cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Impaired Ionizing Radiation-induced Activation of a Nuclear Signal Essential for Phosphorylation of c-Jun by Dually Phosphorylated c-Jun Amino-terminal Kinases in Ataxia Telangiectasia Fibroblasts

The c-Jun amino-terminal kinases (JNKs) participate in intracellular signaling in response to cytokines and cellular stresses. JNKs are activated by phosphorylation on two critical residues, the threonine 183 and tyrosine 185, within the TPY motif. The activated JNKs, in turn, phosphorylate the nuclear protein c-Jun, a major component of the transcription factor AP1. In vitro studies have revealed a defect in ionizing radiation-induced activation of the JNK signaling pathway in lymphoblastoid cells from individuals with ataxia telangiectasia (AT). However, the biochemical basis for this signaling defect is not clear. Here, we show that ionizing radiation induces the phosphorylation of endogenous c-Jun in normal fibroblasts but not in AT fibroblasts. The p46 isoforms of dually phosphorylated JNKs were detected in the nuclei of both normal and AT fibroblasts following exposure to ionizing radiation or sham radiation. However, c-Jun kinase activity was detected in normal cells but not in AT cells. Furthermore, an exogenous purified active JNK protein was able to phosphorylate endogenous c-Jun in nuclear extracts only of normal cells and only after the cells were irradiated. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays also showed that the ionizing radiation-induced increase in the DNA binding activity of AP1 observed in normal cells was absent or markedly reduced in AT cell lines. These data suggest that the defect in ionizing radiation-induced signaling through c-Jun in AT cells is the result of impaired function of an unknown nuclear protein or proteins that negatively regulate both JNK and c-Jun.
Preoperative selective venous sampling for nonlocalizing parathyroid adenomas.

Introduction: Preoperative parathyroid adenoma localization allows for a minimally invasive surgical approach. Current methods used for adenoma localization include ultrasound, sestamibi scan, and ...
Assessment and Use of Indicator Bacteria to Determine Sources of Pollution to an Urban River

Abstract Elevated levels of indicator bacteria within a river system represent a significant impairment to surface water quality in many urban areas within the Great Lakes watershed. Outfalls from combined sewer systems are assumed to be the major source of bacteria to streams in many of these urban areas, including the Rouge River of southeastern Michigan. Current remediation strategies largely disregard other potential sources, including water entering the river from its headwaters region, rural runoff, and contaminated groundwater. These other potential sources of bacterial pollution to the Rouge River were assessed and compared with bacteria contributed from combined sewer outfalls (CSOs). Fecal coliform (FC) and fecal streptococci (FS) densities were determined at 28 locations in the Rouge River Watershed during the spring and summer of 1997, 1998, and 1999. The mean levels of both indicator groups vary considerably along each branch of the river and show no correlation to CSO locations. The magnitude of both FC and FS levels are, in fact, frequently greater at sites upstream of the part of the river influenced by discharges from CSOs. The highest FC levels coincided with rainfall events, but FC levels at various sites along each branch of the Rouge River violated acceptable water quality standards (200 colonies/100 mL) at nearly 50% of the sites even during dry weather. Total suspended solids were moderately correlated with FC (r = 0.79) throughout the watershed, suggesting that solids may play a role in transporting bacteria into the Rouge River. The data depict a strong influence of upstream water and rural runoff on the water quality of the Rouge River. FC to FS ratios (FC/FS) suggest the primary source of bacteria throughout the watershed is from domesticated animals and wildlife and not from sewage derived from CSOs.
Semiconductor device simulation

Abstract A short account of certain interesting problems in semiconductor physics, process, and device modelling is given. This is a branch of microelectronics which requires the most advanced computational physics and the largest supercomputers for its understanding.
Sequential two-photon laser-induced fluorescence: a new technique for detecting hydroxyl radicals.

A new approach to the detection of the chemically important transient species, the hydroxyl radical (OH), is reported. This new approach, labeled two-photon laser-induced fluorescence (TP-LIF), has now been tested in the laboratory under atmospheric conditions. The method involves combining IR laser pumping (e.g., 1.4 or 2.8 μm) with UV laser excitation (e.g., 345 or 351 nm). Theoretical predicted signal levels were found to agree very favorably with laboratory measured signal levels. Using laboratory data reported in this study, in conjunction with projected IR energy improvements, it appears that the TP-LIF OH method could be of great value both as a laboratory instrument for studying fundamental chemical processes and as an OH field detection system.
Structural Basis of Protein Kinetic Stability: Resistance to Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Suggests a Central Role for Rigidity and a Bias Toward β-Sheet Structure†

