cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Learning based automatic detection of myonuclei in isolated single skeletal muscle fibers using multi-focus image fusion

Accurate and robust detection of myonuclei in single muscle fiber is required to calculate myonuclear domain size. However, this task is challenging because: 1) The myonuclei have a variety of sizes and shapes. 2) Imaging techniques exhibit myonuclei that are often overlapping. 3) Inhomogeneous intensity due to DAPI concentration in heterochromatin, abundant in mouse nuclei, results in a speckled appearance inside each myonucleus. In this paper, we propose a novel automatic approach to robustly detect the myonuclei in isolated single skeletal muscle fibers. The original z-stack images are first fused into one all-in-focus image. A sufficient number of ellipse fitting hypotheses are then generated using the myonuclei contour segments. A set of morphological features are calculated from the ellipses and utilized to train a support vector machine (SVM) classifier to choose the best candidates. A modified inner geodesic distance based clustering algorithm is used to produce the final results. The proposed method was extensively tested using 42 sets of z-stack images containing about 1500 myonuclei. The method demonstrates excellent results outperforming current state-of-the-arts.
The economic dynamics of work

Only by developing management systems based on appropriate standards can a business successfully learn how to improve the technology of work. As a result, a new economics of work is created where the evolution of large organizations makes economic sense. But economies of scale no longer require rigid mass production of a limited product line. Flexibility can be introduced to produce product diversity without losing the efficiencies of standardization. Thus manufacturing can operate more flexibly like a service by learning to apply industrial robots and other smart machines. Service businesses can also learn how to manage more systematically by designing standard menus of operations.
The Efficiency of the Revised Denver Developmental Screening Test as a Language Screening Tool.

The purpose of this study was to determine the number of false positives and false negatives derived from the language domain of the Revised Denver Developmental Screening Test (RDDST) in a communi...
Getting Involved in the Criminal Justice System

Anthropologists are lucky. Their research perspectives, theoretical ideas, styles of analysis, and emphasis on narrative expression, all nestled on a foundation of cultural relativism, have given anthropologists creative ways to interpret social life around the world. From Bhopal to Nuerland to British Columbia, anthropologists have plied their trade. Today they are using their unique perspectives to cast light on tough social issues in American society, including its criminal justice system.
Even-parity excitons in condensed xenon

Excitation spectra of two-photon excited solid xenon have been obtained in the energy range of 8.4 to 11.1 eV. The measurements were performed at temperatures from 160 to 100 K. The even-parity {Gamma}(3/2) {ital n}=2, 3, and 4 Wannier excitons are observed in solid xenon. The {ital n}=2 and 3 excitons are shifted to higher energies relative to the energy of the corresponding odd-parity excitons by approximately 80 and 50 meV, respectively. In addition, the excitation spectrum revealed a previously unobserved series of excitons between 10.7 and 11 eV. These excitons form a Rydberg series and are possibly assignable as excitons at the {ital X} point of the Brillouin zone. The absorption linewidths (full width at half maximum) of the 2{ital p}, 3{ital p}, and 4{ital p} excitons are measured to be approximately 80, 52, and 22 meV, respectively. Several models are investigated in an attempt to explain the shift in energy between the {ital s} and {ital p} excitons in liquid and solid xenon. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}
Nuclear retention of receptor-oestrogen complex and nuclear acceptor sites

Nuclear retention of receptor-estrogen complex and nuclear acceptor sites are discussed. Evidence that a limited number of receptor-estrogen complexes are bound in the nucleus of rat uterine cells and that these sites may be specific nuclear acceptor sites is presented. Salt extraction of uterine nuclei was used to test the hypothesis that long-term retention of the receptor-estrogen complex in the nucleus is due to the binding of these complexes to a limited number of nuclear acceptor sites and that retention at these acceptor sites for more than 4-6 hours is a requirement for true growth. The number of potassium chloride-resistant nuclear sites was identical to the number of sites required for maximal uterine growth therefore it is proposed that these binding sites in the nucleus represent specific acceptor sites.
Krüppel-like factor 4 prevents centrosome amplification following γ -irradiation-induced DNA damage

Centrosome duplication is a carefully controlled process in the cell cycle. Previous studies indicate that the tumor suppressor, p53, regulates centrosome duplication. Here, we present evidence for the involvement of the mammalian Kruppel-like transcription factor, KLF4, in preventing centrosome amplification following DNA damage caused by γ-irradiation. The colon cancer cell line HCT116, which contains wild-type p53 alleles (HCT116 p53+/+), displayed stable centrosome numbers following γ-irradiation. In contrast, HCT116 cells null for the p53 alleles (HCT116 p53−/−) exhibited centrosome amplification after irradiation. In the latter cell line, KLF4 was not activated following γ-irradiation due to the absence of p53. However, centrosome amplification could be suppressed in irradiated HCT116 p53−/− cells by conditional induction of exogenous KLF4. Conversely, in a HCT116 p53 +/+ cell line stably transfected with small hairpin RNA (shRNA) designed to specifically inhibit KLF4, γ-irradiation induced centrosome amplification. In these cells, the inability of KLF4 to become activated in response to DNA damage was directly associated with an increase in cyclin E level and Cdk2 activity, both essential for regulating centrosome duplication. Cotransfection experiments showed that KLF4 overexpression suppressed the promoter activity of the cyclin E gene. The results of this study demonstrated that KLF4 is both necessary and sufficient in preventing centrosome amplification following γ-radiation-induced DNA damage and does so by transcriptionally suppressing cyclin E expression.
Myocardial function and transmural blood flow during coronary venous retroperfusion in pigs.

