cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An Efficient Sieving Method to Isolate Intact Glomeruli from Adult Rat Kidney

Preservation of glomerular structure and function is pivotal in the prevention of glomerulonephritis, a category of kidney disease characterized by proteinuria which can eventually lead to chronic and end-stage renal disease. The glomerulus is a complex apparatus responsible for the filtration of plasma from the body. In disease, structural integrity is lost and allows for the abnormal leakage of plasma contents into the urine. A method to isolate and examine glomeruli in culture is critical for the study of these diseases. In this protocol, an efficient method of retrieving intact glomeruli from adult rat kidneys while conserving structural and morphological characteristics is described. This process is capable of generating high yields of glomeruli per kidney with minimal contamination from other nephron segments. With these glomeruli, injury conditions can be mimicked by incubating them with a variety of chemical toxins, including protamine sulfate, which causes foot process effacement and proteinuria in animal models. Degree of injury can be assessed using transmission electron microscopy, immunofluorescence staining, and western blotting. Nephrin and Wilms Tumor 1 (WT1) levels can also be assessed from these cultures. Due to the ease and flexibility of this protocol, the isolated glomeruli can be utilized as described or in a way that best suits the needs of the researcher to help better study glomerular health and structure in diseased states.
In suspected ACS, care based on high-sensitivity vs standard cardiac troponin I assays did not improve 1-y outcomes.

Source Citation Shah AS, Anand A, Strachan FE, et al; High-STEACS Investigators. High-sensitivity troponin in the evaluation of patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome: a stepped-wedge, clu...
Locational Dependence of Inertia’s Impacts on Critical Clearing Time

With the integration of renewable energy, system inertia may have a trend of decreasing in recent years, which increases the likelihood of transient instability. Inertia has impacts on voltage profiles and such impacts vary by location. After the system is subject to faults on buses or on transmission lines, bus voltages change differently as sum of inertia varies in sites that are either near or far away from violation locations. Critical clearing time (CCT) is a metric assessing condition of system stability. This paper displays how inertia changes affect CCT and how such impacts are location-dependent. An insightful preliminary study is carried out to reveal how inertia comes into play in bus voltage levels. Two case sets considering different oscillations are presented to verify inertia’s locational impacts on CCT.
Interplay between hardware prefetcher and page eviction policy in CPU-GPU unified virtual memory

Memory capacity in GPGPUs is a major challenge for data-intensive applications with their ever increasing memory requirement. To fit a workload into the limited GPU memory space, a programmer needs to manually divide the workload by tiling the working set and perform user-level data migration. To relieve the programmer from this burden, Unified Virtual Memory (UVM) was developed to support on-demand paging and migration, transparent to the user. It further takes care of the memory over-subscription issue by automatically performing page replacement in an oversubscribed GPU memory situation. However, we found that naive handling of page faults can cause orders of magnitude slowdown in performance. Moreover, we observed that although prefetching of data from CPU to GPU can hide the page fault latency, the difference among various prefetching mechanisms can lead to drastically different performance results. To this end, we performed extensive experiments on GeForceGTX 1080ti GPUs with PCI-e 3.0 16x to discover that there exists an effective prefetch mechanism to enhance locality in GPU memory. However, as the GPU memory is filled to its capacity, such prefetching mechanism quickly proves to be counterproductive due to locality unaware eviction policy. This necessitates the design of new eviction policies that are aware of the hardware prefetcher semantics. We propose two new programmer-agnostic, locality-aware pre-eviction policies which leverage the mechanics of existing hardware prefetcher and thus incur no additional implementation and performance overhead. We demonstrate that combining the proposed tree-based pre-eviction policy with the hardware prefetcher provides an average of 93% and 18.5% performance speed-up compared to LRU based 4KB and 2MB page replacement strategies, respectively. We further examine the memory access pattern of GPU workloads under consideration to analyze the achieved performance speed-up.
"It's very valuable to me that I appear capable": A qualitative study exploring relationships between body functionality and appearance among women with visible physical disabilities.

Abstract A current hypothesis is that women who learn to focus on their body's functionality versus appearance may experience improved body image outcomes. This research is underdeveloped in considering the perspectives of women with visible physical disabilities (WPD), who have differences in body functionality and appearance that influence their body image. Our study aimed to understand how WPD conceptualize body image and body functionality and to clarify relationships between these constructs. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 women representing a range of ages (21–53 years) and disabilities. We used a constructivist grounded theory approach, applying the constant comparative method and engaging in reflexivity throughout the research process. We interpreted themes and subthemes based on their emergence across and explanatory value within cases to develop a conceptual model of the findings. Four major themes emerged: meanings and definitions, body image stability, factors that influence body image, and the interaction of appearance and body functionality. A new concept, “functional-aesthetic body image,” emerged describing women's perceptions about the appearance of their body when engaged in functions or activities. Results may stimulate advancements in body image theory and measurement, and guide further exploration of the complex appearance-functionality relationship and its links with holistic health outcomes.
Intraventricular murine Aβ infusion elicits hippocampal inflammation and disrupts the consolidation, but not retrieval, of conditioned fear in C57BL6/J mice.

