cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Plant responses to selective grazing by bison: interactions between light, herbivory and water stress

Two abundant tallgrass prairie forb species, Ambrosia psilostachya and Vernonia baldwinii, are commonly found intact in patches where the grasses have been selectively grazed by bison. Microclimatic patterns and physiological responses of these forbs were measured in grazed and ungrazed patches. These experiments demonstrated that bison herbivory indirectly enhanced water availability and productivity of forbs growing in grazed patches. This was due primarily to the reduction in transpiring grass leaf area in grazed patches and an increase in light availability. In grazed patches, incident light at forb mid-canopy height was 53% greater than ungrazed sites at midseason and soil temperatures were always warmer (e.g., 10°C at 5 cm), perhaps enabling forbs to initiate growth earlier in the spring. Enhanced leaf xylem pressure potential and stomatal conductance in plants in grazed areas were most evident when water availability was low (i.e., late in the growing season and over short-term dry periods characteristic of the tallgrass prairie environment). Relative to individuals in ungrazed areas, end-of-season biomass of A. psilostachya was 40% greater and reproductive biomass and head number of V. baldwinii was 45% and 40% greater, respectively, in plants in grazed patches. A favorable growing environment maintained in grazed patches during periods of water limitation enhances carbon gain in forbs leading to increased biomass and potential fitness.
A randomized pilot trial of a school-based psychoeducational intervention for children with asthma.

BACKGROUND Asthma is a common childhood illness with high morbidity and mortality among minority and socio-economically disadvantaged children. Disparities are not fully accounted for by differences in asthma prevalence, highlighting a need for interventions targeting factors associated with poorer asthma control. One such factor is psychological stress. OBJECTIVE Here, we examine the feasibility and acceptability of "I Can Cope (ICC)," a school-based stress management and coping intervention for children with asthma. METHODS A parallel randomized pilot trial was conducted. One hundred and four low-income children (mean age 10 years; 54% male; 70% African American) with persistent asthma were recruited from 12 urban schools and randomized to the following: (a) ICC or one of two control conditions: (b) "Open Airways for Schools (OAS)"-an asthma education intervention or (c) no treatment. RESULTS Seventy one percentage of eligible children participated in the study, with a dropout rate of 12%. ICC was rated as highly acceptable by participating children and parents. Preliminary efficacy data suggest that when compared with no treatment, ICC resulted in decreased symptoms of depression, perceived stress and child-reported symptoms of asthma, and improvements in sleep quality and child-reported asthma control. There were no intervention-related changes in objective measures of asthma morbidity. The magnitude of intervention effects on psychological function did not differ between the ICC and OAS groups. CONCLUSIONS Results support the feasibility and acceptability of utilizing school-based interventions to access hard to reach children with asthma. Preliminary findings offer support for future, large-scale efficacy studies of school-based interventions designed to target multiple factors that contribute to asthma disparities.
Audio-Based Group Detection for Classroom Dynamics Analysis

Group detection is a fundamental problem in sociological and behavioral data analysis and has attracted much attention in recent years. Most of the current approaches focus on using visual data, such as still images and videos, to detect groups. One of the most important applications of group detection is to assist psychologists to understand the classroom dynamics. However, the camera recordings may be unavailable and it could be infeasible to set up the cameras without blind spots. Therefore, as an alternative approach to group detection, we propose an audio-based framework that utilizes multiple synchronized audio data streams collected from wearable devices on each subject. In this paper, the audio recordings collected from a preschool classroom over multiple days are used to produce the group detection results which are validated by clustering the subject locations collected along with the audio data. The experiment shows on average 0.391 Normalized Mutual Information (NMI) scores for the detected groups by the audio-based framework and location-based clustering.
An Ethic of Advocacy: Metajournalistic Discourse on the Practice of Leaks and Whistleblowing from Valerie Plame to the Trump Administration

This study analyzes the metajournalistic discourse surrounding leaks and whistleblowing crafted by online journalism industry publications since 2004. The goal of the study is to understand how jou...
Trypanosoma cruzi infections and associated pathology in urban-dwelling Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana).

