cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Conservation of Transcription Start Sites within Genes across a Bacterial Genus

Transcription start sites (TSSs) lying inside annotated genes, on the same or opposite strand, have been observed in diverse bacteria, but the function of these unexpected transcripts is unclear. Here, we use the metal-reducing bacterium Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 and its relatives to study the evolutionary conservation of unexpected TSSs. Using high-resolution tiling microarrays and 5'-end RNA sequencing, we identified 2,531 TSSs in S. oneidensis MR-1, of which 18% were located inside coding sequences (CDSs). Comparative transcriptome analysis with seven additional Shewanella species revealed that the majority (76%) of the TSSs within the upstream regions of annotated genes (gTSSs) were conserved. Thirty percent of the TSSs that were inside genes and on the sense strand (iTSSs) were also conserved. Sequence analysis around these iTSSs showed conserved promoter motifs, suggesting that many iTSS are under purifying selection. Furthermore, conserved iTSSs are enriched for regulatory motifs, suggesting that they are regulated, and they tend to eliminate polar effects, which confirms that they are functional. In contrast, the transcription of antisense TSSs located inside CDSs (aTSSs) was significantly less likely to be conserved (22%). However, aTSSs whose transcription was conserved often have conserved promoter motifs and drive the expression of nearby genes. Overall, our findings demonstrate that some internal TSSs are conserved and drive protein expression despite their unusual locations, but the majority are not conserved and may reflect noisy initiation of transcription rather than a biological function. Importance: The first step of gene expression is the initiation of transcription from promoters, which have been traditionally thought to be located upstream of genes. Recently, studies showed that in diverse bacteria, promoters are often located inside genes. It has not been clear if these unexpected promoters are important to the organism or if they result from transcriptional noise. Here, we identify and examine promoters in eight related bacterial species. Promoters that lie within genes on the sense strand are often conserved as locations and in their sequences. Furthermore, these promoters often affect the bacterium's growth. Thus, many of these unexpected promoters are likely functional. Fewer promoters that lie within genes on the antisense strand are conserved, but the conserved ones seem to drive the expression of nearby genes.
Causal theories of crime and their effect upon expert parole decisions.

Criminal justice experts and laypeople seek to understand the causes of criminal behavior in order to promote social programs and individualized treatments that can reduce the amount of crime. The reaction to crime and criminals in part depends upon what is perceived to have caused people to violate the law, with such causal attribution being prevalent in public opinion polls, political ideology, scientific theories of criminogenesis, and correctional approaches in the criminal justice system. Research with expert parole decision makers is reviewed and used as an example of the amount and variety of attributions about crime and how the particular attribution made about an offender affects decisions about him or her. Specifically, offenders whose crimes are attributed to stable, enduring causes are considered worse parole risks (more likely to commit future crimes) and receive less favorable parole recommendations.
Active capture and transport of virus particles using a biomolecular motor-driven, nanoscale antibody sandwich assay.

Virus particles are captured and transported using kinesin-driven, antibody-functionalized microtubules. The functionalization was achieved through covalent crosslinking, which consequently enhanced the microtubule stability. The capture and transport of the virus particles was subsequently demonstrated in gliding motility assays in which antibody-coated microtubules functioned as capture elements, and antibody-coated microspheres served as fluorescent reporters.
THE EFFECT OF INJECTION OF RESIDUAL OVARIAN EXTRACTS

A recent article (1) pointed out that extracts made from the interstitial tissue of sow ovaries produced precocious sexual development in immature rats and mice. Enlarged, semi-transparent uteri, surpassing in size those produced by a comparable dosage of theelin, were another result. When these prematured females were injected daily with this extract, vaginal smears showed a normal cycle. A preliminary study of the effect of this same extract upon the estrus cycle of older rats was reported. It revealed the fact that even larger dosages of the extract produced no effect upon the heat cycle but did give enlarged semi-transparent uteri. Since that time new extracts have been made which produced like results. The injection of another extract which was made without removing the corpora lutea produced identical results in regard to sexual precocity, enlarged uteri and vaginal smears. The study of the effects of this extract upon adult female rats is the object of this paper.
The kidney in health; the nephron in disease.

Abstract There is evidence to support both major theories in various types of renal disease. Previous postulations of pathophysiology have erred in attempting to be too inclusive. Although there is reason to doubt the functional importance of the many bizarre nephron forms described by pathologists in disease, the presence of severe polyuria, early defects in renal concentrating ability, hyperchloremic acidosis and sodium wasting (occurring alone or together) characterize pathologic states in which tubular damage predominates over whole nephron destruction. The inflexibility of function which characterizes renal insufficiency may be a product of many factors: decrease in total functioning nephrons, diminished physiologic reserve of tubular transport, alterations in gross renal architecture and the presence of impotent nephrons.
Suppression and Function of X-Linked Lethal and Sterile Mutations in CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS

We have expanded our collection of recessive lethal and sterile mutants in the region of the X chromosome balanced by mnDp1(X;V), about 15% of the X linkage map, to a total of 54 mutants. The mutations have been mapped with respect to 20 overlapping deficiencies and five X duplications, and they have been assigned to 24 genes by complementation testing. Nine mutants are hermaphrodite-sterile: one of these is a sperm-defect mutant, two have abnormal gonadogeneses and six, in five genes, are maternally influenced mutants, producing inviable zygote progeny. One of the gonadogenesis mutants and two of the maternally influenced mutants are male fertile. All but one of the maternally influenced mutants give cross progeny when mated with wild-type males. Forty-three mutants were tested for suppression by homozygous sup-5(e1464), which is believed to be specific for null alleles. Ten mutants that were judged by independent criteria not to be null mutants are not suppressed. Nine of the other 33 mutants, in nine genes, are suppressed, five in both heterozygous and homozygous suppressor stocks and four only in homozygous suppressor stocks.
The qualitative research interview

BACKGROUND Interviews are among the most familiar strategies for collecting qualitative data. The different qualitative interviewing strategies in common use emerged from diverse disciplinary perspectives resulting in a wide variation among interviewing approaches. Unlike the highly structured survey interviews and questionnaires used in epidemiology and most health services research, we examine less structured interview strategies in which the person interviewed is more a participant in meaning making than a conduit from which information is retrieved. PURPOSE In this article we briefly review the more common qualitative interview methods and then focus on the widely used individual face-to-face in-depth interview, which seeks to foster learning about individual experiences and perspectives on a given set of issues. We discuss methods for conducting in-depth interviews and consider relevant ethical issues with particular regard to the rights and protection of the participants.
Classification of the caspase-hemoglobinase fold: detection of new families and implications for the origin of the eukaryotic separins.

A comprehensive sequence and structural comparative analysis of the caspase-hemoglobinase protein fold resulted in the delineation of the minimal structural core of the protease domain and the identification of numerous, previously undetected members, including a new protease family typified by the HetF protein from the cyanobacterium Nostoc. The first bacterial homologs of legumains and hemoglobinases were also identified. Most proteins containing this fold are known or predicted to be active proteases, but multiple, independent inactivations were noticed in nearly all lineages. Together with the tendency of caspase-related proteases to form intramolecular or intermolecular dimers, this suggests a widespread regulatory role for the inactive forms. A classification of the caspase-hemoglobinase fold was developed to reflect the inferred evolutionary relationships between the constituent protein families. Proteins containing this domain were so far detected almost exclusively in bacteria and eukaryotes. This analysis indicates that caspase-hemoglobinase-fold proteases and their inactivated derivatives are widespread in diverse bacteria, particularly those with a complex development, such as Streptomyces, Anabaena, Mesorhizobium, and Myxococcus. The eukaryotic separin family was shown to be most closely related to the mainly prokaryotic HetF family. The phyletic patterns and evolutionary relationships between these proteins suggest that they probably were acquired by eukaryotes from bacteria during the primary, promitochondrial endosymbiosis. A similar scenario, supported by phylogenetic analysis, seems to apply to metacaspases and paracaspases, with the latter, perhaps, being acquired in an independent horizontal transfer to the eukaryotes. The acquisition of the caspase-hemoglobinase-fold domains by eukaryotes might have been critical in the evolution of important eukaryotic processes, such as mitosis and programmed cell death.
Small but Strong Lessons from Chemistry for Nanoscience

In a different light: In a provocative look at nanoscience, Nobel Laureate Roald Hoffmann considers the structural and electronic perplexities of dimensionality, the consequences of bond severance in nano-object formation, the implications of simple acid-base chemistry for stabilization of nanostructures, and what lessons might be learned from surface science on structural relaxation and reconstruction.
Differential survival of Geolycosa xera archboldi and G. hubbelli (Araneae, Lycosidae) after fire in Florida scrub

Abstract A replicated pre- and post-burn study of survival of small and large Geolycosa xera archboldi McCrone 1963 and G. hubbelli Wallace 1942 in Florida scrub was conducted. These two syntopic species were chosen because G. x. archboldi prefers large gaps of barren sand in the scrub matrix, sites with little fuel for fires, whereas G. hubbelli strongly favors small gaps having some leaf litter, sites with modest or high fuel-loads. On the basis of these species-specific differences in microsite characteristics, I hypothesized that G. x. archboldi would be very fire tolerant but that G. hubbelli would be fire intolerant. I established two size classes for the Geolycosa: small spiders had 3–5 mm diameter × 5–9 cm deep burrows; large spiders had > 6 mm diameter × 10–17 cm deep burrows. Burrows of 25 spiders in each species × size class were marked before a burn in seven burn units (= fire management areas) and survival or mortality of each occupant was ascertained over the course of 5 days post-burn. Thus...
Testing across configurations: implications for combinatorial testing

