cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pathogenesis of Hepatic Steatosis and Fibrosis: Role of Leptin

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) encompasses a spectrum of liver abnormalities, ranging from simple steatosis, to steatohepatitis and cirrhosis, in the absence of “excessive” alcohol consumption or any other identifiable cause(s) for liver disease [1]. Histologically, NAFLD can be categorized into: (1) simple steatosis in the absence of hepatocellular injury (nonalcoholic fatty liver, NAFL); and (2) steatohepatitis (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, NASH), characterized by the presence of steatosis and inflammation with hepatic injury (ballooning), with or without fibrosis [1]. NASH can progress to cirrhosis, liver failure, and rarely liver cancer, whereas the progression to more severe forms of liver disease is minimal in patients with NAFL. Steatosis is the hallmark of NAFL and NAFLD and can be defined chemically, when intrahepatic triglyceride (IHTG) content exceeds 5 % of liver volume or liver weight [2], histologically, when 5 % of hepatocytes contain visible intracellular triglyceride [3], and radiologically, by using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) [4]. The results from one study in subjects who were considered to be at low-risk for NAFLD (i.e., normal weight, normal fasting serum glucose and alanine aminotransferase concentrations, and absence of diabetes) indicate an upper “normal” amount of IHTG of 5.6 % of liver volume, which represented the 95th percentile in this population [5]. Data from another study found the 95th percentile for IHTG content was 3 % in young lean subjects with normal oral glucose tolerance [6].
CELLULAR MECHANISMS AND NEURONAL NETWORK OF A CIRCADIAN CLOCK IN THE EYE OF APLYSIA

ABSTRACT The isolated eye of Aplysia expresses a circadian rhythm of neuronal activity when maintained in culture medium in darkness. The eye contains ~ 5000 neurons of 3 basic types; 2 photoreceptors and 1 secondary neuron. These cells have been studied with intracellular recording and Lucifer yellow dye injection. One receptor type, R, gives graded depolarization to light but is silent during spontaneous dark activity and expression of the circadian rhythm. Another receptor type, H, responds to light with complex depolarization and spiking followed by hyperpolarization and silence. These two receptors may correspond to the microvillus and ciliated photoreceptor seen in electron microscopy studies. Dye injection of each of the receptors shows they have axons in the optic nerve and dendritic branching in the neuropile. The secondary or “D” cells also have axons in the optic nerve and their somata are situated in a non-receptor layer. These cells are autoactive in the dark and are the output neurons of the circadian rhythm of activity. Studies on the cellular mechanisms of the circadian clock show that the daily synthesis of protein is part of the clock mechanism. Protein synthesis inhibitors cause dose dependent lengthening of the period of the clock, and phase dependent phase shifts of the rhythm are obtained when the inhibitors are pulsed. Hypothetically, the circadian clock could consist of protein synthesis on a daily basis, where the protein influences membrane pacemaker and burst activity and also has a negative feedback effect on synthesis at the translational or transcriptional level.
Intermediates and Mechanism in Iron-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling.

Iron-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions have attracted significant research interest, as they offer numerous favorable features compared with cross-coupling reactions with precious metal catalysis. While this research has contributed to an empirical understanding of iron-catalyzed cross-coupling, the underlying fundamental mechanisms of reaction and structures of catalytically active species have remained poorly defined. The lack of such detail can be attributed to the difficulties associated with studying such iron-catalyzed reactions, where unstable paramagnetic intermediates abound. Recently, the combined application of physical-inorganic spectroscopic methods, concomitant organic product analysis, and air- and temperature-sensitive inorganic synthesis has yielded the most detailed insight currently available on reactivity and mechanism in iron-catalyzed cross-coupling. This Perspective highlights this approach and the limitations of the contributing techniques as well as some of the key features of th...
Use of Biomarkers for Studying the Effects of Pesticides on Freshwater Organisms

Abstract A biomarker, or biological marker, is an indicator of a biological state. It is a characteristic that can be measured and evaluated directly as an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes or pharmacologic responses to a therapeutic intervention. The sublethal effects of toxicants on hematological parameters, enzymatic activity, and intermediary metabolites can reveal the state of fish health and can be used to measure possible environmental impacts. Biomarkers are biochemical, cellular, physiological, or behavioral parameters that can be measured in tissue or body fluid samples of the whole organism, providing evidence of exposure to and/or effects of one or more chemical pollutants. In this chapter we present some examples of biomarkers used to assess pesticide effects in fish.
Smithian rhetoric, Listian practice: the Matsukata ‘retrenchment’ and industrial policy, 1881–1885

