cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Transporters and drug discovery: why, when, and how.

Drug transporters are now increasingly recognized as important determinants of variable drug disposition and response. In addition, transporter associated problems appear to be occurring with greater frequency during the drug discovery and development process. What has not been clear is whether drug transporter related issues are a truly new problem, or whether such issues had existed all along, but were previously unrecognized or ignored. In this review, a brief overview of key drug transporters will be outlined. In addition, a commentary on specific issues of relevance to pharmaceutical sciences in terms of the role and relevance of drug transporters to the drug discovery and development process is provided. Keywords: Drug transport; P-glycoprotein; pharmacokinetics; drug discovery
Type II sodium channels in spinal cord astrocytes in situ: Immunocytochemical observations

The expression of sodium channel alpha-subunit isoforms in astrocytes in adult rat spinal cord and optic nerve was examined utilizing immunocytochemical methods with antibodies generated against conserved and subtype-specific sequences of the sodium channel. In adult rat spinal cord, astrocytes within the dorsal and ventral funiculi were immunolabelled with antibody SP20, which recognizes a conserved sequence within sodium channel types I, II, and III. In addition, astrocytes within these spinal cord white matter tracts were immunostained with antibody SP11-II, which recognizes sodium channel type II. Antibodies SP11-I and SP32-III, which are directed against subtype-specific sequences in sodium channel types I and III, respectively, did not label astrocytes in the dorsal and ventral funiculi of the spinal cord. In optic nerves, astrocytes were immunostained with antibody SP20. However, no detectable labelling of cells within the optic nerve was observed with antibodies SP11-I, SP11-II, and SP32-III. These observations demonstrate that sodium channel II is expressed by astrocytes in spinal cord white matter. Moreover, these data suggest that regional factors regulate the level of sodium channel isoform expression in astrocytes.
The spatial demand for housing with uncertain quality

This article extends the models of household location and the spatial housing market to examine the impact of uncertain housing quality on the demands for housing and location and the spatial characteristics of the housing price and consumption gradients. The well-known basic predictions of the certainty models remain qualitatively unaltered: equilibrium housing price is still decreasing convex, and (planned) housing consumption increases with commuting distance. Quality risk by itself, though, is seen to reduce the demand for housing and increase the demand for CBD proximity in the location choice model and decrease the equilibrium housing price at all locations in the competitive spatial housing market. The effect of quality risk on the consumption gradient comprises two offsetting effects arising from the increase in risk and the decrease in equilibrium housing price.
Rubber reinforcement by starch poly(ethylenimino thiourethane)

Starch xanthates with degrees of substitution (D.S.) ranging from 0.08 to 0.58 were reacted with high or low molecular weight polyethylenimine (PEI, two of six times the stoichiometric amount) to form starch poly(ethylenimino thiourethanes). Aqueous thiourethane solutions were mixed with commercial styrene–butadiene and acrylonitrile–butadiene latices, and the solids were coprecipitated by adding 1M ZnSO4 and 1N H2SO. The master batches (filtered, dried at 70°C), having 15 to 50 parts of starch (equivalent) per 100 parts of rubber (phr), were masticated and compounded in a sulfur-accelerator recipe and press cured to yield vulcanizates of improved physical characteristics compared to control vulcanizates. About 0.22 D.S. produced best results. With this D.S. xanthate and a 3.5 ratio of 100,000 MW PEI, a 25 phr starch loading gave maximum tensile strength (2720 psi) in a styrene–butadiene vulcanizate. Hardness generally increased with increasing D.S. and starch contents. The thiourethane decreased compression set and increased abrasion resistance. The former was lowest and the latter highest at ca. 0.20 D.S. and 25 phr starch. Both set and abrasion were lowest with thiourethane prepared from xanthate made in a “Roto-feed” process rather than a “Ko-Kneader” operation. Rebound was not appreciably changed, and increase of volume swelling in water was small upon thiourethane incorporation.
RovA, a global regulator of Yersinia pestis, specifically required for bubonic plague

The pathogenic species of Yersinia contain the transcriptional regulator RovA. In Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Yersinia enterocolitica, RovA regulates expression of the invasion factor invasin (inv), which mediates translocation across the intestinal epithelium. A Y. enterocolitica rovA mutant has a significant decrease in virulence by LD50 analysis and an altered rate of dissemination compared with either wild type or an inv mutant, suggesting that RovA regulates multiple virulence factors. Here, we show the involvement of RovA in the virulence of Yersinia pestis, which naturally lacks a functional inv gene. A Y. pestis ΔrovA mutant is attenuated ≈80-fold by LD50 and is defective in dissemination/colonization of spleens and lungs after s.c. inoculation. However, the ΔrovA mutant is only slightly attenuated when given via an intranasal or i.p. route, indicating a more important role for RovA in bubonic plague than pneumonic plague or systemic infection. Microarray analysis was used to define the RovA regulon. The psa locus was among the most highly down-regulated loci in the ΔrovA mutant. A ΔpsaA mutant had a significant dissemination defect after s.c. infection but only slight attenuation by the pneumonic-disease model, closely mimicking the virulence defect seen with the ΔrovA mutant. DNA-binding studies revealed that RovA specifically interacts with the psaE and psaA promoter regions, indicating a direct role for RovA in regulating this locus. Thus, RovA appears to be a global transcription factor in Y. pestis and, through its regulatory influence on genes such as psaEFABC, contributes to the virulence of Y. pestis.
Regional Income Redistribution and Risk SharingHow Does Italy Compare in Europe

