cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) expression and biological significance in the progression of prostate cancer

3072 Prostate cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in men and advanced prostate cancer that spreads beyond the gland is incurable. Identifying the factors that drive metastasis may offer insights into how to limit or prevent this deadly aspect of prostate cancer progression. Expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their activation in tumor cells has been implicated in tumor cell invasion and metastasis. Broad spectrum MMP inhibitors have been reported to inhibit prostate tumor growth and metastasis in a variety of in vivo models. However, the expression and biological role of individual MMPs in both the primary tumor and in metastatic microenvironments are not fully understood. The objective of this study was to determine the differential expression of MMPs and understand their specific roles in different stages of metastasis formation. Here, we have developed a bioluminescent orthotopic animal model that mimics the behavior of human metastatic prostate cancer in the lung and other metastatic microenvironments. Using this model, we identified that MMP-1 expression was associated in both the primary prostate tumor and in aggressive lung metastatic behavior; these areas were largely negative for MMP-3 and MMP-7. Analysis of protein expression for these genes confirmed that the difference in mRNA levels translated into significant alterations at the protein levels. In addition, we found that increased MMP-1 expression was associated with advanced stages of human prostate cancer tissue samples. In vitro characterization further revealed that increased levels of secreted MMP-1 were only detected in the highly metastatic prostate cancer cell lines DU145 and PC3, but not in the low metastatic prostate cancer cell line LNCaP. Remarkably, MMP-7 expression was undetectable in these cell lines, whereas MMP-9 and MMP-2 activities were comparable in all three of the prostate cancer cell lines with varying metastatic potentials. Treatment of the PC3 cell culture medium with antibodies directed against MMP-1 significantly inhibited tumor cell invasion. Simultaneous immunodepletion of MMP-9 and MMP-2 resulted in only a slight decrease in tumor cell invasion. No effects were seen upon treatment with anti-MMP-3 or anti-MMP-7 antibodies. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that increased expression of MMP-1 plays a critical role in prostate cancer progression during invasive and metastatic stages of the disease and that inhibition of MMP-1 could have therapeutic benefit in the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer.
When should you blow the whistle for ethical reasons

What are nurses supposed to do if they witness unethical, illegal, or unsafe practices in their work setting, report it to their supervisor, and then do not get a response or resolution? The answer may be difficult to do but is necessary—they need to blow the whistle. An excellent example of whistle-blowing in a healthcare organization is the case of Barry Adams, RN, who blew the whistle on unsafe nurse staffing and its impact on patient care. Adams reported his concerns and filed an official hazards report to the director of nursing and administrator at his institution but got no response. He subsequently was fired for
Gaming the Establishment Clause: Intelligent Design in the Public School Classroom

This article addresses the process by which the typical school board member or legislator has been asked to mandate the inclusion of intelligent design theory and critiques of evolution into the public school curriculum. It posits that as a matter of scientific theory, this debate is taking place before audiences patently unable to make informed scientific judgments. The constitutional problem with this process is that it is an illegitimate debate constructed to evade, not comply with the Establishment Clause. The conclusion is that the strategy employed by intelligent design proponents is especially troublesome because it “games” the Establishment clause in a way that defeats the central purpose of the Clause. Nothing is wrong with citizens pressing government to act in ways that coincide with particular religious beliefs; and nothing is wrong with government’s doing so if valid secular purposes are the true basis of the government’s actions. What ought not to be legitimate is citizens’ achieving religious goals by fooling a government agency into accepting sham secular purposes.
The role of nitric oxide in endotoxin-elicited hypodynamic circulatory failure.

Endothelial derived relaxation factor has recently been identified as the free radical nitric oxide.1 Nitric oxide is produced by endothelial cells, hepatocytes, Kupffer cells, neutrophils, and macrophages. All of these cells utilize L-arginine as a substrate for nitric oxide production2 and each has been documented as having a role in the development of septic and/or endotoxic shock. Recent evidence has suggested that nitric oxide may be a significant mediator in the acute hypotension, cardiovascular dysfunction, and tissue injury associated with septic shock; therefore, inhibition of nitric oxide has been proposed as a potential therapeutic treatment in septic patients.3 Our goal was to determine if the inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis attenuates the cardiovascular, metabolic, and pathological responses induced by endotoxin in the conscious rat. To accomplish this, NG-monomethyl-1-arginine (L-NMMA), an inhibitor of both Ca2+-dependent and Ca2+-independent nitric oxide synthesis, was utilized.
Identification of consensus genes expressed in plasmacytomas but not B lymphomas.

