cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Investigation of the mechanism of the SpnF-catalyzed [4+2]-cycloaddition reaction in the biosynthesis of spinosyn A.

The Diels–Alder reaction is one of the most common methods to chemically synthesize a six-membered carbocycle. While it has long been speculated that the cyclohexene moiety found in many secondary metabolites is also introduced via similar chemistry, the enzyme SpnF involved in the biosynthesis of the insecticide spinosyn A in Saccharopolyspora spinosa is the first enzyme for which catalysis of an intramolecular [ 4 + 2 ] -cycloaddition has been experimentally verified as its only known function. Since its discovery, a number of additional standalone [ 4 + 2 ] -cyclases have been reported as potential Diels–Alderases; however, whether their catalytic cycles involve a concerted or stepwise cyclization mechanism has not been addressed experimentally. Here, we report direct experimental interrogation of the reaction coordinate for the [ 4 + 2 ] -carbocyclase SpnF via the measurement of α -secondary deuterium kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) at all sites of s p 2 → s p 3 rehybridization for both the nonenzymatic and enzyme-catalyzed cyclization of the SpnF substrate. The measured KIEs for the nonenzymatic reaction are consistent with previous computational results implicating an intermediary state between formation of the first and second carbon–carbon bonds. The KIEs measured for the enzymatic reaction suggest a similar mechanism of cyclization within the enzyme active site; however, there is evidence that conformational restriction of the substrate may play a role in catalysis.
TMIE is an essential component of the mechanotransduction machinery of cochlear hair cells

Summary Hair cells are the mechanosensory cells of the inner ear. Mechanotransduction channels in hair cells are gated by tip links. The molecules that connect tip links to transduction channels are not known. Here we show that the transmembrane protein TMIE forms a ternary complex with the tip-link component PCDH15 and its binding partner TMHS/LHFPL5. Alternative splicing of the PCDH15 cytoplasmic domain regulates formation of this ternary complex. Transducer currents are abolished by a homozygous Tmie -null mutation, and subtle Tmie mutations that disrupt interactions between TMIE and tip links affect transduction, suggesting that TMIE is an essential component of the hair cell's mechanotransduction machinery that functionally couples the tip link to the transduction channel. The multisubunit composition of the transduction complex and the regulation of complex assembly by alternative splicing is likely critical for regulating channel properties in different hair cells and along the cochlea's tonotopic axis.
Embracing the Mother in Medicine’s Village of Support

There is a lot of discussion out there about whether or not women can “have it all,” meaning a satisfying professional career and a satisfying home life including partnership and parenting. Five years into my working parenthood journey, I still haven’t decided where I stand on the question—some days I feel like the balance between my two primary roles makes me better in each, other days I feel like I can’t keep going one more day with the scheduling chaos and the mommy guilt and the sense that I am never quite doing enough in any domain. But what I know to be true is that even if you can “have it all,” you cannot do it all. Patients and children have needs around the clock, and it just isn’t possible for a person to meet all those needs, all the time, all by themselves. We need help. We need to share the work. In this chapter, I share some of the insights I have gained about how to build and sustain the village that will help you along the journey of parenthood and the journey of medicine.
Applications of terahertz technology in the semiconductor industry

Abstract: Electro-optical terahertz pulse reflectometry (EOTPR), an electro-optical system driven by an ultrafast laser source, has enabled terahertz to be successfully applied in fault isolation and defect detection for microelectronics. This system has 10 μm resolution with high speed test signal, high bandwidth measurement of the system’s response and low time base jitter. Numerous successful failure analysis cases have demonstrated the unique capabilities of EOTPR and its advantages over conventional time domain reflectometry.
Privacy in Gaming

Video game platforms and business models are increasingly built on collection, use, and sharing of personal information for purposes of both functionality and revenue. This paper examines privacy issues and explores data practices, technical specifications, and policy statements of the most popular games and gaming platforms to provide an overview of the current privacy legal landscape for mobile gaming, console gaming, and virtual reality devices. The research observes how modern gaming aligns with information privacy notions and norms and how data practices and technologies specific to gaming may affect users and, in particular, child gamers. After objectively selecting and analyzing major players in gaming, the research notes the many different ways that game companies collect data from users, including through cameras, sensors, microphones, and other hardware, through platform features for social interaction and user-generated content, and by means of tracking technologies like cookies and beacons. The paper also notes how location and biometric data are collected routinely through game platforms and explores issues specific to mobile gaming and pairing with smartphones and other external hardware devices. The paper concludes that transparency as to gaming companies’ data practices could be much improved, especially regarding sharing with third party affiliates. In addition, the research considers how children’s privacy may be particularly affected while gaming, determining that special attention should be paid to user control mechanisms and privacy settings within games and platforms, that social media and other interactive features create unique privacy and safety concerns for children which require gamer and parent education, and that privacy policy language is often incongruent with age ratings advertised to children and parents. To contribute additional research value and resources, the paper attaches a comprehensive set of appendices, on which the research conclusions are in part based, detailing the technical specifications and privacy policy statements of popular games and gaming platforms for mobile gaming, console gaming, and virtual reality devices.
Microrheological Studies of the Effects of Intraerythrocytic Parasites on Red Cell Deformability

