cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Writer identity and disciplinarity in the third space: Supporting emerging nursing researchers at a postdecondary learning center

This qualitative study examines academic support practices and students’ experiences and perspectives in a graduate nursing education program that has, for many years, emphasized research and writing by requiring aspiring nurse practitioners to pursue publication in peer-reviewed clinical research journals. In collaboration with faculty, practitioner researchers from the university’s postsecondary learning center developed and facilitated group workshops and provided students with individual consultations on research processes and manuscript development. The researchers wrote field notes and researcher memos, administered workshop evaluations, and interviewed seven participants to better understand students’ writer identities and whether writing for the discipline of nursing with the support of peers, faculty, and learning instructors led to any changes in both their individual and collective sense of disciplinary identity. More broadly, this study interrogated the role of a postsecondary learning center employing an academic literacies pedagogical approach (Lea and Street, 1998; Lillis and Scott, 2007) in working with faculty to support students’ writing for a specific discipline. Findings suggest that graduate nursing students felt anxiety and uncertainty about claiming disciplinary expertise and competence as writers. This affective experience made it difficult for students to align their understandings of nursing as a discipline, rooted in their field experiences as professionals, with a more academic conceptualization that they believed to be represented by the research and writing practices required for the assignment. By engaging with the learning center as a third space (Gutierrez, 2008), the students explored these challenges and experimented with writing practices, directions for their research, and the conceptualization of their profession as they modified their understanding of what was possible for scholarly writing and research in nursing as a discipline and what they could contribute individually as emerging scholars. This study has implications for teaching academic writing practices in nursing contexts, as well as other academic disciplines and for forming generative collaborations between postsecondary learning centers and subject experts.
The Gut Microbiome in Heart Transplantation: A Prospective Pilot Study

Purpose The contribution of the intestinal microbiome to alloimmunity in heart transplantation (HT) is unknown. We examined fecal microbiota of HT recipients at time of transplantation and characterized microbiota composition, diversity, and metabolite production. Methods In a prospective, observational, pilot study, pre and post-HT stool samples were collected and microbiota composition determined by 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. Fecal short chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentrations were determined by targeted metabolomics. HT samples were compared to those of healthy controls (HC) and liver transplant (LT) subjects. Results 52 fecal samples were analyzed from 9 HT recipients (1 heart-kidney, 1 heart-liver, 1 heart-liver-kidney) and compared to 15 HC and 8 LT subjects. A measure of within-sample microbial diversity, the inverse Simpson index was lower among HT recipients before and after transplantation compared to HC, but significantly higher than LT recipients (p Conclusion The microbiota of HT recipients is distinct from HC or LT subjects. These intriguing and readily measurable changes to bacterial composition and SCFA production are observed across the transplantation timeline. Further recruitment, collection, and correlation to clinical outcomes is in progress.
Secure Dynamic Skyline Queries Using Result Materialization

Skyline computation is an increasingly popular query, with broad applicability to many domains. Given the trend to outsource databases, and due to the sensitive nature of the data (e.g., in healthcare), it is essential to evaluate skylines on encrypted datasets. Research efforts acknowledged the importance of secure skyline computation, but existing solutions suffer from several shortcomings: (i) they only provide ad-hoc security; (ii) they are prohibitively expensive; or (iii) they rely on assumptions such as the presence of multiple non-colluding parties in the protocol. Inspired by solutions for secure nearest-neighbors, we conjecture that a secure and efficient way to compute skylines is through result materialization. However, materialization is much more challenging for skylines queries due to large space requirements. We show that pre-computing skyline results while minimizing storage overhead is NP-hard, and we provide heuristics that solve the problem more efficiently, while maintaining storage at reasonable levels. Our algorithms are novel and also applicable to regular skyline computation, but we focus on the encrypted setting where materialization reduces the response time of skyline queries from hours to seconds. Extensive experiments show that we clearly outperform existing work in terms of performance, and our security analysis proves that we obtain a small (and quantifiable) data leakage.
Longitudinal progression of clinical variables associated with graded liver injury in COVID-19 patients.

