cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An inducible humoral factor in the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana): Precipitin activity that is sensitive to a proteolytic enzyme

Abstract The humoral factor induced in the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana, by the soluble protein venoms, honeybee venom (HBT) and Western cottonmouth moccasin venom (CMV), was shown to behave like a precipitating antibody-like molecule, since it formed specific precipitin bands with homologous antigen in Ouchterlony gels. In addition, the humoral factor was demonstrated to be protein in nature, since it was sensitive to the proteolytic enzyme trypsin. Hyperimmune hemolymph treated with trypsin no longer passively protected animals from the lethal effects of HBT, and lost its ability to form precipitin bands with the antigen in Ouchterlony gels.
Effects of perceived attitudinal and demographic similarity on protégés support and satisfaction gained from their mentoring relationships

The purpose of this study was to examine how perceived attitudinal similarity (measured as similarity in general outlook, values, and problem-solving approach) and demographic similarity operationalized as similarity in race and gender, affected proteges' support and satisfaction from their informal mentoring relationships. Scandura and Katerberg's (1988) 3-factor scale of mentor functions was used to measure vocational, psychosocial, and role-modeling support. Participants were 144 proteges from diverse backgrounds (54% female; 54% non-White). Perceived attitudinal similarity was a better predictor of proteges' satisfaction with and support received from their mentors than was demographic similarity.
Effects of allocation of attention on habituation to olfactory and visual food stimuli in children

Responding to food cues may be disrupted by allocating attention to other tasks. We report two experiments examining the effects of allocation of attention on salivary habituation to olfactory plus visual food cues in 8-12-year-old children. In Experiment 1, 42 children were presented with a series of 8 hamburger food stimulus presentations. During each intertrial interval, participants completed a controlled (hard), or automatic (easy) visual memory task, or no task (control). In Experiment 2, 22 children were presented with 10 presentations of a pizza food stimulus and either listened to an audiobook or no audiobook control. Results of Experiment 1 showed group differences in rate of change in salivation (p=0.014). Children in the controlled task did not habituate to repeated food cues, while children in the automatic (p<0.005) or no task (p<0.001) groups decreased responding over time. In Experiment 2, groups differed in the rate of change in salivation (p=0.004). Children in the no audiobook group habituated (p<0.001), while children in the audiobook group did not habituate. Changes in the rate of habituation when attending to non-food stimuli while eating may be a mechanism for increasing energy intake.
Sex education from 1900 to 1920: A study of ideological social control

The emergence of a campaign during the first two decades of this century to provide public information on sexual matters is analyzed as a social issue. The creation of sex education programs in the public schools, the role of government in disseminating literature on venereal disease, the founding of professional organizations concerned with the field of sexuality, and the widespread discussion of social and sexual hygiene in journals and books are evidence of a transformation of the subject of sexuality from a private concern to a public issue.
Pattern of Discharge and Mass Loading during Drainage of Excavated Ponds Used for Food Fish Production of Channel Catfish

Abstract We evaluated the temporal pattern of solids, organic matter, and nutrient concentrations in the discharge effluent of three commercial-size excavated ponds with two types of drainage structures used in catfish production in Mississippi. Measurements of effluent water quality and pond stage elevation were used to calculate solids, organic matter, and nutrient mass loading when ponds were drained. Solids, organic matter, and nutrient concentrations in effluent from ponds with fixed internal drains were very high during the first 10– 30 min of pond draining. Thereafter, effluent solids and nutrient concentrations were similar to those of the bulk pond water. The initial flush of effluent contained solids that settle easily. Mass discharge was directly proportional to volume discharged in two ponds. In the third pond, mass discharge increased as a function of pond volume because poorly consolidated pond sediment exposed during draining was eroded by rainfall and wind-generated waves. Average mass dis...
Persistent regional increases in brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the flurothyl model of epileptogenesis are dependent upon the kindling status of the animal

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) appears to be both regulated by and a regulator of epileptogenesis. In the flurothyl (HFE) model of kindling mice exposed to successive flurothyl trials over 8 days express a rapid, long-lasting reduction in generalized seizure threshold and a more slowly evolving change in seizure phenotype in response to subsequent flurothyl exposure. The BDNF genotype of particular mouse strains appears to influence the epileptogenic progression in this model. Thus, we hypothesized that BDNF signaling pathways are altered by flurothyl-induced seizures. Following HFE kindling, fully kindled (eight seizures) adult male C57BI/6J mice had significantly elevated whole brain BDNF levels through at least 28 days after their final seizure. Mice that received only four HFE seizures (not kindled) had elevated BDNF levels, but only at 1 day post-seizure (DPSz), while BDNF levels were not significantly altered in mice receiving just one HFE seizure at any time point studied. Regional expression patterns of BDNF in the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and frontal cortex were also elevated by one DPSz and returned to control values by 14 DPSz in mice that received four HFE seizures. No changes were seen in the cerebellum, striatum, or piriform cortex. In contrast, fully kindled mice had significantly elevated BDNF levels within the hippocampus, hypothalamus, neocortex, and striatum that remained elevated through at least 14 DPSz, while levels were unchanged in the cerebellum and piriform cortex. Regional results were confirmed using anti-BDNF immunohistochemistry (IHC). Despite changes in BDNF levels following HFE kindling, we were unable to demonstrate alterations either in full-length tyrosine kinase receptor B (TrkB) expression (Western blot and IHC) or in truncated TrkB (IHC) expression levels. Together, these data suggest a model of a positive feedback loop involving seizure activity and seizure number and persistently modified BDNF signaling pathways that influences seizure phenotypes within the HFE kindling paradigm. Thus, long-term elevations in BDNF may be responsible in part for epileptogenic processes and the development of human refractory epilepsies.
Imagining Citizenship as Friendship in The Big Chill

