cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Structure and evolution of human apolipoprotein genes: identification of regulatory elements of the human apolipoprotein E gene

The structures of the major human apolipoprotein genes have been determined. The genes for apoE, apoC-I, apoC-II, apoC-III, apoA-I, apoA-II and apoA-IV have similar structures, consisting of four exons and three introns, which suggests that they evolved from a common ancestral gene. The third and fourth exons of the ancestral gene appear to have evolved from the duplication of a 66-nucleotide repeat unit that encodes a 22-residue alpha-helical peptide element of amphipathic character. The apoA-I, apoC-III and apoA-IV genes are linked closely within a 20-kilobase (kb) span of chromosome 11. The apoE and apoC-I genes, together with an apoC-I' pseudogene, are linked closely within a 25-kb span of chromosome 19. To characterize potential functional relationships among the apolipoprotein genes, initial studies have been done to identify the molecular elements involved in the regulation of the human apoE gene. Fragments of the 5'-flanking portion of this gene were inserted into appropriate plasmid vectors, which contained the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyl transferase gene, and were examined for promoter activity and potential enhancer activity after transfection into cultured mammalian cells. Deletion mapping of the promoter region has identified multiple functional elements, including an enhancer, two G-C boxes (Sp 1 transcription factor binding sites) and an upstream control element. In addition, there is an enhancer located in the first intron. Interactions among these various control elements are likely to determine the ways in which the expression of the apoE gene is regulated.
The Constitutional Right Against Excessive Punishment

When is a death sentence, a sentence of imprisonment, or a fine so "excessive" or "disproportionate" in relation to the crime for which it is imposed that it violates the Eighth Amendment? Despite the urgings of various commentators and the Supreme Court's own repeated, albeit uncertain, gestures in the direction of proportionality regulation by the judiciary, the Court's answer to this question within the past few decades is a body of law that is messy and complex, yet largely meaningless as a constraint. In the core of this ineffectual and incoherent proportionality jurisprudence lies a conceptual confusion over the meaning of proportionality. The Court's latest statement on this question, Ewing v. California, is symptomatic of the Court's confusion. This Article seeks to prepare the ground for a more coherent and potent jurisprudence of proportionality to develop by clarifying the concept of proportionality. First, this Article describes the way in which the Court's confusion over the meaning of "proportionality" has been the source of the problem by discussing four different ways in which the Court has understood the term. Second, this Article proposes "retributivism as a side constraint" as a conception of proportionality that would bring together the disparate elements of the case law to establish a more coherent and effective constitutional doctrine. Third, this Article specifies the meaning of retributivism as a side constraint, emphasizing the distinction between comparative and noncomparative aspects of retributivism and the significance of the distinction for understanding not only what it means for one to "deserve" a punishment, but also the Supreme Court case law on excessive punishment.
Preharvest Marketing Strategies Increase Net Returns for Corn and Soybean Growers

Grain producers price grain prior to harvest to reduce financial risk and to enhance net returns. Because accomplishing the second objective is debatable, alternative corn and soybean preharvest options and hedge marketing strategies were designed to test the hypothesis that preharvest pricing could generate statistically higher average net returns than harvest sales without increasing variability. Weekly seasonal futures price patterns from 1975 to 1994 were used to time marketings. The strategies were applied to Iowa and Ohio model farms. The hypothesis was accepted for some strategies that included options but not for futures-only strategies.
Nanoclay-Modified Asphalt Binder Systems

Nanomaterials use in asphalt and concrete pavement infrastructure is gaining ground among researchers and scientists. In this chapter, an attempt is made to provide insight on nanomodification of transportation infrastructure, with the primary focus on asphalt binder systems. It further reveals ongoing work being conducted on the use of nanoclay materials to enhance the mechanical properties of the asphalt binder cement system. From the preparation of the nanoclaymodified asphalt binder to the SuperpaveTM characterization process, it has been proven that nanoclay materials holds great potential in the design and construction of sustainable and durable asphalt pavement infrastructure.
Using Viral Vectors to Silence Endogenous Genes

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a fast but transient method for knocking down expression of endogenous genes in plants. Replicating plant viruses activate a defense mechanism called post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS), which protects the plant by silencing viral transcripts. VIGS of endogenous genes is accomplished by inserting a gene of interest into a viral vector. When the virus replicates in the plant, PTGS silences both the viral genome and the corresponding endogenous gene. The most robust and widely implemented VIGS system uses tobacco rattle virus (TRV) vectors and N. benthamiana as the plant host. This unit will explain how to introduce TRV-based VIGS vectors into N. benthamiana plants by two methods: syringe infiltration or the Agrobacterium drench method. Furthermore, it will provide two alternate protocols optimized for VIGS in tomato plants: spray inoculation and vacuum infiltration.
Sleep Problems in the Elderly

Sleep problems in older adults are so common that nearly half of all hypnotic prescriptions written are for persons over 65 years old. Although normal aging affects sleep, the practitioner should evaluate the many factors that cause insomnia: medical illness, psychiatric illness, dementia, alcohol and/or polypharmacy, restless legs syndrome, periodic leg movements, and sleep apnea syndrome. Nonpharmacologic treatment of sleep disorders is preferred. The nurse practitioner can assess and manage elderly patients with sleep disorders, but they need to refer those who can benefit from evaluation to a sleep disorder center.
ATP13, a nuclear gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae essential for the expression of subunit 9 of the mitochondrial ATPase.

