cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pediatric neck masses.

1. Gabrielle Geddes, MD* 2. Mark M. Butterly, MD*,† 3. Sonali Mehta Patel, MD*,† 4. Silvio Marra, MD* 1. *Advocate Hope Children’s Hospital, Oak Lawn, IL. 2. †Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL. * CRP: : C-reactive protein CT: : computed tomography ESR: : erythrocyte sedimentation rate FNA: : fine needle aspiration MRI: : magnetic resonance imaging A variety of lesions, some malignant, can manifest as masses in the neck, presenting real diagnostic challenges. Clinicians must understand the embryologic development of the head and neck and be familiar with the most recent diagnostic techniques. After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. Know the differential diagnosis of the pediatric neck mass. 2. Understand how to conduct an evaluation of the pediatric neck mass. The broad differential diagnosis of pediatric neck masses typically fits into two main categories: congenital and acquired. Appreciation of the head and neck formation can simplify and greatly assist in identification of the underlying condition. We first review the embryonic formation as it relates to head and neck pathology, followed by key points of history and physical examination. The differential diagnostic possibilities are separated into categories of congenital and acquired neck masses. Finally, diagnostic clues and evaluation options are discussed. The head and neck are derived from the branchial apparatus, an anatomically distinct structure that undergoes a complex formative process involving generation and resorption. Appreciating some aspects of the degeneration process helps explain the relationship between anatomic structures as well as the actual formation process. By the fourth week of gestation, the individual branchial arches initially become visible. Each arch has its own group of uniquely designated tissue types. For simplification, arch structures will be referred to as a numbered arch without differentiation of clefts, pouches, or other structures. The six paired branchial arches forming the branchial apparatus have ectodermal, mesodermal, and endodermal components, each with its own unique designations and components as listed in Table 1. Branchial arches are numbered …
Transgenic mouse model for the formation of Hirano bodies

Hirano bodies are actin-rich cytoplasmic inclusions found predominantly in the brain in association with a variety of conditions including aging and Alzheimer's disease. The function of Hirano bodies in normal aging and in progression of disease has not been extensively investigated due to a lack of experimental model systems. We have developed a transgenic mouse model by expression of a gain-of-function actin cross-linking protein mutant. We used the Cre/loxP system to permit tissue specific expression of Hirano bodies, and employed the murine Thy 1 promoter to drive expression of Cre recombinase in the brain. Hirano bodies were observed in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus of homozygous double transgenic 6 month old mice containing Cre. The Hirano bodies were eosinophilic rods, and also exhibited the paracrystalline F-actin filament organization that is characteristic of these inclusions. Mice with Hirano bodies appear healthy and fertile, but exhibited some alterations in both short-term and long-term synaptic plasticity, including paired-pulse depression rather than facilitation, and decreased magnitude of early LTP. Hirano bodies are not lethal and appear to have little or no effect on histology and tissue organization. Hirano bodies do modulate synaptic plasticity and exert clearly discernable effects on LTP and paired-pulse paradigms. This model system will allow us to investigate the impact of Hirano bodies in vivo, the pathways for formation and degradation of Hirano bodies, and whether Hirano bodies promote or modulate development of pathology and disease progression.
Socrates in the Classroom.

Students can be a source of inspi ration and creativity for teach ers who take the time to foster a collaborative, investigational learning atmosphere. This atmosphere can only be attained by emphasizing the process of learning instead of just the end product. The specific information or skills that students learn are less impor tant than fostering inquisitive minds (Pintrich, McKeachie, and Lin 1987). To accomplish this goal, teaching ac tivities must be designed to promote active participation (Ferguson 1986; Phoenix 1987). Unfortunately, many educational activities foster a passive and dependent quality in students (Toppins 1987). Traditional lectures emphasize thought content with little acknowledgment of the thought proc esses involved. In contrast to the usual methods, Socratic approaches use thought con tent to change thought processes. I have found the Socratic method useful to encourage students to actively par ticipate. That does not imply that teachers should become passive in their teaching role. Instead the teacher should serve as a catalyst, promoting the actualization of the student's intel lectual potential (Coppola and Gonnel
Relativistic strong-field photoionization

A systematic development is presented of a strong-field method for photoionization of atoms and molecules. The strong-field requirement demands a relativistic treatment. A Dirac theory is developed. The exact S matrix is expanded on the premise that the plane-wave field is stronger than the binding of the atom or molecule. The leading term of this expansion is the strong-field approximation. This general method is applied to photoionization from the ground state of a Dirac hydrogenic atom by circularly polarized monochromatic radiation. Numerical examples show that relativistic effects should be discernible with present-day pulsed lasers. The nonrelativistic limit is exactly one of the standard forms of the Keldysh or Keldysh–Faisal–Reiss approximation.
Inclusion and the Challenge of Assimilation for Teachers of Students with Severe Disabilities

