cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Aberrant Gut Microbiome Contributes to Intestinal Oxidative Stress, Barrier Dysfunction, Inflammation and Systemic Autoimmune Responses in MRL/lpr Mice

Microbiome composition and function have been implicated as contributing factors in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases (ADs), including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). Furthermore, dysbiosis of gut microbiome is associated with impaired barrier function and mucosal immune dysregulation. However, mechanisms by which gut microbiome contributes to the ADs and whether antioxidant treatment can restore gut homeostasis and ameliorate the disease outcome are not known. This study was, therefore, focused on examining the involvement of gut microbiome and host responses in the pathogenesis of SLE using unique female mouse models (C57BL/6, MRL+/+ and MRL/lpr) of 6 and 18 weeks with varying degrees of disease progression. Fecal microbiome diversity and composition, gut oxidative stress (OS), barrier function and inflammation, as well as systemic autoimmunity were determined. Interestingly, each mouse strain had distinct bacterial community as revealed by β-diversity. A lower Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio in 6-week-old MRL/lpr mice was observed, evidenced by decrease in Peptostreptococcaceae under Firmicutes phylum along with enrichment of Rikenellaceae under Bacteroidetes phylum. Additionally, we observed increases in colonic OS [4-hydroxynonenal (HNE)-adducts and HNE-specific immune complexes], permeability changes (lower tight junction protein ZO-2; increased fecal albumin and IgA levels) and inflammatory responses (increased phos-NF-κB, IL-6 and IgG levels) in 18-week-old MRL/lpr mice. These changes were associated with markedly elevated AD markers (antinuclear and anti-smooth muscle antibodies) along with hepatic portal inflammation and severe glomerulonephritis. Notably, antioxidant N-acetylcysteine treatment influenced the microbial composition (decreased Rikenellaceae; increased Akkeransiaceae, Erysipelotrichaceae and Muribaculaceae) and attenuated the systemic autoimmunity in MRL/lpr mice. Our data thus show that gut microbiome dysbiosis is associated with increased colonic OS, barrier dysfunction, inflammatory responses and systemic autoimmunity markers. These findings apart from delineating a role for gut microbiome dysbiosis, also support the contribution of gut OS, permeability changes and inflammatory responses in the pathogenesis of ADs.
Advances in 3D Heterogeneous Structures and Integration for Future ICs (Invited)

This paper reviews recent advances in developing 3D heterogeneous structures and integration technologies for future integrated circuits (IC) addressing the challenges related to the Moore’s Law. Novel 3D heterogeneous structures, including nano crossbar phase-switching and graphene NEMS electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection devices, compact vertical inductors with stacked-via magnetic cores, in backend-of-line (BEOL) crosstalk isolation structures, and multi-gate transistors, are presented as enablers for future smart chips.
Dropout Fails to Regularize Nonparametric Learners

Dropout is a popular tool employed in training neural networks for learning tasks. In shallow networks, a variety of recent works have provided a theoretical understanding of the regularizing effect of dropout. The case of deeper networks is, up to this point, only partially understood from a theoretical standpoint. This work studies the theory of dropout from a nonparametric viewpoint, which is considered a proxy for the deepest layers of a neural network. Utilizing ideas from the calculus of variations, it is shown that in the nonparametric limit, the simplest version of dropout has no regularizing effect. Quantified covering number bounds are given describing the failure of dropout to regularize, and simple numerical illustrations are also given to explore the effect of dropout during a transition towards nonparametric settings.
Incubation effects

After an initial period of unsuccessful work at solving a problem, a subject might either continue to work uninterruptedly or put the problem temporarily aside, returning to it later. The elusive laboratory phenomenon called “incubation” refers to superior performance for those subjects who return to the problem after a delay rather than working continuously on the problem. The forgetting-fixation hypothesis states that correct solutions are made inaccessible during initial problem solving when incorrect solutions are mistakenly retrieved. Forgetting (or decreased accessability) of fixated material should make correct solutions relatively more accessible, thus leading to incubation. Four experiments in the present study found incubation effects using a set of picture-word problems called rebuses. Misleading clues were initially presented with some of the problems, to induce fixation artificially. Greater forgetting occurred at retest for groups showing the greatest incubation effects, consistent with the forgetting-fixation hypothesis.
Conflicting diagnostic and prognostic framing of epidemics? Newspaper representations of dengue as a public health problem in Peru

