cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Suicidal behavior, drug use and depressive symptoms after detoxification: a 2-year prospective study.

Abstract Introduction: Individuals with substance-related disorders are at increased risk for suicidal behavior. Identifying those at higher risk for suicide among this population is difficult and informed mainly on the basis of cross-sectional data. Methods: We examined factors associated with drug-related suicidal behavior using multivariable regression analyses in a 2-year prospective study of 470 inpatients enrolled from an unlocked, detoxification unit. Suicidal behavior included suicidal ideation (SI) and suicide attempt (SA). Results: Lifetime prevalence for SI was 28.5%, and for SA, 21.9%. During the 2-year follow-up, 19.9% of the sample endorsed suicidal ideation and 6.9% reported a suicide attempt. Correlates of lifetime suicidal behavior included younger age, female, Hispanic, greater depressive symptoms, past sexual abuse, and problem sedative or alcohol use. Factors associated with suicidal behavior at follow-up included past suicidal behavior, more depressive symptoms, and more frequent benzodiazepine and alcohol use. Cocaine and heroin use did not reach statistical significance. Conclusions: Suicidal behavior is common among individuals with substance-related disorders. Differences in “suicide potential” may exist between drug categories with CNS depressants increasing the risk. These findings highlight the importance of addressing the recurrent ‘suicide risk’ of patients with substance-related disorders and regular monitoring for changes in depressive symptoms and drug use. Based on the prevalence and severity of this problem, the role of universal suicide screening of individuals with substance-related disorders merits greater attention.
Resonance in anisotropic layered media

When a periodic anisotropic layered medium is interrupted by a slab of contrasting material, electromagnetic resonance can be manifest in a variety of ways. In one scenario, anisotropy allows for frequency intervals in which waves propagating perpendicular to the layers coexist with evanescent waves. This permits energy to be trapped within the slab at frequencies embedded in the continuous spectrum. These are unstable states that result in resonance under small perturbations. In another scenario, a stationary inflection point in the dispersion relation of an ambient magnetic anisotropic layered medium leads to unidirectional propagation and resonant interaction between Bloch waves and the contrasting layer. Analysis of energetic interactions between waves allows for a detailed understanding of these resonances.
Differentiated roles of social encouragement and social constraint on physical activity behavior

Background: Social support is, in general, positively associated with exercise behavior. However, social influence may not always be helpful and may sometimes lead to obligation or a sense of intrusion rather than encouragement or assistance. Purpose: The objective was to determine relationships among different types of social influence (social encouragement and social constraint) and exercise motivation and exercise behavior. Method: Structural equation modeling was used to investigate relationships among exercise and social influence variables. Results: A model was found to fit the data well in which social encouragement had an indirect association with exercise behavior through motivational variables. Social constraint was associated with only one aspect of exercise motivation— ?have to, or obligatory, commitment—and had no direct or indirect association with exercise behavior. Conclusions: These findings emphasize the importance of social influences that promote desirable behaviors in contrast to those that pose constraints on the failure toper- form desirable behaviors.
Millimeter wave multi-beam antenna combining for 5G cellular link improvement in New York City

The performance of multi-beam antenna equal gain combining for improving signal quality in future millimeter-wave cellular systems is evaluated in this article. Employing experimental data obtained from 28 GHz and 73 GHz propagation measurements in the dense urban environment of New York City, we present the impact of coherent bi-beam, tri-beam and quad-beam combining on path loss and shadow factors. The results reveal that a maximum of 24.9 dB improvement in path loss at 28 GHz and 34.8 dB at 73 GHz for 100 m T-R (transmitter-receiver) separation distances can be achieved via combining the strongest four received signals from distinct beams, when compared to the case of signals at the receiver with randomly pointed beams. Comparable path loss values are achieved at both 28 and 73 GHz bands. This paper demonstrates the potential of utilizing spatial filtering and beam combining to significantly improve received signal levels and link margins at millimeter-wave frequencies.
Stress waves generated in thin metallic films by a Q-switched ruby laser

Investigation results on stress waves generated by Q-switched ruby laser irradiated thin metal films under confinement, studied over a wide range of film materials and film thicknesses, are reviewed. The results indicate that the dependence on these parameters is much weaker than is predicted by heat transfer estimations commonly used to describe the interaction of laser irradiation with unconfined bulk-solid surfaces.
The MIDI pick: trigger serial data, samples, and MIDI from a guitar pick

The guitar pick has traditionally been used to strike or rake the strings of a guitar or bass, and in rarer instances, a shamisen, lute, or other stringed instrument. The pressure exerted on it, however, has until now been ignored. The MIDI Pick, an enhanced guitar pick, embraces this dimension, acting as a trigger for serial data, audio samples, MIDI messages1, Max/MSP patches, and on/off messages. This added scope expands greatly the stringed instrument player's musical dynamic in the studio or on stage.
Evaluation of a one-trial learning apparatus to test learning ability in weanling horses*

