cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Natural history of hay fever and pollen sensitization, and doctors' diagnosis of hay fever and pollen asthma in German schoolchildren.

Background: In order to prevent pollen asthma by immunotherapy it is mandatory to know the best time to initiate it. Children with hay fever complaints are at considerable risk of developing pollen asthma. Population-based data on their natural history is urgently needed. Methods: A longitudinal cohort study was conducted over four years in six rural towns in Baden-Wu¨rttemberg, Germany. A questionnaire with questions taken from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in childhood (ISAAC) was filled in every spring and autumn. Hay fever complaints, asthma defining symptoms and new doctors' diagnosis of hay fever and asthma were recorded. Additionally a skin prick test with pollen allergens was performed every autumn. Results: In 1996, 19.7% of 1101 elementary school children (age: 8.1–9.9 years (5–95%)) were found to be sensitized to pollen and 8.7% had already been diagnosed as having hay fever. In a pooled analysis of 2478 children-summers, children with positive pollen sensitization had a significantly higher risk of developing hay fever symptoms (2.63; 2.17–3.10 odds ratio (OR); 95% confidence interval (CI)) and of being diagnosed as suffering from hay fever (7.88; 4.70–13.20). Furthermore, although their OR for the development of asthma symptoms during the pollen season was 3.88 (2.48–6.07 CI), it was only 0.69 (0.24–2.01 CI) for doctors' diagnosis of pollen asthma. Conclusion: >Children of elementary school age with pollen sensitization and a history of hay fever are at considerable risk of getting pollen asthma, but they are not quickly diagnosed as such. Specific immunotherapy might be a means of preventing asthma completely in such a situation. Our data helps to estimate the sample size for intervention studies of this kind.
Ontogeny of T-cell function: alloreactivity appears earlier than reactivity against hapten-modified self and interleukin-2 production.

The capacity to generate cytotoxic T cells (CTL) against allogeneic or hapten-modified syngeneic cells after in vitro sensitization was studied in C57BL/6J and CBA/H mice of different ages, beginning at 5 days of age. A differential maturation rate for allogeneic versus hapten-modified syngeneic CTL reactivity was observed in both strains, with alloreactivity appearing earlier than reactivity to hapten-modified self antigens. For example, in C57BL/6J mice, alloreactive CTLs were detected within the first week of life, reaching adult levels by the second-third week, while the response to modified-self appeared at the secon-third week and reached adult levels by the fourth-fifth week of life. Cross-reactive lysis of hapten-modified allogeneic targets followed the same maturation pattern as the modified-syngeneic response. The low CTL reactivity of 6-day-old spleens was not due to suppressor cells. Mixing Lyt-2− (Lyt-1+) and Lyt-2+ cells from 6-day-old and adult spleens showed that the main defect was in the T helper compartment. In addition, the capacity to produce interleukin-2 (IL-2) after mitogen or allogeneic stimulation was also defective in the young mice, appearing approximately by the second week of life and reaching adult levels by the fourth-fifth week. The IL-2-deficient production was the result of both T-cell immaturity (or low numbers) as well as macrophage-accessory cell deficiency. In summary, the inefficiency of CTL generation early during the postnatal development is complex and cannot be attributed to deficiencies of a single component. The present studies, however, cannot explain the reason for the earlier appearance of alloreactivity in ontogeny.
Consumption of a Western-style diet during pregnancy impairs offspring islet vascularization in a Japanese macaque model.

Children exposed to a maternal Western-style diet in utero have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Understanding the mechanisms and an investigation of possible interventions are critical to reversing this phenomenon. We examined the impact of maternal Western-style diet consumption on the development of islet vascularization and innervation, both of which are critical to normal islet function, in fetal and juvenile offspring. Furthermore, we assessed whether improved dietary intake or resveratrol supplementation could ameliorate the harmful consequences of Western-style diet consumption during pregnancy. Adult female Japanese macaques were maintained on a control or Western-style diet for 4–7 yr. One cohort of dams was switched back onto a control diet, whereas another cohort received resveratrol supplementation throughout gestation. Pregnancies were terminated in the early third trimester by C-section, or offspring were born naturally and sent to necropsy at 1 yr of age. Western-style diet consumption resulted in impaired fetal islet capillary density and sympathetic islet innervation. Furthermore, this reduction in vascularization persisted in the juvenile offspring. This effect is independent of changes in the expression of key angiogenic markers. Diet reversal normalized islet vascularization to control offspring levels, whereas resveratrol supplementation caused a significant increase in capillary density above controls. These data provide a novel mechanism by which maternal Western-style diet consumption leads to increased susceptibility to type 2 diabetes in the offspring. Importantly, an improved maternal diet may mitigate these harmful effects. However, until the long-term consequences of increased vascularization can be determined, resveratrol use during pregnancy is not advised.
Clip attachment for the mandibular staple implant.

