cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
MicF: an antisense RNA gene involved in response of Escherichia coli to global stress factors.

The micF gene is a stress response gene found in Escherichia coli and related bacteria that post-transcriptionally controls expression of the outer membrane porin gene ompF. The micF gene encodes a non-translated 93 nt antisense RNA that binds its target ompF mRNA and regulates ompF expression by inhibiting translation and inducing degradation of the message. In addition, other factors, such as the RNA chaperone protein StpA also play a role in this regulatory system. Expression of micF is controlled by both environmental and internal stress factors. Four transcriptional regulators are known to bind the micF promoter region and activate micF expression. The crystal structure of one these transcriptional activators, Rob, complexed with the micF promoter has been reported. Here, we review new developments in the micF regulatory network.
The Contribution of Traditional Potato Breeding to Scientific Potato Improvement

Conventional potato breeding refers to development of new cultivars from sexual crosses followed by clonal propagation and selection. Nearly all new varieties of potato still emerge from this process free from modern technologies of gene insertion. Conventional breeding remains the most important force for introduction of new phenotypes underlain by new genes. However, these come from already selected potato breeding lines or named varieties or from wild potatoes or more distant solanaceous relatives that are amenable to somatic hybridization. Potato breeders are constantly searching for new germplasm, in part because the potato as a crop still remains highly vulnerable to biotic and abiotic stresses. In addition, the widening of the genetic base is seen as a means of increasing heterozygosity. Despite a highly conscious import of genetic variability, commercial varieties often emerge from a relatively restricted genetic pool. This is due to the long list of traits that must fall within narrow boundaries of performance. The potato must be able to navigate the conditions of modern agriculture, withstand unusual weather events, and arrive at harvest with skin and flesh appealing to the market for which it is intended. A storage period must also be endured during which appearance and suitability for processing or the consumer’s kitchen must be maintained. A lapse in any of these phases usually signals that a new variety will exit commercial use as fast as it entered. The inconvenient accompaniment of introducing exotic genetic variation is that the breeding products are often outside of the targeted market niche. It is not surprising that many new varieties stem from crosses from older named varieties. Efforts to diversify are in conflict with conformism leading to relatively high co-ancestry coefficients between advanced breeding lines. Conventional breeding has advanced through the last hundred years the appearance, sugar status, Verticillium resistance, and yield of larger sized tubers in statistically robust ways. Potato arrived from the new world and very quickly became the secret solution to famine for the poor by virtue of its productivity and nutrient content. Meanwhile, in modern times, challenges to the consumption of potato come from a sedentary and carbohydrate over-satiated society. The genetic repository of potato germplasm is so rich that a new era of potato varieties beneficial to health may be at hand. Conventional breeding will certainly be a major part of this.
The use of museum specimens with high-throughput DNA sequencers

Natural history collections have long been used by morphologists, anatomists, and taxonomists to probe the evolutionary process and describe biological diversity. These biological archives also offer great opportunities for genetic research in taxonomy, conservation, systematics, and population biology. They allow assays of past populations, including those of extinct species, giving context to present patterns of genetic variation and direct measures of evolutionary processes. Despite this potential, museum specimens are difficult to work with because natural postmortem processes and preservation methods fragment and damage DNA. These problems have restricted geneticists' ability to use natural history collections primarily by limiting how much of the genome can be surveyed. Recent advances in DNA sequencing technology, however, have radically changed this, making truly genomic studies from museum specimens possible. We review the opportunities and drawbacks of the use of museum specimens, and suggest how to best execute projects when incorporating such samples. Several high-throughput (HT) sequencing methodologies, including whole genome shotgun sequencing, sequence capture, and restriction digests (demonstrated here), can be used with archived biomaterials.
Overrelaxed heat-bath and Metropolis algorithms for accelerating pure gauge Monte Carlo calculations.

The lattice-gauge-theory generalization of Adler's over-relaxed heat-bath algorithm and an over-relaxed Metropolis update are shown to accelerate the decorrelation of physical observables. The heat-bath's microcanonical limit is especially attractive. Numerical tests for pure gauge SU(3) (${4}^{4}$ lattice, \ensuremath{\beta}=5.6) show, for example, that over-relaxation reduces the Polyakov-loop magnitude autocorrelation time for the Cabibbo-Marinari algorithm from 28 sweeps to 9, increasing computational efficiency threefold. These approaches are applicable to a large class of physical systems.
Surface topography of mouse eggs before and after insemination

