cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The two-photon induced fluorescence of the tumor localizing photosensitizer hematoporphyrin derivative via 1064 NM photons from a 20 NS Q-switched Nd-YAG laser

We demonstrate the direct 1064 nm two-photon excitation of hematoporphyrin derivative (HPD), a complex mixture of photosensitizing porphyrins which is selectively retained in tumor tissue and used in cancer photochemotherapy. Although 1064 nm is outside of the one-photon HPD absorption spectrum, two-photon induced fluorescence from HPD was observed following excitation by the 20 ns output of an amplified, Q-switched Nd-YAG laser at peak power levels of 0.1 to 3 GW/cm2. Evidence for the successful two-photon excitation to vibrational levels of the S1 state consists of the observation of the known HPD fluorescence spectrum exhibiting peaks at approximately 615 and 675 nm, with the observed two-photon induced fluorescence intensity exhibiting a quadratic dependence on the excitation laser intensity as required for a direct two-photon process. More generally, these results suggest the possibility for the achievement of photosensitized oxidations utilizing photons of lower energy than that required for single photon excitation, offering the potential for both greater selectivity and a reduction in competing photochemical processes.
On the continuing utility of argument in a postmodern world

In this essay we contend that traditional theories of argument are consonant with and enrich the project of postmodernity. Reading postmodernity as ‘a rhetoric’ underscores how the process of discursively resolving conflicts is occasionally threatened by politically motivated efforts to misuse the methods of argument; it alerts us to the egregious acts that are and can be performed ‘in the name of,’ but not because of, rationality. Postmodernity is thus an attempt by a new generation of theorists to recast and draw attention to perennial philosophical problems in the context of contemporary political difficulties.
Nantenine as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor: SAR, enzyme kinetics and molecular modeling investigations

Nantenine, as well as a number of flexible analogs, were evaluated for acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity in microplate spectrophotometric assays based on Ellman's method. It was found that the rigid aporphine core of nantenine is an important structural requirement for its anticholinesterase activity. Nantenine showed mixed inhibition kinetics in enzyme assays. Molecular docking experiments suggest that nantenine binds preferentially to the catalytic site of AChE but is also capable of interacting with the peripheral anionic site (PAS) of the enzyme, thus accounting for its mixed inhibition profile. The aporphine core of nantenine may thus be a useful template for the design of novel PAS or dual-site AChE inhibitors. Inhibiting the PAS is desirable for prevention of aggregation of the amyloid peptide Aβ, a major causative factor in the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Political documentary, YouTube and the 2008 US presidential election: Focus on Robert Greenwald and David N. Bossie

AbstractThis essay investigates elements of the changing media landscape between the 2004 and the 2008 US presidential elections, focusing on the audio-visual works of two prominent independent organizations: Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films and David Bossie's Citizens United. After Kerry's defeat in 2004, Greenwald's organization gradually shifted from its production of political documentaries such as Uncovered: The Truth About the War in Iraq to a heavy reliance on YouTube and video campaigns such as “The Real McCain.” Citizens United, stung by the success of the numerous liberal-left documentaries of 2004 (by Greenwald, Michael Moore and others), produced a number of documentaries in 2008 including Hillary: The Movie and Hype: The Obama Effect, but put little energy into exploiting video streaming, video sharing and related technologies. Although Brave New Films videos were widely viewed on the Internet and played a significant role in the campaign, the flourishing of music videos on YouTube—over 1,0...
Microarray Chip Development Using Infrared Imaging for the Identification of Catfish Species

Several families of catfish species are extensively aquacultured around the world; however, only those from the family Ictaluridae can be labeled as catfish in the United States. Non-Ictalurid catfish species that are marketed as "catfish" in the USA are considered misbranded. Misbranding in general has led to an increased interest in developing deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-based methods such as DNA barcoding, polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism, and DNA microarrays with fluorescence detection for the identification of fish species. In this proof-of-concept study, DNA microarrays coupled with a newly developed mid-infrared imaging detection method were applied to the identification of seven species of catfish for the first time. Species-specific DNA probes targeting three regions per species of the cytochrome c oxidase 1 (barcoding) gene were developed and printed as microarrays on glass slides. Deoxyribonucleic acid targets labeled with biotin were hybridized to their complementary probes using a strategy that allowed the selective formation of a silver layer on hybridized spots needed for detection. Using this three-probe format, the seven species were all identified correctly, even when a limited number of false positive spots were observed. Raman spectroscopy was employed to further characterize the arrays.
The Perfect Ocean for Drought

The 1998-2002 droughts spanning the United States, southern Europe, and Southwest Asia were linked through a common oceanic influence. Cold sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the eastern tropical Pacific and warm SSTs in the western tropical Pacific and Indian oceans were remarkably persistent during this period. Climate models show that the climate signals forced separately by these regions acted synergistically, each contributing to widespread mid-latitude drying: an ideal scenario for spatially expansive, synchronized drought. The warmth of the Indian and west Pacific oceans was unprecedented and consistent with greenhouse gas forcing. Some implications are drawn for future drought.
Repeated Downsian electoral competition

