cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Proteasome Inhibition and Its Clinical Application in Solid Tumors

The proteasome is a multicatalytic protein complex whose principal function is the degradation of vital proteins many of which are involved in cell cycle regulation, tumor suppression, apoptosis, transcription, and angiogenesis. The inhibition of the proteasome is a promising novel therapeutic approach to cancer treatment. Bortezomib (Velcade) is the first proteasome inhibitor to have shown anticancer activity and reach clinical trials. Preclinical and early clinical trials in both solid tumors and hematological malignancies demonstrate that bortezomib is a relatively well-tolerated and active agent, either alone or in combination with traditional chemotherapeutic drugs. Most recently, its efficacy has been shown in multiple myeloma. Currently, clinical trials are ongoing in order to determine the efficacy as well as safety of bortezomib in the management of solid tumors, especially in combination with traditional cytotoxic agents.
CRTAM Shapes the Gut Microbiota and Enhances the Severity of Infection

Gut lymphocytes and the microbiota establish a reciprocal relationship that impacts the host immune response. Class I-restricted T cell-associated molecule (CRTAM) is a cell adhesion molecule expressed by intraepithelial T cells and is required for their retention in the gut. In this study, we show that CRTAM expression affects gut microbiota composition under homeostatic conditions. Moreover, Crtam-/- mice infected with the intestinal pathogen Salmonella exhibit reduced Th17 responses, lower levels of inflammation, and reduced Salmonella burden, which is accompanied by expansion of other microbial taxa. Thus, CRTAM enhances susceptibility to Salmonella, likely by promoting the inflammatory response that promotes the pathogen's growth. We also found that the gut microbiota from wild-type mice, but not from Crtam-/- mice, induces CRTAM expression and Th17 responses in ex-germ-free mice during Salmonella infection. Our study demonstrates a reciprocal relationship between CRTAM expression and the gut microbiota, which ultimately impacts the host response to enteric pathogens.
PolyShard: Coded Sharding Achieves Linearly Scaling Efficiency and Security Simultaneously

Today’s blockchain designs suffer from a trilemma claiming that no blockchain system can simultaneously achieve decentralization, security, and performance scalability. For current blockchain systems, as more nodes join the network, the efficiency of the system (computation, communication, and storage) stays constant at best. A leading idea for enabling blockchains to scale efficiency is the notion of sharding: different subsets of nodes handle different portions of the blockchain, thereby reducing the load for each individual node. However, existing sharding proposals achieve efficiency scaling by compromising on trust - corrupting the nodes in a given shard will lead to the permanent loss of the corresponding portion of data. In this paper, we settle the trilemma by demonstrating a new protocol for coded storage and computation in blockchains. In particular, we propose PolyShard : “polynomially coded sharding” scheme that achieves information-theoretic upper bounds on the efficiency of the storage, system throughput, as well as on trust, thus enabling a truly scalable system. We provide simulation results that numerically demonstrate the performance improvement over state of the arts, and the scalability of the PolyShard system. Finally, we discuss potential enhancements, and highlight practical considerations in building such a system.
CHRONIC ULCERATIVE STOMATITIS: A LICHENOID OR VESICULOBULLOUS DISEASE?

Objectives Chronic ulcerative stomatitis (CUS) is a rare disease of unknown etiology. The histopathologic features are similar to lichen planus, but direct immunofluorescence (DIF) studies show characteristic presence of IgG in basal and parabasal epithelial nuclei.This study will review a case series of CUS and assess if the entity is more similar to lichen planus or vesiculobullous diseases. Methods An IRB-approved retrospective search of CUS was performed within the archives of the UF Oral Pathology Biopsy Service between 2007 and 2017. Findings Seventeen cases, all female, were included. The median age was 64 years (range 47-83 years). Eleven patients were Caucasian, one was Asian, and one was African-American. Race was not specified in four cases. Buccal mucosa (8/17) was the most common location, followed by gingiva (7/17), buccal vestibule (1/17), and gingiva/buccal mucosa (1/17). The most common clinical presentations were pain/burning (13/17), erythema (13/17), whiteness (11/17), ulcerations/erosions (5/17), blisters/positive Nikolsky's sign (5/17), sloughing (2/17), striae (2/17), and recession (1/17). The clinical impression was lichen planus in 12 cases. Of these twelve cases, 4 included vesiculobullous disease as a differential. Four cases did not include a clinical impression and one listed erythema multiforme as the clinical impression. All cases were confirmed with DIF testing that showed a characteristic speckled pattern of IgG in basal and parabasal cells. Eleven of these cases were also positive for fibrinogen and two cases were faintly positive for C3. None of the cases were positive for IgA or IgM. Conclusion Since CUS has overlapping clinical, histological, and immunofluorescence features with lichen planus and vesiculobullous diseases, clinicians and pathologists should consider this unusual, but significant, entity whenever oral ulcerative diseases with mixed features are encountered.
Border Games: A Response to Palafox

