cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Microvascular abnormalities in virally-induced canine brain tumors. Structural bases for altered blood-brain barrier function.

Abstract The microvasculature of 17 autochthonous gliomas and intracranial sarcomas induced in 8 beagles by intracerebral inoculation of the Schmidt-Ruppin strain of the Rous Sarcoma Virus was studied by transmission electron microscopy. While many vessels, especially in the well-differentiated spongioblastomas and fibrillary astrocytomas, were similar to those of normal dog brain parenchyma, two types of distinctive endothelial alterations were found in the anaplastic gliomas and in the sarcomas. These were: 1. (a) Round 400-700A structures, always covered by a single leaflet of the adjacent endothelial cell unit membrane, which were virtually identical to the fenestrations which occur normally in choroid plexus, ciliary body of the eye, endocrine glands and intestinal villi; 2. (b) Small but complete gaps in the endothelial walls, similar in type to those which normally occur in the discontinuous capillaries of the liver, spleen and bone marrow. Fenestrated and discontinuous endothelium has not been observed by others in normal mammalian brain parenchyma save in certain regions lying outside the blood-brain barrier (e.g. area postrema); we have seen only typical continuous endothelium in control dog thalamus, frontal cortex and cerebellum. Unlike brain parenchymal endothelium, fenestrated and discontinuous capillaries have been shown to be permeable to a wide variety of substances. We believe that the heterotypical (metaplastic) endothelium observed in these virally-induced brain tumors provides a morphological basis for altered brain-barrier function, as demonstrated in some of these tumors with intravitally-administered cationic dyes. It is not yet clear whether the presence of heterotypical endothelium in these autochthonous brain tumors is intrinsic to the neoplastic transformation or if the vessel alterations are an epiphenomenon of the metabolic peculiarities of the surrounding neoplastic cells.
Femur load injury criteria: a realistic approach

The analysis presented in this paper indicates that while 1700 lbf (7560 N) is a realistic femur fracture load for 30-50 ms duration impacts, the human femur can withstand higher loads for shorter-duration impacts. Experimental femur fracture data from cadaver and bone specimen tests are reviewed. These data are used to develop femur load fracture tolerance as a function of impact duration. On the basis of a measured 10% amplification of 1-2 ms input forced by the dummy, the cadaver fracture tolerance is proportionately adjusted to arrive at equivalent load levels for forces measured on current dummy test devices. Experimental dummy test device data are included and compared to the theoretical response of a mathematical model of the human upper leg. This comparison demonstrates that even neglecting the 10% amplification, there are still significant differences in the response of dummy and human upper leg structures for impact durations less than 3 ms.
Using Hashtags to Capture Fine Emotion Categories from Tweets

Detecting emotions in microblogs and social media posts has applications for industry, health, and security. Statistical, supervised automatic methods for emotion detection rely on text that is labeled for emotions, but such data are rare and available for only a handful of basic emotions. In this article, we show that emotion-word hashtags are good manual labels of emotions in tweets. We also propose a method to generate a large lexicon of word-emotion associations from this emotion-labeled tweet corpus. This is the first lexicon with real-valued word-emotion association scores. We begin with experiments for six basic emotions and show that the hashtag annotations are consistent and match with the annotations of trained judges. We also show how the extracted tweet corpus and word-emotion associations can be used to improve emotion classification accuracy in a different nontweet domain.
A 3 /spl mu/V-offset operational amplifier with 20 nV//spl radic/Hz input noise PSD at DC employing both chopping and autozeroing

A 3 /spl mu/V offset op-amp has been designed using both autozeroing and chopping to give 20 nV//spl radic/Hz input noise at DC with low energy at the chopping frequency. The design includes additional circuitry for reduced switching transients. Power consumption is 4 mW from a 5 V supply. Die area is 0.6/spl times/1.12 mm using a 0.6 /spl mu/m double-poly double-metal CMOS process.
Sterility in honey bees caused by dimethyl sulfoxide

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) semen was treated as follows: diluted in saline with 10 percent dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and stored at -196 degrees C; same treatment but stored at 12 degrees C; diluted in saline and stored at 12 degrees C; and undiluted, unstored semen. Daughters (queens) produced from the treated spermatozoa were evaluated for total sterility. Only sterile eggs were produced from 3 percent of the queens in both groups that had DMSO (5/166 in group 1, and 6/234 in group 2). They were different (P less than 0.05) from groups 3 and 4 in which no queens were produced that laid only sterile eggs (0/151 and 0/137, respectively). These results demonstrate that, under the conditions used, a low level of sterility is induced by DMSO, and this F1 sterility raises questions about possible genetic damage by DMSO.
Long-term photothermal/humidity testing of photovoltaic module polymer insulations and cover films