This paper investigates income redistribution and risk sharing among Italy`s regions and the implications for public policy. Using a richer data set than in previous works, this study allows for an assessment of public consumption`s and investment`s roles. The findings suggest that Italy`s fiscal system provides interregional redistribution at 30-35 percent and risk sharing at 20-30 percent of GDP, mainly through public consumption. Compared with results in the literature for other European countries, there appears to be less redistribution and risk sharing in Italy through its welfare and tax systems because of their different structures.
What Explains Credible Apologies? A Comment on Yap' ‘Non-Electoral Responsiveness Mechanisms’

In a recent issue of this Journal Professor Yap asks whether and how governments in what she calls ‘less-democratic’ countries, that is those where elections are uncompetitive due to a lack of democratic safeguards or opposition parties, are held accountable for the effects of their policies on economic performance. She argues that governments in these countries have an interest in avoiding strife and inducing private actors to provide resources necessary for economic prosperity. Because of this, ‘when their economies are performing less than optimally, these governments tend to offer credible apologies in the same year to attenuate the potential labour disquiet and loss in production investment.’ Yap develops the concept of a credible apology as the joint occurrence of punishment of responsible actors or reparations to injured parties, and an increase in monitoring activity by non-government actors. She then presents evidence for South Korea for 1964–87 and Singapore and Malaysia for 1966–94 showing that, ceteris paribus, the tendency of production investment to decrease and strike activity to increase in years with high unemployment is offset if the government makes a credible apology.Yap is quite clear that she assumes a causal arrow running from poor economic performance to credible apologies. Indeed, such a causal relationship is necessary for the concept of accountability; the events that Yap classifies as credible apologies must be made in response to unsatisfactory economic performance in order for us to say that these governments are being held (or are holding themselves) accountable for the consequences of their policies.
Structure and Synthesis of Milk Fat. VI. Unity of the Phospholipids in Milk

Summary While recent findings have emphasized the complexity of milk phospholipids (P-lipids), as revealed by the classes present and their fatty acid compositions, results of this study indicate that these P-lipids occur in units of relatively homogeneous lipid composition. Disposition of the P-lipids was studied using cream separation, churning, and ultra-centrifugation to fractionate the lipids in milk. The classes of P-lipids present in the various milk fractions were revealed by thin-layer chromatography (TLC), and the fatty acid composition of total P-lipids in the fractions was determined by gas chromatography (GC). The results demonstrated the same classes of P-lipids (mainly cephalin, lecithin, and sphingomyelin) in similar proportions with much the same total fatty acid composition in milk, skimmilk, cream, and buttermilk. This unity also was detected in fractions derived by freezing and sawing tubes of milk or buttermilk that had been centrifuged in a manner (25,000× g for 6 hr) to yield differentiation of the P-lipids by sedimentation. In both milk and buttermilk the bulk of the P-lipids tended to deposit with a particle that settled mainly in the upper level of the casein layer. The evidence is consistent with the concept of a membrane of fairly homogeneous lipid composition in milk serum and on the surface of milk fat globules. Current evidence suggests that this membrane is derived at least in part from the cytoplasmic membrane in the apical region of the secreting cell. Some affinity of unsaturated lipids for protein phase was noted and may be relevant to lipid oxidation and enzymatic phenomena.
Changes in microglial activation within the hindbrain, nodose ganglia, and the spinal cord following subdiaphragmatic vagotomy

Damage to peripheral nerve branches triggers activation of microglia in CNS areas containing motor neuron soma and primary afferent terminals of the damaged fibers. Furthermore, microglial activation occurs in areas containing the soma and terminals of spared nerve branches of a damaged nerve. Because the abdominal viscera are innervated by spinal afferents as well as vagal afferents and efferents, we speculated that spinal nerves might respond like spared nerve branches following damage to vagal fibers. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that damage to the abdominal vagus would result in microglial activation in vagal structures-the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve (DMV), and nodose ganglia (NG)-as well as spinal cord (SC) segments that innervate the abdominal viscera. To test this hypothesis, rats underwent subdiaphragmatic vagotomy or sham surgery and were treated with saline or the microglial inhibitor, minocycline. Microglial activation was determined by quantifying changes in the intensity of fluorescent staining with a primary antibody against ionizing calcium adapter binding molecule 1 (Iba1). We found that subdiaphragmatic vagotomy significantly activated microglia in the NTS, DMV, and NG two weeks post-vagotomy. Microglial activation remained significantly increased in the NG and DMV for at least 42 days. Surprisingly, vagotomy significantly decreased microglial activation in the SC. Minocycline treatment attenuated microglial activation in all studied areas. Our results indicate that microglial activation in vagal structures following abdominal vagal damage is accompanied by suppression of microglial activation in associated areas of the spinal cord.
Flat amplitude and broad bandwidth multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser

A novel room-temperature multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser is proposed. In this laser, four-wave mixing (FWM) is used to mitigate mode competition, achieving stable room-temperature multi-wavelength operation. Active mode-locking is incorporated to enhance the FWM effect, improving the amplitude flattening and spectral bandwidth of the multi-wavelength output. Stable simultaneous 42 wavelength lasing operation with 0.55 nm wavelength spacing within the 3 dB spectral band is experimentally demonstrated.
Spontaneous adenomata of the hypophyseal anterior lobe in aged pinealectomized rats.

Es wurden Vorkommen und Eigenschaften des Hypophysenadenoma bei altersschwachen Ratten nach Pinealektomie beschrieben. Trotzdem in Tumoren zirbeldrusenloser Tiere grossere Parenchymbildung und grosserer Blutgehalt erscheinen, konnen die vorliegenden Ergebnisse keinen entscheidenden Unterschied bestatigen.
High-resolution time-resolved contrast-enhanced MR abdominal and pulmonary angiography using a spiral-TRICKS sequence.

Both high spatial resolution and high temporal resolution are desirable for contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA) in order to depict the arterial vasculature. In this work a fast MR pulse sequence (spiral time-resolved imaging with contrast kinetics (Spiral-TRICKS)) with spiral readout in-plane and Cartesian slice encoding was developed whereby the slices are partitioned into multiple regions and acquired in the order used with the TRICKS sequence. The combination of highly efficient spiral sampling with TRICKS acquisition significantly reduced imaging time requirements. A unit second temporal reconstructed frame rate could be achieved for three-dimensional (3D) CE-MRA without undersampling of the spiral trajectories. Image quality was improved through spiral trajectory measurement and field-map correction. Phantom and volunteer studies were performed to demonstrate the feasibility of this technique. Magn Reson Med, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Parallelizing constraint programs

The availability of commodity multicore and multiprocessor machines and the inherent parallelism in constraint programming search offer significant opportunities for constraint programming. Both constraint-based local search and finite-domain techniques can dramatically benefit from parallelization. Yet, currently available libraries and languages offer very limited support to exploit the inherent parallelism and the high human cost incurred to develop parallel solutions confine programmers to sequential implementation. The fundamental challenge boils down to: how to exploit parallelism transparently to speed up constraint programs. This talk shows how to parallelize constraint programs (both constraint-based local search and finite-domain programs) transparently with minimal changes to the code and illustrates all the ideas with the COMET platform.Constraint-Based local search programs written in COMET separate the specification of the constraints from the specification of the search and meta-heuristics. While multi-start search strategies, heterogeneous neighborhood structures and population based meta-heuristics offer a bounty of opportunities, the efficient parallel implementation is typically intrusive and requires significant changes to the models. The parallel linguistic extensions of COMET side step the issue and allow programmers to trivially move from a sequential to a parallel and possibly distributed implementation with minimal changes to their programs. Empirical results demonstrate that the parallel COMET program deliver excellent speedups for negligible investments.Constraint programs expressed with COMET adopt the mantra that search is the combination of a non-deterministic program and a search controller devoted to the management of the adopted search strategy. Automatic parallelization further exploits this separation to transparently capture, share, steal and execute sub problems in parallel. The techniques not only apply to multicore architectures but scale to distributed settings. Specifically, the technical contributions include new control primitives for parallel loops, pools of threads, asynchronous events and the systematic use of functional closures and continuations. Experimental results show that the parallel implementation often produces significant speedups on multi-core machines.
Engaging Ethnography: Student Engagement as a Means for Creating Change

Our communities, particularly the poor and minority, are experiencing the destructive effects of neoliberal policies. Such policies dismantle social safety nets, locate causes of poverty and criminality in individual bodies and neighborhoods, and foster the privatized “free” market as the solution to our society's problems. Although government, at all levels, abandons the social welfare agenda, individual residents and neighborhoods are forced to assume further responsibility for managing and improving immiserated conditions. Dedicated residents, student volunteers, and service agency workers provide the only stop-gap between “making ends meet” and destitution (Edin and Lein 1997). This paper is an account of a summer youth program developed by two anthropology students, as a result of their long-term, politically engaged ethnographic work among community residents, and children and staff at a recreation center located in an ethnically diverse but minority and low-income concentrated neighborhood. Incorporating the aspects of experiential education, service-learning, community development and applied anthropology, we endeavored to demonstrate that a politicized anthropology was capable of doing more than just documenting the effects of structural violence, the dif.culties experienced by marginalized populations, and the effectiveness of personal agency. Through engaged ethnography and collaboration we helped create new knowledge and applications that have been useful and valued by the community and other researchers at the University of South Florida.
Activation of mechanonociceptors by pro-inflammatory peptides melittin and PLAP peptide

