cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Protein and Nucleic Acid Synthesis in Lymph Node Cells of Thymectomized Rats undergoing a Primary Immune Response

NEONATAL thymectomy in rats has been shown to impair the immunological response to certain antigenic stimuli. Measurements of this impairment have been based on the inability of lymphocytes from neonatally thymectomized animals to elicit normal homograft or graft versus host reactions1,2. Other investigators noted alterations in circulating plasma proteins after neonatal thymectomy3. These alterations, however, did not occur in either IgM or IgG fractions generally believed to be responsible for many antibody–antigen reactions.
Radiative effects of upper tropospheric clouds observed by Aura MLS and CloudSat

[1] The radiative effects of upper tropospheric (UT) clouds observed by CloudSat and Aura MLS during June-July-August 2008 are examined and contrasted. We find that the UT cloud occurrence frequency observed by MLS is more than CloudSat by 4–10% in the tropical average and by 40∼60% near the tropopause in the deep convective regions. The clouds detected by MLS but missed by CloudSat (denoted as TCC) typically have visible optical thickness less than 0.2. TCC produce a tropical-mean net warming of 3.5 W/m2 at the top-of-atmosphere and net cooling of 1.2 W/m2 at the surface. They induce a net radiative heating in the UT. Their heating rate at 200 hPa is ∼0.35 K/day in the tropical-mean and ∼0.8 K/day over South Asia, which is about 3–4 times the clear-sky radiative heating rate. Hence, they are potentially important in affecting the mass transport rates from the troposphere to the stratosphere.
Morphine-induced changes in prostaglandin precursor fatty acids in phospholipids of mouse liver and serum.

Abstract Changes in phosphoglyceride acyl groups known to be the precursor fatty acids of prostaglandis were observed in mouse liver and serum with respect to morphine administration. The changes correlated with a significant decrease in the proportion of dihomo-γ-linolenic acid, 20:3(n-6), and an increase in arachidonic acid, 20:4(n-6) in the phosphoglycerides of liver and serum. At 12–24 hrs after morphine pellet implantation, the diacyl- sn -glycero-3-phosphocholines in liver and serum showed a 50% decrease in 20:3(n-6)/20:4(n-6) ratio as compared to controls. During this period, the lysolecithin in serum showed an increase in the proportion of 16:0 and a decrease in the proportion of unsaturated acyl groups. Most changes returned gradually to control values by 9 days although new morphine pellets were implanted into the mice every third day. Since fatty acids are released from membrane phospholipids prior to prostaglandin biosynthesis, the morphine-induced changes in phosphoglyceride acyl groups is reflective of an altered prostaglandin metabolism in liver and serum.
Change in recommendation affects influenza vaccinations among children 6 to 59 months of age.

Objective. To evaluate the impact of the 2002–2003 recommendation to “encourage when feasible” the influenza vaccine for healthy children 6 to 23 months of age. Methods. A cross-sectional study of children who were 6 to 59 months of age and presented to a large, pediatric resident's continuity clinic or the affiliated acute care clinic in the summers of 2002 and 2003 was performed. The influenza vaccination status of children in the winter before enrollment and factors that influenced this status were determined by parental questionnaire. Results. Of 245 and 329 children in the 2002 and 2003 study populations, influenza vaccinations increased from 7% to 18%, respectively. For healthy children 6 to 23 months of age, influenza vaccinations increased from 1% in 2002 to 17% in 2003 and accounted for most of the increase seen in the study population. Multivariate analysis revealed that the strongest predictor of pediatric influenza vaccination was parental recall of a physician recommendation (odds ratio: 39.3; 95% confidence interval: 17.3-89.4 in 2003). However, 65% of parents of high-risk children did not recall a physician recommendation despite the fact that the influenza vaccine was recommended for high-risk patients during both study years. Conclusion. Concomitant with the 2002-2003 influenza vaccine recommendation for healthy children 6 to 23 months of age, influenza vaccinations for these children increased significantly. Because most children for whom the influenza vaccine was recommended were not vaccinated, physicians have the opportunity to increase the pediatric influenza vaccination rate by improving their recommendation strategies.
Appointment Delay and the Policy Environment of the National Transportation Safety Board

Appointments to regulatory agencies are rarely the subject of empirical analysis, and when they are scrutinized, the focus is institutional factors. Instead, the authors examine the policy environment to determine if external factors influence the appointment process. To illustrate this, accident rates are analyzed to determine their effect on appointment duration at the National Transportation Safety Board. The most important explanatory variable for delay is a statutorily required cross-party nomination—an institutional factor. However, the policy environment is also important: A 1 standard deviation increase in the accident rate leads to a 30% increase in vacancy duration for the agency.
Towards a dynamic covalent molecular switch: substituent effects in chalcone/flavanone isomerism

