cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development of hepatic steatosis and essential fatty acid deficiency in rats with hypercaloric, fat-free parenteral nutrition.

Intravenous (i.v.) infusion of excessive energy has been associated with hepatic steatosis. The time course of liver lipid accumulation was examined during 6 days of i.v. hyperalimentation with fat-free infusate. Adult male rats with indwelling superior vena cava cannulas received a dextrose-amino acid infusate for 0, 1/2, 1, 2, 4 or 6 days to provide 146% of nonprotein energy requirement [congruent to 350 non-protein kcal/(kg . day)] and 335% of nitrogen requirement [congruent to 2.7 g amino nitrogen/(kg . day)]. Significant hepatomegaly was apparent by day 1/2. Initially, glycogen deposition accounted for the liver enlargement, but after day 2, liver glycogen was declining and liver lipid was increasing. By day 4, liver lipid had increased fourfold and was the major contributor to hepatomegaly. Concurrent with fatty liver metamorphosis, hepatic essential fatty acid deficiency (EFAD) developed by day 4; liver linoleic acid levels had dropped from 20 to 1% of total fatty acids, and liver triene:tetraene ratio was 0.68. Similar changes in hepatic phospholipid fatty acids were observed. Enhanced lipogenesis and impaired lipid transport is known to accompany EFAD and may underlie the observed steatosis. A doubling of plasma cholesterol levels was also associated with steatosis. The mechanism leading to this increase in plasma cholesterol warrants further investigation.
Average cavity description of self-similar lasers

A purely analytical model treating an average cavity description of a passive self-similar optical resonator is developed. The model introduces an energy area theorem which provides an analytical framework for understanding energy scalability in passive self-similar systems. A qualitative link between self-similar pulses in fiber and solid state systems is explained by the analytical model through the nature of the saturable characteristics of the saturable absorber. The derived expressions for the field amplitude and chirp parameter of the pulse match well with simulation and offer insight into the mechanics of passive self-similar resonator design.
Tenure as a fact of academic life: a methodology for managing the performance of tenured professors

Academic freedom is the right, especially of a university professor, to free speech without fear of reprisal. Experts posit three means to academic freedom: tenure, due process and professional competence. A critical issue in current post-secondary education governance and administration that relates to each of these means is post-tenure review. Post-tenure review relates to evaluating and managing the performance of tenured professors. Performance fundamentals include accountability, competence and professional development. This article suggests a methodology for a performance-based approach to increasing the productivity of tenured professors while safeguarding academic freedom.
The state of beryllium in blood plasma

Abstract Dialysis studies of beryllium added to plasma, sera, and aqueous solutions show the transport of this ion to be determined principally by inorganic phosphate and citrate anions. Significant interaction between beryllium and protein could be demonstrated only, with carrier-free Be 7 , but polyphosphate compounds, including pentose nucleic acid, formed slightly dissociated complexes.
Suspension Bridge Profiles

The standard model of a uniform roadbed suspended from a weightless cable constrains the cable to a parabolic shape. What if the roadbed is not uniformly loaded? We characterize the shape of the su...
A behavioral analysis of the grief process.

Grieving is virtually universal in human experience but has received little attention from a behavioral perspective. This paper presents an overview of a behavioral analysis of grieving through integrating experimental phenomena and clinical observations. Experimental phenomena explored are examples from animal literature involving behavior changes akin to human response to loss. Clinical observations are derived from the literature on normal and pathological grieving and from the authors' work with families experiencing perinatal loss. Recommendations and concerns for behavior therapists working with grieving individuals are presented.
Evaluative criteria for emergency ambulance systems.

Abstract Although agencies have developed minimum standards for emergency ambulance services, systematic criteria for program evaluation are lacking. In particular, sensitivity and specificity indices are required to evaluate the extent of inappropriate ambulance utilization and of unmet need. The present study has examined over 50 evaluative surveys of emergency ambulance services in the U.S. and abroad in an attempt to develop suitable evaluative criteria. Using data from the recent University of Chicago Survey of Emergency Medical Services (which monitored over 3000 Police and Fire Department ambulance runs, surveyed ambulance companies in Cook County, Ill., and secured interviews and clinical data on 5000 emergency department patients) evaluative criteria are proposed and applied to the Chicago emergency ambulance system. The measures are also applied to ambulance data secured from 25 U.S. cities. The measures include ambulance availability and utilization rates, process criteria (response times, incidence of first aid, etc.) dispositional criteria (quality of receiving hospitals), and criteria for unmet need. Total availability (ambulances per 100,000 pop.) ranged from 13·52 (Kansas City) to 1·78 (Newark); total utilization (ambulance runs per 1000 pop. per year) varied from 90·4 (St. Paul) to 13·3 (Kansas City). Applying the proposed Ambulance Sensitivity Index and the Ambulance Specificity Index to the Chicago situation indicated that although 84 per cent of ambulance cases were “true” emergencies, only 38 per cent of emergency dept. cases in clinical need of ambulance transportation actually received it.
Mobility of Polarons

