cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Telemedicine in a pediatric headache clinic: A prospective survey.

Objective The aim of this prospective study was to survey our patients about their experience with our clinic9s telemedicine program to better understand telemedicine9s utility for families, and to improve patient satisfaction and ultimately patient care. Methods This was a prospective survey study of patients and their families who had a routine telemedicine follow-up visit with the University of California San Francisco Pediatric Headache Program. The survey was administered to patients and a parent(s) following their telemedicine visit. Results Fifty-one of 69 surveys (74%) were completed. All (51/51) patients and families thought that (1) telemedicine was more convenient compared to a clinic visit, (2) telemedicine caused less disruption of their daily routine, and (3) they would choose to do telemedicine again. The mean round-trip travel time from home to clinic was 6.8 hours (SD ± 8.6 hours). All participants thought telemedicine was more cost-effective than a clinic visit. Parents estimated that participating in a telemedicine visit instead of a clinic appointment saved them on average $486. Conclusion This prospective, pediatric headache telemedicine study shows that telemedicine is convenient, perceived to be cost-effective, and patient-centered. Providing the option of telemedicine for routine pediatric headache follow-up visits results in high patient and family satisfaction.
Morphometric studies in inbred and hybrid house mice. VI. A genetical analysis of brain and body size.

Body size (weight) and brain size were measured in inbred and hybrid mice of three different ages (1, 3, and 5 months). Hybrid values were generally greater than those of either inbred parent for both characters at all three ages (overdominance). There was statistically significant positive heterosis for both brain and body size, its magnitude consistently averaging slightly over 1.0 standard deviation unit. The variance in inbred groups was significantly greater than in hybrid groups (positive homeostasis) for body size at 1 month and for brain size at 3 and 5 months. Both characters differed among inbred strains, crosses, reciprocals, litters, and litter sizes, although body size exhibited more sexual dimorphism than did brain size. Heritabilities for brain size were high (0.63–0.67) and consistent in all ages studied, whereas those for body size were moderate in magnitude (0.28–0.54) and increased with age.
A Skill Deficit Approach to Loneliness

Issues regarding aloneness and loneliness have become increasingly prevalent in recent years as our society has become more urbanized and mobile and as families have become less stable. In this paper, I first discuss some consequences of aloneness, then briefly survey different approaches to loneliness, and finally describe a skill deficit approach and its implications for prevention and treatment.
Too big for MPI

In 2008 the National Leadership Computing Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will have a petaflop system in place. This system will have tens of thousands of processors and petabytes of memory. This capability system will focus on application problems that are so hard that they require weeks on the full system to achieve breakthrough science in nanotechnology, medicine, and energy. With long running jobs on such huge computing systems the question arises: Are the computers and applications getting too big for MPI? This talk will address several reasons why the answer to this question may be yes.
Variants of A* for planning

Many of the recently developed efficient planners use a variation of A* search algorithm called weighted A*. We report on three sound and complete forward state-space STRIPS planners AWA*-PD, AWA*-AC and AWA*-AC-LE. AWA*-AC is adjusted weighted A* with action conflict-based adjustment. AWA*-PD is adjusted weighted A* with deleted preconditions-based adjustment. AWA*-AC-LE is a variant of AWA*-AC which performs lazy evaluation (LE). The novel ideas in these planners are (i) node-dependent weighting for g(n) and h(n) terms in the path cost equation of A*, (ii) conditional two-phase heuristic evaluation, and (iii) lazy heuristic evaluation which does not construct relaxed plans to compute heuristic values for all nodes. We report on an empirical comparison of the planners with planners HSP-2 and FF on new challenging domains containing dead ends. Our evaluation shows that heuristic search planning is significantly benefitted by node-dependent weighting, conditional two-phase heuristic evaluation and lazy evaluation.
Abstract 2062: Selective gene dependencies in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma include the core transcriptional regulatory circuitry