Mouse plasmacytoma cell lines differ from pre-B and B lymphoma cell lines by a number of notable features: 1) the distinctive plasmacytoid morphology including extensive and well-developed rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus (Matter et al. 1972, Potter 1987); 2) the lack of expression of some B cell markers (e.g. la antigens) (Boothby et al. 1988); 3) the lack of significant c-myc mRNA expression from the normal allele, which correlates with the presence of plasmacytoma repressor factor (PRF) gel-shift activity (Kakkis et al. 1989); 4) quantitatively increased expression of immunoglobulin; and 5) the consistent dominance of the plasmacytoma phenotype in hybrids with all B cells, including normal B cells and tumor B cell lines (Wall and Kuehl 1983). Our goal is to determine if there are consensus genes which are expressed in murine plasmacy-tomas, but not in B lymphomas. We have combined subtractive cDNA and PCR technologies to construct and analyze a plasmacytoma minus highly differentiated B lymphoma subtractive cDNA library.
Impact of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on the incidences of acute otitis media, recurrent otitis media and tympanostomy tube insertion in children after its implementation into the national immunization program in Turkey

The aim of this study was to investigate changes in the incidences of acute otitis media (AOM), recurrent AOM (rAOM) and tympanostomy tube (TT) insertion in children following the introduction of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) into the national immunization program (NIP) of Turkey in April 2011. National coverage for the PCV7 was 97% in 2009, 93% in 2010, 96% in 2011 and for the PVC13 was 97% in 2012, 97% in 2013, 96% in 2014, 97% in 2015, 98% in 2016, and 96% in 2017 for Turkish children younger than 12 months of age. A total of 499932 pediatric visits were recorded, and AOM was diagnosed in 23005 (4.6%) children. The incidence of AOM in children ≤5 years of age decreased from 10700/100000 (2011) to 4712/100000 (2017), with a significant decreasing trend (p < .001, r = -0.965). When the mean annual incidences of AOM between the transition period of PCV13 (years 2011/2012) were compared with those of a post-PCV13 period (years 2016/2017) for children ≤5 years of age, the incidence of AOM was found to be decreased by 54% (p = 0.013). The mean incidence of TT insertion was found to be decreased by 65% (p = 0.003) between the transition period of PCV13 and a post-PCV13 period for children ≤5 years of age. On the other hand, rAOM incidence was found to be increased in whole pediatric age groups. Our study showed a significant decrease in the incidences of AOM and TT insertion in children ≤5 years old after implementation of PCV13 in the NIP in Turkey.
Large-scale Analysis of Drug Combinations by Integrating Multiple Heterogeneous Information Networks

Personalized treatments and targeted therapies are the most promising approaches to treat complex human diseases. However, drug resistance is often acquired after treatments. To reduce drug resistance, combinational drug therapies have been considered as a promising strategy in drug discovery. Moreover, the emerging of large-scale genomic, chemical and biomedical data provides new opportunities for drug combinations. In this work, we propose a network approach, called MCDC, that integrates multiple data sources describing drugs, target proteins, and diseases to predict beneficial drug combination. Specifically, MCDC integrates diverse drug-related information (e.g., chemical structure, target profile), disease-related information (e.g., disease phynotype), together with their interactions to construct a two-layer heterogeneous network. MCDC then predicts drug combinations for each disease using a link prediction algorithm. Due to the nature of data collection, missing data is common in systematic integration of these heterogeneous data. We further develop a multiple incomplete view learning algorithm to address the issue of missing data. Extensive experimental studies show that the proposed method outperforms several network-based methods. Our approach has great potential to accelerate the development of drug combination treatments.
Accelerometer-Based Gait Segmentation: Simultaneously User and Adversary Identification.

In this paper, we introduce a new gait segmentation method based on accelerometer data and develop a new distance function between two time series, showing novel and effectiveness in simultaneously identifying user and adversary. Comparing with the normally used Neural Network methods, our approaches use geometric features to extract walking cycles more precisely and employ a new similarity metric to conduct user-adversary identification. This new technology for simultaneously identify user and adversary contributes to cybersecurity beyond user-only identification. In particular, the new technology is being applied to cell phone recorded walking data and performs an accuracy of $98.79\%$ for 6 classes classification (user-adversary identification) and $99.06\%$ for binary classification (user only identification). In addition to walking signal, our approach works on walking up, walking down and mixed walking signals. This technology is feasible for both large and small data set, overcoming the current challenges facing to Neural Networks such as tuning large number of hyper-parameters for large data sets and lacking of training data for small data sets. In addition, the new distance function developed here can be applied in any signal analysis.
Hegel and the history of idealism

This article attempts to expose an unwarranted narrowness in the study of idealism in nineteenth century philosophy, and to show that the field of idealism is much wider than usually assumed. This ...
Effect of Surfactant–Keratin Hydrolysate Interactions on the Hydration Properties of a Stratum Corneum Substitute

