cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Androgens Regulate Gene Expression in Avian Skeletal Muscles

Circulating androgens in adult reproductively active male vertebrates influence a diversity of organ systems and thus are considered costly. Recently, we obtained evidence that androgen receptors (AR) are expressed in several skeletal muscles of three passeriform birds, the golden-collared manakin (Manacus vitellinus), zebra finch (Taenopygia guttata), and ochre-bellied flycatcher (Mionectes oleagieus). Because skeletal muscles that control wing movement make up the bulk of a bird’s body mass, evidence for widespread effects of androgen action on these muscles would greatly expand the functional impact of androgens beyond their well-characterized effects on relatively discrete targets throughout the avian body. To investigate this issue, we use quantitative PCR (qPCR) to determine if androgens alter gene mRNA expression patterns in wing musculature of wild golden-collared manakins and captive zebra finches. In manakins, the androgen testosterone (T) up-regulated expression of parvalbumin (PV) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), two genes whose products enhance cellular Ca2+ cycling and hypertrophy of skeletal muscle fibers. In T-treated zebra finches, the anti-androgen flutamide blunted PV and IGF-I expression. These results suggest that certain transcriptional effects of androgen action via AR are conserved in passerine skeletal muscle tissue. When we examined wing muscles of manakins, zebra finches and ochre-bellied flycatchers, we found that expression of PV and IGF-I varied across species and in a manner consistent with a function for AR-dependent gene regulation. Together, these findings imply that androgens have the potential to act on avian muscle in a way that may enhance the physicality required for successful reproduction.
Long-term behaviour of precipitating tropical cloud systems: A numerical study

Results of a 24-day, two-dimensional integration of tropical cloud systems forced by large-scale ascent, surface fluxes and radiation in a typical sheared tropical environment are presented. A non-hydrostatic, cloud-resolving numerical model containing sophisticated microphysical parametrizations as well as turbulence, surface flux and short/long-wave radiative representations was used. A predominant cloud-system hierarchy was identified: fast westward-moving mesoscale convective systems, producing extensive cirrus anvils and a strong radiative effect; and slow-moving regions of enhanced precipitation, causing a significant modification of the fast-moving cloudsystem behaviour on the time-scale of about one day. The experimental set-up was similar to that used by Sui et al. The demonstrated episodic convective activity and the fundamental role of organized deep convection by and large agrees with their analysis. However, despite many similarities, the results for the mean thermodynamic statistical equilibrium are dramatically different: a warm and humid regime, as opposed to the cold and dry regime of Sui et al. High relative humidities and very high upper-tropospheric cirrus cloud amount led to a strong greenhouse effect with low outgoing long-wave radiation at the top of the atmosphere (120–150 W m−2). At the same time, these clouds screened the ocean surface from the solar radiation and caused very low solar radiation absorption at the surface (only about 30 W m−2 when averaged over a diurnal cycle). The surface net cloud forcing was very large, about −200 W m−2 which is in accord with earlier findings of Ramanathan and Collins. The above numbers should be considered as an upper limit of effects of deep convection on radiative fluxes in the tropics because of the warm and moist regime demonstrated in the experiment.
The mechanism of substrate release by the aspartate transporter GltPh: insights from simulations

Glutamate transporters regulate excitatory amino acid neurotransmission across neuronal and glial cell membranes by coupling the translocation of their substrate (aspartate or glutamate) into the intracellular (IC) medium to the energetically favorable transport of sodium ions or other cations. The first crystallographically resolved structure of this family, the archaeal aspartate transporter, GltPh, has served as a structural paradigm for elucidating the mechanism of substrate translocation by these transporters. Two helical hairpins, HP2 and HP1, at the core domains of the three subunits that form this membrane protein have been proposed to act as the respective extracellular and IC gates for substrate intake and release. Molecular dynamics simulations using the outward-facing structure have confirmed that the HP2 loop acts as an EC gate. The mechanism of substrate release at atomic scale, however, remained unknown due to the lack of structural data until the recent determination of the inward-facing structure of GltPh. In the present study, we use this recently resolved structure to simulate the release of substrate to the cytoplasm and the roles of HP1 and HP2 in this process. The highly flexible HP2 loop is observed to serve as an activator (or initiator) prompting the release of a gatekeeper Na+ to the cytoplasm and promoting the influx of water molecules from the cytoplasm, which effectively disrupt substrate–protein interactions and drive the dislodging of the substrate from its binding site. The completion of substrate release and exit, however, entails the opening of the highly stable HP1 loop as well. Overall, the unique conformational flexibility of the HP2 loop, the dissociation of a Na+, the hydration of binding pocket, and final yielding of the HP1 loop 3-Ser motif emerge as the successive events controlling the release of the bound substrate to the cell interior by glutamate transporters.
Comparing systemic properties of ensembles of biological networks by graphical and statistical methods

