cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Detection of Salmonella spp. in retail meat products: a comparison between a discontinued commercial kit and a laboratory‐developed screening method

The National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System for Enteric Bacteria retail food surveillance programme screens retail meat samples for the presence of Salmonella spp. to track antimicrobial resistance in food. In this study, a laboratory developed real-time PCR assay that detects Salmonella spp. was evaluated as a screening method to replace the discountinued 3M TECRA kit. The 3M TECRA kit was a commercially available, visual immunoassay used to screen food samples for the presence of Salmonella spp. This kit was discontinued in September 2016 by the manufacturer and an alternative screening method was needed to replace the discontinued TECRA kit. Salmonella spp. is detected by the real-time PCR assay earlier in the screening process than by the TECRA kit. Salmonella spp. can also be reliably isolated from the enrichment broth earlier in the protocol. Additionally, cost analysis shows that the real-time PCR assay saves $2·50 per sample. New York State Department of Health currently uses this real-time PCR assay as a screening method for the presence of Salmonella spp. in retail meat samples. The assay allows for continued monitoring of antimicrobial resistance in Salmonella spp., while providing a cost savings and a decrease in turnaround time. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System for Enteric Bacteria (NARMS) tracks antimicrobial susceptibility of enteric bacteria in people, food and animals (https://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/safetyhealth/antimicrobialresistance/nationalantimicrobialresistancemonitoringsystem/). The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) became a NARMS retail food surveillance (RFS) site in 2003. The NARMS-RFS programme screens retail meat samples from grocery stores in the United States for the presence of Salmonella spp. and other enteric pathogens to monitor the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among these pathogens. The NYSDOH developed a rapid and cost-effective real-PCR assay to screen for Salmonella spp. in retail meat products.
Central Nervous System Infection in Neurosurgical Critical Care

Postoperative central nervous system (CNS) infection is a potential life-threatening complication of neurosurgery. Due to its high morbidity, postoperative CNS infections represent significant economic burden associated with prolonged hospitalizations or readmissions for long-term antibiotic treatment or repeat surgery. Postoperative CNS infections can be categorized as superficial surgical site infections, meningitis, subdural empyema, cerebral or spinal abscesses, or catheter-related infections. Evidence of postoperative CNS infections in neurosurgical patients requires immediate recognition and aggressive, multidisciplinary intervention that includes neurointensive care, neurosurgery, and infectious disease specialists. Finally, increasing use of endovascular neurointerventional therapies should prompt careful observation for the risk of CNS infection associated with these procedures, considering the present absence of data in this area.
A plain approach for center manifold reduction of nonlinear systems with external periodic excitations

We present a relatively plain, direct and intuitive methodology that accomplishes model order reduction on the invariant center manifold of large-dimensional nonlinear systems subjected to external...
Methods to study mechanisms underlying altered hepatic drug elimination during pregnancy.

Abstract Hepatic drug metabolism is a major route of drug elimination, mediated by multiple drug-metabolizing enzymes. Any changes in the rate and extent of hepatic drug metabolism can lead to altered drug efficacy or toxicity. Accumulating clinical evidence indicates that pregnancy is accompanied by changes in hepatic drug metabolism. In this article, we discuss in vitro and in vivo tools used to study the mechanisms underlying the altered drug metabolism during pregnancy, focusing on primary hepatocyte culture, transgenic animal models, and use of probe drugs to assess change in enzymatic activity. The information obtained from these studies has enabled prediction of clinical PK changes for a given drug in pregnant women.
The impact of immunotherapy on the survival of pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients who received definitive surgery of the pancreatic tumor: a retrospective analysis of the National Cancer Database.

Immunotherapy has paved the way for new therapeutic opportunities in cancer but has failed to show any efficacy in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and its therapeutic role remains unclear. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy, RT, and chemoradiation on the overall survival (OS) of PDAC patients who received definitive surgery of the tumor using the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Patients with PDAC who received definitive surgery of the pancreatic tumor and were diagnosed between 2004 and 2016 from the NCDB were identified. Cox proportional hazard analysis was used to assess the survival difference between patients who received chemotherapy plus immunotherapy and chemoradiation therapy plus immunotherapy and their counterparts who only receive these treatments without immunotherapy. The multivariable analysis was adjusted for age of diagnosis, race, sex, place of living, income, education, treatment facility type, insurance status, year of diagnosis, and treatment types such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy. In total, 63,154 PDAC patients who received definitive surgery of the tumor were included in the analysis. Among the 63,154 patients, 636 (1.01%) received immunotherapy. Among patients who received chemotherapy (21,355), and chemoradiation (21,875), 157/21,355 (0.74%) received chemotherapy plus immunotherapy, and 451/21,875 (2.06%) received chemoradiation plus immunotherapy. Patients who received chemoradiation plus immunotherapy had significantly improved median OS compared to patients who only received chemoradiation with an absolute median OS benefit of 5.7 [29.31 vs. 23.66, p < 0.0001] months. In the multivariable analysis, patients who received immunotherapy had significantly improved OS compared to patients who did not receive immunotherapy (HR: 0.900; CI: 0.814–0.995; P < 0.039). Patients who received chemoradiation plus immunotherapy had significantly improved OS compared to their counterparts who only received chemoradiation without immunotherapy (HR: 0.852 CI: 0.757–0.958; P < 0.008). In this study, the addition of immunotherapy to chemoradiation therapy was associated with significantly improved OS in PDAC patients who received definitive surgery. The study warrants further future clinical trials of immunotherapy in PDAC.
Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy

This entry reviews the mission and history of the Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy in New York City. This entry also profiles previous Institute leaders and their contributions.
Vitamin D and Vitamin K Concentrations in Human Brain Tissue Are Influenced by Freezer Storage Time: The Memory and Aging Project.

Background Vitamins D and K, which are present in human brain, may have a role in neurodegenerative disease. Objectives Given the interest in measuring nutrient concentrations in archived brain samples, it is important to evaluate whether freezer storage time affects these concentrations. Therefore, we evaluated differences in vitamin D and vitamin K concentrations in human brain samples stored for various lengths of time. Methods Postmortem brain samples were obtained from 499 participants in the Rush Memory and Aging Project (mean age 92 y, 72% female). Concentrations of vitamins D and K and their metabolites were measured in 4 regions (midtemporal cortex, midfrontal cortex, cerebellum, anterior watershed white matter) using LC-MS/MS and HPLC, respectively. The predominant forms were 25-hydroxycholecalciferol [25(OH)D3] and menaquinone-4 (MK4). ANOVA was used to determine if concentrations differed according to storage time. Results The geometric mean of the mean 25(OH)D3 concentration (across 4 regions) in brains stored for 1.1 to 6.0 y did not differ from that in brains stored ≤1.0 y (all P ≥ 0.37), whereas 25(OH)D3 in brains stored >6.0 y was 31-40% lower (P ≤ 0.003). MK4 had similar results, with the geometric mean MK4 concentration in the brains stored ≥9.0 y being 48-52% lower than those in brains stored ≤1.0 y (P ≤ 0.012). The 25(OH)D3 and MK4 concentrations were positively correlated across all 4 regions (all Spearman ρ ≥ 0.79, P Conclusions 25(OH)D3 and MK4 appear to be stable in brain tissue from older adults stored at -80°C for up to 6 and 9 y, respectively, but not longer. Freezer storage time should be considered in the design and interpretation of studies using archived brain tissue.
PSVII-38 Program Chair Poster Pick: Late-Breaking Abstract: A Rapid Consumer Survey Capturing the Perceptions of Beef Marketing Before and During COVID-19

In today’s marketplace, consumers have a plethora of options when it comes to purchasing beef, whether that be conventional, all-natural, organic, or any other feed based labeling They also have the freedom to make that purchasing decision based on the brand, packaging, and price just to name a few However, the supply of beef that is on the shelves for consumers changed since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak This poster reveals that no significant differences were recorded with purchasing decisions nor marketing decisions;however, data was analyzed for themes that are present during this pandemic The purpose of this study is to find out how the purchasing behaviors of consumers have changed since the COVID-19 outbreak in terms of beef Are specialty labels less important? Does brand loyalty still matter? In order to evaluate this, we asked consumers several questions to better understand current behaviors and trends for the marketing of beef products The poster will provide the coded data and summaries of the total population of 54 participants
Asynchronizing with the Framework: Reflections on the process of creating an asynchronous library assignment for a first-year writing class

As many of yours surely have, my institution, the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC), moved at great speed to adapt to the need for online instruction this fall. This has proved a challenge for library instruction, to put it mildly. Our library instruction has almost exclusively been in-person, on-site, and live, and the switch to online and hybrid course delivery has made all of those aspects difficult, especially when it comes to courses offered asynchronously, where students engage with course content at different points in time within a given timeframe.
Exploring a Structural Basis for Delayed Rod-Mediated Dark Adaptation in Age-Related Macular Degeneration Via Deep Learning.

Purpose Delayed rod-mediated dark adaptation (RMDA) is a functional biomarker for incipient age-related macular degeneration (AMD). We used anatomically restricted spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) imaging data to localize de novo imaging features associated with and to test hypotheses about delayed RMDA. Methods Rod intercept time (RIT) was measured in participants with and without AMD at 5 degrees from the fovea, and macular SD-OCT images were obtained. A deep learning model was trained with anatomically restricted information using a single representative B-scan through the fovea of each eye. Mean-occlusion masking was utilized to isolate the relevant imaging features. Results The model identified hyporeflective outer retinal bands on macular SD-OCT associated with delayed RMDA. The validation mean standard error (MSE) registered to the foveal B-scan localized the lowest error to 0.5 mm temporal to the fovea center, within an overall low-error region across the rod-free zone and adjoining parafovea. Mean absolute error (MAE) on the test set was 4.71 minutes (8.8% of the dynamic range). Conclusions We report a novel framework for imaging biomarker discovery using deep learning and demonstrate its ability to identify and localize a previously undescribed biomarker in retinal imaging. The hyporeflective outer retinal bands in central macula on SD-OCT demonstrate a structural basis for dysfunctional rod vision that correlates to published histopathologic findings. Translational relevance This agnostic approach to anatomic biomarker discovery strengthens the rationale for RMDA as an outcome measure in early AMD clinical trials, and also expands the utility of deep learning beyond automated diagnosis to fundamental discovery.
Generalization of the Heuristic Drift SOL model for finite collisionality and effect on flow shearing rate vs. interchange growth rate

