cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sickle cell disease in pregnancy: twenty years of experience at Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia.

Abstract Objective: We compared pregnancy outcomes among women with sickle cell disease with outcomes for African American women without the disease. Study Design: We selected 127 deliveries in women with sickle cell disease (hemoglobin SS or hemoglobin SC) that occurred between 1980 and 1999. A control group of 129 deliveries by African American women with normal hemoglobin (hemoglobin AA) was also selected. Evaluated pregnancy outcomes included low birth weight, prematurity, intrauterine growth restriction, antepartum hospital admission, preterm labor or preterm premature rupture of membranes, postpartum infection, preeclampsia, pyelonephritis, intrauterine fetal death, perinatal mortality, and maternal mortality. Results: Compared with deliveries among women with hemoglobin AA, deliveries among women with hemoglobin SS or hemoglobin SC were at increased risk for intrauterine growth restriction, antepartum hospital admission, and postpartum infection. In addition, deliveries among women with Hb SS were more likely to be complicated by low birth weight, prematurity, and preterm labor or preterm premature rupture of membranes when compared with deliveries among women with hemoglobin AA. There were no significant differences among the groups (hemoglobin SS, hemoglobin SC, and hemoglobin AA) in terms of perinatal deaths; there were no maternal deaths in the study population. Conclusion: Those caring for women with sickle cell disease should be aware that they are at increased risk for pregnancy complications, although overall pregnancy outcome is favorable. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 2001;184:1127-30.)
Evidence for heterogeneity of 23S RNA in E. coli.

CISTRONS for ribosomal RNA (rRNA) in bacteria exist in multiple copies1–3. There is therefore genetic potential for several molecular types of 16S and 23S rRNA. Recently, Young4 has reported evidence for such heterogeneity in Escherichia coli rRNA. We wish to report evidence of a different nature that such heterogeneity exists. This evidence has been obtained by electrophoresis on density gradient polyacrylamide gels and by stepwise elution from methylated albumin kieselguhr (MAK) columns.
Markets, Institutions, and Politics Under Globalization Industrial Adjustments in the United States and in Germany in the 1990s

By investigating U.S. and German industrial adjustments, in particular, the dynamic process of transformation in the U.S. and German automotive industries, this article seeks to reconceptualize the...
Effects of Antioxidant Supplementation on Insulin Sensitivity, Endothelial Adhesion Molecules and Oxidative Stress in Normal Weight and Overweight Young Adults

The objective of the study was to determine whether short-term antioxidant (AOX) supplementation affects insulin sensitivity, endothelial adhesion molecule levels, and oxidative stress in overweight young adults. A randomized, double-blind, controlled study tested the effects of AOXs on measures of insulin sensitivity (homeostasis model assessment [HOMA]) and quantitative insulin sensitivity check index), endothelial adhesion molecules (soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1, vascular adhesion molecule, and endothelial-leukocyte adhesion molecule-1), adiponectin, and oxidative stress (lipid hydroperoxides) in overweight and normal-weight individuals (N = 48, 18-30 years). Participants received either AOX (vitamin E, 800 IU; vitamin C, 500 mg; beta-carotene, 10 mg) or placebo for 8 weeks. The HOMA values were initially higher in the overweight subjects and were lowered with AOX by week 8 (15% reduction, P = .02). Adiponectin increased in both AOX groups. Soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 and endothelial-leukocyte adhesion molecule-1 decreased in overweight AOX-treated groups by 6% and 13%, respectively (P < .05). Plasma lipid hydroperoxides were reduced by 0.31 and 0.70 nmol/mL in the normal-weight and overweight AOX-treated groups, respectively, by week 8 (P < .05). Antioxidant supplementation moderately lowers HOMA and endothelial adhesion molecule levels in overweight young adults. A potential mechanism to explain this finding is the reduction in oxidative stress by AOX. Long-term studies are needed to determine whether AOXs are effective in suppressing diabetes or vascular activation over time.
High-temperature latchup characteristics in VLSI CMOS circuits

A simple worst-case analytical model of holding currents and an empirical model of trigger currents are reported and shown to agree with experimental measurements in the range of 25-225 degrees C. Whereas standard bulk CMOS inverters and ring oscillators are invariably found to latchup near 125 degrees C, their counterparts built on epitaxial wafers remain latchup free up to at least 250 degrees C. These results add to an ongoing systematic effort to model high-temperature effects in integrated MOS technologies and provide worst case latchup information in the commercial temperature range and beyond. >
Influence of deformation on the transformation of austenitic stainless steels

Two commercial austenitic stainless steels of type 304 and 321 were deformed by reduction in thickness at room temperature or at liquid nitrogen temperature and subsequently annealed in the temperature range 473 to 1073 K. Microstructural changes were examined by electron microscopy. The deformation product in both the steels are different. An attempt has been made to correlate the mechanical properties with the microstructural changes.
Control of an artificial human pancreas using the SDRE method

Diabetes mellitus is a condition where the human body can no longer produce the insulin needed to sufficiently regulate the amount of blood glucose and use it for energy and metabolism. An automatic control system would be able to reduce long term adverse health affects resulting from elevated blood glucose levels. We deal with blood glucose regulation around a safe equilibrium value by the injection of insulin. This paper examines the use of nonlinear regulation for controlling the amount of insulin delivered to a diabetic person based on measuring their blood glucose level. The nonlinear method using the state dependent Riccati equation (SDRE) developed by Cloutier-D'Souza-Mracek (1996), is applied and examined under numerical simulations. This paper examines only a theoretical study of SDRE as a control methodology, and does not imply that the modelling of the human body is correct nor the resulting controller safe.
Predator-mediated apparent competition between two herbivores that feed on grapevines.