This essay stages a theoretically driven critique of Lawrence Kasdan's film The Big Chill as a productive example of a constitutive contradiction animating the liberal political imaginary. In particular, it argues that liberalism relies irreducibly on an underexamined conception of friendship to supply its model of citizenship as a distinctive, ideologically overdetermined form of sociability and demonstrates the de-politicizing effect this reliance produces on liberal civic commitment. By situating the film in relation to theoretical critiques of liberalism, capitalism, and modern forms of sociability, the essay brings into focus the ideological lineaments of the liberal politics of friendship.
Electrical modeling of the chip scale ball grid array package at radio frequencies

Abstract The CSBGA package is targeted for the next generation of wireless systems, since this packaging technology occupies significantly less real estate than conventional packaging. The smaller packages not only accommodate the shrinking size of cellular phones but also contain lower parasitics, which reduces signal integrity losses. This innovative new software is targeted for the engineer who, at his desktop PC or workstation, can rapidly generate an accurate radio frequency (RF) electrical model of an entire Chip Scale BGA package. Program operation consists of entering the available data, and in just minutes, retrieving output that can be used in a SPICE circuit simulation. The focus of this work is on the frequency dependent parasitics in which the skin depth effects are modeled as additional circuit elements. Routines were developed to model the frequency dependant variable resistance and inductance with as few components as possible in order to reduce the complexity of the SPICE topology but still maintain accuracy. The program was designed to be fast and portable contrasting other methods of modeling in which such attributes were sacrificed for greater accuracy. Models of an entire 144 I/O package can be generated in less than 1 min on a SUN Ultra1 workstation. The models generated are targeted for RF systems having a wide range of use across military and commercial electronics applications.
Role of ERK1/2 in the anti-apoptotic and cardioprotective effects of nitric oxide after myocardial ischemia and reperfusion

Objective: Experimental results from cultured cells suggest that there is cross-talk between nitric oxide (NO) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in their anti-apoptotic effect. However, the cross-talk between these two molecules in either direction has not been confirmed in the whole organ or whole animal level. The aim of the present study was to determine whether ERK may play a role in the anti-apoptotic and cardioprotective effects of NO in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MI/R). Methods: Isolated perfused mouse hearts were subjected to 20 min of global ischemia and 120 min of reperfusion and treated with vehicle or an NO donor (SNAP, 10 μM) during reperfusion. To determine the role of ERK1/2 in the anti-apoptotic and cardioprotective effects of NO, hearts were pre-treated (10 min before ischemia) with U0126, a selective MEK1/2 inhibitor (1 μM). Results: Treatment with SNAP exerted significant cardioprotective effects as evidenced by reduced cardiac apoptosis (TUNEL and caspase 3 activity, p < 0.01), and improved cardiac functional recovery (p < 0.01). In addition, treatment with SNAP resulted in a 2.5-fold increase in ERK activation when compared with heart receiving vehicle. Pre-treatment with U0126 slightly increased post-ischemic myocardial apoptosis but had no significant effect on cardiac functional recovery in this isolated perfused heart model. However, treatment with U0126 completely blocked SNAP-induced ERK activation and markedly, although not completely, inhibited the cardioprotection exerted by SNAP. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that nitric oxide exerts its anti-apoptotic and cardioprotective effects, at least in part, by activation of ERK in ischemic/reperfused heart.
P04.08: Right cardiac isomerism—a more common occurrence in Asian fetuses?

