cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Modulation of CB1 mRNA upon activation of murine splenocytes.

There is significant evidence that cannabinoids have the ability to exert immunomodulatory effects. The identification of cannabinoid receptors in immune tissues has therefore led to questions about whether these immunomodulatory effects occur via these cannabinoid receptors. The cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1), although expressed primarily in the brain, is also expressed in lower amounts in peripheral tissues. Of interest to us is the fact that CB1 is expressed in immune tissues such as spleen, albeit at lower levels than the peripheral cannabinoid receptor, CB2. To examine the function of CB1 in immune cells, activation experiments were performed using different stimuli e.g., anti-CD3, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)/Ionomycin (Io), and PMA/Io + IL-2. Whole spleen cells were cultured in the presence of different stimuli for 0, 2, 4, and 24 hours, harvested at each time point, RNA isolated, and RT-PCR performed. FACS analysis was also performed using CD69 (an early activation marker) to determine whether cells were actually being activated. Results from anti-CD3 stimulation indicated a decrease in CB1 mRNA expression following activation. CB1 mRNA expression in murine splenocytes that were stimulated with PMA/Io in the presence or absence of IL-2 was also modulated. Expression of the message was enhanced upon stimulation with PMA/Io and PMA/Io + IL-2, however, stimulation with PMA/Io + IL-2 led to a stronger increase within 2 to 4 hours with CB1 returning to at or below baseline levels by 24 hours. Expression of CD69 was detected in all stimulated samples thereby indicating that the splenocytes were becoming activated. In summary, anti-CD3 stimulation appeared to decrease CB1 mRNA expression while PMA/Io + IL-2 stimulation significantly increased CB1 mRNA expression. These results demonstrate that the expression of CB1 mRNA is modulated upon cellular activation and that this modulation is dependent on the stimulus that is used.
The Goods of Marriage in Canon Law

This article, The Goods of Marriage, is to appear in the DICTIONARY OF CANON LAW (Liturgical Press 2007, J. Conn & J. Provost, eds.). The dictionary article of approximately 2,800 words offers a general description and introductory overview of the goods of marriage in canon law. After providing a general description, the short article describes Saint Augustine's traditional three goods of fidelity, children, and sacrament. The article then discusses twentieth century developments in the Church's teaching and canon law from the perspectives of pre-Vatican II personalism, Vatican II's document Gaudium et Spes, and Canon 1055 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law.
Chapter XIV The Deep Culture of Bacteriophage

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the culture of bacteriophage. Bacteriophages are bacterial viruses and require to be grown in living cells. It follows therefore that any consideration of how to produce bacteriophage is primarily concerned with how to produce the bacterial host cells. Bacterial cultures grown on agar surfaces have been used to make small quantities of high-titre bacteriophage by washing off the layer of lysed bacteria with a small volume of liquid. The method suffers from the disadvantage that scale-up involves the use of many small containers and is therefore, tedious. Bacteria grown in suspension using shake flasks have also been used for producing bacteriophage. This method has the advantages that growth conditions can be made more nearly uniform throughout the culture, that materials may be added to the growing culture, and that representative samples may be taken at any stage. Final bacteriophage yields/ml is limited by the relatively low bacterial cell densities that can be achieved readily in shake flasks. In addition, the chapter also discusses the need for large quantities of bacteriophage.
Session-based browsing for more effective query reuse

Scientists today are able to generate and collect data at an unprecedented scale [1]. Afterwards, scientists analyze and explore these datasets. Composing SQL queries, however, is a significant challenge for scientists because most are not database experts.
Accretion Disks Around Young Stars

This article reviews observational constraints on disk accretion in young stellar objects, and discusses implications of this phenomenon for early stellar evolution.
ORIGINS OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY AND THE INFLUENCE OF RHETORIC

The fact that South America and Africa seem to fit together like puzzle pieces has been evident to anyone who has ever seen a map drawn after the 16th century. Further, the observation that identical species lived on continents separated by thousands of miles of water has been evident for centuries. However, before 1910, there was no reasonable geological explanation for either observation. Geologists explained the existence of continents through the idea of “cooling and contracting”: present-day continents are the shriveled remains of what was once a single, all encompassing continent that covered the planet. The quandary of identical species was explained through the use of land bridges, but these had no plausible origin and left no identifiable remains. Robert Taylor’s “Bearing of the Tertiary Mountain Belt on the Origin of the Earth’s Plan,” published in 1910 in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, built on the work of a number of eminent geologists, most notably Eduard Suess, to address these and other geological questions. His theory offered a credible solution to the existence of the continents, creating a geological history where common species would finally share a common location. Taylor proposed that two large land masses, each centered upon one of the two poles, broke apart and migrated to their present locations. Although Taylor’s work did not explain the entire picture as it is currently understood, his ideas were well ahead of their time. Nonetheless, Taylor’s ideas were largely ignored. Five years later, Alfred Wegener made a similar claim in The Origin of Continents and Oceans, a book which would become one of the most influential scientific works of the twentieth century. Wegener proposed the existence of Pangaea, a super continent comprised of all present-day continents. Pangaea, located in the present day Indian Ocean, explained the quandary of matching species. It also resolved the problems of why the continents seemed to fit together so well and why many of the world’s mountain belts appeared to be continuous. Like Taylor, Wegener proposed a situation where the continents had split apart and flowed to their present location, a process he called “continental drift.” Like Taylor, Wegener had no viable explanation for continental drift. It was not until the late 1960’s when the implications of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge were realized that Wegener was “discovered” and recognized for the validity of his theory. For fifty years after Taylor’s and Wegener’s publications, geologists cited empirical evidence like gravitational field strength variance and measurement of heat flow rates around the edges of continents to cling to their presumption that the continents were, are, and always will be static. Finally, however, the
Case Study: DRM-protected Music Interoperability and e-Innovation

