cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Decreased FPN1 in Myeloma Promotes Malignant Cell Growth and Osteoclast Differentiation

Abstract Background: Many patients with multiple myeloma (MM) suffer from anemia due to systematic alteration in iron metabolism, as is commonly seen in many cancers. Decreased iron availability resulting in impaired erythropoiesis is the main cause of myeloma-associated anemia. Bone lytic lesion is a hallmark of MM. Recent study have shown that the activation of osteoclast demands high iron uptake to facilitate mitochondrial biogenesis. Export of intracelluar iron is regulated by Ferroportin (FPN1), but its role in MM remains unclear. Here we provided evidence that FPN1 is critical regulator of progression in MM. Materials and methods: Gene expression profiling (GEP) analysis was applied to identify the iron signature and the association of FPN1 with MM outcome. MM cells with enhanced expression of FPN1 by lentiviral transduction were tested in clonogenic assays in vitro and xenograft model in vivo. The intracellular labile iron pool was detected by the calcein-AM assay. The C57BL/KaLwRij model was employed to test the role of FPN1 and iron in vivoby inducible expression of FPN1 in 5TGM1 cells and administration of iron-dextran. Quantitive real-time PCR (qPCR) was used to detect gene expression in MM cells and macrophage-osteoclast cells. The MM cell induced formation of osteoclast (OCL) in the macrophage cell line RAW264.7 or primary bone marrow macrophages (BMM) was detected by TRAP staining. BMM with a dominant negative mutation of FPN1 were used to elucidate the downstream signaling of FPN1. Result: Patient GEP data showed that MM cells had an aberrant iron gene expression signature and MM cells were susceptible to iron chelation. Expression of FPN1 was significantly lower in plasma cells (PCs) from MM patients than in PCs from MGUS or healthy subjects (p Conclusion: We demonstrated that the FPN1 axis plays a critical role in MM progression. At the mRNA level, reduced expression of FPN1 in MM cells correlated positively with cell growth while inhibition of FPN1 in OCL precursor enhanced OCL differentiation. Loss of FPN1 in both MM cells and macrophage-osteoclast promoted MM progression. Mechanistic studies revealed that FPN1 suppressed IL-6-STAT3 signaling in MM cells and functional inhibition of FPN1 in OCL precursor upregulated TFRC and activated JNK and NFκB signaling. Our data provide evidence that the expression of FPN1 can serve as a prognostic marker and may be a valuable therapeutic target in MM. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Ancient and Recent Duplications Support Functional Diversity of Daphnia Opsins.

Daphnia pulex has the largest known family of opsins, genes critical for photoreception and vision in animals. This diversity may be functionally redundant, arising from recent processes, or ancient duplications may have been preserved due to distinct functions and independent contributions to fitness. We analyzed opsins in D. pulex and its distant congener Daphnia magna. We identified 48 opsins in the D. pulex genome and 32 in D. magna. We inferred the complement of opsins in the last common ancestor of all Daphnia and evaluated the history of opsin duplication and loss. We further analyzed sequence variation to assess possible functional diversification among Daphnia opsins. Much of the opsin expansion occurred before the D. pulex-D. magna split more than 145 Mya, and both Daphnia lineages preserved most ancient opsins. More recent expansion occurred in pteropsins and long-wavelength visual opsins in both species, particularly D. pulex. Recent duplications were not random: the same ancestral genes duplicated independently in each modern species. Most ancient and some recent duplications involved differentiation at residues known to influence spectral tuning of visual opsins. Arthropsins show evidence of gene conversion between tandemly arrayed paralogs in functionally important domains. Intron–exon gene structure was generally conserved within clades inferred from sequences, although pteropsins showed substantial intron size variation. Overall, our analyses support the hypotheses that diverse opsins are maintained due to diverse functional roles in photoreception and vision, that functional diversification is both ancient and recent, and that multiple evolutionary processes have influenced different types of opsins.
Heart Rate Response and Variability Following Maximal Exercise in Overweight Children.

Purpose:This study examined heart rate recovery (HRR) and heart rate variability (HRV) following maximal exercise in lean (<85th percentile age- and sex-BMI percentile; n = 11 (♂=5; ♀=6); 10.1 ± 0.7 years) and overweight (≥85th age- and sex-BMI percentile; n = 11 (♂=5; ♀=6); 10.5 ± 1.2 years) children. Method:Participants completed a 10-min rest, followed by a graded exercise test to maximal effort. HRV, in the time and frequency domains, was assessed during rest and recovery. Also during recovery, one-minute HRR and the time constant of a monoexponential line of best fit (HRRt) were determined. Results:There were no significant differences in one-minute HRR and HRRt between the lean (56 ± 7 beats∙min-1 and 160.4 ± 80.1 s, respectively) and overweight (51 ± 16 beats∙min-1 and 141.1 ± 58.1 s, respectively) groups. There also were no significant interactions between groups from rest to recovery for any HRV variables. Root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) and high frequency power (HF) during rec...
Baryon susceptibilities from a holographic equation of state

