cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Conceptualizing the margins in science education: the limits of multicultural analyses

Using a phenomenographic design, this research reports on a study of a cohort (N = 22) of graduate students’ conceptualizations of difference as they progressed through the only required diversity course in a science education program at a large, urban university in the American northeast. Data collection included biweekly course reflections, a modified Pedagogy of Science Teaching Test designed with students labeled with disabilities within its contextual framing, and biweekly ‘science for all’ lessons created by the participants that were not explicitly framed to address disability. Mixed-methods data analyses addressed to what extent these graduate students developed a critical lens toward difference (i.e., expressed, imagined, and/or imposed variations in human behavior and potential) and explored to what extent these theoretical elements transferred into pragmatic applications by the participants, for example in their lesson planning, that addressed multiple interpretations of difference to provide evidence of their capabilities to bridge theory to practice. Additionally, the case of disability as a marker of difference was also paid special attention to in light of lacking analyses in multicultural science education around issues of disability exclusion and teacher biases toward this marker of difference. The data suggest that while students in this ‘urban and multicultural science education’ course appear to be able to theorize critically about multicultural issues in urban science education (as per the goal of the course), their capacities to reflect on their pedagogical decisions within contexts that contain students labeled with disabilities, and plan comprehensive ‘science for all’ classroom learning environments, remained disciplinary focused, no matter if the students labeled with disabilities were the focal marker of difference within these contexts’ demographics or not. Emergent data analysis also suggests that disability was the least recognized and interpreted marker of difference, which led to limited ways that students took up this concept in comparison with other forms of difference such as race, class, and gender. Moreover, rather than emphasizing critical pedagogies that are pertinent for transformative change in science education for all diverse populations, the participants remained focused on narrowly defined, content-specific ways of teaching and learning science. Implications for this research include focusing on the goals of courses such as this one, attending to the unique case of disability as a liminal realm of conceptualizing difference, and supporting graduate students’ needs to aid in bridging the divide between theory and practice for both more traditional markers of difference taken up by multicultural science education (e.g., race, class, and gender) as well as disability as a marker of difference that is under theorized and lacking pragmatic application within such diversity requirement courses.
Multi-Relational Script Learning for Discourse Relations

Modeling script knowledge can be useful for a wide range of NLP tasks. Current statistical script learning approaches embed the events, such that their relationships are indicated by their similarity in the embedding. While intuitive, these approaches fall short of representing nuanced relations, needed for downstream tasks. In this paper, we suggest to view learning event embedding as a multi-relational problem, which allows us to capture different aspects of event pairs. We model a rich set of event relations, such as Cause and Contrast, derived from the Penn Discourse Tree Bank. We evaluate our model on three types of tasks, the popular Mutli-Choice Narrative Cloze and its variants, several multi-relational prediction tasks, and a related downstream task—implicit discourse sense classification.
Maximal Jaw Opening as a Method of Producing Concurrent Activation Potentiation

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine maximal jaw opening as a strategy to elicit concurrent activation potentiation during countermovement vertical jump performance and bilateral grip strength assessment in both males and females. Methods: Twenty-four males (age 21.25 ± 1.45 years; height 177.64 ± 7.67 cm; mass 83.87 ± 9.08 kg) and 24 females (age 21.38 ± 2.12 years; height 165.84 ± 8.96 cm; mass 66.4 ± 13.42 kg) participated in this investigation. Maximal countermovement jump height was recorded using a Just Jump Mat, and dominant and non-dominant handgrip strength was recorded using a digital hand dynamometer under two experimental conditions: jaw relaxed and jaw maximally opened. Paired-sample t-tests were conducted for each dependent variable of interest to determine the differences between the research conditions. Results: Maximally opening the jaw led to improvements in vertical jump height (p = 0.013, d = 0.225), dominant hand (p = 0.028, d = 0.162), and non-dominant handgrip strength (p = 0.011, d = 0.241) in males, and although these variables were improved in females under the jaw open condition, that improvement did not reach statistical significance (p > 0.05). Conclusion: This study supports maximally opening the jaw as an effective strategy for producing concurrent activation potentiation, particularly in males.
The Future of Health Professions Education: Considerations for Competency-Based Education in Athletic Training

Context Competency-based education (CBE) has been in existence in the landscape of educating health professionals since the 1970s. Despite this, there is significant variability in how CBE is defin...
Circular Aperture Effect on Radiated Emissions of Electrostatic Discharge Events

Waveguide cutoff phenomenon theory and the associated aperture effects on the radiated emissions of Electrostatic Discharges measured during process module assessments are introduced. Characterization of Charge Device Model (CDM) induced events were recorded with an oscilloscope at five voltage levels and three antenna heights with and without an aperture impeding free space propagation. The frequency domain response of ESD events is presented with the aid of real time spectrum analysis.
Angiogenic Transformation in Human Brain Micro Endothelial Cells: Whole Genome DNA Methylation and Transcriptomic Analysis

