cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Inhibitory and stimulatory effects of concanavalin A on the response of mouse spleen cell suspensions to antigen. I. Characterization of the inhibitory cell activity.

The presence of concanavalin A (Con A) inhibits the immune response of mouse spleen cell suspensions to erythrocyte antigens, stimulates the incorporation of tritiated thymidine, and increases cell recovery. Con A also restores the depressed response of cell preparations treated to remove thymus-derived cells. The dose-response curve for all four effects shows peak activity at 2 µg/ml. The depressed in vitro response of spleen cell suspensions from adult thymectomized, irradiated, bone marrow-restored mice is also restored by Con A. Here the dose-response curve is quite different with activity over a much wider range of concentration. The restoration of thymus-derived cell-depleted cultures by Con A is inhibited by the addition of untreated, unirradiated, mouse spleen cell suspensions, but is not inhibited by untreated, irradiated cells. Small numbers of spleen cells that have been preincubated with Con A and washed will inhibit the response of fresh, untreated cells to antigen. If the mouse spleen cell suspensions are incubated for 24 hr before the addition of Con A, the response to antigen is no longer inhibited but is stimulated instead. The data are compatible with the hypothesis that there are at least two cell targets for the action of Con A. One cell, that mediates the inhibitor effect, is a short-lived, radiosensitive, thymus-derived cell. The other cell, that mediates the stimulating effect, cannot be identified from the data presented here but may also be of thymus origin on the basis of studies by other investigators.
Credentialing Early Childhood Paraprofessionals in the United States: The Child Development Associate and other frameworks

Abstract The United States has two national credentials for paraprofessionals (persons who do not hold a bachelors degree, and are therefore not eligible for state certification). The first of these is the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, currently overseen by the Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition in Washington, DC[1]. The Council is affiliated with NAEYC. This credential has undergone a number of changes, which were the subject of a recent book by Bouverat and Galen. The second credential is called Certified Childcare Professional (CCP). It is awarded by the National Child Care Association, a professional trade association of licensed private child care centers, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Primary attention will be given to the CDA National Credentialing Program by the author, who is a CDA Representative (an assessor and validating agent in the program). [1] The figures contained within this article are reprinted with the permission of the Council for Early Childhoo...
Quantifying the quality of agreement between simulation and validation data for multiple data sets

The FSV is used to compare multiple data sets. These data sets may be comparing modeled data for model validation purposes, or may be multiple measurements of related data, to determine the agreement between them.
On the Limits of Sociological Theory

Sociological Theory is an attempt to make sense of an intuited level of order transcending the level on which we as individuals live and think. This implies a dual explanatory task: on one hand, to provide a substantively meaningful third-person framework for the formation of theoretical statements, and, on the other, to provide an intuitively accessible answer to the question of why social order exists in the first place. A coherent linkage between these two forms of explanation, however, requires the introduction of undemonstrable but nonaxiomatic claims, which undermines the coherence of the Theory. Consequently, there is pressure upon Theorists either to completely jettison one of the two explanatory tasks, or to attempt to redefine them in a way more amenable to this linkage but substantively unsatisfying.
The Graduate Student Viewpoint on Internship Preparedness: A 2008 Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology Student Survey

To better understand the graduate student viewpoint on quality of preparation provided by graduate programs in terms of the internship application process, the current study surveyed students enrolled in member programs of the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology (CUDCP). Six hundred seventy-four students completed a questionnaire designed to assess perceptions regarding preparation for the internship application process, relative prioritization of individual application components, and faculty behaviors that contribute to student anxiety related to the application process. Results demonstrated that student subgroups based on internship status (i.e., those who have not yet applied, current applicants, and current interns) significantly differed on many issues related to internship preparation. The findings suggest that graduate programs are not placing enough emphasis on the conveying of internship-related information early in a student’s training. Furthermore, the findings highlight training techniques and faculty behaviors that can be adopted by programs to increase preparedness and reduce anxiety among applicants.
Fabrication of quantum nanostructures for the measurement of thermoelectric phenomena

Fabrication of nanostructures has been carried out for the study of thermal and thermoelectric transport properties. The study was done on an electron waveguide, defined as a double‐bend quantum structure in a two‐dimensional electron gas, using a current heating technique. Seebeck and Peltier effects are observed in this structure.
A boundary-integral equation formulation for time-dependent inelastic deformation in metals

Abstract The mathematical structure of various constitutive relations proposed in recent years for representing time-dependent inelastic deformation behavior of metals at elevated temperatures has certain features which permit a simple formulation of the three-dimensional inelasticity problem in terms of real time rates. In this paper a direct formulation of the boundary-integral equation method in terms of rates is discussed for the analysis of time-dependent inelastic deformation of arbitrarily shaped three-dimensional metallic bodies subjected to arbitrary mechanical and thermal loading histories and obeying constitutive relations of the kind mentioned above. The formulation is based on the assumption of infinitesimal deformations. Several illustrative examples involving creep of thick-walled spheres, long thick-walled cylinders, and rotating discs are discussed. The implementation of the method appears to be far easier than analogous BIE formulations that have been suggested for elastoplastic problems.
Effects of small angle of attack on the radiating viscous shock layer solutions for Jovian entry

