cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms for long carrier lifetime in Cd(Se)Te double heterostructures

II–VI semiconductors are used in numerous electro-optical applications. For example, CdTe-based solar technology is cost competitive with other electricity generation sources, yet there is still significant room to improve. Carrier lifetime has historically been well below the radiative recombination limit. Lifetimes reaching beyond 100 ns can significantly enhance performance and enable novel device structures. Here, double heterostructures (DHs) with passivated interfaces demonstrate lifetimes exceeding 1 μs, yet this appears only for CdSeTe and not for CdTe DHs. We compare the passivation mechanisms in CdTe and CdSeTe DHs. CdSeTe lifetimes on the order of 1 μs correspond to a combination of superior intragrain lifetime, extremely low grain boundary recombination and greater Te4+ interfacial presence compared to CdTe.
Language and Intelligence

This paper explores aspects of GPT-3 that have been discussed as harbingers of artificial general intelligence and, in particular, linguistic intelligence. After introducing key features of GPT-3 and assessing its performance in the light of the conversational standards set by Alan Turing in his seminal paper from 1950, the paper elucidates the difference between clever automation and genuine linguistic intelligence. A central theme of this discussion on genuine conversational intelligence is that members of a linguistic community never merely respond “algorithmically” to queries through a selective kind of pattern recognition, because they must also jointly attend and act with other speakers in order to count as genuinely intelligent and trustworthy. This presents a challenge for systems like GPT-3, because representing the world in a way that makes conversational common ground salient is an essentially collective task that we can only achieve jointly with other speakers. Thus, the main difficulty for any artificially intelligent model of conversation is to account for the communicational intentions and motivations of a speaker through joint attention. These joint motivations and intentions seem to be completely absent from the standard way in which systems like GPT-3 and other artificial intelligent systems work. This is not merely a theoretical issue. Since GPT-3 and future iterations of similar systems will likely be available for commercial use through application programming interfaces, caution is needed regarding the risks created by these systems, which pass for “intelligent” but have no genuine communicational intentions, and can thereby produce fake and unreliable linguistic exchanges.
Lymphadenopathy

Pediatric lymphadenopathy is a common presentation with a variety of causative etiologies. The majority involves benign, self-limited pathology, but may indicate more serious illness. With improvements in technology comes refinements in laboratory testing, higher resolution diagnostic imaging, and alternative biopsy techniques. Appropriate employment of these advancements requires a review of the recent literature. Watchful waiting and empiric antibiotics remain a common initial approach. Advanced imaging and serologic testing are used when there is a higher suspicion for malignancy. Also fine needle aspiration is becoming a viable technique for adequately sampling a lymph node. While open biopsy remains the gold standard for diagnosis, a clear and concise L rhythm for diagnosis and treatment may help avoid unnecessary surgical intervention.
The Effect of Income on Educational Attainment: Evidence from State Earned Income Tax Credit Expansions

As of the early 2000s, the gap in college enrollment between children growing up in the highest income quartile and the lowest income quartile was over 50 percentage points (Bailey and Dynarski 2011). There is much debate in the literature about what role household income plays in producing this gap. A major impediment in studying this question is the lack of plausibly exogenous variation in income. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one potential source of exogenous variation in household income that may increase educational attainment among low-income youth. Using variation in state EITC benefit generosity, I use a difference-in-difference framework to analyze how an increase in household income affects the educational attainment of children from low socioeconomic status households. Conservative estimates suggest that following an increase in the maximum EITC by $1,000, 18-23 year olds growing up in likely EITC- eligible households are 1 percentage point more likely to have ever enrolled in college and 0.3 percentage points more likely to complete a bachelor’s degree. These results are concentrated among individuals who were younger than 12 at the time of state EITC implementation, suggesting that the EITC increases educational attainment primarily by providing extra income to households with young children. I find no effect of EITC expansions on older children, for whom the EITC acts as a form of financial aid.
Taking enforcement on its own terms: EPA's heavy-duty diesel engine litigation

The authors of Regulation by Litigation characterize the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s enforcement action against diesel engine manufacturers as an effort to achieve by litigation what the Agency was unable to achieve by regulation: immediate reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxides. By substituting litigation for rulemaking, the authors of the book argue, the Agency avoided political and judicial accountability and put itself on a suboptimal policy track. This comment argues that the diesel engine litigation may be better understood as what it purported to be, an enforcement action, not rulemaking in disguise. The authors' characterization of the litigation is questionable on at least two grounds. First, it fails to fully appreciate the distinct functions of enforcement and policymaking in a regulatory setting. The goal of enforcement is not primarily to make policy, but to enforce it – to punish violators, deter future violations, and mitigate harms caused by violations. That goal supplies the proper measure of the litigation's success. Second, in applying public choice analysis to create a story of agency circumvention of appropriate rulemaking procedures, the authors' account misses key features of how agency enforcement decisions are made – and were made in this litigation. This latter shortcoming raises broader questions about the difficulties of applying public choice analysis in complex institutional settings.
Gas-liquid chromatography of nucleosides : Derivatization and chromatography

