cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Inclusion, Equality, and Discourse Quality in Citizen Deliberations on Broadband

Proponents of deliberative democracy have theorized that in order to contribute to improved decision-making, citizens should aim for high levels of inclusion, participation equality, and reciprocal, rational reasoning when they convene to discuss policy issues. To measure the extent to which these goals are achieved in actual practice, the authors analyzed transcripts from 13 public forums on the topic of broadband access in rural communities. Demographic attributes of participants were compared with their utterances during deliberation, coded by five quality variables: justification rationality, common good orientation, constructive politics, interactivity, and consideration of trade-offs. Analysis showed that turnout, quantity and quality of discourse varied significantly across different socioeconomic groups. For example, individuals with college education were more likely to provide higher levels of justification, alternative and mediating proposals, and consideration of the common good compared to those without college education. Non-salaried participants expressed the lowest level of justification for their arguments and showed significantly less interactivity with other participants. Addressing these differences requires greater effort by forum organizers to prepare participants through repeated, sequential forum experiences.
Dopaminergic Agonists in Parkinson’s Disease

Dopaminergic agonists are drugs that directly stimulate dopamine receptors (particularly the D-2 subtype). Like the natural neurotransmitter dopamine, these drugs exert potent effects against signs and symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) and restless leg syndrome. Since 1974, more than two dozen dopaminergic agonists have been developed; currently, several are in use worldwide. Dopaminergic agonists can be almost as effective as levodopa in relieving the motor features of PD. These drugs also can serve to augment the control of Parkinsonism beyond the best that monotherapy with levodopa can accomplish. The chronic use of dopaminergic agonists appears to lessen the risk for developing dyskinesias or motor fluctuations in patients treated with levodopa. Pramipexole, ropinirole, and rotigotine are the most widely used dopaminergic agonists.
The famous melodies stimulus set

Famous musical melodies, such as "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Hot Cross Buns," are frequently used in psychological research. Such melodies have been used to assess the degree of cognitive impairments in various neurological disorders, and to investigate differences between "naming" vs. "knowing." Despite their utility as an experimental stimulus, there is currently no standardized, openly available set of famous musical melodies based on a United States population, as prior work on the topic has primarily relied on creating stimuli in an ad hoc manner. Therefore, the goal of the present work was to create a set of famous musical melodies. Here, we describe the development of the Famous Melodies Stimulus Set, a set of 107 melodies. We provide normative data for the melodies on five dimensions: familiarity, age of acquisition, emotional valence, emotional arousal, and naming ability. Participants (N = 397) rated the melodies on these five variables, validating that most melodies were highly familiar and reliably named. While familiarity ratings were skewed, all other rating scales covered a relatively broad range, allowing for researchers to select melodies for future work based on particular attributes.
Simulation of Low-Dose Protocols for Myocardial Perfusion 82Rb Imaging.

Quantification of myocardial perfusion and myocardial blood flow using 82Rb PET is increasingly used for assessment of coronary artery disease. Current guidelines suggest injections of 1,100–1,500 MBq for both stress and rest. Reducing the injected dose avoids PET system saturation in first-pass flow images and reduces radiation exposure, but the impact on myocardial perfusion quantification of static perfusion images is not fully understood. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the feasibility of performing myocardial perfusion scans using either a half-dose (HfD) or quarter-dose (QD) protocol using reconstructions from acquired full-dose (FD) scans. Methods: This study comprised 171 patients who underwent rest/stress 82Rb PET with a 3-dimensional 4-ring PET/CT scanner using a FD protocol and invasive coronary angiography within 6 mo of the PET emission scan. HfD and QD reconstructions were obtained using the prescribed percentage of events from the FD list-mode files. The total perfusion deficit was quantified for rest (rTPD), stress (sTPD), and ischemia (ITPD = sTPD − rTPD). Diagnostic accuracy for obstructive coronary artery disease, defined as at least 70% stenosis in any of the 3 major coronary arteries, was compared with area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve (AUC). Results: Patients with a median body mass index of 28.0 (interquartile range, 23.9–31.7) were injected with doses of 1,165 ± 189 MBq of 82Rb. For sTPD, FD and HfD protocols had similar AUCs (FD, 0.807; HfD, 0.802; P = 0.108), whereas QD had a reduced AUC (0.786, P = 0.037). There was no difference in the AUC obtained for ITPD among the 3 protocols (FD, 0.831; HfD, 0.835; QD, 0.831; all P ≥ 0.805). Conclusion: HfD imaging does not affect the quantitative diagnostic accuracy of 82Rb PET on 3-dimensional PET/CT systems and could be used clinically.
Evaluating Different Quantitative PCR Assays to Enumerate Specific Microbial Populations in Anaerobic Digesters Treating Municipal Wastewater Solids

AbstractThe goal of this research was to use and to validate different quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays to quantify the pertinent microbial populations in full-scale anaerobic d...
Letting Your Phone Testify: Why the Fifth Amendment Should Be An Absolute Bar to Compulsory Unlocking of Secured Smartphones