The respiratory deficient nuclear mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, N9-168, assigned to complementation group G95 was previously shown to lack subunit 9, one of the three mitochondrially encoded subunits of the F0 component of the mitochondrial ATPase. As a consequence of the structural defect in F0, the ATPase activity of G95 mutants is not inhibited by rutamycin. The absence of subunit 9 in N9-168 has been correlated with a lower steady-state level of its mRNA and an increase in higher molecular weight precursor transcripts. These results suggest that the mutation is most likely to affect either translation of the ??? mRNA or processing or the primary transcript. We have isolated a nuclear gene, designated ATP13, which complements the respiratory defect and restores rutamycin-sensitive ATPase in G95 mutants. Disruption of ATP13 induces a respiratory deficiency which is not complemented by G95 mutants. The nucleotide sequence of ATP13 indicates a primary translation product with an M??? of 42 897. The protein has a basic amino terminal signal sequence that is cleaved upon import into mitochondria. No significant primary structure homology is detected with any protein in the most recent libraries.
MODELING INSECT DEVELOPMENT RATES: A LITERATURE REVIEW AND APPLICATION OF A BIOPHYSICAL MODEL

The importance of predicting the seasonal occurrence of insects has led to the formulation of many mathematical models that describe development rates as a function of temperature. Yet many of the widely used models do not provide acceptable results for predicting development times. After a careful review of the literature, we believe the biophysical model of Sharpe and DeMichele (1977; J. Theor. Biol. 64: 649–670) is the most suitable for this purpose. This model provides an excellent description of development rates over a full range of temperatures, and can be modified easily to describe rates over a portion of that range. Herein we review the literature on modeling insect development rates, describe the Sharpe and DeMichele model, and present easy instructions for its use. A computer program, assembled from the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) Library, determines the correct number of parameters to be used in the model for a given data set, selects starting values of these parameters for nonlinear regression, and computes least-square estimates of the parameters by using Marquardt techniques.
Organic Diets Significantly Lower Children’s Dietary Exposure to Organophosphorus Pesticides

We used a novel study design to measure dietary organophosphorus pesticide exposure in a group of 23 elementary school-age children through urinary biomonitoring. We substituted most of children's conventional diets with organic food items for 5 consecutive days and collected two spot daily urine samples, first-morning and before-bedtime voids, throughout the 15-day study period. We found that the median urinary concentrations of the specific metabolites for malathion and chlorpyrifos decreased to the nondetect levels immediately after the introduction of organic diets and remained nondetectable until the conventional diets were reintroduced. The median concentrations for other organophosphorus pesticide metabolites were also lower in the organic diet consumption days; however, the detection of those metabolites was not frequent enough to show any statistical significance. In conclusion, we were able to demonstrate that an organic diet provides a dramatic and immediate protective effect against exposures to organophosphorus pesticides that are commonly used in agricultural production. We also concluded that these children were most likely exposed to these organophosphorus pesticides exclusively through their diet. To our knowledge, this is the first study to employ a longitudinal design with a dietary intervention to assess children's exposure to pesticides. It provides new and persuasive evidence of the effectiveness of this intervention.
Chronic climatic effects of nuclear war

Abstract Numerical simulations of the global-scale atmospheric response to large smoke injections from fires following a nuclear war indicate that a significant amount of smoke could be lofted from the troposphere to the stratosphere where aerosol residence times are 6 months or longer. This suggests that interactions with the ocean mixed layer and sea ice are important in the chronic phase. To address these issues, a set of three 18 month simulations, two with smoke and one without, have been performed using a tropospheric general circulation model coupled with a model of the ocean mixed layer. Several aspects of the climatic response support the conclusions of Robock (1984, Nature 310 , 667–670) using an energy balance model. The ocean mixed layer cools by 3–6°C within 2 months following the smoke injection; thereafter the ocean cooling follows the distribution of available insolation, with a lag of some 2 months and an amplitude of about 3°C. Sea ice expands by up to 10 million km 2 , or 2% of the global ocean area. Land surface cooling is 10–15°C for the first few months and 2°C thereafter. Snow cover expands by more than 40 million km 2 (25% of global land area) briefly at high latitudes, but by no more than 10 million km 2 thereafter. For an injection of one-third the smoke mass of the large injection, the same cooling patterns result, but with about half the magnitude.
Priority rules for job shops with weighted tardiness costs

