cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Astrocytic endogenous glial cell derived neurotrophic factor production is enhanced by bone marrow stromal cell transplantation in the ischemic boundary zone after stroke in adult rats.

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), a protein of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily, was initially cloned and purified from the B49 glial cell line 1. As a potent neurotrophic factor, GDNF promotes the survival of central dopaminergic 1–3, noradrenergic 4 as well as motor neurons 5, 6. Moreover, GDNF enhances striatal neurogenesis after stroke 7–9. Efforts have been made to deliver exogenous GDNF directly into the brain 10–12, by adenoviral vector 13, or by gene-modified mesenchymal stem cells 14 in different models of cerebral ischemia, and the efficacy of GDNF treatment of experimental stroke has been well established. Animals receiving GDNF have smaller infarct volume, less severe cerebral edema, and a reduced number of apoptotic cells in the penumbral zone 14–16. GDNF expression is low in normal adult rat brain, but can be up-regulated by a variety of central nervous system (CNS) insults including focal brain ischemia 17–20. Taken together, these data suggest that manipulation of endogenous GDNF levels may facilitate the self-repair efforts of the brain against ischemic attack, and therefore, could be a new target in the treatment of stroke. Intravenous transplantation of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) ameliorates functional deficits in rodent cerebral ischemia models 21–23 as well as in stroke patients 24. BMSCs are a heterogeneous subpopulation of bone marrow cells including mesenchymal stem and progenitor cells. Although these cells can release a variety of neurotrophic factors in response to ischemic environment 25–27, the limited number of BMSCs in the brain raises doubt about the importance and weight of factors secreted by BMSC per se in the process of functional recovery. Being the most abundant cells in the brain, astrocytes provide many supportive activities essential for neuronal function under physiological circumstances 28, 29. After various insults, local astrocytes undergo cellular hypertrophy, hyperplasia and become “reactive”. Reactive astrocytes promote brain plasticity and recovery from stroke, and the beneficial effects of reactive astrocytes are enhanced in the ischemic brain after BMSC transplantation 30–32. In the present study, we hypothesize that BMSCs in the penumbral zone activate local astrocytes, the latter release large amount of GDNF, which contributes to the functional improvement.
Structure-Activity Relationships Among the Aminoglycoside Antibiotics: Role of Hydroxyl and Amino Groups

The close structural similarity of several of the deoxystreptamine-containing aminoglycoside antibiotics (gentamicins, neomycins, kanamycins, tobramycin) and the recent isolation of enzymatically N-acetylated aminoglycosides have permitted a systematic comparison of the structure-activity relationships in this group of antibiotics. The number and location of amino groups on the hexoses and the site of attachment of the other rings to deoxystreptamine have been shown to exert a profound effect on the ability of these compounds to inhibit or to cause misreading of polypeptide synthesis in vitro. The conclusions allow certain predictions to be made concerning the interaction of these compounds with the bacterial ribosome.
Impact in highway prestressed concrete bridges

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to study the factors which affect the dynamic behavior of highway prestressed concrete bridges. An HS20–44 truck model with 12 degrees of freedom was developed and used in this analysis. Highway prestressed concrete bridge models with spans of 30, 60, 90, and 120 ft (1 ft = 0.305 m) were designed according to American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) standard bridge girders. Two percent of the critical damping was assumed for the bridge. The road surface roughness of the approach roadways and bridge decks was generated from power spectral density (PSD) function for very good, good, average, and poor roads in accordance with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) specification. The impact percentages in moment, deflection, and end shear of the bridge for different bridge span lengths, vehicle speeds, and road surface roughness were calculated and compared with the AASHTO specified values.
Correlation Between Dam Effects on Body Weight of Dwarf Intraline and of Normal Straincross Broiler Chickens

The correlation between dwarf breeder dam differences in transmitted and maternal effects on intraline dwarf and on straincross normal progeny was estimated as .61 +/- .10 when body weight was measured at 50 days in dwarfs and normals and .57 +/- .11 when measuring 50 day weight in normals and 64 day weight in dwarfs. Normal straincross progeny of dwarf dams will therefore not be expected to benefit fully from genetic gains achieved from body weight selection in dwarf flocks. A different response in body weight to increased rearing density was shown in dwarf and normal birds, with the dwarf birds being better able to tolerate crowded conditions.
Management of Hepatic Artery Steno-Occlusive Complications After Liver Transplantation

Steno-occlusive disease (arterial obstructive disease) of the transplant hepatic artery is a collective term that can be used to include hepatic artery thrombosis, hepatic artery stenosis, and hepatic arterial kinks. The latter 2 can be referred to collectively as arterial anatomical defects. This chapter details the angiographic techniques and definitions required to make an accurate angiographic diagnosis of these arterial transplant complications. In addition, the chapter focuses on detailed technical aspects of the endoluminal management of these arterial complications. The chapter discusses the role and technical results of endoluminal management of these arterial complications and, when possible, the lesion morphologies most amenable to endoluminal management.
Partitioning of Fe within high-pressure silicate perovskite: Evidence for unusual geochemistry in the lower mantle

