cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Character of a wheat amylase inhibitor preparation and effects on fasting human pancreaticobiliary secretions and hormones

Abstract BACKGROUND & AIMS: Amylase inhibition induces carbohydrate tolerance, satiety, and weight loss and prolongs gastric emptying, effects that may be useful in the treatment of obesity and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to determine (1) purity of a wheat amylase inhibitor preparation, (2) intraduodenal concentration of the wheat amylase inhibitor preparation that inhibits > 90% amylase activity (which causes carbohydrate malabsorption), and (3) if the inhibitor alters pancreaticobiliary secretions or intraluminal pH. METHODS: High-performance liquid chromatography followed by electrophoresis and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis were used for characterization. Groups of 3 subjects received intraduodenal infusions of 3.0, 4.5, or 6.0 mg/mL of the inhibitor for 90 minutes during the middle of a 270-minute essential amino acid solution infusion (which stimulates 50% maximal pancreatic enzyme secretion). Pancreatic enzyme and bile acid delivery to the duodenum were measured for a 270-minute period. RESULTS: The inhibitor is 96% protein, 59% containing 0.19, 0.28, 0.38, and 0.53 inhibitors. The 0.38 inhibitor has the most antipancreatic alpha-amylase activity. The inhibitor reduced amylase activity in the duodenum dose dependently (r = 0.7; P=0.04); > 4 mg/mL inhibited > 90% amylase activity but did not affect delivery of other enzymes or bile acids to the duodenum or gastric or duodenal pH. CONCLUSIONS: The preparation has a high protein purity and a high specific activity against alpha-amylase activity and effectively inhibits human pancreatic amylase activity secreted into the duodenum. (Gastroenterology 1996 Nov;111(5):1313-20)
Molecular imaging of labile iron(II) pools in living cells with a turn-on fluorescent probe.

Iron is an essential metal for living organisms, but misregulation of its homeostasis at the cellular level can trigger detrimental oxidative and/or nitrosative stress and damage events. Motivated to help study the physiological and pathological consequences of biological iron regulation, we now report a reaction-based strategy for monitoring labile Fe2+ pools in aqueous solution and living cells. Iron Probe 1 (IP1) exploits a bioinspired, iron-mediated oxidative C–O bond cleavage reaction to achieve a selective turn-on response to Fe2+ over a range of cellular metal ions in their bioavailable forms. We show that this first-generation chemical tool for fluorescence Fe2+ detection can visualize changes in exchangeable iron stores in living cells upon iron supplementation or depletion, including labile iron pools at endogenous, basal levels. Moreover, IP1 can be used to identify reversible expansion of labile iron pools by stimulation with vitamin C or the iron regulatory hormone hepcidin, providing a start...
Distinguishing Pancreatic Cancer from Autoimmune Pancreatitis

Both autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) and pancreatic cancer frequently present with obstructive jaundice. However, AIP is a rare disease and its diagnosis carries vastly different therapeutic and prognostic implications compared with that of pancreatic cancer. The clinical challenge is to distinguish AIP from pancreatic cancer, because the price of misdiagnosis can be heavy. Recently, two strategies for differentiating AIP from pancreatic cancer were published, one from Japan and the other from the United States. The Japanese strategy relies on cross-sectional imaging, endoscopic retrograde pancreatogram, and serum IgG4. The American strategy uses imaging (CT scan), serology (serum IgG4), and evidence of other organ involvement (on CT scan) as the first tier of tests. If the differentiation cannot be made by these methods, a core biopsy of the pancreas, steroid trial, or surgical resection is recommended. The two strategies reflect differences in clinical practice and local preferences in the use of certain diagnostic tests. However, both strategies require thorough familiarity with the diseases and the tests being used.
Thwarted voters at the 2000 US presidential election

Abstract This article examines the behavior at the 2000 US presidential election of the self-described Democrats who, prior to the election but after the candidates were nominated, preferred Bill Bradley to Al Gore, as well as of the Republicans who had a higher opinion of John McCain than they did of George W. Bush. These “thwarted voters” are examined with regard to turnout, candidate choice, and motivations, and they are compared on these dimensions with thwarted voters at earlier US presidential elections. Attention is given to estimating the extent to which their behavior in 2000 was critical for the popular vote totals, and counterfactual analysis is employed to estimate the probable effects on the election’s outcome of marginal alterations in the voters’ perceptions of the candidates’ attributes.
On steady motions of isotropic, elastic Cosserat points

In this paper, a certain class of steady motions of compressible and incompressible isotropic, elastic Cosserat points are examined. We define such a motion as a triad of deformed vectors undergoing a fixed axis rotation at constant angular velocity. We strengthen and extend the results of Cohen, Lewis, Mac Sithigh, Muncaster and Simo, which employ the related theory of a pseudo-rigid body, by proving that the motions they studied encompass the entire class of steady motions which we define. Several new results are established for the steady motions of incompressible Cosserat points which include criteria for the existence of steady motions for all possible values of either an angular momentum or an angular velocity. In the context of neo-Hookean and Mooney-Rivlin Cosserat points, we present and compare the results of two distinct parametrizations (one based on angular velocity, the other based on angular momentum) of the steady motions, and show that these motions are non-existent for a range of angular velocities. Furthermore, the qualitative similarity between the steady motions of certain compressible and incompressible Cosserat points is discussed. The results of this paper can be interpreted in the context of the theory of a pseudo-rigid body.
Neurohypophyseal hormones and behavior: effects of intracerebroventricularly injected hormone analogs in mice.

