cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Glioma Cell Migration Dynamics in Brain Tissue Assessed by Multimodal Optical Imaging.

Abstract Glioblastoma is a primary malignant brain tumor characterized by highly infiltrative glioma cells. Vasculature and white matter tracts are considered to be the preferred and fastest routes for glioma invasion through brain tissue. In this study, we systematically quantified the routes and motility of the U251 human glioblastoma cell line in mouse brain slices by multimodal imaging. Specifically, we used polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography to delineate nerve fiber tracts while confocal fluorescence microscopy was used to image cell migration and brain vasculature. Somewhat surprisingly, we found that in mouse brain slices, U251 glioma cells do not follow white matter tracts but rather preferentially migrate along vasculature in both gray and white matter. In addition, U251 cell motility is ∼2-fold higher in gray matter than in white matter (91 vs. 43 μm2/h), with a substantial fraction (44%) of cells in both regions invading without close association with vasculature. Interestingly, within both regions, the rates of migration for the perivascular and televascular routes of invasion were indistinguishable. Furthermore, by imaging of local vasculature deformation dynamics during cell migration, we found that U251 cells are capable of exerting traction forces that locally pull on their environment, suggesting the applicability of a “motor-clutch”-based model for migration in vivo. Overall, by quantitatively analyzing the migration dynamics along the diverse pathways followed by invading U251 glioma cells as observed by our multimodal imaging approach, our studies suggest that effective antiinvasive strategies will need to simultaneously limit parallel routes of both perivascular and televascular invasion through both gray and white matter.
Contemporary Disruptions in the Realm of Research Methods in Marketing

This paper considers three classes of disruptions in marketing research methods. The disruptions are both positive and negative, and both academic and managerial. They are occurring in the realms of big data, online surveys and data integration.
Long-term glycemic control and prevention of diabetes complications in vivo using oleic acid-grafted-chitosan‑zinc-insulin complexes incorporated in thermosensitive copolymer.

Daily injections for basal insulin therapy are far from ideal resulting in hypo/hyperglycemic episodes associated with fatal complications in type-1 diabetes patients. Here we report a delivery system that provides controlled release of insulin closely mimicking physiological basal insulin requirement for an extended period following a single subcutaneous injection. Stability of insulin was significantly improved by formation of zinc-insulin hexamers, further stabilized by electrostatic complex formation with chitosan polymer. Insulin complexes were homogenously incorporated into PLA-PEG-PLA, a biodegradable thermogel copolymer, that instantaneously forms a subcutaneous gel-depot following injection. Chitosan polymer was hydrophobically modified using oleic acid prior to complex formation with insulin to enable distribution of oleic acid-grafted-chitosan‑zinc-insulin complexes into the hydrophobic core of PLA-PEG-PLA thermogel-copolymer micelles. In vivo, daily administration of marketed long-acting insulin, glargine, resulted in fluctuating blood glucose levels between 91 and 443 mg/dL in type 1 diabetic rats. However, single administration of thermogel copolymeric formulation successfully demonstrated slow diffusion of insulin complexes maintaining peak-free basal insulin level of 21 mU/L for 91 days. Sustained release of basal insulin also correlated with efficient glycemic control (blood glucose <120 mg/dL), prevention of diabetic ketoacidosis and absence of cataract development, unlike other treatment groups. Moreover, there was no sign of inflammation, tissue damage, or collagen deposition around depot site, suggesting exceptional biocompatibility of the formulation for long-term use.
Four Solutions to the Alleged Incompleteness of Virtue Ethics

In “Virtue and Right,” Robert Johnson argues that virtue ethics that accept standards such as Virtuous Agent (A’s x-ing is right in circumstances c iff a fully virtuous agent would x in c) are incomplete, since they cannot account for duties of moral self-improvement. In this paper I offer four solutions to the problem of incompleteness. The first discards Virtuous Agent and counts actions as wrong iff a vicious person would perform them. The second retains Virtuous Agent but counts self-improving actions as countererogatory: wrong but nonetheless good to do. The third replaces Virtuous Agent with a standard appealing to the Mengzian virtue of righteousness, understood as situational appropriateness. The fourth replaces Virtuous Agent with a standard that holds an action right if it promotes the agent’s virtue. Each solution accommodates duties of moral self-improvement, so a virtue ethics embracing any of them would not be incomplete.
Maternal high-fat diet activates hepatic interleukin-4 in rat male offspring accompanied by increased eosinophil infiltration.

