cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Beta-blockers reduce intestinal permeability and early mortality following traumatic brain injury in Drosophila.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) frequently leads to non-neurological consequences such as intestinal permeability. The beta-blocker drug labetalol, which inhibits binding of catecholamine neurotransmitters to adrenergic receptors, reduces intestinal permeability in a rat TBI model. Using a Drosophila melanogaster TBI model, we previously found a strong positive correlation between intestinal permeability and mortality within 24 hours of TBI in a standard laboratory line (w1118 ) and across genetically diverse inbred lines from the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP). Here, we report that feeding injured w1118 flies the beta-blockers labetalol and metoprolol reduced intestinal permeability and mortality. Additionally, metoprolol reduced intestinal permeability when 18 DGRP fly lines were analyzed in aggregate, but neither beta-blocker affected mortality. These data indicate that the mechanism underlying disruption of the intestinal barrier by adrenergic signaling following TBI is conserved between humans and flies and that mortality following TBI in flies is not strictly dependent on disruption of the intestinal barrier. Thus, the fly TBI model is useful for shedding light on the mechanism and consequences of adrenergic signaling between the brain and intestine following TBI in humans.
A Mobile Game Platform for Improving Social Communication in Children with Autism: A Feasibility Study.

Background Many children with autism cannot receive timely in-person diagnosis and therapy, especially in situations where access is limited by geography, socioeconomics, or global health concerns such as the current COVD-19 pandemic. Mobile solutions that work outside of traditional clinical environments can safeguard against gaps in access to quality care. Objective The aim of the study is to examine the engagement level and therapeutic feasibility of a mobile game platform for children with autism. Methods We designed a mobile application, GuessWhat, which, in its current form, delivers game-based therapy to children aged 3 to 12 in home settings through a smartphone. The phone, held by a caregiver on their forehead, displays one of a range of appropriate and therapeutically relevant prompts (e.g., a surprised face) that the child must recognize and mimic sufficiently to allow the caregiver to guess what is being imitated and proceed to the next prompt. Each game runs for 90 seconds to create a robust social exchange between the child and the caregiver. Results We examined the therapeutic feasibility of GuessWhat in 72 children (75% male, average age 8 years 2 months) with autism who were asked to play the game for three 90-second sessions per day, 3 days per week, for a total of 4 weeks. The group showed significant improvements in Social Responsiveness Score-2 (SRS-2) total (3.97, p Conclusion The results support that the GuessWhat mobile game is a viable approach for efficacious treatment of autism and further support the possibility that the game can be used in natural settings to increase access to treatment when barriers to care exist.
The Limits of Property Reparations

Human history is replete with examples of unjustified expropriations of property by conquering states and other transitory regimes. Only in modern times, however, have nations attempted systematically to remedy historical injustices by providing reparations to the dispossessed owners or their successors. From the aboriginal peoples of the Antipodes to the Native Americans of Canada and the U.S. to the European victims of the German and Soviet communism, groups of people who were stripped of their land and possessions by fraud or force are demanding, and in many cases getting, reparations for these injustices. The thesis of this paper is that the case for reparations for such expropriations of property is highly tenuous, both morally and in practical terms. Reparations claims in general face two serious challenges: human irrationality and the effects of time. While these challenges are not necessarily insuperable, they are formidable.
Dynamic policy enablement and management in net-centric warfare systems and communications

The development of the concepts for the global information grid and for Net-Centric Warfare systems identify the need for more dynamic and configurable means to enable and control authenticity, access, privileges, interconnections not only in the networked environment, but also in the mission environment. Policy-based mechanisms have been identified as the primary means to achieve this flexibility. This paper examines what "policy" is, what operational benefits can be achieved by utilizing policy-based mechanisms, and how policy can be utilized to control the following in a coherent and integrated manner: communications, networking, security, data and services, workstations, mission subsystems, and entire mission systems. Special emphasis will be given in the paper to communications, networking, security, data and services. The paper also examines the "policy management infrastructure" that is needed to manage the lifecycle of policies throughout the entire system and its communications and networks
Leasing Versus Purchase of Corporate Real Property: Leases with Residual Equity Interests

This article reports the informal research findings from personal interviews with more than thirty corporate real estate executives in regard to leasing corporate operating space while retaining an...
Physicians' values and experience during adolescence: Their effect on adolescent health care

Abstract The values and experience of physicians as adolescents can effect their care of adolescent patients. Eighty residents were studied using extensive personal data gathered from a structured interview, a questionnaire of perceived clinical skills, and a videotape with a simulated patient. A "values" and "risk-taking during adolescence" score was constructed and related to the resident's perceived skills for and attitudes about adolescent health care. Residents with higher values scores (more conservative) were more likely to be pediatric than internal medicine residents and less likely to prescribe birth control pills to an adolescent. Residents with higher risk-taking scores considered themselves more skilled in dealing with substance abuse and sexually transmitted diseases and in recognizing psychologic problems. Values of risk-taking scores were not related to the resident's perceived skill in areas such as evaluating hypertension or performing Tanner staging. These data suggest that certain values and experiences may be influential in the physician's ability and approach to dealing with certain issues related to adolescent health care.
Let Them Eat Fake Cake: The Rational Weakness of China’s Anti-Counterfeiting Policy