Jose Palafox's thoughtful critique of my book, Border Games: Policing the U. S. -Mexico Divide, is mostly about what is not included in the book and what he would have liked to have seen in it. I have often regretted that I did not add a paragraph up front in the preface clarifying what the book is not about, and this response gives me an opportunity to do so. Border Games was not meant to be a comprehensive examination of the U.S.? Mexico border or of the unauthorized border crossing experience of migrants. To do this would have required hundreds of additional pages, and would have ended up as a very different kind of book. Instead, my more modest and focused aim in this slim volume was to unpack the logic of border enforcement escalation, focusing on explaining the sharp expansion of drug and immigration control efforts in recent years. Thus, while I certainly do point out (more than Palafox acknowledges) the significant human costs of intensified enforcement along the border, my primary goal was to trace what drives the practice and politics of border control escalation. This necessarily means that my main research was on those doing and pushing for escalation?i.e., focused on the dynamics of the policymaking and implementing process. Palafox is simply wrong in stating that I do not "extend the analysis to state practices and policies that compel migrants to cross in more remote and deadly areas." This is actually a major theme in the book, where I emphasize that pushing migrants away from traditional urban crossing areas (translate: away from the public and media eye) has been a crucial part of constructing an image of a more secure and orderly borderline. Palafox suggests that I should have focused more on interviewing migrants crossing the border to tell the human side of the story. Perhaps so, but I first have to be convinced that this would provide essential analytical leverage in explaining escalation (rather than, say, understanding the process and dangers of unauthorized migration more broadly). Moreover, as has been widely reported in the press, other researchers
The Numbers Game: Collegiate Esports and the Instrumentation of Movement Performance

This chapter reports on a longitudinal ethnographic study of a collegiate digital gaming team, participating in a North American network of intercollegiate competition in the massively popular online game, League of Legends. The study parallels, and is woven into, a period of intensive investment in the burgeoning scene for competitive, broadcasted video gaming (esports) between postsecondary institutions. Dozens of universities and colleges in the United States and Canada now offer scholarship programs, training facilities, nutritionists, and coaches for elite competitive gamers. Operating within this context of rapid institutionalization and professionalization, the team I have been following has developed ad hoc sociotechnical practices for getting better that demand close attention from scholars of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and sports. Situating their approach to data collection and analysis within broader histories of technical instrumentation in professional sports, collegiate sports, and professional esports, I argue that these players productively incorporate and hybridize the roles of athlete and analyst that are often kept separate in other sports domains. The chapter concludes by considering the implications of this hybridization, at a time when the interconnected domains of video games, sports, and the military are increasingly invested in the capacities of networked digital media to translate embodied performance into “moving dots”.
Odd-even decomposition of functions

The main result of this note implies that any function from the product of several vector spaces to a vector space can be uniquely decomposed into the sum of mutually orthogonal functions that are odd in some of the arguments and even in the other arguments. Probabilistic notions and facts are employed to simplify statements and proofs.
Personality traits and risk of lifetime asthma diagnosis.

Abstract Objective Traits defined by the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality have been linked to physical health, leading to treatment implications and psychophysiological conceptualizations. Previous studies have reported a consistent link between neuroticism and asthma. This study aims to reinforce this finding and further its scope by looking at all five personality traits and lifetime asthma diagnosis. Methods The current study examined associations between personality traits and lifetime asthma diagnosis in a sample of 3993 participants and, for the purposes of replication, a second sample of 1692 participant siblings. Personality was measured at a single time point in adulthood (mean age: 53 years), while asthma diagnosis by a medical professional was self-reported across three time points over a range of 54 years. A binary logistic regression was performed to examine the association between FFM personality traits and the likelihood of having endorsed asthma at any time point. Results Higher scores in the traits of neuroticism (β = 0.024, p = .03, OR = 1.025) and openness (β = 0.041, p Conclusion These findings suggest that research into certain personality traits might help us better understand psychophysiological connections. Neuroticism, openness, and conscientiousness might be salient factors in developing asthma education and treatment.
Detecting Fake News Articles

Fake news has been generated and widely spread although journalists and researchers created fact-checking websites (e.g., Snopes and PolitiFact) and analyzed characteristics of fake news. To fill this gap, in this paper we focus on developing machine learning models based on only text information in news articles toward automatically detecting fake news. In particular, we proposed a framework which extracts 134 features and builds traditional known machine learning models like Random Forest and XGBoost. We also propose a deep learning based model (LSTM with self-attention mechanism) to see which one performs better in the fake news article detection in both political news and celebrity news domains. In the experiments, we compare our models against 7 baselines. The results show that our XGBoost model improved 16.4% and 13.1% over the best baseline in terms of accuracy in both political news articles and celebrity news articles, respectively.
Multi-Robot Formation Morphing through a Graph Matching Problem

We consider the problem of changing smoothly between formations of spatially deployed multi-robot systems. The algorithm presented in this paper addresses scenarios in which gradual and seamless formation transitions are needed, a problem which we term formation morphing. We show that this can be achieved by routing agents on a Euclidean graph that corresponds to paths computed on —and projected from— an underlying three-dimensional matching graph. The three-dimensional matching graph is advantageous in that it simultaneously represents a logical assignment problem (for which an optimal solution must be sought) and metric information that comprises the spatial aspects of the Euclidean graph. Together, these features allow one to find concurrent disjoint routing paths for multiple source multiple goal (MSMG) routing problems, for which we prove one may find routing solutions to optimize different criteria. These disjoint MSMG paths efficiently steer the agents from the source positions to the goal positions, the process of which enables the seamless transition from an old formation to a new one.
From mutual awareness to collaboration: Academic libraries and autism support programs:

Libraries are designed to support the communities and populations they serve through access to services and materials. Along with supporting faculty and staff, academic libraries work to serve the ...
The structure of depressive symptoms and characteristics and their relation to overall severity in major depressive disorder.

