cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Stability of Nuclear DNA Content in Long-Term Callus Cultures of Loblolly Pine

Callus cultures from embryo and stem expiants of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.), maintained in culture on 3 different basal media for more than one year, were screened for their nuclear DNA content using feulgen cytophotometry.
Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Hemiptera: Adelgidae): A Non-Native Pest of Hemlocks in Eastern North America

Hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand, is an invasive insect species in eastern North America that was accidentally introduced from southern Japan. It is the single most important pest of hemlocks in eastern North America and has a severe impact on the two susceptible species: eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carriere (Pinales: Pinaceae) and Carolina hemlock, Tsuga caroliniana Engelmann (Pinales: Pinaceae). Since the first report of hemlock woolly adelgid in Virginia in 1951, it has been slowly but steadily increasing its range. Recent establishments outside the contiguous range in Michigan and Nova Scotia have also occurred. At the stand level, hemlock trees are being replaced by hardwood trees in eastern North America, impacting some critical ecosystem processes. Several institutions are actively researching ways to protect the existing hemlock stands from further damage and to restore the ecosystems impacted by their loss. Although several control options for hemlock woolly adelgid have been developed, none are completely effective on their own, so a combination of all available control strategies is being used in an effort to save the existing hemlock stands. High-value hemlocks are being protected using chemicals, while a suite of predators is being released in forested areas. However, biological control has not provided immediate protection for heavily infested trees, so options for restoring hemlocks (hybrids with Asian species and punitively resistant stock) and finding viable replacements are being evaluated.
Changing Energy Consumption Patterns Based on Multi-Agent Human Behavior Modeling for Analyzing the Effects of Feedback Techniques

With the deployment of smart grid technology and Advanced Metering Infrastructure, demand side management via feedback is a subject of interest to many researchers. Home area devices, such as in-home displays and smart appliances, are being developed and implemented to achieve real-time feedback. Analyses on the effects of real-time feedback show improvements in energy conservation, but the improvements are not as expected. This is due to the fact that altering human behavior is not an easy task, and not all react in the same way to a similar feedback. Modeling consumer behavior helps to understand their reactions toward different types of feedback, and hence allows for the categorization of the feedback and its relevance to a specific consumer category. This research focuses on identifying different consumer behavioral categories and feedback sets for each behavioral category. The goal is to analyze the behavior changes by using a Multi-Agent System (MAS), which models human behaviors and their usage patterns, in order to eventually improve energy consumption and reduce the overall demand and peak demand. Our MAS model helps to quantify the reduction of energy consumption as a result of real-time feedback.
N-cadherin overexpression enhances the reparative potency of human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac myocytes in infarcted mouse hearts.

Aims In regenerative medicine, cellular cardiomyoplasty is one of the promising options for treating myocardial infarction (MI); however, the efficacy of such treatment has shown to be limited due to poor survival and/or functional integration of implanted cells. Within the heart, the adhesion between cardiac myocytes (CMs) is mediated by N-cadherin (CDH2) and is critical for the heart to function as an electromechanical syncytium. In this study, we have investigated whether the reparative potency of human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac myocytes (hiPSC-CMs) can be enhanced through CDH2 overexpression. Methods and results CDH2-hiPSC-CMs and control wild-type (WT)-hiPSC-CMs were cultured in myogenic differentiation medium for 28 days. Using a mouse MI model, the cell survival/engraftment rate, infarct size, and cardiac functions were evaluated post-MI, at Day 7 or Day 28. In vitro, conduction velocities were significantly greater in CDH2-hiPSC-CMs than in WT-hiPSC-CMs. While, in vivo, measurements of cardiac functions: left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction, reduction in infarct size, and the cell engraftment rate were significantly higher in CDH2-hiPSC-CMs treated MI group than in WT-hiPSC-CMs treated MI group. Mechanistically, paracrine activation of ERK signal transduction pathway by CDH2-hiPSC-CMs, significantly induced neo-vasculogenesis, resulting in a higher survival of implanted cells. Conclusion Collectively, these data suggest that CDH2 overexpression enhances not only the survival/engraftment of cultured CDH2-hiPSC-CMs, but also the functional integration of these cells, consequently, the augmentation of the reparative properties of implanted CDH2-hiPSC-CMs in the failing hearts.
Why it’s Good to Have the “Haves” on Your Side: A Defense of Repeat Players in Multidistrict Litigation

