cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Selective regulation of autophagy by the Iml1-Npr2-Npr3 complex in the absence of nitrogen starvation.

Autophagy can be induced in response to more subtle changes in nutritional state, without severe nitrogen starvation. The Iml1p-Npr2p-Npr3p complex selectively regulates this form of autophagy.
Synergistic factor of a granulosis virus of the armyworm, Pseudaletia unipuncta: Its uptake and enhancement of virus infection in vitro

Abstract A synergistic factor (SF) enhanced the infection of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV) in vitro. When the AcNPV was inoculated together with the SF to a Spodoptera frugiperda cell line, the enhancement of AcNPV increased dose-responsively to the SF. Enhancement, however, did not require the coinoculation of AcNPV and SF since it occurred in the pretreatment of the cells with the SF alone and even after a 24-hr interval of SF pretreatment. There was a difference in the activity of the SF on the AcNPV propagated in a cell culture system during various periods of virus propagation. When the SF was treated with phospholipase C, the enhancement of AcNPV infection did not occur in vitro and confirmed our previous study in vivo. The cells appeared to phagocytize the SF and the uptake occurred rapidly (within 1 min), but there was no uptake when the SF was treated with phospholipase C. These results indicate that the SF is a binding molecule in which the phospholipid component is essential for its phagocytosis and enhancement of baculovirus infection. The SF appears to have two different binding sites, one for the cell plasma membrane and the other for the enveloped virion.
Absorption studies and minimum detectable concentration of ethylene by using a room-temperature HgCdTe detector

The usefulness of a room-temperature HgCdTe detector in a simple air pollution detection system with a CO2 laser has been investigated. The results show that the detector responsivity is flat in the frequency range 200–400 Hz and the minimum detectable concentration of ethylene is ∼2 parts in 106-meter (ppm-m). The estimated sensitivity is comparable with the values obtained by using liquid-nitrogen-cooled HgCdTe detectors.
Health and Community-Based Service Use Differences between Elderly African Americans and Whites

Responses from personal interviews with a random sample of 2,178 adults aged 60 years and older living in their homes in eastern North Carolina were used to examine the effects of predisposing, enabling, and need indicators on differences in the use of health and community-based services separately for African American and White elders. Health services include primary care visits and visits to specialists. Community-based services were categorized into personal care services and financial assistance. Logistic regression analyses were done in an attempt to explain why African American elders are more likely than are Whites to use both kinds of community-based services, are less likely than are Whites to use specialty care, and whether there are differences by race in the use of primary care physicians. Results indicate that the odds of using financial assistance and medical care vary by race according to selected predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics. There is little difference by race, however,...
Emotion-related abilities and depressive symptoms in Latina mothers and their children

This study examined the abilities of 40 Latina mothers and their 6- to 11-year-old children (20 girls, 20 boys) to recognize and produce emotion expressions and how these abilities differed as a function of maternal depressive symptoms. The results indicated that depressively symptomatic mothers were less accurate at recognizing basic emotions (e.g., happy, sad, etc.) and some mixed emotions (e.g., scared/ok combinations) than nonsymptomatic mothers, but there were no group differences for emotion production. In contrast, children of symptomatic mothers posed fewer recognizable sad expressions than their peers. Error pattern analyses also revealed that children of symptomatic mothers were more likely to mistakenly recognize happiness and to avoid posing sadness (across all basic emotions). Children's ability to pose emotions was related to their mothers' emotion production, and this was not moderated by maternal depressive symptoms. The discussion focuses on the possible interpersonal consequences of these biases and deficits in the emotion-related abilities of symptomatic mothers and their children and on the need to conduct research on the familial and cultural processes that might underlie these findings.
Toward developing models to study the disease, ecology, and evolution of the eye in Mollusca*

Several invertebrate systems have been developed to study various aspects of the eye and eye disease including Drosophila, Planaria, Platynereis, and most recently, the cubozoan jellyfish Tripedalia; however, molluscs, the second largest metazoan phylum, so far have been underrepresented in eye research. This is surprising as mollusc systems offer opportunities to study visual processes that may be altered by disease, vision physiology, development of the visual system, behavior, and evolution. Malacologists have labored for over a century as morphologists, systematists, physiologists, and ecologists in order to understand the structural and functional diversity in molluscs at all levels of biological organization. Yet, malacologists have had little opportunity to interact with researchers whose interests are restricted to the biology and development of eyes as model systems as they tend not to publish in the same journals or attend the same meetings. In an effort to highlight the advantages of molluscan eyes as a model system and encourage greater collaboration among researchers, I provide an overview of molluscan eye research from these two perspectives: eye researchers whose interests involve the development, physiology, and disease of the eye and malacologists who study the complete organism in its natural environment. I discuss the developmental and genetic information available for molluscan eyes and the need to place this work in an evolutionary perspective. Finally, I discuss how synergy between these two groups will advance eye research, broaden research in both fields, and aid in developing new molluscan models for eye research.
Binary Optimization Techniques for Linear PDE-governed Material Design

