cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of measured acoustic and other indoor environment factors on student achievement in K-12 classrooms

Students can be affected by what they hear, see, and feel within the indoor classroom environment, whether or not it is cognizantly perceived by them. To understand how the indoor environment affects students' performance, measurements were logged in 220 K-12 classrooms in two Midwestern states during three seasons with two occupied days per season. Measurements of acoustics, indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and lighting were taken and a variety of metrics were calculated. For example, acoustic measurements provided reverberation time, clarity index, and equivalent sound levels during both active and inactive portions of the occupied school day. Achievement data in the form of percentile ranks on math and reading tests were also collected for the students who received instruction in each classroom. Structural equation models and multivariate linear regression models were utilized to analyze the effect of the indoor environment factors on student math and reading achievement. Significant findings, particularly in the area of acoustics, are presented and related to previous work in this area. [Work supported by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Grant Number R835633.]
Ventifacts – Fragment 3

A flag unfurls over a non-existent post office. Pages fly, radio voices fizz, a memory of migrating geese. Electric miasma seeps only so far into the sky; this light fades into stars, into a roof s...
A Novel Truncating Variant in FLNC-Encoded Filamin C May Serve as a Proarrhythmic Genetic Substrate for Arrhythmogenic Bileaflet Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome

A 51-year-old man with a long-standing history of bileaflet mitral valve prolapse accompanied by mitral annular disjunction and mild mitral regurgitation presented for evaluation of increasingly frequent palpitations. Ambulatory Holter monitoring, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, serial transthoracic echocardiography, and diagnostic electrophysiology studies were consistent with a diagnosis of arrhythmogenic bileaflet mitral valve prolapse syndrome. Because of the presence of a similar phenotype in the proband's mother, brother, and maternal aunt, research-based whole exome sequencing was pursued and a novel truncating variant (p.Trp34*-FLNC) in the cardiomyopathy-causative FLNC-encoded filamin C unearthed that cosegregated with disease. Unexpectedly, these observations provide the first evidence that a heritable proarrhythmic genetic substrate (ie, FLNC haploinsufficiency-mediated weakening of cell-cell adhesion) may underlie, at least in part, some cases of arrhythmogenic mitral valve prolapse syndrome.
Adjuvant chemotherapy for poor pathologic response after pre-operative chemoradiation in esophageal cancer: infeasible and illogical.

While recent decades have seen incremental improvements in the treatment of esophageal carcinoma, outcomes remain modest. The five-year overall survival (OS) rate for locally advanced esophageal cancer with surgery alone is 23–33% in contemporary studies (1-3). In locally advanced esophageal cancer, the risk of incomplete (R1) resection, local recurrence and systemic dissemination is significant. Numerous studies have demonstrated that the addition of chemotherapy and/or radiation to surgery improve outcomes, leading to multimodal treatment becoming standard-of-care. In particular, pre-operative chemoradiation has emerged as a standard-of-care in the US and Western Europe (4).
Agendamelding: How audiences meld agendas in Iran

Abstract The present study tests the agendamelding theory, which posits that public agenda is the result of a process whereby audiences “meld” agendas from various media along with their personal agenda to form a coherent picture of society. To that end, the contributions of the traditional media agenda, the social media agenda, and the personal agenda of Iranian audiences to their public agenda are independently measured and compared against values predicted by theory. The findings indicate a strong social media agenda-setting effect in Iran (ρ = .83, p < .05) and a weak, non-significant traditional media agenda-setting effect (ρ = .28, p = .48). On average, actual contributions closely mirror values predicted by theory, suggesting that agendamelding is a viable theory for studying the audience-media relationship.
A secondary analysis of testosterone and electrically evoked resistance training versus testosterone only (TEREX-SCI) on untrained muscles after spinal cord injury: a pilot randomized clinical trial.

Secondary analysis of a clinical trial. To perform a secondary analysis on the effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation resistance training (RT) combined with testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) compared with TRT on the untrained muscles after spinal cord injury (SCI). Medical research center. Twenty-two men with chronic motor complete SCI were randomized into TRT + RT group (n = 11) or TRT group (n = 11). Both groups received 16 weeks of TRT (2–6 mg/day) via testosterone patches. The TRT + RT group received twice weekly progressive RT of the knee extensor muscles using electrical stimulation and ankle weights. Magnetic resonance images were captured to measure cross-sectional areas (CSAs) of trunk, glutei, and leg muscles. Total and absolute gluteus maximus m. (14%, P = 0.003 and 16%, P = 0.001), gluteus medius m. (10%; P = 0.008 and 14%; P = 0.02), and total glutei m. (8%, P = 0.01 and 11%, P = 0.005) CSAs increased overtime for the TRT + RT group. Mean between-group differences of 2.86 (95% CI: 0.30, 5.4), 1.89 (95% CI: 0.23, 3.58) and 5.27 (95% CI: 0.90, 9.69) cm2 were noted for absolute gluteus maximus, total gluteus medius and total glutei CSAs, respectively (P < 0.05). Trunk muscle CSAs showed a trend towards an interaction between groups. RT combined with low-dose TRT results in significant hypertrophy compared with TRT only on the adjacent untrained glutei muscles. Trunk muscles may require direct stimulation to evoke hypertrophy. These exploratory findings may be of clinical relevance in the reduction of incidence and severity of pelvic pressure injuries.
Qualitative and quantitative comparison of colonic microendoscopy image features to histopathology

