cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of glutathione manipulation on prostaglandin synthesis in renal medullary homogenates

1. The effect of glutathione (GSH) manipulation on arachidonic acid (AA) metabolism in renal medullary (RM) homogenates was investigated. 2. Diethyl maleate (DEM) depleted GSH initially by 50% (P less than 0.05) and produced a general suppression (P less than 0.05) of all PGs with the exception of TXB2. GSH was further depleted during homogenization and a 30-min incubation period (P less than 0.01). 3. Adding glutathione monoethyl ester (GSH-MEE) (0, 0.8, 1.6 or 3.2 mmol/ml) to RM homogenates increased GSH (P less than 0.01) and decreased RM homogenates' PGs-synthesizing capability (P less than 0.05), with the exception of PGE2 and TXB2 at the highest concentration. 4. The results indicate that homogenization has a significant impact (P less than 0.05) on GSH concentration of the media and alterations in GSH concentration affect the profile and quantity of AA metabolites in renal medullary homogenates.
Increasing Potentials in Classical Non-Abelian and Abelian Gauge Theories

An exact solution for an SU(2) Yang–Mills field coupled to a scalar field is given, which has potentials with linear, 1/r and 1/r2 parts. This may be of some interest since some phenomenological QCD studies assume a linear plus Coulomb potential. We also show that in the Nielsen–Olesen Abelian model there is an exact solution in the BPS limit, which has a 1/r electromagnetic field and a logarithmically rising scalar field. Both of these solutions must be cutoff from above to avoid infinite field energy.
Review of the Fröhlich sliding mode in NbSe3

The anomalous transport properties of the charge-density-wave system niobium triselenide are surveyed. Early experiments on the frequency dependence and non-ohmicity of the electrical conductivity are described together with interpretations using the sliding mode mechanism. The effect of impurities, the non-ohmic Hall effect, conduction noise, and ac conduction are described. Theoretical models which have been proposed arc discussed, together with difficulties from the experimental viewpoint. Lastly, mention is made of recent experiments on NbSe3 as well as other similar systems.
Navigation studies utilizing the NRL-801 experiment and the ARGOS satellite

The NRL-801 (USA) experiment and other systems on the ARGOS (P91-1) satellite to be launched in 1995 can be used as a testbed for satellite navigational techniques, to explore unconventional means of measuring a satellite's position, velocity, acceleration, attitude and the local time. One way this is done is with measurements made using x-ray sensors. Parameters can be estimated onboard and verified through redundant determinations. The ARGOS satellite is being built under the Air Force Space Test Program. It carries eight experiments, three of which utilize far-ultraviolet (FUV) or extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) sensors and one of which (NRL-801) is an x-ray sensor. Among the ARGOS experiments NRL-801 uniquely has satellite navigation experiments as one of its prime objectives, with special design features supporting that purpose.
Does anesthetic additivity imply a similar molecular mechanism of anesthetic action at N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors?

BACKGROUND: Isoflurane and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) negatively modulate N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, but via different mechanisms. Isoflurane is a competitive antagonist at the NMDA receptor glycine binding site, whereas CO 2 inhibits NMDA receptor current through extracellular acidification. Isoflurane and CO 2 exhibit additive minimum alveolar concentration effects in rats, but we hypothesized that they would not additively inhibit NMDA receptor currents in vitro because they act at different molecular sites. METHODS: NMDA receptors were expressed in frog oocytes and studied using 2-electrode voltage clamp techniques. A glycine concentration response for NMDA was measured in the presence and absence of CO 2 . Concentration-response curves for isoflurane, H + , CO 2 , and ketamine as a function of NMDA inhibition were measured, and a Hill equation was used to calculate the EC 50 for each compound. RESULTS: Binary drug combinations containing ½ EC 50 were additive if NMDA current inhibition was not statistically different from 50%. The ½ EC 50 binary drug combinations decreased the percentage baseline NMDA receptor current as follows (mean ± SD, n = 5 to 6 oocytes each): CO 2 + H + (51% ± 5%), CO 2 + isoflurane (54% ± 5%), H + + isoflurane (51% ± 3%), CO 2 + ketamine (67% ± 8%), and H + + ketamine (64% ± 2%). CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to our hypothesis, NMDA receptor inhibition by CO 2 and isoflurane is additive. Possibly, CO 2 acidification modulates a pH-sensitive loop on the NMDA receptor that in turn alters glycine binding affinity on the GluN1 subunit. However, ketamine plus either CO 2 or H + synergistically inhibits NMDA receptor currents. Drugs acting via different mechanisms can thus exhibit additive or synergistic receptor effects. Additivity may not robustly indicate commonality between molecular anesthetic mechanisms.
Cytotoxic effect of vanadium and oil-fired fly ash on hamster tracheal epithelium