Abstract A black hole holographic model is used to mimic the behavior of the quark gluon plasma at finite temperature and density. This model reproduces lattice data at μ B = 0 and displays critical behavior at large densities. High order baryon susceptibilities are used to extract freeze-out points by comparing those susceptibilities with the corresponding net-protons distribution measured by STAR. Possible experimental signatures of the critical end point are discussed.
Factors Influencing the Measurement of Slipperiness

The evaluation and prevention of slips and falls require methods of quantifying the slipperiness of floors. The concept of coefficient of friction (COF) has been and continues to be commonly used a...
Effort-Based Decision-Making in Schizophrenia

Motivational impairment has long been associated with schizophrenia but the underlying mechanisms are not clearly understood. Recently, a small but growing literature has suggested that aberrant effort-based decision-making may be a potential contributory mechanism for motivational impairments in psychosis. Specifically, multiple reports have consistently demonstrated that individuals with schizophrenia are less willing than healthy controls to expend effort to obtain rewards. Further, this effort-based decision-making deficit has been shown to correlate with severity of negative symptoms and level of functioning, in many but not all studies. In the current review, we summarize this literature and discuss several factors that may underlie aberrant effort-based decision-making in schizophrenia.
The hyperopic effect of narrow-band long-wavelength light in tree shrews increases non-linearly with duration.

Abstract During postnatal refractive development, an emmetropization mechanism uses refractive error to modulate the growth rate of the eye. Hyperopia (image focused behind the retina) produces what has been described as “GO” signaling that increases growth. Myopia (image focused in front of the retina) produces “STOP” signaling that slows growth. The interaction between GO and STOP conditions is non-linear; brief daily exposure to STOP counteracts long periods of GO. In young tree shrews, long-wavelength (red) light, presented 14 h per day, also appears to produce STOP signals. We asked if red light also shows temporal non-linearity; does brief exposure slow the normal decrease in hyperopia in infant animals? At 11 days after eye opening (DVE), infant tree shrews (n = 5/group) began 13 days of daily treatment (red LEDs, 624 ± 10 or 636 ± 10 nm half peak intensity bandwidth) at durations of 0 h (normal animals, n = 7) or 1, 2, 4, or 7 h. Following each daily red period, colony lighting resumed. A 14 h red group had no colony lights. Refractive state was measured daily; ocular component dimensions at the end of the 13-day red-light period. Even 1 h of red light exposure produced some hyperopia. The average hyperopic shift from normal rose exponentially with duration (time constant 2.5 h). Vitreous chamber depth decreased non-linearly with duration (time constant, 3.3 h). After red treatment was discontinued, refractions in colony lighting recovered toward normal; the initial rate was linearly related to the amount of hyperopia. The red light may produce STOP signaling similar to myopic refractive error.
Ratifying the 14th Amendment in Ohio

This essay describes the efforts of University of Cincinnati College of Law students and faculty to achieve the ratification of the 14th Amendment by Ohio in 2003; the state had initially ratified it in 1867, but withdrew its ratification before the Amendment became effective. In 2003, the legislature enthusiastically corrected this mistake and ratified the amendment without reservation.
OFDM Performance Assessment for Traffic Surveillance in Drone Small Cells

In this paper, a novel compressed-sensing-based channel-estimation (CE) method is proposed to estimate the sparse and doubly selective air-to-ground wireless channel for drones. These drones are supposed to be utilized for data transmission in cellular networks as well as traffic monitoring. The proposed method utilizes time domain training sequence for CE. The Monte Carlo simulation results indicate that the proposed CE method performs better in high Doppler shift conditions compared with other recently proposed methods. We also present a modification of the proposed method for sparse channels where the location of multipath receptions does not change as fast as their amplitude and phase over time. Exploiting this fact, we separate estimation of the sparse channel’s nonzero elements locations from estimating their amplitudes and phases and therefore improve bandwidth efficiency and performance. The proposed methods are used in simulation of a traffic surveillance scenario where frames of a real video which were taken by a drone from a highway are used as the input to the communication system and the received and demodulated signal is analyzed for car detection using a faster region-based-convolutional-network algorithm. The computational-complexity and the bandwidth-efficiency of the CE methods are compared within this scenario. Simulation results by using normalized-mean-square-error and bit-error-rate calculations show that using the proposed CE methods increases the CE and data demodulation accuracy whilst compared with the least-square method, increases the bandwidth-efficiency up to 5% and reduces the computational-complexity by a factor of two or more.
Statistical prediction of load carriage mode and magnitude from inertial sensor derived gait kinematics

