cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Maquiladoras: An Important Asset For Mexicos Economy

Maquiladoras are foreign-owned companies located for the most part along the California and Texas border in Mexico. Because of particular customs treatments, very low wages compared to wages in the United States, and the geographic proximity to the United States, maquiladoras represent a strong attraction for American investors and corporations. Maquiladoras are also an important asset for the Mexican economy and are accountable for about 45% of Mexicos total exports. Finally, maquiladoras are an important source of job opportunities for the Mexican workforce today and in the future.
Calcium: Properties and Determination

Calcium is an essential mineral nutrient for both plants and animals. It is a soft alkaline earth metal with a shiny silver surface, which does not exist as a pure element in nature. This article focuses on the basics of calcium chemistry, dietary intake and the influence of food composition, food processing and bioavailability, and methods of calcium analysis in foods and biological samples.
FOLKLORE AND ETHNO-NATIONALISM IN MEXICAN AMERICAN LITERARY PRODUCTION. ADAPTATION AND TRANSFORMATION OF INDIGENOUS FOLK ICONS IN THE CHICANO MOVEMENT FOLKLORA IN ETNO-NACIONALIZEM V MEHIŠKOAMERIŠKI LITERARNI PRODUKCIJI: PRILAGODITEV IN PREOBLIKOVANJE DOMAČINSKIH IKON V ČIKANSKEM GIBANJU

In this study I examine the adaptation and transformation of indigenous myths and legends, particularly the La Llorona, La Malinche and the Virgin of Guadalupe myths, within the explosive Mexican American ethno-nationalist movement from the turbulent 1960s and thereafter. I posit that ethno-nationalist movements as well as nationalist movements arising from marginalized groups in a nation find folk traditions indispensable for political resistance and affirmation purposes as well as for literary production which I argue is an integral part of nationalist movements. V tej razpravi obravnavam prilagajanje in spreminjanje domacinskih mitov in legend, zlasti mitov o Lloroni (Jokajoci ženi), Malinche (ženi Marini) in Devici guadelupski, v vznesenem mehisko-ameriskem etnonacionalisticnem gibanju od razburkanih 60. let prejsnjega stoletja naprej. Ugotavljam, da etnonacionalisticna kakor tudi nacionalisticna gibanja zapostavljenih skupin v naciji najdejo v ljudskem izrocilu mocno oporo za politicni odpor in samouveljavitev, pa tudi za literarno produkcijo, ki jo razumem kot sestavino nacionalisticnih gibanj.
Research on Nonequilibrium Phenomena at NASA Ames’s E.A.S.T. Facility

The paper reviews the recent experimental and theoretical research activities on nonequilibrium phenomena in hypersonic flows conducted at NASA Ames’s E.A.S.T. facility. The activities include: 1) assessment of our present capability of computing nonequilibrium radiative emission in the light of recent measurements in air and nitrogen in the facility, 2) research on expanding flows: measurements of nonequilibrium populations of 9 lower vibrational levels of nitrogen in an expanding flow, measurement of Landau-Teller correction factor for expanding flows and development of a 1-D nozzle code accounting for detailed state-by-state vibrational nonequilibrium, 3) study of flow phenomena in shock tubes using a time-accurate axisymmetric fluid code, and 4) analytical investigation of coupled rotational-vibrational-dissociation phenomena.
Adipose tissue fibrosis, hypertrophy, and hyperplasia: Correlations with diabetes in human obesity.

Objective The relationship between adipose tissue fibrosis, adipocyte hypertrophy, and preadipocyte hyperplasia in the context of obesity and the correlation of these tissue-based phenomena with systemic metabolic disease are poorly defined. The goal of this study was to clarify the relationship between adipose tissue fibrosis, adipocyte hypertrophy, and preadipocyte hyperplasia in human obesity and determine the correlation of these adipose-tissue based phenomena with diabetes. Methods Visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissues from humans with obesity collected during bariatric surgery were studied with QRTPCR, immunohistochemistry, and flow cytometry for expression of collagens and fibrosis-related proteins, adipocyte size, and preadipocyte frequency. Results were correlated with clinical characteristics including diabetes status. Results Fibrosis was decreased, hypertrophy was increased, and preadipocyte frequency and fibrotic gene expression were decreased in adipose tissues from diabetic subjects compared to non-diabetic subjects. These differences were greater in visceral compared to subcutaneous adipose tissue. Conclusions These data are consistent with the hypothesis that adipose tissue fibrosis in the context of human obesity limits adipocyte hypertrophy and is associated with a reciprocal increase in adipocyte hyperplasia, with beneficial effects on systemic metabolism. These findings suggest adipose tissue fibrosis as a potential target for manipulation of adipocyte metabolism.
Improving MANET Routing Protocols Through the Use of Geographical Information