The aims of this investigation were to establish the optimum reaction conditions for silylation of nucleotides with bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA) and to investigate the chromatographic properties of the following nucleosides: adenosine, guanosine, cytidine, thymine, inosine, xanthosine, and uridine. Closed tube silylations were performed with a 1000 molar excess of BSTFA at 25, 75, 120, 150, and 175 degrees for 15, 30, 60, 120 and 240 min. The optimal time and temperature for derivatization were found to be 150 degrees and 15 min. Using these reaction conditions, samples were then silylated with 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 molar excess of BSTFA; a molar excess of 225 was best. The stability of the nucleoside derivatives on standing at room temperature for 1-7 days was investigated. Quantitative gas-liquid chromatography of trimethylsilyl (TMS) nucleosides can be performed if samples are analyzed within 48 h, after which time the relative weight response for the nucleosides decreased somewhat. Chromatographic column studies were made using various liquid phases and supports. With methylsiloxanes as the liquid phase, Supelcoport as support was found to be superior. Resolution of TMS guanosine from TMS cytidine was attempted at different column lengths using 3% (w/w) SE-30 on Supelcoport, different loadings (%, w/w) of SE-30 on Supelcoport, and different polarity liquid phases, 4% (w/w) OV-11 or 3% (w/w) OV-17 or 4% (w/w) Dexsil-300 on Supelcoport. A complete separation of the six ribonucleosides including guanosine and cytidine was obtained with 1 m x 4 mm I.D. glass columns of 4% (w/w) OV-11 and 3% (w/w) OV-17 on 100-120 mesh Supelcoport. It was observed that with 2'-deoxycytidine, one obtains the TMS cytosine peak (retention temperature 150 degrees) plus another peak with a retention temperature of 120 degrees, under all derivatization conditions with BSTFA and bis(trimethylsilyl)-acetamide. Similar formation of bases from other 2'-deoxyribonucleosides occurred when the molar excess of BSTFA was greater than 500. The minimal detectable amounts obtained for all the nucleosides ranged from 5 to 10 ng injected with a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The relative standard deviations for all nucleosides and deoxynucleosides ranged from 1.2 to 4.8% on different methylsiloxanes on Supelcoport columns.
A Facile Route to Metal Oxides/Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Macrofilm Nanocomposites for Energy Storage

Nanocomposites consisting of transition-metal oxides and carbon nanomaterials with a desired size and structure are highly demanded for high performance energy storage devices. Here, a facile two-step and cost-efficient approach relying on directly thermal treatment of chemical-vapor-deposition products is developed as a general synthetic method to prepare a family of metal oxides (MxOy (M=Fe, Co, Ni))/single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) macrofilm nanocomposites. The MxOy nanoparticles obtained are of 3-17 nm in diameter and homogeneously anchor on the free-standing SWNT macrofilms. NiO/SWNT also exhibits a high specific capacitance of 400 F g-1 and fast charge-transfer Faradaic redox reactions to achieve asymmetric supercapacitors with a high power and energy density. All MxOy/SWNT nanocomposites could deliver a high capacity beyond 1000 mAh g-1 and show excellent cycling stability for lithium-ion batteries. The impressive results demonstrate the promise for energy storage devices and the general approach may pave the way to synthesize other functional nanocomposites.
A unique case of concurrent chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma and lymphomatoid papulosis in the same biopsy

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL/SLL) is the most common leukemia in the western world and its cutaneous dissemination a very uncommon phenomenon. Lymphomatoid papulosis (LyP) is a CD30+ lymphoproliferative disorder characterized by chronic, recurrent and self healing skin lesions. Up to 20% of patients with LyP have a coexistent lymphoma. While the association between the two entities has been reported, their coexistence has never been documented. We describe a 74-year-old man with known CLL and thrombocytopenia who presented with a 2 year history of recurrent nodules and plaques to both arms and legs that resolved within 4-6 weeks after administration of rituximab and bendamustin for his CLL treatment. His biopsies showed an atypical lymphoid infiltrate, composed of large and pleomorphic cells with a nodular and interstitial pattern in a background of eosinophils. Immunohistochemical staining revealed a pattern of two separate yet coexisting neoplastic processes; a large CD30 positive T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder, while the other one was diagnostic of a neoplastic B-cell process (leukemia cutis). A diagnosis of coexistent LyP and cutaneous involvement by CLL/SLL was rendered. The simultaneous presence of both disorders can be a pitfall in the differential diagnosis of large cell lymphomas, such as Richter's transformation of CLL/SLL.
Water Homeostasis: Evolutionary Medicine

As a major component of homeostasis, all organisms regulate the water composition of various compartments. Through the selective use of barrier membranes and surface glycoproteins, as well as aquaporin water channels, organisms ranging from Archaebacteria to humans can vary water permeabilities across their cell membranes by 4 to 5 orders of magnitude. In barrier epithelia the outer, or exofacial, leaflet acts as the main resistor to water flow; this leaflet restricts water flow by minimizing the surface area of lipid molecules which is not covered by phosphate headgroups and by packing hydrocarbon chains at maximal density. Cells may enhance the barrier by expressing glycoproteins that augment the "thickness" of unstirred layers at their surfaces, reducing osmotic gradients at the lipid bilayer surface. Aquaporins markedly and highly selectively accelerate water flux and are "switched on" either by deployment into membranes or gating. This review summarizes these mechanisms in many species, and indicates potential roles for manipulating water permeabilities in treating disease.
Expressing Products of Fermi Fields in terms of Fermi Sea Displacements