Repeat players in multidistrict litigation (MDL) get a bad rap. When thousands of cases from all over the country are consolidated for pretrial proceedings, it's no wonder that the judge assigned to manage the litigation picks experienced lawyers to lead the effort. But critics argue that the small group of elite lawyers who show up again and again in leadership positions on the plaintiffs’ side of MDLs can collude with each other and with repeat players on the defense side to restrict competition and shape the rules of the game to their advantage — all to the detriment of the one-shotter clients that they represent. Those criticisms have gotten louder as MDL has grown to make up more than one-third of the federal civil docket and encompass some of the nation’s largest controversies, such as the opioid epidemic, the BP oil spill, the NFL concussion litigation, and many defective product cases. In this Article, we challenge this narrative, drawing on Marc Galanter’s seminal explanation for why the “haves” come out ahead in litigation. Although the risks they pose are real, we argue that repeat players add significant value when they represent one-shotter plaintiffs, and that value may be worth running the risks. We show how MDL’s unique structure — its formal commitment to individualism but functional operation as a tight aggregation — allows repeat-player plaintiffs’ lawyers to “play for rules” more effectively than either the class action or traditional one-on-one litigation. And with potential reforms to MDL procedure on the agendas of both the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules and Congress, we urge policymakers and scholars not to lose sight of the significant benefits to plaintiffs of having repeat players on their side.
The Importance of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity to the Future of the Infectious Diseases Society of America

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has grown and evolved considerably since its foundation in 1963 as an academic professional society. It currently has >11 000 members, both domestic and international, drawn from the breadth of infectious diseases practice, from basic research to public health. Governance of the Society has not evolved as rapidly, and, in the last few years, it was increasingly evident to many members that the IDSA leadership was less representative of the membership than it ought to be. As a result of a rigorous review of its governance structure, the Society has committed to a policy of inclusion, diversity, access, and equity. It has also reformed the methods by which future IDSA leaders are identified and given roles. These changes should increase the opportunities for all members of the Society to participate in its volunteer leadership.
Unpacking Faculty Engagement: The Types of Activities Faculty Members Report as Publicly Engaged Scholarship During Promotion and Tenure

While a growing body of scholarship has focused on the per sonal, professional, and organizational factors that influence faculty members’ involvement in publicly engaged scholarship, the nature and scope of faculty publicly engaged scholarship itself has remained largely unexplored. What types of activities are faculty members involved in as publicly engaged scholar ship? How does their involvement vary by demographic, type of faculty appointment, or college grouping? To explore these questions, researchers conducted a quantitative content analysis of 173 promotion and tenure documents from a research-inten sive, land-grant, Carnegie Classified Community Engagement university and found statistically significant differences for the variables age, number of years at the institution, faculty rank, Extension appointment, joint appointment, and college grouping. Recommendations for future research are discussed as well as implications for institutional leadership, faculty development programming, and the structuring of academic appointments.
Revisiting Anastomosis to the Retrograde Internal Mammary System in Stacked Free Flap Breast Reconstruction: An Algorithmic Approach to Recipient-Site Selection.

BACKGROUND The authors present their stacked flap breast reconstruction experience to facilitate selection of either caudal internal mammary vessels or intraflap vessels for the second recipient anastomosis. METHODS A retrospective review was conducted of multiflap breast reconstructions (double-pedicled deep inferior epigastric perforator, stacked profunda artery perforator, and stacked profunda artery perforator/deep inferior epigastric perforator) performed at the authors' institution from 2011 to 2018. Data collected included demographics, recipient vessels used, and intraoperative/postoperative flap complications. Complications were compared between cranial, caudal, and intraflap anastomoses. RESULTS Four hundred stacked flaps were performed in 153 patients. Of 400 arterial anastomoses, 200 (50 percent) were to cranial internal mammary vessels, 141 (35.3 percent) were to caudal internal mammary vessels, and 59 (14.8 percent) were to intraflap vessels. Of 435 venous anastomoses, 145 (33.3 percent) were to caudal internal mammary vessels, 201 (46.2 percent) were to cranial internal mammary vessels, and 89 (20.5 percent) were to intraflap vessels. Intraoperative revision for thrombosis occurred in 12 of 141 caudal (8.5 percent), 14 of 20 cranial (7 percent), and seven of 59 intraflap (11.9 percent) arterial anastomoses (p = 0.373), and in none of caudal, three of 201 cranial (1.5 percent), and two of 89 intraflap (2.2 percent) venous anastomoses (p = 0.559). Postoperative anastomotic complications occurred in 12 of 400 flaps (3 percent) and were exclusively attributable to venous compromise; seven of 12 (58.3 percent) were salvaged, and five of 12 (41.7 percent) were lost. More lost flaps were caused by caudal [four of five (80 percent)] versus cranial [one of five (20 percent)] or intraflap (zero of five) thrombosis (p = 0.020). CONCLUSION If vessel features are equivalent between the caudal internal mammary vessels and intraflap vessels, intraflap vessels should be used for second site anastomosis in stacked flap reconstructions. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapeutic, III.
Evolution of Life on Earth: tRNA, Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases and the Genetic Code