By many measures China is the world’s largest luxury goods market. China is also widely viewed as the world’s chief counterfeiter and pirate. How can authentic luxury products, with their often-stratospheric prices, have such astonishing success in China when knockoff versions are so widely available? We argue that the answer to this puzzle is two-fold. First, much of the harm assumed to flow from counterfeits in the luxury goods sector is difficult to demonstrate empirically, and there are good theoretical reasons to doubt its magnitude. Indeed, the conventional wisdom about the perils of piracy is more a matter of inference than evidence. There is even some evidence, including evidence from China itself, that counterfeits can strengthen brands as well as undercut them. Second, from a domestic Chinese perspective counterfeits have many virtues. Given China’s enormous income inequality and rapidly urbanizing population, a tolerance for counterfeits can serve important social and political goals. In short, China’s relaxed approach to IP enforcement is a rational strategy — the harms are diffuse and likely much overstated and the benefits are tangible.
Core systems in human cognition

Research on human infants, adult nonhuman primates, and children and adults in diverse cultures provides converging evidence for four systems at the foundations of human knowledge. These systems are domain specific and serve to represent both entities in the perceptible world (inanimate manipulable objects and animate agents) and entities that are more abstract (numbers and geometrical forms). Human cognition may be based, as well, on a fifth system for representing social partners and for categorizing the social world into groups. Research on infants and children may contribute both to understanding of these systems and to attempts to overcome misconceptions that they may foster.
Kinesin-1 interacts with bucky ball to form germ cells and is required to pattern the zebrafish body axis

In animals, specification of the primordial germ cells (PGCs), the stem cells of the germ line, is required to transmit genetic information from one generation to the next. Bucky ball (Buc) is essential for germ plasm (GP) assembly in oocytes, and its overexpression results in excess PGCs in zebrafish embryos. However, the mechanistic basis for the excess PGCs in response to Buc overexpression, and whether endogenous Buc functions during embryogenesis, are unknown. Here, we show that endogenous Buc, like GP and overexpressed Buc-GFP, accumulates at embryonic cleavage furrows. Furthermore, we show that the maternally expressed zebrafish Kinesin-1 Kif5Ba is a binding partner of Buc and that maternal kif5Ba (Mkif5Ba) plays an essential role in germline specification in vivo. Specifically, Mkif5Ba is required to recruit GP to cleavage furrows and thereby specifies PGCs. Moreover, Mkif5Ba is required to enrich Buc at cleavage furrows and for the ability of Buc to promote excess PGCs, providing mechanistic insight into how Buc functions to assemble embryonic GP. In addition, we show that Mkif5Ba is also essential for dorsoventral (DV) patterning. Specifically, Mkif5Ba promotes formation of the parallel vegetal microtubule array required to asymmetrically position dorsal determinants (DDs) towards the prospective dorsal side. Interestingly, whereas Syntabulin and wnt8a translocation depend on kif5Ba, grip2a translocation does not, providing evidence for two distinct mechanisms by which DDs might be asymmetrically distributed. These studies identify essential roles for maternal Kif5Ba in PGC specification and DV patterning, and provide mechanistic insight into Buc functions during early embryogenesis.
A 3-D image segmentation algorithm

We present a 3-D segmentation algorithm to extract object surfaces from Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans.The algorithm is formulated in the framework of Mathematical Morphology. Apriori knowledge of the approximate location of the object surface is communicated to the algorithm via the definition of the Search Space.The algorithm uses this definition of the Search Space to obtain the Surface Candidate elements.The search space specification reduces the computational cost and increases the reliability of the detected features.The detected surface is represented as a hierarchical combination of patches.
Explaining Disability Trends in the U.S. Elderly and Near-Elderly Population.

Objective To examine disability trends among U.S. near-elderly and elderly persons and explain observed trends. Data Source 1996–2010 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. Study Design We first examined trends in Activities of Daily Living and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living limitations, and large muscle, mobility, gross motor, and fine motor indexes. Then we used decomposition analysis to estimate contributions of changes in sociodemographic composition, self-reported chronic disease prevalence and health behaviors, and changes in disabling effects of these factors to disability changes between 1996 and 2010. Principal Findings Disability generally increased or was unchanged. Increased trends were more apparent for near-elderly than elderly persons. Sociodemographic shifts tended to reduce disability, but their favorable effects were largely offset by increased self-reported chronic disease prevalence. Changes in smoking and heavy drinking prevalence had relatively minor effects on disability trends. Increased obesity rates generated sizable effects on lower-body functioning changes. Disabling effects of self-reported chronic diseases often declined, and educational attainment became a stronger influence in preventing disability. Conclusions Such unfavorable trends as increased chronic disease prevalence and higher obesity rates offset or outweighed the favorable effects with the result that disability remained unchanged or increased.
GENETIC APPROACHES TO DEFINING SIGNALING BY THE CML-ASSOCIATED TYROSINE KINASE BCR-ABL