User configurable software systems allow users to customize functionality at run time. In essence, each such system consists of a family of potentially thousands or millions of program instantiations. Testing methods cannot test all of these configurations, therefore some sampling mechanism must be applied. A common approach to providing such a mechanism has been to use combinatorial interaction testing. To date, however, little work has been done to quantify the effects of different configurations on a test suites' operation and effectiveness. In this paper we present a case study that investigates the effects of changing configurations on two types of test suites. Our results show that test coverage and fault detection effectiveness do not vary much across configurations for entire test suites; however, for individual test cases and certain types of faults, configurations matter.
Absolute Minimal Expressions of Boolean Functions

In this paper we make a beginning in the hitherto unexplored problem of finding absolute minimal expressions of Boolean functions. We shall adhere to the notations and terminology introduced in our previous paper,1 which will be referred to as S. In the present paper, we shall find absolute minimals for Boolean functions whose point set complex consists of either one or two points. The case of one point is in Theorem 1, Section I. The case when the two points form a 1-cell is covered by Theorem 4, Section I which discusses an arbitrary dimensional cell. The case when the cell complex consists of two isolated points, the main theme of this paper, is dealt with in Section II.
Representation of Digitized Contours in Terms of Conic Arcs and Straight-Line Segments

One of the most interesting tasks of scene analysis is the reconstruction problem, which is the problem of finding a three-dimensional description of a scene from two or more projections. When the scene is assumed to be composed of man-made objects hounded by quadric surfaces, the reconstruction process is simplified if the border lines in each projection are given by means of straight-line segments and conic arcs. Since each projection is a digitized picture, a preprocessing stage produces a description of the boundaries in terms of point sequences. This report discusses an algorithm for converting the point-sequence description to an analytic description using conic arcs and straight-line segments.
Lingual Heat and Cold Sensitivity Following Exposure to Capsaicin or Menthol

Capsaicin and menthol are the most extensively studied of all chemesthetic agents. Capsaicin is best known as a nociceptive stimulus and menthol as an artificial cooling agent, but both have a combination of thermal and nociceptive properties. Capsaicin can affect perception of nonpainful warmth and heat as well as burning pain and menthol can induce burning and stinging as well as cold. However, few studies have investigated capsaicin’s effects on temperature perception (Green, 1986b) and only recently have psychophysical reports of irritation from menthol (Green, 1992; Dessirier et al., 2001) been substantiated by evidence that it stimulates nociceptors as well as low-threshold cold fibers (Okazawa et al., 2004; Wasner et al., 2004). The identification of separate transient receptor protein (TRP) gated channels sensitive to capsaicin and menthol has further increased interest in these chemicals. TRPV1 is sensitive to capsaicin, heat and protons (Caterina et al., 1999) and has been localized in taste papillae as well as other oral tissue (Ishida et al., 2002; Kido et al., 2003). TRPM8 is sensitive to menthol (McKemy et al., 2002; Peier et al., 2002) and is assumed to be the primary receptor for innocuous cold. However, its high threshold (<30°C) and recent evidence that it is sometimes co-expressed with TRPV1 (Okazawa et al., 2004) leaves open the possibility that TRPM8 is expressed on some nociceptors as well. Psychophysical studies of the effects of menthol and capsaicin on temperature perception have yielded a complicated array of interactions. In the first study of menthol’s oral thermal effects (Green, 1985), brief (5 s) exposures to L-menthol in water enhanced perceived warmth but failed to enhance perceived cold. However, pre-exposure to L-menthol not only led to the expected enhancement of cooling but also to a suppression of warmth. Two later studies replicated the suppressive effect of warmth on the lip (Green, 1986a) and forearm (Green, 1992). On the other hand, capsaicin has been shown to enhance warmth during transient oral exposures (Green, 1986b) and to suppress warmth following repeated applications to the skin that are sufficient to induce self-desensitization (Simone and Ochoa, 1991). What was unclear in all of these studies was whether the reduced heat perception from the two chemicals resulted from effects on warm receptors, nociceptors, or both.
Orientational Motions of Vibrational Chromophores in Molecules at the Air/Water Interface with Time-Resolved Sum Frequency Generation

The first time-resolved experiments in which interfacial molecules are pumped to excited electronic states and probed by vibrational sum frequency generation (SFG) are reported. This method was used to measure the out-of-plane rotation dynamics, i.e. time dependent changes in the polar angle, of a vibrational chromophore of an interfacial molecule. The chromophore is the carbonyl group, the rotation observed is that of the —C═O bond axis, with respect to the interfacial normal, and the interfacial molecule is coumarin 314 (C314) at the air/water interface. The orientational relaxation time was found to be 220 ± 20 ps, which is much faster than the orientational relaxation time of the permanent dipole moment axis of C314 at the same interface, as obtained from pump-second harmonic probe experiments. Possible effects on the rotation of the —C═O bond axis due to the carbonyl group hydrogen bonding with interfacial water are discussed. From the measured equilibrium orientation of the permanent dipole moment a...
Transdisciplinary Scholarship: Integrating Boyer's Model of Scholarship with Transdisciplinary Research