Life on Earth and the genetic code evolved around tRNA and the tRNA anticodon. We posit that the genetic code initially evolved to synthesize polyglycine as a cross-linking agent to stabilize protocells. We posit that the initial amino acids to enter the code occupied larger sectors of the code that were then invaded by incoming amino acids. Displacements of amino acids follow selection rules. The code sectored from a glycine code to a four amino acid code to an eight amino acid code to an ~16 amino acid code to the standard 20 amino acid code with stops. The proposed patterns of code sectoring are now most apparent from patterns of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase evolution. The Elongation Factor-Tu GTPase anticodon-codon latch that checks the accuracy of translation appears to have evolved at about the eight amino acid to ~16 amino acid stage. Before evolution of the EF-Tu latch, we posit that both the 1st and 3rd anticodon positions were wobble positions. The genetic code evolved via tRNA charging errors and via enzymatic modifications of amino acids joined to tRNAs, followed by tRNA and aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase differentiation. Fidelity mechanisms froze the code by inhibiting further innovation.
Decoding the Mechanochemistry of Neurite Plasticity

Normal calcium responses to hormones and neurotransmitters are critical for neuronal health. Calcium responses are carried out by the Gq/phospholipase C{beta} (PLC{beta} )/ phosphatidylinositol 4,5 bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P2) signaling pathway. Here, we show that Gq stimulation results in the retraction of neurites in PC12 cells and rupture of neuronal synapses. To understand the underlying cause, we dissected the behavior of individual components of the Gq/PLC{beta} /PI(4,5)P2 pathway during retraction, and correlated these to the retraction of the membrane and cytoskeletal elements impacted by calcium signaling. We developed a mathematical model that combines biochemical signaling with membrane tension and cytoskeletal mechanics, to show how signaling events are coupled to retraction velocity, membrane tension and actin dynamics. The coupling between calcium and neurite retraction is shown to be operative in the C. elegans nervous system. This study uncovers a novel mechanochemical connection between the Gq/PLC{beta} /PI(4,5)P2 pathway that couples calcium responses with neural plasticity.
A Typology of Online Shopping Consumers and Its Relation to Online Shopping Perception and Obsession

The growth of online shopping indicates the importance of understanding various types of online shoppers and their shopping motivations and behaviors. The purpose of this research is to categorize online shopper types and to investigate these types on perceived consumer emotions with usefulness, pleasure, and obsession and e-satisfaction. Participants were recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk service linked to the Qualtrics survey. A total of 151usable data were used for data analyses and the results show that the levels of emotions and satisfaction are different by ten online shopper types categorized in this paper. In addition, online shopper types considering high quality and recreational factor of products perceived more usefulness emotion while those with price and impulsiveness perceived more obsession emotion. Thus, it is important to understand different characteristics among categorized online shopper types as this affects the online shopping satisfaction and obsession.
Using head-mounted eye tracking to examine visual and manual exploration during naturalistic toy play in children with and without autism spectrum disorder.

Multimodal exploration of objects during toy play is important for a child’s development and is suggested to be abnormal in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) due to either atypical attention or atypical action. However, little is known about how children with ASD coordinate their visual attention and manual actions during toy play. The current study aims to understand if and in what ways children with ASD generate exploratory behaviors to toys in natural, unconstrained contexts by utilizing head-mounted eye tracking to quantify moment-by-moment attention. We found no differences in how 24- to 48-mo children with and without ASD distribute their visual attention, generate manual action, or coordinate their visual and manual behaviors during toy play with a parent. Our findings suggest an intact ability and willingness of children with ASD to explore toys and suggest that context is important when studying child behavior.
Muscle transcriptional networks linked to resistance exercise training hypertrophic response heterogeneity.

The skeletal muscle hypertrophic response to resistance exercise training (RT) is highly variable across individuals. The molecular underpinnings of this heterogeneity are unclear. This study inves...
Standing Ultrasound Adds Clinical Utility for the Diagnosis of Varicoceles.

Purpose:We assessed the role of standing vs supine scrotal ultrasound (SUS) for varicocele assessment by evaluating differences in clinical outcomes.Materials and Methods:We retrospectively reviewe...
An Effective Bernstein-type Bound on Shannon Entropy over Countably Infinite Alphabets.

We prove a Bernstein-type bound for the difference between the average of negative log-likelihoods of independent discrete random variables and the Shannon entropy, both defined on a countably infinite alphabet. The result holds for the class of discrete random variables with tails lighter than or on the same order of a discrete power-law distribution. Most commonly-used discrete distributions such as the Poisson distribution, the negative binomial distribution, and the power-law distribution itself belong to this class. The bound is effective in the sense that we provide a method to compute the constants in it.
Reversible redox controlled acids for cationic ring-opening polymerization

Advancements in externally controlled polymerization methodologies have enabled the synthesis of novel polymeric structures and architectures, and they have been pivotal to the development of new photocontrolled lithographic and 3D printing technologies. In particular, the development of externally controlled ring-opening polymerization (ROP) methodologies is of great interest, as these methods provide access to novel biocompatible and biodegradable block polymer structures. Although ROPs mediated by photoacid generators have made significant contributions to the fields of lithography and microelectronics development, these methodologies rely upon catalysts with poor stability and thus poor temporal control. Herein, we report a class of ferrocene-derived acid catalysts whose acidity can be altered through reversible oxidation and reduction of the ferrocenyl moiety to chemically and electrochemically control the ROP of cyclic esters.
TU‐F‐201‐03: Applications in Brachytherapy

