cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
New insights on repeated acoustic injury: Augmentation of cochlear susceptibility and inflammatory reaction resultant of prior acoustic injury.

Abstract In industrial and military settings, individuals who suffer from one episode of acoustic trauma are likely to sustain another episode of acoustic stress, creating an opportunity for a potential interaction between the two stress conditions. We previously demonstrated that acoustic overstimulation perturbs the cochlear immune environment. However, how the cochlear immune system responds to repeated acoustic overstimulation is unknown. Here, we used a mouse model to investigate the cochlear immune response to repeated stress. We reveal that exposure to an intense noise at 120 dB SPL for 1 h activates the cochlear immune response in a time-dependent fashion with substantial expansion and activation of the macrophage population in the cochlea at 2-days post-exposure. At 20-days post-exposure, the number and pro-inflammatory phenotypes of cochlear macrophages have significantly subsided, but have yet to return to homeostatic levels. Monocytes with anti-inflammatory phenotypes are recruited into the cochlea. With the presence of this residual immune activation, a second exposure to the same noise provokes an exaggerated inflammatory response as evidenced by exacerbated maturation of macrophages. Furthermore, the second noise causes greater sensory cell pathogenesis. Unlike the first noise-induced damage that occurs mainly between 0 and 2 days post-exposure, the second noise-induced damage occurs more frequently between 2 and 20 days post-exposure, the period when secondary damage takes place. These observations suggest that repeated acoustic overstimulation exacerbates cochlear inflammation and secondary sensory cell pathogenesis. Together, our results suggest that the cochlear immune system plays an important role in modulating cochlear responses to repeated acoustic stress.
COVID-19 disparities: An urgent call for race reporting and representation in clinical research.

Abstract Background Racial/ethnic disparities in disease burden have gained the spotlight in the United States with the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and surge of COVID-19 cases. The problem of underrepresentation in clinical research persists today. In light of the considerable COVID-19 disparities observed, this study sought to assess the race reporting and representation among COVID-19 therapeutic studies published to date. Methods All published COVID-19 treatment-related clinical research studies with study participants in the United States were identified. For each study, the date published, treatment investigated, study design, race/ethnicity of participants, sample size and study site were recorded. For each study site, the race/ethnicity demographics of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases were identified utilizing online publicly available department of public health data. Results Six studies (n = 3, observational; n = 3, randomized clinical trial) have been published to date with participants in the United States. A subset (n = 4) reported race/ethnicity data in the publication. Black patients were underrepresented in all studies relative to the affected population in the cities in which the studies took place. Conclusions Given that racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 disease burden and outcomes have emerged in the United States, it is essential that all investigators uniformly report race/ethnicity data as well as attempt, in earnest, to obtain representativeness among study participants in order to ensure that we do not develop a further widening of the treatment gap during this pandemic.
Comparing first- and second-generation bioethanol by-products from sugarcane: impact on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics.

Abstract The first- and second-generation bioethanol by-products (bagasse and fermentation by-product, respectively) have different biochemical characteristics relating to carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) due to their production processes. To examine the impacts of fermentation by-product and bagasse on soil C and N dynamics, a 120 day laboratory incubation experiment was conducted by applying these amendments in soil at an equal carbon application rate (2.2 g C kg−1 soil). There was a significant increase in overall cumulative CO2-C production from amended soil compared to the control soil, though the loss was greatest in bagasse amended soil. However, δ13C-CO2 measurements suggested that fermentation by-product addition suppressed native soil C mineralization and prompted strong negative C priming (−57%). In contrast, bagasse amendment maintained similar native soil C mineralization to control soil. Decreased microbial biomass turnover time appears to be the major driving force for increased CO2-C production and soil C loss following bioethanol by-product amendments. Increased mineral N production indicated net N mineralization after fermentation by-product addition, while addition of bagasse resulted in lower N availability and N immobilization. Overall, results suggested that fermentation by-product application is advantageous in maintaining native soil C stock and N mineralization compared to bagasse. Thus, in a sustainable second-generation bioethanol production system, bagasse may be used for second-generation bioethanol production and the cogenerated by-product could be used as an amendment to improve soil C stock and N availability.
Daily cone-beam CT multi-organ segmentation for prostate adaptive radiotherapy

Adaptive radiotherapy which relies on patient Cone-Beam CT (CBCT) imaged right before dose delivery to update the contouring and treatment plans has the potential to increase dose delivery accuracy and improve treatment outcomes. In this study, we proposed a synthetic MRI-aided multi-organ segmentation from cone-beam CT for prostate adaptive radiotherapy. A cycle-consistent generative adversarial network (CycleGAN) was first trained with pre-aligned CBCT and MRI image pairs to generate sMRI based on given CBCT image. Feature maps were then extracted from CBCT and sMRI separately using two different U-Nets. The feature maps were combined using attention gates and input to CNN to predict the final segmentation of these critical structures. The segmentation results were evaluated using 100 patients’ datasets. The Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) was 0.96±0.03, 0.91±0.08, 0.93±0.04, 0.95±0.05, and 0.95±0.05 for bladder, prostate, rectum, left femoral head (LFH) and right femoral head (RFH), respectively.
Efficient manufacturing processes and performance qualification via active learning: Application to a cylindrical plunge grinding platform

