cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Serum Opsonins and Chemotactins in Neutropenic Oncology Patients

Serum opsonins and chemotactins, C3 and C5, were studied in neutropenic oncology patients. Our data indicate that these individuals possess normal serum chemotactins and adequate opsonin activity regardless of disease status or prior chemotherapy. Their sera should therefore support function of transfused granulocytes.
Tattooing, Body Piercing, and Branding Are on the Rise: Perspectives for School Nurses:

This journal presented the first nursing information on adolescents and tattooing 6 years ago, and 5 years ago, information was provided about body piercing. These were published to help school nurses assist adolescents become informed decision makers. Another purpose was to prevent risks and, if possible, help dissuade adolescents from tattooing and body piercing. Continuing this theme, the latest information and trends are reported and discussed, and new information on scarification and branding is presented. If an adolescent wants some form of body art (tattooing, body piercing, or branding), they will often obtain it regardless of regulations, risks, or money. School nurses can take a powerful, proactive role by sharing applicable information, realistic concerns, and care instructions about tattooing, body piercing, and branding. Specific information, risks, and care about each form of procedure is presented. A convenient reference table is available for nurses and students. Additionally, nursing actions are suggested including making changes in health policies regarding body art on a local and state level.
Control of adenosine deaminase levels in human lymphoblasts

High levels of adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity have been associated with normal T cell differentiation and T cell disease, such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia; however, possible mechanisms controlling the level of this enzyme have not been explored. In this study, the properties and rate of turnover of ADA are compared in cultured human T and B lymphoblast cell lines. (1) Relative to B lymphoblasts, the level of ADA activity in extracts of T lymphoblast cell lines (MOLT-4, RPMI-8402, CCRF-CEM and CCRF-HSB-2) is elevated 7- to 14-fold and differs by 2-fold among the T-cell lines. (2) In T and B lymphoblast extracts, the enzyme is apparently identical based on Km for adenosine and deoxyadenosine, Ki for inosine, Vmax for adenosine, S20w, isoelectric pH, and heat stability. Further, by radioimmunoassay the quantity of ADA immunoreactive protein is proportional to the level of enzyme activity in all cell lines studied. (3) Using a purification and selective immunoprecipitation technique, the enzyme turnover could be assessed in cell lines labeled with [35S]methionine. The apparent rate of ADA synthesis, relative to total protein, is 2-fold faster in both T cell lines (RPMI-8402 and CCRF-CEM) than in the B cell lines (MGL-8 and GM-130). The apparent half-life (t1/2) for the enzyme degradation is 19 and 39 hr, respectively, for CCRF-CEM and RPMI-8402, while the t1/2 for both B cell lines is 7-9 hr. From the net rate of synthesis and degradation, the T cell lines exhibit a 6- and 12-fold difference in ADA turnover relative to B cells, consistent with the observed differences in enzyme activity. (4) The level of ADA (activity and/or protein) in cultured T or B lymphoblasts is not influenced by either substrates or products of the ADA reaction or an ADA inhibitor or a selected group of immunosuppressive drugs added to these cells in culture. These studies indicate that while ADA is apparently identical in all T and B lymphoblasts, alterations in both the rate of ADA synthesis and degradation lead to its accumulation and high steady-state level in T cells.
On string pattern matching: a quantitative analysis and a proposal

Abstract A quantitative analysis of the widely recognized inefficiency of the SNOBOL4 pattern matching algorithm is presented. The possibility of increasing the efficiency of pattern matching by special case processing is discussed and a new approach for string processing languages design along this line is proposed.
Geographical Limitations on Integral-Collector-Storage Collectors due to Collector Freeze

A major challenge for solar water heaters is to provide heat at a cost comparable to or lower than conventional fuels. Since the price of a passive integral-collector-storage (ICS) solar water heater has historically been less than that for active systems with freeze protection, they can potentially heat water at a lower cost. However, ICS panels are subject to freeze damage, as the collector generally has metal tubes carrying pressurized water that can freeze and burst. In order to delineate the geographical areas where ICS panels can be deployed safely, it is necessary to experimentally characterize the conditions causing freeze damage, to develop a model relating the freeze behavior to climatic conditions, to validate that model with experimental data, and to run the model against long-term weather data across the U.S. Two variations of an ICS panel and/or their bare tubes were tested in a walk in freezer and subjected to freezing conditions until freeze damage occurred. The units tested include both a single and double glazed tubular ICS panel. Key data includes the volume expansion of the tube(s) at burst and the collector loss coefficient near 0 degrees C. Under freezing conditions the insulated supply/return lines would freeze solid initiating a pressure-buildup and eventual burst in the collector tubes due to further internal freezing. An additional test on the single glazed unit was also conducted in which heat tape was installed on the inlet and outlet pipes to prevent them from freezing, which increases the freeze tolerance of the panel by forcing small internal interconnection pipes to freeze solid before damage occurs. Existing models for ICS thermal performance were modified to incorporate the freezing process, and have been validated with the experimental data. The validated models were used to predict regions of the country that are safe for installing the ICS panels. Simulations were run using 30 years of weather data available for all TMY2 sites, and maps were created to illustrate regions of safe installation throughout the US for both the with and without heat tape scenarios for the two ICS models. A correlation using record minimum temperature was developed to generalize the maps to any location for which the record minimum is known. The maps show quantitatively the expected conclusions: 1) that double glazing and higher insulation will extend the safe region; and 2) that the use of heat tape on the inlet and outlet pipes significantly increases the region in which ICS panels can be safely installed in the US.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Endocytosed non-histone proteins translocate in part to the nucleus in lymphocytes.

