cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hormone-dependent control of developmental timing through regulation of chromatin accessibility

Specification of tissue identity during development requires precise coordination of gene expression in both space and time. Spatially, master regulatory transcription factors are required to control tissue-specific gene expression programs. However, the mechanisms controlling how tissue-specific gene expression changes over time are less well understood. Here, we show that hormone-induced transcription factors control temporal gene expression by regulating the accessibility of DNA regulatory elements. Using the Drosophila wing, we demonstrate that temporal changes in gene expression are accompanied by genome-wide changes in chromatin accessibility at temporal-specific enhancers. We also uncover a temporal cascade of transcription factors following a pulse of the steroid hormone ecdysone such that different times in wing development can be defined by distinct combinations of hormone-induced transcription factors. Finally, we show that the ecdysone-induced transcription factor E93 controls temporal identity by directly regulating chromatin accessibility across the genome. Notably, we found that E93 controls enhancer activity through three different modalities, including promoting accessibility of late-acting enhancers and decreasing accessibility of early-acting enhancers. Together, this work supports a model in which an extrinsic signal triggers an intrinsic transcription factor cascade that drives development forward in time through regulation of chromatin accessibility.
Perspective: The Unexpected 51-Hour Conversation (An Emphasis on the Importance of In-Person Encounters)

I pursued a graduate degree for rapid professional progress; the experience during graduate school enhanced my effectiveness professionally. Online education was the right fit for earning a degree, as it allowed for schedule flexibility and access to a diverse student base. As I moved from a commercial supply chain into the public health sector, I realized a missed opportunity in failing to deeply connect with student peers. These peers lived in the countries I was now aiming to support. The online experience did not have in-person encounters that allow for easier networking. Additionally, these countries often experience infrastructure challenges which make virtual forms of communications less leverageable. Despite advances in technology, I find myself traveling long distances to meet supply chain teams in person to properly diagnose supply chain challenges and explore innovations for public health.
The Road to Perdition: Extreme Influence Tactics in the Interrogation Room

Publisher Summary This chapter explores the “road to perdition”—the nature and typical sequence of interrogative strategies and events leading to false confession as well as the underlying psychological principles through which they exert their influence. In recognition of the various contributory causes of false confession, the chapter considers several classification schemes for confessions and their underlying causes. The chapter provides a brief summary of common sequences of police tactics—beginning with selection of a suspect, and following the interrogation of that suspect through the production of the full confession and account of the crime. Basic psychological processes through which specific interrogative tactics exert their effects have been considered. The chapter focuses on individual differences that render specific individuals particularly vulnerable to influence and false confession. The chapter also considers the consequences of confession evidence for eventual disposition of the case. The interrogation tactics themselves are designed to both constrain and falsify the information suspects use to analyze their situations.
Correction to: The Consequences of Explicit and Implicit Gender Attitudes and Candidate Quality in the Calculations of Voters

The original version of this article contains a labelling mistake. Table 3 reports the quality score by ABA Rating. The order of the labels under “Weak ranking” in Table 3 is incorrect. The correction strengthens the claim in the article that the study participants were more likely to assign higher likability score to candidates with objectively better ABA ratings. The corrected Table 3 is given below.
Response assessment in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: role of imaging

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive gastrointestinal (GI) malignancy with poor 5-year survival rate. Advances in surgical techniques and introduction of novel combination chemotherapy and radiation therapy regimens have necessitated the need for biomarkers for assessment of treatment response. Conventional imaging methods such as RECIST have been used for response evaluation in clinical trials particularly in patients with metastatic PDAC. However, the role of these approaches for assessing response to loco-regional and systemic therapies is limited due to complex morphological and histological nature of PDAC. Determination of tumor resectability after neoadjuvant therapy remains a challenge. This review article provides an overview of the challenges and limitations of response assessment in PDAC and reviews the current evidence for the utility of novel morphological and functional imaging tools in this disease.
A perspective on fifty-five years of the evolution of scientific respect for simulation

This paper gives a personal perspective on the evolution of discrete-event simulation-concentrating on how it moved from having an image from the 1950s through the 1980s of being a “brute force programming effort” and as a problem-solving “method of last resort” to today's status where simulation enjoys “considerable scientific respect.” These days, simulation is often the solution “method of choice” and has gained much “scholarly respect.” This evolution changed simulation's reliance on the use of “ad hoc methods” of solution on “early digital computers” to using simulation software systems containing “science-based methods” of solution on “modern day computers.” Remember: Simulation today has considerable scientific respect, and this respect is the result of the evolution of simulation.
Two-photon interference and entanglement control via reconfigurable quantum frequency processor

We implement a parallelized, reconfigurable processor for frequency-bin quantum states, demonstrating Hong-Ou-Mandel interference with record-high visibility and the first deterministic correlation swapping of spectrally entangled photons.
The Morphologic Expression of Hepatitis B