Abstract A technique for making the staple implant superstructure has been described, which is simple, economically reasonable, and readily replaced with a minimum of difficulty. The procedure reduces both clinical and laboratory time compared with the use of precision attachments and ceramometal restorations. 6 The size of the Rider clip generally allows sufficient space for the proper arrangement of denture teeth and the development of acceptable external contours of the prosthesis.
Polymorphisms A387P in thrombospondin-4 and N700S in thrombospondin-1 perturb calcium binding sites

SPECIFIC AIMSRecent genetic studies have associated members of the thrombospondin gene family with premature cardiovascular disease. The disease-associated polymorphisms lead to single amino acid changes in thrombospondin-4 (A387P) and thrombospondin-1 (N700S). Since Ca2+ binding is critical for the structure and function of thrombospondin family members, direct evidence for differences in Ca2+ binding by the polymorphic forms was sought. The goal of this study was to identify and characterize how the N700S substitution in TSP-1 and the A387P substitution in TSP-4 affect Ca2+ binding.PRINCIPAL FINDINGS1. Putative Ca2+ binding sites altered in TSP-1 and TSP-4 variantsAs an initial step in considering the molecular effects of the SNPs on TSP-1 and TSP-4, we analyzed the homologies of the domains containing the SNPs to known structural motifs. In TSP-4, the change of Ala to Pro at the position 387 occurs in an EGF-like domain, a structure present in multiple proteins including cell surface receptors, extrace...
EPA’s proposed Worker Protection Standard and the burdens of the past

Background: An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommendation for extensive changes to the Agency’s 40-year-old Worker Protection Standard is currently stalled in the “proposed rule” stage. The proposal, which was available for public comment until 18 August, would improve safety, training, and hazard communication policies for agricultural pesticides. Exposure to hazards, including high heat, heavy machinery, stoop labor, and pesticides, makes occupational illness uncommonly common among the USA’s estimated 2.5 million farm workers. Objectives: To consider the proposed revisions’ likelihood of addressing historical gaps in farmworker protection. Methods: The proposal was compared to the existing Worker Protection Standard, and key aspects were analyzed in relation to existing science on farm labor hazards, as well as historic occupational health, labor and immigration policy. Results: US law historically has left farm workers largely unprotected. These exclusions and delays have been tolerated in p...
Climate forcing by stratospheric aerosols

It is illustrated how climate forcing by stratospheric aerosols depends on aerosol properties. The climate forcing is a function of aerosols size distribution, but the size dependence can be described well by a single parameter: the area-weighted mean radius, r(eff). If r(eff) is greater than about 2 microns, the global average greenhouse effect of the aerosols exceeds the albedo effect, causing a surface heating. The aerosol climate forcing is less sensitive to other characteristics of the size distribution, the aerosol composition, and the altitude of the aerosols. Thus stratospheric aerosol forcing can be defined accurately from measurements of aerosol extinction over a broad wavelength range.
Toward an understanding of fluency: A microanalysis of nonnative speaker conversations

There have been few attempts to specify precisely what fluency is, although it is a term that is used and understood by both laypeople and linguists. With one objective being to achieve a greater understanding of what comprises fluency, this study explores the speech of six nonnative speakers of English who had been rated by English instructors as either “fluent” or “nonfluent.” Excerpts of audiotaped dialogues were analyzed, both at the utterance level and at the discourse level, in terms of the frequency and possible function of features that have often been ascribed to fluency (hesitation phenomena, repair, and rate of speech). More functionally oriented pragmatic features that relate to topic control and initiation were also examined. Comparison of subgroups on the basis of perceived fluency or lack of fluency provided few statistically significant results, although the findings of qualitative analyses suggest that fluency is a complex, high‐order linguistic phenomenon and that intuitive judgments abo...
Chemo-enzymatic Baeyer–Villiger oxidation of cyclopentanone and substituted cyclopentanones

Abstract Chemo-enzymatic oxidation of cyclopentanones and substituted cyclopentanones to the corresponding δ-valerolactones was investigated employing catalytic amount of Candida antarctica lipase-B in ethyl acetate and employing urea–hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant. In contrast to the smooth oxidation of cyclohexanones to the corresponding ɛ-caprolactones, the δ-valerolactones reacted further with the lipase delivering trans-esterified products and also acetylated alcohols, depending on the structural nature of the cyclopentanones.
Building a micrometer-scale electrostatic lens by hand

Abstract A technique is presented by which one can construct a micrometer-scale, two-electrode, electrostatic lens using readily available supplies and a relatively steady hand. The first-aperture diameter can range from several hundred angstroms to several micrometers, and the second aperture is 20 μm in diameter; the space between the electrodes is 8 μm. A method for extending the technique to lenses of three (or more) electrodes is described. Potential differences of over 500 V have been applied to the electrodes without breakdown. The capacity of the lenses to send an electron beam through crossover with relatively low distortion has been demonstrated.
LAGRAN program for area and moments in pharmacokinetic analysis