BACKGROUNDThe degree of recovery of regional myocardial contraction during coronary venous retroperfusion has not been well established, particularly in the absence of coronary collateral channels. Therefore, the maximal functional benefit attainable with coronary venous retroperfusion was assessed in pigs by means of using selective pump retroperfusion of the left anterior descending vein, with venting of the left anterior descending artery to zero pressure.METHODS AND RESULTSIn eight anesthetized open-chest pigs during selective left anterior descending venous retroperfusion over a range of retroperfusion flows, regional myocardial function (percent systolic wall thickening by sonomicrometry) increased progressively to an average of 62% of control values at a retroperfusion flow rate 200% of control arterial flow. Progressive thickening of the end-diastolic dimension of the anterior wall was observed with increasing retroperfusion flow (from 8.7 +/- 0.9 to 10.7 +/- 2.3 mm, p less than 0.001). Perfusion ...
Hanging an elastic ring

A thin flexible elastic circular ring is hung at one point. The ring deforms due to its own weight. The problem depends on a non-dimensional parameter B representing the relative importance of density and length to rigidity. The heavy elastica equations are solved by perturbation for small B, by a quasi-Newton method for intermediate B, and by a homotopy method for large B. The approximate results show good agreement with numerical integration for B < 20.
An experimental study of SO3 dissociation as a mechanism for converting and transporting solar energy

The high temperature catalytic dissocation of SO3 is an important chemical process being considered in the development and application of solar-thermal energy conversion, transport, and storage systems. A facility for evaluating chemical converter-heat exchangers at temperatures to 1000 C with high flow rates of gaseous SO3 feedstock has been assembled and operated on the NMSU campus. Several quartz and metal reactors containing different catalyst configurations have been tested. Descriptions of the test facility and of the reactors are given along with a presentation and discussion of experimental results.
A Combinatorial Laplacian with Vertex Weights

One of the classical results in graph theory is the matrix-tree theorem which asserts that the determinant of a cofactor of the combinatorial Laplacian is equal to the number of spanning trees in a graph (see 1, 17, 11, 15]). The usual notion of the combinatorial Laplacian for a graph involves edge weights. Namely, a Laplacian L forGis a matrix with rows and columns indexed by the vertex setVofG, and the (u,v)-entry of L, foru,vinG,u?v, is associated with the edge-weight of the edge (u,v). It is not so obvious to consider Laplacians with vertex weights (except for using some symmetric combinations of the vertex weights to define edge-weights). In this note, we consider a vertex weighted Laplacian which is motivated by a problem arising in the study of algebro-geometric aspects of the Bethe Ansatz 18]. The usual Laplacian can be regarded as a special case with all vertex-weights equal. We will generalize the matrix-tree theorem to matrix-tree theorems of counting “rooted” directed spanning trees. In addition, the characteristic polynomial of the vertex-weighted Laplacian has coefficients with similar interpretations. We also consider subgraphs with non-trial boundary. We will shown that the Laplacian with Dirichlet boundary condition has its determinant equal to the number of rooted spanning forests. The usual matrix-tree theorem is a special case with the boundary consisting of one single vertex.
Characterization of the surfaces of single-walled carbon nanotubes using alcohols and hydrocarbons: a pulse adsorption technique

A pulse mass analyzer was used to study the vapor phase adsorption of organic compounds on single-walled carbon nanotubes and chemically modified/oxidized SWCNTs. The change in mass of a packed bed of adsorbent held at 200 °C was observed following the injection of a pulse of an organic compound from the series: ethanol, iso-propanol, cyclohexane, cyclohexene, benzene, or n-hexane. The relative strength of adsorption was obtained by the mass increase resulting from injection of the pulse and by the time required for desorption. This time was broken into the transit time to reach the end of the bed and the half-time for return from peak to baseline. Hexane was the most strongly held compound of the organic sequence. Oxidative purification of a raw nanotube sample produced a less hydrophobic surface. The effect of the purification was reversed by thermolysis at 700 °C, which removed oxygenated functional groups and increased the affinity for hydrocarbons. The amorphous carbon associated with the raw nanotube sample is a strong adsorbent for hydrocarbons. By comparison, an activated carbon had a greater affinity for hydrocarbons than any of the nanotube samples.
Removal of Cosmic Spikes from Hyper-Spectral Images Using a Hybrid Upper-Bound Spectrum Method