The normal human erythrocyte must be highly deformable in vivo to pass through peripheral capillaries with luminal diameters of 3–4 µm and through the interendothelial slits associated with the basement membrane fenestrations of the spleen. A significant aspect of red cell deformability is the tendency of the red cell membrane to rotate around its cytoplasmic contents when the cell is subjected to shearing action by the surrounding plasma [14]. This so-called tank-treading motion reduces the hydraulic resistance to red cell passage through capillaries [11] and may also facilitate oxygen exchange between the red cell and the capillary endothelium.
Current and Future Challenges

In Chapter 1, we summarized the concepts of equating, scaling, and linking In subsequent chapters, these concepts were further developed and elaborated. In Chapter 11 we focus on some current and future challenges in each of these areas.
Ethics and Rule in Obstetrics and Gynecology

Values are Rules: Rules are facts and values. Values may be related to human conduct; that is code of conduct. Ethics are professional standards. Ethics are systems of moral principles or moral values. Ethics may be extended to professional responsibility, morality, etiquette, values and attitudes. However, ethics tend to be focused on moral goods rather than natural goods, particularly in medical ethics. Medical ethics or ethics in Obstetrics and Gynecology are the values and guidelines governing decisions makings by Obstetrician and Gynecologist. Obstetricians and Gynecologists should have their own professional ethics values: ethics core values and ethics family values. They have major branch of ethics including the theoretical meaning and reference of moral propositions as well as how their truth: values (if any) may be justifiable.
The use of a bovine bone mineral in periodontal osseous defects: case reports.

This article reviews the clinical and radiographical results of 12 periodontal patients treated with a bovine bone graft, Bio-Oss. Thirty-two periodontal intrabony osseous defects of various sizes and morphology were surgically treated and evaluated at 6 months. The patients responded well to the use of the bovine bone mineral with good tissue response and an improvement of the intrabony defects. There was an overall mean probing pocket reduction in the deepest sites of 2.34 mm (S.D. +/- 1.59) and a mean gain in probing attachment levels of 1.84 mm (S.D. +/- 1.09). There was a difference in the sites treated with the bovine bone alone compared to sites treated with the bone mineral and barrier membranes, but these differences were not significant. These preliminary findings seem favorable for bovine bone mineral as an alternative graft material to allogenic bone grafts from human tissue banks in treating intrabony defects.
Indexing effects of phonological representational strength on rapid naming using rime neighborhood density

A long-standing hypothesis is that rapid automatized naming (RAN) measures access to phonological representations stored in long-term memory, but this has been difficult to test experimentally because phonological representations are mental constructs not easily operationalized. Here, we provide a method to test this theory using rime neighborhood density as an index of phonological representational strength. Thirty adults completed four picture-naming tasks orthogonalized for item composition (repeating vs. nonrepeating) and presentation format (discrete vs. serial). Each task was presented in two dichotomous conditions of rime neighborhood density (dense and sparse). There was no effect of rime neighborhood density on naming speed in the discrete nonrepeated (confrontation naming) task. However, rime neighborhood density significantly facilitated naming speed for serial repeated (i.e., RAN), discrete repeated, and serial nonrepeated tasks (ps<.03). The effect was weakest for confrontation naming (d=0.14) and strongest for both discrete and serial RAN tasks (ds=1.01), suggesting that repeating items, not serial presentation, makes RAN uniquely sensitive to manipulations of rime neighborhood density and, by proxy, phonological representations.
A History of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Middle East

Across centuries, the Islamic Middle East hosted large populations of Christians and Jews in addition to Muslims. Today, this diversity is mostly absent. In this book, Heather J. Sharkey examines the history that Muslims, Christians, and Jews once shared against the shifting backdrop of state policies. Focusing on the Ottoman Middle East before World War I, Sharkey offers a vivid and lively analysis of everyday social contacts, dress, music, food, bathing, and more, as they brought people together or pushed them apart. Historically, Islamic traditions of statecraft and law, which the Ottoman Empire maintained and adapted, treated Christians and Jews as protected subordinates to Muslims while prescribing limits to social mixing. Sharkey shows how, amid the pivotal changes of the modern era, efforts to simultaneously preserve and dismantle these hierarchies heightened tensions along religious lines and set the stage for the twentieth-century Middle East.
Toxic violence: The politics of militarized toxicity in Iraq and Afghanistan:

US-led military forces have repeatedly used toxic munitions and everyday military practices in Iraq and Afghanistan, introducing known carcinogens, teratogens, and genotoxins into the environment w...
Consultant Corner: Abdominal Pain and Vomiting

