cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Multiaxial yield surface of transversely isotropic foams: Part II—Experimental

Abstract A robust understanding and modeling of the yield behavior in solid foams under complex stress states is essential to design and analysis of optimal structures using these lightweight materials. In pursuit of this objective a new custom-built Multi-Axial Testing Apparatus (MATA) is developed to probe the yield surface of transversely isotropic Divinycell H-100 PVC foam under a multitude of uniaxial, biaxial and triaxial strain paths. Experimental yield data produced constitutes the most comprehensive data set ever produced for any foam as it covers the entire spectrum of stress paths from hydrostatic compression to hydrostatic tension. Experimental results reveal that yielding in foams exhibits not only a quadratic pressure dependence, which is widely recognized in literature, but also a significant linear pressure dependence, which has been largely overlooked in previous studies. A new energy-based yield criterion developed for transversely isotropic foams is also validated using the experimental yield data.
Care of the adolescent cancer patient on an adult medical oncology unit.

H EALTH CARE delivery systems are undergoing extensive reorganization due to recent changes in reimbursement policies. As a result of the effects of Diagnostic Related Groups Systems (DRGS). inpatient hospital beds are being shifted or eliminated from certain speciality units. Recently, the adolescent unit of our hospital was closed due to a low occupancy rate and the decreased profitability of the separate unit. The influence of DRGS on this administrative action was due to the general emphasis on cost containment and maximizing profitability as a measure to guard against hospitals absorbing extensive outlying costs. Since closure of the adolescent unit, the admission of oncology patients within this age group has been to adult acute medical oncology units. As clinical specialists responsible for these medical units. we have been confronted with multiple physical and psychosocial problems formerly not within our realm of experience. We also serve as consultants to adult intensive care units. These units receive these adolescent patients who encounter complications of their disease and/or treatments. In our institution at the present time, there are no pediatric clinical specialists upon whom to call for advice. Since the particular adolescents were admitted directly to adult floors from day 1 of their disease and treatment, consulting outside our institution was not really discussed. Rather. the adolescents were considered “our patients,” and therefore we attempted to identify and adequately meet their needs. From the nursing standpoint. there exists a knowledge deficit in the area of normal adolescent behaviors. In most cases. nurses working on adult medical units generally have chosen to work with adults rather than with children. The level of knowledge and experience that these nurses have regarding adolescents may be limited to that received in their basic education program. Being able to distinguish between normal adolescent behaviors and inappropriate or symptomatic behaviors may be very difficult for these caregivers.
Fiber optic sensor reliability issues in structural health monitoring

Reliability is an important aspect of any sensor, and especially in terms of long term monitoring of structures. Some issues pertaining to the reliability of optical fiber sensors in civil structures are discussed in this article. The strength and fatigue properties of optical fibers influence their performance, and life span. Lessons learnt from the reliability of optical fibers in the telecommunication industry are useful for assessment of reliability in optical fiber sensors. However, optical fiber sensors go through additional manufacturing steps, handling processes, and in general operate under environmental conditions and stress levels different from the telecommunication lines. In general, optical fiber sensors in structures are subjected to fatigue loading under high stresses. Other reliability concerns pertain to the effects of the packaging, installation issues at the construction site. These issues along with some of the results acquired from fatigue tests on fiber optic Bragg gratings and long gauge interferometric sensors are discussed in this article.© (2005) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
MusEEGk: design of a BCMI

We present a novel integration of a brain-computer interface (BCI) with a music step sequencer. Previous BCIs that utilize EEG data to form music provide users little control over the final composition or do not provide enough feedback. Our interface allows a user to create and modify a melody in real time and provides continuous aural and visual feedback to the user, thus affording a controllable means to achieve creative expression.
The tension-free vaginal tape procedure: correction of stress incontinence with minimal alteration in proximal urethral mobility.

Abstract Objectives. To prospectively assess the degree of urethral hypermobility in the preoperative and postoperative periods after the tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) procedure and correlate our findings with surgical outcome. Methods. Twenty patients with stress incontinence underwent the TVT procedure. A Q-tip test was performed before the procedure and at the 3-week postoperative follow-up visit. Cure was defined as the absence of the subjective complaint of urine leakage and the absence of stress incontinence on stress testing at cystometric capacity. Results. Seventeen patients (85%) were cured by the TVT procedure, 2 patients (10%) were improved, and 1 patient (5%) was unchanged. The mean preoperative and postoperative Q-tip values were 42.75° and 31.75°, respectively. Twelve patients had a Q-tip test result of 30° or greater after surgery and 11 (92%) of these 12 patients were cured by the procedure. Conclusions. On the basis of these results, we propose that the cure of stress incontinence does not require the correction of proximal urethral hypermobility.
The fragile X syndrome.