Abstract Fourteen Arabian foals were used to determine if a one-trial appetitive conditioning task, developed for laboratory rats, could be adapted for use in equine learning research. The learning apparatus consisted of a 1.5 m × 0.6 m wooden grid containing 40 compartments. Seven foals received a complete learning test which consisted of placing a foal in a pen with the learning apparatus on one wall, recording the foal's behavior for 5 min and then placing a food reinforcer in a target compartment (TC). After location of the food, the foal's behavior was recorded for an additional 5 min. Total visits made to the apparatus and compartments visited by the foal were recorded. The remaining seven foals received a test in which no reinforcer was placed in the TC. These foals were re-tested the next day with reinforcement. After location of the food reinforcer, all foals exhibited more visits to the apparatus, visits to the TC, visits one compartment from the TC, and visits greater than one and less than or equal to two compartments from the TC (P
IMPLICATIONS OF A PARTIALLY CONSERVED DILATATION CURRENT AND CHIRAL SYMMETRY FOR THE DIMENSIONS OF LENGTH OF LOCAL FIELDS.

Abstract We exploit the hypothesis that the divergence of a partially conserved dilatation current is a good interpolating field for scalar particles, as proposed by Kastrup and Mack. By means of Ward identity techniques for dilatation and chiral SU(2) × SU(2) transformations, we show that dimensions of length can be determined without any use of the canonical formalism. We obtain canonical dimensions of length if we assume single-particle dominance. In general the dimensions of length have to obey certain sum rules which involve three-point functions describing strong interactions of J p = 0 + , I G = 0 + mesons.
New class of nonaqueous electrolytes for long-life and safe lithium-ion batteries

Safe lithium-ion batteries require stable electrolytes with high chemical resistance and high thermal tolerance. Chen et al. find a solid lithium-salt electrolyte that is able to give rise to a prolonged battery life and a delayed decomposition of battery cathodes.
Plant Pathology Courses for Agricultural Awareness.

Plant pathology has had and continues to have direct relevance and impact on everyday life. The science of plant pathology was born of famine in Ireland in the 1840s. Concerns about the effects of plant diseases on our lives are as relevant today. However, most people don’t think about plant diseases, and there is considerable concern among plant pathologists about this lack of awareness and what it portends for the future of our discipline. How do we get the message to the majority of college students, who shy away from science courses in general and never consider taking a course that deals with agriculture? How do we develop an awareness of agriculture’s impact on their daily lives? Should agricultural awareness be a required component of higher education now that most students live urban and suburban lives? Even in states where agriculture is a significant component of the economy, many students are ignorant of agriculture’s importance. Today, only a very small minority (2 to 3%) of the population produces our food. The need to educate citizens so that they can contribute to food and agricultural policies in a thoughtful and rational way is a critical challenge. In addition, many departments are now facing new responsibilities for undergraduate courses in the competition for university resources. Can general education courses that explore agricultural issues help fulfill these requirements and, at the same time, benefit the discipline of plant pathology and the individual programs that sponsor these courses? A number of departments have already initiated such courses in agricultural awareness. In this article, we describe our experiences at two institutions and what we believe these courses accomplish for the students and for the discipline of plant pathology. We also want to encourage more plant pathologists to participate in courses aimed at students who have never heard of plant pathology.
Polymorphic forms of cilostazol.

Two unique conformational polymorphic forms of the compound 6-[4-(1-cyclo­hexyl-1H-tetrazol-5-yl)­butoxy]-3,4-di­hydro­quinolin-2(1H)-one (cilostazol), C20H27N5O2, have been discovered and characterized using single-crystal X-ray structural analysis. A third polymorph also exists, but acceptable crystals could not be obtained. Features of both reported polymorphic structures include a chair conformation of the cyclo­hexyl ring and puckering in the quinolinone ring. The major feature distinguishing the two polymorphic forms is a rotational twisting of the butoxy chain between the tetrazole and quinolinone rings. This difference in conformation influences the intermolecular forces, and hence the packing of the two mol­ecules during crystallization.
Changes in Individual Nucleotides of Developing Soybean Seeds

Perchloric acid extracts of soybean seeds were separated by column chromatography into 17 peaks. Thirteen nucleotides were identified in 11 of these peaks (NAD, CMP, CDP, CTP, AMP, ADP, ATP, GMP, GDP, GTP, UMP, UDP, and UTP). Two of the peaks were identified as ascorbic acid and dehydroascorhic acid. Four peaks remain unidentified although one of these appears to be protein. Monophosphates decreased and triphosphates increased as development proceeded. Diphosphates were initially low and showed no statistically significant difference with maturity. The accumulation of triphosphates in late stages of development is discussed in relation to synthetic activities of the developing seeds.
Selective Determination of Methylmercury by Flow-Injection Fast-Scan Voltammetry

