cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Extremity compartment syndrome following blunt trauma: a level I trauma center's 5-year experience

Abstract Background Extremity compartment syndrome is a recognized complication of trauma. We evaluated its prevalence and outcomes at a suburban level 1 trauma center. Methods The trauma registry was reviewed for all blunt trauma patients aged ≥18 years, admitted between 2010 and 2014. Chart review of patients with extremity compartment syndrome was performed. Results Of 6180 adult blunt trauma admissions, 83 patients developed 86 extremity compartment syndromes; two patients had compartment syndromes on multiple locations. Their (n = 83) median age was 44 years (interquartile range: 31.5-55.5). The most common mechanism of injury was motor vehicle/motor cycle accident (45.8%) followed by a fall (21.7%). The median injury severity score was 9 (interquartile range: 5-17); 65.1% had extremity abbreviate injury score ≥3. Notably, 15 compartment syndromes did not have an underlying fracture. Among patients with fractures, the most commonly injured bone was the tibia, with tibial plateau followed by tibial diaphyseal fractures being the most frequent locations. Fasciotomies were performed, in order of frequency, in the leg (n = 53), forearm (n = 15), thigh (n = 9), foot (n = 5), followed by multiple or other locations. Conclusions Extremity compartment syndrome was a relatively uncommon finding. It occurred in all extremity locations, with or without an associated underlying fracture, and from a variety of mechanisms. Vigilance is warranted in evaluating the compartments of patients with extremity injuries following blunt trauma.
Abstract 3024: CD4+outperform CD8+central memory-derived CAR T cells, mediating persistent antitumor responses and long-term eradication of glioblastoma

Purpose: To compare antitumor effector function mediated by CD4+ and CD8+ chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells targeting IL13 receptor α2 (IL13Rα2) for treatment of glioblastoma (GBM). Experimental Design: CD4+ and CD8+ IL13Rα2-specific CAR-T cells, derived from enriched central memory T cells (Tcm), were evaluated for their antitumor potential both in vitro by recursive challenge with GBM cells and in vivo in established orthotopic GBM xenograft models. Further, GBM-stimulated CD4+ and CD8+ CAR-T cells were examined for their exhaustion- and memory-associated phenotypes at transcriptional and protein levels, which would account for their differential antitumor activity. Results: While CD8+ CAR-T cells mediated robust short-term cytolytic effector function, they became rapidly exhausted and lost antitumor potential after repeated stimulation with tumor cells. CD4+ CAR-T cells, by contrast, persisted and retained effector potency even after repetitive tumor challenge. CD4-mediated cytotoxicity acted through the granzyme B/perforin pathway and was independent of the CD8+ cells. Activated CD4+ CAR-T cells augmented the proliferation of CD8+ cells, but failed to protect the CD8+ cells against stimulation-induced exhaustion. In NSG mice bearing GBM xenografts, CD4+ CAR-T cell treatment led to long-term tumor-free survival, while CD8+ CAR-T cell treated mice showed short-term tumor regression followed by antigen-positive relapse and associated T cell exhaustion. Upon GBM stimulation, CD4+ cells expressed less co-inhibitory receptors and more memory-associated markers than the CD8+ T cell subset. Further, a comprehensive transcriptional analysis revealed that when activated, CD4+ cells retained expression of genes involved in survival- and self-renewal-related pathways, indicating a less exhausted status and a better functional persistence in comparison to the CD8+ cells. Conclusion: We observed a superior anti-GBM activity mediated by CD4+ CAR-T cells over the CD8+ subset, featured by their ability to maintain long-term immune response and reduce stimulation-induced exhaustion. It is thus inferred that the frequency of CD4+ cells could be an important criteria for evaluating the efficacy of CAR-T cells as immunotherapeutic products. Citation Format: Dongrui Wang, Renate Starr, Brenda Aguilar, Alfonso Brito, Brenda Chang, Aniee Sarkissian, Behnam Badie, Michael E. Barish, Stephen J. Forman, Christine E. Brown. CD4+ outperform CD8+ central memory-derived CAR T cells, mediating persistent antitumor responses and long-term eradication of glioblastoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3024. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-3024
A Real-Time Biosensor for ERK Activity Reveals Signaling Dynamics during C. elegans Cell Fate Specification.

Kinase translocation reporters (KTRs) are genetically encoded fluorescent activity sensors that convert kinase activity into a nucleocytoplasmic shuttling equilibrium for visualizing single-cell signaling dynamics. Here, we adapt the first-generation KTR for extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) to allow easy implementation in vivo. This sensor, "ERK-nKTR," allows quantitative and qualitative assessment of ERK activity by analysis of individual nuclei and faithfully reports ERK activity during development and neural function in diverse cell contexts in Caenorhabditis elegans. Analysis of ERK activity over time in the vulval precursor cells, a well-characterized paradigm of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-Ras-ERK signaling, has identified dynamic features not evident from analysis of developmental endpoints alone, including pulsatile frequency-modulated signaling associated with proximity to the EGF source. The toolkit described here will facilitate studies of ERK signaling in other C. elegans contexts, and the design features will enable implementation of this technology in other multicellular organisms.
NK cell activation and metabolic syndrome in a small nonhuman primate model of Hepacivirus infection

