cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Assessment of DNA Integrity From Trap-Captured Boll Weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) for Use in a New PCR-Based Diagnostic Tool

The boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is a major pest of commercial cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) in the southern United States and throughout Central and South America. Efforts are underway to develop a PCR-based diagnostic tool that can be used to rapidly and accurately differentiate boll weevils from other weevil species that are commonly captured in pheromone traps. However, the quantity and integrity of weevil DNA must be sufficient for a successful PCR assay. Currently, active eradication programs service traps weekly, but post-eradication programs service traps at 2- or 3-wk intervals. Consequently, captured weevils may be dead, dismembered, and exposed to environmental conditions for prolonged periods which may adversely affect the quantity and quality of weevil DNA. We documented DNA quantity and integrity in boll weevils and weevil body parts aged in traps over a 3-wk period under field conditions. The quantity of DNA extracted from whole weevils, heads, abdomens, and legs generally remained sufficient (> 1 ng/µl) for successful PCR amplification throughout the 21-d period. The integrity (fragment length) of extracted DNA declined over time but generally was sufficient (> 700 bp) for successful amplification. PCR amplification of three marker genes validated that the quality and integrity of DNA extracted from dead weevils and individual weevil body parts aged in traps up to 21 d remained at sufficient levels for the PCR-based assay. However, our data also suggested that rain events may accelerate degradation of weevil DNA.
Diagnostic Discordance in Pediatric Critical Care Transport: A Single Center Experience

Purpose: There is a relative paucity of data on diagnostic discordance in the pediatric (non-neonatal) critical care transport population. We aim to describe the rates of diagnostic discordance at our pediatric tertiary care center between the reason for transfer of critically ill children (determined by the referring institution's diagnosis) and the inpatient admission diagnosis (determined by our accepting institution), to identify potential factors associated with diagnostic discordance, and to determine its impact on patients' outcomes. Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of all critically ill children ≤18 years old …
A varying-coefficient model for gap times between recurrent events

Recurrent events often arise in follow-up studies where a subject may experience multiple occurrences of the same type of event. Most regression models for recurrent events consider the time scale measured from the study origin and assume constant effects of covariates. In many applications, however, gap times between recurrent events are of natural interest and moreover the effects may actually vary over time. In this article, we propose a marginal varying-coefficient model for gap times between recurrent events that allows for the intra-individual correlation between events. Estimation and inference procedures are developed for the varying coefficients. Consistency and weak convergence of the proposed estimator are established. Monte Carlo simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed method works well with practical sample sizes. The proposed method is illustrated with an analysis of bladder tumor clinical data.
Addressing challenges with systematic review teams through effective communication: a case report.

Background: Every step in the systematic review process has challenges, ranging from resistance by review teams to adherence to standard methodology to low-energy commitment to full participation. These challenges can derail the project and result in significant delays, duplication of work, and failure to complete the review. Communication during the systematic review process is key to ensuring it runs smoothly and is identified as a core competency for librarians involved in systematic reviews. Case Presentation: This case report presents effective communication approaches that our librarians employ to address challenges encountered while working with systematic review teams. The communication strategies we describe engage teams through information, questions, and action items and lead to productive collaborations with publishable systematic reviews. Conclusions: Effective communication with review teams keeps systematic review projects moving forward. The techniques covered in this case study strive to minimize misunderstandings, educate collaborators, and, in our experience, have led to multiple successful collaborations and publications. Librarians working in the systematic review space will recognize these challenges and can adapt these techniques to their own environments.
Automotive engine coolants: A review of their requirements and methods of evaluation

A brief review of early automobiles shows the development of the engine cooling system, and some of the associated problems with these early cars are discussed. A liquid is commonly used to transfer heat from an operatingautomobile engine to a radiator where the heat can be dissipated to the air. In order that the liquid perform effectively, it must have the appropriate chemical and physical properties. Of foremost consideration is the capability of the fluid to transfer heat over a wide range of operating conditions. In addition, the fluid must be stable, must not freeze when not in use or boil during or after engine operation, and must not cause or allow excessive corrosion of the parts it contacts. To determine how well the cooling system is capable of performing its function, it is necessary to perform a variety of tests to evaluate the operational characteristics of component parts, the properties of the coolant fluid and its long-range stability, and the capability of the fluid to minimize corrosion of all materials. Tests range from the shorttime laboratory test to the longer and more comprehensive field test. Operating conditions are often difficult to simulate in the laboratory, and the test tends to be restrictive. Field tests are usually more definitive but can be difficult to control. However, the end result of an effective development program over a number of years has been a cooling system that has provided good durable service.
Bifurcation Phenomena in Taylor-Couette Flow Subject to a Coriolis Force

We have been studying the effects of an external Coriolis force on the dynamics and bifurcation behavior of Taylor-Couette flow. Our work had three motivations. The first motivation was the body of work that has been carried out investigating the effects of an external field on fluid flows.1,2 Second, in our system the axisymmetry of the base flow is broken, whereas in systems studied previously, the external field does not break the fundamental symmetry of the system. 1–4 Finally, we wanted to introduce a second control parameter5 to the Taylor-Couette system, in the form of an external field, to explore how the dynamics are affected. Our experiments have revealed an unexpected array of bifurcation phenomena.6 This paper will explain the techniques used to discover the bifurcations in the flow, present a bifurcation map of the Taylor-Couette system subject to a Coriolis force, and finally, discuss some of the more interesting features revealed by the map.
Impact of late fluid balance on clinical outcomes in the critically ill surgical and trauma population.

