cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Group sequential control of overall toxicity incidents in clinical trials - non-Bayesian and Bayesian approaches.

In some small clinical trials, toxicity is not a primary endpoint; however, it often has dire effects on patients’ quality of life and is even life-threatening. For such clinical trials, rigorous c...
On the Wave Theory in Heat Conduction

This work contains three major components: a thorough review on the research emphasizing engineering applications of the thermal wave theory, special features in thermal wave propagation, and the thermal wave model in relation to the microscopic two-step model. For the sake of convenience, the research works are classified according to their individual emphases. Special features in thermal wave propagation include the sharp wavefront and rate effects, the thermal shock phenomenon, the thermal resonance phenomenon, and reflections and refractions of thermal waves across a material interface. By employing the dual-phase-lag concept, we show that the energy equation may be reduced to that governing the heat transport through the metal lattice in the microscopic two-step model
Presynaptic donor DNA-protein complexes in transformation of streptococcussanguis: Identification of the protein component

Summary Complexes containing single-stranded donor DNA, produced after initial binding of native DNA to competent S. sanguis cells and prior to chromosomal synapsis, have been purified, labelled with [ 125 I] and shown to possess a unique polypeptide about 15,500 daltons in size.
Anisotropic elastic moduli and Poisson's ratios of a poly(ethylene terephthalate) film

Expressions for the directional dependence of Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio were derived for a general material under plane-stress conditions. Experiments with a laser extensometer to measure the Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio directly by a tension test are described, and the results are compared with the theoretical expressions. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 260–266, 2004
α-Nitro Ketone as an Electrophile and Nucleophile: Synthesis of 3-Substituted 2-Nitromethylenetetrahydrothiophene and -tetrahydrofuran as Drosophila Nicotinic Receptor Probes

3-(6-Chloropyridin-3-yl)methyl-2-nitromethylenetetrahydrothiophene 2 and -tetrahydrofuran 3 were synthesized through novel approaches using α-nitro ketone intermediates as an electrophile and nucleophile, respectively. The 2-nitromethylenetetrahydrothiophene 2 was formed exclusively as the Z-isomer through intramolecular attack by a thiol substituent at the carbonyl group of an α-nitro ketone, in which the α-nitro ketone served as an electrophile. In contrast, the corresponding 2-nitromethylenetetrahydrofuran 3, not accessible by the above route due to limited stability, was prepared as a mixture of E- and Z-isomers by intramolecular attack of the α-nitro ketone enol anion in which the deprotonated α-nitro ketone served as a nucleophile. These compounds, together with the corresponding 2-nitromethylenepyrrolidine (1), were used to probe the Drosophila neonicotinoid−nicotinic acetylcholine receptor interaction.
Abstract A23: ALK activity in macrophages drives metastasis in murine models of breast cancer

VEGF-induced angiogenesis and macrophages contribute directly to metastasis, the leading cause of breast cancer related mortality. VEGF is a major driver of angiogenesis, yet its targeted inhibition is often ineffective at controlling metastases. In contrast, pathways that contribute to a pro-metastatic macrophage phenotype are unclear and pharmacological strategies to inhibit pro-metastatic activity are lacking. In this study, we illustrate that anti-VEGF therapy modulates PTN expression in multiple mouse models of breast cancer. Once expressed, PTN induces the expression of VEGFR2 on macrophages and promotes an anti-inflammatory, pro-metastatic macrophage phenotype. This phenomenon is dependent on ALK signaling, as inhibition with the small molecule receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor crizotinib (Xalkori, Pfizer), which targets ALK, or ALK siRNA is sufficient to reverse PTN-induced VEGFR2 and anti-inflammatory macrophage marker expression. Importantly, phosphorylated ALK and VEGFR2 positive macrophages were detected in tumor but not normal breast tissue from patients. Furthermore, inhibition of ALK signaling in macrophages blunted metastasis but had no effect on primary MMTV-PyMT tumors; while blockade of VEGF slowed primary tumor growth without effect on metastatic burden. Combined inhibition of ALK and VEGF activity showed potent anti-tumor and anti-metastatic activity in animals with disseminated disease. Collectively, our data document novel markers of pro-metastatic macrophages and reveal how macrophage phenotype can be manipulated to suppress breast cancer progression. Citation Format: Kristi D. Lynn, Rolf A. Brekken. ALK activity in macrophages drives metastasis in murine models of breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Abstracts: AACR Special Conference on Cellular Heterogeneity in the Tumor Microenvironment; 2014 Feb 26-Mar 1; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(1 Suppl):Abstract nr A23. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.CHTME14-A23
Mechanisms of Nucleobase Transport in Rabbit Choroid Plexus EVIDENCE FOR A Na-DEPENDENT NUCLEOBASE TRANSPORTER WITH BROAD SUBSTRATE SELECTIVITY