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects greater than 170 million people worldwide. The disease remains a major source of global morbidity and mortality, but factors leading to resolution or chronicity remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated acute and longitudinal immune responses in an understudied model of HCV infection, GBV-B infection of common marmosets. Plasma viremia was detectable by day 3 post infection (pi) generally peaking by day 14 pi, at which point high virus titers were also found in the liver. Virus clearance was observed in all animals by day 112 pi. Elevated serum levels of ALT, AST and GGT, along with microscopic liver lesions of inflammation and fibrosis were indicative of hepatitis. Increases in serum creatine kinase, triglycerides and glucose, and decreased amylase levels suggested metabolic dysregulation. Interestingly, natural killer cells, which have been linked to bystander damage in the liver, demonstrated increased expression of perforin, Ki-67 and CXCR3 following infection, and were increased up to 5-fold in the liver by day 14 and remained elevated even after viral clearance. Generalized T cell activation was observed by day 28 pi, and GBV-B-specific responses were generally focused on NS3 peptides (IFN-γ ELISPOT) and were up to 10-fold higher in liver compared to peripheral organs. Our results suggest that early NK cell activation could play a major role in limiting hepaciviral infection in marmosets, or alternatively contribute to tissue inflammation and liver damage. Regardless, these data highlight the recapitulation of inflammation and metabolic dysfunction in a tangible small animal model for HCV and suggest innate cell targeting could be an attractive target for future therapeutics.
Entropy Production-Based Full-Chip Fatigue Analysis: From Theory to Mobile Applications

Through-silicon vias (TSVs) are subject to thermal fatigue due to stress over time, no matter how small the stress is. Existing works on TSV fatigue all rely on measurement-based parameters to estimate the lifetime, and cannot consider detailed thermal profiles. In this paper, we propose a new method for TSV fatigue prediction using entropy production during thermal cycles, which is validated by theoretical analysis and measurement results. By combining thermodynamics and mechanics laws, the fatigue process can be quantitatively evaluated with detailed thermal profiles. Experimental results show that interestingly, the landing pad possesses the most easy-to-fail region, which generates up to 50% more entropy compared with the TSV body. The impact of landing pad dimension and TSV geometries are also studied, providing guidance for reliability enhancement. Full-chip fatigue analysis is performed based on stress superposition. Based on the developed theory, we study the interesting problem of fatigue lifetime of 3-D microprocessors in smartphones and its dependence on user task profile. Finally the lifetime of 3D IC TSV in smartphone is researched with selected apps and user profiles. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first TSV fatigue model that is free of measurement data fitting, the first that is capable of considering detailed thermal profiles, and the first framework for efficient full-chip TSV fatigue analysis, and the first study on fatigue lifetime of mobile chips.
ISS-Based Robust Leader/Follower Trailing Control

The leader/follower scheme is one of the most important building blocks for formation control of autonomous mobile agents. Recently, the concept of input-to-state stability (ISS) has been proposed as a tool to relate the influence of the motion of the leader to the overall formation error in a leader/follower configuration. The ISS approach allows great flexibility in the formation topology, and yields computable gains relating the formation error to external inputs and disturbances. However, its application in this specific context requires some attention, due to the peculiar characteristics of the vehicular formation dynamics. In this paper, the problem of letting followers to trail their leader at desired relative position in a planar formation is cast into a stabilization problem by resorting to an equivalent non-holonomic kinematic model. The proposed solution, based on a local version of ISS originally given by Teel, employs saturated controls to enforce ISS of the dynamics, without resorting to input/output linearization techniques, and thus avoiding the need to deal with critically stable or locally asymptotically stable zero-dynamics. The aforementioned techniques- saturated control and ISS with restrictions- are key to robust control design which addresses leader-follower formation implicitly. Furthermore, the analysis also shows that the proposed controller not only can deal with a class of small measurement errors but also can accommodate small control input delays. Simulation results on an illustrative example are presented and discussed.
Perspectives on “The Theory of Atomic Spectra”

“The Theory of Atomic Spectra” by E. U. Condon and G. H. Shortley1 has dominated atomic spectroscopy over the last forty years in a way that few books in other fields have done. It is not difficult to see how this has come about. In 1935, when the book was published, it was possible to give a reasonably complete account of the subject without making concessions to the reader. The frontiers of the field are described in a lucid and compelling style. It is wholly accurate. Most important of all, the theory is firmly based on quantum mechanics. Condon’s wide experience in different areas of physics is apparent here. In fact, his publication list2 reveals only six articles on atomic spectra that were written before 1935 — and even fewer afterwards. But although his work in other fields, such as the enunciation of the Franck-Condon principle, almost certainly made a greater impact on the development of physics, his book with Shortley has probably attracted more readers than any of his other writings.
Effect of Commercial Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Growth, Survivability, and Subsequent Landscape Performance of Selected Container Grown Nursery Crops

