cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Vitamin D supplementation and cardiovascular disease risk.

Many studies,1,2 but not all, have shown that low bone density is associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Vitamin D deficiency is common in the elderly and is associated with osteoporosis; however, the association of endogenous 25-OH vitamin D (25-OH D) levels with CVD events is controversial.3,4 CVD rates are higher during winter seasons and at increased geographic latitudes where average serum vitamin D levels are lowest.5 Low 25-OH D levels have been found in stroke6 and heart failure patients.7 Moreover, 25-OH D deficiency is associated with hypertension, obesity,8 glucose intolerance,8 and the metabolic syndrome,9 which may be responsible, at least in part, for its association with increased CVD risk. Article p 846 Although vitamin D supplementation improves bone strength, elevated serum vitamin D levels may be associated with lower levels of vascular calcification. In subjects at moderately high risk for coronary heart disease, endogenous serum vitamin D levels were inversely correlated with the extent of coronary artery calcification as determined by cardiac computed tomography.10 Vitamin D also has intriguing antiinflammatory properties11 that have potential therapeutic benefit in several autoimmune diseases and allograft rejection. In 2 small clinical trials,12,13 vitamin D supplementation lowered C-reactive protein levels. Additionally, 1,25(OH)2D induces relaxation of vascular smooth muscle cells …
New Insight Into Desmosome Structure By Whole Cell Cryo-electron Tomography

Previous electron tomograpic study of conventional plastic sections offered the first 3D insight into desmosome structures and suggested flexibility within the extracellular domains of desmosomal cadherins. And cryo-electron microscopy and tomography of vitreous sections indicated the extracellular inter-desmosmal interface was characterized by highly ordered straight rod-like structures with 5 nm periodicity and a cluster architecture model was generated by sub-volume alignment and average. Meanwhile, some other studies suggest that the desmosome is both a complex and dynamic structure. To better define and understand the precise entire structures of desmosome in both extracellular space and in intracellular spaces, new sample preparation techniques and imaging approaches will be important. Instead of conventional plastic section and cryo-section, we studied the desmosome structures in whole cells which were grown on electron microscopic grids coated with supporting film and which were plunge frozen to liquid nitrogen temperature. In this sample preparation, there was no or minimal manipulation of the structures compared to any other sample preparation techniques. Another major advantage of this study is we were able to image the entire desmosome rather than thin sections. We collected data on a 300 kV accelerating voltage microscope equipped with in-column energy-filter. Three-dimensional reconstructions and post-reconstruction analysis have offered a number of new insights into desmosome structure which may also shed light on the mechanism of desmosome assembling.
Substrate Step Induced Strain in Heteroepitaxial Growth

During epitaxial growth of lattice-mismatched materials, substrate surface steps induce vertical misfit between substrate and epilayer. It is shown that the resulting strain is accomodated by an interface dislocation, which is of the Read-Shockley type for a complete step and supplemetary displacement type for a demistep, using R.C. Pond's classification. Alternative models for the strain accomodation are considered. A localized “displacement boundary” is shown to be unfavorable irrespective of the film-thickness. Residual shear strain in the film requires debonding from the substrate, which is shown to be unfavorable with respect to the dislocation model. The distribution of strain between film and substrate is shown to depend weakly on film-thickness but strongly on the material's elastic constants.
How to combine pareto optimality with liberty considerations

I argue that the liberty condition of Sen's important impossibility of a Paretian liberal result is not a condition that liberals (or libertarians) would accept. The problem is that an appropriate liberty condition must be formulated in terms of consent - not in terms of preference. To formulate an adequate condition the framework needs to expand from collective choice rules (which only take information about preferences as input) to rights-based social choice rules (which also take as input information about which options have been consented to and which would violate someone's rights). I formulate a more adequate liberty condition based on the notion of consent that is acceptable to liberals, and then show that Pareto optimality is incompatible even with that condition. I then show how the liberty condition can be weakened in a plausible manner, and describe an interesting class of theories - rights-based Paretian theories - that satisfy the Pareto optimality requirement while being sensitive to liberty considerations.
The Role of Seals and Certifications of Approval in Consumer Decision‐Making.

One important source of product-related information available to consumers is seals and certifications of approval. Yet little is known about the role played by these symbols in the decision-making process. This study examines the level of recognition, the perceived credibility, the perceived meaning and the use of nine seals or certifications of approval among adult female consumers. The results would appear to have significant implications for consumer protection and education.
Sensing the effect of body load in legs: responses of tibial campaniform sensilla to forces applied to the thorax in freely standing cockroaches

