cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Control strategies for ostertagiasis.

There are currently four major options for control of ostertagiasis and other ruminant gastrointestinal parasites. These are the traditional, suppressive, integrated and strategic approaches. Strategic dosing is the most realistic and beneficial approach for most regions of the world, including the U.S.A. It is effective, practical, labor-saving and can yield big economic returns. Today this approach is even more appropriate because of important advances in the technology of controlled release and pulse-release devices. Top priority in worm control programs should be given to dairy replacement heifers in their first year at pasture and to beef calves in the immediate post-weaning period. This is preferable to recommendations for blanket treatment of all beef and dairy cattle, regardless of age, immune status or pasture infectivity. An anthelmintic overkill is both wasteful and potentially harmful in that it increases the selection pressure for drug resistance. It is suggested that better dissemination of information is needed to make producers aware of the benefits of strategic dosing programs. This would eliminate much of the confusion about parasite control and focus attention on simple and effective programs that could significantly reduce current losses to the livestock industries.
A Gβ protein in the drosophila compound eye is different from that in the brain

A G protein beta subunit gene (Gbe) is expressed only in the eyes of adult D. melanogaster. This gene was identified by probing a Drosophila head cDNA expression library with monoclonal antibodies to a previously characterized Drosophila G protein beta subunit (Gbb). Immunoblot and Northern analyses demonstrate that Gbe protein and mRNA is not present in Drosophila mutants that lack eyes. Immunocytochemical and in situ hybridization analyses further demonstrate that Gbe is expressed in the eyes but not in the brain, whereas Gbb is abundantly expressed in the brain. The Gbe product is approximately 45% identical to previously identified G beta subunits and defines a new G beta class. Its localization suggests a possible role in phototransduction.
Lithium insertion into hollandite-type TiO2

Abstract Hollandite-type TiO2 compounds, isostructural with α-MnO2, have been investigated as insertion electrodes for lithium batteries. Parent materials of KxTi8O16 (0
Corneal Epithelial Opacity in Dysfunctional Tear Syndrome

Purpose To compare the appearance of the superficial corneal epithelium in patients with dysfunctional tear syndrome (DTS) and that of an asymptomatic control group using laser scanning confocal microscopy and to determine the correlations between confocal microscopic findings and clinical severity parameters. Design Prospective case-control study. Methods Thirty-one patients with newly diagnosed DTS and 21 asymptomatic control subjects were evaluated for this study. Subjects with DTS were classified into 4 levels of clinical severity (DTS 1 through 4) based on the Delphi dry eye panel report criteria. The Heidelberg Retina Tomograph 2 Rostock Cornea Module (Heidelberg Engineering GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany) laser scanning confocal microscope was used to image the superficial corneal epithelium. Areas of single or multiple opaque superficial epithelial cells were measured as a percentage of the 400 × 400-μm 2 field area in 4 randomly selected confocal images from each eye. Spearman correlations between the confocal findings and severity of symptoms, visual acuity, and ocular surface signs were calculated. Results The mean area of opaque superficial corneal epithelial cells was significantly greater in DTS patients than in normal subjects ( P P r = 0.86; P = .0001), best-corrected visual acuity (Spearman r = 0.4; P = .03), conjunctival lissamine green staining scores (Spearman r = 0.4; P = .026), corneal fluorescein staining scores (Spearman r = 0.5; P = .002), and videokeratoscopic surface regularity index (Spearman r = 0.5; P = .02). Conclusions Morphologic changes in the superficial corneal epithelium of DTS patients detected by laser scanning confocal microscopy correlates with blurred vision symptoms and objective severity parameters. Objective confocal image analysis of the superficial corneal epithelium may prove useful for classifying DTS severity and for monitoring the efficacy of therapies.
The Intergenerational Transmission of Social Skills and Psychosocial Problems among Parents and their Young Adult Children

The primary aim of this study was to examine the potential intergenerational transmission of social skills and psychosocial problems (i.e., loneliness and anxiety) among a sample of 255 father-mother-adult child triads. These associations, along with the indirect effects of social skills and psychosocial problems, were examined using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that fathers' social skills and loneliness are predictive of their adult children's social skills, mothers' loneliness is predictive of their adult children's loneliness; and fathers' and mothers' anxiety is predictive of their adult children's anxiety. Additionally, lower social skills were significantly associated with greater loneliness and anxiety for all family members. Finally, there was no evidence of indirect effects for parents' social skills or psychosocial problems on their adult children's social skills or psychosocial problems, through parents' psychosocial problems or adult child social skill, respectively. Implica...
Using a comprehensive building design system

