cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Nucleoprotein cytochemistry during oogenesis in a unisexual fish, Poecilia formosa.

Cytochemical methods and electron microscopy were used to study changes in the chemical composition of nuclear, nucleolar and perinuclear bodies during the early stages of oocyte development inPoecilia formosa, an apomictic species of fish that produces only female offspring. Prominent accumulations of ribonucleoprotein (RNP) occur in nucleoli and appear on either side of the nuclear envelope during diplotene. In certain planes of section, RNP material seems to be in transit across this interface.En bloc acid extractions or RNAse treatment abolished basophilia and markedly reduced the electron density of both nucleoli and cytoplasmic nucleolar-like bodies. DNA-specific fluorescent probes such as mithramycin failed to reveal nucleolar cores in poeciliid oocytes, although the same procedures showed unequivocal localization of GC-rich DNA cores within multiple nucleoli of diplotene oocytes fromXenopus laevis or the rainbow trout,Salmo gairdneri. Also, cytological hybridization studies, utilizing [3H]rRNA as a probe for nucleolar oocytes. Feulgen-stained pachytene oocytes ofP. formosa have twice the number of chromosome strands seen in similar stages of oocytes from two, related bisexual species,P. mexicana andP. latipinna. Although the bivalent nature of these chromosomes could not be resolved with the light microscope, configurations resembling, but not identical to, synaptonemal complexes were identified by electron microscopy.
PACAP: a new player in thrombopoiesis

Freson and colleagues have identified a role (see figure) for the megakaryocyte VPAC1 receptor and its 2 major agonists, PACAP and VIP, in the regulation of platelet production.
Cadmium accumulation in man: Influence of smoking, occupation, alcoholic habit and disease

Abstract The concentrations of cadmium in wet ashed autopsy samples in kidney, liver and lung derived from 172 adults were measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The values for total organ content of the metal were calculated. The mean values (± SEM) for 34 non-smokers (11 females and 23 males) were 4.16 mg (0.51) for kidneys; 2.28 mg (0.25) for liver; and 0.36 mg (0.053) for lungs. In contrast, comparable values for 138 male smokers were 10.28 mg (0.57) for kidneys; 3.06 mg (0.16) for liver and 0.81 mg (0.053) for lungs. When smoking habits were related to organ cadmium content, a positive correlation between cigarette smoking and cadmium accumulation in each of these organs emerged. Patient characteristics such as occupation, alcoholic habits, and the autopsy diagnoses of chronic bronchitis and emphysema, cancer of the bronchus or lung and arterial hypertension, did not affect the association found between cigarette smoking and cadmium accumulation. A multiple regression analysis of composite values (total estimated cadmium content of kidneys + liver + lungs) for each subject gives strong support to the hypothesis that cigarettes are a major source of cadmium to man and, in addition, can contribute more to the total body burden than the amount derived from other sources.
Control-Oriented Modeling and Analysis for Automotive Fuel Cell Systems

Fuel Cells are electrochemical devices that convert the chemical energy of a gaseous fuel directly into electricity. They are widely regarded as a potential future stationary and mobile power source. The response of a fuel cell system depends on the air and hydrogen feed, flow and pressure regulation, and heat and water management. In this paper, we develop a dynamic model suitable for the control study of fuel cell systems. The transient phenomena captured in the model include the flow and inertia dynamics of the compressor, the manifold filling dynamics (both anode and cathode), reactant partial pressures, and membrane humidity. It is important to note, however, that the fuel cell stack temperature is treated as a parameter rather than a state variable of this model because of its long time constant. Limitations and several possible applications of this model are presented.
A novel role for the NLRC4 inflammasome in mucosal defenses against the fungal pathogen Candida albicans

Candida sp. are opportunistic fungal pathogens that colonize the skin and oral cavity and, when overgrown under permissive conditions, cause inflammation and disease. Previously, we identified a central role for the NLRP3 inflammasome in regulating IL-1β production and resistance to dissemination from oral infection with Candida albicans. Here we show that mucosal expression of NLRP3 and NLRC4 is induced by Candida infection, and up-regulation of these molecules is impaired in NLRP3 and NLRC4 deficient mice. Additionally, we reveal a role for the NLRC4 inflammasome in anti-fungal defenses. NLRC4 is important for control of mucosal Candida infection and impacts inflammatory cell recruitment to infected tissues, as well as protects against systemic dissemination of infection. Deficiency in either NLRC4 or NLRP3 results in severely attenuated pro-inflammatory and antimicrobial peptide responses in the oral cavity. Using bone marrow chimeric mouse models, we show that, in contrast to NLRP3 which limits the severity of infection when present in either the hematopoietic or stromal compartments, NLRC4 plays an important role in limiting mucosal candidiasis when functioning at the level of the mucosal stroma. Collectively, these studies reveal the tissue specific roles of the NLRP3 and NLRC4 inflammasome in innate immune responses against mucosal Candida infection.
Trans-complementation-dependent Replication of a Low Molecular Weight Origin Fragment From Plasmid R6K