Abstract The industry invests significant resources towards qualification of its individual processes and machines to assure quality and productivity of the process chain. Process qualification traditionally involves employing elaborate experimental methods to find the response surface mapping the response to various process parameters and measurements. Most of the existing methods are passive experimental designs which take into account the limits of the parameter space and a design method (CCD, Taguchi, orthogonal etc.) to identify the points in the parameter space. More often than not, these methods need a lot of experiments to be conducted and do not take into account how the response changes with each experiment. Also, the number of experiments increase combinatorically to get a desired estimate of the response surface. The formulation of mathematical models for complex, high dimensional, inherently nonstationary, and stochastic systems like abrasive machining process and also catering to the process-machine interactions is challenging. In this work, to address the other alternative for cost-effective experimentation: we adapt a Query by Committee (QBC) based active learning approach where we sequentially find the next best experimental point to reduce the uncertainty of prediction of surface roughness over the sample space. The method uses a carefully curated list of committee members, (i.e., models) which predict the response surface at each instant and selects the next experimental point based on a metric called prediction deviation. We used a real-world dataset from a cylindrical plunge grinding platform to test if the QBC approach performs better than a passive CCD design. The machine tool used is the next generation precision grinder (NGPG) from IIT Madras which is capable to finishing components to an IT3 tolerance grade. We compared the QBC based active learning model to a previous random forest model built on a dataset which gave a test accuracy (R2) of 85% using 178 experimental points. It is demonstrated that similar prediction accuracies can be achieved by reducing the number of experiments by about 65%. The merits of the model in the choice of the members of the committee and the advantage of the current experimental design compared to random experimentation were presented.
Plotin: Was fühlt der Leib? Was empfindet die Seele?

Thema dieses Aufsatzes ist Plotins Theorie der Emotionen, eines Themas, das in der antiken Philosophie in der Regel im Rahmen einer Handlungstheorie diskutiert wurde. So auch bei Plotin. In meinem Aufsatz wird gezeigt, wie der plotinische Leib-Seele-Dualismus im Hintergrund von Plotins Emotionstheorie steht: Leibliche Affekte werden von seelischen Emotionen unterschieden und es wird deutlich gemacht, dass das Haben einer Emotion im eigentlichen Sinn sowohl Rationalitat als auch einen Leib voraussetzt. Zwei Aspekte werden besonders hervorgehoben: 1. Plotin gehort zu den Vertretern einer kognitivistischen Emotionstheorie. 2. Im Gegensatz zu vielen anderen Kognitivisten (z.B. der Stoa) macht er aber auch in einer detaillierten Analyse die Rolle des Leibes deutlich und kann diese im Rahmen seiner Theorie, im Gegensatz zu vielen anderen kognitivistischen Emotionstheoretikern, auch im Detail erklaren.
Growth-regulating Mycobacterium tuberculosis VapC-mt4 toxin is an isoacceptor-specific tRNase

Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are implicated in the downregulation of bacterial cell growth associated with stress survival and latent tuberculosis infection, yet the activities and intracellular targets of these TA toxins are largely uncharacterized. Here, we use a specialized RNA-seq approach to identify targets of a Mycobacterium tuberculosis VapC TA toxin, VapC-mt4 (also known as VapC4), which have eluded detection using conventional approaches. Distinct from the one other characterized VapC toxin in M. tuberculosis that cuts 23S rRNA at the sarcin-ricin loop, VapC-mt4 selectively targets three of the 45 M. tuberculosis tRNAs (tRNA(Ala2), tRNA(Ser26) and tRNA(Ser24)) for cleavage at, or adjacent to, their anticodons, resulting in the generation of tRNA halves. While tRNA cleavage is sometimes enlisted as a bacterial host defense mechanism, VapC-mt4 instead alters specific tRNAs to inhibit translation and modulate growth. This stress-linked activity of VapC-mt4 mirrors basic features of eukaryotic tRNases that also generate tRNA halves and inhibit translation in response to stress.
Oracle's technology for bioinformatics and future directions

The Oracle relational database management system, with object-oriented extensions and numerous application-driven enhancements, plays a critical role worldwide in managing the exploding volumes of bioinformatics data. There are many features of the Oracle product which support the bioinformatics community directly already and there are several features that could be exploited more thoroughly by users, service vendors, and Oracle itself to extend that level of support. This paper will present an overview of Oracle features that support storage of bioinformatics data and will discuss extensibility features that give the product room to grow. Some attention will be given to Oracle's own efforts to use that extensibility to make commodities of many of the complex data and computation requirements of the life sciences.
Ethics and the Internet Issues Associated with Qualitative Research

