cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of an Asthma Education Program for School Nurses

Background: School nurses are uniquely positioned to provide direct care, adherence counseling and education for children with asthma.1 However, standardized asthma education for Arkansas school nurses does not exist. Pediatric health systems that provide patient-centered care have a unique obligation to recognize and support school nurses as an important part of the health care team and provide education and resources to bolster their knowledge base and ability to managing asthma in the school setting.1 This study evaluated the effectiveness of an education program for nurses created to increase comfort with managing asthma in a school-based setting. Methods: An asthma education program was developed and implemented in the Arkansas School Nurse Academy program. The program included both didactic and hands-on education for routine asthma management including social determinants of health, asthma triggers/avoidance strategies, inhaler technique, and utilization of the asthma action plan for treatment of acute asthma. Education content was prepared using best practice guidelines from both the Global Initiative for Asthma Management and the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program. Participants were asked to complete a pre and post survey for overall evaluation of the program. The evaluation included 5 asthma related questions regarding comfort for addressing social determinants of health that influence adherence, education of triggers and avoidance strategies, inhaler technique, use of an asthma action plan, and seeking asthma resources. Responses were based on a 5-point Likert scale for comfort with each topic. Strongly agree and agree responses were combined to evaluate change from pre to post survey. The asthma specific questions were analyzed separately using the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test. Results: There were 194 participants in the study. Respondents reported an increase in comfort from pre to post survey for each question. This increase was statistically significant for addressing social determinants (P = .003), use of an asthma action plan (P = .001) and seeking resources (P = .002). Conclusions: An asthma education program for school-based nurses, utilizing both didactic and hands-on skills demonstration, led to improved comfort level in managing asthma. Reference 1. Lemanske RF, Kakumanu S, Shanovich K, Antos N, Cloutier MM, Mazyck D, et al. Creation and implementation of SAMPROTM: A school-based asthma management program. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2016;138(3):711-723.
Alpha‐1 antitrypsin suppresses macrophage activation and promotes islet graft survival after intrahepatic islet transplantation

Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) has protective functions in animal islet transplantation models. While the therapeutic effect of AAT therapy is currently being tested in clinical trials, we investigated the mechanism of AAT protection in a clinically relevant marginal intrahepatic human islet transplantation model. In recipients receiving islets and AAT, 68.9% (20/29) reached normoglycemia, compared to 35.7% (10/28) in those receiving islets only, at 60 days posttransplant (PT). AAT-treated mice had lower serum levels of inflammatory cytokines immediately PT. Reduced M1 macrophages were observed in livers of AAT-treated recipients compared to controls as evidenced by flow cytometry and RNA-seq transcriptional profiling analysis. In vitro AAT suppressed IFN-γ-induced M1 macrophage activation/polarization via suppression of STAT1 phosphorylation and iNOS production. AAT inhibits macrophage activation induced by cytokines or dying islets, and consequently leads to islet cell survival. In a macrophage depletion mouse model, the presence of M1 macrophages in the liver contributed to graft death. AAT, through suppressing macrophage activation, protected transplanted islets from death and dysfunction in the human islet and NOD-SCID mouse model. The protective effect of AAT was confirmed in a major mismatch allogeneic islet transplantation model. Taken together, AAT suppresses liver macrophage activation that contributes to graft survival after transplantation.
Perceptions and Practices of Key Worker Stakeholder Groups in Hospital Animal-Assisted Intervention Programs on Occupational Benefits and Perceived Risks

Abstract Background Animal-assisted intervention (AAI) programs, used widely for patient benefit, have increasingly been used for healthcare workers (HCW) to reduce occupational stress. However, there are barriers to these programs which limit their utilization, for both patients and HCW, specifically infectious disease concerns. The aim of the research project is to identify barriers and facilitators to AAI program use for healthcare worker benefit, and determine knowledge, beliefs, and practices regarding infectious disease risk and control policies, in order to understand the contextual parameters of program implementation. Methods We collected perceptions of key stakeholders involved with hospital AAI programs (HCW and AAI workers) through semi-structured in-depth interviews. We used framework analysis to guide thematic coding, completed independently by three researchers. Results We interviewed 37 participants. We divided our themes into two topic areas: program use for HCW and perceived infectious disease risk. Use for healthcare workers included perspectives on the benefits for HCW and program barriers and facilitators (specifically collaboration and leadership). Perceived risk included opinions on infection concerns with AAI, thoughts on control measures to reduce this risk, and responsibility for safety during these programs. Conclusions While significant benefits were reported for HCW, they were limited by administrative barriers and hazard concerns. Facilitators to surmount these barriers are best implemented with collaboration across the hospital and appropriate leadership roles to direct safe program implementation. By addressing these barriers through targeted facilitators in the form of evidence-backed guidelines, AAI programs can be used to benefit both patients and HCW.
Impacts of Improved Bean Varieties Adoption on Dietary Diversity and Food Security in Rwanda

