cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dynamic Modeling and Identification of an Electric-Hydraulic Controlled Fuel Injection System

Fuel consumption, related to engine operation and performance, has always been emphasized in the modern design of heavy vehicles. For identifying the operational mechanism of a novel hydraulically actuated electronic unit injection (HEUI) system from the viewpoint of energy conversion, this study presents the estimation of a nonlinear autoregressive moving average with exogenous inputs (NARMAX) models. By this modeling approach, the correlation between injection pressure and fuel rate under normal operations is detected. When mapping the NARMAX models into the frequency domain, the frequency response functions (FRFs) representing the energy transfer mechanisms in the system can then be precisely obtained. Due to the high-order FRFs responsible for the non-linear coupling between the various input spectral components, the HEUI dynamics can be demonstrated as an energy resonance of 22.5 Hz.
Environmental temperature selection by the chukar partridge, Alectoris chukar.

Abstract Adult, male Chukar partridges were trained to select between a warm and cold environmental chamber. The percent of time that the birds chose to remain in the warm or cold chamber was directly related to the temperature of that chamber. In other words, the birds increased their average time in the warm or cold chamber as the temperature of that chamber approached some neutral or preferred temperature. This preferred temperature fell within a range of 25.1–31.9°C. The present study has demonstrated the capacity of an avian species to acquire, within a laboratory environment, a behavioral response that minimizes thermal stress.
What Makes a Youth-Produced Film Good? The Youth Audience Perspective.

In this article, we explore how youth audiences evaluate the quality of youth-produced films. Our interest stems from a dearth of ways to measure the quality of what youth produce in artistic production processes. As a result, making art in formal learning settings devolves into either romanticized creativity or instrumental work to improve skills in core content areas. We conducted focus groups with 38 youth participants where they viewed four different films produced by the same youth media arts organization that works with young people to produce short-form, autobiographical documentaries. We found that youth focused their evaluations on identifying the films' genre and content and on assessing how well the filmmakers' creative decisions fit with identifications of genre and content. Evaluations were mediated by audiences' expectations and seemed to inform judgments of quality and creativity. We hope that our work can inform the design of formal learning spaces where young people are producing narrativ...
Partnerships and Participation: Reconfiguring Urban Governance in Different State Contexts

This paper compares the discourse and practices of purportedly collaborative or "partnership" approaches to urban governance in the United States and United Kingdom, as enacted through nationally-directed planning and revitalization programs. The language and underlying principles used to justify and advance such participation initiatives are similar, but differences in state structure in these two national contexts differentiate how and to what effect the engagement of local citizens actually occurs. Governance partnerships are one example of a growing array of policies privileging the local scale, and this "new localism" is commanding attention by U.S. and U.K. urban geographers working a variety of research contexts. Such study of the practices and impacts of a new localism is critically important in an urban geography research agenda, in light of concerns about how ongoing political and economic restructuring affects empowerment and inequity within and between urban areas and among social groups in th...
Stabilimentum variation and foraging success in Argiope aurantia and Argiope trifasciata (Araneae: Araneidae)

Many spiders include conspicuous designs of white silk called stabilimenta in the centre of their orb webs. Stabilimenta are highly variable in their form and frequency and are hypothesized to function in either defence against predators or attraction of prey. These hypotheses generate different predictions about the effect of foraging success on variation in the form and frequency of stabilimenta. If stabilimenta serve as prey attractants, then starved spiders should invest more in them than well-fed spiders, while the opposite pattern is expected if stabilimenta function as a predator defence mechanism. This study examines the effect of variation in foraging success of the yellow garden argiope Argiope aurantia and the banded argiope Argiope trifasciata on variation of their stabilimenta and orb webs. Both species built smaller stabilimenta when fed less, even though a stabilimentum accounts for only 10% of the dry weight of an orb web. Poorly fed A. trifasciata also included stabilimenta in their webs less often than did well-fed A. trifasciata. Differences in stabilimenta were independent of differences between treatments in the orb webs themselves. These results argue against the prey attraction hypothesis, but not the predator defence hypothesis, since well-fed spiders invested more in stabilimenta.
Pharmacology of Gastrointestinal Motility and Secretion

Abstract The two volumes represent the continued effort of the International Encyclopedia of Pharmacology and Therapeutics to provide a critical and comprehensive survey of present knowledge in various specific areas.
Some Implications of Recent Work in Historical Demography

Current population theory depends heavily on the hypothesis that a demographic revolution occurred in West European countries roughly between 1750 and 1880. According to this hypothesis, European death rates averaged at least 35 per 1,000 prior to 1750; hence, even very high birth rates did not enable populations to recover rapidly from the effects of catastrophes, which are supposed to have been frequent and intense. Only after the advances, mainly hygienic, which began about 1750 did the death rate commence a long-term decline. Because fertility remained high, West European populations grew more rapidly than they had ever done. Eventually, urbanization and industrialization sapped the forces which maintainted high birth rates, and low fertility became the major cause of low Western rates of growth.Since currently under-developed populations have high vital rates, it has been suggested that demographic principles are transcultural and that Western demographic patterns will be repeated.
Quantitative molecular assessment of chimerism across tissues in marmosets and tamarins

