cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Nephron heterogeneity: clue to the pathogenesis of essential hypertension and effectiveness of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor treatment.

It is proposed that in essential hypertension there are two functionally abnormal populations of nephrons. One is ischemic; chronically hyper-secreting renin and underexcreting sodium. The other, the larger population, is in adaptive hyper-natriuresis with its renin secretion chronically suppressed. Nephrons in these two populations, each with its own detector-effector apparatus for renin secretion and sodium excretion, behave according to their individual needs, producing a physiologic discordance expressed in high blood pressure even with plasma renin levels in the so-called "normal" range. The unsuppressed and inappropriate renin secretion from the ischemic nephrons impairs renal function in ischemic and hyperfiltering nephrons alike, but in very different ways. To maintain glomerular filtration rate and an adequate excretion of sodium, the ischemic nephrons require a higher rate of renin secretion than they are actually receiving, because at low perfusion pressures maximal angiotensin II-induced efferent arteriolar constriction is needed to maintain glomerular filtration rate. On the other hand, the compensating hyper-natriuretic nephrons become unable fully to excrete dietary sodium because they are exposed to an unwanted, inappropriately high angiotensin II level coming from the ischemic nephrons. This angiotensin II impairs sodium excretion (adaptive hypernatriuresis) from unaffected, adapting nephrons by promoting proximal sodium reabsorption and by inducing afferent constriction. The net result is that all nephrons are exposed to angiotensin II levels inappropriate for their needs. This leads to impaired ability to excrete sodium by both populations of nephrons, with sodium retention in the presence of abnormal renin secretion and perpetuation of the hypertension. The hypothesis is consistent with the hallmark pathology of multifocal afferent arteriolar narrowing seen in essential hypertension as well as with the characteristic renal hemodynamic pattern of vasoconstriction with reduced renal blood flow but with maintained glomerular filtration rate. The "normal" glomerular filtration rate as well as the often "normal" plasma renin activity may be seen as the sum of effects on the two abnormally acting populations of nephrons. Further, since any circulating renin is inappropriate in the presence of hypertension, the hypothesis helps explain why angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors reduce blood pressure even when renin levels are not elevated.
Dinuclear Molybdenum and Tungsten Complexes with Metal−Metal Triple Bonds Supported by p-tert-Butylcalix[4]arene Ligands

In hydrocarbon solvents the compounds M2(NMe2)6 (M = Mo, W) react with p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene, H4L, to give the complexes (H2NMe2)2[M2(μ,η2,η2-L)2], 1 (M = Mo, W). In the molecular structure of 1·4THF, the calix[4]arene ligands span the Mo⋮Mo bond of distance 2.193(1) A in a μ,η2,η2 manner such that each Mo atom is coordinated by four phenolic oxygen atoms that lie roughly in a plane with Mo−Mo−O angles that range from 92 to 102°. The calix[4]arene bowl encapsulates the H2NMe2 cations tightly as judged by 1H NMR spectroscopy, and heating to 100 °C under a dynamic vacuum in the solid state fails to remove HNMe2. However, upon refluxing in pyridine, compounds 1 are converted to (H2NMe2)2[M2(η4-L)2]·xpy, 2·xpy. The molecule of 2·4py (M = Mo) has a center of symmetry, and the Mo2−calix[4]arene unit has a dumbbell shape (Mo⋮Mo bond distance 2.226(1) A). Each Mo atom has four Mo−O phenoxide bonds, one of which is hydrogen-bonded to a H2NMe2 cation, which in turn is hydrogen-bonded to a pyridine molecule. Eac...
Augmentation of Selective Monocyte Functions in Tuberculosis

Four monocyte functions were studied in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and in healthy subjects. Circulating monocytes from four of six patients with tuberculosis functioned as suppressor cells; depletion of adherent cells from mononuclear cells obtained from the peripheral blood of these patients resulted in a 37-fold enhancement in tuberculin purified protein derivative-induced incorporation of [3H]thymidine. Monocytes from patients with tuberculosis exhibited increased adherence to plastic. Plasma from patients with tuberculosis also increased the adherence of monocytes from healthy subjects. However, basal and lipopolysaccharide-stimulated production of prostaglandin E2 by monocytes and tumoricidal activity were not altered in patients with tuberculosis. Thus, tuberculosis in humans is associated with the enhancement of selective monocyte functions. The dissociation in monocyte effector functions in human mycobacterial infection has potential implications not only for the course of tuberculosis but also for immunoadjuvant therapy.
Modeling and Characterization of the Effects of Field Gradients on the Behavior of Ferroelectrics With Interdigitated Electrodes