Hamster tracheal organ cultures were used to study the in vitro effects of vanadium and oil-fired fly ash on mucociliary respiratory epithelium. Two vanadium compounds, VOSO4 and V2O5, and fly ash from an oil-fueled power plant were dissolved or suspended in culture medium over a range of concentrations and epithelia were exposed for 1 hr/day, for 9 consecutive days. At intervals during this period, alterations in cilia-beating frequency, cytology, and histology were documented by light microscopy. Explants treated with VOSO4 either decreased ciliary activity or produced ciliostasis depending upon the concentration and length of exposure. Early morphological alterations consisted of vacuolization of both nuclei and cytoplasm. After multiple exposures, cytology of VOSO4-treated respiratory mucosa was markedly affected. Similar changes were observed in cultures exposed to V2O5; however, the cytotoxicity appeared earlier and was more pronounced. Fly ash-treated explants produced similar biological effects when compared to both vanadium compounds. Thus, the data indicate that the extent of vanadium toxicity depends, at least in part, on the vanadium content of the compound tested, and that exposure to this metal and vanadium-rich fly ash can inhibit normal mucociliary function, a vital clearance mechanism in the respiratory tract.
Analysis of the Complex between Ca2+ Channel β-Subunit and the Rem GTPase

Voltage-gated calcium channels are multiprotein complexes that regulate calcium influx and are important contributors to cardiac excitability and contractility. The auxiliary beta-subunit (CaV beta) binds a conserved domain (the alpha-interaction domain (AID)) of the pore-forming CaV alpha1 subunit to modulate channel gating properties and promote cell surface trafficking. Recently, members of the RGK family of small GTPases (Rem, Rem2, Rad, Gem/Kir) have been identified as novel contributors to the regulation of L-type calcium channel activity. Here, we describe the Rem-association domain within CaV beta2a. The Rem interaction module is located in a approximately 130-residue region within the highly conserved guanylate kinase domain that also directs AID binding. Importantly, CaV beta mutants were identified that lost the ability to bind AID but retained their association with Rem, indicating that the AID and Rem association sites of CaV beta2a are structurally distinct. In vitro binding studies indicate that the affinity of Rem for CaV beta2a interaction is lower than that of AID for CaV beta2a. Furthermore, in vitro binding studies indicate that Rem association does not inhibit the interaction of CaV beta2a with AID. Instead, CaV beta can simultaneously associate with both Rem and CaV alpha1-AID. Previous studies had suggested that RGK proteins may regulate Ca2+ channel activity by blocking the association of CaV beta subunits with CaV alpha1 to inhibit plasma membrane trafficking. However, surface biotinylation studies in HIT-T15 cells indicate that Rem can acutely modulate channel function without decreasing the density of L-type channels at the plasma membrane. Together these data suggest that Rem-dependent Ca2+ channel modulation involves formation of a Rem x CaV beta x AID regulatory complex without the need to disrupt CaV alpha1 x CaV beta association or alter CaV alpha1 expression at the plasma membrane.
The Impact of Group Membership on Lesbians' Physical Appearance

Abstract The impact of lesbian group membership upon physical appearance was examined among 81 young lesbians (ages 18-30) who participated in a questionnaire study. Most participants indicated making distinct but modest changes in their physical appearance after coming out as lesbians. These changes were in the direction of their pre-coming out conceptions of lesbians as being butch or androgynous in appearance. A majority reported cutting their hair shorter, wearing more comfortable shoes, or adopting a less traditionally feminine appearance after coming out. Participants also said they significantly less often wore dresses, used makeup, and shaved their legs and underarms. A significant decrease in body weight concern also occurred after coming out. Other changes in physical appearance are discussed. Participants believed that the changes were influenced by the opinions of other lesbians, their desire to signal prospective partners, and by becoming more comfortable with themselves. Implications of thes...
Effect of speakers' sex and size of audience on heart-rate changes during short impromptu speeches.

This study was carried out to determine whether over-all heart rate and heart-rate arousal pattern ate similar for 10 male and 10 female speakers and in speaking situations with both a large as well as a small audience. Equal numbers of male and female subjects were exposed to normal-sized audiences of 21 and very small audiences of 3 during a short impromptu speech, and their heart rates monitored continuously before, during, and after speaking. With limited exception, patterns of heart-rate increment corresponded with those established in previous studies, although females conformed less closely to established patterns. Females experienced greater increment, on the average, than males, and their patterns of arousal differed in certain minor details. Before a small audience slightly greater increments were elicited than before a normal audience, and there were some indications that males and females responded differently to the two speaking situations.
Structural and electrical transport properties of superconducting Au 0.7 In 0.3 films: A random array of superconductor–normal-metal–superconductor Josephson junctions