Mainstream research in priority dispatching has considered jobs with equal delay penalties, thereby ruling out strategic differentiation of customer orders. We develop and test efficient dispatchin...
A one-step biuret assay for protein in the presence of detergent

Abstract An alkaline-copper reagent is described which forms a soluble, stable complex with protein in the presence of detergent. The modified reagent produces a relatively uniform absorbance for six different proteins, and it may be used to determine the protein content of such heterogeneous samples as plasma membranes and mitochondria.
The taste of table salt

Solutions of table salt (NaCl) elicit several tastes, including of course saltiness but also sweet, sour, and bitter. This brief review touches on some of the mileposts concerning what is known about taste transduction for the Na(+) ion, the main contributor to saltiness. Electrophysiological recordings, initially from single gustatory nerve fibers, and later, integrated impulse activity from gustatory nerves led researchers to predict that Na(+) ions interacted with a surface molecule. Subsequent studies have resolved that this molecule is likely to be an epithelial sodium channel, ENaC. Other Na(+) transduction mechanisms are also present in taste buds but have not yet been identified. The specific type(s) of taste cells responsible for salt taste also remains unknown.
Improved Coatings For Large Astronomical Telescope Mirrors

Coatings with lower emissivity than the traditional aluminum coating are required for large telescope mirrors. Multilayer coatings consisting of silver with ultraviolet boosting overlayers and copper underlayers for increased environmental resistance have been proposed. These multilayers are examined briefly, and some of their implications for the coating of large astronomical telescope mirrors are considered. A major problem is that they demand much greater uniformity than simple metallizing. A possible coating plant layout is suggested.
Effect of thyroxine on the weight and composition of muscle, pelt and other tissues in young hypophysectomized rats.

Recently it was observed that the increase in weight of striated muscle in response to growth hormone administration was greater in hypophysectomized rats than in thyroidectomized rats (Scow, 1953). The difference in response between the two groups of animals was assumed to be due to the secretion of thyroid hormone, although diminished, in the hypophysectomized rat. The purpose of the present study was to determine if thyroxine given alone could effect a muscle growth response in hypophysectomized rats. Earlier, Ray et al. (1950) had reported a small increase in body weight and skeletal length of thyroxine-treated hypophysectomized rats. In the present experiments, not only were the findings of Ray et al. confirmed, but it was observed that the weight responses of skeletal and cardiac muscle, thymus, and pelt were proportionally greater than that of all other tissues. EXPERIMENTAL Male Holtzman rats at 21–23 days of age were hypophysectomized under sodium pentobarbital-ether anesthesia.
Haglund's syndrome

Haglund's syndrome is a painful condition of the heel caused by mechanically induced inflammation of the retrocalcaneal bursa, supracalcaneal bursa, and Achilles tendon. Surgical management has included calcaneal osteotomy, but results have been unpredictable because of the inability to measure accurately bone removal. A method was devised in this study to accurately determine radiographically the amount of bone removal necessary. Sixteen heels in 13 patients underwent surgery after failing 21 months of conservative treatment. The desired osteotomy angle (preop x-rays) was compared to the actual angle obtained at surgery. A patient questionnaire, developed by the Outcome Study Committee of the AOFAS, was used to assess results. There were 13 good results and 3 failures. The average actual angle of the good results was 49° and that of the poor results was 61°. These results were statistically significant to a p = .0012. The average score obtained by the good results was 87 points, while that of the failures was 25 points. Follow-up was 42 months. The authors recommend that the osteotomy be made in such a way as to remove not only the superolateral deformity, but also to decompress the retrocalcaneal bursa and to remove the calcaneal step. In order to do so, an osteotomy angle of 49 degrees should be achieved.
Geriatrician Training in the Care of Elders With Intellectual and Other Developmental Disabilities

Adults with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (IDD) are now living to late life. Whether geriatricians are being trained to provide care for this clinically complex subpopulation of elders has not been examined. Two thirds of all geriatric fellowship directors in the United States responded to a Web-based survey of curriculum and training in this area. Forty-four percent rated training in this area as "important" or "very important," but only 26% of directors rated their graduates as moderately or highly competent in caring for elders with IDD. We report our survey findings and implications for future curricular development.
Moderate, rapidly induced hypertension as a cause of intraventricular hemorrhage in the newborn beagle model

Nine anesthetized, artificially ventilated, term newborn beagle puppies were given phenylephrine hydrochloride intravenously while systemic arterial carotid arterial and jugular venous blood pressures, and carotid arterial blood flow were monitored. Systemic blood pressure rose within seconds from a mean of 53.68±1.10 mm Hg to a mean of 81.92±5.14 mm Hg. Hypertension was maintained for up to one hour in each animal. Four of the nine pups had intraventricular hemorrhages that were visible to gross inspection at autopsy, and seven of the nine pups had subependymal hemorrhages. The blood pressures produced in these animals were within the range of those seen in premature infants. Thus, moderate, rapidly induced systemic hypertension may be a cause of intraventricular hemorrhage in the premature human newborn infant.
ECTO-NOX (ENOX) proteins of the cell surface lack thioredoxin reductase activity

