cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Inexpensive Method for Creating Robust Barium Sulfate Plates for Use in a UV–Vis Integrating Sphere

Expensive, highly reflective barium sulfate plates are typically used to obtain solid-state UV–vis electronic spectra. Through normal laboratory use these plates become dirty, chip, and break, thus requiring replacement. An alternative to purchasing new plates is to make your own by combining a mechanical stabilizer, such as gum arabic, with barium sulfate, and using a common laboratory hydraulic press, quickly forming a plate for a fraction of the cost of purchasing new plates.
Comparison of grating and Vernier acuity in infants with developmental delay

Background : Grating acuity measured by Teller cards is mildly reduced in children with developmental delay. Vernier acuity, the ability to detect offsets, also can be measured, but has not been studied in children with developmental delay. Methods : In a prospective cross-sectional pilot study, 12 nonverbal children with developmental delay established by pediatric assessment of developmental mile-stones were tested binocularly with vernier and Teller cards. Ages ranged from 4 to 24 months. Vernier offsets ranged from 2 to 64 minutes of arc. Results : All children were testable with Teller acuity cards. Binocular grating acuity ranged from 1.7 to 7.4 cpd (median, 1.0 octaves below normal). Binocular vernier acuity ranged from unrecordable to 8 minutes of arc (median, unrecordable). Only four of the 12 children demonstrated a measurable vernier acuity. Normal children of this age have a vernier acuity of 2 to 16 minutes of arc measured by this technique. Conclusion : The response to vernier acuity cards appears to be more severely degraded by developmental delay than the response to Teller cards.
DESIGN OF A STANDOFF OBJECT-ORIENTED MARKUP LANGUAGE (SOOML) FOR ANNOTATING BIOMEDICAL LITERATURE

With the rapid growth of electronically available scientific literature, text mining is attracting increasing attention. While numerous algorithms, tools, and systems have been developed for extracting information from text, little effort has been focused on how to mark up the information. We present the design of a standoff, object-oriented markup language (called SOOML), which is simple, expressive, flexible, and extensible, satisfying the demanding needs of biomedical text mining.
Conceptualizing the Autism Spectrum in Terms of Natural Selection and Behavioral Ecology: The Solitary Forager Hypothesis

This article reviews etiological and comparative evidence supporting the hypothesis that some genes associated with the autism spectrum were naturally selected and represent the adaptive benefits of being cognitively suited for solitary foraging. People on the autism spectrum are conceptualized here as ecologically competent individuals that could have been adept at learning and implementing hunting and gathering skills in the ancestral environment. Upon independence from their mothers, individuals on the autism spectrum may have been psychologically predisposed toward a different life-history strategy, common among mammals and even some primates, to hunt and gather primarily on their own. Many of the behavioral and cognitive tendencies that autistic individuals exhibit are viewed here as adaptations that would have complemented a solitary lifestyle. For example, the obsessive, repetitive and systemizing tendencies in autism, which can be mistakenly applied toward activities such as block stacking today, may have been focused by hunger and thirst toward successful food procurement in the ancestral past. Both solitary mammals and autistic individuals are low on measures of gregariousness, socialization, direct gazing, eye contact, facial expression, facial recognition, emotional engagement, affiliative need and other social behaviors. The evolution of the neurological tendencies in solitary species that predispose them toward being introverted and reclusive may hold important clues for the evolution of the autism spectrum and the natural selection of autism genes. Solitary animals are thought to eschew unnecessary social contact as part of a foraging strategy often due to scarcity and wide dispersal of food in their native environments. It is thought that the human ancestral environment was often nutritionally sparse as well, and this may have driven human parties to periodically disband. Inconsistencies in group size must have led to inconsistencies in the manner in which natural selection fashioned the social minds of humans, which in turn may well be responsible for the large variation in social abilities seen in human populations. This article emphasizes that individuals on the autism spectrum may have only been partially solitary, that natural selection may have only favored subclinical autistic traits and that the most severe cases of autism may be due to assortative mating.
Examining sleep as a protective mechanism for executive functioning in children from low-income homes

For young children, sleep is essential for healthy development. Inadequate sleep can affect emotional, behavioural, cognitive, and health outcomes. Low family income and resources can put children ...
The sampling precision of research in five major areas of psychology.