The overall goal of this study was to determine the mechanisms by which nucleobases are transported in the choroid plexus. Choroid plexus tissue slices were obtained from the lateral ventricles of rabbit brains and depleted of ATP with 2,4-dinitrophenol. In the presence of an initial inwardly directed Na+ gradient, hypoxanthine accumulated in the tissue slices against a concentration gradient. Na+-stimulated hypoxanthine uptake was saturable with a Km of 31.1 ± 9.71 μM and a Vmax of 2.69 ± 0.941 nmol/g/s (mean ± S.E.). Na+-stimulated hypoxanthine uptake was inhibited by (100) μM naturally occurring purine and pyrimidine nucleobases (adenine, cytosine, guanine, hypoxanthine, thymine, uracil, and xanthine) as well as by the nucleoside analog, dideoxyadenosine. The stoichiometric coupling ratio between Na+ and hypoxanthine was 1.7:1. The data demonstrate the presence of a novel Na+-dependent nucleobase transporter in the choroid plexus, which is distinct from the previously described Na+-nucleoside transporter in choroid plexus and from Na+-dependent nucleobase transporters in other tissues in terms of its kinetics, substrate selectivity, and Na+-nucleobase stoichiometry. This transporter may play a role in the targeting of both salvageable nucleobases and therapeutic nucleoside analogs to the central nervous system.
Electronic properties of junctions between silicon and organic conducting polymers

Diodes formed from semiconductor/metal interfaces often display non-ideal electronic properties. For instance, silicon/metal (Schottky) diodes made from n-type silicon and a variety of contacting metals exhibit only small differences in their rectification properties, despite theoretical and practical expectations that changes in the metal should effect changes in device properties. Similarly, Schottky diodes formed on p-type silicon generally exhibit ohmic behaviour with poor rectification characteristics. This lack of electrical response to changes in the properties of the contacting metal phase is generally attributed to interfacial reactions that take place during the high-temperature thermal or electron-beam deposition of metals onto silicon. Here we describe the fabrication of diodes using a low-temperature chemical procedure, in which contact to the semiconductor is made by a layer of the conducting organic polymer, polyacetylene. Unlike conventional metals, the electrical properties of polyacetylene can be manipulated through choice of the polymer dopant. The resultant organic/inorganic interfaces behave more ideally than contacts with conventional metals, in that changes in the electrical properties of the conducting polymer exert a large and predictable effect on the electrical properties of the resulting semiconductor/polymer diodes.
Adaptive Delay and Synchronization Control for Wi-Fi Based Mobile AV Conferencing

The tremendous success of the IEEE 802.11b technology and the popularity of portable computing units (e.g., PDAs) have led to a surge of Wi-Fi based real-time multimedia applications. However, due to the unpredictable and often fluctuating channel behavior, it is rather difficult to configure an appropriate de-jitter buffer to maintain a satisfactory perceived quality for end users. Motivated by this problem, we propose in this paper an adaptive delay and synchronization control scheme for Wi-Fi based AV conferencing applications. We target at campus-wide IEEE802.11b WLANs that are generally capable of supporting low-latency multimedia applications. The proposed scheme employs a distributed timing mechanism and performs localized control at the receiver side. The scheme can also be configiured flexibly with either one of the two inter-stream synchronization control options. Based on real-time monitored synchronization errors, Media Data Unit (MDU) loss, and real-time statistical estimation of the delay jitter among adjacent MDUs, the scheme is able to piece-wisely adjust the equalization delay to compensate for the delay jitter and control the MDU loss effectively. We investigate the performance of the proposed scheme using trace-driven approach. Through simulations, we show that the proposed scheme is capable of dynamically balancing between synchronization and latency requirements and effectively control the MDU loss as well. In particular, compared to the solutions using a static setting, the proposed scheme is able to provide the same MDU loss performance with a significant reduction in resultant latency.
Path Bending: Interactive Human-Robot Interfaces With Collision-Free Correction of User-Drawn Paths

Enabling natural and intuitive communication with robots calls for the design of intelligent user interfaces. As robots are introduced into applications with novice users, the information obtained from such users may not always be reliable. This paper describes a user interface approach to process and correct intended paths for robot navigation as sketched by users on a touchscreen. Our approach demonstrates that by processing video frames from an overhead camera and by using composite Bezier curves to interpolate smooth paths from a small set of significant points, low-resolution occupancy grid maps (OGMs) with numeric potential fields can be continuously updated to correct unsafe user-drawn paths at interactive speeds. The approach generates sufficiently complex paths that appear to bend around static and dynamic obstacles. The results of an evaluation study show that our approach captures the user intent while relieving the user from being concerned about her path-drawing abilities.
LDA Analyzer: A Tool for Exploring Topic Models