Abstract We generalize the low-gas-puff Heuristic Drift (HD) model of the power scrape-off layer width to take into account both the enhanced parallel confinement time in the SOL at high collisionality, due to enhanced thermal resistivity, and the increase of the upstream temperature at very low collisionality, due to finite target temperature. We find a wide range of separatrix densities over which the original HD model is applicable. However, at the region of high separatrix density and collisionality accessible with strong gas puffs the SOL widens, in reasonable agreement with experimental data from ASDEX-Upgrade and JET. We further find that for typical low-gas-puff H-mode conditions, the projected E × B flow shearing rate in the SOL dominates over the interchange growth rate, while at the high separatrix densities at which H-Modes return to L-Mode, the interchange growth rate approximately equals the shearing rate. The result is related to that of Halpern and Ricci with respect to the steep gradient region of the SOL of inner-wall-limiter discharges, which also show HD-like scale lengths. It is also consistent with calculations of shear-flow stabilization of interchange modes by Zhang and Krasheninnikov. Taking ω s > γ int as the criterion for retaining H-Mode performance, we use the generalized HD (GHD) model to predict the scaling for the H → L back transition. The power requirements to sustain H-Mode for existing machines and for ITER are in the range of a factor of 2 below the predictions for the L → H transition, consistent with the limited available studies of H-Mode hysteresis. We find reasonable agreement with the scaling of the density at the H → L back transition found by Bernert on ASDEX-Upgrade. Finally, we speculate that the shearing rate in the SOL of H-Mode plasmas contributes to the reduced core turbulence that supports the formation of the H-Mode pedestal and comment on the implications for ITER.
Fine Scale Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Outbreak Within the Lower Florida Keys

One of the latest threats to Florida’s Coral Reef is the stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) outbreak which affects all but a few Caribbean scleractinian species and has spread throughout the Caribbean since 2014. Without a known pathogen, ecological studies of disease dynamics are essential for understanding SCTLD susceptibility at the individual colony and reef level. We investigated the epizootiology of the SCTLD outbreak in the lower Florida Keys at two spatial scales (among reefs ~ 1 km and within reefs < 10 m) over a 19 month period. In May 2018, three sites absent of SCTLD were established to characterize coral demographics (i.e. live tissue cover, colony diameter) along an offshore to nearshore gradient, and were subsequently surveyed for disease every two-three weeks until December 2019. SCTLD was first noted within the offshore and midchannel reef sites in early October 2018 and later appeared at the nearshore site in early February 2019. SCTLD was negatively correlated with thermal stress, showing reduced progression and incidence rates after 2 – 3 weeks of water temperatures above the mean monthly maximum temperature for the region (i.e., 2 – 3 degree heating weeks). Although Pseudodiploria strigosa, Dichocoenia stokesii, Colpophyllia natans, and Diploria labyrinthiformis were the most susceptible species at our sites, areas with more Montastraea cavernosa and Orbicella faveolata colonies had higher prevalence and greater tissue loss associated with disease. The disease was more severe within quadrats with high species diversity, high coral cover, and disproportionately affected larger colonies. Our spatial analyses suggest that 1) SCTLD followed a contagious disease model within small (< 10 m) spatial scales, 2) colonies within 2-3 m of a diseased coral were at higher risk for subsequently showing disease signs compared with those farther away, and 3) high incidence rates coincided with the loss of small scale (<10 m radius) spatial clustering, suggesting pulses of contagious spread on large spatial scales.
Disparities in general education inclusion for students of color with disabilities: Understanding when and why

Abstract Research on disproportionality in special education has largely overlooked how students of color with disabilities are less likely to spend time in general education classrooms than White peers with disabilities. Although disparities in general education inclusion for students of color with disabilities raise larger concerns about educational inequality within schools, when these gaps begin to emerge and what factors may explain them remain less understood due to methodological challenges. In leveraging individual-level administrative data from a large school district over a 10-year period, this longitudinal study found general education inclusion declines for all students as they age. However, Black students with disabilities experienced the least inclusion, whereas Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students with disabilities were included in the general education classroom more than Latinx and White peers with disabilities; this disparity was largely associated with academic test score differences and disability type.
Medical Equipment: Leasing vs. Buying

