cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of apolipoprotein E4 on clinical, neuroimaging, and biomarker measures in noncarrier participants in the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network.

Abstract The apolipoprotein E e4 allele (APOE4) is the major genetic risk factor for sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). APOE4 may have effects on cognition and brain atrophy years before the onset of symptomatic AD. We analyzed the effects of APOE4 in a unique cohort of young adults who had undergone comprehensive assessments as part of the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN), an international longitudinal study of individuals from families with autosomal dominant AD. We analyzed the effect of an APOE4 allele on cognitive measures, volumetric MRI, amyloid deposition, glucose metabolism, and on cerebrospinal fluid levels of AD biomarkers in 162 participants that did not carry the mutant gene (noncarriers). APOE4+ and APOE4− mutation noncarriers had similar performance on cognitive measures. Amyloid deposition began at an earlier age in APOE4+ participants, whereas hippocampal volume was similar between the groups. These preliminary findings are consistent with growing evidence that the APOE4 allele may exert effects in midlife years before symptom onset, promoting amyloid deposition before altering cognitive performance or brain structure.
Search for the chiral magnetic effect in heavy ion collisions

Quark interactions with topological gluon fields in quantum chromodynamics can yield local $${\mathcal {P}}$$ and $${\mathcal {CP}}$$ violations that could explain the matter–antimatter asymmetry in our universe. Effects of $${\mathcal {P}}$$ and $${\mathcal {CP}}$$ violations can lead to charge separation under a strong magnetic field, a phenomenon called the chiral magnetic effect (CME). Early measurements of the CME-induced charge separation in heavy ion collisions are dominated by physics backgrounds. This report discusses the recent innovative efforts in eliminating those backgrounds, namely by event-shape engineering, invariant mass dependence, and reaction and participant plane comparison. The background-free CME measurements using these novel methods are presented.
Analysis of Solid Surfaces by Soft X-Ray Appearance Potential Spectroscopy

The total soft x-ray emission of an electron-bombarded surface exhibits abrupt changes at the threshold potentials for the excitation of core levels of surface atoms. These features represent the excitation probabilities of the core states superimposed on a smoothly increasing background and can be sensitively detected by differentiating the x-ray emission with respect to sample potential. The application of this technique to the study of surface composition, chemical shifts, and band structure is discussed.
Arithmetic and Numbers

The index generator ≀ is a versatile tool for generating regular sets of integers, for example First R positive integers ≀R First R even integers 2×≀R First R multiples of L L×≀R
Statistical mechanics basis of Macleod's formula

In this work the theoretical basis for the famous formula of Macleod, relating the surface tension of a liquid in equilibrium with its own vapor to the one-particle densities in the two phases of the system, is derived. Using the statistical-mechanical definition of the surface tension, it is proved that this property is, at the first approximation, given by the Macleod formula
Surgical Escharotomy and Decompressive Therapies in Burns

Early recognition of the need for escharotomy and other decompressive therapies is imperative for experienced burn providers, as to avoid reversible tissue ischemia and necrosis. With full-thickness burns, the eschar that develops is largely noncompliant. The predictable edema that develops during resuscitation of larger burns increases the likelihood ischemia-inducing pressure, as the underlying tissues swell within noncompliant skin, resulting in burn-induced compartment syndrome. Conventionally, this has been treated with decompressive therapies, such as escharotomy. The most recent surveys have identified that the United States and Canada both face a shortage of practicing burn surgeons. In the event of a burn disaster, many nonburn surgeons would need to provide burn care, including decompressive therapies. We reviewed the literature to provide accurate, accessible, and applicable recommendations regarding this practice following burn injury for both the practicing burn surgeon and those that would provide care in the burn disaster.
Weight-based versus non-weight-based diltiazem dosing in the setting of atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response.

Abstract Purpose There is conflicting evidence to support the superiority of weight-based (WB) dosing of intravenous (IV) diltiazem over non-weight-based (NWB) dosing strategies in the management of atrial fibrillation (AFib) with rapid ventricular response (RVR). Methods A retrospective review evaluated patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) in AFib with RVR and receiving IV diltiazem from 2015 to 2018. Those receiving a NWB dose were compared with those receiving a WB dose based on actual body weight (ABW). Secondary analyses evaluated safety profiles of the regimens and compared response in groups defined by ABW or ideal body weight (IBW). Results A total of 371 patients were included in the analysis. No significant difference was observed in achieving a therapeutic response (66.5% vs. 73.1%, p = 0.18) or adverse events between the groups. Patients receiving a WB dose were significantly more likely to have a HR Conclusion In patients presenting with AF with RVR, there was no significant difference in achieving a therapeutic response between the two strategies. A WB dosing approach did result in a greater proportion of patients with a HR
Epitope-tagging of the endogenous murine BiP/GRP78/Hspa5 locus allows direct analysis of the BiP interactome and protein misfolding in vivo.

