cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Characterization of atrial morphology and sinus node morphology in heterotaxy syndrome: an autopsy-based study of 41 cases (1950-2008).

Abstract Background Heterotaxy syndrome affects the sidedness of heart, lungs, and abdominal viscera, and is associated with complex congenital heart disease. Cardiac sidedness is defined by the position of the morphological right atrium and may be normal, mirror-image, or isomeric. The sinus node has been reported to be present bilaterally in right isomerism and absent bilaterally in left isomerism, although exceptions may occur. Objective Our aim was to evaluate bilaterally the presence or absence of sinus node tissue in autopsy-derived hearts from patients with heterotaxy and to correlate the findings with the sidedness of the two atria. Methods Autopsy and clinical records were reviewed from 41 cases with heterotaxy. From the cardiac specimens, tissue was collected bilaterally from expected sinus node sites. Sinus node tissue was categorized microscopically as normal, hypoplastic, indeterminate, or absent. Results In hearts thought to show right atrial isomerism, sinus node tissue was detected bilaterally in 54%, was absent on one side in 43%, and was absent on both sides in 3%. For cases with apparent left atrial isomerism, a single sinus node was present in the left-sided atrium in 75% of cases and was absent bilaterally in 25%. Conclusions Bilateral sinus nodes were observed in only 54% of cases with right isomerism, and bilateral absence of sinus nodes was documented in only 25% of cases with left isomerism. Thus, our findings indicate that the sinus node is not a morphologically right-sided structure, and its presence therefore is not consistently related to the sidedness of the atria.
Solution of a two-dimensional Cochlea model with fluid viscosity

We study the propagation of waves on the basilar membrane using a two-dimensional linear model of the cochlea. We apply the techniques developed in our previous paper [9] to a modified model in which fluid viscosity has been included as a damping mechanism in addition to membrane friction. Numerical and asymptotic results are obtained that agree with prior known results. We also calculate the energy dissipation during propagation which gives an expression for the wave amplitude as a function of input power, for each frequency. This gives a normalization of the cochlea wave that allows us to determine the frequency response of a fixed nerve fiber.
Spatiotemporal period doubling during the electrodissolution of iron

Abstract We study the spatiotemporal dynamics of the potentiostatic electrodissolution of a circular iron electrode in sulfuric acid under conditions involving oscillations between active and passive states. We measure the spatially averaged dissolution rate (the current), and record spatially resolved surface patterns (the growth of a passivating film) with a video camera. As the potential is varied, the O(2) spatial symmetry of a base oscillatory state (high potentials) breaks giving rise to a period-doubled oscillation with apparent Z2⊕Zc2 spatiotemporal symmetry.
Preparation and Identification of 2-Chloroethyl 1-Naphthyl Acetate

In the past few years, increased interest in the physiological properties of naphthaleneacetic acid and its derivatives has been apparent. Guthrie (1) described the use of the methyl ester of naphthaleneacetic acid to inhibit the growth of potato tubers and to induce epinasty of tomato leaves. Mitchell and Stewart (2) studied the use of naphthaleneacetic acid to induce growth response in plants. Hesse and Davey (3, 4) experimented with naphthaleneacetic acid in the control of fruit drop of pear, apricot, and peach trees. Hartmann (5) employed naphthaleneacetic acid in a spray for thinning in olive trees to increase fruit size and provide for a normal crop set the following year.
Hierarchical discriminant regression

The main motivation of this paper is to propose a classification and regression method for challenging high-dimensional data. The proposed technique casts classification problems and regression problems into a unified regression problem. This unified view enables classification problems to use numeric information in the output space that is available for regression problems but are traditionally not readily available for classification problems. A doubly clustered subspace-based hierarchical discriminating regression (HDR) method is proposed. The major characteristics include: (1) Clustering is performed in both output space and input space at each internal node, termed "doubly clustered." Clustering in the output space provides virtual labels for computing clusters in the input space. (2) Discriminants in the input space are automatically derived from the clusters in the input space. (3) A hierarchical probability distribution model is applied to the resulting discriminating subspace at each internal node. This realizes a coarse-to-fine approximation of probability distribution of the input samples, in the hierarchical discriminating subspaces. (4) To relax the per class sample requirement of traditional discriminant analysis techniques, a sample-size dependent negative-log-likelihood (NLL) is introduced. This new technique is designed for automatically dealing with small-sample applications, large-sample applications, and unbalanced-sample applications. (5) The execution of the HDR method is fast, due to the empirical logarithmic time complexity of the HDR algorithm. Although the method is applicable to any data, we report the experimental results for three types of data: synthetic data for examining the near-optimal performance, large raw face-image databases, and traditional databases with manually selected features along with a comparison with some major existing methods.
Patient cost in the treatment of postsurgical female pelvic infection