Medical equipment acquisition can be a complicated process. Deciding whether to buy or lease equipment is not as easy as deciding to buy or rent a house. Your gut instinct may not be the best way to decide either. Many of us prefer to own things—house, car, land, clothes, etc. so taking the time to carefully consider the right decision in purchasing versus renting equipment for medical practice causes one to pause. It is important to consider how quickly the technology might change and how long you plan to keep the piece of equipment. The availability of credit may be one of the biggest drivers in this decision but there are other downstream effects that also play a role. You need to make sure there is customer demand for the piece of equipment you intend to buy or lease and that there will be sufficient patient volume to profitably justify the acquisition (http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/medical-economics/news/how-calculate-return-investment-when-buying-or-leasing-equipment). How to write a good business plan, including a financial analysis with key components such as return on investment will be described in this chapter to help you make this decision along with advantages and disadvantages of leasing versus buying equipment.
Macroeconomic Effects of EU Transfers in New Member States

Large inflows from the European Union to the New Member States are likely to significantly impact macroeconomic outcomes. In this paper, we use the IMF's Global Integrated Monetary and Fiscal model (GIMF) to analyze the impact of the transfers and show the conditions under which they would help speed up convergence. We find that the EU funds need to be directed predominantly to investment rather than to income support and that to best accompany the EU fund inflows, the policy-mix would need to combine counter-cyclical policy with a strong commitment to the existing monetary regime.
Annular Versus Subvalvular Approaches to Acute Ischemic Mitral Regurgitation

Background Ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) has been attributed to annular dilatation, papillary muscle (PM) displacement (“apical leaflet tenting”), or both. We compared the efficacy of reducing annular or subvalvular dimensions to gain more mechanistic insight into acute IMR. Methods Eight adult sheep underwent implantation of radiopaque markers on the LV, mitral annulus (MA), each leaflet edge, and each pm tip. Trans-annular septal-lateral (SL) and inter-pm tip sutures were placed and externalized. Biplane videofluoroscopy and transesophageal echocardiography were performed before and continuously during LCx occlusion-induced IMR with SL annular (SLAC) or inter-pm (PAPS) suture tightening (4 to 5 mm of cinching for 5 seconds during ischemia). MA SL dimension, inter-papillary distance (APM-PPM), and the distances between the anterior (APM) and posterior (PPM) pm tips and the mid-septal annulus (“saddle horn”) were calculated from 3-D marker coordinates at end-systole. Results SLAC reduced IMR (grade=2.1±0.6 versus 0.7±0.5, P .001), SL annular diameter (4.9±2.5 mm smaller versus pre-cinching; P .001), and pm-“saddle horn” distances (0.9±0.7 and 1.0±0.8 mm reduction for APM and PPM, respectively; P .005). PAPS reduced APM-PPM distance (3.7±1.8 mm reduction versus precinching; P .001), only slightly decreased the PPM-“saddle horn” distance (0.3±0.3 mm reduction; P .03), and had no effect on IMR. Conclusions Acute IMR was abolished by annular SL reduction, which also repositioned both pm tips closer to the mid-septal annulus and paradoxically increased leaflet “apical tenting”; reducing inter-papillary dimension was not effective, even though it displaced the leaflets toward the annular plane (less “apical tenting”).
Approximate clustering without the approximation

Approximation algorithms for clustering points in metric spaces is a flourishing area of research, with much research effort spent on getting a better understanding of the approximation guarantees possible for many objective functions such as k-median, k-means, and min-sum clustering.This quest for better approximation algorithms is further fueled by the implicit hope that these better approximations also yield more accurate clusterings. E.g., for many problems such as clustering proteins by function, or clustering images by subject, there is some unknown correct "target" clustering and the implicit hope is that approximately optimizing these objective functions will in fact produce a clustering that is close pointwise to the truth.In this paper, we show that if we make this implicit assumption explicit---that is, if we assume that any c-approximation to the given clustering objective φ is e-close to the target---then we can produce clusterings that are O(e)-close to the target, even for values c for which obtaining a c-approximation is NP-hard. In particular, for k-median and k-means objectives, we show that we can achieve this guarantee for any constant c > 1, and for the min-sum objective we can do this for any constant c > 2.Our results also highlight a surprising conceptual difference between assuming that the optimal solution to, say, the k-median objective is e-close to the target, and assuming that any approximately optimal solution is e-close to the target, even for approximation factor say c = 1.01. In the former case, the problem of finding a solution that is O(e)-close to the target remains computationally hard, and yet for the latter we have an efficient algorithm.
Studies on vaccinia virus plaque formation and its inhibition by interferon: I. Dynamics of plaque formation by vaccinia virus

Abstract Plaques of vaccinia virus in chick embryo cell monolayers without agar emerged into visibility according to a normal sigmoid curve. The distribution of plaque diameters could be approximated by a normal Gaussian curve, with a variable proportion of plaques hidden below the threshold of visibility (infraplaques). Between 32 and 48 hours, and possibly up to 57 hours after inoculation, all plaque diameters increased linearly with time at the same rate. The total plaque area increased between 32 and 48 hours at an almost exponential rate. Strains of vaccinia virus differ in the rate of appearance of primary and secondary plaques.
Piromen therapy in asthma; functional and clinical studies.

