cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development of Ventral Stream Representations for Single Letters

Visual form recognition is mediated by the ventral extrastriate processing stream. Some regions of ventral stream cortex show preferential activity for specific stimulus categories, but little is known about how this regional specialization develops. Acquisition of letter-naming skill is of particular interest because letter recognition serves as the gateway to visual processing of words, and fluent letter naming predicts children's reading success. For this reason, we examined the school-age development of visual letter processing using fMRI. In a 2 x 2 design, we compared ventral stream BOLD activity in two groups, children (n = 22, age 6-11) and adults (n = 15, age 20-22), during two tasks: naming of single letters and naming of simple line drawings of objects. We hypothesized that, based on adults' greater experience with letters, the posterior left fusiform gyrus would be activated more in adults for letter naming than it would be in children. We found that bilateral areas of ventral stream cortex during letter naming were activated in both children and adults and that the midposterior areas of the fusiform gyrus in both hemispheres were activated to a greater degree in adults than in children. There were no areas within the ventral stream in either hemisphere that were activated preferentially for letters over line drawings, nor were there any significant differences in the developmental changes observed for letter naming compared to object naming. These findings indicate that visual processing of single letters continues to develop in both hemispheres during grade school. However, we found no evidence for development of areas specialized for single letter processing. Rather, our findings suggest that letter recognition is performed using the same general form recognition systems as are used to process other visually similar stimuli.
Diagnostic spectra for XPS analysis of CuOSH compounds

An X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of certain standard materials from the system CuOSH was carried out. This system is important in the study of corrosion products formed on copper in aqueous or atmospheric sulfur-bearing environments. The materials studied included Cu, Cu2O, CuO, Cu(OH)2, Cu2S, CuS and CuSO4. Spectral features such as lineshape, peak energy and peak intensity for Cu2p, Cu(L3M4,5M4,5) Auger, O1s and S2p bands were examined. Relative atomic sensitivity factors for the ligands with respect to copper were determined. A chemical state plot and a diagnostic decision tree were prepared from the data.
Behavioral Avoidance of Ultraviolet-B Radiation by Two Species of Neotropical Poison-Dart Frogs

Many animals, plants, and microorganisms are harmed by ultraviolet-B radiation. In particular, several members of class amphibia are negatively affected by exposure to ultraviolet-B radiation. Exposure to ultraviolet-B radiation can cause death or various types of sublethal damage in amphibians. One mechanism to lessen the effect of harmful ultraviolet-B radiation is to limit exposure to sunlight behaviorally. Few studies have examined the behavioral sensitivity of adult amphibians to ultraviolet-B radiation. Using both field experiments and field observations, we found that two species of diurnal poison-dart frogs in Costa Rica (Dendrobates pumilio, D. auratus) consistently preferred areas in the field and within experimental testing chambers that offered low levels of ultraviolet-B radiation. In field observations, vocalizing D. pumilio were found at locations with significantly lower levels of ambient ultraviolet-B compared to random locations throughout their natural habitat. Ultraviolet-B avoidance behavior may be an important behavioral response for tropical frogs in light of recent evidence suggesting a significant increase in the levels of ambient ultraviolet-B radiation in the tropics over the past decade.
Tietze extensions and continuous selections for metric projections

Abstract There is an intimate relationship between (1) the set of all Tietze extensions of a given continuous function on a compact subset S of a locally compact Hausdorff space T to all of T , and (2) the set of all best approximations to elements of C 0 ( T ) from the ideal M in C 0 ( T ) consisting of those functions which vanish on S . This relation is used, for example, to deduce that the Tietze extension map has a linear selection if and only if the metric projection onto M has a linear selection. It is known that the former holds whenever T is metrizable.
Thrombolysis and Angioplasty in Myocardial Infarction (TAMI-1) trial: Influence of infarct location on arterial patency, left ventricular function and mortality

Abstract The influence of infarct location on arterial patency, left ventricular function and mortality after 150 mg of intravenous recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (rt-PA) and selective coronary angioplasty was studied in 386 patients with acute myocardial infarction. In 329 patients with acute and 1 week angiograms, the 90 min infarct-related artery patency rate after rt-PA in the left anterior descending, the left circumflex and the right coronary artery was 77, 68 and 68%, respectively. Angioplasty, performed in half the patients, resulted in a final acute patency rate of 93%, which was not related to arterial distribution. Repeat catheterization and revascularization were required in 12% of patients before day 7 and were independent of arterial distribution. The reocclusion rate for the right coronary artery (21%) was higher than that for the left anterior descending (12%) or left circumflex (5%) artery (p = 0.01). Acute and 1 week contrast ventriculograms suitable for analysis were available in 266 patients. Whereas serial left ventricular ejection fraction did not improve during the course of this study, serial regional wall motion (centerline chord method) improved in each arterial distribution. The in-hospital mortality rate of 6 % was not related to arterial distribution, although death was twice as likely with proximal compared with distal lesions. Ten of 11 patients who died in the group with the left anterior descending artery as the infarct-related artery had a lesion proximal to the first septal perforator branch. Thus, whereas 90 min reperfusion rates were higher in the left anterior descending artery and 7 day reocclusion rates were higher in the right coronary artery, infarct location did not influence improvement in left ventricular function. Until further mortality data from large prospective randomized trials are available, there does not appear to be justification based on improved patency and regional wall motion to exclude patients with inferior infarction from reperfusion therapy.
Hyperfine interactions and perturbation effects in the B0u+(3Πu) state of 127I2