Soft tissue female pelvic infections, that is, postpartum endomyometritis, pelvic cellulitis, and salpingitis, are frequently polymicrobial, involving aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. The most common antibiotic regimen employed for the treatment of these patients is clindamycin and an aminoglycoside. Single-agent therapy, utilizing the newer beta-lactams, is more economical, potentially less toxic, and as effective.
Hierarchical procedure for plantwide control system synthesis

A hierarchical procedure for synthesizing an optimal plantwide control system is proposed for an existing continuous chemical process. Alternative plantwide control systems are synthesized and are compared based on economics. The cost associated with dynamic controllability is quantified by the controllability index ν introduced by Zheng and Mahajanam (1999). The procedure is illustrated on a simple reactor-separator-recycle system. Although the procedure is discussed for an existing plant, a simple modification of the approach can be used to determine the optimum surge capacities of a process, including reflux drums and column sumps—a problem of increasing interest.
Molecular Modeling and Analysis of Fragilysin, the Bacteroides fragilis Toxin

Bacteroides fragilis is a member of the normal colonic microflora of most mammals and is the anaerobe most commonly isolated from human clinical specimens. It is associated with abscesses, soft-tissue infections, and bacteremias [1]. In the mid 1980s, Myers et al. [la] reported that some strains of B. fragilis produced a toxin that could be detected in ligated ileal loops of lambs. Since then, enterotoxigenic B. fragilis strains have been implicated as the cause of diarrhea in calves, piglets, foals, rabbits, and, more recently, humans [2]. The results from these studies together support the role of enterotoxigenic B. fragilis in gastrointestinal diseases in humans and animals. In 1992, Weikel et al. [3] showed that culture filtrates from the enterotoxigenic strains caused rapid morphological changes on human colon carcinoma cell lines, particularly HT-29, which are characterized by cell rounding and dissociation of F-actin. Furthermore, in 1996, Donelli et al. [4] showed that B. fragilis toxin-treated HT-29 cells demonstrated membrane blebbing and reorganization of their F-actin structure. We have purified the toxin (fragilysin) from culture supematants of enterotoxigenic B. fragilis. This toxin is a small polypeptide (~20,600 molecular weight) that causes fluid secretion in intestinal loops at 10 /g/mL and rounding of HT-29 cells at -10 ng/mL [5, 6]. Recently, in collaboration with Wells et al. [7], we showed that fragilysin increases bacterial intemalization and modulates the epithelial permeability of HT-29 enterocytes. Further studies at our laboratory have confirmed that fragilysin affects the tight junctions of epithelial cells (authors' unpublished data). These data suggest that fragilysin may disrupt the epithelial paracellular barrier through proteolytic degradation. The degradation of these extracellular proteins would then allow for cytoskeletal rearrangements because these proteins are directly linked through the cytoplasmic membrane [8]. We sequenced peptides obtained by proteolytic and chemical digestion of fragilysin and obtained sequences that were then used to generate primers for single specific primer (SSP)-PCR [9]. This process generated a fragment that contained a match to a consensus motif with zinc-metalloproteinases, especially within the metzincin superfamily. Further studies show that fragilysin has proteolytic activity. Fragilysin degrades a number of cellular proteins including fibrinogen, human complement C3, cytoskeletal proteins and some extracellular matrix proteins such as collagen IV [9]. We found that the purified toxin causes fluid secretion and exfoliation of the surface epithelial cells in vivo, and we have demonstrated that the proteolytic activity of the toxin is responsible for this effect [6]. Metalloproteinases have emerged as important virulence factors in a number of diverse pathogenic organisms including bacteria
Deploying a massively multiplayer online game with a low-latency server infrastructure

The massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) industry has become an important e-commerce segment due to its impact on the economy. A MMOG requires the deployment of dozens to hundreds of n-tiered servers around the world to support millions of concurrent players. A slow response time stemming from an ill-designed network infrastructure could render the game noncompetitive in the marketplace. This study proposes a mixed integer program aimed at identifying nodes on a broadband provider's backbone network for hosting a MMOG so that the game distributor's revenue is maximized while meeting the throughput, the latency, and the budget requirements. A heuristic for solving the model is presented with an experiment to measure its solution quality and speed.
Low-pressure collisional narrowing in CO2

We report the observation of collisional narrowing of the Q branch of the Raman spectrum for the (000) → (100) transition in CO2 at very low pressures. The minimum linewidth is reached at ≈250 Torr. An estimate for the difference in rotational constants of the (100) state and the ground state is obtained. The narrowing of the linewidth and the changes in line-shape are interpreted in terms of velocity changing collisions and rotationally inelastic collisions between the CO2 molecules.
An In Vivo Model of Human Cytomegalovirus Retinal Infection

