988 and 1.2 · 10 −3 in 1989, at the same location and under similar streamflow and stream-chemistry conditions. In a photolysis control experiment, there was no detectable production of Fe(II) above background concentrations in stream-water samples that were experimentally excluded from sunlight.
Histamine content of tracheal and lung tissue as a function of age in rats.

Abstract The authors have examined histamine content and growth of lung and rachea] tissues in 10 to 310-day-old male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. Mean total histamine con ent of ung tissue was 1.6 μg/g wet weight at 16 days of age and 15.7 μg/g at 310 days of age. While lung growth was nearly complete at 50 days, histamine concentrations tripwd from 50 to 310 days. T-acneal hisiamine concentrations decreased with age (23 μg/g at 31 days and 8.2 μg/g at 3 mdays). Changes in histamine concentrations occurred similarly in both sexes and were observed whetner determined asgvet weight or g/protein. Lung weight/body weight ratios decreased wich increasing age, especiallyi inhe first 50 days of life. The percentage of total histamine released (93) frorm chopped lun; tissu; by ompound 48/80 (20 μ g/ml) was independent of age and sex, as waathe metabolism of added nistamine (2 μ by lung tissue (27% per 100 mg per 30 min). The close relatiwiship be ween age and total histamine content of lung tissue suggests that age may be an importaint variable in physiological resp nscfe involving histamine release from tissue stores.
Is transactional memory an oxymoron

Transactional memory (TM) was invented 15 years ago [1]. Recently, however, TM activity has exploded [2], as the proliferation of multicore chips has provoked researchers to revisit support for parallel programming. Since some regard me as a TM expert, most of my talk will summarize TM's goals and implementation options, primarily by developing a taxonomy and using Wisconsin LogTM [3, 4] as a case study. In particular, I will consider TM implementations via software, hardware, and hybrids, as well as important design choices, such as how to buffer TM writes and when to detect TM conflicts.I will conclude with forward-looking comments regarding TM and database transactions. In theory, the two concepts have many similarities. In practice, however, they differ substantially. First, today's TM exclusively targets concurrency, while database transactions seek reliability first. Second, TM implementations focus in operations with caches and memory, while database transactions deal more with the more substantial access gap between memory and disks. Finally, I will speculate on cross-fertilization opportunities between TM and database transactions. I will not provide answers here, in part because you are the database experts. Nevertheless, I hope to encourage us all to ask the right questions.
Identification of adduct radiolysis products from ethyl palmitate and ethyl oleate

Radiolysis induced adduct products have been separated and identi-fied from irradiated ethyl palmitate, ethyl α-d2-palmitate and ethyl oleate. In the saturated compounds, adduct formation was observed mainly at the position α to the carbonyl group. The three major adduct products identified in irradiated ethyl palmitate were ethyl α-tetradecylpalmitate, ethyl α-pentadecylpalmitate and the α,α′- dimer of ethyl palmitate. Corresponding compounds were identified from the irradiated ethyl α-deuteropalmitate. Adduct radiolysis products formed in ethyl oleate were identified as the monoene and diene dimers.
Activation of tuberohypophysial dopamine neurons following intracerebroventricular administration of the selective kappa opioid receptor antagonist NOR-binaltorphimine.

Abstract The effect of the kappa opioid receptor antagonist nor-binaltorphimine (NOR-BNI) was examined on the activity of dopamine (DA) neurons comprising the nigrostriatal, mesolimbic, and tuberohypophysial systems in the male rat. DA neuronal activity was estimated by measuring: (1) the concentration of the DA metabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and, (2) the accumulation of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine after administration of a decarboxylase inhibitor in brain (striatum, nucleus accumbens) and pituitary regions (intermediate lobe, neural lobe) containing terminals of these neurons. The intracerebroventicular administration of NOR-BNI produced a dose- and time-related increase in the activity of tuberohypophysial DA neurons, but failed to alter the activity of nigrostriatal or mesolimbic DA neurons. The ability of NOR-BNI to enhance the activity of tuberohypophysial DA neurons was blocked by the kappa opioid agonist U-50,488. These results indicate that NOR-BNI, acting on kappa opioid receptors, activates tuberohypophysial DA neurons projecting to the neural and intermediate lobes of the pituitary.
Molecular and phenotypic characteristics of healthcare- and community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus at a rural hospital.

Background While methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) originally was associated with healthcare, distinct strains later emerged in patients with no prior hospital contact. The epidemiology of MRSA continues to evolve.
Single molecule diffusion in critical lipid bilayers

Time-dependent single molecule diffusion coefficients are discussed for a fluorescent probe molecule in lipid mixtures near a miscibility critical point. The calculations take advantage of the theoretical wave vector dependent composition diffusion coefficients obtained by Inaura and Fujitani [J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 77, 114603 (2008)10.1143/JPSJ.77.114603]. It is suggested that the diffusion of the probe molecule reflects in part the time-dependent composition diffusion near a critical point. The calculations show a striking biphasic time-dependent diffusion that switches from a faster diffusion at short times to a slower diffusion at a time approximately equal to πξ2/D where ξ is the correlation length and D is the composition diffusion coefficient at the switch time. This biphasic diffusion should be readily detectable experimentally.
Near-field propagation of terahertz pulses from a large-aperture antenna

The near-field propagation behavior of terahertz (THz) pulses generated by a planar large-aperture photoconducting THz transmitter has been characterized. A simulation model based on Huygens–Fresnel diffraction theory has been developed that permits accurate prediction of the spatiotemporal profiles of the THz beam everywhere and gives excellent agreement with experimental measurements. Two key conclusions emerge from this research, namely, the realization that for practical laboratory setups one is always working in the near-field regime and that the proper temporal shape of the THz field at the antenna is one that rises rapidly but decays slowly.