A computer program is described for examination of areas (AUC) and moments of serum concentration vs time data using the Lagrange technique alone or in conjunction with linear or log-trapezoidal methods. The suitability of the Lagrange polynomial approximations to the experimental data during AUC computation is possible through output of interpolated values between consecutive data points. Ill-fitting AUC's between any data points can be replaced with values generated by either trapezoidal method. Along with the partial and total AUC and moment, the program generates model-independent pharmacokinetic parameters such as plasma clearance, terminal slope, half-life, volume of distribution at steady-state, mean residence time, and variance of the residence time.
Subcellular distribution and properties of acyl/alkyl dihydroxyacetone phosphate reductase in rodent livers

On subcellular fractionation, the enzyme acyl/alkyl dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) reductase (EC 1.1.1.101) in guinea pig and rat liver was found to be present in both the light mitochondrial (L) and microsomal fractions. By using metrizamide density gradient centrifugation, it was shown that the alkyl DHAP reductase activity in the “L” fraction is localized mainly in peroxisomes. From the distribution of the marker enzymes it was calculated that about two-thirds of the liver reductase activity is in the peroxisomes and the rest in the microsomes. The properties of this enzyme in peroxisomes and microsomes are similar with respect to heat inactivation, pH optima, sensitivity to trypsin, and inhibition by NADP+ and acyl CoA. The enzyme activity in the peroxisomes and microsomes from mouse liver is increased to the same extent by chronically feeding the animals clofibrate, a hypolipidemic drug. The kinetic properties of this enzyme in these two different organelles are also similar. From these results it is concluded that the same enzyme is present in two different subcellular compartments of liver. o 19%
Short estrous cycles and associated serum progesterone levels in beef cows.

Abstract Short estrous cycles in beef cows were investigated in two experiments. In trial 1, breeding dates from 2,854 fall-calving Angus cows were used to determine the incidence of short estrous cycles. Of 198 cycles of less than 17 days, 170 were between the first and second detected estrus. Estrous cycles of 7 to 10 days occurred more frequently (P In the second experiment, calves were weaned from 25 of 33 anestrous spring-calving, crossbred Simmental cows. Compared to herdmates still nursing calves, an increased percentage of cows which had calves weaned were observed in estrus within 10 and 25 days after the date of weaning (P
Activation of cyclin E-dependent kinase by DNA-damage signals during apoptosis.

Abstract Preexposure of HL-60 cells to a DNA-damaging agent, cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C), dramatically induced the levels of H1 kinase activities associated with cyclin E (CycE-H1K) but not cyclin A. This induction was cell cycle-independent and accompanied by loss of cell viability, a late event in apoptosis. When an Ara-C-resistant variant of HL-60 cells was treated with Ara-C at a low concentration, neither CycE-H1K nor apoptosis were observed. Both events were induced in the resistant cells but only after treatment with Ara-C at a much higher concentration for a longer period. The DNA-damage-induced CycE-H1K is proposed to be involved in a late apoptosis checkpoint.
Small Talk: Nanotechnology and Metaphor

The general topic I am addressing concerns the epistemological role of the use of metaphor in the philosophy of science. More specifically, I am concerned with the role metaphor plays in scientific and technological change. In the case in point, nanotechnology, I will explore the role of metaphor in changing our conception of the confirmation of the plausibility of theoretical notions. The basic idea is that metaphors either offer or suggest images that are meant to persuade one to change one’s belief. Thus the confirmatory role is variable..
Dibenzo[b,i][1,4,8,11]tetra-azacyclotetradecine complexes—I. W(CO)4(tmtaa)

Abstract The title compound (which has been previously reported and an unusual structure postulated) has been prepared by essentially the previous method and its structure determined by X-ray crystallography. It has the previously proposed structure in which there is a diimide group, NC(CH3)CH2C(CH3)N coordinated to cis positions of the W(CO)4 group. The other side of the macrocycle takes on the NHC(CH3)CHC(CH3)NH structure and is not bonded to the W(CO)4 group. Crystal data: space group Pcab (No. 61) with a = 16.387(8), b = 21.435(8), c = 14.529(5) A, V = 5104(3) A3, Z = 8.
Changing seasonality and phenological responses of free-living male arctic ground squirrels: the importance of sex