The life expectancies of Tedlar and other polymer films considered for use as cover materials in terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) modules were investigated by exposing them for more than 13000 h on an outdoor test stand and for up to 10000 h in several accelerated multistress environments. Visual observations and diagnostic analyses of weight and mechanical strength losses were periodically conducted to assess the nature and rate of degradation of mechanical properties and to assess the effects of film thickness and UV stabilizer content. Spectroscopic analyses of pristine and degraded materials linked weight and mechanical property losses to the underlying photothermal/photooxidation chemistry. It is shown that heavy doses of UV stabilizers prolong, while elevated temperatures shorten the useful life of these materials; humidity plays only a minor role. The most heavily UV-stabilized films are expected to operate usefully in a PV module front-cover application for only five to ten years. The performance of none of the tested films appears consistent with the 20-30 year life goals of the PV industry. >
A unified framework for k -coverage and data collection in heterogeneous wireless sensor networks

One of the fundamental tasks in the development of wireless sensor networks is coverage, which measures the network effectiveness and accuracy in event detection. While most existing studies on coverage focus on homogeneous and static wireless sensor networks, where the sensors have the same features, such as sensing, communication, and initial energy reserve, this paper considers heterogeneous sensors and sink mobility, which provide a more realistic and accurate view of the network design for a variety of sensing applications. In this paper, we exploit Helly's Theorem to address the joint problem of k -coverage and data collection in heterogeneous wireless sensor networks, where each point in a field of interest is simultaneously covered by at least k active heterogeneous sensors. More precisely, we introduce a global framework that jointly considers k -coverage and data collection. Precisely, we propose a multi-tier (or hierarchical) architecture of heterogeneous sensors along with two data collection protocols. While the first protocol is based on an adaptive hybrid forwarding scheme, the second one uses a mobile sink to collect the sensed data from all the sensors in the network. To this end, we investigate the optimal mobility strategy of the sink in order to minimize the average total energy consumption due to both of data communication and sink mobility in a circular sensor field. We divide the field into concentric circular bands with the same width, and derive a closed-form solution for the optimal sink mobility. We corroborate our analysis with simulation results to assess our proposed framework. We find that our sink mobility-based data collection protocol outperforms our hybrid geographic forwarding-based data collection protocol. This work considers heterogeneous sensors and sink mobility, which provide a more realistic and accurate view of the network design for a variety of sensing applications.This work exploits Helly's Theorem to address the joint problem of k -coverage and data collection in heterogeneous wireless sensor networks, where each point in a field of interest is simultaneously covered by at least k active heterogeneous sensors.This work investigates the optimal mobility strategy of the sink in order to minimize the average total energy consumption due to both of data communication and sink mobility in a circular sensor field.
Hybridoma production by simplified avidin-mediated electrofusion

A simplified method for producing cell hybrids by avidin-mediated electrofusion has been developed. First, biotin was attached both to immunogen and to the surface of murine myeloma cells using N-hydroxysuccinimidobiotin. Biotinylated immunogen was incubated with splenocytes derived from immunized mice and allowed to bind to surface immunoglobulins of B cells. Using streptavidin, biotinylated myeloma cells then were bridged to those B cells bearing biotinylated immunogen. Selective fusion of bridged cells was accomplished by their limited exposure to high-voltage potentials. A high frequency of hybridomas was obtained all of which secreted high titers of antibodies to a selected model immunogen, keyhole limpet hemocyanin.
Contact-hole patterning for random logic circuits using block copolymer directed self-assembly

Block copolymer directed self-assembly (DSA) is a promising extension of optical lithography for device fabrication akin to double-patterning. The irregular distribution of contact holes in circuit layouts is one of the biggest challenges for DSA patterning because the self-assembly tends to form regular patterns naturally. Although the small guiding templates are shown to guide the self-assembly off the natural geometry by strong boundary confinement [1, 2] (Fig. 1), it is insufficient to simply surround contact holes with guiding templates without optimizing the placement and geometry of the guiding templates.
Quadrivalent influenza vaccine in the United States

New strategies to improve influenza vaccines are ongoing. With the recent development of new vaccine formulations, such improvements have begun to materialize in formulations available to providers and their patients. One of the newest strategies developed has been to broaden the composition of the current influenza vaccine formulations from trivalent products to quadrivalent products. To date, three manufacturers have developed and tested four vaccine formulations for safety and immunogenicity. The growing availability of quadrivalent influenza vaccines is now a well-recognized advance among the growing opportunities to improve influenza prevention.
Personality Characteristics of Students Who Transfer Out of Engineering

Male students transferring from a College of Engineering to Arts and Sciences or Commerce colleges were contrasted on measures of aptitude and personality. Findings indicated that significant personality differences exist between those who stay in engineering and those who transfer to another college, and that the college to which the transfers were made could be identified by those differences.
Is the third interferon a charm

IFNλ restores blood-brain barrier integrity after disruption by West Nile virus, reducing virus invasion of the brain and increasing survival of infected mice (Lazear et al., this issue).
Genetics of Autism