Background: Marmosets are playing an increasingly large and important role in biomedical research. They share genetic, anatomical, and physiological similarities with humans and other primate model species, but their smaller sizes, reproductive efficiency, and amenability to genetic manipulation offer an added practicality. While their unique biology can be exploited to provide insights into disease and function, it is also important that researchers are aware of the differences that exist between marmosets and other species. The New World monkey family Callitrichidae, containing both marmoset and tamarin species, typically produces dizygotic twins that show chimerism in the blood and other cells from the hematopoietic lineage. Recently, a study extended these findings to identify chimerism in many tissues, including somatic tissues from other lineages and germ cells. This has raised the intriguing possibility that chimerism may play an increasingly pervasive role in marmoset biology, ranging from natural behavioral implications to increased variability and complexity in biomedical studies. Results: Using a quantitative PCR based methodology, Y-chromosomes can be reliably detected in the females with male fraternal twins allowing for a relative quantification of chimerism levels between individuals and tissues. With this approach in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) and cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus), chimerism was detected across a broad array of tissues. Chimerism levels were significantly higher in tissues primarily derived from the hematopoietic lineage, while they were lower, though still detectable, in tissues with other origins. Interestingly, animals with a characteristic marmoset wasting disease show higher levels of chimerism in those tissues affected. Fibroblast cell lines from chimeric individuals, however, are not found to be chimeric themselves. Conclusion: Taken together, the levels of chimerism in tissues of different origins coupled with other lines of evidence suggest that indeed only hematopoietic cell lineages are chimeric in callitrichids. The chimerism detected in other tissues is likely the result of blood or lymphocytic infiltration. Using molecular methods to detect chimerism in a tissue sample seems to have allowed a substantial increase in the ability to detect these minor cell populations.
Mitochondrial and Ion Channel Gene Alterations in Autism

To evaluate the potential importance in autistic subjects of copy number variants (CNVs) that alter genes of relevance to bioenergetics, ionic metabolism, and synaptic function, we conducted a detailed microarray analysis of 69 autism probands and 35 parents, compared to 89 CEU HapMap controls. This revealed that the frequency CNVs of ≥ 100 kb and CNVs of ≥ 10 Kb were markedly increased in probands over parents and in probands and parents over controls. Evaluation of CNVs ≥ 1 Mb by chromosomal FISH confirmed the molecular identity of a subset of the CNVs, some of which were associated with chromosomal rearrangements. In a number of the cases, CNVs were found to alter the copy number of genes that are important in mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), ion and especially calcium transport, and synaptic structure. Hence, autism might result from alterations in multiple bioenergetic and metabolic genes required for mental function.
The effect of expanding Medicaid prenatal services on birth outcomes.

OBJECTIVES: Over 80% of US states have implemented expansions in prenatal services for Medicaid-enrolled women, including case management, nutritional and psychosocial counseling, health education, and home visiting. This study evaluates the effect of Washington State's expansion of such services on prenatal care use and low-birthweight rates. METHODS: The change in prenatal care use and low-birthweight rates among Washington's Medicaid-enrolled pregnant women before and after initiation of expanded prenatal services was compared with the change in these outcomes in Colorado, a control state. RESULTS: The percentage of expected prenatal visits completed increased significantly, from 84% to 87%, in both states. Washington's low-birthweight rate decreased (7.1% to 6.4%, P = .12), while Colorado's rate increased slightly (10.4% to 10.6%, P = .74). Washington's improvement was largely due to decreases in low-birthweight rates for medically high-risk women (18.0% to 13.7%, P = .01, for adults; 22.5% to 11.5%, ...
The Influence of Turbine Clearance Gap Leakage on Passage Velocity and Heat Transfer Near Blade Tips: Part II—Source Flow Effects on Blade Suction Sides

A study has been conducted to investigate influences of tip leakage flow on heat transfer and flow development along the pressure side of a gas turbine blade. An analysis of the sink character of the flow situation indicates that high velocities and accelerations are generated very near the gap, and an apparatus was specifically designed to model the phenomena and to permit resolution of the expected localized near-gap heat transfer enhancement
PLANMINE: sequence mining for plan failures

This paper presents the PLANMINE sequence mining algorithm to extract patterns of events that predict failures in databases of plan executions. New techniques were needed because previous data mining algorithms were overwhelmed by the staggering number of very frequent, but entirely unpredictive patterns that exist in the plan database. This paper combines several techniques for pruning out unpredictive and redundant patterns which reduce the size of the returned rule set by more than three orders of magnitude. PLANMINE has also been fully integrated into two real-world planning systems. We experimentally evaluate the rules discovered by PLANMINE, and show that they are extremely useful for understanding and improving plans, as well as for building monitors that raise alarms before failures happen.
Etch Selectivity of 4SiMA:Hydroxystyrene Based Copolymers. Silicon Chemistry for Bilayer Resist Systems