The perceptions of fourteen teachers from fourteen different public schools about their changing roles and responsibilities as they moved into inclusive settings with students with severe disabilit...
Clusters and Cluster-Based Development Policy:

Clusters and cluster policy have become a dominant paradigm in the world of both economic development theory and practice. Cluster theory suggests that firms that are part of a geographically defined cluster benefit from being part of that cluster and that these benefits result in growth in economic activity and output for the region. From here it is only a short step to argue that economic development practitioners can devise policies that can facilitate cluster development through various forms of intervention. Yet despite the large amount of writing on clusters, there is substantial vagueness and ambiguity about the concept itself as well as how clusters work to bring about economic growth and whether policies put in place to build or strengthen clusters actually achieve the desired result. In this article, the authors conduct a review of literature related to clusters to try to set forth what we know and do not know about clusters, what remains uncertain, and what the implications are for economic dev...
Managing Worldview Influences: Self-Awareness and Self-Supervision in a Cross-Cultural Therapeutic Relationship

Using qualitative research methods, a culturally diverse group of 22 graduated master's level marriage and family therapist interns were interviewed about their approach to relationship-building with a cross-cultural client. Interviews were conducted in southern California. Results indicate that participants rely on heightened efforts of self-supervision to manage the influences of their culturally informed beliefs and preconceptions of cross-cultural clients. Also, the findings suggest that self-supervision efforts are so pervasive that contextual variables contributing to psychosocial differences between therapist and client are relegated to secondary concerns. Implications for building therapeutic relationships and self-supervision processes are discussed.
The Fanconi anemia core complex associates with chromatin during S phase

Fanconi anemia (FA) is an autosomal recessive disease marked by bone marrow failure, birth defects, and cancer. The FA proteins FANCA, FANCC, FANCE, FANCF, FANCG, and FANCL participate in a core complex. We previously have shown that several members of this complex bind to chromatin until mitosis and that this binding increases after DNA damage. The purpose of the present study was to determine the dynamics of complex movement between cytoplasm and nuclear compartments. Fluorescent-tagged versions of FANCA, FANCC, and FANCG colocalize in cytoplasm and nucleus, chiefly in chromatin. At the G1-S border, the FA core complex exists as foci on chromatin, progressively diffusing and migrating to the nuclear periphery and becoming completely excluded from condensed chromosomes by mitosis. Chromatin fiber analysis shows FA proteins diffusely staining along chromatin fibers during G1-S and S phase. Treatment with the DNA cross-linker mitomycin C results in a diffusion of foci and increased binding of complex proteins to chromatin, as well as diffuse and increased complex binding to chromatin fibers. These data are consistent with the idea that the FA proteins function at the level of chromatin during S phase to regulate and maintain genomic stability.
Consequences of Alcohol and Other Drug Use in the Aged

Older people use more drugs than any other age group. In 1967, for example, approximately 19 million people over the age of 65 in the United States had an estimated 198 million prescriptions filled. An additional 26.9 million prescriptions were obtained from hospitals or mailorder pharmacies. In 1971, it was estimated that about 50% of older Americans drank alcohol, and it has been well documented that the elderly self-administer excessive quantities of nonprescription drugs. These figures emphasize the fact that as we grow older we use large quantities of many different types of chemical compounds. In the following pages, a number of facets that are associated with this enhanced drug use in the aged will be discussed. Specifically, I shall examine possible reasons underlying the greater reliance on, the consequences of, and potential misuse of drugs in the aged. Additional emphasis will be placed on the behavioral and physical effects of alcohol.
You’re Hired! Now What? A Guide for New Science Faculty.

I cannot speak to the accuracy of the material presented in You’re Hired! Now What? A Guide for New Science Faculty, as I have never been a new faculty member. However, I can attest to the colloquial language and accessibility of the text. Reading this book feels much like having a friendly faculty mentor answering your initial questions about the myriad responsibilities of a new professor. Author Mohamed A.F. Noor’s advice comes with the added benefit of not having to watch his face contort into a horrified grimace as he perceives the depths of your ignorance regarding running a lab, teaching classes, and serving on grant review panels. Noor knows his target audience well. The book is fast and easy to read, perfect for someone already overwhelmed by a demanding new career. The chapters are clearly delineated, with multiple subheadings, a lot of lists describing key points, and the main idea of each paragraph provided in bold text, for the extra-impatient reader — just in case you only have time to read sentence fragments and can’t waste energy on both subject and predicate. You’re Hired! Now What? covers topics ranging from interpersonal interactions and managing students and research technicians to keeping your CV up-to-date and competitive. A helpful set of appendices offers templates on laboratory rules, authorship policies, and appropriate student/mentor expectations. Chapter 9 was co-authored by a female colleague, Anne Bronikowski, and addresses the elusive work-life balance (or “resiliency,” as they propose). Most of Noor’s suggestions are quick and easy to make, such as how to organize your computer files so that seven years in, you can still find student course evaluations to aid in your tenure application. The worst part of this book is the cover, which is good for the reader but probably bad for sales. Pictured is a black and grey silhouette of a man in a polo shirt, cocking his head in dismay at the impenetrable rat maze he finds himself in. The picture raises a lot of questions for me. Why is the figure, when so little detail is given, so obviously male? Why is there no way out? Why is everything only in black and white? I look at this book, and instead of being excited about a future in academia, I want to drop out of graduate school now and get a real job. Fortunately, Noor’s actual advice tempers this impulse and calms the fears his cover image conjures.
On-Chip Pressure Generation for Driving Liquid Phase Separations in Nanochannels

