cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prenatal sonographic diagnosis of a third ventricle choroid plexus papilloma

We report a case of fetal hydrocephalus secondary to a third ventricle choroid plexus papilloma detected by ultrasound at 33 weeks' gestation. The prenatal sonographic and colour flow Doppler findings of this rare fetal intracranial tumour are discussed.
Pediatric Scleroderma: Systemic or Localized Forms

Pediatric scleroderma includes two major groups of clinical entities, systemic sclerosis (SSc) and localized scleroderma (LS). Although both share a common pathophysiology, with an initial inflammatory phase associated with endothelial activation, and a later fibrotic phase evidenced by collagenization of tissue and appreciable skin thickness, their clinical manifestations differ. LS is typically confined to the skin and underlying subcutis, and though not fatal like SSc, up to a quarter of the patients may have extracutaneous disease manifestations, such as arthritis and uveitis. While any organ may be affected in SSc, vascular (Raynaud’s phenomenon), cutaneous (skin thickening), GI, pulmonary and musculoskeletal involvement are most commonly seen in children. Auto-antibody profiles in childhood onset SSc can assist in predicting internal organ involvement. Treatment for both forms of scleroderma targets the active inflammatory stage and halts disease progression; however, progress still needs to be made towards the development of a more effective anti-fibrotic therapy to help reverse disease damage.
Wind speed and direction estimation using manifold approximation

In this paper, we describe a novel manifold-based interpolation method for sensed environmental data. Furthermore, we present initial results for applying the proposed method to estimate wind speed and direction around Lake Michigan. The proposed method is showing promising results based on the hypothesis that an environmental dataset (including longitude, latitude time, and measured parameters) can be mapped onto an underlying differential manifold. Our preliminary results show that the proposed manifold-based approach outperforms state-of-the-art interpolation and estimation methods.
Biological catalysis. The hairpin's turn.

A crystal structure of the hairpin ribozyme provides an atomic framework for understanding RNA catalysis, including features that may be common to both RNA and protein enzymes.
MotionMeerkat: integrating motion video detection and ecological monitoring

Summary Human observation is expensive and limits the breadth of data collection. For this reason, remotely placed video cameras are increasingly used to monitor animals. One drawback of field-based video recordings is extensive review time. Computer vision can mitigate this cost and enhance data collection by extracting biological information from images with minimal time investment. MotionMeerkat is a new standalone program that identifies motion events from a video stream. After running a video, the user reviews a folder of candidate motion frames for the target organism. This tool reduces the time needed to review videos and accommodates a variety of inputs. I tested MotionMeerkat using hummingbird–plant videos recorded in a tropical montane forest. To validate the optimal parameter set for finding motion events, I counted hummingbirds observed from direct video review compared to events found in images returned from MotionMeerkat. To show the generality of the approach, MotionMeerkat was tested on a set of terrestrial and underwater videos. To assess the performance of the background subtraction for further image analysis, I hand counted the number of frames with target organisms and compared them to the MotionMeerkat output. MotionMeerkat was highly successful in finding motion events and often reduced the number of frames needed to capture hummingbird visitation by over 90%. Both background approaches effectively found a variety of organisms in ecological videos. I provide general recommendations for parameter settings and extending this approach in the future.
The T Cell Response to Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase 65 in T Cell Receptor Transgenic NOD Mice

Using BW 5147 T cell hybridomas isolated by fusion with spleen and lymph node cells from NOD female mice, two T cell receptor transgenic NOD mouse lines were produced. Both TCR transgenics respond to their cognate peptide/MHC (GAD65 206-220 and 286-300) and produce IL-2, IFN-gamma, and small amounts of IL-10. Unexpectedly, the transgenic mice do not develop diabetes and have no insulitis. Analysis with a GAD65 286-300/I-A(g7) tetramer reveals that transgenic T cells are negatively selected in the thymus and further negatively selected in the periphery. When crossed to the C(alpha)(-/-) NOD line, CD4 T cells were reduced by 90% in the thymus and periphery. Further, the tetramer positive GAD65 286-300 specific T cells were capable of delaying the onset of diabetes in a standard transfer system. Thus, GAD65 specific TCR transgenic T cells (1) must express a second a chain to survive negative selection, (2) produce IL-2 and IFN-gamma, and (3) have a mildly protective effect on transfer of diabetes with diabetogenic spleen cells.
Attenuation and wavelength measurement of lossy waveguides

A simple coherent detection system can accurately measure the attenuation and phase constants of an e.m. wave propagating in a lossy waveguide. The main advantages of the system are its great linearity, sensitivity and versatility. This allows precise measurements on a wide variety of waveguides, even when the losses are very large.
Death at the Border: Efficacy and Unintended Consequences of US Immigration Control Policy