AbstractA widely accepted view of the Matsukata financial reform of 1881–1885 is that, by privatizing the state’s non-military factories and shipyards as well as mines, the reform produced a dramatic change in industrial policy away from direct government intervention in the economy, in keeping with classical European economic liberalism. In addition, the sale of state enterprises is seen as having played an integral role in Matsukata’s program of financial stabilization, which some have claimed resembled IMF-style neoliberal reforms of the late twentieth century. In this article, I argue that these understandings require considerable qualification. For one thing, government spending on industry actually rose during the Matsukata reform compared with the previous four years, and the privatization of state enterprises contributed little to the reform itself. While the government adopted the divestiture program a year before Matsukata became finance minister, most of the sales, including the biggest ones of...
Rhodococcus equi-specific hyperimmune plasma administration decreases faecal shedding of pathogenic R. equi in foals

Rhodococcus equi is the most common cause of pneumonia in young foals. Pneumonic foals are an important source of environmental contamination as they shed higher amounts of R. equi in their faeces than unaffected foals. As R. equi-specific hyperimmune plasma (HIP) lessens clinical pneumonia, we hypothesise that its use would result in decreased faecal shedding of R. equi by foals. Neonatal foals were either given HIP (n=12) or nothing (n=9, control) shortly after birth and were then experimentally infected with R. equi Faeces were collected before and on weeks 2, 3, 5 and 7 after infection. Presence of virulent R. equi was tested using qPCR. There was strong evidence of an association between HIP administration and a decrease in faecal shedding of virulent R. equi (P=0.031 by Pearson chi-squared test). Foals in the control shed significantly more R. equi (colony-forming units/ml) than foals that received HIP (P=0.008 by Mann-Whitney rank-sum test). While our study is the first to report this additional benefit of HIP administration, future studies are needed to evaluate the implications of its use under field conditions.
Animal Models of Alzheimer’s Disease

The pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) include the development of plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. The plaques are composed predominantly of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide, whereas the neurofibrillary tangles are composed of hyperphosphorylated forms of the protein tau. Animal models have been generated that mimic aspects of AD. Generally, these models are based on point mutations in the amyloid precursor protein (APP), presenilin (PS) 1, and tau that result in rare autosomal dominant familial forms of AD and fronto-temporal dementia. The normal processing of APP is altered in the presence of mutations in APP and PS, thus leading to abnormal production or an increased aggregation of Aβ and its subsequent accumulation. While mutations in tau do not result in AD, they do cause tau accumulation and tangle formation in both humans and animal models. Advances in AD that may ultimately lead to a better understanding as well as treatments have increased in part due to the generation of animal models that mimic certain aspects of AD. Several of these models are discussed in this article.
Exploiting the reference genome sequence of hexaploid wheat: a proteomic study of flour proteins from the cultivar Chinese Spring

Although the economic value of wheat flour is determined by the complement of gluten proteins, these proteins have been challenging to study because of the complexity of the major protein groups and the tremendous sequence diversity among wheat cultivars. The completion of a high-quality wheat genome sequence from the reference wheat Chinese Spring recently facilitated the assembly and annotation of a complete set of gluten protein genes from a single cultivar, making it possible to link individual proteins in the flour to specific gene sequences. In a proteomic analysis of total wheat flour protein from Chinese Spring using quantitative two-dimensional gel electrophoresis combined with tandem mass spectrometry, gliadins or low-molecular-weight glutenin subunits were identified as the predominant proteins in 72 protein spots. Individual spots were associated with 40 of 56 Chinese Spring gene sequences, including 16 of 26 alpha gliadins, 10 of 11 gamma gliadins, six of seven omega gliadins, one of two delta gliadins, and nine of ten LMW-GS. Most genes that were not associated with protein spots were either expressed at low levels in endosperm or encoded proteins with high similarity to other proteins. A wide range of protein accumulation levels were observed and discrepancies between transcript levels and protein levels were noted. This work together with similar studies using other commercial cultivars should provide new insight into the molecular basis of wheat flour quality and allergenic potential.
Abstract 968: Targeting intratumoral heterogeneity in TNBC with novel combinations of FDA-approved drugs

Triple negative breast cancer, like so many other solid tumors, has intratumoral heterogeneity which makes it difficult to treat. It is paramount to understand the question, “where does the intratumoral heterogeneity come from?” To that end, we developed a dual color reporter cell line using CRISPR/Cas9 to precisely knock in fluorescent proteins, mCherry and EGFP, behind CSC marker ALDH1A3 and differentiation marker CD24 respectively, in the TNBC cell line SUM149. With fluorescent microscopy we are able to track individual cells over time, view symmetrical and asymmetrical self-renewal, differentiation, and lineage restriction. Through direct observation we determined that the intratumoral heterogeneity comes from CSCs. In short, CSCs give rise to all the different cell types found within TNBC. Once we established the reporter cell line we wanted to ensure that any response to therapeutics was the same as in the parental SUM149 cell line. In the past, we have treated parental SUM149 with docetaxel or sulforaphane. We therefore treated our reporter cells with either docetaxel or sulforaphane. The sulforaphane treatment resulted in a significant reduction of CSCs while the docetaxel resulted in significantly more CSCs, both results matched the results from parental SUM149. To our surprise the docetaxel treatment result was due to the significant de-differentiation of mCherrylow to mCherryhigh cells. The de-differentiation and incomplete elimination of the heterogeneous cell populations pose a significant problem for TNBC patients, one that must be addressed. In order to overcome this issue, we will use our reporter cells to test already approved FDA drugs to find and evaluate novel combinations for their ability to completely eliminate the heterogeneous cell populations found within TNBC. Citation Format: Nathan A. Truchan, Joseph P. Burnett, Duxin Sun. Targeting intratumoral heterogeneity in TNBC with novel combinations of FDA-approved drugs [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 968.
Ultrasound Ablation in Neurosurgery: Current Clinical Applications and Future Perspectives

