cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Size and Composition Matters: From Engineered Nanoparticles to Ambient Fine Particles

Air pollution is a complex mixture of gaseous, volatile, and particulate matter (PM) containing inorganic and organic species. There is now abundant evidence in epidemiological and toxicological studies that air pollution contributes to the development and exacerbation of diseases of respiratory, cardiovascular, and other organs, and associated mortality. Studies showed that equal masses of PM could induce disparate health effects, suggesting that particle sizes and components may be at fault. The fine and ultrafine PM is considered to be particularly important because the small particles can be easily inhaled. Possible biological mechanisms of action leading to adverse effects include the production of inflammatory mediators in the lung causing systemic inflammation, interaction with neural receptors causing interference with the central nervous system regulation of cardiovascular function, and particle translocation via the bloodstream to other organs. This chapter reviews whether some components of the PM mixture are of a greater public health concern than others, and presents compelling evidence that trace elements are most strongly linked to the adverse effects. Air pollution has wide-ranging and harmful effects on human health and is a major issue for the global community. Further research should explore the effects of source-specific PM with more advanced approaches to exposure modeling, measurements, and statistics, which would lead to more effective legislation and interventions for greater benefits to public health.
Elevated soil nitrogen, but not phosphorus, increases growth and reproduction in Crimson Fountain grass, Pennisetum setaceum (Poaceae)

Pennisetum setaceum (Forssk) Chiov. is a perennial C4 bunchgrass native to North Africa that has become widely naturalized or invasive outside of its native range. It commonly grows in disturbed habitats, which may have high levels of soil phosphorous (P). While nitrogen (N) addition and mixed-nutrient addition have been shown to increase growth and flowering in P. setaceum, no previous research has directly tested the effects of elevated soil P. We used a nutrient addition greenhouse experiment to test the effects of elevated P and N availability independently and in combination. N-treated plants grew faster and larger, were less stressed (as measured by maximum quantum yield of photosystem II, FV/FM), flowered earlier, and produced more inflorescences than plants not treated with N. P-treated plants were significantly larger compared to controls, but the difference in size was small. We show that N is the nutrient more strongly limiting the growth and reproduction of P. setaceum. We suggest that the affinity of P. setaceum to habitats of characteristically high P availability may reflect other, similar characteristics of these habitats, such as high disturbance rates.
Qualitative Investigation of RtI Coaches Roles, Responsibilities, and Experiences Supporting Schools Participating in a State Level RtI Implementation Project

Systems coaching is a professional development approach focusing on the implementation fidelity of evidence-based practices and whole school reform efforts such as Response to Intervention (RtI). H...
RNAi against MDR1 but not MRP1 reverses multi-drug resistance in human small-cell lung carcinoma cells expressing both proteins

Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 47, 2006 601 Clinical drug resistance is in part due to over-expression of drug efflux pumps at the plasma membrane. Clinical samples and cell lines from small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) patients can express two pumps, products of the MDR1 and MRP1 genes. The in vivo roles of these pumps are not clear. To investigate this, we used RNAi directed against the mRNA's of MDR1 and MRP1, which are both expressed in the multi-drug resistant H69VP line of SCLC, to block expression and test for reversal of drug resistance. A 21-nucleotide dsRNA yielding RNAi directed against positions 79-99 in the mRNA for MDR1 was transfected into H69 (drug-sensitive) and H69VP cells (6.6 x 104 cells/200 μl). After 24 h, RT-PCR showed down-regulation mRNA for MDR1 in transfected but not mock-transfected control cells. Then, appropriate drug was added in DMSO and the cells incubated for 3 days. Compared to mock-transfected controls, the IC50 for etoposide was unchanged in H69 cells (0.39 μM with RNAi compared to 0.52 μM, p>0.05). However, resistance in H69VP cells was reversed (0.72 μM with RNAi compared to 6.8 μM, p 0.05) as well as in H69VP cells (7.2 μM compared to 5.9 μM controls, p>0.05). Resistances to doxorubicin and vincristine were also unchanged in H69VP cells. Drug resistance was also measured by reduced accumulation of the fluorogenic dye, calcein acetomymethyl ester (calcein AM). Compared to H69 cells, accumulation after 15 min in H69VP cells was reduced by 80%. This was reversed by concurrent incubation in 2 μg/ml cyclosporin A. H69VP cells transfected with RNAi against MDR1 did not show a reduction of calcein AM accumulation. However, there was a 75% reduction in cells treated with RNAi against MRP1, indicating a functional drug efflux pump. These data indicate that the protein pump expressed by MDR1, but not MRP1, is important in drug resistance in these human SCLC cells.
The association between diabetes and thyroid cancer risk: a hospital-based case-control study in China.

