cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Leukemia after exposure to benzene: temporal trends and implications for standards

Background Benzene is a human leukemogen. Risk assessment, and the setting of occupational and environmental standards, has assumed that risk is constant in time after a unit of exposure. Leukemia risk is known to vary with time after exposure to ionizing radiation. Methods A matched case-control study of leukemia risk in relation to the temporal pattern of benzene exposures was performed using data from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. Results Leukemia risk following exposure to benzene varied with time in a manner similar to that following exposure to ionizing radiation. More recent exposures were more strongly associated with risk than were more distant ones. There was no significant relation between leukemia death and benzene exposures incurred more than 20 years previously. Conclusions Recent analyses of specific occupational and environmental carcinogens, including benzene and radon, have indicated that cancer risk tends to decline as the time from exposure increases. This suggests that standards for the control of occupational or public risk must be selected to control exposures over a narrower time frame than the usual lifetime one. In the case of benzene, it would appear that risk is attributable primarily to exposures incurred during the previous 10 to 20 years, with exposures in the most recent 10 years being the most potent. To limit risk, exposures must be controlled during that interval. It is important that epidemiologists explore the temporal pattern of risk in their studies to facilitate the risk assessment of other carcinogens. Am. J. Ind.
Automatic Aircraft Structural Topology Generation for Multidisciplinary Optimization and Weight Estimation

An approach is proposed for the application of rapid generation of moderate-fidelity structural finite element models of air vehicle structures to allow more accurate weight estimation earlier in the vehicle design process. This should help to rapidly assess many structural layouts before the start of the preliminary design phase and eliminate weight penalties imposed when actual structure weights exceed those estimated during conceptual design. By defining the structural topology in a fully parametric manner, the structure can be mapped to arbitrary vehicle configurations being considered during conceptual design optimization. A demonstration of this process is shown for two sample aircraft wing designs.
On the Relationship Between the Johnson-Neyman Region of Significance and Statistical Tests of Parallel Within-Group Regressions

The form of the Johnson-Neyman region of significance is shown to be determined by the statistic for testing the null hypothesis that the population within-group regressions are parallel. Results are obtained for both simultaneous and nonsimultaneous regions of significance.
Osmolyte controlled fibrillation kinetics of insulin: New insight into fibrillation using the preferential exclusion principle

Amyloid proteins are converted from their native-fold to long beta-sheet-rich fibrils in a typical sigmoidal time-dependent protein aggregation curve. This reaction process from monomer or dimer to oligomer to nuclei and then to fibrils is the subject of intense study. The main results of this work are based on the use of a well-studied model amyloid protein, insulin, which has been used in vitro by others. Nine osmolyte molecules, added during the protein aggregation process for the production of amyloid fibrils, slow-down or speed up the process depending on the molecular structure of each osmolyte. Of these, all stabilizing osmolytes (sugars) slow down the aggregation process in the following order: tri > di > monosaccharides, whereas destabilizing osmolytes (urea, guanidium hydrochloride) speed up the aggregation process in a predictable way that fits the trend of all osmolytes. With respect to kinetics, we illustrate, by adapting our earlier reaction model to the insulin system, that the intermediates (trimers, tetramers, pentamers, etc.) are at very low concentrations and that nucleation is orders of magnitude slower than fibril growth. The results are then collated into a cogent explanation using the preferential exclusion and accumulation of osmolytes away from and at the protein surface during nucleation, respectively. Both the heat of solution and the neutral molecular surface area of the osmolytes correlate linearly with two fitting parameters of the kinetic rate model, that is, the lag time and the nucleation rate prior to fibril formation. These kinetic and thermodynamic results support the preferential exclusion model and the existence of oligomers including nuclei and larger structures that could induce toxicity.
Repair of Complicated Mandibular Defects

• In most instances, the injured mandible can be successfully repaired with arch bars and intermaxillary fixation. However, it is important to identify certain potential problem situations early and apply special techniques for their treatment. Potential management problems, such as the noncompliant patient, the edentulous patient, gunshot wounds, radiated mandibles, tumors, and osteomyelitis, are reviewed. The use of special techniques, eg, the dynamic compression plate, the Morris biphase apparatus, the cobalt-chromium alloy (Vitallium) basket, a suction-irrigation apparatus, and the mandibular reconstruction plate, are described to show how they may be effectively applied to these special situations. With early recognition of these management problems and proper application of these more sophisticated techniques, the quality of care for patients with manidbular injuries can be enhanced. (Arch Otolaryngol1982;108:162-166)
Analysis and Application of Potential Energy Smoothing and Search Methods for Global Optimization