The concept of focusing high-intensity ultrasound beams for the purpose of cerebral ablation has interested neurosurgeons for more than 70 yr. However, the need for a craniectomy or a cranial acoustic window hindered the clinical diffusion of this technique. Recent technological advances, including the development of phased-array transducers and magnetic resonance imaging technology, have rekindled the interest in ultrasound for ablative brain surgery and have led to the development of the transcranial magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) thermal ablation procedure. In the last decade, this method has become increasingly popular, and its clinical applications are broadening. Despite the demonstrated efficacy of MRgFUS, transcranial thermal ablation using ultrasound is limited in that it can target exclusively the central region of the brain where the multiple acoustic beams are most optimally focused. On the contrary, lesioning of the cortex, the superficial subcortical areas, and regions close to the skull base is not possible with the limited treatment envelope of current phased-array transducers. Therefore, new ultrasound ablative techniques, which are not based on thermal mechanisms, have been developed and tested in experimental settings. This review describes the mechanisms by which these novel, nonthermal ablative techniques are based and also presents the current clinical applications of MRgFUS thermal ablation.
Bone‐Specific Metabolism of Dietary Polyphenols in Resorptive Bone Diseases

SCOPE Curcumin prevents bone loss in resorptive bone diseases and inhibits osteoclast formation, a key process driving bone loss. Curcumin circulates as an inactive glucuronide that can be deconjugated in situ by bone's high β-glucuronidase (GUSB) content, forming the active aglycone. Because curcumin is a common remedy for musculoskeletal disease, effects of microenvironmental changes consequent to skeletal development or disease on bone curcumin metabolism are explored. METHODS AND RESULTS Across sexual/skeletal development or between sexes in C57BL/6 mice ingesting curcumin (500 mg kg-1 ), bone curcumin metabolism and GUSB enzyme activity are unchanged, except for >twofold higher (p twofold higher. Aglycone curcumin levels tend to increase proportional to substrate such that the majority of glucuronide distributing to bone is deconjugated, including OVX mice where GUSB decreases by 24% (p < 0.01). GUSB also catalyzes deconjugation of resveratrol and quercetin glucuronides by bone, and a requirement for the aglycones for anti-osteoclastogenic bioactivity, analogous to curcumin, is confirmed. CONCLUSION Dietary polyphenols circulating as glucuronides may require in situ deconjugation for bone-protective effects, a process influenced by bone microenvironmental changes.
Lattice disorder effect on magnetic ordering of iron arsenides.

This study investigates magnetic ordering temperature in nano- and mesoscale structural features in an iron arsenide. Although magnetic ground states in quantum materials can be theoretically predicted from known crystal structures and chemical compositions, the ordering temperature is harder to pinpoint due to potential local lattice variations that calculations may not account for. In this work we find surprisingly that a locally disordered material can exhibit a significantly larger Neel temperature (TN) than an ordered material of precisely the same chemical stoichiometry. Here, a EuFe2As2 crystal, which is a ‘122’ parent of iron arsenide superconductors, is found through synthesis to have ordering below TN = 195 K (for the locally disordered crystal) or TN = 175 K (for the ordered crystal). In the higher TN crystals, there are shorter planar Fe-Fe bonds [2.7692(2) A vs. 2.7745(3) A], a randomized in-plane defect structure, and diffuse scattering along the [00 L] crystallographic direction that manifests as a rather broad specific heat peak. For the lower TN crystals, the a-lattice parameter is larger and the in-plane microscopic structure shows defect ordering along the antiphase boundaries, giving a larger TN and a higher superconducting temperature (Tc) upon the application of pressure. First-principles calculations find a strong interaction between c-axis strain and interlayer magnetic coupling, but little impact of planar strain on the magnetic order. Neutron single-crystal diffraction shows that the low-temperature magnetic phase transition due to localized Eu moments is not lattice or disorder sensitive, unlike the higher-temperature Fe sublattice ordering. This study demonstrates a higher magnetic ordering point arising from local disorder in 122.
Conclusion: Romantic Currents of Thought: An Open Ending

In the introduction to this volume, I noted that the revival begun in 2005 has only intensified in recent years. Several of the contributors to this volume have fueled the return to Romanticism. In this brief conclusion, I point to new work and the paths that have been opened in the field of German Romantic Philosophy.
Treatment of the Aging Neck