A non-self-replicating segment (1370 base pairs) of plasmid R6K was cloned in E. coli and shown to trans-complement temperature-sensitive replication mutants of this plasmid. This segment contains the gene which codes for a protein required for initiation of replication of the plasmid, and was used as a helper in a functional assay for an origin of replication in R6K derivatives. A 420 bp fragment, derived from R6K DNA, was shown to carry a functional origin since it was capable of replicating as a plasmid in E. coli cells carrying the helper segment either on the host chromosome or on a plasmid Col E1 derivative. The copy number of the origin fragment in cells carrying the helper segment on the chromosome is essentially the same as the copy number of R6K. A model for the positive regulation of plasmid R6K replication is presented.
Energy minimization and the formation of microstructure in dynamic anti-plane shear

We investigate the behavior of a continuum model designed to provide insight into the dynamical development of microstructures observed during displacive phase transformations in certain materials. The model is presented within the framework of nonlinear viscoelasticity and is also of interest as an example of a strongly dissipative infinite-dimensional dynamical system whose forward orbits need not lie on a finite-dimensional attracting set, and which can display a subtle dependence on initial conditions quite different from that of classical finite-dimensional “chaos”. We study the problem of dynamical (two-dimensional) anti-plane shear with linear viscoelastic damping. Within the framework of nonlinear hyperelasticity, we consider both isotropic and anisotropic constitutive laws which can allow different phases and we characterize their ability to deliver minimizers and minimizing sequences of the stored elastic energy (Theorem 2.3). Using a transformation due to Rybka, we recast the problem as a semilinear degenerate parabolic system, thereby allowing the application of semigroup theory to establish existence, uniqueness and regularity of solutions in L p spaces (Theorem 3.1). We also discuss the issues of energy minimization and propagation of strain discontinuities. We comment on the difficulties encountered in trying to exploit the geometrical properties of specific constitutive laws. In particular, we are unable to obtain analogues of the absence of minimizers and of the non-propagation of strain discontinuities found by Ball, Holmes, James, Pego & Swart [1991] for a one-dimensional model problem. Several numerical experiments are presented, which prompt the following conclusions. It appears that the absence of an absolute minimizer may prevent energy minimization, thereby providing a dynamical mechanism to limit the fineness of observed microstructure, as has been proved in the one-dimensional case. Similarly, viscoelastic damping appears to prevent the propagation of strain discontinuities. During the extremely slow development of fine structure, solutions are observed to display local refinement in an effort to overcome incompatibility with boundary and initial conditions, with the distribution and shape of the resulting finer scales displaying a subtle dependence on initial conditions.
Family Expressiveness and Attachment

This study examines how family expressiveness relates to individuals’ internal working models of attachment relationships. Seventy-two college students completed the Family Expressiveness Questionnaire (FEQ, Halberstadt, 1986) and participated in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI, George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985). When the young adults’ attachment interviews were coded using the attachment Q-sort (Kobak, Cole, Ferenz-Gillies, Fleming, & Gamble, 1993), dismissing attachment and preoccupation with attachment were associated with family expressiveness. When total family expressiveness was categorized by type of affect (positive and negative) and power relation (dominance and submission), low levels of family expressiveness were related to dismissing attachment. Negative dominance was the only type of family expressiveness that was related to both security/anxiety and deactivation/hyperactivation of attachment. Results are discussed in terms of primary and secondary attachment strategies and distinctions between dominant and submissive negative affect.
Vertical, lateral and longitudinal movement of zooplankton in a large river

Summary 1. The spatial distribution and movement patterns of zooplankton in large rivers are little known compared with those in lake environments. We conducted a series of studies in the Ohio River (U.S.A.) during the low flow period to assess diel vertical (DVM), longitudinal and lateral movement of crustacean zooplankton. 2. The dominant large zooplankter, the copepod Eurytemora affinis, showed a consistent vertical migration pattern of daytime ascent and night-time descent during all sampling periods – the reverse of the most common migratory pattern of zooplankton in lakes. The cladoceran Bosmina migrated in a similar way in two of the three sampling periods. Surveys taken longitudinally in the river showed similar trends for both taxa. 3. During the lateral surveys, E. affinis was significantly more abundant in the shallow littoral zone during the night than in the daytime. The combination of vertical and lateral movement patterns along with the diel distribution of zooplanktivorous fish suggest that these movements are a predator-avoidance mechanism. 4. Sampling programmes in large rivers should consider that larger zooplankton such as E. affinis may not be randomly distributed in the river channel and behaviours such as diel vertical migration may be just as evident in river habitats as in lakes.
PHOTOREACTIONS OF PARTIALLY BLINDED WHIP-TAIL SCORPIONS

