cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Heterogeneity Confounds Establishment of "a" Model Microbial Strain.

Aspergillus fumigatus is a ubiquitous environmental mold and the leading cause of diverse human diseases ranging from allergenic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) to invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA). Experimental investigations of the biology and virulence of this opportunistic pathogen have historically used a few type strains; however, it is increasingly observed with this fungus that heterogeneity among isolates potentially confounds the use of these reference isolates. Illustrating this point, Kowalski et al. (mBio 7:e01515-16, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01515-16) demonstrated that variation in 16 environmental and clinical isolates of A. fumigatus correlated virulence with fitness in low oxygen, whereas Fuller et al. (mBio 7:e01517-16, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01517-16) showed wide variation in light responses at a physiological and protein functionality level in 15 A. fumigatus isolates. In both studies, two commonly used type strains, Af293 and CEA10, displayed significant differences in physiological responses to abiotic stimuli and virulence in a murine model of IPA.
A comparative convergence and accuracy study of composite guided-ultrasonic wave solution methods: Comparing the unified analytic method, SAFE method and DISPERSE:

Multiple approaches and programs are available to the public to predict ultrasonic guided-wave propagation dispersion curves in a material. Each approach and program will have its own advantage and disadvantage making it suitable for a specific end use and less suitable for others. This manuscript aims to compare three different guided-ultrasonic wave dispersion curves retrieval methods for multiple cases. First a single layer of isotropic, unidirectional, orthotropic and monoclinic material is examined, followed by a multi-layer case (consisting of 10 layers of the aforementioned materials) and finally four different laminates and one sandwich laminate are evaluated. The goal of this manuscript is to give a concise overview of the advantages and limitations of each approach to assist the end user in choosing the right program to use.
Exploring the Potential for Collaborative Data Compression and Hard-Error Tolerance in PCM Memories

Limited write endurance is the main obstacle standing in the way of using phase change memory (PCM) in future computing systems. While several wear-leveling and hard-error tolerant techniques have been proposed for improving PCM lifetime, most of these approaches assume that the underlying memory uses a very simple write traffic reduction scheme (e.g., buffering, differential writes). In particular, most PCM prototypes/chips are equipped with an embedded circuit to support differential writes (DW) – on a write, only the bits that differ between the old and new data are updated. With DW, the bit-pattern of updates in a memory block is usually random, which limits the opportunity to exploit the resulting bit pattern for lifetime enhancement at an architecture level (e.g., using techniques such as wear-leveling and hard-error tolerance). This paper focuses on this inefficiency and proposes a solution based on data compression. Employing compression can improve the lifetime of the PCM memory. Using state-of-the-art compression schemes, the size of the compressed data is usually much smaller than the original data written back to memory from the last-level cache on an eviction. By storing data in a compressed format in the target memory block, first, we limit the number of bit flips to fewer memory cells, enabling more efficient intra-line wear-leveling and error recovery, and second, the unused bits in the memory block can be reused as replacements for faulty bits given the reduced size of the (compressed) data. It can also happen that for a portion of the memory blocks, the resulting compressed data is not very small. This can be due to increased data entropy introduced by compression, where the total number of bit flips will be increased over the baseline system. In this paper, we present an approach that provides collaborative operation of data compression, differential writes, wear-leveling and hard-error tolerant techniques targeting PCM memories. We propose approaches that reap the maximum benefits from compression, while also enjoying the benefits of techniques that reduce the number of high-entropy writes. Using an approach that combines different solutions, our mechanism tolerates 2.9× more cell failures per memory line and achieves a 4.3× increase in PCM memory lifetime, relative to our baseline state-of-the-art PCM DIMM memory.
Review of Lepton Production in Hadron-Hadron Collisions

The production of leptons, especially at values of transverse momentum well above 1 fermi−1, is a sensitive probe of hadron structure at small distances. In these lectures I hope to summarize in an informal manner the present knowledge of hadronically-produced leptons, with emphasis on the general features of the data, rather than on details of individual experiments. The reader is referred to the many recent reviews1–3) of the subject (some still in press at this time) for other points of view. I have borrowed freely from them, and gladly acknowledge the authors. Also, some aspects of the subject were discussed by Professor Min Chen in his lecture at this School, and are not repeated here.
Training and Education: Human Factors Considerations for Automated Driving Systems

Vehicles with partial automation, forerunners to those with higher levels of automation, are already being deployed by automakers. These current deployments, although incremental, have the potential to disrupt how people interact with vehicles. This chapter reports on a discussion of related issues that was held as part of the Human Factors Breakout session at the 2017 Automated Vehicle Symposium. The session, titled “Automated Vehicle Challenges: How can Human Factors Research Help Inform Designers, Road Users, and Policy Makers?”, included discussions between industry experts and human factors researchers and professionals on immediate human factors issues surrounding deployment of vehicles with Automated Driving Systems (ADS).
An Approach to Map/Text Interrelationships