This article assesses the efficacy of the strategy of immigration control implemented by the US government since 1993 in reducing illegal entry attempts, and documents some of the unintended consequences of this strategy, especially a sharp increase in mortality among unauthorized migrants along certain segments of the Mexico–US border. The available data suggest that the current strategy of border enforcement has resulted in rechanneling flows of unauthorized migrants to more hazardous areas, raising fees charged by people-smugglers, and discouraging unauthorized migrants already in the US from returning to their places of origin. However, there is no evidence that the strategy is deterring or preventing significant numbers of new illegal entries, particularly given the absence of a serious effort to curtail employment of unauthorized migrants through worksite enforcement. An expanded temporary worker program, selective legalization of unauthorized Mexican workers residing in the United States, and other proposals under consideration by the US and Mexican governments are unlikely to reduce migrant deaths resulting from the current strategy of border enforcement.
Changing rates of reinforcement perturbs the flow of time.

This experiment tested the hypothesis that changes in rate of reinforcement affect the rate of an internal pacemaker as suggested by the Behavioral Theory of Timing (BeT: Killeen and Fetterman, 1988). Pigeons were trained to discriminate durations of 10 s and 20 s, and then exposed to higher or lower rates of freely delivered reinforcers. When returned to the discrimination task, judgments were reliably biased in the predicted directions: those returning from a richer context judged standard durations to be longer than did those returning from a poorer context. These results validate a key assumption of BeT, and provide an explanation of how changing tempos of life bias the perception of time.
Systematic investigation of the signal properties of polycrystalline HgI2 detectors under mammographic, radiographic, fluoroscopic and radiotherapy irradiation conditions.

The signal properties of polycrystalline mercuric iodide (HgI2) film detectors, under irradiation conditions relevant to mammographic, radiographic, fluoroscopic and radiotherapy x-ray imaging, are reported. Each film detector consists of an ∼230 to ∼460 µm thick layer of HgI2 (fabricated through physical vapour deposition or a screen-print process) and a thin barrier layer, sandwiched between a pair of opposing electrode plates. The high atomic number, high density and low effective ionization energy, WEFF ,o f HgI 2 make it an attractive candidate for significantly improving the performance of active matrix, flat-panel imagers (AMFPIs) for several x-ray imaging applications. The temporal behaviour of current from the film detectors in the presence and in the absence of radiation was used to examine dark current levels, the lag and reciprocity of the signal response, x-ray sensitivity and WEFF .T he results are discussed in the context of present AMFPI performance. This study provides performance data for a wide range of potential medical x-ray imaging applications from a single set of detectors and represents the first investigation of the signal properties of polycrystalline mercuric iodide for the radiotherapy application.
Nicotine replacement therapy is associated with improved outcomes in critically ill smokers.

Recently published literature suggests that the use of nicotine replacement therapy in critically ill smokers may lead to increased mortality in the ICU [1]. The objective of this study was to test this hypothesis retrospectively in a single, combined medical and surgical ICU in a community-based academic hospital.
Mechanisms of Alternative Pre-Messenger RNA Splicing

Alternative pre-mRNA splicing is a central mode of genetic regulation in higher eukaryotes. Variability in splicing patterns is a major source of protein diversity from the genome. In this review, I describe what is currently known of the molecular mechanisms that control changes in splice site choice. I start with the best-characterized systems from the Drosophila sex determination pathway, and then describe the regulators of other systems about whose mechanisms there is some data. How these regulators are combined into complex systems of tissue-specific splicing is discussed. In conclusion, very recent studies are presented that point to new directions for understanding alternative splicing and its mechanisms.
Differential Roles for EphA and EphB Signaling in Segregation and Patterning of Central Vestibulocochlear Nerve Projections

Auditory and vestibular afferents enter the brainstem through the VIIIth cranial nerve and find targets in distinct brain regions. We previously reported that the axon guidance molecules EphA4 and EphB2 have largely complementary expression patterns in the developing avian VIIIth nerve. Here, we tested whether inhibition of Eph signaling alters central targeting of VIIIth nerve axons. We first identified the central compartments through which auditory and vestibular axons travel. We then manipulated Eph-ephrin signaling using pharmacological inhibition of Eph receptors and in ovo electroporation to misexpress EphA4 and EphB2. Anterograde labeling of auditory afferents showed that inhibition of Eph signaling did not misroute axons to non-auditory target regions. Similarly, we did not find vestibular axons within auditory projection regions. However, we found that pharmacologic inhibition of Eph receptors reduced the volume of the vestibular projection compartment. Inhibition of EphB signaling alone did not affect auditory or vestibular central projection volumes, but it significantly increased the area of the auditory sensory epithelium. Misexpression of EphA4 and EphB2 in VIIIth nerve axons resulted in a significant shift of dorsoventral spacing between the axon tracts, suggesting a cell-autonomous role for the partitioning of projection areas along this axis. Cochlear ganglion volumes did not differ among treatment groups, indicating the changes seen were not due to a gain or loss of cochlear ganglion cells. These results suggest that Eph-ephrin signaling does not specify auditory versus vestibular targets but rather contributes to formation of boundaries for patterning of inner ear projections in the hindbrain.
Strengthening OV-6a Semantics with Rule-Based Meta-models in DEVS/DoDAF based Life-cycle Architectures Development