Abstract Trypanosoma cruzi, a zoonotic protozoan parasite, infects a wide range of mammals. The southern United States has endemic sylvatic transmission cycles maintained by several species of wildlife and domestic dogs. We hypothesized that urban-dwelling opossums (Didelphis virginiana) in South Texas are infected with T. cruzi, and that tissue pathology would be associated with infection. In 2017, we collected blood, heart tissue and anal gland secretions from 100 wild opossums across three seasons that were trapped by animal control in South Texas. In addition, anal gland tissue and intercostal muscle were collected from 43 of the 100 opossums for which time allowed the extra tissue collection. All blood, tissue, and secretion samples were screened for T. cruzi DNA using qPCR with confirmation of positive status achieved through one or more additional PCR assays, including a qPCR to determine the parasite discrete typing unit (DTU). T. cruzi DNA was detected in at least one tissue of 15% of the opossums sampled: blood clot (9%), heart tissue (10%), anal gland secretions (12%), intercostal muscle (16.3%), and anal gland tissue (11.6%). Infection was detected in two or more different tissue types in nine of the opossums. The 35 tissues for which parasite DTU was determined were exclusively ‘Tcl’- a DTU previously associated with locally-acquired human disease in the United States. T. cruzi-positive opossums were nearly 14 times more likely to exhibit significant heart lesions on histopathology (lympoplasmacytic inflammation±fibrosis) when compared to negative opossums (OR = 13.56, CI = 1.23–751.28, p-value = 0.03). Three triatomines were opportunistically collected from the study site, of which two were infected (66.7%), and bloodmeal analysis revealed canine, opossum, and human bloodmeals. Given the presence of parasite in opossum blood, unique potential for shedding of parasite in anal glad secretions, and evidence of vectors feeding on opossums, it is likely that opossums serve as wild reservoirs around urban dwellings in South Texas.
One-dimensional moving window atomistic framework to model long-time shock wave propagation

Abstract We develop a long-time moving window framework using Molecular Dynamics (MD) to model shock wave propagation through a one-dimensional chain of atoms. The moving window formulation “follows” a propagating shock wave allowing us to model shock wave propagation much longer than conventional non-equilibrium MD (NEMD) simulations. This formulation also significantly decreases the required domain size and thus reduces the overall computational cost. The domain is divided into a purely atomistic “window” region containing the shock wave flanked by boundary or “continuum” regions on either end which incorporate continuum shock conditions. Spurious wave reflections are removed by employing a damping band method using the Langevin thermostat applied locally to the atoms in each continuum region. The moving window effect is achieved by adding/removing atoms to/from the window and boundary regions, and thus the shock wave front is focused at the center of the window region indefinitely. We simulate the shock through a one-dimensional chain of copper atoms using either the Lennard-Jones, modified Morse, or Embedded Atom Model (EAM) interatomic potential. We first perform verification studies to ensure proper implementation of the thermostat, potential functions, and damping band method, respectively. Next, we track the propagating shock and compare the actual shock velocity and average particle velocity to their corresponding analytical input values. From these comparisons, we optimize the linear shock Hugoniot relation for the given “lattice” orientation and compare these results to those in literature. When incorporated into the linear shock equation, these new Hugoniot parameters are shown to produce a stationary shock wave front. Finally, we perform one-dimensional moving window simulations of an unsteady, structured shock up to a few nanoseconds and characterize the increase in the shock front’s width.
Voice–Gender Incongruence and Voice Health Information–Seeking Behaviors in the Transgender Community

Purpose Voice-gender incongruence has predominantly been investigated in the past through the perspective of feminine-identifying individuals seeking feminine-sounding voices. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of self-reported voice-gender incongruence in the transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming (TNG) community and to describe health information-seeking behaviors exhibited when individuals attempt to address their voice and communication challenges. Method An online survey was designed with questions targeting the self-reported prevalence of voice-gender incongruence, characteristics of this complaint, and health information-seeking behaviors. Valid standardized measures, including the Voice Handicap Index and the Barriers to Help-Seeking Scale, were also included. Results Four hundred five participants were sorted into three groups based on gender identity (feminine, masculine, gender-neutral) to facilitate comparative analysis. Ninety-six percent of participants reported the experience of voice-gender incongruence in the past, and 88% reported that they currently experience voice-gender incongruence. There were no significant differences in reported voice-gender incongruence between groups. Voice Handicap Index scores were significantly higher for those who currently experience voice-gender incongruence (p < .0001) and reflected differences in how much this concern bothers participants, as rated on a Likert scale, ranging from no problem to a very big problem (p < .0001). Barriers to Help-Seeking Scale scores indicated that the masculine group perceived greater barriers to seeking help as compared to the feminine group. Discussion We present foundational evidence for the prevalence of voice-gender incongruence within the TNG community and barriers encountered when individuals attempt to access care. Future work should investigate the specific needs of subgroups within the TNG community and whether those who desire feminine-, masculine-, and/or androgynous-sounding voices experience voice-gender incongruence and access to services differently. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12462422.
Neuromonitoring During Cardiac Surgery