The structural and superconducting properties of ${\mathrm{Au}}_{0.7}{\mathrm{In}}_{0.3}$ films, grown by interdiffusion of alternating Au and In layers, have been studied. The films were found to consist of a uniform solid solution of ${\mathrm{Au}}_{0.9}{\mathrm{In}}_{0.1},$ with excess In precipitated in the form of In-rich grains of various Au-In phases with distinct atomic compositions, including intermetallic compounds. As the temperature was lowered, these individual grains became superconducting at a particular local transition temperature ${(T}_{c}^{0}),$ determined primarily by the atomic composition of the grain, before a fully superconducting state of zero resistance was established. From the observed onset temperature of the superconducting transition, it was inferred that up to three different superconducting phases could have formed in these ${\mathrm{Au}}_{0.7}{\mathrm{In}}_{0.3}$ films, all of which were embedded in a uniform ${\mathrm{Au}}_{0.9}{\mathrm{In}}_{0.1}$ matrix. Among these phases, the ${T}_{c}^{0}$ of a particular one, 0.8 K, is higher than any previously reported for the Au-In system. The electrical transport properties were studied down to low temperatures. The transport results were found to be well correlated with those of the structural studies. The present work suggests that these ${\mathrm{Au}}_{0.7}{\mathrm{In}}_{0.3}$ films can be modeled as a random array of superconductor--normal-metal--superconductor Josephson junctions. The effect of disorder and magnetic field on the superconducting transition in these ${\mathrm{Au}}_{0.7}{\mathrm{In}}_{0.3}$ films is discussed.
An analytical model of source injection for N-type enhancement mode GaN-based Schottky Source/Drain MOSFET’s with experimental demonstration

Abstract This study investigates the effect of the Gate-to-Source/Drain overlap structure of a GaN Schottky Source/Drain MOSFET. The Gate-to-Source overlap structure of the device allows the gate electric field to reduce the height of the Nickel(source)–GaN Schottky barrier near the SiO 2 –GaN interface at the source side, injecting more thermionically generated carriers over the partially reduced Schottky barrier. Based on this Schottky barrier lowering mechanism, an analytical model was developed. The analytical model shows that the reduction of the Schottky barrier height by 0.25 eV increases the on-state drain current by two orders of magnitude, which is in agreement of the previously reported TCAD simulation result in [6] . A specifically designed GaN Schottky Source/Drain MOSFET with the Gate-to-Source/Drain overlap structure was fabricated and characterized; the I D – V DS characteristic of the device shows that the on-state drain current of the device was increased by up to 160× compared to the same kind of device without the overlap structure (reported in Lei Ma (2007) [7] ), which is in agreement with the analytical model described herein.
Distributed GABBA Space-Time Codes in Amplify-and-Forward Cooperation

The idea of space-time coding, devised for multiple-antenna systems, can be applied to communication over a wireless relay network. This paper is on the design of practical distributed space-time codes for wireless relay networks, in which uses amplify-and-forward (AF) scheme in a way that each relay transmits a scaled version of linear combination of the received symbols. We use the recently presented GABBA codes, which are systematically constructed, orthogonally decodable, full-rate, full-diversity space-time block codes, in a distributed fashion. Our scheme is generalized to any number of relays with linear orthogonal decoding in the destination, which make it feasible to employ large number of potential relays to improve diversity order. Assuming BPSK modulation and maximum likelihood (ML) detection, we derive a formula for the bit error probability of the investigated scheme in Rayleigh fading channels. Our analytical results have been confirmed by simulation results, using full-rate, full-diversity distributed codes.
Powdered tart cherry supplementation moderates post-exercise immunosuppression, total cholesterol, and antioxidant status with no effect on performance recovery following an acute bout of intense lower body resistance exercise

Background Consumption of tart cherry juice has been reported to effectively reduce inflammation, muscle damage, and muscle soreness following bouts of exercise. The purpose of this study was to determine if consumption of a powdered form of tart cherries derived from tart cherry skins prior to and following intense resistance exercise promotes similar positive results as seen with tart cherry juice consumption.
Hardware-only stream prefetching and dynamic access ordering

Memory system bottlenecks limit performance for many applications, and computations with strided access patterns are among the hardest hit. The streams used in such applications have extremely poor cache behavior. These access patterns have the advantage of being predictable, though, and this can be exploited to improve the efficiency of the memory subsystem in two ways: memory latencies can be masked by prefetching stream data, and the latencies can be reduced by reordering stream accesses to exploit parallelism and locality within the DRAMs. Many researchers have studied hardware prefetching in its various forms. Others have examined dynamic memory scheduling to help bridge the performance gap between processors and DRAM memory systems. This study builds on these results, combining a stride-based reference prediction table, a mechanism that prefetches L2 cache lines, and a memory controller that dynamically schedules accesses to a Direct Rambus memory subsystem. We find that such a system delivers good speedups for scientific applications with regular access patterns without negatively affecting the performance of nonstreaming programs.
Ekman Pumping and the Energetics of the Southern Hemisphere Eddy Life Cycle

AbstractIn the framework of the Lorenz energy cycle, the climatological and eddy life cycle characteristics of the generation of eddy available potential energy through Ekman pumping (EEPE) are evaluated using Interim European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) data (1979–2011). EEPE exhibits an annual cycle that is maximized during a given hemisphere’s winter, with maximum values in the midtroposphere of the midlatitudes.Spectral analysis of the Southern Hemisphere storm track reveals that positive EEPE is associated with an anomalously small vertical phase tilt. A composite analysis of the Southern Hemisphere eddy life cycle reveals a maximum in EEPE that occurs after the peak eddy amplitude. Eddy life cycles during winter with large values of EEPE have higher values of eddy available potential energy and eddy kinetic energy than life cycles with small EEPE. However, baroclinic energy conversion remains unenhanced in life cycles with large values of EEPE. The lac...
A focused salivary gland infection with attenuated MCMV: An animal model with prevention of pathology associated with systemic MCMV infection