Online technical forums are valuable sources for mining useful software engineering information. LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) is an unsupervised machine learning method which can be used for extracting underlying topics out of such large forums. However, the main output of LDA forum learning are usually huge matrices that contain millions of numbers, which is impossible for researchers to directly scrutinize the numerical distribution and semantically evaluate the relationship between the extracted topics and large collection of unorganized documents. In this paper, we present LDAAnalyzer, an LDA visualization tool that makes the hidden topic-document structures rise to the surface. From the functionality point of view, LDA Analyzer consists of (1) LDA modeling (2) LDA output analysis and (3) new corpus training. With the help of LDAAnalyzer, our semantic topic-modeling evaluation based on large technical forums becomes feasible.
Control of Mesenchymal Lineage Progression by MicroRNAs Targeting Skeletal Gene Regulators Trps1 and Runx2

Multiple microRNAs (miRNAs) that target the osteogenic Runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) define an interrelated network of miRNAs that control osteoblastogenesis. We addressed whether these miRNAs have functional targets beyond RUNX2 that coregulate skeletal development. Here, we find that seven RUNX2-targeting miRNAs (miR-23a, miR-30c, miR-34c, miR-133a, miR-135a, miR-205, and miR-217) also regulate the chondrogenic GATA transcription factor tricho-rhino-phalangeal syndrome I (TRPS1). Although the efficacy of each miRNA to target RUNX2 or TRPS1 differs in osteoblasts and chondrocytes, each effectively blocks maturation of precommitted osteoblasts and chondrocytes. Furthermore, these miRNAs can redirect mesenchymal stem cells into adipogenic cell fate with concomitant up-regulation of key lineage-specific transcription factors. Thus, a program of multiple miRNAs controls mesenchymal lineage progression by selectively blocking differentiation of osteoblasts and chondrocytes to control skeletal development.
Hydrophobic Enhancement of Dopa-Mediated Adhesion in a Mussel Foot Protein

Dopa (3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) is recognized as a powerful and versatile chemical signature of mussel adhesion and has been adopted into different synthetic polymer systems. However, Dopa is notoriously susceptible to oxidation, and this represents a major challenge for the practical translation of mussel adhesion. Using a surface forces apparatus to investigate the adhesion of Mfp-3 (mussel foot protein-3) slow, a protein variant of the Mfp-3 family in the plaque, we have discovered a subtle molecular strategy apparently based on hydrophobicity for tuning adhesion despite Dopa’s instability. In contrast to other adhesive proteins, (1) the adhesion energy of Mfp-3 slow on mica surfaces at pH 3 is about half that of Mfp-3 fast and roughly proportional to its lower Dopa content. The trend of decreasing adhesion with increasing pH is significantly less pronounced than what was reported for Mfp-3 fast. Evidently, the autoxidation of Dopa residues in Mfp-3 slow is retarded at neutral pH; (2) there exists a reversibly strong cohesive interaction of about E ad = −3 mJ/m2 between two Mfp-3 slow protein films over a wide range of pH (from 3 to 7.5). This cohesion probably reflects the cumulative effects of Dopa-mediated hydrogen bonding, other inter-residue hydrogen bonding, but especially hydrophobic interactions since Mfp-3 slow is the most hydrophobic of mussel adhesive proteins. Exploitation of hydrophobic sequences to protect Dopa against oxidation as well as incorporating hydrophobic interactions and inter-residue H-bonding to strengthen adhesives expands our understanding of biological wet adhesion and also provides new perspectives for developing effective artificial underwater adhesives.
Paleochannels indicating wet climate and lack of response to lower sea level, southeast Georgia

Large meandering paleochannels on the flood plain of the middle Ogeechee River in southeast Georgia represent wet paleoclimate during late Pleistocene and early Holocene time and show no indication of downcutting in response to eustatically lower sea level. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the paleomeanders were active at ∼31–28 ka and ∼8.5–4.5 ka. Bivariate regression models that correlate modern channel dimensions to the discharge of low-magnitude floods (1–5 yr recurrence interval) indicate that paleodischarge of floods during those times was at least double that of modern floods, thus suggesting a wetter paleoclimate. These data corroborate independent studies of pollen and paleoclimate simulations that indicate wet early to middle Holocene (9–3 ka) conditions that were characterized by intensified monsoonal circulation. Paleoclimate conditions at ∼31–28 ka are less well known. Our analysis of the middle Ogeechee River flood plain indicates the absence of base-level response (downcutting) to eustatic sea-level lowering because the beds of the paleochannels are at approximately the same elevation as the bed of the modern channel. This supports recent arguments that the geomorphic response of coastal-plain streams to sea-level lowering is most apparent in deltaic and shelf environments and may not be recognized very far upstream from the coast.
Women’s absence from news photos: the role of tabloid strategies at elite and non-elite newspapers