Abstract [ 3 H]Non-histone proteins ([ 3 H]NHP), dissolved in the culture medium, are endocytosed by lymphocytes and equilibrate rapidly between the cytoplasm and the nucleus. During incubation, the proteins are gradually degraded in the lysosomes. The lysosomotropic agents conA, NaF, eserine and atropine have two parallel effects on resting lymphocytes, after they have endocytosed [ 3 H]NHP: inhibition of degradation and increased translocation of [ 3 H]NHP from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. This indicates that lysosomal degradation and translocation of [ 3 H]NHP to the nucleus are linked and suggests that this translocation may be the result of inhibited lysosomal degradation of the [ 3 H]NHP. The behaviour of endocytosed [ 3 H]NHP appears similar to that of endogenous [ 3 H]NHP in cells prelabeled with [ 3 H]leucine, when subjected to the same lysosomotropic agents, reported previously (Polet, H, Exp cell res 148 (1983) 345) [17]. This observation may provide a model to study the mechanism(s) controlling nucleo-cytoplasmic traffic of NHP.
Controlling anisotropic nanoparticle growth through plasmon excitation

Inorganic nanoparticles exhibit size-dependent properties that are of interest for applications ranging from biosensing and catalysis to optics and data storage. They are readily available in a wide variety of discrete compositions and sizes. Shape-selective synthesis strategies now also yield shapes other than nanospheres, such as anisotropic metal nanostructures with interesting optical properties. Here we demonstrate that the previously described photoinduced method for converting silver nanospheres into triangular silver nanocrystals--so-called nanoprisms--can be extended to synthesize relatively monodisperse nanoprisms with desired edge lengths in the 30-120 nm range. The particle growth process is controlled using dual-beam illumination of the nanoparticles, and appears to be driven by surface plasmon excitations. We find that, depending on the illumination wavelengths chosen, the plasmon excitations lead either to fusion of nanoprisms in an edge-selective manner or to the growth of the nanoprisms until they reach their light-controlled final size.
Assessing Community Responsiveness in a Metropolitan Area

An important dimension of a community is the degree to which its agencies, broadly defined, are responsive to citizen needs While the term "responsiveness" is a multifaceted concept, at its most basic level, an individual initially has to gain entry into an organization before a particular reguest for services or information can be addressed. One rather simple way of assessing an organization's preliminary responsiveness to crtizen requests is to monitor the time elapsed for establishing telephone contact. This system was utilized with three sets of data bases, within a major metropolitan area, consisting of critical social service agenc ies as defined in a phone book, diverse transportation systems, and agencies listed by a Department of Social Services pamphlet. Concurrent validity data were subsequently collected by interviewing a random sample of individuals to assess their perceptions of agency responsiveness. Direct behavioral manifestations of agency responsiveness, as well as citizen perceptions, ...
Anti-K18: an antibody defining another high-frequency antigen related to the Kell blood group system.

. A new antibody, designated anti-K18, reacts with a high frequency red cell antigen that is related to the Kell blood group system. All of more than 2,000 bloods were K:18 but Ko phenotype red cells are K: –18.
Celebrity Endorsement for Nonprofit Organizations: The Role of Celebrity Motive Attribution and Spontaneous Judgment of Celebrity-Cause Incongruence

This study investigated relationships among celebrity motive attribution, celebrity-cause congruence, and involvement with a cause. A 2 (altruistic motive: high vs. low) X 2 (congruence: high vs. low) X 2 (involvement: high vs. low) experimental study examined perceptions of celebrity credibility, attitudes toward celebrity endorsement and nonprofit organization, and intentions to donate money and volunteer time. The findings attest to main effects of causal attribution of a celebrity's altruistic motive and interaction effects between motive attribution and congruence (i.e., spontaneous judgment of celebrity-cause incongruence). Further, three-way interaction effects suggest the role of involvement in spontaneously activating celebrity-cause disassociation.
The large-scale structure of metabolic networks: a glimpse at life's origin?