We tested the hypothesis that endothelial capillary tube formation in 3D cultures in basement membrane extract (BME) is secondary to the altered DNA promoter methylation and mRNA expression in human brain micro endothelial cells (HBMECs). We conducted a whole-genome transcriptomic and methylation microarray and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene knockdown to test our hypothesis. The data demonstrated that with angiogenic transformation 1318 and 1490 genes were significantly (p < 0.05) upregulated and downregulated, respectively. We compared our gene expression data with the published databases on GEO and found several genes in common. PTGS2, SELE, ID2, HSPA6, DLX2, HEY2, FOSB, SMAD6, SMAD7, and SMAD9 showed a very high level of expression during capillary tube formation. Among downregulated gene were ITGB4, TNNT1, PRSS35, TXNIP, IGFBP5. The most affected canonical pathways were ATM signaling and cell cycle G2/M DNA damage checkpoint regulation. The top upstream regulators of angiogenic transformation were identified to be VEGF, TP53, HGF, ESR1, and CDKN1A. We compared the changes in gene expression with the change in gene methylation and found hypomethylation of the CpG sites was associated with upregulation of 515 genes and hypermethylation was associated with the downregulation of 31 genes. Furthermore, the silencing of FOSB, FZD7, HEY2, HSPA6, NR4A3, SELE, PTGS2, SMAD6, SMAD7, and SMAD9 significantly inhibited angiogenic transformation as well as cell migration of HBMECs. We conclude that the angiogenic transformation is associated with altered DNA methylation and gene expression changes.
Design considerations and network architectures for low-power wide-area networks

Abstract The characteristics and requirements for low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) solutions vary from application to application. This chapter discusses the different key design considerations of LPWANs. It also focuses on network design and topological aspects to give an overall architectural and design framework. It also briefly describes major LPWAN technology solutions available in the marketplace and summarized as a segue to the upcoming chapters which cover the major solutions.
Primary immune deficiencies associated with a Th2 diathesis

Abstract Multiple monogenic disorders of the immune system can lead to a wide array of allergic phenotypes in addition to autoimmunity, infection and other disease manifestations. In some cases, allergic disease occurs in the absence of other immune manifestations. The term Primary Atopic Disorders has therefore been proposed 1 to describe monogenic diseases leading to atopic phenotypes of all sorts—from urticaria to asthma to food allergy to laboratory abnormalities associated with allergic disease such as IgE and eosinophilia. These phenotypes may or may not be associated with allergic reactions per se, but rather are the manifestations of activation of effector mechanisms classically associated with allergic disease and Th2 related pathology. These syndromes often overlap with primary immune deficiencies or immune dysregulatory disorders, but they provide an opportunity to better classify the monogenic disease by characterizing the atopic component, and help better understand atopy seen in the general population. Indeed, contrary to popular belief, the allergic disease in many of these disorders, while often more severe, does not substantially differ from atopic disease seen outside the context of monogenic syndromes.
Clearance prediction for Amgen molecules against Extended Clearance Classification System (ECCS) and future directions

Early prediction of elimination pathways for new chemical entities can have a profound impact on drug discovery programs. The recently proposed Extended Clearance Classification System (ECCS) is a step in the right direction, providing a framework to help identify the major elimination pathway of a drug. A list of 42 Amgen small molecules was evaluated against the ECCS framework to assess its performance in retrospectively predicting their major elimination pathway. Here, we present a critical analysis of the chemical space defined by the ECCS framework with the aim of identifying its applicability and constraints. This evaluation highlights the critical need for periodic review and revision of ECCS, given that target constraints are moving molecules away from the traditional 'drug-like' physicochemical space.
Racial integration through two-way dual language immersion: A case study

Despite increasingly diverse public school enrollment, students across the U.S. are still segregated by race and poverty, and English learners (ELs) often experience triple segregation by race, poverty, and language. Two-way immersion (TWI) programs may create racially integrated learning environments, by offering a dual language model that balances native English speakers and speakers of the partner language. Through semi-structured interviews, observation, and document analysis, this qualitative case study examined how a Spanish TWI program facilitates integration in a rural elementary school. Findings show that s tudents from different backgrounds may have equal status in mutually beneficial environments, can become bilingual and bicultural, and may experience lifelong benefits. Implications include the need for increased federal, state, and local funding to support districts using TWI to achieve integration as well as a federal language policy that promotes TWI.
Delayed Breeding Optimizes Conception in Dairy Cows with Prolonged Estrus

A common question of dairy farmers is whether to breed a cow that is still in estrus several hours after insemination. It is possible these cows have a longer interval between onset of estrus and ovulation time, and thus AM-PM rule is not valid. The objective of this study was to compare conception risk in cows with prolonged estrus bred once vs. twice (12 hours apart).
Conceptual and Practical Approaches to Integrated Watershed Management and Agroforestry to Address Food Security and Environmental Degradation in Lake Tana and the Blue Nile River Basin, Ethiopia

