cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
MORT, a locus for apoptosis in the human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 antisense gene: implications for AIDS, Cancer, and Covid-19

Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is a fundamental requirement for life in multicellular organisms, including humans, and a mechanism to maintain homeostasis and prevent unwarranted cellular proliferations such as cancer. An antisense gene in HIV-1 (Hap) induces apoptosis in human cells. Apoptotic T cell death following HIV-1 infection leads to a compromised immune system and eventually AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). A review of several studies that focused on long-term survivors of HIV-1 reveals that these survivors had deletion-mutations in Hap. A subset of these survivors changed course and experienced CD4+ T cell death and progression to AIDS. These individuals had virus that regained Hap gene sequence that had previously been deleted. Analysis of the changes in the genetic sequences with in vivo progression of the revertant HIV-1 virus allowed identification of a specific region in Hap we are calling MORT. MORT, in Hap RNA forms a primary microRNA-like structure. Potential human mRNAs targeted by MORT mi/siRNAs include gene/RNA sequences of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP), survivin, and apollon, along with many other human gene sites/RNAs. Thus MORT may be acting as an RNA antagonist to cellular IAPs thereby inducing apoptotic cell death. Surprisingly, additional potential MORT targets include viral sites in human SARS-CoV-2, including the protease, nsp5 RNA. Future uses for RNA therapy and a hypothesis for an HIV intrinsic mechanism utilizing MORT for viral anti-viral (or anti-microbial) and HIV anti-immune cell defense are proposed.
Lithium and sodium ion binding in nanostructured carbon composites

High charge capacity in lithium and sodium-ion batteries can be achieved using anodes composed of nanostructured carbon composites. The tailoring of the nanostructure to achieve both high loading a...
Real-time Anticipatory Response to COVID-19: A Novel Methodological Approach

The SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus 13 (COVID-19) pandemic has revealed the technical requirements needed to enhance scientific analysis and epidemic modelling, but also the social and institutional challenges of operating in a global crisis. The large-scale and turbulent nature of the pandemic has exemplified that healthcare and public health safety organizations resilience is critical for maintaining function and community support in times of crises with unclear outcomes and implications. Conceptualizations of organizational resilience need support swift organizational decision-making that simultaneously prepares for and responds to adverse events and system strains under uncertainty. This chapter presents a modelling approach towards bolstering organizational resilience for healthcare organizations facing COVID-19 called “real-time anticipatory response,” which considers how organizations concurrently prepare for and respond to the pandemic under conditions of high pressure and high uncertainty. The framework supports strategic planning based on limited information and immediate need for organizational response which can be applied to a vast array of natural disaster and other crises that require stakeholders to enact quick decisions that facilitate organizational preparation and response simultaneously
Effect of time to surgical intervention in stage 3 cutaneous melanoma.

e21571Background: Delay in surgical resection has been found to be associated with poorer overall survival (OS) in patients with stage 1 cutaneous melanoma. However, the impact of surgical timing o...
Optoelectronic performance characterization of MoS2 photodetectors for low frequency sensing applications

The specific advantages of implementing MoS2 and other layered semiconductors for optoelectronic biosensing and other relevant photodetection applications remain unclear. In this work, we investigate the photoresponsivity and noise characteristics of in-plane MoS2 photodetectors. This work indicates that MoS2 photodetectors exhibit lower noise equivalent power (NEP) and detectivity (D*) in comparison with commercial CdS photodetectors. In addition, the low-frequency NEP and D* values of MoS2 photodetectors exhibit a prominent dependence on the MoS2 photoactive layer thickness. We have identified the optimal MoS2 thickness in the range of 8–30 nm. We also study the photoresponse characteristics of optimized MoS2 photodetectors at several different wavelengths that are important for clinical colorimetry assays. Such an optimized photodetector shows a maximum photoresponsivity of 164.3 A/W and a minimum NEP of 3.99 × 10−17 W/Hz1/2 (and a D* of 5.01 × 1010 J) with relative variance less than 14%. This work provides a useful guideline for optimizing the photoresponse characteristics of MoS2-based optoelectronic devices, which is critical to practical low-frequency optoelectronic biosensing applications.
Comparison Between Echocardiography and Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Predicting Transplant-Free Survival After the Fontan Operation