Load carriage induces systematic alterations in gait patterns and pelvic-thoracic coordination. Leveraging this information, the objective of this study was to develop and assess a statistical prediction algorithm that uses body-worn inertial sensor data for classifying load carrying modes and load levels. Nine men participated in an experiment carrying a hand load in four modes: one-handed right and left carry, and two-handed side and anterior carry, each at 50% and 75% of the participant's maximum acceptable weight of carry, and a no-load reference condition. Twelve gait parameters calculated from inertial sensor data for each gait cycle, including gait phase durations, torso and pelvis postural sway, and thoracic-pelvic coordination were used as predictors in a two-stage hierarchical random forest classification model with Bayesian inference. The model correctly classified 96.9% of the carrying modes and 93.1% of the load levels. Coronal thoracic-pelvic coordination and pelvis postural sway were the most relevant predictors although their relative importance differed between carrying mode and load level prediction models. This study presents an algorithmic framework for combining inertial sensing with statistical prediction with potential use for quantifying physical exposures from load carriage.
Pediatric Primary Nocturnal Enuresis (Bed-Wetting)

To this day, there remains controversy on how to manage bed-wetting or primary nocturnal enuresis (PNE) in children. We plan to identify controversial areas and provide you with practical insights so that you may address management using your own practice preferences. Finally we will present our successful approach used for more than 25 years, now known as the Try for Dry program.
Freshwater Underwater Archaeology Field School, Good Practice, Good Science

Applied Anthropology is crucial to the development of responsible stewards of cultural heritage; it is therefore imperative that during field school experiences students acquire “good practice” skill sets which they carry with them throughout their careers. One freshwater underwater archaeological field school approach that has built-in formal and informal assessments that track both process and the project outcomes is outlined here. The project design includes nine steps where the goals of both research and teaching are met. At each step of the field school project, students are involved in learning the entire archaeological process and the specific techniques that will help them achieve success whether working on terrestrial or submerged sites.
Prospects of carbon nanomaterials for energy storage and conversion

Abstract Carbon-based materials are crucial for many application-specific efficient electrodes for energy storage and conversion. However, further advancements are required for commercial level success for various futuristic applications. Among such applications, flexible and wearable energy devices are very attractive for portable electronic systems. Carbon-based, lightweight structural energy storing systems are crucial for future communication vehicles on ground, through water and in the air. Furthermore, load-bearing carbon structures for energy systems are very desirable for such applications. Metal–air battery and solid-state electrolyte batteries are very promising to achieve higher energy (11,140 Wh/kg) and power density beyond what we now use (200–250 Wh/kg). In this chapter, detailed overview of these prospects for carbon materials on energy storage and conversion applications are discussed with commercialization aspects in this field.
Nanofabrication of Chalcogenide Glass for Infrared Sensors

This paper reports a novel nanofabrication approach that combines imprint and silver doping lithography (iSDL) to generate nanoscale patterns in chalcogenide (ChG) thin films. The iSDL approach is capable of controlling the photodoping of silver in amorphous ChG with a high spatial precision. The ChG nanophotonic devices with one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) periodic structures were fabricated and characterized.
Profiling BGP Serial Hijackers: Capturing Persistent Misbehavior in the Global Routing Table

BGP hijacks remain an acute problem in today's Internet, with widespread consequences. While hijack detection systems are readily available, they typically rely on a priori prefix-ownership information and are reactive in nature. In this work, we take on a new perspective on BGP hijacking activity: we introduce and track the long-term routing behavior of serial hijackers, networks that repeatedly hijack address blocks for malicious purposes, often over the course of many months or even years. Based on a ground truth dataset that we construct by extracting information from network operator mailing lists, we illuminate the dominant routing characteristics of serial hijackers, and how they differ from legitimate networks. We then distill features that can capture these behavioral differences and train a machine learning model to automatically identify Autonomous Systems (ASes) that exhibit characteristics similar to serial hijackers. Our classifier identifies a 900 ASes with similar behavior in the global IPv4 routing table. We analyze and categorize these networks, finding a wide range of indicators of malicious activity, misconfiguration, as well as benign hijacking activity. Our work presents a solid first step towards identifying and understanding this important category of networks, which can aid network operators in taking proactive measures to defend themselves against prefix hijacking and serve as input for current and future detection systems.
The microbiome of the human female reproductive tract

Recent studies have greatly expanded our understanding of the human vaginal microbiome and its association with the physiology and pathophysiology of reproductive health. We have learned that the prevalence of certain taxa and community structures in the vaginal microbiome vary between populations, and this is an important consideration in evaluating microbiome associations with disease. We have learned that characteristics of the vaginal microbiome and host inflammatory response associate with reproductive outcomes, including success of in vitro fertilization and preterm birth. Despite all we have discovered, this is a developing field that will be made stronger by more comprehensive characterization of the microbiomes to include viruses and fungi, expansion to more diverse populations of subjects, characterization of the microbiome and host response together to understand context of the microbe-host dynamic, and future studies to understand the mechanisms underlying the associations between microbes and reproductive health.
The Dismantling of the Griggs Disparate Impact Theory and the Future of Title VII: The Need for a Third Reconstruction