Abstract The present assessment of BDS support for the detail design stage is that it was moderately successful. Without the BDS contribution, it would have been impossible to achieve the target dates without a considerable increase in staff and the difficulties this inevitably creates. Similarly, now that working drawings are nearing completion, the final stage is considered moderately successful. The degree of success varies and is clearly dependent upon the amount of revision which takes place. It is certain that the introduction of CAD techniques can benefit all disciplines involved and aid the economic production of fully coordinated drawings and schedules. Using BDS on a large multi-disciplinary project has shown that benefit will be obtained by its application to projects of a smaller scale, or even restricted to a single discipline. Future projects will make increasing use of all facilities. Training architects and engineers from structural and services disciplines is proceeding, and gradually a team is being created within the project capable of dealing with project development under guidance of the core team. This is in line with the intention that those interested should be encouraged to use the system and that the core team size should not be increased significantly, regardless of volume of work. This should avoid the creation of a specialist team through which all work is filtered, and eliminate the possibility of those involved in projects feeling divorced from the means of creating them.
Depression and vasomotor symptoms in young breast cancer survivors: the mediating role of sleep disturbance

Depression, sleep disturbance, and vasomotor symptoms are common in breast cancer survivors (BCS), especially in younger women diagnosed before menopause. Risk factors and mechanisms for depression in this population are relatively unexplored. In 163 young BCS, vasomotor symptoms were significantly associated with higher depressive symptoms (β = 0.26, p = 0.001) and 64 % of the total effect was mediated through sleep disturbance (beta for specific indirect effect = 1.296, 95 % CI 0.591–2.212). Treatments reducing vasomotor symptoms might alleviate sleep disturbance and depression in this population.
A cross-study meta-analysis and three-dimensional comparison of cell counting in the anterior cingulate cortex of schizophrenic and bipolar brain.

Abstract Using a two-dimensional cell counting approach, a 1991 study in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACCx) detected a reduction in the density of nonpyramidal neurons in layers II–VI of schizophrenic subjects. Schizophrenics without superimposed mood disturbances showed a 16% decrease in layer II, while schizoaffectives showed a 30% decrease, suggesting that a decreased density of nonpyramidal neurons in layer II of ACCx might vary more strongly with affective disorder than with schizophrenia. Two follow-up studies from this laboratory, one a replication of that reported in 1991 and the other an analysis of tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactive fibers, were undertaken in ACCx of normal controls and schizophrenics. These three data sets have been combined and a meta-analysis of the density of pyramidal, nonpyramidal and glial cells was performed to explore whether changes in the density of interneurons in ACCx may be a reliable finding in the major psychoses. Not all groups have reported this finding, but several had employed a different cell counting technique (i.e. three dimensional optical dissector), which could help to explain the discrepant findings in schizophrenia and affective disorder. The data from each of three different studies (now designated as studies A, B and C, respectively) have been internally normalized, combined into a single dataset and analyzed using nonparametric statistics. Tissue blocks from a subset of cases in study B (six controls, six schizophrenics and six bipolars) were embedded in celloidin and counted using an “unbiased” three dimensional counting method (study D). The data from studies A and B indicate that the density of nonpyramidal neurons in layer II of ACCx in the schizoaffective and bipolar samples was significantly decreased. In the schizophrenics, the nonpyramidal neurons were also decreased, but only by 15%. All three groups also showed a decrease of pyramidal neurons in layers IV, V and VI, but this difference was significant only in layer IV of the schizophrenics. When data from study C were added, the differences in pyramidal and nonpyramidal neurons were less striking. For study D, the pattern of findings are strikingly similar to those obtained in studies A, B and C, indicating that both 2D and 3D cell counting methodologies are capable of detecting the same differences. Taken together, these results indicate that the earlier finding of a decreased density of nonpyramidal neurons in ACCx of schizophrenics is consistent across non-overlapping subjects and/or methods in four separate studies, and is more pronounced in schizoaffective and bipolar subjects than in schizophrenics without superimposed mood disturbance.
Improved hot-electron reliability in strained-Si nMOS

Strained-Si/relaxed-Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x/ structures provide a viable means of improving CMOS performance. For nMOS devices, the tensile strain in pseudomorphic Si on relaxed-Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x/ splits the six-fold degeneracy of the conduction band minimum, rendering increased electron mobility due to a lower in-plane effective mass and reduced intervalley scattering. In this paper, in addition to confirming enhanced performance for biaxial-strained-Si nMOS, we present hot-electron degradation characteristics for the first time, showing improvement over bulk Si.
Potential energy surfaces for the insertion of Os+ into H2

Abstract Complete active space multiconfiguration self-consistent field followed by multi-reference singles+doubles configuration interaction calculations are made on twelve electronic states of OsH+2. We find that the 6D state of Os+ does not insert into H2 while the excited quartet and doublet states of Os+ insert into H2 spontaneously to form bent quartet and doublet states of OsH+2. We find two nearly degenerated quartet states (4B2, 4A2) as candidates for the ground state of OsH+2. Spin—orbit effects are found to be significant for OsH+2.
Modeling of Terminal-Area Airplane Fuel Consumption