Hospital-acquired liver injury is associated with worse outcomes in COVID-19. This study investigated the temporal progression of clinical variables of in-hospital liver injury in COVID-19 patients. COVID-19 patients (n = 1361) were divided into no, mild and severe liver injury (nLI, mLI and sLI) groups. Time courses of laboratory variables were time-locked to liver-injury onset defined by alanine aminotransferase level. Predictors of liver injury were identified using logistic regression. The prevalence of mLI was 39.4% and sLI was 9.2%. Patients with escalated care had higher prevalence of sLI (23.2% vs. 5.0%, p < 0.05). sLI developed 9.4 days after hospitalization. sLI group used more invasive ventilation, anticoagulants, steroids, and dialysis (p < 0.05). sLI, but not mLI, had higher adjusted mortality odds ratio (= 1.37 [95% CI 1.10, 1.70], p = 0.005). Time courses of the clinical variables of the sLI group differed from those of the nLI and mLI group. In the sLI group, alanine aminotransferase, procalcitonin, ferritin, and lactate dehydrogenase showed similar temporal profiles, whereas white-blood-cell count, D-dimer, C-reactive protein, respiration and heart rate were elevated early on, and lymphocyte and SpO2 were lower early on. The top predictors of sLI were alanine aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, respiration rate, ferritin, and lymphocyte, yielding an AUC of 0.98, 0.92, 0.88 and 0.84 at 0, − 1, − 2 and − 3 days prior to onset, respectively. This study identified key clinical variables predictive of liver injury in COVID-19, which may prove useful for management of liver injury. Late onset of sLI and more aggressive care are suggestive of treatment-related hepatotoxicity.
Can Induced Seismicity Cause Fault Leakage and How Does it Evolve with Time

Understanding fault reactivation as a result of subsurface fluid injection is critical in geologic CO2 sequestration because it may result in enhanced fault permeability, potentially allowing CO2 leakage from the injection zone through the overlying caprock layer, often a low-permeability shale. Here we report on in situ experiments to investigate changes in permeability associated with a series of fault movements induced by repeated periods of water injection (and related fluid pressure buildup) in a borehole interval straddling a fault zone intersecting a claystone formation at 300 m depth in the Mont Terri Underground Research Laboratory (Switzerland). Three 30-minute long injection cycles were conducted, each separated by 30-minute long waiting periods without injection. Continuous monitoring of pressure, flowrate, fault displacement and micro-seismicity conducted over the entire period shows that the hydro-mechanical behavior of the fault changed from one pressure cycle to the other, with varying fluid pressures triggering micro-ruptures and leakage during the first two cycles until a magnitude -2.3 seismic event occurred during the third cycle. Using fully coupled numerical modeling, we find that the fluid pressure increase first causes repeated aseismic microruptures leading to the growth of complex flow channels within the fault zone allowing fluids to diffuse. Seismic rupture may occur when a critical pressurized patch dimension is reached. Our experimental results suggest that these below-meter scale pressurized fluid channels remain confined within the rupture patch, maintaining a slow leakage-induced creep during the inter-activation periods. These results suggest that fault zones in shale may not immediately close during the non-activation periods, but could progressively drive the fault to more instability and leakage. These preliminary conclusions remain to be confirmed over longer time periods where sealing processes could mitigate these short-term observations.
Comprehensive Assessment of Smoking and Sex Related Effects in Publicly Available Gene Expression Data

ABSTRACT Smoking greatly reduces life expectancy in both men and women, but with different patterns of morbidity. After adjusting for smoking history, women have higher risk of respiratory effects and diabetes from smoking, while men show greater mortality from smoking-related cancers. While many smoking-related sex differences have been documented, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well understood. To date, identification of sex differences in response to smoking has been limited to a small number of studies and the resulting smoking-related effects require further validation. Publicly available gene expression data present a unique opportunity to examine molecular-level sex and smoking effects across many tissues and studies. We performed a systematic search to identify smoking-related studies from healthy tissue samples and found 31 separate studies as well as an additional group of overlapping studies that in total span 2,177 samples and 12 tissues. These samples and studies were overall male-biased. In smoking, while effects appeared to be somewhat tissue-specific and largely autosomal, we identified a small number of genes that were consistently differentially expressed across tissues, including AHRR and GZMH. We also identified one gene, AKR1C3, encoding an aldo-keto reductase, which showed strong opposite direction, smoking-related effects in blood and airway epithelium, with higher expression in airway epithelium and lower expression in blood of smokers versus non-smokers. By contrast, at similar significance thresholds, sex-related effects were entirely sex chromosomal and consistent across tissues, providing evidence of stronger effects of smoking than sex on autosomal expression. Due to sample size limitations, we only examined interaction effects in the largest study, where we identified 30 genes with sex differential effects in response to smoking, only one of which, CAPN9, replicated in a held-out analysis. Overall these results present a comprehensive analysis of smoking-related effects across tissues and an initial examination of sex differential smoking effects in public gene expression data.
On some global operations in faulty SIMD hypercubes

Extends our prior results [Raghavendra & Sridhar (1992, 1993), Sengupta & Raghavendra (1994)] to obtain algorithms for performing all-to-all broadcast, global sum and broadcast operation in an N-node (N=2/sup n/), n-dimensional faulty SIMD hypercube, Q/sub n/ (n/spl ges/9), with the number of faults n-1<f/spl les/2n-3. We also discuss optimal algorithms for one-to-all personalized broadcasting and all-to-one personalized broadcasting in a Q/sub n/ with the number of faults f/spl les/n-1. Our broadcasting and global sum algorithms require 2n+19 steps and n+O(log n) steps, whereas the all-to-all broadcast algorithm requires 10N+15 steps.
A busca de Deus nos solilóquios de Agostinho