The surface configuration of zona-free mouse ovarian eggs before and after germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) and of tubal eggs before and after insemination was studied by scanning electron microscopy. The surface of germinal vesicle-intact eggs was characterized by uniformly distributed, dense (2–3μm2 and slender (0.1 × 0.8μm) microvilli. Following GVBD, the mouse oolemma underwent dramatic changes which persisted essentially unmodified in uninseminated tubal eggs. These changes consisted of an apparent conversion of the oolemma from a microvillar to a smooth or ruffled configuration with approximately two ruffle-like micro-projections (0.6 × 0.4 μm) perμm2 of surface. In most eggs, both ruffled and smooth configurations ere present, creating dramatic polarities in surface topography similar to those documented previously by TEM [Nicosia et al, 1977]. Following insemination and presumed sperm–egg fusion, microvilli reappeared either from smooth areas or from the upper edge of ruffled microprojections. Zona removal appeared to induce limited reduction in the size of microvilli in some eggs. The present results emphasize the labile and dynamic nature of the egg surface and suggest a close relationship among nuclear, cytoplasmic, and surface events during the final stages of egg maturation and during fertilization.
Analysis of Genetic Diversity in Cytotoxin-Producing and Non-Cytotoxin Producing Helicobacter pylori Strains

Analysis of 32 Helicobacter pylori strains indicated a strong association between the presence of the cagA gene and a specific type of vacA allele found predominantly in cytotoxin-producing strains (P < .001). To determine whether tox + /CagA + and tox - /CagA - strains constituted two separate noncombining lineages, sequences of the H. pylori ureC gene, cysS homologue, and the intergenic region between cysS and vacA were determined for multiple strains. The mean levels of nucleotide identity in the three regions were %.7% ± 0.5%, 95.0% ± 1.0%, and 89.0% ± 2.9%, respectively. Multiple sequence alignments and dendrograms based on these three regions failed to identify two clonal populations of organisms for which cagA and vacA genotypes were markers. The presence of a 63- to 64-bp insertion in the cysS-vacA intergenic region was unrelated to the vacA genotype of the strains. These data suggest that recombination between Helicobacter genomes may occur in vivo.
Sexual aggression : perceptions of its likelihood of occurring and some correlates of self-admitted perpetration

175 college undergraduate students completed a questionnaire which contained dating scenarios and questions designed to assess the participants' perceptions about the likelihood that sexual aggress...
Dependence of 1 f Noise on Defects Induced in Copper Films by Electron Irradiation

When 500-keV electron irradiation was used to induce defects in polycrystalline copper films maintained at 90 K, the spectral density of the $\frac{1}{f}$ noise voltage across the films increased by as much as 1 order of magnitude, while the resistivity increased by at most 10%. When the films were annealed at progressively higher temperatures, both the $\frac{1}{f}$ noise and the resistivity were reduced; however, at lower annealing temperatures, the fractional reduction in the added noise was substantially more than that in the added resistivity.
On verification of programs with goto statements

Les tentatives d'extension de la logique de Hoare aux langages avec des instructions de branchement ont souleve des difficultes importantes. On se propose d'adapter la syntaxe des langages annotes au systeme de de Bouin et on montre que le nouveau systeme est equivalent a celui de de Bouin. On montre que la demonstration de l'equivalence de ces approches, qui semblent si differentes l'une de l'autre, permet une meilleure comprehension de l'une et de l'autre
BOMBARDMENT OF COPPER WITH TRITONS

Tritons have been accelerated to 6.5 Mev in a cyclotron and made to bombard stacks of copper foils. Among the triton induced reactions, the following have been identified: ${\mathrm{Cu}}^{63}(t,d){\mathrm{Cu}}^{64}$ (12.9 hours), ${\mathrm{Cu}}^{63}(t,n){\mathrm{Zn}}^{65}$ (250 days), ${\mathrm{Cu}}^{65}(t,{\mathrm{He}}^{3}){\mathrm{Ni}}^{65}$ (2.6 hours), and ${\mathrm{Cu}}^{65}(t,p){\mathrm{Cu}}^{67}$ (2.44 days) with relative cross sections for the various reactions as 11:64:6:10, respectively. The Oppenheimer-Phillips process appears to be operative in case of tritons of this order of energy.
An analysis of the demand for cash balances by the manufacturing firms in a developing economy

Abstract Using cross-section data this paper presents the results of an evaluation of the role of cash balances as a factor input in India's manufacturing industries. By using a three-factor translog cost function for each of the major industries along with duality theory, it was possible to estimate the Allen partial elasticities of substitution and the own price elasticities of demand for each factor input. Three significant conclusions are drawn: (a) cash balances and labor are predominantly substitutes and cash balances and capital are by and large, complementary. Implications of this for choice of techniques is analyzed, (b) the interest elasticity of demand for Cash varies with industry from -0.0013 to -0.4756, (c) separability tests indicate that omitting cash balances from the production function would involve a misspecification of the latter.
Partitioning of dissolved chlorinated ethenes into vegetable oil

Food-grade soybean oil (SoyOil) has been used to enhance in situ anaerobic bioremediation at sites contaminated with chlorinated ethenes (CEs). The abiotic interactions of SoyOil with the CEs may be significant and need to be better understood. The oil: water partition coefficients (Kp) of dissolved CEs into SoyOil were measured in batch tests and ranged from 22 to 1200 with increasing chlorination. CE mixtures significantly reduced the Kp for tetrachloroethene (PCE), but not the other CEs. Simple flow tests were used to quantify the mass transfer coefficients (kL) of dissolved CEs into SoyOil. Higher kL values corresponded to the CEs with higher diffusivity in water. CE mixtures reduced the kL for all of the CEs. The results can be used to predict abiotic interactions and distribution of contaminant mass expected after SoyOil injection, and thus provide a more accurate estimate of the mass of CEs removed due to enhanced biodegradation.
The use of receiver operating characteristic curves in biomedical informatics

Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves are frequently used in biomedical informatics research to evaluate classification and prediction models for decision support, diagnosis, and prognosis. ROC analysis investigates the accuracy of a model's ability to separate positive from negative cases (such as predicting the presence or absence of disease), and the results are independent of the prevalence of positive cases in the study population. It is especially useful in evaluating predictive models or other tests that produce output values over a continuous range, since it captures the trade-off between sensitivity and specificity over that range. There are many ways to conduct an ROC analysis. The best approach depends on the experiment; an inappropriate approach can easily lead to incorrect conclusions. In this article, we review the basic concepts of ROC analysis, illustrate their use with sample calculations, make recommendations drawn from the literature, and list readily available software.
A dimeric titanium-containing polyoxometalate. Synthesis, characterization, and catalysis of H2O2-based thioether oxidation.

The previously unknown titanium(IV)-containing μ-hydroxo dimeric heteropolytungstate (Bu4N)7[(PTiW11O39)2OH] (TBA salt of H1) has been synthesized, starting from H5PTiW11O40, and characterized by elemental analysis, multinuclear (31P, 17O, 183W) NMR, IR, FAB-MS, cyclic voltammetry, and potentiometric titration. 31P NMR reveals that H1 (δ −12.76) readily forms in MeCN from the Keggin monomer (POM), PTiW11O405- (2, δ −13.34), upon the addition of 1.5 equiv of H+, via the protonated species, P(TiOH)W11O394- (H2, δ −13.44). The ratio of H1, 2, and H2, which are present in equilibrium in MeCN solution at 25 °C, depends on the concentration of both H+ and H2O. The Ti−O−Ti linkage readily reacts with nucleophilic reagents, such as H2O and ROH, to yield monomeric Keggin derivatives. μ-Hydroxo dimer H1 shows higher catalytic activity than 2 for thioether oxidation by hydrogen peroxide in acetonitrile. The reaction proceeds readily at room temperature and affords the corresponding sulfoxide and sulfone in ca. quant...
Transition from a color filter to a polarizer of a metallic nano-slit array

Wire grid polarizer is a well-known optical element with many important applications. We observed a transition from a polarizer (broadband transmission) to a color filter (resonant transmission) of a metallic nano-slit array as the period of the array is increased. The effect is explained in terms of the mode mismatch between the slit waveguide mode and the incident plane wave, which causes light confinement inside the slit and thus a resonance. By putting the slits near to each other, the mode mismatch is weakened so that a broadband of light can penetrate through.
Alternatives to Drugs—A New Approach to Drug Education

Drawing upon the principles of human behavior, this article suggests the positive use of alternatives to drug abuse as a basis for education and prevention of drug abuse. This will result in proper...
An in vitro study of normal and scoliotic interspinous ligaments

The mechanical properties of specimens of spinal ligaments from 16 patients with idiopathic scoliosis and 10 patients with scoliosis resulting from connective-tissue disease or anomaly were compared. Stress was determined with an Instron Testor and strain with a modified Instron extensometer. Stress-strain values and percentages of stress relaxation were calculated. It was found that the mechanical properties of the two groups of specimens were essentially similar: The elastic moduli were 129 N/mm2 and 113 N/mm2, and the percentages of stress relaxation were 5 and 4, respectively.
Persistent pursuit of need-satisfying goals leads to increased happiness: A 6-month experimental longitudinal study

University-based community members (N = 181) participated in a four-wave, 6-month longitudinal experiment designed to increase treatment participants’ happiness levels. Participants were randomly assigned to set goals either to improve their life circumstances (comparison condition) or to increase their feelings of autonomy, competence, or relatedness in life (treatment conditions). We hypothesized that sustained gains in happiness would be observed only in the three treatment conditions, and that even these gains would last only when there was continuing goal engagement. Results supported these predictions and the sustainable happiness model on which they were based (Lyubomirsky et al. in Rev Gen Psychol 9:111–131, 2005). Furthermore, participants with initial positive attitudes regarding happiness change obtained larger benefits. We conclude that maintained happiness gains are possible, but that they require both “a will and a proper way” (Lyubomirsky et al. in Becoming happier takes both a will and a proper way: two experimental longitudinal interventions to boost well-being, 2009).
Schistosoma mansoni: two-dimensional gel electrophoretic analysis of antigens uniquely immunoreactive with protective rat serum.

