cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sympathetic hyperinnervation of the uterus in the estrogen receptor α knock-out mouse

Uterine innervation undergoes cyclical remodeling in the adult virgin rat. Previous studies showed that ovariectomy leads to increased uterine sympathetic nerve density, and this can be reduced by estrogen administration. However, the receptor mechanism by which estrogen modulates sympathetic innervation is unknown. The present study assessed the role of the estrogen receptor alpha in establishing levels of uterine innervation by comparing the nerve abundance in mice with a null mutation of the estrogen receptor alpha with those of the wild-type cycling mouse. Immunostaining for total uterine innervation using antibodies against the pan-neuronal marker protein gene product 9.5 showed that nerve numbers in normally cycling wild-type mice were high in diestrus when circulating estrogen is at its nadir, and low at estrus, coincident with high plasma estrogen. Uteri of the estrogen receptor alpha knock-out mice were smaller than those of wild-type mice, but even when corrected for differences in size, total innervation was 188% and 355% greater than that of wild-type mice at diestrus and estrus, respectively. This hyperinnervation is associated with increased numbers of nerves immunoreactive for the noradrenergic enzyme dopamine beta-hydroxylase, without obvious differences in those containing calcitonin gene-related peptide or the vesicular acetylcholine transporter. While estrogen supplementation of the ovariectomized wild-type mice significantly reduced total uterine innervation, neither ovariectomy nor estrogen supplementation affected uterine nerve density in estrogen receptor alpha knock-out mice.We conclude that estrogen acting through the estrogen receptor alpha determines the number of sympathetic nerve terminal branches within uterine smooth muscle target. In mice with low circulating estrogen, or high estrogen but lacking the functional estrogen receptor alpha, the uterus contains abundant sympathetic nerves, whereas estrogen acts via the estrogen receptor alpha to regulate uterine innervation by reducing numbers of intact sympathetic nerves. Although it is not known whether estrogen acts on the target or neuron to initiate these changes, the estrogen receptor alpha apparently plays a major role in the cyclical modulation of uterine sympathetic innervation.
Effect of short term and chronic administration of Sutherlandia frutescens on pharmacokinetics of nevirapine in rats

Sutherlandia frutescens (sutherlandia), an African herbal supplement was recommended by the South African Ministry of Health for the treatment of AIDS patients. However, no reports yet exist delineating the effect of sutherlandia on pharmacokinetics of antiretroviral agents. Therefore, this investigation aimed at screening the effects of short term and chronic exposure of sutherlandia on oral bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of nevirapine (NVP), a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, in Sprague Dawley rats. NVP (6 mg/kg) was administered orally alone (control) and with co-administration of sutherlandia; short term (12 mg/kg single dose) and long term (12 mg/kg, once a day for 5 days). No significant difference in the pharmacokinetic parameters of NVP was found upon short-term co-administration of Sutherlandia. However, there was a 50% decrease (p<0.05) in the AUC and C(max) values of NVP after 5 days of chronic exposure with Sutherlandia. In addition, quantitative RT-PCR studies demonstrated a 2-3-fold increase in the hepatic and intestinal mRNA expression of CYP3A2, relative to vehicle control. To further confirm, if this could translate into a clinically relevant pharmacokinetic interaction in patients, we tested this hypothesis employing LS-180 cells as an in vitro induction model for human CYP3A4. Ninety-six hours post treatment, similar to positive control rifampicin (25 μM), sutherlandia extract (300 μg/mL) resulted in elevated m-RNA expression levels and functional activity of CYP3A4 (human homologue of rodent CYP3A2) in LS-180 cells. Taken together, these results suggest that a potential drug-herb interaction is possible when NVP is co-administered with S. frutescens, although this hypothesis still remains to be investigated in a clinical setting.
Accidental poisonings in childhood and their prevention

U NPRECEDENTED advances were ma de in recent years in science and technology. The immediate application of the new knowledge in industry accelerated an ever-increasing number of new products, drugs, and household preparations on the market and hence in the American home. This boon to progress, however, has also created problems and difficulties since these new preparations are also potential hazards and are responsible for the marked rise in accidental chemical poisonings. 1"3 For the purpose of this discussion a "po i son" is defined in broadest terms as follows: " a n y substance which may cause injury or produce untoward symptoms or toxic manifestations by ingestion, absorption, or inhalation."
Complete statistical thermodynamics of the cluster solid-liquid transition

A constant (N,P,T) statistical method is developed for a finite-size system. A scaling variable a is introduced to describe the size of the system following the method used for the bulk system. The histograms o f the Boltzmann distribution function f(E c ,V;T,P) (E c and V being the configuration energy and the volume) for a 55-atom cluster bound by Lennard-Jones pair potentials are calculated at several (T,P) values by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. From the density of states Ω(E c ,V) constructed from the MC results, important thermodynamical quantities are then obtained
Fidelity of Dpo4: effect of metal ions, nucleotide selection and pyrophosphorolysis

