cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Impact of the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban on Gun Markets: An Assessment of Short-Term Primary and Secondary Market Effects

The reactions of the gun market, including those of producers, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers, play an important role in shaping the potential impact of gun control policies on gun crime. As a case in point, this paper examines the federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which bans a group of military-style semiautomatic firearms (i.e., assault weapons). Using a variety of national and local data sources, we assess the short-term (1994–1996) impact of the assault weapons ban on gun markets, examining trends in prices and production of the banned weapons in legal markets and assessing the availability of the banned weapons in illicit markets as measured by criminal use. Prices of assault weapons rose substantially around the time of the ban's enactment, reducing the availability of assault weapons to criminal users in the very short run. However, a surge in assault weapon production just before the ban caused prices to fall in the months following the ban. Implications of the findings for assessing this and other gun control policies are discussed.
Energy Systems and Environmental Education

An overall systems view of energy flows can be used to teach the important basic principles for understanding the environment. One way of teaching energy, systems, environment, and economics as a unified whole uses energy symbols (Fig. 1). The method can be taught in a single college course, as part of more traditional courses, or in a special short course. It includes methods of energy evaluation of the environment, so the environment is given an economic value which can be compared to the values of other parts of the economic system. The textbook used is Energy Basis for Man and Nature with an Instructor’s Manual by H. T. and E. C. Odum, McGraw-Hill Publ., 1976. The following are some of the points we make using energy language in our course.
VER Findings in Retrobulbar Neuritis Due to Multiple Sclerosis

In this study the authors analyse the findings of VER in 25 patients suffering from retrobulbar neuritis due to multiple sclerosis.
Oceania, Sociocultural Overviews: Melanesia

Anthropologists continue to use broadly etched contrasts – equality versus hierarchy, gift exchange versus commodity sale – as abbreviations for complex differences between Melanesian social forms and cultural practices, and those of the modern West. These contrasts, although problematic, effectively highlight the transactional nature of Melanesian economies and polities, kinship and social organization; they similarly underscore the malleability of gender identity, personhood, and the body in Melanesia. Recent Melanesianist anthropology has given fuller attention to processes of colonial history and postcolonial change, including Christian missionization, the spread of capitalist markets, and nation-state formation. This research foregrounds the variety of local modernities and creative adaptations that Melanesians have produced since the nineteenth century out of their uneven and contested encounters with agents and institutions of exogenous origin.
Increased N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) activity in the mouse spinal cord following morphine does not mediate opioid withdrawal.

N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors have been proposed to play a role in opioid tolerance and dependence. The present study was designed to determine whether the increased NMDA activity in the spinal cord, unmasked by naloxone in morphine-pretreated mice, reflects activity leading to opioid withdrawal. Behavioral responses to intrathecal injections of NMDA were inhibited by pretreatment (2 h) with morphine (10 mg/kg i.p.), but enhanced following morphine when naloxone was injected together with NMDA. Although injected at doses that inhibited NMDA activity, the excitatory effects of morphine on NMDA-induced behaviors were prevented by dizocilpine (MK-801), a phencyclidine (PCP) ligand, but not by 3-((+/-)-2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl)-propyl-1 phosphonic acid (CPP), a competitive NMDA antagonist. MK-801 also inhibited naloxone-induced withdrawal jumping, however, just as CPP failed to affect morphine-induced changes in MMDA-induced behaviors, CPP also failed to inhibit withdrawal jumping. Together these data indicated that withdrawal from acute opioid dependence correlates with, but is not mediated by enhanced NMDA activity.
Roses and Grime

There is a print in my office of this quote. I stop, occasionally, to think of what it means to others. In relation. The framed print hangs next to an 8x11 color photograph. The spatial proximity between the photo and print are important to me. The photo is an enlarged image of my father Al’s bicep. I bought a gaudy shiny black frame to offset the rugged masculinity of the image—a big muscular, hairy arm. At the very top of the picture you can see two of my father’s fingers as he lifts up the sleeve of his shirt.
Factors Affecting Gastropod Larval Development and Performance: A Systematic Review

The goal of this article was to use a systematic review of studies on the larval stages of gastropods reared to metamorphosis to determine whether there are general patterns for the effects of temperature, rearing density, and food availability on larval development and performance among species, major taxa, and modes of development. Most studies did not include sufficient metadata to be included in many of the analyses. For all analyses, there were differences among major groups of taxa in terms of response to the considered variables. Increased temperature was frequently correlated with decreased development time and increased growth but often not for the same taxa. Increased larval density was generally correlated with increased development time, but again, the patterns were not consistent across taxa. The most consistent pattern was the positive correlation between per capita food availability and larval growth. In all but two cases, patterns for the most studied species, Crepidula fornicata, were opposite those of other caenogastropods. This indicates that caution should be used when drawing general patterns among species based on studies of C. fornicata. Among lecithotrophs, the vetigastropod Haliotis rufescens was the most studied. In this case, patterns found for this species were similar to those for all other vetigastropods; however, few species outside the genus Haliotis have been studied. Increased temperature was associated with reduced survivorship and, in the most studied clade, the Vetigastropoda, reduced time to metamorphosis, which suggests that there may be an energetic cost to more rapid development or physiological mechanisms for coping with heat stress. Curiously, increased larval density was associated with increased survivorship for lecithotrophs. In several cases, however, there were too few studies, or the studies that were found did not provide enough metadata to be included in analyses. Although some patterns emerged from existing research on gastropod larvae, studies on a more diverse set of species that report all metadata are required for cross-study comparisons, which are crucial for drawing robust general conclusions.
A Review Essay of Learning to Teach in the Digital Age: New Materialities and Maker Paradigms in Schools

