cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A New DelPhi Feature for Modeling Electrostatic Potential around Proteins: Role of Bound Ions and Implications for Zeta-Potential.

A new feature of the popular software DelPhi is developed and reported, allowing for computing the surface averaged electrostatic potential (SAEP) of macromolecules. The user is given the option to specify the distance from the van der Waals surface where the electrostatic potential will be outputted. In conjunction with DelPhiPKa and the BION server, the user can adjust the charges of titratable groups according to specific pH values, and add explicit ions bound to the macromolecular surface. This approach is applied to a set of four proteins with "experimentally" delivered zeta (ζ)-potentials at different pH values and salt concentrations. It has been demonstrated that the protocol is capable of predicting ζ-potentials in the case of proteins with relatively large net charges. This protocol has been less successful for proteins with low net charges. The work demonstrates that in the case of proteins with large net charges, the electrostatic potential should be collected at distances about 4 A away from the vdW surface and explicit ions should be added at a binding energy cutoff larger than 1-2kT, in order to accurately predict ζ-potentials. The low salt conditions substantiate this effect of ions on SAEP.
Still Work to Be Done: The Million Man March and the 50th Anniversary Commemoration Selma to Montgomery March as Mythoform and Visual Rhetoric

Marching has been a popular and effective form of protest throughout the history of American social change. The Black protest march historically has taken place in response to injustices, such as i...
Development, Implementation, and Assessment of General Chemistry Lab Experiments Performed in the Virtual World of Second Life

Virtual worlds are a potential medium for teaching college-level chemistry laboratory courses. To determine the feasibility of conducting chemistry experiments in such an environment, undergraduate students performed two experiments in the immersive virtual world of Second Life (SL) as part of their regular General Chemistry 2 laboratory course. The experiments’ development and implementation are presented with feedback from students and graduate teaching assistants. Students successfully completed the experiments and showed learning gains similar to students performing real world experiments, as shown by pre/postlab quizzes and a laboratory practicum. Student participants held positive views of their experience in the SL chemistry laboratory. Teaching assistants provided an important perspective about using the virtual world for laboratory instruction. Overall, results of this pilot study suggest that virtual worlds can be effective for teaching chemistry experiments. This is the first account of student...
Pain Syndromes Associated With Cerebrovascular Accidents

Pain after a cerebrovascular event can be extremely debilitating, affecting thousands of patients every year, as cerebrovascular events are one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. The four most common painful conditions in this population are central poststroke pain, shoulder hand syndrome, poststroke headache, and hemiplegic shoulder pain, with reported incidence rates ranging from 1.5% to 70%. Investigation to elucidate the pathophysiology of these conditions has concluded that central poststroke pain is a central neuropathic syndrome and shoulder hand syndrome is a form of complex regional pain syndrome; however, the etiologies of poststroke headache and hemiplegic shoulder pain are still unclear. Although some diagnostic tests may be helpful, the diagnosis for all four conditions is primarily based on the patient's reported history as well as the physical examination. Similar to other neuropathic pain syndromes, there is no single treatment option for patients with these conditions, and multiple factors must be considered in the development of the care plan for adequate symptom management and improved function.
A Postcolonial Reflection on the Audacity of Hope: Toward a Pedagogy With/For an Understanding Heart.

In order for hope to be a sufficient state of mind, deliberate efforts, energies and actions are required in a way that embraces the other side of hope, namely, pain and/or despair. In other words,...
Supplier and Customer Involvement in New Product Development Stages: Implications for New Product Innovation Outcomes

This paper investigates the relationships among supply chain participants’ involvement at various stages of new product development (NPD) and a firm’s innovation outcomes in terms of number of new product introduction and new product radicalness. A total of 107 questionnaires were collected from a cross-sectional survey of NPD managers. Results show significant impacts of suppliers’ and customers’ involvement on the firm innovation outcomes in the various NPD stages. Suppliers’ involvement in the firm NPD process influences negatively or is not related to firm innovation success in the various NPD stages. However, customers’ involvement affects positively or is not related to firm innovation success in the various NPD stages. This indicates that the distinct features of the various NPD stages make customer or supplier involvement more or less appropriate at each stage. Therefore, this paper provides significant managerial implications for supply chain practitioners regarding with whom, when, and how they ...
Solar energy sharing in net metered community microgrids: Can the social goals be achieved?

