cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Microelectrode characterization of the basolateral membrane of rabbit S3 proximal tubule

The purpose of this study was to characterize the basolateral membrane of the S3 segment of the rabbit proximal tubule using conventional and ion-selective microelectrodes. When compared with results from S1 and S2 segments, S3 cells under control conditions have a more negative basolateral membrane potential (Vbl=−69 mV), a higher relative potassium conductance (tK=0.6), lower intracellular Na+ activity (ANa=18.4mm), and higher intracellular K+ activity (AK=67.8mm). No evidence for a conductive sodium-dependent or sodium-independent HCO3− pathway could be demonstrated. The basolateral Na−K pump is inhibited by 10−4m ouabain and bath perfusion with a potassium-free (0-K) solution. 0-K perfusion results inANa=64.8mm,AK=18.5mm, andVbl=−28 mV. Basolateral potassium channels are blocked by barium and by acidification of the bathing medium. The relative K+ conductance, as evaluated by increasing bath K+ to 17mm, is dependent upon the restingVbl in both S2 and S3 cells. In summary, the basolateral membrane of S3 cells contains a pump-leak system with similar properties to S1 and S2 proximal tubule cells. The absence of conductive bicarbonate pathways results in a hyperpolarized cell and larger Na+ and K+ gradients across the cell borders, which will influence the transport properties and intracellular ion activities in this tubule segment.
Water quality effects of seepage from earthen dams

Abstract Analyses of surface and seepage waters from selected floodwater retarding structures in west-central Oklahoma, U.S.A. show the salinity of seepage to be several times greater than that of the impounded waters. The increases in concentration of the several chemical components are not proportional. This phenomenon appears to be caused largely by simple solution, which is closely related to the chemical character of the geologic formation that provides the reservoir site and the earth fill of the dam. Concentration of certain chemical components in the seepage water progressively decreases as the structure ages. This is probably a function of depletion, which is related to the amounts and solubility of the parent materials subjected to solution. In contrast, the concentration of certain other components, such as iron and calcium, increases with time. The chemical activities within the accumulating mud on the bottom of the reservoir apparently cause these increases.
The capactins, a class of proteins that cap the ends of actin filaments.

A number of proteins that bind specifically to the barbed ends of actin filaments in a cytochalasin-like manner have been purified to various degrees from a variety of muscle and non-muscle cells and tissues. Preliminary evidence also indicates that proteins that interact with the pointed ends of filaments are present in skeletal muscle. Because of their ability to cap one or the other end of an actin filament, we have designated this class of proteins as the ‘capactins’. On the basis of their effect on actin filament assembly and interaction in vitro , we propose that the capactins play important roles in cellular regulation of actin-based cytoskeletal and contractile functions. Our finding that the disappearance of actin filament bundles in virally transformed fibroblasts can be correlated with an increase in capactin activity in the extracts of these cells is consistent with this hypothesis.
Navigating the Transfer Process Analyzing the Effects of Part-Time Faculty Exposure by Academic Program

Researchers are beginning to understand that there are some differential effects on students in relation to exposure to part-time faculty; one possible explanation may be differences depending on program area. This study explores whether exposure to part-time faculty differentially affects students’ likelihood of transferring across academic program areas. The findings confirm prior research identifying a negative relationship between students’ instructional time with part-time faculty and their probability of transferring from a community college to a 4-year institution; however, the results indicated no differential effects of exposure to part-time faculty depending on program area. As scholars highlight differences among part-time faculty depending on academic discipline, this research suggests that these differences do not translate into differential effects on students’ likelihood of transferring.
The potential of remote sensing data for decision makers at the state, local and tribal level: experiences from NASA’s Synergy program

Abstract NASA’s Earth Observation System (EOS) satellite data are contributing to the development of policy relevant, remote sensing applications. To promote the use of EOS data for application development, NASA funded the Synergy program in 2000 in partnership with academia, end users, and industry. Three examples of remote sensing applications from the Synergy program are presented here and include agriculture, range management, and water resource management. These examples show that remote sensing products have the potential to be useful to a variety of decision makers and policy makers because of the opportunity to reduce chemicals in the environment, improve crop yields and better manage range lands and water resources. Transitioning from research and development to successful applications must overcome challenges such as the lack of awareness by end users of these technologies, inadequate feedback mechanism between application developers and end users, and unproven cost benefits of remote sensing data. Experience from the Synergy program indicates that these issues could be mitigated by educating and training end users, demonstrating the utility of remote sensing data in improving decision making, and establishing and maintaining a continuous dialogue between developers and end users. Sustainability of remote sensing applications ultimately depends on users continuing reliance on products and benefits from remote sensing data. The Synergy program also demonstrates that remote sensing data sets that are collected primarily for global change research contribute to the development of applications in a variety of disciplines at the regional and local level.
Periodic maps on simply connected four-manifolds