An attempt is made to generalise the ideas introduced by Haldane and others regarding Bosonizing the Fermi surface. The present attempt involves introduction of Bose fields that correspond to displacements of the Fermi sea rather than just the Fermi surface. This enables the study of short wavelength fluctuations of the Fermi surface and hence the dispersion of single particle excitations with high energy. The number conserving product of two Fermi fields is represented as a simple combination of these Bose fields. It is shown that most(!) commutation rules involving these number conserving products are reproduced exactly, as are the dynamical correlation functions of the free theory. Also the work of Sharp, Menikoff and Goldin has shown that the field operator may be viewed as a unitary representation of the current algebra. An explicit realisation of this unitary representation is given in terms of canonical conjugate of the density operator.
Diffuse Electrical Injury

Electrical injuries occur relatively infrequently but can lead to various immediate and delayed neurological and neuropsychological consequences. Many physicians are familiar with high voltage injury with significant full thickness burns, peripheral nerve damage, and possibly brain ischaemia secondary to cardiorespiratory arrest. Other indirect neurological consequences are traumatic brain and spinal cord injury secondary to a fall after the electrical injury. Neurologists may be less familiar with delayed spinal cord damage and a clinical picture such as a lower motor neuron syndrome, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or transverse myelitis – days or decades following the electrical injury. Even rarer, and the focus of this article, is what has been referred to as diffuse electrical injury where there are diffuse symptoms, both ‘path related’ and remote to the theoretical current pathway (the linear path of the electrical current from entry point to exit point). This produces remote physical, neurological or neuropsychological symptoms that may
Neuronal Plasticity and the Modification of Behavior

The sections in this article are: 1 Strategies in Neuronal Studies of Behavioral Modifications 1.1 Dynamic and Plastic Capabilities of Synaptic Pathways 1.2 Plasticity Hypothesis 1.3 Dynamic Hypothesis 2 Synaptic Mechanisms of Plastic Change: Potentiation and Depression 2.1 Posttetanic Potentiation: Enhancement of Synaptic Transmission Following Use 2.2 Tenotomy: Enhancement of Synaptic Transmission Through Disuse 2.3 Depression of Synaptic Pathways Following Use 2.4 Plastic Capabilities of Electrical and Chemical Synapses 2.5 Plastic Capabilities of the Chemical Synapses of Invertebrates 2.6 Heterosynaptic Facilitation, Depression, and Sprouting 3 Nonsynaptic Mechanisms of Plastic Change 4 Biochemical Aspects of Neuronal Plasticity 5 Morphological Aspects of Neuronal Plasticity 6 Relation of Neuronal Plasticity to Behavioral Modifications 7 Cellular Studies of Behavioral Modifications in the Immature Nervous System 7.1 Development of Connections in the Visual System 7.2 Effects of Light and Pattern Deprivation in Newborn Animals on Functional Interconnections of Cells in the Visual System 8 Cellular Studies of Behavioral Modifications in Mature Animals 8.1 Habituation and Dishabituation 8.2 Flexion Withdrawal in the Cat 8.3 Gill Withdrawal in Aplysia 8.4 Escape Swimming in Crayfish 8.5 Escape Response in the Cockroach 8.6 Short-Term Synaptic Plasticity and Short-Term Habituation 9 Mechanistic Relationships Among Simple Behavioral Modifications 9.1 Relationship of Habituation to Dishabituation 9.2 Relationship of Short- to Long-term Memory 9.3 Relationship of Long-term Sensitization to Behavioral Abnormalities 9.4 Relationship of Habituation to Higher Forms of Learning 10 Complex Behavioral Modifications: Classical Conditioning 10.1 Classical Conditioning in the Isolated Spinal Cord 10.2 Classical Conditioning of the Eye-blink Response 10.3 Classical Conditioning in Simple Invertebrates: Feeding in Gastropod Molluscs 11 Overview
The chinless mutation and neural crest cell interactions in zebrafish jaw development

During vertebrate development, neural crest cells are thought to pattern many aspects of head organization, including the segmented skeleton and musculature of the jaw and gills. Here we describe mutations at the gene chinless, chn, that disrupt the skeletal fates of neural crest cells in the head of the zebrafish and their interactions with muscle precursors. chn mutants lack neural-crest-derived cartilage and mesoderm-derived muscles in all seven pharyngeal arches. Fate mapping and gene expression studies demonstrate the presence of both undifferentiated cartilage and muscle precursors in mutants. However, chn blocks differentiation directly in neural crest, and not in mesoderm, as revealed by mosaic analyses. Neural crest cells taken from wild-type donor embryos can form cartilage when transplanted into chn mutant hosts and rescue some of the patterning defects of mutant pharyngeal arches. In these cases, cartilage only forms if neural crest is transplanted at least one hour before its migration, suggesting that interactions occur transiently in early jaw precursors. In contrast, transplanted cells in paraxial mesoderm behave according to the host genotype; mutant cells form jaw muscles in a wild-type environment. These results suggest that chn is required for the development of pharyngeal cartilages from cranial neural crest cells and subsequent crest signals that pattern mesodermally derived myocytes.
The Role of Sensory Gating in the Racism/Blood Pressure Relationship A Pilot Study