Global energy optimization of a molecular system is difficult due to the well-known “multiple minimum” problem. The rugged potential energy surface (PES) characteristic of multidimensional systems can be transformed reversibly using potential smoothing to generate a new surface that is easier to search for favorable configurations. The diffusion equation method (DEM) is one example of a potential smoothing algorithm. Potential smoothing as implemented in DEM is intuitively appealing and has certain appropriate statistical mechanical properties, but often fails to identify the global minimum even for relatively small problems. In the present paper, extensions to DEM capable of correcting its empirical behavior are systematically investigated. Two types of local search (LS) procedures are applied during the reversing schedule from the smooth deformed PES to the undeformed surface. Changes needed to generate smoothable versions of standard molecular mechanics force fields such as AMBER/OPLS and MM2 are also described. The resulting methods are applied in an attempt to determine the global energy minimum for a variety of systems in different coordinate representations. The problems studied include argon clusters, cycloheptadecane, capped polyalanine, and the docking of R-helices. Depending on the specific problem, potential smoothing and search (PSS) is performed in Cartesian, torsional, or rigid body space. For example, PSS finds a very low energy structure for cycloheptadecane with much greater efficiency than a search restricted to the undeformed potential surface. It is shown that potential smoothing is characterized by three salient features. As the level of smoothing is increased, unique minima merge into a common basin, crossings can occur in the relative energies of a pair of minima, and the spatial locations of minima are shifted due to the averaging effects of smoothing. Local search procedures improve the ability of smoothing methods to locate global minima because they facilitate the post facto correction of errors due to energy crossings that may have occurred at higher levels of smoothing. PSS methods should serve as useful tools for global energy optimization on a variety of difficult problems of practical interest.
von Mises-Fisher mixture model of the diffusion ODF

High angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) permits the computation of water molecule displacement probabilities over the sphere. This probability is often referred to as the orientation distribution function (ODF). In this paper we present a novel model for representing this diffusion ODF namely, a mixture of von Mises-Fisher (vMF) distributions. Our model is compact in that it requires very few parameters to represent complicated ODF geometries which occur specifically in the presence of heterogeneous nerve fiber orientations. We present a Riemannian geometric framework for computing intrinsic distances (in closed-form) and for performing interpolation between ODFs represented by vMF mixtures. We also present closed-form equations for entropy and variance based anisotropy measures that are then computed and illustrated for real HARDI data from a rat brain.
The Preferences and Anticipations of People Referred for Vocational Rehabilitation

Client expectations are beginning to receive increasing attention in rehabilitation research and practice. This study provides preliminary data about the expectations, conceptualized as preferences and anticipations, of individuals seeking vocational rehabilitation (VR) services. Sixty-five people (33 women and 32 men) referred to a state VR agency completed an open-ended survey. A grounded-theory, qualitative methodology was used to identify and categorize the themes that emerged from the survey responses. The results suggest that individuals (a) enter the VR process with their own unique sets of preferences and anticipations, (b) have fairly clear ideas about what services they wish to receive but are uncertain about what services they will receive, and (c) want clear and specific information about all aspects of the VR process.
Context versus Isolation Methods of Word Instruction: Efficiency Assessed by Paralleling Assessment Modes.

Several studies conducted over the past two decades have attempted to determine how pictures, oral sentences and/or written sentences effect learning of sight words. Singer, Samuels and Spiroff (1973-1974) compared the effects of teaching beginning readers words presented alone, with pictures, within the context of an English sentence or in a sentence-picture combination. Learning of words was more easily accomplished when words were presented alone. A decrease in subjects' word learning efficiency was noted as cues paired with the word changed from picture to sentence and increased to sentence plus picture. Hartley (1970), on the other hand, taught first grade subjects to read lists of similar words (ie. ken, men; know, snow) and dissimilar words [ken, snow) by one of three methods: alone; with picture; or in the context of an orally delivered sentence. Barring list type, no significant difference in learning and 24 hour retention of words was found among any of the three methods. However, some interactions between list type and method were noted. The word alone method facilitated learning and retention of similar word lists and depressed performance on dissimilar lists. With respect to dissimilar lists, the oral context method produced better learning and retention than the picture method and the word alone method respectively. In another study in which context free words (nouns and adjectives) and context dependent words (functors and prepositions) were taught with or without oral context cues (Ehri, 1976), context free words were learned at a faster rate than context dependent words, but providing a defining context cue did not facilitate learning of either type. Subtle variations in the experimental methodology employed may in part account for the contradictory results of the above studies. Yet with respect to any of these studies, generalizing
The application of automated recognition techniques to side-scan sonar imagery

The rapid identification of ocean-bottom toxic-waste deposits has grown in importance due to worldwide industrialization and the expense of proper disposal. Acoustic surveys with a side-scan sonar provide a cost effective means of locating such damaging deposits. Here we describe an automatic image recognizer that can serve to prescreen volumes of data and alert a human operator. This recognizer operates using features and rules drawn from operator experience to establish candidate detections in amplitude-segmented imagery. The algorithm is described, performance examples are given, and applications are discussed. >
Identification of novel human tumor cell-specific CaMK-II variants