Abstract Neurohypophyseal hormones evoke spontaneous behavioral changes in mice. This study compares the potency of four naturally occuring neurohypophyseal hormones and of ten analogs with amino acid residue replacements selected in such a manner as to cover each residue position of the hormones with the exception of the cystine residue. Peptides were administered intraventricularly and the sum of foraging, scratching and squeaking, recorded at 30 second intervals during a 30 min session, was measured as a function of peptide dose. The most potent group of peptides is represented by the neurohypophyseal hormones as well as the five analogs [Hly 8 ] vasopressin, [Δ 3 -Pro 7 ]AVP, [Thi 3 ]LVP, [Abu 4 ]AVP and [Abu 4 ]LVP. [Leu 4 ]LVP showed significant activity but was far less potent than the natural hormones. None of the remaining analogs enhanced activity with an increase in peptide dose. This group included both peptides with C-terminal modifications and those in which the tyrosine (position 2) or the asparagine residue (position 5) of the hormones were substituted by alanine. The neurohypophyseal hormone-induced behavioral results of this study reveal a structure-function relationship, which is in its most important conclusions, identical to the conformation-activity model proposed for endocrine activities of neurohypophyseal peptides.
Sub-pixel compounding from elasticity imaging data

Sub-pixel compounding is a technique that synthesizes the information of an image sequence to form a betterresolved and speckle reduced image. To avoid extra data acquisition time and patient exposure, reuse of the existing data is highly desired. In elasticity imaging, a set of images with slight changes due to deformation is produced, which provides an ideal input for the sub-pixel compounding process. In this paper, a brief review of the resolution enhancement techniques in ultrasound imaging will be provided, and then, a diffusion-regularized, least square approach is presented for sub-pixel compounding image reconstruction. Based on the results, we suggest that (1) B-mode images from elastic imaging are suitable data for sub-pixel compounding and a speckle noise reduced higher-resolution image is a co-product of elasticity imaging; (2) for breast diagnosis, resolution improvement is of strong interest since better depiction of the interior and exterior structures of a tumor provides important detection and diagnostic information; (3) a similar approach could be extended to elasticity imaging with other modalities.
Studying Davydov's ODE model of wave motion in α-helix protein using exactly energy-momentum conserving discretizations for Hamiltonian systems

Abstract: Davydov's modeling of long-range energetic pulse propagation in @a-helix protein started with an exciton-phonon ODE system and proceeded to the integrable nonlinear Schrodinger (NLS) equation in the limit of both large pulse width relative to amino acid spacing and high characteristic speed of the ''phonon'' terms. Soliton solutions of NLS have then been used to propose a mechanism for coherent long-range propagation of energetic pulses in such proteins. Here ODE models are studied directly, in particular a simplification that considers only coordination bond coupling parallel to the helix axis, discounting interactions along the molecular backbone. The time discretization is constructed by a new method based on discretizing the Hamiltonian using a finite difference calculus for gradients, which ensures exact conservation of both the Hamiltonian and all quadratic and linear conserved quantities, and allows a simple, highly stable iterative method for solving the resulting implicit system. The simulation results show that as the parameters get further from the continuum limit regime, substantial changes occur in the solution form. For characteristic phonon speed drops below the characteristic speed of the exciton equation, the main exciton pulse slows and narrows, and other faster exciton pulses appear with speeds related to the characteristic phonon speed. This suggests that more careful simulation studies are needed, based on Scott's full model or further refinements.
Carbazole Sorption by Surface and Subsurface Materials: Influence of Sorbent and Solvent Properties

Sorption of 9H-carbazole was investigated from aqueous and co-solvent solutions on soils with different physical and chemical properties. Sorption was nonlinear, but well correlated to the organic carbon (OC) content of the soils. The variability of the Freundlich adsorption constant (K f ), normalized to OC (K oc f ) is small between A horizons of two Mollisols and two Ultisols but increases to about 0.8 log units between C horizons of the Mollisols and Ultisols. (…)
A case of system-wide power management for scientific applications

