cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
O05.6 Cervicovaginal metabolic profiling reveals the interplay between HPV, microbiota and inflammation in cervical carcinogenesis

Background Vaginal dysbiosis has emerged as a key risk factor in HPV acquisition, persistence, and potentially cervical carcinogenesis. However, the biological mechanisms driving persistence and carcinogenesis have not been elucidated. Hence, our objective was to perform metabolic profiling of the cervicovaginal microenvironment to identify interactions between virus, host and microbes in the context of genital inflammation, dysplasia, and cancer. Methods In a multicenter study, metabolic profiles of 78 premenopausal, non-pregnant women with low-grade (LSIL) and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL), invasive cervical cancer (ICC), or healthy controls (HPV-positive and -negative Ctrl) were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Metabolome and vaginal microbiome datasets were integrated using state-of-the-art bioinformatic tools (PICRUSt, AMON, and MIMOSA). Hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were employed to reveal the influence of genital inflammation, patient groups, and microbiota on metabolic profiles. Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) analysis was used to discriminate metabolites for each patient group. Statistical differences were tested using ANOVA or Mann-Whitney U test. Results Metabolomes of ICC patients (n=468 metabolites) formed a distinct cluster on PCA and HCA plots, due to enrichment of membrane lipids. Amino acid and nucleotide metabolites were depleted in HPV-positive Ctrl, LSIL and HSIL groups (P 0.9, P 0.7). Anti-inflammatory nucleotides, adenosine and cytosine positively correlated with Lactobacillus abundance (Spearman’s rho>0.5) and negatively correlated with genital inflammation (Spearman’s rho Conclusion The complex virus-host-microbe interplay within the cervicovaginal microenvironment lead to unique metabolic fingerprints that could be exploited for future development of diagnostics, preventatives or treatments to positively impact women’s health outcomes. Disclosure No significant relationships.
V – DIFFERENTIABLE FUNCTIONS

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the differentiable functions. From elementary calculus, one knows that the sum, difference, and product of differentiable functions are differentiable; and with a little care to avoid zero in the denominator and even roots of negative numbers, the quotient, powers, and roots of differentiable functions are differentiable. In the case of transcendental functions, however, the situation is somewhat different. The definitions of trigonometric, logarithmic, exponential, hyperbolic, and inverse trigonometric functions all involve, in some way, the idea of a limit of algebraic functions; and, in fact, this is an essential feature of transcendental functions. The chapter discusses that C(1) [a, b] is complete under the norm of that space. Thus, to conclude that the limit of a sequence of continuously differentiable functions has a continuous derivative, it must be determined not only that the sequence of functions converges uniformly, but also that the sequence of derivatives converges uniformly.
Design of Experiments with Imputable Feature Data: An Entropy-Based Approach

Tactical selection of experiments to estimate an underlying model is an innate task across various fields. Since each experiment has costs associated with it, selecting statistically significant experiments becomes necessary. Classic linear experimental design deals with experiment selection so as to minimize (functions of) variance in estimation of regression parameter. Typically, standard algorithms for solving this problem assume that data associated with each experiment is fully known. This isn't often true since missing data is a common problem. For instance, remote sensors often miss data due to poor connection. Hence experiment selection under such scenarios is a widespread but challenging task. Though decoupling the tasks and using standard data imputation methods like matrix completion followed by experiment selection might seem a way forward, they perform sub-optimally since the tasks are naturally interdependent. Standard design of experiments is an NP hard problem, and the additional objective of imputing for missing data amplifies the computational complexity. In this paper, we propose a maximum-entropy-principle based framework that simultaneously addresses the problem of design of experiments as well as the imputation of missing data. Our algorithm exploits homotopy from a suitably chosen convex function to the non-convex cost function; hence avoiding poor local minima. Further, our proposed framework is flexible to incorporate additional application specific constraints. Simulations on various datasets show improvement in the cost value by over 60% in comparison to benchmark algorithms applied sequentially to the imputation and experiment selection problems.
Sick from What? Trauma During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic.

Background: We present the case of two brothers with identical mechanisms of injury presenting simultaneously, one with SARS-Cov-2 respiratory failure and the other in hemorrhagic shock. Summary: Healthcare globally and in the United States met novel challenges during the unprecedented severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) health crisis. The effect of SARS-CoV-2 on hospital and health care delivery systems has been widely reported. Elective surgical procedures were suspended; however, trauma and acute care services remained active and faced unique challenges during this pandemic. Trauma patients by their nature of injury require rapid assessment and treatment to include invasive emergency operations. Not only do trauma centers have to adapt to limited resources and new procedures limiting exposure, they are also met with the confounding issue of trauma patients concomitantly presenting with SARS-CoV-2 respiratory illness. Conclusion: Trauma care providers must now contend with SARS-CoV-2 on the differential for patients presenting with trauma. This is demonstrated by our case of two brothers with identical mechanisms of injury presenting simultaneously, one in shock from respiratory failure and the other hemorrhagic.
Concurrent Pulmonary and Cerebellar Cryptococcus Gattii Cryptococcoma in an Apparently Immunocompetent Patient in Florida

