cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cardiovascular surgery patients' respiratory responses to morphine before extubation

Abstract Analgesia is commonly withheld from cardiovascular surgery patients who are soon to be withdrawn from mechanical ventilation to prevent respiratory depression that can postpone extubation. The effects of analgesia on respiration have not been studied adequately. In this study, weaning parameter measurements were obtained to determine the respiratory impact of a low dose of intravenous morphine administered to cardiovascular surgery patients who were ready to be weaned from the ventilator. A pretest-posttest, quasi-experimental, repeated measures design was used. Eleven alert patients who experienced postoperative pain and met two of five weaning parameter criteria received 1 mg to 5 mg of morphine. Weaning parameters were measured before the intervention and at 15 and 30 minutes afterward. As hypothesized, the administration of low-dose morphine did not have a negative effect on weaning parameters. Mean weaning parameter values either increased or remained the same after the administration of morphine. Despite the small sample size, the results of dependent t tests revealed statistically significant improvements, using an alpha level of 0.05, in the mean tidal volume and negative inspiratory force values at the 30-minute measurement, and in the vital capacity value at the 15-minute measurement. The findings from this study help to refute the notion that a low dose of intravenous morphine will cause respiratory depression, and further suggest that the administration of morphine may enhance patients' respiratory function. If additional research supports this study's findings, both the goals of weaning postoperative patients from the ventilator and controlling pain may be achieved simultaneously. © 2002 by the American Society of Pain Management Nurses
Genetic analysis of the innate immune responses in wild-derived inbred strains of mice.

The vertebrate immune system has evolved to recognize nucleic acids of bacterial and viral origin. Microbial DNA, as well as synthetic oligonucleotides based on these motifs, activates innate immune pathways mediated by the family of Toll-like receptors (TLR) initiating a cascade of signals in immune cells necessary for responses to pathogens. However, not all of the proteins that participate in TLR-mediated responses have been identified. In studies described herein, we observed significant variation in innate immune responses among selected wild-derived strains of mice. Specifically, we show that mice of MOLF/Ei, Czech/Ei, and MSM/Ms strains are hypo-responsive to polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly(I:C)) because of a mutation in Tlr3. In addition, we discovered a hypo-response to cytosine guanine dinuleotide in MOLF/Ei mice and established that it is not linked to Tlr9, but to another locus. Further inquiry revealed that this hypo-response is transmitted as a monogenic dominant trait that can be mapped and cloned through positional cloning methods. These results suggest the existence of a novel molecule that can alter pro-inflammatory signals or activate additional signal transduction pathways. In addition, they support the wild-derived mouse strain as a forward genetic tool for the identification of novel immunological phenotypes.
Cortisol levels predict cognitive impairment induced by electroconvulsive therapy

Abstract Background: Elevated glucocorticoids may increase the vulnerability of the brain to the adverse effects of repeated seizures. This study tested the hypothesis that higher ambient cortisol levels would predict increased cognitive impairment in depressed patients subsequent to receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for major depression. Methods: Sixteen subjects provided three samples of saliva the day before receiving unilateral nondominant ECT. Measures of mood, global cognitive functioning, attention, executive function, verbal and visuospatial memory, and visuospatial processing speed were obtained 1 day before the first ECT and 1 day after the sixth ECT treatment. The relationship between basal salivary cortisol obtained before the first ECT treatment and the change score of each cognitive measure after the sixth ECT treatment was examined and tested with Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: Electroconvulsive therapy treatments delivered over 2 weeks resulted in a significant improvement in mood and a decline in most measures of cognitive performance. Elevated basal cortisol was associated with a greater decline in performance of executive function, visuospatial processing speed, and verbal memory. Conclusions: Although this study is limited by the small number of subjects and the high number of comparisons, all significant correlations were consistent with the hypothesis that elevated cortisol predicts a greater degree of ECT-induced cognitive impairment.
Contribution of the second-order Born approximation to the scattered intensity

Abstract Weak scattering is usually analyzed by using the first-order terms for the field to calculate the scattered intensity. We investigate the contribution to the scattered intensity made by the product of the zeroth-order and second-order terms of the Born approximation for the field, for two different geometries, for the case in which the scattering potential is a zero-mean random process and the scattering medium is quasi-homogeneous. It is shown that in some situations the product of first-order terms is sufficient for calculating the scattered intensity, but that in other situations the contribution from the product of the zeroth-order and second-order terms must be included. This result is directly applicable to the question of whether spectral shifts will be observed in scattering from elastic media.
The spectrum of wind speed fluctuations encountered by a rotating blade of a wind energy conversion system