A novel stratum corneum substitute (SCS) has been developed, and the fundamental mechanism of the dehydration process has been studied using the SCS. After washing with cleansers which contain surfactants, our skin "feels" dehydrated (or hydrated). Although many studies have focused on the effect of surfactants on the regulation of the water loss by the lipid bilayers in the stratum corneum (SC) for a long timescale or at equilibrium, only few studies have focused on the acute effect of the surfactant interaction on dehydration. In addition, the interaction between the surfactant and keratin has been often underappreciated compared to lipid bilayers although keratin is the major nonaqueous component of the SC. Here, we have developed novel SCS models, nonkeratinized (lipid only) and keratinized, to study the effect of keratin hydrolysates on the dehydration rate. We have confirmed that the lipid organizational structure of the SCS was similar to that of the human SC using X-ray scattering. We have revealed that keratin hydrolysates play a significant role in the dehydration rate, accelerating the rate for the short term. We have also demonstrated that the effect of surfactants on dehydration is more pronounced for keratinized samples than that for the nonkeratinized sample. However, the dehydration rate for the nonkeratinized SCS with the surfactant became faster than the that for the keratinized SCS after the 20 min evaporation process, suggesting that the water binding sites of keratin hydrolysates slowed down evaporation, while the surfactant interacting with the lipids accelerated the water loss. Lastly, the study demonstrated that the SCS model can be a great platform to test macroscopic properties and analyze the underlying mechanism at the molecular level for various chemicals.
Toward a unified interpretation of the “proper”/“smooth” orthogonal decompositions and “state variable”/“dynamic mode” decompositions with application to fluid dynamics

A common interpretation is presented for four powerful modal decomposition techniques: “proper orthogonal decomposition,” “smooth orthogonal decomposition,” “state-variable decomposition,” and “dynamic mode decomposition.” It is shown that, in certain cases, each technique can be interpreted as an optimization problem and similarities between methods are highlighted. By interpreting each technique as an optimization problem, significant insight is gained toward the physical properties of the identified modes. This insight is strengthened by being consistent with cross-multiple decomposition techniques. To illustrate this, an inter-method comparison of synthetic hypersonic boundary layer stability data is presented.
Microscopy and Microanalysis Over the Net

During the last five years we have all seen and experienced how the explosive growth of the Internet has impacted our lives and our technology. At the 1995, 1996 and 1998 Microscopy and Microanalysis meetings, sessions devoted to technologies for remote access; control and collaboration were held. In each of these, a number of authors outlined the various methods by which they had implemented their concept remote access. In this tutorial we will look at where each of the technologies described during those years currently stands from the point of view of simplicity, effectiveness, cost and overall versatility.From the onset, it should be recognized that there is no single, universal solution to the task of implementing any telepresence collaboration technology over the Internet. Each solution has both its merits and its disadvantages. However all interactions require the collaboratory to address a universal set of functional requirements they are:
Pericardiocentesis and Balloon Pericardiotomy

Pericardiocentesis is percutaneous drainage of fluid from the pericardial space for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes and is lifesaving in cardiac tamponade. Balloon pericardiotomy is a palliative procedure for the management of recurrent pericardial effusions performed using fluoroscopy and echocardiography as an alternative to surgical pericardial window.
Are Our Feeding Programs Contributing to Environmental Contamination

New Federal regulations related to concentrated animal feeding operations will prompt many states to increase permitting of these facilities. Included in the permit process with be greater accountability of land application of manure nutrients. In areas where livestock producers do not have sufficient land available for crop production to utilize manure nutrients, alternative utilization methods will need to be identified. The first logical step is to evaluate the dietary nutrient concentrations and make source reductions by reducing these inputs. It is critical that least cost ration formulation include the cost of manure nutrient utilization. Practitioners can assist their clients: identify reliable sources of information, understand new regulations and associated critical control points, assist clients with compliance assistance programs, encourage clients to keep records, identify consultants with expertise in crop production, assist clients in checking references of potential consultants, and encourage clients to make direct contact with regulatory agency staff.
De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bene

In the development of the new nuclear model, Haas worked closely with scientists from the University of Chicago. After a meeting in Chicago, where he had presented a talk on his latest results, he collapsed on the stairs of the conference hotel. He never recovered.
Democracy Defended: A long, dark shadow over democratic politics

Democracy and the intellectuals Democracy is on the march in the world today. By democracy I mean something like free and equal people associating and communicating in public spheres, informed by liberal presuppositions, and governed politically by representative institutions based on wide suffrage and contested elections. I do not say that democracy is victorious in the world today, because its reign is fragile in the developing world, is flawed in the developed world (especially in the United States), and is barely emergent on the international scene. Evaluation should be a comparative enterprise, however, and most people aware of the alternatives believe that they are better off under democracy, and democracy is more widely spread now than it has ever been before. There were a handful of developing democracies a hundred years ago (Dahl 1989, 240). Democratic aspirations flared in continental Europe and areas under its influence as World War I came to an end, but Communism and then Fascism smothered the democratic flame. Fascism was discredited as World War II came to an end, and also political imperialism went into decline, only to be replaced by the realpolitik of the Cold War. The Communists were glad to extend their tyranny to broad new territories, and the democracies found it expedient to justify tyrannies among their subordinate allies. Meanwhile, Fascism was dismantled in Mediterranean Europe in the late 1970s, and the democratization of Spain and Portugal strengthened democratic forces in Latin America in the 1980s.
Thermally stimulated current in SiO2