Abstract CaMK-II (the (type II) multifunctional Ca2+/CaM-dependent protein kinase) has been implicated in diverse neuronal and non-neuronal functions, including cell growth control. CaMKII expression was evaluated in a variety of human tumor cell lines using RT-PCR (reverse transcriptase coupled polymerase chain reaction). PCR primers which flanked the CaMK-II variable domain were used so that all possible variants of the four mammalian CaMK-II genes (α, β, γ and δ) could be identified. 8 distinct CaMK-II isozymes were identified from human mammary tumor and neuroblastoma cell cDNA, each of which represented a variant of β, γ or δ CaMK-II. They included 2 β isozymes (βe, βe′), 4 γ isozymes (γB, γC, γG, γH) and 2 δ isozymes (δC, δE) This is the first report of human β and δ CaMK-II sequences. A panel of human cell types was then screened for these CaMK-II isozymes. As expected, cerebral cortex predominately expressed α, β and δA CaMK-II. In contrast, tumor cells, including those of neuronal origin, expressed an entirely different spectrum of CaMK-II isozymes than adult neuronal tissue. Tumor cells of diverse tissue origin uniformly lacked α CaMK-II and expressed 1–2 β isozymes, at least 3 γ isozymes and 1–2 δ isozymes. When compared to undifferentiated fibroblasts, βe, βe′, γG and γH were preferentially expressed in tumor cells. CaMK-II immunoblots also indicated that neuroblastoma and mammary tumor cells express isozymes of CaMK-II not present in their non-transformed cell or tissue counterpart. The identification of these new, potential tumor-specific CaMK-II variants supports previous indications that CaMK-II plays a role in growth control. In addition, these results provide insight into both splice variant switching and variable domain structural similarities among all CaMK-II isozymes.
Elastic loading and elastoplastic unloading from nanometer level indentations for modulus determinations

A new method for evaluating modulus and hardness from nanoindentation load/ displacement curves is presented. As a spherical indenter penetrates an elastoplastic half-space, the elastic displacement above the contact line is presumed to diminish in proportion to the total elastic displacement under the indenter. Applying boundary conditions on the elastic and plastic displacements for elastic and rigid plastic contacts leads to an expression that can be best fit to the entire unloading curve to determine E*, the reduced modulus. Justification of the formulation is presented, followed by the results of a preliminary survey conducted on three predominantly isotropic materials: fused quartz, polycrystalline Al, and single crystal W. Diamond tips with radii ranging from 130 nm to 5 μm were used in combination with three different nanoindentation devices. Results indicate that the method gives property values consistent with accepted values for modulus and hardness. The importance of surface roughness and indentation depth are also considered.
RNA silencing as a cellular defense against HIV-1 infection: progress and issues

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are known to have a role in gene regulation that is closely integrated into the pathways that control virtually all fundamental cell processes of growth, differentiation, metabolism, and death. Whether silencing RNAs and the cellular pathways that generate them are also used in antiviral defense in higher eukaryotes, as they are in plants and lower eukaryotes, has been the subject of much study. Results to date point to a complex interplay between viruses and vertebrate host cells that can vary considerably among different viruses. Here, we review current knowledge regarding interactions between HIV-1 and host cell RNA silencing mechanisms. Important questions in this field remain unresolved, including whether HIV-1 itself encodes small silencing RNAs that might either promote or repress its replication, whether host cell miRNAs can directly target viral transcripts or can alter the course of infection indirectly through effects on cellular genes necessary for viral replication, and whe...
Metabolic liver disease in children

The aim of this article is to provide essential information for hepatologists, who primarily care for adults, regarding liver-based inborn errors of metabolism with particular reference to those that may be treatable with liver transplantation and to provide adequate references for more in-depth study should one of these disease states be encountered.
BINOCULAR: a system monitoring framework

Recent advances in hardware technology facilitate applications requiring a large number of sensor devices, where each sensor device has computational, storage, and communication capabilities. However these sensors are subject to certain constraints such as limited power, high communication cost, low computation capability, presence of noise in readings and low bandwidth. Since sensor devices are powered by ordinary batteries, power is a limiting resource in sensor networks and power consumption is dominated by communication. In order to reduce power consumption, we propose to use a linear model of temporal, spatial and spatio-temporal correlations among sensor readings. With this model, readings of all sensors can be estimated using the readings of a few sensors by using linear observers and multiple queries can be answered more efficiently. Since a small set of sensors are accessed for query processing, communication is significantly reduced. Furthermore, the proposed technique can also be beneficial at filtering out the noise which directly affects the accuracy of query results.
Experimental analysis of bubble growth, departure and interactions during pool boiling on artificial nucleation sites

