cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Imaging of a cervicovaginal fistula using transvaginal saline contrast sonohysterography.

. The most devastating complication can be exten-sion into the uterine corpus and subsequent uterine ruptureduring delivery.Transvaginal sonography of the female pelvic anatomy hasadded to our understanding of the cervix and its dynamicchanges, both in the pregnant and non-pregnant state. Salinecontrast sonohysterography has added yet another dimen-sion, yielding images that allow us to perceive the intrauterineand intracervical structural anatomy with greater precisionfor more accurate diagnostic capabilities.In our case we describe the obstetric history of a patientwho developed a cervicovaginal fistula as a late complicationof Shirodkar cerclage. We present the images of the fistulathat developed despite intraoperative repair. These wereobtained by saline contrast sonohysterography. To ourknowledge, these are the first such images.The patient was a 35-year-old para 1223 woman with apast obstetric history significant for a preterm birth at31 weeks. There was no significant past medical, surgical, orgynecologic history. She presented at 21 weeks with aresidual closed cervical length of 1.6 cm and funnelingnoted to the level of the internal cervical canal. A Shirodkarcerclage was placed using two Mersilene sutures (Ethicon,Inc., Johnson and Johnson Co., Somerville, NJ, USA),5 mm each in width. The residual closed cervical length afterthe cerclage placement increased to 2.6 cm. At 30 weeks thepatient had preterm contractions and was admitted fortherapy. Within hours of admission she complained of leak-age of fluid and strong, regular uterine contractions. Vaginalexamination revealed a 4-cm posterior defect in the cervix,consistent with tearing through the cerclage. A Cesareansection was performed. The defect was repaired in theoperating room after the Cesarean section had been completed.In a subsequent pregnancy a prophylactic Shirodkarcerclage using Mersilene sutures (5 mm each in width) wasplaced at 14 weeks. At 34 weeks the patient presented com-plaining of scant spotting; the cervix was described as fullyeffaced and the sutures were palpable at the external cervicalos. The cerclage was removed at this time and the cervixwas palpated to be 2–3 cm dilated. The patient eventuallydelivered vaginally at 37 weeks.Approximately 2 years after her second delivery with ourgroup the patient underwent pelvic sonography to follow upa previously identified uterine myoma. She was on day 13 ofher menstrual cycle. A normal anteverted uterus with normalovaries was visualized. The posterior lip of the cervix, however,appeared irregular and saline contrast sonohysterographywas performed, which revealed an area of discontinuitywithin the posterior lip, extending from the posterior vaginalfornix to the internal cervical canal. This was consistent witha posterior cervical fistula displayed clearly by our salinecontrast study (Figure 1).In their case series published in 1972, Goodlin
Amperometric response of a rectangular channel electrode

Abstract The magnitude of the current is derived for a mass transfer limited electrochemical reaction at a plane electrode in a rectangular channel under conditions of steady-state, fully developed laminar flow. An analytical solution is presented for the differential equation governing the convective diffusion, expressible in a series of exponential terms multiplied by parabolic cylinder functions. The solution contains no empirical parameters, and involves no a priori approximations, being generally valid over the entire range of diffusion layer thickness with respect to the thickness of the channel. The expression obtained for the current reconfirms a limiting flow rate exponent of 1/3 for a relatively thin diffusion layer. A comparison with earlier approaches to the problem is also presented.
An evaluation of human neurophysin production in Alzheimer's disease: preliminary observations.

The concentrations of human neurophysins in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of nine patients with Alzheimer's disease: Preliminary observations. (AD), and one patients with Pick's disease, were determined using specific radioimmunoassays (RIAs). Concentrations of vasopressin and oxytocin were also measured. Values were compared with those from 20 age-matched mentally normal individuals who were being treated for back pain. CSF levels of vasopressin-associated human neurophysin (VP-HNP) and oxytocin-associated human neurophysin (OT-HNP) in patients with AD (22 ± 4 fmol/ml and 104 ± 17 fmol/ml) were only 42% and 58% of those in the control subjects (p < 0.0001, p < 0.0004). Vasopressin levels for these patients (3.6 ± 0.4 fmol/ml) were also significantly reduced to 51% of controls (p < 0.007) and oxytocin levels were marginally (p = 0.092) reduced to 70% of controls. Because neurophysins and neuropeptides are generelated products of vasopressin-neurons and oxytocin-neurons, the data indicate that these neurons are functionally impaired in patients with AD. Plasma neurophysin values suggest this impairment is confined to neurons with centrally-directed axons. Data from the one patient with Pick's disease demonstrates that reduced CSF levels of neurophysins and hormones is not confined to Alzheimer-type dementia.
Linkage Structure of Fructans and Fructan Oligomers from Triticum aestivum and Festuca arundinacea Leaves