In this Article, we describe the generation of pressure gradients on-chip for driving liquid phase separations in submicrometer deep channels. The reported pressure-generation capability was realized by applying an electrical voltage across the interface of two glass channel segments with different depths. A mismatch in the electroosmotic flow rate at this junction led to the generation of pressure-driven flow in our device, a fraction of which was then directed to an analysis channel to carry out the desired separation. Experiments showed the reported strategy to be particularly conducive for miniaturization of pressure-driven separations yielding flow velocities in the separation channel that were nearly unaffected upon scaling down the depth of the entire fluidic network. Moreover, the small dead volume in our system allowed for high dynamic control over this pressure gradient, which otherwise was challenging to accomplish during the sample injection process using external pumps. Pressure-driven velocities up to 3.1 mm/s were realized in separation ducts as shallow as 300 nm using our current design for a maximum applied voltage of 3 kV. The functionality of this integrated device was demonstrated by implementing a pressure-driven ion chromatographic analysis that relied on analyte interaction with the nanochannel surface charges to yield a nonuniform solute concentration across the channel depth. Upon coupling such analyte distribution to the parabolic pressure-driven flow profile in the separation duct, a mixture of amino acids could be resolved. The reported assay yielded a higher separation resolution compared to its electrically driven counterpart in which sample migration was realized using electroosmosis/electrophoresis.
Mechanical and structural property analysis of bacterial cellulose composites

Bacterial cellulose (BC) exhibits unique properties including high mechanical strength and high crystallinity. Improvement in the mechanical properties of BC is sought for many applications ranging from food to structural composites to biomedical materials. In this study, different additives including carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), pectin, gelatin, cornstarch, and corn steep liquor were included in the fermentation media to alter the BC produced. Three different concentrations (1%, 3% and 5%) were chosen for each of the additives, with no additive (0%) as the control. The produced BC was then analyzed to determine tensile and compression modulus. Amongst the tested additives, BC produced in media containing 3% (w/v) pectin had the maximum compressive modulus (142kPa), and BC produced in media containing 1% (w/v) gelatin exhibited the maximum tensile modulus (21MPa). Structural characteristics of BC and BC-additive composites were compared using X-Ray diffraction (XRD). The crystal size and crystallinity of BC was reduced when grown in the presence of CMC and gelatin while pectin only decreased the crystallite size. This suggested that CMC and gelatin may be incorporated into the BC fibril structure. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images showed the increased micro-fibril aggregation in BC pellicles grown in the presence of additives to the culture media.
Phase Behavior in Polymer Blends: The Effect of Microstructure

The original mean field theories of the Flory-Huggins and/or equation of statelattice fluid types take no account of microstructure. Issues such as the sequence distribution of the repeat units in a copolymer chain or the presence of a microphase of the micellar type are not addressed. The effect of such microheterogeneities on phase behavior can, however, be taken into account within the spirit of the mean field approach. For example, Flory(1) was able to describe the thermodynamics of solutions of rigid rod polymers very successfully on this basis even though the rods form ordered mesophases in certain temperature/concentration regimes. Later it was shown that sequence distribution effects can also be incorporated and can lead to rather significant deviations from “classical” mean field behavior(2,3,4) In this paper we first illustrate the application of the modified theory to the case of copolymers containing identical repeat units and statistical distributions of comonomer units but differing only in composition. We then discuss the effects to be expected in such copolymer blends where the compositions are identical but the microstructures differ.
Regret transfer and parameter optimization