We report new measurements of the hyperfine spectra of B←X transitions in the wavelength range 500–517 nm. Four effective hyperfine parameters, eqQB, CB, dB, and δB, are determined for an extensive number of rovibrational levels spanning the intermediate region 42≤v′≤70 in the electronically excited B0u+(3Πu) state. Second-order perturbation accounts for most of the observed rovibrational dependence of the hyperfine interactions. In addition, it was found that, near vibrational levels v′=57–60, the 1g(1Πg) electronic state strongly perturbs the B state through rotational coincidence, leading to effects such as abnormal variations in the hyperfine parameters and strong u–g mixing recorded for the transition P(84)60–0. Various perturbation effects in the B state identified so far are summarized. Also, the radial dependence of the hyperfine interactions was examined by removal of the vibrational average in the hyperfine parameters.
Laser desorption jet cooling spectroscopy of organic clusters

While laser ablation is often used to create clusters, laser desorption at lower fluences can be used to probe clusters already present on a surface or van der Waals clusters formed between desorbed species and gas phase atoms. As an example of the former we discuss a study of para amino benzoic acid dimers. The dimers are formed by laser desorbing the monomer into a supersonic expansion. With the technique of laser desorption jet cooling it is also possible to form van der Waals clusters and species in the drive gas. As an example we discuss the spectroscopy of triphenylamine/argon clusters. Finally, the same technique allows the study of species on the surface, rather than clusters formed by the volatilization itself. A dramatic example is the formation of carbon clusters by laser ablation in a separate step and their subsequent study by laser desorption.
Alpha-Synuclein Blocks VDAC Suggesting Mechanism of Mitochondrial Regulation and Toxicity in Parkinson Disease

Alpha-synuclein (α-syn), an intrinsically disordered neuronal protein, is implicated in the etiology of Parkinson disease (PD) and a number of other neurodegenerative dementias. Though recent research demonstrates the involvement of α-syn in a variety of mitochondrial dysfunction in neurodegeneration, the molecular mechanism of α-syn toxicity and its effect on neuronal mitochondria remain vague. We demonstrate a functional interaction between α-syn and the voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC), the major conduit for ATP and other bioenergetics metabolites in the mitochondrial outer membrane. We found that at nanomolar concentrations, the full-length α-syn, its 45 amino acid C-terminal truncated mutant, as well as β- and α-synuclein isoforms induce reversible and highly voltage-dependent blockage of VDAC reconstituted into planar lipid bilayers. Binding parameters varied with each isoform, revealing the key role of the negatively charged C-terminal of synucleins in blocking a positively charged pore of VDAC. Synuclein-blocked states of VDAC differ in ionic selectivity, implying the existence of several conformation states of synuclein molecules in the channel pore. We propose a model of α-syn interaction with VDAC, in which the negatively charged C-terminus of α-syn enters the net-positive channel pore, providing a steric block for ATP flux. Experiments with a yeast strain deficient in VDAC1 demonstrate that α-syn toxicity in yeast depends on VDAC, revealing α-syn interaction with the channel in living cells. Thus, our findings show the long-sought physiological and pathophysiological roles for monomeric α-syn, which reconcile previous observations of various synuclein effects on mitochondrial bioenergetics.
Electrochemistry of cations in diopsidic melt: Determining diffusion rates and redox potentials from voltammetric curves

Results are presented on determinations of reduction potentials and their temperature dependence of selected ions in diopsidic melt, by using linear sweep voltammetry. Diffusion coefficients were measured for cations of Eu, Mn, Cr, and In. Enthalpies and entropies of reduction were determined for the cations V(V), Cr(3+), Mn(2+), Mn(3+), Fe(2+), Cu(2+), Mo(VI), Sn(IV), and Eu(3+). Reduction potentials were used to study the structural state of cations in the melt.
ELECTRICAL CHARGES OF COLLOIDAL PARTICLES AND ANOMALOUS OSMOSIS : II. INFLUENCE OF THE RADIUS OF THE ION.