We have learned more about the molecular genetics of autism in the last 3 years than in the previous 30. This includes both a new appreciation for the role of rare genetic variation and the identification of the first contributory common variants by genome-wide association. These data show that although the population attributable risk of common variation may be moderate to large, the genotype risk of common variants at the individual level are small. In contrast, a large number of diverse rare mutations of large effect have been identified, but none appear specific to autism. All of these findings point to extreme genetic heterogeneity suggesting complex gene-gene or gene-environment interactions in autism etiology. Available knowledge, reviewed below, also suggests that phenotypic presentation is the result of complex interactions, and that implicated genetic risk factors in many cases cross the boundaries of established clinical diagnostic categories. Acceptance of this complexity and efforts to understand genetic variation in terms of intermediate phenotypes represent important directions for future research.
Wireless networked digital devices: a new paradigm for computing and communication

The proliferation of mobile computing devices including laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and wearable computers has created a demand for wireless personal area networks (PANs). PANs allow proximal devices to share information and resources. The mobile nature of these devices places unique requirements on PANs, such as low power consumption, frequent make-and-break connections, resource discovery and utilization, and international regulations. This paper examines wireless technologies appropriate for PANs and reviews promising research in resource discovery and service utilization.
Experience as a factor in the selection and performance of project managers

The study reported focuses first on the relationship between a project manager's background characteristics and certain characteristics of the projects he is asked to manage. The impact of this decision process is then examined by relating project manager experience and project characteristics to measures of project performance. The findings indicate that organizations select their oldest and most experienced project managers to direct large, high-priority projects. Performance is then superior without relation to the project manager's total experience, but in relation to the high priority given larger projects. With the exception of a measure of “growth in responsibility,” none of the measures of the project manager's experience were found to bear any direct relationship to project performance.
Trade, foreign direct investment and industry performance

Abstract This paper investigates the US margins effect of imports and FDI using a panel of 448 manufacturing industries for 1982–1990. In the single equation two-way fixed effects regressions, greenfield FDI has no significant effect on margins; while there is some indication that non-greenfield FDI affect margins and the effect is found to depend on the level of industry concentration. When potential endogeneity among variables are taken into account, both types of FDI are found to increase margins. However, for non-greenfield FDI, the effect appears with a lag of two periods. For the most part, the results indicate that the positive effect on margins holds for industries with ‘low’ levels of concentration. Beyond some ‘critical’ level, the competitive effect of FDI predominates.
New Legal Decisions Affecting Personnel Management

Nearly 20% of the issues the US Supreme Court is expecting to decide this year involve labor‐management issues such as discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, and employee testing. Many of these issues will have direct impact on human resource managers in how they administer their personnel policies. The purpose here is to provide information on the most current legal decisions affecting employee‐employer relationships so that sound, intelligent decisions can be made regarding these issues.
Right ventricular obstruction in aortic dissection: A mechanism of hemodynamic collapse

The main and right pulmonary arteries may be compressed by the false lumen of a type I aortic dissection. We report a 73-year-old women with a dissection of the aorta in whom echocardiographic examination revealed acute pulmonary arterial compression causing right ventricular failure and hemodynamic collapse.
A review of complications associated with craniocervical fusion surgery

Background Fusion at the craniovertebral junction is performed to treat instability of the upper cervical spine and occiput. The literature consists exclusively of case series in which complication rate and avoidance are variably addressed. Objective To describe the rates of various complications encountered during craniocervical fusions and discuss preoperative and perioperative strategies useful for risk reduction. Methods A computerized search of PubMed for literature on craniocervical fusion and other upper cervical fusions was performed. Keywords used in the search included: occipitocervical fusion, odontoid screw, atlantoaxial fusion, with and without complications, anterior fixation, lateral mass screw, transarticular screw, halo, vertebral artery injury, and odontoid fracture. References were limited to studies on human subjects. Other sources were identified from the reference lists of relevant publications. Results Twenty-two reports described data derived from 2274 procedures analyzed for complications. The most commonly encountered perioperative complications were related to instrumentation failure after nonunion with rates as high as 7% during occipitocervical fusion and 6.7% during atlantoaxial fusion. Other commonly encountered complications included injury to the vertebral artery (1.3%-4.1% during placement of C1-C2 transarticular screws, most commonly in the case of high-riding vertebral artery), dural tears, and wound infection. Conclusion Occipitocervical or atlantoaxial fusion procedures can be performed with low morbidity. Safety is enhanced with appropriate preoperative assessment of anatomic variants and preparation for perioperative management of complications.
The effects of sympathectomy on capsaicin-evoked fos expression of spinal dorsal horn GABAergic neurons.

