cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus from Equine Nasopharyngeal and Guttural Pouch Wash Samples.

Background Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is recognized as a cause of nosocomial infections in both human and veterinary medicine. Studies that examine the nasopharynx and guttural pouches of the horse as carriage sites for MRSA have not been reported. Hypothesis/Objective MRSA colonizes the nasopharynx and guttural pouch of horses. To determine the prevalence of MRSA in equine nasopharyngeal wash (NPW) and guttural pouch lavage (GPL) samples in a field population of horses. Samples One hundred seventy-eight samples (123 NPW and 55 GPL) from 108 horses. Methods Prospective study. Samples were collected from a convenience population of clinically ill horses with suspected Streptococcus equi subsp. equi (S. equi) infection, horses convalescing from a known S. equi infection, and asymptomatic horses undergoing S. equi screening. Samples were submitted for S. aureus aerobic bacterial culture with mannitol salt broth and two selective agars (cefoxitin CHROMagar as the PBP2a inducer and mannitol salt agar with oxacillin). Biochemical identification of Staphylococcus species and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), to determine clonal relationships between isolates, were performed. Results Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus (MRS) was isolated from the nasopharynx of 7/108 (4%) horses. Three horses had MRSA (2.7%), and 4 had MR-Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP). MRSA was isolated from horses on the same farm. PFGE revealed the 3 MRSA as USA 500 strains. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Sampling the nasopharynx and guttural pouch of community-based horses revealed a similarly low prevalence rate of MRSA as other studies sampling the nares of community-based horses. More study is required to determine the need for sampling multiple anatomic sites when screening horses for MRSA.
Examining Latinas’ STEM Career Decision-Making Process: A Psychosociocultural Approach

The current multi-institutional study took place within the context of highly selective California institutions of higher education. The author built on social-cognitive career theory and the psych...
Signaling pathways activated by resolvin E1 to stimulate mucin secretion and increase intracellular Ca 2+ in cultured rat conjunctival goblet cells.

Glycoconjugate mucin secretion from conjunctival goblet cells is tightly regulated by nerves and specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) to maintain ocular surface health. Here we investigated the actions of the SPM resolvin E1 (RvE1) on cultured rat conjunctival goblet cell glycoconjugate secretion and intracellular [Ca2+] ([Ca2+]i) and the signaling pathways used by RvE1. Goblet cells were cultured from rat conjunctiva in RPMI medium. The amount of RvE1-stimulated glycoconjugate mucin secretion was determined using an enzyme-linked lectin assay with Ulex Europaeus Agglutinin 1 lectin. Cultured goblet cells were also incubated with the Ca2+ indicator dye fura 2/AM and [Ca2+]i was measured. Cultured goblet cells were incubated with inhibitors to phospholipase (PL-) C, D, and A2 signaling pathways. RvE1 stimulated glycoconjugate secretion in a concentration dependent manner and was inhibited with the Ca2+ chelator BAPTA. The Ca2+i response was also increased in a concentration manner when stimulated by RvE1. Inhibition of PLC, PLD, and PLA2, but not Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase blocked RvE1-stimulated increase in [Ca2+]i and glycoconjugate secretion. We conclude that under normal, physiological conditions RvE1 stimulates multiple pathways to increase glycoconjugate secretion and [Ca2+]i. RvE1 could be an important regulator of goblet cell glycoconjugate mucin secretion to maintain ocular surface health.
Fatigue behavior of thick composite laminates under flexural loading

Abstract Most of the existing work on fatigue of long fiber composite laminates approach the problem from the material point of view. These works have also been mainly on thin laminates. This is because the laminates (particularly unidirectional laminates) are considered to be homogeneous and uniform. This may or may not be true because of the heterogeneous nature of the composite (consisting of fibers and matrix and interface), and the significant variability which gives rise to random spatial variation in the properties. A composite laminate is actually both a structure and a material. For thin laminates, the structural aspect is usually scanned over and only the material aspect is focused on. This gives rise to the expectation that the laminate should behave as a material (with good homogeneity and with little variability). This has resulted in failure of many failure criteria. The importance of the structural aspect is more evident for the case of thick laminates, subjected to flexural loading while being constrained by bolts. To study the fatigue behavior of such materials (and structures), both the structural aspects and material aspects must be taken into consideration. This is the subject of study of this paper. It examines the behavior of 80-layer thick unidirectional glass/epoxy laminates subjected to flexural loads while being constrained by bolts. Both theoretical and experimental studies are carried to validate each other. The theoretical part consists first of structural analysis which provides the locations of potential failure. This is followed by the application of fatigue failure criteria at these locations. Good agreement is obtained between the experimental and theoretical results.
3.08 – Time Variable Gravity from Satellites

Satellite measurements of time-variable gravity are a new data type, capable of addressing a wide variety of geophysical problems. This subject, in its present form, began with the 2002 launch of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). GRACE has been providing regular monthly estimates of the Earth’s gravity field down to scales of several hundred kilometers. Any process that involves enough redistribution of mass at those temporal and spatial scales is a possible target for GRACE. There are applications for hydrology, oceanography, the cryosphere, and the solid Earth. This chapter summarizes the observational and theoretical framework used to interpret time-variable satellite gravity measurements, and reviews some of the evolving geophysical applications of this technique.
Repeatable Reverse Engineering for the Greater Good with PANDA

--We present PANDA, an open-source tool that has been purpose-built to support whole system reverse engineering. It is built upon the QEMU whole system emulator, and so analyses have access to all code executing in the guest and all data. PANDA adds the ability to record and replay executions, enabling iterative, deep, whole system analyses. Further, the replay log files are compact and shareable, allowing for repeatable experiments. A nine billion instruction boot of FreeBSD, e.g., is represented by only a few hundred MB. Further, PANDA leverages QEMU's support of thirteen different CPU architectures to make analyses of those diverse instruction sets possible within the LLVM IR. In this way, PANDA can have a single dynamic taint analysis, for example, that precisely supports many CPUs. PANDA analyses are written in a simple plugin architecture which includes a mechanism to share functionality between plugins, increasing analysis code re-use and simplifying complex analysis development. We demonstrate PANDA's effectiveness via a number of use cases, including enabling an old but legitimate version of Starcraft to run despite a lost CD key, in-depth diagnosis of an Internet Explorer crash, and uncovering the censorship activities and mechanisms of a Chinese IM client.
Assessment of the Association of Chlamydia Trachomatis Infection and Adverse Perinatal Outcomes with the Use of Population-Based Chlamydia Case Report Registries and Birth Records:

Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is the most commonly reported infectious disease in the United States, with 780,715 cases reported among women in 2006, accounting for three-fourths of communicable diseases in the United States.1 Because most CT infections are asymptomatic, the majority of these cases have been identified through the implementation of screening programs beginning in the late 1980s, using national guidelines that target young women.2 The primary goal of screening programs is to identify and treat asymptomatic CT infections in women to prevent adverse reproductive outcomes such as pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility.3 Beyond this, prenatal CT screening has been implemented to reduce adverse neonatal outcomes such as ophthalmia neonatorum, inclusion conjunctivitis,4 and pneumonia5 acquired by vertical transmission. However, studies attempting to evaluate the role of prenatally acquired CT infections in adverse perinatal outcomes, such as premature rupture of membranes, preterm delivery, and low birthweight, have yielded inconsistent findings. Most of these studies have been limited to retrospective or cross-sectional analyses of hospital-based populations; were not designed to evaluate the role of other coexisting lower-genital-tract bacterial infections; lacked sufficient information to adjust for potential confounding by factors related to either CT infection or the outcome; and were conducted prior to the development of highly sensitive nucleic acid amplified tests, which are more effective in identifying asymptomatic infections than are tissue culture techniques used in older studies. Given the increases seen in CT screening coverage6 nationally, the population burden of adverse perinatal outcomes due to prenatal CT infection may have decreased. However, current studies of prenatal CT infection and adverse outcomes that are generalizable to the U.S. population are limited to one analysis in which CT infections noted on birth records in Washington State were associated with a higher risk of premature rupture of membranes and preterm birth identified through infant hospital discharge data.7 We examined the association of CT infection with adverse perinatal outcomes in California by linking statewide CT case registry data to birth records.
Passive acoustic tracking for behavior mode classification between surface and underwater vehicles

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) pose significant communication challenges: vehicles are submerged for periods of time in which speed-of-light communication is impossible. This is a particular problem on low-cost AUV platforms, on which acoustic modems are not available to get vehicle state or provide re-deploy commands. We investigate one possible method of providing operators with a communication line to these vehicles by using noise underwater to both classify behavior of submerged vehicles and to command them. In this scheme, processing of data from hydrophone arrays provide operators with AUV mode estimates and AUVs with surface vehicle behavior updates. Simulation studies were used to characterize trajectories for simple transect versus loiter behaviors based on the bearing and time to intercept (TTI). A classifier based on K-nearest-neighbor with dynamic time warping as a distance metric was used to classify simulation data. The simulation-based classifier was then applied to classify bearing tracking data from passive tracking of a loitering AUV and bearing and TTI data from passive tracking of a transecting boat based on field array data. Experiment data was classified with 76 % accuracy using bearing-only data, 96% accuracy for TTI -only data and 99 % accuracy for combined classification. The techniques developed here could be used for AUV cuing by surface vessels and monitoring of AUV behavior.
Total synthesis of (+)-pinnatoxin A.

A convergent enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-pinnatoxin A is described. The synthesis capitalizes on the highly diastereoselective Ireland−Claisen rearrangement of an acyclic alpha-branched allylic ester to set the quaternary stereogenic center at the core of the spiroimine ring system along with the adjacent tertiary stereocenter. The all-carbon macrocyclic ring system was formed by ring-closing metathesis.
Mechanically Induced Hydrophobic Recovery of Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) for the Generation of Surfaces with Patterned Wettability.

Silicone elastomers are used in a variety of “stretchable” technologies (e.g., wearable electronics and soft robotics) that require the elastomeric components to accommodate varying magnitudes of m...
Down the Line

Siva sat blissfully waiting for his wife to finish her second international phone call for the day. This was their Saturday routine; they would first call his parents and spend close to 45 min talking to them and then his wife would call her parents and have a long chat that would last the same length, while Siva watched TV. Today though, it was taking her a bit longer and Siva was getting restless. They were going to meet their friends at a restaurant for lunch and it was getting late. Before he could call out for her, Tamizh walked out of their bedroom and he noticed that though she was smiling, her eyes were downcast. He did not want to start a conversation just then and wanted to be on his way out. It was a silent drive to the restaurant.
Succession of microbial populations and nitrogen-fixation associated with the biodegradation of sediment-oil-agglomerates buried in a Florida sandy beach

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill contaminated coastlines from Louisiana to Florida, burying oil up to 70 cm depth in sandy beaches, posing a potential threat to environmental and human health. The dry and nutrient-poor beach sand presents a taxing environment for microbial growth, raising the question how the biodegradation of the buried oil would proceed. Here we report the results of an in-situ experiment that (i) characterized the dominant microbial communities contained in sediment oil agglomerates (SOAs) of DWH oil buried in a North Florida sandy beach, (ii) elucidated the long-term succession of the microbial populations that developed in the SOAs, and (iii) revealed the coupling of SOA degradation to nitrogen fixation. Orders of magnitude higher bacterial abundances in SOAs compared to surrounding sands distinguished SOAs as hotspots of microbial growth. Blooms of bacterial taxa with a demonstrated potential for hydrocarbon degradation (Gammaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria) developed in the SOAs, initiating a succession of microbial populations that mirrored the evolution of the petroleum hydrocarbons. Growth of nitrogen-fixing prokaryotes or diazotrophs (Rhizobiales and Frankiales), reflected in increased abundances of nitrogenase genes (nifH), catalyzed biodegradation of the nitrogen-poor petroleum hydrocarbons, emphasizing nitrogen fixation as a central mechanism facilitating the recovery of sandy beaches after oil contamination.
Surgical and Percutaneous Interventions for Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension

The treatment of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension has expanded considerably. The ability to endarterectomize chronic thromboembolic material, the availability of pulmonary hypertension medical therapy to treat inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension and/or residual pulmonary hypertension, and the rebirth of pulmonary balloon angioplasty have changed the management landscape. Patient selection requires a multidisciplinary evaluation at an experienced center. What is inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension to one group may be operable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension to another. The ultimate challenge then becomes which intervention provides the optimal long-term outcome for any individual patient.
Postscript II: Enhanced Debriefings

This short piece, which supplements the discussion from February 2020 (also on SSRN) discusses the Department of Defense (DoD) post-award debriefing of the disappointed offeror (Amazon) following the award (to Microsoft) of the $10 billion, $10-year Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud computing contracting opportunity. This supplemental discussion derives from the extraordinary, 300+ page, DoD Inspector General review and report on the procurement (issued in April 2020) and highlights a number of the surprises in the IG report, including: DoD's assertion of a “presidential communications privilege” to avoid responding to inquiries related to alleged White House influence of the procurement; additional information with regard to conflicts of interest by various officials during the procurement; improper disclosure of source selection information; and, of course, DoD's debriefing. Ultimately, the piece highlights the stark disconnect between DoD's (and the government's) policy, aspiration, and leadership expectation with regard to debriefings, on the one hand, and practice in the breach on the other. Among other things, the piece concludes that it's time for GAO to take a fresh look at its jurisdiction over debriefings. Unfortunately, this ongoing saga also raises the question of whether DoD is a transparent, honest broker in dealing with its contracting partners.
Type Identification of GIS Partial Discharge Based on SF 6 Decomposition Characteristics under Negative DC Voltage

In order to use SF 6 decomposition characteristics to identify faults of DC gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) under partial discharge (PD), the author chooses 6 experimental voltages to represent different PD stages, and carries out SF 6 decomposition experiments. The experimental results show that SF 6 decomposition produces include five stable components of CF 4 , CO 2 , SO 2 F 2 , SOF 2 and SO 2 , among which SOF 2 is the most important decomposed product, and the concentration of sulfur-containing components is higher than that of carbon-containing components. Finally, a feature set consisting of 21 concentration ratios is constructed, and the maximum relevance minimum redundancy criterion is used for the feature selection. BP neural network and support vector machine are used for fault diagnosis, and the accuracy rate is higher than 88%. The research work lays the foundation for the on-line monitoring and insulation state evaluation of DC GIS based on SF 6 decomposition characteristics in the future.
Exploring bicyclist injury severity in bicycle-vehicle crashes using latent class clustering analysis and partial proportional odds models.

Abstract Introduction: Bicyclists are more vulnerable compared to other road users. Therefore, it is critical to investigate the contributing factors to bicyclist injury severity to help provide better biking environment and improve biking safety. According to the data provided by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a total of 8,028 bicyclists were killed in bicycle-vehicle crashes from 2007 to 2017. The number of fatal bicyclists had increased rapidly by approximately 11.70% during the past 10 years (NHTSA, 2019). Methods: This paper conducts a latent class clustering analysis based on the police reported bicycle-vehicle crash data collected from 2007 to 2014 in North Carolina to identify the heterogeneity inherent in the crash data. First, the most appropriate number of clusters is determined in which each cluster has been characterized by the distribution of the featured variables. Then, partial proportional odds models are developed for each cluster to further analyze the impacts on bicyclist injury severity for specific crash patterns. Results: Marginal effects are calculated and used to evaluate and interpret the effect of each significant explanatory variable. The model results reveal that variables could have different influence on the bicyclist injury severity between clusters, and that some variables only have significant impacts on particular clusters. Conclusions: The results clearly indicate that it is essential to conduct latent class clustering analysis to investigate the impact of explanatory variables on bicyclist injury severity considering unobserved or latent features. In addition, the latent class clustering is found to be able to provide more accurate and insightful information on the bicyclist injury severity analysis. Practical Applications: In order to improve biking safety, regulations need to be established to prevent drinking and lights need to be provided since alcohol and lighting condition are significant factors in severe injuries according to the modeling results.
CORRELATION BETWEEN THE KERLAN-JOBE ORTHOPEDIC CLINIC SCREEN AND SUBACROMIAL IMPINGEMENT TEST-ITEM CLUSTER IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL PITCHERS: A PILOT STUDY.

Background Shoulder injuries in baseball related to throwing account for 60% of all baseball injuries and 75% of those throwing injuries occur in pitchers. Impingement is the beginning of a continuum of rotator cuff pathology that can result in pain and disability in pitchers. Identification of self-reported measures and clinical tests that can indicate early pathology of shoulder impingement is needed for overhead athletes. Early identification of shoulder impingement is important to the long-term health and function of these athletes. Hypothesis/purpose The purpose of this study was to determine if a correlation exists between self-reported pain and disability using the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic (KJOC) score and the Park Test-Item Cluster (TIC) for subacromial impingement in college baseball pitchers. The research hypotheses are that there will be a correlation 1) between the KJOC score and the TIC by Park and 2) between the KJOC and the Hawkins-Kennedy impingement, the painful arc, and the infraspinatus muscle strength tests individually. Design Cross-sectional pilot study. Methods Twenty-one collegiate baseball pitchers completed the KJOC and then were tested using the Park test-item cluster. Data analysis Kruskal-Wallis was used to test the relationship of individual demographics with KJOC scores. Spearman rho correlation was used to determine if the number of positive clinical tests in the Park TIC or with the individual tests within the TIC correlated with scores on the KJOC. Results No significant relationships between KJOC scores and demographics were found. A significant moderate-to-good relationship was found between the painful arc test and the KJOC (r = -.601, p = 0.00) and a significant fair correlation was found between the number of positive tests within the Park TIC and KJOC (r = -.426, p = 0.05). No significant relationships were found between the Hawkins-Kennedy and KJOC (r = -.348, p = 0.12) or between the infraspinatus strength test and KJOC (r = -.040, p = 0.86). Conclusion The correlations between the painful arc test and the number of positive impingement tests with the composite score on the KJOC suggests a relationship between these two outcome measures, shoulder irritability, and decreased function in collegiate baseball pitchers. Of the three tests included in the Park TIC, the painful arc test was the only one with an independent significant correlation to the KJOC. The combination of impairment-specific cluster testing and an activity-focused self-assessment tool could be utilized to identify potential pathology and alert the medical professional that assessment and intervention are necessary. Level of evidence Level 2 (Diagnosis).
Emotion Regulation Strategies Predict PTSS During the COVID-19 Pandemic in an American Indian Population.

Poor emotion regulation is associated with post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). However, limited prospective research prevents any directional conclusions. No known studies have assessed emotion regulation with PTSS in American Indians, a high-risk population for poor mental health outcomes. The present prospective study explored whether emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression) predicted later PTSS related to the COVID-19 global pandemic in a solely American Indian sample. American Indian participants (N = 210; Mean (SD) age = 54.85(13.08) years, 58.7% female) completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) during Phase 1 (a few weeks before pandemic declaration) and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic during Phase 2 (7–8 weeks after pandemic declaration). Bivariate correlations and hierarchical linear regression analyses were utilized. ERQ reappraisal was negatively associated with IES-R total scores, such that higher reappraisal predicted lower PTSS. In contrast, ERQ suppression was positively associated with IES-R total scores, such that higher suppression predicted higher PTSS. Greater suppression and lower reappraisal predicts PTSS in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in an entirely American Indian sample, providing critical information for future interventions in a population at high-risk for mental health disparities.
Harvesting Health Knowledge: Breast Cancer Perceptions in the South Florida Latinx Farmworker Community:

South Florida agricultural regions, home to Latinx immigrant farmworkers, report higher rates of late-stage breast cancer diagnosis than national, state, and county-level averages. We conducted a community-based qualitative study on the needs, health knowledge gaps, barriers to breast cancer screening, and the role of community health workers (CHWs) in supporting the community's access to early detection services. We conducted three CHW focus groups (FGs) (n = 25) and in-depth interviews (n = 15), two FGs (n = 18) and in-depth interviews (n = 3) with farmworker community members, and informal interviews with cancer clinicians (n = 7). Using a grounded theory approach, five core themes regarding the community's barriers to accessing health care services emerged: (a) lack of information; (b) social and economic barriers; (c) cultural factors; (d) fears and mistrust; and (e) psychosocial concerns. Findings yield implications for community health practice, the potential impact of CHWs, and the production of breast cancer education to improve health equity along with the care continuum.
“It Depends …”: Using Ambiguities to Better Understand Mathematics Teachers’ Decision-making

The concept of teacher noticing has been a powerful methodological tool for understanding teachers’ decision-making and professional judgment. In this line of inquiry, researchers usually try to identify elements of classroom practice salient to teachers. Data about teacher noticing and decision making can be collected at scale through the use of scenario-based instruments, but these instruments have been described in the literature as inherently ambiguous because they do not contain all the information necessary to make a decision. We contribute to understanding this ambiguity so as to help connect teacher noticing to their professional judgment by introducing the concept of conditional construals—moments when teachers require additional context in order to judge whether a given teaching action is appropriate. Furthermore, we locate conditional construals in a large corpus of responses to scenario-based items by identifying occurrences of a linguistic marker. Our identification of these moments allows us to study the type of reasoning (analytical or intuitive) evoked by these scenarios and gives us insight into the information teachers require to make decisions.
Knowing Differently/Teaching Differently: Transforming a Teacher Education Program

This chapter contextualizes and historicizes a teacher education program in which the authors are part of its faculty. Situated in a rural, conservative, mid-Atlantic community, our teacher education program serves a rather conventional population with specific characteristics. In spite of our community, our efforts have been focused on providing diverse perspectives, questioning established norms and patterns, and modeling decolonizing pedagogies that recognize and value differences and “others.” We depict our teaching practices and approaches to challenging and disrupting traditional perspectives to education through telling and interpreting vignettes about our experiences in this program, especially in relation to the work of de-westernizing schools and society’s practices.
What organizational factors motivate environmental educators to perform their best

Positive motivation to perform work tasks has been associated with better performance and outcomes in both the organizational and informal education literature. In environmental education (EE), thi...
The Campus Center: Negotiating the Teaching Spaces of Higher Education

This chapter argues that acknowledging our educational narratives—the processes and experiences of our learning—helps us conceive transformative spaces in higher education by promoting optimism about teaching and empathy for students. Optimistic, empathetic educators take the time to appreciate, critique, and share their educational narratives. They apply their personal experiences to their professional interactions and work to build the kinds of spaces in which they feel “at home” and “centered,” spaces that are comfortable and provide room for risk-taking and innovation. Unfortunately, rifts within the academy and between the academy and outside stakeholders can force individuals into defensive positions, limiting the opportunity for transformation. Educators lose motivation for pedagogical inventiveness when discussions about college teaching run up against indifference; they stop implementing student-centered reform when debates about general education dissolve into territorial defensiveness. Recalling our personal educational narratives helps keep the focus on student need and faculty morale, both particularly important in times of fiscal crisis.
Carrier-mediated Transport of Choline into Synaptic Nerve Endings

Abstract Synaptosomes from guinea pig brain were incubated with 3H-methylcholine and then subjected to a chromatographic assay which distinguishes nonspecific entry from specific transport. Nonspecific entry of labeled choline into synaptosomes was linear with added substrate, but specific uptake exhibited saturation kinetics. Kt, the concentration for the half-maximal specific transport of choline into synaptosomes was 8.3 x 10-5 m. Under standard conditions the rate of specific transport of choline was linear with time and protein concentration, and there was a marked temperature dependence. The pH optimum was about 8.6. Choline transport did not require added monovalent nor divalent cations, some of which were potent inhibitors. Nucleotides did not have a specific effect. Choline uptake as measured in this system did not appear to be energy dependent. Reagents which attack sulfhydryl groups were effective inhibitors. Hemicholinium-3 was a competitive inhibitor of specific choline transport with a Ki of 4 x 10-5 m. Nonspecific uptake was unaffected by hemicholinium-3. After entry into synaptosomes, 60% of the radioactivity could be recovered as choline, 11% as phosphorylcholine, and 10% as betaine. Acetylcholine constituted less than 5% of the labeled cation. The conversion of 3H-choline to phosphorylcholine and betaine was largely abolished by hemicholinium-3.
Odysseus Unbound: the Search for Homer's Ithaca

Odysseus Unbound: the Search for Homer's Ithaca ROBERT Bittlestone with JAMES Diggle and JOHN Underhill 598 pp, c.400 illustrations, mostly colour Cambridge University Press, Edinburgh Building, Sh...
Abstract 20318: Elevated Levels of Lipoprotein(a) Are Causally Associated With Chronic Kidney Disease

Introduction: It remains unknown whether circulating Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] levels and isoform size of apolipoprotein(a) [apo(a)] bound to Lp(a) are causally relevant to CKD. Methods: We conducted measurements for Lp(a) levels and apo(a) isoform size in 10,765 participants enrolled in the Pakistan Risk of Myocardial Infarction Study (PROMIS). 1,420 participants were diagnosed to have CKD based on estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) less than 60 mL/min/1.73 m2. Lp(a) levels were measured using a high-sensitivity immunoturbidimetric assay, whereas apo(a) isoform size was measured using a validated qPCR assay that assesses CNV repeats in the exon-4 of the LPA gene. We compared the Odds Ratio (OR) for CKD conferred by observed increases in Lp(a) levels with equivalent differences caused by genetic variation due to rs10455872, a variant known to regulate Lp(a) levels. Data on 72,369 participants were available for rs10455872 in association with CKD through combined analyses of PROMIS and the CKDGEN con...
Water Quality and Environmental Requirements

Aquatic ecosystems comprise a diverse assemblage of organisms whose interactions between each other and the environment cause a series of complex physicochemical reactions, many of which have strong influences on fish and invertebrate culture. These interactions are demonstrated by the web illustrated in Figure 2-1. Water properties and environmental parameters often affect the choice for an aquaculture site and the cultured species. Thus, it is important that the aquaculturist have an understanding of water chemistry and possess the skills necessary to provide a suitable environment for the venture to be successful.
Deformation of Debris-Ice Mixtures

Mixtures of rock debris and ice are common in high-latitude and high-altitude environments and are thought to be widespread elsewhere in our solar system. In the form of permafrost soils, glaciers, and rock glaciers, these debris-ice mixtures are often not static but slide and creep, generating many of the landforms and landscapes associated with the cryosphere. In this review, a broad range of field observations, theory, and experimental work relevant to the mechanical interactions between ice and rock debris are evaluated, with emphasis on the temperature and stress regimes common in terrestrial surface and near-surface environments. The first-order variables governing the deformation of debris-ice mixtures in these environments are debris concentration, particle size, temperature, solute concentration (salinity), and stress. A key observation from prior studies, consistent with expectations, is that debris-ice mixtures are usually more resistant to deformation at low temperatures than their pure end-member components. However, at temperatures closer to melting, the growth of unfrozen water films at ice-particle interfaces begins to reduce the strengthening effect and can even lead to profound weakening. Using existing quantitative relationships from theoretical and experimental work in permafrost engineering, ice mechanics, and glaciology combined with theory adapted from metallurgy and materials science, a simple constitutive framework is assembled that is capable of capturing most of the observed dynamics. This framework highlights the competition between the role of debris in impeding ice creep and the mitigating effects of unfrozen water at debris-ice interfaces.
Dual-carrier processing to convey temporal fine structure cues: Implications for cochlear implants

Speech intelligibility in noise can be degraded by using vocoder processing to alter the temporal fine structure (TFS). Here it is argued that this degradation is not attributable to the loss of speech information potentially present in the TFS. Instead it is proposed that the degradation results from the loss of sound-source segregation information when two or more carriers (i.e., TFS) are substituted with only one as a consequence of vocoder processing. To demonstrate this segregation role, vocoder processing involving two carriers, one for the target and one for the background, was implemented. Because this approach does not preserve the speech TFS, it may be assumed that any improvement in intelligibility can only be a consequence of the preserved carrier duality and associated segregation cues. Three experiments were conducted using this “dual-carrier” approach. All experiments showed substantial sentence intelligibility in noise improvements compared to traditional single-carrier conditions. In several conditions, the improvement was so substantial that intelligibility approximated that for unprocessed speech in noise. A foreseeable and potentially promising implication for the dual-carrier approach involves implementation into cochlear implant speech processors, where it may provide the TFS cues necessary to segregate speech from noise.
Nanosilver suppresses growth and induces oxidative damage to DNA in Caenorhabditis elegans

Studies on the effects of nanomaterial exposure in mammals are limited, and new methods for rapid risk assessment of nanomaterials are urgently required. The utility of Caenorhabditis elegans cultured in axenic liquid media was evaluated as an alternative in vivo model for the purpose of screening nanomaterials for toxic effects. Spherical silver nanoparticles of 10 nm diameter (10nmAg) were used as a test material, and ionic silver from silver acetate as a positive control. Silver uptake and localization, larval growth, morphology and DNA damage were utilized as endpoints for toxicity evaluation. Confocal reflection analysis indicated that 10nmAg localized to the lumen and tissues of the digestive tract of C. elegans. 10nmAg at 10 µg ml–1 reduced the growth of C. elegans larvae, and induced oxidative damage to DNA as measured by 8-OH guanine levels. Consistent with previously published studies using mammalian models, ionic silver suppressed growth in C. elegans larvae to a greater extent than 10nmAg. Our data suggest that medium-throughput growth screening and DNA damage analysis along with morphology assessments in C. elegans could together provide powerful tools for rapid toxicity screening of nanomaterials. Published 2013. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
Retroviral Cyclin Enhances Cyclin-Dependent Kinase-8 Activity

Alterations in the functional levels of cyclin-dependent kinase-8 (CDK8) or its partner, cyclin C, have been clearly associated with cancers, including colon cancer, melanoma, and osteosarcoma. Walleye dermal sarcoma virus encodes a retroviral cyclin (RV-cyclin) that localizes to interchromatin granule clusters and binds CDK8. It also binds to the Aα subunit (PR65) of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). Binding to the Aα subunit excludes the regulatory B subunit, but not the catalytic C subunit, in a manner similar to that of T antigens of the small DNA tumor viruses. The expression of the RV-cyclin enhances the activity of immune affinity-purified CDK8 in vitro for RNA polymerase II carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) and histone H3 substrates. PP2A also enhances CDK8 kinase activity in vitro for the CTD but not for histone H3. The PP2A enhancement of CDK8 is independent of RV-cyclin expression and likely plays a role in the normal regulation of CDK8. The manipulation of endogenous PP2A activity by inhibition, amendment, or depletion confirmed its role in CDK8 activation by triggering CDK8 autophosphorylation. Although RV-cyclin and PP2A both enhance CDK8 activity, their actions are uncoupled and additive in kinase reactions. PP2A may be recruited to CDK8 in the Mediator complex by a specific PP2A B subunit or additionally by the RV-cyclin in infected cells, but the RV-cyclin appears to activate CDK8 directly and in a manner independent of its physical association with PP2A.
Kinetics of Myosin-I-Membrane Detachment Under Load

Myo1c is a single-headed motor that links cell membranes to the underlying actin cytoskeleton. Actin binding occurs via the motor domain, while the tail domain interacts with phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P2) through a putative pleckstrin homology (PH) domain. In this study, we measured the strength and lifetime of the myo1c attachment to spherical supported lipid bilayers (SSL) composed of 1 μm diameter silica or polystyrene beads coated with various mole fractions of PI(4,5)P2, dioleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (DOPC), and dioleoyl-phosphatidylserine (DOPS). The SSLs trapped by a laser beam were brought into contact with immobilized spherical (2 μm) silica pedestals sparsely labeled with the myo1c tail domain. Upon repeated contact and retraction cycles, binding events and subsequent rupture forces were measured. The most probable rupture forces (< 10 pN) from membranes containing 2% PI(4,5)P2 were found to be largely independent of the loading rate (pN/s). Nevertheless, the frequency of single myo1c molecules interacting with membranes containing 2% PI(4,5)P2 - 98% DOPC was considerably higher than with membranes that contained 20 - 80% DOPS. Lifetime measurements of myo1c attachment to 2% PI(4,5)P2 - 98% DOPC membranes under constant pulling forces (1 - 3 pN) were fitted to Bell's equation and the extrapolated duration of the bond at zero force was found to be ∼ 25 ms. Although phosphoinositide binding is crucial for the proper cellular targeting of myo1c, our results suggest that it is unlikely that this connection is a suitable anchor for force generation.
Functional conflict management in effective marital adjustment

This correlational study investigated the relationship between communication conflict management predisposition and marital adjustment of medial (not extremely happy or unhappy) married individuals. As predicted, married people's functional conflict management predisposition was significantly related to their perceptions of their own dyadic adjustment. Results from step‐wise regression procedures indicated that three out of six constructs of functional conflict management were predictive of high marital adjustment. Positive feelings was the best indicator of marital adjustment, lower value of self‐uniqueness was next, and high task energy was the third best indicator of marital adjustment. Comparisons were also made among medial, happy, and unhappy married people on three of the constructs making up the functional conflict management predisposition.
Generality of Creativity across Performance Domains: A Replication

A replication of a 1991 study in which Baer questioned the importance of general creativity-thinking skills was conducted using a larger sample with a broader range of abilities, as suggested in a 1994 published review by Kogan. 66 girls and 62 boys in Grade 8 wrote original poems and stories, which were later judged for creativity by experts. The correlation between these two measures of creativity was .19. This is similar to previous results.
Determination of nitrite and nitrate by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography using on-line post-column photolysis with ultraviolet absorbance and electrochemical detection

Abstract Ion-pair (paired-ion) reversed-phase HPLC has proved to be an effective technique for the analysis of inorganic anions. Also referred to as ion-interaction chromatography, it has bee used with conductimetric, ultraviolet (UV) absorbance, refractive index, and electrochemical detection. Nitrite and nitrate are amenable to UV detection at wavelengths of approximately 240 nm and below. In addition, nitrite is readily oxidized at potentials of +0.9 V or higher at a glassy carbon electrode. While nitrate is electrochemically unreactive under these conditions, it will undergo photolysis, with the conversion product (in all likelihood the nitrite anion) generating an oxidative signal. This paper describes the use of a Teflon TM knitted open tubular (KOT) reactor, which when wrapped around a UV source, provides a means of continuous, on-line photolysis. This derivatization step, combined with high-performance liquid chromatography, permits the determination of both nitrite and nitrate using oxidative amperometric detection. We have applied this technique to a number of samples (cured meats, smoked and fresh salmon, smoked cod, spiked water solutions) and have also obtained comparative data for nitrite by UV and direct ( i.e. non-photolytic) oxidative electrochemical detection, as well as by a standard spectrophotometric procedure.
Muscarinic cholinergic regulation of cardiac myocyte ICa-L is absent in mice with targeted disruption of endothelial nitric oxide synthase

Cardiac myocytes have been shown to express constitutively endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) (nitric oxide synthase 3), the activation of which has been implicated in the regulation of myocyte L-type voltage-sensitive calcium channel current (ICa-L) and myocyte contractile responsiveness to parasympathetic nervous system signaling, although this implication remains controversial. Therefore, we examined the effect of the muscarinic cholinergic agonist carbachol (CCh) on ICa-L and contractile amplitude in isoproterenol (ISO)-prestimulated ventricular myocytes isolated from adult mice, designated eNOSnull mice, with targeted disruption of the eNOS gene. Although both eNOSnull and wild-type (WT) ventricular myocytes exhibited similar increases in ICa-L in response to ISO, there was no measurable suppression of ICa-L by CCh in cells from eNOSnull mice, in contrast to cells from WT mice. These results were reflected in the absence of an effect of CCh on the positive inotropic effect of ISO in eNOSnull myocytes. Also, unlike myocytes from WT animals, eNOSnull myocytes failed to exhibit an increase in cGMP content in response to CCh. Nevertheless, the pharmacologic nitric oxide donors 3-morpholino-sydnonimine and S-nitroso-acetyl-cystein increased cGMP generation and suppressed ISO-augmented ICa-L in eNOSnull cells, suggesting that the signal transduction pathway(s) downstream of eNOS remained intact. Of importance, activation of the acetylcholine-activated K+ channel by CCh was unaffected in atrial and ventricular eNOSnull myocytes. These results confirm the obligatory role of eNOS in coupling muscarinic receptor activation to cGMP-dependent control of ICa-L in cardiac myocytes.
Relation between lattice energy and melting points of some crystalline substances. II. Alkali Metals

Das Verhaltnis der Bindungsenergie (–Ee) zum Schmelzpunkt (Tm) scheint fur die Alkalimetalle annahernd konstant zu sein. Dies gibt einen weiteren Hinweis dafur, das moglicherweise Tm auch anorganischen festen Stoffen korrespondierende Temperaturen darstellt. Theoretisch last sich zeigen, das nach der MOTTschen Theorie des Schmelzens –Ee/Tm bei diesen Systemen annahernd konstant sein muste, vorausgesetzt, das man fur die latente Schmelzwarme –Ee ∼Lf annimmt. Experimentelles Material stutzt diese Annahme.
Weakly-coupled models for motor enzyme function

In strongly-coupled models for motor enzyme function, such as the original Huxley (1957) model for muscle, ATP binding and subsequent hydrolysis are required for the detachment and reattachment of every force-producing cross-bridge. In weakly-coupled models, cross-bridges can be ‘mechanically detached’ without ATP binding when they have been pushed far beyond their free energy minimum and have accumulated so much strain that the attached state is less stable than the detached state. Weakly-coupled models assume that these mechanically detached cross-bridges can rejoin the pool of detached molecules that can reattach as force-producing cross-bridges, without going through an ATP hydrolysis cycle. This paper bases this assumption on a thermodynamically rigorous model for interaction between a motor enzyme molecule and binding sites on a cytoskeletal protein filament, equivalent to other examples of ligand binding interactions. It attempts to identify more clearly the features that must be added to the idea of ligand binding equilibrium to simulate a weakly-coupled motor enzyme model. Models that assume a vectorial conformational change and a longitudinal series elastic element appear to be incompatible with the assumptions of weakly-coupled cross-bridge models. A stochastic computational method has been used to examine the properties of these models. The computations have examined the behaviour of a model containing a four-state ATPase cycle, but the model is computationally a nine-state model because a force-generating attached state is allowed to equilibrate with different detached states at negative and at positive distortions, and because three adjacent sites are considered as possible attachment sites for each of the two attached states of the ATPase cycle.