While emergent consultation to gastroenterology is typically not needed for vomiting, any patient that needs to be admitted for vomiting from a suspected gastrointestinal source should be seen by gastroenterology during the admission for assistance in both diagnosis and treatment of symptoms. When evaluating vomiting and abdominal pain, both gastrointestinal and non-gastrointestinal causes should be considered, and a thorough history is crucial in determining the etiology. Complications of persistent vomiting include dehydration, electrolyte abnormalities, Mallory-Weiss tear, and Boerhaave syndrome. While many common antiemetic medications have potential side effects, there is good safety data for the vast majority of patients, especially in limited dosing.
Abstract TP387: Development and Implementation of a Comprehensive Stroke Center Clinical Peer Review Process

Background: Comprehensive Stroke Centers (CSC) are required by The Joint Commission to have an interdisciplinary peer review process. Most hospitals structure their peer review programs, also known...
A 2000 year-long proxy and observational reconstruction of Central Asian climate

Abstract Central Asia (CA) is one of the most arid places on Earth and climate change threatens to disrupt the natural hydrologic systems that store its limited annual wet-season precipitation in glaciers and release it during the dry season. Warm/Wet and Cold/Dry periods recorded over the last 2000 years using multiple paleoclimate proxy records reflect a local hydrocycle dominated by the Westerlies and moisture recycling within the Aral Sea catchment. The best tool for assessing recent climate trends is modern reanalysis modeling, ground-truthed by weather station data. Using the best-fit reanalysis, we find warming and drying trends have dominated the region over the last 115 years. Continued warming and drying in glacierized eastern CA during the critical spring season when glaciers typically increase in mass increase the likelihood that human infrastructure will be needed to impound wet-season precipitation.
Priming the Leadership Pipeline: School Performance and Climate Under an Urban School Leadership Residency Program

Purpose: This study examines school climate and student achievement trends under an ambitious school leadership residency program in an urban school district. The 2-year leadership residencies were...
Building One-Shot Semi-supervised (BOSS) Learning up to Fully Supervised Performance

Reaching the performance of fully supervised learning with unlabeled data and only labeling one sample per class might be ideal for deep learning applications. We demonstrate for the first time the potential for building one-shot semi-supervised (BOSS) learning on Cifar-10 and SVHN up to attain test accuracies that are comparable to fully supervised learning. Our method combines class prototype refining, class balancing, and self-training. A good prototype choice is essential and we propose a practical technique for obtaining iconic examples. In addition, we demonstrate that class balancing methods substantially improve accuracy results in semi-supervised learning to levels that allow self-training to reach the level of fully supervised learning performance. Rigorous empirical evaluations provide evidence that labeling large datasets is not necessary for training deep neural networks. We made our code available at \url{this https URL} to facilitate replication and for use with future real-world applications.
Why witnesses of bullying tell: Individual and interpersonal factors

Abstract The reactions of those who witness bullying are important because they can stop the bullying and prevent further harm. Factors associated with telling behavior were investigated with 477 elementary school students who witnessed bullying. Approximately seventy percent of the students talked to someone about bullying incidents, most often, teachers. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses demonstrated that gender, frequency of witnessing, cognitive empathy, and social skills were found to be associated with telling behavior of witnesses, whereas affective empathy and school connectedness were not significantly related. Findings from this research are important for future practice and studies on bystander intervention.
Becoming-Grounded: The Cabralian Option

This chapter distills the ontology, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of science that one can find in the work of Amilcar Cabral. Although Cabral does not hold the exact same theoretical predilections as Fanon, their views share important and identifiable similarities. I first show how Cabral balances a complex set of commitments, namely, his overt atheism, his revolutionary political program, and his desire for the people of Guinea and Cape Verde to have the freedom to express religious or non-religious beliefs. I then summarize Cabral’s ontological views, distinguishing his dialectical materialism from other revolutionaries. Lastly, Chap. 5 examines Cabral’s conception of science, specifically, soil science, as a key tool in his struggle to decolonize knowledge.
Osteonecrosis of jaw secondary to stem cell transplant

Background Osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) is necrosis of mandibular or maxillary bone, which may lead to bone exposure, regardless of the etiology. It is thought to be attributed to insufficient blood supply and altered bone turnover, resulting in a disrupted repair process and eventually leading to the collapse of bone in the setting of microfractures. We report what is, to the best of our knowledge, the first case of ONJ secondary to stem cell transplant (SCT). Case Summary A 69-year-old woman with a medical history significant for hypertension, osteopenia, and myelodysplastic syndrome, status post-haploidentical SCT in March 2018, presented for evaluation of asymptomatic exposed bone of the maxilla and mandible. She had no history of radiotherapy to her head and neck; however, she had undergone total body irradiation of 2 Gy in February 2018 as part of her conditioning regimen. She had no history of exposure to a bisphosphonate, receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand inhibitor, antiangiogenic medicine, or corticosteroids. Her current medications included amlodipine, metoprolol, omeprazole, tacrolimus, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, acyclovir, cholecalciferol, and folic acid. She did not have gingivitis or active periodontal disease. The patient had developed exposed necrotic bone sequestra in several areas of the buccal aspect of her maxillary and mandibular gingiva 2 months after her transplant in May 2018. The pathology report indicated fragments of necrotic bone with acute inflammation and bacterial overgrowth consistent with osteonecrosis. Conclusions There is evidence that the microenvironment of the marrow stromal system is severely and irreversibly damaged after SCT. The deficit in the quantity and quality of osteoblastic progenitors may compromise the ability to regenerate a normal osteogenic cell population, leading to an abnormality in bone remodeling/turnover. Although osteonecrosis of the appendicular skeleton is a common complication after SCT, there have been no reports of association with ONJ. Particularly interesting is the pattern of ONJ presentation in all the 4 quadrants in this patient.
Race/ethnicity and underlying disease influences hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell mobilization response: A single center experience.