Cryptococcus infection is caused by one of the two species, Cryptococcus neoformans, or the less common Cryptococcus gattii. While Cryptococcus neoformans commonly infects the immunocompromised population, Cryptococcus gattii has been seen more frequently in immunocompetent patients. Many seemingly immunocompetent patients, however, may have unidentified underlying immunodeficiencies. Recently, antigranulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating (GM-CSF) antibodies have been identified as a risk factor for cryptococcosis. We describe a case of disseminated Cryptococcus gattii infection in a seemingly immunocompetent young man, who is found to have anti-GM-CSF antibodies.
Between Market and Myth: The Spanish Artist Novel in the Post-Transition, 1992-2014.

This volume examines several works within a subgenre that has received scant attention from recent literary criticism, despite its proliferation within contemporary Spanish narrative: the artist no...
Everything You Wanted to Have in Sex Laws

There are many laws on sex—to name a few: rape, crime against nature, exhibitionism, voyeurism, indecent behavior with minors, sexual pscyhopath legislation, prostitution, pornography, divorce, and abortion. To what extent are these laws necessary?
Differences in Response to Antiretroviral Therapy by Sex and Hepatitis C Infection Status

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection and biological sex may each affect response to antiretroviral therapy (ART), yet no studies have examined HIV-associated outcomes by both HCV status and sex. We conducted a cohort study of HIV-infected adults initiating ART in Kaiser Permanente California during 1996-2011. We used piecewise linear regression to assess CD4 changes by sex and HCV status over 5 years. We used Cox regression to estimate hazard ratios (HR) by sex and HCV status for HIV RNA <500 copies/mL over 1 year, and for AIDS and death over the follow-up period. Among 12,865 subjects, there were 154 HIV/HCV-co-infected women, 1000 HIV/HCV-co-infected men, 1088 HIV-mono-infected women, and 10,623 HIV-mono-infected men. CD4 increases were slower in the first year for HIV/HCV-co-infected women (75 cells/μL) and men (70 cells/μL) compared with HIV-mono-infected women (145 cells/μL) and men (120 cells/μL; p<0.001). After 5 years, women had higher CD4 than men in both HIV-mono-infected (598 vs. 562 cells/μL, p=0.003) and HIV/HCV-co-infected individuals (567 vs. 509 cells/μL, p=0.003). Regardless of sex, HIV/HCV co-infection was associated with 40% higher mortality [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2-1.6] compared with HIV mono-infection, but was not associated with AIDS (HR 1.1, 95% CI: 0.9-1.3) or achieving HIV RNA <500 copies/mL (HR 1.0, 95% CI: 0.9-1.1). HIV/HCV-co-infected men and women have slower CD4 recovery after starting ART and have increased mortality compared with HIV-mono-infected men and women. HCV should be aggressively treated in HIV/HCV-co-infected adults, regardless of sex.
Radii and temperatures of cool stars with interferometry

This proceeding reviews the results of our survey to measure the fundamental properties of nearby, main-sequence, K– and M–type stars, specifically reported in Boyajian et al. (2012a). The results presented double the number of precise measurements obtained for stars of this type. We use observations of the stellar angular diameter obtained through interferometry coupled with the distance and bolometric flux to determine the stellar linear radius, effective temperature, and luminosity. These data are used to derive empirical relations to the fundamental properties of stars. We highlight the challenges these data bring to current stellar atmospheric and evolutionary models. (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Evidence That Bacteriophage-induced Dihydrofolate Reductase Is a Viral Gene Product

Abstract Cultures of Escherichia coli infected with bacteriophages T2, T4, T5, or T6 have previously been shown to synthesize relatively large quantities of a dihydrofolate reductase which can be distinguished from the corresponding enzyme found in uninfected cells. Two lines of evidence support the idea that this new enzyme is the specific product of a viral gene. (a) The enzyme has been partially purified from cultures of E. coli B infected with phages T2, T4, T5, and T6 and the properties of the four preparations have been compared. Although the preparations are virtually identical with respect to pH optimum, pyridine nucleotide specificity, sedimentation coefficient, and sensitivity to the inhibitor trimethoprim, significant differences are observed in catalytic efficiency, stability to heat and to urea, and inhibition by aminopterin. (b) A mutant of T4 has been isolated which is unable to direct the formation of dihydrofolate reductase in infected cells. The phage-induced dihydrofolate reductase system presents several advantages, which are discussed in this paper, for comparative studies of enzyme structure and function within a closely related series of proteins.
High-power windows at microwave frequencies