Results are presented for the laminar and turbulent flows of a reacting mixture of hydrogen-helium in chemical equilibrium over blunted cones of large half angles at small angles of attack. The freestream conditions correspond to a typical Jovian entry trajectory point. Radiative heat flux is calculated by using a realistic step-function model for the absorption coefficient. An investigation is also made to determine whether a blunted cone at small angles of attack can be replaced by equivalent bodies at zero angle of attack for the purpose of calculating the shock shapes, surface pressure, skin friction and heating rates.
A long polypyrimidine/polypurine tract induces an altered DNA conformation on the 3' coding region of the adjacent myosin heavy chain gene

Abstract A long (147 base pairs), natural A.T rich polypyrimidine/polypurine tract has been found 55 base pairs downstream of a chicken embryonic myosin heavy chain (MHC) gene. Analysis at the nucleotide level of nicks induced by S1 and Neurospora crassa nucleases indicate that this long interrupted polypyrimidine/polypurine tract exists in an alternate DNA structure in vitro at pH 4.5 and pH 7.5 in both supercoiled and linear plasmid DNA. The polypyrimidine/polypurine tract induces this alternate structure upon at least 200 base pairs of its 5' flanking DNA, and thus extends into the 3' coding and non-coding regions of the neighboring MHC gene. The different nicking patterns induced by the nucleases S1 and N. crassa on each strand of this alternate structure suggests that the polypyrimidine/polypurine tract may form heteronomous DNA. When this long polypyrimidine/polypurine tract is present in a supercoiled plasmid at low pH, a new and as yet undefined S1 hypersensitive DNA alteration was detected near the center of this tract.
Modulation of a 190-kD microtubule-associated protein in pigment epithelium by VIP.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide stimulates phosphorylation of six high molecular weight cytosolic proteins in the cultured retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Of these, the 190-kD phosphoprotein is associated with the microtubules assembled by taxol/GTP and is immunologically related to the brain microtubule-associated protein 2 (mol.wt. = 280 kD). VIP is also shown here to stimulate secretion in the cultured RPE. VIP-stimulated phosphorylation of a 190-kD microtubule-associated protein is also demonstrated here in the retinal glia.
Physics of slow L-H transitions in the DIII-D tokamak

Details of the low-high (L-H) confinement transition are studied by a new technique which allows for an arbitrarily slow transition between the L- and H-modes on DIII-D. During the transition, the plasma is in an intermediate state (IM-mode) of temperature, density, confinement and edge shear flow. The IM-mode is characterized by periodic bursts of an edge instability, governed by relaxation oscillations, which evolve into type III edge localized modes (ELMs) as the neutral beam heating power is raised. An ELM-free H-mode is achieved when the edge pressure gradient is large enough to support shear flow sufficient to quell the IM-mode edge instability.
Statistical mechanics of Coulomb gases of arbitrary charge

The Coulomb-gas activity expansion of Rogers and DeWitt is extended to include more terms. This is an expansion in the activities of electrons and nuclei, and it converges slowly in regions where composite-particles are present. It is shown that by treating certain products of terms as composite-particle activities, the convergence of the expansion is greatly increased. The important element of the present work is the recognition that terms in the original expansion correspond to the Taylor-series expansions of a similar expansion involving an augmented set of activity variables, i.e., the composite particles enter the expansion similar to fundamental particles (electrons and nuclei). This reorganization of the activity expansion makes it possible to calculate the equation of state for electron-nucleus gases of any charge. All stages of ionization and dissociation are treated to the same order of approximation in the new expansion. To illustrate these features some calculations for helium are given. To demonstrate the improved convergence properties, some calculations for hydrogen are compared with those obtained by Rogers and DeWitt.
Apathy and the Processing of Novelty in Schizophrenia

Apathy is a common negative symptom in schizophrenia that has been associated with poor medication compliance and treatment outcome. Recent studies in neurological patients have observed an association between apathy and reduced attention to novel stimuli. We evaluated whether patients with schizophrenia demonstrate a similar relationship. Participants included 20 patients with schizophrenia and 20 healthy comparison subjects matched for age, sex, handedness, and parental education. A self-paced visual novelty task was presented which assessed the duration that participants looked at frequent standard stimuli, infrequent target stimuli, and novel stimuli. Attention to novelty was defined as the duration of viewing novel relative to standard stimuli. Apathy was assessed with the Marin Apathy Evaluation Scale. Results revealed significantly greater self- and informant-reported apathy, slower reaction time to target stimuli, and longer viewing times to the stimuli, but not reduced attention to the novel stimuli, in the patient group. Although greater self-report of apathy was associated with longer viewing times for all stimuli in the patient group, this was accounted for by depressed mood. The present findings indicate that schizophrenia is associated with slowed information processing, but do not support the hypothesis that apathy in schizophrenia is associated with abnormal processing of novelty.
Kinetics of Pb Reactions with N2O, Cl2, HCl, and O2 at High Temperatures