The way newspapers frame infectious disease outbreaks and their connection to the environmental determinants of disease transmission matter because they shape how we understand and respond to these major events. In 2017, following an unexpected climatic event named "El Nino Costero," a dengue epidemic in Peru affected over seventy-five thousand people. This paper examines how the Peruvian news media presented dengue, a climate-sensitive disease, as a public health problem by analyzing a sample of 265 news stories on dengue from two major newspapers published between January 1st and December 31st of 2017. In analyzing the construction of responsibility for the epidemic, I find frames that blamed El Nino Costero's flooding and Peru's poorly prepared cities and public health infrastructure as the causes of the dengue outbreak. However, when analyzing frames that offer solutions to the epidemic, I find that news articles call for government-led, short-term interventions (e.g., fogging) that fail to address the decaying public health infrastructure and lack of climate-resilient health systems. Overall, news media tended to over-emphasize dengue as requiring technical solutions that ignore the root causes of health inequality and environmental injustice that allow dengue to spread in the first place. This case speaks to the medicalization of public health and to a long history of disease-control programs in the Global South that prioritized top-down technical approaches, turning attention away from the social and environmental determinants of health, which are particularly important in an era of climate change.
Axonal spheroids in neurodegeneration

Abstract Axonal spheroids are bubble-like biological features that form on most degenerating axons, yet little is known about their influence on degenerative processes. Their formation and growth has been observed in response to various degenerative triggers such as injury, oxidative stress, inflammatory factors, and neurotoxic molecules. They often contain cytoskeletal elements and organelles, and, depending on the pathological insult, can colocalize with disease-related proteins such as amyloid precursor protein (APP), ubiquitin, and motor proteins. Initial formation of axonal spheroids depends on the disruption of axonal and membrane tension governed by cytoskeleton structure and calcium levels. Shortly after spheroid formation, the engulfment signal, phosphatidylserine (PS), is exposed on the outer leaflet of spheroid plasma membrane, suggesting an important role for axonal spheroids in phagocytosis and debris clearance during degeneration. Spheroids can grow until they rupture, allowing pro-degenerative factors to exit the axon into extracellular space and accelerating neurodegeneration. Though much remains to be discovered in this area, axonal spheroid research promises to lend insight into the etiologies of neurodegenerative disease, and may be an important target for therapeutic intervention. This review summarizes over 100 years of work, describing what is known about axonal spheroid structure, regulation and function.
Editorial Comment: Follow-Up of Incidentally Detected Thyroid Nodules Is Not Cost-Effective in Older Adults.

This Editorial Comment discusses the following AJR article: Cost-Effectiveness of Follow-up Ultrasound for Incidental Thyroid Nodules on CT.
Low peripheral blood derived neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (dNLR) is associated with increased tumor T-cell infiltration and favorable outcomes to first-line pembrolizumab in non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND An elevated peripheral blood derived neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (dNLR) is a negative prognostic marker for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors. Whether dNLR is also associated with clinical outcomes to first-line pembrolizumab among patients with NSCLC and a programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) Tumor Proportion Score (TPS) of ≥50% is uncertain. How dNLR relates to the tumor immune microenvironment is also unclear. METHODS In two participating academic centers, we retrospectively analyzed the dNLR (defined as the absolute neutrophil count/white cell count - absolute neutrophil count) prior to initiation of first-line pembrolizumab in patients with metastatic NSCLC and a PD-L1 TPS ≥50% and lacking genomic alterations in EGFR and ALK. An unbiased recursive partitioning algorithm was used to investigate an optimal dNLR cut-off with respect to objective response rate (ORR). Multiplexed immunofluorescence for CD8+, FOXP3+, PD-1+, and PD-L1 was performed on a separate cohort of NSCLCs to determine the immunophenotype associated with dNLR. RESULTS A total of 221 patients treated with first-line pembrolizumab were included in this study. The optimal dNLR cut-off to differentiate treatment responders from non-responders was 2.6. Compared with patients with a dNLR ≥2.6 (n=97), patients with dNLR <2.6 (n=124) had a significantly higher ORR (52.4% vs 24.7%, p<0.001), a significantly longer median progression-free survival (mPFS 10.4 vs 3.4 months, HR 0.48, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.66, p<0.001), and a significantly longer median overall survival (mOS 36.6 vs 9.8 months, HR 0.34, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.49, p<0.001). After adjusting for age, sex, tobacco use, performance status, histology, serum albumin level, oncogenic driver status, and PD-L1 distribution (50%-89% vs ≥90%), a dNLR <2.6 was confirmed to be an independent predictor of longer mPFS (HR 0.47, 95% CI 0.33 to 0.67, p<0.001) and mOS (HR 0.32, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.49, p<0.001). Among advanced NSCLC samples with a PD-L1 TPS of ≥50%, those with a dNLR <2.6 had significantly higher numbers of tumor-associated CD8+, FOXP3+, PD-1 +immune cells, and PD-1 +CD8+T cells than those with a dNLR ≥2.6. CONCLUSIONS Among patients with NSCLC and a PD-L1 TPS ≥50%, a low dNLR has a distinct immune tumor microenvironment and more favorable outcomes to first-line pembrolizumab.
Setting the Scene: Adam Smith’s Moral Philosophy

The subject of our book is Adam Smith and the Philosophy of Law and Economics. As the title of this chapter suggests, its purpose is to set the scene for what is to follow.
Hormonal Approaches for Studying Nervous System Development in Insects