African Americans bear a disproportionate burden of hypertension with racism postulated as a unique stressor contributing to the noted disparities. Epidemiological studies have found differences in the prevalence of hypertension among African Americans based on the amount of perceived racism reported, and experimental studies have shown increased cardiovascular reactivity to racially-aversive stressors. A difference in individual response to racial stressors may create subgroups of African Americans at highest risk for hypertension and its complications. Although sensory gating is the brain’s capacity to selectively regulate its sensitivity to environmental sensory stimuli, scant research has been done regarding the role of sensory gating in the stress response, and no research has explored sensory gating with racial stressors. To address this gap, we examined whether P50 sensory gating was associated with cardiovascular and central nervous system responses to an experimentally-induced racial stressor amo...
Estimating the spatial extents of geospatial objects using hierarchical models

The goal of this work is to estimate the spatial extents of complex geospatial objects such as high schools and golf courses. Gazetteers are deficient in that they currently specify the spatial extents of these objects using a single latitude/longitude point. We propose a framework that uses readily available high resolution overhead imagery to estimate the boundaries of known object instances in order to update the gazetteers. Key to our approach is a hierarchical object model with three levels. The lowest level characterizes an object using local invariant features; an intermediate, latent level characterizes the land-use/land-cover (LULC) classes that constitute an object; and, the top level models an object as a distribution over these classes. We evaluate our approach using a manually labeled ground truth dataset of four object types: high schools, golf courses, mobile home parks, and Costco shopping centers.
Late systolic indices of ventricular function: noninvasive derivation in congestive heart failure.

Abstract The slopes of end-systolic pressure/end-systolic dimension and volume relations have been found to be relatively load-independent indices of left ventricular contractility. Noninvasive determination of these relationships has been performed in normal subjects and has been found to reflect baseline and drug-induced changes in ventricular contractility. Three late systolic indices of ventricular contractility were noninvasively determined in subjects with chronic congestive heart failure to determine the feasibility of the method and to assess the linearity and slopes of the relationships in this population. All relations were linear with individual correlation coefficients ranging from 0.86 to 0.99. The mean ± SD slope was 42.8 ± 26.4 mm Hg/cm for the end-systolic pressure-dimension relation, 0.59 ± .42 mm Hg/ml for the end-systolic pressure-volume relation, and 48.7 ± 32.2 mm Hg/cm for the peak systolic pressure-end-systolic dimension relation. All slopes were markedly reduced compared to those reported in normal individuals. The relative degree of depression was greater for the pressure-volume slope than for the pressure-dimension slope, which is explained by the relationship between volume and dimension in dilated ventricles. These data indicate that measurement of late systolic indices of ventricular contractility by this noninvasive technique is feasible in subjects with congestive heart failure and yields reduced slopes consistent with the diminished contractile state of this population. Pressure-volume rather than pressure-dimension relations may more accurately reflect inotropic state in dilated ventricles.
How Much can we Reliably Know About what Examinees Know

Rupp and Templin (2008) provide an extensive review of the literature on diagnostic classification models (DCMs). They provide a multidisciplinary audience with a valuable attempt to define and cla...
Effects of propofol sedation on seizures and intracranially recorded epileptiform activity in patients with partial epilepsy.

Background: Case reports suggesting both pro- and anticonvulsant effect(s) of propofol have been published in recent years. The effects of sedative doses of propofol on epileptiform activities in patients suffering from intractable partial epilepsy were systematically investigated. Methods: Fourteen patients suffering from complex partial seizures were studied. Electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded from intracranial electrodes implanted in the hippocampi and temporal neocortex. Propofol was given as a computer-controlled infusion in four steps to achieve target plasma propofol concentrations of 0.3. 0.6, 0.9, and 1.2 μg/ml. Each concentration was maintained for 30 min, and steady-state kinetics were confirmed by blood levels drawn at 10th and 30th min at each level. Between the 15th and 30th min of each concentration of propofol, EEG was analyzed for presence of electroencephalographic seizure activity and/or number of interictal spikes (IIS). Effects of propofol on IIS frequency at different electrode sites were compared using a two-way repeated measures analysis of variance. A value of P<0.05 was considered significant. Results: None of the patients developed a seizure during the 2 h of propofol infusion. No «false spikes» (spikes developing with propofol infusion in areas where no spikes were seen in baseline EEG) were seen. Although effects of propofol on IIS frequency were highly variable across patients and at different propofol doses in the same patient, there was no statistically significant effect of propofol on any electrode site with any of the doses studied. Conclusions: We were unable to demonstrate a significant change in eplleptiform activity with sedative doses of propofol in patients suffering from complex partial epilepsy
Interactions of local climatic, biotic and hydrogeochemical processes facilitate phosphorus dynamics along an Everglades forest-marsh gradient

