cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development of myocardial tissue-mimicking phantoms exhibiting a range of lipid concentrations comparable to that observed in obese subjects

Studies have demonstrated an increased myocardial lipid accumulation in obese subjects and suggest that this may contribute to the pathogenesis of heart failure. Development of echocardiographic-based methods to assess the level of myocardial lipid content may provide a useful tool for the clinical management of these patients. The goal of this study was to develop a series of myocardial tissue-mimicking phantoms exhibiting a range of oil concentrations comparable to the lipid levels reported in the hearts of obese subjects and determine if these levels can be differentiated using ultrasonic measurements over a clinically-relevant frequency range. A series of gelatin-based ultrasonic tissue-mimicking phantoms was constructed containing 0% (n=8), 0.5% (n=5), 1% (n=5), 2% (n=5), and 4% (n=6) suspensions of olive oil by volume. Ultrasonic measurements of the speed of sound, frequency dependence of the attenuation coefficient, apparent integrated backscatter, and the magnitude and frequency dependence of the backscatter coefficient were performed at room temperature on the phantoms over a bandwidth ranging from 3 to 9 MHz. Results of this study suggest that the increased lipid levels observed in the hearts of obese subjects may produce corresponding increases in measured ultrasonic backscatter levels over the clinically-relevant 3 to 4 MHz frequency range. Hence, development of echocardiographic-based methods to assess myocardial lipid content and its change with therapeutic intervention may be feasible.
NATO-ASI FLUID TRANSPORT IN NANOPOROUS MATERIALS COURSE .a student’s perspective and explanations from a veteran

One of the first things mentioned in the introduction to many of the articles I’ve read about diffusion in zeolites, is that “the diffusivities reported in the literature vary by up to xxx orders of magnitude”. Although it is not always specifically stated, the implication is that these widely varying diffusivities have been measured or estimated for the same molecule/host system, and I’ve seen “xxx” as low as one and as high as four. (Interestingly enough, despite this, many authors, myself included, still report at least 2 or 3 significant figures in the diffusivities they presented in their own articles...but that is another issue.) Although most articles I’ve read have been about diffusion of relatively simple molecules in zeolites, we learned at the NATO course that large discrepancies exist between the reported diffusivities of species diffusing through nanoporous materials in general. While this can be useful to us relative newcomers to the field of diffusion, for instance when we are writing our first papers we can almost always say something like, “the diffusivities measured fell within the range reported in the literature” (if we can’t we are probably in serious trouble), but frankly it is disturbing and confusing to realize the magnitude of the discrepancies and to try to make sense of our measurements or estimates in this light. In the end, we as students are faced with the many obvious questions posed by the quote at the beginning of this paragraph: Why are there discrepancies? Why are they so large? What exactly do the different techniques for measuring diffusion actually measure and how are the diffusivities calculated from the measurements? All reported diffusivities are really estimates since no one has a digital diffusivity meter that reads out the error-free exact diffusivity of a species diffusing through a nanoporous material. Which values can we trust and to which should we compare our own estimates? What are the different diffusivities (self, transport, corrected, etc.) and how are they
PWM methods for high frequency voltage link inverter commutation

This paper presents two new pulse-width modulation (PWM) methods for a high frequency ac-link (HF-link) inverter commutation which uses a form of four-step switching scheme for safe commutation. A HF-link inverter topology enables galvanic isolation and voltage step-up, with a reduced-size transformer, but eliminates the secondary-side rectification so it has less power conversion stages than other inverter topologies. However, converting the HF-link voltage to the desirable inverter output voltage adds complexity to the control of the circuits because it is a form of ac-ac converter with both the inverter bridge input and output voltages time-varying. The voltage-reference four-step switching technique was previously presented as a safe commutation technique for the ac-ac converter with bidirectional switches. The method provided safe commutation without detailed information of the exact output current zero-cross and without needing lossy snubber circuits. However, it assumed that the input voltage polarity remained constant during the current commutation interval. This paper proposes methods to overcome the limitation of the previous method to ensure so call safe-commutation even when the HF-link voltage is changing polarity and that can be implemented by modification of conventional triangular carrier PWM methods. Therefore, the four-step switching scheme can be safely applied to the HF-link inverter. Simulations of the proposed new PWM methods are conducted using Simulink and Plexim software to demonstrate the concepts. The proposed PWM methods were experimentally verified using the dSpace 1007 HIL platform.
Childhood Family Structure and Intergenerational Income Mobility in the United States