The design of materials is currently a fertile research domain. However, most of the material designs described in the literature arise from physical intuition, and often assume infinite periodicity. There is a need for a design methodology capable of computing patterns and designs involving two different materials where the underlying design variables correspond to a finite set of pixels in a 2-dimensional mesh, and where the goal is a design with prescribed material properties. This naturally leads to the consideration of binary optimization models in contrast to classical (continuous) gradient-based methods, which generically provide continuous solutions that then need to be “rounded” to binary values. While the potential drawback of binary optimization is that its computational complexity is usually NP-hard, and hence theoretically unattractive, we show herein that binary optimization combined with a reduced basis approach can relatively efficiently produce good solutions to material design problems of interest.
Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition in Human Skin Wound Healing Is Induced by Tumor Necrosis Factor-α through Bone Morphogenic Protein-2

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), characterized by loss of epithelial adhesion and gain of mesenchymal features, is an important mechanism to empower epithelial cells into the motility that occurs during embryonic development and recurs in cancer and fibrosis. Whether and how EMT occurs in wound healing and fibrosis in human skin remains unknown. In this study we found that migrating epithelial cells in wound margins and deep epithelial ridges had gained mesenchymal features such as vimentin and FSP1 expression. In hypertrophic scars, EMT-related genes were elevated along with inflammatory cytokines, indicating a causal relationship. To reconstitute EMT in vitro, normal human skin and primary keratinocytes were exposed to cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), resulting in expression of vimentin, FSP1, and matrix metalloproteinases. Moreover, TNF-α–induced EMT was impaired by antagonists against bone morphogen proteins (BMP) 2/4, suggesting that BMP mediates the TNF-α–induced EMT in human skin. Indeed, TNF-α could induce BMP-2 and its receptor (BMPR1A) in human skin and primary keratinocytes, and BMP2 could induce EMT features in skin explants and primary keratinocytes. In summary, we uncovered EMT features in both acute and fibrotic cutaneous wound healing of human skin. Moreover, we propose that the mesenchymal induction in wound healing is motivated by TNF-α, in part, through induction of BMP.
ARTEMIS: a research testbed for collaborative health care informatics

Patient centred healthcare delivery is an inherently collaborative and information-intensive process. It involves a wide range of individuals and organizations with different roles. The key to cost reduction and quality improvement in health care is effective management of this collaborative process. The Concurrent Engineering Research Center (CERC) developed a number of key technologies to enable collaborative processes. These technologies, integrated into an open collaborative environment, is currently being customized to create a research testbed, ARTEMIS, that addresses all aspects of patient-care life-cycle. ARTEMIS will equip each provider with his own personal assistant-a customized role-oriented workstation connected to his own information world through an information bus. With ARTEMIS, the users will be able to process multimedia patient-care information: look-up, compute, communicate, archive and collaborate. >
Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase C2α Links Clathrin to Microtubule-dependent Movement

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase C2α (PI3K-C2α) is a type II PI-3-kinase that has been implicated in several important membrane transport and signaling processes. We previously found that overexpression of PI3K-C2α inhibits clathrin-mediated membrane trafficking and induces proliferation of novel clathrin-coated structures within the cytoplasm. Using fluorescently tagged fusions of PI3K-C2α and clathrin, we explored the behavior of these structures in intact cells. Both proteins are present in the structures, and using rapid image acquisition and fluorescence photoactivation probes, we find that they exhibit localized, rapid mobility (5–20 μm/s). The movement is micro-tubule-based as revealed by use of inhibitors, and PI3K-C2α accumulates on microtubules rapidly and reversibly following cytoplasmic acidification, which also blocks movement. Dynactin mediates the movement of these clathrin-PI3K-C2α structures, since disruption of dynactin function by overexpression of its p50 subunit also inhibits movement. Finally, immunoprecipitation experiments reveal an interaction between endogenous PI3K-C2α and dynactin subunits. Together, these results reveal a molecular linkage between PI3K-C2α and the microtubule motor machinery, with implications for membrane trafficking in intact cells.
Thermodynamic properties of bloch electrons in a magnetic field

Abstract The free energy and zero field magnetic susceptibility for electrons in a potential, periodic along the uniform magnetic field, are obtained exactly. The de Haas-van Alphen effect is discussed for a simple band structure and is shown to be consistent with the semiclassical theory. The magnetic susceptibility is proportional to the density of states as for free electrons. The relevance of the model to experiment is discussed briefly.
Layered plasmonic tripods: an infrared frequency selective surface nanofilter

This paper investigates the concept of multilayered tripod frequency selective surfaces in infrared (IR). A full wave analysis based on the finite-difference time-domain technique is applied to comprehensively characterize the structure and obtain the performance for both normal and oblique waves (for TE and TM polarizations). The layered tripod structure can be envisioned as a mean to realize cascaded LC circuit configurations achieving desired filter performance. A wide stop band IR nanofilter which is almost independent of incident wave angle and polarization is demonstrated.
A comparative study of power-based health assessment models

