cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exposure to methylphenidate in adolescence and adulthood modulates cross-sensitization to amphetamine in adulthood in three genetically variant female rat strains

Abstract Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a developmental, behavioral disorder that is characterized by patterns of impulsivity and limited attention. Stimulants, such as methylphenidate (MPD) and amphetamine (Amph), are utilized as first-line agents in the treatment of ADHD. While Amph is known to elicit dependence, MPD is not. Interdependence between MPD and Amph is a growing concern. Therefore, it is important to explore this interaction in animal models to gain insight on its mechanisms. In experimental studies, drugs that elicit behavioral sensitization and cross-sensitization in animals are considered to have the potential to elicit dependence. This study evaluated whether chronic repetitive MPD exposure in adolescence and/or adulthood in various genetic strains of female rats elicits behavioral sensitization as well as cross-sensitization with Amph. We used three strains: SHR (ADHD model), WKY, and SD rats. The three rat strains were exposed to chronic MPD in their adolescence and adulthood or exposed to chronic MPD only in adulthood. When the female rats were treated with MPD only in adulthood, the SHR strain exhibited cross-sensitization to Amph but the WKY and SD strains did not. Whereas, when the female rats were pretreated with MPD in adolescence and adulthood, the SHR and WKY strains exhibited cross-sensitization response to Amph, but the SD strain did not. This study showed that the genetic strain and age of exposure to MPD plays a crucial role in cross-sensitization to Amph in female rodents. Furthermore, we showed that genetics associated with ADHD pre-dispose animals to dependence between drugs even if the exposure starts in adulthood compared to control strains that did not show dependence with adult only MPD exposures. Genetic variability, age of initial drug exposure, and sex of the subject are key variables that should be accounted in studies that explore effects of psychostimulants .
EQUITY HOME BIAS: A REVIEW ESSAY

This paper reviews the relatively more recent literature on equity home bias – the empirical finding that people overinvest in domestic stocks relative to the optimal investment portfolio implied by the modern portfolio theory. It reviews six broad classes of explanation of this puzzling phenomenon: (1) hedging home risks; (2) barriers to foreign investments; (3) information asymmetries; and (4) behavioral factors. The consensus is that none of the explanations can account for the full extent of the bias by itself, thus the home bias should be explained by a combination of rational and behavioral factors.
The association of patient-reported improvement and rehabilitation characteristics with mortality

Abstract This study aims to investigate the association of patient-reported improvement and rehabilitation characteristics with mortality among older adults who received rehabilitation. To do so, a national sample of Medicare beneficiaries from the National Health and Aging Trends Study was examined. Among those who reported receiving rehabilitation services in the 2015 interview (N = 1,188), 4.2% were deceased at the 2016 follow-up interview. Mortality was more common among those who had received rehabilitation in nursing home or inpatient and in-home settings compared to outpatient rehabilitation settings. In multivariable analyses accounting for demographics and health status, patient-reported worsening of functioning during rehabilitation (OR=15.69; 95% CI: 1.84–133.45) and cardiovascular disease (OR=4.15; 95% CI: 1.41–12.17) were associated with mortality. Among older adults who received rehabilitation, 1 in 25 were deceased at follow-up. That patient-reported functioning is associated with mortality suggests that more systematically including patient-reported outcomes in rehabilitation care may be clinically pertinent.
Deep Mul Timodal Learning for Emotion Recognition in Spoken Language

In this paper, we present a novel deep multimodal framework to predict human emotions based on sentence-level spoken language. Our architecture has two distinctive characteristics. First, it extracts the high-level features from both text and audio via a hybrid deep multimodal structure, which considers the spatial information from text, temporal information from audio, and high -level associations from low-level handcrafted features. Second, we fuse all features by using a three-layer deep neural network to learn the correlations across modalities and train the feature extraction and fusion modules together, allowing optimal global fine-tuning of the entire structure. We evaluated the proposed framework on the IEMOCAP dataset. Our result shows promising performance, achieving 60.4% in weighted accnrar-v for five emotion categories.
The Effect of Tax Authority-Developed Software on Taxpayer Compliance

SYNOPSIS We predict taxpayers who use tax software developed by tax authorities will be more compliant than those who use commercial tax software. Experiment 1 indicates that taxpayers who are show...
A decoy heterotrimeric Gα protein has substantially reduced nucleotide binding but retains nucleotide-independent interactions with its cognate RGS protein and Gβγ dimer