Abstract Purpose Management of fluid status in critically ill patients poses a significant challenge due to limited literature. This study aimed to determine the impact of late fluid balance management after initial adequate fluid resuscitation on in-hospital mortality for critically ill surgical and trauma patients. Materials and Methods This single-center retrospective cohort study included 197 patients who underwent surgical procedure within 24 hours of surgical intensive care unit admission. Patients with high fluid balance on postoperative day 7 (> 5 L) were compared with those with a low fluid balance (≤ 5 L) with a primary end point of in-hospital mortality. Subgroup analyses were performed based on diuretic administration, diuretic response, and type of surgery. Results High fluid balance was associated with significantly higher in-hospital mortality (30.2 vs 3%, P Conclusions Consistent with previous literature, high fluid balance on postoperative day 7 was associated with increased in-hospital mortality. Patients who received and responded to diuretic therapy did not demonstrate improved clinical outcomes, which questions their use in the postoperative period.
Automatic Restructuring of Fortran Programs for Parallel Execution

With the widespread of high performance parallel processor computers, the need for powerful restructuring compilers and software environments for program development has become more pressing than ever before. In this paper we discuss the usefulness of automatic program restructuring, and present some well-known and some new program transformations that can be used to extract parallelism out of serial Fortran programs. Additional functions that could be carried out by a compiler are also discussed.
Null Subjects in Early Child English and the Theory of Economy of Projection

It is well known that young children may omit referential subjects regardless of whether they are acquiring a pro-drop language such as Italian or a non-pro-drop language such as English. The classic proposal of Hyams (1986) according to which these early null subjects instantiate pro in both types of languages has recently come under attack from various sides. Bloom (1990, 1993) and Valian (1991) argue that missing subjects in early child English are a non-syntactic performance phenomenon that is due to a production bottleneck which severely limits the length of young children’s utterances, a view which they support with an inverse correlation between subject-length (i.e., full NP, pronoun, null) and VP-length. Rizzi (1994a, b) and Hyams (1994) maintain that empty subjects in early child English are a syntactic phenomenon but relate them to adult English Diary Drop and German-style Topic Drop instead of Italian-style pro-drop. In particular, they argue that like adult Diary/Topic Drop and unlike adult pro-drop, these missing subjects in early child language are restricted to the first position of non-wh root clauses.
Clinical Field Research in a Post-conflict Setting

science inputs have contributed much to the ongoing global fight against malaria 2 and should continue to do so. In this sense, this article describes some of the ethical challenges of clinical research as I faced them in Liberia, revisits the fundamental variance between the ‘two cultures’, that is, of the sciences and the humanities, and suggests the replicability of such research on the condition that it rests on strong interdisciplinary foundations. In 2003, 14 years of civil war in Liberia left the country devastated and around half a million displaced persons out of a population of 3.2 million. The weakened health sector’s infrastructure and personnel face a maternal mortality rate among the highest in the world at 994 per 100,000
The Electrochemistry of Nitro, Nitroso, and Related Compounds

1 Introduction 2 General Considerations 3 Substituted Nitroaromatics 4 Aromatic Dinitro Compounds 5 Aliphatic Nitro Compounds 6 Related Processes 7 Nitroso Compounds 8 Acknowledgments Keywords: electrochemistry of nitro, nitroso, and related compounds; electrochemical reduction mechanism; aromatic dinitro compounds; aliphatic nitro compounds; nitro compounds as electrogenerated bases; nitro compounds as protecting groups; substituted nitroaromatics; nitro compounds as protecting groups
Scalable high-throughput architecture for large balanced tree structures on FPGA (abstract only)

Architectures for tree structures on FPGAs as well as ASICs have been proposed over the years. The exponential growth in the memory size with respect to the tree levels restricts the scalability of these architectures due to limited on-chip memory. For large trees, off-chip memory has to be used. We propose a pipeline architecture on FPGA for large balanced tree structures which achieves both scalability and high throughput. In the proposed architecture, each tree level is mapped onto a single or multiple Processing Elements (PEs) using dual-port distributed RAM, dual-port block RAM and off-chip RAM. We parameterize the pipeline architecture and optimize the performance with respect to scalability and throughput. The resulting architecture for the search tree is dual-threaded and deeply pipelined. It can accept two search requests per clock cycle and operates at a high clock rate of 280MHz. Post place-and-route results show that, by using only 17% of the logic resources and 9% of the BRAM available on a state-of-the-art FPGA, our dual-thread pipelined search tree can perform 560 million search operations per second in a tree containing 512K 64-bit keys.
Lithography friendly routing: From construct-by-correction to correct-by-construction