Summary Various procedures for treatment of the aging neck have been described. Although many of the conservative procedures are quite useful, it is important to re-emphasize that a full, traditional facelift offers the best means for significantly improving the neck. The neck is probably the area in which the traditional facelift is most effective. For patients who seek a more conservative approach, many of the procedure discussed can be quite useful and, in some cases, provide dramatic improvement.
Functional Neuroanatomy and Mechanism of Sleep

This chapter summarizes neuroanatomical substrates of sleep-wake states and outlines the contemporary views of their mechanisms. This chapter begins with a brief historical note to put the topic in proper perspective. The work on this topic is derived from animal experiments and three main animal models. We tried to cut through the complex experiments and describe the functional anatomy and mechanisms of traditional three states of our existence using boxes and figures. The concluding paragraph simplifies the mechanism by stating that inhibition and disinhibition in a reciprocal manner play the most significant role in sleep-wake generation illustrating one of the most visionary principles of neurophysiology.
Retaining diverse adults with diabetes in a long-term trial: Strategies, successes, and lessons learned.

Abstract Background Retention can be difficult in longitudinal trials, especially among minoritized groups and individuals with low socioeconomic status (SES) who may experience more barriers to research participation. Organized retention strategies may help; however, limited research has reported on this in detail. Methods We employed several strategies throughout a 15-month randomized controlled trial to encourage retention among a diverse sample of adults with type 2 diabetes. Participants were randomized to receive mobile health support for diabetes self-care for 12 months or an attention control. Participants completed assessments at 3, 6, 12, and 15 months post-baseline. We used three main categories of retention strategies: flexibility in participation (e.g., multiple methods for data collection), communication (e.g., tracking contacts), and community building (e.g., study branding, newsletters). We monitored participants' use of strategies and examined associations between participant characteristics and retention. Results Retention remained high (≥90%) at each follow-up assessment. Participants used various methods for survey completion: online (34%), in-person (31%), and mail (30%). Most (73%) used a mail-in A1c kit at least once. Multiple completion methods were important for retaining minoritized and lower SES participants who completed assessments in-person more frequently. Communication also facilitated retention; 39% of participants used a study Helpline and tracking systems helped maintain contact. Conclusions Retaining disadvantaged patients in clinical trials is necessary so findings generalize to and can benefit these populations. Retention strategies that reduce barriers to participation and engage participants and community partners can be successful. Future studies should assess the impact of retention strategies.
“A Ship Richly Laden”: Isaac de Brac, Dutch Merchant on the Rio de la Plata, 1655–1665

By focusing on the example of one Dutch merchant captain, Isaac de Brac, this chapter examines the trans-national networks of trade that brought at least 63 Dutch ships to the Rio de la Plata during the 1550s and 1560s and illuminates what it took to align the local, regional, and Atlantic interests that facilitated Dutch trade through Buenos Aires. In multiple trips to the Rio de la Plata, de Brac, with the cooperation of Governor Pedro de Baygorri y Ruiz, brought ships “loaded with merchandise which he sold at significant profit, taking away silver and hides,” was feted by Governor Baygorri who requested that de Brac publicize his trading success in Amsterdam, and helped defeat French privateers in the estuary.
Report from the Editor (2021)

Report presented at the meeting of the Executive Council of the Latin American Studies Association Virtual Congress, May 26–29, 2021.
Conservatism Gets Funded? A Field Experiment on the Role of Negative Information in Novel Project Evaluation

The evaluation and selection of novel projects lies at the heart of scientific and technological innovation, and yet there are persistent concerns about bias, such as conservatism. This paper inves...
Small Animal Clinical Quiz

A ten-year old male Standard Poodle was brought into your hospital because the owner noticed that the dog had not been feeling well. It was obvious that the dog was severely depressed. The dog had a history of renal problems for the past two years. At that time you diagnosed the con­ ditionas chronic interstitial nephritis. The dog was treated symptomatically and sent home ona special diet. You had presumed that the dog had improved since you hadn't heard from the client until now. However, now the condition had become worse. The dog had become quite uremic and had a fetid breath. The dog had vomited at and the dog walked with an arched back. Upon further physical examination you noticed that the dog's teeth were heavily encrusted with tartar. As you scraped off a piece of tartar, you noticed that the en­ tire row of teeth on one side of the mand­ ible was loose and easily moved. As the clinician in charge you requested that the animal be retained at the hospital so that some clinico-pathological tests could be run oit the dog. A blood and urine sample were drawn and sent to the lab. The re­ sults can be seen in Table I. Based upon the history and clinical find­ ings, what is your diagnosis?
A 4th-order bandpass /spl Delta//spl Sigma/ modulator with reduced number of op amps

In this work, a single-sideband modulation technique is applied to implement a 4th-order bandpass /spl Delta//spl Sigma/ modulator using two op amps instead of four. The modulator is in principle a 2-path system, but is designed to have path mismatch and offset effects canceled to a first order.
Dietary calcium levels and treatment interval determine the effects of lead ingestion on plasma 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D concentration in chicks.