1. When solutions of KCl, NaCl, or LiCl are separated from water without salt by a collodion-gelatin membrane and when the pH of both salt solution and water are on the acid side of the isoelectric point of gelatin, water diffuses from the side of pure water into the salt solution at a rate increasing inversely with the radius of the cations. 2. The adsorption theory would lead us to assume that this influence of the cations is due to an increase of the P.D. between the liquid and the membrane inside the pores of the gelatin film of the membrane, but direct measurements of this P.D. contradict such an assumption, since they show that the influence of the three salts on this P.D. is identical at pH 3.0. 3. It is found, however, that the P.D. across the membrane is affected in a similar way by the three cations as is the transport of water through the membrane. 4. This P.D. across the membrane varies inversely as the relative mobility of the three cations which suggests that the influence of the three cations on the diffusion of liquid through the membrane is partly if not essentially due to a diffusion potential.
Cross Validation of the Discriminative Effectiveness of the Standardized Luria Neuropsychological Battery

The extensive work of A. R. Luria has long been recognized as a seminal contribution to understanding the functions of the brain, and in the psychological evaluation of neurological disorders. Luria has presented numerous test procedures to evaluate brain processes, but these have found little recognition in the United States because the lack of standardized scoring, interpretation, and administration methods. Earlier series of articles by Golden and his colleagues have presented a standardized version of Luria's qualitative tests. The present paper is a cross validation of the original study which found the standardized Luria Battery to be able to discriminate between normal controls and brain-damaged patients with an accuracy rate of 93 %. In the current study, 50 neurologically impaired patients with confirmed neurological diagnosis made by a neurologist or neurosurgeon were compared with 50 hospitalized control subjects with injuries or diseases not affecting the brain. The average age of the two grou...
Changes in basal and stimulated growth hormone secretion in the aging rhesus monkey: a comparison of chair restraint and tether and vest sampling.

We studied basal serum GH and GH responses to iv clonidine and insulin-induced hypoglycemia in a group of four young (5–7 yr old) and four older (10–14 yr old) adult male rhesus monkeys under two restraint conditions, chair adaptation and a tether and vest system, to determine what changes in GH secretion occur with aging. The serum GH response to iv administration of GH-releasing hormone (GHRH) was also studied in the groups under tether and vest restraint. Serum samples were collected every 15 min and assayed for GH using a human GH RIA and for cortisol using an enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay. GH and cortisol concentrations in the young and older groups were analyzed with analysis of variance (ANOVA). In the chaired studies the older animals had a lower mean 6–h basal GH concentration than did the younger animals (2.7 ± 0.8 vs. 3.5 ± 0.5 μg/L; P = 0.0002). Prestimulation GH was lower before clonidine and insulin in the older chaired group (1.1 ± 0.5 and 2.3 ± 0.6 Mg/L, respectively) compared to the y...
Eye-hand interactions differ in the human premotor and parietal cortices.

In order to successfully look at and reach for a visual target the central nervous system must perform a complex sensorimotor transformation. How this transformation is mapped onto relevant brain structures has become the subject of much recent investigation. In the present paper we examined the contribution of the human premotor cortex (PMC) to this transformation process during a task requiring coordinated eye and hand movements. For this purpose, we made use of single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to temporarily disrupt the processing occurring in the PMC during task performance. Subjects made open-loop pointing movements accompanied by saccades of the same size or two or three times larger. Under normal circumstances without TMS, the pointing movement amplitude increased with saccade amplitude. When TMS was applied over the PMC 100-200 ms after target presentation, the influence of saccade amplitude on the pointing movement amplitude was increased. This is the opposite effect to that observed in a previous study [Journal of Neurophysiology 84 (200) 1677-1680] when TMS was applied over the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) during the same task. We suggest that this pattern of results is consistent with the coding of the reach plan in eye-centered coordinates in the PPC and limb-centered coordinates in the PMC.
Kinetic modeling of Toxoplasma gondii invasion

Abstract The phylum Apicomplexa includes parasites responsible for global scourges such as malaria, cryptosporidiosis, and toxoplasmosis. Parasites in this phylum reproduce inside the cells of their hosts, making invasion of host cells an essential step of their life cycle. Characterizing the stages of host-cell invasion, has traditionally involved tedious microscopic observations of individual parasites over time. As an alternative, we introduce the use of compartment models for interpreting data collected from snapshots of synchronized populations of invading parasites. Parameters of the model are estimated via a maximum negative log-likelihood principle. Estimated parameter values and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), are consistent with reported observations of individual parasites. For RH strain parasites, our model yields that: (1) penetration of the host-cell plasma membrane takes 26 s (95% CI: 22–30 s); (2) parasites that ultimately invade, remain attached three times longer than parasites that eventually detach from the host cells, and (3) 25% (95% CI: 19–33%) of parasites invade while 75% (95% CI: 67–81%) eventually detach from their host cells without progressing to invasion. A key feature of the model is the incorporation of invasion stages that cannot be directly observed. This allows us to characterize the phenomenon of parasite detachment from host cells. The properties of this phenomenon would be difficult to quantify without a mathematical model. We conclude that mathematical modeling provides a powerful new tool for characterizing the stages of host-cell invasion by intracellular parasites.
The Impact of Coworker Support on Employee Turnover in the Hospitality Industry