Regret matching is a widely-used algorithm for learning how to act. We begin by proving that regrets on actions in one setting (game) can be transferred to warm start the regrets for solving a different setting with same structure but different payoffs that can be written as a function of parameters. We prove how this can be done by carefully discounting the prior regrets. This provides, to our knowledge, the first principled warm-starting method for no-regret learning. It also extends to warm-starting the widely-adopted counterfactual regret minimization (CFR) algorithm for large incomplete-information games; we show this experimentally as well. We then study optimizing a parameter vector for a player in a two-player zero-sum game (e.g., optimizing bet sizes to use in poker). We propose a custom gradient descent algorithm that provably finds a locally optimal parameter vector while leveraging our warm-start theory to significantly save regret-matching iterations at each step. It optimizes the parameter vector while simultaneously finding an equilibrium. We present experiments in no-limit Leduc Hold'em and nolimit Texas Hold'em to optimize bet sizing. This amounts to the first action abstraction algorithm (algorithm for selecting a small number of discrete actions to use from a continuum of actions--a key preprocessing step for solving large games using current equilibrium-finding algorithms) with convergence guarantees for extensive-form games.
The Reversal of Renal Impairment and its Impact on Survival in Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma Patients

Background: Proliferation rate of plasma cells (PC) is a powerful tool in evaluating all types of monoclonal gammopathies, predicting for progression as well as survival. A flow cytometry (FC)-based method to delineate the cell cycle of clonotypic PCs and determine the proportion in S-phase was developed. This method replaces a labor-intensive slide based methodology, but the prognostic power of this FC approach has not been clearly elucidated. Methods: A total of 1061 patients who had bone marrow (BM) FC PC proliferation analysis at Mayo Clinic, Rochester from May 2012 to December 2013 were studied of who 257 had relapsed disease (RMM). PC proliferation was measured by 8-color FC using antibodies to CD19, CD38, CD138, CD45, and cytoplasmic kappa and lambda Ig light chains, and DAPI DNA staining. The DNA content of the abnormal, clonotypic PCs was specifically analyzed and the %S-phase was determined by measuring the proportion of cells between G0/G1 and G2/M. Patients with inadequate plasma cells for assessment of %SP were designated as 0%. Results: The median follow up from testing for the entire cohort was 13 months (95% CI; 12.7, 13.3); 156 (15%) had died. We specifically examined the clinical features and outcomes based on two cutoffs, %SP 1 and 2. Among relapsed disease, %SP was prognostic for OS using both cutoffs (Table). In univariate analysis, %SP 2, B2microglobulin >5.5, HR FISH (t4; 14, t14;16, t14;20 & del17p) and LDH>221 were all significant, but only %SP 2 was significant in multivariable analysis. Conclusion: The %S-phase of clonal PCs determined by FC is of prognostic value in patients with RMM. This is particularly relevant because it is independent of some of the other known poor prognostic factors such as high risk FISH.
Enhanced Hydrogenation Due to Ultrasound Treatment in Polycrystalline Silicon: New Approach to Thin Film Defect Engineering

We applied the ultrasound treatment (UST) to improve properties of poly-Si thin films on glass substrates for thin-film transistor applications. A strong decrease of the sheet resistivity in hydrogenated films subjected to UST was observed. UST improves the film homogeneity as monitored by spatially resolved surface photovoltage mapping. Studies of hydrogenated thin-film transistors demonstrated remarkable UST induced improvement in transistor characteristics, especially, a reduction of leakage current by as much as one order of magnitude. All these effects are explained in terms of UST enhanced hydrogenation of poly-Si film.
The syndromic classification, differential diagnosis, management, and prevention of potentially fatal plant poisonings in Louisiana and the Gulf South.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers has reported more than 50,000 calls annually relating to plant exposures, usually non-lethal ingestions in young adults, adolescents, and children. In addition, there has been more than a 100% increase in the mortality rate for unintentional poisonings in the United States (US) between 1999 and 2006, especially in males and in individuals aged 15-29 years. For children, the frequency of plant exposures is directly related to their presence and abundance in households. In contrast, adolescents and young adults may experiment with naturally hallucinogenic plants, often obtained over the Internet, or attempt suicide by ingesting poisonous plants. In light of these recent trends in plant poisonings, the objectives of this investigation will be to propose a rapid syndromic classification scheme of only four types of highly toxic plants (cardiotoxic, neurotoxic, cytotoxic, and gastrointestinal/hepatotoxic) for the initial evaluation of patients poisoned by indigenous and often unidentified toxic plants in Louisiana and the Gulf South. It will also discuss current strategies for early diagnosis, management, and prevention of potentially lethal plant poisonings. Although many plants contain toxins, plants provide more than 70% of new drugs today and continue to provide new therapies for infectious diseases and cancer. More leisure time spent outdoors seeking natural foods and surfing the Internet for natural substances to abuse will create more opportunities for plant poisonings among high-risk groups, such as immigrants foraging for greens and adolescents experimenting with natural hallucinogens. Language: en
Effects of Catalyst Properties on Hydrodesulfurization Activity for Sulfur Removal from Fluid Catalytic Cracking Decant Oils