M etabolism comprises the network of interactions that provide energy and building blocks for cells and organisms, a network sustaining the living and allowing it to grow and reproduce. For well-studied organisms, especially microbes such as Escherichia coli, considerable information about metabolic reactions has been accumulated through decades of experimental work. This information, originally scattered through thousands of articles of original literature, has increasingly found its way into larger collections including encyclopedias [1] and online databases [2,3]. With easier availability of this information, it has become feasible to map the structure of large pieces of an organism’s metabolic network.
Mechanism of estrogen action on cellular proliferation: Evidence for indirect and negative control on cloned breast tumor cells

Human MCF7 breast tumor cells grew as estrogen-dependent tumors in nude mice. In contrast, they were not estrogen-dependent for proliferation in serumless culture media. Charcoal-dextran stripped female human serum supplemented media (5% to 40%) inhibited their proliferation in a dose dependent pattern. Estrogens reversed this inhibition. Concentrations of 2% of this serum allowed for maximal yield regardless of the presence of estrogens. Charcoal-dextran stripped fetal bovine serum was also inhibitory but less potent than the human serum. Non-estrogenic steroids, insulin, epidermal growth factor and transferrin failed to overcome the inhibitory effect of human serum. These results suggest that 1) human and bovine sera contain an inhibitor of the proliferation of estrogen-sensitive cells, and 2) estrogens promote cell proliferation by neutralizing this serum-borne inhibitor.
Percutaneous absorption of iodochlorhydroxyquin in humans.

Iodochlorhydroxyquin (I) is used in the treatment of diaper rash and other skin disorders, and is presumed to undergo little or no percutaneous absorption. The absorption of (I) from a 3% cream was studied in 5 normal male subjects after a single application of the cream for 12 h. Plasma levels of the drug were followed for 24 h after initial application while urinary excretion was measured for 54 h. (I) was extracted from plasma and urine and assayed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The drug in the range of 0.37–0.56 μg/ml was detected in plasma 2 h after application and persisted throughout the treatment period. The mean excretion rate after 12 h of application was 58.4 μg/h and the excretion rate was 8.8 μg/h at 42 h posttreatment. The elimination rate constant was calculated to be 0.15 h - 1. Approximately 40% of the drug was absorbed over the 12-h application period. From the above results it is apparent that significant percutaneous absorption of (I) occurs.
Enhancing Peptide Ligand Binding to Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor by Covalent Bond Formation

Formation of a stable covalent bond between a synthetic probe molecule and a specific site on a target protein has many potential applications in biomedical science. For example, the properties of probes used as receptor-imaging ligands may be improved by increasing their residence time on the targeted receptor. Among the more interesting cases are peptide ligands, the strongest of which typically bind to receptors with micromolar dissociation constants, and which may depend on processes other than simple binding to provide images. The side chains of cysteine, histidine, or lysine are attractive for chemical attachment to improve binding to a receptor protein, and a system based on acryloyl probes attaching to engineered cysteine provides excellent positron emission tomographic images in animal models (Wei et al. (2008) J. Nucl. Med. 49, 1828–1835). In nature, lysine is a more common but less reactive residue than cysteine, making it an interesting challenge to modify. To seek practically useful cross-lin...
Gaining Research Access into the Lives of Muslim Girls: Researchers Negotiating "Muslimness", Modesty, "Inshallah", and "Haram".

This paper explores the process of gaining research access into the lives of Muslim girls in the southwest USA. We discuss four emerging ‘entry markers’ that challenged the process of gaining and sustaining access over a period of 14 months. These included being Muslim enough, being modest enough, inshallah (Allah or God willing), and haram (forbidden). Additionally, we reflect on (1) how one researcher identified the four ‘entry markers’; (2) how she negotiated these markers by using her cultural and linguistic literacies and her fluid insiderness/outsiderness; and (3) how building and maintaining relationships with key members of the local Muslim community was central to this study and was directly reliant on negotiating the positions of difference on the embodiments of a specific and prevailing body discourse – the hijab discourse. This negotiation was only possible by the researchers’ practice and maintenance of critical reflexivity throughout the study.
Diagrammatic methods of code construction

Increased use of automatic operating techniques has created a greater demand for communications links to be used for telemetry, selective remote control, and supervisory control. Supervisory systems which had gained wide acceptance in electric utility operations have been applied to oil pipe lines. In a manner, these operations are also related to ticket reservation equipment used by railroads and airlines, and to transmitter remote supervision equipment used by standard broadcast stations. There are undoubtedly other examples. Whereever a commercial operation exists requiring very little human effort but constant human surveillance, fail-safe automatic equipment can be developed, and the operation can be supervised from a centralized remote-control location.
The Effects of Choice and Incentives on the Overestimation of Future Performance