BiP/GRP78, encoded by the Hspa5 gene, is the major HSP70 family member in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) lumen, and controls ER protein folding. BiP9s essential functions in facilitating proper protein folding are mainly mediated through its dynamic interaction with unfolded or misfolded client proteins, and by serving as a negative regulator of the Unfolded Protein Response. A mechanistic understanding of the dynamics of BiP interaction with its protein partners is essential to understand ER biology, and therefore, we have sought to develop a tractable model to study misfolded protein interaction with BiP. For this purpose, we have used homologous recombination to insert a 3xFLAG epitope tag into the endogenous murine Hspa5 gene, just upstream from the essential KDEL signal necessary for ER localization of BiP. Tagging BiP in this way did not alter Hspa5 expression under basal or ER-stress induced conditions in hepatocytes ex vivo or in fibroblasts. Furthermore, the tag did not alter the cellular localization of BiP or its functionality. All of these findings in primary tissue culture were also confirmed in vivo in livers of heterozygous mice with one WT and one FLAG-tagged Hspa5 allele. Hepatocyte-specific BiP-FLAG modification did not alter liver function or UPR signaling. Importantly, immunoprecipitation with anti-FLAG antibody completely pulled down FLAG-tagged BiP from lysates of BiP-FLAG expressing livers. In summary, we generated a novel model that can be used to investigate the BiP interactome in vivo under physiological and pathophysiological conditions in a cell type-specific manner. This tool has the capability, for the first time, to provide an unbiased approach to identify unfolded and misfolded BiP-client proteins, and to provide new information on the role of BiP in many essential ER processes.
Lower Extremity Stiffness in Collegiate Distance Runners Pre- and Post-Competition

Previous evidence has suggested that there is a relationship between leg stiffness and improved running performance. The purpose of this investigation was to determine how leg stiffness of runners was influenced in the 24 and 48 hour period following a cross country race. Twenty-two collegiate cross-country runners (13 males, 9 females, 19.5 ± 1.4 yr) were recruited and participated in the study. Leg stiffness was assessed 24 hours before and after a race as well as 48 hours post-race. Three jumping protocols were conducted: 1) a static jump, 2) a countermovement jump, and 3) a vertical hopping test. Two embedded force plates (1000 Hz) were utilized to measure ground reaction forces for each test and a metronome was utilized to maintain hopping frequency (2.2 Hz). A significant main effect was found for a static jump, a countermovement jump and leg stiffness. Leg stiffness was significantly reduced 24 hours post-race (pre-race 36.84 kN·m-1, 24h post 33.11 kN·m-1, p < 0.05), but not 48 hours post-race (36.30 kN·m-1). No significant differences were found in post-hoc analysis for the squat jump, countermovement jump height and the eccentric utilization ratio. Following a cross-country race, leg stiffness significantly declined in a group of collegiate runners in the immediate 24 hours post-race, but returned to baseline 48 hours post-race. Sport scientists and running coaches may be able to monitor leg stiffness as a metric to properly prescribe training regiments.
Do elected officials serve the poor on health care? Evidence from a field experiment on members of congress and state legislators

To what extent do legislators respond to the poor? While extensive research demonstrates the poor are largely ignored in legislators’ policy calculations, little research examines the degree to whi...
Convolutional LSTM for Planetary Boundary Layer Height (PBLH) Prediction

We describe new work that uses deep learning to learn temporal changes in Planetary Boundary Layer Height (PBLH). This work is performed in conjunction with a deep edge detection method that identifies edges in imagery based on ceilometer backscatter signal from LIDAR observations. We implement a convolutional Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) to predict small temporal changes in PBLH estimates. In the presence of rain, clouds, and other unfavorable conditions, PBLH heights are challenging to estimate. The convolutional LSTM acts as an internal state representation of the external partially observable environment, supplementing the deep edge detection method, providing a prediction of PBLH in the absence of a reliable estimation. Convolutional LSTMs trained on image-based frames that define the movements of artifacts in the images, such as Moving MNIST digits, have been used to predict the movement of these artifacts for a set of frames in a sequence. We show how a similar network could be extended to learn more complex movement across frames and learn new information introduced at each frame. Utilizing the convolutional LSTM model with our proposed augmentation methodology applied to ten-minute frames, we predicted the change of the movement of edges identified as the PBL over time with favorable accuracy. We show the result of the prediction of PBL-based edges and evaluate the performance using three different metrics.
Asthma and the Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Children and Adolescents