A simple flow-injection system, suitable for solution flow rates at microliters-per-minute, has been combined with fast-scan voltammetry for selective determination of methylmercury. A thin Hg film was formed at a Pt microelectrode prior to the measurement. Detection of methylmercury is carried out by measuring the oxidation of methylmercury radicals that have been generated at the Hg microelectrode. At slow scan rates, the electrogenerated methylmercury radicals undergo a follow-up dimerization reaction to form dimethyldimercury (ErCi mechanism). At fast scan rates, it was found that methylmercury radicals can be quantitatively reoxidized (reversible electron-transfer). Optimization of the experiment al conditions of the system was performed based on studies of the relationship between the scan rate and the dimerization rate of the methylmercury radical. Under optimized conditions, detection level of subnanomole was obtained with a sample consumption of less than 10 mL and the concentration detection limit for methylmercury at 50 V/s was estimated to be about 0.56 mM. To demonstrate the applicability of this method to automatic analyses, repetitive fast-scan cyclic voltammetry was conducted in conjunction with multiple sample injections. Determination of methylmercury in the presence of excess inorganic mercury was also conducted. This new approach to methylmercury determination was successfully applied to the analysis of elevated dogfish muscle samples.
Baroreceptor influences on cardiac-related sympathetic nerve activity.

Abstract We studied the effect of a dropped ventricular beat (i.e. loss of one cycle of pulse synchronous baroreceptor nerve activity) on the centrally generated 2–6 Hz oscillation in postganglionic symphathetic nerve discharge (SND) in cats anesthetized with Dial-urethane. The results indicate that in each cardiac cycle baroreceptor nerve activity can: (1) decrease the rate of recruitment and number of postganglionic fibers that become active and (2) advance the onset of central inhibition responsible for the abrupt decline of SND. These effects are independent of baroreceptor-mediated entrainment of the 2–6 Hz oscillation of SND to the cardiac cycle
Orientation dynamics in commercial thermotropic liquid crystalline polymers in transient shear flows

In situ X-ray scattering measurements of molecular orientation under shear are reported for two commercial thermotropic liquid crystalline polymers (TLCPs), Vectra A950® and Vectra B950®. Transient shear flow protocols (reversals, step changes, and flow cessation) are used to investigate the underlying director dynamics. Synchrotron X-ray scattering in conjunction with a high-speed area detector provides sufficient time resolution to limit the total time spent in the melt during testing, whereas a redesigned X-ray capable shear cell provides a more robust platform for working with TLCP melts at high temperatures. The transient orientation response upon flow inception or flow reversal does not provide definitive signatures of either tumbling or shear alignment. However, the observation of clear transient responses to step increases or step decreases in shear rate contrasts with expectations and experience with shear-aligning nematics and suggests that these polymers are of the tumbling class. Finally, these two polymers show opposite trends in orientation following flow cessation, which appears to correlate with the evolution of dynamic modulus during relaxation. Specifically, Vectra B shows an increase in orientation upon flow cessation, an observation that can only be rationalized by the assumption of tumbling dynamics in shear. Together with prior observations of commercial LCP melts in channel flows, these results suggest that this class of materials, as a rule, exhibits director tumbling.
Tumor necrosis factor release by murine macrophages stimulated by the cytotoxic ether lipid 1-O-hexadecyl-2-O-methyl-SN-glycero-3-phosphorylcholine (ET-18-O-OCH3).

Abstract The cytotoxic ether lipid 1-O-hexadecyl-2-O-methyl-SN-glycero-3-phosphorylcholine (ET-18-O-OCH3) is a structural analog of the mediator of inflammation platelet-activating factor (PAF). Recent studies demonstrated that ET-18-O-OCH3 activates human monocytes selectively at non-cytotoxic concentrations. The current studies determined the capacity of ET-18-O-OCH3 to stimulate release of TNFα by murine peritoneal macrophages. Macrophage receptors for ET-18-OCH3 and PAF were also assessed. ET-18-O-OCH3 and PAF stimulated TNFα release by resident BALB/c macrophages in the presence of LPS but not in the absence of this co-factor. In contrast, both ET-18-O-OCH3 and PAF stimulated TNFα release by thioglycollate-elicited macrophages in the absence of LPS although release was greater in the presence of this co-stimulus. Optimal stimulation of TNFα release occurred at 10 −14 − 10 −11 M ET-18-O-OCH3 and PAF. Elicited macrophages and splenic macrophages from C57Bl/6 mice, unlike those from BALB/c mice, did not respond to 10 −15 − 10 −8 M ET-18-O-OCH3 or PAF without or with LPS. Scatchard analysis of [ 3 H]PAF binding to elicited BALB/c macrophages revealed the existence of high affinity receptors for PAF. In contrast, there was no evidence for receptors for ET-18-O-OCH3. ET-18-O-OCH3 did not compete with PAF for binding; macrophage activation by ET-18-O-OCH3 was not stereospecific; and, binding studies using [ 3 H]ET-18-O-OCH3 did not reveal saturable binding characteristic of binding to specific receptors. These studies demonstrate that ET-18-O-OCH3 and PAF can stimulate cytokine release in the absence of LPS if the macrophages were previously elicited in vivo . The experiments also indicate that ET-18-O-OCH3 activates macrophages by unique mechanisms which are distinct from the mechanisms for macrophage activation by PAF.
Meteoric diagenesis below a submerged platform: implications for δ13C compositions prior to pre-vascular plant evolution, Middle Ordovician, Alabama, U.S.A.