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, affecting more than 130,000 Americans every year1. Determining tumor margins prior to surgical resection is essential to providing optimal treatment and reducing recurrence rates. Colorectal cancer recurrence can occur in up to 20% of cases, commonly within three years after curative treatment. Typically, when colorectal cancers are resected, a margin of normal tissue on both sides of the tumor is required. The minimum margin required for colon cancer is 5 cm and for the lower rectum 2 cm. However, usually more normal tissue is taken on both sides of the tumor because the blood supply to the entire segment is removed with the surgery and therefore the entire segment must be removed. Anastomotic recurrences may result from inadequate margins. Pathologists look at the margins to ensure that there is no residual tumor and this is usually documented in the pathology report. We have developed a portable, point-of-care fiber bundle microendoscopy imaging system for detection of abnormalities in colonic epithelial microstructure. The system comprises a laptop, a modified fiber bundle image guide with a 1mm active area diameter and custom Lab VIEW interface, and is approved for imaging surgically resected colon tissue at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The microendoscopy probe provides high-resolution images of superficial epithelial histology in real-time to assist surgical guidance and to localize occult regions of dysplasia which may not be visible. Microendoscopy images of freshly resected human colonic epithelium were acquired using the microendoscopy device and subsequently mosaicked using custom post-processing software. Architectural changes in the glands were mapped to histopathology H&E slides taken from the precise location of the microendoscopy images. Qualitatively, glandular distortion and placement of image guide was used to map normal and dysplastic areas of the colonic tumor and surrounding region from microendoscopy images to H&E slides. Quantitative metrics for correlating images were also explored and were obtained by analyzing glandular diameter and spatial distribution as well as image texture.
ImageBERT: Cross-modal Pre-training with Large-scale Weak-supervised Image-Text Data

In this paper, we introduce a new vision-language pre-trained model -- ImageBERT -- for image-text joint embedding. Our model is a Transformer-based model, which takes different modalities as input and models the relationship between them. The model is pre-trained on four tasks simultaneously: Masked Language Modeling (MLM), Masked Object Classification (MOC), Masked Region Feature Regression (MRFR), and Image Text Matching (ITM). To further enhance the pre-training quality, we have collected a Large-scale weAk-supervised Image-Text (LAIT) dataset from Web. We first pre-train the model on this dataset, then conduct a second stage pre-training on Conceptual Captions and SBU Captions. Our experiments show that multi-stage pre-training strategy outperforms single-stage pre-training. We also fine-tune and evaluate our pre-trained ImageBERT model on image retrieval and text retrieval tasks, and achieve new state-of-the-art results on both MSCOCO and Flickr30k datasets.
Radiative Double-Electron Capture by Bare and One-Electron Ions on Gas Targets.

Radiative double-electron capture (RDEC) involves the transfer of two electrons with the simultaneous emission of a single photon. This process, which can be viewed as the inverse of double photoionzation, has been studied for $2.11\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}/\mathrm{u}$ ${\mathrm{F}}^{9+}$ and ${\mathrm{F}}^{8+}$ ions striking gas targets of ${\mathrm{N}}_{2}$ and Ne. The existence of RDEC is conclusively shown for both targets and the results are compared with earlier ${\mathrm{O}}^{8+}$ and ${\mathrm{F}}^{9+}$ findings for thin-foil carbon and with theory. The data for the carbon target showed some evidence for the existence of RDEC, but the interpretation was clouded by high-probability, unavoidable multiple collisions causing the exiting charge state to be increased.
Analysis of clinical characteristics and prognosis factors in children with acute gastrointestinal poisoning