Abstract Although many investigators have examined symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD), the multivariate relations among these features of depression and their relative associations with overall severity of depression are not well understood. The present study is the first to examine the underlying factor structure of depression across a broad set of constructs and to model the multivariate association of these factors with the overall severity of depression. We conducted a large-scale factor analysis and multiple regression in a sample of participants diagnosed with MDD (N = 233) and healthy controls (N = 235). We obtained a five-factor solution composed of the following factors: (1) anxiety; (2) behavioral activation; (3) core symptoms; (4) rumination; and (5) emotional intensity. The core symptoms factor, composed primarily of DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for MDD, was the only factor that showed a consistent, significant association with overall severity of depression and functional impairment. Rumination combined with behavioral inhibition and positive and negative affect combined with each other to form coherent constructs that may be useful in examining differences among depressed individuals. These findings provide an important data-driven framework for the multidimensional symptom structure of depression and suggest several actionable ways for improving clinical assessment and treatment for individuals with MDD.
Effects of aging and lifelong aerobic exercise on expression of innate immune components in human skeletal muscle.

Findings from this investigation provide novel insight into the effect of aging and lifelong aerobic exercise on structural components of the innate immune system in skeletal muscle of humans. Data...
The Busemann–Petty problem in the complex hyperbolic space

The Busemann–Petty problem asks whether origin-symmetric convex bodies in ℝn with smaller central hyperplane sections necessarily have smaller volume. The answer is affirmative if n ≤ 4 and negative if n ≥ 5. We study this problem in the complex hyperbolic n-space ℍnℂ and prove that the answer is affirmative for n ≤ 2 and negative for n ≥ 3.
Primary payer status in patients with seizures: A nationwide study during 1997-2014 in the United States.

Abstract Objective In countries where health coverage is not universal, there is ample evidence of disparities in healthcare, often associated with insurance. People with seizures, similar to those living with any complicated chronic medical comorbidity, need further health-related attention to improve their quality-of-life outcomes. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) component of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) national database between 1997–2014. The analysis focused on the mortality rate, and patients with a principal admission diagnosis of seizure at the time of discharge were identified. Primary Payer Status (PPS) included Medicare, Medicaid, private, and uninsured. Multivariate linear regression modeling was conducted to examine the contribution of the predictive variables to in-hospital mortality. Results Between 1997–2014, 4,594,213 seizure-related discharges was recorded. The overall mean patient age was 41.69 ± 0.98 years, and 58.1 % were female. The average age during this period decreased significantly in Medicare, increased substantially in uninsured, without significant change in Medicaid and private. Patients in Medicare had the highest length of stay (LOS) (4.49 ± 0.29 days), and uninsured (2.79 ± 0.15) had the least. Over time, there was a significant increase in the number of seizure discharges in Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance. However, there was a significant decrease in in-hospital mortality in Medicare, Medicaid, and private, with the most prominent decline in Medicare. Risk-adjusted for age, gender, LOS, illness severity, and time, regression results showed Medicare has a significantly higher association with less in-hospital mortality compared with other insurances. Conclusions Our study showed a significant increase in the number of seizure diagnoses at discharge in Medicare, Medicaid, and private in the United States between 1997–2014; however, there was a decrease in the in-hospital mortality rate across all insurance payers. Uninsured patients had the highest mortality rate after Medicare without risk justification. Risk-stratified models confirmed Medicare was significantly associated with a less in-hospital mortality rate.
Synaptotagmin rings as high sensitivity regulators of synaptic vesicle docking and fusion