Adverse outcomes increase in frequency as patients after Fontan operation approach adulthood. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging–derived parameters have been shown to predict death/transplant; however, limited data are available on the usefulness of echocardiography in risk stratification. We conducted a retrospective, single-center review of records of patients after Fontan operation with an echocardiogram and CMR within 1 year of each other. The primary end point was time to all-cause mortality or listing for transplant. Of the 127 eligible patients, there were 12 end points (9%; 10 deaths and 2 listing for transplant). Median age was 16.8 years (interquartile range 12 to 23.1) with a median follow-up of 3.8 years (interquartile range 2.6 to 5.7). Among clinical parameters, protein-losing enteropathy had the strongest association with the outcome. Among echocardiographic variables, global circumferential strain showed the strongest association (hazard ratio 1.3 per unit change, 95% confidence interval 1.1 to 1.5, p value 0.001, C-index 0.81), whereas among CMR variables indexed ventricular end-diastolic volume showed the strongest association with the outcome (hazard ratio 1.04 per 10 ml/BSA 1.3 increase in volume, 95% confidence interval 1.02 to 1.06, p value 0.001, C-index 0.82). Cox proportional hazards analysis revealed echocardiography and CMR models to each individually have a higher predictive ability than the clinical model; however, in direct comparison, neither technique was superior. In conclusion, both echocardiography-derived circumferential strain and CMR-derived ventricular end-diastolic volume index are associated with transplant-free survival in patients after Fontan operation. Echocardiography and CMR parameters have higher discriminative ability than clinical variables. Although neither imaging technique is superior in this cohort, both introduce important factors for risk stratification.
Animal Models of Allergic Airways Disease: Where Are We and Where to Next?

In a complex inflammatory airways disease such as asthma, abnormalities in a plethora of molecular and cellular pathways ultimately culminate in characteristic impairments in respiratory function. The ability to study disease pathophysiology in the setting of a functioning immune and respiratory system therefore makes mouse models an invaluable tool in translational research. Despite the vast understanding of inflammatory airways diseases gained from mouse models to date, concern over the validity of mouse models continues to grow. Therefore the aim of this review is twofold; firstly, to evaluate mouse models of asthma in light of current clinical definitions, and secondly, to provide a framework by which mouse models can be continually refined so that they continue to stand at the forefront of translational science. Indeed, it is in viewing mouse models as a continual work in progress that we will be able to target our research to those patient populations in whom current therapies are insufficient. J. Cell. Biochem. 115: 2055–2064, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
2-D spectral factorization: classical and nonnegativity constrained

The author reviews recent results which can contribute to the solution of the problem of nonnegativity-constrained spectral factorization for image reconstruction from autocorrelation data. This problem occurs in several high-frequency areas where only partial information about an image or signal is available. The remaining difficulties in obtaining a complete analytical solution to the problem and the manner in which those difficulties may be circumvented are also considered. >
Large capacity transmission systems using multi-core fibers

This paper describes large capacity long haul transmission technologies based on multi-core fibers. 12-core fibers with dual-ring structure and propagation-direction interleaving are promising in suppressing crosstalk penalty. A large capacity transmission experiment using these techniques is reviewed.
Pressure measurement: which tonometer?

In the search for more accurate ways to determine intraocular pressure, the Halberg applanation tonometer may represent an alternative to the Schi0tz tonometer for routine screening pressure measurements. Although between 100 to 150 measurements are generally required to gain proficiency with the Halberg, the instrument is accurate in patients with normal corneas even with very abnormal scleral rigidity, which would make Schidtz readings inaccurate. In patients with corneal disease and irregular corneal surfaces due to edema or scarring, however, the optical applanation tonometer cannot be accurately used. In these patients, also, the Schi0tz tonometer is not only inaccurate but also may consistently read low and be grossly misleading. As validated by direct measurements with a cannula inside the eyes of patients toith irregidar corneal surfaces, the electronic applanation tonometer (MacKay-Marg tonometer) provided the first measure of the true intraocidar pressure in patients with corneal edema and corneal scarring. The Bausch and Lomb air tonometer could provide readings of generally comparable accuracy but is considerably less convenient to use in patients with irritated eyes or nystagmus or after keratoplasty. In patients with corneal disease and corneal edema, even modest elevations of intraocular pressure can contribute to edema and disease. Conversely, through neglect of this factor, the group xoiih previous ocular damage has an increased likelihood of having elevated intraocular pressures and suffering irreversible damage. An adequate standard of ophthalmologic care now seems to require some provision for the measurement of pressure in patients with corneal disease.
Cyclic Inelastic Deformation and Fatigue Resistance Characteristics of a Rail Steel

The cyclic inelastic deformation and fatigue resistance characteristics of a typical rail steel in use by American railroads have been determined. Uniaxial smooth specimens were obtained from the head of an unused sectionof rail and subjected to a variety of test conditions-static tension, static compression, and fully reversed constant-amplitude strain cycling. Additionally, a study of "history effects" was made. Included in this study were tests to examine the influence of orientation, mean stress, initial prestrain, and periodic overstrain, both the cyclic deformation response and the fatigue resistance being reported for each condition. Results obtained from these tests are discussed in light of predictive models for rail failure, particular attention being paid to the influence of stress state on deformation response and fatigue resistance.
Automatic target identification using neural networks