SUMMARY We have begun to appreciate that the extent of this disorder is much wider than merely mental retardation. It is also a common cause of learning and emotional problems in mildly affected female carriers with normal IQS. These children present an enormous challenge to all child-care providers, be they in medicine, education, or in various therapy disciplines. Early identification is essential, and the key to effective management is an innovative and multidisciplinary approach. As disciplines become more familiar with and knowledgeable about this frequently occurring form of mental retardation or cause of learning disabilities, they should become more adept at early identification and early referral for support and intervention.
Optimal power deposition with finite-sized, planar hyperthermia applicator arrays

Effective utilization of planar applicator arrays requires an understanding of the interrelationships between the lateral dimensions of the tumor and the applicators, the power field produced by the applicators, the amount of surface cooling, the tumor tissue blood perfusion, and the normal tissue blood perfusion. These interrelationships are investigated using three-dimensional power patterns and temperature fields produced by optimizing the power amplitudes of the individual applicators located within an array of small, but finite, planar applicators. Five major conclusions are obtained and discussed. >
Thermodynamic potential in quantum electrodynamics

The thermodynamic potential, ..cap omega.., in quantum electrodynamics (QED) is derived using the path-integral formalism. Renormalization of ..cap omega.. is shown by proving the following theorem: ..cap omega../sub B/(e/sub B/,m/sub B/,T,..mu..) - ..cap omega../sub B/(e/sub B/,m/sub B/,T = 0,..mu.. = 0) = ..cap omega../sub R/(e/sub R/,m/sub R/,T,..mu..,S), where B and R refer to bare and renormalized quantities, respectively, and S is the Euclidean subtraction momentum squared. This theorem is proved explicitly to e/sub R//sup 4/ order and could be analogously extended to any higher order. Renormalization-group equations are derived for ..cap omega../sub R/, and it is shown that perturbation theory in a medium is governed by effective coupling constants which are functions of the density. The behavior of the theory at high densities is governed by the Euclidean ultraviolet behavior of the theory in the vacuum.
Function of the Histone-Like Protein H-NS in Motility of Escherichia coli: Multiple Regulatory Roles Rather than Direct Action at the Flagellar Motor

A number of investigations of Escherichia coli have suggested that the DNA-binding protein H-NS, in addition to its well-known functions in chromosome organization and gene regulation, interacts directly with the flagellar motor to modulate its function. Here, in a study initially aimed at characterizing the H-NS/motor interaction further, we identify problems and limitations in the previous work that substantially weaken the case for a direct H-NS/motor interaction. Null hns mutants are immotile, largely owing to the downregulation of the flagellar master regulators FlhD and FlhC. We, and others, previously reported that an hns mutant remains poorly motile even when FlhDC are expressed constitutively. In the present work, we use better-engineered strains to show that the motility defect in a Δhns, FlhDC-constitutive strain is milder than that reported previously and does not point to a direct action of H-NS at the motor. H-NS regulates numerous genes and might influence motility via a number of regulatory molecules besides FlhDC. To examine the sources of the motility defect that persists in an FlhDC-constitutive Δhns mutant, we measured transcript levels and overexpression effects of a number of genes in candidate regulatory pathways. The results indicate that H-NS influences motility via multiple regulatory linkages that include, minimally, the messenger molecule cyclic di-GMP, the biofilm regulatory protein CsgD, and the sigma factors σS and σF. The results are in accordance with the more standard view of H-NS as a regulator of gene expression rather than a direct modulator of flagellar motor performance. IMPORTANCE Data from a number of previous studies have been taken to indicate that the nucleoid-organizing protein H-NS influences motility not only by its well-known DNA-based mechanisms but also by binding directly to the flagellar motor to alter function. In this study, H-NS is shown to influence motility through diverse regulatory pathways, but a direct interaction with the motor is not supported. Previous indications of a direct action at the motor appear to be related to the use of nonnull strains and, in some cases, a failure to effectively bypass the requirement for H-NS in the expression of the flagellar regulon. These findings call for a substantially revised interpretation of the literature concerning H-NS and flagellar motility and highlight the importance of H-NS in diverse regulatory processes involved in the motile-sessile transition.
Acute hypertensive response in patients with stroke: pathophysiology and management.