A hybrid of the upper-bound spectrum (UBS), principle component analysis (PCA), and median filter (MF) algorithms is used to efficiently remove cosmic spike spectral artifacts from hyper-spectral data matrices (DM). The resulting UBS-DM method is shown to introduce less spectral distortion than the widely used MF cosmic spike suppression algorithm alone. The new method relies on a truncated series of PCA eigenvectors to produce an upper-bound spectrum, which is in turn used to detect and remove cosmic spikes. The PCA eigenvectors are separated into three groups, each of which is treated in a different manner. The first group of eigenvectors, which contain most of the spectral correlation of interest, are not preprocessed prior to applying the UBS-DM method. The second group, which are more severely contaminated by cosmic spikes (but may also contain important spectral correlations), are MF preprocessed before applying UBS. The third group of eigenvectors, which contain virtually no spectral information, are ignored in regenerating the upper-bound spectra used for spike detection and removal. The UBS-DM algorithm is tested using both synthetic and experimental (iron oxide) Raman hyper-spectral data sets, each containing several thousand spectra, with about 1000 wavelength pixels.
Effects of dietary aureomycin and sulfasuxidine on phosphorylation in the liver of rats.

Summary1. The dietary effect of antibiotics, aureomycin and sulfasuxidine, on phospholipide and nucleoprotein synthesis was studied in rat livers. 2. The addition of aureomycin (25 mg/rat/day for 4 and 8 weeks) to a low protein-low fat diet caused a marked stimulation of growth and food consumption in the rat. However, there were no significant changes in the.liver lipides or the synthesis of phospholipides or nucleoproteins. 3. Addition of 5% sulfasuxidine to a low protein-low fat diet produced a significant lipotropic effect. There was a significant decrease in total lipides and an increase in lipide phosphorylation.
Barotropic Instability of Zonal Flows

The barotropic instability of zonal flows due to infinitesimal normal-mode perturbations is considered, with the zonal flow assumed to be continuous and either monotonic or nonmonotonic and allowed to have one or more inflection points. A sufficient condition for instability is derived for this general flow profile that complements that of Arnol'd (1965), which restricted itself to the prediction of stability only.
Isoflurane Favorably Modulates Guanosine Triphosphate Cyclohydrolase-1 and Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase during Myocardial Ischemia and Reperfusion Injury in Rats

Background:The authors investigated the hypothesis that isoflurane modulates nitric oxide (NO) synthesis and protection against myocardial infarction through time-dependent changes in expression of key NO regulatory proteins, guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase (GTPCH)-1, the rate-limiting enzyme
Drug susceptibility prediction against a panel of drugs using kernelized Bayesian multitask learning

Motivation: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and cancer require personalized therapies owing to their inherent heterogeneous nature. For both diseases, large-scale pharmacogenomic screens of molecularly characterized samples have been generated with the hope of identifying genetic predictors of drug susceptibility. Thus, computational algorithms capable of inferring robust predictors of drug responses from genomic information are of great practical importance. Most of the existing computational studies that consider drug susceptibility prediction against a panel of drugs formulate a separate learning problem for each drug, which cannot make use of commonalities between subsets of drugs. Results: In this study, we propose to solve the problem of drug susceptibility prediction against a panel of drugs in a multitask learning framework by formulating a novel Bayesian algorithm that combines kernel-based non-linear dimensionality reduction and binary classification (or regression). The main novelty of our method is the joint Bayesian formulation of projecting data points into a shared subspace and learning predictive models for all drugs in this subspace, which helps us to eliminate off-target effects and drug-specific experimental noise. Another novelty of our method is the ability of handling missing phenotype values owing to experimental conditions and quality control reasons. We demonstrate the performance of our algorithm via crossvalidation experiments on two benchmark drug susceptibility datasets of HIV and cancer. Our method obtains statistically significantly better predictive performance on most of the drugs compared with baseline single-task algorithms that learn drug-specific models. These results show that predicting drug susceptibility against a panel of drugs simultaneously within a multitask learning framework improves overall predictive performance over single-task learning approaches. Availability and implementation: Our Matlab implementations for binary classification and regression are available at https://github. com/mehmetgonen/kbmtl.
Molecular organization of a Drosophila puff site that responds to ecdysone