Augustine was a Christian philosopher and a Priest for the Latin Church. He greatly contributed to form Western Christian thought, representing a real Western Master. Augustine investigated fundamental aspects regarding pedagogy of religious status and gave it significant solutions through cultural thickness, for its theoretical strength, and spiritual significance. Knowledge and faith constitute the goal of the educational process. Faith is a principle, but not a definite term. It is an invitation to undertake new speculations, which will not be reason only, but will be guided and directed by faith: “Intellige ut credas. Crede ut intelligas”. In De Magistro, Augustine supports the idea that ascending to God is a self-learning process, of interior growth that must be carried out under the individual’s own lead, his will and rationality, capable of correcting the mistake so as to purify the eyes of the mind and freeing it from the deceiving attraction from the senses, in order to achieve contemplation of immutable superior realities. Of the self-learning process, following the Augustinian pedagogical method of questions and answers, we will analyze his work Soliloquies at the light of three main purposes: a) Soliloquies is talking to oneself, but it is not an num internal monolog of a self closed in its monadic identity, since Augustine articulates his thoughts coherently towards the search of the truth; b) Soliloquies is a dialog in which reason either plays the role of the instructor or the pupil; c) Soliloquies is not about the Self diving into its own essence of abstract subjectivism, but the search for the Self that co-habits that very same interiority, that is, the one that consists on The Other Self of Oneself.
Road safety is no accident: A call for global action

Myth: Road traffic injuries are “accidents”. Road traffic injuries do not happen at random and are predictable. This makes them comparable to diseases where an agent, a host and a vector can be defined: the human subject, the vehicle and the transfer of acute energy result in a disruption of normal physiology and functioning (injury). Wilbur Haddon defined the field of injury prevention by focusing on these elements to demonstrate how the times before, during and after a road crash can be studied to identify causative factors (5). The science of road traffic injury prevention has advanced rapidly and needs specific application to low- and middleincome countries (2). Myth: Road traffic injuries are a problem of economic development. Historically, as countries developed (defined by increasing gross national product per capita), road traffic fatalities increased specific investments were made for road safety. This relationship (called Kuznet’s curve) has been described recently; in the
Varieties of varicella gangrenosa.

Gangrene of the skin and deeper tissues, a rare complication of varicella, has been reported several times during the last 20 years.1-7 A review of these and older reports has led me to believe that varicella gangrenosa is a descriptive term for a variety of conditions. This is not a new concept, but one propounded in 1959,1 or possibly even earlier. One of these conditions is moist gangrene, believed to be an infectious complication of varicella caused mostly by hemolytic Streptococcus or Staphylococcus aureus.1,2,6
Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: The Turkish Migrations and the Ottoman Empire

Turkish-Islamic States in Anatolia (1071–1243) The Turkish migrations that gave rise to the Saljuq, Mongol, and Timurid empires in Iran also gave birth to a succession of Western Muslim empires. Oghuz peoples pushed their way into Georgia, Armenia, and Byzantine Anatolia, bringing Islam into territories not hitherto reached by the Arab conquests or Muslim expansion. At the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Turks captured the Byzantine emperor, Romanos I. In the next century, they spread across Asia Minor. The migrating peoples were organized into small bands of warriors ( ghazi s) under the leadership of chieftains (beys) or Sufi holy men ( babas ). Veneration of the chiefs and the desire to find rich pasturage, gather booty, and win victories against the infidels in the name of Islam held them together. The migrants did extensive damage to the countryside and cut off cities from their hinterlands and trading connections, but Turkish expansion was soon counterbalanced by the formation of states that attempted to stabilize and reconstruct the region. Anatolia came under the Saljuq sultanate of Rum (c. 1077–c. 1308), whose rulers were remote relatives of the Saljuqs of Baghdad, with its capital at Konya. The Saljuqs of Rum, like earlier Middle Eastern Muslim states, employed Turkish nomadic forces but built up a large standing army of Turkish and Christian slaves and mercenaries. The administration was composed of Iranian scribes. In the early thirteenth century, a fiscal survey was taken, and tax revenue grants ( iqta  ) were distributed in return for military service. The Saljuqs appointed provincial governors. Energetic efforts were made to sedentarize and extract taxes from the pastoral population. The Saljuqs built caravansaries and encouraged maritime commerce on the Black Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean. Still, there were many regions in tribal hands and a number of minor principalities outside of Saljuq control.
Participation in the Green Power Partnership: An analysis of higher education institutions as partners in the program

