cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cortical microtubules and protoplast fusion: Effect and fate of microtubular lattices

Abstract Cortical microtubular lattices of isolated plant protoplasts retain their pattern during PEG-induced protoplast fusion and integrate into each other as shown by indirect immunofluorescence for protoplasts of Nicotiana glutinosa fused with those of Daucus carota . In fused and unfused cultures, microtubules assume a parallel orientation and a pre-prophase band-like pattern develops. There is a negative correlation between the presence of a cortical microtubular net in protoplasts and the fusion rate.
Magnetic resonance imaging in human lymphedema: comparison with lymphangioscintigraphy.

Abstract Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and istope lymphography (lymphangioscintigraphy, LAS) was done in 32 patients with peripheral lymphedema (19 primary and 13 secondary). MRI characteristically showed diffuse dermal and subcutaneous edema, a nonedematous, occasionally hypertrophied skeletal muscle compartment, variability in regional lymph node size and appearance depending on the underlying clinical disorder, serpiginous “channels” or “lakes” consistent with dermal collateral lymphangiectasis and sequestered lymph, and increased subcutaneous fat. In contrast, LAS showed dermal diffusion (“backflow”), cross-over with retrograde tracer backflow (reflux), delayed tracer transport, and depending on the cause of lymphedema (i.e., primary or secondary), discrete or poorly defined lymph trunks (tracer “bands”) and delayed or nonvisualization of regional lymph nodes. Although not a first-line clinical test, MR particularly in conjunction with LAS noninvasively provides accurate anatomical definition of the peripheral lymphatic system. In contradistinction to LAS, MR can visualize lymph trunks, nodes, and soft tissues proximal to sites of lymphatic obstruction. Together these imaging modalities may substitute for conventional oil contrast lymphography in the evaluation of the pathogenesis and evolution of most lymphologic disorders.
Economic Benefits of Freight Policy Relating to Trucking Industry: Evaluation of Regional Transportation Plan Freight Policy for a Six-County Region, Chicago, Illinois

The economic impact of freight transportation has been the focus of policy debate for many years. Attempts have been made to measure the benefits of freight policy. However, the overall economic impact, as reflected in increased output from efficiency improvements or generated employment, has not been evaluated effectively in long-range planning. This study attempts to quantify the economic benefits of freight policy relative to recommendations in the 2020 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) for a six-county region of Chicago, Illinois. RTP projections for fuel consumption savings and shorter delays (and thus lower labor costs) were translated into output changes for the motor freight industry and, subsequently, demand changes. Using rather conservative assumptions, annual savings of $270 million were calculated as the total direct economic impact of RTP policy and project implementation on the regional motor freight and warehousing industry. Increases in output and demand for the motor freight industry were fed into an input-output model. The model found that direct, indirect, and induced impacts on the regional economy exceeded $675 million and generated nearly 7,000 jobs annually. In particular, both wholesale and retail markets were expected to increase output by almost $30 million because of freight movement efficiency improvements.
Tamm-Dancoff calculations on the odd-mass N = 82 isotones with a realistic interaction

Abstract A Tamm-Dancoff calculation on the odd-mass N = 82 isotones has been carried out using the realistic Elliott interaction to mix states of one- and three-quasiparticles. Single-particle energies have been determined by a modified inverse-gap-equation procedure. Results are presented for energy levels, moments, transition rates, wave functions and BCS parameters for selected states. Comparison is made with experiment and with results of other calculations.
Sequence of drug use among serious drug users: typical vs atypical progression.

Sequence of drug use was examined in a secondary analysis of two samples of serious drug users: one of 152 men and one of 133 women. The proportions of drug users following specified patterns of drug use onset were compared to proportions obtained in previous research in samples of high school youth, and serious drug users. The serious drug users were substantially different from high school samples in their progression of drug use. The serious drug users were less likely to follow the typical sequence identified in previous studies (alcohol, then marijuana, followed by other illicit drugs). They were more likely to have used marijuana before using alcohol, and more likely to have used other illicit drugs before using marijuana. We also found that atypical sequencing was associated with earlier initiation of the use of illicit drugs other than marijuana and greater lifetime drug involvement. These findings suggest that for a large number of serious drug users, marijuana does not play the role of a ‘gateway drug’. We conclude that prevention efforts which focus on alcohol and marijuana may be of limited effectiveness for youth who are at risk for serious drug abuse.
The neuropeptide-Y Y5 receptor antagonist L-152,804 decreases alcohol self-administration in inbred alcohol-preferring (iP) rats.