Importance: More than 4 million SARS-COV-2 infections have occurred among children and adolescents in the United States. Risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection among children remain poorly defined. Objective: To evaluate the association between asthma and the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection among children. Design: Retrospective cohort study Setting: A large, integrated health system in central North Carolina. Participants: Children 5 to 17 years of age with a Durham County address and at least one health care encounter in the Duke University Health System between March 1, 2017, and February 28, 2020. Exposure: Diagnosis of asthma Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was SARS-CoV-2 infection identified by PCR testing of a respiratory sample collected between March 1, 2020, and October 31, 2020. We matched children with asthma 1:1 to children without asthma using propensity scores and used Poisson regression to evaluate the association between asthma and the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. We assessed for effect modification of this association by inhaled corticosteroid prescription and comorbid atopic diseases. Results: Of 49,455 children, 6,515 (13%) met criteria for a diagnosis of asthma; all children with asthma were matched to a control child without asthma for a final cohort of 13,030 children. Median (interquartile range) age was 11.0 (8.0, 14.0) years, 56% were male, and 78% were non-White. A diagnosis of asthma was associated with a decreased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection [risk ratio (RR): 0.67, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.49-0.92]. This association tended to be stronger in children with asthma who were prescribed inhaled corticosteroids (RR: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.38-0.94) or who had comorbid atopic diseases (RR: 0.59, 95% CI: 0.39-0.88). Of the 66 children with asthma who developed SARS-CoV-2 infection, none required hospitalization for COVID-19. Conclusions and Relevance: Children with asthma had a lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly children prescribed an inhaled corticosteroid or with comorbid atopic diseases. Further studies are needed to explore the complex relationship between asthma, inhaled corticosteroids, and SARS-CoV-2.
Abstractions for Reconfigurable Hybrid Network Update and A Consistent Update Approach

Reconfigurable Hybrid (electrical/optical) Network (RHN) [1-4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13-19] for modern datacenter architectures has gained significant momentum during the last decade. The primary advantage of such RHN architectures is the dynamic topological reconfigurability enabled by optical circuit switches (OCS). On one hand, RHN can benefit throughput-intensive applications by providing on-demand high-bandwidth links between the hosts (CPU/GPU/TPU), such as distributed deep neural network training and recommendation systems, etc. On the other hand, RHN can reduce the hop-count between the host pairs, improving the performance for latency-sensitive applications such as real-time customer interactions with in-memory file system. However, previous works mostly focused on finding a suitable topology to efficiently handle a given traffic demand. Performing such topology update together with SDN policy update in a holistic manner while maintaining per-packet consistency and other network invariants is still an open issue. Existing network maintenance and policy update solutions define the notion of per-packet consistency assuming a pure SDN network where the physical network topology is static. This assumption does not hold for RHN because dynamic topology reconfiguration is inherent to RHN. In this paper, first, we define an extended notion of per-packet consistency and discuss the other critical requirements for RHN updates. Next, we provide an abstraction of RHN update and propose Transtate, a general method to perform such RHN update while satisfying the critical requirements. We believe such innovations remove one of the key obstacles towards reconfigurable-hybrid SDN.
Deep Learning-based Action Detection in Untrimmed Videos: A Survey.

Understanding human behavior and activity facilitates advancement of numerous real-world applications, and is critical for video analysis. Despite the progress of action recognition algorithms in trimmed videos, the majority of real-world videos are lengthy and untrimmed with sparse segments of interest. The task of temporal activity detection in untrimmed videos aims to localize the temporal boundary of actions and classify the action categories. Temporal activity detection task has been investigated in full and limited supervision settings depending on the availability of action annotations. This paper provides an extensive overview of deep learning-based algorithms to tackle temporal action detection in untrimmed videos with different supervision levels including fully-supervised, weakly-supervised, unsupervised, self-supervised, and semi-supervised. In addition, this paper also reviews advances in spatio-temporal action detection where actions are localized in both temporal and spatial dimensions. Moreover, the commonly used action detection benchmark datasets and evaluation metrics are described, and the performance of the state-of-the-art methods are compared. Finally, real-world applications of temporal action detection in untrimmed videos and a set of future directions are discussed.
Thermal acclimation and thyroxine treatment modify the electric organ discharge frequency in an electric fish, Apteronotus leptorhynchus.

Abstract In ectotherms, the rate of many neural processes is determined externally, by the influence of the thermal environment on body temperature, and internally, by hormones secreted from the thyroid gland. Through thermal acclimation, animals can buffer the influence of the thermal environment by adjusting their physiology to stabilize certain processes in the face of environmental temperature change. The electric organ discharge (EOD) used by weak electric fish for electrocommunication and electrolocation is highly temperature sensitive. In some temperate species that naturally experience large seasonal fluctuations in environmental temperature, the thermal sensitivity (Q 10 ) of the EOD shifts after long-term temperature change. We examined thermal acclimation of EOD frequency in a tropical electric fish, Apteronotus leptorhynchus that naturally experiences much less temperature change. We transferred fish between thermal environments (25.3 and 27.8 °C) and measured EOD frequency and its thermal sensitivity (Q 10 ) over 11 d. After 6 d, fish exhibited thermal acclimation to both warming and cooling, adjusting the thermal dependence of EOD frequency to partially compensate for the small change (2.5 °C) in water temperature. In addition, we evaluated the thyroid influence on EOD frequency by treating fish with thyroxine or the anti-thyroid compound propylthiouricil (PTU) to stimulate or inhibit thyroid activity, respectively. Thyroxine treatment significantly increased EOD frequency, but PTU had no effect. Neither thyroxine nor PTU treatment influenced the thermal sensitivity (Q 10 ) of EOD frequency during acute temperature change. Thus, the EOD of Apteronotus shows significant thermal acclimation and responds to elevated thyroxine.
Attitudes and Experiences in Liberal Arts Mathematics