Macro fiber composites (MFCs) are used in applications ranging from sensing and actuation to energy harvesting and piezoelectric damping. MFCs are comprised of interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) on ferroelectric fibers that result in anisotropic in plane sensing and actuation capability. Minor hysteresis loops were measured for a MFC and the area within the minor hysteresis loops was used to assess material loss under unipolar cyclic loading. A separate set of minor hysteresis loops was run on a fully electroded plate of the same material to determine the material loss when the electric field was uniform. The MFC displayed considerably more material loss than the uniformly loaded plate. A micromechanical model implemented in a finite element code was used to model the effect of inhomogeneous fields, local stress, and polarization reorientation on the dielectric losses. The results indicate that the development of local stress in the ferroelectric material beneath the inerdigitated electrodes results in ferroelastic polarization reorientation that contributes to dielectric losses.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Developments in agricultural meteorology as a guide to its potential for the twenty-first century

Abstract In this paper the development of agricultural meteorology since 1800 is reviewed. A description of the development of the necessary climatic data bases for the interdisciplinary science is presented. A review is given of the use of statistics to formulate risks analyses for farm and forest management, and in statistical models for crop prediction through regression. The development and use of crop process models are discussed with several practical models listed. Remote sensing is identified as a new tool for appraising the thermal and water stress of a canopy and in assessing the crop and forest conditions of large production areas. The history of the development of service programs in agricultural and forest meteorology is also discussed. The challenges and problems for further development of these services are described.
Extension results in the Hardy space associated with a logmodular algebra

An interpolation result related to the Hardy space H∞(m) associated with a logmodular algebra A is presented, where m is the representing measure for some γ ϵ M (A). The above result is used to answer a question rasied in [6].
EFFECTS OF PHYSIOLOGIC ESTRADIOL THERAPY ON NEUROENDOCRINE & SOMATIC MATURATION

Studies have been made of the effects of chronic, physiologic estradiol (E2) therapy on skeletal growth and evolution of mature hypothalamic-pituitary regulation of gonadotropin release, as well as sexual development. The response to 1-2 mg/month depot E2 im for 1-1 1/2 yrs was studied in 7 cases of Turner's syndrome and 1 with multiple endocrine deficiencies with average age 16 yrs., LH 278 and FSH 1582 ng/ml. Doses of 1.5-2 mg E2 uniformly induced breast development and menarche. Sexual hair progressed in all patients, independently of the onset of adrenarche. The growth rate doubled to 1.4 in./yr. The average growth rate per year advancement of skeletal age was unchanged by E2 therapy. Before therapy the height and suppressibility of the gonadotropin level were independent of age. When E2 was withheld after 1 yr therapy, LH and FSH were similar to before. However, subsequent E2 injection did not inhibit LH as much as before (p< .01), although depression of FSH was comparable. Conclusions: 1) These studies indicate that physiologic doses of E2 do not deleteriously affect epiphyseal fusion and growth potential. Therefore, this appears to be an optimal therapeutic regimen. 2) These studies demonstrate for the first time that an early event in puberty is reduced sensitivity to E2 of the specific negative feedback mechanism controlling LH release. Furthermore, this change in the hypothalamic-pituitary axis seems to be induced by E2.
A user's guide to the PLTEMP/ANL code.

PLTEMP/ANL V4.1 is a FORTRAN program that obtains a steady-state flow and temperature solution for a nuclear reactor core, or for a single fuel assembly. It is based on an evolutionary sequence of ''PLTEMP'' codes in use at ANL for the past 20 years. Fueled and non-fueled regions are modeled. Each fuel assembly consists of one or more plates or tubes separated by coolant channels. The fuel plates may have one to five layers of different materials, each with heat generation. The width of a fuel plate may be divided into multiple longitudinal stripes, each with its own axial power shape. The temperature solution is effectively 2-dimensional. It begins with a one-dimensional solution across all coolant channels and fuel plates/tubes within a given fuel assembly, at the entrance to the assembly. The temperature solution is repeated for each axial node along the length of the fuel assembly. The geometry may be either slab or radial, corresponding to fuel assemblies made of a series of flat (or slightly curved) plates, or of nested tubes. A variety of thermal-hydraulic correlations are available with which to determine safety margins such as Onset-of-Nucleate boiling (ONB), departure from nucleate boiling (DNB), and onset of flow instability (FI). Coolant properties for either light or heavy water are obtained from FORTRAN functions rather than from tables. The code is intended for thermal-hydraulic analysis of research reactor performance in the sub-cooled boiling regime. Both turbulent and laminar flow regimes can be modeled. Options to calculate both forced flow and natural circulation are available. A general search capability is available (Appendix XII) to greatly reduce the reactor analyst's time.
Chinese online communities: balancing managementcontrol and individual autonomy

Existing studies of online social communities mainly focus on communities in the United States. Since Chinese social beliefs and behaviors largely differ from that of Americans, we hypothesize that Chinese online communities also greatly differ from their U.S. counterparts. In particular, we believe that Chinese online communities must balance management control and individual autonomy to accommodate both Chinese tradition and the social nature of online societies. In this paper, we present three studies to test our hypothesis. First, we use a structured observation (Study I) to examine community governance practices of 32 Chinese and American social sites. Based on the identified community governance practices, we use a cross-cultural survey of 208 Chinese and Americans (Study II) to learn about their behavior and attitude toward these practices. Finally, we interview 38 Chinese users (Study III) to help us further understand how Chinese online communities balance the needs of management and users. Not only do the studies confirm our hypothesis, but they also help us abstract two key design implications of social software to meet the needs of Chinese.
Permeability Assessment of Capsules for Islet Transplantation1