The advance of high-performance computing systems towards exascale will be constrained by the systems' energy consumption levels. Large numbers of processing components, memory, interconnects, and storage components must all be considered to achieve exascale performance within a targeted energy bound. While application-aware power allocation schemes for computing resources are well studied, a portable and scalable budget-constrained power management scheme for scientific applications on exascale systems is still required. Execution activities within scientific applications can be categorized as CPU-bound, I/O-bound and communication-bound. Such activities tend to be clustered into `phases', offering opportunities to manage their power consumption separately. Our experiments have demonstrated that their performance and energy consumption are affected differently by CPU frequency, an opportunity to fine tune CPU frequency for a minimal impact on the total execution time but significant savings on the energy consumption. By exploiting this opportunity, we present a phase-aware hierarchical power management framework that can opportunistically deliver good tradeoffs between system power consumption and application performance under a power budget. Our hierarchical power management framework consists of two main techniques: Phase-Aware CPU Frequency Scaling (PAFS) and opportunistic provisioning for power-constrained performance optimization. We have performed a systematic evaluation using both simulations and representative scientific applications on real systems. Our results show that our techniques can achieve 4.3%-17% better energy efficiency for large-scale scientific applications.
Incoherent Scattering and Electron Transport in Metal-Ammonia Solutions. I

Abstract : Electron transport is considered in the metallic range of metal-ammonia solutions; the scattering centers are (i) ions and ammonia dipoles weakly bound in solvated ion complexes, and (ii) free ammonia dipoles. They form a binary liquid mixture but only one of the three possible partial structure factors is required. From the orientational degrees of freedom of the dipoles it can be shown that much of the scattering is incoherent. This, combined with the observation that solvated ions are relatively weak scatterers, accounts in large measure for the high conductivities measured in metal-ammonia solutions. (Author)
Shape of neutron yield from the 7Li(p, n)7Be reaction near threshold and threshold energy determination

Abstract Thick-target experimental yield data from the 7 Li(p, n) 7 Be threshold reaction are compared to yield curves computed by Monte Carlo techniques. A good fit is obtained which indicates that the yield rises faster above threshold than is expected when discrete energy losses experienced by protons in the target are ignored. Threshold energies determined by extrapolation of two-thirds power yield data are shown to be more than 150 eV below the true threshold. A table of the calculated, relative yield is included for use in locating threshold on experimental data.
Submarine basaltic volcanism: Morphometric parameters for discriminating hyaloclastites from hyalotuffs

Hyaloclastites are volcaniclastic rocks generated by non-explosive granulation of volcanic glass which takes place when basaltic magmas are quenched by contact with water; hyaloclastites are common products of deep submarine basaltic central volcanoes (seamounts and guyots). We suggested (Honnorlz, 1966) calling hyalotuffs the actual pyroclastic rocks which are generated by phreatomagmatic and phreatic explosions taking place when basaltic volcanoes crupt in shallow waters; hyalotuffs are restricted to shallow subaqueous conditions since no volcanic explosion can occur in deep seas. The distinction between hyaloclastites and hyalotuffs is therefore a useful tool when reconstructing the paleogeography of ancient submarine volcanic edifices and the mechanism by which their lavas were emplaced. We propose using two sets of morphometric parameters to discriminate the hyaloclastites from the hyalotuffs. The granules making up these two volcaniclastic rock types plot in different areas of either 1) a ternary diagram the apexes of which represent the grain planarity (P), convexity (V) and concavity (C) % («roundness» according to Szadeczky-Kardoss); or 2) a binary diagram relating the number of grain corners (N) to their planarity (P) %.
Research Note: Performance of Leghorn Type Hens Fed Two Levels of Energy and a Synthetic Estrogen During the Growing Period

Feeding of an estrogen, dienestrol diacetate, at 352 mg/kg of diet to December-hatched White Leghorn type pullets, from 16 to 20 wk of age, caused onset of production to be delayed approximately 3 wk. The dietary dienestrol diacetate also resulted in increased body weights at 30 and 46 wk in one experiment. Hens receiving the estrogen laid significantly (P less than .05) heavier but fewer eggs during most of the production year than did those fed diets without the estrogenic compound. The addition of 2.2% fat to diets of pullets from 0 to 20 wk of age failed to influence their performance in the layer house.
Firefighting Acutely Increases Airway Responsiveness

The acute effects of the products of combustion and pyrolysis on airway responsiveness among firefighters are poorly documented. To study this relationship, spirometry and methacholine challenge testing (MCT) were performed on 18 active Seattle firefighters before and 5 to 24 h after firefighting. Body plethysmography was used to measure changes in specific airway conductance (SGaw), and results of MCT were analyzed using PD35-SGaw, the cumulative dose causing a 35% decrease in SGaw. Subjects who did not react by the end of the protocol were assigned a value of 640 inhalational units, the largest cumulative dose. Fire exposure was defined as the total time (hours) spent without a self-contained breathing apparatus at the firesite and was categorized as mild (less than 1 h, n = 7), moderate (1 to 2 h, n = 5), or severe (greater than 2 h, n = 6). Mean age of the 18 firefighters was 36.7 +/- 6.7 yr (range, 25 to 51), with a mean of 9.1 +/- 7.9 active years in the trade (range, zero to 22). None was known to be asthmatic. After firefighting, FEV1 % predicted (%pred) and FEF25-75 %pred significantly decreased by means of 3.4 +/- 1.1% and 5.6 +/- 2.6%, respectively. The mean decline in PD35-SGaw after firefighting was 184.5 +/- 53.2 units (p = 0.003). This observed decline in PD35-SGaw could not be explained by decrements in prechallenge SGaw, FEV1, or FVC.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The inside dope: cocaine, condoms, and computed tomography