The term kinetic stability is used to describe proteins that are trapped in a specific conformation because of an unusually high-unfolding barrier that results in very slow unfolding rates. Motivated by the observation that some proteins are resistant to sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-induced denaturation, an attempt was made to determine whether this property is a result of kinetic stability. We studied many proteins, including a few kinetically stable proteins known to be resistant to SDS. The resistance to SDS-induced denaturation was investigated by comparing the migration on polyacrylamide gels of identical boiled and unboiled protein samples containing SDS. On the basis of the different migration of these samples, eight proteins emerged as being resistant to SDS. The kinetic stability of these proteins was confirmed by their slow unfolding rate upon incubation in guanidine hydrochloride. Further studies showed that these proteins were also extremely resistant to proteolysis by proteinase K, suggesting that a common mechanism may account for their resistance to SDS and proteolytic cleavage. Together, these observations suggest that a rigid protein structure may be the physical basis for kinetic stability and that resistance to SDS may serve as a simple assay for identifying proteins whose native conformations are kinetically trapped. Remarkably, most of the kinetically stable SDS-resistant proteins in this study are oligomeric beta-sheet proteins, suggesting a bias of these types of structures toward kinetic stability.
OH stretch IR spectra of (H2O)3 and benzene-(H2O)3

The OH stretch IR spectrum of (H2O)3 is significantly altered upon complexation of the cluster with a benzene molecule. Theoretical calculations show that the differences in the OH stretch spectra of (H2O)3 and benzene-(H2O)3 are primarily due to mode localization induced by the benzene molecule.
Scaling spectra and return times of dynamical systems

The grand canonical version of the spectrum of singularities formalism is presented, relying naturally upon certain Markov transition graphs. The structure of a graph is simply determined by the close return times of the dynamical system described. Thus, an intimate connection exists between the shape of the singularity curve and a small but interesting set of dynamical properties.
Microbiological survey for analysis of the brown spots on the walls of the tomb of King Tutankhamun

Abstract This paper presents the preliminary findings from our investigation into the possible microbial origin of brown spots on the walls of Tutankhamun's tomb. GC/MS analysis of the brown spots indicated that they contained 16% (by weight) of malic acid, suggesting microbial involvement in their formation. However, no microbial structures associated with the brown spots were detected using scanning electron microscopy. Our observations indicate that the organism that created the spots is not active. We undertook an investigation of the current microbial communities on the walls in Tutankhamun's tomb and two other nearby tombs. There were no significant differences in the numbers or types of culturable microorganisms among the three tombs sampled. Using pyrosequencing, no statistically significant differences in community composition and structure were observed. Fungal communities were composed primarily of Penicillium whereas the abundant bacterial taxa were members of the Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes phyla. Penicillium chrysogenum isolated in this study produced malic acid in vitro, suggesting that they or other microorganisms may be responsible for the malic acid detected in the brown spots. Findings from this study were compared to those from previous studies, and a possible scenario for the formation of the brown spots was developed.
Quadratic and cubic b-splines by generalizing higher-order voronoi diagrams

A long-standing problem in spline theory has been to generalize classic B-splines to the multivariate setting, and its full solution will have broad impact. We initiate a study of triangulations that generalize the duals of higher order Voronoi diagrams, and show that these can serve as a foundation for a family of multivariate splines that generalize the classic univariate B-splines. This paper focuseson Voronoi diagrams of orders two and three, which produce families of quadratic and cubic bivariate B-splines. We believe that these families are the most general bivariate B-splines to date and supportour belief by demonstrating that a classic quadratic box spline, the Zwart-Powell (ZP) element, is contained in our family. Our work is directly based on that of Neamtu, who established the fascinating connection between splines and higher order Voronoi diagrams.
Craniomedial Approach to the Canine Scapulohumeral Joint

A craniomedial approach to the scapulohumeral joint of the dog is described for the removal of large, intraarticular cartilaginous bodies from the medial aspect of the joint. This technique was used successfully in 4 dogs with chronic osteochondritis dissecans in which the medial aspect of the joint was inaccessible through a standard lateral approach.
New fermi surface results in AuGa2

Abstract Measurements of Fermi surface areas of AuGa 2 in magnetic fields up to 100 koe yield the following new results. A recently reported branch which had been the first experimental evidence for a fifth zone surface is shown to result from the third zone. Two new branches have also been measured: one near , which cofirms an orbit suggested by galvanomagnetic measurements, and the other near but as yet unattributed to any zone.
Steroid Hormones Use Non-Genomic Mechanisms to Control Brain Functions and Behaviors: A Review of Evidence

Progestins, estrogens, androgens, and corticosteroids are capable of modifying brain functions and behaviors by mechanisms that involve the classic genomic model for steroid action. However, experimental evidence indicates that some responses to steroid hormones use non-classical, non-genomic mechanisms. This paper reviews the evidence that steroids can bind to receptors in the plasma membrane, activate cell signaling pathways, and regulate responses on a time scale of seconds or a few minutes. The existence of these alternative regulatory pathways for steroid hormones should make endocrinologists and neurobiologists change how they think about steroid hormones. It is no longer valid to assume that minute-to-minute changes in steroid concentrations are not regulating biologically important, short-term responses, or that the only steroids with biological functions are the ones that bind with high affinity to intracellular steroid receptors.
Low dislocation density, large diameter, liquid encapsulated Czochralski growth of GaAs