Despite considerable progress in the development of immunoisolation devices, the optimal permeability of such devices is not known. This limitation stems partly from deficits in knowledge about which molecules should be allowed to traverse the semipermeable membrane and which molecules should be excluded, and also partly from experimental obstacles that have prevented a systematic study of permeability. To determine the optimal permeability of immunoisolation devices, we have created a series of microcapsules (800 microM diameter) that span a broad range of molecular exclusion limits yet are identical in wall thickness and chemical composition. Capsule permeability was precisely defined by two complementary methods--size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and a newly developed methodology to assess permeability of biologically relevant proteins. The entry of interleukin-1 beta-125I was significantly delayed, but not prevented, when the capsule exclusion limit was decreased from 230 kD to 3.2 kD, as determined by SEC with dextran standards. The influx of IgG was as predicted, based on the viscosity radius R eta of IgG and the capsule exclusion limit defined by SEC. Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion by encapsulated pancreatic islets did not differ as capsule permeability was decreased from a molecular exclusion limit of 230 kD to 120 kD. These studies should assist in the design of immunoisolation devices by defining the permeability optimal for cell function and also should be applicable to any cell type or immunoisolation device.
Exploring Dinosaur Neuropaleobiology: Computed Tomography Scanning and Analysis of an Allosaurus fragilis Endocast

The unique opportunity to examine an exceptionally well-preserved natural endocranial cast (endocast) from a carnivorous dinosaur of the late Jurassic period, Allosaurus fragilis, was afforded this neurobiologist. The endocast exhibits numerous surface features including the complete vestibular apparatus. Spiral computed tomography scanning revealed multiple internal features including putative blood vessels, connective tissue-like arrays, and a prominent symmetrical density consistent with the putative brain or its cast. The evidence suggests that this organism's neurobiology resembled closely that of modern crocodylian species and should be included for consideration when examining ideas of Allosaurus evolution, behavior, and eventual extinction.
PROSPECT: a system for screening candidates for recruitment

Companies often receive thousands of resumes for each job posting and employ dedicated screeners to short list qualified applicants. In this paper, we present PROSPECT, a decision support tool to help these screeners shortlist resumes efficiently. Prospect mines resumes to extract salient aspects of candidate profiles like skills, experience in each skill, education details and past experience. Extracted information is presented in the form of facets to aid recruiters in the task of screening. We also employ Information Retrieval techniques to rank all applicants for a given job opening. In our experiments we show that extracted information improves our ranking by 30% there by making screening task simpler and more efficient.
Effect of a 12-Week Conditioning Period on Nitrogen Balance in Horses

Fourteen horses were used in two 12-week experiments. Horses were fed to meet crude protein needs for exercising horses and participated in light-to-moderate exercise. Total feces and urine output were measured in 4-day collections at the beginning and the end of each experiment. Fecal nitrogen (FN) and urine nitrogen (UN) were used to calculate nitrogen balance and digestibility. Nitrogen intake (NI) was higher in the end collection (P = .001). Fecal nitrogen expressed as a daily amount or as a percentage of NI was not different (P = .63 and .39, respectively). Nitrogen digestibility was not different (P = .39); however, the amount of nitrogen absorbed (NA) was lower in the initial collection (P = .001). Urine nitrogen was lower in the end collection when expressed as a total loss per day (P = .041), percent of NI (P = .001), or as a percent of NA (P = .001). Daily nitrogen retention (NR), NR expressed as a percentage of NI and as a percentage of NA, was higher in the end collection (P = .001). The improvement in NR in the end collection is due to the reduction in UN loss. This suggests more efficient use of dietary protein because there was no difference in FN loss; but without a significant change in body weight or body condition score, it cannot be concluded that the additional retained nitrogen was because of a need to support additional muscle mass.
MIMO Systems with Intentional Timing Offset

The performance of MIMO systems with intentional timing offset between the transmitters has recently been the focus of study of different researchers. In these schemes, a nonzero (but known) symbol timing offset is introduced between the signals transmitted from the different transmitters to improve the performance of MIMO systems. This leads to a reduction in Interantenna Interference (IAI), and it is shown that an advanced receiver can utilize this information to extract significant performance gains. In this paper, we show that this transmission scheme may be used in conjunction with different kinds of receivers including ZF, MMSE, and sequence detection-based receivers. We also consider the design of novel pulse shapes that reduce the IAI at the expense of slightly higher intersymbol interference (ISI) and show that additional gains may be achieved.
Averaged Evoked Potentials in Cats with Lesions of Auditory Pathway

Averaged evoked activity was recorded from needle electrodes placed at the vertex of the calvaria and adjacent to each bulla in anesthetized cats in response to click stimuli. The portion of the re...
Processing fine stainless-steel slag using spiral concentration