Abstract Two studies were designed to investigate factors hypothesized to influence the accuracy of performance-related statements (both performance predictions and self-set goals). In Experiment 1, subjects were either allowed to choose a specific version of the performance task or were assigned a version of the task prior to making performance-related statements. In Experiment 2, monetary incentives were manipulated prior to requests for either estimates or self-set goals. Results indicate significant sex-by-choice and sex-by-incentives interactions on both predictions and goals. In general, males responded to incentives and choice by becoming more extreme in their performance predictions and goals. However, females did not respond to incentives and choice as would be predicted by general principles such as "wishful thinking" (Slovic, 1966) and "illusion of control" (Langer, 1975). These results are discussed in the context of gender research in achievement settings and organizational theories of motivation.
Calculation of the 3-D dose distribution surrounding a 103Pd stent

Abstract Purpose: This study was designed to assess the suitability of a 103 Pd-implanted stent for use in intravascular brachytherapy. Materials and methods: A stent was modeled as a superposition of 201 identical struts and the EGS4/DOSRZ Monte Carlo code was used to calculate the dose distribution for each strut. To verify the simulation parameters, doses along the transverse axis of a Model 200 103 Pd interstitial seed were calculated and compared to those calculated by the TG43 method. Results: Dose profiles within 1 mm of the stent's outer surface were heterogeneous and reflected the stent's structure. For a 2-mm outer-diameter 103 Pd-implanted stent, ∼2.68×10 7 Bq were required to deliver 31.5 Gy in 28 days at a distance of 0.5 mm along the perpendicular bisector from the stent's outer surface. The Monte Carlo simulation of the 103 Pd seed showed relative doses within 7% of the values calculated by the TG43 method. Conclusion: The dosimetry about a 103 Pd-implanted stent suggests that the stent is suitable for use in intravascular brachytherapy.
Renal sodium channels: Regulation and single channel properties

While anyone on a picnic or campout may feel that nature has succeeded only too well in adapting animal life (particularly arthropodan life) to a terrestrial environment, the number of terrestrial species and the census of those species is small by comparison with the number of species and the census of marine animals. This is particularly true if one considers only relatively large organisms: on land, these are mostly vertebrates. There are several reasons for this relative scarcity of terrestrial species. First, in an evolutionary context, animals invaded land relatively late and consequently have had less time to develop; but second, a terrestrial environment places significantly different demands on an organism than a marine environment. One difference is that, for a marine organism, salt and water intake is coupled, yet in terrestrial animals it decidedly is not. Thus, salt and water balance must be regulated separately. In vertebrates, the necessity to regulate salt independently of water has lead to the evolution of several unique adaptations, one of which is the amiloride-block-able Na + channel. The amiloride-blockable Na + channel is the primary site for the regulation of Na + reabsorption in many vertebrates. The classical example of such vectorial transport is the uptake of Na + across frog skin, but in mammals the primary site for discretionary control of Na + reabsorption is the distal nephron. In principal cells of the distal nephron, Na + transport is a two step process: first, passive entry of Na + from the lumen into the cell through apical Na + channels followed by ATP-dependent extrusion from the cell to the serosal compartment via the basolateral Na + ,K + -ATPase. While some regulation of Na + transport may take place at the basolateral exit step by controlling Na + ,K + -ATPase activity, almost all regulation of Na + transport is, apparently, via control of the apical entry step, namely the amiloride-blockable Na + channel.
Progressive subcortical gliosis of Neumann: a clinicopathologic study of two cases with review

A clinico-pathological report is given of two cases of progressive dementia of fronto-temporal type associated with variable cortical neuronal loss and extensive subcortical and deep white matter gliosis. There was minimal demyelination of white matter, significant gliosis of thalamus and inferior olivary nuclei. The authors review the condition of progressive subcortical gliosis, compare such changes with white matter changes in other dementias, examine the relationship to Kraepelin's disease, contrast the disorder with atypical Pick's dementia, progressive dementia with motor neuron disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob dementia.
The metabolism of estriol in the guinea-pig

Abstract Labeled estriol (E 3 ) was injected i.v. into intact guinea-pigs and animals with biliary fistulas. It was shown that biliary excretion constitutes a major route for the conjugates of E 3 , probably followed by a significant enterohepatic circulation. The conjugation pattern of E 3 revealed the preponderant amount of the steroid to be excreted as a 3-glucosiduronate, both in the urine and bile. In contrast, the 3,16α-disulfate of E 3 was found in significant amount only in the bile. Unconjugated E 3 and its sulfate constituted a minor percentage of the radioactivity found both in bile and urine. The E 3 nucleus remained intact during the conjugation processes in the guinea-pig. The kidney was shown to glucoronidate E 3 in vitro to some extent, but to a much lower degree than observed with kidneys of other species; sulfation of E 3 by the guinea-pig kidney was of an even much lower magnitude. Thus, we interpret the results to indicate that in guinea-pigs, the liver plays a paramount role in the conjugation of E 3 followed by biliary excretion of most of the conjugates and subsequent entero-hepatic circulation. The role of the kidney in the conjugation of E 3 in the guinea pig appears to be secondary to that of the liver.
Load balancing and resource reservation in mobile ad hoc networks

