cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The use of carbon nanotube yarn as a filter medium to treat nitroaromatic-contaminated water

Abstract Carbon nanotube yarn (CNTY) is a promising material for the removal of organic contaminants from aqueous waste streams owing to its extraordinary mechanical strength, chemical stability, thermal stability and high surface area. CNTY was used to treat water contaminated with a model nitroaromatic compound, 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT). The isotherms and kinetics of DNT adsorption onto CNTY were investigated. The adsorption capacities of DNT were compared with the literature values of alternative sorbents. SEM-EDX, HRTEM, Raman spectroscopy and XPS were used to characterize the size, surface morphology and surface chemistry of the CNTY before and after DNT adsorption. Results indicate that adsorption isotherm of DNT onto CNTY could be fitted by the Freundlich isotherm with a Freundlich constant, KF, of 55.0 mg/g (L/mg)1/n and a Freundlich exponent, 1/n, of 0.737. Adsorption kinetics can be formulated by the pseudo-second order kinetic model. This study demonstrates the ability of CNTY to remove organic contaminants from water.
RNA-Processing Dysfunction in Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)—the leading genetic cause of death in infancy characterized by degeneration of motor neurons and atrophy of skeletal muscle—is a prominent example of the increasing number of neurological diseases that are caused by mutations in ubiquitously expressed genes implicated in RNA regulation. SMA is caused by a ubiquitous deficiency in the survival motor neuron (SMN) protein—the key component of a macromolecular machine essential for the assembly of diverse RNA–protein complexes that participate in various aspects of RNA processing and posttranscriptional gene regulation. The identification of the full spectrum of RNA-processing pathways directly controlled by SMN and dissection of the downstream consequences of SMN deficiency on RNA regulation that impact motor system function are fundamental steps toward understanding disease mechanisms. This chapter discusses how advances in our understanding of the functions of SMN and the effects of RNA-processing dysregulation induced by SMN deficiency are helping to unravel the molecular basis of SMA.
Body Appreciation and Contraceptive Use Among College Women: A Brief Report

ABSTRACTResearch suggests that body image and sexual behaviors are related, with poor body image associated with risky behaviors and positive body image related to protective behaviors. However, few studies explore the relationships between positive body image and contraceptive use. Accordingly, the current study investigated the relationship between body appreciation and barrier and hormonal contraceptive use among college women (N = 399). Body appreciation was significantly related to male condom use and to the use of both male condoms and a hormonal contraceptive. These findings are promising as dual contraceptive use is the best way to prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Triethylamine Solution for the Intractability of Aqueous Gold–Thiolate Cluster Anions: How Ion Pairing Enhances ESI-MS and HPLC of aq-Aun(pMBA)p

Herein we disclose methods that greatly improve the solution- and gas-phase handling properties of larger aqueous-phase gold–thiolate clusters, which previously presented extreme technical obstacles to molecular analysis and size control, even as they have enjoyed ever-wider applications in materials science and biomedicine. The methods are based upon an analogy between the polyacidic surface structure of the pMBA-protected clusters (pMBA = p-mercaptobenzoic acid) and that of oligonucleotides. A volatile ion-pairing reagent, TEA = triethylamine, greatly improves solution-phase stability near neutral pH and thus facilitates both electrospray generation of the gas-phase ions and the in-line reversed-phase ion-pairing HPLC-ESI-MS approach to analyzing complex mixtures of Au-pMBA oligomers and clusters. Previously anticipated but never established compounds, including Au36(pMBA)24, are thereby demonstrated. These results are in accord with recent theoretical simulations of ion pairing of model Au144(pMBA)60 c...
Development of a New Folate-Derived Ga-68-Based PET Imaging Agent

The folate receptor (FR) has emerged as an interesting diagnostic and therapeutic drug target with many potential applications in oncologic and inflammatory disorders. It was therefore the aim of this study to develop a folate-derived Ga-68-based positron emission tomography (PET) imaging tracer that is straightforward to radiolabel and could be broadly used in clinical studies. We validated its target binding affinity and specificity and compared it to [99mTc]EC20, the folate single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging tracer that has been most extensively studied clinically so far. The new folic acid-derived PET imaging agent is linked via a polyethyleneglycol linker to the chelator 1,4,7-triazacyclononane-1,4,7-trisacetic acid (NOTA). This new compound, NOTA-folate, was labeled with gallium-68. We tested the probe’s stability in human plasma and its selectivity in vitro, using the FR-positive KB cell line as well as the FR-negative A549 cell line. The pharmacokinetic profile of [68Ga]NOTA-folate was evaluated in FR-positive KB mouse xenografts. Following intravenous injection of [68Ga]NOTA-folate (383 ± 53 μCi), PET/computed tomography (CT) imaging studies as well as biodistribution studies were performed using KB tumor-bearing mice (n = 3). In vitro as well as in vivo studies were performed in parallel with the SPECT imaging tracer [99mTc]EC20. In comparison to [99mTc]EC20 (radiochemical yield (RCY) = 82.0 ± 2.9 %, 91.8 ± 2.0 % purity), similar radiochemical yield (87.2 ± 6.9 %) and radiochemical purity (95.6 ± 1.8 %) could be achieved for [68Ga]NOTA-folate. For both tracers, we observed high affinity for FR-positive cells in vitro and high plasma stability. In PET/CT and biodistribution studies, [68Ga]NOTA-folate appeared to display slightly superior in vivo performance in comparison to [99mTc]EC20. In detail, 68Ga-NOTA-folate showed very good tumor uptake and retention (6.6 ± 1.1 %ID/g), relatively low kidney uptake (21.7 ± 1.1 %ID/g), and very low liver uptake (0.38 ± 0.08 %ID/g). In vivo blocking studies using a fivefold excess of EC20 reduced the tumor uptake to 2.5 ± 0.7 %ID/g, confirming receptor specific binding of [68Ga]NOTA-folate in vivo. We validated a new Ga-68 folate-based PET imaging agent with excellent pharmacokinetics and tumor uptake. Based on a head-to-head comparison between both tracers, [68Ga]NOTA-folate is a suitable imaging probe for the delineation of FR-positive tumors and a promising candidate for clinical translation.
Survival analysis for Hispanic ELL students’ access to postsecondary schools: discrete model or Cox regression?