We have been releasing economically unimportant herbivorous mites of one species early in the season and protecting grapevines against another, more damaging herbivorous mite throughout the growing season. In this experiment, releases of economically unimportant Willamette mites alone, or of predatory mites alone, failed to reduce populations of the damaging Pacific spider mite. However, where both herbivorous Willamette mites and predatory mites were released together populations of Pacific mites were reduced. This interaction between effects of Willamette mites and predatory mites suggests that predation against Pacific mites was more effective where alternate prey (Willamette mites) were available for the predators. The “apparent competition” between Willamette mites and Pacific mites, mediated through their shared predator, can be an important force in the agroecosystem although its importance varies from year to year and vineyard to vineyard.
Sinus pericranii involving the torcular sinus in a patient with Hunter's syndrome and trigonocephaly: case report and review of the literature.

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE: Although there is no known association between the mucopolysaccharidoses and sinus pericranii several case reports have linked sinus pericranii with craniosynostosis. Recognizing sinus pericranii in a patient with both Hunter's syndrome (mucopolysacchridosis Type II) and trigonocephaly has important practical applications because these patients may present with signs of hydrocephalus, requiring ventricular shunting. CLINICAL PRESENTATION: We report a case of a 22―year-old man with known Hunter's syndrome and trigonocephaly who presented with head aches and a new scalp mass at the level of rhe inion, extending to both sides of the midline. Opening pressure of a lumbar puncture was elecated, at 36 cm H 2 O, associated with mild ventricular enlargement. He was referred for endovascular obliteration of a presumed scalp arteriovenous malformation. INTERVENTION: Cerebral angiography defined the lesion as a sinus pericranii with the origin at the torcular sinus. Bilateral transverse sinus stenosis, unilateral internal jugular vein stenosis, and a deep venous anomaly were also identified. No treatment was instituted, and his headaches have resolved spontaneously. CONCLUSION: The association of sinus pericranii and craniosynostosis is important because these patients are sometimes candidates for ventricular shunting, which may prove disastrous if the sinus pericranii is not identified. We discuss our case in reference to diagnosis, possible pathophysiology, and management considerations and review the literature on sinus pericranii in association with craniosynostosis.
Preparing for Conferences-Basic Presentation Skills [GOLD]

When you prepare for conferences, you most likely will have submitted a manuscript for review hoping that it will get accepted. In the March/ April 2012 issue of IEEE Pulse, I highlighted some basic rules for scientific writing that matters if you would like to get your publications printed. Once you receive an acceptance notification, you can dance a jig. However, you will most likely not yet be thinking about how you will present yourself at the conference. Further, early planning and utilizing more time to prepare and practice are crucial for a well received presentation.
Infrared spectra of nitrogen containing compounds—I: Benzamide

Abstract A study of the infrared spectra of benzamide, benzamide- 15 N and benzamide- d 2 suggests that the frequencies of the amide-I and amide-II bands are inverted in the solid-state spectra of benzamide, i.e. the amide-II band lies at a higher frequency than the amide-1 band. Other frequencies which may be useful for characterizing the primary amide group are also identified.
Regulating exocytosis of nanoparticles via host–guest chemistry

Prolonged retention of internalized nanoparticulate systems inside cells improves their efficacy in imaging, drug delivery, and theranostic applications. Especially, regulating exocytosis of the nanoparticles is a key factor in the fabrication of effective nanocarriers for chemotherapeutic treatments but orthogonal control of exocytosis in the cellular environment is a major challenge. Herein, we present the first example of regulating exocytosis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), a model drug carrier, by using a simple host–guest supramolecular system. AuNPs featuring quaternary amine head groups were internalized into the cells through endocytosis. Subsequent in situ treatment of a complementary cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) to the amine head groups resulted in the AuNP-CB[7] complexation inside cells, rendering particle assembly. This complexation induced larger particle assemblies that remained sequestered in the endosomes, inhibiting exocytosis of the particles without any observed cytotoxicity.
Glucocorticoids regulate pituitary growth hormone-releasing hormone receptor messenger ribonucleic acid expression.

