cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A rapid method for the determination of ultramicro quantities of calcium and magnesium.

SummaryA method is presented for the ultramicro estimation of serum calcium and magnesium with ethylene-diamine-tetraacetate in the presence of eriochrome black T, at a pH of 10.0 to 10.5. The serum (0.02 to 0.05 ml) is titrated directly and the titration is completed in less than one minute; thus the speed of this determination compares favorably with that of the flame photometer. For rapid and approximate calcium value, the mean magnesium concentration of human serum (1.64 mE/L) is subtracted from the total calcium plus magnesium thus determined. For precise calcium values, magnesium is determined on an aliquot of serum and the value subtracted from the calcium plus magnesium values. For precise magnesium values, calcium is determined on an aliquot of serum and the value subtracted from the calcium plus magnesium values.
Refining Change Measure with the Rasch Model.

This study was to develop a linear measure of change using University of Rhode Island Change Assessment items that represented Prochaska and DiClemente’s theory. The resulting Toledo Measure of Cha...
Abstract 611: AP-1 and ETS Family Transcription Factors Co-localize at Enhancers in Human Aortic Endothelial Cells

Introduction: Sequence-specific transcription factors bind DNA regulatory elements and play a key role in establishing cellular identity. Studies comparing macrophages to B cells have revealed that small numbers of such collaborative or lineage-determining transcription factors (LDTF) establish distinct enhancers in each cell type. These factors also allow for the binding of signal dependent transcription factors. Here we present data which suggest members of the AP-1, ETS, and STAT transcription factor families serve as collaborative transcriptional regulators in human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC). Hypothesis: We hypothesize that a set of AP-1 and ETS transcription factors collaborate to establish key endothelial cell enhancers. Methods: Working in HAEC, we measured poised and active enhancers using ChIP-seq for the epigenetic histone modifications H3K4me2 and H3K27Ac, performed motif analysis, and measured transcription factor binding for candidate factors. Knockdowns of JUN, ERG, and STAT3 followed ...
US Latino adolescents’ use of mass media and mediated communication in romantic relationships*

AbstractThe present study uses uncertainty reduction theory to analyze how Latino adolescents perceive that mass media influence their conceptions of romantic relationships. In addition, we explore how these adolescents use social media in their romantic relationships. Data are from five focus groups with 44 Latino adolescents (M = 16.39 years old; 59% female) in the US Midwest. Findings indicate that Latino adolescents believe media portray unrealistic ideals of romantic relationships, yet these teens also see the portrayals as ideals to which they should aspire. When it comes to social media, the youth perceived one-to-one mediated communication (e.g. Skype) as beneficial to their romantic relationships, but evaluated one-to-many mediated communication (e.g. Facebook, Instagram) as largely negative. Our findings identify three sources of evidence in the latter context that create relational uncertainty: (1) visual, (2) partner communication, and (3) third-party communication.
Progress in mapping QTL controlling yield traits in rice

Most of the important agronomic traits of Rice are quantitative in nature,which are controlled by polygenes.The rapid development of molecular biotechnology and the emergence of mapping methods were the basic of the research of many important agronomic traits in rice.The principle,population and main analysis methods were briefly introduced and present situation of mapping quantitative trait loci(QTL) related to rice yield traits were reviewed in this paper.The author also summarized the problems and prospects of mapping QTLs for rice yield traits.
Solid Rocket Engine Maglev Test System Adaptive Controller Design

Maglev technology is a non-contact advanced Strut technology,its application in Solid rocket engine test can be greatly increased the thrust measurement accuracy of the engine.The article first introduces the Principle of the maglev test frame and the mathematical model,then designs an adaptive PID controller and shows good control performance of the controller through the simulation results that based on dSPACE systems.
New materials for electrostatic shielding

Shielding in Transformers: The prevention of electrical interference is an increasingly important requirement in the manufacture of electrical and electronic equipment.
Effect of production processes on the fracture strength of silicon solar cells

Fracture of Czochralski silicon wafers during processing is an important factor in solar cell yield and cost. A fracture-mechanics test and analysis program was developed to evaluate fracture strength changes in the in-process wafer-to-cell processing at different stages on a manufacturer's production line. The strength data were described by Weibull statistical analysis and can be interpreted with the surface-flaw distribution of each of the process steps.
Rings of sets

It is a familiar fact of elementary calculus that the integral of a function exists only if the function is continuous, or nearly so. In the theory of the Lebesgue integral, with which we are concerned in this book, continuity is replaced by a significantly less stringent requirement known as measurability. This concept, in turn, is defined in terms of a certain type of collection of sets, called a \( \sigma \)-algebra, and so we begin with a brief look at this and some related concepts.
Data Predictive Control for Building Energy Management: Poster Abstract