Removing sulfur from larger ring systems in fluid catalytic cracking decant oils used as needle coke feedstock is the most effective way of reducing the needle coke sulfur content. The large sulfur compounds found in decant oil are incorporated into coke in larger proportions than smaller sulfur compounds upon carbonization. The desirable outcome of decant oil hydrodesulfurization is, therefore, removing sulfur selectively from large polyaromatic ring systems with minimum hydrogen consumption. This study investigates the effects of catalyst properties on hydrodesulfurization activity to remove sulfur from decant oils. Two decant oils (DO-HS and DO-LS) representing a high (2.5 wt %) and low (0.9 wt %) sulfur content decant oil and their vacuum distillation fractions were hydrotreated in a fixed-bed flow reactor. Four catalysts (with varying average pore sizes, promoter atoms, and supports) were prepared with sequential incipient wetness impregnation to evaluate their activities for hydrodesulfurization and...
Rapid killing of bed bugs (Cimex lectularius L.) on surfaces using heat: application to luggage.

BACKGROUND The resistance of bed bugs (Cimex lectularius L.) to chemical insecticides has motivated the development of non-chemical control methods such as heat treatment. However, because bed bugs tend to hide in cracks or crevices, their behavior incidentally generates a thermally insulated microenvironment for themselves. Bed bugs located on the outer surface of luggage are less insulated and potentially more vulnerable to brief heat treatment. RESULTS Soft-sided suitcases with adult male bed bugs on the outside were exposed to an air temperature of 70–75 °C. It took 6 min to kill all of the bed bugs, even those that had concealed themselves under zipper flaps or decorative piping. During heating, only one bed bug (out of 250 in total) moved into the luggage (through a closed zipper). Over long periods of time (24 h) at room temperature, adult male bed bugs on the exterior of luggage only infrequently moved inside; only 3% (5/170) had moved inside during 24 h. CONCLUSIONS Brief exterior heat treatment of luggage is a promising way to reduce the spread of bed bugs being transported on the outer surface of luggage. This treatment will not kill bed bugs inside the luggage, but could be a component of integrated management for this pest. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry
BMP4 acts as a dorsal telencephalic morphogen in a mouse embryonic stem cell culture system

The concept of a morphogen - a molecule that specifies two or more cell fates in a concentration-dependent manner - is paradigmatic in developmental biology. Much remains unknown, however, about the existence of morphogens in the developing vertebrate central nervous system (CNS), including the mouse dorsal telencephalic midline (DTM). Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are candidate DTM morphogens, and our previous work demonstrated BMP4 sufficiency to induce one DTM cell fate - that of choroid plexus epithelial cells (CPECs) - in a mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) culture system. Here we used BMP4 in a modified mESC culture system to derive a second DTM fate, the cortical hem (CH). CH and CPEC markers were induced by BMP4 in a concentration-dependent manner consistent with in vivo development. BMP4 concentrations that led to CH fate also promoted markers for Cajal-Retzius neurons, which are known CH derivatives. Interestingly, single BMP4 administrations also sufficed for appropriate temporal regulation of CH, CPEC, and cortical genes, with initially broad and overlapping dose-response profiles that sharpened over time. BMP4 concentrations that yielded CH- or CPEC-enriched populations also had different steady-state levels of phospho-SMAD1/5/8, suggesting that differences in BMP signaling intensity underlie DTM fate choice. Surprisingly, inactivation of the cortical selector gene Lhx2 did not affect DTM expression levels, dose-response profiles, or timing in response to BMP4, although neural progenitor genes were downregulated. These data indicate that BMP4 can act as a classic morphogen to orchestrate both spatial and temporal aspects of DTM fate acquisition, and can do so in the absence of Lhx2.
SUMOylation of the Hyperpolarization-Activated Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Channel 2 Increases Surface Expression and the Maximal Conductance of the Hyperpolarization-Activated Current

Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier (SUMO) is a ∼10 kDa peptide that can be post-translationally added to a lysine (K) on a target protein to facilitate protein-protein interactions. Recent studies have found that SUMOylation can be regulated in an activity-dependent manner and that ion channel SUMOylation can alter the biophysical properties and surface expression of the channel. Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channel surface expression can be regulated in an activity-dependent manner through unknown processes. We hypothesized that SUMOylation might influence the surface expression of HCN2 channels. In this manuscript, we show that HCN2 channels are SUMOylated in the mouse brain. Baseline levels of SUMOylation were also observed for a GFP-tagged HCN2 channel stably expressed in Human embryonic kidney (Hek) cells. Elevating GFP-HCN2 channel SUMOylation above baseline in Hek cells led to an increase in surface expression that augmented the hyperpolarization-activated current (Ih) mediated by these channels. Increased SUMOylation did not alter Ih voltage-dependence or kinetics of activation. There are five predicted intracellular SUMOylation sites on HCN2. Site-directed mutagenesis indicated that more than one K on the GFP-HCN2 channel was SUMOylated. Enhancing SUMOylation at one of the five predicted sites, K669, led to the increase in surface expression and IhGmax. The role of SUMOylation at additional sites is currently unknown. The SUMOylation site at K669 is also conserved in HCN1 channels. Aberrant SUMOylation has been linked to neurological diseases that also display alterations in HCN1 and HCN2 channel expression, such as seizures and Parkinson's disease. This work is the first report that HCN channels can be SUMOylated and that this can regulate surface expression and Ih.
“It’s Kind of a Dichotomy”: Thoughts Related to Calling and Purpose from Pastors Working and Counseling in Urban Resource-Poor Communities