Congress enacted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 19641 to promote equality in the workplace. Congress clearly intended the Act to remedy intentional discrimination. The Act, however, remains silent about whether it is also concerned with facially neutral employment practices, adopted without a discriminatory motive, that adversely affect the employment opportunities of racial minorities and women.2 The legislative history of Title VII, as originally enacted, is inconclusive on this issue.
Stability of Transmission Line Structures

An analysis is made of the stability of transmission line structures. The critical load that can be placed on the structures is determined. If the number of structures is large, the restraining effect of the wires becomes negligible. It is found that the critical load can be greatly increased if, in a long line of structures, a structure is braced in relatively few places.
Oral Biopsy Techniques

Squamous cell carcinoma makes up 90% of cases of oral cancer. However, a myriad of premalignant, inflammatory, and immune-based conditions can manifest as oral mucosal lesions. Biopsy of these lesions shares many of the principles of cutaneous lesions. Biopsy of oral mucosal lesions is a procedure that is safely performed in most cases in the outpatient ambulatory setting using local anesthesia. Special considerations should be taken depending on the presumed diagnosis based on physical examination. Its clinical relevance depends on a sound clinicopathologic assessment of the patient's condition. This article reviews specific considerations for biopsy of oral mucosal lesions.
A Semiparametric Kernel Independence Test With Application to Mutational Signatures

Cancers arise owing to somatic mutations, and the characteristic combinations of somatic mutations form mutational signatures. Despite many mutational signatures being identified, mutational proces...
The Relationship Between Investor Views, Constraints, Expectation, and Covariance in Mean-Variance Optimization

Mean-variance optimization is encumbered by the usage of sample moments. On the one hand, several authors have proposed modifications to the sample covariance including shrinkage methods and techniques derived from random matrix theory. On the other, practitioners often utilize constraints to modify the feasible set of consideration. As a direct consequence, these optimal portfolios have ex post exposures that reflect a priori views. We unify these two approaches and produce both covariance and mean estimators that reflect an investor's views. These views may be expressed as excess expected returns as in Black-Litterman or, more generally, as desired portfolio allocations.
Insurance Denial for Intravenous Immunoglobulin Therapy Effects Patients with Autoimmune Gastrointestinal Dysmotility (P3.6-051)

Objective: To identify the frequency of insurance related issues with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) therapy approval for patients with autoimmune gastrointestinal dysmotility (AGID) and the outcomes of missed IVIg treatments. Background: AGID is a rare neurological disorder causing autoimmune dysautonomia and altered gastrointestinal transit. IVIg therapy has been shown to improve patients’ symptoms, scintigraphy results, and autonomic testing (Flanagan et al, 2014). Unfortunately, patients constantly battle with insurance leading to delayed or cessation of treatment. Design/Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 20 AGID patients treated with IVIg. We collected smart pill data, neurological test results, serology, patient outcomes, reasons for stopping or missing IVIg, and insurance denials and halts. Patient outcomes included objective repeat serology titers and subjective patient reported symptoms. Results: 13/20 patients (65%) experienced insurance issues leading to IVIg treatment delay or cessation. 9 of these 13 patients with insurance issues were initially denied IVIg therapy with the average delay in therapy taking 2.8 months (SD = 2.9). Some approvals took a month while others took more than 4 months (longest being an 8-month delay). 4 of these 9 patients had continued insurance issues after being initially denied causing them to miss treatments. 6/13 patients had initial symptom improvement but experienced a relapse from missing IVIg treatments. Conclusions: Patients with AGID suffer when they miss IVIg treatments. Early and continued insurance approval is vital for the outcomes of these patients. Disclosure: Dr. Edelbrock has nothing to disclose. Dr. Owendoff has nothing to disclose. Dr. Yan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Wilson DO has nothing to disclose.
Childhood poisoning: importance of early rising.

There are numerous studies on the epidemiology of childhood poisoning. Studies on the time of the day during which poisoning episodes are more likely to occur have shown a consistently higher incidence of poisoning during "mother9s busiest time." 1 However, the early morning hours are not included among the "mother9s busiest time." Poison calls were tabulated in order to determine the time of greatest risk for childhood poisoning to occur. The 276 poisoning calls which were recorded during four months showed that: 49 (18%) occurred between 6 and 9:59 am; 61 (25%) between 10 am and 1:59 pm; 59 (21%) between 2 and 5:59 pm; 89 (32%) between 6 and 9:59 pm; 17 (6%) between 10 pm and 1:59 am; and 1 (0.3%) between 2 and 5:59 am.
No sólo de fama viven las palabras

Poemas ilustrados. Juan Gustavo Cobo Borda, Ana Patricia Palacios (ilustraciones). Alvaro Mutis (posfacio). Tragaluz Editores, Medellin, 2008, 70 pags.
Earthquake Resistance of Infilled Frames