Abstract. Ecosystem nutrient cycling is often complex because nutrient dynamics within and between systems are mediated by the interaction of biological and geochemical conditions operating at different temporal and spatial scales. Vegetated patches in semiarid and wetland landscapes have been shown to exemplify some of these patterns and processes. We investigated biological and geochemical factors suggested to contribute to phosphorus (P) movement and availability along a forest-marsh gradient in an Everglades tree island. Our study illustrated processes that are consistent with the chemohydrodynamic nutrient (CHNT) hypothesis and the trigger-transfer, pulse-reserve (TTPR) model developed for semiarid systems. Comparison with the TTPR model was constructive as it elaborated several significant patterns and processes of the tree island ecosystem including: (1) concentration of the limiting resource (P) in the source patch (High Head which constitutes the reserve) compared with the resource-poor landscape, (2) soil zone calcite precipitation requiring strong seasonality for evapotranspiration to promote conditions for secondary soil development and calcium phosphate reprecipitation, (3) rewetting of previously dry soils by early wet season precipitation events, and (4) antecedent conditions of the source patch, including landscape position that modulated the effect of the precipitation trigger. Thus, our study showed how water availability drives soil water P dynamics and, potentially, stability of mineral soil P in this tree island ecosystem. In landscapes with extensive water management, these processes can be asynchronous with the seasonality of hydrologic dynamics, tipping the balance between a sink and source of a limiting nutrient.
Climate Change and Soil Degradation Mitigation by Sustainable Management of Soils and Other Natural Resources

Soil, an important component of land, has numerous functions and ecosystem services essential to all terrestrial life. Soil degradation, decline in its capacity to support functions and provide ecosystem services, is caused by accelerated erosion, salinization, elemental imbalance, acidification, depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC), reduction in soil biodiversity, and decline in soil structure and tilth. Desertification, a sub-set of degradation, specifically refers to decline in soil quality and functions in arid climates. Climate change affects and is affected by soil degradation through a positive feed back due to increase in mineralization of SOC pool and the radiative forcing. Desertification may lead to a net increase in temperature despite change in albedo of the denuded surface. Feedbacks and threshold amplify the risks of degradation, and the projected climate change may exacerbate all four types of drought (i.e., meteorological, hydrological, pedagogical, and ecological). The mutually reinforcing positive feedbacks between soil degradation and climate change are strongly influenced by social, economic, political, and cultural factors. There exists a strong link between poverty, desperateness, and societal collapse on soil degradation and climate change. Restoration of degraded and desertified soils, converting marginal agricultural areas to rangeland and forest land, and adoption of recommended management practices have a large technical potential to sequester carbon and off-set anthropogenic emissions, improve the environment, and enhance and sustain agronomic productivity. Important among recommended management practices are using conservation agriculture and mulch farming, establishing cover crops, adopting strategies of integrated nutrient management, and those which create positive C and nutrient budgets and soil/water conservation within a watershed. Long-term research is needed which is hypothesis-driven, uses modern innovative research and modeling tools, is based on community involvement, and provides decision support systems to policy makers and land managers.
Effects of baclofen on colon inflammation-induced Fos, CGRP and SP expression in spinal cord and brainstem.

The present study demonstrates sites of expression for Fos protein in the brainstem and lumbosacral spinal cord of rats subjected to mustard oil irritation of the colon. The protective effect of baclofen, a selective GABA(B) receptor agonist, on the induced Fos protein increases was determined. Mustard oil injected into the lumen of the colon produces an acute site-specific inflammation. Immunocytochemical localization of Fos protein in neuronal nuclei was evident after 1 h, was greatest at 2 h and was still evident but declining at 8 h. In the spinal cord the majority of Fos labeled neurons were localized in the superficial laminae of lumbar (L6) cord with more found in the sacral (S1) cord. Some labeled neurons were also found in the deeper spinal laminae, intermediolateral nucleus and around lamina X. Brainstem sites expressing Fos included the nucleus of the solitary tract in the medulla, parabrachial, locus coeruleus, pontine and caudal dorsal raphe nuclei and periaqueductal gray. Weak Fos protein labeling existed in a few cells in vehicle control animals. Systemic administration of the GABA(B) receptor agonist, baclofen (10 mg/kg, i.p.), significantly reduced Fos expression in the spinal cord after mustard oil treatment but significantly increased the relative number of nuclei labeled in the nucleus of the solitary tract. Baclofen also significantly decreases dorsal horn CGRP immunoreactivity relative to the increased levels seen after inflammation of the colon. The SP content increases observed after inflammation of the colon were not altered by baclofen. These data suggest that: (1) neurons in regions important for nociceptive transmission, descending inhibitory control and autonomic control are activated by noxious stimulation of the colon, and (2) baclofen specifically reduces Fos expression in the superficial dorsal horn of the spinal cord induced by nociceptive afferent input.
Modeling of hydrophilic wafer bonding by molecular dynamics simulations