A recent article by Jahn et al. provided an excellent overview of transdisciplinarity, provided a framework for transdisciplinary research, and discussed challenges of transdisciplinarity. Some of these challenges are lessened if concepts of scholarship promoted by Earnest Boyer are incorporated into the framework of transdisciplinary research. This merger of transdisciplinary research with Boyer’s model of scholarship can be called transdisciplinary scholarship’. The goals of the current manuscript are to (1) provide a brief overview of Boyer’s Model of Scholarship, (2) integrate the Jahn et al. description of transdisciplinarity with Boyer’s Model of Scholarship, and (3) offer a strategy to address the major cognitive challenge that integration presents to transdisciplinarity. (4) I provide an example of transdisciplinary scholarship that I am conducting in Haiti. Finally, (5) the Jahn et al. definition of transdisciplinarity is tweaked by 1 word.
Cardiac magnetic resonance radiofrequency tissue tagging for diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis: A proof of concept study.

Abstract Objective Invasive cardiac catheterization is the venerable "gold standard" for diagnosing constrictive pericarditis. However, its sensitivity and specificity vary dramatically from center to center. Given the ability to unequivocally define segments of the pericardium with the heart via radiofrequency tissue tagging, we hypothesize that cardiac magnetic resonance has the capability to be the new gold standard. Methods All patients who were referred for cardiac magnetic resonance evaluation of constrictive pericarditis underwent cardiac magnetic resonance radiofrequency tissue tagging to define visceral-parietal pericardial adherence to determine constriction. This was then compared with intraoperative surgical findings. Likewise, all preoperative cardiac catheterization testing was reviewed in a blinded manner. Results A total of 120 patients were referred for clinical suspicion of constrictive pericarditis. Thirty-nine patients were defined as constrictive pericarditis positive solely via radiofrequency tissue-tagging cardiac magnetic resonance, of whom 21 were positive, 4 were negative, and 1 was equivocal for constrictive pericarditis, as defined by cardiac catheterization. Of these patients, 16 underwent pericardiectomy and were surgically confirmed. There was 100% agreement between cardiac magnetic resonance–defined constrictive pericarditis positivity and postsurgical findings. No patients were misclassified by cardiac magnetic resonance. In regard to the remaining constrictive pericarditis–positive patients defined by cardiac magnetic resonance, 10 were treated medically, declined, were ineligible for surgery, or were lost to follow-up. Long-term follow-up of those who were constrictive pericarditis negative by cardiac magnetic resonance showed no early or late crossover to the surgery arm. Conclusions Cardiac magnetic resonance via radiofrequency tissue tagging offers a unique, efficient, and effective manner of defining clinically and surgically relevant constrictive pericarditis. Specifically, no patient who was identified with constriction via cardiac magnetic resonance underwent inappropriate sternotomy. However, catheterization had substantial and unacceptable false-positive and false-negative rates with important clinical ramifications.
YouDACC: the Youtube Dialectal Arabic Comment Corpus

This paper presents YOUDACC, an automatically annotated large-scale multi-dialectal Arabic corpus collected from user comments on Youtube videos. Our corpus covers different groups of dialects: Egyptian (EG), Gulf (GU), Iraqi (IQ), Maghrebi (MG) and Levantine (LV). We perform an empirical analysis on the crawled corpus and demonstrate that our location-based proposed method is effective for the task of dialect labeling.
Effects of Fluvoxamine on Ethanol-Reinforced Behavior in the Rat

Serotonergic deficiencies have been associated with alcoholism, and increasing serotonin function has been reported to decrease ethanol consumption. In this study, we examined the effects of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, fluvoxamine, upon ethanol self-administration in the rat, and as a test of specificity also examined the effects of fluvoxamine upon food-maintained behavior. Fluvoxamine decreased ethanol-maintained (0.1 ml per dipper presentation, 4-32% w/v ethanol) behavior at lower doses than the doses needed to decrease food-maintained (2 x 45-mg pellet) behavior. Examination of the behavioral interactions of ethanol and fluvoxamine upon food-maintained behavior showed that these observations did not result from synergistic behavioral actions that would occur during ethanol-maintained, but not food-maintained, behavior. Also, fluvoxamine did not alter the potency or efficacy of ethanol to occasion ethanol-appropriate responding in rats trained to discriminate 1.2 g/kg ethanol from vehicle. These findings suggest that fluvoxamine has specific actions upon the reinforcing effects of ethanol.
Ample Line Bundles and Intersection Theory

This chapter gives an overview of the results from intersection theory we need for the proof of Faltings’s theorem. Meanwhile we will try to give a coherent account of (this part of) intersection theory and we will try to show what a beautiful theory it is. We would like to stress here, that it should be possible for anyone with some basic knowledge of (algebraic) geometry to prove all the results mentioned in this chapter after reading the first 40 pages of Hartshorne’s Lecture Notes [28].
A cloud architecture for reducing costs in local parallel and distributed virtualized cloud environments