Thin film imaging resists (TSI and Bilayer systems) confine the imaging to a thin resist film (in the case of a bilayer system) which is subsequently transferred to a thicker polymeric underlayer. This approach has a number of potential advantages including increased ability to print high aspect ratios at small feature sizes, better resolution at a given depth of focus (DQF), and minimization of resist substrate interactions including resist "footing, " standing wave formation and reflective notching caused by topography. Continued progress in single layer resist technology has been able to meet the current manufacturing requirements and the more complex TSI approaches have not yet been required. However, the requirements for imaging features below 0.18 microns, the desire to extend high NA 248nm exposure technology and anticipated shift to 193nm exposure tools has led to renewed interest in thin film imaging approaches. In this report we will describe new chemistry developed for bi layer resist systems for use at 248 nm in both positive and negative tone.
The reduction of N-phenylsulfonyl)indoles with sodium cyanoborohydride in trifluoroacetic acid

Abstract The reduction of N-(phenylsulfonyl)indoles to the corresponding N-(phenylsulfonyl)indolines can be accomplished with good to excellent yields using sodium cyanoborohydride (NaCNBH3) in trifluoroacetic acid (TFA).
Capital, the State, and the Monetary Mode of Power: A Review of Nitzan and Bichler's Capital as Power

In their recent book Capital as Power, Jonathan Nitzan & Shimshon Bichler depict capitalism as a mode of power rather than a mode of production, in which political and economic power are no longer distinct. In addition, they argue, contrary to neoclassical theory, that capital has nothing to do with productivity but instead represents power. I make three broad criticisms: first, their elimination of the distinction between economics and politics renders any empirical test of their ostensible integration impossible; second, they do not adequately define their main concepts, including capital, capitalization, capitalism, and power; and third, they do not acknowledge the possibility that the patterns they attribute to power may in fact be self-organized. This paper argues that money is a claim to wealth, not wealth itself, that it measures and distributes the power of payment, and that payments redistribute the power of ownership, including the ownership of money. Finally, I suggest that, in light of the glo...
A Synthetic Triterpenoid, 2-Cyano-3,12-dioxooleana-1,9-dien-28-oic Acid (CDDO), Is a Ligand for the Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ

A novel synthetic triterpenoid, 2-cyano-3,12-dioxooleana-1,9-dien-28-oic acid (CDDO), previously reported to have potent differentiating, antiproliferative, and antiinflammatory activities, has been identified as a ligand for the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma). CDDO induces adipocytic differentiation in 3T3-L1 cells, although it is not as potent as the full agonist of PPARgamma, rosiglitazone. Binding studies of CDDO to PPARgamma using a scintillation proximity assay give a Ki between 10(-8) to 10(-7) M. In transactivation assays, CDDO is a partial agonist for PPARgamma. The methyl ester of CDDO, CDDO-Me, binds to PPARgamma with similar affinity, but is an antagonist. Like other PPARgamma ligands, CDDO synergizes with a retinoid X receptor (RXR)-specific ligand to induce 3T3-L1 differentiation, while CDDO-Me is an antagonist in this assay. The partial agonism of CDDO and the antagonism of CDDO-Me reflect the differences in their capacity to recruit or displace cofactors of transcriptional regulation; CDDO and rosiglitazone both release the nuclear receptor corepressor, NCoR, from PPARgamma, while CDDO-Me does not. The differences between CDDO and rosiglitazone as either partial or full agonists, respectively, are seen in the weaker ability of CDDO to recruit the coactivator CREB-binding protein, CBP, to PPARgamma. Our results establish the triterpenoid CDDO as a member of a new class of PPARgamma ligands.
Classifying Local Health Departments on the Basis of the Constellation of Services They Provide

Objectives. We explored service variation among local health departments (LHDs) nationally to allow systematic characterization of LHDs by patterns in the constellation of services they deliver.Methods. We conducted latent class analysis by using categorical variables derived from LHD service data collected in 2008 for the National Profile of Local Health Departments Survey and before service changes resulting from the national financial crisis.Results. A 3-class solution produced the best fit for this data set of 2294 LHDs. The 3 configurations of LHD services depicted an interrelated set of narrow or limited service provision (limited), a comprehensive (core) set of key services provided, and a third class of core and expanded services (core plus), which often included rare services. The classes demonstrated high geographic variability and were weakly associated with expenditure quintile and urban or rural location.Conclusions. This empirically derived view of how LHDs organize their array of services i...
Visualization and quantitation of the expression of microRNAs and their target genes in neuroblastoma single cells using imaging cytometry