Human chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a cancer that is associated with a specific cytogenetic marker known as the Philadelphia (Ph1) chromosome (Nowell and Hungerford, 1960; Rowley, 1973; reviewed in Kurzrock et al. , 1988). Cells of multiple lineages carry Ph1, suggesting that the disease originates in a pluripotent stem cell. Ph1 is the result of a reciprocal translocation of chromosomes 9 and 22, which results in the fusion of two cellular genes encoding BCR and c-ABL (Shtivelman et al. , 1985; Clark et al. , 1988). The resulting fusion gene (see Figure 1) encodes BCR-ABL, an activated protein tyrosine kinase. The tyrosine kinase activity of BCR-ABL is deregulated when compared to c-ABL (Konopka and Witte, 1985) and is the most essential feature for its transforming activity. In nature two fusion products are detected. P210 BCR-ABL is associated with CML and P185 BCR-ABL is associated with the more aggressive acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). The tyrosine kinase activity of P185 is more potent than P210 kinase activity, which also correlates with their respective transforming activities (Lugo et al. , 1990).
The origin of Barkhausen noise in small permalloy magnetoresistive sensors

The magnetoresistive (MR) response of permalloy sensors is increasingly plagued by jumps or noise of a magnetic origin (so‐called Barkhausen noise) as their sizes are reduced to tens of microns. The origin of this noise is not presently understood. In previous work (1) we reported a study of the Barkhausen noise by separately measuring the MR response and the domain processes involved, but detailed correlation between the two was still lacking. In this work, therefore, we performed simultaneous measurements of both the MR response and domain patterns on small MR elements of typically 12μm×24μm, enabling us to analyze the domain processes affecting the MR output. We have identified two classes of domain processes primarily responsible for noise in the MR output, namely, abrupt domain wall population reductions during early stages of demagnetization, and wall state transitions involving nucleation and expansion of N− wall segments around zero field. Additional insight into the N+→N− transitions has been obt...
Calendar reform for the year 2000

In the BC/AD way of reckoning years, there is no year zero, and the numbering of years increases in opposite directions, whereas time flows in one direction. As a result, time intervals across the BC/AD boundary cannot be calculated algebraically—the time interval between 1.5 BC and AD 1.5 is 1 year, not 3 years. Moreover, the BC/AD boundary breaks the flow of history and singles out an event—the birth of Christ—which has no significance in non-Christian civilizations. To alleviate these problems, 1 have proposed [Emiliani, 1993] that the beginning of calendrical time be reset to 00.00 hours GMT on January 1, 10,000 BC (10,000 BC January 0d 0h 0m 0s) and years be reckoned in continuity from that date.
Costly Monitoring in Financial Markets and Capital Outflow Restrictions

This paper examines welfare implications of removing capital outflow restrictions in a country whose financial markets are relatively inefficient in monitoring borrowers. A simple general equilibrium model is developed in which credit is rationed in one of the two production sectors due to costly information in financial markets. Opening to international capital markets is shown to cause an outflow of domestic wealth but no inflow of foreign credit, leading to more severe credit rationing. If the domestic investment opportunities that are unexploited due to credit rationing are sufficiently profitable, welfare of the country declines after it removes capital outflow restrictions. [O16]
Self-, N2- and Ar-broadening and line mixing in HCN and C2H2

Self-, N2- and Ar-broadening coefficients were measured for the stretch-bend infrared combination bands nu-1 + nu-1/2 (4004/cm) of HCN and nu-1 + nu-1/5 (4091/cm) of C2H2, using a tunable difference-frequency laser. At atmospheric pressures, the Q branches of these bands exhibit significant rotational narrowing or line mixing. The broadening coefficients are fit with empirical rotationally inelastic collision rate laws, which are then used to model the line mixing in the overlapped Q-branch profiles. Simple energy gap fitting laws appear to be suitable for the shorter-range intermolecular quadrupole-quadrupole and induction forces, whereas an energy-corrected-sudden scaling law works better for the longer-range dipole-dipole and dipole-quadrupole collision partners. In all cases, the line-coupling coefficients are substantially reduced from the rotationally inelastic rates fit to the broadening coefficients, indicating that 35-70 percent of the broadening may be due to other collisional mechanisms such as cross-relaxation to the degenerate H state vibrational level.
Habermas and democratic theory: The threat to democracy of unchecked corporate power

In this article I explore the distance traveled by Jurgen Habermas from the pessimism expressed about the prospects for democracy in contemporary society in his early work, The Structural Transform...
Family Business in Sub-Saharan Africa Versus the Middle East