Solar energy sharing among prosumers via peer-to-peer energy trading in a net metered community microgrid is studied. The trading interactions among the prosumers are analyzed as a market with transferable payoff. The outcome of the prosumer's trading interactions is predicted by the competitive equilibrium of the market, for which a closed form expression is derived. The competitive equilibrium also offers a stable/in the core cost allocation mechanism for the energy-sharing prosumers in an aggregated microgrid. The competitive equilibrium reveals that, in a net metered microgrid with a lower to medium level of solar penetration, all the economic benefit goes to the prosumers who have solar panels. In other words, even though a key social incentive for solar energy sharing is to let consumers without solar panels to have access to locally generated solar power from their neighbors who have solar panels, their economic benefits from doing so are however fundamentally limited.
Blackboard Architectures for Sonar Data Association

Semi-automated systems are being developed to aid naval command teams in building undersea warfare (USW) tactical pictures representing the surface and subsurface environment and containing information regarding the number of detected targets, target identities, and target positions, courses, and speeds. The fusion of multiple acoustic data sources, as well as the incorporation of supporting information from non-acoustic data sources, is recognised as a key requirement for achieving accurate and efficient USW tactical picture compilation. This paper provides an overview of work conducted at the Defence Research Establishment Atlantic (DREA) on the application of the blackboard architecture, a software architecture for distributed problem solving, to sonar data association, a specific aspect of sonar data fusion involving the association of multiple acoustic signals corresponding to a given platform.
Subretinal protein and serous detachment

The term ‘serous detachment’ implies that subretinal fluid is proteinaceous. However, there has been little direct data on the movement of protein in or out of the subretinal space. This report summarizes recent experiments from our laboratory which investigated this issue and sought to clarify the role of protein in serous detachment in man1–5. These experiments also examine the effects of vitreous within the subretinal space, as may occur in rhegmatogenous detachment, and the source of protein when serous detachments form after focal ischaemia or toxic damage to the RPE and choroid.
Comprehensive Genomic Profiling for Biomarker Discovery for Cancer Detection, Diagnostics and Prognostics

Tumors develop through the combined processes of genetic instability and selection, resulting in clonal expansion of cells that have accumulated the most advantageous set of genetic aberrations. These genetic instabilities manifest themselves as a series of genetic alterations, including discrete mutations and chromosomal aberrations. With the human genome deciphered, high-throughput technologies are advancing studies to link genome-wide gene expression and mutation profiles with biological and disease phenotypes. Recent advances in comprehensive genomic characterization present an unprecedented opportunity for advancing the treatment of cancer, but many challenges remain to be overcome before we can fully exploit genomic markers/targets for cancer prediction, diagnosis, treatment and prognostics. Here, we review recent developments in comprehensive genomic characterization at the DNA level, and consider some of the challenges that remain for defining the precise genomic portrait of tumors. We then offer some potential solutions that may help overcome these challenges.
Contemporary outcomes of surgical management of complex thoracic infections

Background: Surgery plays an important role in the management of complex thoracic infections (CTIs). We aimed to describe the contemporary surgical outcomes of CTIs. Methods: The 2014–2017 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database was queried for patients with the following procedures: bilobectomy, decortication, lung release, lobectomy, thoracoscopic lobectomy, thoracoscopic pleurodesis, thoracoscopic wedge resection, thoracoscopic biopsy, thoracoscopy, thoracotomy, thoracotomy with wedge resection, thoracotomy with decortication, and thoracotomy with lobectomy. Patients were classified into: drainage procedures (DP) and lung resection (LR). Descriptive statistics and univariate/multivariate analysis were executed. A P value Results: A total of 1,275 patients (30.3%) underwent surgical management for a CTI. Nine hundred and seven patients (71.1%) underwent a DP, and 368 patients (28.9%) underwent a LR. A thoracic surgeon performed 64% and 79% of cases in the DP and LR groups, respectively. On univariate analysis, the patients in the LR group were less likely to be male, diabetic, active smokers, dyspneic on exertion, hypertensive, malnourished, or American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) >3. There was no difference in overall postoperative complications, re-intubation, or reoperation between groups. The patients in the LR group were less likely to develop sepsis or respiratory failure. There was no difference in 30-day mortality between groups (5.3% vs . 3.8%, P=0.26). The total length of stay was 13.82±10.17 and 8.7±15.05 days, in the DP and LR groups, respectively (P=0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed increased risk of 30-day mortality was associated with age, preoperative steroid use, renal failure, leukocytosis, pulmonary embolism, and sepsis. Conclusions: CTI’s are a common indication for thoracic surgical management. This contemporary, national sampling demonstrates that approximately one third of identified cases were associated with a LR. These cases demonstrated a comparable morbidity and mortality with surgical DP, but shorter hospital stays. To aid in the management of these complex disease processes, early consultation of a multidisciplinary management service for these patients should be considered. Furthermore, the appropriate use of LR for infectious etiologies may lead to safer postoperative outcomes than previously thought.
HABits Necklace: A Neck-worn Sensor that Captures Eating Related Behavior and More

In this paper, we present the design and implementation of the HABits necklace, a neck-worn device that estimates behavior. This neck-worn device is continuously evolving to provide researchers with the ability to use it in multiple applications including eating, gesture, and activity recognition. Our proposed HABits necklace generates four signal streams using three embedded sensors including a proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, and a 9-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU). In this work, we highlight its ability to characterize eating episodes. We apply algorithms to estimate chew count, number of feeding gestures, posture, and activity intensity. Users will be able to visually see the necklace data and the result of the algorithms on the smartphone in real time.
Tell Parents the Truth, but Tell It Slant.