Background Whether race/ethnicity plays a role in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPC) mobilization in autologous donors has not been studied. We hypothesize that donor characteristic including race/ethnicity, age, sex, body mass index, and diagnostic groups influences HSPC mobilization. Diagnostic groups include healthy allogeneic donors, autologous multiple myeloma (MM) and non-MM donors. Study design and methods Here, we conducted a single-center retrospective study in 64 autologous patients and 48 allogeneic donors. Autologous donors were patients diagnosed with MM or non-MM. All donors were grouped as African American (AA), White (W), or "Other"(O). Results Multivariate analysis demonstrated diagnostic group differences for CD34+ cell yields between race/ethnicity. Specifically, non-MM patients had the lowest CD34+ cell yields in AA and O, but not in W. For pre-apheresis peripheral blood (PB) CD34+ cell numbers, race/ethnicity had a significant effect both in bivariate and multivariate analyses. Non-MM patients had the lowest, and AA patients had the highest PB CD34+ cells. The results support the view that past therapies used in MM are likely more conducive of recovery of HSPC. Conclusions Our study shows that race/ethnicity and diagnostic group differences influenced CD34+ cell mobilization response across donor types. Interestingly, autologous MM donors with the aid of plerixafor displayed comparable CD34 yields to allogeneic donors. Even though both MM and non-MM donors received plerixafor, non-MM donors had significantly lower CD34 yields among AA and O donors but not in W donors. Larger studies would be required to validate the role of diagnostic groups and race/ethnicity interactions.
Whose Rights are Civil Rights? Evaluating Group Threat as an Explanation for Racial Differences in Attitudes toward Same-Gender Sexuality.

The alleged prevalence of anti-gay bias among Black communities in the United States has received ample popular and academic attention in recent decades. But just how consistent is the purported relationship between race and homophobia? In this paper, we use the American National Election Studies and the General Social Survey to show that public claims about "Black homophobia" have been dangerously overstated. Moreover, where racial differences in attitudes toward same-gender sexuality do occur, we find that the two most prevalent scholarly explanations for such gaps-religious institutions and gender ideologies-do not predict anti-gay bias for Black survey respondents. We thus derive an alternative explanation from scholarship on group threat: that perceived competition for political resources is what motivates racial differences in antagonism toward same-gender sexuality. Our results support that alternative and, in so doing, evince the importance of a relational approach to homophobia in academic and activist spheres alike.
Dissecting parkinsonism: cognitive and gait disturbances

Parkinsonism is usually designated a movement disorder. However, cognitive impairment comprises a major part of many parkinsonian syndromes, and inversely correlates with quality of life. Parkinsonian features are largely attributed to subcortical dopaminergic dysfunction, although other brain regions and neurotransmitters also contribute. This is illustrated by phenotypic differences among different parkinsonian syndromes. Slowed processing speed and executive dysfunction are generally expected in parkinsonian patients, but additional cognitive features can suggest specific pathological substrates, e.g. apraxia in corticobasal degeneration. Similarly, motor symptoms generally include combinations of bradykinesia, rigidity, rest tremor, and postural instability, although nuanced differences and associated clinical features often help differentiate between parkinsonian syndromes. Human gait requires complex synchronisation at every level of the nervous system, yet occurs with minimal conscious effort on behalf of the walker. Deviations from the normal gait pattern can result from otherwise unnoticeable insults to the body, both intrinsic and extrinsic to the nervous system. Gait is almost always abnormal in parkinsonism, ranging from subtle arm swing asymmetry to discrete episodes of gait freezing. Moreover, one's cognitive state can directly affect one's quality of gait. The notion that a gait profile could in fact be a disease-specific biomarker is an area of great research interest. This review focuses on the manifestations of, and correlations between, cognitive and gait impairment in common parkinsonian conditions, and provides guidance for a clinical approach to assessing them.
A de facto repository for the USA: The risk of interim storage of high level nuclear waste

Abstract Fear that an interim storage facility would become a de facto repository for high level nuclear waste is a major obstacle to a workable consensus on nuclear waste policy in the USA. US law tries to deal with the problem with schedule and inventory linkages between the interim storage facility and the repository. The current linkages make little sense given the slippage in schedule for the repository from 2003 to 2010, and the Department of Energy (DOE) has proposed changes. DOE's proposal is compared with an alternative system which by engineering design limits the rate at which the interim facility can accept spent fuel. The alternative is as effective in reducing the de facto repository risk as DOE's proposal, would be more flexible operationally, would reduce total system, lifecycle costs by about 10% and would be less threatening politically to opponents of interim storage.
Non-invasive Diagnosis of Fatty Liver and Degree of Fatty Liver in Dairy Cows by Digital Analyses of Hepatic Ultrasonograms

