cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Tissue regeneration using endothelial colony-forming cells: Promising cells for vascular repair

Repairing and rebuilding damaged tissue in diseased human subjects remains a daunting challenge for clinical medicine. Proper vascular formation that serves to deliver blood-borne nutrients and adequate levels of oxygen and to remove wastes is critical for successful tissue regeneration. Endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFC) represent a promising cell source for revascularization of damaged tissue. ECFCs are identified by displaying a hierarchy of clonal proliferative potential and by pronounced postnatal vascularization ability in vivo. In this review, we provide a brief overview of human ECFC isolation and characterization, a survey of a number of animal models of human disease in which ECFCs have been shown to have prominent roles in tissue repair, and a summary of current challenges that must be overcome before moving ECFC into human subjects as a cell therapy.
Reconstruction of the pelvis and perineum

Reconstruction of the perineum is a common demand placed upon the multidisciplinary surgical team charged with the care of pelvic oncology patients. The perineum is one of the most challenging regions to adequately and safely reconstruct. Significant dead space volume, close proximity of local organs, increased bacterial susceptibility, and extended periods of direct wound pressure (i.e., sitting, lying in bed) all serve to complicate surgical efforts. In this chapter, we will discuss the reconstructive techniques available for perineal defects with the chief focus being to prevent and treat perineal wounds, all toward maximizing surgical outcomes for the patient.
The Relational SNARC: Spatial Representation of Nonsymbolic Ratios

Recent research in numerical cognition has begun to systematically detail the ability of humans and nonhuman animals to perceive the magnitudes of nonsymbolic ratios. These relationally defined analogs to rational numbers offer new potential insights into the nature of human numerical processing. However, research into their similarities with and connections to symbolic numbers remains in its infancy. The current research aims to further explore these similarities by investigating whether the magnitudes of nonsymbolic ratios are associated with space just as symbolic numbers are. In two experiments, we found that responses were faster on the left for smaller nonsymbolic ratio magnitudes and faster on the right for larger nonsymbolic ratio magnitudes. These results further elucidate the nature of nonsymbolic ratio processing, extending the literature of spatial-numerical associations to nonsymbolic relative magnitudes. We discuss potential implications of these findings for theories of human magnitude processing in general and how this general processing relates to numerical processing.
Risk-associated and pathway-based method to detect association with Alzheimer's disease

Genes do not function alone but through complex biological pathways in complex diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Unravelling these intricate pathways is essential to understanding biological mechanisms of the AD. Based on the integrated pathway analysis database (IPAD), we developed a pathway-based method to detect association with the AD. First, we performed risk associated allele analysis to determine if a major or minor allele is associated with risk. Then we performed pathway-disease association analysis to identify 133 AD-associated pathways. Lastly, we performed pathway-patient association analysis to investigate the patient's association and distribution among the 133 pathways. We found five AD-associated pathways that have the highest association with patients. We present a pathway-based method to detect AD-associated pathways from GWAS data. Our pathway-based analysis not only provides a technique to identify disease-associated pathways, but also help determine the pathway-patient association.
A Matter of Choice: Printed Design Proposals and the Nature of Selection, 1470–1610

In the third decade of the sixteenth century, engravers began to frame booklets that offered examples of decorative images and objects with written explanations of their motivations for issuing the proposed designs. Prior to this use of text, earlier engravings by Martin Schongauer and Israhel van Meckenem employed vegetal motifs with severed stems to convey that their compositions were available for selection, drawing an analogy between the utilization of prints by fellow craftsmen and the process of plucking from nature. This vocabulary of extraction returns in the rhymed couplets and playful images of Christoph Jamnitzer’s “Neuw Grottesken Buch” of 1610.
Impacts of Tourism Activities on Environment and Sustainability of Pattaya Beach in Thailand

Global tourism, considered as a rapidly growing, and potentially sustainable industry. It plays a key role in socio-economic, cultural development of the society to achieve sustainable development. According to the tourism statistics of Thailand, 32.59 million tourists have been arrived in the year of 2016 and contributed to the country’s economy. Nevertheless, tourism sector induces affirmative and negative impacts. This study was aimed to identify the positive factors which encourages to visit Pattaya beach in Thailand. The trial was conducted to determine the factors that encourage visitors to visit again and again. The influence of tourism on environmental sustainability of Pattaya beach and in coastal areas of Thailand. The study was administered at Pattaya beach in Thailand. A total of 400 visitors were selected randomly as respondents to conduct the survey and questionnaire was used as instruments. The results of the study showed that the tourism activities do have an impact on Pattaya beach in Thailand. The positive impact, tourism activity increases the local socio-economic status of the people and the country as well. On the contrary, it has negative impact as it effects on the environmental sustainability of the Pattaya beach and coastal areas of Thailand.
THE FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION—A TOOL AND A CONCEPT

