cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Inborn Errors in Immunity: Unique Natural Models to Dissect Oral Immunity

In recent years, the study of genetic defects arising from inborn errors in immunity has resulted in the discovery of new genes involved in the function of the immune system and in the elucidation of the roles of known genes whose importance was previously unappreciated. With the recent explosion in the field of genomics and the increasing number of genetic defects identified, the study of naturally occurring mutations has become a powerful tool for gaining mechanistic insight into the functions of the human immune system. In this concise perspective, we discuss emerging evidence that inborn errors in immunity constitute real-life models that are indispensable both for the in-depth understanding of human biology and for obtaining critical insights into common diseases, such as those affecting oral health. In the field of oral mucosal immunity, through the study of patients with select gene disruptions, the interleukin-17 (IL-17) pathway has emerged as a critical element in oral immune surveillance and susceptibility to inflammatory disease, with disruptions in the IL-17 axis now strongly linked to mucosal fungal susceptibility, whereas overactivation of the same pathways is linked to inflammatory periodontitis.
Embryology and cytodifferentiation of the pituitary gland in the lizard Anolis carolinensis.

Anolis embryos have limb buds at the time eggs are laid and require about 39 days to complete development at 28°C. Rathke's pouch is present at five days, and the subdivisions of the adenohypophysis are differentiated by ten days after oviposition. The cells of the rostral half of the pars distalis (PD) are derived from the anterior face of Rathke's pouch; cells of the caudal half from the posterior face. Lateral lobe cells differentiate on the lateral margins of the developing caudal PD, and knob-like outgrowths of this tissue attach to the walls of the diencephalon to form the pars tuberalis (PT). Subsequently, the cells of the PT lose their connection with the PD and become a pair of flattened oblong plaques. They reach maximal size in midincubation, and are gradually invaded by nervous elements and incorporated into the walls of the hypothalamus. Electron micrographs demonstrate that the embryonic PT is secretory. Ultrastructurally the pars intermedia (PI) and PD are composed of parenchymous secretory cells in a framework of stellate cells. Stellate cells surround the lumen of Rathke's pouch and are connected laterally by complex junctions that exclude the secretory cells from the luminal surface. They extend in sheet-like processes among the secretory cells to the outer margin of the gland where they form a partial sheath within the basal lamina around the secretory tissue. As development proceeds, the lumen becomes subdivided and the resulting reduced lumina are recognizable as the forerunners of the follicles of the adult adenohypophysis. The cells of the PI are differentiated into secretory or stellate cells halfway through incubation. At this time only half of the cells of the PD can be so classified. Four of the five granulated cell types described in the adult are recognizable by mid-incubation; the fifth cell type (prolactin cell) becomes distinguishable within ten days thereafter, and at hatching appears to be actively synthesizing secretory products.
The role of NADH oxidase in growth and physical membrane displacement

An NADH oxidase activity of the plasma membrane that was growth factor- and hormone-stimulated has been reported and characterized extensively. The activity is constitutively activated in cancer. Thiol groups are important to its activity and its activity as a thiol oxidoreductase or thiol interchange activity may be important to its functioning in growth and membrane trafficking. The activity is inhibited in the presence of GDP and brefeldin A and appears to be found not only at the plasma membrane but also with the Golgi apparatus. The phenotype of an inhibited NADH oxidase is a failure of cells to enlarge. The hypothesis under investigation is that the hormone- and growth factor-stimulated NADH (quinone)/thiol oxidase functions as an essential component of physical membrane displacements associated with cell elongation, vesicle budding and pleomorphic membrane changes in both animal and plant cells.
State Economic Development Policy and Practice in the United States: A Survey Article

The states have taken an increasingly active role in economic development policy during the past two decades. This article presents both a comprehensive overview of the state strategies and a statistical overview of the changing economic conditions from which they arise. The strategies can be grouped into three distinct orientations. Chasing and acquisition focuses on bringing into the state businesses, export orders, federal facilities and contracts, tourists, retirees, and other external sources of growth. Self-improvement focuses on helping businesses and people in the state become more competitive by improving education systems, stimulating research, helping firms adopt new technologies, providing venture capital, and improving roads, communications, and other infrastructure. Knowledge and process focuses on doing those things better by making greater use of markets and business practices.
ARTIN PRESENTATIONS FROM AN ALGEBRAIC VIEWPOINT

Artin presentations are certain group presentations intimately related to pure braids and manifolds of dimensions two, three, and four. This paper studies combinatorial group theoretic properties of Artin presentations as interesting objects in their own right with subtle and pertinent problems.
Malone antegrade continence enema (MACE) for fecal incontinence in imperforate anus improves quality of life.