Introduction: Isomerism of the atrium is the result of a defect in lateralization associated with bilateral morphologically identical atrial appendages. It is commonly associated with gross cardiac and vascular anomalies. Many of the affected individuals die at an early age. Objective: To present our experience in the prenatal diagnosis of anomalies of cardiac isomerism using high-resolution color Doppler ultrasound. Methodology: There were 116,859 low-risk patients scanned in the Antenatal Diagnostic Center as part of their routine screening over a 8-year period from 1998 to 2005. A retrospective review of congenital heart disease (CHD) associated with isomerism was conducted. Results: A total of 36 cases of suspected isomerism were observed among the cases of CHD diagnosed. Isomerism was confirmed by postmortem or postnatal 2D echo in 22 cases. In eighteen out of twenty-two (82%) of these cases, a right-sided isomerism was noted. They typically presented with AVSD (11/18), dextrocardia (8/18), situs inversus (9/18) in antenatal scan. In two of them a large azygous vein was presented. Postmortem showed 3-lobed or 4-lobed lung bilaterally. In four left-sided isomerism cases, only one had azygous drainage of IVC. None of them associated with heart block. Karyotypes were done in 13 of 22 cases and were all normal. Conclusion: There is geographical heterogeneity in the presentation of isomerism. Right isomerism is exceptionally common in our local population. We postulate that there may be a racial predisposition to the presentation of the type of isomerism. There was also a low association with karyotype abnormality.
'Pop' Goes the Dolphin: a Vocalization Male Bottlenose Dolphins Produce During Consortships

Studies of dolphin communication have been hindered by the difficulty of localizing sounds underwater and thus identifying vocalizing individuals. Male bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.; speckled form) in Shark Bay, Western Australia produce a vocalization we call 'pops'. Pops are narrow-band, low frequency pulses with peak energy between 300 and 3000 Hz and are typically produced in trains of 3-30 pops at rates of 6-12 pops/s. Observations on the pop vocalization and associated behavior were made as part of a long-term study of bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay. During 1987-88 seven dolphins, including three males, frequented a shallow water area where they were daily provisioned with fish by tourists and fishermen. The three males often produced pops when accompanied by single female consorts into the shallows. Fortuitously, the males often remained at the surface where pops were audible in air, enabling us to identify the popping individual. All 12 of the female consorts in the study turned in towards males at a higher rate when the males were popping than when they were not popping. All 19 occurrences of one form of aggression, 'head-jerks', were associated with pops. We conclude that pops are a threat vocalization which induces the female to remain close to the popping male during consortships.
Visualizing Temporal Patterns in Large Multivariate Data using Modified Globbing

Extracting and visualizing temporal patterns in large scientific data is an open problem in visualization research. First, there are few proven methods to flexibly and concisely define general temporal patterns for visualization. Second, with large time-dependent data sets, as typical with todaypsilas large-scale simulations, scalable and general solutions for handling the data are still not widely available. In this work, we have developed a textual pattern matching approach for specifying and identifying general temporal patterns. Besides defining the formalism of the language, we also provide a working implementation with sufficient efficiency and scalability to handle large data sets. Using recent large-scale simulation data from multiple application domains, we demonstrate that our visualization approach is one of the first to empower a concept driven exploration of large-scale time-varying multivariate data.
Practices, Beliefs, and Perceived Barriers to Adolescent Human Immunodeficiency Virus Screening in the Emergency Department.

Objective Limited data exist regarding knowledge of and compliance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's universal adolescent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening recommendations. Our objective was to assess current guideline knowledge, practice, and perceived barriers to emergency department (ED)-based adolescent HIV screening. Methods We administered an anonymous Web-based cross-sectional survey from May 1, 2012, to June 30, 2012, to 1073 physicians from the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Emergency Medicine LISTSERV. Survey participants were included if they (1) practiced as attending-level physicians, (2) practiced primarily in pediatric emergency medicine or general emergency medicine, and (3) provided clinical care for patients younger than the age of 21 years. The survey examined respondent demographics, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, practices, and barriers to ED-based HIV screening. Standard descriptive statistics and comparative analyses were performed. Results A total of 220 responses were obtained; 29 responses were excluded and 191 responses were included in the study. Most of the participants were from urban, free-standing children's hospitals and had an annual ED volume of more than 61,000 patient visits. Respondent knowledge of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines was low; less than 40% of the respondents identified correct consent requirements. Only 15.4% of the respondents reported screening for HIV more than 10 times for the prior 6 months. Most frequently cited barriers included concerns for privacy (67.4%), follow-up (67%), and cost-effectiveness (65.4%). Human immunodeficiency virus screening facilitators included availability of health educators (83%), established follow-up (74.7%), and rapid HIV tests (65.2%). Conclusions Emergency department clinicians exhibit poor knowledge of adolescent HIV screening recommendations. Current universal screening practices remain low; barriers to screening are numerous. Future efforts should disseminate guideline knowledge, increase rapid HIV testing and health educator availability, as well as reduce adolescent-specific barriers.
EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS AND REFLECTIVE JUDGEMENT

We tested the hypothesis that 4 epistemological beliefs, i.e., beliefs about the nature and acquisition of knowledge, proposed by Schommer in 1990, were related to observed differences in epistemological reasoning. Based on their responses to a philosophical dilemma, 125 college undergraduates and graduate students were assigned to 1 of 7 levels of the Reflective Judgement Model by Kitchener and King. 4 independent epistemological beliefs were used to predict reflective judgement. Analysis indicated that beliefs in Fixed Ability, Simple Knowledge, and Quick Learning accurately discriminated between higher and lower reflective judgement even after age, education, and home environment were controlled. The relative contribution of each belief was examined as well. Practical and theoretical implications were discussed.
Effect of optically generated carrier on microwave properties of ridged coplanar waveguide