Glucocorticoids regulate GH synthesis and secretion by influencing both hypothalamic and pituitary function. With respect to GH-releasing hormone (GHRH), an important GH secretagogue, glucocorticoids are reported not only to suppress hypothalamic GHRH expression but also to augment pituitary responsiveness to GHRH. To investigate further this latter observation, we have determined the effects of this steroid on expression of the GHRH receptor (GHRH-R) gene in the rat pituitary in vivo and in pituitary cells in vitro. Adult male rats were adrenalectomized or sham operated and treated with sc implants of cholesterol or corticosterone. Adrenalectomized animals showed substantially reduced pituitary GHRH-R mRNA levels, when compared with untreated sham-operated animals. Conversely, administration of corticosterone increased pituitary GHRH-R mRNA levels in intact, as well as adrenalectomized rats. We also analyzed the effects of the synthetic glucocorticoid, dexamethasone, on GHRH-R mRNA expression in cultured...
Computation of the forcing term for boundary flow through a permeable boundary

Abstract A standard initial-boundary value problem which commonly appears in the theory of groundwater flow through porous media is converted to a boundary integral equation (BIE). The original problem, which evidently has remained unsolved for three decades, can be solved using this BIE approach if a certain driving term can be determined. This paper describes how this driving term can, itself, be determined explicitly as a solution to a mixed Fredholm Volterra integral equation over an infinite domain. The solution of this equation is computable via an approximating system of ordinary differential equations in the time variable.
2′-deoxy-2′-methylene derivatives of adenosine, guanosine, tubercidin, cytidine and uridine as inhibitors of L1210 cell growth in culture

The 2'-deoxy-2'-methylene derivatives of adenosine (MdAdo), guanosine (MdGuo), tubercidin (MdTu), cytidine (MdCyd) and uridine (MdUrd) were synthesized as mechanism-based inhibitors directed at ribonucleotide reductase. It was shown that MdCyd 5'-diphosphate irreversibly inactivated ribonucleotide reductase from Escherichia coli (Baker et al., J Med Chem 34: 1879-1884, 1991). In studies reported here, MdAdo/EHNA, MdGuo and MdCyd inhibited L1210 cell growth with IC50 values of 3.4, 10.6 and 1.4 microM, respectively. Since MdAdo is a substrate for adenosine deaminase, the presence of EHNA was required to give maximal growth inhibition. 8-Aminoguanosine was not required to maximize the cytotoxic effects of MdGuo. The 2'-deoxy-2'-methylene derivatives of tubercidin and uridine did not inhibit L1210 cell growth at concentrations as high as 50 microM (MdTu) or 100 microM (MdUrd). L1210 cell lines resistant to hydroxyurea (directed at the non-heme iron subunit of ribonucleotide reductase) or deoxyadenosine (directed at the effector binding subunit of ribonucleotide reductase) were not resistant to MdCyd. An L1210 cell line that was highly resistant to dGuo due to the loss of a relatively specific deoxyribonucleoside kinase (Cory et al., J Biol Chem 268: 405-409, 1993) had a 6.6-fold increase in the IC50 value toward MdCyd, but showed only a 2-fold increase in resistance to MdGuo. Another L1210 cell line that was markedly deficient in adenosine kinase activity was highly resistant to MdAdo. Analysis by flow cytometry showed that MdCyd showed the transit of the cells through the G2/M phase of the cell cycle resulting in the buildup of the G2/M population. MdAdo, MdGuo and MdCyd inhibited the incorporation of [14C]cytidine into DNA without an effect on RNA synthesis or total cellular uptake of [14C]cytidine. The conversion of [14C]cytidine to deoxycytidine nucleotides was partially inhibited by MdGuo, but not by MdAdo or MdCyd. These data show that the 2'-deoxy-2'-methylene derivatives of adenosine, guanosine and cytidine are activated via specific nucleoside kinases and that the modes of action of these compounds are not identical.
Resistance training volume, energy balance and weight management: Rationale and design of a 9 month trial

The increased prevalence of obesity and the lack of treatment success both argue for the design and evaluation of strategies to prevent the development of overweight and obesity. To date, the role of resistance training (RT) in this regard is largely unexplored. RT may be effective for weight management as a result of increased fat-free mass (FFM), which may result in increased resting metabolic rate and increased physical activity energy expenditure. However, the literature relative to the efficacy of RT protocols recommended for healthy adults to alter the aforementioned parameters is inconsistent or inadequately evaluated. We will conduct a 9 month randomized controlled efficacy trial to compare changes in body composition (fat mass, FFM, % body fat) and energy balance in response to 2 volumes of RT (1 vs. 3 sets vs. non-exercise control) both at the completion of training (9 months) and 1 year later (body composition). This investigation will be conducted in a sample of healthy, normal and overweight, sedentary, young adult men and women; a group at high risk for development of overweight and obesity. Our results will provide information relative to the minimum volume of RT that may be associated with body weight/fat gain which may inform the development of guidelines for RT to prevent weight gain or to alter body composition.
A forthcoming useful tool: enhancing understanding of models through analysis