Previous studies have indicated inconsistent relationships of diabetes with thyroid cancer risk, yet little is known in China. In this study, we aimed to investigate the associations between diabetes, diabetes duration and the risk of thyroid cancer in Chinese population. A 1:1 matched case-control study was performed between 2015 and 2017 in Zhejiang Province including 2,937 thyroid cancer cases and 2,937 healthy controls. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for thyroid cancer were estimated in logistic regression models. Specific effects stratified by age, as well as sex, body mass index (BMI) and family history of diabetes were also examined. Overall, neither diabetes (OR = 0.75, 95 % CI: 0.21–2.73) nor diabetes duration (OR = 0.14, 95 % CI: 0.02–1.22 for diabetes duration ≦ 5 years; OR = 2.10, 95 % CI: 0.32–13.94 for diabetes duration > 5 years) was significantly associated with thyroid cancer. In stratified analyses, significant lower risk of thyroid cancer was observed among subjects with diabetes and shorter diabetes duration ( ≦ 5 years), but limited to those who were aged more than 40 years, female, overweight/obese and had positive family history of diabetes. Diabetes and shorter diabetes duration were significantly associated with decreased risk of thyroid cancer in individuals characterized by older age, female sex, higher BMI and positive family history of diabetes.
Allergy Testing Has No Correlation with Intraoperative Histopathology from Revision Total Knee Arthroplasty for Implant-Related Metal Allergy.

Lymphocyte transformation testing (LTT) is often used in the workup for possible metal allergy after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) but the correlation of this test with other diagnostic metal-allergy findings in patients undergoing revision TKA for suspected metal allergy has not been established. A single-center, single-surgeon cohort of 19 TKAs in which both components were revised for presumed implant-related metal allergy based on history, physical, and LTT testing, to nonnickel-containing implants were retrospectively identified. Histopathologic samples obtained intraoperatively were semiquantitatively analyzed using both the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) synovial pathology score and the Campbell aseptic lymphocyte-dominant vasculitis-associated lesion (ALVAL) score. As histopathology control group, we included in the study an additional cohort of 17 patients who received aseptic revision TKA and had no history of reported or tested metal sensitivity. All preoperative LTT results were highly reactive to nickel. However, this did not correlate with local periarticular tissue response in 18 of 19 cases which demonstrated a low HSS synovial score (mean: 3.8 ± 2.8, of a maximum score of 28) and the low Campbell ALVAL scores (mean: 2.5/10 ± 1.3, of a maximum score of 10). There were not any significant differences between the study group (suspected implant-related metal allergy) and the control group (nonsuspected implant-related metal allergy) in regard to (1) the Campbell score and (2) the HSS synovial inflammatory score. Knee Society Clinical Rating System (KSCRS) function score improved significantly after revision (mean postoperative increase: 34.0 ± 17. 2; p
HiddenCut: Simple Data Augmentation for Natural Language Understanding with Better Generalization

Fine-tuning large pre-trained models with task-specific data has achieved great success in NLP. However, it has been demonstrated that the majority of information within the self-attention networks is redundant and not utilized effectively during the fine-tuning stage. This leads to inferior results when generalizing the obtained models to out-of-domain distributions. To this end, we propose a simple yet effective data augmentation technique, HiddenCut, to better regularize the model and encourage it to learn more generalizable features. Specifically, contiguous spans within the hidden space are dynamically and strategically dropped during training. Experiments show that our HiddenCut method outperforms the state-of-the-art augmentation methods on the GLUE benchmark, and consistently exhibits superior generalization performances on out-of-distribution and challenging counterexamples. We have publicly released our code at this https URL.
THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH IN THE ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE: A CASE STUDY

The purpose of this article is to present information about the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT), which is an implementation of the CLT in terms of syllabus design and methodology. The primary goal of CLT is to make learners develop the ability to use language to get things done, whereas language learning occurs by producing it, and not by drilling it. In this sense, TBLT provides a connection between the classroom and the real-world through the use of task-based activities, where learners are encouraged to comprehend, manipulate, produce, and interact in the L2. The theoretical framework about CLT is based on Ballman (2001), Richards (2015, 2006), Richards and Rodgers (2014) , and about TBLT is based on Nunan (2015, 2013, 2010, 2004). Therefore, to complement this research, I carried out a case study to show the strengths and weaknesses of an English as a second language student in Brazil, who had had CLT classes in English previously. The adult participant of the case study concluded her English studies in the second semester of 2020 in a language course, in the city of Canoas-RS, Brazil. Data of the learner’s L2 oral production was collected applying six TBLT tasks, related to her level of instruction, and analyzed in this paper. According to the results obtained, I found some weaknesses, such as not having enough world knowledge about a specific topic, which hindered communication in one of the tasks. However, the learner’s strengths outweighed her weaknesses, which show that CLT together with TBLT can be efficient in the acquisition of English as a second language.
Faculty Attitudes Towards Article Processing Charges for Open Access Articles

Article Processing Charges (APCs) are significant charges for publishing Open Access (OA), and have no accepted standards for authors to source the funds or negotiate the charges. While there is a growing body of literature exploring academic authors’ perceptions of OA publishing, there is little data on how authors pay for APCs. The aim of this study was to examine how authors prepare for and fund APCs, as well as their perceptions of these charges. In early 2021 the authors deployed a survey to Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai faculty members via email. The survey was completed by 310 faculty, representing 10.6% of the active researcher population. Our findings show that about 50% of respondents include anticipated APC costs in grant applications, and that 16% of faculty will pay APCs using personal funds. Questions evaluating perception of APCs show that while the majority of respondents support the concept of Open Access, most believe that charges are too high and should not fall on authors.
Smoking Cessation Interventions During Chemoradiotherapy for Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer: A Missed Opportunity?