The declining prevalence of two-parent families helped increase income inequality over recent decades. Does family structure also condition how economic (dis)advantages pass from parents to children? If so, shifts in the organization of family life may contribute to enduring inequality between groups defined by childhood family structure. Using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data, I combine parametric and nonparametric methods to reveal how family structure moderates intergenerational income mobility in the United States. I find that individuals raised outside stable two-parent homes are much more mobile than individuals from stable two-parent families. Mobility increases with the number of family transitions but does not vary with children’s time spent coresiding with both parents or stepparents conditional on a transition. However, this mobility indicates insecurity, not opportunity. Difficulties maintaining middle-class incomes create downward mobility among people raised outside stable two-parent homes. Regardless of parental income, these people are relatively likely to become low-income adults, reflecting a new form of perverse equality. People raised outside stable two-parent families are also less likely to become high-income adults than people from stable two-parent homes. Mobility differences account for about one-quarter of family-structure inequalities in income at the bottom of the income distribution and more than one-third of these inequalities at the top.
A holistic view of stream partitioning costs

Stream processing has become the dominant processing model for monitoring and real-time analytics. Modern Parallel Stream Processing Engines (pSPEs) have made it feasible to increase the performance in both monitoring and analytical queries by parallelizing a query's execution and distributing the load on multiple workers. A determining factor for the performance of a pSPE is the partitioning algorithm used to disseminate tuples to workers. Until now, partitioning methods in pSPEs have been similar to the ones used in parallel databases and only recently load-aware algorithms have been employed to improve the effectiveness of parallel execution.We identify and demonstrate the need to incorporate aggregation costs in the partitioning model when executing stateful operations in parallel, in order to minimize the overall latency and/or through-put. Towards this, we propose new stream partitioning algorithms, that consider both tuple imbalance and aggregation cost. We evaluate our proposed algorithms and show that they can achieve up to an order of magnitude better performance, compared to the current state of the art.
Praying for the Dead: An Ecumenical Proposal

In this paper, I defend the claim that we have good reason to think that God can (and maybe does) answer prayers for the dead, and, perhaps surprisingly, these reasons hold even if one is agnostic on Purgatory. I examine philosophical discussions on the efficacy of both petitionary prayer and praying for the past: showing that the reasons offered for efficacious prayers of those types apply to prayers for the dead as well. Hence, supposing that we have good reasons to think that God can/does grant petitions or that God can answer prayers about the past, we have similar reasons to think that prayers addressed to God for the dead can be efficacious.
Preventing Complications Associated With Operating on Taper Corrosion.

Abstract Background Revision total hip arthroplasty for the treatment of taper corrosion has become increasingly common. The purpose of this portion of the symposium was to describe the most common complications of this procedure and to delineate specific measures that might be taken to prevent these complications. Methods A literature review was performed focusing on the results and complications of revision total hip arthroplasty performed for taper corrosion. Results The most common modes of failure after revision total hip arthroplasty in the setting of taper corrosion include the 4 I's: infection, instability, implant loosening, and ions (recurrent adverse local tissue reaction). Conclusion Strategies specifically directed toward each of these 4 failure modes have the potential to significantly reduce the risk of complications.
Bayesian Methods for Uncertainty Quantification in Multi-level Systems

This paper develops a Bayesian methodology for uncertainty quantification and test resource allocation in multi-level systems. The various component, subsystem, and system-level models, the corresponding parameters, and the model errors are connected efficiently using a Bayes network. This provides a unified framework for uncertainty analysis where test data can be integrated along with computational models and simulations. The Bayes network is useful in two ways: (1) in a forward problem where the various sources of uncertainty are propagated through multiple levels of modeling to predict the overall uncertainty in the system response; and (2) in an inverse problem where the model parameters of multiple subsystems are calibrated simultaneously using test data. The calibration procedure leads to a decrease in the variance of the model parameters, and hence, in the overall system performance prediction. Then the Bayes network is used for test resource allocation where an optimization-based procedure is used to identify tests that can effectively reduce the uncertainty in the system model prediction are identified. The proposed methods are illustrated using two numerical examples: a multi-level structural dynamics problem and a multi-disciplinary thermally induced vibration problem.
Ionophores, Channels, Transfer Proteins, and Storage Proteins

Cells must selectively absorb nutrients, including inorganic ones; indiscriminate absorption would seriously jeopardize their well-being. The general chemical principles of selective uptake were discussed in the previous chapter. In the present chapter we concentrate on some of the more concrete aspects of passive uptake including the role of ionophores (and scavengers), channels, (serum) transfer proteins, and storage proteins. The first two concepts are associated with the transport problems across the membrane, whereas the latter two involve specific proteins that bind inorganic elements in the cytoplasm and in blood serum or are used to store inorganic chemicals.
Securities Act Section 12 (2) After the Gustafson Debacle