Publisher Summary This chapter explains the frequency distribution as a tool and concept of statistical investigations. Construction of a frequency distribution from a series of data relating to a given set of conditions is a good way of condensing the results and describing them. The frequency graph shows: (1) what the approximate average value is; (2) the total extent of variation in the data; (3) the general way in which the data cluster around the average, that is, the shape of the frequency distribution; and (4) perhaps some irregularities of importance. Graphs enable one to visualize the data. Shortcomings of this approach are: (1) the information provided is not objective enough; (2) the accuracy with which the sample represents the population is not apparent; and (3) there is no adequate way to tell whether the data came from one population or from several different populations, that is, the order in the data has been lost in the tabulation.
Mathematical Models of the Sterile Male Technique of Insect Control

The sterile male technique is a biological pest control method in which sterilized members of a target insect species are released into an infested region in order to dilute the native population’s reproductive capacity. Under certain conditions, this can lead to extinction of the target population. Experience with the method, including the critical 1954 Curacao experiments and the recent outbreak of screwworm flies in the Southwestern U.S. after years of successful control, suggest a possible threshhold between success and failure. We present a stochastic model, based on the birth-and-death process, generalizing a deterministic model due to E.F. Knipling. Computations with our model show a sharp threshhold in the number of sterile males needed for success, depending on parameters such as net reproduction rate and environmental capacity, and where success is measured by the criterion mean lifespans to population extinction. The model predicts that adding steriles beyond this threshhold will yield little additional return in reducing the mean time to extinction, while supplying less than the threshhold number will have virtually no effect in terms of this criterion. From a preliminary statistical analysis of data from the Curacao experiments we obtain estimates of population size and net reproduction rate. Using these estimates in our stochastic model yields predictions that are consistent with the Curacao results. Suggestions for future work are offered.
NO decreases phosphorylation of focal adhesion proteins via reduction of Ca in rat aortic smooth muscle cells

Our laboratory has previously reported that the antimitogenic effect of nitric oxide (NO) in primary cultures of rat aortic smooth muscle cells may be attributed to activation of protein tyrosine p...
Research and Teaching in Small Business Finance: A Note on Resources

In an emerging field of scholarship such as Small Business Finance, there is often a chicken-and-egg problem at the outset. Prospective researchers are generally discouraged by an initial lack of infrastructure such as relevant bibliographic facilities, journals, conferences and data sources. In the interests of conserving resources, the following details of research and teaching resources developed at or through the School of Accounting, Finance, and Management at The Flinders University of South Australia are made available.
Sensing Sacred: Exploring the Human Senses in Practical Theology and Pastoral Care

Sensing Sacred: Exploring the Human Senses in Practical Theology and Pastoral Care offers a fresh approach to conceptualizing the intersection of bodily sensations with religion through the lens of...
Multitouch NetLogo for Museum Interactive Game

In this paper, I present an integrated demonstration of the first multi-touch NetLogo model. The example leverages visitor interaction with an interactive tabletop game on the topic of evolutionary adaptations of social insects that I designed in collaboration with a large Midwestern museum. The interaction is a collaborative exploration of complex systems with potential for novel cooperative museum learning.
Eco-Evolutionary Origins of Diverse Abundance, Biomass, and Trophic Structures in Food Webs

Organismal traits and their evolution can strongly influence food web structure and dynamics. To what extent the evolution of such traits impacts food web structure, however, is poorly understood. Here, we investigate a simple three-species omnivory food web module where the attack rates of all predators evolve as ecological dynamics unfold, such that predator trophic levels are themselves dynamic. We assume a timescale where other vital rates that govern population dynamics are constant and incorporate a well-known tradeoff between attack rates and the conversion of prey biomass into predators. We show that this eco-evolutionary model yields a surprisingly rich array of dynamics. Moreover, even small amounts of selection lead to important differences in the abundance, trophic and biomass structure of the food web. Systems in which intermediate predators are strongly constrained by tradeoffs lead to hourglass-shaped food webs, where basal resources and top predators have large abundances, but intermediate predators are rare, like those observed in some marine ecosystems. Such food webs are also characterized by a relatively low maximum trophic level. Systems in which intermediate predators have weaker tradeoffs, lead to pyramid-shaped food webs, where basal resources are more abundant than intermediate and top predators, like those observed in some terrestrial system. Such food webs had a relatively larger maximum trophic level as well. Overall, our results suggest that eco-evolutionary dynamics can strongly influence the abundance-, trophic-, and biomass-structure of food webs, even in the presence of small levels of selection, thus stressing the importance of taking traits and trait evolution into account to further understand community-level patterns and processes.
Combining a land surface model with groundwater model calibration to assess the impacts of groundwater pumping in a mountainous desert basin