Using synchrotron radiation, Fe x-ray absorption spectra have been collected from a Mg0.88Fe0.12SiO3 perovskite quenched from 50 GPa and ∼ 2000 K. Least-squares fits of the Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) data yield an Fe coordination number of 5.5 (±0.8) oxygens, an Fe-O distance of 214 (± 4) pm, and a static and thermal disorder parameter of 147 pm². The absorption edge spectrum shows a weak pre-edge feature suggesting little deviation from centrosymmetry for the Fe site. These results indicate that Fe in this silicate perovskite partitions predominantly into the six-coordinated site and may provide the first evidence for Si occupying an 8-12 coordinated site.
Timeline, epidemiology, and risk factors for bacterial, fungal, and viral infections in children and adolescents after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Abstract Advances made in the field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantations (HSCT) over the past 20 years may have had an impact on the distribution of posttransplantation infections. We sought to retrospectively analyze the epidemiology and risk factors for bacterial, fungal, and viral infections in children after allogeneic HSCT in a cohort of 759 children who underwent allogeneic HSCT in a single institution between 1990 and 2009. The association between infections and risk factors of interest at 0 to 30 days, 31 to 100 days, and 101 days to 2 years posttransplantation was evaluated using logistic regression. Difference among the subtypes within each category was studied. There were 243 matched-related donors, 239 matched-unrelated donors (MUDs), and 176 haploidentical donor transplantations. Era of transplantation (0-30 days), peripheral blood stem cell product, acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD; 31-100 days), and chronic GVHD (cGVHD; 101-730 days) were associated with higher risk for bacterial infections at the respective time periods. Patients with aGVHD (31-100 days), cGVHD, and older age (101-730 days) were at higher risk for fungal infections. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) donor/recipient (D/R) serostatus (0-100 days), era of transplantation, MUD HSCT (31-100 days), and cGVHD (101-730 days), influenced viral infections. Gram-positive outnumbered gram-negative bacterial infections; aspergillosis and candidemia were equally prevalent in all time periods. Haploidentical donor HSCT was not associated with an increased risk of infections. There seems to be a continuum in the timeline of infections posttransplantation, with bacterial, fungal, and viral infections prevalent in all time periods, particularly late after the transplantation, the risk affected by GVHD, CMV, D/R status, product type, older age, and use of unrelated donors.
Negative Pressure Wound Therapy in Grade IIIB Tibial Fractures: Fewer Infections and Fewer Flap Procedures?

Background Grade IIIB open tibia fractures are devastating injuries. Some clinicians advocate wound closure or stable muscle flap coverage within 72 hours to limit complications such as infection. Negative pressure wound therapy was approved by the FDA in 1997 and has become an adjunct for many surgeons in treating these fractures. Opinions vary regarding the extent to which negative pressure wound therapy contributes to limb salvage. Evidence-based practice guidelines are limited for use of negative pressure wound therapy in Grade IIIB tibia fractures. This systematic literature review of negative pressure wound therapy in Grade IIIB tibia fractures may substantiate current use and guide future studies.
Gaseous Detonation in Piping Systems Partially Filled With Liquid

In this paper, we report the results of our investigation into the transmission of a detonation from a gas-filled section of pipe into a water-filled portion. Experimental studies were performed using a detonation in a H2 -N2 O mixture within a 2-inch, Schedule 40 pipe. The detonation wave impinges on a vertical column of water just downstream of a 90-degree bend. A shock wave is transmitted into the water-filled section and propagates slower than the sound speed in the water due to the coupling of flexural waves in the pipe with pressure waves in the liquid. Incident, transmitted, and reflected pressures in the gas are monitored, along with hoop and longitudinal strain throughout the pipe length. Results are presented for a both prompt initiation of an ideal (Chapman-Jouguet) detonation and deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) occurring just upstream of the gas-liquid interface. The results of the experiments are analyzed using computational modeling and simulation with an Eulerian hydrodynamic code as well as classical wave interaction methods. For a Chapman-Jouguet (CJ) detonation, the reflected and transmitted pressures agree with the classical one-dimensional theory of wave interaction. The values of the peak reflected pressure are close to those that would be obtained considering the water as a perfectly reflecting boundary. The transmitted wave propagates at a speed consistent with the Korteweg speed of classical water hammer theory and little to no attenuation in amplitude over ∼ 1.5 m of travel. In one DDT event, peak pressures up to 11 times the CJ pressure were observed at the end of the water-filled section.© 2009 ASME
Practical technique for joint image rejection and carrier frequency offset compensation for diversity wireless receivers