Abstract A point on a rotating wind turbine blade encounters turbulence whose characteristics are quite different from turbulence measured by a stationary anemometer. This is true for vertical as well as horizontal axis wind turbines. The spectrum of the observed turbulence is distored in several subranges of frequency in characteristic ways. The midfrequency region is depleted and the removed energy is distributed into the high frequency end of the spectrum. The resulting two-peaked continuous spectrum also contains narrow-band spikes of turbulence energy centered on the frequency of rotor rotation and multiples of that frequency. The statistics of gusts are expected to be distorted also. The rotational sampling effect is quantified using measurements of wind velocity at circular arrays of anemometers and measurements by laser and hotwire anemometers traversing crosswind circular paths. A simple theoretical model of the spectrum of turbulence which is rotationally sampled is developed. The model, which assumes homogeneous, isotropic turbulence, reproduces the observed spectral features and provides an analytic verification and extension of scaling relations using turbine and atmospheric length and time scales. All known theoretical models of the spectrum of a rotationally sampled turbulence field are compared with the spectra which are derived from rotationally measured turbulence. Implications for turbine design, siting and control are drawn. A nondimensional parametric analysis of the rotational turbulence effect suggests criteria for selecting rotor height above ground and rotor rotation rate and provides guidelines for optimizing a design once the preliminary turbine configuration has been established.
Pediatric precursors of adult cardiovascular disease: noninvasive assessment of early vascular changes in children and adolescents.

Background Until recently, our understanding of the childhood antecedents of adult cardiovascular disease was limited mainly to autopsy studies and pathologic findings in teens and young adults who died from accidental causes. Recent advances in the understanding of atherosclerosis and new technologies allowing detection of early events have made it possible to observe anatomic and physiologic evidence of cardiovascular disease in young adults and children. Objectives The goal of this article was to introduce pediatricians to new methods for noninvasive measurement of cardiovascular disease and its precursors, to describe the potential application of these techniques in detecting childhood precursors of adult cardiovascular disease, and to summarize knowledge gained from this approach. Methods We conducted a computerized search of peer-reviewed articles listed in PubMed and Medline from 1980 to April 2006. We reviewed 63 and 84 articles from the adult and pediatric literature, respectively. Results Reviewing the research on childhood antecedents of adult cardiovascular disease is sobering. Vascular alterations in anatomy, physiology, mechanical properties, and proinflammatory and prothrombotic changes are present from a very early age of childhood and are associated with the risk factors common in adult cardiovascular disease. At the same time, this body of research supports the concept that the vascular impairment from childhood may improve over time with appropriate intervention. Conclusions The measurement tools and concepts described in this article offer diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities for collaboration between clinical pediatricians and pediatric researchers. These partnerships will enable pediatricians to contribute in an effort to reduce the burdens of cardiovascular disease to individuals, families, and society.
Structure the Use: Notes on a Method for Designing Computing System Environments

We may be able to design a better computer system if we think of it as an entity inseparable from all of the training, documentation, and folklore that help make it work.
Development of multi-agent system for building energy and comfort management based on occupant behaviors

Abstract Energy and comfort management is the major task for a building automation system. As a trend of next-generation's commercial buildings, intelligent buildings are capable of facilitating intelligent control of the building to fulfill occupants’ needs. Since occupants’ behaviors have a direct impact on the system performance, the building should be able to interact with occupants by responding to their requests and obtaining feedbacks based on their behaviors. In this paper, a multi-agent based intelligent control system is developed for achieving effective energy and comfort management in a building environment. The developed multi-agent system turns out to be capable of facilitating the building to interact with its occupants for realizing user-centered control of buildings.
Categorization bases and their influence on product category knowledge structures

This study examines the relationship between categorization bases and the persistent use of specific categories in the motorcycle industry. Categorization bases are distinguished from one another and classified based on their distance from embodied experience. The relationship between the different classes that emerge and the number of years that specific category labels remain part of the market conversation is subsequently explored. The fundamental proposition is that categorization bases that are close to embodied experience, such as perceptible properties and affordances, will give rise to shorter-lived categories relative to categorization bases that are further removed from embodied experience, such as historical criteria and scientific authority. Market stories from published sources are content analyzed and coded, and used as sources of industry categories. Analysis reveals that four categorization bases—usage scripts, scientific authority, experiential wholes, and affordances—are associated with greater category persistence in the motorcycle market when used as the primary basis for categorization, whereas perceptible properties, metaphorical creations, and historical criteria were associated with lower-persistence categories. The results were not perfectly aligned with a strict distance-from-embodied-experience argument, and their implications for future research and theory are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Hydroxyl Groups in Zeolite Catalysts

HYDROXYL groups have been proposed as catalytic agents for reactions involving molecules sorbed in dehydrated zeolites1, and there has been extensive infrared study of them (see refs. 2 and 3 for summaries). Speculations have been made on the positions of the hydroxyl groups in faujasite, Y and X zeolites on the basis of the band frequencies, and on the frequency changes induced by molecular sorption and by deuterium and cation exchange. But most discussions have been rather general and have not considered the detailed properties of the crystal structure.
Inhalational monkeypox virus infection in cynomolgus macaques.