While the salivary gland has been recognized as an important effector site of the common mucosal immune system, a useful model for studying anti-viral salivary gland immune responses in vivo and for exploring the role of the salivary gland within the common mucosal system has been lacking. Murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) is a beta-herpesvirus that displays a strong tropism for the salivary gland and produces significant morbidity in susceptible mice when introduced by intraperitoneal (i.p.) inoculation. This study tested the hypothesis that MCMV morbidity and pathology could be reduced by injecting the virus directly the submandibular salivary gland (intraglandular (i.g.)), using either in vivo derived MCMV or the less virulent, tissue-culture-derived MCMV (tcMCMV). Peak salivary gland viral titers were completely unaffected by infection route (i.p vs. i.g.) after inoculation with either MCMV or tcMCMV. However, i.g. tcMCMV inoculation reduced viremia in all systemic tissues tested compared to i.p. inoculation. Furthermore, systemic organ pathology observed in the liver and spleen after i.p. inoculation with either MCMV or tcMCMV was completely eliminated by i.g. inoculation with tcMCMV. Cellular infiltrates in the salivary glands, after i.p. or i.g. inoculation were composed of both B and T cells, indicating the potential for a local immune response to occur in the salivary gland. These results demonstrate that a focused MCMV infection of the salivary gland without systemic organ pathology is possible using i.g. delivery of tcMCMV.
THE SOURCE OF THE APPARENT CARBOHYDRATE CONTENT OF BENCE-JONES PROTEINS.

Abstract Bence-Jones proteins prepared by repeated ammonium sulfate precipitation appear to contain variable amounts of carbohydrate. This has been shown to be due to contamination by other carbohydrate-containing substances. Fractions with high hexose contents were isolated from a Bence-Jones protein preparation, and similar materials appeared to be present in all the carbohydrate-containing proteins that were tested.
Magnetic origin of the lattice instability of FePd alloys

Abstract It is shown that the lattice instability of FePd Invars is magnetic in origin and can be understood based on the Stoner band magnetism model by assuming the strain dependence of the exchange parameter, I. In the limit of weak itinerant magnetism, an explicit expression for the parent lattice lastability temperature, Ti, is derived in the context of a rigid band model. It is suggested that the drastic concentration dependence of Ti is a direct consequence of the rapid change of the density of states at the Fermi level with the degree of band filling. The values of the first and second derivatives of the exchange integral as found for FePd alloys are consistent with those from the analysis of the temperature dependence of the elastic constants using Alers et al. and Hausch's localized moment (Heisenberg) model.
Synthesis and magnetic characterization of the high-Tc superconducting compound HgBa2CuO4+δ

Bulk superconducting samples of HgBa2CuO4+δ (hereafter denoted as Hg-1201) were prepared by solid state reaction of stoichiometric quantities of HgO and Ba2CuO3 precursors. The “as-synthesized” Hg-1201 samples had a Tc of 95 K, as defined by the onset of diamagnetism. The crystal symmetry was found to be tetragonal with lattice parameters, a=3.876(2) A, and c=9.515(3) A, similar to the literature values. Finely ground X-ray specimens were stable upon exposure to ambient air for a period of ≁24 h. Magnetic characterizations were conducted using a SQUID based DC magnetometer. Studies of the transition region in low applied fields showed complete screening and evidence for weak intergrain coupling of the randomly oriented crystallites. High field magnetic hysteresis studies showed rapid decay of hysteresis of the magnetization (proportional to the current density), both with applied field and temperature. These findings are attributed to the presence of substantial thermally activated flux motion.
A new back surface passivation stack for thin crystalline silicon solar cells with screen-printed back contacts

Abstract In order to manufacture high-efficiency Si solar cells with a passivated rear surface and local contacts, it is necessary to develop both an excellent rear-passivation scheme compatible with screen-printing technology and a robust patterning technique for local contact formation. In this work, we have fabricated Si solar cells on ∼130 μm thick substrates using manufacturable processing, where rear side was passivated with a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposited SiOx/SiNx/SiOxNy stack and local back contacts using laser. As a result of both the rear surface passivation stack and the laser-fired local contacts, cell efficiencies of up to 17.6% on a 148.6 cm2 Float-zone Si wafer and 17.2% for a 156.8 cm2 multicrystalline Si wafer were achieved. PC-1D calculations revealed that the cells had a back surface recombination velocity (BSRV) of ∼400 cm/s and a back surface reflectance (BSR) of over 90%, as opposed to standard full Al-BSF cells having a BSRV of ∼800 cm/s and a 70% BSR. This result clearly indicates that the new technique of the passivation scheme and the patterning using laser developed in this study are promising for manufacturing high-efficiency PERC-type thin Si solar cells.
Supersymmetry reach of Fermilab Tevatron upgrades: A comparative study.