We analyze an infinitely repeated version of the Downsian model of elections. The folk theorem suggests that a wide range of policy paths can be supported by subgame perfect equilibria when parties and voters are sufficiently patient. We go beyond this result by imposing several suitable refinements and by giving separate weak conditions on the patience of voters and the patience of parties under which every policy path can be supported. On the other hand, we show that only majority undominated policy paths can be supported in equilibrium for arbitrarily low voter discount factors: if the core is empty, the generic case in multiple dimensions, then voter impatience leads us back to the problem of non-existence of equilibrium. We extend this result to give conditions under which core equivalence holds for a non-trivial range of voter and party discount factors, providing a game-theoretic version of the Median Voter Theorem in a model of repeated Downsian elections.
Design Of A Millimeter Wave Quasi-Optical Power Combiner For IMPATT Diodes

A quasi-optical power combiner was designed to couple millimeter wave radiation from a number of IMPATT diodes to produce a single power source. Phase coupling at 35 GHz has been accomplished and rf power exceeded the sum of the individual diode outputs. Millimeter waves of high spectral purity, less than 50 kHz bandwidth, were produced. Although problems of coupling loop impedance matching have not been fully solved, the results of this experiment should encourage the production of large arrays of millimeter wave diodes in monolithic integrated circuits.
Activation of adenyl cyclase in thyroid homogenates by thyroid-stimulating hormone

Abstract It has been proposed that cyclic 3′,5′-AMP mediates the effect of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) on the thyroid. The evidence in support of this hypothesis is as follows: a. TSH increases the levels of cyclic 3′,5′-AMP in thyroid slices (Gilman and Rall, 1966); and b. dibutyryl cyclic 3′,5′-AMP, an analogue of cyclic 3′,5′-AMP, reproduces in thyroid slices the effects of TSH on glucose oxidation, phospholipid synthesis and the induction of pseudopods and intracellular colloid droplets (Pastan, 1966; , Pastan and Wollman, 1967) . The present paper shows that TSH added to thyroid homogenates increases the rate of synthesis of cyclic 3′,5′-AMP.
NADPH oxidase-derived reactive oxygen species contribute to impaired cutaneous microvascular function in chronic kidney disease.

Oxidative stress promotes vascular dysfunction in chronic kidney disease (CKD). We utilized the cutaneous circulation to test the hypothesis that reactive oxygen species derived from NADPH oxidase ...
Predeployment Gender Differences in Stressors and Mental Health Among U.S. National Guard Troops Poised for Operation Iraqi Freedom Deployment

Increased exposure of women soldiers to combat in current conflicts heightens interest in the question of whether risk and resilience factors differ for female and male military personnel prior to deployment. The authors examined this question in a panel of 522 National Guard soldiers (462 men and 60 women) poised for deployment to Iraq. Soldiers completed a battery of self-report measures, including the PTSD Checklist, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and scales from the Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory. Modest differences were observed between women and men on predeployment risk factors and some risk-related correlations with PTSD and depression measures; however, gender did not moderate the associations between hypothesized risk/resilience factors and baseline mental health. Implications for interventions and future research are discussed.
Limits of Parallelism and Boosting in Dim Silicon

Supply-voltage scaling has stagnated in recent technology nodes, leading to so-called dark silicon. To increase overall chip multiprocessor (CMP) performance, it is necessary to improve the energy efficiency of individual tasks so that more tasks can be executed simultaneously within thermal limits. In this article, the authors investigate the limit of voltage scaling together with task parallelization to maintain task completion latency while reducing energy consumption. Additionally, they examine improvements in energy efficiency and parallelism when serial portions of code can be overcome through quickly boosting a core's operating voltage. When accounting for parallelization overheads, minimum task energy is obtained at near-threshold supply voltages across six commercial technology nodes and provides 4× improvement in overall CMP performance. Boosting is most effective when the task is modestly parallelizable but not highly parallelizable.
Transglutaminase catalyzed incorporation of putrescine into surface proteins of mouse neuroblastoma cells

Transglutaminase, purified from guinea pig liver, was used to catalyze the incorporation of [14C]putrescine into exposed surface proteins of intact mouse neuroblastoma cells. This method specifically labeled two surface proteins (Mr = 92 000 and 76 000) in the N-18 mouse neuroblastoma cells and three surface proteins (Mr = 92 000, 76 000, and 72 000) in the NB-15 mouse neuroblastoma cells. In addition, transglutaminase also catalyzed cross-linking reactions of exposed surface proteins. In both the N-18 and NB-15 cells, differentiation was accompanied by a 2-fold increase of specific radioactivity incorporated into trichloroacetic acid insoluble cellular material, suggesting that the differentiated mouse neuroblastoma cells may possess greater amount of accessible peptide-bound glutaminyl residues on their surface than their malignant counterparts. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and fluorographic method revealed that while the [14C]putrescine-labeled protein patterns of undifferentiated and differentiated mouse neuroblastoma cells were similar, the intensity of labeling of individual bands was specifically modulated by cell differentiation.
Electronic Sensing Devices Used for In Situ Ground Water Monitoring