Block independent component analysis (ICA) algorithms are used to perform simultaneously two important radio receiver functionalities, namely, image rejection and carrier frequency offset compensation. For diversity wireless receivers, the proposed technique results in a simplified analogue front-end, because the two tasks are implemented digitally at baseband. Simulations are performed using two block ICA algorithms. Results confirm the effectiveness of the presented method.
A survey of the occurrence of the trichothecene mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (vomitoxin) in UK grown barley and in imported maize by combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A UK survey for the occurrence of the Fusarium mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (vomitoxin) in 87 samples of both feeding and malting barleys has shown levels of less than 0.02 mg kg−1 in 90% of the samples. The barleys containing deoxynivalenol (0.02–0.36 mg kg−1) were mostly feeding samples and showed no geographical trend within the UK. In contrast, for imported maize and brewers maize, only 25% of the samples showed levels less than 0.02 mg kg−1 deoxynivalenol, the remainder ranging from 0.02-1.4 mg kg−1 with ten samples (36% of the total number analysed) having levels greater than 0.1 mg kg−1. All samples were analysed by combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (selected ion monitoring) of the TMS deoxynivalenol derivative. For two of the maize samples full mass spectra were obtained of the deoxynivalenol showing very good agreement with reference spectra and confirming the identity of the trichothecene.
Microlens Parallax Asymmetries toward the Large Magellanic Cloud

If the microlensing events now being detected toward the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are due to lenses in the Milky Way halo, then the events should typically have asymmetries of order 1% owing to parallax from the reflex motion of the Earth. By contrast, if the lenses are in the LMC, the parallax effects should be negligible. A ground-based search for such parallax asymmetries would therefore clarify the location of the lenses. A modest effort (2 hr per night on a 1 m telescope) could measure 15 parallax asymmetries over 5 yr and therefore marginally discriminate between the halo and the LMC as the source of the lenses. A dedicated 1 m telescope would approximately double the number of measurements and would therefore clearly distinguish between the alternatives. Compared to satellite parallaxes, however, the information extracted from ground-based parallaxes is substantially less useful for understanding the nature of the halo lenses (if that is what they are). The backgrounds of asymmetries owing to binary-source and binary-lens events are estimated to be approximately 7% and 12%, respectively. These complicate the interpretation of detected parallax asymmetries, but not critically.
Influence of a Predecessor Rain Event on the Track of Tropical Cyclone Isaac (2012)

AbstractAnalysis of a predecessor rain event (PRE) over the Straits of Florida ahead of Tropical Cyclone (TC) Isaac on 25 August 2012 is presented. This PRE is unique compared to previously documented PREs in midlatitudes because it occurred over the oceanic subtropics and impacted the track of an approaching TC. The Isaac PRE developed in conjunction with a tropical moisture plume with precipitable water values over 60 mm that intersected a region of mid- and upper-level frontogenesis and warm air advection on the southeast flank of an upper-level trough. The PRE occurred in an environment with more abundant tropical moisture and weaker synoptic-scale forcing for ascent compared to the environments in which midlatitude PREs developed.The Isaac PRE contributed to the fracture of the upper-level trough through negative potential vorticity advection by convectively driven divergent outflow. Fracture of the upper-level trough and midlevel cyclonic vorticity amplification associated with the PRE acted to stee...
A Workshop for Distance Learning Educators of the 21st Century

There is evidence that the context for learning is undergoing a metamorphosis, that this metamorphosis brings with it a new relationship between the teacher and the student, and that distance learn...
A Purine and Pyrimidine Requirement for Paramecium multimicronucleatum

SUMMARY. After removal of nucleic acids, by enzymatic digestion and dialysis, from an unidentified component of the medium, it was possible to show specific purine and pyrimidine requirements for Paramecium multimicronudeatum. The purine requirement was satisfied by guanosine, deoxyguanosine, guanylic acid or deoxyguanylic acid, but not by any of the adenine derivatives. Cytidine, deoxycytidine, cytidylic acid, deoxycytidylic, uridine, uridylic acid or deoxyuridine would serve as the pyrimidine source, whereas thymidine and thymine would not. The free bases guanine, cytosine and uracil did not replace their respective pentose derivatives. Of the active compounds, the pentonucleosides were more active than the pentonucleotides. Inbsine, xanthine, 2,6-diamino-purine, 5-methylcytosine, and orotic acid did not support growth.
Stimulation of tyrosine-specific phosphorylation in vitro by insulin-like growth factor I

Several mitogens elicit tyrosine-specific protein kinase activities1–7. Although the physiological significance of this is unclear, the generality of these reactions implies that this may be an inherent feature of growth factor–growth factor receptor interactions. The observed mitogenic properties of the polypeptide insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I)8,9 indicated that it might also stimulate such activity. We report here that IGF-I stimulates a tyrosine-specific protein kinase in a time- and dose-dependent fashion. The close correspondence between an approximate 50% effective dose (ED50) of phosphorylation and an approximate Kd for IGF-I binding leads us to conclude that a high-affinity IGF-I receptor, not the structurally similar insulin receptor10, is the mediator of IGF-I-stimulated kinase activity. Immunoprecipitation indicates that both the β-subunit of the IGF-I receptor and the β-subunit of the insulin receptor are targets for the IGF-I-stimulated protein kinase.
Heat Exhaustion in Young Turkeys