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics in children with digestive tract poisoning in emergency department and discuss the measures of prevention and treatment. Methods Four hundred and seventy-three cases with digestive tract poisoning who visited the emergency department of Zhengzhou Children′s Hospital were retrospectively analyzed from January 2015 to December 2017.The ages, toxic poisoning causes, types, clinical features, laboratory examinations, hospitalization expenses and outcomes were analyzed.They were divided into drug poisoning and non-drug poisoning group to compare. Results There were 317 (67.0%) cases aged 6 days to 3 years old, 133 (28.1%) cases aged 3 to 6 years old, 23 cases(4.9%)>6 years old.The incidence rate was similar in each season but slightly lower in winter.There were 462 (97.7%) cases of accidental poisoning, of which 377 (79.7%) cases were mistreated and 85 (18.0%) cases were mistakenly fed by parents, other 11 (2.3%) cases were non-accidental poisoning.Three hundreds and thirty-six (71.0%) cases were drug poisoning, and 137 (29.0%) cases were non-drug poisoning.Drug poisonings were higher in urban children than in rural children, the difference was statistically significant(χ2=7.037, P=0.008). The percentage of digestive symptoms and blood system symptoms in non-drug poisoning group were higher than those in drug poisoning group, and the differences were statistically significant(54.0% vs.8.3%, χ2=120.067, P 6h treating group, and the difference was all statistically significant(all P<0.05). Conclusion Children with acute gastrointestinal poisoning are mostly infants and preschoolers, mainly accidental poisoning, and often taken by mistake.Drug poisonings are mostly found in cities and non-drug poisonings in rural areas.Non-drug poisoning children have more serious damages and higher hospitalization costs than drug poisoning children.Early treatment after poisoning is an important factor to improve cure rate. Key words: Children; Digestivetract; Poisoning; Drug; Non-drug
Temporal patterns of voluntary alcohol intake.

This paper describes methods of analysing temporal patterns of alcohol consumption by mice over time-courses of days or hours. Records of daily alcohol intake can be used to identify brief periods when the mice sobered up. These one-day ‘breaks’ apparently allow the previously acquired level of physical dependence to decay. Effective alcohol intake, calculated by taking account of breaks, is a good indicator of physical dependence. More detailed time studies show the circadian rhythm of intake and of blood alcohol levels. To analyse our records of alcohol consumption over successive 8-hour periods, we fitted the data to cosine curves. These curves show the amplitude of the intake rhythm, which in turn determines the stability of blood alcohol levels. The highest and most stable blood alcohol levels were obtained by administering alcohol in a liquid diet to individually-housed mice.
Dynamic Joint Motions in Occupational Environments as Indicators of Potential Musculoskeletal Injury Risk

The objective of this study was to test the feasibility of using a pair of wearable inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors to accurately capture dynamic joint motion data during simulated occupational conditions. Eleven subjects (5 males and 6 females) performed repetitive neck, low-back, and shoulder motions simulating low- and high-difficulty occupational tasks in a laboratory setting. Kinematics for each of the 3 joints were measured via IMU sensors in addition to a "gold standard" passive marker optical motion capture system. The IMU accuracy was benchmarked relative to the optical motion capture system, and IMU sensitivity to low- and high-difficulty tasks was evaluated. The accuracy of the IMU sensors was found to be very good on average, but significant positional drift was observed in some trials. In addition, IMU measurements were shown to be sensitive to differences in task difficulty in all 3 joints (P < .05). These results demonstrate the feasibility for using wearable IMU sensors to capture kinematic exposures as potential indicators of occupational injury risk. Velocities and accelerations demonstrate the most potential for developing risk metrics since they are sensitive to task difficulty and less sensitive to drift than rotational position measurements.
Lab-on-a-Fish: Wireless, Miniaturized, Fully Integrated, Implantable Biotelemetric Tag for Real-time In Vivo Monitoring of Aquatic Animals

In vivo electronic monitoring systems for underwater applications are promising technologies for obtaining information about aquatic animals. State-of-the-art devices are constrained by limits on the number of integrated sensors, large dimensions and weight, and short device longevity. Here, we report the Lab-on-a-Fish: the world’s first biotelemetry tag that combines edge computing with wireless sensing of in vivo physiology (electrocardiogram, electromyogram), behavior (activity level, tail beat frequency), and ambient environment (temperature, pressure, and magnetic field). The Lab-on-a-Fish has a miniaturized form (dry weight: 2.4 g; wet weight: 0.8 g; dimensions: 5.5 mm × 6.5 mm × 37 mm) for studying small animals. Engineering efforts spanning improvements in battery chemistry, electronic circuit efficiency, and power-saving algorithms extends the longevity of the device to as much as eight months. The designed piezoelectric transducer and its driving circuit enable underwater wireless communication of multiplexed digital sensor data over a distance up to 400 meters. The Lab-on-a-Fish can also store the raw data using flash memory for use in locations that are challenging for acoustic communications or when more complex data post-processing is needed. Long-term in vivo validation in three species-rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus), and walleye (Sander vitreus)-demonstrated the device’s sensing potential for biological and environmental applications.
Computer-Assisted Photographic Superimposition

A new computer-assisted system for photographic superimposition using electronic imaging has been successfully employed to compare an antemortem photograph with a recovered cranium and mandible. Credibility of the comparison is enhanced through study of similar crania from collections of human remains of the Smithsonian Institution. Using this system, the recovered remains appear to match the photograph, while the crania and mandibles of the four individuals in the Smithsonian Institution collection that were found to be most similar to the recovered remains show distinct differences when compared with the photograph.
Judges' awareness, understanding, and application of digital evidence