The dc mobility of electrons is considered for scattering by acoustical and optical phonons. It is shown that the vertex terms (ladder diagrams) in the mobility integral can be partially summed to all orders of perturbation theory. These vertex terms are shown to be important for acoustic-phonon scattering. The sum of the ladder diagrams yields an effective energy width (inverse lifetime) with the $1\ensuremath{-}cos\ensuremath{\theta}$ term, in agreement with transport theory. For polar coupling to optical phonons, the ladder diagrams can still be summed but are shown to be unimportant at low temperatures.
Memento Mori: The “Death” of Youngtown

Youngtown, Arizona, was founded in 1954 as the nation's first retirement community, presaging the original Sun City (1960) and subsequent proliferation of active-adult communities across America. Youngtown, whose attractiveness waned owing to competition from more upscale, amenity-rich communities, suffered a fatal blow in 1998. Legal issues led to the loss of age restrictions, ushering in a swift and dramatic transformation of Youngtown from retirement enclave to working-class community, as Youngtown was overwhelmed by powerful social currents coursing through the Phoenix metropolitan region: explosive population growth, suburban sprawl, Latinization, and voracious demand for affordable housing. We tell the story of the life and death of Youngtown as a retirement haven, including the response of seniors to the loss in community identity: out-migration, anger, depression, and eventual acceptance among older people who linger. Insular, freeze-frame dreams of community identity and stability common among se...
A COMPUTER‐INTEGRATED SYSTEM FOR CENTRALIZED INFORMATION DISSEMINATION, STORAGE, AND RETRIEVAL

The age‐old goals of libraries and librarians are recording knowledge for posterity, and the arrangement of such recording in a form in which future users may have easy access to the material. The IBM Technical Information Center attempts to achieve these same goals by using tools which promise to become increasingly useful in this work.
Case Report: 6-Year-Old Male With Autism and Systemic Onset Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis

Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by pervasive social and communication impairments and restricted range of interests and activities. Although the specific cause is unknown, proposed etiologies for autism have included autoimmune dysregulation of cellular or humoral components and maternal–fetal immunoregulation problems. Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) constitutes several heterogeneous arthritides with onset in childhood. JRA is believed to be an autoimmune disorder whose pathogenesis is currently being elucidated. We present a case report of a 6-year-old male diagnosed with both autism and systemic onset JRA (SO-JRA). This co-occurrence has not previously been reported in the medical literature and raises the issue of a possible association between these 2 entities. Additional research to determine the frequency with which these 2 disorders coexist and to delineate potential immune mechanisms in autism could provide insights as to the etiology of both autism and SO-JRA and/or suggest a pathway to address treatment.
COMPARISON OF ANDROGEN METABOLITES IN BENIGN PROSTATIC HYPERTROPHY (BPH) AND NORMAL PROSTATE

5 alpha-Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and androstanediols (diols) have been measured in human prostate tissue. DHT levels in surgical specimens of prostate from 8 patients with BPH averaged 5.6 +/- 0.93 S.E. ng/g and were significantly greater than (P less than 0.01) values of 2.1 +/- 0.32 S.E. ng/g in 6 normal prostates obtained post-mortem from males less than 50 yrs old. Androstanediols averaged 2.3 +/- 0.35 S.E. ng/g in the BPH specimens compared to values of 10.2 +/- 2.4 S.E. ng/g in the normal prostates (P less than 0.01). This significantly higher (P less than 0.001) ratio of diols/DHT in the normal (5.1 +/- 0.93 S.E.) compared to the BPH prostate (0.45 +/- 0.08 S.E.) suggests that a decrease in 3-hydroxysteroid oxido-reductase, which converts DHT to diol, may be an important clue to the pathogenesis of BPH.
Thin organic films of proteins

Abstract Biological applications of protein films, machines and devices are briefly reviewed. A brief discussion of protein structure and properties is given. Needs and opportunities in the field include the following: (a) better potential functions to model and predict protein structure, denaturation and adsorption and the assembly of protein films and devices; (b) better methods to characterize protein films, particularly two-dimensional structures and ordering; (c) better means to assemble and stabilize protein machines, such as in lipid or polymer films; (d) means to modify protein stability, binding and enzymatic properties. About 5000 different proteins exist, each “designed” for a specific function: they can serve to stimulate and aid scientists and engineers in the design and development of new generations of molecular machines and devices.
No Better to Give than to Receive: Charity and Women’s Subjection in J.S. Mill

John Stuart Mill is more critical of Victorian charity than we might expect, given his enthusiasm for participation, voluntarism, and limited government. Thus far, scholarly analyses of Mill’s concern about charity’s effects on recipients have failed to explain his preference for public poor relief. This article interprets Mill’s misgivings about private charity in the context of his feminism. Mill links women’s subjection and charity in two ways. First, he contends that the effects of subjection make women injudicious and ineffective as philanthropists. Second, he argues that the charity ethic reinforces women’s acceptance of relationships of inequality and dependence: charity is bad for the women who practice it as well as for the poor who rely on it. Mill’s critique of charity is part of a more sweeping critique of relations of domination and subordination.
Trichoptera (Insecta) from new Guinea