Abstract We have grown 70 nm diameter, 1200 g, 〈100〉 oriented GaAs single crystals in a low thermal gradient environment. Without intentional doping we have obtained average KOH etch pit densities (EPD) of 5000 cm -2 over 70% of the wafer area, and throughout 75% of the ingot length. This material is semi-insulating with a resistivity of 2 × 10 7 Ω cm. By doping with Si to give free carrier concentrations in the range of 1 to 5 × 10 18 cm -3 , we reproducibly obtain average EPD's of -2 . Near the bottom of the ingot, wafers are virtually dislocation free except very near the wafer edge. The distribution of etch pits across the wafer is in general agreement with the thermoelastic stress model: high at the edges and in the center, but with an annular region essentially dislocation free (Si-doped). The axial distribution, however, does not fit this model: generally high at the seed and tail ends of the crystal and low through the bulk of the ingot. Transmission X-ray topographs confirm the nature and extent of the dislocation distribution.
Sport and Juvenile Delinquency: a Theoretical Base

This paper offers a critical re-examination of the prevalent notion of sport as a panacea for juvenile delinquency. By examining the structural and phenomenological set ting of delinquency, the aut...
Indians in the Making: Ethnic Relations and Indian Identities around Puget Sound

ndians in the Making: Ethnic Relations and Indian Identities around Puget Sound. Alexandra Harmon. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. xii. 393 pp., maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, index.
Equations of Motion for Structures in Terms of Quasi-Coordinates

Identities are introduced which permit a straightforward method for formulating the equations of motion for structures for which the kinetic and potential energies are explicit functions of angular orientation. This formulation may be utilized once the energies are expressed in matrix form as functions of angular velocities and coordinate transformation matrices
Efficient chemical kinetic modeling through neural network maps

An approach to modeling nonlinear chemical kinetics using neural networks is introduced. It is found that neural networks based on a simple multivariate polynomial architecture are useful in approximating a wide variety of chemical kinetic systems. The accuracy and efficiency of these ridge polynomial networks (RPNs) are demonstrated by modeling the kinetics of H2 bromination, formaldehyde oxidation, and H2+O2 combustion. RPN kinetic modeling has a broad range of applications, including kinetic parameter inversion, simulation of reactor dynamics, and atmospheric modeling.
Blubber development in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).

Blubber, the lipid-rich hypodermis of cetaceans, functions in thermoregulation, buoyancy control, streamlining, metabolic energy storage, and locomotion. This study investigated the development of this specialized hypodermis in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) across an ontogenetic series, including fetuses, neonates, juveniles, subadults, and adults. Blubber samples were collected at the level of the mid-thorax, from robust specimens (n = 25) that stranded along the coasts of North Carolina and Virginia. Blubber was dissected from the carcass and its mass, and the depth and lipid content at the sample site, were measured. Samples were prepared using standard histological methods, viewed by light microscopy, and digital images of blubber captured. Images were analyzed through the depth of the blubber for morphological and structural features including adipocyte size, shape, and numbers, and extracellular, structural fiber densities. From fetus to adult, blubber mass and depth increased proportionally with body mass and length. Blubber lipid content increased dramatically with increasing fetal length. Adult and juvenile blubber had significantly higher blubber lipid content than fetuses, and this increase was reflected in mean adipocyte size, which increased significantly across all robust life history categories. In juvenile, subadult, and adult dolphins, this increase in cell size was not uniform across the depth of the blubber, with the largest increases observed in the middle and deep blubber regions. Through-depth counts of adipocytes were similar in all life history categories. These results suggest that blubber depth is increased during postnatal growth by increasing cell size rather than cell number. In emaciated adults (n = 2), lipid mobilization, as evidenced by a decrease in adipocyte size, was localized to the middle and deep blubber region. Thus, in terms of both lipid accumulation and depletion, the middle and deep blubber appear to be the most metabolically dynamic. The superficial blubber likely serves a structural role important in streamlining the animal. This study demonstrates that blubber is not a homogeneous tissue through its depth, and that it displays life history-dependent changes in its morphology and lipid content. J. Morphol. 259:7–20, 2004. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Arsenic tolerance in a population of the grass Andropogon scoparius Michx

Samples of Andropogon scoparius Michx. collected on an arsenic mine exhibited a wide range of tolerance to arsenic in solution, whereas plants of the same species growing in uncontaminated soil showed no tolerance. Arsenic tolerance must be an evolved character under genetic control. Furthermore, the degree of tolerance is related to the amount of arsenic in which the plant was growing.
Resistance to delamination of 3D woven textile composites evaluated using End Notch Flexure (ENF) tests: Experimental results