The experiments dealt with in this paper were devised to ascertain (1) the relative effectiveness as photoreceptors of the whip-tail scorpion's median eyes, lateral eye groups, and cutaneous sensitive areas, and (2) the effect on orientation produced by symmetrical and by asymmetrical interference with the photoreceptive mechanism. Each of the receptors was eliminated unilaterally and bilaterally, singly and in combinations with other receptors. In all, sixteen different abnormal conditions of the photoreceptive apparatus were produced. The reactions of animals thus partially blinded were measured in terms of angular deflection from an initial path of locomotion. Measurements obtained under anterior, lateral, and bilaterally balanced illumination were compared with measurements made on normal animals under the same conditions of illumination. The change from the normal reaction induced by covering a photoreceptor was taken as an index of the effectiveness of the receptor prevented from functioning. By comparing the values of the changes from normal reactions produced by the elimination of the several receptors, their relative effectiveness is approximated as median eyes : lateral eyes : cutaneous sensitive areas :: 1:1.6:2.2. All animals in which the receptive mechanism was rendered functionally asymmetrical exhibited, when subJected to bilaterally balanced illumination, deflections toward the side which had been made less sensitive. In a series of measurements made on animals in ten different conditions of asymmetry the amplitudes of the deflections were proportional to the degree of unbalance which had been produced in the photosensitive mechanism. Animals in which the receptive mechanism was reduced but left in a symmetrical condition maintained an undisturbed balance of reaction when subjected to equal, opposed lights. Under lateral or anterior illumination the rate of attaining a new direction of orientation was reduced in proportion to the extent of the interference with the receptive mechanism. The reactions of symmetrically and asymmetrically blinded scorpions indicate that orientation is attained and maintained by a transmission of impulses to the muscles of locomotion which is proportional bilaterally to the excitation of the symmetrically located photoreceptors. In their effect on orientation the three pairs of receptors are completely coordinated. Orientation depends upon bringing the excitation of the receptive mechanism as a whole into bilateral equilibrium.
What is Pharmacoanalysis

In A Thousand Plateaus, Deleuze and Guattari call for what they term a ‘pharmacoanalysis’ as an ancillary, but nevertheless related, component of schizoanalysis. Employing Spinoza's theory of affections, they argue that if desire is only the conscious idea of the effect of an external body on our own, then especially around the question of drugs psychoanalysis fails to provide an adequate idea of the real effective bodies that act on our bodies and our minds. Instead, it conceals these real and effective bodies behind a symbolic form that organises our ideas according to a consistent pattern of signification. In the case of certain drugs, moreover, desire bypasses a symbolic order and directly invests the perception and the perceived. A pharmacological investigation reveals real social and political consequences in that molecules, like individuals, are organised into living societies, and the drug can enter into one society in order to effect a change in composition, either by adding new relations or caus...
A CASE-STUDY ASSESSMENT OF 'POINTING' DURING THE FIRST THREE MONTHS OF LIFE

The emergence and behavioral organization of the earliest form of ‘pointing’ was examined through the use of microanalytic measures applied to bouts of face-to-face interaction. A female infant and...
Magnetic resonance imaging-guided focused ultrasound: no panacea, but nevertheless a safe step forward

No single therapy can currently or for the foreseeable future treat all uterine fibroids. Innovations need to use technology to optimize safety and efficacy.
Creative Scientists of Today

To investigate traits differentiating highly creative research scientists from less creative ones, a questionnaire was sent to 740 male scientists (400 chemists and 340 psychologists). Half of each group had achieved eminence as research scientists; the other half had not achieved research eminence, but were matched on relevant variables. Results indicated that creative scientists are more dominant than less creative ones, that they have more initiative, and are more strongly motivated toward intellectual success.
Fiber-type composition of selected hindlimb muscles of a primate (cynomolgus monkey).

The distribution of fiber types in selected leg and thigh muscles of three male Cynomolgus monkeys were determined. Almost all fibers could be classified as fast-glycolytic (FG), fast-oxidative glycolytic (FOG), or slow-oxidative (SO) according to the qualitative histochemical staining scheme described by Peter et al. (1972). Most muscles showed regional variations in fiber-type distributions, i.e., the percent SO was higher and the percent FG was lower in the deep, compared to the superficial, regions of the muscle. Exceptions were the soleus and plantaris muscles, which contained similar distributions of fiber types throughout their cross sections. In the extensor compartment of the leg, a layering of fiber types from deep to superficial were evident in the triceps surae and plantaris complex with the deepest muscle, the soleus, having primarily SO fibers. A similar layering arrangement was observed in the extensor compartment of the thigh, with the deepest muscle, the vastus intermedius, having a much larger proportion of SO fibers than the other muscles in the quadriceps complex. These results indicate that Cynomolgus monkey hindlimb muscles, unlike human leg muscles (Saltin and Gollnick: Handbook of Physiology, L.D. Peachey, ed. American Physiological Society, MD, pp. 55-631, 1983) have a regional distribution of fiber types similar to that observed in many subprimate mammals. Further, the presence of compartmentalization of fiber types within the cross section of several of the muscles studied is suggestive of structure-function interrelationships related to motor control.
Yield and Water Use Response of Cuphea to Irrigation in the Northern Corn Belt