Abstract Although one of the defining characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease is the presence of amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaques, the early accumulation of soluble Aβ oligomers (AβOs) may disrupt synaptic function and trigger cognitive impairments long before the appearance of plaques. Furthermore, murine models aimed at understanding how AβOs alter formation and retrieval of associative memories are conducted using human Aβ species, which are more neurotoxic in the mouse brain than the native murine species. Unfortunately, there is currently a lack of attention in the literature as to what the murine version of the peptide (mAβ) does to synaptic function and how it impacts the consolidation and retrieval of associative memories. In the current study, adult mice were infused with mAβ 0, 2, 6, or 46 h after contextual-fear conditioning, and were tested 2–48 h later. Interestingly, only mAβ infusions within 2 h of training reduced freezing behavior at test, indicating that mAβ disrupted the consolidation, but not retrieval of fear memory. This consolidation deficit coincided with increased IL-1β and reduced synaptophysin mRNA levels, without disrupting other synaptic signaling-related genes here examined. Despite differences between murine and human Aβ, the deleterious functional outcomes of early-stage synaptic oligomer presence are similar. Thus, models utilizing or inducing the production of mAβ in non-transgenic animals are useful in exploring the role of dysregulated synaptic plasticity and resultant learning deficits induced by Aβ oligomers.
The preconception environment and sperm epigenetics

Background Infertility is a common reproductive disorder, with male factor infertility accounting for approximately half of all cases. Taking a paternal perceptive, recent research has shown that sperm epigenetics, such as changes in DNA methylation, histone modification, chromatin structure, and noncoding RNA expression, can impact reproductive and offspring health. Importantly, environmental conditions during the preconception period has been demonstrated to shape sperm epigenetics. Objectives To provide an overview on epigenetic modifications that regulate normal gene expression and epigenetic remodeling that occurs during spermatogenesis, and to discuss the epigenetic alterations that may occur to the paternal germline as a consequence of preconception environmental conditions and exposures. Materials and methods We examined published literature available on databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect) focusing on adult male preconception environmental exposures and sperm epigenetics in epidemiologic studies and animal models. Results The preconception period is a sensitive developmental window in which a variety of exposures such as toxicants, nutrition, drugs, stress, and exercise, affects sperm epigenetics. Discussion and conclusion Understanding the environmental legacy of the sperm epigenome during spermatogenesis will enhance our understanding of reproductive health and improve reproductive success and offspring well-being.
Management Control, Expectations, Common Knowledge, and Culture

Control in organizations can be defined as expectational equilibrium, or correspondence between how the members of an organization behave and how others expect them to behave. Using a contract model of organizations as the base, we use human expectations, common knowledge, and culture to propose a theory of control. Changes in factor and product market conditions tend to disrupt control in organizations. Strategic management consists of continual monitoring and anticipation of market conditions, and redesign, negotiation, and implementation of contracts to restore and maintain the expectational equilibrium.
Regulation of PTEN translation by PI3K signaling maintains pathway homeostasis.

Summary The PI3K pathway regulates cell metabolism, proliferation, and migration, and its dysregulation is common in cancer. We now show that both physiologic and oncogenic activation of PI3K signaling increase the expression of its negative regulator PTEN. This limits the duration of the signal and output of the pathway. Physiologic and pharmacologic inhibition of the pathway reduces PTEN and contributes to the rebound in pathway activity in tumors treated with PI3K inhibitors and limits their efficacy. Regulation of PTEN is due to mTOR/4E-BP1-dependent control of its translation and is lost when 4E-BP1 is deleted. Translational regulation of PTEN is therefore a major homeostatic regulator of physiologic PI3K signaling and plays a role in reducing the pathway activation by oncogenic PIK3CA mutants and the antitumor activity of PI3K pathway inhibitors. However, pathway output is hyperactivated in tumor cells with coexistent PI3K mutation and loss of PTEN function.
The Impact of Halogen Substituents on the Synthesis and Structure of Co-Crystals of Pyridine Amides