Survival analysis is an advanced statistical method to investigate the occurrence and the timing of an important event such as school access, dropout, and graduation in a longitudinal framework. Th...
Mechanistic Insight Leads to a Ligand Which Facilitates the Palladium-Catalyzed Formation of 2-(Hetero)Arylaminooxazoles and 4-(Hetero)Arylaminothiazoles

By using mechanistic insight, a new ligand (EPhos) for the palladium-catalyzed C-N cross-coupling between primary amines and aryl halides has been developed. Employing an isopropoxy group at the C3-position favors the C-bound isomer of the ligand-supported palladium(II) complexes and leads to significantly improved reactivity. The use of a catalyst system based on EPhos with NaOPh as a mild homogeneous base proved to be very effective in the formation of 4-arylaminothiazoles and highly functionalized 2-arylaminooxazoles. Previously, these were not readily accessible using palladium catalysis.
THE NATURE AND ENVIRONMENT OF COST MANAGEMENT AMONG EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY U.S. TEXITLE MANUFACTURERS

Several authors have suggested that a particular managerial component was needed before cost accounting could be fully used for accountability and disciplinary purposes. They argue that the marriage of managerialism and accounting first occurred in the United States at the Springfield Armory after 1840. They generally downplay the quality and usefulness of cost accounting at the New England textile mills before that time and call for a re-examination of original mill records from a disciplinary perspective. This paper reports the results of such a re-examination. It initially describes the social and economic environment of U.S. textile manufacturing in New England in the early nineteenth century. Selected cost memos and reports are described and analyzed to indicate the nature and scope of costing undertaken at the mills in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the late 1820s and early 1830s. The paper discusses how particular cost information was used and speculates why certain more modern procedures were not adopt...
Teaching the environment with collaboration: Photo essays across disciplines

ABSTRACTMuch has been written about the benefits of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity for addressing environmental issues, but how do we teach such collaboration? Here, we describe our experiences attempting to foster collaboration between undergraduate students from sociology, environmental studies, and photography. We describe and reflect on a new joint assignment between an environmental sociology course (cross listed with sociology and environmental studies) and an upper-level photography course. We describe the collaborative experiences of both the students and faculty/staff involved in its creation and realization. We conclude by identifying areas of improvement for future collaborations.
Reaction Coordinate for Ice Crystallization on a Soft Surface

The control of assembly and crystallization of molecules is becoming increasingly important in chemistry, engineering, and materials sciences. Crystallization is also central to understand natural processes that include the formation of atmospheric ice and biomineralization. Organic surfaces, biomolecules, and even liquid/vapor interfaces can promote the nucleation of crystals. These soft surfaces present significant structural fluctuations, which have been shown to strongly impact the rate of crystallization. This raises the question of whether degrees of freedom of soft surfaces play a role in the reaction coordinate for crystal nucleation. Here we use molecular simulations to investigate the mechanism of ice nucleation promoted by an alcohol monolayer. Our analysis indicates that while the flexibility of the surface strongly depresses its ice nucleation ability, it does not play a role in the coordinate that controls the transformation from liquid to ice. We find that the variable that drives the trans...
Count Response Models