DOI: 10.2514/1.42025 Accurate modeling of airplane fuel consumption is necessary for air transportation policy-makers to properly adjudicate trades between competing environmental and economic demands. Existing public models used for computing terminal-area airplane fuel consumption have been shown to have substantial errors, potentially leading to erroneous policy and investment decisions. The method of modeling fuel consumption proposed in this paper was developed using data from a major airplane manufacturer. When compared with airline performance/operational data, this proposed method has been shown to accurately predict fuel consumption in the terminal area. The proposed method uses airplane performance data from publicly available environmental models supported by the Federal Aviation Administration and others. The proposed method has sufficient generality to protect the proprietary interests of the manufacturer, while still having adequate fidelity to analyze low-speed airplane operations in the terminal area. This improved methodology will enable more informed decisions by policy-makers seekingtoaccountfortheeffectsoffuelconsumptionandairplaneemissionsonplansforfutureairspaceandairport designs.
The arc-transversal median algorithm: a geometric approach to increasing ultrasonic sensor azimuth accuracy

This paper describes a new method for improving the azimuth accuracy of range information using conventional (Polaroid) low-resolution ultrasonic sensors mounted in a circular array on a mobile robot. Although ultrasonic sensors are fairly accurate in measuring distance in depth, they commonly have significant uncertainty in azimuth. We model this uncertainty with a uniform distribution along an arc. This means that the echo has an equal likelihood of originating from any point along the arc. We then introduce a new method to fuse sonar data to better approximate the actual obstacle location. This new method is termed the arc transversal median method because the robot determines the location of an object 1) by intersecting one arc with other arcs, 2) then by considering only "transversal" intersections, those which exceed a threshold in angle, and 3) by taking the median of the intersections. The median is a robust estimator that is insensitive to noise; a few stray readings will not affect its value. We show, via some simple geometric relationships, that this method can improve the azimuth accuracy of the sonar sensor by a specified amount under well-defined conditions. Experimental results on an ultrasonic sensor array situated on a mobile robot verify this approach.
Cleansing violence in the Tajik Civil War: framing from the dark side of democracy

This paper examines the violence in the Tajik Civil War (1992–1997). The actions of both sides mimicked ethnic cleansing as civilian settlements were targeted. The fragmented ethno-regional identities of the republic had historically lived together peacefully, so this style of violence was unanticipated. However, its patterns resemble similar events in the past 40 years that have been examined by other scholars. By conceptualizing it as a modern phenomenon that can be compared to, I develop a better understanding of this form of violence in the Tajik Civil War and place it within scholarly work on ethnic cleansing.
Classification in DTI using shapes of white matter tracts

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) provides unique information about the underlying tissue structure of brain white matter in vivo, including both the geometry of fiber bundles as well as quantitative information about tissue properties as characterized by measures such as tensor orientation, anisotropy, and size. Our objective in this paper is to evaluate the utility of shape representations of white matter tracts extracted from DTI data for classification of clinically different population groups (here autistic vs control). As a first step, our algorithm extracts fiber bundles passing through approximately marked regions of interest on affinely aligned brain volumes. The subsequent analysis is entirely based on the geometric modeling of the extracted tracts. A key advantage of using such an abstraction is that it allows us to capture invariant features of brains allowing for efficient large sample size studies. We demonstrate that with the use of an appropriate representation of the tract shapes, classifiers can be built with reasonable prediction accuracies without making heavy use of the spatial normalization machinery needed when using voxel based features.
Serum Dopamine-Beta-Hydroxylase Activity

Dopamine-β-hydroxylase, the enzyme which converts dopamine to norepinephrine, is released into the perfusate upon stimulation of the isolated perfused adrenal gland and after stimulation of the nerves to the isolated perfused spleen. This study was undertaken to determine whether dopamine-β-hydroxylase activity could be detected circulating in blood. By using a sensitive new enzymatic assay, a dopamine-β-hydroxylase activity was found in the blood of both man and the rat. It is located in the serum and is not associated with the formed elements of blood. The serum activity is similar to that of purified bovine adrenal dopamine-β-hydroxylase in that it requires the presence of ascorbic acid, catalase, fumarate and oxygen for full activity. Furthermore, as is also the case with the adrenal enzyme, serum activity is increased in the presence of cupric ions. The Km values for substrate in human and rat sera are similar, and both are close to values determined in rat adrenal glands and stellate ganglia. The mean activity ±SE in the serum of six rats was 2.27±.04 nmoles/ml serum/20 min, and that of four normal humans ranged from 96.2 to 284 nmoles/ml/20 min.
Proximity operations and docking sensor development

The Next Generation Advanced Video Guidance Sensor (NGAVGS) has been under development for the last three years as a long-range proximity operations and docking sensor for use in an Automated Rendezvous and Docking (AR&D) system. The first autonomous rendezvous and docking in the history of the U.S. Space Program was successfully accomplished by Orbital Express, using the Advanced Video Guidance Sensor (AVGS) as the primary docking sensor. That flight proved that the United States now has a mature and flight proven sensor technology for supporting Crew Exploration Vehicles (CEV) and Commercial Orbital Transport Systems (COTS) Automated Rendezvous and Docking (AR&D). NASA video sensors have worked well in the past: the AVGS used on the Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) mission operated successfully in “spot mode” out to 2 km, and the first generation rendezvous and docking sensor, the Video Guidance Sensor (VGS), was developed and successfully flown on Space Shuttle flights in 1997 and 1998.
Post-fire resource redistribution and fertility island dynamics in shrub encroached desert grasslands: a modeling approach