Progress in the fields of electronics and computers has produced data-acquisition equipment beneficial to ground water field studies. This equipment controls data collection from sensing devices and saves the data for later processing. There are many types of sensors available for in situ use in water quality monitoring wells, observation wells and water supply wells. Sensors are separated into two groups, those used to measure water levels and those used to measure water quality parameters. There are three major types of sensors for measuring water levels. They are floats, transducers and acoustic devices. Most types have proven accuracy and can be successfully applied to short-term monitoring (i.e., aquifer tests) and long-term field studies (i.e., one month to multi-year trend analyses). They are most cost-effective when augmented with the programmability of computers. For example, water level measurements are made only when the water level has changed some predetermined amount. Sensors to measure water quality include those that measure temperature, pH, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen and specific ions. Unlike water level sensors the accuracy of water quality sensors, with the exception of temperature, is difficult to verify in field conditions. This is because measurement of water quality parameters is dependent on the water in contact with the sensor being representative of the ground water in the formation. In addition, the performance of the sensor over periods greater than a few hours is reduced either because of the naturally occurring constituents in the water that interfere with the sensor or because of loss of sensor calibration. A potential use of water quality sensors for in situ investigations is to aid in surveillance monitoring to indicate the arrival of contaminants at the earliest possible moment. This has a narrow limit of practicality at this time because of problems associated with sensor accuracy. Many water quality sensing devices are well-suited for research purposes. This includes measuring the migration of thermal fronts and application in conducting tracer tests.
Hydrolysis of urinary estrogen and 17-ketosteroid glucosiduronides by bacterial and mammalian B beta-glucuronidases.

Abstract The β-glucuronidase prepared from Escherichia coli was found to be much more effective than that obtained from beef liver in the hydrolysis of estrogen and 17-ketosteroid glucosiduronides of human pregnancy urine. Incubation at 50 ° improved the effectiveness of the mammalian enzyme, permitting maximal liberation of 17-ketosteroids but not of estrogens after 24 hr. of incubation. Excessively long periods of incubation with the bacterial enzyme lowered the yield of estrogen but not of 17-ketosteroid. The liberation of estriol from purified estriol glucosiduronides in buffered aqueous solution took place more rapidly with bacterial β-glucuronidase than with the beef-liver enzyme and was more rapid than the liberation of estrogen from pregnancy urine by these enzymes. From 50 to 70% of the activity of both the bacterial and mammalian enzyme preparations added to pregnancy urine was lost after 24 hr. of incubation at 37 ° as measured by the hydrolysis of phenolphthalein glucosiduronide. The inactivation of the bacterial enzyme was accelerated, rather than retarded, by the adition of CHCl3 and EDTA and reduced the yields of estrogen and 17-ketosteroids. Since the comparative activities of these β-glucuronidase preparations toward phenolphthalein glucosiduronide do not parallel their activities toward the steroid glucosiduronides in pregnancy urine, it is evident, that the ability to hydrolyze the former is not an adequate criterion for judging the effectiveness of these enzymes toward other substrates.
Gene therapy for haemophilia: Prospects and challenges to prevent or reverse inhibitor formation

Monogenic hereditary diseases, such as haemophilia A and B, are ideal targets for gene therapeutic approaches. While these diseases can be treated with protein therapeutics, such as factor VIII (F8) or IX (F9), the notion that permanent transfer of the genes encoding these factors can cure haemophilia is very attractive. An underlying problem with a gene therapy approach, however, is the patient’s immune response to the therapeutic protein (as well as to the transmission vector), leading to the formation of inhibitory antibodies. Even more daunting is reversing an existing immune response in patients with pre-existing inhibitors. In this review, we will describe the laboratory and clinical progress, and the challenges met thus far, in achieving the goal of gene therapy efficacy, with a focus on the goal of tolerance induction.
Structural studies on ceramides as lithiated adducts by low energy collisional-activated dissociation tandem mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization

We applied electrospray ionization (ESI) tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry to establish the fragmentation pathways of ceramides under low energy collisional-activated dissociation (CAD) by studying more than thirty compounds in nine subclasses. The product-ion spectra of the [M + Li]+ ions of ceramides contain abundant fragment ions that identify the fatty acyl substituent and the long-chain base (LCB) of the molecules, and thus, the structure of ceramides can be easily determined. Fragment ions specific to each ceramide subclasses are also observed. These feature ions permit differentiation among different ceramide subclasses. The ion series arising from the classical C-C bond cleavages that were reported in the fast-atom bombardment (FAB)-high energy tandem mass spectrometry is not observable; however, the product-ion spectra contain multiple fragment ions informative for structural characterization and isomer identification. We also investigated the tandem mass spectra of the fragment ions generated by in-source CAD (pseudo-MS3) and of the deuterium-labeling molecular species obtained by H/D exchange to support the ion structure assignments and the proposed fragmentation pathways that lead to the ion formation.
Mechanism of atomic autoionization