With the publication of the article by Hierholzer et al. in this issue [1], Abdominal Imaging, formerly entitled Gastrointestinal Radiology, again recognizes the international smuggling of drugs by using the gastrointestinal tract of couriers and the contribution of imaging studies to their detection [2, 3]. These investigators propose appropriate uses of ultrasonography and conventional radiography. On plain films, the shape [3-5] and the "double condom sign" [1, 3, 4] are useful diagnostic characteristics, but it is important to note that the density of the ingested packet is variable and is determined by the type of wrapping material used, ranging from densely radiopaque aluminum foil [5] to radiolucent wax [1], as well as the manner in which the cocaine is prepared and packed [3]. Evaluation of the characteristic findings of cocaine-laden packets in vivo by computed tomography has been apparently previously unreported. Such a rare opportunity, however, was encountered fortuitously in January 1990 when Avianca Flight 52 from Columbia crashed on the north shore of Long Island, just 15 miles short of New York's Kennedy International Airport. The Bogota-to-New York f l ight -particularly the one that stops in the drug-smuggling capital of Mede l l i n -used to be known among federal agents as "Ai r Cocaine" because of the number of low-level smugglers who had been caught on it. One of the survivors of this crash, a drug courier of the type known as a " m u l e " or "body packer ," surprised hospital staff by passing a series of packed condoms into a bedpan. An abdominal radiograph (Fig. 1) followed by a CT study (Fig. 2) for evaluation of internal injuries demonstrated the distinctive features of ad-
Open quiz: Case report 806

Fig. 1 A-C. Chronological radiographic sequences of the fight fifth metacarpal bone during the different stages of disease. A lyric and expansile lesion within the medullary canal is seen (A, C). After treatment, a sclerosing reparative pattern is present (B) of fracture or cortical interruption. A subchondral location was noted. Enchondroma was the clinical and radiographic diagnosis. Extensive curettage of the medullary canal was performed, after which the cavity was packed with a cancellous bone graft obtained f rom the right iliac crest. During the curettage a thick fluidlike material was observed, and the bone fragments obtained were submitted for histological analysis. A radiological study performed 3 months later revealed a trabecular, sclerosing reparative pat tern (Fig. 1 B). Three years later, in January 1992, a new roentgenogram disclosed an expansile lytic lesion in the same anatomical zone, very similar radiographically to the original lesion (Fig. 1 C). Curettage was performed at that time. Periodic skeletal surveys were unremarkable except for the findings in the hand.
P04.15. Patient perspectives on provider communication, self-management, and alternative medicine in conventional and naturopathic diabetes care

Methods As part of an ongoing, mixed-method study of type 2 diabetes care, a survey was administered to patients of medical internists (MDs) and naturopathic physicians (NDs) from two conventional medical centers (VA and a teaching hospital), and a naturopathic teaching clinic and private naturopathic clinics in Portland, Oregon. Using previously validated scales, we measured patients’ ratings of their providers’ participatory decision-making, their providers’ communication style, their understanding of diabetes self-care and adherence to specific self-care activities (self-management), and CAM use, attitudes, and beliefs.
IronFleet: proving practical distributed systems correct

Distributed systems are notorious for harboring subtle bugs. Verification can, in principle, eliminate these bugs a priori, but verification has historically been difficult to apply at full-program scale, much less distributed-system scale.We describe a methodology for building practical and provably correct distributed systems based on a unique blend of TLA-style state-machine refinement and Hoare-logic verification. We demonstrate the methodology on a complex implementation of a Paxos-based replicated state machine library and a lease-based sharded key-value store. We prove that each obeys a concise safety specification, as well as desirable liveness requirements. Each implementation achieves performance competitive with a reference system. With our methodology and lessons learned, we aim to raise the standard for distributed systems from "tested" to "correct."
Direct Visualization of Collective Wavepacket Dynamics

Direct spatiotemporal imaging of optic phonon−polariton wavepackets in polar crystals is demonstrated experimentally and described theoretically. Spatiotemporal imaging permits monitoring of wavepackets as they move through host samples at lightlike speeds. Different imaging methods may be used optimally for wavepackets with different spatial distributions, including spatially periodic or nonperiodic wavepackets. Spatiotemporal imaging holds particular promise for coherent phonon−polariton wavepacket control using spatiotemporal femtosecond pulse shaping.
The usefulness of glucagon hydrochloride for colonic distention in CT colonography.