Neural network theories are applied to attain human-like performance in areas such as speech recognition, statistical mapping, and target recognition or identification. In target identification, one of the difficult tasks has been the extraction of features to be used to train the neural network which is subsequently used for the target's identification. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of an automatic target identification system using features extracted from a specific class of targets. The extracted features were the graphical representations of the silhouettes of the targets. Image processing techniques and some Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) properties were implemented to extract the features. The FFT eliminates variations in the extracted features due to rotation or scaling. A Neural Network was trained with the extracted features using the Learning Vector Quantization paradigm. An identification system was set up to test the algorithm. The image processing software was interfaced with MATLAB Neural Network Toolbox via a computer program written in C language to automate the target identification process. The system performed well as at classified the objects used to train it irrespective of rotation, scaling, and translation. This automatic target identification system had a classification success rate of about 95%.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Shape-preserving, first-derivative-based parametric and nonparametric cubic L1 spline curves

We investigate parametric and nonparametric cubic L"1 interpolating spline curves (''L"1 splines'') in two and three dimensions with the goal of achieving shape-preserving interpolation of irregular data. We introduce five types of parametric L"1 and L"2 splines calculated by minimizing expressions involving L"1 norms, L"2 norms and squares of L"2 norms of second derivatives and five types of parametric L"1 and L"2 splines calculated by minimizing analogous expressions involving first derivatives minus first differences. We compare these splines among themselves, with a simple monotonicity-based interpolant and with the interpolant of Brodlie, Fritsch and Butland. Of all of the parametric splines, first-derivative-based ''interactive-component''L"1 splines preserve the shape of irregular data best. Nonparametric first-derivative-based L"1 splines are introduced and shown to preserve shape better than the previously known nonparametric second-derivative-based L"1 splines, than nonparametric first- and second-derivative-based L"2 splines and than the simple monotonicity-based and Brodlie-Fritsch-Butland interpolants.
Welfare as a cause of poverty: A time series analysis

Since the inception of welfare programs critics have argued that giving aid to the poor dampens their incentive to provide for themselves and their dependents.1 Charles Murray's Losing Ground (1984) presents a modern reincarnation of this "work disincentive hypothesis". He notes that both nominal welfare benefits and caseloads increased during the seventies, suggesting that higher benefits cause more people to join the welfare rolls. Others contend that welfare receipt may be a necessity rather than a matter of personal choice. Even if the nonworking poor actively sought employment many would not be able to find jobs. Furthermore, many would find only low paying jobs which would not enable them to work their way out of poverty (e.g., Abraham, 1983). In this view, unemployment, labor market segmentation, and low wages cause poverty. Which view is correct? Studies of the effects of welfare typically specify a single model and use regression analysis to test whether the data support its implications. In contrast, this paper uses the Granger (1969) causality test in a system of welfare and employment equations. This strategy offers two advantages. First, regression presumes causality whereas the Granger approach tests whether or not causality, defined in a technical sense, exists. Second, we can use a very general empirical model to test the work disincentive hypothesis as well as the implications of two competing models. Section 2 presents three models of the welfare caseload and their implied patterns of causality. Section 3 explains Granger's concept of and test for causality. In Section 4 the test is performed, indicating the direction of causality between real AFDC benefits, the AFDC caseload, and unemployment. We then repeat the exercise using labor force participation rates rather than unemployment rates. The paper concludes with a summary of the results and their qualifications.
3-Year Actuarial Biochemical Recurrence-Free Survival Following Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy: Experience From a Tertiary Referral Center in the United States

Purpose: We performed a prospective analysis of pathological and oncological outcomes following laparoscopic radical prostatectomy at a medical center in the United States.Materials and Methods: A total of 528 men underwent laparoscopic radical prostatectomy between April 2001 and August 2005. We excluded 4 open surgical conversions (0.8%) and 16 men (3.0%) without followup. The remaining 508 men had a mean preoperative prostate specific antigen of 6.0 ng/ml (range 0.3 to 27) and Gleason score of 6.3 (range 6 to 10). Stage was cT1b in 1 case (0.2%), cT1c in 350 (68.9%), cT2a in 135 (26.6%), cT2b in 21 (4.1%) and cT2c in 1 (0.2%). Of the patients 89% underwent cavernous nerve preservation. Biochemical recurrence was defined and timed at the first prostate specific antigen of 0.2 ng/ml or greater if at repeat testing it remained 0.2 ng/ml or greater.Results: Mean followup was 13.2 months (median 12, range 2 to 52). Pathological stage was pT0N0/Nx in 2 men (0.4%), pT2N0/Nx in 414 (81.5%), pT3aN0/Nx in 72 (14...
Determination of the column hold-up volume in supercritical fluid chromatography using nitrous-oxide