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are regulatory molecules that play an important role in many physiological processes, including cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis. In addition to modulating normal cellular functions, it has also been reported that miRNAs are involved in the development of many pathologies, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, inflammation, and neurodegeneration. Methods for the sensitive detection and measurement of specific miRNAs and their cellular targets are essential for both basic research endeavours, as well as diagnostic efforts aimed at understanding the role of miRNAs in disease processes. Findings: In this study, we describe a novel, imaging cytometry-based protocol that allows for simultaneous visualisation and quantification of miRNAs and their putative targets. We validated this methodology in a neuronal cell line by examining the relationship of the miRNA miR-124 and its known target, cyclin dependent kinase 6 (CDK6). We found that ectopic overexpression of miR-124 resulted in the downregulation of CDK6, decreased cellular proliferation, and induced cellular morphological changes. Conclusions: This method is suitable for analysing the expression and cellular localisation of miRNAs and target proteins in small cell subsets within a heterogeneous cell suspension. We believe that our cytometry-based methodology will be easily adaptable to miRNA studies in many areas of biomedical research including neuroscience, stem cell biology, immunology, and oncology.
A manifold that does not contain a compact core

Abstract A core of a (noncompact) manifold is a submanifold with the property that the inclusion of the submanifold into the manifold is a homotopy equivalence. It is shown by example that a manifold may fail to contain a compact core even though the manifold has the homotopy type of a finite complex.
Dissociation of attention in learning and action: Effects of lesions of the amygdala central nucleus, medial prefrontal cortex, and posterior parietal cortex

Many associative learning theories assert that the predictive accuracy of events affects the allocation of attention to them. More reliable predictors of future events are usually more likely to control action based on past learning, but less reliable predictors are often more likely to capture attention when new information is acquired. Previous studies showed that a circuit including the amygdala central nucleus (CEA) and the cholinergic substantia innominata/nucleus basalis magnocellularis (SI/nBM) is important for both sustained attention guiding action in a five-choice serial reaction time (5CSRT) task and for enhanced new learning about less predictive cues in a serial conditioning task. In this study, the authors found that lesions of the cholinergic afferents of the medial prefrontal cortex interfered with 5CSRT performance but not with surprise-induced enhancement of learning, whereas lesions of cholinergic afferents of posterior parietal cortex impaired the latter effects but did not affect 5CSRT performance. CEA lesions impaired performance in both tasks. These results are consistent with the view that CEA affects these distinct aspects of attention by influencing the activity of separate, specialized cortical regions via modulation of SI/nBM.
Architectures for network-centric warfare

As the DoD faces more varied operations and dynamic force structures, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage the information space (data and services) as a homogeneous entity. It needs to be differentiated into specialized units (termed `habitats') that serve to provide context to individual human or automated components. These habitats must support: controlled component interaction, supplying contextual information to components, predictable recruitment of resources, and; distributed situational awareness.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Niemann-Pick C1 Protein Facilitates the Efflux of the Anticancer Drug Daunorubicin from Cells According to a Novel Vesicle-Mediated Pathway

Niemann-Pick C1 (NPC1) is a late endosomal/lysosomal membrane protein originally reported on for its role in cholesterol trafficking in mammalian cells. NPC1 has been shown recently to share significant structural homology with a family of prokaryotic permeases and was proposed to play a role in intracellular drug transport; however, the mechanism for this has not been fully understood. We provide evidence here that is consistent with NPC1's involvement in a vesicle-mediated clearance of the anticancer agent daunorubicin from cells. In experiments with human fibroblasts, we demonstrate that lysosomal efflux of daunorubicin, as well as dextran molecules, are significantly reduced in cells with mutated and dysfunctional NPC1 compared with wild-type fibroblasts. Furthermore, we show that NPC1 is implicated in a lysosomal drug sequestration phenotype exhibited by the multidrug-resistant (MDR) human leukemic HL-60 cancer cell line. Evaluations of cholesterol trafficking, NPC1 mRNA levels, and protein expression are all consistent with a loss of NPC1 activity that is associated with the emergence of the MDR phenotype in this cell line. Collectively, this work proposes a novel role for NPC1 in a vesicle-mediated pathway responsible for the clearance of drugs from cells and provides an explanation for a drug sequestration phenotype exhibited by the MDR HL-60 cell line.
Structural and Functional Changes With the Aging Kidney.

