cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Phylogeographic estimates of colonization of the deep Atlantic by the protobranch bivalve Nucula atacellana

The Pleistocene and post−Pleistocene evolutionary history of many North Atlan− tic intertidal invertebrate species is well known, but the evolutionary history of the deep North Atlantic fauna is poorly understood, specifically whether colonization of the deep North Atlantic paralleled the patterns observed in shallow water. Contemporary pan−Atlan− tic species distributions could result from several colonization pathways that connected dif− ferent regions of the Atlantic at different times (e.g. Arctic, Antarctic or Panamanian path− ways). To test potential colonization pathways we quantified geographic variation in nu− clear and mitochondrial markers from Atlantic samples of Nucula atacellana, a pan−Atlan− tic deep−sea protobranch bivalve, using N. profundorum in the eastern central Pacific as an outgroup. We combined existing 16S data from North and South Atlantic populations of N. atacellana with new sequences of 16S, COI, and an intron of calmodulin from those popu− lations, and newly sampled populations near Iceland. Population genetic analyses indicated a subtropical expansion via the Central American Seaway. We found no evidence for Transarctic migration to the Atlantic in N. atacellana, which suggests that colonization pathways may differ significantly between shallow− and deep−water fauna. Key wor ds: Icelandic waters, Protobranchia, population genetics, species origin, North Atlantic demographics
5-Aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-β-D-ribofuranoside Inhibits Cancer Cell Proliferation in Vitro and in Vivo via AMP-activated Protein Kinase

5-Aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-beta-4-ribofuranoside (AICAR) is widely used as an AMP-kinase activator, which regulates energy homeostasis and response to metabolic stress. Here, we investigated the effect of AICAR, an AMPK activator, on proliferation of various cancer cells and observed that proliferation of all the examined cell lines was significantly inhibited by AICAR treatment due to arrest in S-phase accompanied with increased expression of p21, p27, and p53 proteins and inhibition of PI3K-Akt pathway. Inhibition in in vitro growth of cancer cells was mirrored in vivo with increased expression of p21, p27, and p53 and attenuation of Akt phosphorylation. Anti-proliferative effect of AICAR is mediated through activated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) as iodotubericidin and dominant-negative AMPK expression vector reversed the AICAR-mediated growth arrest. Moreover, constitutive active AMPK arrested the cells in S-phase by inducing the expression of p21, p27, and p53 proteins and inhibiting Akt phosphorylation, suggesting the involvement of AMPK. AICAR inhibited proliferation in both LKB and LKB knock-out mouse embryo fibroblasts to similar extent and arrested cells at S-phase when transfected with dominant negative expression vector of LKB. Altogether, these results indicate that AICAR can be utilized as a therapeutic drug to inhibit cancer, and AMPK can be a potential target for treatment of various cancers independent of the functional tumor suppressor gene, LKB.
Mitochondria-targeted nitroxides exacerbate fluvastatin-mediated cytostatic and cytotoxic effects in breast cancer cells

Mito-CP11, a mitochondria-targeted nitroxide formed by conjugating a triphenylphosphonium cation to a five-membered nitroxide, carboxy-proxyl (CP), has been used as a superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimetic. In this study, we investigated the antiproliferative and cytotoxic properties of submicromolar levels of Mito-CP11 alone and in combination with fluvastatin, a well known cholesterol lowering drug, in breast cancer cells. Mito-CP11, but not CP or CP plus the cationic ligand, methyl triphenylphosphonium (Me-TPP+), inhibited MCF-7 breast cancer cell proliferation. Mito-CP11 had only minimal effect on MCF-10A, non-tumorigenic mammary epithelial cells. Mito-CP11, however, significantly enhanced fluvastatin-mediated cytotoxicity in MCF-7 cells. Mito-CP11 alone and in combination with fluvastatin inhibited nuclear factor kappaB (NFκB) activity mainly in MCF-7 cells. We conclude that mitochondria-targeted nitroxide antioxidant molecules (such as Mito-CP11) that are non-toxic to non-tumorigenic cells could enhance the cytostatic and cytotoxic effects of statins in breast cancer cells. This strategy of combining mitochondria-targeted non-toxic molecules with cytotoxic chemotherapeutic drugs may be successfully used to enhance the efficacy of antitumor therapies in breast cancer treatment.
Recent methods for surface shape optimization

Abstract This paper extends to C 1 quintic Bezier triangular patches the recent results obtained by Greiner using C 2 bicubic B-spline surfaces. Tensor notation is used to elucidate the invariance properties of Greiner's fairness functional and of his blending-surface functional based on the Laplace-Beltrami operator. The notation shows how to construct additional invariant functionals. A functional that minimizes the square of Gaussian curvature is introduced following the guidelines of Greiner. The paper also discusses a few test results obtained using the Laplace-Beltrami and Gaussian functionals, comparing them with a simple quadratic functional based on a special choice of parametric coordinates.
Resource recommendation in social annotation systems: A linear-weighted hybrid approach