This study introduces a new tracer that is useful for the determination of the hold-up time or volume of packed columns, particularly of those used in supercritical fluid chromatography. The thermodynamic void volume of three columns packed with different adsorbents were determined using the weight difference method. These void volumes were used as the reference point in the further discussion. The hold-up volumes of these columns were determined under dynamic conditions, using nitrous oxide dissolved in methanol as the hold-up time marker. Changes in the hold-up volumes of these columns were monitored during changes of the volumetric flow rate of pure supercritical carbon dioxide and of dilute mixtures of organic modifier and supercritical carbon dioxide. The results suggest significant methanol enrichment on the adsorbent surface.
In Situ Studies of the Sol−Gel Synthesis of Materials

The use of in situ methods to study the synthesis of materials from sol−gel precursors is reviewed, with particular emphasis on the formation of crystalline phases from solid gel precursors and the crystallization of zeolitic materials from solution under hydrothermal conditions. A wide range of studies that have been performed under nonambient conditions are discussed under the following headings: X-ray and neutron methods, spectroscopic and resonance methods, and imaging methods. Some current trends and future developments are assessed.
Experimental Infections with Anaerobic Bacteria in Mice

Experimental anaerobic infections in mice are reviewed with a description of a model of pure Bacteroides fragilis infection. In this experimental situation, B. fragilis produces large subcutaneous abscesses in the groins of mice that can be diagnosed without autopsy. This infection was treated effectively with clindamycin in doses that produced levels of drug in blood similar to those attainable in humans. During the past three years, our group has been involved in the development of experimental anaerobic infections in mice. When these inves
Designing user services on a PC LAN

Personal Computer (PC) Local Area Networks (LANs) have gained a lot of press attention recently. PC use has proliferated in many businesses and schools, and LANs provide connectivity opportunities for these formerly isolated computers. Commercial LAN hardware has been on the market for several years, and has matured sufficiently to be reliable and cost effective. Recently, Microsoft developed the Network Basic Operating System (NETBIOS), and it promises to standardize the PC LAN market in much the same way that Microsoft's Disk Operating System (DOS) has done for PCs.The most efficacious use of these new LANs would be one that emphasize its unique characteristics. These characteristics can be summarized as: Employs PCs as the main nodes of the network.Provides peer-to-peer communication services.Allows sharing of PC peripherals, such as printers and hard disks.Uses DOS as its base.Runs software based upon earlier, stand-alone versions of DOS.The new DOS-based networks are ideally designed for general purpose user services. Specific retail or industrial applications are still best solved by multi-user systems with terminals. It is when the computing needs are diverse that a PC LAN, with its ability to run the thousands of software packages already available for DOS, is best suited.With the idea of providing user services on a PC LAN established, it is helpful to examine what current LAN software provides. NET software1 has seemingly developed in the same, infamous, way of DOS, and thus may have some deficiencies to correct before being successfully used.
Lesion progression and plaque composition are not altered in older apoE−/− mice lacking tumor necrosis factor-α receptor p55

Abstract Background: Inflammatory processes are an integral component of the initiation, progression, and destabilization of atherosclerotic lesions. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) is considered a primary mediator of inflammatory processes. Methods and results: The role of TNF-α in plaque progression and plaque destabilization was investigated in the innominate arteries of older TNF-α receptor p55 deficient mice that were generated on a hyperlipidemic apolipoprotein E deficient background (p55−/− apoE−/−). There were no significant differences in levels of circulating cytokines, plaque progression, plaque composition or features of plaque destabilization in p55−/− apoE−/− compared to wild type (p55+/+ apoE−/−) mice. Conclusions: Progression and destabilization of advanced atherosclerotic lesions does not seem to be mediated via the TNF-α receptor p55.
Unraveling the mechanism of protein N-glycosylation.

Asparagine-linked glycosylation is the most ubiquitous protein co-translational modification in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The enzyme that catalyzes this process is called oligosaccharyl transferase (OT). It catalyzes the transfer of an oligosaccharyl moiety (Glc3Man9GlcNAc2) from the dolichol-linked pyrophosphate donor to the side chain of Asn within a consensus sequence of Asn-X-Thr/Ser, where X can be any amino acid residue except for Pro (1–3). This modification serves as a primary determinant for specific molecular recognition as well as protein folding and stability (4, 5) and therefore is an essential and highly conserved protein modification pathway in eukaryotic cells. It has been established in both yeast and higher eukaryotic organisms that this enzyme exists as a heteromeric, multisubunit complex in the ER membrane. In the last decade, because of the facility of yeast genetics, genes encoding 9 OT subunits in Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been cloned and identified (for review see Ref. 2 and earlier studies cited therein). Among them, the five genes encoding Ost1p, Ost2p, Stt3p, Wbp1p, and Swplp are essential for the viability of the cell; the OST4 gene is essential for growth of the cell at 37 °C but not at 25 °C; Ost3p, Ost5p, and Ost6p subunits are not essential for the viability of the yeast cell but are required for maximal enzyme activity. At present, many mammalian OT subunit proteins have also been identified, and some of them share high sequence identity and similarity with yeast homologs. Four of them were isolated from highly purified and active enzyme fractions: ribophorin I (homolog of yeast Ost1p), ribophorin II (homolog of yeast Swp1p), OST48 (homolog of yeast Wbp1p), and DAD1 (homolog of yeast Ost2p) (6–10). Recently STT3-A and STT3-B (homologs of yeast Stt3p), N33 and implantation-associated protein (homologs of yeast Ost3p and Ost6p, respectively), as well as OST4 (homolog of yeast Ost4p) have been characterized by genome-wide searches (11). These proteins have been demonstrated to be assembled together with ribophorin I, ribophorin II, OST48, and DAD1 into a multimeric complex similar to the yeast OT (11). Although genetic studies have yielded considerable information on this enzyme complex, one of the fundamental questions, the enzymatic mechanism of N-glycosylation, has remained unanswered. Specifically, the substrate recognition and/or catalytic sites, the role of each of the subunits, and how they interact structurally has continued to be obscure. In this review, we focus on explorations developed within the past 5 years to clarify the mechanism of this highly conserved protein modification pathway as well as the function of each of the subunits.
Petascale Direct Numerical Simulation of Blood Flow on 200K Cores and Heterogeneous Architectures