Simulation is used increasingly throughout research and development for many purposes. While model output is often the primary interest, insights into the system gained through the simulation process can also be valuable. These insights can come from building and validating the model as well as analyzing its behaviors and output; however, much that could be informative may not be easily discernible through traditional approaches, particularly for complex models.The author is developing an analysis tool to provide simulation modelers with additional information about the models they are using. The focus is to extend the information available. A key component is a compiler for a C-like language in which modelers specify (code) their models. With the ability to directly monitor and record interactions, additional information could be presented to the modeler in order to facilitate new insights.
Two-part survival models applied to administrative data for determining rate of and predictors for maternal-child transmission of HIV

In analysing maternal-child HIV transmission from Medicaid claims data, we must deal with follow-up that is sometimes so short that we cannot claim that an apparently uninfected infant is actually uninfected as opposed to not yet exhibiting HIV-associated symptoms. To overcome this, we have been using analyses of 'time-to-diagnosis' of HIV infection to estimate transmission rates and predictors of transmission. Such analyses mix the event of transmission with that of our ability to diagnose HIV infection from coded claims data. We would like to separate these two pieces. Also, due to incomplete follow-up, Kaplan-Meier analyses will underestimate transmission rates. In econometrics and biostatistics there are two-part (mixture) models that can serve the goal of separating transmission from the process of diagnosing HIV infection in the newborn. Farewell describes a model that combines a logistic regression for the yes/no event (in our case, HIV transmission) and a Weibull regression model for the survival analysis portion (in our case, time-to-diagnosis). We use this approach to fit models that have potentially separate covariates for transmission and for time-to-diagnosis. The results allow us to identify predictors of transmission and estimate transmission rates with reduced concern for adequacy of follow-up.
Speculations on primordial magnetic helicity

We speculate that above or just below the electroweak phase transition magnetic fields are generated which have a net helicity (otherwise said, a Chern-Simons term) of the order of the magnitude N{sub B}+N{sub L}, where N{sub B,L} is the baryon or lepton number today. (To be more precise requires much more knowledge of B-, L-generating mechanisms than we currently have.) Electromagnetic helicity generation is associated (indirectly) with the generation of an electroweak Chern-Simons number through B+L anomalies. This helicity, which in the early universe is some 30 orders of magnitude greater than what would be expected from fluctuations alone in the absence of B+L violation, should be reasonably well conserved through the evolution of the universe to around the times of matter dominance and decoupling, because the early universe is an excellent conductor. Possible consequences include early structure formation, macroscopic manifestations of CP violation in the cosmic magnetic field (measurable at least in principle, if not in practice), and an inverse-cascade dynamo mechanism in which magnetic fields and helicity are unstable to transfer to larger and larger spatial scales. We give a quasilinear treatment of the general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamics inverse cascade instability, finding substantial growth for helicity of the assumed magnitudemore » out to scales {approximately}l{sub M}{epsilon}{sup {minus}1}, where {epsilon} is roughly the B+L to photon ratio and l{sub M} is the magnetic correlation length. We also elaborate further on an earlier proposal of the author for the generation of magnetic fields above the EW (electroweak) phase transition. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}« less
Dangling bond density and solar cell performance in amorphous silicon

Abstract The performance degradation of hydrogenated amorphous silicon solar cells is quantitatively linked to the rise in dangling-bond density with light exposure. The recovery of a solar cell device parameter (Fill Factor) upon annealing in the dark at various temperatures is then used to determine the kinetics of annealing of the dangling bond. With the kinetics of dangling-bond generation and annealing thus established, the performance degradation of solar cells at elevated temperatures can be calculated.
An optimization method for components selection using quality function deployment

When a customer selects a product from a product family, the attributes of the components for selection are usually technical parameters instead of customer-familiar characteristics of the product. In this paper, an optimization method for components selection is proposed based on quality function deployment (QFD) to minimize the difference between the customer’s expectation and the selected product. The model is converted into an equivalent linear integer programming model to facilitate the solving approach. Fuzzy customer requirements are also considered in this model. A practical example from applying this model is presented to prove the feasibility and effectiveness of the model. The computation result shows that the mapping relations among the customer requirements, technical attributes, and component attributes are developed by matrices of house of quality (HoQ), and that the optimal solution corresponds reasonably with the customer requirements.
A09 The differential diagnosis of chorea

Background The term “chorea” is derived from the Greek term for dance, and suggests the fluidity of the movements, but not their arhythmicity. The movements can involve any body part and typically flit rapidly from region to region in an irregular, unpredictable, manner. The underlying pathophysiology is likely to be an imbalance of the activities of the direct and indirect basal ganglia pathways. The multitude of possible causes of chorea may be indicative of the vulnerability of this balance to disruption. Chorea may be a feature of metabolic disturbances and of structural lesions, which appear to affect neurotransmission in an apparently identical manner to that seen in neurodegenerative diseases. Aims In my talk I will describe an approach to diagnosing the patient with chorea, guided by informative aspects of the history, examination, and diagnostic tests. Methods I will systematically review causes of chorea which can be identified by features of personal and family history, neurological examination, and specific diagnostic tests. Results Although chorea can appear phenomenologically the same, regardless of underlying aetiology, by focusing upon specific features we can narrow down the differential diagnosis. Conclusions This movement disorder can be due to a large number of neurological disorders and diagnosis can be challenging. There are a number of well-characterised genetic disorders which typically cause this movement disorder, and others where it may occur less often, for example as part of a mixed movement disorder. Advances in molecular medicine have facilitated the recognition of atypical presentations of genetically-defined disorders, such as when the age of onset is later than is typical. The work-up of the patient with chorea can be extensive, expanding every year, and yet some patients inevitably remain undiagnosed.
A time-and-value centric provenance model and architecture for medical event streams