The role of moisture in hydrophilic wafer bonding was modeled using molecular dynamics computer simulations of interface formation between amorphous silica surfaces. Three different surface treatments were used in order to determine the effect of moisture on the formation of siloxane (Si–O–Si) bridges across the interface at two temperatures. The three surface conditions that were studied were: (a) wet interfaces containing 1 monolayer of water adsorbed at the interface (based on the room temperature bulk density of water), (b) hydroxylated interfaces with concentrations of 3–5 silanols/nm2 on each surface and no excess water molecules initially in the system, and (c) pristine interfaces that had only Si and O and no water or H present. The surfaces were slowly brought together and siloxane bond formation was monitored. In the pristine interfaces, siloxane bridges formed across the interface by the coalescence of various defect species in each surface. A bimodal distribution of siloxane bond angles formed...
The True Absorption Coefficients for the Elements from Gold to Bismuth in the Neighborhood of the L -Absorption Edges

The $L$ x-ray absorption spectra of the metals gold to bismuth were examined with a calcite crystal spectrometer and ionization chamber. Thin films of thallium, lead and bismuth were evaporated onto very thin sheets of mica. The true absorption coefficients $\ensuremath{\tau}({L}_{\mathrm{I}})$, $\ensuremath{\tau}({L}_{\mathrm{II}})$, and $\ensuremath{\tau}({L}_{\mathrm{III}})$ corresponding to the photoelectric absorption by the three types of $L$ electrons were found to vary approximately as ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}^{2.56}$ for each of the five elements gold to bismuth. With this relation the coefficients were computed for a given wave-length. Their ratio $\ensuremath{\tau}({L}_{\mathrm{I}}):\ensuremath{\tau}({L}_{\mathrm{II}}):\ensuremath{\tau}({L}_{\mathrm{III}})$ (which is therefore independent of the wave-length) was found to be constant over the range 0.5 to 1.5A and to have approximately the same value for each of the five elements. The value of the ratio was found to be 19: 32: 49. This ratio also gives the relative numbers of photoelectrons ejected from the three $L$ shells by radiation of a given frequency. Ratios of $\ensuremath{\tau}({L}_{\mathrm{I}})$, $\ensuremath{\tau}({L}_{\mathrm{II}})$ and $\ensuremath{\tau}({L}_{\mathrm{III}})$ which are evaluated at their respective absorption edges ${L}_{\mathrm{I}}$, ${L}_{\mathrm{II}}$ and ${L}_{\mathrm{III}}$ were also determined. This ratio of $\frac{\ensuremath{\tau}({L}_{\mathrm{II}})}{\ensuremath{\tau}({L}_{\mathrm{III}})}$ was found to be approximately 0.45 for each element and is in good agreement with the value predicted by relativistic theory. The ratio $\frac{\ensuremath{\tau}({L}_{\mathrm{I}})}{[\ensuremath{\tau}({L}_{\mathrm{II}})+\ensuremath{\tau}({L}_{\mathrm{III}})]}$ has been found theoretically only by means of a nonrelativistic treatment of absorption. The experimental value, 0.163, is not in good agreement with the predicted value.
Intracellular Calcium Mediated Stiffness of Red Blood Cells Is Reversed By Hypoxic Pre-Incubation With Nitrite Ions

Normal red blood cells (RBCs) need to be highly deformable to pass through microcapillaries in order to deliver oxygen. It has been reported that an intracellular increase of calcium ions in RBCs causes them to undergo oxidative stress. Our earlier studies suggested that in hypoxia, nitrite ions react with deoxyhemoglobin (Hb(II)) to produce stable bioactive NO intermediates and Hb(II)NO that interact with the membrane and can potentially release NO and/or react with membrane protein thiols. We hypothesize that calcium-induced oxidative stress will decrease RBC deformability and thereby increase stiffness of RBCs, which will be inhibited by the production of bioactive NO in the RBCs in hypoxia. In this study we have used a newly available microfluidic ektacytometer to measure RBC-deformability in human blood expressed as the elongation index (EI, normal values 0.31-0.35) at a shear stress of 3Pa. We observed that EI of RBCs decreased to about 50% in 30minutes at 37oC when A23187 ionophore-mediated calcium ions (as low as 0.01mM) enter cells. However, when RBCs are pre-incubated with a 10:1 heme:nitrite molar ratio of nitrite ions in hypoxia prior to ionophore-mediated calcium ion entry, the decrease in EI of RBCs is inhibited. Support for NO bioactivity is provided by the observation of similar results with RBCs pre-incubated with nitroprusside, a NO-donor (at 40μM concentration). This suggests that NO released from nitrite-reacted RBCs in hypoxia blocks intracellular calcium rise-mediated decrease in RBC deformability. Experiments are underway to determine the mechanism of this protective effect of NO.(This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Institute on Aging and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine)
Apparent stimulation of calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha by ATP

The mechanism by which millimolar concentrations of ATP stimulate the activity and increase the processivity of calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha has been investigated with poly(dA)/oligo(dT) as template/primer to eliminate possible effects due to primer synthesis. The effect of ATP on the rate of DNA synthesis with this template/primer was found to be dependent upon whether or not the ATP was neutralized and the species of buffer used in the reaction. The present studies suggest that ATP stimulation of calf thymus DNA polymerase can be attributed to changes in the pH of the reaction mixture, a shift in the magnesium ion optimum, or both. Furthermore, effects of ATP on the processivity of DNA polymerase alpha could be mimicked by lowering the pH of the reaction mixture.
235 SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME (SIDS) AMONG INFANTS OF DRUG DEPENDENT MOTHERS (IDDM)