Many studies have addressed the effects of climate change on species as a whole; however, few have examined the possibility of sex-specific differences. To understand better the impact that changing patterns of snow-cover have on an important resident Arctic mammal, we investigated the long-term (13 years) phenology of hibernating male arctic ground squirrels living at two nearby sites in northern Alaska that experience significantly different snow-cover regimes. Previously, we demonstrated that snow-cover influences the timing of phenological events in females. Our results here suggest that the end of heterothermy in males is influenced by soil temperature and an endogenous circannual clock, but timing of male emergence from hibernation is influenced by the timing of female emergence. Males at both sites, Atigun and Toolik, end heterothermy on the same date in spring, but remain in their burrows while undergoing reproductive maturation. However, at Atigun, where snowmelt and female emergence occur relatively early, males emerge 8 days earlier than those at Toolik, maintaining a 12-day period between male and female emergence found at each site, but reducing the pre-emergence euthermic period that is critical for reproductive maturation. This sensitivity in timing of male emergence to female emergence will need to be matched by phase shifts in the circannual clock and responsiveness to environmental factors that time the end of heterothermy, if synchrony in reproductive readiness between the sexes is to be preserved in a rapidly changing climate.
Genotypic and Phenotypic Analysis of Mycoplasma fermentans Strains Isolated from Different Host Tissues

A correlation was found between the expression of a specific Mycoplasma fermentans surface antigen (Pra, proteinase-resistant antigen) and the site of isolation of the organism from the infected host. Strains which expressed Pra were most frequently associated with cells of bone marrow origin, and strains which lacked expression of Pra were most commonly isolated from the respiratory tract, genital tract, and arthritic joints, i.e., epithelial cell surfaces. Pra was previously shown to be resistant to degradation by proteinases and was hypothesized to play a protective role at the organism surface and perhaps to influence which host tissue site was colonized by the organism. The methods used for this phenotyping scheme required isolation and growth of the mycoplasma in quantities sufficient for immunoblot analysis using monoclonal antibodies. We wanted to determine a more rapid and less cumbersome technique to supplement this method for determining the Pra phenotype directly in clinical specimens. Here we describe PCR studies to investigate the movement of a previously identified M. fermentans insertion sequence (IS)-like element. These data showed a correlation between a specific IS genotype and the Pra+ phenotype. Production of a 160-bp product using a single set of IS-based primers was associated with expression of Pra. The genomic IS location resulting in the 160-bp product was determined by using Southern blot analysis and was found to be a stable insertion site characteristic of genotype I strains. Additional analyses of sequences within and flanking the IS insertion sites revealed another pair of PCR primer sites which resulted in the consistent production of a 450-bp amplicon. The stability of this site was dependent on the absence of the IS-like element between the primer sites. The production of this 450-bp amplicon correlated with the Pra mutant phenotype and was characteristic of genotype II strains. The data showed that the sequence within the IS may be unstable and that reliable genotyping sequences are more easily found in the stable genomic sites which flank the IS element.
Optimal Bus Stop Spacing Through Dynamic Programming and Geographic Modeling

A discrete approach was used to model the impacts of changing bus-stop spacing on a bus route. Among the impacts were delays to through riders, increased operating cost because of stopping delays, and shorter walking times perpendicular to the route. Every intersection along the route was treated as a candidate stop location. A simple geographic model was used to distribute the demand observed at existing stops to cross-streets and parallel streets in the route service area, resulting in a demand distribution that included concentrated and distributed demands. An efficient, dynamic programming algorithm was used to determine the optimal bus-stop locations. The model was compared with the continuum approach used in previous studies. A bus route in Boston was modeled, in which the optimal solution was an average stop spacing of 400 m (4 stops/mi), in sharp contrast to the existing average spacing of 200 m (8 stops/mi). The model may also be used to evaluate the impacts of adding, removing, or relocating selected stops.
A Stochastic Grammar of Images

This exploratory paper quests for a stochastic and context sensitive grammar of images. The grammar should achieve the following four objectives and thus serves as a unified framework of representation, learning, and recognition for a large number of object categories. (i) The grammar represents both the hierarchical decompositions from scenes, to objects, parts, primitives and pixels by terminal and nonterminal nodes and the contexts for spatial and functional relations by horizontal links between the nodes. It formulates each object category as the set of all possible valid configurations produced by the grammar. (ii) The grammar is embodied in a simple And-Or graph representation where each Or-node points to alternative sub-configurations and an And-node is decomposed into a number of components. This representation supports recursive top-down/bottom-up procedures for image parsing under the Bayesian framework and make it convenient to scale up in complexity. Given an input image, the image parsing task constructs a most probable parse graph on-the-fly as the output interpretation and this parse graph is a subgraph of the And-Or graph after making choice on the Or-nodes. (iii) A probabilistic model is defined on this And-Or graph representation to account for the natural occurrence frequency of objects and parts as well as their relations. This model is learned from a relatively small training set per category and then sampled to synthesize a large number of configurations to cover novel object instances in the test set. This generalization capability is mostly missing in discriminative machine learning methods and can largely improve recognition performance in experiments. (iv) To fill the well-known semantic gap between symbols and raw signals, the grammar includes a series of visual dictionaries and organizes them through graph composition. At the bottom-level the dictionary is a set of image primitives each having a number of anchor points with open bonds to link with other primitives. These primitives can be combined to form larger and larger graph structures for parts and objects. The ambiguities in inferring local primitives shall be resolved through top-down computation using larger structures. Finally these primitives forms a primal sketch representation which will generate the input image with every pixels explained. The proposal grammar integrates three prominent representations in the literature: stochastic grammars for composition, Markov (or graphical) models for contexts, and sparse coding with primitives (wavelets). It also combines the structure-based and appearance based methods in the vision literature. Finally the paper presents three case studies to illustrate the proposed grammar.
Utilizing Technology to Improve Older Adult Health