The development of a distributed testing environment would have to comply with recent Department of Defense (DoD) mandates requiring that the DoD architectural framework (DoDAF) be adopted to express high level system and operational requirements and architectures. Unfortunately, DoDAF and DoD net-centric mandates pose significant challenges to testing and evaluation since DoDAF specifications must be evaluated to see if they meet requirements and objectives, yet they are not expressed in a form that is amenable to such evaluation. DoDAF is the basis for integrated architectures and provides broad levels of specification related to operational, system, and technical views. In our earlier work, we described an approach to support specification of DoDAF architectures within a development environment based on DEVS (discrete event system specification) for semi-automated construction of the needed simulation models. The result is an enhanced system lifecycle development process that includes both development and testing in an integral manner. We also developed automated model generation using XML which paves the way for OVs to become service-providing components in the Web services architecture. In this paper we present the semantic structure for one of the operational view documents OV-6a that would aid the development of these semi-automated models. We will describe how 0V-6a can be structured in a more generalized meta-model framework such that every rule is reducible to meaningful code which is automatedly constructed through natural language processing (NLP) methods and further be reduced to DEVS based models. The paper also presents an overview of the life-cycle development methodology for these enterprise architectures and how a common enterprise domain-model can be used in customized business/domain-specific rules and policy structures
Pathogenesis of peroxisomal deficiency disorders (Zellweger syndrome) may be mediated by misregulation of the GABAergic system via the diazepam binding inhibitor

Zellweger syndrome (ZS) is a fatal inherited disease caused by peroxisome biogenesis deficiency. Patients are characterized by multiple disturbances of lipid metabolism, profound hypotonia and neonatal seizures, and distinct craniofacial malformations. Median live expectancy of ZS patients is less than one year. While the molecular basis of peroxisome biogenesis and metabolism is known in considerable detail, it is unclear how peroxisome deficiency leads to the most severe neurological symptoms. Recent analysis of ZS mouse models has all but invalidated previous hypotheses. We suggest that a regulatory rather than a metabolic defect is responsible for the drastic impairment of brain function in ZS patients. Using microarray analysis we identify diazepam binding inhibitor/acyl-CoA binding protein (DBI) as a candidate protein that might be involved in the pathogenic mechanism of ZS. DBI has a dual role as a neuropeptide antagonist of GABA(A) receptor signaling in the brain and as a regulator of lipid metabolism. Repression of DBI in ZS patients could result in an overactivation of GABAergic signaling, thus eventually leading to the characteristic hypotonia and seizures. The most important argument for a misregulation of GABA(A) in ZS is, however, provided by the striking similarity between ZS and "benzodiazepine embryofetopathy", a malformation syndrome observed after the abuse of GABA(A) agonists during pregnancy. We present a tentative mechanistic model of the effect of DBI misregulation on neuronal function that could explain some of the aspects of the pathology of Zellweger syndrome.
INFLUENCE OF ATRIAL SYSTOLE ON EFFECTIVE VENTRICULAR STROKE VOLUME.

The influence of atrial systole on forward or effective ventricular stroke volume at different heart rates and at constant cardiac output was investigated in an open chest dog preparation. The procedure employed allowed a ventricular ejection preceded by an atrial systole to be followed by one which was not. A comparison was made between the effective ventricular stroke volumes of these two ejections. The observations support the view that atrial systole plays a significant role in determining effective ventricular stroke volume and that its influence is greater at higher heart rates when cardiac output is kept constant and stroke volume decreases. The data indicate further that the decrease in effective ventricular stroke volume is due to both a decreased ventricular filling and initial atrioventricular regurgitation.
Gender bias and imbalance: girls in US special education programmes

While research has documented the predominance of boys in US special education programmes, similar attention to girls’ under‐representation has been rare. Recent research suggests that there may be just as many girls in need of these services, but for various reasons they are less likely to be identified through the referral process. Girls who fail to receive services are more likely to become teenage mothers, less likely to become employed and more likely to require public assistance. This article explores this pressing equity issue through a content analysis of recent US studies on gender and disability, examines current reasons for this phenomenon, and what it means for the lived school experiences of girls with disabilities. Suggestions on how theory, policy and practice can better serve this under‐represented population are presented.
Manipulating tillage to increase stored soil water and manipulating plant geometry to increase water-use efficiency in dryland areas.