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze those US colleges and universities that are participating in the Green Power Partnership (GPP). GPP is a voluntary environmental program initiated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2001 to help increase the use of green power (electricity produced from solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass, and low‐impact small hydroelectric sources) among US organizations.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on literature in voluntary environmental programs to develop an understanding as to what types of campuses might be most likely to partner with the US Government to be leaders in the use of green power. It then characterizes partner campuses based on institutional, geographical, financial, student specific and sustainability variables. The study draws attention to the GPP participants that are also signatories of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). This provides leeway into future resear...
Metabolic plasticity maintains proliferation in pyruvate dehydrogenase deficient cells

Pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) occupies a central node of intermediary metabolism, converting pyruvate to acetyl-CoA, thus committing carbon derived from glucose to an aerobic fate rather than an anaerobic one. Rapidly proliferating tissues, including human tumors, use PDH to generate energy and macromolecular precursors. However, evidence supports the benefits of constraining maximal PDH activity under certain contexts, including hypoxia and oncogene-induced cell growth. Although PDH is one of the most widely studied enzyme complexes in mammals, its requirement for cell growth is unknown. In this study, we directly addressed whether PDH is required for mammalian cells to proliferate. We genetically suppressed expression of the PDHA1 gene encoding an essential subunit of the PDH complex and characterized the effects on intermediary metabolism and cell proliferation using a combination of stable isotope tracing and growth assays. Surprisingly, rapidly dividing cells tolerated loss of PDH activity without major effects on proliferative rates in complete medium. PDH suppression increased reliance on extracellular lipids, and in some cell lines, reducing lipid availability uncovered a modest growth defect that could be completely reversed by providing exogenous-free fatty acids. PDH suppression also shifted the source of lipogenic acetyl-CoA from glucose to glutamine, and this compensatory pathway required a net reductive isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) flux to produce a source of glutamine-derived acetyl-CoA for fatty acids. By deleting the cytosolic isoform of IDH (IDH1), the enhanced contribution of glutamine to the lipogenic acetyl-CoA pool during PDHA1 suppression was eliminated, and growth was modestly suppressed. Although PDH suppression substantially alters central carbon metabolism, the data indicate that rapid cell proliferation occurs independently of PDH activity. Our findings reveal that this central enzyme is essentially dispensable for growth and proliferation of both primary cells and established cell lines. We also identify the compensatory mechanisms that are activated under PDH deficiency, namely scavenging of extracellular lipids and lipogenic acetyl-CoA production from reductive glutamine metabolism through IDH1.
African Womanhood in Colonial Kenya: 1900–1950 – By Tabitha Kanogo

The author of this volume has written a most important and readable book, which is meticulously documented and explores the complexity of women's experiences in colonial Kenya. Drawing extensively ...
Combined Toll-like receptor agonists synergistically increase production of inflammatory cytokines in human neonatal dendritic cells.

Summary Dendritic cells (DC) are thought to be responsible for the reduced ability of human newborns to induce protective T-helper 1 (Th1) immune responses. The key player in Th1 differentiation, interleukin-12 (IL-12), is primarily produced in response to Toll-like receptor (TLR) binding by adult DC but not by neonatal DC. The potential use of various TLR agonist combinations for initiating neonatal monocyte-derived DC to prime Th1 responses was investigated. Single TLR ligands induced maturation only in adult DC; neonatal DC matured with combined targeting of TLR3/TLR8 or TLR4/TLR8, based on the expression of maturation markers. Similarly, the synergistic effects of combined TLR ligands could also be shown with adult and neonatal cytokine production, but different expression patterns were noted. In particular, IL-12p70 was produced by neonatal DC exclusively after combined TLR stimulation. Surprisingly, it was found that supernatants of combined stimulated neonatal DC could induce interferon-γ production in autologous naive T cells. Moreover, this interferon-γ secretion was blocked by anti–IL-12p70 antibodies and increased after addition of recombined IL-12. In conclusion, these findings underline the differences between adult and neonatal DC and might suggest new strategies for promoting newborn Th1 immunity in response to pathogens and vaccine antigens.
The detection of hydrogen with a nanotube structured sensor

The employment of hydrogen has shown a lot of promises as an alternative for conventional fuel sources. However, if not handled properly, hydrogen content as low as 4% can lead to a life-threatening catastrophe. Some sensors for hydrogen detection have already been built to address this safety issue. Unlike most of the traditional hydrogen sensors, the sensor developed in this study features high sensitivity, fast response, miniature size, and the ability to detect hydrogen under room temperature. The sensor template has a special nanoporous structure, coming from self assembled aluminum oxide after anodization process. Deposition of palladium particles into the nanopores brings superb hydrogen sensing ability by introducing a granular structure of sensing particles. The sensor prototype has been tested under controlled atmosphere with varying hydrogen concentrations.
Factors associated with preservation of facial nerve function after surgical resection of vestibular schwannoma