We report the crystal structures of a translesion DNA polymerase, Dpo4, complexed with a matched or mismatched incoming nucleotide and with a pyrophosphate product after misincorporation. These structures suggest two mechanisms by which Dpo4 may reject a wrong incoming nucleotide with its preformed and open active site. First, a mismatched replicating base pair leads to poor base stacking and alignment of the metal ions and as a consequence, inhibits incorporation. By replacing Mg2+ with Mn2+, which has a relaxed coordination requirement and tolerates misalignment, the catalytic efficiency of misincorporation increases dramatically. Mn2+ also enhances translesion synthesis by Dpo4. Subtle conformational changes that lead to the proper metal ion coordination may, therefore, be a key step in catalysis. Second, the slow release of pyrophosphate may increase the fidelity of Dpo4 by stalling mispaired primer extension and promoting pyrophosphorolysis that reverses the polymerization reaction. Indeed, Dpo4 has robust pyrophosphorolysis activity and degrades the primer strand in the presence of pyrophosphate. The correct incoming nucleotide allows DNA synthesis to overcome pyrophosphorolysis, but an incorrect incoming nucleotide does not.
Tertiary care centers: a strategy for fiscal survival.

Abstract Background Managed care organizations use a variety of payment strategies to contract for high-end tertiary services with academic healthcare centers. We assessed the financial outcome of these strategies and attempted to identify those that maintain a balance between cost and reimbursement. Methods Patients admitted with an Injury Severity Score ≥16, hospital charges ≥$100,000, and a managed care organization as the payer were evaluated. Results A fixed reimbursement contract decreased reimbursement by 28% and negatively impacted the margin by 215%. The addition of a stop-loss provision to a fixed reimbursement contract is the best strategy to share the risk between payer and provider. If the fixed reimbursement strategy continued, the negative impact to the margin would have been $36,984 per patient. Conclusions Fixed reimbursement strategies shift all the risk to the academic healthcare center. If volume, severity of illness, or cost is not controlled, they negatively affect the financial outcomes. The addition of a stop loss at $100,000 of charges paid at 40% of the entire claim most equitably distributes risk between the academic healthcare center and the managed care organization. It also excludes the negative impact of increasing severity of illness and volume and should induce cost control.
U.S. Intelligence System: Model for Corporate Chiefs?

A fully dedicated intelligence support function for senior management is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Companies can enhance their intelligence capabilities by using the government model as a rough blueprint to structure such a program.
Effects of Triton X-100 concentration and incubation temperature on carboxyfluorescein release from multilamellar liposomes

Abstract Carboxyfluorescein is the most commonly used probe to measure the rate of release of vesicle contents. The validity of the data obtained by this method depends on obtaining an end point based on the complete release of the dye on treatment of the liposomes with a detergent, usually Triton X-100. However, Triton does not completely release entrapped carboxyfluorescein from multilamellar liposomes and the amount and rate of release of marker upon detergent treatment is a function of lipid composition of the liposome, Triton concentration and temperature and duration of detergent incubation. The fluorescence ‘end point’ for distearoyl- l -α-phosphatidylcholine/cholesterol (2:1, mol%) multilamellar liposomes treated with 0.5% Triton at 22°C (a condition often used) is only about one-fifth the value for liposomes treated with 5% Triton at 72°C. The conditions of treatment appear to affect the release of carboxyfluorescein from the lipid of the partially or completely disrupted liposome and the subsequent partitioning of the free dye into the aqueous phase. This effect can lead to serious errors in the interpretation of multilamellar liposome stability data. However, Triton allows complete release of entrapped dye from small unilamellar vesicles under all conditions tested.
An Estimation Method of Parameters Based on Weibull Distribution to Centralized Sequential Investment Problem

This study focuses on the development of an estimation method of model parameters for centralized sequential investment problem (CSIP). CSIP was proposed by our previous studies [2, 3]. CSIP aims to find an investment sequence under taking into account the regional characteristics effect (RC effect), the following of which would enable all investment regions to achieve the target revenues within the shortest period of time. In formulating this model we take the same assumptions as our previous studies. For improving the precision of our previous model, we use the recursive formula to present the CSIP’s finial form. By introducing the possible scenarios that RC effect on investment sequence, a method based on Weibull distribution to estimate model parameters is proposed for solving CSIP. Also, some relative discussions to the implications of parameters are given to assist the practitioners to understand the CSIP.
Novel Surface Structure of Microporous Faujasitic-like Zincophosphate Crystals Grown via Reverse Micelles

The surface morphologies of microporous zincophosphate crystals obtained by the conventional hydrothermal synthesis method and the reverse micelle method are compared. The particular zincophosphate under examination is of faujasite topology and is referred to as ZnPO-X (analogy to zeolite X). The crystal growth process is about an order of magnitude slower in the reverse micelle method, as compared to the hydrothermal method. The topologies of crystals prepared by both methods are similar and of octahedral shape, as expected for faujasitic structure. However, the surface of the hydrothermal crystals was found to have multiple layers and terraces, whereas the crystals obtained from the reverse micelle method were atomically smooth, except for a few triangular terraces/indentations. On the basis of the literature of microporous materials, the terraces are expected and arise because nucleation dynamics on the crystal surfaces is comparable to growth of terraces along the crystal surfaces. We propose that the...
On the application of electric propulsion to satellite orbit adjustment and station keeping.

