cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Upregulation of N-acetylaspartic acid resulting nitric oxide toxicity induces aspartoacylase mutations and protein interaction to cause pathophysiology seen in Canavan disease.

Summary Aspartoacylase (ASPA) converts N-acetylaspartic acid into aspartate and acetate. In Canavan disease (CD), N-acetylaspartic acid (NAA) is found to be increased and over 65 mutations including IVS4+1 G→T, deletion of introns and exons have been reported in the ASPA gene. These changes lead to severe form or mild form of CD. The present study was aimed to understand mechanism in the cause of mutations in ASPA and pathophysiology seen in patients with CD. We have reported that elevated levels of NAA induce inducible nitric oxide (iNOS) to produce nitric oxide toxicity in CD. Nitric oxide toxicity has been shown to induce several mutations including base change G→T and deletion and enhances protein interaction in several genes. Therefore we hypothesize that upregulation of NAA stimulates NOS and the resulting nitric oxide toxicity induces ASPA mutations and protein interaction to result pathophysiological abnormalities seen in patients with CD.
Diabetes and Hemochromatosis

The common form of hereditary hemochromatosis is an autosomal recessive disorder most prevalent in Caucasians that results in excessive iron storage. The clinical manifestations of hemochromatosis are protean. HFE genotype, which determines the degree of iron overload and duration of disease have profound effects on disease expression. The prevalence of diabetes in this population has likely been underestimated because of studies that include a broad range of ethnicities and associating diabetes with allele frequency in spite of the decreased risk of diabetes in heterozygotes compared with homozygotes. Loss of insulin secretory capacity is likely the primary defect contributing to development of diabetes with insulin resistance playing a secondary role. Phlebotomy can ameliorate the defects in insulin secretion if initiated early. Screening a select population of individuals with type 2 diabetes may identify patients with hemochromatosis early and substantially impact individual clinical outcomes.
Auditor-Provided Tax Services and Income Tax Estimation Error

This paper tests whether auditor-provided tax services (APTS) affect estimation error in income tax expense. A decrease (increase) in tax expense estimation error is consistent with knowledge spillover (reduced professional skepticism) from one accounting firm providing both audit and tax services. We find that estimation error in the tax account is nearly 10 percent greater for firms that purchase a material amount of APTS, consistent with reduced professional skepticism. These results are robust to a variety of methods to address endogeneity concerns. We examine two alternative explanations for reduced professional skepticism and find evidence consistent with in-group identification, not economic bonding. In-group identification is a cognitive bias that leads one to establish a higher threshold for questioning work performed by people from one’s group relative to work performed by outsiders. In an APTS setting, in-group identification leads auditors to view tax work performed by professionals from their accounting firm with less skepticism than tax work performed by professionals outside their firm. Our findings provide new evidence of how APTS affects income tax expense estimation error and informs recent US and EU legislative initiatives that question whether APTS should continue to be permitted.
Inhibition of HIV-1 infection by a unique short hairpin RNA to chemokine receptor 5 delivered into macrophages through hematopoietic progenitor cell transduction.

Background We recently expressed a potent and noncytotoxic short hairpin (sh)RNA directed against chemokine (c-c motif) receptor 5 (CCR5) using lentiviral mediated transduction of CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) and demonstrated the stable reduction of CCR5 expression in T-lymphocytes. Methods In the present study, we further assessed the activity of the shRNA through HPC transduction and differentiation into macrophages derived from fetal liver CD34+ (FL-CD34+) HPCs. Transduced lentiviral vector encoding the human CCR5 shRNA was stably maintained in FL-CD34+ cells and in the terminally differentiated macrophages using macrophage colony-stimulating factor, granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor, interleukin-3 and stem cell factor. Results Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction for CCR5 mRNA indicated over 90% reduction of CCR5 mRNA levels in CCR5 shRNA-transduced population. The cells with knockdown of CCR5 expression acquired resistance to R5 tropic HIV-1 NFN-SX strain. We also developed a novel approach utilizing a mCherry-CCR5 chimeric reporter to assess the effectiveness of CCR5 target down-regulation in macrophages directly. Both the shRNA and the reporter were maintained throughout HPC differentiation to macrophages without apparent cytotoxicity. Conclusions The present study demonstrates a novel method to simply and directly assess the function of small interfering RNA and the effective inhibition of HIV-1 infection by a potential potent shRNA to CCR5 delivered into macrophages derived from HPCs. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Intrinsic Optical Signal Imaging of Retinal Function

Intrinsic optical signal (IOS) differentiation of wild-type and mutant mouse retinas was demonstrated ex vivo. A rapid line-scan confocal ophthalmoscope was constructed to validate functional IOS mapping of laser-injured frog eyes in vivo.
Optimization and Implementation of Impedance-Matched True-Time-Delay Phase Shifters on Quartz Substrate