Acute hypertensive response is the elevation of blood pressure (BP) above normal and premorbid values that initially occurs within the first 24 hours of symptom onset in patients with stroke. This phenomenon was reported in >60% of patients presenting with stroke in a nationally representative study from the United States.1 With ≈980 000 patients2 admitted with stroke each year in the United States, the estimated annual prevalence of acute hypertensive response is more than half a million patients. With ≈15 million patients experiencing stroke worldwide each year,3 the acute hypertensive response may be expected in ≈10 million patients per year. The acute hypertensive response in stroke patients is managed by a diverse group of physicians, including emergency physicians, intensivists, internists, primary care physicians, neurologists, neurosurgeons, and cardiologists. Previous audits suggest that antihypertensive agents and management strategies vary considerably and are not always consistent with recommended guidelines.4 Data from 1181 acute ischemic stroke patients enrolled in the Project for Improvement of Stroke Care Management suggested that administration of antihypertensive medication within 24 hours in 56% of the patients was inconsistent with guidelines provided by the American Stroke Association (ASA).5 The present review article summarizes the current concepts pertaining to treatment of the acute hypertensive response derived from recent guidelines provided by professional organizations and “best available” evidence derived from experimental and clinical studies and discusses incorporation of these concepts into clinical practice. Randomized trials, nonrandomized controlled studies, and selected observational studies were identified with multiple searches on Medline from 1980 to 2007 by cross-referencing the key words of stroke, acute hypertension, antihypertensive agents, acute stroke, and hypertension. Pertinent articles identified from bibliographies of selected articles were also reviewed. Treatment targets and strategies were identified by review of existing guidelines from professional organizations. The 2003 World Health …
Goal Orientations of Adolescents, Coaches, and Parents:: Is there a Convergence of Beliefs?

The relations between the goal orientations of adolescents and those of their coaches and parents were examined in this study. Ninety swimmers, 12 through 15 years of age, coaches (N = 10), and par...
Towards Energy Optimization in Environmental Wireless Sensor Networks for Lossless and Reliable Data Gathering

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have provided many new opportunities for scientific studies and discoveries through continuously monitoring our world. However, one of the most critical challenges in environmental WSNs is their severe power limitation. While several approaches exist to overcome energy limitation, this paper focuses on systematically exploring temporal correlation in environmental observations through data compression approach for lossless, reliable and energy-efficient data gathering in WSNs for environmental monitoring. In light of this, we illustrate our developed approach and demonstrate its efficacy through an empirical study using real-world sensed data.
Spelling textbooks: A critical review

This article critiques elementary school spelling textbooks on four grounds: the memorizationof lists of words as a model for learning spelling, the use of spelling rules and generalizations, questionable activities that extend beyond spelling itself into other areas of language arts, and occasional inaccuracies and inappropriate activities. It suggests that these textbooks continue to be used because of the weight of tradition, their claims to be scientific, and the orderly control of learning that they seem to represent. The article concludes with suggestions for future research.
Compound prism design principles, II: triplet and Janssen prisms

Continuing the work of the first paper in this series [Appl. Opt. 50, 4998-5011 (2011)], we extend our design methods to compound prisms composed of three independent elements. The increased degrees of freedom of these asymmetric prisms allow designers to achieve greatly improved dispersion linearity. They also, however, require a more careful tailoring of the merit function to achieve design targets, and so we present several new operands for manipulating the compound prisms' design algorithm. We show that with asymmetric triplet prisms, one can linearize the angular dispersion such that the spectral sampling rate varies by no more than 4% across the entire visible spectral range. Doing this, however, requires large prisms and causes beam compression. By adding a beam compression penalty to the merit function, we show that one can compromise between dispersion linearity and beam compression in order to produce practical systems. For prisms that do not deviate the beam, we show that Janssen prisms provide a form that maintains the degrees of freedom of the triplet and that are capable of up to 32° of dispersion across the visible spectral range. Finally, in order to showcase some of the design flexibility of three-element prisms, we also show how to design for higher-order spectral dispersion to create a two-dimensional spectrum.
Studies on stress-susceptibility: the relationship between serum enzyme changes and the degree of stress-susceptibility.

Abstract Stress-susceptible animals exhibited significantly higher elevation of blood plasma or serum LDH and CPK enzymes than did stress-resistant animals. The elevation in serum LDH is due primarily to increases in muscle type or LDH-V isozyme, and greatly increased levels can be elicited in stress-susceptible animals by mild confinement-heat stress. The possibility was suggested that degree of stress-resistance in pigs is reflected in the permeability of the muscle cell membranes.
Role of the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in Colon Neoplasia

For both men and women, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States, primarily as a consequence of limited therapies for metastatic disease. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-dependent transcription factor with diverse functions in detoxification of xenobiotics, inflammatory responses, and tissue homeostasis. Emerging evidence indicates that AhR also plays an important role in regulating intestinal cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. Here, we review both the pro- and anti-carcinogenic properties of AhR signaling and its potential role as a therapeutic target in CRC.
Physical Examination and Chronic Lower-Extremity Ischemia: A Critical Review