Purpose To develop an animal model system in which human retina implanted in the anterior chamber of the eyes of rats would support human cytomegalovirus replication. Cytomegalovirus retinitis currently represents the most common cause of posterior uveitis in many urban areas in North America. Despite the tremendous interest in cytomegalovirus retinitis as a result of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic, human cytomegalovirus infection has been difficult to model in vivo because of its extreme species-specificity. Methods Human retina was introduced into the anterior chamber of athymic rats and allowed to attach to the rat iris. A human cytomegalovirus mutant carrying a β-galactosidase indicator gene was then injected into the anterior chamber to infect the implanted tissue. After 4 weeks, the eyes were removed, sectioned, and developed with a chromogenic substrate to demonstrate the presence and location of β-galactosidase expression. Results Multiple spreading foci of β-galactosidase expression were found in the retinal implants, indicating that human cytomegalovirus replication had occurred within the human tissue. There was no infection of rat tissue. Conclusions This model allows human cytomegalovirus infection of human retina to be established in vivo and sustained long enough to permit multiple cycles of viral replication to occur. The model thus has potential for evaluating antiviral therapies directed against human cytomegalovirus retinal disease.
Total Fatty Acid Composition of Duck Fatty Tissues

Abstract Total lipids extracted from duck fatty tissues were fractionated on thin layer plates into polar lipids and neutral lipids. Neutral lipids were similarly fractionated into their components. Fatty acid methyl esters from total lipids were fractionated by gas-liquid-chromatography. Results indicated that duck fatty tissues are mostly formed by neutral lipids and that triglycerides comprise the vast majority of neutral lipids. Results also indicated that the major fatty acids in duck lipids are: oleic>palmitic>linoleic>stearic>palmitoleic. About 73% of all fatty acids present belong to the C-18 series. The unsaturation level for duck lipids is about 73%.
Simultaneous Peak Temperature and Average Power Minimization during Behavioral Synthesis

With continuous CMOS scaling and increasing operating frequencies, power and thermal concerns have become critical design issues in current and future high-performance integrated circuits. Elevated chip temperatures adversely impact circuit performance and reliability. On-chip thermal gradients can lead to unpredictable clock skew variations and timing failures. Chip temperatures are influenced by design decisions at the behavioral and physical-synthesis levels. Existing low-power design techniques cannot adequately address thermal issues since their optimization objectives fail to capture the spatial nature of on-chip thermal gradients. We present an algorithm for thermally-aware low-power behavioral synthesis that concurrently minimizes average power and peak chip temperature. Our algorithm uses accurate floorplan-based temperature estimates to guide behavioral synthesis. Compared to traditional low-power synthesis, our method reduces peak temperatures by as much as 23%, with less than 10% overhead in chip area.
A Couple’s Colitis

A 32-year-old woman was admitted with 4 days of bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, leukocytosis, and fever following fast food consumption and use of methamphetamine. An abdominal CT scan revealed continuous colonic mural thickening from the cecum to the splenic flexure (Fig. 1). Stool cultures for bacteria, ova and parasites, and fecal leukocytes were negative. Her symptoms resolved with supportive care, and on the day of discharge, her partner presented with identical symptoms (Fig. 2). His stool cultures grew shiga toxin 2-producing E. coli, serogroup O157:H7 (STEC). Based on his positive stool culture and the presence of diffuse colitis on both scans, a final diagnosis of STEC was given to both patients.
When Do States Respond to Low Fertility? Contexts of State Concern in Wealthier Countries, 1976–2011

Since the 1970s, expressions of state concern over low fertility have greatly increased among wealthier countries. This study asks to what extent this increase is explained by demographic factors, national-level economic and political factors, and processes of international diffusion and changing international norms. Analyses integrate the world polity literature on global policy diffusion with a social problems approach to examine international diffusion of state concern among more powerful members of the world polity, a process that can produce changes in international policy consensus. Comparisons of the characteristics of states that do and do not express concern over low fertility find that among wealthier "first-world" countries, state concern has become more responsive to fertility rates: fertility rates are not significantly associated with concern early in the study period, but are strongly associated with concern later in the study period. There is no evidence that integration into the world polity is associated with concern in these countries, and some evidence that less integrated countries are more likely to express concern, suggesting that processes shaping the diffusion of state concern may differ from those identified as shaping policy diffusion in the existing literature. Among "second-world" former Eastern bloc countries, different patterns of associations reflect different political histories: concern is associated only with demographic factors, with no significant change in this association over time.
Common Mechanisms for Working Memory and Attention: The Case of Perseveration with Visible Solutions

Everyone perseverates at one time or another, repeating previous behaviors when they are no longer appropriate. Such perseveration often occurs in situations with working memory demands, and the ability to overcome perseveration has been linked to brain regions critical for working memory. Many theories thus explain perseveration in terms of working memory deficits. However, perseveration also occurs in situations without apparent working memory demands, in which the visible environment specifies appropriate behavior. Such findings appear to challenge working memory accounts of perseveration. To evaluate this challenge, a neural network model of a working memory account of perseveration was tested on tasks with visible solutions. With advances in the mechanisms that support working memory, networks became increasingly able to attend to relevant information in the environment. These developments led to improvements in performance on tasks with visible solutions, paralleling the developmental progression observed in infants. The simulations demonstrate how mechanisms of working memory can subserve perseveration and success on tasks with and without obvious memory demands. In both types of tasks, controlled processing occurs through the activation of task-relevant representations, which provide top–down biasing of other processing pathways. More generally, the simulations demonstrate how common mechanisms can support working memory and attention.
The origin of the vertebrate jaw: neoclassical ideas versus newer, development-based ideas.