The title reactions of ground-state lead atoms have been studied in isolation in an HTFFR (high-temperature fast-flow reactor) at pressures in the 10−150 mbar range. Pb consumption rate coefficient...
MYELIN BASIC PROTEIN (mbp) IN THE CSF OF NEWBORNS

QUESTIONS: 1. Is mbp present in the CSF of ill newborns of any gestational age having experienced perinatal hypoxia, intracranial hemorrhage, convulsions, apnea, hypoglycemia, meningitis or any combination of these events; 2. Are mbp-positivity or negativity of prognostic value for psychomotor development; PATIENTS AND METHODS: A spinal tap was performed in 115 newborns at latest 120 hours after the above mentioned events as part of septic workup. Mbp was determined by radioimmunoassay (mbp-positivity: 1 ng/ml CSF). 25 babies died. 58 of the 90 survivors had neurological evaluation and the Denver developmental test performed at a mean age of 24 (10-35) months. RESULTS: Mbp was found in 41 of 115 newborns (36 %). Psychomotor outcome ANSWERS: 1. Mbp is found in the CSF of 36 % of newborns after the mentioned clinical events. 2. In our patients, mbp-positivity indicates a 1:1 chance to develop normally, negativity a chance of 4:1. CONCLUSION: Mbp-determination in CSF may be of additional help in cases where evaluation of prognosis is indispensable in the neonatal period.
Increasing the power of cytometry.

A new method that barcodes cells by assigning different intensities of fluorescent dyes to differently treated samples allows the simultaneous processing of a large number of samples, as one pool, thus increasing the throughput of multidimensional cytometry.
Does salmeterol increase mortality in patients with COPD

Salmeterol is safe and FDA-approved, but it should be used only as part of a total program that includes education, smoking cessation, oxygen supplementation, and rehabilitation.
Isolation and characterization of the P5 adhesin protein of Haemophilus parasuis serotype 5.

Abstract Haemophilus parasuis is a Gram‐negative respiratory pathogen of young pigs that colonizes the upper respiratory tract and produces a number of symptoms collectiviely described as Glasser's disease. Recently, an H. parasuis P5‐like outer membrane adhesin protein homologous to H. influenzae P5 was identified. The P5 adhesin was partially purified by anion exchange and size‐exclusion chromatography. Final purification for functional studies was performed by elution of the protein from a polyacrylamide gel. Identification of the protein as a P5 adhesin homolog of H. influenzae was confirmed by N‐terminal sequencing. The P5 protein had a molecular mass of 32,000 and a pI of 5.5. Unlike the H. influenzae P5 adhesin, the H. parasuis P5 protein did not bind carcinoembryonic antigen.
Fluorescence detected circular dichroism as a detection principle in high-performance liquid chromatography

Abstract A highly sensitive and selective laser-based detector for high-performance liquid chromatography is presented. The detector combines the selectivity of fluorescence and the selectivity of optical activity to provide specificity. A HeCd laser operating at 325 nm with about 8 mW power is used with electro-optic modulation at 150 kHz. As a highly sensitive optical activity detector, the detection limit is 170 pg injected riboflavin using conventional liquid chromatography.
Ultraviolet light and epidermal polyamines.

Numerous studies have indicated that the activities of the polyamine biosynthetic enzymes, ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and S-adenosyl methionine decarboxylase (SAM.D) are increased in hyperplastic and neoplastic growth. The levels of the polyamines themselves, putrescine, spermidine, and spermine are also often altered in these situations. Epidermal ODC activity is greatly elevated in response to tumor promoting chemicals and also in response to irradiation with short-wave length and mid-wave length ultraviolet. In addition, the levels of the epidermal polyamines change after mid-wavelength ultraviolet irradiation, leading to elevation of putrescine and spermidine, but depression of the spermine level. The spermidine to spermine ratio was significantly elevated after chronic ultraviolet irradiation. Preliminary studies on human skin also shows that mid-wavelength ultraviolet light is capable of inducing ODC. Different pharmacological agents have been found to significantly inhibit the ultraviolet induction of epidermal ODC. Topical corticosteroids and indomethacin significantly inhibit ultraviolet induced opidermal ODC. In addition, retinoic acid inhibited the ultraviolet induction of this enzyme in some experimental situations. Long-wave length ultraviolet alone produced no significant induction of ODC, however, certain phototoxic drugs (8-methoxypsoralen and anthracene) in combination with long-wave length ultraviolet did induce epidermal ODC. It is possible that further studies of changing epidermal polyamine metabolism in response to ultraviolet and tumor promoting agents, may lead to a greater understanding of cutaneous carcinogenesis.
Does postural instability affect the initiation of human gait