Sense organs in the legs that detect body weight are an important component in the regulation of posture and locomotion. We tested the abilities of tibial campaniform sensilla, receptors that can monitor forces in the cockroach leg, to encode variations in body load in freely standing animals. Small magnets were attached to the thorax and currents were applied to a coil below the substrate. Sensory and motor activities were monitored neurographically. The tibial sensilla could show vigorous discharges to changing forces when animals stood upon their legs and actively supported the body weight. Firing of individual afferents depended upon the orientation of the receptor’s cuticular cap: proximal sensilla (oriented perpendicular to the leg axis) discharged to force increases while distal receptors (parallel to the leg) fired to decreasing forces. Proximal sensillum discharges were prolonged and could encode the level of load when increases were sustained. Firing of the trochanteral extensor motoneuron was also strongly modulated by changing load. In some postures, sensillum discharges paralleled changes in motor frequency consistent with a known interjoint reflex. These findings demonstrate that tibial campaniform sensilla can monitor the effects of body weight upon the legs and may aid in generating support of body load.
Using Digital Scanned Aerial Photography for Wetlands Delineation.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency are charged with the responsibility to jointly manage the nation''s wetlands in accordance with the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act. The Corps'' role is enforcement of regulations concerning dredging and filling of specific types and areas of wetlands that fall within jurisdictional boundaries. Current research is being conducted to enhance the field scientist''s ability to manage these ecosystems using digital aerial photography, image processing, and photo interpretation logic. This paper presents techniques used to scan (digitize), archive, and utilize digital aerial photography for environmental resource management using a photogrammetrically accurate, CCD-based scanner. Spectral characteristics of the imagery and useful image processing routines to enhance the resulting raster file(s) for interpretation are discussed.
SU-D-214-02: Quality Assurance Tool for Radiation Therapy Patients: Peer Review System Design and Implementation

Purpose: To demonstrate the efficacy of a peer review system (PRS) for remote quality assurance in radiationoncology. The PRS is a Web‐based system which allows radiationoncologists to share anonymous treatment plans (imaging, structure sets, and dose distributions) with peer reviewers for their feedback. Methods: We have developed a DICOM‐RT compliant PRS that can store patient images and treatment planning data. The PRS infrastructure consisting of three components: Gateway, Web Server and Web Viewer, which is developed with current Web technology, utilizing .NET framework and Silverlight plug‐in for web interface. The patient data can be visualized through a Web browser and distributed across multiple locations by the local area network and the Internet. The submitter uses the Gateway to anomymize patient data, chooses a reviewer from the master list, adds annotations and messages and submits patient data for review via the PRS Web Server. Upon receiving the data from the submitter, the reviewer is notified via email and prompted to review the submitted treatment plan from the Web Viewer simply by clicking on the embedded URL. The PRS Web Server has built‐in functionality to keep track of reviewer comments communication between submitter and reviewers. Results: The system was evaluated at two facilities with different treatment planning systems (Varian Eclipse v.8.9 and Philips Pinnacle v.9.0). The CTimages and related DICOM‐RT objects for several different patients from each facility were successfully submitted and reviewed using the prototype PRS. Conclusions: The PRS has been successfully pilot‐tested for remote peer‐review of treatment planning data. The PRS allows radiationoncology service providers access to treatment planning data from any location and an ability to review it in an interactive and collaborative manner. The broader implementation of the PRS in clinical settings will improve the quality and safety of radiation therapy.
Correction: Disease candidate gene identification and prioritization using protein interaction networks

Text After the publication of this work [1], we became aware of the fact that we inadvertently failed to include the work of Chen et al. [2] when listing previous studies that use PPIs to prioritize disease candidate genes. In a pioneering study [2], Chen et al. used a initial gene list for Alzheimer's from the OMIM database, expanded it based on protein interactions, and proposed a scoring function to identify other Alzheimer's disease causal genes based on graph-connectedness.
Effect of neuropeptide Y microinjected into the hypothalamus on ethanol consumption

Abstract Guide cannula were implanted in rats aimed at the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus for microinjection of neuropeptide Y (NPY), D-NPY 27–36 , or vehicle. In the Wistar rat, there was no significant effect on the consumption of ethanol. In Myers’ high ethanol preferring (mHEP) rats, D-NPY 27–36 caused a significant 54% decrease in ethanol consumption from baseline, but the response was not different from vehicle. NPY-induced feeding in satiated Wistar rats, was blocked by a Y 1 receptor antagonist, D-NPY 27–36 . D-NPY 27–36 decreased 78% feeding in food-deprived rats. Thus, neither the Wistar nor the mHEP rat perceives ethanol as a source of calories comparable to food.
On the question of nitrate formation by N-containing austenitic stainless steels