The present work describes experimental results of pentane pool boiling, simplified to the cases of boiling on a single or on two adjacent nucleation sites. Bubbles growths have been recorded by a high speed camera under various wall superheat conditions. Bubble volume has been plotted as a function of time, and an experimental growth law has been proposed. Oscillations were observed during growth, showing the interaction of one bubble with the preceding bubble released from the same nucleation site. Lateral coalescence has been visualized and the images have brought to the fore the capillary effects on the distortion of the interface.
Older Men Are as Responsive as Young Men to the Anabolic Effects of Graded Doses of Testosterone on the Skeletal Muscle

Although testosterone levels and muscle mass decline with age, many older men have serum testosterone level in the normal range, leading to speculation about whether older men are less sensitive to testosterone. We determined the responsiveness of androgen-dependent outcomes to graded testosterone doses in older men and compared it to that in young men. The participants in this randomized, double-blind trial were 60 ambulatory, healthy, older men, 60–75 yr of age, who had normal serum testosterone levels. Their responses to graded doses of testosterone were compared with previous data in 61 men, 19–35 yr old. The participants received a long-acting GnRH agonist to suppress endogenous testosterone production and 25, 50, 125, 300, or 600 mg testosterone enanthate weekly for 20 wk. Fat-free mass, fat mass, muscle strength, sexual function, mood, visuospatial cognition, hormone levels, and safety measures were evaluated before, during, and after treatment. Of 60 older men who were randomized, 52 completed the...
Direct Observation of the Kinetically Relevant Site of CO Hydrogenation on Supported Ru Catalyst at 700 K by Time-Resolved FT-IR Spectroscopy

Time-resolved FT-IR spectra of carbon monoxide hydrogenation over alumina-supported ruthenium particles were recorded on the millisecond time scale at 700 K using pulsed release of CO and a continuous flow of H2–N2 (ratio 0.067 or 0.15, 1 atm total pressure). Adsorbed carbon monoxide was detected along with gas phase products methane (3016 and 1306 cm−1), water (1900–1300 cm−1), and carbon dioxide (2348 cm−1). Aside from adsorbed CO, no other surface species were observed. The rate of formation of methane is 2.5 ± 0.4 s−1 and coincides with the rate of carbon dioxide growth (3.4 ± 0.6 s−1), thus indicating that CH4 and CO2 originate from a common intermediate. The broad band of adsorbed carbon monoxide has a maximum at 2010 cm−1 at early times (36 ms) that shifts gradually to 1960 cm−1 over a period of 3 s as a result of the decreasing surface concentration of CO. Kinetic analysis of the adsorbed carbon monoxide reveals that surface sites absorbing at the high frequency end of the infrared band are temporally linked to gas phase product growth. Specifically, a (linear) CO site at 2026 cm−1 decays with a rate constant of 2.9 ± 0.1 s−1, which coincides with the rise constant of CH4. This demonstrates that the linear CO site at 2026 cm−1 is the kinetically most relevant one for the rate-determining CO dissociation step under reaction conditions at 700 K.
Pathology of Gallbladder Cancer

Gallbladder cancer is an uncommon cancer of gastrointestinal tract. Adenocarcinoma is the most common type of cancer to arise within the gallbladder and is typically associated with two precursor lesions: flat dysplasia and adenomas. Intracystic papillary neoplasms and mucinous cystic neoplasms are less common precursor lesions. The prognosis of patients with gallbladder carcinoma is highly dependent on tumor stage. Non-invasive and minimally invasive adenocarcinomas are typically cured with cholecystectomy and hence precise pathologic staging is critical for management and prognostication. Other less common variants of gallbladder carcinoma include adenosquamous carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, carcinosarcoma, and undifferentiated carcinoma and are typically associated with a worse prognosis. Neuroendocrine neoplasmas, lymphomas, and mesenchymal neoplasms of the gallbladder, as well as metastases, are extremely rare.
A special issue on TGF-β signaling and biology

The TGF-β family of cytokines encompasses a large number of versatile poly-peptide growth factors regulating a multitude of cellular processes in almost every aspect of cellular function, including proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, migration, and adhesion. Inappropriate signaling by these factors is closely linked to cancer and other diseases. Although much has been known about the TGF-β signaling pathway since the discovery of Smads 15 years ago, remarkable progress has been made during the past few years in revealing details of different regulatory mechanisms that afford a full range of control of the biological functions of the TGF-β. In this special review issue of Cell & Bioscience [1], Xiaochu Chen and Lan Xu summarize how subcellular localization of Smad proteins is regulated [2], Liu-Ya Tang and Ying Zhang describe non-degradative ubiquitin modification in controlling Smad activity [3], and Xuedong Liu and colleagues review different modes of cross-talk between TGF-β and MAPK pathways during cancer progression [4]. With the deep understanding of the signaling mechanism and the availability of various genetic models, specific physiological and pathological roles of TGF-β/Smad in different cellular context start to emerge. Gangwen Han and Xiao-Jing Wang summarize the differential role of signaling Smads, including Smad2, Smad3 and Smad4, in squamous cell carcinoma [5]. Yan Chen and his colleagues present recent advances in the understanding of the involvement of inhibitor Smad7 in cancer and other types of diseases [6]. This special issue covers a broad, albeit not all-inclusive, aspect of TGF-β signaling and biology. It is my sincere hope that this collection of review articles will bring our readers to the cutting-edge of current development and is helpful in appreciating new breakthroughs in this field.
Process-based analysis of climate model ENSO simulations: Intermodel consistency and compensating errors