The combined effects of dietary calcium level and lead level on several indices of vitamin D endocrine function were examined in young, growing chicks. Day-old animals fed a nutritionally adequate diet for 2 wk were fed diets either adequate (1.2%) or low (0.1%) in calcium, and containing 0, 0.2 or 0.8% lead for an additional 1 or 2 wk. In the calcium-adequate group, lead ingestion significantly elevated intestinal calbindin-D 28k protein and mRNA levels as well as plasma 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D concentration compared with the control animals fed a lead-free diet. The effect was apparent after 1 wk of treatment and continued through wk 2. In the calcium-deficient group, the early (1 wk) increases in plasma 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D and calbindln-D 28k protein and mRNA were significantly reversed by lead ingestion over the 2-wk trial period in a dose-dependent fashion. In these circumstances, vitamin D endocrine function is severely compromised. Therefore, lead ingestion may result in either enhanced or diminished circulating 1,25-dihydroxyvtamin D concentrations and ensuing intestinal responses, depending of dietary calcium level and the duration of lead intake. These results provide possible explanations for several apparently conflicting sets of observations regarding lead-calcium interactions
Friend leukemia and mouse endogenous viruses. II. Proteins of Friend leukemia and mouse endogenous C-type particles produced by BALB/c mouse cell cultures.

Abstract The polypeptide patterns of con A-isolated Friend leukemia virus and other particles of density 1.18 that are spontaneously produced by Friend-infected and uninfected BALB c mouse cells are analyzed in high-resolution SDS-acrylamide gradient gels. Agglutination of virions by con A and fractionation of α-methyl mannose-dissociated complexes in sucrose equilibrium gradients yields a pattern associated with FLV (density 1.16) that contains at least 20 polypeptides of MW 30,000–218,000. The pattern includes the major structural polypeptide of MuLV, MW 34,000, and, compared to published patterns, it has a lower proportion of smaller polypeptides. Relative to serum albumin, a major component of culture medium, virion polypeptides are purified at least 50,000-fold, and the specific leukemia virus infectivity of isolates is approximately 1 PFU/800 particles. Though they are morphologically indistinguishable from FLV, and similarly contain viral 60–70 S RNA, spontaneously arising BALB c endogenous viruses (density 1.18) possess a recognizable complement of at least 26 polypeptides including a major one of MW 44,000. The pattern includes a glycopolypeptide of MW 14,000 that is not found in FLV. Like the FLV pattern, the majority of polypeptides are of MW 30,000–218,000. The greater number of polypeptides in endogenous virus suggests that the pattern may be derived from a mixture of particles, as suggested previously by others, and some evidence for mutual interaction between FLV and coproduced endogenous viruses is presented.
Pathophysiology of renal injury in patients with acute rhabdomyolysis associated with sympathomimetic drug abuse

Recognizing the ischemic effects of sympathomimetic toxins on various vascular beds, we hypothesized that renal insufficiency in the setting of cocaine and amphetamine-related rhabdomolysis is associated with direct ischemic injury to renal tubules that is independent of the extent of muscle damage and volume depletion.
Methods of Relevance Ranking and Hit-content Generation in Math Search

To be effective and useful, math search systems must not only maximize precision and recall, but also present the query hits in a form that makes it easy for the user to identify quickly the truly relevant hits. To meet that requirement, the search system must sort the hits according to domain-appropriate relevance criteria, and provide with each hit a query-relevant summary of the hit target. The standard relevance measures in text search, which rely mostly on keyword frequencies and document sizes, turned out to be inadequate in math search. Therefore, alternative relevance measures must be defined, which give more weight to certain types of information than to others and take into account cross-reference statistics. In this paper, new, multidimensional relevance metrics are defined for math search, methods for computing and implementing them are discussed, and comparative performance evaluation results are presented. Query-relevant hit-summary generation is another factor that enables users to quickly determine the relevance of the presented hits. Although the hit title accompanied by a few leading sentences from the target document is simple to produce, this often fails to convey to the user the document's relevant excerpts. This shifts the burden onto the user to pursue many of the hits, and read significant portions of their target documents, to finally locate the wanted documents. Clearly, this task is too time-consuming and should be largely automated. This paper presents query-relevant hit-summary generation methods, outlines implementation strategies, and presents performance evaluation results.
Radioactive particle analysis by digital autoradiography.