This article draws on fiction, poetry, and memoir to suggest that for many people, tragic choices are best dealt with not through explicit conversations that directly confront difficult truths but, instead, through indirect and ambiguous conversations that only suggest what is most important. Telling the truth slant is not easier than telling it directly. It requires more imagination and perhaps more sensitivity to the parents’ nonverbal cues. The underlying moral principles are the same in the 2 approaches. The values and preferences of the patient and the family should be given highest priority. But to respect those values and honor those preferences, doctors need to listen carefully to understand what parents are saying, what they are not saying, what they mean, and what they need. Sometimes they may be saying that there are things that they prefer not to discuss or decisions that would prefer not to affirm.
Journalism, Public, Policy: An Institutional View of the Press’s Legal Discourse at the End of the 19th Century:

This study analyzes discourse about journalists’ privilege and libel law from 1894 to 1897 to explain how the press articulated the public policy rationale for legal protection at a pivotal moment ...
Staphylococcus aureus Secreted Toxins and Extracellular Enzymes

Staphylococcus aureus is a formidable pathogen capable of causing infections in different sites of the body in a variety of vertebrate animals, including humans and livestock. A major contribution to the success of S. aureus as a pathogen is the plethora of virulence factors that manipulate the host's innate and adaptive immune responses. Many of these immune modulating virulence factors are secreted toxins, cofactors for activating host zymogens, and exoenzymes. Secreted toxins such as pore-forming toxins and superantigens are highly inflammatory and can cause leukocyte cell death by cytolysis and clonal deletion, respectively. Coagulases and staphylokinases are cofactors that hijack the host's coagulation system. Exoenzymes, including nucleases and proteases, cleave and inactivate various immune defense and surveillance molecules, such as complement factors, antimicrobial peptides, and surface receptors that are important for leukocyte chemotaxis. Additionally, some of these secreted toxins and exoenzymes can cause disruption of endothelial and epithelial barriers through cell lysis and cleavage of junction proteins. A unique feature when examining the repertoire of S. aureus secreted virulence factors is the apparent functional redundancy exhibited by the majority of the toxins and exoenzymes. However, closer examination of each virulence factor revealed that each has unique properties that have important functional consequences. This chapter provides a brief overview of our current understanding of the major secreted virulence factors critical for S. aureus pathogenesis.
ERCP-Related Bleeding Adverse Events

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is a complex and challenging procedure with impressive diagnostic and therapeutic potential that comes along with a relatively low but real risk of adverse events. One of the more common adverse events is bleeding, typically from endoscopic sphincterotomy. Herein, we describe approaches for the practicing endoscopist to identify, prevent, and manage ERCP-related bleeding. Clinical judgment and knowledge of patient-related risk factors are important for preprocedure planning. Various techniques can be employed to mitigate bleeding risk during and after the procedure. Finally, we offer practical advice on managing these difficult cases when ERCP-related bleeding occurs.
Associations between psychological distress and health-related behaviors among adults with chronic kidney disease.

Abstract Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects 15% of the US general population, and this rate is projected to increase. A healthy lifestyle is important for individuals with CKD to reduce risk for CKD progression and adverse heath events. Adults with CKD also have high rates of psychological distress, which may be associated with unhealthy behaviors. Using the 2013–2017 public use data files of the US National Health Interview Survey, we compared health behaviors (smoking, alcohol use, and physical activity [PA]) and psychological distress (assessed with the Kessler-6 scale) between adults with a CKD diagnosis in the preceding year and a matched sample of adults without a CKD diagnosis. We then examined the association between psychological distress and health behaviors among adults with CKD (n = 3923) using multinomial logistic regression models. Compared to those without CKD, those with CKD had lower rates of smoking, heavy alcohol use, and engagement in any type of PA 3+ times a week and higher rates of psychological distress. In addition to the health concerns posed by the high smoking rate (17%) and low physical activity rate (34%) among those with CKD, smoking and lack of PA were associated with greater risk of mild-moderate and/or serious psychological distress. Compared to no unhealthy behaviors, 2–3 unhealthy behaviors were associated with 4.72 (95% CI = 2.97–7.48) times greater risk of serious psychological distress. Adults with CKD and unhealthy behaviors need help with lifestyle modifications and assessment and treatment of psychological distress to reduce CKD progression and prevent other health complications.
Tutorial: measurement of fluorescence spectra and determination of relative fluorescence quantum yields of transparent samples