The purpose of this study was to compare colonic distention with and without glucagon hydrochloride during CT colonography.CT colonography using single breath-hold, thin-section helical technique was performed on 60 patients who were in the supine and prone positions. Magnesium citrate and polyethylene glycol were used for bowel preparation. Colonic air insufflation averaged 30 bulb compressions. Thirty-three patients received IV glucagon (1 mg), and 27 patients did not. The colon was divided into eight segments, and the adequacy of the distention of each segment was evaluated. Overall colonic distention scores, defined as the number of inadequately distended segments (0-8), were recorded for the supine, prone, and combined positions. In the combined position, inadequate distention was defined as identical segments that were inadequately distended in both positions.A total of 960 segments were evaluated: 528 segments in the glucagon group and 432 segments in the nonglucagon group. In the glucagon group, 4...
Business to business: Lessons on segmentation and other issues from financial services markets

The aim of this paper is to provide business-to-customer financial services companies with an insight into the relevance of business-to-business segmentation for their companies. The whole area of understanding customers is being turned upside down by rapidly developing new patterns of intermediation, so almost paradoxically there is a much stronger focus today on ‘doing what works’ and ‘doing what is profitable’, rather than trying to optimise. Customers, whether final or intermediary, are simply changing too rapidly to permit the old stable analyses.
Assessing public exposure to silver-contaminated groundwater from lead-free solder: an upper bound, risk-based approach

The paper summarizes the results of a study to assess the potential human health risk associated with exposure to silver-contaminated groundwater from lead-free solder leachate. The specific alloy investigated is 96.3Sn/3.2Ag/0.7Cu. Silver transport in the groundwater is modeled using a one-dimensional advection-dispersion equation, and worst-case values for all system parameters have been chosen to provide a preliminary upper bound on potential human health risk. Worst-case assumptions include high infiltration and leakage rates, high leachate silver concentration and a short distance to nearby drinking wells. Results show that in the worst-case scenario, silver concentrations may exceed drinking water standards at nearby wells after roughly 100 years. When more typical system parameters are employed, results show that silver concentrations at nearby wells may not ever exceed drinking water standards. This study therefore provides insight into the potential magnitude of human health risks associated with lead-free solder leachates. More detailed analyses are recommended to quantify potential health risks for specific populations and site conditions.
The swarm at the edge of the cloud - A new perspective on wireless

Mobile devices such as laptops, netbooks, tablets, smart phones and game consoles have become our de facto interface to the vast amount of information delivery and processing capabilities of the cloud. The move to mobility has been enabled by the dual forces of ubiquitous wireless connectivity combined with the increasing energy efficiency offered by Moore's law.
Heuristic clustering with secured routing in Heterogeneous Sensor Networks

Heterogeneous Sensor Networks are more powerful and efficient than homogeneous sensor networks. It has been shown that homogeneous sensor networks perform poorly because of routine limits and scalability. In our research, we consider to use heterogeneous topology to securely route data in a wireless sensor network. The given area of interest is initially partitioned into Voronoi clusters, where low-end nodes make clusters with high-end nodes. Each cluster has just one high-end node and a number of low-end nodes. Voronoi clusters are driven by the distance between the nodes, but our routing method the “Improved Tree Routing” uses hop count to route the data in the network. However, Voronoi clusters leave out some gaps in the topology. To cover those gaps we used a new meta-heuristic called Tabu search. With Tabu search we adjust the low-end nodes in the Voronoi clusters using cyclic exchange, pairwise exchange, and single moves. Only a few researchers thought of designing routing techniques with embedded security. In our approach we added security to Improved Tree routing. Through simulation, we show that Voronoi-Tabu clustering technique in conjunction with Secure Improved Tree routing performs better than directed diffusion, and LEACH routing protocols. Additionally, the security technique is performing better than E-G, LEAP, and SBK security methods. Simulation results show that the described method increases throughput, and reduces energy utilization and network delays.
Influence of rolled erosion control systems on temporal rainsplash response—a laboratory rainfall simulation experiment

Reduction of erosion and sediment-related pollution from urban construction sites or other degraded hillslopes often relies on the initial application of suitable rolled erosion control systems (RECS) before natural vegetation cover can be established. However, research has not clearly explained why some RECS perform better than others, or under what particular conditions one system is more suitable than another. An important link between the application of the most suitable RECS and better product design is process-based studies relating the physical properties of products to the reduction of erosion subprocesses. This study investigates time-varying reduction of rainsplash detachment and transport by 13 commonly used RECS. The results indicate that product diAerences in the protection they provide against splash processes vary over the duration of a rain event, and that this variation is related to individual product properties, especially surface coverage and thickness. These results should aid in the design of more eAective erosion control products and in the selection of the most suitable RECS for particular hillslope applications. #1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Multiple Chemical Sensitivities: Stigma and Social Experiences

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), an intolerance to everyday chemical and biological substances in amounts that do not bother other people, is a medically contested condition. In addition to symptoms and the ongoing difficulties of living with this condition, this hidden and stigmatized disability strongly impacts social relationships and daily life. Based on an ethnographic study, this article introduces the context of MCS in terms of cultural themes, the media, and the economic power of industries that manufacture the products that make people with MCS sick. Participants' experiences with family members and friends, in work and school settings, and with physicians exemplify the difficulties of living with MCS. I dedicate this article to Joan Ablon, my professor and mentor, whose work has always inspired my thinking and research topics.
A thermodynamic model of mineral segregations in the lower sillimanite zone near Rangeley, Maine