In this study, the effectiveness of spiral concentration to process a fine (−1 mm) stainless-steel slag was evaluated. Specifically, testing was conducted to determine the feasibility of producing a high metal content stainless steel product and a low metal content aggregate product. This involved investigating a key operating variable for both five-and seven-turn spiral concentrators. The raw slag and spiral products were characterized to determine their respective size and metal distributions. Separation testing was carried out using the two full-scale spiral concentrators to evaluate the effects of feed solids concentration on spiral performance at solids feed rates ranging from 15 to 30 kg/min. The results indicated that under certain conditions, a high-quality metal fraction could be produced. For example, using the five-turn spiral, a product containing 95% metal was obtained at a low metal recovery. Both spirals were ineffective at concentrating the aggregate fraction. Overall, the feed solids conc...
An 8-bit Integrate-and-Sample Receiver for Rate-Scalable Photonic Analog-to-Digital Conversion

Jitter limitations pose significant challenges for high-resolution and sampling-rate analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). This paper describes an integrate-and-sample (IAS) receiver suitable for use in an optical parametric photonic ADC. Rate-scalable photonic-sampling techniques provide low-jitter optical sampling and analog-to-digital conversion of the wideband signal up to 10 GHz and beyond. An 8-bit 2-GS/s IAS receive channel is described for a rate-scalable photonic ADC. Electronic measurements are shown for an RF tone and a photonic Gaussian pulse source and compared to simulations. A two-channel IAS array is fabricated in a 120-nm SiGe BiCMOS process and packaged onto a printed circuit board for integration into the photonic-sampling setup. A single 2-GS/s channel achieves a measured performance higher than 8.1 ENOB. The two-channel integrated circuit consumes 890 mA per channel from 5- and 2.5-V supplies and occupies an area of 1.6 × 2.0 mm2.
Differential behavior of anterior and posterior embryonic chick somites in vitro.

The posterior somites of young (stages 15–18) chick embryos have a greater chondrogenic potential in tissue culture than do the anterior somites from the same embryo. Approximately 70% of posterior somite clusters will form cartilage nodules in tissue culture, whereas only 15–20% of anterior somite clusters form nodules. Paradoxically, when randomized anterior + posterior somites are cultured together, the incidence of cartilage formation is lower than expected. Randomized anterior + posterior somite clusters have the same incidence of cartilage formation as do anterior somites alone. Somites from either region, if cultured in the presence of embryonic notochord tissue, exhibit 100% cartilage formation. The chondrogenic potential of the somites may be correlated with their histo-architecture and their embryonic history.
A multiple active contour model for cardiac boundary detection on echocardiographic sequences

Tracing of left-ventricular epicardial and endocardial borders on echocardiographic sequences is essential for quantification of cardiac function. The authors designed a method based on an extension of active contour models to detect both epicardial and endocardial borders on short-axis cardiac sequences spanning the entire cardiac cycle. They validated the results by comparing the computer-generated boundaries to the boundaries manually outlined by four expert observers on 44 clinical data sets. The mean boundary distance between the computer-generated boundaries and the manually outlined boundaries was 2.80 mm (/spl sigma/=1.28 mm) for the epicardium and 3.61 (/spl sigma/=1.68 mm) for the endocardium. These distances were comparable to interobserver distances, which had a mean of 3.79 mm (/spl sigma/=1.53 mm) for epicardial borders and 2.67 mm (/spl sigma/=0.88 mm) for endocardial borders. The correlation coefficient between the areas enclosed by the computer-generated boundaries and the average manually outlined boundaries was 0.95 for epicardium and 0.91 for endocardium. The algorithm is fairly insensitive to the choice of the initial curve. Thus, the authors have developed an effective and robust algorithm to extract left-ventricular boundaries from echocardiographic sequences.
Investigation of the transcriptome of prairie cord grass, a new cellulosic biomass crop.

Prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata Bosc ex Link) is being developed as a cellulosic biomass crop. Development of this species will require numerous steps, including breeding, agronomy, and characterization of the species genome. The research in this paper describes the fi rst investigation of the transcriptome of prairie cordgrass via Next Generation Sequencing Technology, 454 GS FLX. A total of 556,198 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were produced from four prairie cordgrass tissues: roots, rhizomes, immature infl orescence, and hooks. These ESTs were assembled into 26,302 contigs and 71,103 singletons. From these data were identifi ed, EST–SSR (simple sequence repeat) regions and cell wall biosynthetic pathway genes suitable for the development of molecular markers which can aid the breeding process of prairie cordgrass by means of marker assisted selection.
Cloning of a human ortholog (RPH3AL) of (RNO)Rph3al from a candidate 17p13.3 medulloblastoma tumor suppressor locus.