Abstract This paper is a systematic report on a collection of caddisflies from Papua‐New Guinea. Twenty‐four taxa are identified to species and nine others are determined only to the generic level. Te new species (Diplectrona papuana n. sp., D. subtriangulaia n. sp., Herbertorossia kimminsi n. sp., Hydropsyche papuana n. sp., Cheumatopsyche beroni n. sp., Polycentropus mounthageni n. sp., P. elegans n. sp., Polyplectropus chapmani n. sp., Oecetis kimminsi n. sp. and Triaenodes lelefominicus n.sp.)and the females of Polycentropus similis Kimm, and Polycentropus sinuosus Kimm, are described. New faunistic data is presented for the other species which is supplemented in a few cases by taxonomic notes. The genera Cheumatopsyche, Polyplectropus and Nyctiophylax are new to the fauna of New Guinea.
Demography in stochastic environments. II. Growth and convergence rates.

An issue of demographic importance is the rate at which a population with random vital rates approaches the statistical steady state. Results are presented which provide ways of analyzing this rate of convergence together with new insights into the determinants of convergence and growth rates. The models describe an age-structured population at time t by the vector N1 of numbers in each of k age classes and then describe the dynamics of N1 by the equation N1+1=X1+1N1 where X is a matrix of vital rates. The results are as follows. Given random rates and demographic weak ergodicity it is known that differential age structures will converge to the same time-dependent limit. It is shown that the rate of this convergence is measured by the 2nd (Liapunov) characteristic exponent for the populations vital rate sequence. The sum of the characteristic exponents is shown to be determined by a relationship between the average growth rate a and the average value of the determinant of the vital matrix. The average growth rate a and all the characteristic exponents are computed explicitly for semelparous populations. The average growth rate a and the 2nd characteristic exponent are found explicitly for some 2 age-class models. Alternative measures of convergence to the statistical state are defined with regard to the statistical probability distribution of population and vital rates. 2 classes of Leslie matrices are defined for which the long run average growth rate a is explicitly computable. These allow the construction of nontrivial systems of random vital rates which display the effects of correlation between vital rates of growth.
Cell separation using tilted-angle standing surface acoustic waves

Separation of cells is a critical process for studying cell properties, disease diagnostics, and therapeutics. Cell sorting by acoustic waves offers a means to separate cells on the basis of their size and physical properties in a label-free, contactless, and biocompatible manner. The separation sensitivity and efficiency of currently available acoustic-based approaches, however, are limited, thereby restricting their widespread application in research and health diagnostics. In this work, we introduce a unique configuration of tilted-angle standing surface acoustic waves (taSSAW), which are oriented at an optimally designed inclination to the flow direction in the microfluidic channel. We demonstrate that this design significantly improves the efficiency and sensitivity of acoustic separation techniques. To optimize our device design, we carried out systematic simulations of cell trajectories, matching closely with experimental results. Using numerically optimized design of taSSAW, we successfully separated 2- and 10-µm-diameter polystyrene beads with a separation efficiency of ∼99%, and separated 7.3- and 9.9-µm-polystyrene beads with an efficiency of ∼97%. We illustrate that taSSAW is capable of effectively separating particles–cells of approximately the same size and density but different compressibility. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the present technique for biological–biomedical applications by sorting MCF-7 human breast cancer cells from nonmalignant leukocytes, while preserving the integrity of the separated cells. The method introduced here thus offers a unique route for separating circulating tumor cells, and for label-free cell separation with potential applications in biological research, disease diagnostics, and clinical practice.
Abstract B20: Cognitive decline in breast cancer survivors associated with chemotherapy or aromatase inhibitor therapy

B20 Background Women undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer treatment complain of cognitive difficulties especially with memory, word recall, and concentration. Commonly referred to as “chemo brain”, some studies suggest that up to 40 to 80% of women may experience some decline in cognitive function, while others have found no cognitive decline associated with treatment. We examined symptoms associated with chemo brain among women treated with chemotherapy and/or aromatase inhibitors (AIs) compared to age-matched healthy controls. Methods Women diagnosed with breast cancer (n = 180) and age-matched healthy controls (n = 149) were recruited to participate in an observational study on the side effects of AI treatment. Cases were stratified according to treatment at the time of enrollment: adjuvant chemotherapy only, AI therapy only, or both. Participants were asked the extent to which they were bothered by forgetfulness and difficulty concentrating over the past 4 weeks. The severity of each symptom was classified as none, slightly, and moderately/quite a bit/extremely. Results The ages of cases and controls were similar (mean: 61.6 versus 60.8 years; p-value= 0.5). Of the cases, 19% were treated with chemotherapy only and 47.7% were treated with AIs only; 33.3% were treated with both. Among the cases, women only treated with AIs were older than women treated with chemotherapy (mean: 65.4 versus 57.9 years; p-value Conclusion Chemotherapy, but not AI therapy, was associated with difficulty concentrating and increased forgetfulness. The association was present despite patients treated with chemotherapy being significantly younger than controls. Hormone deprivation did not appear to exacerbate the symptoms, although the sample size was limited to explore this interaction. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2008;1(7 Suppl):B20.
Nonlinear interaction of KrF laser radiation with small water droplets