An inhalation exposure system was characterized to deliver aerosolized monkeypox virus (MPXV), and a nonhuman primate (NHP) inhalation monkeypox model was developed in cynomologus macaques. A head-only aerosol exposure system was characterized, and two sampling methods were evaluated: liquid impingement via an impinger and impaction via a gelatin filter. The aerosol concentrations obtained with the gelatin filter and impinger were virtually identical, indicating that either method is acceptable for sampling aerosols containing MPXV. The mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) was for individual aerosol tests in the aerosol system characterization and the NHP study ranged from 1.08 to 1.15 µm, indicating that the aerosol particles were of a sufficient size to reach the alveoli. Six cynomolgus macaques (four male and two female) were used on study. The animals were aerosol exposed with MPXV and received doses between 2.51 x 104 to 9.28 x 105 plaque forming units (pfu) inhaled. Four of the six animals died or were euthanized due to their moribund conditions. Both animals that received the lowest exposure doses survived to the end of the observation period. The inhalation LD50 was determined to be approximately 7.8 x 104 pfu inhaled. These data demonstrate that an inhalation MPXV infection model has been developed in the cynomolgus macaque with disease course and lethal dose similar to previously published data.
The computational nature of associative learning

An attentional-associative model (Schmajuk et al. 1996), previously evaluated against multiple sets of classical conditioning data, is applied to causal learning. In agreement with Mitchell et al.'s suggestion, according to the model associative learning can be a conscious, controlled process. However, whereas our model correctly predicts blocking following or preceding subadditive training, the propositional approach cannot account for those results.
Modeling transverse motions of a drill bit for process understanding

Abstract A model for drill bit transverse motions is proposed that identifies process conditions affecting hole quality and helps in the interpretation of drilling signal patterns produced during the hole-making process. A two-dimensional model of a drill rotating in a hole with clearance is presented. The simulation results, drilling force signal patterns, and hole geometry were found to be in close agreement. Drill rotation speed, drill stiffness, structural damping, drill hole clearance, and amplitude modulation of the forces acting on the drill appear to have a significant effect on drill bit transverse motions and on hole quality.
Intramolecular determination of primary kinetic isotope effects in hydroxylations catalyzed by cytochrome P-450.

Isotope effects for hydroxylation reactions catalyzed by cytochrome P-450 have usually been measured by comparing the overall reaction velocities of deuterated and nondeuterated substrates. Since the rate-limiting step is probably not the single reaction involving covalent bond cleavage, such an approach does not yield information about the primary isotope effect. We measured the primary kinetic isotope effect for benzylic hydroxylation by a method utilizing intramolecular competition, using the symmetrical substrate 1,3-diphenylpropane-1,1-d2. These experiments yield a value of kHkD = 11, a larger effect than has previously been reported for benzylic hydroxylations.
El embrión extra: ética de vida, ética de parentesco y cryopreservación en las clínicas ecuatorianas de fertilización in-vitro

In this paper I trace two divergent understandings of personhood that manifest through the technology of embryo cryopreservation in Ecuadorian IVF clinics. Those who wish to cryopreserve embryos participate in what I call “life ethics”, and following the edicts of the Catholic Church, view the embryo as sacred human life that should not be destroyed. Those who wish to dispose of embryos participate in what I call “kin ethics” and view the embryo as a member of a larger family. Within this model freezing leaves embryos open to the possibility of their future circulation out side the bounds of the natal family. These findings have implications for the debates about when life begins and also demonstrates that the Catholic Church is not the only force in determining ethical responses to new reproductive technologies in Ecuador.
Comparisons of Mycorrhizal Responsiveness with Field Soil and Commercial Inoculum for Six Native Montane Species and Bromus tectorum

Reestablishing native perennial plants and reducing invasive species are pivotal for many ecological restoration projects. The interactions among plant species, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and soil P availability may be critical determinants of the success of native and non-native plants in restoration and species invasions. Here we assessed mycorrhizal responsiveness for three late-successional and three early-successional plant species native to Rocky Mountain National Park and for the non-native Downy brome, cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) using field soil and commercial inoculum. Factorial greenhouse experiments were conducted to compare biomass of plant species with and without field soil and commercial inoculum treatments along a phosphorus (P) gradient, which ranged from ambient field levels to 12% of field levels, using dilutions of native soils. The two field soil inoculum treatments resulted in significant biomass differences for all species studied. Late-successional species responded positively to field inoculum, whereas early-successional species responded negatively. The two commercial inocula had low colonization rates (14 of 166 inoculated plants). The commercial inocula substrates had significant treatment effects on five of seven species included in the study in the apparent absence of mycorrhizal symbiosis. Soil P levels influenced mycorrhizal responsiveness in only one species, Smooth blue aster (Aster laevis L.). Our results show that, at least for the species studied here, locally collected field inoculum is the best choice for reestablishment of late-successional native plant species.
Performance analysis of coded multicarrier wideband systems over fading channels

