cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Photoaffinity labeling of human IRBP with all-trans-retinoic acid

Interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP), found only in photosensitive tissues, is a large approximately 135-kDa glycoprotein that contains a fourfold repeat structure. IRBP may function as a buffer and prevent retinoid toxicity and retinoid degeneration. Here we asked (i) whether each repeat of IRBP possesses the capability of photo-crosslinking all-trans-retinoic acid (RA), (ii) within Repeat 1 whether a single retinoic acid-binding domain exists, and (iii) whether protease and CNBr digestion of Repeat 1 bound RA indicate the exact location of the binding site. 3H-RA cross-linked to all four repeats, consistent with the current model of multiple binding sites in IRBP. Acetone precipitation was effective in removing unbound 3H-RA. LysC and tryptic digestion of the RA-Repeat 1 detected 18- and 5-kDa bands, respectively. CNBr digestion showed two bands about 9 and 11 kDa in size. Our data suggests a single binding site near positions 151-160 in the center of Repeat 1.
EFFECT OF SOIL MOISTURE ON GROWTH AND TRANSPIRATION IN HELIANTHUS ANNUUS.

Work done previous to 1913 concerning the effects of soil moisture on growth and transpiration of plants is summarized in a paper by Briggs and Shantz (2). Practically all of these earlier workers found that there was an increase in growth with increasing holard over most of its range, although growth was somewhat reduced in soil that was nearly or completely saturated. Water requirement usually increased regularly with holard, but in a few cases very low values of soil moisture gave higher water requirements. Tumanow (16) has grown sunflowers in small containers holding six kilograms of dry soil. The holard of one set of plants was maintained near 60 per cent, of the maximum capacity of the soil, while that of another set was allowed to vary between this value and the wilting point. The experiment was continued throughout the life cycle, during which time the test plants experienced sixteen wiltings. At the end of the series the control plants had about twice the dry weight of the others, but only 20 per cent, greater water requirement. Tumanow also grew bean plants to flowering in pots containing 3500 gm. of dry soil. One set (the control) was maintained at a holard of 60 per cent, of the capacity of the soil, while the other two sets were started with holards of 50 per cent, and 40 per cent., but neither of the latter was given any additional water during the growing period. At the end of the series, the average holards of these last two groups were 24 and 30 per cent, respectively. The dry weights were 11.66 grams for the control set, 5.43 for the 50 per cent, group, and 2.21 for the 40 per cent., while the water requirements were 136, 108, and 86 respectively. Clements and Long (3, 4) grew sunflowers in metal containers eight inches in diameter and ten inches tall with average holards maintained approximately at 14, 18, 26, and 35 per cent, of the dry weight of the soil, and found that growth and water requirement increased regularly with holard. This was true in the sun as well as in the shade, although in low light values the influence of holard on the water requirement was more marked. Pessin (14) grew seedlings of Pinus palustris and Pinus caribaea for six months in quart containers with holards equal to 5, 10, 15, 25, and 35 per cent, of the dry weight of the soil. The dry weights of both species 449
On the Relationship between Decadal Buoyancy Anomalies and Variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation

AbstractOwing to the role of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) in ocean heat transport, AMOC variability is thought to play a role in climate variability on a wide range of time scales. This paper focuses on the potential role of the AMOC in climate variability on decadal time scales. Coupled and ocean-only general circulation models run in idealized geometries are utilized to study the relationships between decadal AMOC and buoyancy variability and determine whether the AMOC plays an active role in setting sea surface temperature on decadal time scales. Decadal AMOC variability is related to changes in the buoyancy field along the western boundary according to the thermal wind relation. Buoyancy anomalies originate in the upper ocean of the subpolar gyre and travel westward as baroclinic Rossby waves. When the buoyancy anomalies strike the western boundary, they are advected southward by the deep western boundary current, leading to latitudinally coherent AMOC variability. The AMOC i...
Consecutive sigmatropic rearrangements in the enantioselective total synthesis of (−)-joubertinamine and (−)-mesembrine

Abstract Joubertinamine and mesembrine are two related alkaloids isolated from Sceletium plants. From the perspective of chemical synthesis, the major challenge posed by joubertinamine and mesembrine is undoubtedly the construction of the benzylic quaternary stereogenic center. We became intrigued by the prospect of applying successive sigmatropic rearrangements to build the key structural features of these alkaloids in enantioselective manner. In this article, we detail our results in this area, which include the enantioselective total synthesis of (−)-joubertinamine and (−)-mesembrine.
Vitamin E requirement of Penaeus vannamei.