This paper examines the impact of culture on family businesses in two regions of Africa: sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle Eastern region. Nine cross-culturally comparable “etic” dimensions are used to assess characteristics of family firms in both regions, based on the Culturally-sensitive Assessment System and Education (CASE) project. Overall, the characteristics of family businesses in the regions are associated with their distinctive cultures. Several commonalities are found; however, the observed differences suggest directions for the African family businesses to become the engines for national and regional development. Implications for further research and for practice are identified.
Allozymic heterozygosity and morphological variation in house sparrows

Several reports have shown that greater heterozygosity (both between individuals and between populations) is associated with lower morphological variance and asymmetry. Most previous work concerned poikilothermic organisms (for example, fish1–3, butterflies4, lizards5, shellfish6–9, salamanders10 and plants11–13). Reports concerning two homoiotherms gave conflicting results14–16. The report by Handford16 on a songbird, Zonotrichia capensis, failed to support the relationship, although these results have been questioned in the literature17,18. Handford suggested that the lack of relationship in Zonotrichia could indicate a fundamental difference between homoiotherms and poikilotherms, reflected in their apparent differences in heterozygosity19. However, we report here on electrophoretic and morphometric studies20–25 on another songbird species (Passer domesticus), in which the relationship appears to be upheld. We find consistently, among four locality samples, that the class of individuals of greatest allozyme heterozygosity nearly always exhibits the lowest multivariate morphological variance, and the class of greatest homozygosity nearly always exhibits the highest
Morphometrics of the callitrichid forelimb: A case study in size and shape

Mosimann and colleagues formulated a technique that distinguishes between size and shape, based on the concept of geometric similarity and the distinction between “log size-and-shape” and “log shape” variables. We extend these formulations in an examination of the forelimb of three callitrichid species (adultSaguinus oedipus, Saguinus fuscicollis, andCallithrix jacchus). We employ principal components analysis to explore the relationship between variance explained by size-and-shape versus shape alone. Independence of shape vectors is examined via correlation analysis. Then we use log shape data to construct intersample (species means) and total sample (between all paris of individuals) matrices of average taxonomic distances. These distance matrices are subjected to cluster analysis and principal coordinate ordinations. Results of principal components analysis suggest that after isometric size is removed, there remains sufficient shape information to discriminate among the three taxa. Careful examination and quantification of the relationships between shape and size suggest that size information (e.g., geometric mean) is fundamental for understanding shape differences within and among callitrichid species; in other words, most aspects of forelimb shape are significantly correlated with size. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we also demonstrate that such correlations are not “spurious”. Ordinations and clustering of log shape distance matrices (based on means and individuals) support the notion that, despite differences in size, the two tamarins are more similar in shape than either is toC. jacchus (despite size similarity betweenS. fuscicollis andC. jacchus). Although shape variation in the forelimb of calliirichids may have a functional component, the phylogenetic signal remains strong and serves to group individuals accordingly.
Factors Contributing to Mercury Exposure in Dentists

ABSTRACT Although mercury exposure levels among dentists have been steadily decreasing, occupational mercury exposure among dental professionals continues to be a matter of interest. This study examined personal, professional and office characteristics of dentists to determine which factors contribute most to exposure. The resulting information will help dental professionals change their practices to minimize unnecessary exposure to elemental mercury.
Efficient performance evaluation of cooperative non-regenerative relay networks

The joint optimization of power allocation and relay position is known to be a frightening problem in the analysis of cooperative relay communication. In this article, we present an efficient framework that tackles this problem for 2-hop cooperative amplify-and-forward (CAF) multi-relay system over generalized fading channel. First, we consider single CAF relay where we investigate (i) the optimum power allocation when the relay is position is fixed, (ii) the optimum relay position when the power allocation is fixed and (iii) the joint optimization of power allocation and the relay position. We then tackle the multi-relay optimization by reducing the multi-parameter search problem to only a 2-parameter search. Our mathematical framework does not only allow us to solve this problem but to solve it in a unified manner over various fading channels. Our analysis also took into consideration the effect of dissimilarity of the channel condition of the relay path on the optimization. This provides additional dimension and new insight on the optimization problem. Numerical results have been presented for representative cases and after careful review of previous works on this subject, we can conclude that our contribution is new, and can be very useful in the deployment of highly efficient CAF relay networks.
The continuum model and c-myc synthesis during the division cycle

Discordant results on the synthesis of c-myc gene products during the division cycle are reanalyzed and shown to be understood in light of the continuum model. It is proposed that there is no G1-phase dependence of c-myc synthesis. The large amount of data supporting G1-specific syntheses and a G(0) state must be re-examined.
Neuritic guidance by nonneuronal cells of ganglionic origin