Bean is a key staple crop in Rwanda; it is produced by nearly all rural households and consumed most days, making bean an important source of calorie, protein, and micronutrient. Consequently, substantial investment has been devoted to the development and promotion of improved bean varieties to enhance food security via increased productivity. The study evaluates the impact of improved bean variety adoption on household dietary diversity, food security, and food consumption groups among smallholder bean farmers. Improved bean varieties adoption has a positive impact on dietary diversity and reduces food insecurity, which likely occurs through the income effect resulting from the high yielding properties of these varieties. Increased dietary diversity among adopters is associated with a higher likelihood of consuming cereals, fish & seafood, and fats. These findings provide evidence that bean research and dissemination efforts can improve the food security of bean farmers in Rwanda.
Blade Vibration and Its Effect on the Optimal Performance of Helicopter Rotors

In this paper, we develop a computationally efficient frequency-domain model that can be used to compute the required shaft power and vibratory loads for a trimmed helicopter rotor with flexible bl...
A Prospective Validation Study of Bioimpedance with Volume Displacement in Early-Stage Breast Cancer Patients at Risk for Lymphedema

Although volume displacement (VD) is considered the gold standard for diagnosing breast cancer-related lymphedema, it is inconvenient. We compared bioimpedance (L-Dex) and VD measurements in a prospective cohort of breast cancer patients at risk for lymphedema. Between 2010 and 2014, a total of 223 breast cancer patients were enrolled. Following exclusions (n = 37), 186 received baseline VD and L-Dex; follow-up measurements were performed at 3–6 months intervals for 3 years. At each visit, patients fitted into one of three categories: normal (normal VD and L-Dex); abnormal L-Dex (L-Dex > 10 or increase in 10 from baseline and normal VD); or lymphedema (relative arm volume difference of >10 % by VD ± abnormal L-Dex). Change in L-Dex was plotted against change in VD; correlation was assessed using the Pearson correlation. At a median follow-up of 18.2 months, 152 patients were normal, 25 had an abnormal L-Dex, and 9 developed lymphedema without a prior L-Dex abnormality. Of the 25 abnormal L-Dex patients, 4 progressed to lymphedema, for a total of 13 patients with lymphedema. Evaluating all time points, 186 patients had 829 follow-up measurements. Sensitivity and specificity of L-Dex compared with VD were 75 and 93 %, respectively. There was no correlation between change in VD and change in L-Dex at 3 months (r = 0.31) or 6 months (r = 0.21). VD and bioimpedance demonstrated poor correlation with inconsistent overlap of measurements considered abnormal. Of patients with an abnormal L-Dex, few progressed to lymphedema; most patients with lymphedema did not have a prior L-Dex abnormality. Further studies are needed to understand the clinical significance of bioimpedance.
Growth inhibition of squamous carcinoma cells by suppression of cyclin D1 using small interfering RNA.

3817 Malignant progression involves increased expression of oncogenic proteins, therefore, targeting such proteins may provide an effective approach to therapy. Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) are characterized by an increased expression of cyclin D1 (CCND1), which has been shown to stimulate cell cycle progression and transform squamous epithelial cells. In this study we used small interfering RNA (siRNA) to silence the expression of this oncogenic protein in HNSCC UMSCC22B cells. Transfection of CCND1 siRNA decreased the level of the targeted protein specifically and effectively. These effects were accompanied by a decreased growth and colony forming ability and inhibition of cell cycle progression at a G1/S checkpoint. siRNA-mediated down-regulation of CCND1 has led to subsequent decreases in the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor. Combination of CCND1 siRNA and the chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin showed more than additive effects on inhibition of colony formation. These results demonstrate that siRNA-mediated silencing of CCND1 inhibits the growth of HNSCC cells and suggest that the siRNA alone or combined with conventional cytotoxic agents may be useful for therapy of HNSCCs.
Spectral Sequences and Homotopy Groups of Spheres

the technique of obstruction theory developed in the last chapter focuses attention on the computation of homotopy groups. In this chapter we obtain some results about the homotopy groups of spheres. The method we follow is due to Serre1 and uses the technical tool known as a spectral sequence. This algebraic concept is introduced for the study of the homology and cohomology properties of arbitrary fibrations, but it has other important applications in algebraic topology, and the number of these is constantly increasing. Some indication of the power of spectral sequences will be apparent from the results obtained by its use here.
Electron Spin Resonance in Semiconductors

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the application of electron spin resonance techniques to a particular group of crystalline semiconductors, including Si and related group IV elements and compounds, InSb and related 111-V compounds, and ZnS and related 11-VI compounds. The semiconductors discussed in the chapter have a number of characteristics that make them particularly interesting subjects for resonance study. One characteristic is that the semiconductors are intrinsically diamagnetic and show no cooperative magnetic phenomena, such as ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism. Crystals that are examined in the chapter are typically dilute in magnetically active impurities and have narrow resonance lines. Another characteristic is the tetrahedral symmetry about each lattice site. However, semiconductors are an ideal group of materials for investigating the effects of covalency. There are several features of the resonance technique that make it a particularly useful tool for the study of semiconductors. Electrical, optical, and other properties of semiconductors are extremely sensitive to small concentrations of impurities. Spin resonance is one of the most sensitive and powerful tools for investigating the detailed nature of impurity sites. Moreover, it is often possible to study one impurity in the presence of much larger concentrations of other impurities.
A Theory of Access to Justice