Synchronous release at neuronal synapses is accomplished by a machinery that senses calcium influx and fuses the synaptic vesicle and plasma membranes to release neurotransmitters. Previous studies suggested the calcium sensor Synaptotagmin (Syt) is a facilitator of vesicle docking and both a facilitator and inhibitor of fusion. On phospholipid monolayers, the Syt C2AB domain spontaneously oligomerized into rings that are disassembled by Ca2+, suggesting Syt rings may clamp fusion as membrane-separating "washers" until Ca2+-mediated disassembly triggers fusion and release (Wang et al., 2014). Here we combined mathematical modeling with experiment to measure mechanical properties of Syt rings and to test this mechanism. Consistent with experiment, the model quantitatively recapitulates observed Syt ring-induced dome and volcano shapes on phospholipid monolayers, and predicts rings are stabilized by anionic phospholipid bilayers or bulk solution with ATP. The selected ring conformation is highly sensitive to membrane composition and bulk ATP levels, a property that may regulate vesicle docking and fusion in ATP-rich synaptic terminals. We find the Syt molecules hosted by a synaptic vesicle oligomerize into a halo, unbound from the vesicle, but in proximity to sufficiently PIP2-rich plasma membrane (PM) domains the PM-bound trans Syt ring conformation is preferred. Thus, the Syt halo serves as landing gear for spatially directed docking at PIP2-rich sites that define the active zones of exocytotic release, positioning the Syt ring to clamp fusion and await calcium. Our results suggest the Syt ring is both a Ca2+-sensitive fusion clamp and a high-fidelity sensor for directed docking. SignificanceSynchronous neurotransmitter release relies on directed docking of synaptic vesicles at active zones in axon terminals, where calcium influx activates membrane fusion and release. In vitro, the calcium sensor Synaptotagmin oligomerizes into rings disassembled by calcium. Here, experiment and modeling suggest the Synaptotagmin molecules hosted by an undocked vesicle oligomerize into a tethered, unbound halo in ATP-rich synaptic terminals. The halo directs vesicle docking to PIP2-rich plasma membrane domains in active zones, where the trans-bound ring conformation is favored, interposed between the membranes to clamp fusion until calcium triggers ring disassembly and neurotransmitter release. The mechanism exploits the extreme sensitivity of Synaptotagmin ring binding preferences to solution and membrane composition, with ~15 -fold-enhanced sensitivity for rings of ~15 molecules.
Impact of renewable generation on probabilistic dynamic security assessment of a power transmission system

Dynamic security assessment (DSA) is a vital part of power system planning and operation. Although various phenomena, such as line thermal loading, voltage stability, and frequency stability, are o...
Synthesizing reconfigurable sequential machines using Tabular models

Two common problems we face in implementing reconfigurable systems on currently available FPGA chips are: (1) fitting designs which are too big for available hardware resources on a single FPGA chip, (2) lack of synthesis tools for high-level specifications. One solution to address the first problem is partial reconfiguration or run-time reconfiguration which requires only loading a portion of the design onto a FPGA chip at one time. In this paper, we present a synthesis methodology which starts from high-level system specifications and synthesizes run-time reconfigurable systems. Our approach uses tabular models as intermediate data structures. Tabular representations provide a convenient platform for separating control and data-path, and dividing the data-path into separate control-paths. This makes our approach very useful in synthesis targeted at implementations that depend on run-time reconfiguration to fit bigger designs on currently available FPGA chips.
The forensic laboratory evaluation of evidence in alleged rape.

Abstract Serial vaginal fluid samples were obtained for laboratory analysis in 15 couples after voluntary intercourse. These samples were analyzed to determine the rate of decay of sperm and prostatic acid phosphatase as it pertains to alleged rape. An attempt was made to identify the male partner by laboratory examination of public hair combings and for foreign ABO antigens in vaginal fluid. If consideration is given to proper laboratory controls, examination for spermatozoa and prostatic acid phosphatase remains the primary test in alleged rape.
Brief Report: Catatonia in Autistic Disorders

A was the full-term product of an uneventful pregnancy. Birth was complicated by cord strangulation and hypoxia. His mother described him as a quiet baby. At age 2, A did not speak any words yet, he was overly quiet and passive. Hearing deficits were suspected by his mother, but audiological testing indicated normal hearing. At age 3 he was evaluated by a child neurologist and child psychiatrist due to persisting problems with speech development and poor social interactions. Psychiatric observation revealed an avoidant gaze, limited interest in social interactions, deficits in empathic contact, inappropriate smiling, and bizarre postures. His vocabulary was very limited. He also used a lot of jargon words and was echolalic. A was greatly fascinated by flickering lights and twirling objects. Neurological investigations were negative, including urinary amino acids, CSF, and pneumoencephalograph. The EEG was abnormal, with mild general slowing. Based on these findings, A was diagnosed with infantile autism.
Plant Layout Ergonomics: Impact of Problem and Solver Features on Layout Quality:

A study of people solving facility layout problems was made to estimate the effects of problem features on the quality of solutions obtained by novice and experienced subjects. An empirical experiment was conducted. Three features of these problems which were systematically varied in this study were: 1. Problem size, 2. Fraction of strong inter-departmental relationships, and 3. Fraction of departments requiring a non-standard amount of floor space. Both quantitative and subjective layout evaluations were made. It was found that layout quality was not affected by feature 3 for any values of the other features, using either evaluation method, and with either novice or experienced subjects. However, feature 2 proved to be significant for all experimental conditions, both evaluation methods, and with both subject groups. Feature 1 was a significant feature in some situations, but was not significant in others. Some differences in problem solving approaches were observed. There was a significant relationship ...
ACCESSING SOCIAL THEORY THROUGH CIVILIZATION