Systematic and compensating errors can lead to degraded predictive skill in climate models. Such errors may be identified by comparing different models in an analysis of individual physical processes. We examine model simulations of El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in five Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) models, using transfer functions to analyze nine processes critical to ENSO's dynamics. The input and output of these processes are identified and analyzed, some of which are motivated by the recharge oscillator theory. Several errors and compensating errors are identified. The east-west slope of the equatorial thermocline is found to respond to the central equatorial Pacific zonal wind stress as a damped driven harmonic oscillator in all models. This result is shown to be inconsistent with two different formulations of the recharge oscillator. East Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) responds consistently to changes in the thermocline depth in the eastern Pacific in the five CMIP models examined here. However, at time scales greater than 2 years, this consistent model response disagrees with observations, showing that the SST leads thermocline depth at long time scales. Compensating errors are present in the response of meridional transport of water away from the equator to SST: two different models show different response of the transport to off-equatorial wind curl and wind curl response to East Pacific SST. However, these two models show the same response of meridional transport to East Pacific SST. Identification of errors in specific physical processes can hopefully lead to model improvement by focusing model development efforts on these processes.
Genomic characterization of sex-identification markers in Sebastes carnatus and Sebastes chrysomelas rockfishes.

Fish have evolved a variety of sex-determining (SD) systems including male heterogamy (XY), female heterogamy (ZW) and environmental SD. Little is known about SD mechanisms of Sebastes rockfishes, a highly speciose genus of importance to evolutionary and conservation biology. Here, we characterize the sex determination system in the sympatrically distributed sister species Sebastes chrysomelas and Sebastes carnatus. To identify sex-specific genotypic markers, double digest restriction site - associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD-seq) of genomic DNA from 40 sexed individuals of both species was performed. Loci were filtered for presence in all of the individuals of one sex, absence in the other sex and no heterozygosity. Of the 74 965 loci present in all males, 33 male-specific loci met the criteria in at least one species and 17 in both. Conversely, no female-specific loci were detected, together providing evidence of an XY sex determination system in both species. When aligned to a draft reference genome from Sebastes aleutianus, 26 sex-specific loci were interspersed among 1168 loci that were identical between sexes. The nascent Y chromosome averaged 5% divergence from the X chromosome and mapped to reference Sebastes genome scaffolds totalling 6.9Mbp in length. These scaffolds aligned to a single chromosome in three model fish genomes. Read coverage differences were also detected between sex-specific and autosomal loci. A PCR-RFLP assay validated the bioinformatic results and correctly identified sex of five additional individuals of known sex. A sex-determining gene in other teleosts gonadal soma-derived factor (gsdf) was present in the model fish chromosomes that spanned our sex-specific markers.
Oxidation of ion channels in the aging nervous system

Abstract Ion channels are integral membrane proteins that allow passive diffusion of ions across membranes. In neurons and in other excitable cells, the harmonious coordination between the numerous types of ion channels shape and propagate electrical signals. Increased accumulation of reactive oxidative species (ROS), and subsequent oxidation of proteins, including ion channels, is a hallmark feature of aging and may contribute to cell failure as a result. In this review we discuss the effects of ROS on three major types of ion channels of the central nervous system, namely the potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+) and sodium (Na+) channels. We examine two general mechanisms through which ROS affect ion channels: via direct oxidation of specific residues and via indirect interference of pathways that regulate the channels. The overall status of the present studies indicates that the interaction of ion channels with ROS is multimodal and pervasive in the central nervous system and likely constitutes a general mechanism of aging susceptibility.
An Accurate Method for Obtaining the Derivative Function from Observational Data

(1939). An Accurate Method for Obtaining the Derivative Function from Observational Data. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 46, No. 2, pp. 87-92.
Polarographic Studies of Reactions of Three Isomeric Benzenedicarboxaldehydes with Ammonia (NH3) and 2-Aminoethanol (H2NCH2CH2OH)

The equilibrium constants of the reactions of isophthalaldehyde and terephthalaldehyde with ammonia and 2-aminoethanol were determined using mostly polarographic limiting currents. Addition of ammonia to orthophthalaldehyde results in a formation of a carbinolamamine, which is first dehydrated to yield an imine, later forms a reducible isoindole derivative. Such derivative is also formed in the reaction of this dialdehyde with 2-aminoethanol. Reaction scheme is presented.
Abstract 3430: Snail1 regulates invasion through uPA-uPAR signaling in prostate cancer

Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL PURPOSE: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process by which cancer cells acquire mesenchymal properties, such as induction of N-cadherin, while epithelial-associated genes like E-cadherin are lost. This enables the cells to be more invasive, migratory and metastatic. Factors that can induce EMT include growth factors like transforming growth factor -β (TGF-β) and epidermal growth factor (EGF), and transcription factors like Snail1. Snail1-induced EMT promotes migration and invasion and we hypothesized that this may be mediated by urokinase (uPA) and its receptor (uPAR) activities. uPA, a serine protease, may be activated by integrin engagement to bind to its receptor, uPAR, and initiate a signaling cascade that regulates a variety of biological pathways including migration and invasion. DESIGN METHODS: 22Rv1, LNCaP and ARCaP human prostate cancer (PC) cells were stably transfected with empty vector control (Neo) or constitutively active Snail which led to increased cell migration and invasion. The levels of Snail, uPA, and uPAR were measured by Western Blot analysis. uPA activity in conditioned media was measured using the Elisa uPA activity assay kit. Also, cells were treated with PI3K and MAPK inhibitors at set time points. RESULTS: The data suggests that overexpression of Snail1 increased uPA and uPAR protein levels, while uPA activity was elevated in conditioned media from ARCaP, LNCaP and 22Rv1 cells transfected with Snail. In addition, MAPK inhibitor, UO126, inhibited ERK activity within 30 min up to 72 h, and decreased uPA activity within 24 h. CONCLUSION: Therefore, Snail-mediated cell migration and invasion in human prostate cancer cells may occur via the regulation of uPA/uPAR and MAPK activities. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3430. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-3430
Environmental control of indoor air pollution

Indoor air pollution is becoming an increasing problem in industrialized countries. Most people spend their time indoors which results in chronic exposure to indoor allergens and irritants. New products have been introduced to the environment to which humans are not immunologically adapted. This article describes the main sources of indoor air pollution and the best ways to control exposure to indoor air pollutants.
Transthoracic approach for surgical treatment of esophageal hiatal hernia in 14 children

Objective:To explore the operating approach and clinical efficacy of transthoracic approach for surgical treatment in children with esophageal hiatal hernia(HH).Methods:Fourteen children with HH were treated by operative repair through the left thoracical route and Belsey′s antireflux surgery.Three of which were sliding hiatus hernia(typeⅠ),one of which was paraesophageal hernia(typeⅡ),and another 10 children were mixed hernia(type Ⅲ).Results:The procedures were successfully completed in all patients and had good outcome.The operation time was 130-180 min,length of hospitalisation was 15-31 days,and the extubation time was 3-11 days after operation.All patients were followed up from 3 months to 2 years,the preoperative symptoms were disappeared.The children had gained weight and height,and were healthy during the follow-up.Conclusions:The children in Type Ⅰwhose symptoms cannot be controlled by drug measures and the children in TypeⅡ,Ⅲ should do early surgical treatment.Transthoracic approach operative repair of HH and Belsey′s antireflux surgery is a kind of technique with good operative field,small concealing incision,easy to operate and repair,and low dysphagia incidence.It is an effective and practical approach for the surgical treatment of HH.
An expected utility analysis of k-majority rules

Buchanan and Tullok (The calculus of consent: logical foundations of constitutional democracy. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1962) argued that the optimal k-majority rule should minimize the sum of external costs and decision costs. Dougherty et al. (Public Choice, 163(1–2):31–52, 2015) formalized their approach using various groups of voters. In this study, we analyze the optimal k-majority rule in terms of expected utility and compare our results to Dougherty et al. (2015), which focuses on costs alone. Specifically, we replace Buchanan and Tullock’s external cost function with an external utility function that accounts for both the benefits and costs of enacting proposals. We find that analyzing k-majority rules in terms of utility, rather than costs, affects the optima. Furthermore, in terms of utility, the optimal k-majority rule can vary depending on the group one expects to be in during a vote. With some interesting exceptions, individuals from groups that favor the proposal often find small k-majority rules optimal. Individuals from groups that oppose the proposal often find large k-majority rules optimal.
A variable precision rough set approach to knowledge discovery in land cover classification

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a granular computing approach to spatial classification and prediction of land cover classes using rough set variable precision methods. In particular, it presents an approach to characterizing large spatially clustered data sets to discover knowledge in multi-source supervised classification. The evidential structure of spatial classification is founded on the notions of equivalence relations of rough set theory. It allows expressing spatial concepts in terms of approximation space wherein a decision class can be approximated through the partition of boundary regions. The paper also identifies how approximate reasoning can be introduced by using variable precision rough sets in the context of land cover characterization. The rough set theory is applied to demonstrate an empirical application and the predictive performance is compared with popular baseline machine learning algorithms. A comparison shows that the predictive performance of the rough set rule induction is slightly...
Internet Technological Aspects of the Industry