Employee turnover rates are among the highest for entry-level employees in the hospitality industry. Research focused on identifying the antecedents of turnover in this employment context has been limited, however. To address this gap in the literature, the present study examined the impact of coworker support on turnover with a sample of 188 servers from a national restaurant chain. Specifically, this study assessed the impact of coworker instrumental support and coworker emotional support on turnover. The results demonstrated that coworker emotional support was negatively related to turnover. However, coworker instrumental support was positively related to turnover, counter to the hypothesized relationship. This counterintuitive finding leads us to consider the role of coworker support on turnover in a new light.
Thermal substitution and aerobic efficiency: measuring and predicting effects of heat balance on endotherm diving energetics

For diving endotherms, modelling costs of locomotion as a function of prey dispersion requires estimates of the costs of diving to different depths. One approach is to estimate the physical costs of locomotion (Pmech) with biomechanical models and to convert those estimates to chemical energy needs by an aerobic efficiency (η=Pmech/Vo2) based on oxygen consumption (Vo2) in captive animals. Variations in η with temperature depend partly on thermal substitution, whereby heat from the inefficiency of exercising muscles or the heat increment of feeding (HIF) can substitute for thermogenesis. However, measurements of substitution have ranged from lack of detection to nearly complete use of exercise heat or HIF. This inconsistency may reflect (i) problems in methods of calculating substitution, (ii) confounding mechanisms of thermoregulatory control, or (iii) varying conditions that affect heat balance and allow substitution to be expressed. At present, understanding of how heat generation is regulated, and how heat is transported among tissues during exercise, digestion, thermal challenge and breath holding, is inadequate for predicting substitution and aerobic efficiencies without direct measurements for conditions of interest. Confirming that work rates during exercise are generally conserved, and identifying temperatures at those work rates below which shivering begins, may allow better prediction of aerobic efficiencies for ecological models.
Children of the U.S. National Guard: Making Meaning and Responding to Parental Deployment

This qualitative study explored how 24 youths’ behaviors during deployment were influenced by their perceptions of their non-deployed parents. Interviews were conducted with youths of previously deployed National Guard parents. Analysis of interviews suggests that the youths’ interactions with their non-deployed parents strongly influence their behaviors during deployment. Examined through the lenses of family systems and symbolic interaction, youths appear to base their behaviors upon perceptions of their non-deployed parents’ abilities to cope and manage the changes brought about during deployment. The majority of youths report reacting in ways intended to help their parents and families—whether by stepping up and assisting their non-deployed parents, or withdrawing physically or emotionally to reduce the emotional strain on parents. Implications of findings are discussed.
Transactional lock-free execution of lock-based programs

This paper is motivated by the difficulty in writing correct high-performance programs. Writing shared-memory multi-threaded programs imposes a complex trade-off between programming ease and performance, largely due to subtleties in coordinating access to shared data. To ensure correctness programmers often rely on conservative locking at the expense of performance. The resulting serialization of threads is a performance bottleneck. Locks also interact poorly with thread scheduling and faults, resulting in poor system performance.We seek to improve multithreaded programming trade-offs by providing architectural support for optimistic lock-free execution. In a lock-free execution, shared objects are never locked when accessed by various threads. We propose Transactional Lock Removal (TLR) and show how a program that uses lock-based synchronization can be executed by the hardware in a lock-free manner, even in the presence of conflicts, without programmer support or software changes. TLR uses timestamps for conflict resolution, modest hardware, and features already present in many modern computer systems.TLR's benefits include improved programmability, stability, and performance. Programmers can obtain benefits of lock-free data structures, such as non-blocking behavior and wait-freedom, while using lock-protected critical sections for writing programs.
The land-cover cascade: Relationships coupling land and water

We introduce the land-cover cascade (LCC) as a conceptual framework to quantify the transfer of land-cover-disturbance effects to stream biota. We hypothesize that disturbance is propagated through multivariate systems through key variables that transform a disturbance and pass a reorganized disturbance effect to the next hierarchical level where the process repeats until ultimately affecting biota. We measured 31 hydrologic, geomorphic, erosional, and substrate variables and 26 biotic responses that have been associated with land-use disturbance in third- and fourth-order streams in the Blue Ridge physiographic province in western North Carolina (USA). Regression analyses reduced this set of variables to include only those that responded to land cover and/or affected biota. From this reduced variable set, hypotheses were generated that predicted the disturbance pathways affecting each biotic response following the land-cover-cascade design. Cascade pathways began with land cover and ended with biotic responses, passing through at least one intermediate ecosystem abiotic component. Cascade models were tested for predictive ability and goodness-of-fit using path analysis. Biota were influenced by near-stream urban, agricultural, and forest land cover as propagated by hydrologic (e.g., discharge), geomorphic (e.g., stream bank height), erosional (e.g., suspended sediments), and depositional streambed (e.g., substrate size) features occurring along LCC pathways, reflecting abiotic mechanisms mediating land-cover disturbance. Our results suggest that communities are influenced by land-cover change indirectly through a hierarchy of associated abiotic components that propagate disturbance to biota. More generally, the land-cover cascade concept and experimental framework demonstrate an organized approach to the generic study of cascades and the complex relationships between landscapes and streams.
Multi-Sensor Interfaces