Avoidance of facial nerve palsy is one of the major goals of vestibular schwannoma (VS) microsurgery. In this study, we examined the significance of previously implicated prognostic factors (age, tumor size, the extent of resection and the surgical approach) on post-operative facial nerve function. We selected all VS patients from prospectively collected database (1984–2009) who underwent microsurgical resection as their initial treatment for histopathologically confirmed VS. The effect of variables such as surgical approach, tumor size, patient age and extent of resection on rates facial nerve dysfunction after surgery, were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression. Patients with preoperative facial nerve dysfunction (House-Brackman [HB] score 3 or higher) were excluded, and HB grade of 1 or 2 at the last follow-up visit was defined as “facial nerve preservation.” A total of 624 VS patients were included in this study. Multivariate logistic regression analysis found that only pre-operative tumor size significantly predicted poorer facial nerve outcome for patients followed-up for ≥6 and ≥12 months (OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.09–1.49, p < 0.01; OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.10–1.67, P < 0.01, respectively). We found no significant relationship between facial nerve function and age, extent of resection, surgical approach, or tumor size (when extent of resection and surgical approach were included in the regression analysis). Because facial nerve palsy is a debilitating and psychologically devastating condition for the patient, we suggest altering surgical aggressiveness in patients with unfavorable tumor anatomy, particularly in cases with large tumors where overaggressive resection might subject the patient to unwarranted risk. Residual disease can be followed and controlled with radiosurgery if interval growth is noted.
Diagonal and low-rank decompositions and fitting ellipsoids to random points

Identifying a subspace containing signals of interest in additive noise is a basic system identification problem. Under natural assumptions, this problem is known as the Frisch scheme and can be cast as decomposing an n × n positive definite matrix as the sum of an unknown diagonal matrix (the noise covariance) and an unknown low-rank matrix (the signal covariance). Our focus in this paper is a natural class of random instances, where the low-rank matrix has a uniformly distributed random column space. In this setting we analyze the behavior of a well-known convex optimization-based heuristic for diagonal and low-rank decomposition called minimum trace factor analysis (MTFA). Conditions for the success of MTFA have an appealing geometric reformulation as finding a (convex) ellipsoid that exactly interpolates a given set of n points. Under the random model, the points are chosen according to a Gaussian distribution. Numerical experiments suggest a remarkable threshold phenomenon: if the (random) column space of the n × n lowrank matrix has codimension as small as 2√n then with high probability MTFA successfully performs the decomposition task, otherwise it fails with high probability. In this work we provide numerical evidence and prove partial results in this direction, showing that with high probability MTFA recovers such random low-rank matrices of corank at least cnβ for β ϵ (5/6, 1) and some constant c.
Molecular cartography of globular proteins with application to antigenic sites.

A method, molecular cartography, is introduced as a way to quantitate the topographic structure of a protein surface. The method is applied to the problem of antigenic determinants, and it is used to examine local and global topography of reported antigenic regions on the surface of myoglobin and lysozyme. In nine antigenic sites taken from the literature and studied in detail, no local property was found in sites that was not also found in remaining regions of the surface. However, a strong correlation was found between antigenic sites and regions of the surface that are globally exposed. This finding suggests that global exposure of the protein surface may play a primary role in determining the antigenic structure of the protein. Molecular cartography may be useful in other instances of protein–protein interactions such as those between proteolytic enzymes and their substrates.
Capitalism, Not Globalism: Capital Mobility, Central Bank Independence, and the Political Control of the Economy

Capitalism, Not Globalism: Capital Mobility, Central Bank Independence, and the Political Control of the Economy.
Seismic Laboratory Testing of Energy-Efficient, Staggered-Stud, Wood-Frame Shear Walls

AbstractResidential energy use is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Reducing energy efficiency in conventional wood-framed houses are thermal bridges: direct paths that allow heat to flow through the studs instead of the insulation. One suggestion for reducing thermal bridging is the staggered stud (SS) wall. SS walls use 2×6 bottom and top plates with 2×4 studs alternating between sides of the wall. This allows sheathing to be applied to both sides while eliminating thermal bridges. A literature review has revealed a lack of laboratory test data for SS walls used as shear walls, raising concerns about their safety. The objective of this study was to evaluate the seismic performance of typical SS walls and compare their behavior to similar conventional walls. Monotonic and cyclic laboratory tests were conducted with and without gypsum wallboard. The staggered stud specimens performed similarly to conventional walls. Some minor differences were identified, but the da...
The effects of a token economy program on self-care behaviors of neurologically impaired inpatients

Abstract This study examined the effectiveness of a ward-wide token economy program for improving the self-care skills of neurologically impaired patients. The three-month program focused on bed-making, putting pajamas away, dressing, shaving, and tooth-brushing. In addition, the performance of the brain damaged group was compared with that of schizophrenic subjects who participated in the same program. The performance of the twenty subjects—seven with organic brain damage and thirteen with schizophrenia—was analyzed using a least squares analysis of variance. It was found that regardless of disability, the token program was a significantly effective method of improving self-care skills on four of the five tasks.
Isolation of neutrophils and eosinophils from the peripheral blood of cattle and comparison of their functional activities