A local equilibrium, irreversible thermodynamic approach is used to model metamorphic segregations in pelites from the lower sillimanite zone near Rangeley, Maine. Relative phenomenological coefficients for the model are derived from a reaction hvolving sillimanite and another reaction involving staurolite using a least-squares technique to give the best fit to the observed data. The mean values of the relative coefficients in an SiO2 fixed (: 1a.t1 marker?) reference frame from five rocks in the middle of the lower sillimanite zone are: AlCi,5:5.9, FeO:2.6, MgO: 1.8, KOos: 1.0, NaOos:0.9, TiOr:0.4, and CaO: 0.2. The phenomenological coefficients are used with Gibbs-Duhem relations and conservation equations to give the sequence of mantles, mineral modes in each mantle, chemical potential profiles, and size of segregations that are expected to form around reacting sillimanite, staurolite, and garnet. The model predicts that: sillimanite growth will produce a segregation with a muscovite-free, biotite-rich mantle surrounding a sillimanite- and quartz-rich core; staurolite will be replaced by a muscovite-rich pseudomorph; and matrix garnets should be rimmed by ' thir biotite-free mantles. Comparison of the computed textures with those observed in the rocks shows a good match except for the case of garnet, where new garnet growth was not sufficient to produce well-defned mantles in the relatively coarse-grained matrix.
Rotavirus NSP4 interacts with both the amino- and carboxyl-termini of caveolin-1

Rotavirus NSP4 plays multiple roles in viral pathogenesis, morphogenesis and replication. We previously reported a direct interaction between full-length NSP4 and the enterotoxic peptide composed of NSP4 residues 114-135 with full-length caveolin-1, the structural protein of caveolae. Caveolin-1 forms a hairpin loop in the cytoplasmic leaflet of plasma membrane caveolae. This unique orientation results in both termini of caveolin-1 exposed to the cytoplasm. The goal of this study was to map the caveolin-1 residues that interact with NSP4 to obtain a more complete picture of this binding event. Utilizing reverse yeast two-hybrid analyses and direct peptide binding assays, the NSP4 binding site was localized to caveolin-1 residues 2-22 and 161-178, at the amino- and carboxyl-termini, respectively. However, NSP4 binding to one of the termini was sufficient for the interaction.
Distributed feedback control for decision making on supply chains

Decision makers on supply chains face an uncertain, dynamic, and strategic multiagent environment. We report on Deep Maize, an agent we designed to participate in the 2003 Trading Agent Competition Supply Chain Management (TAC/SCM) game. Our design employs an idealized equilibrium analysis of the SCM game to factor out the strategic aspects of the environment and to define an expected profitable zone of operation. Deep Maize applies distributed feedback control to coordinate its separate functional modules and maintain its environment in the desired zone, despite the uncertainty and dynamism. We evaluate our design with results from the TAC/SCM tournament as well as from controlled experiments conducted after the competition.
Truth or deception: the impact of videoconferencing for job interviews

During the experiment, 28 “interviewers” each interviewed two different “applicants,” where one was deceptive and the other told the truth. Half of the interviews were done face-to-face and half using desktop video-conferencing equipment. When forced to compare and choose who was more honest between the two applicants, interviewers were accurate in their choice. A significant direct effect of medium on detection of deception was not found. However, communication medium affected perceived eye contact and mental workload, both of which were found to significantly affect detection accuracy. This study will be of interest to companies beginning to use videoconferencing for job interviews and to scholars engaged in research on person perception in the video context.
Immunotherapeutic potential of tumor antigen-pulsed and unpulsed dendritic cells generated from murine bone marrow.

Abstract Dendritic cells (DC) are highly efficient antigen-presenting cells able to capture, process, and present antigens to naive and primed T-cells. In this study, we have investigated the ability of DC, derived from murine bone marrow and pulsed with tumor cell extracts, to induce regression of preexisting tumors. In an experimental model of B16 melanoma in B6 mice, a significant reduction in metastatic nodules in the lungs was observed in tumor-bearing animals treated with either DC alone or DC pulsed with tumor extracts. Kinetic studies demonstrate that the efficacy of these tumor vaccines is inversely related to tumor burden. In this model, tumor-specific cytotoxic T-cells (CTL) could also be induced in vitro from spleen cells derived from tumor-bearing animals treated with DC pulsed with tumor extracts. Untreated mice had no CTL. Furthermore, DC alone elicited tumor-specific CTL responses in tumor-bearing mice, but not in naive mice. Immune cell depletion experiments show that the therapeutic effects of DC are primarily mediated by CD8 + T-cells, while CD4 + T-cells and NK cells are involved in DC-mediated antitumor immunity to a limited extent. These results illustrate the potential use of DC and DC pulsed with tumor extracts as potent therapeutic reagents for cancer and provide a rationale for using DC in vivo to eliminate disseminated tumors or residual tumor deposits following surgery.
Lack of Behavior Change after Disclosure of Hepatitis C Virus Infection among Young Injection Drug Users in Baltimore, Maryland