Forests and trees provide food, fuelwood, and construction materials and many environmental benefits, such as erosion control, clean water and air, biodiversity conservation, and carbon sequestration. The forest covers in Ethiopia and that of the Blue Nile River Basin in particular have been deteriorating at a progressive rate. The situation is even worse in the Angereb watershed. The major causes of deforestation and environmental degradation in Ethiopia are increasing population, increasing demand for farmlands, and increasing demand for fuelwood for cooking and construction materials. The effects of poor farming practices and lack of conservation are the main causes for the siltation of the Angereb dam and the pollution of drinking water from the dam. To address these environmental and livelihood problems, concepts of sustainability and ecosystem-based approaches were applied. We involved different stakeholders, such as the Gondar City Administration, Department of Forestry and Agriculture, Department of Water Affairs, Farmers in the Angereb watershed, University of Gondar, and the Corvallis-Gondar Sister Cities Association in the project. Through this participatory approach, the stakeholders identified the natural resource problems in the Angereb watershed, proposed integrated watershed management involving soil and water conservation, agroforestry, tree planting, and reduced siltation of the dam. Through this project, we improved the tree nursery at Weleka and raised multipurpose indigenous and exotic tree species for planting. Farmers were involved in tree planting and agroforestry practices, such as establishing riparian buffers along the streams, alley cropping for soil and water conservation by planting trees on terraces and agroforests/home gardens to address food security. Through this project, 2.5 million tree seedlings were planted on 560 hectares in the Angereb watershed in ten years. Since 2010, 19 water sources were constructed, including drilled wells, hand-dug wells, and developed springs to provide clean drinking water for 1700 households in Gondar city and the surrounding villages. We recommend scaling up the ecosystem-based approaches, using lessons learned on agroforestry, tree planting, and soil and water conservation in the Angereb watershed to the larger Blue Nile River Basin. This will address environmental degradation, soil erosion, and food security, which will have great impacts on survival of Lake Tana and extend the longevity of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) by reducing siltation.
Response Surface Methodology and Subjective Data

The use of quadratic models in two or more variables to describe a subjective response is discussed. Attention is given to the principles of experimental design as well as to any special problems incurred by the use of ranking or rating data as a response. An example taken from the textile area serves as an illustration.
Why Lawyers should Assess Lawyers' Ethics

(2012). Why Lawyers should Assess Lawyers' Ethics. Legal Ethics: Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 405-411.
The Development of Conversation Training Therapy: A Concept Paper

Summary Objectives To introduce the conceptual, theoretical, and practical foundations of a novel approach to voice therapy, called conversation training therapy (CTT), which focuses exclusively on voice awareness and efficient voice production in patient-driven conversational narrative, without the use of a traditional therapeutic hierarchy. CTT is grounded in motor learning theory, focused on training target voice goals in spontaneous, conversational speech in the first session and throughout. CTT was developed by a consensus panel of expert clinical voice-specialized speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and patients with voice problems. Study Design This is a prospective, clinical consensus design. Methods A preliminary CTT approach to voice therapy was developed by the first and last authors (J.G-S. and A.I.G.) and incorporated six interchangeable tenets: clear speech, auditory/kinesthetic awareness, rapport building, negative practice, basic training gestures, and prosody. Five expert voice-specialized clinical SLPs (consensus group) were then presented CTT and a discussion ensued. Later, an informal interview by a neutral third party person occurred for further recommendations for CTT. Results The CTT approach was modified to reflect all the consensus groups' recommendations, which included the need for more detail and rationale in the program, troubleshooting suggestions, and the concern for potential challenges for novice clinicians. Conclusions CTT is a new therapy approach based on motor learning theory, which exclusively uses patient-driven conversational narrative as the sole therapeutic stimuli. CTT is conceptually innovative because it represents an approach to voice therapy developed without the use of a traditional therapeutic hierarchy. It is also developed using input from patients with voice disorders and expert clinical providers.
The Development and Historic Use of Habitat Structures in Channel Restoration in the United States: The Grand Experiment in Fisheries Management

The use of instream structures to modify aquatic habitat has a long history in the United States. Pioneering work by wealthy landowners in the Catskills region of New York produced a range of designs in the decades preceding the Great Depression in an effort to replenish fish populations depleted from overfishing. The scientific evaluation of structures began in 1930. Within two years, a Michigan research team claimed improved fish populations. Cheap labor and government-sponsored conservation projects spearheaded by the Civilian Conservation Corps allowed the widespread adoption of the techniques in the 1930s, before adequate testing of the long-term impact of the devices. The start of World War II temporarily ended the government conservation efforts and prevented the continued evaluation of structures. During the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, designs of instream structures remained essentially unchanged. Meanwhile, the small number of evaluations of the impact of the structures often were flawed. The continued use of early designs of instream structures helped instill a false belief that instream structures were proven to be a benefit to fish. Even modern use of instream structures continues to rely on the basic blueprints developed in the Catskills, despite documented problems with the use of these designs.
Practical Knowledge and the Fiction of Professionalism