The present study identifies that maternal high-fat-diet-induced IL-4 upregulation is associated with DNA hypomethylation at the +6 kb region of the 3’ downstream region of the gene. Furthermore, o...
Structural O-Glycoform Heterogeneity of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Receptor-Binding Domain Revealed by Native Top-Down Mass Spectrometry

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) utilizes an extensively glycosylated surface spike (S) protein to mediate host cell entry and the S protein glycosylation is strongly implicated in altering viral binding/function and infectivity. However, the structures and relative abundance of the new O-glycans found on the S protein regional-binding domain (S-RBD) remain cryptic because of the challenges in intact glycoform analysis. Here, we report the complete structural characterization of intact O-glycan proteoforms using native top-down mass spectrometry (MS). By combining trapped ion mobility spectrometry (TIMS), which can separate the protein conformers of S-RBD and analyze their gas phase structural variants, with ultrahigh-resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) MS analysis, the O-glycoforms of the S-RBD are comprehensively characterized, so that seven O-glycoforms and their relative molecular abundance are structurally elucidated for the first time. These findings demonstrate that native top-down MS can provide a high-resolution proteoform-resolved mapping of diverse O-glycoforms of the S glycoprotein, which lays a strong molecular foundation to uncover the functional roles of their O-glycans. This proteoform-resolved approach can be applied to reveal the structural O-glycoform heterogeneity of emergent SARS-CoV-2 S-RBD variants, as well as other O-glycoproteins in general.
Peace agreements and women’s political rights following civil war:

Approximately one-quarter of civil war peace agreements contain some reference to gender, prompting the question of whether or not gender provisions within peace agreements are effective tools for ...
Operational challenges in the COVID era: Asymptomatic infections and vaccination timing.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for solid organ transplant programs. While transplant activity has largely recovered, appropriate management of deceased donor candidates who are asymptomatic but have positive nucleic acid test (NAT) for COVID-19 is unclear as this may reflect active infection or prolonged viral shedding. Furthermore, candidates who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated continue to receive donor offers. In the absence of prospective data, transplant professionals at U.S. adult kidney transplant centers were surveyed to determine community practice (N: 92 centers, capturing 40.8% of centers and 56.6% of transplants performed). The majority (96.8%) of responding centers declined organs for asymptomatic NAT+ patients without documented prior infection. However, 31.6% of centers proceeded with kidney transplant in NAT+ patients who were at least 30 days from initial diagnosis with negative chest imaging. Less than 7% of programs reported inactivating patients who were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. In conclusion, despite national recommendations to wait for negative testing, many centers are proceeding with transplant in patients with positive tests due to presumed viral shedding. Furthermore, very few centers are requiring COVID-19 vaccination prior to transplantation despite early evidence suggesting reduced immunogenicity in transplant patients on immunosuppression. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Teriparatide and pelvic fracture healing: a phase 2 randomized controlled trial

Pelvic fracture patients were randomized to blinded daily subcutaneous teriparatide (TPTD) or placebo to assess healing and functional outcomes over 3 months. With TPTD, there was no evidence of improved healing by CT or pain reduction; however, physical performance improved with TPTD but not placebo (group difference p 50 years old) within 4 weeks of pelvic fracture and evaluated the effect of blinded TPTD vs placebo over 3 months on fracture healing. Fracture healing from CT images at 0 and 3 months was assessed as cortical bridging using a 5-point scale. The numeric rating scale (NRS) for pain was administered monthly. Physical performance was assessed monthly by Continuous Summary Physical Performance Score (based on 4 m walk speed, timed repeated chair stands, and balance) and the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test. The mean age was 82, and >80% were female. The intention to treat analysis showed no group difference in cortical bridging score, and 50% of fractures in TPTD-treated and 53% of fractures in placebo-treated patients were healed at 3 months, unchanged after adjustment for age, sacral fracture, and fracture displacement. Median pain score dropped significantly in both groups with no group differences. Both CSPPS and TUG improved in the teriparatide group, whereas there was no improvement in the placebo group (group difference p < 0.03 for CSPPS at 2 and 3 months). In this small randomized, blinded study, there was no improvement in radiographic healing (CT at 3 months) or pain with TPTD vs placebo; however, there was improved physical performance in TPTD-treated subjects that was not evident in the placebo group.
Exactly soluble model of a three-dimensional symmetry-protected topological phase of bosons with surface topological order

We construct an exactly soluble Hamiltonian on the D=3 cubic lattice, whose ground state is a topological phase of bosons protected by time-reversal symmetry, i.e., a symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase. In this model, excitations with anyonic statistics are shown to exist at the surface but not in the bulk. The statistics of these surface anyons is explicitly computed and shown to be identical to the three-fermion Z2 model, a variant of Z2 topological order which cannot be realized in a purely D=2 system with time-reversal symmetry. Thus the model realizes a novel surface termination for three-dimensional (3D) SPT phases, that of a fully symmetric gapped surface with topological order. The 3D phase found here was previously proposed from a field theoretic analysis but is outside the group cohomology classification that appears to capture all SPT phases in lower dimensions. Such phases may potentially be realized in spin-orbit-coupled magnetic insulators, which evade magnetic ordering. Our construction utilizes the Walker-Wang prescription to create a 3D confined phase with surface anyons, which can be extended to other topological phases.
Antenatal exposure to doxylamine succinate and dicyclomine hydrochloride (Bendectin) in relation to congenital malformations, perinatal mortality rate, birth weight, and intelligence quotient score☆