Results have been obtained for the interaction of KrF excimer laser radiation (lambda = 248 nm, t(pulse) = 17 ns) with 60-microm diam distilled water droplets for irradiance values ranging from 3 to 230 GW/cm(2). Laser images of the droplet breakup during the time intervals from 0 to 100 ns indicate that the dynamic breakup processes are highly nonlinear. At low irradiance (3 GW/cm(2)) material is ejected from both the illuminated and shadow hemispheres of the droplet in qualitative agreement with the location of the electric field peaks predicted by plane wave Lorenz-Mie theory calculations. As the irradiance is increased, the interaction on the shadow hemisphere becomes stronger while the interaction on the illuminated hemisphere decreases. This nonlinear behavior is attributed to rapid electrical breakdown of the droplet near the shadow surface. The breakdown region destroys the ability of the droplet to redirect energy toward the front hemisphere of the droplet. Without this mechanism, the localized electric field maxima near the illuminated surface of the droplet cannot arise. Measurements were also taken of the average material velocities during the time intervals from 0 to 50 ns after arrival of the high energy pulse. Velocities ranged from 1000 m/s at 3 GW/cm(2) to 6000 m/s at 230 GW/cm(2).
Species-environment patterns of forest vegetation on the uplifted reef limestone of Atiu, Mangaia, Ma'uke and Miti'aro, Cook Islands

. We examined woody species composition and its relation to environmental variables in native forest growing on four limestone islands in the southern Cook Islands: Atiu, Mangaia, Ma'uke, and Miti'aro. Relative dominance (percent basal area) of woody species in 74 sites was sampled using the point-centered quarter method, and the data were analyzed using clustering and ordination techniques. These tropical forests have a relatively low diversity of native woody species (32 native and 10 introduced species occurred in our sites). Four forest types were recognized: Pandanus/Guettarda littoral forest (with several subtypes), Hernandia nymphaeifolia littoral forest, Barringtonia littoral forest, and makatea forest (dominated by Elaeocarpus tonganus and Hernandia moeren-houtiana). These types were related, using canonical correspondence analysis, to geographical attributes (wind-wardness, elevation, and proximity to the coast or roads) that served as surrogates for environmental variables (maritime influence, soil variation, and degree of human disturbance). The eigenvalues for this direct ordination were much lower than for indirect ordination (0.32 vs. 0.71 for the first axis), indicating that the measured geographical attributes could explain only a modest portion of the compositional variation.
Structural Discontinuity and the Development of Anorexia Nervosa

Abstract Anorexia nervosa is a complex disorder in which emotional, physiological, and interpersonal processes are altered. Various studies have indicated that the disorder occurs disproportionately among females, with adolescents and young women particularly vulnerable. While explanations for this distribution have traditionally focused on medical or psychological phenomena, it is my contention that anorexia nervosa can only be understood in a sociocultural context. It is suggested that the following conditions are necessary for the disorder to occur: (1) individuals must be biologically predisposed; (2) they must be exposed to cultural pressures for slimness; (3) they must lack meaningful peer attachments; and (4) they must be embedded in a social structure regulated by universalism and achievement. The position taken here is that the co-occurrence of these variables is a relatively recent historical development and may account for the disorder's apparent increase during the past 15 to 20 years.
Polarimetric through-the-wall imaging

A novel full polarimetric beamforming algorithm for Through-the-wall imaging (TWI) is proposed in this paper. The far field layered medium Green's functions are incorporated in the beamformer for the quad-polarizations (VV, HV, VH and HH). Due to the incorporation of the layered medium Green's function, the imaging algorithm not only takes into account the wall reflection, bending, and delay effects but also accounts for the complex EM scattering mechanism due to the presence of the wall. By employing the Green's functions, the solving of a nonlinear equation, needed to find the wave propagation path, is avoided. Similar method can also be generalized to multilayered composite walls such as a hollow-core concrete wall. Simulation results show that the proposed method can provide high quality focused images for TWI applications.
Adaptive Confidence Intervals for the Test Error in Classification