The measurement of fluorescence spectra and the determination of fluorescence quantum yields in transparent samples are conceptually simple tasks, but these procedures are subject to several pitfalls that can lead to significant errors. Available technical reports and protocols often assume that the reader possesses a solid theoretical background in spectroscopy and has ample experience with fluorescence instrumentation, but this is often not the case given the many applications of fluorescence in diverse fields of science. The goal of this tutorial is to provide a didactic treatment of the topic that will hopefully be accessible to readers without extensive expertise in the field of fluorescence. The article covers the theoretical background needed to understand the origins of the most common artifacts researchers can expect. Possible artifacts are illustrated with examples to help readers avoid them or identify them if present. A step-by-step example of a fluorescence quantum yield determination in solution is provided with detailed experimental information to help readers understand how to design and analyze experiments.
Soil Taxonomic Structure and Factors Affecting Soil Distribution in the Great Lakes Coastal Zone

There are six orders, 16 suborders, 39 great groups, 140 subgroups, 507 families, and 691 soil series in the US GLCZ. Of the 691 soil series.
Constructing Local Cell Sepcific Networks from Single Cell Data

ABSTRACT Gene co-expression networks yield critical insights into biological processes, and single-cell RNA sequencing provides an opportunity to target inquiries at the cellular level. However, due to the sparsity and heterogeneity of transcript counts, it is challenging to construct accurate gene networks. We develop an approach that estimates cell-specific networks (CSN) for each cell using a method inspired by Dai et al. (7). Although individual CSNs are estimated with considerable noise, average CSNs provide stable estimates of network structure, which provide better estimates of gene block structures than traditional measures. The method, called locCSN, is based on a non-parametric investigation of the joint distribution of gene expression, hence it can readily detect nonlinear correlations, and it is more robust to distributional challenges. The individual networks preserve information about the heterogeneity of the cells and having repeated estimates of network structure facilitates testing for difference in network structure between groups of cells. The original CSN algorithm showed promise; however, it had shortcomings which locCSN overcomes. Additionally, we propose new downstream analysis methods using CSNs, to utilize more fully the information contained within them. Finally, to further our understanding of autism spectrum disorder we examined the evolution of gene networks in fetal brain cells and compared the CSNs of cells sampled from case and control subjects to reveal intriguing patterns in gene co-expression changes.
Medical Student Leadership Development through a Business School Partnership Model: A Case Study and Implementation Strategy.

Background:There is an ongoing call for leadership development in academic health care and medical students desire more training in this area. Although many schools offer combined MD/MBA programs o...
Exploring the Ideal and Belief Education of College Students from the Perspective of Positive Psychology

This article mainly explores the ideal and belief education of college students based on the perspective of positive psychology. This article first explains the current situation of college students’ mental health education, further elaborates the important role of ideal and belief education based on positive psychology, and finally points out how to realize the ideal and belief education vision among college students in the perspective of positive psychology for reference of relevant personnel.
High-End Bargaining Problems

Traditional law and economics theory places great confidence in the ability of contracting parties to bargain for optimal contracts, and the law reflects this confidence in many important ways. In this Article, I question the wisdom of a formalistic faith in bargaining by uncovering flaws in the bargaining process at the high end of the market, where parties are sophisticated and have substantial resources to aid them in bargaining. My analysis focuses on the private equity fund industry, which is widely regarded as one of the most elite and sophisticated contracting spaces in the market. Because of rigorous investor qualification laws and other distinctive features of private equity funds, this industry enjoys a number of advantages compared to most real-world contracting settings. A careful review, however, reveals problems. Drawing on proprietary survey data and dozens of conversations with industry participants, this Article offers an in-depth analysis of problematic bargaining practices in private equity funds. These bargaining problems raise a difficult question for scholars and policymakers: If optimal bargaining outcomes and processes are elusive in this high-end market and ongoing SEC intervention is needed, what can be expected in other real-world settings where parties are less sophisticated and have fewer resources? These findings call for greater skepticism of formalist assumptions about bargaining across the market more broadly, with important implications for contract law, the law of business organizations, and securities law.
FANCONI SYNDROME (FS) ASSOCIATED WITH CYCLOSPORIN-A ADMINISTRATION IN BONE MARROW TRANSPORT

FANCONI SYNDROME (FS) ASSOCIATED WITH CYCLOSPORIN-A ADMINISTRATION IN BONE MARROW TRANSPORT
Corcoran N. (Ed.). (2007). Communicating Health: Strategies for Health Promotion

What is health communication? Given that the subdiscipline of health communication is relatively new, discussion and dialogue still center on this issue. Over the past decade we have witnessed the ...
Reflections on Theorizing About the Moral Foundations of the Law: Using the Laws Governing Detention as a Case Study