Childhood neuroblastomas with MYCN gene amplification form a particularly high-risk subset of this disease and are difficult to treat effectively. This has focused attention on tumor-specific gene dependencies that reflect important pathways in tumorigenesis, and thus could provide valuable targets for the development of novel therapeutics. Using genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 approaches that allow unbiased detection of genes critically involved in tumor cell growth and survival, we identified 147 candidate genes associated with selective vulnerabilities in nine MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma cell lines, compared to findings in over 300 other human cancer cell lines representing multiple tumor cell types. We then used genome-wide ChIP-seq analysis to test the hypothesis that a small number of transcription factors - MYCN, HAND2, ISL1, PHOX2B, GATA3, and TBX2, all represented in the selective dependency group - are members of the transcriptional core regulatory circuitry (CRC) that underlies cell state in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma. We show that these transcription factors bind as dense clusters at defined epicentres within the enhancers of their own genes, as well as those of the other CRC transcription factor genes, creating a positive feed-forward autoregulatory loop that establishes and maintains high levels of gene expression. To disable the CRC, we tested a combination of BRD4 and CDK7 inhibitors, which we postulated would act synergistically by targeting both transcriptional initiation and elongation required to synthesize regulatory transcription factors. MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma cells treated with both drugs were killed synergistically, in vitro and in vivo, and accompanied by rapid downregulation of CRC transcription factor gene expression. This study defines a set of critical dependency genes in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma, a subset of which comprises the oncogenic transcriptional regulatory circuitry that underlies cell state and survival in this tumor. Citation Format: Adam D. Durbin, Mark W. Zimmerman, Neekesh V. Dharia, Brian J. Abraham, Brian J. Abraham, Amanda Balboni-Iniguez, Nina Weichert-Leahey, Shuning He, John M. Krill-Burger, David E. Root, Francisca Vazquez, Aviad Tsherniak, William C. Hahn, Todd R. Golub, Richard A. Young, A. Thomas Look, Kimberly Stegmaier. Selective gene dependencies in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma include the core transcriptional regulatory circuitry [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2062.
Sleep Timing , Stability , and BP in the Sueño Ancillary Study of the Hispanic Community Health Study / Study of Latinos

Background Timing and stability of the sleep-wake cycle are potential modifiable risk factors for cardiometabolic disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between objective measures of sleep-wake timing and stability with cardiometabolic disease risk. Methods In this multicenter, cross-sectional, population-based study, actigraphy data were obtained from the 2,156 adults, aged 18 to 64 years, recruited from the Sueno ancillary study of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (2010-2013). These data were correlated with measures of cardiometabolic disease risk, including systolic and diastolic BPs, homeostatic assessment of insulin resistance, glycosylated hemoglobin, BMI, and hypertension and diabetes status. Results Each 10% decrease in interdaily stability was associated with a 3.0% absolute increase in the prevalence of hypertension (95% CI, 0.6-5.3; P Conclusions These results suggest that beyond sleep duration, the timing and regularity of sleep-wake schedules are related to hypertension prevalence and BP.
The Value of SMAP for Long-Term Soil Moisture Estimation With the Help of Deep Learning

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission measures important soil moisture data globally. SMAP’s products might not always perform better than land surface models (LSM) when evaluated against in situ measurements. However, we hypothesize that SMAP presents added value for long-term soil moisture estimation in a data fusion setting as evaluated by in situ data. Here, with the help of a time series deep learning (DL) method, we created a seamlessly extended SMAP data set to test this hypothesis and, importantly, gauge whether such benefits extend to years beyond SMAP’s limited lifespan. We first show that the DL model, called long short-term memory (LSTM), can extrapolate SMAP for several years and the results are similar to the training period. We obtained prolongation results with low-performance degradation where SMAP itself matches well with in situ data. Interannual trends of root-zone soil moisture are surprisingly well captured by LSTM. In some cases, LSTM’s performance is limited by SMAP, whose main issue appears to be its shallow sensing depth. Despite this limitation, a simple average between LSTM and an LSM Noah frequently outperforms Noah alone. Moreover, Noah combined with LSTM is more skillful than when it is combined with another LSM. Over sparsely instrumented sites, the Noah–LSTM combination shows a stronger edge. Our results verified the value of LSTM-extended SMAP data. Moreover, DL is completely data driven and does not require structural assumptions. As such, it has its unique potential for long-term projections and may be applied synergistically with other model-data integration techniques.
A biomechanical approach to advances in sacropelvic reconstruction

The sacrum is the only mechanical connection between the spine and pelvis/lower extremities. In the setting of a primary, or in select patients a locally advanced recurrent malignancy, curative treatment requires en-bloc sacrectomy. In addition to the surgery in this area being challenging due to the complexity of the pelvic anatomy, adjacent visceral and vascular structures; spinal-pelvic continuity is often lost. Historically following sacral resection patients were left “un-reconstructed” and the spinal column floated between the remaining pelvis, forming a soft-tissue sling which can become painful and lead to a poor patient outcome. Our institution has pioneered a means to reconstruct these defects following high sacral resection in order to restore continuity between the spine, pelvis and femur which has been shown to improve patient outcomes. The purpose of this article is to describe a biomechanical approach to sacral reconstruction.
Order in Odors: A Power Law Structures the Encoding of Stimulus Identity and Intensity.

Odorant molecules are detected through the combinatorial activation of ensembles of olfactory sensory neurons. By capitalizing on the numerical simplicity of the Drosophila larval brain, Si et al. (2019) uncover principles constraining the representation of the quality and intensity of olfactory stimuli.
Neoadjuvant vs. adjuvant chemotherapy for cholangiocarcinoma: A propensity score matched analysis.