America has always been a nation of tinkerers, inventors, and entrepreneurs… think of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Banneker, George Washington Carver, Ida B. Wells, Henry Ford, Grace Hopper, and so ...
Smart Agriculture System Based on Deep Learning

Smart farming is becoming more cost effective. Advances in standards and protocols driven by interest in the internet of things are allowing for more choice in design. The increased availability enables for designs that are applicable for the most challenging of applications, that of subsistence agriculture in the developing world. The single most serious effect of climate change to date in the global south is that of water supply. The well defined wet and dry seasons are no longer well defined. Solar power together with microelectronics on boards and low power short range RF links can provide sensor fusion and actuator control at moderate cost. Near real time monitoring and evaluation is more the challenge. The concentration of the present work is on monitoring in an internet of things environment. Initial efforts to employ a convolutional neural network for data flow control is described.
ASSESSMENT OF INVESTMENT PROFITABILITY TAKING INTO ACCOUNT BANK CREDIT REPAYMENT

In modern economic conditions for business development businessmen have to take bank credits. At the same time it is necessary to consider that growth of inflation has negative impact on investment profitability, increases risks, and significantly limits businessmen investment activity. In this regard, adequate ensuring calculation of bank credits payment plan is up-to-date. This article describes investments profitability taking into account bank credit repayment in case of state support and without it. Balance equation is necessary to make evaluation of capital investment profitability in enterprise. It is possible to define compliance between sum of money invested by businessman creditor together with added percent and sum of borrower extinctive payments should be also taken into account. The balance equation allows credit income calculation for businessman creditor and distributing it on income sources and credit debt repayment periods. One part of credit debts goes for principal debt repayment and the other part is for percent repayment of debt rest. For the purpose of state support for innovative directions of business development it is offered to compensate annually a certain part of money from the total payment amount of credit percent charged for the debt rest. In modern economic conditions it is almost impossible manually to make adequate decisions on effective use of credit resources. Therefore by means of modern computer technologies and programs it is offered to automate management process of rational decision adoption in questions of loan resources effective use. It is shown in conditional numeric example. In conclusion it is noted that businessman, using offered technique of rational option choice of loan resources use, has a real opportunity of bank credit repayment, taking into account inflation changing rate. It is possible to develop production capacities and to take extreme commercial benefit in contract terms.
Ketoacidosis - Where Do the Protons Come From?

In extreme conditions ketosis can progress to ketoacidosis, a dangerous and potentially life-threatening condition. Ketoacidosis is most common in new or poorly treated type 1 diabetes. The acidosis is usually attributed to the ‘acidic’ nature of the ketone bodies (acetoacetate, 3-hydroxybutyrate, and acetone). However, acetoacetate and 3-hydroxybutyrate are produced not as acids but as their conjugate bases, and acetone is neither an acid nor a base. This raises the question of why severe ketosis is accompanied by acidosis. Here, we analyze steps in ketogenesis and identify four potential sources: adipocyte lipolysis, hydrolysis of inorganic pyrophosphate generated during synthesis of fatty acyl-coenzyme A (CoA), the reaction catalyzed by an enzyme in the β-oxidation pathway (3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase), and increased synthesis of CoA.
A neurobiological correlate of stress-induced nicotine-seeking behavior among cigarette smokers.

Stress is known to influence smoking relapse. Experimental studies indicate that acute stress increases nicotine-seeking behavior, yet neurobiological mechanisms remain poorly understood. Herein, we investigated disrupted excitatory neural activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) as a mechanism of stress-induced nicotine-seeking behavior. Non-treatment-seeking cigarette smokers were screened for psychiatric, medical, and neuroimaging contraindications. Using a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized crossover design, participants (N = 21) completed two oral-dosing sessions: stress (yohimbine 54 mg + hydrocortisone 10 mg) vs placebo (lactose 54 mg + lactose 10 mg). During each experimental session, working memory proficiency, dlPFC excitatory neural activity, nicotine-seeking behavior, and subjective effects were measured. dlPFC excitatory neural activity was quantified via glutamate modulation during working memory performance using functional proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Nicotine-seeking behavior was assayed using a cigarette puffs vs money choice progressive ratio task. Results indicated that yohimbine + hydrocortisone evoked a sustained physiological stress response (elevated heart rate, blood pressure, saliva cortisol, and saliva α-amylase levels; ps < .05). Relative to placebo levels, acute stress increased nicotine-seeking behavior (ps < .05), disrupted dlPFC glutamate modulation (p = .025), and impaired dlPFC function (working memory proficiency; ps < .05). The stress-induced increase in nicotine-seeking behavior was linearly related to the stress-induced disruption of dlPFC glutamate modulation (R2 = 0.24-0.37; ps < .05). These findings suggest that disrupted dlPFC excitatory neural activity is a neurobiological correlate of acute stress-induced nicotine-seeking behavior. These findings further emphasize the central role of the dlPFC in regulating drug-seeking behavior. Future studies are needed to evaluate interventions to improve dlPFC resilience to acute stress effects, including neurostimulation, working memory training, and "anti-stress" medications.
Hamlet’s Father: Hauntology and the Roots of the Modern Self