Chalcone/flavanone interconversion occurs facilely under aqueous alkaline conditions making it a promising scaffold for the development of a covalent molecular switch. In this study, a single methoxy substituent is shown to have a significant impact on the equilibrium dynamics of this reaction; this impact is dependent on the site of substitution.
Collisions of Alpha-Particles in Deuterium

An investigation is made of the yields of deuterons emitted from deuterium under bombardment by alpha-particles from a polonium source. Three different but complementary experimental arrangements are employed: (1) The yield of deuterons projected forward is measured as a function of the alpha-particle velocity, the impinging alpha-particles being of nearly homogeneous velocity. (2) Absorption measurements are made on the deuterons projected forward by alpha-particles of all velocities up to the polonium limit. The results are found to agree with those of (1). (3) The yield of deuterons is measured as a function of the angle of projection for two different alpha-particle velocities.To permit comparisons, similar experiments were made with ordinary hydrogen. As theoretical implications of this work may be mentioned: (1) Anomalous scattering begins at greater relative alpha-particle energies for deuterium than it does for hydrogen. Thus it is found that the radius at which the deuteron field becomes non-Coulombian is smaller than the corresponding radius for the proton. (2) An irregularity found in the deuteron yield for impinging alpha-particles of 2.6 MV. is interpreted as a resonance phenomenon. (3) The angular variation in the deuteron yield is of a nature not easily explained by Taylor's theory of scattering. This matter is discussed in some detail.
Characteristics of the Nucleic Acids of Eggs from House Flies Fed Aziridinyl Compounds

The nucleic acids from the eggs of normal and chemosterilized Musca domestica L. were studied after methylated albumen-kielselguhr (MAK) column chromatography and sucrose-density-gradient (SDG) centrifugation. The flies were chemosterilized by feeding apholate, tepa, or thiotepa for 36 hours after they emerged. Tepa-14C and thiotepa-32P also were used to determine if the chemical or metabolic products were incorporated into the eggs. No DNA synthesis was found in any of the chemosterilized eggs as determined by MAK column chromatography, but the sedimentation pattern of the RNA and intermediates after SDG was very similar to that of normal eggs. A small quantity of 14C from tepa-14C was incorporated into the chemosterilized eggs, of which 80% was associated with low-molecular-weight intermediates of the nucleic acids.
An end for mismatch repair.

DNA mismatch repair (MMR) is an important postreplicative repair mechanism that removes DNA polymerization errors and is responsible for increasing the fidelity of genome replication by orders of magnitude. Defects in MMR lead to the most common form of hereditary colon cancer and a variety of sporadic cancers (1–3). One of the main features of MMR is its ability to distinguish old and new DNA strands, but when a mismatch is found, how does MMR determine which sequence is the correct one? One of the first papers to describe MMR suggested that the MMR repair complex could have a special relationship with the replication apparatus (4), and that idea seems to be a central feature of strand discrimination in eukaryotes. In a study published in PNAS, Nick McElhinny et al. (5) provide evidence that the close relationship between MMR and replication leads to preferential repair of mismatches near initiation sites for DNA synthesis.
Retail pricing: Does channel length matter?

The number of intermediary levels between a manufacturer and the final market in a distribution channel varies from industry to industry. In some cases, none are used (i.e. the distribution function is vertically integrated), while several middleman levels are used in other cases (e.g. the use of a wholesaler, a jobber, and a retailer in the distribution of meat). In this paper we examine the effect of competition on the profit-maximizing length of the distribution channel. We find that the optimal number of middleman levels increases with the substitutability of products in the market, but that there are institutional limits on the maximum number of levels in a channel. The analysis also suggests that differences in the objectives of channel members (e.g. the maximization of total channel profit versus the maximization of each member's individual profit) affect optimal channel length: a goal of total channel profit maximization produces a channel at least as long as one of individual (non-co-operative) member profit maximization. The work thus complements existing research focusing on intra-channel (e.g. cost-based) explanations of channel length, using a framework similar to those investigating competitive incentives for vertical integration in distribution.
Brain Vascular Disease Overt and Covert

Work from the Leukoaraiosis and Disability (LADIS) Study Group1 and from others characterizing brain structure and function in the elderly continue to challenge myopic views of how vascular disease affects the brain. What most often demands attention and consumes resources—patients with symptoms and signs of stroke and transient ischemic attack—represents the easily recognized tip of the iceberg whose larger underwater mass goes largely ignored. More needs to be learned about covert vascular disease that erodes brain structure and function in ways less dramatic than overt disease. Before sophisticated imaging revealed details of brain structure, symptoms and signs defined brain vascular disease. Postmortem examinations of the brain were limited to a select group of patients but foreshadowed the existence of substantial subclinical vascular disease.2 With the introduction of brain imaging, clinicians could characterize the structure of the brain in patients with acute symptoms and signs. Those with symptomatic brain vascular disease were often found on brain imaging to …
Diurnal activity and habitat associations of White-tailed deer in tallgrass prairie of eastern Kansas