To ensure uninterrupted communication in a mobile ad hoc network, efficient route discovery is crucial when nodes move and/or fail. Hence, protocols such as Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) precompute alternate routes before a node moves and/or fails. In this paper, we modify the way these alternate routes are maintained and used in DSR, and show that these modifications permit more efficient route discovery when nodes move and/or fail. Our routing protocol also does load balancing among the number of alternate routes that are available. Our simulation results show that maintenance of these alternate routes (without affecting the route cache size at each router) increases the packet delivery ratio. We also show that our approach enables us to provide QoS guarantees by ensuring that appropriate bandwidth will be available for a flow even when nodes move. Towards this end, we show how reservations can be made on the alternate routes while maximizing the bandwidth usage in situations where nodes do not move. We also show how the load of the traffic generated due to node movement is shared among several alternate routes. In addition, we adaptively use Forward Error Correction techniques with our protocol and show how it can improve the packet delivery ratio.
Accounting for the value of ecosystem services

Abstract A ‘value of ecosystem services’ (VES) may be calculated by multiplying a set of ecosystem services by a set of corresponding shadow prices. This paper examines the role of the VES concept in measuring trends in human well-being. Under conventional arguments from applied welfare economics, standard measures of market consumption may be extended to include the value of direct environmental services, which affect welfare in ways that are not mediated by the consumption of purchased goods. The VES concept does not capture values such as ecological sustainability and distributional fairness that are not reducible to individual welfare. And its operationalization is constrained by the well-known limitations of nonmarket valuation methods. Nonetheless, attempts to calculate the value of environmental services can provide insights into the tradeoffs between market activity and environmental quality that are implicit in the process of economic growth. Such efforts can promote informed debate concerning the achievement of sustainable development.
Cranberry Products Inhibit Adherence of P-Fimbriated Escherichia Coli to Primary Cultured Bladder and Vaginal Epithelial Cells

Purpose: Cranberry proanthocyanidins have been identified as possible inhibitors of Escherichia coli adherence to uroepithelial cells. However, little is known about the dose range of this effect. Furthermore, it has not been studied directly in the urogenital system. To address these issues we tested the effect of a cranberry powder and proanthocyanidin extract on adherence of a P-fimbriated uropathogenic E. coli isolate to 2 new urogenital model systems, namely primary cultured bladder epithelial cells and vaginal epithelial cells.Materials and Methods: E. coli IA2 was pre-incubated with a commercially available cranberry powder (9 mg proanthocyanidin per gm) or with increasing concentrations of proanthocyanidin extract. Adherence of E. coli IA2 to primary cultured bladder epithelial cells or vaginal epithelial cells was measured before and after exposure to these products.Results: Cranberry powder decreased mean adherence of E. coli IA2 to vaginal epithelial cells from 18.6 to 1.8 bacteria per cell (p ...
Staging a conference to frame war as a public health problem

“War & Global Health: Transforming Our Professions, Changing our World,” a conference organized at the University of Washington in the spring of 2010 by the Department of Global Health in the School of Public Health and Physicians for Social Responsibility, aimed to promote a public health approach to war and frame the prevention of war as a legitimate and imperative academic endeavor. The conference planners drew on substantial, yet under-acknowledged, work on the health consequences of war in both research and practice. They considered historical lessons on how a human behavior with negative consequences—generated by political and economic forces—can be framed as a health issue by health professionals. Key elements in the planning and execution of the conference were a strategic partnership between an academic department and an activist organization and the harnessing of considerable student energies. Conference organizers built on a policy statement adopted by the American Public Health Association in 2009 outlining the responsibility of public health professionals to prevent war. The authors document the important elements and the convergence of forces that resulted in a successful conference, examine the lessons learned, and offer a Web-based resource for those interested in staging a similar event.
Frontal sinus osteoma associated with cerebral abscess formation: a case report.

BACKGROUND Osteomas of the paranasal sinuses rarely lead to intracranial manifestations. We present an unusual case of a frontal sinus osteoma leading to intracerebral abscess formation. CASE DESCRIPTION A 51-year-old Hispanic man presented with increasing frontal headaches, new onset seizure, lethargy, global dysphasia, and unilateral hemiparesis. CSF studies demonstrated mild pleocytosis. Neuroradiological studies revealed an opacity filling the left frontal sinus, as well as a ring-enhancing mass with surrounding edema in the left frontal lobe. The patient was surgically treated with a left frontal osteoplastic craniotomy and removal of the abscess and bony mass. Intraoperative cultures were positive for Streptococcus pneumoniae. Pathology revealed bony tumor consistent with osteoma. The patient's neurological status improved to baseline after surgery. CONCLUSION The frontal sinus osteoma was associated with rapid development of a frontal lobe abscess, requiring emergent surgical debridement. Although rare, intracerebral manifestations should be considered and expected as a cause of new neurological deficits in the presence of paranasal sinus osteoma.
A MATLAB programme for quantitative simulation of self-assembly of polymer blend films with nanoscaled features