Electric propulsion application to synchronous satellite orbit adjustment, stationkeeping, and attitude control
An evaluation of the built-in temperature difference input parameter in the jointed plain concrete pavement cracking model of the Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide

This paper evaluates the implementation of the built-in temperature difference input parameter in the Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) for the design of jointed plain concrete pavements (JPCPs). The pavement distress, in terms of transverse cracking, is expected to be minimised when the transient temperature difference is equal in magnitude to the built-in temperature difference but of the opposite sign. However, this study shows that a built-in temperature difference of − 6.5°C minimises the cracking prediction for JPCPs. This optimum value of − 6.5°C coincides with the default value in the MEPDG of − 5.5°C, which was established through the nationwide calibration. The cause of this phenomenon is further investigated by taking into account the traffic loading time, slab thickness, joint spacing and reversible shrinkage, but none of these factors are able to explain this anomaly. The results from this study indicate that the built-in gradient should not be an input but is merely a calib...
Hemodynamically Significant Carotid Disease and Prophylactic Carotid Endarterectomy in CABG Patients—Impact on Perioperative Neurologic Events:

Perioperative neurologic deficits occur in 2-5% of patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). The effect of preexisting high-grade carotid artery stenosis, as determined by (1) the presence of a cervical bruit, (2) ocular plethysmog raphy (OPG), and (3) duplex scan, and the value of prophylactic carotid endarterectomy in preventing stroke, are uncertain. The hospital courses of 427 patients who underwent pre-CABG carotid duplex scan and coronary artery bypass (CAB) as the only cardiac procedure between April 1992 and June 1994 were reviewed (1) to evaluate the rela tionship between carotid stenosis and perioperative neurologic events and (2) to determine whether endarterectomy for high-grade lesions (80-99%) decreases the risk of perioperative cerebrovascular accident (CVA). There were 11 strokes (2.58%) in 427 patients, 4 CVAs occurred in 389 patients without significant carotid disease; 12 patients had total occlusion of one carotid artery and 4 of them developed a CVA (33.3%);...
Implementation of nested fuzzy controllers to reduce the effects of electromagnetic fields on robots and manipulators

The goal of this paper is to develop and build intelligent nested-fuzzy logic controllers to effectively reduce the effects of electro-magnetic fields on rescuing autonomous mobile robots or manipulators navigating and working in damaged power plants or battle field environments. It is critically important to develop intelligent mobile robots to effectively reduce the effects of electro-magnetic fields to perform desired rescuing tasks in critical emergency situations. More specially, it is vital necessary to use those mobile robots to replace human rescuers to perform some dangerous rescuing tasks under the serious disaster or battle field circumstances.
Evolutionary Medicine and the Medical School Curriculum: Meeting Students Along Their Paths to Medical School

Over the past several years, numerous reports that have been independently prepared by prestigious organizations in the U.S. have agreed that new approaches to improve teaching and learning of biology at both the pre-college and undergraduate levels are important and timely. Their recommendations, which are based on emerging research about human learning and cognition, are in agreement that evolution is an organizing principle and foundation of modern biology and should be presented as such. This paper provides an overview of the conclusions and recommendations from those reports and proposes that helping students learn evolution through the lens of human examples that are part of the emerging field of evolutionary medicine could help biology educators improve the teaching of evolution, and biology more generally, by asking students to address biological problems that are inherently interesting and motivating.
Immunohistochemical localization of PGF2α receptor in the mouse testis

Abstract As a step towards understanding the role of prostaglandin F 2α (PGF 2α ) in male reproductive tract physiology, a rabbit polyclonal antiserum reactive with purified PGF 2α receptor (PGF 2α -R) was produced. Here we describe the use of this anti-PGF 2α -R antiserum in immunohistochemical staining of mouse testis to ascertain which cell types, in vivo, possess immunoreactive PGF 2α -R. As an initial control Western blot analysis was performed to show that the anti-PGF 2α -R antiserum recognizes only one antigen in the testis, and that this molecule is similar in molecular mass (by PAGE) to the previously described, purified PGF 2α -R molecule. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrates that adult mouse testis contains a single subpopulation of cells with PGF 2α -R and that subpopulation is the interstitial or Leydig cell subpopulation. Cell and tissue types negative for immunoreactive PGF 2α -R include: the capsule (tunica albuginea) and subcapsular stroma, all histologic layers of the vasculature (both venules and arterioles), peritubular stroma, peritubular boundary tissue, spermatogonia, primary and secondary spermatocytes, spermatids, Sertoli cells, and spermatozoa. While the above described localization of PGF 2α -R is also seen in rat, there are fewer rat Leydig cells and this subpopulation appears to atrophy and stain less intensely with increasing age of the animal. Preabsorption of the PGF 2α -R antiserum with a corpora lutea homogenate acetone powder eliminated immunohistochemical staining of the Leydig cell subpopulation further suggesting that the antigenic determinant detected here is related to that in the ovary (PGF 2α -R).
Adolescent life events and their association with the onset of sexual intercourse.