In this paper, we propose an efficient method to analyze the performance of coded multicarrier systems over multipath fading channels. The computation complexity is low and moreover, the analysis is able to capture the system performance with a specific interleaver which is not possible under the common uniform interleaving assumption. The framework in this paper can also be generalized to coded multichannel systems that suffer from correlated fading process.
The Influence of Light on Egg Yolk Pigmentation

Abstract An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of light on yolk pigmentation. In addition, data from a previous experiment on yolk pigmentation were analyzed with respect to pen position in an open house to determine the influence of light intensity on yolk pigmentation. Yolks from birds in windowless houses did not differ significantly in any color measurement from those produced in open houses. However, differences in total feed consumption per egg produced indicated an increase in pigmentation efficiency stimulated by light.
Doppler ultrasound parametric spectral estimation using third-order statistics

An autoregressive (AR) parametric estimation method using third-order statistics is described for measuring the Doppler shift frequency. Experiments conducted to examine the performance of the Doppler ultrasound parametric spectral estimation using third-order statistics are described. Experimental results show that the proposed method improves frequency estimation accuracy compared to that obtained using second-order statistics. >
Pharmacists in public health: It's a good start!

Accreditation standards implemented in July 2007 require colleges and schools of pharmacy to train student pharmacists to provide public health services.1 Moreover, population-based public health curricula for all health care professionals is encouraged in the Clinical Prevention and Population Health Curriculum Framework developed by the Healthy People Curriculum Task Force in January 2008.2 Practicing pharmacists are also assuming traditional public health roles such as vaccination and screening. However, pharmacists’ public health activities are much more diverse than expected, and this issue of the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association (JAPhA) provides a sample of pharmacist-led public health initiatives. The public health agenda is dynamic and responds to changing population needs. Public health began at the turn of the 20th century, primarily to fight epidemics and prevent the spread of disease. Today, public health efforts still focus on responding to community health threats, although those threats are different today than at the turn of the 20th century.3 Public health has long been thought of as government programs and services for the disadvantaged, but it is more encompassing than this limited definition. The Institute of Medicine defines public health as “fulfilling society’s interest in assuring conditions in which people can be healthy.”4 This definition requires that pharmacists take a population-based focus to prevent disease and improve overall health with the goal of achieving long and productive lives. Healthy People 2020, which was being finalized at the time of this writing, identifies several health goals for the United States, such as attaining highquality, longer lives free of preventable health threats and conditions, achieving health equity, creating environments that promote good health, and promoting quality of life across all life stages.5 Healthy People 2020 explicitly recognizes that pharmacists have direct access to patients and play an important role in prevention and appropriate treatment. Pharmacists, who seek to ensure appropriate medication use, can assist in achieving these national health goals.
Hog Producers' Risk Management Attitudes and Desire for Additional Risk Management Education

Hog producers in Indiana and Nebraska were surveyed about sources of risk, effectiveness of risk management strategies, and prior participation in and desire for additional risk management education. Ownership of hogs by the producer, size of the operation, and age did have significant effects on ratings of both sources of risk and effectiveness of risk management strategies. Probit analysis found age, prior attendance, knowledge and prior use of the tool, level of integration, and concern about price and performance risk have significant effects on interest in further education about production contracts, futures and options, packer marketing contracts, and financial management.
Increased risk of death in African American patients with end-stage renal disease secondary to lupus

Background. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a devastating systemic disease that can lead to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Our goal was to assess the relative mortality risk associated with race in pediatric and adult populations with ESRD secondary to SLE maintained on hemodialysis (HD). Methods. We identified an inception cohort of patients who were started on HD in January 1990 from data collected by the United States Renal Data System (USRDS). Kaplan–Meier survival analyses were performed in these patients using the time at risk from 1 January 1990 through 31 December 2010, the last date of the USRDS data collection period in this dataset. Cox proportional hazard models were used to assess mortality, adjusted for age at dialysis initiation. Subjects were censored at transplantation or end of follow-up. Results. There were 1580 patients with ESRD secondary to SLE, 252 pediatric patients (62% African American) and 1328 adults (56% African American). African American pediatric patients with ESRD secondary to SLE had a 2-fold increased risk of death compared with African American children with other causes of ESRD [hazard ratio (HR): 2.1, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.4–2.9, P<0.01]. Increased riskof death was also seen in African American adults with ESRD secondary to SLEcompared with both Caucasians with ESRD secondary to SLE (HR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.2–4.2, P<0.01) and African American adults with ESRD secondary to other diseases (HR: 1.2, 95% CI: 1.1–1.4, P < 0.01). Conclusion. Our studysuggests that there is a significant increased risk for mortality in African American children and adults with ESRD secondary to SLE. This suggests that African Americans with ESRD secondary to SLE need aggressive monitoring.
The reaction of C6H5 with CO: Kinetic measurement and theoretical correlation with the reverse process