Abstract Thermally stimulated current (TSC) techniques provide information about oxide-trap charge densities and energy distributions in MOS (metal-oxide-semiconductor) capacitors exposed to ionizing radiation or high-field stress that is difficult or impossible to obtain via standard capacitance–voltage or current–voltage techniques. The precision and reproducibility of measurements through repeated irradiation/TSC cycles on a single capacitor is demonstrated with a radiation-hardened oxide, and small sample-to-sample variations are observed. A small increase in E ′ δ center density may occur in some non-radiation-hardened oxides during repeated irradiation/TSC measurement cycles. The importance of choosing an appropriate bias to obtain accurate measurements of trapped charge densities and energy distributions is emphasized. A 10 nm deposited oxide with no subsequent annealing above 400°C shows a different trapped-hole energy distribution than thermally grown oxides, but a similar distribution to thermal oxides is found for deposited oxides annealed at higher temperatures. Charge neutralization during switched-bias irradiation is found to occur both because of hole-electron annihilation and increased electron trapping in the near-interfacial SiO 2 . Limitations in applying TSC to oxides thinner than ∼5 nm are discussed.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid Polymerase Associated with Rous Sarcoma Virus and Avian Myeloblastosis Virus: Properties of the Enzyme and Its Product

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polymerase activity can be elicited in purified preparations of avian myeloblastosis virus and Rous sarcoma virus (Schmidt-Ruppin strain) by treatment with nonionic detergent. The enzyme(s) and its synthetic products appear to be virion-associated. Enzymatic activity can be inhibited by pretreatment with either ribonuclease (8- to 10-fold inhibition) or actinomycin D (twofold inhibition). By contrast, rifampin has little, if any effect. The enzyme(s) synthesizes two primary products, a ribonucleic acid (RNA):DNA hybrid and DNA which is free of RNA. The results of both zonal and equilibrium centrifugation indicate that nascent chains of DNA are associated with the 70S viral RNA. It is concluded that at least two enzymatic activities are under study: transcription of DNA from viral RNA, and subsequent, additional synthesis of DNA, utilizing product of the initial reaction as template.
Metric Analysis of Skeletal Remains: Methods and Applications

Human skeletal and dental remains continue to provide the most direct evidence for examining the biology of past populations (Larsen, 1997, 2002). Quantitative (i.e., metric) as well as more qualitative (i.e., nonmetric or discrete) aspects of human biological variation remain central to studies in physical anthropology since its inception. Measurement of living (anthropometry) and skeletal remains (osteome­ try and craniometry), and the methods for ana­ lyzing this category of variation represent one of the discipline's most notable contributions to science. Much of this early attention to measurement and description in physical anthropology focused on investigations of human population structure and past biological relationships, including the assignment of unknown speci­ mens to known reference groups. As was typical of the discipline as a whole during this formative period, these early studies of popu­ lation history were associated frequently with the now outdated concept of racial typology and classification. After this formative period, there have been major refinements in biological evolutionary theory and the methods for analyzing quantitative data, refinements that now provide a solid foundation for understand­ ing the history of human groups and biological relatedness among groups, past and present.
Mechanistic Studies of SCS-Pd Complexes Used in Heck Catalysis

Air-stable SCS palladacycles that can be used to promote C-C coupling chemistry were studied mechanistically. Using a small library of electronically varied SCS ligands, a collection of palladacycles was synthesized. Kinetic studies showed that these complexes all had induction periods, induction periods that were effected by concentration of substrates, products and trace impurities. Hammet correlations showed that electronically diverse palladacycles had identical p values, values that suggested that aryl halide electrophilic addition to a Pd species was not the rate-determining step. Phosphine addition experiments led to increased reactivity of the starting palladacycles, possibly by trapping an in situ generated Pd(0) species. Studies that examined reactivity in biphasic thermomorphic reactions showed residual activity in phases that do not contain polymer-bound palladacycle and provided convincing evidence that palladacycles are not the actual catalyst. Poisoning experiments using mercury metal to test for the presence of a Pd colloid were very effective with low molecular weight palladacycles, completely suppressing Heck chemistry. Similar studies with polymer-bound palladacycles showed mercury poisoning too. However, since so little decomposition of the palladacycle occurred, the polymer-bound palladacycle could still be recycled multiple times. However, mercury poisoned subsequent cycles of the experiment too. The conclusion is that SCS palladacycles are actually reservoirs of a catalytically active but ill-defined form of palladium(0).
Temperature Structure of Four Hot Clusters Obtained with ASCA Data