Provenance becomes a critical requirement for healthcare IT infrastructures, especially when pervasive biomedical sensors act as a source of raw medical streams for large-scale, automated clinical decision support systems. Medical and legal requirements will make it obligatory for such systems to answer queries regarding the underlying data samples from which output alerts are derived, the IDs of the processing components used and the privileges of the individuals and software components accessing the medical data. Unfortunately, existing models of either annotation or process based provenance are designed for transaction-oriented systems and do not satisfy the unique requirements for systems processing high-volume, continuous medical streams. This paper proposes a simple, but useful, hybrid provenance model called Time-Value Centric (TVC) provenance.
Phosphodiester-Mediated Reaction of Cisplatin with Guanine in Oligodeoxyribonucleotides†

The cancer chemotherapeutic agent cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) or cisplatin reacts primarily with guanines in DNA to form 1,2-Pt-GG and 1,3-Pt-GNG intrastrand cross-links and, to a lesser extent, G-G interstrand cross-links. Recent NMR evidence has suggested that cisplatin can also form a coordination complex with the phosphodiester internucleotide linkage of DNA. We have examined the effects of the phosphodiester backbone on the reactions of cisplatin with oligodeoxyribonucleotides that lack or contain a GTG sequence. Cisplatin forms a stable adduct with TpT that can be isolated by reversed phase HPLC. The cis-Pt-TpT adduct contains a single Pt, as determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), and is resistant to digestion by snake venom phosphodiesterase. Treatment of the adduct with sodium cyanide regenerates TpT. Similar adduct formation was observed when T(pT)8 was treated with cisplatin, but not when the phosphodiester linkages of T...
Imaging of cartilage degeneration progression in vivo using ultrahigh-resolution OCT

Abstract: Ultrahigh resolution OCT is used to visualize experimentally induced osteoarthritis in a rat knee model. Using a Cr 4+ :Forsterite laser, ultrahigh image resolutions of 5um are achieved in vivo. Progression of osteoarthritic remodeling and cartilage degeneration are quantified. The utility of OCT for the assessment of cartilage integrity is demonstrated. Keywords: Optical coherence tomography, osteoarthritis, articular cartilage, imaging Introduction Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease resulting in several thousand orthopedic procedures every year. Articular cartilage, which is essential for joint function, often exhibits morphological changes during the preliminary stages of many arthritic diseases and could be used as an early indicator of disease 1 . Current diagnostic techniques such as X-ray radiography, minimally invasive needle arthroscopy, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and high frequency ultrasound (HF-US) have been applied to osteoarthritis, however clinical systems have limited resolution
The twin ion technique for detection of metabolites by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry: intermediates in estrogen biosynthesis.

Abstract [4- 14 C + 7-D 0.44 ]Androstenedione and [4- 14 C + 7β-D 0.42 ]testosterone were prepared. When they were examined by mass spectrometry, the above proportion of deuterium and protium forms resulted in mass spectra in which the molecular ion (M + ) and (M + + 1) were of equal intensity. Fragment ions that contained deuterium were also twins. When doubly-labeled androstenedione and testosterone were used as substrates for the aromatizing enzymes of human placenta, the mass spectra of metabolites were characteristically labeled and thus readily distinguished from unlabeled material. Metabolites were quantitated by counting 14 C. 17β,19-Dihydroxyandrost-4-en-3-one, 19-hydroxyandrost-4-ene-3,17-dione, 17β-hydroxy-3-oxoandrost-4-en-19-al, 3,17-dioxoandrost-4-en-19-al, estradiol-17β, and estrone were isolated, identified by their mass spectra, and quantitated following incubation of doubly-labeled androstenedione and testosterone with human placental microsomes.
Maternal low-protein diet alters the expression of real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction reference genes in an age-, sex-, and organ-dependent manner in rat offspring

Altered perinatal environment, often manifested as low birth weight, is thought to contribute to greater susceptibility for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes as a result of epigenetic modifications and alteration of transcriptional activity for key genes. Real-time polymerase chain reaction is a useful technique for the quantitative determination of differences in transcriptional activity. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction data analyses require normalization of transcriptional activity of target genes to an endogenous control, usually a reference gene. In response to reports of altered expression of reference genes in various experimental models, we hypothesized that adverse perinatal environment alters reference gene expression. We examined the expression of the following reference genes in the offspring of a rodent maternal low-protein diet model: β-actin, hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase 1, TATA-box-binding protein, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, and glucuronidase-β in brain, heart, kidneys, and intestines. We found altered expression in brain, heart, and kidneys for each of the reference genes measured; these effects were age, organ, and sex dependent. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and glucuronidase-β were found to be the least affected by these variables, whereas hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase 1 was the most inconsistent. Our findings underscore the importance of empirical determination of a reliable reference gene for real-time polymerase chain reaction studies in the low-protein diet model.
Detection of 5S rDNA and other repeated DNA on supernumerary B chromosomes of Triticum species ( Poaceae )