Summary Fructans of wheat are typically highly branched oligomers and polymers containing mostly (2→6)-linked fructosyl units and (2→1,2→6)-linked branch residues with small amounts of (2→1)-linked units. As part of our investigation of how these fructans are synthesized, the linkage structures of newly synthesized fructan oligomers from excised leaves of wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) and tall fescue ( Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) were determined by gas-liquid chromatography of partially-methylated alditol acetate derivatives. Fructan tri-, tetra-, and pentasaccharides were purified by gel chromatography; those from wheat leaves were detected as single spots after thin-layer chromatography, whereas two spots were resolved from each of the sized oligomers from tall fescue. The newly synthesized trisaccharide from wheat was unequivocally 1-kestose (isokestose). The tetrasaccharide was about 60% (2→1)-linked fructan (nystose) with only trace amounts of 6-linked fructosyl units, and the remaining 40% of the oligomers in this fraction were the branched oligomer, bifurcose. This general pattern of fructosyl additions was iterated in the pentasaccharide fractions, but with these longer oligosaccharides came increase in the proportion of 6-linked fructofuranosyl units. The trisaccharide fraction from mature wheat leaves which had accumulated fructans for longer periods of time contained substantially increased proportions of 6-kestose. Even though the fructans of tall fescue are mostly linear chains of (2→6)-linked fructosyl units, thetrisaccharide fraction was a more complicated mixture of 50% neokestose, 38% isokestose, and 12% 6-kestose. Addition of just two fructosyl units onto sucrose yields remarkable variation in molecular form in both wheat and tall fescue. Separation of oligosaccharides and quantitation of linkage structure by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry will prove valuable in deducing the ≪flexibility≫ in synthesis as well as patterns of degradation of the highly branched fructans of wheat and other cereals.
Modeling of Flow Transition Using an Intermittency Transport Equation

A new transport equation for intermittency factor is proposed to model transitional flows. The intermittent behavior of the transitional flows is incorporated into the computations by modifying the eddy viscosity, mu(sub t), obtainable from a turbulence model, with the intermittency factor, gamma: mu(sub t, sup *) = gamma.mu(sub t). In this paper, Menter's SST model (Menter, 1994) is employed to compute mu(sub t) and other turbulent quantities. The proposed intermittency transport equation can be considered as a blending of two models - Steelant and Dick (1996) and Cho and Chung (1992). The former was proposed for near-wall flows and was designed to reproduce the streamwise variation of the intermittency factor in the transition zone following Dhawan and Narasimha correlation (Dhawan and Narasimha, 1958) and the latter was proposed for free shear flows and was used to provide a realistic cross-stream variation of the intermittency profile. The new model was used to predict the T3 series experiments assembled by Savill (1993a, 1993b) including flows with different freestream turbulence intensities and two pressure-gradient cases. For all test cases good agreements between the computed results and the experimental data are observed.
Ionic Conductivity in Complexes of Poly(ethylene oxide) and MgCl2

Complexes of poly(ethylene oxide) and having the general formula, with have been prepared. These materials are ionic conductors and electronic insulators. The conductivity of is highest, and is comparable to that of above 80°C. DSC analysis and a study of the temperature dependence of their conductivity indicate that these compositions consist of two crystalline phases, corresponding to pure PEO and the salt‐rich complex, and coexisting elastomeric phases. Initial transport number measurements indicate that these materials principally conduct anions.
Propafenone associated granulocytopenia in a newborn

Progressive granulocytopenia (neutrophil count <1000/ml) developed in a newborn during treatment with propafenone (200 mg/m2) for recurrent paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia. The total white blood cell count, however, remained within normal limits. The neutrophil count increased gradually after propafenone had been stopped. The time course of treatment and the development of granulocytopenia make it very likely, but not certain, that propafenone was the responsible agent. Pediatricians, and especially pediatric cardiologists, should be aware of this rare adverse effect when they consider treatment with propafenone in children with cardiac arrhythmias. Analysis of the white cell blood count, including a differential count, is recommended in all children in order to assess the true incidence of this adverse effect.
Biological properties of a hemagglutinin mutant of influenza virus selected by host cells.