In a prospective cohort study of 20, 282 gravidas and their offspring, congenital malformation rates were similar in the children of over 1,000 women exposed and those not exposed to two components of Bendectin (doxylamine succinate and dicyclomine hydrochloride) during the first four lunar months of pregnancy. In a cohort reduced to 41,337 mother-child pairs for technical reasons, mean birth weight and perinatal mortality rates were similar according to exposure or nonexposure to either drug, as were intelligence quotient scores measured at four years of age in 28,358 of the children. Control of potential confounding factors with a variety of multivariate techniques did not materially alter these findings.
Fundamentals of pulsed laser annealing

In a series of picosecond irradiation experiments the central question of pulsed laser annealing has been solved conclusively. The laser-induced structural phase transition on the surface of elemental semiconductors can be entirely explained by thermal processes in a wide range of laser intensities. The interaction of laser pulses with strongly absorbing semiconductors is dominated by an extremely rapid energy exchange between the primarily excited electron-hole plasma and phonons. As a consequence, lattice heating and thermal melting occurs on a picosecond time scale. Alternative explanations for the observed phase transition, repeatedly invoked in the past, are inconsistent with experimental evidence.
Current Status of Mumps and Mumps Vaccine in the United States

Reported mumps in the United States has declined to all-time low levels following the increasingly widespread use of mumps-virus vaccine. Mumps vaccine has proven safe and effective. Its incorporation into combined live-virus vaccines, especially measles-mumps-rubella, has made mumps vaccination a practical and economically feasible component of routine immunization activities. Because of the favorable experience to date with mumps vaccine and the associated drop in mumps morbidity and mortality, mumps control programs likely will receive increasing public health attention in the coming years.
Strategies, Development, and Pitfalls of Therapeutic Options for Alzheimer's Disease

Therapeutic options for Alzheimer's disease are currently limited to symptomatic treatment that only provides modest and temporary maintenance of cognitive and memory functions, without altering disease progression. Although a variety of therapeutics targeting amyloid production or plaque degradation as well as tau hyperphosphorylation and aggregation have been proposed, examined in pre-clinical models and introduced into clinical trials, many have failed to provide significant therapeutic benefit. Concerns over the adequacy of currently used pre-clinical models, in addition to questions pertaining to the timing of therapeutic administration, vis-a-vis synaptic and neuronal loss have been raised, and are further complicated by the genetic diversity of individual patients. This review will provide a brief overview of Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology and the currently approved therapeutics, while the main section will focus on therapeutics currently evaluated in pre-clinical models and clinical trials.
Soil bacterial communities are shaped by temporal and environmental filtering: evidence from a long-term chronosequence

Summary Soil microbial communities are abundant, hyper-diverse and mediate global biogeochemical cycles, but we do not yet understand the processes mediating their assembly. Current hypothetical frameworks suggest temporal (e.g. dispersal limitation) and environmental (e.g. soil pH) filters shape microbial community composition; however, there is limited empirical evidence supporting this framework in the hyper-diverse soil environment, particularly at large spatial (i.e. regional to continental) and temporal (i.e. 100 to 1000 years) scales. Here, we present evidence from a long-term chronosequence (4000 years) that temporal and environmental filters do indeed shape soil bacterial community composition. Furthermore, nearly 20 years of environmental monitoring allowed us to control for potentially confounding environmental variation. Soil bacterial communities were phylogenetically distinct across the chronosequence. We determined that temporal and environmental factors accounted for significant portions of bacterial phylogenetic structure using distance-based linear models. Environmental factors together accounted for the majority of phylogenetic structure, namely, soil temperature (19%), pH (17%) and litter carbon:nitrogen (C:N; 17%). However, of all individual factors, time since deglaciation accounted for the greatest proportion of bacterial phylogenetic structure (20%). Taken together, our results provide empirical evidence that temporal and environmental filters act together to structure soil bacterial communities across large spatial and long-term temporal scales.
Constitutively signaling fragments of Tsr, the Escherichia coli serine chemoreceptor.