Plants uniquely have a family of proteins called extra-large G proteins (XLG) that share homology in their C-terminal half with the canonical G subunits; we carefully detail here that Arabidopsis XLG2 lacks critical residues requisite for nucleotide binding and hydrolysis which is consistent with our quantitative analyses. Based on microscale thermophoresis, Arabidopsis XLG2 binds GTP{gamma}S with an affinity 100-1000 times lower than that to canonical G subunits. This means that given the concentration range of guanine nucleotide in plant cells, XLG2 is not likely bound by GTP in vivo. Homology modeling and molecular dynamics simulations provide a plausible mechanism for the poor nucleotide binding affinity of XLG2. Simulations indicate substantially stronger salt bridge networks formed by several key amino-acid residues of AtGPA1 which are either misplaced or missing in XLG2. These residues in AtGPA1 not only maintain the overall shape and integrity of the apoprotein cavity but also increase the frequency of favorable nucleotide-protein interactions in the nucleotide-bound state. Despite this loss of nucleotide dependency, XLG2 binds the RGS domain of AtRGS1 with an affinity similar to the Arabidopsis AtGPA1 in its apo-state and about 2 times lower than AtGPA1 in its transition state. In addition, XLG2 binds the G{beta}{gamma} dimer with an affinity similar to that of AtGPA1. XLG2 likely acts as a dominant negative G protein to block G protein signaling. We propose that XLG2, independent of guanine nucleotide binding, regulates the active state of the canonical G protein pathway directly by sequestering G{beta}{gamma} and indirectly by promoting heterodimer formation.
Green Public Procurement : Legal Instruments for Promoting Environmental Interests in the United States and European Union

While public environmental law, regulation and governance have paved the traditional road towards environmental and natural resource protection, the pathway has been expanded to include a broader o ...
Blackboard Microengagement, Formative Assessment, and Writing Achievement in First-Year College Composition: A Case Study

Set in a freshman composition course using Blackboard for all assessments, this study considered aggregate data to investigate associations among formative assessment variables with the development...
The fronto-parietal network connects more strongly to central than peripheral V1

ABSTRACT Central and peripheral vision are important for distinct aspects of everyday life. We use central vision to read and peripheral vision to get the gist of a scene. To understand how these differences are reflected in connectivity between V1 and higher-order cognitive areas, we examined the differential connectivity of V1 that represent central and peripheral vision. We used diffusion-weighted-imaging and resting-state blood-oxygen-level-dependent data to examine structural and functional connectivity. The present results demonstrate strong evidence that centrally-representing portions of V1 are more strongly functionally and structurally connected to the fronto-parietal network than are peripherally representing portions of V1. This suggests that these patterns of connections between central V1 and the fronto-parietal network are direct and support attention-demanding visual tasks. Overall, our findings contribute to understanding how the human brain processes visual information and forms a baseline for any modifications in processing that might occur with training or experience.
Void coalescence and ductile failure in IN718 investigated via high-energy synchrotron X-ray tomography and diffraction

Abstract Ductile failure through the growth and coalescence of voids is of particular relevance for many engineering materials. Yet, the lack of experimental measurements of the mechanical state of the material at an appropriate length scale has limited further understanding of the regime of ductile failure. In this study, local grain-scale experimental measurements are used to determine their relevance for describing and predicting ductile failure. Additive manufactured materials, due to the presence of inherent porosity, as well as the ability to tailor internal porosity, provides a promising avenue to study ductile failure. Selective laser melting is used to manufacture a specially designed specimen with two large, internal voids, in addition to the natural porosity, which is characteristic to the production process. The initial porosity and its evolution upon tensile loading are characterized via micro-tomography. Several locations of void coalescence are captured in the sample, revealing activity of multiple modes of failure. Finite element simulations, with a simplified J2 plasticity model, instantiated with the initial void structure, is deployed, in which geometric localizations of stress concentration corresponded with experimentally observed sites of coalescence but was inadequate in capturing the appropriate failure mechanism. From the experimental results of the far-field high-energy diffraction microscopy, the heterogeneous micromechanical state is identified and tracked around voids due to the local grain interactions. These experiments determine narrow bands of low stress triaxiality, at the onset of failure, which highlight the path of coalescence through intervoid shearing. Diffraction spot spreading analysis aided characterization of intragranular plasticity and strain heterogeneity, which can be coupled with high triaxiality to form the conditions inducive for coalescence through intervoid necking. In this study, the experimentally determined grain-scale description of the micromechanical state provides a physical basis that can accurately capture both the sites and the mechanism of void coalescence at the onset of ductile failure.
Theorizing and Documenting Cultural Insularity in the Center: A Critical Analysis of U.S. College Students’ English-Language Spotify Consumption Orientations:

This paper highlights an instructive case of cultural insularity in the center (CIC) and illustrates the potential theoretical and analytical utility of a theory of CIC. CIC refers to a tendency am...
Parents’ Perspectives on Using Artificial Intelligence to Reduce Technology Interference During Early Childhood: Cross-sectional Online Survey