In this paper, design equations for true-time-delay microelectromechanical (MEM) phase shifters comprised of impedance-matched slow-wave unit cells are presented. The input to these equations requires only the specification of the maximum frequency of operation (fmax) and substrate dielectric constant (epsi r). The basis of the design methodology is to maximize the phase shift versus insertion loss performance. Experimental data for three 1-bit devices that are 11.44-mm long (fmax=12 GHz), 4.6-mm long (fmax=50 GHz), and 3.12-mm long (fmax=110 GHz) shows a maximum phase deviation of 3% compared to predicted performance, with S11 less than -19 dB from 1 to 110 GHz. The worst case insertion loss is 0.9 dB for fmax=12 GHz, 1.16 dB for fmax=50 GHz, and 2.65 dB for fmax=110 GHz. The MEM beams are actuated using high-resistance SiCr bias lines with typical actuation voltage around 30-45 V
Comparative Analysis of Single- and Dual-Media Thermocline Tanks for Thermal Energy Storage in Concentrating Solar Power Plants

A molten-salt thermocline tank is a low-cost option for thermal energy storage (TES) in concentrating solar power (CSP) plants. Typical dual-media thermocline (DMT) tanks contain molten salt and a filler material that provides sensible heat capacity at reduced cost. However, conventional quartzite rock filler introduces the potential for thermomechanical failure by successive thermal ratcheting of the tank wall under cyclical operation. To avoid this potential mode of failure, the tank may be operated as a singlemedium thermocline (SMT) tank containing solely molten salt. However, in the absence of filler material to dampen tank-scale convection eddies, internal mixing can reduce the quality of the stored thermal energy. To assess the relative merits of these two approaches, the operation of DMT and SMT tanks is simulated under different periodic charge/discharge cycles and tank wall boundary conditions to compare the performance with and without a filler material. For all conditions assessed, both thermocline tank designs have excellent thermal storage performance, although marginally higher firstand second-law efficiencies are predicted for the SMT tank. While heat loss through the tank wall to the ambient induces internal flow nonuniformities in the SMT design over the scale of the entire tank, strong stratification maintains separation of the hot and cold regions by a narrow thermocline; thermocline growth is limited by the low thermal diffusivity of the molten salt. Heat transport and flow phenomena inside the DMT tank, on the other hand, are governed to a great extent by thermal diffusion, which causes elongation of the thermocline. Both tanks are highly resistant to performance loss over periods of static operation, and the deleterious effects of dwell time are limited in both tank designs. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4029453]
Multiple human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Nef functions contribute to efficient replication in primary human macrophages.

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Nef protein has been shown to accelerate viral growth kinetics in primary human T-lymphocytes and macrophages; however, the specific function(s) of Nef responsible for this phenotype in macrophages is unknown. To address this issue, mutants of a molecularly cloned macrophage-tropic isolate, HIV-1SF162, were generated expressing single point mutations that abrogate the ability of Nef to interact with cellular kinases or mediate CD4 down-regulation. Infection of primary monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) with these mutant viruses revealed that residues in the PXXP motif contribute to efficient replication. Interestingly, viruses expressing alleles of Nef defective in CD4 down-modulation activity retain wild-type levels of infectivity in single-round assays but exhibited delayed replication kinetics and grew to lower titres compared to the wild-type virus in MDM. These data suggest that efficient HIV-1 replication is dependent on the ability of Nef to interact with cellular kinases and remove CD4 from the surface of infected macrophages.
Integrated optical functionalities featuring bi-periodic photonic crystals

The results of a study on bi-periodic photonic crystal structures are presented. We show that not only straight waveguides, but also other optical functionalities can show significantly better performances, when bi-periodicity is introduced.
Optimal alignment of geometric models for comparison

Optimization methods are used to align geometric representations of surfaces extracted from computed tomography (CT) scan data. The development of a metric to obtain superposition of models for comparative analysis is described in detail. The resulting optimization/analysis method is applied to evaluate quantification of bone malformation and the positioning of a prosthetic device. The alignment procedure presented allows data from multiple sources to be compared without special protocols being established for subject positioning. Geometric models that share some segment of homologous structure can be positioned with the given distance metric. The optimization/analysis method is demonstrated in various surface positioning problems to emphasize generality. The presented distance metric can be extended to quantify bone-implant fit. >
Gas bubble transport and emissions for shallow peat from a northern peatland: the role of pressure changes and peat structure.