Abstract Candidate vaccine antigens are defined by their differential immunoreactivity with antisera which are distinguishable by their capacity to confer passive resistance to infection. This “contrasting antisera” immunoassay has been successfully used in previous analyses of 4-week-old worm biosynthetically radiolabeled Schistosoma mansoni proteins to identify potentially protective antigens. Twice-infected Fischer (F-2x) and Wistar-Furth (W-2x) rat sera were the sources of protective and non-protective antibody, respectively. We have extended our original analysis by applying two-dimensional gel electrophoresis to resolve total and immunoreactive soluble proteins of the 4-week worms. Total proteins were characterized by silver staining and autoradiography. Radiolabeled protein antigens immunoprecipitated by F-2x and W-2x antisera were compared, and several were shown to be uniquely reactive with the protective immune serum. In a companion molecular approach to clone the candidate vaccine antigens, screening of a γgt11 adult S. mansoni cDNA expression library by the contrasting antisera assay has identified a clone (γ40) producing a fusion protein with epitopes uniquely reactive with F-2x. A rabbit antiserum to the γ40 fusion protein (anti-FP40) reacted with radiolabeled worm proteins in the 20-kDa size range. By 2D gel electrophoretic analysis, we can now demonstrate that anti-FP40 specifically immunoprecipitates most of the members of a multicomponent protein antigen subset 18–22 kDa in Mr, focusing over a pI range of 5.3–5.8, and recognized uniquely by F-2x.
An assessment of various approaches to the interpretation of ion-exchange equilibria

Abstract Various approaches to the interpretation of ion-exchange equilibria have been examined. In these approaches, units of concentration, standard states, reference states, and reference functions employed in the two phases either differ or are the same. In the first instance, useful composition dependent corrections for nonideality are necessarily empirical and do not provide a molecular level understanding of arrangements and interactions between the exchanging ions. The second path, accessible through the employment of Gibbs-Donnan-based logic, provides real insight, on the other hand.
Agro-export specialization and food security in a sub-national context: the case of Colombian cut flowers

Export-oriented development is largely premised on the spread and intensification of non-traditional agricultural exports (NTAEs) destined for northern markets. While developing countries have become leading suppliers of NTAEs, there has been limited attention to the impacts of agro-export specialization on food security at the sub-national scale. This article examines the impact of agro-export specialization on food security in flower-producing municipalities in the savanna of Bogota region in Colombia1. I argue that current trends in domestic food production at the regional and municipal scales and purchasing power of individual households associated with trade liberalization and NTAEs pose a threat to food security at the sub-national scale.
Electrodeposition synthesis and hydrogen absorption properties of nanostructured palladium-iron alloys

Abstract Nanostructured pure Pd and Pd-Fe alloys were created by pulsed electrodeposition. Increasing iron content resulted in grain size refinement. Nanostructured Pd and 7 at.% Fe in Pd experienced grain growth starting at 200°C. In contrast, a 20 at.% Fe in Pd alloy was stable against grain growth to above 300°C, and 30 and 40 at.% Fe in Pd nanoalloys were stable against grain growth to above 400°C. The Pd-Fe nanoalloys did not experience the α→β phase transition when exposed to hydrogen and had fast hydrogen absorption kinetics at room temperature with no activation being necessary.
Basic Skills in Mathematics: A Survey.

Historians will undoubtedly refer to the period of American education that began in the 1970s as the back-to-basics era. This movement is unique in that its impetus was primarily based on the concerns of the lay public, which were effectively expressed by lawmakers and school board members. Professional educators responded to this thrust of public opinion by attempting to identify the essential basic skills that should be taught in Grades 1 through 12. Among the efforts directed to this task in the field of mathematics education was a conference sponsored by the National Institute of Education (NIE) that addressed the issue "What are the basic skills in mathematics?" Also, the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM) issued a position paper that identified 10 basic mathematical skills; lists of basic mathematical skills were generated for school systems in almost every state; and the Board of Directors of the National Council of Teachers of Mathe-
From spectrum to molecule

Theory and Methods of Calculation of Molecular Spectra. By L. A. Gribov and W. J. Orville-Thomas. Wiley: 1988. Pp. 636. $178, £86.
Coselection for resistance to multiple late‐generation human therapeutic antibiotics encoded on tetracycline resistance plasmids captured from uncultivated stream and soil bacteria

Aims Transmissible plasmids captured from stream and soil bacteria conferring resistance to tetracycline in Pseudomonas were evaluated for linked resistance to antibiotics used in the treatment of human infections. Methods and Results Cells released from stream sediments and soils were conjugated with a rifampicin-resistant, plasmid-free Pseudomonas putida recipient and selected on tetracycline and rifampicin. Each transconjugant contained a single 50–80 kb plasmid. Resistance to 11 antibiotics, in addition to tetracycline, was determined for the stream transconjugants using a modification of the Stokes disc diffusion antibiotic susceptibility assay. Nearly half of plasmids conferred resistance to six or more antibiotics. Resistance to streptomycin, gentamicin, and/or ticarcillin was conferred by a majority of the plasmids, and resistance to additional human clinical use antibiotics such as piperacillin/tazobactam, ciprofloxacin and aztreonam was observed. MICs of 16 antibiotics for representative sediment and soil transconjugants revealed large increases, relative to the Ps. putida recipient, for 11 of 16 antibiotics tested, including the expanded spectrum antibiotics cefotaxime and ceftazidime, as well as piperacillin/tazobactam, lomefloxacin and levofloxacin. Conclusions Resistance to multiple antibiotics—including those typically used in clinical Pseudomonas and enterobacterial infections—can be conferred by transmissible plasmids in streams and soils. Significance and Impact of Study Selective pressure exerted by the use of one antibiotic, such as the common agricultural antibiotic tetracycline, may result in the persistence of linked genes conferring resistance to important human clinical antibiotics. This may impact the spread of resistance to human use antibiotics even in the absence of direct selection.
The Designer’s Eye: Ancient Spanish Ballads, Poetry, and the Rise of Decorative Design