Microwave phase shift and attenuation of ridged hetero-structure GaAs/AlGaAs coplanar waveguide under optical diode laser illumination have been investigated. Large phase shift and change of attenuation has been observed with very low optical power. Their magnitudes are very sensitive to variations of doping in the GaAs.
Angle-of-arrival fluctuations of a reflected beam in atmospheric turbulence

The statistics of the angle-of-arrival fluctuations are studied for the case of a laser beam reflected from a curved surface in a uniformly turbulent atmosphere. The variance for the direct beam and for the reflected beam and the covariance for the two beams are calculated for arbitrary divergence of the illumination and radius of curvature of the reflector. Experimental results support the conclusions that the reflected-beam angle-of-arrival fluctuations are very sensitive to small deviations from perfect collimation and that the correlation of the fluctuations in the direct and reflected beams is high.
Wide-area real-time distributed computing in a tightly managed optical grid - an OptIPuter vision

Wide area network (WAN)-based distributed computing (DC) has become an active field of research, especially under the label of grid computing. On the other hand, research on WAN-based real-time (RT) DC has remained in an embryonic stage. However, the situation is changing. The continuous increase in the availability of optical channels, called lambdas, along with a steady decrease of their costs, have given rise to efforts to establish an optical network infrastructure in which the possibility of dynamically allocating entire end-to-end light-paths to different message streams created by a moderate number of important applications is real. With such an infrastructure, there is no major obstacle to facilitating RT DC. The notion of RT distributed virtual computer (DVC), which can also be viewed as an RT sub-grid, is introduced. The challenging issues in adapting some promising technologies established for RT DC in LAN environments to enable realization of RT DVCs in WAN environments are then discussed. The programming model and resource management are the focus of the discussion.
Synthesis of low grafting density molecular brush from a poly(N‐alkyl urea peptoid) backbone

The synthesis of a molecular brush was accomplished by combining step-growth polymerization and reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization in a “grafting from” methodology. A symmetrical N-alkyl urea peptoid sixmer containing alkyne functional groups was prepared using a divergent strategy, and the structure of the product was confirmed using NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. A step-growth process was used to prepare a linear poly(N-alkyl urea peptoid) by reacting the diamine-functionalized N-alkyl urea peptoid sixmer with a diisocyanate. RAFT chain transfer agents were coupled to the poly(N-alkyl urea peptoid) backbone through a copper-catalyzed azide/alkyne cycloaddition reaction. The afforded macro-RAFT agent was used to sequentially polymerize styrene and tert-butyl acrylate block copolymer arms from the poly(N-alkyl urea peptoid) backbone. The tert-butyl groups were removed using dilute trifluoroacetic acid affording hydrophilic polyacrylic acid segments. The molecular brushes were observed to generate micelles in aqueous solution. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011
Pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase isoenzyme 4 (PDHK4) deficiency attenuates the long-term negative effects of a high-saturated fat diet.

The hypothesis that PDHK4 (pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase isoenzyme 4) has potential as a target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes was tested by feeding wild-type and PDHK4 knockout mice a high saturated fat diet that induces hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinaemia, glucose intolerance, hepatic steatosis and obesity. Previous studies have shown that PDHK4 deficiency lowers blood glucose by limiting the supply of three carbon gluconeogenic substrates to the liver. There is concern, however, that the increase in glucose oxidation caused by less inhibition of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex by phosphorylation will inhibit fatty acid oxidation, promote ectopic fat accumulation and worsen insulin sensitivity. This was examined by feeding wild-type and PDHK4 knockout mice a high saturated fat diet for 8 months. Fasting blood glucose levels increased gradually in both groups but remained significantly lower in the PDHK4 knockout mice. Hyperinsulinaemia developed in both groups, but glucose tolerance was better and body weight was lower in the PDHK4 knockout mice. At termination, less fat was present in the liver and skeletal muscle of the PDHK4 knockout mice. Higher amounts of PGC-1α [PPARγ (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ) coactivator 1α] and PPARα and lower amounts of fatty acid synthase and acetyl-CoA carboxylase isoenzyme 1 were present in the liver of the PDHK4 knockout mice. These findings suggest PDHK4 deficiency creates conditions that alter upstream signalling components involved in the regulation of lipid metabolism. The findings support the hypothesis that PDHK4 is a viable target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
Direct and correlated responses to artificial selection on lipid and glycogen contents in Drosophila melanogaster

A large outbred population of Drosophila melanogaster was subjected to artificial selection on lipid and glycogen storage. In three separate experiments, two replicates underwent sib selection for both increased and decreased storage. In the first study, flies were selected on the basis of total triacylglycerol for ten generations. This experiment resulted in no significant direct response, but there was a significant change in total body weight, underscoring the importance of concern for the allometric relationship between body weight and lipid content. In the second study, selection was performed for 15 generations on the percentage of body composition that was triacylglycerol. A significant direct response was obtained, and the two replicates revealed heritability estimates of 0·40 and 0·43. The third study selected glycogen content for 15 generations, and produced a significant response with heritabilities of 0·25 and 0·31. A series of 12 biochemical and enzyme kinetic traits was examined at five generation intervals in all experiments, and a number of correlated responses were detected. The results are interpreted with respect to the evolutionary constraints on energy storage evolution and the genetic basis of the allometric relationship between body weight and fat content.
The basis of an apparent preference for isolated host plants by ovipositing Euptychia libye butterflies.