Abstract INTRODUCTION WHOLLY unexpected and unusual hazards may arise to plague the producer of artificially brooded turkey poults. When disease has been reduced to the minimum through sanitary and preventive measures, still other factors may exact an unnecessary death toll. In a flock of about 6,000 young turkey poults brooded near Denver, many birds became victims of probable heat exhaustion. According to Dorland’s Medical Dictionary, heat exhaustion in human medicine is a form of heat stroke which occurs among workers in furnace rooms and under similar conditions, or from exposure to the sun’s heat. It is defined as a condition caused by exposure to excessive heat, natural or artificial, and may occur in one of three forms: (1) thermic fever or sunstroke, (2) heat exhaustion, or more rarely (3) heat cramps. Osler (1938) states that high humidity and exertion are predisposing causes of sunstroke or thermic fever. In the diagnosis of . . .
FUZZY LOGIC APPLICATIONS IN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

The purpose of this paper is to provide a survey of state of the art fuzzy logic applications in the field of transportation, illustrating the usefulness, and the promising future of the fuzzy approach. The majority of the discussion covers the area of fuzzy control. A wide range of Fuzzy Logic Controllers (FLCs) is discussed, ranging from traffic, to aircraft controllers. Although the majority of applications are to surface transportation, surveys of several aerospace applications are also given.
Effect of spin—orbit excitation on chemical reactivity: Laser transient absorption spectroscopy of Br(2P12, 2P32 + IBr reactive dynamics

Abstract A laser pulse-and-probe technique incorporating a tunable infrared color center laser is used to study the reactions and quenching of Br( 2 P 1 2 , 2 P 3 2 ) with IBr. A highly selective spin—orbit effect on chemical reactivity is observed. The ground-state reaction, Br( 2 P 3 2 )+IBr → Br 2 + 1, k = (4.6 ± 0.6)×10 −11 cm 3 molecule −1 s −1 proceeds at a rate ≥ 40 times faster than the rate of total Br- quenching and reaction with IBr.
Adopting pedestrian navigation techniques for multi-robot coordination

Even when walking in complex environments, human beings are able to easily share space and navigate comfortably past each other without explicit communication. Our recent work has sought to build models of this human navigation for the purposes of producing high-quality, cooperative, collision-free motion in multi-agent navigation tasks. We will first describe some recent approaches to modeling pedestrian interaction. Next, we discuss how these models can be adapted to automate mutual collision avoidance in multi-agent environments. Lastly, we briefly discuss some recent applications of these techniques to collaborative analysis of evacuation route planning.
Evolution versus Creationism in Education.

As part of the continuing series of the Reviewing Policy section, this article examines some of the recent literature on the creation-evolution controversy. These controversies are placed within a larger analysis of the growth of authoritarian populist movements in the United States. The article then focuses attention on debates both over a number of arguments surrounding the ways in which intelligent design had been justified and surrounding some of the dangers of possible arrogance that have been associated with the history of the popularization of evolutionary perspectives. The author then offers some strategic suggestions for going forward.
THE PROBLEM OF CHANGE IN EMOTIONS RESEARCH: NEW STANDARDS FOR ANGER IN TWENTIETH‐CENTURY AMERICAN CHILDREARING

A considerable body of historical work has recently been devoted to the study of emotion. Particular attention has been drawn to major changes during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Western emotional standards, and probably in emotional experience as well, as West European and American society moved toward more commercial, secular bases and as intense community ties diminished. This article summarizes and evaluates this literature, assessing the importance of dealing with change, and the causation and impact of change, in emotions research. Although change is not uniform in the history of the study of emotion, such that the early modern transformation of love, anger, grief, and other emotions stands out, important shifts have developed in more recent decades as well. The second half of the article offers a case study of one such shift, as childrearing standards toward anger moved from an emphasis on channeling the emotion toward useful ends to an effort to repress or defuse anger through talking-out. This change, with interesting echoes in American adult perceptions, can be explained by new behavioral science emphases (on aggression) but particularly by the shift toward a service, and thus customer-pleasing, economy.
Genes2FANs: connecting genes through functional association networks.