A procedure for isolating purified populations of neutrophils and eosinophils from bovine peripheral blood is described. The procedure involves the centrifugation of anti-coagulated whole bovine blood, flash lysis of the packed red blood cells and separation of the eosinophils from the neutrophils by centrifugation on a Ficoll-Hypaque density gradient. The following parameters were evaluated on populations of greater than 90% pure eosinophils and neutrophils: (1) random migration under agarose, (2) ingestion of 125I-labeled Staphylococcus aureus, (3) nitroblue tetrazolium reduction, (4) iodination, or the conversion of 125I to a trichloroacetic acid precipitable form, (5) antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity, and (6) the amount of intracellular peroxidase. Neutrophils were significantly more active than eosinophils in the ingestion of S. aureus and in antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Eosinophils were much more active than neutrophils in the resting and stimulated iodination test and they contained higher levels of peroxidase. There was no difference between the two cell types in their ability to reduce nitroblue tetrazolium or migrate under agarose. The effect of Ficoll-Hypaque on granulocyte function was determined. Previous contact with Ficoll-Hypaque significantly reduced random migration but other function tests were unaffected.
Weed–crop competition relationships differ between organic and conventional cropping systems

Summary Experiments comparing conventional and organic systems often report similar yields despite substantially higher weed abundance in the organic systems. A potential explanation for this observation is that weed–crop competition relationships differ between the two types of systems. We analysed weed and crop yield data from the Rodale Institute Farming Systems Trial (FST), which provides a unique 27-year dataset of a conventional (CNV) and two organic [manure (MNR) and legume (LEG)] soyabean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) and maize (Zea mays L.) cropping systems. Average soyabean yields were similar between the MNR and CNV systems and only slightly reduced in the LEG system, whereas average maize yields did not differ among systems despite the two organic systems having more than four and six times greater weed biomass in soyabean and maize respectively. Plot-level weed biomass–crop yield relationships indicated that weed–crop competition differed between the two organic and CNV systems in maize, and was strongest in the CNV system, intermediate in the LEG system and weakest in the MNR system. These results suggest that organic cropping systems may be able to tolerate a greater abundance of weeds compared to conventional systems and that fertility management within organic systems may influence weed–crop competition.
A reply from industry to the colleges

Industry's evaluation of the responsibilities and contributions of education and some suggestions for its reconversion to a peacetime status are discussed in this article. It was written in response to a number of requests addressed to the authors by colleges seeking advice and criticism about proposed engineering curricula.
Molecular Mastication Mechanics

Computational prediction of global protein motion by Yang and Bahar (2005) (in this issue of Structure ) suggests that enzymatic active sites tend to be placed near the hinges of the "jaws" of enzyme structures.
Prospective analysis of carotid artery flow in breast cancer patients treated with supraclavicular irradiation 8 or more years previously: no increase in ipsilateral carotid stenosis after radiation noted.

BACKGROUND. To the authors' knowledge, the effects of supraclavicular fossa radiation on the carotid artery are not well described. In the current study, the authors performed a prospective study to examine the long-term risk of carotid artery stenosis after supraclavicular irradiation for breast cancer. METHODS. A total of 46 breast cancer patients who were treated with adjuvant radiation to the supraclavicular fossa with >8 years of follow-up underwent bilateral Doppler imaging of the carotid artery. Two independent cardiologists interpreted each ultrasound study with no knowledge of which side was treated. RESULTS. The median follow-up from the date of diagnosis was 14.6 years and the mean patient age at the time of ultrasound was 55 years. The median prescribed dose to the supraclavicular fossa was 50 grays. Four patients were found to have clinically relevant, asymptomatic carotid stenosis, for which a cardiology referral was necessary. Only 1 of these 4 patients had stenosis involving the irradiated carotid artery only; 1 patient had bilateral stenosis and 2 patients had only contralateral stenosis. There was no difference noted with regard to isolated ipsilateral versus contralateral medial intimal thickening of the carotid artery (5 patients vs 6 patients, respectively). Furthermore, there were no differences noted with regard to ipsilateral versus contralateral peak systolic flow in the internal (83.5 vs 85.6 cm/seconds; P = .522 by the Student t test and P = .871 by the signed rank test) or common (74.4 vs 77.0 cm/seconds; P = .462 by the Student t test and P = .246 by the signed rank test) carotid artery. CONCLUSIONS. In this prospective study of breast cancer patients with long follow-up, there was no evidence of late, clinically relevant stenosis, increased intimal thickening, or increased peak systolic carotid artery flow secondary to supraclavicular irradiation. Cancer 2008. © 2007 American Cancer Society.
The Supervisor as Teacher, Model, and Mentor for Careers and Psychotherapy