Analysis of the coupling matrix elements between quasibound and free states of doubly excited helium provides an unambiguous mechanistic interpretation of autoionization by electron correlation. The analysis is based on the dependence of the integrand of the matrix elements on the distances r/sub 1/ and r/sub 2/ and the angle theta/sub 12/, and on the separation of the total amplitude into a part containing only one-electron operators and a part comprising 1/r/sub 12/. The former gives rise to the normally dominant part, a generalized S/sub N/-2 mechanism; the latter, usually a smaller part, is the direct electron-electron, binary-collision contribution.
Polar Localization and Compartmentalization of ClpP Proteases during Growth and Sporulation in Bacillus subtilis

Spatial control of proteolysis is emerging as a common feature of regulatory networks in bacteria. In the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus subtilis, the peptidase ClpP can associate with any of three ATPases: ClpC, ClpE, and ClpX. Here, we report that ClpCP, ClpEP, and ClpXP localize in foci often near the poles of growing cells and that ClpP and the ATPase are each capable of polar localization independently of the other component. A region of ClpC containing an AAA domain was necessary and sufficient for polar localization. We also report that ClpCP and ClpXP proteases differentially localize to the forespore and mother cell compartments of the sporangium during spore formation. Moreover, model substrates for each protease created by appending recognition sequences for ClpCP or ClpXP to the green fluorescent protein were preferentially eliminated from the forespore or the mother cell, respectively. Biased accumulation of ClpCP in the forespore may contribute to the cell-specific activation of the transcription factor sigma(F) by preferential ClpCP-dependent degradation of the anti-sigma(F) factor SpoIIAB.
Insights From Health Care in Germany

German Statutory Health Insurance (national health insurance) has remained relatively intact over the past century, even in the face of governmental change and recent reforms. The overall story of German national health insurance is one of political compromise and successful implementation of communitarian values. Several key lessons from the German experience can be applied to the American health care system.
Hydrophobic Interactions of Hexane in Nanosized Water Droplets

We use all-atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to study hydrophobic interactions of hexane in nanosized water droplets where the hydrogen bonding network of water molecules is disrupted at the surface. As a result of the competition between the energetics of a hexane molecule and the distribution of water molecules that lost the ability to form hydrogen bonds at the boundary, all-trans-hexane molecules are statistically favored at the surface of a nanosized water droplet and such a statistical trend increases as the size of a nano water droplet decreases. Changes in the radial distribution and the orientation of water molecules surrounding hexane in nanosized water droplets over bulk water are indicative of the finite-size effects on the structural distribution of a short, topologically complex hydrocarbon chain.
Optical Control of Microwave Phase

The detected phase of a microwave signal modulated on an optical carrier can be modified by driving the photodetector into saturation. We demonstrate a phase change of ~60 degrees at 20 GHz.
Both Lumenal and Cytosolic Gating of the Aqueous ER Translocon Pore Are Regulated from Inside the Ribosome during Membrane Protein Integration

Portions of the nascent chain are exposed to the lumen, the cytosol, or neither at different stages during the cotranslational integration of a protein into the ER membrane, as shown by compartment-specific collisional quenching of fluorophores incorporated into the polypeptide. The opening or closing of each end of the aqueous translocon pore is tightly controlled and occurs in a sequence that does not compromise the membrane's permeability barrier. Surprisingly, these structural changes at the membrane are effected by the transmembrane segment in the nascent protein from inside the ribosome. Thus, the ribosome, not the translocon, first recognizes the transmembrane segment and triggers long-range structural changes at the translocon that may be involved in shifting its function from translocation to integration.
Duration of tonic immobility in chickens as a function of alpha-adrenergic receptor stimulation and blockade ☆

Abstract Tonic immobility in chickens was influenced by a variety of drugs that act on the adrenergic neurochemical system of the body. Alpha 1 agonists such as methoxamine and phenylephrine produced decreases in the duration of immobility, although the former compound also caused a significantt increase in the immobility response at high dosages. Alpha 2 agonists such as clonidine, naphazoline, and guanfacine enhanced the duration of immobility, but clonidine also produced an apparent reversal of this effect at high dosages. Subsequent experiments examined more fully the biphasic effects by methoxamine and clonidine on tonic immobility through interactions with alpha antagonists. Yohimbine, an alpha 2 blocker, attenuated the duration of immobility, either alone or in conjunction with various dosages of methoxamine. Prazosin, an alpha 1 blocker, had no direct effect on tonic immobility, but potentiated the duration of the response when given in conjunction with various dosages of methoxamine. When these antagonists were given in conjunction with clonidine, yohimbine reduced immobility durations, while prazosin had no apparent effect on this response. These results are discussed in terms of the relative contributions of the alpha 1 and alpha 2 adrenoceptors to the duration of the immobility response.
Intentionality during hypnosis: An ironic process analysis