There are at least three different viruses responsible for the common varieties of hepatitis: the hepatitis A virus (HAV), the hepatitis B virus (HBV), and an unidentified virus or group of viruses called non-A, non-B (NANB). The symptoms and extent of liver injury produced in acute viral hepatitis vary from a mild, non-icteric, subclinical illness to acute icteric hepatitis, massive necrosis and hepatic failure. It is estimated that 5–10% of adults infected with HBV develop a chronic carrier state, manifested by the presence of the surface antigen (HBsAg) in the blood. The severity and variability of clinical and pathological forms of HB are related to the intensity and virulence of the infection and the quality and quantity of the immune response. Although a role for immune responses in the pathogenesis of hepatic injury is not conclusively proved, the data, such as the consistency of humoral and cellular responses, the presence of abnormal plasma immunoregulatory proteins (rosette inhibitory factor, RIF) (15,16,17), decreased suppressor cell activity (21), and the presence within the liver itself of potent immunosuppressive molecules, are compatible with explanations for recovery, acute and chronic injury, and the carrier state. Following inoculation or ingestion, the virus reaches the liver, where extensive virus replication occurs within the hepatocytes.
Identification of Quality Visual-based Learning Material for Technology Education

In learning environments, the visual elements of courses, lessons, and presentations play an important role in learning. Well-conceived and rendered visuals help any audience understand and retain information (Wileman, 1993). It is widely known that the use of visual technology enhances learning by providing a better understanding of the topic as well as motivating students. Visualization methods are extensively credited for simplifying the presentation of difficult subjects as well as aiding cognition; their use in the power engineering industry and education is enjoying significant growth (Idowu, Brinton, Hartmn, Nehard, Abraham, Boyer, 2006). Content visualization can facilitate the learner’s acquisition of information. It is related to the individual’s level of perceptual and associative learning in the content area. The individual must have sufficient experience and maturity to realize that using visualization is merely an attempt to represent reality vicariously (Dwyer, 1978). Much of intended visual communication or self-expression is not perceived, or often misunderstood, especially if it is complex (Lantz, 2000). If all visual-based learning materials (tables, figures, photos, etc.) were equally effective in facilitating student achievement of all kinds of educational objectives, there would virtually be no problem associated with this type of instruction (Dwyer, 1978). However, this is not the case since there are many different types of visuals, differing in the amount of realistic detail they contain. When comparing wireframe and a
Introduction—Epiphanies in Epigenetics

The combinatorial pattern of DNA and histone modifications and their associated histone variants constitute an epigenetic code that shapes gene expression patterns by increasing or decreasing the transcriptional potential of genomic domains. The epigenetic coding status, at any given chromosomal location, is subject to modulation by noncoding RNAs and remodeling complexes. DNA methylation is associated with histone modifications, particularly the absence of histone H3 lysine 4 methylation (H3K4me0) and the presence of histone H3 lysine 9 methylation (H3K9m). We briefly discuss four protein domains (ADD, CXXC, MBD, and SRA), and the functional implications of their architecture in linking histone methylation to that of DNA in mammalian cells. We also consider the domain structure of the DNA methyltransferase DNMT1, its accessory protein UHRF1, and their associated proteins. Finally, we discuss a mechanism by which methylation of DNA and of histones may be coordinately maintained during mitotic cell division, allowing for the transmission of parental methylation patterns to newly replicated chromatin.
Sol-Gel Coatings on Titanium

Thin ceramic films or coatings over metallic bone-interfacing implant surfaces have the potential to improve the in vivo implant performance with respect to implant fixation, wear and corrosion. For example, the coating of a stainless steel or titanium implant with a calcium phosphate ceramic noticeably increases its integration into the bone tissue. A faster growth of the natural tissue and an increase of the contact surface between bone and implant have been observed. Other examples are implants having articulating surfaces (knee, hip) for which wear and oxidation resistance of the surface are of crucial importance for the long-term performance of the device. It can be improved by the presence of a hard coating, thus combining the advantageous mechanical properties of the bulk metal with the enhanced bioactivity (e.g. calcium phosphate, bioglasses) or the higher hardness of the ceramic material such as titanium nitride or zirconia. However, coatings on biomedical implants also bear some risks, which have to be judged in comparison to the potential benefit of the surface coating. The introduction of an additional interface can reduce the lifetime of an implant, in particular if the adhesion strength of the coating is low. In addition, the method that is used to deposit the coating can have a negative impact on the properties of the substrate (e.g. the elevated temperatures needed to densify ceramic may be deleterious to the mechanical properties of the substrate) or of the coating itself (a change in crystallinity can induce an increase in solubility and reduce its stability in vivo). Thus, if one would like to take advantage of the inherent benefits of ceramic coatings for metallic implants, the deposition technique as well as the pretreatment and potential posttreatment steps have to be chosen and controlled carefully.
Efficacy and Safety of Indwelling Pleural Catheters in Management of Hepatic Hydrothorax: A Systematic Review of Literature