Chick embryo fibroblast (CEF)-grown stocks of the WSN strain of influenza A(HINI) contain two variants which were designated F and C for fuzzy and clear plaque morphology on Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells. During growth in MDBK cells plaque-isolated F virus was completely replaced by C virus (L. Noronha-Blob and I.T. Schulze (1976), Virology 69, 314-322). The parental (F) and the mutant (C) viruses contain hemagglutinins which differ in their ability to bind to host cells. In addition, the host cells from which the purified viruses are obtained affect their binding properties. Thus, as compared to MDBK-grown F virus (FBK), MDBK-grown C virus (CBK) produced high amounts of mRNA and high virus yields in MDBK cells. CBK had greater affinity for SA alpha 2,3Gal and SA alpha 2,6Gal linkages on derivatized human erythrocytes than did FBK, independent of whether neuraminidase was present on the virions. CBK was also resistant to components of calf serum which inhibited FBK hemagglutination at 37 degrees. As compared to FBK, CBK had increased ability to bind to both MDBK cells and CEF at 37 degrees in the presence or absence of an inhibitor of neuraminidase. In addition, when cells with virus bound at 0 degrees were transferred to 37 degrees, CBK remained cell associated whereas about 80% of FBK dissociated from both cells. Thus, mutation from F to C increased the ability of the virus to associate with MDBK cell receptors. Studies carried out with F and C viruses from both cells indicated that the expression of the mutation depended in part on the host cells in which the virus was grown and in part on the cells used to measure the binding properties. A model relating these observations to selection of HA variants in nature is presented.
Soot primary particle formation from multiscale coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract A new multiscale coarse-graining procedure is used to study carbonaceous nanoparticle agglomeration in combustion environments. The computational methodology is applied to an ensemble of 10,000 nanoparticles (or effectively 2 million total carbon atoms) to simulate, for the first time, the agglomeration of carbonaceous nanoparticles using coarse-grained atomistic-scale information. In particular, with the coarse-graining approach we are able to assess the influence of nanoparticle morphology and temperature on the agglomeration process. The coarse-graining of the interparticle force field is accomplished applying a force-matching procedure to data obtained from trajectories and forces from all-atom MD simulations. The coarse-grained MD results show rich and varied clustering behaviors for different particle morphology and, in some cases, the formation of primary particles with a diameter around 15 nm are observed for the first time by molecular simulation techniques.
A class of geometric lattices based on finite groups

For any finite group G and positive integer n a finite geometric lattice Q n (G) of rank n , the lattice of partial G -partitions, is constructed. Let P n+1 be the lattice of partitions of an ( n +1)-set. There exists a surjection π: Q n (G) → P n+1 , and an injection t: P n+1 → Q n+1 (G) , each of which preserves order and rank. When G is the trivial group, π=t −1 reduces to an isomorphism. The interval structure, Mobius function, and characteristic polynomial of Q n (G) are determined, and Stirling-like identities for the Whitney numbers obtained. The existence of a Boolean sublattice of modular elements in Q n (G) is established, implying that Q n (G) is supersolvable. It is further shown that non-isomorphic groups give non-isomorphic lattices, and the representation problem is solved completely: Q n (G) is representable over a field when n ≥3 if and only if G is isomorphic to a subgroup of the multiplicative group of the field. Consequently, Q n (G) is representable over no field iff G is noncyclic, and, if G is cyclic of order m , then Q n (G) is representable over (a) every field iff m =1, (b) a finite field of order q iff m divides q −1, (c) the rational or real fields iff m =1 or 2, and (d) the complex field for all m .
Making Sense of Students' Science: The Construction of a Model of Tinkering.

The science which students bring to the classroom has received a lot of research attention in recent years. These studies have focused on the investigation of children's conceptualisation of scientific phenomena. The present study brought a wider perspective by also seeking to describe the intuitive methods which students learn from their everyday experiences. The focus was on one method by which some students acquire their prior experiences, namely tinkering. Specifically, the nature of tinkering was explored within the context of one area of physical science, electricity. The findings therefore add a new dimension to our understanding of the science that students bring to the classroom. The results offer this clarification by proposing a model of tinkering.
Intake of selected nutritional supplements by African-American men

Abstract Objectives To measure the self-reported intake of vitamins, selenium, vitamin E, and saw palmetto supplements in African-American men. Methods A correlational study was conducted of 198 African-American men, aged 40 to 70 years old, who attended a community-based free prostate cancer educational and screening program. The rates of supplement use were compared among demographic groups. Results Just more than one half of the men (51%) took one or more of the supplements. Almost one half (46%) took multivitamin supplements. About 34% took vitamin E supplements, 6% took selenium supplements, and 7% took saw palmetto. Higher income men were more likely to take nutritional supplements. No statistically significant associations were found between supplement use and age, education, or marital status. Almost all use of selenium, vitamin E, and saw palmetto was among men who were already taking a multivitamin supplement. Conclusions The implications from the results of this study include the need to conduct an assessment of supplement intake as part of the health history.
Government spending and economic growth: the G-7 experience

Buildig on Barro's (1990) endogenous growth model, attempts are made to untangle the nature of the relationship between government expenditure and economic growth by examining the intertemporal interactions among the growth rate in per capita real GDP, the share of government spending, and the ratio of private investment of GDP for the Group-of-Seven countries. A multivariate time series analysis is conducted, with particular attention paid to the causal pattern and the shape of impulse-response function in the context of vector autoregressions. The analysis is based on the historical data for the Group-of-Seven countries. The empirical results suggest that the relationship between government spending and growth can vary significantly across time as well as across the major industrialized countries that presumably belong to the same ‘growth club’. This finding may partly explain the differences in results among previous cross-sectional studies. Most importantly, no consistent evidence is found that govern...
Asymmetric conjugate addition of silyl enol ethers catalyzed by tethered Bis(8-quinolinolato) aluminum complexes.

New chiral tethered bis(8-quinolinolato) (TBOx) aluminum(III) complexes effectively catalyze the highly enantioselective Mukaiyama−Michael reaction of silyl enol ethers, including tetrasubstituted ...
Survival in vitro of nitrogen mustard-treated peripheral lymphocytes.