Deploying local cloud architectures can be beneficial to organizations that wish to maximize their available computational and storage resources. Many users are reluctant to move their computational and storage needs to a public cloud vendor. While designing scalable local cloud architectures, power requirements should be given adamant attention. This dissertation focuses on several challenging concerns relating to cloud computing architectures, specifically lowering the power requirements of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) local cloud architectures. These challenges include power efficient computational resource load consolidating, power efficient persistent cloud storage consolidating, and deploying a local IaaS cloud architecture with limited networking resources. The design of a load consolidation approach to Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud architectures that is power efficient is presented in this dissertation. A proposed Power Aware Load Consolidation algorithm, PALC, maintains the state of all compute nodes, and based on utilization percentages, decides the number of compute nodes that should be operating. Results show that PALC provides adequate availability to compute node resources while decreasing the overall power consumed by the local cloud architecture. Persistent storage is a necessity in cloud computing architectures. Since the goal of this local cloud architecture design is to deploy resources using minimum power consumption, a power aware persistent storage consolidation algorithm is presented in this dissertation. The Power Aware Storage Consolidation algorithm, PASC, dynamically determines the number or active persistent storage nodes based on the number of active users. This algorithm, combined with the PALC algorithm will significantly decrease the power consumed by the local cloud architecture. Realizing the implications of deploying a local cloud system in an environment with limited networking resources (IP addresses), a solution is needed to allow users to connect with only one public IP address. Users will be able to access cloud resources through a simple web interface and maintenance of the cloud will be contained with private networking resources. Also introduced is the ability to scale to have multiple geographically distributed clusters in the local cloud using only one IP address per cluster. This dissertation provides a comprehensive solution for deploying a local cloud architecture that is cost efficient to maintain.
Synthesis and Structural Verification of the Xylomannan Antifreeze Substance from the Freeze-Tolerant Alaskan Beetle Upis ceramboides

Tetra-, hexa-, and octasaccharide subunits of the [→4)-β-d-Manp-(1→4)-β-d-Xylp-(1→]n xylomannan motif proposed as the structure of a novel nonprotein, thermal hysteresis-producing antifreeze substance from the freeze-tolerant Alaskan beetle Upis ceramboides have been accessed by total chemical synthesis. Comparison of their NMR spectral data with data of the isolate lends strong support to the proposed structure. Synthetic tetrasaccharides representing various linkage isomers considered (α- rather than β-manno, and linkage through mannose O3 rather than O4) show more significant chemical shift differences with the isolate and are therefore excluded from further consideration.
ALLOZYMES OF GALAPAGOS TOMATOES: POLYMORPHISM, GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION, AND AFFINITIES.

As the research of many investigators has recently revealed, studies of variation in allozymes (allelically determined variants of isozymes) provide many advantages for analyzing genetic variation in natural populations. Several conclusions reached in earlier studies concerning aspects of the population biology of the Galapagos tomatoes demanded further, more rigorous testing, for which allozyme analysis is the ideal procedure. For reasons previously presented (Rick, 1971), all Galapagos tomatoes are logically treated as a single species, Lycopersicon cheesmanii Riley. Even though relatively polymorphic, all tested, indigenous populations possess a common set of several morphological and physiological traits but differing from those of the continental species. No barriers to crossing between any tested Galapagos accessions have been encountered, but obstacles to intercrossing and genetic 'disharmonies' in the hybrids would probably interfere with introgression between L. cheesmanii and other species if they were sympatric. Subspecific differentiation in L. cheesmanii has proceeded to the extent that several forms can be distinguished. The most distinct and widespread is f. minor (designated by italics in Fig. 1), which is characterized by short internodes, highly divided leaves, dense pubescence of large trichomes, large accrescent calyx in later stages of fruit development, and additional floral and fruit traits. Although some of these traits are known in other biotypes, they almost always appear singly. In previous studies (Rick, 1963, 1966), evidence of the following kinds was encountered to suggest that L. cheesmanii is highly autogamous and that its natural populations may indeed exist in a virtually pure-line condition. (1) Floral structure is adapted to automatic self-pollination. (2) Experiments in culture and in the native habitat show that automatic self-pollination can take place without the intervention of any kind of pollen vector. (3) Little or no activity of insect pollen vectors was observed under natural conditions. (4) With few exceptions, a high level of uniformity in morphological characters was observed within populations. (5) High uniformity is also characteristic of the progenies grown from seeds harvested from plants in natural populations. (6) Welldistinguished, sometimes seemingly deleterious phenotypes are often fixed in entire populations. Allozymic variation was studied not only for the aforementioned purpose but also to investigate the extent of genetic differentiation between populations and races as well as to compare the zymograms of L. cheesmanii with those of the most closely allied species from continental South America. Historically, various names have been applied to the islands of the Galapagos group (Wiggins and Porter, 1971). Despite a tendency in the scientific literature to use the English names, we prefer the official names of the Republic of Ecuador.
Can Capital Scarcity Help Agency Theory Explain Franchising? Revisiting the Capital Scarcity Hypothesis

We offer a rationale for a link between capital scarcity and franchising. Predictions respectively based on agency theory and the capital scarcity hypothesis were tested among 91 restaurant chains....
Free cholesterol exchange in vitro: a comparison of endogenous and exogenous cholesterol.