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S) Smoking cessation education and intervention have been well-studied in patients with cervical dysplasia or smoking-related malignancies in efforts to improve health outcomes. Though smoking is associated with worse outcomes after chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for local advanced cervical cancer (LACC), the utilization and impact of smoking cessation interventions on patients with LACC during CRT and follow-up is unknown. We hypothesize that tobacco cessation interventions are under-utilized during CRT for LACC. MATERIALS/METHODS Patients with LACC treated with definitive CRT from 2009 -2019 were identified from an IRB-approved retrospective institutional database. Smoking cessation education encounters with the institutional tobacco treatment program (TTP) during CRT and follow-up were identified within the electronic medical record. TTP encounters included counseling with or without pharmacologic therapy/nicotine replacement. Overall survival (OS) calculated with the Kaplan-Meier method. Fisher's exact and Wilcoxon rank sum tests were performed to identify differences in patients who quit smoking versus those who continued to smoke. RESULTS Of 220 patients with LACC treated with CRT, 61 (28%) were smoking at time of diagnosis. Median follow-up from date of LACC diagnosis was 25 months. Smoking cessation education was provided to 39 patients (63.9%); however only 9 patients (15%) received these services during CRT. At last follow-up, 18 patients (29.5%) had quit smoking; nearly half of these patients (8/18, 44%) attempted cessation during CRT, while some patients (5/18, 27%) quit over one year after cancer diagnosis. The overall rate of smoking cessation was 23.1% (9/39) for patients who underwent counseling and 40.9% (9/22) for those who did not. After LACC diagnosis, the median time to first cessation attempt was 61 days, while median time to the first TTP interaction was 196 days. No significant difference in 3-year OS was found between patients who quit smoking compared to those who continued smoking (73% vs 56%, P = 0.7). There was also no difference in FIGO stage (P = 0.34), nodal status (P = 0.78), age (P = 0.50), or pack years smoking (P = 0.25) between patients who quit smoking and those who continued smoking. CONCLUSION Most patients continued smoking after CRT for LACC, though cessation rates are higher than the national average (< 10%). Patients can successfully quit smoking during CRT, though few patients receive formal tobacco cessation counseling during treatment. Smoking cessation interventions should be maximized during CRT; however, interventions should also continue as part of a longitudinal, person-centered survivorship plan. Future work will attempt to ensure the success of smoking cessation attempts in patients with LACC by early referral to the TTP to augment cancer treatment and improve overall patient health and outcomes. AUTHOR DISCLOSURE E.S. Hollis: None. E. Ruebush: None. E. Davies: None. S. Paraghamian: None. A.A. Weiner: None.
Multimodal diffuse optical imaging for biomedical applications

Multimodal imaging technologies are increasingly being used in current clinical and preclinical imaging applications owing to the wealth of information provided by the complementary imaging modalities. Optical imaging technologies, which have seen tremendous growth over the last three decades, present a valuable imaging resource for both functional and molecular imaging. In this chapter, we describe efforts toward development of multimodal imaging approaches based on the combination of optical methods with other established imaging modalities like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-ray computed tomography (CT), and ultrasound.
Hierarchical Models for Disease Mapping

The analysis of disease rates or counts from small areas often involves a trade-off between statistical stability of estimates and geographic precision. Detection of locally elevated risk or rates requires geographically small units to distinguish local risk/rates from area-wide values. On the other hand, smaller regions result in rate estimates based on smaller population sizes. For a rare disease, small population sizes result in particularly unstable rate estimates. The statistical literature contains various methods of combining information or ‘borrowing strength’ between regions to achieve local rate stabilization without losing geographic resolution. The most common approaches involve hierarchical models with random effects (intercepts) for each region.
Interferometer Techniques for Astrometry and Geodesy

This chapter is concerned with the techniques by which angular positions of radio sources can be measured with the greatest possible accuracy, and with the design of interferometers for optimum determination of source-position, baseline, and geodetic parameters.
Determining local conformational variations in DNA: Nuclear magnetic resonance structures of the DNA duplexes d(CGCCTAATCG) and d(CGTCACGCGC) generated using back-calculation of the nuclear overhauser effect spectra, a distance geometry algorithm and constrained molecular dynamics