In the industrial energy monitoring domain, several platforms are offered to acquire real-time power data and monitor energy consumption at tool, component, machine and system levels. The motivations of employing such platforms are majorly cost-effective purposes or environmental issues. This paper proposes and applies a power-based approach with non-intrusive sensing technique to evaluating machine health status. Data of effective power and reactive power are acquired synchronously and segmented based on machine cycles. Exhaustive feature extraction and reduction is conducted to reduce the dimension of the datasets. Two health assessment models are then used to model baseline behavior from the training set and measure the distance between training and testing set to provide health status information of the testing set with respective distance metrics. The models are applied in two case studies on two machines in the same manufacturing line.
Comb-p

Summary:comb-p is a command-line tool and a python library that manipulates BED files of possibly irregularly spaced P-values and (1) calculates auto-correlation, (2) combines adjacent P-values, (3) performs false discovery adjustment, (4) finds regions of enrichment (i.e. series of adjacent low P-values) and (5) assigns significance to those regions. In addition, tools are provided for visualization and assessment. We provide validation and example uses on bisulfite-seq with P-values from Fisher’s exact test, tiled methylation probes using a linear model and Dam-ID for chromatin binding using moderated t-statistics. Because the library accepts input in a simple, standardized format and is unaffected by the origin of the P-values, it can be used for a wide variety of applications. Availability:comb-p is maintained under the BSD license. The documentation and implementation are available at https://github.com/brentp/combined-pvalues. Contact: bpederse@gmail.com
Phosphatidylserine-dependent phagocytosis of apoptotic glioma cells by normal human microglia, astrocytes, and glioma cells

Apoptotic cells display signals that trigger phagocytic removal by macrophages or neighboring cells. To better understand the signals triggering phagocytosis of apoptotic glioma cells, and to identify the cells that might be involved in the phagocytic process, U-251 MG glioma cells were made apoptotic by etoposide (25 microg/ml) treatment and were incubated with normal human astrocytes (NHA), glioma cells, or microglia. Extent of phagocytosis was assessed by an in vitro phagocytosis assay. After 3 h of incubation with apoptotic cells, phagocytes tested were washed to remove nonengulfed cells, then fixed, stained, and counted to determine phagocytosis index (PI). NHA, glioma cells, and microglia all phagocytosed apoptotic, but not nonapoptotic, glioma cells. Microglia, however, had a PI approximately 4-fold higher than did either NHA or glioma cells. Binding of phosphatidylserine (PS) on apoptotic glioma cell membranes by annexin-V inhibited phagocytosis by 90% in both microglia and NHA. The activity of an enzyme (scramblase) that moves PS from the inner cell membrane to the outer cell membrane was also increased in apoptotic glioma cells. These results suggest that a variety of cells present in and near gliomas in vivo can remove glioma cells in a PS-dependent scramblase-mediated fashion. Manipulation of scramblase and/or PS exposure in glioma cells may therefore be a means of triggering phagocytic removal of glioma cells.
Altered Urinary Kallikrein Excretion in Rats with Hypertension

The urinary excretion of kallikrein, an enzyme which cleaves a vasodilator kinin from kininogen substrate, was examined in three types of hypertensive rats. Enzyme activity was measured by both esterase activity (isotopic assay) and bioassay with purified rat urinary kallikrein as a standard. Excretion of kallikrein was found to increase with age in spontaneously hypertensive rats, but levels were lower and stable in normotensive Wistar control animals. Rats with desoxycorticosterone-salt hypertension excreted markedly more, whereas rats with renal hypertension excreted significantly less kallikrein than did control animals. The alterations in kallikrein excretion were unrelated to changes in urine volume and protein excretion. The findings indicate that the kallikrein-kinin system may be involved in different forms of hypertension in the rat.
Modeling sensory representations in brain: new methods for studying functional architecture reveal unique spatial patterns

We review experimental methods used to study cortex functional architecture, including the optical imaging technique. Information gained from studies of stimulus evoked brain activity will aid our understanding of sensory coding and information processing in central nervous systems and should be incorporated into biologically plausible models of cortical function. >
Mid-infrared Electroluminescence from Surface Plasmon Coupled InAs Quantum Dots

The mid-infrared spontaneous emission from intersubband energy transitions in self-assembled InAs quantum dots is demonstrated with plasmonic top contact output couplers. Electrically pumped devices having subwavelength meshes designed to exhibit extraordinary optical transmission from 9 – 12 μm are measured and compared to a reference device with an open area contact. From additional patterning on the top contact, the signal-to-noise ratio was 4 times greater than the reference device. Beyond simply filtering the emission spectra of the quantum dot material, an emission null is observed which we link to the dots being in the near field region of the plasmonic coupler.
Distributed LiDAR data processing in a high-memory cloud-computing environment

