cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cellular Bioenergetics Is an Important Determinant of the Molecular Imaging Signal Derived From Luciferase and the Sodium-Iodide Symporter

Rationale: Molecular imaging is useful for longitudinal assessment of engraftment. However, it is not known which factors, other than cell number, can influence the molecular imaging signal obtained from reporter genes. Objective: The effects of cell dissociation/suspension on cellular bioenergetics and the signal obtained by firefly luciferase and human sodium-iodide symporter labeling of cardiosphere-derived cells were investigated. Methods and Results: 18 Fluorodeoxyglucose uptake, ATP levels, 99m Tc-pertechnetate uptake, and bioluminescence were measured in vitro in adherent and suspended cardiosphere-derived cells. In vivo dual-isotope single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography imaging or bioluminescence imaging (BLI) was performed 1 hour and 24 hours after cardiosphere-derived cell transplantation. Single-photon emission computed tomography quantification was performed using a phantom for signal calibration. Cell loss between 1 hour and 24 hours after transplantation was quantified by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and ex vivo luciferase assay. Cell dissociation followed by suspension for 1 hour resulted in decreased glucose uptake, cellular ATP, 99m Tc uptake, and BLI signal by 82%, 43%, 42%, and 44%, respectively, compared with adherent cells, in vitro. In vivo 99m Tc uptake was significantly lower at 1 hour compared with 24 hours after cell transplantation in the noninfarct ( P P P Conclusions: Adhesion is an important determinant of cellular bioenergetics, 99m Tc-pertechnetate uptake, and BLI signal. BLI and sodium-iodide symporter imaging may be useful for in vivo optimization of bioenergetics in transplanted cells.
Reconfiguration of Spanning Trees in Faulty Hypercubes

Spanning trees have been used extensively in algorithms for hypercube communications and broadcasting. We present algorithms for reconnecting spanning trees and achieving communication among the nonfaulty nodes in the hypercube. The algorithms presented provide reconfiguration for the completely unbalanced spanning tree (CUST), balanced spanning tree (BST), and general spanning tree (GST) in hypercubes in the presence of single node failure. These algorithms can reconfigure around any single fault in 0(1) reconfiguration time with no dilation and will increase the congestion of a link by, at most, one. Simulation results for the algorithms under multiple faults also are presented.
Thermodynamic studies of the LaNi5−xSnx-H system from x = 0 to 0.5

Abstract Hydrogen isotherms have been measured for the ternary intermetallic system LaNi 5− x Sn x -H with x = 0, 0.10, 0.20, 0.25, 0.32, 0.40 and 0.50 at a series of temperatures from 300 to 423 K. The plateau pressures decrease with increase in x . The magnitudes of the enthalpy for the plateau reaction, as determined from the van't Hoff plots, increase steadily with x while the corresponding entropies are nearly constant. Thus the observed decrease in the plateau pressures can be attributed to the changes in Δ H plat with x . The extent of the two-phase plateau regions decrease with x and hysteresis also decreases, nearly vanishing at x = 0.5.
An experimental investigation of H2 emissions of a 2004 heavy-duty diesel engine supplemented with H2

Abstract Hydrogen (H 2 ) emissions characteristics of H 2 -diesel dual fuel engine were measured using a 2004 turbocharged heavy-duty diesel engine with H 2 supplemented into the intake air. The emissions of H 2 were measured using an Electron Pulse Ionization (EPI) Mass Spectrometer (MS). The effect of the amount of H 2 added, the engine load, and diesel fuel flow rates on the emissions of H 2 and its combustion efficiency in the engine were investigated. The addition of H 2 under high load operation was notable for its ability to obtain high H 2 combustion efficiency and improve brake thermal efficiency. However, the addition of H 2 at low load resulted in high emissions of H 2 due to the failure to initiate and support a sufficiently vigorous flame for the complete combustion of H 2 present outside the diesel spray plume. The maximum H 2 emissions of 1.4% (volume in dry exhaust gas) were observed with the addition of 6% H 2 at 10% load. In comparison, the maximum H 2 emissions of 0.13% were observed when operated at 70% load with the addition of 6% H 2 . The slip of a large percentage of H 2 at low load operation was shown to deteriorate the potential of H 2 in improving the brake thermal efficiency.
The effect of phosphorus on the swelling and precipitation behavior of austenitic stainless steels during irradiation

Abstract It has been observed that increasing the volume fraction of the needle-shaped iron phosphide phase in austenitic stainless steels tends to inhibit void swelling during neutron irradiation. An earlier analysis showed that this effect could not be accounted for in terms of enhanced point defect recombination at particle-matrix interfaces. The behavior of the iron phosphide phase has been further examined using dual ion beam irradiations. It was found that the particle-matrix interface serves as a site for the nucleation of a very fine dispersion of helium bubbles. It is thought that since a high number density of cavities lowers the number of helium atoms per cavity, the irradiation time for the cavities to accumulate the critical number of gas atoms for biasdriven growth is correspondingly increased. Although the phosphide phase nucleates rapidly, it eventually undergoes dissolution if either the G or Laves phase develops with increasing dose.
ATLAS: An adaptively formed hierarchical cell library based analog synthesis framework