ASCA data are used to obtain two-dimensional gas temperature maps of the hot non-cooling flow clusters A2256, A2319, A2163, and A665. In all four clusters, the temperature decreases significantly at off-center distances of ~1 h-1 Mpc (H0 ? 100 h km s-1 Mpc-1). Central regions of the two nearer clusters A2256 and A2319 are resolved by ASCA and appear largely isothermal except for the cooler spots coincident with the subunits in their X-ray surface brightness. Although the existence of this substructure may suggest ongoing merger activity, no asymmetric features in the temperature distribution resembling those in the hydrodynamic merger simulations (e.g., Schindler & M?ller) are apparent. In the outer parts of the clusters, the temperature declines symmetrically with radius. In A2256 and A2319, it follows a polytropic slope with ? 1.3-1.5. This is somewhat steeper than the simulations predict for a flat CDM universe and is closer to the open universe predictions (Evrard et al.). The temperature drop is more prominent in the outer regions of A2163 and A665 and appears even steeper than adiabatic (although not inconsistent with it). If the gas in the outskirts of these two clusters is indeed as cool as we measure, the cluster atmospheres should be convectively unstable and transient. Also, such a steep temperature profile could not possibly emerge if the gas was heated only via the release of its own gravitational energy during infall. This may indicate the presence of an additional heat source in the inner cluster, such as merger shocks transferring energy from the dark matter to the gas. The results suggest that A2256 and A2319 are premerger systems and that A2163 and A665 are ongoing or postmergers.
Opiniones: End-of-Life Care Preferences and Planning of Older Latinos

Objectives Latinos aged greater than 60 years are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. Understanding older Latinos’ preferences and beliefs is essential to inform provision of culturally competent care at the end of life (EOL). The objective of this study was to measure EOL care preferences and advance care planning (ACP) among older Latinos and examine the relationship between culture-based attitudes and extent of ACP.
Credit Card Interchange Fees: Three Decades of Antitrust Uncertainty

This article re-examines the historical, economic, and legal analyses of credit card interchange fees, rejecting the standard assumptions that (1) collectively set interchange fees are unlikely to harm consumers and (2) these fees cannot feasibly be set in a competitive fashion. Through a new historical assessment and consideration of the most recent economic learning, this article shows that under current market conditions collusively set interchange fees are likely to harm consumers and thus violate the antitrust laws. In addition, a competitive remedy is feasible. The six largest Visa and MasterCard issuers, which are larger than the Discover Card System and thus large enough to run their own systems, could be required to set their own interchange fees. Smaller issuers in the Visa and MasterCard systems could continue to set interchange fees collectively.
A molecular recorder of methane hydrate destabilization

[1] The magnitude and timing of temporal variation of δ13C recorded in benthic and planktic foraminifera from the Santa Barbara Basin strongly suggest episodic events of methane hydrate destabilization during the Late Quaternary [Kennett et al., 2000]. However, this and similar evidence from earlier in the geologic past are indirect and therefore not unambiguous. Here I report a direct geochemical response to elevated levels of methane in the Late Quaternary Santa Barbara Basin. Molecular paleontological data provide clear-cut evidence for strongly elevated concentrations of methane in bottom waters at times coinciding with diagnostic foraminiferal assemblages and carbon isotopic compositions.
Nonlinear Social Welfare Functions: Do Welfare Economists Have a Special Exemption from Bayesian Rationality?

It is argued that Bayesian decision theory is a solution of an important philosophical problem, viz. the problem of how to define rational behavior under risk and uncertainty. The author has shown in earlier papers that if we take the Bayesian rationality postulates seriously, and take an individualistic point of view about social welfare, then our social welfare function must be a linear function of individual utilities: indeed, it must be their arithmetic mean. The present paper criticizes Diamond’s and Sen’s contention that one of the Bayesian postulates (viz. the sure-thing principle) does not apply to social decisions, even though it may apply to individual decisions. It also criticizes Sen’s proposal of making social welfare a nonlinear function of individual utilities. The social welfare function proposed by the author depends on interpersonal utility comparisons. The use of such comparisons is defended. It is also argued that anybody who feels that the utilitarian (i.e., linear) form of the social welfare function is not egalitarian enough, should reject the author’s individualism axiom, instead of trying to reject the Bayesian rationality axioms. However, this would be equivalent to giving egalitarian considerations a priority in many cases over humanitarian considerations. Finally, the paper discusses the reasons why even full agreement on the mathematical form of the social welfare function would not give rise to a Utopian state of moral consensus: moral controversies arising from disagreements about what predictions to make about future empirical facts would still remain.
A COORDINATIZATION THEOREM FOR JORDAN ALGEBRAS.