We use ISAJET to perform a detailed comparison of the supersymmetry reach of the current Fermilab Tevatron (100 pb{sup {minus}1}) with that of the Main Injector (2 fb{sup {minus}1}) and the proposed TeV33 upgrade designed to yield an integrated luminosity of 25 fb{sup {minus}1}. Our analysis is performed within the framework of the minimal supergravity model with gauge coupling unification and radiative electroweak symmetry breaking. For each of these three luminosity options, we delineate the regions of parameter space where jets plus missing energy plus 0, 1, 2 (opposite-sign and same-sign dileptons), and 3 isolated lepton signals from the cascade decays of sparticles should be visible above standard model backgrounds. We compare these with the parameter regions where signals in the clean isolated dilepton and trilepton channels (from chargino or neutralino and slepton production) should be observable. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}
Structural Characterization of Adenine Nucleotides Bound to Escherichia coli Adenylate Kinase. 1. Adenosine Conformations by Proton Two-Dimensional Transferred Nuclear Overhauser Effect Spectroscopy†

Adenosine conformations of adenosine 5‘-triphosphate (ATP) and adenosine 5‘-monophosphate (AMP), and of an ATP analogue, adenylyl imidodiphosphate (AMPPNP), bound to Escherichia coli adenylate kinase (AKe) in the complexes of AKe·Mg(II)ATP, AKe·AMP·Mg(II)GDP, AKe·AMPPNP, and AKe·Mg(II)AMPPNP were determined by transferred two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (TRNOESY) measurements and molecular dynamics simulations. The glycosidic torsion angles, χ, deduced for the adenine nucleotides in these complexes are 51°, 37°, 49°, and 47°, respectively, with an experimental error of about ±5°. These values are in general agreement with those previously measured for other ATP-utilizing enzymes, suggesting a possible common motif for adenosine recognition and binding. The pseudorotational phase angle, P, of the sugar puckers for the bound nucleotides varied between 50° and 103°. These solution-state conformations are significantly different from those in published data from X-ray crystallography. A...
Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Replication in a Gingival Cell Line

Propagation of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) in gingival cells is advantageous since these cells are more definitive than HeLa cells in demonstrating viral-induced cytopathic effects and are easily and economically maintained in the laboratory. They also provide a potential medium for studying oral tissue reactions to HSV-1 infection. HSV-1-induced cytopathic effects are clearly characterized following inoculation with virus from standard laboratory cultures and human infections.
Serration and dissociation of edge dislocations in low angle tilt boundaries in gold

Abstract The fine structure of a variety of low angle tilt boundaries in gold has been studied by high resolution transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction in thin-film bicrystal specimens. The boundaries were found to consist of arrays of dislocations running on average along the tilt axis as expected. However, in the general case where the tilt axis did not lie in a {111} plane the dislocations were serrated into a “hill and valley” structure which allowed them to dissociate on {111} planes into partial dislocations and patches of stacking faults. This configuration produced a decrease in core energy at the expense of increased line length energy and is expected to be a general feature of dislocations in low angle tilt boundaries in metals with low (and moderately low) stacking fault energies. The importance of this phenomenon in the interpretation of measurements of pipe diffusion along dislocations in low angle tilt boundaries is discussed.
Steady electro-osmotic flow of a micropolar fluid in a microchannel

We have formulated and solved the boundary-value problem of steady, symmetric and one-dimensional electro-osmotic flow of a micropolar fluid in a uniform rectangular microchannel, under the action of a uniform applied electric field. The Helmholtz–Smoluchowski equation and velocity for micropolar fluids have also been formulated. Numerical solutions turn out to be virtually identical to the analytic solutions obtained after using the Debye–Huckel approximation, when the microchannel height exceeds the Debye length, provided that the zeta potential is sufficiently small in magnitude. For a fixed Debye length, the mid-channel fluid speed is linearly proportional to the microchannel height when the fluid is micropolar, but not when the fluid is simple Newtonian. The stress and the microrotation are dominant at and in the vicinity of the microchannel walls, regardless of the microchannel height. The mid-channel couple stress decreases, but the couple stress at the walls intensifies, as the microchannel height increases and the flow tends towards turbulence.
Effect of interlamellar spacing on the wear resistance of eutectoid steels under rolling-sliding conditions

Abstract The influence of the mean true interlamellar pearlite spacing on the wear behavior of eutectoid steels under rolling-sliding line contact has been investigated. A spacing range of 118–450 nm was achieved by carrying out isothermal heat treatments on two medium carbon steels, one a plain carbon steel and the other containing small additions of chromium and molybdenum. The relationship between wear rate and interlamellar spacing ( S ) was not affected by the small compositional differences but did depend on hertzian contact pressure. A progressive pattern of behavior was observed in which the wear rate was proportional to S 0.47 at 1220 N mm −2 and to S 1.33 at 500 N mm −2 . The mechanism of wear generated by the high slide-roll ratio used in these experiments, the nature and influence of the initial break-in period, and the reproducibility of test data are also addressed.
Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia and recurrent staphylococcal infection in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and AIDS-related complex.