A common form of land degradation in desert grasslands is associated with the relatively rapid encroachment of woody plants, a process that has important implications on ecosystem structure and function, as well as on the soil hydrological and biogeochemical properties. Until recently this grassland to shrubland transition was thought to be highly irreversible. However recent studies have shown that at the early stages of shrub encroachment in desert grasslands, there exists a very dynamic shrub–grass transition state with enough grass connectivity between the shrub islands to allow for fire spread. In this state fire could play a major role in determining the dominance of grasses and their recovery from the effects of overgrazing. Using a spatially explicit cellular automata model, we show how the patch-scale feedbacks between fires and soil erosion affects resource redistribution and vegetation dynamics in a mixed grass–shrub plant community at landscape to regional scales. The results of this study indicate that at its early stages, the grassland-to-shrubland transition can be reversible and that the feedbacks between fire and soil erosion processes may play a major role in determining the reversibility of the system.
Viability Of Community Banks In The Dallas Federal Reserve District: Evidence Of Relationship And Transactional Orientation

This paper examines the viability of community banks. The results indicate that larger community banks are more profitable and less susceptible to most forms of risk than smaller community banks. Evidence that smaller community banks are more relationship oriented and larger community banks are more transactional oriented is mixed. Smaller community banks have a lower cost of funding assets, perhaps as a result of a stronger relationship with depositors, but there is no evidence that their relationship with borrowers allows them to earn more interest income. The primary indication of a stronger transactional orientation by larger community banks is their ability to generate more non-interest income.
Social relationships among adult female baboons (papio cynocephalus) I. Variation in the strength of social bonds

Sociality has positive effects on female fitness in many mammalian species. Among female baboons, those who are most socially integrated reproduce most successfully. Here we test a number of predictions derived from kin selection theory about the strength of social bonds among adult female baboons. Our analyses are based on systematic observations of grooming and association patterns among 118 females living in seven different social groups in the Amboseli Basin of Kenya over a 16-year period. Females in these groups formed the strongest bonds with close kin, including their mothers, daughters, and maternal and paternal sisters. Females were also strongly attracted toward females who were close to their own age, perhaps because peers were often paternal sisters. Females’ bonds with their maternal sisters were strengthened after their mother’s deaths, whereas their relationships with their maternal aunts were weakened after their mother’s death. In addition, females formed stronger bonds with their paternal sisters when no close maternal kin were available, and they compensated for the absence of any close kin by forming strong bonds with nonrelatives. Taken together, these data suggest that social bonds play a vital role in females’ lives, and the ability to establish and maintain strong social bonds may have important fitness consequences for females.
Spectroscopy and fluorescence quenching of tyrosine in lima bean trypsin/chymotrypsin inhibitor and model peptides.

Abstract The effects of citrate ion concentration and pH on the optical spectra and fluorescence decay have been measured for several tyrosine model compounds and lima bean trypsin/chymotrypsin inhibitor, a protein containing one tyrosine at position 69 and seven disulfides but no tryptophan, in order to determine the location and environment of Tyr 69. Tyrosine in the protein is protected from citrate collisional quenching, as indicated by the dynamic quenching constant 9 to 15 times smaller than those for the model peptides. Static quenching remains, with a Stern-Volmer constant of about 1.0 M-1, somewhat smaller than those of L-tyrosine, tyrosine-glutamate, and leucine-tyrosine-leucine. The elevated pKa of Tyr 69, greater than or equal to 11.6, also indicates protein protection from solvent ions. Though Coulomb repulsion of the Glu 70/citrate pair may play a role in the shielding of Tyr 69 from citrate, our measurements indicate that steric effects of the protein structure are more important. Tyrosinate emission in the protein at neutral pH is minimal.
MicroRNA-184 Regulates Corneal Lymphangiogenesis

