cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A pilot study exploring the effects of ubiquinol on brain genomics after traumatic brain injury

Abstract Background Traumatic brain injury is a major cause of morbidity and mortality that affects military service members and veterans. Purpose Explore the effects of ubiquinol before traumatic brain injury on cerebral gene expression to elucidate molecular mechanisms of ubiquinol neuroprotection. Method In this experimental study, Fisher rats in the untreated (n = 2) and ubiquinol-treated (n = 2) groups received respectively either normal saline or ubiquinol 30 min before traumatic brain injury induced by controlled cortical impact. Ribonucleic acid sequencing and ingenuity pathway analysis were conducted to detect cerebral gene and signaling expression profiles. Discussion In the ubiquinol-treated group, 67 ingenuity pathway analysis transcripts in the ubiquinol-treated group were statistically different from those in the untreated group (p Conclusions Administering ubiquinol 30 min before traumatic brain injury significantly affected cerebral gene expression profiles that may be involved in the most fundamental molecular mechanisms of bioenergetics and free radical production.
Abstract P163: Rescue of Preexisting Severe Pulmonary Hypertension and Right Ventricular Failure by Intralipid

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized by pulmonary vascular remodeling leading to right ventricular (RV) hypertrophy and failure (RVF). Intralipid (ILP) is the first safe lipid emulsion for human use. Several constituents of ILP, like γ-linolenic acid and soy- phytoestrogens are protective for lungs and heart. Previously we showed that ILP prevents the development of PH. Here we test a more clinically relevant hypothesis if ILP can rescue pre-existing severe PH and RV dysfunction. To induce PH, male rats received single monocrotaline (MCT, 60mg/kg) injection. At day 21, when severe PH had been well-established (PH group, n=7), rats were given ILP (1mL of 20% ILP/day, i.p., n=7) from day 21-30. Other MCT rats were left untreated to develop RVF (RVF group, n=9) by day 30. Saline treated rats were control (CTRL, n=5). Serial echocardiography was done to monitor cardiopulmonary hemodynamics. Cardiac catheterisation was performed just before sacrifice to record RV pressure (RVP). CD31 staining for RV capillary density and smooth muscle actin staining for pulmonary arteriolar medial hypertrophy were performed. Rats developed severe PH and RV dysfunction 21 days after MCT in PH group [RVP=67±1 vs. 31±1mmHg in CTRL, RV-ejection fraction (RVEF)=39% vs. 65±1%; RV/(LV+IVS)=0.64±0.05 vs. 0.24±0.02; medial hypertrophy=2.8 fold vs. CTRL; all p
Management of Complex Anterior Shoulder Instability: a Case-Based Approach

The goal of this review is to provide a guide on surgical decision-making options for complex anterior shoulder instability using a case-based approach. Arthroscopic Bankart repair is well documented for having successful outcomes in patients with isolated labral tear involvement with minimal bone loss. Latarjet is a generally accepted procedure in patients with 20–30% glenoid bone loss. When bone loss exceeds that which cannot be managed through Latarjet, a range of options exist and are highly dependent upon the extent of osseous deficiency on both the glenoid and humeral sides, surgeon experience, and patient-specific factors. The use of reverse total shoulder arthroplasty for the management of chronic locked shoulder dislocations has been described as a successful management option. Treatment options for complex anterior shoulder instability range widely based on patients’ presenting exam, surgical history, amount of glenoid bone loss, size of Hill-Sachs lesion, and surgeon preference. When selecting the appropriate surgical intervention, the treating surgeon must consider the patient history, physical exam, and preoperative imaging along with patient expectations.
Mother/Infant Emotional Communication Through the Lens of Visceral/Autonomic Learning

Introduction: The benefits of early mother/infant vocal communication are widely acknowledged, but the mechanisms underlying the phenomenon remain unclear.
OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES | Asbestos-Related Lung Disease

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that is mined in several parts of the world. This fibrous substance has been useful in many commercial products since the turn of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, when the fibers are inhaled, they can cause asbestosis (scar tissue in the gas-exchange region of the lung), pleural scarring, lung cancer, and mesothelioma (a neoplasm of the parietal, visceral, or peritoneal mesothelial lining). Scar tissue forms as a consequence of inhaled fibers being deposited on the alveolar epithelium of the gas exchange surfaces. Fibers small enough to pass through the conducting airways can be intercepted by the bronchiolar–alveolar duct (BAD) bifurcations, which are the primary sites for scar tissue development because of the localized dose response. If occupational exposure continues, numerous fibers are translocated by alveolar epithelial cells to the underlying interstitial and lymphatic spaces. There are repeated injuries to the epithelial cells, interstitial fibroblasts and myofibroblasts, and lung macrophages are attracted to the sites of fiber deposition by asbestos-activation of the 5th component complement. All of these cells synthesize and release a panoply of peptide growth factors that cause the epithelial, mesenchymal, and endothelial cell populations to go through multiple rounds of cell division, and the fibroblasts and myofibroblasts elaborate a scar tissue matrix that spreads from the original BAD junctions and is recognized clinically as asbestosis after a latency of decades. Fibers transported to the pleura by lymphatics can induce the same process, causing pleural scarring. Lung cancer and mesothelioma occur when the fibers cause errors in genes that control cell growth by binding to DNA and/or generating reactive oxygen molecules. All the asbestos varieties cause all of the asbestos-related diseases, and cigarette use synergizes with asbestos to dramatically increase the risk of developing lung cancer but has no effect on the incidence of mesothelioma. Inhaled asbestos is the only known environmental cause of mesothelioma. There are no effective treatments for any of the asbestos-induced diseases. As the use of asbestos tapers off worldwide, these diseases will eventually disappear, but many tons of asbestos are still being shipped and utilized, primarily in developing countries where the asbestos-induced diseases remain prevalent.
Synthesizing Redundancy Resolution Criteria of the Human Arm Posture in Reaching Movements