In the last decade counseling psychologists have made great strides in becoming full partners in the provision of mental health services, unfortunately, in the rush to become accepted as mental health providers the specialized knowledge of career counseling has not been emphasized. Two areas of professional training that can make a contribution to the integration of career and vocational information into psychotherapy are discussed. First, the counseling psychology curriculum and practice sites, and second, the role of supervisor. The supervisor, as teacher, model and mentor can help students to recognize the importance of career decision-making and work activities in their own lives and the lives of their clients.
The role of programming environments in Pascal instruction

Abstract Educators have long believed that feedback contributes to learning, yet the form feedback should take remains uncertain. Recently-developed computer learning environments can provide novices with easy access to feedback that experts often use when debugging complex programs. These studies constitute a preliminary investigation of novice responses to such environments. We investigated the advantages of the interactive programming features and optional debugging features in the Macintosh Pascal and Instant Pascal programming environments. The first experiment assessed how often precollege programming students used the unique capabilities of the environment. We found that such students rarely used the optional features without prompting. For the second experiment we devised activities to take advantage of the debugging features. We compared the performances of 10 students using Instant Pascal to that of 9 students using a traditional programming environment during a one-semester course. We found no conclusive evidence for the effectiveness of the optional features, although students who used Instant Pascal outperformed those who used the traditional environment.
China's Experimental Mainstream: The Badass Theatre of Meng Jinghui

Meng Jinghui has been the most important experimental theatre director in the People’s Republic of China for the past two decades, with an increasingly global presence. The success and popularity of his productions challenge conventional notions of the avantgarde and persistent dichotomies of official vs. unofficial networks and discourses. His cool “badass” persona and aesthetic have become recognizable trademarks of his work, which includes adaptations of Western classics, collaborations with Chinese playwrights, and collective creations.
Improved Yield of High Molecular Weight DNA Coincides with Increased Microbial Diversity Access from Iron Oxide Cemented Sub-Surface Clay Environments

Despite over three decades of progress, extraction of high molecular weight (HMW) DNA from high clay soils or iron oxide cemented clay has remained challenging. HMW DNA is desirable for next generation sequencing as it yields the most comprehensive coverage. Several DNA extraction procedures were compared from samples that exhibit strong nucleic acid adsorption. pH manipulation or use of alternative ion solutions offered no improvement in nucleic acid recovery. Lysis by liquid N2 grinding in concentrated guanidine followed by concentrated sodium phosphate extraction supported HMW DNA recovery from clays high in iron oxides. DNA recovered using 1 M sodium phosphate buffer (PB) as a competitive desorptive wash was 15.22±2.33 µg DNA/g clay, with most DNA consisting of >20 Kb fragments, compared to 2.46±0.25 µg DNA/g clay with the Powerlyzer system (MoBio). Increasing PB concentration in the lysis reagent coincided with increasing DNA fragment length during initial extraction. Rarefaction plots of 16S rRNA (V1–V3 region) pyrosequencing from A-horizon and clay soils showed an ∼80% and ∼400% larger accessed diversity compared to the Powerlyzer soil DNA system, respectively. The observed diversity from the Firmicutes showed the strongest increase with >3-fold more operational taxonomic units (OTU) recovered.
Physical Activity and the Association of Common FTO Gene Variants With Body Mass Index and Obesity

Background: Common FTO (fat mass and obesity associated)genevariantshaverecentlybeenassociatedwithbody mass index (BMI) and obesity in several large studies. The role of lifestyle factors (such as physical activity) in those with an underlyingFTO genetic predisposition is unknown. Methods: To determine if FTO variants are associated with BMI in Old Order Amish (OOA) individuals, and to further determine whether the detrimental associations of FTO gene variants can be lessened by increased physical activity, a total of 704 healthy OOA adults were selected from the Heredity and Phenotype Intervention (HAPI) Heart Study, an investigation of geneenvironment interactions in cardiovascular disease, for whom objective quantified physical activity measurements were available and for whom 92 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in FTO were genotyped. Results: Twenty-sixFTO SNPs were associated with BMI (P=.04 to .001), including rs1477196 (P.001) and rs1861868 (P.001), 2 SNPs in moderate linkage disequilibrium in the OOA (D=0.82; r 2 =0.36). Stratified analyses of rs1861868 revealed its association with BMI to be restricted entirely to those subjects with low sexand age-adjusted physical activity scores (P.001); in contrast, the SNP had no effect on those with aboveaverage physical activity scores (P = .29), with the genotypephysical activity interaction achieving statistical significance (P=.01). Similar evidence for interaction was also obtained for rs1477196. Conclusions: Our results strongly suggest that the increased risk of obesity owing to genetic susceptibility by FTO variants can be blunted through physical activity. These findings emphasize the important role of physical activity in public health efforts to combat obesity, particularly in genetically susceptible individuals.
Novel putative protein kinase clones from a rat large granular lymphocyte tumor cell line.