Allelic loss of 17p13.3 is observed in approximately 40% of medulloblastomas, suggesting the presence of a tumor suppressor gene in this region. Deletion mapping has defined a region of common loss flanking the telomeric marker D17S34, and a recent report delineated a 9-kb homozygous deletion within the D17S34 locus in one such tumor. Using cDNA selection, we have identified a transcript spanning this deletion, designated (HSA)RPH3AL (rabphillin-3A-like), based on its 77% overall amino acid identity with a recently cloned rat gene, (RNO)Rph3al (originally termed Noc2), a gene putatively involved in regulated endocrine exocytosis through its interactions with the cytoskeleton. We determined the exon-intron boundaries of RPH3AL and screened the coding region for mutations by direct sequencing in DNA extracted from 33 tumor samples with allelic loss of 17p13, including 10 medulloblastoma, 14 follicular thyroid cancer (FTC), and 9 ovarian cancer specimens. No mutations were identified. Thus, despite its location in a homozygously deleted 17p13.3 locus, it is unlikely that RPH3AL is a gene involved in the oncogenesis of medulloblastoma, FTC, or ovarian cancer.
EGCG, a major green tea catechin suppresses breast tumor angiogenesis and growth via inhibiting the activation of HIF-1α and NFκB, and VEGF expression

The role of EGCG, a major green tea catechin in breast cancer therapy is poorly understood. The present study tests the hypothesis that EGCG can inhibit the activation of HIF-1α and NFκB, and VEGF expression, thereby suppressing tumor angiogenesis and breast cancer progression. Sixteen eight-wk-old female mice (C57BL/6 J) were inoculated with 10^6 E0771 (mouse breast cancer) cells in the left fourth mammary gland fat pad. Eight mice received EGCG at 50–100 mg/kg/d in drinking water for 4 weeks. 8 control mice received drinking water only. Tumor size was monitored using dial calipers. At the end of the experiment, blood samples, tumors, heart and limb muscles were collected for measuring VEGF expression using ELISA and capillary density (CD) using CD31 immunohistochemistry. EGCG treatment significantly reduced tumor weight over the control (0.37 ± 0.15 vs. 1.16 ± 0.30 g; P < 0.01), tumor CD (109 ± 20 vs. 156 ± 12 capillary #/mm^2; P < 0.01), tumor VEGF expression (45.72 ± 1.4 vs. 59.03 ± 3.8 pg/mg; P < 0.01), respectively. But, it has no effects on the body weight, heart weight, angiogenesis and VEGF expression in the heart and skeletal muscle of mice. EGCG at 50 μg/ml significantly inhibited the activation of HIF-1α and NFκB as well as VEGF expression in cultured E0771 cells, compared to the control, respectively. These findings support the hypothesis that EGCG, a major green tea catechin, directly targets both tumor cells and tumor vasculature, thereby inhibiting tumor growth, proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis of breast cancer, which is mediated by the inhibition of HIF-1α and NFκB activation as well as VEGF expression.
Trees Weighting Random Forest Method for Classifying High-Dimensional Noisy Data

Random forest is an excellent ensemble learning method, which is composed of multiple decision trees grown on random input samples and splitting nodes on a random subset of features. Due to its good classification and generalization ability, random forest has achieved success in various domains. However, random forest will generate many noisy trees when it learns from the data set that has high dimension with many noise features. These noisy trees will affect the classification accuracy, and even make a wrong decision for new instances. In this paper, we present a new approach to solve this problem through weighting the trees according to their classification ability, which is named Trees Weighting Random Forest (TWRF). Here, Out-Of-Bag, which is the training data subset generated by Bagging and not involved in building decision tree, is used to evaluate the tree. For simplicity, we choose the accuracy as the index that notes tree’s classification ability and set it as the tree’s weight. Experiments show that TWRF has better performance than the original random forest and other traditional methods, such as C45, Naive Bayes and so on.
Coregulation of ionic currents maintaining the duty cycle of bursting

Central pattern generators (CPGs) are the oscillatory neuronal networks which control rhythmic movements of animals. Some CPGs keep the phase relationships between the neurons’ oscillatory activities over a wide range of the cycle periods. Maintenance of the duty cycle of the bursting activity could be a key feature for a variety of dynamical mechanisms supporting phase constancy in oscillatory neuronal networks. It is a form of cellular homeostasis of neuronal activity. Among other currents, hyperpolarization-activated currents and potassium currents have been shown to be a ubiquitous target for modulation and homeostasis [1,2]. Here we present a novel mechanism of coregulation of currents which preserves duty cycle of bursting activity over a range of cycle periods. We develop a generic lowdimensional Hodgkin-Huxley type model stemming from a model of the leech heart interneuron under certain pharmacological conditions [3]. Application of Co 2+ and 4-AP blocks Ca 2+ currents, the synaptic currents and most of the K + currents. The model contains the slow potassium current (IK2), the fast sodium current (INa). Our new model also includes the hyperpolarization activated current (Ih). Bifurcation theory allows us to make predictions concerning the temporal characteristics of the dynamics of bursting nearby the critical transitions between activities. Shilnikov & Cymblayuk sho wed that the transition from bursting into tonic spiking (blue sky catastrophe) determines the dependence of the burst duration on the voltage of half-activation of IK2 (θ K2 )a s one over square root of the parameter value [4]. Here we show that the half-activation potential of Ih (θ h) controls the interburst interval as one over square root of the parameter value. We investigate the activity of the model to identify mechanisms of coregulation of IK2 and Ih maintaining the duty cycle. Bifurcation analysis of the model was performed using θ K2 and θ h, as controlling parameters. We investigated the temporal characteristics of bursting activity. We identified a saddle node bifurcation for periodic orbits determining the blue sky catastrophe [4] and a saddle node bifurcation for stationary states (SNIC) [5]. We showed the temporal characteristics of bursting depend on the location of the bifurcation curves. By coordinating the two parameters, we were able to increase the period such that the burst duration and interburst interval maintained constant proportion. The coregulation consists of a negative correlation of θ K2 and θ h, which is steeper for the higher duty cycles.
Race/ethnic differences in nonspecific psychological distress : Evidence from the national health interview survey