Abstract The quantification of recharge and trans-valley underflow is needed in arid regions to estimate the impacts of new water withdrawals on the water table. However, for mountainous desert areas, such estimates are highly challenging, due to data scarcity, heterogeneous soils, and long residence times. Conventional assessment employs isolated groundwater models configured with simplified uniform estimates of recharge. Here, we employed a data-constrained surface-subsurface process model to provide an ensemble of spatially distributed recharge and underflow estimates using perturbed parameters. Then, the Model-Independent Parameter Estimation and Uncertainty Quantification (PEST) package was used to calibrate the aquifer hydraulic conductivity field in MODFLOW for this ensemble and reject implausible recharge values. This novel dual-model approach, broadly applicable to mountainous arid regions, was designed to maximally exploit available data sources. It can assimilate groundwater head observations, reject unrealistic parameters, and narrow the range of estimated drawdowns due to pumping. We applied this approach to the Chuckwalla basin in California, USA to determine natural recharge. Simulated recharge concentrates along alluvial fans at the mountain fronts and ephemeral washes where run-off water infiltrates. If an evenly distributed recharge was employed as in conventional studies, it would result in regional biases in estimated drawdown and larger uncertainty bounds. We also note that the speed of groundwater recovery does not guarantee sustainability: heavy pumping induces large hydraulic gradients that initially recover quickly when pumping is halted, but the system may not ultimately recover to pre-pumping levels.
Shaping structured out-of-school time use among youth: The effects of self, family, and friend systems

To explore predictors of adolescent participation in structured out-of-school activities, various types of structured out-of-school time use and their correlates were examined among 454 adolescents in Grades 9–12 in a rural southeastern state. Using a developmental-ecological model as an organizing framework, four different uses of time were explored with regard to self, family, and friend systems. Regression analyses revealed that time in after-school extracurricular activities was predicted by parent endorsement of activities, ethnicity, and friend endorsement of activities, whereas time spent in nonschool clubs was predicted by peer pressure, parent endorsement, and grades. Socioeconomic status, parental monitoring of activities, school grade level, and family structure predicted time spent in volunteering, and time spent in religious-related activities was predicted by ethnicity, family structure, friend endorsement, and gender.
Death Culture of the Upland South: A Context for Cades Cove

Death culture and mortuary practices in Cades Cove are a subset of Appalachian death culture and practices. While many of the customs and traditions commenced at the time of death and preceded interment, many customary practices found expression in the cemeteries and burial grounds. Many customs and practices of death culture and death-lore are/were unique to the Upland South and include Decoration Day, grave houses, grave mounding, grave sweeping, saving grief and the delayed funeral, the burial of wives to the left of their husbands, and burials oriented east–west. The (condition of) cemeteries and graves are public statements revealing conformity to the norms and values of the community and the regard held for the deceased.
Guanosine tetra- and pentaphosphate analysis

Abstract A system is presented that can separate and quantitate in picomole amounts various guanosine tetra and penta phosphates namely guanosine 5′ triphosphate, 3′ diphosphate (pppGpp), guanosine 5′ tetraphosphate (ppppG), and diguanosine 5′ tetraphosphate (GppppG). It was found to be inactive with guanosine 5′ diphosphate, 3′ diphosphate (ppGpp), and a synthetic compound pCppG. The analytical detection system uses a crude firefly luciferin-luciferase system in which the various derivatives probably transphosphorylate ADP to produce the ATP necessary to emit light with the luciferin-luciferase system. The system should be useful in quantitating reactions in which guanosine tetraphosphates and pentaphosphates are involved. Their role is apparently one of control at either RNA polymerase or ribosomal levels and should be important in further research in molecular biology.
Regional anesthesia for cardiac surgery.

Purpose of reviewAnesthesia for cardiac surgery has traditionally utilized high-dose opioids to blunt the sympathetic response to surgery. However, recent data suggest that opioids prolong postoperative intubation, leading to increased morbidity. Given the increased risk of opioid dependency after i
Pharmacokinetics of Tranexamic Acid Given as an Intramuscular Injection Compared to Intravenous Infusion in a Swine Model of Ongoing Hemorrhage.