IN THIS paper we describe certain invariants of periodic maps on closed, simply connected four-manifolds with the purpose of classifying such maps up to homeomorphism. The manifolds themselves are classified by Freedman [9] in terms of the intersection pairing on second homology and the Kirby--Sicbcnmann invariant. Gcncralizing Freedman’s result to some nonsimply connected four-manifolds Hambleton and Kreck [IO] have recently shown that in the case of a cyclic fundamental group of odd order the manifold is determined up to homeomorphism by the same two invariants togcthcr with the fundamental group (with the intcrscction pairing being understood now as dcfincd on the torsion free part of the second homology group). A similar statement for cvcn order groups fails to bc true. although its failure is less dramatic for algebraic surfaces as follows from the work by the same authors [I I]. From the point of view of the fundamental group acting on the universal cover these results concern the topological classification of fret periodic maps on simply conncctcd four-manifolds. In gcncral, howcvcr. a periodic map is allowed to have fixed points or periodic points of period smaller than the map period. When this happens, the quotient orbifold has singularities. We shall show that in the cast of isolated singularities one can still classify periodic maps by means of some invariants associated with this orbifold, although in the singular case one must also take into account the torsion part of its second homology. In the more rigid situation of a free periodic map no torsion information is needed. This can bc partially accounted for by the fact that many four-manifolds do not support any such maps. On the other hand, by a result of Edmonds [5]. every closed, simply connected fourmanifold supports infinitely many periodic maps with isolated fixed points. The paper is organized in four sections. In Section 2 we discuss the homotopy classification of locally linear, pseudofree actions of finite groups on simply connected fourmanifolds. There we introduce some terminology and prepare the obstruction theory needed for the results of the next two sections. Our main result is the topological classification of semifree periodic maps of odd period. This is the content of Theorem 3.1. A related but somewhat weaker result for periodic maps of even period is contained in Theorem 3.2. As an application of our techniques, we prove in Section 4 that any locally linear, pscudofree action of a finite group on the complex projective plane is topologically conjugate to a linear action. This last statcmcnt about actions on CP’ has also been asserted in [I93 in the context of finite group actions on the Chern manifold. There we concentrated our efforts on actions without fixed points referring the reader for the proof in the semifrce case to the combined results of [7] and [ 121. This point requires now further elaboration for maps of composite period as the authors of [ 121 have meanwhile added to their result a technical hypothesis of
Experimental weight loss kinetics of wood pyrolysis under vacuum

Abstract In this paper, the weight loss of four different woods during vacuum pyrolysis at constant temperature and at constant heating rate are reported. Based on these results, an empirical model of the weight loss rate as a function of temperature has been developed. The model assumes that wood is composed of three major components: cellulose, lignin, and a mixture of hemicellulose and volatiles. Under vacuum conditions, it is also assumed that the pyrolysis of these components proceeds independently of the others. The resulting kinetic parameters can be used to predict volatilization rates of wood as a function of temperature in a vacuum. The model may also be used to estimate the quantities of each of the main components initially present in an unknown wood sample.
Nucleotide sequence and genetic organization of the polyoma late region: features common to the polyoma early region and SV40.

Abstract The nucleotide sequence of the late region of the polyoma genome has been determined. It consists of 2366 bp and encodes the virion capsid proteins VP1, VP2 and VP3. Extensive open reading frames identify the possible coding sequences of VP2 and VP3 toward the 5′ end of the late region, and of the major capsid protein VP1 toward the 3′ end of the late region. The 5′ end of the sequence encoding VP1 overlaps the 3′ VP2/VP3 region by 29 nucleotides and is in a different reading frame. The predicted amino acid sequences for all three known capsid proteins show extensive homology with the analogous capsid proteins of SV40 throughout most of their length. The VP2/VP3 amino acid homology between the two viruses is 34%, while the major capsid protein VP1 is much more highly conserved, showing 54% homology. These homologies together with the extent of open reading frames help to define the extent of the coding sequences. The VP2 initiator begins at position 269 and the coding region extends to the first termination codon beginning at 1226. The predicted size of VP2 is 35,007 daltons. A probable VP3 initiator is within the VP2 coding sequence at position 614 and is in the same frame as VP2. This coding sequence can also utilize the terminator at position 1226, and the predicted size of the VP3 translation product is 22,979 daltons. The VP1 coding region begins at position 1197 and continues in a frame different from that of VP2/ VP3 to a termination point at 2349. The molecular weight of VP1 is predicted to be 42,834 daltons. The 5′ untranslated region contains sequences that resemble a potential ribosomal binding site and a possible mRNA capping sequence similar to those found in other eucaryotic systems. There is also a sequence (5′-TCAAGTAAGTGA-3′) almost identical to one found in two regions containing potential splice sites in the early region of polyoma. The 5′ untranslated region does not show the extensive repeated sequences found in the similar region of SV40. The 3′ untranslated region contains the sequence 5′-AATAAA-3′, thought to represent a polyadenylation signal. As in the early region of polyoma, the extensive nucleotide and deduced amino acid homology with SV40 indicate a close evolutionary relationship between the two viruses, and help to identify regions of common and important structure-function relationships.
Paving the way to political change: decentralization of development in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract Previous research by the authors examined the political consequences of internationally funded, decentralized development programs that target local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The Planafloro Community Initiative Projects, sponsored by the World Bank from 1995–1998, had powerful effects on politics, increasing electoral support for the Left in the 1998 presidential race. In this paper, we test whether those effects diffuse across space. Using Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA), we find that the diffusion of political change is constrained by infrastructure: political change diffuses from one municipality to the next only when connected by a major highway—an important distinguishing feature in landscapes with difficult terrain. From a methodological standpoint, the study demonstrates the importance of contextual knowledge when performing ESDA. From a practical standpoint, our results imply that programs designed to diffuse information or program benefits in developing areas operate under important physical geographic and infrastructural constraints.
The effects of maternal murine cytomegalovirus infection on the mouse conceptus at different gestational stages