This study addresses questions such as: -- What technological, market, and legal interactions have created the current state of DRM-protected music? -- What security, autonomy, and other concerns make interoperability more or less desirable in the DRM context? -- How can we assess competing approaches to interoperability? Although our economic analysis is inconclusive, for policy reasons we find DRM interoperability desirable; a blended approach combining private-sector efforts with limited government involvement, such as through consumer protection or competition law, is optimal. Available for download at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1033231
Phase space bottlenecks: A comparison of quantum and classical intramolecular dynamics for collinear OCS

We compare quantum and classical mechanics for a collinear model of OCS at an energy (20 000 cm−1) where Davis [J. Chem. Phys. 83, 1016 (1985)] had previously found that phase space bottlenecks associated with golden mean tori inhibit classical flow between different chaotic regions in phase space. Accurate quantum eigenfunctions for this two mode system are found by diagonalizing a large basis of complex Gaussian functions, and these are then used to study the evolution of wave packets which have 20 000 cm−1 average energies. By examining phase space (Husimi) distributions associated with the wave functions, we conclude that these golden mean tori do indeed act as bottlenecks which constrain the wave packets to evolve within one (or a combination of) regions. The golden mean tori do not completely determine the boundaries between regions, however. Bottlenecks associated with resonance trapping and with separatrix formation are also involved. The analysis of the Husimi distributions also indicates that ea...
Limits on Price Analysis

In a recent book, Sir Peter Medawar distinguishes between those questions that scientific research can and cannot answer. My paper has a more modest goal. Price analysts have never pretended to answer deep philosophical questions, but rather have tried to understand agricultural markets. The general objective of price analyses is to make forecasts and simulations that assist private and public decision makers. Progress has been made toward this general goal, but limitations clearly exist to obtaining precise forecasts and useful simulations. This paper is about the progress that has been made and the limitations that exist. Examples from the supply, demand, and marketing margin literature are used to illustrate the progress and limitations. In particular, I contrast the progress that has been made in supply analysis with the progress in demand analysis. I then suggest ways in which some of the problems might be addressed. Space constraints, however, do not permit an exhaustive discussion of these topics.
PREDICTED CHANGE IN OPERATIONAL SYNERGY AND POST‐ACQUISITION PERFORMANCE OF ACQUIRED BUSINESSES

The 1980s acquisitions are widely believed to have unwound the conglomerate boom of the 1960s through horizontal mergers, yet alternative forms of unwinding have not been examined. This study tests the explanation that changes in the opportunity to share resources and activities among businesses of the firm may have contributed to post-acquisition performance improvements in the recent acquisition wave. After estimating the sources of competitive performance that are due to these changes within each of 356 manufacturing industries, the study calculates predictions of changes in competitive performance for each acquired business between 1980 and 1984. The predictions are positive and in turn are positively associated with change in competitive performance between 1984 and 1986. This finding highlights the importance of resource sharing and activity sharing in these acquisitions, and leads to the reexamination of theories for the second acquisition wave that are supported by the finding of horizontal acquisitions.
Dielectric properties and charge transport in the (Sr,La)NbO 3.5-x system

The dielectric response of layered perovskite-related insulating SrNbO 3 . 5 and conducting SrNbO 3 . 4 1 , SrNbO 3 . 4 5 , and La 0 . 2 Sr 0 . 8 NbO 3 . 5 single crystals is investigated. The measurements are performed alongthe c axis, i.e., perpendicular to the layers, in the frequency range from 1 MHz to 1.8 GHz. The intrinsic dielectric properties could be monitored only at such relatively high measuring frequencies, since strong contact contributions at the sample-electrode interface dominate at low frequencies. In addition to the known phase transitions in the SrNbO 3 . 5 compound, a phase transition at T300 K in SrNbO 3 . 4 1 and SrNbO 3 . 4 5 is reported here. The frequency-dependent ac conductivity in all three conducting compounds follows the universal dielectric response behavior. Together with results on the dc conductivity, this finding indicates that hopping of localized charge carriers, most likely of polaronic character, is the dominating charge-transport process. For all SrNbO 3 . 5 - x compounds, relatively high values of the dielectric constant are found.
Go means green.