Hepatic hydrothorax (HH) is an infrequent but debilitating and therapeutically challenging complication of advanced liver cirrhosis. As evidence suggests against chest tube placement in HH, many clinicians are reluctant to place indwelling pleural catheters (IPCs) for non-malignant effusions like HH. We aim to study the efficacy and safety of IPCs as an alternative treatment option in our systematic review. A literature search was conducted using the electronic database engines MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, Ovid, Scopus and Cochrane Library (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled trials and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews) from inception to April 2018 to identify published articles and reports addressing outcomes in patients treated for HH with IPCs. The risk of bias was rated for each study using the Cochrane criteria. The search strategy retrieved 370 papers, of which four case series were selected with a total of 111 patients. After the insertion of IPCs for HH, spontaneous pleurodesis was achieved in 16 (31.4%) out of 51 patients at a mean duration of 73-222 days. As far as secondary outcomes were concerned, the frequency of pneumothorax during or after the procedure was 0 (0%) out of 92 patients, pain at insertion site 12 (20%) out of 60 patients, catheter blockage two (2.9%) out of 68 patients, pleural fluid infection five (4.5%) out of 111 patients and catheter-site cellulitis one (3.1%) out of 32 patients. Re-accumulation of pleural fluid after catheter removal was mentioned in one study, wherein 12 (20%) out of 60 patients developed recurrence of pleural effusion. We conclude IPCs as an acceptable therapeutic option for the management of refractory pleural effusion in patients with HH. Although trans-jugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) and liver transplantation are the gold standards for the management of pleural effusion in these patients, cost and availability are the major concerns with these treatment modalities. IPCs are a safe and efficacious alternative with a reasonable rate of spontaneous pleurodesis.
OIV-B-4

BACKGROUND The prediction of the extent of drug-drug interactions (DDIs) between the mechanism-based inhibitors, erythromycin (ERY) and diltiazem (DTZ), and the CYP3A substrate midazolam (MDZ) is confounded by the time and concentration-dependant clearance of the inhibitors. METHOD Physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models were developed for each drug based on the reported pharmacokinetic (PK) and physiological parameters. Enzyme kinetic parameters (kinact and KI) were estimated in vitro using human liver microsomes for ERY and DTZ, and used to model the time course of changes in the amount of CYP3A. In turn, the amount of CYP3A determined the nonlinear elimination of MDZ, ERY and DTZ and the corresponding DDIs. Simulations were performed using Pharsight® Trial Simulator™. RESULTS kinact and KI were 0.1 min−1 and 15.7 uM, respectively, for ERY, and 0.07 min−1 and 3.2 uM, respectively, for DTZ. The model predicted the nonlinear disposition of ERY and DTZ following single/multiple intravenous or oral doses. The predicted and observed changes in intravenous and oral MDZ AUC following pretreatment with ERY or DTZ are shown below. (See Table) Predicted decrease in CYP3A MDZ AUC ratio (15 mg oral) MDZ AUC ratio (3.5 mg iv) Predicted Observed Predicted Observed ERY 500mg tid × 6 days 60% 4.2 4.4 1.8 2.1 DTZ 60mg × 5 doses 47% 3.2 3.7 1.4 N.A. CONCLUSION The PBPK models incorporating in vitro enzyme parameters predicted the nonlinear PK of ERY and DTZ, and their interactions with MDZ. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2005) 79, P34–P34; doi: 10.1016/j.clpt.2005.12.121
The nature of the progression of drought stress drives differential metabolomic responses in Populus deltoides.

Background and aims The use of woody crops for Quad-level (approx. 1 × 1018 J) energy production will require marginal agricultural lands that experience recurrent periods of water stress. Populus species have the capacity to increase dehydration tolerance by lowering osmotic potential via osmotic adjustment. The aim of this study was to investigate how the inherent genetic potential of a Populus clone to respond to drought interacts with the nature of the drought to determine the degree of biochemical response. Methods A greenhouse drought stress study was conducted on Populus deltoides 'WV94' and the resulting metabolite profiles of leaves were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry following trimethylsilylation for plants subjected to cyclic mild (-0.5 MPa pre-dawn leaf water potential) drought vs. cyclic severe (-1.26 MPa) drought in contrast to well-watered controls (-0.1 MPa) after two or four drought cycles, and in contrast to plants subjected to acute drought, where plants were desiccated for up to 8 d. Key results The nature of drought (cyclic vs. acute), frequency of drought (number of cycles) and the severity of drought (mild vs. severe) all dictated the degree of osmotic adjustment and the nature of the organic solutes that accumulated. Whereas cyclic drought induced the largest responses in primary metabolism (soluble sugars, organic acids and amino acids), acute onset of prolonged drought induced the greatest osmotic adjustment and largest responses in secondary metabolism, especially populosides (hydroxycinnamic acid conjugates of salicin). Conclusions The differential adaptive metabolite responses in cyclic vs. acute drought suggest that stress acclimation occurs via primary metabolism in response to cyclic drought, whereas expanded metabolic plasticity occurs via secondary metabolism following severe, acute drought. The shift in carbon partitioning to aromatic metabolism with the production of a diverse suite of higher order salicylates lowers osmotic potential and increases the probability of post-stress recovery.
New opportunities: Drosophila as a model system for exercise research.