SummaryA small population of peripheral blood lymphocytes survived in vitro dosages of nitrogen mustard up to those equivalent to 50 times the therapeutic level.Some surviving cells were capable of a positive response to phytohemagglutinin.The data suggest the possibility of a nitrogen mustard-resistant or adaptive population of lymphocytes.
An improved Viterbi decoder for the differential detection of continuous phase modulation schemes

A sequential decoder for the differential detection of continuous-phase-modulation (CPM) signals is introduced. The decoder is based on the use of multiple differential detectors and takes advantage of a self-encoding process introduced by the differential detection. The algorithm is derived in a general form and can be applied to any CPM scheme with any number of differential detectors. The decoder has been evaluated for the case of tamed frequency modulation (TFM) and Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK) with B/sub t/T=0.25, under additive white Gaussian noise and multipath propagation conditions. The BER performance results indicated significant gains. In additive white Gaussian noise, an improvement of 8.2 dB over the conventional differential receiver has been achieved. Under fading conditions the gains become even higher, indicating that the decoders perform significantly better than conventional detectors under multipath propagation. >
Memoirs: Further Observations on the Histology of Striped Muscle

1. The transverse portions of the network of the striped muscle-fibre are directly connected with the muscle-corpuscles. 2. The nerve-ending appears to be connected with the muscle-network, and chiefly with the longitudinal bars of the network. 3. The development of the network takes place at a very early stage in the development of the fibre, and the network develops from the first in its permanent form. 4. The network develops first at the surface, and grows centripetally. It does not appear to be connected with the muscle-corpuscles till the fibre is fully developed. 5. Each muscle-fibre appears to be developed from a single cell, and not by a coalescence of cells. The investigations described in this paper were carried on in the Physiological Laboratory of Owens College during the winter of 1887. My thanks are due to the Council of the College for a special grant to enable me to carry on the research. I must express my thanks to my brother Professor Milnes Marshall for many valuable suggestions in producing this paper, and for examining several of the preparations. I must also thank Professor Stirling for much assistance to me in my work.
Hypertension and prehypertension in long-term survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer.

Background Hypertension as a late effect following childhood and adolescent cancer has received little attention. Since obesity, a known risk factor for hypertension, is increased following some childhood cancers, it seems likely that significant numbers of survivors would have hypertension. Procedures The records of patients seen in the Long Term Follow Up Clinic of Children's National Medical Center were examined for a single institution, retrospective study of blood pressure in survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer. Of 103 consecutive survivors who attended the clinic from January 1 through June 30, 2004, 51 (49.5%) were female and 52 (50.5%) were male. Their mean age was 14.6 years. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures for children and adolescents under 18 years of age were evaluated for hypertension and prehypertensive according to standards for age, sex, and height. Blood pressures for adults 18 years of age and older were evaluated according to standard adult values. Children and adolescents were evaluated for obesity and overweight according to body mass index (BMI) standards for age and sex. Adults were evaluated according to standard adult values. Results Twenty-nine patients (28.2%) were hypertensive or prehypertensive, and 74 (71.8%) were normal. Thirty-eight patients (36.9%) were obese or overweight, and 65 (63.1%) were non-obese. Most Wilms tumor patients, 7 of 10 (70.0%), had hypertension or prehypertension, but only 4 of 10 (40.0%) were obese or overweight. Conclusion Careful follow-up of their blood pressure status is warranted for long-term survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer, especially for those with an initial diagnosis of Wilms tumor. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2007;49:79–83. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Paclitaxel given by a weekly 1-h infusion in advanced esophageal cancer

ABSTRACT Background: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of weekly paclitaxel (Taxol) in advanced esophageal cancer. Patients and methods: One hundred and two patients with advanced esophageal cancer were treated with paclitaxel 80 mg/m2 weekly over a 1-h infusion. One cycle was defined as 4 weeks of therapy. Ninety-five patients were assessable for toxicity and 86 patients who completed at least two cycles of treatment were assessable for response. Sixty-six patients had adenocarcinoma (66%) and 65 patients (68%) had no prior chemotherapy. Results: A median of three cycles was delivered (range 1–11). Partial responses (PRs) were seen in 11 patients [13%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 6% to 20%]. In patients without prior chemotherapy, PRs were seen in 10 patients (15%, 95% CI 6% to 24%), with comparable response in adenocarcinoma (8/50, 16%) and squamous carcinoma (2/15, 13%). Limited response was seen in patients with prior chemotherapy (1/21, 5%). The median duration of response was 172 days. The median survival was 274 days. Therapy was well tolerated with minimal hematologic or grade 3 or 4 toxicity. Conclusion: Weekly paclitaxel has limited activity in esophageal cancer. The median survival, modest activity, and tolerance of therapy indicate that weekly paclitaxel may be an option in patients unable to tolerate combination chemotherapy.
Estimates of whole-body dose equivalent produced by beam intensity modulated conformal therapy