Social annotation systems enable the organization of online resources with user-defined keywords. Collectively these annotations provide a rich information space in which users can discover resources, organize and share their finds, and connect to other users with similar interests. However, the size and complexity of these systems can lead to information overload and reduced utility for users. For these reasons, researchers have sought to apply the techniques of recommender systems to deliver personalized views of social annotation systems. To date, most efforts have concentrated on the problem of tag recommendation - personalized suggestions for possible annotations. Resource recommendation has not received the same systematic evaluation, in part because the task is inherently more complex. In this article, we provide a general formulation for the problem of resource recommendation in social annotation systems that captures these variants, and we evaluate two cases: basic resource recommendation and tag-specific resource recommendation. We also propose a linear-weighted hybrid framework for resource recommendation. Using six real-world datasets, we show that its integrative approach is essential for this recommendation task and provides the most adaptability given the varying data characteristics in different social annotation systems. We find that our algorithm is more effective than other more mathematically-complex techniques and has the additional advantages of flexibility and extensibility.
Masculinity Ideology, Income Disparity, and Romantic Relationship Quality Among Men with Higher Earning Female Partners

This research assessed factors that may affect men’s heterosexual romantic relationships in which their partner earns a greater income. Forty-seven men from the United States completed measures that assessed masculinity ideology, the importance of the partner’s greater income, and romantic relationship quality. We examined whether the perceived importance of the income disparity mediated the relationship between men’s masculinity ideology and the quality of their romantic relationships. Using multiple regression analyses to test for mediation, results showed the relationship between masculinity ideology and romantic relationship quality was due in part to the importance one placed on the difference in income. Specifically, men who were more traditional in their masculinity ideology and have higher earning female partners were more likely to have poor quality romantic relationships in part because such men view the disparity in income as having importance. Conversely, results showed men who were more nontraditional in their masculinity were more likely to perceive the disparity in income as having little or no importance and have high romantic relationship quality.
Elastic anisotropies and long-ranged interactions in solid membranes

I study the effects of elastic anisotropy and long-ranged interactions on the fluctuations of solid membranes. Elastic anisotropies prove to be irrelevant in the absence of long-ranged interactions. Long-ranged interactions which fall off with distance $r$ like ${r}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\sigma}}$ are relevant only for sufficiently small $\ensuremath{\sigma}$. In real (two-dimensional) membranes with dipolar interactions ($\ensuremath{\sigma}=3$), the Lam\'e coefficients $\ensuremath{\mu}$ and $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ vanish like ${[\mathrm{ln}(\frac{1}{q})]}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$, as wave vector $q\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$. For larger but still relevant $\ensuremath{\sigma}'\mathrm{s}$, $\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\propto}{q}^{{\ensuremath{\eta}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}}\ensuremath{\propto}\ensuremath{\lambda}$ with ${\ensuremath{\eta}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}=2\ensuremath{\sigma}\ensuremath{-}3D$, exactly, for $D$-dimensional membranes.
SU‐E‐J‐189: Validation of An Iterative Deconvolution Algorithm for the Post Treatment Y90 PET Image of Liver Cancer

Purpose: To validate the interactive deconvolution method for dose calculation from breathing effect removed Y90 PET image and to quantify impact of the breathing pattern variation on the dose distributionMethods: A computer phantom simulating the PET image of a liver tumor was constructed to investigate an internally developed program using the Van Cittert of deconvolution to remove the breathing motion effect from PET images. The tumor radius was 4 cm. Typical pixel values and noise inside and outside the tumor were taken from real patient Y90 PET images (inside tumor 415±164, outside tumor 15±37, negative pixels were clipped to 0). The phantom PET image was convolved with a breathing kernel (breathing amplitude 2 cm). These images were then deconvolved with the Van‐Cittert deconvolution. The pixel values of the convolved and the deconvolved image are compared with the original image. Results: The root mean square (rms) of the pixel difference between the original and convoluted image was 3.33, and between the original and the deconvolved images was 0.54. Conclusion: The deconvolution removed most of the changes in pixel value sue to breathing.
Androgen Receptor Messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) in the Rat Liver: Changes in mRNA Levels during Maturation, Aging, and Calorie Restriction*

By means of RNAase protection assay with an antisense cRNA probe, we have shown that the liver of the young adult male rat contains androgen receptor (AR) mRNA to a level of 4% compared to the prostate. Steady state levels of AR mRNA in the liver show both sex and age specificity. Compared to that of the male, the female liver contains a markedly reduced amount of AR mRNA. AR mRNA is almost undetectable in livers of prepubertal male ( 750 days old) rats. Both prepubertal and senescent animals are relatively insensitive to the androgenic induction of α2u-globulin, a hepatic secretory protein. The agedependent decline in hepatic androgen sensitivity and AR mRNA level can be delayed considerably by a 40% reduction in the dietary calorie intake. Analysis of poly (A)-containing RNA from two liver cell populations, hepatocytes and nonhepatocytes, revealed that only the hepatocytes that express α2u-globulin gene contain AR mRNA. From these results and our earlier observation of ...
Synthesis, characterization, and reactivity of PPN[Cr(CO)4(NO)]