Purpose An increased incidence of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia has recently been described in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). However, other risk factors for community-acquired S. aureus bacteremia (including intravenous drug abuse and lymphedema) were present in nearly all these AIDS-related cases of S. aureus infection. Our purpose was to review cases of S. aureus bacteremia that occurred in patients with AIDS or AIDS-related complex (ARC) who did not have a recent history of intravenous drug use, lymphatic obstruction, or neutropenia. Patients and methods Patients at San Francisco General Hospital between October 1984 and October 1987 with blood culture results positive for S. aureus were identified. A review of this group revealed 22 cases of S. aureus bacteremia that occurred in 18 patients with an underlying diagnosis of AIDS or ARC, none of whom had a recent history of intravenous drug use, lymphedema secondary to Kaposi's sarcoma, or neutropenia. Results An intravenous catheter was the single most important risk factor for S. aureus bacteremia and was identified as the source for bacteremia in 16 (73 percent) of the 22 episodes. Based on 1986 outpatient clinic records, we calculated an incidence of S. aureus bacteremia occurring in nonintravenous-drug-using male AIDS or ARC patients, 18 to 44 years old, that was 5.4 episodes/1,000 patients. Although the mean duration of appropriate antibiotic therapy was 18 days, late metastatic complications of S. aureus bacteremia occurred in six (35 percent) of 17 AIDS/ARC patients who survived initial antibiotic therapy. Conclusion Non-intravenous-drug-using AIDS and ARC patients (especially those with indwelling venous catheters) appear to be at high risk for S. aureus bacteremia, with a higher late metastatic complication rate than that reported for recent historical control subjects.
Characterization of urease from Sporosarcina ureae

Alkaline stable (pH 7.75–12.5) urease from Sporosarcina ureae was purified over 400-fold by ion exchange and hydrophobic interaction chromatography. The cytoplasmic enzyme was remarkably active with a specific activity of greater than 9300 μmol urea degraded min-1 mg protein-1 at pH 7.5, where it has optimal activity. Although S. ureae is closely related to Bacillus pasteurii, known to posses a homopolymeric urease containing 1 nickel per subunit [Mr=65000], the S. ureae enzyme is comprised of three subunits [apparent Mr=63100 (α), 14500 (β), and 8500 (γ)] in an estimated ∝βγ stoichiometry and contains 2.1±0.6 nickel ions per ∝βγ unit as measured by atomic absorption spectrometry. Stationary phase cultures sometimes possessed low levels of urease activity, but the specific activity of cell extracts of partially purified urease preparations from such cultures could be elevated by heat treatment, dilution, or dialysis to values comparable to those observed in samples from exponentially grown cells.
Differential effect of propylthiouracil on in vitro iodoamino acid synthesis by thyroid lobes from intact or hypophysectomized rats.

Thyroid lobes from intact and hypophysectomized rats fed an iodine-deficient or high-iodine diet were incubated with carrierfree 131I- in graded concentrations of PTU. In the lobes from intact rats there was a negative correlation of the DIT/MIT ratio with concentration of PTU, confirming many previous in vivo and in vitro studies. In contrast, in the lobes from hypophysectomized rats there was no significant correlation of DIT/MIT ratio with PTU concentration. These observations are similar tothose made previously in vivo and establish that the qualitative difference in the effect of PTU on the DIT/MIT ratio in intact compared to hypophysectomized rats is not due to a difference in the extrathyroidal metabolism of PTU in these 2 types of animals. It is suggested that this differential effect of PTU might be due to some alteration in the structure of thyroid protein produced by hypophysectomy. (Endocrinology 83: 592, 1968)
Rapid Optimization of Gene Delivery by Parallel End-modification of Poly(β-amino ester)s

Poly(β-amino ester)s are cationic degradable polymers that have significant potential as gene delivery vectors. Here we present a generalized method to modify poly(β-amino ester)s at the chain ends to improve their delivery performance. End-chain coupling reactions were developed so that polymers could be synthesized and tested in a high-throughput manner, without the need for purification. In this way, many structural variations at the polymer terminus could be rapidly evaluated. End-modification of the terminal amine structure of a previously optimized poly(β-amino ester), C32, significantly enhanced its in vitro transfection efficiency. In vivo, intraperitoneal (IP) gene delivery using end-modified C32 polymers resulted in expression levels over one order of magnitude higher than unmodified C32 and jet-polyethylenimine (jet-PEI) levels in several abdominal organs. The rapid end-modification strategy presented here has led to the discovery of many effective polymers for gene delivery and may be a useful method to develop and optimize cationic polymers for gene therapy.
Increased radiotracer uptake on positron emission tomography after invasive thoracic procedures: a case series.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the hypothesis that tissue changes induced by invasive thoracic procedures may be associated with increased fluorine 18-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake on positron emission tomography (PET) scans, potentially leading to these tissue changes being mistaken for malignancies. PATIENTS AND METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the records of all patients undergoing bronchoscopies and FDG-PET at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville from February 2002 to September 2004 and identified patients who had undergone computed tomography (CT) of the chest and bronchoscopy before FDG-PET. We identified and reviewed the imaging studies of patients who had increased FDG uptake on PET scans and whose CT scans showed no corresponding abnormalities suggestive of malignancy. RESULTS Eighty-one patients had undergone both bronchoscopy and PET within the defined study period. Of these, 45 (56%) underwent PET within 4 weeks after bronchoscopy, and 13 (29%) of these 45 patients had increased FDG uptake on PET scans that did not correlate with pathological findings on CT. We judged that increased uptake on 3 (23%) of the 13 PET scans was most likely related to the bronchoscopic procedure. Additionally, 2 patients who had undergone thoracoscopy after bronchoscopy but before PET had discordant CT and PET findings. CONCLUSION Invasive thoracic procedures may cause an increased uptake of radiotracer on PET scans that could be mistakenly interpreted as evidence of malignancy. To avoid clinical misjudgment, clinicians should perform PET before invasive thoracic procedures.
Selective detection of Salmonella typhimurium in the presence of high concentrations of masking bacteria