Deep sub-wavelength lithography, i.e., using the 193 nm lithography to print 45 nm, 32 nm, and possibly 22 nm integrated circuits, is one of the most fundamental limitations for the continuous CMOS scaling. Lithography printability is strongly layout dependent, thus routing plays an important role in addressing the overall circuit manufacturability and product yield since it is the last major physical design step before tape out. This paper will discuss some recent advancement of lithography friendly routing from post-routing hotspot fixing (construct- by-correction) to during-routing hotspot avoidance (correct-by- construction) guided by various lithography metrics. We will compare these approaches, and show how to combine them. We will also discuss the emerging research needs in lithography friendly routing, such as double patterning lithography and next-generation-lithography.
Vaporization of Uranium Monophosphide

IN the search for new oxygen-free refractory materials, we have found that the subphosphide of thorium, ThP0.7, has a high thermodynamic stability1 which is comparable with that of uranium monosulphide2. We have included the uranium monophosphide, UP, and its mixtures with uranium dioxide in our investigations3. Since recent reports4,5 indicate the potential usefulness of uranium monophosphide for high-temperature reactor application, we present here our preliminary results concerning the thermodynamics of vaporization of uranium monophosphide.
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY MODELS.

Quantum fields are believed to provide a correct description of the interactions between particles. In the case of quantum electrodynamics, calculations based on perturbation theory provide exact agreement between theory and experiment within the limits of experimental accuracy. These calculations rely on infinite renormalizations and therefore reveal that quantum fields are highly singular. In these lectures, we will be concerned with the qualitative structure of quantum fields. Given a classical Lagrangian, we seek a mathematically complete construction of the corresponding quantum fields. Because of the difficulty of this problem, we have restricted ourselves to two space time dimensions. With this restriction, the program has been successful. Quantum fields have been constructed for the o2n and Yukawa interactions in two dimensions. Many properties of the fields have been verified for these models, and the o2n theory obeys all the Haag-Kastler axioms. Two major unanswered questions are: a) Can the existence of local quantum fields be extended to three space time dimensions? b) For the two dimensional models, can detailed properties of the fields be established in order to describe elementary particles and their bound states? Is standard perturbation theory asymptotic to the exact solution of the models? Do standard dispersion relations hold for the cross sections?
Ventromedial hypothalamic obesity: a reexamination of the irritative hypothesis.

The basic assumption of brain research utilizing lesions is that any observed changes in behavior or physiological responses must be the result of tissue destruction. Reynolds suggested 25 years ago that in the case of electrolytic ventromedial hypothalamic lesions, the observed hyperphagia and obesity were due instead to metallic ion deposits from the electrode tip irritating adjacent tissue. His "irritative hypothesis" was largely ignored after others reported obesity in rats given nonirritative (i.e., no deposits) VMH lesions. However, recent studies have shown that the experimental observations by both Reynolds and his critics were correct and that the early discrepancies were largely due to the sex of the animals used in the experiments. Obesity can be produced with nonirritative VMH lesions, but the weight gain is only about 60% of that observed with irritative VMH lesions and the animals do not display the characteristic lesion-induced elevations in basal insulin levels. A new combination ablation-irritative hypothesis is proposed in which electrolytic VMH lesion obesity is attributed in part to tissue ablation and in part to metallic ion deposits stimulating (rather than disinhibiting) vagally mediated insulin responses.
Uses of the past: Reflections on United States physics curriculum development 1955 to 1990

A personal assessment is made of the United States experience in physics curriculum development and teacher education over the past 35 years. It is concluded that, although substantial improvements were achieved in the development of hands-on primary and secondary school curricula, their effectiveness was in large part negated by logistic problems in implementation and deficiencies in teacher preparation. At the college/university level, existing materials tend to cover far too much material far too rapidly, and, except for small, separated pockets of promising activity, inadequate attention is being paid, in the aggregate, to students' levels of cognitive development and to the learning problems revealed in research on teaching and learning. Some directions of effort that might prove helpful are described.
Traumatic laceration of the liver limited to the bare area: CT findings in 25 patients

The capsular extent of traumatic hepatic lacerations may be limited to the bare area of the liver--an area not covered by peritoneal reflection. In these cases, intraperitoneal bleeding may not occur, classic peritoneal findings may be absent, and results of diagnostic peritoneal lavage may be normal. We undertook a study to evaluate the frequency, CT appearance, and significance of injury of the bare area of the liver.We retrospectively reviewed radiologic reports of 1469 hemodynamically stable trauma patients referred for abdominal CT between January 1986 and September 1992 and selected 155 patients whose CT reports indicated hepatic injury. Retrospective review of the abdominal CT scans of these 155 patients confirmed intrahepatic laceration or contusion in all of them. The study involved the 25 (16%) patients in whom the capsular extent of injury was limited to the bare area of the liver.In all cases, CT scans showed simple or complex lacerations involving predominantly or exclusively the posterior se...
Urinary doubly refractile lipid bodies in nonglomerular renal diseases.