After obtaining a sample of published, peer-reviewed articles from journals with high and low impact factors in social, cognitive, neuro-, developmental, and clinical psychology, we used a priori equations recently derived by Trafimow (Educational and Psychological Measurement, 77, 831–854, 2017; Trafimow & MacDonald in Educational and Psychological Measurement, 77, 204–219, 2017) to compute the articles’ median levels of precision. Our findings indicate that developmental research performs best with respect to precision, whereas cognitive research performs the worst; however, none of the psychology subfields excelled. In addition, we found important differences in precision between journals in the upper versus lower echelons with respect to impact factors in cognitive, neuro-, and clinical psychology, whereas the difference was dramatically attenuated for social and developmental psychology. Implications are discussed.
Membrane compartmentalization of mycobacterial peptidoglycan synthesis

Abstract Cell wall peptidoglycan, a mesh of polysaccharides crosslinked by short peptides, encases the bacterial cell and protects it from turgor pressure lysis. Peptidoglycan synthesis is an effective antibiotic target. Assembly of the biopolymer occurs in close association with the plasma membrane, but higher order organization of the process has not been described. In mycobacteria, intracellular membrane domains comprise biochemically and spatially distinct regions within the conventional plasma membrane. We find that lipid-linked peptidoglycan precursors are made in these domains and then trafficked to the conventional plasma membrane for insertion into the cell wall. Disorganization of the membrane rapidly delocalizes and then halts peptidoglycan assembly. Our data show that membrane compartmentalization is an essential feature of mycobacterial cell wall biogenesis.
Placebo and Pain

In Latin, placebo translates to “I shall please” and was used in the eighth century as part of a psalm sung at funerals. The term was initially used in medicine in the late eighteenth century to indicate a commonplace method or medicine. By the early nineteenth century, it was used to refer to any medicine adapted more to please than to benefit the patient. Modern usage typically refers to a drug or therapy that simulates medical treatment, but has no specific action on the condition being treated. It is important to note, however, that placebo can also refer to the response experienced by the patient and not only the word for a seemingly inert stimulus. Beecher quantified the placebo effect at 35% based on 15 uncontrolled observational studies. While later studies have estimated this number as both higher and lower, the Beecher placebo effect size is the most commonly cited number.
Ecosystem services provided by soundscapes link people and wildlife: Evidence from mitigation studies in a protected natural area

A growing body of evidence suggests that traffic noise negatively affects wildlife. Protected natural areas are not free from noise exposure, both external to and within park boundaries. Natural soundscapes are important in many aspects of animal life histories, for increasing positive visitor experiences, and for providing psychological ecosystem services. To examine the use of signs as an effective traffic noise mitigation strategy, we experimentally altered speed limits from 45 mph to 25 mph, with additional educational signage, along the Oxbow Bend traffic corridor in Grand Teton National Park, USA. We continuously recorded sound levels between alternating week-long blocks while conducting avian point counts at each station. We detected 2,217 individuals of 48 species across all stations throughout the study. To assess visitor experiences with the soundscapes and visitor attitudes towards sign use and management strategies, we conducted stated-choice intercept surveys along a park turnout within the experimental corridor. We administered 471 surveys at an 82% response rate. Future data will evaluate impacts of traffic noise on avian abundance and distributions, visitor attitudes towards mitigation strategies, and the potential coupling between human and natural systems via the soundscape. Featured photo from Figure 2 in report.
Combining optical and neural components in physiological visual image quality metrics as functions of luminance and age

Visual image quality metrics combine comprehensive descriptions of ocular optics (from wavefront error) with a measure of the neural processing of the visual system (neural contrast sensitivity). To improve the ability of these metrics to track real-world changes in visual performance and to investigate the roles and interactions of those optical and neural components in foveal visual image quality as functions of age and target luminance, models of neural contrast sensitivity were constructed from the literature as functions of (1) retinal illuminance (Trolands, td), and (2) retinal illuminance and age. These models were then incorporated into calculation of the visual Strehl ratio (VSX). Best-corrected VSX values were determined at physiological pupil sizes over target luminances of 104 to 10-3 cd/m2 for 146 eyes spanning six decades of age. Optical and neural components of the metrics interact and contribute to visual image quality in three ways. At target luminances resulting in >900 td at physiological pupil size, neural processing is constant, and only aberrations (that change as pupil size changes with luminance) affect the metric. At low mesopic luminances below where pupil size asymptotes to maximum, optics are constant (maximum pupil), and only the neural component changes with luminance. Between these two levels, both optical and neural components of the metrics are affected by changes in target luminance. The model that accounted for both retinal illuminance and age allowed VSX, termed VSX(td,a), to best track visual acuity trends (measured at 160 and 200 cd/m2) as a function of age (20s through 70s) from the literature. Best-corrected VSX(td,a) decreased by 2.24 log units between maximum and minimum target luminances in the youngest eyes and by 2.58 log units in the oldest. The decrease due to age was more gradual at high target luminances (0.70 log units) and more pronounced as target luminance decreased (1.04 log units).
Social support as a mediator of occupational stressors and mental health outcomes in first responders

This cross-sectional study aimed to address whether occupational stressors are associated with adverse mental health outcomes in first responders via lower social support. A total of 895 first responders including emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and firefighters from 50 US States and the Virgin Islands (mean = 37.32, standard deviation = 12.09, 59.2% male, and 91.3% White) completed an online survey. Bivariate analyses indicated that occupational stressors were positively correlated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depression (MD), and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms, and negatively correlated with social support, whereas social support was negatively correlated with PTSD, MD, and GAD symptoms. Mediation analyses revealed significant indirect effects of occupational stressors on PTSD, MD, and GAD symptoms via social support, after controlling for covariates. Although longitudinal research is needed for a more robust examination of this pathway, the results highlight the importance of social support in first responders. Efforts to augment the support systems of first responders are recommended.
Two Decades of Ecstasy: Shifting Demographic Trends in Decedents using MDMA