Objective To determine the clinical utility of physical examination in patients with suspected chronic ischemia of the lower extremities. Data Sources MEDLINE search (January 1966 to January 1997), personal files, and bibliographies of textbooks on physical diagnosis, surgery, and vascular surgery. Study Selection Both authors independently graded the studies as level 1, 2, or 3, according to predetermined criteria. Criteria deemed essential for analysis of sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios were (1) clear definition of study population, (2) clear definition of physical examination maneuver, and (3) use of an acceptable criterion standard test for comparison. Results The following positive findings help clinicians diagnose the presence of peripheral arterial disease: abnormal pedal pulses, a unilaterally cool extremity, a prolonged venous filling time, and a femoral bruit. Other physical signs help determine the extent and distribution of vascular disease, including an abnormal femoral pulse, lower-extremity bruits, warm knees, and the Buerger test. The capillary refill test and the findings of foot discoloration, atrophic skin, and hairless extremities are unhelpful in diagnostic decisions. Mathematical formulas, derived from 2 studies using multivariate analysis, allow clinicians to estimate the probability of peripheral arterial disease in their patients. Conclusion Certain aspects of the physical examination help clinicians make accurate judgments about the presence of peripheral arterial disease and its distribution.
Crepidotus thermophilus comb. nov., a reassessment of Melanomphalia thermophila, a rarely collected tropical agaric.

Melanomphalia thermophila (Sing.) Sing. is a rarely collected agaric previously known only from Florida and Brazil. This taxon was originally described as a species of Tubaria and much of Singer's rationale for placing Tubaria within the Crepidotaceae (Imai) Sing. was based on anatomical similarities between T. thermophila and Crepidotus (Fr.) Staude. In later works, T. thermophila was transferred to Melanomphalia M.P. Christ., again forming the basis upon which Singer placed Melanomphalia within the Crepidotaceae. Based on examination of newly collected specimens from Puerto Rico and Panama, type studies, and nuclear large subunit rDNA analysis, we conclude that this taxon is, in fact, a centrally stipitate Crepidotus. Melanomphalia thermophila is transferred to Crepidotus, fully described and illustrated.
Nucleotidylation, not phosphorylation, is the major source of the phosphotyrosine detected in enteric bacteria.

The majority of the phosphotyrosine recovered from partial acid hydrolysates of 32P-labeled Escherichia coli is derived from a single prominent protein. We show here by biochemical, genetic, and immunological criteria that this protein is actually glutamine synthetase adenylylated (not phosphorylated) at tyrosine. Furthermore, all of the phosphotyrosine detectable in partial acid hydrolysates of 32P-labeled Salmonella typhimurium was eliminated in a strain deficient in both glutamine synthetase and uridylyltransferase, an enzyme which uridylylates the regulatory protein PII at a tyrosine residue. These results suggest that protein-tyrosine phosphorylation represents a rare modification in eubacterial cells. Images
Failure of organic iodine enrichment to influence the binding of bovine thyrotropin to rat thyroid tissue

In an effort to clarify the mechanism whereby increases in the thyroid content of organic iodine lead to inhibition of the stimulation of thyroid adenylate cyclase produced by TSH, studies have been conducted of the effect of enrichment with iodine on the specific binding of TSH by receptors in thyroid tissue. Enhancement of thyroid organic iodine content was induced acutely by incubating thyroid lobes of intact iodinedeficient rats in media containing iodide, with or without TSH, in vitro or by administering iodide to intact or hypophysectomized iodine-deficient rats in vivo. Specific binding of 125I-labeled bovine TSH (bTSH) and its displacement by unlabeled bTSH was then assessed in fractions prepared from these and control glands using methods which make possible study of the properties of the saturable binding site for bTSH previously demonstrated in rat thyroid tissue. In none of the models employed did prior enhancement of the thyroid organic iodine content appear to influence either the maximum ca...
Microblogging for Class: An Analysis of Affective, Cognitive, Personal Integrative, and Social Integrative Gratifications

This study shows that undergraduate students can gratify cognitive, affective, social integrative, and personal integrative needs microblogging via a learning management system discussion tool. Mor...
Effect of Carbogen (95% O2/5% CO2) on Retinal Oxygenation in Dark-Adapted Anesthetized Cats

This work assessed the relative effects of inspiring carbogen (95% O(2)/5% CO2) and 100% O2 on intraretinal PO2 and oxygen consumption in the cat retina. Oxygen microelectrodes were used to measure the distribution of oxygen in the central retina of dark-adapted anesthetized cats during normoxia, 100% O2 breathing, and carbogen breathing. Profiles of oxygen tension (PO2) as a function of retinal depth were recorded. Changes in PO2 caused by the transient administration of carbogen and 100% oxygen were also measured at selected retinal depths. Average PO2 values at the choroid, at the boundary between the inner and outer retina, and across the inner retina were significantly higher during inspiration of carbogen than 100% O2. There were no significant differences among conditions in outer retinal oxygen consumption. During the transient gas administration, average changes in PO2 generally increased with depth. At the end of gas administration, the decay of PO2 within the retina occurred quickly, meaning that short-term gas administration may have little therapeutic value.
Coordinated strike-slip and normal faulting in the southern Ozark dome of northern Arkansas: Deformation in a late Paleozoic foreland