As digital evidence grows in both volume and importance in criminal and civil courts, judges need to fairly and justly evaluate the merits of the offered evidence. To do so, judges need a general understanding of the underlying technologies and applications from which digital evidence is derived. Due to the relative newness of the computer forensics field, there have been few studies on the use of digital forensic evidence and none about judges’ relationship with digital evidence. This study addressed judges’ awareness, knowledge, and perceptions of digital evidence, using grounded theory methods. The interaction of judges with digital evidence has a social aspect that makes a study of this relationship well suited to grounded theory. This study gathered data via a written survey distributed to judges in the American Bar Association and National Judicial College, followed by interviews with judges from Massachusetts and Vermont. The results indicated that judges generally recognize the importance of evidence derived from digital sources, although they are not necessarily aware of all such sources. They believe that digital evidence needs to be authenticated just like any type of evidence and that it is the role of attorneys rather than of judges to mount challenges to that evidence, as appropriate. Judges are appropriately wary of digital evidence, recognizing how easy it is to alter or misinterpret such evidence. Less technically aware judges appear even more wary of digital evidence than their more knowledgeable peers. Judges recognize that they need additional training in computer and Internet technology as the computer forensics process and digital evidence, citing a lack of availability of such training. This training would enable judges to better understand the arguments presented by lawyers, testimony offered by technical witnesses, and judicial opinions forming the basis of decisional law. A framework for such training is provided in this report. This study is the first in the U.S. to analyze judges and digital forensics, thus opening up a new avenue of research. It is the second time that grounded theory has been employed in a digital forensics study, demonstrating the applicability of that methodology to this discipline.
Design of a 10 bit TSMC 0.25 /spl mu/m CMOS digital to analog converter

The goal of this project is to implement a 10-bit segmented current steering TSMC 0.25 /spl mu/m CMOS digital to analog converter. Binary coded 10-bit data is input to the converter. The converter converts all combinations of ten bits from digital form into the corresponding "staircase" voltage levels. A low pass filter placed after the output terminal of the converter is necessary to make the voltage level smooth.
From Kansas to the Congo: Why Naming and Shaming Corporations through Dodd-Frank's Corporate Governance Disclosure Won't Solve a Human Rights Crisis

The Securities and Exchange Commission serves to protect investors, maintain fair and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation. With the passage of Dodd-Frank section 1502’s conflict minerals corporate governance disclosure provision, the agency has entered into the human rights arena. Any company regardless of size that files reports with the SEC must now ensure that is not funding rebel groups engaged in rape, torture, the use of child soldiers, exploitation of child labor or other activities that have, in part, led to one of the world’s largest and most protracted humanitarian crises. This “name and shame” law, which does not actually make it illegal to source minerals from the Congo, aims to provide transparency to consumers and investors so that they can make informed choices about the companies with which they choose to do business. On the surface this makes sense in an era in which companies are hyper-vigilant about their reputations. Whether a corporation takes a shareholder or stakeholder-centric point of view, no firm can afford to be associated with conscription of child soldiers or the rape of women and children.This Article briefly outlines corporate motivations for social responsibility programs; the state of corporate liability for human rights abuses prior to Dodd-Frank; the level of sexual violence in the Congo which led to the legislation; the legislative history behind the conflict mineral rule including the involvement of civil society groups; the legal challenges to the rule; and some alternatives to the rule. The Article contends that in a well-intentioned effort to help the people of the Congo, the drafters of the law oversimplified the causes of the violence and failed to consider appropriate alternatives. Compounding the errors, the implementers of the law -- the SEC believing that it was hamstrung by Congressional requirements -- failed in its duty to consider costs and benefits or to appropriately use its discretion. Companies, however, will conduct their own cost benefit analyses as it relates to reputation and legal risk and some will likely pull out of the Congo causing a de facto boycott. Consumers and investors will ultimately determine whether name and shame really works in this instance. Nonetheless, they will continue to demand transparency in the supply chain regardless of the success of Dodd-Frank. This Article ultimately concludes that the conflict minerals rule is a poor choice for human rights legislation for corporations because the law’s flaws may lead to unintended and devastating consequences for the very beneficiaries it intends to help- the Congolese people.
Paper chromatographic separation of multi-component antibiotic mixtures

Abstract A paper chromatographic procedure has been described which has proved to be a powerful tool for separating the solvent-soluble antibiotics such as the macrolides and the quinocyclines. The method is rapid, versatile and capable of handling a wide variety of sample types. It has proven extremely valuable in following the synthesis of the several acetylated derivatives of oleandomycin and their appearance and interconversions in biological fluids.
Experimental validation of mathematical model describing external stores separation

This work is concerned with concepts and some results regardine the problem of aerodynamic interference in the system. The main emphasis is put on a practical, cost-effective engineering solution to this complex problem with reasonable computational efficiency allowing a code to run on PC computers. Prediction of separation trajectories of external stores is an important task in the aerodynamic design area having the objective to define operational release envelopes. To attain this purpose, a technique based on the Non-linear Panel Method with an unsteady free wake formulation has been developed. The comparison with a flight test as well as wind tunnel investigations has proved the reliability of this methodology.
Miniature Probes for Use in Gas Turbine Testing