Deaths with a toxicology finding of the party drug, 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), over the 20-year period from 2000-2019 in San Francisco are presented to identify shifting demographic trends. Of the 148 cases, 129 (87.2%) were male with mean and median ages of 30 and 28, respectively. The most common manner of death (MOD) in males was homicide (65 of 129) and accident (49 of 129). The most common MOD in females was accident (15 of 19). Regarding racial demographics, Black homicide deaths accounted for 59 of 67 (88.1%) of total homicides. The most prevalent cause of death for homicides was gunshot wounds (63 of 67, 94.0%). Homicide prevalence was high in the first decade of the study (53 of 88, 60.2%), sharply dropping off after 2011. White accidental deaths made up most of the accidental deaths (45 of 64, 70.3%). Since 2015, accidental deaths with MDMA began to rise (40 of 60, 66.7%), most with other coingestants. MDMA concentrations (median, mean ± SD) between homicide (290, 450 ± 490 ng/mL) and accidental (250, 680 ± 1120 ng/mL) deaths were similar. MDMA concentrations were elevated in central blood compared to peripheral blood from unmatched cases. MDMA was detected in a variety of decedents during the two decades, with primarily young Black male gunshot wound homicide victims in the first decade and primarily young White male accidental polydrug victims in the second decade. This study demonstrates that MDMA is no longer confined to a party setting, but can also be found in different socio-economic strata, including its association with violent homicidal deaths.
Peroral endoscopic myotomy provides effective palliation in type III achalasia.

Abstract Background Type III achalasia outcomes have historically been met with limited success after conventional laparoscopic Heller myotomy (LHM) and pneumatic dilation. Peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) has emerged as a promising alterative for a multitude of reasons. Our objective was to investigate POEM outcomes in palliating type III achalasia. Methods A retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained database was conducted in a tertiary care institution between April 2014 and July 2019. The primary outcome was postoperative Eckardt score. We also explored the effect of lower esophageal sphincter (LES) integrated resting pressure (IRP) on manometry, barium column height and width, and complications. Standard statistical methods were applied using R. Results A total of 518 patients in the achalasia database were identified, with 308 patients undergoing LHM and 210 undergoing POEM during the study period. POEM was used for type III achalasia in 36 patients (median age, 60 years; 61.7% male), with a median operative time of 85 minutes (interquartile range [IQR], 71-115 minutes) and follow-up of 1 year (IQR, 0.16-2.25 years). Within the POEM group, 11 patients (33%) had previous interventions, including Botox injections to the LES (n = 7), pneumatic dilation (n = 1), and LHM (n = 3). A significant decrease in median Eckardt score was observed (7 preoperatively [IQR, 6-8.75] vs 0 postoperatively [IQR, 0-1]; P 14.72 in 13 patients (62%). Conclusions POEM provides effective and durable palliation for type III achalasia, as demonstrated by symptom relief, esophageal manometry, and radiographic measurement. Considering its low morbidity profile, POEM should be considered as first-line therapy in this challenging disease subtype.
DIF Detection With Zero-Inflation Under the Factor Mixture Modeling Framework:

Response data containing an excessive number of zeros are referred to as zero-inflated data. When differential item functioning (DIF) detection is of interest, zero-inflation can attenuate DIF effe...
Destruction of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) via Lacasse Enzymatic Degradation and Electrochemical Advanced Oxidation

This report outlines a two-step treatment technology that has been designed for the destruction of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in contaminated water, with a focus on perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). PFOA and PFOS contaminated groundwater water will first flow through reverse osmosis (RO) and foam fractionation (FF) units to separate and concentrate PFOS and PFOA compounds. The contaminated foam waste will be directed to the laccase enzyme immobilized polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes with a flow rate of 5 gallons per day (gpd) and a starting PFOA and PFOS concentration of 10 parts per million (ppm). The enzymes will break down the PFOA and PFOS into shorter chained PFAS with an estimated 35% efficiency rate. These shorter chains will subsequently be destroyed in an electrochemical oxidation treatment unit, along with the remaining PFOA and PFOS. The full-scale design will reduce the PFOA and PFOS concentration to less than 50 parts per trillion (ppt), meeting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) health advisory level of 70 ppt. To ensure the advisory level is met, the effluent from the electrochemical oxidation treatment unit will be recirculated through the RO and FF unit, ensuring that the only effluent leaving the system is from the RO and FF pre-treatment units with acceptable PFOA and PFOS concentrations.
A Priori Motion Profile Control and Dynamic Performance of the Multi-Axis Ride Simulator (MARS) Facility