In 1841 John Murray published a sumptuously ornamented edition of John Gibson Lockhart’s Ancient Spanish Ballads. Murray’s new edition, printed using the very latest bookmaking technologies and pitched at a readership newly accustomed to paying exorbitant prices for book ornaments and illustrations, was radically different from the first edition of Lockhart’s ballads, which had appeared without accompanying ornament in 1823. Illustrated by the leading illustrators of the day and decorated throughout in multiple colors by the architect Owen Jones (who would go on to become famous as a Superintendent of the Great Exhibition and the author of The Grammar of Ornament), Murray’s edition represents a stunning departure in Victorian printing and a highpoint in mid-Victorian design generally. At the same time, it crystallizes a debate about the nature and application of artistic design that was beginning to emerge in the early years of Victoria’s reign and that would erupt with maximum vigor ten years later in the confrontation between John Ruskin and the South Kensington School. The tension between flat, stylized design and what Ruskin was later to term “truth to nature” is already palpable in the conflict between illustrations and ornaments to Murray’s book. However, it was the involvement of Owen Jones that especially distinguished the volume, as it gave Jones the opportunity to demonstrate in a practical way ideas about design, color, and style that he would theorize fifteen years later in The Grammar of Ornament. Those ideas are especially resonant today, given recent work on the history of the book and the “bibliographic codes” of literature, since the effect of Jones’s work is to expose the textual condition of Lockhart’s poetry itself and to harness the eye as an active constituent in the act of reading. Fifty years before the work of William Morris at the Kelmscott Press, Jones and Murray showed Victorian readers that a printed book might be a thing of real beauty and that poetry, no less than painting or architecture, is dependent on the perceptual structure of its textual vehicle.
Salt effects on the denaturation of DNA

When DNA's of differing GC:AT base ratios, e.g. synthetic poly dAT, T4 DNA,calf thymus DNA, E. coli DNA, and M. lysodeikticus DNA, are heat-denatured at neutral pH in increasing concentrations of N(a)(2)SO(4) or C(s)(2)SO(4) as supporting electrolytes,the variation of melting temperature with average base composition, dT(m)/dX(G)(C), changes from 45°C (in 0.002M Na) to ll°C (in 4.5M Na) and from 42°C (in 0.002M Cs) to 3°C(in 4.5M Cs). The decrease of dT(m)/dX(G)(C) is a monotonic function of decreasing water activity in the salt solutions. We interpret this decreased composition dependence of the thermal stability of the various DNA's as being due to a destabilization of the GC base pairs relative to the AT base pairs by the concentrated salt media. A simple quantitative treatment shows that k = 8GC/SAT decreases from a value of 4.14 (in 0.01MN(a)) to 1.86 (in 3M Na) and from 4.18 (in 0.01M Cs) to 1.42 (in 3M Cs). SAT is the equilibrium constant for the formation of a hydrogen-bonded AT base pair from a pair of unbonded bases at the junction between a helical region and a denatured region and SGC is the like constant for the formation of a GC base pair. These results corroborate our previous findings of a strongly reduced composition dependence of the negative logarithm of the methylmercuric hydroxide concentration necessary to produce 50% denaturation when the helix-coil transition of DNA is studied in concentrated Cs(s)SO(4)(ultracentrifugation) instead of in dilute N(a)(2)SO(4) (ultraviolet spectrophotometry).
Regression of Nifedipine-Induced Gingival Hyperplasia Following Switch to a Same Class Calcium Channel Blocker, Isradipine

Patients with nifedipine-induced gingival hyperplasia (GH) often require continued calcium channel blocker therapy. Switches to diltiazem and verapamil have been described; however, these drugs are of a different chemical class and present therapeutic limitations in some patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect on nifedipine-induced GH of a switch to a dihydropyridine derivative with a low incidence of GH. Fourteen patients with nifedipine-induced GH were given a medical exam and a periodontal exam. The following parameters were assessed: probing depth (PD), gingival margin (GM), gingival thickness (GT), plaque index (PI), and gingival index (GI). Intraoral photographs, study models, and a gingival biopsy for histological examination were taken. Following baseline measures, patients were randomized to continued treatment with nifedipine or an equivalent dose of isradipine in a single-blind fashion. Biweekly periodontal parameters were taken for 8 weeks. At the end of 8 weeks, some patients elected to receive 4 weeks of open label isradipine therapy, with biweekly examination continuing through the open label phase. The isradipine treatment arm showed a mean decrease in PD of 0.59 mm at week 8 (P < 0.05). No other measured parameter (GM, GT, PI, GI) was significantly changed, compared either to baseline or to the alternate treatment arm. Clinically, 60% of patients treated with isradipine exhibited a decrease in hyperplasia, while 66% of patients treated with nifedipine demonstrated an increase in hyperplasia, a significant difference (P < 0.05). When combined with open label data, patients switching therapy to isradipine exhibited an increase in GM (increase in recession) of 0.74 mm from baseline to week 12 (P < 0.05). No patients treated with isradipine exhibited an increase in gingival overgrowth. All patients exhibited adequate control of hypertension. We conclude that in hypertensive patients with nifedipine-induced GH, switching hypertensive therapy to isradipine may result in a regression of GH. When coupled with aggressive oral hygiene treatment, this drug may provide a reasonable option for patients requiring dihydropyridine treatment.
The relevance of developmental and psychodynamic concepts to the education of the preschool child.