In 1978, Gaye Tuchman pointed to women’s ‘symbolic annihilation’ from the public sphere as the media focused overwhelmingly on the activities of men. Has anything changed since then? This article presents findings from a longitudinal content analysis of 1252 news photos from two widely read American newspapers – one elite and one non-elite – between 1966 and 2006. Findings show that pictures of men dominated the news in both papers over this period. Nevertheless, women made more gains in the elite paper than in the non-elite paper. This article argues that these trends were the product of divergent paths towards tabloid journalism, where papers replace politics and business coverage with sports, entertainment, fashion, and lifestyle coverage. The elite paper expanded entertainment, fashion, and lifestyle coverage, where women show up just as often as men. The non-elite paper expanded sports coverage, where women are virtually absent.
Reduction of popcorn noise in integrated circuits

Popcorn (burst) noise continues to deteriorate the operation of linear IC devices. Reduction of popcorn noise by a few simple modifications in the manufacturing process is reported in this paper. Annealing in an HC1 atmosphere to getter metal impurities and slow pulling after emitter deposition to diminish stress-induced junction defects appear to reduce the popcorn noise significantly.
End-systolic myocardial stiffness is a load-independent index of contractility in stage 24 chick embryonic heart.

Cardiac morphogenesis and function are interrelated during cardiovascular development. We evaluated the effects of acute alteration of loading condition to chick embryonic ventricular contractility...
A fluorescence-coupled assay for gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) reveals metabolic stress-induced modulation of GABA content in neuroendocrine cancer

Pathways involved in the synthesis of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of high grade neuroendocrine (NE) neoplasms as well as neoplasms from a non-NE lineage. Using The Cancer Genome Atlas, overexpression of the GABA synthetic enzyme, glutamate decarboxylase 1 (GAD1), was found to be associated with decreased disease free-survival in prostate adenocarcinoma and decreased overall survival in clear cell renal cell carcinomas. Furthermore, GAD1 was found to be expressed in castrate-resistant prostate cancer cell lines, but not androgen-responsive cell lines. Using a novel fluorescence-coupled enzymatic microplate assay for GABA mediated through reduction of resazurin in a prostate neuroendocrine carcinoma (PNEC) cell line, acid microenvironment-induced stress increased GABA levels while alkaline microenvironment-induced stress decreased GABA through modulation of GAD1 and glutamine synthetase (GLUL) activities. Moreover, glutamine but not glucose deprivation decreased GABA through modulation of GLUL. Consistent with evidence in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms that GABA synthesis mediated through GAD1 may play a crucial role in surviving stress, GABA may be an important mediator of stress survival in neoplasms. These findings identify GABA synthesis and metabolism as a potentially important pathway for regulating cancer cell stress response as well as a potential target for therapeutic strategies.
Design Reuse in Manufacturing and Services

Most professionals, actively engaged in design, live in a world of trade-offs. The most typical compromise is that reducing the cost of design causes quality to suffer, but there are many others as well. This paper summarizes current use of one of the most popular approaches to improving the new offering development process: design reuse. In the present study 42 companies were surveyed, of which 23 were in manufacturing and 19 were in services—but all were actively engaged in technology and design reuse in new offerings. It was hypothesized that policies for design reuse and internal sourcing would promote the complexity and breadth of reuse (here the combination of modular and architectural substitution), which, in turn would dampen the percentage of substitution and reduce the negative impact on innovativeness of new offerings. These predictions were generally supported. Adoption of policies for encouragement or to mandate design reuse were significantly correlated with the extent of reuse (application of both architectural and modular design vs. just one or the other) among manufacturers but not services firms in the sample. Internal sourcing of ideas for design reuse was significantly correlated with extent of reuse for the total sample, and especially for services. Design reuse percentage and extent of design reuse were significantly and inversely associated for manufacturing, as predicted, but not for services. Novelty of new offerings was significantly and inversely related to percentage of reuse, as predicted, for manufacturing, but not for services. It was found that sector also makes a difference in likelihood of adopting higher levels of reuse with service company respondents reporting significantly higher levels (average of 42% reuse for services and 28% for manufacturing applications). Perhaps one of the most interesting preliminary findings to emerge was that the tipping point of negative impact from design reuse percentage on innovativeness for all firms in the sample of new offerings was 43%, beyond which novelty suffers. For manufacturing, the tipping point was lower: Novelty begins to suffer after 33% design reuse, which has important management implications. The conclusion was drawn, based on these preliminary results, that much can be done to relieve some of the negative consequences of the typical trade-offs commonly encountered in development programs for new offerings, especially when cost, timing, and innovation are the target goals. However, services and manufacturing are quite different in their approach to design reuse and substitution. Further development of the concept of design reuse strategy appears to be warranted based on these preliminary findings. The findings raise the distinct possibility that mesolevel strategic aggregation issues might lead research into areas that help explain how complex systems realize their full self-organizing potential and why corporate strategy considerations, alone, have failed to explain the success and failure of organizations coping in rugged landscapes.
Modeling and performance of spiral inductors in SOI CMOS technology