This study examined the timing of several events marking the transition from adolescence to young adulthood and their correlation with the age at first sexual intercourse. The model included parent...
Higher level relationships of Apiales (Apiaceae and Araliaceae) based on phylogenetic analysis of rbcL sequences

The two families of the order Apiales (Apiaceae and Araliaceae) represent a classic example of the difficulty in understanding evolutionary relationships between tropical-temperate family pairs. In Apiales, this problem is further compounded by phylogenetic confusion at almost every taxonomic level, including ordinal, interfamilial, and infrafamilial, due largely to difficulties in understanding trends in morphological evolution. Phylogenetic analyses of rbcL sequences were employed to resolve relationships at the ordinal and familial levels. The results of the ordinal analysis confirm the placement of Apiales in an expanded subclass Asteridae as the sister group to Pittosporaceae, and refute the traditional alliance of Apiales with Cornales and Rosidae. This study has also resolved relationships of a number of enigmatic genera, suggesting, for example, that Melanophylla, Aralidium, Griselinia, and Toricellia are close relatives of Apiales. Clarification of phylogenetic relationships has concomitantly provided insights into trends of morphological evolution, and suggests that the ancestral apialean taxon was probably bicarpellate, simple-leaved, woody, and paleotropical. Phylogenetic analysis at the family level suggests that apiaceous subfamily Hydrocotyloideae, often envisioned as an intermediate group between Apiaceae and Araliaceae, is polyphyletic, with some hydrocotyloids closely allied with Araliaceae rather than Apiaceae. With the exception of some hydrocotyloids, Apiaceae appear to be monophyletic. The relationship between Apiaceae and Araliaceae remains problematic. Although the shortest rbcL trees suggest that Apiaceae are derived from within a paraphyletic Araliaceae, this result is only weakly supported.
Absent from Work: Nature versus Nurture

In this issue, Staal and colleagues report on an intervention aimed at changing the way disabled workers perceive and cope with back pain. Patient-centered efforts that promote return to work and a...
Hydrogen in High Pressure Silicate and Oxide Mineral Structures

Earth is the water planet. Liquid water covers more than 70% of the surface and dominates all surface processes, geological, meteorological, and biological. However the hydrosphere composes only about 0.025% of the planet’s mass, so that small amounts of H incorporated into the oxygen minerals of the interior may constitute the majority of Earth’s total water. The Earth is thought to be generally similar in composition to the chondrite meteorites which average about 0.10% by weight H2O. So if the Earth were strictly chondritic in its H content, about 75% of that H as water would have either been tied up in the minerals of the interior or lost to space. Understanding how H behaves at the atomic scale in these materials will help us to understand how the Earth balances and retains its water and may help us to understand how water planets develop and how common they might be. In addition to the surface processes, water also controls the processes of the interior. Water dramatically reduces the melting temperature of rocks controlling igneous processes. Even trace amounts of hydrogen have a major effect on some physical properties such as deformation strength and electrical conductivity (Karato 1990). The nominally anhydrous minerals of the Earth’s interior are capable of incorporating many times the amount of water in the hydrosphere, and these phases would need to be saturated before stoichiometrically hydrous minerals could be stable. Hydrogen in amounts reported in olivine, wadsleyite, and ringwoodite by Kohlstedt et al. (1996) as recalibrated by Bell et al. (2003), if present in the Earth, would constitute a significant fraction of the total water budget of the planet. The amounts that can be incorporated into the nominally anhydrous minerals of the Transition Zone (410–660 km depth) may constitute the largest reservoir of …
Test Results and Status of the TOP Alignment System for Parabolic Trough Solar Collectors

Parabolic trough solar power plants produce the lowest cost solar electricity, yet unsubsidized electricity from parabolic trough power plants costs about twice that from conventional sources. To make parabolic trough electricity more competitive, we are developing an innovative approach for rapidly and effectively evaluating the alignment of mirrors in parabolic trough power plants and prescribing corrective actions as needed. The Theoretical Overlay Photographic Collector Alignment Technique (TOPCAT) system could be used during construction, to improve the performance of existing power plants, or for routine maintenance. It is also an enabling technology for higher concentration ratio and lower cost trough solar collector designs needed to make solar electricity more competitive with conventional sources. In this paper a truck-mounted TOPCAT field characterization system is described. Test results from mirror alignment of an LS-3 loop in a commercial parabolic trough power plant in southern California are also presented. The performance improvements were measured using a comparative calorimetric technique which inherently accounts for variations in insolation levels, sun incident angle, and mirror and heat collection element (HCE) glass envelope cleanliness. Measurements indicate a 3.5% increase in thermal performance of an LS-3 loop aligned with the TOPCAT system. Benchmarking results of labor hours and materials show that the TOPCAT system is an extremely cost effective tool for improving the performance of existing parabolic trough power plants.Copyright © 2010 by ASME
Socioeconomic Differences in Adolescent Stress: The Role of Psychological Resources