Books possess inherent characteristics that make them a natural product to buy and sell online. They are easy to ship, inexpensive to warehouse and inventory, easy to review and rate, can be test read, and can easily be searched. The Internet provides a widened audience with low-cost, 24-hour access to a diverse world of selections. The Internet is the battlefield at the conjunction of production, consumption, and distribution, and has become more and more competitive for book publishers. The Internet has made value chains more efficient, particularly in the area of digitized books, where digital information is available to intermediaries who produce books from the digital copies. Accounting records are kept of various sales transactions by region, creating a source of information economies.
Retention Rates of Passive Integrated Transponder Tags, Visible Implant Elastomer Tags, and Maxillary Marks in Wild Trout

AbstractTagging or marking is a common method to identify individuals or groups of fish, but these tools are compromised if tags or marks are shed or deteriorate over time. We evaluated retention rates of passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags, visible implant elastomer (VIE) tags, and maxillary clips in stream-dwelling Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri and Rainbow Trout O. mykiss of spawning size. We tagged 2,891 fish ≥150 mm TL with PIT tags in the body cavity, muscle tissue posterior to the cleithrum, or muscle tissue ventral to the dorsal fin. Retention of PIT tags in the body cavity of fish at large for 1 year (72.1%) was lower than those implanted in the dorsal musculature (94.1%) or cleithrum (83.5%) locations. For PIT tags implanted in the body cavity, retention was lower for females (59.4%) than males (89.7%), suggesting that PIT tags implanted in the body cavity were expelled with eggs during spawning events. Retention of PIT tags implanted in the cleithrum and dorsal ...
Customer Satisfaction with E-Retailers: The Role of Product Type in the Relative Importance of Attributes

ABSTRACTIt is of strategic importance for e-retailers to allocate their resources to various service attributes according to their relative importance. How does one determine the relative importance of different service attributes? Does the relative importance of different service attributes remain the same across different product categories? These questions must be addressed by researchers and e-retailers. Since customer ratings for service attributes are highly correlated, modeling methods other than traditional regression models should be used to analyze the relative importance of service attributes to overall customer satisfaction. As such, this article utilizes neural networks in order to study the relative importance of e-retailer service attributes. Importantly, this article shows that the relative importance of e-retailer service attributes varies across different product categories (i.e., convenience, shopping, and specialty goods).
Examining local sports broadcasters’ use of Twitter to cross-promote on-air and online content

ABSTRACTLocal television stations in the United States are showing a decline in revenue from previous years and are searching for new ways to promote their product in an effort to increase their audience. While previous research has examined traditional promotional methods through commercials, this study addresses how television station employees are using Twitter to promote content on traditional media outlets. An analysis of 19,649 tweets from 201 local television sports broadcasters throughout the United States found that less than 9% of their Twitter use was devoted to promoting either their television sportscast or the website. A survey of those same sportscasters revealed that station management does not encourage them to use Twitter to promote content, even during periods when ratings are collected.
Si/Si/sub 1-x-y/Ge/sub x/C/sub y/Si heterojunction bipolar transistors

Recently great interest in silicon-based heterojunction devices has been caused by high-speed Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x/ base HBTs with f/sub t/ exceeding I00 GHz. To extend silicon heterojunction technology beyond strained Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x/,, several groups have pursued Si/sub 1-x-y/Ge/sub x/C/sub y/ alloys, which are ofinterest because carbon is expected to allow the possibility of strain-free silicon heterostructures which will eliminate a major constraint on device design. Several groups have succeeded in growing strain compensated Si/sub 1-x-y/Ge/sub x/C/sub y/ layers on silicon, but to date there have been no Si/sub 1-x-y/Ge/sub x/C/sub y/ electrical devices of any kind or experimental bandgap studies reported. In this paper we present the first electrical devices of any kind containing Si/sub 1-x-y/Ge/sub x/C/sub y/ alloys and present preliminary measurements of Si/sub 1-x-y/Ge/sub x/C/sub y/ bandgaps. Temperature studies of these HBT devices indicate that the partially strain compensated Si/sub 1-x-y/Ge/sub x/C/sub y/ bandgap remains comparable to the bandgap of strained Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x/, a most surprising and fortuitous result. >
A scalable schur-complement fluids solver for heterogeneous compute platforms

We present a scalable parallel solver for the pressure Poisson equation in fluids simulation which can accommodate complex irregular domains in the order of a billion degrees of freedom, using a single server or workstation fitted with GPU or Many-Core accelerators. The design of our numerical technique is attuned to the subtleties of heterogeneous computing, and allows us to benefit from the high memory and compute bandwidth of GPU accelerators even for problems that are too large to fit entirely on GPU memory. This is achieved via algebraic formulations that adequately increase the density of the GPU-hosted computation as to hide the overhead of offloading from the CPU, in exchange for accelerated convergence. Our solver follows the principles of Domain Decomposition techniques, and is based on the Schur complement method for elliptic partial differential equations. A large uniform grid is partitioned in non-overlapping subdomains, and bandwidth-optimized (GPU or Many-Core) accelerator cards are used to efficiently and concurrently solve independent Poisson problems on each resulting subdomain. Our novel contributions are centered on the careful steps necessary to assemble an accurate global solver from these constituent blocks, while avoiding excessive communication or dense linear algebra. We ultimately produce a highly effective Conjugate Gradients preconditioner, and demonstrate scalable and accurate performance on high-resolution simulations of water and smoke flow.
Prolonged Exposures to Intermittent Hypoxia Promote Visceral White Adipose Tissue Inflammation in a Murine Model of Severe Sleep Apnea: Effect of Normoxic Recovery.