In his 1949 work Hamlet’s Ghost , Richard Flatter wrote of the ghost of Hamlet’s father that the play ultimately belongs to him, to the ghost. Modernity, like the play, belongs to its ghosts, to its dead fathers haunting their wayward sons, the metaphysical specters it imperfectly endeavors to exorcise. Critical theory has often focused on the possibility, and the contours, of a utopia populated by liberatory spirit and liberated persons. Less well explored, however, are the implications for tradition, religion, and the transmission of culture at a metaphorical echelon—those ostensibly “pre-modern” ideas which the broader project of Enlightenment liberalism never fully leaves behind. Drawing upon thinkers as diverse as Marcuse, Derrida, Weber, and Nietzsche, I read Shakespeare’s Hamlet, particularly the interaction between the ghost of the father and his vacillating son, as a metaphor for the failure to achieve a sought-after post-metaphysical world, and the ominous potential that inheres in the resulting ambivalence. The implications of these philosophical and sociohistorical developments are centered around the social psychological emergence of a modern self, at once alienated from history and nature, but perhaps able to re-imagine selfhood from “outside the iron cage.”
Adaptive Regulation of Motor Variability

Summary Trial-to-trial movement variability can both drive motor learning and interfere with expert performance, suggesting benefits of regulating it in context-specific ways. Here we address whether and how the brain regulates motor variability as a function of performance by training rats to execute ballistic forelimb movements for reward. Behavioral datasets comprising millions of trials revealed that motor variability is regulated by two distinct processes. A fast process modulates variability as a function of recent trial outcomes, increasing it when performance is poor and vice versa. A slower process tunes the gain of the fast process based on the uncertainty in the task’s reward landscape. Simulations demonstrated that this regulation strategy optimizes reward accumulation over a wide range of time horizons, while also promoting learning. Our results uncover a sophisticated algorithm implemented by the brain to adaptively regulate motor variability to improve task performance. Video Abstract Download : Download video (146MB)
A 2m Quasi-Wireless Capacitive Power Transfer (CPT) System Using Earth Ground as the Current-Returning Path

This paper proposes a quasi-wireless capacitive power transfer system to achieve long-distance power transfer. Compared to the conventional four-plate CPT system, the proposed quasi-wireless system only requires two metal plates, and the other two plates are replaced by the earth ground, which provides a current-returning path. In long-distance power transfer applications, the coupling capacitances between plates are affected by the appearance of the earth ground, which are analyzed by the method of mirror images. Based on the circuit model of the coupler, a double-sided LC compensation circuit is used to realize a long-distance and loosely-coupled CPT system. Its output properties, including output power and efficiency, are presented in detail. Two 0.91m×0.91m aluminum plates are used to implement the proposed two-plate system. Experimental results show that the prototype can realize 216.5W power transfer with 52.2% dc-dc efficiency at an air-gap distance of 2.0m. When the distance is 1.5m, the efficiency can reach 67%, and when the distance increases to 2.5m, the system can still maintain an efficiency of 20%.
Avoiding 'Ally Theater' in Legal Writing Assignments

The author discusses risks that arise when white professors execute legal writing assignments that center on issues of race and offers suggestions for mitigating those risks and the burdens they impose on law students of color.
Parameter-Conditioned Sequential Generative Modeling of Fluid Flows

The computational cost associated with simulating fluid flows can make it infeasible to run many simulations across multiple flow conditions. Building upon concepts from generative modeling, we introduce a new method for learning neural network models capable of performing efficient parameterized simulations of fluid flows. Evaluated on their ability to simulate both two-dimensional and three-dimensional fluid flows, trained models are shown to capture local and global properties of the flow fields at a wide array of flow conditions. Furthermore, flow simulations generated by the trained models are shown to be orders of magnitude faster than the corresponding computational fluid dynamics simulations.
A long-term cyclic plus tonic regimen of 17β-estradiol improves the ability to handle a high spatial working memory load in ovariectomized middle-aged female rats