SummaryThe exchange of free cholesterol of endogenous or exogenous origin between plasma and red blood cells has been studied. Using tritiated cholesterol and 14C-mevalonic acid or sodium-1-14C-acetate, it has been shown that after incubation of labeled plasma with control RBC or of labeled RBC with control plasma, the free cholesterol 3H/14C ratio in plasma or RBC is unchanged. This is true for incubation of 6 or 24 hr. In a parallel series of experiments it was observed that the plasma 3H/14C free cholesterol ratio was unchanged after 24 hr of incubation in the presence of native lecithin cholesterol acyl transferase. The data confirm the findings in man and baboon which suggest that it is not possible to distinguish between plasma free cholesterol of endogenous or exogenous origin.
Grain Boundary Structure and Structure-Behavior Relationships in HCP Metals

We present calculations of dislocation spacing for grain boundaries in zinc, and show that the spacings may be large enough to be resolved in conventional transmission electron microscopy even at extreme deviations from ideal coincidence misorientations. This effect is a result of the need for the dislocation arrays to accommodate slight differences between the ideal and actual axial ratios in addition to the difference between the ideal and actual misorientations. Recent observations of sliding behavior as a function of misorientation may also be rationalized within the framework of our structure calculations.
Effect of Loading Rate on Mechanical Properties and Fracture Morphology of Spider Silk

Spider silks have been shown to have impressive mechanical properties. In order to assess the effect of extension rate, both quasi-static and high-rate tensile properties were determined for single fibers of major (MA) and minor (MI) ampullate single silk from the orb weaving spider Nephila clavipes. Low rate tests have been performed using a DMA Q800 at 10–3 s–1, while high rate analysis was done at 1700 s–1 utilizing a miniature Kolsky bar apparatus. Rate effects exhibited by both respective silk types are addressed, and direct comparison of the tensile response between the two fibers is made. The fibers showed major increases in toughness at the high extension rate. Mechanical properties of these organic silks are contrasted to currently employed ballistic fibers and examination of fiber fracture mechanisms are probed via scanning electron microscope, revealing a globular rupture surface topography for both rate extremums.
Laser Ignition in Liquid Rocket Engines

The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using laser ignition in liquid rocket engines. Three mechanisms of laser ignition were evaluated. One method, Laser Induced Spark (LIS) ignition, was tested and the results are presented. For the LIS ignition tests, a Nd:YAG laser, at a wavelength of 1064 nm and repetition rates up to 20 Hz, was employed as the ignition source. The laser beam was expanded and thcn focused through an optical window into the propellant flow to initiate ignition. Four propellant combinations were used in a subscale test engine at thrust lcvcls of 133 to 445 N (30 to 100 Ibf). The propelIant combinations were: GOWGHz, GOX/C& (gaseous), GOX/RP-l, and GOWCO (gaseous). Several parameters were varied in the tcsts: propellant mixture ratio, chamber pressure, Iascr energy, and laser repetition rate. Results presented include ignition outcomes and ignilion delays. The results for GOWGHz, GOXCK&, and GOWCO were found to conform to historical results previously generated using an electric spark ignition source. But OCWRP-1 differed from the previous results because of the fundamental differences in the ignition mechanism between LIS and electric sparks. Also presented is measurement of the electromagnetic waves emitted by the LIS’S at thc radio/rv frequencies. The emission level rncasured was negligiblc.
Using detrital zircon U‐Pb ages to calculate Late Cretaceous sedimentation rates in the Magallanes‐Austral basin, Patagonia

Determining both short- and long-term sedimentation rates is becoming increasingly important in geomorphic (exhumation and sediment flux), structural (subsidence/flexure) and natural resource (predictive modelling) studies. Determining sedimentation rates for ancient sedimentary sequences is often hampered by poor understanding of stratigraphic architecture, long-term variability in large-scale sediment dispersal patterns and inconsistent availability of absolute age data. Uranium– Lead (U-Pb) detrital zircon (DZ) geochronology is not only a popular method to determine the provenance of siliciclastic sedimentary rocks but also helps delimit the age of sedimentary sequences, especially in basins associated with protracted volcanism. This study assesses the reliability of U-Pb DZ ages as proxies for depositional ages of Upper Cretaceous strata in the Magallanes-Austral retroarc foreland basin of Patagonia. Progressive younging of maximum depositional ages (MDAs) calculated from young zircon populations in the Upper Cretaceous Dorotea Formation suggests that the MDAs are potential proxies for absolute age, and constrain the age of the Dorotea Formation to be ca. 82–69 Ma. Even if the MDAs do not truly represent ages of contemporaneous volcanic eruptions in the arc, they may still indicate progressive-but-lagged delivery of increasingly younger volcanogenic zircon to the basin. In this case, MDAs may still be a means to determine long-term (≥1– 2 Myr) average sedimentation rates. Burial history models built using the MDAs reveal high aggradation rates during an initial, deep-marine phase of the basin. As the basin shoaled to shelfal depths, aggradation rates decreased significantly and were outpaced by progradation of the deposystem. This transition is likely linked to eastward propagation of the Magallanes fold-thrust belt during Campanian- Maastrichtian time, and demonstrates the influence of predecessor basin history on foreland basin dynamics.
Preliminary Discussion on Intermediate Check Method for Detecting Instruments in Basic Level Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Objective To explore the intermediate check method in detecting instruments in basic level center for disease control and prevention( CDC). Methods Pertinent literature was retrieved based on working practice. Results Reliable,easy-run and practical intermediate check method was summarized. Conclusion Proper cognition on intermediate check in basic level should be developed to timely discover and prevent application of unqualified instruments,accomplish the intermediate check work and finally to ensure the continued accuracy of test results.
Hormonal regulation of gluconeogenesis in cultured proximal tubular cells: role of cytosolic calcium