Modeling and performance of on-chip spiral inductors is presented. Y-parameters are obtained from the measured S-parameters of the inductor fabricated in 0.35 /spl mu/m SOI CMOS technology. Matlab is used to obtain the /spl pi/-equivalent circuit model parameters at each frequency point. The SOI CMOS inductor shows better performance characteristics in terms of Q-factor and self-resonance frequency.
Ultrasonic Assessment of Fetal Growth in the Nonhuman Primate (Macaca mulatta)

Serial ultrasound measurements of fetal growth were made during uncomplicated pregnancy in 28 time-mated rhesus monkeys. Gestational sac (GS) size, crown-rump length (CRL), biparietal diameter (BPD), head circumference (HC), head area (HA), abdominal circumference (AC), abdominal area (AA), and femur length (FL) were measured. Average longitudinal growth curves for each parameter were obtained from individual fetal growth curves. Data analysis indicated that the linear model was optimal for GS, CRL, HA, AA, and FL. The linear-quadratic model was optimal for AC, and the linear-cubic model was optimal for BPD and HC. Indexing Words: Fetal growth · Rhesus monkey · Ultrasound.
The Thermodynamics of Sorption of Three Direct-Dye Mixtures on Cellulose

The equilibrium absorption of binary mixtures of Direct Red 2, Direct Blue 8, and Direct Yellow 12 by cellulose film has been studied, and a correlation between single and mixture dyeing is presented.In each case, the competition of the dyes for available surface area suppressed the sorption. In some cases, evidence was obtained of interaction of the dyes in solution. When this occurred, it was difficult to define quantitatively the com petition of the dyes for available surface area. All of the results correlated with the degree of interaction in solution, as measured by transmission studies made at 90°C.The data are interpreted in terms of a Langmuir equation which has been modified to take into consideration the compe tition of two dyes for available surface area.
α-Methylacyl-CoA racemase spliced variants and their expression in normal and malignant prostate tissues.

The high mortality of prostate cancer (CaP) in men and the low specificity of the serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) assay has generated great interest in finding new biomarkers that could specifically detect CaP at an earlier stage.1 P504S, or alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR), was first discovered in 2000 as a specific marker for CaP.2 Jiang et al. soon validated the aberrant expression of AMACR transcripts in CaP and used the transcripts for detecting CaP antigen in needle biopsy specimens.3,4 Immunohistochemical staining with AMACR antibody alone or in combination with antibody to a basal cell marker is currently a standard adjuvant tool in CaP diagnosis, especially in needle biopsy specimens with ambiguous lesions.5–8 Overexpression of AMACR has also been reported in other human tumors, including those cancers originating from kidneys, liver, lymph nodes, and colon.9,10 AMACR catalyzes the conversion of phytanic and pristanic acid that is essential in the beta-oxidation of branched-chain fatty acids and bile acid intermediates.11 Six different variants of AMACR have been reported as IA, IAd, IIA, IIAs, IB, and IIB.12–14 These transcript variants are considered to be alternatively spliced from a single gene locus located in chromosome 5.15 These alternatively spliced variants of AMACR are grouped as type I and II according to the presence or absence, respectively, of intact exon 5 and are subclassified as A or B, on the basis of the existence or absence, respectively, of exon 3. IA, the most abundant variant, contains all five intact exons and codes for a protein of 382 amino acids. Overexpression of this enzyme may allow CaP cells to switch energy sources, thereby facilitating cancer progression. AMACR has been studied as a potential early cancer diagnostic biomarker through determining its protein level in western blot assays, its transcript level in urine with quantitative RT-PCR, and the DNA methylation status of promoter in cancer tissue and blood.16–18 We reported that a duplex assay of total AMACR (AMACRt) and prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3) transcripts from urine sediment could significantly increase the specificity of CaP detection.19 A small-scale study noted differential expression of A and B forms of AMACR transcripts in CaP tissue.13,14 Here, we report four novel AMACR alternatively spliced variants and evaluate the expression of AMACRt transcript and its ten individual variants in four prostate cell lines and 23 normal-cancer paired prostate tissues.
Novel Phase I Dose De-escalation Design Trial to Determine the Biological Modulatory Dose of the Antiangiogenic Agent SU5416