Cuphea (Cuphea viscosissima Jacq. × C. lanceo- lata W.T. Aiton) may be prone to drought stress, yet little is known about the yield response of this new oilseed crop to irrigation. A fi eld study was conducted in western Minnesota on a Barnes loam soil (fi ne-loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Calcic Hapludolls) in 2002 and 2003 to compare yield and water use of irrigated and nonirrigated cuphea. Nonirrigated cuphea received only pre- cipitation, while irrigated plants received supple- mental watering to maintain soil water content near fi eld capacity during the study. Crop drought stress was assessed by measuring photosynthe- sis, stomatal conductance, leaf water potential, and δ 13 C ( 13 C/ 12 C stable isotope composition). In 2002, soil water content was similar for irrigated and nonirrigated plants throughout the growing season owing to timely rains, and seed yield was similar between treatments (873 kg ha -1 ). During 2003, irrigation resulted in a 2.7-fold increase in seed yield and greater harvest index than nonir- rigated plants, while water use effi ciency (WUE) of seed production for both treatments was similar (2.4 kg ha -1 mm -1 ). Drought conditions occurred in 2003; by mid-August, leaf photosynthesis and leaf water potential of nonirrigated plants were 83 and 56% less, respectively, than for irrigated cuphea. Moreover, δ 13 C measurements of seed further confi rmed that nonirrigated cuphea suffered sig- nifi cant drought stress. Our results indicate that cuphea is drought sensitive and that regions or soils prone to water defi cits will likely require sup- plemental irrigation to increase seed yield.
Concomitant enterovirus infection, smallpox vaccination, and exanthem

Summary Two children with concomitant enterovirus infection, smallpox vaccination, and exanthem are reported, and 2 similar cases have been noted in the literature. Viral synergism is suggested as possibly being of etiologic significance in these exanthems.
Illusory memories: A cognitive neuroscience analysis

Memory illusions and distortions have long been of interest to psychology researchers studying memory, but neuropsychologists and neuroscientists have paid relatively little attention to them. This article attempts to lay the foundation for a cognitive neuroscience analysis of memory illusions and distortions by reviewing relevant evidence from a patient with a right frontal lobe lesion, patients with amnesia produced by damage to the medial temporal lobes, normal aging, and healthy young volunteers studied with functional neuroimaging techniques. Particular attention is paid to the contrasting roles of prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobe structures in accurate and illusory remembering. Converging evidence suggests that the study of illusory memories can provide a useful tool for delineating the brain processes and systems involved in constructive aspects of remembering.
Extended Hückel theory calculation of atom migration energies in two-dimensional graphite

Abstract Extended Huckel theory calculations have been carried out on several two-dimensional models of graphite in order to examine the usefulness of this technique in calculating atom migration energies in solids. The calculations yield an activation energy of 2.3 eV for vacancy migration and an activation energy of 25.3 eV to form a Frenkel pair 3.8 A apart, which may be compared with the experimental values of 3.15 ± 0.55 eV for vacancy migration and 25 eV for the displacement threshold.
Review Of Band-Gap Engineered Photodiodes

This paper describes the use of band-gap engineering for designing photodiodes. Band-gap engineering is discussed in the context of low-noise avalanche photodiodes and new applications of Classes III and V materials. Recently published results are reviewed.
Phosphorylation of AKT and Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Formation

It is hypothesized that differential AKT phosphorylation between sexes is important in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) formation. Male C57BL/6 mice undergoing elastase treatment showed a typical AAA phenotype (80% over baseline, P < 0.001) and significantly increased phosphorylated AKT-308 (p308) and total-AKT (T-AKT) at day 14 compared with female mice. Elastase-treated Raw cells produced increased p308 and significant amounts of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9), and these effects were suppressed by LY294002 treatment, a known AKT inhibitor. Male and female rat aortic smooth muscle cells treated with elastase for 1, 6, or 24 hours demonstrated that the p308/T-AKT and AKT-Ser-473/T-AKT ratios peaked at 6 hours and were significantly higher in the elastase-treated cells compared with controls. Similarly, male cells had higher phosphorylated AKT/T-AKT levels than female cells. LY294002 also inhibited elastase-induced p308 formation more in female smooth muscle cells than in males, and the corresponding cell media had less pro-MMP-9. AKT siRNA significantly decreased secretion of pro-MMP-9, as well as pro-MMP-2 and active MMP-2 from elastase-treated male rat aortic smooth muscle cells. IHC of male mice AAA aortas showed increased p308, AKT-Ser-473, and T-AKT compared with female mice. Aortas from male AAA patients had a significantly higher p308/T-AKT ratio than female AAA tissues. These data suggest that AKT phosphorylation is important in the upstream regulation of MMP activity, and that differential phosphorylation may be important in sex differences in AAA.
More Efficient Approximation of Multiple Integrals using Steady State Ranked Simulated Sampling

This article extends the concept of using the steady state ranked simulated sampling approach (SRSIS) by Al-Saleh and Samawi (2000) for improving Monte Carlo methods for single integration problem to multiple integration problems. We demonstrate that this approach provides unbiased estimators and substantially improves the performance of some Monte Carlo methods for bivariate integral approximations, which can be extended to multiple integrals’ approximations. This results in a significant reduction in costs and time required to attain a certain level of accuracy. In order to compare the performance of our method with the Samawi and Al-Saleh (2007) method, we use the same two illustrations for the bivariate case.
Neuroanatomy and physiology in modern child psychiatric nursing.