Abstract The flexural response of 3D woven textile composite panels containing an edge crack is evaluated using the End Notch Flexure (ENF) test. In doing so, the effectiveness of 3D reinforcement in increasing and/or eliminating delamination is demonstrated. Two types of textile architectures, referred to as Z-fiber reinforcement and a layer-to-layer architecture were examined. At quasi-static and low rate; 0.01 mm/Section (0.0004 in/s) and 50.8 mm/Section (2 in/s), results showed that the Z-fiber reinforcement provided a higher strength, although the layer-to-layer reinforcement provided more energy absorption and prevented mode II crack propagation, thus providing insight into eliminating the delamination mode of failure. At higher loading rates, using an instrumented drop tower at impactor velocities of 2.79 m/Section (110 in/s) and 3.96 m/Section (156 in/s), results suggested a rate dependent mode II strength of the material. Computational models to further explore the experimental results are presented in a follow-on paper in this issue of the journal [1] .
Effects of EGTA on the calcium-activated afterhyperpolarization in hippocampal CA3 pyramidal cells

Intracellular recordings in the hippocampal slice preparation were made with electrodes filled with 0.2 molar potassium EGTA. The purpose was to investigate the role of calcium in mediating afterhyperpolarizations following bursts evoked by intracellular current pulses, arising spontaneously, or induced by the epileptogenic agent pencillin. In the first two cases the afterhyperpolarization was blocked and the associated conductance increase was reduced, suggesting that EGTA was blocking the calcium-activated potassium conductance during the hyperpolarization. In the third case the afterhyperpolarization and associated conductance increase persisted, implicating an alternative mechanism for the hyperpolarization. ?2Ns 04053
Electrocatalytic Properties of Indium Tin Oxide-Supported Pt Nanoparticles for Methanol Electro-oxidation

Indium tin oxide (ITO) synthesized by a glycine nitrate process has been explored as a support for Pt nanoparticles using preformed Pt colloidal particles. X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive spectroscopic analysis in scanning electron microscopy indicate that Sn is well incorporated into the In 2 O 3 lattice and ITO has a crystallite size of 26 nm. High resolution transmission electron microscopy shows that the Pt nanoparticles with a crystallite size of ~4 nm are highly dispersed on the surface of ITO nanoparticles. The ITO-supported Pt nanoparticles exhibit a higher intrinsic activity for methanol electro-oxidation with high stability during potential cycling than carbon-supported Pt despite the larger particle size of ITO and the lower electrochemical active area. Stripping experiments with CO reveal that the oxidation of adsorbed CO begins at a lower potential with ITO-supported Pt compared to that with carbon-supported Pt, indicating that the high catalytic activity is related to the active participation of ITO in the methanol oxidation process. The results suggest that ITO could be considered as an alternative support for electrocatalysts in fuel cells.
Quaking mouse: in vitro studies of brain sphingolipid biosynthesis.

Abstract A developmental study of sphingolipid biosynthesis in Quaking mice (which have a myelin deficiency) and littermate controls was carried out. Assays were conducted by incubating the appropriate radioactive precursor with microsomal preparation obtained from the brains of mutant or control mice. Enzymatic capacity for the biosynthesis of cerebroside, a quantitatively important sphingolipid component of brain localized primarily in myelin, was depressed up to 65% in the mutant, as compared to control, mice. This was true at every age point (15–112 days studied. Ability to synthesize glucosylceramide (a precursor to gangliosides of grey matter) was unimpaired. Enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of ceramide (precursor to sphingolipids of both grey and white matter) and ketodihydrosphingosine (the precursor of ceramide) were present at normal levels in the mutant mice. Evidence that the deficit in ability to synthesize cerebroside is secondary to some other process, and not the result of a mutation directly affecting UDP-galactose-ceramide galactosyl transferase is summarized. The hypothesis that enzymatic activity for cerebroside biosynthesis is repressible, and an important control mechanism in myelinogenesis, is developed.
Ice-Sheet Glaciation of the Puget lowland, Washington, during the Vashon Stade (late pleistocene)

During the Vashon Stade of the Fraser Glaciation, about 15,000–13,000 yr B.P., a lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet occupied the Puget lowland of western Washington. At its maximum extent about 14,000 yr ago, the ice sheet extended across the Puget lowland between the Cascade Range and Olympic Mountains and terminated about 80 km south of Seattle. Meltwater streams drained southwest to the Pacific Ocean and built broad outwash trains south of the ice margin. Reconstructed longitudinal profiles for the Puget lobe at its maximum extent are similar to the modern profile of Malaspina Glacier, Alaska, suggesting that the ice sheet may have been in a near-equilibrium state at the glacial maximum. Progressive northward retreat from the terminal zone was accompanied by the development of ice-marginal streams and proglacial lakes that drained southward during initial retreat, but northward during late Vashon time. Relatively rapid retreat of the Juan de Fuca lobe may have contributed to partial stagnation of the northwestern part of the Puget lobe. Final destruction of the Puget lobe occurred when the ice retreated north of Admiralty Inlet. The sea entered the Puget lowland at this time, allowing the deposition of glacial-marine sediments which now occur as high as 50 m altitude. These deposits, together with ice-marginal meltwater channels presumed to have formed above sea level during deglaciation, suggest that a significant amount of postglacial isostatic and(or) tectonic deformation has occurred in the Puget lowland since deglaciation.
Hypersexual Activity Induced in Females of the Cockroach Nauphoeta cinerea