The influence of estrogens on modifying cognition has been extensively studied, revealing that a wide array of factors can significantly impact cognition, including, but not limited to, subject age, estrogen exposure duration, administration mode, estrogen formulation, stress history, and progestogen presence. Less known is whether long-term, extended exposure to estrogens would benefit or otherwise impact cognition. The present study examined the effects of 17β-estradiol (E2) exposure for seven months, beginning in late adulthood and continuing into middle age, using a regimen of cyclic exposure (bi-monthly subcutaneous injection of 10 μg E2), or Cyclic+Tonic exposure (bi-monthly subcutaneous injection of 10 μg E2 + Silastic capsules of E2) in ovariectomized female Fischer-344-CDF rats. Subjects were tested on a battery of learning and memory tasks. All groups learned the water radial-arm maze (WRAM) and Morris water maze tasks in a similar fashion, regardless of hormone treatment regimen. In the asymptotic phase of the WRAM, rats administered a Cyclic+Tonic E2 regimen showed enhanced performance when working memory was taxed compared to Vehicle and Cyclic E2 groups. Assessment of spatial memory on object placement and object recognition was not possible due to insufficient exploration of objects; however, the Cyclic+Tonic group showed increased total time spent exploring all objects compared to Vehicle-treated animals. Overall, these data demonstrate that long-term Cyclic+Tonic E2 exposure can result in some long-term cognitive benefits, at least in the spatial working memory domain, in a surgically menopausal rat model.
Customer Motivation and Response Bias in Online Reviews

The voluntary nature of online customer review platforms self-selects customers with strong opinions, resulting in an underreporting bias. However, little research has been conducted on the relatio...
The Threat Lives on: How to Exclude Expectant Mothers from Prosecution for Mere Exposure of HIV to Their Fetuses and Infants

There is a renewed interest in HIV/AIDS issues given that better treatment is available. The Department of Justice (DOJ), Civil Rights Division, recently published best practice guidelines to reform HIV-specific criminal laws to conform to modern science. The DOJ’s latest guidelines urge states to “reform and modernize” the laws to reflect modern science. There is a lot of unfinished work regarding the ineffectiveness and stigma associated with HIV criminal transmission laws as a whole. These laws are “no good” and counterintuitive in the fight against this unfortunate disease. There have been calls to repeal these laws in their entirety. That is not necessary. This Article re-emphasizes the gravity of this problem and suggests that one critical step forward is to amend the laws to remove any threat of prosecution of mothers who are HIV positive. Part II of the Article addresses the medical advances in HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. Part III examines certain laws criminalizing HIV exposure and transmission and how these laws pose undue and unwise risks to HIV-positive expectant mothers. Part IV of the Article addresses how prosecution or the threat of prosecution of expectant mothers under HIV specific criminal law would harm rather than help society. Finally, Part V proposes a model for change in addressing these specific HIV criminal transmission statutes, particularly to remove any threat of criminal sanctions against HIV positive women who are pregnant or desire to become pregnant.
The Conditional Performance of REIT Stock Repurchases

This paper uses a conditional performance measure to test whether real estate investment trust (REIT) managers announcing stock repurchases have private information about their firms' prospects. We use stock price to condition for public information and measure the managers' implied private information by the covariance between repurchase size and subsequent stock payoffs (or operating performance). Results show that managers have private information but mostly with respect to long-term as opposed to near-term payoffs. We also find that repurchase size is positively related to a stock's idiosyncratic return volatility, perhaps because noisty stocks deviate farther from fundamental value, offering informed managers larger profit potential.
On-chip Microwave to Optical Transduction Using Rare Earth Doped Materials

Rare-earth ions simultaneously coupled to optical and microwave resonators are one of the platforms for realizing efficient microwave to optical quantum transducers. I discuss our group's recent progress towards this goal.
A Past Renewed: A Catalog of German-Speaking Refugee Historians in the United States after 1933

A Past Renewed portrays the generation of German-speaking refugee historians who settled in the United States after fleeing Hitler's Europe. Bio-bibliographical entries on eighty-eight refugee historians document their scholarly contributions, historical interests, and impact on the American historical profession after 1945. Besides material on noted historians of modern Europe such as Felix Gilbert, Hajo Holborn, and Hans Rosenberg, the catalogue includes information on many other historians influential in the fields of Jewish history, Renaissance history, the history of Roman and canon law, Chinese history, and the history of medicine. A Past Renewed provides a valuable reference work for scholars interested in the academic emigration from Nazi Germany, historiographical developments in the United States in the postwar era, the collective contribution of refugee historians to the American historical profession, and the lives and works of individual refugee historians.
Coupled Analysis of Change in Fracture Permeability during the Cooling Phase of the Yucca Mountain Drift Scale Test

This paper presents results from a coupled thermal, hydrological and mechanical analysis of thermally-induced permeability changes during heating and cooling of fractured volcanic rock at the Drift Scale Test at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The analysis extends the previous analysis of the four-year heating phase to include newly available data from the subsequent four year cooling phase. The new analysis of the cooling phase shows that the measured changes in fracture permeability follows that of a thermo-hydro-elastic model on average, but at several locations the measured permeability indicates (inelastic) irreversible behavior. At the end of the cooling phase, the air-permeability had decreased at some locations (to as low as 0.2 of initial), whereas it had increased at other locations (to as high as 1.8 of initial). Our analysis shows that such irreversible changes in fracture permeability are consistent with either inelastic fracture shear dilation (where permeability increased) or inelastic fracture surface asperity shortening (where permeability decreased). These data are important for bounding model predictions of potential thermally-induced changes in rock-mass permeability at a future repository at Yucca Mountain.
Cell-free systems to study chromatin remodeling.