My concern here is to illustrate how judicial review can and should make use of basic moral notions by examining the constitutionality, under the U.S. Constitution, of subjecting a legally resident alien, captured in the United States, to long-term military detention as an “enemy combatant.” The point of this is not simply to add to the list of moral issues that the U.S. Constitution - and presumably other constitutions - have to come to terms with. It is also to demonstrate that sophisticated moral theorizing should be relevant to the practice of law. I do so by showing that in the absence of such careful inquiry, the constitutional discussion regarding the military detention cannot reach a satisfying resolution.I proceed by arguing in part A that judicial review provides an opening for bringing moral reasoning, and in particular sophisticated reasoning about aspects of justice, into the law. The rest of the paper turns to the topic of detention law to illustrate the need for sophisticated moral reasoning in constitutional law. In part B, I give an overview of my unified moral theory of detention, which I will argue further on must be appealed to in order to arrive at a defensible constitutional theory of military detention. In part C, I discuss the decision in al-Marri v. Pucciarelli, which split on the issue of whether a legally resident alien in the United States, who was not a combatant under the traditional law of war, could nonetheless be held as an enemy combatant in long-term military detention. I argue there that neither side of the issue took a defensible position because neither side understood what the underlying moral issues are. In part D, I argue that to make sense of the constitutional significance of being a combatant, we need to understand how that concept arises in a larger moral framework, and give a summary of how the framework I sketched in part B fits that bill.
The use of neuronal networks on multielectrode arrays as biosensors

Mammalian spinal neuronal networks growing on arrays of photoetched electrodes in culture provide a highly stable system for the long-term monitoring of multichannel, spontaneous or evoked electrophysiological activity. In the absence of the homeostatic control mechanisms of the central nervous system, these networks show remarkable sensitivities to minute chemical changes and mimic some of the properties of sensory tissue. These sensitivities could be enhanced by receptor up-regulation and altered by the expression of unique receptors. The fault-tolerant spontaneous network activity is used as a dynamic platform on which large changes in activity signify detection of chemical substances. We present strategies for the expression of novel supersensitivities to foreign molecules via genetic engineering that involves the grafting of ligand binding cDNA onto truncated native receptor DNA and the subsequent expression of such chimeric receptors.
Properties of one-step prediction observers (identifiers) for system parameter identification

A unifying one-step prediction observer (identifier) for system parameter estimation or identification of autoregressive moving average (ARMA) processes is developed. Four specific algorithms can be derived from the unifying algorithm. The properties of the four algorithms developed are investigated.
The Role of En­doplasmic Reticulum–Associated Degradation in the Regulation of a Potassium Channel Associated with Type II Bartter Syndrome

Type II Bartter Syndrome is an autosomal recessive disease caused by a loss of function mutation in the human KCNJ1 gene. This gene encodes the Renal Outer Medullary Potassium channel (ROMK), the p...
A System Approach to Adaptive Multi-Modal Sensor Designs

We propose a system approach to adaptive multimodal sensor designs. This approach is based on the integration of tools for the physics-based simulation of complex scenes and targets, sensor modeling, and multimodal data exploitation. The goal is to reduce development time and system cost while achieving optimal results through an iterative process that incorporates simulation, sensing, processing and evaluation. A Data Process Management Architecture (DPMA) is designed, which is a software system that provides a team development environment and a structured operational platform for systems that require many interrelated and coordinated steps. As a case study, we use an effective peripheral–fovea design as an example. This design is inspired by the biological vision systems for achieving real-time target detection and recognition with a hyperspectral/range fovea and panoramic peripheral view. This design will be simulated and evaluated by realistic scene and target simulations, and the related data exploitation algorithms will be discussed.
New PWM converter circuits combining zero switching loss with low conduction loss

A new PWM (pulse width modulation) technique is presented and applied to two DC-DC power converters. The new converter topologies completely eliminate switching losses while retaining the low conduction losses typical of PWM circuits. The switches are operated for differing lengths of time, i.e., with unbalanced or asymmetrical duty cycles (for example, one switch at 40% and the other at 60%). The deadtime between switch conduction intervals is made long enough to insure that the switch voltages have commutated naturally from rail to rail, but not so long that the switch voltages have begun their return trip along their oscillatory path between the input rails. Thus, the best features of resonant (zero switching loss) and PWM (low conduction loss) circuits are combined. Design equations and notes are included for a buck type (step-down) and a boost type (step-up) converter. >
Virtual Business Operating Environment in the Cloud: Conceptual Architecture and Challenges

