cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Preparation and characterization of mouse intestinal phospholipase.

Phospholipase has been prepared in a stable, partially purified form from the small intestine of mice infected with the tapewormHymenolepis nana. The enzyme(s) attacks diacylphosphatides with liberation of free fatty acids and a corresponding decrease in phospholipid phosphorus, without accumulation of lysophosphatides. The reactivity with various substrates is strongly influenced by their physical state, the presence of other lipids, proteins or detergents. The phospholipids of some biomembranes (mitochondria, microsomes, red cell ghosts) are readily hydrolyzed under customary reaction conditions. The ensuing biochemical, morphological and functional alterations have been documented. In contrast, the diacylphospholipids of the cell membrane (intact erythrocytes,Pseudomonas aerunginosa) are not accessible to phospholipase action unless some alteration of the integrity of the cell is induced by physical or chemical means (hemolysis, polymyxin). The enzyme is proposed as a tool for the investigation of biomembranes and as a model for the study of phospholipase activity.
Pictor: an interactive system for importing data from a website

We present a demonstration of an interactive wrapper induction system, called Pictor, which is able to minimize labeling cost, yet extract data with high accuracy from a website. Our demonstration will introduce two proposed technologies: record-level wrappers and a wrapper-assisted labeling strategy. These approaches allow Pictor to exploit previously generated wrappers, in order to predict similar labels in a partially labeled webpage or a completely new webpage. Our experiment results show the effectiveness of the Pictor system.
Diamond–Blackfan anemia associated with β-thalassemia trait

A 14-month-old boy was referred to our hospital for evaluation of severe anemia. In the bone marrow aspiration smear, normal cellularity with severe erythroblastopenia (3%) was observed. The hemoglobin electrophoresis of the patient and his father were compatible with the b-thalassemia trait. Because macrocytosis of Diamond– Blackfan anemia (DBA) is masked by microcytosis of b-thalassemia trait, the diagnosis of DBA co-existing with b-thalassemia trait might be challenging. We report herein a case of DBA co-existing with b-thalassemia trait in a Turkish boy. Am. J. Hematol. 81:214–215, 2006. a 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Diamond–Blackfan anemia (DBA) is a rare, congenital hypoplastic anemia, often diagnosed early in infancy. The disease is characterized by a moderate to severe normochromic, usually macrocytic anemia [1–3]. b-Thalassemia is not rare in Turkey. The overall frequency of b-thalassemia in Turkey is 2%, and there are some significant regional differences [4]. The co-existence of b-thalassemia with other congenital disorders would not be surprising in Turkish population. Patients with b-thalassemia trait have reduced MCV and increased HbA2, whereas patients
Detection of intrapericardial hematoma after open heart surgery: The roles of echocardiography and computed tomography

Two patients who had right atrial compression caused by intrapericardial hematomas after coronary artery bypass grafting and aortic valve replacement are described. During the course of postoperative evaluation, each patient underwent an echocardiography examination followed by computed tomography of the chest. Two-dimensional echocardiography visualized the hematomas in both cases. Computed tomography played a useful adjunctive role by further clarifying their nature, location and extent.
The psychological reality of social constructions

Abstract This article argues that social constructions have a psychological reality that exists apart from structural conditions. Our thesis is developed in four sections. First, psychological evidence is reviewed that illustrates how people classify and evaluate others on the basis of salient visual or auditory information, such as race, ethnicity or gender. Although this discussion should generalize to the construction of ethnic and gender differences, we concentrate on the Black‐White race relationship in the United States. Secondly, we briefly survey the debate between constructionists and essentialists within psychology, and address how social psychological findings may contribute to constructionist theory and sociological research. Thirdly, a psychological defence of the racial construct is given. It is argued that although race is crucial to the full understanding of majority‐minority relations, its usefulness is best seen in conjunction with structural formulations. Finally, an interactive model o...
Pion Contribution to Hyperon-Nucleon Forces

A calculation is made of the forces between hyperons and nucleons under the assumption that the forces are due to the exchange of pions. The $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ and $\ensuremath{\Sigma}$ are assumed to have spin \textonehalf{} and the same parity. The Hamiltonian is taken to be the same as the static-model pion-nucleon Hamiltonian except for differences in isotopic spin and possibly in the strength of the coupling. The same approximations are made as those ordinarily made in evaluating the nucleon-nucleon potential, although it is noted that in case all the pion-baryon coupling constants are equal, the hyperon-nucleon potentials are just linear combinations of the observed nucleon-nucleon potentials. The pion-hyperon coupling constant is determined by comparison with potentials obtained from analysis of hyperfragment data. The resulting value is about the same as the pion-nucleon constant. The elastic hyperon-nucleon and $\ensuremath{\Lambda}+N\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}\ensuremath{\Sigma}+N$ scattering cross sections are evaluated. Results are consistent with experiment.
Effect of aberrations and apodization on the performance of coherent optical systems. I. The amplitude impulse response