Abstract Here I consider ways to test two hypotheses of the origin of jawed vertebrates: my neoclassical hypothesis, which derived from comparative morphology; and the heterotopic hypothesis, which derives from modern developmental findings. The heterotopic hypothesis, unlike the neoclassical hypothesis, says that major developmental changes had to occur before the upper jaws could evolve: a caudal shift in the expression domains of genes that pattern oral structures; and the loss of ancestral, lamprey-like upper lips. To test whether these did occur, I propose studies on the development of chondrichthyans (sharks and chimaeroid ratfishes), an understudied group that is likely to retain primitive features of the jaw region. The heterotopic hypothesis says no gnathostome retains the upper lip that is so prominent in larval lampreys, yet the neoclassical hypothesis identified such lips in sharks and ratfishes, and it predicts that their lip-skeleton likewise develops from premandibular neural crest. The dev...
Increasing prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity in a coastal province in China.

SummaryBackground The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity constitutes a serious public health problem in both developed and developing countries. Objectives The present study examined the prevalent trends in overweight and obesity among children and adolescents in Shandong, China spanning 29 years (1985–2014). Methods Data for this study were obtained from four cross-sectional surveys of schoolchildren carried out in 1985, 1995, 2005 and 2014 in Shandong Province, China. A total of 39 943 students aged 7–18 years were included in this study (14 458 in 1985, 7 198 in 1995, 8 568 in 2005 and 9 719 in 2014). Results Using IOTF criteria, the prevalence of overweight and obesity increased from 1.73% and 0.05% for boys, 1.67% and 0.04% for girls in 1985 to 20.83% and 10.39% for boys, 15.81% and 4.35% for girls in 2014; Using World Health Organization criteria, the prevalence of overweight and obesity increased from 2.76% and 0.45% for boys, 2.46% and 0.11% for girls in 1985 to 20.30% and 18.16% for boys, 18.89% and 6.58% for girls in 2014, respectively. Conclusion Childhood overweight and obesity has entered the extensively epidemic stage in this region at present. Comprehensive strategies of intervention should include periodical monitoring, education on pattern of nutrition, oxygen-consuming physical exercises and healthy dietary behaviour.
Factors Affecting the Use of Information in the Evaluation of Marketing Communications Productivity

Most prior research on the use of marketing information has studied antecedents of the use of information in new product strategy decisions. This study investigates factors that are related to the use of marketing information in the evaluation of marketing communications productivity. The information used in this context originates from a wide range of internal and external sources. On the basis of organizational theories of information processing, the authors develop and test a conceptual framework explaining the use of information to evaluate marketing communications productivity. Collected survey data indicate that information quality, organization formalization, task complexity, market turbulence, rationality of decision style, and group involvement are all positively related to the use of information in assessing marketing communications productivity. Moderating relationships involving formalization, complexity, decision style, and the degree of group involvement are also found. Implications for managing market knowledge and future research in information use are discussed.
ON TEMPERATURE CHARACTERISTICS FOR DIFFERENT PROCESSES IN THE SAME ORGANISM.

The temperature characteristics (µ) for two activities (heart beat and respiratory movements) studied simultaneously in the same individual organism (Daphnia magna) were always found to differ in magnitude. The type of graph obtained when the frequency of these movements was plotted according to the Arrhenius equation was also distinctly different for each activity. The organism therefore does not determine a uniform magnitude of the temperature characteristic for each of its activities; the values of µ must therefore have, to this extent, a local, specific meaning.
Rgcs1, a dominant QTL that affects retinal ganglion cell death after optic nerve crush in mice

Background: Intrinsic apoptosis of neuronal somas is one aspect of neurodegenerative diseases that can be influenced by genetic background. Genes that affect this process may act as susceptibility alleles that contribute to the complex genetic nature of these diseases. Retinal ganglion cell death is a defining feature of the chronic and genetically complex neurodegenerative disease glaucoma. Previous studies using an optic nerve crush procedure in inbred mice, showed that ganglion cell resistance to crush was affected by the Mendelian-dominant inheritance of 1–2 predicted loci. To assess this further, we bred and phenotyped a large population of F2 mice derived from a resistant inbred strain (DBA/2J) and a susceptible strain (BALB/cByJ). Results: Genome wide mapping of the F2 mice using microsatellite markers, detected a single highly significant quantitative trait locus in a 25 cM (58 Mb) interval on chromosome 5 (Chr5.loc3459 cM). No interacting loci were detected at the resolution of this screen. We have designated this locus as Retinal ganglion cell susceptible 1, Rgcs1. In silico analysis of this region revealed the presence of 578 genes or expressed sequence tags, 4 of which are highly expressed in the ganglion cell layer of the mammalian retina, and 2 of which are suspected susceptibility alleles in chronic neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, 25 genes contain 36 known single nucleotide polymorphisms that create nonsynonymous amino acid changes between the two parental strains. Collectively, this analysis has identified 7 potential candidate genes that may affect ganglion cell death. Conclusion: The process of ganglion cell death is likely one of the many facets of glaucoma susceptibility. A novel dominant locus has been identified that affects sensitivity of ganglion cells to optic nerve crush. The allele responsible for this sensitivity may also be a susceptibility allele for glaucoma.
A Synopsis of Ion Propulsion Development Projects in the United States: SERT 1 to Deep Space I