Tsr, the serine chemoreceptor of Escherichia coli, has two signaling modes. One augments clockwise (CW) flagellar rotation, and the other augments counterclockwise (CCW) rotation. To identify the portion of the Tsr molecule responsible for these activities, we isolated soluble fragments of the Tsr cytoplasmic domain that could alter the flagellar rotation patterns of unstimulated wild-type cells. Residues 290 to 470 from wild-type Tsr generated a CW signal, whereas the same fragment with a single amino acid replacement (alanine 413 to valine) produced a CCW signal. The soluble components of the chemotaxis phosphorelay system needed for expression of these Tsr fragment signals were identified by epistasis analysis. Like full-length receptors, the fragments appeared to generate signals through interactions with the CheA autokinase and the CheW coupling factor. CheA was required for both signaling activities, whereas CheW was needed only for CW signaling. Purified Tsr fragments were also examined for effects on CheA autophosphorylation activity in vitro. Consistent with the in vivo findings, the CW fragment stimulated CheA, whereas the CCW fragment inhibited CheA. CheW was required for stimulation but not for inhibition. These findings demonstrate that a 180-residue segment of the Tsr cytoplasmic domain can produce two active signals. The CCW signal involves a direct contact between the receptor and the CheA kinase, whereas the CW signal requires participation of CheW as well. The correlation between the in vitro effects of Tsr signaling fragments on CheA activity and their in vivo behavioral effects lends convincing support to the phosphorelay model of chemotactic signaling. Images
Efficient cleavage of problematic tobacco etch virus (TEV)–protein arginine methyltransferase constructs

Protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) are enzymes that are involved in many biological processes. Several studies have shown that the identity of the N-terminal fusion tag affects the substrate selectivity of PRMTs. Therefore, to accurately study substrate recognition, it is imperative that a tagless PRMT be used. However, cleavage of tagged PRMTs has been problematic. We have developed a successful method by which untagged PRMTs can be made using a tobacco etch virus (TEV) cleavage site at the N-terminal domain. This method may be useful for cleaving other challenging target proteins that have the TEV protease recognition site.
Dual living free radical and ring opening polymerizations from a double-headed initiator

The concept of performing dual living polymerizations from a single initiating molecule with no intermediate activation, or transformation, steps is presented. The compatibility of “living”, or controlled free radical procedures, either nitroxide mediated or atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), with the living ring opening polymerization of e-caprolactone, and vice versa, is demonstrated by the synthesis of a variety of well-defined block copolymers. For example, from a hydroxy-functionalized alkoxyamine, either the living ring opening polymerization of e-caprolactone, or the “living” free radical polymerization of styrene can be performed leading to narrow polydispersity polymeric initiators. These polymeric initiators can then be used to initiate the living polymerization of the other monomer system without the need for intermediate steps. In a similar way, hydroxy-functionalized ATRP initiators can be used as bifunctional initiators for the polymerization of both e-caprolactone and a variety of...
Induction of cell division in medium lacking serum growth factor by SV40.

Abstract Infection with SV40 induces many cells to synthesize DNA and divide in a medium lacking serum protein growth factor(s) essential for division of uninfected cells. Virus infection can induce the cells to go through several rounds of cell division since colonies containing more than 100 cells are formed. A functioning virus genome is necessary to induce cell division since UV-irradiation of the virus destroys this capacity. The total number of cell divisions induced is proportional to the input multiplicity. Most of the colonies induced to divide show no evidence of permanent functioning virus information: they no longer have cells with T-antigen, and most do not grow to high saturation density when shifted to complete medium. The ability of a cell to grow in factor-free medium is not the same property as its loss of contact inhibition; a transformed clone has been selected which still is strongly contact inhibited in spite of producing SV40 T-antigen and having rescuable virus information. This transformant would not have been recognized in the standard transformation assay. It has gained one of the growth properties associated with virus-transformation, the ability to grow in factor-free medium.
The impact of mobility assistive technology devices on participation for individuals with disabilities

AbstractAim: This study aims to address the gap in research and contribute to the body of knowledge on the perspectives assistive technology device users have toward their devices. Method: Mixed methods were used to better understand the impact of mobility assistive technology devices (MATDs) on participation for individuals with disabilities. The Functional Mobility Assessment was administered in conjunction with two qualitative questions developed by the research team allowing participants to expound on the impact of their MATD experience. Participants were recruited online via the National Spinal Cord Injury Association website and in-person at Abilities Expo in Atlanta, Georgia, and the International Seating Symposium in Nashville, Tennessee. Results: Results are consistent with findings from prior research regarding accessibility for individuals with disabilities. Corresponding findings were found in both the quantitative and qualitative data and are categorized into several major themes: environment...
A covering lemma for L(ℝ)

Jensen's celebrated Covering Lemma states that if 0# does not exist, then for any uncountable set of ordinals X, there is a Y∈L such that X⊆Y and |X| = |Y|. Working in ZF + AD alone, we establish the following analog: If ℝ# does not exist, then L(ℝ) and V have exactly the same sets of reals and for any set of ordinals X with |X| ≥Θ L (ℝ), there is a Y∈L(ℝ) such that X⊆Y and |X| = |Y|. Here ℝ is the set of reals and Θ is the supremum of the ordinals which are the surjective image of ℝ.
Legal challenges posed by the use of antimicrobials in food animal production

This review article provides a general analysis of the legal challenges presented by antimicrobial use in food animal production and the emerging public health responses to such use. The article stresses the importance of national and international law to the public health strategies and the interdependence between national and international law. The article argues that antimicrobial use in food animal production poses a challenge to the development of global health jurisprudence.
A hybrid immune model for unsupervised structural damage pattern recognition

