cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Quantitative phosphoproteomics reveals extensive cellular reprogramming during HIV-1 entry.

Summary Receptor engagement by HIV-1 during host cell entry activates signaling pathways that can reprogram the cell for optimal viral replication. To obtain a global view of the signaling events induced during HIV-1 entry, we conducted a quantitative phosphoproteomics screen of primary human CD4 + T cells after infection with an HIV-1 strain that engages the receptors CD4 and CXCR4. We quantified 1,757 phosphorylation sites with high stringency. The abundance of 239 phosphorylation sites from 175 genes, including several proteins in pathways known to be impacted by HIV-receptor binding, changed significantly within a minute after HIV-1 exposure. Several previously uncharacterized HIV-1 host factors were also identified and confirmed through RNAi depletion studies. Surprisingly, five serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins involved in messenger RNA splicing, including the splicing factor SRm300 ( SRRM2 ), were differentially phosophorylated. Mechanistic studies with SRRM2 suggest that HIV-1 modulates host cell alternative splicing machinery during entry in order to facilitate virus replication and release.
Pregabalin for Postherpetic Neuralgia: Placebo-Controlled Trial of Fixed and Flexible Dosing Regimens on Allodynia and Time to Onset of Pain Relief

Abstract Time to onset of pain relief and improvement in allodynia in 269 patients with postherpetic neuralgia was examined in a 4-week randomized trial comparing flexibly dosed pregabalin (150–600 mg/d), fixed-dose pregabalin (300 mg/d), and placebo. For each patient with clinically meaningful pain reduction (≥30%) at end point, onset of pain relief was defined as the first study day on which a patient reported ≥1-point reduction in pain relative to baseline. Average dose achieved was 396 mg/d in the flexible-dose group compared with 295 mg/d in the fixed-dose group. Median pain relief onset times were 3.5 days (flexible-dose), 1.5 days (fixed-dose), and >4 weeks (placebo). Compared with placebo, significantly more patients in both pregabalin treatment groups achieved ≥30% and ≥50% pain reduction at end point. Almost 95% of patients had brush-evoked allodynia, with 68% having moderate to severe allodynia (≥40/100 mm). At baseline, pain and allodynia were highly correlated. Independent of treatment assignment, improvement in pain and improvement in allodynia were significantly correlated. Allodynia could serve as a useful surrogate outcome measure in future studies. Pregabalin was significantly better than placebo in alleviating allodynia (flexible-dose reduction, 26 mm; fixed-dose, 21 mm; placebo, 12 mm). Discontinuation rates due to adverse events were more frequent in the fixed-dose group. Perspective A flexible-dose regimen reduces discontinuations, facilitates higher final doses, and results in a slightly greater pain relief. Allodynia (touch-evoked pain) can be of disabling severity and is present in nearly all patients with postherpetic neuralgia. Allodynia severity is correlated with pain severity and improvement in allodynia is correlated with clinical response.
Rectification in AlxGa1-xAs-GaAs N-n heterojunction devices

Abstract The previously unsolved problem of rectification at AlxGa1-xAs-GaAs N-n heterojunction is found to originate from a vague concept regarding the maximum junction grading width which can sustain rectification. The theoretical current density vs voltage characteristics of this heterojunction system are derived from thermionic emission theory. It is found that, unless the impurity concentration of the AlGaAs layer (prepared by LPE techniques) is less than 1016 cm−3, typical 90–200 A metallurgical grading widths at the N-n heterojunction interface produce either ohmic or poorly rectifying characteristics. These results explain (1) the lack of rectification in most N-n AlxGa1-xAs-GaAs heterojunctions reported in the literature and (2) the recent observation of significant rectification in high purity (N)Al0.3Ga0.7As-(n)GaAs heterojunctions reported by Chandra and Eastman.
Microbiology and management of peritonsillar, retropharyngeal, and parapharyngeal abscesses.

This review describes the microbiology, diagnosis, and management of peritonsillar, retropharyngeal, and parapharyngeal abscesses in children. Predominant anaerobic organisms isolated in peritonsillar, lateral pharyngeal, and retropharyngeal abscesses are Prevotella, Porphyromonas, Fusobacterium and Peptostreptococcus spp.; aerobic organisms are group A streptococcus (Streptococcus pyogenes), Staphylococcus aureus and Haemophilus influenzae. Anaerobic bacteria can be isolated from most abscesses whenever appropriate techniques for their cultivation have been used, while S. pyogenes is isolated in only about one third of cases. More than two thirds of deep neck abscesses contain beta-lactamase producing organisms. Management of tonsillar, peritonsillar, and retropharyngeal abscesses is similar. Systemic antimicrobial therapy should be given in large doses whenever the diagnosis is made. However, when pus is formed, antimicrobial therapy is effective only in conjunction with adequate surgical drainage. Untreated abscesses can rupture spontaneously into the pharynx, causing catastrophic aspiration. Other complications are extension of infection laterally to the side of the neck or dissection into the posterior mediastinum through facial planes and the prevertebral space. Death can occur from aspiration, airway obstruction, erosion into major blood vessels, or extension to the mediastinum.
Effect of interaction between 5-azacytidine and DNA (cytosine-5) methyltransferase on C-to-G and C-to-T mutations in Escherichia coli.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the Dcm cytosine methyltransferase on 5-azacytidine (5-azaC) mutagenesis in Escherichia coli. We used a Lac reversion assay to measure C-to-G and C-to-T mutations at a single, methylatable cytosine in the lacZ gene, in the presence and absence of Dcm. C-to-G mutations are stimulated by 5-azaC but are largely independent of Dcm. In contrast, C-to-T mutations are not stimulated by 5-azaC in either wild type or dcm cells. However, in cells which contain Dcm but are defective in very short patch repair, the normally high frequency of spontaneous C-to-T mutations is decreased by the analog in a dose-dependent manner.
Synthesis and performance of linear monoisomeric ethylene oxide sulfonate surfactants