Publisher Summary This chapter illustrates the ways hormones can be used to study the cellular responses and cellular interactions that underlie the development of the nervous system in insects. The chapter focuses on juvenile hormone and the ecdysteroids. At the tissue level, two classes of hormones regulate growth and metamorphosis: the ecdysteroids and the juvenile hormones (JH). The ecdysteroids are a family of polyhydroxylated steroids that are the moulting hormones of arthropods. Ecdysone is secreted from paired glands that are generally located in the first thoracic segment. It is hydroxylated by peripheral tissues to form 20-hydroxyecdysone (20-HE), which then acts on target tissues such as the epidermis or the nervous system. The JHs are synthesized in the corpora allata—paired glands located just posterior to the brain. In the larva, their presence during each ecdysteroid release ensures the production of another larval stage. Their disappearance allows metamorphosis. In hemimetabolous insects, the first moult in the absence of JH produces the adult. In holometabolous insects, in contrast, the first such moult results in the pupal stage and a second moult in the absence of JH is required for the formation of the adult.
Development of a Nonradioactive Steroid Receptor Ligand Binding Assay Using Fluorescence Polarization for Studying Hsp90-Mediated Chaperone Protein Activity

While glucocorticoid receptor (GR) ligand binding has historically been measured using radiolabeled agonists, such as [3H]dexamethasone, new methods have sought to use fluorescently conjugated liga...
Starting from Quirpini: The Travels and Places of a Bolivian People

Reviewed Medium: book Authors: Stuart Alexander Rockefeller Year: 2010 Pages: 280 Publisher: Indiana University Press ISBN: 978-0-253-35497-6 (hard cover). Prices: $65.00 USD(hard cover).
Residue contexts: non-sequential protein structure alignment using structural and biochemical features

The study of non-sequential alignments, with different connectivity of the aligned fragments in the proteins being compared can offer a more complete picture of the structural, evolutionary and functional relationship between two proteins, than what is possible purely with sequential alignments. The design of techniques for non-sequential protein structure alignment therefore, constitutes an important direction of research. This paper introduces a novel method for non-sequential protein structure alignment involving three principle technical facets: (1) determination of the seed alignments not just by matching features from a single residue or considering well defined regions in the structure such as α–helices and β-strands, but through rich and robust descriptors that can capture the structural similarities of the local 3D environment around arbitrary residues of interest. (2) Scoring alignments using both geometric criterion (RMSD) as well as the biochemical characteristics of the residues. (3) An iterative chaining process which alternates between refinement and non-sequential extension stages to build a final alignment. The efficacy of the approach is demonstrated using the RIPC reference set which includes 40 structural pairs that are problematic to align. The performance of the method was found to be comparable or better than established techniques across the experiments.
Creating a sustainable humanitarian engineering program

At Baylor University we have done engineering service projects in the developing world for about 10 years. As we have assessed both our successes and failures, we realized that to make the projects sustainable, they had to be done with local partners over many years. Our level of engagement with the local people has had a significant impact upon the sustainability of the projects. Our model for how best to do this engagement has changed as we have learned from experience.
Mixed. PTL/static logic synthesis using genetic algorithms for low-power applications

We present a new mixed pass-transistor logic (PTL) and static CMOS logic synthesis method based on a genetic search. The proposed synthesis method first performs a search for possible matches between a logic structure and a set of predefined PTL/CMOS logic gates using BDDs. The unique contribution of our approach is the use of a genetic algorithm to determine the best mixture of PTL and static cells based on area and power. Our experimental results demonstrate that circuits synthesized using the proposed mixed PTL/CMOS synthesis method outperforms their static counterparts in delay or power consumption or both in a 0.25 /spl mu/m CMOS process. The average area, power consumption, and power-delay product of ISCAS85 and MCNC91 benchmark circuits using the proposed method are 25%, 40%, and 45% better than their static counterparts, respectively.
Racial Profiling: Using Propensity Score Matching To Examine Focal Concerns Theory

Racial Profiling: Using Propensity Score Matching to Examine Focal Concerns Theory combines theory and propensity score matching to offer readers a better understanding of racial profiling through traffic stop data concerning the race and gender of the driver. The book examines the likelihood of a citation, search, or consent search for similarly situated African-American and Caucasian drivers in general, similarly situated African-American and Caucasian male drivers, and similarly situated African-American and Caucasian female drivers. Whether and why police exercise racial profiling in their decisionmaking is one of the most hotly debated topics in criminal justice. In this work, Anthony Vito uses Focal Concerns Theory to explain police officer decisionmaking in traffic stop outcomes via propensity score matching, revealing the intersectional dynamics of racial profiling and gender bias by the Louisville Police Department. The unique approach of looking at the Focal Concerns Theory components of blameworthiness, protection of the community, and practical constraints and consequences together with propensity score matching provides a theoretical lens for analysis and a model for future studies. This book is an original and timely resource for researchers, scholars, practitioners, and other stakeholders focusing on the problem of racial profiling in policing.
Thermodynamic and hydrodynamic constraints on overpressure caused by hydrate dissociation: A pore-scale model