Purpose: To estimate the dose delivered to patients by photons and neutrons outside the radiation fields when beam intensity modulation conformal radiotherapy is given. These estimates are then used to compute the risk of secondary cancers as a sequela of the radiation therapy. Materials and Methods: The x-ray and neutron leakage accompanying two beam-intensity modulation techniques delivered by currently available linear accelerators were estimated for 6-MV, 18-MV, and 25-MV x-ray energies. Estimates of whole-body dose equivalents were determined using leakage measurements reported in the literature and treatment parameters derived for two modulated beam-intensity conformal therapy techniques. Risk values recommended by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements ( NCRP ) were used to estimate the resulting risk of fatal radiation-induced cancer for 70.00 Gy prescribed tumor doses. Results: The computed worst-case risks of secondary cancers increased in the range from 1.00% for 6-MV x-rays to 24.4% for 25-MV x-rays. Conclusions: Careful consideration should be made of the risks associated with secondary whole-body radiation before implementation of beam intensity modulated conformal therapy at x-ray energies greater than 10 MV.
Clinicopathologic characterization of naturally occurring diabetes mellitus in vervet monkeys

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of chronic metabolic diseases characterized by persistent fasting hyperglycemia, and it can be of either polygenic or monogenic origin. Animal models have played an important role in elucidating the pathophysiology of the polygenic Type 1 and type 2 DM forms; however, useful animal models of the monogenic forms do not exist. The authors describe 4 cases of naturally occurring DM in vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus), 1 of which has clinicopathologic findings consistent with type 2 DM, including persistent hyperglycemia, hypertriglyceridemia, islet amyloidosis, and reduced islet insulin immunostaining. In contrast, the 3 remaining animals have clinicopathologic similarities to a monogenic form of the disease, including a lack of islet amyloidosis and hypertriglyceridemia, as well as normal islet insulin immunostaining. In addition, pedigree analysis conducted on one of these animals is consistent with either an autosomal dominant or mitochondrial inheritance pattern, which supports a monogenic form of DM. The authors thus hypothesize that a naturally occurring monogenic form of diabetes may occur in vervet monkeys, making them a potential animal model for future studies.
Atomic structure of the {sigma}5 (210)/[001] symmetric tilt grain boundary in yttrium aluminum garnet

The {Sigma}5(210)/[100] symmetric tilt grain boundary in YAG was produced by UHV diffusion bonding precisely oriented single crystals. The boundary has been characterized by HREM along two different directions, parallel and perpendicular to the tilt axis. Models of the atomic structure of the boundary were formed following the Coincident Site Lattice scheme. The resulting models are equivalent to twins formed at the atomic scale. The high resolution images show no rigid crystal translations away from the perfect mirror reflection relation. Comparison of the simulated images using the atomic model as input with the experimental images identifies the plane of mirror symmetry. The atomic model is shown to be in good agreement with the experimental images when viewed parallel to tilt axis, but disagrees with the images perpendicular to tilt axis. Agreement between simulated and experimental images can be improved by changing the composition of the grain boundary with respect to the bulk. To reach a more certain conclusion on the structure of the grain boundary will require additional theoretical calculations.
Retirement Satisfaction in the Rural Elderly

This study investigated factors related to retirement satisfaction in a Midwestern rural population. Four major sets of variables were investigated: personal background factors; socialization for r...
Dynamic Multinomial Ordered Choice with an Application to the Estimation of Monetary Policy Rules

We present a novel specification of a Dynamic Multinomial Ordered Choice model, where the latent variable is a function of strictly stationary exogenous variables and lags of the choice variable. We prove that such a model with weakly dependent errors will have a strictly stationary solution. We also derive consistency and asymptotic normality of the maximum likelihood estimator for a probit specification of the model. We use the model to estimate the parameters of a discrete-choice version of a monetary
Hebbian learning and development

Hebbian learning is a biologically plausible and ecologically valid learning mechanism. In Hebbian learning, ‘units that fire together, wire together’. Such learning may occur at the neural level in terms of long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). Many features of Hebbian learning are relevant to developmental theorizing, including its self-organizing nature and its ability to extract statistical regularities from the environment. Hebbian learning mechanisms may also play an important role in critical periods during development, and in a number of other developmental phenomena.
Sayl and Ghayl: The Ecology of Water Allocation in Yemen

In this article, comparison is made between the two major types of water allocation systems in Yemen: seasonal flood (sayl)and highland spring flow (ghayl).Constraints in the nature of water as a flowing resource are defined for each system. The major distinctions between the two types of systems are variability in water flow (which influences the determination of access rights), techniques of water control, measurement of water turns, the need for supervision of irrigation activities, and the potential for economic expansion of the production system. It is argued that tribal political organization is an adaptive response to highland spring flow allocation in Yemen, but undergoes stress in coastal flood systems where competition for the same water source extends across tribal boundaries in upstream-downstream conflict.
An interleukin 13 receptor α 2–specific peptide homes to human Glioblastoma multiforme xenografts