A systematic study was performed in which the effects of aberrations and apodization on the performance of a coherent optical system were investigated. The system performance was characterized by the modulus and the phase of the amplitude impulse response. The aberrations considered were defocus, spherical aberration, coma, and astigmatism. The apodizer was Gaussian in amplitude transmittance. The results of the study indicate that, within certain limits, the apodizer was effective in removing the sidelobes from the aberrated amplitude impulse response. This has significant implications for the performance of coherent imaging and beam-propagation systems.
Ventricular fibrillation during coronary angiography in dogs: The role of calcium-binding additives

Coronary angiography with Renografin 76® (RG76) occasionally results in ventricular fibrillation (VF). Angiovist 370® (AV370) is a contrast medium similar to RG76 except the calcium-sequestering agents, sodium citrate and EDTA in RG76 have been replaced by calcium EDTA. To determine whether these sequestering agents contribute to contrast medium-induced VF, a comparison was made of the effects of intracoronary injections of RG76, AV370, and saline solutions containing sodium citrate and EDTA (CIT/EDTA) and calcium EDTA (CA EDTA) on myocardial conduction, local QT intervals, and incidence of spontaneous and induced VF in 32 dogs. Four milliliters of RG76 produced a 111 ± 12-ms increase in local QT intervals, compared with a 73 ± 8-ms increase with AV370 (p
A numerical solution for integral equations

A method for the numerical approximation for the solution of Fredholm integral equations of the second kind is presented. The approximation is obtained using cubic B-splines as co-ordinate functions in the variational formulation of the problem.
From sibling to suki: Social relations and spatial proximity in Kalinga pottery exchange

Abstract This study illustrates how social relations—rather than simple proximity—influence spatial patterning in the distribution of contemporary Dalupa ceramics. The Kalinga pottery exchange network participates in a multi-centric economy, characterized by slightly overlapping exchange networks marked by different exchange mechanisms and goods. Thesuki relationship, a trade partnership that bridges social and ethnic boundaries, provides one vantage point for examining differences between two economic networks that operate within a single system of ceramic distribution.
Reference free part encapsulation: Materials, machines and methods

Abstract Reference Free Part Encapsulation (RFPE) is an automatic, universal workholding process developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California-Berkeley. The process encapsulates the stock by freezing it in a low melting point material during machining and transfers datums from one setup to another by refilling and restoring the encapsulation to a known shape after each setup. This paper describes the encapsulator materials and machines developed to test and demonstrate RFPE. The encapsulation material must satisfy stringent thermal properties, and a process is described that concludes that the tin–bismuth eutectic is ideal. The similarities of the encapsulation process to manufacturing processes such as die casting and injection molding are considered; however, it is shown that many intrinsic differences exist between the encapsulation process and injection molding or die casting. Two encapsulation machines are presented. The first is a larger encapsulation machine capable of forming encapsulations with a 6 in. by 6 in. footprint. The second, a much smaller portable machine capable of forming encapsulations with a 2 in. by 2 in. footprint, is also presented. Special features of each encapsulation machine are highlighted and various design decisions are discussed.
Comparative Injuriousness to Plants of Erwinia spp. and Other Enterobacteria from Plants and Animals

Summary. To determine their degree of injuriousness to plants, 148 cultures of Erwinia and other enterobacteria, including 45 ‘Erwinia-like’ isolates from animals, were examined comparatively by tests for hypersensitivity reaction, stalk rot and leaf blanching of corn seedlings, lesions on excised bean pods and on cowpea seedlings, rots of excised plant tissues and liquefaction of carboxymethylcellulose and pectate gels. The degree of harmfulness could be expressed as a standardized Erwinia injuriousness score calculated from numerical expressions of symptoms produced by a culture on cowpea seedlings compared with those produced by two reference cultures known to be phytopathogenic and, hence, injurious. The results indicate that, of the 45 Erwinia-like isolates from animals tested, 16 were not injurious to plants, 13 were only slightly injurious, and 16 were as injurious to certain test plants as some Erwinia strains generally considered to be phytopathogenic.
SIMILARITY-BASED REASONING USING PROVERBS IN MANAGING TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS FOR SMALL MANUFACTURERS

After conducting many interviews with managers and owners of small manufacturing companies regarding their approach to technological innovation, it became clear that in most cases there was no shortage of new ideas that could lead to innovation. However, whether any of these ideas were pursued often depended on the intuition of an individual; often the owner. It seems, independent of the physical nature of activities, some individuals have this intuition and some do not. The concept and methodology discussed in this paper is an attempt to transfer the intuition from those who have it to another person who does not. Since innovation, by nature, is something new and probably in a unique domain, many well known approaches such as case base reasoning or even TRIZ are not quite sufficient for this transfer as they rely mainly on the physical similarities of cases. The technique used here is a specially designed Similarity-Based Reasoning which extracts and characterizes the intuitive aspects that go into attempting and succeeding in technological innovations. A main component of the tool is a collection of scenarios provided by a number of small manufacturers about their experiences, in pursuing technological innovations. These scenarios are built into "cases" stored in a case base. Proverbs are used to extract the abstract concepts behind cases and code them such that they could be retrieved by the decision maker when dealing with an innovation process that "in abstract concept", is similar to someone else's past experience. The significance of this approach is that cases used in guiding the decision maker do not necessarily need to have physical similarities to the problem in hand as long as they are similar in concept.
Thermodynamics of the re-entrant regime of type II two-dimensional superconductivity in a strong transverse magnetic field