Gas bubbles are an important pathway for methane release from peatlands. The mechanisms controlling gas bubble transport and emissions in peat remain uncertain. The effects of hydrostatic pressure and peat structure on the dynamics of gas bubbles in shallow peat were therefore tested in laboratory experiments. A peat monolith was retrieved from a raised bog and maintained in a saturated state. Three distinct layers were identified from noninvasive permittivity measurements supported by soil physical properties (porosity, bulk density). Phase I of the experiment involved monitoring for the accumulation of gas bubbles under steady pressure and temperature conditions. The data showed evidence for gas bubbles being impeded by a shallow semiconfining layer at depths between 10 and 15 cm. Visible gas bubbles observed on the side of the sample box were recorded over time to estimate changes in the vertical distribution of volumetric gas content. Porosity estimates derived using the Complex Refraction Index Model (CRIM) suggest that gas bubbles enlarge the pore space when the exerted pressure is high enough. Phase II involved triggering release of trapped bubbles by repeatedly increasing and decreasing hydrostatic pressure in an oversaturated condition. Comparison of changes in pressure head and methane density in the head space confirmed that the increasing buoyancy force during drops in pressure is more important for triggering ebullition than increasing mobility during increases in pressure. Our findings demonstrate the importance of changes in hydrostatic pressure on bubble size and variations in resistance of the peat fabric in regulating methane releases from peatlands.
Supply voltage strategies for minimizing the power of CMOS processors

This paper presents a dual supply voltage strategy for reduction of the total (static and dynamic) power of high performance CMOS processors. By expressing CMOS delay, static power, and dynamic power in terms of the power supply voltage V/sub DD/ and threshold voltage V/sub T/, an optimization procedure that takes the circuit activity factor into account is performed to find the V/sub DD/ and V/sub T/ for minimum total power at given performance levels. It is shown that 50% power reduction or 20% performance enhancement can be attained by adopting both a low (0.5 V) supply voltage for high-activity circuits and a high (1.2 V) supply voltage for low-activity circuits in a 100 nm-node CMOS technology.
Android (centralized) obesity and somatotypes in men: association with mesomorphy

The relationship between body fat distribution patterns and somatotype among 824 men was sought from Sheldon, Dupertuis and MacDermott's Atlas of Men (1954). The men were classified photoscopically into obese, overweight and normal weight classes and then into android (central), intermediate and gynoid (generalized) classes of body fat patterning independently and blindly by two observers. Android fat men were found by both observers to be older and more often classed as obese than gynoid fat men. The android obese were significantly more mesomorphic and less endomorphic than the gynoid obese (P less than 0.01). Results suggest that android obesity involves more than an upper body distribution of subcutaneous fat: it is a deep body obesity involving excess lean body mass as well.
Top ten fundamental challenges of biomass pyrolysis for biofuels.

Pyrolytic biofuels have technical advantages over conventional biological conversion processes since the entire plant can be used as the feedstock (rather than only simple sugars) and the conversion process occurs in only a few seconds (rather than hours or days). Despite decades of study, the fundamental science of biomass pyrolysis is still lacking and detailed models capable of describing the chemistry and transport in real-world reactors is unavailable. Developing these descriptions is a challenge because of the complexity of feedstocks and the multiphase nature of the conversion process. Here, we identify ten fundamental research challenges that, if overcome, would facilitate commercialization of pyrolytic biofuels. In particular, developing fundamental descriptions for condensed-phase pyrolysis chemistry (i.e., elementary reaction mechanisms) are needed since they would allow for accurate process optimization as well as feedstock flexibility, both of which are critical to any modern high-throughput process. Despite the benefits to pyrolysis commercialization, detailed chemical mechanisms are not available today, even for major products such as levoglucosan and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Additionally, accurate estimates for heat and mass transfer parameters (e.g., thermal conductivity, diffusivity) are lacking despite the fact that biomass conversion in commercial pyrolysis reactors is controlled by transport. Finally, we examine methods for improving pyrolysis particle models, which connect fundamental chemical and transport descriptions to real-world pyrolysis reactors. Each of the ten challenges is presented with a brief review of relevant literature followed by future directions which can ultimately lead to technological breakthroughs that would facilitate commercialization of pyrolytic biofuels.
The emergence of segmental accuracy in young cochlear implant recipients

In the first steps toward intelligible speech, children must match sounds they can produce with salient word targets from their environment. Differences in auditory history between normal-hearing children (NH) and children receiving cochlear implants (CI) before the age of 24 months afford examination of the production system and auditory perceptual effects on the emergence of early segmental accuracy. Consonant and vowel inventories, accuracy and error patterns during the single-word period were examined in four NH and four CI children. NH and CI groups differed significantly on consonant accuracy, shifting from omissions to correct productions. Vowel productions improved from partially correct to correct. Both groups improved over time and showed similar patterns for segmental accuracy. Results suggest resilience of the production system to differences in auditory history. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Respiratory motor responses to cranial nerve afferent stimulation in rats