The estimated test error of a learned classifier is the most commonly reported measure of classifier performance. However, constructing a high-quality point estimator of the test error has proved to be very difficult. Furthermore, common interval estimators (e.g., confidence intervals) are based on the point estimator of the test error and thus inherit all the difficulties associated with the point estimation problem. As a result, these confidence intervals do not reliably deliver nominal coverage. In contrast, we directly construct the confidence interval by using smooth data-dependent upper and lower bounds on the test error. We prove that, for linear classifiers, the proposed confidence interval automatically adapts to the nonsmoothness of the test error, is consistent under fixed and local alternatives, and does not require that the Bayes classifier be linear. Moreover, the method provides nominal coverage on a suite of test problems using a range of classification algorithms and sample sizes. This ar...
“Awareness” in Chronic Schizophrenics: II. Awareness of Causal Factors in Recent Events

Summmy.-The present study investigated whether chronic schizophrenics utilized primitive or precausal thought processes in explaining verbally the causes of non-affective events learned under extra-laboratory conditions and displayed deficit in explaining verbally the causes of non-affective events learned under the same conditions. The results suggest that, when Ss are carefully matched with normals on relevan: demographic variables, differences in learning and the reporting of non-affective events disappear. Most psychiatric writers have described schizophrenia as a pervasive thoughtdisorder characterized by she use of regressive, precausal or primitive thought processes (Cameron, 1754; Arieti, 1955; Goldman, 1962). More recently, Buss and Lang ( 1765 ) and Lang and Buss ( 1765 ) in their excellent summary of research on schizophrenia concluded that one overriding effect in all work on this variant is "interference? effect on the processes of thinking and learning. Heckel and Wiggins (1964) in an attempt to determine at what point problems in thinking and learning occur in schizophrenics indicated that, when age, sex and education were controlled, normals and chronic schizophrenics showed no differences in awareness on non-affective material learned spontaneously through their daily activities. Their results indicated that interference did not occur on the intake of information but at a later stage of information processing. This study was undertaken to investigate whether chronic schizophrenics utilize precausal or primitive thought processes in explaining the causes of events which have been learned under extra-laboratory conditions. The second goal was to investigate whether chronic schizophrenics display deficits in explaining the causes of these events. METHOD Twenty-five chronic schizophrenic males from a state hospital were matched with 25 normal Ss on the following criteria: education, age, sex, and scores on a test of awareness. Further, all Ss were required to have: at least a 10th grade education, age between 20 and 50 yr., no intracranial surgery, no EST within the last 6 wk., have a minimum of 3 yr. continuous hospitalization and a schizophrenic diagnosis for the hospital population. The test of awareness was patterned after that utilized by Heckel and Wiggins (1764) and consisted of 27 current events which had appeared on the front pages of two leading daily newspapers and which had been mentioned on the "Huntley-Brinkley" report during the preceding 30 days. Item selection which was arranged
Brief: Digitizing rocks: standardizing the process of geologic description with workstations

In the drive to squeeze the most value from every dollar spent on exploration and development, increasing use is being made of stored data through methods that rely on the completeness and accuracy of the database for their usefulness. Although many types of engineering data are available to the process, geologic data, especially those collected at a sufficiently detailed level to show reservoir heterogeneity, are often unavailable to later workers in any useful form. Traditionally, most wellsite geologic data are recorded on worksheets or notebooks, from which summary data are often transferred to computers. The only changes in recent years have been related to the process by which computer-drafted lithology logs have superseded hand-drawn logs; in some exceptions, some of the plotting data may be held in a simple database. These descriptions and analyses, gathered at considerable cost and capable of showing significant petrological detail, are not available to the whole field-development process. The authors set out to tackle these problems of limited usefulness and development a system that would deliver quality geologic data deep into the field of play in a form that was easy to select and integrated with existing models.
Valence tautomers of dimethyl cycloocta-2,5,7-triene-1,4-dicarboxylate and an iron tricarbonyl complex therefrom

Abstract Carboxylation of cyclooctatrienyldilithium, Li 2 C 8 H 8 , gives predominantly tricyclo[5.1.0.0 2,4 ]oct-5-ene-3,8-dicarboxylic acid and trans,cis,cis,trans -deca-2,4,6,8,-tetraene-1,10-dioic acid; in addition, a small quantity of cycloocta-2,5,7-triene- trans -1,4-dicarboxylic acid has been identified as its dimethyl ester. The tricyclooctene diester is in equilibrium with a small amount of the isomeric cis -disubstituted cycloocta-2,5,7-triene in solution, and heating such a solution results in formation of a dimer. Reaction of the tricyclooctene diester with iron pentacarbonl produces exo (2–5)η-(3,8×-dicarbomethoxybicyclo[4.2.0]octa-2,4-diene]tricarbonyliron.
On finding the closest bitwise matches in a fixed set

In a given large fixed table of bit-vectors, we would like to find, as rapidly as possible, those bit-vectors which have the least Hamming distances from a newly-presented arbitrary bit-vector.
Optimizing the precision of toxicity threshold estimation using a two-stage experimental design