The thermodynamics (including energy gap and critical temperatureTc) of a two-dimensional type II BCS superconductor subjected to a strong transverse magnetic fieldH in the re-entrant regime is studied. There are qualitative differences with the re-entrant 3D case; in particularTc grows unboundedly likeB/lnB asB→∞ (filling factor ν≪1) for fixedN. The thermodynamics atT=0 is completely described by the evaluation of the magnetic Gibbs free energy as a function of μ andH. A first order magnetic phase transition (failure of δH/ δB>0 for μ around each lowlying Landau level) found for the normal phase for unbroadened Landau levels, is washed out in the superconducting phase.
Getting there: the ten top problems left [computer graphics]

The author discusses the ten top problems of computer graphics, including topics such as geometric modeling, computer animation, creative information visualization and pixels.
Old West, New West, Postwest, Real West

of the Nineteenth Century United States By Stephanie LeMenager University of Nebraska Press, 2004 When western American literature first showed up in eastern periodicals, it offered itself as a different kind of writing from the national norm. Similarly, students of western literature have usually been out of step with the rest of literary academia; like much of the literature they study, a kind of jaunty impertinence-simultaneously grandiose and defensive-has marked their work from the beginning. In the decades when the field emerged, the overwhelming popularity of formula westerns in print and on screen made it marginal to the study of high art. Myth study gave popular materials enough legitimacy for westernists to claim that their field deserved serious consideration, but by 1987, when the Western Literature Association brought out its Literary History of the American West (LHAW), the academic market in criticism had moved elsewhere. The preface to LHAW stated, somewhat anachronistically, that though academic appreciation of western American literature is "handicapped by association with Hollywood horse operas and stereotypical paperbacks sold in bus stations," nevertheless, the literature "includes a large body of first-rate literary art" (xvi). "First-rate literary art"-how quaint that phrase sounds now. The editors emphasized the serious ambitions of much western writing and argued for its importance to US writing as a whole. But all authors considered at length in this tome of over 1,330 pages were Anglos, and only four were women-Mary Austin for the Far West, Katherine Anne Porter for the Southwest, and Willa Cather and Mari Sandoz for the Midwest. Most essays on individual authors appeared in sections devoted to western subregions: Far West, Southwest, Midwest, and Rocky Mountains. This structure seemingly tied literary production to regional particulars, establishing western literature as a regional product rather than a national one. The editorial rationale behind this division was that-in another
A Statistical Method Giving Early and Unbiased Conclusions from Clinical Trials

This article summarizes research in statistical methodology contained in a doctoral thesis by John G. Spritzler. A new statistical method is developed for comparing two response rates in a randomized clinical trial, taking into account two common problems. First, how can the trial be analyzed at multiple interim analysis times while still limiting the probability of falsely declaring a treatment difference when there is, in fact, none? Second, how can unbiased interim analyses be done which use all of the available information, if the time, referred to as “lag time,” between when a patient enrolls in the trial and when his or her response status is reported to the statistical center varies randomly from patient to patient, in an unknown manner?The first question is addressed by well-known methods of doing what are referred to as “group sequential” tests. The second question requires the new “lag adjusted” methodology presented in this article. The nature of these two problems in the randomized clinical tr...
The impact of prenatal and neonatal infection on neurodevelopmental outcomes in very preterm infants.

The impact of prenatal and neonatal infection on neurodevelopmental outcomes in very preterm infants
Structure of dihydroorotase from Bacillus anthracis at 2.6 A resolution

The original publication is available through the International Union of Crystallography at DOI: 10.1107/S1744309110037085.
Chemistry of the phenoxathiins and isosterically related heterocycles. XVII. First synthesis of a benzoxathiinopyridazine and the determination of structure by 13C‐NMR: 1‐Methoxy‐3,4‐diazaphenoxathiin

The reaction of 5-methoxy-3,4-dichloropyridazine with the disodium salt of o-mercaptophenol leads to the formation of 1-methoxy-3,4-diazaphenoxathiin as the sole product of the reaction. The structure of the isolated product was confirmed by 13C-nmr spectroscopy, with the development of arguments to discriminate the isolated compound from 4-methoxy-1,2-diazaphenoxathiin, the other product possible in this reaction. Mechanistic considerations in the formation of the isolated product are discussed.
The corner arc algorithm