Abstract Two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (n.m.r.) spectroscopy and a variety of computational techniques have been used to generate three-dimensional structures of the two DNA duplexes d(CGCCTAATCG) and d(CGTCACGCGC). The central six base-pairs in these two decamers contain all ten dinucleotide pairs in DNA and thus, represent a model system for investigating how the local structure of DNA varies with base sequence. Resonance assignments were made for the non-exchangeable base protons and most of the C-1′-C-4′ sugar protons in both decamers. Three-dimensional structures were generated using a distance geometry algorithm and these initial structures were refined by optimizing the fit of back-calculated spectra against the experimental two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) spectra. This back-calculation procedure consists of calculating NOE cross relaxation rates for a given structure by solution of the Bloch equations, and directly accounts for spin diffusion effects. Use of this refinement procedure eliminates some assumptions that have been invoked when generating structures of DNA oligomers from n.m.r. data. Constrained energy minimization and constrained quenched molecular dynamics calculations were also performed on both decamers to help generate energetically favorable structures consistent with the experimental data. Analysis of the local conformational parameters of helical twist, helical rise, propeller twist, displacement and the α, β, γ,e and ζ backbone torsion angles in these structures shows that these parameters span a large range of values relative to the X-ray data of nucleic acids. However, the glycosidic and pseudorotation angles are quite well defined in these structures. The implications that these results have for determination of local structural variations of DNA in solution, such as those predicted by Callidine's rules, are discussed. Our results differ significantly from some previous studies on determining local conformations of nucleic acids and comparisons with these studies are made.
A Network-based Kit-of-parts Virtual Building System

This paper describes an experimental browser/modeler which will allow the user to collect and assemble virtual kit-of-parts components from “component libraries” located on the Internet (such as manufacturer’s databases) and assemble them into a virtual representation of a building. The fully assembled virtual building will provide a basis for ordering and manufacturing actual components and preparing for construction. The browser will allow the designer to affect a limited degree of remote fabrication at real manufacturing facilities, and facilitate eventual interface with built in sensors and actuators. The browser will manipulate and display interactive three dimensional objects using Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). Upon assembly, actual components will have sensors built into them for providing data about the real building, which could be viewed during a walkthru of the virtual building by clicking on parts of the model. The virtual building will work as a remote facility management tool for monitoring or controlling various architectural devices attached to the real building (such as electrically driven louvers, HVAC systems, appliances, etcetera).
The second demographic transition: A concise overview of its development

This article gives a concise overview of the theoretical development of the concept of the “second demographic transition” since it was coined in 1986, its components, and its applicability, first to European populations and subsequently also to non-European societies as well. Both the demographic and the societal contrasts between the first demographic transition (FDT) and the second demographic transition (SDT) are highlighted. Then, the major criticisms of the SDT theory are outlined, and these issues are discussed in the light of the most recent developments in Europe, the United States, the Far East, and Latin America. It turns out that three major SDT patterns have developed and that these evolutions are contingent on much older systems of kinship and family organization.
Efficient data acquisition in advanced metering infrastructure

This paper will present a general and efficient methodology for data acquisition in Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). Compressed distributed sensing using random walk (CDS(RW)) will be explored to acquire user load data from smart meters. This paper proposes to perform joint reconstruction of 2D user load profile using both spatial and temporal correlations. In this way, high data compression ratio can be achieved. Meanwhile, convex optimization will be the solver for the 2D user load profile reconstruction problem, which can guarantee both convergence and global optimality. Finally, taking power theft classification as a motivated example, this paper will demonstrate the performance will be acceptable even using the reconstructed user load profile for classification.
Intimate partner violence online: Expectations and agency in question and answer websites

This article presents the first situation-rooted typology of intimate partner violence (IPV) postings in social question and answer (QA answers come from individuals who self-identify as lawyers, experts, survivors, and abusers. Using grounded theory this study examines 1,241 individual posts, each within its own context, raising issues of agency and expectations. Informed by Savolainen's everyday life information seeking (ELIS) and Nahl's affective load theory (ALT), the resultant Q&A typology suggests implications for IPV service design, policy development, and research priorities.
Regressing: The Troubling Dispositive Role of Event Studies in Securities Fraud Litigation.

An event study is a statistical regression analysis that merely provides one method of examining the effect of an event, such as a disclosure of information on the market price of a security. Yet, the law governing event studies has become inseparable from the substantive law governing securities fraud litigation. Courts have effectively collapsed securities fraud actions into a single question: Whether the defendant’s misrepresentation or omission created a disparity between the transaction price of a security and its true value measured by the precise reaction of the market price to the disclosure of the concealed information. A misrepresentation or omission that creates that disparity is material. Plaintiffs who invest at a market price that communicates that disparity have shown reliance by the fraud on that market price. The disclosure of the previously concealed information alters the market price to create economic loss, so plaintiffs can establish loss causation. The measure of damages then is the quantification of that precise alteration or correction in the market price. The interrelated questions of materiality, reliance, loss causation, and damages all require an event study for their resolution. As such, an investor who fails to offer an event study performed by a qualified expert has little chance of prevailing. The dispositive role now played by event studies, however, is inconsistent with the Seventh Amendment and the federal securities laws. Rather, an event study requirement poses an unconstitutional and unwarranted barrier to meritorious securities fraud suits.
Three‐dimensional reconstruction of adult female mouse submandibular gland secretory structures