Abstract The Middle Ordovician “Chickamauga” Formation at Red Mountain Expressway (RME) and Tidwell Hollow (TWH) sections in Alabama (U.S.A) has a complex early diagenetic history. Early diagenetic history of the buildup facies consisted of two phases of marine cementation separated by two generations of meteoric, equant calcite with moldic dissolution separating equant calcite generations. A third generation of meteoric, equant (drusy) calcite is present after secondary marine diagenesis. Equant (drusy) calcite is interpreted as meteoric because its stable isotopic composition ( δ 13 C = −0.1 to −1.6‰ , δ 18 O = −4.8 to −7.3‰ ) is too variable to be accounted for by marine or mixing zone precipitation. Equant (drusy) calcite from buildup facies is mostly non-luminescent and non-ferroan. This is unlike early, ferroan equant calcite (dull to bright luminescent) from below the unconformity that overlies the “Chickamauga” Formation at RME. Meteoric diagenesis below the unconformity is unrelated to early diagenesis in the underlying buildup facies. Equant (drusy) calcite from the buildup facies at RME has a covariation of δ13C and δ18O values that forms a truncated inverted “J” and has elevated Mg values. These geochemical signatures indicate precipitation at a site that was distal from the recharge zone. Meteoric diagenesis at RME occurred during rising relative sea level and flow of meteoric fluids under a submerged platform is the only mechanism able to reconcile available stratigraphic, petrologic, and geochemical data. Ordovician meteoric δ13C values (from TWH and other formations) are slightly depleted (2–4‰) relative to coeval marine carbonate, especially when compared with post-Silurian meteoric carbonate. Minor depletion of Ordovician carbonate is the result of limited generation of light soil-gas CO2 before the development of vascular plants.
Self-fulfilling prophecy not: using cultural assets to beat the odds

In this study, the pedagogies of the home used by Latinos as they attend schools in the USA are highlighted. We hope to use the stories of Arturo and Ruben, successful Latinos, as a means to show that Latinos are developing strategies that can be shared through the telling of their stories and to claim the value of voicing the difficult realities of Latinos as they resist falling victim to anticipated self-fulfilling prophecies and move creatively through the educational pipeline to reach their best defined possible selves.
Gas chromatographic analysis of the dimethylhydrazones of long chain aldehydes

Long chain saturated and unsaturated aldehydes, prepared by the partial reduction of the corresponding fatty acid phenyl esters with lithium tri-t-butoxyhydroaluminate, were converted quantitatively to their dimethylhydrazones. Dimethyl acetals and 1,3-dioxolanes were prepared from the dimethylhydrazones. The dimethylhydrazones were then separated from the corresponding aldehydes by gas liquid chromatography on a semipolar column. Fatty acids were readily separated quantitatively from fatty aldehydes by formation of dimethylhydrazones of the aldehydes followed by an alkaline extraction of the reaction mixture prior to gas chromatography. A method for analysis of fatty acids and aldehydes from plasmalogens is described.
Chronic Idiopathic Inflammatory Bowel Diseases of the Horse

A review of reported cases of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) of horses for which no etiology was identified included cases of granulomatous enteritis (GE), multisystemic eosinophilic epitheliotropic disease (MEED), lymphocytic-plasmacytic enterocolitis (LPE), and idiopathic eosinophilic enterocolitis (EC). The terms EC and MEED were both used to describe a disease in horses characterized by infiltration of intestine and extraintestinal tissues with eosinophils. We use EC to describe IBD characterized by only intestinal infiltration by eosinophils. Horses with GE, MEED, or LPE are usually examined because of weight loss and depression, but horses with EC are usually examined because of signs of abdominal pain. Typically, horses with IBD have low concentrations of serumal proteins, especially albumin, and fail to adequately absorb glucose or xylose. Antemortem diagnosis of IBD can only be made by histologic examination of affected intestine. In some cases, antemortem diagnosis is made from histologic examination of rectal mucosa obtained by biopsy. Suspected causes of IBD in the horse include abnormal immune response to bacterial, viral, parasitic, or dietary antigens. Most horses with IBD do not survive, but horses with EC are more likely than those with LPE, MEED, or GE to respond to treatment. Successful treatments of horses with IBD include resection of grossly affected intestine and administration of corticosteroids.
Deep Brain Stimulation in Movement Disorders