The research on large sensor networks along with the trend to miniaturization and the realization of an increasing number of components on a single chip (system on chip, SOC) create a strong demand for systems that combine multiple sensors or sensor-arrays together with their associated circuitry and interface units in a single-chip solution. In this article, the requirements to realize such multi-sensor interface chips are discussed. The main focus is on the analog frontend and the system architecture of the chip.
Sleepy Stack Leakage Reduction

Leakage power consumption of current CMOS technology is already a great challenge. International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors projects that leakage power consumption may come to dominate total chip power consumption as the technology feature size shrinks. Leakage is a serious problem particularly for CMOS circuits in nanoscale technology. We propose a novel ultra-low leakage CMOS circuit structure which we call "sleepy stack". Unlike many other previous approaches, sleepy stack can retain logic state during sleep mode while achieving ultra-low leakage power consumption. We apply the sleepy stack to generic logic circuits. Although the sleepy stack incurs some delay and area overhead, the sleepy stack technique achieves the lowest leakage power consumption among known state-saving leakage reduction techniques, thus, providing circuit designers with new choices to handle the leakage power problem
Blind deconvolution of images and small-extent point-spread functions using resultant matrices

The 2-D blind deconvolution problem is to reconstruct an image having known finite spatial extent from its 2-D convolution with an also-unknown point-spread function. This is significantly more difficult than the typical image restoration problem of deconvolving a known blurring function. Many methods for solving this problem are iterative but not POCS, and they tend to stagnate. We present a completely novel approach that assumes the unknown point-spread function varies slowly in the 2-D Z-transform domain, as would be the case if the point-spread function had small spatial extent. Sampling the problem along one axis in the 2-D Z-transform domain, and assuming the image transform varies between samples while the point-spread function transform does not, results in an approximate polynomial greatest common divisor problem. This can be solved by finding the eigenvector associated with the minimum eigenvalue of a resultant matrix. Repeating for several samples allows the point-spread function to be reconstructed using Lagrange interpolation.
Group Visits in Diabetes Care A Systematic Review

Purpose This review appraised research evidence on the effectiveness of group visits for persons with diabetes. The group visit approach included both education and medical management of the patient, and this review focuses on the implications for the certified diabetes educator (CDE) as part of the group visit provider team. Methods A search of a comprehensive list of databases produced 395 articles related to group visits, group education, and primary care of patients with diabetes. Results Using specific inclusion criteria, 12 articles were included in the review. Four review articles examined a total of 75 studies, and 8 additional original research articles analyzed outcomes related to group visits in the care of patients with diabetes. Conclusions Current models for diabetes focused group visits that incorporate both group education and a health provider office visit in lieu of the traditional brief office visit failed to demonstrate consistent statistical improvement in A1C, BP, or lipids. There is evidence that group visits may reduce costs, some physiological outcomes may be improved, and patient and clinician satisfaction may be enhanced. The diabetes focused group visit model needs further testing by health care teams in a variety of settings including private primary care and rural practices.
Pattern Formation on Silicon-on-Insulator

The strain driven self-assembly of faceted Ge nanocrystals during epitaxy on Si(001) to form quantum dots (QDs) is by now well known. We have also recently provided an understanding of the thermodynamic driving force for directed assembly of QDs on bulk Si (extendable to other QD systems) based on local chemical potential and curvature of the surface. Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) produces unique new phenomena. The essential thermodynamic instability of the very thin crystalline layer (called the template layer) resting on an oxide can cause this layer, under appropriate conditions, to dewet, agglomerate, and self-organize into an array of Si nanocrystals. Using low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM), we observe this process and, with the help of first-principles total-energy calculations, we provide a quantitative understanding of this pattern formation. The Si nanocrystal pattern formation can be controlled by lithographic patterning of the SOI prior to the dewetting process. The resulting patterns of electrically isolated Si nanocrystals can in turn be used as a template for growth of nanostructures, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Finally we show that this growth may be controlled by the flow dynamics of the feed gas across the substrate.
Impaired consciousness in temporal lobe seizures: role of cortical slow activity