During the past ten years the Microwave Laboratory at Stanford University has been engaged in development work on high-power klystrons. One of these is used in the linear accelerator and is operated at 20 MW (peak) and a few kilowatts average. The others, now produced commercially, operate between 1 and 3 MW (peak) in the X-, S- and L-bands. The characteristics of the output windows of these tubes are briefly reviewed, and the information obtained on life and the mechanism of failure of the windows used for the linear-accelerator klystron is considered in detail. From the operation of approximately 120 windows used with the accelerator tubes, an average window life of nearly 2000 hours has been observed. Most of the windows used with the accelerator consist of a ceramic disc in a circular waveguide. Most failures appear to start as a series of small holes in the ceramic, one of which eventually punctures the disc. The general direction of the puncture is normal to the direction of the E-field in the guide. The reasons for these failures are not yet clearly understood. Experimental and theoretical investigations are continuing on the effects of the impurities of the material, particle bombardment, X-ray bombardment, and geometry of the window. We expect, when a better understanding of the mechanism of failure has been achieved, that the average window life can be increased to a minimum of 5 000 hours.
Degradation of Spacecraft Materials

This chapter includes descriptions of specific space environmental threats to exterior spacecraft materials. The scope will be confined to effects on exterior spacecraft surfaces, and will not, therefore, address environmental effects on interior spacecraft systems, such as electronics. Space exposure studies and laboratory simulations of individual and combined space environemntal threats will be summarized. A significant emphasis is placed on effects of Earth orbit environments, because the majority of space missions have been flown in Earth orbits which have provided a significant amount of data on materials effects. Issues associated with interpreting materials degradation results will be discussed, and deficiencies of ground testing will be identified. Recommendations are provided on reducing or preventing space environmental degradation through appropriate materials selection.
Removal of chromium(VI) from drinking water by redox-assisted coagulation with iron(II)

Batch experiments were conducted to determine whether sub-ppb concentrations of dissolved Cr(VI) could be achieved by redox-assisted coagulation with Fe(II). in this process Fe(II) acts as a reductant for Cr(VI) and, after its oxidation to Fe(Ill), as a coagulant. With an Fe(II) dose of 30 muM (1.7 mg/l as Fe), dissolved Cr(VI) concentrations in synthetic or natural Colorado River water (CRW) at pH 8.2 could be decreased from an initial value of 1 muM (52 mug/l) to 99% removal efficiency in contrast, removal of Cr(VI) by coagulation with Fe(Ill) was poor, even at higher Fe(Ill) doses (up to 100 muM). The efficiency of Cr(VI) removal by redox-assisted coagulation decreased at lower (but still above stoichiometric) Fe(II) doses due to the incomplete reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(II), which, under our experimental conditions, can be attributed to the competing reaction of Fe(II) with O-2 between PH 7 and 8.2 and to the slow kinetics of of Fe(II) with Cr(VI) between PH 6.5 and 7. Although Cr(VI) was less efficiently removed from natural or synthetic CRW than from the simple electrolyte solution, the desired level of removal could be achieved by increasing the Fe(II) dose.
Interactive modeling and simulation of virtual manufacturing assemblies: An agent-based approach*

In this paper, an agent-based design and development of an interactive virtual environment for a manufacturing assembly process is described. Agents in the assembly are identified through their respective responsibilities and are implemented so that they coordinate between one another to accomplish the PC assembly/disassembly process. The robot agent, crucial to the assembly operation, is designed to handle multiple failure situations, wherein it coordinates with the part agent to accommodate the failure.
Locomotor recovery promoted by sensorimotor training and the graft of fibroblasts genetically engineered to produce BDNF and NT3 in the injured cat spinal cord

Studies that have compared locomotion in the adult cat hindlimb before and after spinal transection have found that "despite a few differences, the spinal cord and the hind limbs afferents are capable of generating very good locomotor patterns with almost normal kinematics" when the animals are submitted to a daily regimen of treadmill walking. We are trying to enhance motor recovery in the hindlimbs by promoting axonal regeneration through the implantation of fibroblasts genetically modified to produce neurotrophins.
Immunology, keeping pace with change

Training for medicine is becoming more and more complex. It is clear that there is a wide assortment of material that needs to be learned and to be mastered. This now includes not only the art of medicine but also the administrative and political aspects of the profession. In the end the majority of medical students want to maximize their learning experience by learning what is practical and what can be applied. For that reason, I would strongly argue that learning basic immunologic concepts is critically important, whether you plan to pursue a surgical or medical career. Let me give two major reasons. Medical and surgical concepts are changing dramatically. For medicine it is recognizing that many of the most common chronic disorders that the physician treats daily is in large part immunologically mediated. The New England Journal of Medicine not long ago declared in a review article that arteriosclerotic heart disease is immunologically mediated. If you are planning on a surgical career, transplantation medicine will loom big in almost all specialties and understanding immune mechanisms leading to rejection will be critical for you to render the best care you capable of giving. If you are planning to devote your career with developing world disorders, the key to our treating AIDS, newer infectious disorders, and not so new disorders such as Malaria will lie in understanding immune concepts of innate immunology, parisitology, and virology. The second argument is that if you wish to be part of the revolution that is taking place in biotechnology you will need to understand basic concepts of immunology. While gene therapy is one example, one very important immediate change has been the use of biologic products, monoclonal antibodies and soluble receptors, directed against various parts of the immune system. This focused approach to therapy is just beginning, will surely expand, and probably will change the paradigm of treatment for patients with many diseases. In short, learning immunology now is not a waste, nor impractical. It will position you so that you will be able to fully utilize the fantastic array of therapies that will be available to you and your patients in the future.
Using evidence to improve policy and practice: the UK What Works Centres

