cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
FinTechSec: Addressing the Security Challenges of Digital Financial Services

Digital financial systems such as mobile money and online credit have tremendous potential to enable financial inclusion. However, in the rush to provide such systems, security and privacy have often been overlooked. This article looks into the challenges facing these truly transformative technologies and discusses how this community can help.
A Prospective Study of Pain From Magnetic Resonance Imaging With Cochlear Implant Magnets In Situ.

OBJECTIVE To describe changes in pain associated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with cochlear implant magnets in place. STUDY DESIGN Prospective, single-arm study. SETTING Tertiary referral center. SUBJECTS Adults with cochlear implants requiring MRI. INTERVENTION Tight head wrapping over internal device during MRI. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Change in pain score using an 11-point visual analogue scale, duration/completion of MRI, body mass index (BMI), quality of pain, status of the skin, functioning of implant, displacement/polarity change of magnet, willingness to repeat MRI without magnet removal. RESULTS A total of 27 subjects obtained 42 MRI scans. Subjects were 59% male with age range of 21 to 80 years. All three manufacturers were represented. Forty-eight percent of scans imaged the brain/head while 52% imaged other sites. The mean individual change in pain was 3.9 (SD 3.5, range 0-10). The pain was most commonly described as "pressure", "heat", or "sharp". There was no significant correlation between change in pain and scan duration, BMI, or body part imaged. Eighty-eight percent of the scans were completed. There were no skin complications except temporary erythema (29%) and there were no magnet/device complications. Eighty-eight percent said they would undergo MRI without magnet removal again. CONCLUSION The pain associated with obtaining an MRI without cochlear implant magnet removal is highly variable. Increase in pain is not related to duration of MRI scan, body part imaged, or BMI. Despite the pain, almost all patients prefer MRI scanning with the magnet in place, to avoid two surgical procedures.
The supercooling of aggregates of small metal particles

Aggregates of small metal droplets of mercury, bismuth, gallium, and lead have been supercooled to a much greater extent than have large continuous liquid masses of the same metals. These results are interpreted on the basis that breaking a large liquid mass into small droplets isolates inclusions that usually catalyze nucleation in a small fraction of the droplets so that most must nucleate homogeneously.
Computational Three-Dimensional Microstructure Defect Distributions in Thermal Barrier Coatings

Thermal protection of components such as turbine blades is often done with thermal barrier coatings which are typically ceramic materials. Methods to manufacture ceramic coatings are being developed to create microstructures that optimize thermal protection without degrading mechanical properties of the coating. The coating requires sufficient mechanical properties to remain in place during loads associated with the operation of the component. The work presented in this paper is part of a broader effort that focuses on novel processing techniques. A fabrication method of interest is the inclusion of spherical micron-sized pores to scatter photons at high temperatures along with nano-sized grains to scatter phonons. Pores are sized and distributed so that mechanical strength is maintained. In the current work, yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is modeled. Three-dimensional microstructures representing YSZ are computationally generated. The defect sizes and orientations are generated to match an experimentally observed distribution. The defects are either randomly or regularly placed in the microstructural models. Stress-displacement analysis is used to determine effective bulk material properties. Comparisons are made to prior two-dimensional work and to experimental measurements available in the literature as appropriate. The influences that defect distributions and three dimensional effects have on the effective bulk material properties are quantified. This work is a preliminary step toward understanding the impacts that micron sized pores, voids and cracks have on thermal and mechanical characteristics. The goal is to facilitate optimizing the microstructure for thermal protection and strength retention.Copyright © 2017 by ASME
Emissions tax in Iran: Incorporating pollution disutility in a welfare analysis

Abstract The emission of carbon dioxide per unit of GDP for Iran is more than 30% higher than what is available around the world. The present study aims to implement a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium model to evaluate the impact of pollutants (NOx, SO2, CO, CO2, CH4 and N2O) emissions tax on their emissions and households’ welfare. In welfare analysis, consumer utility maximization is examined based on both standard utility and the pollution incorporated utility functions. Two levels of emission tax known as medium and high emission tax were evaluated. In medium emission tax scenario, tax rates are equal to medium estimates of damage costs while the rates are twice more than the medium estimates in high emission tax. In general, the simulation results indicated a significant effect of emission tax on the pollutant emissions rather than output contraction. However, the effect of taxing on the emission of pollutants increased significantly under incorporating pollution disutility, compared to standard utility alternative, leading to higher welfare and lower emissions. In addition, the emissions of all pollutants in high tax scenario except for CH4 and N2O decreased by at least 20%, compared with their current level at the end of the simulation horizon. Further, the distribution of welfare gains improved under the pollution incorporated option, compared to the standard one as it favored low income and rural groups.
Why Is Uncertainty a Game Changer for Water Policy and Practice