Strategies for co-crystal synthesis tend to employ either hydrogen- or halogen-bonds between different molecules. However, when both interactions are present, the structural influence that they may exert on the resulting assembly is difficult to predict a priori. To shed some light on this supramolecular challenge, we attempted to co-crystallize ten aliphatic dicarboxylic acids (co-formers) with three groups of target molecules; N-(pyridin-2-yl)picolinamides (2Pyr-X), N-(pyridin-2-yl)nicotinamides (3Pyr-X), N-(pyridin-2-yl)isonicotinamides (4Pyr-X); X=Cl/ Br/ I. The structural outcomes were compared with co-crystals prepared from the non-halogenated targets. As expected, none of the reactions with 2Pyr-X produced co-crystals due to the presence of a very stable intramolecular N-H···N hydrogen bond. In the 3Pyr series, all six structures obtained showed the same synthons, –COOH···N(py) and –COOH···N(py)-NH, that were found in the non-halogenated parent 3Pyr and were additionally accompanied by structure directing X···O(OH) interactions (X=Br/I). The co-crystals of the unhalogenated parent 4Pyr co-crystals assembled via intermolecular –COOH···N(py) and –COOH···N(py)-NH synthons. Three of the analogues 4Pyr-X co-crystals displayed only COOH···N(py) and –COOH···N(py)-NH interactions. The three co-crystals of 4Pyr-X with fumaric acid (for which no analogues structures with 4Pyr are known) formed –COOH···N(py)-NH and –NH···O=C hydrogen bonds and showed no structure-directing halogen bonds. In three co-crystals of 4Pyr-I in which –COOH···N(py)-NH hydrogen bond was present, a halogen-bond based –I···N(py) synthon replaced the –COOH···N(py) motif observed in the parent structures. The structural influence of the halogen atoms increased in the order of Cl < Br < I, as the size of σ-holes increased. Finally, it is noteworthy that isostructurality among structures of the homomeric targets was not translated to structural similarities between their respective co-crystals.
Educational Value of Endoscopic Versus Microscopic Ear Surgery.

OBJECTIVE To compare the educational value of endoscopic ear surgery versus microscopic ear surgery among medical students. METHODS Medical students anonymously completed a cross-sectional survey immediately after observing endoscopic or microscopic ear surgery. A Likert scale (1 = worst, 5 = best) was used to analyze variables across 3 domains including: (1) area of interest visibility, (2) optical quality, (3) education and understanding. The Mann-Whitney U-test and multivariable linear regression were used to compare mean scores of individual items and domain means between endoscopic and microscopic groups. RESULTS Forty-four surveys were analyzed (20 endoscopic and 24 microscopic ear surgeries). Across domains, the endoscope was superior to the microscope (adjusted P < .05) for visibility of the area of interest (mean ± SD: 4.74 ± 0.26 vs 4.28 ± 0.50), optical quality (4.78 ± 0.38 vs 4.28 ± 0.64), and education and understanding (4.70 ± 0.47 vs 4.13 ± 0.61). In multivariable linear regression, the mean domain score for visibility of the area of interest was 1.23 (95% CI = 0.56, 1.90; adjusted P < .01) points higher for the endoscopic group, compared to the microscopic group, adjusting for surgeon, procedure, and student type. The mean domain score for education and understanding was 1.19 (95% CI = 0.49. 1.90; adjusted P < 0.01) points higher for the endoscopic group, compared to the microscopic group, adjusting for the same confounders. CONCLUSIONS Among medical students, endoscopic ear surgery was superior to microscopic ear surgery for several visual quality indicators and perceived educational benefit. These findings have implications for medical student education and surgical training.
Fallibilism versus Relativism in the Philosophy of Science

In response to a recent argument by David Bloor, I argue that denying absolutes does not necessarily lead to relativism, that one can be a fallibilist without being a relativist. At issue are the empirical natural sciences and what might be called “framework relativism”, that is, the idea that there is always a conceptual scheme or set of practices in use, and all observations are theory-laden relative to the framework. My strategy is to look at the elements that define a relativist stance and show where the pragmatic fallibilist disagrees. Defending the pragmatic notion of experience will be central, given that relativists reject the idea that experience can play a role in objectively justifying belief. We can reject all absolutes and start from the premise that everything is historical, contingent, and situated. One of the lessons of pragmatism is that universal and fixed principles are not necessary for objective knowledge.
Rapid and Reliable Routability Estimation for FPGAs

Modern large scale FPGA designs require interconnect estimation for cutting down the design cycle times. Most of the available estimation techniques use empirical methods to estimate routability. These methods lack the ability to accurately model back-end routers and the estimation results produced are not very reliable. We recently proposed a fast and generic routability estimation method, fGREP [1], that predicts the peak routing demand and the channel occupancies in a given FPGA architecture. The peak demands are within 3 to 4% of actual detailed routing results produced by the well known physical design suite, VPR [2]. In this paper, we observe that, fGREP spends a significant portion of its execution time in estimating the demands for nets with large number of terminals. We propose a new routability estimation method based on fGREP which offers significant speedups over fGREP, while maintaining the same high levels of accuracy. The new method is up to 36X faster than fGREP, and on an average is about 102X faster than VPR's detailed router.
Increased mucosal B-lymphocyte apoptosis during polymicrobial sepsis is a Fas ligand but not an endotoxin-mediated process