ABSTRACT Reaction of sodium bromoethanesulfonate with sodium alkoxides of several linear alcohols produced linear ethylene oxide sulfonates in good yields These sulfonates were constructed with hydrophobe tails of eighteen and twenty carbons and precisely one, two and three moles of ethylene oxide. All species could be made to produce Winsor III systems with suitable aIkane oil phases and the appropriate salt and coaolvent concentrations.
An indoor augmented-reality evacuation system for the Smartphone using personalized Pedometry

There currently exist widely used mobile phone emergency applications for the smartphone and limited mobile emergency applications for indoor environments. However, the outdoor applications only focus primarily on providing accident information to users, and the indoor applications are limited by the unavailability of GPS user-positioning and by WiFi-based access problems. To compensate for these limitations, we propose the RescueMe system, which uses an indoor mobile Augmented Reality application, personalized pedometry, and an optimal exit path algorithm. Together these components comprise a system that can quickly and easily recommend an efficient exit path to mobile phone users in emergency situations. We have developed the mobile-based RescueMe system for use in large-scale buildings that contain complex paths. We show how RescueMe leverages the sensors on a smartphone and utilizes Augmented Reality, cloud information, daily-based user walking patterns, and an adaptive GPS connection method, to deliver critical evacuation information to mobile phone users in indoor emergency situations.
Bistability versus Bimodal Distributions in Gene Regulatory Processes from Population Balance

In recent times, stochastic treatments of gene regulatory processes have appeared in the literature in which a cell exposed to a signaling molecule in its environment triggers the synthesis of a specific protein through a network of intracellular reactions. The stochastic nature of this process leads to a distribution of protein levels in a population of cells as determined by a Fokker-Planck equation. Often instability occurs as a consequence of two (stable) steady state protein levels, one at the low end representing the ‘‘off’’ state, and the other at the high end representing the ‘‘on’’ state for a given concentration of the signaling molecule within a suitable range. A consequence of such bistability has been the appearance of bimodal distributions indicating two different populations, one in the ‘‘off’’ state and the other in the ‘‘on’’ state. The bimodal distribution can come about from stochastic analysis of a single cell. However, the concerted action of the population altering the extracellular concentration in the environment of individual cells and hence their behavior can only be accomplished by an appropriate population balance model which accounts for the reciprocal effects of interaction between the population and its environment. In this study, we show how to formulate a population balance model in which stochastic gene expression in individual cells is incorporated. Interestingly, the simulation of the model shows that bistability is neither sufficient nor necessary for bimodal distributions in a population. The original notion of linking bistability with bimodal distribution from single cell stochastic model is therefore only a special consequence of a population balance model.
Particle swarm optimization for adaptive IIR filter structures

This paper introduces the application of particle swarm optimization techniques to infinite impulse response (IIR) adaptive filter structures. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is similar to the genetic algorithm (GA) in that it performs a structured randomized search of an unknown parameter space by manipulating a population of parameter estimates to converge on a suitable solution. Unlike the genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization has not emerged in adaptive filtering literature. Both techniques are independent of the adaptive filter structure and are capable of converging on the global solution for multimodal optimization problems, which makes them especially useful for optimizing IIR and nonlinear adaptive filters. This paper outlines PSO and provides a comparison to the GA for IIR filter structures.
The Effects of Ritual Healing on Female Victims of Abuse: A Study of Empowerment and Transformation