We evaluated behavior change after disclosure of a positive hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody test result among a cohort of young injection drug users (IDUs). Participants underwent semiannual interviews, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and HCV antibody testing, and pretest and posttest counseling. We used chi(2) statistics to study changes in the frequencies of high-risk behaviors from baseline to a 6-month follow-up visit among 46 IDUs who had a positive HCV test result and among 60 IDUs who did not have a positive HCV test result or who were unaware of their test result. No significant differences were detected between the 2 groups. Both groups continued to share syringes, needles, and other injection paraphernalia. These findings suggest that young IDUs may not be aware of the risk of HCV infection and highlight the urgent need for post-HCV test guidelines and behavioral interventions to reduce ongoing high-risk behavior that perpetuates the risk of HCV transmission.
Report from a Multi-Institutional Randomized Clinical Trial Examining Computer-Assisted Problem-Solving Skills Training for English- and Spanish-Speaking Mothers of Children with Newly Diagnosed Cancer

Objectives To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a handheld personal digital assistant (PDA)-based supplement for maternal Problem-Solving Skills Training (PSST) and to explore Spanish-speaking mothers’ experiences with it. Methods Mothers (n ¼ 197) of children with newly diagnosed cancer were randomized to traditional PSST or PSST þ PDA 8-week programs. Participants completed the Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Profile of Mood States, and Impact of Event Scale-Revised pre-, post-treatment, and 3 months after completion of the intervention. Mothers also rated optimism, logic, and confidence in the intervention and technology. Results Both groups demonstrated significant positive change over time on all psychosocial measures. No between-group differences emerged. Despite technological ‘‘glitches,’’ mothers expressed moderately high optimism, appreciation for logic, and confidence in both interventions and rated the PDA-based program favorably. Technology appealed to all Spanish-speaking mothers, with younger mothers showing greater proficiency. Conclusions Well-designed, supported technology holds promise for enhancing psychological interventions.
Submillimeter‐scale combustion

Until recently, the concept of combustion within a confined space defined by a microburner was thought to be impossible. Extensive literature dating back to Davy's seminal work in 1817 has discussed how thermal and chemical quenching set a minimum size below which no flame can exist. In this report, though, it is shown that microcombustion is possible if the wall composition and structure are carefully controlled. It is suggested that there are three keys to obtaining microcombustion: (1) the walls of the microburner need to be fabricated from materials that do not quench radicals so that the gas-phase combustion reactions can occur unimpeded; (2) the device needs to be insulated well enough that the net heat generation is sufficient to keep the reacting mixture hot enough to sustain significant combustion; and (3) the flow pattern in the burner needs to be such that the temperature is low enough not to melt the walls, yet the flame fills the entire space. Using this design strategy, devices burning methane–air and propane–air mixtures in a 750-μm slot were designed and optimized to achieve high conversion. These results show that microcombustion is possible with consideration of microscale engineering challenges and fitting combustor design. © 2004 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 50: 3206–3214, 2004
Prosodic circumscription in Choctaw morphology

The theory of PROSODIC CIRCUMSCRIPTION (McCarthy & Prince 1990a) is a general approach to the problem of limiting the domain of rules to less than a morphological constituent. For example, in the Arabic singular/ plural pairs ndub/anaadib ‘locust’ and sulṭaan/salaaṭiin ‘sultan’, vowel length in the final syllable remains unaltered despite significant changes in the shape of the rest of the word. Prosodic circumscription theory partitions the singular base into affected (aun, sul) and unaffected (dib, ṭaan) portions, with only the affected portion mapped onto a light–heavy (or iambic) template.
Robust control and model misspecification

Abstract A decision maker fears that data are generated by a statistical perturbation of an approximating model that is either a controlled diffusion or a controlled measure over continuous functions of time. A perturbation is constrained in terms of its relative entropy. Several different two-player zero-sum games that yield robust decision rules are related to one another, to the max–min expected utility theory of Gilboa and Schmeidler [Maxmin expected utility with non-unique prior, J. Math. Econ. 18 (1989) 141–153], and to the recursive risk-sensitivity criterion described in discrete time by Hansen and Sargent [Discounted linear exponential quadratic Gaussian control, IEEE Trans. Automat. Control 40 (5) (1995) 968–971]. To represent perturbed models, we use martingales on the probability space associated with the approximating model. Alternative sequential and nonsequential versions of robust control theory imply identical robust decision rules that are dynamically consistent in a useful sense.
Optimized Mie potentials for phase equilibria: Application to noble gases and their mixtures with n-alkanes