The MACE procedure has been used in patients with imperforate anus (IA) to improve fecal continence. Our aim was to assess the impact of the MACE on the quality of life (QOL) in children with IA and fecal incontinence. A retrospective review was performed of children with IA that underwent the MACE procedure between 1997 and 2004. Patients and their parents were contacted by telephone survey regarding continence and its psychosocial effects before and after MACE. The same survey was given to the patients' teachers. Responses to 15 questions were compiled and a QOL score calculated and significance evaluated by t-test (P 50% in nine families, 25-50% in ten and <25% in six. All patients and parents interviewed reported an improvement in their QOL following the MACE. This procedure should be offered to children with IA with the expectation of significant improvement in QOL.
Comparison of Kinematic-Wave and Nonlinear Reservoir Routing of Urban Watershed Runoff

The linkage of surface runoff in urban areas to water quantity and quality has been studied extensively in the literature. Many computer models based on different routing theories have been developed to simulate the rainfall-runoff process in urban areas. Those computer models are classified into two categories: hydrologic models and hydraulic models. Hydrologic models are based on a hypoth- esized relation between outflow and water storage in the watershed, which is often modeled as a conceptual reservoir. The nonlinear reservoir method is a typical hydrologic routing method applied in models such as the Stormwater Management Model (SWMM). Hydraulic models are based on approximations of the real physical rainfall-runoff process. Kinematic-wave theory, utilized by many models including the Dynamic Watershed Simulation Model, is a commonly used hydraulic routing method. Previously unpublished experimental data obtained from the Watershed Experimentation System at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ill. were used to test the accuracy of these two routing methods. The nonlinear reservoir routing method as applied in SWMM may provide acceptable results for storms with durations longer than the watershed time of concentration (42 experiments )( average model fit efficiencyE = 0.88), but for storms with durations less than or equal to the time of concentration (26 experiments), poor results were obtained (average E= 0.07). More accurate results generally were obtained using kinematic-wave routing (average E= 0.928 and 0.807 for storm durations exceeding and not exceeding the watershed time of concentration, respectively). These results fit with the theoretical basis of the kinematic-wave theory that considers the actual physical processes in surface flow generation, while the nonlinear reservoir method does not consider the impact from the time lag needed for the flow depth to grow so that runoff can commence.
Getting in Touch with Your Feelings about Software Architecture

In this keynote address, the presenter will attend to these questions by discussing the nature of software architecture in terms of architectural structures, the role that software architecture plays in an organization, the technical, business, and social influences on software architectures, and the role of quality attribute requirements in architectural design.
Improved FFD B-Spline Image Registration

Due to their computational efficiency and other salient properties, B-splines form the basis not only in comprising the de facto standard for curve and surface representation but also for various nonrigid registration techniques frequently employed in medical image analysis. These registration techniques fall under the rubric of Free-Form Deformation (FFD) approaches in which the object to be registered is embedded within a B-spline object. The deformation of the B-spline object represents the transformation of the registration. Representative, and often cited within the relevant community, of this class of techniques is the formulation of Rueckert et. al [7] who employed cubic splines with normalized mutual information to study breast deformation. Similar techniques from various groups provided incremental novelty in the form of disparate explicit regularization terms as well as the employment of various image metrics and tailored optimization methods. For several algorithms, the underlying gradient-based optimization retained its essential characteristics since Rueckert's incarnation. We assert that such a straightforward gradient-learning is suboptimal in certain cases and to remedy this sub-optimality, we propose a fitting-based strategy for registration in the spirit of Thirion 's Demons [14] and directly manipulated free-form deformations [2], which takes advantage of our previously developed generalized B-spline fitting algorithm [17].
Adaptive Double Space-Time Transmit Diversity System with Linear ZF Receiver

Double space-time transmit diversity (D-STTD) is considered a promising technique for future multiple antenna wireless systems, since it provides both spatial diversity and multiplexing gains simultaneously. To further improve the performance of D-STTD, we propose a novel adaptive transmission technique. Although the originally proposed D-STTD is an open-loop scheme, the proposed adaptive scheme utilizes low-rate feedback information, which can significantly improve the performance of the open-loop D-STTD. Furthermore, when the adaptive scheme is jointly combined with the antenna shuffling scheme, it outperforms the existing antenna shuffling schemes with the same feedback information.
Assembly Line Balancing with Processing Alternatives: An Application