Because of the growing rates of obesity in much of the world, exercise as a treatment option for obesity and as part of a healthy lifestyle is of great interest to the general public, health policy...
Projected costs of single-payer healthcare financing in the United States: A systematic review of economic analyses.

Background The United States is the only high-income nation without universal, government-funded or -mandated health insurance employing a unified payment system. The US multi-payer system leaves residents uninsured or underinsured, despite overall healthcare costs far above other nations. Single-payer (often referred to as Medicare for All), a proposed policy solution since 1990, is receiving renewed press attention and popular support. Our review seeks to assess the projected cost impact of a single-payer approach. Methods and findings We conducted our literature search between June 1 and December 31, 2018, without start date restriction for included studies. We surveyed an expert panel and searched PubMed, Google, Google Scholar, and preexisting lists for formal economic studies of the projected costs of single-payer plans for the US or for individual states. Reviewer pairs extracted data on methods and findings using a template. We quantified changes in total costs standardized to percentage of contemporaneous healthcare spending. Additionally, we quantified cost changes by subtype, such as costs due to increased healthcare utilization and savings due to simplified payment administration, lower drug costs, and other factors. We further examined how modeling assumptions affected results. Our search yielded economic analyses of the cost of 22 single-payer plans over the past 30 years. Exclusions were due to inadequate technical data or assuming a substantial ongoing role for private insurers. We found that 19 (86%) of the analyses predicted net savings (median net result was a savings of 3.46% of total costs) in the first year of program operation and 20 (91%) predicted savings over several years; anticipated growth rates would result in long-term net savings for all plans. The largest source of savings was simplified payment administration (median 8.8%), and the best predictors of net savings were the magnitude of utilization increase, and savings on administration and drug costs (R2 of 0.035, 0.43, and 0.62, respectively). Only drug cost savings remained significant in multivariate analysis. Included studies were heterogeneous in methods, which precluded us from conducting a formal meta-analysis. Conclusions In this systematic review, we found a high degree of analytic consensus for the fiscal feasibility of a single-payer approach in the US. Actual costs will depend on plan features and implementation. Future research should refine estimates of the effects of coverage expansion on utilization, evaluate provider administrative costs in varied existing single-payer systems, analyze implementation options, and evaluate US-based single-payer programs, as available.
Educational intervention for improving the appropriateness of transthoracic echocardiograms ordered by pediatric cardiologists.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to evaluate effectiveness of educational intervention (EI) in the Pediatric Appropriate Use of Echocardiography (PAUSE) study to improve appropriateness of transthoracic echocardiograms (TTEs) ordered in pediatric cardiology clinics. DESIGN Data were prospectively collected after the publication of the Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) document during 2 phases: the pre-EI phase (1/1/15 to 4/30/15) and the post-EI phase (7/1/15 to 10/30/15). Pre-EI, site-investigators (SI) determined AUC indications, by reviewing the clinic records. Post-EI, providers assigned indications prior to obtaining TTE. SETTING Pediatric cardiology clinics at six centers. PATIENTS Those ≤18 years old, receiving initial outpatient TTE. INTERVENTIONS EI included (i) sharing the pre-EI appropriateness ratings with providers, (ii) lecture on AUC, (iii) providers self-assigning indications, and (iv) monthly e-mail feedback by SI to individual providers. OUTCOME The primary outcome measure was a change in the proportion of studies for indications rated R following EI. RESULTS Of the 4542 TTEs (1907 pre-EI, 2635 post-EI) ordered by 90 physicians, overall comparison of appropriateness ratings before and after EI showed an increase in Appropriate (72.5%-76.2%, P = .004), no change in May Be Appropriate, and a decline in Rarely Appropriate (R) from 9.6% to 7.4%, P = .008. Following EI, a significant decline in R was observed only in three centers and EI did not affect the variation in TTEs ordered for R indications among physicians (P = .467). Physicians with the highest proportion of TTEs ordered for R before EI, showed the most significant decline in R. CONCLUSIONS Appropriateness of pediatric outpatient TTE varies substantially by center. A customized EI resulted in modest improvement in the appropriateness of TTEs in the PAUSE study, with an increase in Appropriate and a decrease in R TTEs. Multifaceted EIs are required to improve adherence to national standards such as AUC.
Influence of Cellular Microenvironment on Human Articular Chondrocyte Cell Signaling.