Computer-assisted reconstructions of adult female mouse submandibular gland have been used to positionally characterize within the three-dimensional structure likely intermediates in secretory cell replacement. The locations of striated granular duct cells and granular intercalated duct cells are consistent with a role as intermediates between intercalated duct cells and granular duct cells or acinar cells, respectively. Average volumes of the two putative intermediate cell types are also consistent with this role. The reconstructions suggest that, in addition to a "streaming" mechanism for secretory cell replacement, formation of new secretory structures composed of multiple acini and second-order intercalated ducts may also contribute to the cell replacement process.
Arterioportal fistulas in liver transplant recipients.

Objectives: On completion of this article, the reader will be able to identify the pathophysiology, clinical presentation, treatment options, and outcomes of liver transplant recipients with arterioportal fistulas. Accreditation: Tufts University School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Credit: Tufts University School of Medicine designates this journal-based CME activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Arterioportal fistulae (APFs) are classified into intrahepatic (>75% of all reported APFs) and extrahepatic ( 90%). Reportedly, all APFs in liver transplant recipients have been intrahepatic APFs.1,2,3 APFs are further classified into hemodynamically significant and hemodynamically insignificant. The determinant of hemodynamic significance is Doppler ultrasound findings suggestive of involvement of the main, right, or left portal vein.1,2,3,4 This article discusses APFs that are specific to liver transplant recipients. Their incidence, etiology, pathogenesis, natural history, clinical presentation, imaging evaluation, and endovascular management are discussed in detail.
Protein Translocation through the Anthrax Toxin Transmembrane Pore is Driven by a Proton Gradient

Protective antigen (PA) from anthrax toxin assembles into a homoheptamer on cell surfaces and forms complexes with the enzymatic components: lethal factor (LF) and edema factor (EF). Endocytic vesicles containing these complexes are acidified, causing the heptamer to transform into a transmembrane pore that chaperones the passage of unfolded LF and EF into the cytosol. We show in planar lipid bilayers that a physiologically relevant proton gradient (DeltapH, where the endosome is acidified relative to the cytosol) is a potent driving force for translocation of LF, EF and the LF amino-terminal domain (LFN) through the PA63 pore. DeltapH-driven translocation occurs even under a negligible membrane potential. We found that acidic endosomal conditions known to destabilize LFN correlate with an increased translocation rate. The hydrophobic heptad of lumen-facing Phe427 residues in PA (or phi clamp) drives translocation synergistically under a DeltapH. We propose that a Brownian ratchet mechanism proposed earlier for the phi clamp is cooperatively linked to a protonation-state, DeltapH-driven ratchet acting trans to the phi-clamp site. In a sense, the channel functions as a proton/protein symporter.
BIOSYNTHESIS OF LACTOSYLCERAMIDE BY RAT BRAIN PREPARATIONS AND COMPARISON WITH THE FORMATION OF GANGLIOSIDE GM1 AND PSYCHOSINE DURING DEVELOPMENT

—This report deals with some properties of the enzyme from rat brain, which catalyses in vitro the formation of lactosylceramide, a probable precursor of the gangliosides, from UDP-galactose and glucosylceramide. The enzyme is present in microsomes, mitochondria and synaptosomes, the latter having the highest specific activity, and appears to be firmly bound to the membranes of these particles. The enzymic activity is optimal at pH 6·8 and requires the presence of Mn2+. Lactosylceramide, the product of the reaction, was tentatively identified by its elution pattern from a Florisil column, its resistance to mild alkaline hydrolysis, thin-layer co-chromatography with authentic standards in six solvent systems, and location of the radioactivity in the galactose portion of the product obtained after incubation of labelled UDP-galactose with unlabelled glucosylceramide and in the glucose portion after incubation of glucose-labelled glucosylceramide with unlabelled UDP-galactose. The activity of this enzyme, per unit of brain weight, was found to be highest at birth and to decrease gradually thereafter. A similar age distribution was observed for another galactosyltransferase, the one which catalyses the formation of ganglioside GM1 from Tay-Sachs’ganglioside. In contrast, the activity of a third galactosyltransferase, which catalyses the formation of psychosine, and thus possibly is related to the increase of cerebrosides during myelination, is negligible during the first week and maximal about 20 days after birth.
Direct excitation of neck motoneurons by interstitiospinal fibers