Abstract Since nitrates and nitrites are powerful corrosion inhibitors, the possibility that alloyed nitrogen may be capable, at suitable anodic potentials, of oxidizing to either of these species was considered. While no spectral evidence has been found of NO 3 − formation by N-containing stainless steels, it was decided to clarify this issue further by considering the stability of NO 3 − ions on the surface of pure Cr, polarized over a wide range of potentials from −930 to 1300 mV with respect to a saturated calomel electrode (SCE) in 0.1 M HCl + 0.5 M NaNO 3 (pH 1.1). Using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, it was observed that reduction of NO 3 − occurred at all potentials studied, contrary to conventional interpretations using the Pourbaix diagram for the N 2 -H 2 O system. Specifically, nitride was found to be formed on Cr under conditions leading to the exposure of the metal surface to the electrolyte. This resulted in strong evidence that nitrogen alloyed with austenitic stainless steels does not oxidize to NO 3 − . A mixed surface nitride was formed on the surfaces of four types of austenitic stainless steel by reducing NO 3 − ions at the cathodic potential −700 mV (SCE) in 0.1 M HCl + 0.5 M NaNO 3 solution. This nitride exhibited an identical X-ray photoelectron spectrum with that formed by N-containing austenitic stainless steels. The anodically inhibitive role of the surface nitride formed by the reduction of NO 3 − ions was also found to be identical with the role of N alloy additions to austenitic stainless steels. This work contributes new insights into the role of alloyed N in the corrosion behavior of austenitic stainless steels and also offers a new model for understanding the mode of operation of nitrates as corrosion inhibitors in ferrous alloys.
Mediastinal mature teratoma in a Jehovah's Witness: Discrepancy between imaging and intraoperative findings.

Introduction Primary mediastinal germ cell tumors are exceedingly rare but may present with a wide spectrum of elements. The occasional mediastinal teratoma that presents completely comprised of mature elements is a benign tumor but the appearance on imaging studies may be more suggestive of an invasive tumor. The treatment is complete resection but the assessment of resectability based on computed tomographic imaging can be misleading.
Malpractice and the Quality of Care

Excerpt Physicians should be aware of the recent report on medical professional liability by the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Medical Professional Liability (1) (seereview on p. 849...
Mechanics and kinetics of incongruent feldspar dissolution

Examination of published feldspar dissolution data indicates that the relative rates of release of Na, K, Ca, and Si do not conform to the bulk stoichiometry of the parent feldspar. This lack of conformity is of two types: (1) nonstoichiometric release of Na, K, and Ca relative to each other and (2) nonstoichiometric release of Na, K, and Ca relative to Si. The former is attributed to inhomogeneity of the feldspar due to exsolution intergrowths and chemical zonation in crystals. The latter, which persists after accounting for secondary mineral precipitation, is due to the two-step reaction mechanism that results in the release of Si. This involves the exchange of H+ for Na+, K+, and Ca++ on the surface of the feldspar, followed by release of Al and Si to solution. Mass-balance calculations indicate that the first step accounts for a substantial proportion of the overall reaction progress and that a steady-state quantity of the H-feldspar complex is not produced. Thus, the general rate law of Aagaard and Helgeson cannot be applied to the early stages of dissolution. However, if each step is considered elementary and substrate limited, rate laws can be written for each that simulate the delayed release of Si relative to Na, K, and Ca. These rate laws can also be shown to result in linear kinetics under certain conditions (e.g., substrate saturation and steady-state H-feldspar).
Emerging hard and soft technologies: current status, issues and implementation problems

Abstract This paper analyzes 16 emerging hard and soft technologies. First, it assesses and critiques the contents of recent research publications on each of these technologies. Next, it identifies various sets of objectives, for which each of these technologies has been adopted. The third section discusses the characteristics and nuances of each technology and then summarizes certain recent experiences of companies with each. Further, the paper focuses on the implementation problems in relation to each technology, as encountered by companies. The final sections outline the important lessons and the critical success factors. In conclusion, the paper stresses that hard technologies do face certain technical problems, but all of these can be overcome through R & D, although often at a substantial cost. Soft technologies, on the other hand, seem always to encounter serious peoples' problems, whose solutions require large efforts in terms of retraining and attitudinal changes of employees. To make a success of any technology (hand or soft) careful and sustained implementation is the key.
Use of nonuniform dielectrics on surface-wave structures

Glines with nonuniform dielectric regions are studied in an attempt to improve performance over that of normal Glines with uniform dielectric regions. Some improvement is predicted for the lines studied; however, the effect of the radial decay rate precludes any general conclusions concerning overall performance of such lines.
Rectal Temperature and Respiratory Responses of Jersey and Sindhi-Jersey (F1) Crossbred Females to a Standard Hot Atmosphere

In the course of systematic studies of crossbred cattle resulting from an experimental breeding program made with Jerseys and Red Sindhi as the parent stocks, a number of F1 Sindhi-Jersey females have been subjected to a standard hot atmosphere to determine the i r responses to hot atmospheric conditions. The effect of such exposures on rectal temperature and respiratory rate is reported in this paper. :E~XPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS
Quantifying Social Development in Autism