TOPIC Brain anatomy and brain function pertinent to clinical practice in child and adolescent psychiatric nursing. PURPOSE Over the past two decades psychiatry has increasingly turned to biological explanations for the etiology of mental disorders. In addition, public awareness of neurobiology has been kindled by a steady flow of articles in the media about the brain. Finally, there has been a tremendous proliferation of psychopharmacological agents used in the treatment of mental disorders in both adult and pediatric populations. Hence, nurses are increasingly expected to employ a knowledge base that embraces the fundamentals of neuroscience. SOURCES This article briefly reviews current information about brain anatomy and function in order to provide a foundation for current practice. CONCLUSION Contemporary psychiatric nursing practice all but requires nurses to acquire a basic understanding of neuroanatomy and physiology.
Transmucosal passage of bacteria across rat intestinal epithelium in the ussing chamber: Effect of nutritional factors and bacterial virulence

Transmucosal passage of bacteria across the intestine, the essential and prerequisite step for bacterial translocation, cannot be effectively studied using in vivo models of translocation. We have adapted the Ussing chamber into a fresh, sterile organ culture system that can facilitate the study of bacterial-epithelial interactions. Intestinal membranes were mounted in the Ussing chamber and perfused with a solution rich in putative mucosal micronutrients. The transmembrane potential difference was constantly monitored as a marker of intestinal integrity. Transmucosal passage of various bacteria across the normal intestinal epithelium was quantitated, and the mucosal membrane was examined by light and transmission electron microscopy. The addition of potassium cyanide to the mucosal perfusate resulted in an irreversible loss of potential difference. Oxygen deprivation also led to a precipitous drop in potential difference, but it was reversible with prompt reoxygenation. In contrast, intestinal membranes perfused with a solution consisting of Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium + 20 mM glutamine maintained their potential difference for a sustained period (>180 min). Both the viability and structural integrity of the ileal intestinal membrane were maintained in culture ex vivo using this perfusate. Qualitative differences were observed in the mechanism of transmucosal passage of mild to moderately virulent bacteria such as Escherichia coli C-25 and Proteus mirabilis M-13, which pass through the intestinal epithelium without causing overt damage to the mucosa, and more virulent organisms such as Salmonella typhimurium, which cause extensive mucosal damage by light and transmission electron microscopy. The Ussing system should provide a useful model of intact organ culture for the study of the mechanisms of bacterial translocation and the pathogenesis of enteric infections.
Stereo and serial sniffing guide navigation to an odour source in a mammal

Integrating stereo information from two eyes or two ears is fundamental to localizing visual and auditory stimuli. Kenneth Catania investigates the olfactory sensitivity of eastern American moles, and finds that they use bilateral chemosensory cues in combination with serial sampling to localize odorants.
Type-1 polarized dendritic cells primed for high IL-12 production show enhanced activity as cancer vaccines.

While multiple pathways of dendritic cell (DC) maturation result in transient production of IL-12, fully mature DCs show reduced ability to produce IL-12p70 upon a subsequent interaction with Ag-specific T cells, limiting their in vivo performance as vaccines. Such “DC exhaustion” can be prevented by the presence of IFNγ during the maturation of human DCs (type-1-polarization), resulting in improved induction of tumor-specific Th1 and CTL responses in vitro. Here, we show that type-1 polarization of mouse DCs strongly enhances their ability to induce CTL responses against a model tumor antigen, OVA, in vivo, promoting the induction of protective immunity against OVA-expressing EG7 lymphoma. Interestingly, in contrast to the human system, the induction of mouse DC1s requires the participation of IL-4, a nominal Th2-inducing cytokine. The current data help to explain the previously reported Th1-driving and anti-tumor activities of IL-4, and demonstrate that type-1 polarization increases in vivo activity of DC-based vaccines.
Esophageal bronchus in an infant—a rare cause of recurrent pneumonia

A 4-month-old female infant presented to our institute with recurrent pneumonia and was diagnosed with a right lower lobe esophageal bronchus. This congenital anomaly is extremely rare with very few cases reported in the literature. We describe the diagnostic workup and management that led to a successful outcome.
Neutropenia and infection following cancer chemotherapy

Chemotherapy, Acute leukemia, Neutropenia, Systemic candidiasi~, Antibiotic therapy. Many of the infections which occur in cancer patients are caused by impairment of host defense mechanisms resulting from the malignancy or its therapy. Cancer chemotherapy frequently is administered in short courses at several week intervals. Recovery from the immunosuppressive effects of intensive short courses of chemotherapy usually is quite prompt, whereas the onset of myelosuppressive toxicity usually is more gradual and recovery requires a longer period of time.“” For chemotherapeutic agents and combinations with myelosuppressive toxicity, the interval between treatment courses is often dictated by the time required for recovery from this toxicity. Most of the infectious complications associated with chemotherapy occur during this period of myelosuppression. A study in patients with acute leukemia demonstrated the important relationship between the frequency of infection and the level of circulating neutrophils.3 The per cent of days spent with infection was determined in 54 patients who were followed from the onset of their disease until death; this was related to the neutrophil count (Fig. 1). Not only was the frequency of infection much higher at low neutrophil levels, but the propoi-tion of severe infection (major organ or disseminated infection) was higher. Patients with neutropenia are unable to produce an adequate inflammatory response at sites of infection.13 Consequently, infection disseminates widely and rapidly in these 100
The Effects of Wind Transport on the Shapes of Quartz Silt Grains