Purpose: To determine the biological modulatory dose of SU5416, we employed a novel trial design, where “dose de-escalation” was based on demonstrable biological changes observed at the maximum tolerated dose. If such an effect was shown, dose de-escalation to a predefined dose level would occur to determine if the lower dose exhibited the same amount of pharmacodynamic effect as the higher dose. Experimental Design: Ten patients with advanced solid tumors were enrolled at each dose level. One of the following pharmacodynamic effects was considered significant: ( a ) a 35% decrease in microvessel density in sequential tumor biopsies and ( b ) a 35% decrease in blood flow within tumor as assessed by dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, soluble E-selectin, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule, soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule, and plasma vascular endothelial growth factor were measured sequentially. Results: Nineteen patients were enrolled. Sequential tumor biopsies in all evaluable patients showed an increase in microvessel density. Only one patient met the intended pharmacodynamic end point of >35% reduction in blood flow. There was a significant increase in both soluble E-selectin and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule levels pretreatment versus levels at the time of removal of patients from study ( P = 0.04 and P = 0.0007, respectively). Levels of serum fibrinogen rose with therapy. There was a trend toward increase in plasma vascular endothelial growth factor levels. Conclusion: SU5416 does not result in decreased blood flow in tumors or a decrease in microvessel density. This corresponds to the lack of clinical activity seen with this agent. Our clinical trial design termed dose de-escalation is a novel approach to determine the in vivo biological effects of targeted therapies in cancer patients.
Ring lethal: an early embryonic failure in medium white turkeys

Ring lethal denotes an early embryonic failure of developing blastoderms in medium white turkeys that can be recognized macroscopically in situ after 48 hours of incubation. The condition is characterized by a white ring of amorphous cells in the area opaca with or without the presence of cells in the area pellucida. The disorder is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait that is expressed in the homozygous condition. Attempts to elucidate the cause of the ring lethal gene's expression have been unsuccessful. The symbol rl is proposed for the gene.
A Portable Double-Flash Spectrophotometer for Measuring the Kinetics of Electron Transport Components in Intact Leaves

We are developing a portable Joliot-type spectrophotometer (1) which uses a measuring flash to study absorbance changes induced by an actinic flash in living plant leaves. The advantages of this type of spectrophotometer are: i) the signal-to-noise ratio during measurement is high due to the intense (but brief) measuring flash; ii) the integrated intensity of the measuring flash is low, therefore no significant activation of photosynthesis occurs; iii) the time resolution is 2 Msec and the noise level is independent of the experimental time range so that at times <100 µsec the signal-to-noise ratio is greatly improved compared to conventional spectrophotometers. The instrument is battery-operated, computer-controlled, and has a liquid crystal display to graphically show the measured absorbance changes as a function of time. Interchangeable interference filters with center wavelengths at 515 nm, 545 nm, 554 nm, 563 nm, and 572 nm will be used to study absorbance changes associated with electrochromism, P-700, cytochrome f, cytochrome b and plastocyanin (1).
Regeneration in American Patent Law: Statutory Subject Matter

There appears to be some consensus that there are three identifiable jurisprudential periods in American law. These are: the first formative period extending from the ratification of the Constitution to about the Civil War; a second formalist period extending from about the Civil War to between the World Wars, and a third modern period from the demise of the formalist era. Whether we may now be in the post-modern era is well beyond the scope of the present inquiry, which is limited to patent law and a single - albeit important - issue within patent law. The working hypothesis is that patent law would generally follow the same jurisprudential patterns in the same general time frames as other areas of law. Indeed, this assumption would seem justified by the use of broad, general language in patent statutes over the entire period in question and hence by leaving it to the courts to interpret and elaborate upon undefined terms of art. One might, however, be somewhat suspicious that formalism might play a significantly greater role in patent law because of its technical nature - technological and legal. To test this and the base hypothesis of the correspondence of patent law to general American law in its evolution through the identified jurisprudential periods, one particular issue in patent law has been selected. The issue is: What constitutes patentable subject matter "- the patent eligibility issue. That is, what may be patented irrespective of the subject matter's substantive merit in terms of novelty, utility, nonobviousness, or value to society." From analyzing the principal cases dealing with patentable subject matter in the respective periods, the working hypothesis that patent law would follow general law appears to be sustainable, however, with the caveat that a strong strain of formalism was not detected even during the formalist era. Rather, there appears to be a regenerative, self-correcting mechanism at work over time with respect to decisions restricting the scope of patent eligibility. These regenerations appear to represent repeated reversions to the policy-driven, decision-making process of the formative period.
The Ethical Dimensions of Global Environmental Issues

During this time of dramatic population growth, the human impact on the planet has increased significantly, not only because of the huge increase in our numbers, but also because of the new technical power to dig deeper, cut faster, build larger, and traverse more quickly great distances in automobiles, trucks, and planes.
Code-switching at the auxiliary-VP boundary: A comparison of heritage speakers and L2 learners

While early code-switching research (i.e., Poplack, 1980) focused on the possibility of universal constraints on switching, MacSwan’s (2010, 2014) “Constraint-Free” research program centers on the notion that code-switching is only constrained by the interaction of a bilingual’s two grammars. In following with this proposal, the current study examines whether two types of Spanish-English bilinguals are equally sensitive to the (un)grammaticality of Spanish-English code-switching at the subject-predicate and auxiliary-verb phrase boundaries. Twenty-five heritage Spanish speakers and forty-four L2 Spanish learners completed an Audio Naturalness Judgment Task in which they judged grammatical and ungrammatical Spanish-English code-switching at these two syntactic junctions. Results indicate that the L2 Spanish speakers and the heritage bilinguals, regardless of their self-reported exposure to code-switching, correctly differentiated between grammatical and ungrammatical switches, suggesting that they have implicit knowledge of code-switching grammaticality which falls out from syntactic knowledge of the two languages.
Comparison of regenerative braking controllers for permanent magnet synchronous machines