This article explores the use of an advanced, high-memory cloud-computing environment to process large-scale topographic light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data. The new processing techniques presented herein for LiDAR point clouds intelligently filter and triangulate a data set to produce an accurate digital elevation model. Ample amounts of random-access memory (RAM) allow the employment of efficient hashing techniques for spatial data management; such techniques were utilized to reduce data distribution overhead and local search time during data reduction. Triangulation of the reduced, distributed data set was performed using a local streaming approach to optimize processor utilization. Computational experiments used Amazon Web Services Elastic Compute Cloud resources. Analysis was performed to determine (1) the accuracy of the binning/array-based reduction, as measured by root mean square error and (2) the scalability of the approach on varying-size clusters of high-memory instances (nodes having 244...
Program disparities in unmatched internship applicants

Predoctoral internship represents an important capstone in the training of clinical and counseling psychologists. However, in the past decade there has been growing concern over the number of applicants to internship who have not been matched to an internship site. We investigated the scope of the internship match problem by assessing program-level contributions to the number of unmatched internship applicants. Results from analysis of the 2000–2006 internship match report indicated that 15 programs (less than 4% of the total number of programs under analysis) contributed over 30% of the unmatched applicants for that same time period. Suggestions are made for implementing new policies aimed at limiting future internship site supply–demand disparities and ensuring quality internship placements.
Ethnic differences in relations between family process and child internalizing problems

Background: Family process variables have been linked to child problem behavior, but recent research suggests that child ethnicity may moderate relations between family process and child outcomes. The current study examined how ethnicity moderates relations between parent conflict, parent‐child relationship quality, and internalizing problems. Methods: A sample of 101 mother‐child dyads was drawn from a larger longitudinal study of childhood-onset depression. Maternal reports of family process factors were used with child reports of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Results: The results indicated a moderating effect of ethnicity for multiple indicators of internalizing symptoms, such that child-rearing disagreement and low levels of mother‐child openness were associated with internalizing problems only for European American (not African American) children. Conclusions: Findings suggest that ethnicity moderates the effects of family process factors on child psychopathology. Ethnic differences may be accounted for by the normativeness of family processes and the meaning that children of different ethnic backgrounds assign to these processes. Keywords: Ethnicity, family factors, anxiety, depression. Abbreviations: EA: European American; AA: African American; IPC: interparental conflict; CRD: child-rearing disagreements.
A mutant of human immunodeficiency virus with reduced RNA packaging and abnormal particle morphology.

Abstract A deletion of 30 bases was created in the noncoding region of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 genome that extends between the 5' splice donor and the start of the gag gene. Viral particles produced after transfection of this mutant provirus had a normal protein pattern but a reduced RNA content. The infectivity of the mutant virus was also markedly reduced but not completely abolished. Electron-microscopic examination of the mutant virions revealed major abnormalities of the nucleoid structure, mostly related to the dense material characteristic of mature particles, suggesting that the presence of RNA is essential to the normal structure of the nucleoid.
Internalizing Disorders in Childhood

In this selective review of recent research on internalizing disorders in childhood, we focus on four areas: the predictive validity of the diagnoses of depressive and anxiety disorders, rates of comorbidity, the chronology of onsets of the disorders of interest, and transmission of depressive and anxiety disorders in the pedigrees of affected individuals. To synthesize and reconcile findings in these four areas, we approach the information from a developmental perspective and assume that genetically driven biologic processes play a salient role in the expression of depressive and anxiety disorders in childhood. We also comment on the relevance of findings on children and adolescents to the field of depressive and anxiety disorders in adults and make recommendations for further research.
Americans’ Conflicting Views About The Public Health System, And How To Shore Up Support

This analysis of national opinion polls shows that a majority of Americans support increased spending on public health in general and that they see public health interventions as saving money in the long term. At the same time, many do not favor increased federal spending in a number of areas that public health officials deem important. In addition, polls show striking partisan differences, with Republicans much less supportive than Democrats of additional spending on public health. This split may have political implications for the public health component of the new health reform law if there is a change in party control of one or more houses of Congress after the November 2010 elections. As a result, in order to sustain public support for increased spending, it will be critically important to give examples of cost savings from public health programs and to highlight how they have reduced mortality from major chronic illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease, and HIV/AIDS.
Applied anatomy of the upper extremity

Anatomy is the single most important factor in making peripheral nerve blocks successful, regardless of the technique (ie, nerve stimulator or ultrasound). We present here a review of those aspects of upper extremity anatomy that we consider relevant for safe and successful performance of nerve blocks.
Caregiver and youth agreement regarding youths' trauma histories: Implications for youths' functioning after exposure to trauma