Gluconeogenic competence of primary cultures of canine renal proximal tubular cells has been examined. Cells grown in 5 mM glucose media or in glucose-free media exhibited pyruvate-stimulated glucose production, as opposed to cells grown in 20 mM glucose media. By 72 h after the last media change, confluent cells grown in 5 mM glucose medium turn from a predominantly glycolytic to an oxidative type of metabolism. By this time, glucose production exhibited pH, 3-mercaptopicolinate, and insulin sensitivity. Parathyroid hormone, angiotensin II, and phenylephrine stimulated glucose production in a nonadditive fashion. Single-cell cystolic Ca2+ measurements using microspectrofluorometric techniques revealed that all three hormones elicited Ca2+ transients in proximal tubular cells. Ionomycin stimulated glucose production by proximal tubular cells, suggesting that Ca2+ transients could represent a sufficient stimulus for glucose production. When hormone-induced Ca2+ transients were curtailed by a pretreatment with the membrane-permeant Ca2+ chelator, Maptam, hormonal stimulation of glucose production was abolished, suggesting that Ca2+ transients represent not only a sufficient, but a necessary event in the stimulation of glucose production by these hormones.
Skeletal complications in cancer patients with bone metastases

As a result of significant improvements in current therapies, the life expectancy of cancer patients with bone metastases has dramatically improved. Unfortunately, these patients often experience skeletal complications that significantly impair their quality of life. The major skeletal complications associated with bone metastases include: cancer-induced bone pain, hypercalcemia, pathological bone fractures, metastatic epidural spinal cord compression and cancer cachexia. Once cancer cells invade the bone, they perturb the normal physiology of the marrow microenvironment, resulting in bone destruction, which is believed to be a direct cause of skeletal complications. However, full understanding of the mechanisms responsible for these complications remains unknown. In the present review, we discuss the complications associated with bone metastases along with matched conventional therapeutic strategies. A better understanding of this topic is crucial, as targeting skeletal complications can improve both the morbidity and mortality of patients suffering from bone metastases.
Transanal presentation of a distal ventriculoperitoneal shunt catheter: Management of bowel perforation without laparotomy.

Background Bowel perforation is a serious but rare complication after a ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) procedure. Prior studies have reported spontaneous bowel perforation after VPS placement in adults of up to 0.07%. Transanal catheter protrusion is a potential presentation of VPS bowel perforation and places a patient at risk for both peritonitis and ventriculitis/meningitis via retrograde migration of bacteria. This delayed complication can be fatal if unrecognized, with a 15% risk of mortality secondary to ventriculitis, peritonitis, or sepsis. Case description We describe a unique case of a patient with distal VPS catheter protrusion from the anus whose bowel perforation did not cause clinical sequelae of infection. We were able to manage the patient without laparotomy. Conclusions A subset of patients can be managed without laparotomy and only with externalization of the ventricular shunt with antibiotics until the cerebrospinal fluid cultures finalize without growth.
Design of Benzoxathiazin-3-one 1,1-Dioxides as a New Class of Irreversible Serine Hydrolase Inhibitors: Discovery of a Uniquely Selective PNPLA4 Inhibitor

The design and examination of 4,1,2-benzoxathiazin-3-one 1,1-dioxides as candidate serine hydrolase inhibitors are disclosed, and represent the synthesis and study of a previously unexplored heterocycle. This new class of activated cyclic carbamates provided selective irreversible inhibition of a small subset of serine hydrolases without release of a leaving group, does not covalently modify active site catalytic cysteine and lysine residues of other enzyme classes, and was found to be amenable to predictable structural modifications that modulate intrinsic reactivity or active site recognition. Even more remarkable and within the small pilot series of candidate inhibitors examined in an initial study, an exquisitely selective inhibitor for a poorly characterized serine hydrolase (PNPLA4, patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 4) involved in adipocyte triglyceride homeostasis was discovered.
Cell-based refractometer for pascal realization

We describe a method for determining the density of helium via measurements of optical refractivity. In combination with the equation of state, this allows realization of the pascal. Our apparatus is based on the integration of a gas triple-cell into a quasi-monolithic heterodyne interferometer: the stability of the interferometer is ±50 pm over 10 h. We claim the contribution of cell window thinning to pathlength uncertainty can be canceled within an uncertainty of 0.37 fm/Pa per window pass, of which for our 25 cm cell length corresponds to a fractional error of 9.3×10−6 in the measure of helium refractivity. We report the ratio (n−1)N2 /(n−1)He=8.570354(13) at p=367.420(4) kPa, T=293.1529(13) K and λ=632.9908(6) nm, which can be used to calibrate less-accurate refractometers. By measuring helium refractivity at known temperature and pressure, we determined the Boltzmann constant with standard uncertainty kB=1.380652(17)×10−23 JK−1.
Women Still Can’t Drive in Saudi Arabia, Yet They’re Entering the Workforce in Droves

Women occupy only 15.8 percent of the private and public positions occupied by Saudi nationals, according to statistics from the Central Department of Statistics and Information 2015. The Saudi gov...
Sociodemographic disparities in the occurrence of medical conditions among adolescent and young adult Hodgkin lymphoma survivors

Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) survivors experience high risks of second cancers and cardiovascular disease, but no studies have considered whether the occurrence of these and other medical conditions differ by sociodemographic factors in adolescent and young adult (AYA) survivors. Data for 5,085 patients aged 15–39 when diagnosed with HL during 1996–2012 and surviving ≥ 2 years were obtained from the California Cancer Registry and linked to hospitalization data. We examined the impact of race/ethnicity, neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), and health insurance on the occurrence of medical conditions (≥ 2 years after diagnosis) and the impact of medical conditions on survival using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. Twenty-six percent of AYAs experienced at least one medical condition and 15% had ≥ 2 medical conditions after treatment for HL. In multivariable analyses, Black HL survivors had a higher likelihood (vs. non-Hispanic Whites) of endocrine [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.37, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05–1.78] and circulatory system diseases (HR = 1.58, CI 1.17–2.14); Hispanics had a higher likelihood of endocrine diseases [HR = 1.24 (1.04–1.48)]. AYAs with public or no insurance (vs. private/military) had higher likelihood of circulatory system diseases, respiratory system diseases, chronic kidney disease/renal failure, liver disease, and endocrine diseases. AYAs residing in low SES neighborhoods (vs. high) had higher likelihood of respiratory system and endocrine diseases. AYAs with these medical conditions or second cancers had an over twofold increased risk of death. Strategies to improve health care utilization for surveillance and secondary prevention among AYA HL survivors at increased risk of medical conditions may improve outcomes.
Research handbook on quality, performance and accountability in higher education

Research handbook on quality, performance and accountability in higher education is what the title promises: a research handbook summarizing current research and international perspectives on quali...
Convallatoxin, the active cardiac glycoside of lily of the valley, minimally affects the ADVIA Centaur digoxin assay.

Objective Lily of the valley is a poisonous plant due to the presence of the cardiac glycoside convallatoxin which is known to interfere with serum digoxin measurement using the LOCI digoxin assay and other digoxin assays. We evaluated potential interference of convallatoxin as well as extract of lily of the valley with the ADVIA Centaur digoxin assay by comparing results obtained using the LOCI digoxin assay. Materials and methods Aliquots of a drug-free serum pool and a digoxin serum pool were supplemented with nanograms to 1 μg quantities of convallatoxin or 1.0 and 2.5 μL of lily of the valley extract per milliliter of serum followed by measurement of digoxin concentrations using the LOCI and ADVIA Centaur digoxin assays. Results Apparent digoxin concentrations were minimal using the ADVIA Centaur digoxin assay when aliquots of drug-free serum were supplemented with convallatoxin or extract of lily of the valley but apparent digoxin levels were very high using the LOCI digoxin assay. Moreover, minimal interference in serum digoxin measurement using the ADVIA Centaur digoxin assay was observed when aliquots of serum digoxin pool were further supplemented with lily of the valley extract. As expected, the LOCI digoxin assay showed significant interference of convallatoxin in serum digoxin measurement. Conclusions Significant interference of convallatoxin in serum digoxin measurement using the LOCI digoxin assay could be minimized using the ADVIA Centaur digoxin assay.
Abstract 169: A Non-Viral Functionalized Nanoparticle Based Hepatocyte-Targeting Cholesteryl Ester Hydrolase Gene Delivery Strategy for Potential Alleviation of Atherosclerosis

Current atherosclerosis treatment strategies primarily focus on limiting further cholesteryl ester (CE) accumulation within the plaques by reducing plasma LDL-cholesterol levels (the primary source...
Environment and Security: Institutional Approaches Within the European Union

Environment and security has only recently been discussed within the framework of the European institutions. This mirrors the development from a purely economic community to the wider vocation of the European Union (EU) which is now beginning to create a Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Work has already been done in many areas relating to environment and security, particularly in policies which address resource sharing, and in assistance to third countries, including work on conflict prevention. The questions raised are global ones and should be addressed at that level. For example, the work which is already being done within the UN system to which the EU also contributes.