cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Recent Trends in the Incidence and Outcomes of Tumor Lysis Syndrome in Hematological Malignancies: Data from 2010-2014 National Inpatient Sample

Background Tumor Lysis Syndrome (TLS) is an oncological emergency caused by massive tumor cell lysis resulting in hyperuricemia and electrolyte abnormalities which can lead to acute kidney injury, arrhythmias and even death. Most cases of TLS occur after the initiation of cytotoxic chemotherapy in high grade lymphomas and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Although prevention is the best treatment, once diagnosed, the management of TLS includes supportive care which can be resource intensive. We hypothesized that with improvements in supportive care and the introduction novel drugs including rasburicase, the outcomes for TLS in hematological malignancies have improved in the recent years. Methods We used the 2010-2014 National Inpatient Sample database, which is the largest publicly available all-payer inpatient database in the US, to identify patients ≥18 years with primary and secondary diagnoses of TLS (International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical-Modifications [ICD-9-CM] code 277.88) and hematological malignancies. Annual incidence of TLS, mortality, length of stay, costs were calculated for each year 2009-2014, fitted into a log-linear model and compared using Monte Carlo permutation test to study the changes in trend. Statistical analyses were done using STATA version 13.0 and Joinpoint Regression Program version 4.5.0.1. Results A total of 15,051 cases of TLS were identified among 40,494 patients with hematological malignancies during the study period. The percentage of patients with hematological malignancies who developed TLS was unchanged at 37.1% per year with an annual percent change (APC) of 1.6 which was statistically not significant (95% CI -1.2 to 4.4, p=0.2). Similarly, there was no significant annual change in the in-hospital mortality (19.8%), length of stay (13.4 days) and total hospital charge ($152,917; cost adjusted for yearly inflation using Consumer Price Index, Bureau of Labor Statistics) (Table 1). Discussion Our results show that despite widespread availability of rasburicase and improving supportive care, annual incidence of TLS has not changed significantly in the past five years. Similarly, TLS outcomes in hematological malignancies in terms of in-hospital mortality, LOS and cost of hospitalization have also remain unchanged. Strategies to further improve the prevention and outcomes of TLS patients are urgently warranted. Download : Download high-res image (97KB) Download : Download full-size image Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Why Amendments to Rule 23 Are Not Enough: A Case for the Federalization of Class Actions

Class action litigation can be a useful tool to protect consumers from corporate misconduct, particularly where the individual claims are too small to be economically viable. However, class actions are subject to abuse by unscrupulous counsel, some of whom use the mechanism to enrich themselves at the expense of the clients they claim to represent. As one commentator has noted, "In many of these cases, the victimized consumers often receive pennies, or nearly-worthless coupons, while plaintiffs' counsel receives millions in legal fees." Moreover, class actions are increasingly being filed over frivolous matters, often without the knowledge or consent of the proposed class members. Indeed, although they were "[o]nce considered a tool of judicial economy... class actions are now often considered a means of defendant extortion."
Filtered violence: Human rights law, forced displacement and land politics in Colombia:

How does human rights law arbitrate the spatial dimensions of violence? This paper broaches this question from a “critical geographies of human rights” standpoint to grapple with how human rights l...
Mediterranean trade in the Pyrenees: Italian merchants in Puigcerdà, 1300-1360.

A partir de les evidencies notarials que encara existeixen de la pirinenca vila de Puigcerda, aquest article investiga la connexio entre l’interior de les regions muntanyoses de la Mediterrania i les xarxes comercials mediterranies mes extenses a la fi de l’Edat Mitjana. Es mostra que, seguint la rapida expansio de la produccio de draps als Pirineus catalans durant el final del segle xiii, mercaders italians (la majoria toscans), alguns dels quals provinents de petites ciutats d’in- terior, van comencar a viatjar no nomes des dels principals ports de la Mediterrania, sino cap a l’interior del Pirineu catala, on venien draps tenyits des de finals de l’any 1302. Sembla que l’activitat comercial d’aquests mercaders es va incrementar durant les primeres decades del segle xiv, ja que la produccio de draps a Puigcerda va continuar creixent i va persistir fins a finals de la decada dels anys seixanta del mateix segle. Aquest article, mitjancant una comparacio entre el nombre de mercaders italians actius a Puigcerda i a la petita vila catala- na de Castello d’Empuries, revela que el nivell d’acces dels productors mediterranis en el comerc a l’interior de les regions muntanyoses va ser significativament mes baix que el de la costa. Sembla tambe que les dues viles formen part d’una xarxa interconnectada que va veure alguns dels mateixos mercaders comerciants a Puigcerda i a Castello. Probablement, aquesta xarxa tenia la base a Perpinya, amb un alt nombre d’italians mercaders com a residents. El nombre d’italians venedors de tint a la costanera Castello va superar de llarg els de Puigcerda, la qual cosa suggereix que, si be els Pirineus interiors estaven vinculats al comerc mediterrani, aquestes connexions economiques eren menys denses que les de les zones costaneres i mes limitades per la geografia local.
Evaluation of Residual Disinfectant Levels in Public Drinking Water Distribution Systems in Relation to an Acanthamoeba Keratitis Outbreak—Illinois 2002–2009