The 68C locus in the polytene chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster salivary glands is puffed during the last half of the third larval instar and harbors the structural gene for sgs3, one of the glue polypeptides synthesized by the glands during this period. This puff regresses in response to the steroid hormone ecdysone. We have isolated a set of overlapping cloned segments that define approximately 50 kb of DNA at the 68C puff locus. Three polysomal poly(A)+ RNAs that are abundant in the salivary glands during the intermolt-puff stage are transcribed from three genes (II, III and IV) that map near the center of the cloned DNA in a 5 kb cluster region. These are the only transcripts from the 50 kb of 68C DNA detectable in these glands, and they are undetectable in other larval tissues at this stage, or in whole animals at other stages of development. Correlative criteria indicate that gene IV, which yields an RNA of 1.1 kb, is the structural gene for sgs3. Genes II and III, which yield RNAs of 0.36 kb and 0.32 kb, respectively, are oppositely oriented so that their promoters are adjacent, suggesting that this pair may form a single regulated unit, a suggestion that is enhanced by the fact that the pair is bounded by an inverted repeat of 0.3 kb elements. The possible, but as yet unidentified, functions of this gene pair are discussed. A 9.2 kb element belonging to a family of transposable elements called roo is inserted adjacent to the 5 kb cluster region in some but not other D. melanogaster strains. This insertion has no obvious effect on the transcription of genes II, III and IV. Although roo elements yield a 9 kb poly(A)+ RNA in embryos, no roo transcripts were detected in intermolt salivary glands, whether they do or do not contain an element at the 68C puff site.
Occurrence of Secondary Attenuating Mutations in Avirulent Salmonella typhimurium Vaccine Strains

The attenuating delta aroA554 mutation in Salmonella typhimurium strain SL3261 was complemented in vitro by selecting for AroA+ recombinant DNA clones. SL3261 containing cloned aroA+ genes did not require exogenous phenylalanine, tryptophan, tryosine, p-aminobenzoic acid, or dihydroxybenzoic acid for growth in defined media. Cloned aroA+ genes did not restore wild-type virulence to SL3261, however, in a murine typhoid model. The delta aroA554 mutation was transduced into S. typhimurium strain SR-11, a mouse-virulent strain recently passaged in mice. The SR-11 delta aroA554 mutant was highly attenuated for mice challenged parenterally. The same cloned aroA+ genes isolated in SL3261 restored the virulence of the SR-11 delta aroA554 mutant to that of wild-type SR-11. These results suggest that while the delta aroA554 allele remains effective in reducing S. typhimurium virulence, laboratory passage of attenuated vaccine strains may lead to the accumulation of additional attenuating defects.
Data models for secondary storage representations

Performance modelling of data base management systems, and in particular data base models capable of describing representation features in secondary storage, are discussed. Data structures relevant for secondary storage representations are defined, and a partial characterization of several actual systems is given. The accent is on the use of these structures in the context of a simulation model. We sketch the operation of a generalized modelling program in terms of these structures. Data description and system mechanisms required to generate attribute values are treated. The problem of "appropriate values" is discussed in the context of two probabilistic models.
Prednisone-induced osteoporosis: an overlooked and undertreated adverse effect.

Context Glucocorticoids are used for a variety of medical conditions. This class of drugs is arguably the most common cause of iatrogenic osteoporosis, but studies have shown that physicians are not investigating and treating glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis. Objective To determine whether primary care physicians (osteopathic and allopathic) are evaluating and treating adult patients at risk for osteoporosis secondary to long-term prednisone use. Methods Electronic medical records from three primary care practices (family medicine, geriatric medicine, and internal medicine) were retrospectively reviewed to identify patients who were taking at least 2.5 mg of prednisone per day for 8 weeks or longer. Records were then grouped according to whether patients had undergone bone mineral density screening and had been given therapy to prevent or treat bone loss. Whether patients had comorbid risk factors for secondary osteoporosis (according to the National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference Statement on Osteoporosis) was noted to determine whether treatment was given because of prednisone use or because of the comorbid risk factors. Statistical analysis was performed using a Pearson product moment correlation 2-tailed chi2 test. Results The medical records of 49 patients met inclusion criteria (19 men, 30 women; mean age, 61 years; age range, 21-89 years). A statistically significant difference was found in physician evaluation practices for patients with vs patients without comorbid risk factors (82.1% vs 38.1%; P=.002). Conclusion Primary care physicians do not routinely evaluate patients for osteoporosis secondary to glucocorticoid treatment, especially when patients do not have comorbid risk factors for osteoporosis.
Macroemulsions of Liquid and Supercritical CO2-in-Water and Water-in-Liquid CO2 Stabilized by Fine Particles

Liquid and supercritical carbon dioxide-in-water (C/W) and water-in-carbon dioxide (W/C) macroemulsions (Pickering emulsions) stabilized by fine particles were created in a high-pressure batch reactor. C/W macroemulsions form when hydrophilic particles, such as pulverized limestone, sand, flyash, shale, and lizardite, a rock rich in magnesium silicate, are used as stabilizers; W/C macroemulsions form when hydrophobic particles, such as Teflon powder, activated carbon, carbon black, and pulverized coal, are used as stabilizers. C/W macroemulsions form with both liquid and supercritical CO2. C/W macroemulsions consist of dispersed droplets of liquid or supercritical CO2 sheathed with particles in water; W/C macroemulsions consist of droplets of water sheathed with particles dispersed in liquid CO2. The sheathed droplets are called globules. The globule diameter is largely dependent on the shear force imparted by mixing the two fluids, CO2 and H2O. The particle size needs to be adjusted to the dispersed drop...
Implementation of a universal exhaust solution for implanter fire prevention