The historical background and characteristics of the experimental flights of ion propulsion systems and the major ground-based technology demonstrations were reviewed. The results of the first successful ion engine flight in 1964, SERT I which demonstrated ion beam neutralization, are discussed along with the extended operation of SERT II starting in 1970. These results together with the technology employed on the early cesium engine flights. the Applications Technology Satellite (ATS) series, and the ground-test demonstrations, have provided the evolutionary path for the development of xenon ion thruster component technologies, control systems, and power circuit implementations. In the 1997-1999 period, the communication satellite flights using ion engine systems and the Deep Space I flight confirmed that these auxiliary and primary propulsion systems have advanced to a high-level of flight-readiness.
Physical layer wireless security made fast and channel independent

There is a growing interest in physical layer security. Recent work has demonstrated that wireless devices can generate a shared secret key by exploiting variations in their channel. The rate at which the secret bits are generated, however, depends heavily on how fast the channel changes. As a result, existing schemes have a low secrecy rate and are mainly applicable to mobile environments. In contrast, this paper presents a new physical-layer approach to secret key generation that is both fast and independent of channel variations. Our approach makes a receiver jam the signal in a manner that still allows it to decode the data, yet prevents other nodes from decoding. Results from a testbed implementation show that our method is significantly faster and more accurate than state of the art physical-layer secret key generation protocols. Specifically, while past work generates up to 44 secret bits/s with a 4% bit disagreement between the two devices, our design has a secrecy rate of 3–18 Kb/s with 0% bit disagreement.
Conscious intrusion of threat information via unconscious priming in anxiety

Preferential processing of threat has been implicated in the development and perpetuation of anxiety. We investigated threat processing and anxiety using a subliminal priming paradigm. People with high or low trait anxiety viewed masked, briefly presented words, and then took an exclusion-completion test in which three-letter stems were to be completed without using recently perceived words. Completion rates were greater for words viewed subliminally compared to a baseline estimate. In addition, unconscious priming was greater for threat than for neutral words in the high-trait-anxiety group, and for neutral than for threat words in the low-trait-anxiety group. Enhanced unconscious priming of threat completions among anxious individuals may model intrusions in anxiety, when unconscious processing breaks into consciousness in the form of threat-related intrusive thoughts.
Exactness and maximal automorphic factors of unimodal interval maps

We study exactness and maximal automorphic factors of C 3 unimodal maps of the interval. We show that for a large class of infinitely renormalizable maps, the maximal automorphic factor is an odometer with an ergodic non-singular measure. We give conditions under which maps with absorbing Cantor sets have an irrational rotation on a circle as a maximal automorphic factor, as well as giving exact examples of this type. We also prove that every C 3 S-unimodal map with no attractor is exact with respect to Lebesgue measure. Additional results about measurable attractors in locally compact metric spaces are given.
THz modulation of relativistic electrons using a vacuum laser beat-wave

It is proposed to modulate electrons longitudinally by the ponderomotive force of a CO2 laser beat-wave. For the 9.3 and 10.6 ?tm laser lines, the beam injected into the undulator radiates at ~ 77 ?m.
NONACTIN AND ITS ALKALI COMPLEXES--A Raman spectroscopic study.

Summary The first laser Raman spectra of the ionophorous antibiotic nonactin and its complexes with Na + , K + , Rb + , Cs + , and NH 4 + are reported. Changes in the Raman spectra indicate that the crystalline conformation of nonactin differs appreciably from those which it assumes in solution. In the alkali ion complexes, the frequency of the ester carbonyl stretch varies with the unhydrated radius R, approximately as 1/R. The frequency of this mode in the nonactin-NH 4 + complex is significantly higher than would be expected for an alkali ion of the same radius. Other spectral changes attendant on complexation are discussed.
Ionization Produced in Gaseous Reactions.