Abstract Two studies were completed to test whether responding to hypnotic suggestions requires intentional effort. Hypnotic suggestions for amnesia were used as an analog of thought suppression, and Wegner's model of ironic processing was applied to hypnotic responding. In the first study, participants were required to maintain suggested amnesia while performing a cancellation task with and without a cognitive load. The second study required suppression of thoughts of a favorite car, once with “blank-mind” instructions and then with a suggestion for amnesia. The results of these studies indicate that dissociated control theory provides the best explanation for hypnotic responding in one subset of highly hypnotizable participants, whereas more intentional responding provides the best explanation for others.
Trypanosoma duttoni: tissue utilization of pyruvate in pantothenate-deficient mice.

Abstract An experimental model composed of the pantothenate-deficient Swiss mouse and Trypanosoma duttoni was used to study pyruvate utilization by liver tissue slices. The host dietary groups were: (1) complete or full complement; (2) pantothenic acid-deficient, and (3) pair-fed or calorically restricted. Pyruvate utilization by livers from T. duttoni-infected and noninfectcd mice fed complete and pair-fed control diets showed that there was essentially no difference in the pyruvate utilization from that seen in liver slices from control, uninfected animals. The rate of pyruvate utilization was depressed in liver slices from the vitamin-deficient mice. A higher rate of pyruvate utilization by liver slices from trypanosome-infected mice showed a high degree of significance over that of control mice. Liver tissue of infected mice, deficient in pantothenic acid utilized an average of 3.18 μg of pyruvate per 100 mg of tissue per hour as compared to 2.54 μg of pyruvate for liver of uninfected mice. Pantothenate was measured in isolated, washed trypanosomes, and it was found that there was an average of 23 μg per 108 cells.
Firestorm fibrosis: the fast fibrotic phenomenon.

Whenever implants are placed within the human body, a fibrous capsule is formed by the host to isolate the implant. If the chemical composition of the implant is inert and stable, the fibrous capsule will be thin and ignored by the body. In some, instances, as a reaction of overheating, however, a rapid fibrosis occurs and a thick contracted capsule forms within a few weeks. We have encountered this in 3 patients who were previous failures of smooth surfaced breast implants, when a new textured silicone implant was placed in the surgical pocket after complete capsulectomy. A thick, fibrotic capsule formed within a few weeks, necessitating re-removal. We treated these patients with aggressive sudden fibrosis with suction drainage and irrigation with meth-ylprednisolone biweekly for 3 weeks. In these 3 consecutive patients, further fibrosis was prevented by this therapy; and all remain soft and asymptomatic after more than 1 year of follow-up. In patients with firestorm fibrosis, aggressive treatment with constant suction drainage and methylpred-nisolone irrigation warrants further study.
The size distribution of the earth-approaching asteroids

The discovery circumstances of the first asteroids ever observed outside the earth's atmosphere but within the neighborhood of the earth-moon system are described. Four natural objects with diameters in the range 5-50 m were detected during a search for earth-approaching asteroids conducted each month at the 0.91-m Spacewatch Telescope at Kitt Peak. An additional 19 earth approachers with sizes in the range 50 m to 5 km were discovered. These obervations determine the cumulative flux of asteroids near earth as a function of absolute magnitude. For asteroids larger than about 100 m, a power-law dependence with exponent of about 0.9 is observed, consistent with their evolution from the main-belt population. At about 10 m, the flux is more than two orders of magnitude greater than this power-law extrapolation.
The characterization of optimized fluorescent proteins for Förster resonance energy transfer microscopy

The genetically encoded fluorescent proteins (FP), used in combination with Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) microscopy, provide the tools necessary for the direct visualization of protein interactions inside living cells. Currently, the FPs most commonly used for live-cell FRET studies are the Cerulean and Venus variants of the cyan and yellow FPs. However, there are problems associated with this donor-acceptor pair, and these might be overcome by exploiting the characteristics of some of the newer FPs. For example, earlier we showed that the monomeric teal FP (mTFP) has advantages over Cerulean as a FRET donor for Venus. Here, using mTFP as the common donor fluorophore, we characterize a variety of different yellow, orange and red FPs as potential acceptors of FRET. We employed a "FRET standard" genetic construct to minimize variability in the separation distance and positioning of the fused donor and acceptor FPs. Using spectral FRET imaging and fluorescence lifetime measurements from living cells expressing the fused proteins, we characterized both sensitized acceptor emission and the shortening of the donor lifetime resulting from quenching for each of the fused FP pairs. Surprisingly, we found disagreements between the spectral FRET and lifetime measurements for some of the different FP pairs. Our results appear to indicate that some of the orange and red FPs can quench the mTFP donor while yielding little sensitized emission. We are characterizing the basis for this observation.
Abstract B52: Loss of anterior gradient protein in high-grade prostate cancer is associated with loss of tumor cell adhesion and epithelial cell polarity