The scientific modern Western pronouncement that everything has to be treated with objective impartiality requires the positing of our own culture as one among others, having no value claim to be privileged in its various pronouncements. The claim to scientific objectivity is an aspect of Western modern culture and belongs only to its interpretive context. Hence, the very claim to Western scientific superiority as having methods to access all phenomena objectively is a culture bound position that cannot be universal. After all, “objectively speaking” other cultures, as equal, have very different understandings that do not include such tandems as “objectivity” or for that matter “subjectivity.” Culturally objectively speaking, we cannot deny them their different reading of cultural, and indeed all other, phenomena. To say that the others are wrong would be tantamount to saying that we have a criterion of the “right culture” which belongs only to our culture. But in this sense, one abolishes the treatment of other cultures as given objectively and equivalently. We then would posit our scientific culture as universal and require that all others interpret themselves in terms of our own requirements. If social theory is part of modern western culture, then it is limited by that culture and cannot claim universality. Keywords: civilizational awareness, common daily world, life world, transitional awareness. Socialinė teorija civilizacijos požiūriu Algis Mickūnas Santrauka Moderni mokslinė Vakarų nuostata, kad viskas turi būti traktuojama objektyviai ir nesaliskai, reikalauja mūsų pacių kultūrą priimti kaip vieną is daugelio, nesuteikiant privilegijuoto statuso jokioms jos formoms. Mokslinio objektyvumo reikalavimas yra siuolaikinės Vakarų kultūros bruožas ir priklauso tik jos interpretaciniam kontekstui. Taigi, pati Vakarų mokslo pretenzija į metodų, leidžiancių pažinti visus reiskinius objektyviai, monopolį yra kultūriskai sąlygota ir negali būti universali. Kitoms kultūroms, kaip lygioms, būdingos visai kitokios nuostatos, kuriose nerasime Vakarams įprasto „objektyvumo“ ir „subjektyvumo“ tandemo. Kultūriskai objektyviai kalbant, mes negalime paneigti kitokio jų kultūrinių ir kitokių fenomenų supratimo. Sakyti, kad kiti klysta, yra tas pat, kas teigti, jog turime teisingos kultūros kriterijų, kuris priklauso tik mūsų kultūrai. Taip būtų neigiamas kitų kultūrų traktavimas kaip objektyviai duotų ir lygiavercių. Taip mes laikytume savo moksline kultūrą universalia ir reikalautume visas kultūras interpretuoti pagal mūsų kultūros standartus. Jei socialinė teorija yra modernios Vakarų kultūros dalis, ji turi islikti toje kultūroje ir negali pretenduoti į universalumą. Pagrindiniai žodžiai : civilizacinis supratimas, kasdienis pasaulis, gyvenamasis pasaulis, pereinamasis supratimas.
A Comparison Between Statistical Model and Line by Line Calculation with Application to the 9.6-micro Ozone and the 2.7-'' Water Vapor Bands.

The transmittance calculated by the statistical band model is compared with that obtained by precise line by line calculations for selected ir bands, at constant temperature and path length. As an application, the statistical band representation of the 9.6-μ ozone band is found to agree with line by line calculations, and band model parameters are provided, although previous authors have encountered difficulties in fitting the statistical model to this band. The same type of comparison is also carried out for the 2.7-μ water vapor band.
Extensive fetal intrathoracic injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident

Motor vehicle accidents are the primary nonobstetric cause of maternal and subsequent fetal mortality. We present a case in which blunt abdominal trauma sustained by a pregnant woman in a motor vehicle accident caused extensive intrathoracic fetal injuries consisting of bilateral hemothorax, severe bilateral interstitial pulmonary hemorrhages, hemopericardium, and subepicardial hemorrhages, in addition to fetal cranial injuries. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of fetal intrathoracic injuries sustained with blunt maternal trauma. The underlying mechanism of intrathoracic trauma was thought to be similar to that of blast injury with transmission of excessive hydrostatic forces throughout the amniotic fluid with severe impact on the elastic fetal chest. This case supports the concept of in utero blast injury to the fetus as a possible cause for fetal soft tissue trauma associated with blunt trauma to the maternal abdomen. Language: en
Simultaneous validation of image segmentation and assessment of expert quality [tumor MRI application]

Characterizing the performance of image segmentation approaches has been a persistent challenge. Interactive drawing of the desired segmentation by domain experts has often been the only acceptable approach, and yet suffers from intra-expert and inter-expert variability. Algorithms have been sought in order to remove the variability introduced by experts. The accuracy of segmentations of medical images has been difficult to quantify in the absence of a "ground truth" segmentation for clinical data. Although physical or digital phantoms can help, they have so far been unable to reproduce the full range of imaging and anatomical characteristics observed in clinical data. An attractive alternative is comparison to a collection of segmentations by experts, but the most appropriate way to compare segmentations has been unclear. We present here a method for computing a maximum likelihood estimate of the "ground truth" segmentation from a group of expert segmentations, and a simultaneous measure of the quality of each expert. This approach readily enables the assessment of an automated image segmentation algorithm, and direct comparison of expert and algorithm performance.
Effects of pyruvate on the metabolism and insulin resistance of obese Zucker rats.