Publisher Summary In eukaryotic cells, a number of cellular processes are regulated by the reorganization or remodeling of chromatin. These changes in chromatin structure may involve the addition and/or removal of specific chromatin proteins and the posttranslational modification of existing protein species. In most cases, the exact nature of these changes in chromatin structure or the mechanisms by which remodeling occurs are not well understood. However, current studies utilizing cell-free systems, which mimic in vivo remodeling events, have led to the identification of specific remodeling factors and insights into their mechanisms of action. One of the most dramatic examples of chromatin reorganization occurs at fertilization when the sperm chromatin is extensively remodeled in the cytoplasm of the egg. One of the most useful cell-free systems for investigating chromatin decondensation and remodeling at fertilization is derived from the activated eggs of anuran amphibians. The remodeling of chromatin is not limited to the events associated with fertilization. The reorganization of nucleosomes during transcription appears to be a means by which this process is regulated in both higher and lower eukaryotic cells. Nucleosomes act as the repressors of transcription initiation by preventing the binding of regulatory proteins and RNA polymerase to target sequences within the chromatin.
Whose/Who's Ligeia?

Theorizing gender frees female and male from somatic determination for semiotic freeplay. Of course this is real work, of course a lot more work is still to be done. But I want here to leap over the theorizing of gender to the theorizing of the theorizing of gender—to make a problem not of gender within human being but of human being within which gender is differentiated. This puts into question not that most traditional of binary oppositions within human being, at least not directly, but human being, itself, the grand hypostatizing that grounds all the sciences of man. And this requires positing an Other whose semiotic companionship with human being would be analogous to that of female and male within human being. Now, when “posthuman” is increasingly being thrown around in articles in PMLA, and Microsoft’s Jaron Lanier, the first contributor to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s recent forum on “the defining idea of the next decade,” replies “The End of Human Specialness,”1 can a different reading of Poe’s “Ligeia” help to conceive an other-than-human being, an entity within which the differentiation between two genders might
Mechanistic Analysis ofS-(1,2-Dichlorovinyl)-l-cysteine-Induced Cataractogenesisin Vitro

Chronic exposure to low concentrations of the nephrotoxic cysteine conjugateS-(1,2-dichlorovinyl)-l-cysteine (DCVC) causes cataracts in mice. This study explored mechanisms of DCVC-induced cataractogenesis using explanted lenses from male Sprague–Dawley rats. Lenses placed in organ culture were exposed to 2.5 μm–1 mmDCVC for 24 hr. DCVC caused concentration and time-dependent changes in biochemical markers of toxicity (lenticular adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) content, mitochondrial reduction of the tetrazolium dye MTT, and glutathione (GSH) content) at concentrations ≥25 μm. Lens clarity was adversely affected at concentrations ≥50 μm. Within 24 hr, 1 mmDCVC altered lens ATP content (−77 ± 2%), mitochondrial MTT reduction (−40 ± 3%), and GSH content (−19 ± 4%) (percent difference from controls,p< 0.05). ATP was the most sensitive index of DCVC exposure in this model, while lens weight was not altered. The role of lenticular DCVC metabolism was investigated using the β-lyase inhibitor aminooxyacetic acid (AOA) and the flavin monooxygenase (FMO) inhibitor methimazole (MAZ). AOA (1 mm) provided nearly complete protection from changes in biochemical parameters and lens transparency caused by DCVC, while MAZ (1 mm) provided only partial protection. The mitochondrial Ca2+uniport inhibitor ruthenium red (30 μm) and the poly(ADP ribosyl)transferase inhibitor 3-aminobenzamide (3 mm) were only partially protective, whereas adverse changes in lens transparency and biochemical markers were not prevented by an antioxidant (2 mmdithiothreitol) or nontoxic transport substrates (200 μmprobenecid or 10 mmphenylalanine,S-benzyl-l-cysteine orpara-aminohippuric acid). Calpain inhibitors E64d (100 μm) and calpain inhibitor II (1 mm) were ineffective in preventing opacity formation caused by DCVC. In a small separate study, DCVC toxicity to explanted lenses from cynomologus monkeys was also ameliorated by coincubation with AOA. These results indicate that opacity formation by DCVC in rodent and primate lensesin vitrois primarily mediated via lenticular β-lyase metabolism of DCVC to a reactive metabolite. Metabolism of DCVC by FMO and perturbations in mitochondrial calcium (Ca2+) homeostasis and increased poly(ADP-ribosylation) of nuclear proteins may play a limited role in opacity formationin vitro.However, opacity formation does not appear to be the result of oxidative stress or calpain activation. DCVC toxicity to the lens was not blocked with competitive inhibitors of the amino acid and organic anion transporters of DCVC as is found in the kidney.
FEASIBILITY AND REPEATABILITY FOR IN VIVO MEASUREMENTS OF STIFFNESS GRADIENTS IN THE CANINE GASTROCNEMIUS TENDON USING AN ACOUSTOELASTIC STRAIN GAUGE