In “Promoting Dialogue on Teacher Professionalism,” Jeannie Kerr argues that the longstanding and recently increasing heteronomy of teaching is due to a misconception about teacher knowledge. According to Kerr (following Richard Bernstein and the hermeneutic line generally), modern epistemology is plagued by a dichotomy “between objectivism and relativism,” leaving us no good way to talk about (among other things) practical wisdom. The idea is that professional practice centrally involves judgment, understood as the intelligent linking of sound generalizations with genuine features of novel, concrete, messy situations. Here knowing and doing come together. As the terms “intelligent,” “sound,” and “genuine” are meant to indicate, the practitioner is trying to get things right. At the same time, getting things right cannot mean abstracting away from the purposive engagement of the practitioner, for it is only within the frame of such engagement that salient features of the novel situation become so. Such a view of practical knowledge is incompatible both with subjectivism (on which view it makes no sense to speak of getting things right) and objectivism (which seeks a description of states of affairs that minimizes the irreducible features of situations and stands independent of our purposes).
Spectrum of Physical Properties Among the Virions of a Whole Population of Vaccinia Virus Particles

Populations of virions released from cultures of L cells infected with vaccinia virus are composed of particles which differ substantially from each other in sedimentation rate and buoyant density. Clumps of two and three virions sediment enough faster than single particles so that fractions containing only singles and others with predominantly pairs can be isolated. The observed velocity range for single particles is much greater than that attributable to diffusion and convection in the centrifuge. Plaquing efficiency is three times higher in a small fraction of the slowest-moving virions than in the major part of the population, even though no size difference can be seen in the electron microscope. Isopycnic densities in potassium tartrate range from 1.15 to 1.23, enough to account for the observed range in velocities. Centrifugation was done in the BXIV zonal rotor at very low virion concentration (less than 108 per ml at any point in the spectrum). Virus count and state of aggregation were determined by electron microscopy.
Growth of Plants in Solution Culture Containing Low Levels of Chromium

Chromium was not required for normal growth of romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. subsp. longifolia), tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), or bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in solution culture containing 3.8 × 10−4 μM Cr. Plants grown on this purified nutrient solution contained an average of 22 ng Cr/g dry weight. Duckweed (Lemna sp.) grew and reproduced normally on a dilute nutrient solution containing 3.8 × 10−5 μM Cr.
Accurate and eff icient flow based congestion estimation in floorplanning

Congestion has been a topic of great importance in the floorplanning of deep-submicron 0 design. In this paper, we design an accurate and efficient congestion estimation model by performing global routing. We interpret the global routing problem as a flow problem of several commodities and relax the integral flow constraints. The objective of resulting fractional flow problem is to minimize the maximum congestion over all edges in the inner dual graph [13]. The underlying routing graph for each commodity is derived by assigning directions to the inner dual graph edges. We design an efficient two-phase algorithm to solve this fractional flow problem. The first phase is denoted as Incoming Flow Balancing (IFB) by which a good initial solution is derived. The second phase is called Stepwise Flow Refinement (SFR) by which the maximum congestion of the solution in first phase is iteratively reduced to its optimal value. In addition, a valid global routing solution can be obtained by applying a simple rounding procedure on the fractional flow solution. The maximum congestion after rounding is only increased by 2.82% on average according to our experimental results, which justifies the use of fractional flow to estimate the routing congestion. Finally, we demonstrate our model by integrating it into a simulated annealing (SA) based floorplanner, where we use the maximum congestion as part of the cost of SA. The experimental results show that, on average, our congestion-driven floorplanner can generate a much less congested floorplan (-36.44%) with a slight sacrifice in area (+1.30%) and wirelength (+2.64%). The runtime of the whole SA process is only increased moderately (+270%).
A spectral investigation of the copper(II) complex of the antitumor compound bleomycin

Abstract A thorough spectral investigation of the copper(II) complex of the antitumor compound, bleomycin, has been carried out in solution employing optical, difference optical, electron spin resonance, and circular dichroism techniques. The optical spectrum of a pH = 7 solution of the 1:1 complex between copper(II) and bleomycin is characterized by a broad weak band in the visible region (λ max = 610 nm) that cannot be resolved and intense ultraviolet bands at 317 (ϵ = 2800), 327 (shoulder), 250 (ϵ = 4700), and 257 nm (shoulder). The circular dichroism spectrum in the visible region shows the broad and weak visible absorption band contains at least three components (558, 675, and 880 nm) that are likely to be “d-d” in origin. The electron spin resonance spectrum is characteristic of a tetragonal d 9 copper(II) system showing no rhombic distoritions at X-band frequencies ( g x = g y ± 0.002). The spin Hamiltonian parameters for the pH = 7.0 solution corrected for second order effects are A ∥ = 177 × 10 −4 cm −1 , A ⊥ ≅ 15 × 10 −4 cm −1 , g ∥ = 2.214, g ⊥ = 2.039. Most interesting was the observation of extra hyperfine splitting due to endogenous nitrogen coordination in a 30% glycerol glass (A N = 12.0 × 10 −4 cm −1 ). That pattern is best interpreted as a seven-line sequence associated with three liganded nitrogens. A dramatic change in all spectral properties occurs when the pH of the copper(II)-bleomycin complex is lowered to 2.5. All these data taken together suggest a CuN 3 O coordination complex in solution . Details and justifications as well as a discussion of the limitations of the interpretations are presented.
Prevention of neuronal apoptosis by phorbol ester-induced activation of protein kinase C: blockade of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase

Consistent with previous studies on cell lines and non-neuronal cells, specific inhibitors of protein kinase C induced mouse primary cultured neocortical neurons to undergo apoptosis. To examine the complementary hypothesis that activating protein kinase C would attenuate neuronal apoptosis, the cultures were exposed for 1 h to phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate, which activated protein kinase C as evidenced by downstream enhancement of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. Exposure to phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate, or another active phorbol ester, phorbol-12,13-didecanoate, but not to the inactive ester, 4alpha-phorbol-12,13-didecanoate, markedly attenuated neuronal apoptosis induced by serum deprivation. Phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate also attenuated neuronal apoptosis induced by exposure to beta-amyloid peptide 1-42, or oxygen-glucose deprivation in the presence of glutamate receptor antagonists. The neuroprotective effects of phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate were blocked by brief (non-toxic) concurrent exposure to the specific protein kinase C inhibitors, but not by a specific mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 inhibitor. Phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate blocked the induction of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase activity and specific inhibition of this kinase by SB 203580 attenuated serum deprivation-induced apoptosis. c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1 activity was high at rest and not modified by phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate treatment. These data strengthen the idea that protein kinase C is a key modulator of several forms of central neuronal apoptosis, in part acting through inhibition of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase regulated pathways.
Thermodynamic efficiencies of an idealized global climate model

We employ the heat engine framework to derive a simple method for assessing the strength of irreversible processes in global climate models (GCMs). Using the explicit energy budget of an idealized GCM, we show that the thermodynamic efficiencies based on the net heating rate and frictional work rate provides a measure of physical and numerical irreversibilities present in either open (e.g., the Hadley circulation) or closed (e.g., the general circulation) circulations. In addition, we show that the Carnot efficiency is useful for assessing the maximum possible efficiency attained by closed circulations. Comparison of the work-based efficiency with that based on the net heating rate and the Carnot efficiency provides a gauge of how close to reversible and ideal the circulations are. A series of experiments with the idealized GCM demonstrate the usefulness of our method and show the sensitivity of an essentially reversible model to changes in physical and numerical parameters such as rotation period and resolution.
The Consistency of System $Q$

It will be shown that system Q of [1], with minor corrections, is free from contradiction and can be strengthened in various ways without destroying its consistency. By the system C *A will be meant the system that results in place of CA if rule 3.4.10 is omitted in [2] from the rules 3.4 defining PA and RA for an arbitrary class A of equations. We let P *A be the theorems of C *A and R *A be the antitheorems of C *A , just as P A and R A are respectively the theorems and antitheorems of C A in [2]. Similarly Γ * is the class that is defined exactly like the class Γ in 4.18 of [2] except that systems of the form C *A replace those of the form C A . The terminology and conventions of [2] will be assumed in what follows. Using the methods that were used to show in 5.9 of [2] that CΓ is free from contradiction, it is easy to show that C *A is free from contradiction for every class A of equations. (The fact that rule 3.4.10 is omitted causes the proof of consistency to work even for cases where A is not systematically closed in the sense of 4.11 of [2].) Just as it was shown in 4.19 of [2] that Γ is systematically closed (in the sense of 4.11 of [2]), so also it clearly can be shown that Γ * is systematically closed. This means, in effect, that the rule of substitution of equals for equals holds in the system C*Γ *.
Dose dependence and temporal evolution of the T1 relaxation time and MRI contrast in the rat brain after subcutaneous injection of manganese chloride

Divalent manganese ion (Mn2+) is a widely used T1 contrast agent in manganese-enhanced MRI studies to visualize functional neural tracts and anatomy in the brain in vivo. In animal studies, Mn2+ is administered at a dose that will maximize the contrast, while minimizing its toxic effects. In rodents, systemic administration of Mn2+ via intravenous injection has been shown to create unique MRI contrast in the brain at a maximum dose of 175 mg kg−1. However, intravenous administration of Mn2+ results in faster bioelimination of excess Mn2+ from the plasma due to a steep concentration gradient between plasma and bile. By contrast, following subcutaneous injection (LD50 value = 320 mg kg−1), Mn2+ is released slowly into the bloodstream, thus avoiding immediate hepatic elimination resulting in prolonged accumulation of Mn2+ in the brain via the choroid plexus than that obtained via intravenous administration. The goal of this study was to investigate MRI dose response of Mn2+ in rat brain following subcutaneous administration of Mn2+. Dose dependence and temporal dynamics of Mn2+ after subcutaneous injection can prove useful for longitudinal in vivo studies that require brain enhancement to persist for a long period of time to visualize neuroarchitecture like in neurodegenerative disease studies. Magn Reson Med, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Status and Delayed-Type Hypersensitivity Skin Testing in Ugandan Children