This study was to determine if ENOX proteins of the cell surface act as cell surface thioredoxin reductases. To measure formation of thiols a turbimetric insulin assay was used. No turbidity was observed with insulin alone or with insulin plus DTT. However, the combination of insulin + DTT + recombinant his-tagged ENOX2 (tNOX) did result in increased turbidity. An ENOX1 (CNOX) preparation also resulted in turbidity changes. In contrast, we were unable to demonstrate ENOX2-dependent insulin reduction by high density SDS-PAGE. Inclusion of reduced serum albumin as a source of free thiols for the protein disulfide interchange activity catalyzed by ENOX2 failed to result in insulin reduction in the presence of ENOX2. A direct effect of ENOX2 on thioredoxin reduction in the presence of NADPH also was not observed. The DTNB assay for thioredoxin reductase activity also failed to reveal activity. Thus, ENOX proteins appear not to function as thioredoxin reductases at the cell surface nor do they appear to recognize reduced insulin as a substrate for protein disulfide-thiol interchange. The enhanced turbidity of insulin solutions resulting from ENOX presence was traced to ENOX-catalyzed insulin fibrillation either through nucleation enhancement or some other mechanism. Fibrillation was determined using Thioflavin T fluorescence which paralleled the turbimetric results and the formation of multimers (polymerization) observed on SDS-PAGE.
Targeted gene inactivation of calpain-1 suppresses cortical degeneration due to traumatic brain injury and neuronal apoptosis induced by oxidative stress

Calpains are calcium-regulated cysteine proteases that have been implicated in the regulation of cell death pathways. Here, we used our calpain-1 null mouse model to evaluate the function of calpain-1 in neural degeneration following a rodent model of traumatic brain injury. In vivo, calpain-1 null mice show significantly less neural degeneration and apoptosis and a smaller contusion 3 days post-injury than wild type littermates. Protection from traumatic brain injury corroborated with the resistance of calpain-1 neurons to apoptosis induced by oxidative stress. Biochemical analysis revealed that caspase-3 activation, extracellular calcium entry, mitochondrial membrane permeability, and release of apoptosis-inducing factor from mitochondria are partially blocked in the calpain-1 null neurons. These findings suggest that the calpain-1 knock-out mice may serve as a useful model system for neuronal protection and apoptosis in traumatic brain injury and other neurodegenerative disorders in which oxidative stress plays a role.
Flow-injection analysis in the capillary format using electroosmotic pumping

Abstract Electroosmotic flow induced by an electric field in a 75-μm bore fused-silica capillary is used as the pumping mechanism for flow-injection analysis (FIA). Injection of a sample into a reagent stream containing a carrier electrolyte or sequential injection of contiguous reagent, sample and reagent segments into a carrier electrolyte are accomplished hydrostatically. Colorimetric detection is performed by an optical absorbance detector using the diameter of the capillary as the optical path. Typical peak area precision is better than 3% in relative standard deviation for sample volumes ≤ 20 nl. The potential of capillary format electroosmotically driven FIA and related techniques is discussed.
Discrete Variational Method for the Energy-Band Problem with General Crystal Potentials

A general variational method for efficiently calculating energy bands and charge densities in solids is presented; the method can be viewed as a weighted local-energy procedure or alternately as a numerical integration scheme. This rapidly convergent procedure circumvents many of the difficulties associated with the evaluation of matrix elements of the Hamiltonian in an arbitrary basis and treats the general nonspherical potential with no more complication than the usual "muffin-tin" approximation. Thus the band structure of ionic and covalent materials can be calculated with realistic crystal potentials. As an example, the method is applied to the one-electron model Hamiltonian with a nonspherical local potential, using a linear combination of atomic orbitals basis. Matrix elements of the Hamiltonian are evaluated directly without decomposition into atomic basis integrals; no "tight-binding" approximations are made. Detailed calculations are presented for the band structure and charge density of bcc lithium which demonstrate the feasibility of our method, and reveal the sensitivity of the energy bands to nonspherical and exchange components of the crystal potential. Various prescriptions for the construction of crystal potentials are considered, and convenient least-squares expansions are described. The extension of these methods to nonlocal potentials such as are encountered in the Hartree-Fock self-consistent-field procedure is discussed.
Parametric Identification of Chaotic Systems Via a Long-Period Harmonic Balance

Hyperbolic chaotic sets are composed of a countable infinity of unstable periodic orbits (UPOs). Symbol dynamics reveals that any long chaotic segment can be approximated by a UPO, which is a periodic solution to an ideal model of the system. Treated as such, the harmonic balance method is applied to the long chaotic segments to identify model parameters. Ultimately, this becomes a frequency domain identification method applied to chaotic systems.Copyright © 2005 by ASME
Quality indicators for Bariatric Surgery 2004 to 2012: example from Florida