The aim of this work is to characterize the regularity and variability of human arm movements. The arm posture is quantified by a swivel angle that is experimentally measured when a healthy subject is reaching for targets in a spherical workspace. It is shown that without specific instruction, a subject moving his/her arm tends to use a consistent arm posture with small variations when reaching the same target position, regardless of whether the subject is moving toward or away from the target. This observed posture consistency indicates that human motor control chooses a unique arm posture associated to a 3D hand position. From the perspective of posture consistency, this work further examines the posture predictions based on two hypotheses on human arm control strategies: one that maximizes the movement efficiency towards the head, particularly toward the mouth; and the other that minimizes the power consumption in joint space. The arm posture predictions based on these two control strategies are compared and the prediction errors for each control strategy are analyzed.
Cell-Based Models of Tumor Angiogenesis

Cells are a natural unit of abstraction for tissue morphogenesis. Cell-based theoretical models provide a platform for determining key elements of cell behavior responsible for multicellular and tissue-level phenomena, and for integrating molecular and tissue/organ scales. This chapter reviews a limited selection of recent developments in cell-based modeling approaches to angiogenesis. We offer an introduction to building a cell-based model with an emphasis on model validation, and illustrate this model building process in tumor angiogenesis using the cellular Potts model.
Effect of BaO and SiO2 addition on PTCR BaTiO3 ceramics

The influence of Ba-excess and liquid phase sintering with SiO2 on the electrical conduction and microstructure in PTCR BaTiO3 has been investigated. Dense (95–96%), small grain (5–10 μm) PTCR materials were obtained in Ba-excess (Ba/Ti = 1.006) BaTiO3. The materials exhibit low room temperature resistivity ρRT (100–102 Ω·cm) and high PTCR respond (more than 5 orders). Solid state sintering was found to inhabit the semiconducting and PTCR behavior in Ba-excess materials. Liquid phase sintering, using SiO2 in the Ba-excess BaTiO3, resulted in low ρRT and significant PTCR response. Through domain observation, interior “Polaron deficient zones” were found in samples which exhibit limited liquid phase sintering, leading to non-uniform directional domains and low charge carrier mobility. Proper control of the SiO2 concentration was found critical for obtaining uniform directional domain microstructures and low ρRT.
Intravascular Brachytherapy for the Management of Repeated Multimetal-Layered Drug-Eluting Coronary Stent Restenosis.

Background: Because of the widespread acceptance of percutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stents as an effective treatment strategy for in-stent restenosis, it is common to encounter...
Prevalence and diversity of avian blood parasites in a resident northern passerine

Climate-related changes are expected to influence the prevalence and distribution of vector-borne haemosporidian parasites at northern latitudes, although baseline information about resident birds is still lacking. In this study, we investigated prevalence and genetic diversity of Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, and Leucocytozoon parasites infecting the northwestern crow (Corvus caurinus), a non-migratory passerine with unique life-history characteristics. This species occupies both intertidal and forested habitats and is subject to high prevalence of avian keratin disorder (AKD), a disease that causes gross beak deformities. Investigation of avian blood parasites in northwestern crows at sites broadly distributed across coastal Alaska provided an opportunity to evaluate specific host factors related to parasite infection status and assess geographical patterns of prevalence. We used molecular methods to screen for haemosporidian parasites in northwestern crows and estimated genus-specific parasite prevalence with occupancy modeling that accounts for imperfect detection of parasite infection. We observed considerable geographical and annual variation in prevalence of Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, and Leucocytozoon, but these patterns were not correlated with indices of local climatic conditions. Our models also did not provide support for relationships between the probability of parasite infection and body condition or the occurrence of co-infections with other parasite genera or clinical signs of AKD. In our phylogenetic analyses, we identified multiple lineages of each parasite genus, with Leucocytozoon showing greater diversity than Plasmodium or Haemoproteus. Results from this study expand our knowledge about the prevalence and diversity of avian blood parasites in northern resident birds as well as corvids worldwide. We detected all three genera of avian haemosporidians in northwestern crows in Alaska, although only Leucocytozoon occurred at all sites in both years. Given the strong geographical and annual variation in parasite prevalence and apparent lack of correlation with climatic variables, it appears that there are other key factors responsible for driving transmission dynamics in this region. Thus, caution is warranted when using standard climatic or geographical attributes in a predictive framework. Our phylogenetic results demonstrate lower host specificity for some lineages of Leucocytozoon than is typically reported and provide insights about genetic diversity of local haemosporidian parasites in Alaska.
Associations among race, residential segregation, community income, and emergency department use by adults with end-stage renal disease.