Background: Parents’ use of mobile technologies may interfere with important parent-child interactions that are critical to healthy child development. This phenomenon is known as technoference. However, little is known about the population-wide awareness of this problem and the acceptability of artificial intelligence (AI)–based tools that help with mitigating technoference. Objective: This study aims to assess parents’ awareness of technoference and its harms, the acceptability of AI tools for mitigating technoference, and how each of these constructs vary across sociodemographic factors. Methods: We administered a web-based survey to a nationally representative sample of parents of children aged ≤5 years. Parents’ perceptions that their own technology use had risen to potentially problematic levels in general, their perceptions of their own parenting technoference, and the degree to which they found AI tools for mitigating technoference acceptable were assessed by using adaptations of previously validated scales. Multiple regression and mediation analyses were used to assess the relationships between these scales and each of the 6 sociodemographic factors (parent age, sex, language, ethnicity, educational attainment, and family income). Results: Of the 305 respondents, 280 provided data that met the established standards for analysis. Parents reported that a mean of 3.03 devices (SD 2.07) interfered daily in their interactions with their child. Almost two-thirds of the parents agreed with the statements “I am worried about the impact of my mobile electronic device use on my child” and “Using a computer-assisted coach while caring for my child would help me notice more quickly when my device use is interfering with my caregiving” (187/281, 66.5% and 184/282, 65.1%, respectively). Younger age, Hispanic ethnicity, and Spanish language spoken at home were associated with increased technoference awareness. Compared to parents’ perceived technoference and sociodemographic factors, parents’ perceptions of their own problematic technology use was the factor that was most associated with the acceptance of AI tools. Conclusions: Parents reported high levels of mobile device use and technoference around their youngest children. Most parents across a wide sociodemographic spectrum, especially younger parents, found the use of AI tools to help mitigate technoference during parent-child daily interaction acceptable and useful. Trial Registration:
Impact of Microfinance Institutions for Female Entrepreneurs: Evidence from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Microfinance encompasses a broad range of financial services including deposits, loans, payments, and is targeted at underprivileged individuals seeking to build income and assets. There has been extensive research on the role of microfinance institutions (henceforth “MFIs”) in developing countries on poverty reduction, particularly for female clients. Research on MFIs operating within the United States is more limited. This study seeks to fill this gap in the literature and will be one the first to focus on the impact of an MFI on female clients in the US using data from a Philadelphia-based MFI. The first phase of the study analyzed repayment histories for both male and female clients of the MFI. Detailed loan histories for 598 loans from the periods between 1999 to 2017. The data was analyzed for males and females to compare favorable repayment histories (<30 days from due date of payment) as well as charge-off histories. Based on the analysis, there is no statistical difference between the repayment and charge-off histories of male and female loan clients during the evaluation period. The second phase of the study will include an analysis of semi-structured interviews with a sample of female clients in an effort to determine success factors. The female clients will provide demographic information about themselves and experiences as female entrepreneurs. It is expected that this qualitative information will provide insight as it relates to isolating the success factors for female entrepreneurship.
The promise of disease detection dogs in pandemic response: lessons learned from COVID-19.

One of the lessons learned from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is the utility of an early, flexible, and rapidly deployable disease screening and detection response. The largely uncontrolled spread of the pandemic in the United States exposed a range of planning and implementation shortcomings, which, if they had been in place before the pandemic emerged, may have changed the trajectory. Disease screening by detection dogs show great promise as a noninvasive, efficient, and cost-effective screening method for COVID-19 infection. We explore evidence of their use in infectious and chronic diseases; the training, oversight, and resources required for implementation; and potential uses in various settings. Disease detection dogs may contribute to the current and future public health pandemics; however, further research is needed to extend our knowledge and measurement of their effectiveness and feasibility as a public health intervention tool, and efforts are needed to ensure public and political support.
Rectourethral Prostatic Fistula

To avoid repetitions, in this chapter the reader will find the basic anatomic differences between the surgical technique employed to repair rectourethral bulbar fistulas and cases where the fistula is connected in the upper portion of the posterior urethra, called prostatic urethra. Most complications during the repair of an anorectal malformation in male patients occur in the process of finding the rectum and separating the rectum from the urinary tract, particularly in this specific type of defect, and that is why the authors make a special effort in describing the maneuvers that will help the surgeon to avoid those complications. The chapter is also illustrated with detailed artistic renditions, illustrations, and intraoperative pictures.
Future generation of optical networks

Summary form only given, as follows. A remarkable expansion in the use of Internet has spurred recent innovations optical networking technologies. This talk describes an array of new optical networking capabilities that are being investigated as part of the U.S. government-sponsored Next Generation Internet Program.
Calculation and Prediction of Structural Nmr Shifts in Respiratory Proteins