Structures that formed on the southern flank of the Ozark dome, in the foreland of the late Paleozoic Ouachita orogeny, have received little modern study. New mapping of the western Buffalo River region of northern Arkansas identifies diversely oriented faults and monoclinal folds that displace the generally flat lying Mississippian Boone Formation over a 180 m elevation range. Kinematic measurements and spatial relations reveal the presence of both east-striking normal faults and broader northeast-striking dextral strike-slip fault zones that acted in a coordinated fashion to accommodate constrictional strain, in which north-south extension was balanced by vertical and east-directed shortening. North-south extension in the Buffalo River region probably reflects Pennsylvanian–Early Permian deformation within the flexural forebulge of the developing Ouachita orogeny, which closed progressively westward along the southern margin of the craton.
Probing new physics by comparing solar and KamLAND data

We explore whether KamLAND and solar data may end up inconsistent when analyzed in terms of neutrino oscillations. If this turned out to be the case, one would be led to conclude that there is more new physics, besides neutrino masses and mixing, in the leptonic sector. On the other hand, given that KamLAND and solar data currently agree when analyzed in terms of two-flavor neutrino oscillations, one is able to place nontrivial bounds on several manifestations of new physics. In particular, we compute how well a combined KamLAND and solar data analysis is able to constrain a specific form of violation of CPT invariance by placing a very stringent upper bound on $|\ensuremath{\Delta}{m}^{2}\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\Delta}{\overline{m}}^{2}|l1.1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}\text{ }{\mathrm{eV}}^{2}$ at the three sigma confidence level ($m$ refers to neutrinos, $\overline{m}$ to antineutrinos). We also estimate upper bounds on ${sin﻿}^{2}\ensuremath{\theta}\ensuremath{-}{sin﻿}^{2}\overline{\ensuremath{\theta}}$. These are quite poor due to the fact that matter effects are almost irrelevant at KamLAND, which leads to an intrinsic inability to distinguish whether the antineutrino mixing angle is on the light ($\overline{\ensuremath{\theta}}l\ensuremath{\pi}/4$) or dark side of the parameter space ($\overline{\ensuremath{\theta}}g\ensuremath{\pi}/4$). We briefly discuss whether this ambiguity can be resolved by future long-baseline ${\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{e}\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}{\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{e,\ensuremath{\mu}}$ searches.
PATHWAYS OF PROTEIN FOLDING

Advances in spectroscopy, protein engineering, and peptide synthesis have had a dramatic impact on the understanding of the structures and stabilities of transient folding intermediates. The data available from a variety of proteins point to the existence of three common stages of folding. 1. Initially, the unfolded protein collapses to a presumably more compact form containing substantial nonpolar surfaces and secondary structure. This species has little thermodynamic stability and encompasses an ensemble of conformations that are in dynamic equilibrium and may contain non-native elements of structure. This reaction occurs in less than 5 ms and, from a thermodynamic perspective, may be a noncooperative transition. The relatively high content of secondary structure implies that this manifold of states must be far smaller than the manifold for the unfolded protein. 2. The next phase involves the further development of secondary and the beginnings of specific tertiary structure throughout the protein as well as of measurable stability. Nativelike elements of structure appear, possibly in the form of subdomains that are yet to be properly docked. In many instances, the packing is not as tight as is ultimately found in the native conformation, suggesting that the side chains are in general more mobile. Some elements of surface structure, such as loops and the peripheries of sheets and helices, are not yet well defined. This stage, which may consist of more than a single kinetic step, occurs in the 5-1000 ms time range. The ensemble of conformations is much reduced from the first stage; however, it is far from a single, highly populated form. 3. The final stage in folding corresponds to the concerted formation of many noncovalent interactions throughout the protein. The solidlike interior packing is achieved; the final secondary structure forms and the surface structures settle into place. The breadth of these conformational changes reflects the global cooperativity characteristic of protein folding reactions. A pictorial representation of the kinetic and thermodynamic aspects of this process is shown in Figure 1. This folding scheme emphasizes the progressive development of structure and stability through an ever-slowing set of reactions. Because the product of each stage of folding, with the exception of the final step, is an ensemble of related but not identical species, it is an oversimplification to describe the process as a pathway. Perhaps it is better described as a series of transitions between manifolds of structures that are in dynamic equilibrium within any given set.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Manong Federico Delos Reyes and His Golden Banjo

back home in the p.i. i ride the snake i ride the monkey i ride the waterbuffalo i ride the lizard i ride the fish i ride the coconut tree in america i ride the southern pacific boxcar montana snow-bound cries shuffling brown feet in centerville taxi dance halls i chase after the white women in manilatown i ride the stool at blanco’s bar scotch on the rocks express dreaming of dark brown pinays i ride the seven seas 1920 golden banjo strumming songs of romance
Phantom Farmers: Chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy Code