Female obese Zucker rats aged 5 wk were randomly assigned to a control diet or one of two experimental diets. Experimental diets contained 6% of energy as pyruvate in the form of calcium-pyruvate (Ca-pyr) or 6% pyruvylglycine (pyr-gly). Diets were pair-fed according to the experimental group with the lowest food consumption. During the 3 wk of dietary treatment, Ca-pyr- and pyr-gly-fed rats gained significantly less weight, had a lower food-conversion efficiency, and maintained a higher resting oxygen consumption (mL.min-1 x kg-0.67) than control rats. Ca-pyr and pyr-gly also lowered the respiratory exchange ratio of the rats resulting in a 90% increase in their lipid oxidation and a 50% decrease in their carbohydrate oxidation. Glucose tolerance, assessed by an oral glucose load, was not different among treatments, but the insulin response of the pyr-gly-fed rats was significantly less than that of the control rats despite elevated plasma triglyceride concentrations in the pyr-gly-fed rats (control, 1.43 +/- 0.16 vs pyr-gly, 3.76 +/- 0.87 mmol/L). These results suggest that pyr-gly, like Ca-pyr, favorably alters the metabolism of obese Zucker rats. In addition, pyr-gly appeared to reduce the insulin resistance that develops spontaneously in obese rats.
Puncture wounds of the navicular bursa in 38 horses: a retrospective study

The medical records of 38 horses with puncture wounds of the navicular bursa were reviewed. Only 12 horses had a satisfactory outcome (breeding or riding). Of the remaining 26 horses, 19 were euthanized, five were sold due to persistent severe lameness, one died, and one was lost to long-term follow-up. Different combinations of conservative management prior to surgical debridement and drainage of the navicular bursa were unsuccessful in resolving the condition. Horses that were treated surgically within 1 week of the injury and had a hind leg affected had the best chance of a satisfactory outcome. Additional wound debridement was necessary in 15 horses after initial surgical treatment. The most common complications encountered were navicular bone osteomyelitis and sepsis of the deep digital flexor tendon. Thirteen of 14 horses that had rupture of the deep digital flexor tendon and subluxation of the distal interphalangeal joint had an unsatisfactory outcome. One mare subsequently developed ankylosis of the distal interphalangeal joint and was a useful brood mare. Two horses that had biaxial palmar digital neurectomy because of persistent lameness were later euthanized because of navicular bone fracture and rupture of the deep digital flexor tendon. Results from limited numbers of bacterial cultures and antibiotic sensitivities suggest that penicillin and an aminoglycoside antibiotic should be used as initial antibiotic therapy. Immediate surgical debridement and appropriate antibiotic treatment are recommended as the minimum therapy for penetrating wounds of the navicular bursa in horses.
Excimer laser ablated deposition of ferroelectric lead germanate thin films

Abstract Lead germanate (Pb 5 Ge 3 O 11 ) thin films were prepared by the excimer laser ablation technique. The structure of the films was characterized in correlation with beam energy density, substrate temperature, post-annealing temperature, oxygen pressure and the nature of substrates. c axis preferred oriented films can be obtained at a 5 J cm −2 beam energy density and an oxygen partial pressure of 5 × 10 −4 Torr on platinum-coated silicon substrates, while a 2 J cm −2 beam energy density was enough at a 10 −2 Torr oxygen pressure during deposition on sapphire substrates. Composition analysis indicated that the films were stoichiometric and close to the target composition. Films were found to be ferroelectric at room temperature in terms of a remanent polarization of about 2.5 μ C cm −2 with a coercive field of 55 kV cm −1 . The c axis preperred oriented films also exhibited a clear onset of the ferro-paraelectric phase transition at about 175 °C which is close to that of the single crystal.
Formation and Stability of Enolates of Acetamide and Acetate Anion: An Eigen Plot for Proton Transfer at α-Carbonyl Carbon

Second-order rate constants were determined in D2O for deprotonation of acetamide, N,N-dimethylacetamide, and acetate anion by deuterioxide ion and for deprotonation of acetamide by quinuclidine. The values of kB = 4.8 × 10-8 M-1 s-1 for deprotonation of acetamide by quinuclidine (pKBH = 11.5) and kBH = 2−5 × 109 M-1 s-1 for the encounter-limited reverse protonation of the enolate by protonated quinuclidine give pKaC = 28.4 for ionization of acetamide as a carbon acid. The limiting value of kHOH = 1 × 1011 s-1 for protonation of the enolate of acetate anion by solvent water and kHO = 3.5 × 10-9 M-1 s-1 for deprotonation of acetate anion by HO- give pKaC ≈ 33.5 for acetate anion. The change in the rate-limiting step from chemical proton transfer to solvent reorganization results in a downward break in the slope of the plot of log kHO against carbon acid pKa for deprotonation of a wide range of neutral α-carbonyl carbon acids by hydroxide ion, from −0.40 to −1.0. Good estimates are reported for the stabiliz...
Purported difference between human T-and B-cell surface morphology is an artefact.