Publisher Summary Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a significant tool in the determination of three-dimensional protein structures, driven by the advances in the multi-dimensional NMR techniques. These techniques exploit the nuclear overhauser effect (NOE) to extract distances between particular nuclei. These distances can then be used as constraints in conjunction with energy minimization to determine the native protein structure in the solution. This chapter describes the calculating chemical shifts in macromolecules and prediction of structural NMR shifts in respiratory proteins. Various approaches used are taken to calculate the structural shifts in macromolecules. Empirical relations for the experimentally observed chemical shifts in proteins of known structure are discussed in the chapter. Theoretical methods are developed; ab initio methods for calculation are limited to molecules that are quite small relative to proteins. Small changes in electronic structure are readily manifested in the chemical shielding. These small changes that result from non-covalent interactions, such as electrical perturbation, ring currents, and magnetic anisotropy can be described by the classical approaches. These long-range influences are also discussed in this chapter. However, variation in the covalent bonding, such as changes in bond lengths and bond angles, are described quantum mechanically. The property correlations in respiratory proteins are also discussed in this chapter.
Studies on Acetyl-Coenzyme A Synthetase of Yeast: Inhibition by Long-Chain Acyl-Coenzyme A Esters

Long-chain acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) compounds (palmityl, stearyl, and oleyl) were found to be potent inhibitors of acetyl-CoA synthetase (ACS) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain LK2G12 from aerobic, but not from nonaerobic, cells. The effectiveness of the inhibitors of the aerobic enzyme was in the following order: palmityl-CoA < stearyl-CoA < oleyl-CoA. Short-chain acyl-CoA compounds (propionyl, butyryl, and valeryl) and long-chain fatty acids had no effect on ACS from either source. The inhibition by oleyl-CoA was found to be dependent on enzyme concentration, whereas the inhibition by palmityl- and stearyl-CoA was independent of ACS concentration. Inhibition by palmityl-CoA was noncompetitive with respect to both acetate and CoA, and with increasing concentration of inhibitor the pattern was sigmoidal, with a Hill value of 3.24. At maximally inhibitory concentrations of palmityl-CoA, a small amount of enzyme activity remained. This noninhibitable enzyme in aerobic cells was shown not to be of nonaerobic origin.
An Examination of the Introduction of Options on the Volatility of the Underlying Individual Equity Securities

This paper examines the effect of option introduction on the conditional volatility of 548 individual equities selected from the S&P 500 and S&P SmallCap indices. Using an EGARCH specification for daily volatility, we find significant evidence, for options listed during the 1973 to 1996 time period, that conditional volatility decreases or remains constant post-option listing. Further evidence is presented to indicate that the introduction of options speeds transmission about news events pertaining to the underlying securities. These effects appear to be more significant in large, as opposed to small, firms. Moreover, this change is more apparent in the long-term, reflecting a permanent shift in the underlying volatility process. Finally, the introduction of options does not seem to result in robust changes in either the persistence of stock returns or the leverage effect for either set of firms. This provides additional evidence against options serving as a de-stabilizing influence in the market.
Difficulty and Degrees of Moral Praiseworthiness and Blameworthiness

In everyday life, we assume that there are degrees of blameworthiness and praiseworthiness. Yet the debate about the nature of moral responsibility often focuses on the “yes or no” question of whether indeterminism is required for moral responsibility, while questions about what accounts for more or less blameworthiness or praiseworthiness are underexplored. In this paper, I defend the idea that degrees of blameworthiness and praiseworthiness can depend in part on degrees of difficulty and degrees of sacrifice required for performing the action in question. Then I turn to the question of how existing accounts of the nature of moral responsibility might be seen to accommodate these facts. In each case of prominent compatibilist and incompatibilist accounts that I consider, I argue that supplementation with added dimensions is required in order to account for facts about degrees of blameworthiness and praiseworthiness. For example, I argue that the reasons-responsiveness view of Fischer and Ravizza (1998) requires supplementation that takes us beyond even fine-grained measures of degrees of reasons-responsiveness in order to capture facts about degrees of difficulty (contrary to the recent attempt by Coates and Swenson (2013) to extend the reasons-responsiveness view by appealing to such measures). I conclude by showing that once we recognize the need for these additional parameters, we will be in a position to explain away at least some of the appeal of incompatibilist accounts of moral responsibility.
Path planning algorithms for source seeking agents

In this paper, we address the problem of source-seeking for sources that transmit signals which decay according to a specific path loss model. This is typical for sources emitting electromagnetic signals. Based on this decay profile, we analyze the scenario where the seeker has partial knowledge about the equation that governs the decay profile. We present an approximate gradient descent based iterative algorithm for this case. We prove that the seeker converges to the source after traveling a finite distance. We also present a quantitative measure of the performance of our algorithm in terms of the number of measurements required by the seeker. Next, we extend the aforementioned algorithm to provide cooperative path planning algorithms for a team of seekers. Finally, we provide simulation results that show the effectiveness of the algorithms.
Introduction: what are early successional habitats, why are they important, and how can they be sustained? Chapter 1.