Abstract Protein kinases have been implicated in a number of regulatory mechanisms including signal transduction in many cells. To address the possibility that the large granular lymphocyte (LGL) also uses one or more unique protein kinases for LGL functions, an efficient method was developed to obtain partial cDNA clones for putative protein kinases from a rat LGL tumor cell line, RNK. Using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), one hundred and nine amplified DNA segments were cloned and sequenced from a RNK cDNA library. One hundred and eight of these segments were putative protein kinases based on their deduced sequences. Among these were nine putative protein kinases, seven of which were putative tyrosine kinases and two were putative serine kinases. Only four of the putative kinases identified in this study were identical, or nearly identical, to previously published protein kinases. The deduced amino acid sequences of the remaining clones differed by seven or more amino acid residues in the amplified segments from all known protein kinase, and were considered to be novel putative protein kinases. Two of the five novel putative kinases showed lymphoid-restricted patterns of expression on Northern analyses. The method described in this paper provides an efficient cloning strategy for novel protein kinases, and is similar to that published in a previous report. Although the PCR primers used in this report differ only slightly from those in the previous report, we used a much higher annealing temp (50°C) than in the previous report (37°C), which may in part account for our higher yield of putative protein kinase sequences.
Structural and functional characterization of the mouse tescalcin promoter

Abstract Tescalcin, an EF-hand calcium binding protein that regulates the Na+/H+ exchanger 1 (NHE1), is highly expressed in various mouse tissues such as heart and brain. Despite its potentially important role in cell physiology, the mechanisms that regulate tescalcin gene (Tesc) expression are unknown. In this study, we report two new Tesc mRNA variants (V2 and V3) and characterize the mouse Tesc promoter. The V2 and V3 transcripts result from alternative splicing of intron 5. Our results show that Tesc mRNA variants are expressed in various mouse tissues. Primer extension analysis located the transcription start site at 94 nucleotides upstream of the translation start codon. The DNA nucleotide sequence of the 5′-flanking region contained a CpG island spanning the promoter region from nucleotides − 372 to + 814, a canonical TATA box (− 38/− 32), and putative transcription factor binding sites for Sp1, EGR1, ZBP-89, KLF3, MZF1, AP2, ZF5, and CDF-1. Transient transfection of the Y1 and msc-1 cell lines with a series of 5′-deleted promoter constructs indicated that the minimal promoter region was between nucleotides − 130 and − 40. Electrophoresis mobility shift assays, supershift assays, and mutation studies demonstrated that Sp1 and Sp3 bind to the GC-rich motifs, a CACCC box and three GC boxes, located within the Tesc proximal promoter. Nonetheless, mutations that abolished interaction of Sp1 and Sp3 with the GC-rich motifs located within the minimal promoter region did not abrogate promoter activity in Y1 cells. Mithramycin A, an inhibitor of Sp1-DNA interaction, reduced Tesc promoter activity in msc-1 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Sp3 was a weaker transactivator compared to Sp1 in Drosophila D.mel-2 cells. However, when Sp1 and Sp3 were coexpressed, they transactivated the Tesc promoter in a synergistic manner. In Y1 cells, mutation analysis of a putative ZF5 motif located within the Tesc minimal promoter indicated that this motif was critical for activity of Tesc promoter. Taken together, the data demonstrated that Sp1 and Sp3 transcription factors cooperate positively in the regulation of Tesc promoter, and that the putative ZF5 motif is critical for its activation.
Social infobuttons: integrating open health data with social data using semantic technology

There is a large amount of free health information available for a patient to address her health concerns. HealthData.gov includes community health datasets at the national, state and community level, readily downloadable. There are also patient-generated datasets, accessible through social media, on the conditions, treatments or side effects that individual patients experience. While caring for patients, clinicians or healthcare providers may benefit from integrated information and knowledge embedded in the open health datasets, such as national health trends and social health trends from patient-generated healthcare experiences. However, the open health datasets are distributed and vary from structured to highly unstructured. An information seeker has to spend time visiting many, possibly irrelevant, websites, and has to select relevant information from each and integrate it into a coherent mental model. In this paper, we present a Linked Data approach to integrating these health data sources and presenting contextually relevant information called Social InfoButtons to healthcare professionals and patients. We present methods of data extraction, and semantic linked data integration and visualization. A Social InfoButtons prototype system provides awareness of community and patient health issues and healthcare trends that may shed light on patient care and health policy decisions.
CALCULUS REFORM FOR THE NON-SCIENCE CLIENT DISCIPLINES*

ABSTRACT The calculus reform movement has focused primarily on the standard courses for mathematics, science, and engineering majors. However, many of the recommendations for change arising from this movement are even more appropriate for courses in the non-science client disciplines. In this paper, the author compares recent experiences in two such courses, one using a traditional business calculus text and one using materials developed by the Calculus Consortium based at Harvard. * Based on a presentation given at the Conference on the Teaching of Calculus held at Harvard University on 12–13 June 1992.