Abstract Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) is a painful, potentially blinding eye disease associated with contact lens use and corneal injury. AK, caused by the free-living amoeba Acanthamoeba, is ubiquitous in the environment and has been isolated from municipal water supplies. It can be tolerant of normal chlorine levels in drinking water. An AK outbreak investigated in 2003–2005 in five Illinois counties showed a lower AK age-standardized rate ratio in Cook County than in surrounding counties and was hypothesized to be due in part to reductions in residual disinfectant levels (RDLs) in drinking water. We evaluated RDLs in public water systems in the same five Illinois counties over eight years (2002–2009) using a multivariable model of water system RDL measurements. Fitted RDLs for each county were in the acceptable range by United States Environmental Protection Agency standards for the entire study period. After correcting for multiple testing, two of the surrounding counties had fitted RDLs that differed from Cook County for one year—this pattern differed from the epidemiologic pattern of cases observed in the AK outbreak. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that the development of AK was associated with changes in RDLs in the five Illinois counties.
Beyond the Ask and Advise: Implementation of a Computer Tablet Intervention to Enhance Provider Adherence to the 5As for Smoking Cessation.

Abstract Background The 5As for smoking cessation is an evidence-based intervention to aid providers in counseling patients to quit smoking. While most providers "ask" patients about their tobacco use patterns and "advise" them to quit, fewer patients report being "assessed" for their interest in quitting, and even fewer report subsequent "assistance" in a quit attempt and having follow-up "arranged". Purpose This article describes the design of an implementation study testing a computer tablet intervention to improve provider adherence to the 5As for smoking cessation. Findings will contribute to the existing literature on technology acceptance for addressing addictive behaviors, and how digital tools may facilitate the broader implementation of evidence-based behavioral counseling practices without adversely affecting clinical flow or patient care. Methods This project develops and tests a computer-facilitated 5As (CF-5As) model that administers the 5As intervention to patients with a computer tablet, then prompts providers to reinforce next steps. During the development phase, 5As' content will be programmed onto computer tablets, alpha and beta-testing of the service delivery model will be done, and pre-intervention interview and questionnaire data will be collected from patients, providers, and clinic staff about 5As fidelity and technology adoption. During the program evaluation phase, a randomized controlled trial comparing a group who receives the CF-5As intervention to one that does not will be conducted to assess 5As fidelity. Using the technology acceptance model, a mixed methods study of contextual and human factors influencing both 5As and technology adoption will also be conducted. Conclusions Technology is increasingly being used in clinical settings. A technological tool that connects patients, providers, and clinic staff to facilitate the promotion of behavioral interventions such as smoking cessation may provide an innovative platform through which to efficiently and effectively implement evidence-based practices.
Strategies for Survival of Intracellular Pathogens

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the strategies for survival of intracellular pathogens. Professional phagocytes, including monocytes, macrophages and polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNs), are a critical part of the innate immunity system that provides the first-line defense against invading microbes. All of these phagocytes have microbicidal capabilities, but macrophages also function as antigen presenting cells. In their role as antigen-presenting cells, macrophages provide an important link between the innate and induced immune response to specific microbes. The focus of this chapter is limited to bacterium macrophage interactions because macrophages are the phagocytes most often exploited by bacterial pathogens, and are most studied by those interested in microbial pathogenesis. As relatively long-lived cells, macrophages provide a reasonably secure niche, making survival and replication an efficient way of persisting within the host in a privileged environment. Coming years are likely to bring an unprecedented increase in the rate of discovery in this area, as the emerging fields of genomics and proteomics, and the application of global genetic approaches to identify specific classes of environmentally regulated genes, reach their full potential.
Leukotriene B4 biosynthesis by erythrocyte-neutrophil interactions.

Publisher Summary The chapter presents a study on leukotriene B 4 biosynthesis by erythrocyte-neutrophil interactions. Experiments on transcellular biosynthesis should conform to the following criteria: (1) are the cells under investigation likely to occur together in vivo ; (2) are the ratios of the respective cells likely to occur together in vivo ; (3) are the cells sufficiently pure to provide unambiguous conclusions regarding the origin of the eicosanoid under study; and (4) do transformations of synthetic substrate and cellularly "donated" substrate correspond. The chapter outlines the experimental procedures to assess these criteria for investigations on erythrocyte-neutrophil interactions. The original investigations demonstrated that combinations of human neutrophils plus erythrocytes, with appropriate stimulation, produce more leukotriene B 4 (LTB 4 ) than neutrophil suspensions alone. This was significant because erythrocytes do not contain detectable phospholipase A 2 or 5-1ipoxygenase activity and have therefore been regarded physiologically inert in terms of leukotriene formation. In the procedure for isolation of human erythrocytes, human venous blood (from drug-free volunteers) is collected using sterile sodium citrate as an anticoagulant (9: 1, v/v). In the process of neutrophil-erythrocyte leukotriene biosynthesis, the transcellular metabolism of neutrophil-derived LTA 4 is initiated by stimulating various neutrophil/erythrocyte mixtures with the calcium ionophore A23187.
Synthesizing Representative I/O Workloads for TPC-H