Urinary doubly refractile lipid bodies (DRLB) are a characteristic finding in patients with glomerular renal diseases causing heavy proteinuria. DRLB are felt to be an uncommon finding in glomerular diseases without heavy proteinuria, and a rare finding in nonglomerular renal diseases. In order to determine whether DRLB are found in nonglomerular renal diseases, we reviewed the medical records of all patients who had urinalyses performed in our laboratory from February 1975 to June 1983. Three hundred sixty one patients demonstrated ≤ + 2 proteinuria, and at least two DRLB. Of these, 290 were identified as having a single renal diagnosis. One hundred forty eight patients (51 %) had a variety of acute and chronic glomerular diseases, and 125 patients (43.2%) had nonglomerular renal diseases, including acute tubular necrosis (ATN), prerenal azotemia, chronic interstitial nephritis, polycystic kidney disease, acute interstitial nephritis, renal neoplasia, and acute myeloma kidney. Ten patients had transient proteinuria associated with acute illness, and seven patients had no renal disease at all. Only two patients with nonglomerular renal disease had more than five DRLB per 20 high power microscopic fields. The frequency of DRLB in patients with nonglomerular renal diseases was: chronic interstitial nephritis, 26%; polycystic kidney disease, 38%; prerenal azotemia, 20%; ATN, 15%; and acute interstitial nephritis, 33%. These data suggest that at lower levels of proteinuria, DRLB are found frequently in nonglomerular renal diseases, and that DRLB do not differentiate glomerular from nonglomerular renal diseases unless more than five DRLB are found on urinary sediment examination.
Human adult olfactory neuroepithelial derived progenitors retain telomerase activity and lack apoptotic activity

Olfactory epithelium (OE) contains a population of progenitors responsible for its life-long regenerative capacity. Procedures for the isolation of these progenitors have been established [F.J. Roisen, K.M. Klueber, C.L. Lu, L.M. Hatcher, A. Dozier, C.B. Shields, Adult human olfactory stem cells, Brain Res., 890 (2001) 11-12.] and over 40 patient-specific cell lines from adult postmortem OE and endoscopic biopsy from patients undergoing nasal sinus surgery have been obtained. As these cells emerged in primary cultures, they formed neurospheres (NSFCs). The purpose of the present study was to further characterize these adult human olfactory-derived progenitors. Subcultures of the NSFCs have been passaged nearly 200 times, with a mitotic cycle of 18-20 h. Telomerase activity remains in stem cells; therefore, ELISA was employed to determine the telomerase activity of different lines and passages. Since progenitors undergo low levels of apoptosis, the levels of apoptosis were also examined in these populations. The levels of telomerase and apoptotic activity in 12 NSFC lines remained relatively constant irrespective of donor age, culture duration, or sex. To further study the apoptotic characteristics of the NSFCs, nine different caspases (cysteine proteases) known to be critical in apoptosis were evaluated using gene-microarrays comparing cells from a single line at passages 14, 88, and 183. No increases were found in caspase activity in all passages studied. ELISA confirmed the absence of caspase activity over the entire range of passages. This study further suggests that NSFCs can be obtained and used from patients, irrespective of age, sex, or time in culture without altered viability expanding the potential utility of these cells for autologous transplantation and possible diagnostic testing.
Acoustic Perturbation Effects on the Fluid Dynamics and Swirling Flame Response in a Non-Premixed Co-Flow Burner

An investigation into the response of non-premixed swirling flames to acoustic perturbations at various frequencies (fp = 0–315 Hz) and swirl intensities (S = 0.09 and 0.34) is carried out. Perturbations are generated using a loudspeaker at the base of an atmospheric co-flow burner with resulting velocity oscillation amplitudes |u′ /Uavg | in the 0.03–0.30 range. The dependence of flame dynamics on the relative richness of the flame is investigated by studying various constant fuel flow rate flame configurations. Flame heat release is quantitatively measured and simultaneously imaged using a photomultiplier (PMT) and a phase-locked CCD camera. Both of which are fitted with 430nm bandpass filters for observing CH*chemiluminescence. The flame response is observed to exhibit a low-pass filter characteristic with minimal flame response beyond pulsing frequencies of 200Hz. Flames at lower fuel flow rates are observed to remain attached to the central fuel pipe at all acoustic pulsing frequencies. PIV imaging of the associated isothermal fields show the amplification in flame aspect ratio is caused by the narrowing of the inner recirculation zone (IRZ). The Rayleigh criterion (R) is used to assess the potential for instability of specific perturbation configurations and is found to be a good predictor of unstable modes. Phase conditioned analysis of the flame dynamics yield additional criteria in highly responsive modes to include the effective amplitude of velocity oscillations induced by the acoustic pulsing. Highly amplified responses were observed in pulsed flame configurations with Strouhal numbers (St = fp Uavg /dm ) in the 1–3.5 range. Heat release to velocity perturbation time delays on the order of the acoustic pulsing period also characterized the highly responsive flames. Finally, wavelet analyses of heat release perturbations indicate sustained low frequency oscillations that become more prominent for low acoustic pulsing frequencies in lean flame configurations.Copyright © 2010 by ASME
Mechanism of oxidation and phosphorylation of naphthoquinol diphosphates.