Climate change and its uncertain impacts on water systems has raised awareness of the limitations of current planning and management practices in the water sector. Global climate modeling and regional impact assessment are plagued with severe uncertainties stemming from natural variability, uncertain assumptions about future emissions, differences in how global models are structured, and what climate processes they include and exclude. The same model with slightly different initial conditions can give quite different results. Therefore, it is difficult to use them to predict future climate at local and regional scales. This chapter articulates the problem of climatic uncertainty, identifies other relevant uncertainties associated with demand and regulation, and discusses the challenges they present for water planning and decision-making.
Abstract IA15: Normal and cancer stem cells in multistage carcinogenesis

Mouse models of cancer have been instrumental in the development of our understanding of the processes that drive multistage carcinogenesis from the initiation stage to metastasis. In particular, tumors induced in mice by exposure to chemicals that act as mutagens or tumor promoters replicate many of the biologic and genetic features of multistage cancer in human populations. Such models often have a high burden of point mutations and gene copy number changes similar to human tumors of the lung, colon, or skin that are associated with exposure to exogenous environmental agents. These are important features that contribute to tumor heterogeneity—a major cause of drug resistance and poor response to therapy in human cancer patients. The availability of mouse models of tumors with a high mutation burden also offers possibilities for development of immunotherapy approaches that are dependent on expression of novel tumor antigens resulting from carcinogen-induced mutations in tumor DNA. Initiation of chemical carcinogenesis in the mouse is frequently caused by point mutations in genes of the Ras family. The nature of the initiating Ras mutation depends on the carcinogen used, but a similar “mutation signature” is seen throughout the genome of the initiated cell. Tumor cells, however, continually acquire additional new genetic alterations, leading to the emergence of multiple, genetically distinct tumor subclones. By combining the 4-color lineage tracing Confetti mouse with a chemical carcinogenesis model of skin cancer, we have investigated clonal and evolutionary dynamics at every stage of chemical carcinogenesis, from the initiated cell to benign tumors, malignant carcinomas, and ultimately to distant metastases. These studies reveal distinct patterns of clonal evolution at different stages of progression. The growth of subclones within tumors is driven by a stem cell population marked by expression of the Lgr6 gene—a known marker of normal skin stem cells and mediator of Wnt signaling in the epidermis. The use of mouse models for identification of patterns of clonal heterogeneity, and the drivers of clonal growth from cancer stem cells, may offer new possibilities for prevention or treatment of squamous carcinomas. Citation Format: Allan Balmain. Normal and cancer stem cells in multistage carcinogenesis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Advances in Modeling Cancer in Mice: Technology, Biology, and Beyond; 2017 Sep 24-27; Orlando, Florida. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(10 Suppl):Abstract nr IA15.
Plasma Level Monitoring of Tricyclic Antidepressants: Usefulness and Limitations

ABSTRACT The evidence of a relationship between steady state plasma levels and therapeutic effect of tricyclic antidepressants (TCA) has accumulated rapidly in recent years. Three independent groups have in six studies found optimal therapeutic effect of nortriptyline when plasma levels were 100-150µg/L, and poor effect when levels were above 150-200µg/L. Two larger independent studies on imipramine showed optimal therapeutic effect when plasma levels of imipramine+desipramine were above 200-250µg/L and no upper critical limit. Three studies on amitriptyline indicated a lower critical plasma level limit of about 80-120µg/L (amitriptyline+nortriptyline), and a recent study indicates that there is no upper critical limit. Before plasma level monitoring of TCA can be recommended for more general clinical use, more research on clinical variables such as depressive typology, duration of therapy, and kinetic variables as active metabolites and plasma protein binding needs to be done. Such research should also include a cost benefit analysis of the clinical use of plasma level monitoring of TCA.
Tuning Binding Tendencies of Small Molecules in Metal–Organic Frameworks with Open Metal Sites by Metal Substitution and Linker Functionalization

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with open metal sites (OMS) are known to be selective for ethylene relative to ethane. In practical applications of this separation, the presence of other small mole...
All You Need is Love: Southwest Airlines and the Wright Amendment (a)

The first of a three-case series, this is a classic business-government relations (BGR) challenge for Southwest Airlines. The A case takes the student from the problems SWA had with competitors and the Civil Aviation Board in the early years of attempting to fly through the passage of the Wright Amendment in the late 1970s. House Majority Leader Jim Wright championed the cause for the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Authority and the big DFW airlines, most prominently American Airlines. The case then updates the situation 25 years later, when SWA is a big airline and the events of September 11, 2001, hurt the short-haul business of low-cost airlines. The case presents BGR strategies of SWA over time. Excerpt UVA-GEM-0116 Rev. Apr. 15, 2014 ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE: SOUTHWEST AIRLINES AND THE WRIGHT AMENDMENT (A) The warrior mentality, the very fight to survive, is truly what created our culture. —Colleen Barrett, President and Corporate Secretary, Southwest Airlines Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines, contemplated the many years of hard-fought battles that Southwest Airlines and its employees had endured. Throughout this time, Southwest had always been able to rise above its combatants and continue to grow its successful operation. With the enactment of the Wright Amendment, Southwest had suffered its first defeat, not at the hands of competition in the free market, but by Congress and the administrators of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The History of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport . . .
Fast Radio Bursts