Neurological complications of cardiac surgery have a large impact on patient morbidity and mortality. Clinicians have relied on several modes of monitoring of the central nervous system as a means for reducing the risk of these complications including the electroencephalogram. While electroencephalogram changes are specific for cerebral ischemia, the reliability is tempered by many confounding factors. The effectiveness of the processed electroencephalogram for ensuring amnesia during surgery is controversial but it may have value for minimizing anesthetic dose as a strategy to reduce the frequency of postoperative delirium. Somatosensory and motor evoked potential provide critical information about the continuity of the central nervous system particularly of value for surgery where spinal cord blood supply is compromised. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) can be used for confirming cerebral blood flow during aortic arch surgery and in detecting cerebral emboli. Measuring the sufficiency of cerebral oxygen supply versus metabolic demand can be monitored with jugular bulb venous oxygen saturation or near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) monitoring. The latter is achieved using sensors placed on the forehead and, is thus, technically easier than the former. There is growing evidence for the use of cerebral autoregulation monitoring to individualize blood pressure during and after surgery. This can be performed using TCD but this method is technically challenging. The results of laboratory and clinical studies suggests that NIRS measured regional cerebral oxygen saturation can provide an acceptable surrogate of cerebral blood flow for autoregulation monitoring. A growing body of evidence using NIRS-based autoregulation monitoring supports its further development and clinical implementation as an approach for ensuring organ perfusion during cardiac surgery.
Operative risks of the Ross procedure

Abstract Background The risk of the Ross procedure continues to be debated. We sought to determine the immediate outcomes of the Ross procedure in a large consecutive cohort that included patients undergoing reoperative cardiac surgery and/or concomitant cardiac procedures. Methods Between March 1987 and September 2019, 702 patients underwent a full root Ross procedure. There were 530 male patients and 172 female patients, with a mean age of 41.6 years. One hundred and one patients had at least one previous sternotomy; 323 patients had concomitant procedures. Patients were stratified into 2 groups: simple and complex. Simple Ross patients were those who had no previous sternotomy and had only minor concomitant procedures performed at the time of their Ross, such as aortoplasty or closure of patent foramen ovale. The complex Ross group included patients with at least one previous sternotomy and/or additional procedures that we deemed complex, such as ascending aortic replacement and mitral valve repair. Complexity and group outcomes were evaluated in consecutive terciles of time. Results There were 7 (1%) operative deaths. Morbidity affected 46 other patients (6.6%). The simple Ross group comprised 419 patients (59.7%), with mortality in 3 (0.7%) and morbidity in 20 (4.8%). The complex Ross comprised 283 patients (40.3%), with mortality in 4 (1.4%) and morbidity in 26 (9.2%). Simple Ross cases decreased in volume over time, with complex cases increasing from 34% to 48%. Conclusions Excellent results can be achieved with the Ross procedure despite broader indications that include patients with previous sternotomy and with the need for concomitant procedures.
Multiphase CO2-brine transport properties of synthetic fault gouge

Abstract Faults are key components in defining fluid migration pathways and seals in sedimentary basins. The sealing capacity of faults is closely related to the petrophysical and geomechanical properties of fault gouge. Clay smear, cataclasis, and diagenesis favor a high capillary breakthrough pressure and low permeability in clastic sediments, and therefore fault gouge seal. However, significant uncertainty remains in accurately predicting the sealing capacity of faults for CO2 storage. We conducted a series of experiments, including absolute permeability, breakthrough pressure, and post-breakthrough CO2 permeability measurements on synthetic fault gouge samples, made from homogeneous mixtures of Frio sand and Anahuac shale, lithofacies of tertiary sediments in the Gulf of Mexico basin. The results show that the permeability of synthetic fault gouge decreases by about one order of magnitude with increments of 10 wt% of clay (mostly smectite) from the Anahuac shale. Independent of clay content and bulk porosity, all permeability measurements scale with the void ratio of the clay fraction. The breakthrough pressure of synthetic fault gouge increases by approximately half order of magnitude with increments of 10 wt% clay. The samples with clay content above 40 wt% reach a breakthrough pressure equivalent to a (supercritical) CO2 column height of more than 100 m. The measurements on fault gouge properties are meaningful to quantitatively evaluate fault sealing capability and migration of buoyant fluids through faults in sand-shale sequences.
Soft Graph Matching: Submodular Relaxation and Lovász Extension

Graph matching aims to align a pair of graphs by minimizing their edge disagreements. As the problem is NP-hard in the worst-case, various methods have been proposed for approximately solving the problem. One popular approach is to relax the combinatorial problem to a continuous formulation, whose solution represents a soft correspondence between the vertex-sets of the graphs. Previous work has primarily motivated such soft matching formulations as an intermediate step towards obtaining hard correspondences. In this paper, we depart from this viewpoint and provide an alternate motivation for soft matching as a means of identifying classes of topologically-invariant subgraphs, which cannot be revealed by hard correspondences. Drawing on this observation, we consider the family of doubly-stochastic relaxations for graph matching and propose a new convex relaxation for the problem. We establish that the objective function of our formulation can be interpreted as the tightest convex relaxation of the combinatorial quadratic graph matching objective function in a certain sense, and describe an efficient first-order algorithm for computing its solution. Through experiments conducted on real-world data, we demonstrate the empirical effectiveness of the algorithm relative to the prevailing relaxations for graph matching.
Can the United Nations support "objective" and unhampered illicit drug policy research?