Abstract The mechanism of oxidation and phosphorylation of several napht hoquinol diphosphates has been investigated to clarify the mechanism of pyrophosphate formation [Tomasi and Dallam, J. Biol. Chem. 239 , 6140 (1965)]. The present work shows that the pyrophosphate is formed, during the bromine oxidation of diphosphomenadiol, by an intramolecular attack involving the two quinoid Phosphates. It has been shown also that the presence of chemical groups in positions two and/or two and three of the quinoid ring influences oxidation and phosphorylation.
An Analysis Procedure for Hydrogen Absorption under Frumkin Adsorption Conditions

This paper communicates a more general derivation of the Iyer-Pickering-Zamenzadeh (IPZ) analysis of hydrogen absorption. It is applicable to metal/electrolyte systems under Frumkin adsorption conditions for the discharge-recombination process of hydrogen evolution, as well as to Langmuir adsorption conditions covered by the original derivation. As such, it does not require prior knowledge of the dimensionless factor f that describes the deviation from ideal Langmuir behavior. This analysis appropriately reduces to the original IPZ analysis for Langmuir adsorption conditions for which f = 0. It yields the value of (f) as well as the other unknowns in the system: the discharge (k 1 ) and recombination (k 2 ) rate constants, the exchange current density (i 0 ), the kinetic-diffusion constant (k), the hydrogen surface coverage (0 H ), and the hydrogen concentration in the metal at the charging surface (C°).
SCALE AND INTENSITY ANALYSIS IN THE STUDY OF ATTITUDE CHANGE

In studies of attitude change, it is important to be able to distinguish those changes of attitude which leave the respondent essentially on the same side of the issue from those in which his attitude changes from favorable to unfavorable or vice versa. Guttman scale theory provides a "zero point" to mark the point of indifference in single determinations of attitude. When this is applied to studies of attitude change, there are zero points in each successive determination of position and consequently a number of technical problems arise. This article is directed toward such technical problems. Ernest Q. Campbell is Associate Professor of Sociology and Research Associate in the Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina. He is currently engaged in studies of the determinants of Negro educational performance and aspirations in the Southern states and changes in drinking behavior that occur in the transition from high school to college.
Patients with uterine papillary serous cancers may benefit from adjuvant platinum-based chemoradiation.

Abstract Objective The coexistence of minimal uterine disease and extrauterine metastases is common in patients with uterine papillary serous carcinoma (UPSC). Only complete surgical staging accurately depicts the extent of this disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate different therapeutic options in surgically staged patients. Methods We retrospectively reviewed all patients with UPSC histologically limited in the uterus to the endometrium treated at our institution between 1987 and 2002. Results Twenty-three (45%) cases were International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IA, seven (15%) were stage IIIA, one (2%) was stage IIIC, and nine (18%) stage IV. Additionally, 11 of these 51 patients (21%) were diagnosed with two cancers: a stage IA UPSC and concomitant advanced stage serous cancer of the ovary, fallopian tube, or peritoneum. Stage IA patients with no cancer in the hysterectomy specimen (defined as no residual uterine disease) had no recurrences ( n = 10) regardless of treatment. There was a trend toward increased survival in stage IA patients with residual uterine disease who were treated with chemoradiation (concomitant vaginal brachytherapy and platinum-based chemotherapy). There were no recurrences in patients with locoregional disease (stages IA–IIIA) who received chemoradiation. All patients with advanced stage UPSC (stage IIIC or IV or two primary cancers) did poorly regardless of treatment. Conclusion Our findings suggest that stage IA patients with no residual uterine disease may be observed. Stage IA patients with residual uterine disease may benefit from chemoradiation. More effective treatment needs to be identified for advanced stage UPSC.
A distributed area coverage algorithm for maintenance of randomly distributed sensors with adjustable sensing range

Efficient coverage and energy conservation are two of the primary concerns for area coverage applications of randomly deployed wireless sensor networks. This paper developed a distributed algorithm using range adjustable sensors for maintaining the full coverage of such sensor networks. The algorithm contains two major parts: the first part aims at providing 100% coverage and the second part aims at saving energy by shortening the sensing radius. Simulation results show that the algorithm works for sensor networks that have both uniformly and randomly distributed nodes. More than 10% shorter sensing radius can be achieved on average compared to equal, non-adjustable sensors, when networks are nearly uniformly distributed with sensor nodes. The savings in sensing radius is more than 50% on average, when the sensor network is randomly deployed. The communication overhead of the algorithm is linear related to the scale of sensor network.
Effect of Relaxin on Aromatase Activity in Human Endometrial Stromal Cells