This Article draws upon three observations: 1) the vast majority of disputes involve low-income litigants; 2) the vast majority of public and private resources of dispute resolution are allocated to disputes involving wealthy individuals and organizations; 3) any principled moral or ethical analysis demonstrates that the stakes are much higher in disputes involving low-income disputants than in disputes involving affluent individuals or organizations. Thus, the legal matters that attract a minute percentage of dispute resolution resources implicate issues of food and shelter, life and death. The Article describes a methodology - called "Resources of Dispute Resolution" or "RDR" - for describing why this is the case, and then illustrates the operation of RDR theory in a range of cases: commercial disputes, landlord tenant matters, government benefits, personal injury, family law, and school desegregation cases. A range of "enablers" and justifications submerge from view the profoundly disparate allocation of the resources of dispute resolution. These are invariably misleading or false, such as the supposed greater "complexity" of commercial matters and the "neutral" operation of jurisdictional rules. The Article concludes by considering two relatively new methods of dispute resolution - mediation and community lawyering - and how, possibly, they can break the stranglehold of the principles of RDR.
Improving the efficiency of the distributed stochastic algorithm

The Distributed Stochastic Algorithm (DSA) is a distributed hill-climbing technique for solving large Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems (DCOPs) such as distributed scheduling, resource allocation, and distributed route planning. The best known version of DSA, DSA-B, works by having agents change their assignments with probability p when making that change will improve their solution (a hill-climbing move). To escape local minima, DSA-B performs a lateral escape move by switching to another equally good value with the same probability p. It is unclear why hill climbing and escape moves are chosen with the same probability. We investigate the performance effects of making these moves with different probabilities, pH and pL. Through empirical evaluation, we discover that the efficiency of DSA can not only be considerably improved, but can be more specifically tuned to a particular domain or user's needs when these two move types are considered separately. Our work also shows that DSA can outperform both DBA and DPP when it is properly tuned.
Performance of RLS and Other Filters

This chapter contains sections titled: Performance of RLS Performance of Other Filters Performance Table for Small Step-Sizes
Petrography of Sand Tempers in Lapita Potsherds from the Rove Peninsula, Viti Levu, Fiji

Seven Lapita sites on the Rove Peninsula of Viti Levu in Fiji or on islets close offshore include the earliest known Lapita site in Fiji at Bourewa. Petrographic study of 53 Rove sherds shows that 95 per cent contain closely related hybrid temper sands (mixed terrigenous and calcareous grains) collected locally from the shores of the ancestral Tuva River estuary and adjacent Vusama paleoisland. Terrigenous detritus was derived from the Wainimala orogen that forms the bedrock of southwest Viti Levu and is exposed throughout the drainage basin of the Tuva River. Skeletal and pelletal (micritic) calcareous detritus was derived from the broad offshore reef fringing the Rove Peninsula. In most Rove sherds, calcareous temper grains have been largely or entirely removed by dissolution to leave vacuoles of sand size and shape that are visible megascopically as tiny pits on sherd surfaces. Tempers of indigenous Rove wares did not vary substantially from site to site on the peninsula or over time during its Lapita occupation. Three sherds containing non-local volcanic sand as temper reflect ceramic transfer of exotic wares during later phases of Rove prehistory from Lapita settlements elsewhere in Fiji, probably on Kadavu and the north coast of Viti Levu.
Alteration of hyaloclastites in the HSDP 2 Phase 1 Drill Core: 2. Mass balance of the conversion of sideromelane to palagonite and chabazite

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from "http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com".
Methanogenic Fermentation of Benzoate

A methanogenic enrichment culture decomposed small concentrations of 14 C-benzoate to 14 C 4 and 14 CO 2 under stringently anaerobic conditions with or without preceding exposure to benzoate.
Effects of cadmium treatment on selenium-dependent and selenium independent glutathione peroxidase activities and lipid peroxidation in the kidney and liver of rats maintained on various levels of dietary selenium

Rats fed a basal, low-selenium diet, or this diet supplemented with 0.1 ppm and 1.0 ppm selenium and treated with cadmium, showed significant reductions in the activity of the selenoenzyme glutathione peroxidase in kidney and liver. Cadmium treatment resulted in a significant increase in the activity of selenium-independent glutathione peroxidase activity in the liver of selenium-supplemented rats. Selenium-independent glutathion peroxidase activity was significantly reduced in the kidney of rats fed the basal low-selenium diet. There was no significant increase in lipid peroxidation in any of the groups studied. Cadmium concentrations in the kidney and liver of these animals ranged from about 250 to 700 μg Cd/g tissue, dry weight.
Distribution of transfer RNA genes in thePisum sativum chloroplast DNA.