Abstract Background Chemotherapy is frequently used in cholangiocarcinoma as an adjunct to surgical resection, but the appropriate sequence of chemotherapy with surgery is unclear. Patients and methods Using the National Cancer Database, we identified patients who underwent surgery and chemotherapy for stage I-III cholangiocarcinoma between 2006 and 2014. The propensity score reflecting the probability of receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy was estimated by multivariate logistic regression method. Patients in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy study arms were then propensity-matched in 1:3 ratios using the nearest neighbor method. Overall Survival (OS) in the matched data set was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated using Cox proportional hazard regression model. Results Of the 1450 patients who met our inclusion criteria, 299 (20.6%) received neoadjuvant chemotherapy while 1151 (79.3%) received adjuvant chemotherapy. The median age at diagnosis was 63 years. 278 patients in the neoadjuvant group were matched to 700 patients in the adjuvant group. In the matched cohort, patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy had a superior OS compared to those who received adjuvant chemotherapy (Median OS: 40.3 vs. 32.8 months; HR: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.64–0.94, p = 0.01). The 1- and 5-year OS rates for the neoadjuvant chemotherapy group were 85.8% and 42.5% respectively compared to 84.6% and 31.7% for the adjuvant chemotherapy group. Conclusion In this large national database study, neoadjuvant chemotherapy was associated with a longer OS in a select group of patients with cholangiocarcinoma compared to those who underwent upfront surgical resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy.
Temperature and Base Sequence Dependence of 2-Aminopurine Fluorescence Bands in Single- and Double-Stranded Oligodeoxynucleotides

Fluorescence excitation spectra of 2-aminopurine (2AP) incorporated into single-stranded DNA di- and trinucleotides, as well as into single- and double-stranded pentanucleotides, have been measured as a function of temperature from 5 to 65 °C. Spectral shifts have been precisely quantitated through difference spectroscopy and spectral fits. G(2AP)C and C(2AP)G oligonucleotides have relatively blue-shifted excitation spectra (especially the former) compared to the 2AP free base. The position of the excitation peak of 2AP free base is temperature independent, those of (2AP)T, G(2AP)C, C(2AP)G and TT(2AP)TT shift about 0.4 nm to the blue from 5 to 65 °C, though the spectra of the G-C-containing oligomers also change shape. The temperature dependence of the A(2AP)T spectral position is 2.5-times stronger, and just rises to that of the free base at high temperature. On the other hand, the decrease of yield with increasing temperature is smallest for A(2AP)T, even compared to the free base. The dominant effect when A neighbors 2AP appears to be temperature-dependent stacking with accompanying energy transfer, while in G- and C-containing trinucleotides a temperature-independent interaction keeps the 2AP excitation spectrum blue-shifted. The effect of double strand formation appears to be small compared to stacking interactions. These spectra can be useful in identifying base neighbors and structures of 2AP in unknown 2AP-labeled DNA.
Data-Driven Modal Decomposition Techniques for High-Dimensional Flow Fields

Data-driven decomposition techniques are presented for the analysis and development of reduced-order models of complex flow dynamics. The Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) produces optimal representations of the dynamics in the sense of the energy norm. Alternatively, Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) efficiently extracts coherent dynamics based on eigendecompositions of linearized dynamics. An extension to the latter, the Higher Order Dynamic Mode Decomposition (HODMD) method uses time delays to develop efficient reduced models to represent complex dynamics in a nonintrusive manner. High-fidelity simulation results of a laboratory-scale single-element gas turbine combustor are used to demonstrate and evaluate the capabilities of the aforementioned decomposition techniques.
Dictyostelium myosin 1F and myosin 1E inhibit actin waves in a lipid-binding-dependent and motor-independent manner.

Actin waves are F-actin-rich entities traveling on the ventral plasma membrane by the treadmilling mechanism. Actin waves were first discovered and are best characterized in Dictyostelium. Class I myosins are unconventional monomeric myosins that bind lipids through their tails. Dictyostelium has seven class I myosins, six of these have tails (Myo1A-F) while one has a very short tail (Myo1K), and three of them (Myo1D, Myo1E and Myo1F) bind PIP3 with high affinity. Localization of five Dictyostelium class I myosins synchronizes with localization and propagation of actin waves. Myo1B and Myo1C colocalize with actin in actin waves whereas Myo1D, E and F localize to the PIP3-rich region surrounded by actin waves. Here we studied the effect of overexpression of the three PIP3 specific class I myosins on actin waves. We found that ectopic expression of the short-tail Myo1F inhibits wave formation, short-tail Myo1E has similar but weaker inhibitory effect but long-tail Myo1D does not affect waves. A study of Myo1F mutants shows that its membrane binding site is absolutely required for wave inhibition but the head portion is not. The results suggest that PIP3 specificity and the presence of two membrane binding sites are required for inhibition of actin waves, and that inhibition may be caused by crosslinking of PIP3 heads groups. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Strong-field terahertz control of plasmon induced opacity in photoexcited metamaterial