Advances in service oriented architecture (SOA) have brought us close to the once imaginary vision of establishing and running a virtual business, a business in which most or all of its business functions are outsourced to online services. Cloud computing offers a realization of SOA in which IT resources are offered as services that are more affordable, flexible and attractive to businesses. In this paper, we briefly study advances in cloud computing, and discuss the benefits of using cloud services for businesses and trade-offs that they have to consider. We then present 1) a layered architecture for the virtual business, and 2) a conceptual architecture for a virtual business operating environment. We discuss the opportunities and research challenges that are ahead of us in realizing the technical components of this conceptual architecture. We conclude by giving the outlook and impact of cloud services on both large and small businesses.
HOW TO MOTIVATE FASTER GROWTH IN COLOMBIA: THE LEADING SECTOR STRATEGY REVISITED (Artículo publicado en inglés)

This paper reproduces two public lectures given at an Incolda conference in Bogota, October 1, 2002 on «La Realidad de la Economia Colombiana ». It reviews the great structuralchanges in output and employment over recent decades and how macroeconomic policies can strengthen or weaken the natural forces underlying these changes. It distinguishes between potentially inflationary policies designed to increase demand ina monetary sense, and those that focus on institutional changes that enhance competition and mobility. It explains how inflation distorts the allocation of resources, and why it especially harms long-term housing finance and exports. It explains the logic of Lauchlin Currie?s leading sector theory of growth and shows whyand how housing and exports can be given special protection to accelerate development.
Effects of Feedback on Oral Encoding Behaviour

The effect of knowledge of performance on oral encoding facility was investigated. Subjects were placed in an oral examination situation and were provided with ostensibly authentic (but actually manipulated) evaluations of their performance while they answered questions. Dependent variables included rate and duration of various hesitation phenomena, voice loudness, and stage fright. Positive feedback was found to have a slight but facilitative effect on encoding, while negative feedback appeared to be generally disruptive in its influence.
Donor conception from the viewpoint of the child: positives, negatives, and promoting the welfare of the child

Use of donor egg and donor sperm has made parenthood a possibility for many who could not achieve it through natural conception. The use of donor gametes may also permit prospective parents to mitigate a number of health problems for the hoped-for child. Promoting the welfare of the hoped-for child, however, includes not only the consideration of good physical health but also necessitates consideration of psychological, emotional, and social well-being. This paper will review the impact of donor conception from the viewpoint of the resulting child including the psychological, emotional, and social well-being of donor-conceived children. It will discuss the topic of disclosure and closely consider the expansion of donor conception to older parents from the viewpoint of the child.
Globalization and Accountability

In an early scene of the 1987 film, Roxanne, Steve Martin places some coins into a newspaper box on the street, pulls out a paper, glances at the front page, and shrieks in horror. He digs furiously in his pocket, presses more change into the slot, opens the box, and hurriedly shoves the offending newspaper back inside. My desire to write about the relationship between globalization and accountability was driven by similar sentiments.
Low-Level Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 Stimulation of Monocytes Leads to Tumor Formation in Nontumorigenic Melanoma Cells

Tumors commonly produce chemokines for recruitment of host cells, but the biological significance of tumor-infiltrating inflammatory cells, such as monocytes/macrophages, for disease outcome is not clear. Here, we show that all of 30 melanoma cell lines secreted monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), whereas normal melanocytes did not. When low MCP-1-producing melanoma cells from a biologically early, nontumorigenic stage were transduced to overexpress the MCP-1 gene, tumor formation depended on the level of chemokine secretion and monocyte infiltration; low-level MCP-1 secretion with modest monocyte infiltration resulted in tumor formation, whereas high secretion was associated with massive monocyte/macrophage infiltration into the tumor mass, leading to its destruction within a few days after injection into mice. Tumor growth stimulated by monocytes/macrophages was due to increased angiogenesis. Vessel formation in vitro was inhibited with mAbs against TNF-α, which, when secreted by cocultures of melanoma cells with human monocytes, induced endothelial cells under collagen gels to form branching, tubular structures. These studies demonstrate that the biological effects of tumor-derived MCP-1 are biphasic, depending on the level of secretion. This correlates with the degree of monocytic cell infiltration, which results in increased tumor vascularization and TNF-α production.
Levee body vulnerability to seepage: the case study of the levee failure along the Foenna stream on 1 January 2006 (central Italy)

The levee failure event occurred along the Foenna stream (Tuscany region, central Italy) on 1 January 2006 is here investigated. The levee body vulnerability to seepage is first assessed through a procedure here proposed and based on a simple vulnerability index. In particular, the index is defined for dimensionless geometry of levee body and related to the probability of occurrence of the levee seepage through the identification of ‘fragility curves’. The procedure can be applied for embankments whose soil hydraulic parameters are unknown or partly known. The obtained results indicate that the investigated levee, if intact, would not have to be vulnerable to seepage for the flood event occurred on January 2006 when, instead, the failure happened. The analysis shows that the failure was likely due to the presence of burrows at middle height of levee body riverside drawing the flow into the embankment triggering the piping phenomenon. This study indicates that to prevent the failure due to the burrows' presence, the levees must be actively maintained through both the burrows closing and the capture of wild animals. Finally, considering that scarce data are usually available for this type of events worldwide, this paper aims also to illustrate the collected data in terms of: maximum stage recorded at a gauged section close to the failure location, status of the levee, evolution of the failure event.
The Future of GIS in Planning: Converging Technologies and Diverging Interests