This research analyzes the effects of ritual healing on women who have been victims of abuse, including incest, rape, and battering. The study was conducted through participant observation of a women's spirituality group. The focus of the analysis is on the process of empowerment as it is experienced in a ritual context that provides a means for cathartic expression as well as participant identification with female symbols of power. The findings of this study suggest that women-centered rituals are effective in reducing fear, releasing anger, increasing one s sense of power, and improving the overall mental health of those who have experienced the trauma of victimization. The study of spiritual healing in the United States has become an increasingly significant area of research, as the phenomenon of psychic healing has become more widespread. Traditionally, the study of spiritual healing is most frequently associated with cross-cultural investigations into shamanism and ritual practices of non-Western cultures (Eliade, 1964). With the rise of new religious movements in the West, however, the last two decades have witnessed the proliferation of contemporary ritualistic practices that have as their objective the healing of individuals as well as the healing of society as a whole (Beckford, 1984). Thus, McGuire reports that "nonmedical forms of healing are actually rather widespread among educated, fully acculturated, and economically secure persons" in the United States (1983:221). This view is corroborated by Torrey (1975) and LeShan (1975), both of whom have conducted investigations into psychic healing from the perspective of traditional psychiatry and psychotherapy. The growing interest in contemporary forms of spiritual revivalism and psychic healing provides a framework in which to consider the healing dimension of women's spirituality. As both traditional (Ruether, 1985) and nontraditional (Starhawk, 1982) feminist theologians redefine and reconceptualize notions of religious experience, ideology, and spiritual identification, these efforts at reconstructing female spirituality have been incorporated in a movement toward self-healing. This trend in women's spirituality has emerged through the creation of women-centered rituals that are designed to provide women with a means to bond with one another while exploring images of female strength derived from ancient symbols of the goddess.
Spatial‐temporal variability in diazotroph assemblages in Chesapeake Bay using an oligonucleotide nifH microarray

Summary The distribution of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms in the Chesapeake Bay was investigated using fingerprints from a nifH microarray comprised of 706 60-mer oligonucleotide nifH probes representing cultivated organisms and environmental clones from different nifH clusters. Diverse nifH targets, amplified from samplesusingdegeneratenifHprimers,weredetected in water column and sediment samples collected in April and October, 2001‐2002. Total nifH richness and diversity (Simpson’s and Shannon indices) were highest at the most riverine, oligohaline North Bay station. In most samples, the highest diversity was in nifH Cluster 3, which includes many anaerobes, while Cluster 1 (a-, b- g- Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria) targets had the greatest microarray signal intensities. In a multidimensional scaling analysis, deep water communities from April and October were similar within each of the sampling sites, while the surface communities had more variability. Diazotroph communities in the water column in the North Bay were distinct from the Mid- and South Bay communities, and there was a gradual change in sediment diazotroph assemblages from the North to the South Bay. Diazotrophic assemblages from the majority of the water column samples from the Mid- and South Bay clustered with the sediment assemblage in Mid-Bay. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen, salinity, dissolved organic carbon and dissolved organic phosphorus had a significant relationship with the diazotrophic bacterioplankton community. Higher diversity in the freshwater end of the system may reflect variability in disturbance rates and environmental conditions such as forms and concentrations of organic matter, nutrients and oxygen.
Achieving Real-Time Efficiency for Adaptive Radar Pulse Compression

The adaptive pulse compression (APC) algorithm has been shown to effectively suppress the range sidelobes resulting from large scatterers to the level of the noise thereby unmasking nearby small scatterers and yielding substantial sensitivity improvement over deterministic filtering techniques. However, implementation in a real-time system is limited by the relatively high computational complexity of the algorithm. As such, this paper considers dimensionality reduction techniques as a means to reduce this computational cost in order to enable real-time operation. In general, numerous different methods exist to decompose the minimum mean-square error (MMSE) framework upon which the APC algorithm is based. In this paper dimensionality reduction is achieved either by segregating contiguous blocks of the received signal samples or by decimating the received signal. Each of the two approaches then facilitate the approximation of the original MMSE cost function of APC by the sum of lower dimension MMSE cost functions thus yielding filters that require a lower computational cost to implement. The reduced dimension algorithms, collectively denoted as the fast adaptive pulse compression (FAPC) algorithm, substantially reduce the computational cost of APC while still maintaining much of its performance benefit.
The impacts of railroad transportation costs on grain elevator handling margins.

A stratified random sample of grain elevators supplied grain bid and transportation cost data. These data are used to analyze the effects of various rail transportation costs on grain elevator handling margins for corn, soybean and wheat. Factors affecting transportation costs such as rail contracts, mileage allowances, and transportation mode are shown to have significant impacts on elevator handling margins and consequently need to be considered in any analysis attempting to explain grain handling margins.
Site-specific evolutionary rates in proteins are better modeled as non-independent and strictly relative