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is used for advanced and medically intractable patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), essential tremor (ET), and dystonia who meet strict criteria after a detailed motor, cognitive, and psychiatric evaluation. The potential targets are the ventral intermediate nucleus (VIM) of the thalamus for tremor, the globus pallidus interna (GPI) and the subthalamic nucleus (STN) for PD, and GPI for dystonia. The optimal target for PD has not been determined yet, although STN DBS has been performed more frequently in recent years. The mechanism of DBS effect is believed to be associated with disruption of pathological network activity in the cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic circuits by affecting the firing rates and bursting patterns of neurons and synchronized oscillatory activity of neuronal networks. Good candidates should be free of dementia, major psychiatric disorders, structural brain lesions, and important general medical problems. Although the risk for complications with DBS is less than with lesioning techniques, there is still a small risk for major complications associated with surgery. Bilateral procedures are more likely to cause problems with speech, cognition, and gait.
Characterization of the Acinetobacter baumannii growth phase‐dependent and serum responsive transcriptomes

Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as a bacterial pathogen of considerable healthcare concern. Yet, little is known about the organism's basic biological processes and the regulatory networks that modulate expression of its virulence factors and antibiotic resistance. Using Affymetrix GeneChips , we comprehensively defined and compared the transcriptomes of two A. baumannii strains, ATCC 17978 and 98-37-09, during exponential and stationary phase growth in Luria-Bertani (LB) medium. Results revealed that in addition to expected growth phase-associated metabolic changes, several putative virulence factors were dramatically regulated in a growth phase-dependent manner. Because a common feature between the two most severe types of A. baumannii infection, pneumonia and septicemia, includes the organism's dissemination to visceral organs via the circulatory system, microarray studies were expanded to define the expression properties of A. baumannii during growth in human serum. Growth in serum significantly upregulated iron acquisition systems, genes associated with epithelial cell adherence and DNA uptake, as well as numerous putative drug efflux pumps. Antibiotic susceptibility testing verified that the organism exhibits increased antibiotic tolerance when cultured in human serum, as compared to LB medium. Collectively, these studies provide researchers with a comprehensive database of A. baumannii's expression properties in LB medium and serum and identify biological processes that may contribute to the organism's virulence and antibiotic resistance.
Creep in injection molded starch/synthetic polymer blends

Abstract Creep in uniaxial extension was measured in starch/synthetic polymer blends. In the first experiment, the starch content was kept constant at 70% and the applied stress and temperatures were varied. In a second experiment, the starch content was varied from 0 to 70% at a constant applied stress and varying temperature. The synthetic polymers in the blend were either polybutylene succinate (PBS) or polycaprolactone (PCL), both semi-crystalline biodegradable polyesters. Maleic anhydride-functionalized polyesters (5% by weight) were used to reactively compatibilize starch and the synthetic polymer. The compliance of these blends was found to increase with increasing applied stress and temperature and decrease with increasing starch content. Addition of small amounts of starch was found to significantly inhibit creep. Time–temperature superposition was attempted for blends containing 30, 50 and 70% starch. The compliance master curve was successfully obtained for the blends containing 70 and 50% starch, but empirically estimated shift factors did not obey the WLF equation. WLF constants could be calculated based on the empirical shift factors and were in the range obtained for other polymers. The compliance data could be fitted to several empirical models. Excellent fits were obtained for compliance at different stress levels and temperatures.
Evaluating the impacts of refuge width on source-sink dynamics between transgenic and non-transgenic cotton

Resistance management for Bt-transgenic crops relies in part on the production of sufficient numbers of susceptible insects in non-toxic refuges. Simulation models suggested that source-sink dynamics could interact with the structure of refuges to impact the production of insects in these areas. We tested the hypothesis that altering isolation between refuges and transgenic cotton by manipulating the width of refuges embedded within cotton fields would alter the density of Heliothis virescens and Helicoverpa zea eggs oviposited in refuges. Three categories of refuge widths were tested over two years: they included narrow (16–24m wide), medium (32-48m wide) and wide (80–96m wide) refuges. Isolation between the two habitats increased as refuge width increased. In 1996, eggs of H. virescens from H. zea were not distinguished, but a significant increase in the density of eggs and a significant decrease in relative yield (refuge yield compared to the yield from immediately surrounding Bt-cotton) was found as refuge width increased. In 1997, eggs from H. virescens were analyzed separately from H. zea using an ELISA test. The density of H. virescens eggs increased with increasing refuge width, and there was a significant decline in density of H. virescens eggs with increasing distance from the refuge. In contrast, there was no impact of refuge width on the density of H. zea eggs, nor was the slope of a regression of egg density and distance from the refuge significantly different from zero. We suggest that these differences reflect differences in the biology of the two insects.
Nanoparticle-based theranostic agents