An important consideration for risk assessment is the existence of a threshold, i.e., the highest toxicant dose where the response is not distinguishable from background. We have developed methodology for finding an experimental design that optimizes the precision of threshold model parameter estimation for single-chemical threshold experiments. Being interested in precisely estimating the threshold parameter, we used the D-optimality and the D s-optimality criteria. The D-optimal design results in parameter estimates as precise as possible in the sense that the likelihood-based confidence region has minimum volume, while the D s-optimal threshold design results in parameter estimates as precise as possible in that the variance of the threshold parameter estimate is minimized. For nonlinearmodels, optimal designs are a function of the unknown parameters via the information matrix. Therefore, estimates of the parameters must be obtained before the optimal design of the experiment can be found. For this reason, a two-stage D-D s-optimal design is recommended where the D-optimality criterion is used in the first stage followed by the D s-optimality criterion in the second stage. The first stage is used for range finding and to obtain good global estimates to supply to the second stage. The second stage results in precise parameter estimates with minimum variance for the threshold parameter estimate. We propose that the use of this two-stage D-D s-optimal design will provide toxicologists with the experimental parameters necessary to accurately estimate thresholds for risk assessment purposes in a more cost-effective and timely manner.
In vitro observations on the binding of vitamin B12 by serum proteins and the effect of cells on the process.

SummaryIn vitro studies of the binding of vitamin B12 in the presence and absence of cells were done. Sera from 3 healthy volunteers were incubated with a trace amount of 57CoB12 and aliquots were incubated with and without autologous peripheral blood cells. At the same time, the sera were incubated in this fashion but without added 57CoB12 to determine the effect of the incubation conditions on the UBBC.The results showed the following: (1) UBBC and its 3 component binding proteins remained constant over 24 hr, indicating that related observations were probably not due to denaturation of proteins. Fall in UBBC after 24 hr was due to decrease, possibly denaturation, of TC II while TC I remained constant; this may reflect the short half-life of TC II and the long half-life of TC I in vivo. (2) In the presence of cells, however, serum UBBC rose with time as a result of increasing TC I and third binder. Both binders rose equally over 24 hr while the cells remained intact, third binder becoming particularly i...
Morphology and water barrier properties of organosilane films: the effect of curing temperature.

Abstract The morphology of silane films and the response of these films to water vapor are studied by neutron reflectivity, X-ray reflectivity, ellipsometry, and contact angle. The systems studied include bis-[3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl]tetrasulfide (bis-sulfur) and bis-[trimethoxysilylpropyl]amine (bis-amino), as well as mixtures of these two silanes. The effect of curing temperature on water-barrier properties is determined by comparing data for films cured at 180 °C with existing data for films cured at 80 °C. Higher curing temperature leads to an increase of the crosslink density as well as chemical modification for the sulfur-containing films. For bis-amino silane films, on the other hand, the effect on the water-barrier ability is negligible. Bis-amino silane is fully hydrolyzed and condensed at the curing temperature of 80 °C, so further increasing cure temperature does not affect the bulk structure of the film. For bis-sulfur and mixed films, however, higher curing temperature accelerates the hydrolysis and condensation, leading to denser films with better water-barrier performance.
Prostate weight and early potency in robot-assisted radical prostatectomy.

Objectives Using an athermal technique for nerve preservation we noted that ∼40% are potent compared with ∼60% who are not at 3 months after robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RLP). In an attempt to understand this difference, we examine factors potentially influencing potency at 3 months. Methods Of 300 consecutive RLPs, we identified 139 men who met preoperative inclusion criteria: age ≤ 65 years with International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) scores of 22-25. All men were instructed to take 5′-phosphodiesterase inhibitors postoperatively. All data were collected and entered prospectively into an electronic database. Sexual outcomes were obtained via self-administered validated questionnaires. We defined potency by affirmative answers to the following questions: Were erections adequate for penetration, and were they satisfactory? Results At 3 months, 53 subjects (38%) were potent. Univariate and multivariate analysis demonstrated no effect for IIEF-5 score, body mass index, nerves spared, estimated blood loss, hypertension, diabetes, use of cholesterol-lowering agents, and lifestyle issues. Prostate weight (43.3 vs 51.4 g, P = .038) and age (55 vs 57, P = .03) were significant in univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis only prostate weight was predictive of potency ( P = .04). To ascertain a possible relation between traction nerve injury and prostate weight, analysis between prostate weight groups and potency demonstrated an inverse relationship. Conclusions Low prostate weight was the only factor found to correlate with early return of potency. Our data also suggest that increasing prostate weight increases the risk of delay in potency recovery.
Chain polynomials and Tutte polynomials

The recently introduced chain and sheaf polynomials of a graph are shown to be essentially equivalent to a weighted version of the Tutte polynomial.
Thermodynamic constraints on reflectance reciprocity and Kirchhoff’s law