The Multi-Axis Ride Simulator (MARS) facility is a versatile testing facility for the evaluation of vehicle motion effects on personnel and devices. It consists of a 6-DOF Stewart platform driven by a computer-controlled actuation system. An off-line strategy is used to correct the amplifier input and drive the table dynamic response to the desired trajectory. The capabilities and performance limits of the facility are described in detail. The off-line control strategy is also described and its performance evaluated with a series of experimental tests. The results are presented and discussed in detail.
E-finance: Promises kept, promises unfulfilled, and implications for policy and research

Abstract Growth of electronic, Internet-based commerce, or e-commerce, has been truly explosive. However, innovations and growth of e-finance have lagged those of e-commerce in general. E-cash has stumbled along but not lived up to its early promise or its current potential. This paper discusses the current status of e-finance, some of the problems that have stood in the way of its growth and development, and implications for government policy and research. Lengthy, detailed discussion of such ancillary issues as encryption technology, e-cash algorithms, and other technical detail at the microlevel of implementation is avoided.
Overcoming the Divergence Gap between Applicable State Law and Sharia Principles: Enhancing Clarity, Predictability and Enforceability in Islamic Finance Transactions Within Secular Jurisdictions

With the emergence of Islamic finance, legal precepts of Islam gained momentum through voluntary adherence by market participants. Transactions are not governed by Islamic law as such. Rather they are structured within the framework of freedom of contract in a way that is coherent with Sharia principles. In absence of an authoritative judicial institution deciding on the Sharia conformity of a commercial transaction, individual Sharia scholars fill this gap. They interpret Islamic legal principles and exercise oversight of the products and operations of the Islamic finance industry. In Islamic finance transactions, there is frequently a dichotomy and tension between Sharia principles and perceptions underlying contractual agreements and their de jure qualification and treatment in secular jurisdictions. This paper investigates the divergence gap between Sharia precepts and the contractual design of Sukuk transactions as well as transparency issues under the German legal regime. Sukuk is taken pars pro toto for Islamic finance products. German law is chosen as case example within the circle of European civil law systems. One of the problematic issues is ownership status of Sukuk holders in sale-and-lease-back based Sukuk. Although, asset linkage is a major characteristic that distinguishes Sukuk from conventional bonds, the transfer of ownership in some sale based Sukuk structures is highly controversial not only from a Sharia perspective but also from a legal perspective. This is particularly the case when Sukuk transactions are structured in civil law legal systems where the common law concepts of trust and beneficial ownership are not recognized. The disengagement of Sukuk transactions from their underlying originating assets can be problematic for Sukuk holders in the event of a bankruptcy of the Obligor. The asymmetrical risk allocation between Sukuk issuer/obligor on the one side and the investor on the other may not only be problematic from an inner-Islamic point of view. In some cases this situation may also cause legal liability issues. Besides the issue of ownership status, some other terms and conditions of widespread Sukuk issues appear to be problematic with respect to legal transparency requirements on national and EU level. This paper suggests solutions to bridge the gap.
Grouping strokes into shapes in hand-drawn diagrams

Objects in freely-drawn sketches often have no spatial or temporal separation, making object recognition difficult. We present a two-step stroke-grouping algorithm that first classifies individual strokes according to the type of object to which they belong, then groups strokes with like classifications into clusters representing individual objects. The first step facilitates clustering by naturally separating the strokes, and both steps fluidly integrate spatial and temporal information. Our approach to grouping is unique in its formulation as an efficient classification task rather than, for example, an expensive search task. Our single-stroke classifier performs at least as well as existing single-stroke classifiers on text vs. nontext classification, and we present the first three-way single-stroke classification results. Our stroke grouping results are the first reported of their kind; our grouping algorithm correctly groups between 86% and 91% of the ink in diagrams from two domains, with between 69% and 79% of shapes being perfectly clustered.
Democratic Communities and Business/ Education "Partnerships" in Secondary Education

Democratic ideals of equality, freedom, and common problem-solving help ensure that schools are governed as communities, in Dewey's sense of the term, wherein all members share in defining the purposes and processes of the group. In this paper, qualitative case study data of a business–public school partnership is examined in order to describe, analyze, and evaluate this partnership based upon democratic criteria established by Deweyan pragmatism. The analysis of the business/education partnership enables educators to better understand the potential for, and inhibitors of, the kind of genuine social growth among school and corporate partners that can serve public agendas rather than private profits.
Distributed lock management for mobile transactions

We present a new lock management scheme which allows a read unlock for an item to be executed at any copy site of that item; the site may be different from the copy site on which the read lock is set. The scheme utilizes the replicated copies of data items to reduce the message costs incurred by the mobility of the transaction host. We demonstrate this idea in an optimistic locking algorithm called O2PL-MT (Optimistic Two Phase Locking for Mobile Transactions). Like its counterpart algorithm O2PL (Optimistic Two Phase Locking), O2PL-MT grants read locks immediately on demand and defers write locks until the commitment time. However, O2PL-MT requires the transmission of fewer messages than O2PL in a mobile environment in which data items are replicated.
Boosting multiple classifiers constructed by hybrid discriminant analysis