This article presents the results of an investigation into the ability of a magnetoelastic biosensor to detect Salmonella typhimurium, with high specificity, even in the presence of high concentrations of masking bacteria. Magnetoelastic biosensors are mass sensitive devices comprised of a magnetoelastic material that serves as the transducer and bacteriophage as the bio-recognition element. The sensors were tested individually with several different genus bacteria (Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella entertidis, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes) to compare the bioprobe’s affinity towards species other than the target analyte. The effect of the presence of one masking bacteria (E. coli) and two masking bacteria (E. coli and L. monocytogenes) in a mixture with S. typhimurium upon the response of the biosensor was studied. It was observed that the response of the sensors followed similar trends; however the sensitivity and the frequency changes were slightly lower for the mixtures. The sensitivity of the sensors exposed to only S. typhimurium was 161 Hz decade−1 and in mixtures with one and two masking bacteria were 131 Hz decade−1 and 127 Hz decade−1, respectively. Binding kinetics studies show that the dissociation constant (K d) and the binding valency (1/n H) samples with only S. typhimurium are 149 cfu mL−1 and 2.49, respectively.
Baryon-antibaryon threshold resonances

Abstract Experimental and theoretical arguments are presented to support the conjecture of a high density of levels (resonances), with quantum numbers shared by baryon-antibaryon channels, in the neigborhood of the thresholds for such channels. These levels, generated by long-range pion exchange, are of a nature familiar in classical nuclear physics but usually ignored in particle physics. Their possible relevance to a variety of high energy phenomena is discussed, including the rising tendency of high energy hadronic total cross sections and the anomalously large e+e− annihilation.
Tomographic lifetime imaging using combined early- and late-arriving photons

We present a novel, hybrid approach for time domain fluorescence tomography that efficiently combines lifetime multiplexing using late-arriving or asymptotic photons, with the high spatial resolution capability of early photon tomography. We also show that a decay amplitude-based asymptotic approach is superior to direct inversion of late-arriving photons for tomographic lifetime imaging within turbid media. The hybrid reconstruction approach is experimentally shown to recover fluorescent inclusions separated as close as 1.4 mm, with improved resolution and reduced cross talk compared to just using early photons or the asymptotic approach alone.
High frequency of aberrant expression of moloney murine leukemia virus in clonal infections

Clones of cells were isolated from single virus-single cell infections of NIH/3T3 cells with Moloney murine leukemia virus. Approximately one third of such clones aberrantly expressed viral gene functions. One clone produced virus with altered plaque morphology, while others failed to produce particles able to make plaques on XC cells. In addition, clones that made particles lacking reverse transcriptase were found, and these did not synthesize the reverse transcriptase precursor Pr180^(gag-pol). One clone (M23) lacked any detectable glycoprotein or reverse transcriptase. Despite these defects, each clone released particles of type C morphology, suggesting that gag gene function alone may be sufficient for particle production. All the particles contained viral RNA of 60–70S that was composed of the normal 35S size subunits except for M23, which had a deletion in the viral genome of approximately 1000–1500 nucleotides. A variety of defective clones were also isolated following infection of rat cells with Moloney virus. It is apparent that the murine leukemia virus genome is often mutated by spontaneous processes generating a wide range of phenotypes.
Evaluating the effectiveness of role playing in the sport management curriculum

The purpose of this research is to determine if role playing is a pedagogical strategy that can assist sport management educators in achieving educational objectives. This article provides a brief literature review to establish the rationale for implementing role playing in classroom, describes a role play activity created for a course in intercollegiate athletics policy, and assesses student learning using background knowledge probes, focused listing, concept mapping and written responses to open-ended questions. Results indicated that role playing meets the needs of sport management educators who are attempting to offer students an active learning environment that balances theory and practice while equipping students with the skills necessary to make decisions.
Inhibition of Golgi Mannosidase II with Mannostatin A Analogues: Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and Structure–Activity Relationship Studies