Abstract The new nitrosyl carbonylmetalate PPN[Cr(CO)4(NO)] has been synthesized from Cr(CO)6 and PPN(NO2) in THF (PPN = bis(triphenylphosphine)iminium cation). The material was characterized by infrared and 15N NMR spectroscopy and by elemental analysis, which demonstrated it has the same structure as Mn(CO)4(NO). Kinetic experiments show the reaction to be first order in both chromium and nitrite with k = 0.25 ± 0.05 M−1 sec−1 at 58.60 ± 0.05°C. A mechanism consistent with this and related results is discussed. Metalcarbon, metalhydrogen, and metalmetal bonds have been formed by the reactions of PPN[Cr(CO)4(NO)] with eletrophiles (CF3SO3CH3, CF3SO3H, Ph3SnCl). With the labile complexes, M(CO)5(THF) (M = Cr, Mo and W), PPN[Cr(CO)4(NO)] produces the homo- and hetero-dinuclear complexes PPN[CrM(CO)9(NO)] (M = Cr, Mo and W).
VLF imaging of the Venus foreshock

VLF plasma wave measurements obtained from the Pioneer Venus Orbiter Electric Field Detector (OEFD) have been used to construct statistical images of the Venus foreshock. Our data set contains all upstream measurements from an entire Venus year (approximately 200 orbits). Since the foreshock VLF characteristics vary with Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) orientation we restrict the study to IMF orientations near the nominal Parker spiral angle (25 to 45). Our results show a strong decrease in 30 kHz wave intensity with both foreshock depth and distance. There is also an asymmetry in the 30 kHz emissions from the upstream and downstream foreshocks. The ion foreshock is characterized by strong emissions in the 5.4 kHz OEFD channel which are positioned much deeper in the foreshock than expected from terrestrial observations. No activity is observed in the region where field aligned ion distributions are expected. ULF wave activity, while weaker than at Earth, shows similar behavior and may indicate the presence of similar ion distributions.
A review of the organization and evolution of motoneurons innervating the axial musculature of vertebrates.

Abstract In most anamniotes the axial musculature is myomeric and is functionally subdivided into superficial red and deep white muscle. In those anamniotes that have been studied the organization of the motor column is related to this functional subdivision. The motoneurons innervating red and white muscle differ in size, distribution in the motor column, and developmental history. There is no obvious topographic relationship between the location of motoneurons in the motor column and the dorsoventral location of the muscle they innervate in the myomeres; epaxial motoneurons are not segregated from hypaxial ones. Among amniotes, the myomeres divide to form a number of discrete muscles that may be complexly arranged. This breakup of the musculature is correlated with a subdivision of the motor column into discrete motor pools serving the different muscles. Unlike anamniotes, the motor pools are topographically organized. The epaxial pools are segregated from hypaxial ones, and within the epaxial and hypaxial pools the location of motoneurons innervating any particular muscle is related to the location of the muscle's precursor in the embryonic muscle masses.Thus adjacent motor pools innervate muscles arising from adjacent positions in the myotome. These dramatic differences between the motor columns in anamniotes and amniotes imply that the medial motor column has undergone a major restructuring during the evolution of vertebrates. The available evidence — which is tentative because of the few species that have been studied — suggests that a topographically organized motor column was absent in early vertebrates. A motor column/myotome map appears to have arisen just prior to, or in conjunction with the origin of amniotic vertebrates. The details of this map were conserved in different amniotes in spite of major structural and functional changes in the musculature. The map may be important for the proper control of the many muscles arising from the myotomes in amniotes because it facilitates the development and evolution of motor systems in which anatomically and functionally different muscles have spatially separate motor pools in the cord.
Some issues in parallel processing as encountered on the Denelcor HEP

Abstract We present a collection of differing parallel implementation of a single, computationally intensive algorithm that models the collisionless, electrostatic interaction between two relatively moving plasma beams. This numerical simulation uses a method, important in many scientific applications known as the Particle-in-Cell (PIC) method. Our aim in this study is to determine the advantages and disadvantages associated with those various parallel implementations. Our experiments with parallelizing this particular numerical simulation, referred to throughout this paper as the PIC code, were performed on a single Denelcor HEP Process Execution Module (PEM). A complete set of parallel processing speedups and execution times as a function of number of processes is presented.
Broadening the Range of Signal Words