This paper provides a summary of our research study of the location-aided routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks (MANET). This study focuses on the issue of using geographical location information to reduce the control traffic overhead associated with the route discovery process of the ad-hoc on demand distance vector (AODV) routing protocol. AODV performs route discovery by flooding the whole network with the route request packets. This results in unnecessarily large number of control packets traveling through the network. In this paper, we introduced a new Geographical AODV (GeoAODV) protocol that relies on location information to reduce the flooding area to a portion of the network that is likely contains a path to destination. Furthermore, we also compared GeoAODV performance with that of the Location Aided Routing (LAR) protocol and examined four mechanisms for reducing the size of the flooding area: LAR zone, LAR distance, GeoAODV static, and GeoAODV rotate. We employed OPNET Modeler version 16.0 software to implement these mechanisms and to compare their performance through simulation. Collected results suggest that location-aided routing can significantly reduce the control traffic overhead during the route discovery process. The comparison study revealed that the LAR zone protocol consistently generates fewer control packets than other location-aided mechanisms. However, LAR zone relies on the assumption that location information and traveling velocities of all the nodes are readily available throughout the network, which in many network environments is unrealistic. At the same time, the GeoAODV protocols make no such assumption and dynamically distribute location information during route discovery. Furthermore, the collected results showed that the performance of the GeoAODV rotate protocol was only slightly worse than that of LAR zone. We believe that even though GeoAODV rotate does not reduce the control traffic overhead by as much as LAR zone, it can become a preferred mechanism for route discovery in MANET.
Quantenmechanische Untersuchungen von Atom-, Bindungs-und Molekülpolarisierbarkeiten, spektroskopische Untersuchungen der Schwingungskonstanten und statistische Thermodynamik: Perchloryl- und Perbromylfluorid

Perchloryl- und Perbromylfluorid haben dreizahlige Symmetrie. Ihre IR- und Ramanspektren sowie die Ergebnisse von Untersuchungen der Molekulstruktur und andere spektroskopische Untersuchungen werden kurz besprochen. Aus den verschiedenen quantenmechanischen Modellen wird das Deltafunktion-Potentialmodell, das aus der Variationsmethode und den Deltafunktions-Elektronenwellenfunktionen beruht, ausgewahlt, um die Atompolarisierbarkeiten, die zur Bindungsachse parallelen und auf sie senkrecht stehenden Beitrage der bindenden und der nichtbindenden Elektronen zur Polarisierbarkeit und die mittlere molekulare Polarisierbarkeit der beiden Molekule zu berechnen. Mit Hilfe gruppentheoretischer Uberlegungen werden die Konstanten der potentiellen Energie berechnet. Hierzu wird ein Bindungskraftfeld mit sechs Konstanten angenommen. Fur das erhaltene Kraftfeld werden fur 298 und 500 °K die Wurzeln der mittleren Amplitudenquadrate der gebundenen und der nichtgebundenen Atompaare berechnet. Unter der Annahme des Modells eines starren Rotators und harmonischen Oszillators werden fur den Temperaturbereich 200 bis 2000 °K die Enthalpiefunktion, die freie Energiefunktion, die Entropie und die Molwarme der beiden Molekule berechnet. Die Ergebnisse werden hinsichtlich der Natur der beiden in den Molekulen vorliegenden charakteristischen Bindungen besprochen.
Navier-Stokes predictions of pitch damping for finned projectiles using steady coning motion

Previous theoretical investigations have proposed that the side force and moment acting on a body of revolution in steady coning motion could be related to the pitch-damping force and moment. In the current research effort, this approach has been applied to produce the first known Navier-Stokes predictions of the pitch damping for finned projectiles. The flow field about finned kinetic energy projectiles in steady coning motion has been successfully computed using a parabolized Navier-Stokes computational approach. The computations make use of a rotating coordinate frame in order to solve the steady flow equations. From the computed flow field, the side moment due to coning motion is used to determine the pitchdamping coefficient. The computational predictions of the slope of the side moment coefficient with coning rate normalized by the sine of the angle of attack have been compared with pitch damping coefficients determined from range firings for two finned projectile configurations. The predictions show good agreement with the range data. This computational approach provides a significant predictive capability for the design of kinetic energy projectiles whose terminal ballistic performance can be degraded by moderate levels of yaw at the target. Nomenclature a00 freestream speed of sound c m pitching moment coefficient c m , slope of the pitching moment coefficient with angle of attack Cm, + Cm, pitch damping moment coefficient c n side moment coefficient * Senior Member, AIAA t Associate Fellow, AIAA Cn, slope of the side moment coefficient mith angle of attack c n slope of the side moment coefficient with coning rate c n , Magnus moment coefficient Chra slope of the normal force coefficient with angle of attack CN, + CN, pitch damping force coefficient slope of the side force coefficient with coning rate Magnus force coefficient projectile diameter total energy per unit volume flux vectors in transformed coordinates source term in Navier-Stokes eqs. jacobian characteristic length, typically D freestream Mach number pressure, as used in N-S eqs. spin rate, as used roll equations freestream static pressure Reynolds number, amp, Dip, distance downrange center of gravity shift, calibers viscous flux vector reference area of projectile, 7 r ~ ~ / 4 time velocity components in x,y,z directions freest ream velocity Cartesian coordinates w.r.t. body axial location of body center of gravity Note: Force coefficients are scaled, F / ; ~ , a& M& Srej ; Moment coefficients are scaled, M / f p, a& M& DS,,~
Design and Implementation of ERP Practical Analysis System