Sepsis is reported to induce an increase in the rate of apoptosis (Ao), in immature lymphoid cells residing in hematopoietic tissues such as the thymus and bone marrow. Alternatively, secondary lymphoid tissue, such as the spleen exhibit little innate (unstimulated) Ao. However, it is unknown whether or not polymicrobial sepsis has any effects on the frequency of Ao in mucosal lymphoid tissue and what, if any, are the functional consequences of such a change. To assess this, Peyer's patch cells were harvested from C3H/HeN (endotoxin-sensitive) mice killed 12 or 24 hours after the onset of polymicrobial sepsis (cecal ligation and puncture [CLP]). The results indicate that the percentage of cells that were Ao+ as determined by flow cytometry were markedly increased at 24 hours, but not at 12 hours post-CLP. This correlates well with evidence of increased DNA fragmentation as well as histological changes observed both at a light and transmission electron microscopic level of the Peyer's patch Ao. Phenotypically, these changes were restricted to the B220+ (B-cell) population that also exhibited a marked increase of Fas/Apo-1 antigen expression. The functional consequence of this increased apoptosis appears to be associated with the endogenous stimulation (activation) of IgA production by mucosal B lymphocytes and increased nuclear c-Rel expression. Furthermore, we found that Peyer's patch lymphocytes isolated from C3H/HeJ-Faslgld (endotoxin-tolerant/Fas ligand- [FasL] deficient) as opposed to C3H/HeJ (endotoxin-tolerant) inbred mice did not exhibit increased Ao after CLP. These findings indicate that increased B-cell Ao appears to be a FasL-Fas antigen-mediated process, but is not due to endotoxin sensitivity. In conclusion, we speculate that the increased Fas-associated apoptosis detected in mucosal B cells (as opposed to splenic or bone marrow B cells) may be due to increased luminal antigens other than endotoxin, released due to gut barrier integrity breakdown during sepsis.
Fundamentals of real exchange rate determination: what role in the peso crisis?

Se investiga el papel desempenado por factores estructurales en el comportamiento historico del tipo de cambio real en Mexico. Se demuestra que determinantes ?fundamentales" (que se omitieron en investigaciones anteriores) son cointegrados con el tipo de cambio nominal y los precios relativos, mientras una prueba de la version sencilla de PPA (sin los factores fundamentales) falla. La ecuacion de cointegracion indica una subvaluacion severa a finales de los 1980s y una sobrevaluacion ligera antes de la devaluacion de diciembre de 1994. Los factores fundamentales no son capaces de explicar la magnitud del choque que recibio Mexico en aquel momento.
Domain Monotonicity and the Performance of Local Solutions Strategies for CDPS-based Distributed Sensor Interpretation and Distributed Diagnosis

The growth in computer networks has created the potential to harness a great deal of computing power, but new models of distributed computing are often required. Cooperative distributed problem solving (CDPS) is the subfield of multi-agent systems (MAS) that is concerned with how large-scale problems can be solved using a network of intelligent agents working together. Building CDPS systems for real-world applications is still very difficult, however, in large part because the effects that domain and strategy characteristics have on the performance of CDPS systems are not well understood. This paper reports on the first results from a new simulation-based analysis system that has been created to study the performance of CDPS-based distributed sensor interpretation (DSI) and distributed diagnosis (DD). To demonstrate the kind of results that can be obtained, we have investigated how the monotonicity of a domain affects the performance of a potentially very efficient class of strategies for CDPS-based DSI/DD. Local solutions strategies attempt to limit communications among the agents by focusing on using the agents' local solutions to produce global solutions. While these strategies have been described as being important for effective CDPS-based DSI/DD, they need not perform well if a domain is nonmonotonic. We had previously suggested that the reason they have performed well in several research systems was that many DSI/DD domains are what we termed nearly monotonic. In this paper, we will provide quantitative results that relate the performance of local solutions strategies to the monotonicity of a domain. The experiments confirm that domain monotonicity can be important to consider, but they also show that it is possible for these strategies to be effective even when domains are relatively nonmonotonic. What is required is that the agents receive a significant fraction of the data that is relevant to their subproblems. This has important implications for the design of DSI/DD systems using local solutions strategies. In addition, while the work indicates that many DSI/DD domains are likely to be “nearly monotonic” according to our original definitions, it also shows that these measures are not as predictive of performance as other measures we define. This means that near monotonicity alone does not explain why local solutions strategies have performed well in previous systems. Instead, a likely explanation is that these systems typically involved only a small number of agents.
Gallbladder carcinoma discovered during laparoscopic cholecystectomy: aggressive reresection is beneficial.

BACKGROUND This study attempted to determine whether aggressive surgical therapy is warranted after gallbladder carcinoma is discovered during or after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. METHODS The clinical course and outcome of 42 consecutive patients with laparoscopically discovered gallbladder carcinoma seen over a 5-year period at a tertiary referral center were examined. Nine of the patients had TNM classified T2 tumors and 32 had full thickness penetration of the gallbladder including 16 T3 and 16 T4 tumors. RESULTS At reexploration, 22 of the patients were found to have lymph node, peritoneal, or bilateral liver disease precluding reresection. Nineteen patients underwent liver resection (13 trisegmentectomies and 6 bisegmentectomies), portal lymphadenectomy, and hepaticojejunostomy as the definitive surgical procedure for the carcinoma. There was 1 perioperative death, and the median hospital stay was 11 days (range, 6-28 days). At last follow-up 17 of the 22 nonresected patients had died, with a median survival of 5 months. With a follow-up of 16 months, only 3 of the resected patients had died. CONCLUSIONS The authors conclude that aggressive resection of gallbladder carcinoma discovered laparoscopically is safe and effective. Cancer 1998;83:423-427. © 1998 American Cancer Society.
Effects of Nigericin and Monactin on Cation Permeability of Streptococcus faecalis and Metabolic Capacities of Potassium-depleted Cells