Policies towards mind-altering drugs are controversial and vary among countries and cultures. Many nations feel that the United Nations should be a forum where anti-drug issues can be discussed openly and `objectively'. During the 1990s I participated frequently in U.N. sponsored research projects. This essay summarize what has been a challenging and exciting experience and raises many questions about the U.N.'s capacity to do and or fund `objective' drug research. This is so because of pressures on the U.N. from drug-policy setting countries, lack of independent funds for the U.N. drug policy agencies, the structure and internal dynamics of the U.N. bureaucracies, and the background of the involved U.N. staff. As a result of these factors, the U.N. has promoted a repressive anti-drug agenda and does not allow open debate of many of key anti-drug issues currently discussed in many coutries. This is unfortunate because the UN. has the largest amount of information about illicit drugs anywhere in the world and can play a key role improving anti-drug policies that currently are unsatisfactory to both, drug hawks and doves.
Multi-photon counting with visible light photon counter (VLPC)

Summary form only given. We investigate the capability of the visible light photon counter (VLPC) to distinguish between higher photon numbers. The VLPC is illuminated by a picosecond pulsed laser. The average photon number per pulse is adjusted to a value around . The VLPC produces a pulse whose height is proportional to the number of incident photons. Thus, the pulse height spectrum at the output of the VLPC features a series of peaks, one for each photon number state. This is shown for when up to seven simultaneous photon events are observed.
STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF FIBER-REINFORCED COMPOSITE SHORT- AND MEDIUM-SPAN BRIDGE SYSTEMS

The paper describes the development of a new structural system for short and medium span bridges wherein use is made of both advanced composites and conventional materials such as concrete. The concept uses prefabricated composite tubes as girders which are then filled with concrete, after which a conventional precast or cast-in-place, or advanced composite, deck system is integrated to form the bridge superstructure. The paper presents experimental results of large-scale tests aimed towards the structural characterization of the girders, anchorages, and girder-deck assemblies for both serviceability and ultimate limit states.
NiColoy: a versatile electroforming process for biosensor fabrication by embossing

High strength, hard, electroformed stampers are formed from a silicon master using Nickel-Cobalt electrodeposited alloy. They are found to replicate structures from sub-micron dimensions like optical gratings and to hundreds of microns like micro-fluidic channels without distortion. The channels and optical elements constitute building blocks of many biosensors. Electroform is a negative replica of the silicon master and a low cost reproduction of the master is obtained by embossing it onto plastic substrates. We find that damage free reproduction in the plastic substrate is achieved when the aspect ratio of the structures is less than 3.
Distributed aspects of the response to siphon touch in Aplysia: spread of stimulus information and cross-correlation analysis

We examined two aspects of the response to siphon stimulation in an attempt to test the hypothesis that the Aplysia CNS functions as a distributed system. First, we estimated the number of central neurons that respond to a light touch to the siphon skin. We made voltage- sensitive dye recordings from the abdominal, pleural, pedal, and cerebral ganglia. From these recordings we estimated that 220 abdominal neurons, 110 pleural neurons, and 650 pedal neurons were affected by the light touch. Thus, the information about this mild and localized stimulus is very widely distributed within the Aplysia CNS. This result allows the possibility that the Aplysia CNS functions as a distributed system. If only a small number of neurons had responded to the touch, it would have supported the conclusion that the gill-withdrawal reflex could be generated by a small, dedicated circuit. Second, we searched for correlations between the spike times of the individual abdominal ganglion neurons. Two time scales were examined: a millisecond time scale corresponding to the duration of a fast synaptic potential and a seconds time scale corresponding to the duration of the gill-withdrawal movement. Neuron pairs with highly correlated spike activity on a millisecond time scale must be connected by (or have a common input that uses) relatively powerful, fast, excitatory synapses. We expected that this kind of synaptic interaction would be relatively rare in nervous systems that functioned in a distributed manner. Indeed, only 0.3% of the neuron pairs had correlation coefficients of 0.15 or greater. These correlations accounted for approximately 2% of the action potentials generated in response to siphon stimulation. Thus, large, fast excitatory synaptic interactions appear to be relatively unimportant. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that the abdominal ganglion functions as a distributed system. When the longer time scale was used for the cross-correlograms, a large fraction of the cell pairs had correlated activity because many neurons are activated by the stimulus. It was not possible to interpret the slow correlations in terms of actual synaptic interactions between individual neurons. Our results are consistent with the possibility that the abdominal ganglion functions in a distributed manner. However, this evaluation is indirect and thus only tentative conclusions can be drawn. Evidence from several sources suggests that the neuronal interactions for generating the Aplysia gill-withdrawal reflex are complex.
Effect of nitrofurazone on release and activity of endogenous serum pyrogen.

SummaryAdministration of nitrofurazone to rabbits did not interfere with the animals'ability to release endogenous serum pyrogen following administration of typhoid vaccine. Incubation of endogenous serum pyrogen with nitrofurazone did not alter its pyrogenicity.
The 1997–1998 Korean crisis: Domestic or external causes?