[1] It has been suggested that volume expansion caused by hydrate dissociation in sediment pores can result in large overpressure, which in turn may destabilize the sediment and trigger massive submarine landslides. Here, we investigate the pressure evolution during thermally-induced dissociation, by means of a pore-scale model that couples dissociation kinetics, multiphase flow and geomechanics. Dissociation is controlled by a self-preservation mechanism: increasing pore pressure reduces the driving force for dissociation. Hence, the overpressure is constrained by the phase equilibrium pressure, regardless of the kinetic rate of dissociation, heat supply, and sediment permeability. Furthermore, we find that the timescale for buildup of pressure by dissociation is typically much larger than that for its dissipation by drainage. Consequently, the overpressure is controlled by the capillary entry thresholds, which depend on the mode of gas invasion. In low-permeability systems, fracturing is the preferred mechanism, occurring at capillary pressures lower than the entry thresholds in the undeformed sediment. Our results suggest that while large overpressures cannot be sustained by rapid dissociation in natural systems, dissociation can induce important geomechanical effects. Gas migration by fracturing provides a possible link between dissociation, sediment deformation and methane venting.
VLSI implementation of an associative memory using temporal relations

A mixed digital analog approach is presented for VLSI implementation of an associative memory model using temporal relations. The proposed model is based on the biological model of the cortex. There are two motivations for this research. First, the analog and parallel nature of the neural network approach may provide an efficient technique to achieve the high speed requirement for real-time coding systems with less hardware than both digital techniques and adaptive neural techniques. Second, the model proposed, based on the biological neural network, may be useful as a model of the information processing in the human brain. The proposed circuit realizing such a theory is faster, smaller in area, and more efficient than current systems. >
Cephalic Sensory Pathways in the Central Nervous System of Larval Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae)

Central projections of neurons innervating sensory structures on the head of larval Manduca sexta were traced by using methods of anterograde cobalt-diffusion. Regions of the deutocerebrum and tritocerebrum in the brain receive input from the antenna, labrum, maxilla, labial palps, hypopharynx and other unidentified regions of the buccal cavity. Antennal, maxillary and labial inputs project to the larval antennal centre (LAC) of the deutocerebrum. Stemmatal neurons and a few antennal neurons project into the protocerebrum. The suboesophageal ganglion (SEG) receives input from mechanosensory neurons in all parts of the head and its sensory appendages. Some mechanosensory neurons project further to the first thoracic ganglion. In addition to receiving input from chemosensory neurons of the maxilla, the SEG may also receive chemosensory input from epipharyngeal sensilla of the labrum.
Electoral myth and reality: Realignments in American politics

Abstract Mayhew [Mayhew, D.R., 2002. Electoral Realignments: A Critique of an American Genre. Yale University Press, New Haven and London] dismisses realignment theory, arguing that it is unable, in general, to distinguish effectively between realigning and non-realigning elections, and in particular, to offer proof of a post-1930 realignment. We conduct a test for realignments that uses a new technique, which is blind to the conventional wisdom; a newly collected and more reliable source of electoral data; and a measure of partisanship that provides a more precise barometer of long-term support than what is commonly used in realignment studies. Contrary to Mayhew, our findings affirm the status of the classical realignments, though with a slight temporal adjustment for one (1896), while adding two others (1834 and 1874) to the canon. In the time since 1932, only one election passes muster (1994), although in this instance the congressional vote may have served as a lagging rather than a leading indicator of realignment. Realignment theory stands up well as a guide to cycles in American politics, past and present.
Fault plane orientations of intermediate-depth earthquakes in the Middle America Trench

[1] Intermediate-depth earthquakes are often attributed to dehydration embrittlement reactivating preexisting weak zones. The orientation of presubduction faults is particularly well known offshore of Middle America, where seismic reflection profiles show outer rise faults dipping toward the trench and extending >20 km into the lithosphere. If water is transported along these faults and incorporated into hydrous minerals, the faults may be reactivated later when the minerals dehydrate. In this case, the fault plane orientations should be the same in the outer rise and at depth, after accounting for the angle of subduction. To test this hypothesis, we analyze the directivity of 54 large (MW ≥ 5.7) earthquakes between 35 and 220 km depth in the Middle America Trench. For 12 of these earthquakes, the directivity vector allows us to identify the fault plane of the focal mechanism. Between 35 and 85 km depth, we observe both subhorizontal and subvertical fault planes. The subvertical fault planes are consistent with the reactivation of outer rise faults, whereas the subhorizontal fault planes suggest the formation of new faults. Deeper than 85 km, we only observe subhorizontal faults, indicating that the outer rise faults are no longer being reactivated. The similarity with previous results from the colder Tonga-Kermadec subduction zone suggests that the mechanism generating these earthquakes, and controlling fault plane orientations, depends on pressure rather than temperature or other tectonic parameters and that the observed rupture characteristics constitute a basic feature of intermediate-depth seismicity. Exclusively subhorizontal faults may result from isobaric rupture propagation or the hindrance of seismic slip on preexisting weak subvertical planes.
Task Performance and Satisfaction: Evidence for a Task- By Ego-Orientation Interaction1