Pastors serving low-income urban areas are first-responders to emotional issues by default, since fewer mental health resources are available. Thus, it is important to understand how pastors serving urban resource-poor areas reflect on their counseling role. Forty-eight Black, Hispanic, and White pastors with urban congregations in Los Angeles or Chicago reflect on their pastoral calling and its relation to their counseling role. Through phenomenology, the pastors' lived experiences as they counseled in an urban context were explored. Analysis revealed complex feelings about their counseling role in light of their resource-poor environments. Recommendations are provided based on the findings.
Angiotensin Paradoxically Upregulates a Human Renin Transgene Containing a 900bp Promoter by a Pressure-Independent Mechanism

P196 Renin gene expression is negatively regulated by angiotensin II (AII) and blood pressure (BP). In transgenic mice containing the entire human renin (HREN) gene with only 900 bp of promoter sequence, pressor AII infusion paradoxically increases renal HREN mRNA. Lack of upregulation during subpressor AII suggests that this increase might be mediated by increased BP. To test this hypothesis, the AII-induced increase in BP was prevented by coadministration of the vasodilator, hydralazine (H). AII and H were infused at 1000 ng/kg/min and 15 mg/kg/day, respectively, by osmotic minipump. Isotonic saline was infused as vehicle (V). BP was measured daily by tail cuff, after a 7-day training period and a 5-day baseline period. Renal renin mRNA expression was measured by ribonuclease protection assay (normalized to expression of actin). BP during the last 3 days of a 5 day infusion of AII (n=5) was increased by an average of 37 ± 4 mmHg. There was no significant change in BP in mice infused with V (n=4) or with AII+H (n=4). The level of endogenous mouse renin mRNA was appropriately decreased by about 60% in both AII and AII+H mice relative to V mice. In contrast, HREN mRNA increased almost 2-fold (1.9 ± 0.3) in AII mice compared to V mice. In addition, the normalization of BP in AII+H mice did not prevent the increase in HREN mRNA (2.1 ± 0.3 fold). Thus, renal HREN in transgenic mice containing the entire HREN gene with 900 bp of promoter sequence is increased by pressor AII even when the BP increase is ameliorated by H, suggesting that the upregulation may be due to a direct effect of AII. Moreover, the finding from our previous study of a lack of upregulation during subpressor AII infusion may indicate that this action of AII is dose-dependent. We are currently performing similar studies in transgenic mice containing a well regulated HREN transgene to further elucidate the molecular mechanisms of renin gene regulation and to better understand the defect existing in the present model.
Advances in the Understanding of Protein-Protein Interactions in Drug Metabolizing Enzymes through the Use of Biophysical Techniques.

In recent years, a growing appreciation has developed for the importance of protein-protein interactions to modulate the function of drug metabolizing enzymes. Accompanied with this appreciation, new methods and technologies have been designed for analyzing protein-protein interactions both in vitro and in vivo. These technologies have been applied to several classes of drug metabolizing enzymes, including: cytochrome P450’s (CYPs), monoamine oxidases (MAO’s), UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs), glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), and sulfotransferases (SULTs). In this review, we offer a brief description and assessment of the impact of many of these technologies to the study of protein-protein interactions in drug disposition. The still expanding list of these techniques and assays has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of how these enzymes carry out their important functions in vivo.
Advances in travel time reliability monitoring and assessment

Travel time reliability has become a subject of increasingly intense interest for researchers and practitioners. Carriers and shippers have focused on reliability in terms of operational control ev...
Marriage: Public Institution or Private Contract

For many critics, the very existence of the institution of civil marriage compromises the liberal state’s claim to neutrality by according moral privilege to a particular way of living. Although it purports to afford a private space within which the participants can develop their capacities for intimacy and care, its boundaries as a status afford little flexibility. I believe that if we relax somewhat the terms on which we offer the material benefits of marriage to more varied family forms, we can retain civil marriage as a public status without succumbing to perfectionism. First, as long as public authority exists, regulatory policy exists also even in the absence of regulation. Second, public policy may have the effect of favoring some ways of life as long as it is not justified by arguments that these ways of life are superior to others. If the existence of civil marriage is viewed not as an intrinsic good, but as an instrumental good through which persons may achieve their private aims, it need not function as a state-sanctioned preferred way of life. It affords what has been termed “public privacy” or a buffer zone of privacy for its participants through the affirmation of commitment in the eyes of the community.
DiGS: Distributed Graph Routing and Scheduling for Industrial Wireless Sensor-Actuator Networks