BECAUSE of the previous inability to detect differences in lymphocyte morphology by light or transmission electron microscopy1, reports that B and T lymphocytes examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) could be identified by their distinctive surface morphology have been met with interest2–6. In these studies, most ‘villous’ cells were identified as B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes were described as ‘relatively smooth’. Some investigators have reported that T lymphocytes are more villous than B lymphocytes7–9; others, however, have not detected a difference in surface form among human10,11, or murine lymphocytes12–14. The present study demonstrates that the collection and fixation technique used in those studies that initially described the dichotomy in lymphocyte SEM morphology2–5, artefactually produces smooth cells.
Comparison of eigenvectors of irreducible stochastic matrices

Abstract The unique stochastic eigenvectors for two irreducible stochastic matrices corresponding to the eigenvalue 1 are compared coordinatewise on the basis of assumed inequalities between the corresponding elements of the matrices. An interesting statistical application is given.
Preparations of Boc‐Cys(S‐Pyr)‐OH and Z‐Cys(S‐Pyr)‐OH and their applications in orthogonal coupling of unprotected peptide segments

Boc-Cys(S-Pyr)-OH and Z-Cys(S-Pyr)-OH were prepared by addition of their cysteine derivatives to 3 equiv of 2,2'-dipyridyldisulfide in one portion. 2-Mercaptopyridine was removed by addition of 0.1 M Cu(NO3)2 to the solution. Both derivatives are white solids and can be used to facilitate the formations of heterodisulfide bonds. Two methods of synthesizing peptides with N-terminal Cys(S-Pyr) were also provided. Two peptide thiocarboxylic acids H-Tyr-Ser-Ala-Glu-Leu-Val-SH and H-Tyr-Ser-Ala-Glu-Leu-Gly-SH were prepared on the thioester benzhydryl resin with the cleavage condition of 1.0 M TFMSA/TFA instead of HF. From the orthogonal couplings of these peptides with H-Cys(S-Pyr)-Tyr-Ser-Glu-Leu-Ala-NH2, both intramolecular acyl transfers finished at pH 7 at about 15 to 20 min. The intermediate acyl disulfide peptide was collected by high-performance liquid chromatography and identified by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.
Proton magnetic resonance imaging of lipid in pecan embryos

Magnetic resonance images of plant tissues typically are manifestations of water protons in tissues. Within oilseeds, however, lipids contain a major portion of the mobile protons, which should enable specific imaging of lipids. In this study, experiments were done to demonstrate spin-echo imaging (SEI) and chemical-shift imaging (CSI) of lipid within nonimbibed and imbibed embryos of pecan (Carya illinoensis), a high-lipid seed. Magnetic resonance spectra of airdry embryos contained a single major peak for lipid, whereas those of imbibed embryos contained separate peaks for water and lipid. This separation of spectral peaks enabled CSI of distributions of either lipids or water in imbibed embryos. A longer spin-spin relaxation time of lipid protons than of water protons in imbibed embryos allowed selective SEI of lipids in those embryos. SEI of normal, dry embryos revealed fairly uniform distribution of lipids across tissues. Similar images of embryos damaged by the fungusPhoma exocarpina or the insectZerara viridula were less intense than those of a normal embryo, reflecting the lower oil contents of the damaged embryos. Magnetic resonance imaging should provide a useful technology for studying lipid distribution and metabolism within oil seeds.
Teaching Cost Management: A Strategic Emphasis

ABSTRACT: Cost management has been tied in the past to the concepts of score‐keeping, attention directing, and problem solving, but the expectations of accountants in today's world have changed dramatically, extending well beyond these concepts. This paper presents a different way to view cost management. It is not a planning or decision‐making focus, but instead a focus on helping the organization be successful, through the implementation of an effective competitive strategy. Strategy is implemented by the appropriate use of cost management methods. The “why strategy?” question is answered by a review of survey findings, a discussion of the potential errors in nonstrategic decision making, and a review of changes at the Institute of Management Accountants that reflect a greater emphasis on strategy, including a new definition of management accounting which focuses on strategy. The paper shows the strategy‐based content flowcharts for each of the three courses: management accounting, cost accounting, and ...
The 1/d expansion for lattice theories of chiral fermions with Yukawa couplings

Abstract The existence of a systematic 1/ d expansion for lattice theories with chiral fermions coupled to scalars through Yukawa couplings is proved, where d is the dimension of space-time. The use of the expansion is illustrated in the calculation of two-point functions for the Smit-Swift model with frozen U(1) Higgs fields and no gauge fields.
Black fly (Diptera:Simuliidae) salivary secretions: importance in vector competence and disease.