In ion implanters, toxic and pyrophoric vapors pumped from the source region can leave deposits along the inner walls of the non-conductive pipe across the high voltage gap. The subsequent distortion in the electrical field across this gap can result in arcing across the high voltage gap that may ignite some of this residue. The ignition of this residue causes exhaust fires which result in possible damage to the ion implanter, the exhaust system, and the wafer fab itself. In August 1995, Texas Instruments sponsored a workshop with SEMATECH, Applied Materials, Eaten Corporation, and Varian Associates to determine a hardware-based universal solution to this problem. This report describes the objectives of the Implant Exhaust Workshop, the universal solution agreed to by the implanter manufacturers, and the implementation of these systems as a requirement on all new ion implanters purchased by Texas Instruments.
Space–time finite element computation of complex fluid–structure interactions

New special fluid-structure interaction (FSI) techniques, supplementing the ones developed earlier, are employed with the Stabilized Space-Time FSI (SSTFSI) technique. The new special techniques include improved ways of calculating the equivalent fabric porosity in Homogenized Modeling of Geometric Porosity (HMGP), improved ways of building a starting point in FSI computations, ways of accounting for fluid forces acting on structural components that are not expected to influence the flow, adaptive HMGP, and multiscale sequentially coupled FSI techniques. While FSI modeling of complex parachutes was the motivation behind developing some of these techniques, they are also applicable to other classes of complex FSI problems. We also present new ideas to increase the scope of our FSI and CFD techniques. .
Psychometric Approaches for Developing Commensurate Measures Across Independent Studies: Traditional and New Models

When conducting an integrative analysis of data obtained from multiple independent studies, a fundamental problem is to establish commensurate measures for the constructs of interest. Fortunately, procedures for evaluating and establishing measurement equivalence across samples are well developed for the linear factor model and commonly used item response theory models. A newly proposed moderated nonlinear factor analysis model generalizes these models and procedures, allowing for items of different scale types (continuous or discrete) and differential item functioning across levels of categorical and/or continuous variables. The potential of this new model to resolve the problem of measurement in integrative data analysis is shown via an empirical example examining changes in alcohol involvement from ages 10 to 22 years across 2 longitudinal studies.
Hydrogen generation in a reverse‐flow microreactor: 2. Simulation and analysis

The second part in this series presents parametric simulation and sensitivity analysis of methane partial oxidation in a microreactor operated with periodic flow reversal. The reverse-flow (RF) operation provides up to a 5% increase in the hydrogen yield compared to that of the unidirectional (UD) operation. The effect of varying the inlet CH4:O2 feed ratio, the inlet velocity, and the inlet gas temperature is studied. The optimal feed ratio is found to be CH4:O2 = 1.15:1 with the feed at ambient room temperature. The effects of varying the reactor length and heat losses to the ambient are also investigated. In both these cases, the performance of the UD operation degrades significantly, whereas the performance of the RF operation is more robust to the variations in reactor size and heat losses. The issue of choosing the optimal switching time is also addressed. Switching the input and output ports near the natural timescale of reaction heat release is shown to provide the optimum yield. Through these results, design and operation guidelines based on simple timescale analysis have emerged. © 2005 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2005
Learning Style and other Correlates of Performance on a Scanning Experiment

20 high school students were administered an 80-trial scanning experiment which involved locating and responding to target phrases randomly embedded in a page of connected prose discourse. Both fast and slow scanners significantly improved their speed of scanning during the experiment, but the gains attained by S's who were initially faster scanners were greater. Speed of scanning on the initial trials correlated with Smith's Impulsivity Scores (.65) and Skimming and Scanning scores on the Reading Versatility Test. S's scores at the conclusion of the experiment were significantly correlated with Reading Versatility sub-scores and Nelson-Denny Rate and Vocabulary Scores.
An In-Depth Analysis of Medication Errors in Hospitalized Patients with HIV

BackgroundIt is well recognized that medication errors occur and can affect success in treating patients with HIV/AIDS. However, little information is available describing the prevalence, nature, and causes of medication errors.Objective:To determine the incidence of combination antiretroviral therapy (ART)– and opportunistic infection (OI)–related medication errors and describe the nature and cause(s) of errors to guide future interventions.Methods:A daily antiretroviral utilization report was used to identify adults who were receiving ART and had been admitted to a tertiary care teaching hospital during 2 consecutive months in 2005. Patients’ charts, medication profiles, and medication administration records were reviewed for medication errors such as improper dosing, interactions, drug omissions, and missing doses. Once identified, etiology and cause were further investigated through provider interviews. An interdisciplinary team reviewed each case to establish validity of the error, severity, and caus...
Extracellular calcium influx stimulates metalloproteinase cleavage and secretion of heparin‐binding EGF‐like growth factor independently of protein kinase C