Corpora allata control mating in females principally by inducing feeding on the tergum of a displaying male. Mating induces an inhibitory nervous mechanism, the seat of which is posterior to the last abdominal ganglion, causing an immediate loss of receptivity by suppressing feeding behavior. After parturition, females may again be receptive. Transection of the nerve cord before or just after mating causes excessive sexual behavior.
Are Pro-Welfare State and Full-Employment Policies Possible in the Era of Globalization?:

There is a widely held belief in U.S. and European economic, political, and academic circles that economic globalization has considerably diminished states' power to follow public policies identified with the social democratic tradition, such as full-employment policies, comprehensive and universal provision of welfare state services, and state regulatory interventions in labor markets and economic policies. And large sectors of the European center-left and left parties believe that European monetary integration made expansionist and full-employment policies practically impossible, except when realized at the European continental level. This article presents empirical information that questions these positions. It documents how specific governments in Europe have been able to carry out such public policies during these years of economic globalization and monetary integration. Some countries (such as Sweden and Finland) that had carried out these policies then later weakened their implementation did so in response to political changes mostly unrelated to globalization of the economy or monetary integration. The article also analyzes and documents how countries that had followed expansionist and full-employment policies have responded to the globalization of financial markets.
Chronic heart block in dogs; a method for producing experimental heart failure.

A method is described for the production of chronic atrioventricular block in dogs, by incision of the region of the bundle of His through the open right atrium during temporary caval occlusion. Exercise tolerances, chest x-ray films, electrocardiograms, phonocardiograms, cardiac outputs, intracardiac pressures, femoral pressures, and left ventricular coronary flows were obtained preoperatively and from 1 to 10 months postoperatively. The majority of the animals developed clinical, laboratory, and pathological evidence of congestive heart failure. All animals had generalized myocardial hypertrophy.
A Study of Online Digital Music Evaluation

The understanding of digital music consumer behavior and determinants of online digital music evaluation helps music retailers implement online digital music marketing strategies. In this study, the authors investigate the profiles of music consumers on the Internet and explore how consumers use product sampling and customer reviews for online music evaluation. The authors find most people use free radio as their main music source, piracy and digital music remains a problem. The authors also find consumers still depend on traditional word of mouth for their music evaluation. This study shows that many consumers are more likely to trust online sampling than online reviews, and online sampling plays a more important role than online reviews in their music evaluation. The authors also investigate post-sampling results including the music evaluation, willingness to pay (WTP), free rider, enjoyable sampling process, perceived usefulness of online sampling, knowing the true music value, further reading online reviews, using other music evaluation channels, and writing customer reviews after sampling. The authors also conduct coefficient correlation analysis for post-sampling results and provide managerial interpretations.
708-5 The Prognostic Value of Exercise Thallium-201 Tomographic Imaging in a Community Population

Prior studies that have demonstrated the prognostic utility of exercise thallium-201 (TI) imaging have been performed in tertiary care centers and potentially may have been influenced by patient-referral bias. To evaluate the prognostic value of TI imaging in a community-based population, 250 residents (age 58 ± 12 yrs, M164, F86) of Olmsted County, MN who underwent exercise TI tomographic imaging were followed for a median duration of 5.3 years. There were 32 initial cardiac events—5 deaths, 15 nonfatal myocardial infarctions (MI), and 12 “late” revascularization procedures performed g 3 mos after the TI study. Five-year event-free survival was 87%. The following table shows the univariate association with time to an event by Cox proportional hazards analysis: Variable X2 p Age 25.0 l 0.001 Gender 3.0 NS Prior MI 22.8 l 0.001 Chest pain class 0.4 NS Exercise duration 8.7 0.003 Magnitude ST depression 0.9 NS Exercise angina score 4.2 0.04 Any TI redistribution 6.8 0.009 #segments with TI redistribution 13.0 l 0.001 #abnormal TI segments post exercise 27.9 l 0.001 Increased lung uptake of TI 0.7 NS By multivariate analysis the only variables independently associated with outcome were age (x2 = 13.3, p = l 0.001) and the # abnormal TI segments post exercise (x2 = 8.0, p = 0.005). Conclusion As demonstrated previously for referral populations from tertiary care centers, exercise TI imaging is also useful for prognostic purposes in a community-based population.
Interactive Capacity, Decisional Capacity, and a Dilemma for Surrogates

According to recent studies, functional brain imaging reveals that some patients diagnosed as being in a vegetative state (VS) may in fact be in a minimally conscious state (MCS). Fischer and Truog...
The effect of cycloheximide upon polyribosome stability in two yeast mutants defective respectively in the initiation of polypeptide chains and in messenger RNA synthesis