The lymphatic network penetrates most tissues and its dysfunction is associated with a broad spectrum of disorders, such as cancer metastasis, inflammation, transplant rejection, hypertension, obesity, and lymphedema.1,2 After being neglected for centuries due to historical reasons and technical limitations, lymphatic research has gained significant attention and great progress in recent years. However, to date, few effective treatments are available for lymphatic disorders. Therefore, it is imperative to identify new regulators of lymphangiogenesis (LG; the formation of lymphatic vessels) in the hope of developing novel therapeutic strategies. The cornea offers an ideal site for LG research. Due to its accessible location, transparent nature, and alymphatic feature under normal condition, this tissue provides a favorable model to study inducible lymphatic growth without having to distinguish from preexisting or background vessels.2 Corneal LG can be induced by a number of pathologic insults, such as inflammation, infection, trauma, and chemical burns, and it is a primary mediator of transplant rejection.2–4 MicroRNAs are a class of small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression by RNA silencing and posttranscriptional regulation,5,6 Their specific roles in the eye and eye-related diseases remain largely unknown. A recent study using microRNA arrays to compare mouse cornea to epithelial-rich footpads has identified microRNA-184 (mir-184) as the most abundantly expressed microRNA in the mouse cornea.7 The restrictive expression profile of mir-184 in the normal and alymphatic cornea7,8 has prompted us to evaluate its potential role in corneal LG and whether it can be used as an antilymphangiogenic factor. We report the novel finding that mir-184 is significantly downregulated in corneal inflammatory LG and, accordingly, its synthetic mimic inhibits corneal lymphatic growth in vivo. Moreover, mir-184 overexpression in human lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) in vitro suppresses their functions of adhesion, migration, and tube formation. These results together reveal that mir-184 is a negative regulator of the lymphangiogenic process. Further investigation on this natural regulator holds the great promise for developing new and effective treatment for LG-related diseases in the body.
Formal Scattering Theory and Other Theoretical Considerations

Notions used in Chapter XIV for the derivation of the cross-section formula will be further discussed in this chapter to provide a deeper understanding of the material. In Section XV.1 the Lippmann-Schwinger equation is discussed again. Sections XV.2 and XV.3 are on formal scattering theory. In the Appendix a derivation of (XIV.2.9b), (XIV.2.17), and (XIV.5.21) is given. using the material developed in this chapter.
The ULTIMATE conservative difference scheme applied to unsteady one-dimensional advection

Abstract Modeling of highly advective transport is embarrassingly difficult, even in the superficially simple case of one-dimensional constant-velocity flow. In this paper, a fresh approach is taken, based on an explicit conservative control-volume formulation that makes use of a universal limiter for transient interpolation modeling of the advective transport equations. This ‘ULTIMATE’ conservative difference scheme is applied to unsteady, one-dimensional scalar pure advection at constant velocity, using three representative test profiles: a discontinuous step, an isolated sine-squared wave, and a semi-ellipse. The goal is to devise a single robust scheme which achieves sharp monotonic resolution of the step without corrupting the other profiles. The semi-ellipse is particularly challenging because of its combination of sudden and gradual changes in gradient. The ULTIMATE strategy can be applied to explicit conservative advection schemes of any order of accuracy. Second-order methods are shown to be unsatisfactory because of steepening and clipping typical of currently popular so-called ‘high resolution’ shock-capturing or TVD schemes. The ULTIMATE third-order upwind scheme is highly satisfactory for most flows of practical importance. Higher order methods give predictably better step resolution, although even-order schemes generate a (monotonic) waviness in the difficult semi-ellipse simulation. By using adaptive stencil expansion to introduce (in principle arbitrarily) higher order resolution locally in isolated regions of high curvature or high gradient, extremely accurate coarse-grid results can be obtained with very little additional cost above that of the base (third-order) scheme.
Does selection bias blind performance diagnostics of business decision models? A case study in salesforce optimization

Modern business decision models are often very complicated due to a deluge of information. Evaluation and diagnostics of such decision models is extremely challenging due to many factors, including the complexity and volume of data. In addition, since there is no ideal data sample to construct a control group for comparison studies, performance evaluation and diagnostics of business actions can easily be distorted by selection bias. In this paper, we design a framework to analyze this sample bias issue under a practical business scenario. In particular, we focus on: a) identification of the key factors which drive selection bias during the business decision; b) evaluation of the performance of business actions with consideration of the identified selection bias. We evaluate baseline analytics tools on the worldwide salesforce data of a large global corporation and clearly demonstrate that the selection bias issue makes the usual evaluation very unstable and not trustable. However, by removing such detected sample bias, our framework can generate reasonable diagnostics results across different dimensions. The implemented analysis tool was applied to a worldwide business opportunity dataset of a multinational Fortune 500 corporation; the analytics results clearly show the significance of such a bias detection-based evaluation framework for salesforce optimization.
Identification of novel pRb binding sites using CpG microarrays suggests that E2F recruits pRb to specific genomic sites during S phase.