Issues often arise when a defendant or witness in a civil or criminal case assert their Fifth Amendment right to be free from self-incrimination when asked to unlock their smartphone. A substantial disagreement has arisen in state and federal courts across the nation as to the extent of the Fifth Amendment's protection of secured smartphones. Two major issues arising from Fifth Amendment jurisprudence are involved in judicial considerations of this issue: whether the communication of the passcode is "testimonial" and, if it is, whether it can be allowed under the "foregone conclusion" doctrine. Additionally, the application of law in these areas has differed between cases involving biometric authentication and passcode authentication methods. This article addresses the differing case law in these areas, and makes an argument that the fifth amendment should be an absolute bar to forcing individuals to unlock their devices. Instead, the government should use the multitude of tools businesses offer to gain access to encrypted information.
Involvement of polo-like-kinase 1 (Plk1) in prostate cancer: A novel target for treatment strategies

Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 45, 2004 3853 Prostate Cancer (PCa) is one of the most common cancers in men. Each year ∼543,000 new cases are reported worldwide and the disease kills 200,000 (mostly older men) in developed countries. The existing treatment approaches and surgical intervention have not been able to effectively manage this dreaded cancer and, therefore, continuing efforts are ongoing to explore novel targets and strategies for the management of PCa. The activity of polo-like kinase-1 (Plk1) is found elevated in tissues and cells with a high mitotic index, including cancer cells. An increasing body of evidence suggests that the level of Plk1 expression has prognostic value for predicting outcomes in patients with some cancers. A close correlation between Plk1 expression and carcinogenesis has been documented. However, the role of Plk1 in PCa is not known. We propagated a hypothesis that Plk-1 plays a critical role in the development of PCa; and its inhibition will result in elimination of human PCa cells via a mitotic arrest followed by apoptosis (FASEB J; In Press). To define the role of Plk1 in PCa, we employed the technique of RNA silencing via small interference RNA (siRNA). First, employing a series of human prostate carcinoma cells and normal human prostate epithelial (PrEC) cells, we assessed Plk1 levels in PCa. Immunoblot analyses clearly showed a significant expression of Plk1 in LNCaP, DU145 and PC3 human PCa cells. Interestingly, Plk1 was not detectable in normal PrEC cells. Next, we transfected the PCa cells with Plk 1 siRNA, which resulted in significant (50 –72%) inhibition in Plk-1 protein in all PCa cells. The phenotype, proliferation, and cell cycle distribution of cells transfected with siRNAs were also monitored employing fluorescence microscopy and fluorescence-activated cell analysis. The PrEC cells were not affected by Plk1-siRNA treatment. Plk1-siRNA trasfection resulted in i) a 45-72% decrease in cell viability, and ii) significant induction of apoptosis (30%-50% in trasfected cells; vs 1%-4% in controls), at 24 hours post-transfection in PCa cells. As shown by the confocal microscopy, our data also demonstrated that Plk1-transfection of PCa cells resulted in i) mitotic arrest, ii) failure of cytokinesis, and iii) defects in centrosome integrity and maturation. Thus, our study suggested that i) Plk1 plays a critical role in the process of PCa development, and ii) gene therapeutic approaches aimed at Plk1 or the pharmacological inhibitors of Plk1 may be developed for the management of CaP.
Probability Distribution and Spectral Analysis of Nonstationary Random Processes

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Concept 1 - similarities between spectral analysis and probability distribution functions Concept 2 - the generalized concept of frequency Concept 3 - the evolutionary spectra Considerations and applications Conclusions References ]]>
Retrospective on Justice and the Poor in the United States in the Twentieth Century

The purpose of this essay is to review the history of legal developments in the twentieth century that affected America's poor. The twentieth century was a period of both positive developments and unfulfilled promise in the legal rights of the poor. Although progress had been made, at the end of the century there remained obstacles to fulfilling America's commitment to equal justice under law. Section I details the important social programs enacted by Congress in the last century, and comments on their varying degrees of success. Section II delineates some of the important jurisprudential developments affecting the poor in the same period. Section III notes the increasing disparity between the rich and the poor in this country, highlighting the need for increased scrutiny on the programs and law detailed in the first two sections.
The Flow Management Problem in Air Traffic Control

A system of flow management is one of the most promising short-term approaches to alleviating the severe network-wide congestion problems that air traffic in the United States and in Europe is currently experiencing. To design such a system one must address the flow management problem (FMP), a description and discussion of which is the subject of this paper. Even simplified versions of the FMP, such as the “generic FMP” which is based on a “macroscopic” model, are very challenging. The problem is inherently stochastic and dynamic and requires a discretized representation of flows. Additional complications are caused by the need to consider the distributive effects of flow management strategies as well as by certain peculiar characteristics of the capacity/demand and flow conservation relationships associated with elements of the ATC network. A brief literature review indicates that research on the FMP is still in its very early stages.
Inversion effects reveal dissociations in facial expression of emotion, gender, and object processing