This paper examines the need for standards to resolve ethical conflicts related to qualitative, on-line research. Practitioners working in the area of qualitative research gauged the breadth and depth of this need. Those practitioners identified several key ethical issues associated with qualitative on-line research, and felt that there should be a common ethics code to cover issues related to Internet research. They also identified challenges associated with the profession's acceptance of a unified code. The paper concludes by offering guidance in developing and implementing such a code.
Writing Indian Nations: Native Intellectuals and the Politics of Historiography, 1827-1863

In the early years of the republic, the United States government negotiated with Indian nations because it could not afford protracted wars politically, militarily, or economically. Maureen Konkle argues that by depending on treaties, which rest on the equal standing of all signatories, Europeans in North America institutionalized a paradox: the very documents through which they sought to dispossess Native peoples in fact conceded Native autonomy. As the United States used coerced treaties to remove Native peoples from their lands, a group of Cherokee, Pequot, Ojibwe, Tuscarora, and Seneca writers spoke out. With history, polemic, and personal narrative these writers countered widespread misrepresentations about Native peoples' supposedly primitive nature, their inherent inability to form governments, and their impending disappearance. Furthermore, they contended that arguments about racial difference merely justified oppression and dispossession; deriding these arguments as willful attempts to evade the true meanings and implications of the treaties, the writers insisted on recognition of Native peoples' political autonomy and human equality. Konkle demonstrates that these struggles over the meaning of U.S.-Native treaties in the early nineteenth century led to the emergence of the first substantial body of Native writing in English and, as she shows, the effects of the struggle over the political status of Native peoples remain embedded in contemporary scholarship. |Konkle demonstrates that struggles over the meaning of U.S.-Native treaties in the early nineteenth century led to the emergence of the first substantial body of Native writing in English. These writers countered widespread misrepresentations about Native peoples' supposedly primitive nature, their inherent inability to form governments, and their impending disappearance with history, polemic, and personal narrative.
Probability and statistics in computational linguistics, a brief review

Computational linguistics studies the computational processes involved in language learning, production, and comprehension. Computational linguists believe that the essence of these processes (in humans and machines) is a computational manipulation of information. Computational psycholinguistics studies psychological aspects of human language (e.g., the time course of sentence comprehension) in terms of such computational processes.
The Women's Movement against Sexual Harassment

Introduction: enter at your own risk Part I. Raising the Issue of Sexual Harassment: 1. Articulating the wrong: resistance to sexual harassment in the early 1970s 2. Speaking out: collective action against sexual harassment in the mid-1970s 3. A winning strategy: early legal victories against sexual harassment Part II. Growth of a Movement against Sexual Harassment: 4. Blue-collar workers and the hostile environment of sexual harassment 5. Expansion of the movement in the late 1970s: activism, theory, and the media Part III. The Movement's Influence on Public Policy: 6. Government policy develops 7. Fighting the backlash: feminist activism in the 1980s 8. Legal victory: the Supreme Court and beyond Conclusion: entering the mainstream.
Saturation and Stark broadening effects in dual-pump CARS of N2, O2, and H2

The dual-pump coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) technique is frequently employed in the study of turbulent flames, but the applicability of this technique is limited by low signal-to-noise ratios at high temperatures. The signal-to-noise ratio can be increased by increasing the energy of the lasers. Unfortunately, there is a limit to the amount of energy that can be added before the signal is affected by high irradiance perturbation effects such as Stark broadening and stimulated Raman pumping (saturation). Such effects alter the spectral shape of the CARS signal and compromise the measurement accuracy. To explore these effects, dual-pump CARS spectra containing the N2 and O2 Q-branch manifolds and three S-branch H2 rotational lines were acquired in H2-air flames while varying the irradiances of the different input beams. For fuel-lean flames at 1180 K and 1 atm., absolute mole fraction measurements are affected by Stark broadening when the total irradiance is above 250 GW/cm2, and by saturation when the product of the pump and Stokes irradiances is above 2 × 103 GW2/cm4. The H2 S-branch is more sensitive to Stark broadening, and small variations in the line amplitude are observed for total irradiance of 170 GW/cm2. Temperature measurements are not sensitive to Stark broadening, but they are affected by saturation when the pump-Stokes irradiances product is above 2 × 104 GW2/cm4. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Diagnosis of Lysosomal Storage Disorders: Gaucher Disease