Throughout this note, the term “algebra” is used for algebra over a field Φ of characteristic ≠2, not necessarily associative or of finite dimensionality. Let D be such an algebra with an identity 1 and an involution d → \( \bar d \). We can form the matrix algebra D n of n × n matrices with entries in D and the usual matrix compositions of addition, multiplication by elements of Φ, and matrix multiplication. If γ = diag {γ1, γ2,…, γ n } is a diagonal matrix with entries γ i in the nucleus of D such that the γ i are self-adjoint (\( \left( {{{\bar \gamma }_i} = {\gamma_i}} \right) \) = γ i ) and have inverses, then γ determines an involution $$ X \to X* \equiv \gamma ^{ - 1} \bar X'\gamma $$ (1) in D n . Here \( \bar X' \) is the matrix whose (i,j) entry is the conjugate \( {\bar x_{ji}} \) of the (j,i) entry of X. No parentheses are needed in the last term in (1) since γ is in the nucleus of D n . An involution of the type just described is called a canonical involution in D n and the special case obtained by taking γ = 1 is called a standard involution. Let ℌ(D n ,γ) be the set of γ-hermitian matrices, that is, the matrices AID n such that A* = γ−1 \( \bar A' \) γ = A. This is a subspace of D n over Φ, and it is closed under the Jordan product $$ A \cdot B = \raise.5ex\hbox{$\scriptstyle 1$}\kern-.1em/ \kern-.15em\lower.25ex\hbox{$\scriptstyle 2$} \left( {AB + BA} \right) $$ (2)
Newly Learned Auditory Responses Mediated by NMDA Receptors in the Owl Inferior Colliculus

Alignment of auditory and visual receptive fields in the optic tectum of the barn owl (Tyto alba) is maintained through experience-dependent modification of auditory responses in the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICX), which provides auditory input to the tectum. Newly learned tectal auditory responses, induced by altered visual experience, were found to be pharmacologically distinct from normal responses expressed at the same tectal sites. N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists administered systemically or applied locally in the ICX reduced learned responses more than normal responses. This differential blockade was not observed with non-NMDA or broad-spectrum antagonists. Thus, NMDA receptors preferentially mediate the expression of novel neuronal responses induced by experience during development.
Identification of Systemic Phototoxic Drugs by Human Intradermal Assay

An improved method is presented for the detection of systemically administered photosensitizing drugs in humans. Test agents were injected intradermally in physiologic saline and then exposed to broad spectrum radiation from a Xenon solar simulator. Several clinically recognized photosensitizers were identified by this technique. The activating spectrum depended on the test drug. Sulfonamides and vinblastin were activated by sunburning erythemic radiation (UV-B), while tetracyclines, nalidixic acid and phenothiazines by near UV (UV-A), and chlorothiazide by both. It is suggested that intradermal phototesting offers a means of verifying the phototoxic potential of agents suspected clinically of provoking a photosensitivity eruption.
Long-range carbon-proton spin-spin coupling in carboxyl-labeled crotonic and isocrotonic acids

Abstract All J CH values, including signs, involving the carboxyl carbon of crotonic and isocrotonic acids have been derived from a proton NMR study involving spintickling of the >90%- 13 C-carboxyl-labeled derivatives. These long-range J CH values, along with J CH values previously obtained from the benzoate and acrylic systems, correlate well with the J HH values of geometrically equivalent proton-proton systems (except for the geminal couplings), attesting to similar coupling mechanisms in carbon-proton and proton-proton systems for 3-, 4-, and 5-bonded couplings.
High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of loracarbef, a potential metabolite, cefaclor and cephalexin in human plasma, serum and urine.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method is reported for the determination of a new carbacephem antibiotic, loracarbef, a hydroxylated analogue, and two cephalosporins, cefaclor and cephalexin, in plasma, serum, and urine. The antibiotics are extracted from plasma by means of C18 solid-phase cartridges. Urine samples are diluted with water and directly injected on the HPLC system. The HPLC system utilizes a Supelcosil LC-18-DB (250 mm x 4.6 mm I.D.) reversed-phase column and ultraviolet detection at 265 nm. The limit of quantitation is 0.5 micrograms/ml for each compound. Excellent correlation of plasma concentrations is shown between results determined by HPLC and those obtained by microbiological agar-well diffusion assays. Stability studies of loracarbef in human plasma show the antibiotic to be stable for at least 24 h at room temperature and for at least twelve months at -20 degrees C.
Effect of Physical and Chemical Surface Treatment on the Thermal Stability of Hemp Fibers as Reinforcement in Composite Structures

Hemp fiber is an excellent sustainable and renewable alternative to glass fiber as a reinforcing component in composite system, owing to its unique features of fast growth, high mechanical strength, low density, low cost, biodegradable, and low energy consumption. In this study a systematic investigation of physical and chemical treatment on hemp fiber was conducted, and their effects on thermal stability of hemp fiber were analyzed. Oxygen plasma treatment was used as physical modification approach, 5 wt% sodium hydroxide solution was used for chemical modification. Surface chemical composition and thermal stability were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermo gravimetric analysis. The results indicated that 5 wt% of NaOH with 16 hours treatment time increased hemp fiber thermal stability, while the plasma treatment had no impact on thermal stability of hemp fiber.
Free-selection ethanol intake of the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus)