Abstract Diurnal and seasonal patterns of activity and habitat associations of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were assessed in a mosaic of grassland and woodland habitats on the Konza Prairie Biological Station, Kansas. We recorded deer seen during daylight hours in summer, autumn and winter periods from June 1997 through February 1998. Overall, diurnal activity increased from summer to winter and was largely crepuscular (i.e., early morning and late evening). Deer were observed primarily in lower uplands during summer and winter, and in lowlands during autumn. At a coarse scale (6.25 ha), white-tailed deer selected areas that had woody vegetation and avoided those that were dominated by grassy vegetation. In contrast, at a fine scale, groups of deer most often were observed foraging in the immediate vicinity of grassland vegetation, rather than in or by woody vegetation.
DESIGNING GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

The global development of an anti-HIV agent can maximize the information that is available on the clinical utility and safety of a compound by broadening and diversifying the subject population studied. There is a tendency for viral diversity between different geographical regions, and variation in the management of subjects with Hn! across different regions, The two indinavir clinical endpoint studies illustrate the feasibility of successfully conducting clinical trials with broad geographic diversity. As more new compounds are developed in the future, the complexities inherent in this process will drive the need for a global perspective on HIV drug development.
ECOSystem: managing energy as a first class operating system resource

Energy consumption has recently been widely recognized as a major challenge of computer systems design. This paper explores how to support energy as a first-class operating system resource. Energy, because of its global system nature, presents challenges beyond those of conventional resource management. To meet these challenges we propose the Currentcy Model that unifies energy accounting over diverse hardware components and enables fair allocation of available energy among applications. Our particular goal is to extend battery lifetime by limiting the average discharge rate and to share this limited resource among competing task according to user preferences. To demonstrate how our framework supports explicit control over the battery resource we implemented ECOSystem, a modified Linux, that incorporates our currentcy model. Experimental results show that ECOSystem accurately accounts for the energy consumed by asynchronous device operation, can achieve a target battery lifetime, and proportionally shares the limited energy resource among competing tasks.
A preventative model of school consultation: Incorporating perspectives from positive psychology

Using the principles of mental health and behavioral consultation, combined with concepts from positive psychology, this paper generates a new preventative model of school consultation. This model has two steps: (1) the school psychologist aids the teacher in the development and use of his/her personal positive psychology (e.g., optimism, objective happiness, etc.); and (2) the teacher is then encouraged to utilize positive psychology in the classroom. In support of this model a brief overview of consultation, a discussion of primary prevention in the schools, and a description of positive psychology is presented. It is the authors' belief that teachers who are taught to develop their own personal positive psychology and practice positive psychology in the classroom will (a) provide a more reinforcing classroom environment which may prevent behavior problems from developing; (b) be more accepting of the use of the behavioral principles in the classroom; and (c) implement interventions with greater integrity. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 155–162, 2004.
Effects of hydrogen transport and reactions on microelectronics radiation response and reliability

Abstract The transport and reactions of hydrogen-related species play critical roles in determining the ionizing radiation response and long-term reliability of Si-based metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) and bipolar microelectronics technologies. The role of hydrogen is reviewed in radiation-induced interface-trap formation in metal and polycrystalline-Si-gate devices, with an emphasis on understanding the transport and reaction mechanisms responsible for defect formation. Effects of hydrogen on radiation-induced oxide and border-trap charge densities are discussed. Enhanced low-dose-rate effects in bipolar devices and integrated circuits are sensitive to hydrogen transport and reactions in the oxides that overlie the emitter–base junctions. These enhanced low-dose-rate effects present great challenges for defining practical, cost-effective acceptance tests of bipolar devices for space radiation environments. In addition, a brief discussion is provided of the effects of hydrogen-related species on MOS long-term reliability, including high-field stress, dielectric leakage (e.g., stress-induced leakage current), oxide breakdown, hot-carrier effects, dopant passivation, and low-frequency (1/f) noise. The potential impacts on latent interface-trap formation are discussed for retarded hydrogen transport, trapping, and/or dopant passivation. Further, differences in proton transport and reactions are noted for (a) conventional Si/SiO2/Si structures and (b) those with high oxygen vacancy densities that are exposed to high-temperature hydrogen annealing ambients. In the former, hydrogen is consumed irreversibly by processes such as interface-trap formation; in the latter, hydrogen often can be cycled from the gate to the Si interface reversibly without losses for up to 106 cycles or more. Moreover, the inferred transport rates are much higher for post-forming-gas anneal transport than for radiation-induced interface-trap buildup. Finally, the motion of hydrogen during post-process, but pre-irradiation, thermal treatments (e.g., burn-in, or temperature cycles during the packaging process) has been associated with significant changes in the radiation response of both MOS and bipolar transistors. Typical mitigation techniques are discussed to reduce the effects of hydrogen on MOS radiation response and long-term reliability. Several unresolved issues and opportunities for future work are identified. The present knowledge of hydrogen effects on the long-term reliability and radiation response of Si based microelectronics will be broadened significantly as alternative dielectrics to SiO2 are increasingly introduced into the manufacturing process. A brief example of the significant effects of hydrogen on dielectric layers other than SiO2 is provided for deposited diamond thin films.
An adaptive technique for the extraction of object region and boundary from images with complex environment