Studies were conducted to characterize the chemical reactivity of A and C fiber mechanical and mechanoheat nociceptors that innervate the goat palatal mucosa. In mechanical nociceptors, no significant chemical reactivity to either serotonin, bradykinin, prostaglandin E1 or prostaglandin E2 was observed, regardless of whether substances were injected singly or in spaced sequential combinations. Weak reactivity was observed in mechanoheat nociceptors. In contrast, both mechanical and mechanoheat nociceptors were activated by novel proinflammatory peptides. Nineteen of 30 mechanonociceptors and 12 of 13 mechanoheat nociceptors were activated by the insect venom peptide, melittin or its endogenous mammalian homologue PLAP (phospholipase A2 activating protein) peptide. Low threshold mechanoreceptors were never activated by melittin or PLAP peptide.
Total Pancreactectomy with Islet Autotransplant Failure: Now What?

Total pancreatectomy with islet cell autotransplant (TPIAT) is a definitive therapeutic approach to pain management for patients with chronic pancreatitis that is non-responsive to maximum medical management. Total pancreatectomy (TP) results in brittle diabetes unless islet cell autotransplant (IAT) is concomitantly performed. Even with IAT, about 30 % of patients will require long-term basal-bolus insulin therapy due to significant endocrine insufficiency. The focus of this review is on the utility of whole organ pancreas transplantation toward improving quality of life, and decreasing the risk of mortality and overall cost of care for the subset of patients who experience endocrine and exocrine deficiency after pancreatic resection.
Restructuring Schools for Multicultural Education

A study of a 2-year staff development project in multicultural education that involved 30 teachers from 2 contiguous school districts is described. The discussion focuses on structural constraints ...
Field studies of French and Raven's bases of power: Critique, reanalysis, and suggestions for future research.

Among the most widely used conceptualizations of social power is the five-fold typology developed by French and Raven in 1959, and numerous field studies have used this conceptualization over the past few decades. Unfortunately, however, a majority of them suffer from severe methodological shortcomings that make their interpretation problematic at best. In this article, we discuss these problems and present a reanalysis of the literature, which strongly suggests that at least some of our knowledge about the five bases of power is methodologica lly suspect. Following this, we also present and discuss suggestions for improving future research in this domain. Social power and influence processes have occupied a central place in psychological theories over the past few decades, perhaps most notably in the areas of industrial/ organizational and social psychology. Undoubtedly, among the most popular and widely accepted conceptualizations of social power is the five-fold typology developed by French and Raven in 1959. In fact, despite recent criticisms that have been advanced against this conceptualization (e.g., Kipnis & Schmidt, 1983; Kipnis, Schmidt, & Wilkinson, 1980), the French and Raven typology is widely used. For example, a survey of the authors' bookshelves disclosed that it was included in every survey textbook in the areas of organizationa l behavior and social psychology! An examination of the research literature also discloses that numerous studies have used French and Raven's typology. However, only field studies seem to have used explicit and complete operationalizations of the French and Raven framework. Although experimental studies often mention the French and Raven power bases, such studies either investigate only a subset of the five power
NAD(P)H Bispecific nitrate reductase in barley leaves: Partial purification and characterization

Abstract A nitrate reductase was isolated from a barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) mutant ( nar la) deficient in NADH nitrate reductase (EC 1.6.6.1). The nitrate reductase from nar la exhibited activity with both NADH and NADPH as electron donors. The enzyme was purified 200 fold with a recovery of 49 %. Based upon kinetic, catalytic, and immunological characteristics the enzyme was determined to be a NAD(P)H bispecific nitrate reductase (EC 1.6.6.2) with an NADPH to NADH activity ratio of 1.8. The bispecific enzyme cross-reacted with antiserum raised against the NADH nitrate reductase from the wild type but with a much lower specificity than the NADH enzyme. The K m for nitrate of the NAD(P)H enzyme was 0.61 mM which was about five times greater than that of the NADH enzyme. The K m for NADPH and NADH of the bispecific enzyme were 10 μM and 68 μM, respectively, while the K m for NADH of the NADH enzyme was 10 μM. Unlike the NADH enzyme, the NAD(P)H bispecific enzyme was inhibited by dithionite and NADPH. These data support the conclusion that the nitrate reductase in the nar la mutant of barley is a single NAD(P)H bispecific enzyme.
Maximal caps in AG (6, 3)

We show that there are no complete 44-caps in AG(5, 3). We then use this result to prove that the maximal size for a cap in AG(6, 3) is equal to 112, and that the 112-caps in AG(6, 3) are unique up to affine equivalence.
Effect of soil layering on NAPL removal behavior in soil-heated vapor extraction