1. Responses of neck motoneurons to stimulation of the interstitial nucleus of Cajal (INC) were recorded intracellularly in cats under chloralose anesthesia. When stimuli were applied within or close to the INC, short latency, monosynaptic excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) were evoked in many neck motoneurons. Such EPSPs were not evoked by stimulating mesencephalic regions outside the INC. 2. Stimulation of the ipsilateral INC produced monosynaptic EPSPs consistently in biventer cervicis-complexus (BCC) motoneurons, while such EPSPs were observed in about two thirds of the splenius (SP) motoneurons and half of the trapezius (TR) motoneurons tested. Stimulation of the contralateral INC produced weak monosynaptic EPSPs in about half the BCC motoneurons and in a few SP and TR motoneurons. All types of motoneurons also received longer latency, apparently polysynaptic, PSPs from both INCs. In BCC and TR motoneurons these were mainly EPSPs, in SP, mixed excitatory and inhibitory PSPs. 3. Monosynaptic EPSPs evoked by INC stimulation were not eliminated by acute and chronic parasagittal and transverse lesions placed to interrupt the bifurcating axons of all vestibulospinal and many reticulospinal neurons. No significant collision was observed between EPSPs evoked by INC and vestibular or reticular stimulation. The EPSPs evoked by stimulation of the INC therefore appear to have been produced by activation of interstitiospinal neurons rather than by an axon reflex mechanism. 4. The properties of a number of interstitiospinal neurons were observed while recording extracellularly from the mesencephalon to map the location of the INC. One third of the interstitiospinal neurons activated antidromically from the C4 segment could also be activated antidromically from L1. These lumbar-projecting neurons had conduction velocities ranging from 15–123 m/s. Several interstitiospinal neurons sending axons to the ventral horn of the neck segments were identified and two of these were found to be branching neurons that projected both to the neck and to lower levels of the spinal cord.
TCDD inhibits murine thymocyte and B lymphocyte maturation

Immunotoxicity is a common occurrence in experimental animals following exposure to TCDD. In addition to thymic atrophy, immunotoxicity is characterized by suppression of antibody responses in adult mice and suppression of cell-mediated immunity following perinatal exposure. Studies in our laboratory have investigated the effects of perinatal TCDD exposure on thymocyte maturation and differentiation. In addition, we have examined TCDD-induced effects on B lymphocyte maturation and differentiation in vitro
Detecting and mitigating secret-key leaks in source code repositories

Several news articles in the past year highlighted incidents in which malicious users stole API keys embedded in files hosted on public source code repositories such as GitHub and Bit Bucket in order to drive their own work-loads for free. While some service providers such as Amazon have started taking steps to actively discover such developer carelessness by scouting public repositories and suspending leaked API keys, there is little support for tackling the problem from the code sharing platforms themselves. In this paper, we discuss practical solutions to detecting, preventing and fixing API key leaks. We first outline a handful of methods for detecting API keys embedded within source code, and evaluate their effectiveness using a sample set of projects from GitHub. Second, we enumerate the mechanisms which could be used by developers to prevent or fix key leaks in code repositories manually. Finally, we outline a possible solution that combines these techniques to provide tool support for protecting against key leaks in version control systems.
Disk and Bulge Morphology of WFPC2 Galaxies: The HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE Medium Deep Survey Database

Quantitative morphological and structural parameters are estimated for galaxies detected in Hubble Space Telescope observations of WFPC2 survey fields. A modeling approach based on maximum likelihood has been developed for two-dimensional decomposition of faint undersampled galaxy images into components of disk and bulge morphology. Decomposition can be achieved for images down to F814W (I) ≈ 23.0, F606W (V) ≈ 23.8, and F450W (B) ≈ 23.3 mag in WFPC2 exposures of 1 hr. We discuss details of the fitting procedure and present the observed distributions of magnitude, color, effective half-light radius, disk and bulge axis ratios, bulge-to-(disk+bulge) flux ratio, bulge-to-disk half-light radius ratio, and surface brightness. We also discuss the various selection limits on the measured parameters. The Medium Deep Survey catalogs and images of random pure parallel fields and other similar archival primary WFPC2 fields have been made available via the Internet with a searchable browser interface to the database.
Evaluation of a new thin-walled endotracheal tube for use in children

Conventional endotracheal tubes have high intrinsic resistive properties due to their high outer-to-inner diameter ratio. This has significant disadvantages in the treatment of the small neonatal or pediatric patient as work of breathing increases with decreasing internal radius. Diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, including suctioning, may be very difficult in patients with small endotracheal tubes. We therefore measured airway resistance and pressure differential during simulated mechanical ventilation using proximal and distal endotracheal tube flow transducers. Conventional and new, ultrathin-walled endotracheal tubes reinforced with flat stainless steel or a novel, crush-proof nickel-titanium alloy were compared using fixed ventilator settings. Ventilation through the ultrathin-walled tubes resulted in a significantly reduced airway resistance (p≤0.01). These new ultrathin-walled endotracheal tubes showed flow characteristics typical of much larger conventional endotracheal tubes: the 3.2-mm internal diameter had an airway resistance (Raw) of 36, while a standard 2.5-mm internal diameter endotracheal tube had a Raw of 146. Roth endotracheal tubes have identical external diameters of 3.6 mm. We conclude that ultrathin-walled endotracheal tubes could have a significant role in the treatment of the ventilated child by facilitating interactive ventilation and maintenance of airway patency and may make procedures such as fiberoptic endoscopy and intrapulmonary ventilation using reverse-thrust catheters possible in the small child.
Mutuality in medical services

While available to a multitude, routine health precautions and basic, nonspecialized medical services are lacking in many societies. This may in part be the outcome of attitudinal distortions, not only at the national and global levels, but fundamentally within the patient-physician encounter. Demands for a disturbance-free subsistence clash with values of power and control within health-care sub-systems resulting in an overall neglect of primary needs and a distribution of medical services that benefits select groups. True needs are misrepresented and an intensification of particular services does not fulfill one's duties toward those who realize little or no services at all. The entire institutional system of medicine requires a rebalancing of rights, intentions and outcomes, beginning with the correlative experiences of patient and physician.
The form of folate affects the mechanisms of methotrexate resistance in Enterococcus faecium.