For many university students, the last formal experience in a mathematics classroom is a single semester “general education” mathematics class. Traditionally, students in this type of class often hold negative attitudes towards mathematics. Here I study a sample of students from this population (49 students at a large, urban, comprehensive public university enrolled in a “math for liberal arts majors” course) to research whether a positive experience in a freshman-level general education mathematics course correlates with a positive change in the students’ attitude towards mathematics in general. I also explore which specific aspects of such a course contribute most to a positive student experience. The survey results show that while a positive experience in a freshman-level general education mathematics course correlates with positive responses in a student’s attitude about several key variable components of attitude (including motivation to do mathematics, perceived usefulness of mathematics, and confidence while doing mathematics), it does not correlate with positive change. The course aspects that most correlate with a positive experience include the teacher/professor, difficulty level of the course, and workload.
A Social System Approach to the Psychoanalytic Treatmentof Personality Disorders.

I present a social system conception of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and describe its uses in the treatment of individuals with personality disorders. By analyzing the divisions of labor and authority in treatment, I try to show that there exist fundamental role requirements upon the therapist to create and maintain structure, and upon the patient to respect it. I identify the treatment system's external and internal boundaries. Doing so makes it possible to distinguish two classes of resistance, system-threatening extramural resistance and intramural resistance. The first class of resistance is common in individuals with personality disorders, since they tend to act out against the structure of the treatment itself. In the matter of extramural resistance, the therapist needs not only to make interpretations, but also to manage the treatment enterprise effectively lest it be destroyed. A social system understanding of psychotherapy helps the clinician manage the boundaries without becoming authoritarian or parental.
The First Lord from Science

Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy. by David Lindley. Joseph Henry Press, Washington, DC, 2004. 374 pp. $27.95, C$37.95. ISBN 0-309-09073-3. The author offers a popular biography that explores William Thomson's career in science, interactions with contemporaries, and personal life.
Synchrotron X-ray diffraction studies of multilayer nitrogen physisorbed on porous graphite foam

The authors use synchrotron X-ray diffraction for structural analysis of the behavior of multilayer nitrogen films physisorbed on graphite foam. They provide structural information and concentrations of two- and three-dimensional solid phases at a coverage of {Theta} = 8 ML ({Theta} {equivalent_to} 1 ML for a {radical}3 {times} {radical}3 monolayer structure) for temperatures from below the bulk {alpha}-{beta} transition temperature [T{sub {alpha}-{beta}} = 34 {+-} 0.5 K] to above the bulk triple point [T{sub tp} = 63 K]. Data indicate that layering begins near T{sub {alpha}-{beta}}, with subsequent layering occurring as the temperature is raised; all bulk nitrogen forms disordered film layers by 48 K at {Theta} = 8 mL. Results are consistent with ellipsometry studies of nitrogen on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite which found multilayer nitrogen on single-crystal graphite to undergo a series of layering transitions above the bulk nitrogen {alpha}-{beta} structural transition. The effect of adsorption on a graphite from substrate, which results in capillary condensation and finite size effects, is limited to a broadening and overlap of the discrete transition temperatures observed on a single-crystal substrate. A phase diagram for coverages above 2 ML is proposed, summarizing this and previous work.
An Introduction to HPF

This paper introduces the ideas that underly the data-parallel language High Performance Fortran (HPF). It reviews HPF's key language elements: elemental array parallelism and data mapping pragmas; the relationship between data mapping and implicit communication; the FORALL and INDEPENDENT loop mechanisms for more general data parallelism; and the standard HPF library, which adds to the richness of the array operators at the disposal of the HPF programmer. It reviews the important problem of data mapping at the procedure call interface. It also discusses interoperability with other programming models, including SPMD (single-program, multiple-data) programming.
Effects of fiber dispersion on the time-frequency quantum cryptography protocol

This paper explores the effects of dispersion on the quantum bit error rate (QBER) and security of the scheme for dispersion-shifted and standard single-mode fibers. Results show that dispersion increases both and R-value of the quantum key distribution, and causes a drop in performance. In addition, dispersion effects at 1310 nm is greater than at 1550 nm.
A Lower Bound for Treewidth and Its Consequences

We present a new lower bound for the treewidth (and hence the pathwidth) of a graph and give a linear-time algorithm to compute the bound. With the growing interest in treewidth based methods, this bound has many potential applications.
Proceedings of the 22nd annual international conference on Design of communication: The engineering of quality documentation