Decisions on how best to optimize today's energy systems operations are becoming ever so complex and conflicting such that model-based predictive control algorithms must play a key role. However, learning dynamical models of energy consuming systems such as buildings, using grey/white box approaches is very cost and time prohibitive due to its complexity. This paper presents data-driven methods for making control-oriented model for peak power reduction in buildings. Specifically, a data predictive control with regression trees (DPCRT) algorithm, is presented. DPCRT is a finite receding horizon method, using which the building operator can optimally trade off peak power reduction against thermal comfort without having to learn white/grey box models of the systems dynamics. We evaluate the performance of our method using a DoE commercial reference virtual test-bed and show how it can be used for learning predictive models with 90% accuracy, and for achieving 8.6% reduction in peak power and costs.
Spiritual Citizenship: Immigrant Religious Participation and the Management of Deportability1

This article advances the concept of spiritual citizenship to examine how some religiously active migrants employ religion to see themselves as, and to try to become, less deportable. Drawing from ...
CELL CONFIGURATION AS A FACTOR IN ISO-OSMOTIC TRANSPORT IN THE NEPHRON

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the role of cell configuration in iso-osmotic transport in the nephron and illustrates cell shapes obtained by morphometric analysis of transmission electron micrographs, which show that cells occur in five equally spaced planes from cell apex to base. The chapter presents a three-dimensional model obtained by stacking the cross sections. The model represents the average cell configuration in proximal nephrons of the adult rabbit, and its accuracy was confirmed by the scanning electron microscopy studies. The chapter presents a typical micrograph showing the broken end of a rabbit's proximal convoluted tubule. The peculiar cellular configurations and surface areas of the diverse segments of a nephron indicate significant means to alter the tonicity of the transported solutions. Iso-osmotic transport takes place when water is driven through large membranes by osmotic gradients.
Analyzing the economies of crop diversification in rural Vietnam using an input distance function

Abstract The farming system in Vietnam is being transformed by integration between a set of cash crops and main food cropping operations. This transformation into diversified farming systems, where smallholders have a production base in rice, can affect output complementarity, technical efficiency, and performance of farms. This study aims to evaluate the economies of crop diversification in rural Vietnam by using the approach of the input distance function. The empirical results reveal that slightly increasing returns to scale are evident in Vietnam's multiple crop production. In addition, the increase in rice production reduces the marginal utilization of inputs for producing other crops. Significant output complementarity is found between rice production and other crops. This finding also implies the potential presence of economies of scope. Another finding is that there is substantial technical inefficiency in multiple-crop farming implying opportunities to expand crop output by 18.7% without greater use of inputs or improved technologies in farm production. The improvement of education, particularly for women and the reduction of the dependency ratio contribute to improving technical efficiency. The estimated result shows that the impact of women's education on technical efficiency is much greater than the impact of men's education. Furthermore, land reforms aimed at the reduction of land fragmentation and proper land rights contribute to improving technical efficiency. Finally, the participation in nonfarm employment and crop diversification are also identified as efficiency policy variables in Vietnam's agricultural development.
BioCloud: Using GPU Architecture for Bioinformatics Tools: Extended Abstract

Bioinformatics is an emerging field that merges the two disciplines of Biology and Computer Science. This coalescence of the two disciplines has resulted in a plethora of new software tools aiding in Biological research. These tools are largely unoptimized and written on the fly without performance largely in mind. These applications are predominately single-threaded and suffer from poor performance. CUDA is a GPU Computing API that will help to resolve poor run-time performance in Bioinformatics tools. The aim of this research is to convert the currently existing bioinformatics code into GPU accelerated and multithreaded CUDA code.
Central Nervous System Manifestations of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) encompasses a variety of phenomena. Manifestations are focal or diffuse, and correlate with disease mechanisms. Recent understanding of the contribution of blood-brain barrier dysfunction to the passage of circulating antineuronal antibodies into the brain parenchyma has shed light on pathogenesis. Correct attribution of neuropsychiatric manifestations to SLE remains a challenge, but validated attribution models will help. Diagnosis relies on characteristic clinical manifestations, SLE disease activity, antibody measurements, cerebrospinal fluid findings, specific neuroimaging findings, and exclusion of alternative etiologies. Current treatment encompasses the identification and management of the inciting event, symptomatic treatment, and anticoagulation or immunosuppression.
HITTING the Diagnosis: Testing for Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia in Cancer Patients.