Senescence or normal physiologic aging portrays the expected age-related changes in the kidney as compared to a disease that occurs in some but not all individuals. The microanatomical structural changes of the kidney with older age include a decreased number of functional glomeruli from an increased prevalence of nephrosclerosis (arteriosclerosis, glomerulosclerosis, and tubular atrophy with interstitial fibrosis), and to some extent, compensatory hypertrophy of remaining nephrons. Among the macroanatomical structural changes, older age associates with smaller cortical volume, larger medullary volume until middle age, and larger and more numerous kidney cysts. Among carefully screened healthy kidney donors, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) declines at a rate of 6.3 mL/min/1.73 m2 per decade. There is reason to be concerned that the elderly are being misdiagnosed with CKD. Besides this expected kidney function decline, the lowest risk of mortality is at a GFR of ≥75 mL/min/1.73 m2 for age
Three fingered jack: tackling portability, performance, and productivity with auto-parallelized python

We present Three Fingered Jack, a highly productive approach to writing high-performance software in Python. Our system applies traditional dependence analysis and reordering transformations to a restricted set of Python loop nests. It does this to uncover and exploit vector and thread parallelism. Then it generates native code for multiple platforms. On four benchmark kernels and two applications, our system achieves 0:4--13:5× and 0:97--113:3× of hand written but not highly optimized C++ performance on Intel and ARM CPUs, respectively.
A Multi-Dialect, Multi-Genre Corpus of Informal Written Arabic

This paper presents a multi-dialect, multi-genre, human annotated corpus of dialectal Arabic. We collected utterances in five Arabic dialects: Levantine, Gulf, Egyptian, Iraqi and Maghrebi. We scraped newspaper websites for user commentary and Twitter for two distinct types of dialectal content. To the best of the authors knowledge, this work is the most diverse corpus of dialectal Arabic in both the source of the content and the number of dialects. Every utterance in the corpus was human annotated on Amazons Mechanical Turk; this stands in contrast to Al-Sabbagh and Girju (2012) where only a small subset was human annotated in order to train a classifier to automatically annotate the remainder of the corpus. We provide a discussion of the methodology used for the annotation in addition to the performance of the individual workers. We extend the Arabic dialect identification task to the Iraqi and Maghrebi dialects and improve the results of Zaidan and Callison-Burch (2011a) on Levantine, Gulf and Egyptian.
All systems go for HIV vaccine development

An effective HIV vaccine would protect against what remains a life-long infection for millions of men, women, and children. Unfortunately, no roadmap exists for HIV vaccine development; what a successful immune response would look like remains unclear. Vaccines can elicit diverse antibody responses
The Interpersonal Adaptiveness of Dispositional Guilt and Shame: A Meta-Analytic Investigation.

Despite decades of empirical research, conclusions regarding the adaptiveness of dispositional guilt and shame are mixed. We use meta-analysis to summarize the empirical literature and clarify these ambiguities. Specifically, we evaluate how guilt and shame are uniquely related to pro-social orientation and, in doing so, highlight the substantial yet under-acknowledged impact of researchers' methodological choices. A series of meta-analyses was conducted investigating the relationship between dispositional guilt (or shame) and pro-social orientation. Two main methodological moderators of interest were tested: test format (scenario vs. checklist) and statistical analysis (semi-partial vs. zero-order correlations). Among studies employing zero-order correlations, dispositional guilt was positively correlated with pro-social orientation (k = 63, Mr = .13, p < .001), whereas dispositional shame was negatively correlated, (k = 47, Mr = -.05, p = .07). Test format was a significant moderator for guilt studies only, with scenario measures producing significantly stronger effects. Semi-partial correlations resulted in significantly stronger effects among guilt and shame studies. Although dispositional guilt and shame are differentially related to pro-social orientation, such relationships depend largely on the methodological choices of the researcher, particularly in the case of guilt. Implications for the study of these traits are discussed.
Atrial Fibrillation as a Prognostic Indicator in Medium to Large-Sized Dogs with Myxomatous Mitral Valvular Degeneration and Congestive Heart Failure.

The prevalence and prognostic importance of atrial fibrillation (AF) on survival in nonsmall breed dogs with myxomatous mitral valvular disease (MMVD) and congestive heart failure (CHF) remain unknown.To identify the prevalence of AF in nonsmall breed dogs with CHF because of MMVD and to characterize the impact of AF on survival outcome.Sixty-four client-owned dogs (>15 kg) with MMVD and CHF.Retrospective review of medical records for dogs weighing >15 kg with MMVD treated for CHF.Thirty-three dogs presented with AF or developed AF during follow-up examinations, and 31 dogs were free of AF until cardiac-related death. For dogs with AF, median survival time (MST) was 142 days (range: 9-478) while dogs without AF lived 234 days (range: 13-879 days). AF increased risk of cardiac-related death (HR = 2.544; 95% CI = 1.41-4.59; P = .0019) when compared to dogs without AF. MST was significantly prolonged for dogs with AF whose rates were adequately controlled (<160 bpm; 171 days; n = 13) when compared to dogs that failed to respond to negative chronotropic agents (61 days; n = 20; P = .032). The administration of combination treatment (diltiazem and digoxin) significantly decreased median HR to 144 bpm (range: 84-218 bpm) in dogs with AF and significantly prolonged MST (diltiazem+digoxin: 130 days versus diltiazem: 35 days, P = .0241) when compared to diltiazem alone.Inadequately controlled AF is associated with a higher rate of mortality. Optimization of therapeutic strategies for the rate control of AF remains determined.
Comparison of gastric responses to small intestinal resection and bypass in rats.