Introduction Counting in one form or another likely predates written human history. In modern society, counting is ubiquitous in many aspects of individual and collective human lives. One often-asked question of an individual is how many children are in his or her family. School systems are concerned with the related question of how many children are in a class or in an entire district, though the range of the counts in these cases is usually entirely different. A characteristic common to all counting systems is that counts are never less than zero, and some of these systems have maxima that may be treated as infinite: e.g., the number of grains of sand on all the beaches of the Earth, or the number stars in the observable universe. Some finite counting examples are the number of defects on an airplane, the number of radioactive decay products in a particle accelerator collision, or the number of students eligible for graduation term by term. Sports are teeming with examples of counting including the score from a round of golf, baseball's runs batted-in (RBI), and the number of goals averted in football. These examples demonstrate that count data permeate everyday human life. The counting examples above suggest that count data have different types. The number of children in a nuclear family may be considered a tightly restricted range from zero to, say, twenty. However, the number of children in a school class is never zero. Batters on a baseball team may have a large number of players with no (zero) RBIs. The day-to-day sales of automobiles may range from zero and upwards based on a popular probability distribution such as the Poisson probability distribution or the negative binomial probability distribution. Count data statistical models rely on the probability distribution chosen for the parameter estimation method and reliability of the analysis outcomes. Regardless of which probability distribution model is used to describe count data, one critical property of each model is that the counts are not transformed to approximate a normal distribution to allow the use of ordinary least squares estimation. Rather, the count distribution mean and variance are used to establish a nonlinear model link between the count response and the selected predictors.
Securing fresh food from fertile soil, challenges to the organic and raw milk movements

In recent decades, a diverse community of dairy farmers, consumers and nutrition advocates has campaigned amidst considerable government opposition, to secure and expand the right of individuals to produce, sell and consume fresh unprocessed milk, commonly referred to as ‘raw milk’. This advocacy shares important parallels with battles fought in the organic food movement over the past century. Both the raw milk and organic food movements originated with farmers and consumers who sought to replace industrialized food production and processing practices with more traditional ones. Both movements equate the preservation of natural integrity in farming and food handling with more wholesome, nutritious food and environmental conservation. Both movements have had to work diligently to overcome a false perception that their practices are anachronistic, notably with regard to productive output of organic agriculture and the safety of fresh unprocessed milk. There is also the failure of opponents to acknowledge a growing body of scientific evidence for health benefits associated with drinking of fresh unprocessed milk. The raw milk movement has the potential to economically benefit family farmers, much as organic agriculture has done. Building soil fertility, a foundational principle of organic farming, would benefit from having numerous small pasture-based dairies spread across the land providing fresh unprocessed milk. Agricultural universities and the Cooperative Extension System could seize a real leadership opportunity by promoting and participating in this reinvention of dairy farming, and restoring the ecology of this traditional food and farming system.
Photoinduced proton transfer inside an engineered green fluorescent protein: a stepwise–concerted-hybrid reaction

Photoactivated proton transfer (PT) wire is responsible for the glow of green fluorescent protein (GFP), which is crucial for bioimaging and biomedicine. In this work, a new GFP-S65T/S205V double mutant is developed from wild-type GFP in which the PT wire is significantly modified. We implement femtosecond transient absorption (fs-TA) and femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FSRS) to delineate the PT process in action. The excited state proton transfer proceeds on the ∼110 ps timescale, which infers that the distance of one key link (water to T203) in the PT wire of GFP-S205V is shortened by the extra S65T mutation. The rise of an imidazolinone ring deformation mode at ∼871 cm-1 in FSRS further suggests that this PT reaction is in a concerted manner. A ∼4 ps component prior to large-scale proton dissociation through the PT wire is also retrieved, indicative of some small-scale proton motions and heavy-atom rearrangement in the vicinity of the chromophore. Our work provides deep insights into the novel hybrid PT mechanism in engineered GFP and demonstrates the power of tunable FSRS methodology in tracking ultrafast photoreactions with the desirable structural specificity in physiological environments.
Alteration of Growth Rate and Fibronectin by Imbalances in Superoxide Dismutase and Glutathione Peroxidase Activity

The free radical theory of aging, originally postulated by D. Harman (1956) assumes there is a single basic cause of aging which is modified by genetic and environmental factors (Harman, 1984). Oxidative free radicals, produced by normal metabolic processes, over time result in a progressive accumulation of damage that can not be fully repaired by cells. Recent work, however, suggests that cellular senescence is the result of programmed internal changes, and not accumulation of oxidative genetic damage. Results obtained by fusing different types of immortalized cells suggest that immortalization results from mutations in a small number of genes which other wise act to restrict the cell’s proliferative potential. When different types of immortalized cells were fused, some hybrids became mortal again, senesced, and died (Pereira-Smith, 1988). Thus, the phenotype of cellular senescence is dominant and immortal cells arise due to recessive changes in growth control mechanisms. During the normal aging process then, cellular control of gene expression is gradually lost. One of the mRNAs of these “senescence” genes was recently cloned and coded for fibronection, a membrane associated protein (Pereira-Smith, 1988).
Recent aspects of cyclopropanone chemistry

In einer Ubersicht werden Darstellungsmethoden, spektroskopische Eigenschaften und Reaktionen von Cyclopropanonen behandelt.
SALT-DEPENDENT TRANSCRIPTIONAL SPECIFICITY OF T7 RNA POLYMERASE

Publisher Summary This chapter examines the salt-dependent transcriptional specificity of T7 RNA polymerase. The late genes of bacteriophage T7 are transcribed by a phage-specified RNA polymerase. It is found that the appearance of T7 late messenger RNAs in vivo is temporally regulated. Class II mRNAs are synthesized from 4 until 16 min after infection, class III mRNAs are synthesized from 6–8 min after infection until lysis. The regions of T7 DNA that are transcribed by the phage RNA polymerase in vitro depend upon the ionic conditions, whereas synthesis of class II RNAs is inhibited at KCl concentrations greater than 150mM, synthesis of class III RNAs proceeds efficiently at this salt concentration. The dependence of transcriptional specificity upon ionic conditions in vitro suggests that this phenomenon may be important in regulating transcription during T7 infection. T7-infected cells undergo marked permeability changes at about 12 min after infection as a result of the expression of T7 gene 3.5. In cells infected with phage defective in gene 3.5, class II RNA synthesis is not shut off with normal kinetics. These observations indicate that phage-induced alterations in intracellular ionic conditions are important in the regulation of T7 late transcription.
Decision Regret up to 4 Years After Gastric Bypass and Gastric Banding.