This paper presents ATLAS - a framework for automated analog circuit synthesis that comprises of both topology generation and subsequent circuit sizing. A hierarchically arranged building block or cell library is used in this regard. The adaptively formed library starts only with basic elements and gradually includes functionally useful and bigger blocks, pertinent to the design under consideration. The sizer is based on the simulated annealing algorithm, and HSPICE is used for performance evaluation. The tool has been used to synthesize an operational amplifier and a ring oscillator. Results show that with reasonable computational effort, designs and associated cells have evolved that are human understandable and comparable to hand-crafted designs.
Efficient and scalable method for scaling up cell free protein synthesis in batch mode

A novel method for general cell free system scale-up in batch mode was applied to expression of E. coli chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) and a GMCSF-scFv fusion protein being developed as a B-cell lymphoma vaccine candidate (GLH). Performance of two different E. coli based cell-free systems was evaluated using the new scale-up approach. Reaction volumes from 15 to 500 microL were tested for both products and both reaction systems. In each case, the new scale-up method preserved total, soluble, and active volumetric yields of GLH and CAT at every reaction volume. At the 500 microL reaction volume, the PANOx SP system produced 560 +/- 36 microg/mL of active CAT and 99 +/- 10 microg/mL of active GLH protein using the new thin film approach whereas 500 microL test tube reactions produced 250 +/- 42 microg/mL and 72 +/- 7 microg/mL of active CAT and GLH respectively. Similarly, 500 microL cell-free synthesis reactions with the Cytomim system produced 481 +/- 38 microg/mL of active CAT and 109 +/- 15 microg/mL active GLH respectively in thin films compared to 29 +/- 7 microg/mL of active CAT and 5 +/- 2 microg/mL of active GLH protein in 500 microL test tube reactions. The new thin film approach improves oxygen supply for the Cytomim system, and increases the availability of hydrophobic surfaces. Analysis suggests that these surfaces provide significant benefit for protein expression and folding. We believe that this approach provides a general reaction scale-up technology that will be suitable for any protein target, cell free system, and reaction volume.
Sexual Coercion Context and Psychosocial Correlates Among Diverse Males

Sexual coercion is a pervasive problem but rarely examined in men. This study examined sexual coercion and psychosocial correlates among 284 diverse adolescent and emerging adult males in high school and college. Over 4 in 10 participants (43%) experienced sexual coercion: more specifically, the participants reported: verbal coercion (31%, n 86), seduction coercion (26%, n 73), physical coercion (18% n 52), and substance coercion (7%, n 19). Rates were comparable across high school and college students. Racial differences were found such that Asian participants reported significantly lower rates of sexual coercion than Black, White, and Latino participants. Ninety-five percent of the respondents reported women as the perpetrators; participants also described internal obligation, seductive, and peer pressure tactics in descriptions of coercion experiences. Sexual coercion tactic (i.e., verbal, substance, seduction, physical) and resulting sexual activity (i.e., fondling/attempted intercourse, completed intercourse) were associated with psychosocial outcomes. Specifically, sexual coercion that resulted in sexual intercourse was associated with greater sexual risk-taking and alcohol use. Verbal and substance coercion were associated with psychological distress, and substance coercion was also associated with sexual risk-taking. Considerations for future research and practice implications are discussed.
Towards a Polymorphous, Agile and Transparent Optical Network (PATON) Based on Polymorphous Optical Burst Switching (POBS)

In this paper, we present a new integrated optical network architecture called polymorphous, agile and transparent optical networks (PATON) which combines different resource scheduling schemes based on polymorphous optical burst switching (POBS) suitable for a variety of applications and services, and address several key technical issues related to the control and management of PATON. These issues include traffic adaptation and grooming, signaling and control packet format, polymorphic control for resource scheduling, and extentions to GMPLS. The resulting PATON compares favorably with other existing approaches presented in our related work [X. Liu et al., 2006].
Automated comparison of protein subcellular location patterns between images of normal and cancerous tissues

Early cancer diagnosis and evaluation of cancer progression during treatment are two important factors for clinical therapy. In this study we propose a novel approach which automatically compares the subcellular location of proteins between normal and cancerous tissues in order to identify proteins whose distribution is modified by oncogenesis. This study analyzes 258 proteins in 14 different cancer tissues and their corresponding normal tissues using images provided by the tissue microarray collection of the Human Protein Atlas. Using texture features automatically extracted from the tissue images, 14 machine classifiers were trained to recognize the patterns of eight major organelles in each tissue. For each tissue-protein combination, the results of the classifier for normal and cancerous tissues were compared. Eleven proteins were identified as showing differences in location; these proteins may have potential as biomarkers.
Is Pneumonia a Risk Factor or a Risk Marker for Long-Term Mortality?