Protein-protein, cell signaling, metabolic, and transcriptional interaction networks are useful for identifying connections between lists of experimentally identified genes/proteins. However, besides physical or co-expression interactions there are many ways in which pairs of genes, or their protein products, can be associated. By systematically incorporating knowledge on shared properties of genes from diverse sources to build functional association networks (FANs), researchers may be able to identify additional functional interactions between groups of genes that are not readily apparent. Genes2FANs is a web based tool and a database that utilizes 14 carefully constructed FANs and a large-scale protein-protein interaction (PPI) network to build subnetworks that connect lists of human and mouse genes. The FANs are created from mammalian gene set libraries where mouse genes are converted to their human orthologs. The tool takes as input a list of human or mouse Entrez gene symbols to produce a subnetwork and a ranked list of intermediate genes that are used to connect the query input list. In addition, users can enter any PubMed search term and then the system automatically converts the returned results to gene lists using GeneRIF. This gene list is then used as input to generate a subnetwork from the user’s PubMed query. As a case study, we applied Genes2FANs to connect disease genes from 90 well-studied disorders. We find an inverse correlation between the counts of links connecting disease genes through PPI and links connecting diseases genes through FANs, separating diseases into two categories. Genes2FANs is a useful tool for interpreting the relationships between gene/protein lists in the context of their various functions and networks. Combining functional association interactions with physical PPIs can be useful for revealing new biology and help form hypotheses for further experimentation. Our finding that disease genes in many cancers are mostly connected through PPIs whereas other complex diseases, such as autism and type-2 diabetes, are mostly connected through FANs without PPIs, can guide better strategies for disease gene discovery. Genes2FANs is available at: http://actin.pharm.mssm.edu/genes2FANs .
Response‐adaptive randomization for clinical trials with adjustment for covariate imbalance

In clinical trials with a small sample size, the characteristics (covariates) of patients assigned to different treatment arms may not be well balanced. This may lead to an inflated type I error rate. This problem can be more severe in trials that use response-adaptive randomization rather than equal randomization because the former may result in smaller sample sizes for some treatment arms. We have developed a patient allocation scheme for trials with binary outcomes to adjust the covariate imbalance during response-adaptive randomization. We used simulation studies to evaluate the performance of the proposed design. The proposed design keeps the important advantage of a standard response-adaptive design, that is to assign more patients to the better treatment arms, and thus it is ethically appealing. On the other hand, the proposed design improves over the standard response-adaptive design by controlling covariate imbalance between treatment arms, maintaining the nominal type I error rate, and offering greater power.
Mechanisms of granular spontaneous stratification and segregation in two-dimensional silos

Spontaneous stratification of granular mixtures has been reported by Makse et al. [Nature (London) 386, 379 (1997)] when a mixture of grains differing in size and shape is poured in a quasi-two-dimensional heap. We study this phenomenon using two different approaches. First, we introduce a cellular automaton model that illustrates clearly the physical mechanism; the model displays stratification whenever the large grains are rougher than the small grains, in agreement with the experiments. Moreover, the dynamics are close to those of the experiments, where the layers are built through a ``kink'' at which the rolling grains are stopped. Second, we develop a continuum approach, based on a recently introduced set of coupled equations for surface flows of granular mixtures that allows us to make quantitative predictions for relevant quantities. This approach includes amplification (i.e., static grains entering the flow of rolling grains), a phenomenon neglected in the cellular automaton model. We study the continuum model in two limit regimes: the large flux or thick flow regime, where the percolation effect (i.e., segregation of the rolling grains in the flow) is important, and the small flux or thin flow regime, where all the rolling grains are in contact with the surface of the sandpile. (1) In the thick-flow regime, where most experiments are carried out, the flowing grains are segregated in the rolling phase; as they are flowing down, the large rolling grains are convected to the top of the rolling layer, and only the small rolling grains interact with the sandpile. We include this effect in the continuum model and find results very close to the experiments. (2) In the thin-flow regime, we find interesting results that are close to the thick-flow limit. However, due to the presence of cross-amplification processes, we find a small regime that shows stratification when the small grains are slightly rougher than the large grains, but stratification is much more pronounced if the large grains are rougher. We study in detail the dynamical process for stratification, where the layers are built through a ``kink'' mechanism, and find the dependence of the size of the layers on the parameters of the system. We find that the wavelength of the layers behaves linearly with the flux of grains. We also find a crossover behavior of the wavelength at the transition from the thin-flow to the thick-flow regime. We obtain analytical predictions for the shape of the kink giving rise to stratification as well as the profile of the rolling and static species when segregation of the species is observed.
Chromatography and biological stains. III. Comparison of the fat staining efficiency of fractions of commercial Sudan III separated by column chromatography.

Fractions of commercial Sudan III which were separated by column chromatography were compared for fat staining efficiency. Paraffin sections of chromated mouse liver tissue and sections of both fresh and formalin-fixed rat liver tissue or Musca domestica larvae, cut with the freezing microtome, were used. Evidence is presented that a sample of very highly purified Sudan III has no ability to render a fat stain in fresh, formalin-fixed or chromated tissue. However, certain other fractions from the commercial sample, some completely devoid of Sudan III, had good staining characteristics. It is concluded that some substance or substances, other than Sudan III, is responsible for the staining action of the commercial dye.
Culture and Education

The author reviews the primary frameworks through which North American sociologists have conceived of the relation between formal education and culture and explains how sociologists' preponderant conception of formal schooling as an individual-level phenomenon and a metrical quantity has come to constrain intellectual progress in much of the subfield. The author offers two analytic strategies that might help loosen this constraint.
ANCA Are Pathogenic—Oh Yes They Are!