Welcome to SIGDOC 2004! SIGDOC is one of the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) Special Interest Groups (SIG). SIGDOC's focus is the design of communication for computer-mediated information products and systems. SIGDOC fosters the study and publication of processes, methods, and technologies for communicating and designing communication artifacts such as printed documents, online text, and hypermedia applications. Now in it's 22 nd year, the annual SIGDOC conference is one of the highlights of the organization's activities. This year's theme of "The Engineering of Quality Documentation" seems particularly timely. The traditional SIGDOC member was a technical writer. Today, a member of SIGDOC is equally likely to be computer scientist or software engineer. The inter-disciplinary nature of modern documentation challenges is reflected in the varied SIGDOC membership.
Characterization of integrated semiconductor optical amplifiers in the JePPIX multi-project wafer platform

Several research institutes and commercial foundries presently offer shared wafer processing services based on generic integration technology. We have characterized SOAs fabricated in such a platform and compare their performance to discrete devices fabricated in a dedicated commercial process. Despite some limitations (presently single polarization and only C-band available), the characteristics of the integrated SOAs come quite close to their discrete counterparts.
Cervical Instability in Young Adults

Os odontoideum, trauma, and genetic conditions such as Down syndrome, Morquio disease, and pseudoachondroplasia are common causes of cervical instability in the young adult. Each underlying cause presents unique challenges to the treating physician, but a systematic approach to the problem can help guide physicians and patients in developing an individualized and appropriate treatment plan. The first step in evaluating these patients is determining if the instability is associated with any neurologic findings, as almost all patients with progressive neurologic symptoms should undergo surgical stabilization. Comparatively, asymptomatic patients or patients with only local symptoms may be treated with either careful observation or surgery, depending on the underlying diagnosis and the severity of instability. Before finalizing the treatment plan, it is important that the risk and benefits of both nonoperative and operative care are discussed, as both have been associated with significant complications.
Mechanisms Underlying the Immunogenicity of Therapeutic Proteins: Risk Assessment and Management Strategies

Antibodies to therapeutic proteins have caused serious adverse events and loss of efficacy in patients. Therefore, it is critical to manage the risk of antitherapeutic antibodies (ATA) during drug development and in the postmarketing environment. Risk assessments are an important tool for managing immunogenicity risk because they provide a format for considering the consequences and likelihood of ATA development. Because many factors influence both the severity of the consequences and likelihood of ATA development, successful risk assessments require input from all relevant disciplines, including product quality, manufacturing, nonclinical, pharmacology, and clinical. The results of risk assessments are used to develop appropriate risk reduction strategies, which may include product quality and manufacturing controls and elements of clinical trial design. This article discusses considerations for immunogenicity risk assessments and management.
Abstract ED04-01: Defining and monitoring microbial networks

The composition and function of the microbiome is emerging as a susceptibility factor affecting the tumor microenvironment locally and systemically. However, the high complexity and low inter-individual overlap of intestinal microbial composition are formidable barriers to identifying microbial taxa contributing to disease susceptibility. These difficulties might be overcome by an ecologic analytic strategy to identify modules of interacting bacteria (rather than individual bacteria) as quantitative reproducible features of microbial composition in normal and IBD mucosa. Using co-occurrence and network analysis of the intestinal mucosal bacterial microbiome, we have uncovered 5 microbial modules, each detectable in all individuals, and two modules were associated with colorectal susceptibility states such as inflammatory bowel disease. Network analysis of mucosal metabolites and proteins indicates that each microbial module is associated with a distinct functional mucosal community, which can be directly visualized forming a microgeographic distribution at the mucosal surface. Systemic products produced by certain mucosal functional communities also induce remote genotoxicity associated with lymphoma formation in susceptible individuals. Microbial modules thus provide an integrative view of microbial ecology relevant to cancer, and permit quantitative and reproducible microbial monitoring by minimally-invasive sampling of the readily accessible rectal mucosa. Citation Format: Jonathan Braun. Defining and monitoring microbial networks. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2012 Oct 16-19; Anaheim, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Prev Res 2012;5(11 Suppl):Abstract nr ED04-01.
Nitroaldol reactions catalyzed by amine-MCM-41 hybrids

Abstract The catalytic properties of several amine-functionalized MCM-41 materials in the nitroaldol (Henry) reaction are reported. The work investigated the effects of organoamine type (primary, secondary, tertiary), amine density, and the presence of silanol groups on the catalytic activity and product selectivity. High selectivity to the nitroalcohol product was achieved by introducing secondary and tertiary amine groups on the MCM-41 surface, while the nitroalkene is the dominant product for primary amines. Steric effects appear to be significant in determining the overall reactivity as the least sterically hindered amines are the most active. The capping of silanols with trimethylsilyl groups resulted in a reduction in catalytic activity for nearly all samples, indicating the importance of surface silanols and/or the surface polarity in the reaction.
Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling in Mesenchymal Progenitors Controls Osteoblast and Chondrocyte Differentiation during Vertebrate Skeletogenesis