In the heated debate surrounding the recent reforms to America's bankruptcy laws, Congress' decision to make Chapter 12 (a specialized type of bankruptcy relief available only to farmers) a permanent part of the Bankruptcy Code was widely heralded as a positive step for rural Americans. However, empirical evidence shows that very few farmers actually use Chapter 12 and that bankruptcy relief has not and cannot halt the decline in family farming. A vast majority of rural Americans are not farmers and will not be helped by Chapter 12. Instead, these families will face increased hurdles to filing for bankruptcy relief under the recent reforms to the generally applicable consumer bankruptcy laws. This Article analyzes the amendments to Chapter 12 and argues that America's rural families remain vulnerable to financial failure as policymakers continue to conflate the agricultural and rural economies.
P2X3 purinergic receptor overexpression is associated with poor recurrence-free survival in hepatocellular carcinoma patients

// Janielle P. Maynard 1,2 , Ju-Seog Lee 3 , Bo Hwa Sohn 3 , Xiaoying Yu 4 , Dolores Lopez-Terrada 5 , Milton J. Finegold 2,5 , John A. Goss 2,6 and Sundararajah Thevananther 1,2 1 Department of Pediatrics, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Texas Children’s Liver Center, Houston, TX, USA 2 Program in Translational Biology and Molecular Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA 3 Department of Systems Biology, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA 4 Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA 5 Department of Pathology and Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA 6 Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA Correspondence to: Sundararajah Thevananther, email: // Keywords : hepatocellular carcinoma, cell-cycle, extracellular ATP, purinergic receptors, JNK signaling Received : June 02, 2015 Accepted : September 17, 2015 Published : October 26, 2015 Abstract P2 purinergic receptors are overexpressed in certain cancer tissues, but the pathophysiologic relevance of purinergic signaling in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unknown. To examine the role of P2 purinergic signaling in the pathogenesis of HCC and characterize extracellular nucleotide effects on HCC cell proliferation, two independent HCC patient cohorts were analyzed for P2 purinergic receptor expression, and nucleotide treated HCC cell lines were evaluated for effects on proliferation and cell cycle progression. Our studies suggest that multiple P2 purinergic receptor isoforms are overexpressed in liver tumors, as compared to uninvolved liver, and dysregulation of P2 purinergic receptor expression is apparent in HCC cell lines, as compared to human primary hepatocytes. High P2X3 purinergic receptor expression is associated with poor recurrence-free survival (RFS), while high P2Y13 expression is associated with improved RFS. Extracellular nucleotide treatment alone is sufficient to induce cell cycle progression, via activation of JNK signaling, and extracellular ATP-mediated activation of P2X3 receptors promotes proliferation in HCC cells. Conclusion: Our analysis of HCC patient livers and HCC cells in vitro identifies a novel role for dysregulation of P2 purinergic signaling in the induction of hyper-proliferative HCC phenotype and identifies P2X3 purinergic receptors as potential new targets for therapy.
Brachymetatarsia: Congenitally Short Third and Fourth Metatarsals Treated by Distraction Lengthening—A Case Report and Literature Summary

Brachymetatarsia is an uncommon condition, and when present, it is usually asymptomatic. A case report demonstrating the use of distraction lengthening for symptomatic multiple congenital short metatarsals is presented. A 15-year-old female with congenital short third and fourth metatarsals was treated for painful transfer lesions under the second and fifth metatarsal heads and a secondary hallux valgus deformity. Surgical correction with a chevron osteotomy, soft tissue reconstruction of the second toe, and distraction lengthening of the third and fourth metatarsals was performed. Three years after treatment, the patient has an excellent clinical correction, with no evidence of recurrent transfer lesions. To our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating the use of distraction lengthening without supplemental bone graft for multiple short metatarsals in a single extremity.
Two Kinds of Moral Reasoning: Ethical Egoism as A Moral Theory

(1975). Two Kinds of Moral Reasoning: Ethical Egoism as A Moral Theory. Canadian Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 323-356.
A Determinant of Odorant Specificity Is Located at the Extracellular Loop 2-Transmembrane Domain 4 Interface of an Anopheles gambiae Odorant Receptor Subunit