It was hypothesized that, because rats appear to lack a prominent disynaptic projection from the dorsal respiratory group to phrenic motoneurons (Phr), they would lack the short-latency excitation of Phr output seen in cats in response to stimulation of some cranial nerve afferents. Single-pulse superior laryngeal nerve (SLN) stimulation elicited a short-latency bilateral excitation of glossopharyngeal (IX) and hypoglossal (XII) nerves and an ipsilateral excitation of pharyngeal branch of vagus (PhX) in 67% of rats, but no excitation of Phr. Vagus (X) stimulation elicited a bilateral excitation of Phr and a predominantly ipsilateral excitation of IX and PhX. Single-pulse stimulation of SLN or X also elicited longer-latency, bilateral decreases in activity of all recorded nerves. Repetitive stimulation (50 Hz) of SLN or X suppressed inspiratory activity and prolonged expiration. Lung inflation (7.5 cmH2O) inhibited Phr and PhX activity; X stimulation inhibited Phr but prolonged PhX activity. In conclusion, rats predictably lack the SLN-induced short latency Phr excitation but exhibit other short latency reflexes for which the underlying circuitry is not clear.
Clustering dynamic spatio-temporal patterns in the presence of noise and missing data

Clustering has gained widespread use, especially for static data. However, the rapid growth of spatio-temporal data from numerous instruments, such as earth-orbiting satellites, has created a need for spatio-temporal clustering methods to extract and monitor dynamic clusters. Dynamic spatio-temporal clustering faces two major challenges: First, the clusters are dynamic and may change in size, shape, and statistical properties over time. Second, numerous spatio-temporal data are incomplete, noisy, heterogeneous, and highly variable (over space and time). We propose a new spatio-temporal data mining paradigm, to autonomously identify dynamic spatio-temporal clusters in the presence of noise and missing data. Our proposed approach is more robust than traditional clustering and image segmentation techniques in the case of dynamic patterns, non-stationary, heterogeneity, and missing data. We demonstrate our method's performance on a real-world application of monitoring in-land water bodies on a global scale.
Mechanical Control of White Grubs (Coleoptera: Scarabidae) in Turfgrass Using Aerators

We used the spatial distribution of white grubs in 100 observations to simulate, in a computer program, the potential mortality caused by 221 different hole patterns of commercial turfgrass aerators. Hole patterns arranged in a distribution (5.08-cm × 5.08-cm) with tine diameters of 2.54 and 1.90 cm were able to produce a grub mortality of > 40%. The efficiency of these designs; as measured by the overall percentage of mortality under moderate and light grub infestation was considerably high. The results also show that the percentage area made by aerator holes is not directly proportional to mortality; the distribution of holes is as important as the area affected by them. The use of turfgrass aerators with appropriate hole patterns can reduce subterranean pest populations to manageable levels and should be considered in integrated pest management programs
Abstract 607: Restoration of p53 pathway signaling and apoptotic induction by prodigiosin and its structurally-related compound (NSC247562) in p53-deficient human colon carcinoma cells

Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL p53 deficiency occurs commonly in human tumors, and contributes to radio- and chemo-resistance as well as an aggressive phenotype. It is believed that specific restoration of p53 will be beneficial in the treatment of aggressive or resistant tumors. Using a p53 mutant cell line (SW480) stably integrated p53-responsive reporter, we sought to identify small molecules with p53 rescue activity by screening of the NCI drug library. We found prodigiosin and its structurally related compound (NSC247562) can activate p53-dependent transcriptional activity in SW480, DLD1 as well as HCT116 p53−/− colon tumor cells. The induction of p53-dependent transcriptional activity by prodigiosin and its related compound (NSC247562) is stronger than that induced by CP31398 or ellipticine, which were previously reported as p53 function-restoring drugs. Furthermore, prodigiosin and its related compound (NSC247562) are found to induce the expression of p53 target genes (p21, Puma, DR5 and DR4) in mutant-p53 containing or p53-null human colon cancer cells. The restoration of p53 transcriptional activity by prodigiosin and its related compound (NSC247562) is accompanied by apoptotic induction as indicated by an increase of sub-G1 population and PARP cleavage. More importantly, prodigiosin and its related compound (NSC247562) induced tumor cell death, but have little or no detectable cytotoxicity towards normal human fibroblasts. Thus prodigiosin and its related compound may serve as promising compounds for the development of anticancer drugs which rescue p53 activity and induce cell death. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 607. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-607
Ventricular enlargement for underdeveloped right ventricle and associated anomalies