Since the introduction of radiochromic films (RCF) for radiation dosimetry, the scope of RCF dosimetry has expanded steadily to include many medical applications, such as radiation therapy and diagnostic radiology. The AAPM Task Group (TG) 55 published a report on the recommendations for RCF dosimetry in 1998. As the technology is advancing rapidly, and its routine clinical use is expanding, TG 235 has been formed to provide an update to TG-55 on radiochromic film dosimetry. RCF dosimetry applications in clinical radiotherapy have become even more widespread, expanding from primarily brachytherapy and radiosurgery applications, and gravitating towards (but not limited to) external beam therapy (photon, electron and protons), such as quality assurance for IMRT, VMAT, Tomotherapy, SRS/SRT, and SBRT. In addition, RCF applications now extend to measurements of radiation dose in particle beams and patients undergoing medical exams, especially fluoroscopically guided interventional procedures and CT. The densitometers/scanners used for RCF dosimetry have also evolved from the He-Ne laser scanner to CCD-based scanners, including roller-based scanner, light box-based digital camera, and flatbed color scanner. More recently, multichannel RCF dosimetry introduced a new paradigm for external beam dose QA for its high accuracy and efficiency. This course covers in detail the recent advancements in RCF dosimetry. Learning Objectives: 1. Introduce the paradigm shift on multichannel film dosimetry 2. Outline the procedures to achieve accurate dosimetry with a RCF dosimetry system 3. Provide comprehensive guidelines on RCF dosimetry for various clinical applications One of the speakers has a research agreement from Ashland Inc., the manufacturer of Gafchromic film.
Abstract P262: Evidence for association between SH2B1 gene variants and glycated hemoglobin in non-diabetic European American young adults: The Add Health study

Introduction: Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is a marker of long-term glycemic control, and elevated HbA1c is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Few genome-wide association studies(GWAS) have been performed for HbA1c, although very large scale GWAS for obesity, a related trait, have identified multiple loci that have been widely replicated. We tested 43 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 41 well-established obesity susceptibility gene regions for association with HbA1c in a nationally representative sample of European American (EA), African American (AA) and Hispanic American (HA) young adults. Methods: We performed association analysis in race-stratified models using data from participants (age 24-34 years, median age=28 years) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) Study (n = 5641 EA; n = 1740 AA; n = 1444 HA) without type 2 diabetes. We tested for additive genotype effects at each locus using linear mixed models, including a random interc...
Simultaneous Bilateral Hip Joint Imaging at 7 Tesla using Fast Transmit B1 Shimming Methods and Multichannel Transmission – A Feasibility Study

The objective of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of simultaneous bilateral hip imaging at 7 Tesla. Hip joint MRI becomes clinically critical since recent advances have made hip arthroscopy an efficacious approach to treat a variety of early hip diseases. The success of these treatments requires a reliable and accurate diagnosis of intraarticular abnormalities at an early stage. Articular cartilage assessment is especially important to guide surgical decisions but is difficult to achieve with current MR methods. Because of gains in tissue contrast and spatial resolution reported at ultra high magnetic fields, there are strong expectations that imaging the hip joint at 7 Tesla will improve diagnostic accuracy. Furthermore, there is growing evidence that the majority of these hip abnormalities occur bilaterally, emphasizing the need for bilateral imaging. However, obtaining high quality images in the human torso, in particular of both hips simultaneously, must overcome a major challenge arising from the damped traveling wave behaviour of RF waves at 7 Tesla that leads to severe inhomogeneities in transmit B1 (B(1) (+) ) phase and magnitude, typically resulting in areas of low signal and contrast, and consequently impairing use for clinical applications. To overcome this problem, a 16-channel stripline transceiver RF coil was used, together with a B1 shimming algorithm aiming at maximizing B(1) (+) in six regions of interest over the hips that were identified on axial scout images. Our successful results demonstrate that this approach effectively reduces inhomogeneities observed before B1 shimming and provides high joint tissue contrast in both hips while reducing the required RF power. Critical to this success was a fast small flip angle B(1) (+) calibration scan that permitted the computation of subject-specific B1 shimming solutions, a necessary step to account for large spatial variations in B(1) (+) phase observed in different subjects.
Teaching Data Visualization Basics to Market the Value of a Hospital Library: An Infographic as One Example

With a major concern being to keep hospital library doors open and hospital librarians working, hospital librarians need to learn new skills and use a variety of marketing techniques to show the value of their programs and services. This article is a follow-up to a 2014 Medical Library Association poster, entitled Building Infographics and Marketing the Value of a Hospital Library, along with a MidAtlantic National Network of Libraries Boost Box session called Infographics 101: Graphic Approaches to Library Marketing. This article will explain how teaching librarians basic data visualization principles can help them learn how to create better marketing tools, and in turn help them feel more comfortable approaching data visualization topics that play an increasingly important role in the biomedical community. Particularly, focus will be on using tools with low barriers of entry for novices to create an informative infographic that demonstrates the value of the hospital library and its librarian. Lastly, ba...
Informatics in Radiology (infoRAD): radiology report entry with automatic phrase completion driven by language modeling.

