cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Stem Cell Migration and Proliferation During Severe Anemia

The pluripotential stem cell (CFU) compartment of marrow and spleen was evaluated in mice subjected to an intense erythroid stimulus associated with phenylhydrazine-induced anemia. Erythroid hyperplasia occurred in both marrow and spleen. CFU in the marrow gradually declined to approximately 50 per cent of control levels (day 5) while their numbers in the spleen increased (fourfold) by day 3 and were maintained at this level for several days. These changes in numbers of marrow and splenic CFU were not associated with CFU proliferation. Thereafter, CFU in the marrow, but not in the spleen, entered active cell cycle. The data suggest that CFU migrate from marrow to spleen during the demands of severe anemia. The induction of marrow CFU into cycle further suggests a negative feedback, which, perhaps through cell-cell interaction, maintains stem cells at a critical compartment size. The failure of splenic CFU to cycle may reflect the converse effect, i.e. an inhibition on stem cell proliferation in the wake of an expanded stem cell pool.
Investigation of current environmental sanitation in rural areas in AnHui Province

Objective To understand the current status of rural environmental sanitation and to provide scientific data for the improvement of environmental sanitation in rural areas in AnHui Province.Methods 161 villages were random sampled from 16 countries according to the geographical classification.10 families were random selected from each village as investigate objects.Unified special designed questionnaire was used to investigate every village and every family.Results 41.6% villages had the formulated construction plan;The indurated road toward village and in village accounted for 72.8% and 6.2% of the total investigated village respectively;24.1% village had got it's hygienic managing regulation and 20.4% had full-time hygiene keepers;About 66.5% of investigated families used non-leakage dry toilet while sanitary latrines only taked part in 7.0%;Much of domestic wastewater(40.3%) and garbage(54.2%) was discharged at discretion;About 86.7% of feces was used as fertilizer;The hygienic quality in household yards,inner house and kitchen looked ordinary with the ration of 76.4%,77.3% and 72.9% of the total investigated families respectively;The rural environmental sanitation in south of Yangtze river region seems better compare with the other regions,the environmental sanitation was better in the affluent region than in other places.Conclusion The rural environmental sanitation was not good in AnHui Province,there was some differences among different geographical regions and different incomes areas;It is urgent to promote the environmental sanitation in rural region to meet the hygienic requests of the countryman.
Musculoskeletal ultrasound: applications in the hip.

Abstract This article illustrates how ultrasound (US) can be useful in the evaluation of painful hips. For an experienced examiner using high quality equipment, US is the imaging test of choice for tendon abnormalities, hernias, bursitis, and dynamic abnormalities such as extra-articular snapping hip. Ultrasound is also useful in screening for hip effusions and guiding diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Ultrasound has a complementary role to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for labral pathology, although MRI or MR arthrography is preferable for most intra-articular pathologies. It is better tolerated, less expensive, and more readily available than MRI, and as US technology continues to improve, its role in hip imaging should grow.
Accelerating markov random field inference using molecular optical gibbs sampling units

The increasing use of probabilistic algorithms from statistics and machine learning for data analytics presents new challenges and opportunities for the design of computing systems. One important class of probabilistic machine learning algorithms is Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling, which can be used on a wide variety of applications in Bayesian Inference. However, this probabilistic iterative algorithm can be inefficient in practice on today's processors, especially for problems with high dimensionality and complex structure. The source of inefficiency is generating samples from parameterized probability distributions.This paper seeks to address this sampling inefficiency and presents a new approach to support probabilistic computing that leverages the native randomness of Resonance Energy Transfer (RET) networks to construct RET-based sampling units (RSU). Although RSUs can be designed for a variety of applications, we focus on the specific class of probabilistic problems described as Markov Random Field Inference. Our proposed RSU uses a RET network to implement a molecular-scale optical Gibbs sampling unit (RSU-G) that can be integrated into a processor / GPU as specialized functional units or organized as a discrete accelerator. We experimentally demonstrate the fundamental operation of an RSU using a macro-scale hardware prototype. Emulation-based evaluation of two computer vision applications for HD images reveal that an RSU augmented GPU provides speedups over a GPU of 3 and 16. Analytic evaluation shows a discrete accelerator that is limited by 336 GB/s DRAM produces speedups of 21 and 54 versus the GPU implementations.
Advances and Ambivalence: The Consequences of Women's Educational and Workforce Changes for Women's Political Participation in the United States, 1952 to 2012

Over the last forty years, the gap between men and women with respect to labor-market outcomes, paid hours of work, hours working at home, occupations, college majors, and education levels in the United States has narrowed or disappeared. We ask whether these substantial changes in women’s lives—changes in precisely the variables that have seemed to matter so much to our understanding of political participation—have enabled women’s political action in the United States. We find that they have not, and we suggest that the brakes on the translation of education and occupation into political participation come from continuing ambivalence about jobs and careers. Of course, these ambivalent attitudes may very well reflect a reality about the complications of workforce participation in a world with unequal and limited access to childcare, parental leave, high-paying jobs, and opportunities for career advancement.
Inhibiting poly(ADP-ribosylation) improves axon regeneration