Summary: Several mechanisms have been described to explain the resistance of cells to methotrexate (MTX); however, the basis for the heterogeneity of mechanisms has been obscure. It was hypothesized that the type of MTX resistance in a single species can be influenced by the form of extracellular folate supplied during the development of resistance. Two strains of MTX-resistant Enterococcus faecium were developed by transferring the bacteria to media containing increasing concentrations of MTX in the presence of constant concentrations of either 5-formyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydropteroylglutamic acid (5-HCO-H4PteGlu) or pteroylglutamic acid (PteGlu). These resistant strains were designated E. faecium/MTX/5-HCO-H4PteGlu and E. faecium/MTX/PteGlu, respectively. The mechanisms of MTX resistance included: (1) increased folic acid reductase (FAR) activity in both resistant strains but increased dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) activity only in E. faecium/MTX/PteGlu; (2) decreased synthesis and intracellular retention of MTX containing two glutamyl residues; (3) decreased uptake of MTX accompanied by decreased uptake of folates; and (4) reduction of folate-binding capacity. Among these, the form of folate present in the media during the development of resistance affected DHFR and FAR activities and the transport of folates. These findings, together with data from other laboratories, suggest that it may be important to use a reduced form of folate, a more physiological form than oxidized PteGlu, in the media during the development of resistance for the study of the mechanisms of MTX resistance in cultured cells.
Iron(III) complexes of salicylidene amino acids

Several iron(III) complexes of tridentate dibasic salicylidene/substituted salicylidene amino acids (ONO donor set) have been prepared and characterized. All iron(III) compounds possess dimeric pseudo — octahedral structure established on the basis of elemental analysis, magnetic moment studies, superimposable infrared spectra of these complexes with those of nickel(II), cobalt(II), manganese(II), magnesium(II) and zinc(II) complexes, and thermogravimetric analysis.
Craters on Earth, Moon, and Mars: Multivariate classification and mode of origin

Testing extraterrestrial craters and candidate terrestrial analogs for morphologic similitude is treated as a problem in numerical taxonomy. According to a principal-components solution and a cluster analysis, 402 representative craters on the Earth, the Moon, and Mars divide into two major classes of contrasting shapes and modes of origin. Craters of net accumulation of material (cratered lunar domes, Martian calderas, and all terrestrial volcanoes except maars and tuff rings) group apart from craters of excavation (terrestrial meteorite impact and experimental explosion craters, typical Martian craters, and all other lunar craters). Maars and tuff rings belong to neither group but are transitional. The classification criteria are four independent attributes of topographic geometry derived from seven descriptive variables by the principal-components transformation. Morphometric differences between crater bowl and raised rim constitute the strongest of the four components.
Temperament and Vocational Preferences: Age, Gender, and Racial-Ethnic Comparisons Using the Student Styles Questionnaire

Relationships between temperament and vocational interests are examined for a large, nationally stratified sample of children ages 8 through 17 years. Reliable relationships between temperament and vocational interests are observable in children as young as 8 to 10 years. Those with extroverted styles are interested in being a rock star. Those with introverted, intuitive, and feeling styles are interested in being a writer. Those with thinking styles are interested in being a mechanic. Those with feeling styles are interested in being a counselor. Those with flexible styles are interested in being a jet pilot. Age, gender, and racial-ethnic differences also are examined.
The importance of the function of exercise in the relationship between obligatory exercise and eating and body image concerns.

This study tested whether exercising in response to negative affect moderates the association between obligatory exercise and eating and body image psychopathology. Participants (n = 226) completed the Eating Disorders Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q), Obligatory Exercise Questionnaire (OEQ), and a question assessing whether they ever exercise in response to negative affect. In total, 132 (58.4%) participants endorsed exercising in response to negative affect. Multiple regression analyses revealed significant main effects of negative affect motivated exercise, OEQ total scores, and gender on all four EDE-Q subscales and significant interactions of negative affect motivated exercise and OEQ scores on the Eating Concern, Shape Concern, and Weight Concern scales but not the Restraint scale of the EDE-Q. Obligatory exercisers may not demonstrate elevated eating and body image concerns in the absence of negative affect motivated exercise, providing further support of the importance of the function of exercise.
The Impact of a Prominent Rain Shadow on Flooding in California's Santa Cruz Mountains: A CALJET Case Study and Sensitivity to the ENSO Cycle