. 1. The tendency of Euptychia libye butterflies to oviposit with greater likelihood on isolated plants than on members of clumps is evident in the field and can be duplicated under controlled conditions in the laboratory. 2. The causes and effects of this behaviour and the difficulties inherent in inferring preference from egg distributions in the field are discussed.
Automatic feature selection for unsupervised clustering of cycle-based signals in manufacturing processes

Recent developments in sensing and computer technology have resulted in most manufacturing processes becoming a data-rich environment. A cycle-based signal refers to an analog or digital signal that is obtained during each repetition of an operation cycle in a manufacturing process. It is a very important class of in-process sensing signals for manufacturing processes because it contains extensive information on the process condition and product quality (e.g., the forming force signal in forging processes). In contrast with currently available supervised classification approaches that heavily depend on the training dataset or engineering field knowledge, this paper aims to develop an automatic feature selection method for the unsupervised clustering of cycle-base signals. First, principal component analysis is applied to the raw signals. Then a new method is proposed to select information containing principal components to allow clustering to be performed. The dimension of the problem can be significantly...
iPOP and its role in participatory medicine

Michael Snyder shares his thoughts on participatory medicine and how omics profiling could fit into this new model of healthcare where patients are at the center of medicine.
Lignocellulose-responsive bacteria in a southern California salt marsh identified by stable isotope probing.

Carbon cycling by microbes has been recognized as the main mechanism of organic matter decomposition and export in coastal wetlands, yet very little is known about the functional diversity of specific groups of decomposers (e.g., bacteria) in salt marsh benthic trophic structure. Indeed, salt marsh sediment bacteria remain largely in a black box in terms of their diversity and functional roles within salt marsh benthic food web pathways. We used DNA stable isotope probing (SIP) utilizing 13C-labeled lignocellulose as a proxy to evaluate the fate of macrophyte-derived carbon in benthic salt marsh bacterial communities. Overall, 146 bacterial species were detected using SIP, of which only 12 lineages were shared between enriched and non-enriched communities. Abundant groups from the 13C-labeled community included Desulfosarcina, Spirochaeta, and Kangiella. This study is the first to use heavy-labeled lignocellulose to identify bacteria responsible for macrophyte carbon utilization in salt marsh sediments and will allow future studies to target specific lineages to elucidate their role in salt marsh carbon cycling and ultimately aid our understanding of the potential of salt marshes to store carbon.
GUARD: gossip used for autonomous resource detection

A growing trend in the development and deployment of grid computing systems is decentralization. Decentralizing these systems helps make the more scalable and robust, but poses several challenges. In this paper we address one such problem - that of locating computing resources meeting specified requirements in a large scale heterogeneous system. The heterogeneous and dynamic nature, coupled with the multiple occurrences of these resources, makes the problem distinct from traditional data location problems found in the context of content-sharing systems. We propose GUARD (gossip used for autonomous resource detection), a protocol that uses gossiping between neighbors to propagate the current knowledge of distances from available resources. GUARD is autonomous (all decisions are made locally, using knowledge based only on interaction with immediate neighbors) and does not make any assumptions about the underlying network topology. Our simulations show GUARD is more efficient than other techniques such as random routing, history-based routing and frequency-based routing that have been used for similar purposes. We also show how GUARD can be modified to locate multiple categories of resources meeting multiple criteria.
MagneTracks: a tangible constructionist toolkit for Newtonian physics

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) have received a huge push in education during the past few years. However, current methods to teach STEM concepts often lack the ability to allow students creative and open-ended expression. While some toys on the market try to address these issues, they often fail to fulfill learning affordances to their full potential. Our system, MagneTracks, is a multi-component educational toolkit that permits users to engage in creative, exploratory, and open-ended learning of Newtonian physics. MagneTracks consists of dynamic, tangible, magnetic tracks that attach to a vertical whiteboard, a computer-based tracking program integrated into the Netlogo platform, and curriculum challenge activity cards. MagneTracks is specifically focused on teaching physics concepts but can be used to educate in other STEM fields. Initial user observation has shown positive learning outcomes and high engagement.
Bimodal fusion in audio-visual speech recognition