A simple cued-approach training procedure can bias economic choices toward specific goods. It appears to work by drawing overt attention toward trained items, scaling up their judged value.
An Alar Base Flap to Correct Nostril and Vestibular Stenosis and Alar Base Malposition in Rhinoplasty

Nostril and vestibular stenoses can be properly reconstructed by composite grafts from the alar lobule or ear. However, when alar base malposition accompanies the nostril stenosis, composite grafting will enlarge the nostril but not correct the alar base displacement. An alar base flap designed as a crescent adjacent to the alar base, elevated, and transposed on subcutaneous and musculocutaneous perforators corrects the nostril stenosis and repositions the alar base simultaneously. Anterior, active rhinomanometry demonstrates a substantial increase in mean nasal airflow from this reconstructive maneuver alone. The author has used the flap successfully in 29 secondary rhinoplasty patients; survival has been uniformly complete even when the donor tissue has been scarred or burned. All rhinoplasties were performed endonasally, however; the survival of this flap performed simultaneously with open rhinoplasty has not been established.
A generalized Orlicz-Pettis Theorem and applications

Recently there have been several generalizations of the classical Orlicz-Pettis Theorem, For example, Thomas ([13]) has shown that in the function space C(S), for S a compact Hausdorffspace, a series ~ f , is subseries convergent with respect to the topology of pointwise convergence on S iff ~ f , is subseries convergent with respect to the norm topology and then that the classical Orlicz-Pettis Theorem is a special case of this result. Thomas has also established several similar results for the pointwise topology on some of the familiar function spaces. Similarly, Diestel and Faires ([-6], 1.2) have shown that i fX is a Banach space and the dual X' contains no isomorphic copy of 1 ~176 then a series in X' is subseries convergent with respect to the weak* topology iff it is subseries convergent with respect to the norm topology. Finally, if E is a locally convex space, Tweddle ([14]) has shown that there is a strongest locally convex topology r on E such that every weak subseries convergent series is r-subseries convergent. Dierolf ([5]) has also given a description of the topology z as a polar topology. In this paper we use a form of the Mikusinski Diagonal Theorem due to Antosik ([1]) to establish an analogue of Tweddle's Theorem for group-valued series. In later sections we use the general form of the Orlicz-Pettis Theorem to treat several of the classical Orlicz-Pettis Theorems and results related to the Orlicz-Pettis Theorem. In Section 2 we establish the classical Orlicz-Pettis Theorem and the Diestel-Faires Theorem. In Section 3 we establish an Orlicz-Pettis Theorem for comact operators due to Kal ton ([11]). In Section4 we treat the Nikodym Convergence Theorem for both group-valued and operator-valued measures. In Section5 we consider Thomas ' results concerning the topology of pointwise convergence on the function spaces C(S) and I p.
A Review of the Efficacy of Tiludronate in the Horse

Abstract Tiludronate is a compound in the bisphosphonate class of drugs. The main pharmacologic action of bisphosphonates is to inhibit bone resorption; they cause osteoclast apoptosis and disrupt intercellular trafficking of pro-inflammatory mediators. Bisphosphonates are used to treat humans with diseases such as osteoporosis and Paget's disease. Recently tiludronate has been studied as a treatment for bone resorptive diseases in horses. Tildren, an injectable form of tiludronate made for the horse, has been licensed to treat navicular disease and distal tarsal osteoarthritis in Europe. Some clinical studies have been completed to assess the efficacy of tiludronate in the horse. Many of the studies are reviewed here, and their standards of research are evaluated individually. Tiludronate may be beneficial in managing lameness isolated to the navicular bone and distal tarsal osteoarthritis by decreasing bone resorption and inflammation.
Effect of chronic DDT exposure on pentobarbital tolerance and intolerance in the rat

Barbiturate tolerance and intolerance were studied in female albino rats. Three consecutive daily ip doses of pentobarbital (30 mg/kg) were shown to produce a significant tolerance in naive rats, with sleeping times significantly shortened on both day 2 (to 65% of control) and day 3 (to 53%). This tolerance was correlated with a significant increase in the in vitro rate of hepatic microsomal pentobarbital metabolism (235% at day 3). On day 23 (after 20 days of barbiturate abstinence) the animals exhibited an intolerance (sleeping time 126%) not associated with any change in hepatic enzyme activity. All parameters returned to control values by day 43. These results suggest that the intolerance is nonhepatogenic and likely related to enhanced CNS sensitivity. In parallel studies, chronic dietary exposure to DDT (p,p-DDT 13.1 ppm; o,p-DDT 5.3 ppm) caused increased liver enzyme activity which did not prevent the appearance of tolerance by day 3 (sleeping time 72%; barbiturate metabolism 139%) but did prevent the appearance of day 23 intolerance. The hepatic induction produced by DDT appears to offset any CNS sensitivity associated with delayed barbiturate intolerance.
Intelligent control of machines and processes