Keyboard entry or correction of radiology reports by radiologists and transcriptionists remains necessary in many settings despite advances in computerized speech recognition. A report entry system that implements an automated phrase completion feature based on language modeling was developed and tested. The special text editor uses context to predict the full word or phrase being typed, updating the displayed prediction after each keystroke. At any point, pressing the tab key inserts the predicted phrase without having to type the remaining characters of the phrase. Successive words of the phrase are predicted by a trigram language model. Phrase lengths are chosen to minimize the expected number of keystrokes as predicted by the language model. Operation is highly and automatically customized to each user. The language model was trained on 36,843 general radiography reports, which were consecutively generated and contained 1.48 million words. Performance was tested on 200 randomly selected reports outside of the training set. The phrase completion technique reduced the average number of keystrokes per report from 194 to 58; the average reduction factor was 3.3 (geometric mean) (95% confidence interval, 3.2‐3.5). The algorithm significantly reduced the number of keystrokes required to generate a radiography report (P .00005). © RSNA, 2004
Sex differences and menstrual cycle effects in aversive conditioning: A comparison of premenstrual and intermenstrual women with men

Abstract To evaluate potential sex differences in conditionability that may be related to the differential incidence of phobias between the sexes, 30 female and 15 male undergraduate students were exposed to an aversive conditioning procedure, with skin conductance as the dependent measure. Since prior studies have indicated that women condition more readily during the premenstrual period, women were tested either premenstrually or intermenstrually (midcycle), but the relationship of the conditioning procedure to menstrual phase was disguised. Substantial evidence established the presence of conditioning among all three groups, and a trend for a sex difference in conditionability was obtained. Nevertheless, premenstrual women did not prove to be more conditionable than intermenstrual women. The disparity between the findings of no menstrual phase effects in this study and those of prior research may be accounted for by the adoption of a more stringent definition of conditioning or, possibly, by the careful controls for expectancy effects introduced in the present study.
Measurement of the cosmological distance scale using X-ray and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect observations of galaxy clusters

X-ray and Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect (SZE) observations of galaxy clusters can be used to measure their distances independently of the cosmic distance ladder. We have determined the distance to 38 clusters of galaxies in the redshift range 0.14 ≤ z ≤ 0.89 using X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and SZE data from the Owens Valley Radio Observatory and the Berkeley–Illinois–Maryland Association interferometric arrays. We measure a Hubble constant of H0 = 76.9+3.9−3.4+10.0−8.0 km s−1 Mpc−1 (statistical followed by systematic uncertainties at 68% confidence) for an ΩM=0.3, ΩΛ=0.7 cosmology. Our determination of the Hubble parameter in the distant Universe agrees with measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project that probed the nearby Universe.
Semi-autonomous Avoidance of Moving Hazards for Passenger Vehicles

This paper presents a method for semi-autonomous hazard avoidance in the presence of unknown moving obstacles and unpredictable driver inputs. This method iteratively predicts the motion and anticipated intersection of the host vehicle with both static and dynamic hazards and excludes projected collision states from a traversable corridor. A model predictive controller iteratively replans a stability-optimal trajectory through the navigable region of the environment while a threat assessor and semi-autonomous control law modulate driver and controller inputs to maintain stability, preserve controllability, and ensure safe hazard avoidance. The efficacy of this approach is demonstrated through both simulated and experimental results using a semi-autonomously controlled Jaguar S-Type.Copyright © 2010 by ASME
Effect of Nicotine on Proliferation of Normal, Malignant, and Human Papillomavirus-Transformed Human Cervical Cells