This paper presents an unsupervised structural damage pattern recognition approach based on the fuzzy clustering and the artificial immune pattern recognition (AIPR). The fuzzy clustering technique is used to initialize the pattern representative (memory cell) for each data pattern and cluster training data into a specified number of patterns. To improve the quality of memory cells, the artificial immune pattern recognition method based on immune learning mechanisms is employed to evolve memory cells. The presented hybrid immune model (combined with fuzzy clustering and the artificial immune pattern recognition) has been tested using a benchmark structure proposed by the IASC-ASCE (International Association for Structural Control-American Society of Civil Engineers) Structural Health Monitoring Task Group. The test results show the feasibility of using the hybrid AIPR (HAIPR) method for the unsupervised structural damage pattern recognition.
Determining number of neurons in hidden layers for binary error correcting codes

The determination of number of neurons (H) in hidden layers is very important as it affects the training time and generalization property of neural networks. A higher value of H may force the network to memorize (as opposed to generalize) the patterns which it has seen during training whereas a lower value of H would waste a great deal of training time in finding its optimal representation. It is thus important to devise some methods by which a proper selection of neurons in hidden layers can be made. In this paper, a procedure has been given which determines the number of separable regions (M) in binary error correcting codes (BECC). Thus it is possible to establish link between input training patterns (T), M, and H for such codes without running simulations. Theorems have been developed which provide justification of the use of implied minterm structure (IMS) to BECC. It is shown that BECC are nonlinearly separable (LS) and canonical. Investigations have also been conducted on systematic and nonsystematic codes to prove that systematic codes can be classified with a lesser value of H than the nonsystematic codes as systematic codes require less number of separable regions for their realization.
Ultrafast x-ray absorption spectroscopy using laser-driven electron x-ray sources (LEXS)

A laser driven electron x-ray source (LEXS) using a high repetition rate, terawatt laser system is described. The laser system has adopted design features that make it more suitable for the generation of hard x-ray pulses. These features include a simplified pumping scheme to reduce cost and complexity, a l/4 broadband regenerative amplifier to support high-energy, short optical pulse generation, and a 50-Hz repetition rate to achieve both desired pulse energy and simple compressor design. Preliminary results on x-ray generation using this system are reported. A new method, ultrafast selected energy x-ray absorption spectroscopy (USEXAS), based on this LEXS is discussed.
Imaging at the 2014 ACC Legislative Conference: A Debrief

The 2014 American College of Cardiology (ACC) Legislative Conference was held in Washington, DC, September 14 to 16. The agenda was intended to provide attendees with information on current regulatory and legislative issues that affect the delivery of cardiovascular care. This paper is a synopsis of
The relative role of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in coronary artery disease: evidence from large-scale statin and fibrate trials

Statin therapy has been remarkably successful in reducing coronary events and improving survival. Reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is the paramount mechanism for the benefit of statins. Although the relation between reduction of risk of coronary artery disease and pretreatment lipid levels has not been fully resolved, a feature of statin therapy emerging from previous large-scale trials is the diminished benefit when the baseline level of LDL-C is low (eg, <125 mg/dL). Increases in levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) with statin therapy are associated with mild reductions in coronary events, indicating that HDL-C is an important element. However, the risk of low HDL-C is not altered by statin therapy, in marked contrast with LDL-C. Because most coronary events have not been prevented in the statin trials, nonstatin lipid therapy, including fibrates, may be necessary to further reduce the unacceptably high rate of coronary artery disease.
Recent advances in pediatric cardiology--electrophysiology, transcatheter and surgical advances.

Whereas the medical advances were reviewed in the previous paper, electro-physiological, transcatheter and surgical advances will be the focus in this review. Greater understanding of the arrhythmias, development of non-pharmacological treatment, namely catheter ablation and internal cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and miniaturization pacemakers and IDs have occurred in the last decade so that the methods could be applied to smaller and more complex patient population. Surgery has been the traditional treatment option for palliation and correction of congenital and acquired heart defects in infants and children. During the last one to one and one-half decades, a remarkable number of transcatheter methods were developed and refined. These developments during the last decade were reviewed and include long-term results of balloon dilatation procedures, transcatheter closure of atrial septal defects, patent ductus arteriosus, and ventricular septal defect, percutaneous valve replacement, intravascular stents to manage vascular obstructive lesions that can not be satisfactorily balloon-dilated, catheter completion of Fontan procedure, myocardial reduction in hypertrophie cardiomyopathy and other miscellaneous procedures. Recent advances in the transcatheter modes of therapy have added a new dimension to the management of neonates, infants and children with heart disease. They should now be added to the armamentarium available to the Pediatrician and Pediatric Cardiologist in the management of cardiac problems in the pediatric patient. Surgical methods and concepts have been greatly refined such that surgery can be undertaken even in the sickest and most complex patient. The majority of congenital heart defects can be corrected by open heart surgery; some require prior palliation and others can be operated without prior palliation. Recent advances in various defects were reviewed.
Sequences related to the maize transposable element Ac in the genus Zea.