Hypergastrinemia has beenjtiund in patients with short bowel syndrome but not in patients with jejunoileal bypass. To clarzfy the divergent gasi it was the only measured parameter which did not increase after small intestinal resection. The data show that, in contrast with jejunoileal bypass, massive small intestinal resection in the rat causes a signa$cant increase in serum gastrin with concomitant trophic changes ,in the stomach. We conclude that the small intestine is an important regulator of gastric function, even when removed~from intestinal continuity and left in situ 411 intestinal bypass.
Synchronized Pupation in Starved and Fed Larvae of the Black Carpet Beetle

Larvae of the black carpet beetle, Attagenus megatoma (F.) (Dermestidae), were isolated without nutrient medium at monthly intervals from 16 to 33 wk of age. During the starvation period, most of the isolated larvae had 1 starvation-induced larval molt within the 1st 5 wk. Although fresh weight losses approached 45% in some age classes, the starved larvae pupated synchronously with fed (control) larvae after isolation periods as long as 20 wk. The occurrence of a larval molt during starvation generally did not effect the rate of pupation, although molting increased the weight loss and resulted in substantially smaller pupae for both males and females. Two possible explanations for the synchronized pupation in starved and fed larvae of this dermestid are discussed : (1) events that trigger pupation may be programmed in larvae younger than 16 wk of age and (2) a pheromonal mechanism may be involved.
Program for the Estimation of Spacecraft Aerodynamic Properties

A numerical procedure for calculating free-molecular aerodynamic properties of spacecraft is revisited and improved using a modern computer program, Matlab 2007. This program allows the user to model a spacecraft from geometric shapes which are divided into elemental panels of approximate equal area to conserve resolution. The forces on exposed elements are summed across the entire geometry. The methods for determining exposed panels have been improved with the utilization of array algebra to improve processing time. The fidelity of the data is tested by application to the geometry of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The resulting data are compared with Direct Simulation Monte Carlo predictions. Additional case studies serve to inspect implications of geometry design versus output accuracy and processing speed.
INCIDENCE AND PREDICTORS OF COMPLICATIONS AND PHRENIC NERVE INJURY DURING CRYOBALLOON ABLATION FOR ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

Cryoballoon pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) has emerged as an alternative to radiofrequency PVI for atrial fibrillation (AF). Data are lacking to define rates and predictors of complications, particularly phrenic nerve injury (PNI). We evaluated a single-center prospective registry of 450
Evidence of reduced photosynthetic rates in old trees.

Wood production generally declines as forests age. The decrease in production has been attributed to higher respiration associated with increasing biomass, but direct measurements fail to support this assumption. An alternate hypothesis is that the growth decline is caused by reduced net photosynthesis. To test this hypothesis, we compared the net photosynthetic rates of foliage from trees that had ceased height growth with foliage from actively growing, mature trees. Results showed that net photosynthesis per unit area of 1-yr-old foliage from old Pinus contorta and P. ponderosa averaged 14-30% lower than the same-aged foliage from younger trees. Computer simulations from a previous study indicated that differences of this magnitude are sufficient to explain the lower wood production in old trees. The cause of the photosynthetic decline is not clear, but it did not appear to be due to a reduction in the maximum capacity for photosynthesis. Ratios of stable carbon isotopes from leaves and wood indicated a greater stomatal limitation of photosynthesis in older trees. A possible relationship between lower hydraulic conductance in the vascular systems of older trees leading to greater stomatal closure is discussed.
University Nutrition Programs - Training Students for Careers Beyond Dietetics: Reflections from an Established, Emerging, and New Program

BackgroundFood and nutrition is at the core of many health, economic, and environmental issues. Thus, the need for undergraduate nutrition education exists. Technical standards for Didactic Program...
Food Insecurity Screening in Pediatric Primary Care: Can Offering Referrals Help Identify Families in Need?

Abstract Objective To describe a clinical approach for food insecurity screening incorporating a menu offering food-assistance referrals, and to examine relationships between food insecurity and referral selection. Methods Caregivers of 3- to 10-year-old children presenting for well-child care completed a self-administered questionnaire on a laptop computer. Items included the US Household Food Security Survey Module: 6-Item Short Form (food insecurity screen) and a referral menu offering assistance with: 1) finding a food pantry, 2) getting hot meals, 3) applying for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and 4) applying for Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Referrals were offered independent of food insecurity status or eligibility. We examined associations between food insecurity and referral selection using multiple logistic regression while adjusting for covariates. Results A total of 340 caregivers participated; 106 (31.2%) reported food insecurity, and 107 (31.5%) selected one or more referrals. Forty-nine caregivers (14.4%) reported food insecurity but selected no referrals; 50 caregivers (14.7%) selected one or more referrals but did not report food insecurity; and 57 caregivers (16.8%) both reported food insecurity and selected one or more referrals. After adjustment, caregivers who selected one or more referrals had greater odds of food insecurity compared to caregivers who selected no referrals (adjusted odds ratio 4.0; 95% confidence interval 2.4–7.0). Conclusions In this sample, there was incomplete overlap between food insecurity and referral selection. Offering referrals may be a helpful adjunct to standard screening for eliciting family preferences and identifying unmet social needs.
Epidemiology: The global burden of reduced GFR: ESRD, CVD and mortality