Abstract 1.1. Twenty-six patients receiving weekly subfebrile intravenous injections of Piromen for a period of eight weeks were observed during that time and for eight weeks subsequently. 2.2. The symptoms, physical findings, and respiratory function studies showed no significant changes. 3.3. It is doubtful that Piromen in subfebrile doses has any value in the treatment of asthma.
Indirect load control for electricity market risk management via risk-limiting dynamic contracts

A new indirect load control approach is developed for managing financial risks in electricity markets. These risks are generated by price volatility and demand uncertainty regarding distributed renewable generation as negative load. The proposed method is based on risk-limiting dynamic contracts between a load-serving entity and its customers. The contract framework allows the load-serving entity to incentivize the customers to control their loads in a way that is beneficial to itself, while ensuring the risk transferred to each customer be less than or equal to a pre-specified threshold. The difficulty arises due to the fact that the load-serving entity has very limited information: it has no capability of monitoring the states and controls of the customers' loads. The proposed contract approach resolves this difficulty by providing an appropriate compensation to each customer such that the customer has no incentive to hide his or her private information. The risk-limiting capability is achieved by explicitly taking into account the variance of each customer's payoff. We propose a dynamic programming-based approach to design such a contract. By using locational marginal price data from the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas as well as data on the electric energy consumption of customers in Austin, Texas, we estimate models necessary for designing the proposed contract and demonstrate the performance of the indirect load control program.
Naturalness Vs. Arbitrariness in the Domain of Color

The visual perception and linguistic categorization of color are related topics which have received extensive and long-term attention from a number of disciplines. Linguists, philosophers, psychologists, anthropologists, and physical and biological scientists have been, in various ways, preoccupied with color -- usually as an example of some more general type of relationship among experience, cognition, and linguistic or cultural behavior.
Senile Systemic Amyloidosis in the Early Stage

Background: The prevention of heart failure (HF) exacerbation, in other words, the prevention of readmission due to HF, is a primary factor in the treatment of chronic HF. Multidisciplinary HF management programs are now considered a standard to deliver effective HF care in Japan. Methods: A multidisciplinary management team was established in our hospital in 2009, consisting of health professionals from different sections (cardiologists, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, inpatient/outpatient nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists, nutritionists and social workers). Since then, we have had a lunch-time conference on 2 patients before discharge for 30 minutes every 2 weeks. Luncheon seminars have been held before the conference for providing necessary knowledge. We edit and distribute an information leaflet to HF patients and their families on admission and treat the infusion therapy at outpatient clinic in catecholamine-dependent end-stage HF. Here, we conducted a survey of coordination between each section and changes in treatment and knowledge of HF in the team staff. Results: The results showed better coordination between each section, well-acquired knowledge and changes in consciousness about HF in the team staff, which led to the prevention of readmission in some cases. Conclusion: Multidisciplinary HF management was smoothly promoted; we could get favorable results in 2 years. We are going to present our achievements and expand our activities into other treatment.
Bicuculline blocks circadian phase delays but not advances

Phase delays of hamster locomotor rhythms, which normally can be produced by light pulses given in the early subjective night, were blocked by bicuculline, a selective antagonist of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) activity17. Phase advances induced by light pulses given in the late subjective night were unaffected by bicuculline. This suggests that GABA may be involved in the mediation of some, but not all, light input to the mammalian circadian system. Furthermore, it raises the possibility that light input may be mediated at different circadian time points by functionally separate pathways.
17α and 17β-oxidoreductases of adult female hamster liver and kidney

Abstract The liver and kidney cytosols of adult female hamsters converted androstenedione to epitestosterone and testosterone and small quantities of 5β-androstanes. The kidney and liver cytosols were more effective in the production of epitestosterone with NADH than NADPH as coenzyme. The coenzymes had a reverse effect in the production of testosterone. Maximum production of epitestosterone occurred at pH 6.0 then gradually decreased with increase to pH 7.5. Testosterone production did not show a decrease until about pH 7.5. Liver homogenate stimulated the production of primarily highly polar metabolites. NADPH was more effective than NADH. This activity was localized in the microsomal fraction. Liver homogenate and microsomes also produced testosterone, epitestosterone and androstane-3α, 17β-diol. NADH was more effective than NADPH in the production of testosterone and epitestosterone but the reverse occurred in the production of 5β-androstane-3α,17β-diol. NADPH also effected the production of a small quantity of 3α-hydroxy-5β-androstan-17-one by both the homogenate and microsomes. The cytosol of the kidney converted testosterone only to traces of 5β-androstanes while the liver cytosol yielded appreciable quantities of 5β-androstane-3α,17β-diol and smaller quantities of the 3β-diol; NADPH was more effective than NADH. The NADPH system also produced androstenedione. Both the liver and kidney also exhibited strong 17β-hydroxy dehydrogenase activity. The activity in the cytosol of both tissues was stronger with NAD + than NADP + while it was much stronger with NAD + in the liver microsomes and with NADP + in the kidney microsomes. Spectrophotometric assay of the liver cytosol with NADP + revealed not only 17β-hydroxy dehydrogenase activity but also almost equal 17α-hydroxy and very high 3α-hydroxy dehydrogenase activity. The pH optimum for the 17β- and 17α-hydroxy activities was essentially the same, about 9.8, while that for the 3α-hydroxy activity was slightly higher, 10.5.
A role for transcriptional repressors in targeting the yeast Swi/Snf complex.