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine independent and interactive effects of race, community income, and racial residential segregation on the likelihood of ED revisits by persons with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Design A retrospective analysis of de-identified data abstracted from Health Care Utilization and Cost Project's (HCUP) 2014 New Jersey State Emergency Department (ED) Database and American Community Survey (ACS) was conducted. Sample The analytic sample was comprised of 2,859 ED encounters in 2014 by non-Hispanic Black and White persons over 18 years of age with ESRD who were treated and released from the ED. Measurements The HCUP database was the data source for ED revisit, race, median community income, and covariate (age, gender, marital status, number of chronic conditions) variables in the study. The 2014 ACS was the source for racial segregation Dissimilarity Index scores across NJ counties. Results Living in communities with lower median income and high racial segregation was associated with a higher likelihood of ED revisits. Black race interacted with community income and racial segregation in its effect on ED revisits. Conclusion Efforts are needed to direct geo-targeted interventions and resources to socially disadvantaged communities to lessen disparities in ED visits among dialysis patients.
Prescription Opioid Epidemic and Trends in the Clinical Development of New Pain Medications

Abstract Objective To evaluate trends in the clinical development of new pain and reformulated pain medications given the ongoing opioid crisis and the public health burden of inadequately controlled pain. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of new drugs starting clinical testing between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2015. We searched two comprehensive commercial databases of global research and development activity. The primary outcomes were trends in new and reformulated pain drugs starting clinical testing, proportion of new pain drugs targeting a novel biological pathway, and rates and reasons for discontinuation of development. Results The proportion of new pain drugs entering phase 1 testing (relative to all new drug trials) declined from 2.5% between 2000 and 2002 to 1.7% between 2013 and 2015. No significant changes in the proportion of new pain drugs entering phase 2 or phase 3 trials were observed. Most new pain drugs failed to reach late-stage clinical development, with 52% of pain drugs successfully advancing from phase 1 to phase 2 and 11% advancing from phase 2 to phase 3 trials. The number of reformulated products starting clinical testing increased over the study period and was greater than that for new analgesics in 2012 and every year thereafter. Conclusion Pain drug development activity has largely shifted from new therapeutics to reformulated ones. New policies, such as increased funding for basic pain research, may help address the urgent need for new therapies for pain.
Molecular/Ionic Basis of Vagal Bronchopulmonary C-Fiber Activation by Inflammatory Mediators

Stimulation of bronchopulmonary vagal afferent C fibers by inflammatory mediators can lead to coughing, chest tightness, and changes in breathing pattern, as well as reflex bronchoconstriction and ...
Are Dental Patients Concerned About Safety? An Exploratory Study.

Abstract Objectives This study addresses a gap in the literature regarding dental patients' perceptions about safety at the dental office and their attitudes toward reporting safety concerns and experiences. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study with adult dental patients at an academic dental institution over a 6-week study period. A 16-item questionnaire was distributed to the patients to assess (1) past safety concerns and experiences during dental visits; (2) factors affecting the future reporting of safety concerns and experiences; (3) overall concern about safety at the dental office; (4) overall perceptions that patients should report of safety concerns or experiences to dental providers and staff. Results A majority (63.5%) of dental patients were concerned about safety at the dental office, although only one-third of them shared their past safety concerns or experiences with their dental providers or clinic staff. Irrespective of their past experiences, most patients (96.9%) believed that patients should report any safety concerns or experiences to the clinic. Being female, highly educated, and having poor oral health were associated with a decreased overall perception that patients should report safety concerns and experiences to dental care providers and staff. Conclusions Our findings suggest that dental patients are concerned about safety and can be valuable sources of data, when adequately engaged. The current level of patient reporting of safety concerns and/or experiences to clinic staff or care providers is not optimal for learning and improvement. Practical Implications Better patient engagement in safety activities will potentially increase our collective understanding of threats to safety. Therefore, dental clinics need to encourage patients to speak up about their safety concerns or experiences.
Isolation and Characterization of Adult Cardiac Fibroblasts and Myofibroblasts

