cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Geochemical and paleomagnetic variations in basalts from the Wendell Regional Aquifer Systems Analysis (RASA) drill core: Evidence for magma recharge and assimilation–fractional crystallization from the central Snake River Plain, Idaho

The temporal and magmatic evolution of central Snake River Plain (SRP; Idaho, USA) olivine tholeiites erupted within the past 4 m.y. is evaluated here. This investigation correlates and merges both geochemical and paleomagnetic measurements to constrain the volcanic history recovered from the 340 m Regional Aquifer Systems Analysis (RASA) test well located near Wendell, Idaho. Only a handful of studies have accomplished this task of shedding light on the chemical stratigraphy of the SRP and the petrogenesis of basalts with depth, and therefore through time. Paleomagnetic relationships suggest that time breaks between individual lava fl ows represent a few years to decades, time breaks between fl ow groups represent at least a couple of hundred years or possibly much longer, while significant hiatuses in volcanism, revealed by thick sediment packages or polarity reversals (both are evidenced in this well), are inferred to last thousands to tens of thousands of years. Major element geochemistry from 52 basaltic lava fl ows demonstrates near primitive compositions (i.e., ~10 wt% MgO) and tholeiitic iron enrichment trends, similar to lavas from the eastern SRP. Trace element concentrations are similar to those of ocean island basalts, with enriched Ba and Pb, and light rare earth element (REE)/heavy REE ratios similar to those of many Neogene volcanics of the western Cordillera. When combined, we identify a total of 11 fl ow groups, which we also classify as fractionation or recharge on the basis of decreasing or increasing MgO weight percent with depth. Taking into consideration these trends, we review the potential recharge, fractionation, and assimilation processes that characterize much of SRP olivine tholeiite, and conclude that assimilation, in combination with fractional crystallization, is the dominant petrogenesis for the basalts in the central SRP. Although fractionation of Wendell parent magmas was accompanied by assimilation of crustal material, this could not have been assimilation of ancient cratonic crust. The geochemical cycles observed in this well are inferred to represent fractionation and recharge of basaltic magma from a series of sill-like layered mafi c intrusions located in the middle crust, similar to what has been proposed for the processes that control the eruptive history of basalts in the eastern SRP.
Polyol Metabolism by a Caries-Conducive Streptococcus: Purification and Properties of a Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide-Dependent Mannitol-1-Phosphate Dehydrogenase

The mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase (M1PDH) (EC 1.1.1.17) from Streptococcus mutans strain FA-1 was purified to approximately a 425-fold increase in specific activity with a 29% recovery of total enzyme units, using a combination of (i) streptomycin sulfate and ammonium sulfate precipitation and (ii) diethyl-aminoethyl-cellulose (DE-52), agarose A 0.5M, and agarose-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) affinity column chromatography. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the purified enzyme preparation showed a single protein component that coincided with a band of M1PDH activity. The enzyme had a molecular weight of approximately 45,000 and was stable for long periods of time when stored at −80°C in the presence of β-mercaptoethanol. Its activity was not affected by mono- or divalent cations, and high concentrations of ethylenedia-minetetraacetic acid were not inhibitory. The M1PDH catalyzed both the NAD-dependent oxidation of mannitol-1-phosphate and the reduced NAD (NADH)-dependent reduction of fructose-6-phosphate. The forward reaction was highly specific for mannitol-1-phosphate and NAD, whereas the reverse reaction was highly specific for NADH and fructose-6-phosphate. The Km values for mannitol-1-phosphate and NAD were 0.15 and 0.066 mM, respectively, and the Km values for fructose-6-phosphate and NADH were 1.66 and 0.016 mM, respectively. The forward and reverse reactions catalyzed by the M1PDH from S. mutans appeared to be under cellular control. Both adenosine 5′-triphosphate and fructose-6-phosphate were negative effectors of the forward reaction, whereas adenosine 5′-diphosphate served as a negative effector of the reverse reaction catalyzed by the enzyme. Images
Efficient coding for integrated information systems and multimedia databases

Schemes that can be used to compress image data as well as nonimage database files efficiently are presented. An initial transformation (coding) step is applied to image data in order to induce desirable properties that enable the efficient application of popular lossless compression schemes that are normally well suited to text and database files. Further improvement is obtained by a scheme that utilizes the correlation properties of the transformed image files. >
Information-Seeking as a Precaution Behavior: Exploring the Role of Decision-Making Stages

The Planned Risk Information Seeking Model (PRISM) was employed to explain people’s information-seeking intentions in the context of hydraulic fracturing. Stages from the Precaution Adoption Process Model (PAPM) were included in the analysis as a moderator. The PRISM fit the data well. Moreover, results showed overall model differences among people who have not decided to take action on hydraulic fracturing, people who have decided to take action, and people who have decided not to take action. Findings provided justifications for tailored messages to encourage information seeking among the varying publics.
THE NAC (NITROGEN ASSIMILATION CONTROL) GENE FROM ESCHERICHIA COLI

The nitrogen assimilation control gene, nac, was detected in Escherichia coli but not in Salmonella typhimurium by Southern blotting, using a probe from the Klebsiella aerogenes nac (nacK) gene. The E. coli nac gene (nacE) was isolated from a cosmid clone by complementation of a nac mutation in K. aerogenes. nacE was fully functional in this complementation assay. DNA sequence analysis showed considerable divergence between nacE and nacK, with a predicted amino acid sequence identity of only 79% and most of the divergence in the C-terminal half of the protein sequence. The total predicted size of NACE is 305 amino acids, the same as for NACK. A null mutation, nac-28, was generated by reverse genetics. Mutants bearing nac-28 have a variety of phenotypes related to nitrogen metabolism, including slower growth on cytosine, faster growth on arginine, and suppression of the failure of an Ntr-constitutive mutant to grow with serine as sole nitrogen source. In addition to a loss of nitrogen regulation of histidase formation, nac-28 mutants also showed a loss of a weak repression of glutamate dehydrogenase formation. This repression was unexpected because it is balanced by a NAC-independent activation of glutamate dehydrogenase formation during nitrogen-limited growth. Attempts to purify NACE by using methods established for NACK failed, and NACE appears to be degraded with a half-life at 30°C as short as 15 min during inhibition of protein synthesis.
A Methodology for Constructing Vacant Land Price Indices

Existing estimates of movements in vacant land prices are limited to a few metropolitan areas and infrequent time intervals. This paper develops a new methodology for estimating vacant land price trends for subareas within states and metropolitan areas. It utilizes data from a sales ratio study, a large database available in most states. The methodology uses assessed value to control for “hedonic characteristics” associated with the property and its location. A model is developed to correct assessed value for measurement errors. Statistical results for forty-one Connecticut towns indicate that the model provides a reasonable compromise between data availability and accuracy of price trend estimates.
Equal 3-Year Outcomes for Kidney Transplantation Alone in HCV-Positive Patients With Cirrhosis

Abstract Kidney transplantation alone in clinically compensated patients with cirrhosis is not well documented. Current guidelines list cirrhosis as a contraindication for kidney transplantation alone. This is an Institutional Review Board–approved retrospective study. We report our experience with a retrospective comparison between transplants in hepatitis C virus–positive (HCV+) patients without cirrhosis and HCV+ patients with cirrhosis. All of the patients were followed for at least a full 3-year period. All of the deaths and graft losses were recorded and analyzed using Kaplan-Meier methodology. One- and three-year cumulative patient survival rates for noncirrhotic patients were 91% and 82%, respectively. For cirrhotic patients, one- and three-year cumulative patient survival rates were 100% and 83%, respectively (P = NS). One- and three-year cumulative graft survival rates censored for death were 94% and 81%, and 95% and 82% for the noncirrhosis and cirrhosis groups, respectively (P = NS). Comparabl...
The Impact of Communication Models on Routing-Algorithm Convergence

Autonomous routing algorithms, such as BGP, are intended to reach a globally consistent set of routes after nodes iteratively and independently collect, process, and share network information. Generally, the important role of the mechanism used to share information has been overlooked in previous analyses of these algorithms. In this paper, we explicitly study how the network-communication model affects algorithm convergence. To do this, we consider a variety of factors, including channel reliability, how much information is processed from channels, and how many channels are processed simultaneously. Using these factors, we define a taxonomy of communication models and identify particular models of interest, including those used in previous theoretical work, those that most closely model real-world implementations of BGP, and those of potential interest for the design of future routing algorithms. We characterize an extensive set of relationships among models in our taxonomy and show that convergence depends on the communication model in nontrivial ways. These results highlight that certain models are best for proving conditions that guarantee convergence, while other models are best for characterizing conditions that might permit nonconvergence.
Re: The Association Between Statins and Cancer Incidence in a Veterans Population

I was pleased to read the article by Farwell et al. ( 1 ) reporting on statins and cancer. By comparing cancer incidence rates in statin users (irrespective of antihypertensive drug use) and antihypertensive drug users, the investigators likely limited detection bias that can arise in studies in which opportunity for exposure and outcome detection both depend on accessing medical care. For prostate cancer, detection bias has become of particular concern in epidemiological studies after the introduction of prostatespecific antigen (PSA) screening. Detection bias could arise when men who seek medical care are screened for both elevated cholesterol and PSA: compared with men who test negative, men who test positive for elevated cholesterol are more likely to be prescribed a statin, and men who test positive for elevated PSA are more likely to undergo biopsy examination. Consequently, men with prostate cancer who take a statin would be more likely diagnosed when their disease is organ confined, whereas men with prostate cancer who do not take a statin would be more likely diagnosed when their disease is advanced. Thus, statin use would appear associated positively with total and early disease and inversely with advanced disease. Farwell et al. ( 1 ) reported a slight inverse association between statins and prostate cancer (relative risk = 0.90, 95% confi dence interval = 0.81 to 0.99) but no trend across dose. These fi ndings are somewhat different than for lung and colorectal cancers, which were moderately inversely associated ( 1 ). I am concerned that Journal readers may be left with the impression that there is little, if any, evidence that statins infl uence the development of prostate cancer. What Farwell et al. ( 1 ) did not address is
Evolution of the SAW transducer for communication systems

This paper reviews the evolution of SAW transducer technology for communication systems. Applications of TV sets, radar, satellite communications, mobile phones and a wealth of others have driven a diversity of transducer embodiments. Some of the diverse sets of transducers include: bidirectional, multi-phase unidirectional, single phase unidirectional, chirped, coded, slanted, resonant and others. Scientists and engineers continually push the limits on materials, device design and manufacturing, leading to lower loss, broader bandwidths, smaller size and lower cost devices. Connections between past military requirements, commercial communication systems current consumer applications have driven the transducer technology in varied directions culminating in today's diverse, application specific devices. This paper takes an historical view of the SAW transducer's diverse embodiments, practical implementations, and innovative problem solutions, through the eyes of the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control (UFFC) society publications.
Massive Flap Donor Sites and the Role of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy

Objective. Report our experience with negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) applied to massive scapular and latissimus free flap donor sites, in the setting of microvascu- lar reconstruction for extensive head and neck defects. Study Design. Retrospective case series with chart review. Setting. Tertiary academic referral center. Subjects and Methods. Retrospective review was conducted of all patients who underwent scapular or latissimus free tissue transfer by the senior author for head and neck reconstruction, over a 5-year period (2006-2011). In addi- tion to NPWT details, comprehensive patient data were abstracted and compiled, including demographics, operative details, hospital stay, postoperative follow-up, and donor site complications. Results. Ninety-four patients underwent reconstruction of extensive postablative head and neck defects using either a scapular or latissimus free flap. Mean harvested flap skin paddle size was 140 cm 2 . All donor sites were closed pri- marily. Fifty-two patients (55%) had NPWT applied over closed donor site incisions postoperatively. The other 42 patients (45%) received only conventional incision care. Major donor site complications occurred in 12% (n = 5) of the patients who did not undergo NPWT, as compared with a 6% (n = 3) complication rate among patients in the NPWT-treated group. Conclusion. This is the first study to examine NPWT in the postoperative treatment of closed high-tension wounds fol- lowing scapular or latissimus dorsi harvest for reconstruc- tion of extensive head and neck defects. Our results suggest that NPWT is a safe technique in the management of mas- sive scapular and latissimus free flap harvest sites that may decrease associated major donor wound complications.
Few people living with and beyond cancer meet current exercise recommendations

Commentary on: Bourke L, Homer KE, Thaha MA, et al. Interventions for promoting habitual exercise in people living with and beyond cancer. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2013;9:CD010192. An estimated 29 million individuals are living with a cancer diagnosis worldwide.1 Cancer survivors often experience adverse effects on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and many are at increased risk for recurrence, secondary malignancies and comorbidities.2 ,3 Exercise among cancer survivors has been found to be safe, well tolerated and has a positive effect on cardiorespiratory fitness, fatigue, anxiety, depression, …
Human CD4+ regulatory T cells express lower levels of the IL-7 receptor alpha chain (CD127), allowing consistent identification and sorting of live cells.

AlthoughquantitativeidentificationandviableenrichmentofnaturalregulatoryTcells(T-regs)inhumansareproblematic,suchsteps would greatly facilitate the analysis of these cells in disease states. In an attempt to identify markers that are sensitive and specific for human T-regs, we analyzed the expression of fourteen intracellular and cell surface markers on human CD4 + cells. Many markers were partially selective for CD25 hi T-regs, but consistent and specific discriminationoffunctional T-regswas only made possible by focus on CD127, the alpha chain of the IL-7 receptor. Although most CD4 + human Tcells express CD127, T-regs exhibiting suppressive activity in vitro display distinctly lower surface expression of this marker, irrespective of their level of CD25 expression. Sorted cells with the surface phenotype CD4 + CD25 + CD127 low had higher levels of intracellular FOXP3 and CTLA-4 and, as determined by functional assays, were suppressive, hypoproliferative, and poorly responsive to TCR signaling. The CD4 + CD25 + CD127 low phenotype was also foundtobecharacteristicofT-regsfoundinmiceandinrhesusmacaques.Thissurfacephenotypeshouldallowforquantitativestudiesof
Temporal alignment in soft information processing

In a counterinsurgency environment, patrol or spot reports and human observations stream into a soft information fusion node in arbitrary temporal order. This paper discusses the use of discrete temporal features and interval logic for temporal alignment in soft information. This aligned sequence can be presented to a graph matching method for situational understanding. Temporal transformations will provide a “present” tense time for incoming messages, which will be represented in a graphical form. The use of the OWL-Time ontology, along with a rule based inference engine JENA, enables messages to be placed in linear order. Given such information, it is feasible to match given scenarios of interest which contain temporal specific requirements. This is accomplished using a temporal version of graph matching. Extensions on this research will include considerations of uncertainty in time through fuzzy representations.
Molded separation media: An inexpensive, efficient, and versatile alternative to packed columns for the fast HPLC separation of peptides, proteins, and synthetic oligomers and polymers

A simple molding process carried out within the confines of a chromatographic column has been used for the preparation of macroporous poly(glycidyl methacrylate-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) and poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) rods. The novel monolithic separation media that are obtained are useful for the HPLC separation of biological and synthetic polymers. The presence of large pores with a diameter of about 1 μm makes the molded rod columns easily permeable to eluents. Therefore, the back pressure of these columns is modest even at high flow rates. In contrast to the conventional HPLC columns packed with beads, all of the mobile phase flows through the continuous monolithic medium. As a result of this total convection, the efficiency of the molded media is almost independent of the flow rate. This improves significantly the separation ability of the rod columns and very fast separations of macromolecules such as peptides, proteins, and synthetic polymers have been demonstrated.
Vacuolar pathogens value membrane integrity

Bacteria commonly encode virulence determinants that mediate the disruption of host cell membranes; however, vacuole lysis and invasion of the host cell cytosol is a strategy used by only a select few bacterial pathogens for intracellular replication (1). Many bacterial pathogens replicate in specialized vacuoles that must be actively maintained to prevent these organelles from fusing with lysosomes and to regulate acquisition of new membrane for vacuole expansion during bacterial replication (2). However, why is this, when, in theory, it should be easier for a bacterium to lyse the vacuole and replicate in the cytosol? A study in PNAS provides new data that demonstrate that vacuole integrity is important for the intracellular survival of Legionella pneumophila and illustrate how invasion of the host cytosol can play a role in countering bacterial infection (3).
Hydrothermal Synthesis of ZrW2−δMoδO8 (δ=0–0.91) and its α→β Transformation

Phase pure, fine ZrW2−δMoδO8 powders with 0.00≤δ≤0.91 were synthesized by a hydrothermal route. As-synthesized particles exhibited a chemical composition consistent with zirconium tungstate–molybdate hydroxide dihydrate (Zr(W,Mo)2 O7(OH)2·2H2O). Transmission electron microscopy revealed a rod-like morphology with each particle being a single crystal. X-ray diffraction patterns revealed that the crystallite size as well as the disordered β phase increased with increasing Mo substitution for W. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed characteristic stretching frequencies of Zr–O, (W,Mo)–O tetrahedral, as well as OH stretch. Differential scanning calorimetry showed that the order–disorder transition temperature decreases linearly with Mo content.
Low Frequency Sea and Ice Sheet Impulse Responses Acquired by the Global Ice Sheet Mapping Orbiter (GISMO) Demonstrator

A study of sea and ice sheet surface impulse responses measured at 150 MHz is reported. The presence of both coherent and noncoherent returns is observed due to the low frequency of observation, and attempts to interpret the observed wave-forms are presented. Further analysis using a Monte Carlo simulation of one dimensional surface impulse responses suggests that the physical optics theory should be applicable for modeling the observed waveforms so that they can be used in sensing ice sheet surface properties.
Tetrachoric Correlation: A Permutation Alternative.

An exact permutation test is provided for the tetrachoric correlation coefficient. Comparisons with the conventional test employing Student's t distribution demonstrate the necessity of using the permutation approach for small sample sizes and/or disproportionate marginal frequency totals.
The application of priority-degree evaluation method on the overall scheme of mechanical

In order to evaluate the overall scheme of mechanical product and choose the best scheme reliably and scientifically. Briefly discussed the priority-degree evaluation method of mechanical product's overall scheme, used the AHP method to determining the weight of index, and established the evaluation model by the priority-degree evaluation method. Then gave an example to analyze the application of the evaluation method. The results has a certain reference value to the practice of overall scheme evaluation for mechanical products.
Developmental regulation of adenosine A1 receptors, uptake sites and endogenous adenosine in the chick retina

Although adenosine A1 receptors mediate the inhibition of dopamine-dependent stimulation of adenylate cyclase activity in the developing chick retina, their localization and function are unknown. We have examined the localization of these receptors, and of endogenous adenosine and adenosine uptake sites at several stages of chick retinal development. A1 receptors were already localized predominantly to plexiform regions by embryonic day 12 (E12) with no gross changes at subsequent stages. Adenosine immunoreactivity was absent from retina at E8 but was detected at E12 in the ganglion cell layer, as well as cells in the inner nuclear cell layer and photoreceptors. At more advanced developmental stages the immunoreactivity was greater, but displayed similar localizations. Uptake sites labeled with [3H]nitrobenzylthioinosine (NBI) were detected even earlier using binding and autoradiographic methods. [3H]NBI binding was saturable, and Scatchard analysis demonstrated a single class of sites with a Kd of 0.91 nM and Bmax of 298 fmol/mg protein in E15 retinal membranes. The binding was displaced by unlabeled NBI and dipyridamole. NBI binding sites differentiated earlier than adenosine A1 receptors or endogenous adenosine immunoreactivity, showing a diffuse distribution at E8, but predominating in the plexiform layers of more developed retinas. The results indicate that elements of a putative purinergic system differentiate at specific localizations early in retinal development.
Are Articulatory Settings Mechanically Advantageous for Speech Motor Control

We address the hypothesis that postures adopted during grammatical pauses in speech production are more “mechanically advantageous” than absolute rest positions for facilitating efficient postural motor control of vocal tract articulators. We quantify vocal tract posture corresponding to inter-speech pauses, absolute rest intervals as well as vowel and consonant intervals using automated analysis of video captured with real-time magnetic resonance imaging during production of read and spontaneous speech by 5 healthy speakers of American English. We then use locally-weighted linear regression to estimate the articulatory forward map from low-level articulator variables to high-level task/goal variables for these postures. We quantify the overall magnitude of the first derivative of the forward map as a measure of mechanical advantage. We find that postures assumed during grammatical pauses in speech as well as speech-ready postures are significantly more mechanically advantageous than postures assumed during absolute rest. Further, these postures represent empirical extremes of mechanical advantage, between which lie the postures assumed during various vowels and consonants. Relative mechanical advantage of different postures might be an important physical constraint influencing planning and control of speech production.
Hydrodynamic Modeling Approaches for Agricultural Storm Water Impoundments

Hydrologic modeling of storm water impoundments is an effective tool in evaluating different water management options for addressing regional water issues in Florida. However, modeling impoundment water dynamics could be challenging because of the difference in scale between canals and the entire impoundment. Water pumped into the impoundments is first discharged into canals inside the impoundments, which distributes the water. The canal eventually overflows and water floods all the impoundment. Two modeling approaches to simulate this process were tested on two impoundments using the integrated MIKE-SHE and MIKE 11 model. The first approach simulates the one-dimensional flow in the canal in a link-node model; and once water floods, it is modeled as two-dimensional flow. The second approach simulates the entire impoundment as a canal. In both impoundments, Modeling Approach 1 resulted in overestimation of peaks and poor results. Modeling Approach 2 showed considerable improvements in the results and a satisfactory match between observed and simulated water levels. The difference is attributed to the difficulty in representing the canal flooding process in hydrodynamic models.
Painted in Oil, Composed in Ink: Late-Qing Ekphrastic Poetry and the Encounter with Western-Style Painting

This essay explores the poetic responses of several Qing-dynasty poets to their encounter with Western-style oil painting. Unfamiliar with Western post-Renaissance techniques, most notably the use of perspective and of oil paints, these poets expressed their anxiety, distaste, curiosity and appreciation of Western aesthetics and cultural practices through their poems. By focusing on previously un-translated poems of Weng Fanggang 翁方綱 (1733–1818), Li Xialing 李遐齡 (1768–1832), Kang Youwei 康有為 (1858–1927) and others, I argue that these poems function as metaphors for the complex ways in which China’s late imperial elites negotiated their country’s encounter with the West, both as a tight-knit group bound by dynastic conventions and as a loose network of individual thinkers whose varied talents allowed for highly original reflections on the cultural potential of East-West encounters. I will show that—while strictly adhering to traditional Chinese prosodic conventions—these poets through their creative and nuanced poetic commentaries on Sino-Western relations achieved an unusual degree of cultural cross-fertilization. Intrigued by the “foreignness” of the art works they set their eyes on, these poets, I will illustrate, were able to expand the horizons of poetic discourse without surrendering to the lure of the foreign or abandoning indigenous formal conventions.
Lookahead Network

This paper formalizes and extends a tree-based local area network, called the lookahead network, proposed by Lipovski, Goyal, and Malek. The leaf nodes in the network are workstations, and the nonleaf nodes consist of pure combinational logic used in carry lookahead circuits of binary adders. Any of the ring or bus access protocols (token passing, contention, etc.) can be used on this network. The first objective of this paper is to give a formal definition of the lookahead logic and show that it can be operated in either a bus or a ring mode. The advantage of using the lookahead logic is that it makes the network operation fail-soft, and since this logic is recursively defined, it simplifies network installation, expansion, and partitioning procedures. The second objective of this paper is to define a new round-robin access protocol on the lookahead network, which has much better throughputdelay characteristics than that of a token ring when the number of active nodes on the network is increased and/or the transmission speed is increased, and/or the average packet size is decreased. Moreover, this new protocol can implement a message-based priority scheme, which makes it useful in integrated voice and data networks.
Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate: Journey Verifying a New Method for an Imperfect Test

The rate of sedimentation of blood-formed elements in a predetermined amount of time, also known as the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), is used around the world by many clinicians in an effort to assess acute inflammatory response. ESR results have been incorporated into many practices and algorithms as a way to determine the presence of active inflammation.1–4 However, ESR is a phenomenon that is not well understood since aggregation, precipitation, and packing of RBCs are facilitated by many plasma proteins, including fibrinogen and immunoglobulins, and affected by the amount and shape of RBCs.5 Because this phenomenon lacks specificity, clinical chemists and pathologists who direct clinical laboratories where ESR is measured believe it is a very imperfect test. In this editorial, we review how instrumentation in clinical laboratories has progressed to make it easier, faster, less hazardous, and more standardized to perform ESR, and we describe the challenges clinical laboratories encounter when verifying fundamentally different technologies that measure the ESR phenomenon. The ESR testing method was developed by R. S. Fahraeus and A. V. A. Westergren. The original method was first described in 1921, and modifications of the original method have been selected as the reference standard by several agencies.6 In general, this method uses blood that has been anticoagulated and diluted and then placed in the Westergren-Katz tube, which has to stand in a strictly vertical position in a rack for 1 hour at room temperature. The result is the measurement in millimeters of the distance …
Infrared Light Emission from Germanium Nanomembranes with Mechanically Flexible Photonic-Crystal Cavities

Large strain-induced enhancements in radiation efficiency are demonstrated using germanium nanomembranes coated with mechanically flexible photonic-crystal slabs of disconnected dielectric pillars.
Utilization of energy in recuperative counterflow furnaces

Recuperative counterflow furnaces are based on a thermotechnically ideal scheme of heat exchange and are the most promising systems for firing ceramic materials on a large scale. The thermodynamic quality of such furnaces is governed by their exergetic characteristics, which are based on the first and second laws of thermodynamics.
MULTIGENIC RESPONSE TO ETHANOL IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER.

The use of enzyme polymorphisms for evolutionary and population genetic investigations has greatly facilitated the study of genetic structure both within and between species. Despite their utility as genetic markers, fundamental problems concerning the adaptive nature of enzyme variation have remained refractory to investigation. Numerous indirect statistical studies give support to the notion that enzyme polymorphisms are subject to selection, but direct evidence for selection is rare. Notable exceptions are the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and the amylase polymorphisms in Drosophila melanogaster which have been intensively investigated under controlled environments and with randomized genetic backgrounds (for ADH see Gibson, 1970; Van Delden et al., 1975; Oakeshott, 1976; Cavener and Clegg, 1978; and Cavener, 1979; for amylase see Dejong et al., 1972; Hickey, 1977). In the case of both ADH and amylase the specific substrates of the enzymes were used in high concentrations in experimental populations to induce selection. Complimentary to these population experiments, in vitro kinetic differences have been demonstrated between the alternative allozymes and these differences appear to be consistent with the direction of gene frequency change observed in cage populations. It can be argued that the ADH and amylase polymorphisms are exceptional because they are involved in the processing of external substrates. In an effort to determine the validity of this view and to investigate adaptation at the biochemical level, we have chosen a somewhat different approach based upon the elementary proposition that metabolism is a closely integrated process. Because of the coordinated nature of biochemical pathways, a perturbation introduced at one point is likely to have manifold effects. Thus we have focused upon the manipulation of simple environmental factors (e.g., alcohol) and we have attempted to trace the genetic consequences arising from processing high levels of the stress factor. We have chosen to investigate adaptation to high concentrations of ethanol in Drosophila melanogaster. This is not an artificial choice because the major food resource of D. melanogaster is fermenting fruit which contains moderate to high concentrations of ethanol. Indeed, D. melanogaster has actually been found to undergo a part of its life cycle on floating
Abstract 1680: ARHI-induced autophagy enhances chemosensitivity to cisplatin in ovarian cancer cell lines and xenografts.

Autophagy can protect or kill tumor cells depending upon the context. Our group has found that autophagy and tumor dormancy can be regulated by an imprinted tumor suppressor gene, ARHI (DIRAS3), which is downregulated in 60% of ovarian cancers. Re-expression of ARHI induces autophagy by inhibiting PI3K and mTOR signaling, displacing Bcl-2 from Beclin to form the autophagy initiating complex, inducing ATG4 and decorating the autophagosome membrane, co-localizing with LC3II. Re-expression of ARHI in cell culture produces cell death within 72 hours, whereas re-expression of ARHI in xenografts produces cell growth arrest and tumor dormancy. When ARHI levels are reduced after 6 weeks of induction, xenografts grow promptly. Outgrowth can be delayed if dormant cancers are treated with chloroquine, a functional inhibitor of autophagy, suggesting that autophagy is a survival mechanism in this context. Our current experiments were designed to determine whether autophagic cells could be eliminated more or less readily by treatment with cisplatin with or without chloroquine. In short-term or long-term cell culture, induction of ARHI enhanced the cytotoxic effect of cisplatin and tumor cell killing was further enhanced by the addition of chloroquine. In xenografts, treatment with cisplatin slowed the outgrowth of dormant autophagic ovarian cancer cells, but the addition of chloroquine did not further inhibit xenograft growth. In cell culture, caspase 3/8 release and Anexin V expression on the surface of ovarian cancer cells can account for enhancement of caspase dependent apoptosis observed when autophagic ovarian cancer cells are treated with cisplatin. Treatment of ARHI-induced autophagic ovarian cancer cells with chloroquine and cisplatin downregulated the expression of survivin, XIAP and Bcl-2. Re-expression of ARHI induced caspase dependent apoptosis and autophagic cell death in the absence of cisplatin. ARHI-induced apoptosis and autophagic cell death could be blocked by Z-VAD that inhibits caspase mediated apoptosis and by stable knockdown of ATG5 that inhibits autophagy. In this context, induction of autophagy enhanced platinum toxicity. Additional treatment with chlorooquine produced additional cancer cell cytotoxicity in cell culture, but not in dormant xenografts. These preclinical studies do not support the addition of chloroquine to platinum based chemotherapy for ovarian cancer in the clinic, but do support the association of “autophagic” cell death with apoptosis. Citation Format: Michele N. Washington, Grace Suh, Aaron F. Orozco, Maojie Yang, Yan Wang, Neely Atkinson, Warren Liao, Zhen Lu, Robert Bast. ARHI-induced autophagy enhances chemosensitivity to cisplatin in ovarian cancer cell lines and xenografts. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1680. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-1680
Propagation of Measles Virus in Suckling Mice.

SummaryHeLa adapted measles virus (Edmonston strain) was propagated in suckling mice through 24 serial intracerebral passages. The virus produced a lethal infection in most animals 7 to 13 days following inoculation. Identity of mouse propagated agent was established by serum neutralization tests in tissue culture and in suckling mice. Further identification was established by protection of suckling mice born of mothers immunized with tissue culture measles virus. Fluid phase from tissue cultures inoculated with late mouse passage materials did not contain infectious material either for HeLa cells or for suckling mice. Infections, however, were readily induced when cells were employed as inoculum.
County-Level Variation in Emergency Department Admission Rates Among US Medicare Beneficiaries.

Study objective Hospital-based emergency departments (EDs) are the gateway to hospital admissions for many Americans. Approximately half of all US hospital admissions originate from EDs, and more than 3 in 4 are among Medicare beneficiaries. Recent literature has demonstrated nearly 2-fold variation in both physician- and hospital-level ED admission rates. We study geographic variation at the county level in ED admission rates among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. Methods Using the 100% population data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), we analyzed beneficiaries continuously enrolled in Medicare fee-for-service Parts A and B who resided in the 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2012. The ED admission rate was aggregated to the county level. ED admission rates were adjusted with the CMS Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCC) risk score. The resulting HCC adjusted ED admission rate was mapped to display the variation by county. Results The average county HCC adjusted ED admission rate was 30.8% in the Medicare population. Counties in the lowest quintile had an ED admission rate of 19.9% or lower. By comparison, counties in the highest quintile had an ED admission rate of 40.3% or higher. Conclusion Among Medicare beneficiaries, county-level ED admission rates varied 2-fold between counties in the lowest and highest quintiles. Future work should focus on exploring causes for this variation, such as racial ethnic composition, socioeconomic status, and health care delivery system characteristics and the research of effectiveness of policies that affect ED admission decisions.
Public health and municipal water policies in Colonial Lima, Peru, 1535–1635

In 1535, Peru’s governor, Francisco Pizarro, ordered the relocation of the Spanish settlement at Jauja, located in the central highlands, to Lima, located in the Rimac River Valley. Pizarro chose Lima’s location in part based on its coastal location and the presence of two irregularly flowing rivers: the Rimac and the Chillon. Both rivers brought fresh water from the Andes Mountains and ran a winding course all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Indigenous people living in the valley channeled its water to irrigate hundreds of miles of land; creating a hydraulic network that supported agriculture, fruit trees, alder, and willow in an otherwise coastal desert. Despite royal mandates and Iberian precedents to leave irrigation systems acquired via conquest unchanged, Lima’s municipal government disrupted the indigenous water network from the moment of foundation. Town councilmen justified these actions by linking the urban water supply to human health. This connection was based on three interrelated policies: (1) the rights and responsibilities of irrigators; (2) sanitation; and (3) dividing the city physically to minimize effects of disease and pollution. All of these policies influenced human relationships with water in the city, and provided a means for the town council to extend its jurisdiction over urban and rural spaces and their inhabitants.
Differentiating the dermatophytes.

1. Jeremy R Caddell[⇑][1] 1. is a Clinical Laboratory Scientist at Mayo Foundation, Rochester MN 1. Address for correspondence: Jeremy R Caddell CLS (NCA), Mayo Foundation, 200 1sts St SW, Rochester MN 55905. (507) 284-3036, (507) 284-0071 (fax). Caddell.Jeremy{at}Mayo.edu Dermatophytosis is one of the most common communicable diseases in the world.1 Dermatophytes are fungi whose primary sites of infection are hair, skin, and nails.2 The identification of dermatophytes is clinically important because of the various infections that they can cause.3 Among some of the more common and difficult diseases are Tinea capitis, Tinea unguium, Tinea barbae, and Tinea pedis. Tinea capitis is a form of ringworm that most commonly infects the scalp. It can cause ulcers on the scalp of the patient and loss of hair. Tinea unguium is a form of ringworm that most commonly infects fingernails and toenails. It can cause the patient's nail to become brittle, cracked, and crumbly. Tinea barbae is an infection of the bearded area of the face and neck of adult males. It can cause lesions with severe inflammation and extensive hair loss. Tinea pedis is the most common dermatophyte infection and infects the feet. It can cause the affected area of the feet to become pruritic with peeling of the foot tissue. Since dermatophytes only invade the keratinized layers of hair, skin, and nails, clinical material must be obtained properly and can be sent to the laboratory for culture and direct examination. Direct examination of clinical material from patients with dermatomycosis can aid in the diagnosis and treatment of the patient.4 A piece of the clinical material from a patient can be observed in a potassium hydroxide (KOH) preparation at the same time it is cultured. If hyphae are seen in… ABBREVIATIONS: KOH = potassium hydroxide; PDA = potato-dextrose agar. [1]: #corresp-1
Banishing misaligned incentives for validating reports in bug-bounty platforms

Bug-bounty programs have the potential to harvest the efforts and diverse knowledge of thousands of white hat hackers. As a consequence, they are becoming increasingly popular as a key part of the security culture of organizations. However, bug-bounty programs can be riddled with myriads of invalid vulnerability-report submissions, which are partially the result of misaligned incentives between white hats and organizations. To further improve the effectiveness of bug-bounty programs, we introduce a theoretical model for evaluating approaches for reducing the number of invalid reports. We develop an economic framework and investigate the strengths and weaknesses of existing canonical approaches for effectively incentivizing higher validation efforts by white hats. Finally, we introduce a novel approach, which may improve efficiency by enabling different white hats to exert validation effort at their individually optimal levels.
The Neurobiology of Zika Virus

Zika virus (ZIVK) represents a new threat to global health, with particular relevance to neuroscientists, due to associated newborn and adult neurological disease. Consequences of vertical infection include microcephaly with brain and eye anomalies, and consequences of adult infection include Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and meningoencephalitis. Recent data suggest specific vulnerability of neural progenitors to infection, leading to cell death and brain calcification, reminiscent of other viral syndromes. Prevailing models suggest entry into neuronal stem cells through transmembrane receptors, hijacking cellular signaling to interfere with neurogenesis and cell survival. Mechanisms of adult neurological disease are unknown, but recent evidence suggests propensity for infection of adult neural stem cells. Efforts focused on mechanisms of pathogenesis, vulnerabilities, and treatments are urgently needed.
Regional Protection of Human Rights (Introduction)

This book focuses on regional approaches to human rights. It discusses regional tools such as treaties, conventions, and case law. The book then discusses state obligations under regional agreements and during various conditions, such as an emergency. Next, the book discusses regional institutions such as courts and the procedures for attempting to receive redress. The book concludes by discussing responses to violations of human rights and looking ahead by examining suggestions for moving forward.
Immunotherapy in multiple myeloma

Therapeutic approaches in multiple myeloma (MM) are increasingly focused on restoring antitumor immunity. Immunomodulators have a variety of effects on the immune microenvironment, and are frequently incorporated into multidrug regimens. The monoclonal antibodies daratumumab and elotuzumab have been granted accelerated approval for use in the relapsed or refractory setting, and several other antibodies including immune checkpoint inhibitors are currently being evaluated for the treatment of MM. Antimyeloma vaccines have been developed, and may be useful in maintaining remission. The role of allogeneic stem cell transplantation continues to be an area of active research, as reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) regimens have significantly decreased treatment-related complications. Other immunotherapeutic approaches in development include marrow infiltrating lymphocytes, T cell receptor modified T cells (TCRts), and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells. Here we review the existing data on immunotherapy in MM, and discuss some promising areas of research which may impact the future of myeloma therapy.