The experimental phase consists of quasistatic cyclic load tests on one-third scale model subassemblages of the lower three stories of an 11-story, three-bay frame with infills in the two outer bays: (1)Frame members (particularly the columns) are designed for high rotational ductility and resistance to degradation under reversed cyclic shear loads; (2)gradual panel degradation is achieved using closely spaced infill reinforcement; and (3)panel thickness is limited so that the infill cracking load is less than the available column shear resistance. The analytical phase consists of developing relatively simple, macroscopic mathematical models for predicting the experimentally observed bare and infilled frame behavior. The infilled frame model is found to give excellent predictions of observed response. It is concluded that the model developed and the procedure used can be applied to the analytical prediction of the response of large, engineered infilled frame structures to severe lateral forces.
Eigenvalue techniques for convex objective, nonconvex optimization problems

A fundamental difficulty when dealing with a minimization problem given by a nonlinear, convex objective function over a nonconvex feasible region, is that even if we can efficiently optimize over the convex hull of the feasible region, the optimum will likely lie in the interior of a high dimensional face, “far away” from any feasible point, yielding weak bounds. We present theory and implementation for an approach that relies on (a) the S-lemma, a major tool in convex analysis, (b) efficient projection of quadratics to lower dimensional hyperplanes, and (c) efficient computation of combinatorial bounds for the minimum distance from a given point to the feasible set, in the case of several significant optimization problems. On very large examples, we obtain significant lower bound improvements at a small computational cost.
High levels of orexin A in the brain of the mouse model for phenylketonuria: possible role of orexin A in hyperactivity seen in children with PKU.

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a metabolic disorder caused by phenylalanine hydroxylase deficiency leading to increased levels of phenylalanine in the brain. Hyperactivity is reportedly induced by a high level of orexin A, and therefore orexin A content was studied in the PKU mice. Hypothalamus and brain stem had higher levels of orexin A compared to cerebrum and cerebellum both in wild type and PKU mice brains as observed by radioimmunoassay method. Interestingly, all these regions of the brain in PKU mouse showed a higher level of orexin A compared to the wild type. Heart and plasma also had higher levels of orexin A in PKU compared to the wild type. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed an increased number of orexin A–stained cells in the brain and heart of PKU mouse compared to the wild type. This is the first report of increased level of orexin in the PKU mouse brain. Hyperactivity is commonly observed in children with PKU; thus these findings suggest that orexin A is a contributing factor for the hyperactivity.
Computing Concepts with C++ Essentials

From the Publisher: This book focuses on the programming concepts of C++ Lite, a popular subset of the C++ language. Following the recently released ANSI/ISO standard, it features coverage of the two vital additions to C++ Lite, including the string class and vector template. Discussions of these computing concepts draw on modern techniques of C++ programming by using objects and graphics. And most examples are given in the form of complete, ready-to-run programs.
An Integrative Theory of Leadership

Preface. The Functions of Leadership in Organizations. Early Research on Leadership. The Contingency Model and Its Sequelae. More Contingency Theories. Transactional and Exchange Theories. Transformational Leadership. Cognitive Approaches. Influences of Culture on Leadership Processes. Women in Leadership. A Function and Process Integration.
Formation of rutile nuclei at anatase {112} twin interfaces and the phase transformation mechanism in nanocrystalline titania

In nanocrystalline anatase coarsened under hydrothermal conditions (250 C, P{sub sat}), the anatase-to-rutile phase transformation is nucleated at anatase {l_brace}112{r_brace} twin boundaries formed by oriented attachment. The anatase twin boundary is constructed from structural elements common to rutile. Specifically, rutile nucleation involves displacement of only one half the titanium cations within the twin slab. Subsequent transformation of bulk anatase involves rupture of 7 of the 24 Ti-O bonds per unit cell and cooperative displacement of Ti and O. As the transformation advances into the bulk material, adjacent slabs of anatase octahedra are destabilized, resulting in rapid progression of the transformation of bulk anatase to rutile. The implied chain reaction, scarcity of partly reacted crystals, absence of multiple twinned rutile, and the importance of nucleation at anatase twins indicate a rate law based on slow nucleation and rapid growth. The displacements are comparable to those proposed previously for macroscopic anatase at much higher temperatures, indicating the atomic mechanism is not modified by particle size or temperature, despite the rapid kinetics in finely crystalline aggregates. In addition to the formation of twins, clusters with rutile-like character may occur at some fraction of random anatase-anatase particle contacts. Such interfaces should result in decreasedmore » activation barriers for rutile nucleation and, thus, contribute significantly to the observed faster transformation rates in nanocrystalline compared to coarsely crystalline materials.« less
International NMR-Based Environmental Metabolomics Intercomparison Exercise

Several fundamental requirements must be met so that NMR-based metabolomics and the related technique of metabonomics can be formally adopted into environmental monitoring and chemical risk assessment. Here we report an intercomparison exercise which has evaluated the effectiveness of 1H NMR metabolomics to generate comparable data sets from environmentally derived samples. It focuses on laboratory practice that follows sample collection and metabolite extraction, specifically the final stages of sample preparation, NMR data collection (500, 600, and 800 MHz), data processing, and multivariate analysis. Seven laboratories have participated from the U.S.A., Canada, U.K., and Australia, generating a total of ten data sets. Phase 1 comprised the analysis of synthetic metabolite mixtures, while Phase 2 investigated European flounder (Platichthys flesus) liver extracts from clean and contaminated sites. Overall, the comparability of data sets from the participating laboratories was good. Principal components a...
What difference would it make if cancer were eradicated? An examination of the taeuber paradox