Extending automatic speech recognition (ASR) to the visual modality has been shown to increase recognition accuracy greatly and improve system robustness over purely acoustic systems, especially in acoustically hostile environments. An important aspect of designing such systems is how to incorporate the visual component into the acoustic speech recognizer to achieve optimal performance. We investigate methods of integrating the audio and visual modalities within HMM-based classification models. We examine existing integration schemes and propose the use of a coupled hidden Markov model (CHMM) to exploit audio-visual interaction. Our experimental results demonstrate that the CHMM consistently outperforms other integration models for a large range of acoustic noise levels and suggest that it better captures temporal correlations between the two streams of information.
The Politics of Masculinity and the Ex-Gay Movement:

The purpose of this research is to investigate the masculinity politics of the ex-gay movement, a loose-knit network of religious, scientific, and political organizations that advocates change for homosexuals. Guided by Risman's gender structure theory, the authors analyze the individual, interactional, and institutional dimensions of gender in ex-gay discourses. The authors employ critical discourse analysis of representative ex-gay texts to deconstruct the movement's gender ideology and to discuss the social implications of its masculinity politics. They argue that gender is one of the ex-gay movement's most potent social movement resources, enabling it to consolidate power by enlisting new populations and to globalize by adapting to cultural contexts beyond the United States. The authors conclude that the ex-gay movement is an antigay countermovement and an antifeminist Christian Right men's movement.
Ca2+ activation of RyR1 is not necessary for the initiation of skeletal-type excitation-contraction coupling.

Abstract Although an elevation in myoplasmic Ca 2+ can activate the skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor (RyR1), the function of this Ca 2+ activation is unclear because extracellular Ca 2+ influx is unnecessary for skeletal-type EC coupling. To determine whether Ca 2+ activation of RyR1 is necessary for the initiation of skeletal-type EC coupling, we examined the behavior of RyR1 with glutamate 4032 mutated to alanine (E4032A-RyR1) because this mutation had been shown to dramatically reduce activation by Ca 2+ . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 98:2865–2870). Analysis after reconstitution into planar lipid bilayers revealed that E4032A-RyR1 was negligibly activated by 100 μ M Ca 2+ ( P o too low to be measured). Even in the presence of both 2mM caffeine and 2mM ATP, P o remained low for E4032A-RyR1 (ranging from μ M free Ca 2+ to 0.005 in 2mM free Ca 2+ ). Thus, the E4032A mutation caused a nearly complete suppression of activation of RyR1 by Ca 2+ . Depolarization of E4032A-RyR1-expressing myotubes elicited L-type Ca 2+ currents of approximately normal size and myoplasmic Ca 2+ transients that were skeletal-type, but about fivefold smaller than those for wild-type RyR1. The reduced amplitude of the Ca 2+ transient is consistent either with the possibility that Ca 2+ activation amplifies Ca 2+ release during EC coupling, or that the E4032A mutation generally inhibits activation of RyR1. In either case, Ca 2+ activation of RyR1 does not appear to be necessary for the initiation of Ca 2+ release during EC coupling in skeletal muscle.
Treatment of Hyperuricemia in Essential Hypertension

To the Editor: The 2 recent articles linking an elevated serum uric acid level with an increased risk of developing hypertension are of great interest.1,2 The application of the key finding in these 2 studies, that is, a graded increase in risk of developing essential hypertension based on the serum uric acid level, is …
Dopamine-system genes and cultural acquisition: the norm sensitivity hypothesis

Previous research in cultural psychology shows that cultures vary in the social orientation of independence and interdependence. To date, however, little is known about how people may acquire such global patterns of cultural behavior or cultural norms. Nor is it clear what genetic mechanisms may underlie the acquisition of cultural norms. Here, we draw on recent evidence for certain genetic variability in the susceptibility to environmental influences and propose a norm sensitivity hypothesis, which holds that people acquire culture, and rules of cultural behaviors, through reinforcement-mediated social learning processes. One corollary of the hypothesis is that the degree of cultural acquisition should be influenced by polymorphic variants of genes involved in dopaminergic neural pathways, which have been widely implicated in reinforcement learning. We reviewed initial evidence for this prediction and discussed challenges and directions for future research.
Lymphoma Microenvironment and Immunotherapy

Understanding of the lymphoma tumor microenvironment is poised to expand in the era of next-generation sequencing studies of the tumor cells themselves. Successful therapies of the future will rely on deeper appreciation of the interactions between elements of the microenvironment. Although the phenotypic, cytogenetic, and molecular characterization of tumor cells in lymphomas has progressed faster than most other solid organ tumors, concrete advancements in understanding the lymphoma microenvironment have been fewer. This article explores the composition of the lymphoma tumor microenvironment; its role in immune surveillance, evasion, and drug resistance; and its potential role in the development of targeted therapies.
PS-139 Neurodevelopment Within The First Two Years After Implementation Of The Euroconsortium Neonatal Treatment Protocol In Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Patients: A Multicenter Study