At a concentration of 10(-6)m, nigericin and monactin inhibited growth of Streptococcus faecalis, and the inhibition was reversed by addition of excess K(+). In the presence of certain antibiotics, the cells exhibited increased permeability to certain cations; internal Rb(+) was rapidly lost by exchange with external H(+), K(+) Rb(+), and, more slowly, with Na(+) and Li(+). No effect was observed on the penetration of other small molecules. Cation exchanges induced by nigericin and monactin were metabolically passive and apparently did not involve the energy-dependent K(+) pump. When the cells were washed, the cytoplasmic membrane recovered its original impermeability to cations. By use of monactin, we prepared cells whose K(+) content had been completely replaced by other cations, and the metabolic characteristics of K(+)-depleted cells were studied. Cells containing only Na(+) glycolyzed almost as well as did normal ones and, under proper conditions, could accumulate amino acids and orthophosphate. These cells also incorporated (14)C-uracil into ribonucleic acid but incorporation of (14)C-leucine into protein was strictly dependent upon the addition of K(+). When K(+) or Rb(+) was added to sodium-loaded cells undergoing glycolysis, these ions were accumulated by stoichiometric exchange for Na(+). From concurrent measurements of the rate of glycolysis, it was calculated that one mole-pair of cations was exchanged for each mole of adenosine triphosphate produced.
Inhibition of thyrotropin-stimulated DNA synthesis by microinjection of inhibitors of cellular Ras and cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase.

Abstract Microinjection of a dominant interfering mutant of Ras (N17 Ras) caused a significant reduction in thyrotropin (thyroid-stimulating hormone [TSH])-stimulated DNA synthesis in rat thyroid cells. A similar reduction was observed following injection of the heat-stable protein kinase inhibitor of the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase. Coinjection of both inhibitors almost completely abolished TSH-induced DNA synthesis. In contrast to TSH, overexpression of cellular Ras protein did not stimulate the expression of a cyclic AMP response element-regulated reporter gene. Similarly, injection of N17 Ras had no effect on TSH-stimulated reporter gene expression. Moreover, overexpression of cellular Ras protein stimulated similar levels of DNA synthesis in the presence or absence of the heat-stable protein kinase inhibitor. Together, these results suggest that in Wistar rat thyroid cells, a full mitogenic response to TSH requires both Ras and cyclic APK-dependent protein kinase.
Kant's Criticisms of Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

According to recent commentators like Paul Guyer, Kant agrees with Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1) that physico-theology can never provide knowledge of God and (2) that the concept of God, nevertheless, provides a useful heuristic principle for scientific enquiry. This paper argues that Kant, far from agreeing with Hume, criticizes Hume's Dialogues for failing to prove that physico-theology can never yield knowledge of God and that Kant correctly views Hume's Dialogues as a threat to, rather than an anticipation of, his own view that the concept of God provides a useful heuristic principle for science. The paper concludes that Kant's critique of physico-theology reflects Kant's deep dissatisfaction with Hume's manner of argumentation and suggests that Kant's attempt to provide a more successful critique of physico-theology merits continued philosophical attention.
Low-temperature H–O and H–N relaxations. Confirmation of the Flynn-Stoneham tunneling theory†

The diffusive motion of hydrogen trapped by either oxygen or nitrogen in niobium at low temperatures is investigated by internal friction and strain relaxation techniques in the frequency range of about 3 to 150 Hz and 10−3 to 10−1 Hz, respectively. Anelastic relaxation is observed in the temperature range of about 35 to 75 K due to the stress-induced reorientation of a single hydrogen around an oxygen (or nitrogen) atom. The temperature dependence of the hydrogen jump rate is shown to exhibit quantum tunneling effects at low temperatures and to be in excellent agreement with the quantum theory of diffusion proposed by Flynn and Stoneham. Die Diffusionswanderung von Wasserstoff, der entweder an Sauerstoff oder Stickstoff angehaftet ist, wird in Niob bei tiefen Temperaturen durch innere Reibung und Spannungs-Relaxationstechnik im Frequenzbereich von etwa 3 bis 150 Hz bzw. 10−3 bis 10−1 Hz untersucht. Inelastische Relaxation, die durch spannungsinduzierte Reorientierung von isoliertem Wasserstoff um ein Sauerstoff (oder Stickstoff)-atom hervorgerufen wird, wird im Temperaturbereich von etwa 35 bis 75 K beobachtet. Es wird gezeigt, das die Temperaturabhangigkeit der Wasserstoff-Sprungrate bei tiefen Temperaturen einen Quanten-Tunneleffekt aufweist und sich in ausgezeichneter Ubereinstimmung mit der von Flynn und Stoneham vorgeschlagenen Quantentheorie der Diffusion befindet.
Impact of delay in asthma diagnosis on chest X-ray and antibiotic utilization by clinicians.