Abstract This research evaluated the effects of commercially available arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on growth of selected ornamental plant species grown under a nursery-container production system. Subsequent plant survivability and growth in the landscape was also evaluated for two seasons. Acacia greggii, Chilopsis linearis, Diospyros virginiana, Platanus occidentalis, Ipomoea carnea and Plumbago auriculata were inoculated with commercial AMF: EndoNet®, MycorisePro®, or non-inoculated (NonAMF). Platanus occidentalis had a fourth mycorrhizal treatment, which included BioterraPLUS®. EndoNet® and MycorisePro® enhanced growth of C. linearis, I. carnea and P. auriculata during nursery-container production. Growth enhancement of P. occidentalis was significant with BioterraPLUS®, EndoNet® and MycorisePro® compared to NonAMF. During the container phase, greatest colonization (total arbuscules, vesicles/endospores, and intraradical hyphae) occurred with I. carnea and P. auriculata inoculated with EndoNet®...
Making the Implicit Explicit: Building a Case for Implicit Racial Attitudes to Inform Mathematics Education Research

Scholars continue to document that African American kindergartners bring the same competencies as their white peers (Ginsburg et al, Int J Psychol 16(1):13–34, 1981; O’Connor et al, Rev Res Educ 33(1):1–34, 2009). Research has found, however, that they experience low-quality mathematics instruction (Davis and Martin, J Urban Math Educ 1(1):10–34, 2008; Lubienski, J Negro Educ 71(4):269–287, 2002), which does not leverage the mathematical abilities of African American students. The mechanisms for how these disparities are produced are less clear (Battey, Educ Stud Math 82(1):125–144, 2013a; Lubienski, J Negro Educ 71(4):269–287, 2002). For instance, we do not understand the mechanism through which mathematics instructional quality or the cognitive demand of tasks is reduced for African American children. In this chapter, we argue that a potentially missing piece in understanding mechanisms that produce disparities in mathematics education is implicit racial attitudes. To make this theoretical case, we draw on work both inside and outside of mathematics education across four literatures: (1) the quality of mathematics instruction that African American students receive, (2) relationships developed with teachers, (3) racialized teacher perceptions of behavior and academic aptitude, and (4) racial microagressions in mathematics. The chapter ends with two examples of how implicit racial attitudes can be embedded in existing research in order to illustrate how the field could study ways to disrupt the perpetuation of deficit perspectives shaped by racial ideologies and systemic forms of oppression.
CLIPSeed: Achieving High Precision miRNA Binding Sites Prediction using PAR-CLIP Data

MiRNA plays an important role in post-transcript regulation, many computational approaches have been developed for miRNA target prediction. Yet, the existing algorithms lack the capability to predict the true target when the perfect seed match presents in mRNA sequences and seed-match based methods still suffer from a high false positive rate. This paper develops a new machine learning based miRNA target prediction approach named “CLIPSeed”, which is a powerful, friendly, and flexible tool for predicting miRNA targets given mRNAs containing seed matches to miRNAs. Two versions of algorithms are provided based on whether the conservation features are considered or not, also user can specify FDR according to the practical needs. Given a miRNA and mRNA pair, CLIPSeed predicts whether this mRNA is a target of miRNA and outputs the binding sites information if it is a target. Five-fold cross validation on PAR-CLIP ALL-AGO (AGOI −4) data shows that CLIPSeed achieves $ \gt 2$ fold increase in prediction performance measuring by precision. Also, testing on independent CLIP data confirms good performance of CLIPSeed algorithm. Finally, human genome-wide testing using expression data by Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) verifies that the predictions of CLIPSeed are significant and the predicted miRNAs targets are down-regulated at mRNA level. CLIPSeed achieves significant improvement in performance and highly reduces the false positive rate comparing to the existing approaches. Because CLIPSeed has high precision prediction, it provides biologists a more powerful tool for further study of cancer treatment and personalized medicine.
Introduction of carboxylic ester and acid functionalities to meso-tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)porphyrin and their limited electronic effects on the chromophore

Abstract Alkyl- or aryl-carboxylic acid-functionalized porphyrinic dyes are sought after because of their propensity to adhere strongly to many metal oxide surfaces as required for their application as, for instance, sensitizers in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), in air purification, or chemosensing systems. The SNAr reaction of the pentafluorophenyl group is a versatile method to introduce functionality into meso-pentafluorophenyl-substituted porphyrins. The conditions to introduce one through four alkyl- or aryl-carboxyl functionalities using mercaptopropionate or 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate esters, respectively, are explored, and the regioisomeric products are spectroscopically characterized. Their saponification to the corresponding carboxylic acids was studied. By experimental determination of their optical properties (absorption and emission spectroscopy) and their frontier orbital positions by cyclic voltammetry, we demonstrate the minimal electronic influence this derivatization method has on the chromophore.
Alignment Instability and Covert Action: The Case of Portugal

Why do states intervene covertly in some places and not others? This is a pressing question for theorists and policymakers because covert action is widespread, costly, and consequential. I argue that states wield it—whether by supporting political parties, arming dissidents, sponsoring coups, or assassinating leaders—when they fear that a target is at risk of shifting its alignment toward the state that the intervener considers most threatening. I probe this argument in the overlooked case of U.S. covert action decision making in Portugal between 1974 and 1975. The fall from power of a stalwart regime in Lisbon and the rapid rise of military officers with suspect views on international alignment spurred discussion in Washington of the possibility of covert action. My account is the first to show how U.S. efforts helped to preserve Portugal’s position in the NATO alliance and arrested the meteoric rise of the Portuguese Communist Party. Interveners, I suggest, do not employ covert action to add to their power. Nor do they use it to advance an ideology. Rather, states act covertly when they fear international realignment.
Characterization of Library Cells for Open-circuit Defect Exposure: A Systematic Methodology