Because of space limitations and system complexity in many applications associated with gas turbine testing, extremely small flow measuring probes have sometimes been required. This paper presents several examples of these miniature probes - null type as well as fixed position - which have proved useful in aircraft and space power systems component testing and are applicable to automotive gas turbine testing. These probes are used to determine component or system performance from the measurement of gas temperature as well as total and static pressure, and flow direction. Detailed drawings of the sensors are presented along with experimental data covering the flow characteristics over the range of intended use.
Three-dimensional angle-optimized FDTD algorithms for large-scale problems

We describe a 3D angle-optimized FDTD (AO-FDTD) algorithm to minimize the dispersion error around pre-assigned angles. Because of the 3D Cartesian grid symmetry, the optimization occurs at each octant concurrently. This algorithm is of particular interest for some large-scale FDTD simulations where the dispersion error around a limited angular span should be minimized, while the overall isotropy is not critical.
Suggested Future Directions in High-Speed Transition Experimental Research

The substantiation in the late 1960’s of the general dominance of radiated facility wall boundary-layer noise upon high-speed transition measurements in wind tunnels, along with the essential collapse of interest in high-speed aerodynamic research in the early 70’s, had an understandably severe adverse effect upon the pace of experimental high-speed transition research. The community understood that further research progress required the invention and development of high-speed quiet (and otherwise low-disturbance) facilities. Due to funding actualities, the only sustained effort aimed at the development of such a facility was conducted (from 1972 - present) at the NASA Langley Research Center by a group headed by I. E. Beckwith. The quiet tunnel development problem is an extremely difficult one, being essentially a laminar flow control problem with the crippling condition that local suction cannot, in general, be used to accomplish the laminarization due to consequent production of finite strength waves at the suction sites. This wave system usually causes stream disturbances of a higher level than the turbulent wall radiated noise which one is trying to mitigate.
Graphics programming for the web

With HTML5 and ever-improving browser performance, the web has emerged as an ideal platform for showcasing graphics applications. Several graphics applications that were once too slow to be written in anything but native code may now be fast enough to run as web apps.This course for developers who want to develop graphics applications for the web introduces the concepts of core web programming and the dominant graphics technologies that are supported by most modern browsers. It begins with a brief primer on general-purpose web programming (HTML parsing, CSS, and DOM- and render-tree construction), how Javascript can be used to generate dynamic web content, and how to improve performance and accelerate development time.The bulk of this course describes the web technologies specific to graphics:CSS3: transitions, animations, 3D transforms and the new CSS-shadersHTML5 Canvas 2D: path API, compositing, image editing, and animationSVG: overview of API, how it's different from HTML5 Canvas 2DWebGL: the key necessary steps, relation to OpenGL, performance hintsWebCL: the formal specifications, what's implemented and what's to comeFor each topic, the course provides a significant number of code examples that illustrate the relevant graphics capabilities. Attendees are welcome to copy and paste our code snippets and execute them inside any modern web browser.
How to deliver a comprehensive preventive dentistry service that dental insurance carriers can underwrite.

This guide on the practice management of preventive dentistry, with instructions on how to deliver preventive services in a comprehensive, organized, and objective fashion, won the ADA Preventive Dentistry Award in 1975. A numerical scoring system has been devised to evaluate objectively the effectiveness of preventive dentistry services. Each service is objective because it involves either chairside or documented counseling procedures. Methods by which insurance carriers can monitor the delivery of preventive services include peer review of clinical services, data sheets, case notes, a preventive dentistry record, and patient questionnaire.
A method for assaying hepatic morphine UDP-glucuronyl transferase.

Abstract A simple, rapid and precise method for measuring the activity of hepatic morphine uridine diphosphate glucuronyl transferase (UDP-GT) is described. The mean rates of glucuronidation found in liver homogenates from adult male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were, respectively, 8.38 and 2.68 μmole of morphine/mg of protein n /hr. This level of activity is much higher than has been reported elsewhere. The sex difference is statistically significant. The optimum values for all variables in the assay procedure have been carefully determined. Activation of UDP-GT by digitonin has been demonstrated.
The inhibitory effect of opioid peptides and morphine applied intrathecally and intracerebroventricularly on the micturition reflex in the cat