Abstract Neuropeptide-Y (NPY) is the most abundant and widely distributed peptide in the mammalian central nervous system and increases feeding behavior through actions at the Y5 receptor subtype. Recent pharmacological evidence indicates that NPY activity at this receptor subtype can modulate ethanol reinforcement. The purpose of this study was to determine if NPY Y5 receptor antagonism reduces ethanol self-administration and reinforcement in a rodent genetic animal model of alcoholism. Selectively inbred alcohol-preferring (iP) rats were trained to voluntarily consume ethanol (10% vol/vol) versus H 2 O in a 24-h two-bottle choice test. An additional group of iP rats was trained in operant ethanol self-administration to lever press on a fixed-ratio 1 schedule for ethanol (10% vol/vol) reinforcement. Following establishment of baseline intake or ethanol-reinforced responding, iP rats were injected with L-152,804 (0–20mg/kg) prior to two-bottle or operant ethanol self-administration sessions. In the two-bottle choice test, L-152,804 (3 and 10mg/kg, ip) significantly reduced ethanol intake (g/kg) at 4- and 6-h postinjection and had no effect on food intake. In the operant procedure, L-152,804 (10 and 20mg/kg, ip) significantly reduced both the dosage of self-administered ethanol (g/kg/1-h) and the total number of ethanol-reinforced responses. No effect was observed on latency to the first response or the number of inactive lever presses. These results indicate that blockade of NPY Y5 receptor activity decreases both voluntary ethanol drinking and ethanol reinforcement in a rodent genetic animal model of alcoholism. For this reason, NPY Y5 receptor antagonists may be useful in medical management of alcohol abuse and alcoholism in the human population.
The structure of the unidirectionally solidified Al-Al2Au eutectic

The structure of a number of unidirectionally solidified Al-Al2Au alloys of eutectic and off-eutectic compositions has been investigated over a wide range of growth rates (1.6×10−4 to 1.66×10−2cm sec−1) using a thermal gradient of approximately 80 to 100‡ C cm−1. The system exhibits an asymmetric coupled growth zone, which widens at high thermal gradient-growth rate ratios. At high solidification rates a broken lamellar structure is obtained, while at low rates a mixed structure with broken lamellae and rods is present. The crystallographic orientation of the phases as determined on different eutectic grains is as follows: $$\begin{gathered} lamellar interface \left\| {(001)_{Al_{ 2} Au} } \right.\left\| {(01 1)} \right._{Al} \hfill \\ \left[ {1 1 0} \right]_{Al_{ 2} Au} \left\| {\left[ {1 0 0} \right]} \right._{Al} \hfill \\ growth direction of \hfill \\ lamellae and rods \left\| {\left[ {1 1 0} \right]_{Al_2 Au} \left\| {\left[ {1 0 0} \right]_{Al} } \right.} \right. \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ while the preferred growth direction for the Al dendrites as well as for the Al2Au dendrites has been found to be the [100] direction. The interlamellar spacing varies according to the well known relationship $$\lambda = A \cdot R^{ - n} $$ where R is the growth rate, with n-0.37 for the free-dendrites eutectic structures and n-0.49 for the inter-dendrite eutectic structures.
GPU Acceleration of Pyrosequencing Noise Removal

Amplicon Noise [1], an updated version of Py-ronoise [2], is a tool for removing noise from metagenomic data recorded by a 454 pyrosequencer. Amplicon Noise has shown to be effective in reducing overestimation of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and chimera detection. Amplicon-Noise's noise removal method relies on clustering a large set of short sequences read by the sequencer. The DNA sequencing algorithm requires the computation of O(n^2 ) pair wise distances using a global sequence alignment method. Each sequence consists of a few hundred base pairs and a typical dataset contains 104 sequences, making the clustering computation extremely expensive. In this paper we describe of GPU kernel implementation of the most computationally expensive module in the Amplicon Noise software package, SeqDist. With our GPU workstation (Intel Core i7 980 @ 3.33GHz + 3 x NVIDIATesla C2070) and a typical 454 dataset, our implementation achieves a 8.6X (CUDA-SeqDist) speedup with a single GPU when compared with a 12 MPI ranks of the original tools running on the CPU alone. With three GPUs, we achieve a2.1X further speedup over the single GPU version, yielding a total speedup of 18.3X. We measure the throughput of our kernel to be 1.4 giga floating-point cell updates per second(GFCUPS) with a single GPU and 2.9 GFCUPS with 3 GPUs, where GFCUPS refers to the unique method by which the score matrix must be updated in the specialized alignment algorithm used in Amplicon Noise.
Virtually Multicultural: Trans-Asian Identity and Gender in an International Fan Community of a Japanese Star

While recent analyses have helped to challenge commonly-held stereotypes of fans of popular cultural texts as freakish individuals ‘without a life’, few studies have focused on texts produced and/or consumed outside the United States and Europe. Even fewer have considered the particular significance of the advent of the internet as a tool for intercultural fan activity. This is what this study attempts to accomplish through an ethnographic and textual analysis of an online community of fans of Kimura Takuya - one of the most popular Japanese male celebrities of the moment - dispersed across 14 countries. It explores, in particular, how participants defined their fan, gendered and cultural/global identities through their involvement with each other and with their favorite star, and negotiated as a group the complex process of virtual cross-cultural identity formation.
Deer use in good times and in bad: A Fort Ancient case study from southwest Ohio