Motivation: When dealing with questions that concern a general class of models for biological networks, large numbers of distinct models within the class can be grouped into an ensemble that gives a statistical view of the properties for the general class. Comparing properties of different ensembles through the use of point measures (e.g. medians, standard deviations, correlation coefficients) can mask inhomogeneities in the correlations between properties. We are therefore motivated to develop strategies that allow these inhomogeneities to be more easily detected. Results: Methods are described for constructing ensembles of models within the context of a Mathematically Controlled Comparison. A Density of Ratios Plot for a given systemic property is then defined as follows: the y axis represents the value of the systemic property in a reference model divided by the value in the alternative model, and the x axis represents the value of the systemic property in the reference model. Techniques involving moving quantiles are introduced to generate secondary plots in which correlations and inhomogeneities in correlations are more easily detected. Several examples that illustrate the advantages of these techniques are presented and discussed.
Diltiazem and Exercise Performance in Patients with Chronic Atrial Fibrillation

To evaluate the influence of calcium entry blockade (diltiazem 60 mg qid) on exercise capacity in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation, nine men (mean age 65 years) with atrial fibrillation underwent maximal treadmill exercise on and off diltiazem therapy. Heart rate, blood pressure, and measured ventilatory parameters were assessed at a standard submaximal workload (3.0 mph/0% grade), the gas exchange anaerobic threshold (ATge), and maximal exercise. Significant reductions in heart rate at all stages of exercise were demonstrated: maximum heart rate decreased from 171 ± 30 beats/min to 142 ± 27 beats/min (17 percent, p
Vitamin A: biomarkers of nutrition for development

Vitamin A is essential for multiple functions in mammals. Without vitamin A, mammals cannot grow, reproduce, or fight off disease. Because of its numerous functions in humans, biomarkers of vitamin A status are quite diverse. Assessment of liver reserves of vitamin A is considered the gold standard because the liver is the major storage organ. However, this measure is not feasible in human studies. Alternative biomarkers of status can be classified as biological, functional, histologic, and biochemical. Historically, signs of xerophthalmia were used to determine vitamin A deficiency. Before overt clinical damage to the eye, individuals who suffer from vitamin A deficiency are plagued by night blindness and longer vision-restoration times. These types of assessments require large population-based evaluations. Therefore, surrogate biochemical measures of vitamin A status, as defined by liver reserves, have been developed. Serum retinol concentrations are a common method used to evaluate vitamin A deficiency. Serum retinol concentrations are homeostatically controlled until liver reserves are dangerously low. Therefore, other biochemical methods that respond to liver reserves in the marginal category were developed. These included dose-response tests and isotope dilution assays. Dose-response tests work on the principle that apo-retinol-binding protein builds up in the liver as liver reserves become depleted. A challenge dose of vitamin A binds to this protein, and serum concentrations increase within a few hours if liver vitamin A concentrations are low. Isotope dilution assays use stable isotopes as tracers of total body reserves of vitamin A and evaluate a wide range of liver reserves. Resources available and study objectives often dictate the choice of a biomarker.
Orbit stability and feedback control in synchrotron radiation rings

Stability of the electron orbit is essential for the utilization of a low-emittance storage ring as a high-brightness radiation source. The development of the measurement and feedback control of the closed orbit is discussed, with emphasis on the activities at the National Synchrotron Light Source of Brookhaven National Laboratory. The author discusses the performance of the beam position detectors in use and under development: the PUE RF detector, the split ion chamber detector, the photoemission detector, the solid-state detector, and the graphite detector. Depending on the specific experiments, different beamlines require different tolerances on the orbit motion. Corresponding to these different requirements, two approaches to closed orbit feedback are discussed: the global and local feedback systems. The author describes a scheme for real-time global feedback by implementing a feedback system based upon a harmonic analysis of both the orbit movements and the correction magnetic fields. >
Pseudo‐Stab Wounds: Putrefactive Dehiscence of Remote Surgical Incisions Masquerading as Stab Wounds

Artifacts due to decomposition can be mistaken for antemortem injury leading to an incorrect suspicion of foul play. We describe an instance of postmortem wound dehiscence that mimicked antemortem stab wounds. A man with a history of colon cancer and substance abuse was found dead. There were advanced putrefactive changes and multiple defects of the anterior torso that resembled stab wounds. Subsequent investigation revealed that 11 months earlier, he had a laparoscopic-assisted colon resection that involved surgical incisions corresponding in location and size to the above defects. Putrefactive gases may cause bloating of the body. This distension may cause recent and remote healed incisions to dehisce. Correlation of these "defects" at autopsy with the antemortem clinical history is crucial in determining their etiology.
Width difference in the B s − B ¯ s system