Abstract Objective This study was concerned with the development of quantitative measures of social development in autism. Method Multiple regression equations predicting social, communicative, and daily living skills on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales were derived from a large, normative sample and applied to groups of autistic and nonautistic, developmentally disordered children. Predictive models included either mental or chronological age and other relevant variables. Result Social skills in the autistic group were more than two standard deviations below those predicted by their mental age; an index derived from the ratio of actual to predicted social skills correctly classified 94% of the autistic and 92% of the nonautistic, developmentally disordered cases. Conclusions The findings are consistent with the idea that social disturbance is central in the definition of autism. The approach used in this study has potential advantages for providing more precise measures of social development in autism. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry , 1993, 32, 3:627–632.
Periodic solutions and Galerkin approximations to the autonomous reaction-diffusion equations

The assumption that a Galerkin equation of the reaction-diffusion system of high order has an asymptotically orbitally stable time-periodic solution implies that the full reaction-diffusion system has a nearby asymptotically orbitally stable time-periodic solution with asymptotic phase
Verticillium wilt of potato – the pathogen, disease and management †

Abstract Verticillium wilt is a major disease of potato caused by either Verticillium dahliae or Verticillium albo-atrum. Both species are soilborne fungi that invade xylem elements, disrupt water transport in plants and cause vascular wilt in a variety of hosts. Despite the broad host range of V. dahliae, a degree of host adaptation occurs with some isolates exhibiting different levels of aggressiveness depending on the host species and even cultivar within a species. In addition, isolates can be separated into vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) based on the ability to undergo hyphal anastamosis with other isolates. Distinct sub-specific groups have been recognized which contain host-adapted pathotypes that are aggressive and prevalent on particular hosts. Isolates of V. dahliae collected from potato stems, tubers and potato fields in the USA mostly belong to VCG 4A and VCG 4B, with the VCG 4A isolates being highly aggressive on potato compared with isolates of VCG 4B and other VCGs. In contrast, iso...
Altered locomotor activity in neuropsychiatric patients.

Abstract 1. Movement was monitored continuously for 24–48 hours in representative neuropsychiatric patients, using a wrist-worn portable piezoelectric activity monitor with solid-state memory. 2. Striking differences were observed in both circadian and more rapid (ultradian) rhythms between these patients and normal controls of a similar age. 3. We found a loss of circadian rhythm following stroke, and a marked 4-hour activity rhythm in patients with dementia and brain tumor. 4. These results may provide insights into the neural substrate of activity rhythms and may lead to better care of neuropsychiatric patients.
Reflections on a Quantitative, Group-Based Mindfulness Study with Social Work Students

Emerging research demonstrates that mindfulness is effective in reducing health care worker burnout. The aim of this quantitative pilot study was to examine the effectiveness of a mindfulness intervention on social work students. The investigation utilized a pretest/posttest design. Findings from the study demonstrated an increase in knowledge (p < .001), self-efficacy (p < .001), and beliefs (p < .005) related to mindfulness following a group-based mindfulness intervention. Reflections on the first author’s need to resist her group work instincts to test the effectiveness of the mindfulness intervention are shared.
Machiavelli and the Gracchi: prudence, violence and redistribution

In this article, I highlight a rhetorical strategy in Machiavelli's Discourses through which: (1) the Florentine endorses, despite appearances to the contrary, the redistributive agenda of the Brothers Gracchi, Roman tribunes frequently blamed for causing the collapse of the Republic; and (2) subtly intimates the violent means that other prospective reformers of republics must employ to succeed where the Gracchi had failed. Machiavelli invokes ‘prudence’ in his passages devoted to the Gracchi; following this lead, I accentuate the form of prudential rhetoric that he practices in such passages, and I point to the prudential form of violence he thought necessary if republics were to, in his words, ‘keep the public rich, and the citizens poor’.
Changes in Hypothalamic Gene Expression Associated with the Arrest of Pulsatile Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Release during Infancy in the Agonadal Male Rhesus Monkey (Macaca mulatta)

This study examined whether changes in the levels of the messenger RNAs (mRNAs) encoding the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) synthesizing enzymes, glutamate decarboxylase (GAD)65 and GAD67 and transforming growth factor-alpha (TGFalpha) in the hypothalamus are correlated with the arrest of pulsatile GnRH release during infancy in the agonadal male monkey. This experiment also provided the opportunity to examine changes in hypothalamic GnRH gene expression during this critical phase of primate development. Male rhesus monkeys were castrated at 1 week of age: four were killed 4-7 weeks after orchidectomy while pulsatile GnRH release was robust as reflected by high circulating LH levels, and four were killed at 12-15 months of age after establishing that pulsatile GnRH release had been arrested. GAD65, GAD67, TGFalpha, and GnRH mRNA levels were estimated using RNase protection assays employing homologous probes and the results were expressed relative to cyclophilin mRNA levels. GnRH peptide was measured by RIA. GAD65 and GAD67 mRNA levels in the hypothalamus of juveniles were significantly greater than those in neonatal monkeys. On the other hand, hypothalamic TGFalpha and GnRH mRNA (and peptide) levels in agonadal neonate and juvenile monkeys were indistinguishable. These results indicate that the molecular concomitants associated with bringing the hypothalamic GnRH pulse generator into check in agonadal neonatal males are not a mirror image of those previously reported at the time this neuronal network is reactivated at puberty when TGFalpha and GnRH gene expression increase and GAD65 and GAD67 mRNA levels remain unchanged. Thus, the neurobiological mechanism that reactivates pulsatile GnRH release at puberty is likely to involve more than a simple reversal of that underlying inhibition of the same network in late infancy.
Burkholderia cepacia Complex in Cystic Fibrosis: Frequency of Strain Replacement during Chronic Infection