We summarize our current state of knowledge of fast radio bursts (FRBs) which were first discovered a decade ago. Following an introduction to radio transients in general, including pulsars and rotating radio transients, we discuss the discovery of FRBs. We then discuss FRB follow-up observations in the context of repeat bursts before moving on to review propagation effects on FRB signals, FRB progenitor models and an outlook on FRBs as potential cosmological tools.
Application of Biocatalysis Towards Asymmetric Reduction and Hydrolytic Desymmetrization in the Synthesis of a β-3 Receptor Agonist.

Chemoenzymatic syntheses of key intermediates (II) and (VI) in the preparation of the potent β-3 receptor agonist (VI) are described.
Abstract 801: Characterization of Cardiac Myeloid Cells in Aged Mice and Their Role in Cardiac Dysfunction During Bacterial Infection

Biological aging is a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease. The changes in the normal immune cell phenotype and function in the myocardium due to immunosenescence is the major ...
Why do human languages have homophones

Abstract Human languages are replete with ambiguity. This is most evident in homophony––where two or more words sound the same, but carry distinct meanings. For example, the wordform “bark” can denote either the sound produced by a dog or the protective outer sheath of a tree trunk. Why would a system evolved for efficient, effective communication display rampant ambiguity? Some accounts argue that ambiguity is actually a design feature of human communication systems, allowing languages to recycle their most optimal wordforms (those which are short, frequent, and phonotactically well-formed) for multiple meanings. We test this claim by constructing five series of artificial lexica matched for the phonotactics and distribution of word lengths found in five real languages (English, German, Dutch, French, and Japanese), and comparing both the quantity and concentration of homophony across the real and artificial lexica. Surprisingly, we find that the artificial lexica exhibit higher upper-bounds on homophony than their real counterparts, and that homophony is even more likely to be found among short, phonotactically plausible wordforms in the artificial than in the real lexica. These results suggest that homophony in real languages is not directly selected for, but rather, that it emerges as a natural consequence of other features of a language. In fact, homophony may even be selected against in real languages, producing lexica that better conform to other requirements of humans who need to use them. Finally, we explore the hypothesis that this is achieved by “smoothing” out dense concentrations of homophones across lexical neighborhoods, resulting in comparatively more minimal pairs in real lexica.
Accounting for time-varying inter-individual differences in trajectories when assessing cross-lagged models

This paper explores relationships amongst cross-lagged models allowing trajectories to be freely estimated, some accounting for time-varying differences amongst individuals (Autoregressive Latent T...
Post-transplant patients with COVID-19 associated acute respiratory distress syndrome, a role for Tociluzumab: a case series.

COVID-19 is the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 that portends both a relatively high mortality rate as well as high rate of intensive care admission amongst all age groups; however effective therapy remains poorly characterized. Post-transplant patients are especially high risk and underrepresented in the literature. In these patients, cytokine release may play a significant role in the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome, raising the hypothesis that interleukin-6 inhibitors such as tocilizumab may be of benefit. Here, we describe two high-risk post-transplant patients who were treated with single-dose tocilizumab after intubation for moderate acute respiratory distress syndrome secondary to confirmed COVID-19 infection. Both patients recovered rapidly and were successfully extubated and discharged from the hospital without need for supplemental oxygen shortly thereafter, and their clinical improvement correlated with response in interleukin-6 levels. Tocilizumab appears to hold promise for critically ill COVID-19 patients who require mechanical ventilation when given shortly after intubation.
Adverse Events Associated With ClariFix Posterior Nasal Nerve Cryoablation: A MAUDE Database Analysis:

Posterior nasal nerve (PNN) cryoablation is a novel surgical technique used to address chronic rhinitis. The purpose of this study is to review the medical device reports (MDRs) submitted to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Manufacturer and User Device Facility Experience (MAUDE) database to identify adverse events related to the use of ClariFix, a device designed for office-based cryosurgical ablation of the PNN. A total of 12 adverse events associated with ClariFix from January 2017 to August 2020 were identified and analyzed. The most common adverse events associated with ClariFix PNN cryoablation include epistaxis and nasal swelling. Further studies are needed to clarify whether PNN cryoablation is associated with epistaxis in certain populations.
Community-Engaged Qualitative Scholarship During a Pandemic: Problems, Perils and Lessons Learned

Conclusions Qualitative CBPR is important during all times to form important academic-community collaborations, build community skills and knowledge, and address health issues in an informed and effective way. However, terminating or eliminating community-based and community-engaged research within these communities may exacerbate the profound COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 disparities they experience. Keywords: community based research;methods in qualitative inquiry;par-participatory action research;action research;case study EN community based research methods in qualitative inquiry par-participatory action research action research case study 1 4 4 06/26/21 20210623 NES 210623 COVID-19 has changed the way we plan, conduct, and disseminate research ([3]). [Extracted from the article] Copyright of International Journal of Qualitative Methods is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Use of Medications for Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder Among US Medicaid Enrollees in 11 States, 2014-2018.