During gait initiation (GI), decoupling of the center of mass and center of pressure allows the center of mass to fall forwards. Subjects initiated gait rapidly before and after tibial nerve block of the tibial nerve. Static single limb stability, stance limb ground reaction forces, electromyogram and temporal data were measured. It was hypothesized that postural stability would decrease post-block and that this would affect the kinetic and temporal properties of GI. Subjects had significantly decreased postural stability post-block and changes in normal gait kinetics, however, no changes were noted in ground reaction forces or relative temporal data of the GI task. The finding that GI was unaffected by diminished single leg postural instability suggests that GI is a pre-programmed task.
An interdisciplinary approach to family diagnosis and treatment: the s.c.a.n. center

This paper will summarise the author's experience with the interdisciplinary approach to family diagnosis and treatment as practised in the setting of five teaching hospitals in a major city in the United States of America. It will describe how a small group of dedicated health care workers, having organised an interdisciplinary hospital team within one hospital, went on to develop a network of inter-related service and training programs in an intensely competitive environment which favors those who enhance their organisation's prestige, wealth, and power.
The current causes of death in patients with malignant melanoma

Abstract The immediate cause of death was determined for all patients dying at Memorial Hospital from 1973 to 1976 with biopsy-proven malignant melanoma. One-third of patients died of a central nervous system involvement. Pulmonary involvement and infections were the next most common causes of death. The addition of chemotherapy or chemoimmunotherapy to surgery did not change the causes of death. The incidence of postmortem, documented CNS metastases has also increased since prior studies 10 yr ago.
Wives’ Employment and Marital Dissolution: Consideration of Gender Ideology and Marital Interaction

This study examines both the mediating effects of marital interaction and gender ideology, as well as the moderating effect of gender ideology in understanding the relationship between wives’ work hours and marital dissolution. This paper also explores the role of gender for couples who disagree in their relationship assessments. Wives’ additional work hours are positively associated with marital dissolution, an effect that operates through increased gender egalitarianism (for both spouses and for wives only) and decreased marital interaction (for both spouses and for wives only). Lastly, for couples who differ in their reports of gender ideology and marital interaction, the likelihood of marital dissolution is contingent upon wives’ assessments of their relationship. The implications of this study and the avenues for future research are also discussed.
Biogenic Influence on Growth of Manganese Nodules

ABSTRACT Observations of the surfaces of manganese nodules from various areas of the Pacific have revealed an entire community of attached encrusting protozoans, including over twenty species of agglutinating foraminifera and at least as many unidentified forms. Preliminary studies indicate that a great abundance and diversity of these organisms are found in the Northeast Equatorial Pacific. The highest density of organisms are associated with the portions of nodules in contact with the sediment-water interface which shows structural evidence for relatively rapid and variable growth rates and concentrations of trace elements. Remains of these organisms have also been detected within internal portions of nodules. Chemical analyses of the tests of such organisms indicate that many forms are responsible for concentrating trace elements found in nodules. However, there is no direct evidence that benthic foraminifera are responsible for copper and nickel enrichment in manganese nodules.
System functioning in families with ADHD and non‐ADHD sons

Eighteen families with hyperactive 6- to 12-year-old sons and 19 families with normal 6- to 12-year-old sons were observed discussing childrearing concerns in mother-father-son triads. Parents also completed questionnaires assessing marital and parent-child relationships. Observational ratings indicated that the hyperactive sons misbehaved more and exhibited less adaptive and age-appropriate behavior than did the comparison sons. The parents' self-report data indicated that the parents of hyperactive sons spent more time discussing their sons' problems and blaming their sons for family problems relative to parents of comparison sons. The parents of hyperactive sons also reported that their sons' problems distracted them from other marital and family concerns more than did parents of comparison sons. Nevertheless, parents of hyperactive sons did not report greater marital satisfaction or a greater sense of being unified by their sons' problems. Consistent with previous findings, families of hyperactive sons also did not report or exhibit more marital conflict than did families of comparison sons. This discussion focuses on the usefulness of a systems approach for understanding the interdependence among relationships within families.
A strategic approach to labour inspection