Health care costs in the USA have been increasing, with the largest percentage of revenues accruing to hospitals, health care professionals, and the pharmaceutical industry. Increases are likely associated with increases in care costs for chronic conditions, attributable in part to the aging of the population. Technology in the form of telehealth is one important tool to improve the efficiency of health care delivery. However, complex telehealth systems, particularly those relying on remote detection of health status, can also introduce challenges for management, due to system unreliability and particularly the cost of false alarms. A case study is used to illustrate these phenomena.
Biochemical and molecular analysis of carboxylesterase-mediated hydrolysis of cocaine and heroin.

Background and purpose: Carboxylesterases (CEs) metabolize a wide range of xenobiotic substrates including heroin, cocaine, meperidine and the anticancer agent CPT-11. In this study, we have purified to homogeneity human liver and intestinal CEs and compared their ability with hydrolyse heroin, cocaine and CPT-11. Experimental approach: The hydrolysis of heroin and cocaine by recombinant human CEs was evaluated and the kinetic parameters determined. In addition, microsomal samples prepared from these tissues were subjected to chromatographic separation, and substrate hydrolysis and amounts of different CEs were determined. Key results: In contrast to previous reports, cocaine was not hydrolysed by the human liver CE, hCE1 (CES1), either as highly active recombinant protein or as CEs isolated from human liver or intestinal extracts. These results correlated well with computer-assisted molecular modelling studies that suggested that hydrolysis of cocaine by hCE1 (CES1), would be unlikely to occur. However, cocaine, heroin and CPT-11 were all substrates for the intestinal CE, hiCE (CES2), as determined using both the recombinant protein and the tissue fractions. Again, these data were in agreement with the modelling results. Conclusions and implications: These results indicate that the human liver CE is unlikely to play a role in the metabolism of cocaine and that hydrolysis of this substrate by this class of enzymes is via the human intestinal protein hiCE (CES2). In addition, because no enzyme inhibition is observed at high cocaine concentrations, potentially this route of hydrolysis is important in individuals who overdose on this agent.
Ethics in Geriatric Trauma

Ethical principles that underlie contemporary surgical care of the elderly are founded on principles of medicine originating with the Hippocratic Oath: non-maleficence, beneficence, autonomy, and justice. Caring for the geriatric trauma patient may be particularly challenging as this is a vulnerable and sometimes frail patient population often with limited decision-making capacity. This chapter explores the ethical principles that form the cornerstones of geriatric trauma care, outlines the consent process and determination of decision-making capacity, and discusses the concept of DNR and medical futility.
Probing the Influence of Stereoelectronic Effects on the Biophysical Properties of Oligonucleotides: Comprehensive Analysis of the RNA Affinity, Nuclease Resistance, and Crystal Structure of Ten 2'-O-Ribonucleic Acid Modifications.

The syntheses of 10 new RNA 2'-O-modifications, their incorporation into oligonucleotides, and an evaluation of their properties such as RNA affinity and nuclease resistance relevant to antisense activity are presented. All modifications combined with the natural phosphate backbone lead to significant gains in terms of the stability of hybridization to RNA relative to the first-generation DNA phosphorothioates (PS-DNA). The nuclease resistance afforded in particular by the 2'-O-modifications carrying a positive charge surpasses that of PS-DNA. However, small electronegative 2'-O-substituents, while enhancing the RNA affinity, do not sufficiently protect against degradation by nucleases. Similarly, oligonucleotides containing 3'-terminal residues modified with the relatively large 2'-O-[2-(benzyloxy)ethyl] substituent are rapidly degraded by exonucleases, proving wrong the assumption that steric bulk will generally improve protection against nuclease digestion. To analyze the factors that contribute to the enhanced RNA affinity and nuclease resistance we determined crystal structures of self-complementary A-form DNA decamer duplexes containing single 2'-O-modified thymidines per strand. Conformational preorganization of substituents, favorable electrostatic interactions between substituent and sugar-phosphate backbone, and a stable water structure in the vicinity of the 2'-O-modification all appear to contribute to the improved RNA affinity. Close association of positively charged substituents and phosphate groups was observed in the structures with modifications that protect most effectively against nucleases. The promising properties exhibited by some of the analyzed 2'-O-modifications may warrant a more detailed evaluation of their potential for in vivo antisense applications. Chemical modification of RNA can also be expected to significantly improve the efficacy of small interfering RNAs (siRNA). Therefore, the 2'-O-modifications introduced here may benefit the development of RNAi therapeutics.
Spin-Split States in Aromatic Molecules