The data demonstrate that digital analyses of liver ultrasonograms could diagnose fatty liver and degree of fatty liver (healthy liver, moderate fatty liver, and severe fatty liver with their ranges of 0–8, 8–12, >12% lipids of liver wet weight) with an accuracy of over 90%. Total lipid concentrations could be predicted for liver samples <8% of liver wet weight within 2% of wet weight. Therefore, ultrasound imaging is a reliable, non-invasive technique for determining liver lipid content and for diagnosing fatty liver in early lactation dairy cows to prevent loss of income for dairy farmers.
Studies on the supracallosal mesial cortex of unanesthetized, conscious mammals. II. Monkey. B. Responses from the olfactory bulb.

Abstract 1. 1. Electrodes were chronically implanted in the olfactory bulb of monkeys and electrical activity was recorded in the subsequent months. 2. 2. The background activity in the reposed, unanesthetized monkey in an odorless environment showed low amplitude, fast activity without rhythmical bursts. 3. 3. Rhythmical bursts, synchronous with inspiration, were induced by many essential oils and compounds of relatively high molecular weight, generally regarded as pleasant-smelling, but especially by cigarette smoke. 4. 4. Compounds, tending to be low in molecular weight and generally regarded as unpleasant-smelling, had an inhibitory effect on the background activity and also on the rhythmical response to smoke. 5. 5. An example is shown of adaptation of a high frequency rhythmical response to an odor. 6. 6. The frequency of the rhythmical response to smoke gradually decreased with increasing depth of anesthesia. 7. 7. Evidence is presented for the existence of mechanical receptors, but “driving” of this response could not be achieved by various frequencies of mechanical stimuli. 8. 8. The threshold of the response to mechanical stimulation rose with the exposure to ammonia-odor, but after this exposure the threshold suddenly lowered so that continuous, spontaneous rhythmical activity appeared.
Organization Theory and Ethics

INTRODUCTION Balancing instrumental efficiency and social solidarity has been one of the central problems of modern life — as well as for social theory. Auguste Comte, the founder of modern sociology, saw sociology as addressing the problem of how to have both “progress” and “order.” Other scholars like Ferdinand Tonnies and Emile Durkheim pondered the relationship between modern rational “society” and traditional solidary “community.” More recently, Jurgen Habermas has been similarly concerned with how the rational “system” and solidary “lifeworld” can be better coordinated after having become uncoupled in modern society.
An Incompressible Navier-Stokes with Particles Algorithm and Parallel Implementation

We present a variation of an adaptive projection method forcomputing solutions to the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations withsuspended particles. To compute the divergence-free component of themomentum forcing due to the particle drag, we employ an approach whichexploits the locality and smoothness of the Laplacian of the projectionoperator applied to the discretized particle drag force. We presentconvergence and performance results to demonstrate the effectiveness ofthis approach.
A Mechanism of the Irreversible Inactivation of Bovine Pancreatic Ribonuclease by Diethylpyrocarbonate

The irreversible inactivation of ribonuclease with diethylpyrocarbonate was studied. The products of the reaction were electrophoresed on polyacrylamide gels in sodium dodecyl sulfate and found to contain polymers of ribonuclease. Other proteins reacted similarly with diethylpyrocarbonate. Ribonuclease treated with maleic anhydride was unable to polymerize when treated with diethylpyrocarbonate, but when the N-maleyl group was removed by incubation at low pH, the capacity of the ribonuclease to polymerize was restored. It was concluded that the diethylpyrocarbonate reaction forms amide bonds between ɛ-amino groups of lysine and carboxylic groups of aspartic or glutamic both intermolecularly or intramolecularly. In either case the enzyme was inactivated. A mechanism based on the known chemical reactivities of diethylpyrocarbonate is proposed. The conclusions are further substantiated by studies of tryptic peptides and microbiuret positive products obtained from a reaction of diethylpyrocarbonate with assorted amino acids.
A Gini Autocovariance Function for Time Series Modelling

In stationary time series modelling, the autocovariance function (ACV) through its associated autocorrelation function provides an appealing description of the dependence structure but presupposes finite second moments. Here, we provide an alternative, the Gini ACV, which captures some key features of the usual ACV while requiring only first moments. For fitting autoregressive, moving-average and autoregressive–moving-average models under just first-order assumptions, we derive equations based on the Gini ACV instead of the usual ACV. As another application, we treat a nonlinear autoregressive (Pareto) model allowing heavy tails and obtain via the Gini ACV an explicit correlational analysis in terms of model parameters, whereas the usual ACV even when defined is not available in explicit form. Finally, we formulate a sample Gini ACV that is straightforward to evaluate.
Seizure Prophylaxis and Melanoma Brain Metastases