Introduction Tranexamic acid (TXA) improves survival in traumatic hemorrhage, but difficulty obtaining intravenous (IV) access may limit its use in austere environments, given its incompatibility with blood products. The bioavailability of intramuscular (IM) TXA in a shock state is unknown. We hypothesized that IM and IV administration have similar pharmacokinetics and ability to reverse in vitro hyperfibrinolysis in a swine-controlled hemorrhage model. Methods Twelve Yorkshire cross swine were anesthetized, instrumented, and subjected to a 35% controlled hemorrhage, followed by resuscitation. During hemorrhage, they were randomized to receive a 1 g IV TXA infusion over 10 min, 1 g IM TXA in two 5 mL injections, or 10 mL normal saline IM injection as a placebo group to assess model adequacy. Serum TXA concentrations were determined using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and plasma samples supplemented with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) were analyzed by rotational thromboelastometry. Results All animals achieved class III shock. There was no difference in the concentration-time areas under the curve between TXA given by either route. The absolute bioavailability of IM TXA was 97%. IV TXA resulted in a higher peak serum concentration during the infusion, with no subsequent differences. Both IV and IM TXA administration caused complete reversal of in vitro tPA-induced hyperfibrinolysis. Conclusion The pharmacokinetics of IM TXA were similar to IV TXA during hemorrhagic shock in our swine model. IV administration resulted in a higher serum concentration only during the infusion, but all levels were able to successfully correct in vitro hyperfibrinolysis. There was no difference in total body exposure to equal doses of TXA between the two routes of administration. IM TXA may prove beneficial in scenarios where difficulty establishing dedicated IV access could otherwise limit or delay its use.
Assessing Complexity for Privacy and Other Quality Attributes Using Actor-Network Theory

One of the reasons for differentiating between complex and non-complex systems is that each type is best addressed by different classes of methods. We have previously described analytical and instrumental methods for addressing privacy risk targeted at complex systems, i.e., systems characterized by nonlinearity and emergent properties. However, not all systems are complex systems and more traditional types of risk methods are likely to be more appropriate in those cases. This begs the question, though, of how to determine whether a system is in fact best viewed as complex or not for purposes of methodological selection. While there have been attempts to develop complexity metrics, there is little to help one decide in a more categorical fashion whether one is dealing with a complex system. This paper represents an initial step in this direction by describing a structured technique—Actor-Network Theory Applied to Complexity In Diagrams (ANTACID)—to assess the complexity of socio-technical systems with respect to privacy and other non-functional properties/quality attributes.
Poverty and Mental Health in the American Indian Community

More than twenty-five percent of the US American Indian* population lives at or below the poverty line; unemployment is nearly ten percent higher than that of the general population (U.S. Census, 2006). On or near reservations, the numbers are much higher. American Indian youth commit suicide at a rate three times that of the general population, (Indian Health Services [IHS], 2001) while American Indians as a group have a higher mortality rate due to alcoholism than any other group in the US (Gray & Nye, 2001). The following will examine both the mental health and socioeconomic condition of this community in order to understand the ways in which the experience of poverty and the high rates of poor mental health might relate. There are a number of challenges facing the American Indian community; this paper will explore poverty as only one of the potential factors adding to the mental distress exhibited in the population. Poverty is defined from both an absolute and social exclusion perspective. The suggested influences on mental health include economic stress, sociohistorical trauma, and isolation from institutional resource.
“Bold and Ragged”: A Cross-Cultural Case for the Aesthetics of Melodic Angularity:

Smaller corpora and individual pieces are compared to a large corpus of 2,447 hymns using two measures of melodic angularity: mean interval size and pivot frequency. European art music and West Afr...
Ion-by-ion differential emission measure determination of collisionally ionized plasma. II. Application to hot stars

In a previous paper we have described a technique to derive constraints on the differential emission measure (DEM) distribution, a measure of the temperature distribution, of collisionally ionized hot plasmas from their X-ray emission line spectra. We apply this technique to the Chandra HETGS spectra of all of the nine hot stars available to us at the time that this project was initiated. We find that DEM distributions of six of the seven O stars in our sample are very similar, but that θ1 Ori C has an X-ray spectrum characterized by higher temperatures. The DEM distributions of both of the B stars in our sample have lower magnitudes than those of the O stars, and one, τ Sco, is characterized by higher temperatures than the other, β Cru. These results confirm previous work in which high temperatures have been found for θ1 Ori C and τ Sco and taken as evidence for channeling of the wind in magnetic fields, the existence of which is related to the stars' youth. Our results demonstrate the utility of our method for deriving temperature information for large samples of X-ray emission-line spectra.
The Internet of Futures Past: Values Trajectories of Networking Protocol Projects:

The Internet was conceptualized as a technology that would be capable of bringing about a better future, but recent literature in science and technology studies and adjacent fields provides numerou...
Thermodilution Cardiac Index Has Poor Agreement with That Measured by the Direct Fick Method in Low-Output States