Cardiac fibrosis in response to injury is a physiological response to wound healing. Efforts have been made to study and target fibroblast subtypes that mitigate fibrosis. However, fibroblast research has been hindered due to the lack of universally acceptable fibroblast markers to identify quiescent as well as activated fibroblasts. Fibroblasts are a heterogenous cell population, making them difficult to isolate and characterize. The presented protocol describes three different methods to enrich fibroblasts and myofibroblasts from uninjured and injured mouse hearts. Using a standard and reliable protocol to isolate fibroblasts will enable the study of their roles in homeostasis as well as fibrosis modulation.
A Mobile Photovoltaic-Battery System for Off-Grid Applications

This paper addresses the implementation of photovoltaic (PV) arrays and battery chargers to provide reliable electricity access for remote and off-grid locations. The proposed system comprises a PV array, a maximum power point tracker (MPPT), DC-DC converters, an inverter, and batteries. This system provides DC power for irrigation pumps and LED lighting. These loads are powered by a 12V DC battery bank, which stores the extracted solar energy from the PV array. Moreover, the device is designed to have a universal-serial-bus (USB) port that can be used for charging electronic devices. The design and implementation procedures for all components are included in this paper. Experimental results from the final product are also presented and discussed.
Drug-Overdose Death Rates: The Economic Misery Explanation and Its Alternatives

‘Deaths of despair’ is the most commonly cited explanation for the 151% increase in drug-overdose deaths that occurred in the USA between 2010 and 2018. We use panel data describing 84 Virginia cit...
Assessing Long-Term Trends in Lateral Salt-Marsh Shoreline Change along a U.S. East Coast Latitudinal Gradient

Burns, C.J.; Alexander, C.R., and Alber, M., 2021. Assessing long-term trends in lateral salt-marsh shoreline change along a U.S. East Coast latitudinal gradient. Journal of Coastal Research, 37(2), 291–301. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Marshes are valuable intertidal habitats that respond to changes in their environment, and their perimeters can rapidly advance or retreat over time. This study used the analyzing moving boundaries using R (AMBUR) tool kit to measure approximately 70 years of edge change at salt marshes within three Long-Term Ecological Research sites along the U.S. East Coast: Georgia Coastal Ecosystems (GCE), Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR), and Plum Island Ecosystems (PIE). At each site, changes were assessed at the open-fetch marsh outer perimeter as well as throughout interior channels of varying sizes. At the open-fetch marsh outer perimeter, both the PIE and VCR study marshes exhibited significant net retreat, with the fastest rates in areas exposed to high fetch where wave action is strong, whereas the GCE marsh exhibited significant net advance. Changes in the sinuous interior channels were smaller, with channels often retreating on one edge but were balanced by advance on the opposite bank. When advance and retreat in the interior channels were considered along with the outer perimeter, the GCE and VCR study marshes exhibited dynamic stability in which overall marsh edge showed no significant net change, and the overall rate of marsh retreat at PIE, although still significant with respect to the uncertainty of the analysis, was considerably reduced. This study demonstrates the importance of assessing shoreline changes throughout the marsh, as rates of retreat and advance at the open-fetch marsh perimeter may differ greatly from those in the interior, and not be indicative of the overall change in marsh edge.
Skin Color Differences in Routine Traffic Stops

Existing literature finds that there are "sustained and troubling" racial disparities in traffic stops (Baumgartner, Epp, and Shoub 2018). Much like other findings in the mass incarceration literature, racial minorities are stopped by police much more frequently than their White counterparts. In this paper, we explore disparities based on skin color, focusing on African Americans. We ask the question: are darker skinned African Americans stopped more frequently than lighter skinned African Americans? Using the 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post Election Survey (CMPS), preliminary findings reveal that darker skinned African Americans perceive that they will be stopped more frequently by the police based not only on their race, but also on their skin color. This project seeks to expand the boundaries of racial stratification, especially as it applies to the criminal justice system and police stops, by looking at both racial group and skin color differences.
Habitat Disturbance Linked with Host Microbiome Dispersion and Bd Dynamics in Temperate Amphibians

Anthropogenic habitat disturbances can dramatically alter ecological community interactions, including host-pathogen dynamics. Recent work has highlighted the potential for habitat disturbances to alter host-associated microbial communities, but the associations between anthropogenic disturbance, host microbiomes, and pathogens are unresolved. Amphibian skin microbial communities are particularly responsive to factors like temperature, physiochemistry, pathogen infection, and environmental microbial reservoirs. Through a field survey on wild populations of Acris crepitans (Hylidae) and Lithobates catesbeianus (Ranidae), we assessed the effects of habitat disturbance and connectivity on environmental bacterial reservoirs, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) infection, and skin microbiome composition. We found higher measures of microbiome dispersion (a measure of community variability) in A. crepitans from more disturbed ponds, supporting the hypothesis that disturbance increases stochasticity in biological communities. We also found that habitat disturbance limited microbiome similarity between locations for both species, suggesting greater isolation of bacterial assemblages in more disturbed areas. Higher disturbance was associated with lower Bd prevalence for A. crepitans, which could signify suboptimal microclimates for Bd in disturbed habitats. Combined, our findings show that reduced microbiome stability stemming from habitat disturbance could compromise population health, even in the absence of pathogenic infection.
Application of Dual-loop Robust Control on a Two-wheeled Robot with Varying slip