This paper briefly summarizes some of the practices being used in the semiarid U.S. Great Plains to grow crops without irrigation. Fallow periods are commonly used to increase the amount of plant-available water in the soil profile at the time of seeding a crop because growing-season precipitation is nearly always insufficient to produce economic grain yields. Maintaining plant residues on the surface as mulch has been very beneficial for this purpose. The most successful practices depend mostly on herbicides for controlling weeds during the fallow period and eliminating as much tillage as feasible. Reduced plant populations and, more recently, seeding plants in clumps rather than uniformly spacing plants in rows show some promise as useful strategies for reducing early vegetative growth so that more soil water is available during the grain-filling period late in the season. While these practices may not be applicable to other semiarid regions because of differences in soil, climatic, social, and economic...
The Zinc-Dependent Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II Binding Site of Streptococcal Pyrogenic Exotoxin C Is Critical for Maximal Superantigen Function and Toxic Activity

The cocrystal structure of streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin C (SPE C) with HLA-DR2a (DRA*0101,DRB5*0101) revealed a zinc-dependent interaction site through residues 167, 201, and 203 on SPE C and residue 81 on the β-chain of HLA-DR2a (DRA*0101,DRB5*0101). Mutation of these SPE C residues resulted in dramatically reduced biological activities. Thus, the zinc-dependent major histocompatibility complex II binding site is critical for maximal biological function of SPE C.
Multi-Method Approaches to Digital Government Research: Value Lessons and Implementation Challenges

Digital government is a complex organizational and social phenomenon. It involves technical, organizational, and policy elements, as well as their complex and recursive interactions. Multi-method approaches have been shown as capable of presenting more comprehensive explanations of complex situations. This paper argues that multi-method approaches are valuable alternatives for egovernment research. Two case studies involving multi-method approaches to e-government research are presented to illustrate advantages and challenges in both large-scale and small-scale projects.¹ The paper highlights some lessons learned from the two projects and suggests strategies to obtain the benefits and overcome some of the implementation challenges in doing multi-method digital government research.
Anthropological communities of interpretation for Burma: An overview

This paper surveys the history of anthropological work on Burma, dealing both with Burman and other ethnic groups. It focuses upon the relations between anthropology and other disciplines, and upon the relationship of such work to the development of anthropological theory. It tries to show how anthropology has contributed to an overall understanding of Burma as a field of study and, conversely, how work on Burma has influenced the development of anthropology as a subject. It also tries to relate the way in which anthropology helps place Burma in the broader context of Southeast Asia.
World Citizenship and Concern for Global Warming: Building the Case for a Strong International Civil Society

Climate change shares many characteristics with classic social dilemmas. Social psychological studies of social dilemmas have found that individuals who identify as members of social groups are more likely to cooperate with other group members. Using multilevel models and the 2005–2008 wave of the World Values Survey, I test the effect of four social identities—world citizen, national citizen, local community member, and autonomous individual—on the odds an individual considers global warming a very serious problem. I find that identification as a world citizen increases the odds an individual judges global warming to be very serious, but only for individuals who also identify as autonomous individuals. I argue that awareness of the individual and collective nature of environmental risks may strengthen efforts to promote ecological citizenship.
Introduction: STKE Focus Issue on Signaling in the Immune System

In conjunction with this week's special issue of Science on Vaccines and Immunity ( ), the STKE presents a focus issue on Signaling in the Immune System. How infections are most effectively cleared often depends on the type of T helper (TH) cell response elicited. TH1 cell responses are effective in clearing infections caused by intracellular bacteria, but TH2 cell responses are critical for fighting extracellular parasitic pathogens. Interestingly, certain infectious pathogens can increase the likelihood of successful infection through subversion of the immune response. They elicit the "incorrect" type of TH response; thus, their rate of clearance is impaired and the probability of successful infection increases. Cytokines and transcription factors are important for TH cell differentiation, but it is not clear whether they act in "instruction" (the order to differentiate into TH1 or into TH2), "selection" (proliferation signals for survival and population expansion), or both. The Perspective by Nelson ( ) discusses a recent paper that demonstrates that the cytokine interleukin-12 is essential for the selection phase of TH cell maturation, whereas the transcription factor T-bet is necessary for instruction. Koretzky and Singer ([http://stke.sciencemag.org/cgi/cm/CMP_7019][1]) have created a Connections Map that details the signaling pathways leading from the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) to specific genes that are expressed in response to TCR activation. The authors also provide a figure detailing the protein-protein interactions that occur following TCR activation. This figure can be viewed by clicking on a link from the abstract that accompanies the canonical pathway TCR in the Connections Map. This is the STKE's first immune cell receptor Connections Map, which will be followed by the B cell antigen receptor pathway. Organisms fend off pathogens by recruiting leukocytes to sites of infection. Leukocytes are recruited through chemotaxis, whereby the cells migrate toward an increasing gradient of chemoattractive substances. Once an infection is cleared, an organism no longer needs to have recruited leukocytes at the site of infection; therefore, the immune system requires a way to switch off the chemotactic response. Fernandis and Ganju ( ) discuss recent findings that Slit, a protein known to repulse the migration of neurons, has a similar role in immunity. Slit functions to inhibit the chemotactic responses of leukocytes though a process that involves Slit's receptor Robo and CXCR4, the receptor for the chemoattractant protein stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1). Because CXCR4 is an important coreceptor for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection of immune cells, there may be a role for Slit, or a rationally designed agent based on Slit, as a therapeutic factor in preventing HIV infection. Featured in this Focus Issue on Signaling in the Immune System Related Resources at STKE [1]: pending:yes
Evolution of juvenile growth rates in female guppies (Poecilia reticulata): predator regime or resource level?