Synthesizing I/O requests that can accurately capture workload behavior is extremely valuable for the design, implementation and optimization of disk subsystems. This paper presents a synthetic workload generator for TPC-H, an important decision-support commercial workload, by completely characterizing the arrival and access patterns of its queries. We present a novel approach for parameterizing the behavior of inter-mingling streams of sequential requests, and exploit correlations between multiple attributes of these requests, to generate disk block-level traces that are shown to accurately mimic the behavior of a real trace in terms of response time characteristics for each TPC-H query.
A Solution to the Fundamental Philosophical Problem of Christology

I consider the fundamental philosophical problem for Christology: how can one and the same person, the Second Person of the Trinity, be both God and man. For being God implies having certain attributes, perhaps immutability, or impassibility, whereas being human implies having apparently inconsistent attributes. This problem is especially vexing for the proponent of Conciliar Christology – the Christology taught in the Ecumenical Councils – since those councils affirm that Christ is both mutable and immutable, both passible and impassible, etc. Many extant solutions to this problem approach it by claiming that the predicates are incompatible when said of the same thing without qualification, but that once the appropriate qualification is added, compatibility is achieved. I provide a different approach. Here I argued that the predicates can be understood so that they are compatible. I then work out the logical relations between the predicates, so understood, showing that no contradiction follows from understanding them in the way I suggest. After that, I consider some of the motivations we have for believing the purportedly incompatible pairs to be, in fact, incompatible, and argue that, on the view offered here, we can salvage most of our intuitions that motivate taking the predicates as incompatible. Finally, I consider three objections.
Helping Elementary Preservice Teachers Learn to Use Curriculum Materials for Effective Science Teaching

Curriculum analysis, modification, and enactment are core components of teacher practice. Beginning teachers rely heavily on curriculum materials that are often of poor quality to guide their practice. As a result, we argue that preservice teachers need to learn how to use curriculum materials for effective teaching. To address this concern, the authors conducted a study in which three teacher educators taught elementary science methods courses incorporating a major focus on curriculum analysis and modification based on Project 2061 Instructional Analysis Criteria. Analysis of pre–post assessments, classroom artifacts, classroom dialogue, and postcourse interviews indicated that preservice teachers accurately applied and appropriated a modest set of criteria whose intended meanings most closely matched their own understandings, were most closely aligned with their own goals and criteria, or were made accessible through systematic use and attention within the methods sections. However, many did not find the materials analysis criteria useful or comprehensible and based their curricular decisions on their own criteria. Furthermore, some preservice teachers resisted engaging in these practices that may have seemed too analytical, inauthentic, and destabilizing. These findings pointed us toward a revised theoretical framework and new approaches to better support preservice teachers' effective participation with curriculum materials. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:345–377, 2008
Quantitative determination of the structural units in phosphorus-selenium glasses by 31P dipolar and magic-angle-spinning NMR spectroscopy.

The detailed quantitative speciation of phosphorus and selenium microstructures in phosphorus-selenium glasses is derived from combined $^{31}\mathrm{P}$ spin-echo and magic-angle-spinning NMR experiments. The results illustrate that the structure of these glasses differs from the chemically ordered or clustered structures previously proposed, but are also at variance with a completely random distribution. There is a distinct preference for the formation of P-Se versus P-P and Se-Se bonds, which can be quantified from the present experiments. The site speciation shows no dramatic changes near the composition (40 at.% P) corresponding to the rigidity percolation threshold.
Repeatability of Gas Holdup in a Fluidized Bed Using X-Ray Computed Tomography

Characterizing the hydrodynamics in fluidized beds is important to many processes from producing biofuels to coating pharmaceuticals. X-ray computed tomography (CT) can quantify local time-averaged phase fractions in multiphase systems that are highly dynamic, like fluidized beds. This paper describes the calibration methods used to produced CT images of a 15.24 cm diameter fluidized bed, how in-house software used these CTs to calculate gas holdup, and how well multiple CTs of a dynamic fluidized bed produced repeatable results while varying bed material and superficial gas velocities. It was concluded there is a very high degree of repeatability using the calibration methods and in-house software developed.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Electrocortical and electrodermal responses covary as a function of emotional arousal: A single-trial analysis