Purified chloroplast tRNAs were isolated fromPisum sativum leaves and radioactively labeled at their 3′ end using tRNA nucleotidyl transferase and α32P-labeled CTP. Pea ctDNA was fragmented using a number of restriction endonucleases and hybridized with thein vitro labeled chloroplast tRNAs by DNA transfer method. Genes for tRNAs have been found to be dispersed throughout the chloroplast genome. A closer analysis of the several hybrid regions using recombinant DNA plasmids have shown that tRNA genes are localized in the chloroplast genome in both single and multiple arrangements. Two dimensional gel electrophoresis of total ct tRNA have identified 36 spots. All of them have been found to hybridize withPisum sativum ctDNA. Using recombinant clones, 30 of the tRNA spots have been mapped inPisum sativum ctDNA.
Modulation of High-Voltage Activated Ca2+ Channels by Membrane Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-Bisphosphate

Modulation of voltage-gated Ca(2+) channels controls activities of excitable cells. We show that high-voltage activated Ca(2+) channels are regulated by membrane phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP(2)) with different sensitivities. Plasma membrane PIP(2) depletion by rapamycin-induced translocation of an inositol lipid 5-phosphatase or by a voltage-sensitive 5-phosphatase (VSP) suppresses Ca(V)1.2 and Ca(V)1.3 channel currents by approximately 35% and Ca(V)2.1 and Ca(V)2.2 currents by 29% and 55%, respectively. Other Ca(V) channels are less sensitive. Inhibition is not relieved by strong depolarizing prepulses. It changes the voltage dependence of channel gating little. Recovery of currents from inhibition needs intracellular hydrolysable ATP, presumably for PIP(2) resynthesis. When PIP(2) is increased by overexpressing PIP 5-kinase, activation and inactivation of Ca(V)2.2 current slow and voltage-dependent gating shifts to slightly higher voltages. Thus, endogenous membrane PIP(2) supports high-voltage activated L-, N-, and P/Q-type Ca(2+) channels, and stimuli that activate phospholipase C deplete PIP(2) and reduce those Ca(2+) channel currents.
Linear multivariable control of two-link robots

Several simple multivariable controllers such as proportional (P), proportional-derivative (PD), proportional-integral (PI), and proportional-integral-derivative (PID) are investigated and designed for stabilization and regulation of a two-link planar robot. A new multivariable controller is introduced in this article to achieve command matching. The multivariable controllers are designed on the basis of a linearized model of the robot dynamics. Numerous simulation results are presented to evaluate the performance of the multivariable controllers for the two-link planar robot.
Wobbler Facility for Biomedical Experimenis at the Bevalac

A new wobbler facility has been developed to deliver large uniform fields of relativistic heavy ions at the Bevalac without resorting to the use of scattering material in the beam. The charged particle beams are made to wobble and 'paint' a ring at the target by a pair of dipole magnets, which are placed tandem with their fields orthogonal to each other. The magnets are powered sinusoidally 90 degrees out of phase with each other. By superimposing several rings of appropriate sizes and intensities, large uniform fields are produced. Up to 30 cm diameter fields with less than 5% variation in uniformity have been achieved. Physics and biology measurements have been made to characterize the radiation field.
Prediction of CH4/H2 Mixture Selectivity in Zn(tbip) from Computer Simulations

We have computed CH4/H2 mixture adsorption isotherms and mixture self-diffusivities in Zn(tbip), a nanoporous metal organic material, at 298 K using grand canonical Monte Carlo and equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. We calculated the adsorption and diffusion selectivities from our simulation results. An approximate model was used to estimate the maximum membrane selectivities. The adsorption selectivity very strongly favors CH4 over H2, whereas the diffusion selectivity favors H2 over CH4. We find that the adsorption selectivity dominates the mixture selectivity, giving values in the range of 6–50 CH4/H2. This indicates that Zn(tbip) may be useful for separating CH4/H2 mixtures.
Postcrack creep of polymeric fiber-reinforced concrete in flexure

Results of an experimental investigation of the creep-time behavior of polypropylene and nylon fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) are presented. Gravity loads were applied in flexure to precracked low volume fraction (0.1%) polypropylene and nylon FRC beams. Beams were tested at a range of stress levels to produce three outcomes: load sustained indefinitely (low stress), creep failure (intermediate stress), and rapid failure (high stress). Emphasis was placed on determining the maximum flexural stress that is sustainable indefinitely. The results indicate that polypropylene FRC has higher initial strength but nylon FRC can sustain a higher stress level. For both groups the sustainable stress is much lower than the postcrack strength.
Intracardiac Extension of Pelvic Leiomyoma

A48-year-old woman presented with a pulmonary embolus diagnosed by ventilation-perfusion scan 2 years after removal of a uterine leiomyoma with intravascular extension. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a dilated inferior vena cava (IVC) containing a mass extending into the right atrium (RA). Transesophageal echocardiography showed a large vacuolated tumor filling the RA (Figure 1⇓ …
Primary vestibulocerebellar fibers in the monkey: distribution of fibers arising from distinctive cell groups of the vestibular ganglia.