Pneumonia is a leading cause of morbidity and short-term mortality (usually measured in the first 30 days after diagnosis) (1–4). However, the potential long-term consequences of pneumonia remain an area of intense evaluation. Several studies have focused on the long-term risk for mortality among patients with pneumonia. In most studies, patients with more severe pneumonia had a higher risk for long-term mortality relative to patients with less severe pneumonia. As older patients with debilitating comorbidities, including diabetes and glucose homeostasis disturbances, are usually classified in the higher-risk categories, this could explain, at least in part, the higher risk observed among patients with more severe pneumonia (3–8).
Understanding Cultural Diversity Can Improve Intercultural Interactions

A study of U. S. demograph ics reveals a trend toward rapidly increasing cultural diversity. Clearly, this trend has the potential to cause serious misunderstandings among students, teachers, parents, and administrators in culturally diverse schools. Principals and staff members can, and should, be able to recognize and resolve cul turally-based school and community problems.
An equivalence theorem for a bargaining set

Abstract First, a modification of the Aumann-Maschler Bargaining Set is proposed. Then it is shown, under conditions of generality similar to the Core Equivalence Theorem, that the Bargaining Set and the set of Walrasian allocations coincide.
Measuring Nonmotorized Accessibility and Connectivity in a Robust Pedestrian Network

This paper explores measures of pedestrian accessibility and network connectivity with a network that includes pedestrian facilities in addition to the street network. Studies that focus on walkability usually use available street networks that do not include pedestrian-only facilities. The effect of missing pedestrian connections where the street network is richer than the pedestrian network has been examined in some studies, but the case of suburban environments with robust pedestrian networks has mostly been ignored. In the current study, various measures of connectivity and accessibility were compared between the pedestrian network and the street network in different suburban settings and for accessibility to different land use activities, such as schools and retail centers. Documenting the degree to which the pedestrian network enhanced pedestrian accessibility over the street network alone was motivated by the desire to inform research and to inform policy. Nine neighborhoods in the city of Davis, C...
Rapamycin attenuates the expression of cocaine-induced place preference and behavioral sensitization.

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine-threonine kinase that controls global protein synthesis, in part, by modulating translation initiation, a rate-limiting step for many mRNAs. Previous studies implicate mTOR in regulating stimulant-induced sensitization and antidepressive-like behavior in rodents, as well as drug craving in abstinent heroin addicts. To determine if signaling downstream of mTOR is affected by repeated cocaine administration in reward-associated brain regions, and if inhibition of mTOR alters cocaine-induced behavioral plasticity, C57BL/6J mice received four intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of 15 mg/kg cocaine and levels of phosphorylated P70S6 kinase and ribosomal S6 protein-two translational regulators directly downstream of mTOR-were analyzed by immunoblotting across several brain regions. Cocaine place preference and locomotor sensitization were elicited by four pairings of cocaine with a distinct environment and the effects of mTOR inhibition were assessed by pre-treating the mice with 10 mg/kg rapamycin, 1 hour prior to: (1) each saline/cocaine conditioning session; (2) a post-conditioning test; or (3) a test for locomotor sensitization conducted at 3 weeks withdrawal. While systemic pre-treatment with 10 mg/kg rapamycin during conditioning failed to alter the development of a cocaine place preference or locomotor sensitization, pre-treatment prior to the post-conditioning test attenuated the expression of the place preference. Additionally, rapamycin pre-treatment prior to a cocaine challenge 3 weeks post-conditioning blocked the expression of the sensitized locomotor response. These findings suggest a role for mTOR activity, and perhaps translational control, in the expression of cocaine-induced place preference and locomotor sensitization.
ETIOLOGY OF OROYA FEVER : XII. INFLUENCE OF MALARIAL INFECTION (PLASMODIUM INUI?), SPLENECTOMY, OR BOTH, UPON EXPERIMENTAL CARRION'S DISEASE IN MONKEYS.

The experiments reported were designed to determine the influence of malarial infection (Plasmodium inui?), splenectomy, or both combined, upon the course and character of experimental infection with Bartonella bacilliformis in monkeys (Macacus rhesus and M. cynomolgus). Blood withdrawn from a monkey showing spontaneous malarial infection was inoculated intravenously into monkeys (a) 1 month prior to inoculation with virulent verruga material, (b) simultaneously with the verruga material, and (c) during convalescence from verruga infection of moderate severity. All the monkeys contracted the malarial infection and suffered one to three paroxysms during a period of about a month. The verruga lesions appeared in the inoculated animals in due course, were of average size, remained for the usual length of time, and Bartonella bacilliformis was recovered in culture from blood which also contained the plasmodia. The lesions in the convalescent animals continued to heal at the normal rate, and blood cultures were negative for Bartonella bacilliformis, as is usual during convalescence. One of the recovering animals was reinoculated with virulent verruga material a month after the injection of the malarial blood, but neither did new lesions arise nor old ones recur. The malarial infection, therefore, had no effect upon the course of verruga or upon the establishment of immunity to Pattonella bacilliformis, hence it would appear that malaria and verruga may coexist in the same individual without unfavorable effect of one disease upon the course of the other. Similarly, splenectomy led to no appreciable aggravation of Bartonella infection. One monkey subjected to splenectomy and inoculated with verruga material shortly afterwards had an unusually severe reaction, but another, which was infected with material from the first and simultaneously splenectomized, reacted only moderately, while the non-splenectomized control showed a severer type of cutaneous infection. Even the combination of splenectomy and malarial infection did not appreciably aggravate the experimental verruga. Neither relapse of verruga nor reinfection with Bartonella bacilliformis was induced in convalescent or recovered monkeys as a result of splenectomy.
Protein corona composition does not accurately predict hematocompatibility of colloidal gold nanoparticles.