Prostate cancer has the highest rate of incidence among all cancers in men in the United States and the second leading cause of death behind lung cancer. The human homologue of the frog (Xenopus) anterior gradient protein (AGR-2) has gained considerable attention in recent years for its putative role in neoplastic growth, metastasis and poor survival of patients with breast and prostate cancers. AGR-2 is reported to be androgen dependent and expressed only during the early stages of prostate cancer progression, whereas significant decline in AGR-2 levels in higher grades tumors coincided with metastatic disease. Human primary prostate cancer tissues and regional metastasis were immunostained for AGR-2 expression. Results indicated that AGR-2 was localized in the glandular epithelium of the prostate gland. No significant difference in AGR-2 staining was observed between normal, BPH and well-differentiated prostate cancers, except in normal prostate, where AGR-2 was mostly concentrated in the nuclei. Similar results were observed in a spontaneously developing transgenic adenocarcinoma of mouse prostate (TRAMP) model. AGR-2 expressions was reduced significantly in moderately and poorly-differentiated tumors in both human and TRAMP mice. Higher AGR-2 levels were found in the metastatic tissue albeit lower expressions in the highest grades prostate tumors within the same individual, suggesting further requirement of AGR-2 for growth at the metastatic sites. Targeted silencing of AGR-2 in a bone metastatic prostate cancer cell line, PC3, resulted in significantly reduced cellular adhesion to various extracellular matrix proteins and a failure to form acinar structures following 3-dimensional growth on matrigel. We also determined that AGR-2 silencing led to down-regulation of crucial integrins in PC3 cells, which possibly explains mechanism by which AGR-2 maintains polarized morphology of epithelial cells through promotion of cell adhesion. Based on our findings, we hypothesize that loss of AGR-2 in prostate cancer cells allows detachment from the basement membrane of the primary site and initiates metastasis. AGR-2 as well as integrin levels are restored during passage through circulation and at the metastatic site(s), helping them re-attach to the new microenvironment. Citation Format: Diptiman Chanda, Anandi Sawant, Jonathan Adam Hensel, Tatyana Isayeva, Stephanie D. Reilly, Gene P. Siegal, Claire Smith, Selvarangan Ponnazhagan. Loss of anterior gradient protein in high-grade prostate cancer is associated with loss of tumor cell adhesion and epithelial cell polarity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Prostate Cancer Research; 2012 Feb 6-9; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(4 Suppl):Abstract nr B52.
Induction of cortical cholinergic hypofunction and memory retention deficits through intracortical AF64A infusions.

Abstract Ethylcholine mustard aziridinium ion (AF64A), an irreversible inhibitor of high-affinity choline uptake on cholinergic nerve terminals, appears to selectively decrease presynaptic cholinergic markers after intracerebral injection. To restrict AF64A's action to cholinergic terminals within the frontoparietal (FP) cortex, the present study utilized multiple-site cortical infusions of the agent. Following an extensive histological analysis, a dose of 1 nmol AF64A/1 μl was selected for determining AF64A's effects on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) staining, cortical cholinergic/non-cholinergic markers, and passive avoidance behavior. Adult rats given two infusions of AF64A into the right FP cortex had reduced AChE staining throughout 75% of the ipsilateral FP cortex at 10 days following infusion, thus suggesting an extensive cortical diffusion of the agent; minimal non-specific damage was seen (totalling only 4% of the ipsilateral FP cortex for both infusion sites) and no effects on AChE staining were observed in the striatum or hippocampus. Three weeks after bilateral AF64A infusions into the FP cortex (two injections on each side), significant frontal cortex deficits were observed in high-affinity choline uptake, acetylcholine synthesis, acetylcholine release, and hemicholinium-3 binding compared to vehicle-infused controls. However, choline acetyltransferase activity within the anterior cortex did not appear to be consistently affected by AF64A infusion. Cortical glutamic acid decarboxylase activity, as well as cortical monoaminergic markers, and neuropeptide levels were also unaffected. Moreover, animals that received bilateral AF64A infusions and were tested two weeks afterwards showed marked memory retention deficits during both the 24-h and 48-h postshock trials of passive avoidance testing. These results indicate that cortical AF64A infusion induces a specific, long-term cholinergic hypofunction of presynaptic markers within the cortex, resulting in a significant long-term memory impairment. Since the primary cholinergic innervation to the FP cortex, originating in the nucleus basalis of Meynert, appears to become dysfunctional (but not totally degenerative) in Alzheimer's disease, cortical AF64A infusions may closely reflect this cholinergic dysfunction by ‘functionally’ eliminating cortical cholinergic terminals.
A third sea urchin sperm receptor for egg jelly module protein, suREJ2, concentrates in the plasma membrane over the sperm mitochondrion.