Ensuring high defect coverage for advanced CMOS technology nodes has been a major challenge for the IC test industry. Traditional test methods using fault models such as stuck-at and transition faults with a primitive gate-level abstraction of design netlists have been shown to be inadequate for detecting open-circuit and short-circuit defects within instances of standard cells used in those netlists. Recent advances in Cell-Aware Test (CAT) using single pattern and two pattern tests have demonstrated increased coverage of such defects in industrial IC designs. However, the simulation overhead of defect characterization for all the cells in a library practically limits the size of defects that are explored to large magnitudes. Furthermore, certain effects such as charge sharing within cells can necessitate tests that span more than two time frames to expose subtle defects. This work, through simulation, identifies defects of certain sizes that can go undetected by current methods. It then proposes an algorithmic approach towards cell characterization that can result in faster identification of cell input stimuli vis-a-vis a defect simulation based method.
Epidemiological analysis of brucellosis in Jinan city, Shandong province from 2002 to 2008

Objective To evaluate the epidemiological characteristics of brucellosis in Jinan city and to identify its cause in order to provide evidence for development of specific preventive strategies in the future.Methods Epidemic information of the disease and survey data of brucellosis cases from 2002 to 2008 in the Infectious and Endemic Disease Control Jinan Centre for Disease Control and Prevention were analyzed statistically.Results From 2002 to 2008, 52 cases were diagnosed as brucellosis, among which 39 cases from Zhangqiu city.The incidence rate ranged from 0.02 to 0.10 hundred thousandth from 2002 to 2006, and 0.25 and 0.26 hundred thousandth in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The disease was found each mouth throughout the year, marked with summer peak[38.46%(20/52)]. Patients increased year after year in summer and spring seasons(r = 0.92, P ＜ 0.01) .The disease was most commonly found in 30 - 59 age group[69.23%(36/52)];men women incidence ratio was 1.67: 1.00;farmers accounting for 94.23%(49/52). There were 5 clusters of family outbreak brucellosis, involving 12 cases. Forty five patients contacted with sheep, accounting for 86.54% (45/52). Conclusions Brucellosis epidemic in Jinan is in an upward trend, mainly in summer and spring, elderly and middle-aged men farmers are the majority of patients. Zhangqiu of Jinan city is a key place for prevention and control of brucellosis;source of infection is not completely eliminated, exotic livestock have not been effectively quarantined, practitioners with weak sense of self-protection is the main reason of the epidemic rise. Key words: Brucellosis; Epidemiology; Data collection
SymAE: an autoencoder with embedded physical symmetries for passive time-lapse monitoring

We introduce SymAE, an auto-encoder architecture that learns to separate multichannel passive-seismic datasets into qualitatively interpretable components: one component corresponds to path-specific effects associated with subsurface properties while the other component corresponds to the spectral signature of the passive sources. This information is represented by two latent codes produced by our encoder. The novelty that enables SymAE to achieve this separation lies with the physical symmetries that are directly embedded into the architectural design of the encoder. These symmetries impose that 1. the output of the source-specific encoder is indifferent to the ordering of the receivers; and 2. the output of the path-specific encoder is indifferent to the source signatures. Our numerical experiments demonstrate that this is sufficient for achieving the intended separation. The ability to qualitatively distinguish between source- and path-induced effects plays a critical role for time-lapse monitoring of visco-acoustic subsurface models where data is generated from induced passive seismic sources e.g., during CO2 injection or hydraulic fracturing. Here the problem suffers from inherent ambiguities in whether the time-lapse changes in the data should be attributed to subsurface changes such as P-wave velocity, mass density, and seismic quality factor (i.e., path effects) or because of difficulties in physically-reproducing the source wavelet (i.e. source effects). SymAE resolves these ambiguities by construction and enables reliable subsurface monitoring in these settings. We provide numerical results to show that we can accurately detect changes arising from both effects.
Environmental Health Threats to Latino Migrant Farmworkers.

Approximately 75% of farmworkers in the United States are Latino migrants, and about 50% of hired farmworkers do not have authorization to work in the United States. Farmworkers face numerous chemical, physical, and biological threats to their health. The adverse effects of these hazards may be amplified among Latino migrant farmworkers, who are concurrently exposed to various psychosocial stressors. Factors such as documentation status, potential lack of authorization to work in the United States, and language and cultural barriers may also prevent Latino migrants from accessing federal aid, legal assistance, and health programs. These environmental, occupational, and social hazards may further exacerbate existing health disparities among US Latinos. This population is also likely to be disproportionately impacted by emerging threats, including climate change and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Latino migrant farmworkers are essential to agriculture in the United States, and actions are needed to protect this vulnerable population. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Public Health, Volume 42 is April 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
Uncommon Alliances: Cultural Narratives of Migration in the New Europe