The creation of a network of What Works Centres in the UK reflects a belief that the provision of high-quality evidence can improve public policy decisions. The literature on evidence-based policy ...
Money on the Table: Why the U.S. Should Tax Inbound Capital Gains

In 1992, Chairman Rostenkowski introduced legislation that imposed US capital gains tax on foreign sellers of large blocks of shares (10 percent or more) in US corporations. The legislation was not a treaty override, although it added an anti-treaty shopping provision similar to those adopted for the branch profit tax in 1986. It also had anti-abuse provisions that addressed holding company structures. Today, the US faces a large budget deficit and seeks to impose higher burdens on its own multinationals. While that is also justified, there is no reason to let foreigners off the hook, especially since there is much more inbound FDI now than there was in 1992. Congress should adopt the Rostenkowski legislation now.
Development of an inkjet printed green antenna and twisting effect for wireless body area network

A miniaturized monopole antenna was designed and fabricated on an organic paper and LCP material for wireless body area network. Compared with previous work, the proposed design has 20% reduction of the antenna size but with enhanced performance. The effects of the compact coplanar antenna under different twisting conditions is described in this paper. The proposed antennas are simulated and designed on an organic paper and a Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) substrate with dielectric constant D r = 3.4 and thickness 15μm and 5μm respectively, occupying the area of 22×30mm2. A detailed discussion about radiation pattern, Gain, antenna efficiency and power pattern is given with the help of experimental and numerical results.
Cromwell, Mather, and the Rhetoric of Puritan Violence

Summary This chapter contains sections titled: Two Vignettes: Puritanism, War, and Violence Providential Violence in Ireland and New England England, New England, and the New Israel Conclusion: Puritans Redeeming Politics References
INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS STATUS AND RELIGIOUS ATTIRE ON INTERVIEWEES

To assess the effect of attire and religious status of interviewers on interviewees 84 subjects had interviews with a nun either in street clothes or in habit or a non-nun dressed either in street clothes or in habit. Dependent variables included length of interview, rated depth of interviewee's disclosure, number of controversial interviewee's attitudes reported, number of interviewee's personal experiences reported, and degree of favorable interviewee's response to interviewer. Using analysis of variance, attire but not religious status produced significant mean differences in interviewee's responses. Males were more open in the presence of an interviewer not in habit, females with an interviewer wearing a habit.
AlbuBNP (Cardeva), a Novel Recombinant Human B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Serum Albumin Fusion Protein Has Prolonged Renal Enhancing Properties When Compared to Human BNP

BACKGROUND: AlbuBNP is a novel recombinant human BNP serum albumin fusion protein which possesses a significantly longer elimination half-life compared to BNP. To date, it remains unclear if this novel protein which represents a single molecule of BNP synthesized with the carrier protein albumin can enter the post glomerular/tubular system due to the fusion of BNP to albumin and mediate renal actions. We hypothesized that this fusion protein will have potent renal actions and possess prolonged renal hemodynamic enhancing and excretory properties based upon its unique structure as compared to native BNP. METHODS: We compared the cardiorenal and humoral actions of intravenous(IV) bolus of administration of AlbuBNP (Cardeva, CoGenesys, Rockville MD) (5 mg/kg, n=7) and Human BNP (Phoenix Pharmaceutical, Belmont CA) (25 μ g/Kg, n=5) in two groups of normal anesthetized dogs. * p<0.05 RESULTS: Single IV bolus of AlbuBNP resulted in a sustained increase in plasma cGMP (5±1 to 9±2 pmol/ml*) and urinary cGMP excre...
Control system design and experiments of a quadrotor

The quadrotor aircraft is a special type of rotorcraft with simple structure and vertical taking off and landing (VTOL) capability. Due to lift restrictions small quadrotor usually cannot be installed with high performance attitude measurement unit to acquire accurate attitude information, the lack of which makes its attitude control difficult. This paper presents the control system design and experimental validation of a small quadrotor with low-cost and low-weight inertial sensor to realize stable hovering including the modeling of the quadrotor, attitude estimation, attitude stabilization and platform design. Complementary filter is adopted to estimate the quadrotor attitude by fusing the information obtained from the low-cost gyroscopes and the accelerometer. Attitude stabilization control is achieved by three classic PID controllers. Flight experiments are presented in the end to show the performances of the attitude estimation and stabilization of the control system.
The Contours of Tracking in North Carolina