Melanoma has a high propensity to metastasize to the brain. In patients with brain metastases (BM) survival is limited, neurologic morbidity is high, with seizure incidence reported up to 67%. Current guidelines recommend against antiepileptic drug prophylaxis (AED PPX) in patients without a history of seizure. We reviewed our experience with melanoma BM to determine the efficacy of AED PPX in the era of second generation AED and to delineate risk factors associated with development of seizures. We reviewed records of all patients treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center with melanoma and BM between May 2006 and October 2008. Seizure risk was studied relative to BM characteristics at diagnosis and AED PPX. We identified 109 patients. Median age was 61 years (range 29-91); 56% had no neurologic symptoms at diagnosis. On neuroimaging, 94% (102/109) had cortical lesions, 60% (65/109) had more than one supratentorial lesion, 54% (59/109) had hemorrhage. Seizure led to diagnosis of BM in 13% (14/109); 20% (22/109) developed seizures later. On univariate analysis among patients without a seizure at diagnosis, AED-PPX was significantly associated with decreased risk of seizure (P = 0.03) with 3-month seizure rate of 0% compared to 17% without AED-PPX. Hemorrhage (P < 0.001) and multiple supratentorial metastases (P = 0.03) were associated with increased seizure risk. Melanoma patients with multiple supratentorial BM and hemorrhage may have an increased risk of seizure. AED PPX may be effective in selected patients, and should be addressed in a randomized controlled trial.
An improved convergence analysis for the Newton-Kantorovich method using recurrence relations

We generate a sequence using the Newton-Kantorovich method in order to approximate a locally unique solution of an operator equation on a Banach space under Holder continuity conditions. Using recurrence relations, Holder as well as centre-Holder continuity assumptions on the operator involved, we provide a semilocal convergence analysis with the following advantages over the elegant work by Hernandez in (The Newton method for operators with Holder continuous first derivative, J. Optim. Theory Appl. 109(3) (2001), pp. 631-648.) (under the same computational cost): finer error bounds on the distances involved, and a more precise information on the location of the solution. Our results also compare favourably with recent and relevant ones in (I.K. Argyros, Concerning the “terra incognita” between convergence regions of two Newton methods, Nonlinear Anal. 62 (2005), pp. 179-194; I.K. Argyros, Computational Theory of Iterative Methods, in Studies in Computational Mathematics, Vol. 15, C.K. Chui and L. Wuytack, eds., Elsevier Publ. Co., New York, USA, 2007; I.K. Argyros, On the gap between the semilocal convergence domain of two Newton methods, Appl. Math. 34(2) (2007), pp. 193-204; I.K. Argyros, On the convergence region of Newton's method under Holder continuity conditions, submitted for publication; I.K. Argyros, Estimates on majorizing sequences in the Newton-Kantorovich method, submitted for publication; F. Cianciaruso and E. DePascale, Newton-Kantorovich approximations when the derivative is Holderian: Old and new results, Numer. Funct. Anal. Optim. 24 (2003), pp. 713-723; F. Cianciaruso and E. DePascale, Estimates of majorizing sequences in the Newton-Kantorovich method, Numer. Funct. Anal. Optim. 27(5-6) (2006), pp. 529-538; F. Cianciaruso and E. DePascale, Estimates of majorizing sequences in the Newton-Kanorovich method: A further improvement, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 322 (2006), pp. 329-335; N.T. Demidovich, P.P. Zabreiko, and Ju.V. Lysenko, Some remarks on the Newton-Kantorovich mehtod for nonlinear equations with Holder continuous linearizations, Izv. Akad. Nauk Belorus 3 (1993), pp. 22-26 (in Russian). (E. DePascale and P.P. Zabreiko, The convergence of the Newton-Kantorovich method under Vertgeim conditions, A new improvement, Z. Anal. Anwendvugen 17 (1998), pp. 271-280.) and (L.V. Kantorovich and G.P. Akilov, Functional Analysis in Normed Spaces, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1982; J.V. Lysenko, Conditions for the convergence of the Newton-Kantorovich method for nonlinear equations with Holder linearizations, Dokl. Akad. Nauk BSSR 38 (1994), pp. 20-24 (in Russian); B.A. Vertgeim, On some methods for the approximate solution of nonlinear functional equations in Banach spaces, Uspekhi Mat. Nauk 12 (1957), pp. 166-169 (in Russian); Amer. Math. Soc. Transl. 16 (1960), pp. 378-382. (English Trans.).)
Browlift--a South East Asian experience.