The effects of murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) on the prenatal development of the CD-1 mouse were investigated. Two sets of experiments were performed. In the first, mice were inoculated with different doses of MCMV on gestational day 7, and in the second, pregnant animals were inoculated with a subacute injection dose at different gestational stages. The effects of maternal infection on pregnancy in terms of maternal sickness, embryo lethality, date of parturition, litter size, postnatal death, and pups' body weight on d 1 and d 3 postpartum were investigated. High-dose MCMV infection on d 7 of pregnancy resulted in a significant increase in early embryo resorption and also in a reduction of the neonatal body weight of surviving pups. Two gestational stages were identified as being especially susceptible to MCMV infection. Most embryonic death as indicated by resorption rates was found after treatment on d 9, whereas perinatal death was most frequent when treatment was done on d 13 of gestation. Still births and neonatal death within 24 h of birth were found commonly in this latter group, which also showed the most pronounced growth retardation. The phenomenon of delay in time of parturition was noted and found to be most significant in groups of animals that were inoculated on d 3 or d 13. This investigation suggests that the effects of MCMV on the CD-1 mouse vary greatly with the age of the embryo and the course of the infection.
Altered phenytoin clearance during intensive chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

7. Kobrinsky NL, Letts RM, Patel LR, et al. 1-Desamino8-A-arginine vasopressin (desmopressin) decreases operative blood loss in patients having Harrington rod spinal fusion surgery: a randomized, double-blinded, controlled trial. Ann Intern Med 1987;107:446-50. 8. Salzman EW, Weinstein M J, Weintraub RM, et al. Treatment with desmopressin acetate to reduce blood loss after cardiac surgery: a double-blind randomized trial. N Engl J Med 1986;314:1402-6. 9. Czer L, Bateman T, Gray R, et al. Prospective trial of DDAVP in treatment of severe platelet dysfunction and hemorrhage after cardiopulmonary bypass. Circulation 1985; 72(suppl 3):II1-130. 10. Belch JJF, Smell M, McKenzie F, et al. DDAVP stimulates prostacyclin production. Thromb Haemost 1982;47:122-3. 11. Kobrinsky NL, Watson CW, Cheang MS, Bishop AJ. Improved hemophilia A detection by DDAVP stimulation of factor VIII. J PEDIATR 1984;104:718-24.
Analyzing aliases of reference formal parameters

Compilers for languages with call-by-reference formal parameters must deal with aliases arising from the renaming effects at call sites. This paper presents a set of techniques for analyzing aliasing patterns. The analysis is divided into detecting the introduction of aliases and tracking their propagation. The algorithm for introduction analysis is simple enough to be performed in a structured editor or parser. A data flow analysis framework is given for the propagation problem, making it possible to solve using standard algorithms from global data flow analysis. Several optimizations are shown which can shrink the size of the problem, and extensions are given to handle ALGOL-style name scoping. Finally, this technique is compared to an alternative implementation strategy and an approximate technique.
Training Phonemic Segmentation Ability with a Phonemic Discrimination Intervention in Second- and Third-Grade Children with Reading Disabilities:

The present study examined the possibility that phonemic discrimination training could improve the phonemic segmentation ability of children with reading disabilities. Half of the 32 children with reading disabilities (14 male and 4 female second graders and 10 male and 4 female third graders, with mean ages of 99.2 and 109.7 months, respectively) deficient in phonemic segmentation skills were assigned to the training group, while the other half acted as a nontrained control group. The trained children were successful at significantly improving their performance on the phonemic segmentation task. The control group made no improvement. Requiring children with reading disabilities to make discriminations concerning phonemic information may have helped them discover properties of the phoneme that they previously did not know.
Heterogeneity in the Molecular Composition of Excitatory Postsynaptic Sites during Development of Hippocampal Neurons in Culture

To determine their roles in the assembly of glutamatergic postsynaptic sites, we studied the distributions of NMDA- and AMPA-type glutamate receptors; the NMDA receptor-interacting proteins alpha-actinin-2, PSD-95, and chapsyn; and the PSD-95-associated protein GKAP during the development of hippocampal neurons in culture. NMDA receptors first formed nonsynaptic proximal dendrite shaft clusters within 2-5 d. AMPA receptors were diffuse at this stage and began to cluster on spines at 9-10 d. NMDA receptor clusters remained partially nonsynaptic and mainly distinct from AMPA receptor clusters until after 3 weeks in culture, when the two began to colocalize at spiny synaptic sites. Thus, the localization of NMDA and AMPA receptors must be regulated by different mechanisms. alpha-Actinin-2 colocalized with the NMDA receptor only at spiny synaptic clusters, but not at shaft nonsynaptic or synaptic clusters, suggesting a modulatory role in the anchoring of NMDA receptor at spines. PSD-95, chapsyn, and GKAP were present at some, but not all, nonsynaptic NMDA receptor clusters during the first 2 weeks, indicating that none is essential for NMDA receptor cluster formation. When NMDA receptor clusters became synaptic, PSD-95 and GKAP were always present, consistent with an essential function in synaptic localization of NMDA receptors. Furthermore, PSD-95 and GKAP clustered opposite presynaptic terminals several days before either NMDA or AMPA receptors clustered at these presumptive postsynaptic sites. These results suggest that synapse development proceeds by formation of a postsynaptic scaffold containing PSD-95 and GKAP in concert with presynaptic vesicle clustering, followed by regulated attachment of glutamate receptor subtypes to this scaffold.
Soft Detection with Linear Precoding for Spatial Multiplexing Systems

We present a precoded reduced-complexity soft detection (PRCSD) algorithm for spatial multiplexing systems. The linear operations at both transmit and receive sides based on complex Householder transform convert the multi-input multi-output (MIMO) channel to be multiple-diagonal, spatially partial-response-like, so that error propagation is alleviated when applying RCSD at the receiver. The transform results in unitary precoding and feedforward matrices so that neither transmit power boost nor noise enhancement is present. Performance analysis based on pairwise error probability (PEP) shows that PRCSD achieves higher diversity advantage than existing precoding and multiple-beamforming schemes, which basically attempt to transmit signals through diagonal independent sub-channels and thus may suffer diversity loss. PRCSD can achieve full diversity as ML detection in some scenarios while reducing complexity significantly.
Differentiating the Top English Premier League Football Clubs from the Rest of the Pack: Identifying the Keys to Success

This paper develops a robust, statistically significant, six independent variable multiple regression model that accounts for the relative success of English Premier League football clubs based on an array of twenty-four pitch actions collected during the 2007-2008 season (p
The Psychological Effect of Weather on Car Purchases

When buying durable goods, consumers must forecast how much utility they will derive from future consumption, including consumption in different states of the world. This can be complicated for consumers because making intertemporal evaluations may expose them to a variety of psychological biases such as present bias, projection bias, and salience effects. We investigate whether consumers are affected by such intertemporal biases when they purchase automobiles. Using data for more than 40 million vehicle transactions, we explore the impact of weather on purchasing decisions. We find that the choice to purchase a convertible or a four-wheel-drive is highly dependent on the weather at the time of purchase in a way that is inconsistent with classical utility theory. We consider a range of rational explanations for the empirical effects we find, but none can explain fully the effects we estimate. We then discuss and explore projection bias and salience as two primary psychological mechanisms that are consistent with our results. JEL Codes: D03; D12.
The Yeast ALG11 Gene Specifies Addition of the Terminal α1,2-Man to the Man5GlcNAc2-PP-dolicholN-Glycosylation Intermediate Formed on the Cytosolic Side of the Endoplasmic Reticulum