Impaired consciousness requires altered cortical function. This can occur either directly from disorders that impair widespread bilateral regions of the cortex or indirectly through effects on subcortical arousal systems. It has therefore long been puzzling why focal temporal lobe seizures so often impair consciousness. Early work suggested that altered consciousness may occur with bilateral or dominant temporal lobe seizure involvement. However, other bilateral temporal lobe disorders do not impair consciousness. More recent work supports a ‘network inhibition hypothesis’ in which temporal lobe seizures disrupt brainstem–diencephalic arousal systems, leading indirectly to depressed cortical function and impaired consciousness. Indeed, prior studies show subcortical involvement in temporal lobe seizures and bilateral frontoparietal slow wave activity on intracranial electroencephalography. However, the relationships between frontoparietal slow waves and impaired consciousness and between cortical slowing and fast seizure activity have not been directly investigated. We analysed intracranial electroencephalography recordings during 63 partial seizures in 26 patients with surgically confirmed mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Behavioural responsiveness was determined based on blinded review of video during seizures and classified as impaired (complex-partial seizures) or unimpaired (simple-partial seizures). We observed significantly increased delta-range 1–2 Hz slow wave activity in the bilateral frontal and parietal neocortices during complex-partial compared with simple-partial seizures. In addition, we confirmed prior work suggesting that propagation of unilateral mesial temporal fast seizure activity to the bilateral temporal lobes was significantly greater in complex-partial than in simple-partial seizures. Interestingly, we found that the signal power of frontoparietal slow wave activity was significantly correlated with the temporal lobe fast seizure activity in each hemisphere. Finally, we observed that complex-partial seizures were somewhat more common with onset in the language-dominant temporal lobe. These findings provide direct evidence for cortical dysfunction in the form of bilateral frontoparietal slow waves associated with impaired consciousness in temporal lobe seizures. We hypothesize that bilateral temporal lobe seizures may exert a powerful inhibitory effect on subcortical arousal systems. Further investigations will be needed to fully determine the role of cortical-subcortical networks in ictal neocortical dysfunction and may reveal treatments to prevent this important negative consequence of temporal lobe epilepsy.
Behavior of hydrided and dehydrided LaNi5Hx as an hydrogenation catalyst

Abstract The catalytic properties of varying phase compositions of LaNi 5 H x were studied using the hydrogenation of 1-undecene as a model reaction. All experiments were carried out with the catalyst in liquid suspension at 308 K under varying pressures of hydrogen. The H content of the catalyst particles was tracked during the course of each experiment. Four types of catalytic behavior were observed and are catalogued in turn. While the metal solid solution phase (α-LaNi 5 H x ) exhibits catalytic properties, catalytic activity is significantly enhanced by the presence of the hydride phase (β-LaNi 5 H x ) in the particle bulk even though the surface composition of the particle is likely unchanged. It was concluded that several factors contribute to this enhancement: (1) the hydride phase acts as a reservoir of H atoms which communicate with the surface via microcracks and grain boundaries; (2) the substantial increase in bulk volume upon the conversion of the metal to the hydride phase enlarges these conduits and facilitates said communication; (3) weak chemisorption of hydrogen on the surface, due to the high hydrogen atom activity when the hydride phase is present, increases the amount of labile hydrogen.
The prospect of 3D-IC

This paper illustrates the performance advantages of 3D integrated circuits with two specific examples, namely 3D-FPGA and 3D-SRAM. Through strategic modification of the architectures to take advantage of 3D, significant improvement in speed and reduction in power consumption can be achieved.
Seoul virus enhances regulatory and reduces proinflammatory responses in male Norway rats

Zoonotic pathogens, including hantaviruses, are maintained in the environment by causing persistent infection in the absence of disease in their reservoir hosts. Spillover of hantaviruses to humans can cause severe disease that is mediated by excessive proinflammatory responses. The mechanisms mediating hantaviral persistence in rodent reservoirs remain largely unknown. Male Norway rats were inoculated with their species-specific hantavirus, Seoul virus (SEOV), and viral RNA, cytokine, and chemokine responses were evaluated in spleen and lung tissue. More viral RNA was detectable in the lungs than spleen, with copies of SEOV peaking 15-30 days post-inoculation (p.i.) and persisting for 60 days p.i. In the lungs, the expression and production of proinflammatory mediators (i.e., IL-1beta, IL-6, TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma, CCL5, CCL2, CX3CL1, CXCL10, VCAM, VEGF, and NOS2) remained at or below baseline throughout SEOV infection; whereas, regulatory factors, including TGF-beta and FoxP3 were elevated. Conversely, in the spleen, proinflammatory responses were induced while regulatory responses remained unchanged during infection. To determine whether reduced proinflammatory responses mediate hantavirus persistence in the lungs, male rats were administered rIL-1beta or vehicle for 30 days during SEOV infection. SEOV persistence and shedding were not affected by IL-1beta treatment. Proinflammatory responses were elevated in rIL-1beta-treated rats, but remained within physiological levels, suggesting that supra-physiological concentrations may be necessary for viral clearance at the cost of causing disease. Elevated regulatory responses may suppress excessively high proinflammatory responses at a site of elevated SEOV replication to contribute to viral persistence and prevent proinflammatory-mediated disease in reservoir hosts.
Predicting Planets in Known Extrasolar Planetary Systems. I. Test Particle Simulations