Previous studies have shown that the aromatase activity in human endometrial stromal cells was stimulated by progestin and enhanced by estrogen and forskolin (Fk), an agent that stimulates the accumulation of intracellular cAMP. Present study was undertaken to investigate whether any peptide hormone would affect endometrial aromatase activity. Stromal cells were isolated from normal proliferative and secretory endometria and cultured in nutrient medium. Porcine relaxin (RLX) was added to culture medium individually or in combination with medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) and estradiol (E2). Cells treated with RLX alone did not affect the aromatase activity. RLX, however, exerted a synergistic effect on aromatase activity in the presence of MPA or MPA plus E2. On the other hand, human CG, epidermal growth factor, human PRL, and insulin did not increase the aromatase activity in the presence or absence of MPA and E2 studied in a limited number of specimens. The progestin-dependent effect of RLX on aromatase...
Pulmonary artery wedge pressure measurements in patients on assisted ventilation

Abstract When vascular pressures are measured on ventilated patients, end-expiration is commonly assumed to be at the lowest position of the respiratory cycle. However, for patients on assisted ventilation, the presence of a large negative deflection in the pressure tracing, corresponding to their inspiratory effort, may invalidate this assumption. Consequently, the position of end-expiration may be improperly located on the graphic tracing, causing errors in the measurement of the pulmonary artery wedge pressure (PAWP). Similarly, incorrect values of the PAWP will be obtained from a digital monitor if the digital diastolic register is used. To determine the frequency of this waveform and the accuracy of values obtained from the different digital registers in approximating the graphic PAWP, we studied 32 critically ill patients grouped according to the mode of ventilation: spontaneous breathing, controlled ventilation, or assisted ventilation. We observed a large negative deflection (greater than 4 mm Hg) in 13 of the 15 patients on assisted ventilation. In this group, the value obtained from the digital mean register approximated the graphic PAWP better than the value obtained from the diastolic register. We conclude that for patients on assisted ventilation, appropriate adjustments should be made when reading the PAWP from either a graphic printout or from a digital monitor if a large deflection is present in the vascular pressure tracing.
The impact of spectral effects in fast reactors on data analysis and development of fission-fusion correlations

Abstract Models describing the production of freely migrating defects (FMD) during neutron irradiations were applied to materials studies in fast reactors, where neutron spectral effects have been largely ignored. Calculations for the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) and the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) show that effects of spectral differences between in-core and out-of-core positions are significantly larger on the basis of freely migrating defects than on the basis of dpa. As an example, data on swelling behavior measured both in-core and out-of-core in EBR-II show nearly a linear dependence on FMD production but not on dpa.
RNA-unwinding and RNA-folding activities of RNA helicase II/Gu - Two activities in separate domains of the same protein

The human RNA helicase II/Gu protein (RH-II/Gu) is a member of the D-E-A-D box protein family. It is a unique enzyme, which possesses an ATP-dependent RNA-unwinding activity and has an RNA-folding activity that introduces an intramolecular secondary structure in single-stranded RNA. This report shows that these two enzymatic activities are distinct. ATP[S], GTP and low concentrations of ATP enhance the RNA-folding activity of RH-II/Gu but not the RNA-helicase activity. High concentrations of ATP are required for the helicase activity but are inhibitory to the RNA-folding activity. Mg2+ is required for the helicase activity but not for the RNA-folding reaction. Affinity-purified anti-(RH-II/Gu) polyclonal Ig inhibit the RNA-unwinding activity but not the folding activity. Mutations of the DEVD sequence, which corresponds to the DEAD box, and the SAT motif enhanced RNA-folding activity of RH-II/Gu but completely inhibited the RNA-helicase activity. A mutant that lacks the COOH-terminal 76 amino acid residues, including the four FRGQR repeats, had unwinding activity but did not catalyze the folding of a single-stranded RNA. The two enzymatic activities of RH-II/Gu reside in distinct domains. Amino acids 1-650 are active in the RNA-unwinding reaction but lack RNA-folding activity. Amino acids 646-801 fold single-stranded RNA but lack helicase activity. This report shows distinct RNA-unwinding and RNA-folding activities residing in separate domains within the same protein.
Intersections of random walks with random sets

Two general theorems about the intersections of a random walk with a random set are proved. The result is applied to the cases when the random set is a (deterministic) half-line and a two-sided random walk.
Effects of environmental conditions on two species of muscardine fungi (Beauveria bassiana and Metarrhizium anisopliae)

Abstract The principal environmental factors affecting the efficacy of the white and green muscardine fungi Beauveria bassiana and Metarrhizium anisopliae as biological control agents for the pales weevil, Hylobius pales , were investigated. The fungi required relative humidities above 92.5% and temperatures between 15° and 35°C for spore germination, mycelial growth, and sporulation. Optimum germination, growth, and sporulation occurred at 100% RH and at 25–30°C. The thermal death point for spores of both species was near 50°C. Spores stored at 21°C lost all viability after only a few months, whereas spores stored at 8°C remained viable for at least one year. Development of the fungi was inhibited on unsterilized soil, duff, and litter, but spores were able to germinate on the unsterilized cuticle of pales weevils. Once established, both muscardine fungi exhibited striking antibiotic properties. These results indicate that the moisture and temperature conditions in the habitat of the pales weevil are suitable for development of the muscardine fungi. However, since both pathogens are restricted to certain insects for their development, they are unlikely to increase in abundance growing as saprophytes.
Approaches to making the food processing industry more environmentally friendly