In this analysis of North Carolina high schools the author examines school tracking policies using an amended version of Sorensen's (1970) conceptualization of the organizational dimensions of tracking. Data from curriculum guides in a stratified sample of 92 high schools reveal both consistency and variation in how tracking is implemented at the school level. Understanding the policies that promote inclusive course taking, or that affect other dimensions of tracking, such electivity and scope, is the first step to improving the implementation of tracking. Research on tracking will continue to be disconnected from school improvement efforts until the relationships between school policies, the organizational dimensions of tracking, and outcomes for students are understood.
Tales of a Reluctant Sex Radical: Barriers to Teaching the Importance of Pleasure for Wellbeing

Cultural studies scholars are investigating everyday practices that deny sexual pleasure and create barriers to wellbeing and health. Human rights violations regularly happen at the level of sexuality, which has prompted discussion about formal sexual rights by feminist and disability scholars. People with disabilities often negotiate medical settings that make sexual autonomy challenging. Cultural expectations surrounding sexual pleasure contribute to oppression. Based on the professional values of social work, social workers need to consider the importance of sexual pleasure to wellbeing and advocate against cultural barriers. This analysis will use mixed method by investigating a variety of popular and professional discourses about the cultural expectations surrounding sexual pleasure that create barriers to access. Medical education discourse about approaches to training professionals about sex will be synthesized as potential models for social work education. Autoethnography will be used to support the analysis by highlighting the experience of the author in critical care, graduate education and professional training roles that include integration of sexual pleasure into social work practice. Medical educators have been dealing with reluctance and avoidance of health care professionals to discussions of sexual pleasure for decades. Health care providers, in large numbers, do not feel prepared to integrate sexual pleasure into general care and consumers of health care report insensitivity on the part of professions when pursuing assistance with sexual concerns. This paper will explore ways that social work educators can increase knowledge about sexual pleasure as a complex concept, encourage client-centered attitudes, and build communications skills.
Selective Anion Complexation by a Calix[4]pyrrole Investigated by Monte Carlo Simulations

The complexation of anions by octamethylcalix[4]pyrrole 1 and 2,5-dimethylpyrrole has been investigated by energy minimizations in the gas phase and by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations in dichlorometha...
Some Statistical Properties Of The Median Window

Abstract. The median window operation is being increasingly used to process images. Although the deterministic properties of the median are fairly well known, its statistical properties are not. Consider a median window of width N scanning a noisy background image with white power spectrum. We present here the probability law for the median outputs, its mean, variance, and signal-to-noise ratio, and the probability that two successive median outputs are equal. Specialization is made to speckle imagery. Key results are as follows: the probability law is of a Bernoulli multinomial form; the mean is asymptotic with N to the average background times In 2, and hence is about 30% less than the background value; the variance is asymptotic with N to a 1/N dependence; signal-to-noise ratio is asymptotic with N to Ni171 In 2. Finally, the probability that two successive median outputs are equal is 2-1(N-1)/N, or slightly less than 0.5 for N ⪆ 7. This is independent of the type of image data at hand, i.e., whether speckle, Poisson, or normal, provided that it has a white power spectrum.© (1984) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Resumption of follicular activity and interval to postpartum ovulation after exogenous progestins.

Abstract In Experiment 1, treatment of dairy cows with progesterone using an intravaginal device from d 5 to 15 postpartum failed to alter onset or duration of the first estrous cycle. Compared with controls in Experiment 2, concentrations of FSH increased, and those of LH decreased, in cows treated with either norgestomet or progesterone for 6 d. Relationships of various measures of LH, but not FSH, were all positive with increasing days postpartum, and those of FSH produced positive polynomial regressions as days to first ovulation decreased. No significant changes in follicular status occurred during or after progestin treatments; however, a consistent relationship was observed between increasing diameter of dominant follicles and serum concentrations of estradiol-17 β in most cows. Appearance of the ovulatory dominant follicle generally was detected 4 to 5 d before ovulation regardless of treatment and was first detected more frequently during treatment with progestins when concentrations of FSH were increased compared with controls. Concentrations of progesterone were higher on d 7 to 10 following removal of progestin treatments. Appearance of the first dominant follicle was detected during periods of increased average minimum concentrations of FSH, increased variation in LH secretion, and was related to subsequent duration of the first estrous cycle.
Fourth order finite difference and multigrid methods for modeling instabilities in 2-dimensional flat plate boundary layers

Abstract The instability of 2-D incompressible flows over a semi-infinite flat plate is investigated by tracking the growth of the unstable mode for Tollmien-Schlichting waves at the linear stage. A fourth-order finite difference technique on stretched and staggered grids, a fully implicit time-marching scheme, and a semi-coarsening multigrid method based on a modified form of distributive relaxation scheme are used. A special treatment of the outflow boundary condition is presented that needs only a very short buffer domain to damp all wave reflections. Numerical results show excellent agreement with the theoretical solution obtained from linear theory for the small disturbance case.
Epidemiology of the brown recluse spider bite.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article was to provide a comprehensive epidemiological and clinical description of the brown recluse spider bite. DATA SOURCES: Review of evidenced-based scientific literature and practice guidelines. A specific descriptive case study is interwoven through the article to tie in the clinical presenting figure associated with this bite. CONCLUSIONS: The brown recluse lives in a circumscribed area of the United States (the south central Midwest) with a few less common recluse species living in the more sparsely populated southwest United States. In these areas, where spider populations may be dense, recluse spiders may be a cause of significant morbidity. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Most spider bites are asymptomatic but what makes this bite so devastating is the toxin injected by the brown recluse spider, which can cause considerable systemic symptoms as well as necrotic skin ulcers (necrotic arachnidism). The article presents process for diagnosis and stresses the importance of identifying the spider if at all possible. Language: en
A simplified timm stain procedure compatible with formaldehyde fixation and routine paraffin embedding of rat brain