The phorbol ester, tetradecanoyl-phorbol 13-acetate (TPA), stimulates rapid proteolytic processing of the transmembrane, pro- form of heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor (HB-EGF) at cell surfaces, suggesting the involvement of protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms in the HB-EGF secretion mechanism. To test this possibility, we expressed a chimeric protein, consisting of proHB-EGF fused to placental alkaline phosphatase (AP) near the amino terminus of processed HB-EGF, in NbMC-2 prostate epithelial cells. The proHB-EGF-AP chimera localized to plasma membranes and functioned as a diphtheria toxin receptor. Secreted HB-EGF-AP bound to heparin and exhibited potent growth factor activity. The presence of the AP moiety allowed highly quantitative measurements of cleavage-secretion responses of proHB-EGF to extracellular stimuli. As expected, rapid secretion of HB-EGF-AP was induced in a time- and dose-dependent manner by TPA. However, this was also observed with the Ca2+ ionophore, ionomycin, suggesting the involvement of extracellular Ca2+ ions in the secretion mechanism. Ionomycin-induced secretion was inhibited by extracellular calcium chelation but not by the PKC inhibitors, GF109203X, staurosporine, or chelerythrine. The TPA-mediated secretion effect was inhibited by staurosporine, GF109203X, and by pretreatment with TPA, but not by calcium chelation. A small secretion response was induced by thapsigargin, which releases Ca2+ from intracellular stores, but this was completely eliminated by extracellular calcium chelation. Ionomycin- and TPA-induced HB-EGF-AP secretion was not dependent on the presence of the proHB-EGF cytoplasmic domain and was specifically inhibited by the metalloproteinase inhibitors 1,10-phenanthroline and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1). These data demonstrate that extracellular Ca2+ influx activates a membrane-associated metalloproteinase to process proHB-EGF by a pathway that does not require PKC.
Medieval Russia, 980–1584: Kievan Rusˈ: the final century

The period between the deaths of Vladimir I (St. Vladimir) and Vladimir Monomakh may be considered politically as one of expansion and consolidation for Kiev and the southern Rusˈ lands. At the end of Monomakh's reign the Riurikids were the exclusive rulers of a realm that stretched from Galicia and Volynia in the southwest to Rostov and Murom in the northeast, from Pereiaslavlˈ and Kiev in the south to Novgorod with its own empire reaching the White Sea and the Ural Mountains in the north. With commercial links to Byzantium, the Muslim East, and Europe, Kievan Rusˈ was a flourishing, powerful state. Its major towns, such as Kiev, Chernigov, and Novgorod, had been transformed into bustling metropoles, inhabited by tens of thousands of people, adorned with stone churches, and protected by strong fortifications; its outposts were becoming centers of dynamic principalities. The dynastic and territorial organization of Kievan Rusˈ had evolved into what appeared to be relatively stable and effective forms. Kiev, the main political, commercial, and cultural center, continued to be the seat of the senior Riurikid. Members of each branch of the dynasty, as agreed at Liubech in 1097, settled around their own secondary centers, which were transformed into their hereditary principalities. Within this framework Monomakh and his sons ruled to 1139. But during the next century, preceding the Mongol invasion of 1237–40, political conditions in Kievan Rusˈ became increasingly complex. The multiplication of dynastic lines, untimely deaths of individual princes, and intradynastic marriages obscured the lines separating dynastic generations and branches and determining the order of Kievan succession.
Distributed human-machines systems: progress and prospects

Advances in neurophysiological and cognitive science research have fueled a surge of research aimed at more effectively combining human and machine capabilities. In this talk we will give and overview of progress and prospects for four current thrusts of technology development resulting from this research: brain-machine interfaces, robotic prostheses and orthotics, cognitive and sensory prostheses, and software and robotic assistants. Following the overview, we will highlight the unprecedented social ethics issues that arise in the design and deployment of such technologies, and how they might be responsibly considered and addressed.
Bariatric Surgery for Treatment of Obesity

Obesity and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are tightly interconnected. Both diseases are rapidly increasing in prevalence and adding tremendous cost to health-care systems worldwide. A multitude of studies have demonstrated bariatric surgery, especially Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, an invaluable solution for many patients. Bariatric surgery not only provides profound weight loss but also offers resolution or significant improvements in obesity-related comorbidities including OSA. After surgical weight loss occurs, the bariatric patient can expect fewer apnea/hypopnea events, improved sleep efficiency, improved or resolved CPAP requirements, better sleepiness score, and improved quality of life. Therefore, these transformations will translate into more rested, more productive, overall safer, and healthier population.
Only in New Orleans: School Choice and Equity Post-Hurricane Katrina, edited by Luis Mirón, Brian R. Beabout, and Joseph Boselovic

There is probably no city in America that has seen as much change to its school system as New Orleans has over the past decade. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, state and city leaders decided to d...
Ernest: efficient performance prediction for large-scale advanced analytics