Transferrable force fields, based on n-6 Mie potentials, are presented for noble gases. By tuning the repulsive exponent, ni, it is possible to simultaneously reproduce experimental saturated liquid densities and vapor pressures with high accuracy, from the normal boiling point to the critical point. Vapor-liquid coexistence curves for pure fluids are calculated using histogram reweighting Monte Carlo simulations in the grand canonical ensemble. For all noble gases, saturated liquid densities and vapor pressures are reproduced to within 1% and 4% of experiment, respectively. Radial distribution functions, extracted from NVT and NPT Monte Carlo simulations, are in similarly excellent agreement with experimental data. The transferability of the optimized force fields is assessed through calculations of binary mixture vapor-liquid equilibria. These mixtures include argon + krypton, krypton + xenon, methane + krypton, methane + xenon, krypton + ethane, and xenon + ethane. For all mixtures, excellent agreement with experiment is achieved without the introduction of any binary interaction parameters or multi-body interactions.
Detection of chromosome instability of tissue fields at risk: in situ hybridization.

Many human tumors are thought to develop along a multistep pathway in tissues that have encountered long periods of carcinogen exposure and thus have accumulated genetic hits in functional targets relevant to tumor evolution. The cumulative degree of genetic change is dependent on both exogenous (e.g., degree of carcinogen exposure) and endogenous factors (e.g., metabolism of procarcinogens, repair or misrepair capacity, proliferation properties of the tissue, capability of damaged cells to survive). Thus one approach to risk estimation is to measure the accumulated amount of genetic damage in a target tissue at risk for tumor development. Since one cannot predict the exact site of the future tumor, the risk assay must detect a generalized ongoing process of genetic instability from small, random biopsies. The technique of chromosome in situ hybridization involves the use of chromosome- or region-specific probes and provides an ability to directly visualize genetic change (e.g., random or clonal chromosome polysomy and monosomy) on thin tissue sections (where tissue architecture is maintained) or exfoliated cells. Analyses of normal and premalignant lesions adjacent to tumors (e.g., head and neck, lung, bladder, cervix, breast) have demonstrated that chromosome instability can be detected in the field of the tumor (i.e., in normal and premalignant cells in a tissue at 100% risk of tumor development) and the degree of chromosome instability increases with the degree of histologic progression toward cancer. Analyses of premalignant lesions (e.g., oral leukoplakia and erythroplakia from individuals at risk for aerodigestive tract cancer) by chromosome in situ hybridization have uncovered varying degrees of chromosome instability. However, approximately half of those individuals who showed a high degree of chromosome instability in biopsies subsequently developed aerodigestive tract cancer. Of interest, half of these tumors have developed away from the biopsied site, suggesting that the detection of a chromosome instability process in one aspect of the tissue might yield risk information for the total tissue field. These studies also suggest that chromosome in situ hybridization might be useful for identifying individuals with high tumor risk who might benefit from chemopreventive intervention. J. Cell. Biochem. 25S:57–62. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Open Problems in Chemical Topology (Eur. J. Org. Chem. 30/2008)

The cover picture shows a scheme depicting the open problem of the lower size limit for molecular knots. It also shows enantiomorphous conformations of a topological rubber glove – the colored figure eight knot. It is unknown whether the enantiomerization barrier for a topological rubber glove can be measured. A polyethylene trefoil knot, a trefoil rotaxaknot, and a Whitehead link are also shown. The syntheses of these topologically interesting compounds remain open problems. Details are presented in the Microreview by E. E. Fenlon on p. 5023 ff. The photograph of the rubber gloves was taken by Ethan S. Fenlon. Matt Watson is thanked for helping with the graphic of the polyethylene knot.
The two-component QseBC signalling system regulates in vitro and in vivo virulence of Aeromonas hydrophila

We recently demonstrated that the N-acyl-homoserine lactone [autoinducer (AI)-1] and LuxS (AI-2)-based quorum-sensing (QS) systems exerted positive and negative regulation, respectively, on the virulence of a diarrhoeal isolate SSU of Aeromonas hydrophila. However, the role of a newly identified, two-component-based QseBC QS system in the regulation of bacterial virulence in general is not well understood, with only a limited number of studies showing its function in bacterial pathogenesis. In this report, we identified and characterized the QseBC QS system in A. hydrophila SSU and found that, as was the case with enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli, the open reading frames for the qseB (the response regulator) and qseC (the sensor histidine kinase) genes overlapped by 4 bp at the ATGA motif. Our data provide evidence that deletion of the qseB gene from A. hydrophila resulted in attenuation of bacterial virulence in a septicaemic mouse model of infection and diminished swimming and swarming motility, and the mutant bacteria formed denser biofilms compared with those from the parental strain of A. hydrophila. The decrease in the virulence of the A. hydrophila ΔqseB mutant correlated with reduced production of protease and the cytotoxic enterotoxin, which has associated haemolytic activity. The swimming and swarming motility, haemolytic activity, protease production and biofilm formation were restored in the qseBC-complemented strain to a level similar to that of the wild-type A. hydrophila SSU. Our study is the first, to our knowledge, to report a functional QseBC QS system in A. hydrophila which may be linked to AI-1 and AI-2 QS systems in modulating bacterial virulence, possibly through the cyclic diguanosine monophosphate.