Electrophysiological studies have suggested that activity of spinal GABAergic interneurons can be enhanced following intradermal injection of capsaicin (CAP). This activity is proposed to be involved in the generation of dorsal root reflexes (DRRs) that contribute to neurogenic inflammation. We have recently reported that NMDA or non-NMDA antagonists by intrathecal pretreatment attenuate the increased Fos expression in spinal dorsal horn GABAergic neurons after intradermal injection of CAP in rats. Sympathetic efferents have been suggested to modulate inflammatory pain possibly by interactions with primary afferent terminals. In electrophysiological studies by our group, enhancement of the CAP-induced DRRs could be prevented by surgical sympathectomy and blocked by intraarterial pretreatment of the foot with alpha(1)- but not by alpha(2)-adrenoceptor antagonists. In order to determine morphologically if surgical sympathectomy changes the expression of Fos in GABAergic neurons in the lumbosacral spinal cord induced by CAP injection, further experiments were performed using immunofluorescence double-labeling staining at 30 min following CAP or vehicle injection into the glabrous skin of one hind paw of anesthetized rats both in sham-operated and sympathectomized animals. Our results showed that the proportion of Fos-positive GABAergic neuronal profiles was significantly increased following CAP injection (48.8+/-4.76%) compared to vehicle injection (23.8+/-5.1%) in laminae I-V on the ipsilateral side (P<0.05). However, when sympathetic efferents were removed surgically 7-10 days prior to the experiment (n=6), only 32.07+/-9.03% of GABA-immunoreactive neuronal profiles were stained for Fos following CAP injection, a significant reduction in the CAP-evoked Fos-staining of GABAergic neurons after surgical sympathectomy. These findings support our previous electrophysiological studies that GABAergic neurons take part in nociceptive processing within the spinal dorsal horn and suggest that sympathetic efferents may affect nociceptive transduction in the periphery.
Theranostics: Are We There Yet?

The U.S. National Institutes of Health through the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have been charged with the goal of eliminating death and suffering from cancer by the year 2015. In order to achieve this very ambitious goal, the development of novel nanotechnology-based devices and therapeutics that are capable of one or more clinically important functions is envisioned. There is great hope and expectation in the development of theranostic nanocarriers, which combine diagnostic and therapeutic agents in one entity. Main delivery approaches include prodrugs, liposomes, polymersomes, and polymeric micelles and nanoparticles. Diagnostic and therapeutic agents are physically entrapped or conjugated to the nanocarriers, or they are conjugated to carefully designed polymers which subsequently form nanocarriers. This focus discusses pros and cons of the different theranostic approaches and tries to answer the question which approach has the highest probability to translate into the clinic and benefit patients. ...
Speciation-Dependent Toxicity of Neptunium(V) Toward Chelatobacter heintzii

This work investigates how chemical speciation controls the toxicity of neptunium and the neptunium−NTA complex toward Chelatobacter heintzii. We studied the effect of aquo and complexed/precipitated neptunium on the growth of C. heintzii in noncomplexing glucose and phosphate-buffered nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) growth media. Equilibrium chemical speciation modeling and absorption spectroscopy were used to link neptunium speciation to biological growth inhibition. Our results show that metal toxicity of aquo NpO2+ significantly limits the growth of C. heintzii at free metal ion concentrations greater than ≈10-5 M. However, neptunium concentrations ≥10-4 M do not cause measurable radiotoxicity effects in C. heintzii when present in the form of a neptunium−NTA complex or colloidal/precipitated neptunium phosphate. The neptunium−NTA complex, which is stable under aerobic condi tions, is destabilized by microbial degradation of NTA. When phosphate was present, degradation of NTA led to the precipitation of a...
Library versus Library Recognition and Inhibition of the HIV-1 Nef Allelome

Rapid evolution of drug-resistant viruses renders essentially all small-molecule antiviral treatments ineffective. We demonstrate an in vitro library versus library approach to identify small molecules targeting a broad spectrum of HIV-1 Nef protein variants. The technique could provide more effective antiviral therapies. First, a library of clinically derived Nef allelic variants, termed an allelome, was selected for function by binding to Nef ligands p53, actin, or p56lck. Next, a library of small-molecule inhibitors challenged the Nef allelome in competition assays. In contrast to single-variant inhibition, structurally simpler molecules could better inhibit the Nef allelome. Additionally, Nef sequences selected for binding to p53 resembled sequences from patients with a rapid progression to AIDS phenotype. Thus, the allelome versus small-molecule library approach offers a route for improving antiviral drug discovery and elucidating fundamental mechanisms of viral pathogenesis and resistance.
Acute hypoxemia increases cardiovascular baroreceptor sensitivity in humans.