Purpose The thermodilution (Td) method is routinely used for measurement of cardiac output although its accuracy in low-output states remains uncertain. Criteria for designating heart transplant listing status in the contemporary allocation system is incumbent on meeting strict cardiac index (CI) cutoffs. We aimed to assess the agreement between Td and direct Fick (dFick) CI in patients with low CI. Methods In this retrospective analysis of 535 patients who underwent right heart catheterization with dFick CI measurement as part of clinically indicated hemodynamic evaluation using the gold-standard Douglas bag technique, 253 patients had both Td/dFick CI measurements. Three saline injections were typically used and averaged in Td CI measurements. We included 118 patients who specifically had a CI of Results Among the 118 patients included (Mean [SD] age 60 [12.2] years, 42.3% female), Median (interquartile range, IQR) overall dFick and Td CI values differed significantly (1.86 [1.65, 2.1] and 2.03 [1.78, 2.31] L/min/m2, respectively; P 25% in 33.1% of patients. Conclusion The agreement of Td with the gold-standard dFick CI measurements in patients with low CI was suboptimal. These data are important consider in in clinical scenarios such as heart transplant listing status where strict hemodynamic cutoffs guide urgency.
Contemporary approach in the study of a Byzantine-illuminated manuscript on parchment

The aim of this study was the application of image-based techniques on the texts and painted elements of a manuscript whose date of manufacture is attributable to the twelfth century. The application of the proposed methodology resulted in documentation of the ink and pigment types used, the change on writings, the repainting on some old initial letters with more artistic initials of later times, as well as, later changes on the illuminations of the manuscript. A large quantity of information was recovered applying imaging techniques in different wavelength bands, which was combined with the historical and paleographical knowledge, while some of knowledge was evaluated using targeted scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX) analysis of chosen inks and pigments. Furthermore, computational visual analysis was applied on the multispectral images in order to investigate the range of black inks used on an entire page of the manuscript. In this way, it is possible to identify all inks found on all pages of the manuscript. Thus, the imaging techniques can play a crucial role in the study of materials on a low budget, without expensive analytical techniques being required. The proposed methodology provided important information, not only on the characterization of the manufacture materials but on their preservation conditions, as well. The documented preservation status of the inks and pigments allowed the application of more precise conservation treatments under full control.
Analysis of Fatigue Indicator Parameters for Ti-6Al-4V microstructures using extreme value statistics in the transition fatigue regime

Abstract Extreme value (EV) statistics have been previously utilized to model the tails of distributions of computed Fatigue Indicator Parameters (FIPs) to provide a method of ranking microstructures in terms of resistance to fatigue crack formation under identical loading conditions. FIPs that capture the two primary transgranular mechanisms for fatigue crack formation and early stages of growth in bimodal Ti-6Al-4V are computed for cyclic strain-controlled loading conditions corresponding to transition fatigue where there is perceptible macroscopic plastic cyclic strain, but the polycrystal cyclic elastic strain range dominates the cyclic plastic strain range. A statistical volume element (SVE) ensemble approach is employed, in which a large number of microstructure samples are constructed for simulation. The peaks-over-threshold method is used to identify extreme values within the FIP distributions which are then fit to the Generalized Pareto Distributions, enabling rank-ordering of various microstructures with regard to resistance to fatigue crack formation. Microstructure attributes including the grain size, orientation, and nearest neighbor arrangements are quantified in the neighborhood of FIP ‘hot spots’.
The challenges of PICU research: Lessons learned from a minimal-risk study with PICU parents.

Abstract Research conducted in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) with families is essential to advancing evidenced-based practice and improving patient outcomes in this unique setting. However, several ethical, logistical, and methodological challenges have been cited in the literature as having a significant effect on the development of PICU research. Investigators at a large midwestern health care center encountered several challenges during the course of a minimal-risk, survey-based study with parents of PICU patients. This manuscript aims to highlight the challenges faced by the research team, which included challenges related to the environment of the PICU, the patients' length of stay, the health status of the patient, and the etiology of the patient's admission, as well as share the actions that the research team took to address these challenges.
Selective Use of Adjuvant Therapy in the Management of Merkel Cell Carcinoma.

lymph nodes (HR, 2.29 [95% CI, 1.84-2.85]) were independently associated with decreased OS. Postoperative CRT (HR, 0.62 [95% CI, 0.47-0.81]) and RT (HR, 0.80 [95% CI, 0.70-0.92]) provided a survival benefit over surgery alone. Adjuvant CRT was associated with improved OS over adjuvant RT in patients with positive margins (HR, 0.48 [95% CI, 0.25-0.93]), tumor size at least 3 cm (HR, 0.52 [95% CI, 0.30-0.90]), and male sex (HR, 0.69 [95% CI, 0.50-0.94]).
Effects of moisture on CIGSS solar cells