The presence of ionization in chemical reactions has been detected by a large number of investigators. The nature of the ionization has remained obscure due largely to the fact that most of the reactions studied were accompanied by physical phenomena which might in themselves produce the observed ionization. The author has shown in previous papers that reacting gases become conductors of the current; and that the conductance is proportional to the number of molecules reacting, and to the potential drop between the electrodes.
Recombinant Phenotyping of Cytomegalovirus UL97 Kinase Sequence Variants for Ganciclovir Resistance

A strain of human cytomegalovirus, T2211, modified from standard laboratory strain AD169 to contain a secreted alkaline phosphatase reporter gene for rapid viral quantitation, was cloned as a bacterial artificial chromosome, BA1, and then mutagenized to create recombinant viruses containing viral UL97 kinase sequence variants found in clinical specimens after ganciclovir treatment, but with no phenotypic data to determine their role in drug resistance. Seven control strains and 14 other recombinant strains were phenotyped for ganciclovir resistance and compared with similar strains created using prior technology to show a good concordance of findings. Sequence changes V466M, H469Y, A478V, N510S, A588V, K599R, L600I, G623S, T659I, and V665I were found to confer no significant ganciclovir resistance, while mutations L405P, M460T, A594E, and C603R conferred 3- to 9-fold increases in ganciclovir 50% inhibitory concentrations. Different mutations at codons 594 (A594V, A594E) and 603 (C603W, C603S) conferred varied amounts of ganciclovir resistance. Advances in recombinant phenotyping make it easier to show that many uncharacterized UL97 sequence variants do not confer ganciclovir resistance, but some are newly confirmed as resistance associated, including one (L405P) which is outside the codon range where such mutations are usually found. This information should improve the interpretation of genotypic data generated by diagnostic laboratories.
Actions of MDMA at glutamatergic neuromuscular junctions.

Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "Ecstasy") compels mammalian serotonergic neurons to release serotonin (5-HT). In this study, MDMA altered synaptic transmission presynaptically by enhancing quantal release in two model glutamatergic synapses—the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) of the crayfish opener muscle, which is enhanced by exogenous 5-HT application, and the NMJ of a larval body wall muscle in Drosophila melanogaster, which is insensitive to exogenous 5-HT application. At the crayfish NMJ, MDMA mimicked the actions of 5-HT but only at a substantially higher concentration. At the Drosophila NMJ, MDMA altered synaptic transmission but not through a 5-HT receptor. Using simple invertebrate preparations, we have demonstrated an additional non-serotonergic mechanism of MDMA activity that has not yet been addressed in vertebrate systems and that may play an important role in understanding the mechanism of action for a commonly abused drug. © 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and The Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.
Phospholemman expression in extraglomerular mesangium and afferent arteriole of the juxtaglomerular apparatus.

The molecular mechanisms with which the juxtaglomerular apparatus accomplishes its twin functions, acute regulation of glomerular blood flow and secretion of renin, are still not clearly understood...
A Political History of Federal Mental Health and Addiction Insurance Parity

Context: This article chronicles the political history of efforts by the U.S. Congress to enact a law requiring “parity” for mental health and addiction benefits and medical/surgical benefits in private health insurance. The goal of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity (MHPAE) Act of 2008 is to eliminate differences in insurance coverage for behavioral health. Mental health and addiction treatment advocates have long viewed parity as a means of increasing fairness in the insurance market, whereas employers and insurers have opposed it because of concerns about its cost. The passage of this law is viewed as a legislative success by both consumer and provider advocates and the employer and insurance groups that fought against it for decades. Methods: Twenty-nine structured interviews were conducted with key informants in the federal parity debate, including members of Congress and their staff; lobbyists for consumer, provider, employer, and insurance groups; and other key contacts. Historical documentation, academic research on the effects of parity regulations, and public comment letters submitted to the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury before the release of federal guidance also were examined. Findings: Three factors were instrumental to the passage of this law: the emergence of new evidence regarding the costs of parity, personal experience with mental illness and addiction, and the political strategies adopted by congressional champions in the Senate and House of Representatives. Conclusions: Challenges to implementing the federal parity policy warrant further consideration. This law raises new questions about the future direction of federal policymaking on behavioral health.
Response Characteristics of an Identified, Sexually Dimorphic Olfactory Glomerulus

Partitioning of synaptic neuropil into glomeruli is a common feature of primary olfactory centers in most animal species. The functional significance of glomeruli, however, is not yet well understood. The present study is part of our effort to test the hypothesis that each glomerulus is a functional unit dedicated to processing information about a particular odorant or attribute of odor molecules and that the glomerular array constitutes a map of "odor space." We investigated the physiological and morphological features of uniglomerular projection neurons (PNs) associated with an identified glomerulus in each antennal lobe of the female sphinx moth, Manduca sexta. This "lateral large female glomerulus" (latLFG) is sexually dimorphic and therefore may play a female-specific role, such as processing of information about one or more odorants important for orientation of a female to host plants for oviposition. Together with the medial LFG (medLFG), the latLFG resides outside the array of spheroidal ordinary glomeruli, near the entrance of the antennal (olfactory) nerve. Each LFG is innervated by four to five PNs. Using intracellular recording and staining, we examined the responses of latLFG-PNs to odorants that represent major classes of volatiles released by host plants of M. sexta. All latLFG-PNs were excited when the ipsilateral antenna was stimulated with low concentrations of the monoterpenoid linalool. Dose-response analysis showed that neither other monoterpenoids nor representatives of other classes of host plant volatiles were similarly stimulatory to latLFG-PNs. These findings are consistent with the idea that each glomerulus has a characteristic, limited molecular receptive range.
The Effects of Self-Regulated Strategy Development on the Writing Performance of Second-Grade Students With Behavioral and Writing Difficulties:

The effects of a secondary academic intervention, embedded in the context of a positive behavior support model, on the writing of second-grade students at risk for emotional and behavioral disorder and writing problems were examined in this study. Students were taught how to plan and draft a story using the self-regulated strategy development model. Results of this multiple-probe design revealed lasting improvements in story completeness, length, and quality for all 6 students. Students and teachers rated the intervention favorably, with some indicating that the intervention exceeded their expectations. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.
Dietary pulmonary hypertension.

• The regulation of the pulmonary circulation is inextricably linked to the role of the lungs in gas exchange. Accordingly, it is not surprising that hypoxia and acidosis predominate as stimuli for vasomotor activity or that their main effects are exerted locally on the pulmonary vascular tree. Although pulmonary vasomotor nerves do exist, they operate more to adjust the distensibility of capacitance vessels than to modulate the caliber of resistance vessels (1). Clearly this heavy reliance on local control of the pulmonary circulation is diametric to the situation in the systemic circulation where an elaborate baroregulatory apparatus and the renin-angiotensin system, exerting their influences from afar, dominate circulatory control. Since regulatory devices in the pulmonary circulation are so primitive and the pulmonary vascular bed is so extensive and capacious, it is reasonable to anticipate that pulmonary arterial hypertension would be difficult to generate (2). This expectation has been fulfilled both in experimental animals and in man. Except for those who reside at high altitude, pulmonary hypertension is a rarity in subjects who are free of heart or lung disease (3). Moreover, the pulmonary hypertension of high altitude is generally benign and reversible when hypoxia is relieved. In contrast, pulmonary hypertension at sea level is usually a distressful complication of heart, lung, or vascular disease which, in one way or another, has led to curtailment of the pulmonary vascular bed and to impediment to blood flow through it. In addition, once started, secondary pulmonary hypertension at sea level tends to be self-perpetuating and progressive in its course. Also, contained within the universe of pulmonary hypertension in which the causes are known is a sprinkling of patients with "primary
The impact of traditional and religious practices on the spread of Ebola in West Africa: time for a strategic shift.

The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the largest ever recorded since the discovery of the virus. While several factors may have contributed to perpetuation of the viral spread among affected communities, the role of traditional and religious practices in the spread of the disease is unquestionable. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that a majority of Ebola cases in some communities can be linked to traditional burial practices. Additionally, one of the major challenges in controlling the spread of the disease has been notable resistance against prescribed scientific ways of combating the transmission of Ebola in some affected communities for cultural and religious reasons. Herein, we identified notable religious and traditional practices in West Africa that potentially contributed to the spread of Ebola and exacerbated the current outbreak. We further discussed ways that the identified practices could be modified to levels that leave them within culturally acceptable standards and, at the same time, effective at preventing the spread of Ebola. One of our proposed strategies is deliberate targeting of leaders of traditional and religious institutions in community-directed preventive programs. It emerged from the current outbreak in West Africa that traditional and spiritual healers can significantly contribute to spreading of Ebola. We, thus, propose specifically targeting traditional and spiritual healers for awareness and increasing their collaboration with public health official in fighting against Ebola. It is our contention that traditional and spiritual healers and leaders can play a significant role in fostering mutual trust between health officials and affected communities. As custodians of cultural practices, traditional leaders can also play a significant role in promotion, monitoring, and implementation of prescribed preventive measures against the spread of Ebola.
Code verification of boundary conditions for compressible and incompressible computational fluid dynamics codes

Abstract To establish confidence in the code, a rigorous assessment of boundary condition implementation is necessary. In this work, techniques are presented for performing code verification of boundary conditions commonly used in compressible and incompressible Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes. Using a compressible CFD code, this study assesses the subsonic inflow (isentropic and fixed-mass), subsonic outflow, supersonic outflow, no-slip wall (adiabatic and isothermal), and inviscid slip-wall. A novel approach is introduced to determine manufactured solutions for boundary condition verification when the velocity-field is constrained to be divergence-free during the simulation in an incompressible CFD code. The use of simplified curved surfaces is proposed for easier generation of manufactured solutions during the verification of certain boundary conditions involving many constraints. To perform rigorous code verification, general grids with mixed cell types at the verified boundary are used. It is found that the use of planar boundaries or only hexahedral cells at the verified boundary can mask sources of errors in the boundary condition implementation.
Single-nephron adaptations to partial renal ablation in cats