An operation to enlarge the right ventricular cavity by placing a two-layer patch in the outflow of the right ventricle was evaluated in 9 puppies and 2 adult dogs. Autologous pericardium and Dacron fabric were sutured to the endocardium and epicardium, respectively, with a space left between. During follow-up to 22 months, right ventricle maximum pressure response was evaluated on acute pulmonary occlusion, angiography, treadmill exercise, and pathology. Postoperative hemodynamics were considered excellent, although residual dye in the right ventricle after each beat was seen on angiography. All animals completed the exercise tests without difficulty. The right ventricle pressure responses were the same in the study dogs as in the 4 normal control dogs. Shrinkage of the pericardial patch was notable, and inflow and outflow epicardial Dacron patches decreased in area by 40 and 12 per cent, respectively. Inflow patches showed greater inflammatory responses histologically. This study indicated that this operation is applicable without a gross disturbance in right ventricular function.
Revolution in the Garbage Dump: The Political and Economic Foundations of the Colombian Recycler Movement, 1986-2011

Flouting 150 years of reports on their political impotence, millions of informal workers have recently begun mobilizing for labor rights. What provoked this unexpected development? This article analyzes the Colombian informal recycler movement—a “least likely” case for successful mobilization due to the recyclers’ extreme marginality and the Colombian state’s violent repression of labor movements. The article argues that the rise of neoliberalism and the consolidation of democracy created political opportunities that conventional perspectives on the informal economy would not lead us to expect. Three specific links connected these macro-level transformations to increases in the recyclers’ collective organizing capacity. First, technical, financial, and symbolic backing from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) enabled recyclers to develop innovative organizing models. Second, new human rights provisions contained in the Constitution of 1991 created an opening to challenge state policy. Third, the privatization of waste management spurred recyclers to action by leaving them with two clear-cut possibilities: waste corporations might permanently displace them, or recyclers might collectively organize to protect and improve their livelihoods.
Altered Expression of ARP2/3 Complex Signaling Pathway Genes in Prefrontal Layer 3 Pyramidal Cells in Schizophrenia.

Objective:Lower dendritic spine density on layer 3 pyramidal cells in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) appears to contribute to cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia, whereas psychosis is associated with excessive dopamine release in the striatum. These findings may be related via excitatory projections from the DLPFC to the ventral mesencephalon, the location of dopamine cells projecting to the striatum. Consistent with this hypothesis, deletion of the actin-related protein-2/3 (ARP2/3) complex, which regulates the actin cytoskeleton supporting dendritic spines, produced spine loss in cortical pyramidal cells and striatal hyperdopaminergia in mice. The authors sought to determine whether the ARP2/3 complex is altered in schizophrenia.Method:In matched pairs of schizophrenia and comparison subjects, transcript levels of ARP2/3 complex signaling pathway were assessed in laser-microdissected DLPFC layer 3 and 5 pyramidal cells and layer 3 parvalbumin interneurons, and in total DLPFC gray matter.R...
Comparing internal and external interoperability of digital infrastructures

This research study compares the internal and external interoperability of digital infrastructures across two cyberinfrastructure organizations. Internal interoperability refers to the work that goes into developing seamless relations to align people and resources for a CI provision whereas external interoperability refers to the linkages the CI provision makes to the larger institutional ecology of science. The case study is designed to look at the governance of digital infrastructures to understand policy decisions in relation to three institutional aspects of science: funding, publication norms, and training and professionalization. Initial findings suggest that internal interoperability is similar for both digital infrastructures whereas external interoperability differs and is shaped by the domain of science that is stewarding the development of the provision. The study concludes by suggesting that linking digital infrastructure development to the components of science practice may be a starting point to understand how they become embedded (or not) in scientific work.
Telling stories: performing authenticity in the confessional art of Tracey Emin

AbstractThe expressionist art of Tracey Emin is often labeled as confessional because of its intimate subject matter, which draws on the artist’s personal experiences of sexual abuse, erotic escapades, pregnancies, and abortions. Combined with Emin’s unrefined esthetic, such as her hand-written text or her sloppily-styled installations, seemingly autobiographical details emerge with a powerful sense of immediacy and work to establish an ostensibly authentic tone. But for all of its implications of veracity, how far does Emin’s confessional art disclose any truth? By analyzing parts of it through the classical figure of Penelope as well as the theories of Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, I argue that the art of Tracey Emin reflects a complex notion of authenticity, one that is entangled with performance and which exposes that confessional truth-telling can be, and often is, a form of storytelling.
Sustained sensitizing effects of tumor necrosis factor alpha on sensory nerves in lung and airways