Weight loss surgery (WLS) is neither risk-free nor universally effective. Few studies have examined what proportion of patients regret having undergone WLS. We interviewed patients at two WLS centers before and after WLS about weight loss, quality of life/QOL (Impact of Weight on QOL-lite), and decision regret (modified Brehaut Regret scale, range 0–100). We conducted separate multivariable logistic regression models to examine the association between weight loss and ∆QOL scores and having decision regret (score > 50). Of 205 RYGB patients, only 2.2% (year 1) to 5.1% (year 4, n = 134) reported regret scores > 50 over 4 years; 2.0–4.5% did not think they made the right decision; 2.0–4.5% would not undergo WLS again. In contrast, of 188 gastric banding patients (n = 123 at year 4), 8.2–20.3% had regret scores > 50; 5.9–19.5% did not think they made the right decision; 7.1–19.5% would not undergo WLS again. Weight loss and ∆QOL scores were significant correlates of decision regret after banding although weight loss was a stronger correlate with lower model quasi-likelihood under the independence model criterion score. Four years after banding, mean weight loss for patients with regret scores > 50 was 7.4% vs. 21.1% for those with scores 50 was 0.90 (95% CI 0.87–0.94) for every 1% greater weight loss. Poor sexual function, but not weight loss or other QOL factors, was significantly correlated with decision regret after RYGB. Few patients regret undergoing RYGB but 20% regret undergoing gastric banding with weight loss being a major driver.
The heat balance during the snow melt season for a permafrost watershed in interior Alaska. Der Wärmehaushalt einer Schneeschmelzperiode in einem permafrostdurchzogenen Einzugsgebiet im Inneren von Alaska

The surface energy balance in a small permafrost watershed near Fox, Alaska, was calculated for the snow melt period, which started in 30 March and ended on 22 April 1980 with the total disappearance of the snow cover. The snow cover of 1979/80 was light with 70 mm water equivalent. Heat sources were the radiation balance (67%) and the sensible heat flux (33%). This energy was used for melting of the snow cover (22%), evaporation (78%), and less than 1% was used for warming of the snow and soil. Two significant features are apparent in this heat balance:
Price's Lost Campaign: The 1864 Invasion of Missouri

Review of: "Price's Lost Campaign: The 1864 Invasion of Missouri," by Mark A. Lause, part of the "Shades of Blue and Gray Series."
Misclassification of Medicaid Participation by Dual Eligibles: Evidence From the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey.

Previous studies show that survey-based reports of Medicaid participation are measured with error, but no prior study has examined measurement error in an important segment of the Medicaid populati...
Medication assisted therapy (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD) in youth improves outcomes and saves lives.

Commentary on : Hadland SE, Bagley SM, Rodean J, et al . Receipt of timely addiction treatment and association of early medication treatment with retention in care among youths with opioid use disorder. JAMA Pediatrics . 2018;172(11):1029–1037. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.2143. Rising morbidity and mortality for adolescents and young adults in the USA is a difficult health issue. Despite recommendations by …
POSTER: GPUs Pipeline Latency Analysis

In this work, we propose a very low overhead and portable analysis for exposing the hidden latency of each individual instruction executing in the pipeline and different access latencies of the various memory hierarchies at the microarchitecture level. We also show the impact of the possible optimizations a CUDA compiler have over the various latencies. We run our evaluation on seven different high-end NVIDIA GPUs from five different generations/architectures namely: Kepler, Maxwell, Pascal, Volta, and Turing.
Defining T Cell Tissue Residency in Humans: Implications for HIV Pathogenesis and Vaccine Design

This review summarizes recent literature defining tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM) and discusses implications for HIV pathogenesis, vaccines, and eradication efforts. Investigations using animal models and human tissues have identified a TRM transcriptional profile and elucidated signals within the tissue microenvironment leading to TRM development and maintenance. TRM are major contributors to host response in infectious diseases and cancer; in addition, TRM contribute to pathogenic inflammation in a variety of settings. Although TRM are daunting to study in HIV infection, recent work has helped define their molecular signatures and effector functions and tested strategies for their mobilization. Exclusive reliance on blood sampling to gain an understanding of host immunity overlooks the contribution of TRM, which differ in significant ways from their counterparts in circulation. It is hoped that greater understanding of these cells will lead to novel approaches to prevent and/or eradicate HIV infection.
How Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy Does the Body, or Why Epistemology Alone Cannot Explain this Controversial Breast Cancer Treatment.