Recent work has suggested that many planetary systems lie near instability. If all systems are near instability, then at least one additional planet must exist in stable regions of well-separated extrasolar planetary systems to push these systems to the edge of stability. We examine the known systems by placing massless test particles in between the planets and integrating for 1–10 million yr. We find that some systems, HD 168443 and HD 74156, eject nearly all test particles within 2 million yr. However, we find that HD 37124, HD 38529, and 55 Cnc have large contiguous regions in which particles survive for 10 million yr. These three systems, therefore, seem the most likely candidates for additional companions. Furthermore, HD 74156 and HD 168443 must be complete; therefore radial velocity surveys should only focus on detecting more distant companions. We also find that several systems show stable regions that only exist at nonzero eccentricities. Subject headingg celestial mechanics — methods: numerical — planetary systems
Non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) levels in children with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in children. Non-high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (non-HDL-C) has been shown to be a good predictor of cardiovascular events. Recent data in adults found non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) to be associated with significantly higher levels of non–HDL-C than simple steatosis, suggestive it might be used as a non-invasive tool to diagnose NASH. The goal of our study was to assess non-HDL-C levels in children with NAFLD. Our cohort consisted of pediatric patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD. Anthropometric, laboratory, and histologic data were obtained on all patients. Univariable analysis was performed to assess differences in clinical characteristics between groups. Spearman rank correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the correlation between non-HDL-C levels and clinical variables. ANCOVA was used to adjust for possible confounders. 302 subjects with NAFLD were included in our study; 203 with NASH and 99 without NASH. Subjects with NASH had significantly higher non-HDL-C levels than those without (p = 0.004). Histologic features of NASH, including ballooning, inflammation, and fibrosis were found to be weakly correlated with non-HDL-C levels, (p < 0.05 for all). After adjusting for the presence of metabolic syndrome (MetS), ALT, and GGT, the association between non-HDL-C and NASH was not significant (p = 0.66). In Conclusion, non-HDL-C levels are higher in children with NASH than those with simple steatosis, suggesting increased CVD risk. This may be a reflection of the higher prevalence of MetS. Non-HDL-C had a positive association with histologic features of NASH.
Effective pruning of neural network classifier ensembles

Neural network ensemble techniques have been shown to be very accurate classification techniques. However, in some real-life applications a number of classifiers required to achieve a reasonable accuracy is enormously large and hence very space consuming. The paper proposes several methods for pruning neural network ensembles. The clustering based approach applies k-means clustering to entire set of classifiers in order to identify the groups of similar classifiers and then eliminates redundant classifiers inside each cluster. Another proposed approach contains the sequence of the depth-first building the tree of classifiers according to their diversity followed by the process of tree pruning. The proposed methods applied to several data sets have shown that by selecting an optimal subset of neural network classifiers, it is possible to obtain significantly smaller ensemble of classifiers while achieving the same or even slightly better generalizability as when using the entire ensemble.
An Empirically-based Model of Competitor Intelligence Use

Abstract Top managers of industrial wholesale organizations ( N =172) were surveyed to identify factors associated with implementation of competitor intelligence (CI) activity. Results of multivariate analysis generally supported a hypothesized model of CI linking environmental and organizational characteristics and perceptions of CI to level of CI activity. Level of competition was positively related to CI use, while the number of competitors was associated with lower use of CI. External diversity (number of clients) was positively associated with CI, while internal diversity (number of products) was associated with lower CI. There was a complex set of curvilinear relationships between organizational resources and use of CI; organization size exhibited an inverted U-shaped relationship, while marketing intensity exhibited a standard U-shaped relationship. Managers' positive perceptions of CI value and accessibility were associated with greater use of CI. Greater availability of CI information and greater allocation of organizational resources to CI activity were associated with greater use of information obtained through CI. Several factors had both direct and indirect relationships with CI use.
A new recipe for serotonergic neurons