Abstract Soil heating has been proposed as a method to enhance the vapor extraction of NAPLs from contaminated soils. Three-dimensional fluid flow and heat transfer simulations have been performed for soil-heated vapor extraction to determine the transient system performance for a hypothetical configuration. Soil layering has been considered in evaluation of the initial non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) distribution and in evaporation and transport to the vapor extraction location. Results from this layered model are compared with results for a homogeneous system with an initially uniform NAPL, indicating the influence of layering, the initial NAPL distribution, the type of NAPL, and the possibility of enhanced vapor diffusion. Not only is the NAPL removal time reduced significantly with the addition of heat, but the uncertainty in the removal time owing to a number of difficult to characterize in situ factors, such as layering and the initial NAPL distribution, is much less than for standard soil vapor extraction without heating, owing to the rise in temperature and increase in NAPL vapor pressure with time.
A Job Analysis Exercise for an Undergraduate Industrial Psychology Class

A project requiring undergraduate students to do a job analysis is described. Students prepare job analyses and use them to develop other personnel procedures. Feedback from students has been positive. Recommendations for instructors are provided.
Adult Learning Theory and Reference Services: Consonances and Potentials

There is a long history of exchange between librarians and adult educators. This history not only points to previous successes but also highlights a tension of defining an appropriate focus within ...
What does/should the minimum clinically important difference measure? A reconsideration of its clinical value in evaluating efficacy of lumbar fusion surgery.

Objectives: The Minimum Clinical Important Difference (MCID) was initially intended to provide outcome measures that would be more clinically meaningful than measurements based simply on mean improvement in some outcomes. Indeed, a basic concept behind the MCID was that statistically significant differences in measures did not necessarily reflect clinically meaningful benefits. Methods: This study provides a review of the literature suggesting that the MCID metric is not being applied and interpreted in practice in a manner that realizes its potential. The MCID has often been used as a means of delineating whether patients are “feeling better.” This does not, though, necessarily indicate that they are “doing better” in terms of physical or socioeconomic functioning. Results: The imperfect correlation between “feeling” and “doing” better makes it difficult to interpret the clinical implications of articles using MCID measures, particularly in the lumbar spine fusion literature. Alternative and more scientifically rigorous approaches to the MCID are presented. Discussion: A call is made for a more comprehensive approach to synthesize a nearly decade’s worth of clinical research that has still not yielded consensus concerning the best MCID approach to objectively document lumbar spine fusion patients’ outcomes.
Thermodynamics of Nanoscale Lead Titanate and Barium Titanate Perovskites

To explore the surface properties of perovskites with ions of different bond character, the surface and interface enthalpies of nanocrystalline PbTiO 3 and BaTiO 3 perovskites were determined for the first time by a combination of calorimetric, morphological, and structural analyses. PbTiO 3 and BaTiO 3 nanocrystalline samples of varying surface areas and degrees of agglomeration were synthesized by solvothermal and hydrothermal methods, respectively. All synthesized samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Interface areas were estimated by comparing the surface areas measured by N 2 adsorption to the crystallite sizes refined from X-ray diffraction data. The integrated heats of water vapor adsorption on the surfaces of the nanocrystalline phases are −62 ± 4 kJ/mol for PbTiO 3, which is less exothermic than the value −72 ± 9 kJ/mol for the isostructural BaTiO 3, both phases having the same chemisorbed water coverage. Similar behavior is observed for the surface and interface enthalpies. The energies of the hydrous and anhydrous surfaces are 1.97 ± 0.67 J/m2 and 1.11 ± 0.23 J/m2 for PbTiO 3, and 3.69 ± 0.22 J/m2 and 3.99 ± 0.28 J/m2 for BaTiO 3, respectively. The interface energies of the hydrous and anhydrous surfaces are 0.55 ± 0.74 J/m2 and 0.73 ± 0.27 J/m2 for PbTiO 3, and 1.11 ± 0.13 J/m2 for BaTiO 3. These observations suggest that PbTiO 3 has lower surface energy and lower affinity for water adsorption on the surface than BaTiO 3 and that surface energy and hydrophilicity of the surface decrease with increasing covalent character of the ions, as was seen previously in comparing TiO 2 and SnO 2.
A Quadratic Facility Location Problem

Abstract This article treats the problem of locating multiple new facilities with respect to multiple existing facilities when there is an interchange of materials between new facilities and between new and existing ones. The “cost” of a solution to the location problem is given as a weighted sum of the square of the Euclidian distances traveled in the interchange of materials. Necessary and sufficient conditions for an optimum location are developed, resulting in the simultaneous solution of a set of linear equations in order to obtain the optimum location. The solution procedure is demonstrated with an example problem.
Architectural Reliability: Lifetime Reliability Characterization and Management ofMany-Core Processors