Uncommon Alliances: Cultural Narratives of Migration in the New Europe takes a critical stance toward both assimilationist and multicultural imaginings of community in the European Union that occlude neocolonial relations of dependence and exclusion.
Comprehensive tele-ophthalmology screening in vision threatening diseases during COVID-19

Purpose : Vision Threatening Diseases (VTD) (age-related macular degeneration [AMD], cataract, diabetic retinopathy [DR], and glaucoma) account for 37% of all blindness. Screening and follow-up are crucial in preserving vision. During COVID-19, clinics reduced access, using telemedicine for diagnosis and follow-ups. The efficacy of remote screening and triage in the management of single or multiple VTDs was evaluated. Methods : We screened 41 subjects (19-85 years, 37% male, 17% Caucasian) (20 controls, 21 subjects). Demographics, 45-degree retinal photos, ganglion cell complex (GCC), and optic nerve head (ONH) images were collected using a non-contact puff-tonometer, nonmydriatic retinal camera, and an OCTA. Demographics and images were transmitted to two readers (onsite telemedicine screener [TS] and remote ophthalmologist [RO]) for triage. Triage was categorized: immediate referral to specialist, follow-up in person via clinic or telemedicine visit, or no follow-up necessary during COVID. Results : TS made 19 referrals (46%), 6 in person follow-ups (15%), 15 no follow-ups (37%);RO made 17 referrals (41%), 2 in person follow-ups (5%), 22 no follow-ups (54%). TS identified 12 subjects as possible VTD(s) while RO identified 11 subjects. TS and RO agreed on 8 glaucoma, 7 cataract, 3 DR, and 3 and 2 AMD cases, respectively. Glaucoma was identified using IOPs, retinal fundoscopy, and OCT imaging. Mean intraocular pressures were 12.9 and 15.7 (OD, OS) in glaucoma and 14.2 and 14.0 in controls. Fundoscopy was used for overall retinal health while OCT images were used to analyze GCC, ONH, nerve fiber layer, cup to disc ratio, and anterior chamber angles. AMD and DR were identified by fundoscopy and OCT imaging. 11 of the subjects were known clinic patients;both RO and TS referred all 11 to specialty clinics, matching the in-person clinic management. Conclusions : During the COVID pandemic, triaging patients can minimize person-toperson contact and help control the spread of the virus. Both readers agreed on the management and triage of a variety of patients with TS and RO differing only on 2 referrals and 4 in person follow-ups. Telemedicine is a promising alternative to in-person patient care for management and triage of vision threatening diseases. Further enrollment and follow-up are needed to increase robustness.
Spirit on the Move: Black Women and Pentecostalism in Africa and the Diaspora: Edited by Judith Casselberry and Elizabeth A. Pritchard

Casselberry, Judith, and Elizabeth A. Pritchard, eds. Spirit on the Move: Black Women and Pentecostalism in Africa and the Diaspora. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019.
Ensemble of recurrent neural networks with long short-term memory cells for high-rate structural health monitoring

Abstract The deployment of systems experiencing high-rate dynamic events, such as hypersonic vehicles, advanced weaponry, and active blast mitigation systems, require high-rate structural health monitoring (HRSHM) capabilities in the sub-millisecond realm to ensure continuous operations and safety. However, the development of high-rate feedback systems is a complex task because these dynamic systems are uniquely characterized by (1) large uncertainties in their external loads, (2) high levels of non-stationarity and heavy disturbance, and (3) unmodeled dynamics from changes in system configuration. In this paper, we present a deep learning algorithm specifically engineered for HRSHM applications. It consists of an ensemble of recurrent neural networks (RNNs) constructed with long short-term memory (LSTM) cells with transfer learning capabilities to cope with the highly limited availability of training data as it is typical for high-rate systems. The use of an ensemble of RNNs empowers multi-rate sampling capability to capture multi-temporal features of the time series, thus enabling modeling of non-stationarities. Also, because the RNNs use short-sequence LSTMs and are arranged in parallel, the computation time is substantially reduced to the sub-millisecond range. The performance of the algorithm is investigated on experimental high-rate dynamic data produced from accelerated drop tower tests and benchmarked against results from a prior investigation using a purely on-the-edge algorithm termed variable input space observer (VIO) and its hybrid architecture (hybrid VIO) that incorporated physical knowledge and is considered as an upper bound on the algorithm performance. Numerical results show that the ensemble of RNNs, composed of five RNNs, significantly outperformed the VIO, with performance close to that of the hybrid VIO when it comes to the estimation error metrics, with an average computation time of 25 μ s per prediction step. Yet, the ensemble of RNNs exhibits chattering for low-amplitude excitations, likely attributable to the behavior of RNNs sampling at small time delays. An examination of the RNN weights and hidden states confirms that the algorithm can capture multi-temporal features, and an investigation with respect to noise in the training dataset showed that the algorithm is robust for signal-to-noise ratios up to 20 dB.
The perfect PTEN – transcriptional regulation by PTEN dictates sarcoma identity

Fusion-negative rhabdomyosarcoma (FN-RMS) is molecularly heterogeneous with few universal alterations except for Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) promoter hypermethylation. We demonstrate that...
Limits on the Temperature of Impulsive Phase Solar Flare Hard X-ray Emission, and the Amount of Thermal X-rays Present in the Yohkoh HXT-LO (14–24 keV) Channel