Electrophysiological studies of human visual perception typically involve averaging across trials distributed over time during an experimental session. Using an oscillatory presentation, in which affective or neutral pictures were presented for 6 s, flickering on and off at a rate of 10 Hz, the present study examined single trials of steady-state visual evoked potentials. Moving window averaging and subsequent Fourier analysis at the stimulation frequency yielded spectral amplitude measures of electrocortical activity. Cronbach's alpha reached values >.79, across electrodes. Single-trial electrocortical activation was significantly related to the size of the skin conductance response recorded during affective picture viewing. These results suggest that individual trials of steady-state potentials may yield reliable indices of electrocortical activity in visual cortex and that amplitude modulation of these indices varies with emotional engagement.
Introducing learning infrastructures: invisibility, context, and governance

The call for papers for this special issue of Learning Inquiry requested submissions that asked authors to consider learning infrastructures in the social sciences. I intended learning infrastructures as a double entendre. The first meaning was to question what are the infrastructures of learning and to develop answers to the question, ‘‘what infrastructures does learning require in our contemporary world?’’ The second meaning of learning infrastructures was to question how we learn about infrastructures in the social sciences. There is a tension between those meanings which highlights this tension as one of the central problems of infrastructure studies. Infrastructure studies as a field has the thesis of invisibility. The invisibility thesis is that infrastructure fades from our vision and memories and accordingly fades as a research topic as it becomes naturalized and culturalized to become part of the background operations of our everyday life; simply put, infrastructure becomes invisible in everyday life (Star and Ruhleder 1994; Hunsinger 2005a, b). On the other hand, politicians, educators, researchers, and designers face the duty of making infrastructures visible and concrete to our constituents, students, colleagues, users, and audiences in order to legitimize the infrastructures and our practices surrounding them. To legitimize our work, we have to promote both the transparency and our ability to know about infrastructures. Our interest in our ability to come to know and the visibility of infrastructures for specific uses is contrasted with the need of our everyday lives to make infrastructure fade into the background. This fading into the background of infrastructure removes and fixes in place meanings from the field of interpretation thus making it easier to understand our ecological status and context. Forgetting infrastructures, as such, makes life easier. Life becomes very difficult, very quickly, if we have to consider infrastructures like roads, bridges, fire hydrants, electricity, etc., in our everyday consciousness. Star and Ruhleder explain the relational nature of infrastructure, which explains in part why some infrastructure participates in our distributed cognition, while the complex relationships other infrastructures are embedded in covers them from our consciousness. ‘‘The foundation of these emerging models is relational: no artifact, computer-based or otherwise, is a
Neurologic aspects of infections in international travelers.

Background:As international travel for business and pleasure becomes part of contemporary lifestyle, the clinician today is confronted with an increasing number of travelers returning ill with unfamiliar syndromes. The physician will encounter a myriad of patients with exotic infections, emerging in
Community Remembering Fear and Memory in a Chilean Shantytown

The dictatorship in Chile perpetrated massive human rights violations for 17 years, causing a rupture in social processes and engendering fear in the population. Data being gathered in an ongoing p...
Trophies, Treasure, and Turmoil: College Athletics at a Tipping Point

Turmoil: a term associated with college athletics for over 100 years. But you would be hard pressed to find a year like 2014 in college-sports history. In this year alone, the US judicial and arbit...
The Complicating Effect of Uncertain Flapping Wing Kinematics on Model Validation

In order to experimentally validate an aeroelastic modeling tool, a flapping mechanism has been built to flap a flexible wing structure about a single axis. A comparison of the flexible tip deformation during the flapping stroke is of particular interest. Due to the small size of fully-scaled mechanisms, the "commanded" kinematics may differ substantially from what is observed. A crucial input into any numerical flapping wing model, the temporal derivatives of the flapping kinematics, is then not known with certainty. For the current work, the flap rotation is measured with a non-contact image correlation technique, and a Fourier series fit is used to obtain flapping velocities and accelerations. The resulting match between experimental and numerical tip displacements is satisfactory for a very small range of harmonic number. A recommended strategy for future numerical modeling efforts is to include the entire flapping system (power source, actuation, wings) into the framework in order to improve the vali...
A method for restraining awake rats using head immobilization

A method for restraining awake rats using head implant immobilization is described. In order to reduce stress to the individual animal, rats were restrained side by side in pairs during the adaptation and experimental periods. This technique was used in studies of central regulation of cardiovascular function. In particular, microdialysis probes were placed stereotaxically in deep nuclei of the cerebellum while mean arterial pressure and heart rate were monitored in the awake rat. After initial habituation, normal levels of heart rate and blood pressure obtained during restraint indicated that this is essentially a nonstressful procedure. This technique could also be used for a variety of other experimental conditions where head movement is not desirable, such as during oculomotor or vestibular experiments.
Protein-Affinity of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Water

The interactions of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with ferritin protein in water were investigated. It was found that SWNTs are naturally protein-affinitive in an aqueous ferritin solution, resulting in significant ferritin−SWNT conjugation and the solubilization of the nanotubes. The conjugation is further enhanced and stabilized in the presence of a coupling agent for amidation to promote the formation of covalent linkages. The natural protein-affinity of SWNTs may be alleviated or even eliminated by the functionalization of the nanotubes with hydrophilic polymers or better with oligomeric poly(ethylene glycol) moieties.
A view of the future of molecular electronics