Motivation: In a nucleotide or amino acid sequence, not all sites evolve at the same rate, due to differing selective constraints at each site. Currently in computational molecular evolution, models incorporating rate heterogeneity always share two assumptions. First, the rate of evolution at each site is assumed to be independent of every other site. Second, the values of these rates are assumed to be drawn from a known prior distribution. Although often assumed to be small, the actual effect of these assumptions has not been previously quantified in the literature. Results: Herein we describe an algorithm to simultaneously infer the set of n−1 relative rates that parameterize the likelihood of an n-site alignment. Unlike previous work (a) these relative rates are completely identifiable and distinct from the branch-length parameters, and (b) a far more general class of rate priors can be used, and their effects quantified. Although described in a Bayesian framework, we discuss a future maximum likelihood extension. Conclusions: Using both synthetic data and alignments from the Myc, Max and p53 protein families, we find that inferring relative rather than absolute rates has several advantages. First, both empirical likelihoods and Bayes factors show strong preference for the relative-rate model, with a mean Δ ln P=−0.458 per alignment site. Second, the computed likelihoods and Bayes factors were essentially independent of the relative-rate prior, indicating that good estimates of the posterior rate distribution are not required a priori. Third, a novel finding is that rates can be accurately inferred even when up to ≈4 substitutions per site have occurred. Thus biologically relevant putative hypervariable sites can be identified as easily as conserved sites. Lastly, our model treats rates and tree branch-lengths as completely identifiable, allowing for the first time coherent simultaneous inference of branch-lengths and site-specific evolutionary rates. Availability: Source code for the utility described is available under a BSD-style license at http://www.fernandes.org/txp/article/9/site-specific-relative-evolutionary-rates. Contact: andrew@fernandes.org Supplementary information:Supplementary data is available at Bioinformatics online.
Coupled multiphase fluid flow and wellbore stability analysis associated with gas production from oceanic hydrate-bearing sediments

Abstract We conducted numerical modeling of coupled multiphase fluid-flow, thermal, and geomechanical processes during gas production from an oceanic hydrate deposit to study the geomechanical performance and wellbore stability. We investigated two alternative cases of depressurization-induced gas production: (1) production from horizontal wells in a Class 3 deposit (a hydrate layer sandwiched between two low-permeability layers); and (2) production from vertical wells in a Class 2 deposit (a hydrate layer with an underlying zone of mobile water). The analysis showed that geomechanical responses around the wellbore are driven by reservoir-wide pressure depletion, which in turn, depends on production rate and pressure decline at the wellbore. The calculated vertical compaction of the relatively soft sediments and increased shear stress caused local yielding of the formation around the well assembly for both the horizontal and vertical well cases. However, the analysis also showed that the extent of the yield zone can be reduced if using overbalanced drilling (at an internal well pressure above the formation fluid pressure) and well completion that minimizes any annular gap between the well assembly and the formation. Our further analysis indicated that the most extensive yield zone would occur around the perforated production interval of a vertical well, where the pressure gradient is the highest. In the field, such yielding and shearing of the sediments could lead to enhanced sand production if not prevented with appropriate sand control technology. Moreover, our analysis shows that the vertical compaction of the reservoir can be substantial, with subsidence on the order of several meters and vertical compaction strain locally exceeding 10%. In the field, such substantial compaction strain will require appropriate well design (such as slip joints or heavy wall casing) to avoid tensile or buckling failure of the well assembly.
Occurrence of mast cells within bundles of myelinated and unmyelinated nerves in the rat tongue.

The rat tongue has been the subject of many cytological studies, both purely descriptive and experimental. To assess the suitability of the organ for additional cytological and histological senior research thesis projects, light and transmission electron microscope studies of thin and ultrathin sections, respectively, were conducted. Several samples from the anterior dorsal surface of the tongue of a male rat (Sprague-Dawley) were processed conventionally for light and electron microscope study. About 170 sections, each approximately 1 × 1 mm in area and 1.0 μm thick, collected from 12 adjacent areas, all including the mucosa, of a tongue were studied in the light microscope. Numerous mast cells were observed scattered throughout the submucosal region, adjacent to nerve bundles, blood vessels, and skeletal muscle, and up to six bundles each consisting of many myelinated and unmyelinated nerve processes were seen per section. Single, double, and quadruple myelinated nerve processes were also seen. Several of the multiple, mixed nerve bundles contained a mast cell. Mast cells were not found within the endoneurium or perineurium of exclusively myelinated processes. Ultrathin sections adjacent to the thin sections containing mast cells within the nerve bundles were sought and studied in the transmission electron microscope to confirm the identification of these mast cells. Mast cells occur within bundles containing both myelinated and unmyelinated nerves in the rat tongue, and this is an apparently previously unreported event. Furthermore, no clear evidence has been found in the literature of such specific mast cell distribution in other parts of the animal body. Single, double, and quadruple myelinated nerve processes were noted, but none contained a mast cell. Anat Rec 256:347–353, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Pentavalent Organo-Vanadates as Transition State Analogues for Phosphoryl Transfer Reactions.

Pentavalent organo-vanadates have been put forth as transition-state analogues for a variety of phosphoryl transfer reactions. In particular, uridine 2‘,3‘-cyclic vanadate (U>v) has been proposed to resemble the transition state during catalysis by ribonuclease A (RNase A). Here, this hypothesis is tested. Lys41 of RNase A is known to donate a hydrogen bond to a nonbridging phosphoryl oxygen in the transition state during catalysis. Site-directed mutagenesis and semisynthesis were used to create enzymes having natural and nonnatural amino acid residues at position 41. These variants differ by 105-fold in their kcat/Km values for catalysis, but v. Plots of logKi vs log(Km/kcat) for three distinct substrates [poly(cytidylic acid), uridine 3‘-(p-nitrophenyl phosphate), and cytidine 2‘,3‘-cyclic phosphate] have slopes that range from 0.25 and 0.36. These plots would have a slope of unity if U>v were a perfect transition state analogue. Values of Ki ...
Predictions of the growth model for normal chicken growth.