After a short theoretical review, placing map/text interrelationships into contemporary cartographic theory, a quantitative approach is outlined to organize and structure information at five stages of analysis: the publication as a whole, the maps, the texts, and observed interrelationships between maps and texts. A discussion of meaning to be derived from related materials is included in the method. The data are to be interpreted in contexts of theory, content, and social practice.
User Partitioning Hybrid for Tag Recommendation

Tag recommendation is a fundamental service in today’s social annotation systems, assisting users as they collect and annotate resources. Our previous work has demonstrated the strengths of a linear weighted hybrid, which weights and combines the results of simple components into a final recommendation. However, these previous efforts treated each user the same. In this work, we extend our approach by automatically discovering partitions of users. The user partitioning hybrid learns a different set of weights for these user partitions. Our rigorous experimental results show a marked improvement. Moreover, analysis of the partitions within a dataset offers interesting insights into how users interact with social annotations systems.
Perpetuating Poverty: Exploitative Businesses, the Urban Poor, and the Failure of Liberal Reform

This article scrutinizes the rent-to-own, payday lending, and title pawn businesses – all of which target and exploit the urban poor. Each type of business has developed a sophisticated business model that features a standardized contractual agreement for dealing with customers. Reform efforts in the courts and legislatures have attempted to rein in these tawdry businesses, but these efforts have for the most part been unsuccessful. The businesses continue not only to exploit the urban poor but also to socio-economically subjugate them by trapping many into a virtually ceaseless debt cycle. In the end, a blanket proscription of these businesses might be the only way to drive them from the center-city and prevent them from perpetuating poverty.
Steady-State Natural Convection in a Rectangular Cavity Filled with Low Prandtl Number Fluids

Time-independent natural convection in a two-dimensional, rectangular cavity containing a low Prandtl fluid is solved numerically using a finite-difference method. The numerical results reported in the paper were obtained with the SIMPLER algorithm using the power law scheme for finite-differencing the advection terms in the transport equations. The results for steady-state thermal convection flow in a cavity, having an aspect ratio of four, were obtained with a nonuniform mesh of 101X31. The results show that the flow oscillates, and that the amplitude of the oscillation increases with the Grashof number for both Pr = 0 and 0.015, but the frequency remains the same.
Dynamic Psychological Game for Adversarial Internet of Battlefield Things Systems

In this paper, a novel game-theoretic framework is introduced to analyze and enhance the security of adversarial Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT) systems. In particular, a dynamic, psychological network interdiction game is formulated between a soldier and an attacker. In this game, the soldier seeks to find the optimal path to minimize the time needed to reach a destination, while maintaining a desired bit error rate (BER) performance by selectively communicating with certain IoBT devices. The attacker, on the other hand, seeks to find the optimal IoBT devices to attack, so as to maximize the BER of the soldier and hinder the soldier's progress. In this game, the soldier and attacker's first- order and second-order beliefs on each others' behavior are formulated to capture their psychological behavior. Using tools from psychological game theory, the soldier and attacker's intention to harm one another is captured in their utilities, based on their beliefs. A psychological forward induction-based solution is proposed to solve the dynamic game. This approach can find a psychological sequential equilibrium of the game, upon convergence. Simulation results show that, whenever the soldier explicitly intends to frustrate the attacker, the soldier's material payoff is increased by up to 15.6% compared to a traditional dynamic Bayesian game.
The Effects of Parent, Sibling and Peer Substance Use on Adolescent Drinking Behaviors

Understanding influences and predictors of adolescent alcohol use is necessary for treatment and prevention efforts. Although parent, sibling, and peer substance use have demonstrated associations with adolescent drinking, there is a need to examine the unique predictive role of each variable across time. The purpose of the current study was to longitudinally examine the varying influences of parent, sibling, and peer substance use on adolescent drinking. Participants were 102 at-risk adolescents referred to a randomized intervention trial. Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to assess the utility of parent alcohol use, sibling alcohol use, and peer substance use to predict drinking outcomes in the referred adolescent at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up assessments. Results indicated that sibling and peer substance use significantly predicted adolescent drinking frequency above and beyond parent alcohol use at all three time points and drinking quantity and frequency of intoxication at the 12-month follow-up. Peer substance use predicted high volume drinking episodes at all follow-ups and frequency of intoxication at the 3- and 6-month follow-up, whereas only sibling alcohol use predicted drinking quantity at the 3-month follow-up. Parent alcohol use was not a significant predictor of drinking outcomes at any time point. Both sibling and peer substance use were better predictors of adolescent drinking typology at different assessment time points compared to parent alcohol use. These findings highlight the importance of assessing and targeting sibling and peer substance use in intervention and prevention programs.
Nonrandom RNAseq gene expression associated with RNAlater and flash freezing storage methods