Intrathecal (i.t.) and intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of enkephalins and enkephalin analogs inhibited reflex contractions of the urinary bladder and firing in vesical parasympathetic postganglionic nerves. Leucine- and methionine-enkephalin (L-Enk and M-Enk, mean threshold doses: 110 μg, i.t. and 17 μg, i.c.v.) elicited short-lasting inhibition (3–30 min), whereas d -Ala2-leucine- and d -Ala2-methionine enkephalinamide (mean threshold dose 23μg, i.t.), produced more prominent and prolonged inhibition (1.5–3 h). DSLET, a δ selective opiate receptor agonist, blocked bladder activity when injected i.c.v. or i.t. (mean threshold doses 0.08 μg and 13 μg), whereas morphine, which has greater affinity for μ opiate receptors, was effective by i.c.v. and intravenous (i.v.) injection (mean threshold doses, 5 μg and 300 μg/kg), but not by i.t. injection (200–400 μg). Thiorphan (50–200 μg, i.t., i.c.v.) enhanced the responses to L-Enk, whereas naloxone (10–50 μg, i.t., i.c.v., i.v.), blocked the responses to all opioid substances. In untreated animals thiorphan depressed and naloxone enhanced bladder reflexes. With i.t. administration naloxone (10–200 μg) increased the duration and magnitude of bladder contractions, whereas with i.c.v. injections, the drug increased the frequency and reduced the amplitude of the contractions. Large doses of naloxone i.t., but not i.c.v., produced sustained bladder contractions and vesical efferent firing. These results indicate that bladder reflexes are controlled by tonic enkephalinergic inhibitory mechanisms in both the brain and spinal cord. In the brain enkephalinergic inhibition which was mediated by δ and μ opiate receptors, seems to control the frequency of bladder contractions and micturition threshold, whereas in the spinal cord, inhibition is mediated by δ receptors and seems to control the magnitude of bladder contractions.
Resultados Basados en la Evidencia para la Investigación y Práctica Clínica del Dolor

Resumen El crecimiento en la medicina basada en la evidencia ha creado la necesidad de obtener resultados confiables basados en evidencia para documentar reacciones a un tratamiento o para evaluar la eficacia y rendimiento economico de distintas modalidades de tratamientos. Segun el modelo biopsicosocial, el dolor se conceptualiza como una compleja interaccion de multiples factores biologicos, psicologicos y sociales, que en conjunto juegan un papel en el desarrollo, agudizacion y prolongacion del dolor. Por consiguiente, los resultados asociados con la gestion del dolor son por necesidad de naturaleza compleja y multifactorial. El presente articulo desarrolla dos categorias generales de resultados basados en la evidencia en la gestion del dolor: resultados reportados por pacientes y resultados objetivos. Los resultados reportados por pacientes se explican en el ambito de las medidas de dolor, la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud, y los modelos psico-sociales. Los resultados objetivos se desarrollan en el ambito ocupacional y el grado de utilizacion de los servicios de salud. Cada seccion elabora singulares modelos de cada una de las medida de resultados y destaca su concordancia con normas actuales de evidencia y con el estado actual de conocimiento en la investigacion del dolor.
Induction of neutrophil Mac-1 integrin expression and superoxide production by the medicinal plant extract gossypol

Gossypol is present in antiinflammatory poultices made from the medicinal tree Thespesia populnea. Isolated human neutrophils exposed to 3-20 microM gossypol for 15-90 min were assayed in vitro for superoxide production and surface expression of Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18). Gossypol increased superoxide production in a time- and concentration-dependent fashion consistent with a moderate, delayed respiratory burst. Surface Mac-1 expression was increased within 15 min by 3-5 microM gossypol, resulting in a 14-fold increase over controls and a threefold greater increase over that produced by PMA. Staurosporine failed to block gossypol induction of superoxide and Mac-1, while EDTA inhibited induction of Mac-1 only, implicating a calcium-dependent mechanism. Gossypol increased intracellular calcium to peak levels, but in a delayed fashion as compared to FMLP. These findings demonstrate that gossypol is a highly potent stimulant of Mac-1 expression and suggest at least two protein kinase C-independent pathways of neutrophil activation. The resultant exhaustion of neutrophils may account for the antiinflammatory properties of plants containing gossypol.
Another step towards xenotransplantation.

Synthesis of the major xenogeneic antigen can be diverted towards production of an innocuous sugar by expression of a glycosyltransferase (pages 1261–1267).
Membrane Topology of the Human Na/Glucose Cotransporter SGLT1

The membrane topology of the human Na+/glucose cotransporter SGLT1 has been probed using N-glycosylation scanning mutants and nested truncations. Functional analysis proved essential for establishment of signal-anchor topology. The resultant model diverges significantly from previously held suppositions of structure based primarily on hydropathy analysis. SGLT1 incorporates 14 membrane spans. The N terminus resides extracellularly, and two hydrophobic regions form newly recognized membrane spans 4 and 12; the large charged domain near the C terminus is cytoplasmic. This model was evaluated further using two advanced empirically-based algorithms predictive of transmembrane helices. Helix ends were predicted using thermodynamically-based algorithms known to predict x-ray crystallographically determined transmembrane helix ends. Several considerations suggest the hydrophobic C terminus forms a 14th transmembrane helix, differentiating the eukaryotic members of the SGLT1 family from bacterial homologues. Our data inferentially indicate that these bacterial homologues incorporate 13 spans, with an extracellular N terminus. The model of SGLT1 secondary structure and the predicted helix ends signify information prerequisite for the rational design of further experiments on structure/function relationships.
Substrate binding stabilizes S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase in a closed conformation.