Objectives To evaluate the use of a pretest probability score (4Ts score) in cancer patients to guide ordering of laboratory screening tests for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT). Methods A retrospective chart review was conducted for patients (n = 140) in whom laboratory testing for HIT was requested. 4Ts scores were calculated and correlated with heparin-endogenous platelet factor 4 antibody enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test results. Results All patients with a high pretest probability of HIT (4Ts score = 6-7) had positive ELISA results, compared to 26.1% of patients with intermediate (4Ts score = 4-5) and 4.3% of patients with low (4Ts score ≤3) pretest probability. No patients with 4Ts scores of 2 or less had positive ELISA results. Conclusions HIT can be ruled out in cancer patients (negative predictive value and sensitivity = 100%) with low pretest probability, defined by 4Ts scores of 2 or less, significantly reducing the need for laboratory testing in this patient population.
Mass Spectrometric and Tandem Mass Spectrometric Approaches to the Analysis of Glycoconjugates

Glycobiology is now ascending to its rightful position as a major research area for the life sciences. To keep pace with the increasing demands for characterization of biomolecules and for the elucidation of structure-function relationships among carbohydrate-containing species and their interactive partners, high-sensitivity mass spectral methods must be developed — broad enough to encompass distributions of related molecules that occur as natural mixtures, and yet specific enough to elucidate the details of composition, order and substitution patterns of each member in the series, some of which may be isomeric. We are using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS) as our primary tool for the determination of molecular weights of glycoconjugates at the pmol level and below, and combinations of chemical derivatization, chemical and enzymatic degradation and tandem mass spectrometry to probe individual structures. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization is quite tolerant of the presence of buffers and salts, and can be used to follow the course of reactions while consuming only low fmol amounts of sample. Under conditions of threshold irradiation, it results in little fragmentation and facilitates molecular weight determinations even when the intact species are too unstable for LSIMS detection. At higher irradiance, structurally significant fragmentation can be induced.
Chibby is a weak regulator of β-catenin activity in gastric epithelium

The canonical Wnt-β-catenin pathway is important in normal development. Mutations in β-catenin or proteins involved with regulating its phosphorylation or localization result in its nuclear accumulation where it activates its target genes and stimulates cell proliferation. This pathway is dysregulated in many different types of cancer, including gastric cancer (GC). Chibby (Cby) is a 14-kDa protein that inhibits β-catenin localization to the nucleus and represses β-catenin-induced transcriptional activity. In the current study, we examined the expression and function of Cby in normal and cancerous human gastric tissue. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry revealed that Cby is expressed in human stomach and localized to glandular elements. Immunohistochemical staining intensity of Cby was decreased in GC tissue when compared with normal gastric epithelium. In AGS cells, a human gastric carcinoma cell line, Cby expression was low. Stable AGS cell transfectants overexpressing Cby were prepared. Cby overexpression did not affect proliferation rates or β-catenin levels. However, confocal microscopy and subcellular fractionation studies revealed that Cby overexpression resulted in a small decrease in nuclear β-catenin. Moreover, Cby overexpression caused a molecular weight shift in nuclear β-catenin and resulted in decreased β-catenin signaling in AGS cells as measured by the TopFlash assay. However, Cby overexpression did not affect c-Myc protein levels. To conclude, Cby expression was decreased in GC samples and Cby expression altered β-catenin localization in cultured GC cells. However, Cby did not affect cell proliferation rates or β-catenin-induced protein expression. Cby may be involved in the early events in the pathogenesis of GC.
A retrospective cohort study of children with spinal muscular atrophy type 2 receiving anesthesia for intrathecal administration of nusinersen.

Introduction Spinal muscular atrophy is characterized by loss of motor neurons in the anterior horn of the spinal cord with resultant proximal muscle weakness. Intrathecal nusinersen has revolutionized the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy. We reviewed the perioperative care of 61 anesthetics performed on eight patients with spinal muscular atrophy type 2 who received nusinersen over 30 months in conjunction with nusinersen's phase 3 clinical trials. Methods Anesthesia was induced in all patients with sevoflurane, nitrous oxide, and oxygen (30%) via facemask. A peripheral intravenous line was placed after the loss of consciousness in all but three procedures. General anesthesia was maintained in 58 anesthetics with a propofol infusion at 250-300 μg/kg/min, while the remainder was maintained with inhalational anesthetics. The airway was managed via facemask or nasal cannula in all but two procedures, in whom a laryngeal mask airway was placed. We analyzed patient demographics, duration of anesthesia and of postanesthesia care unit stay, discharge destination, preprocedure oxygen saturation (SaO2 ), postanesthesia care unit discharge oxygen saturation, and occurrence of unanticipated admission or postdischarge hospitalization. Results Eight American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status three patients (3 male: 5 female) with a median age of 4.1 (2.1-7.8) years and median weight of 13.2 (10-24.7) kg, underwent 61 anesthetics for nusinersen administration or sham procedure. There were no intraoperative anesthetic complications of unanticipated cardiovascular instability, major neurologic events, respiratory failure, or death. Anesthesiologists performed 83% of the procedures. Conclusion Nusinersen has revolutionized the care of patients with spinal muscular atrophy type 2 and anesthesiologists will be involved in its administration. We found that routine anesthetic care was safe and effective.
Guidelines for palliative care in urology