In a series of monkeys attempts were made to determine the distribution of primary vestibulocerebellar fibers arising from cell groups of the vestibular ganglia that innervate distinctive parts of the labyrinth. Lesions in the vestibular ganglia were produced by extradural surgical approaches in cell groups which innervate: (1) the cristae of the anterior and lateral canals, (2) the macula of the utricle, (3) the macula of the saccule, and (4) all receptor components of the labyrinth. In a control series selective lesions were produced in the cochlea and cochlear nerve. Vestibular and cochlear lesions were studied in serial sections of the petrous bones stained with Sudan black B. Degeneration in the brain stem and cerebellum was studied in sagittal and transverse sections stained by the Nauta-Gygax and Wiitanen technics. Vestibular fibers projecting to parts of the cerebellum represent ascending branches of root fibers which largely traverse the superior vestibular nucleus and enter the cerebellum via the juxtarestiform body. In the cerebellum fibers divide into medial and lateral bundles. Medial branches projecting fibers to the ipsilateral nodulus, uvula (lamina d) and lingula appear to arise from cells in all parts of the vestibular ganglia. Cells in the superior vestibular ganglion (SVG) innervating the cristae of the anterior and lateral canals project fibers to floccular folia 5 to 10; the utricular cell groups of SVG projects fibers mainly to floccular folia 5 and 6 while the saccular cell group of the inferior vestibular ganglion (IVG) projects fibers to floccular folia 3, 4, 5 and 6. Collaterals of fibers passing laterally in the peduncle of the flocculus end in ventromedial parts of the dentate nucleus. Some vestibular fibers projecting to parts of the flocculus penetrate the entire thickness of the granular layer and break up into fragments near Purkinje cells and in basal parts of the molecular layer. Such fibers appear to represent climbing fibers. Cochlear lesions produce degeneration in localized regions of the ipsilateral dentate nucleus. Cell groups of the vestibular ganglia innervating different receptor components of the labyrinth have unique areas of predominant projections in different folia of the flocculus and common regions of termination in portions of the nodulus and uvula.
Organizational Visioning: An Integrative Review

Building on empirical, theoretical, and normative literatures, we develop an integrated discussion of organizational vision, including a range of factors, from the reasons for visioning to the impa...
Effects of chronic ethanol administration on acetylcholinesterase activity in the somatosensory cortex and basal forebrain of the rat

A chronic diet of ethanol has detrimental effects on the cholinergic system in adult humans and rats. This study examined the effects of chronic exposure to dietary ethanol on the anatomical organization of true acetylcholinesterase (AChE) active elements in rat cerebral cortex. We focused on the somatosensory cortex because of its highly organized chemical and cellular structure. Following 42 days of exposure to an ethanol diet (6.7% v/v), there were marked changes in the cortical plexus of AChE-positive fibers. The AChE-positive plexus in ethanol-treated rats was reduced in all cortical layers, in comparison to age-matched pair-fed control and chow-fed rats. The most marked reduction was evident in layers II/III, IV, and VIa. Moreover, the density of AChE-positive cell bodies was significantly reduced in the cortices of ethanol-fed rats, particularly in the deep laminae. These alterations in the chemoarchitecture of somatosensory cortex occurred in the absence of changes in the cytoarchitectonic organization of neocortex. There was no detectable ethanol-induced change in the density of Cresyl violet-stained neurons either in the horizontal limb of the diagonal band of Broca or in the nucleus basalis. The density of AChE-positive neurons in the nucleus basalis, however, was significantly lower in ethanol-fed rats than in controls. Thus, it appears that a mere 6 weeks of ethanol exposure is sufficient to alter the cholinergic innervation of the cerebral cortex. These cortical alterations occur despite the lack of an ethanol-induced death of neurons in the basal forebrain. Such changes may contribute to the memory loss associated with alcohol dementia.
Self-Rated Liberalism is Correlated with Sensation Seeking

Zuckerrnan' has described the development of the Sensacion-seeking Scale which measures the preferred level of stimulation in several areas of experience. Looft (197 1) suggested that sensation seeking is positively related to political liberalism. To test the hypothesis chat sensation seeking is related to self-rated liberalism in religion as well as in politics 140 college students who completed Zuckerman's scale also answered the following two questions: (1) How would you describe your religious views? ( 2 ) How would you describe your political views? The five response alternatives for both questions were: (a) very liberal, ( b ) liberal, (c) moderate, ( d ) conservative, ( e ) very conservative. Responses to both questions approximated a normal distribution with most Ss considering themselves moderate on both questions.
Group forecasting accuracy in hotels

Yield management helps hotels more profitably manage the capacity of their rooms. Hotels tend to have two types of business: transient and group. Yield management research and systems have been des...
Kinetic study of β‐amyloid residue accessibility using reductive alkylation and mass spectrometry