Theranostic nanomedicine is emerging as a promising therapeutic paradigm. It takes advantage of the high capacity of nanoplatforms to ferry cargo and loads onto them both imaging and therapeutic functions. The resulting nanosystems, capable of diagnosis, drug delivery and monitoring of therapeutic response, are expected to play a significant role in the dawning era of personalized medicine, and much research effort has been devoted toward that goal. A convenience in constructing such function-integrated agents is that many nanoplatforms are already, themselves, imaging agents. Their well-developed surface chemistry makes it easy to load them with pharmaceutics and promote them to be theranostic nanosystems. Iron oxide nanoparticles, quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, gold nanoparticles and silica nanoparticles, have been previously well investigated in the imaging setting and are candidate nanoplatforms for building up nanoparticle-based theranostics. In the current article, we will outline the progress along this line, organized by the category of the core materials. We will focus on construction strategies and will discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with this emerging technology.
Statistical analysis of antigen receptor spectratype data

Motivation: The effectiveness of vertebrate adaptive immunity depends crucially on the establishment and maintenance of extreme diversity in the antigen receptor repertoire. Spectratype analysis is a method used in clinical and basic immunological settings in which antigen receptor length diversity is assessed as a surrogate for functional diversity. The purpose of this paper is to describe the systematic derivation and application of statistical methods for the analysis of spectratype data. Results: The basic probability model used for spectratype analysis is the multinomial model with n, the total number of counts, indeterminate. We derive the appropriate statistics and statistical procedures for testing hypotheses regarding differences in antigen receptor distributions and variable repertoire diversity in different treatment groups. We then apply these methods to spectratype data obtained from several healthy donors to examine the differences between normal CD4+ and CD8+ T cell repertoires, and to data from a thymus transplant patient to examine the development of repertoire diversity following the transplant. Availability: http://www.duke.edu/~kepler/spa.html Contact: [email protected]
Sensitivity of Surface Analyses over the Western United States to RAWS Observations

Abstract Federal, state, and other wildland resource management agencies contribute to the collection of weather observations from over 1000 Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS) in the western United States. The impact of RAWS observations on surface objective analyses during the 2003/04 winter season was assessed using the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) Data Assimilation System (ADAS). A set of control analyses was created each day at 0000 and 1200 UTC using the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) analyses as the background fields and assimilating approximately 3000 surface observations from MesoWest. Another set of analyses was generated by withholding all of the RAWS observations available at each time while 10 additional sets of analyses were created by randomly withholding comparable numbers of observations obtained from all sources. Random withholding of observations from the analyses provides a baseline estimate of the analysis quality. Relative to this baseline, removing the RAWS observations...
DECOMPOSITION RATES AND TERMITE ASSEMBLAGE COMPOSITION IN SEMIARID AFRICA

Outside of the humid tropics, abiotic factors are generally considered the dominant regulators of decomposition, and biotic influences are frequently not considered in predicting decomposition rates. In this study, I examined the effect of termite assemblage composition and abundance on decomposition of wood litter of an indigenous species (Croton megalobotrys) in five terrestrial habitats of the highly seasonal semiarid Okavango Delta region of northern Botswana, to determine whether natural variation in decomposer community composition and abundance influences decomposition rates. I conducted the study in two areas, Xudum and Santawani, with the Xudum study preceding the Santawani study. I assessed termite assemblage composition and abundance using a grid of survey baits (rolls of toilet paper) placed on the soil surface and checked 2–4 times/month. I placed a billet (a section of wood litter) next to each survey bait and measured decomposition in a plot by averaging the mass loss of its billets. Decomp...
Inhibition of Capillary Endothelial Cell Growth by Pericytes and Smooth Muscle Cells

Morphological studies of developing capillaries and observations of alterations in capillaries associated with pathologic neovascularization indicate that pericytes may act as suppressors of endothelial cell (EC) growth. We have developed systems that enable us to investigate this possibility in vitro. Two models were used: a co-culture system that allowed direct contact between pericytes and ECs and a co-culture system that prevented physical contact but allowed diffusion of soluble factors. For these studies, co-cultures were established between bovine capillary ECs and the following growth-arrested cells (hereafter referred to as modulating cells): pericytes, smooth muscle cells (SMCs), fibroblasts, epithelial cells, and 3T3 cells. The modulating cell type was growth arrested by treatment with mitomycin C before co-culture with ECs. In experiments where cells were co-cultured directly, the effect of co-culture on EC growth was determined by comparing the mean number of cells in the co-cultures to the mean for each cell type (EC and modulating cell) cultured separately. Since pericytes and other modulating cells were growth arrested, any cell number change in co-cultures was due to EC growth. In the co-cultures, pericytes inhibited all EC proliferation throughout the 14-d time course; similar levels of EC inhibition were observed in SMC-EC co-cultures. Co-culture of ECs with fibroblasts, epithelial cells, and 3T3 cells significantly stimulated EC growth over the same time course (30-192% as compared to EC cultured alone). To determine if cell contact was required for inhibition, cells were co-cultured using Millicell chambers (Millipore Corp., Bedford, MA), which separated the cell types by 1-2 mm but allowed the exchange of diffusible materials. There was no inhibition of EC proliferation by pericytes or SMCs in this co-culture system. The influence of the cell ratios on observed inhibition was assessed by co-culturing the cells at EC/pericyte ratios of 1:1, 2:1, 5:1, 10:1, and 20:1. Comparable levels of EC inhibition were observed at ratios from 1:1 to 10:1. When the cells were co-cultured at a ratio of 20 ECs to 1 pericyte, inhibition of EC growth at 3 d was similar to that observed at other ratios. However, at higher ratios, the inhibition diminished so that by the end of the time course the co-cultured ECs were growing at the same rate as the controls. These results suggest that pericytes and SMCs can modulate EC growth by a mechanism that requires contact or proximity. We postulate that similar interactions may operate to modulate vascular growth in vivo.
Role of AKAP150 in the Regulation of the Synaptic L-Type Chalcium Channel Cav1.2