Abstract Purpose To investigate whether psychological resources influenced the association between parent education (PE), a marker of socioeconomic status (SES), and perceived stress. Methods Cross-sectional analyses were conducted in a sample of 1167 non-Hispanic black and white junior and senior high school students from a Midwestern public school district in 2002–2003. Hierarchical multivariable regression analyses examined relationships between PE (high school graduate or less=E1, > high school, Results Relative to adolescents from families with a professionally educated parent, adolescents with lower parent education had higher perceived stress (E3 β = 1.70, p p p p p p p Conclusions Adolescents from families with lower parent education are less optimistic than teens from more educated families. This pessimism may be a mechanism through which lower SES increases stress in adolescence.
Obstructed neuronal migration along radial glial fibers in the neocortex of the reeler mouse: A golgi-EM analysis

The interrelationship of radial glial fibers (RGF) and young neurons migrating to the neocortex of normal and reeler mutant mice at 17 days of gestation are reconstructed from serial and from closely spaced thin sections. The glial fibers are identified unequivocally by correlated light and electron microscopy by means of the Golgi-gold toning method of Fairen and associates. The migrating cell in the normal animal is closely apposed to and coiled about the RGF throughout most of its ascent. In the terminal few microns of its movement, however, it begins rapidly to differentiate and at the same time surrenders its close attachment to the RGF. In the reeler, by contrast, the migrating cell maintains normal apposition to the RGF only until it enters the cortex. There its leading process is unable to pass between the surfaces of the RGF and those of postmigratory elements. Abnormally extensive contact between the glial fiber and the somata of postmigratory cells appears to be sustained in the mutant. The upward migration of the young neuron is terminated in the depths of the cortex and the cell soma gives rise to a profusion of small processes. This study affirms the critical role served by RGF as guides to neuronal migration and provides evidence that abnormal adhesions between postmigratory cells and the RGF obstruct neuronal migration in the reeler mouse.
The 21st century nuclear park: a source of energy, water, food, and jobs

The concept of a nuclear-powered agro-industrial complex, or "nuplex", first advanced 40 years ago, provides an increasingly attractive means of addressing critical challenges in developing nations. The nuplex concept, updated for the 21st century, can serve as the basis for a nuclear park that provides a safe, environmentally friendly, and reliable source of energy at a cost comparable to other means of generation. This 21st century nuclear park can meet burgeoning demands for new sources of power and water, support the development of highly efficient agriculture to supply food to a growing world population, and offer employment at levels ranging from unskilled to highly skilled, thus creating opportunities for economic development and improving the quality of life in regions where it is deployed.
Gregory Bateson Gets a Mobile Phone

Concepts from Gregory Bateson are used to explore the ways that mobile media shape communication process in public and private spaces. His focus on patterns of relationship is used to offer insight...
Robust estimation algorithm for a class of hybrid systems with unknown continuous fault inputs

In this paper, we develop a robust hybrid estimation algorithm for the Stochastic Linear Hybrid System (SLHS) with unknown continuous fault inputs. Most existing estimation algorithms for hybrid systems with fault inputs are designed such that every faulty mode is modeled as a discrete state, which incurs a large number of the discrete states in the estimation model. The proposed algorithm overcomes this problem by decoupling the unknown fault inputs from the estimation error dynamics and has the same number of the discrete states as the original hybrid system. The proposed algorithm is validated with a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft application.
Real-time Dynamic Path Planning for Dubins' Nonholonomic Robot

A car-like nonholomonic robot moves in a plane and is subject to an upper bound of curvature for its turning. In this paper, we discuss a novel dynamic path planning algorithm by which the car-like robot could reach any oriented point from another oriented point via the shortest path. The approach features the construction of a pair of accommodation circles describing the left and right turn minimum radius paths of the vehicle. Utilizing this construction, a weak control Lyapunov function is constructed and used to generate a control law. This motion planner provides a real-time state dependent solution with a convergence guarantee.
Composing across Multiple Media: A Case Study of Digital Video Production in a Fifth Grade Classroom

This is a qualitative case study of two students' composing processes as they developed a documentary video about the Dominican Republic in an urban, public middle school classroom. While using a d...
Iron species of hepatic microsomes from control and phenobarbital-treated rats.