Abstract Ciliary ganglia (CG) from 8-day-old chick embryos were cultured as explants on a highly adhesive collagen substratum in the presence of the ciliary neuronotrophic factor (CNTF). A remarkable correlation was found between the formation of an outgrowth of ganglionic nonneuronal cells and the timing and extent of neuritic development outside the ganglion. Neurites were not seen to emerge from the ganglion before the onset (24 hr after explantation) of a nonneuronal cell outgrowth. After nonneurons began to migrate over the collagen substratum, neurites could be seen to extend up to, but not beyond the distal limit of the nonneuronal outgrowth. Time-lapse analysis showed that neuritic growth cones could move in synchrony with a nonneuron with which they were in contact as well as over the nonneuronal cell surface, but not on the collagen located distally to the external edge of the nonneuronal outgrowth. Freshly dissected CGs were also grown as secondary explants on preformed host monolayers of ganglionic nonneurons. These secondary explants showed considerable neuritic development within 24 hr, while control ganglia explanted on collagen had not produced neurites. Autoradiographic experiments indicated that this neuritic outgrowth occurred on nonneuronal cells emerging precociously from the secondary explant, rather than on the preexisting host nonneurons. Electron microscopy of 24-hr explants demonstrated that, inside the ganglion, neurites were also very closely associated with the surface of nonneuronal cells. Neuritic behavior in this nonneuron/collagen terrain is compared with previously described observations of CG explants on polyornithine (PORN) or dissociated CG neurons on PORN or collagen. These observations led to the identification of a PORN-bindable neurite promoting factor (PNPF) which does not bind to, and is not active on, collagen. The hypothesis is discussed that PNPF molecules are present on the surface of nonneuronal cells and that the cells owe to those molecules their competence as a suitable terrain for the elongation of neuritic processes.
The experimental model and treatment of neurotic depression.

Abstract Learned helplessness is at present widely accepted as a model for depression. Depression, however, is a symptom-complex that has many causes. Three general causal categories are distinguished—normal, neurotic and endogenous. Neurotic depressions comprise the main clinical category whose causation is primarily external. This paper shows that neurotic depression is evidently a function of conditioned anxiety response habits that finds a paradigm in experimental neuroses, not in learned helplessness. Both experimental and clinical neurotic depressions are overcome by deconditioning anxiety. In a sample of 25 cases treated by the deconditioning of anxiety, 22 recovered from their depressions; and the recoveries were found to have endured in the 19 of them who were followed up for at least 6 months.
Using Modified Multivariate Bag-of-Words Models to Classify Physiological Data

In this paper we present two novel multivariate time series representations to classify physiological data of different lengths. The representations may be applied to any group of multivariate time series data that examine the state or health of an entity. Multivariate Bag-of-Patterns and Stacked Bags of-Patterns improve on their univariate counterpart, inspired by the bag-of-words model, by using multiple time series and analyzing the data in a multivariate fashion. We also borrow techniques from the natural language processing domain such as term frequency and inverse document frequency to improve classification accuracy. We introduce a technique named inverse frequency and present experimental results on classifying patients who have experienced acute episodes of hypotension.
Probing the Pore Dimensions of Bacterial Nicotinic Receptor-Like Channels with Open-Channel Blockers

ELIC and GLIC, two bacterial nicotinic receptor-like channels, are remarkably amenable to both structural and functional studies. This observation, along with the notion that the overall structure and functional properties of these channels are very similar to those of their metazoan counterparts, amply justifies the use of ELIC and GLIC as models for the entire superfamily. At the level of the transmembrane pore, the structural model of ELIC shows a prominent constriction around the 16' position of the M2 alpha-helices, whereas that of GLIC displays a much wider, semi-conical cavity with helices tilted away from the long axis of the pore. As a result, the structural models of ELIC and GLIC are often considered to represent the closed-channel and open-channel conformations, respectively, of all members of the superfamily, a notion that assumes that the end states of the gating conformational change are conserved across orthologs. Thus far, attempts to capture the different physiologically relevant conformations of each of these channels in well-diffracting crystals have failed. Here, as an alternative approach to probe the transmembrane-pore domain in the open-channel conformation, we studied the interaction of ELIC, GLIC and the muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) with pore blockers. From the comparative analysis of these results, it appears as though the muscle AChR and GLIC have very similar open-channel pore structures, whereas the open-channel pore of ELIC seems much narrower, and thus, closer to the structural model of ELIC in its closed state. Hence, it is likely that the closed-to-open conformational change of ELIC at the level of the pore domain is subtler than the one that could be predicted if ELIC were to adopt a GLIC-like structure in the open state.
Preliminary Experience with a New Total Distal Radioulnar Joint Replacement