1406 Progressive palliative care relieves physical and emotional suffering throughout illness. 75-90% of patients with advanced urologic malignancies experience significant pain and all experience a degree of emotional distress. There are no clear guidelines in the literature for surgical or medical palliative care of patients with advanced urologic malignancies. A review of the available literature for palliative care in urologic oncology was combined with our clinical experience and patient databases to develop rational guidelines for supportive care for urologic oncology patients. Local progression of a primary tumor in the face of incurable metastasis is best treated with renal embolization for renal tumors and radiation therapy or palliative cystoprostatectomy for prostate and bladder cancers. Hematuria from prostate or bladder cancer is best treated with endoscopic resection, intavesical treatments or radiation therapy. Urinary diversion without cystectomy, percutaneous nephrostomy tubes or ureteral stents are all useful modalities to manage renal obstruction. Analgesia and radiation therapy remain the mainstay of advanced palliation for metastatic lesions and pain. Laser therapy of endobronchial metastases provides excellent relief of these lesions. For all patients with advanced disease, hospice team and continued physician support are central to the physical, emotional and spiritual patient and family needs. Interdisciplinary teams that focus on patient and family defined quality of life should be progressively utilized throughout illness.
PROFILES OF OLDER HOMELESS ADULTS WITH CHRONIC MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Homeless adults with ongoing mental health problems are a particularly vulnerable segment of the older adult population, but the characteristics and conditions of this population remain largely unknown to aging researchers. We use data on 2,169 unsheltered adults over age 50 from the 2017 Los Angeles County Homeless Survey to examine the characteristics of mentally ill older homeless adults, their pathways to homelessness, and their service needs. Chronic mental health problems were prevalent in 48% of older adults, with higher prevalence among women (54%) compared to men (47%) and those ages 50–64 (49%) compared to those 65+ (42%). About one-quarter also had drug or alcohol problems or physical illness and 41% also had a disability. Results from multivariate models adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity and education show those with mental health problems are more likely to have had their first experience of homelessness prior to age 50 and are more likely to be living in a tent. The primary reasons identified for loss of housing related to medical conditions, drug use, and mental health. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of a variety of services. Those with mental health problems were more likely to identify as being important or very important services related to transportation, legal, physical and mental health, drug treatment, disability, and family counseling. It’s critically important to address the needs of this largely invisible, but incredibly vulnerable, older adult population.
Tissue‐specific mechanisms of alternative polyadenylation: Testis, brain, and beyond (2018 update)

Alternative polyadenylation (APA) is how genes choose different sites for 3' end formation for mRNAs during transcription. APA often occurs in a tissue- or developmental stage-specific manner that can significantly affect gene activity by changing the protein product generated, the stability of the transcript, its localization within the cell, or its translatability. Despite the important regulatory effects that APA has on tissue-specific gene expression, only a few examples have been characterized mechanistically. In this 2018 update to our 2010 review, we examine mechanisms for the control of APA and update our understanding of the older mechanisms since 2010. We once postulated the existence of tissue-specific factors in APA. However, while a few tissue-specific polyadenylation factors are known, the emerging conclusion is that the majority of APA is accomplished by altering levels of core polyadenylation proteins. Examples of those core proteins include CSTF2, CPSF1, and subunits of mammalian cleavage factor I. But despite support for these mechanisms, no one has yet documented any of these proteins changing in either a tissue-specific or developmental manner. Given the profound effect that APA can have on gene expression and human health, improved understanding of tissue-specific APA could lead to numerous advances in gene activity control. This article is categorized under: RNA Processing > 3' End Processing RNA in Disease and Development > RNA in Development.
Tempered Radicals: Considering Street-Level Community Corrections Officers and Supervisors’ Divergence from Policies

Every day, community corrections staff make complex decisions in an uncertain environment, affecting their workload, supervisees, and public safety. These micro-level decisions have the cumulative ...
Precise control of the blaze angle of x-ray diffraction gratings via planarization and plasma etching

High diffraction efficiency of a grating can be achieved by use of inclined facets. This type of grating, normally referred to as a blazed grating, has facets that are arranged so that there is an equal angle on the incident and diffracted sides, and thus can be thought of as reflecting light into a particular order. Conventionally blazed gratings are made by diamond mechanical ruling, or more recently by anisotropic etching of silicon. However it is difficult with these processes to achieve a very low blaze angle as well as to precisely control it. This has become particularly important for applications involving Free Electron Lasers, where a very grazing incidence angle has to be used to avoid damage, and for extension of the working range up to high energies on synchrotrons. In each case, the very small angular size of the source results in a low line density, which in turn results in a low blaze angle. In high groove density multilayer blazed gratings, high precision for the blaze angle is required to match the groove depth to the multilayer d-spacing. We have developed a process which gives the possibility for alteration of the groove profile of a fabricated grating and tune the blaze angle with high precision. The method is based on planarization of the grating grooves by deposition of a SiO2 sacrificial layer followed by smoothing the surface with Ar plasma etch. Finally, a reactive plasma etching is used to etch off the sacrificial layer together with the surface layer of the Si grating. The optimized plasma etching provides a certain ratio of etch rates of the sacrificial layer and Si and results in reduction of the blaze angle down to a desired value.
Top-induced contributions to $H\rightarrow b\bar{b}$ and $H\rightarrow c\bar{c}$ at $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^3)$