Problem: Given that geographic information system (GIS) technology is evolving and becoming integrated with allied technologies, how should planners understand and use it to meet the needs of the profession? Purpose: This article outlines important changes in geospatial technology to initiate a discussion of how the planning profession can best respond to these challenges and opportunities. Methods: The article is based on a literature review and the authors' knowledge of current technology trends and how these trends are likely to affect planning practice and education. Results and conclusions: The world of GIS is changing. With the advent of mass-market GIS, the needs of planners are less central than they were previously to commercial GIS vendors. However, there are exciting new opportunities provided by web-based systems and open-source geospatial software. Planners must move aggressively to grasp these new opportunities. Takeaway for practice: The new web-based systems provide exciting opportunities ...
Luteal estrogen supplementation in stimulated cycles may improve the pregnancy rate in patients undergoing in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection-embryo transfer.

Objective. To evaluate the effect of estradiol addition to progesterone supplementation during the luteal phase on pregnancy and implantation rates in patients undergoing in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection–embryo transfer (IVF/ICSI-ET) cycles.Methods. In this prospective, randomized study, carried out in an IVF unit of a university hospital, we studied patients who were undergoing IVF/ICSI with controlled ovarian hyperstimulation using a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist/human recombinant gonadotropin long protocol. The main outcome measures were the pregnancy and implantation rates measured in the two groups.Results. Our results suggest higher pregnancy and implantation rates in IVF/ICSI-ET cycles that were supplemented with estradiol in the luteal phase.Conclusions. Estradiol supplementation during the luteal phase in women undergoing IVF/ICSI-ET has a beneficial effect on the outcome without (at least, as seems from this study) having any adverse effects.
Paracrystalline inclusions associated with the disk membranes of frog retinal rod outer segments

Abstract Freeze-fracture replicas were prepared from freshly isolated, ultra-rapidly frozen frog retinal rod outer segments (ROSs), which were neither fixed nor exposed to antifreeze agents prior to freezing. Embedded within the lamellar array of ROS disk membranes, a series of rare paracrystalline inclusions were observed which displayed both irregular and cylindrical geometries. These inclusions appear to be formed from elongated lipid cylinders similar to those present in hexagonal (HII) lipid phases. In thin sections through the ROS, corresponding images have not been detected. However, lacunae with similar shapes and dimensions have been found. We believe these paracrystalline inclusions provide the first case in which contiguous bilayer and non-bilayer organizations of lipid have been visualized within a naturally occurring membrane system. The inclusions illustrate a unique and unpredicted mode of structural interaction between several adjacent ROS disks. The absence of freeze-fracture particles within such inclusions further suggests that only the lipid phases of these disks may be structurally continuous. Although the functional significance of these inclusions is unknown, they may have relevance to the enhanced rates of lipid redistribution and turnover in ROSs, compared to those of disk membrane proteins.
The ultrastructural histochemistry and stereoscanning electron microscopy of the rodent and amphibian surfactant systems

Ultrastructural histochemical procedures were employed to determine the carbohydrate components and their contributions to the rodent and amphibian surfactant systems. Zirconium stained the rodent (rat) cytoplasm surrounding the multilamellar bodies, the Golgi, and was associated with the membrane structures of the compact lamellae of alveolar multilamellar bodies. In the rodent and amphibian (Rana pipiens), ruthenium red stain was observed within all tubular myelin surfactant matricies. The “gutters” tubular myelin surfactant matrix, and intratubular myelin surfactant matrix materials all demonstrated a positive reaction product. The periodic acid-chromic acid-silver procedure revealed irregular channels extending from the multilamellar bodies to the surface of the rodent great alveolar pneumocyte. The extra-pulmonary and respiratory surfaces in both species were additionally studied by stereoscanning electron microscopy. The respiratory anatomy of the rodent was corroborated. The amphibian lung demonstrated three orders of septa, and in the expired state, tertiary septal pits. The amphibian primary septa were hollow, blind tubules containing respiratory surfaces.
Contrast–contrast asynchronies