Abstract The article describes some prevailing thoughts and an approach to the development of molecular circuit elements for molecular electronics. Three basic principles are proposed and exemplified by a particular example of a suitable molecule. The model relies upon the current state of the art in science and technology.
Quantifying spatiotemporal variability of fine particles in an urban environment using combined fixed and mobile measurements

Abstract Spatiotemporal variability of fine particle concentrations in Indianapolis, Indiana is quantified using a combination of high temporal resolution measurements at four fixed sites and mobile measurements with instruments attached to bicycles during transects of the city. Average urban PM 2.5 concentrations are an average of ∼3.9–5.1 μg m −3 above the regional background. The influence of atmospheric conditions on ambient PM 2.5 concentrations is evident with the greatest temporal variability occurring at periods of one day and 5–10 days corresponding to diurnal and synoptic meteorological processes, and lower mean wind speeds are associated with episodes of high PM 2.5 concentrations. An anthropogenic signal is also evident. Higher PM 2.5 concentrations coincide with morning rush hour, the frequencies of PM 2.5 variability co-occur with those for carbon monoxide, and higher extreme concentrations were observed mid-week compared to weekends. On shorter time scales ( −3 of the stationary measurements (once the temporal variability is removed). Localized extreme values of PM 2.5 concentrations ranged in the spatial dimension from a few hundred meters up to 2 km, and contributed an average of 4.4 μg m −3 to ambient concentrations.
Oxidation and self-repair of the zinc-based high temperature coating for niobium

Abstract The oxidation and self-repair processes of Zn coatings on Nb have been studied at 1600 °F and 1800 °F. The oxidation products are always an outer layer of dense ZnO backed by a porous shell of zinc-niobates and niobium oxides. The growth rate of the ZnO-oxygen barrier layer is diffusion controlled, providing the coating with its durability. Zinc vapour from the Nb-Zn phases beneath this oxide shell provides the coating with an exceptional self-repair capability. Experimental evidence of the Zn-vapour transport process in the repair of large coating flaws is presented.
Spin label motion in the internal aqueous compartment of spinach thylakoids

We have measured the motion of the spin label TEMPAMINE (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl piperidine-N-oxyl-4-amine) in the internal aqueous compartment of spinach thylakoids by using potassium ferricyanide (80 mm) to remove TEMPAMINE signals eminating from the external aqueous regions. We found (1): that ferricyanide does not inhibit phosphorylation or electron transport at the concentrations required for TEMPAMINE broadening, but TEMPAMINE acts as a potent uncoupler of electron transport; (2) that TEMPAMINE does not bind detectably to the thylakoid membrane or thylakoid components during the time course of a typical electron spin resonance experiment, but that some binding does occur over a 48-h period to intact thylakoids; (3) that tightly packed intact thylakoids or thylakoids which have been disrupted in a 20% Triton X-100 do not hinder the motion of TEMPAMINE by more than a factor of 1.9; (4) that TEMPAMINE in the presence of 80 mm potassium ferricyanide gives rise to a signal characteristic of TEMPAMINE tumbling isotropically in an aqueous environment with a bulk viscosity of about 10 cP; and (5) that, although ferricyanide leaks slowly into the thylakoid interior, it does not alter the measurement of TEMPAMINE rotation. We conclude that the thylakoid interior is more viscous than bulk water. This may have functional significance regarding transport of electrons from Photosystem II and I to the ATP synthetase.
Review of The Bologna Process—Harmonizing Europe's Higher Education

Reinalda, Bob, and Ewa Kulesza. 2005. The Bologna Process—Harmonizing Europe's Higher Education . Opladen, Germany: Barbara Budrich Publishers. ISBN: 3866490429. The pan-European education reform k...
4-Hydroxynonenal regulates 26S proteasomal degradation of alcohol dehydrogenase

The lipid peroxidation product 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) has been shown to interfere with protein function. The goal of this study was to determine the effects of substrate modification by 4-HNE on protein degradation. Equine liver alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH, EC 1.1.1.1) treated with 2-fold molar excess 4-HNE was degraded by a rabbit reticulocyte lysate (RRL) system approximately 1.5-fold faster than control, while treatment with concentrations up to 100-fold molar excess aldehyde were inhibitory to degradation. Involvement of the 26S proteasome (EC 3.4.99.46) was demonstrated through the use of specific proteasome and ATPase inhibitors, and confirmed by measuring the extent of ADH polyubiquitination. Tryptic digestion and LC/MS analysis of 4-HNE-treated ADH identified modification of two zinc chelating Cys residues. Through molecular modeling experiments a conformational shift in both zinc-containing regions was predicted, with an approximate doubling of the distance between the structural zinc and its respective chelating residues. Modification of residues in the active site zinc binding motif resulted in less pronounced alteration in protein structure. The data presented here demonstrate accelerated ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of ADH modified with 4-HNE, and suggest a conformational change after 4-HNE docking as a mechanism behind these observations.
New sucrose phenylpropanoid esters from Polygonum perfoliatum.