A simplified sulphide/silver technique for visualizing transitional metals in rat brain is described. It consists of: (1) sulphide perfusion before formaldehyde perfusion, (2) routine paraffin embedding and sectioning, and (3) silver staining with physical developer. This method is compatible with formaldehyde fixation, eliminates the need for post-fixation in Carnoy's solution before embedding and does not require low paraffin temperatures during embedding. Once embedded, brains can be stored for months before sectioning without loss of stain quality.
Portfolio power: harnessing a group of brands to drive profitable growth

Brand portfolio management is not just a marketing issue, in which a sub‐optimal portfolio dilutes marketing messages and confuses customers. It also directly affects corporate profitability. Ill‐defined and overlapping brands in a portfolio lead to erosion in price premiums, weaker manufacturing economies, and sub‐scale distribution. In a slower economy, the problems of an under performing portfolio are even more acute: While adding brands is easy, it becomes difficult to harvest the value in a brand or to divest it. Effective brand portfolio management starts by creating a fact base about the equity in each brand and the brand’s economic contribution. The application of analytical tools can inform decisions about individual and collective brand strategies from targeting and positioning to investments, partnerships, and extension opportunities. Linking the intangibles of brands to hard financial metrics allows companies to exploit the full potential of their brands and thereby gain a competitive advantage.
Coping With the Death of a Patient in the Emergency Department

p r d y p p o r [Ann Emerg Med. 2011;58:295-298.] Facing the death of a patient can have a profound emotional influence on the physician. The act of communicating this loss to surviving family and friends is difficult under the best of circumstances and may be even more challenging in a busy emergency department with a sudden, unpredicted death. However, the medical literature for any specialty rarely discusses the lasting effect of a patient’s death on the physician. There is a paucity of relevant discussion in both the general emergency medicine literature and emergency medicine resident training program curricula. In fact, the existing emergency medicine literature is limited to educational topics such as death notification, organ donation, and postdeath procedures. In this Residents’ Perspective, we discuss what may be learned from other specialties about the effects of patient death on the physician and potentially useful coping tools and resources that are available. We pay particular attention to how emergency medicine residents can best prepare for, learn from, and grow through this often challenging experience.
Resultant Benefits of Standardized Overhaul Packages for LM2500 Propulsion Gas Turbine Engines in U.S. Navy Applications

This paper discusses the Unites States Navy’s program to standardize repair and overhaul packages/workscopes for their LM2500 propulsion gas turbine engines. The General Electric LM2500 gas turbine engine is utilized for main propulsion aboard the Navy’s newest surface combatants including the FFG 7, DD 963, CG 47 and DDG 51 class ships. The Navy employs a condition based maintenance philosophy for its fleet of 450 LM2500 engines; removing engines from ships only when in place corrective actions can no longer be effected. Consequently, most LM2500 gas generators and power turbines have exhausted much of their useful life once they arrive at the depot for overhaul. Beginning in 1999, NAVSEA implemented a standardized workscope for these engines to ensure post repair life and performance goals were achieved. This paper discusses the contents of the standardize repair package and the resultant benefits and metrics associated with its execution at both military and commercial facilities.Copyright © 2004 by ASME
Development of a LAC4 promoter-based gratuitous induction system in Kluyveromyces lactis.

A gratuitous induction system based on the strong, indigenous LAC4 promoter was developed for Kluyveromyces lactis. To prevent consumption of the inducer galactose, a strain with a gal1-209 mutation was employed; this mutation disables the galactokinase function but retains the regulatory function for induction. The Escherichia coli lacZ gene (encoding beta-galactosidase) is functional in K. lactis and was used as the reporter gene downstream of the LAC4 promoter on a multicopy plasmid. The gal1-209 strain exhibited several unexpected phenomena, including partial consumption of the inducer galactose (although at a much slower rate relative to GAL1 strains) and growth inhibition at high concentrations of galactose. These unusual characteristics, however, did not prevent the successful construction of a strong gratuitous induction system. Due to the low rate of inducer consumption for the gratuitous strain, very low concentrations of galactose (1:20 galactose:glucose) resulted in high-level induction. Under these conditions, beta-galactosidase specific and volumetric activities were 4.2- and 5.5-fold higher, respectively, than those for the "GAL1" nongratuitous strain. This research demonstrated the improved productivity possible via LAC4 promoter-based gratuitous induction (and thus a more stable inducer concentration). The effects of various carbon source concentrations on growth and induction were also determined.
S‐Glutathionylation of hepatic and visceral adipose proteins decreases in obese rats