Summary Chondrocytes and osteoblasts are two primary cell types in the skeletal system that are differentiated from common mesenchymal progenitors. It is believed that osteoblast differentiation is controlled by distinct mechanisms in intramembranous and endochondral ossification. We have found that ectopic canonical Wnt signaling leads to enhanced ossification and suppression of chondrocyte formation. Conversely, genetic inactivation of β-catenin , an essential component transducing the canonical Wnt signaling, causes ectopic formation of chondrocytes at the expense of osteoblast differentiation during both intramembranous and endochondral ossification. Moreover, inactivation of β-catenin in mesenchymal progenitor cells in vitro causes chondrocyte differentiation under conditions allowing only osteoblasts to form. Our results demonstrate that β-catenin is essential in determining whether mesenchymal progenitors will become osteoblasts or chondrocytes regardless of regional locations or ossification mechanisms. Controlling Wnt/β-catenin signaling is a common molecular mechanism underlying chondrocyte and osteoblast differentiation and specification of intramembranous and endochondral ossification.
Spinal cord and trigeminal projections to the pontine parabrachial region in the rat as demonstrated with Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin.

In order to determine the regions within the parabrachial nucleus that receive synaptic input from nociceptive regions of the spinal cord and medulla in the rat, we analyzed the "Golgi-like" labeling produced by anterograde transport of Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin (PHA-L) from discrete iontophoretic injections confined to either the superficial dorsal horn of the lumbar spinal cord or to the superficial dorsal horn of the trigeminal nucleus at the level of the obex. Labeled fibers from both the spinal cord and the medulla ascended through the ventral lateral pons and coursed with the ventral spinocerebellar tract toward the parabrachial nuclei. Spinal cord injections led to labeling of fine caliber fibers and en passant and terminal enlargements in the rostral part of the contralateral lateral parabrachial nucleus (PBL), mostly in the central lateral and dorsal lateral subnuclei. Medullary injections revealed fiber and enlargement labeling primarily in the ipsilateral caudal PBL, mostly in the central lateral, external lateral, and medial subnuclei. Injections in both regions resulted in labeled terminations in the Kolliker-Fuse nucleus. These results indicate that the nociceptive regions of the spinal cord and medulla terminate in regions of the parabrachial nucleus that have been associated with autonomic functions because of their interconnections with the hypothalamus, brainstem cardiovascular and respiratory control centers, and the amygdala.
Design considerations in a novel fiber-coupled three degree-of-freedom displacement interferometer

Optomechanical design considerations are presented in the development of a fiber-delivered three degree-offreedom displacement measuring interferometer. The tool can be used to simultaneously calibrate the linear motion and rotational errors of a translating stage using a single measurement beam incident on a plane mirror target. This novel interferometer incorporates a quadrant photodiode to measure four spatially separated interference signals all within a single optical interference beam, otherwise known as differential wavefront sensing. In post processing, a weighted phase average is created over symmetrically adjacent pairings of detector elements to decouple and measure displacement and changes in pitch and yaw. Design considerations include a custom displacement interferometer architecture, mechanical analyses and qualification testing of a working prototype. This interferometer has the potential for providing multi-DOF calibrations for precision motion stages.
An easy method for removal of syringoma.

Syringomas pose a cosmetic problem in some patients. In the past, surgical removal of large portions of the lower lid or electrodesiccation have been the usual methods of removal. This report describes a technique for individual excision of these tumors that is easily performed as an office procedure using a pair of fine ophthalmologic spring-action scissors and gives excellent cosmetic results.
Stochastic Model for Nonisothermal Droplet-Laden Turbulent Flows

A stochastic model is proposed for the prediction of velocity and temperature fluctuations in turbulent flows laden with nonevaporating droplets. The model is based on a first-order time series analysis, addresses the anisotropy of turbulence, and adequately takes into account the temporal correlations. The gravity effect is not considered in this study. The performance of the model is assessed by conducting simulations of droplet-laden homogeneous shear flows
Computation of high speed turbulent boundary‐layer flows using the k–ϵ turbulence model

The applicability of a finite element-differential method to the computation of steady two-dimensional low-speed, transonic and supersonic turbulent boundary-layer flows is investigated. The turbulence model chosen for the Reynolds shear stress and turbulent heat flux is the K-ϵ two-equation model. Calculations are extended up to the wall and the exact values of the dependent variables at the wall are used as boundary conditions. A number of transformations are carried out and the assumed solutions at a longitudinal station are represented by complete cubic spline functions. In essence, the method converts the governing partial differential equations into a system of ordinary differential equations by a weighted residuals method and invokes an ordinary differential equation solver for the numerical integration of the reduced initial-value problem. The results of the computations reveal that the method is highly accurate and efficient. Furthermore, the accuracy and applicability of the k-ϵ turbulence model are examined by comparing results of the computations with experimental data. The agreement is very good.
A Call to Action for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