A terahertz (THz) metamaterial consisting of radiative slot antennas and subradiant complementary split-ring resonators exhibits plasmon induced opacity in a narrow spectral range due to the destructive interference between the bright and dark modes of the coupled oscillators. Femtosecond optical excitations instantly quench the mode coupling and plasmon oscillations, injecting photocarriers into the metamaterial. The plasmon resonances in the coupled metamaterial are restored by intense THz pulses in a subpicoseond time scale. The strong THz fields induce intervalley scattering and interband tunneling of the photocarriers and achieve significant reduction of the photocarrier mobility. The ultrafast dynamics of the nonlinear THz interactions reveals intricate interplay between photocarriers and plasmon oscillations. The high-field THz control of the plasmon oscillations implies potential applications to ultrahigh-speed plasmonics.
Brief Announcement: Reaching Approximate Consensus When Everyone May Crash

Fault-tolerant consensus is of great importance in distributed systems. This paper studies the asynchronous approximate consensus problem in the crash-recovery model with fair-loss links. In our model, up to f nodes may crash forever, while the rest may crash intermittently. Each node is equipped with a limited-size persistent storage that does not lose data when crashed. We present an algorithm that only stores three values in persistent storage - state, phase index, and a counter.
Development and Implementation of a Longitudinal School-Based Community Garden Curriculum by Pediatric Residents

Program Goals Through the Resident Education in Advocacy and Community Health (REACH) program within the Kaiser Permanente Northern California pediatrics residency, we aimed to create a longitudinal outreach opportunity for residents to provide curriculum-development training and to promote nutritional education by developing a school based gardening program for middle-school students. Evaluation A needs assessment of 278 students showed 90% were minorities and 33% identified as having food insecurity. Responses showed 51% of …
Douglas Mawson and the Nation of Science

In the early decades of the twentieth century, a nation’s participation in global communities of science denoted high degrees of cultural modernity. For Australia, the accomplishments of Douglas Mawson signified that national assertion. Unlike the arts, where lines of descent and influence remained important, scientists before 1914 frequently saw themselves without borders; this claim offered vast encouragement to newer societies, who found their champion in Ernest Rutherford, born in New Zealand and awarded the Nobel in 1908 for work in Canada. Australia – the new Federation and the progressive states – heartily grasped the opportunity, and Mawson personified that demonstration, particularly in Antarctica: in calling him ‘an Australian Nansen,’ Edgeworth David drew a sharp distinction between Mawson and his British compeers, Scott and Shackleton. Both Mawson and Nansen were field scientists of utmost rigor, who directed their celebrity toward public activism on behalf of a new nation (Australia, 1901; Norway, 1905). That newness, moreover, produced a modernity that Gyan Prakash calls ‘an uncanny double, not a copy, of the European original’ ( Another Reason 5); thus, while Mawson represented modern science in Australia, he also worked, consciously and originally, to reconfigure the global playing field of modernity altogether.
Reported Benefits of a Fit To Be Tied Premarital Mentorship Program

The present study explored reported benefits that students related regarding a Fit to be Tied premarital program. Seventeen participants discussed their respective experiences in the context of sem...
Gun Violence Education in Medical School: A Call to Action.

Gun violence is a major public health burden, adversely affecting patients, families, and communities across the United States (U.S.) and the world. To manage the burden of injury from gun violence...
The 35-40 Foot Fall

President's Page of the Nebraska Lawyer discussing the benefits of the Casemaker legal research system.
Concentrated Solar Power: Electrifying Data Centers

The intended of this paper is to answer, can concentrated solar power (CSP) be used exclusively to power a Microsoft data center in Goodyear, Arizona? This paper introduces CSP and brings attention to critical aspects involved in the planning of CSP projects. The type of CSP considered for this project is power tower technology. To considered the project feasible the solar project must produce at least 29 megawatts of power. It must also fit within the borders of the 272-areas of land Microsoft purchased in 2018. Additionally, dedicate land onsite must be reserved for the proposed data center. The research and availability of resources is based on observed data rather than future predictions.
Large Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma Transformation as a Mechanism of Acquired Resistance to Osimertinib in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: Case Report and Literature Review.

Clinical Practice Points • New metastatic sites in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients have been shown to have the potential to transform into another histologic subtype that is different from the original histology of the patient while on treatment. • These histological transformations can indicate potential resistance mechanisms to current or prior treatments and can prompt a change in management in patients. • However, little is known about histologic transformations in NSCLC patients and what are the next steps in management. • New reports have shown that epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as osimertinib can also lead to these histologic transformations in NSCLC cases and rarely to either large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas or small cell carcinoma. • This case highlights the important implications for these patients since the treatment plans are different and changes in prognosis and for clinicians to be aware of these possibilities and consider repeat biopsies and genomic testing to optimize treatment.
Targeting the PI3K-AKT-mTOR Pathway in Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer: A Review Article.