Epidemiological research has demonstrated that youth are exposed to potentially traumatic events at high rates. Caregivers play an important role in youths' successful recovery following exposures to potentially traumatic events. However, past research has documented poor caregiver-youth agreement regarding youths' exposures to potentially trau- matic events, indicating a potential lack of support for many youth exposed to such events. This study examined caregiver- youth discrepancies in the reports of youths' lifetime expo- sures to potentially traumatic events, and the relationship between these reporting discrepancies and youths' post-trau- matic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, mood symptoms, and functional impairment following disclosures of sexual abuse. Participants included 114 caregiver-youth dyads par- ticipating in a family-based intervention at four Child Advo- cacy Centers in New York City. Standardized measures of trauma history, youth PTSD symptoms, youth mood symp- toms, youth functional impairment, and caregiver PTSD symptoms were given in interview format to caregivers and youth at the time of intake into the intervention. The demo- graphic composition of the youth sample was 86.8 % female, 13.2 % male, 32.5 % African American, 54.4 % Latino/a, 2.6 % Caucasian, 0.9 % Asian American, 8.8 % other race/ ethnicity. Youth ranged in age from 7 to 16. Results demon- strated poor agreement between youth and caregivers regarding youths' exposure to a range of potentially traumatic events and regarding youths' PTSD symptoms, mood symptoms and functional impairment. Both caregiver- youth discrepancies regarding youths' histories of exposures to potentially traumatic events and caregiver PTSD symptoms were significantly associated with youths' self-reported symptoms and functional impairment. Only caregiver PTSD symptoms were related to caregivers' reports of youths' symptoms and functional impairment. Findings underscore the importance of family support and communication regarding exposures to potentially traumatic events and the detrimental associations of caregiver-youth disagreement about youths' exposures to potentially traumatic events. Recommendations are provided for the assessment and treatment of families presenting in the aftermath of trau- matic exposures.
Evaluating probabilistic queries over imprecise data

Many applications employ sensors for monitoring entities such as temperature and wind speed. A centralized database tracks these entities to enable query processing. Due to continuous changes in these values and limited resources (e.g., network bandwidth and battery power), it is often infeasible to store the exact values at all times. A similar situation exists for moving object environments that track the constantly changing locations of objects. In this environment, it is possible for database queries to produce incorrect or invalid results based upon old data. However, if the degree of error (or uncertainty) between the actual value and the database value is controlled, one can place more confidence in the answers to queries. More generally, query answers can be augmented with probabilistic estimates of the validity of the answers. In this paper we study probabilistic query evaluation based upon uncertain data. A classification of queries is made based upon the nature of the result set. For each class, we develop algorithms for computing probabilistic answers. We address the important issue of measuring the quality of the answers to these queries, and provide algorithms for efficiently pulling data from relevant sensors or moving objects in order to improve the quality of the executing queries. Extensive experiments are performed to examine the effectiveness of several data update policies.
Insuring Your Property

Typically, an individual’s most important possessions are their home and automobile. Now that you have learned how to insure your life, health, and earning power, you want to be sure that your home(s) and automobile(s) are protected against significant financial loss as well.
A Molecular Analysis of the Shared Epitope Hypothesis: Binding of Arthritogenic Peptides to DRB1*04 Alleles.

Objective The shared epitope hypothesis posits that amino acids QR/KRAA in positions 70–74 of the DRΒ1 chain are responsible for rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility. However, even DRB1*04 alleles containing the shared epitope vary greatly with respect to degrees of susceptibility. This study was undertaken to conduct a molecular examination of the shared epitope hypothesis by measuring binding of arthritogenic peptides to susceptibility and resistance alleles. Methods We measured binding of native and citrullinated forms of vimentin66–78 and α-enolase11–25 and noncitrullinated type II collagen258–272 to 88 class II alleles on Luminex beads (which includes alleles of many varying degrees of susceptibility and resistance). We expressed DRΒ1*04:01, *04:02, and *08:01 in T2 cells and mutated DRΒ1*04:01 at positions 67, 70, 71, 74, and 86 to corresponding residues in DRB1*04:02, *04:03, *04:04, *04:05, and *08:01. Finally, we measured responses of 4 DRΒ1*04:01 restricted collagen258–272 T cell hybridomas against wild-type DRΒ1*04:01, *04:02, and all mutated alleles. Results The most susceptible allele, DRΒ1*04:01, preferentially bound citrullinated vimentin66–78 and citrullinated α-enolase11–25 over the native forms. DRΒ1*04:02 exhibited no preference for citrullinated peptides, and *08:01 preferred native peptides. Similarly, DRB1*04:01 bound collagen258–272, but *04:02 and *08:01 did not. Mutating DRΒ1*04:01 at positions 70, 71, 74, and 86 to the corresponding residues in DRΒ1*04:02 or *08:01 dramatically reduced the specificity for citrullinated peptides and collagen258–272 binding. Conclusion These observations demonstrate that while amino acids at positions 70, 71, and 74 within the shared epitope in DRΒ1 mediate binding and T cell responses of arthritogenic peptides, position 86 outside the shared epitope also plays a critical role.
Novel Applications of Urethane/Urea Chemistry in the Field of Biomaterials