We present a fast, petaflop-scalable algorithm for Stokesian particulate flows. Our goal is the direct simulation of blood, which we model as a mixture of a Stokesian fluid (plasma) and red blood cells (RBCs). Directly simulating blood is a challenging multiscale, multiphysics problem. We report simulations with up to 200 million deformable RBCs. The largest simulation amounts to 90 billion unknowns in space. In terms of the number of cells, we improve the state-of-the art by several orders of magnitude: the previous largest simulation, at the same physical fidelity as ours, resolved the flow of O(1,000-10,000) RBCs. Our approach has three distinct characteristics: (1) we faithfully represent the physics of RBCs by using nonlinear solid mechanics to capture the deformations of each cell; (2) we accurately resolve the long-range, N-body, hydrodynamic interactions between RBCs (which are caused by the surrounding plasma); and (3) we allow for the highly non-uniform distribution of RBCs in space. The new method has been implemented in the software library MOBO (for “Moving Boundaries”). We designed MOBO to support parallelism at all levels, including inter-node distributed memory parallelism, intra-node shared memory parallelism, data parallelism (vectorization), and fine-grained multithreading for GPUs. We have implemented and optimized the majority of the computation kernels on both Intel/AMD x86 and NVidia's Tesla/Fermi platforms for single and double floating point precision. Overall, the code has scaled on 256 CPU-GPUs on the Teragrid's Lincoln cluster and on 200,000 AMD cores of the Oak Ridge national Laboratory's Jaguar PF system. In our largest simulation, we have achieved 0.7 Petaflops/s of sustained performance on Jaguar.
Abstract 4496: Differential inhibition by microtubule stabilizing agents of 2-(m-azidobenzoyl)Taxol photoaffinity labeling of tubulins from different eukaryotic sources.

Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC Distinct α- and β-tubulin isotypes are present in different quantities in diverse eukaryotic cells. The tritium-labeled photoaffinity Taxol analog, 2-(m-azidobenzoyl)Taxol, was used to photolabel tubulins prepared from HeLa cells, bovine brain and chicken erythrocytes. A 5-fold molar excess of unlabeled compound inhibited the photolabeling of tubulin by >90%, demonstrating the specificity of this photolabeling. Tubulin isotype content varies from one source to another, particularly for chicken erythrocytes that contain only one α-tubulin and one β-tubulin (α1 and βVI). 2-(m-azidobenzoyl)Taxol photoaffinity labeling of tubulin was carried out in the presence of six different microtubule stabilizing agents, including Taxol, epothilone B, discodermolide, ixabepilone, laulimalide and peloruside A. The inhibitory effects elicited by Taxol, epothilone B, discodermolide and ixabepilone, at a 5-fold molar excess, on photolabeling are different for tubulins prepared from different sources. Taxol had a minimal inhibitory effect on HeLa and bovine brain tubulin, but a strong inhibitory effect on chicken erythrocyte tubulin. Discodermolide exhibited opposite effects on photolabeling, compared to those of Taxol. This is most likely due to the presence of distinct tubulin isotypes in different sources. However, laulimalide and peloruside A that are known to bind to a different site than Taxol in β-tubulin, stimulated photolabeling of tubulins from all three sources. Stathmin (S) plays an important role in the regulation of microtubule dynamics through sequestering tubulin (T) into a T2S complex. When stathmin was incubated, in the presence of 1 mM CaCl2, with chicken erythrocyte tubulin at a tubulin:stathmin ratio of 2:1, followed by incubation with tritium-labeled 2-(m-azidobenzoyl)Taxol in a buffer containing EGTA, photolabeling of β-tubulin was markedly reduced, suggesting that stathmin inhibited binding of Taxol to tubulin. Radiolabeled photoaffinity drug analogs are useful tools for determining drug binding affinities for the different tubulin isotypes. We are currently analyzing binding affinities of 2-(m-azidobenzoyl)Taxol to different bovine brain tubulin isotypes resolved by isoelectrofocusing. Citation Format: Chia-Ping H. Yang, Hui Xiao, Susan Band Horwitz. Differential inhibition by microtubule stabilizing agents of 2-(m-azidobenzoyl)Taxol photoaffinity labeling of tubulins from different eukaryotic sources. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4496. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4496
Market Timing for the Individual Investor: Using the Predictability of Long-Horizon Stock Returns to Enhance Portfolio Performance