When blood-feeding, black flies introduce secretions into the feeding lesion that act in a coordinated manner on the 3 arms of the vertebrate hemostatic system (platelet aggregation, coagulation, and vasoconstriction). Apyrase activity inhibits platelet aggregation and is ubiquitous in the saliva of black flies, although activity per gland varies by species and has a positive association with anthropophagy. Anticoagulants target components in the final common pathway of the coagulation cascade, including factors V, Xa, and II (thrombin). The antithrombin salivary protein may exert a redundant effect by inhibiting the role of thrombin in platelet aggregation. Antithrombin presence and activity also varies among black fly species, and exhibits a positive correlation with zoophagy. Vasodilation of capillaries to increase blood supply to the feeding wound appears to be an important requirement for Simulium spp., because substantial erythema-inducing activity has been demonstrated in salivary glands of all New World species examined. Salivary glands of Simulium ochraceum (Walker), a highly anthropophilic vector of Onchocerca volvulus (Leuckhart), contain greater vasodilator activity than several other species, including S. metallicum Bellardi, a secondary zoophagic vector of human onchocerciasis. Simulium vittatum Zetterstedt saliva affects immune cell responses and cytokine production. The ability of the saliva to modulate components of the host immune system provides an opportunity for enhancing transmission of pathogens during bloodfeeding. Thus, the likely possibility that effective pathogen transmission relies on vector saliva may complement present efforts aimed at target epitopes of O. volvulus or identify additional molecules to be investigated as part of a “river blindness” vaccine cocktail. Components in saliva also may enhance the transmission of other microbial agents either by a cofeeding process similar to that observed in ixodid ticks or through rupture of the labrum during escape of Onchocerca infective stage larvae. In a few instances, saliva of some Simulium spp. also has been associated with extensive tissue and organ pathology, including hemorrhagic shock and death. Pathologic signs associated with this syndrome indicate an enhanced antihemostatic activity in saliva.
Colocalization of progesterone receptors and thyroid hormone receptors alpha in the ovine diencephalon: no effect of estradiol.

Progesterone and thyroid hormones are key hormones in the control of reproduction in the ewe since both have been shown to inhibit GnRH secretion. GnRH neurons do not express progesterone receptors (P
Design Of The Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope III. Primary Mirror Support System

We describe a system of pneumatic piston mirror supports for use in an altitude over azimuth telescope which react to gravity and wind loading. A pressure controller provides dynamic compensation of variable wind loading and changes in the gravity loading as a result of altitude angle changes. An active air circulation system which ventilates every honeycomb cell can be implemented without interference from the mirror supports. The system can be expanded in principle to accomodate 8 m honeycomb mirrors.
A note on min—maxbias estimators in approximately linear models

Abstract The approximately linear model represents deviations from the ideal linear model by a vector contained in a prescribed bias-ball. In a recent paper Mathew and Nordstrom (1993) proposed min—maxbias estimators in which a criterion function is defined by maximizing errors over the bias-ball. When the Chebyshev norm defines the bias-ball they found the least absolute deviation or L1 estimator to be identical to its maxbias version. This was thought to be a robustness property since it contrasts with least squares where the maxbias criterion is a combination of L1 and the sum of squares. In this paper it is shown, however, that equivalence between the L1 estimator and its min—maxbias version is not special to L1 and that the equivalence is valid for estimates that are not robust. Hence, while the L1 estimate does have desirable robustness properties the equivalence to its min—maxbias version cannot be counted as one of them.
Controlled Formation of Nanostructures with Desired Geometries. 2. Robust Dynamic Paths

Part 2 of this series addresses the question of how to manipulate in time the positions and intensities of external controls so that a set of self-assembling nanoscale particles can always reach the nanostructure of desired geometry, starting from any random and unknown spatial distribution of the particles. It complements part 1 in which we examined how to position external controls and compute their intensities so that we can ensure that the final nanostructure with the desired geometry corresponds to a local potential energy minimum surrounded by sufficiently high energy barriers to ensure that the nanostructure is statistically robust, i.e., it remains at the desired geometry with an acceptably high probability. The proposed approach for the generation of robust dynamic self-assembly paths is based on a progressive reduction of the system phase space into subsets with progressively smaller numbers of locally allowable configurational states. In other words, it is based on a judicious progressive trans...
A unified gate sizing formulation for optimizing soft error rate, cross-talk noise and power under process variations

The trends in technology scaling have made nanometer designs highly susceptible to reliability threats like soft errors and crosstalk noise while uncertainty in process parameters have made the physical realization of devices and interconnects unpredictable. The limitations in manufacturing processes and the impact of environmental noise poses a major threat to the signal quality, and hence the realization of reliable, low-power, high performance designs with acceptable parametric yields is a challenging problem. Most noise analysis and prevention techniques reported in the literature target single noise sources. However, reliability issues like crosstalk noise and radiation induced soft errors are deeply inter-related. Further, manufacturing variations have decreased the efficacy of online detection and correction schemes used for traditional noise optimization. In this work, we have proposed a methodology for simultaneous optimization of soft error rate(SER), crosstalk noise and power of circuits with delay constraints under process variations. Soft errors are modeled using a novel first order analysis model while crosstalk noise is modeled at the logic level using clustering based on Rent's exponent. The proposed multi-metric gate sizing methodology have been formulated into a mathematical program and has been efficiently solved. Experimental results on ISCAS'85 benchmark circuits indicate significant improvements in SER, crosstalk noise and timing yield compared to the corresponding constrained optimization problems.
Root restriction, an alternative to rootstocks, for control of flowering, fruiting, tree growth, yield efficiency, and fruit quality of apple

Apple (Malus Xdomestica Borkh.) trees planted in root-restriction bags provided an alternative to dwarfing rootstocks for control of tree vigor. Root restriction suppressed tree growth, reduced the...