Background. In previous studies, delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) skin testing has been shown to be affected by several factors including nutritional status, intercurrent infection, host immune status, and previous exposure to the antigen being used. Objective. To determine the effect of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) status on DTH skin testing in a cohort of HIV-1-infected and noninfected Ugandan children followed prospectively from birth. Design. Nested case-control study. Setting. Primary care clinic serving study participants at Mulago Hospital, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. Participants. Thirty HIV-1-infected children and 30 age-matched, HIV-1-noninfected children. Methods. After completion of history and physical, each child underwent Mantoux skin testing with both Candida and purified protein derivative (PPD). Results of skin testing were read in 48 to 72 hours. Complete chart reviews were performed on all children. CD4 lymphocyte counts were obtained on all HIV-1-infected children at the time the skin testing was read. Results. The average age of participants was 67 months (range, 51–92 months). HIV-1-infected children (mean CD4 lymphocyte count, 1069 mL −1 ; range, 86–3378 mL −1 ), compared with noninfected, age-matched peers, developed significantly smaller PPD reaction size (mean, 1.18 mm ± 4.3 vs 3.6 mm ± 7.6, respectively). Candida responses were not different between the two groups of children. Among HIV-1-infected children, there was a larger Candida reaction size in children who had recently received chloroquine treatment. There was no significant correlation between Candida reactivity and PPD reactivity, progressive HIV-1 disease, or CD4 lymphocyte count. The six children diagnosed clinically with active tuberculosis had lower absolute CD4 lymphocyte counts than children without tuberculosis. Lack of reaction to PPD was associated with lower CD4 lymphocyte counts and progressive HIV-1 disease. Conclusions. In HIV-1-infected Ugandan children, DTH skin testing was influenced by the choice of antigen selected, HIV-1 infection, and recent treatment with chloroquine. Based on these findings, we believe that further prospective, longitudinal investigation into the role of chloroquine in HIV-1-infected children is needed. We emphasize the limitations of DTH skin testing in HIV-infected children as an adjunct in the diagnosis of active tuberculosis.
Determination of critical micelle concentration with the rotating sample system

A novel experimental approach using the rotating sample system (RSS) is proposed here for the determination of the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of surfactants. The RSS has been conceived in our laboratory as a convection platform for physicochemical studies and analyses in microliter-sized sample drops. The scheme allows for vigorous rotation of the drop despite its small size through efficient air-liquid mechanical coupling. Thus, changes in surface properties of aqueous samples result in corresponding modulation of the hydrodynamic performance of the RSS, which can be utilized to investigate interfacial phenomena. In this work, we demonstrate that the RSS can be used to study the effects of surfactants on the surface and in the bulk of very small samples with hydrodynamic electrochemistry. Potassium ferrocyanide is employed here with cyclic voltammetry to probe the air-water interface of solutions containing Triton X-100. The CMC of this surfactant determined using this approach is 140 ppm, which agrees well with reported values obtained with conventional methods in much larger samples. The results also demonstrate that besides the CMC, variations in bulk rheological properties can also be investigated in very small specimens using the RSS with a simple method.
Screening for growth hormone (GH) gene splice-site mutations in sporadic cases with severe isolated GH deficiency using ectopic transcript analysis

We screened 10 children with sporadic severe isolated GH deficiency (IGHD) for GH-1 gene splice site mutations using ectopic transcript analysis. None had a history of birth trauma, congenital defects, thyroid disorders, or PRL deficiency. The mean age of these patients at diagnosis was 3.5 yr; the mean height at diagnosis was -4.0 SD score. GH-1 gene deletion was excluded in all cases. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) from lymphocytes was reverse transcribed and amplified by nested polymerase chain reaction, using two primer pairs with annealing sites within exons 2 and 5 of the GH-1 gene. The main polymerase chain reaction fragment obtained was 460 basepairs and proved to be the amplification of the GH-1 transcript. We also found three shorter fragments which were alternatively spliced GH-1 transcripts, including a variant devoid of the first 45 basepairs of exon 3, a second lacking the whole exon 3, and a third one, not previously described, lacking both exon 3 and exon 4. We found the same pattern of alternative splicing in RNA from GH-producing pituitary tumor tissue, which served as a positive control. In 1 of 10 patients, a pathologically shortened main fragment lacking exon 3 was detected. As proved by sequencing genomic DNA, this was the result of a heterozygous splice site mutation, with transversion from G to C of the first base of the donor splice site of intron III generating a new DdeI recognition site. The other allele had no mutation. DdeI digestion enabled us to rule out the defect in the parents' DNA. Thus, the mutation was de novo. As the patient with the mutation displayed the most severe and earliest growth retardation in the study group and had virtually no GH in serum, it must be assumed that the heterozygous genetic defect resulted in a dominant negative effect. The reason for this is still unclear. Recently, within a family that exhibited the autosomal dominant phenotype of IGHD (IGHD-II), a heterozygous point mutation was located 5 bases down-stream from that we describe here. A similar effect on splicing was observed. In conclusion, analysis of ectopic GH-1 transcripts enabled us to detect 1) a new alternatively spliced GH-1 messenger RNA variant lacking exons 3 and 4, and 2) 1 of 10 sporadic cases of severe idiopathic IGHD due to a heterozygous de novo splice site mutation in the GH-1 gene that changes G to C in the first base of intron III.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
239 DECREASE IN α- ADRENERGIC BINDING SITES IN NEWBORN PLATELETS: CAUSE OF ABNORMAL RESPONSE TO EPINEPHRINE?