ABSTRACT Wind-blown terrigenous silt is a common component in marine sediment, but it is often difficult to distinguish from fluvial silt. A field experiment was conducted in the Loess Plateau of China to determine the effect of eolian transport on the shapes of detrital quartz silt grains and to define grain-shape criteria for the recognition of eolian silt. The results show that eolian transport results in a rapid downwind increase in the roundness of quartz silt grains, and that this increase in roundness is apparently due to preferential transport, or shape-sorting, of more rounded grains. This capacity for shape-sorting distinguishes eolian from fluvial transport, which has no great effect upon the shapes of quartz silt grains, and provides a petrographic criteria for the distinction of t e eolian and fluvial silt components in marine sediments.
A faster algorithm for rubber-band equivalent transformation for planar VLSI layouts

In this paper we consider the problem of transforming a single-layer topological routing of n two-terminal nets into a rubber-band equivalent using rectilinear wires in the presence of rectilinear circuit modules. Given a topological planar VLSI layout sketch with |F| features and |W| noncrossing wire segments connecting n two-terminal nets, we present an O(|F|/spl middot/|W|) time algorithm to do the vertex-disjoint rubber-band equivalent transformation of these n nets if it exists. The algorithm consists of two phases, computing a loose homotopy with four spokes matrices, and computing a vertex-disjoint rubber-band equivalent of the given homotopy, each phase taking O(|F|/spl middot/|W|) time and space. Both complexities are asymptotically optimal in the worst case. From the vertex-disjoint rubber-band equivalent of the given homotopy, one can obtain the detailed routing within the same time complexity. Experimental results are also presented.
Evaluating the effect of stage‐specific survivorship on the Ne/N ratio

Evaluating effective population size (Ne) and the effective size to census size ratio (Ne/N) in species with Type III survivorship curves is complicated when key demographic parameters [mean (k macro) and variance (V(k)) of family size] are measured during early life stages. The method of Crow & Morton (1955) for scaling demographic data collected at a juvenile stage to expected values at adulthood is extended to consider sequential episodes of random and family correlated survival. Results show the following: (i) The order in which the episodes of random and family-correlated survival occur does not affect N(e) or N(e)/N; (ii) If a population experiences an episode of family-correlated survival, N(e)/N scaled to its expected value in a population of constant size (k macro= 2) is simply the survival rate during the family-correlated stage. If multiple such stages occur, scaled N(e)/N is the product of the survivals during all family-correlated life stages; (iii) Under the assumption of random post-enumeration survival, adjusting the variance effective size to its expected value at k macro= 2 is equivalent to computing the inbreeding effective size at the earlier life stage. Application to experimental data for hatchery populations of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) indicates that nonrandom survival during the marine phase led to estimated reductions in effective size of 0-62 (mean 19) in 12 different cohorts. This approach can provide insights into N(e)/N in highly fecund species, including some marine species in which N(e) has been estimated to be several orders of magnitude less than N.
Targeted Overexpression of Parathyroid Hormone- Related Protein (PTHrP) to Vascular Smooth Muscle in Transgenic Mice Lowers Blood Pressure and Alters Vascular Contractility*

PTH-related protein (PTHrP) and its receptor are expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells and are believed to participate in the local regulation of vascular tone. To explore the function of locally produced PTHrP in vascular smooth muscle in vivo, we developed transgenic mice that overexpress PTHrP in smooth muscle using a smooth muscle alpha-actin promoter to direct expression of the transgene. In the PTHrP-overexpressing mice, messenger RNA expression was mainly restricted to smooth muscle-containing tissues. Several founders also expressed the transgene in bone and heart and exhibited striking abnormalities in the development of these tissues. In PTHrP-overexpressing mice, blood pressure was significantly lower than that in wild-type controls (121 +/- 3 vs. 135 +/- 2 mm Hg; P < 0.01). Moreover, the magnitude of the vasorelaxant response to iv infusions of PTHrP-(1-34)NH2 was significantly attenuated in the transgenic animals. A similar desensitization to PTHrP was observed in aortic ring and portal vein preparations. Surprisingly, PTHrP-overexpressing mice were also significantly less responsive to the hypotensive action of infused acetylcholine in vivo and to the relaxant actions of acetylcholine on aortic vessel preparations in vitro. In summary, we have successfully targeted overexpression of PTHrP to the smooth muscle of transgenic mice. When expressed in its normal autocrine/paracrine setting, PTHrP lowers systemic blood pressure and decreases vascular responsiveness to further relaxation by PTHrP and other endothelium-dependent vasorelaxants such as acetylcholine. We postulate that the heterologous desensitization to acetylcholine-induced relaxation in PTHrP-overexpressing blood vessels involves desensitization of second messenger/effector signaling pathways common to PTHrP and acetylcholine.
Cytosolic calcium in t lymphocytes from the spontaneously hypertensive rat