A number of clinical and biochemical studies demonstrate that obesity and insulin resistance are associated with increases in oxidative stress and inflammation. Paradoxically, insulin sensitivity can be enhanced by oxidative inactivation of cysteine residues of phosphatases, and inflammation can be reduced by S-glutathionylation with formation of protein-glutathione mixed disulfides (PSSG). Although oxidation of protein-bound thiols (PSH) is increased in multiple diseases, it is not known whether there are changes in PSH oxidation species in obesity. Objective: In this work, the hypothesis that obesity is associated with decreased levels of proteins containing oxidized protein thiols was tested. Design and Methods: The tissue levels of protein sulfenic acids (PSOH) and PSSG in liver, visceral adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle derived from glucose intolerant, obese-prone Sprague-Dawley rats were examined. Results: The data in this study indicate that decreases in PSSG content occurred in liver (44%) and adipose (26%) but not skeletal muscle in obese rats that were fed a 45% fat-calorie diet versus lean rats that were fed a 10% fat-calorie diet. PSOH content did not change in the tissue between the two groups. The activity of the enzyme glutaredoxin (GLRX) responsible for reversal of PSSG formation did not change in muscle and liver between the two groups. However, levels of GLRX1 were elevated 70% in the adipose tissue of the obese, 45% fat calorie-fed rats. Conclusion: These are the first data to link changes in S-glutathionylation and GLRX1 to adipose tissue in the obese and demonstrate that redox changes in thiol status occur in adipose tissue as a result of obesity.
Characterization of Composite and Adhesive Cure by Ultrasonic Waves

Thermosetting resins are widely used as matrices for advanced composite materials and structural adhesives. Fabrication of composite materials or adhesive joining consists of curing (polymerization), under proper thermal and pressure conditions, of resin-impregnated fiber fabrics. During the curing reaction, the thermoset resin transforms from the visco-liquid state to a gel and then vitrifies to the gelled glass. This transformation is accompanied by strong changes of the viscoelastic properties of the material which are related to the molecular network. Therefore measurements of velocity and attenuation of ultrasonic waves during cure may give important information on the extent of the thermoset curing reaction and the mechanical properties of the material.
A Study of Internal Discharges in Cable Insulation

A study has been made of discharges occurring in voids. A sample of convenient size is described. A method of mea suring the discharge pulse has been developed which reduces the inductance of the circuit to a minimum. As a result it has been found that the pulses have rise times of the order of 1 ns which is shorter than previously anticipated. Extremely fast discharges may be counted. A method of counting pulses larger than some predetermined magnitude is presented. Where one surface of the void is a semiconductor, the positive and negative pulses are shown to decrease at different rates. Evidence of pulse shape due to discharge in a void can be determined by instrument.
Immunohistochemical localization of adrenal ferredoxin and distribution of adrenal ferredoxin and cytochrome P-450 in the rat adrenal

Abstract Adrenal ferredoxin, the iron-sulfur protein associated with cytochromes P -450 in adrenocortical mitochondria, has been localized immunohistochemically at the light microscopic level in rat adrenals by employing rabbit antiserum to bovine adrenal ferredoxin in both an unlabeled antibody peroxidase-antiperoxidase method and an indirect fluorescent antibody method. When sections of rat adrenals were exposed to the adrenal ferredoxin antiserum in both procedures, positive staining for adrenal ferredoxin was observed in parenchymal cells of the three cortical zones but not in medullary chromaffin cells. Marked differences in the intensity of staining, however, where observed among the three cortical zones: the most intense staining being found in the zona fasciculata, less in the zona reticularis, and least in the zona glomerulosa. Furthermore, differences in staining intensity were also observed among cells within both the zona fasciculata and the zona reticularis. In agreement with these immunohistochemical observations, determinations of adrenal ferredoxin contents by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometry in homogenates prepared from capsular and decapsulated rat adrenals revealed that the concentration of adrenal ferredoxin in the zona glomerulosa was lower than that in the zona fasciculata-reticularis. Similar results were obtained when the contents of cytochrome P -450 were determined in capsular adn decapsulated rat adrenal homogenates. These observations indicate that adrenal ferrodoxin and cytochrome P -450 are not distributed uniformly throughout the rat adrenal cortex.
SecB functions as a cytosolic signal recognition factor for protein export in E. coli

A purified 64 kd protein, consisting of four identical subunits of the 16 kd SecB, binds to the signal sequence of preproteins prior to their translocation across inverted vesicles (INV) derived from the E. coli plasma membrane. The purified SecB tetramer competes with canine signal recognition particle (SRP) in signal sequence binding and thus behaves as a prokaryotic equivalent of SRP. As shown by cell fractionation and immunoblot analysis with anti-SecB antibodies, SecB is a cytosolic protein. An E. coli supernatant depleted of SecB after passage through an anti-SecB Sepharose column retains full translation activity but is unable to support translocation into added INV. Translocation into INV is fully restored by readdition of purified SecB.
Universal power law tails of time correlation functions