Background:To describe the indications, techniques and outcomes of various browlift procedures in a predominantly East-Asian community.Patients and Methods:Retrospective review of patients who underwent browlift procedures performed by 2 oculoplastic surgeons or under their direct supervision, in a tertiary referral hospital in South East Asia from 2002 to 2007.Results: Forty-six patients (30 female, 16 male) had browlift surgery for 89 sides from 2002 to 2007. Mean follow-up period was 10 months (6 to 44 months). 43 patients had bilateral browlift, 3 patients had unilateral browlift, 2 of whom had underlying facial nerve palsy and one had involutional brow ptosis. Indications: involutional brow ptosis (42), mitochondrial myopathy (2), and facial palsy (2). Ethnicity of patients: Chinese (40), Indian (4) and Malay (2). Techniques: direct browlift (18), transblepharoplasty browpexy (6), midforehead lift (3), coronal browlift (2) and pretrichial browlift (4), endoscopic browlift (7), limited incision nonend...
Free convection heat and mass transfer under conditions of frost deposition

Abstract Frost formation on a vertical surface is investigated under natural convection conditions. Local heat and mass transfer coefficients from humid air to the frost surface are obtained, along with effective thermal conductivity and density of the frost. A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is used to determine the temperature distribution in the boundary layer adjacent to the frost surface, thus allowing local values of the heat flux to be calculated. Observations of the frost structure are performed.
Easily remembered passphrases: a better approach

As lay persons' use of information processing equipment increases, systems' accurate verification of a user's identity becomes a matter of growing concern. Prime considerations are:1. People must be prevented from convincing the system that they are someone else.2. The system must properly accept persons' accurate statements of their identities.3. Verification procedures must impose a minimal burden on lay users.4. Costs of verification must be reasonable. [9, 10, 11, 13, 19]
Visualizing cellular machines with colocalization single molecule microscopy

Many of the cell's macromolecular machines contain multiple components that transiently associate with one another. This compositional and dynamic complexity presents a challenge for understanding how these machines are constructed and function. Colocalization single molecule spectroscopy enables simultaneous observation of individual components of these machines in real-time and grants a unique window into processes that are typically obscured in ensemble assays. Colocalization experiments can yield valuable information about assembly pathways, compositional heterogeneity, and kinetics that together contribute to the development of richly detailed reaction mechanisms. This review focuses on recent advances in colocalization single molecule spectroscopy and how this technique has been applied to enhance our understanding of transcription, RNA splicing, and translation.
Size dependence of the plane-strain response of single-crystal Al to indentation by diamond wedges

Abstract A single-crystal Al specimen was indented at room temperature with a series of prismatic diamond indenters. The indenters had triangular or wedge-shaped cross-sections and were relatively long, thus inducing a two-dimensional (2-D) plane-strain response. Different included wedge angles were used. For each wedge indenter, instrumented indentations were carried out at varying loads. Analysis of the response from each wedge indentation experiment clearly revealed the presence of a size effect, manifested in an increasing projected contact pressure as the contact dimensions decreased from micron to submicron scales. When indentation responses from 2-D wedge indenters with different included angles were compared, the data showed evidence that this indentation size effect depended on the included wedge angle. This dependence was analyzed and compared to existing models of indentation based on the concept of geometrically necessary dislocations. While the model prediction of the dependence of the characteristic length on the included wedge angle appears to be consistent with current experiments, the model estimate of the magnitude of the characteristic length significantly exceeds the value deduced from experimentation. The present results offer new experimental evidence of size-dependent indentation response in plane-strain geometries.
Heart failure, aneurysms and telangiectases, oh my!

t t v t h v PRESENTATION In this case, uncharacteristic physical exam findings and perplexing radiographic abnormalities led to an unanticipated diagnosis for our patient, a 60-year-old man admitted for new-onset heart failure. The patient presented to the emergency department with 1 month of increasing dyspnea on exertion and orthopnea. He had begun sleeping in a recliner in the days preceding his admission and was experiencing paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. In addition, he had noticed progressive exertional chest pain relieved with rest and had experienced intermittent palpitations for 1 month. A review of systems was significant for recurrent epistaxis as a child. The patient took no medications, denied tobacco, alcohol, or illicit drug use, and had no significant family medical history.
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha induces changes in mitochondrial cellular distribution in motor neurons.

Abstract Motor neuron (MN) mitochondrial abnormalities and elevation in spinal fluid levels of the inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The mechanism of neuron death in ALS remains unclear, along with the contributions of mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation in the process. Cell cultures enriched for MN derived from embryonic rat spinal cords were established and directly exposed in vitro to recombinant TNF-α for varying lengths of time. Although cytokine exposure for up to 4 days failed to induce MN death, mitochondrial changes were observed shortly after initiating treatment. Our results demonstrate that TNF-α induced mitochondrial redistribution toward the soma in MN. We postulate that inflammation may precede, and in fact cause, the mitochondrial changes observed in ALS tissue.
Multilayer relaxations of Ni(110): New medium energy ion scattering results