Background We postulated that acute hypoxemia increases susceptibility to orthostatic hypotension by increasing the sensitivity of cardiovascular baroreceptors. Methods Hemodynamics were measured noninvasively in 17 healthy, normotensive subjects while being subjected to decreasing venous return by exposure to lower body negative pressure (LBNP) and breathing either a normobaric normoxic (21% O2) or normobaric hypoxic (12% O2) gas mixture. Results Hypoxia variably decreased hemoglobin saturation (in percent ± SEM, from 99% ± 1% to 87% ± 2%, P Conclusions Acute hypoxia increased compensatory HR responses to LBNP-dependent reductions in BP. Those normotensive individuals with higher BP at rest and during LBNP developed greater degrees of hypoxia-induced hemoglobin desaturation. Patients with sleep apnea with periods of hypoxemia are prone to hypertension; more important, patients with higher BPs also demonstrate greater degrees of hypoxia-induced desaturation of oxyhemoglobin.
Ultrasound-enhanced optical coherence tomography: improved penetration and resolution

Increasing penetration remains one of the most important issues in optical coherence tomography (OCT) research, which we achieved with a parallel ultrasound beam. In addition to qualitative improvements of tissue imaging, quantitative improvements in resolution of up to 28%±2% was noted. At lower frequencies and energies the improvement occurred primarily by altering the detection of multiply scattered light (photon-phonon interaction), which was substantially greater in solids than in liquids (even though the liquid had the higher scattering coefficient). In conclusion, the use of an ultrasound beam with OCT appears the most effective means to date for increasing imaging penetration.
Theory of multipole-dipole resonance Raman scattering by phonons

Abstract The theory of multipole-dipole resonance Ramon scattering by phonons is given. Under conditions of resonance of the incident or scattered photon with a multipole exciton, entirely new selection rules, and polarization properties govern the process of inelastic scattering. For example, in a cubic crystal, the ‘rule of mutual exclusion’ is broken. Some illustrations are given with particular attention to the experimental results for Cu2O recently observed by Compaan and Cummins.
A protein kinase substrate identified by the two-hybrid system

A genetic method, the two-hybrid system, was used to identify four genes encoding proteins that interact with the SNF1 protein kinase from yeast. One of the genes, SIP1, was independently isolated as a multicopy suppressor of defects caused by reduced SNF1 kinase activity, and genetic evidence supports its function in the SNF1 pathway. The SIP1 protein co-immunoprecipitated with SNF1 and was phosphorylated in vitro. Thus, the two-hybrid system, which is applicable to any cloned gene, can be used to detect physical interactions between protein kinases and functionally related substrate proteins.
Effect of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate concentration on the alkaline fragility of phosphofructokinase-deficient canine erythrocytes

1. Erythrocytes in whole blood samples from dogs with phosphofructokinase (PFK) deficiency had lower 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG) concentrations, higher ATP concentrations, and were more alkaline fragile than normal canine erythrocytes. 2. Reticulocytes from a PFK-deficient dog contained nearly three times the ATP concentration of normal canine erythrocytes, and had 2,3-DPG concentrations similar to normal canine erythrocytes. 3. PFK-deficient reticulocytes are not alkaline fragile. 4. The erythrocyte 2,3-DPG concentration in whole blood samples from PFK-deficient dogs was increased to normal by in vitro incubation with dihydroxyacetone, pyruvate and phosphate. This incubation resulted in only a slight increase in ATP concentration. 5. The alkaline fragility of these 2,3-DPG replenished PFK-deficient erythrocytes was normal. 6. Findings in this study indicate that the increased alkaline fragility of canine PFK-deficient erythrocytes is the result of decreased intracellular 2,3-DPG concentration.
Root resorption caused by orthodontictreatment: An evidence-based review of literature

Literature on apical root shortening published in the 1990s is reviewed. Three categories were assigned: sample-based clinical studies, clinical case reports, and animal model studies. Great variability for root shortening was reported, including resorption experienced by individuals who had never undergone orthodontic treatment. Some studies attempted to predict severe resorption whereas others compared different types of treatment. Included are several histological studies of teeth that were moved in humans. Very few of the sample-based clinical studies were prospective, randomized clinical trials. Data from a study that the author was involved in was used to estimate the percentage of patients who would experience different amounts of apical root shortening. It was estimated that 5% of the patients treated would experience more than 5 mm of root shortening.
Dosimetric impact of intrafraction prostate motion using a new contour shifting method.

Purpose/Objectives: To retrospectively evaluate CT findings and clinicopathologic features in patients with pathologically proved anorectal melanoma, and to discuss the diagnosis and treatment modalities of this entity. Materials/Methods: Clinicopathologic features, diagnosis, treatment modalities and survival of 10 patients (four men and six women; age range, 41–75 years; mean age, 61 years) with anorectal melanoma in CIAMS from 2006 to 2011, were analyzed. CT scans were evaluated by two radiologists for the involved site, size, morphology, infiltration, lymphadenopathy and metastasis. Results: The most common presentation was rectal bleeding (n = 8), followed by tenesmus (n = 5) and Dyschezia (n = 3). Distant metastasis was noted in 2 patients. The approximate mean length of the tumors was 3.1 cm (range, 1.9-7.7 cm) and the diameter was 2.5 cm (range,1-7 cm). All of the tumors appeared as polypoid or fungating intraluminal neoplasm. Perirectal infiltration could extended to the presacral space (n = 2). 3 patients had lymphadenopathy, involving the perirectal, presacral and iliac vessel lymph node stations. There was no evidence of obstruction in any patients. 6 underwent abdominoperineal resection, 2 underwent local excision, 1 underwent sigmoid colostomy and 1 underwent adjuvant immunotherapy and chemotherapy. Most of the tumors invaded the dentate line confirmed by postoperative pathology (n = 6). All 9 cases stained for HMB-45 and S-100. 8 stained for Melan A. 7 died with the median survival time of 24 months (range, 8–70 months). 1 is undergoing palliative therapy, approaching her end and 2 are under stable condition 21 months and 31 months after surgery. Conclusions: On CT scans, anorectal melanoma appeared as intraluminal fungating masses, expanding the lumen without causing obstruction, with perirectal infiltration and lymphadenopathy. The preoperative staging has an important role in influencing treatment decisions and abdominoperineal resection may be considered as the first choice for the anorectal melanoma patients without distant metastasis.
Questioning authority: Constructions and deconstructions of Hinduism