Abstract This review will consider computer based feedback control systems that rely on rule bases, knowledge bases, machine learning, and other artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. Traditional adaptive control is specifically excluded.
Gallium-based catalysts for growth of GaN nanowires

Abstract Gallium nitride nanowires (GaN NWs) are traditionally fabricated using foreign metal catalysts, with an accompanying risk of increased contamination of the grown material and associated electrical and optical device degradation. Catalyst-free growth suffers from the inability to direct NW growth into predefined device architectures. In the present work, GaN NWs were fabricated by atmospheric CVD with a Ga-based catalyst, thus avoiding the dangers of foreign metal contamination while retaining the ability to spatially control NW growth. The effect of the total gas flow rate on wire morphology was examined and explained as a consequence of increasing Ga concentration with gas flow. Transmission electron microscopy was used to compare the crystalline structure of NWs grown from Ga(NO 3 ) 3 -derived catalysts to that of the more conventional, Ni-catalyzed wires. Electron diffraction confirmed that both NW types exhibited the wurtzite crystal structure. The single crystal Ni-catalyzed NWs showed predominantly a [0 1 1] growth direction, whereas the Ga-based catalyst resulted in wires composed of single crystal segments with predominantly [0 0 1] or [1 1 1] growth directions.
Structural Reorganization and Preorganization in Enzyme Active Sites: Comparisons of Experimental and Theoretically Ideal Active Site Geometries in the Multistep Serine Esterase Reaction Cycle

Many enzymes catalyze reactions with multiple chemical steps, requiring the stabilization of multiple transition states during catalysis. Such enzymes must strike a balance between the conformational reorganization required to stabilize multiple transition states of a reaction and the confines of a preorganized active site in the polypeptide tertiary structure. Here we investigate the compromise between structural reorganization during the catalytic process and preorganization of the active site for a multistep enzyme-catalyzed reaction, the hydrolysis of esters by the Ser-His-Asp/Glu catalytic triad. Quantum mechanical transition states were used to generate ensembles of geometries that can catalyze each individual step in the mechanism. These geometries are compared to each other by superpositions of catalytic atoms to find "consensus" geometries that can catalyze all steps with minimal rearrangement. These consensus geometries are found to be excellent matches for the natural active site. Preorganization is therefore found to be the major defining characteristic of the active site, and reorganizational motions often proposed to promote catalysis have been minimized. The variability of enzyme active sites observed by X-ray crystallography was also investigated empirically. A catalog of geometrical parameters relating active site residues to each other and to bound inhibitors was collected from a set of crystal structures. The crystal-structure-derived values were then compared to the ranges found in quantum mechanically optimized structures along the entire reaction coordinate. The empirical ranges are found to encompass the theoretical ranges when thermal fluctuations are taken into account. Therefore, the active sites are preorganized to a geometry that can be objectively and quantitatively defined as minimizing conformational reorganization while maintaining optimal transition state stabilization for every step during catalysis. The results provide a useful guiding principle for de novo design of enzymes with multistep mechanisms.
Art therapy with patients suffering from anorexia nervosa

Abstract Current literature on anorexic patients includes very little about their drawings. This article investigates the visual correlates of drawings done by anorexic patients with key psychodynamic variables of self-image, self-esteem, and control. Implications for treatment are discussed.
Comparison of frequency of left ventricular wall motion abnormalities in patients with a first acute myocardial infarction with versus without left ventricular hypertrophy

One hundred fifty patients with their first acute myocardial infarctions (AMIs) were studied. AMIs were confirmed by troponin levels, ST-segment elevation, or angiographic coronary occlusion. In 36% of patients (16 of 45) with left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, the wall motion score index was normal, whereas in patients with no LV hypertrophy, only 18% (19 of 105) had no segmental wall motion abnormalities (p = 0.03). When adjusting for troponin level, the odds ratio for normal wall motion of patients with LV hypertrophy was 2.86 (95% confidence interval 1.26 to 6.50) compared with those with normal wall thickness. Consequently, normal LV wall motion by echocardiography in the setting of LV hypertrophy does not exclude AMI.
Estimation of corrosion damage to steel reinforced mortar using frequency sweeps of guided mechanical waves

A frequency sweep from 50 to 200 kHz of guided mechanical waves have been conducted to detect and assess corrosion damage in steel reinforced mortar specimens with seeded defects and in specimens undergoing accelerated corrosion using impressed current. The sweep was conducted by invoking primarily the fundamental longitudinal mode of propagation, i.e., the L(0,1) mode. The decay of waveform energy (indicative of attenuation) at different frequencies is presented and discussed in terms of corrosion damage. Experimental results indicate that the percentage of corrosion damage can be detected and evaluated invoking the fundamental longitudinal mode of propagation.
Wavefront Reconstruction from Noisy Slope or Difference Data Using the Discrete Fourier Transform