There is a rising concern among natural resource scientists and managers about decline of the many plant and animal species associated with early ­successional habitats. There is no concise definition of early successional habitats. However, all have a well developed ground cover or shrub and young tree component, lack a closed, mature tree canopy, and are created or maintained by intense or recurring disturbances. Most ecologists and environmentalists agree that disturbances and early successional habitats are important to maintain the diverse flora and fauna native to deciduous eastern forests. Indeed, many species, including several listed as endangered, threatened, sensitive, or of management concern, require the openness and thick cover that early successional habitats can provide. Management of early successional habitats can be based on the “historic natural range of variation”, or can involve active forest management based on goals. In this book, expert scientists and experienced land managers synthesize knowledge and original scientific work to address critical questions on many topics related to early successional habitats in the Central Hardwood Region. Our aim is to collate information about early successional habitats, to aid researchers and resource management professionals in their quest to sustain wildlife and plant species that depend on or utilize these habitats.
Studies of Peptide Antibiotics. XXVI. Syntheses of Cyclodipeptides containing N δ -p-Aminobenzenesulfonyl Ornithine Residue

A cyclo-Nδ-p-aminobenzenesulfonyl-L-ornithyl-L-leucyl (LL-X) was prepared through the cyclization reaction of Nδ-p-aminobenzenesulfonyl-L-ornithyl-L-leucine ethyl ester with methanolic ammonia. Other three diastereomeric cyclodipeptides (DD-X, LD-X, and DL-X) and cyclo-Nδ-p-aminobenzenesulfonyl-ornithyl-glycyls (L and D form) were synthesized in the same manner. All p-aminobenzenesulfonyl cyclodipeptides showed no antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis even at the concentration of 1000 μg/ml.
Inflatable Penile Prosthesis Placement in Men with Peyronie's Disease and Drug-resistant Erectile Dysfunction: A Single-Center Study

ABSTRACT Introduction Erectile dysfunction (ED) frequently accompanies Peyronie's disease (PD) and changes the therapeutic approach. Aim To evaluate a single-center experience with inflatable penile prostheses (IPP) in men with medication refractory ED and PD. Methods Ninety men underwent placement of an IPP with straightening maneuvers as necessary to address their deformity and ED. Main Outcome Measures Preoperative assessment included International Index of Erectile Function-erectile function domain (IIEF-EF) and duplex ultrasound to confirm ED and measure erect deformity. Postoperative assessment included a modified Erectile Dysfunction Index of Treatment Satisfaction (EDITS) questionnaire, as well as office visits at 1, 6, and every 12 months thereafter. Results Complete chart review was performed with mean follow-up of 49 months. Mean preoperative IIEF-EF score was 11. Full rigidity was not obtained in any patient during duplex ultrasound. Mean curvature at maximum erection was 53°. There were seven mechanical failures requiring device replacement, two revision surgeries for pump or reservoir malposition, one infected device, and two corporoplasties for distal tunica erosion. Postoperative office assessment revealed a functionally straight (i.e., Conclusion In men with PD and ED, IPP placement allowed reliable and satisfactory coitus for the great majority of men. Mechanical failure was 7%. Men with PD undergoing IPP placement should be counseled regarding potential penile length loss and residual curvature, neither of which appeared to interfere with coitus but may reduce satisfaction. Levine LA, Benson J, and Hoover C. Inflatable penile prosthesis placement in men with Peyronie's disease and drug-resistant erectile dysfunction: A single-center study.
Irregular polyomino tiling via integer programming with application in phased array antenna design

A polyomino is a generalization of the domino and is created by connecting a fixed number of unit squares along edges. Tiling a region with a given set of polyominoes is a hard combinatorial optimization problem. This paper is motivated by a recent application of irregular polyomino tilings in the design of phased array antennas. Specifically, we formulate the irregular polyomino tiling problem as a nonlinear exact set covering model, where irregularity is incorporated into the objective function using the information-theoretic entropy concept. An exact solution method based on a branch-and-price framework along with novel branching and lower-bounding schemes is proposed. The developed method is shown to be effective for small- and medium-size instances of the problem. For large-size instances, efficient heuristics and approximation algorithms are provided. Encouraging computational results including phased array antenna simulations are reported.
Familial transmission of panic disorder: Effect of major depression comorbidity

This study assesses the effect of major depressive disorder (MDD) comorbidity on familial transmission of panic disorder (PD). The following questions are addressed: (1) is PD familial, i.e., do relatives of patients with PD show an increased risk for PD? (2) do PD and MDD share a common diathesis, i.e., do relatives of patients with PD without MDD show an increased risk for MDD? (3) is lifetime comorbid PD with MDD conjointly familial, i.e., do relatives of patients with PD and MDD show an increased risk for the combined syndrome? Subjects were: (1) 152 relatives of 54 anxiety clinic patients with PD and MDD; (2) 193 relatives of 72 patients with PD without MDD; (3) 231 relatives of 77 not ill controls. Relatives were interviewed by clinicians, and best estimate DSM-III-R diagnoses were formulated by senior staff. Relatives of PD with MDD (13%) and PD without MDD probands (9%) showed significantly higher rates of PD than relatives of controls (3%). Relatives of PD with MDD probands (37%) showed significantly higher rates of MDD than relatives of PD without MDD (24%) and controls (21%), with no difference between the latter two groups. Relatives of PD with MDD probands (9%) showed significantly higher rates of PD with MDD than relatives of PD without MDD (3%) and controls (1%). We conclude that: (1) PD is familial; (2) PD in the absence of MDD does not incur increased risk of MDD to relatives; and (3) PD with MDD may represent a distinct, complex syndrome. Anxiety 1:180–185 (1994/1995). © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Ultrastructural studies of acute hypersensitivity pneumonitis in rabbits.