Importance There is limited information about trends in the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) among Medicaid enrollees. Objective To examine the use of medications for OUD and potential indicators of quality of care in multiple states. Design, Setting, and Participants Exploratory serial cross-sectional study of 1 024 301 Medicaid enrollees in 11 states aged 12 through 64 years (not eligible for Medicare) withInternational Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9orICD-10)codes for OUD from 2014 through 2018. Each state used generalized estimating equations to estimate associations between enrollee characteristics and outcome measure prevalence, subsequently pooled to generate global estimates using random effects meta-analyses. Exposures Calendar year, demographic characteristics, eligibility groups, and comorbidities. Main Outcomes and Measures Use of medications for OUD (buprenorphine, methadone, or naltrexone); potential indicators of good quality (OUD medication continuity for 180 days, behavioral health counseling, urine drug tests); potential indicators of poor quality (prescribing of opioid analgesics and benzodiazepines). Results In 2018, 41.7% of Medicaid enrollees with OUD were aged 21 through 34 years, 51.2% were female, 76.1% were non-Hispanic White, 50.7% were eligible through Medicaid expansion, and 50.6% had other substance use disorders. Prevalence of OUD increased in these 11 states from 3.3% (290 628 of 8 737 082) in 2014 to 5.0% (527 983 of 10 585 790) in 2018. The pooled prevalence of enrollees with OUD receiving medication treatment increased from 47.8% in 2014 (range across states, 35.3% to 74.5%) to 57.1% in 2018 (range, 45.7% to 71.7%). The overall prevalence of enrollees receiving 180 days of continuous medications for OUD did not significantly change from the 2014-2015 to 2017-2018 periods (−0.01 prevalence difference, 95% CI, −0.03 to 0.02) with state variability in trend (90% prediction interval, −0.08 to 0.06). Non-Hispanic Black enrollees had lower OUD medication use than White enrollees (prevalence ratio [PR], 0.72; 95% CI, 0.64 to 0.81;P Conclusions and Relevance Among US Medicaid enrollees in 11 states, the prevalence of medication use for treatment of opioid use disorder increased from 2014 through 2018. The pattern in other states requires further research.
Effort and Compensation in Relational Contracts

To generate downstream sales, manufacturers often spend both effort and compensation when working with their dealers. Existing theories are inconclusive about the interdependent role of the two kinds of instruments in motivating dealer effort; that is, whether they are substitutes or complements. There is little empirical evidence to inform their relations either. We first examine the conditions that determine the interdependencies among monetary compensation – both formal and informal – and manufacturer effort in a game-theoretical framework. We show that monetary compensation and manufacturer effort are complementary instruments in motivating dealer effort if the manufacturer’s effort is primarily about monitoring. They become substitutes when the manufacturer’s effort is primarily productive and thus provides indirect compensation. We then empirically illustrate some of these novel predictions in the distribution channel of the leading manufacturer of a computer accessory and its sixty dealerships in China. In particular, evidence from company archival and survey data shows complementarity between informal compensation and manufacturer effort in motivating dealer effort. This result appears to hold only when the dealers are situated in highly relational contexts. Theoretical and managerial implications are drawn from our analyses.
Expanding smart assistant accessibility through dysarthria speech-trained transformer networks

Smart assistant usage has increased significantly with the AI boom and growth of IoT. Speech as an input modality brings a level of personalization to the various smart voice assistant products and applications; however, many smart assistants underperform when tasked with interpreting atypical speech input. Dysarthria, heavy accents, and deaf and hard-of-hearing speech characteristics prove difficult for smart assistants to interpret despite the large amounts of diverse data used to train automatic speech recognition models. In this study, we explore the Transformer architecture for use as an automatic speech recognition model for speech with medium to low intelligibility scores. We utilize the Transformer model pre-trained on the Librispeech dataset and fine-tuned on the Torgo dataset of atypical speech, as well as a subset of the University of Memphis Speech Perception Assessment Laboratory’s (UMemphis SPAL) Deaf speech dataset. We also develop a methodology for performing automatic speech recognition using a Node.JS application running on a Raspberry Pi 4 to function as a pipeline between the user and a Google Home smart assistant device. The highest performing Transformer model shows a 20.2% character error rate with a corresponding 29.0% word error rate on a subset of medium intelligibility audio samples from the UMemphis SPAL dataset. This study highlights the importance for a large, transcribed dataset, fueling a large atypical-speech data gathering effort through a newly developed web application, My-Voice.
Potential impact of biopolymers (ε-polylysine and/or pectin) on gastrointestinal fate of foods: In vitro study.