B-mode ultrasound is an established imaging modality for evaluating canine tendon injury. However, full extent of tendon injury often remains difficult to estimate, as small changes in sonographic appearance are associated with large changes in biomechanical strength. The acoustoelastic strain gauge (ASG) is an ultrasound-based tissue evaluation technique that relates the change in echo intensity observed during relaxation or stretching of tendons to the tissue's mechanical properties. This technique deduces stiffness gradient (the rate of change of normalized stiffness as a function of tissue strain) by analyzing the ultrasound dynamic images captured from gradually deforming tissue. ASG has been proven to accurately model strain and stiffness within tendons in vitro. To determine the feasibility and repeatability for in vivo ASG measurements of canine tendon function, stiffness gradients for the gastrocnemius tendons of 10 clinically normal dogs were recorded by two nonindependent observers at three sites (musculotendinous junction, mid tendon, and insertion). Average stiffness gradient indices (0.0132, 0.0141, 0.0136) and dispersion values (0.0053, 0.0054, 0.0057) for each site, respectively, were consistent with published mechanical properties for normal canine tendon. Mean differences of the average stiffness gradient index and dispersion value between observers and between limbs for each site were less than 16%. Using interclass coefficients (ICC), intra-observer (ICC 0.79-0.98) and interobserver (ICC 0.77-0.95) reproducibility was good to excellent. Right and left limb values were symmetric (ICC 0.74-0.92). Findings from this study indicated that ASG is a feasible and repeatable technique for measuring stiffness gradients in canine tendons.
Past, Present, and Future of Lipid Resuscitation Therapy:

Lipid resuscitation therapy was identified in 1998 as an effective treatment for local anesthetic systemic toxicity in an animal model. Since the original observation, the field has progressed tremendously with successful clinical translation and expansion of use to treatment of other types of drug overdose. Recent work has expanded our understanding of the mechanism of this novel treatment, one that includes both a dynamic scavenging component and direct cardiotonic effect. In this review, we discuss the past, present, and future of lipid resuscitation therapy with a focus on our understanding of the mechanism and directions that the field is moving, both from a clinical and basic research side.
A Case of Negative Catalysis in a Homogeneous System.

The purpose of a series of studies (2) made recently has been to elucidate the mechanism of the so-called promoter action on reactions taking place in homogeneous systems. The reactions chosen for this purpose were the catalytic decompositions of hydrogen peroxide as effected by various salts. Hydrogen peroxide was selected because its decomposition products, oxygen and water, have no effect upon the reaction, and because the mechanism of some of its catalytic decompositions are well enough known to admit of the study of the anomalous effects observed when two or more catalysts are present at once. Sometimes the effect of mixed catalysts is the sum of their separate effects, as when hydrogen peroxide is decomposed by sols of platinum and gold.(3) However, in many cases, the total effect is much greater than the sum of the individual effects; one of the catalysts being then said to exert a promoter action. In other cases, the resultant effect is less than the sum of the individual effects, and one of the substances is then said to produce negative catalysis.
The role of disordered eating cognition and body image flexibility in disordered eating behavior in college men

Abstract Research has documented a recent rise in endorsement of disordered eating behavior in men. Following some cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) models of disordered eating, the present cross-sectional study investigated whether disordered eating cognition and body image flexibility are associated with disordered eating behavior and whether the effect of body mass index (BMI) on disordered eating behavior is due to the effect of BMI on lower levels of body image flexibility and higher levels of disordered eating cognitions. Participants included 237 male college students, ages 17–50 years old. Results revealed large indirect effects of BMI on disordered eating behavior through disordered eating cognition and diminished body image flexibility. These findings suggest a central role of maladaptive cognitions and regulation processes in disordered eating behavior in men, and future research should test if these cognitions and regulation processes predict onset, recurrence, and/or maintenance of the disordered eating behaviors.
Self-consistent addition of an atomic charge dependent hydrogen-bonding correction function