To gain further insight into the possible generalized nature of intracellular calcium-related alterations in hypertension we measured free cytosolic calcium (iCa2+) in lymphocytes obtained from the spleen and the blood of the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) and age-matched normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. By monitoring Fura-2 fluorescence at an excitation wavelength of 340 nm and an emission wavelength of 510 nm we estimated; Ca2+. In peripheral lymphocytes from the SHR iCa2+ was increased as compared to those from WKY rats (146 +/- 14 and 112 +/- 6.0 nm, respectively, P less than .025). In contrast, in lymphocytes obtained from the spleen, iCa2+ was not different between SHR and WKY rats (93 +/- 7.0 and 96 +/- 8.0 nm, respectively). When spleen cells were subjected to selective B lymphocyte depletion to generate a preparation of predominantly T lymphocytes, iCa2+ was found to be higher in SHR than in WKY rats (149 +/- 23 and 89 +/- 12 nm, respectively, P less than .05). The finding that iCa2+ is elevated in peripheral lymphocytes and spleen cells subjected to B cell depletion but not in untreated spleen cells indicates that T, but not B, lymphocytes have increased iCa2+ in the SHR. This observation may be related to existing evidence that T lymphocyte function is impaired in the SHR. An increase in iCa2+ is not a phenomenon generalized to all cells of this model of genetic hypertension.
Reproductive Behavior of the Stallion

The reproductive behavior of semi-wild and feral horses is described briefly in order to provide a background on the reproductive patterns and the specific behavioral elements comprising courtship and mating in the horse. The reproductive behavior of the domestic stallion is discussed at length as are various breeding conditions and normal breeding performance. Finally, sexual behavior problems are considered.
Roles of root border cells in plant defense and regulation of rhizosphere microbial populations by extracellular DNA ‘trapping’

As roots penetrate soil, specialized cells called ‘border cells’ separate from root caps and contribute a large proportion of exudates forming the rhizosphere. Their function has been unclear. Recent findings suggest that border cells act in a manner similar to that of white blood cells functioning in defense. Histone-linked extracellular DNA (exDNA) and proteins operate as ‘neutrophil extracellular traps’ to attract and immobilize animal pathogens. DNase treatment reverses trapping and impairs defense, and mutation of pathogen DNase results in loss of virulence. Histones are among a group of proteins secreted from living border cells. This observation led to the discovery that exDNA also functions in defense of root caps. Experiments revealed that exDNA is synthesized and exported into the surrounding mucilage which attracts, traps and immobilizes pathogens in a host-microbe specific manner. When this plant exDNA is degraded, the normal resistance of the root cap to infection is abolished. Research to define how exDNA may operate in plant immunity is needed. In the meantime, the specificity and stability of exDNA and its association with distinct microbial species may provide an important new tool to monitor when, where, and how soil microbial populations become established as rhizosphere communities.
Modes of Vibration of Piezo-Electric Crystals

(a) A crystal is made to oscillate by subjecting it to the action of an air wave produced at a considerable distance from the crystal by a jet of air escaping from a small tube. The piezo-electric charge developed on the surface of the crystal as a result of the oscillation is mapped out by means of a tuned amplifier, and the vibration is analyzed into a fundamental and many overtones. For crystals that are long in one dimension, the overtones are nearly exact harmonics. (b) Exciting the crystal electrically by means of two tubes and especially designed electrodes, any harmonic up to the tenth can be produced. The crystal usually has only one mode of vibration for each pair of electrodes.
A low cost individual-well adaptive body bias (IWABB) scheme for leakage power reduction and performance enhancement in the presence of intra-die variations

This paper presents a new method of adapting body biasing on a chip during post-fabrication testing in order to mitigate the effects of process variations. Individual well biasing voltages can be changed to be connected either to a chip wide well bias or to a different bias voltage through a self-regulating mechanism, allowing biasing voltage adjustments on a per well basis. The scheme requires only one bias voltage distribution network, but allows for back biasing adjustments to more effectively mitigate die-to-die and within-die process variations. The biasing setting for each well is determined using a modified genetic algorithm. Our experimental results show that binning yields as low as 17% can be improved to greater than 90% after using the proposed IWABB method.
Surface transmission electron diffraction for SrTiO3 surfaces

This work highlights transmission electron diffraction (TED) for determining surface structures and understanding the model perovskite system, SrTiO3, which has been extensively studied due to its wide array of applications and simple bulk structure. TED is a powerful tool for surface science and has been the key to determining several SrTiO3 surface reconstructions.
Application of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to the Study of Non-linear Dynamics of the Exciton Bose-Einstein Condensate in a Semiconductor Quantum Well