New data highlight the increasing global burden of cardiovascular disease, end-stage renal disease and disability adjusted life years that can be attributed to reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR). These findings underline the need to evaluate whether screening for chronic kidney disease is effective and if early interventions can reduce the incidence of GFR-attributable adverse events.
Randomized, Controlled, Crossover trial of Prevention of Clindamycin-Induced Gastrointestinal Signs Using a Synbiotic in Healthy Research Cats

Background Synbiotics often are prescribed to limit antibiotic-associated gastrointestinal signs (AAGS) in cats, but data to support this recommendation are lacking. Objective To determine whether synbiotic co-administration mitigates AAGS in healthy research cats treated with clindamycin. Animals 16 healthy research cats. Methods A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, 2-way, 2-period, crossover study with a 6-week washout was performed. Each study period consisted of a 1-week baseline and a 3-week treatment period. Cats received 75 mg clindamycin with food once daily for 3 weeks, followed 1 hour later by either 2 capsules of a synbiotic or placebo. Food consumption, vomiting, fecal score, and completion of treatment were compared using repeated measures split plot or crossover designs with covariates, with P < 0.05 considered significant. Results Cats that received the synbiotic were more likely to complete treatment in period 1 (100% vs. 50%, P = 0.04). Cats vomited less when receiving the synbiotic but this was not significant, but there were significant period effects (F-value = 11.4, P < 0.01). Cats had higher food intake while receiving the synbiotic (F-value = 31.1, P < 0.01) despite period effects (F-value = 8.6, P < 0.01). There was no significant effect of treatment on fecal scores, which significantly increased over time (F-value = 17.9, P < 0.01). Conclusions and Clinical Importance Administration of a synbiotic 1 hour after clindamycin administration decreased hyporexia and vomiting in healthy cats. Additionally, significant period effects suggest that clinical benefits of synbiotic administration persist for at least 6 weeks after discontinuation, decreasing the severity of AAGS in cats that subsequently received clindamycin with placebo. Unlike in people, synbiotic administration did not decrease antibiotic-associated diarrhea.
In situ characterization of low-viscosity direct ink writing: Stability, wetting, and rotational flows.

Abstract Hypothesis Direct ink writing (DIW) of composites can be coupled with magnetic, electric, or acoustic fields to control spatial variations of microstructure that enhance performance. The use of such external fields often requires inks with lower viscosities than conventional DIW, which presents new challenges with regards to maintaining the stability of printed lines and targeted microstructures. In-situ monitoring of the print bead, combined with slot-die models, can be used to predict printing modality and guide printing protocols for low viscosity inks. Experiments Using videos of the nozzle-substrate gap, we systematically study how ink composition, stand-off distance, and nozzle and substrate surface coatings influence the printing process. We establish in-situ digital image analysis techniques to evaluate filament stability, nozzle wetting, and rotational flows in low viscosity composite inks. Findings Variations in the fluid-substrate contact line position and angle can be used to evaluate stability on-the-fly, and lubrication theory can be used to predict filament-to-droplet transitions. To limit nozzle wetting and disruption of microstructures established in the nozzle, it is necessary to use low flow to stage speed ratios, in regimes close to those associated with instabilities. However, low viscosities, small stand-off distances, and functionalized nozzles can improve the print line’s resilience against instabilities.
Evolution of Sézary syndrome in the course of hairy cell leukemia.

A patient with a history of “leukemia” for 19 yr and documented hairy cell (HC) leukemia for 10 yr developed mycosis fungoides and the Sezary syndrome. The manifestations of both diseases were diagnostic on clinical and pathologic grounds. Ultrastructural, immunohistochemical, and surface marker techniques proved the HC to have phenotypic characteristics of the T-helper subset of lymphocytes to which the Sezary cells (SC) also belonged. Both types of cells contained tartrate- resistant acid phosphatase. HC did not infiltrate the skin. SC did not contain ribosome lamellar complexes. Because of otherwise overlapping morphology and the apparent replacement of HC by SC, it is likely that the Sezary cells constituted a genetic variant of the original neoplastic clone represented by the hairy cells. Since the biologic and therapeutic implications of such clonal evolution may be important, subtle phenotypic changes should be looked for repeatedly in patients with these diseases.
Monocyte Lung Retention During Normal Conditions (Health) and During Disease States (Endotoxemia): A Medical Application of Scale Modeling