In a report released in 2006, the ILO highlighted the difficulties of labour inspection in its member States and advocated a number of measures to strengthen its effectiveness. The author argues that inspectorates must go beyond calls for more inspectors by adopting a clear strategic framework for reacting to incoming com- plaints and targeting programmed investigations in order to maximize effectiveness in the use of their overstretched resources. To do so, he proposes, their work must be guided by the principles of prioritization, deterrence, sustainability and achieving systemic effects. The article concludes with an outline of the requirements of a coher- ent regulatory strategy. he problem facing national governments in regulating conditions in the T workplace is daunting. Public policies on health and safety, discrimination and basic labour conditions often cover millions of workers, located in hundreds of thousands of workplaces across dispersed geographic settings. Conditions within those workplaces vary enormously - even within a single industry - and employers often have an incentive to make those conditions as opaque as pos- sible. Trade unions, which have been the traditional allies of government regula- tors in targeting and conducting inspections, are in sharp decline in many developed and developing countries. And, most challenging of all, government labour inspectorates face diminishing budgets, shrinking staff, and a more com- plicated and difficult regulatory environment. Recently, the International Labour Organization acknowledged the crisis in labour inspection nationally and internationally. In late 2006, the ILO called upon its member States to adopt a series of policies to strengthen and modern- ize labour inspectorates as a means of assuring implementation of fundamental workplace policies. In pursuing its broad "Decent Work Agenda" the ILO's Governing Body Committee on Employment and Social Policy noted:
Predator Stress Engages Corticotropin-releasing Factor and Opioid Systems to Alter the Operating Mode of Locus Coeruleus Norepinephrine Neurons

The norepinephrine nucleus, locus coeruleus (LC), has been implicated in cognitive aspects of the stress response, in part through its regulation by the stress-related neuropeptide, corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF). LC neurons discharge in tonic and phasic modes that differentially modulate attention and behavior. Here, the effects of exposure to an ethologically relevant stressor, predator odor, on spontaneous (tonic) and auditory-evoked (phasic) LC discharge were characterized in unanesthetized rats. Similar to the effects of CRF, stressor presentation increased tonic LC discharge and decreased phasic auditory-evoked discharge, thereby decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio of the sensory response. This stress-induced shift in LC discharge toward a high tonic mode was prevented by a CRF antagonist. Moreover, CRF antagonism during stress unmasked a large decrease in tonic discharge rate that was opioid mediated because it was prevented by pretreatment with the opiate antagonist, naloxone. Elimination of both CRF and opioid influences with an antagonist combination rendered LC activity unaffected by the stressor. These results demonstrate that both CRF and opioid afferents are engaged during stress to fine-tune LC activity. The predominant CRF influence shifts the operational mode of LC activity toward a high tonic state that is thought to facilitate behavioral flexibility and may be adaptive in coping with the stressor. Simultaneously, stress engages an opposing opioid influence that restrains the CRF influence and may facilitate recovery toward pre-stress levels of activity. Changes in the balance of CRF:opioid regulation of the LC could have consequences for stress vulnerability.
Middle-Class English Speakers in a Two-Way Immersion Bilingual Classroom: "Everybody Should Be Listening to Jonathan Right Now . . . "

Two-way bilingual immersion education, offered in a fast-growing number of primary schools in the United States, provides primary language maintenance to minority language speakers while simultaneously offering an enrichment “foreign” language immersion experience to Englishspeaking children in the same classroom, generally with the same teacher. This fusion of two different groups of children, two different sets of expectations, is controversial: Is it possible to accomplish both goals at once, or will teacher and program inevitably end up serving the needs of dominant English-speaking children fi rst? The equation is further complicated when the English speakers in a program come from mainly highly educated middle-class families, and the Spanish speakers come from mainly working-class immigrant families, as is the case in many of these programs. Drawing on audio and video data from a yearlong study in a second-grade two-way classroom that shares this class gap between language groups, and using a methodology that fuses ethnography and discourse analysis, this article explores the ways Englishspeaking children can impact classroom conversational dynamics.
Enantioselective synthesis of chiral isotopomers of 1-alkanols by a ZACA-Cu-catalyzed cross-coupling protocol.

Chiral compounds arising from the replacement of hydrogen atoms by deuterium are very important in organic chemistry and biochemistry. Some of these chiral compounds have a non-measurable specific rotation, owing to very small differences between the isotopomeric groups, and exhibit cryptochirality. This particular class of compounds is difficult to synthesize and characterize. Herein, we present a catalytic and highly enantioselective conversion of terminal alkenes to various β and more remote chiral isotopomers of 1-alkanols, with ≥99 % enantiomeric excess (ee), by the Zr-catalyzed asymmetric carboalumination of alkenes (ZACA) and Cu-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. ZACA-in situ iodinolysis of allyl alcohol and ZACA-in situ oxidation of TBS-protected ω-alkene-1-ols protocols were applied to the synthesis of both (R)- and (S)-difunctional intermediates with 80-90 % ee. These intermediates were readily purified to provide enantiomerically pure (≥99 % ee) compounds by lipase-catalyzed acetylation. These functionally rich intermediates serve as very useful synthons for the construction of various chiral isotopomers of 1-alkanols in excellent enantiomeric purity (≥99 % ee) by introducing deuterium-labeled groups by Cu-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions without epimerization.
An entropic approach to equity market integration and consumption-based capital asset pricing models