The A-kinase anchor protein 150 (AKAP150) is a major scaffolding protein for PKA localization in brain. It plays a critical role for PKA-mediated Cav1.2 regulation. The L-type calcium channel Cav1.2 contributes to Ca2+ influx into cardiac and smooth muscles, neurons, and endocrine cells. In brain, Cav1.2 is majorly localized in postsynaptic sites and important for synaptic function. Protein kinase A (PKA) upregulates Cav1.2 activity in response to adrenergic stimulation. The primary phosphorylation site by PKA is located on serine 1928 of the central, pore-forming α11.2 subunit. We have shown previously that Cav1.2 forms a complex with the β2-adrenergic receptor and PKA. We also found that AKAP150 associates with β2AR in vivo and in vitro. To investigate the significance of AKAP 150 anchored PKA activity on Cav1.2 regulation, we analyzed the functional and physical association of β2AR and Cav1.2 among wild type, AKAP150 KO, and AKAP D36 (lacking the PKA biding site) mice.
Myocardial Recovery Is Associated with Molecular Hysteresis in a Model of Conditional Transgenesis

Myocardial Recovery Is Associated with Molecular Hysteresis in a Model of Conditional Transgenesis Veli K. Topkara, Wei Wang, Huei-Ping Tzeng, Feng Gao, Amanda Camp, Charles Gu, Jeffrey Robbins, Philip M. Barger, Douglas L. Mann; Cardiovascular Division, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; Winters Center for Heart Failure, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX; Division of Biostatistics Human and Statistical Genetics Program, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; Division of Molecular Cardiovascular Biology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
Phototropism: Some History, Some Puzzles, and a Look Ahead

Though few and far between, phototropism studies through 1937 established a number of important principles. (1) Blue light is the active spectral region. (2) The phototropic stimulus is perceived by the coleoptile tip, and the consequences of the stimulation progress down into the growing region. (3) Lateral transport of auxin mediates the curvature response. (4) The reciprocity law holds for first positive curvature, whereas second positive curvature is time dependent. (5) Red light treatment had a major effect on phototropic sensitivity. Later studies established the following. (6) Seven blue light receptors (cryptochromes, phototropins, and three F-box proteins) were identified and characterized. (7) A flavin was established as the photoreceptor chromophore for all seven. (8) The chromophore domain, designated the LOV domain (for light, oxygen, or voltage), carries out a unique photochemistry. (9) LOV domains must be truly ancient chromophore domains. There remain some puzzles. The fluence-response threshold level for first positive curvature is far below that for phototropin photochemistry. Likewise, the fluence-response threshold level for the red light effect on coleoptile phototropism is far below those for phytochrome phototransformation. Cytological effects of red light are also very insensitive compared with the physiological effects of red light. What is the mechanism allowing for this extraordinary photosensitivity? How is phototropin specificity controlled? What are the functions of the phytochrome kinase substrate proteins in both phytochrome and phototropin responses? What mechanism leads to lateral auxin transport? Finally, are LOV domain proteins true photoreceptors in all of the bacteria in which they occur? If so, what is their biological function? Even in the ancient world, astute observers noted that plants could turn to face the sunlight. What was originally designated heliotropism for plants that followed the sun eventually became divided into two distinct response categories: solar tracking (the real heliotropism), a repetitive and completely reversible turgor-driven process; and phototropism, an irreversible directional growth response determined by light direction. Over the past 200 years, a large number of brilliant biologists, including Julius Sachs (1864), Charles Darwin (1881), Frits Went (1928), and Kenneth Thimann (Went and Thimann, 1937) have applied their talents to examining and elucidating the mechanisms accounting for both of these responses. The entire history of phototropism and solar tracking parallels and is intertwined with that for a number of other blue light responses, found not just in higher plants but in bryophytes, ferns, algae, fungi, and, most recently bacteria. For a detailed account of this history, see Briggs (2006). Progress in research on blue light-activated processes over the last half century was severely hampered by a lack of knowledge of the relevant blue light receptors.
Common-mode radiation resulting from handassembled cable bundles on automotive platforms