Objective. This article documents the patterns of white-nonwhite differences in nonspecific psychological distress and explores how acculturation characteristics, social class, marital status, and chronic illness mediate or moderate these differences for eight racial/ethnic populations in the United States. Methods. We analyze data from a five-year pool of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) collected between 1997 and 2001 (N=162,032) and employ multivariate regression techniques to explore level of psychological distress of various ethnic groups relative to non-Hispanic whites. Results. Nonwhite populations exhibit variable base-line differences in psychological distress compared to non-Hispanic whites; however, adjusted estimates show that African Americans and Mexicans have lower levels of distress while distress scores for “other Hispanics,” Asians, and Cubans exhibit statistically similar levels. The highest distress occurs for Puerto Ricans. Interaction models reveal chronic sources of stress (e.g., poverty, chronic illness, nonmarriage) are even more taxing on psychological health of high-risk groups or have weaker relationships to stress for other groups. Conclusions. This study reveals the need for capturing ethnic variation in studies of mental health. Social class, acculturation, marital status, and chronic illness cannot fully explain white-nonwhite differences in psychological distress.
On the Comparison of two Software Relibility Estimators

Two different estimators of the failure rate of software are compared. It is shown that one tends to be better when the number of errors is small to moderate and the other when the number of errors is large.
Throughput of single-hop unslotted CDMA networks with fixed packet lengths

The authors present a recursive method to compute the joint distribution of bit errors for single-hop unslotted code-division multiple-access (CDMA) networks with deterministic packet lengths. The computational complexity of this method grows polynomially with M, the number of bits per packet, if the bit error probability equals 1 when the number of interferers exceeds a threshold. The complexity is O(M/sup 3/) for the L-channel model, which assumes that the probability of bit error is zero below the threshold L and 1 above the threshold. The throughput of the system can be improved by using a channel sensing protocol. >
Arsenic Trioxide and Other Arsenical Compounds Inhibit the NLRP1, NLRP3, and NAIP5/NLRC4 Inflammasomes

Inflammasomes are large cytoplasmic multiprotein complexes that activate caspase-1 in response to diverse intracellular danger signals. Inflammasome components termed nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain–like receptor (NLR) proteins act as sensors for pathogen-associated molecular patterns, stress, or danger stimuli. We discovered that arsenicals, including arsenic trioxide and sodium arsenite, inhibited activation of the NLRP1, NLRP3, and NAIP5/NLRC4 inflammasomes by their respective activating signals, anthrax lethal toxin, nigericin, and flagellin. These compounds prevented the autoproteolytic activation of caspase-1 and the processing and secretion of IL-1β from macrophages. Inhibition was independent of protein synthesis induction, proteasome-mediated protein breakdown, or kinase signaling pathways. Arsenic trioxide and sodium arsenite did not directly modify or inhibit the activity of preactivated recombinant caspase-1. Rather, they induced a cellular state inhibitory to both the autoproteolytic and substrate cleavage activities of caspase-1, which was reversed by the reactive oxygen species scavenger N -acetylcysteine but not by reducing agents or NO pathway inhibitors. Arsenicals provided protection against NLRP1-dependent anthrax lethal toxin–mediated cell death and prevented NLRP3-dependent neutrophil recruitment in a monosodium urate crystal inflammatory murine peritonitis model. These findings suggest a novel role in inhibition of the innate immune response for arsenical compounds that have been used as therapeutics for a few hundred years.
Understanding Saul'yev-type unconditionally stable schemes from exponential splitting

Saul’yev-type asymmetric schemes have been widely used in solving diffusion and advection equations. In this work, we show that Saul’yev-type schemes can be derived from the exponential splitting of the semidiscretized equation which fundamentally explains their unconditional stability. Furthermore, we show that optimal schemes are obtained by forcing each scheme’s amplification factor to match that of the exact amplification factor. A new second-order explicit scheme is found for solving the advection equation with the identical amplification factor as the implicit Crank–Nicolson algorithm. Other new schemes for solving the advection–diffusion equation are also derived. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 30: 1961–1983, 2014
Folate and Asthma