In a 1992 colloquy held in the pages of the Business Lawyer, Professors Louis Loss and Elliott Weiss debated the scope of liability under section 12(2) of the Securities Act of 1933. Following the United States Supreme Court's decision in Gustafson vs. Alloyd Co., the Business Lawyer invited Professor Stephen Bainbridge to substitute for Professor Loss as the defender of a broad interpretation of section 12(2) [subsequently re-numbered section 12(a)(2)]. In this article, Bainbridge argues that the Gustafson decision limited liability under section 12(2) to misrepresentations and omissions committed in connection with public offerings of securities. Bainbridge criticizes the Gustafson decision on a variety of grounds, including its inconsistency with prior precedent, the text of the statute, and the Act's legislative history.
Mitochondria, Oxytocin, and Vasopressin: Unfolding the Inflammatory Protein Response

Neuroendocrine and immune signaling pathways are activated following insults such as stress, injury, and infection, in a systemic response aimed at restoring homeostasis. Mitochondrial metabolism and function have been implicated in the control of immune responses. Commonly studied along with mitochondrial function, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are closely linked to cellular inflammatory responses. It is also accepted that cells experiencing mitochondrial or endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress induce response pathways in order to cope with protein-folding dysregulation, in homeostatic responses referred to as the unfolded protein responses (UPRs). Recent reports indicate that the UPRs may play an important role in immune responses. Notably, the homeostasis-regulating hormones oxytocin (OXT) and vasopressin (AVP) are also associated with the regulation of inflammatory responses and immune function. Intriguingly, OXT and AVP have been linked with ER unfolded protein responses (UPRER), and can impact ROS production and mitochondrial function. Here, we will review the evidence for interactions between these various factors and how these neuropeptides might influence mitochondrial processes.
Learning to Remove Pileup at the LHC with Jet Images

We present the Pileup Mitgation with Machine Learning (PUMML) algorithm for pileup removal at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) based on the jet images framework using state-of-the-art machine learning techniques. We demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms existing methods on a wide range of jet observables up to pileup levels of 140 collisions per bunch crossing. We also investigate what aspects of the event our algorithms are utilizing by understanding the learned parameters of a simplified version of the model.
Structured surgical residency training in Germany: an overview of existing training programs in 10 surgical subspecialties.

Introduction Surgery and the training of young surgeons face various challenges. Work hour restrictions, demographic changes, medicolegal demands, as well as economic constraints have led to changes in patient care and thus changed surgical residency. In addition to the daily training at work, several theoretical and practical courses are offered to surgical residents. The aim of this manuscript is to provide an overview of the existing courses and programs for surgical residents in Germany. It describes the current structure of surgical training in Germany for 10 subspecialties and sets out existing approaches to implement structured surgical training by professional associations as well as by commercial providers. Materials and methods The official homepages of 10 surgical associations were analyzed for information on structured surgical training and a Google search for surgical training programs was conducted. Then, the websites of two commercial providers were searched for information in courses. In addition, the members of the German Young Surgeons Association were asked open questions about the existence of structured resident training and additional training opportunities in their specialty. The courses were analyzed for structural characteristics such as the price and type of course (single course, exam preparatory course, and structured program). A structured program was defined as a set of courses based on learning objectives that are designed to cover all aspects of the specialty and include some form of summative or formative assessment. Results Several courses are offered by varied providers; some of them associated with surgical associations and some commercial. Seven of 10 professional associations offer single courses and six of them offer exam preparatory courses. Commercial providers only offer single courses. All of these courses are optional; there is no requirement to take part in any of them. None of them is free of charge, but most offer discounts for members of surgical societies. Only one structured program exists for orthopedics and trauma surgery. A fixed schedule does not exist for any surgical subspecialty, but it is rather the responsibility of the trainee or his/her supervisor to pick or suggest a course that suits their personal state of knowledge. Discussion Until now, it depends on personal motivation and the generosity of hospitals whether or not surgical residents will receive training outside of their training hospital. Various external courses are offered in all surgical subspecialties to complement on-the-job training. It is unknown how many residents take part in them. The implementation of new, competence-based specialist training regulations in Germany in 2018 may facilitate a change in surgical education. Simulation-based education can promote the acquisition and consolidation of surgical skills. Additional training possibilities and structured programs should be implemented in surgical resident training to foster competence-based education and surgical proficiency.
Does burn severity affect plant community diversity and composition in mixed conifer forests of the United States Intermountain West one decade post fire