The initial steps in N-linked glycosylation involve the synthesis of a lipid-linked core oligosaccharide followed by the transfer of the core glycan to nascent polypeptides in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Here, we describe alg11, a new yeast glycosylation mutant that is defective in the last step of the synthesis of the Man(5)GlcNAc(2)-PP-dolichol core oligosaccharide on the cytosolic face of the ER. A deletion of the ALG11 gene leads to poor growth and temperature-sensitive lethality. In an alg11 lesion, both Man(3)GlcNAc(2)-PP-dolichol and Man(4)GlcNAc(2)-PP-dolichol are translocated into the ER lumen as substrates for the Man-P-dolichol-dependent sugar transferases in this compartment. This leads to a unique family of oligosaccharide structures lacking one or both of the lower arm alpha1,2-linked Man residues. The former are elongated to mannan, whereas the latter are poor substrates for outerchain initiation by Ochlp (Nakayama, K.-I., Nakanishi-Shindo, Y., Tanaka, A., Haga-Toda, Y., and Jigami, Y. (1997) FEBS Lett. 412, 547-550) and accumulate largely as truncated biosynthetic end products. The ALG11 gene is predicted to encode a 63.1-kDa membrane protein that by indirect immunofluorescence resides in the ER. The Alg11 protein is highly conserved, with homologs in fission yeast, worms, flies, and plants. In addition to these Alg11-related proteins, Alg11p is also similar to Alg2p, a protein that regulates the addition of the third mannose to the core oligosaccharide. All of these Alg11-related proteins share a 23-amino acid sequence that is found in over 60 proteins from bacteria to man whose function is in sugar metabolism, implicating this sequence as a potential sugar nucleotide binding motif.
Defined sequence modules and an architectural element cooperate to promote initiation at an ectopic mammalian chromosomal replication origin.

A small DNA fragment containing the high-frequency initiation region (IR) ori-β from the hamster dihydrofolate reductase locus functions as an independent replicator in ectopic locations in both hamster and human cells. Conversely, a fragment of the human lamin B2 locus containing the previously mapped IR serves as an independent replicator at ectopic chromosomal sites in hamster cells. At least four defined sequence elements are specifically required for full activity of ectopic ori-β in hamster cells. These include an AT-rich element, a 4-bp sequence located within the mapped IR, a region of intrinsically bent DNA located between these two elements, and a RIP60 protein binding site adjacent to the bent region. The ori-β AT-rich element is critical for initiation activity in human, as well as hamster, cells and can be functionally substituted for by an AT-rich region from the human lamin B2 IR that differs in nucleotide sequence and length. Taken together, the results demonstrate that two mammalian replicators can be activated at ectopic sites in chromosomes of another mammal and lead us to speculate that they may share functionally related elements.
Myocardial infarction resulting from nonatherosclerotic coronary artery diseases

Myocardial infarction (MI) infrequently results from nonatherosclerotic coronary diseases such as coronary embolism, spasm, dissection, and arteritis. If these disorders are not considered in the differential diagnosis of MI, specific beneficial therapies would be overlooked. Because physicians see large number of patients with MI during their career, the likelihood that they will encounter patients with MI resulting from nonatherosclerotic diseases is high. Two cases are presented to highlight different etiologies and treatment approaches of nonatherosclerotic MI.
Finding lists of people on the web

Among the vast amounts of personal information published on the World Wide Web ("Web") and indexed by search engines are lists of names of people. Examples include employees at companies, students enrolled in universities, officers in the military, law enforcement personnel, members of social organizations, and lists of acquaintances. Knowing who works where, attends what, or affiliates with whom provides strategic knowledge to competitors, marketers, and government surveillance efforts. However, finding online rosters of people does not lend itself to keyword lookup on search engines because the keywords tend to be common expressions such as "employees" or "students." A typical search often retrieves hundreds of Web pages requiring many hours of human inspection to locate a page containing a list of names. As a result, people may falsely believe online rosters provide more privacy than they do. This paper presents RosterFinder, a simple algorithm for locating Web pages that consist predominately of a list of names. The specific names are not known beforehand. RosterFinder works by identifying rosters from candidate Web pages based on the ratio of distinct known names to distinct words appearing in the page. Accurate classification by RosterFinder depends on the set of names used. Results are reported on real Web pages using: (1) dictionary lookup employing a limited set of known names; and, (2) dictionary lookup on utilizing an extensive set of known names. Privacy implications are discussed using the example of FERPA and online student rosters.
Historical Perspectives: Newborn Metabolic Screening