Findings from experimental studies and animal models led to the hypothesis that folic acid supplementation during pregnancy confers an increased risk of asthma. This review provides a critical examination of current experimental and epidemiologic evidence of a causal association between folate status and asthma. In industrialized nations, the prevalence of asthma was rising before widespread fortification of foodstuffs with folic acid or folate supplementation before or during pregnancy, thus suggesting that changes in folate status are an unlikely explanation for “the asthma epidemic.” Consistent with this ecologic observation, evidence from human studies does not support moderate or strong effects of folate status on asthma. Given known protective effects against neural tube and cardiac defects, there is no reason to alter current recommendations for folic acid supplementation during conception or pregnancy based on findings for folate and asthma. Although we believe that there are inadequate data to ex...
Comparing the effectiveness of hits and salsa

This paper compares the effectiveness of two well-known query-dependent link-based ranking algorithms, "Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search" (HITS) and the "Stochastic Approach for Link-Structure Analysis" (SALSA). The two algorithms are evaluated on a very large web graph induced by 463 million crawled web pages and a set of 28,043 queries and 485,656 results labeled by human judges. We employed three different performance measures - mean average precision (MAP), mean reciprocal rank (MRR), and normalized discounted cumulative gain (NDCG). We found that as an isolated feature, SALSA substantially outperforms HITS. This is quite surprising, given that the two algorithms operate over the same neighborhood graph induced by the query result set. We also studied the combination of SALSA and HITS with BM25F, a state-of-the-art text-based scoring function that incorporates anchor text. We found that the combination of SALSA and BM25F outperforms the combination of HITS and BM25F. Finally, we broke down our query set by query specificity, and found that SALSA (and to a lesser extent HITS) is most effective for general queries.
A NOD to zebrafish models of inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis.

Summary and comment on a Research Report in this issue of Disease Models & Mechanisms entitled ‘The inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) susceptibility genes NOD1 and NOD2 have conserved anti-bacterial roles in zebrafish’ (Oehlers et al., 2011).
Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis Responses to Low‐Intensity Stressors are Reduced After Voluntary Wheel Running in Rats

Regular physical exercise is beneficial for both physical and mental health. By contrast, stress is associated with deleterious effects on health and there is growing evidence that regular physical exercise counteracts some of the effects of stress. However, most previous studies have suggested that prior exercise does not alter the acute hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis responses to stress. The present series of studies provides evidence that in rats, 6 weeks (but not 1 or 3 weeks) of voluntary wheel running reduces the HPA axis responses to lower-intensity stressors such as an i.p. saline injection, exposure to a novel environment or exposure to moderate intensity noise, but not to more intense stressors such as predator odour exposure or restraint. Daily exercise does not appear to be necessary for the reduction in HPA axis responses, with intermittent access (24 h out of each 72-h period) to a running wheel for 6 weeks, resulting in similar decrements in adrenocorticotrophic hormone and corticosterone release in response to 85 dBA noise exposure. Data from in situ hybridisation for c-fos mRNA are consistent with the hypothesis that voluntary exercise results in a decrease in HPA axis responsiveness to a low-intensity stressor at a central level, with no changes in primary sensory processing. Together, these data suggest that 6 weeks of daily or intermittent exercise constrains the HPA axis response to mild, but not more intense stressors, and that this regulation may be mediated at a central level beyond the primary sensory input.
Natural History and Clinical Management of Anal Human Papillomavirus Disease in Men and Women Infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Before the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), several studies demonstrated a high prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and associated anal intraepithelial neoplasia (AIN) in men who have sex with men, particularly in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected men with low CD4+ cell counts. Similarly high levels of anal HPV infection and AIN have been found in HIV-positive women. HIV-positive men and women are at an increased risk of developing anal cancer compared with the general population. Data suggest that there has been no reduction in the incidence of AIN after the introduction of HAART. Screening efforts have the potential to decrease the incidence of invasive anal cancer, and cost-effectiveness analyses have demonstrated the utility of anal cancer screening in select populations. Treatment for AIN remains challenging, but AIN is easier to treat when the lesions are small, and it is likely that a screening program would identify affected individuals at an earlier stage of disease.
Vulnerability Analysis of L2 Cache Elements to Single Event Upsets

Memory elements are the most vulnerable system component to soft errors. Since memory elements in cache arrays consume a large fraction of the die in modern microprocessors, the probability of particle strikes in these elements is high and can significantly impact overall processor reliability. Previous work (Asadi et al., 2005) has developed effective metrics to accurately measure the vulnerability of cache memory elements. Based on these metrics, we have developed a reliability-performance evaluation framework, which has been built upon the Simplescalar simulator. In this work, we focus on the reliability aspects of L1 and L2 caches. Specifically, we present algorithms for tag vulnerability computation and investigate and report in detail on the vulnerability of data, tag, and status bits in the L2 array. Experiments on SPECint2K and SPECfp2K benchmarks show that one class of error, replacement error, makes up almost 85% of the total tag vulnerability of a 1MB write-back L2 cache. In addition, the vulnerability of L2 tag-addresses significantly increases as the size of the memory address space increases. Results show that the L2 tag array can be as susceptible as first-level instruction and data caches (IL1/DL1) to soft errors
The Iron and Copper Concentration of the Liver in Intrauterine Life and in Haemolytic Disease