We use the heavy quark expansion to investigate the width difference $\ensuremath{\Delta}{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{{B}_{s}}$ between the ${B}_{s}$ mass eigenstates. The corrections of $O(\frac{{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}_{\mathrm{QCD}}}{{m}_{b}})$ and $O(\frac{{m}_{s}}{{m}_{b}})$ to the leading-order expression in the operator product expansion are derived and estimated to yield a sizable reduction of the leading result for $\ensuremath{\Delta}{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{{B}_{s}}$ by typically 30%. For completeness we also quantify small effects due to penguin operators and CKM-suppressed contributions. Based on our results we discuss the prediction for ${(\frac{\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\Gamma}}{\ensuremath{\Gamma}})}_{{B}_{s}}$ with particular emphasis on theoretical uncertainties. We find ${(\frac{\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\Gamma}}{\ensuremath{\Gamma}})}_{{B}_{s}}={0.16}_{\ensuremath{-}0.09}^{+0.11}$, where the large error is dominated by the uncertainty in hadronic matrix elements. An accuracy of about 10% in ${(\frac{\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\Gamma}}{\ensuremath{\Gamma}})}_{{B}_{s}}$ should be within reach, assuming continuing progress in lattice calculations. In addition, we address phenomenological issues and implications of a $\ensuremath{\Delta}{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{{B}_{s}}$ measurement for constraints on $\ensuremath{\Delta}{M}_{{B}_{s}}$ and CKM parameters. We further consider in some detail the lifetime ratio $\frac{\ensuremath{\tau}({B}_{s})}{\ensuremath{\tau}({B}_{d})}$ and estimate that, most likely, $|\frac{\ensuremath{\tau}({B}_{s})}{\ensuremath{\tau}({B}_{d})}\ensuremath{-}1|l1%$.
Environmentally conscious products

IBM's environmental policy and IBM's initial criteria for environmentally conscious products are discussed. The main concept considered is that of a manufacturing loop in which products are made of recyclable materials and designed to be easily taken apart to be reused or recycled again. The tighter that loop, the less worrisome is the waste that will be generated. >
Duration of daily bull exposure on resumption of ovulatory activity in postpartum, primiparous, suckled, beef cows.

Abstract The objective of this experiment was to determine if duration of daily bull exposure influences length of postpartum anestrus in primiparous, anovular, suckled, beef cows. The null hypotheses were that intervals from calving or the start of bull exposure (D 0) to resumption of ovulatory activity (OA), and proportions of cows that resumed OA during the experiment does not differ among cows exposed to bulls for 0 h, 6 h, or 12 h daily, and that there is no relationship between the duration of bull exposure and interval to resumption of OA in cows exposed to bulls for 0 h, 6 h, or 12 h daily. At 51.5 ± 2.3 d (±SE) after calving, cows were assigned randomly to be exposed for 12 h (BE12; n = 15) or 6 h daily (BE6; n = 14) to bulls, or not exposed to bulls (NE; n = 10) for 45 d. Interval from calving or from D 0 to resumption of OA was shorter ( P P P > 0.10) between BE6 cows and either BE12 or NE cows. However, interval from calving to resumption of OA was shorter ( P P > 0.10) between BE6 cows and BE12 cows; however, the proportion of cows that resumed OA during the experiment tended ( P = 0.08) to be greater for BE6 cows than for NE cows. There was a linear relationship between intervals from calving ( b 1 = −7.64 d/h; P 1 = −3.3 d/h; P
THE MULTIPOROUS PLATE SENSILLUM AND ITS POTENTIAL USE IN BRACONID SYSTEMATICS (HYMENOPTERA: BRACONIDAE)

The multiporous plate sensillum occurs on the antennae of Hymenoptera. The internal and external cuticular surfaces of these sensilla, as well as the cellular ultrastructure, were examined in the Braconidae by electron microscopy. The sensillum has an elongated, external, porous plate and an inner, cuticular septum in which there is an aperture. It is innervated by numerous neurons, the dendrites of which pass through the aperture, branch and traverse the longitudinal axis of the sensillum. The ratio of aperture length to sensillar length was measured on the internal cuticular surface in 32 species. This ratio increased from the ancestral to the derived species. This sensillar character may be useful in elucidating braconid systematics. It also has potential use in the systematics of other hymenopterous parasitoids.
Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Adult Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis During Hypoxia and Reoxygenation

Abstract—Apoptosis has been implicated in ischemic heart disease, but its mechanism in cardiomyocytes has not been elucidated. In this study, we investigate the effects of hypoxia and reoxygenation in adult cardiomyocytes and the molecular mechanism involved in cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Morphologically, reoxygenation induced rounding up of the cells, appearance of membrane blebs that were filled with marginated mitochondria, and ultrastructural findings characteristic of apoptosis. Reoxygenation (18 hours of reoxygenation after 6 hours of hypoxia) and prolonged hypoxia (24 hours of hypoxia) resulted in a 59% and 51% decrease in cellular viability, respectively. During reoxygenation, cell death occurred predominantly via apoptosis associated with appearance of cytosolic cytochrome c and activation of caspase-3 and -9. However, nonapoptotic cell death predominated during prolonged hypoxia. Both caspase inhibition and Bcl-2 overexpression during reoxygenation significantly improved cellular viability through ...
Decision-Making Ability of Physical Therapists: Physical Therapy Intervention or Medical Referral