Background Bariatric surgery is a rapidly diffusing innovation in the field of weight loss. We would expect improvement in quality indicators as more surgeries are performed. However, it is not known if this “practice makes perfect” trend holds for bariatric surgery. We examine three quality indicators for bariatric surgery: rate of surgical complications, death rate and rate of readmissions to a hospital within 30 days from discharge.
Initial Shelf Space Considerations at New Grocery Stores: An Allocation Problem with Product Switching and Substitution

Managing limited display areas is an increasingly challenging task in the grocery retail industry, especially given the current high levels of product proliferation. The decision of how to best allocate and manage shelf space is critical to grocery retail profitability. Moreover, this decision is escalated for initial shelf space considerations at new grocery stores. Without loss to generality, this paper presents a new approach to the shelf space allocation problem that could be applied to new grocery stores for determining their initial shelf space consideration by incorporating consumer behavior actions based on the consumer’s decision process.
A model to generate beam profiles of the Varian Clinac 4 for three-dimensional dose calculation: open fields.

For the Clinac 4, open field profiles measured in the principal plane have higher intensity ‘‘horns’’ than those in off‐axis planes. The maximum deviation occurs at 1‐cm depth, where in the worst case of large field sizes and off‐axis distances the deviation can be as high as 16% in the region near the horns. A model is proposed to generate open field beam profiles in off‐axis planes, based on measured profiles in the transverse principal plane and in the largest field size diagonal plane of the machine. Within the central 90% portion of the field, the maximum deviation of the generated profiles from the measured ones at the same off‐axis distance varies from about 3% at 1‐cm depth to about 2% at 13‐cm depth and then increases to less than 5% at 25‐cm depth, even for very large field sizes and off‐axis distances. Very little additional computer time and data storage are required for this procedure. Using these profiles, the Milan and Bentley method can be extended to three‐dimensional treatment planning with good accuracy.
Investigation of a candidate gene for schizophrenia on Xq13 previously associated with mental retardation and hypothyroidism.

Weak support for linkage of schizophrenia to proximal Xq has previously been reported. In addition, an increased prevalence of thyroid disorder has been noted in families of individuals with schizophrenia. Recently, a gene mapped to Xq13 termed HOPA has been found to be associated with mental retardation, hypothyroidism, and depression and to function as a coactivator for the thyroid receptor. We therefore examined the HOPA gene in a group of 111 probands from a larger cohort of multiplex families with schizophrenia, several of whom (n = 53) also had a family history of hypothyroidism. Four males and two females were found with an alteration in exon 42 of the HOPA gene compared with 8/492 males and 18/471 females (942 X chromosomes) compared with consecutively screened newborns (χ2 = 3.92, P < 0.05). However, when available family members of each of the probands with an exon 42 variation were subsequently screened, the mutation did not segregate with schizophrenia in three of five families, although all 6 probands with an exon 42 variation did have hypothyroidism in either themselves (n = 3) or their mothers (n = 3) (P < 0.008). These findings replicate prior findings demonstrating an association between HOPA polymorphisms and hypothyroidism. In addition, the increased frequency of HOPA variants in this population may also provide a genetic basis for the familial association of thyroid disease and schizophrenia. Am. J. Med. Genet. (Neuropsychiatr. Genet.) 96:398–403, 2000. © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Nonlinear evolution of magnetic flux ropes: 1. Low‐beta limit

We study the nonlinear self-similar evolution of a cylindrical magnetic flux tube with two components of the magnetic field, axial and azimuthal. We restrict ourselves to the case of a plasma of low beta. Introducing a special class of configurations we call 'separable fields', we reduce the problem to an ordinary differential equation. Two cases are to be distinguished: (1) when the total field minimizes on the symmetry axis, the magnetic configuration inexorably collapses, and (2) when, on the other hand, the total field maximizes on the symmetry axis, the magnetic configuration behaves analogously to a nonlinear oscillator. Here we focus on the latter case. The effective potential of the motion contains two terms: a strong repulsive term and a weak restoring term associated with the pinch. We solve the nonlinear differential equation of motion numerically and find that the period of oscillations grows exponentially with the energy of the oscillator. Our treatment emphasizes the role of the force-free configuration as the lowest potential energy state about which the system oscillates.
Toward a Resilience Model for the Hospitality & Tourism Industry

The present research examines the impact of natural disasters on hospitality industry jobs and attempts to model job resilience after the industry experiences a disaster. While disasters are increasing at an unparalleled velocity, the hospitality industry has yet to fully appreciate their impact, reach, and consequences. Because the industry is a critical source of domestic economic activity, it is important to understand what happens to industry jobs post disaster and the mechanisms by which industry resilience is achieved. Using systems theory and a capital stock approach, our prior research supports our hypothesis: changes in hospitality industry jobs as a result of experiencing a natural disaster are a function of community resilience. Our regression results suggest characteristics such as creating and maintaining social networks of shared norms and values in a community help explain more changes in industry jobs than does the consequence of anatural disaster. This new model of resilience builds on co...
Rapid Separation of Prostaglandins by Linear High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography

Abstract A continuous development technique using silica gel linear high performance TLC plates is described for the separation of prostaglandins 6-keto-F1α, F2α, E2, 13,14-dihydro-15-keto-F2α, 13–14-dihydro-15-keto-E2, and thromboxane B2. Complete separation of all six prostaglandins was achieved with a solvent system of ethyl acetate/acetone/acetic acid (90:5:1). The method is simple, rapid and provides excellent resolution of plasma prostaglandins prior to quantitation by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
Synovial fluid bupivacaine concentrations following single intra-articular injection in normal and osteoarthritic canine stifles

Intra-articular bupivacaine helps alleviate pain in animals receiving joint surgery, but its use has become controversial as ex vivo studies have illuminated the potential for chondrotoxicity. Such studies typically involve cell cultures incubated in solutions containing high bupivacaine concentrations for long durations. The aim of this study was to measure the actual synovial fluid bupivacaine concentrations after intra-articular injection. Eight healthy beagles with normal stifles and 22 large and giant-breed dogs with stifle osteoarthritis (OA) were treated with a single intra-articular injection of bupivacaine (1 mg/kg) into a stifle. Joint fluid samples were taken from the treated stifle immediately after injection and 30 min after injection and analyzed for bupivacaine concentrations. Immediately after injection, the median bupivacaine concentrations in normal and OA stifles were 3.6 and 2.5 mg/mL, respectively. Thirty minutes after injection, bupivacaine concentrations in normal and OA stifles were 0.4 and 0.6 mg/mL, respectively. These results provide insight into the pharmacokinetics of bupivacaine after injection into a joint. Given its immediate dilution and rapid drop in synovial fluid concentration, bupivacaine is unlikely to damage chondrocytes when administered as a single intra-articular injection.
Financial sustainability through contingency planning: multi-case study

As the discipline of strategic management grows from the lessons to be learned from the current financial crisis, it is important to take strategic perspectives at how industries, represented by specific companies, could be affected by such economic disasters, both in terms of internal and external stakeholders. As companies establish strategies for financially sustainability, this article looks at three major companies representing this respective industries with successful and disastrous results. Outlined are strategies and concepts that can be helpful for managers and executives to navigate in today's chaotic marketplace, citing that innovative management is necessary for businesses to survive long-term recessions and depressions and to prove the framework for long-term financial sustainability. The basic lessons to be learned are for firms not to panic due to corporate fear and greed; stay the course and recommit to their core values and competencies; and selectively cut costs.
Kinetics and Equilibrium of Barium and Strontium Sulfate Formation in Marcellus Shale Flowback Water

AbstractFlowback water from natural gas extraction in Marcellus Shale contains very high concentrations of inorganic salts and organic chemicals. Potential reuse of this water in subsequent hydraulic-fracturing operations may be limited by high concentrations of divalent cations (e.g., Ba, Sr, and Ca). Kinetics of barite and celestite precipitation in flowback waters from different well sites was evaluated in this study. Ba reacted rapidly with sulfate and reached equilibrium within 30 min, whereas Sr reacted slowly and took days to reach equilibrium. Equilibrium concentrations of Ba and Sr predicted by thermodynamics models were compared with experimental results. Activity corrections based on the Pitzer equation provided the best agreement with experimental data for both Ba and Sr. Comparison of barite and celestite precipitation kinetics in actual and synthetic flowback water revealed that there was no observable impact of organics and other minor components in actual flowback water on barite precipita...
Polyaniline thin film electrochromic devices

Abstract Solid-state electrochromic devices were fabricated from polyaniline and conducting polymer electrolytes prepared by mixing protonic acids or alkali metal salts with either poly(ethyleneoxide) or poly(ethyleneimine). The devices switch rapidly from colorless to green between −3 and +3 V and appear to be stable after several thousand switching cycles.
Incidence of lateral talar dome lesions in SER IV ankle fractures.

Osteochondral lesions of the talar dome are commonly the result of ankle trauma. While the technique of surgical repair of ankle fractures has been well reported, there are no studies that correlate the presence or absence of talar dome lesions. A possible explanation for this may be lack of intraoperative inspection of the talar articular surface. This retrospective study evaluates the incidence of lateral talar dome lesions in 50 supination-external rotation stage IV ankle fractures. Specifically, operative reports were reviewed for the presence of lateral talar dome lesions documented through intraoperatve inspection. Overall, 19 of 50 fractures, or 38%, were found to have a lateral talar dome lesion. While the bimalleolar and deltoid ligament tear type fractures exhibited more talar dome lesions, there was no significant difference between these two fracture types (p = .1111). There was no statistically significant difference among the three types (unimalleolar, bimalleolar, and trimalleolar) of supination-external rotation ankle fractures (p = .0804). The authors conclude that intraoperative inspection of the lateral talar dome should be a routine part of ankle fracture repair.
Lack of adherence with preoperative B-blocker recommendations in a multicenter study