The conventional approach to the assembly line balancing problem assumes that the manufacturing methods to be used have been predetermined. However, in practice the design engineer has several alternatives available in the choice of processing, typically involving a trade-off between labor or capital intensive options. The choice of manufacturing method is frequently viewed as an investment or capital budgeting decision, contrasting projected savings in labor cost with the additional fixed cost for the more capital intensive alternatives. The manufacturing tasks based on the selected processing alternatives are then assigned to work stations so as to minimize the number of work stations i.e., labor costs necessary to achieve a desired production rate. This paper describes a method of simultaneously considering both the choice of manufacturing alternatives and the assignment of tasks to stations so as to minimize total costs labor and fixed over the expected life of the production line. The importance of considering these decisions jointly results from the fact that the benefits obtained from specific manufacturing alternatives should not be limited to anticipated labor savings alone. The true measure of achievable labor savings can only be determined after an assignment of tasks to stations has been chosen. For instance, although a processing alternative may reduce the total work content of a set of tasks, if the resulting line balancing assignment does not reduce the number of stations required to achieve a desired production rate, the assumed savings will not be achievable and will serve only to increase the idle time of the line. On the other hand, an apparently trivial reduction in the time to complete a certain task may lead to a more efficiently balanced line, producing a much greater real savings in labor cost than had been anticipated, due to a reduction in both work content and idle time for the line. The combined processing alternative line balancing problem can be formulated as an integer programming problem. Two alternate formulations are provided which differ in the degree of flexibility in selecting a cycle time. A branch and bound procedure is described for the fixed cycle time situation which takes advantage of the special structure of the problem to provide an efficient method capable of solving problems of practical interest. The effectiveness of the proposed procedure is demonstrated by application to an actual redesign of an assembly line for a major auto-industry supplier.
Whole Body Periodic Acceleration Is an Effective Therapy to Ameliorate Muscular Dystrophy in mdx Mice

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic disorder caused by the absence of dystrophin in both skeletal and cardiac muscles. This leads to severe muscle degeneration, and dilated cardiomyopathy that produces patient death, which in most cases occurs before the end of the second decade. Several lines of evidence have shown that modulators of nitric oxide (NO) pathway can improve skeletal muscle and cardiac function in the mdx mouse, a mouse model for DMD. Whole body periodic acceleration (pGz) is produced by applying sinusoidal motion to supine humans and in standing conscious rodents in a headward-footward direction using a motion platform. It adds small pulses as a function of movement frequency to the circulation thereby increasing pulsatile shear stress to the vascular endothelium, which in turn increases production of NO. In this study, we examined the potential therapeutic properties of pGz for the treatment of skeletal muscle pathology observed in the mdx mouse. We found that pGz (480 cpm, 8 days, 1 hr per day) decreased intracellular Ca2+ and Na+ overload, diminished serum levels of creatine kinase (CK) and reduced intracellular accumulation of Evans Blue. Furthermore, pGz increased muscle force generation and expression of both utrophin and the carboxy-terminal PDZ ligand of nNOS (CAPON). Likewise, pGz (120 cpm, 12 h) applied in vitro to skeletal muscle myotubes reduced Ca2+ and Na+ overload, diminished abnormal sarcolemmal Ca2+ entry and increased phosphorylation of endothelial NOS. Overall, this study provides new insights into the potential therapeutic efficacy of pGz as a non-invasive and non-pharmacological approach for the treatment of DMD patients through activation of the NO pathway.
Low-Power-Design Space Exploration Considering Process Variation Using Robust Optimization

Increasing levels of process variation in current process technologies make it extremely important that design and process decisions be made while considering their impact. This paper presents a convex-optimization-based approach to select values of supply voltages, threshold voltages, and oxide thicknesses to minimize power dissipation in a simplified abstraction of multi-Vdd/Vth/Tox CMOS designs while considering process variation. The authors use this probabilistic approach to perform optimization of different statistical parameters of power dissipation (e.g., mean or high percentile points) and quantify the impact of rising process variations on these power-minimization techniques
Climate Change and Displacements

In late 2010, the New York Times reported that after four consecutive years of drought—the worst in 40 years—Syria’s agricultural heartland, along with adjacent areas in Iraq, was in deep trouble: “Ancient irrigation systems have collapsed, underground water sources have run dry and hundreds of villages have been abandoned as farmlands turn to cracked desert and grazing animals die off. Sandstorms have become far more common, and vast tent cities of dispossessed farmers and their families have risen up around the larger towns and cities of Syria and Iraq.”1
Idelalisib has CLL on the run

In this issue of Blood , [O’Brien et al][1] report mature results of initial treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with the PI3Kδ inhibitor idelalisib plus rituximab, and demonstrate that the combination is extremely effective with manageable toxicity in an older patient population.[1][
Multiply Targets Tracking Algorithm Based on Particle Filter in Multiple Passive Sensors System

For non-linear and multi-target tracking problem based on multiple passive sensors system, a novel particle filter based on fuzzy-probablity weighting algorithm was proposed.In this algorithm, it was proposed to estimate the intersection location points by the least square algorithm and use the fuzzy-probability weighting data association algorithm to get available association for multiple targets.Then, a particle filter was adopted to track targets with nonlinear motion.The emphasis was placed on the effective combination of the association model with filter model.The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve higher tracking precision and effective elimination of the ghost points in tracking multiple targets moving nonlinearly by passive sensors.
Expression and Clinical Significance of FAT10 in Breast Cancer