Abstract Recent research indicates that dividend yield and earnings-price ratio can partially predict long-horizon stock returns. We examine whether individual investors can successfully construct timing portfolios based on either of these variables or a measure of the expected market risk premium. The out-of-sample tests in this study require that investors rely only on information that was available at the time of the market-timing decision. Timing portfolios based on the market risk premium show the strongest ability to time the market. We present an economic rationale for the results that is consistent with efficient markets.
Strontium alters the complexed acidic phospholipid content of mineralizing tissues

High dietary strontium induces rickets in both calcium-replete and calcium-deficient animals. To test the hypothesis that strontium directly perturbs complexed acidic phospholipid (CPLX) metabolism and thus, mineralization, the effect of strontium treatment on CPLX formation was studied in solution, in culture, and in growing rats. Synthetic CPLX containing calcium or strontium were found to be similar in composition. Strontium, however, appeared to incorporate into CPLX less avidly than calcium. Mineralizing chick limb bud mesenchymal cell cultures treated with strontium demonstrated a significantly increased CPLX content and decreased 45Ca uptake compared to calcium-treated cultures. Long bones from young growing rats fed a diet supplemented with strontium demonstrated defective mineralization based on radiologic and histologic analyses. Metaphyseal bone of strontium-fed rats contained significantly greater amounts of CPLX and had significantly lower ash weights compared with control bone. Thus, treatment of mineralizing tissues with strontium both in vitro and in vivo resulted in defective mineralization and an accumulation of CPLX. Strontium appears to perturb mineralization, in part, by a direct effect on the cells of mineralizing tissues.
A comparative study of stripe noise on MODIS and VIIRS thermal emissive bands

Following successful launch of NPP satellite in October 2011, the VIIRS instrument started delivering high quality radiances from which improved Sea Surface Temperature (SST) products are generated. The design of VIIRS instrument is similar to the MODIS sensor, which includes a double sided mirror re ecting the Earth's radiance to 10 individual detectors. Despite pre-launch characterization and the use of on-board calibration systems, persistent discrepancies between detectors radiometric responses often lead to striping in the level 1 imagery, which is then propagated into level 2 derived geophysical products. The determination of calibration- based uncertainties in level 1 radiances is necessary to further improve the quality of ocean products. This paper characterizes radiometric errors between the multiple detectors and mirror-sides in MODIS and VIIRS thermal emissive bands. A unidirectional variational model is applied on several scenes corresponding to clear-sky top-of- atmosphere ocean radiances to extract the scan line noise due to potential detector-to-detector, mirror-side and random stripes. Data from Terra and Aqua MODIS and NPP VIIRS sensors is used to evaluate and compare the degree of stripe noise in emissive bands used to generate SST products.
Grip Lock Injuries to the Forearm in Male Gymnasts

We performed an epidemiologic survey to estimate the number of grip lock injuries occurring among male high school and college gymnasts. These injuries occur when dowel grips used by the gymnast become locked on the bar as the gymnast's momentum carries him through the skill being performed. We also questioned injured gymnasts to obtain details of their injuries. Thirty-eight high school coaches reported 17 injuries and 32 college coaches reported 21 injuries for a 10-year period; 36% of the coaches responding reported at least one such injury in their program. Of the 23 injured gymnasts who returned detailed questionnaires, 20 had sustained fractures and 9 required surgery. The distal forearm or wrist were the areas injured most often. Fourteen gymnasts had residual pain, seven had functional limitations, and eight had limited motion in the wrist. Fifteen of the 23 athletes were using a cubital (hyperpronated) grip at the time of injury and 19 were using dowel grips. Among the reasons cited for the injury, 18 gymnasts thought that their grips were either too large, worn, or stretched; 8 said the grips slid up their wrists, and 7 cited technical errors.
Modelling of crystallization in stereoblock polypropylene. Idealized structures showing the effects of isotactic block lengths and their polydispersity