The kinetics of the C{sub 6}H{sub 5} reaction with CO has been studied by the cavity ring-down spectrometric technique in the temperature range 295--500 K at 12--120 Torr pressure with Ar as the carrier gas. The reaction occurred near the high-pressure limit under the conditions used. A weighted least-squares analysis of all data gives the rate constant for the association reaction, k{sub 1} = 10{sup 11.93{+-}0.14} exp[{minus}(1,507 {+-} 109)/T] cm{sup 3} mole{sup {minus}1} s{sup {minus}1}, where the errors represent two standard deviations. This result can correlate satisfactorily with the kinetic data reported by Solly and Benson for the reverse process (J.Am.Chem.Soc, 1971, 93, 2171) with the Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM) theory using the transition-state parameters computed quantum mechanically by the MP2 method with the 6--31G(d,p) basis set. Combination of the forward and reverse reaction data gives {Delta}H{sub 1}{degree} = {minus}24.6 {+-} 0.8 kcal/mol at 0 K and k{sub {minus}1}{sup {infinity}} = 5.3 x 10{sup 14} exp({minus}14 600/T) s{sup {minus}1} for the temperature range 300--670 K. The heat of reaction, combining with the known heats of formation of the reactants, leads to {Delta}{sub f}H{sub 0}{degree} (C{sub 6}H{sub 5}CO) = 32.5 {+-} 1.5 kcal/mol.
Use of a non-navigational, non-verbal landmark task in children

Two hundred and twenty two children (104 females), 1-8 years of age and young adults, were tested for up to 25 days on five versions of a non-verbal, non-navigational landmark task that had previously been used for monkeys. In monkeys, performance on this task is severely impaired following damage to the parietal cortex. For the basic task, the positive of two identical stimuli concealed a food reward and was designated by spatial proximity of a salient landmark. None of the 1- and 2-year-old children learned the task, i.e., they failed to consistently reach for and displace the positive stimulus in 25 test days. Of the 3-, 4-, and 5- year-old groups, 56%, 70%, and 77% of the children, respec- tively, mastered the task within 25 days. Children older than 5 and adults rapidly mastered the task. In Experiment #2, all subjects, 1-6 years of age, rapidly mastered a non-relational task when the choice stimulus was attached to the landmark, but the youngest children failed to transfer performance when the landmark was subsequently detached. Children under the age of 5 did not tolerate relational ambi- guity as well as adults did. Replications of the first two experiments produced virtually identical results and indicated that the tests have a high degree of reliability. In Experiment #5, there were two distinct proximal landmarks, one of which always designated the positive stimulus. This manipulation did not improve performance of younger children. As compared to results from navigational landmark tasks, results obtained in the Wisconsin General Testing Apparatus (WGTA) indicate a very narrow focus of attention on the response site. Thus, small separations between discriminative cue and response site significantly affect performance, especially in younger children. By comparing the present results with those from monkeys, we speculate that components of the parietal pathways involved with attention and reaching mature between 1 and 5 years of age in children.
Extranuclear Steroid Receptors Are Essential for Steroid Hormone Actions

Steroid hormones are produced throughout the phylogenetic tree, from plants to mammals. In the past 40 years, steroid receptors localized to the nucleus have been recognized as being important to mediating steroid action in many organs. This action mainly arises from the regulation of key genes that are important for organ development and function. These include but are not limited to genes influencing the reproductive tract, mammary glands, bone, brain, fat differentiation, pituitary hormone regulation, and metabolic effects in many organs. Unfortunately, steroids also promote the development of hormone-responsive cancers, including breast, uterus, and prostate cancer. It has also been shown that steroid receptors exist outside the nucleus in many organs and cells, with unclear impact for normal development, health, and disease. This review describes the evidence from many laboratories that these receptors exist and function with nuclear receptors to provide the full impact of all steroid hormones.
The future of e-government: a project of potential trends and issues

The purpose of this paper is to project the trends and issues that will arise over the next decade as e-government develops and matures. When government acts to innovate and implement new ideas and technologies, issues arise that are common to all organizations, such as the costs and benefits of adopting new technologies, and the effect of technologies on productivity and customer service. This project will include a projection of the effect of e-government on customer service and productivity. However, government differs from private and nonprofit organizations in important ways, due to politics and media scrutiny. For that reason issues other than productivity and customer service must be analyzed. This project explores and projects potential uses of the Web for: government-to-government interaction; procurement; citizen participation including public comment, instant random sample surveying, and even voting; education; and lobbying and interest group interaction with government.
Activation of cardiac fibroblasts by ethanol is blocked by TGF-β inhibition.