To distinguish between high-level visual processing mechanisms, the degree to which holistic processing is involved in facial identity, facial expression, and object perception is often examined through measuring inversion effects. However, participants may be biased by different experimental paradigms to use more or less holistic processing. Here we take a novel psychophysical approach to directly compare human face and object processing in the same experiment, with face processing broken into two categories: variant properties and invariant properties as they were tested using facial expressions of emotion and gender, respectively. Specifically, participants completed two different perceptual discrimination tasks. One involved making judgments of stimulus similarity and the other tested the ability to detect differences between stimuli. Each task was completed for both upright and inverted stimuli. Results show significant inversion effects for the detection of differences in facial expressions of emotion and gender, but not for objects. More interestingly, participants exhibited a selective inversion deficit when making similarity judgments between different facial expressions of emotion, but not for gender or objects. These results suggest a three-way dissociation between facial expression of emotion, gender, and object processing.
Epidermal growth factor upregulates matrix metalloproteinase-7 expression through activation of PEA3 transcription factors

MMP-7 is a member of the matrix metalloproteinase family and has been shown to be involved in early intestinal tumorigenesis. However, the factors which regulate MMP-7 gene transcription in the context of early colon cancer remain to be elucidated. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) and the EGF receptor have also been demonstrated to be important in the establishment of colon adenomas. We were therefore interested in addressing the question of whether MMP-7 could be regulated by EGF and in identifying the molecular mechanisms through which this process occurs. Herein, we have demonstrated that EGF enhanced the endogenous expression of MMP-7 in a number of human colon cancer cell lines. Analysis of the MMP-7 promoter sequence reveals the presence of a number of transcription factor binding sites including ETS and AP-1 sites. Results using PEA3, ETS and AP-1 artificial promoters showed that EGF enhanced PEA3 transcription factor activity by up to 70% in comparison to non-treated cell lines. Western blot analysis of nuclear extracts from EGF stimulated cells demonstrated that there was an increase in PEA3 protein when compared to non-treated ceils. In addition, using a MAPK inhibitor we have shown that EGF can mediate this increase in PEA3 transcription factors via the MAPK pathway. Using EMSA analysis we also observed that the EGF stimulated increase in PEA3 transcription factors led to increased binding to specific ETS sites within the MMP-7 promoter. These data demonstrate for the first time that EGF directly enhances MMP-7 expression via the activation of PEA3 transcription factors.
Synthesis of a plane wave in the near field with a planar phased array

Generating a plane wave in the near field is important for antenna measurements in confined spaces. The paper shows how to create an approximate plane wave in the near field from a planar array of isotropic point sources using two approaches, a least squares fit and a genetic algorithm, to find the complex amplitude weights.
Comment: The Lessons of International Human Rights Law for the Protection of Foreign Investors

Host states have a duty under investment treaties to provide fair and equitable treatment or full protection and security to foreign investors. Should the concrete application of this standard vary according to the host country’s resources and state of development? It may not always seem realistic to expect less developed countries’ enforcement and judicial systems to provide investors the same degree of protection available in richer countries. This comment analyzes Professor Alejandro M. Garro’s proposal for such a variable standard (Alejandro M. Garro, Trade and Investment Treaties, the Rule of Law, and Standards of the Administration of Justice, 42 U. Miami Int-Am. L. Rev. 269 (2011)), and concludes that while the proposal has much to recommend it, the lessons of human rights law strongly counsel maintenance of a single standard.
Computational Methods in Nanostructure Design

Self-assembling peptides can serve as building blocks for novel biomaterials. Replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations are a powerful means to probe the conformational space of these peptides. We discuss the theoretical foundations of this enhanced sampling method and its use in biomolecular simulations. We then apply this method to determine the monomeric conformations of the Alzheimer amyloid-beta(12-28) peptide that can serve as initiation sites for aggregation.
Undergraduate Economics Journals: Learning by Doing

Although there are currently only a few undergraduate journals in economics, we expect their numbers to increase substantially in the future because of several developments: 1) research and writing activity is increasing in economics programs, 2) online publication is now more feasible and cost efficient than ever, and 3) students are increasingly aware of their on-line identity and desire to project a positive and professional image. Since increasing use of undergraduate journals might benefit a number of students, including potential article authors, article reviewers, and editors, there is a need to begin to assess the educational benefits of participation in journals. This paper reports results from a survey of reviewers who had reviewed articles for two undergraduate journals, The Park Place Economist and The Undergraduate Economic Review. The reviewers generally agreed that they received a range of benefits from the review process and nearly all agreed that reviewing had been a valuable use of their time. Several of the suggested benefits were positively correlated with measures of participation intensity. Nearly half the respondents thought the benefits would have been greater with more, not fewer, articles to review.
Construction and performance of q-ary turbo codes for use with M-ary modulation techniques