In order to give full play to the important role in the information construction for promoting the change of enterprise development modes, and to promote the deepening application of power grid enterprise information system ERP, this paper researches and determines indexes of practical analysis and evaluation, designs and implements an ERP practical analysis system, according to the demands of evaluation and analysis of the practical ERP system of SGCC. At present, the system has been completed and put into use in power companies in all of the whole country, played an important role for power grid enterprises in improving ERP operation efficiency, optimizing ERP system's quality of service, and enhancing the level of ERP practical analysis and evaluation.
Detection of Pathogen RT-PCR of HFMD in Guilin,2010

Objective To identify the characteristics of pathogens causing Hand-foot-and-mouth disease(HFMD) in Guilin in 2010 and the distribution features of their genotypes for further controlling work.Methods Totally 1 144 stool samples of patients infected with HFMD were collected as specimens and were tested by means of RT-PCR to indentify such enterovirus as EV71,CoxA16,etc.Results The overall positive rate of enterovirus among the 1 144 samples was 71.94%(823/1 144).The positive rates of EV71 and CoxA16 were respectively 44.32%(507/1 144) and 1.74%(20/1 144),and the added-positive rate of non-EV71 and non-CoxA16 enterovirus was 25.87%(296/1 144).Conclusion The pathogens causing HFMDs in Guilin are mainly EV71.
Clinical and Molecular Evaluation of Acetowhite Genital Lesions in Men

A total of 108 male partners of women with cervical condyloma and/or dysplasia underwent evaluation for gross and subclinical condyloma via acetic acid screening with a magnified examination. Biopsies of acetowhite genital skin were obtained for histological and deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization analysis. Of the men 52 (49%) had acetowhite lesions and underwent biopsies, 44 of which were evaluable by histological and deoxyribonucleic acid analyses. Of the lesions 12 had features of condyloma or penile intra-epithelial neoplasia, among which 7 (58%) contained human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid. The remaining 32 lesions revealed minimal histological changes sometimes suggesting condyloma. However, only 5 of the 32 biopsies (16%) contained human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid. A tendency to overdiagnose condyloma based on histological findings is suggested. Criteria by which to identify best human papillomavirus-related morphology are presented. Acetowhite genital epithelia with minor (nonspecific) histological changes correlate poorly with human papillomavirus nucleic acids and in most cases do not represent disease involving common viral types. The application of appropriate histological criteria appears to be particularly relevant to management strategies that avoid overtreatment of minor epithelial abnormalities. It remains unclear whether acetowhite genital epithelia positive for human papillomavirus require treatment given the high tendency for recurrence and lack of demonstrated effect on the natural history of cervical carcinoma.
A Time Series Analysis and Forecasting of Opening Stock Price of McDonalds Crop.

McDonald’s Corp. is globally famous and is abounded in recent years. It is one of the major chain restaurants that offers a fast food. Basic foods that are served at McDonald’s are different types and sizes of burgers, fries, some breakfast, sweets, ice cream and kid’s meals. McDonald’s products have increased loyalty from customers, which has led to the rise of an uneven stock price. So the data is not stationary and makes the role of the analyst’s ability to forecast the future condition of the organization important. The aim of this paper is to analyze and forecast the opening stock price of McDonald’s Corp. over a period time
Lithium Transport in Major Affective Disorders: A Model System for Membrane-Plasma and Genetic-Physiologic Interactions

As mentioned in the introduction to this symposium and in Dr. Duhm’s paper, there appear to be both genetic and physiologic influences on the rate of sodium-dependent lithium efflux in human red blood cells (RBCs). We have been interested in biological measurements for diagnosing and treating patients with major affective disorders, but are still quite far from the time when we will be able to use this or any biological marker for definitively diagnosing or predicting treatment response. Our investigations have begun to unravel several physiologic and genetic influences on this measurement, a necessary prerequisite for its clinical application. Our findings of the observed influences on lithium transport suggest its use as an example of a sodium-dependent membrane function that can be influenced by both genetic and physiologic parameters (Fig. 1). Genetic factors control the amount of synthesized peptide, its primary structure, and hence its efficiency in catalyzing the exchange of sodium and lithium across the RBC membrane. Membrane factors not directly under genetic control are the rate of cell membrane turnover and the composition of the nonprotein portion of the membrane. From the plasma side of the membrane we see the influence of a variety of externally-associated factors ranging in size from very small molecules, such as peptides and steroid hormones, to very large lipoprotein complexes known to be in active, dynamic equilibrium with the lipoprotein components of the RBC membrane (1). Transfer proteins also regulate membrane structure and function by controlling the rate of incorporation of plasma components into the cell membrane (2). This model attempts to describe the RBC membrane as a dynamic entity, which, although it has certain stable genetically-controlled properties, is susceptible to a number of time-dependent physiologic perturbations that may either increase or decrease the relative rate of ion transport, and hence affect intracellular to extracellular ion distribution ratios. Using this model system we can explore these interactions, their relationship to the ion balance of the cell, and their potential clinical significance.
Burns: Office Evaluation and Management