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of airway inflammatory diseases. Inhalation of aerosolized TNFα induced airway hyperresponsiveness accompanied by airway inflammation in healthy human subjects, but the underlying mechanism is not fully understood. We recently reported a series of studies aimed to investigate if TNFα elevates the sensitivity of vagal bronchopulmonary sensory nerves in a mouse model; these studies are summarized in this mini-review. Our results showed that intratracheal instillation of TNFα induced pronounced airway inflammation 24 h later, as illustrated by infiltration of eosinophils and neutrophils and the release of inflammatory mediators and cytokines in the lung and airways. Accompanying these inflammatory reactions, the sensitivity of vagal pulmonary C-fibers and silent rapidly adapting receptors to capsaicin, a selective agonist of transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 receptor, was markedly elevated after the TNFα treatment. A distinct increase in the sensitivity to capsaicin induced by TNFα was also observed in isolated pulmonary sensory neurons, suggesting that the sensitizing effect is mediated primarily through a direct action of TNFα on these neurons. Furthermore, the same TNFα treatment also induced a lingering (>7days) cough hyperresponsiveness to inhalation challenge of NH3 in awake mice. Both the airway inflammation and the sensitizing effect on pulmonary sensory neurons caused by the TNFα treatment were abolished in the TNF-receptor double homozygous mutant mice, indicating the involvement of TNF-receptor activation. These findings suggest that the TNFα-induced hypersensitivity of vagal bronchopulmonary afferents may be responsible for, at least in part, the airway hyperresponsiveness caused by inhaled TNFα in healthy individuals.
Feasibility of Target Material Recycling as Waste Management Alternative

The issue of waste management has been studied simultaneously along with the development of the ARIES heavy-ion-driven inertial fusion energy (IFE) concept. Options for waste management include disposal in repositories, recycling, or clearance from regulatory control, following a reasonable cooling period. This paper concerns the feasibility of recycling the heavy-ion-beam targets, in particular the hohlraum wall materials that include, for example, Au/Gd, Au, W, Pb, Hg, Ta, Pb/Ta/Cs, Hg/W/Cs, Pb/Hf, Hf, solid Kr, and solid Xe. The choice between target material disposal and recycling depends on the amount of waste generated relative to the nuclear island, the strategy to solve the recycling problem, and the impact of the additional cost and complexity of the recycling process on the overall machine. A detailed flow diagram for the elements of the recycling process was developed to analyze two extreme activation cases: (a) one-shot use and then disposal in a repository and (b) recycling continuously during plant life without removal of transmutation products. Metrics for comparing the two scenarios included waste level, dose to recycling equipment, additional cost, and design complexity. Comparing the two approaches indicated a preference for the one-shot scenario as it generates 1 m{sup 3}/yr of extremely low-level waste (Classmore » A) and offers attractive design and economics features. Recycling reduces the target waste stream by a factor of 10 or more but introduces additional issues. It may produce high-level waste, requires remote handling, adds radioactive storage facilities, and increases the cost and complexity of the plant. The inventory analysis indicated that the heavy-ion-beam (HIB) target materials represent a very small waste stream compared to that of the nuclear island (<1% of the total waste). This means recycling is not a 'must' requirement for IFE-HIB power plants unless the target materials have cost and/or resource problems (e.g., Au and Gd). In this case, the additional cost and complexity of the recycling process should be factored into the economics of IFE power plants.« less
Hide and seek: surgeons discovered multiple omental tumors during a hysterectomy.

FIGURE Case notes A 46-year-old woman, gravida 4, para 4, was scheduled to undergo a hysterectomy for management of symptomatic fibroid tumors. Her past medical history was notable only for tobacco abuse. An uncomplicated total abdominal hysterectomy was performed using a vertical skin incision. Significant adhesive disease was noted in the pelvis. At the end of the procedure, multiple masses were palpated on the omentum. When exposed, the masses visually resembled fibroids and varied in size up to approximately 4 cm in diameter (Figure). One was resected and sent for frozen section. It was reported as a leiomyoma, which was consistent with the final pathology.
Overview and context

The case for the permanent manned return to the Moon – as a destination in its own right, and as a platform for the human and robotic exploration of the solar system – is clear [1].
Healthy eating and physical activity among low-income Hispanic adolescents and a school-based intervention

Abstract Hispanic and low-income adolescents have significantly higher overweight and obesity rates than others. This study described the nutrition and physical activity habits of a sample of 122 low-income, Hispanic adolescents and assessed the impact of their environment on their nutrition and physical activity. The study also assessed the outcomes of a pilot of a Farm to Table Chef Demonstration and Blender Bike intervention among a subsample of 16 participants. Family members' influence had a stronger positive correlation to healthy eating while friends' influence had a stronger positive correlation to exercise. The intervention piloted was statistically significantly associated with an increase in vegetable consumption.
A Note on the Graphs of Groups, I

(1972). A Note on the Graphs of Groups, I. Mathematics Magazine: Vol. 45, No. 1, pp. 45-45.
Recurrent Primary Biliary Cirrhosis After Liver Transplantation – The Disease and Its Management

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a chronic cholestatic liver disease characterized by the destruction of interlobular and septal bile ducts that can lead to fibrosis and cirrhosis. Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) remains the definitive treatment for decompensated liver disease secondary to PBC. An estimated 10% to 40% of patients develop clinical, biochemical, and histologic changes consistent with recurrent PBC after OLT. However, the presence of recurrent PBC does not appear to affect either graft or patient survival rates. There is conflicting evidence regarding the effect of specific immunosuppressant medications (eg, tacrolimus vs cyclosporine) on the risk of recurrent PBC. Most experts favor the use of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) for recurrent PBC given its beneficial effect in patients with pretransplant PBC and its improvement of biochemical markers in the posttransplant setting. However, despite its potential benefit, there is no evidence that UDCA improves graft or patient survival in recurrent PBC.
Ceramide in stress response.