This paper focuses on the effect of moisture on CIGSS cells made by Shell Solar Industries (SSI). These studies were carried out with 10 cm /spl times/ 10 cm monolithically integrated CIGSS circuits and individual cells diced from circuits. Cells under investigation were subjected to an environment of 60/spl deg/C/90%RH and characterized at various time intervals. Illuminated and dark I-V characteristics, and quantum efficiency were measured versus time. The effects of moisture on the sheet resistance of the ZnO TCO and the Zn/O ratio were also examined. Efficiency of uncoated CIGSS cells subjected to the accelerated test conditions degrade from 10% to 1% within a few hundred hours. Two significant effects are found to contribute to the degradation, the sheet resistance of ZnO increases significantly, and the junction recombination losses increase.
Mechanism for Elevated Temperature Leaching

Long-term, elevated temperature leaching and subsequent electron microprobe analysis of simulated waste glass and ceramic materials have been completed. A cyclic leaching pattern was found in all systems over a 20-month period. It appears that the leaching of mobile ions by simple diffusional processes is modified by more complex chemical interactions. The release of immobile ions is primarily a function of their chemical interactions in the matrix which suggests that these ions may be complex species when released into solution. A mechanism is proposed which incorporates these ideas and the cyclic phenomenon observed.
Isolation and characterization of prototrophic mutants of Escherichia coli unable to support the intracellular growth of T7.

Abstract Mutants of E. coli B/1 were isolated which grew normally but did not permit the intracellular growth of bacteriophage T7. Two classes of mutants were studied in detail (tsnB− and tsnC−). These strains adsorbed T7 normally and were killed by the infection. Synthesis of T7 RNA and of early and late classes of T7 proteins occurred normally after infection. In T7-infected tsnB− cells, T7 DNA synthesis stopped prematurely shortly after its onset, suggesting that the tsnB function affects a step in the late phase of T7 DNA replication. Mutants of T7 were isolated (T7β) which could grow on tsnB− cells. In T7-infected tsnC− cells, T7 DNA synthesis was completely blocked, suggesting that the tsnC function affects a step in an early phase of T7 DNA replication.
Radio-frequency observations of interstellar CH4 and HC5N

New (C-12)H4 transitions were detected at 21,303 and 94,089 MHz in emission from Orion A, and temporal variations of intensity were observed among several velocity components at 76,700 MHz. An HC5N transition at 21,301 MHz was also detected in emission from IRC +10216.
Changes in plasma histaminase activity during normal early human pregnancy and pregnancy disorders

Abstract A sensitive isotopic assay was employed to follow the changes in plasma histaminase activity during pregnancy in patients who become pregnant following spontaneous and induced ovulation. Values in nonpregnant women ranged from 0.2 to 2.7 pmoles of histamine deaminated per milliliter of plasma per hour. In pregnant women, plasma histaminase activity began to increase 9 to 28 days following the presumed day of ovulation and then rose exponentially with a doubling time of 4 to 5 days. Peak values, 1,500 pmoles per milliliter per hour, were reached during the third trimester of pregnancy. The data suggested that the increase in histaminase activity actually started at about the same time in all patients, although the early rise in enzyme activity was not apparent in women who had high histaminase activity before pregnancy. Plasma histaminase did not rise in patients with spontaneous abortion, blighted ovum with hydatidiform degeneration, or choriocarcinoma. The high levels of chorionic gonadotropin and low levels of histaminase activity seen in patients with trophoblastic neoplasia suggest that these tests may be of value in the diagnosis of trophoblastic neoplasia early in pregnancy.
The threshold of sleep: perception of sleep as a function of time asleep and auditory threshold.

A number of studies have found that many subjects have reported being awake when awakened during various periods of electroencephalographically (EEG)-defined sleep. These observations have led to an examination of the perception of sleep after periods when EEG-defined sleep was experimentally varied between 1 and 140 min. Twelve normal young adult subjects slept in the laboratory for 5 consecutive nights. Each subject was briefly awakened five times on each night, and subjective state, auditory arousal threshold, and sleep/wake time estimation data were collected. The threshold of sleep onset (i.e., the point at which a report of sleep was given 50% of the time) occurred 2-4 min after the first sleep spindle. In contrast, auditory thresholds rose rapidly within 1 min of the first sleep spindle. The threshold data corroborate the appearance of a sleep spindle as an objective measure of sleep onset. However, subjective sleep onset appears to be a relatively lengthy period during which perception of state is blurred and uncertain.
Dosimetric equivalence of nonstandard HDR brachytherapy catheter patterns.