Wireless Sensor-Actuator Networks (WSANs) technology is appealing for use in industrial IoT applications because it does not require wired infrastructure. Battery-powered wireless modules easily and inexpensively retrofit existing sensors and actuators in industrial facilities without running cabling for communication and power. IEEE 802.15.4 based WSANs operate at low-power and can be manufactured inexpensively, which makes them ideal where battery lifetime and costs are important. Almost a decade of real-world deployments of WirelessHART standard has demonstrated the feasibility of using its core techniques including reliable graph routing and Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) to achieve reliable low-power wireless communication in industrial facilities. Today we are facing the 4th Industrial Revolution as proclaimed by political statements related to the Industry 4.0 Initiative of the German Government. There exists an emerging demand for deploying a large number of field devices in an industrial facility and connecting them through a WSAN. However, a major limitation of current WSAN standards is their limited scalability due to their centralized routing and scheduling that enhance the predictability and visibility of network operations at the cost of scalability. This paper decentralizes the network management in WirelessHART and presents the first Distributed Graph routing and autonomous Scheduling (DiGS) solution that allows the field devices to compute their own graph routes and transmission schedules. Experimental results from two physical testbeds and a simulation study show our approaches can significantly improve the network reliability, latency, and energy efficiency under dynamics.
Erosion of an inflatable penile prosthesis reservoir into the bladder, presenting as bladder calculi.

AbstractWe report a case of erosion of an inflatable penile prosthesis reservoir into the bladder 4 years after implantation for organic impotence. In contrast to previously reported cases this complication was not associated with incontinence, urinary tract infection or a revision procedure. Microscopic hematuria was present but there was no pyuria. Diagnosis evaded radiographic and cystoscopic confirmation. Bladder erosion of the reservoir was discovered incidentally during treatment of bladder calculi.
Architecture and Morphology of Human Pancreatic Islets

The pancreatic islet is a complex mini-organ that plays an essential role in regulating the metabolic environment of organisms by sensing nutrients such as glucose and then responding with regulated hormone secretion. This chapter focuses on recent advances in our understanding of the anatomic structure and architecture of the human pancreatic islet in health and in disease. Much of this progress results from the increased availability of human islets and human pancreatic tissue to a large number of scientists and efforts by scientists to translate information from cell lines and animal models into human tissues and samples. The human islet has many similarities to the islets from other species, but it does have some distinctive features such as cell composition and arrangement, vascularization, and islet innervation. Recent studies of human pancreas from individuals with type 1 or type 2 diabetes has provided insight into disease pathogenesis and raised new questions that challenge disease paradigms.
Reactions at the 3′ terminus of transfer ribonucleic acid. IX. tRNA nucleotidyltransferase activity in bacteriophage T4-infected Escherichia coli

Abstract There was no detectable increase in tRNA nucleotidyltransferase activity upon infection of Escherichia coli A19 with bacteriophage T4. Three mutant strains which contained low levels of tRNA nucleotidyltransferase activity also showed no increase in activity after infection. tRNA nucleotidyltransferase was purified from both uninfected and T4-infected cells and examined for possible modification. It was found that enzyme purified from both types of cells eluted from DEAE cellulose at the same specific conductivity. In addition, the molecular weight of tRNA nucleotidyltransferase purified from both uninfected and T4-infected cells was approximately 45,000 daltons as determined by chromatography on Sephadex G-100. These results suggest that T4-infection does not lead to synthesis of a new virus-specific tRNA nucleotidyltransferase nor does it cause modification of the host enzyme.
Robotic Swarm Connectivity with Human Operation and Bandwidth Limitations

Human interaction with robot swarms (HSI) is a young field with very few user studies that explore operator behavior. All these studies assume perfect communication between the operator and the swarm. A key challenge in the use of swarm robotic systems in human supervised tasks is to understand human swarm interaction in the presence of limited communication bandwidth, which is a constraint arising in many practical scenarios. In this paper, we present results of human-subject experiments designed to study the effect of bandwidth limitations in human swarm interaction. We consider three levels of bandwidth availability in a swarm foraging task. The lowest bandwidth condition performs poorly, but the medium and high bandwidth condition both perform well. In the medium bandwidth condition, we display useful aggregated swarm information (like swarm centroid and spread) to compress the swarm state information. We also observe interesting operator behavior and adaptation of operators' swarm reaction.
Bentham on animal welfare

Jeremy Bentham is often thought to have set the groundwork for the modern ‘animal liberation’ movement, but in fact he wrote little on the subject. A full examination of his work reveals a less rad...
Antagonism and work outcomes: Implicit and explicit considerations