Background and Purpose. Opponents of direct access to physical therapy argue that physical therapists may overlook serious medical conditions. More information is needed to determine the ability of physical therapists to practice safely in direct-access environments. The purpose of this study was to describe the ability of physical therapists to make decisions about the management of patients in a direct-access environment. Subjects. Of a random sample of 1,000 members of the Private Practice Section of the American Physical Therapy Association, 394 participated. Methods. A survey included 12 hypothetical case scenarios. For each case, participants determined whether they would provide intervention without referral, provide intervention and refer, or refer before intervention. The percentage of correct decisions for each group of scenarios was calculated for each participant, and participants were classified as having made correct decisions for 100% of cases or less for each group. Three sets of logistic regressions were completed to determine the characteristics of the participants in relation to the decision category. Results. The average percentages of correct decisions were 87%, 88%, and 79% for musculoskeletal, noncritical medical, and critical medical conditions, respectively. Of all participants, approximately 50% made correct decisions for all cases within each group. The odds of making 100% correct decisions if a physical therapist had an orthopedic specialization were 2.23 (95% confidence interval=1.35–3.71) for musculoskeletal conditions and 1.89 (95% confidence interval=1.14–3.15) for critical medical conditions. Discussion and Conclusion. Physical therapists with an orthopedic specialization were almost twice as likely to make correct decisions for critical medical and musculoskeletal conditions.
Experimental Investigation of GaAs Surface Oxidation

Experimental observations of the surface oxide chemistry of GaAs are reported for various commonly used chemical surface preparations. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and ellipsometry were employed to obtain information regarding the stoichiometry, depth distribution, and oxide growth kinetics of thin surface oxides. Previous observations of the segregation in depth of Ga and As oxides are corroborated. Arsenic oxides tend to be found near the surface while Ga2O3 is found near the GaAs-oxide interface. The presence of elemental As was frequently detected at this interface, as well. Surfaces essentially free from oxide are shown to be produced by certain chemical treatments, and the state of the surface in the solution is inferred. It is shown that the GaAs surface oxide stoichiometry can undergo several changes in a short time when exposed to water and air. In addition, the characterization of the oxidation of GaAs by ozone in the presence of intense ultraviolet illumination is reported. The oxide primarily consists of Ga2O3 and exhibits an interesting growth kinetics: the thickness of the oxide proceeds at first linearly, then logarithmically, then parabolically. This behavior is explained in terms of various mechanisms which are dominant at different thicknesses of oxide.
Hardware/Software Co-design of an ADALINE Based Adaptive Controller for a DC Motor

We present here results pertaining to an adaptive linear neuron (ADALINE) based PID control system co-implemented in a software/hardware approach. The presented method primarily designs a PID controller in the discrete time domain with a simplified mathematical model. The parameters of the system model are online estimated using an ADALINE neural network. Due to online estimating the system parameters and momentary tuning the PID gains, a fast data processing approach is needed to implement the design. In our scheme, an FPGA chip is used to obtain and process the measured data. Further, a microprocessor is explored to implement core computation for the algorithm. The designed system is tested using a permanent magnetic DC motor. Experiment results verify the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. Moreover, the setup of the experimental bed indicates that the adaptive control system can be tested using low-cost devices with satisfactory performance due to mutual benefit of software and hardware in the co-design approach.
FISH Finder

Motivation: Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is used to study the organization and the positioning of specific DNA sequences within the cell nucleus. Analyzing the data from FISH images is a tedious process that invokes an element of subjectivity. Automated FISH image analysis offers savings in time as well as gaining the benefit of objective data analysis. While several FISH image analysis software tools have been developed, they often use a threshold-based segmentation algorithm for nucleus segmentation. As fluorescence signal intensities can vary significantly from experiment to experiment, from cell to cell, and within a cell, threshold-based segmentation is inflexible and often insufficient for automatic image analysis, leading to additional manual segmentation and potential subjective bias. To overcome these problems, we developed a graphical software tool called FISH Finder to automatically analyze FISH images that vary significantly. By posing the nucleus segmentation as a classification problem, compound Bayesian classifier is employed so that contextual information is utilized, resulting in reliable classification and boundary extraction. This makes it possible to analyze FISH images efficiently and objectively without adjustment of input parameters. Additionally, FISH Finder was designed to analyze the distances between differentially stained FISH probes. Availability: FISH Finder is a standalone MATLAB application and platform independent software. The program is freely available from: http://code.google.com/p/fishfinder/downloads/list Contact: gilbert@bio.fsu.edu
Financial Considerations of Undergraduate Female Married Students: A Qualitative Analysis