The supernumerary B chromosomes ofTriticum speltoides andT. tripsacoides were analyzed in mitotic metaphases of spike primordium cells by C-banding and in situ hybridization (ISH) analyzes. B chromosomes ofT. speltoides have larger telomeric and interstitial C-bands, whereas those ofT. tripsacoides are almost completely devoid of C-bands. A prominent ISH site of rye related DNA sequences (using probe pSc119) was detected on B chromosomes ofT. tripsacoides and only a minor ISH site was observed on theT. speltoides B chromosomes. However, two ISH sites of 5S rRNA loci were detected at a terminal and an interstitial location of theT. speltoides B chromosomes. These sites were absent on B chromosomes ofT. tripsacoides. The results are discussed with respect to the phylogenetic origin of these B chromosomes.
Media framing of proposed nuclear reactors: An analysis of print media

Nuclear energy has received substantial recent attention, marketed as a ‘green’ solution to global climate change (GCC) with calls for new reactors. However, considerable debate exists about whether it represents a viable solution to GCC. Given the complexity and urgency of the issue, a full and balanced debate is desirable. Since media play an important role in shaping public perception, we examined print media coverage of proposed reactors in Georgia—one site in the southeastern United States, which has been the focus of such proposals. We analysed the content of editorials and news articles from two local newspapers—the Augusta Chronicle and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The former exclusively published pro-nuclear opinion pieces whereas the latter published a mix of pro- and anti-nuclear opinions. The majority of news articles in both newspapers generally presented balanced arguments. Pro- and anti-nuclear arguments most often reflected economic and environmental benefits and risks, whereas informational text primarily detailed regulatory processes and financing. Findings suggested that informational text was not necessarily ‘neutral’, sometimes masking covert pro- and anti-nuclear content. Implications for how findings might shape public opinion and strategies for shaping media and extending public deliberation are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Totem single-ring ordering and membership protocol

Fault-tolerant distributed systems are becoming more important, but in existing systems, maintaining the consistency of replicated data is quite expensive. The Totem single-ring protocol supports consistent concurrent operations by placing a total order on broadcast messages. This total order is derived from the sequence number in a token that circulates around a logical ring imposed on a set of processors in a broadcast domain. The protocol handles reconfiguration of the system when processors fail and restart or when the network partitions and remerges. Extended virtual synchrony ensures that processors deliver messages and configuration changes to the application in a consistent, systemwide total order. An effective flow control mechanism enables the Totem single-ring protocol to achieve message-ordering rates significantly higher than the best prior total-ordering protocols.
The structure of optimal partitions of orthogonal polygons into fat rectangles

Motivated by a VLSI masking problem, we explore partitions of an orthogonal polygon of n vertices into isothetic rectangles that maximize the shortest rectangle side over all rectangles. Thus no rectangle is "thin": all rectangles are "fat". We show that such partitions have a rich structure, more complex than what one might at first expect. For example, for partitions all "cuts" of which are anchored on the boundary, sometimes cuts are needed 1/2 or 1/3 of the distance between two polygon edges, but they are never needed at fractions with a larger denominator. Partitions using cuts without any restrictions seem especially complicated, but we establish a limit on the "depth" of cuts (roughly, how distant from the boundary they "float" in the interior) and other structural constraints that lead to both an O(n) bound on the number of rectangles in an optimal partition, as well as a restriction of the cuts to a polynomial-sized grid. These constraints may be used to develop polynomial-time dynamic programming algorithms for finding optimal partitions under a variety of restrictions.
Proposal for Extending The Classification of Adult Myelodysplastic Syndromes (Mds) To Pediatrics Mds

Proposal for Extending The Classification of Adult Myelodysplastic Syndromes (Mds) To Pediatrics Mds
From Single to Multi-document Summarization

NeATS is a multi-document summarization system that attempts to extract relevant or interesting portions from a set of documents about some topic and present them in coherent order. NeATS is among the best performers in the large scale summarization evaluation DUC 2001.
Matrix infrared detection of OBSO

Abstract Boron atoms codeposited with SO 2 in excess argon gave a strong product absorption at 2006.3 cm −1 , which exhibited isotopic shifts ( 10 B, 34 S, 18 O) appropriate for the BO stretching fundamental of the OBSO insertion product.
An analytical study of diurnal wind-structure variations in the boundary layer and the low-level nocturnal jet