The presence of a nonheme iron-sulfur protein in the hepatic mixed-function oxidase system has been examined by comparison of total of total iron and total heme contents. Ferritin was found to be a major source of nonheme iron and was removed by affinity chromatography or by preparation of microsomes by Ca2+ aggregation. An iron species which was neither heme nor ferritin was observed in control microsomes and disappeared during phenobarbital induction. This Fe species appears to function as an available Fe source for microsomal heme synthesis. In microsomes prepared from phenobarbital-induced rats by Ca2+ aggregation, all of the Fe could be accounted for as cytochromes b5 and P-450. The data suggest that, if a nonheme iron-sulfur protein is present in hepatic microsomes, it contributes less than 10% of the total iron.
Factors which Control Petroleum Accumulations: ABSTRACT

It has been established empirically that rapid deposition of sediment with abundant organic matter is required for the formation and accumulation of petroleum. Such conditions may have existed in any part of basins during different periods, therefore the kind of basin and position within the basin may have no close relation to depositional environments of any particular stratigraphic unit. The important thing is to determine for each formation the area which had optimum conditions for the development and preservation of petroleum source material and the deposition of sealed porous strata. Large deltas which were constructed in rapidly subsiding segments of oceans or large interior sea margins had all the requirements for oil and gas occurrence: plentiful organic remains; rapid deposition which preserved much of the organic matter; relatively slow compaction which allowed the hydrocarbons to escape from the fine-grained sediments and move into the more porous sediment bodies; many porous sands; abundant clay and silt to seal the sands laterally and vertically; and syndepositional development of local "highs." No other environment in the silicate clastic province had all of these favorable conditions. Petroleum accumulations in carbonate rocks resulted from rapid deposition of organic-rich carbonate sediments in a fast subsiding area with shallow, restricted, marine environments that had periodic influx of fine-grained terrigenous sediments. Porous calcarenites or oolites which formed on shallow, open-sea platforms, or limestone reefs which grew far from shore and were never covered with terrigenous mud, had little organic material preserved to form petroleum. Numerous undiscovered oil and gas accumulations are in stratigraphic and stratigraphic-structural traps in the favorable facies of terrigenous and carbonate formations. The basins or parts of the basins without the controlling factors should not be explored. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1902------------
Fast and efficient analysis and design of three-dimensional photonic crystal structures for functional dispersive devices

We show that the propagation of optical beams inside three-dimensional photonic crystals can be efficiently described by an approximate scalar diffraction model. The main advantage of this model is that it reduces the memory and computation time for direct simulations of three-dimensional photonic crystals by converting the problem into an equivalent problem for which simple geometrical optics can be applied. Then we use this model for efficient design of photonic crystal dispersive devices such as demultiplexers and microspectrometers. Finally, experimental verification of the results for the polymer woodpile structures will be given.
Coexistence of IEEE 802.11b and bluetooth: an integrated performance analysis

IEEE 802.11b wireless networks and Bluetooth networks provide complimentary services using the same unlicensed radio frequency band. As the benefits of utilizing these services become increasingly apparent, the likelihood of mutual interference also increases. The well-known frequency hopping algorithm and adaptive frequency hopping algorithm do not fully consider the interference level of the operating environment. In this paper an algorithm called interference-aware adaptive frequency hopping (IAFH) is presented and implemented on Bluetooth devices to mitigate the interference between IEEE 802.11b and Bluetooth wireless networks. An analytical model of IAFH is developed to evaluate the performance of 802.11b stations and Bluetooth devices in a mutual interference environment. The analysis comprises the collision probability, packet error rate, and throughput performance for both IEEE 802.11b and Bluetooth wireless networks. Simulation results confirm that 802.11b station and IAFH-enabled Bluetooth devices experience lower packet error rates and better throughput as compared to the frequency hopping and adaptive frequency hopping algorithms.
Mitochondrial iron-sulfur cluster dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease

Growing evidence supports a role for mitochondrial iron metabolism in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative disorders such as Friedreich ataxia and Parkinson disease as well as in the motor and cognitive decline associated with the aging process. Iron-sulfur enzyme deficits and regional iron accumulation have been observed in each of these conditions. In spite of significant etiological, clinical and pathological differences that exist between Friedreich ataxia and Parkinson disease, it is possible that defects in mitochondrial iron-sulfur clusters biogenesis represent a common underlying mechanism leading to abnormal intracellular iron distribution with mitochondrial iron accumulation, OXPHOS deficits and oxidative stress in susceptible cells and specific regions of the nervous system. Moreover, a similar mechanism may contribute to the age-dependent iron accumulation that occurs in certain brain regions such as the globus pallidus and the substantia nigra. Targeting chelatable iron and reactive oxygen species appear as possible therapeutic options for Friedreich ataxia and Parkinson disease, and possibly other age-related neurodegenerative conditions. However, new technology to interrogate iron-sulfur cluster synthesis in humans is needed to (i) assess how defects in this pathway contribute to the natural history of neurodegenerative disorders and (ii) develop treatments to correct those defects early in the disease process, before they cause irreversible neuronal cell damage.
A within-subjects validation of a group-administered timeline followback for alcohol use.