During the past two decades, remarkable progress has been made in our understanding of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA) and the associated diseases. The early years were marked by the discovery and elucidation of the antigens that were the targets of the ANCA autoimmune response ([1
Specifying the antecedents of breast-feeding duration in Peru through a structural equation model.

Objective: To examine the effects of socioeconomic status and biocultural variables (planned pregnancy, prenatal care, timing of initiation of breast-feeding and caesarean section delivery) on breast-feeding duration in Peru using structural equation models. Design and setting: Structural equation models were analysed with LISREL using data from the 1991‐92 Peruvian Demographic and Health Survey. Subjects: Models were tested among 6020 women whose last child was born within 5 years of the survey and among 2711 women whose last child was born 2‐5 years preceding the survey. Results: Unplanned pregnancy and socioeconomic status had a negative influence on breast-feeding duration. Prenatal care was positively associated with the timing of breast-feeding initiation in both samples and with breast-feeding duration in the whole sample. The timing of breast-feeding initiation was inversely associated with breast-feeding duration only in the sample of older children. Conclusions: These results imply that an unplanned pregnancy, a delayed breastfeeding initiation, and higher socioeconomic status are risk factors for an earlier discontinuation of breast-feeding through complex mechanisms involving direct and indirect effects.
Observability of charge asymmetries for lepton pairs produced in present collider experiments

Abstract Now that collider experiments at CERN (√ s =0.63 TeV) and Fermilab (√ s =1.8 TeV) each are accumulating data samples of several events per picobarn, it becomes possible to observe Drell-Yan production of lepton pairs in the continuum below and above the Z, where the standard electroweak theory predicts forward-backward asymmetries to be large. The conditions needed to observe an effect are estimated, and the unique character of the measurement is stressed.
The i-umlaut of the Old English West Saxon diphthongs (again)

The attention by ‘modern’ linguists to the problems of Old English diphthongal spellings and their phonetic realizations may perhaps be dated (without doing anyone an injury) from the study by Robert P. Stockwell and C. Barritt (1951). Since that time much ink has been spilled (or typewriter ribbons worn out) in attempts to specify in some precise and principled way the phonological structure of the entities spelled in Old English ea, eo, io, Ia and ie. I will spare the reader a review of these articles and commentaries since such a review would prove both tiresome and uninformative.
Does delirium contribute to poor hospital outcomes? A three-site epidemiologic study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the independent contribution of admission delirium to hospital outcomes including mortality, institutionalization, and functional decline. DESIGN: Three prospective cohort studies. SETTING: Three university-affiliated teaching hospitals. PATIENTS: Consecutive samples of 727 patients, aged 65 years and older. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Delirum was present at admission in 88 (12%) of 727 patients. The main outcome measures at hospital discharge and 3-month follow-up were death, new nursing home placement, death or new nursing home placement, and functional decline. At hospital discharge, new nursing home placement occurred in 60 (9%) of 692 patients, and the adjusted odds ratio (OR) for delirium, controlling for baseline covariates of age, gender, dementia, APACHE II score, and functional measures, was 3.0, (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.4, 6.2). Death or new nursing home placement occurred in 95 (13%) of 727 patients (adjusted OR for delirium 2.1, 95% CI 1.1, 4.0). The findings were replicated across all sites. The associations between delirium and death alone (in 35 [5%] of 727 patients) and between delirium and length of stay were not statistically significant. At 3-month follow-up, new nursing home placement occurred in 77 (13%) of 600 patients (adjusted OR for delirium 3.0; 95% CI 1.5, 6.0). Death or new nursing home placement occurred in 165 (25%) of 663 patients (adjusted OR for delirium 2.6; 95% CI 1.4, 4.5). The findings were replicated across all sites. For death alone (in 98 [14%] of 680 patients), the adjusted OR for delirium was 1.6 (95% CI 0.8, 3.2). Delirium was a significant predictor of functional decline at both hospital discharge (adjusted OR 3.0; 95% CI 1.6, 5.8) and follow-up (adjusted OR 2.7; 95% CI 1.4, 5.2). CONCLUSIONS: Delirium is an important independent prognostic determinant of hospital outcomes including new nursing home placement, death or new nursing home placement, and functional decline—even after controlling for age, gender, dementia, illness severity, and functional status. Thus, delirium should be considered as a prognostic variable in case-mix adjustment systems and in studies examining hospital outcomes in older persons.
Competition under continuous technological change

This paper examines competition patterns and competitive strategies when technology changes continually. It first discusses optimal behavior for investment in technology. It is argued that although technological innovations supersede existing technologies, there are economically justifiable barriers to investing in the new technologies. These economic barriers, coupled with continuous technological change, have implications for certain aspects of strategy, such as entry by means of new technologies, timing of entry, leapfrog-type competition, vertical integration, the productivity dilemma, and escalating commitment. Finally, the industrial transformation of the steel industry is used as an example to illustrate these implications.
Rapid Acclimation Ability Mediated by Transcriptome Changes in Reef-Building Corals.