The effect of cycloheximide upon protein synthesis, RNA metabolism, and polyribosome stability was investigated in the parent and in two temperature-sensitive mutant yeast strains defective respectively in the initiation of polypeptide chains and in messenger RNA synthesis. Cycloheximide at high concentrations (100 μg/ml) severely inhibits but does not completely stop protein synthesis (Fig. 1); the incorporation of 14C-amino acids into polyribosome-associated nascent polypeptide chains continues at a slow but measurable rate (Figs. 2 and 3). Polyribosome structures are stable in the parent strain at 36° whether or not cycloheximide is present (Fig. 5). However, in Mutant ts- 136, a mutant defective in messenger as well as in stable RNA production, polyribosomes decay at the restrictive temperature (36° C) at the same rate whether or not cycloheximide is present (Fig. 5). Thus the maintenance of polyribosome structures is dependent upon the continued synthesis of messenger RNA even under conditions of extremely slow polypeptide chain elongation. In mutant ts- 187, a mutant defective in the initiation of polypeptide chains, all of the polyribosomes decay to monoribosomes within 2 minutes after a shift to the restrictive temperature; cycloheximide completely prevents this decay demonstrating that this mutant is capable of continued messenger RNA synthesis at 36° C. Consistent with these observations is the fact that a newly synthesized heterogeneously sedimenting RNA fraction continues to enter polyribosomes in the presence of cycloheximide whereas the entrance of newly synthesized ribosomal RNA is severely inhibited (Figs. 7, 8, 9). The decay or lack of decay of polyribosomes at the restrictive temperature is, therefore, a rapid and discriminating test for the analysis of mutants defective in macromolecule synthesis. Mutants which exhibit a decay of polyribosomes in the presence of cycloheximide are likely to be defective directly or indirectly in the synthesis of messenger RNA whereas mutants in which decay is prevented or slowed by cycloheximide are likely to be defective in some factor required for the association of ribosomes and messenger RNA.
Visualizing visualizations. User interfaces for managing and exploring scientific visualization data

The process of scientific visualization is inherently iterative. A good visualization comes from experimenting with visualization, rendering, and viewing parameters to bring out the most relevant information in the data. A good data visualization system thus lets scientists interactively explore the parameter space intuitively. The more efficient the system, the fewer the number of iterations needed for parameter selection. Over the past 10 years, significant efforts have gone into advancing visualization technology (such as real-time volume rendering and immersive environments), but little into coherently representing the process and results (images and insights) of visualization. This information about the data exploration should be shared and reused. In particular, for types of data visualization with a high cost of producing images and less than obvious relationship between the rendering parameters and the image produced, a visual representation of the exploration process can make the process more efficient and effective. This visual representation of data exploration process and results can be incorporated into and become a part of the user interface of a data exploration system. That is, we need to go beyond the traditional graphical user interface (GUI) design by coupling it with a mechanism that helps users keep track of their visualization experience, use it to generate new visualizations, and share it with others. Doing so can reduce the cost of visualization, particularly for routine analysis of large-scale data sets.
Bicyclobutanes from cyclopropylidene insertion reactions and photolytic closure of a diene

Isopropyliden-cyclohexan (I) reagiert mit dem aus Bromoform erhaltenen Dibromcarben (II) zum Addukt (III), das mit Methyllithium zunachst zum Carben (IV) reagiert.
Weakly First-Order Phase Transitions: The {ital {epsilon}} Expansion vs Numerical Simulations in the Cubic Anisotropy Model

Some phase transitions of cosmological interest may be weakly first order and cannot be analyzed by a simple perturbative expansion around mean field theory. We propose a simple two-scalar model{emdash}the cubic anisotropy model{emdash}as a foil for theoretical techniques to study such transitions, and we review its similarities and dissimilarities to the electroweak phase transition in the early Universe. We present numerical Monte Carlo results for various discontinuities across very weakly first-order transitions in this model and, as an example, compare them to {epsilon}-expansion results. For this purpose, we have computed through next-to-next-to-leading order in {epsilon}. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}
The importance of examining movements within the US health care system: sequential logit modeling

Utilization of specialty care may not be a discrete, isolated behavior but rather, a behavior of sequential movements within the health care system. Although patients may often visit their primary care physician and receive a referral before utilizing specialty care, prior studies have underestimated the importance of accounting for these sequential movements. The sample included 6,772 adults aged 18 years and older who participated in the 2001 Survey on Disparities in Quality of Care, sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund. A sequential logit model was used to account for movement in all stages of utilization: use of any health services (i.e., first stage), having a perceived need for specialty care (i.e., second stage), and utilization of specialty care (i.e., third stage). In the sequential logit model, all stages are nested within the previous stage. Gender, race/ethnicity, education and poor health had significant explanatory effects with regard to use of any health services and having a perceived need for specialty care, however racial/ethnic, gender, and educational disparities were not present in utilization of specialty care. After controlling for use of any health services and having a perceived need for specialty care, inability to pay for specialty care via income (AOR = 1.334, CI = 1.10 to 1.62) or health insurance (unstable insurance: AOR = 0.26, CI = 0.14 to 0.48; no insurance: AOR = 0.12, CI = 0.07 to 0.20) were significant barriers to utilization of specialty care. Use of a sequential logit model to examine utilization of specialty care resulted in a detailed representation of utilization behaviors and patient characteristics that impact these behaviors at all stages within the health care system. After controlling for sequential movements within the health care system, the biggest barrier to utilizing specialty care is the inability to pay, while racial, gender, and educational disparities diminish to non-significance. Findings from this study represent how Americans use the health care system and more precisely reveals the disparities and inequalities in the U.S. health care system.
The role of diet and exercise in the statin era