Food-grade biopolymers, such as proteins and polysaccharides, may impact the gastrointestinal fate of foods through various mechanisms. In this study, we examined the influence of e-polylysine (an antimicrobial) and pectin (a thickening agent) on the behavior of a standard rodent diet (full-fat and fat-free) in a simulated gastrointestinal tract that included mouth, stomach, and small intestine phases. Powdered biopolymers were incorporated into the standard diet in either individual or complexed form. The presence of the biopolymers altered the microstructure and charge characteristics of the gastrointestinal contents. In particular, the presence of pectin appeared to increase the rate and extent of lipid digestion, which may have been due to its ability to inhibit protein aggregation. Our results do not support the hypothesis that polylysine inhibits lipid digestion, as has been reported previously. Overall, the results of this study may be useful for interpreting animal feeding studies of the influence of biopolymers on the gastrointestinal fate of foods.
Recurrent antibiotic exposure may promote cancer formation - Another step in understanding the role of the human microbiota?

Abstract Background Bacterial dysbiosis was previously described in human malignancies. In a recent animal model, tumour susceptibility was transmitted using faecal transplantation. Our aim was to evaluate possible association between antibiotic exposure and cancer risk. Methods We conducted nested case–control studies for 15 common malignancies using a large population-based electronic medical record database. Cases were defined as those with any medical code for the specific malignancy. Individuals with familial cancer syndromes were excluded. For every case, four eligible controls matched on age, sex, practice site and duration of follow-up before index-date were selected using incidence-density sampling. Exposure of interest was antibiotic therapy >1 year before index-date. Adjusted odds-ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for each antibiotic type using conditional logistic regression. Results 125,441 cases and 490,510 matched controls were analysed. For gastro-intestinal malignancies, the use of penicillin was associated with an elevated risk of oesophageal, gastric and pancreatic cancers. The association increased with the number of antibiotic courses and reached 1.4 for gastric cancers associated with >5 courses of penicillin (95% CI 1.2–1.8). Lung cancer risk increased with the use of penicillin, cephalosporins, or macrolides (AOR for >5 courses of penicillin: 1.4 95% CI 1.3–1.6). The risk of prostate cancer increased modestly with the use of penicillin, quinolones, sulphonamides and tetracyclines. The risk of breast cancer was modestly associated with exposure to sulphonamides. There was no association between the use of anti-virals and anti-fungals and cancer risk. Conclusion Recurrent exposure to certain antibiotics may be associated with cancer risk in specific organ sites.
Robust Model Selection in Dynamic Models with an Application to Comparing Predictive Accuracy

A model selection procedure based on a general criterion function, with an example of the Kullback-Leibler Information Criterion (KLIC) using quasi-likelihood functions, is considered for dynamic non-nested models. We propose a robust test which generalizes Lien and Vuong's (1987) test with a Heteroscadasticity/Autocorrelation (HAC) variance estimator. We use the fixed-b asymptotics developed in Kiefer and Vogelsang (2005) to improve the asymptotic approximation to the sampling distribution of the test statistic. The fixed-b approach is compared with a bootstrap method and the standard normal approximation in Monte Carlo simulations. The fixed-b asymptotics and the bootstrap method are found to be markedly superior to the standard normal approximation. An empirical application for foreign exchange rate forecasting models is presented.
Rigidity for local holomorphic isometric embeddings from $\mathbb{B}^n$ into $\mathbb{B}^{N_1} × • • • × \mathbb{B}^{N_m}$ up to conformal factors

In this article, we study local holomorphic isometric embeddings from $\mathbb{B}^n$ into $\mathbb{B}^{N_1} × • • • × \mathbb{B}^{N_m}$ with respect to the normalized Bergman metrics up to conformal factors. Assume that each conformal factor is smooth Nash algebraic. Then each component of the map is a multi-valued holomorphic map between complex Euclidean spaces by the algebraic extension theorem derived along the lines of Mok, and Mok and Ng. Applying holomorphic continuation and analyzing real analytic subvarieties carefully, we show that each component is either a constant map or a proper holomorphic map between balls. Applying a linearity criterion of Huang, we conclude the total geodesy of non-constant components.
Looking Toward the Future

While genome wide association studies have led to the identification of robust associations for many complex disease phenotypes, they are typically not able to explain the amount of phenotypic variability that has been attributed to genetic factors by heritability studies such as those discussed in Chapter 4. For example for the phenotype height, heritability studies suggest that about 70% of the phenotypic variability is attributable to genetic factors. However, so far, GWAS for height have identified variants that explain a substantially smaller proportion of the genetic variance of this highly heritable trait (Weedon et al. (2008); Yang et al. (2010)). There are numerous reasons for this ‘missing heritability’, perhaps the most obvious being that the SNPs analyzed are likely only proxies for the real DSLs, and the fact that low frequency SNPs are difficult to detect.
Structural and catalytic properties of peptidase N from Escherichia coli K-12