Abstract Genetic and biochemical studies indicate that the evolutionarily conserved Swi/Snf complex acts at a subset of genes to help transcriptional activators function on chromatin templates. The mechanism by which this complex is targeted to specific chromosomal loci remains unknown. We show that Swi/Snf is required for expression of the yeast histone HTA1–HTB1 locus because of the role of Hir1p and Hir2p corepressors in negatively regulating transcription. Snf5p, Snf2p/Swi2p, and Swi3p, three components of the yeast Swi/Snf complex, coimmunoprecipitate with each Hir protein, and Snf5p is maximally associated with the HTA1–HTB1 promoter when the Hir-based repression system is intact and the Swi/Snf complex is functional. The data support a role for the Hir repressors in the gene-specific targeting of Swi/Snf.
Immunohistochemical localization of phosphodiesterase 10A in multiple mammalian species.

Phosphodiesterases (PDEs) comprise a family of enzymes that regulate the levels of cyclic nucleotides, key second messengers that mediate a diverse array of functions. PDE2A is an evolutionarily conserved cGMP-stimulated cAMP and cGMP PDE. In the present study, the regional and cellular distribution of PDE2A in tissues of rats, mice, cynomolgus monkeys, dogs, and humans was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. A polyclonal antibody directed to the C-terminal portion of PDE2A specifically detected PDE2A by Western blotting and by immunohistochemistry. The pattern of PDE2A immunoreactivity (ir) was consistent across all species. Western blot analysis demonstrated that PDE2A was most abundant in the brain relative to peripheral tissues. PDE2A ir was heterogeneously distributed within brain and was selectively expressed in particular peripheral tissues. In the brain, prominent immunoreactivity was apparent in components of the limbic system, including the isocortex, hippocampus, amygdala, habenula, basal ganglia, and interpeduncular nucleus. Cytoplasmic PDE2A staining was prominent in several peripheral tissues, including the adrenal zona glomerulosa, neurons of enteric ganglia, endothelial cells in all organs, lymphocytes of spleen and lymph nodes, and pituitary. These studies suggest that PDE2A is evolutionarily conserved across mammalian species and support the hypothesis that the enzyme plays a fundamental role in signal transduction. (J Histochem Cytochem 57:933–949, 2009)
A Detailed NMR-Based Model for CO on Pt Catalysts in an Electrochemical Environment: Shifts, Relaxation, Back-Bonding, and the Fermi-Level Local Density of States

13C NMR shift and spin−lattice relaxation measurements have been used to investigate 13CO (ex MeOH) on fuel cell grade Pt electrodes (having average particle diameters of 2, 2.5, and 8.8 nm) in an electrochemical environment from 80 to 293 K at 8.47 and 14.1 T. The temperature dependence of the 13C spin−lattice relaxation rate, 1/T1, shows a Korringa relationship which is independent of magnetic field, for all three samples. However, the peak positions and the corresponding T1T values depend on particle size, with those of the 8.8 nm sample approaching values found for unsupported polycrystalline platinum black in an electrochemical environment (J. B. Day et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1996, 118, 13046−13050). The 13C T1 is single exponential, independent of particle size and temperature, in contrast to previous results obtained on oxide-supported Pt−CO systems in a “dry” environment, in which relaxation was nonexponential at low temperatures, but exponential at high temperatures, suggesting strongly a quantum...
A Schur-Horn-Kostant convexity theorem for the diffeomorphism group of the annulus

The group of area preserving diffeomorphisms of the annulus acts on its Lie algebra, the globally Hamiltonian vectorfields on the annulus. We consider a certain Hilbert space completion of this group (thinking of it as a group of unitary operators induced by the diffeomorphisms), and prove that the projection of an adjoint orbit onto a “Cartan” subalgebra isomorphic toL2 ([0, 1]) is an infinite-dimensional, weakly compact, convex set, whose extreme points coincide with the orbit, through a certain function, of the “permutation” semigroup of measure preserving transformations of [0, 1].
Recent Scientific Contributions to Understanding HIV/AIDS from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study

The Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) includes the following: Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health: Alfred J. Saah, Principal Investigator; Homayoon Farzadegan, Neil Graham, Joseph Margolick, Justin McArthur. Chicago: Howard Brown Memorial Clinic-Northwestern University Medical School: John P. Phair, Principal Investigator, Joan S. Chmiel, Bruce Cohen, Steven M. Wolinsky. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles-Schools of Public Health and Medicine and the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center: Roger Detels, Principal Investigator; Barbara R. Visscher, John L. Fahey, Jan Dudley, Janis V. Giorgi, David T. Imagawa, Otoniel Martinez-Maza, Jeremy Taylor. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health: Charles R. Rinaldo, Jr., Principal Investigator; Lawrence Kingsley, Phalguni Gupta, James Becker, Monto Ho. Data Coordinating Center: The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health: Alvaro Munoz, Principal Investigator; Noya Galai, Donald Hoover, Lisa P. Jacobson, Curtis Meinert, Sol Su, Steve Piantadosi. NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: Lewis Schrager, Project Officer, Richard A. Kaslow, Sten Vermund, Mark J. VanRaden; National Cancer Institute: Iris Obrams, Daniela Seminara
Canonical coordinates for partial differential equations