Objective. To evaluate the effect of the timeliness of asthma diagnosis on chest X-ray (CXR) and antibiotic utilization in children. Patients and methods. This was a retrospective cohort study of 276 asthmatic children aged 5–12 years from Rochester, Minnesota. From the time when children met our predetermined asthma criteria, the frequency of CXR and antibiotic utilizations for respiratory illnesses were collected from medical records until age 18 years. Using a Poisson regression model, the frequency of CXR and antibiotic utilizations were compared in children with timely, delayed, or no clinician diagnosis of asthma. Results. Of the 276 asthmatic patients, 97 (35%) had a timely diagnosis, 122 (44%) had a delayed diagnosis, while 57 patients (21%) had no clinician diagnosis of asthma. There was no significant difference in CXR or antibiotic utilization for respiratory illness between these groups. In addition, this was true for the comparison between the timely diagnosed group and the delayed diagnosed ...
Continuous colorimetric determination of trace ammonium in seawater with a long-path liquid waveguide capillary cell

Abstract An automated method for routine determination of nanomolar ammonium in seawater has been developed using segmented flow analysis coupled with a 2-m-long liquid waveguide capillary cell. Conventional photometric detector and autosampler were modified for this method. The optimal concentrations of the reagents and parameters for the development of indophenol blue are discussed. The method has low detection limit (5 nM), high precision (5% at 10–100 nM) and the advantage of rapid analysis of a large number of samples. The method has been used to examine the distribution of ammonium in Florida Bay and Biscayne Bay.
Compressibility factor of polar fluids in the gaseous and liquid regions

The tables of Pitzer et al. for the compressibility factor of nonpolar substances have been extended to polar fluids for the gaseous and liquid regions for reduced temperatures from 0.8 to 1.15 and reduced pressures from 0.2 to 6.0. Available experimental PVT data for polar fluids were related to the acentric factor and fourth parameter at constant reduced temperature and pressure by a quadratic least squares procedure. The resulting relationships reproduced the data utilized with good accuracy for the entire region considered.
Effects of atrazine on freshwater microbial communities

A multispecies toxicity test system using naturally derived microbial communities on polyurethane foam substrates was used to evaluate the toxic effects of the herbicide atrazine. Both structural (e.g., protozoan species number, biomass) and functional (e.g., colonization rate, oxygen production) community responses were measured. Oxygen production and the ability of communities to sequester magnesium and calcium were the most sensitive measures of toxic stress due to atrazine (maximum allowable toxicant concentrations [MATCs]=17.9 μg/L). Dissolved oxygen was 33% lower, and there was 15% less calcium and magnesium in communities at and above 32.0 μg/L atrazine compared to controls. Species richness and estimates of biomass (total protein and chlorophyll a) were less sensitive (MATCs=193) to atrazine. At the highest atrazine concentration (337 μg/L), species numbers were 30% lower than controls, and protein and chlorophyll a content of communities were reduced by 38 and 91%, respectively. Low levels of atrazine (3.2–32.0 μg/L) resulted in a 46% increase in species numbers and a greater concentration of total protein and chlorophyll a (41 and 57%, respectively). Results compared well with other estimates of chronic toxicity for effects of atrazine on aquatic communities. Reported MATCs ranged from 70.7 to 3,400 μg/L. The results from this test emphasize the importance of monitoring both structural and functional measures of community integrity in toxicity testing with multispecies.
Embryotoxic and teratogenic effects of crude oil on mallard embryos on day one of development.

Previous studies have examined the teratogenic and embryotoxic potential of microliter quantities of South Louisiana crude oil, an API reference oil, on mallard eggs of 3 days incubation. The present study examined the effects of equivalent exposures at day one of development.
VTAssist: a location-based feedback notification system for the disabled

The needs of individuals with limited mobility have not been given as much importance as those of other users of internet-accessible mobile devices. Disabled users have information and service needs that are unique and a timely delivery of these services and information can be invaluable. This has motivated us toward the development of VTAssist, an application that attempts to provide critical location-based information about building accessibility to impaired users. This paper discusses our initial implementation of VTAssist and reports on preliminary evaluation results. Our results indicate that our system can help wheelchair users to better understand and navigate around environments.
Panel zone flexibility in seismic moment joints

Abstract In the analysis of moment-resisting steel frames the joints are ordinarily assumed to be rigid. During severe earthquakes, however, such points, including beam-to-column connections, can undergo severe inelastic deformations, thereby substantially affecting frame flexibility. In this paper, some Berkeley cyclic experiments on large specimens are critically reviewed and the contributions of connections, panel zones, and column web stiffeners (continuity plates) to joint flexibility in the post-elastic range of behavior are evaluated. The paper concludes with a discussion of the mathematical modeling of joint flexibility in the inelastic range and suggestions for further analytical studies as well as possible improvements in commonly used joint details.
Field theory of critical behavior in a driven diffusive system

We use a field theoretic renormalization group method to study the critical properties of a diffusive system with a single conserved density subject to a constant uniform external field. A fixed point stable belowd c=5 is found to govern the critical behavior. Scaling forms of density correlation functions are derived and critical exponents are obtained to all orders in ɛ=5−d. Spatial correlations are found to be very anisotropic with elongated correlations along the external field. Long wavelength transverse fluctuations are suppressed completely to yield mean field transverse exponents.
Tangible self-reinforcement in self-directed behavior modification projects.