AbstractWhite-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) utilisation before and during increased moisture variability and pronounced drought conditions during the late prehistory of southwestern Ohio is examined to assess the fit with the expectations of foraging efficiency models. The focus is on three Fort Ancient sites in the upper portion of the Great Miami River, including SunWatch, a large village located in present-day Dayton, Ohio. SunWatch was occupied during the Late Prehistoric era in the region. The earlier uses (AD 1150–1300) occurred during optimal moisture conditions. The later uses (AD 1300–1450) occurred within the context of increased droughts and extreme moisture variability. To address questions related to changing deer utilisation in response to drought, deer remains are examined temporally for the SunWatch site and two smaller Fort Ancient sites in the region (Wegerzyn and Wildcat). Results from this preliminary and exploratory study indicate that through time, deer body size is stable or ...
Glasses and glass-ceramics from naturally occurring CaOMgOAl2O3SiO2 materials (I) glass formation and properties

Abstract Once oil is extracted from oil shales, the inorganic solid which remains is from the CaOMgOAl2O3SiO2 system. The material is easily melted and forms a glass upon cooling. Its viscosity in the forming region is actually less than that of commercial soda-lime glass. Shale glasses exhibit excellent dielectric behavior, while their other properties are generally comparable to commercial glasses. These glasses appear to be promising materials for future applications.
Oculographic and clinical characterization of thirty-seven children with anomalous head postures, nystagmus, and strabismus: the basis of a clinical algorithm.

Abstract Background and Purpose: We studied children with nystagmus who also had anomalous head postures and strabismus to determine the etiology of the conditions and present a diagnostic clinical algorithm. Methods: The patients for this study were among the 560 patients evaluated in the ocular motor neurophysiology laboratory between the years 1991 and 1997. Clinical characteristics, infrared oculography data, and medical and surgical treatments were entered into a database for analysis. Oculography was performed on all patients according to a standard protocol, and data were stored and analyzed off-line. Etiology of anomalous head posture was determined with both clinical and oculography information. Results: Thirty-seven children are the subjects of this report. The etiology of anomalous head posture was a "gaze null" due to congenital nystagmus in 23 (62%) patients, an "adduction null" due to manifest latent nystagmus in 12 (32%) patients, spasmus nutans in 1 (3%) patient, and strabismus in 1 (3%) patient. The patients' ages ranged from 9 months to 12 years and averaged 4.4 years. Sixty-nine percent were male patients. Nineteen (63%) of 30 patients had abnormal recognition (linear optotype) acuity in at least 1 eye on monocular cover; the recognition remained abnormal in 5 (17%) of 30 patients under binocular conditions. Thirty percent of patients had amblyopia, 16% had some structural disease of the eyes, 22% had some systemic syndrome or abnormality, 57% had a significant refractive error, and 27% had some ability to fuse. Conclusions: The major etiology for anomalous head posture in these patients was to adopt a gaze null due to congenital nystagmus (62% of patients) regardless of the direction of their anomalous head posture or type of strabismus. Moving the fixing eye as the first step for the anomalous head posture, combined with moving the nonfixing eye for the resulting strabismus may help treat these patients. (J AAPOS 2000;4:25-32)
High temperature ignition and combustion enhancement by dimethyl ether addition to methane–air mixtures☆

Abstract The effects of dimethyl ether (DME) addition on the high temperature ignition and burning properties of methane–air mixtures were studied experimentally and numerically. The results showed that for a homogeneous system, a small amount of DME addition to methane resulted in a significant reduction in the high temperature ignition delay. The ignition enhancement effect by DME addition was found to exceed that possible with equivalent amounts of hydrogen addition, and it was investigated by using radical pool growth and computational singular perturbation analysis. For a non-premixed methane–air system, it was found that two different ignition enhancement regimes exist: a kinetic limited regime and a transport limited regime. In contrast to the dramatic ignition enhancement in the kinetic limited regime, the ignition enhancement in the transport limited regime was significantly less effective. Furthermore, laminar flame speeds as well as Markstein lengths were experimentally measured for methane–air flames with DME addition. The results showed that the flame speed increases almost linearly with DME addition. However, the Markstein length and the Lewis number of the binary fuel change dramatically at small DME concentrations. Moreover, comparison between experiments and numerical simulations showed that only the most recent DME mechanism well reproduced the flame speeds of both DME–air and CH 4 –air flames.
Long waves induced by short-wave groups over an uneven bottom

Unidirectional and periodically modulated short waves on a horizontal or very nearly horizontal bottom are known to be accompanied by long waves which propagate together with the envelope of the short waves at their group velocity. However, for variable depth with a horizontal lengthscale which is not too great compared with the group length, long waves of another kind are further induced. If the variation of depth is only one-dimensional and localized in a finite region, then the additional long waves can radiate away from this region, in directions which differ from those of the short waves and their envelopes. There are also critical depths which define caustics for these new long waves but not for the short waves. Thus, while obliquely incident short waves can pass over a topography, these second-order long waves may be trapped on a ridge or away from a canyon.
The relationship of male-male mounting to the sexual preferences of young rams