In this paper we present a fully-differential calculation for the contributions to the partial widths $H\rightarrow b\bar{b}$ and $H\rightarrow c\bar{c}$ that are sensitive to the top quark Yukawa coupling $y_t$ to order $\alpha_s^3$. These contributions first enter at order $\alpha_s^2$ through terms proportional to $y_t y_q$ ($q=b,c$). At order $\alpha_s^3$ corrections to the mixed terms are present as well as a new contribution proportional to $y_t^2$. Our results retain the mass of the final-state quarks throughout, while the top quark is integrated out resulting in an effective field theory (EFT). Our results are implemented into a Monte Carlo code allowing for the application of arbitrary final-state selection cuts. As an example we present differential distributions for observables in the Higgs boson rest frame using the Durham jet clustering algorithm. We find that the total impact of the top-induced (i.e. EFT) pieces is sensitive to the nature of the final-state cuts, particularly b-tagging and c-tagging requirements. For bottom quarks, the EFT pieces contribute to the total width (and differential distributions) at around the percent level. The impact is much bigger for the $H\rightarrow c\bar{c}$ channel, with effects as large as 15%. We show however that their impact can be significantly reduced by the application of jet-tagging selection cuts.
System Hardening for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Reduce the attack vector.! Minimize risk.! When discussing the topic of system hardening, the goal is to lock down the system to make it more difficult for a hacker to break in. There exist a number of hardening standards for a variety of applications and products, but perhaps the first stop should be the operating system itself. We examine system hardening in a cloud environment to assess if standard operating system hardening benchmarks are applicable in a cloud virtual machine.Five case studies of large-scale security breaches are analyzed to determine which system hardening benchmarks would have mitigated and possibly prevented the various attacks. These examples serve as a reminder of the importance of system hardening in general, and the IaaS consumer must protect the portion of the environment under their control and responsibility. Two industry standard benchmarks (CIS and STIG) are discussed, and STIG is implemented on an AWS EC2 instance running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.After evaluating 207 scripted benchmarks, we recommend and pass 195, leaving only 12 failed items which form the basis of discussion for this paper. These failed items include five false positives, one known bug and two exemptions, subsequently raising our compliance score to 98%. In a real-world audit, the remaining four failed items would be scrutinized for compensating controls or strong justification for a process exemption.
On the 16-rank of class groups of $${\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-8p})}$$ Q ( - 8 p ) for $${p \equiv -1 {\rm mod} 4}$$ p ≡ - 1 mod 4

We use a variant of Vinogradov’s method to show that the density of the set of prime numbers $${p \equiv -1 {\rm mod} 4}$$ for which the class group of the imaginary quadratic number field $${\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-8p})}$$ has an element of order 16 is equal to 1/16, as predicted by the Cohen–Lenstra heuristics.
Evaluating Early Childhood Policies: An Estimable Model of Family Child Investments

I develop and estimate a technology of skill formation nested within a collective model of household behavior to evaluate the effect of various early childhood interventions. The model incorporates different channels of parental investments in children such as time, material investments, and childcare services. I estimate the model in a novel dataset from Chile and evaluate the effects on child development of three policies currently operating in the country: cash transfers, childcare subsidies, and subsidies to child-specific goods. In Chile, as is common in various countries implementing cash transfers to poor households, women are the recipient of cash transfers in bi-parental households with the idea that cash in the hands of women translate into better child outcomes. To allow for different outcomes depending on the recipient of cash transfers, in the model, household decisions are the outcome of a bargaining process between parents with different preferences. I find that cash transfers to women have limited effect on their bargaining power and that subsidies to child-specific goods are much more effective than childcare subsidies or cash transfers. Childcare subsidies increase female labor force participation but do not raise significantly skills of children.
Importance of Stationarity for Geostatistical Assessment of Enviromental Contamination

This paper describes a geostatistical case study to assess TCE contamination from multiple point sources that is migrating through the geologically complex conditions with several aquifers. The paper highlights the importance of the stationarity assumption by demonstrating how biased assessments of TCE contamination result when ordinary kriging of the data that violates stationarity assumptions. Division of the data set into more homogeneous geologic and hydrologic zones improved the accuracy of the estimates. Indicator kriging offers an alternate method for providing a stochastic model that is more appropriate for the data. Further improvement in the estimates results when indicator kriging is applied to individual subregional data sets that are based on geological considerations. This further enhances the data homogeneity and makes use of stationary model more appropriate. By combining geological and geostatistical evaluations, more realistic maps may be produced that reflect the hydrogeological environment and provide a sound basis for future investigations and remediation.
Serum immunoglobulin concentrations during normal pregnancy