Abstract Domestic economic inefficiencies and imported panic have been alternatively argued to have caused the 1997–1998 Korean economic crisis. The aim of this paper is to determine which of the two hypotheses is the more likely to explain the fall in output that occurred during the crisis. A dynamic model of a small open economy is built and parameterized to fit the main characteristics of the Korean economy. Then, we perform some accounting, simulating it with the actual shocks to the domestic productive efficiency and to the foreign real interest rate. Both factors appear to have played an important role in the fall of output meaning that both theories are required for the model to be able to explain the amplitude of the fall in the output during the 1997–1998 Korean crisis.
Facial Perception: Holistic or Feature-Analytic?

These experiments explored whether groups of facial features are perceived holistically or independently of one another. This was tested with the speeded classification task on inner (the eyebrows, eyes, nose, and lips) and outer (hair and chin) groups of features. When the inner features were separated, either by grouping the eyebrows or the lips as an outer feature, classifications by the inner group were affected by changes in the outer group although classifications by the outer group were unaffected by changes in the inner group. These results indicate that the outer features are perceived independently of the inner features and that the eyebrows, eyes, nose, and lips are perceived holistically. This implies that for facial reproduction, a change of an inner feature should be followed by the reconsideration of the other inner features in the presence of the changed feature.
Meeting the Reading Challenges of Science Textbooks in the Primary Grades.

Four primary grade teachers overcame challenges of textbook-based science reading through a focus on reading strategies and an emphasis on making meaning. Teachers used whole-class and small-group guided reading instruction to focus students on organizational and textual features of the science textbooks. They also used teacher-guided talk and student-to-student turn-and-talk strategies to focus on meaning. Children acted out concepts found in the textbook and used technology as a tool to enhance content area learning. Science reading using textbooks poses challenges that teachers can overcome with specific attention to reading comprehension and innovative approaches that promote reader engagement.
Daniel McFadden and the Econometric Analysis of Discrete Choice

This article describes the contributions of Daniel McFadden to the econometric analysis of discrete choice. Section I overviews the main elements of McFadden's research on discrete choice analysis, and notes some of his other contributions to economics. Section II addresses the fundamental methodological breakthrough that McFadden made in "Conditional Logit Analysis of Qualitative Choice Behavior" [III, 1974].1 Section III discusses the subsequent development of discrete choice analysis into one of the foundations of modem econometrics. Section IV concludes.
Treatment of postoperative hyperthyroidism with antithyroid drugs.

IT is generally accepted that the antithyroid drugs are useful in postoperative hyperthyroidism but no extended study has been made to determine their comparative position in relation to the older methods of treatment. Are they more useful than iodine or x-ray irradiation? Is their action more enduring? Can they be administered safely over extended periods? Do they produce reduction in thyroid enlargement and exophthalmos? And, finally, do they offer promise of eliminating difficult secondary surgery? CLINICAL MATERIAL Twenty-eight patients with postoperative hyperthyroidism, in most of whom the disease had been uncontrolled by other methods, were treated with either thiouracil or propylthiouracil or both, and form the basis of this report. Eighteen had persistent hyperthyroidism, their symptoms having failed to disappear within thirty days after operation. Nine had recurrences, classed as such because following operation they had passed through a period of freedom from symptoms without aid from medicatio...
Rheostat Re-Wired: Alternative Hypotheses for the Control of Thioredoxin Reduction Potentials

Thioredoxins are small soluble proteins that contain a redox-active disulfide (CXXC). These disulfides are tuned to oxidizing or reducing potentials depending on the function of the thioredoxin within the cell. The mechanism by which the potential is tuned has been controversial, with two main hypotheses: first, that redox potential (Em) is specifically governed by a molecular ‘rheostat’—the XX amino acids, which influence the Cys pKa values, and thereby, Em; and second, the overall thermodynamics of protein folding stability regulates the potential. Here, we use protein film voltammetry (PFV) to measure the pH dependence of the redox potentials of a series of wild-type and mutant archaeal Trxs, PFV and glutathionine-equilibrium to corroborate the measured potentials, the fluorescence probe BADAN to measure pKa values, guanidinium-based denaturation to measure protein unfolding, and X-ray crystallography to provide a structural basis for our functional analyses. We find that when these archaeal thioredoxins are probed directly using PFV, both the high and low potential thioredoxins display consistent 2H+:2e- coupling over a physiological pH range, in conflict with the conventional ‘rheostat’ model. Instead, folding measurements reveals an excellent correlation to reduction potentials, supporting the second hypothesis and revealing the molecular mechanism of reduction potential control in the ubiquitous Trx family.
Hypercytolipidemia promotes diabetes (db/db) mutation-associated utero-ovarian involution: counter-regulatory influences of progesterone