Recent theoretical and empirical work argues that growth rate can evolve and be optimized, rather than always being maximized. Chronically low resource availability is predicted to favour the evolution of slow growth, whereas attaining a size-refuge from mortality risk is predicted to favour the evolution of rapid growth. Guppies (Poecilia reticulata) evolve differences in behaviour, morphology and life-history traits in response to predation, thus demonstrating that predators are potent agents of selection. Predators in low-predation environments prey preferentially on small guppies, but those in high-predation environments appear to be non-selective. Because guppies can outgrow their main predator in low- but not high-predation localities, we predict that predation will select for higher growth rates in the low-predation environments. However, low-predation localities also tend to have lower productivity than high-predation localities, yielding the prediction that guppies from these sites should have slower growth rates. Here we compare the growth rates of the second laboratory-born generation of guppies from paired high- and low-predation localities from four different drainages. In two out of four comparisons, guppies from high-predation sites grew significantly faster than their low-predation counterparts. We also compare laboratory born descendants from a field introduction experiment and show that guppies introduced to a low-predation environment evolved slower growth rates after 13 years, although this was evident only at the high food level. The weight of the evidence suggests that resource availability plays a more important role than predation in shaping the evolution of growth rates.
Solitary Communities: Disconnecting from the Common Good

A community is a place to become self-fulfilled, so in an age of self-interest we take community with us wherever we go. Community is no longer based on locale, but it is a product of our interactions. Technology enables us to connect and disconnect with people in a world of matrixed relationships.
Tight Money And Loose Credit In An Open Economy

The U.S. Federal Reserve has been following a tight money policy, defined by growth in the quantity of money compared to nominal GDP growth since the first quarter of 2004. The Fed has also increased the federal funds rate 17 times in a row by August 8, 2006. Normally, this degree of tightening would be reflected in a slowing of real economic activity by mid-2006, with subsequent lowering of inflation pressures. Yet evidence of a slowdown only materialized in the second quarter of 2006. The housing sector illustrated signs of softening as the inventory numbers started to rise. Are there different factors influencing the effectiveness of monetary policy in this tightening cycle from prior tightening cycles in the Greenspan era? Our thesis is that the linkage between money and credit has become weaker in this cycle. Money appeared to be tight over the relevant time period, while credit was loose. Normally the two move in the same direction – when monetary policy tightens, credit conditions also tighten. But that didn’t occur until very late in the tightening cycle, as credit remained plentiful. Long term interest rates remained low, compared to prior tightening cycles over the cycle. This divergence, in the assessment of the authors, is due to three factors: 1) an increase in monetary base velocity, 2) large net inflows of capital into the U.S., in particular from the Far East – Japan and China, and 3) the expansion of the markets for securitized assets. Rising incomes and high saving rates in the Far East combined with a relaxation of international capital controls resulted in a flood of savings washing up on America’s shores. The securitization of bank-originated assets—originally home mortgages, but now including auto finance loans and credit card debt—has loosened the link between bank reserves and the level of credit in the economy. These factors combined to explain why credit is loose in the U.S. while money appeared tight. A U.S. economy with these characteristics explains in part why the connection between domestic money policy and credit market conditions has been weakened.
Isoproterenol and cAMP regulation of the human brain natriuretic peptide gene involves Src and Rac

Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) gene expression and chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system are characteristics of the development of heart failure. We studied the role of the β-adrene...
Divalent ions in blood and cerebrospinal fluid: effect of hypercalcemia, hyperphosphatemia, renal failure and parathyroid hormone.