This qualitative, phenomenological research study, involved in-depth interviewing 23 female, undergraduate, married students attending a private, selective Midwest university.Three main themes were found regarding the students’ perceptions of their respective financial situations.First, participants described that, in contrast to a single (unmarried) lifestyle, the importance of their budgeting practices significantly escalate. These considerations directly relate to paying bills and school loans, resulting in consequential patterns of limited spending. Second, women in the study described the importance of discussing finances with their future spouse before getting married. Other preemptive efforts included saving money beforehand, as well as pre-discussing financial habits or expectations. Finally, married students described the mindset changes they found necessary when adjusting to married life as an undergraduate student. These included finding less expensive alternatives or “doing without,” as well as shifts in their perceptions of finances from individual budgets to collective financial outlooks.
Microbiological diffusion assay I: Operations studied with cooper equation

The Cooper equation relating zone diameter to certain parameters was used to study the influence of variations in technique upon the assay of antibiotics. Variations in prediffusion time, incubation temperature, density of inoculation, composition of medium, and thickness of agar affected zone size. From 80 to 90% of certain effects could be removed from the assay by applying the Food and Drug Administration's correction to the petri dish single-dose assay. The two-dose petri dish design was the least sensitive to variations in parameters. Large plate assay was sensitive to variations in prediffusion times but not to the other parameters. Since these variations can be minimized, large plate methods were less susceptible to operational details than the one-dose petri dish method. Suggestions are given for minimizing errors.
Stented versus nonstented extravesical ureteroneocystostomy in renal transplantation: a metaanalysis.

Stenting of the extravesical ureteroneocystostomy in renal transplantation is controversial. This study is a metaanalysis of 49 published studies over 30 years time in which the extravesical technique was used. Stented and nonstented anastomoses were compared. One-hundred six articles published between 1973 and 2002 were reviewed and 49 met criteria for inclusion. Articles were required to list original, numeric, previously unpublished data and to report or to describe the use of an extravesical ureteroneocystostomy, with or without stent. Data were analyzed within separate groups, (1) randomized, controlled trials and (2) case series. Data were included from five randomized, controlled trials and 44 case series. In the controlled trials group, there were urologic complications in 6 of 407 stented (1.5%), and 35 of 389 nonstented subjects (9.0%) (p < 0.0001, OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.10–0.57). In the case-series group, there were urologic complications in 137 of 4245 stented (3.2%) and 433 of 9077 nonstented subjects (4.8%) (p = 0.007, OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.39–0.86). Renal transplants with stented extravesical ureteroneocystostomy have a significantly lower urologic complication rate than those with nonstented anastomoses. All five randomized, controlled trials individually found stented anastomoses to have a lower complication rate and this was confirmed by metaanalysis of these trials and of case-series data.
The Pragmatic Competence of Chinese L2 Learners of Different L1s: In Reference to the Modal Auxiliary Neng Verb Group

Research studies have shown there is growing attention on the importance of developing the learners’ L2 pragmatic competence. The article focus mainly on discussion how L2 learners of Chinese understand and use Chinese modal auxiliary verbs (Neng Verb Group) to achieve related pragmatic functions. It contains results and analyses from a quasi-survey of elicitation tasks designed for 70 college level Chinese second-language learners from three language backgrounds (English 19, Japanese 25 and Korean 26), all are at different Chinese language proficiency levels. The results show that the learners from different L1s have different patterns of Appropriateness and Replacement uses. There is significant difference between the learners’ Chinese language levels, which is there are significant differences between the basic level and the intermediate level, between the basic level and the advanced level, but not between the intermediate level and the advanced level. This “plateauing” provides insights from pedagogical perspective on how to interwoven the pragmatic knowledge into the language teaching.
Imaging of Oncolytic Virus Gene Expression

Oncolytic viruses undergo multiple complex interactions with their host, meaning that many questions about their activity can only be answered in living organisms. As a result, the capacity to image viral gene expression noninvasively and repeatedly within a whole animal can significantly enhance understanding of viral activity and increases the speed of preclinical development. Similarly, imaging viral gene expression in early clinical testing creates a clearer understanding of viral tumor delivery and the level, kinetics, and biodistribution of subsequent replication. Finally, with the likelihood of imminent approval of different oncolytic viral therapies, imaging of viral gene expression would provide an early determination of therapeutic activity prior to changes in tumor burden. Here, the benefits of different reporter genes used in conjunction with oncolytic viral therapy are described, along with the imaging modalities used to measure their expression. Their applications in both preclinical and clinical testing are discussed.
The Cooperative Roles of Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in the Pathogenesis of Hypertension