Abstract Recent ion scattering and LEED measurements of the clean Ni(110) surface structure show a significant difference in the magnitude of the first layer relaxation. Ion scattering has measured the first layer contraction to be 4.5% while LEED I–V analyses have resulted in measurement of an 8.5% contraction. In an attempt to resolve this apparent discrepancy we have undertaken a careful reexamination of the clean Ni(110) surface with medium energy ion scattering using the technique of channeling and blocking. The experiment was conducted in a UHV chamber with a toroidal electrostatic analyzer using 110 keV protons. Our analysis was based on comparisons of measured surface blocking curves in two scattering geometries with full crystal Monte Carlo simulations. These simulations include variations of the interlayer spacing of the outer three surface layers and of the surface Debye temperature. Our measurement shows a first layer contraction, D12 = −9.0% ± 1.0% and a second layer expansion, D23 = +3.5% ± 1.5% (measured as percent of the bulk interlayer spacing) with a surface Debye temperature of 395 K. The present result is in excellent agreement with two recent LEED measurements.
Effects of 2000–2050 global change on ozone air quality in the United States

[1] We investigate the effects on U.S. ozone air quality from 2000–2050 global changes in climate and anthropogenic emissions of ozone precursors by using a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) driven by meteorological fields from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies general circulation model (NASA/GISS GCM). We follow the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change A1B scenario and separate the effects from changes in climate and anthropogenic emissions through sensitivity simulations. The 2000–2050 changes in anthropogenic emissions reduce the U.S. summer daily maximum 8-hour ozone by 2–15 ppb, but climate change causes a 2–5 ppb positive offset over the Midwest and northeastern United States, partly driven by decreased ventilation from convection and frontal passages. Ozone pollution episodes are far more affected by climate change than mean values, with effects exceeding 10 ppb in the Midwest and northeast. We find that ozone air quality in the southeast is insensitive to climate change, reflecting compensating effects from changes in isoprene emission and air pollution meteorology. We define a ‘‘climate change penalty’’ as the additional emission controls necessary to meet a given ozone air quality target. We find that a 50% reduction in U.S. NOx emissions is needed in the 2050 climate to reach the same target in the Midwest as a 40% reduction in the 2000 climate. Emission controls reduce the magnitude of this climate change penalty and can even turn it into a climate benefit in some regions.
A Martingale Method for the Convergence of a Sequence of Processes to a Jump-diffusion Process

A convenient method for proving weak convergence of a sequence of non-Markovian processesxe(·) to a jump-diffusion process is proved. Basically, it is shown that the limit solves the martingale problem of Strook and Varadhan. The proofs are relatively simple, and the conditions apparently weaker than required by other current methods (in particular, for limit theorems for a sequence of ordinary differential equations with random right hand sides). In order to illustrate the relative ease of applicability in many cases, a simpler proof of a known result on averaging is given.
P2X antagonists inhibit styryl dye entry into hair cells

The styryl pyridinium dyes, FM1-43 and AM1-43, are fluorescent molecules that can permeate the mechanotransduction channels of hair cells, the sensory receptors of the inner ear. When these dyes are applied to hair cells, they enter the cytoplasm rapidly, resulting in a readily detectable intracellular fluorescence that is often used as a molecular indication of mechanotransduction channel activity. However, such dyes can also permeate the ATP receptor, P2X(2). Therefore, we explored the contribution of P2X receptors to the loading of hair cells with AM1-43. The chick inner ear was found to express P2X receptors and to release ATP, similar to the inner ear of mammals, allowing for the endogenous stimulation of P2X receptors. The involvement of these receptors was evaluated pharmacologically, by exposing the sensory epithelium of the chick inner ear to 5 microM AM1-43 under different experimental conditions and measuring the fluorescence in hair cells after fixation of the tissue. Pre-exposure of the tissue to 5 mM EGTA for 15 min, which should eliminate most of the gating "tip links" of the mechanotransduction channels, deceased fluorescence by only 44%. In contrast, P2X receptor antagonists (pyridoxalphosphate-6-azophenyl-2',4'-disulfonic acid [PPADS], suramin, 2',3'-O-(2,4,6-trinitrophenyl) ATP [TNP-ATP], and d-tubocurarine) had greater effects on dye loading. PPADS, suramin, and TNP-ATP all decreased intracellular AM1-43 fluorescence in hair cells by at least 69% when applied at a concentration of 100 microM. The difference between d-tubocurarine-treated and control fluorescence was statistically insignificant when d-tubocurarine was applied at a concentration that blocks the mechanotransduction channel (200 microM). At a concentration that also blocks P2X(2) receptors (2 mM), d-tubocurarine decreased dye loading by 72%. From these experiments, it appears that AM1-43 can enter hair cells through endogenously activated P2X receptors. Thus, the contribution of P2X receptors to dye entry should be considered when using styryl pyridinium dyes to detect hair cell mechanotransduction channel activity, especially in the absence of explicit mechanical stimulation of stereocilia.
Discrimination and Information: Geographic Bias in College Basketball Polls

Voters in the Associated Press college basketball poll vote own-state teams and teams that are fewer miles away to higher rankings than other teams, especially at the bottom of their ballots. Game outcome data show evidence that teams that are fewer miles away are underrated — not overrated — by pollsters, especially at the top of their rankings, perhaps because pollsters fear accusations of geographic bias. When controlling for distance between pollsters and teams, there is some evidence that pollsters overrate local conference teams at the top of their ballots, but more properly rate them the bottom of their ballots.