Abstract This chapter provides a brief overview of the study of antagonism in organizational contexts. It begins by introducing the two primary research traditions for studying trait antagonism within the organizational sciences: explicit and implicit approaches. The bulk of the chapter provides empirical evidence linking the explicit component of trait antagonism to workplace outcomes (i.e., job performance, job attitudes, and leadership). We then describe the current research around the implicit component of trait antagonism in the workplace. The chapter concludes by promoting the future development and use of theory which integrates the explicit and implicit personality components by providing examples of successful integration through the use of channeling models ( James & LeBreton, 2010 ; Winter, John, Stewart, Klohnen, & Duncan, 1998 ).
Optimism is not associated with two indicators of DNA methylation aging

Evidence indicates associations between higher optimism and reduced risk of age-related conditions and premature mortality. This suggests optimism is a positive health asset, but research identifying potential biological mechanisms underlying these associations remains limited. One potential pathway is slower cellular aging, which may delay age-related deterioration in health. Data were from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) (N=3,298) and the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study (NAS) (N=514), and included dispositional and explanatory style optimism measures. We evaluated whether higher optimism was associated with metrics suggestive of less cellular aging, as indicated by two DNA methylation algorithms, intrinsic (IEAA) and extrinsic epigenetic age acceleration (EEAA); these algorithms represent accelerated biologic aging that exceeds chronological age. We used linear regression models to test our hypothesis while considering several covariates (sociodemographics, depressive symptoms, health behaviors). In both cohorts, we found consistently null associations of all measures of optimism with both measures of DNA methylation aging, regardless of covariates considered. For example, in fully-adjusted models, dispositional optimism was not associated with either IEAA (WHI:β=0.02; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]:-0.15-0.20; NAS:β=-0.06; 95% CI:-0.56-0.44) or EEAA (WHI:β=-0.04; 95% CI: -0.26-0.17; NAS:β=-0.17; 95% CI: -0.80-0.46). Higher optimism was not associated with reduced cellular aging as measured in this study.
1 Kbit 6T SRAM Arrays in Carbon Nanotube FET CMOS

We experimentally demonstrate the first static random-access memory (SRAM) arrays based on carbon nanotube (CNT) field-effect transistors (CNFETs). We demonstrate full 1 Kbit 6 transistor (6T) SRAM arrays fabricated with CNFET CMOS (totalling 6,144 p-and n-type CNFETs), with all 1,024 cells functioning correctly without any per-unit customization. We demonstrate robust operation by writing and reading multiple patterns to the Kbit arrays and characterize single-cell SRAM variability (write and read margins) and repeat cycling of cells. Due to low-temperature BEOL-compatible processing, CNFET SRAM enables new opportunities for digital systems, since: (1) CNFET SRAM can be fabricated directly on top of computing logic, and (2) buried power rails (i.e., as in our demonstration where the power rails are fabricated underneath the FET) can potentially enable smaller-area SRAM layouts.
A new technique for use in the study of the microbiome: An evaluation of a three-dimensional cell culture technique in maintaining the gastrointestinal microbiome of four Balb/c female mice and implications for future studies

Abstract Fluctuations in oxygen, pH, nutrients, or other factors such as food or pharmaceuticals, may perturb the microbiota of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. This environmental variation is a cause for concern given dysbiosis of the microbiome is correlated with disease states; thereby, model organisms are utilized to study microbial communities during, after, or before shifts in microbes since intact ex vivo microbiomes have historically been challenging to utilize. The objective of this study is to culture an explant microbiome of 4 Balb/c, laboratory bred mice to develop an ex vivo tool for future microbiome studies. We cultured homogenates of the distal colon of 4 mice in three dimensional, 24 well plate culture dishes. These dishes were incubated for 24 hours in two different oxygen concentration levels, 0% and 20%. The pH of the plate was tested before and after incubation. To analyze the integrity of the microbiome, we utilized 16S sequencing. Further, we utilized 16S metagenomics to characterize fecal samples and colon samples to speculate whether future studies may utilize feces in constructing an explant microbiome to spare animal lives. We found that pH and familial relationship had a profound impact on community structure while oxygen did not have a significant influence. The feces and the colon were similar in community profiles, which lends credence to utilizing feces in future studies. In addition, our efforts successfully cultured archaea, which included difficult to culture strains such as Miscellaneous Crenarchaeota group (MCG) and Methanobacteria. Ultimately, further attempts to culture and preserve an animal’s microbiome needs to control for and maintain stable pH.
A New Zealand White Rabbit Model of Thrombocytopenia and Coagulopathy Following Total Body Irradiation Across the Dose Range to Induce the Hematopoietic-Subsyndrome of Acute Radiation Syndrome

Purpose: The purpose if this study was to develop a rabbit model of total body irradiation (TBI) -induced thrombocytopenia and coagulopathy across the dose-range which induces the hematopoietic sub...