Abstract An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to determine the dietary vitamin E requirement of the white-legged shrimp, Penaeus vannamei , using semi-purified diets. Shrimp exhibited significantly increased weight gain when fed increasing levels of vitamin E from 0 to 100 mg/kg diet, whereas no significant difference in growth was observed for shrimp fed diets containing vitamin E from 100 to 600 mg/kg. The vitamin E requirement of shrimp based on growth and estimated by the method of broken-line regression was 99 mg/kg diet. There was no difference in survival. The present study also indicated that vitamin E was an effective antioxidant preventing ascorbic acid-stimulated lipid peroxidation in mitochondrial and microsomal membranes, oxidative spoilage of shrimp tail muscle during frozen storage (−60°C) and peroxidation of dietary lipid. Dietary vitamin E levels of approximately 25 and 100 mg/kg diet were found to be required for suppressing ascorbic acid-stimulated mitochondrial and microsomal membrane lipid peroxidation in shrimp hepatopancreas and muscle, respectively. The synthetic antioxidant, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), was an effective antioxidant in vitro by protecting dietary lipid from peroxidation, but it was less effective in tissue protection and exhibited no inhibitory effect on ascorbic acid-stimulated mitochondrial and microsomal membrane lipid peroxidation. However, growth reduction of shrimp resulting from vitamin E-deficiency could be prevented by supplementation of BHT at 0.02% of the dietary lipid content.
The effect of perturbative interactions among localized electrons on the Verwey transition in magnetite

Abstract We modify the current Straessler–Kittel theory of phase transitions by allowing for weak perturbative interactions among electrons localized on adjacent lattice sites. The solutions obtained in the absence of such interactions are stable against the perturbative influences. However, the detailed quantitative modeling of the Verwey transition in magnetite requires that such interactions be taken into account.
Let them fall where they may: capture regions of curved objects and polyhedra

When a three-dimensional object is placed in contact with a supporting plane, gravitational forces move it to one of a finite set of stable poses. For each stable pose, there is a region in the part's configuration space called a capture region; for any initial configuration within the region, the object is guaranteed to converge to that pose. The problem of computing maximal capture regions from an object model is analyzed assuming only that the dynamics are dissipative; the precise equations governing the system are unnecessary. An algorithm, based on Morse theory, is first developed for objects with smooth, convex hulls. The formulation is then extended to objects with piecewise-smooth hulls using a catalog of critical points de rived from stratified Morse theory. Algorithms have been fully implemented for objects with smooth and polyhedral convex hulls. As examples from the implementation demonstrate, calcu lating these regions from a geometric model is computationally practical.
Toxin a from Clostridium difficile binds to rabbit erythrocyte glycolipids with terminal Galα1–3Galβ1–4GlcNAc sequences

Abstract The binding of Toxin A isolated from Clostridium difficile to rabbit erythrocyte glycolipids has been studied. Total lipid extracts from rabbit erythrocytes were subjected to thin-layer chromatography and toxin-binding glycolipids detected by using 125I-labeled Toxin A in a direct binding overlay technique. Two major and several minor toxinbinding glycolipids were detected in rabbit erythrocytes by this method. The results of structural analyses of the major toxin-binding glycolipids were consistent with a pentasaccharide-ceramide (Galα1–3Galβ1–4GlcNAcβ1–3Galβ1–4Glc-Cer) and a branched decasaccharide-ceramide (Galα1–3Gal,β1–4GlcNAcβ1–3[Galα1–3Galβ1–4GlcNAcβ1–6] Galβ1–4GlcNAcβ1–3Galβ1–4Glc-Cer) previously identified as the two most abundant glycolipids in rabbit erythrocytes. 125I-Toxin A binding to these glycolipids could be inhibited by bovine thyroglobulin, monospecific antiserum to the toxin, or by treatment of the glycolipids with α-galactosidase. The absence of toxin interaction with isoglobotriaosylceramide (Galα1–3Galβ1–4Glc-Cer) isolated from canine intestine suggested that the GlcNAc residue present in the terminal Galα1–3Galβ1–4GlcNAc sequence common to all known toxin binding glycoconjugates is required for carbohydrate-specific recognition by Toxin A. These observations are consistent with the proposed carbohydrate binding specificity of Toxin A for the nonreducing terminal sequence, Galα1–3Galβ1–4GlcNAc.
Communicator Similarity, Fear Arousing Communications, and Compliance with Health Care Recommendations1

Using a pretest-treatment-multiple posttest design, two studies were conducted to investigate the effects of race of communicator and different levels of fear-arousing dental health appeals on reported anxiety, attitudes, information retention, and behavior change among 304 black, junior high school students. In addition to paper-and-pencil measures, a chemical dye (erythrosin), which stains red the bacteria concentrations on teeth, was used to measure changes of actual toothbrushing behavior. The results of the two studies for behavior change were reasonably consistent. Irrespective of the fear level of the message, the similar communicator produced more immediate behavior change than the dissimilar communicator, and correlations showed that anxiety reports were unrelated to behavior change. Overall, fear communications positively influenced anxiety and attitudes but did not affect behavior. The findings suggest that caution be exercised in using self reports as measures of effectiveness of persuasive communications and additional factors need to be incorporated into existing theories to account for differential reactions to threat appeals.
Frontoparietal cortical networks for directing attention and the eye to visual locations: Identical, independent, or overlapping neural systems?