Sea urchin spermatozoa are model cells for studying signal transduction events underlying flagellar motility and the acrosome reaction. We previously described the sea urchin sperm receptor for egg jelly 1 (suREJ1) which consists of 1450 amino acids, has one transmembrane segment and binds to the fucose sulfate polymer of egg jelly to induce the sperm acrosome reaction. We also cloned suREJ3 which consists of 2681 amino acids and has 11 putative transmembrane segments. Both these proteins localize to the plasma membrane over the acrosomal vesicle. While cloning suREJ1, we found suREJ2, which consists of 1472 amino acids, has two transmembrane segments and is present in the entire sperm plasma membrane, but is concentrated over the sperm mitochondrion. Experimental evidence suggests that, unlike suREJ1 and suREJ3, suREJ2 does not project extracellularly from the plasma membrane, but is an intracellular plasma membrane protein. All three sea urchin sperm REJ proteins possess a protein module of > 900 amino acids, termed ‘the REJ module’, that is shared by the human autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease protein, polycystin-1, and PKDREJ, a testis-specific protein in mammals whose function is unknown. In the present study, we describe the sequence, domain structure and localization of suREJ2 and speculate on its possible function.
Category-Name Meaningfulness (M') and Category-Name Mediation in Free Recall

Summary.-The present experiment evaluated the effectiveness of categoryname meaningfulness (m') along with a category-name mediation model of the free recall of categorized lists. The results showed category-name m' affected separately the detection of the category-name membership of an item and the retrieval of an item during recall. It was also concluded that the mediation model may not be an adequate account of categorized list recall and that a multiple-organization model might be more appropriate. It is well known that free recall of taxonomic category-items varies directly with the frequency of the items as reported in association norms (e.g., Battig & Montague, 1969). In a more recently published set of norms, Hunt and Hodge (1971) presented data on an additional factor, meaningfulness (m') of category-names. The present research investigated the effects of category-name m' in free recall in conjunction with two other variables, the frequency of items and the use of category-names as cues. The m' variable is a measure of the total number of associations an average subject has to an item. It is obtained by having a group of subjects rate a set of items on a rating scale for the number of things or ideas associated with each item and converting the results to interval scale values by use of the method of successive intervals (Noble, 1963). For the Hunt and Hodge norms, [he meaningfulness ratings were collected prior to the category-item associations. Thus, the subjects were not made aware that they were rating category-names as such. The category-item associations, which were gotten by having the subjects list four items for each category, were tabulated to give the frequency values. For example, the item which was listed most often for a given category would, of course, have the greatest frequency of any item for that category. The m' variable along with several closely related to it (other measures of "meaningfulness," imagery, etc.) has proven effective in a number of recall paradigms (Noble, 1963; Paivio, 1971). In every case, however, the items to be recalled (or ochers used as stimuli in paired-associate paradigms) were those previously evaluated for m' or a related variable. Thus, each item had a separate value. In contrast, the category-name m' values reported by Hunt and Hodge are each an evaluation not only of a single item, the category-name, but also of a major attribute of a set of items, that of category-membership, rather than
Choosing “green” codes by simulation-based modeling of implementations

How do we design an error correcting code and a corresponding decoding implementation to minimize not just the transmit power, but the sum of transmit and decoding power? Recent interest in this question has led to new fundamental results that show the traditional approach of designing the code and the decoder implementation in isolation can be suboptimal. However, joint design of codes and their corresponding decoder implementations can be hard simply because of the sheer number of possibilities for both, and the human effort often required in optimizing the decoder implementation for a given code. In this paper, we suggest taking a middle-path between analyzing theoretical models of decoding and building decoder implementations. Based on circuit simulations of power consumption of decoders for simple regular LDPC codes, we develop circuit models for the decoding power for larger and more complex (but still regular) LDPC codes. These models are then used to search for the best code and corresponding decoder (within a limited set) for a given communication distance and error probability.
Mortality of Juvenile American Shad and Striped Bass Passed through Ossberger Crossflow Turbines at a Small‐Scale Hydroelectric Site

Abstract A full-recovery technique was used in mortality experiments conducted with juveniles of American shad Alosa sapidissima and striped bass Morone saxatilis passed through Ossberger crossflow turbines to obtain antecedent information about their fish passage characteristics. Immediate turbine-induced mortality was 66% for 85-mm-long (total length) American shad. Turbine-induced mortality of striped bass was significantly related to the total length of the fish and ranged from 16% for 67–83-mm-long fish to 39% for 136-mm-long fish immediately after passage; after 24 h, turbine-induced mortalities of these two size-groups were 61 and 72%, respectively. The mortality of striped bass was not affected by power output (320–600 kW) of the turbine or by turbine size (650 versus 850 kW). Because of high mortality of control fish, the full-recovery technique was not fully adequate for obtaining reliable delayed-mortality estimates for these fragile fish species.
Effective Load Carrying Capability of Generating Units