Abstract Background Prostate cancer is one of leading causes of cancer death among men worldwide. Androgen deprivation therapy is a central part of the prostate cancer treatment algorithm, however, resistance to androgen deprivation commonly leads to disease progression. Mutations in the phosphoinositide-3-kinase pathway (PI3K) have been implicated in cancer progression and the development of castration-resistance. Thus, inhibitors of this pathway and its downstream signaling partners have been studied as potential therapeutic agents to treat metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). In this article, we review recent clinical results for novel targeted therapies against the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway. Materials and Methods Trials included in this systemic review were identified through conference abstracts, citations in review articles, PubMed, and ClinicalTrials.gov . Trial eligibility was independent of clinical setting or sample size. Results A total of 13 prospective clinical trials between 2012 and 2020 were reviewed: Two trials for pan-PI3K inhibitors, 2 trials for selective PI3K inhibitors, 4 trials for AKT inhibitors, 5 trials for mTOR inhibitors, and 1 for a combined PI3K and mTOR inhibitor. All studies were phase I or II studies with primary outcomes of either safety and tolerability or efficacy. Conclusion Overall, pan-PI3K inhibitors and selective-PI3K inhibitors have not demonstrated clinical efficacy and may have significant adverse effects. AKT inhibitors may have significant adverse effects, but showed some evidence of improved survival. mTORC1 inhibitors show modest efficacy and significant adverse effects.
Treating Social Media Platforms Like Common Carriers

The rise of massively influential social media platforms—and their growing willingness to exclude certain material that can be central to political debates—raises, more powerfully than ever, the concerns about economic power being leveraged into political power. There is a plausible (though far from open-and-shut) argument that these concerns can justify requiring the platforms not to discriminate based on viewpoint in choosing what material they host, much as telephone companies and package delivery services are barred from such viewpoint discrimination. PruneYard Shopping Center v. Robins, Turner Broadcasting System v. FCC, and Rumsfeld v. FAIR suggest such common-carrier-like mandates would be constitutional. On the other hand, platforms do have the First Amendment right to choose what to affirmatively and selectively recommend to their users.
Basic Topological Properties

Our two aims in this chapter are, first, to assemble an arsenal of potentially useful and stimulating theorems and, second, to provide a sample of elementary results in topology that can be generated in the absence of principles K[4] and K[5] (discussed in §1.1 and §1.2).
SU-E-J-275: Review - Computerized PET/CT Image Analysis in the Evaluation of Tumor Response to Therapy

Purpose: To review the literature in using computerized PET/CT image analysis for the evaluation of tumor response to therapy. Methods: We reviewed and summarized more than 100 papers that used computerized image analysis techniques for the evaluation of tumor response with PET/CT. This review mainly covered four aspects: image registration, tumor segmentation, image feature extraction, and response evaluation. Results: Although rigid image registration is straightforward, it has been shown to achieve good alignment between baseline and evaluation scans. Deformable image registration has been shown to improve the alignment when complex deformable distortions occur due to tumor shrinkage, weight loss or gain, and motion. Many semi-automatic tumor segmentation methods have been developed on PET. A comparative study revealed benefits of high levels of user interaction with simultaneous visualization of CT images and PET gradients. On CT, semi-automatic methods have been developed for only tumors that show marked difference in CT attenuation between the tumor and the surrounding normal tissues. Quite a few multi-modality segmentation methods have been shown to improve accuracy compared to single-modality algorithms. Advanced PET image features considering spatial information, such as tumor volume, tumor shape, total glycolytic volume, histogram distance, and texture features have been found more informative than the traditional SUVmax for the prediction of tumor response. Advanced CT features, including volumetric, attenuation, morphologic, structure, and texture descriptors, have also been found advantage over the traditional RECIST and WHO criteria in certain tumor types. Predictive models based on machine learning technique have been constructed for correlating selected image features to response. These models showed improved performance compared to current methods using cutoff value of a single measurement for tumor response. Conclusion: This review showed that computerized PET/CT image analysis holds great potential to improve the accuracy in evaluation of tumor response. This work was supported in part by the National Cancer Institute Grant R01CA172638.
Plant-soil interactions in deserts

Geostatistical analyses show that the distribution of soil N, P and K is strongly associated with the presence of shrubs in desert habitats. Shrubs concentrate the biogeochemical cycle of these elements in ‘islands of fertility’ that are localized beneath their canopies, while adjacent barren, intershrub spaces are comparatively devoid of biotic activity. Both physical and biological processes are involved in the formation of shrub islands. Losses of semiarid grassland in favor of invading shrubs initiate these changes in the distribution of soil nutrients, which may promote the further invasion and persistence of shrubs and cause potential feedbacks between desertification and the Earth's climate system.
Foreign gene expression in chloroplasts of higher plants mediated by tungsten particle bombardment.