A general algorithm is presented for reconstructing a two-dimensional wavefront optical path difference (OPD) map from noisy slope or difference measurements by means of a least squares fit using complex exponentials. This form of modal estimation can be described as a filtering operation in the spatial frequency domain. Thus fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithms can be used for rapid reconstruction. The reconstruction is unbiased also in the case of finite data arrays. The error propagation from the noisy measurement data to the integrated wavefront is minimal in a least squares sense. It is believed that this reconstruction algorithm can be implemented in an adaptive optical system by using commercially available array processor hardware, thus reducing the total system cost and the need for specialized hardware.
Conduction and valence band effective mass parameters in InSb

Abstract New parameters are obtained for the quasi-Ge model for the conduction and valence bands of InSb. The calculated transition energies fit the results of our interband magnetoreflection experiments and earlier intraband experiments.
Local times of stochastic processes with positive definite bivariate densities

Abstract A new class of stochastic processes, called processes of positive bivariate type, is defined. Such a process is typically one whose bivariate density functions are positive definite, at least for pairs of time points which are sufficiently mutually close. The class includes stationary Gaussian processes and stationary reversible Markov processes, and is closed under the operations of composition and convolution. The purpose of this work is to show that the local times of such processes can be investigated in a natural way. One of the main contributions is an orthogonal expansion of the local time which is new even in the well-studied stationary Gaussian case. The basic tool in its construction is the Lancaster-Sarmanov expansion of a bivariate density in a series of canonical correlations and canonical variables.
Notes: Mitochondrial DNA Analysis Confirms the Existence of a Genetically Divergent Walleye Population in Northeastern Mississippi

Abstract Mitochondrial DNA analysis of 16 walleyes Stizostedion vitreum originating from Luxapalila Creek in northeastern Mississippi showed that they were genetically distinct (2.34% sequence variation) from walleyes collected from the Mississippi River basin and other northern drainages. There was no genetic variation among the 16 fish analyzed. This work confirms the existence of a unique genetic form of walleye in the Tombigbee River drainage, but further research is required to determine whether this distinct form occurs throughout the Gulf Coast drainages of Mississippi and Alabama. Because the genetic integrity of this southern walleye strain is threatened by stocking of northern walleye strains and by invasion of northern strains via the Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway, a careful monitoring program with genetic markers should be implemented.
Detection of subsurface flaws using SQUID eddy current technique

Subsurface flaws in electrically conducting components are not easy to detect by conventional eddy current techniques because the skin depth (delta) decreases at high frequencies, while the signal decreases at low frequencies. However, SQUID magnetometers are capable of measuring dc and low frequency magnetic fields, and have been used for imaging current distributions. We have now extended SQUID NDE by utilizing a technique to induce an extended eddy current parallel to the surface in a conducting plate. The magnetic field due to the eddy current perturbation caused by a subsurface flaw has been calculated and compared with experimental results, which gives information about the depth of the flaw. We also present data recorded from aluminum samples that simulate lap joints in aircraft wings.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Uncertainty reduction in reservoir modeling by joint inversion of seismic & geo‐statistics

The Reservoir Characterization Project, at Colorado School of Mines has been developing new methods of dynamic reservoir characterization through researching Rulison field in the Piceance Basin, Colorado. Eight wells are used to condition many realizations of Multiple Point Statistical simulations of connective reservoir sand bodies. Kernel principal component analysis retains higher order statistics of these simulations by using a non-linear kernel function. This orthogonal kernel space is then used to project seismic data, thereby de-noising it with respect to the geo-statistical realizations in the kernel feature space. A pre-image is then calculated to visualize the de-noised seismic data as a reservoir model. This pre-image is calculated many times in order to assess the uncertainty in the optimization. An expectation model and a variance model of the original set of geo-statistical models and the pre-images are used for comparison of the uncertainty in both methods. It is clear that by projecting seismic data into a kernel space spanned by reservoir models reduces the uncertainty in reservoir modeling. Projecting seismic data into this space chooses the most appropriate reduced set of models for calculation of the pre-image. This technique can be thought of as joint inversion of both geo-statistical models and seismic data.
3D modeling of textile composite preforms

The purpose of this paper is to present three-dimensional models of fabric reinforcements for composite components by using computer aided geometric design (CAGD) techniques. A novel approach to structural representation of fabric preforms is described in both parametric and graphic forms. The philosophy behind the development of the computer generated model of a composite fabric reinforcement is discussed. The model described here is a general one, capable of producing a 3D representation of any 2D and 3D fabrics. The computer program also provides a very useful visualisation of the structure. Various structures of fabrics used as reinforcements for composite materials, such as woven, braided, knit, and multi-axial 3D weave, are demonstrated in virtual realistic forms.
Average task times in usability tests: what to report?