In light of previous data, which suggested thatAc-like sequences might have undergone a significant radiation in the recent past, I examined the copy number ofAc-like sequences in representatives of all theZea taxa, both maize and teosinte. The maize and teosinte samples contained approximately equal numbers ofAc-like sequences. FewAc-like sequences were in unmethylated regions of DNA. Unmethylated elements were distributed randomly among both maize and teosinte lines. The appearance in a line of a discrete band resulting from digestion with one methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme was correlated with the appearance of discrete bands with other methylation-sensitive bands. This suggests that individualAc-like elements are occasionally demethylated in many sites. No unmethylated element having restriction fragments of the lengths predicted from the publishedAc sequence was seen in the approximately 326 elements examined.
Starlike Polymeric Architectures by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization: Templates for the Production of Low Dielectric Constant Thin Films

The synthesis of novel poly(methyl methacrylate)s with starlike architectures by controlled radical polymerization starting from dendritic 2-, 4-, 6-, and 12-arm multifunctional initiators is described. The more highly functionalized initiators were obtained by coupling a bromo-functionalized bis(hydroxymethyl)propionic acid (bis-MPA) first generation dendron to hydroxyl-functionalized precursors. The controlled free radical character of the atom transfer radical polymerization is supported by the remarkably low polydispersities of the polymers and the close correspondence between the calculated and measured molecular weights. NMR studies on the polymers were consistent with initiation occurring from all initiator arms for the 2-, 4-, and 6-arm derivatives. Initial studies on deuterated polymers derived from 12-arm initiator suggest that in some cases initiation was not quantitative. In addition, starlike random copolymers of methyl methacrylate containing varying amounts of hydroxyethyl methacrylate with...
Social functioning using direct and indirect measures with children with High Functioning Autism, nonverbal learning disability, and typically developing children

Social perception is an important underlying foundation for emotional development and overall adaptation. The majority of studies with children with High Functioning Autism (HFA) or nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) evaluating social functioning have used measures of parent and/or teacher ratings. The present study utilized parent and teacher ratings of behavior as well as executive functioning in addition to direct measures of social perception. Three groups participated in this study (control [n = 38] HFA [n = 36], NLD [n = 31]). Results indicated that the HFA group experienced the most difficulty understanding emotional cues on the direct measure while both the HFA and NLD groups experienced difficulty with nonverbal cues. Significant difficulties were reported on the parent rating scale for sadness and social withdrawal for both clinical groups. Executive functioning was found to be particularly problematic for the clinical groups. The direct social perception measure was highly correlated with the measures of executive functioning and reflects the contribution that executive functions have on social functioning. These findings suggest that the clinical presentation on behavior rating scales may be very similar for children with HFA and NLD. Moreover, it appears that measures of executive functioning are sensitive to the clinical difficulties these groups experience. The findings also suggest there is a commonality in these disorders that warrants further investigation.
The superconducting wiggler at the NSLS: Systems description and initial experience

Abstract The superconducting wiggler at the National Synchrotron Light Source and its associated systems are described. The operation and performance of the wiggler, in addition to its effects on X-ray ring operation, are discussed. Experimental results are presented.
Contexts and Narratives of Recovery

ABSTRACT Expanding on the introduction to the multinational study described in the first article, this article briefly reviews informants’ contexts of treatment across Italy, Norway, Sweden, and the United States, and provides a cursory description of each informant, organized according to her or his respective country. The informant descriptions are followed by illustrative third-person narratives drawn from interviews with two informants from Sweden. As a counterpoint to themes derived across informant narratives, such as the roles of home, significant others, and coping strategies, this article attempts to illustrate how such themes are interwoven within the context of individuals’ lives and personal journeys toward recovery.
DOLI: TRANSLATING AN AFRICAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF LOSS IN THE SANGHA RIVER BASIN OF EQUATORIAL AFRICA

This essay is about a conceptual category of historical and environmental knowledge and about how a particular group of Africans use that category to understand and debate change. It is, in effect, an exercise in translation. In the middle and upper Sangha basin forests of the Central African Republic (C.A.R.) and Cameroon, Mpiemu speakers have articulated a broad category, doli, through which they express, debate and make claims of truth about the past and present. Glossing doli as ‘history’ does little justice to the richly complex dimensions of this category, for doli encompasses a multitude of relationships to the past. It can refer to a distant unchanging past, as well as to the knowledge, beliefs and practices associated with that past. Mpiemu people hold up the knowledge, beliefs and practices as an idealized framework to guide their behavior toward one another and their uses of fields, forests, rivers and streams. But doli can also describe and frame the accumulated experiences – identifiable events, people and places – of elderly people. In all of these expressions about the past, Mpiemu use idioms linking persons and their environments, those of cords and vines and of mobility (wandering) and stasis (sitting), to articulate doli's central aim of ‘leaving a person behind’. Tracing doli's different meanings, genres and aims can illuminate how the category has changed over the twentieth century, how Mpiemu have interpreted environmental interventions in the Sangha basin, and why they have engaged in conflicts over their entitlement to valued forest resources. Hence, it offers insights into why people use natural resources as they do and provides an alternative to exclusively materialist explanations for conflicts over resource use.
Recognizing parameterized three-dimensional objects