Gaucher Disease (GD) is a progressive lysosomal storage disorder caused by deficiency of glucocerebrosidase (GBA). The clinical phenotype follows a spectrum ranging from severe early-onset to milder late-onset disease. The absence of neurological involvement defines GD type I, whereas neuronopathic features define GD type II and III. Early diagnosis may be important for timely initiation of enzyme replacement therapy to prevent disease complications, although the enzyme does not cross the blood brain barrier. Diagnosis of GD can be readily achieved by analysis of GBA in leukocytes, fibroblasts, and/or dried blood spots using fluorometric, microfluidic or mass spectrometry-based assays. Low GBA activities are typically confirmed through molecular analysis of the GBA gene. GBA analysis in dried blood spots may be attractive for high-throughput screening of at-risk individuals and/or newborn infants. The method detailed in this unit is based on GBA analysis by tandem mass spectrometry following incubation of dried blood spots with the GBA-specific substrate d-glucosyl-β1-1′-N-dodecanoyl-d-erythro-sphingosine [C12-glucocerebroside (C36H69NO8)] and internal standard N-myristoyl-d-erythro-sphingosine [C14-ceramide (C32H63NO3)]. GBA activities in more than 2,000 newborn infants showed a mean of 22.0 ± 13.8 μmol/hr/liter (median: 19.9 μmol/hr/liter; 95% CI: 21.41-22.59 μmol/hr/liter). GBA activities in an adult population (n >1,200) showed generally lower enzyme activities than newborns, with a mean of 9.87 ± 9.35 μmol/hr/liter (median: 8.06 μmol/hr/liter). GBA activities in ten adult patients with confirmed GD were less than 4.2 μmol/hr/liter and in seven infants and children with GD less than 1.24 μmol/hr/liter. This method is robust, sensitive, and suitable for high-throughput analysis of hundreds of samples. Curr. Protoc. Hum. Genet. 82:17.15.1-17.15.6. © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Keywords: dried blood spot; tandem mass spectrometry; Gaucher Disease; lysosomal storage disorder; glucocerebrosidase; GBA
Involuntary Cure: Rebecca West's The Return of the Soldier

This article takes a disability studies approach to Rebecca West’s 1918 novel, The Return of the Soldier, the story of an amnesiac soldier returned from the Front . Such an approach highlights the extreme sanism of the novel’s ending, where the characters agree that if Chris were left in his amnesiac state, he “would not be quite a man.” This essay argues that although the novel initiates an incisive critique of sanism as a set of patriarchal and class-bound behavioral norms, it is unable to follow through on that critique. West’s ableism overrides the novel’s concern with the injustices of class, gender, and war, prompting the novel’s insistence that the “mad” soldier, Chris Baldry, be involuntarily cured. Keywords: Rebecca West, madness, shell-shock, disability
Cutting Edge: Chronic NF-κB Activation in CD4 + T Cells in Rheumatoid Arthritis Is Genetically Determined by HLA Risk Alleles

Of identified genetic variants, HLA polymorphisms confer the greatest risk for developing autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (HLA-DRB1*04). There are strong influences of HLA polymorphisms on cell type–specific gene expression in B cells and monocytes. Their influence on gene expression in CD4 + T cells is not known. We determined transcript and proteins levels of target genes in lymphocyte/monocyte subsets in healthy controls and rheumatoid arthritis subjects as a function of HLA-DRB1*04 haplotype. We identified gene expression dependent on HLA-DRB1*04 genotype in CD4 + T cells. NF-κB activity in CD4 + T cells was also dependent on HLA-DRB1*04 genotype, and blocking HLA-DR inhibited NF-κB activity in CD4 + T cells and normalized gene expression, as did pharmacologic inhibition of NF-κB. We conclude that interactions between TCR and MHC class II encoded by HLA-DRB1*04 create a proinflammatory “hum” altering CD4 + T cell phenotype.
Protección, afirmación y sexualidad sin poder: un proyecto político y normativo para la construcción de los derechos sexuales

Resumen es: El proposito central de este articulo es adelantar un proyecto politico y normativo parael establecimiento internacional de los derechos sexuales como de...
Some properties of optimal control policies for entry to an M/M/1 queue

Customers served by an M/M/1 queueing system each receive a reward R but pay a holding cost of C per unit time (including service time) spent in the system. The decision of whether or not a customer joins the queue can be made on an individual basis or a social basis. The effect of increasing the arrival rate on the optimal policy parameters is examined. Some limiting results are also derived.
Large rate enhancements through preferential binding to transition states

Abstract The racemization rate of chiral bipyridines can be increased by more than six decades through binding to PdCl 2 .
Thermal Limits to Salmonid Distributions in the Rocky Mountain Region and Potential Habitat Loss Due to Global Warming: A Geographic Information System (GIS) Approach

Abstract The present distribution of salmonid fishes in Wyoming streams was found to be limited to regions where mean July air temperatures did not exceed 22°C. Much of the present salmonid habitat in streams is predicted to be lost if climatic warming occurs. For increases of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5°C in mean July air temperature, the geographic area of Wyoming containing suitable salmonid habitat would be reduced by 16.2, 29.1, 38.5, 53.3, or 68.0%, respectively. This loss of geographic range would correspond to reductions of 7.5, 13.6, 21.0, 31.4, or 43.3% in the length of streams having suitable salmonid habitat. In the Rocky Mountain region, increases of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5°C in mean July air temperature would reduce the geographic area containing suitable salmonid habitat by 16.8, 35.6, 49.8, 62.0, or 71.8%, respectively. As warming proceeds, salmonid populations would be forced into increasingly higher elevations and would become fragmented as suitable habitat for coldwater fish becomes separated from main r...
Bioactive Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I in Obesity