Evidence has consistently indicated that activation of sphingomyelinases and/or ceramide synthases and the resulting accumulation of ceramide mediate cellular responses to stressors such as lipopolysaccharide, interleukin 1s, tumor necrosis factor a, serum deprivation, irradiation and various antitumor treatments. Recent studies had identified the genes encoding most of the enzymes responsible for the generation of ceramide and ongoing research is aimed at characterizing their individual functions in cellular response to stress. This chapter discusses the seminal and more recent discoveries in regards to the pathways responsible for the accumulation of ceramide during stress and the mechanisms by which ceramide affects cell functions. The former group includes the roles of neutral sphingomyelinase 2, serine palmitoyltransferase, ceramide synthases, as well as the secretory and endosomal/lysosomal forms of acid sphingomyelinase. The latter summarizes the mechanisms by which ceramide activate its direct targets, PKC?, PP2A and cathepsin D. The ability of ceramide to affect membrane organization is discussed in the light of its relevance to cell signaling. Emerging evidence to support the previously assumed notion that ceramide acts in a strictly structure-specific manner are also included. These findings are described in the context of several physiological and pathophysiological conditions, namely septic shock, obesity-induced insulin resistance, aging and apoptosis of tumor cells in response to radiation and chemotherapy.
Raman Scattering from Localized Magnons in Ni2+ and Fe2+ Doped MnF2

Division of Engineering and Applied Physics, Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts We have studied Raman scattering at low temperatures from MnF2 doped with Ni2+ and Fe2+. Three temperature and polarization dependent lines have been observed for each impurity. For each dopant we have identified one line as a two magnon excitation of the impurity and some linear combination of the host spins. When corrections are made for magnon-magnon interactions, the predicted energy is in excellent agreement with the experimental results.
Thinking Through Livelihood: How a Peasantry of Princely Rājpuṭāna Became Educated and Activist Rural Citizens of Rajasthan, India

Rosin, studying the regions of Marwāṛ and Shekhāwāti in princely Rājpuṭāna, recover a complex system of folk knowledge, computation, and collaboration in pre-Independence arid-zone irrigated farming. For such share-cropping tenant farmers, Hira Singh’s Colonial Hegemony and Popular Resistance: Princes, Peasants, and Paramount Power provides a dialectic analysis of their petitions to their Maharajas during the turbulent years 1920 to 1940. For their descendants an array of hostels to support their formal schooling soon follows in the towns, further transforming princely subjects into activist citizens influencing the transition of the royal Jodhpur State into the subsequent democratic province of Rajasthan. These peasants prove active agents in their own liberation.
Stable Isotope Analysis and the Study of Human Stress, Disease, and Nutrition

This issue explores recent advances and future prospects in the application of stable isotope ratio data to human paleopathology. Stable isotope analysis of human remains is widely used in anthropology to reconstruct past diet and migration, based on the adage “You are what you eat,” and is valued as direct and individualized evidence of the lives of past people. In addition to diet, pathological conditions and physiological stress affecting fractionation, uptake, and distribution of isotopes throughout the body also create isotopic variation in tissues. Although these additional sources of isotope variation complicate dietary reconstruction, they provide novel opportunities for studying past stress and health in archaeological human remains. Articles in this special issue present a variety of methods and approaches in stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotope analysis of health and stress. A new “health” frontier in isotopic research has the potential to break through a ceiling of applications to diet and migration, and although it is a methodological advance, an isotopic approach to health and stress will permit and drive new research questions and new norms in how bioarchaeologists can and do think about past individuals and their experiences. Este articulo aborda los avances recientes y posibilidades en la aplicacion de datos de valores de isotopos estables en la paleopatologia humana. Basandose en el principio “eres lo que comes,” el analisis de isotopos estables a partir de restos humanos se usa ampliamente en la antropologia con la finalidad de reconstruir las dietas y migraciones como evidencia directa del tipo de vida de las poblaciones preteritas. Ademas de la dieta, las condiciones patologicas y el estres fisiologico que afectan el fraccionamiento de isotopos, su absorcion y distribucion a lo largo del cuerpo tambien crean variacion isotopica en los tejidos. Aunque estas fuentes de variacion isotopica complican la reconstruccion dietetica, tambien presentan oportunidades novedosas para el estudio de la salud y el estres sistemico a partir de los restos humanos arqueologicos. Los articulos en este numero especial presentan una variedad de metodos y marcos conceptuales hacia los analisis de salud y estres sistemico con base en el analisis de isotopos estables de oxigeno, carbono y nitrogeno. Una perspectiva isotopica hacia la salud podria superar las aplicaciones que abordan la dieta y migracion. Aunque es un avance metodologico, una perspectiva isotopica hacia la salud y el estres permitiran y facilitaran nuevas preguntas de investigacion al igual que nuevas normativas en cuanto al modo en el cual los bioarqueologos abordan y conceptualizan los individuos del pasado y sus experiencias.
Honors College Students' Adjustment Factors and Academic Success: Advising Implications