Abstract Background: The diabetes (db/db) mutation induces a hyperglycemic–hyperinsulinemic endometabolic environment that promotes hypercytolipidemic, utero-ovarian involution in C57BL/KsJ mice, resulting in reproductive sterility and eventual organoatrophy. Objective: Evaluation of the effectiveness of progesterone therapy (P-HRx), initiated prior to the genetic expression of the overt diabetes–obesity syndrome (DOS), on moderating the severity of female reproductive tract involution promoted by db/db mutation expression was evaluated by analysis of cytoarchitectural, endocrine and tissue lipo-metabolic indices relative to oil (O)-vehicle-treated (HRx) control (+/?) and db/db groups. Experimental design: All HRx treatments were started at 4 weeks of age (pre-overt DOS stage) and continued through 16 weeks of age (chronic DOS expression) when tissue and cellular endometabolic parameters were evaluated. Results: The DOS induced a dramatic increase in phenotypic obesity, hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia in db/db groups, relative to +/ ?, throughout the experimental period. In contrast, utero-ovarian weights were dramatically reduced in db/db groups relative to +/? indices. Chronic P-HRx effectively reversed these DOS-induced trends in db/db groups, maintaining moderated body and tissue weights, as well as re-establishing normal insulin indices, under a persistent hyperglycemic condition. In addition, P-HRx moderated the dramatic hypercytolipidemic condition which promotes utero-ovarian involution in db/db mice as evidenced by the reduction in observed tissue cytolipidemia. The concurrent normalization of tissue lipase and enhancement of glucose utilization indices by db/db utero-ovarian compartments, under moderated insulin recognition parameters, indicated that P-HRx effectively suppressed the severity of both the structural and endometabolic consequences of the DOS in db/db groups, without restraining hyperglycemic conditions. Conclusion: These results indicate that the pathophysiological alterations induced by the db/db mutation may be modulated through low-dose steroidal therapy, the efficacy of which is suspected to occur by the augmentation of normal insulin-coupled, post-receptor directed glucose utilization via the stimulation of oxidative metabolic pathways capable of maintaining normal utero-ovarian structural continuity and metabolic homeostasis.
Human Mediator Subunit Med26 Functions As A Docking Site For Transcription Elongation Factors

Promoter-proximal pausing by initiated RNA polymerase II (Pol II) and regulated release of paused polymerase into productive elongation has emerged as a major mechanism of transcription activation. Reactivation of paused Pol II correlates with recruitment of super-elongation complexes (SECs) containing ELL/EAF family members, P-TEFb, and other proteins, but the mechanism of their recruitment is an unanswered question. Here, we present evidence for a role of human Mediator subunit MED26 in this process. We identify in the conserved N-terminal domain of MED26 overlapping docking sites for SEC and a second ELL/EAF-containing complex, as well as general initiation factor TFIID. In addition, we present evidence consistent with the model that MED26 can function as a molecular switch that interacts first with TFIID in the Pol II initiation complex and then exchanges TFIID for complexes containing ELL/EAF and P-TEFb to facilitate transition of Pol II into the elongation stage of transcription.
Cultural lag in education

(1967). Cultural lag in education. Peabody Journal of Education: Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 82-84.
Note on MCDF correlation calculations for high-Z ions

The ground-state energies of helium-like uranium, helium-like holmium and neutral helium have been calculated within the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock model. The convergence problem of the MCDF method for two-electron heavy ions is studied. The results are compared with values obtained by others using projection operators for the negative energy continuum. A small but significant discrepancy in calculated energies is found.
Comparison of the handheld Retinomax K-Plus2 and on-table autokeratometers in children with and without cycloplegia ☆ ☆☆

Abstract Purpose: To compare the keratometry measurements in children by the handheld Nikon Retinomax K-Plus2 (Rmax) and the on-table Topcon KR8100 autokeratometers and evaluate the degree of agreement in the 2 instruments between children with and without cycloplegia. Setting: Department of Ophthalmology, Kaohsiung Municipal United Hospital, and Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Methods: The first cohort comprised 61 children who were consecutively collected in the pediatric ophthalmology clinic. The keratometry was measured under cycloplegia. The second cohort included 156 school children who received routine vision screening without cycloplegia. The horizontal and vertical keratometry data were measured by both instruments. The mean bias and agreement between the 2 types of measurements were evaluated. Results: Both horizontal and vertical keratometry data from the Rmax were systemically and mildly lower than the data from the Topcon. The mean keratometric difference in the 2 types of instruments was minimal and clinically acceptable: 72% to 85% was within ±0.5 diopter. The agreement of measured data in the children without cycloplegia was higher than that in the children with cycloplegia. Conclusions: The handheld Retinomax provided comparable data to that of the conventional on-table Topcon. It is useful in the clinic to measure keratometry in children and therefore may offer a convenient tool for assessing corneal curvature for fitting contact lenses or for implanting intraocular lenses in young children.
Region processing of EMI data for landmine detection