Wildfire is an important ecological process in mixed conifer forests of the Intermountain West region of the USA. However, researchers and managers are concerned because climate warming has led to increased fire activity in recent decades. More area burned will result in larger land areas in early successional stages and will potentially limit tree establishment; therefore, evaluating long-term forest understory response to fire is important. We evaluate the impact of burn severity, overstory canopy cover, topography, and climate on understory plant community diversity and composition in seven wildfires, 9 to 12 years post fire, along a broad climate gradient from dry to moist mixed conifer forests in Idaho, Montana, and Washington, USA. Climate was the most important driver for species diversity and composition, but a burn severity gradient was detectable in the species data one decade post fire. A strong overlap in species composition between burn severity levels was documented, but dispersion was lower for high burn severity sites, indicating that those sites are still recovering. Local species richness and diversity had a nonlinear relationship with the burn severity index dNBR, with a maximum at low to moderate burn severity; the relationship was stronger in moist climates. Functional trait analysis revealed higher grass and forb cover in high-severity burns, higher cover of tree seedlings, residual and off-site colonizers in burned areas, and more shade-tolerant species in unburned areas. Of the 270 species recorded, 10% were introduced; however, only three were of noxious status and two were invasive annual grasses, generally occurring on dry sites. The understory plant community was not fundamentally altered by these fires and fire contributed to increased species diversity both locally and regionally, suggesting that low to moderate burn severity fire is a treatment that contributes to long-term maintenance of a diverse and productive understory. Individual species traits were significant drivers of understory species assemblages and, as future change in climate and fire regimes leads to shifts in species composition, anticipation of consequences will be important. Although invasive species occurred at low cover levels, noxious weeds and invasive annual grasses will continue to be management challenges, particularly in dry regions of mixed conifer forests.
Progress of treatment of infected pleural effusion in children

Children's infected pleural effusion refers to any of the pleural effusions caused by infection, the common pathogens include bacterium, mycoplasma and bacillus tuberculosis.The treatments of pleural effusion are general treatment, anti-infection drugs (including antibiotics or antituberculosis drugs), thoracic puncture drainage, or combination of plasminogen-activator, electronic thoracoscopy (video-assisted thoracic surgery, VATS) and thoracic surgery (pleural decortication, modified thoracoplasty surgery, pleural pneumonectomy). This article reviews recent progress in each method of treatments about the indications, effects and prognosis of the disease. Key words: Pleural effusion; Antibiotics; Drainage; Plasminogen activator; Surgery
High-throughput methods for measuring DNA thermodynamics.

Understanding the thermodynamics of DNA motifs is important for prediction and design of probes and primers, but melt curve analyses are low-throughput and produce inaccurate results for motifs such as bulges and mismatches. Here, we developed a new, accurate and high-throughput method for measuring DNA motif thermodynamics called TEEM (Toehold Exchange Energy Measurement). It is a refined framework of comparing two toehold exchange reactions, which are competitive strand displacement between oligonucleotides. In a single experiment, TEEM can measure over 1000 ΔG° values with standard error of roughly 0.05 kcal/mol.
Digital Asset Management: Big Content in a Challenging Landscape

Organizations seeking to improve operational efficiency, information security and cost savings pursue these goals by researching, selecting and implementing Content Management Systems. Content Management Systems (CMS) have been around for several decades at the enterprise level, driven by the massive digitization of day to day business. Back office applications of CMS - manufacturing, order processing and finance - have matured, and the legacy software systems continue to evolve towards Front office capabilities for digital marketing and customer experience. At the same time, there has been a huge surge of competition among vendors and offerings, especially as acceptance of cloud-based platforms has advanced. At the heart of all CMS systems, which go by dozens of acronyms as hundreds (if not thousands) of vendors seek to differentiate their products, is Digital Asset Management. DAM is the metadata engine that enables everything to be found - digitally, and quickly. The eponymous ‘Google’ search is the premier example of the everyday power of DAM. No business, of course, wants its proprietary information to show up in a public search, and companies have policies and infrastructure to keep their business intelligence secure. This has a side effect, however, of silo-ing information and assets: when different departments have different access to infrastructure, there is only limited ability to search across the entire organization. In practice, workers tend to store files locally on hard drive, on their department’s intranet, and collaborate via email and consumer cloud services like Drop Box. This results in a massive amount of duplication - of files, of searches, of work – and inefficiency. DAM's core competencies of store, search and share go a long way towards increasing productivity and streamlining workflow bottlenecks. Digital search is a significant part of nearly every employee’s workday; one study shows that employees spend about 19% of every week searching for information; another shows that a third of that search time is spent asking another employee for that information. And when the assets involved are large file size digital media - photos, graphics, audio and video (which also need to be managed in a multitude of formats) - the impact on time and workflow increases enormously. Any company involved in creating these kinds of assets for delivery knows the painfulness of air date and deadline, as does every company with a mission-critical interest in reaching their customers with 'rich media' marketing. Introducing DAM is complex, as it involves numerous stakeholders, creates new workflows, and can encounter resistance to adoption. Understanding the goals of the organization, and its employees’ day to day workflows, is critical to successful planning and deployment of DAM. In the end, implementing DAM can increase productivity, and save companies time and money.
Equivariant iterated loop space theory and permutative G–categories