Persons with cystic fibrosis (CF) are susceptible to chronic pulmonary infection due to certain Burkholderia species, but it is not clear whether this typically involves persistent infection with the same strain or sequential infection with distinct strains. We analyzed 1095 Burkholderia isolates recovered from serial sputum cultures from 379 patients with CF receiving care in 112 CF treatment centers in the United States. Genotyping was performed by random amplified polymorphic DNA typing or pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Overall, a change in infecting strain was found in 24 (6.9%) of 347 patients infected with Burkholderia cepacia complex and in 3 (9%) of 32 patients infected with Burkholderia gladioli. Several patients were likely coinfected, at least transiently, with >1 B. cepacia complex strain. The potential for strain replacement during chronic infection may confound studies of the relationship between strain and clinical outcome and must be considered in designing effective infection-control practices.
Thermic effects of food and exercise in lean and obese women

The thermogenic responses of ten lean and ten moderately obese women to food, exercise, and food plus exercise were measured using open circuit respirometry for five minutes every half hour for four hours under six conditions: during five minutes of bicycle exercise at a workload of 300 kpm/min with and without eating a 910 kcal mixed meal; cycling at a workload just below the anaerobic threshold with and without food; and at rest with and without food. Over the four-hour period, the thermic effect of food at rest was similar for the lean and obese groups: 50 kcal and 47 kcal, respectively. Eating before exercise increased the exercise metabolic rate by 11% for the lean women and by 4% for the obese women (P less than 0.005). Exercise potentiated the thermic effect of food for the lean women but nor for the obese women: the thermic effect of food was 2.54 times greater during exercise than at rest for the lean group, but only 1.01 times greater for the obese women (P less than 0.005). This reduced response to the combined stimulus of food plus exercise may constitute a subtle metabolic factor associated with obesity.
Market Watch: Information and Availability Cascades Among the Media and Investors in the U.S. IPO Market

In this study we advance current research on social influence in markets by examining how the recency and availability of information about others’ actions within and between different communities influence their allocation of attention and their evaluations. Specifically, we examine how the media and investors allocate attention to and evaluate newly public firms in the days following their initial public offerings (IPOs). Our findings have implications for understanding the fieldwide processes through which the value of new firms is established in markets.
Wireless powering of sensors embedded in concrete

We present the feasibility and optimization of wireless powering of sensors embedded in concrete that relies on a plane wave propagation model. Transmission loss and propagation loss of RF wave penetrating into concrete at different humidity conditions are calculated for various frequencies, thus an optimum frequency range is identified for the wireless power transmission. The optimized rectenna is also designed for the calculation of battery charging time.
The Role of Personal Taxes in Corporate Decisions: An Empirical Analysis of Share Repurchases and Dividends

This study investigates the impact of personal taxation on corporate managers' choices between share repurchases and dividends as a means of disbursing cash. Consistent with the notion that personal taxation influences the choice of disbursement method, we find that managers are more likely to choose a share repurchase if the firm has a low dividend yield, if the firm's stock has experienced losses or small recent capital gains, and if the payout occured before the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Further, managers are more sensitive to the shareholders' tax situations if institutional investors hold a large fraction of the shares.
Invasion of mammalian host cells by Plasmodium sporozoites.

Malaria is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito, which introduces Plasmodium sporozoites into the mammalian host. Sporozoites rapidly reach the liver of the host where they are sequestered, a process probably mediated by circumsporozoite (CS) protein. Once in the liver, sporozoites migrate through several hepatocytes by breaching their plasma membranes before infecting a final hepatocyte with formation of a vacuole around the sporozoite, where development occurs into blood stage parasites. We propose that migration through several host cells activates sporozoites for ultimate productive invasion. This migration triggers sporozoite exocytosis, which is necessary for hepatocyte invasion, probably because it provides molecules, such as thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (TRAP), likely required for sporozoite invasion with the formation of a vacuole. How sporozoites migrate from the skin to the liver and invade hepatocytes remains unclear. Understanding this initial stage of malaria is crucial for the development of new approaches against the disease.
Less need to be there: Cross-level effects of work practices that support work-life flexibility and enhance group processes and group-level OCB