Functional anatomical and single-unit recording studies indicate that a set of neural signals in parietal and frontal cortex mediates the covert allocation of attention to visual locations, as originally proposed by psychological studies. This frontoparietal network is the source of a location bias that interacts with extrastriate regions of the ventral visual system during object analysis to enhance visual processing. The frontoparietal network is not exclusively related to visual attention, but may coincide or overlap with regions involved in oculomotor processing. The relationship between attention and eye movement processes is discussed at the psychological, functional anatomical, and cellular level of analysis.
A Microsomal Esterase Involved in Cypermethrin Resistance in the German Cockroach, Blattella germanica

Abstract Adult male German cockroaches of the Marietta strain exhibited 5-fold resistance to cypermethrin compared with the insecticide-susceptible Orlando strain. The cypermethrin resistance level decreased to 2.9-fold when cockroaches were pretreated with S , S , S -tributylphosphorotrithioate, indicating that esterases played a role in the resistance. Cypermethrin was metabolized faster by microsomal esterases from the Marietta strain (15.4 ± 1.1 pmol/h/mg) than by those from the Orlando strain (12.5 ± 0.2 pmol/h/mg). Partial purification of microsomal esterases from the Marietta and Orlando strains was accomplished by anion exchange and hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) and native-PAGE. HIC partitioned the single anion exchange peak of α-naphthyl acetate esterase activity into three fractions, HIC I, HIC II, and HIC III. All three HIC fractions metabolized cypermethrin significantly faster than microsomes. Native-PAGE analysis of each of these fractions revealed a unique band in Marietta HIC II and III which was referred to as microsomal esterase Marietta (ME mar ). ME mar was isolated by native-PAGE and found to hydrolyze α-naphthyl acetate at a rate of 25.5 μmol/min/mg protein, representing a purification of 54-fold over that of microsomes. Furthermore, Marietta strain HIC II and III fractions (which contained ME mar ) metabolized cypermethrin significantly faster than the corresponding fractions from the Orlando strain. ME mar metabolized cypermethrin at 3461 pmol/min/mg protein, representing a 225-fold increase over that of microsomes. ME mar was found to exhibit a molecular weight of 57 kDa by SDS-PAGE and 64 kDa by gel filtration chromatography, indicating that the esterase was a monomer. Also, the ME mar isozyme was inhibited by paraoxon and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, indicating that the esterase was a “B”-type serine esterase. Finally, none of the isozymes in the HIC III fraction, including the ME mar isozyme, bound to concanavalin A, indicating that the HIC III isozymes were not glycosylated.
Two Forms of the Straw Man

The authors identify and offer an analysis of a new form of the Straw Man fallacy, and then explore the implications of the prevalence of this fallacy for contemporary political discourse.
Crisis as Opportunity: Local Context, Adaptive Agents and the Possibilities of Rural Development

The discussion outlines the ways in which crisis emasculates traditional methodology as used in economics by making the core assumptions of this type of analysis (temporarily) untenable. Our critique of traditional methodology is limited to its inability to address this critical subset of social problems. It is important to note that our critique does not extend to 'realist deficiencies' of the mainstream science. Rather, support for an instrumental-pragmatic methodology is derived from positive arguments found in the 'evolutionary synthesis'; specifically, requirements of a world view that sees social problems as inherently complex (an ontology of complexity) by virtue of being 'overdetermined'.
Hybrid Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics Investigation of (salen)Mn for use in Metal−Organic Frameworks

Hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methods were employed to study electronic effects of 5,5'-substituents on the enantioselectivity of (salen)Mn catalysts. These methods were shown to effectively capture electronic effects of substituents if the substituents were treated with a simple electrostatic coupling using point charges. Correlations between calculated properties of (salen)Mn=O indicative of its reactivity and the modified Hammett constant σ + para were applied to study electronic framework effects on enantioselectivity for (salen)Mn heterogenized in a metal—organic framework (MOF). The results suggest that these effects are too small to account for all of the decrease in enantioselectivity observed experimentally and that steric constraints of the framework likely play a role. The reactivity correlations also enabled fast ligand screening for the prediction of highly enantioselective (salen)Mn catalysts that could be used in MOFs. A modified version of the DREIDING force field was also developed to allow QM/MM calculations of (salen)Mn species.
Effects of histamine on potassium exchange between the blood and cerebrospinal fluid