The retinoblastoma (Rb) tumor suppressor protein is an important regulator of cell proliferation and differentiation. Many studies have shown that pRb can negatively regulate the activity of the E2F family of transcription factors during G0 and G1 phases of the cell cycle, perhaps by serving as a bridge between the E2Fs and transcriptional repressors such as histone deacetylases and methylases. However, pRb has also been shown to localize to discrete DNA foci during S phase, a time at which pRb is thought to be dissociated from E2F. Numerous other DNA binding proteins have been shown to interact with pRb, suggesting that pRb may control progression through S phase by binding to sites in the genome distinct from E2F target gene promoters. To test this hypothesis, we have identified novel pRb binding sites within the human genome using an unbiased approach which relies upon a combination of chromatin immunoprecipitation and CpG microarray analysis. To provide the greatest opportunity of finding distinct sets of pRb binding sites, we examined pRb binding in chromatin obtained from human Raji cells synchronized in either G0/G1 phase or S phase. These experiments have allowed us to identify a large set of new genomic binding sites for the pRb protein. We found that some sites are occupied by pRb only during G0/G1 phase, as would be predicted from previous models of pRb function. We also identified sites to which pRb bound only during S phase and other sites which were bound constitutively by pRb. Surprisingly, we found that E2F1 was present at most of the CpG islands bound by pRb, independent of the phase of the cell cycle. Thus, although pRb has the potential to interact with numerous transcription factors, our data suggest that the majority of DNA-bound pRb is recruited to E2F target promoters during both G0/G1 and S phases.
IGBT PEBB technology for future high energy physics machine operation applications

Terascale physics is driving the demand for innovative pulsed power modulators having greater compactness and better manufacturability with increasingly superior performance. A particularly promising route for such modulators is Marx-architecture based. Moreover, there is opportunity for improvement and gain of greater benefits through further development of topology and architecture, gate driver method, and control schemes. Prior work discussed a new concept of droop correction, which was the result of topology hybridisation using a nesting approach, and illustrated its great potential. This is further investigated here. This paper details various design aspects of a hybrid Marx cell Power Electronic Building Block (PEBB) and includes specifics about estimated losses and efficiency, thermal management issues, protection strategies, gate driver development, and control implementation. In addition, figures-of-merit of the cell design are given for comparison and evaluation purposes. Experimental results, based on both single-cell and three-cell hardware prototypes, are presented demonstrating the functionality and performance of the new topology. This is a significant milestone in the progression toward constructing a full 32-cell PEBB-based Marx klystron modulator with nested droop correction. Lessons learned during various stages of the prototype development and future directions are commented on.
Computational and Experimental Studies of Catalytic H2O2 Decomposition in Microscale Reactors

at developing a new MEMS-based micro-reactor conguration for incorporation into a monopropellant micropropulsion system. Two-dimensional numerical models of the gas phase catalytic decomposition in microchannel congurations have been developed and used to obtain critical sizing requirements for the reactor design. The computational results show that the length scales necessary for complete decomposition are compatible with MEMSbased designs; however, it is also found that the results are highly sensitive to the mass diusion characteristics within the ow at this scale. Experimentally, a micro-scale catalytic reactor has been designed and microfabricated using MEMS techniques. The reactor uses self-assembled ruthenium oxide nanorods grown on the wall surfaces as a catalyst. It is found during experimental testing that only partial decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide occurs. The combination of multiphase and thermal quenching eects in a micro-scale geometry are identied as likely obstacles to the process.
Increase in neurite outgrowth mediated by overexpression of actin depolymerizing factor.

Growth cone motility is regulated by changes in actin dynamics. Actin depolymerizing factor (ADF) is an important regulator of actin dynamics, and extracellular signal-induced changes in ADF activity may influence growth cone motility and neurite extension. To determine this directly, we overexpressed ADF in primary neurons and analyzed neurite lengths. Recombinant adenoviruses were constructed that express wild-type Xenopus ADF/cofilin [XAC(wt)], as well as two mutant forms of XAC, the active but nonphosphorylatable XAC(A3) and the less active, pseudophosphorylated XAC(E3). XAC expression was detectable on Western blots 24 hr after infection and peaked at 3 d in cultured rat cortical neurons. Peak expression was ∼75% that of endogenous ADF. XAC(wt) expression caused a slight increase in growth cone area and filopodia but decreased filopodia numbers on neurite shafts. At maximal XAC levels, neurite lengths increased >50% compared with controls infected with a green fluorescent protein-expressing adenovirus. Increased neurite extension was directly related to the expression of active XAC. Expression of the XAC(E3) mutant did not increase neurite extension, whereas expression of the XAC(A3) mutant increased neurite extension but to a lesser extent than XAC(wt), which was partially phosphorylated. XAC expression had minimal, if any, impact on F-actin levels and did not result in compensatory changes in the expression of endogenous ADF or actin. However, F-actin turnover appeared to increase based on F-actin loss after treatment with drugs that block actin polymerization. These results provide direct evidence that increased ADF activity promotes process extension and neurite outgrowth.
Strategies for Specifying Form and Pattern: Adhesion-Guided Multicellular Assembly