Since the late 1990s, the use of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) to treat unilateral breast cancer has been on the rise. Over the past two decades, dozens of studies have been conducted in order to understand this trend, which has puzzled and frustrated physicians who find it at odds with efforts to curb the surgical overtreatment of breast cancer, as well as with evidence-based medicine, which has established that the procedure has little oncologic benefit for most patients. Based on the work of Annemarie Mol and John Law, this paper argues that these efforts to understand increased CPM use are limited by the “epistemology problem” in medicine, or, in other words, the tendency to view healthcare controversies and decision making exclusively through the lenses of objective and subjective forms of knowledge. Drawing on public discourse about rationales for choosing CPM, we argue that this surgical trend cannot adequately be understood in terms of what doctors and patients know about breast cancer risk and how CPM affects that risk. In addition, it must be recognized as the outcome of how specific practices of screening, detection, and treatment do or enact the bodies of patients, producing tensions in their lives that cannot be remedied with better or better communicated information. Recognizing the embodied realities of these enactments and their effects on patient decision making, we maintain, is essential for physicians who want to avoid the paternalism that haunts breast cancer treatment in the US.
Research and trends in STEM education: a systematic analysis of publicly funded projects

Taking publicly funded projects in STEM education as a special lens, we aimed to learn about research and trends in STEM education. We identified a total of 127 projects funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the US Department of Education from 2003 to 2019. Both the number of funded projects in STEM education and their funding amounts were high, although there were considerable fluctuations over the years. The number of projects with multiple principal investigators increased over time. The project duration was typically in the range of 3–4 years, and the goals of these projects were mostly categorized as “development and innovation” or “efficacy and replication.” The majority of the 127 projects focused on individual STEM disciplines, especially mathematics. The findings, based on IES-funded projects, provided a glimpse of the research input and trends in STEM education in the USA, with possible implications for developing STEM education research in other education systems around the world.
The Erosion of Civil Rights Enforcement

(1986). The Erosion of Civil Rights Enforcement. The Black Scholar: Vol. 17, Blacks and The Law, pp. 10-18.
Assessing Global and Regional Effects of Reconstructed Land-Use and Land-Cover Change on Climate since 1950 Using a Coupled Land–Atmosphere–Ocean Model

Author(s): Huang, Huilin; Xue, Yongkang; Chilukoti, Nagaraju; Liu, Ye; Chen, Gang; Diallo, Ismaila | Abstract: AbstractLand-use and land-cover change (LULCC) is one of the most important forcings affecting climate in the past century. This study evaluates the global and regional LULCC impacts in 1950–2015 by employing an annually updated LULCC map in a coupled land–atmosphere–ocean model. The difference between LULCC and control experiments shows an overall land surface temperature (LST) increase by 0.48 K in the LULCC regions and a widespread LST decrease by 0.18 K outside the LULCC regions. A decomposed temperature metric (DTM) is applied to quantify the relative contribution of surface processes to temperature changes. Furthermore, while precipitation in the LULCC areas is reduced in agreement with declined evaporation, LULCC causes a southward displacement of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) with a narrowing by 0.5°, leading to a tripole anomalous precipitation pattern over the warm pool. The DTM shows that the temperature response in LULCC regions results from the competing effect between increased albedo (cooling) and reduced evaporation (warming). The reduced evaporation indicates less atmospheric latent heat release in convective processes and thus a drier and cooler troposphere, resulting in a reduction in surface cooling outside the LULCC regions. The southward shift of the ITCZ implies a northward cross-equatorial energy transport anomaly in response to reduced latent/sensible heat of the atmosphere in the Northern Hemisphere, where LULCC is more intensive. Tropospheric cooling results in the equatorward shift of the upper-tropospheric westerly jet in both hemispheres, which, in turn, leads to an equatorward narrowing of the Hadley circulation and ITCZ.
Toward Optimal Secure Distributed Storage Systems With Exact Repair

Distributed storage systems (DSSs) in the presence of an external wiretapper are considered. A DSS is parameterized by $(n, k, d)$ , in which the data are stored across $n$ nodes (each with storage capacity $\alpha $ ), and must be recoverable by accessing the contents stored on any $k$ out of $n$ nodes. If a node fails, any $d \geq k$ out of $(n-1)$ nodes help in the repair (regeneration) of the failed node (by sending $d\beta $ units of repair data, where $\beta \leq \alpha $ ), so that the data can still be recovered from the DSS. For such a $(n, k, d)$ -DSS, security from the two types of wiretappers is investigated: 1) Type-I (node data) wiretapper, which can read the data stored on any $\ell nodes and 2) Type-II (repair data) wiretapper, which can read the data that is used to repair a set of $\ell $ failed nodes. The focus of this paper is on the optimal tradeoff between the storage $(\alpha )$ and the repair bandwidth $(d\beta )$ in presence of a Type-I/Type-II wiretapper and the practically relevant constraint of exact repair in which a failed node must be replaced by its exact replica. In this paper, several new results and outer bounds for the storage-versus-exact-repair-bandwidth tradeoff(s) are obtained for the Type-I and Type-II security problems. Furthermore, new outer bounds are presented for the Type-II problem, which hold for general $(n, k, d,\ell )$ parameters. It is shown that these outer bounds strictly improve upon the existing cutset-based outer bounds. The key technical contribution of this paper is in developing novel information theoretic converse proofs for these problems. From our optimal characterization results, we show that in a Type-II setting, the only efficient point in the storage-versus-exact-repair-bandwidth tradeoff is the minimum bandwidth regenerating (MBR) point corresponding to $\alpha =d\beta $ . This is in sharp contrast to the Type-I setting in which the optimal tradeoff allows a spectrum of operating points beyond the MBR point.
Mesenchymal Stromal Cells and Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation

In recent years umbilical cord blood has become an important source of stem cells for patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Ease of collection, ready availability, allowance of higher HLA disparity, and the lower incidence of graft-versus-host disease makes cord blood an attractive source of stem cells, especially for minority populations. One of the major limitations to wider use of umbilical cord stem cells for transplantation in adult patients is the relative low number of progenitor cells in the graft. This results in delayed engraftment, delayed immune reconstitution, and increased rates of infectious complications. This can be partly overcome by ex vivo expansion of cord blood stem cells. There are many techniques for cord blood expansion currently being used in clinical trials, but the optimal expansion protocol has yet to be defined. Here we discuss ex vivo expansion using mesenchymal stromal cells.
The Indian summer monsoon during peaks in the 11 year sunspot cycle

[1] An analysis of sea-level pressure anomalies at 14 sunspot peaks in the 11 year solar cycle in the Indian region in summer shows that the mean sea level pressure anomalies consist of relatively high pressure over land surrounded by low pressure anomalies over the sea. This signal is robust enough to appear when the data are divided into two segments. The accompanying mean rainfall anomalies, with anomalies as high as 20% above normal, have maxima on the coasts and over water and are an enhancement of the mean Indian monsoon rainfall. In the sunspot peaks the Findlater Jet appears to shift east and strengthen somewhat, consistent with the lower sea level pressure and stronger monsoon rainfall.
Western immunoblot analysis of Ehrlichia chaffeensis, E. canis, or E. ewingii infections in dogs and humans.

Ehrlichia chaffeensis, E. canis, and E. ewingii are genetically closely related, as determined by 16S rRNA gene base sequence comparison, but they exhibit biologic differences. E. chaffeensis is the etiologic agent of human ehrlichiosis. E. canis and E. ewingii cause two distinctly different forms of canine ehrlichiosis and infect different types of leukocytes, monocytes and granulocytes, respectively. E. chaffeensis can also infect dogs. In the study, Western immunoblot analysis of sera from dogs inoculated with E. chaffeensis, E. canis, or E. ewingii was performed to determine antigenic specificity and the intensities of the reactions to purified E. chaffeensis and E. canis antigens. At 2 to 3 weeks postexposure, antisera from four dogs inoculated with E. chaffeensis reacted with 64-, 47-, 31-, and 29-kDa proteins of E. chaffeensis but reacted poorly with E. canis antigen. In contrast, at 2 to 3 weeks postexposure, antisera from four E. canis-inoculated dogs reacted strongly with the 30-kDa major antigen of E. canis but reacted poorly with proteins from E. chaffeensis. At 4 weeks postexposure, the sera from three E. ewingii-inoculated dogs showed weak binding to 64- and 47-kDa proteins of both E. chaffeensis and E. canis. Convalescent-phase sera from human ehrlichiosis patients and sera from dogs chronically infected with E. ewingii strongly reacted with similar sets of proteins of E. chaffeensis and E. canis with similar intensities. However, sera from dogs chronically infected with E. canis reacted more strongly with a greater number of E. canis proteins than with E. chaffeensis proteins. The protein specificity described in the report suggests that dogs with E. canis infections can be distinguished from E. chaffeensis-infected animals by Western immunoblot analysis with both E. canis and E. chaffeensis antigens. Images
Advances in Technological Design to Optimize Exposure and Improve Image Quality

Multimodality imaging is playing a key role in the clinical management of patients in routine diagnosis, staging, restaging and assessment of response to treatment, surgery and radiation therapy planning of malignant diseases. The complementarity between anatomical (CT and MRI) and functional/molecular (SPECT and PET) imaging modalities is now well recognized and the role of fusion imaging is widely used as a central piece of the general tree of clinical decision making. Moreover, dual-modality imaging technologies including SPECT/CT, PET/CT and nowadays PET/MR represent the leading component of a modern healthcare facility. There have been significant advances in data acquisition along with innovative approaches to image reconstruction and processing with the aim to improve image quality and diagnostic information. However, CT procedures involve relatively high doses to the patient, which triggered many initiatives to reduce the delivered dose particularly in paediatric practice.
Identification of a germination system involved in the heat injury of Bacillus subtilis spores.