This study examines the degree of equity market integration and segmentation domestically and internationally. The conventional method on this literature either is subject to the joint hypothesis test problem or lacks the sampling distribution theory needed to make inferences about the integration hypothesis. To circumvent both problems, this study proposes using the nonparametric entropic approach to test for the market integration hypothesis. The proposed approach also allows us to perform an alternative test of conventional consumption-based capital asset pricing models. Both monthly and quarterly data from December, 1980 through November, 1996 are used for Taiwan and U.S. equity markets. At the industry portfolio level, we find that both equity markets are integrated domestically and internationally. The negligible value of the estimates of segmentation indices provides evidence that the two equity markets are not segmented domestically or internationally. We also find that the power felicity consumption-based capital asset pricing model cannot be rejected separately for these two equity markets.
A population study of neutering status as a risk factor for canine prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND Prostate cancer has been reported to occur more commonly in neutered than intact male dogs in several case series. This study was undertaken to evaluate risk of prostate cancer in a large population database. The hypothesis was that castration is a risk factor for prostate cancer in male companion dogs. METHODS Data were derived from recorded visits to North American veterinary teaching hospitals. The Veterinary Medical Databases (VMDB) were queried to yield male dogs with urinary bladder transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), prostate adenocarcinoma (ACA), prostate TCC, prostate carcinoma (CA), and prostate tumors. A second query yielded all male dogs over the age of 4 years without a diagnosis of urinary tract cancer. These populations were compared to determine relative risks for developing each disease, singly and collectively, associated with neutering status. Odds ratios were calculated for breed as a risk factor. RESULTS Neutered males had a significantly increased risk for each form of cancer. Neutered males had an odds ratio of 3.56 (3.02–4.21) for urinary bladder TCC, 8.00 (5.60–11.42) for prostate TCC, 2.12 (1.80–2.49) for prostate adenocarcinoma, 3.86 (3.13–4.16) for prostate carcinoma, and 2.84 (2.57–3.14) for all prostate cancers. Relative risks were highly similar when cases were limited to those with a histologically confirmed diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS Breed predisposition suggests that genetic factors play a role in the development of prostate cancer. The risk associated with being neutered is highest for TCC, supporting previous work identifying the urothelium and ductular rather than acinar epithelium as the source of these tumors. Prostate 67: 1174–1181, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
CAPACITY FACTORS IN THE PERFORMANCE OF PERFORATED PLATE COLUMNS

A study was made of factors affecting the vapor-handling capacity of perforated-plate liquid-vapor contacting columns. Vapor-phase pressure drop across plates, liquid entrainment upward from plate to plate, and plate stability were investigated as functions of operational and geometric column parameters. Gas-phase pressure drop across dry perforated plates was observed to follow functional relationships predicted from available information for single perforations. The presence of liquid on a plate increased the total pressure drop by the equivalent clear-liquid head plus a small residue which is nearly constant for a given liquid. Entrainment was observed to be a function of column gas velocity, independent of gas velocity in the perforations. Weight rate of entrainment was also found to be proportional to the gas density, independent of liquid density, and inversely proportional to the liquid-surface tension. For a given system, entrainment was observed to be proportional to approximately the third power of the group, gas velocity divided by the distance between the liquid surface and the plate above. The stability of perforated plates was observed to be adequate for many industrial and experimental applications, as also reported in recently published studies, but contrary to qualitative statements found in the earlier literature. Stability was found to increase with decreasing perforation diameter and decreasing total perforation area relative to column cross-sectional area; to increase with greater gas density, liquid surface tension, and liquid wetting power; and to be virtually independent of liquid density and viscosity. Operating limits of vapor and liquid throughput are shown for a typical application of perforated plates in liquid-vapor contacting columns.
Femtojoule Josephson tunneling logic gates

The design of Josephson tunneling logic (JTL) gates capable of performing the logic functions of AND, OR, INVERT and CARRY is considered. The design equations were solved for a rectangular Josephson junction in which the geometry was adjusted to ensure that all logical inputs were equivalent. Experimental JTL gates were found to operate with a logic delay of less than 200 ps, and with a power-delay product of the order of five femtojoules.
An adaptive scene description for activity analysis in surveillance video

This paper presents an adaptive framework for live video analysis. The activities of surveillance subjects are described using a spatio-temporal vocabulary learned from recurrent motion patterns. The repetitive nature of object trajectories are used to build a topographical map, where nodes are points of interest and the edges correspond to activities, to describe a scene. The graph is learned in an unsupervised manner but is flexible and able to adjust to changes in the environment or other scene variations.
Seizure-related injuries are underreported in pharmacoresistant localization-related epilepsy.