The distribution of task time data in usability studies is positively skewed. Practitioners who are aware of this positive skew tend to report the sample median. Monte Carlo simulations using data from 61 large-sample usability tasks showed that the sample median is a biased estimate of the population median. Using the geometric mean to estimate the center of the population will, on average, have 13% less error and 22% less bias than the sample median. Other estimates of the population center (trimmed, harmonic and Winsorized means) had worse performance than the sample median.
The Structure of the Minimal Relaxase Domain of MobA at 2.1 Å Resolution

The plasmid R1162 encodes proteins that enable its conjugative mobilization between bacterial cells. It can transfer between many different species and is one of the most promiscuous of the mobilizable plasmids. The plasmid-encoded protein MobA, which has both nicking and priming activities on single-stranded DNA, is essential for mobilization. The nicking, or relaxase, activity has been localized to the 186 residue N-terminal domain, called minMobA. We present here the 2.1 A X-ray structure of minMobA. The fold is similar to that seen for two other relaxases, TraI and TrwC. The similarity in fold, and action, suggests these enzymes are evolutionary homologs, despite the lack of any significant amino acid similarity. MinMobA has a well- defined target DNA called oriT. The active site metal is observed near Tyr25, which is known to form a phosphotyrosine adduct with the substrate. A model of the oriT substrate complexed with minMobA has been made, based on observed substrate binding to TrwC and TraI. The model is consistent with observations of substrate base specificity, and provides a rationalization for elements of the likely enzyme mechanism.
Writing the regulations for health

The development of regulations in health is much more than a purely technical procedure. Rather, it involves decisionmaking and bargaining processes that engage a wide range of individuals and organizations with diverse interests and varied resources. Attempts at statutory precision and goal clarification may improve, but will not fundamentally alter the regulation writing experience. The dynamics of regulations development are revealed in three cases. The primary case, The Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973, suggests that despite the efforts of the regulations writers themselves, there are limits to the extent to which basic interest conflicts and questions of health policy can be resolved in the process. Other cases examined are the Professional Standards Review Organization Act of 1972 and the National Health Planning and Resources Development Act of 1974.
MECHANICAL ASPECTS OF SUBARACHNOID SPACE PUNCTURE IN THE DOG

Lumbar subarachnoid space puncture using two different techniques was performed repeatedly on a dog following injection of metrizamide into the subarachnoid space at the cervical cistern. The lumbar needle punctures were observed fluoroscopically and recorded on 100-mm spot films at a rate of 2/sec. The needle tip indented the dura, depressing it several millimeters before penetration. A hemilaminectomy was performed on a cadaver, to expose the cord and intact meninges for confirmation of this compression. Cord compression and penetration during subarachnoid space puncture may contribute to the exacerbation or aggravation of neurologic signs that sometimes follows myelography.
Recent progress with atomic-force microscopy in biology: molecular resolution imaging of cell membranes, constituent biomolecules, and microcrystals

ABSTRACT Atomic force microscopy (AFM) holds great promise for biological research in that it permits: (1) the imaging of membranes and biomolecules of interest with subnanometer resolution in a physiologic environment and (2) the physical manipulation of biomolecules at nanometer scale (nanotechnology). We summarize our recent successful experience with the molecular resolution of hepatic and cardiac gap junctions, porin channels, and organic microcrystals; and with the physical manipulation of gap junction membranes using the AFM cantilever. AFM may revolutionize our approach to the study of structure-activity and perhaps structure-functionin many areas of biological research. 1. INTRODUCTIONBiological surfaces are of interest since they are the interfaces to the outside world. Cell membranes contain specialized biomolecules such as channels, pumps, and receptors, and most regulatory hormones and other signals are directed to these structures that mediate many essential cellular functions. Over the years, scientists
Energy balance and energy values of α-amylase (EC 3.2.1.1)-resistant maize and pea (Pisum sativum) starches in the rat.

Apparent and partial digestible energy values for alpha-amylase (EC 3.2.1.1)-resistant, retrograde starches, isolated from cooked maize and pea starches (RMS and RPS respectively), were determined in male Wistar rats (about 180 g) during a 28-29 d balance period with ten animals per treatment. The starches were provided as supplements (100 g/kg diet) to a semi-synthetic basal diet (B), and their effects on the apparent digestibilities of nitrogen and fat, and on gains of live weight, fat and lean tissue were examined. Diet B alone was the control; sucrose (Su) and Solka-floc cellulose (SFC) were also examined for reference. Apparent digestibilities for Su, SFC, RMS and RPS were 1.0, 0.16, 0.98 and 0.89 respectively. Whereas the apparent digestibilities of gross energy, N and fat in the diet were unaffected by supplementation with Su, each was decreased by supplementation with SFC, RMS and RPS. Partial digestible energy values calculated from the intakes and faecal losses of energy in the basal and supplemented diets were 15, 12.4 and 0.8 kJ/g for RMS, RPS and SFC respectively. These values were smaller than corresponding apparent digestible energy values calculated from the apparent digestibility of the supplement and its gross energy value. Only the Su and starch supplements increased the intake of apparent digestible energy and the gain of live weight. Both starches and Su increased total energy (and fat) deposition to almost similar extents. It is concluded that the resistant starches contribute significant dietary energy, enhance growth and elevate fat deposition to extents almost similar to Su.
Maternal Parenting Behaviors During Childhood Relate to Weight Status and Fruit and Vegetable Intake of College Students