The cure rates for precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) among children have improved, but the prognosis for older patients and children with relapsed disease remains poor. Risk stratification based on clinical features and disease characteristics can improve outcomes by enabling physicians to reduce the toxicity of therapy for patients with lower-risk disease and intensify therapy for patients with higher-risk disease. The negative prognosis associated with the t(9;22) translocation, which results in expression of the BCR–ABL1 activated kinase fusion protein, is attenuated by treatment that includes tyrosine kinase inhibitors, providing a paradigm for molecularly guided therapy in patients with precursor . . .
Characterizing damage to ONO dielectrics induced during programming SONOS/NROMTM non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM) devices

Abstract We present experimental results on scaled silicon-oxide–nitride-oxide–silicon (SONOS/NROM TM ) transistors using a variety of programming mechanisms. These devices store holes and electrons in traps in a nitride layer in the gate dielectric. Programming is achieved with a variety of mechanisms: modified Fowler–Nordheim (MFN) tunneling, channel hot electron injection (HEI), and hot hole injection (HHI). All measurements are performed on transistors with gate dielectrics composed of a tunneling oxide ( X OT ), silicon-nitride charge-storage layer ( X N ), and a blocking oxide ( X OB ) of 4, 4.2, and 4.4 nm (NROM TM ) or 2, 7, and 4 nm (SONOS), respectively. Charge pumping measurements are employed to characterize the interface trap density of fresh devices and monitor the generation of new interface traps during write/erase operations. We study the damage to ONO dielectrics caused by write/erase cycling by comparing interface trap densities for SONOS/NROM TM devices programmed using varying charge-injection mechanisms after 10 6 write/erase cycles for 10 year retention.
Trace Element Mobilization in Soils by Glyphosate

Glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide in agriculture, has a strong tendency to sorb on minerals by bonding with surface metals through its metal-coordinating functional groups. However, this same chemical process can potentially mobilize sorbed trace metals by chelation and sorbed anions such as phosphate by displacement. The tendency for glyphosate to mobilize Cu and other elements was tested in soil leaching experiments by applying glyphosate alone or complexed with Cu to mineral and organic soil columns and measuring the concentrations of these elements in the leachates by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectrophotometry. Complexation with glyphosate inhibited Cu sorption on the soil columns, rendering this metal more mobile in both the mineral and organic soil. Glyphosate mobility was also enhanced when applied to the organic soil as the Cu complex, but this effect was not detected with the mineral soil. Glyphosate was adsorbed more completely on the organic soil than the mineral soil, suggesting a metal bridging mechanism to explain sorption of this anionic molecule. The application of a commercial Roundup spray to long-contaminated soils containing elevated concentrations of heavy metals and phosphate resulted in significant increases in the leaching of Cu, Zn, Al, Ni, P, Si, and As. No significant increases in elemental leaching were detected in mineral and organic soils with normal background concentrations of heavy metals and P. Batch equilibration studies confirmed the glyphosate-enhanced dissolution of Cu in Cu-contaminated soils, but reductions of free Cu 2+ activity were measured only in uncontaminated soils. The results indicate that several elements, particularly Cu, Al, and P, could be mobilized within the thin surface layer of soils receiving a high effective rate of glyphosate during herbicide application.
The Impact of Distributive and Procedural Justice on Social Service Workers

The concepts of fairness and justice are embodied within the organizing principle of social justice. Although social justice is a primary focus of social work, social service workers are not always treated with fairness by their own employers. The results from a survey of 255 social service employees from a variety of agencies in Northwest Ohio indicate that distributive justice and procedural justice, two dimensions of organizational justice, are both significant predictors of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, with procedural justice having two to three times the impact of distributive justice.
Expression of the rat adrenomedullin receptor or a putative human adrenomedullin receptor does not correlate with adrenomedullin binding or functional response.

Abstract There has been considerable difficulty in defining distinct adrenomedullin (AM) binding sites and functionin vivo.However, a rat adrenomedullin receptor (rAMR) and a putative human adrenomedullin receptor (hAMR) have recently been reported. We attempted to confirm and extend the pharmacological characterization of these cloned receptors. COS-7 cells transfected with rAMR or epitope tagged rAMR display abundant rAMR mRNA expression and cell-surface receptor localization. Specific125I-AM binding is detected in transfected cells; however, similar levels of binding are also detected in cells transfected with vector DNA alone. This AM binding site fails to mediate any changes in cAMP in response to AM. In contrast, Swiss 3T3 cells, expressing specific endogenous AM receptors, display AM binding and functional cAMP responses. Transfection studies performed with the putative hAMR yield similar results. These data suggest that the proposed rAMR and hAMR do not represent authentic adrenomedullin receptors.
Response to Letters by Asimos and by Alper and Brown