The title of my essay is taken from a well-known bumper sticker, spotted on vehicles throughout North America. The sentiment expressed is one that I find admirable, although it is practiced by most of us mainly in the breach. As scholars, however, questioning authority is one of the principal features of our professional enterprise; and for those of us who are scholars of religion, it is, in my opinion, the sine qua non of the discipline, t First and foremost, it is necessary for each generation to reevaluate the authoritative pronouncements of our intellectual ancestors. The self-evident truths of the past are perpetually contested and replaced by new 'facts' and 'better' interpretations and theories. This need not necessarily be positivistically envisioned as 'progress' but as an opportunity to reflect upon historical relativity and the interestedness of all knowledge. Our new truths, produced out of the nexus of current assumptions, interests, and concerns, will also inevitably be subjected to the same interrogation, criticism, and overturning by future scholars. For those of us in the academy who assume personae as nontheological scholars of religion, the mandate to question authority pertains additionally to other sets of discourses. Joined to the work of critically examining the assumptions and conclusions of our intellectual forebears, students of religious traditions are also faced with the task of questioning the bases of authoritative claims put forward by the religious themselves. For religions are characterized and possibly defined--by the particular kind of authoritative truth claims they make. The sources of authority that religions rely upon are not those of the merely human, the subjective, or the historically and culturally conditioned. Rather, the
NADPH-cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase: prototypic member of the diflavin reductase family

NADPH-cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (CYPOR) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS), two members of the diflavin oxidoreductase family, are multi-domain enzymes containing distinct FAD and FMN domains connected by a flexible hinge. FAD accepts a hydride ion from NADPH, and reduced FAD donates electrons to FMN, which in turn transfers electrons to the heme center of cytochrome P450 or NOS oxygenase domain. Structural analysis of CYPOR, the prototype of this enzyme family, has revealed the exact nature of the domain arrangement and the role of residues involved in cofactor binding. Recent structural and biophysical studies of CYPOR have shown that the two flavin domains undergo large domain movements during catalysis. NOS isoforms contain additional regulatory elements within the reductase domain that control electron transfer through Ca(2+)-dependent calmodulin (CaM) binding. The recent crystal structure of an iNOS Ca(2+)/CaM-FMN construct, containing the FMN domain in complex with Ca(2+)/CaM, provided structural information on the linkage between the reductase and oxgenase domains of NOS, making it possible to model the holo iNOS structure. This review summarizes recent advances in our understanding of the dynamics of domain movements during CYPOR catalysis and the role of the NOS diflavin reductase domain in the regulation of NOS isozyme activities.
Intercountry and Intracountry Inequalities in School Enrollments: A Broad International Perspective.

Abstract Intercountry and intracountry inequalities in school enrollment rates are computed from a large international dataset for 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1986. Five main points are noted. First, intercountry inequality is lowest at level 1 and highest at level 3, and shows a declining trend during the period. Second, interlevel intra country inequality, which has been marked by dramatic variations across countries, declined during the period in almost all cases. Third, inequalities in female enrollments are typically higher both within and across countries. Fourth, simple models of enrollment “convergence” explain well intercountry changes in enrollment rates, especially for level 1 and level 2. Fifth, the most important determinant of interlevel intracountry enrollment inequality seems to be the degree of rurality of the country. [ JEL I21]
Environmental uncertainty, strategic, planning, and technological competitive advantage

Abstract Strategic and competitive considerations have been long separated from the technological innovation activities of the firm. Part of the reason lies with the complexities involved in integrating technology and innovation issues into the firm's overall strategic planning. This study explores the effects of environmental uncertainty and planning processes (i.e., strategic planning sophistication, technology-strategic planning integration) on the firm's competitive advantage obtained through technological innovations. Contrary to the theoretical predictions, findings revealed that planning factors did not modify the impact of environmental uncertainty on the firm's technological competitive advantage. That is, managers strive to achieve technological competitive advantage by relying on intuitive, informal approaches rather than using formal, sophisticated strategic plans. These intuitive approaches may not fully tap the firm's best potential to achieve technological competitive advantage. Efforts must be directed toward effectively integrating technology into the firm's strategic planning.
Electromagnetic dissociation of relativistic heavy-ions in emulsion