A state where spin currents exist in the absence of external fields has recently been proposed to describe the low-temperature phase of Chromium. It is proposed here that such a state may also describe the ground of aromatic molecules. It is argued that this point of view provides a more natural explanation for the large diamagnetic susceptibilities and NMR shifts observed in these molecules than the conventional viewpoint. Our model suggests a new memory mechanism.
High aspect ratio quarter-micron electroless copper integrated technology

In this paper, we present recent results of electroless Cu line and CoWP barrier/protection layer depositions with emphasis on copper encapsulation at low temperature for on-chip wiring of very high aspect ratio. We present a profile study of barrier/seed layers covered with thin (/spl sim/100 nm) electroless Cu films by SEM cross sections and step coverage in trenches and vias as a function of aspect ratio.
Future of individualized psychiatric treatment

Daniel B Campbell1† & Pat Levitt2 †Author for correspondence 1Vanderbilt University, Department of Pharmacology and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, 8114 MRB3, 465 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37232, USA Tel.: +1 615 936 3862; Fax: +1 615 936 3747; E-mail: daniel.b.campbell@ vanderbilt.edu 2Vanderbilt University, Department of Pharmacology and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, PO Box 40 Peabody, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203, USA Tel.: +1 615 322 8242; Fax: +1 615 322 5910; E-mail: pat.levitt@ vanderbilt.edu ‘...a more immediate solution to improve patient care is to maximize current treatment effectiveness by using genetic information ... to enhance individual responsiveness to antipsychotic medication.’
Coevolutionary genetics of plants and pathogens

The genetic polymorphism maintained by host-pathogen coevolution is analysed in a multilocus model. The model assumes gene-for-gene interactions of the type commonly observed between host plants and their fungal pathogens. Unstable (epidemic) systems maintain more resistance genes, fewer virulence genes, and less overall genetic diversity than stable (endemic) diseases. The stability of the system depends primarily on demographic parameters, such as the pathogen's intrinsic rate of increase, rather than genetic parameters, such as the costs of resistance and virulence. At equilibrium the model predicts that the number of resistance alleles in each host plant follows a binomial distribution that depends on the cost to the pathogen for carrying virulence alleles. Similarly, the number of virulence alleles in each pathogen spore follows a binomial distribution that depends on one minus the cost to the host for carrying resistance alleles. Data from wild populations match the predicted binomial distributions.
The Influence of Auditory Experience on the Behavior of Preterm Newborns

This review of the research literature is addressed to clinicians who care for, interact with, and advise parents of preterm newborns. In summary, research on the effects of sound on preterm infant behavior and development provide only a little reliable clinical guidance as many of the studies are flawed, some badly. Some studies use a high sound level (i.e., loud) stimulus yet fail to report effects of the stimulus on vital signs, movement, and behavioral state. Only a handful of studies report long term effects regardless of the length of exposure to the experimental stimulus. A consistent problem is that the ambient sound in the nursery research setting is neither described nor considered as a facet of the auditory stimulus yet all reports of ambient nursery sound show high levels without respite periods of quiet. Therefore, unless other documentation is provided, ambient nursery noise is likely an unreported confounding variable in these studies. The clinician is cautioned, therefore, to carefully evaluate any finding before implementing an intervention program of sound stimulation with preterm infants. There are many reports of efforts to reduce nursery noise by changing staff behavior but none describes more than marginal success. Given this general failure of noise reduction through behavior change, an alternative is proposed of achieving quiet by changing the crowded, reverberant nature of the physical space. Recommendations for care that can be drawn from this literature include measuring and reducing nursery noise, facilitating parents' efforts to talk and sing to their own babies, and limiting purposefully added sound stimulation to quite specific clinical situations.
What are we to make of the concept of race? Thoughts of a philosopher-scientist.