Abstract Characterizing partially crystalline isotactic polypropylene can be carried out by extractions which are based on decreases in solubility with increased crystallinity, which in turn increases with increased isotactic block length. The present investigation employs Monte Carlo techniques to model how crystallization in polypropylene might depend on increase in isotactic block length (with the overall isotacticity either increasing or being held constant), and on its distribution (polydispersity). While isotactic block length was found to have a strong effect on the characteristics of crystallization, it should have less effect on elastomeric moduli calculated from the number density of crystallites (when functioning as volume-less cross-links). In contrast, block-length polydispersity had little or no effect on the crystallization, but a rather unusual effect on mechanical properties. These dependences may be due to the assumption that the elastomeric moduli depended only on the number density of the crystallites, without account for size effects such as large crystallites also functioning as filler particles.
Liberal Arts Skills, Psychology Baccalaureates, and First-Year Employment: Notes on a Meritocracy Hypothesis:

Selections from the career counseling literature indicated that the undergraduate psychology curriculum is a potential source of generic liberal arts skills—for example, numeracy, literacy, critica...
Ear effect variables and order of report in dichotic listening.

Summary This paper described an experiment designed to investigate the possibility that performance on a dichotic listening task would vary between sexes; that overall accuracy in reporting the digit presentations would improve as the test progressed; and that there would be a preference to report all digits of one ear before reporting any digits from the opposite ear. The results of this experiment confirmed earlier evidence that subjects are more efficient at recalling digits presented to the right ear than to the left. Since the left cerebral hemisphere is dominant for speech, it seems reasonable to accept the contention of stronger contralateral than ipsilateral auditory nerve pathways. As was expected, there was no difference between sexes on the test, presumably because cerebral dominance is well established for all normal adults. Although there were exceptions, the subjects as a group did not progressively improve in overall proficiency at reporting the digits they heard. Finally, in spite of an earlier finding to the contrary, no statistically significant order of report preference was found in this study. It was theorized that if such a preference does exist under certain conditions, it may be due to the same factors which cause the right-ear effect.
Comparable and Yet Context-Sensitive? Improving Evaluation in Violently Divided Societies Through Methodology

This article shows that the current stalemate in peacebuilding evaluation is due to disagreements between donor agencies, practitioners and scholar-practitioners about the necessity, appropriate le...
Fatty Acid Composition at the Base of Aquatic Food Webs Is Influenced by Habitat Type and Watershed Land Use

Spatial variation in food resources strongly influences many aspects of aquatic consumer ecology. Although large-scale controls over spatial variation in many aspects of food resources are well known, others have received little study. Here we investigated variation in the fatty acid (FA) composition of seston and primary consumers within (i.e., among habitats) and among tributary systems of Lake Michigan, USA. FA composition of food is important because all metazoans require certain FAs for proper growth and development that cannot be produced de novo, including many polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Here we sampled three habitat types (river, rivermouth and nearshore zone) in 11 tributaries of Lake Michigan to assess the amount of FA in seston and primary consumers of seston. We hypothesize that among-system and among-habitat variation in FAs at the base of food webs would be related to algal production, which in turn is influenced by three land cover characteristics: 1) combined agriculture and urban lands (an indication of anthropogenic nutrient inputs that fuel algal production), 2) the proportion of surface waters (an indication of water residence times that allow algal producers to accumulate) and 3) the extent of riparian forested buffers (an indication of stream shading that reduces algal production). Of these three land cover characteristics, only intense land use appeared to strongly related to seston and consumer FA and this effect was only strong in rivermouth and nearshore lake sites. River seston and consumer FA composition was highly variable, but that variation does not appear to be driven by the watershed land cover characteristics investigated here. Whether the spatial variation in FA content at the base of these food webs significantly influences the production of economically important species higher in the food web should be a focus of future research.
Concerning voids in polyimide

Dimension et concentration des vides dans le poly N,N'-bis(phenoxyphenyl)pyromellitimide par diffusion RX aux petits angles
Universalisability and egoism

(1968). Universalisability and egoism. Australasian Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 46, No. 3, pp. 242-264.
α1-Antichymotrypsin is associated solely with amyloid deposits containing the β-protein. Amyloid and cell localization of α1-antichymotrypsin

Our recent studies demonstrated that alpha 1-antichymotrypsin (ACT), a serine protease inhibitor, was associated with the beta-protein in the brain amyloid deposits of Alzheimer's disease, aged human controls and aged monkeys, suggesting a role for the inhibitor in the amyloid deposition. In the present study we used immunohistochemistry to test for the presence of ACT in the amyloid deposits which contain, as their major component, a protein different from the beta-protein. ACT was not found in the amyloid deposits in primary or secondary amyloidosis, familial and amyloidotic polyneuropathy or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (non-beta-protein amyloidoses), but was found (together with beta-protein) in Alzheimer's disease, Down's syndrome, normal aging, and hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis of Dutch origin. These results suggest a specific association of ACT with beta-protein amyloid. We next examined the distribution of the inhibitor in normal human brain and in various human neuropathological states in order to identify cells that express this protein during brain degeneration. In addition to its association with amyloid, ACT immunoreactivity was also located in astrocytes near areas of neuronal or tissue loss, in a few neurons and pericytes and in the epithelium of the choroid plexus.
Perspectives on… Roaches, Guerrillas, and “Librarians on the Loose”