We define a material pattern as a particular arrangement of material elements in space. We then make an effort to categorize the developmental strategies that underlie the emergence of multicellular patterns. These strategies are divided into three broad categories according to whether cell position influences or is influenced by cell fate. In that category of strategies in which cell fate influences cells to move to particular positions, we focus our attention upon morphogenetic and patterning phenomena that appear to be determined by adhesion-mediated interactions of cells with each other and with their surroundings. The differential adhesion hypothesis details how cellular adhesive properties can guide tissue movements and specify patterns of cell association. Motile, adhesive cells will naturally tend to group so as to maximize their adhesive interactions (minimize interfacial free energy). A homogeneous population of uniformly adhesive (isotropic) cells will tend toward spherical form. Cell surface adhesive anisotropies can determine other most-stable (equilibrium) configurations of the population, such as cell sheets, tubes and vesicles. Heterogeneous cell populations may preferentially either intermix or sort out, depending upon the balance of adhesive forces between like and unlike elements. The precise configuration adopted will depend upon the particular adhesive relationships that prevail. Both this end state and the approach toward it arise from the adhesive relationships among the interacting cells. Such morphogenetic phenomena as tissue spreading and the segregation of organ primordia are probably brought about in this way. We outline here some results of our recent experiments on the morphogenesis of the salamander pronephric duct. These illustrate the reality of emergent adhesion-generated tissue immiscibility as a cause of organ segregation and point toward a craniocaudally travelling adhesion gradient as the information that guides the migrating pronephric duct to the cloaca.
A survey of graduating emergency medicine residents' experience with cricothyrotomy.

Introduction: The Emergency Medicine (EM) Residency Review Committee stipulates that residents perform 3 cricothyrotomies in training but does not distinguish between those done on patients or via other training methods. This study was designed to determine how many cricothyrotomies residents have performed on living patients, the breadth and prevalence of alternative methods of instruction, and residents’ degree of comfort with performing the procedure unassisted. Methods: We utilized a web-based tool to survey EM residents nearing graduation and gathered data regarding the number of cricothyrotomies performed on living and deceased patients, animals, and models/simulators. Residents indicating experience with the procedure were asked additional questions as to the indication, supervision, and outcome of their most recent cricothyrotomy. We also collected data regarding experience with rescue airway devices, observation of cricothyrotomy, and comfort (“0-10” scale with “10” representing complete confidence) regarding the procedure. Results: Of 296 residents surveyed, 22.0% performed a cricothyrotomy on a living patient, and 51.6% had witnessed at least one performed. Those who completed a single cricothyrotomy reported a significantly greater level of confidence, 6.3 (95% confidence interval [CI] 5.7-7.0), than those who did none, 4.4 (95% CI 4.1-4.7), p<<0.001. Most respondents, 68.1%, had used the recently deceased to practice the technique, and those who had done so more than once reported higher confidence, 5.5 (95% 5.1-5.9), than those who had never done so, 4.1 (95% CI 3.7-4.5), p<<0.001. Residents who practiced cricothyrotomy on both simulators and the recently deceased expressed more confidence, 5.4 (95% CI 5.0-5.8), than those who used only simulators, 4.0 (95% CI 3.6-4.5), p<<0.001. Neither utilization of models, simulators, or animals, nor observance of others’ performance of the procedure independently affected reported confidence among residents. Conclusion: While prevalence of cricothyrotomy and reported comfort with the procedure remain low, performing the procedure on living or deceased patients increased residents’ confidence in undertaking an unassisted cricothyrotomy upon graduation in the population surveyed. There is evidence to show that multiple methods of instruction may yield the highest benefit, but further study is needed. [West J Emerg Med. 2013;14(6):654–661.]
Context, Capacity, and Concern: A District-Level Analysis of the Implementation of Standards-Based Reform in New York State:

Policy makers have initiated a dramatic period of standards-based reform for New York State students, an effort of great relevance across the United States. Although comprehensive high school examinations and state-endorsed Regents diplomas are over 100 years old, the demand that all students must earn college-preparatory diplomas is new. This research asked under what conditions district context matters in implementing of standards-based reform. The authors posited that personnel (teachers, principals, and superintendents) interact with the contextual characteristics of their district environments (organizational size, geography, resources, personnel level) in ways that shape responses to standards-based reforms. Surveys and state-collected data, along with multilevel modeling, were used to weigh programmatic reform at the school district level. Districts serving greater proportions of poor students were more likely to offer general equivalency diploma alternatives to the Regents diploma. Whether these p...
Mass turnover and heterochrony events in response to physical change

The thoughts and writings of Stephen Jay Gould have had an enormous impact on the shaping of macroevolutionary theory. The notion of punctuated equilibria (Eldredge and Gould 1972) remained prominent throughout his work. It also unleashed a storm of debate in paleontology and evolutionary theory. A second theme that recurs throughout Gould's opus is heterochrony (evolution by changes in the rates and timing of ontogenetic events, sensu Gould 1977a). His analyses of these two subjects have inspired many of us to explore further and add to them. My contribution discusses their expansion to encompass large numbers of lineages through long time, and the relationship of punctuated equilibria and heterochrony to physical environmental change, and to each other.
Type I Interferon Keeps IL-1β in Check

Type I interferons have diametric roles in the host defense against pathogens. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Castiglia et al. (2016) demonstrate that type I interferons produced during Streptococcus pyogenes infection are required to prevent inflammation-associated tissue damage and host lethality driven by the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β.
Facilitated transport of L-phenylalanine across blood-nerve barrier of rat peripheral nerve