The theory of loss-of-load probability mathematics has been generalized so that the effective load carrying capability of a new generating unit may be estimated using only graphical aids. A parameter m is introduced to characterize the loss-of-load probability as a function of reserve megawatts.
Therapy with Transsexual Youth and Their Families: A Clinical Tool for Assessing Youth’s Readiness for Gender Transition

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s Standards of Care suggests a letter of recommendation be provided from a mental health professional if a transsexual desires hormone therapy or surgery. Therefore, transsexual clients have a unique dependence on therapists to obtain medical treatments needed to live life in their affirmed gender. Despite this need for therapeutic services, most therapists lack the training that is necessary to sensitively serve transsexual clients, particularly transsexual youth. While a published clinical assessment tool exists for therapists to determine readiness of adult transsexual clients for medical gender transition, no similar tool is available for therapists working with transsexual youth. This article discusses therapeutic issues specific to transsexual youth and families and presents a clinical assessment tool for determining transsexual youth’s readiness for medical treatments.
Intramural Depolarization Potentials in Myocardial Infarction A Preliminary Report

By means of small intramural electrodes, potentials at multiple depths within the ventricular wall were recorded in myocardial infarction and in normal hearts. In 41 animals with coronary artery occlusion, electrocardiographic and histologic correlations indicated that coronary QS waves may represent negative potentials transmitted from viable intramural muscle as well as from the cavity. Coronary QR waves were obtained over transmural infarcts containing a mixture of viable and dead tissue, but not over purely subendocardial lesions. In the normal ventricle, positive depolarization potentials greatly predominated over negative potentials. Clinical applications are discussed.
A framework for parsing colonoscopy videos for semantic units

Colonoscopy is an important screening procedure for colorectal cancer. During this procedure, the endoscopist visually inspects the colon. Currently, there is no content-based analysis and retrieval system that automatically analyzes videos captured from colonoscopic procedures and provides a user-friendly and efficient access to important content. Such a system will be valuable for endoscopic research and education. The first necessary step for the analysis is parsing for semantic units. Since the characteristics of colonoscopy videos differ from those of videos studied in the literature, we introduce a new video parsing framework that includes: (i) a new scene definition and a new video parsing paradigm; (ii) a novel scene segmentation algorithm using audio analysis and finite state automata to recognize scenes and associated boundaries. Our experimental results show average precision and recall of 95% and 81%, respectively, for parsing scenes. The framework is extensible to videos captured from other endoscopic procedures such as upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, enteroscopy, cystoscopy, and laparoscopy.
Carbon dioxide hydrogenation to aromatic hydrocarbons by using an iron/iron oxide nanocatalyst

The quest for renewable and cleaner energy sources to meet the rapid population and economic growth is more urgent than ever before. Being the most abundant carbon source in the atmosphere of Earth, CO2 can be used as an inexpensive C1 building block in the synthesis of aromatic fuels for internal combustion engines. We designed a process capable of synthesizing benzene, toluene, xylenes and mesitylene from CO2 and H2 at modest temperatures (T = 380 to 540 °C) employing Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticles as catalyst. The synthesis of the catalyst and the mechanism of CO2-hydrogenation will be discussed, as well as further applications of Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticles in catalysis.
Clonal Evolution in Aplastic Anemia

Current immunosuppressive treatment (IST) induces remissions in 50%-70% of patients with aplastic anemia (AA) and result in excellent long-term survival. In recent years, the survival of refractory patients has also improved. Apart from relapse and refractoriness to IST, evolution of clonal diseases, including paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), are the most serious long-term complications and constitute a strong argument for definitive therapy with BM transplantation if possible. Consequently, the detection of diagnostic chromosomal abnormalities (mostly monosomy 7) is of great clinical importance. Newer whole-genome scanning technologies such as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array-based karyotyping may be a helpful diagnostic test for the detection of chromosomal defects in AA due to its precision/resolution and lack of reliance on cell division.
Use of antihistamine medications during early pregnancy and isolated major malformations.

BACKGROUND: Antihistamines are commonly used during pregnancy. There is little evidence that they have teratogenic effects, but there are knowledge gaps with respect to newer products, as well as the relationship between specific antihistamines and specific birth defects. METHODS: Using the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (1997–2003), the authors examined associations between maternal use of 14 antihistamines during early pregnancy and 26 isolated major birth defects. A Bayesian analysis incorporating prior knowledge about the relationships between antihistamines, birth defects, and measured covariates was conducted. RESULTS: Of the 364 associations investigated, 24 had 95% posterior intervals excluding 1.0. All 24 associations were positive; 23 associations were of weak to moderate magnitude (posterior OR 6.0) but very imprecise. Of the 24 associations, 20 were with noncardiac defects. Eight associations involved the antihistamine diphenhydramine. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study generally were consistent with no association between birth defects and antihistamine use during early pregnancy. Several of the findings might warrant further investigation, although the observed elevated associations should be interpreted in the context of the number of associations investigated and the analysis of retrospective, self-reported data. Birth Defects Research (Part A) 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.