Abstract Objective Examine how maternal parenting behaviors in childhood, both general and feeding specific, relate to weight status and fruit and vegetable consumption in college students. Design Retrospective surveys on maternal behaviors and assessments on the college-aged child's current anthropometric measures and dietary intakes. Participants College students (n = 424; 66% women). Main Outcome Measures Students' weight, height, waist circumference, fruit and vegetable intakes, students' reports on mothers' general and feeding-specific parenting behaviors during childhood. Analysis Correlation and regression analyses tested how maternal behaviors in childhood related to students' body mass index, waist circumference, and fruit and vegetable intake. Results Mothers' psychological control during childhood was associated with higher body mass index and waist circumference in students, and behavioral control was associated with lower waist circumference. Parent-centered feeding behaviors related to lower fruit and vegetable intakes of students, whereas child-centered feeding behaviors related to higher fruit and vegetable intakes. Conclusions and Implications Findings suggest that parental use of behavioral control and child-centered feeding practices and minimal use of psychological control and parent-centered feeding practices during childhood may promote a child's healthful weight status and fruit and vegetable consumption in young adulthood, specifically during college.
Studies of the Spatial Vectorcardiogram in Normal Man

The spatial vectorcardiograms of 75 normal subjects have been studied and some features of these records are described. The QRS sE and T sE-loops were found to have only two basic spatial configurations but with a variety of orientations thus giving widely different planar projections and in part accounting for the wide range of normal electrocardiograms. The significance of this and other findings is discussed and certain concepts pertinent to the study of the vectorcardiogram are presented.
Estimating internal memory fragmentation for Java programs

Dynamic memory management has been an important part of a large class of computer programs and with the recent popularity of object oriented programming languages, more specifically Java, high performance dynamic memory management algorithms continue to be of great importance. In this paper, an analysis of Java programs, provided by the SPECjvm98 benchmark suite, and their behavior, as this relates to fragmentation, is performed. Based on this analysis, a new model is proposed which allows the estimation of the total internal fragmentation that Java systems will incur prior to the programs execution. The proposed model can also accommodate any variation of segregated lists implementation. A comparison with a previously introduced fragmentation model is performed as well as a comparison with actual fragmentation values that were extracted from SPECjvm98. Finally the idea of a test-bed application that will use the proposed model to provide to programmers/developers the ability to know, prior to a programs execution, the fragmentation and memory utilization of their programs, is also introduced. With this application at hand developers as well as designers of applications could better assess the stability, efficiency as well reliability of their applications at compile time.
Alignment in MACH Systems (AIMS)

A process was designed to decrease the amount of time required to align the causeways and Mobile Acute Care Hospital trucks in order to protect personnel and patients.
Melting curves of molecular hydrogen and molecular deuterium under high pressures between 20 and 373 K

We determined the melting curve of molecular hydrogen and molecular deuterium at closely spaced intervals from 20 to 373 K by two different techniques using high-pressure diamond cells. The cells were loaded with liquid at low temperature or with compressed gas at room temperature. Empirical functions for the melting curves were evaluated from least-squares fits of the data. Values of the compressibility and Debye temperature were computed at melting, and the results are compared with those calculated from various theoretical models. The good agreement shows that the models are generally valid, although small systematic deviations may point the way toward refinements in modeling. Our study also demonstrates the need to determine a one-piece intermolecular potential valid over a wide pressure range by refitting all experimental data, including the shock data recently made available.
Are There Hydrogen Bonds in Supercritical Methanol and Ethanol

We report chemical shift measurements of the hydroxyl protons in methanol and ethanol up to 450 °C and over a wide range of pressures. The extent of hydrogen bonding compared to room temperature co...
Persistence of blood-to-brain transport of leptin in obese leptin-deficient and leptin receptor-deficient mice

In lean CD-1 mice, leptin is delivered into the brain by a saturable transport mechanism. Previous work has shown that obesity is associated with decreased leptin transport. Here, we investigated the transport of leptin across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in two murine models of obesity. Radioiodinated leptin was intravenously injected into ob/ob (no leptin production) and db/db (high leptin levels, but no long-form leptin receptor) mutant mice and their lean controls. In all groups, the labeled polypeptide was transported across the BBB by a saturable mechanism. The rates of transport were not significantly different between the mutant strains and their lean controls. The results demonstrate that leptin transport persists in the absence of production of the endogenous polypeptide or its signal-transducing receptor and suggest that the impaired transport previously seen is not directly explained by only obesity or alterations in serum plasma levels.
The estimated pore diameter for plasmodesmal channels in the Abutilon nectary trichome should be about 4 nm, rather than 3 nm

By injecting varous-size fluorescent probes into Abutilon striatum Dicks nectary trichomes, Terry and Robards (1987, Planta 171: 145–157) arrived at an estimate of 3 nm for the physical diameter of the channels involved in cell-to-cell movement. However, their calculations contain an arithmetic error in the volume assumed for the cell into which the probes diffused. (The actual volume is ten times larger.) The corrected calculations give a physical diameter of about 4 nm.
Teaching History of Psychology through Art and Music.