Context: In obesity, total IGF-I is not reduced to the degree predicted by low GH levels, and free IGF-I levels are normal to high. Total and free IGF-I may not reflect IGF-I biological activity because immunoassays cannot account for the modifying effects of IGF binding proteins on interactions between IGF-I and its receptor. Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the biological activity of IGF-I in obesity. Design and Setting: We conducted a cross-sectional study at a General Clinical Research Center. Study Participants: Thirty-four healthy women (11 lean, 12 overweight, and 11 obese) of comparable age (overall mean, 30.7 ± 1.3 yr) participated in the study. Intervention: There were no interventions. Main Outcome Measures: We measured bioactive IGF-I (as measured by a kinase receptor activation assay), IGFBP-1, and GH using 6-h pools of serum collected every 10 min for 24 h, and fasting IGF-I and IGFBP-3. Results: Mean 24-h GH (R = −0.76; P < 0.0001), total IGF-I (R = −0.36; P = 0.040), and IGFBP-1 (R = −0.41; P = 0.017) levels were inversely associated with BMI, whereas bioactive IGF-I and IGFBP-3 levels were not. Mean bioactive IGF-I was similar in the groups [0.96 ± 0.09 (lean), 1.08 ± 0.09 (overweight), and 0.84 ± 0.11 (obese) μg/liter; overall P = 0.22]. Percentage bioactive IGF-I [(bioactive/total IGF-I) × 100] was higher in obese subjects than both lean and overweight subjects (P = 0.039). Conclusions: Despite low GH secretion in obesity and decreasing IGFBP-1 with increasing BMI, 24-h mean bioactive IGF-I levels are not reduced in obese women and do not correlate with BMI or IGFBP-1 levels. This argues against elevated bioactive IGF-I as the etiology of reduced GH secretion through a feedback mechanism in obesity.
Miscibility and segmental mobility in hydrogen-bonded polymer blends

Abstract Water vapour was used as a diffusional probe to study the interaction and segmental mobility in hydrogen-bonded polymer blends. Modified polystyrenes containing p-(hexafluoro-2-hydroxylisopropyl) groups as hydrogen-bond donors were blended with poly(methyl methacrylate) and two styrene-acrylonitrile copolymers. Interaction parameters, estimated from solubilities of water vapour in the blends, were negative in all cases. Positive excess volumes were found for several pairs and were believed to be the result of poor chain packing of styrene and methyl methacrylate or acrylonitrile segments, which were inherently immiscible with each other. In a number of blends, the diffusion coefficients were higher than the ‘average’ values for the component polymers. The deviation in diffusion coefficient was opposite in sign to the deviation in the activation energy of diffusion from its ‘average’ value. The residual activation energy was proportional to the excess volume. Furthermore, an excellent correlation was found between diffusion coefficient and specific free volume.
Plea-Bargaining Implementation and Acceptance in Modern Russia: A Disconnect Between the Legal Institutions and the Citizens

This study examines the scope, results, citizen attitudes, and practices of consensual justice reform in Russia. The Russian Federation adopted a new Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) in December of 2001, which included a procedure closely resembling plea bargaining and termed ‘‘special court order proceedings.’’ The 2001 CPC reforms were intended to move further away from the accusatorial legacy of the Soviet judicial system and closer to a western adversarial model. Criminal cases (N ¼ 316) over a 4-year period (2004–2007) from one district and one regional courts were examined to determine the application and judicial practices associated with plea bargaining. A national representative citizen survey (N ¼ 1,588) was conducted to measure attitudes related to plea bargaining knowledge and acceptance. The study found that 6 years after the introduction of the special court order proceeding, over one third of cases were settled through the special court order proceedings. The use of the special court order proceeding has grown steadily during the period from 2004 to 2008. The majority of citizens reported the special court order proceeding was unfair and less than 20% perceived the reform as fair. Few citizens were knowledgeable about the plea bargaining reform. The introduction of the special court order proceeding has been moderately successful in the judicial system; however, there are systemic hindrances to increased use and citizen acceptance.
Stochastic filtering of experimental lineshapes: Application to EPR spectra

Abstract This paper presents a method of using the Fourier transform of experimental signals to stochastically develop mean and standard error values of the desired numerical quantities. The application discussed here is an EPR experiment where the fraction of aligned atoms or molecules is related to the second integral of the experimental signal, A computationally efficient Monte Carlo procedure is discussed that selects different estimates of the noise behavior in the signal frequency domain and develops statistical predictions of the second integral value. The algorithm can be used alone or with other filtering operations. Computationally the number of Fourier transforms performed is independent of the number of stochastic trials. This fact allows the algorithm to be applicable to the microcomputer environment.
The role of high density lipoproteins in the biodistribution of two radioiodinated probes in the rat