Objective: The current study uses a within-subjects randomized design with the Timeline Followback (TLFB) method administered in groups or to individuals to determine the equivalence of these methods. Method: One hundred and four male and female college students who reported drinking at least once in the past 3 months completed the TLFB during a one-on-one interview, as well as in a group setting days apart. The two administrations were counterbalanced among the participants. Drinking variables assessed were drinking days, average drinks, total drinks, and maximum drinks consumed both during a 3-month (90 days) and a 1-month (30 days) period. Results: Repeated measures analyses revealed no differences within subjects between the individual TLFB and the group TLFB on any of the four assessed drinking variables in the past 3 months and the past 1 month. Pearson's correlation coefficients revealed strong and significant correlations between the two administration styles. Heavy episodic drinking behavior was ...
Update on the status of the MISR and AirMISR experiments

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument is scheduled for launch in 1998 aboard the Earth Observing System (EOS) AM spacecraft. MISR consists of nine pushbroom cameras, and will, provide global coverage in four visible/near-infrared spectral bands. This measurement strategy provides systematic multi-angle imagery of the Earth for studies of aerosols, surface radiation, and clouds. AirMISR, airborne MISR simulator fabricated using a spare MISR camera, has flown on NASA ER-2 aircraft during 1997 and 1998 and obtained a number of multi-angle image sets.
Design tradeoffs for software-managed TLBs

An increasing number of architectures provide virtual memory support through software-managed TLBs. However, software management can impose considerable penalties that are highly dependent on the operating system's structure and its use of virtual memory. This work explores software-managed TLB design tradeoffs and their interaction with a range of monolithic and microkernel operating systems. Through hardware monitoring and simulation, we explore TLB performance for benchmarks running on a MIPS R2000-based workstation running Ultrix, OSF/1, and three versions of Mach 3.0.
Neural Mechanisms of Cognitive Control: An Integrative Model of Stroop Task Performance and fMRI Data

We address the connection between conceptual knowledge and cognitive control using a neural network model. This model extends a widely held theory of cognitive control [Cohen, J. D., Dunbar, K., & McClelland, J. L. On the control of automatic processes: A parallel distributed processing model of the Stroop effect. Psychological Review, 97, 332–361, 1990] so that it can explain new empirical findings. Leveraging other computational modeling work, we hypothesize that representations used for task control are recruited from preexisting representations for categories, such as the concept of color relevant to the Stroop task we model here. This hypothesis allows the model to account for otherwise puzzling fMRI results, such as increased activity in brain regions processing to-be-ignored information. In addition, biologically motivated changes in the model's pattern of connectivity show how global competition can arise when inhibition is strictly local, as it seems to be in the cortex. We also discuss the potential for this theory to unify models of task control with other forms of attention.
On code design for the Slepian-Wolf problem and lossless multiterminal networks

A Slepian-Wolf coding scheme for compressing two uniform memoryless binary sources using a single channel code that can achieve arbitrary rate allocation among encoders was outlined in the work of Pradhan and Ramchandran. Inspired by this work, we address the problem of practical code design for general multiterminal lossless networks where multiple memoryless correlated binary sources are separately compressed and sent; each decoder receives a set of compressed sources and attempts to jointly reconstruct them. First, we propose a near-lossless practical code design for the Slepian-Wolf system with multiple sources. For two uniform sources, if the code approaches the capacity of the channel that models the correlation between the sources, then the system will approach the theoretical limit. Thus, the great advantage of this design method is its possibility to approach the theoretical limits with a single channel code for any rate allocation among the encoders. Based on Slepian-Wolf code constructions, we continue with providing practical designs for the general lossless multiterminal network which consists of an arbitrary number of encoders and decoders. Using irregular repeat-accumulate and turbo codes in our designs, we obtain the best results reported so far and almost reach the theoretical bounds.
Mining FDA drug labels for medical conditions.

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) has built the initial Natural Language Processing (NLP) component to extract medications with their corresponding medical conditions (Indications, Contraindications, Overdosage, and Adverse Reactions) as triples of medication-related information ([(1) drug name]-[(2) medical condition]-[(3) LOINC section header]) for an intelligent database system, in order to improve patient safety and the quality of health care. The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) drug labels are used to demonstrate the feasibility of building the triples as an intelligent database system task. This paper discusses a hybrid NLP system, called AutoMCExtractor, to collect medical conditions (including disease/disorder and sign/symptom) from drug labels published by the FDA. Altogether, 6,611 medical conditions in a manually-annotated gold standard were used for the system evaluation. The pre-processing step extracted the plain text from XML file and detected eight related LOINC sections (e.g. Adverse Reactions, Warnings and Precautions) for medical condition extraction. Conditional Random Fields (CRF) classifiers, trained on token, linguistic, and semantic features, were then used for medical condition extraction. Lastly, dictionary-based post-processing corrected boundary-detection errors of the CRF step. We evaluated the AutoMCExtractor on manually-annotated FDA drug labels and report the results on both token and span levels. Precision, recall, and F-measure were 0.90, 0.81, and 0.85, respectively, for the span level exact match; for the token-level evaluation, precision, recall, and F-measure were 0.92, 0.73, and 0.82, respectively. The results demonstrate that (1) medical conditions can be extracted from FDA drug labels with high performance; and (2) it is feasible to develop a framework for an intelligent database system.
Estimating atomic 1s orbital radii