Nicotine is concentrated in the cervical mucus of smokers relative to serum levels. In this experiment, the effect of nicotine on cellular proliferation of human ectocervical, endocervical, malignant, and human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 DNA-transformed cervical cell lines was studied. Ectocervical and endocervical cell lines were derived from benign hysterectomy specimens and cultured in keratinocyte growth medium. HPV 16 DNA-transformed cell lines were derived through transfection of ectocervical cells with cloned HPV 16 DNA. HPV-transformed lines and malignant cell lines established from three women with newly diagnosed cervical cancer were maintained in E-media with 5% fetal calf serum. Cells (2500-5000) were cultured in 96-well tissue culture plates with varying concentrations of nicotine (100 to 10 mg/ml) and proliferation was assessed 72 hr later with a semiautomated colorimetric assay. Experiments were performed three times and proliferation of nicotine-exposed cells was compared to unexposed cells with one-way analysis of variance. Nicotine, at 100 ng/ml to 10 micrograms/ml, significantly stimulated epithelial cell growth in two ectocervical and three HPV DNA-transformed cell lines (proliferation 118-180% of control, P 50% inhibition of cellular proliferation) were noted between 100 micrograms/ml and 10 mg/ml and exceed the concentrations of nicotine reported in smoker's cervical mucus. These findings demonstrate that nicotine, in physiologically attainable concentrations, does not impair and occasionally enhances the proliferation of human cervical cells in vitro. The selective mitogenic effect noted among normal ectocervical and HPV-transformed ectocervical cells may relate to epidemiologic studies showing, among smokers, an increased risk of squamous cell carcinoma, and not adenocarcinoma, of the cervix.
Many good risks: An interpretation of multivariate risk and risk aversion without the Independence axiom

Abstract What can be inferred, without assuming the Independence axiom, about an agent's preferences over many-good lotteries from knowledge that the agent is income risk averse? We show that income risk aversion corresponds to an intuitive substitution property of the many-good lottery preferences that is, itself, equivalent to a standard definition of many-good risk aversion. We apply our approach to derive some well-known results directly from our interpretation of income risk aversion and neutrality.
Gfer Inhibits Jab1-Mediated Degradation of p27kip1 to Restrict Proliferation of Hematopoietic Stem Cells

Growth factor erv1-like (Gfer) is an evolutionarily conserved sulfhydryl oxidase that is enriched in embryonic and adult stem cells and plays an essential prosurvival role in pluripotent embryonic stem cells. Here we show that knockdown (KD) of Gfer in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) compromises their in vivo engraftment potential and triggers a hyper-proliferative response that leads to their exhaustion. KD of Gfer in HSCs does not elicit a significant alteration of mitochondrial morphology or loss of cell viability. However, these cells possess significantly reduced levels of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27(kip1). In contrast, overexpression of Gfer in HSCs results in significantly elevated total and nuclear p27(kip1). KD of Gfer results in enhanced binding of p27(kip1) to its inhibitor, the COP9 signalosome subunit jun activation-domain binding protein 1 (Jab1), leading to its down-regulation. Conversely, overexpression of Gfer results in its enhanced binding to Jab1 and inhibition of the Jab1-p27(kip1) interaction. Furthermore, normalization of p27(kip1) in Gfer-KD HSCs rescues their in vitro proliferation deficits. Taken together, our data demonstrate the presence of a novel Gfer-Jab1-p27(kip1) pathway in HSCs that functions to restrict abnormal proliferation.
Cortical control of conditioned and spontaneous vocal behavior in rhesus monkeys.

Abstract Rhesus monkeys were trained on a discriminative conditioning of vocalizations paradigm, a task that requires volitional vocal control. The monkeys' spontaneous vocal and other social behavior was also assessed. Each monkey then underwent ablation of anterior cingulate cortex, ablation of the homologus of Broca's and Wernicke's areas, or no lesion. The anterior cingulate lesions severely disrupted both conditioned and spontaneous vocal behavior, but had no effect on nonvocal social behavior or on a discriminative conditioning task requiring a nonvocal response. The lesions of the homologs of Broca's and Wernicke's areas had no effects on the behaviors studied. These findings have implications for the comparative neurology of primate vocalization and speech.
Balancing Hate Speech, Professional Ethics, and First Amendment Rights: A Case of and from the Judiciary

As an increasing number of state and local governments pass laws that prohibit discrimination against gay and lesbian employees, individual citizens and groups opposed to such rights continue to fight against them. Although the First Amendment to the United State Constitution guarantees the right to free speech, a potential problem arises when the impartiality of a member of the judiciary is questioned based on free ‘‘hate speech’’ expressed as a private citizen. This paper explores the dilemma the courts face relative to the professional ethics of those who oversee the courts where gay and lesbian and other employees attempt to ensure their rights to fair treatment in the workplace.
Adjective self-descriptions in antisocial men and women

There have been few systematic attempts to understand self-perceptions among individuals labeled antisocial or psychopathic and even less research directed toward women classified in this category. The Adjective Check List [ACL; Gough, H. G., & Heilbrun, A. B. (1980)] was used to generate self-descriptions among 54 men and 25 women judged to be antisocial personality disorder by DMS-III criteria and MMPI decision rules. Responses were tabulated for each of the 300 adjectives and rank ordered by percentage endorsements to identify the most and least frequently checked items for women and men. Results showed positive self-appraisals among both antisocial women and antisocial men who shared tendencies to describe themselves as adaptable, capable, friendly, considerate, dependable, cooperative, and healthy. Women, however, were more negative than men in describing themselves, particularly in endorsing adjectives suggesting confidence, worry, and confusion.
Aspects of large N gauge theory dynamics as seen by string theory