Interleukin 13 receptor α 2 (IL-13Rα2) is a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)–associated plasma membrane receptor, a brain tumor of dismal prognosis. Here, we isolated peptide ligands for IL-13Rα2 with use of a cyclic disulphide-constrained heptapeptide phages display library and 2 in vitro biopanning schemes with GBM cells that do (G26-H2 and SnB19-pcDNA cells) or do not (G26-V2 and SnB19-asIL-13Rα2 cells) over-express IL-13Rα2. We identified 3 peptide phages that bind to IL-13Rα2 in cellular and protein assays. One of the 3 peptide phages, termed Pep-1, bound to IL-13Rα2 with the highest specificity, surprisingly, also in a reducing environment. Pep-1 was thus synthesized and further analyzed in both linear and disulphide-constrained forms. The linear peptide bound to IL-13Rα2 more avidly than did the disulphide-constrained form and was efficiently internalized by IL-13Rα2–expressing GBM cells. The native ligand, IL-13, did not compete for the Pep-1 binding to the receptor and vice versa in any of the assays, indicating that the peptide might be binding to a site on the receptor different from the native ligand. Furthermore, we demonstrated by noninvasive near infrared fluorescence imaging in nude mice that Pep-1 binds and homes to both subcutaneous and orthotopic human GBM xenografts expressing IL-13Rα2 when injected by an intravenous route. Thus, we identified a linear heptapeptide specific for the IL-13Rα2 that is capable of crossing the blood-brain tumor barrier and homing to tumors. Pep-1 can be further developed for various applications in cancer and/or inflammatory diseases.
Nursing Assistant Views on Nursing Home Regulatory Inspection Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding the State Nursing Home Survey

Nursing assistants provide more than 80% of direct care to residents. However, it is unknown whether or not they clearly understand the purpose of nursing home regulation and incorporate regulatory standards in their care delivery process. This study uses qualitative methods to explore their experiences with nursing home inspection. Findings suggest that the subtle nuances of human interaction between nursing assistants and residents tend to be overlooked in the midst of enforcing highly strict and detailed regulatory standards that mainly focus on visible outcomes of care. In addition, the state survey might deepen the chasm between nursing assistants and nursing home administration so that the hierarchical culture of mistrust and ritualism continues in nursing homes. To resolve such problems, it is critical to rethink the impact of nursing home regulation at the level of direct interactions between nursing assistants and residents and to consider increasing nursing assistant involvement in the inspectio...
Why Not Grant Primacy to the Family

(2001). Why Not Grant Primacy to the Family? The American Journal of Bioethics: Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 33-34.
Location of increased serum survival gene and selected virulence traits on a conjugative R plasmid in an avian Escherichia coli isolate.

SUMMARY. Avian colibacillosis is a costly disease for the poultry industry. The mechanisms of virulence employed by the etiologic agent of this disease remain ill defined. However, accumulated evidence suggests that complement resistance and the presence of the increased serum survival gene (iss) in an avian Escherichia coli isolate may be indicative of its ability to cause disease. This association of iss with the E. coli implicated in avian disease may mean that iss and/or, perhaps, the genes associated with it are important contributors to avian E. coli virulence. For this reason, we have begun a search for iss's location in the bacterial genome. Thus far, iss in an avian E. coli isolate has been localized to a conjugative R plasmid and estimated to be about 100 kilobase (kb) in size, encoding resistance to tetracycline and ampicillin. Hybridization studies have revealed that this plasmid contains sequences with homology to tsh, a gene associated with virulence of avian E. coli; intI1, a gene encoding ...
Alteration of the specificity of malate dehydrogenase by chemical modulation of an active site arginine.

Malate dehydrogenase from Escherichia coli is highly specific for the oxidation of malate to oxaloacetate. The technique of site-specific modulation has been used to alter the substrate binding site of this enzyme. Introduction of a cysteine in place of the active site binding residue arginine 153 results in a mutant enzyme with diminished catalytic activity, but withK m values for malate and oxaloacetate that are surprisingly unaffected. Reaction of this introduced cysteine with a series of amino acid analog reagents leads to the incorporation of a range of functional groups at the active site of malate dehydrogenase. The introduction of a positively charged group such as an amine or an amidine at this position results in improved affinity for several inhibitors over that observed with the native enzyme. However, the recovery of catalytic activity is less dramatic, with less than one third of the native activity achieved with the optimal reagents. These modified enzymes do have altered substrate specificity, with α-ketoglutarate and hydroxypyruvate no longer functioning as alternative substrates.
What are nuclear receptor ligands

Nuclear receptors (NRs) are a family of highly conserved transcription factors that regulate transcription in response to small lipophilic compounds. They play a role in every aspect of development, physiology and disease in humans. They are also ubiquitous in and unique to the animal kingdom suggesting that they may have played an important role in their evolution. In contrast to the classical endocrine receptors that originally defined the family, recent studies suggest that the first NRs might have been sensors of their environment, binding ligands that were external to the host organism. The purpose of this review is to provide a broad perspective on NR ligands and address the issue of exactly what constitutes a NR ligand from historical, biological and evolutionary perspectives. This discussion will lay the foundation for subsequent reviews in this issue as well as pose new questions for future investigation.
Inositol phosphates and their metabolism in plants.