BACKGROUND: Clinical guidelines support the use of preoperative B-blocker in select patients. Patient safety groups have sought to measure the level of adherence to these recommendations.
Evaluation of chemical composition, optical density measurements and in sacco disappearance of two commodities under controlled moisture and heating conditions

Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the change in chemical composition, in sacco neutral detergent fibre disappearance and soluble indigestible components of lucerne and almond hulls subjected to three moisture levels (0, 0.25 and 1 g water g −1 feed) and four heating times (0, 1, 20 and 40 h) at 100 °C. Measurements in lucerne and almond hulls included neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), lignin (two methods), in sacco NDF remaining at 48 h fermentation (INSNDF), nitrogen, acid detergent insoluble nitrogen (ADIN) and neutral non-starch polysaccharides (NSP). Optical densities (OD wavelengths: 280, 350 and 420 nm) were measured in extracts of lucerne and almond hulls as an indicator of soluble indigestible components. Low coefficients of variation were found for nitrogen, ash, glucose, total NSP and OD 350 nm measurements for lucerne across all experimental treatments. Low coefficients of variation were also found for nitrogen, cellulose, galactose and total NSP for almond hulls across all experimental treatments. High coefficients of variation were found for ADF, lignin and ADIN for lucerne and almond hulls across all experimental treatments. Optical density measurements, in sacco NDF disappearance and chemical composition (other than NSP) were altered with time of heating for lucerne and almond hulls. The OD readings at 280 nm increased with lucerne and decreased with almond hulls as heating time increased from 0 to 40 h. Chemical changes for lucerne appeared to occur at early heating times when compared with almond hulls yet the extent of chemical changes was greater at longer heating times for almond hulls. The in sacco NDF remaining after 48 h fermentation (INSNDF) tended to reach a plateau as heating time increased for lucerne, whereas INSNDF values continued to increase for almond hulls. Conversely, ADIN reached a plateau with increased heating times for almond hulls but not for lucerne. The highest INSNDF values across heating times were found at the moisture level of 0.25 g water g −1 feed for lucerne and almond hulls. Moisture level had the greatest effect on neutral non-starch polysaccharides which tended to decrease with increasing moisture levels for lucerne and almond hulls. In sacco NDF 48 h fermentation values were positively correlated with time of heating, NDF, ADF, lignin values, ADIN and OD 280 nm for lucerne. Similar correlations were found for almond hulls except INSNDF was negatively correlated with OD 280 nm readings. The INSNDF changes with lucerne and almond hulls were difficult to interpret because of varying OD readings. The OD measurements were high for lucerne suggesting that some compounds are soluble and indigestible. However, the OD measurements were relatively low for almond hulls.
Charged particle layers in the Debye limit.

We develop an equivalent of the Debye-Huckel weakly coupled equilibrium theory for layered classical charged particle systems composed of one single charged species. We consider the two most important configurations, the charged particle bilayer and the infinite superlattice. The approach is based on the link provided by the classical fluctuation-dissipation theorem between the random-phase approximation response functions and the Debye equilibrium pair correlation function. Layer-layer pair correlation functions, screened and polarization potentials, static structure functions, and static response functions are calculated. The importance of the perfect screening and compressibility sum rules in determining the overall behavior of the system, especially in the r--> infinity limit, is emphasized. The similarities and differences between the quasi-two-dimensional bilayer and the quasi-three-dimensional superlattice are highlighted. An unexpected behavior that emerges from the analysis is that the screened potential, the correlations, and the screening charges carried by the individual layers exhibit a marked nonmonotonic dependence on the layer separation.
Well-quasi-orderings and sets of finite sequences

Section 1 contains a list of the facts about well-quasi-orderings (wqo's) which were established in (1), (4), (7), (10), and (13), with proofs given except for the last three theorems. The theory of well-quasi-orderings is a precursor to Nash–Williams' theory of better-quasi-orderings (10, 11, 12, 6, 7). Section 1 of this paper may be viewed as a beginning to Section 1 of a forthcoming paper, in which an explication of bqo theory is given.
Mechanisms of pheromone inactivation in the gut of Periplaneta americana

Abstract The sex attractant of the cockroach, Periplaneta americana, has been shown in earlier work to be largely inactivated by dissected midgut from males and from mated females. It is only slightly inactivated by the midgut from virgin females. In this paper, the sex pheromone inactivating system is further studied and shown to be active in late instar larvae of both sexes. In the male this pheromone inactivation is inhibited by piperonyl butoxide, a microsomal oxidase inhibitor. This compound appears to act on the midgut tissue directly. In the mated female, piperonyl butoxide has little effect. When the pheromone inactivating capacity is partitioned into soluble and tissue components, it appears that the soluble component is most active in the male, whereas the tissue component is most active in the female. Evidence from heat inactivation, trichloracetic acid precipitation, and the use of soy bean trypsin inhibitor, as well as the time course of the reaction, suggest that the factor or factors inactivating pheromone are proteins, probably enzymes. Evidence that at least part of the pheromone inactivating capacity is due to microsomal oxidases is considered. It is also observed that both pheromone and piperonyl butoxide absorb to membranes.
Optimal methods for collecting and storing vaginal specimens for prostate-specific antigen testing in research studies