To explore the structural basis for odorant specificity in odorant receptors of the human malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, odorant-binding subunits (Agam\Ors) expressed in Xenopus oocytes in combination with Agam\Orco (coreceptor subunit) were assayed by 2-electrode voltage clamp against 25 structurally related odorants. Agam\Or13 and Agam\Or15 display 82% amino acid identity and had similar, but somewhat distinct odorant response profiles. The ratio of acetophenone to 4-methylphenol responses was used in a mutation-based analysis of Agam\Or15, interchanging 37 disparate residues between Agam\Or15 and Agam\Or13. Eleven mutations caused significant changes in odorant responsiveness. Mutation of alanine 195 resulted in the largest shift in response ratio from Agam\Or15 toward Agam\Or13. Concentration–response analysis for a series of mutations of residue 195 revealed a large effect on acetophenone sensitivity, with EC50 values varying by >1800-fold and correlating with residue side chain length. Similar results were obtained for propiophenone and benzaldehyde. But, for other odorants, such as 4-methylphenol, 4-methylbenzaldehyde, and 4-methylpropiophenone, the effect of mutation was much smaller (EC50 values varied by ≤16-fold). These results show that alanine 195, putatively located at the second extracellular loop/fourth transmembrane domain interface, plays a critical role in determining the odorant response specificity of Agam\Or15.
Design Strategies and Applications of Circulating Cell-Mediated Drug Delivery Systems

Drug delivery systems, particularly nanomaterial-based drug delivery systems, possess a tremendous amount of potential to improve the diagnostic and therapeutic effects of drugs. Controlled drug delivery targeted to a specific disease is designed to significantly improve the pharmaceutical effects of drugs and reduce their side effects. Unfortunately, only a few targeted drug delivery systems can achieve high targeting efficiency after intravenous injection, even with the development of numerous surface markers and targeting modalities. Thus, alternative drug and nanomedicine targeting approaches are desired. Circulating cells, such as erythrocytes, leukocytes, and stem cells, present innate disease sensing and homing properties. Hence, using living cells as drug delivery carriers has gained increasing interest in recent years. This review highlights the recent advances in the design of cell-mediated drug delivery systems and targeting mechanisms. The approaches of drug encapsulation/conjugation to cell c...
Briefly Reviewed the Producing of Xylitol Using Microorganism

Xylitol is an important food additive.Xylitol production by microorganism fermentation attracts extensive attention for its good social economic effect.This paper was a review about the production of xylitol using microorganism fermentation.It involved in selection of strains,strain construction,improvement of culture medium,cell immobilization,fermentation and end-product separation.
The Revolution of Paradigms in Management

The author thinks that the revolution of paradigms in management is fundamentally driven by openness of organization system.The revolution of paradigms in management means much more to Chinese management than to the west.What is important to deal with the crisis of paradigms in Chinese management is active responses,i.e.the question awareness,of management specialists in China.The question awareness includes both the searching of practical managerial matters and self-examination for problems faced with management.The former involves to what extent managerial theories can explain practices,while the latter involves managerial philosophy.The change of research paradigms is needed for both of them.
Update on the immunomodulating activities of glucans.

The extensive and varied reviews regarding the broad spectrum activity of the immunopharmacologic activities of glucans demonstrate the growing interest in these unique molecules. Since the end metabolite is glucose, a new dimension in pharmacology and therapeutics employing this unique molecule is clearly incidated.
The geriatric patient's fears about death.

Several studies show that elderly patients are no more afraid of death than patients in any other age group. They do talk about death and have some distinct fears not so much about the event of death as of the process of dying.
Correlation of anterior vaginal wall pain with endometriosis in infertile patients.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether anterior vaginal wall tenderness in a patient with unexplained infertility correlated to a high percentage of finding endometriosis on laparoscopy. METHOD: Fifty-five consecutive patients with unexplained infertility had vaginal examinations with anterior wall palpation to determine whether there was tenderness (AVWT). As part of the infertility workup, laparoscopy, biopsies and cystoscopy with hydrodistention were performed. RESULTS: The prevalence ofendometriosis in this study was 78%. The sensitivity of positive AVWT on palpation with patients who were found to have endometriosis was 84%, and the specificity was 75%. The positive predictive value was 86% and the negative predictive value was 69%. CONCLUSION: Unexplained infertility may be amenable to treatment in finding problems such as endometriosis, adhesions or subtle other problems that can be corrected by use of laparoscopy instead of going directly to in vitro fertilization. AVWT is a test that may be able to aid physicians in choosing a management to treat a patient with a laparoscopy early in the workup.
On Static Drainage of Protein-Stabilized Foams

Publisher Summary Foam stability is intricately related to the kinetics of liquid drainage. Fundamental understanding of foam drainage is, therefore, important in order to characterize its stability. Foam ability and foam stability are important functional properties of proteins essential in many food formulations. Foam ability of protein solutions has been inferred through the experimental measurement of over-run. Bubbling, whipping, and shaking are the three different methods employed for foam formation. It is customary to infer the stability of foam from the transients of drainage and collapse. Several experimental techniques, such as static drainage, surface decay, half-life of foam, and half-life of drainage have been developed for this purpose. Extensive experimental investigations on the effect of different variables on the drainage and stability of protein-stabilized foams have been undertaken. Despite the considerable volume of work elucidating the qualitative effects of different variables, both on the formation and stability of foams, studies on quantitative prediction of foam drainage are limited. This chapter makes an effort to understand the static drainage of protein-stabilized foams.
Dynamic GABAergic afferent modulation of AgRP neurons