Despite large changes in the electrolyte concentration in blood the content of brain electrolyte usually remains quite stable1,2 These observations are due to the blood-brain barrier which consists of the processes involved at the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-blood3, CSF-brain4 and blood-brain interfaces5,6.
Brain size predicts problem-solving ability in mammalian carnivores

Despite considerable interest in the forces shaping the relationship between brain size and cognitive abilities, it remains controversial whether larger-brained animals are, indeed, better problem-solvers. Recently, several comparative studies have revealed correlations between brain size and traits thought to require advanced cognitive abilities, such as innovation, behavioral flexibility, invasion success, and self-control. However, the general assumption that animals with larger brains have superior cognitive abilities has been heavily criticized, primarily because of the lack of experimental support for it. Here, we designed an experiment to inquire whether specific neuroanatomical or socioecological measures predict success at solving a novel technical problem among species in the mammalian order Carnivora. We presented puzzle boxes, baited with food and scaled to accommodate body size, to members of 39 carnivore species from nine families housed in multiple North American zoos. We found that species with larger brains relative to their body mass were more successful at opening the boxes. In a subset of species, we also used virtual brain endocasts to measure volumes of four gross brain regions and show that some of these regions improve model prediction of success at opening the boxes when included with total brain size and body mass. Socioecological variables, including measures of social complexity and manual dexterity, failed to predict success at opening the boxes. Our results, thus, fail to support the social brain hypothesis but provide important empirical support for the relationship between relative brain size and the ability to solve this novel technical problem.
A Family of Mesocubes

It is challenging to develop a general universal procedure to fabricate mesoscale cubic structures on a large scale with different nanoscale building units. It is always desirable to tune the chemical compositions within confined arrangements without damaging the mesostructures to provide the desired physiochemical properties required by various devices/applications. Herein, we report the successful design and facile preparation of a family of mesocubes with different compositions, including (a) ZnSn(OH)6, (b) evenly distributed Zn2SnO4 and SnO2 nanoparticles, (c) hollow cubes of SnO2 nanoparticles, (d) high-ordered nanoparticles of Zn2SnO4S (e) SnO2@C core–shell subunits, (f) SnO2@C nanoparticle aggregates enclosed with oxidized carbon sheath, and (g) C nanobubbles, as building units, all, except ZnSn(OH)6, with the same confined arrangements of nanoparticles as building units inside the same framework of cubic mesostructures. This family of mesocubes will provide a rich pool of materials with diffe...
A Musical Eye: The Visual World of Britten and Pears edited by Judith LeGrove

Sir Colin Matthews introduces this volume thus: “Here are many revelations. Just as Britten goes largely unrecognized for his significant encouragement of young and innovative composers at Aldeburg...
Measurement of ESD Propagation Characteristics on Radially-Symmetric Substrate

Excessive potentials on spacecraft surfaces such a thermal blankets or solar arrays can lead to spontaneous discharges. The resulting flashover can remove large amounts of stored charge over a short interval, causing damaging currents to flow through components. In laboratory testing of flight-like coupons, the details of this flashover process tend to be obscured due to the complexity of the assemblies being tested. This makes it difficult to accurately extrapolate behavior to full-sized components and assemblies. In this paper, the latest results using a simplified, radially-symmetric coupon will be described. For this study, arc initiation was limited to a central electrode, consisting of a replaceable metallic sample. Current density as a function of radial distance and time was measured by monitoring current from concentric electrodes below a charged Kapton surface. Various details of this propagation process will be described, such as the dependence on cathode material composition. Implications for flashover models will be discussed.
Arene Activation at Iridium Facilitates C–O Bond Cleavage of Aryl Ethers

An arene activation strategy for the selective disassembly of aryl ethers is reported. A variety of aryl ethers readily bind an electrophilic pentamethylcyclopentadienyl iridium center by η6-arene coordination, generating complexes that are activated toward hydrolysis and cleavage of the Ar–OR bond (R = Me, Et, Ph). Hydrolysis occurs rapidly at room temperature in aqueous pH 7 phosphate buffer (or upon modest heating under acidic conditions), releasing alcohol while forming cyclohexadienyl-one products. Under strongly acidic conditions, protonation of the dienyl-one followed by substitution with starting aryl ether completes a hydrolysis cycle. Mechanistic studies suggest that the key hydrolysis step proceeds via nucleophilic attack at the ipso position of the arene (SNAr mechanism). The observed mechanism is considered in the context of lignocellulosic biomass conversion.
Etiopathogenesis of Nephrolithiasis in Ulcerative Colitis Patients with the Ileal Pouch Anal Anastomosis.

Background Our previous study showed that nephrolithiasis is a common complication in ulcerative colitis patients after ileal pouch anal anastomosis (IPAA). However, the pathogenesis of nephrolithiasis in IPAA patients has not been studied. The aim of this study was to compare urine and serum metabolic compositions in IPAA patients with nephrolithiasis and controls with IPAA and no nephrolithiasis. Methods Using cross-sectional study design, serum and 24-hour urine metabolic compositions were compared between IPAA patients with nephrolithiasis (the study group) and those without (the control group). Urinary supersaturation of calcium oxalate, calcium phosphate, and uric acid was calculated. Results A total of 40 patients were enrolled in the study. There were no significant differences in serum electrolytes, vitamin D, parathyroid hormone, and kidney function tests between the study (n = 20) and control groups (n = 20). Patients in the study group were found to have a significantly higher 24-hour urine supersaturation of calcium oxalate (8.8 versus 5.0, P = 0.037) and calcium phosphate (0.61 versus 0.27, P = 0.028) as compared with controls. Nineteen (95%) patients in the study group were symptomatic due to nephrolithiasis with several requiring procedural intervention for treatment, including ureteroscopy in 3 (15%) patients, lithotripsy in 5 (25%) patients, and percutaneous surgery in 1 (5%) patient. Conclusions Ulcerative colitis-IPAA patients are at risk for the development of calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate stones. Nephrolithiasis is symptomatic in a majority of the patients and frequently requires procedural intervention for treatment.
Nutrition and Fermentative Energy Metabolism of the Water Mold Aqualinderella Fermentans