Abstract This study was undertaken to determine whether any changes occur in the serum concentrations of three immunoglobulins—IgG, IgA, or IgM—during pregnancy. Serial venous blood samples were obtained from 33 women at each trimester of pregnancy and immediately post partum. A significant lowering of group mean serum IgG concentrations was found to occur during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy and post partum both when these values were compared to first trimester mean serum IgG concentrations and when compared to age- and race-matched control group mean IgG concentrations. Postpartum IgA concentrations were significantly elevated over concentrations observed during pregnancy. Additionally, a significantly greater number of sera from first-trimester pregnant women contained IgM concentrations outside (usually above) the normal bounds than did sera from age- and race-matched nonpregnant control subjects.
Sharing primary data: a threat or asset to discovery?

The degree of complexity of neuroscience data is a sufficient reason both for sharing and for not sharing primary data. Sharing data should make research more efficient and greatly facilitate our understanding of brain function. The intellectual challenges are identical with or without data sharing. Sharing increases the value of the data and provides new knowledge and understanding.
Is It Capitalism

I introduce the three articles in the MOR Editor's Forum on Chinese Capitalism. I then ask whether China's recent economic growth has been driven by a vibrant capitalism or instead has become an end in itself, supported by government policies promoting high rates of fixed asset investment. There are two key observations. First, gross domestic product (GDP), measured and reported at four levels of government, has much greater salience than corporate profits, often undisclosed. Second, fixed asset investment accounted for more than 60 percent of China's 2009 GDP and nearly two-thirds of 2008-2009 GDP growth, levels unprecedented for a major economy. Rather than capitalism, I argue that institutionalized GDP growth today accounts for China's rapid economic development.
Use of inhibiting agents in studies on fertilization mechanisms.

Publisher Summary A number of diverse agents inhibit fertilization. This action of the agents is achieved without pronounced toxic action on gametes, and therefore involves preferential interference with one or more of the reactions that lead to normal development of the egg. Such interference presumably involves actions at the molecular level. Fertilization-inhibiting action of the agents of origin unrelated to the gametes has the disadvantage, by virtue of their origin, that they do not normally function in fertilization. In addition, agents such as Arbacia dermal secretion and Fucus extract have little species specificity and, because their chemical nature is imperfectly known, their chemical specificity of action, if any, is obscure. The agents of known and more or less specific chemical action, such as enzymes, oxidizing and reducing agents, and amino acid end group reagents, have value by virtue of their known chemical action, but the use of some of these (oxidizing and reducing agents) is complicated because they are applied to living systems that may metabolize or otherwise alter the agents.
The effect of prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) on circulating eosinophils

Infusion of prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) into dogs for 60 minutes at a rate of 1 microgram/kg/min produced a marked and rapid reduction in circulating eosinophils within 2 minutes, without any significant change in neutrophil count. Recovery was also rapid, with levels similar to those of a control group of dogs being reached 60 minutes after finishing the infusion. In dogs given PGD2 the hematocrit rose more rapidly than in the control group. The platelet count did not alter significantly.
Enzyme separation techniques for the study of growth of cells from layers of bovine dental pulp.

Effects of the enzymes trypsin, papain, bromelains and ficin in bovine dental pulp tissue were studied. Minced or whole pulps were subjected to each enzyme at 17°, 20° and 37°C for set time intervals, after which aliquots of supernatant fluid were removed for cell counts and viability tests. Pooled samples were subsequently cultured as monolayers in Eagle’s MEM plus 10% calf serum. The dissociation characteristics were quite distinct for each enzyme, although quite similar between minced and whole pulp. A parallel histological study was made of the residual pulp tissue. Ficin was found to be the most suitable enzyme for future studies on the growth of isolated pulp cells from various layers of the bovine pulp, due to its even rate of cell removal, and the good initial viability and subsequent growth of the separated cells in monolayer culture. Further studies on ficin may show that it is more suitable for enzymatic separation of tissues generally than the more commonly used trypsin, a major advantage being its use in media containing Ca2+ and Mg2+.
COPD: epidemiology, prevalence, morbidity and mortality, and disease heterogeneity.