In this paper, a set of hybrid dimension reduction schemes is constructed by unifying principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) in a single framework. PCA compensates LDA for singular scatter matrix caused by small set of training samples and increases the effective dimension of the projected subspace. Generalization of hybrid analysis is extended to other discriminant analysis such as multiple discriminant analysis (MDA), and the recent biased discriminant analysis (BDA), and other hybrid pairs. In order to reduce the search time to find the best single classifier, a boosted hybrid analysis is proposed. Our scheme boosts both the individual features as well as a set of weak classifiers. Extensive tests on benchmark and real image databases have shown the superior performance of the boosted hybrid analysis.
Aesthetics in covariant image reconstruction

This paper describes a method of seamless cloning based on aesthetic theory of lightness perception. Judgment of lightness and color harmony is treated as low level aesthetic judgment made by the human visual system. The equation written based on this consideration is an improvement to Poisson image editing, and produces results that are better than the current state of the art in the area of scratch/object removal. The reason our result is aesthetically pleasing is that it is fundamentally based on aesthetic theory, and it proves the usefulness of our theoretical approach.
Elevated levels of the second messenger c‐di‐GMP contribute to antimicrobial resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Summary Biofilms are highly structured, surface-associated communities. A hallmark of biofilms is their extraordinary resistance to antimicrobial agents that is activated during early biofilm development of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and requires the regulatory hybrid SagS and BrlR, a member of the MerR family of multidrug efflux pump activators. However, little is known about the mechanism by which SagS contributes to BrlR activation or drug resistance. Here, we demonstrate that ΔsagS biofilm cells harbour the secondary messenger c-di-GMP at reduced levels similar to those observed in wild-type cells grown planktonically rather than as biofilms. Restoring c-di-GMP levels to wild-type biofilm-like levels restored brlR expression, DNA binding by BrlR, and recalcitrance to killing by antimicrobial agents of ΔsagS biofilm cells. We likewise found that increasing c-di-GMP levels present in planktonic cells to biofilm-like levels (≥ 55 pmol mg −1 ) resulted in planktonic cells being significantly more resistant to antimicrobial agents, with increased resistance correlating with increased brlR, mexA, and mexE expression and BrlR production. In contrast, reducing cellular c-di-GMP levels of biofilm cells to ≤ 40 pmol mg −1 correlated with increased susceptibility and reduced brlR expression. Our findings suggest that a signalling pathway involving a specific c-di-GMP pool regulated by SagS contributes to the resistance of P. aeruginosa biofilms.
David’s initial Philistine victories according to Josephus

The Bible twice relates, in Samuel 5:17-25/1 Chronicles 14:8-17, David’s initial pair of victories over the Philistines. This essay focuses on a third version of David’s triumphs, i.e. that of Josephus in his Ant 7.70-77, comprising this in detail with its two Biblical parallels (as represented by MT, Codex Vaticanus and the LucianictAntiochene MSS of the LXX, the Targums, and the Vulgate).
Using resistance resources to reduce stress: A study of rural Nevadans

Based upon Antonovsky's conceptual model of resources as resistors to stress, seven personal and three environmental resistance resources are identified, and quantified. The resistance resources and measure of tension are used as the predictor variables in a stepwise multiple regression analysis to identify the factors which best predict stress. The four variables which are statistically significant in explaining variance in stress scores are satisfaction with family life, total number of life events experienced, age, and satisfaction with family finances.
State vector models of the cell cycle II: The first three moments of the transit time distribution.

Abstract A discrete time state vector model (the Hahn model) has been used to simulate many experiments in cell kinetics. In the first paper in this series the authors described a new method to define the parameters of the Hahn model suitable for use in automatic fitting of fraction of labelled mitoses (FLM) experiments. In this paper it is shown how to compute the first three moments of the transit time distribution which arises from a Hahn model. These moments are compared analytically and numerically to the corresponding moments of the distribution the authors used to define the Hahn model. Finally, the problems involved in estimating the moments of the transit time distribution observed in fitting FLM data using a Hahn model are discussed.
Neurological Changes Induced by Stress in Streptozotocin Diabetic Rats

Previous studies from our laboratory demonstrated that chronic stress produces molecular, morphological, and ultrastructural changes in the rat hippocampus that are accompanied by cognitive deficits. Glucocorticoid impairment of glucose utilization is proposed as a causative factor involved in stress-induced changes. Current studies have examined the neurological changes induced by stress in rats with a preexisting strain upon their homeostatic load--namely, in streptozotocin (stz)-diabetic rats. Administration of stz (70 mg/kg, i.v.) produced diabetic symptoms such as weight loss, polyuria, polydipsia, hyperglycemia, and neuroendocrine dysfunction. Morphological analysis of hippocampal neurons revealed that diabetes alone produced dendritic atrophy of CA3 pyramidal neurons, an effect potentiated by 7 days of restraint stress. Analysis of genes critical to neuronal homeostasis revealed that glucose transporter 3 (GLUT3) mRNA and protein levels were specifically increased in the hippocampus of diabetic rats, while stress had no effect upon GLUT3 expression. Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) receptor expression was also increased in the hippocampus of diabetic rats subjected to stress. In spite of the activation of these adaptive mechanisms, diabetic rats subjected to stress also had signs of neuronal damage and oxidative damage. Collectively, these results suggest that the hippocampus of diabetic rats is extremely susceptible to additional stressful events, which in turn can lead to irreversible hippocampal damage.
Valproate-induced liver failure in one of two siblings with alpers disease