A statistical cable harness model is developed to account for the random disturbance of the wire positions along hand-assembled bundles. The non-uniform random bundles are modeled as n -cascaded segments of uniform multi-conductor transmission line. At each section, all wire positions are disturbed with random numbers obeying a Gaussian distribution. In addition, a spline interpolation function is used to improve the smoothness of wires winding along the bundle. The common- mode current distribution along the bundle calculated with SPICE is injected into a full-wave tool, e.g., FDTD, as impressed current sources. Thus, the full-vehicle electromagnetic emissions from the automotive harness can be predicted efficiently. The model has been experimentally validated with a controlled laboratory setup. routing can only be loosely controlled with the total number of segments of the bundle. For the RMD algorithm, the smoothness of the wire routing within the cable bundles is controlled through the fractal dimension and the total number of segments. The RMD method gives better representation of an actual cable harness in terms of smoothness, and it has more flexibility to control the randomness. However, the bundle wires constructed with both methods demonstrated unphysical large discontinuities between adjacent bundle segments because of the nature of the algorithms. The large discontinuities result in unphysical resonances of the CM current along the cable harnesses, which compromises the effectiveness of both models, especially at high frequency. To mitigate the discontinuities of the constructed bundle wires and more physically represent an actual cable harness behavior, a new method, i.e., the Random Displacement Spline Interpolation (RDSI) algorithm, is proposed and developed in this paper. In Section II, the RDSI algorithm is briefly introduced. In Section III, a test setup in a controlled laboratory environment is used to assess the effectiveness of the RDSI cable harness model. Finally, the performance of the RDSI cable harness model is summarized in Section IV.
Multiport network model for rectangular microstrip patches covered with a dielectric layer

An extension of the multiport network modelling technique applied to rectangular microstrip patches on thin substrates covered with a dielectric layer is reported. The edge admittance networks for the radiating edges and the mutual coupling network for the external interaction between the two radiating edges are obtained from the spectral domain solution for fields of a magnetic current element placed on a conducting ground and covered with a dielectric layer. Results of the analysis for single-port and two-port patches are compared with experimental results. The good agreement validates the model and the analysis procedure proposed.
Dorsal root ganglia neurite extension is inhibited by mechanical and chondroitin sulfate-rich interfaces.

Glial scar formation plays a critical role in the regenerative failure in the central nervous system of adult mammals through the formation of mechanical or biochemical barriers as a result of its molecular composition. In this study, we report an in vitro model to study growth-cone behavior at controlled 3D interfaces using layered agarose hydrogels. The behavior of growth cones from embryonic day 9 (E9) chick dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) at interfaces that were mismatched in terms of their elasticity or chondroitin sulfate content was quantitatively determined. A mechanical barrier formed by the elasticity mismatch of layered agarose gels greatly influenced the ability of neurites from E9 DRGs to cross the 3D interface. To form chondroitin sulfate-rich interfaces, chondroitin sulfate B was covalently coupled to agarose hydrogel. Compared with unmodified agarose gels, the presence of CS-B-modified agarose gels at the interface significantly inhibited E9 DRGs neurites. After treatment of CS-B-modified agarose gels with chondroitinase ABC, the inhibitory effects of CS-B at the interface were significantly decreased. The effect of doping CS-B gels with laminin 1 (LN-1)-coupled agarose gels was investigated as a potential strategy to overcome inhibitory interfaces. When CS-B agarose gels were doped with LN-1-coupled agarose gels, DRG neurite's ability to cross 3D interfaces was significantly enhanced compared with that of non-LN-1-containing interfaces presenting equivalent CS-B. Our in vitro model may be used to study the influence of individual components of glial scar on inhibition as well as to design strategies to overcome this inhibition. J. Neurosci. Res. 66:303–310, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Egg production by the copepod, Eurytemora affinis, in Chesapeake Bay turbidity maximum regions

The copepod, Eurytemora affinis, exhibits maximum abundance in estuarine turbidity maxima (ETMs) of estuaries around the world, including the Chesapeake Bay. We performed egg clutch size (CS) measurements of E. affinis to help understand why this copepod species reaches maximum abundance within ETM regions. Prosome length alone, without any measure of food quantity or quality, was the best predictor for egg CS. The relationship of CS with nutritional variables and the comparison of measured particulate organic carbon concentrations with food requirements predicted from bioenergetics models both suggest that E. affinis egg production is not food limited in Chesapeake Bay ETMs. In addition, nutrition indices based on the seston of the Chesapeake Bay and Choptank River ETMs suggest that food quality was sufficient to support the maximum E. affinis production. Thus, we postulate that abiotic factors, predation and advection limit E. affinis populations in the Chesapeake Bay ETM regions rather than food resources. In Chesapeake Bay ETMs, E. affinis egg production rates began to decrease when temperatures were above 188C which is similar to results found in laboratory experiments and may help explain the successional dominance switch from E. affinis in winter-spring to the copepod Acartia tonsa in summer.