Objective To investigate the relationship between expression of FAT10 in breast cancer and its clinicopathologic significance. Methods 67 cases of the breast cancer patients in 2001～2004 in our hospital were collected,using RT-PCR to detect breast cancer tissue and normal breast tissue in FAT10 mRNA expression,and the relation of FAT10 expression with clinicopathological features and clinical outcomes of breast cancer patients were analyzed.Results The intensive positive rate of FAT10 expression in breast cancer was 52.24%(35/67).Expression of FAT10 was highly correlated with lymph node metastasis and T classification(P 0.05),but not with age,tumor size,clinical stage and tumor differentiation,etc.(P0.05).In the intensive positive rate of FAT10 expression in breast cancer,the survival rate was significantly lower than negative ones(P0.05). Conclusion Overexpression of FAT10 in patients with breast cancer enhances the possibility of invasion and metastasis,implying a poor prognosis.FAT10 may serve as a fairly good prognostic factor to indicate biologic behavior and prognosis in breast cancer.
Cybersecurity methodology for a multi-tier mission and its application to multiple mission paradigms

This paper discusses the cybersecurity of multi-tier missions comprised of multiple craft with heterogeneous movement and sensing capabilities. It discusses the requirements that drive security system design as well as the solutions required to meet these requirements. It presents a prospective system to secure a multi-tier mission against a variety of threats and evaluates this system using several use cases which are presented and discussed. The paper concludes with a discussion of the next steps in the development of this system.
Gastric vagal-evoked and greater splanchnic-evoked unitary responses in the hypothalamus

Gastric vagal and greater splanchnic nerve fibers were electrically stimulated to localize and characterize neuronal interactions in the hypothalamus of anesthetized cats. Extracellular recordings from 635 hypothalamic units were identified that responded to electrical stimulation of the left greater splanchnic nerve or gastric vagal fibers serving the proximal stomach. A total of 504 hypothalamic units in this group received input from both gastric vagal and greater splanchnic nerves. The gastric vagal-evoked hypothalamic (GVeH) and greater splanchnic-evoked hypothalamic (SeH) responses were widely distributed in the medial, paraventricular, and dorsomedial nuclei and lateral hypothalamus. The conduction velocity of the SeH response was significantly greater than the GVeH response. The latency of the SeH response showed two peaks [58 +/- 15.7 (SD) ms and 136 +/- 18.3 (SD) ms] indicating that the splanchnic input terminated on two different groups or populations of hypothalamic neurons. It also suggested that different pathways or fiber diameters in the pathway may be involved in the transmission of splanchnic input to the hypothalamus. The majority of the GVeH and SeH unitary responses were multiple spikes or short trains of action potentials. Excitatory and inhibitory responses were observed in tonically active hypothalamic units that responded to gastric vagal or greater splanchnic input. The duration of decreased excitability to gastric vagal or greater splanchnic input was significantly greater than the period of increased excitability. The condition-test paradigm was used to determine the time course of convergent gastric vagal-greater splanchnic input on single hypothalamic neurons.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Global Leadership Effec tiveness: the Predictive Value of Cognitively Oriented Competencies

Global leadership is becoming increasingly important in multinational companies as well as in non-profit and public sectors. The purpose of this study was to investigate what makes a global leader effective, by identifying key predictors of global leadership effectiveness. The predictors investigated in this study included a combined measure of overall intercultural global leadership competency and selected cognitively oriented competencies: nonjudgmentalness, inquisitiveness, tolerance of ambiguity and cosmopolitanism. The sample consisted of 171 undergraduate and graduate students from a large university. Linear and multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify the ability of the competencies to predict effectiveness. Inquisitiveness was the only cognitive competency found to successfully predict global leadership effectiveness. While no effect was found for overall intercultural global leadership competency, exploratory analyses revealed two other individual competencies as predictors: self-confidence and self-identity. The results of the study suggest that inquisitiveness is a key competency indicating cognitive flexibility that enable individuals to adapt to the situation at hand. Furthermore, self-identity and self-confidence likely enables individuals to participate and display leadership skills in novel and challenging situations.
Correlation of biochemical and immunological markers with conventional morphology and clinical features in 120 patients with malignant lymphomas.