RNA sequencing is a popular next-generation sequencing technique for assaying genome-wide gene expression profiles. Nonetheless, it is susceptible to biases that are introduced by sample handling prior gene expression measurements. Two of the most common methods for preserving samples in both field-based and laboratory conditions are submersion in RNAlater and flash freezing in liquid nitrogen. Flash freezing in liquid nitrogen can be impractical, particularly for field collections. RNAlater is a solution for stabilizing tissue for longer-term storage as it rapidly permeates tissue to protect cellular RNA. In this study, we assessed genome-wide expression patterns in 30-day-old fry collected from the same brood at the same time point that were flash-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80°C or submerged and stored in RNAlater at room temperature, simulating conditions of fieldwork. We show that sample storage is a significant factor influencing observed differential gene expression. In particular, genes with elevated GC content exhibit higher observed expression levels in liquid nitrogen flash-freezing relative to RNAlater storage. Further, genes with higher expression in RNAlater relative to liquid nitrogen experience disproportionate enrichment for functional categories, many of which are involved in RNA processing. This suggests that RNAlater may elicit a physiological response that has the potential to bias biological interpretations of expression studies. The biases introduced to observed gene expression arising from mimicking many field-based studies are substantial and should not be ignored.
Access to Urological Care and Internet Connectivity in the United States: A Geospatial Analysis

AbstractIntroduction:Telemedicine video visits have been suggested as a mechanism to improve access to urological care in geographically isolated communities. However, Internet availability is not ...
Impact of 5 fluorouracil chemotherapy on gut inflammation, functional parameters, and gut microbiota

Abstract Emerging evidence suggests that gut microbiota may influence the response to chemotherapy. We sought to characterize the effects of 5 fluorouracil (5FU) chemotherapy on colon inflammation and functional measures in colorectal cancer (CRC) and to further determine whether gut microbiota can influence this response. 50 C57BL/6 were randomized into four groups; Control + Vehicle (n = 10), Control + 5FU (n = 10), AOM/DSS + Vehicle (n = 15), and AOM/DSS + 5FU (n = 15). CRC was induced chemically by a single 10 mg/kg injection of azoxymethane (AOM) followed by two cycles (2% and 1%) of dextran sodium sulfate (DSS). Mice were then treated with 3 cycles of vehicle or 5FU (cycle 1: 40 mg/kg, cycle 2 + 3: 20 mg/kg). Functional tests (grip strength and run-to-fatigue) were performed prior to 5FU treatment (baseline) and at the completion of the second cycle of 5FU. Following the third 5FU cycle, mice were euthanized and the colon was evaluated for expression of inflammatory genes using RT-qPCR and stool samples were profiled using 16S rRNA sequencing. A second experiment used fecal microbiota transplantation from 5FU treated mice to control mice (n = 10–15/group) to determine whether 5FU associated changes in the microbiota could influence functional measures and colon inflammation. 5FU reduced grip strength (p
PET and FRET utility of an amino acid pair: tryptophan and 4-cyanotryptophan

Methods based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and photo-induced electron transfer (PET) are widely used in the biological sciences, employing mostly dye-based FRET and PET pairs. While very useful and important, dye-based reporters are not always applicable without concern, for example, in cases where the fluorophore size needs to be minimized. Therefore, development and characterization of smaller, ideally amino acid-based PET and FRET pairs will expand the biological spectroscopy toolbox to enable new applications. Herein, we show that, depending on the excitation wavelength, tryptophan and 4-cyanotrptophan can interact with each other via the mechanism of either energy or electron transfer, hence constituting a dual FRET and PET pair. The biological utility of this amino acid pair is further demonstrated by applying it to study the end-to-end collision rate of a short peptide, the mode of interaction between a ligand and BSA, and the activity of a protease.
Valproic acid enhances etoposide induced cytotoxicity in neuroblastoma cells

20010 Background: Metastastic neuroblastoma is resistant to treatment and prolonged response is difficult to achieve therefore new therapies are necessary. Etoposide, a topoisomerase II inhibitor i...
Impact of Heart Failure Etiology on Outcomes of Heart Failure with Stable Mid-Range Ejection Fraction