Abstract Histamine is a potent vasoactive substance which causes an increase in capillary permeability in many peripheral sites. The present experiments were performed to determine whether histamine would influence the exchange of potassium between the blood and the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). An artificial CSF was perfused through the cerebroventricular system of cats anesthetized with pentobarbital. Radioactive potassium (K 42 ) was either infused intravenously or added to the artificial CSF throughout the experiment. Following three CSF collection periods, a retrograde infusion of histamine was made into the lingual artery or it was added to the CSF, and three samples of CSF were collected. With the K 42 intravenously and the histamine in the artificial CSF, the net movement of K 42 into the CSF was significantly increased. Prior intravenous diphenhydramine in increasing doses progressively blocked the histamine effect on K 42 movement. Cerebroventricular perfusion of histamine caused an increase in blood pressure and carotid blood flow. These changes were blocked by either diphenhydramine or N -methylatropine. N -methylatropine did not significantly alter the effect of histamine on K 42 movement. It was concluded that the histamine enhancement of K 42 movement into the CSF did not involve changes in cerebral blood flow, cerebral blood pressure of CSF pressure.
The Internal Markets of the British National Health Service: Prospects and Problems

Since the creation of the British National Health Service in 1948, it has provided a full range of medical services free at the point of demand. By the mid 1980s, the National Health Service was perceived as suffering from a chronic crisis of an increasingly limited supply of medical resources but unlimited demand. The response of the Conservative government was to attempt to increase efficiency by introducing competitive dynamics with the creation of an internal market within the National Health Service. Health-care providers were to compete effectively with one another by price and quality. In this article, the author examines the prospects and problems inherent in such an internal market. The creation of fundholding general practitioners is scrutinized within the context of ideologic and financial goals of the British government and the potential consequences for patients.
Relational properties and memory-based category construction.

Although many experiments have investigated factors that constrain perceptual category construction, there have been no investigations of factors that constrain memory-based (MB) category construction. Six experiments examined the extent to which perceptual and MB sorting were influenced by correlated dimensions, family resemblance principles, and conceptual knowledge. Sensitivity to many types of relational information (e.g., correlated features, causal relations, interactive properties of objects, and family resemblance relations) was observed with perceptual sorting, but these properties were rarely used to organize information in MB sorting conditions. Instead, there was a clear preference to organize categories around single dimensions. Even when perfectly correlated features were causally related, Ss in memory conditions did not use correlations to construct categories. The strengths and limitations of MB analyses and categorizations are discussed. Language: en
A technique for determining E rosette levels by cytofluorographic analysis.

Abstract A method is described for determining the percentage of rosettes formed by sheep erythrocytes and human peripheral lymphocytes (ER) using cytofluorographic analysis (CFGA). The technique utilizes acridine orange dye for differentially staining nucleus and cytoplasm of the lymphocytes to distinguish them from erythroctes, and glutaraldehyde for fixation of the rosettes. This technique was compared with light microscope counting (LMC) of ER. CFGA gave similar results with better reproducibility than LMC, entailed less time for counting, and markedly reduced operator fatigue.
Biodegradation of a dental resin material by fibroblast conditioned media.

Abstract Objective Hydrolytic activity is increased in conditioned media from human gingival and pulp fibroblasts in response to exposure to triethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA). The purpose of this study was to determine if this conditioned media with hydrolytic activity could cause the biodegradation of a dental resin material. Methods Resin material specimens were stored for 30 days at 37 °C in distilled water, unconditioned media, artificial serum, conditioned media from human gingival and pulp fibroblasts and conditioned media from human pulp and gingival fibroblasts that were exposed to TEGDMA. The media was exchanged every other day. The specimens were subjected to Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) before and after storage. The area under the carbonyl peak was calculated for all the specimens to determine the extent of the degradation. Results Differences before and after storage in the area under the carbonyl peak were statistically significant for the specimens stored in the conditioned media from the fibroblasts that were exposed to TEGDMA. All of the other specimens did not produce differences in the area under the carbonyl peak that were statistically significant when comparing the before and after storage results. Significance The biodegradation demonstrated here could contribute to the marginal leaking seen clinically with the use of resin materials in dental restorations.
Improved outcomes for hospitalized asthmatic children using a clinical pathway

Background Although asthma clinical pathways are used with increasing frequency, few controlled studies have evaluated the clinical and cost effectiveness of these pathways. Objective To evaluate the effect of an inpatient asthma clinical pathway on cost and quality of care for children with asthma. Methods One hundred forty-nine children were treated for status asthmaticus using an asthma clinical pathway in a children's hospital between September and December 1997. Thirty-four of 149 children treated with the clinical pathway were randomly selected. A retrospective cohort control group of non-pathway patients (N = 34) was matched with each pathway patient by age, race, gender, co-morbidities, asthma severity score, ICU admission, and time of year admitted. Differences between the two groups in length of stay, total costs, readmission rate, inpatient management, and discharge medications were compared. Results Length of stay was significantly lower in the clinical pathway group compared with the control group (36 hours versus 71 hours, P P P P P P Conclusion Implementation of this inpatient clinical pathway led to a decrease in length of stay and a reduction in total cost while improving quality of care for hospitalized asthmatic children.
High Tc SQUID microscope head for room temperature sample