The model of growth control advanced by Weiss and Kavanau has been further evaluated with an I.B.M. 7090 computer. Predictions for the concentration of growth-inhibiting substances and their quantitative distribution in the animal are in good agreement with known developmental changes. Results are being used to predict the course of compensatory organ growth in the immature animal.
Plexiform Fibrohistiocytic Tumor with a Clonal Cytogenetic Anomaly

Abstract Plexiform fibrohistiocytic tumors are rare lesions of proposed myofibroblastic origin occurring primarily in infants and children. There is a characteristic biphasic histology comprised of both fibroblastic and histiocyte-like components. These tumors tend to be locally aggressive with prognosis dependent on completeness of resection. A previous cytogenetic case report of this tumor described a stemline clone with a karyotype of 46,XY,−6,−8, del(4)(q25q31),del(20)(q11.2),+der(8)t(8;?)(p22;?),+mar. We report a different cytogenetic finding in another plexiform fibrohistiocytic tumor which demonstrated a simpler karyotype of 46,XY,t(4;15)(q21;q15). The implications of cytogenetic heterogeneity in fibroblastic tumors is briefly discussed.
On the History of the Objective Investigation of the Process of Psychotherapy

(1961). On the History of the Objective Investigation of the Process of Psychotherapy. The Journal of Psychology: Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 89-95.
Examining the Reliability and Validity of Clinician Ratings on the Five-Factor Model Score Sheet:

Despite substantial research use, measures of the five-factor model (FFM) are infrequently used in clinical settings due, in part, to issues related to administration time and a reluctance to use self-report instruments. The current study examines the reliability and validity of the Five-Factor Model Score Sheet (FFMSS), which is a 30-item clinician rating form designed to assess the five domains and 30 facets of one conceptualization of the FFM. Studied in a sample of 130 outpatients, clinical raters demonstrated reasonably good interrater reliability across personality profiles and the domains manifested good internal consistency with the exception of Neuroticism. The FFMSS ratings also evinced expected relations with self-reported personality traits (e.g., FFMSS Extraversion and Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality Positive Temperament) and consensus-rated personality disorder symptoms (e.g., FFMSS Agreeableness and Narcissistic Personality Disorder). Finally, on average, the FFMSS domains were able to account for approximately 50% of the variance in domains of functioning (e.g., occupational, parental) and were even able to account for variance after controlling for Axis I and Axis II pathology. Given these findings, it is believed that the FFMSS holds promise for clinical use.
MONTESQUIEU'S NATURAL RIGHTS CONSTITUTIONALISM

When Woodrow Wilson, in the course of his campaign for the Presidency in 1912, attacked Thomas Jefferson and Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brede et de Montesquieu, he knew what he was about—for the constitutionalism articulated by the latter and embraced, in turn, by the Framers of the American Constitution was a systematic attempt to put into practice something very much like the first principles spelled out in the Declaration of Independence. Montesquieu was not a doctrinaire. He feared that, in his own country and elsewhere, revolution would eventuate in the establishment of a despotism, and so he gently, quietly promoted unobtrusive reform. But the cautious, prudential political science that he outlined in his Spirit of Laws was anything but value-free. If the American framers found his legislative science of use, it was because the hatred of despotism and love for liberty animating its author was grounded in an account of natural right closely akin to the one, espoused in John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, that had inspired their revolution.
Small comets: Implications for interplanetary Lyman α

If small comets are as numerous in the inner solar system as Prank et al. (1986a) have recently proposed, large and easily detectable amounts of hydrogen would be generated in interplanetary space. Inhibition of water vapor production by a factor of 3 x 10 -9 by very thick dust mantles would be necessary to prevent excitation of a detectable inter- planetary Lyman a glow. Other optical problems associated with the cometesimals are also discussed. Prank et al. (1986a), henceforth FSC, have proposed that small comets 12 meters in diameter, whose' density is 0.1 gm cm -3, impact the earth at a rate of about 20 per minute. This rate requires that the average distance between these cometesimals at 1 AU, before gravitational focussing by the earth, be about 5000 km and their spatial density be about 3 x 10 -26 cometscm -3 (Prank, et al., 1986b). The "standard" rate for production of water molecules from comets at 1 AU is between 1017 and 1018 cm-2s -1 or 3 x 1024 molecules every second from each small comet. Dissociation of the water would result in the production of hydrogen atoms at a rate of 0.14 cm -3 s -1 from this family of small comets at 1 AU, if the water production rate is 5 x 1017 cm -2 s -1. If the lifetime of these atoms before charge exchange with the solar wind ions is 2 x 106 seconds, their density near 1 AU would be about 3 x 105 per cm 3. FSC, recognizing the problem of loading the solar wind with so many pick-up ions, pro- posed that the rate of gas production from the small comets must be kept low by sufficiently thick dust mantles on their exteriors. Reducing the production rate by orders of mag- nitude, to a level between 3 x 101o and 3 x 10 TM cm -2 s -1, would avoid the difficulty with excess generation of pick-up ions (Frank, et al., 1986b). It would not be sufficient to es- cape another difficulty - the excitation of Lyman a radiation by the cometary hydrogen. If gas generation is assumed to vary with heliocentric distances as r -2'6 (Meier and Keller, 1985), a column perpendicular to the solar direction at 1 AU would contain 4.5 x 1018 atoms cm -2 and have an optical depth of 7 x 105 for Lyman a, a fact already pointed out by Chubb (1986). Interplanetary hydrogen is not optically thick in the inner solar system (Purcell and Tousey, 1960; Meier
NEST PREDATORS, NEST-SITE SELECTION, AND NESTING SUCCESS OF THE DUSKY FLYCATCHER IN A MANAGED PONDEROSA PINE FOREST