The preparation of this paper has been prompted by the unprecedented concentration of energy and resources, at the federal level, on the welfare of the preschool child. The Head Start program, as part of the Community Action Program under the auspices of the Office of Economic Opportunity, simultaneously involves finding locales, enlisting and training personnel, providing guidelines for operation, and initiating evaluation of outcomes. The educational aspect of this program, apart from its health and welfare components, had a precursor of long standing in the nursery school movement which was almost completely independent of the system of public education. For many reasons, at the time of the initiation of the Head Start program, there was only ancillary interest in the extant operational experience in preschool education or in its rationale with respect to learning and personality development. Yet, preschool education has had a vital life history that can be traced back over at least fifty years to pioneers like Harriet Johnson (1928) and Susan Isaacs (l930). Through these years, preschool educators have been receptive to the major advances in knowledge of human behavior and have taken responsibility for relating their practice to the theories advanced about the growth and development of the child in his earliest years (Read, 1950). This paper wiII attempt to present the essential components of a psychological rationale for preschool education, in the hope that such a theoretical overview will provide protection against the estab-
Cartilage abnormalities associated with defects of chondrocytic primary cilia in Bardet-Biedl syndrome mutant mice

Primary cilia are found on nearly every mammalian cell, including osteocytes, fibroblasts, and chondrocytes. However, the functions of primary cilia have not been extensively studied in these cells, particularly chondrocytes. Interestingly, defects in the primary cilium result in skeletal defects such as polydactyly in Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS), a ciliary disorder that also results in obesity, retinopathy, and cognitive impairments. Wild-type mice and mutant mice of the ciliary proteins Bbs1, Bbs2, and Bbs6 were evaluated with respect to histological and biochemical differences in chondrocytes from articular cartilage and xiphoid processes. Using immunofluorescence microscopy, chondrocytic cilia were visualized from the load-bearing joints and non-load-bearing xiphoid processes. Significant differences in ciliary morphology were not identified between mutant and wild-type mice. However, after expanding chondrocytes in cell culture and implanting them in solid agarose matrix, it was seen that the fraction of ciliated cells in cultures from mutant mice was significantly lower than in the wild-type cultures (p < 0.05). In addition, in Safranin-O-stained whole joint sections, Bbs mutant mice had significantly lower articular joint thickness (p < 0.05) and lower proteoglycan content saturation (p < 0.05) than wild-type mice. Moreover, there were statistically significant differences of cell distribution between Bbs mutant and wild-type mice (p < 0.05), indicating that mutant articular cartilage had changes consistent with early signs of osteoarthritis. These data indicate that Bbs genes and their functions in the chondrocytic primary cilium are important for normal articular cartilage maintenance.
LEARNED STABILIZATION OF CARDIAC RATE

Human subjects learned to reduce cardiac-rate variability when a visual display provided synchronous feedback of their own heart rate. The increased stability was unaccompanied by significant changes in average heart rate, and was relatively unrelated to respiration changes.
The coupled states approximation for scattering of two diatoms

The paper presents a detailed development of the coupled-states approximation for the general case of two colliding diatomic molecules. The high-energy limit of the exact Lippman-Schwinger equation is applied, and the analysis follows the Shimoni and Kouri (1977) treatment of atom-diatom collisions where the coupled rotor angular momentum and projection replace the single diatom angular momentum and projection. Parallels to the expression for the differential scattering amplitude, the opacity function, and the nondiagonality of the T matrix are reported. Symmetrized expressions and symmetrized coupled equations are derived. The present correctly labeled coupled-states theory is tested by comparing its calculated results with other computed results for three cases: H2-H2 collisions, ortho-para H2-H2 scattering, and H2-HCl.
An Agent-based Architecture for Concurrent Engineering

This paper describes a reference architecture for a concurrent engineering environment. The architecture embeds applications in wrappers to treat the applications as individual reasoning agents. Embedded applications have included planning, vision, simulation, and robotic control modules. These agents negotiate from various perspectives to arrive at globally acceptable solutions. The agents transmit information and negotiate using a canonical vocabulary based upon an international standard for data exchange. Because our implementation of the architecture explicitly considers real-world issues, such as heterogeneous systems, distributed processing, faults, meeting real-time deadlines, and communication delays, the implementation of architecture facilitates rapid transferral from laboratory experiments to field systems.
Mechanistic study of bleach-imaged plasmon propagation (BlIPP).