Alpers disease is a neurodegenerative disorder of childhood characterized by early developmental delay, intractable seizures, and death in childhood. Neuropathologic changes are most severe in the gray matter and consist of diffuse neuronal loss, spongiform changes, and astrocytosis. We report 2 siblings with Alpers disease who were discordant for exposure to valproate (VPA). Both had developmental delay, and a progressive seizure disorder beginning at 5 years of age. The proband died at age 8 years of complications of ongoing seizures, including epilepsia partialis continua, with only minimal liver abnormalities. Her younger brother was treated with VPA for new-onset seizures and developed fulminant liver failure 6 months later, which led to his death at 5 years of age. Neuropathologic abnormalities of both siblings were consistent with Alpers disease. These observations support classification of Alpers disease and Alpers disease with liver cirrhosis as a single disease. They also confirm previous reports indicating that VPA may accelerate fulminant liver failure in Alpers disease. We recommend that a diagnosis of Alpers disease be considered in children with unexplained early developmental delay, cerebellar signs, or partial seizures, especially epilepsia partialis continua. When Alpers disease is strongly suspected, use of VPA should be avoided.
The effects of electric fields on cloud physical processes

Der vorliegende Aufsatz versucht eine Ubersicht uber neuere Literatur zu geben, die den Einfluss von elektrischen Feldern auf wolkenphysikalische Vorgange behandelt. Die Resultate der bisherigen Arbeiten konnen folgendermassen zusammengefasst werden:
Adjuvant stereotactic radiosurgery after resection of intracranial hemangiopericytomas.

Purpose To evaluate adjuvant stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in the management of recurrent or residual intracranial hemangiopericytomas (HPCs), we assessed tumor control, survival, and complications in patients who had undergone gamma knife SRS as part of multimodal therapy. Methods and Materials We retrospectively reviewed the records of consecutive 20 HPC patients who had undergone SRS for 29 tumors. The median patient age was 51.5 years (range, 8.9–80.2). All patients had undergone previous surgical resection of their tumors. In addition, 12 patients underwent fractionated radiotherapy before SRS. Of the 20 patients, 16 patients had low-grade HPCs (20 tumors) and 4 had high-grade anaplastic HPCs (9 tumors). The median radiosurgery target volume was 4.5 cm 3 (range, 0.07–34.3), and the median marginal dose was 15.0 Gy (range, 10–20). Results At an average of 48.2 months (range, 7.2–124.1), 5 patients had died of metastases and 3 patients had died of disease progression. The overall survival after radiosurgery was 100%, 85.9%, and 13.8% at 1, 5, and 10 years, respectively. The follow-up imaging studies demonstrated tumor control in 21 (72.4%) of 29 tumors. The progression-free survival rate after SRS at 1, 3, and 5 years was 89.1% for low-grade HPCs and 88.9%, 66.7%, and 0%, respectively, for high-grade HPCs. The factors associated with improved progression-free survival included lower grade and higher marginal dose. Eight patients had intracranial or extracranial metastasis after the initial diagnosis, which correlated with the shorter survival. Conclusion The results of our study have shown that adjuvant SRS after tumor resection is an important management option for patients with residual or recurrent HPCs and is particularly effective for less-aggressive tumors.
Design of reliable 2×V DD and 3×V DD series-parallel charge pumps in nanoscale CMOS

With aggressive CMOS transistor scaling, reducing the risk of transistor breakdown has been becoming paramount in nano-era VLSI circuit designs. The paper presents design techniques and considerations on achieving reliable high-voltage series-parallel charge pumps. It adopts a stacked-MOSFET structure to achieve reliable 2×VDD and 3×VDD high-voltage switching. In addition, capacitor voltages are efficiently utilized to drive the power switches effectively and safely, such that any node-pair voltage of MOSFET power switch can be kept within the rated supply voltage (VDD), defined by the fabrication process. Furthermore, over-voltage stress and hot-carrier degradation can be overcome even in the transition phases. To verify the design concepts, a 3×VDD charge pump is designed with IBM 130-nm CMOS process. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed charge pump provides a maximum output voltage of 4.5V and delivers up to 200μA load current with an input supply of 1.6V and a maximum efficiency of 81%.
Seismic response of temporary structures