ObjectiveAlteration of the cellular microenvironment may influence the intra- and intercellular communication and contribute to cartilage injury and repair. The purpose of this study was to investi...
Extended stochastic gradient Markov chain Monte Carlo for large-scale Bayesian variable selection

Stochastic gradient Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms have received much attention in Bayesian computing for big data problems, but they are only applicable to a small class of problems for which the parameter space has a fixed dimension and the log-posterior density is differentiable with respect to the parameters. This paper proposes an extended stochastic gradient MCMC algorithm which, by introducing appropriate latent variables, can be applied to more general large-scale Bayesian computing problems, such as those involving dimension jumping and missing data. Numerical studies show that the proposed algorithm is highly scalable and much more efficient than traditional MCMC algorithms. The proposed algorithms have much alleviated the pain of Bayesian methods in big data computing.
Effective Structured Query Formulation for Session Search

Abstract : In this work, we emphasize on formulating effective structured queries for session search. For a given query, phrase-like text nuggets are identified and formulated into Lemur queries to feed into the Lemur search engine. Nuggets are substrings in qn, similar to phrases but not necessarily as semantically coherent as phrases. We assume that a valid nugget appears frequently in top returned snippets for qn. In this work the longest sequences of words consisting of frequent bigrams within the top returned snippets are identified as nuggets and are used to formulate a new query. By formulating structured query using the nuggets, we greatly boost the search accuracy than just using qn. We experiment both strict and relaxed forms of structured query formulation. The strict form of query formulation achieves an improvement of 13.5% and the relaxed form achieves an improvement of 17.8% on nDCG at 10 on TREC 2011 query sets. We further combine the nuggets generated from all queries q1, ..., qn-1, qn, to formulate one structured session query for the entire session. Nuggets from each query are weighed by various weighting schemes to indicate their relations to the current query and their potential contributions to the retrieval performance. We experiment three weighting schemes, uniform (all queries share the same weight), previous vs. current (previous queries q1, ..., qn-1 share the same weight while qn uses a different and higher weight), and distance-based (the weights are distributed based on how far a query;s position in the session is from the current query). We find that previous vs. current achieves the best search accuracy. For retrieval, we first retrieve a large pool of documents for qn. We then employ a re-ranking model that considers document similarity between clicked documents and documents in the pool as well as dwell time.
Electron transfer kinetics between an electron-accepting ionic liquid and coumarin dyes

Study of electron transfer in ionic liquids is of interest for what it may reveal about the effects of solvent dynamics on electron transfer as well as for helping to inform current efforts to employ ionic liquids as electrolytes in energy-related applications. The present report describes time-resolved fluorescence quenching measurements of electron transfer between electronically excited 7-aminocoumarin dyes and a redox-active pyridinium ionic liquid, 1-butylpyridinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([Py4][Tf2N]). Comparable measurements of fluorescence quenching in conventional dipolar solvents were made over 20 years ago, primarily in aromatic amine liquids. Like these prior experiments, use of commercially available coumarin dyes allowed the driving force for electron transfer (-ΔGET) to be varied over a 0.7 V range, leading to electron transfer rates that increase with driving force over the range 1010-1012 s-1. These rates are similar to rates previously measured in aromatic amine solvents, despite the much greater polarity of the ionic liquid, which increases the driving force by more than 0.5 eV. Fluorescence decays of most of the fluorophores in [Py4][Tf2N] were found to be highly non-exponential functions of time, including both subpicosecond components and components in the 102-103 ps range. Such broadly distributed emission dynamics were not observed in prior studies. Emission decays in [Py4][Tf2N] resemble the broadly distributed solvation response characteristic of ionic liquids, suggesting that solvent motions may control the rate of electron transfer, at least in the more slowly reacting dyes. This similarity could be interpreted either in terms of solvent motions being responsible for varying the energy gap or the electronic coupling between the reactant and product states.
Signal processing to improve speed and accuracy of electrical impedance tomography imaging

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a rising and emerging imaging technique with great potential in many areas, especially in functional brain imaging applications. An EIT system with high speed and accuracy can have many applications to medical devices supporting in diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders and diseases. In this research, EIT algorithms and hardware are developed and improved to increase reconstructed images' accuracy and decrease the reconstruction time. Due to multiplexer design limitations, EIT measurements are subject to strong capacitive effects from charging and discharging in switching cycles around 300 to 400 samples per 1280 samples (in 10 milliseconds sampling). We developed an algorithm to choose data in steady-state condition only selectively. This method improves the signal-to-noise ratio and results in better reconstruction images. An algorithm to effectively synchronize the beginning points of data was developed to increase the system's speed. This presentation also presents the EIT system's hardware architecture based on Texas Instruments Fixed-Point Digital Signal Processor - TMS320VC5509A, which is low-cost, high potential in popularity the community in the future. For high operation speed, we propose the EIT system used Sitara™ AM57x processors of Texas Instruments.
CD28-CD80 interactions control regulatory T cell motility and immunological synapse formation