The discovery that plasma membrane phosphoinositides mediate cellular responses to external signals has led to tremendous interest in the structure and metabolism of phosphoinositides and inositol phosphates. The role of inositol1,4,5-trisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5)P3] as a mediator of receptor-initiated changes in intracellular calcium is well characterized (Berridge, 1993; Berridge and Irvine, 1989). The role of Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 (the abbreviations used are defined in Section 2) in regulating cellular calcium entry at the plasma membrane (Berridge, 1993; Berridge and Irvine, 1989) is evolving rapidly. Neurotransmitter functions for Ins(1,3,4,5,6)P5 and InsP6 (Vallejo et al., 1988) have been proposed. The ability of Ins(1,3,4,5,6,)P5 to modulate the affinity of hemoglobin for oxygen is widely accepted (Isaacks and Harkness, 1980). The possibility that other inositol phosphates found in cells may perform cellular functions has heightened interest in the structure and metabolism of inositol phosphates (Menniti et al., 1993b). In vivo, inositol phosphates are interrelated by a complex web of reactions (Majerus et al., 1988), and a rapid dynamic equilibrium exists among the different inositol phosphates. A number of recent reviews (Drobak, 1992, 1993; Cote and Crain, 1993; Hetherington and Drobak, 1992; Rincon and Boss, 1990) and other chapters in this book contain information on the structure and metabolism of phosphoinositides in plant cells. This review describes the pathways and enzymes involved in the metabolism of inositol phosphates in plant cells.
Quantifying Vulnerability to Climate Change: Implications for Adaptation Assistance

This paper attempts a comprehensive accounting of climate change vulnerability for 233 states, ranging in size from China to Tokelau. Using the most recent evidence, it develops risk indicators for three critical problems: increasing weather-related disasters, sea-level rise, and loss of agricultural productivity. The paper embeds these indicators in a methodology for cost-effective allocation of adaptation assistance. The methodology can be applied easily and consistently to all 233 states and all three problems, or to any subset that may be of interest to particular donors. Institutional perspectives and priorities differ; the paper develops resource allocation formulas for three cases: (1) potential climate impacts alone, as measured by the three indicators; (2) case 1 adjusted for differential country vulnerability, which is affected by economic development and governance; and (3) case 2 adjusted for donor concerns related to project economics: intercountry differences in project unit costs and probabilities of project success. The paper is accompanied by an Excel database with complete data for all 233 countries. It provides two illustrative applications of the database and methodology: assistance for adaptation to sea level rise by the 20 island states that are both small and poor and general assistance to all low-income countries for adaptation to extreme weather changes, sea-level rise, and agricultural productivity loss.
Things Fall Apart Without Roads! How Fair Taxation Laws Pave Roads and Builds Economic Infrastructure in Developing Countries

Without self-sustaining commerce, developing countries cannot move towards the recognition of basic human rights and twenty-first century living standards. The purpose of this article is to explore the legal and economic theories of taxation and tariffs applied to the elements of civic infrastructure: a robust physical transportation system and an economic structure. This article advocates for conforming trade union policy towards an efficiency hypothesis method dubbed “tax minimalism theory” that espouses tax theory norms: fairness, efficiency, and simplicity of administration. Applying this theory, this paper will critique newly implemented tariff laws in West Africa by the Economic Community of West African States for its adverse effects on the transportation sector and laissez-faire trade liberalization in Ghana and Nigeria.
The American Catopsilias (Lepidoptera, Pieridæ)

The Rhodocerid group of Pieridae fall into three sub-groups. One, composed of Eurymus (Colias) and Meganostoma is characteristically holarctic, and has invaded the tropical zone of both hemispheres only along the mountains. The second composed of Dercas, Eurema (Terias), Teriocolias , and Nathalis appears to have its most primitive forms in the tropics of the old world, though this is not quite certain, the typical genus Eurema being far more varied in America than in the old world. The third group, Catopsilia , Kricogonia , and Gonepteryx , is obviously tropical American, all the genera occurring in America, and only two limited groups of species having invaded the old world.
The Age Factor in the Treatment of Glioblastoma.