We have been exploring ways to evaluate the activity of radioactive particles that have been detected by phosphor plate digital autoradiography based on photostimulated luminescence (PSL). A PSL system with 25 μm pixel digitization has been applied to particle analysis problems, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Two data evaluation methods are currently employed: (1) bulk area signal measurement, and (2) discrete event counting which may include spectral evaluation. The first method is conventional, whereas the second method requires high spatial resolution and is presented here for the first time. The counting methods can discriminate between alpha and background counts. The unshielded background signal accumulation rate was determined by the bulk area method. Using the spectral method of evaluation for α-particle events, the mean signal intensity per recorded α-particle was measured, and the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) was found to be nominally 100%. We present a comparison to gamma-spectrometry for sub-Bq 137Cs activities, and demonstrate an application for the qualitative assay of International Atomic Energy Agency swipe samples collected from uranium enrichment facilities.
Influence of streamside buffers on stream temperature response following clear-cut harvesting in western Oregon

Determining the effectiveness of different riparian buffers for mitigating forest-harvesting impacts on stream temperatures continues to be of interest throughout the world. Four small, low or medi...
Proteomics: A Molecular Scanner in Medicine

Proteomics is the large-scale identification and characterization of proteins and posttranslational modifications. Several proteomic methodologies, especially microarrays and mass spectrometry, offer the promise of use in a variety of clinical settings. Keywords: mass spectrometry; genomics; posttranslational modifications; diagnostic markers; chips
Largemouth bass predators reduce growth, feeding and movement in juvenile channel catfish

Fine ML, Mayo MS, Newton SH, Sismour EN. Largemouth bass predators reduce growth, feeding and movement in juvenile channel catfish. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 2011: 20: 114–119. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S Abstract – Animals utilise sensory cues to make decisions that will decrease their vulnerability to predation. With a well-developed olfactory system and taste buds located inside the mouth and on the external body surface, catfishes are excellent subjects to investigate nonconsumptive predator effects. Juvenile channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus are often eaten by largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides, and we tested the hypothesis that largemouth bass fed catfish would adversely affect foraging and growth in channel catfish. Groups of catfish were placed in tanks partitioned by a mesh screen: experimental tanks had a largemouth bass on the other half of the tank, and control tanks had an empty chamber. Experimental catfish exhibited a long-term decrease in spontaneous motion, feeding and growth. Feeding catfish to the bass caused the experimental catfish to freeze after a multi-second latency suggesting transport of an alarm cue. Thus, there were long-term effects from the continuous presence of the bass and additional short-term cues from the bass consuming a catfish.
Computing Ready Simulations Efficiently

Ready simulation is the finest fully abstract notion of process equivalence in the CCS setting. We give an O(mn + n 2)-time algorithm for deciding when n-state, m-transition processes are ready similar; a substantial improvement on the Θ(mn 6) algorithm presented in [4].
Are the elderly with oropharyngeal carcinoma undertreated

Objectives/Hypothesis To determine if elderly patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) are receiving less treatment and to evaluate the benefit of aggressive therapy in this population. Study Design Retrospective analysis of a large population database. Methods Patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database with OPSCC diagnosed from 2004 to 2009 were included. The patients were categorized into age groups 45 to 54, 55 to 64, 65 to 74, 75 to 84, and 85 years and older, then further categorized by treatment status. Kaplan-Meier analysis of disease-specific survival (DSS) for late-stage (III and IV) OPSCC was performed for all age and treatment categories, followed by a multivariate cox regression of treatment status, tumor site, race, stage, and sex per age group. Results A total of 14,909 patients with OPSCC were identified. In our demographic data, we observed a significant increase in the number of patients who did not receive treatment (surgery, radiation, or combined therapy) after age 55. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that age groups 65 to 74 and 75 to 84 had substantial benefits in DSS with surgery, radiation, or combined therapy. Multivariable analysis did not demonstrate any statistically significant difference in the hazard ratios for combined treatment among age groups 45 to 54, 55 to 64, 65 to 74, and 75 to 84. Conclusions Proportionally fewer elderly patients with OPSCC are being treated than younger individuals. These patients can have significant benefits from aggressive treatments despite their older age as shown by our survival analysis. We recommend the use of objective measures to assess patient fitness to reduce the potential for undertreatment in the elderly population. Level of Evidence 2b Laryngoscope, 124:2057–2063, 2014
PROFIT‐PLANNING AND THE FINANCE FUNCTION

IT IS OUR BELIEF that the attention given to profit-planning in the literature on business finance does not reflect its importance to the financial activities of the modern business firm. For this reason, at least in part, we feel that students of finance have not made the contribution to this area of analysis that is justified by their background and interests. In order to sustain this position, we endeavor in this paper to evaluate the importance of the profit-planning aspects of the finance function as practiced in business today; to discuss some tools of profit-planning, particularly the break-even point, which are often employed by business firms in their financial analyses; and finally to demonstrate the relationship between the individual-product and over-all break-even points in order both to clarify this problem and to show how the application of some simple analytic techniques may improve the results of accounting presentations.
Carrier density and effective mass calculations in carbon nanotubes