We set up operadic foundations for equivariant iterated loop space theory. We start by building up from a discussion of the approximation theorem and recognition principle for V–fold loop G–spaces to several avatars of a recognition principle for infinite loop G–spaces. We then explain what genuine permutative G–categories are and, more generally, what E∞–G–categories are, giving examples showing how they arise. As an application, we prove the equivariant Barratt–Priddy–Quillen theorem as a statement about genuine G–spectra and use it to give a new, categorical proof of the tom Dieck splitting theorem for suspension G–spectra. Other examples are geared towards equivariant algebraic K–theory.
Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health after pre-eclampsia: the Motherhealth prospective cohort study protocol.

Introduction Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (CCVDs) are the leading cause of maternal mortality in the first year after delivery. Women whose pregnancies were complicated by pre-eclampsia are at particularly high risk for adverse events. In addition, women with a history of pre-eclampsia have higher risk of CCVD later in life. The physiological mechanisms that contribute to increased CCVD risk in these women are not well understood, and the optimal clinical pathways for postpartum CCVD risk reduction are not yet defined. Methods and analysis The Motherhealth Study (MHS) is a prospective cohort study at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), a quaternary care academic medical centre serving a multiethnic population in New York City. MHS began recruitment on 28 September 2018 and will enrol 60 women diagnosed with pre-eclampsia with severe features in the antepartum or postpartum period, and 40 normotensive pregnant women as a comparison cohort. Clinical data, biospecimens and measures of vascular function will be collected from all participants at the time of enrolment. Women in the pre-eclampsia group will complete an additional three postpartum study visits over 12–24 months. Visits will include additional detailed cardiovascular and cerebrovascular phenotyping. As this is an exploratory, observational pilot study, only descriptive statistics are planned. Data will be used to inform power calculations for future planned interventional studies. Ethics and dissemination The CUIMC Institutional Review Board approved this study prior to initiation of recruitment. All participants signed informed consent prior to enrolment. Results will be disseminated to the clinical and research community, along with the public, on completion of analyses. Data will be shared on reasonable request.
A Shift to Human Body Temperature (37°C) Rapidly Reprograms Multiple Adaptive Responses in Escherichia coli That Would Facilitate Niche Survival and Colonization.

One of the first environmental cues sensed by a microbe as it enters a human host is an upshift in temperature to 37°C. In this dynamic time point analysis, we demonstrate that this environmental transition rapidly signals a multitude of gene expression changes in Escherichia coli. Bacteria grown at 23°C under aerobic conditions were shifted to 37°C, and mRNA expression was measured at time points after the shift to 37°C (t = 0.5, 1, and 4 h). The first hour is characterized by a transient shift to anaerobic respiration strategies and stress responses, particularly acid resistance, indicating that temperature serves as a sentinel cue to predict and prepare for various niches within the host. The temperature effects on a subset of stress response genes were shown to be mediated by RpoS and directly correlated with RpoS, DsrA, and RprA levels, and increased acid resistance was observed that was dependent on 23°C growth and RpoS. By 4 h, gene expression shifted to aerobic respiration pathways and decreased stress responses, coupled with increases in genes associated with biosynthesis (amino acid and nucleotides), iron uptake, and host defense. ompT, a gene that confers resistance to antimicrobial peptides, was highly thermoregulated, with a pattern conserved in enteropathogenic and uropathogenic E. coli strains. An immediate decrease in curli gene expression concomitant with an increase in flagellar gene expression implicates temperature in this developmental decision. Together, our studies demonstrate that temperature signals a reprogramming of gene expression immediately upon an upshift that may predict, prepare, and benefit the survival of the bacterium within the host. IMPORTANCE As one of the first cues sensed by the microbe upon entry into a human host, understanding how bacteria like E. coli modulate gene expression in response to temperature improves our understanding of how bacteria immediately initiate responses beneficial for survival and colonization. For pathogens, understanding the various pathways of thermal regulation could yield valuable targets for anti-infective chemotherapeutic drugs or disinfection measures. In addition, our data provide a dynamic examination of the RpoS stress response, providing genome-wide support for how temperature impacts RpoS through changes in RpoS stability and modulation by small regulatory RNAs.
Remdesivir (Veklury) for the Treatment of COVID-19 in Hospitalized Patients

Although remdesivir has been shown to be safe and well tolerated, there is a lack of consistency in clinical trial results and guideline recommendations.
The Significance of Scepticism