Most guidelines on warning design recommend using an appropriate signal word that connotes the degree of hazard involved. Usually three levels of signal words, DANGER, WARNING, and CAUTION are suggested for warnings that convey high to low degrees of hazard. The purposes of the present research were threefold. The first goal was to examine whether these terms differed in implied hazard level. The second goal was to determine whether an additional group of five words recommended in guidelines or used in previous research differed in connoted hazard level. The third goal was to explore the possibility of increasing the number and range of words that connote different levels of hazard. Subjects rated a list of 84 potential signal words on six questions assessing strength, severity of implied injury, likelihood of implied injury, attention-gettingness, carefulness, and understandability. The results indicated that DANGER connoted greater strength (arousal) than WARNING and CAUTION, but the results failed to s...
Design proposal for a microfluidic device for sprouting angiogenesis

Cancer growth and metastasis is dependent on angiogenesis, the development of new blood vessels. Endothelial cell proliferation and migration are critical cellular processes in the formation of new blood vessels. Many anticancer therapies are aimed at inhibiting angiogenesis, and there is a need for the development of in vitro models for studying these cellular processes. The goal of this project is to develop a microfluidic device for the purpose of observing cell migration in response to controlled mechanical and chemical stimuli. To represent physiological microvasculature, the system exhibits a central cell culture channel (1 mm diameter) and two parallel reservoir channels. A port system was also designed to drive fluid flow through the cell culture chamber with an external syringe pump and introduce chemotaxins or control conditions in the reservoirs. This will create an environment conducive to cell migration under the effects of fluid shear stresses. Computational fluid dynamics will be used to predict mechanical stresses inside the cell culture chamber and cell migration will be observed with inverted light microscopy. The successful implementation of our design will introduce a unique platform that models sprouting angiogenesis and allows for the independent control of fluid shear stresses and chemical concentration gradients.
Government and Codeswitching: Explaining American Finnish

Bilingual codeswitching is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon, which calls for explanations on several different linguistic levels. This volume focuses on one such level: the level of syntax. An explanation for the regularities and consistencies in the codeswitching patterns of American Finns in their spontaneous conversations is sought for in the Universal Grammar -based principle of government as realized in case-assignment and agreement relations. A bulk of the Finnish-English intrasentential data get their explanation on the structural, hierarchical level, but this level of syntax is found to be interestingly intertwined with sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, and discourse levels, which all contribute to variation in codeswitching patterns. The proposed principle of government is seen as one important explanation in typologically certain kinds of language pairs such as Finnish and English; however, this principle is not treated as a monolithic constraint, but rather as the leading tendency which is occasionally overridden by other than syntactic forces. The volume is intended as a complement — not as a contradiction — to earlier explanations of codeswitching phenomena. Its main message is: while all linguistic levels contribute to the construction of bilingual speech, the importance of syntax can not be ignored.
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Asthma Medication Usage and Health-Care Utilization: Data From the National Asthma Survey

Background Despite the availability of effective treatment, minority children continue to experience disproportionate morbidity from asthma. Our objective was to identify and characterize racial and ethnic disparities in health-care utilization and medication usage among US children with asthma in a large multistate asthma survey. Methods We analyzed questions from the 2003–2004 four-state sample of the National Asthma Survey to assess symptom control, medication use, and health-care utilization among white, black, and Hispanic children Results Of the 1,485 children surveyed, 55% were white, 25% were Hispanic, and 20% were black. Twice as many black children had asthma-related ED visits (39% vs 18%, respectively; p Conclusions Children with asthma in this large, multistate survey showed a dramatic underuse of ICSs. Black and Hispanic children compared with white children had more indicators of poorly controlled asthma, including increased emergency health-care utilization, more daily rescue medication use, and lower use of ICSs, regardless of symptom control.
Measurement of the Surface Friction of Fibers by an Electro-Mechanical Method The Relevancy of Surface Geometry1

A torsion-wire instrument, built for the measurement of frictional force, is described. Its operation depends on the angular deflection of a beam when a slider on the beam passes axially along the test specimen. The frictional force involved is registered elec tronically through a capacitive transducer and a bridge circuit. Means have been taken to minimize the influence of noise-producing sources on the delicate transducer.Typical chart recordings obtained on the frictional-force system are presented, showing that, under the conditions of these experiments, the frictional passage of an edge along a textile fiber is an irregular succession of "stick-slip" cycles. Two param eters, taking into account this irregularity, are introduced to characterize the frictional behavior of a fiber. Results of measurements in these terms are given for two man- made fibers, with and without finish, and for a camel-hair sample.At the traversing speeds employed in the present experiments, finishes on man-made fibers appear ...
Indoor, outdoor, and personal exposure monitoring of particulate air pollution: the Baltimore elderly epidemiology-exposure pilot study☆