Contrary to common belief, neither reciprocity of the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) nor the directional form of Kirchhoff’s electromagnetic radiation law can be demonstrated on the basis of energy conservation. The BRDF is generally considered reciprocal as an extension of Helmholtz reciprocity, but Helmholtz reciprocity does not always hold. We describe the flaw in a thermodynamic demonstration of reciprocity that uses an enclosure calculation. Some conclusions can be drawn from the enclosure calculation, but reciprocity requires more restrictive conditions. We conclude that, although they can be violated, reciprocity and the directional form of Kirchhoff’s law generally hold because of the quantum-mechanical principle of time-reversal invariance, which applies to most materials.
Cytogenetic and clinical findings in a patient with a deletion of 16q23.1: First report of bilateral cataracts and a 16q deletion

The most commonly reported manifestations of 16q deletions are severe growth and developmental disorders and anomalies of the craniofacial, visceral, and musculoskeletal systems. We reviewed the findings of patients reported with 16q- syndrome and compared them to our patient, a 4 1/2-year-old boy with a deletion of 16q23.1. Findings include psychomotor retardation, hypotonia, high forehead, hypertelorism, upslanting palpebral fissures, low-set abnormally modeled ears, and talipes equinovarus. Anomalies present in our patient not reported in others with 16q- syndrome include bilateral cataracts, iris coloboma, and autistic-like behavior. It is of note that a locus for autosomal dominant congenital cataract, known as Marner cataract, was mapped previously to 16q22. Because our patient has bilateral cataracts and a unilateral iris coloboma, it seems likely that a gene involved in ocular development is located within 16q23.1. Our patient's deletion may also include the gene involved in Marner cataract and may further assist in the isolation of this gene.
Crowding Effects on Protein Conformational Changes

Conformational changes are directly linked to protein functions. Inside cells, the equilibria and transition rates between different conformations may be affected by macromolecular crowding. Recently we have developed a “postprocessing” approach for modeling crowding effects [1]. With this approach, proteins can now be represented at the atomic level when modeling crowding effects. Here this approach is used to study how crowding affects the equilibria between open and closed conformations of 8 proteins: Trp repressor, adenylate kinase (AK), orotidine phosphate decarboxylase (ODCase), yeast protein-disulfide isomerase (PDI), hemoglobin, DNA β-glucosltransferase, cyanovirin-N, and Ap4A hydrolase. For each protein, molecular dynamics simulations of the open and closed states are separately run. Representative open and closed conformations are then used to calculate the crowding-induced changes in chemical potential for the two states. The difference in chemical-potential change between the two states finally predicts the effects of crowding on the population ratio of the two states. Crowding is found to reduce the open population to various extents. In the presence of crowders with a 20-A radius and occupying 35% of volume, the open-to-closed population ratios of Trp repressor, ODCase, AK, and PDI are reduced by 40%, 46%, 64%, and 80%, respectively. The reductions for the remaining four proteins are 15-30%. As expected, the four proteins experiencing the stronger crowding effects are those with larger conformational changes between open and closed states (e.g., as measured by the change in radius of gyration). Larger proteins also tend to experience stronger crowding effects than smaller ones [e.g., comparing PDI (504 residues) and Trp repressor (107 residues)]. These quantitative results and qualitative trends will serve as valuable guide for expected crowding effects on protein conformation changes inside cells.[1] S. Qin, and H.-X. Zhou, Biophys J 97, 12 (2009).
Cutaneous ulceration: an unusual complication of intravenous pentamidine therapy.

Pentamidine is one of two agents currently used to treat infections with Pneumocystis carinii . The intramuscular route of administration is associated with cutaneous side effects su
Simple Near-Infrared Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting Instrument with a Pulsed Diode Laser and Avalanche Photodiode for Time-Resolved Measurements in Scanning Applications

A simple apparatus for time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) measurements in the near-infrared (near-IR) region for scanning-type applications has been constructed and examined. The apparatus consisted of five major components including a pulsed diode laser source (lasing wavelength = 780 nm; repetition rate = 80 MHz; power = 5 mW; pulse width = 150 ps), an integrated microscope, a large-photoactive-area avalanche photodiode (APD), a TCSPC PC-board including the electronics, and a Windows-based software package for accumulating the fluorescence decay profiles. The instrument response function (IRF) of this assembly was found to be 460 ps, which is adequate for measuring lifetimes with tau f 500 ps. Due to the small size of the device, it also allowed implementation into scanning experiments where lifetimes were measured. To demonstrate this capability, we scanned a three-well microscope slide containing a near-IR dye. The decay profile of the near-IR dye, aluminum 2,3-naphthalocyanine, was collected and analyzed to obtain its lifetime, which was found to be 2.73 ns, in close agreement with the literature value for this particular dye. In addition, a three-dimensional plot showing the decay profiles (time vs. photocounts) and scan position of aluminum 2,3-naphthalocyanine fluorescence was acquired by scanning the microscope head over this three-well glass slide. In the scanning mode, the IRFs as well as the decays of the dyes were found to be very stable. The device demonstrated a concentration detection sensitivity of 0.44 nM; however, the dynamic range was limited due to the slow time constant (passive quenching) associated with the APD.
Observation and analysis of generalized higher-order Bessel-Gauss beams in optical resonators