Abstract An increasingly popular approach to improving semi-empirical (SE) methods for modeling London dispersion and hydrogen-bonding interactions is to correct deficiencies in the SE method through the addition of empirical potentials. Improving the description of hydrogen-bonding is inherently the more difficult task. While semi-empirical methods neglect dispersion interactions, the correct functional form of dispersion at long-range is known and may be added as an empirical correction. By contrast, no theoretically justified analytic form is known that describes H-bonding and moreover, H-bonding forces are already partially incorporated at the SE level due to their partial electrostatic nature (unlike dispersion interactions). Given their partial electrostatic nature, one reasonable approach to improving the ability to model H-bonding interactions is to incorporate an empirical potential that depends on the atomic charges of the atoms involved in hydrogen-bonding. While this approach has been used several times with success, typically the empirical correction is added subsequent to convergence of the SCF procedure. This approximation neglects the fact that the correction term and the density matrix are interdependent and consequently results in a quantitatively incorrect electronic energy, which leads to an incorrect prediction of the potential minimum upon geometry optimization. The objective of this article is to describe how a correction function that depends on the atomic charges can be incorporated in a self-consistent manner, thereby avoiding the mentioned shortcomings. To do so requires adding the gradient of the correction with respect to the atomic charges to the Fock operator.
Novel Syn Intramolecular Pathway in Base-Catalyzed 1,2-Elimination Reactions of β-Acetoxy Esters

As part of a comprehensive investigation of electronic effects on the stereochemistry of base-catalyzed 1,2-elimination reactions, we observed a new syn intramolecular pathway in the elimination of acetic acid from β-acetoxy esters and thioesters. 1H and 2H NMR investigation of reactions using stereospecifically labeled tert-butyl (2R*,3R*)-3-acetoxy-2,3-2H2-butanoate (1) and its (2R*,3S*) diastereomer (2) shows that 23 ± 2% syn elimination occurs. The elimination reactions were catalyzed with KOH or (CH3)4NOH in ethanol/water under rigorously non-ion-pairing conditions. By contrast, the more sterically hindered β-trimethylacetoxy ester produces only 6 ± 1% syn elimination. These data strongly support an intramolecular (Ei) syn path for elimination of acetic acid, most likely through the oxyanion produced by nucleophilic attack at the carbonyl carbon of the β-acetoxy group. The analogous thioesters, S-tert-butyl (2R*,3R*)-3-acetoxy-2,3-2H2-butanethioate (3) and its (2R*,3S*) diastereomer (4), showed 18 ± ...
Glucagon-producing islet cell tumor of the pancreas.

Glucagonoma is the least common type of islet cell tumor of the pancreas [1, 21. Since McGavran et al. 131 first described a glucagon-secreting pancreatic tumor, a numben of cases have been reported; however, the angiographic findings have been described in only five patients [1-51. Moreover, the characteristic clinical manifestations (glucagonoma syndrome) have not been emphasized in the radiologic literature.
Autoimmunity in the immune privileged eye: pathogenic and regulatory T cells

Experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU) in animals serves as a model of human uveitis. EAU can be induced in mice by immunization with the retinal antigen interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein (IRBP) in complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) or by IRBP-pulsed mature dendritic cells, and can be driven either by a Th17 or a Th1 effector response, depending on the model. The direction of the response is affected by conditions present during the exposure to antigen, including the quality/quantity of innate receptor stimulation and/or type of APC. IL-17 and IFN-γ production by innate cells such as NKT may also affect the disease process. If exposure to antigen is via a hydrodynamic DNA vaccination with an IRBP-encoding plasmid, the response is directed to a regulatory phenotype, and disease is ameliorated or prevented. Our data shed light on effector and regulatory responses in autoimmune disease, provide balance to the Th1/Th17 paradigm and help to explain the clinical heterogeneity of human uveitis, which occurs in the face of responses to the same ocular antigen(s).
Antifungal Activity from 14-Helical β-Peptides

We have discovered that short β-peptides (9 or 10 residues) designed to adopt globally amphiphilic helical conformations display significant antifungal activity. The most promising β-peptides cause...
Minimising stop and go waves to optimise traffic flow

Abstract Motivated by the problem of minimising the “stop and go” phenomenon in traffic flow, we consider a nonstandard problem of calculus of variations. Given a system of hyperbolic conservation laws, we introduce an integral functional where the integrating measure depends on the space derivative of the solution to the conservation law. An existence result for initial and, when present, boundary data that minimise this functional is proved.
Role of CXCR3-induced donor T-cell migration in acute GVHD.

Abstract Objective The chemokine receptor CXCR3 has an important role in the migration of effector T cells. To investigate the role of CXCR3 on donor cells in acute graft vs host disease (GVHD) we used a well-defined experimental bone marrow transplantation (BMT) model where acute GVHD is mediated by donor CD8 + T cells against minor histocompatibility antigens. Methods Lethally irradiated C3H.SW recipients were transplanted from either wild-type B6 or CXCR3 −/− B6 donors. Donor T-cell expansion was analyzed in the spleen and small intestine of recipients by FACS. Donor T-cell function was analyzed by cytokine secretion. The severity of acute GVHD was assessed by histopathological analysis of intestine and liver, GVHD clinical scores, and survival after BMT. Results Significantly higher numbers of donor CD8 + CXCR3 −/− T cells were found in the spleen on days +7 and +14 compared to donor wild-type T cells. By contrast, the number of CD8 + T cells in the small bowel of BMT recipients from CXCR3 −/− donors was sevenfold lower than from wild-type donors. Systemic concentrations of INF-γ and TNF-α were equivalent between groups. Animals that received CXCR3 −/− donor T cells demonstrated diminished GI tract and liver damage and showed improved survival after BMT compared to recipients of wild-type donor cells (43% vs 0%, p Conclusion The migration of donor CD8 + T cells to GVHD target organs such as the intestine depends on the expression of CXCR3 and contributes significantly to GVHD damage and overall mortality.
Comment on "Pion-nucleon partial-wave analysis to 2 GeV"