The immediate effect of discovering a way to cure cancer would be a reduction in the number of deaths in the United States by the number of people now dying from that cause. Within a short time, however, deaths from other causes would increase, and the net long-term effect would be relatively small. A parameter is derived that measures how much the expectation of life is increased by a marginal reduction in any cause of death. That parameter is additive in the several causes and has other advantages, though it does not avoid the assumption of independence.
POSTNATAL ADDITION OF SATELLITE CELLS TO PARASYMPATHETIC NEURONS

We have examined the postnatal development of satellite cells associated with parasympathetic neurons of mouse salivary duct ganglia. The number of satellite cells associated with each neuron was found to increase during the first 8 weeks after birth but remained constant thereafter. This corresponds to the period of maximal growth of the salivary gland that serves as the target organ innervated by these neurons. At all ages examined, the number of satellite cells associated with each neuron was found to be highly correlated with neuronal volume. The development of satellite cells associated with individual identified neurons was followed directly by in vivo video microscopy over several months, and the number of satellite cell nuclei was found to increase in regions of the neuronal surface with increasing numbers of synaptic boutons. These results indicate that the postnatal addition of satellite cells to parasympathetic neurons is linked to neuronal enlargement and that synaptic remodeling occurs in concert with satellite cell development. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Stand-off Detection of Chemicals by UV Raman Spectroscopy

Experimental results are reported on a mobile, stand-alone, solarblind ultraviolet (UV) Raman lidar system for the stand-off detection and identification of liquid and solid targets at ranges of hundreds of meters. The lidar is a coaxial system capable of performing rangeresolved measurements of gases and aerosols, as well as solids and liquids. The transmitter is a flash lamp pumped 30 Hz Nd:YAG laser with quadrupled output at 266 nm. The receiver subsystem is comprised of a 40 cm Cassegrain telescope, a holographic UV edge filter for suppressing the elastic channel, a 0.46 m Czerny-Turner spectrometer, and a time gated intensified charge-coupled device (CCD) detector. The rejection of elastic light scattering by the edge filter is better than one part in 105, while the transmittance 500 cm-1 to the red of the laser line is greater than 50%. Raman data are shown for selected solids, neat liquids, and mixtures down to the level of 1% volume ratio. On the basis of the strength of the Raman returns, a stand-off detection limit of ~500 g/m2 for liquid spills of common solvents at the range of one half of a kilometer is possible.
Safety and efficacy of the angioseal closure device with antegrade superficial femoral artery (SFA) access

Purpose Retrograde contralateral common femoral access traditionally has comprised the majority of access sites for the endovascular treatement of infrainguinal arterial disease. As the volume and complexity of distal lower extremity arterial endovascular interventions have increased, nontraditional access sites have increased in use. Antegrade SFA access provides numerous advantages that include improved pushability of endovascular devices, decreased length requirements of devices used, and decreased angulation of the access sheath in obese patients. Antegrade SFA access in most patients requires the use of a closure device. The Angio-Seal device (St. Jude Medical, St. Paul, MN) is indicated for use in femoral artery puncture sites. Very little data exists regarding the safety and efficacy of the Angio-Seal device with antegrade SFA access sites. In this single-center retrospective study, we evaluate the safety and efficacy of the Angio-Seal closure device in SFA punctures in our patient population. Materials and Methods From August 2010 through August 2012, 50 limbs in a total of 30 patients with critical limb ischemia were treated in our practice with antegrade SFA access. Ultrasound was used for access in 100% of the cases. Analyzed patient data includes access site-specific complications, vessel size, sheath size, intraprocedural anticoagulation dose, and patient BMI. The mean value and range: vessel size 6.5mm (4mm-9mm); BMI 29.3 (15-43); sheath size 6Fr (5Fr-10Fr); heparin 5,400U (5000-14000U). Results In 50 antegrade punctures and closures, there were 5 access-related complications: 4 bleeding complications and 1 Angio-Seal migration resulting in additional stent placement. 75% (3/4) of the bleeding complications were classified as Minor class A hematomas with no clinical consequence. Overall, there was 1 (2%) Major Class D bleeding complication requiring >48 hour hospital stay with an increased level of care. Analysis of data revealed no statistically significant correlation between the tested variables with complications. Conclusion The Angio-Seal closure device is a safe and effective tool for use with antegrade SFA access.
Chemicals turn human embryonic stem cells towards beta cells

Small-molecule library screening identifies simple imitators of the cellular signaling events that normally guide formation of the pancreas and its insulin-secreting beta cells, further enabling detailed analysis in vitro, or eventual diabetes therapies via large-scale differentiation of human stem cells.
Hypothesized causes of decade-to-century-scale climate variability: Climate model results