Proteins bound to nanoparticle surfaces are known to affect particle clearance by influencing immune cell uptake and distribution to the organs of the mononuclear phagocytic system. The composition of the protein corona has been described for several types of nanomaterials, but the role of the corona in nanoparticle biocompatibility is not well established. In this study we investigate the role of nanoparticle surface properties (PEGylation) and incubation times on the protein coronas of colloidal gold nanoparticles. While neither incubation time nor PEG molecular weight affected the specific proteins in the protein corona, the total amount of protein binding was governed by the molecular weight of PEG coating. Furthermore, the composition of the protein corona did not correlate with nanoparticle hematocompatibility. Specialized hematological tests should be used to deduce nanoparticle hematotoxicity.
Shape change maneuvers for attitude control of underactuated satellites

An asymptotically stable set point control law is introduced for attitude control of the underactuated spacecraft of a satellite system through its appendage shape changes. It is proposed that rotational maneuvers of the spacecraft are possible while simultaneously achieving a desired shape if the total angular momentum is conserved and the system is initially motionless. In addition, it is also proposed that shape changes can be used to stabilize a tumbling satellite system with only one reaction wheel. The approach assumes that appendage shape changes can result in effective changes in inertia properties. A robust control algorithm based on sliding mode approach was proposed for stabilization and tracking control of underactuated multibody mechanical systems in an earlier work. It was shown that the construction of first order sliding surfaces leads only to marginally stable control law when angular momentum is conserved and equals zero. Here, we propose that the marginally stable control laws can be put together to achieve an asymptotically stable discontinuous control law. The control law essentially uses shape changes leading to changes in effective moments of inertia of the system about the axis of rotation. It is proposed that repetitive application of such maneuvers will lead to asymptotic convergence of the shape to the desired configuration. The controller is applied to the model of an existing complex satellite system and the relevant maneuvers are discussed.
High-purity semi-insulating 4H-SiC as a high-voltage switch material

A photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) fabricated from high-purity semi-insulating (HPSI) 4H-SiC is presented. This switch shows improvement over similar designs based on 6H-SiC due to higher carrier mobility and longer carrier lifetimes. Using a novel micropipe identification method, vertical PCSS devices have been fabricated from c-plane wafers that lead to higher hold-off voltage and decreased on-state resistance as compared to a lateral geometry. Operation of the photo switch in both on- and off-state is demonstrated and material characterization via microwave photoconductance decay (MPCD) is given.
A cloud computing system in windows azure platform for data analysis of crystalline materials

SUMMARY Cloud computing is attracting the attention of the scientific community. In this paper, we develop a new cloud-based computing system in the Windows Azure platform that allows users to use the Zeolite Structure Predictor (ZSP) model through a Web browser. The ZSP is a novel machine learning approach for classifying zeolite crystals according to their framework type. The ZSP can categorize entries from the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database into 41 framework types. The novel automated system permits a user to calculate the vector of descriptors used by ZSP and to apply the model using the Random Forest™ algorithm for classifying the input zeolite entries. The workflow presented here integrates executables in Fortran and Python for number crunching with packages such as Weka for data analytics and Jmol for Web-based atomistic visualization in an interactive compute system accessed through the Web. The compute system is robust and easy to use. Communities of scientists, engineers, and students knowledgeable in Windows-based computing should find this new workflow attractive and easy to be implemented in scientific scenarios in which the developer needs to combine heterogeneous components. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Review of the molecular genetics and chemotherapeutic treatment of adult and paediatric medulloblastoma.

Medulloblastoma is the most common primary brain tumour in children and accounts for 25% of newly diagnosed cases. Recent advances in treatment have extended 5-year survival rates from 3 - > 70% during the past 50 years. These improvements in survival have resulted from a multi-modality approach that includes surgical resection, posterior fossa and craniospinal irradiation and chemotherapy for selected, high-risk patients. The literature regarding chemotherapy of adult and paediatric patients is reviewed in-depth. The most active agents include cisplatin, CCNU, cyclophosphamide, vincristine and carboplatin. Although patients are living longer with their disease, neurocognitive function and quality of life are often impaired following radiation therapy (RT) to the developing brain. To safely allow reductions in the dose of RT, the specificity and efficacy of chemotherapy must be improved. Recent advances in the molecular genetics of medulloblastoma transformation (e.g., myc, PTCH) are reviewed and discusse...
Vocal Training Mitigates Age-Related Changes Within the Vocal Mechanism in Old Rats