A faster and accurate method for the extraction of object region and boundary from images with complex background environment is presented in this paper. The segmentation procedure begins with the computation of an optimum threshold to distinguish the darker regions in the image. It is an automatic thresholding algorithm that would work under all lighting conditions, where prefixing of threshold value is considered ineffective. The centre of mass of this thresholded region acts as a seed for further processing. Then the object region is obtained by using a region growing technique called integrated neighbourhood search. A quad-structure based technique is used to enhance the speed of region search significantly. A back projection algorithm is used to optimise the search for the pixels belonging to the object region.. A boundary thinning and connecting algorithm based on the application of a novel search window on the preliminary boundary is used to obtain a connected single pixel width boundary. The new method does not need a priori knowledge about the image characteristics. The main advantage of the proposed technique is its high-speed response, which brought an average of 36% decrease in the processing time involved that facilitates real-time analysis of the images.
Preservations Of NBUC And NBU(2) Classes Under Mixtures

New integral inequality characterizations of the NBUC and NBU(2) classes of lifetime distributions are given. These results are then used to prove preservation under mixture results for the NBUC and NBU(2) classes.
Ethanol Alters the Metabolic Response of Isolated, Perfused Rat Liver to a Phagocytic Stimulus

Intercellular communication in the liver is a potentially important mechanism for the regulation of hepatic metabolism. Since alcohol (ethanol, ETOH) can interact with both parenchymal and nonparenchymal cells, the present study was performed to assess the possible effects of ETOH on the nonparenchymal cell-to-hepatocyte signal traffic by studying the glycogenolytic and glycolytic response of the perfused rat liver to colloidal carbon, a phagocytic stimulus for Kupffer and sinusoidal endothelial cells. Livers from fed rats were perfused with hemoglobin-free Krebs Ringer bicarbonate buffer containing ETOH (20 mM) or acetaldehyde (1 mM). Twenty minutes after initiating the infusion of ETOH or acetaldehyde, colloidal carbon was infused and the rate of carbon uptake, glucose, lactate and pyruvate output, and oxygen consumption were determined. In control livers, carbon stimulated the output of glucose (60%), lactate (25%), and pyruvate (53%), without affecting the lactate/pyruvate ratio. ETOH, but not acetaldehyde, enhanced the carbon effect on glucose output (38%), but suppressed the increased lactate and pyruvate output (48% and 91% respectively) resulting in a dramatic 10-fold increase in the lactate/pyruvate ratio. By using inhibitors of cyclooxygenase or alcohol dehydrogenase (indomethacin and 4-methylpyrazole, respectively) in the presence of carbon and/or ETOH, we determined that: (1) following carbon stimulation prostaglandins are the likely mediators secreted by nonparenchymal cells that increase carbohydrate output; and (2) the ETOH-induced enhancement of carbon-stimulated glycogenolysis is also mediated by prostaglandins and is not dependent on the oxidative metabolism of ETOH.
Assessing the link between coastal morphology, wave energy and sea ice throughout the Holocene from Antarctic raised beaches

Post-glacial rebound has preserved beaches across many ice-free parts of the Antarctic coastline. These beaches typically contain gravel- to boulder-sized deposits and are built by high-magnitude waves. Five new ages from the western Antarctic Peninsula were added to a compilation of 282 published ages from Antarctic beaches. A reduced compilation based solely on those ages that date beach formation is used to assess variations in beach formation throughout the Holocene around Antarctica. We suggest the clustering of beach ages – centered at 0.8 and 2.4 ka in the Antarctic Peninsula, 1.5, 3.6 and 6.0 ka in the Ross Sea, and a broad peak from 2.7 to 6.3 ka in East Antarctica – indicates periods of heightened wave exposure leading to increased beach formation. Measurements of clast roundness from raised beaches show more rounded material is coincident with periods of heightened beach formation, providing an independent means of assessing wave climate. A comparison of periods of increased beach formation with available sea-ice proxies suggests beach formation is synchronous with reduced sea-ice conditions and thus higher wave climate. As the presence or absence of sea ice determines open-water conditions, the factors that control sea ice directly influence Antarctic coastal evolution.
Rational design of a chimeric endonuclease targeted to NotI recognition site