A MATLAB programme has been developed for simulation of polymer blend self-assembly with nanoscaled features. The Cahn-Hilliard equation is implemented to calculate the free energy profile of the polymer blends. The Flory-Huggins type of energy is used to estimate the local free energy. This programme is capable to quantitatively simulate the phase separation of polymer blends. The effects of the substrate functionalisation, solvent evaporation and polymer materials properties are considered in the programme. Researchers can use the programme to estimate the model parameters from the real experimental processing parameters and the material properties. The simulation results can be evaluated quantitatively and compared with the experimental results with analysis tools provided with the programme.
Notes on the Biology and Laboratory Colonization of Wyeomyia smithii (Coquillett) (Diptera: Culicidae)

Since the initial observations on the pitcher plant mosquito, Wyeomyia smithii (Coquillett), from 1901 to 1904 by Smith (1901), only limited additional contributions have been made toward the understanding of the biology of this species. Horsfall (1955) indicates that, aside from one 1913 citation and a brief reference to his own observations, all material summarized by him about this species was reported by Smith. For the past 50 years, mosquito workers have generally limited their observations on W. smithii to statements of seasonal development in nature, this usually being in conjunction with a more detailed regional study emphasizing the ecology of other mosquito species. The wellknown specificity for the development of W. smithii only in the pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea , undoubtedly has precluded much in the way of laboratory investigations on this mosquito. However, during the summer of 1957, a large number of larvae of this species was found just north of Itasca State Park, Clearwater Co., Minn., and the opportunity presented itself to investigate the possibility of rearing W. smithii independent of the pitcher plant. It is the purpose of this paper to describe a method for the laboratory colonization of this mosquito completely free of any pitcher plant association and to make additional contributions to the biology of this species
Modeling and simulation of an X-band planar phased array antenna

In fields like medical science, communication, weather forecasting and defense industry, active phased array radars is a revolutionary development, due to its benefit of beam steering over conventional radar. Small size, light weight, efficient and high gain antenna array design are important areas of research in active phase array radar that can meet the subject requirements. Paper presents compact micro strip patched phase array antenna at X-band. The design process, along with the simulated results of beam steering, is presented. Simulations were carried out in Momentum — an Electromagnetic (EM) simulation tool of Advance Design System (ADS) software. Simulated results matched well with the theoretical values.
Expression of rat mRNA coding for hormone-stimulated adenylate cyclase in Xenopus oocytes.

Adrenergic agonist-stimulated hyperpolarization, whole-cell cAMP accumulation, and activity of isopro- terenol-stimulated membrane-bound adenylate cyclase (EC 4.6.1.1) in Xenopuslaevis ovarian oocytes are entirely dependent on the presence of nascent follicle cells. A method was developed to remove rapidly and completely all extra-oocyte cell types to yield defolliculated oocytes that exhibited normal viability and resting membrane potentials yet lacked /3-adrenergic receptor (/3AR)- stimulated responses. Purified follicle membranes con- tained /3AR.-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity, where- as oocyte cell membranes did not. Purified oocyte mem- brane preparations from X laevis oocytes previously microinjected with C6-2B rat astrocytoma mRNA, and subsequently defolliculated, exhibited novel /3AR and forskolin-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity.
Guidelines for Cardiac Arrhythmias Practice Makes Progress

In 1990, the Institute of Medicine proposed guideline development to reduce inappropriate health care variation by assisting patient and practitioner decisions.1 Clinical guidelines for cardiac arrhythmias, like guidelines in other disciplines of medicine, are developed by organizations primarily to assist health care providers in clinical decision-making.2 They describe a range of generally acceptable approaches for the diagnosis, management, and prevention of specific diseases or conditions.2 Practice guidelines represent a consensus of expert opinion after a thorough and systematic review of the available current scientific evidence.2 The primary objective of guidelines is to improve the quality of clinical care and thereby improve patient outcomes.2 Article see p 202 Although formal methodologies for guideline development exist for all organizations, there is some variation in policies.3 Common elements of all include development of recommendations using the familiar class I, IIa, IIb, and III scheme, based on a comprehensive review of the literature using the principles of evidence-based medicine. The level of evidence is classified as A, B, or C, based on standard criteria. If the data were derived from multiple randomized clinical trials or meta-analyses, it is currently considered level A. In less contemporary guidelines, a single randomized trial was considered adequate for the evidence to be classified as level A. Currently, guideline committees rank evidence as level B when data were derived from a single randomized trial or nonrandomized studies. Evidence is ranked as level C when the primary source of the recommendation was consensus opinion, case studies, or standard of care.4 Guidelines are increasingly used as the basis for development of quality metrics and performance measures and to assess patient outcomes.4 Although guidelines may be used as the basis for regulatory or payer decisions, reasonable mechanisms exist to document reasons for not adhering …
Hybrid Bayesian networks: making the hybrid Bayesian classifier robust to missing training data