Female golden hamsters preferred a 10% w/v ethanol solution presented in a saccharin + glucose vehicle to water in free-selection tests. Although blood ethanol levels attained were higher than previously reported for rats in free-selection experiments, no symptoms of physical dependence on ethanol were apparent in a runway activity test for withdrawal.
Population exposure response analysis of pregabalin in patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

Purpose To describe the exposure-response relationship of pregabalin in patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Methods A subject-specific random effects model was derived using patient Hamilton Anxiety (HAMA) rating scale data from six placebo controlled GAD studies and maximum likelihood estimation methods, to characterize the individual pregabalin exposure-response relationship Treatment was up to 8 weeks ranging from 150 to 600mg/day. Covariates were screened using Wald's approximation method. Results Scores were modeled as a continuous response using the logit transformation with additive baseline, placebo and drug effects. Drug effect was described by an Emax model with exposure proportional to average concentration and creatinine clearance, and the placebo effect by a study-specific monoexponetial function of time with onset characterized by a constant k. Inter-subject random effects for Emax, k, and the placebo effect (PLA) were multiplicative and an additive residual error model described intra-subject variability in the logit response. Covariances were estimated for PLA and k. The ED50 estimate was 100mg. Conclusions A decrease in HAMA score was correlated with drug exposure and the time course of the response was attributable to the placebo effect Treating the logit transformed HAMA as a continuous response was a unique application of the logit transform, ensuring simulated outcomes were within the range of the HAMA scale (0–56). Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2004) 75, P90–P90; doi: 10.1016/j.clpt.2003.11.345
A practical method for proper modeling of structural damping in inelastic plane structural systems

This study addresses some of the pitfalls of conventional numerical modeling of Rayleigh-type damping in inelastic structures. A practical modeling approach to solve these problems is proposed. Conventional modeling of Rayleigh-type damping for inelastic structures generates responses in which unrealistic damping forces are present that results in underestimation of peak displacement demands, overestimation of peak strength demands, and underestimation of buildings' collapse potential. The approach proposed in this paper avoids these problems by modeling each structural element with an equivalent combination of one elastic element with stiffness-proportional damping, and two springs at its two ends with no stiffness proportional damping.
Mass Spectrometry in the Chemistry of Natural Products

Mass spectrometry (MS) is one of the very first spectral methods dating back to the beginning of this century (1913, J.J. Thomson, parabola spectrograph; 1918, A.J. Dempster, spectrometer, and 1919, F.W. Aston, spectrograph).1 It measures mass, one of the two basic properties of matter, as the mass-to-charge-ratio of ions, (m/z in atomic mass units, scale relative to 12C) while other spectral methods usually measure frequency, either absorbed or emitted. Thus, in a sense, the mass spectrometer is an extension of the balance, the principal tool of a chemical laboratory. Sensitivity of mass spectral measurements approaches single ion detection and the accuracy of mass determination may be in order of ppm. The quest for this precise information characterizes all three major phases of the application and development of mass spectrometry: detection of isotopes, “inorganic phase”, followed by extensive analysis of molecules of relatively low molecular weight, “organic phase”, and the most recent “biological phase” in which ionization and analysis of ions derived from a much wider variety of polar and large organic molecules becomes possible. Immense developments of instrumentation, increasing analytical applications, and an ever increasing range of compounds accessible to measurement do not change the heart of mass spectrometry and the simplicity of the fundamental information provided.
Discoid Bicelles as Efficient Templates for Pillared Lamellar Periodic Mesoporous Silicas at pH 7 and Ultrafast Reaction Times

We report the first synthesis of periodic mesoporous silicas templated by bicelles. The obtained materials form novel pillared lamellar structures with a high degree of periodic order, narrow pore size distributions, and exceptionally high surface areas.
Exposure to environmental endocrine disrupting compounds and men's health

Human exposure to environmental endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) have received increased attention in recent years due to the documentation of widespread exposure to a number of EDCs among the general population, experimental data demonstrating endocrine-related effects on reproduction, development, metabolism, and cancer, and observations for increasing trends (as well as geographic trends) in endocrine-related disorders among populations. However, human studies of exposure to most environmental EDCs in relation to adverse health outcomes remain limited. This review focuses on the human data generated to date on the relationship between exposures to environmental EDCs and men's health. The agents discussed here, which include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides, phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), were chosen based on their exposure prevalence and the presence of existing human data in studies of male reproductive health, altered reproductive and thyroid hormone levels, diabetes and/or metabolic syndrome, and endocrine-related cancers. Taken together, the epidemiologic data on the environmental EDCs suggest that there may be associations between exposure and adverse health outcomes in men. However, the limited human data, and in many instances inconsistent data across studies, highlight the need for further research on these chemicals. Future longitudinal molecular epidemiology studies with appropriately designed exposure assessments are needed to determine potential causal relationships, to identify the most important time windows/life stages of exposure, and to define individual susceptibility factors for adverse effects on men's health in response to exposure.
Managers as kings: Shakespeare on modern leadership

Discusses Shakespeare’s Chronicles and their links to organizational behaviour. Highlights lessons from history for those seeking to exercise power successfully and manage both individuals and groups.
Microbiology of chronic ethmoid sinusitis: is this a bacterial disease?