A new type of a high Tc SQUID microscope head was developed for room temperature sample. The sapphire thermal transfer rod is directly cooled with the liquid nitrogen which passes through a liquid nitrogen tank made of glass fiber reinforced plastic. Mutually screwed inner and outer enclosures realized bellows free simple separation adjustment mechanism between a SQUID and a window. A sample can be approached to the SQUID by less than 1mm. We demonstrated the performance of this SQUID microscope by the measurement of a magnetic field from a 70µm diameter magnetized iron particle comparing with the result of a lift off distance of 5mm. The measured magnetic field was increased by 50 times and the detection ability was enhanced drastically.
Uncertainty of predictions of embankment dam breach parameters

Risk assessment studies considering the failure of embankment dams often require the prediction of basic geometric and temporal parameters of a breach, or the estimation of peak breach outflows. Many of the relations most commonly used to make these predictions were developed from statistical analyses of data collected from historic dam failures. The prediction uncertainties of these methods are widely recognized to be very large, but have never been specifically quantified. This paper presents an analysis of the uncertainty of many of these breach parameter and peak flow prediction methods. Application of the methods and the uncertainty analysis are illustrated through a case study of a risk assessment recently performed by the Bureau of Reclamation for a large embankment dam in North Dakota.
How Compliance Compensates for Surface Roughness in Fibrillar Adhesion

ABSTRACT Fibrillar interfaces play an important role in the ability of many small animals to adhere to surfaces. Surface roughness is generally deleterious to adhesion because it hinders the ability of mating surfaces to make contact, but fibrillar surfaces compensate for surface roughness by virtue of their enhanced compliance. We examine the relationship between roughness and compliance by analyzing the mechanics of detaching an array of fibrils from a substrate. The theory of Johnson, Kendall, and Roberts is used to describe the interfacial adhesion of each fibril, and roughness is modeled by making the fibril length a random variable subject to a probability distribution. We solve for the mean force response of a fibrillar array as a function of the displacement of the entire array. From these results we extract the mean fibrillar pull-off force and work to separate the fibrillar array and substrate. We show how the mean fibrillar pull-off force decreases with increasing roughness-height standard devi...
Experimental study of a fine structure of 2D wakes and mixing past an obstacle in a continuously stratified fluid

Abstract Experimental investigations of fine and macroscopic structures of density and velocity disturbances generated by a towing cylinder or a vertical strip in a linearly stratified liquid are carried out in a rectangular tank. A density gradient field is visualised by different Schlieren methods (direct shadow, ‘slit-knife’, ‘slit-thread’, ‘natural rainbow’) characterised by a high spatial resolution. Profiles of fluid velocity are visualised by density markers — wakes past a vertically descending sugar crystal or an ascending gas bubble. In a fluid at rest, the density marker acts as a vertical linear source of internal oscillations which allows us to measure buoyancy frequency over all depth by the Schlieren instrument directly or by a conductivity probe in a particular point. Sensitive methods reveal a set of high gradient interfaces inside and outside the downstream wake besides well-known large scale elements: upstream disturbances, attached internal waves and vortices. Solitary interfaces located inside the attached internal waves field have no features on their leading and trailing edges. A thickness of interfaces is defined by an appropriate diffusion coefficient and a buoyancy frequency. High gradient interfaces bound compact vortices. Vortices moving with respect to environment emit their own systems of internal waves randomising a regular pattern of attached antisymmetric internal waves. But after a rather long time a wave recurrence occurs and a regular but symmetric structure of the longest waves (similar to the pattern of initial attached internal waves) is observed again. High gradient interfaces and lines of their intersections act as collectors of a dye coming from a compact source or from a coloured liquid volume inside the tank and separate coloured and clear areas.
A neural circuit specialized for vocal learning

The anterior forebrain circuit of the songbird brain has been known for some time to play a special role in song learning. Recent work has strengthened this view and has begun to describe the specific properties of this pathway. The development of the circuit early during song learning, its auditory responsiveness, and its synaptic interaction with the vocal motor pathway all suggest that it is involved in the sensory learning and auditory-motor matching essential to normal song development. Behavioral studies point to a variety of mechanisms of action of this pathway and suggest that it is one site for steroid hormonal effects on vocal motor plasticity. Investigation of the anterior forebrain circuit promises to clarify its role in learning and to elucidate the cellular mechanisms involved.
Do Cheaters Never Prosper? The Impact of Examples, Expertise, and Cognitive Load on Cryptomnesia and Inadvertent Self-Plagiarism of Creative Tasks