Accidental burn injuries are common. Estimates by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare indicate that two million individuals of all ages sustain burn injuries each year. One hundred thousand of these require hospitalization and the remainder are managed as out-patients. Physicians involved in primary care are potentially responsible for initial evaluation, decision-making about referral and hospitalization, and office treatment of individuals who do not require hospitalization.
Effect of pentoxifylline on changes in neutrophil sequestration and emigration in the lungs

The response of neutrophils to inflammatory stimuli includes sequestration, adhesion, and migration. Pentoxifylline protects against many neutrophil-mediated lung injuries. This study investigated whether pentoxifylline prevented changes in neutrophil kinetics induced by infusion of complement fragments or neutrophil emigration induced by Streptococcus pneumoniae. Complement fragments were infused in New Zealand White rabbits treated with pentoxifylline or saline, and the circulating neutrophil counts in the arterial and venous blood samples were measured. Neutrophil emigration was induced by intrabronchial instillation of S. pneumoniae and quantitated morphometrically. The results show that, at doses achievable in vivo, pentoxifylline did not prevent either the CD18-dependent or -independent phase of complement-mediated neutrophil sequestration within the pulmonary microvasculature or the release of neutrophils from the bone marrow. Pentoxifylline also did not alter either the deformability of unstimulated leukocytes or stimulus-induced decreases in deformability. Finally, neutrophil emigration into the alveolar space was neither attenuated nor accentuated by pentoxifylline. These data suggest that, in vivo, pentoxifylline does not protect against lung injury by inhibiting neutrophil sequestration or emigration and may act to alter the generation of mediators that affect neutrophil behavior, rather than acting directly on neutrophils.
Causal Effects of Language on the Exchange of Social Support in an Online Community

Abstract The provision of social support is a common function of many online communities, but a full understanding of the causal effect of emotion language on the provision of support requires experimental study. The frequency of positive- and negative-emotion words in simulated posts requesting emotional support was manipulated and presented to a sample of college students (N = 442) who were randomly assigned to read one of four simulated posts. Participants completed measures of the original poster's (OP's) distress, and they provided a response to the simulated post. These responses were subjected to a computerized text analysis, and their overall effectiveness was rated by two independent judges. Fewer positive-emotion and more negative-emotion words in the simulated post led to perceptions that the OP was distressed and unable to cope. Participant-generated responses to the post were highest in positive-emotion words when the simulated post was high in positive-emotion words, but low in negative-emot...
Climate Discourse and the Ontology of the Citizen

Deliberative mechanisms surrounding climate change politics in advanced democracies have, for some time, been at the mercy of ideological and political economic commitments. One need only to look at the banning of protests and marches during the 2015 COP21 international climate talks in Paris, or the historical risk assessments of violent international conflict linked to climate concerns by Germany and the US to see that the political institutionalization of climate change is pervasive. On the other hand, the discursive demarcation by climate science has consistently taken up two arguments in opposition to climate politics: (a) the view that political discourses on climate variability should rest on climatological models and the research of climate experts, and (b) that the climatological data itself serves as the impartial intermediary through which we can provide an empirical refutation to ideological rhetoric and economic influences on climate change politics. I contend that in the attempt to bridge the political and scientific camps we transpose a central feature in democratic climate deliberation—namely, the ontology of the citizen; who in the discursive bridge is relegated to a medium of exchange for both camps, rather than a commensurate party in the climatological discussion.
In vitro susceptibility of β-lactamase-producing carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) to eravacycline

In vitro susceptibility of β-lactamase-producing carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) to eravacycline
Sharing-Aware Online Virtual Machine Packing in Heterogeneous Resource Clouds

One of the key problems that cloud providers need to efficiently solve when offering on-demand virtual machine (VM) instances to a large number of users is the VM Packing problem, a variant of Bin Packing. The VM Packing problem requires determining the assignment of user requested VM instances to physical servers such that the number of physical servers is minimized. In this paper, we consider a more general variant of the VM Packing problem, called the Sharing-Aware VM Packing problem, that has the same objective as the standard VM Packing problem, but allows the VM instances collocated on the same physical server to share memory pages, thus reducing the amount of cloud resources required to satisfy the users’ demand. Our main contributions consist of designing several online algorithms for solving the Sharing-Aware VM Packing problem, and performing an extensive set of experiments to compare their performance against that of several existing sharing-oblivious online algorithms. For small problem instances, we also compare the performance of the proposed online algorithms against the optimal solution obtained by solving the offline variant of the Sharing-Aware VM Packing problem (i.e., the version of the problem that assumes that the set of VM requests are known a priori). The experimental results show that our proposed sharing-aware online algorithms activate a smaller average number of physical servers relative to the sharing-oblivious algorithms, directly reduce the amount of required memory, and thus, require fewer physical servers to instantiate the VM instances requested by users.
Value, violence, and the ethics of gaming