A cleavage-deficient variant of NotI restriction endonuclease (GCGGCCGC) was isolated by random mutagenesis of the notIR gene. The NotI variant D160N was shown to bind DNA and protect plasmid DNA from EagI (CGGCCG) and NotI digestions. The EDTA-resistant BmrI restriction endonuclease cleaves DNA sequence ACTGGG N5/N4. The N-terminal cleavage domain of BmrI (residues 1-198) with non-specific nuclease activity was fused to the NotI variant D160N with a short linker. The engineered chimeric endonuclease (CH-endonuclease) recognizes NotI sites specifically in the presence of high salt (100-150 mM NaCl) and divalent cations Mg++ or Ca++. In contrast to wild-type NotI, which cuts within its recognition sequence, BmrI198-NotI (D160N) cleaves DNA outside of NotI sites, resulting in deletion of the NotI site and the adjacent sequences. The fusion of the BmrI cleavage domain to cleavage-deficient variants of Type II restriction enzymes to generate novel cleavage sites will provide useful tools for DNA manipulation.
Cerebral Blood Flow, Metabolism and Mean Arterial Pressure Changes Following Unilateral Internal Carotid Endarterectomy: Cerebral Ischemia and Elevated Systemic Arterial Pressure

Cerebral blood flow and metabolism studies were performed on 13 patients before and after unilateral carotid endarterectomy for severe atheromatous occlusive disease. Mean brachial arterial pressure was monitored during these studies. Postoperative studies compared to a control group revealed a rise in cerebral blood flow and a fall in mean arterial pressure and cerebral vascular resistance. The clinically recorded blood pressure in the study group compared to closely matched control patients with cerebral vascular disease showed a similar but not significant difference. Ten patients studied following ligation of a common carotid artery had a small but significant increase in mean systemic arterial pressure. These results suggest a relationship between systemic arterial pressure and cerebral ischemia. Some possibilities for this relationship are discussed.
Persuasibility of Women: Conventional Wisdom Re‐examined

This study examined sex differences in persuasibility at differing levels of topic involvement. A pilot study was conducted to select topics which were of high and low involvement and which did not show sex differences in terms of agreement, interest or information about the topics. Subjects were 296 Introductory Psychology students. Pre-test and post-test measures were obtained as a measure of opinion change. Control groups were used to control for effects of testing, maturation, and other threats to internal and external validity. The treatment consisted of written persuasive communications arguing against the opinions previously reported by a majority of subjects. Contrary to most previous research, results indicated that there were no significant sex differences or interactions in persuasibility using topics of low or high involvement.
Small Bowel Angioedema Associated with Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitor Use

A 45-year-old African American female presented with a four-day history of nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea. She had recently been started on an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-I) - lisinopril, for hypertension. On examination, she had diffuse abdominal tenderness but no swelling of the lips or tongue. Laboratory tests showed mild leucocytosis and lactic acidosis. A computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen and pelvis showed circumferential small bowel wall edema and fold thickening with hyperenhancing mucosa and edematous submucosa resulting in mural stratification (solid arrows, Fig. 1a), intraluminal fluid accumulation (dotted arrow, Fig. 1b) as well as mesenteric vascular engorgement and ascites (dashed arrow, Fig. 1b). Lisinopril was discontinued with complete resolution of symptoms within next 48 hours. Figure 1 a: Axial images from CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis with oral and IV contrast shows circumferential duodenal and small-bowel wall and fold thickening (solid arrows) with hyperenhancing mucosa and edematous submucosa resulting in mural stratification. ... A follow-up CT scan obtained four days later, showed complete resolution of bowel wall thickening, and the associated peri-enteric inflammatory changes and ascites. ACE-I have been reported to cause peripheral angioedema in 0.1% to 0.2% of patients, with visceral angioedema reported to occur even less commonly1. The differential diagnosis of bowel wall thickening includes ischemic bowel, shock bowel, vasculitis (e.g. Henoch–Schonlein purpura), intramural hematoma (e.g. trauma or anticoagulation therapy), infectious enteritis, medications (esp ACE-I) and inflammatory bowel disease2. Usually angioedema presents as swelling of tongue, lips or upper airways. It can present with GI symptoms without involvement of upper airway, as in this patient3. Having a high index of suspicion can help make the diagnosis of angioedema secondary to ACE-I and avoid the cost and morbidity associated with unnecessary interventions4.
A phase II study of cell cycle inhibitor UCN-01 in patients with metastatic melanoma: a California Cancer Consortium trial