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are essential for tolerance to self and environmental Ags, acting in part by downmodulating costimulatory molecules on the surface of dendritic cells (DCs) and altering naive CD4 T cell-DC interactions. In this study, we show that Tregs form stable conjugates with DCs before, but not after, they decrease surface expression of the costimulatory molecule CD80 on the DCs. We use supported planar bilayers to show that Tregs dramatically slow down but maintain a highly polarized and motile phenotype after recognizing Ag in the absence of costimulation. These motile cells are characterized by distinct accumulations of LFA-1-ICAM-1 in the lamella and TCR-MHC in the uropod, consistent with a motile immunological synapse or "kinapse." However, in the presence of high, but not low, concentrations of CD80, Tregs form stationary, symmetrical synapses. Using blocking Abs, we show that, whereas CTLA-4 is required for CD80 downmodulation, CD28-CD80 interactions are critical for modulating Treg motility in the presence of Ag. Taken together, these results support the hypothesis that Tregs are tuned to alter their motility depending on costimulatory signals.
Whole Genome Sequencing in the Clinical Laboratory

With the advent of massively parallel sequencing (MPS) technologies, it is now possible to sequence an entire human genome for about the price it would cost to sequence four or five genes at comparable accuracy using Sanger sequencing methods. In this chapter, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of developing a MPS protocol for whole genome sequencing within a clinical laboratory as well as its potential applications for clinical use.
Low phase-noise tunable optoelectronic comb generator

We investigate the phase-noise properties of a tunable single-pass optoelectronic frequency comb generator. Residual phase noise at 1 Hz offset from a 10 GHz carrier is as low as −100 dBc/Hz.
Optimal Exercise of Mortgage Options: Default and Refinancing

We develop a model and derive optimal exercise boundaries or trigger points for default and refinancing options for a mortgage. The model predicts that a homeowner with a 15% tax rate, 80% loan-to-value ratio and $224,000 borrowed at 6.5% will not default if the home value is at-least 71% of the mortgage amount, i.e., the borrower is no more than $65,000 “under-water.” The borrower will refinance when the home appreciates by 10% and the interest rate declines by at-least 1.59%. If the interest rate remains unchanged, the borrower will take equity out of the home when the home appreciates by at-least 15.3%.
General relationships among sound speeds: II. Theory and discussion

Abstract The dependence of bulk sound speed Vφ upon mean atomic weight m and density ρ can be expressed in a single equation: V φ =Bρ λ ( m 0 m [ 1 2 +λ(1−c)] ( km/sec ) Here B is an empirically determined “universal” parameter equal to 1.42, m 0 = 20.2 , a reference mean atomic weight for which well-determined elastic properties exist, and λ = 1.25 is a semi empirical parameter equal to γ − 1 3 where γ is a Gruneisen parameter. The constant c = (∂ ln VM/∂ ln m ) X , where VM is molar volume, is in general different for different crystal structure series and different cation substitutions. However, it is possible to use cFe = 0.14 for Fe2+Mg2+ and GeSi substitutions and cCa ≅ 1.3 for CaMg substitutional series. With these values it is pos to deduce from the above equation Birch's law, its modifications introduced by Simmons to account for Ca-bearing minerals, variations in the seismic equation of state observed by D.L. Anderson, and the apparent proportionality of bulk modulus K to VM−4.
A multi-user, multi-language open operating system

An open operating system, which provides a high degree of programming flexibility and efficiency, generally requires that all programs be written in a single language and provides no protection other than that which is available from the compiler. It is noted that these limitations become unacceptable on a workstation that must run untrusted software written in many different languages. Psyche, an open operating system designed to make the most effective possible use of shared-memory multiprocessors and uniprocessor machines, is presented. It combines the flexibility of an open operating system with the ability to write in multiple languages and to establish solid protection boundaries. It also provides the efficiency of an open operating system for programs that do not require protection. >
High Performance Sound Technologies for Access and Scholarship (HiPSTAS) in the Digital Humanities

Currently there are few means for humanists interested in accessing and analyzing spoken word audio collections to use and to understand how to use advanced technologies for analyzing sound. The HiPSTAS (High Performance Sound Technologies for Access and Scholarship) project introduces humanists to ARLO (Adaptive Recognition with Layered Optimization), software that has been developed to perform spectral visualization, matching, classification and clustering on large sound collections. As this paper will address, this project has yielded three significant results for developing tools that facilitate machine learning with spoken word collections of keen interest to the humanities: (1) an assessment of user requirements; (2) an assessment of technological infrastructure needed to support a community tool; and (3) preliminary experiments using these advanced resources that show the efficacy, both in terms of user needs and computational resources required, of using machine learning tools to improve discovery with unprocessed audio collections.
Modified shelf water on the continental slope north of Mac Robertson Land, East Antarctica