We attempt to discover whether the emission seen in the Yohkoh HXT-LO (14–24 keV) channel is thermal, due to the presence of high temperature plasma, or nonthermal, as an extension of the nonthermal emission seen at higher energies (>30 keV). We assume that the HXT-LO emission is thermal, and ask: Under what conditions (i.e., T and EM) will a thermal source be consistent with the HXT-LO emission, and the line emission observed by the Yohkoh BCS? All impulsive events, with HXR rise times ranging from 30 seconds to five minutes, observed by Yohkoh are included.
In Vivo Regulation of Intermediate Reactions in the Pathway of Tryptophan Biosynthesis in Neurospora crassa

The in vivo regulation of intermediate reactions in the pathway of tryptophan synthesis in Neurospora crassa was examined in a double mutant (tr-2, tr-3) which lacks the functions of the first and last enzymes in the pathway from chorismic acid to tryptophan. The double mutant can convert anthranilic acid to indole and indole-3-glycerol, and the production of these indolyl compounds by germinated conidia was used to estimate the activity of the intermediate enzymes in the pathway. Indole-synthesizing activity was maximal in germinated conidia obtained from cultures in which the levels of l-tryptophan were growth-limiting; the formation of this activity was markedly repressed when the levels of l-tryptophan exceeded those required for maximal growth. d-, 5-methyl-dl-, and 6-methyl-dl-tryptophan were less effective than l-tryptophan, and 4-methyl-dl-tryptophan, tryptamine, and indole-3-acetic acid were ineffective in repressing the formation of indole-synthesizing activity; anthranilic acid stimulated the formation of indole-synthesizing activity. Preformed indole-synthesizing activity was strongly and specifically inhibited by low levels of l-tryptophan; several related compounds were ineffective as inhibitors. These results suggest that, in addition to repression, an end product feedback inhibition mechanism is operative on an intermediate enzyme(s) in tryptophan biosynthesis. The relation of these results to other in vivo and in vitro studies and to general aspects of the regulation of tryptophan biosynthesis in N. crassa are discussed.
Networking in the New Millennium: Business Applications for Peer-to-Peer and Grid Computing

With the introduction of Napster in 1999, 18-year-old Shawn Fanning showed the world the power of peer-to-peer (P2P) computing. Even though Napster did not survive, P2P continued to live on and flourish. While the focus has been on the personal use of P2P computing, businesses have started to find ways to take advantage of the P2P model in their organizations. P2P proponents forecast that businesses can save billions of dollars by implementing P2P into their networking environments. An extension of P2P computing is grid computing. While grid computing was initially used for scientific and academic research, the past two years have seen a significant increase in the use of grid computing by commercial institutions. The main objective of this paper is to investigate how peer-to-peer and grid computing systems have been taken out of the scientific, academic, and personal usage environments and successfully applied in business environments.
The role of reactive oxygen species and proinflammatory cytokines in type 1 diabetes pathogenesis

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a T cell–mediated autoimmune disease characterized by the destruction of insulin-secreting pancreatic β cells. In humans with T1D and in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice (a murine model for human T1D), autoreactive T cells cause β-cell destruction, as transfer or deletion of these cells induces or prevents disease, respectively. CD4+ and CD8+ T cells use distinct effector mechanisms and act at different stages throughout T1D to fuel pancreatic β-cell destruction and disease pathogenesis. While these adaptive immune cells employ distinct mechanisms for β-cell destruction, one central means for enhancing their autoreactivity is by the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines, such as IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-1. In addition to their production by diabetogenic T cells, proinflammatory cytokines are induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) via redox-dependent signaling pathways. Highly reactive molecules, proinflammatory cytokines are produced upon lymphocyte infiltration into pancreatic islets and induce disease pathogenicity by directly killing β cells, which characteristically possess low levels of antioxidant defense enzymes. In addition to β-cell destruction, proinflammatory cytokines are necessary for efficient adaptive immune maturation, and in the context of T1D they exacerbate autoimmunity by intensifying adaptive immune responses. The first half of this review discusses the mechanisms by which autoreactive T cells induce T1D pathogenesis and the importance of ROS for efficient adaptive immune activation, which, in the context of T1D, exacerbates autoimmunity. The second half provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis of (1) the mechanisms by which cytokines such as IL-1 and IFN-γ influence islet insulin secretion and apoptosis and (2) the key free radicals and transcription factors that control these processes.
Thin-filament regulation of force redevelopment kinetics in rabbit skeletal muscle fibres