In this paper, a dual-loop scheme of robust control is applied to control the Two-Wheeled Robot (TWR) subject to varying slip conditions. The slip between the wheel and ground is modeled as the disturbance perturbing the nominal model. The dual-loop control has separate design for optimal nominal performance and robust performance. The robustness is guaranteed and the better performance is achieved by ‘online’ adaption to varying slip conditions. Simulation results demonstrate that the dual-loop control scheme can extend the stability region than LQG control and achieve improved performance than the mixed $H_{2}/H_{\infty}$ control. In the experiment, a small size TWR is placed on different surfaces and controlled by dual-loop control and LQG control. Experimental results validate that the dual-loop control scheme outperforms the classical LQG control and mixed $H_{2}/H_{\infty}$ control.
This is My Hand

The methodology of the later Wittgenstein was developed to avoid the treatises’ that were funneled into narrow blind alleys by structural determinism. The language game allowed Wittgenstein to talk about what language was and not be burdened by necessity of arguing how it fit into the structured definition of how language worked. It was obvious he did not agree with structuralism, but he showed how structuralism did not and could not work without mentioning that his arguments were related to “them”. If I wanted to doubt whether this was my hand, how could I avoid doubting whether the word "hand" has any meaning? So that is something I seem to know after all. After all this is my hand, not yours.
Expression of four protein kinase C isoforms in rat fibroblasts. Differential alterations in ras-, src-, and fos-transformed cells.

In the accompanying study (Borner, C.B., Guadagno, S. N., and Weinstein, I. B. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 12892-12899) we found that R6 embryo fibroblasts express four isoforms of PKC, cPKC alpha, nPKC epsilon, nPKC delta, and nPKC zeta whose subcellular distribution, activation, and down-regulation are differentially regulated. Furthermore, we demonstrated that overproduction of an exogenous cPKC beta I isoform in these cells (R6-PKC3) altered the TPA-induced down-regulation of nPKC delta and nPKC epsilon. In this paper we show that transformation of R6 or R6-PKC3 cells with a variety of different oncogenes results in differential alterations in expression of individual PKC isoforms. R6 or R6-PKC3 cells transformed by an activated c-H-ras oncogene displayed a marked increase in the expression of both cPKC alpha and nPKC delta, decreased expression of nPKC epsilon, and no change in the expression of nPKC zeta. These alterations occurred at both the mRNA and protein levels but did not significantly affect the subcellular distribution of any of the four isoforms. Studies using actinomycin D and nuclear run-off assays indicated that the increased expression of cPKC alpha in ras-transformed cells was due to increased de novo transcription rather than increased mRNA stability. Qualitatively similar, but less extensive changes in the expression of the four PKC isoforms were seen in v-fos-transformed R6-PKC3 cells. Decreased expression of nPKC epsilon was also seen in the v-src-transformed R6- and R6-PKC3 lines; however, the cellular level of cPKC beta I appeared to be a limiting factor in mediating the effects of v-src on the increased expression of cPKC alpha and nPKC delta. Interestingly, no major changes in the levels of expression of any of the four PKC isoforms were found when R6 cells were transformed by myc, neu/erb-B2, or mos oncogenes. These results demonstrate that transformation of R6 cells by the oncogenes ras, src, and fos differentially alter the expression of three isoforms of PKC in the same host cell, and they suggest that individual isoforms may play distinct roles in mediating cellular transformation by specific oncogenes.
Fabrication and Damping Behavior of Barium Titanate Reinforced Copper Matrix Composites

The damping behavior of particulate reinforced copper-barium titanate composites (CBT composites) fabricated using powder metallurgy techniques was evaluated between 25°C and 165°C at a frequency of 1 Hz using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Retention of the ferroelectric tetragonal phase of the barium titanate particulates after composite fabrication was determined by differential scanning calorimety (DSC). DMA results indicate that the damping capacity, tanδ, of copper is enhanced by incorporation of barium titanate particulates in the metallic matrix. The magnitude of the enhanced damping was greater for large barium titanate particulate sizes. The damping capacity of this CBT composite was high from room temperature up to the Curie temperature of barium titanate, after which there was a slight drop in damping values. This drop results from a loss of ferroelectric damping mechanisms above the Curie temperature. At the Curie temperature, ferroelectric tetragonal barium titanate transforms into a paraelectric cubic form. In composites fabricated using small barium titanate particulates (∼2 μm), ferroelectricity did not have a significant effect on damping capacity, due to the destabilization of the ferroelectric properties in fine grained and small barium titanate particulates.
Functionally Graded Boron Carbide