Since most electric machine applications involve accelerating and decelerating mechanical loads, there is a potential to recover stored kinetic energy during braking events. However, this potential cannot be fully realized without proper design of the braking controller, since electric machine braking may be either regenerative or non-regenerative. This paper develops a novel method for designing regenerative braking controllers for permanent-magnet synchronous machines, based on the concept of using speed feedback to apply a fraction of the electromagnetically induced voltage at the machine terminals.
Insomnia is Associated with Cortical Hyperarousal as Early as Adolescence.

Study objectives To examine whether insomnia is associated with spectral electroencephalographic (EEG) dynamics in the beta (15-35Hz) range during sleep in an adolescent general population sample. Methods A case-control sample of 44 adolescents from the Penn State Child Cohort underwent a 9-h polysomnography, clinical history and physical examination. We examined low-beta (15-25 Hz) and high-beta (25-35 Hz) relative power at central EEG derivations during sleep onset latency (SOL), sleep onset (SO), non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and wake after sleep onset (WASO). Results Compared to controls (n = 21), individuals with insomnia (n = 23) showed increased SOL and WASO and decreased sleep duration and efficiency, while no differences in sleep architecture were found. Insomniacs showed increased low-beta and high-beta relative power during SOL, SO, and NREM sleep as compared to controls. High-beta relative power was greater during all sleep and wake states in insomniacs with short sleep duration as compared to individuals with insomnia with normal sleep duration. Conclusions Adolescent insomnia is associated with increased beta EEG power during sleep, which suggests that cortical hyperarousal is present in individuals with insomnia as early as adolescence. Interestingly, cortical hyperarousal is greatest in individuals with insomnia with short sleep duration and may explain the sleep complaints of those with normal sleep duration. Disturbed cortical networks may be a shared mechanism putting individuals with insomnia at risk of psychiatric disorders.
Revision of failed, recurrent or complicated pectus excavatum after Nuss, Ravitch or cardiac surgery

Pectus excavatum (PE) can recur after both open and minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum (MIRPE) techniques. The cause of recurrence may differ based on the initial repair procedure performed. Recurrence risks for the open repair are due to factors which include incomplete previous repair, repair at too young of age, excessive dissection, early removal or lack of support structures, and incomplete healing of the chest wall. For patients presenting after failed or recurrent primary MIRPE repair, issues with support bars including placement, number, migration, and premature removal can all be associated with failure. Connective tissue disorders can complicate and increase recurrence risk in both types of PE repairs. Identifying the factors that contributed to the previous procedure’s failure is critical for prevention of another recurrence. A combination of surgical techniques may be necessary to successfully repair some patients.
Acyclovir therapy of varicella-zoster virus infections in immunocompromised patients

In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial of intravenous acyclovir in the treatment of varicella zoster virus (VZV) infections, 8 of 20 immunocompromised children with varicella received acyclovir (500 mg/m2/dose three times daily for 7 days). There was no significant difference in skin healing between the acyclovir and placebo groups although there was a significant reduction in the incidence of development of pulmonary involvement during acyclovir treatment. Nineteen out of 34 patients received vidarabine (10 mg/kg/day for 5 days). Vidarabine significantly shortened the duration of new vesicle formation. Both drugs significantly reduced the incidence of visceral varicella, the most serious complication of VZV infection. An open trial also concluded that early treatment of varicella in these patients is essential. Of the 94 patients with zoster infection, 52 received acyclovir (500 mg/m2/dose infused over one hour three times daily for 7 days). Acyclovir recipients healed more rapidly, had fewer days of pain and shorter duration of viral shedding compared with placebo patients. The most important finding was that acyclovir significantly protected against progression of zoster as defined by development or progression of cutaneous dissemination and development of visceral zoster. Vidarabine seemed to be equally effective in this respect. The likelihood of cutaneous dissemination is related to the nature of the underlying condition. The in vitro sensitivity of VZV isolates from patients with second episode VZV infection during the trial did not change appreciably which suggests that VZV does not become resistant to acyclovir during therapy.
The Interconnection between Intellectual Achievement and Self-Control