Beta-amyloid peptide (Abeta) is the major protein constituent found in senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD). It is believed that Abeta plays a role in neurodegeneration associated with AD and that its toxicity is related to its structure or aggregation state. In this study, an approach based on chemical modification of primary amines and mass spectrometric (MS) detection was used to identify residues on Abeta peptide that were exposed or buried upon changes in peptide structure associated with aggregation. Results indicate that the N terminus was the most accessible primary amine in the fibril, followed by lysine 28, then lysine 16. A kinetic analysis of the data was then performed to quantify differences in accessibility between these modification sites. We estimated apparent equilibrium unfolding constants for each modified site of the peptide, and determined that the unfolding constant for the N terminus was approximately 100 times greater than that for K28, which was about six times greater than that for K16. Understanding Abeta peptide structure at the residue level is a first step in designing novel therapies for prevention of Abeta structural transitions and/or cell interactions associated with neurotoxicity in Alzheimer's disease.
NEQ: its progenitors and progeny

The historical evolution of the concept of noise-equivalent quanta (NEQ) and its application to task-based assessment of image quality is surveyed, with particular emphasis on the seminal contributions of Robert F. Wagner.
NMDA receptor antagonism modifies the synergistic regulation of striatal tachykinin gene expression induced by dopamine D1 and serotonin2 receptor stimulation following neonatal dopamine depletion

Co-application of SKF-38393 (dopamine D(1) agonist; 1 mg/kg) and DOI (serotonin(2) agonist; 1 mg/kg) induced a synergistic increase in striatal preprotachykinin (PPT) mRNA levels in adult rats 60 days after neonatal intracerebroventricular injection of 6-hydroxydopamine. This magnitude of response was not observed in intact (vehicle-injected) rats and was restricted to the dorsomedial (DM, 333+/-25% of lesion) subregion of the anterior striatum, with smaller increases observed in the dorsolateral striatum (DL, 206+/-26% of lesion). A single i.p. injection of MK-801 (NMDA antagonist; 0.1 mg/kg) administered prior to dopamine D(1) (D(1)) and serotonin(2) (5-HT(2)) receptor co-stimulation suppressed the synergistic regulation of PPT mRNA expression in the DM striatum, but also produced a large increase in PPT message levels within the DL striatum (321+/-17% of lesion). These data suggest that the synergistic regulation of PPT mRNA within the DM striatum induced by D(1)/5-HT(2) receptor co-stimulation in the dopamine lesioned rat is dependent on NMDA receptor activity. However, MK-801 may simultaneously potentiate striatal PPT mRNA expression by a separate mechanism due to the changed environment of the dopamine-depleted basal ganglia.
The Effects of Seam Height, Scaling Method, and Bar Weight Distribution on Scaling Effectiveness and Electromyographic Activity

Scaling bars are frequently used in underground mining for removing loose material from the roof and the walls. Previous research has demonstrated the scaling bar to be one of the hand tools more frequently involved in underground mining muscular-skeletal injuries. The present experiment investigated the role of seam height, scaling method and selected parameters of scaling bar design. Fourteen subjects worked in simulated mine environment and participated in all conditions of the experiment. Electromyographic (EMG) data was collected to study the relative involvement of six trunk muscles, and dynamometer output measured subjects' ability to use each bar and method effectively. Results suggest the parameters of weight and weight distribution to be important in scaling bar design. Also EMG data showed differences with tool parameters and the method used. Asymmetric loadings to the spine were found to be more extreme in the low roof conditions. These results suggest recommendations concerning tool design an...
Iterative row-column soft-decision feedback algorithm using joint extrinsic information for two-dimensional intersymbol interference

In this paper, we redesign the previous iterative row-column soft decision feedback algorithm (Cheng et al., 2007) for a two-dimensional intersymbol interference channel with additive white Gaussian noise; a 2 × 2 averaging mask and two 3 × 3 masks are considered. In particular, we consider the joint statistics for a block of pixels involved in the exchange of extrinsic information between the detectors; previously, these pixels were considered to be statistically independent. The new algorithm, referred to as the block (BLK) algorithm, provides more than 1 dB SNR gain; the resulting performance is within 0.3 dB from the maximum likelihood bound for the masks considered. To address the increased computational and storage complexity introduced by the joint statistics, we have developed a simplified version of the block (SBLK) algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate that the SBLK algorithm performs almost as well as the BLK algorithm.
Tunable Fermi-edge resonance in an open quantum dot

Resonant tunneling in an open mesoscopic quantum dot is proposed as a vehicle to realize a tunable Fermi-edge resonance with variable coupling strength. We solve the x-ray edge problem for a generic nonseparable scatterer and apply it to describe tunneling in a quantum dot. The tunneling current power law exponent is linked to the $S$ matrix of the dot. The control of scattering by varying the dot shape and coupling to the leads allows us to explore a wide range of exponents. The sensitivity of mesoscopic coherence to the Wigner-Dyson ensemble symmetry is replicated in the Fermi-edge singularity.
“And Knowledge Shall Be Increased”: Millenarianism and the Advancement of Learning Revisited