Abstract Purpose Review the microbiology of chronic rhinosinusitis and test the hypothesis that bacterial infections are not the predominant etiology for chronic rhinosinusitis. Materials and methods Tissue cultures were prospectively collected from the ethmoid mucosa of 179 patients (94 had chronic rhinosinusitis and 85 had chronic rhinosinusitis with polyposis) at the time of endoscopic sinus surgery. All patients were off antibiotics for at least 1 week at the time of surgery. Both aerobic and anaerobic cultures were obtained for each specimen. Results A total of 263 isolates were identified (average: 1.5 isolates per specimen). Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, a likely contaminant, was the most common isolate and was identified in 51% of patients. Forty percent of patients (72/179) grew pathogenic aerobic bacteria, the most common was Staphylococcus aureus (18%). Six percent of patients (10/179) grew pathogenic anaerobic bacteria. The microbiology of patients with and without nasal polyposis was not significantly different. Conclusion These findings suggest that factors other than bacterial infection may play an integral role in the pathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis.
Conversion of β-citraurin to reticulataxanthin and β-apo-8′-carotenal to citranaxanthin during the isolation of carotenoids from Citrus

Abstract Reticulataxanthin and citranaxanthin were found to be artifacts formed from β-citraurin and β-apo-8′-carotenal during the saponification of citrus carotenoids in the presence of small amounts of acetone. The reaction takes place at room temperature under normal conditions of extraction. Based on these studies it was concluded that β-citraurin rather than reticulataxanthin is the main pigment contributing to the external reddish color of a number of citrus cultivars.
The phosphoinositide/protein kinase C system as a potential target for neurotoxicity.

With this perspective, this short review will focus on the phosphoinositide/protein kinar C (PI/PKC) system in nerve tissue as a potential target for chemicals which are toxic to the central and peripheral nervous sytem. The pathways of receptor-stimulated phosphoinositide metabolism will be briefly reviewed and its possible roles in nervous system functions will be briefly discussed. Examples of studies which have investigated the interaction of neurotoxicants with the PI/PKC system will be illustrated. Although neurotoxicological research in this area is only in its infancy, it is hoped that this review will serve a useful role in fostering the development of new hypotheses considering the brain PI/PKC system as a potential target for neurotoxicants
Performance of a novel bipolar/monopolar radiofrequency ablation device on the beating heart in an acute porcine model.

ObjectiveAlthough the advent of ablation technology has simplified and shortened surgery for atrial fibrillation, only bipolar clamps have reliably been able to create transmural lesions on the bea...
Robust Design Using Preference Aggregation Methods

Robust design is a methodology for improving the quality of a product or process by minimizing the effect of variations in the inputs without eliminating the causes of those variations. In robust design, the best design is obtained by solving a multicriteria optimization problem, trading off the nominal performance against the minimization of the variation of the performance measure. Because these methods often combine the two criteria with a weighted sum or another fixed aggregation strategy, which are known to miss Pareto points, they may fail to obtain a desired design. To overcome this inadequacy, a more comprehensive preference aggregation method is combined into robust design. Two examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Effects of Mutations in Constant Regions 3 and 4 of Envelope of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus

Abstract Twenty-six mutant forms of simian immunodeficiency virus strain mac239 were constructed with changes in constant region 4 (C4) of env . Twenty-four of these had a single amino acid change, one had changes in two amino acids, and one had a deletion of eight amino acids. The effects of these mutations on viral replication, gp160 processing, and binding of env protein to soluble CD4 receptor were analyzed. The C4 region was relatively sensitive to sequence changes since only 11 of the 26 mutants replicated appreciably. Eight of the 15 mutants that were replication incompetent exhibited grossly defective processing of the gp160 env precursor; these mutations likely resulted in global effects on gp160 structure. Six of the replication incompetent mutants exhibited normal or near normal gp160 processing and binding of any protein to sCD4 and thus were probably blocked at some step subsequent to binding of virus to its CD4 receptor Only one of the C4 mutations, 441W → R, resulted in greatly decreased binding to sCD4 while retaining normal processing of gp160. The equivalent residue in HIV-1 has similarly been shown previously to be important for binding of HIV-1 to the CD4 receptor. Since a W → S mutation at position 441 in C4 of SIVmac239 affected both gp160 processing and sCD4 binding, it is not clear whether the 441 tryptophan is actually important for contacting CD4 or for maintaining an appropriate configuration. Mutations within a highly conserved GGDPE sequence in C3 of SIVmac239 specifically affected CD4 binding, which is also similar to previous findings with HIV-1. These results demonstrate similar sequence requirements in SIVmac and HIV-1 env for binding CD4, but they raise doubts as to whether C4 sequences are directly involved in the binding.