Aging affects voice production and is associated with reduced communicative ability and quality of life. Voice therapy is a critical component of treatment, but its effects on neuromuscular mechanisms are unknown. The ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) of rats can be used to test the effects of aging and voice use on the laryngeal neuromuscular system. This study tested the hypothesis that age-related changes in the USVs of rats and laryngeal neuromuscular junctions can be reversed through vocal exercise. Young and old rats were trained for 8 weeks to increase their USVs and were compared with a no intervention group pre- and post-treatment. USV acoustics and aspects of neuromuscular junction (NMJ) morphology were measured in the thyroarytenoid muscle. Vocal training reduced or eliminated some age differences found in both USVs and NMJs. We conclude that vocal exercise may assist in mitigating age-related changes in voice characteristics and underlying neuromuscular adaptations.
A mutant of group A streptococcus resistant to high levels of kanamycin exhibits characteristics of penicillin tolerance in vitro

In studies of penicillin tolerance in group A streptococci, we observed that a mutant of group A streptococcus isolated for high-level resistance to kanamycin exhibited several characteristics of penicillin tolerance: significant disparity between the penicillin MIC and MBC, delayed killing by penicillin concentrations of 16 times the MIC, and survival in areas of superinhibitory penicillin concentrations when strains were transferred from a penicillin-gradient plate to a penicillin-free replicate plate. In contrast, the parent strain of group A streptococcus and its mutant isolated for high-level resistance to streptomycin were nontolerant for penicillin. Moreover, a clinical isolate of group A streptococcus possessing high-level resistance to kanamycin was also found to be tolerant to penicillin. These findings suggest that genetic mechanisms responsible for high-level resistance to kanamycin may be related with the expression of penicillin tolerance of group A streptococci in vitro.
Male mating tactics in the shrimp Palaemonetes pugio (Decapoda, Caridea) : Precopulatory mate guarding vs. pure searching

The guarding of females approaching a limited period of sexual receptivity is a common mating tactic of males. In many decapod crustaceans, such as the shrimp Palaemonetes pugio, females can only copulate during a short period after a reproductive molt. It has been predicted that mate guarding by males (precopula) evolves in such species if sex ratios are not highly female-biased and if males can detect the molt stage of the female. The mating tactics of males were investigated in P. pugio. Time-lapse video observations were made on interactions among two males, a pre-molt female, and an inter-molt female (20 replicates). There was no evidence that males recognized a pre-molt female until 24h before its molt. Significant numbers of male contacts with pre-molt females occurred 1h before and after the female molt. Copulation took place within 1‐3min of the molt. No behavior commonly associated with mate guarding in decapods was observed ‐ no clasping, agonistic behavior, or close association. It is concluded that the male’s mating tactic is pure searching, wherein males haphazardly contact many females in order to find a receptive one. The high encounter rate in nature of these very mobile, aggregated shrimps is proposed as the factor responsible for the evolution of pure searching. It is hypothesized that pure searching is the male tactic of the many species of decapod shrimps with small males, sexually monomorphic cheliped weapons, and aggregated populations.
Metasurfaces: Simultaneous Stokes parameters

Techniques for determining Stokes parameters, which fully define the polarization state of a wave, require multiple measurements, thus potentially leading to inaccuracies. Researchers now show how to simultaneously determine the parameters for visible light using periodic metal structures.
Evolution of a Metaheuristic for Aggregating Wisdom from Artificial Crowds

Approximation algorithms are often employed on hard optimization problems due to the vastness of the search spaces. Many approximation methods, such as evolutionary search, are often indeterminate and tend to converge to solutions that vary with each search attempt. If multiple search instances are executed, then the wisdom among the crowd of stochastic outcomes can be exploited by aggregating them to form a new solution that surpasses any individual result. Wisdom of artificial crowds (WoAC), which is inspired by the wisdom of crowds phenomenon, is a post-processing metaheuristic that performs this function. The aggregation method of WoAC is instrumental in producing results that consistently outperform the best individual. This paper extends the contributions of existing work on WoAC by investigating the performance of several aggregation methods. Specifically, existing and newly proposed WoAC aggregation methods are used to synthesize parallel genetic algorithm (GA) searches on a series of traveling salesman problems (TSPs), and the performance of each approach is compared. Our proposed method of weighting the input of crowd members and incrementally increasing the crowd size is shown to improve the chances of finding a solution that is superior to the best individual solution by 51% when compared to previous methods.
Beat the Mean Bandit

The Dueling Bandits Problem is an online learning framework in which actions are restricted to noisy comparisons between pairs of strategies (also called bandits). It models settings where absolute rewards are difficult to elicit but pairwise preferences are readily available. In this paper, we extend the Dueling Bandits Problem to a relaxed setting where preference magnitudes can violate transitivity. We present the first algorithm for this more general Dueling Bandits Problem and provide theoretical guarantees in both the online and the PAC settings. We also show that the new algorithm has stronger guarantees than existing results even in the original Dueling Bandits Problem, which we validate empirically.
Diurnal and Generational Flight Activity of the Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizer (Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae): Comparison of Monitoring Methods

Sex pheromone traps and visual observation stake counts were used to investigate daily and generational flight activity, and relative efficiency of pheromone traps for the day-flying moth, Harrisina brillians Barnes & McDunnough. A total of 19 intraday studies were conducted during the second and third annual moth flights of 1986 and 1987 in a central California grape vineyard. Visual counts and pheromone trap data indicated that daily peak flight occurred near 0800 hours. H. brillians adult males were most active in the early morning, with substantially fewer moths detected after midmorning. From 0600 to 1000 hours, >90% of the moths observed in the stake count zones were males. For the remainder of the day, a greater portion of flying H. brillians moths were represented by females. Pheromone trap count curves were frequently bimodal. This pattern of bimodality may result from competition between synthetic lures and female moths emitting pheromones.
493 GREATER PERCEIVED CONTROL OF ASTHMA IS ASSOCIATED WITH DECREASED ASTHMA-RELATED EMERGENCY HEALTH CARE UTILIZATION.