At incident pion energies below 150 MeV, values for the pion charge exchange cross section, derived from the pion-nucleon partial-wave analysis by Arndt {ital et} {ital al}., are slightly in error because a factor of {ital p}{sub c.m.}{ital X}/{ital p}{sub c.m.} has been neglected, {ital p}{sub c.m.}{ital X} and {ital p}{sub c.m.} are the momenta of the scattered neutral and charged pions in the center-of-mass frame, respectively. In addition, an oversight in the center-of-mass to laboratory kinematic transformations has been discoverd in the Scattering Analysis Interactive Dial-in (SAID) system, a system through which the aforementioned pion-nucleon partial-wave analysis may be accessed. This oversight, in which the mass differences between charged and neutral pions and between protons and nuetrons have been neglected, introduces systematic energy and angular dependent errors to the laboratory differential cross section for pion charge exchange below 150 MeV.
Herb use among health care professionals enrolled in an online curriculum on herbs and dietary supplements.

Background: Although many adults in the United States use herbs, little is known about the personal use of herbs by health care professionals (HCPs) and factors associated with use.Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of HCPs prior to their enrollment in an online course about herbs and dietary supplements between September 2004 and May 2005. We used multivariable logistic regression to analyze demographic and practice factors associated with herb use.Results: Of the 1249 health care professionals surveyed, 51% reported using an herb in the last week. The rates of use were highest among physician assistants or nurse practitioners (PA or NP) (63%), clinical nurses (59%), and HCP students (52%), while physicians (48%), dietitians (40%), and pharmacists (37%) had lower rates. Among health care professionals who reported herb use, the most common herbs taken were green tea (24%), flax seed (18%), chamomile (11%), and aloe vera (8%). Factors associated with herb use included older age, being a nurse, ...
Monochromators for small cross-section x-ray beams from high heat flux synchrotron sources

For some x-ray experiments, only a fraction of the intense central cone of x-rays generated by high-power undulator sources can be used; the x-ray source emittance is larger than the useful emittance for the experiment. For example with microfocusing optics, or for coherence experiments, x-ray beams with cross sections less than 0.1 mm{sup 2} are desirable. With such small beams, the total thermal load is small even though the heat flux density is high. Analyses indicate that under these conditions, rather simple crystal cooling techniques can be used. We illustrate the advantages of a small beam monochromator, with a simple x-ray monochromator optimized for x-ray microdiffraction. This monochromator is designed to achieve negligible distortion when subjected to a narrow (0.1 mm wide) beam from an APS undulator operating at 100 mA. It also allows for rapid and repeatable energy scans and rapid cycling between monochromatic and white beam conditions.
The variable separated ODE method for travelling wave solutions for the Boussinesq-double sine-Gordon and the Boussinesq-double sinh-Gordon equations

Travelling wave solutions for the Boussinesq-double sine-Gordon (B-sine-Gordon) equation, the Boussinesq-double sinh-Gordon equation (B-sinh-Gordon), and the Boussinesq-Liouville (BL) equation are formally derived. The approach rests mainly on the variable separated ODE method. Distinct sets of exact solitary wave solutions, that possess distinct physical structures, are obtained for each equation.
InsP3R channel gating altered by clustering

Arising from T. Rahman, A. Skupin, M. Falcke & C. W. Taylor , 655–659 (2009)10.1038/nature07763 The inositol trisphosphate receptor (InsP3R) forms a calcium channel that resides in the membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum and is activated by inositol trisphosphate (InsP3). InsP3 is a phosphorylated monosaccharide that is generated via hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2), a phospholipid that is located in the plasma membrane, and activation of the InsP3R is involved in a broad range of biological processes, including cell division, apoptosis and development. Rahman et al.1,2 reported that exposure to low concentrations of InsP3 induces rapid clustering of InsP3R Ca2+ release channels normally randomly distributed in endoplasmic reticulum/outer nuclear membranes. Importantly, clustered channels gate differently from lone channels. Using similar protocols, we observed InsP3R channel clustering without exposure to InsP3 (Fig. 1a), as we found in other systems3,4,5 with protocols designed to avoid InsP3 pre-exposure. More significantly, we find that clustering has no effect on InsP3R channel gating. For this reason, we believe that InsP3-induced channel clustering and modification of channel gating by clustering may not be universal phenomena.