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the frequency of male-male mounting of young rams in all-male groups and their subsequent preferences for female vs. male sexual partners. Mount interactions were monitored in the home pen of 29 rams reared in 1984 and 25 rams reared in 1985. At ∼ 8–10 months of age, and prior to copulatory experience, individual rams were simultaneously exposed to two unfamiliar estrous ewes and two unfamiliar rams. The four stimulus animals were restrained and cloth covers were placed over their perinea to prevent copulations. The Binomial Test was used to verify sexual preferences. Of the 44 rams that were sexually active in the sexual performance tests, 30 (68.2%) met the criterion for female preference, 4 (9.1%) preferred males and 10 (22.7%) exhibited no preference (i.e., were bisexual in orientation). There was little relationship between the frequency of male-male mounting by rams in all-male rearing groups and their subsequent sexual preferences. The majority of young rams prefer to mount ewes, even prior to copulatory experience, but in the absence of females will often mount other males.
Transcriptional profiling in infectious diseases: ready for prime time?

Summary Blood represents a reservoir and a migration compartment of cells of the immune system. Traditional microbiologic diagnostic tests relied on laboratory identification of the pathogen causing the infection. However, this approach is less than optimal for a variety of reasons: pathogen's slow growth, resistance to cultivation in vitro or insufficient proof to establish causality when a pathogen is identified. An alternative approach to the pathogen-detection strategy is based on a comprehensive analysis of the host response to the infection by analysis of blood leukocytes gene expression profiles. This strategy has been successfully applied to distinguish and classify children and adults with acute infections caused by different pathogens. Molecular distance to health (MDTH) is a genomic score that measures the global transcriptional perturbation in each individual patient compared to healthy controls. Studies indicate that MDTH is a promising biomarker to help classifying patients according to clinical severity.
The Janus-Faced Effects of Hypoxia on Astrocyte Function:

Astrocytes are increasingly recognized for their impact on neuronal function and viability in health and disease. Hypoxia has Janus-faced influences on astrocytes and their ability to support neuronal viability. For example, hypoxia induces astrocyte-dependent protection of neurons following hypoxia preconditioning. Yet, hypoxia induces processes in astrocytes that augment neuronal death in other situations, such as the coincidence of hypoxia with inflammatory signaling. A complex array of gene expression is induced by hypoxia within astrocytes and neurons through multiple transcription factors and intracellular molecular pathways. The hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs) are transcription factors that are likely instrumental in orchestrating adaptive and pathological functions of astrocytes. As such, the HIFs are postulated to mediate both adaptive and pathological functions during hypoxia/ ischemia. Identifying the conditions under which hypoxia induces signaling in astrocytes that alters autonomous or neuronal survival will undoubtedly have important implications regarding the development of new strategies for stroke treatment.
Critical manifolds in non-linear response of complex materials

We describe two geometric structures, the shortest path and the minimum cut, and show that these structures emerge at special threshold points in the highly non-linear electrical response of complex networks. Algorithms which find the shortest path and the minimum cut directly as well as methods for finding the full non-linear response of complex networks are outlined. Scaling laws for the behavior of the shortest path and minimum cut in random networks are then surveyed. Finally, applications of the shortest path and minimum cut to grain boundary controlled polycrystalline materials are elucidated.
Visualization of the nature of protein folding by a study of a distance constraint approach in two-dimensional models.

A distance constraint approach is applied to two-dimensional models of proteins in order to visualize the nature of protein folding and to examine the relative roles of different ranges of interaction. Three different native structures (I, II, and III) are considered; they have two different kinds of residues, viz., hydrophobic and hydrophilic, and different sequences of these residues. We examine how the distance constraint approach functions in the prediction of protein folding when we know the sequence of the residues, the (fixed) bond lengths, the mean distances between residues i and i + 2, and i and i + 3, and the mean distances for hydrophobic–hydrophobic, hydrophobic–hydrophilic, and hydrophilic–hydrophilic contacts between residues i and i + j, where j ≥ 4. This approach involves optimization of an object function with respect to 98 variables and is not free of the multiple-minimum problem. The optimization is always terminated if the chain is entangled and/or the segments (residues) are packed too compactly to move. In order to escape from such situations and to take the excluded-volume effect into account, a Monte Carlo method is used after the optimization is trapped in local minima. Success in the prediction of folding is found to depend on the starting conformations and on the native conformations. Fair success is obtained in predicting the helix-like structure in protein I and the overall structure of protein III, but not the β-like structures of proteins I and II. Insofar as the prediction of the structure of protein III is reasonable, it appears that some sequences of residues produce greater constraints on their conformations than others, if one considers only the hydrophobic and hydrophilic nature of the residues. These results imply that, in the folding of real proteins in three dimensions, the competition for hydrophobic (and hydrophilic) residues for inside (outside) positions in the molecule probably constitutes a necessary but not a sufficient condition to form and stabilize the native structure. The failure to predict the structure of protein II, and part of that of protein I, suggests that there are two types of long-range interactions. One (which we considered here) is nonspecific (i.e., is defined only in terms of contacts between residues of the same or different polarity) and acts at any stage of protein folding; the other (which we did not consider here) is a specific interaction between residues in pairs and contributes only when the residues in the specific pair take on the native conformation. Presumably, incorporation of such specific long-range interactions, together with the nonspecific ones, is necessary for successful protein folding, using the distance constraint approach.
The effects of H1 inhomogeneity on T1 measurements