This study reports the intermediate-term results of four patients from a series eight patients who have had an insertion of a new complete distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ) prosthesis. A retrospective review was performed for all patients who underwent DRUJ joint replacement with the STABILITY Sigmoid Notch Total DRUJ System between the years of 2003 and 2008. To be included in this report, all patients had to have more than 24 months of follow-up and hand examination by the senior author. From the eight patients with this procedure, four patients met the inclusion criteria. These included one patient with painful posttraumatic arthritis, two patients with failed hemiarthroplasty, and one patient with a failed Sauve–Kapandji procedure. Mean age at the time of surgery was 42.5 years (range: 35 to 51 years) and mean follow-up was 46 months (range: 36 to 66 months). Preoperative and postoperative assessment included range of motion, grip strength, visual analog pain scale, patient satisfaction, and radiographic evaluation. There was a successful replacement of the DRUJ in all four patients. Final range of motion showed mean pronation of 80 degrees (range: 60 to 90 degrees) and mean supination of 64 degrees (range: 45 to 90 degrees). Final grip strength on the operated extremity was 25.5 kg and averaged 73% of contralateral side. This was an improvement from preoperative grip strength of 14.5 kg visual analog pain scale decreased from 8 to 2.5 following surgery (scale: 1 to 10). Patient satisfaction was 100%. One patient returned to manual labor, one patient returned to office work, and two patients remained off work. Postoperative radiographs depict appropriate alignment of the DRUJ, and there have been no cases of subluxation or dislocation. Implant survival has been 100%. Total DRUJ joint replacement with sigmoid notch resurfacing and distal ulna replacement is an alternative to ulnar head resection in cases of DRUJ arthritis. Total DRUJ arthroplasty with this resurfacing design may provide a means of decreasing pain and restoring DRUJ stability and motion following severe trauma, failed hemiarthroplasty, or failed Sauve–Kapandji procedure. More experience is needed with this implant to confirm these initial encouraging results. The level of evidence for this study is IV (therapeutic, case series).
Determination of the relative photodetachment cross sections of the two isomers of (H2O)6− using saturated photodetachment

Abstract We report relative photodetachment cross sections for the two isomers of (H 2 O) 6 − at 1.165 eV by monitoring the photoelectron spectrum as a function of laser fluence. The cross sections of the two isomers differ by only about a factor of three, much closer to each other than suggested by recent calculations by Kim et al.
Vascular Endothelial Cell Regulation of Extracellular Matrix Collagen Role of Nitric Oxide

Endothelium-derived products have been implicated in the regulation of vascular wall structure through their effects on extracellular matrix metabolism. The purpose of this study was to further understand the paracrine mechanisms underlying endothelial cell regulation of extracellular matrix metabolism by testing the hypothesis that endothelium-derived nitric oxide decreases the concentration of soluble collagens derived from vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Porcine coronary endothelium and VSMCs were grown under a coculture configuration to assess the paracrine effects of nitric oxide produced by the endothelium on VSMC collagen types I and III. Endogenous endothelial cell nitric oxide production was blocked with N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester. Collagen type I and type III were quantitatively measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. The endothelium elicited a time-dependent increase in the concentration of soluble VSMC-derived collagen type I; in contrast, collagen type III was decreased. After inhibition of nitric oxide production, there was a marked increase in both collagen types I and III concentration. These results demonstrated that endothelium-derived nitric oxide differentially alters collagen subtypes produced by VSMCs. The data support the hypothesis that nitric oxide functions via a paracrine mechanism to decrease VSMC collagen types I and III concentration, a finding consistent with an integral role for the endothelium in modulating extracellular matrix metabolism.
NEUTRON DIFFRACTION STUDIES OF VARIOUS TRANSITION ELEMENTS

Neutron diffraction measurements are reported on a series of transition elements as an investigation into their magnetic structures. Scattering data have been taken for W, Mo, Nb, V, Cr, Mn, and Fe at various temperatures as low as 4.2\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K, and these data are interpreted in terms of the magnetic structure existing in the pure metals. For the first four-named elements, no magnetic scattering either coherent or incoherent is found. Cr and $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{M}\mathrm{n}$ are established as being antiferromagnetic with N\'eel temperatures of 475\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K and 100\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K, respectively. Paramagnetic scattering has been observed in manganese at room temperature, and the atomic moments determined for Cr and Mn follow the general trend of the Slater-Pauling curve. Magnetic superstructure effects and magnetic disorder scattering were looked for in iron and neither was found.
The role of the Alaskan Stream in modulating the Bering Sea climate

[1] A numerical ocean circulation model with realistic topography, but with an idealized forcing that includes only lateral transports is used to study the role of the Alaskan Stream (AS) in modulating the Bering Sea (BS) variability. Sensitivity experiments, each one with a different strength of the AS transport reveal a nonlinear BS response. An increase of AS transport from 10 to 25 Sv causes warming (∼0.25°C mean, ∼0.5°C maximum) and sea level rise in the BS shelf due to increased transports of warmer Pacific waters through the eastern passages of the Aleutian Islands, but an increase of AS transport from 25 to 40 Sv had an opposite impact on the BS shelf with a slight cooling (∼−0.1°C mean, ∼−0.5°C maximum). As the AS transport increases, flows through passages farther downstream in the western Aleutian Islands are affected and the variability in the entire BS is reduced. Transport variations of ∼0.1Sv in the Bering Strait are found to be correlated with mesoscale variations of the AS and associated transport variations in the Aleutian Islands passages. These results have important implications for understanding the observed variations in the Bering Strait and potential future climate variations in the Arctic Ocean.
The extended Analytic Hierarchy Decision method