Lightweight body armor is important for the protection of US soldiers in the field. Here, fabrication techniques were developed for producing graded porosity B{sub 4}C, and for producing aluminum-B{sub 4}C and epoxy-B{sub 4}C functionally graded materials. The key fabrication aspect was obtaining the graded porosity B{sub 4}C. The feasibility of producing graded porosity B{sub 4}C using a grading of carbon densification aid produced from a gradient of furfuryl alcohol carbon precursor was demonstrated. This approach is quite promising, but it was not optimized in the present investigation. Graded porosity B{sub 4}C materials were produced by a layering approach using different size distributions of B{sub 4}C powders in the green state, and then densifying the layered assembly by hot pressing at 1,900 C. The hardness of uninfiltrated graded B{sub 4}C, aluminum infiltrated B{sub 4}C, and epoxy infiltrated B{sub 4}C was observed to be similar.
Synthesis and secretion of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 stimulated by the high affinity receptor for IgE.

In prior studies aggregation of the high affinity receptors for IgE, FceRI, on a rat mast cell line, RBL-2H3, stimulated transcription of the gene for monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and secretion of the protein. Unexpectedly, those delayed events appeared much less constrained by kinetic proofreading than had been documented for other receptor-initiated responses. The results of the present experiments are consistent with the proposal that the biosynthesis and secretion of MCP-1 result from a soluble messenger formed in the reaction cascades initiated by the receptor, and that Ca2+ could serve as that messenger. Interestingly, whereas receptor-mediated signals were required for transcription of the gene for MCP-1 and secretion of the chemokine, such signals were not required for the intervening step of translation of its mRNA.
The Role of Postmastectomy Radiation Therapy in Patients With Breast Cancer Responding to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

When surgery is the first line of breast cancer treatment, numerous randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses have demonstrated that postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) improves locoregional control and survival for many women with axillary lymph node-positive disease. In contrast, there are no randomized data regarding the use of PMRT in women who receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) first followed by mastectomy. This has led to controversy regarding which patient with breast cancer will benefit from PMRT after NAC, particularly in women with clinically node-positive axillary disease that responds well and is down staged to pathologically negative disease at surgery (ypN0). We review the current evidence on this topic, which forms the underlying basis for the ongoing phase III clinical trial-National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) B51/RTOG 1304-that is examining the role of regional nodal irradiation in patients with clinical N1 disease that responds to NAC and becomes ypN0 at surgery.
Fundamentals of Quantum Mechanics: Basic postulates and mathematical tools

Basic scientific theories usually start with a set of hypotheses or “postulates.” There is generally no logical reason, apart from internal consistency, that can be given to justify such postulates absolutely. They come from ‘revelations’ in the minds of ‘geniuses,’ most likely with hints from Nature based on extensive careful observations. Their general validity can only be established through experimental verification. If numerous rigorously derived logical consequences of a very small set of postulates all agree with experimental observations without exception, one is inclined to accept these postulates as correct descriptions of the laws of Nature and use them confidently to explain and predict other natural phenomena. Quantum mechanics is no exception. It is based on a few postulates. For the purpose of the present discussion, we begin with three basic postulates involving: the “state functions,” “operators,” and “equations of motion.” In this chapter, this set of basic postulates and some of the corollaries and related definitions of terms are introduced and discussed. We will first simply state these postulates and introduce some of the related mathematical tools and concepts that are needed to arrive at their logical consequences later. To those who have not been exposed to the subject of quantum mechanics before, each of these postulates taken by itself may appear puzzling and meaningless at first. It should be borne in mind, however, that it is the collection of these postulates as a whole that forms the foundations of quantum mechanics.
Novel gain-tilt free L-band EDFA using thulium-doped fiber

We have realized a novel gain-tilt free L-band EDFA using a thulium-doped fiber. This EDFA has a wide input power range of more than 8 dB, a wide temperature range of 65 degreeC without gain-tilt in a wavelength band between 1575 nm and 1610 nm, and a low noise figure of less than 6 dB.
Cell cycle and cell protein content of Chinese hamster cells grown in culture with daily renewal of medium

Abstract Microspectrophotometric and autoradiographic procedures were used to determine cell protein content and cell cycle parameters of Chinese hamster V79 cells growing as monolayer cultures with daily renewal of medium. The frequency of G 1 cells decreased and then increased as the cultures grew. Cell size at mitosis and at the G 1/S boundary changed only slightly during growth. The changes were very similar to those reported earlier for cultures of the same cell line grown without renewal of medium, but changes in the frequency of G 1 were somewhat slower and those in cell size were much less marked when the medium was renewed daily. The results of the two studies taken together show that cell cycle parameters and cell size change even during periods of exponential growth, and that daily renewal of medium slows but does not prevent the changes. Both studies show that the onset of DNA synthesis is more sensitive to conditions in older cultures than is the onset of mitosis. Our results indicate that radiation from incorporated isotopes might seriously affect the results of the labeled mitoses method of cell cycle analysis, especially when cell crowding is involved.
Numerical Investigation of Metal-Foam Filled Liquid Piston Compressor Using a Two-Energy Equation Formulation Based on Experimentally Validated Models