I argue for two theses. First, many arguments against violent gaming rely on what I call the contamination thesis, drawing their conclusions by claiming that violent gaming contaminates real world interactions. I argue that this thesis is empirically and philosophically problematic. Second, I argue that rejecting the contamination thesis does not entail that all video games are morally unobjectionable. The violence within a game can be evaluated in terms of the values the game cultivates, reinforces, denigrates, or disrespects. Games which present violence in ways that disrespect objects of values are more objectionable than violent games that reinforce or cultivate those values. The resulting analysis evaluates games on a case-by-case basis and pays particular attention to the representational context of the violence.
Creative Destruction: Next Generation Sequencing in Drug Development, Formulary Evaluations and Pricing

Next generation sequencing (NGS) has the potential to disrupt not only the accepted process of drug development but also the hurdles a drug manufacturer would be expected to face in securing formulary approval and a possible premium price for the new compound. The purpose of this commentary is to consider the role of NGS in this process, one which is characterized as a process of creative destruction, where adoption of NGS in personalized medicine sets in train a mechanism of incessant product and process review. A mechanism driven by continuing modifications and extensions to NGS platforms as our understanding of the role of mutations and mutation load in therapy choice expands. At the same time this mechanism has significant implications for the continued revision of treatment guidelines and their adoption of NGS as integral parts of the treatment pathway. There are, however, a number of unresolved issues which have to be addressed. These include the choice of NGS platform, barriers to integrating evidence to support NGS-based therapy choices in treatment guidelines, the implications of NGS for drug development and the modification or rejection of current trial structures, the integration of comorbid disease states and the standards that formulary committees should adopt to evaluate NGS claims. The overarching theme, however, is the need to invest in a robust and credible evidence base. While we are a long way from achieving this, the focus must be on putting claims for therapy choice forward that are credible, evaluable and replicable. Type: Commentary
Genetic analysis of α-synuclein 3′ untranslated region and its corresponding microRNAs in relation to Parkinson's disease compared to dementia with Lewy bodies

Abstract Introduction The α-synuclein ( SNCA ) gene has been implicated in the etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Methods A computational analysis of SNCA 3′ untranslated region to identify potential microRNA (miRNA) binding sites and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to determine their expression in isogenic induced pluripotent stem cell–derived dopaminergic and cholinergic neurons as a model of PD and DLB, respectively, were performed. In addition, we performed a deep sequencing analysis of the SNCA 3′ untranslated region of autopsy-confirmed cases of PD, DLB, and normal controls, followed by genetic association analysis of the identified variants. Results We identified four miRNA binding sites and observed a neuronal-type–specific expression profile for each miRNA in the different isogenic induced pluripotent stem cell–derived dopaminergic and cholinergic neurons. Furthermore, we found that the short structural variant rs777296100-polyT was moderately associated with DLB but not with PD. Discussion We suggest that the regulation of SNCA expression through miRNAs is neuronal-type–specific and possibly plays a part in the phenotypic heterogeneity of synucleinopathies. Furthermore, genetic variability in the SNCA gene may contribute to synucleinopathies in a pathology-specific manner.
CHAPTER 11 – Sintering

Publisher Summary Sintering is a process of densification driven by interfacial energy. Material moves by viscous flow or diffusion in such a way as to eliminate porosity and thereby reduce the solid-vapor inter facial area. In gels, that area is enormous, so the driving force is great enough to produce sintering at exceptionally low temperatures, where the transport processes are relatively slow. This chapter discusses the theories of sintering for amorphous and crystalline materials and compares the predicted and experimentally observed behavior. The kinetics of densification of gels is complicated by the concurrent processes of dehydroxylation and structural relaxation. That leads to the remarkable result that faster heating permits complete densification at a lower temperature. For crystalline gels, there are the further complications of grain growth and phase transformations. A general conclusion that emerges from the data is that it is advantageous to complete sintering before crystallization of the gel. This is particularly true if the gel is the matrix of a composite.
VEGF isoforms and their expression after a single episode of hypoxia or repeated fluctuations between hyperoxia and hypoxia: relevance to clinical ROP.