In the early years of the seventeenth century, Francis Bacon (1561–1626) introduced an ingenious and daring exegesis into his apologia for secular learning. Man fell, he argued in Valerius Terminus, his first philosophical essay, not for seeking the “pure light of natural knowledge,” but for presuming “to attain to that part of moral knowledge which defineth of good and evil, whereby to dispute God’s commandments and not to depend upon the revelation of his will.” Consequently, far from proscribing innocent inquiries into nature, God actually “framed the mind of man as a glass capable of the image of the universal world, joying to receive the signature thereof as the eye is of light … And although the highest generality of motion or summary law of nature God should still reserve within his own curtain, yet many and noble are the inferior and secondary operations which are within man’s sounding.” Indeed, since God authored all knowledge, its dissemination and thriving is guaranteed “not only by a general providence but by a special prophecy,” expressly “appointed to this autumn of the world.” Bacon turned to Daniel 12:4, where, “speaking of the latter times it is said, Many shall pass to and fro, and science shall be increased; as if the opening of the world by navigation and commerce and the further discovery of knowledge should meet in one time or age.”
Apoptosis in perinatal hypoxic–ischemic brain injury: How important is it and should it be inhibited?

The discovery of safe and effective therapies for perinatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI) and stroke remains an unmet goal of perinatal medicine. Hypothermia and antioxidants such as allopurinol are currently under investigation as treatments for neonatal HI. Drugs targeting apoptotic mechanisms are currently being studied in adult diseases such as cancer, stroke, and trauma and have been proposed as potential therapies for perinatal HI and stroke. Before developing antiapoptosis therapies for perinatal brain injury, we must determine whether this form of cell death plays an important role in these injuries and if the inhibition of these pathways promotes more benefit than harm. This review summarizes current evidence for apoptotic mechanisms in perinatal brain injury and addresses issues pertinent to the development of antiapoptosis therapies for perinatal HI and stroke.
The synthetic polypentapeptide of elastin coacervates and forms filamentous aggregates

Abstract The polypentapeptide, HCO-(ValProGlyValGly)nVal-OMe where 10 ⩽ n ⩽ 15 , is shown to coacervate, to do so in the same temperature range as α-elastin isolated from pig aorta, and to exhibit a nearly identical temperature profile for aggregation. The coacervate is shown to be of a filamentous nature by high resolution electron microscopy. To our knowledge this is the first synthetic polypeptide demonstrated to exhibit the uncommon property of coacervation. The results require that hydrophobic interactions between polypeptide molecules be a dominant feature of the conformation in the coacervate which is the stable conformation in an aqueous system at body temperature. Furthermore, circular dichroism results demonstrate the conformation of the polypentapeptide in organic solvents, such as trifluoroethanol, to be more relevant to the conformation in the biological system (i.e. a concentrated aqueous system at 37°C) than to the conformation in molecularly dispersed (dilute) aqueous solutions.
Evaluation of arthrocentesis site bacterial flora before and after 4 methods of preparation in horses with and without evidence of skin contamination.

Objective— To evaluate the effectiveness of four methods of povidone–iodine preparation on skin bacterial flora of arthrocentesis sites, in horses, with and without evidence of skin contamination. Study Design— Prospective randomized study. Animals— Twenty-four adult horses. Methods— Horses were assigned to either the clean or contaminated group based on housing environment and visual evidence of contamination. Using a moist sterile swab, microbial culture samples were obtained from the skin over the distal interphalangeal joints immediately before and after preparation. Each site was aseptically prepared with 1 of 4 povidone–iodine techniques: 10-minutes scrub, 5-minutes scrub, three 30-second scrubs, or commercial one-step iodophor surgical solution. Colony forming units (CFUs) were determined for each sample, 24 hours after inoculation, on blood agar plates. Results— Mean (±SD) pre-scrub CFUs/mL was significantly higher in the contaminated group (9588.33±1223.65) compared with the clean group (4489.00±3842.03) (P<.01). After preparation of the arthrocentesis sites, there were no significant differences in post-scrub CFUs/mL among the 10 minutes (mean clean, 46.00±64.36; mean contaminated, 28.67±18.04), 5 minutes (mean clean, 84.17±109.80; mean contaminated, 40.33±44.52), three 30 seconds povidone–iodine scrubs (mean clean, 95.50±172.29; mean contaminated, 46.67±56.94), or application of a commercial one-step iodophor surgical solution (mean clean, 102.17±161.78; mean contaminated 117.67±143.78); or between the clean (81.96±131.69) and contaminated groups (58.33±85.90) (P<.01). Conclusions— Preparation of the distal interphalangeal joint arthrocentesis site with each of these techniques significantly reduces the bacterial flora to a similar level for arthrocentesis in horses with and without evidence of skin contamination. Clinical Relevance— Aseptic preparation of the skin over the distal interphalangeal joint may be accomplished with any of these techniques.
Fuel-saving ship route using the Navy’s ensemble meteorological and oceanic forecasts

Fuel conservation and carbon reduction are important issues in current naval operations. Optimal ship route (i.e. minimum fuel consumption) depends on specific ship platform characteristics and nea...
Flow of water through highly swollen membranes