Abstract Escherichia coli K-12 strains contain a single cytosolic activity, peptidase N, capable of hydrolyzing alanine-p-nitroanilide. The enzyme is a monomeric, acidic protein with a molecular weight of 87,000, containing a sulfhydryl group essential for activity. Substrate specificity studies show a preference for hydrophobic peptides and a requirement for free α-amino groups. Peptidase N has no measurable endoproteolytic activity on protein, large peptide, or signal peptide substrates. These results suggest that peptidase N is a hydrophobic specificity aminopeptidase whose physiological role is as yet still unclear. It is likely to be involved in the late stages of protein turnover events or in degradation of specific cellular components such as attenuator peptides.
The effect of scapholunate ligament section on scapholunate motion

Although the scapholunate interosseous ligament has been studied anatomically and functionally by several investigators, its exact role in wrist kinematics is still controversial. We designed and executed an experimental study with four cadaver specimens to compare various carpal motions before and after section of this ligament. Our results suggest that injury to this structure significantly changes carpal motion especially between the scaphoid and Innate.
Evaluation of flumethiazide (trifluoromethyl thiazide) in the outpatient clinic.

Abstract 1. (1) An acute and chronic diuretic response study with flumethiazide has been described. 2. (2) Flumethiazide is an effective diuretic agent as determined by weight response in ambulatory cardiac patients. An effective dose appears to be 800 mg which is equivalent to the diuretic activity of 500 mg of chlorothiazide. 3. (3) Doses of flumethiazide greater than 2 Gm a day had no more effect on weight loss in the group of patients studied than did the 2 Gm dose. 4. (4) Chronic administration of 2 Gm a day of flumethiazide maintained a group of cardiac patients free of congestive failure complaints. There was no significant influence on serum electrolytes or on the blood count. 5. (5) Side effects were minimal and consisted primarily of pruritus in 3 out of 18 patients. The pruritus stopped when the drug was withdrawn.
Third-party attitudes toward sibling incest: Evidence for Westermarck's hypotheses

Abstract While substantial evidence supports the existence of Westermarck's [Westermarck, E. (1891). The history of human marriage . London: Macmillan & Co.] hypothesized inbreeding avoidance mechanism, questions remain. We examined the Westermarck hypothesis using third-party reactions to a fictional case of sibling incest, a method paralleling that of Lieberman et al. [Proc. R. Soc. Lond., B Biol. Sci. 273 (2003) 819]. Controlling for cultural attitudes, a history of cosocialization with an opposite-sex individual was associated with increased disgust at, and decreased tolerance of, others' incestuous behavior. Consistent with parental investment theory, this effect was stronger in females than in males. In males, each additional cosocialized sibling increased the strength of the response; in females, there was a nonsignificant trend in the same direction. Indirect measures failed to reveal a time-limited sensitive period during which cosocialization has maximal effect. These results both bolster the evidence in favor of Westermarck's inbreeding avoidance hypothesis and support his neglected explanation of the origin of incest taboos.
Light Emission From CsI-Coated Carbon Velvet Cathodes Under Varied Conditions

Many high-power electron devices utilize cold-cathode diodes to generate intense electron beams. These cold cathodes have the advantage of being capable of supplying several kiloamperes of current spread over a large cross section without the need for auxiliary components such as a heater supply. However, they suffer from many known problems such as nonuniform emission that can result in small areas of high current density on the anode and, thus, excessive anode heating. As a consequence, outgassing and vaporization of bulk material frequently leads to premature impedance collapse. Hence, minimizing nonuniform anode heating due to beam nonuniformity is paramount. As previously demonstrated, the use of a CsI-coated carbon velvet cathode improved beam uniformity, reduced outgassing, and mitigated early impedance collapse. To quantify the uniformity, temporal and spatially resolved images of the cathode plasma were taken for a CsI-coated carbon fiber cathode, operated at an average current density of ~150 A/cm2 under various conditions, i.e., without a field shaping ring, before and after discharge cleaning, and with a field shaping ring. All cathodes were operated in a sealed tube with a small integrated sputter ion pump to restore vacuum levels to 10-9 torr levels between subsequent shots.
Maltodextrin-anionic surfactant interactions: isothermal titration calorimetry and surface tension study.