PURPOSE Fluctuations in oxygen are associated with the development of severe retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in humans. However, the causal relationships between oxygen variability and severe ROP remain unknown. We investigated whether isoforms of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were differentially stimulated by hypoxia and by repeated fluctuations between hypoxia and hyperoxia, and whether isoforms were differentially expressed in association with intravitreous neovascularization. We also determined whether pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) was dysregulated by oxygen fluctuations perhaps contributing to a delay in normal retinal vascular development. METHODS We used the 50/10 oxygen-induced retinopathy (50/10 OIR) model that exposes newborn rat pups to repeated cycles of 24 h of 50% oxygen alternating with 24 h of 10% oxygen to cause a condition similar to human ROP. Animals were euthanized at postnatal day 2 (P2; after one cycle of 50/10% oxygen), P7 (after 3.5 cycles of 50/10% oxygen), and P14 (after seven cycles of 50/10% oxygen). Room air raised control rat pups were also exposed to a single episode of 24 h of hypoxia at P7 and P14 and assayed immediately afterwards. Retinal VEGF isoforms and PEDF were measured by RT-PCR. Total VEGF protein was measured by ELISA. RESULTS We found that repeated cycles of hyperoxia and hypoxia caused greater expression of VEGF protein compared to control than did a single cycle of hyperoxia and hypoxia. VEGF164 mRNA had a greater fold change over control after repeated oxygen fluctuations than after a single episode of hypoxia. However, the other isoforms, VEGF188 and VEGF120, were expressed to a similar degree regardless of whether the stimulus was a single episode of hypoxia or repeated fluctuations in oxygen. VEGF164 was the predominant isoform expressed at the time of maximal intravitreous neovascularization. Retinal PEDF expression was elevated in pups in the 50/10 OIR model compared to control at P7, immediately after 50% oxygen. PEDF expression in the experimental group was similar to control at P18, when intravitreous neovascularization occurred. CONCLUSIONS Repeated fluctuations in oxygen results in a greater expression of the pathologic isoform, VEGF164, than does hypoxia alone. However, the other isoforms were upregulated to an equivalent degree over control by repeated fluctuations in oxygen or a single episode of hypoxia. Total VEGF protein was increased to a greater degree by repeated fluctuations in oxygen compared to a single cycle of oxygen. PEDF was increased over control early in the 50/10 OIR model and may play a role in the observed delay in retinal vascularization. These findings provide insight into the effect of repeated oxygen fluctuations on the development of severe ROP in preterm infants.
Case report: Retroperitoneal bronchogenic cyst as a diagnostic dilemma after colon cancer diagnosis.

Abstract A 52 year-old obese male presented with a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the sigmoid colon. On staging CT, the patient was found to have a cystic lesion in the left retroperitoneum.
Growth of Salix Setchelliana on a Kluane River Point Bar, Yukon Territory, Canada

Setchell willow (Salix setchelliana Ball) is a prostrate clonal species, producing vertical shoots (to about 3 dm) from a shallow horizontal root system. Clonal growth, measured by number of shoots, number of branches, and number of catkins per square meter, was greatest at the middle elevations of a point bar stand, approximately 20 m wide. This paper shows that the narrow limits of this population are associated with specific abiotic factors. The Kluane River (Yukon Territory) shows a yearly fluctuation with highest water at the time of maximum glacial melt in mid-August. Willow shoots closest to the channel are inundated for approximately 60% of their growing season; inundation may set the lower limit of clonal growth. Depth of deposited material increased away from the channel, resulting in deeper horizontal root systems. Substrate in the upper zone, farthest from the channel, had the highest percentage of fines and the highest field water content. Several shoots with decomposed bases were found in th...
Capillary seals for trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) in underground reservoirs

Abstract: Pore -scale capillary processes within geologic reservoirs and seals influence buoyancy-driven fluid migration. This chapter reviews these processes and considers their relevance to CO 2 sequestration. The ability of membrane seals in water/brine -wet rocks to retard buoyant fluid migration (including CO 2 ) relates to the capillary pressures and pore throat diameters of the seal rock. An attempt is made here to calculate anticipated ambient capillary pressures in the lowest portions of the seal, using existing laboratory data on the petrophysical properties of the CO 2 -brine-reservoir system as the basis and calculations carried out using a Monte Carlo approach. The values thus reached can then be used to constrain minimum seal capacities, offering the potential to predict containment capacities. The chapter concludes with a discussion of some aspects of capillary sealing which have been consdiered for hydrocarbon systems but not yet discussed for CO 2 systems.
Anti-Arrhythmic Drugs and Cardiac Resuscitation

Cardiac arrest (CA) as a result of poorly tolerated ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) is the most common cause of death in many developed countries including the United States. Even with a steady decline in morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases over 30 years (1), approx 60% of the 489,171 deaths attributable to coronary artery disease (CAD) in 1990 were out-of-hospital CA. In 1998, 63% of cardiac deaths were sudden and likely arrhythmic (2). Many of these deaths could have been prevented if the responsible ventricular arrhythmia had been treated with proper resuscitative efforts. Of 350,000 men who died in 1998, 41% had out-of-hospital sudden death, and 22% had a cardiac death in the emergency department (ED) or were dead on arrival. Of 369,000 women who died that year, 52% had out-of-hospital sudden death, and 12% had a cardiac death in the ED or were dead on arrival (2).
In-vitro-Farbschnelltest zur Kontrolle der Vitalität von isolierten humanen Pankreasinseln vor Transplantation

Der kritischste technische Faktor fur die erfolgreiche klinische Erprobung der Inseltransplantation beim Typ-I-Diabetes stellt die Inselisolierung dar. Dabei steht im Vordergrund die Qualitatskontrolle des Inseltransplantats mit Nachweis der erhaltenen Vitalitat isolierter Inseln (1). Kurz vor der Inseltransplantation ist die Auswertung der ublichen in-vitro-Messung der glucosestimulierten Insulinsekretion nicht moglich. Deshalb war das Ziel der Studie, den von MOSMAN (2) beschriebenen MTT-Vitalitats-test auf Verwendbarkeit fur isolierte Pankreasinseln zu uberprufen.
Social Antecedents and Correlates of Preschool Malnutrition in Cambridge, Massachusetts