COPD continues to cause a heavy health and economic burden both in the United States and around the world. Some of the risk factors for COPD are well-known and include smoking, occupational exposures, air pollution, airway hyperresponsiveness, asthma, and certain genetic variations, although many questions, such as why
Structures of feeling in curriculum and teaching

Those who enter secondary teacher education as graduate students have already spent years in both the academy and the school. As students, they have been relatively "successful" in these institutional settings and hence bring to their secondary teacher education very specific expectations about what it takes to teach and to learn. Their expectations do not yet include what it might require of them to understand the learning struggles of others and why practices in curriculum must engage with the perils of making sense of the meanings of others in order to do something more with the meanings one already holds. My dilemmas as a teacher educator begin with the perils of learning, with how larger social circumstances of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and other forms of social and structural discrimination live in the contexts of school knowledge and in the social practices of students and teachers. To begin with questions of theory and practice in this way require a second look at how the dynamics of domination and subordination become lived experience in academic socialization.
Sharing classes between families

Class sharing is a new language mechanism for building extensible software systems. Recent work has separately explored two different kinds of extensibility: first, family inheritance, in which an entire family of related classes can be inherited, and second, adaptation, in which existing objects are extended in place with new behavior and state. Class sharing integrates these two kinds of extensibility mechanisms. With little programmer effort, objects of one family can be used as members of another, while preserving relationships among objects. Therefore, a family of classes can be adapted in place with new functionality spanning multiple classes. Object graphs can evolve from one family to another, adding or removing functionality even at run time.Several new mechanisms support this flexibility while ensuring type safety. Class sharing has been implemented as an extension to Java, and its utility for evolving and extending software is demonstrated with realistic systems.
Brachial Plexus Stretch Injury

Abstract Upper trunk brachial plexopathy is a significant injury. Five percent to ten percent of “burners” result in a neurologic deficit which may take several weeks for full recovery. Anatomy, pathophysiology, physical examination, criteria for return to play, and therapy are reviewed.
Connexin family of gap junction proteins

Gap junctions are composed of aggregations of membrane channels, called connexons, joined with similar connexons in adjacent cells to form intercellular pathways for the diffusion of ions and small molecules (Caspar et al., 1977; Makowski et al., 1977). The resulting intercellular communication is unique in that adjacent cells exchange cytoplasmic molecules directly, with no secretion into the extracellular space (Bennett, 1966; Loewenstein, 1966). Due to the large size of the intercellular channels formed by connexon pairs, the exchange of molecules between cells is nonspecific, and includes the entire pool of ions and small metabolites in each cell (Gilula, Reeves & Steinbach, 1972; Pitts & Simms, 1977; Simpson, Rose & Loewenstein, 1977; Goodenough, Dick & Lyons, 1980). This form of intercellular communication is ideally suited for the role of intercellular buffering of cytoplasmic ions (Corsaro & Migeon, 1977; Ledbetter & Lubin, 1979), synchronization of cellular behavior, such as the coordinated contraction of myocardial cells (Barr, Dewey & Berger, 1965) and the cell-to-cell coordination of metachronal waves (Moss & Tamm, 1987; Sanderson, Chow & Dirksen, 1988). Involvement of gap junction-mediated intercellular communication has also been suggested for growth control and embryonic differentiation (Loewenstein, 1966; Furshpan & Potter, 1968; Warner, Guthrie & Gilula, 1984; Loewenstein & Azarnia, 1988). Due to the sharing of low molecular weight substrate pools, gap junctions will also function to suppress the deleterious effects of somatic cell mutation in a variety of enzymes (Subak-Sharpe, Burk & Pitts, 1969; Cox et al., 1970).
Biosynthesis of carotenoids in Neurospora. Action spectrum of photoactivation

Abstract The amount of carotenoids produced in Neurospora was proportional to the light dosage. With longer exposure, the same dosage had a slightly higher effect. The temperature coefficient for the light effect was one, but the subsequent production of pigments was temperature dependent. The action spectrum was determined between 400 and 500 mμ. There was no light action beyond 520 mμ. The action spectrum corresponded best to a spectrum of a riboflavin derivative, and no other pigments with a similar spectrum could be detected in Neurospora. It was therefore assumed that a flavin was the photoreceptor. There were at least four molecules of carotenoids produced for one quantum of light absorbed, as calculated from the light absorption by riboflavin present in the mycelium.
Rhabdomyolysis and Acute Renal Failure After Fire Ant Bites

We describe a 59-year-old patient who developed acute renal failure because of rhabdomyolysis after extensive red fire ant bites. This case illustrates a serious systemic reaction that may occur from fire ant bites. Consistent with the clinical presentation in rhabdomyolysis associated with non-traumatic causes, hyperkalemia, hypophosphatemia, hypocalcemia, and high anion gap acidosis were not observed in this patient. While local allergic reactions to fire ant bites are described in the literature, serious systemic complications with rhabdomyolysis and renal failure have not been previously reported. It is our effort to alert the medical community of the possibility of such a complication that can occur in the victims of fire ant bites.
Family therapy in the People's Republic of China: An update