Under normal conditions blood monocytes flow through the capillary network of the lungs, but during certain conditions (infection, injury) they accumulate in the lungs and modulate pulmonary inflammatory and reparative processes via their elaboration of cytokines and growth factors. The mechanisms that regulate monocyte retention, accumulation, and migration in the lung microvasculature during these conditions are largely unknown. Endotoxemia is a condition that often precedes acute lung injury. We have previously shown in an in vivo rabbit model of LPS-induced endotoxemia, that monocyte lung retention is markedly increased (verses saline controls). It was hypothesized that initially lipopolysaccharide (LPS) would induce monocyte (7–10 μm diameter) lung retention by increasing monocyte stiffness and thus diminishing the cell’s ability to deform and transit the narrow pulmonary capillary network (6–8 μm diameter), and that later, LPS would induce CD18-dependent monocyte adhesion to lung vascular endothelium, prolonging their retention. These mechanisms were confirmed in vitro, in that LPS induced a rapid concentration-dependent increase in human monocyte stiffness, net filamentous actin (F-actin) assembly/organization, and retention in a filtration model simulating the pulmonary capillary network. These LPS-induced responses were dependent on the integrity of F-actin in that cytochalasin D, an agent that disrupts F-actin assembly, attenuated each of these processes. LPS, in a concentration- and time-dependent fashion, induced CD18-dependent and -independent human monocyte adhesion to unstimulated human endothelial cell monolayers in vitro. These in vitro mechanisms were active in vivo. Pretreatment of rabbit monocytes ex vivo with LPS enhanced their lung retention in vivo, suggesting that LPS was acting, in part, directly on monocytes. Initial monocyte lung retention in vivo during endotoxemia was attenuated by inhibiting monocyte F-actin assembly with cytochalasin D. Anti-CD18 antibodies caused only a slight decrease in initial monocyte lung retention in vivo, but led to a 90% inhibition of retention by 2 hrs. Control IgG had no effect. These data together suggest that initial lung retention of monocytes during endotoxemia is dependent on alterations in their stiffness and assembly/organization of F-actin, and that CD18-dependent adhesive mechanisms prolong monocyte lung retention during endotoxemia. Additional FDA-approved human studies have confirmed that monocytes marginate in the lungs of normal humans, and that altered monocyte accumulation occurs in patients with interstitial lung disease (including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis-IPF).
Corticobasal syndrome in a man with Gaucher disease type 1: Expansion of the understanding of the neurological spectrum

Gaucher disease (GD) is an autosomal recessive condition that results from a deficiency of the enzyme β-glucocerebrosidase. The increased risk of primary parkinsonism symptoms among individuals affected with GD and carriers for the disorder is well-documented in the literature. However, these risks and case reports often reflect patients with classical Parkinson's disease (PD) symptoms. We report a patient with GD type 1 who was diagnosed with corticobasal syndrome (CBS), a clinical atypical parkinsonism diagnosis, in his sixth decade of life. Our case highlights the need to consider forms of atypical parkinsonism such as CBS in addition to PD in the differential diagnosis of cognitive and motor changes in patients with GD type 1. We also recommend careful assessment and routine monitoring of cognition, mood, behavior, sleep patterns, olfaction, and memory in patients with GD type 1 to identify early symptoms indicative of neurological involvement.
Potential effects of blood meal host on bacterial community composition in Ixodes scapularis nymphs.

Abstract Tick microbiomes may play an important role in pathogen transmission. However, the drivers of microbiome variation are poorly understood, and this limitation has impeded mechanistic understanding of the functions of microbial communities for pathogen acquisition. The goal of this research was to characterize the role of the blood meal host in structuring the microbiome of Ixodes scapularis, the primary vector of Lyme disease in the eastern United States, and to determine if ticks that fed from different host species harbor distinct bacterial communities. We performed high-throughput 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing on I. scapularis nymphs that fed as larvae from known wildlife hosts: raccoon, Virginia opossum, striped skunk, red squirrel or gray squirrel. Using Analysis of Similarity, we found significant differences in the abundance-weighted Unifrac distance matrix among ticks fed from different host species (p = 0.048) and a highly significant difference in the weighted and unweighted Unifrac matrices for individuals within species (p
Multiple Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Immunosuppressed vs Immunocompetent Patients.

This case-control study examines the association of multiple squamous cell carcinoma with poor outcomes in the immunosuppressed patient population.
Smartphone based portable bacteria pre-concentrating microfluidic sensor and impedance sensing system

Abstract Portable low-cost sensors and sensing systems for the identification and quantitative measurement of bacteria in field water are critical in preventing drinking water from being contaminated by bacteria. In this article, we reported the design, fabrication and testing of a low-cost, miniaturized and sensitive bacteria sensor based on electrical impedance spectroscopy method using a smartphone as the platform. Our design of microfluidics enabled the pre-concentration of the bacteria which lowered the detection limit to 10 bacterial cells per milliliter. We envision that our demonstrated smartphone-based sensing system will realize highly-sensitive and rapid in-field quantification of multiple species of bacteria and pathogens.