In this paper, we explore the use of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to solve numerically the nonlinear Gross-Pitaevskii equation with an external potential. Our implementation uses NVIDIA's Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) programming paradigm and demonstrates a speedup of 190x on an NVIDIA Tesla C2050 (Fermi) GPU compared to an optimized software implementation on a single-core of an Intel Xeon 5500-series processor. We apply the developed technique to the study of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of excitons in semiconductor nanostructures. The technique is also applicable to the studies of atomic condensates, quantized vortices in quantum fluids, propagation of light pulses in optical wave guides, and ocean wave dynamics.
Coaxial laser energy delivery using a steerable catheter in canine coronary arteries

Intracoronary delivery of argon laser energy was studied in eight anesthetized mongrel dogs. A No. 4.5 French single lumen catheter, with steerable guidewire and an optical fiber, was introduced through a Judkins-type femoral-coronary guiding catheter into three left anterior descending and eight left circumflex coronary arteries. A total of 65 laser energy exposures were made coaxially at 24 sites in the 11 arteries. At five sites, angiographically evident arterial perforation occurred with the first laser exposure, while at seven sites multiple laser exposures were made without angiographically evident perforation. All eight dogs remained hemodynamically stable, and were electively killed 5 +/- 1 hours following the procedure. Sections of myocardium from territories supplied by treated arteries demonstrated minimal or no pathology in 10 cases, while one territory had a small zone of early myocardial necrosis. This study suggests that standard coronary artery catheterization techniques can be used to introduce and position a steerable guidewire and an optical fiber in canine coronary arteries. Laser energy can repeatedly be delivered coaxially. Short-term deleterious effects may be reduced or eliminated, and exposure of blood elements to argon laser energy does not appear to create debris.
Secure transcoding with JPSEC confidentiality and authentication

The emerging JPEG-2000 part 8 security standard (JPSEC) is being defined to provide security services for JPEG-2000 images. This paper describes how confidentiality and authentication can be applied in a manner that allows mid-network adaptation of protected JPSEC streams while preserving end-to-end security. We achieved this by designing the JPSEC syntax to support the principles of secure scalable streaming and secure transcoding. Specifically, we designed JPSEC encryption methods and signaling syntax that enable an entity to securely adapt or transcode the resulting JPSEC-protected stream without requiring decryption. We discuss tradeoffs in protection, transcoding flexibility, and complexity for the different encryption methods. Furthermore, we show how authentication can be applied to verify that the secure transcoding operation was performed in a valid and permissible manner.
AN OXYTELINE ROVE BEETLE IN DOMINICAN AMBER WITH POSSIBLE AFRICAN AFFINITIES (COLEOPTERA: STAPHYLINIDAE: OXYTELINAE)

Abstract An enigmatic new genus and species of rove beetle (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) is described as Dolichoxenus newtoni, new genus and species, in early Miocene (Burdigalian) amber from the Dominican Republic. The species is the first fossil oxyteline discovered as an amber inclusion. The genus is apparently a member of the tribe Oxytelini (Staphylinidae: Oxytelinae) and may be allied to the African genus Jerozenia Herman, 2003. The genus exhibits several remarkable apomorphies for the subfamily, and in general possesses features otherwise known in the subfamily for inquilines of ants, suggesting a possible paleobiological association for the genus.
Synaptic integration in an excitable dendritic tree

1. Compartmental modeling experiments were carried out in an anatomically characterized neocortical pyramidal cell to study the integrative behavior of a complex dendritic tree containing active membrane mechanisms. Building on a previously presented hypothesis, this work provides further support for a novel principle of dendritic information processing that could underlie a capacity for nonlinear pattern discrimination and/or sensory processing within the dendritic trees of individual nerve cells. 2. It was previously demonstrated that when excitatory synaptic input to a pyramidal cell is dominated by voltage-dependent N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-type channels, the cell responds more strongly when synaptic drive is concentrated within several dendritic regions than when it is delivered diffusely across the dendritic arbor. This effect, called dendritic "cluster sensitivity," persisted under wide-ranging parameter variations and directly implicated the spatial ordering of afferent synaptic connections onto the dendritic tree as an important determinant of neuronal response selectivity. 3. In this work, the sensitivity of neocortical dendrites to spatially clustered synaptic drive has been further studied with fast sodium and slow calcium spiking mechanisms present in the dendritic membrane. Several spatial distributions of the dendritic spiking mechanisms were tested with and without NMDA synapses. Results of numerous simulations reveal that dendritic cluster sensitivity is a highly robust phenomenon in dendrites containing a sufficiency of excitatory membrane mechanisms and is only weakly dependent on their detailed spatial distribution, peak conductances, or kinetics. Factors that either work against or make irrelevant the dendritic cluster sensitivity effect include 1) very high-resistance spine necks, 2) very large synaptic conductances, 3) very high baseline levels of synaptic activity, and 4) large fluctuations in level of synaptic activity on short time scales. 4. The functional significance of dendritic cluster sensitivity has been previously discussed in the context of associative learning and memory. Here it is demonstrated that the dendritic tree of a cluster-sensitive neuron implements an approximative spatial correlation, or sum of products operation, such as that which could underlie nonlinear disparity tuning in binocular visual neurons.