Mannostatin and aminocyclopentitetrol analogues with various substitutions at the amino function were synthesized. These compounds were tested as inhibitors of human Golgi and lysosomal alpha-mannosidases. Modification of the amine of mannostatin had only marginal effects, whereas similar modifications of aminocyclopentitetrol led to significantly improved inhibitors. Ab initio calculations and molecular docking studies were employed to rationalize the results. It was found that mannostatin and aminocyclopentitretrol could bind to Golgi alpha-mannosidase II in a similar mode to that of the known inhibitor swainsonine. However, due to the flexibility of the five-membered rings of these compounds, additional low-energy binding modes could be adopted. These binding modes may be relevant for the improved activities of the benzyl-substituted compounds. The thiomethyl moiety of mannostatin was predicted to make favorable hydrophobic interactions with Arg228 and Tyr727 that would possibly account for its greater inhibitory activity.
“Justice” and “fairness” are not the same thing

Summary Organizational justice researchers tend to treat as synonyms the terms “justice” and “fairness”. We discuss different definitional arguments, concluding that these two concepts are distinct. Justice should be defined as adherence to rules of conduct, whereas fairness should be defined as individuals' moral evaluations of this conduct. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Dielectrically isolated lateral merged PiN Schottky (LMPS) diodes

The concept of the RESURF DI lateral merged PiN Schottky (LMPS) diodes is introduced and experimentally demonstrated. The LMPS diode combines the advantages of fast switching times of Schottky diodes with the low forward drops exhibited by LPiN diodes. An increase in the ratio of Schottky area relative to the p-n junction area is shown to result in superior reverse recovery characteristics at the expense of an increase in the forward voltage drop. This tradeoff between forward drop and switching speed is achieved in a simple manner by varying the relative areas of the Schottky and p-n junction regions during device design. Since lifetime control is not a viable option in integrated diodes used in power IC's, the LMPS concept allows tailoring the characteristics of integrated power diodes to the application frequency for the first time.
Fusion of intelligent sensor data for robot control

Nowadays robots can recognize their environment in a limited way. Future robots designed for operations in a natural environment and for communicating with humans in a natural way require the fusion of data acquired from spoken words and sensory data from the surrounding area. By means of intelligent sensors for speech recognition, proximity measurement, colour measurement and image processing an intelligent robot has been developed. The robot understands the name of an object a user has told the robot to take and searches for it by means of a smart camera and other sensors. After it has found and identified the object, it grabs it and brings it to the user.
Preferential binding of allosteric modulators to active and inactive conformational states of metabotropic glutamate receptors

Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) are G protein coupled receptors that play important roles in synaptic plasticity and other neuro-physiological and pathological processes. Allosteric mGluR ligands are particularly promising drug targets because of their modulatory effects – enhancing or suppressing the response of mGluRs to glutamate. The mechanism by which this modulation occurs is not known. Here, we propose the hypothesis that positive and negative modulators will differentially stabilize the active and inactive conformations of the receptors, respectively. To test this hypothesis, we have generated computational models of the transmembrane regions of different mGluR subtypes in two different conformations. The inactive conformation was modeled using the crystal structure of the inactive, dark state of rhodopsin as template and the active conformation was created based on a recent model of the light-activated state of rhodopsin. Ligands for which the nature of their allosteric effects on mGluRs is experimentally known were docked to the modeled mGluR structures using ArgusLab and Autodock softwares. We find that the allosteric ligand binding pockets of mGluRs are overlapping with the retinal binding pocket of rhodopsin, and that ligands have strong preferences for the active and inactive states depending on their modulatory nature. In 8 out of 14 cases (57%), the negative modulators bound the inactive conformations with significant preference using both docking programs, and 6 out of 9 cases (67%), the positive modulators bound the active conformations. Considering results by the individual programs only, even higher correlations were observed: 12/14 (86%) and 8/9 (89%) for ArgusLab and 10/14 (71%) and 7/9 (78%) for AutoDock. These findings strongly support the hypothesis that mGluR allosteric modulation occurs via stabilization of different conformations analogous to those identified in rhodopsin where they are induced by photochemical isomerization of the retinal ligand – despite the extensive differences in sequences between mGluRs and rhodopsin.
Automated identification of cell-type-specific genes in the mouse brain by image computing of expression patterns

Differential gene expression patterns in cells of the mammalian brain result in the morphological, connectional, and functional diversity of cells. A wide variety of studies have shown that certain genes are expressed only in specific cell-types. Analysis of cell-type-specific gene expression patterns can provide insights into the relationship between genes, connectivity, brain regions, and cell-types. However, automated methods for identifying cell-type-specific genes are lacking to date. Here, we describe a set of computational methods for identifying cell-type-specific genes in the mouse brain by automated image computing of in situ hybridization (ISH) expression patterns. We applied invariant image feature descriptors to capture local gene expression information from cellular-resolution ISH images. We then built image-level representations by applying vector quantization on the image descriptors. We employed regularized learning methods for classifying genes specifically expressed in different brain cell-types. These methods can also rank image features based on their discriminative power. We used a data set of 2,872 genes from the Allen Brain Atlas in the experiments. Results showed that our methods are predictive of cell-type-specificity of genes. Our classifiers achieved AUC values of approximately 87% when the enrichment level is set to 20. In addition, we showed that the highly-ranked image features captured the relationship between cell-types. Overall, our results showed that automated image computing methods could potentially be used to identify cell-type-specific genes in the mouse brain.