A significant body of research has documented two achievement goal orientations that individuals can adopt prior to performing a particular task. These orientations have typically been referred to as “task-oriented” or “ego-oriented,” each of which has different implications for task performance and related perceptions. The majority of this research has considered individuals either task- or ego-oriented. There is initial evidence, however, that the two goal orientations may be independent and, therefore, that they may interact to predict various outcomes. The central finding of this study was that task- and ego-orientations did interact to influence task satisfaction and performance. Specifically, high task satisfaction was reported by individuals who had at least a moderately high degree of task orientation irrespective of the level of ego orientation. Alternatively, the most effective performance was observed for individuals who had a dominant achievement goal orientation, regardless of whether it was a task- or ego-orientation. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Analysis of View Angle Used in Speechreading Training of Sentences

This study examines the effects of sentence perception across three speaker viewing angles: front view (0°), quarter view (45°), and side view (90°). The performance of a female adult with postlingual hearing loss was measured for accuracy at each angle. The present study used a single-subject, alternating treatment design where three treatment angles were randomly presented in every session. The percentage accuracy levels for each session were compared to determine the most effective treatment viewing angle of the speaker. The results indicated that the side-view angle was most effective, as the percentage gain of improvement was greatest in combination with the consistent upward trend of the data points across treatment sessions. The performance at front-view and quarter-view angles was also successful. The results of this preliminary effort indicate the value of treatment for visual sentence perception at all three angles, including the nontraditionally targeted side view.
Partial shape recognition by sub-matrix matching for partial matching guided image labeling

We propose a new partial shape recognition algorithm by sub-matrix matching using a proximity-based shape representation. Given one or more example object templates and a number of candidate object regions in an image, points with local maximum curvature along contours of each are chosen as feature points to compute distance matrices for each candidate object region and example template(s). A sub-matrix matching algorithm is then proposed to determine correspondences for evaluation of partial similarity between an example template and a candidate object region. The method is translation, rotation, scale and reflection invariant. Applications of the proposed partial matching technique include recognition of partially occluded objects in images as well as significant acceleration of recognition/matching of full (non-occluded) objects for object based image labeling by learning from examples. The speed up in the latter application comes from the fact that we can now search only those combinations of regions in the neighborhood of potential partial matches as soon as they are identified, as opposed to all combinations of regions as was done in our prior work [Xu et al., Object formation and retrieval using a learning-based hierarchical content-description, Proceedings of the ICIP, Kobe, Japan 1999]. Experimental results are provided to demonstrate both applications.
Lethal gas bursts from Cameroon Crater Lakes

On August 15, 1984, a cloud of gas burst out of Lake Monoun in Cameroon, killing 37 people by asphyxiation. A study of the lake revealed that it occupies a 96-m-deep crater and that very high levels of dissolved carbon dioxide prevail in the anoxic deep waters [Sigurdsson et al., 1987]. The carbon isotope characteristics of Lake Monoun indicate derivation of the CO2 from mantle source (high 14C age of lake; ∂13C of −7) , but the chemistry of the lake showed no indication of input of hot magmatic gases, such as elevated levels of sulfur or evidence of halogen compounds or gases in the water. We therefore proposed that the Lake Monoun event was not related to a volcanic explosion but was rather the consequence of long-term buildup of mantlederived CO2, which was dissolved in the anoxic lake waters and was derived from soda springs or other carbon dioxide-rich groundwater flow into the submerged crater. Sudden degassing of the CO2-rich waters was attributed to an upset of the density stratification of the lake by a landslide from the crater's eastern rim.
Erythromycin in treatment of pyoderma in children.

Summary Ten cases of pyoderma, in children, were treated successfully with erythromycin (Ilotycin) ointment. There was no evidence of drug sensitization or other untoward reactions.
The Immunogenicity of Haemophilus influenzae Type B Conjugate Vaccines in Children Born to HIV-Infected Women |[dagger]| 899