It began with Bob Guthrie’s second child. John was mentally retarded. Because of this, Guthrie was stimulated toward research that could prevent mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. In 1957, Guthrie was conducting cancer research at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY. Because of John, Bob and his wife Margaret were very active in the Buffalo chapter of the New York State Association for Retarded Children. As Vice-President of the chapter, he was responsible for the program at the monthly meeting. He had heard that Dr Robert Warner, Director of the newly established Children’s Rehabilitation Center at Buffalo Children’s Hospital, was doing work in developmental disabilities, so he invited Dr Warner to speak about his work at one of the meetings. At the meeting, Dr Warner discussed his work in treating children with mental retardation, some of whom had metabolic disorders. Over coffee after the meeting, Guthrie mentioned his interest in the prevention of mental retardation. As a result of the meeting and especially the discussion after the meeting, the two kept in touch. About a year later, Dr Warner introduced Guthrie to phenylketonuria (PKU). Dr Warner explained that PKU was an inborn error of phenylalanine metabolism that caused mental retardation, but that when these retarded children received a special phenylalanine-restricted diet, not only did their blood phenylalanine levels decrease, but their behavior improved substantially. One problem in administering the diet, Dr Warner explained, was the difficulty with tests required to measure the blood phenylalanine levels for close monitoring of the patients. This persuaded Guthrie to try to produce a simpler method for measuring blood phenylalanine. Guthrie thought such a test might be possible by modifying the Bacillus subtilis or Escherichia coli bacteria assays he was using to screen for different antimetabolites in blood from patients who were …
Quantification of carbon nanotube distribution and property correlation in nanocomposites

Quantification of the quality of distribution is essential in carbon nanotube (CNT) composites since it reflects the homogeneity of the properties. In this work, an attempt is made to quantify the quality of distribution of carbon nanotubes in a metal matrix composite by two methods. Two parameters have been proposed which are complimentary. The first one called Dispersion Parameter (DP) is based on the image analysis technique and is obtained based on the size of CNT cluster while the second one, named the Clustering Parameter (CP) is based on distances between centers of the nanotubes obtained by Delaunay triangulation. The method is applied to compare the level of distribution of nanotubes in three micrographs of CNT reinforced aluminum composite fabricated by cold spraying. A comparison between two quantification techniques is made. Carbon nanotube distribution obtained by image analysis technique is successfully utilized to correlate and account for experimentally obtained elastic modulus values of the nanocomposite by nanoindentation.
Cleavage mechanism of human Mus81-Eme1 acting on Holliday-junction structures

Recombination-mediated repair plays a central role in maintaining genomic integrity during DNA replication. The human Mus81-Eme1 endonuclease is involved in recombination repair, but the exact structures it acts on in vivo are not known. Using kinetic and enzymatic analysis of highly purified recombinant enzyme, we find that Mus81-Eme1 catalyzes coordinate bilateral cleavage of model Holliday-junction structures. Using a self-limiting, cruciform-containing substrate, we demonstrate that bilateral cleavage occurs sequentially within the lifetime of the enzyme-substrate complex. Coordinate bilateral cleavage is promoted by the highly cooperative nature of the enzyme and results in symmetrical cleavage of a cruciform structure, thus, Mus81-Eme1 can ensure coordinate, bilateral cleavage of Holliday junction-like structures.
The effect of small gaps in California annual grassland on above-ground biomass production

Small gaps and clumped species distributions are common in grasslands. In California annual grasslands, patches of Lolium multiflorum Lam. and Bromus hordeaceus L. are often separated by gaps. These gaps potentially limit the productivity and associated resource use of these grasslands. The effect that differences in spatial aggregation, gap distribution and species mixing on 20-cmdiameter plots has on overall forage production by these two grasses was tested. There were three levels of aggregation: whole plots planted; half planted/half empty; two opposing quarters planted/two empty. Each species was planted in each distribution, and they were combined as mixed, half L. multiflorum/half B. hordeaceus and two quarters L. multiflorum/two quarters B. hordeaceus (nine treatments). Plant aggregation had no significant effect on above-ground production of whole plots, but individual tillers near gaps were significantly larger than others. Plasticity in the growth of individual annual grasses effectively buffered against variation in average productivity resulting from variations in plant distribution. There were significant (P <0 AE001) differences in forage production as a result of the species the plots contained. Plots containing only L. multiflorum produced 4053 kg of dry matter (DM) ha ‐1 , B. hordeaceus plots produced 2448 kg of DM ha ‐1 , and plots containing both species produced 4712 kg of DM ha ‐1 . At small scales, spatial distribution was less important than species composition in determining annual grassland productivity.
CV risk of secondhand tobacco exposure: is it all smoke and mirrors?