Background Psychosocial factors play an important role in outcomes from asthma, as in many chronic disease states. Perceived control, a measure of patients9 beliefs about their ability to control their disease, has not been studied in association with asthma health care utilization. Methods We used data from a prospective cohort study of patients who were hospitalized for asthma (n = 865). After hospital discharge, we conducted structured telephone interviews to obtain demographic characteristics, asthma history, and psychological variables, including the Perceived Control of Asthma Questionnaire (PCAQ). We then used a computerized utilization database to prospectively measure rates of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for asthma over the ensuing 4 years. Results After controlling for age, gender, socioeconomic status, educational level, and other demographic factors, greater perceived control was associated with a significantly decreased prospective risk of emergency department visits (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.86-0.98, p = .008) and hospitalization for asthma (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.78-0.90, p Conclusions Greater perceived control of asthma is associated with a decreased prospective risk of severe asthma attacks resulting in emergency health care utilization for asthma, even after controlling for asthma severity. This difference does not appear to be mediated by changes in preventive care or asthma self-management practices.
Research on canopy characteristics of heading stage about japonica super rice Songjing9 in cold region

Difference and correlation in canopy characteristics of heading stage between super rice and conventional rice were studied under different populations which was constructed by the different transplanting densities using Songjing9(super rice varieties in cold region) and Songjing6(conventional varieties and CK) as experimental materials.Results showed that with the increase of transplanting density,grain yield of two varieties increased,while decreased under the conditions of high density.Population characteristics of high yield was that the main stem had large function leaf area,canopy light transmission rate coordination distribution and extinction coefficient was relatively low,groups were distributed coordinately and tended to be that canopy leaf area density was "light head and foot with strong central" type.
Effects of centrally acting drugs on the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase in the rat midbrain

The word ‘catecholamines’ applies to any compound which has a catechol nucleus (a benzene ring with two adjacent hydroxyl groups) and an amine-containing side chain. There are three naturally occurring catecholamines: dopamine (DA), noradrenaline (NA) and adrenaline. Dopamine has two functions: it acts as a precursor to NA and also functions as a neurotransmitter in certain areas of the brain. Histochemical and biochemical studies have revealed the presence of separate neuronal cells in the central nervous system (CNS) in which DA is predominant rather than NA. Dopamine is particularly abundant in the striatum. Noradrenaline is a neurotransmitter and is present primarily in the sympathetic neurones of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and of the CNS. When released, it acts locally on the effector cells of certain smooth muscle, adipose tissue, heart and brain. Adrenaline is found mostly in the chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla. It is also found in small amounts in certain areas of the brain. It is released as a hormone and acts on many distant effector cells via the blood stream.
Abstract 2092: Characterizing NIR dye-IL13RA2 antibody conjugates for biodistribution studies in xenograft tumor models by fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT)

Background: The antibody based therapies are promising anti-cancer therapeutic modalities with minimal toxicity and maximum efficacy. The efficacy of these agents is regulated by their biodistribution and targeting. The contemporary methods of testing the biodistriution of large molecule drugs are expensive and tedious. The development of simple and rapid methodology, such as optical imaging, can enable effective screening of a larger number of compounds. Here we have used Fluorescence Molecular Tomography (FMT), an optical imaging technique to study biodistribution and tumor targeting of IL3RA2 antibody (Ab). Methods: Different near infrared (NIR) fluorophores (λmax:650-800nm) were conjugated to the Ab. The fluorophore conjugation protocol was optimized to achieve a degree of labeling (DOL) of 1-3 for all the conjugates. The properties of Ab-fluorophore conjugate (Ab-F) were compared to unlabeled Ab using SEC-HPLC and cell binding assays in three cell lines with varying expression of IL13RA2: A375(+++), U87MG(+) and H460(-). For in vivo evaluation, Ab-F conjugates were administered intravenously at a dose of 2 nmol fluorophore to nu/nu mice bearing A375. Similar studies were also conducted in U87MG and H460 xenografts with selected Ab-F. The mice were imaged longitudinally (6 time-points) for up to 96 hrs using FMT4000 and the data were analyzed using TrueQuant software. Results: The SEC-HPLC and flow cytometry studies demonstrated that conjugation of Ab with most of the fluorophores did not change its stability or functionality. The in vivo fluorescence data from all the NIR dyes showed a peak tumor accumulation of the Ab-F at 6h and was maintained until 96 hrs. Quantitation of various Ab-F conjugated revealed that 2-6% of the injected dose was accumulated in the A375 tumors. In contrast to tumor profile, there was a steep decline in heart signal (a surrogate for blood/ plasma concentration), suggesting fast clearance from blood. The in vivo and ex vivo data suggested that there was 15-80pmol of Ab-F conjugate accumulated in the tumors at 96h. In addition, Alexa Flour® (AF)680 and AF750 showed minimal non-specific accumulation in other organs, whereas VivoTag® (VT)680 and BODIPY®630 showed a significantly higher non-specific accumulation in liver. Conclusions: These results show that the biological properties of Ab were not changed by conjugation with various NIR fluorophores at DOL Citation Format: Parul Gupta, Dangshe Ma, Rachel Roach, Mary Spilker, Mauricio Leal, Cedo Bagi, Anand Giddabasappa. Characterizing NIR dye-IL13RA2 antibody conjugates for biodistribution studies in xenograft tumor models by fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT). [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2092.
Progress in Long Length Bi-2223 Tapes