Although immunocompromise due to HIV-1 (HIV) infection increases the importance of receipt of routine childhood vaccines, such vaccines appear to have decreased immunogenicity in these children. The study's objectives were to evaluate the immunogenicity of Haemophilus influenzae type B(Hib) conjugate vaccines among HIV-infected children according to clinical and immunologic disease progression as well as viral load. The concentration of antibody to polyribosylribitolphosphate (PRP) was measured at approximately nine and 24 months of age in plasma specimens from children of HIV-infected women enrolled in the Women and Infants Transmission Study. Of 227 children at the 9-month visit known to have received age-appropriate immunization with a Hib conjugate vaccine, the geometric mean antibody concentration (GMAC) was lower among 35 HIV-infected children (1.64 μg/ml) as compared to uninfected children (2.70 μg/ml), although the difference was not statistically significant. The proportion of children with antibody concentrations ≥ 1.0μg/ml did not differ significantly according to HIV infection status (73% uninfected, 74% infected). Neither the GMAC nor the proportion of children with antibody concentrations ≥ 1.0 μg/ml varied significantly among these HIV-infected children with predominantly mild-moderate disease progression according to clinical category, immunologic stage, or viral load(p ≥ 0.37). Similar results were obtained among 127 children (17 HIV-infected) eligible for analysis at the 24-month study visit. Changes in antibody concentrations over time did not differ significantly among HIV-infected as compared to uninfected children (p = 0.87). These results suggest that HIV-infected children with mild-moderate disease progression may have an adequate quantitative antibody response to Hib conjugate vaccines during the first two years of life. Additional investigations of the immune response to Hib conjugate vaccines, including the qualitative antibody response to immunization, should be pursued.
Dynamic solvent accessibility in the soybean trypsin inhibitor--trypsin complex.

The effect of complex formation on the hydrogen-tritium exchange kinetics of trypsin and soybean trypsin inhibitor has been determined by a comparison of the exchange kinetics of the complex to those of the unassociated proteins. Approximately one-third of the exchangeable protons in the inhibitor and in trypsin have slowed exchange rates as a result of association at pH 6·5, 0°C. The effect extends beyond the immediate vicinity of the protein-protein contact region and includes a large number of both solvent-shielded and freely accessible protons. This effect is apparently due to a widespread decrease in low energy fluctuations in trypsin and in the inhibitor as a result of complex formation. The hydrogen exchange kinetics of the inhibitor-trypsin complex interface were studied by partial labeling techniques. The temperature and pH dependence indicates that, although exchange in the interface region is greatly restricted, there are in the complexed dimer low energy processes through which all interface protons are accessible to H2O and OH ions without complex dissociation or protein unfolding.
Challenges in the care of adults with osteoporosis.

to protect them from osteoporosis, but when estrogen levels drop after menopause, the ability to maintain bone density drops dramatically as well. Far fewer men are affected and only in later life, presumably because production of testosterone does not decline as dramatically in men with age as does production of estrogen in women.4 Although any bone can be affected in osteoporosis, most common fractures occur in the hip and vertebrae. Hip fractures mostly are associated with a decline in functional status and quality of life. The disability arising from a hip fracture may lead to death. Research shows that, although more hip fractures occur in women, men experience higher excess mortality from hip fractures because of comorbidity, age, and mental confusion during hospitalization.5 Hip fractures result in the greatest amount of pain and disability in both men and women.5 Increased serum levels of bone-resorbing cytokines and increased responsiveness of osteoclasts resulting in bone resorption characterize estrogen deficiency, a major determinant of low bone density in postmenopausal women. Furthermore, both testosterone and estrogen deficiencies can occur as a function of aging in men, and both deficiencies can lead to bone loss.5 A study by Dr. Robert Lindsay et al. found that almost a quarter of patients with two or more prevalent fractures taking calcium and vitamin D had another incident fracture within 1 year of the first incident fracture. In addition, age-related changes in insulin-like growth factor and other growth components could lead to impairment in the supply and activity of osteoblasts. The later, type II osteoporosis often results in fractures of the skeleton in which cortical bone is predominant, such as the femur, femoral neck, proximal tibia, and pelvis.1,4,5 Approximately 300,000 hip fractures occur annually in the United States, with another 6% unreported. At the current growth rate of hip fracture incidence, costs of carO steoporosis, a bone disease associated with reduced bone mineral density (BMD) resulting in debilitating bone fractures, is recognized as one of the most important public health concerns.1 This disease affects more than 20 million U.S. residents and causes about 1.3 million hip fractures annually. The treatment costs as a result of osteoporotic fractures present a significant burden to our health care system. Osteoporosis has been documented to be an extremely debilitating disease, both physiologically and psychologically, and has affected the independence and quality of life of many older people.2 Fifty percent of peak bone mass is gained between the ages of 10 and 20 but continues to increase at a slower pace until 25 to 35, when it begins to decline. In women, this bone loss occurs at a rate of .25% to 1% annually until menopause. Bone loss is accelerated during menopause at a rate of 2% to 3% per year for 3 to 7 years. Women lose 40% to 50% of their bone mass over their lifetime, whereas men lose between 20% and 30%.3
Designed Experiment for Determining Time-Dependent Polyurethane Foam Characteristics

[This abstract is based on the author's abstract.]A randomized half-factorial design with one centerpoint is used to determine which time-dependent models can be used to predict the indentation force deflection of polyurethane foam. Data show that it is..
Microcavity single virus detection and sizing with molecular sensitivity