The present study presents CFD simulations of a liquid-piston compressor with metal foam inserts. The term “liquid-piston” implies that the compression of the gas is done with a rising liquid-gas interface created by pumping liquid into the lower section of the compression chamber. The liquid-piston compressor is an essential part of a Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) system. The reason for inserting metal foam in the compressor is to reduce the temperature rise of the gas during compression, since a higher temperature rise leads to more input work being converted into internal energy, which is wasted during the storage period as the compressed gas cools.Liquid, gas, and solid coexist in the compression chamber. The two-energy equation model is used; the energy equations of the fluid mixture and the solid are coupled through an interfacial heat transfer term. The fluid mixture, which includes both the gas phase and the liquid phase, is modeled using the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method. Commercial CFD software, ANSYS FLUENT, is used, by applying its default VOF code, with user-defined functions to incorporate the two-energy equation formulation for porous media.The CFD simulation requires modeling of a negative momentum source term (drag), and an interfacial heat transfer term. The first one is the pressure drop due to the metal foam, which is obtained from experimental measurements. To obtain the interfacial heat transfer term, a compression experiment is done, which provides instantaneous pressure and volume data. These data are compared to solutions of a zero-dimensional compression model based on different heat transfer correlations from published references. By this comparison, a heat transfer correlation which is most suitable for the present study is chosen for use in the CFD simulation.The CFD simulations investigate two types of metal foam inserts, two different layouts of the insert (partial vs. full), and two different liquid piston speeds. The results show the influence of the metal foam inserts on secondary flows and temperature distributions.© 2013 ASME
Preparative isoelectric focusing of CO hemoglobins on polyacrylamide gels and conversion to their oxy forms.

Abstract Isoelectric focusing on acrylamide gels has been used to prepare 100–200 mg amounts of modified hemoglobins in a state of high purity. A method for the quantitative elution of the protein from the gel is described. A new procedure for the complete conversion of carbonmonoxyhemoglobin derivatives to their oxy or deoxy forms which fully preserves their functional integrity has also been developed.
Simultaneous narrowband ultrasonic strain-flow imaging

We are summarizing new research aimed at forming spatially and temporally registered combinations of strain and color-flow images using echo data recorded from a commercial ultrasound system. Applications include diagnosis of vascular diseases and tumor malignancies. The challenge is to meet the diverse needs of each measurement. The approach is to first apply eigenfilters that separate echo components from moving tissues and blood flow, and then estimate blood velocity and tissue displacement from the filtered-IQ-signal phase modulations. At the cost of a lower acquisition frame rate, we find the autocorrelation strain estimator yields higher resolution strain estimate than the cross-correlator since estimates are made from ensembles at a single point in space. The technique is applied to in vivo carotid imaging, to demonstrate the sensitivity for strain-flow vascular imaging.
Inactivation of pea genes by RNAi supports the involvement of two similar O-methyltransferases in the biosynthesis of (+)-pisatin and of chiral intermediates with a configuration opposite that found in (+)-pisatin

(+)-Pisatin, the major phytoalexin of pea (Pisum sativum L.), is believed to be synthesized via two chiral intermediates, (-)-7,2'-dihydroxy-4',5'-methylenedioxyisoflavanone [(-)-sophorol] and (-)-7,2'-dihydroxy-4',5'-methylenedioxyisoflavanol [(-)-DMDI]; both have an opposite C-3 absolute configuration to that found at C-6a in (+)-pisatin. The expression of isoflavone reductase (IFR), which converts 7,2'-dihydroxy-4',5'-methylenedioxyisoflavone (DMD) to (-)-sophorol, sophorol reductase (SOR), which converts (-)-sophorol to (-)-DMDI, and hydroxymaackiain-3-O-methyltransferase (HMM), believed to be the last step of (+)-pisatin biosynthesis, were inactivated by RNA-mediated genetic interference (RNAi) in pea hairy roots. Some hairy root lines containing RNAi constructs of IFR and SOR accumulated DMD or (-)-sophorol, respectively, and were deficient in (+)-pisatin biosynthesis supporting the involvement of chiral intermediates with a configuration opposite to that found in (+)-pisatin in the biosynthesis of (+)-pisatin. Pea proteins also converted (-)-DMDI to an achiral isoflavene suggesting that an isoflavene might be the intermediate through which the configuration is changed to that found in (+)-pisatin. Hairy roots containing RNAi constructs of HMM also were deficient in (+)-pisatin biosynthesis, but did not accumulate (+)-6a-hydroxymaackiain, the proposed precursor to (+)-pisatin. Instead, 2,7,4'-trihydroxyisoflavanone (TIF), daidzein, isoformononetin, and liquiritigenin accumulated. HMM has a high amino acid similarity to hydroxyisoflavanone-4'-O-methyltransferase (HI4'OMT), an enzyme that methylates TIF, an early intermediate in the isoflavonoid pathway. The accumulation of these four compounds is consistent with the blockage of the synthesis of (+)-pisatin at the HI4'OMT catalyzed step resulting in the accumulation of liquiritigenin and TIF and the diversion of the pathway to produce daidzein and isoformononetin, compounds not normally made by pea. Previous results have identified two highly similar "HMMs" in pea. The current results suggest that both of these O-methyltransferases are involved in (+)-pisatin biosynthesis and that one functions early in the pathway as HI4'OMT and the second acts at the terminal step of the pathway.
PHEV management for integrating with smart buildings