How abnormal function of the serotonergic nervous system affects depression, anxiety, and other neuropsychiatric disorders remains unclear, partly because there have been no established methods to study human serotonergic neurons in culture. Now, two groups have independently discovered a way to induce the formation of serotonergic neurons from human skin fibroblasts (Vadodaria et al. and Xu et al. ). Reassuringly, both strategies are similar, relying upon lentiviral vector delivery of an overlapping set of tetracycline-inducible genes encoding different transcription factors. The minimum gene set proposed by both groups encoded the following transcription factors: ASCL1 , FEV , and LMX1B , as well as NGN2 , NKX2 .2, and GATA2 (Vadodaria et al. ) or FOXA2 , and a short-hairpin RNA to knockdown p53 (Xu et al. ). Both groups report that they could enhance the yield of neurons further by culturing human skin fibroblasts during the early days of induction in the presence of dual-SMAD inhibitors, which are known to promote neuronal induction during pluripotent stem cell differentiation. Final optimization strategies differed between the groups, with Vadodaria et al. using puromycin selection to improve purity, and Xu et al. testing a panel of small molecules, microRNAs, and different oxygen conditions. Although quantified in different ways, both groups seem to have achieved comparable yields of 50 to 60% neurons. A substantial majority of these seemed to be serotonergic neurons. Integration of aspects of both protocols might increase the yield of serotonergic neurons still further. Both groups then showed that the induced serotonergic neurons were functionally mature, capable of firing spontaneous action potentials and releasing serotonin in a manner that could be pharmacologically manipulated with citalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Last, aided by a new lentiviral vector reporter that indicated serotonergic identity, Vadodaria et al. also compared global gene expression patterns between induced serotonergic neurons and induced neurons, finding that the former were enriched for genes expressed in the human midbrain raphe compared with the cerebral cortex. The ability to induce serotonergic neurons from the skin fibroblasts of patients will enable development of new human cell–based models of neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety, and should provide a better understanding of the pathogenesis of these disorders. K. C. Vadodaria et al. , Generation of functional human serotonergic neurons from fibroblasts. Mol. Psychiatry 10.1038/mp.2015.161 (2015). [[Abstract]][1] Z. Xu et al. , Direct conversion of human fibroblasts to induced serotonergic neurons. Mol. Psychiatry 10.1038/mp.2015.101 (2015). [[Full Text]][2] [1]: http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/mp2015161a.html [2]: http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/mp2015101a.html
The DNA structure and sequence preferences of WRN underlie its function in telomeric recombination events

Telomeric abnormalities caused by loss of function of the RecQ helicase WRN are linked to the multiple premature ageing phenotypes that characterize Werner syndrome. Here we examine WRN's role in telomeric maintenance, by comparing its action on a variety of DNA structures without or with telomeric sequences. Our results show that WRN clearly prefers to act on strand invasion intermediates in a manner that favours strand invasion and exchange. Moreover, WRN unwinding of these recombination structures is further enhanced when the invading strand contains at least three G-rich single-stranded telomeric repeats. These selectivities are most pronounced at NaCl concentrations within the reported intranuclear monovalent cation concentration range, and are partly conferred by WRN's C-terminal region. Importantly, WRN's specificity for the G-rich telomeric sequence within this precise structural context is particularly relevant to telomere metabolism and strongly suggests a physiological role in telomeric recombination processes, including T-loop dynamics.
Pleuroperitoneal migration of intraperitoneal phosphorus-32-chromic phosphate therapy for stage I ovarian carcinoma.

A patient with postoperative Stage I ovarian carcinoma received 15 mCi of 32 P-chromic phosphate suspension in normal saline intraperitoneally as part of her therapy. The following day, a portion of the infused radiopharmaceutical and normal saline had passed transdiaphragmatically into the patient's right pleural cavity. Thoracentesis removed as much fluid as possible and this fluid contained radioactive material. In the ensuing 4 yr, the patient has not manifested any detectable pleural or pulmonary abnormalities attributable to the radioactivity. Retrospective review of 100 consecutive patients receiving 32 P-chromic phosphate intraperitoneal therapy resulted in 43 patients in whom the hemithoraces could be evaluated scintigraphically. Three of the 43 patients (7%) had right pleural fluid radioactivity. This is similar to the percentages reported in patients with cirrhosis with ascites in whom hepatic hydrothorax is identified.
Is high dosage testosterone an effective male contraceptive agent

In male contraceptive trials approximately 1/2 of normal men become azoospermic on high dosages of testosterone enanthate (TE) whereas the other 1/2 become severely oligozoospermic. To determine whether sperm function is reduced in men with severe oligozoospermia induced by TE the authors studied sperm function in 6 normal men whose sperm counts were reduced to or= 5x10 6/ml but not to azoospermia by high-dosage TE administration for 5-6 months and 5 normal men who received placebo (sesame oil) injections for the same period of time. Seminal fluid analysis and sperm function (as assessed by zona pellucida-free hamster ova penetration test HOPT) were performed during a pretreatment period and after at least 3 months of TE or placebo treatment. HOPT was severely reduced in all 6 men whose sperm counts were suppressed to severe oligozoospermia during TE (0.8 +or- 0.8% compared to 37 +or- 14% during the pretreatment period P0.05). 5 men failed to penetrate any hamster ova while the remaining man penetrated only 5% of ova during TE treatment. There were no significant changes in other seminal fluid measurements during high-dosage TE. The 5 men who received placebo injections did not demonstrate any significant changes in HOPT or seminal fluid analysis during the treatment period. The fertilizing capacity of sperm is markedly diminished when sperm production is severely reduced by high-dosage TE administration. These findings suggest that male contraception may be achievable by reduction of spermatogenesis to severe oligozoospermia. If this is true the administration of high-dosage testosterone alone will provide an effective reversible male contraceptive technique. (authors)