In a landmark survey of visibility algorithms in 1974, Sutherland, Sproull, and Schumacker stated that "We believe the principal untappedsource of help for hidden surface algorithms lies in frame and object coherence." Making use of such temporal coherence appears to be difficult, however, for scenes with moving objects. Almost three decades later Cohen-Or, Chrysanthou, and Silva stated that "The efficient handing of dynamic scenes is an open area of research at this point." This five minute video describes a kinetic visibility algorithm formoving objects in the plane that is provably efficient in an average case setting.
Vasculitic leg ulcers in chronic myelogenous leukemia

Recurrent bilateral leg ulcers developed in two patients receiving hydroxyurea therapy during the chronic phase of chronic myelogenous leukemia. The ulcers were extremely painful and were associated with extensive edema and vasculitic papules. A small-vessel vasculitis with degeneration of collagen and ulceration was seen on biopsy. The ulcers did not respond to treatment with steroids or low-dose cyclophosphamide but gradually healed with local measures. The possible pathogenesis of ulcers in chronic myelogenous leukemia is discussed.
A rotating buffer system for on-line collection of eye monitor data

Eye movement research often requires the rapid collection and handling of large amounts of data. Such collection would be impossible without the laboratory computer. This paper describes an eye movement data collection system developed for the DEC PDP-11/03 computer. The two central features of the system are a rotating buffer, which saves eye movement data in memory, and direct memory access routines for writing the data to disk. The paper also describes a procedure for testing this or any data collection system, provided the data sampling rate is known. The system presented here is sufficiently general that with slight modifications, it could be used for collecting a wide range of physiological responses, including evoked potentials.
Dendritic Ca2+ Channels Characterized by Recordings from Isolated Hippocampal Dendritic Segments

Abstract Dendritic arbors are critical for the information processing capability of central neurons, but quantitative analysis of their membrane properties has been hampered by their geometrical complexity. Here, we have focused on an important source of Ca 2+ entry in dendrites, the voltage-gated Ca 2+ channels, by applying the whole-cell voltage-clamp technique to isolated dendritic segments ("dendrosomes") from rat hippocampal neurons. We found that low voltage-activated T-type Ca 2+ channels provide a significantly larger fraction of the Ca 2+ influx in dendrites than their counterparts in cell bodies. Surprisingly, 60%–70% of the high voltage-activated Ca 2+ current in dendrosomes was N and P/Q type, and these channels were susceptible to neurotransmitter inhibition, suggesting a novel physiological role for G protein–regulated Ca 2+ channel modulation in controlling dendritic excitability and Ca 2+ signaling.
Effects of Process Parameters on the Properties of Replicated Polymeric Parts

The increasing demand for small and even micro scale parts is boosting the development of reliable micro system technologies. Micro-fabrication process capabilities should expand to encompass a wider range of materials and geometric forms, by defining processes and related process chains that can satisfy the specific functional and technical requirements of new emerging multi-material products, and ensure the compatibility of materials and processing technologies throughout these manufacturing chains. Micro injection moulding is the process of transferring the micron or even submicron precision of microstructured metallic moulds to a polymeric products. It represents one of the key technologies for micro manufacturing because its mass production capability and relatively low production cost. Polymers have relatively low cost, and offer good mechanical and thermal strength, electrical insulation, optical transparency, chemical stability and biocompatibility.In this work the authors investigate the micro injection moulding process parameters on the overall quality of a miniaturized dog-bone shaped specimen. The aim of the experimentation is to calibrate the process and set the machine for the correct filling of the component. A set of injection parameters are selected for study by experimental plan and simulation tool and then discussed. Simulation results are used to better understand the polymer flow behaviour during the filling phase. A commercial software is used and input data, collected during the micro injection moulding process, are included using as performance indicators flow front position and moulded mass. Process simulation can provide, at the present time, mostly qualitative input to the designer and process engineer. Two different polymers materials are tested and evaluated in relation to the process replication capability: Polyoxymethylene (POM) and Liquid Cristal Polymer (LCP). Finally, the moulding factors with significant statistical effects are identified. The holding pressure and holding time for POM and the holding pressure and injection velocity for LCP show the highest influence on achieving high part mass.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Factors Attracting Individuals to Nonprofit Management over Public and Private Sector Management

Little research has sought to identify the distinct advantages that nonprofits offer employees, particularly managers. Drawing upon Weisbrod's theory of managerial sorting (1988), we test a series of hypotheses about the differences among nonprofit, public, and for-profit organizations that may explain the preference of managers to work in one sector over the other. We use pooled cross-sectional data from the General Social Survey to test managerial sorting. We find many similarities in the perceptions of managers in the nonprofit and public sectors as compared to the for-profit sector. However, when we examine the sorting of managers into nonprofit versus public sector jobs, we find differences in work environment. Compared to those working in the public sector, managers in nonprofits report greater freedom in deciding how to carry out their job functions, more control over their work schedules, and greater opportunities for pay increases. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the practice of nonprofit management.
Female Role Models: Protecting Women’s Math Test Performance:

Recent theory and research suggest that certain situational factors can harm women’s math test performance. The three studies presented here indicate that female role models can buffer women’s math test performance from the debilitating effects of these situational factors. In Study 1, women’s math test performance was protected when a competent female experimenter (i.e., a female role model) administered the test. Study 2 showed that it was the perception of the female experimenter’s math competence, not her physical presence, that safeguarded the math test performance of women. Study 3 revealed that learning about a competent female experimenter buffered women’s self-appraised math ability, which in turn led to successful performance on a challenging math test.
Noun Phrase Generation for Situated Dialogs

We report on a study examining the generation of noun phrases within a spoken dialog agent for a navigation domain. The task is to provide real-time instructions that direct the user to move between a series of destinations within a large interior space. A subtask within sentence planning is determining what form to choose for noun phrases. This choice is driven by both the discourse history and spatial context features derived from the direction-follower's position, e.g. his view angle, distance from the target referent and the number of similar items in view. The algorithm was developed as a decision tree and its output was evaluated by a group of human judges who rated 62.6% of the expressions generated by the system to be as good as or better than the language originally produced by human dialog partners.
Scrap your boilerplate with class: extensible generic functions

The 'Scrap your boilerplate' approach to generic programming allows the programmer to write generic functions that can traverse arbitrary data structures, and yet have type-specific cases. However, the original approach required all the type-specific cases to be supplied at once, when the recursive knot of generic function definition is tied. Hence, generic functions were closed. In contrast, Haskell's type classes support open, or extensible, functions that can be extended with new type-specific cases as new data types are defined. In this paper, we extend the 'Scrap your boilerplate' approach to support this open style. On the way, we demonstrate the desirability of abstraction over type classes, and the usefulness of recursive dictionarie.
G Protein-coupled Receptor Kinase 5 Phosphorylates Nucleophosmin and Regulates Cell Sensitivity to Polo-like Kinase 1 Inhibition

G protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRKs) phosphorylate activated G protein-coupled receptors, leading to their desensitization and endocytosis. GRKs have also been implicated in phosphorylating other classes of proteins and can localize in a variety of cellular compartments, including the nucleus. Here, we attempted to identify potential nuclear substrates for GRK5. Our studies reveal that GRK5 is able to interact with and phosphorylate nucleophosmin (NPM1) both in vitro and in intact cells. NPM1 is a nuclear protein that regulates a variety of cell functions including centrosomal duplication, cell cycle control, and apoptosis. GRK5 interaction with NPM1 is mediated by the N-terminal domain of each protein, and GRK5 primarily phosphorylates NPM1 at Ser-4, a site shared with polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1). NPM1 phosphorylation by GRK5 and PLK1 correlates with the sensitivity of cells to undergo apoptosis with cells having higher GRK5 levels being less sensitive and cells with lower GRK5 being more sensitive to PLK1 inhibitor-induced apoptosis. Taken together, our results demonstrate that GRK5 phosphorylates Ser-4 in nucleophosmin and regulates the sensitivity of cells to PLK1 inhibition.
Biosynthesis and structural composition of gap junction intercellular membrane channels.

Summary Gap junction channels assemble as dodecameric complexes, in which a hexameric connexon (hemichannel) in one plasma membrane docks end-to-end with a connexon in the membrane of a closely apposed cell to provide direct cell-to-cell communication. Synthesis, assembly, and trafficking of the gap junction channel subunit proteins referred to as connexins, largely appear to follow the general secretory pathway for membrane proteins. The connexin subunits can assemble into homo-, as well as distinct hetero-oligomeric connexons. Assembly appears to be based on specific signals located within the connexin polypeptides. Plaque formation by the clustering of gap junction channels in the plane of the membrane, as well as channel degradation are poorly understood processes that are topics of current research. Recently, we tagged connexins with the autofluorescent reporter green fluorescent protein (GFP), and its cyan (CFP), and yellow (YFP) color variants and combined this reporter technology with single, and dual-color, high resolution deconvolution microscopy, computational volume rendering, and time-lapse microscopy to examine the detailed organization, structural composition, and dynamics of gap junctions in live cells. This technology provided for the first time a realistic, three-dimensional impression of gap junctions as they appear in the plasma membranes of adjoining cells, and revealed an excitingly detailed structural organization of gap junctions never seen before in live cells. Here, I summarize recent progress in areas encompassing the synthesis, assembly and structural composition of gap junctions with a special emphasis on the recent results we obtained using cell-free translation/membrane-protein translocation, and autofluorescent reporters in combination with live-cell deconvolution microscopy.
Do we need a structural engineer to redesign our vaccine infrastructure