The water mold Aqualinderella fermentans is facultatively anaerobic, indifferent to oxygen in growth rate and in acid production, and requires high atmospheric levels of CO2. In the present work se...
Structural Vulnerability Assessment of Community-Based Routing in Opportunistic Networks

Opportunistic networks enable mobile devices to communicate with each other through routes that are built dynamically, while messages are en route between the sender and the destination(s). The social structure and interaction of users of such devices dictate the performance of routing protocols in those networks. Community structures, commonly exhibited by social networks, is also observed in the encounter patterns in opportunistic networks and has an astounding impact in designing forwarding algorithms for such types of networks. In this paper, we explore the structural vulnerability of social-based forwarding and routing methods in opportunistic networks. In particular, we introduce Community Vulnerability Assessment (CVA), a new problem on assessing the performance reliability of opportunistic routing strategies in Delay Tolerant Networks (DTN) from a community structure point of view. Given a positive number $k$ , CVA aims to find out the $k$ most vulnerable devices in the network whose non-participation (due to out-of-service or permanent out-of-range) transforms the current network community structure to a totally different one. As the first study in this direction, we analyze and provide key insights into the separation of network communities, evaluated via the Normalized Mutual Information (NMI). Based on these findings, we suggest an approximation algorithm for the special case when, and a heuristic, genEdge, for the general case. To certify the effectiveness of our proposed approaches, we first test them on synthesized data with known community structures, and then we show the impact of node removal on community structures in real social networks. Finally we evaluate the performance via different forwarding and routing strategies in multiple real-world DTN traces. Our results indicate that, in many forwarding and routing methods, the nonparticipation of only some important devices is significant enough to degrade the entire network's performance.
Determination of nitrite in marketed meat products in jining City

Objective To further investigate food additives in meat products,especially the added nitrite in marketed meat products.Methods The nitrite content of cooked meat products in Jining market was determined with a random sampling method.Results Five hundred and ninety-six samples were determined.Two hundred and eight samples exceeded standard.The overproof rate was 34.89%.Conclusion The excessive nitrite additives consumption in cooked meat products can cause some harm,so the supervision in marketed meat products should be strengthened.
Investigation and Control Measures of the Fever-Cases of Students in A Primary School in Kaiping City

Objectives During the pandemic period of SARS in May 2003,a large group of students had fever in a primary school in Kaiping .We aimed to investigate the situation and quickly eliminate the possibility of SARS, and to evaluate the control measures. Methods Individual investigation of the students who got fever in two week was conducted. Saliva specimens were collected for diagnosis. A more comprehensive control measure was used for the situation. Results There were 61 students got fever in two weeks (May 20 to June 2), with an incident rate of 15.64%. The affected students were distributed in 9 classes in 6 grades. 4 saliva specimens were tested for influenza viruses, of which 3 were positive for H3N2. There were no fever-cases after May 31. Conclusions This was a local outbreak of the H3N2 influenza, but not SARS. A more comprehensive control measure was effective for prevent and control the fever-cases.
Use of cryopreserved cells in quality control of human lymphocyte assays: analysis of variation and limits of reproducibility in long-term replicate studies.

Cryopreserved cells obtained by leucopheresis of normal donors were found to be useful as quality control reagents in long-term studies of human lymphocytes. Enough cells were obtained from one donor on a single day to test aliquots in parallel with patient samples for periods of up to 10 months. The results of E-rosette assays of two such cryopreserved panels, expressed as the mean percentage of lymphoid cells±s.d., were 63·7±8·4 (panel 1) and 52·3±7·8 (panel 2). The results of EAC-rosette assays on these cells were 6·2±1·7 and 11·3±6·0. These data were comparable to the values of 69·3±2·3 for E-rosettes and 6·5±4·9 for EAC-rosettes obtained using fresh cells from normal individuals. The long-term variation in rosette assays was also comparable to that in replicate samples counted on a single day. Detailed analysis of 155 serial tests showed that much of the variation was inherent in the microscope counting procedures and sampling errors. The cryopreserved cells were also used in lymphocyte stimulation assays with the mitogens concanavalin A, phytohaemagglutinin P and pokeweed. In mitogen assays, the principal sources of variation were found to be initial cell viability and incubation conditions. The major limitation of cryopreserved cells was that they did not control for the variation encountered in the gradient procedures used to separate lymphocytes from blood. Nevertheless, cryopreserved cells have been shown to be valuable for defining the limits of reproducibility in these assays and their consistent use has increased our confidence in the interpretation of day to day results on patient samples.
Feasibility of risk stratified allocation to single versus tandem autologous SCT in multiple myeloma.