Recent workload trends indicate rapid growth in the deployment of machine learning, genomics and scientific workloads on cloud computing infrastructure. However, efficiently running these applications on shared infrastructure is challenging and we find that choosing the right hardware configuration can significantly improve performance and cost. The key to address the above challenge is having the ability to predict performance of applications under various resource configurations so that we can automatically choose the optimal configuration. Our insight is that a number of jobs have predictable structure in terms of computation and communication. Thus we can build performance models based on the behavior of the job on small samples of data and then predict its performance on larger datasets and cluster sizes. To minimize the time and resources spent in building a model, we use optimal experiment design, a statistical technique that allows us to collect as few training points as required. We have built Ernest, a performance prediction framework for large scale analytics and our evaluation on Amazon EC2 using several workloads shows that our prediction error is low while having a training overhead of less than 5% for long-running jobs.
Impact of brood parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds on Red-winged Blackbird reproductive success

We examined brood parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) on a prairie-nesting population of Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) from 1984 to 1997 and the extent to which parasitism affected host reproductive success. During this 14-year period, 2-32% of redwing nests were parasitized per year. Two measures of cowbird parasitism, the proportion of nests parasitized and the number of cowbird eggs laid per year. significantly increased over time. Increases in these estimates of the intensity of parasitism were independent of annual changes in nesting density of Red-winged Blackbirds. Clutch size was reduced in parasitized nests, most likely as a result of host egg removal by cowbirds, but hatching success was similar between parasitized and unparasitized nests. Red-winged Blackbirds abandoned more than one-third of all parasitized nests. We estimated the cost of abandonment in terms of increased failure rate and decreased fledgling production of re-nesting attempts. When we excluded abandoned nests from the analysis, there was no difference in the probability of success between parasitized and unparasitized nests. Nestlings from parasitized nests were similar in mass and tarsus length to nestlings from unparasitized nests, but parasitized nests produced fewer redwing fledglings per successful nest. The success of unparasitized nests was negatively related to the intensity of cowbird parasitism, suggesting that cowbirds are predators as well as brood parasites of redwing clutches.
Tourist Perception on Destination Food & Beverage Experience Based on Linkage between Tourism and Local Agriculture

It is estimated that approx imately 30% of all tourist expenditure goes into food and beverages, clearly highlighting the importance of tourism-agriculture linkages, thus providing huge potential markets for destination agriculture. Therefore, the evaluation of tourists` perception with destination food beverage experience is crucial in stimulating tourists`consuming behavior, further influencing the scope and level of tourism impacts on destination agriculture. Based on 71 detailed structural interviews as data source, this paper explores the perceived evaluation dimensions of tourists on destination food beverage experience with standard qualitative research program. It is suggested that there are eight evaluation dimensions such as price, local characteristic, product, associated industry, development, authenticity, tourist experience, sanitation in the appraisal of food beverage industry. Linkage mechanism between food beverage industry and local agriculture is built on the interviews with the respondents. Some advice about strengthening linkages between destination food beverage industry and local economy is argued from the perspective of tourists. This paper helps to provide the quantitative evaluation system of destination food beverage industry with evaluation dimensions and contributes to the policy about improving tourism and local economy.
Shoulder arthroscopy in the throwing athlete

Throwing athletes are particularly difficult to treat. Multiple pathologic conditions may be present, including rotator cuff tendinopathy, shoulder instability, and acromioclavicular arthrosis. Arthroscopy of the shoulder may be invaluable as a diagnositc tool to confirm clinical and radiographic abnormalities, to identify associated intra-articular and extra-articular pathologic conditions, and to treat a variety of these lesions without the attendant morbidity of open surgical repair and reconstruction.
The diagnosis of cardiac dysfunction in critically III trauma patients with blunt chest trauma and presumed myocardial contusion: the critical nature of end diastolic volume.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate prospectively the effectiveness of monitoring end-diastolic volume (EDV) vs pulmonary artery occlusion pressure (PAO) as an estimate of cardiac preload in hemodynamically unstable critically ill 23 myocardial contusion patients with blunt chest trauma admitted to a university trauma center.. METHODS: Patients were resuscitated (ATLS guidelines) with intubation and volume replacement for altered consciousness, hypoxemia or hemodynamic instability. Volume resuscitation and pulmonary artery catheterization were started to measure PAO, EDV, and oxygen utilization parameters. Myocardial performance was determined in both static (0., 24., 48., 72. hours) and dynamic condition after 500cc fluid bolus. RESULTS: A moderate injury severity (GCS 9, TS 11, ISS 34) with MVA mechanism (91%), an average ICU stay of 14 days and a 39% mortality were revealed. Correlation of PAO, EDV with CO, CI demonstrated that EDV is more reliable than PAO However, factoring heart rate into CO determination was more reliable than single preload estimates of EDV-PAO-HR, HR-EDV, and HR-PAO. EDV-PAO-HR were correlated more strongly with cardiac output from 24 to 96 hours. A higher AV02 decrease was associated with improved survival, and a nearly significant decrease in EDV. Dynamic comparison found no change in cardiac performance with a small volume challenge. CONCLUSION: Simultaneous consideration of PAO, EDV, HR allowed the most accurate determination of cardiac output.
Effect of in vitro preconditioning on tracheal smooth muscle responsiveness.