Previous work has shown that the presence of examples may lead to cryptomnesia, or inadvertent plagiarism, on creative tasks. Various experiential and environmental attributes may magnify this finding. For instance, novices, with limited knowledge, may be more prone to inadvertently plagiarize examples, and increases in cognitive load may result in an inability to recall the source of an idea. The purpose of my research was to determine if providing examples leads to cryptomnesia on linguistic and visual creative tasks and to further examine whether expertise level and cognitive load magnifies this relationship. In study 1, participants were given plain instructions or instructions with either an auditory or print example before completing linguistic and visual divergent thinking (DT) tasks. Examples increased the likelihood of cryptomnesia for both tasks, especially with congruent modalities (print example and visual task). In study 2, participants were classified as novices or experts in engineering and...
Pathogenesis of herpes stromal keratitis – A focus on corneal neovascularization

The cornea is a complex sensory organ that must maintain its transparency for optimal vision. Infections such as with herpes simplex virus can result in blinding immunoinflammatory reactions referred to as herpes stromal keratitis (HSK). In this review we discuss the pathogenesis of HSK referring to work mainly done using animal model systems. We briefly discuss the role of multiple cell types and soluble mediators but focus on the critical role of corneal vascularization (CV) in contributing to corneal damage. We describe how VEGF and other angiogenic molecules are induced following infection and discuss the many ways by which CV can be controlled. Speculations are made regarding future approaches that could improve the management of HSK.
LEM1, an ATP-binding-cassette transporter, selectively modulates the biological potency of steroid hormones.

Abstract The rat glucocorticoid receptor confers hormone-dependent transcriptional enhancement when expressed in yeast, thereby enabling the genetic identification of nonreceptor proteins that function in the hormone signal-transduction pathway. We isolated a yeast mutant, lem1, with increased sensitivity to dexamethasone and triamcinolone acetonide; responsiveness to a third agonist, deoxycorticosterone, is unaffected. Cloning of wild-type LEM1 revealed a putative transport protein of the ATP-binding cassette family. Dexamethasone accumulation is increased in lem1 cells, suggesting that wild-type LEM1 decreases dexamethasone potency by exporting this ligand. LEM1 appears to affect certain steroids and not others. We propose that transporters like LEM1 can selectively modulate the intracellular levels of steroid hormones. Differential activities of such transporters in mammalian cells might regulate hormone availability and thereby hormone signaling in a cell-type specific manner.
A laser scanning system for estimating wind velocity reduction through tree windbreaks

The performance of trees as windbreaks is principally determined by their geometric characteristics. This paper reports the development of a laser scanning system to measure tree geometric characteristics on-the-go and its use to estimate percent wind velocity reduction in a windbreak. The laser scanning system was built by mounting a laser sensor, a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, and a notebook computer on a test vehicle. A windbreak was established by arranging a set of large potted trees in a pattern that provided two porosities for wind velocity measurements (windbreaks I and II). Winds generated by a blower at low and high wind velocities were directed at the centers of the tree windbreaks. Wind velocities were measured using a vane anemometer in four areas of the windbreaks, both on the windward and leeward sides. Percent wind velocity reductions between the windward and leeward sides were calculated. The laser scanning system measured the tree canopy geometric characteristics in the same areas where the wind velocities were collected. The linear correlations between the tree canopy geometric characteristics and the percent wind velocity reductions were analyzed. In tree windbreak I, the highest correlation coefficient (r) of 0.97 (root mean square deviation - RMSD=3.61%) and 0.96 (RMSD=3.29%) were obtained at the low (<16ms^-^1) and high (<20ms^-^1) wind velocity conditions, respectively. On the other hand, in tree windbreak II, the highest r values of 0.93 (RMSD=4.59%) and 0.98 (RMSD=2.26%) were estimated at the low (<12ms^-^1) and high (<18ms^-^1) wind velocity conditions, respectively.
Near-surface flow in glaciers obeying Glen's Law

Dans le modele de Glen d'ecoulement d'un glacier, on obtenait une contrainte longitudinale infinie. On determine ici la couche limite de surface et ses modes de contrainte
Derived Power Production and Energy Drawdown Rules for Reservoirs

Theoretical hydropower operation rules are derived and discussed for reservoirs in parallel, in series, and single reservoirs for cases where reservoirs typically refill before they empty and for parallel reservoirs when reservoirs are expected to draw down to empty. These hydropower rules offer a simplified economic basis for allocating storage and energy in multireservoir hydropower systems. The approach is demonstrated for an illustrative example and should be helpful for making decisions regarding hydropower releases over time, subject to the limited conditions under which these rules hold.
Biophysical and biochemical investigations of RNA catalysis in the hammerhead ribozyme.