The striking heterogeneity of clinical features, morphological characteristics and prognosis in patients with neoplastic lympho-proliferative disorders has stimulated attempts to reclassify these diseases according to the phenotypic characteristics of the predominating cell type (1–6). This approach is based on the following hypotheses: 1) the neoplastic cell type is the most important determinant of biological behavior, 2) the different neoplastic cell types represent proliferations, “frozen” at distinct stages of the normal development sequence of a specific cell lineage, and 3) all cells with proliferative capacity can give rise to neoplasia. Various approaches have been successfully employed for the phenotypic characterization of hematopoietic tumors utilizing immunological, functional, biochemical, cytogenetic and in vitro culture techniques. In this study, we have attempted to assess the significance of a comprehensive methodology employing cell surface marker characterization, assay for terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase activity, and conventional morphology in the clinical evaluation of 122 patients with known or suspected lymphoid neoplasias.
Information literacy in the Information Age: What I learned on sabbatical

Necessite pour obtenir un travail d'employe d'avoir des competences dans le domaine de l'information
Parallel AND Processes

Sequential AND processes, as defined in Chapter 4, simply mimic sequential interpreters by solving their subgoals one at a time, from left to right. AND parallelism is exploited in the AND/OR Process Model by having an AND process create more than one OR process in certain transitions, and then coordinating the responses to success and fail messages from these descendants until all literals have been successfully solved.
KERIS: kaleidoscope of gene responses to inflammation between species

A cornerstone of modern biomedical research is the use of animal models to study disease mechanisms and to develop new therapeutic approaches. In order to help the research community to better explore the similarities and differences of genomic response between human inflammatory diseases and murine models, we developed KERIS: kaleidoscope of gene responses to inflammation between species (available at http://www.igenomed.org/keris/). As of June 2016, KERIS includes comparisons of the genomic response of six human inflammatory diseases (burns, trauma, infection, sepsis, endotoxin and acute respiratory distress syndrome) and matched mouse models, using 2257 curated samples from the Inflammation and the Host Response to Injury Glue Grant studies and other representative studies in Gene Expression Omnibus. A researcher can browse, query, visualize and compare the response patterns of genes, pathways and functional modules across different diseases and corresponding murine models. The database is expected to help biologists choosing models when studying the mechanisms of particular genes and pathways in a disease and prioritizing the translation of findings from disease models into clinical studies.
Electrostatic Control of Polymer Translocation Speed through α‑Hemolysin Protein Pore.

The electrostatic origins behind the speed of translocation of a uniformly charged flexible macromolecule through α-hemolysin (αHL) protein pores under a voltage are investigated using variations in pH and electrolyte concentration. We have measured durations of successful threading of poly(styrenesulfonate) through αHL at two different pH conditions, pH 4.5 and pH 7.5, under various salt concentration conditions. Salt concentrations in the donor (cis) and the recipient (trans) compartments influence the polymer translocation dynamics differently, depending on pH. At both pH 4.5 and pH 7.5, decreasing the cis salt concentration, cs,cis, results in faster polymer translocations. On the other hand, a decrease in trans salt concentration, cs,trans, retards the polymer transport process at pH 4.5, while at pH 7.5 the translocation time is observed to be independent of cs,trans. We present a theoretical model to calculate the translocation times from the free energy of the polymer along the translocation proce...
Expression of Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator in Platelets Decreases Oxygen-Induced Lung Injury in Mice.

We have previously shown that urokinase (uPA) can be ectopically expressed and stored in platelets in a transgenic mouse model and that such platelets can effectively prevent untoward thrombosis. One major advantage of this uPA delivery system is that there is no systemic fibrinolysis and the uPA is selectively released at sites of vascular injury. We have now tested whether such a delivery model may be of use in the care of patients with lung injury where inhibition of fibrinolytic activity and intra-alveolar fibrin deposition are of pathogenic importance. In this study, we evaluated (O2)-induced lung injury in transgenic mice expressing platelet uPA compared to wildtype (WT) littermate controls. Given that pulmonary sequestration of activated inflammatory cells, including neutrophils (PMN) and platelets, occurs relatively early in response to O2, and given the ability of the transgenic uPA platelets to enhance fibrin lysis, we hypothesized that hyperoxic-induced lung injury would be lessened in the transgenic animals. Lung injury was assessed by changes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) protein concentration. In this model, a significant increase in BAL protein concentration, indicative of injury to the alveolar capillary barrier, occurred in WT mice after 72 hr of >95% O2 exposure compared to controls [6.9 ± 0.9 vs. 0.14 ± 0.01 mg/ml (mean ± SEM)], respectively. BAL protein was significantly decreased in platelet uPA+ mice [1.5 ± 0.4 vs. 6.9 ± 0.9 mg/ml, n=6–8, p 95% O2 for 24 hr. By 72 hr of O2 in WT mice, however, fibrin(ogen) immunoreactivity was seen within the alveolar space and diffusely throughout the interstitium. Fibrin clots within small blood vessels were also seen. In contrast, fibrin(ogen) immunoreactivity was greatly reduced in uPA+ mice. Moreover survival time of uPA+ mice was significantly longer than WT animals (127 ± 28 hr vs. 97 ± 14 hrs, respectively, n=12, p<0.003). Total white blood cell counts and % PMN in the BAL were significantly higher after 72 hr exposure to O2, suggesting that increased pulmonary inflammation is not necessarily associated with increased lung injury, a finding consistent with other studies showing that neutrophils do not play a significant role in the genesis of this lung injury. These data support the hypothesis that a decrease in lung fibrinolytic activity is a primary factor in the development of O2-induced lung injury and that platelet delivery of uPA may be an especially effective and safe way to prevent the development of such lung injury.
Expression pattern and biologic relevance of Bcl-2 and Mcl-1 in pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors.