Abstract Acute experimental hypersensitivity pneumonitis in rabbits was studied using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Scanning electron microscopy reveals the three-dimensional architecture of lesion localization, alveolar cellular filling, and scptal thickening, which typify this animal model. Transmission electron microscopy has identified the macrophage as the dominant cell filling alveolar spaces with variable numbers of lymphocytes and granulocytes. Septal thickening is also accompanied by increased cellularity involving septal cells and fewer numbers of other mononuclear and polymorphonuclear cells. No evidence of proliferating alveolar lining cells was found.
Steady state kinetic model constraint for Multivariate Curve Resolution-Alternating Least Squares analysis

Abstract Enzyme incubations, when analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS), produce three-way data that are dependent on the initial substrate concentration(s), the mass-to-charge ratio ( m / z ) and the retention time. These data can be used to obtain kinetic parameters for the enzyme catalyzed reaction. In this paper, we present a new steady-state constraint for Multivariate Curve Resolution-Alternating Least Squares (MCR-ALS). The derivation of the steady state rate equations is achieved assuming rapid equilibrium between the enzyme species involved in the mechanism. The use of this new steady state kinetic constraint embedded into MCR-ALS makes it possible to fit three-way LC-MS enzyme incubation data to extract enzyme kinetic parameters such as the Michaelis constant ( K M ), the maximum velocity ( v max ), and inhibition constants ( K I ). Specifically, we show that the use of this MCR-ALS algorithm allows for the analysis of data that can be difficult to handle using other means, including the occurrence of isobaric metabolites, chromatographic peak overlap, variable background contributions, and chromatographic peak distortions caused by chromatographic column overloading and by matrix effects. We have applied this approach to the study of the simultaneous incubation of two cytochrome P450 isoenzymes, CYP2D6 and CYP3A4, with dextromethorphan, an over-the-counter cough suppressant.
An APFIM/AEM investigation of precipitates in model vanadium alloys

Abstract The morphology and composition of MC precipitates in two model vanadium alloys were studied with a combination of atom probe field ion microscopy (APFIM) and analytical electron microscopy (AEM). Atom probe analysis of an alloy with a bulk composition of V–2.07at%Ti–0.33at%C–0.01at%N–0.07at%O revealed thin disk-shaped titanium carbonitride precipitates in large number densities in the matrix. In addition to the disk-shaped titanium oxycarbonitrides, a second type of precipitates with cuboidal faceted morphology was detected in another alloy of bulk composition V–2.12at%Ti–0.4at%Zr–0.37at%C–0.02at%N–0.1at%O. AEM analysis of the low number density cuboidal MC precipitates revealed that the metallic content was 63.5 at% Zr with the balance being Ti and V. Both types of precipitates had face-centered cubic structures with lattice parameters intermediate between those of TiC and TiN and ZrC and ZrN, respectively. The observation of additional wing-like attachments to the facets of the Zr-rich cuboid precipitates has implications for creep resistance in a wider class of alloys.
Kinetic Mechanism for the Flipping and Excision of 1,N6-Ethenoadenine by Human Alkyladenine DNA Glycosylase

Human alkyladenine DNA glycosylase initiates the repair of a wide variety of alkylated and deaminated purine lesions in DNA. In this study, we take advantage of the natural fluorescence of the 1,N6-ethenoadenosine (eA) lesion and report a kinetic analysis of binding, nucleotide flipping, base excision, and product release. The transient changes in the fluorescence of eA revealed the existence of two distinct complexes that are formed prior to the hydrolysis step. An initial recognition complex forms rapidly and is characterized by partial disruption of the stacking interactions of the lesioned base. Subsequently, a very stable extrahelical complex is formed in which the eA lesion is strongly quenched by interactions in the AAG active site pocket. Our results indicate that DNA binding and base flipping take place on the millisecond to second time scale. N-Glycosidic bond cleavage is much slower, taking place on the minute time scale. A pulse−chase experiment was used to demonstrate that even for the tightl...
The external validity of eyewitness identification research: Generalizing across subject populations

The propriety of psychological testimony concerning factors that influence eyewitness reliability has been challenged on the grounds that the research methods and populations used in eyewitness research may not generalize. The present experiment examines one aspect of the generalizability issue and tests whether a number of factors that have produced differential performance in college-age subject populations produce similar effects in older subject populations. Subjects ranging from 18 to 74 years of age viewed a videotaped reenactment of a robbery. In the videotapes the presence of a weapon and the robber's disguise were manipulated. At the identification phase, the presence of the robber in the lineup, the lineup instructions given the witnesses, and contextual aids to witness memory were manipulated. Age produced a main effect on identification accuracy (with performance declining with age), but did not interact with any of the other variables. The results indicate that the effects of the other independent variables generalize across age groups.
Comparison of methods for the determination of organic oxygen in coals