Abstract Among hypotheses explaining nest-site selection, the potential-prey-site hypothesis predicts that birds place nests in areas with many potential nest sites, while the nest-concealment hypothesis predicts nest placement in sites with greater surrounding vegetation. We examined these hypotheses by comparing habitat attributes between Dusky Flycatcher (Empidonax oberholseri) nest sites and random sites, successful and unsuccessful nests, and nests depredated by birds versus mammals. Nesting success was 28% (n = 167), and predation was the most important cause of nest failure (96%) during the study (1998–2000) at our site in northeastern California. We identified 28 nest predators using surveillance cameras. Sciurid mammals were the most common predators (17 of 28, 61%), with Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperii; 25%), small owls (11%), and Steller's Jays (Cyanocitta stelleri; 3%) accounting for the rest. Raptors preyed on nestlings more frequently than on eggs, while small mammals depredated nestlings...
Natural millicharged inflation

We construct a natural inflation model with the inflaton as a linear combination of the fifth components of Abelian gauge fields in a five-dimensional theory. A seesaw mechanism is introduced to provide a natural milli-charge for matter fields under one combination of the gauge symmetries. As a result, the effective decay constant of the inflaton field can be above the Planck scale with all scales in the model below the Planck scale. Our model predicts a tensor-to-scalar ratio r between 0.033 and 0.125 for sixty e-folds and a reheating temperature of a few 10^11 GeV.
Characterization of immunoglobulin E plasma cells that are elevated in the upper airway mucosa of nonatopic patients with chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps.

Background The immunologic mechanisms driving inflammation in the upper airways of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) are poorly understood. Previous studies have shown that B cells and immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels are elevated in the nasal tissue of patients with atopic chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps (CRSsNP). However, less is known regarding B cell subsets and IgE-producing plasmablasts in nonatopic CRSsNP patients. Methods Human blood and ethmoid sinus mucosa samples were analyzed from control (n = 6) and nonatopic CRSsNP (n = 11) patients. Tissue samples were evaluated using high-dimensional flow cytometry. Results A population of IgE antibody secreting cells is significantly increased in situ within inflamed nasal tissue of nonatopic CRSsNP subjects when compared to control nasal tissue and the circulating peripheral blood (p < 0.05). This IgE plasma cell population displays ∼90% cell surface Ig lambda light chain, is mitotically active (Ki-67+), and displays intracellular IgE expression. The predominant B cell population expressing IgE are plasmablasts (CD38high, CD138−) not typically found in the blood or peripheral tissue of these patients. Conclusion The nasal mucosa from nonatopic CRSsNP patients demonstrate a significant regional spike in resident in situ IgE plasmablast cells not seen in control nasal tissue or peripheral blood from the same patient. The restricted expression of Ig lambda light chain in this mitotically active IgE plasmablast population supports the hypothesis of aberrant B cell proliferation in the context of CRS. These findings suggest the presence of a unique regional immune microenvironment for B cell priming and/or selection within chronically inflamed airway tissues.
The influence of serum immunoglobulin concentration on measles antibody level.

SummaryMeasles antibody level correlated directly with gamma globulin level in single serums from 136 subjects. Changes in measles antibody and IgG levels corresponded in sequential serums from 3 subjects. In a population increased immunoglobulins may cause elevated measles antibody, while in individuals changes in IgG may cause similar changes in measles antibody levels.We thank J. Benson, R. Hargrave and J. Brindisi for technical assistance and Mrs. Covolo for sera and GG determinations. Supported by grants from U.S. Public Health Service and Hartford Foundation.
Nocardia brasiliensis infection in the United States: a report of nine cases and a review of the literature.

Nine cases of human infection caused by Nocardia brasiliensis within the United States are reported. Most of the infections were acquired in the southern part of the country. Only two of the isolates were from fully developed mycetomas. Five were from cutaneous lesions which could not be differentiated from ordinary bacterial abscesses and two were from ulcers of the leg. In one case the infection disseminated to the lungs and brain and the patient died. The other eight cases resolved after treatment by incision and drainage and topical or systemic antibiotics. A review of the 17 previously reported cases of N. brasiliensis infections in this country indicated that this organism can also produce a lymphocutaneous type of lesion which resembles that of sporotrichosis. Criteria for the laboratory identification of N. brasiliensis are discussed.
Effects of Iodinated Salicylates on Metabolism of Rats and Mice.