Background Heart failure with mid-range ejection fraction (HFmrEF) of 40-49% is an under-recognized class of CHF. The impact of heart failure etiology in patients with HFmrEF and stable ejection fraction (EF) of one year is unclear. Objectives We hypothesized that patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICMP) and stable mid-range EF (mrEF) and patients with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICMP) and stable mrEF have different mortality and morbidity prognosis. Methods We screened 2593 baseline echo studies at our academic center and identified 724 patients with mrEF. From these patients, we included patients with stable mrEF of 1 year. Student's T-test and chi-square test were used to assess baseline differences between ICMP and NICMP patients. Kaplan Meier survival analysis was conducted and Log-rank p values were calculated to assess the association of different groups with all-cause mortality, cardiac mortality, and heart failure (HF) hospitalizations. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was adjusted for age, gender, race, HTN, DM, COPD, and CKD. Results A total of 132 patients were included in our study. Table 1 summarizes characteristics of patients. Follow up period was 58.7 ± 29.1 months. There was no significant difference in all-cause mortality between ICMP and NICMP patients (figure 1), p-value of 0.223. Cardiac mortality between the two groups was not significantly different, p-value of 0.507 and HF hospitalization rate between them was also not significant, p-value of 0.8. In adjusted model, differences in outcomes remained insignificant. Conclusion We found that patients with ICMP and stable mrEF of 1 year had similar all-cause mortality, cardiac mortality, and HF hospitalization rate compared to patients with NICMP and stable mrEF. Further studies are needed to validate our results.
A review of frequency regulation markets in three U.S. ISO/RTOs

Abstract A review of the frequency regulation market practices of the ISO New England, PJM Interconnection, and Midcontinent ISO is presented here. Particular attention is given to market structure, resource eligibility, selection, market clearing and settlements. An overview of frequency regulating reserves and the capacity and performance components is provided. We find that the observed spread in historic market clearing prices can be explained by how each operator incorporates lost opportunity cost into their clearing formulation.
Birth spacing and child mortality in a Caribbean population.

A study of infant mortality using vital records from the Caribbean island of St. Bart including 4411 births to 978 island-born women from 1878 to 1976 produced some atypical results. The population comprises poor subsistence farmers with a French culture with virtually no socioeconomic variation or modern contraception throughout the period. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed on the following 11 independent variables: birth year birth order mothers age at birth childs sex sex of previous child preceding birth interval previous childs death at less than 1 year previous child was living at time of childs conception next child was conceived while index child was living mothers death during childs 1st year and single or multiple pregnancy. Significant predictors of infant mortality were: mothers death within 1 year birth year multiple year whether the preceding child died before 1 year of age and whether the next child was conceived before the index child reached 1 year. This study which did not rely on interview data was remarkable for no significant effect of birth spacing variables. Maternal death was highly significant a finding that rarely appears in interview surveys. Use of vital records and the interpretation of the determinants of birth spacing and infant death were discussed.
Histopathologic findings in culture-positive secondary osteomyelitis

Abstract As peripheral vascular disease and diabetes mellitus are increasingly common, chronic wounds are often seen. Bone biopsies, with imaging and microbial cultures, are often obtained to evaluate for osteomyelitis. Because much of the historical literature describing the histology of osteomyelitis pertains to primary osteomyelitis, this study characterizes the histologic findings and provides correlation with culture results in secondary osteomyelitis. The histologic features of bone biopsies were assessed over a 5 year period. Concurrent laboratory and radiographic data were obtained and these data were compared with culture results. This study included 163 cases, of which 104 were culture-positive osteomyelitis. All culture-positive cases had been present longer than 28 days and had at least one of the following histologic features: neutrophilic inflammation, plasmacytic inflammation, or eosinophilic fibrosis. However, none of these findings were restricted to culture-positive cases. Overall, plasmacytic and neutrophilic inflammation provided similar specificity, and positive predictive values for osteomyelitis. Medullary fibrosis gave a sensitivity of 95%, the highest for any single feature, and the combination of fibrosis and neutrophilic inflammation had the greatest specificity of 96%. Additionally, neutrophilic inflammation correlated often with isolation of Staphylococcus aureus, while plasma cell predominance was found more frequently with other infectious agents. This study describes histologic features in secondary osteomyelitis, which may challenge the widespread inclination to equate a neutrophilic inflammation with ‘acute osteomyelitis’ and ‘chronic osteomyelitis’ with one rich in plasma cells. We report an early correlation between common histopathologic findings and specific culture isolates, which can be further refined with additional research.
The shift to digital: designing for learning from a culturally relevant interactive media perspective.

In the midst of a global pandemic, higher education saw a modality shift to online learning that caused panic and discomfort as many instructors lacked the skills, resources, and didactic aptitude in this response (Lederman, The shift to remote learning: The human element. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2020/03/25/how-shift-remote-learning-might-affect-students-instructors-and, 2020). The current review discusses the impact of this article for successful learning design as well as applications, limitations, constraints and future suggestions during the COVID-19 era. Specifically, this paper is in response to the article entitled, "The process of designing for learning: understanding university teachers' design work" (Bennett et al., The process of designing for learning: Understanding university teachers' design work. Educational Technology Research and Development, 65, 125-145. 10.1007/s11423-016-9469-y, 2017). The impact of the article under review can provide a roadmap to expert instruction with its focus on flexibility across interdisciplinary higher education fields of knowledge. In application, the findings of Bennett and her colleagues work, suggested designing for efficiency, broad considerations to specific details, and design and refining processes. The limitations of the current study under review, included having participants remember particular experiences of design with one-off interviews and no significant follow up. Given the aforementioned limitation, the next stage of research could be to develop a more explanatory and then prescriptive study to explore the rationale behind design decisions and strengthen implications. The descriptive framework of the current study allows educators and students opportunities to co-design authentic meaning making experiences given cultural relevant pedagogy. Ultimately, the current review concludes from a learning design perspective that focuses on culturally relevant educational ecosystems and interactive media.
Predicting Electromagnetic Interference to a Terminated Wire Using Characteristic Mode Analysis