This paper describes a construction technique for q-ary turbo codes that computes good recursive systematic convolutional q-ary constituent codes with constraint length v/spl les/5 for q=2/sup m/, m=2, 3, and 4. The construction technique, based on the algorithm of Benedetto, Garello and Montorsi (see IEEE Trans. Commun., vol.46, p.1101-1105, 1998), determines the codes with maximum d/sub i/ for i=2, 3, and 4 and minimum codeword multiplicity, where d/sub i/ is the minimum weight of all code sequences with input weight i. Due to the large number of encoder states involved, standard weight distribution calculations are difficult. The construction algorithm employed is a computer search that generates all possible terminating sequences of weight 2, 3, and 4 to use as inputs to the set of allowable encoders.
Cancer Inventory of Problem Situations

The article describes an initial study evaluating the psychometric properties of the Cancer Inventory of Problem Situations (CIPS), a newly developed instrument for documenting the psychosocial and physical problems of cancer patients. The ClPS was completed by a heterogeneous sample of 306 cancer patients. A subsample of 71 compiled a second CIPS a week later; a second subsample of 87 patients completed the SCL-90-R, an index of psychological distress; and a third subsample of 22 participated in a comprehensive interview. The ClPS was found to have excellent test-retest reliability (mean for reliability coefficients, r = .89) and also correlated highly with the SCL-90-R (r = .69). Agreement in the types of problems identified by the ClPS and a trained interviewer was excellent. The CIPS proved to be more sensitive than the interview for assessing problems in seven important categories. Content validity was reevaluated and shown to be excellent. In addition, the items in the CIPS were factored into subsca...
Conversion of the Atriopulmonary Fontan Connection to a Total Cavopulmonary Connection

Right atrial-to-pulmonary artery anastomosis (modified Fontan-Kreutzer operation) often results in substantial enlargement of the right atrium over time. Massive right atrial dilatation can cause loss of laminar flow, stasis, compression of the right pulmonary veins posteriorly, and leftward shift of the atrial septum. Some patients may develop arrhythmias related to atrial distension and multiple suture lines. Chronic elevation of the central venous pressure may cause liver dysfunction and/or proteinlosing enteropathy in some patients. Some patients with atriopulmonary Fontan connections who develop a decline in functional status may benefit from conversion to a total cavopulmonary connection. Patients with significant ventricular dysfunction can usually only be treated by cardiac transplantation. However, other problems may be successfully managed by revision of the atriopulmonary Fontan connection to a total cavopulmonary anastomosis. Conversion to a total cavopulmonary connection should improve cardiac output by restoring laminar flow, by relieving compression of the right pulmonary veins, and by alleviating the leftward displacement of the atrial septum.
Heparanase Stimulates Chondrogenesis and Is Up-Regulated in Human Ectopic Cartilage: A Mechanism Possibly Involved in Hereditary Multiple Exostoses

Hereditary multiple exostoses is a pediatric skeletal disorder characterized by benign cartilaginous tumors called exostoses that form next to growing skeletal elements. Hereditary multiple exostoses patients carry heterozygous mutations in the heparan sulfate (HS)-synthesizing enzymes EXT1 or EXT2, but studies suggest that EXT haploinsufficiency and ensuing partial HS deficiency are insufficient for exostosis formation. Searching for additional pathways, we analyzed presence and distribution of heparanase in human exostoses. Heparanase was readily detectable in most chondrocytes, particularly in cell clusters. In control growth plates from unaffected persons, however, heparanase was detectable only in hypertrophic zone. Treatment of mouse embryo limb mesenchymal micromass cultures with exogenous heparanase greatly stimulated chondrogenesis and bone morphogenetic protein signaling as revealed by Smad1/5/8 phosphorylation. It also stimulated cell migration and proliferation. Interfering with HS function both with the chemical antagonist Surfen or treatment with bacterial heparitinase up-regulated endogenous heparanase gene expression, suggesting a counterintuitive feedback mechanism that would result in further HS reduction and increased signaling. Thus, we tested a potent heparanase inhibitor (SST0001), which strongly inhibited chondrogenesis. Our data clearly indicate that heparanase is able to stimulate chondrogenesis, bone morphogenetic protein signaling, cell migration, and cell proliferation in chondrogenic cells. These properties may allow heparanase to play a role in exostosis genesis and pathogenesis, thus making it a conceivable therapeutic target in hereditary multiple exostoses.
Regulation of Tryptophan Pyrrolase Activity in Xanthomonas pruni

Tryptophan pyrrolase was studied in partially purified extracts of Xanthomonas pruni. The dialyzed enzyme required both heme and ascorbate for maximal activity. Other reducing agents were able to substitute for ascorbate. Protoporphyrin competed with heme for the enzyme, suggesting that the native enzyme is a hemoprotein. The enzyme exhibited sigmoid saturation kinetics. Reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), nicotinic acid mononucleotide, and anthranilic acid enhanced the sigmoid kinetics and presumably bound to allosteric sites on the enzyme. The sigmoid kinetics were diminished in the presence of α-methyltryptophan. NAD, NADP, nicotinic acid, nicotinamide, nicotinamide mononucleotide, and several other related compounds were without effect on the activity of the enzyme. These data indicate that the activity of the enzyme is under feedback regulation by the ultimate end products of the pathway leading to NAD biosynthesis, as well as by certain intermediates of this pathway.
Electronic monitoring of antipsychotic medication adherence in outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder: An empirical evaluation of its reliability and predictive validity