Necessary and sufficient conditions are found under which operators of the form Sigma(m, j=1) X(2)sub j + X sub 0 can be made constant coefficient. In addition, necessary and sufficient conditions are derived which classify those linear partial differential operators that can be moved to the Kolmogorov type.
Baseline Susceptibility and Development of Resistance to Pyriproxyfen in Bemisia argentifolii (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) in Arizona

Pyriproxyfen (Knack) was registered in Arizona cotton, as the crucial component of a resistance management plan, to control whitefly Bemisia argentifolii (Bellows & Perring) in 1996. A statewide monitoring program was implemented at the same time to detect and monitor whitefly resistance to this novel insecticide. Bioassays involving dipping of leaves infested with whitefly eggs showed that all Arizona whiteflies tested were highly susceptible to pyriproxyfen in 1996. The LC50 estimates were in the range of 0.0020–0.0067 μg (AI)/ml. Two diagnostic pyriproxyfen concentrations, 0.01 and 0.1 μg (AI)/ml, were established for efficient identification of resistant whiteflies. No resistance to pyriproxyfen was detected in whiteflies in statewide surveys conducted in 1997 and 1998. Mean mortality at 0.01 μg (AI)/ml dropped significantly, and survivors were detected for the first time at 0.1 μg (AI)/ml in 1999, the fourth year of use of pyriproxyfen in Arizona cotton. Among the five cotton locations monitored each year since 1996, four of them had whiteflies with significantly reduced susceptibility to pyriproxyfen in 1999. Similarly, reduced susceptibility to pyriproxyfen was detected in whiteflies collected from fall melons and greenhouses in 1999. Although there have been no reports of field failures of pyriproxyfen in Arizona cotton, the reduced susceptibility of whiteflies from statewide survey in 1999 was significant. The results may indicate the development of an early stage of resistance to pyriproxyfen, and the findings should serve as early warning and substantiation of the high resistance risk of pyriproxyfen.
Effect of desialylation of human chorionic gonadotropin on its metabolic clearance rate in humans.

Abstract We determined the MCR and other kinetic parameters of desialylated hCG (as-hCG) in eight subjects (four men and four women), aged 20-47, using a single injection of 1 mg of a highly purified preparation. The plasma disappearance curve was fitted to a single exponential equation, with a halftime of disappearance of 3.56 ± 0.62 min (mean ± SD) and an initial volume of distribution of 1790 ± 582 ml/m2. The mean MCR of as-hCG was 349 ± 96 ml/min · m2. The mean transit time of as-hCG was 373 times shorter than that of hCG. The rapid plasma disappearance of as-hCG could not be accounted for by renal clearance into urine, since less than 0.05% of the as-hCG injected was excreted in the urine, nor could it be explained by degradation by plasma proteases, since as-hCG was not appreciably degraded during incubation in human serum at 37 C for 3 h. These data show that desialylation markedly accelerates the MCR of hCG in the human in spite of reduced renal excretion and, therefore, indicate the presence of a...
Analysis of line structure in handwritten documents using the Hough transform

In the analysis of handwriting in documents a central task is that of determining line structure of the text, e.g., number of text lines, location of their starting and end-points, line-width, etc. While simple methods can handle ideal images, real world documents have complexities such as overlapping line structure, variable line spacing, line skew, document skew, noisy or degraded images etc. This paper explores the application of the Hough transform method to handwritten documents with the goal of automatically determining global document line structure in a top-down manner which can then be used in conjunction with a bottom-up method such as connected component analysis. The performance is significantly better than other top-down methods, such as the projection profile method. In addition, we evaluate the performance of skew analysis by the Hough transform on handwritten documents.
9p21 DNA variants associated with coronary artery disease impair interferon-γ signalling response