Bleach-imaged plasmon propagation, BlIPP, is a far-field microscopy technique developed to characterize the propagation length of surface plasmon polaritons in metallic waveguides. To correctly extract the propagation length from the measured photobleach intensity, it is necessary to understand the mechanism by which dye photobleaching occurs. In particular, 1- vs 2-photon bleaching reactions yield different propagation lengths based on a kinetic model for BlIPP. Because a number of studies have reported on the importance of 2-photon processes for dye photobleaching, we investigate here the nature of the photobleaching step in BlIPP. We are able to demonstrate that only 1-photon absorption is relevant for typical BlIPP conditions as tested here for a thin film of indocyanine green fluorescent dye molecules coated over gold nanowires and excited at a wavelength of 785 nm. These results are obtained by directly measuring the excitation intensity dependence of the photobleaching rate constant of the dye in t...
An adaptive solution domain algorithm for solving multiphase flow equations

Abstract An adaptive solution domain (ASD) finite-element model for simulating hydrocarbon spills has been developed that is computationally more efficient than conventional numerical methods. Coupled flow of water and oil with an air phase at constant pressure is considered. In the ASD formulation, the solution domain for water- and oil-flow equations is restricted by eliminating elements from the global matrix assembly which are not experiencing significant changes in fluid saturations or pressures. When any nodes of an element exhibit changes in fluid pressures more than a stipulated tolerance τ, or changes in fluid saturations greater than tolerance τ 2 during the current time step, it is labeled active and included in the computations for the next iteration. This formulation achieves computational efficiency by solving the flow equations for only the part of the domain where changes in fluid pressure or the saturations take place above stipulated tolerances. Examples involving infiltration and redistribution of oil in 1- and 2-D spatial domains are described to illustrate the application of the ASD method and the savings in the processor time achieved by this formulation. Savings in the computational effort up to 84% during infiltration and 63% during redistribution were achieved for the 2-D example problem.
Evaluation and congress

Despite constraints and obstacles, evaluators have opportunities and ways to increase the use of evaluation findings in legislative decisions.
Comments, with reply, on "On the relation between current pulses and discharges" by M.I. Qureshi and W.G. Chadband

The commenters examine the existence of a correlation between conduction current pulses and the growth of discrete prebreakdown streamers in DC stressed dielectric liquids. It is their contention that the apparent radial dominance in streamer propagation seen by M.I. Qureshi and W.G. Chadband (see ibid., vol.23, p.715-722, Aug. 1988) results from the small 2-mm gap spacing used in their work. They believe that the most probable cause of this characteristic is that streamers that propagate directly into the gap, and hence approach the grounded electrode, invariably terminate in breakdown. The authors reply that the thrust of their paper was to establish that within experimental limits all significant current pulses produced an accompanying shadow picture. In this way burst current work conducted by one author related to pulsed shadowgraph work by the other. >
High Temperature Extrusion Effects on Protein Solubility and Distribution in Navy and Pinto Beans

Osborne protein solubility fractionation and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) showed changes in protein distribution during high temperature extrusion of pinto and navy bean high starch fraction (HSF). A high degree of protein insolubility was found after extrusion, which resulted in a decrease in solubility of albumin and globulin fractions and an increase in the residue. An extrusion temperature of 110°C had a greater effect on solubility of albumin and globulin fractions of pinto than navy bean. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-PAGE showed more changes in subunit patterns of albumin and globulin for pinto than for navy beans at 110°C. Higher temperatures of 135 and 150°C caused greater changes in gel electrophoretic patterns of albumin and globulin fractions of navy beans.
A small-scale test of the species-energy hypothesis in a southern California estuary

Theoretical predictions of a direct positive association between productivity and diversity (P/D) have received considerable empirical support in marine systems, although this relationship tends to break down at smaller scales (< 25 km). Another theory commonly advanced in terrestrial systems, the species-energy hypothesis (SEH), relates productivity (= energy) to diversity indirectly through an increase in population abundances, which then reduces the likelihood of localized extinction and therefore enhances richness. The SEH has been supported on both global and local scales but has not been experimentally tested in estuarine systems or at the scale of a patch. We tested whether the predictions of the SEH (increased abundance and diversity) or the P/D hypothesis (increased diversity, no predictions for abundance) described the relationship between macroalgal productivity and the abundance and diversity of infauna and site-attached epifauna (hereafter macrofauna) and the microphytobenthos (MPB) in an estuarine benthic community. We conducted a single-factor experiment comparing the effects over time of three treatments comprised of two levels of macroalgae as an added energy source and a plastic mimic as a control that provided structure and habitat but no energy. Contrary to predictions of both the SEH and the P/D hypothesis, there were no measurable differences in taxonomic richness among treatments. However, in partial support of the SEH, we found that total macrofaunal abundance was 50% higher in both macroalgal treatments compared to the mimic and these were largely comprised of detritivores such as spionid polychaetes and oligochaetes. Phaeopigments increased in macroalgal plots but not the mimic, suggesting that added productivity decomposed, supplying more food for detritivores. As this taxonomic group is present in all plots, although in differing abundances, increasing energy flow through this pathway did not enhance taxonomic richness. Macroalgae stimulated the MPB (measured as chl a) more than did the mimic, and elevated chl b in macroalgal treatments indicated the increase was due to sporeling green macroalgae. However, benthic diatoms and dinoflagellates (estimated from chl c) were not affected by treatment. Thus, we found that at the patch level, neither the SEH nor the P/D hypothesis predicted patterns of diversity for estuarine macrofauna; rather, in this system, increased productivity simply supported higher abundances within the same taxonomic groups that occurred at all productivity levels.
Members of the Alu family of interspersed, repetitive DNA sequences are in the small circular DNA population of monkey cells grown in culture.