Purpose: To investigate and compare injury rates, associated risk factors, circumstances, and medical record documentation in patients with pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and extratemporal lobe epilepsy (ETLE). Methods: The study cohort consisted of fifty-two consecutive adults with treatment-resistant epilepsy and seizure classification confirmed by video-electrocardiography (EEG) (28 with TLE and 24 with ETLE) who consented to participate. All subjects had their seizures classified with prior video-EEG monitoring, were followed in a tertiary-care center in northwest New York City, and received a semistructured phone interview regarding injuries experienced since being diagnosed with epilepsy. Results: Injuries were reported in 16 (57%) of the patients with TLE and 4 (17%) of the patients with ETLE (p = 0.004 after controlling for duration of epilepsy and seizure burden); 83% of all injuries were designated by patients as seizure-related. Most injuries (22 of 41; 54%) were classified as moderate or greater in severity. In addition, one motor vehicle accident (MVA) was reported in the TLE group and one episode of sudden unexpected death (SUDEP) was identified in the ETLE group. More than half (55%) of the injuries were not documented as seizure-related in medical records. Conclusion: A substantial number of potentially serious injuries are not documented as seizure related, even in a tertiary-care setting. Patients with pharmacoresistant TLE may be at higher risk for experiencing an injury than patients with pharmacoresistant ETLE. Language: en
Finite-alphabet based channel estimation for OFDM and related multicarrier systems

Novel blind channel estimators based on the finite alphabet property of information symbols are derived in this paper for OFDM and related multicarrier code-division multiple access (MC-CDMA) systems. The resulting algorithms are applicable not only to standard OFDM transmitters with cyclic prefix, but also to the zero padded OFDM transmissions that improve symbol recovery at the expense of altering the transmitter and complicating the equalizer. Based on FFT-processed received data, channel identifiability is guaranteed regardless of channel zero locations and various channel estimation algorithms become available by trading on the complexity for performance. Unlike existing blind channel estimators, the proposed alternatives require short data records especially for PSK transmissions. The inherent scalar ambiguity is easily resolved because it has unit amplitude and phase values drawn from a finite set. Decoupling channel from symbol estimation enables a phase-directed operation that improves upon decision-directed schemes that are known to suffer from error propagation. Practical issues are also addressed including the presence of frequency guard intervals, constellation and power loading, various frame designs, coded transmissions as well as semi-blind and online implementations for systems with training sequences. The algorithms are tested with simulations and also compared with existing alternatives in a realistic HIPERLAN/2 setting.
Two-stage family-based designs for sequencing studies

The cost of next-generation sequencing is now approaching that of the first generation of genome-wide single-nucleotide genotyping panels, but this is still out of reach for large-scale epidemiologic studies with tens of thousands of subjects. Furthermore, the anticipated yield of millions of rare variants poses serious challenges for distinguishing causal from noncausal variants for disease. We explore the merits of using family-based designs for sequencing substudies to identify novel variants and prioritize them for their likelihood of causality. While the sharing of variants within families means that family-based designs may be less efficient for discovery than sequencing of a comparable number of unrelated individuals, the ability to exploit cosegregation of variants with disease within families helps distinguish causal from noncausal ones. We introduce a score test criterion for prioritizing discovered variants in terms of their likelihood of being functional. We compare the relative statistical efficiency of 2-stage versus1-stage family-based designs by application to the Genetic Analysis Workshop 18 simulated sequence data.
Systolic Blood Pressure Trends in US Adults between 1960 and 1980 Influence of Antihypertensive Drug Therapy

Recent blood pressure trends reflect progress in hypertension control, but prevalent drug therapy precludes direct estimation of the component due to primary prevention. In data gathered on persons aged 35-74 years in three successive US health examination surveys (1960-1980), systolic blood pressure levels assuming no drug therapy were imputed by reassigning blood pressure to the upper end of the distribution for respondents reporting use of antihypertensive medication. Blood pressure was partitioned into four ordinal categories based on weighted percentiles of the 1960-1962 distributions for 35- to 44-year-old males and females who reported no use of antihypertensive medication. Cumulative logit models (α = 0.01) were used to estimate age-and sex-specific trends for blacks and whites within two strata (<25 or ≥25) of body mass index (BMI) (weight (kg)/height (m) 2 ). Before imputation, systolic blood pressure decreased between 1960 and 1980; after imputation, significant decreases remained only in 35- to 44-year-olds. Strong associations of black race and BMI ≥25 with higher blood pressures were present in models with and without drug therapy. Thus, according to the models, there has been little progress in decreasing racial or BMI-related blood pressure differentials. Above the age of 44 years, blood pressure trends were largely attributable to medication use. In contrast, data for 35- to 44-year-olds suggest progress in primary prevention. Am J Epidemiol 1998;148:528-38.
RF-microwave multi-band design solutions for multilayer organic system on package integrated passives