Publisher Summary Several approaches have been used in the past to manipulate genes in chloroplasts—that is, in the generation of chloroplast mutants, protoplast fusion, organelle inactivation, and chloroplast recombination. Reports of the introduction of chloroplasts into albino protoplasts and the observation of variegated progeny with the transfer of only two chloroplasts open up the possibilities of introduction of transformed chloroplasts into recipient protoplasts. Transient expression of foreign genes in chloroplasts of tobacco, sugar beet, and wheat cells, and in leaves or calli has been observed. It is clear that chloroplast promoters are interchangeable among monocots and dicots; the cat gene driven by the maize rbcL promoter functions in tobacco chloroplasts and the uidA gene driven by the pea psbA promoter functions in wheat chloroplasts. In addition, chloroplast vectors introduced into isolated protoplasts by the electroporation or polyethylene glycol (PEG)-mediated DNA uptake do not express foreign genes in the nuclear compartment.
The Pediatrician's Role in Setting Standards of Day Care for Children

The goal of pediatric practice is to promote optimal health, growth, and development of infants, children, and adolescents, and pediatric training is aimed at this goal. Thus, pediatrics has long been involved in establishing optimal health practices affecting nutrition, supervision of the environment, preventive health services, and the promotion of practices that optimally enhance social and emotional development. These generic areas of expertise apply in unique ways to children cared for in groups, especially very young children. A large body of research has been produced by pediatricians and other health professionals that addresses the specific health needs of infants and children in group care. Studies have especially addressed the spread and control of infectious disease and the prevention of injury in groupcare settings. Pediatric research, often in collaboration with psychologists, educators, and other professionals, has also addressed issues pertinent to optimal cognitive stimulation and behavioral management of the developing child, as well as the prevention of abusive practices. Thus, much of what constitutes the body of pediatric knowledge is crucial to the optimal care of young children in group settings. In the traditional practice of pediatrics, pediatricians apply their expertise to the care of individual children in the context of the family. The unwritten contract for pediatric care is between the parents and the pediatrician on behalf of the child. However, the school, day-care, or other community-based programs become an extension of the family, and the pediatrician relates to those community programs on behalf of children and their families. What the pediatrician recommends on behalf of the individual child becomes a recommendation to the program as well as to the child9s family.
Identification of a ras-related protein in murine erythroleukemia cells that is a cAMP-dependent protein kinase substrate and is phosphorylated during chemically induced differentiation

Murine erythroleukemia (MEL) cells deficient in cAMP-dependent protein kinase (A-kinase) activity are impaired in chemically induced differentiation (Pilz, R. B., Eigenthaler, M., and Boss, G. R. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 16161-16167). We identified by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis two low molecular weight proteins (referred to as pp 21-1 and 21-2) that were phosphorylated when parental MEL cells, but not A-kinase-deficient MEL cells, were treated with the membrane-permeable cAMP analog 8-bromo-cAMP. We showed that pp 21-1 and 21-2: (a) were direct A-kinase substrates; (b) bound GTP; and (c) belonged to the ras superfamily of proteins. The only ras-related proteins that are clearly A-kinase substrates both in vitro and in vivo are Rap 1A and 1B while H- and K-Ras can be A-kinase substrates in vitro; we showed by immunological methods, phosphopeptide mapping, and migration on two-dimensional gels that pp 21-1 and 21-2 were not identical to one of these four proteins. We found a 3-fold increase of 32PO4 incorporation into pp 21-2 in hexamethylene bisacetamide-treated parental MEL cells which was not secondary to an increase in pp 21-2 protein but appeared secondary to increased phosphorylation of pp 21-2 by A-kinase. Thus, pp 21-1 and 21-2 are either new ras-related proteins or are previously identified ras-related proteins not known to be A-kinase substrates, and increased phosphorylation of pp 21-2 occurs during differentiation of MEL cells.
Neural Hedgehog signaling maintains stem cell renewal in the sensory touch dome epithelium

The touch dome is a highly patterned mechanosensory structure in the epidermis composed of specialized keratinocytes in juxtaposition with innervated Merkel cells. The touch dome epithelium is maintained by tissue-specific stem cells, but the signals that regulate the touch dome are not known. We identify touch dome stem cells that are unique among epidermal cells in their activated Hedgehog signaling and ability to maintain the touch dome as a distinct lineage compartment. Skin denervation reveals that renewal of touch dome stem cells requires a perineural microenvironment, and deleting Sonic hedgehog (Shh) in neurons or Smoothened in the epidermis demonstrates that Shh is an essential niche factor that maintains touch dome stem cells. Up-regulation of Hedgehog signaling results in neoplastic expansion of touch dome keratinocytes but no Merkel cell neoplasia. These findings demonstrate that nerve-derived Shh is a critical regulator of lineage-specific stem cells that maintain specialized sensory compartments in the epidermis.
Cardiovascular new drug discovery of the future: Molecules, genes, and machines

Publisher Summary Cardiovascular disease refers to any disease which involves the heart (cardio) or the blood vessels (vascular). This chapter discusses current cardiovascular diseases and drug treatment, some new molecules in the pipeline, and the scientific and technological advances that may provide the novel drugs in the not too distant future. The effectiveness of pharmacological treatment in reducing the morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular disease is clearly established for antihypertensives and ACE inhibitors in heart failure and to more limited extent for cholesterol lowering agents. Hypertension and hyperlipidemia are risk factors for the potentially morbid events of stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and renal failure. Drug discovery programs of the past–present have primarily focused on the clinical signs and endpoints rather than their cellular origins. Stroke is a leading cause of disability and death especially in the elderly. There is a complex sequence of events involving ischemia and reperfusion which activates neurotransmitter systems such as the induction of inflammation by oxygen-free radicals.
The Goals of the Corporation under Shareholder Primacy: Just Profit — Or Social Responsibility and Religious Exercise Too?