Our current vaccine infrastructure is being stressed by the increasing costs of vaccines. Currently the cost of the vaccines that protect children from 11 diseases is about $400 at discounted private sector prices and $600 at full private sector prices. Adding varicella and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to the federal Vaccines for Children (VFC) program doubled the annual budget from $500 million to $1 billion. More expensive vaccines are in the pipeline. Cracks are appearing and growing in the foundation that supports our vaccine infrastructure. Do these cracks indicate structural weaknesses that can cause a major collapse when we attempt to add new and expensive vaccines in the future? Is our foundation flexible enough to provide sufficient incentive to the pharmaceutical industry to invest in additional research, development, and licensing of new vaccines? Can we patch these cracks and possibly shore up the foundation with some new girders, or must we totally redesign the foundation to bear more weight to avoid a future collapse? How we address these questions has enormous health policy implications for the United States. Although only a small part of the entire health care enterprise, our vaccine infrastructure is extensive with complex financing, distribution, and administration components. Financing and purchasing involves public federal, state, and local expenditures as well as private health plan and individual “out-of-pocket” expenditures. Distribution includes vaccine manufacturers, federal and state purchasers, health plans, private distributors, local public health departments, hospitals, clinics, and physicians and involves monitoring, ordering, shipping, and storage of vaccines. Vaccine administration is the outcome of complex interactions among the health plan, clinical setting, and family. Whether vaccines and pediatric preventive care are covered benefits, and if so, whether they are subject to cost-sharing requirements such as deductibles and/or co-payments is determined … Address correspondence to Steve Berman, MD, Children’s Hospital, 1056 E 19th Ave, B032, Denver, CO 80218. E-mail: berman.stephen{at}tchden.org
Second messengers mediating the expression of neuroplasticity in a model of chronic pain in the rat

Abstract Hyperalgesic priming is a model of the transition from acute to chronic pain, in which previous activation of cell surface receptors or direct activation of protein kinase C epsilon markedly prolongs mechanical hyperalgesia induced by pronociceptive cytokines. We recently demonstrated a role of peripheral protein translation, alpha-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (αCaMKII) activation, and the ryanodine receptor in the induction of hyperalgesic priming. In the present study, we tested if they also mediate the prolonged phase of prostaglandin E 2 –induced hyperalgesia. We found that inhibition of αCaMKII and local protein translation eliminates the prolonged phase of prostaglandin E 2 hyperalgesia. Although priming induced by receptor agonists or direct activation of protein kinase C epsilon occurs in male but not female rats, activation of αCaMKII and the ryanodine receptor also produces priming in females. As in males, the prolonged phase of prostaglandin E 2 –induced hyperalgesia in female rats is also protein kinase C epsilon–, αCaMKII-, and protein translation–dependent. In addition, in both male and female primed rats, the prolonged prostaglandin E 2 –induced hyperalgesia was significantly attenuated by inhibition of MEK/ERK. On the basis of these data, we suggest that the mechanisms previously shown to be involved in the induction of the neuroplastic state of hyperalgesic priming also mediate the prolongation of hyperalgesia. Perspectives The data provided by this study suggest that direct intervention on specific targets may help to alleviate the expression of chronic hyperalgesic conditions.
Heptapeptide analogues induce greater blockade of renal than femoral vascular responses to angiotensin.

Abstract We characterized blockade induced by 2 octapeptide and 2 heptapeptide analogues of angiotensin in the vascular beds of the kidney and hindlimb. Bolus injections of angiotensin II and its 1-des Asp analogue (angiotensin III) at the dose which reduced blood flow by about 50 percent and graded infusions of the analogue-antagonists were made directly into each artery and flow responses were measured with an electromagnetic flowmeter in the anesthetized dog. With the dose of antagonist which produced 50 percent inhibition of the control angiotensin response (ID 50) as the index, inhibition was slightly greater in the kidney than in the hindlimb for both the potent octapeptide antagonist {1-Sar, 8-Ala angiotensin II: kidney ID 50 = 15.3±1.7 (SD) ng/kg/min; hindlimb ID 50 = 23.3±1.8 (SD) ng/kg/min} and the weak octapeptide antagonist {1-D-Asn, 8-Ala angiotensin II: kidney ID 50 = 178.7±2.0 (SD) ng/kg/min; hindlimb ID 50 = 266.7±1.9 (SD) ng/kg/min}. In contrast, both the potent and weak heptapeptide analogues were much more effective as antagonists in the renal than the femoral vascular bed {1-des Asp, 8-Ile AII: kidney ID 50 = 14.9±1.8 (SD) ng/kg/min; hindlimb ID 50 = 36.2±1.9 (SD) ng/kg/min}; {1-des Asp, 8-Ala angiotensin II: kidney ID 50 = 408.9±1.8 (SD) ng/kg/min; hindlimb ID 50 = 1270±2.8 (SD) ng/kg/min}. The difference in the influence of the analogues in the two vascular beds may reflect either a difference in their angiotensin receptors or in the rate at which heptapeptide analogues are degraded in their transit through the renal and femoral vasculature.
The History of Sepsis Management Over the Last 30 Years