Many standard classification methods are incapable of handling missing values in a sample. Instead, these methods must rely on external filling methods in order to estimate the missing values. The hybrid network proposed in this paper is an extension of the hybrid classifier that is robust to missing values. The hybrid network is produced by performing empirical Bayesian network structure learning to create a Bayesian network that retains its classification ability in the presence of missing data in both training and test cases. The performance of the hybrid network is measured by calculating a misclassification rate when data are removed from a dataset. These misclassification curves are then compared against similar curves produced from the hybrid classifier and from a classification tree. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Age and gender variation in the impact of household structure on elderly mortality.

This study examines the impact of relationship to head of household and the presence of co-resident spouses and sons on elderly mortality in rural Bangladesh with a particular focus on age and gender differences.... Relationship to head of household and the presence of spouses and sons have powerful impacts on reducing mortality for elderly men and women in rural Bangladesh with the effects varying significantly by gender and age. Furthermore individual rather than joint access to material resources is an important determinant of elderly mortality. (EXCERPT)
Profactor-H (elevated circulating insulin): The link to health risk factors and diseases of civilization

We propose the term Profactor-H for chronic elevated circulating insulin. Profactor-H is common in atherosclerosis, essential hypertension, non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, some forms of obesity, some forms of cancer, cardiovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease and some forms of stroke. Profactor-H appears to be the central pathophysiologic consideration in the etiology of many diseases and health risk factors. Profactor-H's impact depends on genetic predisposition, frequency consumption of refined simple and complex carbohydrates, deficiency in dietary chromium, sedentary life style and stresses of modern day living. In many obese individuals, Profactor-H disturbs metabolic balance, favoring anabolic metabolism, and is exacerbated through chronic insulin production and impairment of insulin action. This vicious cycle also appears to be common in many apparently healthy, non-obese individuals destined to develop health risks and diseases in response to long-term adverse consequences of Profactor-H. We believe that a four-pronged program which 1) reduces the daily frequency of carbohydrate consumption, particularly refined foods and simple sugars, 2) supplements the daily dietary intake of chromium, 3) encourages activity, and 4) reduces stress, will minimize the impact of Profactor-H and thereby reduce health risks and result in improved health.
Surface-wave propagation on a rotating, anisotropic earth

SUMMARY We present a JWKB theory for the propagation of monochromatic surface waves on a rotating, anisotropic, laterally heterogeneous earth model. the theory allows for slowly varying topography on the earth's surface and any internal discontinuity, and incorporates the effect of self-gravitation and anelasticity on the wavefield. the analysis is based upon slowly varying variational principles and involves a local dispersion relation and local radial eigenfunctions which depend explicitly on the direction of the local wavevector as a result of the rotation and anisotropy of the earth model. the amplitude is determined by a conservation law for the surface-wave energy. In addition to the usual dynamical phase, which is the integral of the local wavevector along a ray path, there is an additional variation in phase. All rotating earth models, isotropic models included, support such an additional variation in phase, which is an analogue of the Berry phase in adiabatic quantum mechanics. the Berry phase vanishes in non-rotating earth models with a local radial two-fold axis or a local horizontal mirror plane.
Abductive Authorization Credential Gathering

A central task in the context of logic-based decentralized authorization languages is that of gathering credentials from credential providers, required by the resource guard’s policy to grant a user’s access request. This paper presents an abduction-based algorithm that computes a specification of missing credentials without communicating with remote credential providers. The specification is used to gather credentials from credential providers in a single pass, without involving any communication with the resource guard. The credentials gathered thus are pushed to the resource guard at authorization time. This approach decouples authorization from credential gathering, and, in comparison to server-side pull methods, reduces the number of messages sent between participants, and allows for environments in which some credential providers are unknown or unavailable to the resource guard at authorization time.
Estimating confidence intervals in predicted responses for oscillatory biological models

Background The dynamics of gene regulation play a crucial role in a cellular control: allowing the cell to express the right proteins to meet changing needs. Some needs, such as correctly anticipating the day-night cycle, require complicated oscillatory features. In the analysis of gene regulatory networks, mathematical models are frequently used to understand how a network’s structure enables it to respond appropriately to external inputs. These models typically consist of a set of ordinary differential equations, describing a network of biochemical reactions, and unknown kinetic parameters, chosen such that the model best captures experimental data. However, since a model’s parameter values are uncertain, and since dynamic responses to inputs are highly parameter-dependent, it is difficult to assess the confidence associated with these in silico predictions. In particular, models with complex dynamics - such as oscillations - must be fit with computationally expensive global optimization routines, and cannot take advantage of existing measures of identifiability. Despite their difficulty to model mathematically, limit cycle oscillations play a key role in many biological processes, including cell cycling, metabolism, neuron firing, and circadian rhythms.
The Role of Venture Capital Backing in Initial Public Offerings: Certification, Screening, or Market Power?