Under the doctrine of shareholder primacy, the duty of a corporate director is to act for the benefit of the shareholders. This is not the same as profit maximization. It is only the same if shareholders care about profit and nothing else. The current Hobby Lobby case regarding a corporation’s religious exemption from the Obamacare emergency contraception mandate is an example: the shareholders have made it clear they wish the directors to spend more on litigation than could possibly be saved by avoidance of the mandate. Goals other other than pure profit should be permitted both for public and for closely held corporations. Even for public corporations in financial “efficient markets”, maximization of market value may demand that the corporation sacrifice longterm profit for other goals. In some cases this will be to the detriment of minority shareholders who value profit alone, but the problem is no difference in essence from shareholder disagreement because of their differing time horizons or tax positions. While corporate directors should and do have a fiduciary duty to act only for the benefit of shareholders, not for customers, employees, or community, this is not precisely equivalent to profit maximization, nor does it require (or even allow) directors to ignore religious beliefs. In practice the business judgment rule gives directors enough slack to accommodate other goals besides profit maximization, but it is worth detailing the interplay between the beliefs and desires of shareholders and directors to aid conscientious directors in their duty.
Computational fluid dynamics simulation of transport and retention of nanoparticle in saturated sand filters

Experimental and computational investigation of the transport parameters of nanoparticles (NPs) flowing through porous media has been made. This work intends to develop a simulation applicable to the transport and retention of NPs in saturated porous media for investigating the effect of process conditions and operating parameters such, as ion strength, and filtration efficiency. Experimental data obtained from tracer and nano-ceria, CeO2, breakthrough studies were used to characterize dispersion of nanoparticle with the flow and their interaction with sand packed columns with different heights. Nanoparticle transport and concentration dynamics were solved using the Eulerian computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver ANSYS/FLUENT® based on a scaled down flow model. A numerical study using the Navier–Stokes equation with second order interaction terms was used to simulate the process. Parameters were estimated by fitting tracer, experimental NP transport data, and interaction of NP with the sand media. The model considers different concentrations of steady state inflow of NPs and different amounts of spike concentrations. Results suggest that steady state flow of dispersant-coated NPs would not be retained by a sand filter, while spike concentrations could be dampened effectively. Unlike analytical solutions, the CFD allows estimating flow profiles for structures with complex irregular geometry and uneven packing.
An algorithm for the zeros of transcendental functions

In this paper, we extend the dual form of the generalized algorithm of Sebastiao e Silva [3] for polynomial zeros and show that it is effective for finding zeros of transcendental functions in a circle of analyticity.
Regulation of zygotic gene activation in the mouse.

Zygotic gene activation (ZGA) is the critical event that governs the transition from maternal to embryonic control of development. In the mouse, ZGA occurs during the 2-cell stage and appears to be regulated by the time following fertilization, i.e. a zygotic clock, rather than by progression through the first cell cycle. The onset of ZGA must depend on maternally inherited proteins, and post-translational modification of these maternally derived proteins is likely to play a role in ZGA. Consistent with this prediction is that protein phosphorylation catalyzed by the cAMP-dependent protein kinase is involved in ZGA and that protein synthesis is not required for ZGA. Recent results suggest that ZGA may occur earlier than previously thought, i.e. not during the 2-cell stage, but rather in G2 of the 1-cell embryo. Thus ZGA may comprise a period of minor gene activation in the 1-cell embryo that is followed by a period of major gene activation in the 2-cell embryo. Following ZGA, the expression of constitutively activated genes may require an enhancer.
Directors' Stock Ownership and Organizational Performance: An Investigation of Fortune 500 Companies:

Advocates in favor of boardroom reform have often suggested that when personalfinancial risk is involved, directors will take a more active role in organizational decision-making, and this, in turn, will lead to increased organizationalperformance. Although intuitively appealing, the notion offinancial dependence by board members has never before been empirically tested. This study examines the relationship between a director's stockholdings andfirm performance using a sample of 250 of the Fortune 500 companies. The financial dependence perspective is supported in part by the research findings.
Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection with Severe Pulmonary Venous Obstruction: A Clinical Entity