In this paper we explore some of the features of large N supersymmetric and nonsupersymmetric gauge theories using Maldacena’s duality conjectures. We show that the resulting strong coupling behavior of the gauge theories is consistent with our qualitative expectations of these theories. Some of these consistency checks are highly nontrivial and give additional evidence for the validity of the proposed dualities.
Effect of flexure on aerodynamic propulsive efficiency of flapping flexible airfoil

Abstract The aim of present study is to investigate the effect of chord-wise flexure amplitude on unsteady aerodynamic characteristics for a flapping airfoil with various combinations of Reynolds number and reduced frequency. Unsteady, viscous flows over a single flexible airfoil in plunge motion are computed using conformal hybrid meshes. The dynamic mesh technique is applied to illustrate the deformation modes of the flexible flapping airfoil. In order to investigate the influence of the flexure amplitude on the aerodynamic performance of the flapping airfoil, the present study considers eight different flexure amplitudes ( a 0 ) ranging from 0 to 0.7 in intervals of 0.1 under conditions of Re=10 4 , reduced frequency k =2, and dimensionless plunge amplitude h 0 =0.4. The computed unsteady flow fields clearly reveal the formation and evolution of a pair of leading edge vortices along the body of the flexible airfoil as it undergoes plunge motion. Thrust-indicative wake structures are generated when the flexure amplitude of the airfoil is less than 0.5 of the chord length. An enhancement in the propulsive efficiency is observed for a flapping airfoil with flexure amplitude of 0.3 of the chord length. This study also calculates the propulsive efficiency and thrust under various Reynolds numbers and reduced frequency conditions. The results indicate that the propulsive efficiency has a strong correlation with the reduced frequency. It is found that the flow conditions which yield the highest propulsive efficiency correspond to Strouhal number St of 0.255.
A Modified Patterson Function

RECENTLY Yu has suggested in NATURE1 the synthesis of a new modification of the Patterson function, which has proved very useful in structure analysis of crystals. For the one-dimensional case, Yu's method is to calculate the modified function Pn given by the following series the points, where N (taken to be an even number for the convenience of our discussion) is the number of equal sub-divisions into which the unit translation is to be divided, and the E's are the idealized structure factors with atomic numbers replacing the appropriate atomic factors. When the constants anh are so determined that for every vector h of the reciprocal lattice, the function Pn gives an approximate representation of the product ZiZj or a sum of such products corresponding to one or more interatomic vectors rij = Xn, provided that N is chosen sufficiently large and the series (1) is not cut off at too small values of h. These constants anh can be determined from the following relation: Evidently, Yu's method admits of easy generalization to two- or three-dimensional cases, which require another set of constants bnh, to be determined by the following relation: An obvious disadvantage of this method is the computation of these sets of constants for a moderately large value of N, which is undoubtedly very laborious.
Practicing advertising researchers and their views of academic researchers

Abstract Marketing educators need to be concerned with the negative attitudes that commercial researchers hold toward academic research. A reported perception of these researchers is that academic work is, at best, of little use to them. This report supports that contention. It also shows that practioners can be segmented by attitude. These segments, when explored more deeply, may offer academic researchers a way to build bridges with the practitioner community and to reposition what they do.
Body mass index and mortality rate among Hispanic adults: a pooled analysis of multiple epidemiologic data sets.

Body mass index and mortality rate among Hispanic adults: a pooled analysis of multiple epidemiologic data sets
Equities as long-term inflation hedges: small versus large company stocks

The central argument of this article is that small company stocks are better inflation hedges than large company stocks. That is because smaller companies tend to be more flexible to adjust their prices when inflationary shocks exist. Our econometric analysis provides supportive evidence for this hypothesis in the US context.
Mixed-effects logistic regression for estimating transitional probabilities in sequentially coded observational data.

This article demonstrates the use of mixed-effects logistic regression (MLR) for conducting sequential analyses of binary observational data. MLR is a special case of the mixed-effects logit modeling framework, which may be applied to multicategorical observational data. The MLR approach is motivated in part by G. A. Dagne, G. W. Howe, C. H. Brown, & B. O. Muthen (2002) advances in general linear mixed models for sequential analyses of observational data in the form of contingency table frequency counts. The advantage of the MLR approach is that it circumvents obstacles in the estimation of random sampling error encountered using Dagne and colleagues' approach. This article demonstrates the MLR model in an analysis of observed sequences of communication in a sample of young adult same-sex peer dyads. The results obtained using MLR are compared with those of a parallel analysis using Dagne and colleagues' linear mixed model for binary observational data in the form of log odds ratios. Similarities and differences between the results of the 2 approaches are discussed. Implications for the use of linear mixed models versus mixed-effects logit models for sequential analyses are considered.
Improved Sleep-Wake and Behavior Discrimination Using MEMS Accelerometers