Abstract An unanchored temporary structure has five modes of response to base excitation: rest, slide, rock, slide–rock, and free-flight. This paper is concerned with the conditions under which an unanchored object will respond in these modes and, in a rock mode, the maximum amount of tilting and the probability of toppling. The conditions for the five modes of response are derived based on equations of equilibrium and of motion. The rocking response and toppling probability are obtained by the Monte Carlo simulation technique by solving the equations governing rocking response numerically and repeatedly using simulated base motion. Details of the derivation and computation are not presented. Toppling probabilities are given graphically for a number of values specifying dimension of the object.
Mechanistically based fatigue-damage evolution model for brittle matrix fibre-reinforced composites

An analysis of the fatigue-damage evolution process through prediction of stiffness drop in brittle matrix unidirectional composites reinforced with continuous stiff fibres is presented. The drop in stiffness of the composite is calculated by partitioning the total damage between the components of the composite, namely the matrix, the fibre, and the interface. Predictions of drop in stiffness are validated for different fatigue test conditions in borosilicate glass-ceramic matrix-Nicalon fibre-reinforced composites. In addition, fatigue test results from other composite systems, such as LASII-Nicalon and aluminosilicate-Nicalon, are examined in the light of this model.
Photopolymerized poly(ethylene glycol)/poly(L-lysine) hydrogels for the delivery of neural progenitor cells.

Neural progenitor cells (NPCs) have shown promise in a number of models of disease and injury, but for these cells to be safe and effective, they must be directed to differentiate appropriately following transplantation. We have developed a photopolymerized hydrogel composed of macromers of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) bound to poly(L-lysine) (PLL) that supports NPC survival and directs differentiation. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) positive NPCs were encapsulated in these gels and demonstrated survival up to 17 days. When encapsulated in the gels at a photoinitiator concentration of 5.0 mg/ml, few NPCs (0.5 ± 0.25%) demonstrated apoptosis. Furthermore, 55 ± 6% of the NPCs cultured within the gels in epidermal growth factor (EGF) containing media differentiated into a mature neuronal cell type (neurofilament 200 positive) while the remainder 44 ± 8% were undifferentiated (nestin positive). A small percentage, 1 ± 0.4%, expressed the astrocytic marker glial acidic fibrilary protein. Photopolymerized PEG/P...
Real-time Visualization of Dynamin-catalyzed Membrane Fission and Vesicle Release

The GTPase dynamin assembles at the necks of budded vesicles in vivo and functions in membrane fission. We have developed fluid supported bilayers with excess membrane reservoir, (SUPER) templates, to assay vesicle formation and membrane fission. Consistent with previous studies, in the absence of GTP, dynamin assembles in spirals, forming long membrane tubules. GTP addition triggers disassembly, but not membrane fission, arguing against models in which fission is mediated by concerted and global GTP-driven conformational changes. In contrast, under physiological conditions in the constant presence of GTP, dynamin mediates membrane fission. Under these conditions, fluorescently labeled dynamin cooperatively organizes into self-limited assemblies that continuously cycle at the membrane and drive vesicle release. When visualized at the necks of emergent vesicles, self-limited dynamin assemblies display intensity fluctuations and persist for variable time periods before fission. Thus, self-limited assemblies of dynamin generated in the constant presence of GTP catalyze membrane fission.
Mass renormalization and cancellation of BRST anomaly in string theories

On-shell two-point functions generated due to string loop corrections are shown to give rise to BRST anomaly in the scattering amplitudes, in the form of total derivative terms in the moduli space. This anomaly may be cancelled by modifying the vertex operators in a way that precisely corresponds to mass renormalization in the theory.
Conceptual Design and Structural Analysis of an Open Rotor Hybrid Wing Body Aircraft

Through a recent NASA contract, Boeing Research and Technology in Huntington Beach, CA developed and optimized a conceptual design of an open rotor hybrid wing body aircraft (HWB). Open rotor engines offer a significant potential for fuel burn savings over turbofan engines, while the HWB configuration potentially allows to offset noise penalties through possible engine shielding. Researchers at NASA Langley converted the Boeing design to a FLOPS model which will be used to develop take-off and landing trajectories for community noise analyses. The FLOPS model was calibrated using Boeing data and shows good agreement with the original Boeing design. To complement Boeing s detailed aerodynamics and propulsion airframe integration work, a newly developed and validated conceptual structural analysis and optimization tool was used for a conceptual loads analysis and structural weights estimate. Structural optimization and weight calculation are based on a Nastran finite element model of the primary HWB structure, featuring centerbody, mid section, outboard wing, and aft body. Results for flight loads, deformations, wing weight, and centerbody weight are presented and compared to Boeing and FLOPS analyses.
Continuing education, identity, sex role, and psychosocial development in adult women

Comparisons on psychosocial development and sex-role identification were made between 39 adult women returning to college in midlife and 40 traditional homemakers. Significantly more homemakers had foreclosed on the adult identity issues of goals and religion and scored lower on a measure of psychological androgyny. Women in continuing education showed greater evidence of identity crisis as they neared graduation. The two groups did not differ along Eriksonian developmental stages, but there were differences in the pattern of favorable and unfavorable resolutions of psychosocial crises within both groups. The results support the existence of an identity crisis as a response to life events in adulthood and demonstrate a relationship between behavioral and self-report indices of rejection or acceptance of the traditional feminine role.
Color center generation in sodium-calcium silicate glass by nanosecond and femtosecond laser pulses