The purpose of this paper is to present preliminary data on a study conducted in Cambridge, Massachusetts by staff from the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at MIT on the identification of causal determinants of preschool malnutrition among low-income families.
Phragmoplast expansion: the four-stroke engine that powers plant cytokinesis

The phragmoplast is a plant-specific secretory module that partitions daughter cells during cytokinesis by constructing a cell plate from membranes and oligosaccharides. The cell plate is typically a long structure, which requires the phragmoplast to expand to complete cytokinesis. The phragmoplast expands by coordinating microtubule dynamics with membrane trafficking. Each step in phragmoplast expansion involves the establishment of anti-parallel microtubule overlaps that are enriched with the protein MAP65, which recruits cytokinetic vesicles through interaction with the tethering factor, TRAPPII. Cell plate assembly triggers dissolution of the anti-parallel overlaps and stabilization of microtubule plus ends through association with the cell plate assembly machinery. This opinion article discusses processes that drive phragmoplast expansion as well as highlights key questions that remain for better understanding its role in plant cell division.
Circulating Extracellular Vesicles in Human Disease

Extracellular Vesicles Circulating extracellular vesicles, which are produced by normal and diseased tissues and released into body fluids, can be markers of disease processes and perhaps even tool...
An Analysis of Mediating Effects of School Leadership on MTSS Implementation

The present study investigated relationships among technical assistance, school leadership quality, and multitiered system of support (MTSS) implementation. The findings indicated technical assista...
Local Numeric Types and Derivatives

In Sect. 4.3 we introduced ten Dedekind j-numeric types for an arbitrary modality j. Namely, we have the j-local lower and upper reals, improper and proper intervals, and real numbers, as well as their unbounded counterparts. They are denoted
Chemistry of hypothalamic releasing factors.

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the status of knowledge regarding the chemical structures of the hypothalamic releasing factors in general and to survey some of the recent studies on structure-function relationships of the two hormones, TRF (TSH-releasing factor) and LRF (LH-releasing factor). There is now good evidence that hypophysiotrophic hormones or releasing factors from the hypothalamus stimulate the secretion of corticotrophin (ACTH), thyrotrophin (TSH), somatotrophin or growth hormone (GH) and the gonadotrophins, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). There is also some evidence for such factors stimulating the release of prolactin and melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH). The two LRF analogues described in the chapter [Gly2] LRF and des-His2-LRF are the first peptides reported to be competitive antagonists of the biological activity of LRF. The physiological significance of these LRF antagonists is now being investigated; more powerful antagonists of LRF than [Gly2] LRF and des-His2-LRF have to be designed and made available before these analogues are considered for potential clinical use.
Cognitive Flexibility in Medicine: An Application to the Recognition and Understanding of Hypertension.

Various forms of conceptual complexity and case-to-case irregularity in ill-structured knowledge domains (such as medicine, biology, and history) pose serious problems for traditional theories of learning and instruction (Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson and Coulson, 1991a). Cognitive and instructional neglect of problems related to content complexity and irregularity in patterns of knowledge use leads to leaming failures that take common predictable forms (Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson and Coulson, 1991b). These forms are characterized by conceptual oversimplifi-cation (Coulson, Feltovich and Spiro, 1989) and the failure of transfer of existing knowledge to new cases of knowledge application (Feltovich, Coulson, Spiro and Dawson-Saunders, 1992). Examples of topics that appear to be particularly mis-understood by professionals in medicine (Coulson et al., 1989; Dawson-Saunders et al., 1990) are those that include non-linear relationships such as between: (1) central venous filling pressure and cardiac output; and, (2) vascular compliance and total vascular impedance. Also, continuous processes are frequently misrepre-sented by practitioners as static and discrete, for example, as is often done in the (mis)understanding of the cross-bridge cycle of muscle contraction. Cognitive Flexibility Theory (Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson and Coulson, 1991b; Spiro et al., 1988) inculcates learning processes that remedy learning deficiencies related to domain complexity (Feltovich, Spiro and Coulson, 1993). According to Cognitive Flexibility Theory, knowledge understanding and application require a constructivist approach (Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson and Coulson, 1991b): this includes the ability to represent knowledge from different conceptual and case perspectives, and then when knowledge must later be used, the ability to construct from those multiple representations a knowledge ensemble tailored to the needs
Don't Miss This! Red Flags in the Pediatric Eye Exam: Pupils.