SummaryA study was made of the effects on oxygen consumption of halogenated salicylates in normal, thyroidectomized and hypermetabolic rats. It was found that 5-iodo-2-hydroxybenzoate and 5-bromo-2-hydroxyben-zoate increased the metabolism of rats under these 3 conditions. 4-Iodo-2-hydroxybenzoate increased the metabolism of normal and thyroidectomized rats. 5-Iodo-2-hydroxybenzoate and sodium salicylate increased the metabolism of normal mice. 3,5-Diiodo-2-hydroxybenzoate, 5-iodo-3-hydroxybenzoate and 3-hydroxybenzoate did not increase the metabolism of rats.
A Systems Approach to Integrative Biology: An Overview of Statistical Methods to Elucidate Association and Architecture

An organism’s ability to maintain a desired physiological response relies extensively on how cellular and molecular signaling networks interpret and react to environmental cues. The capacity to quantitatively predict how networks respond to a changing environment by modifying signaling regulation and phenotypic responses will help inform and predict the impact of a changing global enivronment on organisms and ecosystems. Many computational strategies have been developed to resolve cue–signal–response networks. However, selecting a strategy that answers a specific biological question requires knowledge both of the type of data being collected, and of the strengths and weaknesses of different computational regimes. We broadly explore several computational approaches, and we evaluate their accuracy in predicting a given response. Specifically, we describe how statistical algorithms can be used in the context of integrative and comparative biology to elucidate the genomic, proteomic, and/or cellular networks responsible for robust physiological response. As a case study, we apply this strategy to a dataset of quantitative levels of protein abundance from the mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis, to uncover the temperature-dependent signaling network.
Matthew Fontaine Maury: Scientist

While US naval officer Matthew Fontaine Maury is frequently celebrated by naval historians, historians of science have treated him more poorly. He is often portrayed as an uneducated amateur who ju...
Research on Change-Points in Shanghai Composite Index Based on Bayesian Inference

Subjected to a variety of outside factors,change-point appears easily due to the imperfect legal system and market mechanism as well as psychologically immature investors and other reasons in the stock market of China.This paper determineds the locations of change-points by introducing the method which is based on the theory of Bayesian inference,constructing a likelihood function,while using prior information and sample information,as well as adopting Gibbs sampling.In addition,Which considers the problem for the number of change-points as a problem of selection for the model,is determined by utilizing the posterior odds.After the introduction of the method,determined the number and locations of change-points in the sequence of Shanghai Composite Index.It was found in the study that,from January 1993 to May 2008,Shanghai Composite Index had four change-points as follows: about December 1994,January 2000(or July 2001),April 2006 and November 2007.
Incidence and Betweenness (IB)

This chapter defines a betweenness relation and uses it to define segments, rays, and triangles. A few theorems are proved in the resulting IB geometry. These are foundational for the rest of the development.
Who is having more and better sex? The Big Five as predictors of sex in marriage

Abstract Prior research has been somewhat inconsistent in demonstrating links between personality and sexual functioning. We pooled the data from three independent daily-diary studies of newlywed couples to examine the association between individuals’ Big Five traits and the probability of sex on a given day; we also pooled the data from the two studies that assessed satisfaction with sex to examine the association between these traits and individuals’ satisfaction with sex when it occurred. Couples with wives high in agreeableness engaged in more frequent sex. Husbands low in openness or neuroticism and wives low in neuroticism reported increased satisfaction with sex when it occurred. Partner personality was unrelated to satisfaction with sex when it occurred.
Attitudes, social norms and perceived behavioral control factors influencing participation in a cooking skills program in rural Central Appalachia:

A focus group session, using the Theory of Planned Behavior to guide questions and discussion, was conducted at midpoint of a 12-month cooking skills program in a rural Appalachian food desert. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control beliefs that influenced participation in these classes. Participants viewed the classes as opportunities for social interaction and to have new experiences. Subjective norms were influenced by family members and traditional cooking. Perceived behavioral control was influenced by the opportunity to try new foods without concern of food waste, acquisition of the knowledge to introduce healthy foods into family meals and enhanced food preparation skills. During the evaluation, a strong sense of participant appreciation of researcher presence was discovered. This unexpected positive component of the program will be promoted using motivational interviewing techniques to enhance adherence to healthy eating behaviors during and after cooking skills programs.
Elastic airtight container for the compaction of air-sensitive materials

We report on the design and fabrication of a simple and versatile elastic canister for the compaction and hot-pressing of air-sensitive materials. This device consists of a heated double-ended floating die assembly, enclosed in a compressible stainless steel bellows that allows the action of an external hydraulic press in a uniaxial motion. The enclosure is fitted with vacuum, gas, and electrical feedthroughs to allow for atmosphere control, heating, and in situ process monitoring. The overall chamber is compact enough to be portable and transferrable into and out of a standard laboratory glovebox, thus eliminating the problem of exposing samples to ambient atmosphere during loading and unloading. Our design has been tested up to 600 °C and 7500 kg-force applied load, conditions within which transparent ceramics of anhydrous halides can be produced.
Chip Estimation and Pad Placement