We report the label-free detection and sizing of the smallest individual RNA virus, MS2 by a spherical microcavity. Mass of this virus is ~6 ag and produces a theoretical resonance shift ~0.25 fm upon adsorbing an individual virus at the equator of the bare microcavity, which is well below the r.m.s background noise of 2 fm. However, detection was accomplished with ease (S/N = 8, Q = 4x10 5 ) using a single dipole stimulated plasmonic-nanoshell as a microcavity wavelength shift enhancer. Analytical expressions based on the “reactive sensing principle” are developed to extract the radius of the virus from the measured signals. Estimated limit of detection for these experiments was ~0.4 ag or 240 kDa below the size of all known viruses, largest globular and elongated proteins [Phosphofructokinase (345 kDa) and Fibrinogen (390 kDa), respectively].
Heavy electron behavior in a new uranium-based ternary compound: UPd2Sn

Abstract Electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements on a new compound, UPd 2 Sn, reveal that this material exhibits valence fluctuation or Kondo lattice phenomena below a characteristic temperature ∼ 10 K. In particular, the electronic specific heat coefficient appears to be strongly temperature dependent with a maximum of ∼ 270 mJ/mole U−K 2 at 9.7 K and an extrapolated value of ∼ 70 mJ/mole U−K 2 at 0 K. The compound UPd 2 Sn was expected to crystallize in the same structure as the family of cubic Heusler alloys, but instead, crystallized in a more complicated structure which appears to be orthorhombic. The compound can be characterized as a nonmagnetic, nonsuperconducting heavy electron material.
Do All Threats Work the Same Way? Divergent Effects of Fear and Disgust on Sensory Perception and Attention

The extant literature indicates that threat enhances cognitive processing and physiological arousal. However, being largely based on fear-relevant processes, this model overlooks other adaptive but inhibitory mechanisms in alternative threat emotions such as disgust. Combining visual event-related potential (VERP) indices (P1 and P250/s) with a simple visual search task, we contrasted behavioral and neural responses to carefully controlled images of fear, disgust, or neutral emotion (as a baseline condition). Consistent with previous findings, fear augmented VERP amplitude and electrical current density in associate visual cortices, paralleled by facilitated object search. Conversely, disgust generated an opposite pattern of effects, reflected by reduced VERP potentials and diminished visual cortical current density along with slowed search time. These results demonstrated suppressed sensory perceptual and attentional processing of disgust information, akin to the central ecological function of disgust to minimize contact with contagious objects to avoid contamination and disease. Notably, the rapid emergence of discrimination between fear and disgust as early as 96 ms after stimulus emphasizes the efficiency of emotional classification not only between threat and nonthreat, but also within the threat domain itself. Finally, a positive correlation between anxiety and behavioral and neural divergence of fear and disgust further indicates that despite their convergence on the core affect of threat, disgust and fear instigate distinct response profiles, providing novel insights into the manifold and sometimes paradoxical symptomology in anxiety disorders.
Calcium is sufficient but not necessary for activation of sheep platelet cytosolic phospholipase A2.

In this study we demonstrate that: (1) although the major phospholipase A2 present in sheep platelets is activated by calcium ions, it can effectively catalyze hydrolysis of the sn-2 ester linkage in phospholipids in the absence of calcium: (2) expression of calcium-independent phospholipase A2 activity can be induced by NACl utilizing purified (but not crude) cytosolic enzyme; and (3) calcium-independent phospholipase A2 activity is regulated by a reconstitutable cytosolic protein. Collectively, these results underscore the fundamental catalytic differences between extracellular and intracellular calcium-dependent phospholipases A2 and demonstrate that calcium is sufficient, but not necessary, for the activation of this class of intracellular phospholipases A2
Homotopy algorithm for symmetric eigenvalue problems

The homotopy method can be used to solve eigenvalue-eigenvector problems. The purpose of this paper is to report the numerical experience of the homotopy method of computing eigenpairs for real symmetric tridiagonal matrices together with a couple of new theoretical results. In practice, it is rerely of any interest to compute all the eigenvalues. The homotopy method, having the order preserving property, can provide any specific eigenvalue without calculating any other eigenvalues. Besides this advantage, we note that the homotopy algorithm is to a large degree a parallel algorithm. Numerical experimentation shows that the homotopy method can be very efficient especially for graded matrices.
New Clustering and Analyzing Technique for Mining Multi-source Enriched Geo-spatial Data

Mining multi-source enriched geo-spatial data is an important task in many application domains, such as environmental science, geographic information science, and social networks. In this paper, we propose a new density-based spatio-temporal clustering algorithm called Poly-ST-SNN and a post-processing analysis technique to extract interesting patterns and useful knowledge from multi-source enriched geo-spatial data. Poly-ST-SNN extends the well-established density-based Shared Nearest Neighbor (SNN) clustering algorithm. In contrast to previous works in this area, our approaches can cluster and analyze dynamically evolved complex enriched geo-spatial objects, i.e., polygons. We evaluate the effectiveness of our techniques through a challenging real case study involving ozone pollution events in the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) area. The experimental results show that our approaches can discover interesting spatio-temporal patterns and useful information from multi-source enriched ozone pollution data.
Effect of bulkiness of pendent side groups on the rheology of semiflexible main-chain thermotropic liquid-crystalline polymers