Significance: Innate and adaptive immunity play fundamental roles in the development of hypertension and its complications. As effectors of the cell-mediated immune response, myeloid cells and T lymphocytes protect the host organism from infection by attacking foreign intruders with bursts of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Recent Advances: While these ROS may help to preserve the vascular tone and thereby protect against circulatory collapse in the face of overwhelming infection, aberrant elaboration of ROS triggered by immune cells in the absence of a hemodynamic insult can lead to pathologic increases in blood pressure. Conversely, misdirected oxidative stress in cardiovascular control organs, including the vasculature, the kidney, and the nervous system potentiates inflammatory responses, augmenting blood pressure elevation and inciting target organ damage. Critical Issues: Inflammation and oxidative stress thereby act as cooperative and synergistic partners in the pathogenesis of hypertension. Future Directions: Pharmacologic interventions for hypertensive patients will need to exploit this robust bidirectional relationship between ROS generation and immune activation in cardiovascular control organs to maximize therapeutic benefit, while limiting off-target side effects. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 20, 102–120.
Modified bleomycin disaccharides exhibiting improved tumor cell targeting.

The bleomycins (BLMs) are a family of antitumor antibiotics used clinically for anticancer chemotherapy. Their antitumor selectivity derives at least in part from their ability to target tumor cells, a property that resides in the carbohydrate moiety of the antitumor agent. In earlier studies, we have demonstrated that the tumor cell selectivity resides in the mannose carbamoyl moiety of the BLM saccharide and that both the BLM disaccharide and monosaccharide containing the carbamoyl moiety were capable of the delivery/uptake of a conjugated cyanine dye into cultured cancer cell lines. Presently, the nature of the participation of the carbamoyl moiety has been explored further to provide compounds of utility for defining the nature of the mechanism of tumor cell recognition and uptake by BLM saccharides and in the hope that more efficient compounds could be identified. A library of seven disaccharide–Cy5** dye conjugates was prepared that are structural analogues of the BLM disaccharide. These differed fr...
Phenyl-Mercuric Compounds: Their Action on Animals and Their Preservative Values

In two previous reports 1 concerning the bactericidal and fungicidal properties of phenyl-mercuric salts, we pointed out that they are relatively nonpoisonous to animals and the suggestion was also made that the same salts should be valuable as preservatives for biologic products. It is now our purpose to present detailed data substantiating these views. However, we reiterate what was originally emphasized: that purity of the compounds is of fundamental importance. All our experiments were performed with highly purified products. Our present study, then, is divided into two main parts, the one dealing with the effect of the salts (phenyl-mercuric-nitrate and phenylmercuric-chloride) on animals and the other with the effects on biologic products, such as toxins, serums, vaccines, enzymes, lysozyme and complement.
Readmission Rates, Reasons, and Risk Factors in Elderly Patients Treated With Lumbar Fusion for Degenerative Pathology.

Study design Retrospective database review. Objective To determine readmission rates after 1 to 2 level, primary, elective lumbar spinal fusion surgery for degenerative pathology and elucidate risk factors that predict increased risk of 30-day readmission SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA.: Early postoperative readmissions after spine surgery represent a significant source of increased cost and morbidity. As the elderly population represents a demographic with a growing need for spine surgery, readmissions within this population are of significant interest. Methods Medicare data (2005-2012) from an insurance database was queried for patients who underwent primary 1 to 2 level posterolateral lumbar spine fusion surgeries for degenerative lumbar pathology. After applying specific exclusion criteria to select for elderly patients (65-84 yr) undergoing mostly elective procedures, 52,567 patients formed the final study population. Readmission rates for medical, surgical, and all reasons were calculated within 30 days, 90 days, and 1 year postoperatively. Risk factors for medical, surgical, and all 30-day readmissions were also determined. Results Within 30 days, 90 days, and 1 year, 1510 (2.9%), 2776 (5.3%), and 6574 (12.5%) patients were readmitted, respectively. At 30 days, surgical diagnoses constituted 50.1% of all readmissions. Wound infection was the reason for readmission in 25.8% of all readmissions within 30 days. Diagnoses of chronic pulmonary disease (OR 1.41 95% CI 1.22-1.63), obesity (OR 2.20 95% CI 1.90-2.54), and positive smoking history (OR 1.33 95% CI 1.15-1.54) were associated with increased risk of surgical readmission. Conclusion Elderly patients undergoing lumbar spine fusion experience 30-day, 90-day, and 1-year readmission rates of 2.9, 5.3, and 12.5% for both medical and surgical reasons. Surgical site infection and wound complications are the most common surgery-related reasons for readmission. Medical diagnoses are more predominant during later readmissions, highlighting the comorbidity burden present in elderly patients. Level of evidence 4.
Introductory Remarks for Session on Technological Applications of Raman Scattering, with Emphasis on Fluid Mechanics and Combustion

I have the challenging task of trying to shepherd an attempt to assess some of the studies discussed here and the related progress in the light of technological applications, particularly for fluid dynamics and combustion research and testing. That subject area is used here in the broad sense and is meant to include related areas of pollution, propulsion, aeronomy studies, and possibly other areas of engineering interest to all of us here.
Bioinformatics Approaches for Studying Untranslated Regions of mRNAs

Interactions between RNA-binding proteins and cis-acting elements in the 5'- and 3'-untranslated regions (UTRs) of transcripts are responsible for regulating essential biological activities, such as mRNA localization, mRNA turnover, and translation efficiency. This chapter introduces some of the publicly available free bioinformatics resources, including software tools and databases, which can be used for predicting, mapping, and characterizing regulatory motifs found in the eukaryotic mRNA-untranslated regions.
Interventional radiology fellowship website content: what is the relevance to potential applicants?