Agouti-related peptide (AgRP) neurons of the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (ARC) promote homeostatic feeding at times of caloric insufficiency, yet they are rapidly suppressed by food-related sensory cues before ingestion. Here we identify a highly selective inhibitory afferent to AgRP neurons that serves as a neural determinant of this rapid modulation. Specifically, GABAergic projections arising from the ventral compartment of the dorsomedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (vDMH) contribute to the preconsummatory modulation of ARCAgRP neurons. In a manner reciprocal to ARCAgRP neurons, ARC-projecting leptin receptor-expressing GABAergic vDMH neurons exhibit rapid activation upon availability of food that additionally reflects the relative value of the food. Thus, leptin receptor-expressing GABAergic vDMH neurons form part of the sensory network that relays real-time information about the nature and availability of food to dynamically modulate ARCAgRP neuron activity and feeding behavior.
Introduction: A Prologue to Wandering

In the introduction to the volume, Lee casts a foundation for the work through a brief expose of Wolfgang Iser’s notion of a ‘wandering viewpoint,’ an aspect of reading that draws on a repertoire of norms and strategies in combining segments of text. The imputed ‘meaning’ to a ‘combination,’ Lee postulates, is always in tension with a range of options. So conceived, interpretation is an exercise of volition. It is responsive to location and always tentative, ever vulnerable to alternative suggestions. This forms the premise for the intertextual exploration that undergirds the proposed work. A brief layout of the volume and its location within studies of biblical law and ritual is included in this chapter.
Chirality, band structure, and localization in waveguide quantum electrodynamics

Architectures based on waveguide quantum electrodynamics have emerged as promising candidates for quantum networks. In this paper, we analyze the propagation of single photons in disordered many-atom waveguides. We pay special attention to the influence of chirality (directionality of photon transport) on the formation of localized photonic states, considering separately the cases of disorder in the atomic positions and in the atomic transition frequencies.
Limiting Effects on the Design of Vertical Superjunction Collectors in SiGe HBTs

The implementation of a “superjunction” collector design in a silicon–germanium heterojunction bipolar transistor technology is explored for enhancing breakdown performance. The superjunction collector is formed via the placement of a series of alternating the p/xn-doped layers in the collector-base space charge region and is used to reduce avalanche generation leading to breakdown. An overview of the physics underlying superjunction collector operation is presented, together with TCAD simulations, and a parameterization methodology is developed to explore the limits of the superjunction collector performance. Measured data demonstrate the limitations explored in simulation.
Abstract 39: Myeloid Klf2 Regulates Arterial and Venous Thrombosis

Experimental, clinical and pathological studies have indicated an important link between inflammation and thrombosis. However, the precise mechanisms regulating myeloid cell function and the import...
Fast and Bounded Probabilistic Collision Detection for High-DOF Trajectory Planning in Dynamic Environments

We present a novel approach to perform probabilistic collision detection between a high-DOF robot and imperfect obstacle representations in dynamic and uncertain environments. Our formulation is designed for high-DOF robot trajectory planning in dynamic scenes, where the uncertainties are modeled using Gaussian distributions. We present an efficient algorithm to compute collision probabilities between the robot and the obstacles. Furthermore, we present a prediction algorithm for obstacle positions that takes into account spatial and temporal uncertainties and uses that for trajectory optimization. We highlight the performance of our trajectory planning algorithm in challenging simulated and real-world environments with robot arms operating next to dynamically moving human obstacles. Note to Practitioners —This paper suggests a novel trajectory planning approach for dynamic and uncertain environments. Existing planning approaches generally deal with uncertainties by performing collision checks using enlarged bounding shapes for the given confidence levels, which are conservative and tend to compute less optimal trajectories or fail to find feasible trajectories. In this paper, we suggest a new collision probability approximation of a robot and obstacles. Our approach guarantees that the computed probability is an upper bound on the actual probability. We then present a trajectory planning algorithm based on our probabilistic collision detection, and a practical belief space estimation algorithm. In our experimental results, we demonstrate that our approach can compute more efficient trajectories than the prior approaches, while our approach has a similar level of safety. Our experiments assume Gaussian distributions for the environment uncertainties, and we will extend our algorithm to non-Gaussian distributions in future research. Recently, we have extended our approach to general convex polytopes and improved the speed and accuracy of the collision probability computation using bounding volume hierarchies.
A Queasy Scholar Considers Cultural Studies in the United States

According to Ernest Boyer’s more broadly defined research categories, I am engaging in scholarship of exploration in this essay, an exploration motivated by the collision of commitments in my personal life with my profession. Therefore, it will of necessity cross borders. I will set up my exploration by providing a series of short vignettes from which I will draw exploratory conclusions that point to the danger that faces Cultural Studies as practiced in the United States.