We evaluated the effect of preconditioning of the isometric contractile response of canine tracheal smooth muscle (TSM) in vitro. Strips of epithelium-free TSM (n = 90) were excised from 16 anesthe...
Dietary Phosphorus Removal with and without Microbial Phytase Addition for Growing Finishing Pigs1

One hundred seventy one crossbred pigs (53.3 ± 1.4 kg) were used to evaluate the effects of removing inorganic P from finishing diets with or without phytase addition during two 28-d finisher phases (EARLY and LATE, respectively). Dietary treatments were: 1) control (Trt 1; EARLY 0.49% total P, 0.19% available P (aP); LATE 0.43% total P, 0.15% aP); 2) Trt 1 without inorganic P (Trt 2; EARLY= 0.36% total P, 0.07% aP; LATE= 0.33% total P, 0.06% aP); and 3) Trt 2 + 500 FTU/kg phytase (Trt 3). Average daily gain, ADFI and G:F (g/kg) were calculated every 2 wk. Pigs were scanned for 10th rib fat thickness (FT) and longissimus area (LEA) and values were adjusted to a common BW (104 kg). One male and one female per pen were slaughtered and fourth metacarpal bones collected and ashed. During the EARLY and LATE phases pigs fed Trt 2 had lower ADG and ADFI (P≤0.05; 760 vs. 831 and 2275 vs. 2399 g, respectively) than pigs fed Trt 3. Adjusted FT and LEA did not differ among treatments. Fourth metacarpal dry and ash weights were greater for pigs fed Trt 3 (P<0.05) as compared to pigs fed Trt 2. Bone ash percentage did not differ between these treatments, however pigs fed Trt 1 had greater bone ash percentage (P<0.05) than pigs fed diets lacking inorganic P (Trt 1 vs. 2,3). Removing inorganic P reduces ADG and ADFI, however, addition of phytase restores animal performance.
Vision Blurred: Mann’s The Magic Mountain

Thomas Mann wrote this novel at a time when Europe was in the throes of a deep crisis. The crisis was multiple: political, cultural, spiritual. The novel was conceived two years before the First World War began and was completed a dozen years later, appearing in 1924. The original idea was to write a light-hearted counterpart of Death in Venice, but what eventually resulted was a weighty tome dealing with the profound changes which not only Europe but the whole of Western civilisation was undergoing during these fateful years. The novel is a record of what was coming to an end, and projects a glance, an anxiously prophetic glance, into the future. One might describe that record by borrowing a term Mann used to describe the favoured activity of his hero, Hans Castorp: ‘stock-taking’. The author, along with his hero, takes stock of what was going on around Hans, as German, a European, a son of the West. The occasion for such an activity was not only propitious: to a person who saw signs of a convulsive, earth-shaking transformation, it was unavoidable.
Discussing Opioid Risks With Patients to Reduce Misuse and Abuse: Evidence From 2 Surveys

We used 2 population-representative surveys to evaluate the recommendation from recent clinical guidelines for prescribing opioid analgesics that physicians discuss the risk of long-term use disorders with patients. In nationally representative data we observed a 60% lower rate, after adjustment for covariates, in a self-reported saving of pills among respondents who say they talked with their physicians about the risks of prescription painkiller addiction (67% lower rate without adjustment). These findings suggest patient education efforts, as currently practiced in the United States, may have positive behavioral consequences that could lower the risks of prescription painkiller abuse. Future research should test these associations under controlled settings.
Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy in Cancer Patients

Immunotherapy as a strategy for the treatment of cancer has experienced a major breakthrough in the recent years. Starting in the nineteenth century with the first observations by Rudolf Virchow suggesting a link between cancer and inflammation, thoroughly exploration of the immune systems cellular and humoral components together with their molecular mechanisms of activation and responses have paved the way for a deeper understanding of the immunological anti-tumor reactivity. In particular, insights into the mutual interaction between tumor growth and modulation of immune cell activation became of major impact for cancer treatment. Translation of this knowledge into the clinic resulted in a plethora of immunotherapy approaches. In this regard, tumor-specific vaccination, the use of cytokines or adoptive transfer of T cells aimed for direct augmentation of anti-tumor responses. Another approach uses the reversal of tumor induced T cell unresponsiveness by interference with T cell checkpoint inhibitors and their ligands. Especially the latter strategy resulted in until then unobserved tumor control rates in metastatic melanoma, lung cancer and other solid organ tumors. Additional advances could be achieved in redirection of T cells to tumor targets using genetic modification of T cell receptors or a new generation of antibody constructs, with impressive longterm results in hematological malignancies. Therefore, immunotherapy for cancer has been developed from an experimental approach to a new pillar of treatment for malignant diseases.
The relative response of songbirds to shifts in song amplitude and song minimum frequency

Lay Summary Male birds adjust their strength of response to songs modified with increased amplitude and minimum frequency in the presence of loud human noise. In addition, territorial rival males respond more strongly to louder songs than songs with relatively lower minimum frequencies. Thus, increasing song amplitude can compensate for any loss in signal salience due to shifting songs up in minimum frequency. Increasing only song minimum frequency in the context of high noise levels could be maladaptive.