Genome-wide association studies have identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 9p21 gene desert associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) and type 2 diabetes. Despite evidence for a role of the associated interval in neighbouring gene regulation, the biological underpinnings of these genetic associations with CAD or type 2 diabetes have not yet been explained. Here we identify 33 enhancers in 9p21; the interval is the second densest gene desert for predicted enhancers and six times denser than the whole genome (P < 6.55 × 10(-33)). The CAD risk alleles of SNPs rs10811656 and rs10757278 are located in one of these enhancers and disrupt a binding site for STAT1. Lymphoblastoid cell lines homozygous for the CAD risk haplotype show no binding of STAT1, and in lymphoblastoid cell lines homozygous for the CAD non-risk haplotype, binding of STAT1 inhibits CDKN2BAS (also known as CDKN2B-AS1) expression, which is reversed by short interfering RNA knockdown of STAT1. Using a new, open-ended approach to detect long-distance interactions, we find that in human vascular endothelial cells the enhancer interval containing the CAD locus physically interacts with the CDKN2A/B locus, the MTAP gene and an interval downstream of IFNA21. In human vascular endothelial cells, interferon-γ activation strongly affects the structure of the chromatin and the transcriptional regulation in the 9p21 locus, including STAT1-binding, long-range enhancer interactions and altered expression of neighbouring genes. Our findings establish a link between CAD genetic susceptibility and the response to inflammatory signalling in a vascular cell type and thus demonstrate the utility of genome-wide association study findings in directing studies to novel genomic loci and biological processes important for disease aetiology.
GPFS-SNC: an enterprise storage framework for virtual-machine clouds

In a typical cloud computing environment, the users are provided with storage and compute capacity in the form of virtual machines. The underlying infrastructure for these services typically comprises large distributed clusters of commodity machines and direct-attached storage in concert with a server virtualization layer. The focus of this paper is on an enterprise storage framework that supports the timely and resource-efficient deployment of virtual machines in such a cloud environment. The proposed framework makes use of innovations in the General Parallel File System-Shared Nothing Clusters (GPFS®-SNC) file system, supports optimal allocation of resources to virtual machines in a hypervisor-agnostic fashion, achieves low latency when provisioning for new virtual machines, and adapts to the input-output needs of each virtual-machine instance in order to achieve high performance for all types of applications.
EARLY ASSESSMENT OF DESIGN, PACKAGING AND TECHNOLOGY TRADEOFFS

This paper discusses the early design analysis of large computer systems and presents techniques and models for evaluating the matching between a proposed machine design and an MCM packaging technology. It shows that an early design specification, coupled with a prediction tool, can provide valuable insight into limitations and specific design problem areas, which often only becomes apparent much later in the product cycle. A detailed discussion of the tradeoff between machine performance and package specifications is given along with the details of an interactive early analysis methodology. Detailed models are presented for the early analysis of transmission line constraints, chip placement and coupled noise.
Statistical model for electromigration failure at aluminum contacts and terminals

The statistical model for electromigration failure in stripes developed by Attardo, Rutledge, and Jack has been extended to cover the cases of terminals and contacts to silicon. By the use of computer simulation techniques, a model was developed that relates the time-to-failure and the distribution of failures to the magnitude of the structural divergence occurring at the diffusion barrier. The model is then used to predict the dependence of contact or terminal reliability on grain size distribution, device geometry, and current crowding. In particular, the model predicts the previously unknown fact that for a constant grain size, a large standard deviation of the grain size at the contacts will retard electromigration and that the current density distribution at the contact does not affect mean time-to-failure.
On the measurement and classification of colour in studies of animal colour patterns

In studies of animal colouration it is no longer necessary to rely on subjective assessments of colour and conspicuousness, nor on methods which rely upon human vision. This is important because animals vary greatly in colour vision and colour is context-dependent. New methods make it practical to measure the colour spectrum of pattern elements (patches) of animals and their visual backgrounds for the conditions under which patch spectra reach the conspecific's, predator's or prey's eyes. These methods can be used in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats. A patch's colour is dependent not only upon its reflectance spectrum, but also upon the ambient light spectrum, the transmission properties of air or water, and the veiling light spectrum. These factors change with time of day, weather, season and microhabitat, so colours must be measured under the conditions prevalent when colour patterns are normally used. Methods of measuring, classifying and comparing colours are presented, as well as techniques for assessing the conspicuousness of colour patterns as a whole. Some implications of the effect of environmental light and vision are also discussed.
Dynamic lightpath networking via overlay control of static optical connections

To bridge the gap between the current practice of setting up expensive, dedicated, lightpath connections (i.e., static topologies), and the distant future vision of inexpensive access to dynamically switched end-to-end lightpaths, we propose a medium term solution in the form of edge-reconfigurable optical networks (ERONs).
Nylon-3 Polymers That Enable Selective Culture of Endothelial Cells

Substrates that selectively encourage the growth of specific cell types are valuable for the engineering of complex tissues. Some cell-selective peptides have been identified from extracellular matrix proteins; these peptides have proven useful for biomaterials-based approaches to tissue repair or regeneration. However, there are very few examples of synthetic materials that display selectivity in supporting cell growth. We describe nylon-3 polymers that support in vitro culture of endothelial cells but do not support the culture of smooth muscle cells or fibroblasts. These materials may be promising for vascular biomaterials applications.
Singular points of algebraic curves

Given an irreducible algebraic curve f(x,y)=0 of degree n>=3 with rational coefficients,we describe algorithms for determinig whether the curve is singular, and if so, isolating its singular points, computing their multiplicities, and counting the number of distinct tangents at each. The algorithms require only rational arithmetic operations on the coefficients of f(x,y)=0, and avoid the need for more abstract symbolic representations of the singular point coordinates.