7097 Background: Bcl-2 protein overexpression is frequently described in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) but the biological relevance remains unclear. To better elucidate the role of Bcl2 dysfunction in SCLC, we assessed the total and the biologically relevant phosphorylated forms of the anti-apoptotic Bcl2 family members (Bcl2, pBcl-2, Mcl-1, pMcl-1) in pulmonary neuroendocrine (NE) tumors. Methods: We analyzed archival samples of pulmonary carcinoid, SCLC and large-cell NE carcinoma (LCNEC) by immunohistochemistry (IHC) using specific antibodies. Protein expression was assessed by light microscopy using standard scoring of intensity (0, 1, 2 and 3) and percent cell staining and correlated with age, gender, smoking status, tumor type, stage and survival. Significant differences in expression pattern and correlation with clinical variables were assessed by Wilcoxon two-sample test, t-test, ANOVA, Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficients and Cox regression model. Results: We retrieved 77 cases: carcinoi...
Cheese | Acid- and Acid/Heat Coagulated Cheese

There are many cheese varieties where milk is coagulated by acid instead of the more common practice of using rennet. These cheeses include Cottage cheese, Quarg, and Cream cheeses. Lactic cultures decrease the pH of milk, reducing the charge stabilization of caseins, which facilitates the aggregation of casein particles. These fresh cheeses do not require a ripening period. Acid-coagulated cheeses are characterized by having high moisture content and an acidic flavor. Acid/heat-coagulated cheeses like Ricotta are made by acidifying whey (or milk/whey mixtures) to pH 5.6–6.0 and heating the milk to 80 °C. The milk proteins rapidly denature and flocculate. Queso Blanco cheeses are fresh acid/heat-coagulated cheeses made in Latin American countries. The whey separation step can be performed by centrifugal separators (Cream and Quarg) or by whey drainage from curd particles (Cottage). The manufacture of fresh cheeses has been highly mechanized with the widespread use of processes such as membrane filtration or automated curd washing equipment. The low pH and high lactic acid content ensure product safety but shelf life is usually limited by the growth of yeasts and molds.
Analyze encryption and public key infrastructure (PKI)

The researcher opens with a brief description of symmetric and asymmetric encryption systems. Then the researcher presents an analysis, comparisons of asymmetric and symmetric encryption schemes and advantages and disadvantages of PKI (Public Key Infrastructure). Asymmetric encryption systems use different transmitter and receiver keys, and it is very difficult to derive one key from the other. Symmetric systems use one shared key. PKI is a set of hardware, software, policies, and technicians to manage an environment using public key digital certificates. The researcher addresses security, PKI, and solutions within cloud technology.
Ethnic Concentration, Co-Ethnic Participation: Mexican-American Civic Participation and Destination Context

Immigrant dispersion to non-traditional destinations offers scholars the opportunity to better understand the contextual mechanisms associated with immigrant civic and political incorporation. This paper analyzes how immigrant civic participation varies with co-ethnic concentration for the largest immigrant ethnic group in the United States. That is, do Mexican immigrants participate more amidst greater concentrations of their own group? Previous analyses have offered different theories about the role of ethnic concentration in immigrant participation and produced conflicting findings. While some studies suggest that ethnic concentration fosters immigrant participation by reducing linguistic and cultural barriers, others argue that it hinders participation by isolating immigrants among resource-poor peers. Drawing on the insights of spatial assimilation theories, I predict that the effects of ethnic concentration on co-ethnic participation will vary with immigrant generation. Employing new questions from the September supplements to the Current Population Survey, I analyze four types of civic participation using probit models that interact first-generation immigrant status with state-level Latino concentration. In line with predictions, I find that for Mexican-Americans in the second-generation and beyond, ethnic concentration is associated with declines in civic participation. In the same analyses, however, ethnic concentration is associated with a differential boost in participation for first-generation Mexican immigrants. Future analyses remain necessary to disentangle whether ethnic concentration or factors associated with it, such as the presence of immigrant-serving institutions, play the crucial role in supporting Mexican immigrant civic participation.
The use of cell cycle arrest biomarkers in the early detection of acute kidney injury: Is this the new renal troponin?