We propose and experimentally demonstrate new beam solutions in form of azimuthally symmetric higher-order Bessel-Gauss beams. We experimentally observe these beams as higher-order eigenmodes in optical resonators consisting of aspheric mirrors.
Media Violence Exposure and Physical Aggression in Fifth-Grade Children

Abstract Objective To examine the association of media violence exposure and physical aggression in fifth graders across 3 media types. Methods We analyzed data from a population-based, cross-sectional survey of 5,147 fifth graders and their parents in 3 US metropolitan areas. We used multivariable linear regression and report partial correlation coefficients to examine associations between children's exposure to violence in television/film, video games, and music (reported time spent consuming media and reported frequency of violent content: physical fighting, hurting, shooting, or killing) and the Problem Behavior Frequency Scale. Results Child-reported media violence exposure was associated with physical aggression after multivariable adjustment for sociodemographics, family and community violence, and child mental health symptoms (partial correlation coefficients: TV, 0.17; video games, 0.15; music, 0.14). This association was significant and independent for television, video games, and music violence exposure in a model including all 3 media types (partial correlation coefficients: TV, 0.11; video games, 0.09; music, 0.09). There was a significant positive interaction between media time and media violence for video games and music but not for television. Effect sizes for the association of media violence exposure and physical aggression were greater in magnitude than for most of the other examined variables. Conclusions The association between physical aggression and media violence exposure is robust and persistent; the strength of this association of media violence may be at least as important as that of other factors with physical aggression in children, such as neighborhood violence, home violence, child mental health, and male gender.
Factor Prices, Factor Substitution and Exporting in US Manufacturing Affiliates Abroad

This paper uses the unique matched individual parent and affiliate data from the foreign investment survey of the Bureau of Economic Analysis to examine how US firms of different industries and capital intensities at home adapt to lower costs of labour and other host-country characteristics in their foreign production. We find that foreign affiliates of US multinationals carry their parent firms’ technology with them in producing abroad. That is, affiliates of capital-intensive parents produce in a relatively capital-intensive manner wherever they are located. Despite these resemblances to their parents, affiliates produce in a more labour-intensive manner where labour is cheaper and also where the scale of production is small. We found no evidence that more labour-intensive firms selected production locations where labour was cheaper. Labour costs dominated the methods of production but not its location. Affiliates that export are more responsive in their factor proportions to the labour costs where they produced than affiliates selling only in their host countries. The probability that an affiliate would export, however, did not seem to be much affected by factor proportions. It was much more closely related to the scale of the affiliate's operations; larger affiliates were more likely to be exporters.
Underwritten calls of convertible bonds

Abstract Common-stock prices fall a statistically significant 2 percent in response to underwritten convertible debt call announcements. We find that the significant negative price reaction is confined to underwritten calls — stock-price responses to non-underwritten calls average an insignificant −0.84 percent. The results support the idea that managers are more likely to use underwriters the more unfavorable the information they possess about future firm cash flows. An agency cost interpretation of underwritten calls is also consistent with the results, but is not supported by management ownership and corporate liquidity evidence.
Dinuclear non-heme iron centers: structure and function

Abstract Proteins containing dinuclear non-heme iron centers have been characterized that catalyse reversible binding of O 2 , hydroxylation of alkanes, and oxidation of tyrosine to a tyrosyl radical. Physical biochemical methods have revealed novel aspects of both the structure and function of these proteins. Characterization of these centers has been greatly assisted by structural and functional bioinorganic models.
Endovascular longitudinal fenestration and stent graft placement for treatment of aneurysms developing after chronic type B aortic dissection

The thickened intimal flap present in cases of chronic aortic dissection can present a challenge to attempts at endovascular stent graft treatment performed for subsequent aneurysmal degeneration by precluding adequate landing zones for the endograft and by constraining the endograft from full expansion. In this report we describe our technique and outcome for longitudinal endovascular fenestration of chronic aortic dissection flaps to facilitate endovascular stent graft treatment for thoracic aortic aneurysms developing after aortic dissection.
Can FTAs deliver market liberalization in Japan? A study on domestic political determinants

ABSTRACT The last decade has witnessed Japan's transformation from one of the last hard core multilateralists to an active negotiator of free trade agreements (FTAs). This striking policy shift raises the question as to whether FTAs can finally deliver substantial liberalization of the Japanese market, a goal long sought by Japan's trading partners and domestic champions of structural reform. I argue that Japan's ability to negotiate such high-yield FTAs (with large trading partners, and encompassing substantial market access concessions and multiple WTO plus commitments) will hinge upon the intensity of lobbying by the internationalized business sector to overcome the resistance of uncompetitive sectors; and the centralization of domestic policy-making in order to break the protectionist inertia of traditional subgovernments. In developing this argument, I modify existing demand/supply models of FTA policy to factor in the preferences of societal actors in the game of selective and discriminatory liberal...