The universal power law tails of single particle and multiparticle time correlation functions are derived from a unifying point of view, solely using the hydrodynamic modes of the system. The theory applies to general correlation functions and to systems more general than classical fluids. Moreover, it is argued that the collisional transfer part of the stress-stress correlation function in dense classical fluids has the same long-time tail approximately t(-1-d/2) as the velocity autocorrelation function in Lorentz gases.
Antigen receptor-mediated changes in glucose metabolism in B lymphocytes: role of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signaling in the glycolytic control of growth.

The bioenergetic response of B lymphocytes is subject to rapid changes following antigen encounter in order to provide ATP and anabolic precursors necessary to support growth. However, the pathways involved in glucose acquisition and metabolism are unknown. We find that B lymphocytes rapidly increase glucose uptake and glycolysis following B-cell antigen receptor (BCR) crosslinking. Inhibition of glycolysis blocks BCR-mediated growth. Prior to S-phase entry, glucose metabolism shifts from primarily glycolytic to include the pentose phosphate pathway. BCR-induced glucose utilization is dependent upon phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI-3K) activity as evidenced by inhibition of glucose uptake and glycolysis with LY294002 treatment of normal B cells and impaired glucose utilization in B cells deficient in the PI-3K regulatory subunit p85α. Activation of Akt is sufficient to increase glucose utilization in B cells. We find that glucose utilization is inhibited by coengagement of the BCR and FcγRIIB, suggesting that limiting glucose metabolism may represent an important mechanism underlying FcγRIIB-mediated growth arrest. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that both growth-promoting BCR signaling and growth-inhibitory FcγRIIB signaling modulate glucose energy metabolism. Manipulation of these pathways may prove to be useful in the treatment of lymphoproliferative disorders, wherein clonal expansion of B lymphocytes plays a role.
Humor Reconsidered: The Cultivation of “Accurate Perception” as a Contribution to the Care of Souls

Cultivating a sense of humor that has redemptive possibilities for the soul in a post-Christendom era is an important but nonetheless risky act of pastoral ministry. Humor, like the soul, involves ambiguity, incongruity and paradox. Insufficient appreciation of the paradoxical nature of humor contributes to views that are both overly suspicious as well as insufficiently cautious where humor is concerned. A redemptive sense of humor is explored as a virtue analogous to the Greek virtue of eutrapelia in tension with bomocholia (buffoonery/flippancy) and agroikia (boorishness/excessive seriousness). The work of Erik and Joan Erikson on the needed tension between the syntonic and dystonic further clarifies how humor best serves the soul. I conclude that the willingness to cultivate a sense of humor is an act of faith.
Polymer Blends in Membrane Transport Processes

Polymer blend technology and gas membrane separation have been two research areas where Prof. Don Paul has had major contributions. The combination of these topics has been chosen as the subject of this review paper. The morphology of phase separated polymer blends is an important variable in the design of enhanced transport properties. The fundamentals of polymer blends in transport processes will be discussed along with situations where polymer blends may be desired. These areas include barrier polymers, gas membrane separation, percolation networks for electrical conductivity, proton exchange membranes, and polymers employed in optoelectronic devices. The predictions of the series, parallel, Maxwell, and equivalent box models are applied where relevant to these examples.
Coupling between A-Type Horizontal Cells Is Mediated by Connexin 50 Gap Junctions in the Rabbit Retina

There are many examples of neuronal coupling via gap junctions in the retina. Of these, perhaps the best known is the extensive coupling between horizontal cells. In the rabbit retina, there are two types of horizontal cells, A-type and B-type, both of which are independently coupled. Connexin 50 (Cx50) cDNA, encoding a 440 aa protein, was successfully isolated from rabbit retina RNA. Cx50 was also obtained from isolated A-type horizontal cells (A-type HCs) by single-cell RT-PCR. A-type HCs were visualized by intracellular dye injection or with an antibody against calbindin. Confocal analysis revealed all Cx50 labeling occurred on the A-type HC matrix, typically at dendritic intersections. The Cx50 plaques varied in size, from punctate signals in which fine dendrites cofasciculated, to giant plaques, >50 microm(2), in which large dendrites crossed. The numerous Cx50 plaques between A-type HCs may adequately account for the remarkable coupling observed in this network. We could not detect Cx50 staining on the tips of horizontal cell dendrites within the cone pedicle invagination. This distribution does not support a role for Cx50 in hemichannel-mediated feedback. In addition, the absence of Cx50 in B-type HCs suggests the presence of a different connexin for this cell type. In summary, these results suggest that gap junctions in the A-type horizontal cell matrix are composed from Cx50. Multiple neuronal connexins are expressed in the mammalian retina and different cell types express specific connexins.