Five diferuloyl esters of sucrose, 6‘-acetyl-3,6-diferuloylsucrose (helonioside B) (1); 2‘,4‘,6‘-triacetyl-3,6-diferuloylsucrose (2); 1,2‘,4‘,6‘-tetraacetyl-3,6-diferuloylsucrose (3); 1,2‘,6‘-triac...
Causes and consequences of winter mortality in fishes

Winter mortality has been documented in a large number of freshwater fish populations, and a smaller, but increasing, number of marine and estuarine fishes. The impacted populations include a number of important North American and European resource species, yet the sources of winter mortality remain unidentified in most populations where it has been documented. Among the potential sources, thermal stress and starvation have received the most research attention. Other sources including predation and pathogens have significant impacts but have received insufficient attention to date. Designs of more recent laboratory experiments have reflected recognition of the potential for interactions among these co-occurring stressors. Geographic patterns in winter mortality are, in some cases, linked to latitudinal clines in winter severity and variability. However, for many freshwater species in particular, the effects of local community structure (predators and prey) may overwhelm latitudinal patterns. Marine (and estuarine) systems differ from freshwater systems in several aspects important to overwintering fishes, the most important being the lack of isolating barriers in the ocean. While open population boundaries allow fish to adopt migration strategies minimizing exposure to thermal stresses, they may retard rates of evolution to local environments. Geographic patterns in the occurrence and causes of winter mortality are ultimately determined by the interaction of regional and local factors. Winter mortality impacts population dynamics through episodic depressions in stock size and regulation of annual cohort strength. While the former tends to act in a density-independent manner, the latter can be density dependent, as most sources of mortality tend to select against the smallest members of the cohort and population. Most stock assessment and management regimes have yet to explicitly incorporate the variability in winter mortality. Potential management responses include postponement of cohort evaluation (to after first winter of life), harvest restrictions following mortality events and habitat enhancement. Future research should place more emphasis on the ecological aspects of winter mortality including the influences of food-web structure on starvation and predation. Beyond illuminating an understudied life-history phase, studies of overwintering ecology are integral to contemporary issues in fisheries ecology including ecosystem management, habitat evaluation, and impacts of climate change.
A Report on Haemagogus Mosquitoes in the United States with Notes on Identification (Diptera: Culicidae)

During the l956 and 1957 approximately 190 collections were made from tree holes along the Texas-Mexico border between Brownsville and El Paso in search of Haemagogus equinus Theobald. This jungle mosquito, a known vector of the yellow fever virus, has only recently been reported from the United States. Tree-hole breeding mosquitoes of several species were recovered in 55 of the collections but H. equinus was found only six times (three times in one cavity) and only in the Brownsville region, where other workers have also recorded this species. It seems well established in the Brownsville area but its population is probably small as compared with those of other tree-hole mosquitoes. Several larvae were collected that may represent a species other than H. equinus. Methods of distinguishing H. equinus from other mosquitoes in this country are discussed, and a key is included for all mosquito larvae known to occur in tree holes in the eastern half of the United States. Additional studies are necessary before positive conclusions can be drawn regarding the possible future status and importance of Haemagogus mosquitoes in this country.
The nitrite anion binds to human hemoglobin via the uncommon O-nitrito mode.

The nitrite anion is known to oxidize and degrade hemoglobin (Hb). Recent literature reports suggest a nitrite reductase activity for Hb, converting nitrite into nitric oxide. Surprisingly, no structural information about Hb−nitrite interactions has been reported. We have determined the crystal structure of the ferric Hb−nitrite complex at 1.80 A resolution. The nitrite ligand adopts the uncommon O-nitrito binding mode. In addition, the nitrito conformations in the α and β subunits are different, reflecting subtle effects of the distal His in orienting the nitrite ligand in the O-nitrito binding mode.
Novel Mechanisms of Drug Action: Functional Selectivity at D2 Dopamine Receptors