The effects of tangible self-reinforcement, as used in behavioral self-modification projects, were investigated in three experiments. The results indicated that the addition of tangible self-reinforcement showed little advantage on self-monitored behavioral measures over a procedure which combined self-monitoring with a demand for change. Analyses of variance indicated that both conditions produced a significant increase in response rate over baseline measures, but no significant differences were found between self-reinforcement and “commitment” only procedures. Also, the results of Exp. 3 indicate that perceived credibility of self-modification strategies significantly influences performance on target behaviors during all phases of a self-modification project.
Alterations in heart and kidney membrane phospholipids in hypertension as observed by 31P nuclear magnetic resonance

Abnormalities of phospholipids in hypertension have previously been described in human erythrocyte, platelet, and plasma lipoproteins. Since the heart and kidney are adversely affected by hypertension, we investigated possible alterations in their membrane phospholipids, which could play a role in the derangement of intracellular ion balance widely observed in hypertension. The phospholipid compositions of heart and kidney from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats were determined by using 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Absolute contents of all phospholipids in hypertensive hearts and kidneys were significantly higher than in normotensive hearts and kidneys. Expressed as a fraction of total phospholipid, cardiolipin (CL) and phosphatidylethanolamine plasmalogen (PEp) were significantly increased in SHR hearts compared to WKY hearts (CL and PEp were 7.95+/-0.22% and 13.16+/-0.35% in SHR vs. 7.01+/-0.20% and 11.19+/-0.42% in WKY rats, P< or =0.05), but phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) were significantly decreased in SHR (PE and PC were 22.46+/-0.37% and 44.81+/-0.43% in SHR vs. 24.02+/-0.44% and 46.01+/-0.50% in WKY rats, P< or =0.05). In the phospholipids extracted from rat kidneys, the percentage of PE was significantly higher for SHR than for WKY rats (20.37+/-0.60% vs. 18.43+/-0.37%, P< or =0.05), while PEp and phosphatidylserine (PS) were significantly lower for SHR (PEp and PS were 10.22+/-0.36% and 8.42+/-0.28% in SHRs vs. 11.29+/-0.36% and 9.71+/-0.40% in WKY rats, P< or =0.05). The above alterations in phospholipid composition might contribute to the higher oxygen consumption in the hypertensive heart and abnormal intracellular ion concentrations and ion transport in the heart and the kidney in hypertension.
Tourism on organic farms in South Korea: a new form of ecotourism≟

This exploratory research examines the potential of organic farms in South Korea to enable a distinct form of environmentally sustainable tourism. Case studies involving in-depth interviews with three organic farms and content analysis of the websites of 38 organic farms offering tourism-related activities were conducted. An analytical framework using key ecotourism principles was developed to guide an evaluation of activities and practices on the farms. Organic farmers in the study were concerned about ecological conditions on their land, possessed close ties to that land, and employed related knowledge to help preserve natural habitat and minimize adverse environmental impacts. Social–cultural gains were evident, for both visitors and local inhabitants. It is argued that this type of tourism on organic farms may be a potentially new form of ecotourism (eco-organic farm tourism). The study suggests that ecotourism principles may be usefully applied as a guiding sustainability paradigm for small scale, or...
Akt phosphorylates the transcriptional repressor Bmi1 to block its effects on the tumor-suppressing Ink4a-Arf locus

The Polycomb group protein Bmi1 is a transcriptional silencer of the Ink4a-Arf locus, which encodes the cell cycle regulator p16(Ink4a) and the tumor suppressor p19(Arf). Bmi1 plays a key role in oncogenesis and stem cell self-renewal. We report that phosphorylation of human Bmi1 at Ser³¹⁶ by Akt impaired its function by triggering its dissociation from the Ink4a-Arf locus, which resulted in decreased ubiquitylation of histone H2A and the inability of Bmi1 to promote cellular proliferation and tumor growth. Moreover, Akt-mediated phosphorylation of Bmi1 also inhibited its ability to promote self-renewal of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Our study provides a mechanism for the increased abundance of p16(Ink4a) and p19(Arf) seen in cancer cells with an activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase to Akt signaling pathway and identifies crosstalk between phosphorylation events and chromatin structure.
Predicting Feminist Identity: Associations Between Gender-Traditional Attitudes, Feminist Stereotyping, and Ethnicity