Background Since mortality in congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is decreasing, morbidity such as neurodevelopmental delay receives increased attention. We evaluated neurodevelopmental outcome in high-risk CDH patients treated according to the Euroconsortium standardised neonatal treatment protocol (Reiss, 2010). Methods Observational, prospective cohort study in CDH patients treated in two level-III university hospitals (Rotterdam (ECMO available) and Rome (no ECMO available)) between January 2009–April 2011. Sixty-three patients underwent standardised neurodevelopmental assessment at corrected age of 12 and 24 months by using Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID)-II-NL (Rotterdam; Dutch reference data) or BSID-III (Rome; US reference data). Both centres were analysed separately due to differences in assessment instruments. Results are presented as n (%), mean (SD) or median (range). Results Mortality was 24.1% and 20.5% in Rotterdam and Rome, respectively. Baseline characteristics were for Rotterdam (n = 36)/Rome (n = 27): observed to expected lung-to-head ratio 53.8% (19.1)/55.4% (15.8), p = 0.67; SNAP-II score (19 (0–40)/7 (0–25), p Conclusions At two years, the majority of CDH patients have normal cognition, but they are at risk for motor function delay. Future multicenter collaboration should focus on continuation of standardisation of treatment and follow-up to identify risk factors and reduce morbidity.
Plasminogen Activators in Human Prostate Cancer Cell Lines and Tumors: Correlation with the Aggressive Phenotype

Abstract The levels of several tumor associated proteases, including plasminogen activators (PA), are elevated in many malignant tumors compared to their benign tumor counterparts. Extracellular matrix degradation mediated by PA may facilitate tumor cell invasion and metastasis. To assess whether PA content correlates with the aggressive phenotype in prostate cancer, we studied these activators in the PC-3 human prostate cell line and PC-3CALN, an aggressive in vivo derived variant cell line. Enzymatic assays using H-D-val-leu-lys-pNA (S-2251) as substrate and peroxidase-anti-peroxidase immunohistochemical techniques were used. In an in vitro chemoinvasion assay, the PC-3CALN variant cell line demonstrated significantly greater invasive behavior than the unselected, parental PC-3 line. The activity of PA secreted by PC-3CALN cells was 3.5 times greater than that of PC-3 cells (p
Sleep-Dependent Potentiation in the Visual System Is at Odds with the Synaptic Homeostasis Hypothesis.

Study objectives Two commentaries recently published in SLEEP came to very different conclusions regarding how data from a mouse model of sleep-dependent neural plasticity (orientation-specific response potentiation; OSRP) fit with the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis (SHY). To assess whether SHY offers an explanatory mechanism for OSRP, we present new data on how cortical neuron firing rates are modulated as a function of novel sensory experience and subsequent sleep in this model system. Methods We carried out longitudinal extracellular recordings of single-neuron activity in the primary visual cortex across a period of novel visual experience and subsequent sleep or sleep deprivation. Spontaneous neuronal firing rates and visual responses were recorded from the same population of visual cortex neurons before control (blank screen) or novel (oriented grating) stimulus presentation, immediately after stimulus presentation, and after a period of subsequent ad lib sleep or sleep deprivation. Results Firing rate responses to visual stimuli were unchanged across waking experience, regardless of whether a blank screen or an oriented grating stimulus was presented. Firing rate responses to stimuli of the presented stimulus orientation were selectively enhanced across post-stimulus sleep, but these changes were blocked by sleep deprivation. Neuronal firing increased significantly across bouts of post-stimulus rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and slow wave sleep (SWS), but not across bouts of wake. Conclusions The current data suggest that following novel visual experience, potentiation of a subset of V1 synapses occurs across periods of sleep. This finding cannot be explained parsimoniously by SHY.
Property Rights and Land Use Controls: Balancing Private and Public Interests

Among the many competing interests in the field of land use controls, there is perhaps none more fundamental than the potential conflict between the rights of private property owners and the rights of the more general public. Indeed, at bottom land use controls can be viewed as limitations on the rights of private property owners in order to advance broader social concerns. Thus, though it is important to give attention to the variety of interest group conflicts in the land use field, any serious effort at "building cooperation across communities" must pay particular attention to the relationship of private and public rights. This article will examine the issue of the balance between private and public interests in land from three perspectives. Part I will first examine what the current balance is as reflected in federal constitutional protection of property rights under the Takings Clause. Part II will then discuss five principles of property jurisprudence that should inform any discussion of the public/private balance in use of privately-owned land. Finally, Part III will discuss whether the current balance of private and public interests is a reasonable one and whether fairness requires compensation when land use restrictions cause a substantial diminution in value of the regulated property.
Sublethal doses of ZnO nanoparticles remodel production of cell signaling metabolites in the root colonizer Pseudomonas chlororaphis O6

Cell signaling molecules function in regulating activities both within the producing bacterium as well as between cells. This paper shows that ZnO nanoparticles effectively disrupt cell signaling in a rhizosphere-competent bacterium, Pseudomonas chlororaphis O6. The reduced production of phenazines observed with increasing doses of ZnO NPs correlated with lowered levels of the quorum sensing molecules, acylhomoserine lactones (AHSLs). The ZnO NPs had a higher efficacy than Zn ions in these responses. Linked with changes to phenazine production was an effect on Fe metabolism manifested by enhanced siderophore production as Zn concentration from NPs or ions increased. The ZnO NPs induced phenotypes of lowered phenazines, AHSLs and increased siderophores are those observed with a mutant lacking the global regulator GacS. These metabolic changes caused by exposure to ZnO NPs could alter the way in which the bacterium functions in the rhizosphere.
SDN next generation integrated architecture for HEP and global science