Acute kidney injury (AKI) has a high prevalence in critical care patients. Early detection might prevent patients from developing chronic kidney disease and requirement for renal replacement therapy. If we compare AKI with acute coronary syndrome, in which an increase in cardiac troponin may trigger early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention, we could extrapolate a similar technique in patients with early AKI without changes in urinary frequency or serum creatinine. The objective is to identify biomarker-positive, creatinine-negative patients that would allow therapeutic interventions to be initiated before finding changes in serum creatinine, preventing kidney damage. Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 are cell cycle arrest biomarkers that have demonstrated, in recent clinical trials, to have good sensitivity and specificity for early detection of AKI. Other recent studies have shown that the joint use of these biomarkers with serum creatinine and urine production could improve the prognosis of AKI in critical patients. The application of these biomarkers in clinical practice would enable the early identification of patients at risk of AKI, establishing interventions that would improve the survival of renal function.
Ultrathin optical combiner with microstructure mirrors in augmented reality

Using a waveguide as an optical combiner in optical see-through head-mounted displays has obvious advantages over other types of combiners due to its low-cost, light-weighted, ultra-thin and easily manufactured nature. In this paper, an ultra-thin, glasses-like augmented reality (AR) display system is presented. The design methods of the geometrical waveguide with microstructure mirrors and its freeform collimator are discussed. With freeform optics and ultra-thin waveguide configuration, this AR display can achieve 30° field of view (FOV) with an angular resolution of as high as 1.21 arcminutes.
Release, detection and toxicity of fragments generated during artificial accelerated weathering of CdSe/ZnS and CdSe quantum dot polymer composites

Next generation displays and lighting applications are increasingly using inorganic quantum dots (QDs) embedded in polymer matrices to impart bright and tunable emission properties. The toxicity of some heavy metals present in commercial QDs (e.g. cadmium) has, however, raised concerns about the potential for QDs embedded in polymer matrices to be released during the manufacture, use, and end-of-life phases of the material. One important potential release scenario that polymer composites can experience in the environment is photochemically induced matrix degradation. This process is not well understood at the molecular level. To study this process, the effect of an artificially accelerated weathering process on QD–polymer nanocomposites has been explored by subjecting CdSe and CdSe/ZnS QDs embedded in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) to UVC irradiation in aqueous media. Significant matrix degradation of QD–PMMA was observed along with measurable mass loss, yellowing of the nanocomposites, and a loss of QD fluorescence. While ICP-MS identified the release of ions, confocal laser scanning microscopy and dark-field hyperspectral imaging were shown to be effective analytical techniques for revealing that QD-containing polymer fragments were also released into aqueous media due to matrix degradation. Viability experiments, which were conducted with Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, showed a statistically significant decrease in bacterial viability when the bacteria were exposed to highly degraded QD-containing polymer fragments. Results from this study highlight the need to quantify not only the extent of nanoparticle release from a polymer nanocomposite but also to determine the form of the released nanoparticles (e.g. ions or polymer fragments).
Fractals in Nature Growing and Measuring Random Fractals

On the following two pages are several pictures of scraggly structures. What do they have in common? Answer the following questions and be prepared to discuss them. (1) How are these objects similar to each other in appearance? In what ways do these objects look different? (2) There are many ways to rank objects. For example, you can rank different students according to weight. You can also rank the same group of students by height or shoe size or age or hair color. Look at the photographs above and figure out different ways to rank these images. Rank the images them according to as many different criteria as you can think of. How inventive can you be? (3) The pictures show very different objects, yet their images look rather similar. Why do you think these objects look so much alike? Do you think it is a coincidence? If it is not a coincidence, what are possible ways that their similarity might come from a common cause?
Control of a multi-joint arm using a trial-and-error heuristic and a neural network

We have developed a scheme that combines a gradient descent method, a trial-and-error heuristic and a neural network to control the reaching motion of a multi-joint arm. The arm can reach a target by avoiding obstacles in many cases. The basic control of the arm’s motion is made by a gradient descent on the potential field where a target and obstacles are represented as a low potential source and high potential sources, respectively. When the gradient descent gets stuck in a local minimum, the trial-and-error heuristic puts a high potential source, similar to the one for an obstacle, at the local minimum. Then the arm is reset to the initial- posture and begins the reaching motion again. The neural network learns good configurations of such high potential sources to fill in the local minima for various configurations of a target and obstacles from the past experiences of the trial-and-error. The neural network is shown to be helpful in reducing the number of trials not only in experienced cases but also in unknown cases, by guessing where to add the potential sources to prevent getting stuck.
Neurofilaments and Radial Growth: Deconstruction of a Hypothesis Through the Construction of Gene Targeted Mice

Radial axonal growth determines the diameter of myelinated axons, which is one major axonal property that influences the rate of impulse propagation along the axon. Prior to the development of neurofilament gene-targeted mice, it was thought that radial growth was mediated by myelin-dependent phosphorylation of neurofilament heavy and neurofilament medium within the axon. The systematic analysis of gene-targeted mice has furthered our understanding of the role of neurofilaments in radial growth but these analyses have also led to surprising new insights that have challenged the proposed role of neurofilament carboxy terminal phosphorylation in establishing axonal diameter. In this review, the contribution of each neurofilament gene-targeted mouse to our current understanding of the role of neurofilaments and neurofilament phosphorylation in radial axonal growth is discussed.
Schopenhauer: The Implicit Irony of Pessimism

“To be undeceived into deception, disillusioned into illusion, to despise the will and yet be most energetic in creation, to have ‘done with the world’ and yet ‘redeem’ it, as Tonio Kroger says — it is such contradictory wishes that find their philosophical guardian in Schopenhauer.”1
Effects of cytokine gene therapy on particulate-induced inflammation in the murine air pouch.