Sudden unexpected death among IDDM is a major medical problem. Our experience at Hutzel Hospital shows a very high incidence of SIDS among the IDDM (17/1000). A retrospective study of IDDM was performed to determine if any neonatal factors exist which may predispose to sudden unexpected infant death. RESULTS: From 9/74 to 9/77 a total of 637 fullterm IDDM weighing at least 2268 g were delivered. Using the criteria previously reported, the severity of neonatal drug withdrawal was assessed: 89% (564/637) had minor to mild (MM) and 12% (73/637) moderate to severe (MS) withdrawal. Two percent (14/637) were later reported to have died of SIDS. A significantly higher number of infants with MS (6/73) died of SIDS compared to those with MM withdrawal (8/564), x2=9.060, p<0.01. Those who died had no significant medical problems during the neonatal period. All died between 4-16 weeks of age: 57% in Winter, 21% in Summer and 21% in the Fall. CONCLUSION: 1) The frequency of SIDS is higher among IDDM compared to the general population. 2) A significantly higher incidence of infants with MS withdrawal died from SIDS compared to those who had lesser degrees of withdrawal. 3) Since there is a correlation between maternal methadone dose and severity of neonatal withdrawal (J Pediat, April/76), the use of low methadone dosage during pregnancy is strongly recommended.
Cocaine-induced pneumopericardium.

A20-year-old man without past medical history was admitted for diffuse left-sided and retrosternal chest pain after he was “told and forced to swallow crystal rocks.” He denied any prior symptomatology and denied cough. In the emergency department, he had a normal physical examination and laboratory studies. The ECG, however, showed diffuse ST-segment elevations (Figure 1⇓). He was admitted to the Coronary Care Unit. Within 6 hours of admission, he developed a pericardial friction …
Stored Bacillus popilliae spores and their infectivity against Popillia japonica larvae

Abstract Bacillus popilliae spores were stored for about 7 years under three separate conditions: frozen in sterile distilled water, smeared on glass microscope slides, and stored in loam soil at room temperature. In separate experiments, each of the 7-year-old preparations was fed to Popilla japonica larvae at concentrations of 10 3 , 10 5 , 10 7 , and 10 9 spores/g of soil. A significant decrease in the percentage of larvae infected occurred in all of the aged spore tests. B. popilliae spores stored in soil, for the extended period, produced 3% larval infection only at the 10 9 spores concentration; similar results were obtained from frozen spores. When P. japonica larvae were fed spores stored dried on slides, about 20% of the larvae developed milky disease. When aged frozen spores were artificially injected into larvae, 12% became infected at concentrations of 1 × 10 6 spores/larvae; dried spores at the same concentration infected about 38% of the insect larvae. We conclude from these data that aged B. popilliae spores are significantly less infective against P. japonica larvae than young spores.
Effect of Carrier Transport on Wavelength Chirp in Quantum Well Semiconductor Lasers

Carrier transport significantly affects the high-speed dynamics of quantum-well lasers. Adverse transport properties lead to severe low frequency rolloff in the modulation response and also lead to a reduction in the dynamic differential gain of the lasers. The same transport properties also adversely affect the wavelength chirp in these lasers. As in the case of device optimization for high-speed operation, one has to minimize the transport time across the optical and current confinement regions and maximize the escape time out of the quantum-well active region, to minimize wavelength chirp.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Effects of undersampling on the proper interpretation of modulation transfer function, noise power spectra, and noise equivalent quanta of digital imaging systems

The proper understanding of modulation transfer function (MTF), noise power spectra (NPS), and noise equivalent quanta (NEQ) in digital systems is significantly hampered when the systems are undersampled. Undersampling leads to three significant complications: (1) MTF and NPS do not behave as transfer amplitude and variance, respectively, of a single sinusoid, (2) the response of a digital system to a delta function is not spatially invariant and therefore does not fulfill certain technical requirements of classical analysis, and (3) NEQ loses its common meaning as maximum available SNR2 (signal-to-noise) at a particular frequency. These three complications cause the comparisons of MTF and NEQ between undersampled digital systems to depend on the frequency content of the images being evaluated. A tutorial of MTF, NPS, and NEQ concepts for digital systems is presented, along with a complete theoretical treatment of the above-mentioned complications from undersampling.
Homosexual behavior in wild Sumatran orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus abelii)

Wild male Sumatran orangutans at two study sites engaged in homosexual behavior. These observations demonstrate that homosexual behavior is not an artifact of captivity or contact with humans. In separate instances, homosexual behavior was associated with affiliative and agonistic behaviors. These observations add orangutans to the list of primates in which homosexual behavior forms part of the natural repertoire of sexual or sociosexual behavior.
Freezing preservation of the mammalian cardiac explant. VI. Effect of thawing rate on functional recovery.