Abstract This study examined the reliability and predictive validity of electronic monitoring (EM) in assessing the oral antipsychotic medication adherence of outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Sixty-one adult outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who took a single oral antipsychotic medication were assessed monthly over a 6-month study period with EM of medication bottle opening. Symptom severity, as measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score, was assessed monthly over the 6-month study period. Cronbach's coefficient alpha revealed very high internal reliability ( α =0.94). A high degree of test–retest reliability was found ( β ranged from 0.75 to 1.19 and r ranged from 0.63 to 0.90). As for predictive validity, greater mean EM adherence was significantly related to lower mean symptom severity.
Salt effects on cloud points and viscosities of polymethacrylates with pendant oligo‐oxyethylene chains

Comblike polymethacrylates with oligo-oxyethylene side chains were synthesized from the commercially available monomers CH2 C (CH3) COO (CH2CH2O)nCH 3, the average n being 4, 8, and 22. The three polymers exhibited lower critical solution temperatures in aqueous media. Cloud points were determined as a function of the nature and concentration of salt. For salts that destabilize the polymer solutions, the cloud points decrease linearly with salt concentration, the extent of the decrease being strongly anion dependent. Salt effects on the viscosity of the polymers were measured in water, methanol, and acetonitrile. In water the viscosity decreases on adding salt, but in methanol and acetonitrile the neutral polymers are converted to polycations as cations form stable adducts with the oligo-oxyethylene side chains. The increase in viscosity is both cation and anion dependent. The general behavior of the comblike polymers resembles that reported for aqueous or methanolic salt solutions of poly (ethylene oxide) and nonionic surfactants.
Characterization of unstable periodic orbits in chaotic attractors and repellers.

A numerical technique for the characterization of the chaotic regime of dissipative maps through unstable periodic orbits is presented. It is shown that although the maps are dissipative their trajectories can be derived from a Hamiltonian, which allow us to calculate unstable periodic orbits of arbitrary length finding all points to any desired accuracy
A Semi-Quantitative Analysis of Detergent Exchange For Integral Membrane Proteins

Biophysical and biochemical studies of membrane proteins often require the protein to be analyzed in a detergent different from the one used for purification. Detergent exchanges are often achieved through size exclusion chromatography. Despite the widespread usage of this approach, it is not clear how one can determine the exchange efficiency, and how two different detergents interact during the chromatography process. Here we seek to semi-quantitatively analyze the process of detergent exchange using thin layer chromatography. We choose a bacterial potassium channel KcsA as our model protein, and studied the exchange of this protein in various non-ionic and zwitterionic detergents.
Rapid incorporation of radiobromine via the reaction of labeled sodium bromide with organoboranes

Organoboranes react with82Br labeled sodium bromide in the presence of chloramine-T to yield the corresponding82Br labeled alkyl and aryl bromides. The reaction is rapid, proceeds under mild conditions, and tolerates a variety of functional groups.
Case report 660

An adamantinoma of the tibia is presented, for which the CT and MRI characteristics are described. Both imaging modalities were excellent in providing information as to the extent and invasiveness of the tumor, although MRI had the advantage of providing immediate high quality sagittal visualization. Comparison is made briefly between adamantinoma and both fibrous dysplasia and osteofibrous dysplasia.
Role of carbonic anhydrase II in ectopic calcification

Abstract Introduction Osteopontin (OPN) is a potent inhibitor of ectopic calcification. Previous studies suggested that, in addition to blocking apatite crystal growth, OPN promoted regression of ectopic calcification by inducing the expression of acid-generating carbonic anhydrase II (CAR2) in monocyte-derived cells. Methods To test this hypothesis, OPN and CAR2 expression and calcification of subcutaneously implanted glutaraldehyde-fixed bovine pericardium (GFBP) were studied in CAR2 mutant mice. Results Consistent with previous studies in Black Swiss mice, GFBP calcified to a greater extent in OPN-deficient mice compared to wild types on the C57Bl/6 background. GFBP implanted in CAR2-deficient mice (CAR2 −/− ) were significantly more calcified than those implanted into wild-type mice (CAR2 +/+ ) [37±5 vs. 20±6.5 μg Ca/mg tissue, respectively, at 30 days ( P 42 ±5 versus 20 ±4 μg Ca/mg tissue at 60 days, respectively ( P +/+ and CAR2 −/− mice, suggesting that OPN expression in the absence of CAR2 was not sufficient to mitigate ectopic calcification. Conclusions These results indicate that CAR2 expression is an important regulator of ectopic calcification, potentially by facilitating OPN mediated mineral regression.
ALKBH1 Is Dispensable for Abasic Site Cleavage during Base Excision Repair and Class Switch Recombination