Retroviral vectors encoding the human IL-1 antagonist (IL-1Ra) gene and the human tumor necrosis factor soluble receptor (sTNF-R) gene were investigated using an in vivo model of the inflammatory response to orthopedic wear debris. Air pouches established in BALB/c mice were injected with polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) particles to provoke an inflammatory reaction, and infected with retroviral vectors expressing IL-1Ra, sTNF-R or a LacZ marker gene. Pouch membranes and fluids were harvested after 48 or 72 hours for analyses. Positive PCR reactions for Neo genes were observed specifically in DNA extracted from the membrane of retroviral-infected pouches. ELISA assays revealed the presence of human IL-1Ra in pouch fluid from DFG-IRAP-Neo transduced mice, but not control animals. Histological evaluation indicated that the IL-1Ra gene transfer was associated with markedly decreased inflammation in the model, with resolution of the edematous phase of the reaction, decreased pouch fluid accumulation, and lowered macrophage influx. The data suggest that the air pouch model represents a useful tool to evaluate gene therapy, and demonstrate that IL-1Ra gene therapy may be an appropriate therapeutic approach to inflammation.
mTADA: a framework for analyzing de novo mutations in multiple traits

Joint analysis of multiple traits can result in the identification of associations not found through the analysis of each trait in isolation. In addition, approaches that consider multiple traits can aid in the characterization of shared genetic etiology among those traits. In recent years, parent-offspring trio studies have reported an enrichment of de novo mutations (DNMs) in neuropsychiatric disorders. The analysis of DNM data in the context of neuropsychiatric disorders has implicated multiple putatively causal genes, and a number of reported genes are shared across disorders. However, a joint analysis method designed to integrate de novo mutation data from multiple studies has yet to be implemented. We here introduce multiple-trait TADA (mTADA) which jointly analyzes two traits using DNMs from non-overlapping family samples. mTADA uses two single-trait analysis data sets to estimate the proportion of overlapping risk genes, and reports genes shared between and specific to the relevant disorders. We applied mTADA to >13,000 trios for six disorders: schizophrenia (SCZ), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), developmental disorders (DD), intellectual disability (ID), epilepsy (EPI), and congenital heart disease (CHD). We report the proportion of overlapping risk genes and the specific risk genes shared for each pair of disorders. A total of 153 genes were found to be shared in at least one pair of disorders. The largest percentages of shared risk genes were observed for pairs of DD, ID, ASD, and CHD (>20%) whereas SCZ, CHD, and EPI did not show strong overlaps in risk gene set between them. Furthermore, mTADA identified additional SCZ, EPI and CHD risk genes through integration with DD de novo mutation data. For CHD, using DD information, 31 risk genes with posterior probabilities > 0.8 were identified, and 20 of these 31 genes were not in the list of known CHD genes. We find evidence that most significant CHD risk genes are strongly expressed in prenatal stages of the human genes. Finally, we validated our findings for CHD and EPI in independent cohorts comprising 1241 CHD trios, 226 CHD singletons and 197 EPI trios. Multiple novel risk genes identified by mTADA also had de novo mutations in these independent data sets. The joint analysis method introduced here, mTADA, is able to identify risk genes shared by two traits as well as additional risk genes not found through single-trait analysis only. A number of risk genes reported by mTADA are identified only through joint analysis, specifically when ASD, DD, or ID are one of the two traits examined. This suggests that novel genes for the trait or a new trait might converge to a core-gene list of the three traits.
Media Framing of Transgender Athletes: Contradictions and Paradoxes in Coverage of MMA Fighter Fallon Fox

Increased attention to and acceptance of transgender people has begun to enter mainstream conversation and take root in popular culture. However, media coverage of transgender people has tended to present narratives that restrict the range of gender meanings and recuperate gender challenges back into conventional binary categories. Similarly, sport organizations have traditionally been quite hostile toward bodies that transgress the gender binary. Given this context, the current chapter discusses media coverage of transgender mixed-martial arts (MMA) athlete Fallon Fox. Ultimately, media coverage of trans athletes is likely to include many contradictions and paradoxes, which is representative of broader difficulties associated with maintaining a system of strict sex segregation in sport.