Response: We are grateful for the queries of Drs Asimos and Alper and Brown. Dr Asimos, in responding to the recent Science Advisory Statement regarding treatment with recombinant recombinant tissue plasminogen activator in a 3.0- to 4.5-hour window, based on the published European Cooperative Acute Stroke Study (ECASS) III study results,1,2⇓ makes the reasonable point that patients with blood glucose levels >400 mg/dL (22.2 mmol/L) should be excluded from treatment in this interval. We agree. As we stated in the Statement, patients with blood glucose levels of >400 mg/dL were excluded from treatment in ECASS III,2 and these patients were also excluded from treatment in the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke-sponsored study.3 As noted in the Statement, in addition, patients with a history of diabetes and a history of stroke were excluded from ECASS III and should …
Treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer with regional chemotherapy plus hemofiltration

Since 1989, 32 patients with advanced, inoperable pancreatic cancer were treated with regional chemotherapy in combination with ex-tracorporeal hemofiltration. Eleven patients presented to diagnosis with locally advanced, inoperable cancer; and ten, in addition to their primary, had liver metastases. Three patients had recurrent liver metastases following a curative Whipple procedure. One patient had an incomplete resection with local residual disease, and a second had recurred locally following a curative resection. One patient came to diagnosis with an unresectable cystadenocarcinoma. Five patients had failed prior chemoradiotherapy and/or immunotherapy. The patients underwent 83 cycles of regional chemotherapy plus hemofiltration, an average of 2.6 treatments per patient. Amongst 21 patients treated primarily with regional chemotherapy plus hemofiltration, two patients had complete responses (9%) and eight had partial responses (38%)—an overall total response rate of 47%. The average survival for patients with Stage II / III localized, inoperable disease is 13 months and that for Stage IV disease with only liver metastases is 9 months. Patients with recurrent disease following a curative procedure or having failed prior systemic therapies had little response from regional chemotherapy plus hemofiltration. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, inc.
A Multivariate Analysis of Allozyme Variation in 93 Cannabis Accessions from the VIR Germplasm Collection

Abstract The Vavilov Institute (VIR) in Russia maintains the world's largest collection of Cannabis sativa hemp germplasm through periodic seed regeneration. Sample populations of 93 accessions from the VIR collection were assayed for allozyme variation at 17 gene loci by starch-gel electrophoresis. The frequencies of 47 alleles were subjected to principal components (PC) analysis. A scatter plot on the first two PC axes showed little tendency for the accessions to cluster according to country of origin or their assignment to eco-geographical groups. Three Chinese accessions previously assigned to the hemp biotype of C. indica clustered separately. Eleven other Chinese accessions clustered with accessions from Europe, Asia Minor, and central Asia, and are likely to be hybridized. Conservation ofC. indica hemp landraces is of vital importance to the hemp industry.
A modern digital simulation laboratory for power systems

A real-time AC power system simulation laboratory that has been developed at Arizona State University is described. The laboratory gives students the opportunity to witness first-hand how a large power system behaves. It can simulate scenarios to demonstrate system disturbances of various types as well as appropriate recovery actions. Researchers also use the laboratory to study power system control methods, effects of various models and algorithms in the simulation, the effectiveness of full graphic displays, and computer communication methods. An overview is given of the computational environment, which consists of three major types of software running concurrently on two computers. The operation of the system is demonstrated for a simple scenario, i.e. relieving an overloaded transformer or line. >
β-Arrestin Scaffolding of Phosphatidylinositol 4-Phosphate 5-Kinase Iα Promotes Agonist-stimulated Sequestration of the β2-Adrenergic Receptor

Members of the seven-transmembrane receptor (7TMR) superfamily are sequestered from the plasma membrane following stimulation both to limit cellular responses as well as to initiate novel G protein-independent signaling pathways. The best studied mechanism for 7TMR internalization is via clathrin-coated pits, where clathrin and adaptor protein complex 2 nucleate and polymerize upon encountering the membrane phospholipid phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) to form the outer layer of the clathrin-coated vesicle. Activated receptors are recruited to clathrin-coated pits byβ-arrestins, scaffolding proteins that interact with agonist-occupied 7TMRs as well as adaptor protein complex 2 and clathrin. We report here that following stimulation of the β2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR), a prototypical 7TMR, β-arrestins bind phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate 5-kinase (PIP5K) Iα, a PIP2-producing enzyme. Furthermore, β-arrestin2 is required to form a complex with PIP5K Iα and agonist-occupied β2-AR, and β-arrestins synergize with the kinase to produce PIP2 in response to isoproterenol stimulation. Interestingly, β-arrestins themselves bind PIP2, and a β-arrestin mutant deficient in PIP2 binding no longer internalizes 7TMRs, fails to interact with PIP5K Iα, and is not associated with PIP kinase activity assayed in vitro. However, a chimeric protein in which the core kinase domain of PIP5K Iα has been fused to the same β-arrestin mutant rescues internalization of β2-ARs. Collectively, these data support a model in which β-arrestins direct the localization of PIP5K Iα and PIP2 production to agonist-activated 7TMRs, thereby regulating receptor internalization.