Pharmacological dogma teaches that every drug or compound that binds to a receptor has the property of "intrinsic efficacy" (i.e., the ability o f that molecule to c ause agonist, antagonist, partial agonist, or inverse agonist effects). Although the observed response in any system ("intrinsic activity") can be influenced by many biological factors (e.g., receptor expression level), theory has held that "intrinsic efficacy" is a property of each molecule at a target receptor. Recently, data from many G protein-coupled receptor systems demonstrate that some drugs may have markedly different functional effects acting through a single receptor. This chapter will demonstrate this phenomenon with the dopamine D 2 receptor, and show how both model compounds (e.g., dihydrexidine and its select analogs) and the novel atypical antipsychotic drug aripiprazole have function-specific characteristics. These data illustrate that these c ompounds can cause effects as diverse as pure antagonism versus full agonism solely explicable by their binding to the D 2 L receptor. These data have led to a new hypothesis called variously "functional selectivity" or "agonist trafficking" that posits that the conformational change induced by non-endogenous ligands for a receptor may cause differential functional activation depending on the G protein, and, possibly, other associated modulating and scaffolding proteins associated with the target receptor. We also provide two examples (N-n-propyldihydrexidine and aripiprazole) showing that functional selectivity in vitro predicts novel behavioral effects in vivo. Not only does the functional selectivity hypothesis provide an explanation for previously contradictory observations, it also opens new horizons for drug discovery. It provides a route to novel drugs targeting only some of the functions modulated by a single receptor, something with implications at both the basic and clinical level.
Rheological and micro-Raman time-series characterization of enzyme sol-gel solution toward morphological control of electrospun fibers.

AbstractRheological and micro-Raman time-series characterizations were used to investigate the chemical evolutionary changes of silica sol–gel mixtures for electrospinning fibers to immobilize an enzyme (tyrosinase). Results of dynamic rheological measurements agreed with the expected structural transitions associated with reacting sol–gel systems. The electrospinning sols exhibited shear-thinning behavior typical of a power law model. Ultrafine (200–300 nm diameter) fibers were produced at early and late times within the reaction window of approximately one hour from initial mixing of sol solutions with and without enzyme; diameter distributions of these fibers showed much smaller deviations than expected. The enzyme markedly increased magnitudes of both elastic and viscous moduli but had no significant impact on final fiber diameters, suggesting that the shear-thinning behavior of both sol–gel mixtures is dominant in the fiber elongation process. The time course and scale for the electrospinning batch f...
On the molecular mechanisms of solar energy storage during the photocycle of the other photosynthetic system in nature, bacteriorhodopsin

Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is the only protein found in the purple membrane of Halobacterium halobium, a light-harvesting bacterium. bR absorbs light and undergoes a cycle involving intermediates appearing in different time domains (from fractions of picoseconds to several milliseconds). As a result, the protonated Schiff base (PSB) deprotonates, and protons are pumped from inside to the outside of the cell membrane, creating proton gradients that are energetically responsible for making ATP. Using time-resolved Raman and optical spectroscopic experiments, the following results and possible conclusions are obtained. (1) Unlike chlorophyll, bR does not use an antenna system, i.e., each absorbing molecule is a reaction center. (2) Isomerization of its retinal chromophore, which leads to the first step in energy storage by charge separation, occurs on the subpicosecond time scale. (3) The deprotonation of the PSB and a tyrosine, which occur on the 40 {mu}s time scale, is found to have activation energies comparable to H-bond energies. This, together with the fact that the temporal quenching of the tryptophan fluorescence follows the time profile of the deprotonation strongly suggests that the latter process is controlled by protein conformation changes. (4) Cations are found to be required for the deprotonation process and are believedmore » to control the protein conformation required for this process. Possible mechanisms responsible for the decrease in the pK{sub a} of the PSB from 13.3 to <2.6 during the photocycle, and are thus responsible for the deprotonation process, are discussed.« less
Massive Rotator Cuff Tear in an Adolescent Athlete: A Case Report:

Full-thickness rotator cuff tears in the young athlete are a rare injury. These injuries typically result from an acute traumatic event in a contact athlete, as opposed to overuse injuries more commonly seen in throwing athletes. Acute tears may be initially overlooked, with the symptoms attributed to other, more common causes, such as cuff contusion or brachial plexus neuropraxia (“stinger” or “burner”). If undiagnosed, the tear may progress to an irreparable state at the time of eventual diagnosis. Therefore, rotator cuff tear must be included in the differential for acute shoulder injuries in the young athlete. This article presents a case of an adolescent athlete with a traumatic, massive rotator cuff tear that was diagnosed and managed promptly with excellent outcome.
A Text Mining Model for Strategic Alliance Discovery

Strategic alliances among organizations are one of the central drivers of innovation and economy and have raised strong interest among policymakers, strategists and economists. However, discovery of alliances has relied on pure manual search and has limited scope. This research addresses the limitations by proposing a text mining framework that automatically extracts alliances from news articles. The model not only integrates meta-search, entity extraction and shallow and deep linguistic parsing techniques, but also proposes an innovative ADT-based relation extraction method to deal with the extremely skewed and noisy news articles and AC Rank to further improve the precision using various linguistic features. Evaluation from an IBM alliances case study showed that ADT-based extraction achieved 78.1% in recall, 44.7% in precision and 0.569 in F-measure and eliminated over 99% of the noise in document collections. AC Rank further improved precision to 97% with the top-20% extracted alliance instances. Our case study also showed that the widely cited Thomson SDC database only covered less than 20% of total alliances while our automatic approach can covered 67%.
A statistical model of apparent pore size distribution and drainage capillary pressure