The connection between holding gender-traditional attitudes and the reluctance to identify as a feminist is well established, yet little is known about factors that might underlie this association. One factor that may serve this function is the tendency to hold negative stereotypes about feminists. Indeed, the constructs of ambivalent sexism (Glick and Fiske 1996) and ambivalence toward men (Glick and Fiske 1999) provide a strong theoretical basis for the prediction that traditional attitudes toward women and men are related to the derogation of women who do not conform to the feminine-stereotyped gender role. Therefore, the present study utilized path analysis to test a mediational model in which traditional attitudes toward women and men predict the tendency to stereotype feminists, which in turn predicts feminist identity. The present study also examined whether the relations between the variables in the model differed for African American, European American, and Latina women. Participants consisted of 544 women from the southern United States who, despite being undergraduates, were in their mid-to-late twenties on average. As expected, participant ethnicity moderated the paths in the model. Among African American and Latina women, hostility toward men and hostile sexism predicted the tendency to stereotype feminists, which then predicted feminist identity. Support for the mediational model was not obtained among European American women; instead, the model for European American women was characterized by direct paths from traditional attitudes toward women and men to feminist identity. Discussion focuses on the importance of considering participants’ ethnic background when assessing predictors of feminist identity.
Determination of Salmonid Smolt Yield with Rotary‐Screw Traps in the Situk River, Alaska, to Predict Effects of Glacial Flooding

Abstract Hubbard Glacier is expected to dam Russell Fiord and cause glacial flooding of the lower 20 km of the Situk River near Yakutat, Alaska. To determine probable effects of the flooding on juvenile salmonids Oncorhynchus spp., two rotary-screw traps were used to estimate smolt yield inside and outside the predicted flood zone. Traps were fished from April to mid-August 1990: one at the predicted upstream limit of flooding and the other 3 km upstream from the river mouth. Every week, a sample of each salmonid species was tattoo-marked and released 1 km above each trap; recaptures were used to expand catches to estimate smolt yield. Trap efficiency ranged widely among species, from 3% for steelhead O. mykiss to 24% for chinook salmon O. tshawytscha. Estimated total smolt yields were 900,000 sockeye salmon O. nerka, 213,000 coho salmon O. kisutch, 67,000 chinook salmon, and 26,000 steelhead; only sockeye salmon (34% of this species' smolts) originated in the flood zone. Estimated mortality between traps...
Size Versus Sustainability: Environmental, Social, and Competitive Diseconomies of Scale

Assumptions of growth and an appreciation of the economies which can be achieved through large scale are deeply embedded in the history of management thought. While events of the 1970s and 1980s began to expose and challenge some of these growth assumptions, little systematic attention has been given to articulating the diseconomies associated with growth and large scale. This paper examines the concept of diseconomies of scale, explores its manifestation in several streams of literature (environmental, social, and competitive), and concludes by suggesting an alternative “more sustain‐able” model of development.
Intracellular and extracellular motor neuron activity underlying rhythmic respiration inLimulus

1. Intracellular activity was recorded from respiratory motor neurons and other neurons in the isolated abdominal CNS ofLimulus. 2. Patterned motor output underlying the gill ventilatory rhythm occurred in isolated preparations. Stimulation of tracts in interganglionic connectives and of various roots and connectivies elicited the rhythmic output. Rhythmic respiratory activity could also occur in the absence of any stimulation. 3. During cyclic activity the membrane potentials of motor and other neurons oscillated along with the rhythmic motor output (Fig. 3). In some cells, membrane repolarization could be reversed by hyperpolarizing current (Figs. 4, 6), indicating that bursts were terminated by synaptic inhibition. 4. Changing impulse frequencies of neurons by current injection or by antidromic stimulation had little effect on activity of other motor neurons (Fig. 4, 6, 7). There was no evidence to implicate connections between motor neurons in the generation of the rhythm, but the existence of such connections cannot be ruled out.
'Genius' and the Household Mode of Intellectual Production: 1795-1885

This article examines a cohort of intellectuals born between 1795 and 1820. Specifically, it offers a prosopographical account of the select group of individuals who regarded themselves (and were regarded by at least some others) as 'geniuses', who were destined to synthesize hitherto irreconcilable oppositions, such as those between rationalism and romanticism, or revolution and reaction. I argue that the work that these individuals eventually produced was deeply influenced by the household mode of intellectual production within which they were enmeshed. In particular, I show how the gendered social relations that they established with their partners (both male and female) had a significant impact on the character and quality of their work. Those who problematized these gender relations produced oeuvres that were more nuanced and realistic, albeit at the expense of their original syncretic aims. Those who did not, retained the pristine purity of their synoptic vision, albeit at the expense of realism and nuance.
Allele-specific alien-driven diversity, immune responsiveness and MHC-restriction.

Abstract Synthetic and environmental antigens are presented to T cells in the context of MHC determinants but, for certain antigens, some determinants are more effective than others 1−3 , perhaps because they make an optimal or more immunogenic physical association with the antigen 2,3 . Here, Randy Mandell and Paul Sondel use the concepts of immune crossreactivity and ‘alien' MHC antigens to propose an alternative explanation for allele-specific MHC-restriction of T-cell responses to certain antigens. Such allele-specific, alien-driven diversity may also be relevant to the relationship between MHC determinants and immune response genes.
Making Campuses More Inclusive of Transgender Students

This article examines a number of areas of campus life where transgender students experience discrimination because of gender-exclusive policies and practices: health care, residence halls, bathroo...