This article describes cultural and structural changes in Chinese families over the past decade and offers descriptions of the increasing, yet limited, recognition of the importance of family systems interventions. These impressions were garnered from a 14-day visit to the People's Republic of China by a delegation of 40 marital and family therapists and researchers led by the authors.
STATISTICAL FILTERING OF SPACE NAVIGATION MEASUREMENTS

Statistical filter design theory indicates that if space navigation measurement uncertainties have gaussian distributions, optimum filter theory and maximum likelihood estimate are identical
Differential Conditioning Based on a Difference in the Predictability of Reinforcement

Abstract A Pavlovian procedure containing a set of several alternative reliable trial stimuli and a set of several alternative unreliable trial stimuli was used to determine if reliability of outcome, per se, would differentially condition additional trial stimuli that either preceded or followed those original trial stimuli in a serial conditioning paradigm. The reinforcing effectiveness of the antecedent stimuli themselves was later tested in a higher-order conditioning design. It was found that different rates could be established to the different antecedent stimuli in the absence of a difference in the probability of reinforcement. Further, stimuli paired with those antecedent stimuli in the higher-order conditioning test also exhibited a difference in rate. It was concluded that a combination of a stimulus that is always followed by food and another that is never followed by food are, in net, a more effective reinforcer than a common stimulus that has the same overall probability of reinforcement but which is followed by both outcomes.
Determination of 3-phenyl-2-thiohydantoin-amino acids by means of in situ quantitation of thin-layer chromatograms

Abstract This investigation demonstrates the applicability of the linear detector system for the quantitation or 3-phenyl-2-thiohydantoin (PTH)-amino acids on thin-layer chromatograms. This method is rapid and more sensitive than the Edman procedure. As little as 0.5 nanomoles of PTH-amino acid can be determined quantitatively. Standard calibrations are presented for a representative group of PTH-amino acids with correlation coefficients r > 0.996 and standard deviation sa
When courts intervene: public health, legal and ethical issues surrounding HIV, pregnant women, and newborn infants

Ninety-three percent of pediatric AIDS cases are the result of perinatal HIV transmission, a disease that is almost entirely preventable with early intervention, which reduces the risk of perinatal HIV infection from 25% to <2%. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics both recommend routine HIV testing of all pregnant women and at-risk newborn infants. When pregnant women decline HIV testing and/or treatment, public health, legal, and ethical dilemmas can result. Federal courts consistently uphold a woman's right to refuse medical testing and treatment, even though it may benefit her fetus/newborn infant. Federal courts also reliably respect the rights of parents to make health care decisions for their newborn infants, which may include declining medical testing and treatment. Confusing the issue of HIV testing and treatment, however, is the fact that there is no definitive United States Supreme Court ruling on the issue. State laws and standards vary widely and serve as guiding principles for practicing clinicians, who must be vigilant of ongoing legal challenges and changes in the states in which they practice. We present a case of an HIV-positive pregnant woman who declined treatment and then testing or treatment of her newborn infant. Ultimately, the legal system intervened. Given the rarity of such cases, we use this as a primer for the practicing clinician to highlight the public health, legal, and ethical issues surrounding prenatal and newborn infant HIV testing and treatment in the United States, including summarizing key state-to-state regulatory differences.
The spectrum of a random 3 × 3 matrix☆

Abstract In this paper, it is shown that the distribution of the spectrum of A + X gives (essentially) a complete set of orthogonal invariants for the (real nonsymmetric) matrix A .
STEM Education Related Dissertation Abstracts: A Bounded Qualitative Meta-Study.

This article utilizes a bounded qualitative meta-study framework to examine the 101 dissertation abstracts found by searching the ProQuest Dissertation and Theses™ digital database for dissertations abstracts from 1990 through 2010 using the search terms education, science, technology, engineer, and STEM/SMET. Professional search librarians established the search criteria used to establish the database. The overarching research question for this study was: What can we learn from the examination of doctoral dissertations abstracts that focus on the STEM education found from 1990 through 2010? The study’s findings provide an overview of doctoral research related to STEM education and the discussion section focuses on quality of abstracts, questions regarding the use of the pipeline metaphor, and location of instructional innovation.
Rotational state dependence of transient linewidths in the CO2 0001 vibrational level due to translational energy recoil from hot H and D atom collisions

Abstract The nascent transient linewidths of the CO 2 00 0 1, J →00 0 2, J −1 transitions were measured immediately following collisions with hot H and D atoms of 2.30 and 2.16 eV energy, respectively. All lineshapes were well fitted by Gaussian profiles, but were significantly broader than the room-temperature Doppler profiles. D atom collisions resulted in broader linewidths than H atom collisions. The observed widths are in good agreement with a simple billiard ball model for a specific rotational level J . However, the linewidth was observed to increase with increasing rotational state within the 00 0 1 manifold for both hot H and hot D atom collisions.