Abstract This study investigated the effect of thawing rate on the preservation of frozen isolated rat hearts. The hearts were flushed with a hyperosmotic cardioplegic solution, CP-14/EtOH (1.15 Osm/kg), frozen at a rate of 0.18 °C/hr for 6 h to −3.2 °C. Thereafter, the hearts were thawed at rates ranging from 0.08 to 1.1 °C/min for 1 to 14 min until the heart temperature reached −2.1 °C, the melting point (MP) of the flush solution; then they were held at −1 °C for 11 to 24 min so that the total thaw time was 25 min. Post-thaw function was assessed by working reperfusion and expressed as percentage of unstored control function. Cardiac output (CO) and other hemodynamic performance showed biphasic responses to the thaw rate. At 0.08 °C/min rate, CO recovered to 29.1 ± 4.1 ml/min (40.8 ± 5.8% of control). Thawing at 0.13 °C/min enhanced the recovery of CO to 60.5 ± 4.9%. Between 0.13 and 0.34 °C/min, recovery was statistically insignificant. Faster thawing at 0.59 and 1.1 °C/min caused progressively less recovery. Overall, 0.13 °C/min offered the highest recovery. In conclusion, function in slowly frozen heart is intimately affected by the thawing rate; there was an optimal intermediate thawing rate and both too slow and too fast thawing were detrimental.
Destruction of the Kondo effect in a multi-channel Bose Fermi Kondo model

Abstract We consider the SU ( N ) × SU ( κ N ) generalization of the spin-isotropic Bose–Fermi Kondo model in the limit of large N. There are three fixed points corresponding to a multi-channel non-Fermi liquid phase, a local spin-liquid phase, and a Kondo-destroying quantum critical point (QCP). We show that the QCP has strong similarities with its counterpart in the single-channel model, even though the Kondo phase is very different from the latter. We also discuss the evolution of the dynamical scaling properties away from the QCP.
Common Transcriptional Signatures in Brain Tissue from Patients with HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Multiple Sclerosis

HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders (HAND) is a common manifestation of HIV infection that afflicts about 50 % of HIV-positive individuals. As people with access to antiretroviral treatments live longer, HAND can be found in increasing segments of populations at risk for other chronic, neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). If brain diseases of diverse etiologies utilize similar biological pathways in the brain, they may coexist in a patient and possibly exacerbate neuropathogenesis and morbidity. To test this proposition, we conducted comparative meta-analysis of selected publicly available microarray datasets from brain tissues of patients with HAND, AD, and MS. In pair-wise and three-way analyses, we found a large number of dysregulated genes and biological processes common to either HAND and AD or HAND and MS, or to all three diseases. The common characteristic of all three diseases was up-regulation of broadly ranging immune responses in the brain. In addition, HAND and AD share down-modulation of processes involved, among others, in synaptic transmission and cell-cell signaling while HAND and MS share defective processes of neurogenesis and calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase activity. Our approach could provide insight into the identification of common disease mechanisms and better intervention strategies for complex neurocognitive disorders. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11481-012-9409-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Nonvanishing Modulo p of Hecke L-Values

We return to the setting of Sect. 6.4; thus, \(M = \mathbb{Q}[\sqrt{-D}] \subset \overline{\mathbb{Q}}\) with discriminant − D is an imaginary quadratic field in which the fixed prime (p) splits into a product of two primes \(\mathfrak{p}\overline{\mathfrak{p}}\) with \(\mathfrak{p}\neq \overline{\mathfrak{p}}\).
Ensuring an equal playing field for antigen receptor loci variable regions

![Figure][1] Insight from Cornelis Murre During the developmental progression of lymphoid progenitors, antigen receptor loci are assembled from variable (V), diversity (D), and joining (J) gene segments. In precursor B cells, the immunoglobulin heavy chain ( Igh ) locus undergoes ordered
Cannabis: Finally a therapeutic agent?

Cannabis has been used as a treatment, as well as a treat, for centuries. During the nineteenth century a lively interest in exploiting the therapeutic potential of cannabis continued. Among the conditions for which cannabis was reported to be effective were tetanus, convulsive disorders, neuralgia, migraine, dysmenorrhea, obstetrical labor, uterine hemorrhage, rheumatism, asthma, chronic bronchitis, postpartum psychoses, senile insomnia, depression, gonorrhea and opium or chloral hydrate addiction, as well as its use to stimulate appetite and to allay the pain and anxiety of patients terminally ill with cancer [1,2]. The introduction of many new synthetic drugs during the twentieth century decreased the enthusiasm for cannabis as a treatment. In the early 1940s advances were made in the chemistry of cannabis that defined the major active component as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It also was possible to make semisynthetic compounds such as synhexyl, that had THC-like activity. These developments spurred a renewed interest in the therapeutic potential of cannabis constituents. A number of clinical trials, usually employing the synthetic homolog, synhexyl, were undertaken in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Despite some early enthusiasm for its efficacy as an antidepressant or treatment for alcohol or opiate withdrawal, subsequent studies were negative [ 3,4] . The determinaton in 1964 of the actual structure of THC in cannabis as A-9-trans-THC and its subsequent synthesis made available to scientists a large supply of this and other constituents of cannabis, From 1968 to the present time, cannabis has been one of the most diligently studied of all drugs. These modern studies have once again included potential therapeutic uses, some of which were hinted at early on, others of which have been discovered somewhat empirically [ 51. A number of pharmaceutical houses have active programs in operation to develop homologs of cannabinoids as therapeutic agents. Several hundred such homologs have already been