Abstract State of vigilance is determined by behavioral observations and electrophysiological activity. Here, we improve automatic state of vigilance discrimination by combining head acceleration with EEG measures. We incorporated biaxial dc-sensitive microelectromechanical system (MEMS) accelerometers into head-mounted preamplifiers in rodents. Epochs (15 s) of behavioral video and EEG data formed training sets for the following states: Slow Wave Sleep, Rapid Eye Movement Sleep, Quiet Wakefulness, Feeding or Grooming, and Exploration. Multivariate linear discriminant analysis of EEG features with and without accelerometer features was used to classify behavioral state. A broad selection of EEG feature sets based on recent literature on state discrimination in rodents was tested. In all cases, inclusion of head acceleration significantly improved the discriminative capability. Our approach offers a novel methodology for determining the behavioral context of EEG in real time, and has potential application in automatic sleep–wake staging and in neural prosthetic applications for movement disorders and epileptic seizures.
An analysis of the binding of related ligands

The thermodynamic relationship between the binding of the ligand, A-B, and analogs of its groups, A-X and B-Y, to a protein is derived using a thermodynamic cycle. Using the formalism, thermodynamic data, and simple models the following conclusions are reached: o (1) A significant free energy barrier exists against a ligand and a protein coming together. The free energy barrier is essential for understanding the specificity of ligand binding. (2) In general the free energy of binding A-B is not equal to the sum of the free energies of binding A-H and B-H when A and B contribute independently to the binding of A-B. (3) It is physically possible for a methyl group to make a contribution greater than 2.3 kcal/mol to the binding of a ligand without an autosteric mechanism. (4) It is physically possible for tyrosine to bind at least 3·9 kcal/mol more strongly than phenylalanine if the hydroxyl group of tyrosine displaces a bound water molecule. (5) The co-operative interactions due to the joint presence of the protonated amino and carboxylate groups in the zwitter ion of an amino acid can make significant contributions to binding.
Droplet dynamics in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell gas flow channel: Forces, Deformation and detachment. II: Comparisons of analytical solution with numerical and experimental results

Abstract Proper water management (sufficient membrane hydration and effective liquid-water removal from catalyst layers, gas-diffusion layers, and channels) is key to achieving and maintaining the high performance of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). Specifically, liquid droplet formation and removal is an important issue in water management for PEFCs. In the first part of this series, explicit analytical solutions were derived by approximating the droplet shape as spherical and the Navier–Stokes equations were numerically solved to compute the forces over a droplet. In this second part of the series, results from numerical simulation using the Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) method and experiments are reported and they are compared with the analytical solutions derived previously. More specifically, experimental visualization of droplet dynamics in a micro channel is carried out. A high resolution CCD camera is employed to capture the droplet shape-change and detachment. Extensive numerical simulations via VOF are also performed to investigate droplet dynamics. Reasonably good agreements between analytical solution and VOF numerical simulation and experiment are obtained.
Multichains, non-crossing partitions and trees

Bijections are presented between certain classes of trees and multichains in non-crossing partition lattices.
Abstract 2652: Effect of selective serotonergic reuptake inhibitors on radiation therapy

Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL Introduction: Selective serotonergic reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are well-established antidepressants commonly used in cancer patients. Studies suggest that SSRIs may play a role in increased cell death in cancer cells; however, the use of SSRIs as adjunctive agents to be used in combination with conventional cancer treatment is not well established. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of SSRIs on cell survival in combination with radiation therapy (XRT). Methods: Human lung cancer lines (A-549 and H-460) and squamous oropharyngeal cancer cells (FaDu) were treated with several dose escalated SSRIs (fluoxetine, sertraline, paroxetine) alone or in combination with dose escalated XRT (0,2,4,6 Gy) to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of SSRIs using clonogenic survival assays. Western blot analysis was used to evaluate apoptosis (cleaved Caspase-3 and cleaved PARP) and autophagy (LC3-II) to assess potential mechanisms of the effects of SSRIs on XRT. Results: Fluoxetine, paroxetine, or sertraline alone had a cytotoxic effect on cancer cells in a concentration dependent manner. Sertraline and paroxetine at 2.5-5uM appeared to have an additive effect on XRT with severe cytotoxicity noted at higher concentrations. In contrast, fluoxetine appeared to have a sensitizing effect on cells at 1-10uM in a tumor cell specific manor. Western blot analysis demonstrated that fluoxetine administration decreased cleaved Caspase-3 and cleaved PARP expression at 24 or 48 hours. Evaluation of autophagy using LC3-II demonstrated no change with XRT; however, treatment with fluoxetine increased the expression of LC3-II at 24 and 48 hours in the presence or absence of XRT. Conclusions: Most SSRIs appear to have a cytotoxic effect alone or in combination with XRT. Fluoxetine appears to have a unique sensitizing effect on XRT in cancerous cells possibly through an increased induction of autophagy. Data supports further examination of fluoxetine as an adjunctive agent in combination with XRT. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2652. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-2652