This paper extends the Analytic Hierarchy Decision Model of T.L. Saaty by enlarging the set of pairwise comparison values to allow indecision or noncomparability between two alternatives.
Structural Changes in Both the Troponin Complex and the Thick Filament May Underlie Myofilament Length Dependent Activation

The main cellular mechanism that underlies the so-called “Frank-Starling Law of the Heart” is an increase in the responsiveness of cardiac myofilaments to activating Ca2+ at longer sarcomere lengths (SL). The structural basis of this “Length Dependent Activation” (LDA) is not known. 2D X-ray diffraction patterns were obtained using the BioCAT beamline 18ID at the Advanced Photon Source from electrically stimulated (0.2 Hz) intact, twitching papillary muscle isolated from rat hearts during a 10 ms time window in diastole just prior to electrical stimulation. Diffraction patterns were compared from muscles that were stretched to Lmax (SL= ∼2.3 μm) to those taken following a quick release to slack length (SL=∼1.9 μm). We previously reported that myosin heads moved radially inwards at longer SL suggesting that an increased radial extent of crossbridges at longer length cannot explain increased calcium sensitivity so other explanations must be sought. It is known that changes in isoform composition of the troponin complex can markedly affect calcium sensitivity but the role of troponin in the length sensing mechanism underlying LDA is not clear. Here we analyzed the meridional patterns which showed that the 3rd order troponin repeat distance, the 3rd - order troponin reflection intensity and the 2nd order myosin (“forbidden”) meridional reflection all increased significantly (P < 0.01) at Lmax as compared to slack length. Thus, stretching intact heart muscle in diastole induces changes in the structure of both the thick filaments and the thin filaments. It appears, then, that the length sensing mechanism underlying LDA must involve connections of some kind that transmit strain between the thick and thin filament that alter the structure of the troponin complex and, presumably, myofilament contractile properties. Supported by NIH HL075494 and RR08630.
A Dynamic Programming Solution to the Single Vehicle Many-to-Many Immediate Request Dial-a-Ride Problem

An investigation of the single-vehicle, many-to-many, immediate-request dial-a-ride problem is developed in two parts I and II. Part I focuses on the “static” case of the problem. In this case, intermediate requests that may appear during the execution of the route are not considered. A generalized objective function is examined, the minimization of a weighted combination of the time to service all customers and of the total degree of “dissatisfaction” experienced by them while waiting for service. This dissatisfaction is assumed to be a linear function of the waiting and riding times of each customer. Vehicle capacity constraints and special priority rules are part of the problem. A Dynamic Programming approach is developed. The algorithm exhibits a computational effort which, although an exponential function of the size of the problem, is asymptotically lower than the corresponding effort of the classical Dynamic Programming algorithm applied to a Traveling Salesman Problem of the same size. Part II extends this approach to solving the equivalent “dynamic” case. In this case, new customer requests are automatically eligible for consideration at the time they occur. The procedure is an open-ended sequence of updates, each following every new customer request. The algorithm optimizes only over known inputs and does not anticipate future customer requests. Indefinite deferment of a customer's request is prevented by the priority rules introduced in Part I. Examples in both “static” and “dynamic” cases are presented.
Active capture: automatic direction for automatic movies

Current consumer media production is laborious, tedious, and produces unsatisfying results. To address this problem, Active Capture leverages media production knowledge, computer vision and audition algorithms, and user interaction techniques to automate direction and cinematography and thus enables the automatic production of annotated, high quality, reusable media assets. Active Capture is part of a new computational media production paradigm that transforms media production from a manual mechanical process into an automated computational one that can produce mass customized and personalized media integrating video of non-actors. The implemented system automates the process of capturing a non-actor performing two simple reusable actions ("screaming" and "turning her head to look at the camera") and automatically integrates those shots into various commercials and movie trailers.
Feature Extraction on Binary Patterns

The objects and methods of automatic feature extraction on binary patterns are briefly reviewed. An intuitive interpretation for geometric features is suggested whereby such a feature is conceived of as a cluster of component vectors in pattern space. A modified version of the Isodata or K-means clustering algorithm is applied to a set of patterns originally proposed by Block, Nilsson, and Duda, and to another artificial alphabet. Results are given in terms of a figure-of-merit which measures the deviation between the original patterns and the patterns reconstructed from the automatically derived feature set.
Glycerol as a substrate for phospholipid biosynthesis in type II pneumocytes isolated from streptozotocin-diabetic rats