1. How do ribozymes work? 241 2. The hammerhead RNA as a prototype ribozyme 242 2.1 RNA enzymes 242 2.2 Satellite self-cleaving RNAs 242 2.3 Hammerhead RNAs and hammerhead ribozymes 244 3. The chemical mechanism of hammerhead RNA self-cleavage 246 3.1 Phosphodiester isomerization via an S N 2(P) reaction 247 3.2 The canonical role of divalent metal ions in the hammerhead ribozyme reaction 251 3.3 The hammerhead ribozyme does not actually require metal ions for catalysis 254 3.4 Hammerhead RNA enzyme kinetics 257 4. Sequence requirements for hammerhead RNA self-cleavage 260 4.1 The conserved core, mutagenesis and functional group modifications 260 4.2 Ground-state vs. transition-state effects 261 5. The three-dimensional structure of the hammerhead ribozyme 262 5.1 Enzyme–inhibitor complexes 262 5.2 Enzyme–substrate complex in the initial state 264 5.3 Hammerhead ribozyme self-cleavage in the crystal 264 5.4 The requirement for a conformational change 265 5.5 Capture of conformational intermediates using crystallographic freeze-trapping 266 5.6 The structure of a hammerhead ribozyme ‘early’ conformational intermediate 267 5.7 The structure of a hammerhead ribozyme ‘later’ conformational intermediate 268 5.8 Is the conformational change pH dependent? 269 5.9 Isolating the structure of the cleavage product 271 5.10 Evidence for and against additional large-scale conformation changes 274 5.11 NMR spectroscopic studies of the hammerhead ribozyme 278 6. Concluding remarks 280 7. Acknowledgements 281 8. References 281 1. How do ribozymes work? 241 The discovery that RNA can be an enzyme (Guerrier-Takada et al . 1983; Zaug & Cech, 1986) has created the fundamental question of how RNA enzymes work. Before this discovery, it was generally assumed that proteins were the only biopolymers that had sufficient complexity and chemical heterogeneity to catalyze biochemical reactions. Clearly, RNA can adopt sufficiently complex tertiary structures that make catalysis possible. How does the three- dimensional structure of an RNA endow it with catalytic activity? What structural and functional principles are unique to RNA enzymes (or ribozymes), and what principles are so fundamental that they are shared with protein enzymes?
Simple iterative methods to exploit the signal-space diversity

Signal-space diversity is a power- and bandwidth-efficient diversity technique. To exploit the signal-space diversity, joint maximum-likelihood (ML) detection at the receiver is usually needed, where the complexity grows exponentially with the dimension of the lattice. In this letter, we propose a serial concatenated scheme and two simple iterative methods to exploit the signal-space diversity. The simple iterative methods are based on the idea of soft interference cancellation. The first iterative method is based on a vector Gaussian approximation, while the second one is based on a scalar Gaussian approximation. The complexity of the first iterative method grows cubically with the dimension of the lattice, and the simulations show that its performance approaches that of the optimal maximum a posteriori detection method. The complexity of the second iterative method grows linearly with the dimension of the lattice, and the simulations show that when the dimension of the lattice N=32, at bit-error rate =10/sup -5/, the performance gap between the Rayleigh fading channel and the Gaussian channel is only 0.3 dB.
Electronic structure near the Fermi level of the organic semiconductor copper phthalocyanine

The electronic structure of thin films of the prototypical organic semiconductor copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) has been measured using resonant soft X-ray emission spectroscopy. We report the observation of two discrete states near EF. This differs from published photoemission results, but is in excellent agreement with density functional calculations. The implications of this result for the use of resonant soft X-ray emission (SXE) in the study of organic semiconductors are discussed. We also compare our data to published X-ray emission results, and show that the latter display clear evidence of beam damage. 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Fractures of the Phalanges and Interphalangeal Joints in Children

Phalangeal fractures in children are common, and conservative treatment leads frequently to a good functional outcome. Articular or displaced fractures require early re-cognition and special attention, including surgery. In children, remodeling occurs primarily in the sagittal plane, and rotational deformities are often unacceptable.
The Financial Rewards of Elite Status in the Legal Profession

This article focuses on the role of intergenerational status attainment for legal careers. By decomposing the earnings gap between elite and nonelite lawyers at two points in their careers, we find that inherited cultural capital produces an earnings advantage as soon as lawyers begin their careers and that this gap persists over time. We further find that the processes underlying this gap change as lawyers make their way through the profession. While in early careers, the elite advantage is due to stronger starting endowments, the advantage for junior lawyers results from a more complex process, which combines starting endowments, professional capital gained during the first years of practice, and the rate at which endowments are differentially rewarded in the profession. Elaborating on work that identifies the importance of maintaining and concentrating diverse forms of capital in the legal profession, we explain the process through which elite lawyers gain and retain their advantage over time.
Current-Leakage Kinetics Across Tinned Cr/Cu Lands Having Epoxy Overlay

A leakage current between Cr/Cu conductors on a ceramic vehicle coated with an epoxy layer is described. The leakage is measured under stress conditions of temperature, relative humidity (RH), and voltage. A model is developed to project the leakage results to field conditions as a function of the stress, gap, and diffusion properties.
Submarine Slumping in Reef-Flank Deposits (Middle Silurian) of Indiana: ABSTRACT