Abstract A 17-day pilot study investigating potential PM exposures of an elderly population was conducted near Baltimore, Maryland. Collection of residential indoor, residential outdoor, and ambient monitoring data associated with the subjects living at a common retirement facility was integrated with results from a paired epidemiological pilot study. This integration was used to investigate the potential pathophysiological health effects resulting from daily changes in estimated PM exposures with results reported elsewhere. Objectives of the exposure study were to determine the feasibility of performing PM exposure assessment upon an elderly population and establishing relationships between the various exposure measures including personal monitoring. PM 2.5 was determined to be the dominant outdoor size fraction (0.83 PM 2.5 /PM 10 mass ratio by dichot monitoring). Individual 24-h PM 1.5 personal exposures ranged from 12 to 58 μg m −3 . Comparison of data from matched sampling dates resulted in mean daily PM 1.5 personal, PM 2.5 outdoor, and PM 1.5 indoor concentrations of 34, 17, and 17 μg m −3 , respectively. Activity patterns of the study population indicated a generally sedentary population spending a mean of 96% of each day indoors. Future studies would benefit from the use of a consistent sampling methodology across a larger number of PM measurement sites relevant to the elderly subjects, as well as a larger personal PM exposure study population to more successfully collect data needed in matched epidemiological-exposure studies.
Artificial life meets entertainment: lifelike autonomous agents

The relatively new field of artificial life attempts to study and understand biological life by synthesizing artificial life forms. To paraphrase Chris Langton, the founder of the field, the goal of artificial life is to “model life as it could be so as to understand life as we know it.” Artificial life is a very broad discipline which spans such diverse topics as artificial evolution, artificial ecosystems, artificial morphogenesis, molecular evolution, and many more. Langton offers a nice overview of the different research questions studied by the discipline [6]. Artificial life shares with artificial intelligence (AI) its interest in synthesizing adaptive autonomous agents. Autonomous agents are computational systems that inhabit some complex, dynamic environment, sense and act autonomously in this environment, and by doing so realize a set of goals or tasks for which they are designed.
Advances in Swine Immunology Help Move Vaccine Technology Forward

In veterinary animal species, vaccines are the primary tool for disease prevention, a key tool for treatment of infection, and essential for helping maintain animal welfare and productivity. Traditional vaccine development by trial-and-error has achieved many successes. However, effective vaccines that provide solid cross-protective immunity with excellent safety are still needed for many diseases. The path to development of vaccines against difficult pathogens requires recognition of uniquely evolved immunological interactions of individual animal hosts and their specific pathogens. Here, general principles that currently guide veterinary immunology and vaccinology research are reviewed, with an emphasis on examples from swine. Advances in genomics and proteomics now provide the community with powerful tools for elucidation of regulatory and effector mechanisms of protective immunity that provide new opportunities for successful translation of immunological discoveries into safe and effective vaccines.
Perfect and other aspects in a case grammar of English

In the case grammars of English proposed by Charles J. Fillmore and John Anderson perfect aspect is scarcely mentioned. Fillmore explicitly relegates it to a ‘modality’ component separate from the core ‘proposition’. Progressive (be ing) has not fared so badly – non-occurrence with (be ing) is frequently used as a defining test of a [+state] feature in a clause – and the readings assigned it are fairly constant and independent of the features of clauses in which it occurs. A model which treats progressive as ‘added on’ to any [–state] clause does not seem to miss any obvious generalizations or leave unaccounted-for any major divergences in semantic interpretation. With (have en), however, readings vary considerably depending on the character of the clause and the task of paraphrasing the ‘meaning’ (have en) ‘adds to’ a clause has frustrated many a grammarian of English, especially those who try to link ‘completion’ to it. In what follows, I will argue that we do need a [completive] semantic feature, but that it should be introduced into Anderson's subcategorization rules (1971: 211) and is only peripherally related to the readings assigned (have en). Adding an ‘aspectual’ feature to the subcategorization rules is not without warrant, since such features as [state] and [direction location] can be said to be aspectual, at least in the broadest sense of the term (‘having to do with “the temporal distribution or contour” of the action’ - Hockett's definition cited in Lyons, 1968: 315). Clearly relevant to the expression of aspect in this broad sense are manner and degree (or extent) adverbials, especially what I will call ‘aspect-manner’ adverbials: slowly, evenly. The relation of some manner adverbials (‘agent-manner’) and agency has been recognized and somewhat belaboured, though the parallel relation of degree adverbials and ‘completion’ has not. Again, these forms, like (have en), have been regarded as peripheral to the basic core of features, though some dependency relation between ‘agent-manner’ and agent has been suggested.
Cumulative effects of riparian disturbances along high desert trout streams of the John Day Basin, Oregon

Abstract In a study of cumulative effects of riparian disturbance by grazing on the trophic structure of high desert trout streams, watersheds with greater riparian canopy had higher standing crops of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, lower daily maximum temperatures (range, 16–23°C compared with 26–31°C), and perennial flow. Watershed aspect influenced the response of trophic structure to grazing influences. Standing crops of rainbow trout were negatively correlated with solar radiation and maximum temperature in watersheds flowing northward. A different relationship was observed for a set of watersheds with a southern aspect, perhaps due to the presence of spring seeps and stream desiccation in the heavily grazed stream. Trout biomass was negatively correlated with solar radiation, whereas positive relationships were found for discharge and depth. Algal biomass was positively correlated with solar insolation (r = 0.9 1), total invertebrate biomass (r = 0.77), and herbivorous invertebrate biomass (r = 0...
Tissue-specific knockouts of ACAT2 reveal that intestinal depletion is sufficient to prevent diet-induced cholesterol accumulation in the liver and blood

Acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase 2 (ACAT2) generates cholesterol esters (CE) for packaging into newly synthesized lipoproteins and thus is a major determinant of blood cholesterol levels. ACAT2 is expressed exclusively in the small intestine and liver, but the relative contributions of ACAT2 expression in these tissues to systemic cholesterol metabolism is unknown. We investigated whether CE derived from the intestine or liver would differentially affect hepatic and plasma cholesterol homeostasis. We generated liver-specific (ACAT2L−/L−) and intestine-specific (ACAT2SI−/SI−) ACAT2 knockout mice and studied dietary cholesterol-induced hepatic lipid accumulation and hypercholesterolemia. ACAT2SI−/SI− mice, in contrast to ACAT2L−/L− mice, had blunted cholesterol absorption. However, specific deletion of ACAT2 in the intestine generated essentially a phenocopy of the conditional knockout of ACAT2 in the liver, with reduced levels of plasma very low-density lipoprotein and hepatic CE, yet hepatic-free cholesterol does not build up after high cholesterol intake. ACAT2L−/L− and ACAT2SI−/SI− mice were equally protected from diet-induced hepatic CE accumulation and hypercholesterolemia. These results suggest that inhibition of intestinal or hepatic ACAT2 improves atherogenic hyperlipidemia and limits hepatic CE accumulation in mice and that depletion of intestinal ACAT2 is sufficient for most of the beneficial effects on cholesterol metabolism. Inhibitors of ACAT2 targeting either tissue likely would be beneficial for atheroprotection.
Evaluating a Program Designed to Demonstrate Continuous Improvement in Teaching at an AACSB-Accredited College of Business at a Regional University: A Case Study

This article provides a detailed statistical analysis of a process intended to demonstrate continuous improvement in teaching at an AACSB accredited college of business. The Educational Testing Service's SIR II student evaluation instrument was used to measure teaching effectiveness. A six-year longitudinal analysis of the SIR II results does not indicate improvement in the overall teaching. The results indicate two important concerns when designing a procedure to demonstrate teaching effectiveness. First, resulting data should be analyzed frequently; second, more than one measure of teaching effectiveness should be included. This paper may be of assistance when blueprinting or applying processes designed to demonstrate continuous improvement in teaching.
Friction Modeling and PD Compensation at Very Low Velocities

It is a well-known empirical result that stick-slip can often be eliminated from a system by stiffening it. More recently, it has been shown that for a negatively-sloped friction-velocity curve, a frictional lag must be present for machine/controller stiffness to produce this stabilizing effect. In this paper, experiments involving dry and lubricated line contacts of hardened tool steel are described which demonstrate the existence of frictional lag in boundary lubrication. It is also shown that a single-state-variable friction model provides a good representation of the actual friction dynamics. The model and associated parameter values provide a means for computing lower bounds on the machine stiffness and PD gains necessary for steady motion at velocities on the order of microns per second
FHA-based voltage gain function with harmonic compensation for LLC resonant converter

This paper discusses how to improve the accuracy of the gain expression obtained from the First Harmonic Approximation (FHA) for LLC resonant half bridge converter design. By reviewing the approximation, a gain compensation method is developed to improve the accuracy based on harmonic compensation. Theoretical analysis, computer simulation and bench test are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
The nuclear pore complex – structure and function at a glance

Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) are indispensable for cell function and are at the center of several human diseases. NPCs provide access to the nucleus and regulate the transport of proteins and RNA across the nuclear envelope. They are aqueous channels generated from a complex network of evolutionarily conserved proteins known as nucleporins. In this Cell Science at a Glance article and the accompanying poster, we discuss how transport between the nucleoplasm and the cytoplasm is regulated, what we currently know about the structure of individual nucleoporins and the assembled NPC, and how the cell regulates assembly and disassembly of such a massive structure. Our aim is to provide a general overview on what we currently know about the nuclear pore and point out directions of research this area is heading to.
Glomerulosclerosis in Captive Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus)