Summary A study of the iron and copper concentration of livers from 75 apparently normal stillborns and 11 infants dying with haemolytic disease, show that in normal circumstances there is no increase in the iron and copper concentration with increasing intrauterine maturity. There is no difference between the concentration of copper in the left and right lobes but there is a significant difference in the amount of iron, the left containing more than the right. In children with haemolytic disease there is a gross increase in the iron concentration of the liver and this is more marked in the right than in the left lobe. In children with Rh disease there is possibly some diminution in the copper concentration of the liver in those cases that survive to full term.
A monolithic PDMS waveguide system fabricated using soft-lithography techniques

A monolithic waveguide system using poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) was designed, fabricated, and characterized. The waveguide demonstrated good confinement of light and relatively low attenuation at 0.40 dB/cm. The robustness and handling properties of the completed waveguides were excellent, and the process yield exceeded 96%. The waveguide did exhibit moderate temperature and humidity sensitivity but no temporal variation, and insertion loss remained stable over extended periods of time. Applications of this waveguide system in microscale sensing are immense, judging by the frequency of use of PDMS as the substrate for microfluidic and biomedical systems. The monolithic nature of the waveguides also reduces their cost and allows integration of optical pathways into existing PDMS-based microsystems.
Alternative quality improvement practices and organization performance

Abstract Quality improvement is a highly desired objective in the fiercely competitive international business world, yet it remains elusive to many US organizations. This study relates alternative quality improvement approaches to actual operating and financial performance. Productivity improvement approaches are also investigated and related to performance to define better the relationship between quality and productivity. In this study, multiple quality and productivity approaches are correlated to eight quality, three operating, and three financial performance measures for 187 US business firms. Results indicate a strong relationship between a quality improvement approach and performance quality. The relationship between a quality improvement approach and operating or financial performance is weaker, but significant. Productivity improvement approaches also help predict quality, operating, and financial performance — often similarly to quality improvement approaches. This study suggests that the profile of quality and productivity improvement approach should vary, depending upon whether the firm is most interested in performance quality, operating improvement, or financial performance.
Risk and relative social rank: positional concerns and risky shifts in probabilistic decision-making

Although research indicates that individuals generally favor certain prospects over those whose outcomes are more variable, risk-aversion does not characterize human decision-making across domains. Here, we use an evolutionary perspective to explore the role that concerns with relative position play on preferences for certain versus probabilistic outcomes. Our evolutionary-based hypothesis predicts that concern with relative position will lead to increased risk when (1) the higher variance outcome offers the potential to render one better off than social competitors, but the lower variance outcome would not, (2) the choice is in a decision domain affecting one's ability to solve adaptive problems reliably present in human social life, and (3) the decision is being made about a gain rather than a loss. The current study (N=239) found support for these predictions, demonstrating that such positional concerns reverse the well-documented certainty effect in domains predicted in advance by the theory. Our findings highlight the important role played by social comparisons in individual decision-making and preferences for risk.
The A/B domain of truncated retinoic acid receptors can block differentiation and promote features of malignancy

Recently, we discovered that stable introduction of a carboxyl-terminally truncated retinoic acid receptor gamma (tRAR gamma) into an epidermal keratinocyte line blocked the ability of these cells to differentiate, as judged by their failure to express late markers of squamous differentiation. We now demonstrate a correlation between the level of residual endogenous RAR activity of tRAR gamma-expressing keratinocyte lines and degree of terminal differentiation. Mutagenesis studies localize the effects to the A/B subdomain of the truncated receptor. Despite tRAR gamma's capacity to interfere with RAR-mediated transactivation of retinoic acid response elements (RAREs) in keratinocytes, the effects of the truncated receptor are independent of its ability to bind DNA and directly interact with endogenous RARs. tRAR alpha also inhibits RARE-mediated gene expression in keratinocytes, even though its full-length counterpart enhances RARE activity in these cells. Intriguingly, both tRAR gamma and RAR gamma suppress keratin promoter activity in epidermal cells, although for tRAR gamma, the effect is mediated through the A/B domain whereas for RAR gamma, the effects require DNA binding. Taken together, these findings suggest that the truncation allows for new and aberrant interactions with transcriptional proteins/cofactors that participate in governing RARE activity. This discovery may have relevance in tumorigenesis, where genetic lesions can result in mutant RARs or in loss of receptor expression.
Emerging South Asian Americans and Health

Two growing South Asian populations in America are Bangladeshis and Pakistanis. These relatively new groups to the South Asian American community are nonetheless experiencing tremendous population growth. Both groups are similar to other South Asians, yet also quite different in other ways. For instance, Pakistani and Bangladeshi Americans have lower socioeconomic status and are more linguistically isolated compared to other South Asians. The chapter presents a description of the unique experiences of these two groups in America, and how the combination of environmental and personal factors affects the health of Pakistani and Bangladeshi Americans.
Sports Skills with a Future

(1959). Sports Skills with a Future. Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation: Vol. 30, No. 9, pp. 34-70.