Population response to environmental variation involves adaptation, acclimation, or both. For long-lived organisms, acclimation likely generates a faster response but is only effective if the rates and limits of acclimation match the dynamics of local environmental variation. In coral reef habitats, heat stress from extreme ocean warming can occur over several weeks, resulting in symbiont expulsion and widespread coral death. However, transcriptome regulation during short-term acclimation is not well understood. We examined acclimation during a 11-day experiment in the coral Acropora nana. We acclimated colonies to three regimes: ambient temperature (29 °C), increased stable temperature (31 °C), and variable temperature (29–33 °C), mimicking local heat stress conditions. Within 7–11 days, individuals acclimated to increased temperatures had higher tolerance to acute heat stress. Despite physiological changes, no gene expression changes occurred during acclimation before acute heat stress. However, we found strikingly different transcriptional responses to heat stress between acclimation treatments across 893 contigs. Across these contigs, corals acclimated to higher temperatures (31 °C or 29–33 °C) exhibited a muted stress response—the magnitude of expression change before and after heat stress was less than in 29 °C acclimated corals. Our results show that corals have a rapid phase of acclimation that substantially increases their heat resilience within 7 days and that alters their transcriptional response to heat stress. This is in addition to a previously observed longer term response, distinguishable by its shift in baseline expression, under nonstressful conditions. Such rapid acclimation may provide some protection for this species of coral against slow onset of warming ocean temperatures.
Integration of vision modules: a game-theoretic framework

A variety of architectures have been proposed for integrating vision modules into a complete system. An examination of these systems indicates that they either lack analytic/computational tractability or are based on restrictive assumptions such as global additivity or sequential, decoupled solution of objectives. The authors introduce a framework of integration which overcomes both of these shortcomings. This proposed model is based on game-theoretic setting in which a correspondence between a vision system and a N-player game is established. The authors demonstrate the power of such a model within a comparative study in the context of a system aimed at delineating 2-D deformable contours from noisy images. >
Young Blood Rejuvenates the Aging Brain

Vampires may rise nightly at twilight, but with their blood-based diet, they’ll never experience their twilight years—or the associated deterioration in cognitive function. Among nonvampires, aging is the primary risk factor for dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease. As the aged population expands, so does the prevalence of cognitive impairment, making the identification of strategies to counteract deterioration in brain function a priority. To address this issue, Villeda et al . revive an old technique, termed "heterochronic parabiosis," which involves surgically connecting the circulatory systems of two mice, one young and one old, so that they share blood. Previous studies have demonstrated that instilling young blood into an old rodent can rejuvenate peripheral tissues, such as liver and muscle, and can stimulate the birth of new nerve cells in the brain. The authors show that this method can also counteract age-related declines in learning and memory by activating specific signaling pathways in the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in learning. First, they identified families of genes that are altered in the hippocampus when young and old mice share blood. This information led to the discovery of age-related declines in the expression of many genes involved in synaptic plasticity, the molecular process by which neurons form new connections. These declines were prevented by heterochronic parabiosis, suggesting that young blood can directly counteract detrimental aspects of the aging process in the brain. Regular injections of young blood into old animals had a similar effect. Young blood also prevented both electrophysiological and behavioral deficits in learning and memory in old mice. The authors found that levels of phosphorylated Creb, a transcription factor known to be instrumental in learning and memory, increased significantly when old mice received young blood. Furthermore, they found that by lowering Creb levels, the restorative effects of young blood on the hippocampus were blocked. Thus, they concluded that young blood enhances cognition in old animals via a Creb-dependent mechanism. These experiments raise the fascinating possibility that transfusion of blood or specific bloodborne factors from young humans might rejuvenate the aged human brain. Although subjecting large populations of elderly people to blood transfusions from young donors is unlikely to be clinically feasible, the use of specific active molecules in young blood as antiaging therapeutics might be. Unfortunately, this paper did not go so far as to identify the brain-saving factors in young blood. Further studies are needed to identify these factors and to evaluate the efficacy of this intervention in older humans. S. A. Villeda et al ., Young blood reverses age-related impairments in cognitive function and synaptic plasticity in mice. Nat. Med. 10.1038/nm.3569 (2014). [[PubMed]][1] [1]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24793238
Predictors of Placement Recommendations for Children with Behavioral or Emotional Disorders.