In this work, the intrinsic carrier concentration and doping effects have been investigated for different carbon nanotubes. Electronic structure and the density of states functions have been utilized to derive analytical equations for the carrier concentration under high and low doping concentrations. The temperature dependence has also been investigated. The results show how varying diameters and wrapping angles of carbon nanotubes change their concentration profile. The implications of these results allow us to use the same material (carbon nanotube) for a wide range of applications only by varying the chiral vector (n,m). The calculations performed in this work set an upper limit for a wide range of applications including carbon nanotube interconnects and carbon nanotube field effect transistors. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Ectomycorrhizal colonization slows root decomposition: the post‐mortem fungal legacy

The amount of carbon plants allocate to mycorrhizal symbionts exceeds that emitted by human activity annually. Senescent ectomycorrhizal roots represent a large input of carbon into soils, but their fate remains unknown. Here, we present the surprising result that, despite much higher nitrogen concentrations, roots colonized by ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi lost only one-third as much carbon as non-mycorrhizal roots after 2 years of decomposition in a pinon pine (Pinus edulis) woodland. Experimentally excluding live mycorrhizal hyphae from litter, we found that live mycorrhizal hyphae may alter nitrogen dynamics, but the afterlife (litter-mediated) effects of EM fungi outweigh the influences of live fungi on root decomposition. Our findings indicate that a shift in plant allocation to mycorrhizal fungi could promote carbon accumulation in soil by this pathway. Furthermore, EM litters could directly contribute to the process of stable soil organic matter formation, a mechanism that has eluded soil scientists.
Why luminance discrimination may be better than detection.

Abstract Signal Detection Theory (SDT) predicts that the presence of uncertainty will diminish the observer's sensitivity to visual signals, and increase the exponent of the psychometric function. The first prediction has been confirmed previously with spatial and chromatic uncertainty. The second prediction is confirmed in this paper. The psychometric function is commonly found to be a positive accelerating function of intensity. This has been explained by two competing theories: the uncertainty hypothesis and the nonlinear transducer theory. A second experiment is conducted to distinguish between these theories. The results of this experiment are inconsistent with the nonlinear transducer theory.
Impact of longitudinal flying qualities upon the design of a transport with active controls

Direct constrained parameter optimization was used to optimally size a medium range transport for minimum direct operating cost. Several stability and control constraints were varied to study the sensitivity of the configuration to specifying the unaugmented flying qualities of transports designed with relaxed static stability. Additionally, a number of handling quality related design constants were studied with respect to their impact to the design.
On Antheridial Metabolism in the Fern Species Onoclea sensibilis L.

D6pp (1) demonstrated that the extract from mature prothalli of the fern species Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn hastened the onset of antheridium formation in young prothalli of this species by several days and in the prothalli of Dryopteris filixmas (L). Schott by several weeks. D6pp's conclusion that the prothalli of P. aquilinum elaborate a specific antheridium-inducing factor was confirmed. Conditions were defined under which the prothallial extract and the medium of 4 to 6-week-old cultures of P. aquilinum were mostly active to a dilution of 1: 30,000 if assayed against the prothalli of the fern species Onoclea sensibilis L. (4, 8, 10). The prothalli of this species proved ideal for assaying antheridiuminducing activity for various reasons (3, 4, 8, 10). Using this assay, the active substance was isolated and partially characterized (11, 12). The prothalli of 0. sensibilis (5) and of P. aquilinum (3, 5) lose their competence to form antheridia in the presence of the antheridial factor soon after they attain heart-shape. In 0. sensibilis the loss of sensitivity to the antheridial factor is completed within a period of less than 2 days (5). Cnce the prothalli are insensitive they fail to form antheridia even if the antheridial factor is supplied at a concentration 15,000 times higher than that sufficient to induce antheridia in younger prothalli. Surgical experiments led D6pp (2) to conclude that this loss of sensitivity must be ascribed to a substance, termed by him the H-Substanz, which is elaborated by the meristem of the maturing prothallus. The present report is concerned with the question why Onoclea prothalli fail to form antheridia spontaneously under the prevailing conditions of culture. Earlier studies indicated that the maturing Onoclea prothalli did elaborate some antheridial factor, even though they failed to form antheridia at all stages of development. It must be pointed out that the last individuals of the gametophyte population became insensitive to the antheridial factor 2 to 3 days before the first trace of antheridium-inducing activity could be detected in the medium (7). The results thus indicated that the failure of Onoclea prothalli to form antheridia could be attributed to their failure to elaborate the antheridial factor while they were still at the sensitive phase. In the context of this hypothesis only prothalli developed from spores shed late would form antheridia in nature.
New dogs and old tricks: do money and interest rates still provide information content for forecasts of output and prices?