This instructor has developed a course using art and music to develop an understanding of the history of psychology.
SPILL PREVENTION AT INLAND MARINAS: A SHASTA LAKE, CALIFORNIA, CASE STUDY

ABSTRACT Since the enactment of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90), there has been a greater focus on spill prevention and response preparedness at large marine transfer facilities. Little attention, however, has been paid to facilities that fall short of 42,000 gallons. Many of these smaller facilities, which are located on the nation's inland waterways, are marinas that fuel recreational boats. Spill prevention at facilities on inland waterways is complicated by factors such as location, hydrologic conditions, regulation under multiple jurisdictions, and lack of available technology. This paper discusses the various types of petroleum product storage, transfer, and delivery systems, as well as spill prevention measures employed by marinas on Shasta Lake, California. Shasta Lake is a mecca of recreational boating, having almost a dozen marinas along its shores. Like many inland waterways, Shasta Lake is affected by precipitation and dam control, which drastically change the surface area of the lake. ...
Movement of DNA across the chloroplast envelope : Implications for the transfer of promiscuous DNA

Little is known about the mechanistic basis for the movement of promiscuous nucleic acids across cell membranes. To address this problem we sought conditions that would permit the entry of plasmid DNA into isolated, intact pea chloroplasts. DNA uptake did not occur normally, but was induced by hypotonic treatments, by incubation with millimolar levels of Mg2+, or by heat shock at 42 °C. These results are consistent with DNA movement being permitted by conditions that transiently alter the permeability of the chloroplast envelope. Plant cells are subject to osmotic tensions and/or conditions inducing polymorphic changes in the membranes, such as those used in the present study, under several environmental stresses. In an evolutionary time frame, these phenomena may provide a mechanism for the transfer of promiscuous nucleic acids between organelles.
Clinically related behavioral models: bone cancer pain

The most common cancers such as breast, prostate and lung cancers have a strong predilection to metastasize to bone. Bone metastasis frequently results in pain, pathologic fractures, hypercalcemia and spinal cord compression. Pain can have a devastating effect on the quality of life in advanced cancer patients and is a serious complication of cancer. An animal model of bone cancer pain was developed that mimics the radiologic, behavioral and histologic parameters that define lytic bone cancer pain. By confining tumor cells within bone, direct effects of cancer cells on the development of bone cancer pain might be elucidated. Chemicals derived from tumor cells, inflammatory cells and cells derived from bone appear to be simultaneously involved in driving this pain state, which is frequently difficult to control. Understanding the mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of bone cancer pain will improve our ability to provide mechanism-based treatments therapies and improve the quality of life of cancer patients.
Deep Tissue Afferents, but not Cutaneous Afferents, Mediate Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation–Induced Antihyperalgesia

Abstract In this study we investigated the involvement of cutaneous versus knee joint afferents in the antihyperalgesia produced by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) by differentially blocking primary afferents with local anesthetics. Hyperalgesia was induced in rats by inflaming one knee joint with 3% kaolin-carrageenan and assessed by measuring paw withdrawal latency to heat before and 4 hours after injection. Skin surrounding the inflamed knee joint was anesthetized using an anesthetic cream (EMLA). Low (4 Hz) or high (100 Hz) frequency TENS was then applied to the anesthetized skin. In another group, 2% lidocaine gel was injected into the inflamed knee joint, and low or high frequency TENS was applied. Control experiments were done using vehicles. In control and EMLA groups, both low and high frequency TENS completely reversed hyperalgesia. However, injection of lidocaine into the knee joint prevented antihyperalgesia produced by both low and high frequency TENS. Recordings of cord dorsum potentials showed that both low and high frequency TENS at sensory intensity activates only large diameter afferent fibers. Increasing intensity to twice the motor threshold recruits Aδ afferent fibers. Furthermore, application of EMLA cream to the skin reduces the amplitude of the cord dorsum potential by 40% to 70% for both high and low frequency TENS, confirming a loss of large diameter primary afferent input after EMLA is applied to the skin. Thus, inactivation of joint afferents, but not cutaneous afferents, prevents the antihyperalgesia effects of TENS. We conclude that large diameter primary afferent fibers from deep tissue are required and that activation of cutaneous afferents is not sufficient for TENS-induced antihyperalgesia. Perspective Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is an accepted clinical modality used for pain relief. It is generally believed that TENS analgesia is caused mainly by cutaneous afferent activation. In this study by differentially blocking cutaneous and deep tissue primary afferents, we show that the activation of large diameter primary afferents from deep somatic tissues, and not cutaneous afferents, are pivotal in causing TENS analgesia.