Flank beds adjacent to the Rich Valley bioherm, Wabash County, Indiana, display unusual structures suggesting catastrophic slumping during and shortly after deposition. Lithotopes representative of reef core, reef flank, and interreef environments are mixed randomly within the deformed sedimentary rocks. Deformation appears to have involved processes of both brittle and semiplastic materials. Displaced boulders, 1 to 2 m in diameter, are imbedded in laminated calcilutite. Uniformly inclined stratification typical of reef flanks is here locally reversed in dip, faulted, and contorted into minor folds within the sequence. A dike of fine-grained limestone, about 0.5 m thick, perpendicularly transects an inclined sequence of flank beds. Masses of mature quartz sandstone also are present, apparently as isolated blocks, displaced from some formerly higher location. Observed features tentatively are attributed to multiple failures resulting from unstable oversteepening of normal flank sediments, storm ripping of semilithified core materials, and plastic flowage of poorly lithified flank-margin materials. Individual events could have been triggered by storms, earth shocks, or other catastrophic events. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1582------------
DIVERSITY AMONG GROUND-DWELLING SPIDER ASSEMBLAGES: HABITAT GENERALISTS AND SPECIALISTS

We sampled assemblages of ground-dwelling spiders with pitfall traps in six terrestrial habitats representing a successional gradient in southwestern Virginia, during the summer of 2002. Ap- proximately half of the 50 species trapped were habitat specialists with low abundance, found at only one of the sites, which is qualitatively consistent with the literature. Only four species, Schizocosa ocreata (Hentz 1844), Pirata insularis (Emerton 1885) Pirata aspirans (Chamberlain 1904) and Neoantistea mag- na (Keyserling 1887) were found at as many as four sites. A few species that were found in more than one study from disparate geographical communities, such as Trochosa terricola (Thorell 1856) tended also to be relatively abundant habitat generalists. In general, the majority of spider species found in studies such as ours that examined multiple sites were habitat specialists and had low abundance. For our sample sites, there was no relationship between any measure of spider diversity ( S, H', J' ) and successional age. Our results, and those of most other published studies, are consistent with the hypothesis that spider assemblages do not undergo succession and except for a few very common generalist species the com- position of these communities is unpredictable, and may depend more on stochastic colonization and specific resource requirements of specialists following immigration than on any predictable association with successional parameters.
Opening engineering students' minds to ideas beyond technology

What will be the impact of WEC2000 (Engineering Criteria 2000) on the humanities and social sciences (HSS) component in engineering and computer science curricula in the United States? The criteria relevant to HSS in EC20001 require that graduates of engineering programs have: 1) an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility; 2) an ability to communicate effectively; 3) the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context; 4) and a knowledge of contemporary issues. This article poses the same basic question that Gianniny (1982) did: why are the humanities and social sciences regarded with such ambivalence today by engineering educators?.
Raw Materials and Tools Part 1: Secondary Source Data

The psychiatric epidemiologist’s raw materials are data about mental illness obtained from secondary or primary sources. Secondary source data can come from various records and in many forms, usually compilations of the numbers of admissions, diagnoses, treatments, and discharges of patients using public facilities (e.g., mental hospitals, Community Mental Health Centers), or data from death certificates, or reports from the National Center for Health Statistics, the Bureau of the Census, etc. Plunkett and Gordon2 call these data “secondhand information,” since they are compiled by persons other than the investigator. In contrast, primary source data generally are obtained directly by the investigator from patients or other respondents. Plunkett and Gordon call such original data “firsthand information.”
Robust estimation of signal amplitude

An iterative estimation procedure involving the use of a light limiter is proposed for obtaining robust estimates of the amplitude of a signal of known form in additive nearly Gaussian noise. In the case of a constant signal the procedure, referred to as the iterative limiter estimator (ILE), is exhibited as a form of stochastic approximation and the procedure is shown to be robust in a well-defined asymptotically min-max sense. The ILE is also shown to be asymptotically robust in terms of efficiency relative to the sample mean. in the case of a time-varying signal the procedure is referred to as an iterative limiter-correlator estimator (ILCE). Simulation results show that both the ILE and the ILCE possess a high degree of robustness for seemingly mild, but potent, deviations from the Gaussian model. This robustness is obtained at the expense of a relatively small loss in efficiency when the noise is actually Gaussian.
Improving Resolution of NMO Stack using Shaping Regularization

We present a novel method that optimizes CMP stacking and reduces the effects of “NMO stretch” by replacing conventional NMO and stack with a regularized inversion to zero offset. We use shaping regularization to achieve a stack that has a denser time sampling and contains higher frequencies than the conventional stack. The resulting stack is a model that best fits the data using additional constraints imposed by shaping regularization. Numerical tests demonstrate that “stretching effects” caused by NMO are reduced and the resulting stacked section contains higher frequencies and preserves shallow reflectors better compared to the conventional stacked section.