One of the topics announced for this symposium is the contrast between two different approaches or tendencies in philosophical studies of the foundations of science. On the one hand there are those who would abandon the quest for a general justification of empirical knowledge in favour of a purely naturalistic study of the procedures actually employed by scientists and other knowing subjects. On the other hand there are those who take seriously the challenge of philosophical scepticism and, seeing that it cannot be met by a straightforward Cartesian or “foundationalist” theory of knowledge, resort to so-called “transcendental arguments” to show that certain concepts or principles enjoy a privileged status in our thought because without them no human knowledge or experience would be possible at all.
The effects of reading material on social and non-social cognition

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of reading material on both social and non-social cognition. Prior research supports the hypothesis that reading fiction improves theory of mind ( Kidd and Castano, 2013 , Mar et al., 2006 , Mar et al., 2009a ); however, little has been done to test its effects on other cognitive abilities. In this study, we tested the effect of reading literary fiction vs. non-fiction on both theory of mind and intuitive physics understanding. In line with previous research, results indicate a small but significant within-subject effect of reading material on theory of mind once other variables are controlled. Although the experimental manipulation (literary fiction vs. nonfiction) had no effect on intuitive physics understanding, we found that familiarity with fiction predicted intuitive physics ability. These results are discussed in terms of theories of fiction.
Analysis of silicon carbide power device performance

The authors attempt to define the drift region properties of SiC based rectifiers and MOSFETs to achieve breakdown voltages ranging from 50 to 5000 V. Using these values, the output characteristics of these devices have been calculated. It has been found that 5000-V SiC Schottky rectifiers and power MOSFETs would operate with a forward drop of less than 2 V due to the very low drift region resistance. This value is superior to that for silicon P-i-N rectifiers and gate-turn-off thyristors. >
Use of Microsphere‐Supported Phospholipid Membranes for Analysis of Protein‐Lipid Interactions

Many proteins bind to phospholipid membranes in order to gain or modify function. As an example, blood coagulation proteins must bind to phosphatidylserine-containing membranes in order to gain procoagulant activity. The flow cytometry approaches described in this unit provide versatile assays for equilibrium and kinetic binding studies to measure essential membrane-binding properties. These assays are rapid, require only small quantities of the protein of interest, and can evaluate binding interactions in complex, physiological mixtures, including blood plasma and tissue culture media. Keywords: lipospheres; phosphatidylserine; phosphatidylcholine; factor VIII; factor V; factor IX; factor X; prothrombin; lactadherin; annexin V
Talk dirty to me: Why books about sex and relationships belong in libraries

Realistic fiction books for teens cover a variety of topics and issues ranging from the innocuous topics like friendship, or dealing with school pressure, or summer adventures to topics considered to be edgy, or even taboo by some. These more edgy books may cover topics ranging from first sexual experiences, to bullying, to sexual identity, to parental divorce or neglect, and much more. Many of the topics covered in teen realistic fiction make adults uncomfortable.
Chapter 12 Starch chain length analysis by using an anion-exchange chromatography system equipped with an enzyme reactor and a PAD detector

Publisher Summary This chapter describes starch chain-length analysis using an anion-exchange chromatography system equipped with an enzyme reactor and a pulsed amperometric detector (PAD). Starch is the major source of energy in the diet of humans and animals. A starch granule is made up of amylose and amylopectin with trace amounts of other ingredients such as lipids and phosphate derivatives. With the knowledge of starch chemical structures and the effects of chemical structures on its functional properties and biosynthesis, starch can be genetically modified to induce a specific structure and achieve desired functional properties. The study of starch chain length is essential for understanding the chemical structure and biosynthesis of starch. Various techniques are adapted for starch chain-length analysis including high-performance anion exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detector (HPAEC–PAD), gel permeation chromatography (GPC) with total carbohydrates and reducing end analyses, high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) with a refractive index (RI) detector , and HPSEC with an on-line laser light-scattering detector (LLS) and an RI (HPSEC–LLS–RI). All of these methods are widely used in the field and have their advantages and disadvantages in starch chain-length analysis.
The SuRE Programming Framework