This paper presents a lifetime reliability characterization of many-core processors based on a full-system simulation of integrated microarchitecture, power, thermal, and reliability models. Under normal operating conditions, our model and analysis reveal that the mean-time-to-failure of cores on the die show normal distribution. From the processor-level perspective, the key insight is that reducing the variance of the distribution can improve lifetime reliability by avoiding early failures. Based on this understanding, we present two variance reduction techniques for proactive reliability management; i) proportional dynamic voltage-frequency scaling (DVFS) and ii) coordinated thread swapping. A major advantage of using variance reduction techniques is that the improvement of system lifetime reliability can be achieved without adding design margins or spare components.
Leakage of hexose phosphates from the maize scutellum

Abstract Maize seedlings were incubated at room temperature in the dark with their scutella immersed in fructose solutions. Hexose phosphates and sucrose leaked from these scutella when the root-shoot axes were removed and the scutella placed in water at 1°. Considerable quantities of mannose-6-phosphate (M6P) accumulated in the scutella during incubation of seedlings in mannose or mannose plus fructose solutions; M6P leaked from the scutellum only after removal of the root-shoot axis. During a 4-hr period at 1°, the leakage of newly synthesized sucrose was proportionately greater than the leakage of newly synthesized M6P. The leakage of hexose phosphates at 1° only after removal of the root-shoot axis is additional support for the contention that leakage takes place in a mass flow of solution which empties into the bathing solution through the cut ends of the phloem and which originates in the mesophyll parenchyma cells.
Imaging turbid media using sonoluminescence

Sonoluminescence, which was generated internally in the medium by cw acoustic wave, was used to image an object buried in turbid media in two dimensions. The image had a high contrast and spatial resolution of ~2-3 mm. The spatial resolution was limited by the focal-spot size of the acoustic wave, and one could improve the resolution by tightening the focus.
STAFFING PLAN SURVEY OF STATE TRANSPORTATION AGENCIES

A survey of state transportation agencies in the United States was conducted to identify staffing plan practices and concerns. A staffing plan involves recruiting, training, and retaining employees with skills to do the work needed for the organization to attain its objectives efficiently. Staffing plan areas studied in the survey included general information about the state transportation agency, such as the strategic plan and staffing plans, recruitment, right-sized workforce (determining the right number of employees to perform a job), flexible workforce (the ability to change the work performed and the work location), retention (keeping valuable employees), and succession planning (ensuring a qualified pool of employees for key positions). All 50 states participated in the survey. Responses indicated that most state transportation agencies have at least one primary area in human resource management that they consider innovative and that there is a broad-based interest among the states to cooperate in exploring new and better methods. The highest staffing plan priorities among state transportation agencies are employee recruitment, performance measures, and employee retention. State staffing plan priorities, current innovation in these areas, and strong interest in cooperating with other states provide a basis for broad-based improvement in staffing plans among the states and across the nation.
Thinking about Fashion Models' Looks: A Multidimensional Approach to the Structure of Perceived Physical Attractiveness

A functional framework for the perception of female physical attractiveness suggests that, at the least, perceivers should differentiate sexual (sexy), youthful, nonsexual (cute), and up-to-date clothed and groomed (trendy) dimensions. Further, it was hypothesized that these content-specific varieties of good looks would covary with physical features (the stimulus cues used by perceivers to decode particular attractiveness continua) and also with psychological inferences (the stereotypic expectations linked to each appearance dimension). Using 96 photographs of female professional fashion models as stimuli, a free-sorting method coupled with a multidimensional scaling analysis provided support for both of these expectations. Also, the results suggest areas of both convergence and divergence in how college student males and females view physical attractiveness in women.
Toxicity identification of poultry litter aqueous leachate

Abstract Poultry litter is a mixture of excreta, feed, feathers, and bedding material. Poultry litter is useful as a fertilizer due to the presence of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Litter is commonly used for growing corn, soybeans, potatoes, tomatoes, leafy vegetables, and cover crops. The aqueous leachate of poultry litter has been shown to exhibit toxicity to a variety of indicator organisms. The objective of this research was to identify classes of toxicants in the litter aqueous leachate. The aqueous extract of poultry litter was subjected to toxicity identification tests approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency that use Ceriodaphnia dubia as the test organism. Tests performed included pH adjustment, filtration, aeration, C18 solid-phase extraction, EDTA addition, sodium thiosulfate addition, and extraction through zeolite. Zeolite extraction, filtration at low pH, and aeration at low pH reduced overall toxicity by 68, 20, and 22%, respectively. The major sources of toxicity appear to be ammonia and anionic organic compounds. Toxicity was apparently not due to the presence of heavy metals or oxidants.
Nursing Shortage Redux: Turning The Corner On An Enduring Problem

Projections of a substantial nursing workforce imbalance in the coming decade have galvanized policymakers, providers, private foundations, nurses, and others to proffer aggressive and sustainable strategies to ameliorate the looming shortage. The solutions are largely ones that seek to increase supply. Analysis of the 1992–2000 National Sample Surveys of Registered Nurses shows that increasing losses from the active workforce, stagnant wages, and low levels of job satisfaction pose major impediments to bolstering supply. Strategies focused on working conditions and retention should occupy a central position in any nursing workforce revitalization plan.
Amino acid conjugates as κ opioid receptor agonists