There are at least five hypothesized causes of decadal to century-scale climate variability, both ‘natural’ and anthropogenically-induced: (1) inherent (‘random’) variability in the atmosphere (i.e. no external forcing); (2) inherent or forced variability in the ocean dynamical system (e.g. North Atlantic Deep Water fluctuations); (3) solar variability (e.g. the Maunder Minimum); (4) variability in volcanic aerosol loading of the atmosphere (e.g. Tambora); and (5) atmospheric trace gas variability (e.g. CO 2 methane). Modeling experiments conducted for each of these potential mechanisms show that they have different signatures in time and space which may allow for discrimination in the climate record. The effects of variations in ocean thermohaline circulation are likely to be largest in those regions adjacent to and downwind of areas of deepwater formation. Decreased insolation and large low latitude volcanic eruptions affect all latitudes, including changes in Hadley cell-dominate low-latitude systems. In contrast, trace-gas induced warming is likely to be amplified at high latitudes, although still containing a significant low latitude effect. Each of the hypothesized causes may have been important, and it is likely that several may have acted in concert to produce the observed climate record. During the Holocene, natural global mean decade-to-century-scale variability is likely to have been limited to 0.5 to 1.0°C, and to have been non-uniformly distributed over the globe. These natural sources of climate variability are thus unlikely to counter future greenhouse warming in any long-term way.
The Effect of Negative Campaign Advertising on Vote Choice: The Mediating Influence of Gender*

Objective. Some studies of negative campaign advertising's impact argue that a backlash or “boomerang effect” exists. However, the appropriate conceptualization of a boomerang effect might not be an immediate backlash against the sponsor but a delayed response that comes after repeated exposure to negative campaign advertisements. Method. We conducted an experiment using a variation of the pretest-posttest control group design in which treatment groups were exposed to varying numbers of negative campaign advertisements. Results. There is a parabolic effect of repeated exposure to negative advertisements that is gender specific. Among women, the sponsor initially benefits from an enhanced image but suffers a decline in image when the voters become overexposed to negative advertisements. Conclusion. A reconceptualization of the “boomerang effect” of negative campaign advertising is in order.
A crystalline lipid phase in a dry biological system: evidence from X-ray diffraction analysis of Typha latifolia pollen

The temperature limits for germination in Typha latifolia pollen lie within the range 4-40 degrees C. These limits correlate at the low-temperature end with the 'crystallization' of endogenous triacylglycerols and on the high-temperature end with the 'melting' of a gel-like lipid component in intact pollen. X-ray diffraction analysis was used to structurally characterize and to trace the latter gel-like lipid from the intact pollen through a range of pollen lipid fractions. We tentatively identify this component as a fatty acyl sterol ester and present evidence that it resides in the exine of the pollen grain. Its thermotropic behavior is insensitive to pollen hydration. The possibility of interpreting a crystalline lipid phase as being membrane-derived when in fact it originates from contaminating non-membranous neutral lipid is discussed. The total lipid content of T. latifolia pollen is 123 mg/g dry weight, of which 37% is polar lipid. The neutral lipid consists primarily of triacylglycerols and of the aforementioned sterol ester, which represents 0.34% (w/w) of pollen dry weight. The polar lipid fraction has phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidic acid as major components with lesser amounts of phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylinositol. Palmitic (16:0) and linoleic (18:2) acids, in a 1:2 molar ratio, constitute the major fatty acids of both polar and neutral lipid fractions with lesser amounts of linolenic (18:3), oleic (18:1) and stearic (18:0) acid in evidence.
Pupil Behavior in a Multi-Age Nongraded School

Form of elementary school organization was examined in relationship to pupil behavior. Measures of academic achievement, attitudes, conceptual maturity, performance during a standardized group problem solving situation, and during actual teaching episodes were collected from 473 pupils identified as normal age, underage, and overage enrolled in ten nongraded (experimental) classrooms and ten traditional graded classrooms. The data were analyzed using covariance procedures. The performance of the pupils in the experimental group seemed to reflect that school’s emphasis on encouraging each child to develop to his maximum potential, to feel free to express his feelings, and to work successfully in small groups. The behaviors of the pupils in the traditional schools seemed to reflect their emphasis on the more traditional classroom activities. These findings seemed to support the nongraded school in the instance when school programs are consistent with the nongraded idea.
Sites forlorn: dating intervals of abandonment at three shell middens on Santa Cruz Island, California using Bayesian chronological models

Abstract Archaeologists interested in variable mobility patterns and the factors that influence them rely on chronometric data to illuminate repetitive cycles of occupation, abandonment, and reoccupation. This article establishes and interrogates Bayesian chronological models in order to provide formal age estimates for two distinct intervals of site abandonment at three substantial multi-component shell middens from Santa Cruz Island, California. The earlier, more protracted interval of abandonment (ca. 2629–1698 cal. BP) following terminal Early Period occupation at each site location represents a temporal datum for a series of significant cultural, demographic, and technological developments throughout the region. I propose that this interval of localized site abandonments indicates a period of reorganization provoked by a shift in the paleoenvironment, a preliminary hypothesis that requires further testing. This research calls for development of similarly rigorous site chronologies on Santa Cruz Island and throughout the region that will shed further light on the validity of the temporal gaps documented in this analysis and most certainly will facilitate the development of additional hypotheses. More broadly, this article highlights the implementation and benefit of a Bayesian approach to building and interrogating site chronologies.
Comparative analysis of junctions in the myelin sheath of central and peripheral axons of fish, amphibians and mammals: a freeze-fracture study using complementary replicas.