Abstract Accurate values for the radii of 1s atomic electrons are calculated in a recent paper by use of a one-parameter, purely radial expression for the electrostatic potential between the two electrons and the electrons and nucleus. This letter provides physical justification for the success of that model and shows that other one-parameter potentials can be constructed that give good results.
SEXUAL DIMORPHISM IN THE QUANTITATIVE-GENETIC ARCHITECTURE OF FLORAL, LEAF, AND ALLOCATION TRAITS IN SILENE LATIFOLIA

Many species exhibit sexual dimorphism in a variety of characters, and the underlying genetic architecture of dimorphism potentially involves sex-specific differences in the additive-genetic variance‐covariance matrix (G) of dimorphic traits. We investigated the quantitative-genetic structure of dimorphic traits in the dioecious plant Silene latifolia by estimating G (including within-sex matrices, Gm ,G f , and the between-sex variance‐covariance matrix, B), and the phenotypic variance‐covariance matrix (P) for seven traits. Flower number was the most sexually dimorphic trait, and was significantly genetically correlated with all traits within each sex. Negative genetic correlations between flower size and number suggested a genetic trade-off in investment, but positive environmental correlations between the same traits resulted in no physical evidence for a trade-off in the phenotype. Between-sex genetic covariances for homologous traits were always greater than 0 but smaller than 1, showing that some, but not all, of the variation in traits is caused by genes or alleles with sex-limited expression. Using common principal-components analysis (CPCA), a maximum-likelihood (ML) estimation approach, and element-by-element comparison to compare matrices, we found that Gm and Gf differed significantly in eigenstructure because of dissimilarity in covariances involving leaf traits, suggesting the presence of variation in sex-limited genes with pleiotropic effects and/or linkage between sex-limited loci. The sex-specific structure of G is expected to cause differences in the correlated responses to selection within each sex, promoting the further evolution and maintenance of dimorphism.
Decisions about prophylactic gynecologic surgery: a qualitative study of the experience of female Lynch syndrome mutation carriers

Background Women who carry a mutation for Lynch syndrome face complex decisions regarding strategies for managing their increased cancer risks. At present, there is limited understanding of the factors influencing women’s prophylactic surgery decisions.
5′ Exonuclease Assay for Detection of Serogroup Y Neisseria meningitidis

The incidence of serogroup Y meningococcal disease has increased recently in the United States. Here, we describe the development of a 5' exonuclease assay for the detection of serogroup Y Neisseria meningitidis and demonstrate the usefulness of this assay for resolving serogroup identification of strains that are resistant to conventional serogrouping and for the nonculture identification of serogroup Y meningococcal disease.
Arterial hemodynamics in a rabbit model of atherosclerosis

Although atherosclerosis significantly alters the structural characteristics of the arterial tree, its effect on arterial impedance, which is a means of quantifying the functional characteristics of the arterial system, has not been characterized. To assess how one type of atherosclerosis affects impedance, we studied arterial impedance in New Zealand White rabbits after 11 wk on a 2% cholesterol diet. From open-chest aortic pressures and flows, impedance data were obtained from spectral analysis of randomly paced and Fourier analysis of nonpaced beats. Compliance was calculated from the low-frequency impedance moduli by assuming a windkessel model for the arterial system. Under base-line conditions, the atherosclerotic impedance phase spectrum in the low-frequency range remained negative for higher values of frequency than in controls. There was no difference between the groups in mean arterial blood pressure, impedance modulus spectrum, characteristic impedance, compliance, or total peripheral resistance. Wave reflections were, however, increased in the atherosclerotic animals. The differences between the two groups in phase and wave reflection were completely abolished after phenylephrine (3 micrograms.kg-1.min-1). Thus this study demonstrates that under base-line conditions atherosclerosis increases wave reflection at the input to the arterial system in the absence of an alteration in global arterial compliance, total peripheral resistance, or mean blood pressure. This increase is presumably secondary to atherosclerotic changes at arterial sites, which produce local impedance mismatching.
Self-healing polymer sealant for encapsulating flexible solar cells

Abstract Herein we demonstrate the utility of polyisobutylene (PIB) as a fully printable self-healing sealant for protecting organic photovoltaic devices from degradation under ambient conditions. These sealants can be applied on flexible substrates using drop casting, spin coating or blade coating. PIB-based crosslinked sealants show excellent device stability, especially the low molecular weight PIB.