Thin-filament regulation of isometric force redevelopment (ktr) was examined in rabbit psoas fibres by substituting native TnC with either cardiac TnC (cTnC), a site I-inactive skeletal TnC mutant (xsTnC), or mixtures of native purified skeletal TnC (sTnC) and a site I- and II-inactive skeletal TnC mutant (xxsTnC). Reconstituted maximal Ca2+-activated force (rFmax) decreased as the fraction of sTnC in sTnC: xxsTnC mixtures was reduced, but maximal ktr was unaffected until rFmax was 0.2 Fmax) was little effected, though ktr was slightly elevated at low Ca2+ activation. The magnitude of the Ca2+-dependent increase in ktr was greatly reduced following cTnC or xsTnC reconstitution because ktr at low levels of Ca2+ was elevated and maximal ktr was reduced. Solution Ca2+ dissociation rates (koff) from whole Tn complexes containing sTnC (26 ± 0.1 s−1), cTnC (38 ± 0.9 s−1) and xsTnC (50 ± 1.2 s−1) correlated with ktr at low Ca2+ levels and were inversely related to rFmax. At low Ca2+ activation, ktr was similarly elevated in cTnC-reconstituted fibres with ATP or when cross-bridge cycling rate was increased with 2-deoxy-ATP. Our results and model simulations indicate little or no requirement for cooperative interactions between thin-filament regulatory units in modulating ktr at any [Ca2+] and suggest Ca2+ activation properties of individual troponin complexes may influence the apparent rate constant of cross-bridge detachment.
Selenium in plants by mass spectrometric techniques: developments in bio-analytical methods

Various plants can accumulate Se up to the thousands of ppm. These are called accumulators and they have potential to remediate areas contaminated with this metalloid. Some of them, like Arabidopsis thaliana or Brassica juncea (Indian mustard) have been investigated in terms of the Se metabolic pathway. To date few studies have been done for selenium speciation with most studies reporting total selenium concentration in various parts of the plant. This present report summarizes some of the studies carried out in terms of: extraction of Se species, cleaning procedures, separation methodologies and mass spectrometric techniques employed. The use of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in conjunction with liquid or gas chromatographic techniques (HPLC and GC) as separation techniques provide an attractive methodology for determining Se species in plants. Some of the species produced by the plant, such as Se-methylselenocysteine or Se-methylselenomethionine can be identified at ppb levels by RP-HPLC-ICP-MS, while others needed to be further characterized by ES-MS. The coupling of GC-ICP-MS using solid phase microextraction (SPME) as sample preparation system is also evaluated for the determination of the Se/S volatile species in the head-space of Brassica juncea seedlings. Detection limits on the ppt level (7–300 ppt depending on the species) and adequate precision for Se and S species suggest GC-ICP-MS as an excellent methodology for determination of volatiles with minimum sample preparation.
Folding Studies of pH‐Dependent Collagen Peptides

Synthetic collagen model peptides containing carboxylate-modified hydroxyproline residues (PE) have been shown to form a collagen triple helix at low pH (1). Based on the fact that PE-containing peptides unfold on demand by altering the pH, we investigated the folding kinetics of a series of these collagen-based peptides. Refolding data indicated that the introduction of PE residues within a peptide affects the stability and refolding of the collagen peptides through electrostatic interactions and steric hindrance. Moreover, the specific placement of the PE residues within the collagen peptides allowed for selective testing for possible nucleation sites at the termini or the center of the peptides. Specifically, the data demonstrated that collagen peptides may nucleate from either terminally or internally located repeating sequences of Pro-Hyp-Gly. These studies indicate that the PE residue may play a useful role as a tool for studying the folding mechanism of synthetic collagen peptides.
Role of Precursor mRNA Splicing in Nutrient-Induced Alterations in Gene Expression and Metabolism

Precursor mRNA (pre-mRNA) splicing is a critical step in gene expression that results in the removal of intronic sequences from immature mRNA, leading to the production of mature mRNA that can be translated into protein. Alternative pre-mRNA splicing is the process whereby alternative exons and/or introns are selectively included or excluded, generating mature mRNAs that encode proteins that may differ in function. The resulting alterations in the pattern of protein isoform expression can result in changes in protein–protein interaction, subcellular localization, and flux through metabolic pathways. Although basic mechanisms of pre-mRNA splicing of introns and exons are reasonably well characterized, how these mechanisms are regulated remains poorly understood. The goal of this review is to highlight selected recent advances in our understanding of the regulation of pre-mRNA splicing by nutrients and modulation of nutrient metabolism that result from changes in pre-mRNA splicing.
Design and biological evaluation of novel tubulin inhibitors as antimitotic agents using a pharmacophore binding model with tubulin.

Although the structure has been elucidated for the binding of colchicine and podophyllotoxin as potent destabilizer for microtubule formation, very little is known about MDL-27048, a competitive inhibitor for colchicine and podophyllotoxin. The structural basis for the interaction of antimitotic agents with tubulin was investigated by molecular modeling, and we propose binding models for MDL-27048 against tubulin. The proposed model was not only consistent with previous competition experiment data between colchicine and MDL-27048, but further suggested an additional binding cavity on tubulin. Based on this finding from the proposed MDL−tubulin complex, we performed molecular design studies to identify new antimitotic agents. These new chalcone derivatives exerted growth inhibitory effects on all four human hepatoma and one renal epithelial cell lines tested and induced strong cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase. Furthermore, these compounds exhibited a strong inhibitory effect on tubulin polymerization in vit...
Studies on the mechanism of fatty acid synthesis VIII. The participation of protein-bound biotin in the biosynthesis of fatty acids

Abstract One of two purified enzymic components, which catalyze the synthesis of palmitate from acetyl CoA, is rich in protein-bound biotin. Avidin, the egg white protein that specifically binds biotin, severely inhibits fatty acid synthesis. Added free biotin prevents the occurrence of this avidin inhibition. These observations indicate that a biotin-containing enzyme participates directly in fatty acid biosynthesis.
Location, morphology and histology of sex pheromone glands of the female gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.)