in the Rat. POHLAND, R. C., AND COUNSELL, R. E. (1985). Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 77, 4757. Two radioiodinated probes, ‘%cholesteryl oleate (‘251-CO), a derivative of a natural constituent of lipoproteins, and l-(2-chlorophenyl)-1-(4[‘25I]iodopheny1>2,2-dichloroethane (‘%DDD), an analog of the adrenolytic drug o,p’-DDD (mitotane), were selected to study the role of lipoproteins in drug disposition and to examine the ability of these vehicles to direct foreign molecules to specific tissues. In vivo and in vitro techniques were utilized to associate these probes with rat high density lipoproteins (HDL). Tissue distribution studies indicated that prior incorporation of ‘*%CO into rat HDL increased the uptake of ‘251-C0 by rat adrenal, which was dramatically enhanced when this preparation was administered to animals made hypolipidemic with 4-aminopyrazolo-(3,4)-pyrimidine (CAPP). Acetylation of HDL labeled with ‘2sI-C0 provided evidence that the observed uptake into the adrenal was via a receptormediated process. In contrast with these results, prior association of ‘*‘I-DDD with rat HDL failed to alter the ability of this compound to accumulate in adrenal tissue of normal or hypolipidemic animals. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) was utilized to examine the stability of the association of ‘%CO and ‘*‘I-DDD with rat HDL. These results suggested that ‘251-C0 was associated with the lipophilic core of HDL, whereas ‘*‘I-DDD appeared to be partially associated with the suface components of HDL. Saturation of surface components with stable o,p’-DDD offered data to suggest that this binding to apoproteins may disrupt the normal receptor-mediated uptake process. These studies indicate that lipoproteins may effect the distribution and tissue uptake of lipophilic compounds and, conversely, lipophilic molecules can effect the metabolic fate of lipoproteins. The overall result is dependent upon the nature of the association of these lipophilic compounds with lipoproteins which is difficult to predict on the basis of molecular structure alone.
Influence of oxidation-Reduction conditions of synthesis on oxidation states of Cr, Mo, and Co Ions in high-silica glasses

Investigations of porous high-silica glasses treated by aqueous solutions of Cr, Mo, and Co salts and subjected to thermal treatment in air and vacuum have been carried out. The results have been analyzed using EPR spectra and electron absorption spectra. The influence of the oxidation-reduction conditions of synthesis of high-silica glasses on the oxidation states of ions introduced into the glass has been demonstrated. It has been shown that chromium ions are strongly affected by the ambient environment and that their introduction into the glass structure is accompanied by a change in the oxidation state; this effect is less pronounced for molybdenum, and cobalt ions are most stable.
The effect of different operations modes on science capabilities during the 2010 Desert RATS test: Insights from the geologist crewmembers

The 2010 Desert RATS field test utilized two Space Exploration Vehicles (prototype planetary rovers) and four crewmembers (2 per rover) to conduct a geologic traverse across northern Arizona while testing continuous and twice-per-day communications paired with operation modes of separating and exploring individually (Divide & Conquer) and exploring together (Lead & Follow), respectively. This report provides qualitative conclusions from the geologist crewmembers involved in this test as to how these modes of communications and operations affected our ability to conduct field geology. Each mode of communication and operation provided beneficial capabilities that might be further explored for future Human Spaceflight Missions to other solar system objects. We find that more frequent interactions between crews and an Apollo-style Science Team on the Earth best enables scientific progress during human exploration. However, during multiple vehicle missions, this communication with an Earth-based team of scientists, who represent "more minds on the problem", should not come at the exclusion of (or significantly decrease) communication between the crewmembers in different vehicles who have the "eyes on the ground". Inter-crew communications improved when discussions with a backroom were infrequent. Both aspects are critical and cannot be mutually exclusive. Increased vehicle separation distances best enable encounters with multiple geologic units. However, seemingly redundant visits by multiple vehicles to the same feature can be utilized to provide improved process-related observations about the development and modification of the local terrain. We consider the value of data management, transfer, and accessibility to be the most important lesson learned. Crews and backrooms should have access to all data and related interpretations within the mission in as close to real-time conditions as possible. This ensures that while on another planetary surface, crewmembers are as educated as possible with respect to the observations and data they will need to collect at any moment.
Quantitation of hemoglobins by immunodiffusion: Specific antibodies to hemoglobins A1, S and F

Abstract A simple and sensitive immunochemical method for quantifying hemoglobins A1, S and F is described. Antibodies to human hemoglobins A1, S and F were obtained in goats and after cross absorption were shown to be specific for thei corresponding hemoglobins. These specific antisera were employed in a radial immunodiffusion method to quantify hemoglobins A1, S and F in hemoglobin specimens of known phenotype as ascertained by electrophoresis on cellulose acetate. The method accurately quantifies hemoglobins in purified hemoglobin mixtures designed to simulate expected proportions in newborn infants who have sickle cell trait or sickle cell anemia. Principal application of this methodology currently under consideration are in diagnosis of hemoglobin SS in the infanct and studies on rates of development change in hemoglobins A1, S and F.
Development of a Cup Burner Apparatus for Fire Suppression Evaluation of High-Expansion Foams

We developed a bench-scale high-expansion aqueous foam generator and integrated it into a traditional cup burner apparatus. Foam expansion ratios ranging from 50:1 to 590:1 could be achieved using air flow rates from 16 l/min to 38 l/min and liquid foam solution flow rates of 50 ml/min to 140 ml/min. The flow rates, foam expansion ratios, and cup burner flame extinction behavior with nitrogen provide a suitable bench-scale platform for controlled, systematic investigations of foam/flame interactions for a range of foam properties. Foams with an expansion ratio of 200:1 contain 81% water by mass. When evaporated completely, this amount of water should be insufficient to extinguish propane flames in oxidizer streams with 60% oxygen based on extinction of these flames by water mist. However, the 200:1 foam easily extinguishes a propane flame even in 100% oxygen.
Effects of Virus Infection on Susceptibility of Soybean Plants to Phomopsis longicolla.