Potential roles of the abasic site lyase activity associated with AlkB homolog 1 (ALKBH1) were assessed by studies focusing on the two cellular processes that create abasic sites as intermediates: base excision repair and class switch recombination. Alkbh1−/− pups (lacking exon 3) were born at a lower than expected frequency from heterozygous parents, suggesting a reduced survival rate and non-Mendelian inheritance, and they exhibited a gender bias in favor of males (70% males and 30% females). To study ALKBH1’s potential involvement in DNA repair, fibroblasts were isolated from Alkbh1−/− mice, spontaneously immortalized and tested for resistance to DNA damaging agents. Alkbh1−/− and isogenic cells expressing hALKBH1 showed no difference in survival to the DNA damaging agents methyl-methionine sulfate or H2O2. This result indicates that ALKBH1 does not play a major role in the base excision repair pathway. To assess ALKBH1’s role in class switch recombination, splenic B cells were isolated from Alkbh1−/− and Alkbh1+/+ mice and subjected to switching from IgM to IgG1. No differences were found in IgG1 switching, suggesting that Alkbh1 is not involved in class switch recombination of the immunoglobulin heavy chain during B lymphocyte activation.
Cell stimulus and lysis in a microfluidic device with segmented gas-liquid flow.

We describe a microfluidic device with rapid stimulus and lysis of mammalian cells for resolving fast transient responses in cell signaling networks. The device uses segmented gas−liquid flow to enhance mixing and has integrated thermoelectric heaters and coolers to control the temperature during cell stimulus and lysis. Potential negative effects of segmented flow on cell responses are investigated in three different cell types, with no morphological changes and no activation of the cell stress-sensitive mitogen activated protein kinases observed. Jurkat E6-1 cells are stimulated in the device using α-CD3, and the resulting activations of ERK and JNK are presented for different time points. Stimulation of cells performed on chip results in pathway activation identical to that of conventionally treated cells under the same conditions.
Quantification of 5,7-dimethoxyflavone in mouse plasma using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and its application to a pharmacokinetic study.

Abstract 5,7-Dimethoxyflavone (5,7-DMF), a natural flavonoid abundant in many plants, has been reported to have many beneficial pharmacological effects, including strong chemopreventive and chemosensitizing properties, anti-oxidant, cardiovascular protectant, and anti-inflammatory activities. However, to date 5,7-DMF was evaluated mainly in vitro and its pharmacokinetics (PK) in vivo remains largely unknown. In addition, current available quantification methods of 5,7-DMF all lack sufficient sensitivity (lower limit of quantification >800 ng/mL). The purposes of our study are to establish a sensitive quantification method of 5,7-DMF using LC–MS/MS and evaluate the PK profile of 5,7-DMF in mouse. Our method was fully validated and all of the fundamental parameters in method validation, including accuracy, precision, sensitivity, selectivity, recovery and stability were evaluated thoroughly in mouse plasma. The calibration curve covered 2–1000 ng/mL with the lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) of 2 ng/mL. The inter-run and intra-run precision and accuracy were less than 15% of nominal concentrations. The matrix effect and recovery yield were within ±15% of nominal concentrations. In the PK study, 5,7-DMF was detectable in mouse plasma up to 21 h, with a terminal half-life of 11.5 h. The clearance of 5,7-DMF (CL/F) is 22.3 L/h/kg and area under the curve (AUCinf) is 449 h ng/mL. In conclusion, a fast, accurate, sensitive and selective quantification method of 5,7-DMF was established and the developed method was successfully applied to a PK study of 5,7-DMF following oral administration of 5,7-DMF in mice.
Molecular superdelocalizability. A correlation with diamagnetic susceptibility

Diamagnetic susceptibilities of 44 divers aromatic molecules were successfully predicted from molecular superdelocalizabilities calculated from Huckel molecular orbital theory.
New reasoning methods for artificial intelligence in medicine

Abstract The discovery and validation of knowledge representations for new types of reasoning is a vital step in artificial intelligence (AI) research. A clear example of this process arises in our recent study of expert physicians' knowledge of the physiological mechanisms of the body. First, we observed that the reliance on weighted associations between findings and hypotheses in first-generation medical expert systems made it impossible for them to express knowledge of disease mechanisms. Second, to obtain empirical constraints on the nature of this knowledge of mechanism in human experts, we collected and analysed verbatim transcripts of expert physicians solving selected clinical problems. This analysis led us to the key aspects of a qualitative representation for the structure and behavior of mechanisms. The third step required a computational study of the problem of inferring behavior from structure, and resulted in a completely specified and implemented knowledge representation and a qualitative simulation algorithm (QSIM). Within this representation, we built a structural description for the mechanism studied in the transcripts, and the simulation produced the same qualitative prediction made by the physicians. Finally, the system is validated in two ways. A mathematical analysis demonstrates the power and limitations of the representation and algorithm as a qualitative abstraction of differential equations. The medical content of the knowledge base is evaluated and refined using the standard knowledge-engineering methodology. We believe that this combination of cognitive, computational, mathematical, and domain knowledge constraints provides a useful paradigm for the development of new knowledge representations in artificial intelligence.
Continual mechanical twinning: Part II : Standard Experiments