A density matrix analysis is presented of the effects of inhomogeneity in the radio frequency field H1 on spin-lattice relaxation measurements by the π-τ-π/2 pulse sequence. By taking into account the decay of magnetization in the x-y plane during the time interval τ it is shown that the apparent magnetization recovery curve is nonexponential when T1 ∼ T2. Proper corrections are given for calculating T1 from the null method experiment.
David: a Model for Mary in Luke?

Luke presents Mary as one who resembles King David in many ways. Luke engages in "imitative historiography" by creating a network of verbal and theological connections between the Nathan oracle in 2 Samuel 7 and the annunciation scene in Luke 1. Other verbal links between these two figures and the similar roles they play as models of faith suggest that, for Luke, Mary is a new David. She is an example of the faithful disciple, whose responsive belief in the promise of a son echoes David's paradigmatic faith.
Role of hydrothermal precipitates in the geochemical cycling of vanadium

THE input of high-temperature fluids to the ocean along sea-floor spreading centres plays an important part in controlling the composition of sea water1–3. Available data1–3 show that hydrothermal systems are major sources of lithium, manganese, rubidium, iron and silicon and sinks for magnesium and sulphur. Furthermore, reactive precipitates formed in vent systems or emerging plumes4–6 scavenge elements from sea water, thereby also influencing the composition of the sea water. Our work on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, combined with data from the Pacific Ocean, shows that scavenging by vent-derived iron oxides helps to control the concentration and cycling of vanadium in the ocean. We estimate that 10–60% of the riverine input of vanadium to the ocean is removed from sea water by this mechanism and that such a process is also important for other elements.
Stress fractures and bone health in track and field athletes

The effect of exercise on bone health has received much attention in recent years. The problems of the female athlete triad: disordered eating, amenorrhea and osteoporosis have helped us to better understand and appreciate the important interaction of mechanical, hormonal, nutritional as well as genetic factors on bone health in the young female athlete. The relatively high stress fracture incidence of young track and field athletes can be quite disabling for the athlete's present and future running career. A number of risk factors including low bone mineral density (BMD), menstrual irregularities, dietary factors and prior history of stress fractures have been associated with an increased risk for stress fractures in the female athlete. Few studies have found risk factors for stress fractures in the male athlete. Female gender has been found to be a risk factor for stress fractures in the military population, but this finding is less apparent in athlete studies. Caucasians have been found to have a higher risk for stress fractures than African-American military recruits, but there is very limited data assessing stress fracture risk in athletes of varying ethnicity. Prevention of stress injury to bone involves maximizing peak bone mass in the pediatric and young adult age groups. Maintaining adequate calcium nutrition, caloric intake as well as hormonal and energy balance are important preventive measures, as are ensuring appropriate amounts of weight bearing exercise for optimizing bone health and preventing fractures. More research is needed to determine factors leading to improvements in bone density and fracture reduction in athletes at risk.
International economic institutions: Formal mechanisms for dealing with resource conflict

States employ international economic institutions as formal mechanisms in resource related conflict management. It is little known that states incorporate water resource management treaties in regional trade agreements (REIs) to jointly manage (1) the multifaceted use of rivers and (2) the territorial implications of rivers as borders. Both can lead to political tensions. I evaluate institutional effectiveness, through REI institutional design, in militarized interstate conflict. The role of trade institutions in geo-politics is a broad theme addressed. African dyads, REIs and conflict from 1950 to 1996 are the focus. I test the liberal hypothesis that institutions diminish the likelihood of militarized interstate conflict. Findings suggest allies that share memberships in REI water treaties with provisions for territorial boundary issues are more likely to fight than are other states. This relationship is weak, however, lending support to realist claims.
Stochastic network evacuation models

Abstract Stochastic network evacuation models are crucial for the safe evacuation of occupants from buildings. In this paper, we compare an analytical closed queueing network and a simulation model for analyzing the evacuation of occupants from a hospital. Evacuation times, arc congestion, and optimization of the evacuation routes and staff assigned to the evacuation network are included.
Formation and Interaction of Ion-Acoustic Solitions

The formation and propagation of ion-acoustic solitons are observed experimentally. The character of a solitary pulse is observed to follow the predictions of the Kortewegde Vries equation with respect to the shape and velocity of the soliton. The interaction between two solitons is modified significantly by dissipation. However, the nonlinear nature of the interactions is confirmed for solitons moving in the same direction. Solitons moving in the opposite direction and colliding have very little effect on each other.
Geometric modelling using rational Gaussian curves and surfaces