Background Alcohol abuse is the second leading cause of dilated cardiomyopathy, a disorder specifically referred to as alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM). Rodent and human studies have revealed cardiac fibrosis to be a consequence of ACM, and prior studies by this laboratory have associated this occurrence with elevated transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) and activated fibroblasts (myofibroblasts). To date, there have been no other studies to investigate the direct effect of alcohol on the cardiac fibroblast. Methods Primary rat cardiac fibroblasts were cultured in the presence of ethanol (EtOH) and assayed for fibroblast activation by collagen gel contraction, alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) expression, migration, proliferation, apoptosis, collagen I and III, and TGF-β expression. The TGF-β receptor type 1 inhibitor compound SB 431542 and a soluble recombinant TGF-βII receptor (RbII) were used to assess the role of TGF-β in the response of cardiac fibroblasts to EtOH. Results Treatment for cardiac fibroblasts with EtOH at concentrations of 100 mg/dl or higher resulted in fibroblast activation and fibrogenic activity after 24 hours including an increase in contraction, α-SMA expression, migration, and expression of collagen I and TGF-β. No changes in fibroblast proliferation or apoptosis were observed. Inhibition of TGF-β by SB 431542 and RbII attenuated the EtOH-induced fibroblast activation. Conclusions EtOH treatment directly promotes cardiac fibroblast activation by stimulating TGF-β release from fibroblasts. Inhibiting the action of TGF-β decreases the fibrogenic effect induced by EtOH treatment. The results of this study support TGF-β to be an important component in cardiac fibrosis induced by exposure to EtOH.
Hydrodynamics of Large Objects in the Sea Part I-Hydrodynamic Analysis

This paper deals with the hydrodynamic forces exerted on a rigid object describing harmonic oscillations under or on a free surface as well as the forces resulting from the interaction of the object held fixed in a train of regular surface waves. The problem is formulated for a body of arbitrary shape in water of finite depth and the development of a numerical scheme for carrying out the calculations is described. An energy balance as well as Haskind's relations are used as a check on the accuracy of the numerical results. Numerical results are presented for a floating sphere, a vertical circular cylinder, and a practical semi-immersed caisson configuration. Nomenclature a = characteristic dimension of body Ct = wave force (or moment) coefficient, Eqs. (36) and (40) Cij - ith component force (or moment) coefficient associated with the ;th component motion d_ = depth of submergence dS - differential surface area / = source strength function G = Green's function g - acceleration of Gravity gi = (i = 1,2,...7) See Eq. (19) h_ - water depth H = wave height i,l,k = cartesian unit vectors L = wavelength Mtj — added mass coef., (added mass /pa3) or (added mom. of I/pa5) Ntj = damping coef., (linear damping/po-a3) or (angular damp
Herbivore–vegetation feedbacks can expand the range of savanna persistence: insights from a simple theoretical model

Theoretical models of tree–grass coexistence in savannas have focused primarily on the role of resource availability and fire. It is clear that herbivores heavily impact vegetation structure in many savannas, but their role in driving tree–grass coexistence and the stability of the savanna state has received less attention. Theoretical models of tree–grass dynamics tend to treat herbivory as a constant rather than a dynamic variable, yet herbivores respond dynamically to changes in vegetation structure in addition to modifying it. In particular, many savannas host two distinct herbivore guilds, grazers and browsers, both of which have the potential to exert profound effects on tree/grass balance. For example, grazers may indirectly favor tree recruitment by suppressing the destructive effects of fire, and browsers may facilitate the expansion of grassland by reducing the competitive dominance of trees. We use a simple theoretical model to explore the role of grazer and browser dynamics on savanna vegetation structure and stability across fire and resource availability gradients. Our model suggests that herbivores may expand the range of conditions under which trees and grasses are able to stably coexist, as well as having positive reciprocal effects on their own niche spaces. In addition, we suggest that given reasonable assumptions, indirect mutualisms can arise in savannas between functional groups of herbivores because of the interplay of consumption and ecosystem feedbacks.
Biological consumption of dimethylsulfide (DMS) and its importance in DMS dynamics in the Ross Sea, Antarctica.