Bacillus subtilis A spores were injured by exposure to heat treatments of 110 to 132 C. Injury was demonstrated by the inability to form colonies on fortified nutrient agar (FNA) unless the medium was supplemented with CaCl2 and Na2 dipicolinate (CNA). A preliminary heat treatment fully heat-activated the spores, was not lethal, and did not prevent injury by subsequent secondary heat treatment. Exposure of heat-activated spores to 122 C reduced germination in FNA. The primary germination agents in FNA were identified, and a defined germination medium of glucose, NaCl, l-alanine, and sodium phosphate (GNAP) was developed. Germination of heat-activated spores in GNAP was equivalent to germination in FNA. Injury measured by colony formation on FNA and CNA was correlated to injury measured by reduced germination in both FNA and GNAP. Inactivation of the FNA and GNAP germination systems by secondary treatment exhibited similar kinetics. Therefore, injury expressed as the inability to form colonies on FNA involved alteration of the GNAP germination system.
Evaluating the Efficacy of Mass Media and Social Marketing Campaigns in Changing Consumer Financial Behavior

Mass media and social marketing programs are cheap, scalable, and potentially effective means of influencing consumers' financial behavior and decisions. In light of this potential, and in order to provide clear policy direction, this paper provides an overview of the existing and ongoing research efforts in this domain, and highlights the importance of expanding the evidence base by conducting rigorous impact assessments in this field. Exploring four case studies, it provides lessons in designing effective evaluations specifically targeting mass media and social marketing programs on consumer financial management, highlights the value of incorporating insights from behavioral psychology in program design, and suggests avenues for future research.
Edema and intrapancreatic trypsinogen activation precede glutathione depletion during caerulein pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis is characterized by hyperamylasemia, pancreatic edema, and the presence of activated digestive enzymes within the pancreas. The secretagogue-induced model of acute pancreatitis is also characterized by pancreatic acinar cell vacuolation, subcellular redistribution of lysosomal hydrolases, and a fall in pancreatic glutathione levels. We have performed time-dependence studies to determine the sequence with which these phenomena appear and to establish their cause-and-effect relationship. Evidence of lysosomal enzyme redistribution and trypsinogen activation within the pancreas could be detected within 10-15 min of the onset of supramaximal secretagogue stimulation, while hyperamylasemia (30 min), pancreatic edema (60 min), and acinar cell vacuolation (60 min) occurred at later times. Pancreatic glutathione levels were either unchanged (15 and 30 min) or elevated (60 min) during the early times of supramaximal stimulation and were only noted to be decreased at a later time. These results support the conclusion that intrapancreatic digestive enzyme activation, possibly occurring by a mechanism involving lysosomal hydrolase redistribution, is an early and likely a critical event in the evolution of secretagogue-induced pancreatitis but that glutathione depletion is neither early nor critical to the evolution of this model of pancreatitis.
SHIFT WORK AND HEALTH

Night work and rotating shift work disrupt the circadian timing system. This disruption may produce significant deleterious symptoms in some workers. Certain medical conditions may be aggravated by shift-work scheduling, and shift workers are at increased risk of experiencing cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and reproductive dysfunction. Vulnerable individuals may develop clinical depression when working shifts. Primary care practitioners may intervene by providing medical surveillance and educational programs for shift-working patients and their families.
Constitutive Restrictions for Idealized Elastic-Viscoplastic Materials

Etude des restrictions sur les equations constitutives de materiaux elastoviscoplastiques en presence de deformations finies. On utilise un modele qui inclut le dechargement et permet une definition convenable de la deformation plastique
Problems for risk assessment of endocrine-active estrogenic compounds.

Estrogenic industrial compounds such as bisphenol A (BPA) and nonylphenol typically bind estrogen receptor (ER) alpha and ERBeta and induce transactivation of estrogen-responsive genes/reporter genes, but their potencies are usually greater than or equal to 1,000-fold lower than observed for 17Beta-estradiol. Risk assessment of estrogenic compounds on the basis of their potencies in simple reporter gene or binding assays may be inappropriate. For example, selective ER modulators (SERMs) represent another class of synthetic estrogens being developed for treatment of hormone-dependent problems. SERMs differentially activate wild-type ERalpha and variant forms expressing activation function 1 (ER-AF1) and AF2 (ER-AF2) in human HepG2 hepatoma cells transfected with an estrogen-responsive complement C3 promoter-luciferase construct, and these in vitro differences reflect their unique in vivo biologies. The HepG2 cell assay has also been used in our laboratories to investigate the estrogenic activities of the following structurally diverse synthetic and phytoestrogens: 4 -hydroxytamoxifen; BPA; 2 ,4 ,6 -trichloro-4-biphenylol; 2 ,3 ,4 ,5 -tetrachloro-4-biphenylol; p-t-octylphenol; p-nonylphenol; naringenin; kepone; resveratrol; and 2,2-bis(p-hydroxyphenyl)-1,1,1-trichloroethane. The results show that synthetic and phytoestrogens are weakly estrogenic but induce distinct patterns of ER agonist/antagonist activities that are cell context- and promoter-dependent, suggesting that these compounds will induce tissue-specific (in vivo(ER agonist or antagonist activities. These results suggest that other receptors, such as the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, that also bind structurally diverse ligands may exhibit unique responses in vivo that are not predicted by standard in vitro bioassays.
Methoxide surface complexes on lithium