The ability of a neuron to regenerate its axon after injury depends in part on its intrinsic regenerative potential. Here, we identify novel intrinsic regulators of axon regeneration: poly(ADP-ribose) glycohodrolases (PARGs) and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs). PARGs, which remove poly(ADP-ribose) from proteins, act in injured C. elegans GABA motor neurons to enhance axon regeneration. PARG expression is regulated by DLK signaling, and PARGs mediate DLK function in enhancing axon regeneration. Conversely, PARPs, which add poly(ADP-ribose) to proteins, inhibit axon regeneration of both C. elegans GABA neurons and mammalian cortical neurons. Furthermore, chemical PARP inhibitors improve axon regeneration when administered after injury. Our results indicate that regulation of poly(ADP-ribose) levels is a critical function of the DLK regeneration pathway, that poly-(ADP ribosylation) inhibits axon regeneration across species, and that chemical inhibition of PARPs can elicit axon regeneration.
Contribution of Water Imports to Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian Peace

To help meet the projected growth in demand for water and shortages in available domestic sources of supply in the Palestinian-Israeli-Jordanian region, imports from neighboring countries have been proposed. Before resorting to imports, countries should give first priority to conserving and more efficiently utilizing existing supplies. Current efforts and the difficulties in instituting reforms are discussed. Various proposals for conveying water from Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey by pipelines, canals or vessels (tankers or “Medusa bags”) are described and assessed in terms of their technical feasibility, economic viability and political acceptability. Some suggestions are presented for institutional mechanisms to insulate these projects from political disputes and help surmount the legacy of mistrust between suppliers and recipients and other riparians in the region.
Winter flooding of California rice fields reduces immature populations of Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in the spring.

BACKGROUND In California, rice fields are flooded over the winter months (November through March) to facilitate degradation of post-harvest rice straw and to provide temporary habitat for migratory waterfowl. Prior research showed that winter flood rice fields had fewer rice water weevil (Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus), larvae and pupae during the rice production season than fields that were left unflooded in the winter. A series of experiments were conducted to provide further support for these trends under controlled conditions and to find a mechanism for this phenomenon. RESULTS Under winter flooded conditions there was a 50% reduction in populations of weevil immatures compared with the untreated control (no straw or winter flood). These same conditions corresponded with a 20% increase in the amount of silicon found in plant tissues in 2014 and a 39-90% decrease in methane production in the soil from 2013–2014. CONCLUSION Evidence from previous field research and these controlled studies provides support for the idea that winter flooding is an appropriate tactic for controlling L. oryzophilus populations in following the spring. However, the mechanism that would explain why winter flooding adversely affects L. oryzophilus immatures remains unclear.
Unifying adversarial training algorithms with data gradient regularization

Many previous proposals for adversarial training of deep neural nets have included directly modifying the gradient, training on a mix of original and adversarial examples, using contractive penalties, and approximately optimizing constrained adversarial objective functions. In this article, we show that these proposals are actually all instances of optimizing a general, regularized objective we call DataGrad. Our proposed DataGrad framework, which can be viewed as a deep extension of the layerwise contractive autoencoder penalty, cleanly simplifies prior work and easily allows extensions such as adversarial training with multitask cues. In our experiments, we find that the deep gradient regularization of DataGrad which also has L1 and L2 flavors of regularization outperforms alternative forms of regularization, including classical L1, L2, and multitask, on both the original data set and adversarial sets. Furthermore, we find that combining multitask optimization with DataGrad adversarial training results in the most robust performance.
Cerclage Use: A Review of 3 National Guidelines.

Importance Preterm birth is a major contributor to perinatal morbidity and mortality. The most common intervention performed to improve perinatal outcomes for a woman experiencing cervical dilation in the second trimester without signs or symptoms of preterm labor is the cerclage. Objective We sought to review and compare available national guidelines on cerclage use. Evidence acquisition We performed a descriptive review of 3 national guidelines on cerclage: The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Practice Bulletin on "Cerclage for the Management of Cervical Insufficiency," Green-top Guideline from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists entitled "Cervical Cerclage," and the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada Clinical Practice Bulletin entitled "Cervical Insufficiency and Cervical Cerclage." Guidelines were compared, and the following aspects of cerclage use for prevention of preterm delivery were summarized: indications and contraindications, risk factors for cervical insufficiency, perioperative considerations, and timing of removal. Recommendations and strength of evidence were reviewed based on each guideline's method of reporting. The references were compared with regard to the total number of randomized control trials, Cochrane Reviews, and systematic reviews/meta-analyses cited. Results The variations highlighted in the guidelines reflect the heterogeneity of the literature contributing to guidelines and the challenges of diagnosing and managing cervical insufficiency. Conclusions A cohesive international guideline may improve safety and quality and optimize patient outcomes. Target audience Obstetricians and gynecologists, family physicians. Learning objectives After completing this activity, the learner should be better able to outline variations in indications and contraindications for cervical cerclage use by international guideline, identify variation in perioperative considerations for cervical cerclage use by international guideline, and recognize variation in timing of removal by international guideline.
Pervasive Computing Revisited