Purpose: To determine whether alternative high dose rate prostate brachytherapy catheter patterns can result in similar or improved dose distributions while providing better access and reducing trauma. Materials and Methods: Standard prostate cancer high dose rate brachytherapy uses a regular grid of parallel needle positions to guide the catheter insertion. This geometry does not easily allow the physician to avoid piercing the critical structures near the penile bulb nor does it provide position flexibility in the case of pubic arch interference. This study used CT datasets with 3 mm slice spacing from ten previously treated patients and digitized new catheters following three hypothetical catheter patterns: conical, bi-conical, and fireworks. The conical patterns were used to accommodate a robotic delivery using a single entry point. The bi-conical and fireworks patterns were specifically designed to avoid the critical structures near the penile bulb. For each catheter distribution, a plan was optimized with the inverse planning algorithm, IPSA™, and compared with the plan used for treatment. Irrelevant of catheter geometry, a plan must fulfill the RTOG-0321 dose criteria for target dose coverage ( V 100 Prostate > 90 % ) and organ-at-risk dose sparing ( V 75 Bladder 1 cc , V 75 Rectum 1 cc , V 125 Urethra ⪡ 1 cc ). Results: The three nonstandard catheter patterns used 16 nonparallel, straight divergent catheters, with entry points in the perineum. Thirty plans from ten patients with prostate sizes ranging from 26 to 89 cc were optimized. All nonstandard patterns fulfilled the RTOG criteria when the clinical plan did. In some cases, the dose distribution was improved by better sparing the organs-at-risk. Conclusion: Alternative catheter patterns can provide the physician with additional ways to treat patients previously considered unsuited for brachytherapytreatment (pubic arch interference) and facilitate robotic guidance of catheter insertion. In addition, alternative catheter patterns may decrease toxicity by avoidance of the critical structures near the penile bulb while still fulfilling the RTOG criteria.
Modeling of adhesion, protrusion, and contraction coordination for cell migration simulations

Cell migration is a highly complex, dynamical biological phenomenon that involves precise spatio-temporal coordination of distinctive sub-processes including adhesion, protrusion, and contraction of the cell. Observations of individual tumor cell migration reveal that cells generally exhibit either mesenchymal-type or amoeboid-type migration modes in native like environments. However, it has also been observed that some migrating cells are capable of morphologically adapting to their environment by modifying their type of migration. Recent studies suggest in fact that changes in biophysical and biomechanical properties of tumor cells can reversibly control their transition from one type of migration to the other. These changes may be caused by internal cell biomechanical mechanisms as well as mechanical and topological properties of the extracellular matrix. In order to understand the complex transition between the two modes and the role played by internal cellular mechanics during migration, we have developed a novel axisymmetric hyperviscoelastic cell model to simulate the dynamical behavior of a migrating cell. Numerical results from our study quantitatively demonstrate that the biomechanical properties of the cell may play an important role in the amoeboid-mesenchymal transition during migration. Our study will therefore not only help in creating a new platform for simulating cellular processes but will also provide insights into the role of sub-cellular mechanics in regulating various modes of migration during tumor invasion and metastasis.
Local image representations using pruned salient points with applications to CBIR

Salient points are locations in an image where there is a significant variation with respect to a chosen image feature. Since the set of salient points in an image capture important local characteristics of that image, they can form the basis of a good image representation for content-based image retrieval (CBIR). The features for a salient point should represent the local characteristic of that point so that the similarity between features indicates the similarity between the salient points. Traditional uses of salient points for CBIR assign features to a salient point based on the image features of all pixels in a window around that point. However, since salient points are often on the boundary of objects, the features assigned to a salient point often involve pixels from different objects. In this paper, we propose a CBIR system that uses a novel salient point method that both reduces the number of salient points using a segmentation as a filter, and also improves the representation so that it is a more faithful representation of a single object (or portion of an object) that includes information about its surroundings. We also introduce an improved Expectation Maximization-Diverse Density (EM-DD) based multiple-instance learning algorithm. Experimental results show that our CBIR techniques improve retrieval performance by 5%-11% as compared with current methods.
Mining Discrete Patterns via Binary Matrix Factorization

In general, binary matrix factorization (BMF) refers to the problem of finding two binary matrices of low rank such that the difference between their matrix product and a given binary matrix is minimal. BMF is an important tool in mining discrete patterns for high-dimensional data. One approximate matrix factor finds the dominant patterns, and the other shows how the original patterns are represented by the dominant ones. The problem of determining the exact optimal solution is NP-hard. We show that BMF is closely related with k-means clustering and propose a clustering approach for BMF. We prove that our approach has approximation ratio of 2. We further propose a randomized clustering algorithm that chooses k cluster centroids randomly based on preassigned probabilities to each point. The randomized clustering algorithm works well for large k. We experimentally demonstrate the nice theoretical properties of BMF on applications in pattern extraction and association rule mining.
Organohalogen levels in harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) pups increase with duration of nursing.