Flexible work arrangements that give employees more control over when and where they work (such as part-time, flextime, and flexplace) have resulted in growing workplace trends of reduced face time, namely less visible physical time at the workplace. Most previous writings highlight negative effects on work group processes and effectiveness. In contrast, we develop a cross-level model specifying facilitating work practices that enhance group processes and effectiveness. These work practices: collaborative time management, re-definition of work contributions, proactive availability, and strategic self-presentation enhance overall awareness of others' needs in the group and overall caring about group goals, reduce process losses, and enhance group-level organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Our model presents testable propositions to guide empirical research on potentially positive effects of individual reduced face time on group outcomes.
Isolation of Axopodial Axonemes from Mass-cultured Echinosphaerium nucleofilum1

The heliozoan Echinosphaerium nucleofilum produced about 75 times 103 floating cells per 19-cm culture dish per day when fed the green flagellate Chlorogonium elongatum. This method yields enough cells for usable quantities of subcellular fractions. Heliozoa were lysed in a detergent mixture containing stabilizing reagents, and axonemal bundles of axopodial microtubules were isolated from the lysate by differential centrifugation. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecylsulfate showed two prominent bands tentatively designated alpha- and beta-tubulin. Apparent molecular weights were 51.8 times 103 and 48.1 times 103, respectively. As assayed by electron microscopy of negatively stained whole mounts, the microtubule bundles splintered readily, although glycerol tended to inhibit this fraying. Intermicrotubule bridges could be observed in some axonemal splinters.
Effects on toes from prenatal exposure to anticonvulsants

Background Changes in the distal phalanges of the fingers, including coned epiphyses and hypoplasia of the phalanges, are recognized teratogenic effects of the anticonvulsant drugs phenytoin and phenobarbital. We hypothesized that the frequency of these changes would also be increased in the toes of children exposed to these drugs in comparison to unexposed children. Methods We report on the findings in an analysis of radiographs of the feet of 63 children exposed in utero to either phenytoin alone, phenobarbital alone or both drugs and 56 unexposed comparison children. Results Only subtle changes were identified. The frequency of coned epiphyses and hypoplasia of phalanges of the toes was the same in both the anticonvulsant and unexposed children. Among the anticonvulsant-exposed children, however, there was a strong association between the presence of coned epiphyses in the feet and in the hands: all five children with coned epiphyses in the hands, as described previously in the same individuals by Lu et al. ([2000] Teratology 61:277–283) had coned epiphyses in their feet (P = 0.0012). Measurements showed a shortening of metatarsals in all three treatment groups, but this was significant only in the phenytoin monotherapy-exposed children. Conclusions Subtle changes are present in the phalanges and metatarsals of the feet of anticonvulsant-exposed children, but the overall frequency is much less than occurred in the hands of the same children. We conclude that the presence of either coned epiphyses or hypoplasia of the phalanges of the toes cannot be considered a distinctive feature of the teratogenicity of the anticonvulsant drugs phenytoin and phenobarbital. Teratology 66:122–126, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Stabilization and strengthening of nanocrystalline copper by alloying with tantalum

Abstract Nanocrystalline Cu–Ta alloys belong to an emerging class of immiscible high-strength materials with a significant potential for high-temperature applications. Using molecular dynamics simulations with an angular-dependent interatomic potential, we study the effect of Ta on the resistance to grain growth and mechanical strength of nanocrystalline Cu–6.5 at.% Ta alloys. Ta segregation at grain boundaries greatly increases structural stability and strength in comparison with pure copper and alloys with a uniform distribution of the same amount of Ta. At high temperatures, the segregated Ta atoms agglomerate and form a set of nanoclusters located at grain boundaries. These nanoclusters are capable of pinning grain boundaries and effectively preventing grain growth. It is suggested that the nanoclusters are precursors to the formation of larger Ta particles found in Cu–Ta alloys experimentally.
Building Collaboration Applications that Mix Web Services Hosted Content with P2P Protocols

The most commonly deployed web service applications employ client-server communication patterns, with clients running remotely and services hosted in data centers. In this paper, we make the case for Service-Oriented Collaboration applications that combine service-hosted data with collaboration features implemented using peer-to-peer protocols. Collaboration features are awkward to support solely based on the existing web services technologies. Indirection through the data center introduces high latencies and limits scalability, and precludes collaboration between clients connected to one-another but lacking connectivity to the data center. Cornell’s Live Distributed Objects platform combines web services with direct peer-to-peer communication to eliminate these issues.
A transform domain approach to real-time foreground segmentation in video sequences