Coronary atherosclerosis begins to develop in late adolescence and early adulthood. If intervention in coronary risk factors is delayed until middle-age, it is likely that a considerable number of patients will be lost to irreversible disease. Even with the dramatic cholesterol lowering that can be induced by statin drugs, coronary events can be reduced by only 25% to 40%, leaving most at-risk patients unprotected. Diet, exercise, and other nonpharmacological interventions have a role in the age of statins, not only to augment the effects of these drugs in high-risk patients, but also, by preventing atherogenesis in the first place, to reduce the number of at-risk patients.
Spring-water Nitrate Increased with Removal of Livestock Grazing in a California Oak Savanna

We characterized spatial and temporal changes in nitrate concentrations of the leachate from annual grasslands and subsequently emergent spring-waters and tested the effect of livestock grazing removal on them. Nitrate patterns indicated that annual grassland soils are a likely N source to spring-fed wetlands, which appear to intercept and transform N along its hydrologic path from upland soils to spring-fed, headwater streams. Aboveground biomass and soil N extractions suggested that removal of livestock grazing from these wetlands impaired this function by allowing dead plant material to accumulate inhibiting plant production (hence, plant N demand), resulting in elevated stream-water nitrate (NO 3 − ) concentrations. Nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes indicated that grazing removal may increase the relative importance of this N-loss pathway. Microbial biomass varied with season but was not affected by grazing treatments suggesting that N2O losses were related to differences in NO 3 − availability rather than grazing effects on microbial community composition or their activity. Spring-fed wetlands provide important ecosystem services such as plant uptake and denitrification at transition zones between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. These N-retention and transformation functions may be enhanced through biomass harvesting by livestock.
Acknowledging White Ethnic Groups in Multicultural Counseling.

This article emphasizes the importance of understanding and acknowledging all families’ cultures, not just non-Whites’. It is intended to raise awareness of how White ethnic groups are currently viewed within the counseling field. Rather than comparing other groups to European Americans and assuming that all Whites are alike, we need to understand all of our clients’ethnicities and the worldviews they hold. A holistic perspective toward incorporating culture when working with all families and individuals is emphasized.
Computational Analyses of Quasi-Isolated Bridges with Fusing Bearing Components

Computational systems analyses are described for bridge systems that employ quasi-isolation by using a set of fixed bearings in addition to isolation bearings such as elastomeric bearings with an elastomer-concrete sliding interface or elastomeric bearings with a PTFE (Teflon) to stainless steel sliding interface. The system uses stiffened L-shaped retainer brackets that limit transverse displacement of elastomeric bearings and the bridge is intended to respond predictably, reliably, and elastically under service loading (including small seismic events), but for larger seismic events, certain bridge bearing components are intended to “fuse” and experience nonlinear behaviors that can allow for passive quasi-isolation of the bridge superstructure. To facilitate the computational modeling, experimental findings from ongoing research are being used to formulate phenomenological element models that simulate nonlinear fusing behaviors in the bridge bearings and auxiliary components. Furthermore the substructure pier elements, the bridge foundations and the abutment backwalls were modeled as they can exhibit nonlinear behaviors under large loadings. A parametric study is being carried out to investigate the effectiveness of the isolation system for various bridge structures and bearing combinations, and the findings will provide guidance for confirmation and further development of quasi-isolation design strategies.
Radiographic quantification of chronic dental infection and its relationship to the atherosclerotic process in the carotid arteries.

BACKGROUND Atherosclerosis may be initiated/accelerated by chronic dental infection (CDI). Noninvasively visualizing the carotid arteries is an accepted surrogate marker for determining coronary artery atherosclerosis (CAA). We hypothesized that 36 individuals with radiographic carotid atheromas would have more radiographic CDI than risk-matched individuals without atheromas. METHODS We determined the arithmetic sum of individuals' periapical and furcal lesions, pericoronitis sites, carious roots, teeth with pulpal caries, and vertical bony defects (>4 mm). RESULTS Individuals with atheromas had a significantly (P < .01) greater mean score of 15.5 +/- 10.4 compared with control subjects (7.9 +/- 8.1). Similarly significant (P < .05) was the difference in the mean numbers of mesial and distal vertical bony defects in the atheroma group (4.1 +/- 3.9 and 4.8 +/- 3.8, respectively) compared with control subjects (1.6 +/- 2.4 and 1.8 +/- 2.7, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Individuals with atheromas on their radiographs (and high probability of CAA) had significantly greater amounts of CDI than individuals without atheromas.
Transesophageal Echocardiographic Diagnosis of Severe Functional Tricuspid Stenosis During Infected Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Lead Extraction