Background Genetic abnormalities in cell cycle control are common in malignant melanoma. UCN-01 (7-hydroxystaurosporine) is an investigational agent that exhibits antitumor activity by perturbing the cancer cell cycle. A patient with advanced melanoma experienced a partial response in a phase I trial of single agent UCN-01. We sought to determine the activity of UCN-01 against refractory metastatic melanoma in a phase II study. Patients and methods Patients with advanced melanoma received UCN-01 at 90 mg/m2 over 3 h on cycle 1, reduced to 45 mg/m2 over 3 h for subsequent cycles, every 21 days. Primary endpoint was tumor response. Secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). A two-stage (17 + 16), single arm phase II design was employed. A true response rate of ≥20% (i.e., at least one responder in the first stage, or at least four responders overall) was to be considered promising for further development of UCN-01 in this setting. Results Seventeen patients were accrued in the first stage. One patient was inevaluable for response. Four (24%) patients had stable disease, and 12 (71%) had disease progression. As there were no responders in the first stage, the study was closed to further accrual. Median PFS was 1.3 months (95% CI, 1.2–3.0) while median OS was 7.3 months (95% CI, 3.4–18.4). One-year and two year OS rates were 41% and 12%, respectively. A median of two cycles were delivered (range, 1–18). Grade 3 treatment-related toxicities include hyperglycemia (N = 2), fatigue (N = 1), and diarrhea (N = 1). One patient experienced grade 4 creatinine elevation and grade 4 anemia possibly due to UCN-01. No dose modification was required as these patients had disease progression. Conclusion Although well tolerated, UCN-01 as a single agent did not have sufficient clinical activity to warrant further study in refractory melanoma.
Mechanism and role of covalent heme binding in the CYP4 family of P450 enzymes and the mammalian peroxidases.

The CYP4 family of cytochrome P450 enzymes and the mammalian peroxidases covalently bind their heme groups. In the CYP4 enzymes this involves one, and in the peroxidases two, covalent ester links between heme methys and carboxylic acid side-chains. In addition, in myeloperoxidase, a methionine forms a sulfonium link to a heme vinyl group. The ester links in both classes of proteins are autocatalytically formed. One role of the covalent bonds in peroxidases is to protect the heme group from modification by catalytically generated reactive products. The covalent heme bond in CYP4 enzymes contributes to their high preference for ω- over (ω-1)-hydroxylation.
The impact of the fall 1997 debate about global warming on American public opinion

Although global warming has been the subject of some public discussion since the turn of the 20 th Century, it was pushed into the national spotlight during the fall of 1997, when President Bill Clinton’s administration instigated a campaign to build public support for the Kyoto treaty. To examine the effect of this campaign and the debate it sparked, we conducted two national surveys, one immediately before and the other immediately after the campaign. We addressed three questions: (1) What were Americans’ beliefs and attitudes about global warming before the debate? (2) Did the debate catch the public’s attention? and (3) Did the debate change people’s beliefs and attitudes about global warming? We found that a majority of the American general public and of the global warming “issue public” endorsed the views advocated by President Clinton before the media campaign began. The debate did attract people’s attention and strengthened the public’s beliefs and attitudes. The debate produced almost no changes in public opinion when the nation’s population is lumped together. But beneath this apparently calm surface, strong Democrats came to endorse the positions advocated by the Clinton administration, while strong Republicans were less inclined to endorse the administration’s views.
Structure–Activity Relationships of 33 Piperidines as Toxicants Against Female Adults of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)

Aedes aegypti (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae) is the primary vector of both dengue and yellow fever. Use of insecticides is one of the primary ways to control this medically important insect pest. However, few new insecticides have been developed for mosquito control in recent years. As a part of our collaborative effort to search for new insecticides to control mosquitoes, piperidine was used as base compound for further optimization. Herein, we report the structure-activity relationships of 33 piperidines against adult female Ae. aegypti. On the basis of 24-h LD50 values after topical application, the most toxic compound was 2-ethyl-piperidine, with an LD50 as low as 0.8 microg per mosquito. The toxicities of piperidine derivatives were significantly decreased when a benzyl moiety was attached to the carbon of the piperidine ring, with an LD50 value as high as 29.2 microg per mosquito. The toxicity order of three moieties attached to the carbon of the piperidine ring was ethyl- > methyl- > benzyl-derivatives. When the same moiety was attached to the piperidine ring, the carbon position to which the moiety was attached conferred different toxicity and the toxicity order was second carbon > third carbon > fourth carbon. Together, these preliminary results may be useful in guiding further piperidine ring modifications in the development of potential new insecticides.
Modeling thermal stress in thin films produced by photonic curing

Abstract A thermal stress model is developed to simulate stresses produced in the processing of thin film metal inks due to arbitrary time dependent temperature variations through the film stack. The current model employs and extends the method developed by Hsueh (2002), which models stresses in thin films where the temperature of each layer in the film stack was assumed to be uniform at a temperature different from the initial temperature. The model results in two integrals involving temperature distribution through the film stack. The thermal stress model developed is validated using two cases where analytical temperature solutions are available. The first is a constant surface heat flux on a single layer. The second is a constant surface temperature on a three-layer film stack. Both cases begin from an initial uniform temperature. The integrals appearing in the expressions for stress distributions are computed using the analytical solutions of the temperature distributions and are used to compute the stress distributions through the film stack. The analytical solutions are compared to numerical results produced by solving the transient heat conduction equation using a previously developed finite volume method. In the numerical solutions, the integrals involving temperature are approximated using the midpoint rule. The computed numerical results compare very well with the analytical solutions for both cases studied.
methylcircleplot: a tool for visualizing CpG and GpC methylation status across multiple samples and loci