To evaluate remnant nephron hyperfiltration, cats underwent sham surgery (group 1, n = 6) or three-fourths nephrectomy (group 2, n = 6). Four to six weeks later, micropuncture studies demonstrated increases (P < 0.01) of single-nephron glomerular filtration rate (SNGFR) in group 2 (28.1 +/- 2.8 vs. 56.0 +/- 5.9 nl/min). In group 2 the mean estimated glomerular capillary pressure of 74.0 +/- 1.7 mmHg exceeded (P < 0.01) the value for group 1 (62.6 +/- 1.4 mmHg). The mean effective filtration pressure (EFPm) for group 2 (28.7 +/- 3.1 mmHg) was greater (P < 0.05) than that in group 1 (20.8 +/- 1.9 mmHg). Similarly, the mean ultrafiltration coefficient (Kf) in group 2 of 2.03 +/- 0.24 nl.min-1.mmHg-1 exceeded (P < 0.05) the corresponding value for group 1 of 1.35 +/- 0.06 nl.min-1.mmHg-1. Morphological studies demonstrated glomerular enlargement and mesangial matrix expansion in group 2 (P < 0.05). Proteinuria, as assessed by the urine protein-to-creatinine ratio, was increased (P < 0.05) after partial renal ablation. These results demonstrate that increases in SNGFR in feline remnant nephrons occur in association with glomerular hypertension, glomerular hypertrophy, expansion of mesangial matrix, and proteinuria, and furthermore, that the observed increases in SNGFR are attributable to an augmentation of EFPm and Kf.
Study of Impact Damage of Composite Laminates Using Five-Point Bending

The low-velocity impact of composite laminates can induce high transverse shear strains, resulting in severe damage within the laminate. This type of damage may be studied by the use of a five-point bending test configuration. An investigation of composite laminate failure induced by transverse shear strains is described in the present paper. In order to gain insight into the representation of low-velocity impact damage by the five-point bending configuration, low-velocity impact tests were performed. Five-point bending tests were also performed, producing transverse shear cracks, delaminations, and other types of failures. Since transverse shear strain causes failure under conditions of low-velocity impact, a comparison between the results of the five-point bending tests and established results of impact tests is presented, showing that both types of tests produce the same failure modes. Also, AS4-PEEK graphite-thermoplastic is shown to be more resistant to five-point bending damage than is AS4-3502 graphite-epoxy.
Preferred configurations of peptide-peptide interactions.

The natural and fundamental proclivities of interaction between a pair of peptide units are examined using high-level ab initio calculations. The NH···O H-bonded structure is found to be the most stable configuration of the N-methylacetamide (NMA) model dimer, but only slightly more so than a stacked arrangement. The H-bonded geometry is destabilized by only a small amount if the NH group is lifted out of the plane of the proton-accepting amide. This out-of-plane motion is facilitated by a stabilizing charge transfer from the CO π bond to the NH σ* antibonding orbital. The parallel and antiparallel stacked dimers are nearly equal in energy, both only slightly less stable than the NH···O H-bonded structure. Both are stabilized by a combination of CH···O H-bonding and a π→π* transfer between the two CO bonds. There are no minima on the surface that are associated with Olp→π*(CO) transfers, due in large part to strong electrostatic repulsion between the two O atoms, which resists an approach of a carbonyl O ...
Action Recognition in the Presence of One Egocentric and Multiple Static Cameras

In this paper, we study the problem of recognizing human actions in the presence of a single egocentric camera and multiple static cameras. Some actions are better presented in static cameras, where the whole body of an actor and the context of actions are visible. Some other actions are better recognized in egocentric cameras, where subtle movements of hands and complex object interactions are visible. In this paper, we introduce a model that can benefit from the best of both worlds by learning to predict the importance of each camera in recognizing actions in each frame. By joint discriminative learning of latent camera importance variables and action classifiers, our model achieves successful results in the challenging CMU-MMAC dataset. Our experimental results show significant gain in learning to use the cameras according to their predicted importance. The learned latent variables provide a level of understanding of a scene that enables automatic cinematography by smoothly switching between cameras in order to maximize the amount of relevant information in each frame.
Total Synthesis of (-)-Vindoline and (+)-4-epi-Vindoline Based on a 1,3,4-Oxadiazole Tandem Intramolecular [4 + 2]/[3 + 2] Cycloaddition Cascade Initiated by an Allene Dienophile.

It is reported that an allene dienophile can initiate a tandem intramolecular [4 + 2]/[3 + 2] cycloaddition cascade of 1,3,4-oxadiazoles, that the intermediate cross-conjugated 1,3-dipole (a carbonyl ylide) can participate in an ensuing [3 + 2] dipolar cycloaddition in a remarkably effective manner, and that the reaction can be implemented to provide the core pentacyclic ring system of vindoline. Its discovery improves a previous total synthesis of (−)-vindoline and was used in a total synthesis of (+)-4-epi-vindoline and (+)-4-epi-vinblastine that additionally enlists an alternative series of late-stage transformations.