L-Phenylalanine transport across the blood-nerve barrier was studied by perfusing Ringer solution containing trace amounts of L-[14C]phenylalanine and [3H]dextran (a vascular marker) through the hindlimb of an anesthetized rat. At the end of perfusion, a segment of sciatic nerve was removed, frozen, desheathed, and processed for radioactivity counting. The permeability-surface area product of the blood-nerve barrier (PABNB) to L-[14C]phenylalanine decreased from 58 +/- 9 X 10(-5) to 1.7 +/- 0.3 X 10(-5) (SE) ml.s-1.g wet wt-1, as the perfusate concentration of unlabeled L-phenylalanine was increased to 10 mM. D-Phenylalanine had less of an inhibitory effect on L-[14C]phenylalanine uptake than did L-phenylalanine. PABNB did not change in the presence of 50 mM alpha-(methylamino)isobutyric acid (MeAIB) in the perfusion medium, nor by replacing NaCl by Tris.HCl. However, addition of 50 mM 2-aminobicyclo(2,2,1)heptane-2-carboxylic acid (BCH) reduced PABNB to 2.1 +/- 0.3 X 10(-5) ml.s-1.g wet wt-1 (n = 4). PA at epiperineurial barrier (PAper) of L-[14C]phenylalanine at the epiperineurial barrier, determined from in situ incubation, was 1.4 +/- 0.2 X 10(-5) ml.s-1.g wet wt-1 (n = 6) and was unaffected by 10 mM L-phenylalanine concentration in the incubation medium. The results demonstrate for the first time carrier-mediated transport system for L-phenylalanine at the blood-nerve barrier of the rat peripheral nerve.
NICE prostate cancer quality standards

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the United Kingdom. Over 42,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. In June 2015, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) finally published five key statements regarding prostate cancer care. The quality standards are mostly derived from the NICE prostate cancer guidelines. In this article, we discuss the development process by the NICE Advisory Committee and highlight the five key priorities proposed by NICE to drive quality improvements in patient safety, patient experience and clinical effectiveness. We also discuss areas for potential improvement to improve the standard of care for men with prostate cancer.
CHARACTERISTICS AND CLINICAL OUTCOMES OF PATIENTS UNDERGOING SUBCUTANEOUS VERSUS TRANSVENOUS SINGLE CHAMBER ICD PLACEMENT

In 2012, the first totally Subcutaneous Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (S-ICD) was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A potential benefit of this device is that it does not involve placing leads “in” or “on” the heart, potentially reducing complications. Seventy-one
Effect of Cholecystectomy on Extra-Hepatic Ducts in the Rabbit and Guinea Pig:

ConclusionsCholecystectomy in the guinea pig results in no dilation of the common bile duct. Cholecystectomy in the rabbit results in a slight but variable dilation of the common duct.
Adaptive Optimization-Based Smoothing for Tetrahedral Meshes

A tetrahedral mesh smoothing method is presented that uses an optimization-based node perturbation technique to minimize a cost function. The cost function is based on the element condition number of the surrounding tetrahedra. This condition number incorporates a weight matrix that transforms the element from physical space to a reference space. Feature-based adaptation is incorporated into the element weight matrix to influence the node perturbation scheme to favor non-unit aspect ratio elements. The smoothing scheme produces meshes that cluster grid points in high gradient regions of the selected adaptation function. Results for several inviscid, three-dimensional cases are included.
Study on population structure and characteristics of rodents in some cities of Anhui province, China

Objective To investigate the population composition and seasonality of rodent populations in different habitats in Anhui province, China, and to provide a scientific basis for the control of rodents.Methods The night trapping method was used to monitor rodent densities at three randomly selected sites, one in rural village, one in special industrious site, and one in residential community.Results A total of 104 rodents were captured in 2011, with an average density(captue rate) of 0.49%. Of all rodents, the dominant species were Mus musculus(66.35%) and Rattus norvegicus(30.77%). The rural village had the highest rodent density, followed by residential community and special industrious site. The seasonality of rodent densities in general and in different habitats all followed a three-peak trend, with the first peak in March, the second between May and June, and the third between August and October.Conclusion The population composition and seasonality of rodents have been basically understood. It is recommended that integrated rodent control should be carried out, and that long-term monitoring, early warning,and prevention of rodents and rodent-borne diseases should be strengthened according to the rodent habitats and their seasonality.
Perianal Paget's disease: report of two cases.

A patient with extensive perianal extramammary Paget’s disease was treated by wide local excision of the perianal skin. No underlying associated adenocarcinoma was identified, and the patient is clinically free of disease five years after treatment. A second patient had a small focus of Paget’s disease confined to a hemorrhoid. The necessity for histologic evaluation of all anal lesions is emphasized.
A review of crisis intervention theory.

The current status of crisis intervention theory is reviewed, and concepts are presented to make the crisis model easier and more effective for therapists to use