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is an endangered species with low fecundity and premature death in captivity. A previous survey determined that renal failure as a result of glomerulosclerosis was a major cause of death in captive populations. This study characterizes the morphologic, histochemical, and epidemiologic properties of glomerulosclerosis in this population. Kidneys from 87 cheetahs were examined by light micros- copy; kidneys from six of those cheetahs were examined by electron and fluorescent microscopy using special stains specific for collagen, glycoproteins, reticulin, and fibrin. Immunohistochemistry for the advanced gly- cosylation end products (AGEs), pyrraline and pentosidine, also was performed on these cases. Glomeruloscle- rosis was present to some degree in 82% of the population, and in 30% of cheetahs the sclerosis was moderate to severe. Affected cheetah kidneys had thickened glomerular and tubular basement membranes, culminating in glomerulosclerosis. Thickened basement membranes were positive for collagen, glycoproteins, reticulin, and AGEs. Ultrastructurally, membrane material was homogeneous and fibrillar without electron-dense deposits. This glomerular lesion in cheetahs resembles diabetic glomerulopathy in humans and chronic progressive ne- phropathy in rats. No cheetahs had lesions of diabetes. However, adrenal cortical hyperplasia was prevalent and highly correlated with glomerulosclerosis in this population. If cheetahs with glomerulosclerosis had hypercor- ticoidism, then hyperglycemia and glomerular hypertension could lead to progressive AGE and plasma protein accumulations in membrane lesions. As in rats, daily feeding of high-protein diets and lack of genetic variation in the population may further contribute to the high prevalence of glomerulosclerosis in captive cheetahs.
Epigenetic manipulation of gene expression: a toolkit for cell biologists

Cell biologists have been afforded extraordinary new opportunities for experimentation by the emergence of powerful technologies that allow the selective manipulation of gene expression. Currently, RNA interference is very much in the limelight; however, significant progress has also been made with two other approaches. Thus, antisense oligonucleotide technology is undergoing a resurgence as a result of improvements in the chemistry of these molecules, whereas designed transcription factors offer a powerful and increasingly convenient strategy for either up- or down-regulation of targeted genes. This mini-review will highlight some of the key features of these three approaches to gene regulation, as well as provide pragmatic guidance concerning their use in cell biological experimentation based on our direct experience with each of these technologies. The approaches discussed here are being intensely pursued in terms of possible therapeutic applications. However, we will restrict our comments primarily to the cell culture situation, only briefly alluding to fundamental differences between utilization in animals versus cells.
Smoking and Mortality in Stroke Survivors: Can We Eliminate the Paradox?

Background Many studies have suggested that smoking does not increase mortality in stroke survivors. Index event bias, a sample selection bias, potentially explains this paradoxical finding. Therefore, we compared all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer mortality by cigarette smoking status among stroke survivors using methods to account for index event bias. Methods Among 5797 stroke survivors of 45 years or older who responded to the National Health Interview Survey years 1997-2004, an annual, population-based survey of community-dwelling US adults, linked to the National Death Index, we estimated all-cause, CVD, and cancer mortality by smoking status using Cox proportional regression and propensity score analysis to account for demographic, socioeconomic, and clinical factors. Mean follow-up was 4.5 years. Results From 1997 to 2004, 18.7% of stroke survivors smoked. There were 1988 deaths in this stroke survivor cohort, with 50% of deaths because of CVD and 15% because of cancer. Current smokers had an increased risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.36; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14-1.63) and cancer mortality (HR, 3.83; 95% CI, 2.48-5.91) compared with never smokers, after controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and clinical factors. Current smokers had an increased risk of CVD mortality controlling for age and sex (HR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.01-1.64), but this risk did not persist after controlling for socioeconomic and clinical factors (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, .88-1.50). Conclusions Stroke survivors who smoke have an increased risk of all-cause mortality, which is largely because of cancer mortality. Socioeconomic and clinical factors explain stroke survivors' higher risk of CVD mortality associated with smoking.
Rapport-Building During Witness and Suspect Interviews: A Survey of Law Enforcement

Summary Building rapport with adult witnesses and suspects is recommended by major investigative interviewing protocols (e.g., Cognitive Interview and the Army Field Manual in the USA and PEACE in the UK). Although recent research suggests that building rapport can sometimes benefit police investigations by increasing the accuracy of adult eyewitness reports and potentially enhance the diagnosticity of evidence obtained from suspects, little data exist regarding how law enforcement interviewers actually define and build rapport in real-world investigations. To fill this void, the present study distributed a questionnaire containing open and closed-ended questions to 123 law enforcement interviewers in police training courses to determine how they conceptualize and build rapport with adult interviewees. Results indicate that a majority of law enforcement interviewers define rapport as a positive relationship involving trust and communication, with a strong minority defining rapport as a ‘positive or negative’ relationship. Further, law enforcement interviewers reported building rapport with adult witnesses and suspects in a similar manner, often by using verbal techniques (e.g., discussing common interests via small talk) and non-verbal techniques (e.g., displaying understanding via empathy and sympathy). Theoretical and applied implications of these results are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
OOW, it's object-oriented writing

The author describes how a new concept, object-oriented writing (OOW), aids in reusing more information as well as helping provide easier-to-use information for customers. The advantages of OOW over traditional documentation approaches are outlined.
‘Just follow the money’: the cold war, the humanistic study of religion, and the fallacy of insufficient cynicism