Abstract Microbial fermentation and cell-free enzyme based systems offer opportunities for the bioconversion of food product waste streams and by-products to compounds with added value. Such approaches are environmentally friendly and may allow for substantial savings in food processing unit operations. This review focuses on specific examples of food-based bioconversions using non-toxinogenic clostridia, yeasts and cell-free enzyme systems.
Interphase nuclear envelope lamins form a discontinuous network that interacts with only a fraction of the chromatin in the nuclear periphery

Antibodies directed against nuclear envelope lamin proteins have been used in conjunction with three-dimensional light and electron microscope methodologies to determine the spatial organization of lamins in diploid interphase nuclei and to relate this organization to the positions of chromatin in the nuclear periphery. Using Drosophila early embryos, Drosophila Kc cells, and human HeLa cells, it is qualitatively and quantitatively observed that lamins are organized as a highly discontinuous, apparently fibrillar network that leaves large voids in the nuclear periphery containing little or no lamin. Using fluorescence microscopy to compare and quantitate the relationship between chromatin and the lamin network, it is found that although there is a strong tendency for the most peripheral chromatin to be positioned directly underneath a lamin fiber, only a small fraction of the chromatin in the nuclear periphery is sufficiently close to a lamin fiber to possibly be in direct contact.
Impact of Delaying Blood Pressure Control in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: Results of a Decision Analysis

BACKGROUND In patients with diabetes, delays in controlling blood pressure are common, but the harms of delays have not been quantified.
Summertime Characteristics of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Relationships to Ozone Levels over the Eastern United States

This paper examines the spatial and temporal distributions of the mixing height, ventilation coefficient (defined as the product of mixing height and surface wind speed), and cloud cover over the eastern United States during the summer of 1995, using the high-resolution meteorological data generated by MM5 (Version 1), a mesoscale model widely used in air quality studies. The ability of MM5 to simulate the key temporal and spatial features embedded in the time series of observations of temperature, wind speed, and moisture is assessed using spectral decomposition methods. Also, mixing heights estimated from the MM5 outputs are compared with those derived from observations at a few locations where data with high temporal resolution are available in the Northeast. In addition, the uncertainties associated with the estimation of the evolution of the boundary layer during the morning time are examined. The results indicate that nighttime mixing heights averaged <200 m, rising to 1 km by 10 EST, and to about 2.5 km in the afternoon. Ventilation coefficients followed a similar diurnal pattern, increasing from 500 m2/s at night to 15,000 m2/s in the afternoon; the increase due to the growing mixing height and increasing surface wind speeds. Spatial variability of these parameters was relatively small (coefficient of variation = 0.25) at night and in the afternoon when conditions were quasi-stationary, but increased (to 0.5) during morning and evening hours when mixing heights and wind speeds were changing rapidly.
Assessing Indoor Air Pollution Exposure and Lung Cancer Risk in Xuan Wei, China:

The report presents risk assessment-related aspects of a multidisciplinary study of indoor coal smoke pollution and lung cancer in Xuan Wei County, Yunnan Province, China. Xuan Wei presents a unique natural experiment in environmental carcinogenesis because lung cancer mortality rates and indoor pollution exposures vary widely within the County. Current evidence links lung cancer with domestic burning of 'smoky coal,' as opposed to 'smokeless coal' and wood. Efforts to determine the most carcinogenic components of smoky coal pollution are in progress, as are efforts to develop a quantitative relationship of pollution dose with lung cancer response in Xuan Wei. Some available evidence suggests that the composition of indoor pollution does not vary greatly throughout Xuan Wei, and thus that lung cancer risk is a function of overall pollution exposure. Other evidence suggests that different Xuan Wei fuels exhibit different carcinogenic potencies. On-site and laboratory studies are being conducted to distinguish between these possibilities.
Estimation of small mammal using recapture methods: partitioning of estimator variables

Ocena zageszczenia malych ssakow jest skomplikowana z uwagi na trudności uzyskania dokladnych informacji odnośnie takich zmiennych populacji jak struktura przestrzenna, tempo wymierania, unikanie pulapki i stosunki zwierze-pulapka. Najwieksze trudności istnieją w ocenie śmiertelności, zmiennej waznej dla oceny zageszczenia, a czesto obejmującej tez inne parametry.
Does complete laparoscopic excision of endometriosis in teenagers really occur