Complex object models require multiple components affixed to each other in specific and variable geometric paths. This paper expands upon earlier research to present an unified approach for relating components' coordinate systems to each other in the same model. Particularly, we show that rather complex relationships such as ball joints and geometric transformations about arbitrary axes are no more complicated than describing the model base in terms of the camera coordinate system. These require only simple rotations and translations about the major axes. This modeling approach was next integrated with a verification module of a model based vision system. We recovered from a single 2D image the original model and camera parameters that would align the projected model edges with the image segments by solving a nonlinear least squares system. A specific example of the theory is implemented. A lamp head is seceded to its base by a ball joint with three parameters of rotational freedom. From a wide range of initial guess error, the numerical system converged to the correct set of model and camera parameters. Thus, the theory of parameterized affixments and the numerical implementation to obtain these values from 2D images will aid in associated recognition tasks and in real-time tracking of complex conglomerate objects.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
ACCELERATED PAPER: Cloning, genetic mapping and expression studies of the rat Brca1 gene

The breast cancer gene BRCA1 has previously been cloned from both human and mouse. We cloned a fragment of the rat Brca1 homologue in order to map it and explore its biological function. Partial cDNA fragments of the rat Brca1 homologue were isolated by RT-PCR. Sequence analysis revealed that the RING-finger domain is well conserved among rat, mouse and human. Rat Brca1 mRNA was expressed in most tissues studied with the highest level in testis, consistent with studies in human and mouse. Next, intron 6-containing DNA fragments were amplified by PCR from WKY and WF rat strains. The splicing sites between exon 6 and exon 7 are conserved between rat and human. Partial sequencing of the rat Brca1 intron 6 revealed a polymorphism of a pentanucleotide TTTTG repeat between the WKY and WF strains. With this intragenic microsatellite marker, we were able to map precisely the rat Brca1 gene to chromosome 10 using a genetic linkage study of (WKY x WF)F1 x WF backcross rats. Brca1 cosegregates with marker BAND3A, and is flanked by R5123 and R5842. Using this polymorphic marker, we also investigated the loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of the Brca1 microsatellite marker in carcinogen- or radiation-induced mammary carcinomas in (WF x F344)F1 female rats. No LOH or somatic microsatellite instability was detected in 18 DMBA-induced tumors studied. Only one LOH of the F344 allele was observed in 26 radiation-induced tumors tested. Ribonuclease protection assays demonstrated that Brca1 mRNA levels are similar in normal rat mammary glands and mammary carcinomas of various etiologies, including those induced by DMBA, NMU, activated-neu and activated-ras oncogenes.
Cartesian trajectory control of a flexible manipulator using sliding mode

Abstract A sliding mode control algorithm is presented for Cartesian trajectory control of a three-axis flexible manipulator by using the theory of variable structure systems. The manipulator has two rigid links and the third link is elastic. A parameterization of the Cartesian coordinates of a point close to the end-effector position is suggested. Using these coordinates as output variables, a discontinuous output control law is derived based on the variable structure theory for tracking reference Cartesian trajectories. To regulate the end point to a fixed position, a linear stabilizer is designed to damp the elastic vibration. Simulation results are presented to show the robustness of the proposed controller in spite of the parameter uncertainty in the arm dynamic model.
The Passage of Sperms and of Eggs through the Oviducts in Terrestrial Vertebrates

The two elementary effectors, cilia and muscles, are found throughout almost the whole range of the animal kingdom. In such simple organisms as sea-anemones these two effectors are about equally developed and are usually mutually concerned in many of the common activities of these animals, such as the production of the respiratory currents, the appropriation of food, and the like. Vertebrates, on the other hand, with their growth in bulk have in large measure discarded cilia and have developed muscles as the almost exclusive means of response. Nevertheless, in parts of their bodies such as the reproductive system, both kinds of effectors, cilia and muscles, are mutually active and co-operate in carrying out certain functions of this important system. No one can observe the active oviduct of a vertebrate without being impressed by its striking resemblance to the responding coelenterate body. Peristalsis, antiperistalsis, and other co-ordinated muscular movements combined with ciliary activity, are the elements on which both the organs of coelenterates and the oviducts of vertebrates appear to rely for successful operation. The oviducts possess the remarkable property of conducting the reproductive elements in two opposite directions; sperms are conveyed by them from the exterior to the neighbourhood of the ovary and ova, or embryos are transported in the reverse direction. These two processes of inward and outward conduction are not unlike the swallowing of food by the gullet of the sea-anemone and the discharge of excrement by the same organ. Are the operations of the vertebrate oviduct performed in the same way as those of the gullet of the coelenterate or not? In other words, do the oviducts exhibit muscular movements associated with normal or reversed ciliary beat to accomplish the appropriate transfer of the vertebrate genital products, or are these responses in vertebrates based on entirely different principles? These and other related problems are discussed in the following pages.
MECHANICALLY ACTIVATED CURRENTS IN CHICK HEART CELLS