Contrary to studies that argue there is no direct link between Cold War era politics and the shift in the United States from confessional to tax‐supported Humanistic studies of religion, this paper explores whether such direct evidence does in fact exist. Focusing mainly on the National Defense Fellowships that were instituted by the US federal government soon after the launch of Sputnik, the essay concludes that there is considerable warrant for further investigations into the public and private funding that made the Humanistic study of religion a reality in the mid‐1960s to late 1960s. Given current worldwide political and military developments, and the manner in which some scholars of religion are arguing for the relevance of the study of religion for those wishing to ensure the spread of liberal democracy, it may now be the time to reconsider the Cold War history of our field.
Stimulation with Peptidoglycan induces interleukin 6 and TLR2 expression and a concomitant downregulation of expression of adiponectin receptors 1 and 2 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes

Background Inflammation is a major component of obesity and diabetes, and toll-like receptors (TLRs) play critical roles in the regulation of inflammation and response to pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and fatty acids in. Although immune cells such as macrophages are primarily responsible for recognition and clearance of pathogens, adipocytes are also closely involved in the regulation of innate immunity and inflammation. Whereas it has been demonstrated that adipocytes respond to TLR4 stimulation with lipopolysacccharide, very little is known about their response to the TLR2 agonist, peptidoglycan.
Riverboat casino gambling impacts on employment and income in host and surrounding counties

This paper explores how the introduction of casinos in riverboat states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri) in the mid-1990s impacted county income and employment. Building on the previous literature, this study extends the analysis beyond the county with the casino to explore the effects experienced by neighboring counties using both a difference-in-differences estimation and a spatial Durbin model. Real per capita county income is found to increase in counties with casinos, while unemployment drops. Neighboring counties also experience significant increases in income, though to a lesser magnitude, while unemployment rates are unaffected. Where adjacent counties each have casinos, a competition effect is found that reduces the impacts below what either county would have experienced without competition. Neighboring counties that have casinos experience increases in income and decreases in unemployment similar to counties without casinos that are adjacent to casino counties.
A partitioning approach for parallel simulation of ac-radial shipboard power systems

An approach to parallelize the simulation of AC-Radial Shipboard Power Systems (SPSs) using multicore computers is presented. Time domain simulations of SPSs are notoriously slow, due principally to the number of components, and the time-variance of the component models. A common approach to reduce the simulation run-time of power systems is to formulate the electrical network equations using modified nodal analysis, use Bergeron’s travelling-wave transmission line model to create subsystems, and to parallelize the simulation using a distributed computer. In this work, an SPS was formulated using loop analysis, defining the subsystems using a diakoptics-based approach, and the simulation parallelized using a multicore computer. A program was developed in C# to conduct multithreaded parallel-sequential simulations of an SPS. The program first represents an SPS as a graph, and then partitions the graph. Each graph partition represents a SPS subsystem and is computationally balanced using iterative refinement heuristics. Once balanced subsystems are obtained, each SPS subsystem’s electrical network equations are formulated using loop analysis. Each SPS subsystem is solved using a unique thread, and each thread is manually assigned to a core of a multicore computer. To validate the partitioning approach, performance metrics were created to assess the speed gain and accuracy of the partitioned SPS simulations. The simulation parameters swept for the performance metrics were the number of partitions, the number of cores used, and the time step increment. The results of the performance metrics showed adequate speed gains with negligible error. An increasing simulation speed gain was observed when the number of partitions and cores were augmented, obtaining maximum speed gains of <30x when using a quad-core computer. Results show that the speed gain is more sensitive to the number partitions than is to the number of cores. While multicore computers are suitable for parallel-sequential SPS simulations, increasing the number of cores does not contribute to the gain in speed as much as does partitioning. The simulation error increased with the simulation time step but did not influence the partitioned simulation results. The number of operations caused by protective devices was used to determine whether the simulation error introduced by partitioning SPS simulations produced a inconsistent system behavior. It is shown, for the time step sizes uses, that protective devices did not operate inadvertently, which indicates that the errors did not alter RMS measurement and, hence, were non-influential.
Returning to the Field: I'm Older and They're Wiser

Several processes of change and of human development affect the process of fieldwork over time. The concerns, issues, interests, relationships, coping strategies, motivations, and even personality of a mature adult are not the same as those of a younger adult. Consequently, fieldwork conducted on Pollap Atoll in Micronesia in 1998-1999 differed from dissertation research conducted in the same place eighteen years earlier. Changes since 1980 in the Pollapese way of life, their relationships with outsiders, and their understandings of anthropology contributed to a different experience, as did my heightened sense of confidence, decreased anxiety, and increased faith in participant observation.
Treatment-related amenorrhea among young women one year following diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer.

9523 Background: Treatment-related amenorrhea (TRA) is common among premenopausal women treated for early-stage breast cancer and is associated with important reproductive, sexual, and metabolic si...
PAR proteins regulate maintenance-phase myosin dynamics during Caenorhabditis elegans zygote polarization

PAR-2, PAR-3, and PAR-6 regulate association of myosin (NMY-2) with the cortex of the Caenorhabditis elegans zygote. PAR-3 and PAR-6 concentrate CDC-42–dependent NMY-2 in the anterior cortex, and P...