Abstract Out-of-sample forecasting experiments are used as an alternative to looking at F -statistics when examining whether money, interest rates or the commercial paper/T-bill spread provide information content for subsequent movements in output, real and nominal personal income, the CPI and the PPI. Here, a variable provides information if it improves the forecast of the explained variable. Employing this procedure we find that the paper-bill spread but not monetary aggregates provide information content for industrial production or real personal income when using data over the 1980–1997 period. In contrast, we find that monetary aggregates provide information content for the CPI and nominal personal income but not the PPI.
Evaluation of longitudinal dispersivity from nonuniform flow tracer tests

Abstract The importance of incorporating nonuniform flow effects in determining field-scale values of long-itudinal dispersivity from tracer tests in aquifers is illustrated. We show that under conditions of Fickian dispersive flux, where a tracer has traveled at least 10 times the longitudinal dispersivity value, nonuniform flow effects account for the typical tailing exhibited by data from radial flow and doublet (two-well) tracer tests. Approximate analytical solutions for solute transport in nonuniform flow fields based on earlier general work are presented. Specific cases evaluated include pulse and step inputs in diverging radial flow, a pulse input in converging radial flow, and doublet (two-well) tests with pulse and step inputs. The additional effect of longitudinal dispersivity increasing linearly with distance for radial flow cases is examined. Also presented is an analysis of the effect of injection borehole flushing represented by an exponentially decreasing tracer input in the converging radial flow case. The solutions are applied to four sets of field data where previous analyses did not adequately address nonuniform flow effects. Some data reanalyses yield longitudinal dispersivity values which are up to a factor of three smaller than those previously reported, indicating a previous overprediction of plume dilution. We demonstrate that an understanding of the sensitivity of the mathematical solutions to tracer input conditions, nonuniform flow effects, and scale can lead to better tracer-test design.
Cross-Validation of Fat-Free Mass Estimated From Body Density Against Bioelectrical Resistance: Effects of Obesity and Gender

GORAN, MICHAEL I AND M ABU KHALED. Cross-validation of fat-free mass estimated from body density against bioelectrical resistance: effects of obesity and gender. Obes Res. The major purpose of this study was to examine whether estimates of body composition from bioelectrical resistance were systematically biased by obesity and/or gender (using hydrodensitometry as a comparison method). We compared fat-free mass (FFM) by bioelectrical resistance (BR) using 5 equations (Lukaski, Kushner, Rising, Khaled, and Segal) to FFM by hydrodensitometry (HD) in 20 lean men, 30 lean women, 33 obese men and 22 obese women. None of the BR equations was successfully cross-validated against FFM by HD in all 4 sub-groups. The Lukaski equation significantly underestimated FFM in all 4 groups by 2.7 to 4.7 kg; the Kushner equation significantly underestimated FFM by 2.0 to 2.9 kg except in obese women; the Rising equation significantly overestimated FFM in obese women (5.3 kg) and men (2.9 kg); the Khaled equation successfully predicted FFM in all groups except obese men; and the Segal equation successfully predicted FFM in all groups except lean men. In some groups, a portion of the discrepancy could be explained by bias originating from body fat. Analysis of our data by forward regression analysis demonstrated that height2/resistance, body weight, gender and suprailiac skinfold thickness provide the most accurate estimates of FFM (R2=0.92; SEE = 3.58kg) that are free of bias originating from gender and body fat. We conclude that the estimation of fat-free mass by BR is significantly influenced by gender and obesity. An alternative equation is proposed for estimating fat-free mass based on measurement of height2/resistance, body weight, gender and suprailiac skinfold thickness.
A new application of UV-ozone treatment in the preparation of substrate-supported, mesoporous thin films

A nominally room temperature photochemical method, simply employing ultraviolet light- (187−254 nm) generated ozone environment, is shown to provide an efficient alternative for the removal of surfactant templates for a routine production of mesoporous silica thin films at low temperatures. The treatment concomitantly strengthens the silicate phase by fostering the condensation of unreacted silanols leading to mesoporous thin films with well-defined mesoscopic morphologies. The surfactant/silicate thin film mesophases were prepared onto a polycrystalline Au surface by dip-coating or spin-casting methods using sub-critical micelle concentration (cmc) nonionic ethylene oxide surfactant in an oligomeric silica sol mixture. The structures and compositions of the thin film mesophases before and after exposure to UV/ozone were determined using a combination of reflection−absorption Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and thin film X-ray diffraction measurements. The pore c...
Intracellular calcium and skin tumor promotion: calcium regulation of the induction of epidermal ornithine decarboxylase activity by the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate.

Abstract The role of calcium in epidermal ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) induction by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) was determined in adult mouse skin explants maintained in a serum-free Eagle's HeLa cell medium. Chelation of extracellular calcium by ethyleneglycol-bis-(β-aminoethyl ether) N,N′-tetraacetic acid (EGTA) prevented ODC induction by TPA, which could be resumed upon calcium restoration in the medium. Extracellular magnesium could not replace calcium for ODC induction by TPA. Concurrent incubation of skin pieces with a calmodulin inhibitor trifluoperzine (TFP) inhibited ODC induction. Furthermore, inclusion in the medium of lanthanum, which has a higher affinity for calcium-binding sites than calcium and displaces surface-bound calcium, inhibited ODC induction by TPA.