Motivation: Analyzing bisulfite converted sequence data is often laborious for researchers lacking a computational background. With the advent of Nucleosome Occupancy Methylome Sequencing (NOMe-Seq), bisulfite sequencing becomes even more informative by identifying both CpG methylation and nucleosome occupancy in a single molecule. We present a flexible software tool to simultaneously visualize DNA methylation and nucleosome occupancy using sequencing data from bisulfite treated samples. This tool is a vast improvement over the current process of using PowerPoint or Illustrator to manually create a circle for all CpG and GpC sites from every cloned amplicon of each region of interest. Additionally, this software tool is straightforward to use and requires little knowledge of R-programming to generate publication quality figures while including user-friendly options to customize the layout of the figure. Availability: This source code is freely available under GPL license from Github https://github.com/ying-w/bioinformatics-figures/tree/master/methylcircleplot Contact: daiyingw@usc.edu
Increasing Your 'App'titude: Legal Research Apps for Virginia Practitioners

A recent ABA survey indicated that over 91 percent of the approximately one million attorneys in the United States regularly use a smartphone in the practice of law. This brief piece introduces Virginia practitioners to a variety of helpful legal research apps.
The WTA-WTP Gap and Welfare Measures for Public Goods

A robust finding in experimental economics is that decision-makers often exhibit a much smaller dollar willingness to pay (WTP) for an item than the minimum amount that they claim to be willing to accept (WTA) to part with it. The spread between these two numbers is particularly large for public goods, raising serious public policy concerns regarding which number, if either, is appropriate for valuing such goods. A number of explanations for this phenomenon have been advanced, each perhaps of relevance in particular settings, with little consensus being achieved as to whether any explanation satisfactorily resolves the problem. The traditional utility maximizing model presented here that demonstrates that conventional estimates of WTP exhibit a potentially large downward bias. Conventional welfare analysis implicitly assumes an initially optimal combination of leisure, private goods, and public goods when an increment to public goods is being contemplated. However, the initial combination will be sub-optimal in general, involving some mix of too much leisure and too many private good substitutes for the under-supplied public good. Welfare measures for increments to a public good, as currently practiced, are generally incorrect, undervaluing public goods by a potentially large amount.
How to Be Organized and Manage Time

The great majority of medical school faculty members begin their faculty service with an abundance of motivation, drive, and ability. Among those who fail to fully achieve their career aspirations, the most common reason is an inability to effectively manage their time. Of all the skills needed to achieve success in academic medicine, perhaps most essential is the ability to achieve balance among innumerable commitments to enable at least passable success in all domains.
Information Disclosure and Opinion Divergence

Does communicating more information always lead to greater agreement, in the sense that agents are more likely to agree on a given course of action, conditional on their information sets? According to information economics, the answer is yes. Moreover, the famous Representation Theorem asserts that in equilibrium agents will voluntarily disclose all they know, and this theorem has profoundly influenced the literature on information disclosure. In this paper, I show that both results critically depend on the assumption that all information is objective. I develop a model in which managers of firms are voluntarily communicating objective and subjective information, and prior beliefs about the strategy to maximize project value are rational but heterogeneous, to establish that more information does not necessarily lead to more agreement. Three main sets of results are derived. First, all firms voluntarily signal (objective) private information they have about their “type”, but not all firms disclose additional (subjective) information about strategy that is prone to multiple interpretations and hence potential disagreement. This lack of disclosure occurs even though there are no exogenous communication costs and “proprietary signaling costs” are precluded because information is being communicated only to the financial market and not to the firm’s product‐market competitors. Second, more valuable firms voluntarily disclose less information in equilibrium. Third, information disclosure has real consequences because it interacts with capital budgeting, investor relations and corporate governance. Firms that disclose more have a stronger preference for faster‐payback projects. While all firms that disclose additional strategy information also invest in investor relations, only a subset of firms that do not disclose this subjective information choose to invest in investor relations. Finally, corporate governance interacts with information disclosure – as the quality of corporate governance improves, voluntary information disclosure declines. Thus, this paper provides an economic rationale for higher‐quality firms to withhold more strategic information, and this has pervasive consequences.
The Effects of Diversity and Communication Media on the Relationship Between Conflict and Cohesion in Teams

We explore the effects of diversity and communication media on the relationship between conflict and cohesion in teams. Communicating either face-to-face (FTF) or via computermediated (CM) communication, student teams with varying degrees of ethnic diversity performed a creative decision-making task. We found significant two-way and three-way interaction effects for diversity and communication media on the relationship between conflict and cohesion. Our findings suggest that CM communication insulates diverse teams from the negative effect of conflict on group cohesion, making it an effective medium for decisionmaking in diverse teams. This media benefit, however, does not extend to homogenous teams.
Italian Industrialists from Liberalism to Fascism: The postwar crisis and the rise of Fascism