An analytical framework is proposed for studying variations in the diurnal wind structure in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and the evolution of the low-level nocturnal jet. A time-dependent eddy-diffusivity coefficient corresponding to solar input is proposed, and an appropriate coordinate transformation ensures that mixing height varies continuously with ground heat-flux changes. The solution exhibits the receding character of the daytime PBL as evening approaches, thereby dividing the PBL into two regimes — the one just above the ground, representing the nocturnal boundary layer, and the region above it. It is assumed that inertial oscillations (IO) are triggered in the upper layer at about the time of sunset when the reversal in the direction of ground heat flux is felt in the upper layer. Two approaches are adopted to determine the characteristic features of IO and the evolution of the nocturnal low-level jet. The first one is based on the physical principle that release of horizontal momentum due to deviation from the geostrophic wind gives rise to the IO. The solution captures all the characteristic features of the IO, such as phase shift and decreasing amplitude of the IO with increasing height. According to this analysis the IO is triggered at a level as soon as the top of the receding boundary layer leaves that level. The solution is discontinuous with respect to the vertical coordinate. In the second approach we solve an initial-value problem to determine the solution in the upper layer, assuming that at about the time of sunset there is a rapid collapse of the daytime PBL to the steady, nocturnal boundary layer. The assumption is based on the mixing-height profiles prepared from climatological data collected at Delhi. The solution for the nocturnal boundary-layer regime is then obtained as a boundary-value problem. The solutions so obtained are continuous throughout the domain of interest and exhibit the characteristic features of an IO. The analysis leads to the conditions under which a low-level nocturnal jet is produced and provides quantitative estimates of the parameters, such as length of night, latitude, mixing height at sunset and nocturnal mixing height, that are conducive to the generation of a jet. The nocturnal wind profile produced by this approach compares well both with typical atmospheric data observed at Delhi and with output from a mesoscale numerical model. There is still some uncertainty related to the time of initiation of the IO as a function of latitude.
Skip strips: maintaining triangle strips for view-dependent rendering

View-dependent simplification has emerged as a powerful tool for graphics acceleration in visualization of complex environments. However, view-dependent simplification techniques have not been able to take full advantage of the underlying graphics hardware. Specifically, triangle strips are a widely used hardware-supported mechanism to compactly represent and efficiently render static triangle meshes. However, in a view-dependent framework, the triangle mesh connectivity changes at every frame making it difficult to use triangle strips. In this paper we present a novel data-structure, Skip Strip, that efficiently maintains triangle strips during such view-dependent changes. A Skip Strip stores the vertex hierarchy nodes in a skip-list-like manner with path compression. We anticipate that Skip Strips will provide a road-map to combine rendering acceleration techniques for static datasets, typical of retained-mode graphics applications, with those for dynamic datasets found in immediate-mode applications.
Newton's Prism in the British Museum

A GLASS prism, said to have been the property of Isaac Newton, is on exhibition in the British Museum, Medieval Collections Room, Bay XVI. It was presented in 1927 by the Rev. H. T. Inman of Grantham, a collateral descendant of Newton, and resembles quite closely the prism seen in the hand of the statue of Newton in the ante-chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge. A question which naturally occurs to men of science who see this prism is whether it is one of those which Newton used in his famous experiments on the spectrum in 1666, described in his ” Optical Lectures” of 1669, pp. 58 and 75, and reported also in Phil. Trans., 6, 3075 (1671).
The abundances of3H and 14C in the solar wind

Abstract Tritium is measured as a function of depth in a Surveyor 3 sample. The upper limit for solar-wind-implanted tritium gives a3H/1H limit for the solar wind of 1 × 10−11. The temperature release patterns of14C from lunar soils are measured. The14C release patterns from surface soils differ from a trench bottom soil and gives evidence for the presence of14C in the solar wind with a14C/1H ratio of approximately 4 × 10−11. The implications of these radio nuclide abundances in the solar wind are discussed.
Anatase TiO2 Nanocomposites for Antimicrobial Coatings

A sol-gel chemistry approach was used to fabricate nanoparticles of TiO(2) in its anatase form. The particle size is shown to be sensitive to the use of HClO(4) or HNO(3) as acid catalyst. The gold-capped TiO(2) nanocomposites were processed by the reduction of gold on the surface of the TiO(2) nanoparticles via a chemical reduction or a photoreduction method. Different percentages of vanadium-doped TiO(2) nanoparticles, which extended the TiO(2) absorption wavelength from the ultraviolet to the visible region, were successfully prepared. The synthesized nanocomposites have a size of about 12-18 nm and an anatase phase as characterized by XRD, TEM, AFM, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The TiO(2) nanocomposite coatings have been applied on glass slide substrates. The antibacterial activity of TiO(2) nanocomposites was investigated qualitatively and quantitatively. Two types of bacteria, Escherichia coli (DH 5alpha) and Bacillus megaterium (QM B1551), were used during the experiments. Good inhibition results were observed and demonstrated visually. The quantitative examination of bacterial activity for E. coli was estimated by the survival ratio as calculated from the number of viable cells, which form colonies on the nutrient agar plates. The antimicrobial efficiency and inhibition mechanisms are illustrated and discussed.
Resonance lines in the Ag I and Pd I isoelectronic sequences: Cs IX through Sm XVI and Cs X through Nd XV

Spectra of Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, and Sm ions were obtained with a low-temperature triggered spark produced with a 14.2 μF capacitor charged to voltages of 3–15 KV. They were photographed with a 10.7 m grazing incidence spectrograph in the range of 60–600 A. Resonance lines in the Pd i isolectronic sequences 4d10–4d95p and 4d10–4d94f were identified. In the Ag i sequences, spectral lines arising from 5s–5p, 5p–5d, 4f–5d, and 4f–5g transitions were identified.
Restrictive hemodynamics are present at the time of diagnosis of allograft coronary artery disease in children.