Glycerol and glucose utilization for phospholipid biosynthesis was examined in type II pneumocytes isolated from normal and streptozotocin-diabetic rats. In cells from diabetic rats, incorporation of [1,3-14C]glycerol into total phosphatidylcholine (PC), disaturated phosphatidylcholine (DSPC), phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) occurred to a greater degree by the glycerol 3-phosphate pathway as opposed to the dihydroxyacetone phosphate pathway. Total incorporation of glycerol into each of the major cellular phospholipids was increased up to 6-fold in cells from diabetic rats, while the total incorporation of glucose into the same lipids was decreased 2-fold. While the percentage of both glucose and glycerol carbons incorporated into the backbone of DSPC was increased in cells from diabetic rats, the percentage of carbons from both substrates incorporated into the fatty acid moieties was decreased. As a measure of DSPC synthesis, choline incorporation into DSPC was significantly decreased in type II cells from diabetic animals if the cells were incubated in the presence of glucose, palmitate and choline but not glycerol. Addition of 0.1 or 0.3 mM glycerol to the incubation medium restored choline incorporation to the control value in cells from diabetic rats, but did not affect the rate of choline incorporation into DSPC in cells from normal rats. These results suggest that exogenous glycerol can compensate for reduced glucose metabolism in type II cells of diabetic animals to maintain a constant rate of DSPC synthesis.
Survival differences breathing air and oxygen at equivalent altitudes.

SummaryMice were exposed progressively to equivalent degrees of hypoxia breathing air and breathing 100% O2. The inspired pO2 level at which unconsciousness set in was found to be significantly lower when air was breathed than when 100% oxygen was breathed provided the rate of ascent was 2 × 103 ft/min or greater. This advantage of air over oxygen is attributed to the transient “N2 dilution” or R.Q. effect.
Creep of (Mg, Fe)O single crystals

The creep behaviour of (Mg, Fe)O single crystals compressed along 〈1 0 0〉 has been investigated over the temperature range 1300 to 1500° C, at stresses between 20 and 70 MPa, for oxygen partial pressures between 10−4 and 102 Pa, and with iron concentrations between 70 and 11 900 p.p.m. Under these conditions, the dependence of the steady-state strain rate on stress, temperature, oxygen partial pressure, and iron concentration can be summarized by the flow law, \(\dot \varepsilon = A\sigma ^{3.4} \left[ {Fe_{Mg} } \right]_{tot}^0 P_{O_2 }^0 \)exp (−445 kJ mol−1/RT. These results suggest that the steadystate strain rate is controlled by dislocation climb with a jog velocity which is limited by lattice diffusion of oxygen by a vacancy pair mechanism. The activation energy for creep, 445 kJ mol−1 is larger than that reported for self-diffusion of oxygen, 330 kJ mol−1, because the formation energy for jogs is relatively large, 115 kJ mol−1.
Fossil mammoths from Santa Cruz Island, California

Mammoth remains on Santa Cruz Island, one of the four Northern Channel Islands of California, are very sparse, in marked contrast to those reported from Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands of the same island group. A probable major reason for this scarcity is that Quaternary deposits are greatly restricted on Santa Cruz Island. It is proposed, contrary to popular opinion, that fossils found on Santa Cruz Island were derived from animals which died on the island, and were not transported there by humans. Reasons for this conclusion are that the size and geological context of the fossils are similar to those of the largest mammoth fossils of Santa Rosa Island, and that, in spite of extensive investigations by many persons, mammoth remains have not been found in middens, either on the islands or on the adjacent mainland.
Critical evaluation of the MODIS Deep Blue aerosol optical depth product for data assimilation over North Africa

Abstract. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Deep Blue (DB) collection 5.1 (c5.1) aerosol optical depth (AOD) data were analyzed and evaluated for the first time from an independent research group using eight years of Terra (2000–2007) and Aqua (2002–2009). Uncertainties in the DB AOD were identified and studied, and our results show that the performance of DB c5.1 is strongly dependent on surface albedo and aerosol microphysics. Using data with only "very good" quality assurance, the root-mean-square error (RMSE) of the DB Terra (Aqua) AOD is 0.24 (0.19) when validated against AERONET. Expanding upon the uncertainty analysis, the potential of applying the DB products for aerosol assimilation was explored. Empirical corrections and quality assurance procedures were developed for North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula to create a data assimilation (DA)-quality DB product. After applying those procedures, the RMSE is reduced by 18.1% (18.2%) for Terra (Aqua) DB data. Prognostic error models of 0.069 + 0.175 × AODTerra_DB with no noise floor and 0.048 + 0.182 × AODAqua_DB with a noise floor of 0.104 were found for DA-quality Terra and Aqua DB data, respectively. These procedures were also applied to two months of DB collection 6 (c6) AOD data, and reductions in RMSE were found, indicating that the algorithms developed for c5.1 data are applicable to c6 data to some extent.