Abstract Purpose To assess the accessibility and content of query Interventional Radiology (IR) fellowship program websites and determine the impact of these websites on applicants. Materials and methods All IR fellowship programs were individually evaluated, and all IR fellowship applicants to our institution were surveyed. Results In 2015, 44.3% of programs had an appropriate functional link to the fellowship website. Most provided a program description and application information. In our survey, applicants reported that website quality was moderately important to their overall impression of a fellowship. The most important aspects were didactics and facilities information. Conclusion Fellowship website content and quality are important to applicants.
Voltage-Rectified Current and Fluid Flow in Conical Nanopores

ConspectusIon current rectification (ICR) refers to the asymmetric potential-dependent rate of the passage of solution ions through a nanopore, giving rise to electrical current–voltage characteristics that mimic those of a solid-state electrical diode. Since the discovery of ICR in quartz nanopipettes two decades ago, synthetic nanopores and nanochannels of various geometries, fabricated in membranes and on wafers, have been extensively investigated to understand fundamental aspects of ion transport in highly confined geometries. It is now generally accepted that ICR requires an asymmetric electrical double layer within the nanopore, producing an accumulation or depletion of charge-carrying ions at opposite voltage polarities.Our research groups have recently explored how the voltage-dependent ion distributions and ICR within nanopores can induce novel nanoscale flow phenomena that have applications in understanding ionics in porous materials used in energy storage devices, chemical sensing, and low-cost...
Common Knowledge and Voter Coordination: Experimental Evidence from Mali

Information is well-known to impact voter behavior through its influence on an individual’s ability to evaluate politician performance. However, less is known about whether and how public information, or information shared by members the relevant public, additionally impacts voter decisionmaking relative to private information, or information available only to the relevant individual. When disseminated through public rather than private channels, information can lead voters to update priors about how other voters will behave in an election. If voters are acting strategically, then these revised expectations about others’ behavior can, in turn, influence an individual’s calculus at the ballot box. Public information is most likely to affect voter behavior through this mechanism when voters face a coordination problem. I argue this is the case in clientelist democracies where voters faces a trade-off between the certainty of a clientelistic transfer and the greater, but uncertain benefit afforded by a promising candidate campaigning on programmatic performance. I test this possibility using data from a public information experiment among 95 communes in Mali, some of which were provided with a civics course in six of their constituent villages. First, I show that respondents in treated villages are more likely to predict how others in their community vote in a hypothetical election. Second, I take advantage of variation in commune size and thus treatment dosage to show that effects arise only when a sufficient proportion, or majority, of the commune receives treatment. These data provide evidence in favor of the idea that public information can help voters coordinate when there are strategic complementarities to doing so.
Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL Can Differentially Block Chemotherapy-Induced Cell Death

Bcl-2 and its homologue Bcl-XL are expressed in a variety of tumors and their expression modulates the sensitivity of tumor cells to a wide spectrum of chemotherapeutic agents and gamma-irradiation. In the present report, we generated clones of FL5.12 lymphoid cells with similar levels of Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL using the Flag epitope to determine if these survival proteins could provide equivalent protection when challenged with chemotherapy or gamma-irradiation. Using four M-phase specific chemotherapeutic agents, Bcl-XL and Bcl-2 provided similar protection against vincristine and vinblastine whereas Bcl-XL afforded as much as 50% greater cell viability than Bcl-2 against etoposide and teniposide-induced cell death. In addition, Bcl-XL provided significantly greater cell viability than Bcl-2 against methotrexate, fluorouracil, and hydroxyurea, three S-phase specific agents. In apoptosis induced by gamma-irradiation and cisplatin, two antitumor treatments that are cell-cycle phase-nonspecific agents, both Bcl-XL and Bcl-2 conferred similar protection against gamma-irradiation, but Bcl-XL provided better protection than Bcl-2 against cisplatin. These results indicate that Bcl-XL and Bcl-2 confer a differential ability to protect against chemotherapy-induced cell death, which appears to be dependent on the molecular mechanism targeted by the drug rather than its cell-cycle phase specificity.
The Effects the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children Demonstration has on Children’s Food Security