I describe a software-defined global system under development by Caltech and partner network teams in support of the LHC and other major science programs that coordinates workflows among hundreds of multi-petabyte data stores and petascale computing facilities interlinked by 100 Gbps networks, and the Exascale systems needed by the next decade.
From Continent to Continent

“Celtic Marks Found in New England,” says the newspaper headline. The article continues by stating that Celtic peoples of western Europe were living in the region of New Hampshire and Vermont more than 2000 years ago. Proof comes from rock inscriptions in an ancient language, Ogam, deciphered by members of the Epigraphic Society.
Magnetic Resonance Elastography vs Transient Elastography in Detection of Fibrosis and Noninvasive Measurement of Steatosis in Patients with Biopsy-proven Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Background & Aims Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques and ultrasound-based transient elastography (TE) can be used in noninvasive diagnosis of fibrosis and steatosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We performed a prospective study to compare the performance of magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) vs TE for diagnosis of fibrosis, and MRI-based proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) analysis vs TE-based controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) for diagnosis of steatosis in patients undergoing biopsy to assess NAFLD. Methods We performed a cross-sectional study of 104 consecutive adults (56.7% female) who underwent MRE, TE, and liver biopsy analysis (using the histologic scoring system for NAFLD from the Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network Scoring System) from October 2011 through May 2016 at a tertiary medical center. All patients received a standard clinical evaluation, including collection of history, anthropometric examination, and biochemical tests. The primary outcomes were fibrosis and steatosis. Secondary outcomes included dichotomized stages of fibrosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis vs no nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were used to compare performances of MRE vs TE in diagnosis of fibrosis (stages 1–4 vs 0) and MRI-PDFF vs CAP for diagnosis of steatosis (grades 1–3 vs 0) with respect to findings from biopsy analysis. Results MRE detected any fibrosis (stage 1 or more) with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.82 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.74–0.91), which was significantly higher than that of TE (AUROC, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.56−0.78). MRI-PDFF detected any steatosis with an AUROC of 0.99 (95% CI, 0.98−1.00), which was significantly higher than that of CAP (AUROC, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.75−0.96). MRE detected fibrosis of stages 2, 3, or 4 with AUROC values of 0.89 (95% CI, 0.83−0.96), 0.87 (95% CI, 0.78−0.96), and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.71−1.00); TE detected fibrosis of stages 2, 3, or 4 with AUROC values of 0.86 (95% CI, 0.77−0.95), 0.80 (95% CI, 0.67–0.93), and 0.69 (95% CI, 0.45–0.94). MRI-PDFF identified steatosis of grades 2 or 3 with AUROC values of 0.90 (95% CI, 0.82−0.97) and 0.92 (95% CI, 0.84−0.99); CAP identified steatosis of grades 2 or 3 with AUROC values of 0.70 (95% CI, 0.58−0.82) and 0.73 (95% CI, 0.58−0.89). Conclusions In a prospective, cross-sectional study of more than 100 patients, we found MRE to be more accurate than TE in identification of liver fibrosis (stage 1 or more), using biopsy analysis as the standard. MRI-PDFF is more accurate than CAP in detecting all grades of steatosis in patients with NAFLD.
Irregular frequency removal methods: theory and applications in hydrodynamics

In the problem of multi-body hydrodynamics, it is of growing interest to understand the gap resonance. One important issue is to remove the irregular frequency effect, which can be confused with the physical resonance. In this paper, an extensive survey of the previous approaches to the irregular frequency problem has been undertaken. The matrix formulated in the boundary integral equations will become nearly singular for some frequencies. The existence of numerical round-off errors makes the matrix still solvable by a direct solver, however results in unreasonably large values in some aspects of the solution, namely the irregular frequency effect. This paper will mainly discuss the lid method on the internal free surface. To reach a higher accuracy, the singularity resulting from the Green function needs special care. Finally, results with and without irregular frequency removal are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method. The validation cases in this paper include a single mini-boxbarge and two mini-boxbarges side by side. The major contribution of this paper is that we have investigated the difference in jump condition caused by basic settings, supplemented Kleinman’s uniqueness proof with a more detailed reasoning process, provided a different equation set for irregular frequency removal, proved the jump condition in a rigorous way, and further discussed Newman’s question about the singular terms in the jump conditions.
21 of 27 variables predicted mortality in older adults

Source Citation Fried LP, Kronmal RA, Newman AB, et al. Risk factors for 5-year mortality in older adults. The Cardiovascular Health Study. JAMA. 1998 Feb 25;279:585-92.9486752