e18550 Background: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell malignancy with variable prognosis depending on disease features such as β2m and cytogenetics. High dose therapy and stem cell transplantat...
Modulations of Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) Dopaminergic Neurons by Hypocretins/Orexins: Implications in Vigilance and Behavioral Control

In this review, our current understandings of interactions of the hypothalamic hypocretin/orexin (hcrt/ox) and midbrain VTA dopaminergic (DAergic) systems will be discussed. We will first overview the (1) neurobiology of wakefulness and (2) symptoms of narcolepsy, followed by discoveries of the hcrt/ox system and hcrt/ox deficiency in narcolepsy. We will then discuss the functional links between the VTA DAergic and hcrt/ox systems, by introducing the results of anatomical and functional (electrophysiological /pharmacological results) studies. Many neuroscientists are also interested in functional roles of the VTA DAergic and hcrt/ox systems in reward-motivational behavior, food intake, and nociception, and some of these results will also be briefly introduced.
Rational Learners and Moral Rules

People draw subtle distinctions in the normative domain. But it remains unclear exactly what gives rise to such distinctions. On one prominent approach, emotion systems trigger non-utilitarian judgments. The main alternative, inspired by Chomskyan linguistics, suggests that moral distinctions derive from an innate moral grammar. In this article, we draw on Bayesian learning theory to develop a rational learning account. We argue that the ‘size principle’, which is implicated in word learning, can also explain how children would use scant and equivocal evidence to interpret candidate rules as applying more narrowly than utilitarian rules.
Zooming-In on Terms and Spaces: Women’s Perspectives and Cognitive Mapping in a West Bank Settlement

This chapter focuses on women in a West Bank settlement in the Occupied Territories, examining their imagination and perception of the contested area in which they live. Unlike previous studies that concentrate on extremist Jewish groups, their male members, and their fringe and illegal activities in this region, this research considers the subtler and more nuanced opinions and perspectives expressed by women in an established settlement town. Through ethnographic fieldwork in the community at large and cognitive mapping with three specific mothers, it is shown that women build busy social and religious lives, un-effected by, and often particularly unaware of, the dramatic political tensions a few dozen meters off, beyond the barbed wire fence that surrounds their settlement. Focusing on the immediacy of the settlement, the women stress the normal and pleasant aspects that attract them to this location, including cheaper housing prices, intimate community life, and good schools. Furthermore, women speak about the importance of the Biblical land more than the modern state, and Palestinian citizens become a theoretical blip on a predominantly religious and historical landscape. The surrounding Palestinian populations are referred to in vague, abstract terms that do not acknowledge their adverse living conditions and their lives under military occupation. Ultimately, what is shown through this research is the complex combination of political economy, religion, and history in defining the manner in which these women conceive and experience the landscape.
Addition of sodium nitrite and biofilm in a Litopenaeus vannamei biofloc culture system

This study evaluates the effects of the previous addition of sodium nitrite (NaNO 2 ) and biofilm in a Litopenaeus vannamei biofloc culture. Five treatments were tested in 180 L - tanks: NaNO 2 (-20) addition of NaNO 2 for 20 days before stocking and without artificial substrates; NaNO 2 +B (-20) addition of NaNO 2 for 20 days before stocking, with 150% additional artificial substrates; NaNO 2 (Stocking) addition of NaNO 2 at stocking and no artificial substrates; NaNO 2 +B (Stocking) addition of NaNO 2 at stocking, with 150% additional artificial substrates and; Control, without NaNO2 addition and without artificial substrates. The study was carried out in two phases: shrimps (0.21 ± 0.08 g) were stocked at a density of 400 ind m -2 /1,100 ind m -3 , for 30 days (nursery). After this period, the animals were restocked at a lower density (120 ind m -2 /400 ind m -3 ) for 18 more days (grow-out). The turbidity and seattleable solids were higher in treatments without artificial substrates, independently of the addition of NaNO 2 . The ammonia and nitrite were lower in control, and the nitrate concentrations were higher in treatments with addition of NaNO 2 without biofilm. At the end of the nursery, the survival was lower in treatment NaNO 2 (-20), and at the end of grow-out the final biomasses were higher in treatments with addition of NaNO 2 at the stocking day. In conclusion, the use of a dose of NaNO2 at the stocking day could increase the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, and the biofilm may contribute to the reduction in suspended particles in water, enhancing shrimp production in biofloc technology system.