Accurate foreground segmentation is a difficult task due to factors such as illumination variation, occlusion, background movement, and noise. We present a novel adaptive transform domain approach for foreground segmentation in video sequences. A set of DCT-based features is employed to exploit the spatial and temporal correlation in the video sequences. We maintain an adaptive background model and make a decision based on the distance between the features of the current frame and that of the background model. Additional higher level processing is employed to deal with the variation of the environment and to improve the accuracy of segmentation. The approach is shown to be insensitive to illumination change and to noise. It also overcomes many common difficulties of segmentation such as foreground aperture and moved background objects. The algorithm can perform in real-time.
ACh-induced rebound stimulation of L-type Ca2+ current in guinea-pig ventricular myocytes, mediated by Gβγ-dependent activation of adenylyl cyclase

1. The effects that muscarinic receptor stimulation have on the cAMP-dependent regulation of L-type Ca(2+) currents were studied in isolated guinea-pig ventricular myocytes using the whole-cell configuration of the patch-clamp technique. 2. The muscarinic agonist ACh inhibited the Ca(2+) current stimulated by the beta-adrenergic agonist isoprenaline (Iso), and washout of ACh revealed a stimulatory response that appeared as a transient rebound increase in the amplitude of the Ca(2+) current. The ACh-induced stimulatory effect was not observed in the absence of Iso. 3. ACh-induced rebound stimulation was also observed in the presence of H(2) histamine receptor activation and cholera toxin treatment, which like beta-adrenergic receptor activation enhance adenylyl cyclase (AC) activity in a stimulatory G protein (G(s))-dependent manner. ACh-induced rebound stimulation was not observed in the presence of forskolin, which enhances AC activity in a G(s)-independent manner. 4. Pertussis toxin (PTX) treatment blocked both the stimulatory and inhibitory effects of ACh. Intracellular dialysis with QEHA, a peptide that binds free G protein betagamma subunits, selectively antagonized the stimulatory effect, leaving an enhanced inhibitory effect. 5. Evidence for the expression of AC4, an isoform of AC that can be stimulated by Gbetagamma but only in the presence of Galpha(s), was obtained by Western blot analysis of guinea-pig ventricular myocyte membrane preparations. 6. These results suggest that muscarinic receptor stimulation facilitates as well as inhibits cAMP-dependent regulation of the Ca(2+) current and that the net response is a balance between these two actions. We suggest that the stimulatory effect is due to a direct activation of AC4 by the betagamma subunits of a PTX-sensitive G protein.
“Twenty years is yesterday”: Science, multinational mining, and the political ecology of trust in New Caledonia

To date, the scholarly literature has insufficiently investigated the micropolitical ecology of trust, the ways that different interests and expectations within a community can differentially mediate trust relationships between members of that community and an exogenous institution. This study explores the complexities of, and intra-community disagreements about, Kanak villagers’ decisions about whether to trust information provided by, or seemingly in support of, a multinational mining project in southern New Caledonia (South Pacific). An indigenous protest group challenged the company’s claims that the construction and operation of a refinery would have no harmful effects on local ecosystems. The company construed this opposition as stemming from fear based in ignorance, to which the solution lay in the provision of technical information. However, villagers disagreed as to whether this information was reliable. Meanwhile, many project employees joined the protest group. I argue that this seeming irony may be explained by examining the role of affiliation – defined here as a sense of solidarity with a group, and the desire to maintain that relationship – in establishing trust. Culturally-informed expectations of long-term social relationships and the reciprocal power these entailed, and concerns about long-term economic security, played a large role in determining which affiliations people chose to privilege, which in turn influenced which ‘‘scientific” information they chose to trust. Ultimately, I argue for the usefulness of a deeper understanding of relationships between trust, affiliation, and expectations of long-term social and economic relations in analyzing lay persons’ evaluations of science.
On hair recognition in the wild by machine

We present an algorithm for identity verification using only information from the hair. Face recognition in the wild (i.e., unconstrained settings) is highly useful in a variety of applications, but performance suffers due to many factors, e.g., obscured face, lighting variation, extreme pose angle, and expression. It is well known that humans utilize hair for identification under many of these scenarios due to either the consistent hair appearance of the same subject or obvious hair discrepancy of different subjects, but little work exists to replicate this intelligence artificially. We propose a learned hair matcher using shape, color, and texture features derived from localized patches through an AdaBoost technique with abstaining weak classifiers when features are not present in the given location. The proposed hair matcher achieves 71:53% accuracy on the LFW View 2 dataset. Hair also reduces the error of a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) face matcher through simple score-level fusion by 5:7%.
Effect of empathic communication and use of paralanguage.