In the power applications of superconductor, the most important key element is the high- temperature superconducting tapes. The essential conditions of superconducting tapes are a high transport critical current density (J c ), shape uniformity of long length tape and mechanical performance. This article gives an update on recent progress in the property of long length Bi-2223 superconducting tapes. The 1 km length 61 mulifilamentry tapes have advanced with J c of 21.5 kA/cm2 at 77K. In order to attain the higher J c value, we must consider Bi-2223 phase purity, grain alignment and grain connectivity as important factors limiting the J c. With the objective to identify the most important limiting factor of them, we investigated the tapes in detail by XRD, SEM, SQUID and so on. These tapes were used in prototype products of 4 T and 7 T GM refrigerator cooled magnet at 14 K.
“Blunt perforator” – a New Early Man Tool From Ecuador

AbstractA small blunt-ended "perforator" of distinctive form and size has recently been recognized in the lithic collections made at a 1971 excavation of the highland Ecuador "Early Man" site called San Jose. A preliminary description, discussion, and definition are presented
Prophylactic antibiotics in urology.

SUMMARY The emergence of prosthetic surgery and nonoperative surgical treatment of urolithiasis has seen with it an expanded application of prophylactic antibiotics. The very nature of these procedures with the often increased risk of infectious complications lends itself perfectly to wider but more judicious use of prophylactic antibiotics. Controlled clinical trials that address issues such as dosing, selection, and indications for antibiotic prophylaxis are lacking. Until that information is forthcoming, only recommendations can be made as we have tried to provide in this article.
Letter to the Editor: Positron Emission Tomography-Positive Pleural-Based Nodule Following Talc Pleurodesis.

The fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) scan is frequently used for evaluation and staging of pulmonary malignancy. False-positive PET results can occur. The most common causes of false-positive PET results include pulmonary-pleural inflammation (such as tuberculosis,
Anatomic Acromioclavicular Joint Reconstruction With Semitendinosus Allograft: Surgical Technique

Acromioclavicular joint separations are common shoulder injuries in the active patient population. Nonoperative management is recommended for Rockwood type I and II injuries, whereas surgical reconstruction is recommended for type IV and VI separations. The management for type III and V injuries is more controversial and is determined on a case-by-case basis. A multitude of surgical reconstruction techniques exist, and there is little evidence to support one technique over another. The anatomic technique aims at reconstructing the coracoclavicular ligaments and bringing the clavicle back into its anatomic position. When the anatomic technique is augmented with a graft, biomechanical studies have shown superior reconstruction strength and stability compared with standard nonanatomic techniques. Additionally, anatomic reconstruction allows for better cosmesis and functional outcome measures at midterm follow-up compared with nonanatomic techniques. In this Technical Note, we describe our preferred technique for anatomic repair of acromioclavicular joint separation using a semitendinosus allograft.
Foreign IPOs in the US: When Entrepreneurial Orientation Meets Institutional Distance

International entrepreneurship research has grown substantially at the intersection of international business and entrepreneurship research. However, the majority of research has focused on the pro...
Repeated Administration Effects on Psychomotor Vigilance Test Performance.

Study objectives The Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) is reported to be free of practice effects that can otherwise confound the effects of sleep loss and circadian misalignment on performance. This differentiates the PVT from more complex cognitive tests. To the best of our knowledge, no study has systematically investigated practice effects on the PVT across multiple outcome domains, depending on administration interval, and in ecologically more valid settings. Methods We administered a validated 3-minute PVT (PVT-B) 16 times in 45 participants (23 male, mean ± SD age 32.6 ± 7.3 years, range 25-54 years) with administration intervals of ≥10 days, ≤5 days, or 4 times per day. We investigated linear and logarithmic trends across repeated administrations in 10 PVT-B outcome variables. Results The fastest 10% of response times (RT; plin = .0002), minimum RT (plog = .0010), and the slowest 10% of reciprocal RT (plog = .0124) increased while false starts (plog = 0.0050) decreased with repeated administration, collectively decreasing RT variability (plog = .0010) across administrations. However, the observed absolute changes were small (e.g., -0.03 false starts per administration, linear fit) and are probably irrelevant in practice. Test administration interval did not modify the effects of repeated administration on PVT-B performance (all p > .13 for interaction). Importantly, mean and median RT, response speed, and lapses, which are among the most frequently used PVT outcomes, did not change systematically with repeated administration. Conclusions PVT-B showed stable performance across repeated administrations. Combined with its high sensitivity, this corroborates the status of the PVT as the de facto gold standard measure of the neurobehavioral effects of sleep loss and circadian misalignment.
Dancing between Nordic and neoliberal: Lifelong learning in South Korea:

This article aims to examine the government-centered lifelong learning model of South Korea using two representative lenses of lifelong learning: Nordic and neoliberal models. By investigating the ...
The effect of vascular access location and size on circuit survival in pediatric continuous renal replacement therapy: a report from the PPCRRT registry.

PurposeWell-functioning vascular access is essential for the provision of adequate CRRT However, few data exist to describe the effect of catheter size or location on CRRT performance in the pediat...
The Distance to the Galactic Center: R 0

Great progress has been made toward measuring the size of the Milky Way. There are now several methods that employ independent calibrations to estimate the distance to the center of the Galaxy, R 0 , and these methods have been applied to many types of astronomical objects. R 0 estimates generally have been decreasing over the last 15 years. At this time a reasonable “best value” estimate for R 0 is 7.7 ± 0.7 kpc.
Ethanol and magnesium ions inhibit N-methyl-D-aspartate-mediated synaptic potentials in an interactive manner.

Abstract The role of magnesium ions in the inhibitory effect of ethanol on NMDA receptor-mediated population synaptic potentials (pEPSPs) in area CA1 of the hippocampus of the adult rat, was studied. The excitatory amino acid (non-NMDA) receptor antagonist, DNQX and the GABAA channel antagonist, picrotoxin, were used to pharmacologically isolate NMDA-mediated pEPSPs. In the presence of a physiological concentration of magnesium (1.0 mM), ethanol (25–100 mM) inhibited NMDA-mediated pEPSPs, with an apparent EC50 of approximately 50 mM. The ability of ethanol to inhibit NMDA-mediated pEPSPs was reduced when the slices were incubated in the absence of magnesium. Concentrations of ethanol, in the range of 50–200 mM (apparent EC50 100 mM), were required to inhibit NMDA-mediated pEPSPs, in the absence of added magnesium. Combination studies of these two antagonists indicated that the sensitivity of NMDA-mediated pEPSPs to one antagonist was not altered by the presence of the other. This finding suggests that the affinity of each antagonist binding site is not affected by the presence of the other antagonist. In the case of ethanol, its low maximum antagonist efficacy may require larger concentrations of ethanol to inhibit NMDA-mediated pEPSPs, in the absence of other non-competitive antagonists such as magnesium.
New Data on Metabolic Parameters in Subterranean Rodents

As a result of similar environmental pressures (cf. Burda et al., this volume), subterranean rodents share a variety of convergent physiological specializations such as low basal metabolic rate, low body temperature and high thermal conductance (reviewed, e.g. by Contreras and McNab 1990; Nevo 1999; Buffenstein 2000). Three hypotheses attempt to explain low BMR in subterranean rodents. 1) The “thermal stress hypothesis” proposes that reduced BMRminimizes the risk of overheating in burrows where common cooling mechanisms as evaporative water loss and convective cooling are substantially reduced (McNab 1966, 1979). 2) The “respiratory stress hypothesis” relates low BMR to hypoxic and hypercapnic conditions in burrows (Darden 1972; Arieli 1979). 3) The “cost-of-burrowing hypothesis” suggests that reduced BMR compensates for the enormous energetic demands of subterranean foraging and represents an energy saving mechanism (Vleck 1979). The latter factor was considered as particularly important in arid regions with widely dispersed and scarce food resources (Jarvis 1978; Lovegrove 1987; Lovegrove and Wissel 1988). Here, I have revisited the subject and show how recent studies (which could not be reviewed by Buffenstein 2000) have complemented or changed our understanding of physiology of metabolism in subterranean rodents, or even how they determine new ways and open new horizons for future research in the field. I focus mainly on African mole-rats (Bathyergidae), a group of strictly subterranean rodents. To evaluate the situation in molerats, data on fossorial rodents are considered too.
Die Geometrie von Gleichungen

Betrachten wir den Ausdruck aus dem Titel dieses Abschnittes, so erkennen wir eine quadratische Gleichung in der Variablen x, deren Koeffizienten die Parameter p und q sind. Das ist aber nur eine Frage der Perspektive: Genausogut hatten wir diesen Ausdruck als eine lineare Gleichung in den Variablen p und q betrachten konnen, deren Koeffizienten vom Parameter x abhangen. Eine lineare Gleichung \(q=-xp-x^2\) beschreibt eine nicht vertikale Gerade; folglich hat man eine einparametrige Geradenschar in der (p,q)-Ebene, und zwar eine Gerade fur jedes x.