Abstract Scanning electron microscopy, histology and a male wing fanning bioassay were used in this study to locate the sex pheromone-producing glands of the female gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar . When exposed to female sex pheromone, adult males exhibit a strong wing fanning behaviour prior to take off. We found that adult males showed positive response to calling females and to tissue extract from both dorsal and ventral portions of the intersegmental membrane between 8th and 9th-abdominal segments. A typical male response usually starts with elevation of antennae, movement of head in different directions, walking, wing fanning and onset of search flight. Histological and scanning electron microscopic studies suggested that the sex pheromone glands are located on the dorsal and ventral aspects of the intersegmental membrane. The glands appear as two highly convoluted integumentary areas with hypertrophied glandular epidermal cells.
Methyllysine Reader Plant Homeodomain (PHD) Finger Protein 20-like 1 (PHF20L1) Antagonizes DNA (Cytosine-5) Methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) Proteasomal Degradation

Inheritance of DNA cytosine methylation pattern during successive cell division is mediated by maintenance DNA (cytosine-5) methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1). Lysine 142 of DNMT1 is methylated by the SET domain containing lysine methyltransferase 7 (SET7), leading to its degradation by proteasome. Here we show that PHD finger protein 20-like 1 (PHF20L1) regulates DNMT1 turnover in mammalian cells. Malignant brain tumor (MBT) domain of PHF20L1 binds to monomethylated lysine 142 on DNMT1 (DNMT1K142me1) and colocalizes at the perinucleolar space in a SET7-dependent manner. PHF20L1 knockdown by siRNA resulted in decreased amounts of DNMT1 on chromatin. Ubiquitination of DNMT1K142me1 was abolished by overexpression of PHF20L1, suggesting that its binding may block proteasomal degradation of DNMT1K142me1. Conversely, siRNA-mediated knockdown of PHF20L1 or incubation of a small molecule MBT domain binding inhibitor in cultured cells accelerated the proteasomal degradation of DNMT1. These results demonstrate that the MBT domain of PHF20L1 reads and controls enzyme levels of methylated DNMT1 in cells, thus representing a novel antagonist of DNMT1 degradation.
Schistosoma mansoni: distribution of 14C in isotopically labeled cercariae and its loss during early infection.

Abstract Relative radioactivity in prepenetration bodies, tails, and penetration gland secretions of carbon-14-labeled Schistosoma mansoni cercariae was determined. Labeled cercariae were obtained from previously infected Biomphalaria glabrata placed in a solution of d -glucose 14 C. Radioactivity was also measured in schistosomules obtained from skin and lungs of mice infected with the labeled cercariae or after cercariae had penetrated a rat skin membrane. Approximately one-third of the total label was found in the tail. Sixty-nine percent of the label in the cercarial body had been lost after penetration of mouse tail skin and overnight incubation in Hank's saline. Penetration gland secretions accounted for 34–37% of the radioactivity of the cercarial body. Schistosomules recovered from mouse lungs 8 days after infection retained only 12% of the label detected in prepenetration cercarial bodies.
Abscisic acid inhibition of root nodule initiation in Pisum sativum.

The effect of exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) on root nodule formation in Pisum sativum cv. Alaska was examined. ABA supplied to the roots at 1.9×10-6M reduced the number of nodules/plant 61% without affecting root or shoot growth. The first noticeable inhibition of nodulation occurred at 3.8×10-7M ABA. ABA at a concentration of 1.9×10-6M inhibited neither root hair formation nor infection of root hairs by Rhizobium leguminosarum. Similar numbers of infection threads penetrated the cortex in both control and treated plants. ABA concentrations of 3.8×10-6M had no effect on the doubling time or maximum density of R. leguminosarum in pure cultures. Normal nodule formation involves a polyploid cortical proliferation. This response to rhizobial infection can be imitated by culturing 1-mm pea-root segments on a medium containing 4.7×10-6M kinetin. Under these conditions a highly significant reduction in the number of polyploid mitoses after 72 h is produced by 3.8×10-8M ABA. A maximum inhibition of 68% was found with 3.8×10-6M ABA. A similar range of ABA concentrations also inhibited the cytokinin-induced cell division in soybean callus. It is concluded that ABA reduces the number of root nodules/plant by inhibiting the cortical cell divisions required for root nodule formation.
Isolation, DNA sequence and evolution of a color visual pigment gene of the blind cave fish Astyanax fasc1atus

Visual pigment genes have been isolated from a Mexican blind cave fish, Astyanax fasciatus. We report here the DNA sequence of one of these genes, which has 70% nucleotide similarity with both the human red and green pigment genes. This gene appears capable of encoding a functional protein and is probably responsible for the green-sensitive pigment found in the pineal organ of the blind cave fish (Tabata, 1982). The pattern of nucleotide substitutions most likely reflects functional adaptation of the visual pigment gene during the past 400 million years of fish evolution.