We introduce the "contrast-contrast asynchrony," a dynamic stimulus configuration that combines elements of the Shapiro contrast asynchrony with elements of the Chubb contrast-contrast illusion. In the contrast-contrast asynchrony, static textured fields surround two textured fields; one surround has high-contrast texture, and the other has low-contrast texture. The contrasts of the center fields modulate in phase with each other at 1 Hz, and as a consequence, the difference between the contrast of the centers and the contrast of the respective surround modulates in antiphase. Most observers report an antiphase appearance for high-contrast, fine-grained centers. These observers therefore respond to the difference between the center contrast and surround contrast. We also document three observers who do not see the asynchrony for high-contrast modulations of the center, suggesting possibly interesting individual differences.
Outbreak of bacterial endophthalmitis after cataract surgery and lens implantation: Lack of direct evidence for exogenous contributing factors

Bacterial endophthalmitis is a rare but devastating disease. The risk of infection after intraocular surgery has declined from about 10% at the turn of the century to about 1% in the 1950s and about 0.35% at present.’ Most reports, however, stress that infection incidence rates are not easily established and not easily interpretable,‘*’ and actual rates may be higher. Intraocular prosthetic lens implantation has become an increasingly popular procedure in the therapy of patients with cataracts. This national trend is reflected by the 100% per year increase of this procedure at our institution in each of the past 3 years. Before May 1984, we had documented two hospital-acquired eye infections after cataract removal and lens implantation in 707 patients (0.3%). The Department of Ophthalmology called our attention to two cases of postimplant endophthalmitis in June 1984. Intensive hospital and postdischarge surveillance identified a total of six cases of bacterial endophthalmitis in 456 patients (1.3%) during the next 5 months. This report summarizes our epidemiologic investigations and steps taken to control this outbreak.
The Citicoline Brain Injury Treatment (COBRIT) Trial: Design and Methods

Abstract Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability. In the United States alone approximately 1.4 million sustain a TBI each year, of which 50,000 people die, and over 200,000 are hospitalized. Despite numerous prior clinical trials no standard pharmacotherapy for the treatment of TBI has been established. Citicoline, a naturally occurring endogenous compound, offers the potential of neuroprotection, neurorecovery, and neurofacilitation to enhance recovery after TBI. Citicoline has a favorable side-effect profile in humans and several meta-analyses suggest a benefit of citicoline treatment in stroke and dementia. COBRIT is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center trial of the effects of 90 days of citicoline on functional outcome in patients with complicated mild, moderate, and severe TBI. In all, 1292 patients will be recruited over an estimated 32 months from eight clinical sites with random assignment to citicoline (1000 mg twice a day) or placebo (twice a...
Extracellular Matrix Collagen Alters Cell Proliferation and Cell Cycle Progression of Human Uterine Leiomyoma Smooth Muscle Cells

Uterine leiomyomas (ULs) are benign tumors occurring in the majority of reproductive aged women. Despite the high prevalence of these tumors, little is known about their etiology. A hallmark of ULs is the excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM), primarily collagens. Collagens are known to modulate cell behavior and function singularly or through interactions with integrins and growth factor-mediated mitogenic pathways. To better understand the pathogenesis of ULs and the role of ECM collagens in their growth, we investigated the interaction of leiomyoma smooth muscle cells (LSMCs) with two different forms of collagen, non-polymerized collagen (monomeric) and polymerized collagen (fibrillar), in the absence or presence of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), an abundant growth factor in ULs. Primary cultures of human LSMCS from symptomatic patients were grown on these two different collagen matrices and their morphology, cytoskeletal organization, cellular proliferation, and signaling pathways were evaluated. Our results showed that LSMCs had distinct morphologies on the different collagen matrices and their basal as well as PDGF-stimulated proliferation varied on these matrices. These differences in proliferation were accompanied by changes in cell cycle progression and p21, an inhibitory cell cycle protein. In addition we found alterations in the phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase, cytoskeletal reorganization, and activation of the mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. In conclusion, our results demonstrate a direct effect of ECM on the proliferation of LSMCs through interplay between the collagen matrix and the PDGF-stimulated MAPK pathway. In addition, these findings will pave the way for identifying novel therapeutic approaches for ULs that target ECM proteins and their signaling pathways in ULs.
An improved method for cytogenetic analysis of meiotic aneuploidy in rodent and frog spermatocytes.

Abstract Methods are described for the attachment of isolated spermatocytes to glass slides and the subsequent hypotonic swelling and gradual fixation of the metaphase I and metaphase II cells. The methods minimize cell loss and cell disruption and meiotic metaphase chromosomes become spread within residual cytoplasm thus reducing artefactual chromosome loss. Metaphase II complements from mouse, rat and frog spermatocytes prepared by these procedures had relatively low frequencies of hypoploidy (0.5–1.6%). Bivalent loss was not detected in 916 metaphase I complements. Injection of 0.1 mg/kg demecolcine into mice increased the incidence of metaphase II hypoploidy 8-fold. The hypoploid and hyperploid frequencies here increased equally. The results suggest that the methods described may be useful for the analysis of mechanisms of meiotic aneuploidy including aneuploidy resulting from chromosome loss during meiosis I.