Low self-control has emerged as a strong predictor of criminal conduct and analogous behaviors. Questions remain, however, as to the origins of self-control. Whereas some argue it is a trait instilled solely through a process of parental socialization, more recent research has suggested the possibility that self-control is interconnected with many executive functions deriving from the prefrontal cortex of the brain. Using data from the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (N = 2,104), this study assesses the degree to which self-control is linked with intellectual achievement in childhood and adolescence. Results from Poisson regression analyses indicate that intellectual achievement is significantly related to variations in self-control, controlling for a variety of parenting measures; age, race, and gender; and previous levels of self-control. A discussion of the relationship between intellectual achievement and self-control is provided.
STRONGEST EVIDENCE IN COMPATIBILITY : CLIQUE AND TREE EVALUATION USING APPARENT PHYLOGENETIC SIGNAL

Strongest evidence (SE) is an approach to evaluating the support provided by characters for alternative phylogenetic hypotheses (i.e., trees). Although first demonstrated in the context of parsimony, SE is equally applicable to compatibility analysis. In the logic of strongest evidence, a character that is compatible with a phylogenetic hypothesis supports the tree only to the degree at which this compatibility would be improbable under a model of cladistic dissociation between character state distribution and the tree. The support measure derived from this consideration is called the "apparent phylogenetic signal" (APS). The total support for a tree is the sum of the individual character APS values. Tree topology and character structure both affect the chance of "random" compatibility and thus the APS scores. Because a clique of compatible characters implies a specific tree (possibly more than one if the character states are unordered or there are missing data), the evidential strength of a clique may be measured as the SE support for the clique's tree by the clique's characters. Use of this measure is demonstrated on a morphological data set for North American species of Chloris (Poaceae). Cliques with the same number of characters vary tremendously in their apparent evidential quality. The strongest clique is nearly 100,000 times less likely to be compatible by chance with the tree it implies than is the weakest clique of the same size. This approach to clique evaluation is compared with character counting and Meacham's clique improbability measure.
Preserved low-frequency hearing following 20-mm cochlear implantation.

Objective To determine the preservation of pure tone thresholds for a series of cochlear implant patients who underwent atraumatic round window insertion with a new thin 22-mm electrode to a 20-mm depth. Study design Retrospective, within-subject repeated measures design. Setting Tertiary care hospital. Patients Nine sequential cochlear implant patients with functional preoperative acoustic hearing (defined as low-frequency pure tone average thresholds ≤90 dB). Intervention Therapeutic. Main outcome measure Pure tone thresholds after cochlear implantation. Results Low-frequency hearing preservation was achieved in all cases. Less than 10 dB average change was seen for low-frequency pure tone average measures (125, 250, 500, and 1,000 Hz) at 6 and 12 months following cochlear implantation. Conclusions Atraumatic round window insertion with a thin 22-mm electrode to a 20-mm depth results in dramatically high levels of acoustic hearing preservation among CI patients.
Research on rural public service system reform based on cooperative governance

The defects rural public service system are the basic cause of rural public service supply problems. In order to solve these problems and meet the increasingly diversified and personalized needs of the majority farmers, we must reform the rural public service system. In this regard, cooperative governance theory provides a new perspective and analytical framework for reform. From the cooperative governance idea, this paper constructs the basic framework of the rural public service system of multiple cooperative mode, and puts forward countermeasures and suggestions including clearly defining responsibilities of the multi-suppliers, expanding multi-financing channels, creating a favorable macroeconomic environment for multi-suppliers, formulating related rules and system for the multiple suppliers' cooperative supply behavior.
Erosion Degree Evaluation and Similarity Analysis of Steel-Structure Coating Eroded in Sandstorm

In view of the present steel-structure the coating surface has long been eroded by sandstorm in the central and western region of Inner Mongolia.The sand flow injection test method was used to study the erosion wear on the steel-structure coating in sandstorm.A formula for assessing the erosion degree of the coating was proposed.Through the similarity theory,the experimental results and the actual working condition were compared and analyzed.Results show that the erosion mass loss of the coating rises with the erosion speed;erosion mass loss is highest at 45°and lowest at 90°.The calculated results from the formula is in good agreement with the test results;the erosion results under the experimental condition of360g/min,30m/s and 12 min are equivalent to those suffered erosion wear from 5.5to 83.0months in concentrated areas of actual sandstorm.
A simple way to manage menopause.

PreviewOsteoporosis is only one consequence of menopause, but it is a serious one that can rob a woman of her life-style or even her independence. Dr Haddock describes the best application of estrogen replacement therapy and also summarizes other methods that may help to slow the loss of bone mass.
Ulcerogenesis: integrating the roles of Helicobacter pylori and acid secretion in duodenal ulcer.

The pathogenesis of duodenal ulcer appears to be multifactorial, involving an imbalance between "aggressive" (e.g., acid and pepsin) and "defensive" (e.g., prostaglandin production, mucus/mucosal barrier, bicarbonate production, blood flow, cell regeneration) factors. Historically, the management of peptic ulcer disease has focused on controlling gastric acid secretion. Recent evidence suggests that Helicobacter pylori infection underlies many of the acid and gastrin abnormalities observed in duodenal ulcer disease and that it plays a pivotal role in the development of gastritis and ulceration.