Abstract Polyurethanes have been widely used as biomaterials since the 1960s due to their wide range of tunable physical, chemical, mechanical, biological, and medical properties. They have been used in building various applications including pacemaker lead insulation, artificial veins and arteries, catheters, and coatings for silicone breast implants. Polyurethanes comprise a family of materials with urethane linkages along the large molecular chains. Broadly, urethane/urea chemistry refers to the reactions between isocyanates/nonisocyanates and alcohols/amines that form urethane and urea bonds. Here, we will introduce different citrate-based urethane-doped elastomers developed in our lab and their applications in biomedical engineering. In addition, we will introduce waterborne polyurethane biomaterials, describe nonisocyanate urethane/urea reactions, and review nontraditional applications of isocyanate-based and nonisocyanate urethane/urea chemistry in polymer synthesis, polymer surface functionalization, polymer cross-linking, and bioconjugation.
Latin America’s New Crisis of Democracy

Why have some countries in Latin America experienced democratic crises while others enjoyed stability? Recent scholarship suggests a number of explanations for Latin America’s ongoing instability, including economic decline, lack of development, poverty, inequality, social fragmentation, a crisis of political representation, and weaknesses in the rule of law. To assess these competing hypotheses, I conduct a qualitative comparative analysis of democratic crises in Latin America from 1990-2007. My research lends support to the argument that political-institutional conditions, specifically the nature of the political party system and the rule of law, have a determinate impact in explaining regime stability in contemporary Latin America. To promote democratic stability, the international community should therefore develop effective strategies to strengthen countries’ legislative and judicial institutions.
Effects of Shear on the Structures in a System of Small Rodlike Micelles

The authors have used small angle neutron scattering (SANS) to study solutions of cetyltrimethylammonium 2,6-dichlorobenzoate (2,6) at rest and as a function of shear. These solutions are Newtonian, and up to a concentration of at least 100 mM contain spherical micelles. Comparison with viscoelastic solutions of the closely related, and much studied, cetyltrimethylammonium 3,5-dichlorobenzoate (3,5) is made. While spheres are not expected to align under shear, a shear induced sphere to rod transition has been postulated for this system. In the results presented here, no shear induced sphere to rod transition was observed even at the highest accessible shear rate. Addition of sufficient supporting electrolyte (up to 1M NaCl) does cause such a transition in the quiescent solution. Hoffmann et al. have seen what they refer to as the formation of a shear induced structure (SIS or type 2 micelles) on similar systems where short rods form in the absence of supporting electrolyte. Shearing of the salted system produces rapid though not spectacular alignment, with no evidence of a SIS forming.
The Low Temperature Phases of 3He

In the temperature range between 1 mK and 3 mK and in magnetic fields between 0 T and 1 T, there are four distinct phases of liquid 3 He and three distinct phases of solid 3 He. The liquid becomes a triplet superfluid and the solid becomes a nuclear antiferromagnet. Despite the great differences which exist between a superfluid and an antiferromagnet, there are remarkable similarities between phase diagrams of the two systems.
Sa1224 Nonbloody Diarrhea but Not Significant Weight Loss at Diagnosis Is Associated With the Development of de novo Crohn's Disease After Ileal Pouch-Anal Anastomosis (IPAA) for Ulcerative Colitis

Background Denovo Crohn's disease (CD) develops in 5% to 10% of patients after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) for ulcerative colitis (UC) leading to increased morbidity and rates of pouch failure. Initial nonbloody diarrhea and weight loss at diagnosis are independent risk factors for a change in diagnosis from UC to CD in nonsurgical patients. We investigated whether these features were risk factors for denovo CD in a longitudinal cohort of patients with UC undergoing IPAA. Methods Prospective profiles of patients with UC undergoing IPAA followed over a 22-year period by 1 surgeon were analyzed. Denovo CD was diagnosed when mucosal inflammation (5 or more ulcers) involved the small bowel mucosa proximal to the ileal pouch any time after surgery and/or when a pouch fistula or other perianal complication developed more than 3 months after ileostomy closure. Patients with inflammatory bowel disease unclassified, acute pouchitis, chronic pouchitis, and those lost to follow-up were excluded from analysis. Cox regression analysis was performed for statistical significance. Results Of the 199 study patients included in the analysis, denovo CD developed in 42 patients (21%). Patients who developed denovo CD had an increased incidence of nonbloody diarrhea (n = 12; 29%) compared with patients who had no evidence of pouch inflammation (n = 25; 16%) (P = 0.03). In contrast, the incidence of weight loss was not significantly increased in patients with denovo CD (n = 7; 17%) compared with patients who never had pouch inflammation (n = 16; 10%) (P = 0.12). Conclusions Initial nonbloody diarrhea is associated with denovo CD after IPAA. This association warrants close consideration before surgery.
Identifying and Developing Inventive Talent in the Republic of Korea

In the 21st century, the need to develop creative potential through education is more critical than ever. Invention-gifted education is one approach that can both foster creativity and develop inventive talent. Invention-gifted education in the Republic of Korea is distinctive in its systematic approach to talent identification and talent development across the elementary and middle grades. The author of this article, who taught in a Korean invention-gifted program, describes a typical Korean approach to invention education. A curriculum framework for invention-gifted education and ways to identify students for special invention-gifted education services are described. The value of gifted-invention education for society and individuals is discussed. Finally, some limitations and potential problematic aspects related to the implementation of invention-gifted education are considered.
Live Like a King, Y’all: Gender Negotiation and the Performance of Masculinity among Southern Drag Kings

This paper draws upon interviews with 27 drag kings in the South to examine why individuals perform drag, the range of performance experiences, and how drag kinging challenges dichotomous ideas abo...
Iroquois homeobox transcription factor (Irx5) promotes G1/S-phase transition in vascular smooth muscle cells by CDK2-dependent activation.