The clinical, physiologic, and anatomic features of a special group of cases of total anomalous, pulmonary venous connection are reviewed. The occurrence of severe pulmonary venous obstruction in total anomalous pulmonary venous connection produces a characteristic syndrome: 1. Very early onset of dyspnea and heart failure. 2. Considerably more cyanosis than the usual case without obstruction. 3. Typical x-ray showing diffuse hazy lung fields with reticulated appearance without cardiac enlargement. 4. Electrocardiographic evidence of severe right ventricular hypertrophy with a tall R or qR pattern in lead V 1 and reversal of the R/S ratio over the precordium. 5. Physiologic findings of practically normal pulmonary flow, right ventricular and pulmonary arterial pressures greater than systemic, and a marked gradient between the pulmonary arterial "wedge" and right atrial pressures. 6. Rapid deterioration and death in the first weeks or months of life.
Age-Season Adjustment Factors Considering Herd Feeding Practices

Abstract The influence of percent of net energy in the herd's ration derived from concentrates on age-season effects was studied in New York Holstein Dairy Herd Improvement records. Ten feeding groups were defined by herd-feeding information. There was some increase in milk yield with an increasing proportion of concentrates in the ration. For six of these groups, the two highest, two middle, and two lowest in percent net energy from concentrates, age-season effects were calculated. The trends in age effects and seasonal effects were similar for all groups with the groups having a higher fraction of net energy from concentrates showing relatively higher mature milk yield. The multiplicative age-season factors calculated from the age-season solutions were similar for all groups, indicating that the proportion of concentrates over the current range does not have an important influence on age-season factors.
Addition of Arenes to Ethylene and Propene Catalyzed by Ruthenium

TpRuII(CO)(Me)(NCMe) (Tp = hydridotris(pyrazolyl)borate) serves as a catalyst precursor for the conversion of benzene and ethylene or propene to alkylaromatic products. The reaction proceeds via the formation of the active catalyst TpRu(CO)(Ph)(NCMe) and is mildly selective for linear propylbenzene over isopropylbenzene.
Integrin Profile and In Vivo Homing of Human Smooth Muscle Progenitor Cells

Background— Recently, we identified circulating smooth muscle progenitor cells (SPCs) in human peripheral blood. The integrin profile of such progenitors is currently unknown and may affect their in vivo homing characteristics. In this study, we determined the integrin profile of vascular progenitors and SPC adhesion to extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in vitro and in vivo. Methods and Results— SPCs and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were isolated from peripheral blood of healthy human subjects, and expression of surface integrins and adhesion to several vascular ECM proteins were determined. Homing of SPCs in vivo to specific ECM protein was determined by intracoronary infusion of fluorescent SPCs into porcine coronary arteries containing a fibronectin-coated mesh stent. SPCs had high expression of β1 integrin, moderate expression of α1, low levels of αvβ3, and did not express αvβ5, β2, α2β1, or α4β1 integrins. In contrast, EPCs had high expression of α2β1, αvβ3, αvβ5, β1, and α1 and minimal expr...
Different responses to reward comparisons by three primate species.

Background Recently, much attention has been paid to the role of cooperative breeding in the evolution of behavior. In many measures, cooperative breeders are more prosocial than non-cooperatively breeding species, including being more likely to actively share food. This is hypothesized to be due to selective pressures specific to the interdependency characteristic of cooperatively breeding species. Given the high costs of finding a new mate, it has been proposed that cooperative breeders, unlike primates that cooperate in other contexts, should not respond negatively to unequal outcomes between themselves and their partner. However, in this context such pressures may extend beyond cooperative breeders to other species with pair-bonding and bi-parental care. Methods Here we test the response of two New World primate species with different parental strategies to unequal outcomes in both individual and social contrast conditions. One species tested was a cooperative breeder (Callithrix spp.) and the second practiced bi-parental care (Aotus spp.). Additionally, to verify our procedure, we tested a third confamilial species that shows no such interdependence but does respond to individual (but not social) contrast (Saimiri spp.). We tested all three genera using an established inequity paradigm in which individuals in a pair took turns to gain rewards that sometimes differed from those of their partners. Conclusions None of the three species tested responded negatively to inequitable outcomes in this experimental context. Importantly, the Saimiri spp responded to individual contrast, as in earlier studies, validating our procedure. When these data are considered in relation to previous studies investigating responses to inequity in primates, they indicate that one aspect of cooperative breeding, pair-bonding or bi-parental care, may influence the evolution of these behaviors. These results emphasize the need to study a variety of species to gain insight in to how decision-making may vary across social structures.
Turbulent and laminar heat transfer to gases with varying properties in the entry region of circular ducts

Turbulent and laminar heat transfer to gases in circular ducts entry region, considering various gas properties
Some Questions Facing Academic Programs in Instructional Technology and Some Means for Answering Them

What are some of the serious questions facing academic programs in instructional technology, and how can communication among the programs be improved so as to help answer those questions? These were the issues that were focused upon by one of the groups (hereinafter referred to as the "curriculum group") at the UCIDT conference in Bloomington. The curriculum group consisted of 15 faculty members representing one dozen academic programs in instructional technology. The nature of these programs was quite diverse. Some of the programs only offered master's degrees, others offered both masters and doctoral