We empirically distinguish between three possible roles of venture backing in IPOs: certification, where venture-backed IPOs are priced closer to intrinsic firm value than non-venture backed IPOs due to venture capitalists' concern for their reputation; screening and monitoring, where VCs are able to either select better quality firms to back (screening), or help create such higher quality firms by adding value to them (monitoring) in the pre-IPO stage; and market power, where venture capitalists attract a greater number and higher quality of market participants such as underwriters, institutional investors, and analysts to an IPO, thus obtaining a higher valuation for the IPOs of firms backed by them. We argue that IPO underpricing is not the most appropriate measure to evaluate the role of venture backing in IPOs. Instead, we compare four sets of more direct measures between VC backed and non-VC backed (and between high-reputation VC backed and low-reputation VC backed) IPOs. The evidence strongly rejects the certification hypothesis, while finding considerable support for the market power hypothesis and some support for the screening and monitoring hypothesis. We find that venture capitalists attract higher quality market participants to the IPOs of firms backed by them, thus increasing the heterogeneity in investor beliefs about these firms, resulting in higher valuations for the equity of these firms (both in the IPO and in the secondary market immediately following the IPO).
Comparison of Label-free Methods for Quantifying Human Proteins by Shotgun Proteomics

Measurements of mass spectral peak intensities and spectral counts are promising methods for quantifying protein abundance changes in shotgun proteomic analyses. We describe Serac, software developed to evaluate the ability of each method to quantify relative changes in protein abundance. Dynamic range and linearity using a three-dimensional ion trap were tested using standard proteins spiked into a complex sample. Linearity and good agreement between observed versus expected protein ratios were obtained after normalization and background subtraction of peak area intensity measurements and correction of spectral counts to eliminate discontinuity in ratio estimates. Peak intensity values useful for protein quantitation ranged from 107 to 1011 counts with no obvious saturation effect, and proteins in replicate samples showed variations of less than 2-fold within the 95% range (±2ς) when ≥3 peptides/protein were shared between samples. Protein ratios were determined with high confidence from spectral counts when maximum spectral counts were ≥4 spectra/protein, and replicates showed equivalent measurements well within 95% confidence limits. In further tests, complex samples were separated by gel exclusion chromatography, quantifying changes in protein abundance between different fractions. Linear behavior of peak area intensity measurements was obtained for peptides from proteins in different fractions. Protein ratios determined by spectral counting agreed well with those determined from peak area intensity measurements, and both agreed with independent measurements based on gel staining intensities. Overall spectral counting proved to be a more sensitive method for detecting proteins that undergo changes in abundance, whereas peak area intensity measurements yielded more accurate estimates of protein ratios. Finally these methods were used to analyze differential changes in protein expression in human erythroleukemia K562 cells stimulated under conditions that promote cell differentiation by mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway activation. Protein changes identified with p
Visual Acuity of Simulated Thalamic Visual Prostheses in Normally Sighted Humans

Simulation in normally sighted individuals is a crucial tool to evaluate the performance of potential visual prosthesis designs prior to human implantation of a device. Here, we investigated the effects of electrode count on visual acuity, learning rate and response time in 16 normally sighted subjects using a simulated thalamic visual prosthesis, providing the first performance reports for thalamic designs. A new letter recognition paradigm using a multiple-optotype two-alternative forced choice task was adapted from the Snellen eye chart, and specifically devised to be readily communicated to both human and non-human primate subjects. Validation of the method against a standard Snellen acuity test in 21 human subjects showed no significant differences between the two tests. The novel task was then used to address three questions about simulations of the center-weighted phosphene patterns typical of thalamic designs: What are the expected Snellen acuities for devices with varying numbers of contacts, do subjects display rapid adaptation to the new visual modality, and can response time in the task provide clues to the mechanisms of perception in low-resolution artificial vision? Population performance (hit rate) was significantly above chance when viewing Snellen 20/200 optotypes (Log MAR 1.0) with 370 phosphenes in the central 10 degrees of vision, ranging to Snellen 20/800 (Log MAR 1.6) with 25 central phosphenes. Furthermore, subjects demonstrated learning within the 1–2 hours of task experience indicating the potential for an effective rehabilitation and possibly better visual performance after a longer period of training. Response time differences suggest that direct letter perception occurred when hit rate was above 75%, whereas a slower strategy like feature-based pattern matching was used in conditions of lower relative resolution. As pattern matching can substantially boost effective acuity, these results suggest post-implant therapy should specifically address feature detection skills.