We studied the biological consumption of dimethylsulfide (DMS) and its role in controlling DMS concentrations in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, during the spring (Nov) and summer (Jan) of 2005. Surface DMS concentrations, measured with a technique that minimized DMS release from Phaeocystis antarctica, increased rapidly in the spring from 0.3 nmol L21 to 67.7 nmol L21, paralleling increases in chlorophyll a and bacterial biomass production. Biological DMS consumption (BDMSC) rates were low (0.02 nmol L21 d21) at the start of the bloom, but increased to 8.8 nmol L21 d21 at the peak of the bloom. Rate constants for BDMSC (kbc) remained relatively low throughout the spring (0.05–0.21 d21) and this slow biological turnover contributed to the buildup of DMS during the early bloom. DMS concentrations in the summer (3.2–16.8 nmol L21) were much lower than peak springtime concentrations, partly due to the higher BDMSC rate constants (0.22–0.98 d21; i.e., faster biological turnover) in the summer. Kinetic analysis suggested that BDMSC rates were nearly saturated at ambient DMS concentrations in the spring but not in summer. BDMSC was mostly carried out in the size fractions ,1 mm and .8 mm, except in the early spring when the ,1-mm fraction (likely free-living bacteria) dominated BDMSC. BDMSC was the main removal pathway for DMS in the surface mixed layer during both the spring and summer, except during the prebloom, when photolysis dominated. BDMSC exerts a major control on DMS concentrations in the Ross Sea throughout the Phaeocystis antarctica bloom.
Aerosol-assisted synthesis of monodisperse single-crystalline α-cristobalite nanospheres

Monodisperse single-crystalline α-cristobalite nanospheres have been synthesized by hydrocarbon-pyrolysis-induced carbon deposition on amorphous silica aerosol nanoparticles, devitrification of the coated silica at high temperature, and subsequent carbon removal by oxidation. The nanosphere size can be well controlled by tuning the size of the colloidal silica precursor. Uniform, high-purity nanocrystalline α-cristobalite is important for catalysis, nanocomposites, advanced polishing, and understanding silica nanotoxicology.
Classification of Chemical Reactions: Stages of Expertise

In this study we explore the strategies that undergraduate and graduate chemistry students use when engaged in classification tasks involving symbolic and microscopic (particulate) representations of different chemical reactions. We were specifically interested in characterizing the basic features to which students pay attention when classifying chemical reactions at the symbolic and microscopic levels. We identified the categories that students create when classifying chemical reactions, and compared the performance in simple classification tasks of students with different levels of preparation in the discipline. Our results suggest that advanced levels of expertise in chemical classification do not necessarily evolve in a linear and continuous way with academic training; a significant proportion of undergraduate students, regardless of their level of preparation in chemistry, based their classification schemes on the identification of surface features and failed to create chemically meaningful classes. Students' ability to identify chemically meaningful groups was strongly influenced by their recent learning experiences and their graduate work in chemistry. The level of expertise and the type of chemical representation influenced the number and types of categories created, the nature of the features used to build a class, and the role that these features played during the classification process. Although all of the participants in our study expressed similar levels of unfamiliarity with the microscopic images of chemical reactions, advanced students were more adept at using the available representational features to build chemical meaning. 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 771-793, 2008
What's in a Name? Place, Peoples and Plants in the Danish-Halle Mission, c. 1710–1740

Summary This paper explores the collecting practices of German Protestant missionaries who lived in southern India (c. 1710–1740) as part of the Danish-Halle mission. Asked by their patrons to describe local plants, in situ, these individuals did not respond by carefully studying and describing the plants themselves. Despite being in a position to do this work, instead they chose mostly to engage local residents in conversations about the cultures of the plants in question. These conversations revolved around the origins and meanings of plant names. The missionaries used names, local histories and accounts of peoples as tools for understanding plants found in specific places and to resolve confusion over the similarities and differences between various kinds. They practiced a form of ethno-botany that made the culture(s) of plants accessible to those who would never be able to actually travel to the region.
STAT3 acts through pre-existing nucleosome-depleted regions bound by FOS during an epigenetic switch linking inflammation to cancer

Background Transient induction of the Src oncoprotein in a non-transformed breast cell line can initiate an epigenetic switch to a cancer cell via a positive feedback loop that involves activation of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 protein (STAT3) and NF-κB transcription factors.
Methodology for Developing a Combined Environmental Stress Schedule for Reliability Growth Testing: Part III. Designing a Reliability Test Schedule with Combined Environmental Schedules

This article, the third of a three-part series, discusses how to develop an integrated environmental test schedule for military ground mobile equipment. Part 1 described the equipment to be tested, provided a general overview of mission profiles, and identified appropriate climatic conditions. Part II discussed the complexitics of the tracked-vchicle vibration environment, including research conducted in the Arizona desert and the Alaskan Arctic. Part III combines the information discussed in Parts I and II into combined environmental stress schedules. The first test schedule is "real-time" in that mean-time-between-failures (MTBF) could be approximated from the results, and the second test schedule attempts to find system weaknesses by deleting benign environments.
Sarbanes-Oxley for Science