The Iroquois homeobox (Irx5) gene is essential in embryonic development and cardiac electrophysiology. Although recent studies have reported that IRX5 protein is involved in regulation of the cell ...
Inhibition of nitric oxide causes exaggerated natriuresis in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Competitive inhibition of the conversion of L-arginine to nitric oxide by a high dose of NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA) leads to significant increases in arterial pressure, natriuresis, and diuresis in Sprague-Dawley rats. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of the natriuretic and diuretic responses and the possible role of arterial pressure and renal interstitial hydrostatic pressure (RIHP) elevations with the infusion of L-NMMA in anesthetized spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. Intravenous infusion of L-NMMA (15 mg/kg bolus followed by 500 micrograms.kg-1.min-1 continuous infusion) in WKY rats (n = 8) resulted in a significant increase in mean arterial pressure (MAP, 122 +/- 3 to 152 +/- 2 mmHg), RIHP (4.7 +/- 0.4 to 6.7 +/- 0.5 mmHg), fractional excretion of sodium (FENa, 0.76 +/- 0.21 to 4.74 +/- 0.70%), and urine flow rate (V, 27.7 +/- 5.0 to 161.3 +/- 19.6 microliters/min). Increases in RIHP and sodium and water excretions are abolished when renal perfusion pressure is prevented from increasing with L-NMMA infusion in a group of WKY rats (n = 6). In SHR (n = 6) administration of the same dose of L-NMMA resulted in no significant changes in MAP (172 +/- 3 to 178 +/- 2 mmHg) or RIHP (3.3 +/- 0.4 to 3.5 +/- 0.6 mmHg), but significantly higher increases in FENa (1.19 +/- 0.26 to 7.52 +/- 0.68%) and V (47.1 +/- 10.0 to 248.3 +/- 25.7 microliters/min) compared with WKY rat.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Normative Criteria for the Development and Appraisal of Marketing Theory

This paper examines the role of explanation in theory development, and the factors which make an explanation acceptable. Normative criteria for developing valid explanatory models are proposed. Criteria for appraising competing models are also presented. Two separate hierarchies are proposed, and are illustrated using a well-known model in marketing. It is hoped that this will lead to greater public debate relating to the assessment of theory development in marketing.
Phylogenomic Analysis of Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps: Improved Taxon Sampling Enhances Understanding of Hymenopteran Evolution

The importance of taxon sampling in phylogenetic accuracy is a topic of active debate. We investigated the role of taxon sampling in causing incongruent results between two recent phylogenomic studies of stinging wasps (Hymenoptera: Aculeata), a diverse lineage that includes ants, bees and the majority of eusocial insects. Using target enrichment of ultraconserved element (UCE) loci, we assembled the largest aculeate phylogenomic data set to date, sampling 854 loci from 187 taxa, including 30 out of 31 aculeate families, and a diversity of parasitoid outgroups. We analyzed the complete matrix using multiple analytical approaches, and also performed a series of taxon inclusion/exclusion experiments, in which we analyzed taxon sets identical to and slightly modified from the previous phylogenomic studies. Our results provide a highly supported phylogeny for virtually all aculeate lineages sampled, supporting ants as sister to Apoidea (bees+apoid wasps), bees as sister to Philanthinae+Pemphredoninae (lineages within a paraphyletic Crabronidae), Melittidae as sister to remaining bees, and paraphyly of cuckoo wasps (Chrysidoidea). Our divergence dating analyses estimate ages for aculeate lineages in close concordance with the fossil record. Our analyses also demonstrate that outgroup choice and taxon evenness can fundamentally impact topology and clade support in phylogenomic inference.
Carbon Monoxide Decreases Leukocytosis in Murine Sickle Cell Disease Models Via Decreased Granulopoiesis.