We illustrate the use of a declarative programming paradigm based upon three kinds of program clauses: equational, subset, and general relational clauses. The implemented language is called SuRE, which is an acronym for Subsets, Relations, and Equations. (To wit, SuRE is the affirmative answer to the question: Can programming be declarative and practical?) Subset clauses have many uses in the logic programming context: They serve as a declarative alternative to Prolog's mode declarations as well as those uses of assert and retract that correspond to implementations of memo-tables or collection of results from alternative search paths, as in the setof construct. By re-formulating a relation as a set-valued function, one not only specifies mode information declaratively,but also gains the flexibility of operating on the resulting set incrementally (by a membership goal) or collectively (by an equational goal). In the latter case, one further has the flexibility of working lazily or eagerly. We show that lazy enumeration of solutions is the key to declaratively pruning the search space in generate-and-test problems. Subset clauses and, more generally, partial-order clauses are also useful in the deductive database context, especially for defining setof operations, transitive closures and monotonic aggregation—the concepts of subset, aggregation and monotonicity are more naturally expressed in terms of functions than predicates. A central feature in the implementation of SuRE programs is that of a monotonic memo-table, i.e., a memo-table whose entries can monotonically grow or shrink in an appropriate partial order. The implementation of SuRE was developed as an extensionof the well-known Warren Abstract Machine (WAM) for Prolog. Even though SuRE differs substantially from Prolog, few additional instructions, registers, and storage structures are needed and these blend in well with the overall design of the WAM.
All-electric dual-QPC spin polarizer and analyzer

The ballistic conductance of a device consisting of two quantum point contacts, separated by a distance smaller than the spin coherence length, has been measured at 4.2K. A conductance plateau at 0.5 (2e2/h) is observed in the absence of external magnetic field indicating spontaneous spin polarization. This happens when the confining potentials of the point contacts are made sufficiently asymmetric which results in an asymmetric lateral spin-orbit coupling that leads to spin polarization in the presence of strong electron-electron interaction. Non-equilibrium Green's function simulation results for a model device strongly support this analysis.
Treatment on demand: an operational model

The goal of “treatment on demand” is to allow all those seeking substance abuse treatment immediate entry into a program. Surprisingly, little is understood regarding the relationship between the demand for treatment, queues, waiting times and treatment admission rates, and treatment capacity. Nor has the increase in treatment capacity required to eliminate drug treatment queues, along with the expected benefits and costs of such an expansion, been studied carefully. In this paper, we present a mathematical model of drug treatment flows for systems where the demand for treatment greatly exceeds available supply. The model produces estimates of queue lengths, waiting times and treatment admission probabilities for any given treatment capacity, and suggests the capacity needed to achieve treatment on demand. The model also enables one to contrast the likely costs and benefits of changes in treatment capacity. We illustrate the model using San Francisco as a case study.
Albuterol Protects Against Exercise-Induced Asthma Longer Than Metaproterenol Sulfate

Abstract Both metaproterenol sulfate and albuterol are inhaled medications commonly used to prevent exercise-induced bronchospasm. Their efficacy and duration of action in controlling exercise-induced bronchospasm were compared with placebo in 18 asthmatic children (age range: 12 to 17 years) in a single-blind randomized crossover study. Standardized treadmill exercise challenges were repeated every two hours for up to six hours following the initial exercise test. With the initial exercise challenge, both active medications blocked exercise-induced bronchospasm with equal efficacy. On the other hand, when the duration of action of the medications was compared: albuterol blocked exercise-induced bronchospasm longer than metaproterenol sulfate in eight subjects, the reverse was true in only one patient, and the medications blocked for equal duration in nine subjects. Thus, although both active agents were equally efficacious in blocking exercise-induced bronchospasm initially, the duration of action of albuterol was significantly (P less than .05) longer on serial testing than that of metaproterenol sulfate. Both medications were significantly better than placebo in efficacy and duration of action.
Airway surface dehydration by transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) in cystic fibrosis is due to decreased function of a voltage-dependent potassium channel and can be rescued by the drug pirfenidone

Transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) is not only elevated in airways of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, whose airways are characterized by abnormal ion transport and mucociliary clearance, but TGF-β1 is also associated with worse clinical outcomes. Effective mucociliary clearance depends on adequate airway hydration, governed by ion transport. Apically expressed, large-conductance, Ca(2+)- and voltage-dependent K(+) (BK) channels play an important role in this process. In this study, TGF-β1 decreased airway surface liquid volume, ciliary beat frequency, and BK activity in fully differentiated CF bronchial epithelial cells by reducing mRNA expression of the BK γ subunit leucine-rich repeat-containing protein 26 (LRRC26) and its function. Although LRRC26 knockdown itself reduced BK activity, LRRC26 overexpression partially reversed TGF-β1-induced BK dysfunction. TGF-β1-induced airway surface liquid volume hyper-absorption was reversed by the BK opener mallotoxin and the clinically useful TGF-β signaling inhibitor pirfenidone. The latter increased BK activity via rescue of LRRC26. Therefore, we propose that TGF-β1-induced mucociliary dysfunction in CF airways is associated with BK inactivation related to a LRRC26 decrease and is amenable to treatment with clinically useful TGF-β1 inhibitors.
Family, sex and testosterone effects on garter snake behaviour