Discussions about the biological bases (or lack thereof) of the concept of race in the human species seem to be never ending. One of the latest rounds is represented by a paper by Neven Sesardic, which attempts to build a strong scientific case for the existence of human races, based on genetic, morphometric and behavioral characteristics, as well as on a thorough critique of opposing positions. In this paper I show that Sesardic’s critique falls far short of the goal, and that his positive case is exceedingly thin. I do this through a combination of analysis of the actual scientific findings invoked by Sesardic and of some philosophical unpacking of his conceptual analysis, drawing on a dual professional background as an evolutionary biologist and a philosopher of science.
Invariant-based verification of a distributed deadlock detection algorithm

It is argued that most previous proposals for distributed deadlock detection are incorrect because they have used informal/intuitive arguments to prove the correctness of their algorithms. Informal and intuitive arguments are prone to errors because of the highly complex nature of distributed deadlock detection/resolution algorithms. The priority-based probe algorithm for distributed deadlock detection and resolution of A.L. Choudhary et al. (1989) is corrected, and it is formally proven that the modified algorithm is correct (i.e., that it does detect all deadlocks and does not report phantom deadlocks). The proof technique is novel in that the authors first abstract the properties of the deadlock detection and resolution algorithm by invariants, and then show that the invariants imply the desired correctness of the algorithm. >
Incidence of suicide in persons with cancer.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to characterize suicide rates among patients with cancer in the United States and identify patient and disease characteristics associated with higher suicide rates. Prior studies, mostly in Europe, have suggested that patients with cancer may be at increased risk for suicide, but large cohort studies comparing patients with cancer with the general population have not been performed in the United States. Methods Patients in the study were residents of geographic areas served by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program who were diagnosed with cancer from 1973 to 2002. Comparisons with the general US population were based on mortality data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics. This was a retrospective cohort study of suicide in persons with cancer. Results Among 3,594,750 SEER registry patients observed for 18,604,308 person-years, 5,838 suicides were identified, for an age-, sex-, and race-adjusted rate of 31.4/100,000 person-years. In contrast, the suicide rate in the general US population was 16.7/100,000 person-years. Higher suicide rates were associated with male sex, white race, and older age at diagnosis. The highest suicide risks were observed in patients with cancers of the lung and bronchus (standardized mortality ratio [SMR] 5.74; 95% CI, 5.30 to 6.22), stomach (SMR 4.68; 95% CI, 3.81 to 5.70), oral cavity and pharynx (SMR 3.66; 95% CI, 3.16 to 4.22), and larynx (SMR 2.83; 95% CI, 2.31 to 3.44). SMRs were highest in the first 5 years after diagnosis with cancer. Conclusion Patients with cancer in the United States have nearly twice the incidence of suicide of the general population, and suicide rates vary among patients with cancers of different anatomic sites. Further examination of the psychological experience of patients with cancer, particularly that of patients with certain types of cancer, is warranted. J Clin Oncol 26:4731-4738. © 2008 by American Society of Clinical Oncology
Silica bodies and their systematic implications in Pteridaceae (Pteridophyta)

Wet ashing was used to study the occurrence of silica bodies in the fern family Pteridaceae. They were recovered in 48 of the 77 species examined. Silica bodies of Pteridaceae are elongate, ranging from 90–1320 × 5–40 µm, linear to elliptic, with blunt or acute apices and smooth to sinuate sides. All previous records of silica bodies and venuloid idioblasts among Pteridaceae that were examined were confirmed by the results of this study, corroborating our assumptions regarding the presence of silica bodies. In contrast, assumptions regarding the absence of silica bodies were incorrect; in many species of Adiantum, for example, silica bodies are present but cannot be seen with the naked eye. Farris optimization demonstrates that the distribution of epidermal silica bodies is homoplastic within Pteridaceae, but that they act as a potential synapomorphies for several different groups within the family. These include the adiantoid clade: Adiantum and the 11 vittaroid genera, and in some pteridoid fern clades such as the sister pair Onychium and Actiniopteris and the genus Pityrogramma. They are also present in Pterozonium brevifrons and some species of the polyphyletic genus Pteris. Among cheilanthoid ferns, they were found in Mildella intramarginalis and two species of Aspidotis. Morphology of silica bodies differs between major lineages, reflecting their independent origins. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 161, 422–435.
Titration Curves and Turbidity of Whole Egg White

Abstract TITRATION curves represent the amount of acid or base required to produce a unit change in the pH of a system. The curves presented here were obtained from the titration of whole egg white and were constructed to illustrate the buffering capacities at different pH values. Several points of interest have been identified for comparative purposes. The pH of egg white is important both in research investigations and in processing operations. Variations in pH are responsible for major changes in the physical properties of whole egg white and of individual proteins. Turbidity (cloudiness) and thinning of thick white are examples of changes in physical properties. The pH of egg white is adjusted to facilitate the isoelectric precipitation of specific proteins, to produce the type of functional property desired, and to enhance certain processing techniques such as enzymatic desurgarization with the glucose oxidase-catalase system. Several excellent reviews of protein titration curves …
Towards the Generation of Patient-Specific Pluripotent Stem Cells for Combined Gene and Cell Therapy of Hematologic Disorders