Abstract The characteristic responses of a metal deforming by continual mechanical twinning to changes in crystal orientation, temperature, strain-rate and state of order are reported. The bulk of the experiments are on single crystals of a quenched, supersaturated Fe-25 at. % Be alloy and of its ordered alternative Fe3Be. Observations on polycrystalline Fe-based alloys and single crystals of Cu, Ag and Au are also included. The most important results are a critical resolved shear stress for twinning, a positive temperature dependence of this stress, a negative strain-rate sensitivity that becomes increasingly negative at higher temperatures and an internal stress produced by the remnant twin structure after deformation that is independent of temperature. These features and others such as work hardening, twin size, and their second-order variations, are examined in terms of the formal description presented in Part I. A special contrast of the behaviors of the ordered and disordered froms of the Fe-25 Be alloy is carried throughout; this aids in the general understanding of the twinning process and serves to explain the driving force for untwinning in the ordered form. The major hypothesis of Part I, that twinning is determined by the degree of energy dissipation by slip concurrent with twinning, is indirectly corroborated by all pertinent experiments. This agreement lends support to the activation energies for slip that can be determined by using the formal description. For Ag, U ∾ 5 KT and for both Fe-25 Be and Fe3Be, U ∾ 200 kT, i.e., 1 2 μb 3 . The value for Ag is consistent with observations made on slip alone; the high value for the Fe-Be alloys supports the observation that the deformation occurs primarily by twinning rather than slip.
Small signal gain of free electron lasers with nonuniform wigglers

The small-signal gain of free electron lasers is calculated by solving the single-electron equations of motion to second order in the laser field. Analytic results for free electron lasers with linearly varying wiggler resonant frequency show that the small signal gain of such lasers behaves differently from that of lasers with uniform wiggler resonant frequency and is significantly smaller.
A psychometric study of the Fear of Sleep Inventory-Short Form (FoSI-SF).

Study Objectives:Fear of sleep may play a significant role in sleep disturbances in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This report describes a psychometric study of the Fear of ...
Ioffe current constant of the Roper resonance from a relativistic three quark model

The Ioffe current constants for the proton and Roper resonance are evaluated using a linear confining potential model parametrized to reproduce the proton magnetic moment, spin, and energy. The three-body Dirac equation, for the (1/2{sup +}){sup 3} positive parity configuration, is solved in hypercentral approximation. Quark masses of the order of 9 MeV are needed to reproduce the proton magnetic moment. When the proton rms charge radius and magnetic moment are reproduced, the Roper has an Ioffe coupling constant about 25{percent} larger than the proton. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}
PRECURSORS TO HEROIN: A PILOT STUDY OF YOUNG HEROIN ADDICTS AND THEIR NONADDICTED FRIENDS*

To determine whether differences in life styles and patterns of drug use may help to account for willingness to try heroin and/or likelihood of becoming addicted, personal history interviews were conducted with 15 young heroin addict, 15 experimenters who used the drug but did not become addicts, and 15 nonusers who never tried heroin altough they wre exposed to it. The findings suggest that willingness to try heroin can be better understood within the context of a broader involvement in a deviant way of life. Unlike their nonuser peers, addict and experimenter subjects tended to have identified with deviant rather than conventional role models. Prior to first heroin use, most of them were heavily involved in multiple drug use and other illegal activities. Addicts and experimenters knew that one does not become addicted after trying heroin only once, and many believed they had enough "will power" to avoid a heroin habit.
Obstetrics by ear. Maternal and caregiver perceptions of the meaning of maternal sounds during second stage labor.

Abstract In a study at the University of Colorado School of Nursing, Department of Nurse-Midwifery, women's second stage labors were videotaped to study caregiver behavior during second stage labor Postpartum interviews of the mothers (n = 10) and caregivers (n = 16) were conducted to learn about their responses as they viewed the videotapes. Qualitative analysis was conducted of the transcribed interviews using the Ethnograph computer software. One of the themes emerging from the data was the significance of maternal sounds. Both caregivers and mothers were able to articulate differences between adaptive and nonadaptive sounds according to their quality, pitch, feeling state, and accompanying verbalizations. Data about women's second stage labor sounds have been categorized according to the following maternal states: work/ effort, coping, childlike, out-of-control, and with epidural anesthesia. Typical sounds/ verbalization, significance, and facilitative caregiver responses are defined for each category. It is concluded that when a “no noise” rule is evoked during second stage labor, valuable behavioral cues are unavailable to guide caregiver behavior.
Hexose phosphate metabolism and exopolysaccharide formation in Pseudomonas cepacia