There is little doubt that secondhand smoke (SHS) is causative in future coronary artery disease (CAD) events. The Surgeon General includes such a warning, and several large studies have confirmed this association among those who have never smoked. However, being able to individualize and quantitate
Radiative Corrections to the K e 3 ± Dalitz Plot

The radiative corrections to the Dalitz plot in ${{K}_{e3}}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$ decays are calculated assuming a phenomenological weak $K\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\pi}$ vertex and using perturbation theory. The answer depends logarithmically on a cutoff, as is the case for nucleon $\ensuremath{\beta}$ decay. An interesting feature of these decays is that they offer a means of measuring the ${q}^{2}$ dependence of the form factors ${f}_{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}({q}^{2})$. The radiative corrections contribute an additional energy dependence to the measurements which cannot be separated experimentally. It is found that the radiative corrections are considerable, i.e., greater than 3% in absolute magnitude, over a large portion of the Dalitz plot, and are not particularly sensitive to a reasonable choice of cutoff.
Major Infections and Sepsis

Enteral feeding may have a positive (protective) impact upon the gut by promoting both structural and functional integrity and by doing so may have an important role in the immune-competence of patients. Parenteral nutrition, particularly early in the course of critical illness, may have a deleterious impact on the risk of infection. In this chapter, the impact of timing and modality of nutrition support are synthesized, as these relate to infection and immune function.
The Laboratory’s Role in Serving Adolescent Patients

Although adolescence is generally considered to be a time of good health, health problems do occur during these years. Laboratory professionals need to be aware of these problems so that adolescent patients can be treated properly. The major issues for today’s adolescents are pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, drugs of abuse, eating disorders, infections, accidents, and suicides. We describe the prevalence of many of these conditions and discuss the laboratory tests that are used to diagnose or monitor these problems. The aim of this article is to heighten the awareness of laboratorians and clinicians to the challenges of adolescent medicine.
Pre-steady-state kinetic analysis of 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis reveals partially rate-limiting product release by parallel pathways.

As part of the non-mevalonate pathway for the biosynthesis of the isoprenoid precursor isopentenyl pyrophosphate, 1-deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate (DXP) reductoisomerase (DXR) catalyzes the conversion of DXP into 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) by consecutive isomerization and NADPH-dependent reduction reactions. Because this pathway is essential to many infectious organisms but is absent in humans, DXR is a target for drug discovery. In an attempt to characterize its kinetic mechanism and identify rate-limiting steps, we present the first complete transient kinetic investigation of DXR. Stopped-flow fluorescence measurements with Mycobacterium tuberculosis DXR (MtDXR) revealed that NADPH and MEP bind to the free enzyme and that the two bind together to generate a nonproductive ternary complex. Unlike the Escherichia coli orthologue, MtDXR exhibited a burst in the oxidation of NADPH during pre-steady-state reactions, indicating a partially rate-limiting step follows chemistry. By monitoring NADPH ...
Defining Collective Experience: When Does Wisdom Take Precedence?

Defining collective experience and determining when wisdom takes precedence are, indeed, daunting tasks. In order to prepare my position on this subject, inspiration (particularly from Anthony Asher), self-reflection, much thought, and research were required. To accomplish this task, I specifically address four points: (1) the development of an understanding of clinical wisdom, (2) the role of clinical wisdom in daily practice, (3) the teaching of clinical wisdom, and (4) answering of the question “when does wisdom take precedence?” For the purpose of discussion, I begin by defining clinical wisdom as the ability to effectively assimilate data, observations, and previous experiences for the purpose of optimizing clinical decision making. Using this relatively rudimentary definition, we can now begin the process of understanding clinical wisdom, determine its role, appreciate our ability to teach and learn it, and finally to develop a means to understand when clinical wisdom should actually be applied (or rather, when it takes precedence).
Simulation Assessment of Hazardous Consequence of Poisonous Material Diffused into Atmosphere under Instantaneous Leakage and Windless Condition

Objective To establish numerical simulation and forecast method for hazardous consequence of toxic gas or volatile poisonous material which suddenly leak and diffuse into atmosphere under windless condition,so as to provide information on accident hazards analysis for public health emergency disposal and for pre-assessment of occupational hazards in construction project.Methods Based on the mathematical models of poisonous gas diffusion and poisoning casualty probability function method which are recommended by Nation Environmental Protection Standards,using computer programming method,the computer software is designed for hazard analysis of toxic gas diffusion.Results Based on Gaussian air mass model a series of calculation formulas are obtained for assessment of hazardous scope and consequence of poisonous material diffused into atmosphere under instantaneous leakage and windless condition.,Excel template software TDA2.0 is developed.Using TDA2.0 program,the data on time-space distribution of toxic gas can easily be present.The total toxicity load and the probability of human poisoning or death can be calculated with program of poisoning probability function.This TDA2.0 program was applied to analyze the hazard consequence of liquid ammonia leakage from a tank-car.The calculated results were almost same as the reality.Conclusion TDA2.0 software is convenient and helpful tool to quickly predict the time-space distribution of toxic gas and its consequences.
Studies on the Relationship between Plant Shape, Spike Form and Yield of Rice Varieties in Jilin Province