A hand-held mine detector has two modes of operation: search and localization. In search mode, the goal is to identify areas where a buried mine might be located. Since minimizing the number of misses is a top priority, many regions identified in this mode may contain clutter. To separate the clutter from the mines, the detector can be switched into the localization mode during which a more thorough interrogation of the region is performed. Because causality is not required in localization mode, the analyzed signal is not limited to a single data point, but instead can consist of the response across an entire spatial "region". Previous work has demonstrated that so called "region processing" can potentially improve the localization performance of the detector. We have used the Minelab F1A4 metal detector, an EMI-based system, to collect regional data for a variety of objects including buried mines, metallic and non-metallic clutter, and short-circuited copper loops in free space. Several physics-based processing algorithms were developed and used to predict discrimination performance. Analysis of the loops, whose physical properties were known, indicated that discrimination between objects might be possible using a feature extracted from the detector output. Subsequently, this feature was used as the basis of an algorithm which, when used to process the mine/clutter data, significantly decreased the false alarm rate. This algorithm and its performance were further enhanced by incorporating information about the entire regional response of each object.
United States and Soviet Life Sciences factors in long-duration space flights

A general review of the Life Sciences issues affecting long-duration manned missions is presented. Descriptions and examples of the similarities and differences between the Soviet and U.S. life sciences programs are discussed.
Effects of ventilatory patterns on arterial oxygenation after near-drowning in sea water.

Forty-three dogs were anesthetized and subjected to aspiration of 22 ml/kg of sea water. After 5 minutes, fluid was drained from the lungs by gravity; 33.1 ± 5.9 ml/kg were recovered. Thirty-four dogs were apneic at this time and were treated with intermittent positive-pressure ventilation with a self-inflating bag. Forty-five minutes later, the 40 animals that survived were divided into four equal groups; one group breathed spontaneously and served as a control, the second was treated with IPPV, the third breathed spontaneously against 10 cm H2O PEEP, and the fourth received IPPV plus PEEP (i.e., CPPV). Arterial oxygen tensions of the animals in both groups with PEEP significantly increased during the 75-minute treatment period. By 48 hours two more dogs had died; however, Pa2's had returned to normal in the 38 that survived, regardless of me mode of treatment It is concluded that gravity drainage and immediate mechanical ventilation of victims who aspirate large quantities of sea water are important, since 40 of the 43 animals were resuscitated after being submerged for 5–10 minutes. Blood-gas data showed that positive end-expiratory pressure, with or without mechanical ventilation, significantly increased PaO2 after aspiration of sea water, suggesting that it is indicated in the treatment of sea-water near-drowning victims. Two case reports of human victims of near-drowning in sea water which support the animal studies are presented.
Identification by LC/MSn of degradates of a novel carbapenem antibiotic in an aqueous matrix

Increased drug resistance in Staphylcocci and Enterococci to currently available antibiotics has significantly limited therapeutic options. Recently, a novel carbapenem antibiotic (Compound A) with a releasable side chain adjacent to the carbapenem was investigated to combat methicillin- and vancomycin-resistant Staphylococci and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci. The major advantage of Compound A over existing antibiotics can be attributed to the fact that cleavage of the side chain upon β-lactam ring opening retained anti-bacterial activity while expelling the immunodominant epitope of the presumed β-lactam hapten. In this work, LC/MS methods were developed to identify degradates of Compound A in an aqueous matrix utilized in assessing product safety and supporting analytical method and formulation development. A total of eight significant degradates were observed in this Compound A sample by LC/MSn and other techniques. Detailed structural analysis of degradates based upon LC/MSn data and other supporting results will be described in this work. Proposed molecular structures were confirmed by synthesis and use of authentic standards for several degradates. Degradates 1 and 4 were identified as degradates formed through the reversal of Michael reaction from Degradate 3 that is apparently formed by hydrolysis. Degradates 2 and 8 were found to be Hofmann elimination degradates. Degradates 5 and 6 are believed to be formed through dimerization of two parent molecules followed by the reversal of Michael reaction. Finally, Degradate 7 is attributed to a displacement reaction. Potential degradation pathways based upon these preliminary studies will also be discussed.
Stress Responses in Tropical Sparrows: Comparing Tropical and Temperate Zonotrichia

Abstract Seasonal modulation of the adrenocortical response appears to be ubiquitous in mid‐ to high‐latitude vertebrates but has not been investigated in tropical vertebrates. Previous studies demonstrate that temperate passerines show seasonality in corticosterone secretion and corticosteroid binding globulin capacities. We examined seasonal and sex differences in the stress response in an equatorial population of Zonotrichia capensis, the only Zonotrichia that breeds in the tropics, and compared the results with those of northern Zonotrichia. Seasonal differences in tropical Zonotrichia would presumably be independent of photoperiod and thus directly related to such activities as reproduction and feather molt. In addition, we investigated the possible role of binding globulin as a sex steroid binding globulin, as suggested for temperate passerines. Similar to northern congeners, Z. capensis show seasonal modulation in total corticosterone and binding globulin capacity with higher levels during breeding...
Norepinephrine elevations in cerebrospinal fluid after d- and l-amphetamine.