Maternal transfer of persistent marine contaminants to offspring via milk has been documented in marine mammals, but temporal dynamics of this phenomenon throughout the lactation period are poorly understood. Exposures to organohalogens were investigated in harbor seal pups admitted to a rehabilitation center in north central California during the lactation periods of 2001 and 2002. Ten congeners of PCBs, three congeners of PBDEs, and p,p′ -DDE were quantified in whole blood samples. Levels of contaminants increased with admit date, assumed to correlate positively with pup age. This trend was significant when latitude of stranding site, body condition, and body length were included as variables in the model. Contaminant–admit date relationships appeared nonlinear (i.e., threshold or exponential), with greatest increases in contaminant concentrations during late lactation.
The construction of gender in colonial Latin America

When Jesus Came, the Corn Mothers Went Away: Marriage, Sexuality and Power in New Mexico, 1500–1846. By RAMON GUTIERREZ. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991. Pp. xxx + 424. Sexuality and Marriage in Colonial Latin America. Edited by ASUNCION LAVRIN. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989. Pp. v + 349. Gender and Disorder in Early Modern Seville. By MARY ELIZABETH PERRY. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990. Pp. 206. To Love, Honor and Obey in Colonial Mexico: Conflicts Over Marriage Choice, 1574–1821. By PATRICIA SEED. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988. Pp. 322 Historia e Sexualidade no Brasil. Edited by RONALDO VAINFAS. Rio de Janeiro: Edicoes Graal Ltda., 1986. Pp. 212.
Quercetin does not affect rating of perceived exertion in athletes during the Western States endurance run.

The purpose of this study was to measure the influence of quercetin supplementation on ratings of perceived exertion in ultramarathon runners competing in the 160-km Western States Endurance Run (WSER). Sixty-three runners were randomized to quercetin (Q) and placebo (P) groups, and under double blinded methods ingested four supplements per day with or without 250 mg quercetin for 3 weeks before the WSER. Thirty-nine of the 63 subjects (quercetin N = 18, placebo N = 21) finished the race. At the completion of exercise ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were assessed at aid stations located at 40, 90, 125, 150, and 160 km (finish line). The pattern of change in RPE over time was not significantly different between the Q and P groups. Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) did not significantly increase throughout the race (15.2 ± 2.9 at 40 km –14.2 ± 4.0 at 160 km) for both groups combined. Race times were not different between the groups (Q = 26.4 ± 0.7 h and P = 27.5 ± 0.6 h). Significant time main effects...
IX. The development of kindled seizures is accelerated in the genetically epilepsy-prone rat

Abstract The kindling phenomenon was examined in genetically epilepsy-prone (GEPR) and non-epileptic control Sprague-Dawley rats. Kindling stimulations were administered three times a day until each rat had exhibited three Class 5 kindled motor seizures. The mean total number of kindling stimulations required for each experimental group to exhibit three motor seizures of each motor seizure class was determined. The results indicated that the early stage of kindling development was accelerated significantly in both the GEPR-3 and GEPR-9 rats, compared to non-epileptic control rats. Later stages of kindling development were accelerated in GEPR-9 but not GEPR-3 rats. Thus a differential acceleration of kindling development was exhibited by GEPR-3 and GEPR-9 rats. The results suggest the possibility that some brain region(s) involved in the early stage of kindling development may be hyperexcitable in both GEPR-3 and GEPR-9 rats. Other brain region(s) involved with the later stages of kindling development may be more excitable in GEPR-9 rats. These putative alterations may, in part, contribute to the seizure prone state of GEPR rats and the differential seizure responses of GEPR-3 and GEPR-9 rats.
Separation of prostaglandins E2 and F2α from their pulmonary metabolites by thin-layer chromatography

Abstract A simple thin-layer chromatographic system has been developed to separate PGE2 and PGF2α from 13,14-dihydro-PGF2α and other pulmonary metabolites of prostaglandins. The separation is achieved on Kieselgel-60 F-254 plates impregnated with both silver nitrate and boric acid. The system should be of use in the purification and tentative identification of primary prostaglandins.
Thermodynamic and Dynamic Mechanisms for Large-Scale Changes in the Hydrological Cycle in Response to Global Warming*

Abstract The mechanisms of changes in the large-scale hydrological cycle projected by 15 models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 3 and used for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report are analyzed by computing differences between 2046 and 2065 and 1961 and 2000. The contributions to changes in precipitation minus evaporation, P − E, caused thermodynamically by changes in specific humidity, dynamically by changes in circulation, and by changes in moisture transports by transient eddies are evaluated. The thermodynamic and dynamic contributions are further separated into advective and divergent components. The nonthermodynamic contributions are then related to changes in the mean and transient circulation. The projected change in P − E involves an intensification of the existing pattern of P − E with wet areas [the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and mid- to high latitudes] getting wetter and arid and semiarid regions of the subtropics g...