Electromagnetic coupling to realistic wire configurations exhibit large variations with respect to the frequency, incident angle, and polarization of the interfering signal. In this work, Characteristic Mode Analysis (CMA) is used to calculate the fundamental modes of a terminated wire above an infinite ground plane. Using the properties of the modes, the coupled currents to the wire's loads are predicted for different incident excitations. Using this simple but practical wire configuration, we show the versatility of CMA in practical electromagnetic interference and coupling applications.
Cidadania nas organizações empresariais: provocando reflexões sobre respeito à diversidade

Este texto discute a discriminacao social nas organizacoes. O objetivo e refletir sobre conceitos que embasam a compreensao da relacao entre direitos humanos e de cidadania para melhor entender a questao do respeito a diversidade nas organizacoes como algo mais complexo do que o oportunismo para aumentar a lucratividade. Baseia-se em pesquisa bibliografica e documental numa abordagem preliminar, portanto, sem a pretensao de esgotar a problematica. Conclui-se que a cidadania pode ser mais bem compreendida se tomada na perspectiva da dupla interseccao entre os direitos civis e os direitos civicos. Os direitos civicos remetem a um sentido universalizante dos direitos da pessoa, de um povo e da propria especie humana.
Multifactorial causal beliefs and colorectal cancer screening: A structural equation modeling investigation.

We tested a conceptual model that describes the relationship between individuals’ understanding of the multifactorial nature of cancer and their self-reported colorectal cancer screening. We collec...
Simple, Single-Shot Phosphoproteomic Analysis of Heat-Stable Tau Identifies Age-Related Changes in pS235- and pS396-Tau Levels in Non-human Primates

Age is the most significant risk factor for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Better understanding the role that aging plays in AD pathology is critical for therapeutic development. Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) composed of hyperphosphorylated tau are a quintessential hallmark of AD. We developed a simple, antibody-free approach for single shot analysis of tau phosphorylation across the entire protein by liquid-chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to study age-related changes in tau phosphorylation. This methodology is species independent; thus, while initially developed in a rodent model, we utilized this technique to analyze 36 phosphorylation sites on rhesus monkey tau from the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a region vulnerable to AD-linked degeneration. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD027971. We identified novel, age-related changes in tau phosphorylation in the rhesus monkey PFC and analyzed patterns of phosphorylation change across domains of the protein. We confirmed a significant increase and positive correlation with age of phosphorylated serine 235 tau and phosphorylated serine 396 tau levels in an expanded cohort of 14 monkeys. Histology showed robust labelling for tau phosphorylated at these sites in vulnerable layer III pyramidal cells in the PFC. The results presented in this study suggest an important role of the natural aging process in tau phosphorylation.
Philosophical Concepts in Physics: Galileo on motion

In this chapter we present a prelude to the foundations of modern mechanics that is basically the study of the descriptions and of the causes of the motion of bodies. Aristotle and Galileo are the historical characters on whose work we focus. As we pointed out in Chapter 3, it is important to appreciate that all developments in science take place against the historical, philosophical and social backgrounds in which the scientists find themselves. All scientists, no matter how singularly gifted, build upon the work of their predecessors, even when they overturn old beliefs and theories. Unlike the Athena of Greek mythology who emerged full grown from the head of Zeus, new theories in science do not materialize in final form from one mind working in isolation, but are developed as part of a larger movement. That theme, to which we return often in this book, is well illustrated in the following. THE IMPETUS THEORY Over the centuries there were numerous transcriptions and translations of Aristotle's works, as well as endless commentaries upon them. Not all those who studied the Aristotelian tradition were uncritical of it. This was especially true for Aristotle's position that ‘unnatural’ motion required the action of an external agent. Hipparchus, perhaps the greatest astronomical observer of antiquity, expressed somewhat vaguely the concept of an impressed force that was transmitted to a moving body. This impressed force was gradually dissipated by the surrounding medium so that the body eventually came to rest.
The Biosynthesis of Aromatic Compounds from D-Glucose