Abstract We continuously collected cerebrospina fluid (CSF) from the lateral ventricles of monkeys and gave them from 0.1 to 1.0 mg/kg d- or l-amphetamine intravenously. The norepinephrine (NE) content of their CSF had a small circadian rhythm and a large increase after amphetamine. 1.0 mg/kg amphetamine gave a four-fold rise in CSF-NE which remained elevated for 33 h, smaller doses gave proportionately lesser responses. Both d- and l-amphetamine caused similar NE elevations except for minor differences at the highest dose. If there are differences in behavioral aspects of moderate doses of d- and l-amphetamine, they are probably not due to a general difference in central NE release from these stereoisomers.
Energy: Analysing fossil-fuel displacement

It is commonly assumed that fossil fuels can be replaced by alternative forms of energy. Now research challenges this assumption, and highlights the role of non-technological solutions to reduce fossil-fuel consumption.
Insight to the Interaction of the Dihydrolipoamide Acetyltransferase (E2) Core with the Peripheral Components in the Escherichia coli Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex via Multifaceted Structural Approaches.

Multifaceted structural approaches were undertaken to investigate interaction of the E2 component with E3 and E1 components from the Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex (PDHc), as a representative of the PDHc from Gram-negative bacteria. The crystal structure of E3 at 2.5 A resolution reveals similarity to other E3 structures and was an important starting point for understanding interaction surfaces between E3 and E2. Biochemical studies revealed that R129E-E2 and R150E-E2 substitutions in the peripheral subunit-binding domain (PSBD) of E2 greatly diminished PDHc activity, affected interactions with E3 and E1 components, and affected reductive acetylation of E2. Because crystal structures are unavailable for any complete E2-containing complexes, peptide-specific hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry was used to identify loci of interactions between 3-lipoyl E2 and E3. Two peptides from the PSBD, including Arg-129, and three peptides from E3 displayed statistically significant reductions in deuterium uptake resulting from interaction between E3 and E2. Of the peptides identified on E3, two were from the catalytic site, and the third was from the interface domain, which for all known E3 structures is believed to interact with the PSBD. NMR clearly demonstrates that there is no change in the lipoyl domain structure on complexation with E3. This is the first instance where the entire wild-type E2 component was employed to understand interactions with E3. A model for PSBD-E3 binding was independently constructed and found to be consistent with the importance of Arg-129, as well as revealing other electrostatic interactions likely stabilizing this complex.
A new addition reaction in organophosphorus chemistry

Abstract A new type of stepwise addition of alkylisocyanates 2a,b to two phosphorus atoms of methylenephosphinophosphorane 1 leads to the formation of unusual compounds 4a,b and 5a,b with two phosphorus atoms of different coordination number λ 4 P + , λ 6 P − and opposite formal charge.
Using Mounds to Create Microtopography Alters Plant Community Development Early in Restoration

One potential means of promoting diversity in restoration is to use microtopographic features to increase habitat heterogeneity and concentrate resources. In this study, small mounds of sand or topsoil mix were constructed. We hypothesized that these features would improve the establishment and survival of seeded prairie plants. After the first growing season both seeded and total (seeded plus unseeded) plant density/m2 were greater on the mound features than other areas, although, in subsequent years, these differences were erased or reversed. Grass (seeded plus unseeded) density/m2, however, was always larger on the mounded features. Position within the mound also affected plant community development; the base, followed by the top, improved both seeded and total plant density. Mound aspect also interacted with year; the lee and windward sides had similar seeded species richness in the first and third field seasons, but during the second year the lee side had higher seeded species richness and seeded plant density. Grasses (seeded plus unseeded) were also denser on the lee side of the mound in the second year. Finally, the material of the mound created differences in the community response. Sand mounds supported a greater proportion of seeded to total plant density compared with the topsoil mounds. There was also a larger proportion of grasses to total plant density on the sand mounds. This topographic heterogeneity plays an important role in improving the development of both temporal and spatial vegetation variability in grassland restoration.
Physicochemical Characterization of Nanotemplate Engineered Solid Lipid Nanoparticles

As the physicochemical characteristics of solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) play a critical role in their success, it is important to understand how the materials and process used in their preparation affect these properties. In this study, two stearyl alcohol-based formulations were prepared using nanotemplate engineering technology and characterized. Both formulations were of a small particle size (<100 nm), ellipsoidal shape, and low polydispersity. 1H NMR spectroscopy confirmed that the SLNs have the expected solid core structure and PEGylated surface. Analysis of the bulk materials indicated that a number of complex interactions are present among the SLN components, including a eutectic between stearyl alcohol and Brij 78. The decreased crystallinity resulting from these interactions may allow for enhanced drug loading. Physiological stability was identified and confirmed as a potential problem due to the low melting point of the eutectic. However, it is expected that with appropriate formulation modi...