We examined first-semester adjustment among students in and out of an honors college because honors college participants receive relatively little attention in the advising literature. As expected,...
Geometric modeling in CAVE

Virtual environments open up new opportunities and challenges for geometric modeling systems. A general approach to geometric modeling suitable for the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment is described. The approach is based on alpha complexes, and some of its capabilities are demonstrated by applying it to the study of biomolecules.
Cardiac Surgery Acute Kidney Injury: Controversy in Renal Support

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication after cardiac surgery and is associated with increased patient morbidity and mortality including hospital readmissions. Cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury (CS-AKI) manifests often in the post-operative setting and is frequently related to patient co-morbidities as well as intraoperative factors that are not easily modifiable. Detecting AKI usually relies on decreases in urine output and acute increases in serum creatinine, and management in the post-operative period focuses on reducing ongoing renal insult, prudent management of perioperative hemodynamics and patient volume status. When acute renal failure occurs, renal replacement therapies (RRT) are commonly required for management of these critically ill patients, although debate persists on the optimal timing to initiate RRT when acute renal injury occurs after cardiac surgery.
Reassessing Turkey’s Soft Power: The Rules of Attraction:

Since the mid-2000s, Turkey has incorporated a soft power discourse into its foreign policy agenda and shifted its attention toward building up its soft power infrastructure. Up until 2013, Turkey ...
Lifestate: Event-Driven Protocols and Callback Control Flow

Developing interactive applications (apps) against event-driven software frameworks such as Android is notoriously difficult. To create apps that behave as expected, developers must follow complex and often implicit asynchronous programming protocols. Such protocols intertwine the proper registering of callbacks to receive control from the framework with appropriate application-programming interface (API) calls that in turn affect the set of possible future callbacks. An app violates the protocol when, for example, it calls a particular API method in a state of the framework where such a call is invalid. What makes automated reasoning hard in this domain is largely what makes programming apps against such frameworks hard: the specification of the protocol is unclear, and the control flow is complex, asynchronous, and higher-order. In this paper, we tackle the problem of specifying and modeling event-driven application-programming protocols. In particular, we formalize a core meta-model that captures the dialogue between event-driven frameworks and application callbacks. Based on this meta-model, we define a language called lifestate that permits precise and formal descriptions of application-programming protocols and the callback control flow imposed by the event-driven framework. Lifestate unifies modeling what app callbacks can expect of the framework with specifying rules the app must respect when calling into the framework. In this way, we effectively combine lifecycle constraints and typestate rules. To evaluate the effectiveness of lifestate modeling, we provide a dynamic verification algorithm that takes as input a trace of execution of an app and a lifestate protocol specification to either produce a trace witnessing a protocol violation or a proof that no such trace is realizable.
The impact of Sarbanes–Oxley on property-casualty insurer loss reserve estimates

The implementation of the Sarbanes–Oxley (SOX) Act in 2002 imposed a wide range of new oversight standards seeking to assure greater accuracy and transparency in the financial reporting of publicly traded firms in the U.S. This research assesses the relationship that the implementation of SOX shares with loss reserve estimation accuracy in the U.S. property-casualty insurance market. Using a comparative difference-in-difference approach, this research finds that, while publicly traded insurers have indeed experienced a significant reduction in loss reserve errors subsequent to SOX, the reduction is not attributable to SOX. These results hold true under a handful of robustness analyses.
Integrating Behavioral Health into a School Based Health Center

Program Goals: School Based Health Centers(SBHC) are well positioned to address health care needs of underserved populations, particularly adolescents. While adolescents are a relatively healthy population, mental health concerns often emerge during this developmental period, and the need for other behavioral health interventions for issues of substance use or exposure to relationship violence also arise. The USPSTF and the AAP recommend routine and universal screening for depression in teens, yet many high risk adolescents do not receive this screening, or do not interact with providers in health …
The K8 House: A new domestic space from the Iron Age II at Tell Halif, Israel

In the Iron Age II period of the southern Levant (1000–586 BCE), most data for household studies come from four-room or pillared houses. Tell Halif in southern Israel gives us several examples of t...