[1] We report on under-ice profiling float observations of cold, dense, and oxygenated bottom layers on the continental slope of Mac Robertson Land (60°–72°E) in East Antarctica. This bottom layer water mass, with potential temperature in the range −1.8°C < θ < −0.4°C, is identified as modified shelf water. It is a downslope variety of dense water formed on the Antarctic continental shelf in winter and plays an important role in ventilating the deep Southern Ocean. The seasonal evolution of its thickness and density follows the sea ice cycle of growth and decay, reaching a maximum in October–November. The characteristics and location of this modified shelf water are similar to Cape Darnley Bottom Water, thus suggesting the same primary source in the Cape Darnley polynya region. These float data support recent results that the continental shelf along Mac Robertson Land is a significant source of dense waters in East Antarctica.
Gene Delivery to Human B-Precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Cells

Autologous leukemia cells engineered to express immune-stimulating molecules may be used to elicit antileukemia immune responses. Gene delivery to human B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells was investigated using the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) as a reporter gene, measured by flow cytometry. Transfection of the Nalm-6 and Reh B-precursor ALL leukemia cell lines with an expression plasmid was investigated using lipofection, electroporation, and a polycationic compound. Only the liposomal compound Cellfectin showed significant gene transfer (3.9% to 12% for Nalm-6 cells and 3.1% to 5% for Reh cells). Transduction with gibbon-ape leukemia virus pseudotyped Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMuLV)-based retrovirus vectors was investigated in various settings. Cocultivation of ALL cell lines with packaging cell lines showed the highest transduction efficiency for retroviral gene transfer (40.1% to 87.5% for Nalm-6 cells and 0.3% to 9% for Reh cells), followed by transduction with viral supernatant on the recombinant fibronectin fragment CH-296 (13% to 35.5% for Nalm-6 cells and 0.4% to 6% Reh cells), transduction on human bone marrow stroma monolayers (3.2% to 13.3% for Nalm-6 cells and 0% to 0.2% Reh cells), and in suspension with protamine sulfate (0.7% to 3.1% for Nalm-6 cells and 0% for Reh cells). Transduction of both Nalm-6 and Reh cells with human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 (HIV-1)-based lentiviral vectors pseudotyped with the vesicular stomatitis virus-G envelope produced the best gene transfer efficiency, transducing greater than 90% of both cell lines. Gene delivery into primary human B-precursor ALL cells from patients was then investigated using MoMuLV-based retrovirus vectors and HIV-1-based lentivirus vectors. Both vectors transduced the primary B-precursor ALL cells with high efficiencies. These studies may be applied for investigating gene delivery into primary human B-precursor ALL cells to be used for immunotherapy.
THE BEHAVIOR OF TISSUE CULTURES FROM ENGLISH AND ALGERIAN IVY IN DIFFERENT GROWTH PHASES

A B S T R A C T In both the English and Algerian ivies, Hedera helix L. and Hedera canariensis Willd., leaf dimorphism of the juvenile and the mature, fruiting growth phases is pronounced, the former being a vine with lobed leaves and the latter a shrubby, upright form with entire leaves. Tissue cultures of English ivy started from stems of the two growth phases on the same plant consistently behaved differently, those from the juvenile stage invariably having the higher proliferation rate and larger cells. These differences were maintained consistently in monthly transfers over a period of two years. No medium was found which would support the growth of tissue subcultures of the adult stage of Algerian ivy, but all growth phases of the English ivy were cultured freely in a modified White's medium with additions of coconut water, naphthaleneacetic acid, enzymatic casein hydrolysate, and inositol. Cultures from individual open-pollinated seedlings of both species varied greatly in proliferation rate but were usually high. PROGRESSIVE CHANGES in external morphology accompany the development of plants from the seedling to the mature fruiting stages. In some cases these differences are pronounced anid have caused the accidental description of a species uilder two names. Usually they are relatively inconspicuous. Wareing (1959) and Robbins (1957, 1t96G) have
Kalman filter for inhomogeneous population Markov chains with application to stochastic recruitment control of muscle actuators

A population of stochastic agents, as seen in swarm robots and some biological systems, can be modeled as a population Markov chain where the transition probability matrix is time-varying, or inhomogeneous. This paper presents a Kalman filter approach to estimating the population state, i.e., the headcount of the number of agents in each possible agent-state. The probabilistic state transition formalism originated in Markov chain modeling is recast as a standard state transition equation perturbed by an additive random process with a multinomial distribution. An optimal linear filter is derived for the recast state equation; the resultant optimal filter is a type of Kalman filter with a modified covariance propagation law. Convergence properties are examined, and the state estimation error covariance is guaranteed to converge. The state estimation method is applied to stochastic control of muscle actuators, where individual artificial muscle fibers are stochastically recruited with probabilities broadcasted from a central controller. The system output is the resultant force generated by the population of muscle fibers, each of which takes a discrete level of output force. The linear optimal filter estimates the population state (the headcount of agents producing each level of force) from the aggregate output alone. Experimental results demonstrate that stochastic recruitment control works effectively with the linear optimal filter.
Case Report of Electronic Cigarettes Possibly Associated with Eosinophilic Pneumonitis in a Previously Healthy Active-duty Sailor