Abstract A novel series of kappa (κ) opioid receptor agonists were synthesized by incorporating the key structural features of known κ opioid agonists while replacing the aryl acetamide portion with substituted amino acid conjugates. Compounds 3j (Ki = 6.7 nM), 3k (Ki = 3.6 nM), 3l (Ki = 4.6 nM), 3m (Ki = 0.83 nM) and 3o (Ki = 2 nM) possessed potent affinities for the κ opioid receptor in vitro with reasonable selectivity over other opioid receptors.
Phase Transition from a Liquid Expanded to a Liquid Condensed Surfactant Monolayer

Liquid monolayers of insoluble surfactants at the air/water interface are treated as a two-dimensional solution made up of molecules with disordered chains and clusters of molecules with ordered chains. The Flory−Huggins equation is used to calculate the activities of the species. On this basis, the phase transition from the liquid expanded to the liquid condensed state is predicted. Depending on the value of the interaction parameter between disordered and ordered molecules and the extent of clustering, the theoretical π−A isotherms exhibit either a first-order phase transition or a nonhorizontal, second-order, phase transition. For the tetradecanoic, pentadecanoic, hexadecanoic, and heptadecanoic fatty acids, the theoretical π−A isotherms are in agreement with experimental data. It should be emphasized that the theory is predictive since all the parameters are calculated on the basis of the molecular structure.
The defensive role of Ni hyperaccumulation by plants: a field experiment

Hyperaccumulation of Ni by plants is hypothesized to function as an elemental defense against herbivores and pathogens. Laboratory experiments have documented toxic effects to herbivores consuming high-Ni plant tissues, but this paper reports the first experiment to examine the defensive effectiveness of Ni hyperaccumulation under field conditions. The experiment was conducted at an ultramafic soil site naturally inhabited by the Ni hyperaccumulator Streptanthus polygaloides (Brassicaceae). Experimental treatments examined the response of herbivores to hyperaccumulated Ni, using exclosure and insecticide treatments to divide herbivores into groups based primarily upon herbivore size. Three soils (Ni-amended greenhouse soil, unamended greenhouse soil, ultramafic soil), three exclosure treatments (exclosure, control exclosure, no exclosure), and a systemic insecticide treatment were combined in a fractional factorial experimental design. Streptanthus polygaloides plants were grown in a greenhouse for 2 mo, transplanted into the field by inserting potted plants into holes dug on the experimental site, and periodically examined for herbivore damage during a 41-d period. Initial surveys showed greater amounts of insect damage to plants with low tissue Ni levels, confirming the defensive effect of Ni against some insect herbivores, but large herbivores (probably vertebrates) later consumed entire plants regardless of plant Ni status. We concluded that Ni was not an effective defense against these large herbivores, probably because their diets mix high-Ni S. polygaloides foliage with that of associated non-hyperaccumulating species. We suggest that such dietary dilution is one mechanism whereby some herbivores can circumvent elemental plant defenses.
Allogeneic stem cell transplantation for aplastic anemia.

Abstract Aplastic anemia encompasses a heterogeneous group of diseases with distinct pathophysiologies and a common clinical endpoint of marrow failure. Patients with severe aplastic anemia can be treated with immunosuppressive therapy (IST) or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Over the last 30 years, advances in both treatment modalities have significantly improved the prognosis for this disease; yet this evolution complicates the central therapeutic question in aplastic anemia: which patients should receive IST and which ones should receive HSCT as front-line therapy? In this review, we describe the major improvements that have occurred in transplantation for aplastic anemia in the last 3 decades. We then outline a framework for deciding which patients should be considered for upfront transplantation.
Globalization and the increase in transnational care work: The flip side

Abstract I argue that to understand the reality of who is (or is not) accessing care globally, we must examine the flip side of the flows of women migrating transnationally to perform caring labor. The flip side includes the levels of care the migrants experience and that attained by their families in their absence. Most migrants endure a care deficit, working in physically and emotionally stressful situations where they encounter many forms of discrimination. Their families may be better off economically, but not emotionally. I examine the role of the state, pointing out that many governments face a double bind—needing women to migrate for economic reasons but not wanting citizens abused abroad or the accompanying adverse publicity. I critique several government responses to this dilemma and conclude by assessing recent international initiatives to address migration problems, suggesting they lack perspective on how globalization influences women's migration.
Fatty acid effects on membranes: possible role in the pathogenesis of ischemic myocardial damage.