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the several aspects of the formation of shikimate, and with its conversion to aromatic amino acids. Although the role of D-glucose is stressed in the title, it should be pointed out that pyruvate and acetate, the starting materials for the other known pathways, may also be derived ultimately from D-glucose. A bacterial culture in a minimal medium (salts plus D-glucose) was irradiated with ultraviolet light, and the resultant mixture of wild-type and mutant strains was grown on a medium supplemented with yeast extract and casein hydrolyzate. Mutant strains were obtained which required for growth phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, and p -aminobenzoic acid. For certain of these strains, it was found that, of more than 50 compounds tested, only shikimic acid was able to replace the required aromatic supplement; other strains accumulated shikimic acid in the culture medium. It was therefore concluded that the former can convert shikimic acid to the aromatic metabolites, the genetic block in these organisms being somewhere before shikimic acid; the latter clearly were blocked after shikimic acid. Certain multiple aromatic auxotrophs grew slowly on the quadruple aromatic supplement, but were stimulated by the further addition of a trace of shikimic acid or of wild-type filtrate. The compound responsible for this effect was shown to be p -hydroxybenzoic acid, a bacterial vitamin subsequently found to be involved in the biosynthesis of methionine and lysine.
Alterations of cell cycle regulators in localized synovial sarcoma: A multifactorial study with prognostic implications.

Genetic alterations of cell cycle regulators are thought to represent uncommon and possible secondary events in sarcomas characterized by recurrent chromosomal translocations. The present study investigates this hypothesis on synovial sarcoma (SS), assessing the frequency of expression and possible clinical implications of detecting alterations in critical cell cycle regulatory proteins. A homogeneous cohort of 49 patients with localized SS, restricted to the extremity and with available long-term follow-up information, was selected from our files. We focused our study on molecules involved in the G1 checkpoint and G1-S transition, including cyclins D1 and E, p21WAF1, p27Kip1, mdm2, p53, and Ki67. A cutoff point of 10% immunoreactive tumor cell nuclei was selected to define a positive phenotype for any given marker, except for Ki67. High Ki67 proliferative index was considered when ≥20% tumor cells displayed nuclear immunoreactivity. Biphasic SS were analyzed, taking into account separately the expression of these proteins in the spindle and glandular components. Disease specific survival was modeled using the Kaplan-Meier method with log rank test and Cox regression. The cohort of patients analyzed included 23 females and 26 males, and the histological type distribution was 35 monophasic and 14 biphasic SS. The median follow-up for survivors was 53 months, with a 5-year disease-specific survival of 63% and a metastatic disease-free survival of 40%. The positive phenotypes identified for the different markers studied were as follows: cyclin D1, 59%; cyclin E, 29%; p21, 51%; p27, 69%; mdm2, 59%; p53, 16%; and Ki67, 59%. We observed that positive p53, cyclin E, and high Ki67 proliferative index were correlated with survival, but only Ki67 and p53 were independent variables for prognostication. The present study suggests that alterations of cell cycle regulators are more common events in SS than originally thought. p53 overexpression could be of use as a marker together with a high Ki67 proliferative index, in identifying a subset of SS patients with increased risk of tumor relapse.
Helping Courseware Authors to Build Ontologies: The Case of TM4L

The authors of topic map-based learning resources face major difficulties in constructing the underlying ontologies. In this paper we propose two approaches to address this problem. The first one is aimed at automatic construction of a “draft” topic map for the authors to start with. It is based on a set of heuristics for extracting semantic information from HTML documents and transforming it into a topic map format. The second one is aimed at providing help to authors during the topic map creating process by mining the Wikipedia knowledge base. It suggests “standard” names for the new topics (paired with URIs), along with lists of related topics in the considered domain. The proposed approaches are implemented in the educational topic maps editor TM4L.
Financial burden after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation: a qualitative analysis from the patient’s perspective

Financial burden after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation: a qualitative analysis from the patient’s perspective
Who Owns the Charles River Bridge? Intellectual Property and Competition in the Software Industry

Long, long ago, in an economy far away, decision makers responsible for maintaining the footings of commerce faced a troubling question: should entrenched property rights, manifested in a publicly chartered bridge franchise, be permitted to stand in the way of a new and better bridge, to compete directly with the established one? The sanctity of public charters collided with the imperative of technological progress. In a narrow legal sense, the Charles River Bridge case rejected the notion that a state-granted corporate charter conferred a perpetual exclusive franchise. But in a wider sense, the case delivered a sweeping endorsement of Jacksonian ideology: competition wins out -- over established franchises, over old money, over political influence. Some sectors of the digital economy are experiencing the powerful "winner takes all" influence of markets for "network goods." For the "winning" firms in these markets, intellectual property law is necessary to preserve dominance. It is the legal construct that permits private ownership of the technological standards that underlie network markets. Microsoft's copyright in its Windows operating system is a good example. This essay inquires into the necessity of an updated Charles River Bridge principle for the digital era. It explores whether and when the modern state-granted exclusive franchise of intellectual property must yield to demands for competition and innovation. It also speculates about the need for an expansive doctrine borrowed from trademark law -- "technological genericide," which truncates a property right when the asset it covers becomes a technological standard essential to a significant slice of commerce. The essay recognizes that intellectual property is not quite the same as a state charter, and also that "takings" law is a far more binding restraint now than in Jacksonian times. It thus concludes with some thoughts about the potential for compensating intellectual property rights owners whose previously protected works have "gone generic."
ENGINE WEAR WITH METHANOL FUEL IN A NITROGEN-FREE ENVIRONMENT