Interactions between maltodextrin (DE = 10) and an anionic surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS) were studied in a buffer solution (pH 7.0, 10 mM NaCl, 20 mM Trizma, 30.0 °C) using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), surface tension, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and turbidity techniques. ITC measurements indicated that the binding of SDS to maltodextrin was exothermic and that, on average, one SDS monomer bound per 24 glucose units of maltodextrin at saturation. Surface tension measurements indicated that there was a critical surfactant concentration (∼0.05 mM SDS) below which surfactant and maltodextrin did not interact and that the amount of surfactant bound to the maltodextrin above this concentration increased with increasing maltodextrin concentration. Turbidity measurements indicated that the solutions remained transparent at all maltodextrin (0−1 wt %) and SDS (0−20 mM) concentrations studied, which suggested that phase separation did not occur. DSC measurements indicated that no...
Extracting Molecular Binding Relationships from Biomedical Text

ARBITER is a Prolog program that extracts assertions about macromolecular binding relationships from biomedical text. We describe the domain knowledge and the underspecified linguistic analyses that support the identification of these predications. After discussing a formal evaluation of ARBITER, we report on its application to 491, 000 MEDLINE® abstracts, during which almost 25, 000 binding relationships suitable for entry into a database of macromolecular function were extracted.
Feasibility of colloidal silver SERS for rapid bacterial screening

This study reports the feasibility of citrate-reduced colloidal silver surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) for differentiating three important food borne pathogens, E. coli, Listeria, and Salmonella. FT-Raman and SERS spectra of both silver colloids and colloid-K3PO4 mixtures were collected and analyzed to evaluate the reproducibility and stability of silver colloids fabricated in a batch-production process. The results suggest that the reproducibility of the colloids over the batch process is high and that their binding effectiveness remains consistent over a 60-day storage period. Two specific SERS bands at 712 and 390 cm−1 were identified and used to develop simple 2-band ratios for differentiating E. coli-, Listeria-, and Salmonella-colloid mixtures with a 100% success. These results indicate that colloidal silver SERS technique may be a practical alternative method suitable for routine and rapid screening of E. coli, Listeria, and Salmonella bacteria.
The role of demographics in precipitating economic downturns

There are significant effects of changing demographics on economic indicators: not only growth in GDP but also the current account balance and gross capital formation. The 15–24 age group is one of the key age groups in these effects, with increases in that age group exerting strong positive effects on GDP growth, and negative effects on the CAB and GCF. There have been major shifts in the share of the population aged 15–24 during the past half century or more, and 80% of these globally coincide with declines in GDP growth. This appears to have been the pattern in four financial crises since 1980 as well as Japan’s “lost decade.” The effect is even more pronounced for the 2008–2009 period.
Molecular defects in a human immunoglobulin kappa chain deficiency

The molecular basis of a human immunoglobulin deficiency characterized by the complete absence of kappa chains has been investigated by nucleotide sequence analyses of a patient's kappa constant region (C kappa) genes. Both of his C kappa genes had a single point mutation, resulting in the loss of the invariant tryptophan from one allele and of an invariant cysteine from the other allele. These results indicate that neither of the patient's C kappa alleles encoded a kappa chain that could form a stable intradomain disulfide bond, although peculiarities in the expression of kappa chains in the patient's family suggest that other factors may be involved.
MUC4 IS A MAJOR COMPONENT OF SALIVARY MUCIN MG1 SECRETED BY THE HUMAN SUBMANDIBULAR GLAND

High molecular weight salivary mucin (MG1) is an important component of saliva, contributing to the lubricative and tissue-protective functions of this biological fluid. We have shown previously that the human mucin gene MUC5B is expressed at high levels in sublingual gland and is a significant constituent of MG1. Since many epithelia express multiple mucin genes, it seemed likely that MG1 in salivary secretions is also a heterogeneous mixture of mucin gene products. The aim of this study was to determine whether MUC4, a mucin shown in Northern blotting experiments to be expressed in salivary glands, was a significant protein component of MG1 in salivary secretions. Two cDNA clones containing MUC4 tandem repeats were isolated from a human submandibular gland cDNA library. In addition, recombinant MUC4 produced in a bacterial expression system cross-reacted with an antibody directed against deglycosylated MG1. This shows conclusively that human salivary mucin MG1 contains both MUC5B and MUC4 gene products suggesting that each mucin may perform distinct functions in the oral cavity.
Expression of a Plant Sesquiterpene Cyclase Gene in Escherichia coli

5-Epi-aristolochene synthase is a sesquiterpene cyclase activity found in pathogen-challenged tobacco cells, but not in nonchallenged tissues, and appears to be encoded by a complex gene family. As a prerequisite to assessing the functional significance of these multiple genes, bacterial expression systems were examined for their capacity to express a tobacco sesquiterpene cyclase cDNA. Insertion of full-length 5-epi-aristolochene synthase cDNA into two commonly used expression vectors, pET-11d and pGBT-T19, resulted in high level expression of the cyclase activity. The highest level of expression occurred 3 h after induction with low concentrations (0.1-0.5 mM) of IPTG, incubation at 27 degrees C instead of 37 degrees C, and in the bacterial host strain BL21(DE3). Under these conditions, the cyclase protein constituted 5 to 8% of the soluble and 35% of the total Escherichia coli proteins. Enzyme reaction products of the native tobacco and recombinant enzyme were identical, based on argentation-thin layer chromatography. Deletion mutants of the cyclase gene corresponding to the amino and carboxy termini of the enzyme were prepared. The cyclase proteins resulting from bacterial expression of these mutant constructs were found largely in the insoluble protein fraction and no soluble enzyme activity was detected.
Modeling trace element partitioning during coal combustion