Background Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) detected in vaginal fluid can be used in studies of HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) and pregnancy prevention as an alternative to relying on participant reports of exposure to semen. Optimal methods for collecting and storing specimens for this testing have not been determined.
A Mechanism for the Increase of Wind Stress (Drag) Coefficient with Wind Speed over Water Surfaces: A Parametric Model

Abstract A mechanism is proposed for a physical explanation of the increase in wind stress (drag) coefficient with wind speed over water surfaces. The formula explicitly incorporates the contribution of both winds and waves through the parameterizations of an aerodynamic roughness equation. The formula is consistent with measurements from the field and with results obtained by numerical models for storm surges and water level fluctuations.
Derived Categories and the Analytic Approach to General Reciprocity Laws: Part III

We reformulate Hecke's open problem of 1923, regarding the Fourier-analytic proof of higher reciprocity laws, as a theorem about morphisms involving stratified topological spaces. We achieve this by placing Kubota's formulations of n-Hilbert reciprocity in a new topological context, suited to the introduction of derived categories of sheaf complexes. Subsequently, we begin to investigate conditions on associated sheaves and a derived category of sheaf complexes specifically designed for an attack on Hecke's eighty-year-old challenge.
Physical Properties of the Local Interstellar Medium

The observed properties of the local interstellar medium (LISM) have been facilitated by a growing ultraviolet and optical database of high spectral resolution observations of interstellar absorption toward nearby stars. Such observations provide insight into the physical properties (e.g., temperature, turbulent velocity, and depletion onto dust grains) of the population of warm clouds (e.g., 7000 K) that reside within the Local Bubble. In particular, I will focus on the dynamical properties of clouds within ∼15 pc of the Sun. This simple dynamical model addresses a wide range of issues, including, the location of the Sun as it pertains to the relationship between local interstellar clouds and the circumheliospheric interstellar medium (CHISM), the creation of small cold clouds inside the Local Bubble, and the association of interacting warm clouds and small-scale density fluctuations that cause interstellar scintillation. Local interstellar clouds that can be easily distinguished based on their dynamical properties also differentiate themselves by other physical properties. For example, the two nearest local clouds, the Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC) and the Galactic (G) Cloud, show distinct properties in temperature and depletion of iron and magnesium. The availability of large-scale observational surveys allows for studies of the global characteristics of our local interstellar environment, which will ultimately be necessary to address fundamental questions regarding the origins and evolution of the local interstellar medium.
Personal views about mental health promotion: An exercise using three letters.

The author explores values and assumptions that underlie primary prevention and health promotion.
The Design and Implementation of A Search Engine Marketing Management System (SEMMS) Based on Service-Oriented Architecture Platform

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) can provide prompt and cost-effective service discoveries and responses to dynamic changing market conditions. In one of the three dimensions of SOA, reach and range, the search engine has played a very significant role toward the success of this business objective. Over the last few years, search engine marketing has become one of the fastest growing industries. Currently, search engine marketing is divided into two categories: paid and non-paid. Paid marketing includes Pay-per-Click (PPC), Contextual Targeted Text Ads, and Paid Inclusion. Non-paid marketing includes Organic Search Engine Optimization and Link Popularity. As this is still a relatively new market, most companies lack the knowledge or the tools to manage their marketing strategies and maximize the return of their investments (ROI). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of this important dimension of SOA, reach and range, and to design a web-based Search Engine Marketing Management System (SEMMS), which can be effectively applied to technical aspects in managing paid and non-paid search engine marketing required in this SOA dimension. The functionalities of the system include managing keywords and links to a website as well as producing analytical reports to track the performance of the marketing campaign.
SpamED: A spam E-mail detection approach based on phrase similarity

E-mail messages are unquestionably one of the most popular communication media these days. Not only are they fast and reliable but also free in general. Unfortunately, a significant number of e-mail messages received by e-mail users on a daily basis are spam. This fact is annoying since spam messages translate into a waste of the user's time in reviewing and deleting them. In addition, spam messages consume resources such as storage, bandwidth, and computer-processing time. Many attempts have been made in the past to eradicate spam; however, none has proven highly effective. In this article, we propose a spam e-mail detection approach, called SpamED, which uses the similarity of phrases in messages to detect spam. Conducted experiments not only verify that SpamED using trigrams in e-mail messages is capable of minimizing false positives and false negatives in spam detection but it also outperforms a number of existing e-mail filtering approaches with a 96p accuracy rate. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.