This study investigated the relationship among teacher efficacy, child socioeconomic status (SES), child ethnicity, and educational placement recommendations concerning children with behavioral or ...
Aggressive behavior in female golden hamsters: development and the effect of repeated social stress

In male golden hamsters, agonistic behavior matures during puberty, changing from play fighting to adult-like aggression. In addition, this transition is accelerated by repeated social subjugation early in puberty. However, little is known about the development of agonistic behavior in females. In the present study, we compared the development of agonistic behavior in male and female golden hamsters. Furthermore, we also tested the effects of repeated social subjugation on the development of agonistic behavior during puberty. Hamsters were tested for agonistic behavior in the presence of a smaller intruder at different intervals during puberty. Several observations were made. First, the frequency of attacks remained stable in females, while varying in males. Second, the transition from play fighting to adult-like aggression occurred at earlier time periods in females than in males. Finally, a clear transitional period marked by attacks focused on the flanks was observable in males around mid-puberty. However, this transitional period was not apparent in females. In addition, juvenile females were exposed to aggressive adult males or females. In both cases, repeated exposure to stress had no statistically significant effect on the development of agonistic behavior. After 2 weeks of subjugation, exposure to aggressive adults had no effect on serum cortisol levels, indicating that juvenile females habituate to repeated social stress. These data show significant sex differences in the development of agonistic behavior and adaptation to repeated stress in juvenile golden hamsters.
Perspectives – Minimizing Observer Bias in Behavioral Studies: A Review and Recommendations

Since the 1970s, texts on research methods in animal behavior advocate that researchers minimize potential observer bias in their studies. One way to minimize possible bias is to record or score behavioral data blind to treatment, group, or individual. Another way to reduce bias is for researchers to analyze subsets or entire sets of data independently of one another and to obtain high inter-observer reliability of behavioral coding. We reviewed several hundred published articles from 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010 in five leading animal behavior journals and found that these two methods for minimizing or eliminating bias were rarely reported ( 80% of articles reviewed). The lack of reporting attempts to minimize bias in animal behavior studies suggests that, at best, many researchers view blind analyses of data or inter-rater reliability as unimportant components of research or, if carried out, unnecessary to report in a manuscript. At worst, the lack of reporting attempts to minimize bias suggests that some published behavioral research may be unreliable. We are aware of constraints imposed by fieldwork and data collecting issues that make blind data comparisons or inter-rater reliability assessments sometimes difficult or unfeasible. However, given that research ethicists often emphasize the fundamental importance of trust and transparency in science, we urge authors, reviewers, and editors of manuscripts to ensure that at least one of these two methods of reducing and reporting observer bias occurs.
Molecular cloning and analysis of full-length cDNAs cognate to a rat gene under multihormonal control☆

Abstract Gene 33 is a multihormonally regulated rat gene whose transcription is rapidly and markedly enhanced by glucocorticoids, insulin, or cAMP. A cDNA clone (p216) containing a nearly full-length DNA complementary to the mRNA of this gene was isolated from a cDNA library and sequenced. The cDNA represents the entire mRNA transcript, except for three bases at the 5′ terminus. The message is 2970 nucleotides long and can encode a protein of 459 amino acids with a molecular mass of 49,919 Da. The deduced amino acid sequence is rich in proline and serine but bears little homology to any known sequences. The 5′ untranslated region, rich in G + C, is 270 nucleotides long and contains two apparently nonfunctional AUG initiator codons. The 3′ untranslated sequence, rich in A + U, is 1323 nucleotides long and has a polyadenylation signal 13 bases upstream of the poly(A) tract. Two mRNA transcripts of the gene, which appear to be the consequence of alternative usage of splice sites, have been identified. The less abundant mRNA is truncated by 228 nucleotides in the protein coding region. The reading frame is maintained and this mRNA can code for a protein of 383 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 42,204 Da.
CORRELATION OF ACUTE PROSTACYCLIN RESPONSE IN PRIMARY (UNEXPLAINED) PULMONARY HYPERTENSION WITH EFFICACY OF TREATMENT WITH CALCIUM CHANNEL BLOCKERS AND SURVIVAL

Unexplained, or primary, pulmonary hypertension, is usually a rapidly fatal disease, in which the use of vasodilator therapy is controversial (14, 22, 25). While some authors have proposed that there may be a significant vasoconstrictive component to the increased pulmonary arterial pressure and resistance (2, 7, 11, 19), others have indicated that such a component is usually small and/or unimportant (13). This controversy has likely arisen because the disease is relatively uncommon, its pathogenesis is not understood, it is usually diagnosed late in the natural history, and the rate of progression is variable between patients. Yet investigation into the problem is important because persons afflicted are often young and otherwise healthy. Needed was a prospective, longitudinal study in a relatively large group of patients, where the magnitude of the vasoconstrictive component could be measured acutely and compared to results of long term treatment.
Therapeutic activity of mTOR inhibitors in mantle cell lymphoma: clues but no clear answers.

Therapeutic inhibition of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) has recently demonstrated a 30% to 40% response rate in patients with relapsed mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).1,2 However, the exact m...