Sepsis and septic shock remain one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in children. Collaboration of clinicians and researchers in the fields of infectious diseases, basic science, genetics, genomics, and critical care has resulted in significant progress in understanding the pathophysiology, advances in prevention, early identification of patients at risk, and the development of coordinated therapies, resulting in improved outcomes.
Actualizing the Responsibility to Protect

On September 16, 2005, the World Summit at the United Nations unanimously affirmed the “responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.” That action was a politically important step in establishing the significance of the doctrinal Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Putting R2P into practice presents a separate and even more difficult set of challenges. Because R2P addresses issues of sovereignty, developing countries are particularly sensitive to the way in which the idea is implemented. In many parts of the world, there is wariness if not outright resistance. However, at the Stanley Foundation’s 43rd conference on the United Nations of the Next Decade, held in the Convento do Espinheiro in Evora, Portugal, between June 20 and June 25, 2008, there were clear indications that many developing countries - some living with quite recent atrocities at home or in neighboring countries - are embracing R2P in the spirit of “never again.” The Stanley Foundation’s Evera conference provided an important forum for representatives of UN member states, Secretariat officials, and experts from think tanks and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to reflect on ways of putting the idea into action. The conference was held ahead of consideration of this topic by the UN General Assembly and a few weeks before UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s speech about R2P in Berlin. This report highlights the primary findings, conclusions, and recommendations that surfaced in the course of five days of substantive dialogue.
Cultural Influences on Clinical Perception: A Comparison between Caucasian and Chinese-American Therapists

Five white and five Chinese-American therapists were compared in regard to their conceptions of normality, their empathic ability, and their perceptions of the same Chinese and white clients seen on a videotaped interview. The study found that (1) both therapist groups basically agreed in their conceptions of normality; (2) white therapists were more accurate in predicting self-descriptive responses of white than of Chinese clients; and (3) there were significant differences between ratings of the same clients given by white and Chinese-American therapists. The ratings given by white and Chinese-American therapists were compared on six different rational clusters. Chinese clients were rated higher on a "Depression/Inhibition" cluster and lower on a "Social Poise/ Interpersonal Capacity" cluster by white therapists than by Chinese-American therapists. Chinese-American therapists judged the white clients to be more severely disturbed than did the white therapists. Differences were interpreted as reflections...
Lyapunov-based distributed control of systems on lattices

We investigate the properties of systems on lattices with spatially distributed sensors and actuators. These systems arise in a variety of applications such as the control of vehicular platoons, formation of unmanned aerial vehicles, arrays of microcantilevers, and constellations of satellites. We use a Lyapunov-based framework as a tool for stabilization/regulation/asymptotic tracking of both linear and nonlinear systems. We first present results for nominal design and then describe the design of adaptive controllers in the presence of parametric uncertainties. These uncertainties are assumed to be temporally constant, but are allowed to be spatially varying. We show that, in most cases, the distributed design yields controllers with architecture similar to that of the original plant.
Regeneration of intestinal mucosa after irradiation

Radiobiological techniques may be used for determining the size of a population of cells capable of indefinite proliferation (clonogenic cells). In normal “steady-state” proliferative tissues, such as intestinal mucosa, clonogenic cell numbers remain constant through the continuous loss of cells. In order for a depleted clonogenic population to regrow to normal, cell loss must be reduced temporarily. The time-sequence for the switching off and on of cell loss from the intestinal mucosa is reported here and could form a temporal framework for more detailed studies of the mechanisms that control cell loss, and therefore growth.
High-Throughput Turbo-Sum-Product Decoding of QC LDPC Codes

In this paper, we first propose a turbo-sum-product (TSP) decoding algorithm for quasi-cyclic (QC) low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes and show that our proposed algorithm not only achieves faster convergence and better error performances than the sum-product (SP) algorithm, but also needs less memory in implementation. Compared with the turbo decoding algorithm, our TSP algorithm saves the same amount of memory and achieves a better tradeoff between sub-iterations and convergence rate, leading to a higher throughput. We also propose a shuffled-sum-product (SSP) decoding algorithm, which is the dual of the TSP algorithm.
Sparse signal recovery with exponential-family noise

The problem of sparse signal recovery from a relatively small number of noisy measurements has been studied extensively in the recent literature on compressed sensing. However, the focus of those studies appears to be limited to the case of linear projections disturbed by Gaussian noise, and the sparse signal reconstruction problem is treated as linear regression with l 1 -norm regularization constraint. A natural question to ask is whether one can accurately recover sparse signals under different noise assumptions. Herein, we extend the results of [13] to the more general case of exponential-family noise that includes Gaussian noise as a particular case, and yields l 1 -regularized Generalized Linear Model (GLM) regression problem. We show that, under standard restricted isometry property (RIP) assumptions on the design matrix, l 1 -minimization can provide stable recovery of a sparse signal in presence of the exponential-family noise, provided that certain sufficient conditions on the noise distribution are satisfied.
STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF CLASS I MHC MOLECULES : THE CYTOPLASMIC DOMAIN IS NOT REQUIRED FOR CYTOSKELETAL ASSOCIATION, AGGREGATION AND INTERNALIZATION