The conceptualization of empathic understanding and its role in effectiveness of counseling has been well established. Less certain are the behavioral components of empathy. Empathic understanding involves the ability of a helper to communicate understanding to the helpee, and so the means of communication is important in determining effectiveness in that communication. Whereas the components of verbal expression in empathic understanding have received considerable attention, the nonverbal communication channels have received less attention due, in part, to the difficulty of isolating such components. The purpose of this study was to examine parts of the nonverbal (paralanguage) channel and their role in effectiveness of empathic communication. Specifically, the role of vocal pitch, tempo, and loudness in communicating empathic understanding was examined. The participants were 36 students drawn from a counseling practicum. Recorded segments of counseling interactions with volunteer clients were rated by trained raters for level of effectiveness in communicating empathic understanding using Truax and Carkhuff's (1967) Empathic Understanding in Interpersonal Process Scale. This yielded segments representative of subtractive, minimal, and additive effectiveness of empathic communication. Inter-rater reliability for this was .95. These three groups were then rated using Markel's (1965) Paralinguistic Phenomena Scale to detetmine the level of match between helper and helpee on components of pitch, tempo, and loudness. Interrater reliability for this scale was .89. The isolation of the three paralanguage channels was made possible by the author's development and use of an electronic filter that removed the high frequency portions of the recorded segments. This process left the paralanguage channels intact while rendering the verbal portions unintelligible. Using one-way multivariate analysis of variance, the obtained F ratio of .75 (df = 6/62) was nonsignificant. The means and standard deviations for effectiveness level were: Subtractive--.OS and .70, Minimal-.16 and .GI, and Additive.07 and .58. The range of scores were for Subtractive 2.5 to 1.0, Minimal 3.0 to 2.6, and Additive 3.5 to 3.1. No systematic relationship was established between the helper's use of three paralanguage dimensions and three levels of effectiveness in empathic communication. This finding suggests a need for a continued search among the other nonverbal components to identify the major contributors to effective empathic communication.
Unexpected suppression of total digoxin concentrations by cross-reactants in the microparticle enzyme immunoassay: elimination of interference by monitoring free digoxin concentration.

The microparticle enzyme immunoassay (MEIA for digoxin (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Ill) requires no sample pretreatment and is widely used in clinical toxicology laboratories for monitoring serum digoxin concentrations. One advantage of the new MEIA is the lower cross-reactivities with such cross-reactants as digitoxin, oleandrin, and bufalin compared with the fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA)for digoxin. Digitoxin, oleandrin, and bufalin showed positive cross-reactivity with MEIA and FPIAs for digoxin in the absence of the primary analyte, digoxin. A surprising finding was that digoxin concentrations were falsely decreased by these cross-reactants when serum pools containing digoxin were supplemented with various concentrations of these cross-reactants and when digoxin concentrations were measured by the MEIA. In contrast, digoxin concentrations were falsely elevated when measured by the FPIA. For example, when a serum pool containing 2.15 nmol/L of digoxin was supplemented with 129.5 nmol/L of bufalin, the apparent digoxin concentrations were 1.45 nmol/L with the MEIA and 3.00 nmol/L with the FPIA. Taking the advantage of only 25% protein binding ofdigoxin and more than 95% protein binding of digitoxin and bufalin, we demonstrated that monitoring free digoxin instead of total digoxin eliminated negative interference ofdigoxin by these cross-reactants in the MEIA and positive interference in the FPIA. Although oleandrin is also strongly bound to serum protein, high concentrations of oleandrin still modestly affect the free digoxin assay for both MEIA and FPIAs.
Studies on sex-organ development. Effect of hormones on ornithine decarboxylase activity in the developing chick ovary

The response of ornithine decarboxylase activity to hormones in the embryonic left ovary was measured throughout the stages of development. During the early stage of ovarian development (9th day of incubation), the ornithine decarboxylase activity (in terms of pmol CO2/30min per mg of protein) was high (766); it decreased from the 10th to the 12th day (575–239), increased slightly from the 13th to the 15th day (306) and finally fell to a low value (192–20) from the 18th day of development to birth. Administration of an optimal dose of oestrogen to the 9–10-day embryo stimulated the ovarian ornithine decarboxylase activity by 48–53%. If the same dose of oestrogen was administered to the 15–18-day embryo, the ovarian enzyme activity was suppressed by 32–43%. This biphasic response to oestrogen for enzyme induction is characteristic of the developing ovary and is not observed in other genital organs of the chick. In the early developmental stage (9–10th day) testosterone has no effect on ovarian ornithine decarboxylase activity, but in the late stage testosterone inhibits the activity by 41%. Organ culture techniques have been used to test the ovarian response to lutropin (luteinizing hormone). Lutropin stimulated ornithine decarboxylase activity by approx. 99–155% in the ovary of the early embryonic stage (10–13th day), and by 175–200% in the ovary of the late embryonic stage (15–18th day). The alteration in enzyme activity in the ovary as assayed in vitro during development is not due to the effect of the size of the endogenous ornithine pool. The relationship of ornithine decarboxylase activity to the morphological and biochemical changes in the developing ovary is discussed.
The Explore and Practice of Postgraduate's Creative Thoughts Training During the Modeling Contest of Mathematics

The modeling contest of mathematics is an item of ministry of education for postgraduate education innovation.Its objective is to build up the creative capability of mathematics modeling and lay a important knowledge foundation for improving the quality of postgraduate training.This article introduces the successful experiences of our institute during the organization of contest.