We report the results on the electromagnetic dissociation of 14.5A GeV28Si and 200A GeV16O projectiles in nuclear emulsion. The overall charge changing production cross sections are determined experimentally and are found to agree reasonably well with those computed theoretically. The relative rate as a function of decay energy for various reaction channels are parameterized in terms of an exponential function. Majority of the events in the most prominent decay modes can be attributed to the excitation of giant dipole resonances. Multiplicity distributions of α particles emerged from nuclear as well as electromagnetic interactions are also investigated.
New World Arenavirus Clade C, but Not Clade A and B Viruses, Utilizes α-Dystroglycan as Its Major Receptor

Alpha-dystroglycan (alpha-DG) has been identified as a major receptor for lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) and Lassa virus, two Old World arenaviruses. The situation with New World arenaviruses is less clear: previous studies demonstrated that Oliveros virus also exhibited high-affinity binding to alpha-DG but that Guanarito virus did not. To extend these initial studies, several additional Old and New World arenaviruses were screened for entry into mouse embryonic stem cells possessing or lacking alpha-DG. In addition, representative viruses were further analyzed for direct binding to alpha-DG by means of a virus overlay protein blot assay technique. These studies indicate that Old World arenaviruses use alpha-DG as a major receptor, whereas, of the New World arenaviruses, only clade C viruses (i.e., Oliveros and Latino viruses) use alpha-DG as a major receptor. New World clade A and B arenaviruses, which include the highly pathogenic Machupo, Guanarito, Junin, and Sabia viruses, appear to use a different receptor or coreceptor for binding. Previous studies with LCMV have suggested the need for a small aliphatic amino acid at LCMV GP1 glycoprotein amino acid position 260 to allow high-affinity binding to alpha-DG. As reported herein, this requirement appears to be broadly applicable to the arenaviruses as determined by more extensive analysis of alpha-DG receptor usage and GP1 sequences of Old and New World arenaviruses. In addition, GP1 amino acid position 259 also appears to be important, since all arenaviruses showing high-affinity alpha-DG binding possess a bulky aromatic amino acid (tyrosine or phenylalanine) at this position.
Guilt by Association: The Physical Chemistry and Biology of Protein Aggregation.

The aggregation of proteins and polypeptides is a major problem in the laboratory and in biotechnology, and is a serious issue in biology and human health.1−4 Protein aggregation is a topic that is ripe for investigation by physical chemical and biophysical methods, as well as by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and by more coarse grained modeling and analytical theory. Much recent attention in the physical chemistry community has focused on the process of amyloid fibril formation, motivated in part by its role in human disease. More than 30 different diseases involve amyloid formation, including devastating neurodegenerative disorders, but the mechanism of amyloid formation is not well understood, and there are very few viable therapeutic approaches. Amyloids are partially ordered aggregates of proteins that contain significant β-sheet structure arrayed in a cross-β structure in which the individual peptide chains are oriented perpendicular to the long axis of the fibril (Figure ​(Figure1). The1). The formation of amyloid is a fascinating and challenging problem in molecular self-assembly. However, it is worthwhile reminding ourselves that the importance of amyloids is directly related to their role in human disease, and thus experiments and simulations conducted under simplified conditions need to connect to biology to remain relevant. Fortunately, recent developments in methodology and experimental design, as well as growing collaborations between biophysicists and biologists hold the promise of providing a more rigorous, biologically relevant description of amyloid formation. Several of these advances are highlighted in the Perspectives included in this issue. Protein aggregation is not limited to amyloid formation, and new methods and approaches are also needed to study nonamyloidogenic aggregation. For example, considerable resources are invested in optimizing protein solubility and preventing aggregation of potential therapeutic proteins. Aggregation and poor solubility have limited the development of many monoclonal antibodies and other protein-based drugs and can lead to problems with immunogenicity, as well as loss of active protein.4 Protein aggregation can take other guises in biology beyond just amyloid. A classical example, and still arguably the best understood case of pathological protein aggregation, is the polymerization of sickle cell hemoglobin to form polymeric fibers. Elegant spectroscopic measurements together with detailed modeling have defined the mechanism of sickle cell polymerization, illustrating the power of physical chemical approaches.5 There are numerous other examples of deleterious aggregation that does not involve amyloid, including interesting mechanisms by which certain viruses subvert host defenses.
High resolution X-ray fluorescence imaging for a microbeam radiation therapy treatment planning system

Microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) uses an array of high-dose, narrow (~100 μm) beams separated by a fraction of a millimeter to treat various radio-resistant, deep-seated tumors. MRT has been shown to spare normal tissue up to 1000 Gy of entrance dose while still being highly tumoricidal. Current methods of tumor localization for our MRT treatments require MRI and X-ray imaging with subject motion and image registration that contribute to the measurement error. The purpose of this study is to develop a novel form of imaging to quickly and accurately assist in high resolution target positioning for MRT treatments using X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The key to this method is using the microbeam to both treat and image. High Z contrast media is injected into the phantom or blood pool of the subject prior to imaging. Using a collimated spectrum analyzer, the region of interest is scanned through the MRT beam and the fluorescence signal is recorded for each slice. The signal can be processed to show vascular differences in the tissue and isolate tumor regions. Using the radiation therapy source as the imaging source, repositioning and registration errors are eliminated. A phantom study showed that a spatial resolution of a fraction of microbeam width can be achieved by precision translation of the mouse stage. Preliminary results from an animal study showed accurate iodine profusion, confirmed by CT. The proposed image guidance method, using XRF to locate and ablate tumors, can be used as a fast and accurate MRT treatment planning system.
Equilibrium polymerization in the Stockmayer fluid as a model of supermolecular self-organization.

A diverse range of molecular self-organization processes arises from a competition between directional and isotropic van der Waals intermolecular interactions. We conduct Monte Carlo simulations of the Stockmayer fluid (SF) with a large dipolar interaction as a minimal self-organization model and focus on basic thermodynamic properties that are needed to characterize the polymerization transition that occurs in this fluid. In particular, we determine the polymerization transition lines from the maximum in the specific heat, , and the inflection point in the extent of polymerization, . We also characterize the geometry (radius of gyration , chain length , chain topology) of the clusters that form in this associating fluid as a function of temperature, , and concentration, . The pressure, , and the second virial coefficient, , were determined, since these properties contain essential information about the strength of the isotropic (van der Waals) interactions. Our simulations indicate that the locations of the polymerization lines are quantitatively consistent with a model of equilibrium polymerization with the enthalpy of polymerization (``sticking energy'') fixed by the minimum in the intermolecular potential. The polymerization transition in the SF is accompanied by a topological transition from predominantly linear to ring polymers upon cooling that is driven by the minimization of the dipolar energy of the clusters. We also find that the basic interaction parameters describing polymerization and phase separation in the SF can be estimated based on the existing theory of equilibrium polymerization, but the theory must be refined to account for ring formation in order to accurately describe the configurational properties of this model self-organizing fluid.
Long-range interaction between two promoters: activation of the leu-500 promoter by a distant upstream promoter.

Abstract The leu-500 mutation can be suppressed in S. typhimurium topA . Previous studies have demonstrated that the plasmid-borne leu-500 minimal promoter cannot be activated in topA mutants unless adjacent ( leu-500 promoter (short-range promoter interaction). To search for a potential upstream promoter responsible for activation of leu-500 in the chromosomal context, we have identified the ilvlH promoter, located 1.9 kb upstream of leu-500 (long-range promoter interaction). Different from short-range promoter interaction, which is abolished by DNA sequence insertions, the long-range promoter interaction is mediated by the intervening DNA sequence. These studies suggest that the long-range interaction between a pair of divergently arrayed promoters is probably mediated by a complex process involving relay of DNA supercoiling by the DNA sequence located between the two promoters.
Increased orbital volume after periodic intrabulbar injections of silicone in growing rabbits

The intent of this experiment was to determine whether with an increase in ocular mass there would be an increase in orbital volume. Eighteen, four-week old, 220 to 420 gm Dutch rabbits were used. In 12 animals silicone was injected into one eye but not the opposite one. No silicone was injected into the eyes of six untreated rabbits. In a ten week period the total amount of ten silicone injections into each treated eye ranged from 1.2 to 1.6 ml. After each rabbit was euthanatized, elastic rubber base imprints were made of both cleaned orbits to determine the volumes. In the untreated animals the differences between the right and left orbital volumes ranged from — 0.1 to 0.2 ml (— 2.4 to 4.7%). The mean of the differences was not statistically significant. When the eyes were injected with silicone, the differences in orbital volumes between the injected and non-injected sides ranged from 0.6 to 0 ml (14.6 to 0%). The mean of the differences was 0.3 ml which is statistically significant. It was concluded that periodic intrabulbar injections of silicone in the growing rabbit significantly increased orbital volume.
Visualization of dipole solutions to the neuromagnetic inverse problem

We have developed a computer program that computes and displays current-dipole solutions to the neuromagnetic inverse problem. The three-dimensional positions, orientations, and corresponding magnetic field values of the detection coils can be visualized with respect to a realistic representation of the subject's head shape. The topographies of the experimental data, theoretical fit, and residual field are represented without the use of data smoothing or interpolation, allowing more direct comparisons between them. A simple method for displaying dipole source location was implemented.
Evidence for a complex effective interaction in inelastic scattering

Abstract A somewhat “frivolous” model is used to introduce an imaginary component into the effective nucleon-nucleon interaction for a microscopic description of inelastic scattering. Considerable improvement is obtained in fitting the 40 Ca (p, p′) cross sections.