A model to predict the partitioning of semi-volatile TEs such as arsenic, antimony and selenium, during coal combustion has been developed. Because the initial mode of occurrence of a trace element (TE) impacts its partitioning after coal combustion, the model uses computer controlled scanning electron microscopy data sets of the target coal's ash analysis to determine the mineral inclusion, mineral exclusion, and organically associated TE content, which are then modeled using a semi-random mineral placement approach. Previously developed mathematical approaches, in conjunction with pyritic mineral transformation mechanisms, exclusion fragmentation and recently determined experimental speciation details, were employed to predict TE partitioning during combustion and TE spatial evolution. Initial validation of the model was performed using a subbituminous coal. The residence time dependent particle temperature histories resulting from the combustion of this coal in a lab-scale down-fired combustor were generated using computational fluid dynamic simulations which were then used to predict the size-dependent TE evolution. A reasonable agreement with previously published measurements of the fractions of TEs vaporized was obtained. Of the original arsenic, antimony or selenium introduced in the simulated coal environment, 38%, 32% and 94% respectively were predicted to be released from pyritic family mineral inclusions. For excluded particles of similar size and temperature histories, a larger fraction (81%) of the initial selenium contained in pyritic family mineral exclusions was released than the fractions of either arsenic or antimony (33% and 26%, respectively). Fragmentation, which is associated with an increase in surface area, increased the TE release rates by 7–8%.
Purinergic receptors mediate cell proliferation and enhanced recovery from renal ischemia by adenosine triphosphate

Kidney dysfunction after ischemia can be improved by either limiting the initial injury or by enhancing the subsequent proliferative repair process. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) favorably affects kidney function when it is given shortly after ischemia. We tested whether ATP promotes the proliferative repair response. Rats were subjected to occlusion of the left renal artery for 40 minutes and received an infusion of ATP, 12.5 micromol intravenously over 30 minutes, beginning at reperfusion. Control animals received saline solution or the hydroxyl radical scavenger dimethylthiourea (DMTU). Despite comparable functional protection by DMTU and ATP, only ATP specifically increased DNA synthesis (renal incorporation of tritiated thymidine) to an extent greater than that produced by ischemia alone. In other animals, ribonucleic acid was extracted from kidneys for Northern analysis. Expression of the proto-oncogenes c-fos and c-jun was enhanced in ATP-treated animals as compared with controls. Expression of a histone protein gene (H2b) and thymidine kinase was increased by ischemia but was not additionally affected by ATP. In vitro studies of primary cultures of renal proximal tubule epithelial cells confirmed the ability of ATP to stimulate cellular proliferation as a consequence of stimulation of purinergic P2 receptors, possibly of the P2x subclass. In summary, ATP given after ischemia increased new DNA synthesis and augmented expression of genes critical to cellular proliferation. These beneficial effects were not merely a consequence of limiting initial cellular damage, and they suggest a novel mechanism of action for ATP and other purinergic receptor agonists in renal ischemia.
Isolation, cloning and characterization of a putative type-1 astrocyte cell line

We have established a permanent cell line (1H91) of putative type-1 astrocyte precursor cells that were clonally derived from a single cell isolated from E16 mouse cerebellum. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) and transforming growth factor (TGFα) are strong mitogens for 1H91 cells (ED50 of 9.02+1.74 ng/ml and 15.98±2.34 ng/ml, respectively), while basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is only weakly mitogenic and platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) has no mitogenic activity. In the proliferative state, the 1H91 cells are immunohistochemically positive for nestin and vimentin, and negative for A2B5, CNPase, neurofilament (NF), and neuron specific enolase (NSE). The majority of EGF-treated 1H91 cells are not immunoreactive for glial acid fibrillary protein (GFAP). In the presence of 5 ng/ml bFGF, 1H91 cells become non-mitotic and develop a morphology consistent with a fibrous astrocyte. In contrast to the proliferating cultures, the bFGF treated cultures were strongly immunoreactive for GFAP, only mildly immunoreactive for nestin and vimentin, and negative for A2B5, CNPase, NF, and NSE. Type-1 astrocytes are known to proliferate in response to EGF, and are immunohistochemically GFAP positive, A2B5 negative, and CNPase negative [38]. However, type-1 astrocytes only develop a fibrous morphology during the process of reactive gliosis [31]. Since EGF is a strong mitogen for 1H91 cells, and these cells may be differentiated into GFAP positive, A2B5 negative, CNPase negative astrocytes, we conclude that 1H91 cells conform to a type-1 astrocyte precursor phenotype. In addition, the fibrous morphology of the bFGF treated 1H91 cells suggests that these cells follow the process of reactive gliosis. Therefore, the 1H91 clonal cell line may provide an in vitro model for studying the underlying cellular mechanisms of the type-1 astrocyte in reactive gliosis.