Abstract Apparent pore size distributions of porous media are commonly obtained from capillary pressure measurements. Drainage capillary pressure curves depend on the penetration pressures of pore necks and the interconnectivity of pore space that determines access to the necks. In this paper, a probability distribution function is proposed to describe the apparent pore size distributions of porous media. The distribution function can be integrated directly to obtain the related mathematical model of capillary pressure versus wetting phase saturation. The model parameters, related to entry pressure, pore size sorting factor, characteristic pore neck radius, and retained wetting phase saturation, can be obtained by fitting the model to experimental capillary pressure curves. Examples of determining model parameters from measured data are presented. The physical significance of each parameter is demonstrated by its effect on apparent pore size distributions and capillary pressure drainage curves. The model provides a dimensionless capillary pressure function that corresponds to a generalized form of the Leverett J-function.
Heart rate and ventilatory behaviour of young lobsters, Homarus gammarus L. during hypoxia

Abstract The heart and scaphognathite beat behaviour of juvenile (10–15 g) lobsters, Homarus gammarus L., was investigated in various oxygen tensions (0–150 mm Hg). In normoxia, unstressed animals had a beat rate of 90 beats · min−1 for both organs; in progressive hypoxia the scaphognathite beat rate increased up to 240 beats · min−1 in Pw O2 20–30 mm Hg whereafter it decreased rapidly. Heart rate was stable down to the same oxygen tension, at lower tensions it decreased to less than 20 beats · min−1. The recorded heart impedance increased in hypoxia, i.e. the lower the Pw O2 the higher the recorded amplitude. It is possible that an increase in heart beat volume occurs to compensate for the lowered frequency in low Pw O2.
Calcific metamorphosis of the pulp: Its incidence and treatment

Abstract Periapical roentgenograms of 881 patients were examined and calcific metamorphosis of the pulp was diagnosed in forty-one teeth of thirty-four patients, an incidence of 3.86 per cent. These teeth were examined clinically and roentgenographically 4 years later for evidence of continuing calcification and periapical pathologic change. Only three teeth had developed periapical lesions, and in two of these cases the lesion was between the tooth exhibiting calcific metamorphosis and an adjacent pulpless tooth. An analysis of the data led to the following conclusions: 1. 1. There appears to be a significant correlation between calcific metamorphosis and a history of trauma, particularly if there is a history of tooth mobility as a result of the trauma. 2. 2. Teeth exhibiting calcific metamorphosis usually respond to the vitalometer, but generally more electric current is required. 3. 3. Not all such teeth become discolored; furthermore, there seems to be no correlation between the amount of discoloration and the degree of calcific metamorphosis. There also seems to be no correlation between the amount of discoloration and the response to the vitalometer. 4. 4. Calcific metamorphosis may be a pathologic deviation from the normal pulp, but during the first few years after trauma an accompanying periapical rarefaction on the roentgenogram is rare. 5. 5. The only definite criterion for endodontic or surgical intervention in calcific metamorphosis appears to be the appearance of periapical rarefaction on the roentgenogram.
Least-Squares Mass-Dependence Molecular Structures

The major part of the difference between the zero-point and equilibrium moment of inertia of a molecule is a homogeneous function of degree 12 in the atomic masses. The use of explicit mathematical models of is studied here as a means of determining near-equilibrium molecular structures from the zero-point moments of inertia of a range of isotopomers. It is found that models with more than two parameters per axis generally give strongly correlated fits for the number of isotopomers typically available. The two-parameter model, where N is the number of atoms, mi are the atomic masses, and M is the molecular mass, usually gives well-conditioned fits with standard deviations in the parts-per-million range, and structures called that are often close to equilibrium structures. Laurie-type corrections for hydrogen atoms and parameters to describe isotopic rotations of the epsilon tensor can also be included. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.
Assay of catecholamines in human plasma: Studies of a single isotope radioenzymatic procedure

Abstract The sensitive specific radioenzymatic procedure for determination of catecholamines originally described from our laboratory by Coyle and Henry (1) has been optimized for use in assay of human plasma levels of dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine. Dopamine and the total of norepinephrine and epinephrine are assayed by 0-methylation while norepinephrine is determined by N-methylation. Epinephrine is calculated from the difference between the 0-methylation and N-methylation procedures. In a group of 13 normal subjects, plasma levels of epinephrine were found to be 67 ± 9.2 pg/ml, norepinephrine 208 ± 16.9 pg/ml and dopamine 33 ± 8.1 pg/ml. Dopamine determinations are of low reliability because of relatively high blanks and necessary corrections.
Temperature and electric field dependence of the picosecond electron drift velocity in a-Si:H

Abstract The electron drift-mobility in undoped hydrogenerated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) was measured with picosecond resolution using an optically-detected time-of-flight technique. From 240 to 400K the drift-mobility increased from 1 to 4 cm 2 /Vs. No evidence of dispersion was found; this result strongly constrains trapping models for the temperature-dependence. A superlinear dependence of the drift-velocity upon the electric field was also observed at 300K and below.