Plant shape and spike form of different maturation rice varieties currently in use in Jilin Province was studied.The results showed that plant height in Jilin provincial ecological zone was relative low,and spike forms were mainly middle or small scattered and half erect spike.
Manageability as a first class objective in enterprise state stores

Within the past decade, Internet services have transformed the landscape of computing and become part of everyday life for hundreds of millions of consumers, who expect Internet services to be continually available. An essential part of Internet services is state management. Various existing state stores have exploited the properties of their workloads to achieve high performance, availability, and scalability. In recent years, increased attention has been paid to automating management and administration of state stores because of order of magnitude difference in administration cost vs. hardware and software cost. We describe user session state, a previously unaddressed workload. We design and implement a state store that enables automation of many of the important management tasks by exploiting the properties of user session state. In this dissertation, we make three main contributions: (1) Identification of session state, a distinct and important class of state in Internet services, and the development of SSM, an architecture and algorithm for the storage of session state. SSM gives a probabilistic guarantee of durability from volatile components, with near-instant recovery behavior, and a simple way to scale the system up or down. (2) Demonstration of simplicity of management for a class of stateful components. We apply application-generic anomaly detection mechanisms, and demonstrate that management of a class of stateful components can be as simple as management of stateless components. (3) Development of a recovery philosophy, whereby making recovery fast and unobtrusive, it is possible to automate fault detection and failure management. If failure recovery is fast and unobtrusive, it is less important that failure detection be perfectly accurate, because the cost of initiating unneeded recovery is extremely low. Furthermore, it may be straightforward to scale the system up by adding new nodes and then initiating “recovery” on them. In SSM, there is no “normal” mode vs. “failed” or “recovering” mode; the system is always recovering and adapting.
Urethral Strictures Secondary to Pelvic Injury in Children

AbstractSurgical repair of a membranous urethral stricture is difficult because of the location and potential risks of incontinence, impotence and infertility. The treatment of 2 such strictures by the Badenoch pull-through urethroplasty is presented. The technique is described and its apparent advantages over other methods of repair are discussed.
Same ol’, Same ol’: Consolidation and Local Television News

The consolidation of local television stations in the USA has reached epic proportions and takes two forms: outright station purchases and the implementation of shared service agreements among stations within the same market. This research is directed at answering the crucial questions that the Federal Communications Commission and the US Department of Justice have raised about the impact of service agreements on the content of local news in eight markets where such agreements exist. The analysis reveals that the implementation of shared service agreements has had a profound effect on the distribution of stories across stations and the use of shared resources, such as the anchor, the reporter, the script, and video/graphics for news stories.
Delivery of functional RNA cargos by dietary exosomes from cow’s milk in C57BL/6J mice

V species of RNA, including microRNAs and mRNAs are encapsulated in exosomes from dietary sources, including cow’s milk. Encapsulation confers protection against degradation and provides a vehicle for intestinal uptake of exosomes and their RNA cargos by endocytosis. In previous studies we challenged the paradigm that microRNAs and mRNAs are derived solely from endogenous sources. We demonstrated that milk consumption causes a postprandial increase in plasma microRNAs (including bovine-specific microRNAs), endogenous microRNA synthesis is insufficient to compensate for dietary microRNA depletion and dietary microRNA are delivered to circulating cells and tissues to regulate gene expression in host organisms. Here we assessed the bioavailability and distribution of milk exosomes endogenously and exogenously labeled with fluorophores, phenotypes of exosome depletion and the functionality of milk exosome cargos in wild-type and transgenic mice. Dose-response studies of milk exosomes were conducted using a live mouse imaging system. Our data suggest that mice absorb milk exosomes and that a fraction of these exosomes escapes re-packaging in the intestinal mucosa and reaches tissues in intact form; the majority of exosomes accumulates in macrophages. Exosome feeding studies suggest that dietary depletion elicits a substantial decrease in fertility, intrauterine growth and postnatal survival; Exosome depletion also caused aberrant purine metabolism. Ongoing studies suggest that dietary exosomes extend the life span of tamoxifen-inducible Drosha conditional knockout mice and that mRNA cargo in milk exosomes can be translated into proteins.
Sustained high external quantum efficiency in ultrasmall blue III–nitride micro-LEDs

Ultrasmall blue InGaN micro-light-emitting diodes (µLEDs) with areas from 10−4 to 0.01 mm2 were fabricated to study their optical and electrical properties. The peak external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of the smallest and largest µLEDs were 40.2 and 48.6%, respectively. The difference in EQE was from nonradiative recombination originating from etching damage. This decrease is less severe than that in red AlInGaP LEDs. The efficiency droop at 900 A/cm2 of the smallest µLED was 45.7%, compared with 56.0% for the largest, and was lower because of improved current spreading. These results show that ultrasmall µLEDs may be fabricated without a significant loss in optical or electrical performance.