In 2001, Mahadev Satyanarayanan (Satya) published the paper, "Pervasive Computing: Vision and Challenges," in IEEE Personal Communications. This was the first paper to substantively explore the implications of Mark Weiser's 1991 vision for a real-world systems infrastructure. It provided the conceptual foundations for what much of the computing industry now calls the Internet of Things (IoT). It also developed a taxonomy showing the deep relationships between distributed systems, mobile computing, and pervasive computing (IoT). This special issue is a retrospective on Satya's vision. The theme articles explore cyber foraging, energy efficiency, privacy concerns, and the emerging field of pervasive data science.
The Influence of Temperature on Chytridiomycosis In Vivo

Chytridiomycosis, an amphibian disease caused by the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), is an ideal system for studying the influence of temperature on host–pathogen relationships because both host and pathogen are ectothermic. Studies of Bd in culture suggest that optimal growth occurs between 17 and 23°C, and death of the fungus occurs above 29 or below 0°C. Amphibian immune systems, however, are also temperature dependent and often more effective at higher temperatures. We therefore hypothesized that pathogen load, probability of infection and mortality in Bd-exposed frogs would peak at a lower temperature than that at which Bd grows best in vitro. To test this, we conducted a study where Bd- and sham-exposed Northern cricket frogs (Acris crepitans) were incubated at six temperatures between 11 and 26°C. While probability of infection did not differ across temperatures, pathogen load and mortality were inversely related to temperature. Survival of infected hosts was greatest between 20 and 26°C, temperatures where Bd grows well in culture. These results demonstrate that the conditions under which a pathogen grows best in culture do not necessarily reflect patterns of pathogenicity, an important consideration for predicting the threat of this and other wildlife pathogens.
Parenting to a Degree: How Family Matters for College Women's Success by Laura T. Hamilton

In Parenting to a Degree: How Family Matters for College Women’s Success, Laura T. Hamilton delves into the lives of young undergraduate women and the diverging roles parents play in their personal...
Vowel dynamics in persons with aphasia

Although aphasia is primarily considered a disorder of language, higher-level grammatical and word-finding deficits are often accompanied by lower-level motoric deficits in the stable production of consonants and vowels. This project investigates the extent to which persons with aphasia (PWA) use feedback to monitor their speech by examining online formant movements during vowel production. PWA and age-matched controls produced 200 repetitions of three monosyllabic words (“eat”, “Ed”, “add”) while neural activity was recorded using magnetoencephalography (MEG). This “speak” condition was interleaved with a “listen” condition in which recorded audio from the speak trials was played back to participants through earphones, serving as a baseline for the neural response. Vowel centering was defined as 2D formant (F1-F2) movement toward the vowel median over the time course of the syllable, lessening acoustic deviation. PWA had greater acoustic variability than controls at vowel onset, but both groups exhibited vowel centering, significantly decreasing variability over the course of the syllable. A hemispheric shift in neural responses to self-produced speech may accompany this corrective movement in PWA. These analyses inform theories of feedforward and feedback influences on speech production in aphasia.Although aphasia is primarily considered a disorder of language, higher-level grammatical and word-finding deficits are often accompanied by lower-level motoric deficits in the stable production of consonants and vowels. This project investigates the extent to which persons with aphasia (PWA) use feedback to monitor their speech by examining online formant movements during vowel production. PWA and age-matched controls produced 200 repetitions of three monosyllabic words (“eat”, “Ed”, “add”) while neural activity was recorded using magnetoencephalography (MEG). This “speak” condition was interleaved with a “listen” condition in which recorded audio from the speak trials was played back to participants through earphones, serving as a baseline for the neural response. Vowel centering was defined as 2D formant (F1-F2) movement toward the vowel median over the time course of the syllable, lessening acoustic deviation. PWA had greater acoustic variability than controls at vowel onset, but both groups exhibited...
Gendered Public Support for Criminalizing “Revenge Porn”:

Many states have criminalized “revenge porn,” an increasingly common form of online sexual abuse. Yet, we know little regarding attitudes toward these laws. Through an original survey of nearly 500...
Animal Models of Resuscitation

The ultimate goal of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is the total reanimation of the cardiac arrest (CA) victim back to their pre-arrest status. Much of what we know and do regarding human CPR is based on animal modeling of the many components of CA and its treatment. Ideally, hypotheses regarding mechanisms of injury caused by arrest and treatments to improve outcome should first be tested in robust preclinical models of this disease followed by clinical testing. Although some aspects of the disease and treatment lend themselves to computational, cell culture, and isolated organ modeling, whole animal experimentation remains the standard for preclinical testing (1, 2, 3, 4). To this end, the proper design and use of the preclinical model is crucial to ensure that clinical trials are warranted and optimally designed for ultimate validation of the hypotheses.
An Ontology Based Collaborative Recommender System for Security Requirements Elicitation

Security requirements elicitation is considered a "wicked" problem. Open issues such as determining relevant set of secure requirements, uncertainty and poor decision-making by developers deserves the needed attention. Ontologies and recommender systems have been used in the requirements elicitation. The goals of this dissertation are to 1) develop an ontology-based collaborative recommender system to help with security requirements elicitation and conduct a system performance evaluation and 2) conduct user-centric study of stakeholders using the recommender system. This system will help recommend CAPEC/CWE that should be considered in a given system to be built based on the use case description and so doing will reduce the workload of eliciting relevant security requirements. An analysis of the system performance and user-centric effects will be used to evaluate usefulness of the recommender system for developers.
Wie häufig werden hyaline Membranen überlebt

Hyaline Membranen sind eine haufige Todesursache Fruhgeborener innerhalb des Trihemeron. Bisher wurde noch nicht untersucht, ob und wie haufig sie uberlebt werden. Bei 44 Fruhgeborenen, die in der Zeit vom 3.–30. Lebenstag starben, fanden wir 9mal in Auflosung begriffene hyaline Membranen sowie Alveolarwandverquellungen unterschiedlicher Starke und Ausdehnung. Die Restzustande disponieren nicht zu sekundaren Lungenaffektionen. Beim Vergleich mit dem klinischen Bild last sich zeigen, das auch ausgedehnte hyaline Membranen symptomlos bleiben konnen. Entscheidend fur das klinische Manifestwerden und Uberleben ist die Geschwindigkeit der Lungenentfaltung.
Visualizing the charge density wave transition in 2H - NbSe2 in real space

Scanning tunneling microscopy measurements suggest that strong electron-lattice interactions, not Fermi surface physics, are the dominant cause for charge density wave formation in NbSe${}_{2}$
Countering the Colorblind Rhetoric.

AbstractTo be colorblind suggests a race-neutral perspective whereby no theological anthropological meaning is attached to one’s physical embodiment. Colorblind ideology benefits the hegemony and n...
Design of Energy Absorbing Structure Using Topology Optimization With a Multi-Material Model

To accommodate the dual objectives of many engineering applications, one to minimize the mean compliance for the stiffest structure under normal service condition and the other to maximize the strain energy for energy absorption during excessive loadings, topology optimization with a multi-material model is applied to the design of energy absorbing structure in this paper. The effective properties of the three-phase material are derived using a spherical micro-inclusion model. The dual objectives are combined in a ratio formation. Numerical examples from the proposed method are presented and discussed.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Cell-line based assay for the toxicity/benefit analysis of lipopolysaccharides in plants

There are many immune-boosting medicinal plants that can potently activate innate immune cells. Recent studies indicate that the active factors of some immune-boosting plants are lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) of plant-associated bacteria. However, little is currently known about the potential risk and benefit of LPSs in medicinal plants. To facilitate their characterization, we established a simple cell-line-based assay that can be used to screen the toxicity and benefit of LPSs in medicinal plants. The assay can distinguish endotoxic diphosphoryl lipid A (DPL) from beneficial monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL), which is a clinically used immunological adjuvant for vaccines. The established assay was used to characterize commercial supplements of Ashwagandha, which was shown to contain immunostimulatory LPSs. The study revealed that Ashwagandha activates macrophages in a manner similar to MPL. The current finding underscores the importance of further studies to characterize the LPSs in immune-boosting medicinal plants.
Gay Rights vs. Religious Liberty? The Unnecessary Conflict: Introduction

Should religious people who conscientiously object to facilitating same-sex weddings, and who therefore decline to provide cakes, photography, or other services, be exempted from antidiscrimination laws? This issue has taken on an importance far beyond the tiny number who have made such claims. Gay rights advocates fear that exempting even a few religious dissenters would unleash a devastating wave of discrimination. Conservative Christians fear that the law will treat them like racists and drive them to the margins of American society. Both sides are mistaken. The answer lies, not in abstract principles, but in legislative compromise. This book engages with both sides of the debate. It explains the basis of antidiscrimination law, including the complex idea of dignitary harm. It shows why even those who do not regard religion as important or valid nonetheless have good reasons to support religious liberty, and why even those who regard religion as a value of overriding importance should nonetheless reject the extravagant power over nonbelievers that the Supreme Court has recently embraced.
Low Back Pain Improves After Surgery for Lesser Trochanteric-Ischial Impingement.

Purpose To assess the effects of surgery for lesser trochanteric–ischial impingement (LTI) on low back pain. Methods The records of patients with LTI who underwent endoscopic partial resection of the lesser trochanter (LT) between May of 2017 and February of 2019 were reviewed. Inclusion criteria were the presence of low back pain in association with hip pain, diagnosis of LTI, and partial resection of the LT to treat LTI. Exclusion criteria were less than 12 months of postoperative follow-up and hip or spine surgery after the LTI surgery. Patients were assessed before surgery and at the most recent follow-up with the modified Harris Hip Score and Oswestry Disability Index for lumbar spine. Results Thirty patients (31 hips) met the inclusion criteria. Four patients were lost to follow-up. Two patients with borderline dysplasia and grade 1 and 2 osteoarthritis underwent total hip arthroplasty after the partial resection of the LT. The results are presented considering the remaining 24 patients (25 hips). The average age at surgery was 51 years (range 32-65 years). The mean follow-up after the surgery for LTI was 19 months (range 12-35 months). The mean ± SD ODI improved from 48% ± 15 before the LTI surgery to 21% ± 22 (P Conclusions Decrease in low back pain above the minimal clinically important difference is observed in 2 of 3 patients after partial resection of the LT. Level of Evidence Level IV, therapeutic case series.
Accelerated and Blast Phase Myeloproliferative Neoplasms.

Accelerated and blast phase myeloproliferative neoplasms are advanced stages of the disease with historically a poor prognosis and little improvement in outcomes thus far. The lack of responses to standard treatments likely results from the more aggressive biology reflected by the higher incidence of complex karyotype and high-risk somatic mutations, which are enriched at the time of transformation. Treatment options include induction chemotherapy (7 + 3) as that used on de novo acute myeloid leukemia or hypomethylating agent-based therapy, which has shown similar outcomes. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation remains the only potential for cure.
Developing Elementary Science PCK for Teacher Education: Lessons Learned from a Second Grade Partnership

In this self-study, two science educators partnered with two elementary teachers to plan, implement, and reflect on a unit taught in second grade classrooms that integrated science and language arts. The researchers hoped to increase their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for elementary science teaching so that they might use their experiences working in an elementary context to modify their practices in their elementary science method instruction. The research question guiding the study was: What aspects of our PCK for elementary science teaching do we as science educators develop by co-planning, co-teaching, and reflecting with second grade teachers? Data include transcripts of planning meetings, oral reflections about the experience, and videos of the unit being enacted. Findings indicate that managing resources for science teaching, organizing students for science learning, and reflecting on science teaching were themes prevalent in the data. These themes were linked to the model of PCK developed by Park and Oliver (Research in Science Education, 38, 261–284, 2008) and demonstrate that we developed PCK for elementary science teaching in several areas. In our discussion, we include several proposed changes for our elementary science methods course based on the outcomes of the study.
A K/Ka/V Triband Single-Signal-Path Receiver With Variable-Gain Low-Noise Amplifier and Constant-Gain Phase Shifter in 28-nm CMOS

This article presents a single-signal-path tri (K/Ka/V)-band receiver (RX) featuring area/cost-effective support for various millimeter-wave phased-array applications. A triple-coupling transformer (TCT) at the common-gate input stage of the RX low-noise amplifier (LNA) is proposed for triband impedance matching and $g_{m}$ -boosting. By augmenting each low-parasitic pMOS switched inductor load with a pMOS variable resistor in parallel, the variable-gain functionality is merged into this LNA to cover a wide input-signal range in a low-overhead manner. An active single-balanced mixer (SBM) for radio frequency (RF)-intermediate frequency (IF) downconversion is adopted to eliminate a wideband balun. Poor RF-IF and local-oscillator (LO)-IF isolations and low IIP2 normally inherited in an SBM are avoided by setting the IF particularly. The wideband response of an on-chip LO buffer is realized through input resistor coupling and output inductor peaking. Furthermore, a constant-gain phase shifter (CGPS) at IF is proposed to benefit the orthogonal gain-and-phase control preferred by beam steering. This CGPS uses an amplitude-only feedback loop to retain the gain without baseband equalization. Fabricated in a 28-nm bulk CMOS technology, this RX exhibits variable power gains of 12.5–33.2 dB (at 24 GHz), 13.4–34.6 dB (at 33 GHz), and 3.1–32 dB (at 50 GHz) with respective minimum noise figures of 4.78, 5.12, and 6.15 dB. The respective RX 3-dB bandwidths are 20–27, 30–34.6, and 42–55.5 GHz. The measured CGPS gain variation at IF (2–4 GHz) is within 0.94 dB. This RX consumes 131 mW and occupies 1.22 mm2 with pads in a silicon area.
Matching and Compensation Network Synthesis for MMICs

Matching network synthesis continues to be of importance in microwave amplifier design. Such networks are required between consecutive transistor stages typically to manage the transfer of power between the stages, to compensate for imperfections of the devices as manifested by gain roll-off and complex terminating impedances, and to minimize noise figure. It is often necessary to obtain the best compromise between potentially conflicting requirements. Synthesis techniques have evolved from the classical analytic gain-bandwidth theory to the more practical numerically-based real-frequency method, and to algorithms which allow the specification of arbitrary circuit structures. As of yet, there have been no means of identifying the best circuit structure (or even the best algorithm) for a given set of requirements, and some of the newer techniques systematically evaluate all topologies of a given degree.
Studies on Receptor-mediated Activation of Adenylyl Cyclases: IV. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ADRENERGIC RECEPTOR COUPLED TO MYOCARDIAL ADENYLYL CYCLASE: STEREOSPECIFICITY FOR LIGANDS AND DETERMINATION OF APPARENT AFFINITY CONSTANTS FOR β-BLOCKERS

Abstract A series of β-blockers inhibit competitively the increase of adenylyl cyclase activity induced by catecholamines in cell-free membrane particles from kitten hearts. Apparent equilibrium dissociation constants for the following blockers, determined on membrane particles from ventricles of reserpine-treated kittens (5 mg per kg, 24 hours), are (expressed as -log molar concentrations): (-)-KL 255, 9.39; (+)-KL 255, 7.36; (-)-oxprenolol, 8.89; (+)-oxprenolol, 7.25; (±)-pindolol, 8.99; (±)-propranolol, 8.55; (±)-alprenolol, 8.38; (-)-dichloroisoproterenol, 7.77; (±)-Ko, 592, 7.59; (±)-pronethanol, 7.28; (±)-p-chloroisoproterenol, 6.71; (±)-INPEA, 6.05; (±)-practolol, 5.97; (±)-sotalol, 5.90; and racemic methoxamine, 5.06. Each of these values is within at least 0.5 order of magnitude of the corresponding values obtained in intact kitten atria studying blockade of inotropic or chronotropic effects of catecholamines. However, catecholamines are 2 to 3 orders of magnitude less potent in increasing adenylyl cyclase activity than in producing positive inotropic and chronotropic effects. The apparent Km of activation of the (+) isomer of isoproterenol was found to be 40 to 100 times greater than that of its (-) isomer. Similar isomeric affinity ratios were observed for the two β-blockers, KL 255 and oxprenolol. Both, (-)- and (+)-isoproterenol were antagonized by (±)-propranolol to the same extent, indicating that their stimulating effects of adenylyl cyclase are mediated by a common receptor. At concentrations below 10-4 m, (+)-isoproterenol did not inhibit the action of half-maximally stimulating concentrations of (-)-isoproterenol. Kinetic experiments suggest that the high affinity β-blockers (-)-KL 255 and (±)-propranolol dissociate slower from the adrenergic receptor-activating adenylyl cyclase than (+)-KL 255 and (±)-sotalol, which have lower affinity for this receptor. It was concluded that the adrenergic receptor mediating the action of catecholamines on heart adenylyl cyclase activity can be classified as a β-receptor having similar characteristics of stereoselectivity and similar affinities for β-blockers as those of the β-adrenergic receptors mediating positive inotropism and chronotropism in the intact tissue. The stereoselectivity of the β-receptor coupled to the adenylyl cyclase system for adrenergic ligands provides an essential tool for receptor isolation studies.
The effect of passively acquired antibodies on Lawsonia intracellularis infection and immunity in the horse.

Summary Reasons for performing study Multiple hypotheses into the age-based susceptibility of animals to Lawsonia intracellularis exist, including the decline of passively acquired antibodies. Objectives To determine whether the decline in passively acquired antibodies in horses is responsible for the age predilection of equine proliferative enteropathy (EPE). Additional objectives included examination of various risk factors for the development of EPE as well as the determination of naturally occurring attack rates for clinical and subclinical EPE. Study design Prospective, multifarm field study. Methods A total of 369 mare and foal pairs from 15 central Kentucky Thoroughbred farms were used in this study, which took place from January 2012 to February 2013. Serum samples were collected from mares and foals within 48 h of parturition, and then monthly from foals to February of their yearling year. Lawsonia intracellularis-specific antibodies were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results No effect of passively acquired antibodies on the occurrence of presumptive clinical or subclinical EPE was noted. In total, 5.3% and 6.3% of seropositive horses developed presumptive clinical or subclinical EPE, respectively. In multiple logistic regression models, colts were at a significantly greater risk than fillies of developing presumptive clinical EPE (odds ratio [OR] 5.468, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.134–26.362, P = 0.034) or a combination of either presumptive clinical or subclinical EPE (OR 3.861, 95% CI 1.461–10.206, P = 0.006) while foals that were weaned in September or beyond were at a lower risk of developing presumptive EPE (OR = 0.281, 95% CI 0.0807–0.981, P = 0.05). Conclusions This is the first study to show that passively acquired antibodies to L. intracellularis do not have an effect on the occurrence of clinical or subclinical EPE. A number of novel findings, including identification of the disease rate among naturally exposed horses, warrant additional work as they may help to identify potential risk factors for L. intracellularis exposure and/or the reservoir host(s) of the bacterium.
Parsimony in Protein Conformational Change

Summary Protein conformational change is analyzed by finding the minimalist backbone torsion angle rotations that superpose crystal structures within experimental error. Of several approaches for enforcing parsimony during flexible least-squares superposition, an l 1 -norm restraint provided greatest consistency with independent indications of flexibility from nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation dispersion and chemical shift perturbation in arginine kinase and four previously studied systems. Crystallographic cross-validation shows that the dihedral parameterization describes conformational change more accurately than rigid-group approaches. The rotations that superpose the principal elements of structure constitute a small fraction of the raw (φ, ψ) differences that also reflect local conformation and experimental error. Substantial long-range displacements can be mediated by modest dihedral rotations, accommodated even within α helices and β sheets without disruption of hydrogen bonding at the hinges. Consistency between ligand-associated and intrinsic motions (in the unliganded state) implies that induced changes tend to follow low-barrier paths between conformational sub-states that are in intrinsic dynamic equilibrium.
Review and assessment of interpolatory model order reduction methods for frequency response structural dynamics and acoustics problems

SUMMARY Frequency sweeps in structural dynamics, acoustics, and vibro-acoustics require evaluating frequency response functions for a large number of frequencies. The brute force approach for performing these sweeps leads to the solution of a large number of large-scale systems of equations. Several methods have been developed for alleviating this computational burden by approximating the frequency response functions. Among these, interpolatory model order reduction methods are perhaps the most successful. This paper reviews this family of approximation methods with particular attention to their applicability to specific classes of frequency response problems and their performance. It also includes novel aspects pertaining to the iterative solution of large-scale systems of equations in the context of model order reduction and frequency sweeps. All reviewed computational methods are illustrated with realistic, large-scale structural dynamic, acoustic, and vibro-acoustic analyses in wide frequency bands. These highlight both the potential of these methods for reducing CPU time and their limitations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Aging alters the expression of neurotransmission-regulating proteins in the hippocampal synaptoproteome

Decreased cognitive performance reduces independence and quality of life for aging individuals. Healthy brain aging does not involve significant neuronal loss, but little is known about the effects of aging at synaptic terminals. Age-related cognitive decline likely reflects the manifestation of dysregulated synaptic function and ineffective neurotransmission. In this study, hippocampal synaptosomes were enriched from young-adult (3 months), adult (12 months), and aged (26 months) Fischer 344 x Brown Norway rats, and quantitative alterations in the synaptoproteome were examined by 2-DIGE and MS/MS. Bioinformatic analysis of differentially expressed proteins identified a significant effect of aging on a network of neurotransmission-regulating proteins. Specifically, altered expression of DNM1, HPCA, PSD95, SNAP25, STX1, SYN1, SYN2, SYP, and VAMP2 was confirmed by immunoblotting. 14-3-3 isoforms identified in the proteomic analysis were also confirmed as a result of their implication in the regulation of the synaptic vesicle cycle and neurotransmission modulation. The findings of this study demonstrate a coordinated down-regulation of neurotransmission-regulating proteins that suggests an age-based deterioration of hippocampal neurotransmission occurring between adulthood and advanced age. Altered synaptic protein expression may decrease stimulus-induced neurotransmission and vesicle replenishment during prolonged or intense stimulation, which are necessary for learning and the formation and perseverance of memory.
Finite-Dimensional Dynamical Systems: Specialized Results

For autonomous and periodic continuous-time dynamical systems we show that stability and asymptotic stability imply uniform stability and uniform asymptotic stability, respectively. For such systems we also present specialized Converse Theorems. For continuous-time and discrete-time dynamical systems determined by semigroups, we present the LaSalle-Krasovskii invariance theory (involving monotonic Lyapunov functions). These results constitute sufficient conditions. For the special case of dynamical systems determined by linear autonomous homogeneous systems of differential equations and difference equations, we present invariance results which constitute necessary and sufficient conditions (involving monotonic Lyapunov functions). For general continuous-time and discrete-time dynamical systems we present invariance stability and boundedness results involving non-monotonic Lyapunov functions. We present results which make it possible to estimate the domain of attraction of an asymptotically stable equilibrium for dynamical systems determined by differential equations. We present stability results for dynamical systems determined by linear homogeneous differential equations and difference equations. Some of these results require knowledge of the state transition matrix while other results involve Lyapunov matrix equations. We present stability results for dynamical systems determined by linear periodic differential equations (the Floquet Theory). Also, we study in detail the stability properties of dynamical systems determined by second-order differential equations. We investigate various aspects of the qualitative properties of perturbed linear systems, including Lyapunov’s First Method (also called Lyapunov’s Indirect Method) for continuous-time and discrete-time dynamical systems; existence of stable and unstable manifolds in continuous-time linear perturbed systems; and stability properties of periodic solutions in continuous-time perturbed systems. We present a stability and boundedness comparison theory for finite-dimensional continuous-time and discrete-time dynamical systems.
Styles of Thinking, Abilities, and Academic Performance:

This study was designed to investigate the role of thinking styles in academic performance. Participants were 199 gifted students enrolled in the Yale Summer School Program. Their abilities were evaluated by the Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test; their academic performance was judged by independent raters blind to the conditions of the study; and their thinking styles were measured by two converging self-report questionnaires. The results of the study show that, after controlling for levels of abilities, styles of thinking significantly contribute to prediction of academic performance. Moreover, equally able thinkers of different styles tend to do better in different assessment settings.
Confidence interval determination for spectral estimates using "Tilted densities"

Determining the confidence intervals for a spectral estimate requires knowledge of its probability density function. Except when the spectral estimate is the sum of the magnitude squared of independent and identically distributed Gaussian random variables for which the Chi-squared distribution is applicable, expressions for this probability density are not available. Tapering of the original time series, unequal weighing in the spectral averaging and overlapping estimates from different time segments, all of which are routinely done in practice, introduce dependencies and differences in the distribution of the random variables used to form the spectral estimate. These effects make the Chi-squared model inapplicable in many situations. In most approaches, density is simply approximated as being Chi-squared with an effective number of degrees of freedom calculated from the variance of the estimate. Unfortunately, this can be inaccurate in approximating the tails of the density where confidence interval calculations are usually done. Determining confidence intervals is similar to calculating the performance probabilities, e.g., false alarm and miss probabilities in detection and communication theory. For this, the approach of tilted densities has led to very accurate approximations. In this approach the probabilities are calculated using the semi-invariant function and its derivatives for which analytic expression can easily be derived. The tilted density approach has been applied to determine the confidence intervals for spectral estimates in the general case where tapering, unequal weighing and/or segment overlapping are done. Finally, the accuracy of the equivalent degrees of freedom approach is evaluated.
Dividing Citizens: Gender and Federalism in New Deal Public Policy. By Suzanne Mettler. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998. 239p. $52.50 cloth, $18.95 paper.

Dividing Citizens is an important contribution both to the burgeoning literature on the historical development of the American state and citizenship and to the lively field of work on gender within that corpus. Like the best studies of this sort, Mettler's book ably demonstrates not only how the transforming institutions and practices affected women but also how gender norms and practices were built into the new structures, making gender a basic element of their architec- ture.
Interaction Between Single Unit Trucks and Concrete Barriers in High Speed Impacts

Single Units Trucks (SUT’s) are commonly used for hauling many things and typically have a loaded mass between 8,000 to 10,000 kg (18,000 and 23,000 lbs). Concrete barriers are commonly used on high volume traffic highways that have very little median space between opposing traffic lanes. The interaction between SUT’s and concrete barriers during impacts at speeds between 80–90 km/h (50–56 mph) at angles up to 15 degrees is of importance not only to the driver, but also to the surrounding traffic. Of particular concern is the vehicle rolling-over the barrier. This study investigates some recent full-scale crash testing and simulation of SUT’s into concrete barriers. Information gained from this study is being used to help determine the next generation of recommended practices and procedures for designing and testing concrete barriers, as well as other types of barriers, like bridge-rails.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Muscle sense in man

Abstract The problem of “conscious proprioception”, whether there is awareness of muscle length and tension changes, was investigated in volunteer patients whose muscle tendons available at the wrist and ankle were exposed under local anesthesia restricted to the skin. All subjects tested uniformly failed to detect length and tension changes when only the muscles were stretched. The signals from the tension and stretch receptors did not contribute to the kinesthetic sense when the joints of the fingers, hand or foot were also moved. None of the sensations experienced, including awareness of position and movement of joints, were referable to signals from muscle spindles or Golgi tendon organs. It was concluded that there is no muscle sense in man.
A Kinetic Model for the Esterification of Lactic Acid and Its Oligomers

The kinetics of esterifying lactic acid and its oligomers with ethanol over Amberlyst 15 cation-exchange resin have been determined via batch reaction studies. The kinetic model for esterification of lactic acid and its oligomers uses nth-order, reversible rate expressions for esterification and oligomerization reactions. Rate constants, activation energies, and equilibrium constants were generated via regression of experimental results. Model predictions for esterification of 20%, 50%, and 88% lactic acid solutions in water are in good agreement with experimental results over a wide range of experimental conditions.