Comparison of crystal structures of S-adenosylhomocysteine (AdoHcy) hydrolase in the substrate-free, NAD(+) form [Hu, Y., Komoto, J., Huang, Y., Gomi, T., Ogawa, H., Takata, Y., Fujioka, M., and Takusagawa, F. (1999) Biochemistry 38, 8323-8333] and a substrate-bound, NADH form [Turner, M. A., Yuan, C.-S., Borchardt, R. T., Hershfield, M. S., Smith, G. D., and Howell, P. L. (1998) Nat. Struct. Biol. 5, 369-376] indicates large differences in the spatial arrangement of the catalytic and NAD(+) binding domains. The substrate-free, NAD(+) form exists in an "open" form with respect to catalytic and NAD(+) binding domains, whereas the substrate-bound, NADH form exists in a closed form with respect to those domains. To address whether domain closure is induced by substrate binding or its subsequent oxidation, we have measured the rotational dynamics of spectroscopic probes covalently bound to Cys(113) and Cys(421) within the catalytic and carboxyl-terminal domains. An independent domain motion is associated with the catalytic domain prior to substrate binding, suggesting the presence of a flexible hinge element between the catalytic and NAD(+) binding domains. Following binding of substrates (i.e., adenosine or neplanocin A) or a nonsubstrate (i.e., 3'-deoxyadenosine), the independent domain motion associated with the catalytic domain is essentially abolished. Likewise, there is a substantial decrease in the average hydrodynamic volume of the protein that is consistent with a reduction in the overall dimensions of the homotetrameric enzyme following substrate binding and oxidation observed in earlier crystallographic studies. Thus, the catalytic and NAD(+) binding domains are stabilized to form a closed active site through interactions with the substrate prior to substrate oxidation.
Avian nocturnal hyperactivity: Neurotransmitter metabolism in the basal ganglia☆

Abstract The regional distribution of GABA, GAD activity, high-affinity 3H-choline accumulation (HACA), and the dopamine/serotonin metabolites 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), homovanillic acid (HVA), and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) are described in the brain of a migratory passerine species, the White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis). GABA and GAD activity are highest in the optic tectum and basal ganglia (lobus paraolfactorius and paleostriatum). A high HACA rate and DOPAC-HVA level is restricted to the basal ganglia. The mesencephalon has the highest 5-HIAA content. Avian nocturnal activity (ANH), a seasonal behavior of migratory passerines in captivity, is a manifestation of migratory flight on spring and fall nights. Dopamine metabolite levels and HACA during spring ANH were compared to two groups of birds rendered inactive at night. HVA and DOPAC in the basal ganglia were greater (+31 to 68%) in the hyperactive group. Yet, despite hyperactivity, the HACA rate remained unchanged in these regions. These data are consistent with a role for meso-telencephalic dopamine neurons in the release of ANH.
Sudden cardiac death: epidemiology and risk factors

Sudden cardiac arrest causes more than 60% of all deaths from cardiovascular disease. In this Review, Adabag and colleagues discuss trends in the incidence of sudden cardiac death (SCD), and the risk factors and triggers of this devastating event. The authors also highlight the lack of a concise definition for SCD and suggest that prospective community surveillance programs, using multiple sources to identify cases, would enable more accurate determination of SCD burden. They also review the growing evidence for the role of public-access defibrillators in improving survival after sudden cardiac arrest.
Energetic multifunctionalized nitraminopyrazoles and their ionic derivatives: ternary hydrogen-bond induced high energy density materials.

Diverse functionalization was introduced into the pyrazole framework giving rise to a new family of ternary hydrogen-bond induced high energy density materials. By incorporating extended cationic interactions, nitramine-based ionic derivatives exhibit good energetic performance and enhanced molecular stability. Performance parameters including heats of formation and detonation properties were calculated by using Gaussian 03 and EXPLO5 v6.01 programs, respectively. It is noteworthy to find that 5-nitramino-3,4-dinitropyrazole, 4, has a remarkable measured density of 1.97 g cm–3 at 298 K, which is consistent with its crystal density (2.032 g cm–3, 150 K), and ranks highest among azole-based CHNO compounds. Energetic evaluation indicates that, in addition to the molecular compound 4, some ionic derivatives, 9, 11, 12, 17, 19, and 22, also have high densities (1.83–1.97 g cm–3), excellent detonation pressures and velocities (P, 35.6–41.6 GPa; vD, 8880–9430 m s–1), as well as acceptable impact and friction sen...
A national low temperature neutron irradiation facility

The Materials Sciences Division of the United States Department of Energy will establish a National Low Temperature Neutron Irradiation Facility (NLTNIF) which will utilize the Bulk Shielding Reactor (BSR) located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The facility will provide high radiation intensities and special environmental and testing conditions for qualified experiments at no cost to users. This report describes the planned experimental capabilities of the new facility.
The Benefits and Costs of an International Currency: Getting the Calculus Right