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has proven successful for the treatment of a host of genetic and malignant diseases of the blood, but immune barriers to allogeneic tissue transplantation have hindered wider application. Likewise, gene therapy now appears effective in the treatment of various forms of immune deficiency, and yet insertional mutagenesis from viral gene transfer has raised safety concerns. One strategy for addressing the limitations of both gene therapy and allogeneic transplantation entails the creation of pluripotent stem cells from a patient’s own somatic cells, thereby enabling precise in situ gene repair via homologous recombination in cultured cells, followed by autologous tissue transplantation. In murine model systems, the methods of somatic cell nuclear transfer, parthenogenesis, and direct somatic cell reprogramming with defined genetic factors have been used to generate pluripotent stem cells, and initial efforts at therapeutic gene repair and tissue transplantation suggest that the technology is feasible. Generating patient-specific autologous pluripotent stem cells provides an opportunity to combine gene therapy with autologous cell therapy to treat a host of human conditions. However, a number of technical hurdles must be overcome before therapies based on pluripotent human stem cells will appear in the clinic. Cellular transplantation therapy has enormous potential for treating a variety of degenerative, genetic, and malignant conditions. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the most widely used form of cellular therapy, but many patients do not benefit from HSCT because they lack a suitable HLA-matched donor or because the morbidity of the HSCT procedure precludes its use in all but the most acutely fatal conditions. HSCT is freely exploited in acute leukemia, but despite evidence of success for treating a number of genetic bone marrow disorders, 1 patients with “benign” conditions such as sickle cell anemia and thalassemia are typically given transplants only in the most severe cases. Allogeneic HSCT carries a major complication: acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) that causes significant morbidity and mortality. In contrast, autologous HSCT, in which a patient’s own stem cells are harvested prior to high-dose chemotherapy, is considerably less taxing because there are fewer of the highly morbid immunologic consequences of delayed engraftment and no GVHD. Autologous HSCs are an important target for gene therapy, and yet success has been illusory because of the challenge of maintaining HSCs in culture, the intrinsic difficulty of expressing genes in HSCs, and the risk of insertional mutagenesis with viral vectors. 2 If gene therapy methods were more successful and safe, then gene correction coupled to autologous HSCT would be the treatment of choice for genetic bone marrow disorders. Nearly two decades of research in mice has established
The Collaboration as Empowerment Claim: The Case of Visual Social Research

This article uses the case of visually based collaborative social science research to explore the problem of inequality between researchers and research subjects in social science research. This dilemma is ever present for social scientists researching topics where the research subject represents a group experiencing social exclusion. The paper uses the claim of those social scientists that argue that collaboration between researchers and research subjects can diminish the inequality problem by empowering research subjects. Through this interrogation of the “collaboration as empowerment claim,” as an ideal type construction the paper argues that (i) it pays insufficient attention to the knowledge frameworks and incentive structures around which research projects are carried out and disseminated, (ii) it does not interrogate the fact that the claim of empowerment as outcome is made by those in the researcher role, and (iii) it does not explicitly document the research subject's own assessment of a collaboration/empowerment link. The paper moves beyond the insights drawn from the visual case to point to their implications for other areas in which collaboration research is claimed as a means to empower research subjects and by implication to diminish researcher/research subject inequalities.
HOST SPECIFICITY AMONG ANCYROCEPHALINAE (MONOGENOIDEA) OF NEBRASKA SUNFISH

This study addressed the problem of local patterns of host specificity among Ancyrocephalinae (Monogenoidea) on bass and sunfish species, when the hosts occur in different species combinations in separate ponds. One hundred fifty-three fish of the Centrarchidae, from 4 study sites in Nebraska, were collected. Host species included bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), green sunfish (L. cyanellus), largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), black crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus), white crappie (P. annularis), and rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris). These fish occurred in different species combinations, depending on the pond sampled. Results indicated that several centrarchid species could inhabit the same pond and yet support distinct monogene communities. Clavunculus bursatus, Onchocleidus helicis, O. principalis, and Syncleithrum fusiformis were found only on largemouth bass, regardless of what other centrarchids were present in a particular pond. Haplocleidus dispar occurred on green sunfish, bluegill, largemouth bass, and black crappie, and H. furcatus occurred on both bluegill and largemouth bass. Onchocleidus cyanellus and O. ferox were found on both bluegill and green sunfish. Rock bass were present in only 1 of the 4 ponds, but were not infected with any monogenes, even though co-occurring centrarchids were often heavily infected. Largemouth bass had the most diverse ancyrocephaline communities. The degree of parasite host specificity among these monogenes was inversely related to the diversity of host species present in a particular pond. In general, the parasites were more host specific than might be inferred from the literature; parasite species did not necessarily colonize supposedly receptive host species even when the latter were present, and host relatedness was the major factor in determining whether host species shared a common parasite species.