Soto-Arias, J. P., and Munkvold, G. P. 2011. Effects of virus infection on susceptibility of soybean plants to Phomopsis longicolla. Plant Dis. 95:530-536. Infection of soybean by Bean pod mottle virus (BPMV) or Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) has been reported to increase susceptibility to seed infection by Phomopsis spp., but the mechanism is unclear. Effects of virus infection on susceptibility to Phomopsis longicolla were studied in greenhouse experiments. Three soybean cultivars were inoculated with BPMV at growth stage V2 to V3, and with P. longicolla at R3, R5, or R7. Inoculation with BPMV did not increase the incidence of stem infection by P. longicolla, but it increased susceptibility to seed infection of cultivars Spansoy 201 at R5, and Pioneer brand 92M02 at R3, R5, and R7. A delay in maturity was observed only in 92M02. Thus, BPMV predisposed soybean plants to seed infection by P. longicolla, but this predisposition was not due solely to prolonging maturation. In separate experiments, two soybean cultivars were inoculated with SMV (V2 to V3) and P. longicolla (R3 and R5). Inoculation with SMV did not increase the incidence of stem or seed infection by P. longicolla. The SMV–Phomopsis spp. relationship may be cultivar and strain dependent. Results suggest that the risk of soybean seed infection by P. longicolla may be higher when BPMV vector populations are high and BPMV infection is widespread.
Transfer alignment from a personal locator system to a handheld or head-mounted instrument

This paper presents a method for computing position and attitude of an instrument attached to the human body such as a handheld or head-mounted video camera. The system uses two Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs). One IMU is part of our earlier-developed Personal Dead-Reckoning (PDR) system, which tracks the position and heading of a walking person relative to a known starting position. The other IMU is rigidly attached to the handheld or head-mounted instrument. Our existing PDR system is substantially more accurate than conventional IMU-based systems because the IMU is mounted on the foot of the user where error correction techniques can be applied that are unavailable for IMUs mounted anywhere else on the body. However, if the walker is waving a handheld or head-mounted instrument, the position and attitude of the instrument is not known. Equipping the instrument with an additional IMU is by itself an unsatisfactory solution because that IMU is subject to accelerometer and gyro drift, which, unlike in the case of the foot-mounted IMU, cannot be corrected and cause unbounded position and heading errors. Our approach uses transfer alignment techniques and takes advantage of the fact that the handheld IMU moves with the walker. This constraint is used to bound and correct errors by a Kalman filter. The paper explains our method and presents extensive experimental results. The results show up to a five-fold reduction in heading errors for the handheld IMU.
Fpr3 and Zip3 ensure that initiation of meiotic recombination precedes chromosome synapsis in budding yeast.

Summary Background Homolog pairing, synaptonemal complex (SC) assembly (chromosome synapsis), and crossover recombination are essential for successful meiotic chromosome segregation. A distinguishing feature of meiosis in budding yeast and mammals is that synapsis between homologs depends upon recombination; however, the molecular basis for this contingency is not understood. Results We show here that the yeast proline isomerase Fpr3 and the small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) ligase Zip3 ensure that SC assembly is dependent upon recombination initiation. When Fpr3 and Zip3 are absent, synapsis occurs even in a mutant that fails to initiate recombination and homolog pairing. Fpr3 and Zip3 appear to specifically prevent synapsis initiation at centromeric sites. This result is consistent with previous observations of SC proteins localizing to centromeres prior to and independent of meiotic recombination initiation. Finally, we show that without Fpr3 and Zip3 activities, the synapsis initiation components Zip2 and Zip4 are dispensable for chromosome synapsis. Conclusions Fpr3 and Zip3 represent parallel pathways that function in a checkpoint-like manner to ensure that chromosome synapsis is contingent on the initiation of recombination. We propose that, during normal meiosis, Zip2 and Zip4 act downstream of recombination signals to oppose Fpr3- and Zip3-mediated inhibitions to initiating SC assembly at centromeres. These data suggest a role for centromeres in coordinating major meiotic chromosomal events and draw an interesting parallel between yeast centromeres and C. elegans pairing centers.
HER2/Neu- and TAK1-mediated Up-regulation of the Transforming Growth Factor β Inhibitor Smad7 via the ETS Protein ER81