Abstract Background Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are a technology that has been touted as a safe and effective alternative to traditional cigarettes. There is, however, a paucity of literature showing the adverse outcomes of e-cigarettes and a correlation with acute eosinophilic pneumonia (AEP). Objective To present a possible association between e-cigarettes and AEP. Case Report A 20-year-old previously healthy man was found to develop AEP after smoking an e-cigarette. He was treated with antibiotics and steroids and his symptoms improved. Conclusion Though an alternative to traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes can have unpredictable and potentially serious adverse effects. More research needs to be conducted to determine their safety. If seeing a patient in the ED with pulmonary symptoms after use of e-cigarettes, AEP should be considered in the differential.
CHROMOSOME STUDIES OF A DONKEY-GREVY ZEBRA HYBRID.

Leukocyte and skin cultures of a female hybrid between a donkey and Grevy zebra show a diploid chromosome complement of 48. From this finding it is inferred that the Grevy zebra is characterized by 2n=34 and that such hybrid's regular infertility is analogous to that of mules and hinnies. Barr bodies were present in the tissue-cultured cells and studies with tritiated thymidine show that Barr body and the chromosome set replicate asynchronously. One large element corresponds to the late replicating X of other species and often possesses the morphologic features of a donkey X. At other times it is decidedly more metacentric, a quality tentatively assigned to the Grevy zebra X. Not enough cells could be studied to determine whether random or selective late replication (? inactivation) of one or the other of the sex chromosomes takes place. It is suggested that the study of such hybrids may yield cytologic information concerning the lyon hypothesis.
Diffractive dissociation of pions in π− d interactions at 15 GeV/c*

The diffractive dissociation of pions into 3π and 5π final states has been studied using π−d interactions at 15 GeV/c. Peripherally produced low-mass enhancements are observed in both channels. the 3π enhancements consist predominantly of two-body final states, ϱπ, andfπ; evidence for agπ enhancement is inconclusive. The 5π channel shows no strong two-body structure. A multiperipheral Deck model and the statistical dissociation model are studied as possible mechanisms for these enhandements. The multiperipheral model describes the 3π channel well, whereas the less structured statistical model gives a better description of the 5π data.
Mutation of a highly conserved isoleucine disrupts hydrophobic interactions in the αβ spectrin self-association binding site

We studied an infant with severe neonatal hemolytic anemia and hyperbilirubinemia that evolved into a partially compensated ellipto-poikilocytic anemia. His father had typical elliptocytosis. Their erythrocyte membranes demonstrated structural and functional defects in spectrin. Genetic studies revealed that the proband and his father were heterozygous for an α-spectrin mutation, Ile24Thr, in the αβ spectrin self-association binding site. The proband also carried the low expression allele αLELY in trans, influencing the clinical phenotype. The importance of isoleucine in this position of the proposed triple helical model of spectrin repeats is highlighted by its evolutionary conservation in all α spectrins from Drosophila to humans. Molecular modeling demonstrated that replacement of a hydrophobic isoleucine with a hydrophilic threonine disrupts highly conserved hydrophobic interactions in the interior of the spectrin triple helix critical for spectrin function.
The effects of an intercultural communication workshop on cross‐cultural attitudes and interaction

The present study examines the influence of participation in an Intercultural Communication Workshop (ICW) on cross‐cultural attitudes, the formation of cross‐cultural friendships, the potential for cross‐cultural interaction, and cross‐cultural interaction. Data were collected on participants in an ICW and a nonequivalent control group and analyzed via multiple regression. The data supported three hypothesized relationships and failed to support a fourth. The results indicate that, first, participation in an ICW, in conjunction with the cross‐cultural attitude, significantly influences the number of cross‐cultural friendships formed. Second, the number of cross‐cultural friends and the cross‐cultural attitude significantly influences the potential for cross‐cultural interaction. Third, the cross‐cultural interaction potential and the number of cross‐cultural friends significantly influence cross‐cultural interaction in which participants engage. Finally, the results of this study failed to support the hy...
Clarifying the effects of internet monitoring on job attitudes: the mediating role of employee trust

The Internet is a fast growing mechanism for providing workplace monitoring. We examined how its implementation affects employees' trust in the organization. We hypothesized that giving employees advance notice of monitoring and providing them a justification for it would enhance their trust. We investigated how employees' perceptions of organizational support prior to monitoring moderated these relationships by conducting a longitudinal field experiment. We found that advance notice and perceived organizational support exerted significant main and interactive effects on post-implementation trust. In turn, trust significantly affected employees' job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions.