cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Introduction and Overview of Genetic and Epigenetic Determinants of Susceptibility to Environmental Injury

Genomic diversity affects gene and protein expression profiles as well as cellular functions, and modulates the individual response to environmental stimuli. With an increasingly high exposure to xenobiotics as early as in the embryonic stages of development, humans are at risk of developing toxicant-related diseases at younger ages. Genetic toxicology makes use of genetic, molecular, and physiological approaches to understand the relationship between genetic makeup, the biological response to xenobiotics, and the onset of disease. This chapter provides an overview of studies on genetic diversity, the mechanisms that have contributed to such diversity, and the influence of repetitive sequences in shaping the human genome. Also, a section was devoted to introduce the field of epigenetics and to understand the relationship between chromatin structure and responses to environmental injury. Overall, understanding how genetic profiles, the xenobiotic detoxification machinery, and chromatin structure modulate the physiological response to toxic injury is essential both for early diagnostics of genetic risks and for implementation of preventive measures to avoid early-onset disease. In addition, by forecasting the expected cellular response to drugs, genetic profile analysis will emerge as a useful means to target the treatment of human diseases.
CE-PE Bias and Probability Level: An Anchoring Model of their Interaction

It was established over a decade ago that the certainty equivalence (CE) and probability equivalence (PE) methods for measuring basic risk attitudes yield different results (Hershey, Kunreuther, and Schoemaker, 1982). The typical design used presents subjects with a choice between a sure amount S and a gamble G offering a probability p of a larger payoff and a complementary probability of a smaller payoff. The amount S typically equals the expected value of the gamble. In the CE mode, S is adjusted to some point of indifference. In the PE mode, the probability p used for the gamble is adjusted. The probability equivalence method typically yields greater risk aversion than the certainty equivalence method for both gain and loss gambles. Several explanations have been offered.
Star Trek: Nationalism as Pathology and Internationalism as Rationalism

Zeev Sternhell in the Anti-Enlightenment Tradition conflates anti-rationalism and nationalism. Nationalism is a rejection of the universalism of humanism, rationality, and an embrace of particularism and placed-based, cultural prejudices, practices. The Star Trek franchise similarly casts nationalism as irrational, obscurant. The franchise goes farther in arguing that nationalism results in dangerous, delusional reasoning and actions, in addition to belligerency and warmongering. Conversely, internationalism, universalism are the only rational basis for a peaceable, stable, thriving polity. This view and embrace of internationalism is consonant with Karl Marx’s thinking with regard to modern politics and society. The belief in internationalism ostensibly results from the fact that the U.S. is the “Great American Melting Pot.”
Structuring Sociality: School Design as Social (Re)Production

This chapter locates schools as powerful formative sites for youth. Engaging the work of seminal theorists who explore schools as sites of power that regulate the limits of thinking and being, this chapter considers curricula as ideological constructs that define epistemological fields or ways of knowing. It considers what kinds of knowledge nineteenth century school design prioritizes—what ways of thinking and being its norms suggest are most worthwhile. Excavating these priorities, this chapter seeks to hold American education to its democratic promise by writing a more participatory history of its work that takes into account those children its designs have left behind.
Native American-Identified Students’ Transition to College: A Theoretical Model of Coping Challenges and Resources:

Interviews with 10 first-year Native American students at a predominately White institution focused on perceptions of risk and protective factors for persistence. Grounded theory analyses suggested...
How to Do Things with Organs: Moving Parts in the Duchess of Malfi

This article analyzes the agency of mobile organs and parts in John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi. While criticism on the individuated part in the play has primar­ily focused on Ferdinand’s blazonic renderings of the Duchess’s body, I argue that the Duchess reappropriates her brother’s language and develops what I refer to as a rhetoric of intercorporeal exchange. For the Duchess, the exchange of unruly parts — organs and spirits that leave one body to enter another — has desirable rather than disastrous effects, allowing her to merge metaphysically with Antonio. In its allusions to Neoplatonism and theories of hidden sympathies, the play, I argue, dramatizes a conception of humoral subjectivity that was inextricably linked to the exchange of itinerant and invasive parts.
Magical and Mechanical Evidence: The Late-Renaissance Automata of Francesco I de’ Medici

In the realization of moving automata for Francesco I de’ Medici’s sixteenth-century Villa Pratolino outside of Florence, the memory of antiquity informed both the practical and theoretical operations of these “living statues.” The 1587 description of the villa and its wonders, Delle Maravigliose Opere di Pratolino, & d’Amore by Francesco de’ Vieri, associates magical traditions of statue animation with Renaissance automata in a passage that cites Aristotle’s description, rooted in atomism and sympathetic magic, of the physical process by which Daedalus animated his legendary wooden Venus. From the fifteenth century onwards, the rediscovery and popularity of Neoplatonic and Hermetic philosophical texts in the Renaissance perpetuated Greco-Egyptian methods of investing man-made vessels, typically cult statues, with some kind of “life” from received celestial influences, thus manufacturing the “living gods” of antiquity. Simultaneously, mechanical texts which preserved mechanical devices and principles from ancient Alexandria were being assimilated to the engineering repertoire of Western Europe, and air and water were harnessed to impart movement to the early modern automata which graced Italian Renaissance hydraulic villas and gardens. For the court of Francesco I de’ Medici, the division between our modern scientific concept of air and a metaphysical “spirit” was not yet drawn, and manipulating this occult “influence” was invested with a mastery of a far broader, unseen sphere. For the court philosopher De’ Vieri, Neoplatonic and Hermetic writings furnished alternative and not necessarily contradictory understandings of various hidden forces which could cause statues to move. In the late sixteenth century, a much broader conception of “nature” allowed for the confirmation of invisible or “occult” phenomena which did not preclude the magical philosophy of antiquity from being related to the empirical discoveries being made via the production of new mechanical devices. De’ Vieri’s 1587 panegyric to Pratolino demonstrates that the mastery of mechanical as well as esoteric magical philosophy came to feature in the propaganda of the newly-invested Medici Grand Duke.
Combination therapy with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and caspofungin in a case of severe pneumocystis pneumonia

Abstract Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX, co-trimoxazole, or bactrim) has been the standard first-line treatment against Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) for decades. However, adverse effects and cases of treatment failure have led to a search for alternative agents. We present a case of a 50 year old immune compromised female whose course of PCP did not improve until Caspofungin was added to TMP-SMX.
The risk of Sjogren's syndrome in the older adults with gout: A medicare claims study

Abstract Objectives In the absence of previous studies, our objective was to assess whether gout was associated with an increase or decrease in the risk of Sjogren's Syndrome (SS) in older adults, 65 years or older. Methods We used the 5% Medicare claims from 2006–2012. A multivariable Cox regression model assessed the association of gout with incident SS adjusting for age, sex, race, Charlson–Romano comorbidity index, and the use of medications for cardiovascular diseases (statins, beta-blockers, diuretics, ACE-inhibitors) and gout (allopurinol, febuxostat). Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Results There were 3,186 new cases of SS in the study cohort with crude incidence rates of SS of 30/100,000 person-years in patients without gout and 49/100,000 person-years in patients with gout. Multivariable-adjusted analyses showed that gout was independently associated with a higher hazard ratio of SS of 1.73 (95% CI, 1.45, 2.06). Sensitivity analyses that substituted continuous Charlson–Romano comorbidity index score with categorized score (model 2) or individual comorbidities plus three common cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and coronary artery disease; model 3), confirmed the main study findings with minimal attenuation of hazard ratio, 1.70 (95% CI, 1.43, 2.02) and 1.48 (95% CI, 1.25, 1.77), respectively. Younger age, female sex, White race and higher comorbidity score were associated with a higher hazard of SS. Conclusions Gout was associated with more than 1.7-fold higher risk of incident SS in adults 65 years or older. This finding needs to be reproduced and the underlying mechanisms for this association need further study.
Armed Love in School Leadership: Resisting Inequality and Injustice in Schooling.

While the notion of “armed love” has been discussed in the context of pedagogy in a limited way, it stands to reason that teachers cannot do this work alone; school leaders must guide teachers by p...
DAVEE: A Deaf Accessible Virtual Environment for Education

The post-graduate enrollment statistic for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) in Science, Technology, Math and Engineering (STEM) fields is very low compared to the hearing population. This drastically reduces DHH representation in the Information Technology (IT) workforce or academic research. DHH students generally use sign language interpreters to understand lecture materials but technically qualified interpreters are rare. These days, traditional in-person classes are being replaced with Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). MOOCs improve access to materials, but hinder opportunities for collaboration which is vital for the DHH population. In this work, we propose DAVEE, a Virtual Reality (VR) classroom experience that facilitates live interpretation. During live sessions, DHH students can ask questions, receive feedback and have interactions with other students. The lectures and the interpretations can also be recorded for offline viewing.
Graphical causal models of social adaptation and Hamilton’s rule

Part of Allen et al.’s criticism of Hamilton’s rule makes sense only if we are interested in social adaptation rather than merely social selection. Under the assumption that we are interested in casually modeling social adaptation, I illustrate how graphical causal models of social adaptation can be useful for predicting evolution by adaptation. I then argue for two consequences of this approach given some of the recent philosophical literature. I argue Birch’s claim that the proper way to understand Hamilton’s rule is as providing an organizational framework for causal models is incorrect. I provide an account of a causally adequate decomposition of evolutionary change due to social adaptation and show that my account is superior to Okasha’s.
Implementation of a multidisciplinary discharge videoconference for children with medical complexity: a pilot study.

The hospital to home transition for children with medical complexity (CMC) poses many challenges, including suboptimal communication between the hospital and medical home. Our objective was to evaluate the implementation of a discharge videoconference incorporating the patient, caregiver, primary care provider (PCP), hospitalist physician, and case manager. We evaluated implementation of this pilot intervention at a freestanding tertiary care children’s hospital using mixed methods. A discharge videoconference was conducted for hospitalized children (< 18 years old) meeting complex chronic disease (C-CD) criteria. We collected field notes and conducted surveys and semi-structured interviews. Outcomes included adoption, cost, acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness. Adoption, cost, and acceptability were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness were summarized using thematic content analysis. Adoption: A total of 4 CMC (9% of the 44 eligible children) had discharge videoconferences conducted. Cost (in provider time): On average, videoconferences took 5 min to schedule and lasted 21.5 min. Acceptability: All hospitalists involved (n = 4) were very likely to participate again. Interviews with caregivers (n = 4) and PCPs (n = 5) demonstrated that for those participating, videoconferences were acceptable and appropriate due to benefits including development of a shared understanding, remote physical assessment by the PCP, transparency, and humanization of the care handoff, and increased PCP comfort with care of CMC. Feasibility: Barriers included internet connection quality and scheduling constraints. This novel, visual approach to discharge communication for CMC had low adoption, possibly related to recruitment strategy. The videoconference posed low time burdens, and participating physicians and caregivers found them acceptable due to a variety of benefits. We identified several feasibility barriers that could be targeted in future implementation efforts.
Association of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α with mortality in hospitalized patients with cancer.

Background Severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs) are associated with high morbidity and mortality in patients with cancer. Early identification and treatment of SCARs may improve outcomes. Objective To identify biomarkers to predict outcomes in hospitalized patients with cancer who developed SCARs. Methods Retrospective review of 144 hospitalized patients with cancer with a morbilliform rash, recorded testing for serum cytokines (interleukin [IL]-6, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α) or elafin, and a dermatology consultation. Rashes were categorized as simple morbilliform rash without systemic involvement or complex morbilliform rash with systemic involvement. Results Fifty-four of 144 (37.5%) patients died during follow-up. Elevated levels of IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α were associated with decreased survival. Overall survivals in patients with elevated levels of IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α were 53.7%, 56.6%, 53.6%, respectively, compared with 85.7%, 82.5% and 83.6%, respectively, in those with lower levels. Patients with increased levels of both IL-6 and TNF-α had a nearly 6-fold increase in mortality (hazard ratio, 5.82) compared with patients with lower levels. Limitations Retrospective design, limited sample size, and high-risk population. Conclusions Hospitalized patients with cancer with rash and elevated IL-6 and TNF-α were nearly 6 times more likely to die over the course of follow-up. These biomarkers may serve as prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for this high-risk population.
A Theoretical Framework for Self-Organized Task Allocation in Large Swarms

Self-organized task allocation is possible with systems designed using the swarm robotic principles of scalability, flexibility, robustness, and emergence. We summarize (1) our derived quantitative measurements of these principles in 10,000 robot swarms, and (2) our task allocation work using stochastic choice and matroids. We propose extensions to our current task allocation methodology using stochastic processes and graph-theoretic topological invariants to provide a unified algorithmic approach to swarm-robotic foraging and construction.
EmotiTactor: Emotional Expression of Robotic Physical Contact

The study of affective communication through robots has primarily been focused on facial expression and vocal interaction. However, communication between robots and humans can be significantly enriched through haptics. In being able to improve the relationships of robotic artifacts with humans, we posed a design question - What if the robots had the ability to express their emotions to humans via physical touch? We created a robotic tactor (tactile organ) interface that performs haptic stimulations on the forearm. We modified timing, movement, and touch of tactors on the forearm to create a palate of primary emotions. Through a preliminary case study, our results indicate a varied success in individuals being able to decode the primary emotions through robotic touch alone.
Mechanisms of LRP5-mediated invasion in Saos-2 osteosarcoma cells

5629 Despite recent advances in therapy for osteosarcoma (OS), metastasis is not well understood and remains a major challenge in this disease. We previously showed that ectopic expression of Dkk-3 or a dominant-negative LRP5 receptor (DN-LRP5) in Saos-2 cells significantly blocks cellular motility and invasion. This blockade was associated with changes in cellular morphology reminiscent of a transition from mesenchymal to epithelial phenotype. In this study, we aimed to examine the consequences of blocking LRP5-mediated signaling in OS, using Saos-2 as a model. DN-LRP5 induced a profound up-regulation of E-cadherin in Saos-2 cells by real-time PCR and Western blotting, consistent with an epithelial phenotype and a decrease in motility. Immunocytochemical analysis by confocal microscopy revealed increased localization of E-cadherin at the cell-cell contact border in DN-LRP5-transfected cells, suggesting a transition from mesenchymal to epithelial-like organization. This increase in E-cadherin is caused by down-regulation of Slug, a transcriptional repressor which mediates cellular invasion and metastasis. In addition to E-cadherin, metalloproteinases were also examined in DN-LRP5-transfected cells by Western blot and zymographic analysis. LRP5 blockade decreased both expression as well as zymographic activity of MMP-2. MMP14, an activator of MMP-2, was also down-regulated, although to a lesser extent. DNA microarray analysis confirmed modulation of E-cadherin, Slug, and MMP-2 and 14 by DN-LRP5. Ectopic expression of Dkk-3, a secreted Wnt antagonist, also resulted in similar changes in MMP and cadherin expression. Taken together, our data support the hypothesis that a subset of OS cells utilizes receptor-mediated Wnt signaling to facilitate cellular invasion and that blocking this pathway at the membrane level may represent novel therapeutic strategies to decrease tumor metastasis. Experiments are under way to test these observations in vivo.
Th2/Th1 Cytokine Imbalance Is Associated With Higher COVID-19 Risk Mortality

A major component of COVID-19 severe respiratory syndrome is the patient's immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the consequential multi-organ inflammatory response. Several studies suggested a potential role of CD4+ T cells in COVID-19 severe respiratory syndrome. We first hypothesized that there is a type 2 helper (Th2)/type 1 helper (Th1) imbalance in older age, male, asthma, smokers, and high ACE2 expression phenotype in the airway of non-infected patients. Next, we hypothesized that a Th2/Th1 imbalance may predict higher mortality in COVID-19 infected hospitalized patients with and without patient reported current asthma. We first analyzed publicly available gene expression from the sputum of 118 moderate-to-severe asthma patients and 21 healthy controls, and from nasal epithelium of 26 healthy current smokers and 21 healthy never smokers. Secondly, we profiled 288 new serum proteomics samples measured at admission from patients hospitalized within the Mount Sinai Health System with positive SARS-CoV-2 infection. We first computed Th1 and Th2 pathway enrichment scores by gene set variation analysis and then compared the differences in Th2 and Th1 pathway scores between patients that died compared to those that survived, by linear regression. The level of Th2/Th1 imbalance, as determined by the enrichment score, was associated with age, sex, and ACE2 expression in sputum, and with active smoking status in nasal epithelium (p < 0.05). Th2/Th1 imbalance at hospital admission in sera of patients was not significantly associated with death from COVID-19 (p = 0.11), unless evaluated in the asthmatic strata (p = 0.01). Using a similar approach we also observed a higher Th17/Th1 cytokine imbalance in all deceased patients compared to those that survived (p < 0.001), as well as in the asthmatic strata only (p < 0.01). Th2/Th1 imbalance is higher in the sera of asthma patients at admission that do not survive COVID-19, suggesting that the Th2/Th1 interplay may affect patient outcomes in SARS-CoV2 infection. In addition, we report that Th17/Th1 imbalance is increased in all patients that die of COVID-19.
From Mathematics to Medicine: A Practical Primer on Topological Data Analysis (TDA) and the Development of Related Analytic Tools for the Functional Discovery of Latent Structure in fMRI Data

fMRI is the preeminent method for collecting signals from the human brain in vivo, for using these signals in the service of functional discovery, and relating these discoveries to anatomical structure. Numerous computational and mathematical techniques have been deployed to extract information from the fMRI signal. Yet, the application of Topological Data Analyses (TDA) remain limited to certain sub-areas such as connectomics (that is, with summarized versions of fMRI data). While connectomics is a natural and important area of application of TDA, applications of TDA in the service of extracting structure from the (non-summarized) fMRI data itself are heretofore nonexistent. "Structure" within fMRI data is determined by dynamic fluctuations in spatially distributed signals over time, and TDA is well positioned to help researchers better characterize mass dynamics of the signal by rigorously capturing shape within it. To accurately motivate this idea, we a) survey an established method in TDA ("persistent homology") to reveal and describe how complex structures can be extracted from data sets generally, and b) describe how persistent homology can be applied specifically to fMRI data. We provide explanations for some of the mathematical underpinnings of TDA (with expository figures), building ideas in the following sequence: a) fMRI researchers can and should use TDA to extract structure from their data; b) this extraction serves an important role in the endeavor of functional discovery, and c) TDA approaches can complement other established approaches toward fMRI analyses (for which we provide examples). We also provide detailed applications of TDA to fMRI data collected using established paradigms, and offer our software pipeline for readers interested in emulating our methods. This working overview is both an inter-disciplinary synthesis of ideas (to draw researchers in TDA and fMRI toward each other) and a detailed description of methods that can motivate collaborative research.
Dynamic and mechanical evolution of an oil–water interface during bacterial biofilm formation

We present an experimental study combining particle tracking, active microrheology, and differential dynamic microscopy (DDM) to investigate the dynamics and rheology of an oil-water interface during biofilm formation by the bacteria Pseudomonas Aeruginosa PA14. The interface transitions from an active fluid dominated by the swimming motion of adsorbed bacteria at early age to an active viscoelastic system at late ages when the biofilm is established. The microrheology measurements using microscale magnetic rods indicate that the biofilm behaves as a viscoelastic solid at late age. The bacteria motility at the interface during the biofilm formation, which is characterized in the DDM measurements, evolves from diffusive motion at early age to constrained, quasi-localized motion at later age. Similarly, the mobility of passively moving colloidal spheres at the interface decreases significantly with increasing interface age and shows a dependence on sphere size after biofilm formation that is orders-of-magnitude larger than that expected in a homogeneous system in equilibrium. We attribute this anomalous size dependence to either length-scale-dependent rheology of the biofilm or widely differing effects of the bacteria activity on the motion of spheres of different sizes.
The System P

In this chapter the axiomatic system P+ is set out.1It has eleven axioms and two primitive rules of transformation. The primitive basis of P+ is first presented; then a number of theorems of the system are proved. The systems of logic in the present book are all based on the axiom set of P+. P+, unlike most of the remaining systems developed in the following chapters, is a logic devoid of negation. Hence it is described as a positive logic, a system including as theorems only those results of propositional logic which may be derived without resort to negation-functors of any kind. The present chapter should be studied in connection with Chapter 1 in which definitions and concepts, used here without explanation, are presented.
Inverting art-making/inventing byzantine iconoclasm, Brubaker, Leslie/striking images iconoclasms past and present, Boldrick, Stacy, Brubaker, Leslie, and Clay, Richard (eds)/art under attack histories of british iconoclasm, Barber, Tabitha and Boldrick, Stacy (eds.)/the politics of iconoclasm religion, violence and the culture of image-breaking in christianity and islam, Noyes, James

(2014). Inverting art-making/inventing byzantine iconoclasm, Brubaker, Leslie/striking images iconoclasms past and present, Boldrick, Stacy, Brubaker, Leslie, and Clay, Richard (eds)/art under attack histories of british iconoclasm, Barber, Tabitha and Boldrick, Stacy (eds.)/the politics of iconoclasm religion, violence and the culture of image-breaking in christianity and islam, Noyes, James. Material Religion: Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 387-391.
Abstract T P343: Resveratrol Rescues Neuron Survival in Pimary Postnatal Cultures

Objective: Our goal is to identify supplements that can improve neuronal survival of postnatal neuronal cultures. Here, we hypothesize that resveratrol could rescue neurons that are stressed during the brain dissociation and plating procedures. Background: The standardized B27 supplement with neurobasal medium has been used to facilitate neuronal growth and attenuates glial proliferation. We have documented that resveratrol (3,4’5 trihydroxystilbene), a natural polyphenol and a bioactive component of red wine, have numerous neuroprotective properties both in vivo and after oxygen-glucose deprivation protocols. We have proposed that this stilbene would not likely act as a direct antioxidant but act as a bioactive agent capable to induce an intracellular cytoprotective cascade. Methods: Postnatal cultures of cortical neurons were derived from 0- to 1-day-old C57BL/6 mice. Brains were dissociated and neurons plated and maintained in three different media: neurobasal medium without any supplement (NBM), neurobasal medium without any supplement but containing resveratrol 10μM (NBM+R10μM), and neurobasal medium with B27 supplement (NBM+B27). Neuronal survival was assessed with the live/dead cell calcein AM/EthD-1), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and (MTT) assays after plating in these three different media. Results: Significant increase in live cells (52.9+/-5.5% and 53.6+/-4.5%, p Conclusions: Results indicated that growth of primary neurons in resveratrol containing medium was most effective suggesting that resveratrol itself is sufficient to enhance neuronal attachment and survival during plating. Efforts are currently being conducted to characterize the mechanism by which resveratrol can limit cell death and increase neuron survival.
Diel Variation in Population Size and Ice Nucleation Activity of Pseudomonas syringae on Snap Bean Leaflets.

The extent to which diel changes in the physical environment affect changes in population size and ice nucleation activity of Pseudomonas syringae on snap bean leaflets was determined under field conditions. To estimate bacterial population size and ice nucleation activity, bean leaflets were harvested at 2-h intervals during each of three 26-h periods. A tube nucleation test was used to assay individual leaflets for ice nuclei. Population sizes of P. syringae were determined by dilution plating of leaflet homogenates. The overall diel changes in P. syringae population sizes differed during each of the 26-h periods. In one 26-h period, there was a continuous increase in the logarithm of P. syringae population size despite intense solar radiation, absence of free moisture on leaf surfaces, and low relative humidity during the day. A mean doubling time of approximately 4.9 h was estimated for the 28-fold increase in P. syringae population size that occurred from 0900 to 0900 h during the 26-h period. However, doubling times of 3.3 and 1.9 h occurred briefly during this period from 1700 to 2300 h and from 0100 to 0700 h, respectively. Thus, growth rates of P. syringae in association with leaves in the field were of the same order of magnitude as optimal rates measured in the laboratory. The frequency with which leaflets bore ice nuclei active at −2.0, −2.2, and −2.5°C varied greatly within each 26-h period. These large diel changes were inversely correlated primarily with the diel changes in air temperature and reflected changes in nucleation frequency rather than changes in population size of P. syringae. Thus, the response of bacterial ice nucleation activity to the physical environment was distinct from the changes in population size of ice nucleation-active P. syringae.
Kinetics and regulation of fast endocytosis at hippocampal synapses

Presynaptic nerve terminals often contain as few as a hundred vesicles and so must recycle them soon after exocytosis to preserve synaptic transmission and presynaptic morphology during repetitive firing. The kinetics and mechanisms of vesicular endocytosis and repriming have therefore been studied. Vesicles in hippocampal nerve terminals can become available to release their contents within approximately 40 s of the previous round of exocytosis. Studies using the styryl dye FM1-43 have estimated the time constant for endocytosis as approximately 20-30 s at least half of the total recycling time, which is much slower than endocytosis in other secretory systems. It seems paradoxical that the neurosecretory terminals that could benefit the most from rapid endocytosis do not use such a mechanism. Here we demonstrate the existence of fast endocytosis in hippocampal nerve terminals and derive its kinetics from fluorescence measurements using dyes with varying rates of membrane departitioning. The rapid mode of vesicular retrieval was much faster after exposure to staurosporine or elevated extracellular calcium. Thus hippocampal synapses take advantage of efficient mechanisms for endocytosis, and their vesicular retrieval is subject to modulatory control.
Counting the Greeks in Egypt: Immigration in the First Century of Ptolemaic Rule

This paper presents the data and the methods available to estimate the number of Greeks immigrating and settling in Ptolemaic Egypt. I shall argue that the evaluations generally proposed (10% of Greeks) are too high and the flow of immigration implicitly expected too regular. The new calculations demonstrate that we should rather consider 5% of Greeks in Egypt. I use four independent methods to evaluate the number of Greeks based on an estimation of the number of: (1) Greek soldiers fighting at Raphia (217 BC); (2) Macedonian soldiers settled in Egypt; (3) cavalry men granted with land; (4) adult Greek males living in the Fayyum. The first three methods focus on soldiers while the fourth one provides us with a mathematical model for evaluating both Greek military and civilian settlers. These demographic revisions refine our analysis of the socio-economic and cultural interactions between the different groups of population.
Oxidative Metabolism in Pediococcus pentosaceus III. Glucose Dehydrogenase System

Lee, Chin K. (North Carolina State of the University of North Carolina, Raleigh), and Walter J. Dobrogosz. Oxidative metabolism in Pediococcus pentosaceus. III. Glucose dehydrogenase system. J. Bacteriol. 90:653–660. 1965.—A method was developed for the purification of glucose dehydrogenase from Pediococcus pentosaceus Az-25-5. The procedures included treatments with protamine sulfate, ammonium sulfate, and heat in addition to acid precipitation, calcium phosphate adsorption and elution, and diethylaminoethyl-Sephadex column chromatography. The final preparation thus obtained was purified 255-fold and exhibited both similarities and dissimilarities to the same enzyme isolated from other sources. The enzyme is absolutely specific for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP) as a cofactor, and oxidizes only glucose or its analogue 2-deoxyglucose via the following reversible reaction: β-d-glucose + NADP ⇌ d-glucono-δ-lactone + NADPH2 + H+. Km values were 2.3 × 10−2 for glucose and 2 × 10−4 for NADP. Monovalent cations were required for stability of the enzyme and stimulated activity. The pH optimum was 7.0, and the equilibrium constant was determined to be 13.4 × 10−7 at pH 6.4. Among the Lactobacillaceae, glucose dehydrogenase activity was found to be essentially limited to members of the genus Pediococcus. Studies on the enzymatic composition of P. pentosaceus viewed in conjunction with other available data led to the conclusion that this enzyme is not involved to any significant extent in the energy metabolism of this organism.
Dynamic simulation of deformable objects using the Long Elements Method

This paper presents the Long Elements Method - LEM, a new method for real time, physically based, dynamic simulation of deformable objects. The method is based on a new meshing strategy, using long elements. The number of elements per model is proportional to the square of the length of a side rather than its cube as in a standard meshing based in cubes or tetrahedra. The LEM uses an original combination of static (state-less) and dynamic approaches to simulate deformations and dynamics. Global deformations that conserve volume and are convincingly compliant are obtained. Models are defined using bulk material properties. The method is particularly attractive for soft tissue modeling.
Solution behaviour of a polymer with polyoxometalate inorganic molecular clusters in its main chain

The solution behaviour of a rigid, conjugated polymer with inorganic POM molecular clusters in its main chain was characterized in solution. In a “good” solvent, this inorganic–organic hybrid polymer remains as a single chain with extended rod-like conformation. The addition of a “poor” solvent, water, resulted in the formation of hollow cylindrical supramolecular structures as confirmed by LLS and TEM techniques. The driving force for such assembly is shown to be counterion mediated electrostatic interactions.
Genome Organization of Retroviruses V. In Vitro-Synthesized Moloney Murine Leukemia Viral DNA Has Long Terminal Redundancy

Purified virions of Moloney murine leukemia virus can synthesize genome-length double-stranded DNA in vitro. Two predominant species of long DNA transcripts, with average sizes of 9.1 and 8.5 kilobases (kb) can be identified. Both species of DNA contain the negative (complementary to viral RNA) and positive (same polarity as viral RNA) strands. However, only the negative strand of the 8.5-kb species can be identified if the synthesis of DNA is carried out in the presence of the drug actinomycin D. The 9.1-kb species appears to be slightly larger than the genomic RNA. If the linear double-stranded 9.1-kb species is treated with Escherichia coli exonuclease III and allowed to anneal, circular DNA molecules can be observed. Furthermore, polyadenylate-containing short genomic RNA fragments (0.5 to 1.0 kb) can anneal to both the 5′ and the 3′ termini of 9.1-kb complementary DNA. The polyadenylate moiety of the RNA fragments can be identified by tagging it with circular polyoma DNA containing polydeoxybromouridylic acid tails. Thus, the 9.1-kb complementary DNA transcript with two circular polyoma DNA molecules at its termini can be observed. However, when similar annealings are performed with 8.5-kb complementary DNA species, only one end of the resulting molecule has circular polyoma DNA. We conclude that the 9.1-kb complementary DNA species has a large terminal redundancy. The sequences involved in terminal redundancy appear to be derived from the 3′ end of the genomic RNA.
Deformable registration for quantifying longitudinal tumor changes during neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Purpose To evaluate DRAMMS, an attribute-based deformable registration algorithm, compared to other intensity-based algorithms, for longitudinal breast MRI registration, and to show its applicability in quantifying tumor changes over the course of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods Breast magnetic resonance images from 14 women undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy were analyzed. The accuracy of DRAMMS versus five intensity-based deformable registration methods was evaluated based on 2,380 landmarks independently annotated by two experts, for the entire image volume, different image subregions, and patient subgroups. The registration method with the smallest landmark error was used to quantify tumor changes, by calculating the Jacobian determinant maps of the registration deformation. Results DRAMMS had the smallest landmark errors (6.05 ± 4.86 mm), followed by the intensity-based methods CC-FFD (8.07 ± 3.86 mm), NMI-FFD (8.21 ± 3.81 mm), SSD-FFD (9.46 ± 4.55 mm), Demons (10.76 ± 6.01 mm), and Diffeomorphic Demons (10.82 ± 6.11 mm). Results show that registration accuracy also depends on tumor versus normal tissue regions and different patient subgroups. Conclusions The DRAMMS deformable registration method, driven by attribute-matching and mutual-saliency, can register longitudinal breast magnetic resonance images with a higher accuracy than several intensity-matching methods included in this article. As such, it could be valuable for more accurately quantifying heterogeneous tumor changes as a marker of response to treatment. Magn Reson Med 73:2343–2356, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Meaning, Medicine, and the “Placebo Effect”

Meaning, Medicine, and the “Placebo Effect” Daniel Moerman Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. xiii. 172 pp.
Isolation of pure and stable renin from hog kidney.

Abstract Pure renin from hog kidney was isolated as an electrophoretically homogeneous preparation. An affinity column suitable for this purpose was prepared by soupling pepstatin to aminohexyl agarose in an organic solvent mixture. Crude extract, treated with mixtures of protease inactivators to eliminate proteases, was purified on this column followed by gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography. Hog renin, thus obtained after 180,000-fold purification at an overall yield of 25%, is stable at pH6.35 and −20°.
A critical analysis of two preservice teachers' knowledge of struggling readers: Raced, classed, and gendered?

Abstract This analysis explored how preservice teachers’ development of knowledge about struggling readers was located in their white, middle‐class identities. Framed within the critical paradigm, data previously collected on two preservice teachers were analyzed to explore the extent to which they accepted, resisted, and negotiated hegemonic ideologies. An analysis revealed that these two preservice teachers differentially mediated knowledge about struggling readers through their own cultured identities. The need for probing deeper into the formative discourse of prospective teachers is recommended to teacher educators as one way to deal with the subjective nature of preservice teachers’ knowledge.
Direct immunofluorescence studies in alopecia areata and male pattern alopecia.

Direct immunofluorescence studies were performed on hairy and alopecic areas of scalp in patients with alopecia areata, alopecia totalis and male pattern alopecia. Abnormal deposits of C3 and occasionally of IgG and IgM were found in 92% of 12 patients with alopecia areata and in 21% of patients with male pattern alopecia. No abnormalities were seen in 4 patients with alopecia totalis. In both alopecia areata and male pattern alopecia, the deposits were most common along the basement zone of the inferior segment of hair follicles and occurred with equal frequency in alopecic and normal scalp. These observations suggest that immune factors may play a role in the pathogenesis of alopecia areata.
La Syntaxe de Ne ... Que

En postulant l'existence d'une categorie vide dans la structure sous-jacente a la construction restrictive, l'auteur en explique les proprietes particulieres, et parvient a traiter, dans le cadre de la theorie du liage et du gouvernement, plusieurs autres constructions longuement discutees dans la litterature
Preexposure to, but not cotreatment with, the neurotensin antagonist SR 48692 delays the development of cocaine sensitization.

Preexposure to, but Not Cotreatment with, the Neurotensin Antagonist SR 48692 Delays the Development of Cocaine Sensitization
Divergent Pathways of Development: A Comparative Case Study of Human Well-Being in Two Thai Provinces

Over the last two decades there has been a growing interest in shifting the political focus from gross domestic product as an indicator of well-being to more pluralistic concepts. Correspondingly, approaches to development have also evolved. A case study of two neighboring Thai provinces, Samut Sakhon and Samut Songkhram, provides a means to examine divergent development pathways and the resulting differences in well-being. Samut Sakhon was influenced by traditional economic forces. By contrast, the United Nations Development Programme cited Samut Songkhram as a “showcase of the sufficiency economy”, although the extent to which the sufficiency economy philosophy was deliberately applied is unclear. Today, the gross provincial product is much higher in Samut Sakhon, but Samut Songkhram ranks higher on the human achievement index (HAI). In comparison with traditional economic indicators, the HAI provides a more realistic depiction of the provinces; however, the index has shortcomings in regards to social a...
Topics in theory of generalized parton distributions

Several topics in the theory of generalized parton distributions (GPDs) are reviewed. First, we give a brief overview of the basics of the theory of generalized parton distributions and their relationship with simpler phenomenological functions, viz. form factors, parton densities and distribution amplitudes. Then, we discuss recent developments in building models for GPDs that are based on the formalism of double distributions (DDs). A special attention is given to a careful analysis of the singularity structure of DDs. The DD formalism is applied to construction of a model GPDs with a singular Regge behavior. Within the developed DD-based approach, we discuss the structure of GPD sum rules. It is shown that separation of DDs into the so-called “plus” part and the D-term part may be treated as a renormalization procedure for the GPD sum rules. This approach is compared with an alternative prescription based on analytic regularization.
The Limitations of Transferring Evidence from Clinical Trials to the Care of Individual Patients

The randomised clinical trial has, justifiably, become the premier research technique by which the efficacy and, to a lesser extent, safety of hypertensive therapy are established. Through blinding and randomisation, the influence of potentially confounding factors is minimised. In these circumstances, a comparison of outcomes with an identical control group permits an assessment of the impact of the intervention. Useful as this strategy has been in establishing a scientific basis for blood pressure reduction, the process has limitations — particularly in the comparison of different antihypertensive drugs. It may not always be appropriate to apply the result of a clinical trial to the individual patient. Since most participants in these trials do not experience an endpoint, the effect of the intervention probably will not be experienced by most patients who fit the entry criteria of the study. Moreover, the risk of cardiovascular events is unevenly distributed among trial participants even though they have similar blood pressures and, thus, the potential for actual benefit likewise varies depending upon absolute cardiovascular risk. Finally, unrecognised mechanistic differences may produce different results, particularly when comparing mechanistically different drugs, among patients heterogeneous in terms of pathophysiology of blood pressure control. For these reasons, and others, it is likely that the net results of a trial mask substantial outcome differences hidden within the overall study group. In short, the average result may not apply to many patients, even when they meet the criteria for participation in the study. This is not an argument against clinical trials but rather a recognition that clinical practice must not be guided exclusively by epidemiological data but, in addition, by all the information that derives from pathophysiology and pharmacology.
Improved face recognition using multiband Gabor quaternion correlation filters

Human face recognition is currently a very active research area with focus on ways to perform robust biometric identification. Many face recognition algorithms have been proposed, among the different approaches, frequency domain methods, like advanced correlation filters have been shown to exhibit better tolerance to illumination variations than traditional methods. In this paper, we propose a new frequency domain face recognition method which combines the Gabor transforms and a quaternion correlation filter for face recognition when the illumination conditions are changed. The Gabor transform provides optimally localized spatial and frequency domain representation of the original face images, and the quaternion correlation filters can jointly process multi-channel subbands for more robust face recognition. The numerical experiments show that the proposed method outperforms the previously compared advanced correlation filter methods.
Side-chain type benzoxazine-functional cellulose via click chemistry

A side-chain type benzoxazine-functional cellulose has been developed using click chemistry via the reaction of ethynyl-monofunctional benzoxazine monomer and azide-functional cellulose. The synthesis, crosslinking, and thermal properties of the benzoxazine-functional cellulose are studied by NMR, FTIR, DSC, and TGA. The crosslinking reaction of the benzoxazine side-chain unusually takes place at low-temperatures in comparison to an ordinary benzoxazine resins. Upon crosslinking, the polymer shows high char yield of 40%, which is a marked improvement from a mere 4% of the unfunctionalized cellulose. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012
Evidence of observer reliability for the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence (FTII)

Abstract To obtain estimates of observer reliability, the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence (FTII) apparatus was modified to allow the infants' performance to be videotaped. Based upon results of 25 infants scored once during time of testing and again 2 years later using the videotape version, interobserver and intraobserver reliabilities obtained for percent novelty preference (test rounds), total number of looks (familiarization and test rounds), and mean fixation (familiarization and test rounds) were mostly very high for each round ( M r = .92, SD = .04). The videotaped infants' scores did not differ significantly from those of a comparable sample of infants who were tested using an unmodified apparatus.