239 DECREASE IN α- ADRENERGIC BINDING SITES IN NEWBORN PLATELETS: CAUSE OF ABNORMAL RESPONSE TO EPINEPHRINE?
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BODY WEIGHT AND RISK OF DEATH AND SERIOUS INJURY IN MOTOR VEHICLE CRASHES

We sought to investigate the effect of increased body weight on the risk of death and serious injury to occupants in motor vehicle crashes. We employed a retrospective cohort study design utilizing data from the National Automotive Sampling System, Crashworthiness Data System (CDS), 1993-1996. Subjects in the study included occupants involved in tow-away crashes of passenger cars, light trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles. Two outcomes were analyzed: death within 30 days of the crash and injury severity score (ISS). Two exposures were considered: occupant body weight and body mass index (BMI; kg/m2). Occupant weight was available on 27263 subjects (76%) in the CDS database. Mortality was 0.67%. Increased body weight was associated with increased risk of mortality and increased risk of severe injury. The odds ratio for death was 1.013 (95% CI: 1.007, 1.018) for each kilogram increase in body weight. The odds ratio for sustaining an injury with ISS > or = 9 was 1.008 (95% CI: 1.004, 1.011) for each kilogram increase in body weight. After adjustment for potentially confounding variables (age, gender, seatbelt use, seat position and vehicle curbweight), the significant relationship between occupant weight and mortality persisted. After adjustment, the relationship between occupant weight and ISS was present, although less marked. Similar trends were found when BMI was analyzed as the exposure. In conclusion, increased occupant body weight is associated with increased mortality in automobile crashes. This is probably due in part to increased co-morbid factors in the more overweight occupants. However, it is possibly also due to an increased severity of injury in these occupants. These findings may have implications for vehicle safety design, as well as for transport safety policy.
The Concentration of Model Organic Compounds Present in Water at Parts-per-Billion Levels using Supercritical Fluid Carbon Dioxide

Abstract Although hundreds of organic compounds have been identified in samples of natural waters, substantial amounts of the organic matter present cannot readily be characterized using current analytical techniques. Without such prior identification of the substances, they cannot be purchased or synthesized for use in the preparation of the concentrated solutions required for conducting health effects research. We are conducting an evaluation of the use of supercritical fluid carbon dioxide to isolate and concentrate trace-level organics from aqueous samples. The use of carbon dioxide to effect concentration avoids the introduction of organic solvents or contaminants associated with other methods which may interfere with subsequent biological tests. Twenty-three organic substances have been chosen as representative of classes of compounds usually encountered in aqueous systems. We discuss herein the initial results obtained when aqueous solutions of fifteen of those organic compounds were extracted. The...
Mediated Paths to Overreactive Discipline: Mothers' Experienced Emotion, Appraisals, and Physiological Responses.

Harsh or overreactive discipline is a replicated correlate of early childhood conduct problems (e.g., Belsky, Hsieh, & Crnic, 1998; Denham et al., 2000; O’Leary, Slep, & Reid, 1999). Although definitions vary somewhat, the common core of such parenting includes behavior directed at the child that is excessively angry, irritated, and physically rough (D. S. Arnold, O’Leary, Wolff, & Acker, 1993). A better understanding of why parents are overreactive should improve the ability to help parents in their efforts to alter the problematic trajectories of children with conduct problems (Kendziora & O’Leary, 1992) and could reveal new treatment targets. Understanding overreactive discipline in families of toddlers is of particular importance because early onset externalizing problems appear to be especially stable (Campbell, 1995; O’Leary et al., 1999) and because parents have considerable influence on the socialization of young children (Reid, 1993). Effective discipline must be organized around the well-being of the child. However, the challenging nature of discipline-oriented interactions holds great potential for eliciting negatively valenced thoughts and emotions in parents, reactions that may interfere with optimal socialization practices. A growing body of research has shown that mothers’ negative emotional states and negatively toned child-related cognitions are associated with overreactive discipline (e.g., Lorber & Slep, 2005; Slep & O’Leary, 1998). The theoretical premise behind this work is that mothers’ responses to their children are influenced not only by what their children do but also by how mothers interpret and emotionally respond to their children. In this vein, the focus of the present investigation was on previously unstudied relations among self-report and autonomic indicators of mothers’ emotion, mothers’ negatively biased appraisals of their toddlers’ behavior, and toddlers’ actual rates of misbehavior in predicting overreactive discipline.
CD4+ T cell epitope affinity to MHC II influences the magnitude of CTL responses elicited by DNA epitope vaccines.