of diagnosed cancers in the United States will occur in patients older than 65 years. 2 It is logical to assume that this trend will also occur in the primary brain tumor, glioblastoma (GBM). This presents a problem for neuro-oncologists because older patients have been historically underrepresented in neuro-oncology trials. The lack of representation coupled with toxicity concerns often leads to undertreatment in these patients. Given the imminent increasing numbers of elderly patients with GBM, more representation in clinical studies, as well as clear treatment guidelines, is needed for this population. In this issue of JAMA Neurology, Rusthoven et al 3 performed a retrospective analysis of a cohort of 16 717 patients 65 years or older with newly diagnosed GBM. This analysis was based on data from the National Cancer Database (NCDB), which is a prospectively maintained, multi-institutional national registry. The authors queried the NCDB for patients who were both 65 years or older with newly diagnosed GBM and had complete data for the following: treatment (radiation therapy, chemotherapy [CT], and surgery), Charlson-Deyo comorbidity score, sex, age, and year of diagnosis. They confined their search to patients treated during or after 2005 to target patients treated only in the temozolomide era. The authors evaluated median overall survival (OS) between treatment groups: (1) combined-modality therapy (CMT), consisting of radiation therapy (RT) together with CT, temozolomide; (2) RT alone; and (3) CT alone (temozolomide). Median OS was 9.0 months with CMT, 4.7 months with RT alone, and 4.3 months for patients receiving CT alone; furthermore, multivariate Cox analysis showed that CMT was superior to both RT alone (HR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.39-1.55) and CT alone (HR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.40-1.60) and this superiority held up across age stratification (65-69, 70-74, 75-79, and ≥80 years). These results imply that the Stupp protocol 4 of CMT with temozolomide, now used as the standard of care for patients younger than 65 years, should be considered in patients older than 65 years. The primary finding of increased OS in patients 65 years or older treated with CMT is in line with previous findings (eTable 7 in the article by Rusthoven et al 3 ); many of these findings were in smaller retrospective studies, and except for
Role of intracellular pH in relaxation of porcine tracheal smooth muscle by respiratory gases

Hypercapnia and hypoxia both relax airway smooth muscle, but the mechanisms responsible are poorly understood. Because hypercapnia and hypoxia can each decrease intracellular pH (pH o ) and acidosis can inhibit Ca 2+ channels, we hypothesized that decreased pH i mediates relaxation of trachealis muscle by each of these respiratory gases. To examine the relationship between pH i and tone, we measured isometric tension, bath pH, and fluorescence intensity (540 nm) in porcine tracheal smooth muscle strips loaded with 2',7'-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-5(6)-carboxyfluorescein and excited alternately with 440- and 500-nm light. Strips equilibrated in Krebs-Henseleit solution bubbled with 95% O 2 -5% CO 2 were contracted with carbachol and then relaxed with either 95% N 2 -5% CO 2 or 93% O 2 -7% CO 2 . The ratio of fluorescence intensity at 500 nm to 440 nm was calibrated vs. pH i with use of nigericin. Baseline pH i was 7.19±0.03 (n=13). Hypoxia decreased active tension by ∼60% but did not change pH i . Hypercapnia induced decreases in tension that were associated with substantial decreases in pH i . Thus, decreased pH i does not mediate hypoxic relaxation, but the relaxation during physiologically relevant increases in CO 2 concentration is associated with significant cellular acidification
Helios(®) Gene Gun-Mediated Transfection of the Inner Ear Sensory Epithelium: Recent Updates

The transfection of vertebrate inner ear hair cells has proven to be challenging. Therefore, many laboratories attempt to use and improve different transfection methods. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. A particular researcher's skills in addition to available equipment and the type of experiment (in vivo or in vitro) likely determine the transfection method of choice. Biolistic delivery of exogenous DNA, mRNA, or siRNA, also known as Helios(®) Gene Gun-mediated transfection, uses the mechanical energy of compressed helium gas to bombard tissue with micron- or submicron-sized DNA or RNA-coated gold particles, which can penetrate and transfect cells in vitro or in vivo. Helios(®) Gene Gun-mediated transfection has several advantages: (1) it is simple enough to learn in a short time; (2) it is designed to overcome cell barriers even as tough as plant cell membrane or stratum corneum in the epidermis; (3) it can transfect cells deep inside a tissue such as specific neurons within a brain slice; (4) it can accommodate mRNA, siRNA, or DNA practically of any size to be delivered; and (5) it works well with various cell types including non-dividing, terminally differentiated cells that are difficult to transfect, such as neurons or mammalian inner ear sensory hair cells. The latter advantage is particularly important for inner ear research. The disadvantages of this method are: (1) low efficiency of transfection due to many variables that have to be adjusted and (2) potential mechanical damage of the tissue if the biolistic shot parameters are not optimal. This chapter provides a step-by-step protocol and critical evaluation of the Bio-Rad Helios(®) Gene Gun transfection method used to deliver green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged full-length cDNAs of myosin 15a, whirlin, β-actin, and Clic5 into rodent hair cells of the postnatal inner ear sensory epithelia in culture.
Exploration of GGTase-I substrate requirements. Part 1: Synthesis and biochemical evaluation of novel aryl-modified geranylgeranyl diphosphate analogs

Protein geranylgeranylation is a type of post-translational modification that aids in the localization of proteins to the plasma member where they elicit cellular signals. To better understand the isoprenoid requirements of GGTase-I, a series of aryl-modified geranylgeranyl diphosphate analogs were synthesized and screened against mammalian GGTase-I. Of our seven-member library of compounds, six analogs proved to be substrates of GGTase-I, with 6d having a krel=1.93 when compared to GGPP (krel=1.0).