Abstract Coals distributed widely in rank and geographical origin have been analysed for organically-bound oxygen by several conventional and fast neutron activation analysis (FNAA) techniques. Pyrolysis of demineralized coal with measurement of evolved CO2 by coulometry was found to be the most reliable of the conventional methods. Direct FNAA determinations of organic oxygen by analyses of demineralized coal (DMC) samples yielded data in excellent agreement with pyrolysis, as did values computed using a modified ‘by difference’ calculation. The convergence of data from these totally independent approaches, suggests a measure of true organic oxygen levels has been achieved. A ‘difference method’ based on FNAA determinations of total dry coal oxygen and inorganic oxygen in low temperature ash yielded organic oxygen data that were typically lower than pyrolysis values, possibly due to oxidation of organic sulphur in the ashing process and/or the presence of non-extractable mineral oxygen in the DMC used in the pyrolysis method. A third FNAA ‘difference method’ based on simultaneous determinations of both total oxygen and silicon contents of dry whole coals, followed by estimation of the inorganic oxygen contents based on the silicon contents, was found to be rapid and adaptable to on-stream analysis. However, observed mineralogy-dependent deviations from a simple inorganic oxygen-silicon relationship suggest that the latter technique would be most successful when applied to coals with similar mineralogy.
Human homologue of maid: A dominant inhibitory helix-loop-helix protein associated with liver-specific gene expression

The helix-loop-helix (HLH) family of transcriptional regulatory proteins are key regulators in numerous developmental processes. The class I HLH proteins, such as E12 are ubiquitously expressed. Class II HLH proteins, such as MyoD, are expressed in a tissue-specific manner. Class I and II heterodimers can bind to E-boxes (CANNTG) and regulate lineage commitments of embryonic cells. In an attempt to identify partners for the E12 protein that may exert control during liver development, we performed the yeast 2-hybrid screen using an expression complementary DNA library from human fetal liver. A novel dominant inhibitory HLH factor, designated HHM (human homologue of maid), was isolated and characterized. HHM is structurally related to the Id family and was highly expressed in brain, pituitary gland, lung, heart, placenta, fetal liver, and bone marrow. HHM physically interacted with E12 in vitro and in mammalian cells. Comparison of the dominant inhibitory effects of HHM and Id2 on the binding of E12/MyoD dimer to an E-box element revealed a weaker inhibition by HHM. However, HHM but not Id2 specifically inhibited the luciferase gene activation induced by hepatic nuclear factor 4 (HNF4) promoter. The HHM was transiently expressed during stem-cell-driven regeneration of the liver at the stage in which the early basophilic foci of hepatocytes started to appear. These results suggest that HHM is a novel type of dominant inhibitory HLH protein that might modulate liver-specific gene expression.
Materializing the hypothalamus: A performative account of the ‘gay brain.’

Simon LeVay's research on neuroscience and sexuality has been reiterated in popular media, scientific communities and legal debates. A close reading of this work, drawing on performativity theory (Butler, 1990, 1993), reveals that this popular success is the result of citing and reiterating a number of heterosexist, sexist and culturally imperialist norms. LeVay's work excludes women and ethnic minorities and denies the political, cultural and historical nature of sexuality. Performativity theory suggests the limits of empiricism for feminists, and the importance of postmodern readings of the subject of psychology and neuroscience.
Comment on “Transport of nonmethane hydrocarbons to Jupiter's troposphere by descent of smog particles” by Donald M. Hunten [Icarus 194 (2008) 616 622]

Abstract The downward transport of nonmethane hydrocarbons, condensed onto solid photochemically produced particles termed “smust,” may indeed be an important process in the methane-rich atmospheres of Jupiter and Titan. However, evidence supporting this mechanism on Jupiter [Hunten, D.M., 2008. Icarus 194, 616–622] is considerably weakened by three new considerations: the ethane mixing ratio does not increase with depth or show a 1-bar minimum, atmospheric characteristics measured by the probe throughout its descent are representative of much higher altitudes in the “normal” jovian atmosphere, and transport models must consider the lower boundary condition imposed by deep thermochemical destruction of nonmethane hydrocarbons. Additionally, ethane was not the most abundant nonmethane hydrocarbon detected by the Galileo Probe Mass Spectrometer (GPMS) near 11 bar, reinforcing previously published findings that some (if not all) of the nonmethane hydrocarbons detected by the GPMS were of instrumental rather than atmospheric origin.
Observation of large continuous-wave two-photon optical amplification