Before moving directly to an analysis of the industrialists and the rise of Fascism, we shall briefly examine the general context in which this relationship developed. This entails an analysis of the postwar crisis that led to the collapse of the liberal system and the subsequent rise of Fascism. It is our central contention that the predominant problem confronting postwar Italy was the legitimation of political authority. The ascension to power on the part of the Fascists (or, more precisely, on the part of Mussolini within the framework of a coalition government) may be understood less as prima facie proof of Fascism's invincibility as a political force than as evidence of the political incapacity of the bourgeoisie, the classe dirigente, to reconstitute a viable and legitimate regime in its own right upon the organizational and ideological basis of traditional Italian liberalism. Even without the war and the severe conjunctural problems associated with the postwar crisis, Italian liberalism would still have had great difficulty adapting to the advent of mass politics. In Chapter 1, we observed that by 1911 the structurally amorphous Giolittian regime had already shown signs of internal collapse. In Chapter 2, we noted a marked conservative-authoritarian trend characterizing the 1913–15 period, prefiguring, in many respects, the crisis pattern to emerge once the war had ended.
Predicting Treatment Success in Child and Parent Therapy Among Families in Poverty.

ABSTRACTBehavior problems are prevalent in young children and those living in poverty are at increased risk for stable, high-intensity behavioral problems. Research has demonstrated that participation in child and parent therapy (CPT) programs significantly reduces problematic child behaviors while increasing positive behaviors. However, CPT programs, particularly those implemented with low-income populations, frequently report high rates of attrition (over 50%). Parental attributional style has shown some promise as a contributing factor to treatment attendance and termination in previous research. The authors examined if parental attributional style could predict treatment success in a CPT program, specifically targeting low-income urban children with behavior problems. A hierarchical logistic regression was used with a sample of 425 families to assess if parent- and child-referent attributions variables predicted treatment success over and above demographic variables and symptom severity. Parent-refere...
The Peoples’ Hadith: Evidence for Popular Tradition on Hadith as Physical Object in the First Centuries of Islam

The Prophet’s documents comprise a category of objects that are the intentions of the Prophet, legally binding texts, and physical objects that touched the Prophet all at once. Reports of these documents are found in various genres of medieval Islamic literature, where they are frequently transmitted through family isnāds. While these reports are self-consciously geared toward recording the intentions of the Prophet, in effect they reflect the concern of the subalterns of hadith literature to locate themselves somewhere within the narrative of the Prophet’s life. The reports investigated here thus preserve an element of what hadith meant to Bedouin recipients, revealing a pre-canonical arena for hadith in which hadith behaved not as text but as physical object, as a “hadith-object.”1Les documents du Prophete comportent une categorie d’objets qui sont les intentions du Prophete, textes legalement contraignants et des objets physiques que le Prophete toucha au moins une fois. Les recits sur ces documents se trouvent dans differents genres de la litterature islamique medievale, ou ils sont frequemment rapportes au moyen d’isnāds familiaux. Bien que ces recits visent consciemment a preserver les intentions du Prophete, en realite, ils refletent les preoccupations de personnages secondaires de la litterature de hadith, desireux de se situer quelque part dans la trame narrative de la vie du Prophete. Ainsi, les recits examines ici conservent un element de ce que signifiait le hadith pour ses destinataires bedouins, devoilant un stade precanonique du hadith dans lequel le hadith ne se concoit pas comme un texte mais comme un objet physique ou un « hadith-objet ».
Studies of tracheal secretion using serous cell cultures and monoclonal antibodies

The glycoconjugate composition of tracheal secretions varies with physiological and pathophysiological parameters. Believing that these differences might be explained by metabolic or regulatory modifications of particular cell types, we have developed strategies for biochemical analysis at the cellular level. We have produced monoclonal antibodies whose determinants are restricted to a single secretory cell type (serous, mucous, or goblet cell granules, or ciliated cell glycocalyx). By enzyme immunoassay (ELISA), we have characterized four of the antibodies biochemically, and have also used the antibodies as quantitative molecular probes to detect release of antigen from mixed cell explants. Four of the antigens are carried by carbohydrate moieties of high molecular weight glycoproteins. Western blot analysis shows their molecular weight in reducing gels (SDS-PAGE) to exceed 200 kD. When used in parallel with pulse-chase labeling studies, the antibodies are both more sensitive and specific (than bound radioactivity) in detecting gland or goblet cell secretion in response to autonomic drugs or proteases. We have also isolated and cultured serous gland cells for physiological and biochemical studies. These cells express serous cell phenotype as reflected by ultrastructure, histochemistry, and lysozyme activity. Biochemical analysis of their secretory products reveals glycoconjugate components which are heterogeneous with respect to both molecular weight and charge. Radiolabeled secretory products eluting in the void volume of Sepharose C1 4B were completely degraded by chondroitinase ABC. This indicates that the major glycoconjugate produced by serous cell is a proteoglycan resembling chondroitin sulfate.