This paper serves as the foreward to a collection of articles published in Law and Contemporary Problems (October 2006) entitled Sequestered Science: The Consequences of Undisclosed Knowledge. Authors explore the pros and cons of keeping scientific evidence secret and describe institutional arrangements authorizing or prohibiting secrecy, such as court-sanctioned settlements, confidentiality agreements, and clinical trial registries. Legislation modeled on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is proposed as a means to improve accountability in producing and submitting scientific data used in public health and environmental protection programs.
Recombinant human SP-A1 and SP-A2 proteins have different carbohydrate-binding characteristics

Surfactant protein (SP)-A is a member of the collectin family of proteins and plays a role in innate host defense of the lung. SP-A binds to the carbohydrates of lung pathogens via its calcium-depe...
Pediatric psychosocial oncology: Textbook for multi-disciplinary care

This book is a magnificent compilation of the state-of-the-art knowledge and clinical care practices in pediatric psychosocial oncology. Reflecting the collaborative and multidisciplinary nature of...
The Case for Revisiting Carryover Basis

By reinstituting a carryover basis, Congress can increase revenues by billions. The carryover basis would make tax law more fair by increasing economic efficiency by unlocking capital while maintaining rates, reinstituting a capital gains preference, or adding new taxes. Section 1023 would have provided a carryover a basis for property acquired from decedents but never took effect because the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act of 1980 repealed section 1023 retroactively and reinstituted the stepped-up basis rule of section 1014. No convincing rationale for the stepped-up death-basis rule has ever been offered; yet, one might reasonably speculate that the real objection was not section 1023’s complexity, but its substance — the repeal of part of the estate planners’ stock in trade. Three developments have occurred since the repeal of section 1023 that potentially make stepped-up basis a more vulnerable target for reform. First, the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 [describe what it did using verbs]. Second, the Tax Reform Act of 1986 [describe what it did using verbs]. Third and possibly the consideration that would provide the major impetus for the repeal of stepped-up basis, is the budget deficit [describe how the deficit is affected by the 1981 legislation using verbs].
On Relating Individual and Social Decisions

By intuition or design of its planners there is a certain unity among the parts of this symposium. However, as a participant-observer I also felt a significant disjunction. Hence in saying my own piece I will try to emphasize some problems of relationships of parts. The particular framework used in this paper is a system-based approach to unified social science, as found in more detail in three books (Kuhn, 1963, 1974, and 1975), which in turn reflect a core of the large literature in system analysis.
Heterogeneous Diels–Alder catalysis for biomass-derived aromatic compounds

In this tutorial review, we provide an overview of heterogeneous Diels–Alder catalysis for the production of lignocellulosic biomass-derived aromatic compounds. Diels–Alder reactions afford an extremely selective and efficient route for carbon–carbon cycloadditions to produce intermediates that can readily undergo subsequent dehydration or dehydrogenation reactions for aromatization. As a result, catalysis of Diels–Alder reactions with biomass-derived dienes and dienophiles has seen a growth of interest in recent years; however, significant opportunities remain to (i) tailor heterogeneous catalyst materials for tandem Diels–Alder and aromatization reactions, and (ii) utilize biomass-derived dienes and dienophiles to access both conventional and novel aromatic monomers. As such, this review discusses the mechanistic aspects of Diels–Alder reactions from both an experimental and computational perspective, as well as the synergy of Bronsted–Lewis acid catalysts to facilitate tandem Diels–Alder and aromatization reactions. Heterogeneous catalyst design strategies for Diels–Alder reactions are reviewed for two exemplary solid acid catalysts, zeolites and polyoxometalates, and recent efforts for targeting direct replacement aromatic monomers from biomass are summarized. Lastly, we point out important research directions for progressing Diels–Alder catalysis to target novel, aromatic monomers with chemical functionality that enables new properties compared to monomers that are readily accessible from petroleum.
Optimal power/delay trade-offs in wireless communications - Small delay asymptotics

In this paper we consider the optimal trade-off between average transmission power and average queueing delay for a single user transmitting data over a wireless fading channel. In particular we study the behavior of this trade-off in the regime of asymptotically large power and small delay. Our focus is on channels which require infinite power to minimize the average delay. For such channels, it is shown that the average delay decreases no faster than e P as the average power grows, where is a parameter that depends on the fading distribution and the arrival rate. We also give an sequence of policies that nearly mathc this lower bound. Several other sub-optimal policies are also discussed.
Vesicoureteral reflux in children

A method of treatment of patients with vesicoureteral reflux which we have found successful involves careful classification by cause, severity, and course of the condition. Frequent periodic reevaluation is necessary to permit reassignment of the patient to another category of treatment when appropriate.