Two-photon lasers have intrigued researchers for years because the dynamical behavior of this new class of highly nonlinear oscillator is very different from normal one-photon lasers. Experimental tests of the numerous, often conflicting, predictions regarding their behavior has been hindered by the lack of suitable gain media until the recent development of the dressed-atom two-photon gain medium. We observe ~30% two-photon optical amplification in a new type of laser-driven gain medium that is based on two-photon Raman scattering. This is ~300 times larger than previously reported dressed-atom gain.1 The enhancement is due to the relative insensitivity of the scattering process to broadening mechanisms allowing us to use a high-density atomic vapor.
Comparison of the Z-Sampler and Novak Endometrial Biopsy Instruments for In-Office Diagnosis of Endometrial Cancer

The purpose of this study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy and specimen adequacy of in-office endometrial biopsies taken with the Novak curette and with a disposable flexible polypropylene biopsy device, the Z-sampler, in patients with endometrial cancer. Eighty women with endometrial cancer had in-office endometrial biopsies performed with the Z-sampler and the Novak curette prior to hysterectomy. The Z-sampler diagnosed 66 (82.5%) with endometrial cancer compared to 68 (85%) with the Novak curette (P = 0.724). The Z-sampler biopsies included 10 specimens (12.5%) pathologically inadequate for diagnosis, compared to 5 (6.3%) Novak curette biopsies inadequate for diagnosis (P = 0.074). When both endometrial biopsies were adequate for pathologic evaluation, the Z-sampler diagnosed 66 of 70 women (94.3%) with endometrial cancer, compared to 64 of 70 (91.4%) diagnosed with the Novak curette (P = 0.617). We did not demonstrate a significant difference in diagnostic accuracy or specimen adequacy between in-office biopsies taken with the Novak curette and those taken with the Z-sampler in patients with endometrial cancer.
Oh, dura dear! What can the mater be?

Elizabeth Conrad and the children had eagerly awaited the Mediterranean cruise that would take them to Greece and the Greek Isles. Theodore Conrad had been invited to lecture in Athens and this would mean opportunities to visit the Acropolis, Parthenon and Agora then traveling to Rhodes to see its Colossus, the Asclepion, a renowned center of healing, and finally Kos, the birthplace of Hippocrates, the father of medicine. They would cruise the Archipelago and perhaps the Adriatic Sea as well. The day of their journey had arrived and their anticipation buoyed even further by the splendor of the cruise ship and its many offerings. They departed on Tuesday, June 10, 1992. Seated in one of the ship's dining rooms, the Conrads enjoyed a panoramic view of Italy's coastline as they shared a champagne toast prior to dinner. Elizabeth remarked that it would be good to meet up with their dear friend Dominic in Athens. Dominic Marconi, an endocrinologist in Genoa, had become their close friend during his residency training in the States. Dinner featured a broad array of fine fish and was complemented by the elegant flavors of a vintage port and creamy gorgonzola. Theodore remarked that the mention of his friend's name brought back a memory of an interesting case Dominic had shared with him whey they last met. Elizabeth smiled and grasped Theodore's hand. “Will this be another Conrad Conundra?” Theodore nodded. “And what will it be called?” she asked. In a singsong voice he announced, “Oh, Dura Dear! What can the mater be?” The children burst out laughing at the familiar sounding melody of the nursery. Another voyage into a public health dilemma followed. Sunday afternoon, May 3, 1981, and the skies over Genoa were clear and cobalt blue. Luigi and Carmen Petricelli were at home …
Probabilistic Analysis of MULTIPLE QUICK SELECT

We investigate the distribution of the number of comparisons made by MULTIPLE QUICK SELECT (a variant of QUICK SORT for finding order statistics). By convergence in the Wasserstein metric space, we show that a limit distribution exists for a suitably normalized version of the number of comparisons. We characterize the limiting distribution by an inductive convolution and find its variance. We show that the limiting distribution is smooth and prove that it has a continuous density with unbounded support.
A probabilistic analysis of asynchronous iteration

Abstract We present and analyze a probabilistic model for asynchronous iteration of linear systems. The model is similar in spirit to the chaotic model proposed by Chazan and Miranker in 1969, but with the choice of components and delays being based on probability distributions. We give sufficient conditions and necessary conditions for the expected value of the error to converge to zero. In addition we give sufficient conditions for the variance of the error to converge to zero. These conditions are all weaker than the strong condition of Chazan and Miranker. We also give numerical results of simulations illustrating the theoretical results.
The Distribution of Misbehavior: A Research Note.

The numbers of disciplinary referrals to the principal's office for 202 boys and 202 girls from a middle-class, suburban junior high school were obtained from student records and fitted to a highly skewed negative binomial distribution. The fitted and observed distributions do not significantly differ by Chi-square test (p <.05) nor in a cross-validation sample of 219 boys and 212 girls in another school. Exemplifying the high positive skew of the distribution, 54% of the boys in one school had no referrals; 20%, one; 9%, two; and one boy, 15.