Abstract A geometric modelling system based on rational Gaussian (RaG) curves and surfaces is introduced. The generation of simple geometric primitives such as lines, circles, and ellipses with RaG curves, and the generation of planes, spheres, ellipsoids, cylinders, cones, and tori with RaG surfaces are discussed. The design of freeform closed, half-closed, and open shapes using RaG surfaces is also considered. The control points of a RaG surface are not required to form a topologically rectangular grid, but, rather, they can form an arbitrary grid.
Influence of tight junctions on the interaction of salts with lingual epithelia: responses of chorda tympani and lingual nerves.

The role of tight junctions in modulating responses from chorda tympani (taste) and lingual (general sensory) nerves are clarified in regard to their responses to salts. Chorda tympani (CT) responses elicited by organic sodium salts require greater Na+ concentrations to elicit the same magnitude of response as NaCl. These data can be understood in terms of the organic anions (compared with Cl−) producing larger liquid-junction potentials across tight junctions between taste cells which, in turn, reduces Na+ influx into taste cells via amiloride-inhibitable channels. The anion contribution to the CT response to different Na+ salts can be eliminated (or enhanced) by voltage clamping the tongue with negative (with respect to the serosal solution) potentials. Whole nerve recordings from the lingual branch of the trigeminal nerve elicited by NaCl (and other salts) were reversibly inhibited by the tight junction blocker, LaCl3 These data suggest that small hydrophilic molecules elicit responses from trigeminal fibers by diffusing across tight junctions between epithelial cells and altering the composition of the extracellular space.
Antipsychotics and dementia: a time for restraint?

Before the advent of chlorpromazine in 1952 and haloperidol in 1958, most schizophrenics spent the majority of their life locked away in mental institutions (asylums). The advent of antipsychotics allowed the move to deinstitutionalize many schizophrenics and to place them in the community to lead a relatively normal, productive life. When this movement began in the 1960s, it was recognized that to do this successfully required an interprofessional workforce to provide support for those now in the community. Over time the willingness of the government to pay for this support has slowly eroded in the United States leading to the question of whether deinstitutionalization has gone too far. The lesson learned from this is that appropriate care for persons with mental illness, even when highly effective drugs are available to treat the disease, needs a large dedicated force of highly trained mental health professionals. Now the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are driving an initiative to reduce the use of antipsychotics in nursing homes.1 As always, initiatives such as this are driven by many factors. The unstated driving force in a time of congressional desire to reduce the cost of government is the cost of antipsychotics in the United Statesd$18.2 billion in 2011.2 Three atypical antipsychotics (Abilify $5.2 billion, Seroquel $4.6 billion, and Zyprexia $3.0 billion) accounted for over two-thirds of the sales in the United States despite the fact that there is little evidence for an advantage of the atypical antipsychotics over the typical antipsychotics. At present, a quarter of persons in nursing homes in the United States are receiving antipsychotics, which is lower than the percentage in most other countries.3e9 Only in England (21.7%) and Hong Kong (11%) are there lower use of antipsychotics in nursing homes than in the United States (Figure 1). However, in Hong Kong 20% of residents are physically restrained.5 As pointed out in a recent editorial in the Journal, physical restraints should never be used.10 The stated reason of the CMS for calling for a reduction in antipsychotic use in nursing homes is that these drugs result in an increased mortality.11,12 In addition, they point to a study that found that a third of persons receiving antipsychotics had no diagnosis to support the use of the drug.13 The major “off-label” use of antipsychotics is agitation and aggression.14 The Cochrane systematic review found that haloperidol decreased aggression but had no effect on agitation.15 The decrease in aggression was associated with an increase in side effects. Similarly
Linewidth and offset frequency locking of external cavity GaAlAs lasers

Stable external cavity GaAlAs lasers operated with full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) linewidths of less than 3 kHz are discussed. Offset frequency locking has been demonstrated over long periods to within the 10-Hz resolution bandwidth of the experiment. The spectral characteristics of these devices are presented graphically. >
Spatial autoregression and related spatio-temporal models

We propose a spatial autoregressive random field of order p on the spatial domain Rd for p ≥ 2 in this paper, whose univariate margins are the continuous-time autoregression of order p on the real line, and introduce a class of semiparametric spatio-temporal covariance models stationary in space with the spatial autoregressive margin.
A superpixel-based framework for automatic tumor segmentation on breast DCE-MRI