Abstract Data from the California Land-Falling Jets Experiment (CALJET) are used to explore the causes of variations in flood severity in adjacent coastal watersheds within the Santa Cruz Mountains on 2–3 February 1998. While Pescadero Creek (rural) experienced its flood of record, the adjacent San Lorenzo Creek (heavily populated), attained only its fourth-highest flow. This difference resulted from conditions present while the warm sector of the storm, with its associated low-level jet, high moisture content, and weak static stability, was overhead. Rainfall in the warm sector was dominated by orographic forcing. While the wind speed strongly modulated rain rates on windward slopes, the wind direction positioned the edge of a rain shadow cast by the Santa Lucia Mountains partially over the San Lorenzo basin, thus protecting the city of Santa Cruz from a more severe flood. Roughly 26% ± 9% of the streamflow at flood peak on Pescadero Creek resulted from the warm-sector rainfall. Without this rainfall, th...
Tachykinin Systems in the Spinal Cord and Basal Ganglia: Influence of Neonatal Capsaicin Treatment or Dopaminergic Intervention on Levels of Peptides, Substance P–Encoding mRNAs, and Substance P Receptor mRNA

: The aim of the study was to test whether the synthesis of substance P (SP) and that of its receptor (also known as NK1 receptor) are coordinately regulated after chronic pharmacologic intervention in two neural systems, the spinal cord and basal ganglia. In one set of experiments, capsaicin was administered subcutaneously during the early postnatal period (day 3 after birth) to induce degeneration of afferent sensory neurons in the spinal cord. In the other set of experiments, interruption of dopaminergic transmission was achieved by two methods: (a) The neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine was used to denervate dopaminergic neurons during the early postnatal period, and (b) haloperidol was used in adult animals to block dopaminergic transmission by receptor blockade. The spinal cord, striatum, or both were used for the quantification of tachykinin [SP and neurokinin A (NKA)] and opioid peptides [[Met5]-enkephalin (ME) and dynorphin A (1–8) (DYN)] by radioimmunoassays. The abundance of total SP-encoding preprotachykinin (PPT) mRNA and SP receptor (SPR) mRNA in spinal cord (C5 to T1 segments), striatum, or microdissected substantia nigra was determined by northern blot or solution hybridization analysis. Amines and their acid metabolites were quantified by HPLC. Capsaicin administration (subcutaneously) during the early postnatal period increased latency in a hot-plate test, decreased SP and NKA levels, increased levels of PPT mRNAs, and did not affect SPR mRNA levels in the spinal cord. Intraspinal SP systems may attempt to compensate for the loss of afferent SP input, whereas spinal cord receptor mRNA levels do not appear to be altered. Neonatal dopaminergic denervation or haloperidol blockade of dopamine receptors in adult rats decreased PPT mRNA levels in the striatum as previously reported but did not alter the abundance of SPR mRNA in the striatum or substantia nigra. The presence of SPR mRNA levels in microdissected substantia nigra and the lack of alteration in its levels as a consequence of dopamine denervation suggest that the receptor is expressed within nondopaminergic neurons, possibly GABAergic neurons. In both spinal cord and basal ganglia systems, regardless of increases or decreases in SP or SP-encoding mRNA levels, SPR mRNA levels were not altered. We conclude that the regulation of the presynaptic biosynthesis of SP and the postsynaptic regulation of the SPR mRNA can be modulated independently of each other in spinal cord and basal ganglia SP systems.
Efficient MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 video transcoding

An efficient MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 video transcoder is presented in this paper. We consider the transcoding from high quality and bit rate MPEG-2 video with larger image size (e.g. 4CIF/4SIF, CIF) to lower quality and bit rate MPEG-4 video with smaller image size (e.g. CIF, QCIF). First, the transcoder needs to down-sample the input MPEG-2 video. Since the motion vectors carried by the MPEG-2 stream will be reused in the transcoding process, they are sub-sampled besides the frame pixels, and the coding mode for each down-sampled macroblock is examined. A new rate control method is proposed to convert the high bit rate MPEG-2 video to the low bit rate MPEG-4 counterpart. The proposed rate control scheme adjusts the frame rate and the frame quantization step size simultaneously according to the channel bandwidth to achieve a good temporal-spatial quality tradeoff. Due to the reuse of motion vectors, key frames (i.e. I and P frames) cannot be skipped to maintain the prediction sequential order, while some B frames containing less temporal information may be skipped in transcoding to save the bit rate. Skipped B frames can be reconstructed at the decoder to ensure the full frame rate playback. The TM7 quadratic Rate-Qtz model is adopted in the proposed rate control scheme to calculate the re-quantization step size from the given target bit. Simulations show that the proposed MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 video transcoder with rate control can out-perform the basic MPEG transcoder that adjusts the re-quantization step size at a constant frame rate. The complexity of the proposed transcoder is low so that it can be used in real-time applications.