Several test programs have shown that the combustion of methanol in spark ignition engines can cause unusually high corrosive wear of the upper cylinder bore and ring areas. In this study, a 2.3-liter engine fueled with methanol was operated in a nitrogen-free atmosphere to determine the importance of nitric acid in the corrosion mechanism. A 20-hour steady-state test was carried out using neat methanol as the fuel and a mixture of oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide in place of air. Only trace amounts of NOx and nitric acid were found in the exhaust products during this test. The wear, indicated by iron buildup in the lubricant, was found to be essentially the same in the nitrogen-free test as that detected in baseline engine tests combusting methanol-air mixtures. It was concluded that nitric acid does not play a role in the corrosion mechanism.
Agricultural policies and general economic policy : The Polish experience

Abstract Agricultural planning in Poland is an integral part of the central planning process of the socialist state. For agriculture, central planning is combined with the influence of a controlled market which makes use of various market mechanisms. The authors review agricultural planning in relation to general economic policy and show that with a largely peasant agriculture its productivity is intimately connected with the productivity of the whole economy. In planning income, the rule used is that the income of the agricultural population should increase proportionally with that of the nonagricultural population. The implications of this in the present five-year plan are discussed.
Intraoperative ibandronate reduced prosthesis migration after implantation of total knee prosthesis.

Intraoperative Ibandronate Reduced Prosthesis Migration After Implantation of Total Knee Prosthesis
Identification of gene clusters differentially expressed during the cellular injury responses (CIR) to cisplatin.

The goal of this study was to identify changes in mRNA levels in tumour cells after a toxic exposure to cisplatin (IC(99)dose). Using suppression-subtractive hybridization (SSH) 2 cDNA libraries were created, an UP library (202 cDNA fragments) and a DOWN library (153 cDNA fragments). Using reversed Northern hybridization 16 and 30 fragments were truly differentially expressed in the UP and DOWN libraries, respectively. Most prominent in the UP library were the mitochondrial and injury response clusters and in the DOWN library the cytoskeletal, protein synthesis and signalling clusters. These distinct clusters potentially represent an expression profile of the cisplatin-induced cellular injury response.
Use of electronic clinical documentation: time spent and team interactions

Objective To measure the time spent authoring and viewing documentation and to study patterns of usage in healthcare practice. Design Audit logs for an electronic health record were used to calculate rates, and social network analysis was applied to ascertain usage patterns. Subjects comprised all care providers at an urban academic medical center who authored or viewed electronic documentation. Measurement Rate and time of authoring and viewing clinical documentation, and associations among users were measured. Results Users spent 20–103 min per day authoring notes and 7–56 min per day viewing notes, with physicians spending less than 90 min per day total. About 16% of attendings' notes, 8% of residents' notes, and 38% of nurses' notes went unread by other users, and, overall, 16% of notes were never read by anyone. Viewing of notes dropped quickly with the age of the note, but notes were read at a low but measurable rate, even after 2 years. Most healthcare teams (77%) included a nurse, an attending, and a resident, and those three users' groups were the first to write notes during an admission. Limitations The limitations were restriction to a single academic medical center and use of log files without direct observation. Conclusions Care providers spend a significant amount of time viewing and authoring notes. Many notes are never read, and rates of usage vary significantly by author and viewer. While the rate of viewing a note drops quickly with its age, even after 2 years inpatient notes are still viewed.
Integrating and Assessing Essential Learning Outcomes: Fostering Faculty Development and Student Engagement

This paper proposes a model for implementing a college-wide initiative designed to promote student competence with essential learning outcomes. This mixed-methods study combined descriptive and qualitative approaches to explore experiences of students, faculty, and professional as they engaged in a project that focused on teaching and learning with essential learning outcomes (ELOs). The researchers relied on the use of descriptive statistics and interpretive phenomenological analysis to capture faculty and professional staff participants' engagement in a collaborative study group designed to support pedagogy integrating ELOs into courses, assignments, and co-curricular activities and to gauge students' experienced competence. Six themes emerged from the focus on ELO integration, including connection, awareness, utility, reflection, intention and facilitation. Additionally, using a pre and post student survey of self-perceived ELO competence, researchers found a difference in student ratings of 0.25, (p ≤ 0.05), suggesting an increase in students' perception of their ELO competence over the course of the semester.
Nature's design of nanomotors