Accurate and efficient automated tumor segmentation in breast dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) is highly desirable for computer-aided tumor diagnosis. We propose a novel automatic segmentation framework which incorporates mean-shift smoothing, superpixel-wise classification, pixel-wise graph-cuts partitioning, and morphological refinement. A set of 15 breast DCE-MR images, obtained from the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) 6657 I-SPY trial, were manually segmented to generate tumor masks (as ground truth) and breast masks (as regions of interest). Four state-of-the-art segmentation approaches based on diverse models were also utilized for comparison. Based on five standard evaluation metrics for segmentation, the proposed framework consistently outperformed all other approaches. The performance of the proposed framework was: 1) 0.83 for Dice similarity coefficient, 2) 0.96 for pixel-wise accuracy, 3) 0.72 for VOC score, 4) 0.79 mm for mean absolute difference, and 5) 11.71 mm for maximum Hausdorff distance, which surpassed the second best method (i.e., adaptive geodesic transformation), a semi-automatic algorithm depending on precise initialization. Our results suggest promising potential applications of our segmentation framework in assisting analysis of breast carcinomas.
Has the concentration of income and poverty among subsurbs of large US metropolitan areas changed over time

American policy analysts have assumed that poverty is increasingly concentrating in the inner suburbs of large cities. This study demonstrates that that assumption is inaccurate. Using data on household income and poverty for suburban civil divisions from the 1970, 1980 and 1990 US Censuses, this article calculates values for two indicators of the change in the relative concentration of income and poverty, the coefficient of variation, and a regression of changes on initial values. Results indicate that poverty and income concentrations have not generally increased among suburbs over the last twenty years. There is evidence, however, that poverty has increasingly concentrated within some suburban municipalities of older metropolitan areas in the northeast and midwest. JEL classification: R12, R23
An architecture for identifying objects in multidatabases

A multidatabase consists of a collection of independent databases that share and exchange data while preserving their autonomy. Databases contain data about objects and object connections. The author examines the problem of sharing data on objects in a multidatabase, and present an architecture for identifying and referencing objects across databases of a relational multidatabase. This architecture involves associating every database of a relational multidatabase with two relations that contain the identifiers of local and foreign objects, respectively, and enforcing inner and inter-database referential integrity constraints. The proposed architecture has no effect on the original organization and manipulation of data in databases. The authors examines the main aspects of implementing this architecture with relational database management systems. >
A mechanism for exon skipping caused by nonsense or missense mutations in BRCA1 and other genes

Point mutations can generate defective and sometimes harmful proteins. The nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway minimizes the potential damage caused by nonsense mutations. In-frame nonsense codons located at a minimum distance upstream of the last exon-exon junction are recognized as premature termination codons (PTCs), targeting the mRNA for degradation. Some nonsense mutations cause skipping of one or more exons, presumably during pre-mRNA splicing in the nucleus; this phenomenon is termed nonsense-mediated altered splicing (NAS), and its underlying mechanism is unclear. By analyzing NAS in BRCA1, we show here that inappropriate exon skipping can be reproduced in vitro, and results from disruption of a splicing enhancer in the coding sequence. Enhancers can be disrupted by single nonsense, missense and translationally silent point mutations, without recognition of an open reading frame as such. These results argue against a nuclear reading-frame scanning mechanism for NAS. Coding-region single-nucleotide polymorphisms (cSNPs) within exonic splicing enhancers or silencers may affect the patterns or efficiency of mRNA splicing, which may in turn cause phenotypic variability and variable penetrance of mutations elsewhere in a gene.
An augmented Lagrangian approach to simulating yield stress fluid flows around a spherical gas bubble

SUMMARY We simulated the flow of a yield stress fluid around a gas bubble using an augmented Lagrange approach. The piecewise linear equal-order finite elements for both the velocity and the pressure approximations proposed and analyzed by Latche and Vola in 2004 were applied. A mesh adaptive strategy based on this element-pair choice was also proposed to render the yield surfaces of desired resolution. The corresponding numerical scheme was formulated for general Herschel–Bulkley fluids. Numerical results on Bingham fluid flows around a slowly rising spherical gas bubble were provided to validate the proposed algorithm. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cost/benefit analysis of interval jumping in power-control simulation

Computation of power control calculations is one of the most time-consuming aspects of simulating wireless communication systems. These calculations are critical to understanding how a wireless network will perform, and so cannot be conveniently ignored. Power-control calculations implement solutions to discretized differential equations, and so are essentially time-stepped. In a previous paper (Perrone and Nicol, (1998)) we proposed a technique for interval jumping, that allows for substantially many time-steps to be jumped over, thereby reducing the amount of computation needed to achieve the same state as would straightforward time-stepping. The technique involves identification of a region of simulation time during which no channel assignments change due to limits on transmitter power, and a "jump" over that region. In this paper we examine the cost/benefit tradeoffs between policies which seek to minimize the work done to identify a jump interval, and the cost of computing those policies. We find that a tiered dynamic programming approach yields policies that very nearly minimize the searching overhead, while enjoying substantively lower computation costs than does the policy which strictly minimizes the searching overhead.
Calcium and neurodegeneration