Abstract To better understand how genes and hormones interact to affect behaviour in nature, I used a factorial design to test for effects of family membership, sex and testosterone level on activity and defensive behaviour of the common garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis . Behaviours (latency to move, defensive strikes, response distance) were scored prior to hormone manipulation (when snakes were 39 days of age), while sham or testosterone-containing implants were in place (190 days), following implant removal and simulated hibernation (284 days), and when snakes were 428 days of age. Family membership had pervasive effects on all three behaviours and on their ontogenetic trajectories, suggesting strong genetic or maternal components to behavioural variation. Sex had a significant effect on the number of defensive strikes; females struck more frequently than males, but ontogenetic trajectories were similar between the sexes. Testosterone manipulation also had an effect on strikes: snakes in the elevated-testosterone treatment group struck less frequently than shams while implants were in place. Sex and treatment effects on latency to move and response distance were lacking. Family*treatment interaction effects were lacking for latency to move and number of defensive strikes but were present for response distance. Possibly, genetic or maternally induced variation in strikes is mediated through variation in circulating hormone levels, whereas variation in response distance is mediated through receptor-level phenomena. Copyright 2002 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved .
Congenital ectodermal defect

Summary A case of congenital ectodermal defect of the scalp is presented. The scalp lesion is typical clinically of the majority of cases previously described. However, the ankle lesion, unlike most ectodermal defects, is not symmetrical and is associated with a decided deformity due to scar tissue formation.
Adherens junction-dependent and -independent steps in the establishment of epithelial cell polarity in Drosophila

Adherens junctions (AJs) are thought to be key landmarks for establishing epithelial cell polarity, but the origin of epithelial polarity in Drosophila remains unclear. Thus, we examined epithelial polarity establishment during early Drosophila development. We found apical accumulation of both Drosophila E-Cadherin (DE-Cad) and the apical cue Bazooka (Baz) as cells first form. Mutant analyses revealed that apical Baz accumulations can be established in the absence of AJs, whereas assembly of apical DE-Cad complexes requires Baz. Thus, Baz acts upstream of AJs during epithelial polarity establishment. During gastrulation the absence of AJs results in widespread cell dissociation and depolarization. Some epithelial structures are retained, however. These structures maintain apical Baz, accumulate apical Crumbs, and organize polarized cytoskeletons, but display abnormal cell morphology and fail to segregate the basolateral cue Discs large from the apical domain. Thus, although epithelial polarity develops in the absence of AJs, AJs play specific roles in maintaining epithelial architecture and segregating basolateral cues.
Primary care residency programme evaluation: an analysis of three resident cohorts.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a longitudinal evaluation of a university primary care (PC) medical residency programme and use the results to plan for future curriculum development. Overall performance and the ambulatory medical care of three consecutive resident cohorts training from 1982 to 1987 was assessed by attending physicians. PC residents' performance in ambulatory continuity practice was also compared to that of traditional residents' performance in 1985–86. The scoring profile of primary care attendings was compared to that of other attendings. Residents received lowest scores in diagnostic evaluation, leadership and administration. Their best evaluations were in medical care, personal attributes and communication. Two of the three primary care cohorts received lower medical care scores in ambulatory continuity practice compared to other rotations, but had higher overall scores in ambulatory continuity practice than did traditional residents in 1985–86. Primary care attendings gave lo...
Unblocking memory through directed forgetting

The ability to remember an item can be blocked, or negatively primed, by exposure to related items. For example, ALLERGY is less likely to be generated given the word fragment A_L_ _GY if one is first exposed to ANALOGY. We examined whether this memory blocking effect is influenced by list-method directed forgetting. A total of 144 participants learned two lists of items, each consisting of words that were designed to negatively prime performance on a subsequent word fragment completion task. Participants who were told to forget List 1 before learning List 2 suffered significantly less memory blocking owing to the negative primes from List 1 than participants who were told to remember List 1. These results suggest that directed forgetting can modify the memory blocking effect by affecting the accessibility of information in memory.
Infographics: Horrid chartjunk or quality communication

Infographics continually appear across a wide span of websites. Design teams have embraced the trend toward infographics, but often misuse them by focusing on visual presentation rather than presenting information appropriate for the audience and content. The results are artful infographics that lack a clear audience or message. In addition, many of the infographic design guidelines seem to be based on posters. An analysis of a collection of infographics found they can be divided into four categories: bullet list equivalent, snapshot with graphic needs, flat information with graphic needs, and information flow/process. Only last three are appropriate for infographics. Several areas needing further research are identified: (1) how people comprehend the infographic and how they connect that understanding into the bigger picture, (2) better guidelines on when/how to create infographics, and (3) how to craft the content into an integrated presentation with text and graphics supporting each other.