Small, polydisperse circular DNA isolated from the BSC-1 line of African Green Monkey kidney cells was shown, by cross hybridization with an Alu repetitive DNA probe, to contain sequences homologous to the Alu family of mobile, dispersed repetitive DNA sequences. The circular nature of these molecules was demonstrated by two independent techniques. In addition Alu sequences were detected in a bank of cloned spc-DNA. The nucleotide sequence for one of these clones was determined and found to be homologous to 83% of a human Alu consensus sequence. The absence of short direct repeats, which usually flank Alu repetitive DNA sequence elements, is consistent with a variety of models in which Alu -containing spc-DNAs represent intermediates in the movement of Alu -dispersed genetic elements between chromosomal sites.
Benefits of Long-Term Fibromyalgia Syndrome Treatment with a Multidisciplinary Program

Objectives: To systematically assess the effectiveness of a combination of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic long-term treatment interventions for the fibromyalgia syndrome [FMS].Methods: Participants involved in an outpatient, one year, multidisciplinary treatment program within a health care setting were studied. After being screened for eligibility, participants in the treatment sample took part in combined standard pharmacologic treatment and non-pharmacologic treatment [including cognitive behavioral therapy/psychoeducational classes, exercise, massage, auricular therapy, microcurrent therapy, and nutritional counseling] in a case controlled manner. A control sample received standard medical care in a rheumatologist's office. Pre- versus post-treatment outcome variables of psychological symptoms and personality features, as measured by the Multiaxial Diagnostic Inventory–Revised, overall impact of FMS as measured by the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, overall health status as measured by the Shor...
Measuring Effectiveness in Citizens' Participation Organizations: An Exploratory Study.

The authors reviewed theories of organization effectiveness, proposed a multivariate model, and empirically tested determinants of effectiveness of local school citizens' participation organizations with respondents in a metropolitan public school system. The results suggest that resource acquisition and internal process effectiveness in citizens' groups are inversely correlated with the perceived need for improvement in student achievement and the quality of life in the local school. Limitations of the research are discussed.
Consequences of a potential-dependent transfer coefficient in ac voltammetry and in coupled electron–proton transfer for attached redox couples

Abstract The Marcus density-of-states model for simple electron transfer predicts that the transfer coefficient is dependent on overpotential. The nature of the potential dependence is a function of the reorganization energies associated with oxidation and reduction processes. A fifth-order polynomial expression accurately yields the potential dependence of the transfer coefficient and the resulting curved Tafel plots. With this polynomial expression, the effects of the potential-dependent transfer coefficient are examined for two cases, ac voltammetry of an attached redox molecule with simple electron transfer and the kinetic behavior of the 1-electron/1-proton redox system. Simulations of ac voltammograms indicate that the effects are minor and that ac voltammetry is poorly suited for determination of the reorganization energy of the redox molecule. In the coupled electron–proton redox case, the effects are marked. As expected, the apparent standard rate constant decreases dramatically at pH values between the pKa values of the two oxidation states. More surprisingly, the simulated Tafel plots exhibit asymmetry between the anodic and cathodic branches depending on the pH. The path of electron transfer from the oxidized to the reduced species (electron–proton or proton–electron) at a fixed pH depends on the electrode potential.
RESPONSE OF FASTED AND NONFASTED CHICKS TO INSULIN12

OLDEN AND LONG have pointed out in a recent paper (i) that the chick has become a standard laboratory animal and that it is highly desirable to know whether chicks can be compared to mammals as test animals. Too little work has been done, particularly in the field of carbohydrate metabolism, for comparisons to be drawn between birds and mammals at this time. Due to the insistence of early investigators, the avian species have been tagged as being ‘insulin resistant’ without qualifying the nature of this resistance. This idea undoubtedly has discouraged extensive research on the carbohydrate metabolism of birds. Actually, the fact that avian species can withstand huge doses of insulin makes them more interesting, and the results possibly more informative. Two inadequacies are apparent in the literature. The effect of neither large nor small doses of insulin has been followed beyond the first few hours.