Sophistication and accessibility can be dangerous bedfellows, especially when it comes to information sources. One of the real challenges in undergraduate academic libraries can be connecting students in a meaningful way to the resources that will be most helpful and understandable for them. This article discusses how techniques borrowed from the world of business and marketing, as well as customer service techniques, can provide some useful strategies for librarians serving undergraduates.
Somatic versus reproductive energy allocation in Papua New Guinea: Life history theory and public health policy

A fundamental evolutionary problem faced by organisms is how to allocate energy to somatic and reproductive functions in ways that optimize fitness. Given that energy is limited in all environments, energy allocation necessarily involves physiological tradeoffs between such factors as growth and reproduction, reproduction and condition, and current reproduction and future survival. Ultimately, the "decisions" that are made about energy allocation among growth, survival, and reproduction determine life history patterns and trajectories of organisms. For humans, knowing how energy allocation to reproduction will likely impact other aspects of the somatic well-being of individuals may also have practical implications for public health policy. This article reviews the evidence for energy tradeoffs between somatic and reproductive functioning in a range of human societies. It also seeks to corroborate the results of earlier work in Papua New Guinea on lactation-related maternal energy depletion using an independent measure of maternal energy reserves, tetrapolar bioelectrical impedance analysis. The current analysis shows that maternal energy reserves decline over the course of lactation and that a cumulative parity-specific decline in maternal energy reserves also exists. A longitudinal follow-up of five women over 11 years shows the decline to amount to about 3 mm of subcutaneous fat per round of pregnancy and lactation. The results corroborate predictions from life history theory and have applied public health implications. In particular, It is suggested that policies such as lactation advocacy that encourage enhanced energy allocation to reproduction in order to promote child health may have the unintended result of compromising maternal well-being, particularly in nations of the developing world. Consequently, it is recommended that nutritional support of mothers be implemented in concert with lactation promotion.
Eating Patterns and Disorders in a College Population: Are College Women's Eating Problems a New Phenomenon?.

This paper examines the relationship between gender differences in eating patterns among college students and the disorders as clinically defined. A considerable number of college women but few men in our sample show behavioral patterns associated with an eating disorder (anorexia or bulimia). Our findings for women are in the moderate to high range for these symptoms, compared with other university populations. Results indicate that the eating difficulties of college women may be an eating problem, which only partially resembles clinical eating disorders. Although our female college sample displays the behavioral symptoms associated with anorexia and bulimia, they exhibit few of the constellation of psychological traits associated with these disorders. Some evidence suggests that the etiology of eating problems may be partly related to women wanting to be thinner than is medically desirable and may represent a response of “normal” women to the new, more demanding cultural and supercultural standards for thinness. Diagnosis and treatment issues as well as sociocultural implications of these results are discussed.
Bloom dynamics of toxic Alexandrium species in the northeastern U.S

Coastal waters of the northeastern U.S. are subject to recurrent outbreaks of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) caused by toxic dinoflagellates in the genus Alexandrium. PSP is not uniform across the large region, but instead reflects Alexandrium growth and toxin accumulation in five separate habitats or zones defined by circulation patterns and the discontinuous distribution of the dinoflagellates. Each of these habitats has a unique set of environmental and oceanographic forcings that determine the timing and extent of bloom development and transport and that regulate the extent of genetic exchange with adjacent populations. Several habitats (e.g. the southwestern Gulf of Maine, Massachusetts Bay, and Georges Bank) are linked hydrographically and may share the same Alexandrium population via large-scale transport in a. coastal current, whereas the other two habitats (eastern Maine and southern salt ponds-embayments) seem to be isolated and have little or no hydrographic or genetic linkage to adjacent regions during bloom seasons. My paper provides an overview of the regional ecology and oceanography of Alexandrium through a focus on these five subpopulations. Issues that relate to PSP and Alexandrium dynamics throughout the world are highlighted, including species dispersal, the role of cysts and “initiation zones” in bloom development, and the influence of large- and small-scale hydrography on population development and transport. The ability of Alexandrium to colonize multiple habitats and to persist over a large region is emphasized in recognition of the adaptability and resilience of this important organism.
Male-female spacing patterns in the lizard, Sceloporus virgatus

The spatial distribution of Sceloporus virgatus in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona was studied during the breeding season. Male home ranges were, on average, more than four times larger than those of females. Home range overlap of both sexes was extensive, with most individuals overlapping multiple males and multiple females. Home range overlap of males with females was significantly correlated with an independently calculated estimate of male mating success. For most females (71%), one of the males overlapped a substantially larger portion of her home range than any other male. Similarly, for most females (76%) a single one of the overlapping males courted the female more often or was sighted at closer distances to the female. The remaining females did not associate primarily with a single male.