Smart buildings and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) are two emerging novel technologies because of their potential economic and environmental benefits. Integrating PHEVs into building energy management has the potential of improving the energy and comfort management in a building environment. Considering that the user expectation of a PHEV is to finish the next trip with a minimum cost of gasoline after unplugging, an intelligent PHEV control system utilizing multi-agent technology is proposed. Graphical User Interface (GUI) offers flexibility to customers by allowing them to specify their driving patterns and monitor the results. By wisely managing the charging and discharging patterns of PHEVs, the proposed system is capable of increasing the building's overall comfort level while reducing the PHEVs' total cost of gasoline. Case study and simulation results are presented and discussed in this paper.
Magnitude and specificity of temporal gene expression during HIV-1 infection of a CD4+ T cell

Magnitude and specificity of temporal gene expression during HIV-1 infection of a CD4+ T cell
Selective oxidation catalysts containing antimony for the conversion of 1-butene to butadiene: II. Selective oxidation of 1-butene and CO

Abstract The selective oxidation of 1-butene to butadiene and the oxidation of CO over a series of MSbO4, with M = Fe, Al, Cr, Co, and Rh, were studied using a fixed-bed, integral reactor system. Activity and selectivity measurements were performed using catalysts which had been prepared by precipitation or impregnation and which had previously undergone extensive characterization. The most selective catalyst for butadiene production was determined to be antimony-impregnated FeSbO4. Post-reaction characterization revealed that the catalysts were stable for prolonged reaction times, the Fe-Sb-O system being the only one able to be reduced under reaction conditions.
Simplified Gap-2 morasses

On definit les morasses a 2 lacunes simplifiees dont l'existence est consistante avec la theorie ZFC et qui peuvent servir a demontrer le theoreme a 3 lacunes de la theorie des modeles
A multitrait-multimethod analysis of predictors and criteria of nursing performance☆

Abstract Many of the results obtained by Nealey and Blood (1968) in a study of nursing supervision in a Veterans Administration Hospital were reinforced in the present study which was carried out in the same setting. In addition, multiple measures of nursing behavior and nursing effectiveness were examined by the multitrait-multimethod approach. Estimates of nurse behavior by the nurses themselves and by their superiors were uncorrelated with each other and with a more objective measure of nurse behavior. Interpretations of multitrait-multimethod results obtained in organizational settings are discussed. The obtained relations among predictors, and between predictors and criteria of performance, have implications for the establishment of an effective performance-reward feedback system by which superiors could motivate subordinates.
Intervention from family members as a strategy for preventing HIV transmission among intravenous drug users

This exploratory study, undertaken to inform new prevention strategies, assessed the willingness of community members and drug users to advise drug-using relatives about various HIV prevention strategies. Participants were 421 adult community members and 67 adults in treatment for drug abuse in San Francisco, with approximately equal numbers of Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites in each group. Participants answered questions about whether they would advise an imagined relative who injects drugs about various strategies to prevent transmission of HIV, such as cleaning needles with bleach and condom use. Multivariate analyses revealed generally high willingness to provide AIDS prevention advice, with few differences between community members and those in drug treatment. The families of drug users are underutilized potential resources in AIDS education and prevention efforts.
Influence of the contralateral carotid artery on neurologic complications following carotid endarterectomy.

Abstract To examine the effect of contralateral carotid artery stenosis on postoperative events, a retrospective review was made of 451 patients undergoing 510 carotid endarterectomies during a 6-year period. Three degrees of contralateral carotid stenosis were identified radiologically: 0% to 49%, 50% to 99%, and totally occluded. Each group was further separated into two categories according to preoperative symptoms. "Low risk" included asymptomatic lesions, transient ischemic attacks, and nonhemispheric symptoms; "high risk" described poststroke patients and urgent operations. The results show the incidence of stroke or death was not increased in patients with severely stenosed or occluded contralateral vessels in either low- or high risk patients (p = 0.741 and p=0.561, respectively). Patients in the high-risk category, however, had a significantly higher risk of postoperative complications than patients in the low-risk category (p
Trends in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Ambulatory Diagnosis and Medical Treatment in the United States, 2000–2010

Because of several recent clinical and regulatory changes regarding attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the United States, we quantified changes in the diagnosis of ADHD and its pharmacologic treatment from 2000 through 2010.