When properly controlled, Ca2+ fluxes across the plasma membrane and between intracellular compartments play critical roles in fundamental functions of neurons, including the regulation of neurite outgrowth and synaptogenesis, synaptic transmission and plasticity, and cell survival. During aging, and particularly in neurodegenerative disorders, cellular Ca2+-regulating systems are compromised resulting in synaptic dysfunction, impaired plasticity and neuronal degeneration. Oxidative stress, perturbed energy metabolism and aggregation of disease-related proteins (amyloid beta-peptide, alpha-synuclein, huntingtin, etc.) adversely affect Ca2+ homeostasis by mechanisms that have been elucidated recently. Alterations of Ca2+-regulating proteins in the plasma membrane (ligand- and voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, ion-motive ATPases, and glucose and glutamate transporters), endoplasmic reticulum (presenilin-1, Herp, and ryanodine and inositol triphosphate receptors), and mitochondria (electron transport chain proteins, Bcl-2 family members, and uncoupling proteins) are implicated in age-related neuronal dysfunction and disease. The adverse effects of aging on neuronal Ca2+ regulation are subject to modification by genetic (mutations in presenilins, alpha-synuclein, huntingtin, or Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase; apolipoprotein E isotype, etc.) and environmental (dietary energy intake, exercise, exposure to toxins, etc.) factors that may cause or affect the risk of neurodegenerative disease. A better understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that promote or prevent disturbances in cellular Ca2+ homeostasis during aging may lead to novel approaches for therapeutic intervention in neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and stroke.
Temporal analysis of alpha and beta-expansin expression during floral opening and senescence

Abstract We have identified a family of expansin transcripts that include seven α-expansins (MjExp1 through MjExp7) and three β-expansins (MjExpB1 through MjExpB3) from Mirabilis jalapa (Nyctaginaceae) that show dramatic changes in transcript abundance during the rapid expansion and subsequent senescence of the ephemeral flowers. In general, α-expansin expression was low in small buds, high during maximal elongation of the floral tube, reduced during floral display, and upregulated during calyx infolding and collapse. Transcripts encoding auxin responsive proteins (Aux/IAA) showed a similar pattern of expression. Northern analysis using a set of overlapping probes designed to the MjExp2 transcript demonstrated a gradient of sequence conservation along its length (high to low, from the 5′ to the 3′ end of the coding region), and identified the presence of floral senescence-specific expansins. Beta expansin transcripts were found to be preferentially expressed during early floral development and sharply downregulated coincident with rapid growth. All three β-expansin transcripts are highly related, and ψMjExpB2 is an intronless pseudogene derived from MjExpB1. MjExpB3 appears to have derived from MjExpB1 in a separate gene duplication event, and is predicted to encode a truncated protein.
Specific cell capture and temperature-mediated release using surface-immobilized aptamers in a microfluidic device

We present a microfluidic device with an integrated temperature sensor and heaters for capture as well as subsequent temperature mediated release and recovery of CCRF-CEM cells. Specific cell capture is achieved by a surface immobilized aptamer. A moderate temperature change is then introduced to disrupt the cell-aptamer interaction, allowing the release of captured cells from the aptamer modified surface and their retrieval for further analysis. Experimental results demonstrate that the device is capable of handling a wide range of cell concentrations, and that the released cells remain viable.
Normal Scaling of the Unidimensional Dominance Matrices: the Domain Referenced Model

Described is an alternative algorithm for Thurstone's pair comparisons method. This algorithm provides an improved capacity for handling indeterminate proportions of 1.00 and 0.00 as well as untruncated estimates of population scale values.
A Coverage Algorithm for Multi-robot Boundary Inspection

This paper introduces the multi-robot boundary coverage problem, wherein a group of k robots must inspect every point on the boundary of a 2-dimensional test environment. Using a simplified sensor model, this inspection problem is converted to an equivalent graph representation. In this representation, the coverage problem can be posed as the k-Rural Postman Problem (kRPP). We present a constructive heuristic which finds a solution to the kRPP, then use that solution to plan the robots’ inspection routes. These routes provide complete coverage of the boundary and also balance the inspection load across the k robots. Simulations illustrate the algorithm’s performance and characteristics.
Learning to Smell the Roses: Experience-Dependent Neural Plasticity in Human Piriform and Orbitofrontal Cortices

It is widely presumed that odor quality is a direct outcome of odorant structure, but human studies indicate that molecular knowledge of an odorant is not always sufficient to predict odor quality. Indeed, the same olfactory input may generate different odor percepts depending on prior learning and experience. Combining functional magnetic resonance imaging with an olfactory paradigm of perceptual learning, we examined how sensory experience modifies odor perception and odor quality coding in the human brain. Prolonged exposure to a target odorant enhanced perceptual differentiation for odorants related in odor quality or functional group, an effect that was paralleled by learning-induced response increases in piriform cortex and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Critically, the magnitude of OFC activation predicted subsequent improvement in behavioral differentiation. Our findings suggest that neural representations of odor quality can be rapidly updated through mere perceptual experience, a mechanism that may underlie the development of odor perception.