Study Objective Increased visceral white adipose tissue (vWAT) mass results in infiltration of inflammatory macrophages that drive inflammation and insulin resistance. Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) suffer from increased prevalence of obesity, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome. Murine models of intermittent hypoxia (IH) mimicking moderate-severe OSA manifest insulin resistance following short-term IH. We examined in mice the effect of long-term IH on the inflammatory cellular changes within vWAT and the potential effect of normoxic recovery (IH-R). Methods Male C57BL/6J mice were subjected to IH for 20 weeks, and a subset was allowed to recover in room air (RA) for 6 or 12 weeks (IH-R). Stromal vascular fraction was isolated from epididymal vWAT and mesenteric vWAT depots, and single-cell suspensions were prepared for flow cytometry analyses, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and metabolic assays. Results IH reduced body weight and vWAT mass and IH-R resulted in catch-up weight and vWAT mass. IH-exposed vWAT exhibited increased macrophage counts (ATMs) that were only partially improved in IH-R. IH also caused a proinflammatory shift in ATMs (increased Ly6c(hi)(+) and CD36(+) ATMs). These changes were accompanied by increased vWAT insulin resistance with only partial improvements in IH-R. In addition, ATMs exhibited increased ROS production, altered metabolism, and changes in electron transport chain, which were only partially improved in IH-R. Conclusion Prolonged exposures to IH during the sleep period induce pronounced vWAT inflammation and insulin resistance despite concomitant vWAT mass reductions. These changes are only partially reversible after 3 months of normoxic recovery. Thus, long-lasting OSA may preclude complete reversibility of metabolic changes.
They Called us the Revolutionaries

Youth activists from marginalized groups and communities across the country have been fighting educational inequalities. Due to the rise of neoliberal reform agendas, the world has witnessed a resurgence of youth activism (Kirshner & Pozzoboni, 2011). Specifically, locating productive social spaces for youth to claim, to negotiate, and to articulate positive social selves are the focus of this chapter as youth engage in sense-making about educational injustice.
Transdiagnostic Clinical Global Impression Scoring for Routine Clinical Settings.

Although there is great interest in the improving the ability to track patients’ change over time in routine clinical care settings, no standardized transdiagnostic measure is currently available for busy clinicians to apply. The Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scales are simple measures widely used as outcomes in psychiatric clinical trials. However, the CGI suffers from poorly defined scoring anchors. Efforts to improve the anchors by enhancing the anchor descriptions have proven useful but are limited by being disease-specific, thereby acting as a barrier to the routine clinical adoption of the CGI. To inform the development of more broadly applicable CGI scoring anchors, we surveyed 24 clinical trial investigators, asking them to rank-order seven elements that inform their CGI-Severity (CGI-S) scoring. Symptom severity emerged as the most important element in determining CGI-S scores; the functional status of the patient emerged as a second element. Less importance was given to self-report symptom scores, staff observations, or side effects. Relative rankings of the elements’ importance did not differ by investigators’ experience nor time usually spent with patients. We integrated these results with published illness-specific CGI anchors to develop the Transdiagnostic CGI (T-CGI), which employs standardized scoring anchors applicable across psychiatric illnesses. Pending validity and reliability evaluations, the T-CGI may prove well-suited for inclusion in routine clinical settings and for incorporation into electronic medical records as a simple and useful measure of treatment efficacy.
Tools for Subversion: Illich and Žižek on Changing the World

Reviewing the work of Ivan Illich, Robert Kurz and Stanley Aronowitz together with Heidegger’s technically economic articulation of standing reserve correspondent to challenging forth (the world, ourselves, animals, plants, whatever), this essay takes up “the thought of the weak in search of alternatives” as Gianni Vattimo and Santiago Zabala argue for the possibility of interpretive transformation. In addition to Slavoj Žižek’s analysis of the resistance to revolution that functions as corollary to the existential stress of the dislocated mind, this reflection includes a discussion of media and illusion in the digital realm of Baudrillard’s ‘integral reality.
Coherent States and the Propagator for the Harmonic Oscillator

In Chapter 22, we found the energy eigenstates for the harmonic oscillator using annihilation and creation operator methods and showed that these give a new construction of the representation of the Heisenberg group on the quantum mechanical state space, called the Bargmann–Fock representation.