Tight junction-like structures are found in freeze-fractured myelin of the peripheral and central nervous system of the electric eel and trout, but not in the electric ray,Torpedo californicus. Myelin junctions are more difficult to find in the peripheral myelin ofXenopus frogs and of mice and rats, except in the myelinating fibres of young animals. Junctions are most frequently seen at the outer mesaxons, but are also observed at the inner mesaxons, paranodal loops, incisures of Schmidt-Lanterman and in compact myelin. The junctional strands vary considerably in appearance; instead of displaying the extensive strands and grooves of typical tight junctions, they are usually particulate with single or fused particles, short strands, and corresponding pits and grooves. After fixation, elements of the junctions partition between P- and E-faces with the majority of particles remaining with the P-face. In unfixed fish myelin, strands often remain with the E-face but fixation does not greatly alter the appearance of rat myelin. Complementary replicas show that junctions are often discontinuous. The significance of the distribution and morphology of junctions among the different specimens examined is discussed with regard to the possible functions and maintenance of myelin junctions.
An Early Appointment to Outpatient Cardiac Rehabilitation at Hospital Discharge Improves Attendance at Orientation A Randomized, Single-Blind, Controlled Trial

Background—Outpatient cardiac rehabilitation (CR) decreases mortality rates but is underutilized. Current median time from hospital discharge to enrollment is 35 days. We hypothesized that an appointment within 10 days would improve attendance at CR orientation. Methods and Results—At hospital discharge, 148 patients with a nonsurgical qualifying diagnosis for CR were randomized to receive a CR orientation appointment either within 10 days (early) or at 35 days (standard). The primary end point was attendance at CR orientation. Secondary outcome measures were attendance at ≥1 exercise session, the total number of exercise sessions attended, completion of CR, and change in exercise training workload while in CR. Average age was 60±12 years; 56% of participants were male and 49% were black, with balanced baseline characteristics between groups. Median time (95% confidence interval) to orientation was 8.5 (7–13) versus 42 (35 to NA [not applicable]) days for the early and standard appointment groups, respect...
Bridging for an isolated subtherapeutic INR: an evaluation of clinical practice patterns, outcomes, and costs from an anticoagulation clinic.

No formal recommendations support bridging patients taking warfarin for a subtherapeutic international normalized ratio (INR). This study aimed to: (1) characterize practices at one anticoagulation clinic, (2) evaluate adverse events, and (3) compare cost of bridging versus withholding bridging for subtherapeutic INR. A retrospective chart review of 320 patients having 546 isolated subtherapeutic INR episodes included patients with an INR below their therapeutic range, preceded by two INRs within or above range. Bridged episodes required more frequent follow-up visits to achieve therapeutic INR (2.5 ± 1.0 vs. 2.2 ± 0.6; P = 0.097), but fewer days until the INR returned to therapeutic range (6.8 ± 5.0 vs. 18.9 ± 16.0; P < 0.0001). The strongest predictor of bridging was the magnitude the INR fell below the therapeutic range, where those with a severely-low INR were 30-fold more likely to be bridged (P < 0.0001), and moderately-low INR episodes were 6-fold more likely to be bridged compared with mildly-low INR (P < 0.0001). Those at high thromboembolic risk were more likely to be bridged than at low-risk (OR 3.39 [1.50–7.68]; P = 0.0034). Increasing age reduced the likelihood of being bridged (OR 0.97 [0.95–0.99]; P = 0.0118). Adverse events were infrequent in both the bridged and non-bridged; thrombosis (2.0 vs. 0.7%), major bleeding (2.0 vs. 1.3%), minor bleeding (4.1 vs. 3.1%) and bruising (18.4 vs. 3.6%). Incremental cost difference of bridging was significantly greater for total cost ($967.13) and its components, direct medical ($951.32), transportation ($2.73) and productivity cost ($13.08). It is unclear if bridging for an isolated subtherapeutic INR reduces thrombosis risk, but it is associated with higher costs.
How toxic is 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin to humans?

The tissue levels of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) measured in different species are reviewed. Based on the correlation of tissue levels and a toxic response in different species, humans are less or no more susceptible to the toxic effects of TCDD than most of the laboratory animals that have been studied. Thus, the present exposure of the general population to environmental levels of TCDD are related compounds should not be of concern. 39 references.