Immunization with naked plasmid DNA elicits strong cell-mediated immune responses. In the present study, we examine strategies to enhance epitope-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses using DNA constructs, expressing a minimal class I epitope of the gp120 of HIV-IIIB. Here, we evaluate the effect of CD4+ T cell (TH) epitope affinity for the MHC II molecule on the immunogenicity of our DNA vaccines. Our data indicate that a low-affinity TH epitope decreased the magnitude of the CTL responses. In addition, we observed decreased numbers of epitope-specific T helper cells and CTLs, as well as diminished cytokine secretion and proliferative responses. Thus, the immunogenicity of a DNA epitope vaccine can be modulated by altering the affinity of the TH epitope.
Myocardial ischemia in patients with pulmonary atresia and intact ventricular septum

Children who die after operation for pulmonary atresia and intact ventricular septum may have myocardial ischemia. The relation between histologic evidence of myocardial ischemic injury and the presence of a right ventricle to coronary artery fistula, coronary artery dysplasia and operation in 17 autopsy specimens was assessed. Age at death ranged from 1 day to 16 years (median, 11 days). Of the 17 hearts, 6 (35%) had right ventricle to coronary artery fistulas, 5 of which had coronary artery dysplasia. In three cases, there was segmental or complete absence of a coronary artery. Ischemia was present in four of these six hearts, two of which had right ventricular outflow reconstruction. Six of the 11 hearts without right ventricle to coronary artery fistulas also had myocardial ischemia. Of these six cases, four had right ventricular outflow reconstruction and two had shunt operations. Death occurred from 1 to 8 days (mean 3) after operation. Hearts with pulmonary atresia and intact ventricular septum may have myocardial ischemia with or without either right ventricle to coronary artery fistulas or coronary artery dysplasia. Myocardial ischemia may occur after right ventricular outflow reconstruction or shunt operations. Thus, myocardial ischemia occurs commonly in patients with pulmonary atresia and intact ventricular septum and is not always related to coronary abnormalities or operation.
On marginal estimation in a semiparametric model for longitudinal data with time-independent covariates

We consider M-estimators for a class of semiparametric mixed-effect models without time-dependent covariates and show that the simple marginal estimation method is generally better than the same M-estimator applied to the de-correlated response based on a known or estimated covariance matrix for each subject.
Application of the Mohr-circle construction to problems of inhomogeneous deformation

Abstract Off-axis Mohr circles are used to represent asymmetric second-order tensor quantities that describe deformation with homogeneous position gradients or flow with homogeneous velocity gradients. The validity of this representation is demonstrated. Several applications to problems of inhomogeneous deformation are explored by considering neighboring domains A and B that are homogeneously but differently deformed or flowing. The compatibility condition in Mohr space is that the circles for A and B should intersect in a point that represents the material line of the A/B boundary. In the first application it is assumed that the stretch tensor is known for each domain, and a Mohr construction is used to find the orientation of a compatible A/B boundary and the rotation of one domain with respect to the other. The second application is similar but involves the instantaneous state of a system. Non-parallel simple shearing at known rates is assumed in A and B, and a construction is used to find the instantaneous orientation of a compatible boundary and the spin of one domain with respect to the other. The third and fourth applications apply Mohr circles to problems of deformation interpolation and deformation averaging. In the former a deformation and shape is found for a domain C that lies between A and B, themselves incompatible, such that the A/C and C/B boundaries are both compatible.
Bacillary (Epithelioid) angiomatosis

Abstract The four members of the family Herpes viridae that most frequently infect humans are herpes simplex virus (HSV), varicella-zoster virus (VZV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The prevalence of infection with these viruses ranges from between 20% and 40% (HSV) to virtually 100% (VZV, CMV, EBV). These four enveloped DNA viruses characteristically cause latent or persistent infections, or both, which may last for the lifetime of the host. 1 Latent virus may be found in the nervous system (HSV and VZV), lymphoid system (EBV and CMV) and perhaps other tissues including skin (CMV). 1 In the setting of HIV disease and its associated immune suppression, previously asymptomatic or mild infections often become much more severe. This article discusses the cutaneous lesions caused by HSV, VZV and CMV. The role of EBV is not discussed here.