Fatty acids and their derivatives, which accumulate in the ischemic myocardium, represent amphiphilic compounds that can affect the function of a number of membrane-associated proteins. We studied the effects of the C16-and C18-saturated (palmitic and stearic), Δ9 cis-unsaturated (palmitoleic and oleic) fatty acids and palmityl carnitine (C16-saturated carnitine ester) on calcium transport by sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles isolated from rabbit fast skeletal muscle. In the presence of phosphate all four fatty acids inhibited initial calcium uptake velocity. However, in the absence of phosphate, palmitic and stearic acids enhanced calcium sequestration whereas palmitoleic acid, oleic acid and palmityl carnitine had the opposite effect. Palmitic acid could partially overcome the inhibitory effects of palmityl carnitine. These findings indicate that the response of the sarcoplasmic reticulum to long chain fatty acids and their derivatives is influenced by the degree of the fatty acid aliphatic chain saturation, the presence of additional functional groups, and the state of the sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium pump. The pathophysiological significance of these findings remains uncertain, but alterations in membrane function caused by the accumulation of endogenous fatty acid compounds represents a possible mechanism to explain some of the functional changes observed in the ischemic heart.
Radical pair dynamics observed with pulse-mode product-yield-detected ESR

Three pulse sequences have been employed for laser and microwave-pulse irradiation in the pulse mode product-yield-detected ESR technique to detect the dynamical feature of transient radical pair. In this method, the decrease in spin adduct yield as functions of delay times for irradiation/termination of the microwave pulse after the laser pulse are simulated with the Runge-Kutta method for a detailed reaction model to obtain the rate constants of cage product formation, escape of the radical pair, as well as the hydrogen abstraction reaction. As the representative reaction systems, photoreduction of anthraquinone, anthraquinone-2-sulfonate, and benzophenone in SDS micellar solution were employed. Effects of cyclohexene, added as a hydrogen donor, NaCl and Ethanol, added to change the microviscosity of micelle, on these reaction rate constants have been tested.
Light Microscopy of the Structure of a Gel

Abstract The fibrous network of those agarose gels typically used for electrophoresis is too fine to observe by light microscopy. In the present study, light microscopy, apparently for the first time, reveals the fibrous network of an agarose gel that has a micrometer-scale fibrous network. The agarose used is a derivatized, irradiated agarose previously shown by electron microscopy to have the following characteristic: When a 1.5% gel is cast at 30°C, but not at 10°C, fibrous bundles of agarose chains partition to form wider fibers that, in turn, form a network that has micrometer-sized and larger pores. When observed by phase-contrast light microscopy, gels cast at 30°C have a clearly defined fibrous network not present for gels cast at 0°C. The temperature-dependence of the network observed by light microscopy indicates that this network is the same as the micrometer-scale network observed by electron microscopy. For the network observed by light microscopy, the mean chord length varies inversely with the agarose concentration. The least concentrated gel observed had a concentration of 0.3%. Slight pressure on a 0.4% gel caused microfracture of the gel, thereby producing pores of a dimension between 5 and 50 μm. These pores, freely permeable to latex spheres, will be useful for determining the hydrodynamic damping of intrapore, single-particle motion by gel fibers.
Let's hang up and try again: lessons learned from a social support intervention.

Theorists and researchers have spent some 15 years trying to better understand social support. A great deal of progress has been made in the assessment of support resources, behavior, and appraisals, in conceptualizing the support process, and in understanding how support might influence well-being. Community psychologists, in particular, have sought this knowledge as a basis for social intervention. The point has been reached where research and theory, though still incomplete, can inform intervention. Indeed, intervention programs are likely to make a unique contribution to our understanding.
Monitoring building door events using barometer sensor in smartphones

Building security systems are commonly deployed to detect intrusion and burglary in home and business structures. Such systems can accurately detect door open/close events, but their high-cost of installation and maintenance makes them unsuitable for certain building monitoring applications, such as times of high/low entrance traffic, estimating building occupancy, etc. In this paper, we show that barometer sensors found in latest smartphones can directly detect the building door open/close events anywhere inside an insulated building. The sudden pressure change observed by barometers is sufficient to detect events even in presence of user mobility (e.g. climbing stairs). We study various characteristics of the pressure variation due to door events, and demonstrate that door open/close events can be recognized with an accuracy range of 99.34% -- 99.81% based on the data collected from 3 different buildings. Such a low-cost ubiquitous solution of door event detection enables many monitoring applications without any infrastructure integration, and it can also work as an augmentation to the existing expensive security systems.
Formal requirements of Markov state models for paired associate learning

Abstract Discrete state learning models that make Markov assumptions are a powerful tool for the analysis and optimization of performance in paired associate tasks. We seek here to derive bounds on the complexity needed by such models in order to account for the critical effects of lag and retention intervals on paired associate learning. More specifically, after establishing that two different Markov chains are needed (one for describing the effects of trials where a paired associate is presented and one for describing the effects of trials where the paired associate is not presented), we determine the minimum number of states required in a Markov model with two chains. It is shown formally that, under certain psychologically plausible assumptions, more than three states are required. A model with two chains and four states is presented and it is shown empirically that it can account for the lag and retention effects in paired associate learning.