During the initial placement process, PI estimates the size and shape of the chip and places the pads around the chip’s periphery. This chapter describes in detail how PI performs these tasks and discusses what issues were considered in the design of the heuristics to perform these tasks.
Drinking Water Protection and Agricultural Exceptionalism

Providing safe drinking water is a basic responsibility of government. The US system is inefficient, unfair, and sets up local water utilities to fail. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act these utilities bear primary responsibility for providing safe water, but the Act provides few tools for utilities to engage in pollution prevention and instead emphasizes water filtration and treatment. At the same time, the Clean Water Act, which regulates water pollution, broadly exempts nonpoint source pollution in general and agricultural water contamination in particular from its strict requirements. As a result, water utilities are often the first line of defense against agricultural water contamination’s many human health harms. This allocation of responsibility is inefficient and unfair. It is inefficient because it prioritizes end-of-line clean up even where pollution prevention would be less expensive. It also fails to account for the ancillary benefits of pollution prevention, including, among other things, protection of aquatic habitats. This allocation of responsibility is inequitable not only because of its disparate impact on low-income and minority communities but also because of its arbitrary application of the polluter pays principle. Although there are some limited legal mechanisms by which water utilities can shift costs and clean up responsibility to farmers, the legal regime creates a default in favor of end-of-line cleanup. To address these concerns, this Article calls for a suite of legal reforms that would both empower water utilities to adequately protect their source waters and revoke the special status of farms in environmental law.
Projected Gauss-Seidel algorithm for multivariable algebraic loops with applications to constrained control

This paper proposes a matrix splitting strategy based on the Projected Gauss-Seidel algorithm for the solution of multivariable algebraic loops arising naturally in many constrained control problems. The solution algorithm is globally convergent for a very large class of problems and is orders of magnitude faster than several existing algorithms in the literature. The Projected Gauss-Seidel algorithm is easy to implement with a very minimal computation per iteration and shows promise for real-time and embedded control applications where a fast but approximate solution is of the essence.
Novel PI3K Inhibitor Compound A Induces Myeloma Cell Apoptosis and Shows Synergistic Cytotoxicity with Dexamethasone In Multiple Myeloma

Abstract 4080 Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) plays a central role in cell metabolism. PI3K is activated by growth factors, cytokines, and other stimulatory factors in association with their receptors. Activated PI3K in turn initiates signaling transduction to Akt-mTOR and leads to regulation of cell growth, proliferation, and apoptosis. Dysregulation of the pathway is widely seen in different types of human cancers, including multiple myeloma (MM). Therefore, PI3K-Akt inhibition is expected to exert broad anti-MM activity. Compound A (CA) is a novel pan-PI3K inhibitor, developed by Novartis Oncology. This compound has shown significant cell growth inhibition and induction of apoptosis in a variety of tumor cell lines. CA is currently being investigated in Phase I clinical trials in solid tumor patients. In this study, we investigated the in vitro and in vivo anti-MM activity of CA. Our findings showed that CA induces apoptosis in MM cell lines, ARP1, ARK, MM.1S, MM.1R, CAG and U266, and primary MM cells in both a time-dependent and a dose-dependent manner in vitro . Western blot analysis indicated activation of caspases after CA exposure. The presence of MM bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) or addition of IL-6, the growth cytokine for MM, did not attenuate CA-induced MM cell apoptosis. More importantly, CA only showed limited cytotoxicity toward normal lymphocytes or non-tumoric BMSCs. Results from mechanistic studies showed that CA treatment results in cell cycle arrest in G1 phase by upregulating cell cycle repressor p27 (Kip1) and downregulating cyclin D1. CA treatment also caused decreased anti-apoptotic XIAP expression, and increased cytotoxic small isoform of Bim, BimS expression, both of which may contribute to CA-induced cell apoptosis. In addition to its effect in vitro , CA showed potent anti-MM activity in vivo in an established MM model in SCID mice. CA treatment repressed tumor growth and prolonged the survival of tumor-bearing mice. To test the synergistic/addictive effect of CA with other MM chemotherapeutics, we combined CA with melphalan, dexamethasone, lenalidomide, or bortezomib to treat MM cells. Our results showed that low doses of CA and dexamethasone, either of which alone has only limited cytotoxicity, exhibited synergistic anti-MM activity in dexamethasone-sensitive cell lines ARP1 and MM.1S, but not in dexamethasone-resistant cell MM.1R. Western blot analysis suggested that CA and dexamethasone combined treatment in MM.1S results in accumulation of the cytotoxic BimS. Increased BimS expression may cause the synergistic effect of CA and dexamethasone. Thus, our findings suggest CA alone or together with dexamethasone may be a promising treatment for MM. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.