During the summers of 2011 through 2013 in selected demonstration locations, the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (SEBTC) Demonstration randomly assigned levels of additional food assistance to school-age children in low-income households in order to improve children’s food security in the summer, when many children lose access to federal school meals programs. The findings are simple and dramatic: a $60 per-child monthly SEBTC benefit reduces very low food security among children by one-third (a 3.0 percentage-point decline from a control group level of 9.1%) and food insecurity among children by one-fifth (an 8.3 percentage-point decline from a control group level of 43.0%). Additional benefits also improve food security for the adults in the household. There is some evidence of larger impacts among those households that were more disadvantaged at baseline. These results suggest that an SEBTC-like program would have substantial impacts on child, adult, and household food security. More broadly, they suggest that a moderate (e.g., $100 per household per month) increase in more general food assistance would also have substantial impacts on food security.
Low-Rank Value Function Approximation for Co-Optimization of Battery Storage

We develop a near-optimal solution to the problem of co-optimizing frequency regulation and energy arbitrage with battery storage using backward approximate dynamic programming, which is shown to handle the different time scales of each revenue stream. Solution of the problem using classical backward exact dynamic programming is computationally intractable for this problem due to the large state space and long horizon. Instead, we use state sampling and low-rank approximations to estimate the entire value function, producing a high quality solution that can be computed in real time. The new algorithm is shown to reduce the computational time by one order of magnitude, and the storage requirements by two orders of magnitude, while producing near optimal policies that consistently outperform pure frequency regulation.
End-to-End IoT Security Middleware for Cloud-Fog Communication

IoT (Internet of Things) devices such as sensors have been actively used in 'fogs' to provide critical data during e.g., disaster response scenarios or in-home healthcare. Since IoT devices typically operate in resource-constrained computing environments at the network-edge, data transfer performance to the cloud as well as end-to-end security have to be robust and customizable. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a middleware featuring "intermittent" and "flexible" end-to-end security for cloud-fog communications. Intermittent security copes with unreliable network connections, and flexibility is achieved through security configurations that are tailored to application needs. Our experiment results show how our middleware that leverages static pre-shared keys forms a promising solution for delivering light-weight, fast and resource-aware security for a variety of IoT-based applications.
Deployment and parametrisation of couplec hydrodynamic and wave models

This study investigates near-shore circulation and wave characteristics applied to a case-study site in Santa Cruz, California. Hourly regional wave-condition data were gathered from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations National Data Buoy Center. Circulation patterns are resolved by the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code, a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model, while wave information is computed using the Simulating Waves Nearshore model, a third-generation wave model that computes wind-generated waves in coastal and inland waters. Input data include bathymetry, hydrodynamic boundary conditions to the circulation model, current data for the wave model, and wind speeds and directions. The study assesses the performance of numerical models to resolve both wave and currents. Considerations to provide accurate forecasts are provided and the advantages of coupled model simulations evaluated.
Has Abenomics Succeeded in Raising Japan's Inward Foreign Direct Investment?

Japan is known to have an exceptionally low level of inward foreign direct investment (FDI). The promotion of inward FDI is one of the policy goals of Abenomics structural reforms. This present paper studies the accumulation of Japan's inward FDI stock during the first 3 years of Abenomics (2012â€“2015), and finds no evidence that Japan's inward FDI stock increased more than the trend before Abenomics started would have predicted. A comparison of the main policies for promoting inward FDI that have been implemented to the real and perceived impediments to inward FDI reveals that it may be advisable to shift the emphasis of the policy to address more regulatory and administrative issues and to reduce the cost of doing business in Japan.
Clinical and pathological correlation of cotton wool spots in secondary angle closure glaucoma.

Abstract Purpose Cotton Wool Spots (CWS) are a commonly described retinal finding in the posterior segment associated with an extensive number of systemic diseases. The appearance of a CWS in the setting of glaucoma has rarely been reported and has not been correlated with pathology to localized loss of the nerve fiber layer previously. In this case report, we augment a previous report of an 18 year old female with a diagnosis of low grade ciliary body melanoma. This patient experienced eventual mechanical angle closure with a CWS appearing in the posterior pole in the setting of acute elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP). This eye underwent enucleation and pathology evaluation. Observations Fundus photography documented a CWS in the posterior segment during a period of acute elevation in IOP. Subsequently the eye was enucleated due to pain from refractory angle closure glaucoma secondary to low grade iris-ciliary body ring melanoma. The specific site of the prior CWS was studied with 1μ Epon retinal step sections stained with a novel AgNO3 solution. Light microscopy demonstrated a retinal nerve fiber layer scar and inner nuclear layer collapse in the prior location of the CWS. Light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy shortly after enucleation had demonstrated temporal quadrant laminar optic nerve (ON) retrograde axonal transport block. Conclusions and Importance Although not commonly associated with glaucoma, CWS can present in the setting of acute elevations of IOP and may be associated with loss of nerve fiber layer. This loss of nerve fiber layer can confound the ability to judge glaucoma progression based on nerve fiber layer thickness via optical coherence tomography and changes in disc contours. Patient care may benefit from care provider's awareness of this possible phenomenon in the setting of angle closure.