The difference between the hydraulic permeability K under a pressure gradient and the diffusive permeability P under a concentration gradient can be explained by the incipient viscous flow at high degree of swelling. This flow is opposed by the friction resistance of the macromolecules of the highly swollen membrane. It comes to an end at a critical swelling Hc when the number of permeant molecules is not more sufficient for a complete solvation of the macromolecules of the membrane. Below this swelling, K equals PV1/RT, where V1 is the molar volume of the permeant, and above it the difference K − PV1/RT is proportional to H/(1 − H) − Hc/(1 − Hc). The proportionality factor depends on the friction coefficient of the macromolecular segments and on the average lateral chain clustering. The data on poly(glycerol methacrylate) suggest that on the average the aggregates contain two chains.
Responsiveness of lateral compartment joint space width: data from the osteoarthritis initiative (OAI)

s / Osteoarthritis and Cartilage 22 (2014) S57–S489 S65 99 RESPONSIVENESS OF LATERAL COMPARTMENT JOINT SPACE WIDTH: DATA FROM THE OSTEOARTHRITIS INITIATIVE (OAI) R.L. Russell y, J. Lynch z, M. Nevitt z, J. Duryea y. yBrigham and Women’s Hosp., Boston, MA, USA; zUniv. of California San Francisco, San
A Selected Bibliography on Group Dynamics and Group Education

(1954). A Selected Bibliography on Group Dynamics and Group Education. Religious Education: Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 52-54.
Salinity stratification in the Permian Phosphoria sea; a proposed paleoceanographic model

The Late Permian Phosphoria Formation of the western United States contains 1.7 × 10 12 t of phosphate and locally as much as 32.9% total organic carbon. The mineral wealth of the Phosphoria Formation is generally attributed to Late Permian upwelling along the western margin of the continent. Unlike in most modern environments, upwelling in the Late Permian occurred proximal to a broad, shallow, evaporative sea rather than an abrupt continental margin. Evaporite deposits that are contemporaneous with the organic- and phosphate-rich strata are present within the Phosphoria and adjacent basins. Elevated concentrations of the biomarker gammacerane are ubiquitous in the organic-rich facies of the Phosphoria Formation, which suggests that the basin was salinity stratified. Depositional environments incorporating both upwelling and salinity stratification are unusual and poorly documented in modern settings. We infer the presence of salinity stratification in the Phosphoria basin and propose a paleoceanographic model of the Phosphoria sea during the deposition of organic- and phosphate-rich sediment. From the western margin of the continent, upwelling water flowed into the evaporative Phosphoria sea, replacing and overriding hypersaline bottom water that drained westward. This paleoceanographic model of the Phosphoria sea may help to explain the distribution and preservation of organic- and phosphate-rich strata in the Phosphoria Formation.
Jim Baggott, Atomic: The First War of Physics and the Secret History of the Atom Bomb, 1939–1949

Jim Baggott, Atomic: The First War of Physics and the Secret History of the Atom Bomb, 1939–1949 (New York: Pegasus Books, 2011). $17.95. Pb. ISBN1605981974. In this sprawling volume, Jim Baggott, ...
Exploiting reciprocity for superresolution using metamaterials

Near field capture of evanescent waves may be possible using negative index metamaterials but practicalities encourage their conversion to propagating waves. Using a metamaterial for this and fabricating it’s “reciprocal” might allow far field reconstruction.
Effects of Inorganic Nitrogen Enrichment on Lake Huron Phytoplankton: An Experimental Study

Abstract Effects of inorganic nitrogen (NO 3 ) enrichment on phytoplankton were studied using a factorial design experiment. Using species assemblages from Lake Huron waters, the effects of NO 3 and total phosphorus (TSP) additions on species abundance and composition were monitored. The species-nutrient relationship was determined by canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). In addition, divisional differences were related to nutrient additions using correspondence analysis (CA). These techniques were instrumental in developing species relationships to NO 3 and TSP gradients and, by partialling out the effect of TSP to determine the primary species- NO 3 relationship. Nitrate-phosphorus (N:P) effects were also analyzed at the species and divisional levels. Gross changes in biomass, as represented by chlorophyll a concentrations, were not evident from NO 3 enrichment. However, species composition did change, particularly for a few species. Most evident were increases in relative abundance of Cyclotella comensis. Cyclotella stelligera, Fragilaria capucina, F. pinnata , and flagellates showed similar increased proportional abundance. Flagellates responded positively to both NO 3 additions and N:P interactions. Overall, there were not great changes at the level of major algal divisions. All major groups maintained their abundances relative to one another throughout the experimental period. The results from this study showed that increased NO 3 levels in the Great Lakes would affect species composition.
Charge-density-wave conduction noise in blue bronze: Bulk-generated Gaussian noise

The conduction noise associated with the sliding charge-density wave in ${\mathrm{K}}_{0.3}$${\mathrm{MoO}}_{3}$ is investigated by measuring the total noise power and its fluctuations. The statistical properties of the fluctuations show the conduction noise to be Gaussian, which indicates an underlying randomness in the sliding process. The size of the noise increases above threshold and then saturates for large bias. This saturation occurs when the fundamental frequency of the conduction noise is comparable to the dielectric relaxation frequency. The saturated value of the noise increases with sample length, indicating that the noise is produced in the bulk. The linear variation found suggests that the conducting domains extend the full length of the crystal.