As predicted from stretch-induced changes of rate and rhythm in the heart, acutely isolated embryonic chick heart cells exhibit whole-cell mechanosensitive currents. These currents were evoked by pressing on cells with a fire polished micropipette and measured through a perforated patch using a second pipette. The currents were carried by Na+ and K+ but not Cl−, and were independent of external Ca2+. The currents had linear I/V curves reversing at −16 mV and were completely blocked by Gd3+≥ 30 μm and Grammostola spatulata venom at a dilution of 1:1000. Approximately 20% of cells showed time dependent inactivation. In contrast to direct mechanical stimulation, hypotonic volume stress produced an increase in conductance for anions rather than cations—the two stimuli are not equivalent. The cells had two types of stretch-activated ion channels (SACs): a 21 pS nonspecific cation-selective reversing at −2 mV and a 90 pS K+ selective reversing at −70 mV in normal saline. The activity of SACs was strongly correlated with the presence of whole-cell currents. Both the whole-cell currents and SACs were blocked by Gd3+ and by Grammostola spatulata spider venom. Mechanical stimulation of spontaneously active cells increased the beating rate and this effect was blocked by Gd3+. We conclude that physiologically active mechanosensitive currents arise from stretch activated ion channels.
A uniform asymptotic analysis of dispersive wave motion across a space-time shadow boundary

Abstract The one dimensional Klein-Gordon equation with spatially varying coefficients and with amplitude modulated high frequency signaling data is analyzed. A formal uniformly valid asymptotic expansion of the solution across a space-time shadow boundary is obtained with the help of two families of rays. These rays may also give rise to shadow regions. The asymptotic expansion involves three functions, a Fresnel function and two successive Bessel functions of integer order.
Fatal Hemorrhagic Infarction of Posterior Fossa Meningioma During Cardiopulmonary Bypass

Few publications address cardiac surgery in the presence of meningioma. Individual complications include transient visual loss from a suprasellar meningioma, hemiparesis after mitral valve replacement with recovery after resection, and non-fatal hemorrhage into a posterior fossa meningioma. The largest report of 16 patients with known meningiomas over 11 years suggested a benign course, with no new neurologic symptoms and no required resection of a meningioma over an average follow-up of 31 months. In 2 cases we report a presumed posterior fossa meningioma led to fatal outcome after cardiac surgery performed on bypass. Possible causes and future considerations are discussed.
Use of exclusive enteral nutrition in paediatric Crohn's disease in The Netherlands

Background and aims: A six-week course of exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) is recommended as first treatment in active paediatric Crohn's disease (CD). We aimed to assess short-term and long-term outcome of EEN, and to identify predictive factors of treatment success. Methods: The medical records of newly diagnosed paediatric CD patients initiating EEN as remission induction therapy between January 2008 and October 2011 were retrospectively studied. Treatment outcome was assessed using a previously described pattern recognition model. Results: 77 CD patients (median age 13.9 years, 57% male) initiated a six-week course of EEN, combined with azathioprine maintenance treatment in 92%. Patients received EEN as either hyperosmolar sip feeds or polymeric formula by nasogastric tube. In patients completing a six-week course of EEN (n = 58), complete remission was achieved in 71%, partial remission in 26%, and no response in 3%. Complete remission rates were higher in children presenting with isolated ileal/ileocaecal disease and malnutrition. Nineteen patients discontinued EEN before the intended treatment period due to worsening of symptoms (n = 9) or adherence issues (n = 10). Non-adherence occurred more often in older children, females, children from non-Dutch parents, and patients taking hyperosmolar sip feeds compared with polymeric formula by nasogastric tube. The likelihood of relapsing disease within the first year after EEN treatment was 59%. Conclusion: A six-week course of EEN is effective in newly diagnosed paediatric CD, with response rates that seem to be influenced by disease location and nutritional status, but not by type of formula. Non-adherence occurs frequently and limits the success of this treatment in everyday clinical practice. * Abbreviations : EEN : Exclusive enteral nutrition CD : Crohn's disease HSF : Hyperosmolar sip feeds PF : Polymeric formula NG tube : Nasogastric tube IQR : Interquartile range SDS : Standard deviation score