raphy (TEE) is a safe and highly sensitive technique in the diagnosis of CDIE. Coupling TEE with transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) can further provide clinically useful information in determining whether patients require surgical or transvenous lead extraction. The utilization of TEE in high-risk patients provides valuable and real-time information for hemodynamic status, cardiac anatomy, and cardiac function. There are many complications related to implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) lead extraction, including, but not limited to, septic pulmonary and systemic emboli, tricuspid valvular apparatus injury, right ventricular (RV) dysfunction secondary to myocardial distortion or inversion, cardiac perforation, and cardiac tamponade. 3,4 The authors present a case report highlighting the value of TEE for early recognition and management of hemodynamic complications associated with transvenous lead extraction.
Conserved CTCF Insulator Elements Flank the Mouse and Human β-Globin Loci

A binding site for the transcription factor CTCF is responsible for enhancer-blocking activity in a variety of vertebrate insulators, including the insulators at the 5' and 3' chromatin boundaries of the chicken beta-globin locus. To date, no functional domain boundaries have been defined at mammalian beta-globin loci, which are embedded within arrays of functional olfactory receptor genes. In an attempt to define boundary elements that could separate these gene clusters, CTCF-binding sites were searched for at the most distal DNase I-hypersensitive sites (HSs) of the mouse and human beta-globin loci. Conserved CTCF sites were found at 5'HS5 and 3'HS1 of both loci. All of these sites could bind to CTCF in vitro. The sites also functioned as insulators in enhancer-blocking assays at levels correlating with CTCF-binding affinity, although enhancer-blocking activity was weak with the mouse 5'HS5 site. These results show that with respect to enhancer-blocking elements, the architecture of the mouse and human beta-globin loci is similar to that found previously for the chicken beta-globin locus. Unlike the chicken locus, the mouse and human beta-globin loci do not have nearby transitions in chromatin structure but the data suggest that 3'HS1 and 5'HS5 may function as insulators that prevent inappropriate interactions between beta-globin regulatory elements and those of neighboring domains or subdomains, many of which possess strong enhancers.
New potential antipsychotic drug BMY 20661: A profile of its effects on midbrain dopamine neurons

The new potential antipsychotic drug BMY 20661 was subjected to a series of electrophysiological tests to determine its effects on midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons in the rat substantia nigra pars compacta (A9) and ventral tegmental area (A10). Acute intravenous (i.v.) administration of BMY 20661 exerted little effect on the basal spontaneous firing rates of either A9 or A10 DA neurons. Following suppression of DA unit activity by the DA agonist apomorphine (APO), BMY 20661 consistently increased the firing of A10, but not A9, DA cells. However, the rates of A10 DA cells seldom recovered to pre-APO basal levels following BMY 20661 administration. The ability of BMY 20661 to partially reverse the APO-induced rate suppression was apparently not due to blockade of DA receptors since pretreatment with BMY 20661 (6.3 mg/kg, i.v.) only slightly (nonsignificantly) reduced the ability of APO to inhibit the firing of A10 cells. Surprisingly, BMY 20661 significantly attenuated the effects of APO on A9 DA cells. These findings suggest that BMY 20661 influences A10 DA neurons by a non-DA mechanism. Because BMY 20661 has been reported to bind to 5-HT1A receptors, the acute effects of this compound were compared to those of 8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin (8-OH-DPAT), a known 5HT1A agonist. These compounds demonstrated similar profiles in their ability to reverse APO-induced suppression of A10 DA cells but, unlike BMY 20661, 8-OH-DPAT was also active on A9 DA cells. Repeated administration of BMY 20661 for 28 days (either 5 or 10 mg/kg/day) failed to alter significantly the number of spontaneously active A10 DA cells but caused a small, but statistically significant, increase in the number of A9 DA cells/track. Because the ability to decrease the number of spontaneously active A10 DA cells has been proposed as a predictive model for antipsychotic drug action, the results obtained following repeated administration of BMY 20661 fail to support a potential antipsychotic profile for this new compound.
Software maintenance - case studies

The specific needs of the smaller computer user for software maintenance are discussed. Implementation problems and third party support are considered. The major areas of concern are seen to be preventative maintenance, system back up and recovery, application enhancement, and use of third party expertise. Several actual case histories are discussed, and the cost of failure is addressed.
Unifying verification and validation techniques: relating behavior and properties through partial evidence

The past decade has produced a range of techniques for assessing the correctness of software systems. These techniques, such as various forms of static analysis, automated verification, and test generation, are capable of producing a variety of forms of evidence showing that the software behavior meets its specified properties. We contend that, as currently formulated, existing techniques fail to externalize all of the useful pieces of evidence that they compute which limits the opportunities to obtain a comprehensive and accurate assessment of property-behavior conformance. Explicitly accounting for the ways that V&V techniques produce partial evidence offers the potential to look beyond the boundaries of individual analysis, verification, and testing techniques to consider the larger question of how the techniques fit together to provide an explicit body of evidence about software system quality.