Abstract: Clinical recognition of allograft coronary artery disease (ACAD) is challenging. We examined whether right heart hemodynamics can aid its diagnosis in pediatric recipients. We retrospective analyzed hemodynamic data of recipients with ACAD versus age and date-of-transplant matched controls. From 1982–2001, 18 cases fulfilled study entry criteria. Median age at transplant was 12 years for subjects and 8 years for controls. Median time to diagnosis of ACAD was 65 months (14.5–124 months) and 67 months (16–140 months) to arteriography for controls. The median right ventricular end-diastolic pressure (RVEDP) at diagnosis was 11.0 vs. 6.0 mmHg for controls (p = 0.003). Pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) at diagnosis was 14.0 vs. 8.0 mmHg for controls (p = 0.001). When subdivided by severity of ACAD, the difference was greater in the moderate/severe group. Compared to the previous catheterization (median interval 10 months for subjects, 12.0 for controls ), there was an increase of 4.0 mmHg in RVEDP in ACAD subjects (n = 13, p = .003) versus 0 mmHg in controls (p = 0.042), and an increase in PCWP of 5.5 in subjects (p = .002) versus 0 mmHg in controls (p = 0.066). The presence of elevated filling pressures plus an interim increase should alert to the presence of ACAD and help guide further investigation.
Structure-activity relationships of cytochalasins in the differentiation of cytolytic T lymphocytes.

Abstract Four naturally occurring cytochalasins and three synthetic congeners have been studied for their effects on in vitro sensitization of murine lymphocytes to P815 mastocytoma. The relative order of effectiveness of these secondary fungal metabolites in inhibiting cytotoxic T cell development is as follows: cytochalasin D > cytochalasin E > cytochalasin B, 21, 22-dihydrocytochalasin A > 7-acetylcytochalasin D. The 7,20 diacetylcytocholasin B derivative was inactive at the highest level tested (4 × 10 −6 M). Cytocholasin D is the most effective compound, producing at 5 × 10 −8 M a 50% inhibition of 51 Cr release in a 4-hr cytolysis assay. This response pattern is in keeping with other test systems that implicate actin involvement, and underscores the contribution of an unsubstituted 7-hydroxyl drug function in receptor recognition. Inhibition produced by the cytochalasins is reversible if the compounds are removed from the tissue culture medium within the first 24 hr of a 4-day culture period. Delayed addition of cytochalasin D inhibits T cell development only within this first 24 hr of culture. These data suggest that the effects of cytochalasins are at an early step in the sensitization process, possibly antigen recognition.
Gender, Organizational Justice Perceptions, and Union Organizing

The authors examine the relationship between gender and organizational justice perceptions and the implications of this relationship for organizing women. They employ a survey study design to confirm expectations associated with the anecdotal literature on this topic, namely that women place greater value on interactional justice than on distributive or procedural justice. Results indicate that gender leads to valuing interactional justice more highly only in interaction with race. Specifically, in contrast to white women and both white and black men, black women give greater weight to being treated with dignity and respect than to the other two organizational justice dimensions.
Efficiency and equity tradeoffs: incentive-compatible contracts revisited

Abstract While the efficiency of certain contractual choices has been well established, less attention has been given to the distributional outcomes of contracting in natural resource-based industries. Data from a case study of seed gatherers in Honduras demonstrates that workers paid under a relative payment system receive an earnings premium of about 25%, of which 40% cannot be explained by observed differences in worker productivity. A theoretical agency model is outlined in the appendix to explain why workers under tournaments necessarily enjoy a higher return than those under piece-rates, implying a more skewed income distribution as suggested in the efficiency wage literature.
Interactive wrapper generation with minimal user effort

While much of the data on the web is unstructured in nature, there is also a significant amount of embedded structured data, such as product information on e-commerce sites or stock data on financial sites. A large amount of research has focused on the problem of generating wrappers, i.e., software tools that allow easy and robust extraction of structured data from text and HTML sources. In many applications, such as comparison shopping, data has to be extracted from many different sources, making manual coding of a wrapper for each source impractical. On the other hand, fully automatic approaches are often not reliable enough, resulting in low quality of the extracted data.We describe a complete system for semi-automatic wrapper generation that can be trained on different data sources in a simple interactive manner. Our goal is to minimize the amount of user effort for training reliable wrappers through design of a suitable training interface that is implemented based on a powerful underlying extraction language and a set of training and ranking algorithms. Our experiments show that our system achieves reliable extraction with a very small amount of user effort.