Abstract The role of the cytoplasmic domain in a variety of the functional activities of class 1 MHC molecules has not been documented. To address this question, Jurkat cells were transfected with genes for either native class I MHC molecules or constructs in which all but four cytoplasmic amino acids were deleted. Antibody-induced aggregation and internalization of class I MHC molecules were examined by flow cytometry, and cytoskeletal association was determined by analysing the detergent-resistant fraction of FITC-labeled mAb to class I molecules. The results indicate that the truncated class I MHC molecules are comparable to native class I MHC molecules in the ability to move in the plane of the membrane and aggregate, to associate with the cytoskeleton and to undergo mAb-induced internalization at 37°C. Thus, the cytoplasmic domain of class I MHC molecules is not required for these functional activities.
Price Transparency and Retail Prices

Price transparency initiatives are typically undertaken by third parties to ensure that consumers have access to price information in markets where obtaining such information is costly. Since providing information is not a strategic decision by the firms in the market, what is the effect of such a practice on the pricing behavior of firms? We investigate the effect of mandatory price posting (on large electronic signs) by competing gas stations on their pricing behavior in the Italian motorway. The theoretical ambiguity in how the signs may affect prices, due to the opposing forces of lower search costs and the potential for collusion, motivates our empirical question. When prices are posted, the average price of gasoline decreases by 1 cent per liter, which represents about 20\% of stations' margins. About half the price decrease can be attributed to the introduction of a sign posting a station's own price and those of its nearest neighbors, with the other half coming from the introduction of other signs posting other stations' prices; specifically those located after the focal station in the direction of travel. Posting of prices by preceding stations does not affect prices. Despite the documented price changes, however, the introduction of signs seems to have little impact on price dispersion, suggesting that price uncertainty persists even after the policy is implemented. Analysis of customer transaction data confirms this finding, showing that less than 10\% of consumers use the posted prices effectively.
Neandertal and Denisovan retroviruses

Summary Modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) last shared a common ancestor with two types of archaic hominins, Neandertals and Denisovans, roughly 800,000 years ago, and the population leading to modern H. sapiens separated from that leading to Neandertals and Denisovans roughly 400,000 years ago [1–4]. Genome sequences for these two types of archaic hominins have been reported [1,2]. They were determined by sequencing ancient DNAs using techniques that generated many short sequence reads. Here, we analyzed individual sequence reads used to assemble the published Neandertal and Denisovan genomes for insertions of Human Endogenous Retrovirus K (HERV-K) DNA. Virus–host DNA junctions were identified that defined 14 proviruses where modern humans contain the corresponding, empty, preintegration site. Thus, HERV-K reinfected germ lineage cells of Neandertals and Denisovans multiple times, and these events occurred around the time of or subsequent to the divergence of the archaic hominin lineages from that leading to modern humans. One of the proviruses was shared by Neandertals and Denisovans, which is consistent with the hypothesis that these archaic humans shared a common ancestor more recently than they shared one with the lineage leading to modern humans.
Is the cause of size effect on structural strength fractal or energetic-statistical?

Abstract The size effect on structural strength is an important phenomenon with a very old history. Unfortunately, despite abundant experimental evidence, this phenomenon is still not taken into account in most specifications of the design codes for concrete structures, as well as the design practices for polymer composites, rock masses and timber. The main reason appears to be a controversy between two different theories of size effect, namely the theory based on energetic–statistical scaling and the theory based on ideas from fractal geometry. This paper aims to critically analyze these two theories, examine their hypotheses and point out the limitations, in order to help code-writing committees choose a rational basis for their work. The paper begins by reviewing the theory of energetic size effect and the efforts to explain the size effect by fractal geometry. The advantages and disadvantages in modeling the structural size effect by fractals are pointed out. Certain flaws in the fractal theory of size effect are illuminated and it is shown that various aspects of this theory lack a sound physical or mathematical basis, or both. The paper ends by recommending how engineering designers and code writers should take the size effect into account.
Reconstruction of the nasal columella.

Objective To report techniques successful for nasal columella reconstruction. Methods Retrospective medical chart review of patients undergoing columella reconstruction by 2 of us (D.A.S. and P.A.H.) from January 1, 1982, to December 31, 2000. Photographs before tumor resection or trauma, after resection or trauma, and after reconstruction were examined by facial plastic surgeons masked to the cases and were rated on a 10-cm visual analogue scale. Result Sixteen patients were identified, most of whom had columellar defects repaired with forehead flaps, nasolabial flaps, or nasofacial sulcus flaps. The mean improvement on the 10-cm visual analogue scale was 2.0 from before tumor resection or trauma to after reconstruction, and 5.0 from tumor resection or trauma to after reconstruction. Conclusion Skin grafts, composite grafts, and several flaps, including nasolabial, nasofacial sulcus, and forehead flaps, are useful in repairing defects of the nasal columella.