Abstract The He(I) photoelectron spectrum of the surface completes formed between methanol(g) and lithium(s) is reported. The spectrum is attributed to a methoxide species. Assignment of spectral features and identification of methoxide adsorbate is supported by molecular orbital calculations.
NOTE CONCERNING A CONJECTURE BY A. WINTNER

The conjecture mentioned in the title is concerned with the existence of non-flat central configurations ofN point masses; it was put forward in A. Wintner's ‘Analytical Foundations of Celestial Mechanics’ (1941), §360 (iii), p. 279.
Binding Kinetics and Fraction of Immobile Enzymes Bound to Cellulose Fibrils Studied Through Confocal Laser Scanning Fluorescence Microscopy and FRAP

Biofuels and bioproducts derived from cellulosic biomass represent great potential renewable and environmentally friendly technologies. Key to converting cellulosic biomass into soluble sugars is the depolymerization of the cellulose macromolecules by enzymes called cellulases. These enzymes depolymerize the cellulose chain by binding to the exposed cellulose surface and cleaving β-glucosidic bonds. Although much work has been done studying the dynamics of these enzymes in bulk solution, little is known about how these enzymes operate at the micron to nanoscale. To this end, our lab has fluorescently labeled three of these enzymes (Thermobifida fusca Cel9A, Cel5A and Cel6B) to study their binding and catalytic behavior through a variety of spectroscopic techniques. The work presented aims at quantifying the binding and unbinding kinetics, and the fraction of immobile enzyme bound to the cellulose substrate through scanning confocal microscopy and FRAP (fluorescence recovery after photobleaching).Sonicated BMCC (bacterial microcrystalline cellulose) was patterned on glass surfaces through “molecular combing” to produce oriented cellulose bundles and mats. The patterned cellulose was incubated with fluorescent cellulases at saturating conditions (2nM) for approximately three hours. Cellulose aggregates were imaged with a confocal laser scanning microscope. FRAP experiments were performed on both mats and fibril bundles at various temperatures to elucidate the kinetics of binding/unbinding, and to estimate the immobile fraction of cellulases on the cellulose surface. Results from this study showed that the binding/unbinding kinetics and the immobile fraction for each enzyme differ according to the cellulase mode of hydrolysis (random versus processive) and varied significantly with temperature. This study helps to further the understanding of the molecular basis of cellulose hydrolysis and could potentially aid in the development of more efficient enzymes suitable for industrial applications.
Differentiation of CD8 T Cells in Response to Acute and Chronic Viral Infections: Implications for HIV Vaccine Development

Successful HIV vaccine strategies will likely require the induction of robust cellular immune responses, in addition to strong humoral responses. Unfortunately, there is no clear molecular definition of an effective HIV-specific CD8 T cell response. In this review, we discuss the differentiation of CD8 T cells in response to acute and chronic viral infections. We then apply concepts derived from these studies to predict the desirable characteristics of HIV-specific CD8 T cell memory.
Secretion Stimulates Intramembrane Proteolysis of a Secretory Granule Membrane Enzyme

Regulated intramembrane proteolysis, a highly conserved process employed by diverse regulatory pathways, can release soluble fragments that directly or indirectly modulate gene expression. In this study we used pharmacological tools to identify peptidylglycine α-amidating monooxygenase (PAM), a type I secretory granule membrane protein, as a γ-secretase substrate. PAM, an essential enzyme, catalyzes the final step in the synthesis of the majority of neuropeptides that control metabolic homeostasis. Mass spectroscopy was most consistent with the presence of multiple closely spaced NH2 termini, suggesting that cleavage occurred near the middle of the PAM transmembrane domain. The luminal domains of PAM must undergo a series of prohormone convertase or α-secretase-mediated cleavages before the remaining transmembrane domain/cytosolic domain fragment can undergo a γ-secretase-like cleavage. Cleavage by γ-secretase generates a soluble fragment of the cytosolic domain (sf-CD) that is known to localize to the nucleus. Although PAM sf-CD is unstable in AtT-20 corticotroph tumor cells, it is readily detected in primary rat anterior pituitary cells. PAM isoform expression, which is tissue-specific and developmentally regulated, affects the efficiency with which sf-CD is produced. sf-CD levels are also modulated by the phosphorylation status of the cytosolic domain and by the ability of the cytosolic domain to interact with cytosolic proteins. sf-CD is produced by primary rat anterior pituitary cells in response to secretogogue, suggesting that sf-CD acts as a signaling molecule relaying information about secretion from the secretory granule to the nucleus.
Endoscopic pterygopalatine space surgery

Abstract Although lesions of the pterygopalatine space are uncommon, there are instances in which this relatively inaccessible region must be entered for biopsy or excision of masses. Traditional open approaches to the pterygopalatine space, involving external or intraoral incisions, provide limited visualization and carry associated morbidities. The evolution and advancement of endoscopic sinus surgical technique in recent years has led to its application to anatomic areas outside the strict limits of the sinonasal cavities. Such minimally invasive approaches are safe, effective, and spare unnecessary discomfort to the patient. This article describes the authors' method for performing an endoscopic approach to the pterygopalatine space.