The cytokine transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) plays an important role in preventing tumor formation by blocking cell cycle progression. Accordingly, many cancers demonstrate mutations in TGF-β signaling components or enhanced expression of inhibitors of the TGF-β pathway such as Smad7. In this report we show that the oncoprotein HER2/Neu is able to collaborate with the ETS transcription factor ER81 to activate Smad7 transcription in breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancer cell lines. ER81 binds to two ETS sites within the Smad7 promoter, and mutation of one of these ETS sites greatly decreases Smad7 induction by HER2/Neu and ER81. Furthermore, we show that Smad7 activation involves the processing of signals from HER2/Neu to ER81 via the ERK mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. Thus, we have uncovered a novel mechanism by which oncogenic HER2/Neu, in collaboration with ER81, can induce carcinogenesis through Smad7 up-regulation. Moreover, we show that TAK1, a TGF-β-activated protein kinase, stimulates ER81 via the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway and thereby induces the Smad7 promoter. This suggests that attenuation of TGF-β signaling by activating Smad7 transcription may proceed not only through TGF-β receptor-regulated Smad proteins but also through an independent pathway involving ER81 and TAK1.
Children and chess expertise: the role of calibration.

Three studies of calibration are reported. Calibration refers to the accuracy with which one can predict one's own performance. In the first study child chess players, non-chess playing parents, and statistics students were asked to predict chances of winning chess games against hypothetical opponents. These subjective probabilities were compared to the actual probabilities, based on the Elo rating system. Better players' predictions were better calibrated. Confidence and ratings are negatively correlated, indicating that with lower ratings, players are overconfident. Skilled child players' predictions were better calibrated than any of the adults'. In the second study subjects were asked to estimate chances of winning in conjunctive situations, e. g., winning all the rounds in a tournament. Again, better child players were more accurate in their predictions and more accurate than adults. In the third study, child players were asked to predict their chances of winning in a non-chess domain after hearing a hypothetical win/loss history. Higher-rated players' predictions were again better calibrated, even though the domain was outside their expertise. The motivational and cognitive implications of calibration are discussed.
Structural basis for tetrapyrrole coordination by uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase

Uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase (URO-D), an essential enzyme that functions in the heme biosynthetic pathway, catalyzes decarboxylation of all four acetate groups of uroporphyrinogen to form coproporphyrinogen. Here we report crystal structures of URO-D in complex with the I and III isomer coproporphyrinogen products. Crystallization required use of a novel enzymatic approach to generate the highly oxygen-sensitive porphyrinogen substrate in situ. The tetrapyrrole product adopts a domed conformation that lies against a collar of conserved hydrophobic residues and allows formation of hydrogen bonding interactions between a carboxylate oxygen atom of the invariant Asp86 residue and the pyrrole NH groups. Structural and biochemical analyses of URO-D proteins mutated at Asp86 support the conclusion that this residue makes important contributions to binding and likely promotes catalysis by stabilizing a positive charge on a reaction intermediate. The central coordination geometry of Asp86 allows the initial substrates and the various partially decarboxylated intermediates to be bound with equivalent activating interactions, and thereby explains how all four of the substrate acetate groups can be decarboxylated at the same catalytic center.
A predicate transformer for progress

Abstract Progress properties of programs are often expressed using the operator leads-to , a binary relation over predicates on the program state. Informally, p leads-to q means that from a state satisfying p a state satisfying q is reached eventually. We investigate the notion of the weakest predicate that leads-to q , for some given q . We formalize this notion by defining the predicate transformer wlt as a certain closure operation, and show that wlt maps a predicate q to the weakest predicate that leads-to q . We also demonstrate that wlt and leads-to are equivalent in expressive power by showing that each can be defined in terms of the other. The advantages of basing concurrent program semantics on the predicate transformer wlt rather than the relation leads-to are similar to those of basing sequential program semantics on the predicate transformer wp rather than on the relation of Hoare-Triples { p } S { q }. We investigate the junctivity properties of wlt . It turns out that wlt is strict and monotonic, but not or -continuous and neither finitely conjunctive nor finitely disjunctive.
Romanian Adoptees and Pre-adoptive Care: A Strengths Perspective

Ninety-one parents of 120 adopted Romanian children who were part of a longitudinal study were surveyed to determine perceptions of their relationships with their children, their adoption experiences, and the children’s strengths. The Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS) was used and parents were easily able to rate their children’s emotional and behavioral strengths. Levels of parent–child relationship satisfaction were the most consistent predictors of child emotional and behavioral strength. The child’s age at the time of the survey was a significant predictor of strengths, indicating overall that younger children had more perceived strengths. Parents identified fewer strengths among children with longer histories of institutional care. The importance of a strong parent–child relationship and resilience after a history of early institutional care are discussed.
Laboratory intercomparison study of pressed polytetrafluoroethylene powder reflectance standards

The object of this paper is to present results of several experiments relating to the preparation and use of pressed polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) powder as a diffuse reflectance standard for the 200–2500-nm spectral range. These experiments include two round-robin intercomparisons involving nine laboratories. These round-robin experiments provided data on the variability of the reflectance of pressed PTFE reflectance standards prepared in different laboratories. Results of these measurements provided insight into the problems associated with the PTFE standards and helped to establish what practices needed to be standardized to improve interlaboratory agreement for diffuse reflectance measurements.