The need for movement is an essential concept of all living organisms. On a macroscopic scale, animals and microbes have to be able to move towards food and away from poison and predators. Plants turn their leaves toward their energy source, the sunlight. But even on a molecular scale, movement is essential for life. It has been known for a long time that enzymes and proteins undergo large conformational changes while performing their biological tasks. The catalytically active regions of enzymes need to sequentially open to bind their respective substrates and close to allow the specific chemical reaction to occur in a defined chemical environment. The active sites finally open up again up to allow the product to be released. Molecular motors are proteins and protein complexes that have evolved in living cells to carry out a variety of functions essential for survival, reproduction and differentiation of the cells and organisms. They use chemical, electrochemical or potential energy and transduce that energy into physical, chemical or mechanical force. In this paper we review some of the molecular motors that were designed by nature to either perform physical work or that contain motor-like movements as part of their catalytic mechanism.
STUDIES ON THE ETIOLOGY AND TRANSMISSION OF EPIDEMIC DIARRHEA OF INFANT MICE

Transmission experiments have shown that epidemic diarrhea of infant mice of the CFW strain is infectious and communicable. Cage to cage spread can take place by the air-borne route. The agent appears to be a fairly heat-resistant virus that can be serially transferred and that is neutralized by specific hyperimmune antiserum from rabbits. Mice are susceptible to it by the oral route from at least the 3rd day after birth to the 10th or 11th day. Thereafter they appear to become resistant. The shortest incubation period observed has been 40 hours from the time of feeding infectious material; the longest period could not be ascertained under the conditions of test. Factors relative to the differentiation of this virus from other viruses are briefly discussed.
Intraoperative adjuncts of spinal cord protection.

Immediate neurological deficits as a complication of aortic surgery occur as the direct result of hypoxia, related to the acute deprivation of spinal cord blood supply inflicted by prolonged aortic cross-clamping (AXC). The etiology of spinal cord ischemia constitutes a series of progressive interdependent events which include proximal hypertension, increase in cerebrospinal fluid pressure, perioperative hypotension, inadequate perfusion to critical intercostal or lumbar vessels, extent of aortic pathology and duration of AXC. Several intraoperative interventions and strategies, which address the multifactorial nature of cord injury, are presented by the authors. Of critical importance is the role of adequate distal aortic perfusion, with either left atrium-femoral artery (LA-FA) bypass or arterial-arterial passive shunts, to control both central hypertension, through proximal unloading, and hypotension distal to AXC. Equally crucial is the increase in CSF pressure, secondary to proximal hypertension, which acts antagonistically to distal aortic pressure in regulating spinal cord perfusion pressure (SCPP). Cerebrospinal fluid drainage (CSFD) reduces CSF pressure to offset SUP to favor cord perfusion. Pharmacological agents, such as papaverine and steroids in combination with CSFD, produce a synergistic benefit of extending the time interval of safe AXC. Encouraging results have also been realized with circulatory arrest and profound hypothermia which reduce oxygen demand of neural tissues and extend the safe duration of AXC interval. The use of distal bypass is most effective with CSFD as an integral component of a multimodality approach, which also incorporates the intraoperative monitoring of somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP), to detect the onset of spinal cord ischemia and assess the adequacy of distal aortic perfusion and disposition of critical segmental vessels.
Structure of “carbidic” and “graphitic” phases on Ru(0001)

Abstract Self-consistent calculations are reported of the electronic structure of a model “carbidic” overlayer on a Ru(0001) surface. A minimum in the total energy of the system is found for a bonding configuration similar to that of bulk RuC. In this geometry, there is a high density of “lone-pair” C p states at Ef, which may explain the reactivity of surface carbidic phases. For a “graphitic” overlayer, the C density of states is low at Ef because of the formation of C-C π bonds.
Reaction kinetics of a polyurea reaction injection molding system

Polyureas have the potential for Improving reaction Injection molding (RIM) productivity through shorter demo Id times and elimination of external mold release agents and post-cure. Kinetics of urea formation are necessary for process modeling of polyurea RIM systems. Adiabatic temperature rise measurements were used to monitor the extent of reaction of an aliphatic diamine and an aromatic diamine reacting competitively with a single diisocyanate. The aliphatic diamine reacted much faster; essentially complete polymerization occurred in the RIM mixhead. A similar three-component system was studied in dimethylacetamide and diethylene glycol dimethyl ether, and the sequential nature of the two competing reactions was confirmed. The RIM polymerization of the aromatic diamine, 3,5 diethyltoluene (2,4 and 2,6) diamine and;4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate was studied using an unreactive poly ether as the solvent. The exotherms could be fit with a third order model. Adiabatic temperature rises for all RIM experiments were in good agreement with the values predicted by heats of reaction measured in solution.
Stability of combined pulse-modulated control systems†

Abstract A stability condition for combined pulse-modulated control systems is herein derived. The criterion guarantees bound-input bounded-output stability in the L1, [0, ∞] sense