The effect of bulkiness of pendent side groups on the rheology of semiflexible main-chain thermotropic liquid-crystalline polymers (TLCPs) was investigated. The TLCPs investigated have aromatic triads with 10 methylene groups as flexible spacer and varying pendent side groups: ethoxy group, tert-butyl group, and phenylsulfonyl group. The TLCP having ethoxy pendent side groups (PEHQ10) undergoes smectic−nematic transition at 148 °C and nematic−isotropic (N−I) transition at 239 °C, the TLCP having tert-butyl pendent side groups (PTHQ10) undergoes only N−I transition at 193 °C, and the TLCP having phenylsulfonyl pendent side groups (PSHQ10) undergoes only N−I transition at 179 °C. Comparison of the rheological behavior of the three TLCPs was made at 40 °C below the N−I transition temperature (TNI) and at 15 °C above the TNI. The following observations were made. Upon startup of shear flow all three TLCPs exhibited a large overshoot in shear stress (σ) followed by monotonic decay and a very large overshoot i...
EEG-Befunde bei Epileptikern, die im Anfall auf den Kopf stürzen, im Vergleich zu denen bei anderen Anfallskranken

Im EEG von 75 Epileptikern, die im Anfall auf den Kopf sturzten, sind nicht mehr Herdbefunde nachweisbar als im Hirnstrombild von 75 Epileptikern ohne anfallsabhangige Schadelverletzungen. Voraussetzung ist, das bei den Patienten beider Gruppen das EEG sowohl im Anfallsintervall wie nach grosen oder psychomotorischen Anfallen untersucht wird. Bei der ersten Gruppe mit Kopftraumen finden sich mehr Krampfpotentiale und eine ausgepragtere Allgemeinveranderung als in der Vergleichsgruppe. Dieser Befund kann durch die unterschiedliche Form und Frequenz der Anfalle in beiden Gruppen erklart werden. Die Epileptiker der ersten Gruppe, die im EEG starkere allgemeine, mehr spezifisch-epileptische, jedoch nicht haufiger fokale Veranderungen aufweisen, zeigen hinsichtlich der psychischen Folgeerscheinungen eine schlechtere Prognose als die Kranken der zweiten Gruppe: die Zahl der Patienten, die im Verlaufe ihres Anstaltsaufenthaltes in Hauser fur schwache und pflegebedurftige Kranke verlegt werden mussen, ist unter 75 Epileptikern mit anfallsabhangigen Schadelverletzungen mehr als doppelt so hoch wie unter den Patienten der Vergleichsgruppe. Unter den 150 untersuchten Anstaltsepileptikern, bei denen im Anfallsintervall und nach einem Anfall ein EEG aufgenommen worden war, zeigten 78,7% eine Zunahme des pathologischen hirnelektrischen Befundes im Anschlus an ein Anfallsgeschehen. Nur in 21,3% der Falle unterschied sich das EEG nach einem Anfall nicht vom Hirnstrombild im Intervall.
Listening to Students: No More Training Wheels

“Coaching? What, like they think that after eighteen years we still need someone to tell us how to live like functional adults? You're not going, are you?” That was the first I heard about InsideTr...
Biogenic emission inventory development: field assessment of the GAP vegetation database in California

Abstract Given the key role played by biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) in tropospheric chemistry and regional air quality, it is critical to generate accurate BVOC emission inventories. Indeed, formulating effective air quality attainment strategies for formation of ozone, fine particles, and other secondary air pollutants may depend in some regions upon the strength of biogenic emissions, requiring the geolocated characterization of plant species and their areal coverages. Vegetation databases developed through remote sensing methods require calibration and validation from ground-based measurements to be reliably used for BVOC modeling. A recent GIS-based description of vegetation coverage in the natural areas of the US is provided by the Gap Analysis Program (GAP) database. We conducted an assessment of this database in central California through quantitative ground-based vegetation surveys in 18 polygons, using a modified stratified randomized sampling design, to evaluate the use of GAP for developing BVOC emission inventories. The plant species listed by GAP accounted for between 0% and 88% of the relative cover in the polygons, with a mean of 43%. Of the 76 species listed by GAP for which data were collected, 33 were found to be correctly listed within their respective assemblages, 13 were found to be listed for the wrong assemblage, and 30 were below percentages of co-dominants of any assemblage. Summed over all 18 polygons, BVOC emission indices based on field data were 20% less than those based on GAP, but for individual polygons differences ranged from −100% to more than +100%.
Teaching Effectiveness and Government Awards Study shows that publication and government awards are good indicators of ability in teaching undergraduates

Three bodies of available data at Tufts University were used in determining whether there are meaningful relationships between teaching effectiveness, publication, and the receipt of government support. A search of the literature showed that virtually all comments in the popular literature and most references in professional journals suggest that publication and receipt of support for research somehow detract from teaching performance in the classroom. The empirical data of the Tufts study do not support these previous conclusions. The students rated as their best instructors those faculty members who had published articles and who had received or were receiving government support for research.