It was found that high purity soda lime glass shows a markedly different induced absorption spectra when exposed to different types of ionizing radiation such as UV lamp or femtosecond and nanosecond laser pulses. The following irradiation was used in the experiments: nanosecond pulses at the fundamental and harmonics of a Nd:YAG laser (λ = 1064, 532, 355, and 266 nm), femtosecond pulses of a Ti:sapphire laser operating at λ = 780 nm, ultraviolet rays from a high pressure Xe lamp, X-rays, and Gamma rays. Features of radiation defect generations are discussed.
Streptokinase vs heparin for deep venous thrombosis. Can lytic therapy be justified

• Lytic therapy, most notably streptokinase, holds great promise in the treatment of acute deep venous thrombosis. In 19 published trials, this form of lytic therapy has been shown to be associated with greater venous valvular and venous patency preservation, implying better short-term and long-term outcome. Unfortunately, closer examination of the data reveals several flaws, including overreliance on venogram data and lack of adequate long-term follow-up. Streptokinase, as well as other forms of lytic therapy, has not gained widespread acceptance in the treatment of acute deep venous thrombosis, and, until better data become available, such reluctance seems justified. ( Arch Intern Med. 1989;149:1841-1845)
THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE SUBSTRATE'S CARBOXYLATE GROUP TO THE MECHANISM OF 4-OXALOCROTONATE TAUTOMERASE

Abstract 4-Oxalocrotonate tautomerase (4-OT) converts 2-oxo-4 E -hexenedioate ( 1 ) to 2-oxo-3 E -hexenedioate ( 3 ) through the dienol intermediate, 2-hydroxy-2,4-hexadiene-1,6-dioate ( 2 ). Previous studies established that the isomerization of 1 to 3 is primarily a suprafacial process. It was also suggested that the 6-carboxylate group of the substrate maintains the regio- and stereochemical fidelity of the reaction by anchoring the substrate at the active site. A subsequent study suggested an additional role for the 6-carboxylate group in the mechanism: the enzyme may utilize the binding energy of the carboxylate group to facilitate catalysis. In order to explore the role of the carboxylate group in the mechanism further, the nonenzymatic rate constants for mono- and dicarboxylated substrates were measured and compared to the rates obtained for the corresponding enzymatic reactions. The results show that the missing carboxylate group has a profound effect on enzymatic catalysis as evidenced by the significant decreases (a 10 4 - and a 10 5 -fold reduction) in the values of k cat / K m observed for the two monocarboxylated substrates. A comparison of the nonenzymatic rate constants indicates that the reduced k cat / K m values cannot be explained on the basis of the chemical reactivities. The stereochemical course of the 4-OT-catalyzed reaction was also determined using 2-hydroxy-2,4 Z -heptadiene-1,7-dioate. The stereochemical analysis reveals that the presence of the carboxylate group improves the stereoselectivity of the enzyme-catalyzed ketonization of 2-hydroxy-2,4 Z -heptadiene-1,7-dioate to 2-oxo-[3- 2 H]-4 Z -heptene-1,7-dioate in 2 H 2 O—a result that is consistent with its previously assigned role. These findings provide further evidence that the substrate's carboxylate group contributes to the mechanism of the enzyme in two ways: it anchors the substrate at the active site and it facilitates catalysis by destabilizing the substrate or by stabilizing the transition state.
A convergent synthesis of the tricyclic architecture of the guanacastepenes featuring a selective ring fragmentation.

This Letter describes a concise, diastereoselective synthesis of the tricyclic carbon framework of the guanacastepene family of natural products. An intermolecular Diels−Alder reaction established a remote stereochemical relationship and facilitated a synthesis of allylic acetate 3, which was subsequently joined with vinylstananne 9 via a Stille coupling. An intramolecular [2 + 2] photocycloaddition then afforded complex cyclobutyl ketone 19, which underwent a stereoelectronically controlled fragmentation to the guanacastepene architecture on treatment with samarium diiodide.
Naturally Combined Photoacoustic Microscopy and Optical Coherence Tomography for Simultaneous Multimodal

A combined photoacoustic microscopy and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography is developed for simultaneous multimodal volumetric microscopic imaging of both optical absorption and scattering contrasts in biological tissues.
Intramolecular epoxidation with the H2O2/ortho ester system

Abstract Intramolecular epoxidation is shown to occur when trimethyl ortho oleate is treated with H2O2.
CD44: target for antiangiogenesis therapy.

In this issue of Blood , Tremmel and colleagues provide evidence that endothelial cells express a specific splice variant of the CD44 protein family, CD44v6, that constitutively associates with VEGFR-2 to regulate receptor activation and downstream receptor signaling. Significantly, the targeting of