We present multi-band design solutions for integrated passives using multilayer organic (MLO) process technology for RF and microwave System on Package (SOP) module development. The components developed in this technology include embedded high-Q compact inductors and filters designed in three frequency bands: S, C and Ku applicable for Bluetooth, MMDS, IEEE802.11a WLAN and satellite communications. Measured inductor Q-factor as high as 182 and Self-Resonant-Frequency (SRF) as high as 20 GHz, which represents the highest Q in its frequency range reported to date in a multilayer technology, have been demonstrated. A time domain electromagnetic modeling technique is also use to characterize the passive devices.
Is there a nonverbal period of development

That the infant lives in a nonverbal sensorimotor world is widely believed. Yet this notion is being challenged by research, in a range of fields, that depicts the young infant as actively attuned to aural speech from birth and able to process and use its sounds and meanings well before the end of the first year. Following a selective review of the research on infant speech processing between birth and age twelve months, three questions are identified that highlight the theoretical and clinical implications of this research for psychoanalytic conceptualizations of infancy, the nature of language, and clinical process. The research, it is concluded, identifies the operation of linguistic and conceptual processes in early life, processes that may intersect with the experiential and emotional processes with which psychoanalysis is already concerned. Moreover, this research raises questions about the view that the nature of infancy is essentially nonverbal.
The Role of Large-Scale Feedbacks in Cumulus Convection Parameter Estimation

AbstractUncertainty in cumulus convection parameterization is one of the most important causes of model climate drift through interactions between large-scale background and local convection that use empirically set parameters. Without addressing the large-scale feedback, the calibrated parameter values within a convection scheme are usually not optimal for a climate model. This study first designs a multiple-column atmospheric model that includes large-scale feedbacks for cumulus convection and then explores the role of large-scale feedbacks in cumulus convection parameter estimation using an ensemble filter. The performance of convection parameter estimation with or without the presence of large-scale feedback is examined. It is found that including large-scale feedbacks in cumulus convection parameter estimation can significantly improve the estimation quality. This is because large-scale feedbacks help transform local convection uncertainties into global climate sensitivities, and including these feed...
Postnatal development of sympathetic and sensory innervation of the rhesus monkey ovary.

We have used immunofluorescence to study the postnatal development of the sympathetic and sensory innervation to the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) ovary, sympathetic nerves were identified as adrenergic by their content of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-like immunoreactivity and as peptidergic by the presence of neuropeptide Y (NPY). Fibers containing substance P (SP) or calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)-lilce immunoreactivity were considered as sensory, whereas vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)-positive fibers were only defined as peptidergic because VIP may be present in both sympathetic and sensory nerves. Ovaries from neonatal (2-mo-old), juvenile (9-18-mo-old), peripubertal (3-3.5-yr-old), adult (9-14-yr-old), and senescent (20-27-yr-old) monkeys were studied. At all ages, with the exception of senescence, TH-, NPY-, and VIP-containing fibers were associated with follicles in different developmental stages. In peripubertal and adult animals, some primordial follicles were found to be selectively innervated by VlPergic fibers that almost completely encircled each follicle. Both sympathetic and VIP fibers were also detected in the interstitial tissue and associated with the ovarian vasculature at all ages. The number of sympathetic and VIP fibers increased significantly (p < 0.01) between 2 mo and 9-18 mo of age, and again increased (p < 0.01) around the age of puberty (-3 yr of age). After this time, the number of NPY and Th fibers remained constant. Conversely, the number of VIP fibers decreased (p < 0.05) by 9-14 yr of age, but remained constant thereafter. The majority of fibers present were those containing NPY and Th, with VlPergic nerves being the least abundant. In contrast to the sympathetic and VIP innervation, sensory nerves containing SP were not detected, and those containing CGRP were scarce. While these had a localization similar to sympathetic nerve fibers, they were much less abundant and their number did not vary with age. The increase in density of sympathetic and YlPergic innervation that occurs before puberty and the striking relationship of VIP fibers to a minority of follicles in early stages of development suggest the possibility that sympathetic and VIP nerves may play a role in the process of follicular recruitment and maturation that leads to ovulation of a selected follicle. In addition, the absence of follicular innervation in senescent ovaries suggests that the decline in ovarian function during aging is associated with loss of neural inputs to the endocrine component of the gland.
A new view of transcriptome complexity and regulation through the lens of local splicing variations

Alternative splicing (AS) can critically affect gene function and disease, yet mapping splicing variations remains a challenge. Here, we propose a new approach to define and quantify mRNA splicing in units of local splicing variations (LSVs). LSVs capture previously defined types of alternative splicing as well as more complex transcript variations. Building the first genome wide map of LSVs from twelve mouse tissues, we find complex LSVs constitute over 30% of tissue dependent transcript variations and affect specific protein families. We show the prevalence of complex LSVs is conserved in humans and identify hundreds of LSVs that are specific to brain subregions or altered in Alzheimer's patients. Amongst those are novel isoforms in the Camk2 family and a novel poison exon in Ptbp1, a key splice factor in neurogenesis. We anticipate the approach presented here will advance the ability to relate tissue-specific splice variation to genetic variation, phenotype, and disease.