The pupillary exam in the pediatric population is a vital part of any clinician’s workup. In the right clinical setting, pupillary abnormalities such as anisocoria, light-near dissociation, an affe...
Ohuokhai: Transmitter of Biocultural Heritage for Sakha of Northeastern Siberia

Sakha, a Turkic-speaking people of northeastern Siberia, Russia, practice a circle dance called ohuokhai that is fueled by improvisatory song. Although it is typically bracketed by regular introductory and closing stanzas, its improvisatory middle is a communicative forum for the lead singer to report, critique, and prophesize on issues relevant to the dancers she/he leads. In Soviet times, this middle section often contained expressions of discontent masked by the linguistic complexity of the Sakha language compared to Russian. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the improvisatory texts speak to issues of the environmental crises resulting from the Soviet period and of the increasingly obvious effects of climate change on local lands, ecosystems, and Sakhas' horse and cattle breeding subsistence economy. In this article, I discuss my personal experience with ohuokhai and how it first drew me to work with Viliui Sakha, Sakha living adjacent to the Viliui river and with whom I have collaborated since 1991. My early findings detailed the circle dance's role in Sakha culture and the power it maintained through the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. In this article, I build upon the cultural and historical background I established in my previous research to highlight how ohuokhai can also be considered a perpetuator of biocultural knowledge for the Viliui Sakha. The longitudinal arc of my work with Sakha brings new understandings to ohuokhai, its ethnobiological threads, and its crucial role in transmitting biocultural heritage over generations.
Choosing transfer institutions: examining the decisions of Texas community college students transferring to four-year institutions

As more students begin their higher education trajectory in community colleges in the US, there are few studies investigating the choice process for community college transfer students. This study ...
The Central Role of Fibrinolytic Response in Trauma-Induced Coagulopathy: A Hematologist's Perspective

Severe trauma is the leading cause of death globally. Though improved resuscitation, particularly early initiation, has reduced the 24-hour mortality rate, the overall morbidity and 30-day mortality remain high mostly due to massive hemorrhage and head injury in the early stages and sepsis and multiorgan failure later on. With recent clinical trials of antifibrinolytic treatment with tranexamic acid, and with the observations that fibrinolytic activity varies widely among the injured patients, the role of the fibrinolytic system in trauma has become a major focus of investigations in trauma-induced coagulopathy. Most of the body's response to trauma involves the endothelium, tissue factor release, and platelet activation. In addition, there are inflammatory and immune responses. All these events directly or indirectly affect the fibrinolytic system. A full understanding of these mechanisms has translational implications on the management of these patients. In this article, the multifaceted responses of fibrinolysis following injury are reviewed.
Challenges in the development of next-generation antibiotics: opportunities of small molecules mimicking mode of action of host-defense peptides.

The rapid emergence of drug-resistance bacteria is a growing threat to human life which requires the development of alternative therapeutic approaches. As potential novel antibiotics, host defense ...
8 – Pesticide residues in foods

: This chapter discusses the broad topic of pesticide residues in the food supply. Attention is given to pesticide use patterns and regulation (international and US) of pesticides. Pesticide residue data are provided from a variety of monitoring programs and the potential risks posed by pesticide residues are discussed. Consideration is given to the special topics of pesticides in imported foods and pesticides in organic foods.
Task Related Neural Activity Following Primary Motor Cortical Ischemic Injury in Rats

Acquired injuries to primary motor cortex (M1) contribute to motor impairment and disability. Functional recovery is predicated on the reorganization of spared areas, which has been demonstrated through cortical motor map representations and neuroanatomical projection and termination patterns. The purpose of this study was to understand how neurophysiological outputs of spared motor areas relate to motor recovery of a skilled reach task following an ischemic infarct to M1. We examined changes in single unit activity within ipsilesional pre-motor (PM) and contralesional M1 cortices of rats during a behavioral task after a unilateral ischemic injury to ipsilesional M1. The data show a shift in neuronal firing patterns in the contralateral PM and ipsilateral M1 during behavioral recovery in lesion rats compared to a non-lesion control group, suggesting that spike-timing properties are altered in specific phases of the task, and that this altered activity may support spontaneous restoration of motor behavior.
Data-Driven Modeling of the Wake Behind a Wind Turbine Array

The wake flow in a wind turbine array boundary layer is described using the Koopman operator. Dynamics of the flow are decomposed into the linear and forcing terms, and the low-energy delay coordinates are revealed. The rare events show the non-Gaussian long tails that capture the switching and bursting phenomena. The near-wake region shows the incoherent phase space region, where the dynamics are strongly nonlinear. The far-wake region is marked with the small non-Gaussian forcing term, and the dynamics are largely governed by linear dynamics. The data-driven predictive model is built based on the Hankel-based dynamic mode decomposition and treats the nonlinear state of forcing term as external actuation. The model forecasts the evolution of the flow field for short-term timescales. The mean relative errors between the predictive and test fluctuating velocities are approximately 15%.
On the Harmonic Measure of Self-Similar Sets on the Plane

Harmonic measure is one of the basic objects of one dimensional complex analysis. Recently the structure of harmonic measure of rather general plane sets became much more comprehensible due to works of Makarov [1], Carleson [2] and Jones, Wolff [3]. The deep analogy between the behaviour of sums of (almost) independent random variables and the behaviour of the Green function of a domain plays a crucial role in this subject. We refer the reader to [15] for more details. This analogy becomes still more conspicuous if the domain for which the harmonic measure is investigated has regular self-similar structure. The methods of ergodic theory turn out to be relevant in this case, see e.g. [2], [4], [5], [6].