When grown on solid medium containing excess glucose, glucose dehydrogenase-deficient (Gcd−) mutants ofPseudomonas cepacia 249 formed large amounts of an exopolysaccharide comprised of galactose, glucose, mannose, glucuronic acid, and rhamnose. The Gcd+ parent strain failed to accumulate comparable amounts of exopolymer from glucose because of its rapid conversion of glucose to gluconic and 2-ketogluconic acids and its lower content of enzymes related to glucose-1-phosphate synthesis. Both Gcd+ and Gcd− strains ofP. cepacia accumulated exopolymer when substrates such as mannitol and glycerol were substituted for glucose. A survey of clinical isolates from patients with cystic fibrosis indicated that there was no correlation between ability ofP. cepacia to colonize the respiratory tracts of such individuals and increased capacity to form exopolymer related to glucose dehydrogenase deficiency.
Synthesis of mesoporous silica nanofibers with controlled pore architectures

A one-phase route has been developed for the synthesis, under strongly acidic conditions with cationic surfactants, of mesoporous silica nanofibers with controlled internal pore architectures. The ...
Absolute frequencies of lasing transitions in seven CO 2 isotopic species

The band centers, rotational constants, absolute frequencies, and vacuum wavenumbers for12C16O 2 ,13C16O 2 ,12C18O 2 ,13C18O 2 ,12C16O18O,14C16O 2 , and14C18O 2 have been simultaneously computed from 590 beat frequency measurements between pairs of adjacent 00\deg1-[10\deg0,02\deg0] I and II band CO 2 laser transitions. The input data included the 56 beat frequencies measured between adjacent12C16O 2 rotational lines by Petersen et al. The absolute frequencies are directly related to the cesium frequency standard via the 29 442 483.315 (0.025) MHz 10.18 μm I-R (30) and the 32 134 266.891 (0.024) MHz 9.33 μm II-R(10) transitions in12C16O 2 which were measured by Evenson et al. The results described in this paper will provide the means for setting up easily reproducible secondary frequency standards in the 8.9-12.3 \mu m wavelength band.
An efficient algorithm for the enumeration of the minimal unsafe states in complex resource allocation systems

In a recent work of ours, we proposed a novel approach for the deployment of the maximally permissive deadlock avoidance policy (DAP) for complex resource allocation systems, that is based on the identification and the efficient storage of a critical subset of states of the underlying RAS state space; the availability of this information enables an expedient one-step-lookahead scheme for the identification and blockage of transitions that will take the system behavior outside its safe region. This paper complements the aforementioned results by introducing a novel algorithm that provides those critical states while avoiding the complete enumeration of the RAS state space.
Using Benchmarking Techniques and the 2011 Maternity Practices Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) Survey to Improve Performance among Peer Groups across the United States

Background:A substantial proportion of US maternity care facilities engage in practices that are not evidence-based and that interfere with breastfeeding. The CDC Survey of Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) showed significant variation in maternity practices among US states.Objective:The purpose of this article is to use benchmarking techniques to identify states within relevant peer groups that were top performers on mPINC survey indicators related to breastfeeding support.Methods:We used 11 indicators of breastfeeding-related maternity care from the 2011 mPINC survey and benchmarking techniques to organize and compare hospital-based maternity practices across the 50 states and Washington, DC. We created peer categories for benchmarking first by region (grouping states by West, Midwest, South, and Northeast) and then by size (grouping states by the number of maternity facilities and dividing each region into approximately equal halves based on the number of facilities).Results:Thir...
Improvement of cadaver renal transplantation outcomes with verapamil: a review

Although cyclosporin A (CsA) has allowed substantial advances in organ transplantation due to its immunosuppressive properties, its use is complicated by its direct nephrotoxic effects. Initial studies with mice confirmed that CsA caused a dose-related inhibition of the subcapsular microcirculation; subsequent clinical investigations have confirmed this inhibitory effect. Efforts to circumvent CsA-induced nephrotoxicity have focused on calcium antagonists. For example, when the calcium antagonist verapamil was administered before the initiation of CsA, renal blood flow was maintained. Verapamil therapy was also associated with significantly fewer rejection episodes (3 of 22; 14%) within 4 weeks of transplantation than CsA therapy alone (10 of 18; 56%). In a current study, verapamil 10 mg was injected into the renal artery during surgery, followed by 120 mg tid orally for 14 days. This regimen reduced delayed function incidents (the need for dialysis) during the first post-transplant week. Excluding nonfunctioning kidneys and technical failures, there were no graft losses secondary to rejection in patients treated with verapamil. The beneficial effects of verapamil therapy on transplant outcome may be related to its ability to protect cells from ischemia, the selective vasodilation of the efferent arteriole, elevated CsA blood levels, and inherent immunosuppressive properties.
Some monotonicity properties of symmetric pólya densities and their exponential families

In this note we observe that for independent symmetric random variables X and Y, when the pdf of X is PF∞, the conditional distributions of ¦Y¦ given S = X + Y form a MLR family. We then show that for a function ϕ: R n→R that is symmetric in each coordinate and increasing on (0, ∞)n, E(ϕ(S1,...,Sn)¦Sn = s) is even and increasing in ¦s¦. Here S1,...,Sn are partial sums with independent symmetric PF∞ summands. Application is made to sequential tests that minimize the maximum expected sample size when the model is a one-parameter exponential family generated by a symmetric PF ∞ density.