Elevated white blood cell counts (WBC) in sickle cell disease (SCD) are risk factors for morbid vaso-occlusive events including acute chest syndrome and stroke. The mechanisms of leukocytosis in SCD include increased inflammation, oxidative stress, increased hematopoiesis, and hyposplenism. Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) plays critical roles in metabolizing the excess heme generated during hemolysis and in modulating vaso-occlusion in murine models of sickle cell disease (SCD). The products of HO-1 activity, carbon monoxide (CO), Fe2+/ferritin, and biliverdin/bilirubin have demonstrable anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. We have previously demonstrated that inhaled CO treatments decrease white blood cell counts (WBC), as well as liver redox-active iron and heme content in heterozygous BERK mice, a mouse model for sickle cell trait. To dissect the mechanism of this decrease in leukocytosis, we hypothesize that prolonged treatment with inhaled CO significantly decreases granulopoiesis in SCD mice. For this study, we exposed S+S-Antilles mice to 250 ppm inhaled CO for 1h 3X/week for 8–10 weeks. Upon completion of the treatment period animals were euthanized, blood was removed by cardiac puncture, and bone marrow and organs were harvested for analysis. Treatment for 10 weeks with 250 ppm CO significantly decreased total WBC (19.19±1.29 × 1000/ul (untreated) to 12.8±1.30 × 1000/ul (CO treated), p
The impact of convergent and divergent technological and market strategies on core competencies and core rigidities: an exploratory study

This paper explores the relationships between (1) the technological and market strategies, and (2) the core competencies and rigidities of ten companies (or strategic business units) that have achieved worldwide leadership in technology–intensive markets: GE Medical Systems; Motorola Communications; Apple Computer; IBM PC; Toshiba Information Systems; MapInfo (a new venture); GE Plastics; Toray Carbon Fiber; Corning; Rhone–Poulenc Agrochemical. Technological and market strategies are classified as convergent or divergent, and an examination is made of their effects on (1) the core competencies and rigidities, and (2) the longer–range technological and market potentials of the ten businesses studied. Preliminary conclusions are drawn that may be useful to established corporations and new ventures seeking to enhance their core competencies in order to achieve and sustain market leadership.
Resorting the NIST undulator using simulated annealing for field error reduction

We have used a simulated annealing algorithm to sort the samarium cobalt blocks and vanadium permendur poles in the hybrid NIST undulator to optimize the spectrum of the emitted light. While simulated annealing has proven highly effective in sorting of the SmCo blocks in pure REC undulators [1–5], the reliance on magnetically “soft” poles operating near saturation to concentrate the flux in hybrid undulators introduces a pair of additional variables—the permeability and saturation induction of the poles—which limit the utility of the assumption of superposition on which most simulated annealing codes rely. Detailed magnetic measurements clearly demonstrated the failure of the superposition principle due to random variations in the permeability in the “unsorted” NIST undulator. To deal with the issue, we measured both the magnetization of the REC blocks and the permeability of the NIST’s integrated vanadium permendur poles, and implemented a sorting criteria which minimized the pole-to-pole variations in p...
Utility of gray-matter segmentation of ictal-Interictal perfusion SPECT and interictal 18F-FDG-PET in medically refractory epilepsy.

Abstract Purpose We present a method of gray-matter segmentation of functional neuroimaging for localization of seizure onset zone (SOZ) in epilepsy surgery. 18 F-FDG-PET hypometabolism and ictal SPECT hyperperfusion may correspond to SOZ. We hypothesize that limiting functional images to gray matter improves identification of small, subtle, or obscure cortical volumes of 18 F-FDG-PET hypometabolism and eliminates hyperperfused seizure propagation pathways within white matter in ictal perfusion SPECT. Methods Twenty-five adult and pediatric patients age 2–48 years with epilepsy surgery evaluations consisting of MRI, 18 F-FDG-PET, ictal and interictal perfusion SPECT, and intracranial EEG (iEEG) monitoring were selected. MRI gray matter segmentation was used to identify cortical regions in coregistered 18 F-FDG-PET and Ictal-Interictal SPECT Analysis by SPM (ISAS) as volumes of interest (VOI). VOIs in 18 F-FDG-PET and SPECT perfusion clusters were compared to iEEG localization. The level of VOI concordance between two modalities was recorded as the same subgyrus (highest concordance), gyrus, sublobe, lobe, hemisphere, or no concordance. Results With segmentation, 84% (21/25) of cases had at least one area identified on 18 F-FDG-PET scan concordant with iEEG SOZ at sublobar or higher levels, and 72% (18/25) of cases had subgyral concordance with iEEG SOZ. Without segmentation, 60% (15/25) of cases had at least one area in 18 F-FDG-PET scan concordant with iEEG SOZ at sublobar or higher levels, and 32% (8/25) with subgyral concordance. 83% (10/12) of seizure free patients had subgyral concordance on segmented 18 F-FDG-PET. Both segmented and nonsegmented ictal-interictal SPECT perfusion clusters had 56% (14/25) of cases with at least sublobar concordance. Subgyral concordance was achieved by 28% (7/25) of segmented and 20% (5/25) of nonsegmented SPECTs. Discussion Segmented 18 F-FDG-PET scans frequently result in high correspondence to iEEG onset zones with localizations exactly concordant with iEEG SOZ- more than twice as often as without segmentation. Segmentation allows for the identification of small or subtle areas of hypometabolism that are often unappreciated or are obscured by normally hypometabolic white matter. Segmentation of ictal-interictal SPECT clusters did not significantly increase localization with iEEG SOZ over nonsegmented clusters.