We read with great interest ‘‘Complete laparoscopic excision of endometriosis in teenagers: is postoperative hormonal suppression necessary?’’ (1). The study evaluated 17 teenagers (age, 12–19 years) when they presented with pelvic pain, who underwent a laparoscopic procedure andwere found to have biopsy proven endometriosis. Seven of these patients (41.2%) had in fact been treated by ablation or fulguration previous to the ‘‘index’’ laparoscopy for this study, with a total of 13 of the 17 patients having at least one previous laparoscopy. The surgeons state that at this index laparoscopy ‘‘all’’ endometriosis was excised and postoperatively the teenagers were not specifically asked to use suppressive hormonal therapy. However, six patients (35.1%) were on combination hormones and one was on GnRH agonist. Among the 17 patients, the study reports that 47% of the patients had return of pain to a level where subsequent laparoscopy was performed within an average of 23.1 months (maximum, 66 months). We believe that this finding supports established data that pain symptoms return with aggressive surgical therapy alone (2).
The Mechanism of Brittle Fracture in a Microalloyed Steel: Part I. Inclusion-Induced Cleavage

The cleavage resistance of two microalloyed steels (steels A and B) was studied using several tests, including the instrumented precracked Charpy and Charpy V-notch (CVN) techniques. Ductile-to-brittle transition temperatures were measured for the base-metal and simulated heat-affected zone (HAZ) microstructures. Steel B showed inferior cleavage resistance to steel A, and this could not be explained by differences in gross microstructure. Scanning electron fractography revealed that TiN inclusions were responsible for cleavage initiation in steel B. These inclusions were well bonded to the ferritic matrix. It is believed that a strong inclusion-matrix bond is a key factor in why TiN inclusions are potent cleavage initiators in steel. Strong bonding allows high stresses in a crack/notch-tip plastic zone to act on the inclusions without debonding the interface. Once an inclusion cleaves, the strong bond allows for transfer of the TiN crack into the ferritic matrix. It was estimated that only 0.0016 wt pct Ti was tied up in the offending inclusions in steel B. This indicates that extended times at high temperatures during the casting of such steels could produce TiN-related toughness deterioration at even modest Ti contents.
Reserve Requirements on Foreign Currency Deposits in Sub-Saharan Africa-Main Features and Policy Implications

This paper reviews the reserve requirement arrangements of sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the differences between reserve requirements on domestic- and foreign-currency deposits. The reserve requirement systems in sub-Saharan Africa are relatively simple and transparent, but in some countries high unremunerated reserve ratios impose a significant implicit tax on the banks. The currency denomination of the foreign-currency reserve deposits raises concern in countries undergoing large macroeconomic changes or experiencing exchange rate volatility.
Manipulating miRNA responsiveness to decrease viral pathogenicity

Stephen J Russell is currently Professor of Medicine and Richard O Jacobson Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Mayo Foundation in Rochester, Minnesota. He obtained his PhD from the University of London, UK and received specialist accreditation in Hematology from the Royal College of Pathologists. In 1998, he took the position of Director of the Molecular Medicine Program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. His research interests focus on developing injectable gene therapy vectors for the treatment of disseminated malignancies (particularly multiple myeloma) and demonstrating their efficacy in clinical trials. Laboratory research themes include the engineering of viral membrane glycoproteins, targeting cell–cell fusion and virus entry, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies of virus-based therapies, noninvasive monitoring and imaging of viral gene expression in vivo, and radiovirotherapy. His major research thrust is the development of targetable, injectable oncolytic measles viruses for the treatment of multiple myeloma, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and glioma. Vectors derived from retrovirus, lentivirus, adenovirus, alphavirus and nonviral vectors are also studied in his laboratory. te vie w
The genesis of the northern Kettle Moraine, Wisconsin

Interpreting past glacial dynamics from the glacial record requires that the depositional environments of glacial sediments and landforms be understood. In the case of interlobate deposits, models that incorporate various components of pro, supra and subglacial deposition have been developed and tested in the northern Kettle Moraine (nKM), Wisconsin; a large interlobate deposit that formed between the Green Bay and Lake Michigan lobes of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the last deglaciation. In this paper, we interpret a new genesis for the nKM using sediment analysis and distribution along with landform distribution. In Sheboygan County, the nKM consists of two steep-sided, high-relief, hummocky ridges separated by a low elevation and low-relief central axis. Gravel in the bounding hummocky ridges is well-sorted and well-rounded. Some bedding is collapsed. Large, isolated moulin kames are restricted to the axis area and composed of relatively poorly sorted, more angular gravel and diamicton. The distribution of these different sediments and landforms are explained by the accumulation of supraglacial debris that insulated the ice below the axis of the nKM, while the melting of cleaner ice on either side formed channels on the ice surface. As deglaciation proceeded, a substantial thickness of well-rounded, stream-deposited sand and gravel accumulated on ice in the bounding channels. Eventual collapse of this sediment formed the two hummocky ridges. Poorly sorted debris along the axis fell and slid into moulins and larger collapse areas in the ice. Thus, differential debris insulation and ice ablation controlled the mainly supraglacial deposition of this part of the nKM.