Does it pay to issue an international money? Should a government promote internationalization of its currency? And if so, how might policy makers shape cross-border use to maximize net gains? The aim of this essay is to address these old questions anew, in hopes of providing clearer insight into the strategic calculus involved. Scholars have debated the net benefits or costs of currency internationalization for decades. Yet despite much sound and fury little analytical consensus exists. The conventional literature is marred by at least three critical defects, which might be called the three M’s—Misconceptions, Misplaced Concreteness, and outright Mistakes. A proper appreciation of the three M’s, I endeavor to show, can take us a long way toward getting the calculus right.
Autophagy in pancreatic cancer: An emerging mechanism of cell death

Pancreatic cancer, the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, is resistant to current chemotherapies. Therefore, identification of different pathways of cell death is important to develop novel therapeutics. Our previous study has shown that triptolide, a diterpene triepoxide, inhibits the growth of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and prevents tumor growth in vivo. However, the mechanism by which triptolide kills pancreatic cancer cells was not known, hence, this study aimed at elucidating it. Our study reveals that triptolide kills diverse types of pancreatic cancer cells by two different pathways; it induces caspase-dependent apoptotic death in some cell lines and death via a caspase-independent autophagic pathway in the other cell lines tested. Triptolide-induced autophagy requires autophagy-specific genes, atg5 or beclin 1 and its inhibition results in cell death via the apoptotic pathway, whereas inhibition of both autophagy and apoptosis rescues triptolide-mediated cell death. Our study shows for the first time that induction of autophagy by triptolide has a pro-death role in pancreatic cancer cells. Since triptolide kills diverse pancreatic cancer cells by different mechanisms, it makes an attractive chemotherapeutic agent for future use against a broad spectrum of pancreatic cancers.
Home is Where the Heart is Congressional Tenure, Retirement, and the Implications for Representation

A variety of scholars and political actors in both the modern and founding eras have thought that members of Congress may personally grow apart from their constituents over time. There has been little empirical evidence for this proposition, however. Using logit regression analysis, this article suggests that members become less personally rooted in their home constituencies and more focused on life in Washington as their tenure increases. Specifically, the more years served by members of the House, (a) the less likely they are to return home after leaving office and (b) the more likely they are to work as lobbyists in Washington, even after controlling for multiple personal and political factors. Longer serving senators are somewhat less likely to return home but are not more likely to become lobbyists. The article discusses the problems this dynamic phenomenon of psychological distance may pose for the member-constituent relationship.
Sequence specificity and transcriptional activation in the binding of lactoferrin to DNA

Lactoferrin, an iron-binding glycoprotein found in high concentrations in human milk and other epithelial secretions and in the secondary (specific) granules of neutrophils, is thought to be responsible for primary defence against microbial infection, mainly as a result of lactoferrin sequestration of iron required for microbial growth. Many other functions have been attributed to lactoferrin, including immunomodulation and cell growth regulation (reviewed in ref. 4). Some of these functions appear to be at least in part independent of the iron-binding activity of lactoferrin. It also has been consistently observed that lactoferrin interacts avidly with nucleic acids. Lactoferrin enhancement of the activity of natural killer and lymphokine-activated killer cells in vitro is inhibited by RNA and DNA. Lactoferrin taken up by K562 human myelogenous leukaemia cells appears in the nucleus where it is bound to DNA. We report here that binding of lactoferrin to DNA occurs under stringent conditions with distinct sequence specificity, and that interaction between lactoferrin and these sequences intracellularly leads to transcriptional activation.
Uniform Asymptotic Expansions for Pricing European Options

Starting with a stochastic volatility model, in which the volatility depends on a nonlinear function of a fast varying diffusion, and assuming the fast diffusion is mean reverting, the problem of pricing European options is considered in this paper. Uniform asymptotic expansions of the option price are obtained. The formal expansions are justified and the uniform error bounds are derived using outer and inner expansions of the option prices.
Balanced Fuel-Injector Effects on In-Flight Aircraft Engine Vibration

Uneven fuel/air mixtures between cylinders in flat horizontally opposed fuel injected aircraft engines can contribute to vibration. A comparative inflight study using standard fuel injector nozzles and balanced flow fuel injector nozzles was conducted on a Teledyne Continental Motors IO 520 BB aircraft engine installed in a Beech Bonanza under typical cruise flight conditions. The results indicate that balanced flow fuel injector nozzles reduce engine vibration for most fuel/air flow ratios.
Learning to rank graphs for online similar graph search

Many applications in structure matching require the ability to search for graphs that are similar to a query graph, i.e., similarity graph queries. Prior works, especially in chemoinformatics, have used the maximum common edge subgraph (MCEG) to compute the graph similarity. This approach is prohibitively slow for real-time queries. In this work, we propose an algorithm that extracts and indexes subgraph features from a graph dataset. It computes the similarity of graphs using a linear graph kernel based on feature weights learned offline from a training set generated using MCEG. We show empirically that our proposed algorithm of learning to rank graphs can achieve higher normalized discounted cumulative gain compared with existing optimal methods based on MCEG. The running time of our algorithm is orders of magnitude faster than these existing methods.