cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lymphedema Liposuction with Immediate Limb Contouring.

Liposuction is the treatment of choice for solid predominant extremity lymphedema. The classic lymphedema liposuction technique does not remove skin excess created following bulk removal. The skin excess is presumed to resolve with spontaneous skin contracture. We investigated the technique of simultaneously performing liposuction with immediate skin excision in patients with solid predominant lymphedema and compared the outcome with that from the classic technique. Methods Modified liposuction with skin excision (mLIPO) and standard liposuction without skin excision (sLIPO) were offered to patients with solid predominant extremity lymphedema. Skin traction of 4 cm and undulating skin mobility constituted positive "flying squirrel" sign. Patients with negative "flying squirrel" sign were excluded. mLIPO patients underwent skin excision. Surgical outcomes and postoperative complications were compared. Results The study enrolled 15 and 26 patients into the sLIPO and mLIPO groups, respectively. mLIPO patients demonstrated statistically significant decrease in seroma/hematoma, contour irregularity, and skin necrosis, while experiencing increased procedural satisfaction. Conclusions Skin excision following liposuction for solid predominant lymphedema is safe. It decreases postoperative complication and improves surgical outcome.
After the Affordable Care Act: the Effects of the Health Safety Net and the Medicaid Expansion on Latinxs’ Use of Behavioral Healthcare in the US

This study investigated the association between the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Latinxs’ use of behavioral health services in the US. Organizational responses from the 2010, 2014, and 2016 National Mental Health Service Survey were used to examine the number and proportion of outpatient Latinx admissions over time, as well as the role of Medicaid expansion and health safety net funding on Latinxs’ admissions. Findings showed that there was an increase in Latinx admissions post-ACA (2014). However, 2 years post-implementation (2016), Latinx admissions were at levels lower than prior to the healthcare reform. Despite this overall decrease, behavioral health safety net organizations, particularly those located in states that adopted the expansion of Medicaid, served more Latinxs than behavioral health service organizations outside the safety net. Policy and practice implications to strengthen behavioral safety net organizations that serve Latinxs are discussed.
Low-dose CT image and projection dataset

Purpose To describe a large, publicly available dataset comprising computed tomography (CT) projection data from patient exams, both at routine clinical doses and simulated lower doses. Acquisition and validation methods The library was developed under local ethics committee approval. Projection and image data from 299 clinically performed patient CT exams were archived for three types of clinical exams: noncontrast head CT scans acquired for acute cognitive or motor deficit, low-dose noncontrast chest scans acquired to screen high-risk patients for pulmonary nodules, and contrast-enhanced CT scans of the abdomen acquired to look for metastatic liver lesions. Scans were performed on CT systems from two different CT manufacturers using routine clinical protocols. Projection data were validated by reconstructing the data using several different reconstruction algorithms and through use of the data in the 2016 Low Dose CT Grand Challenge. Reduced dose projection data were simulated for each scan using a validated noise-insertion method. Radiologists marked location and diagnosis for detected pathologies. Reference truth was obtained from the patient medical record, either from histology or subsequent imaging. Data format and usage notes Projection datasets were converted into the previously developed DICOM-CT-PD format, which is an extended DICOM format created to store CT projections and acquisition geometry in a nonproprietary format. Image data are stored in the standard DICOM image format and clinical data in a spreadsheet. Materials are provided to help investigators use the DICOM-CT-PD files, including a dictionary file, data reader, and user manual. The library is publicly available from The Cancer Imaging Archive (https://doi.org/10.7937/9npb-2637). Potential applications This CT data library will facilitate the development and validation of new CT reconstruction and/or denoising algorithms, including those associated with machine learning or artificial intelligence. The provided clinical information allows evaluation of task-based diagnostic performance.
Preimmune Recognition and Response to Microbial Metabolites.

It is now well understood that the eukaryotic host has evolved multiple mechanisms to monitor and respond to the diverse and biochemically active microbiota that thrives in a symbiotic fashion in t...
Photoelectron Spectroscopic and ab Initio Computational Studies of the Anion, HThO.

The synergetic combination of anion photoelectron spectroscopy and high-level relativistic coupled-cluster calculations was employed to study the anion, HThO–. The atomic connectivity of this anion...
An Innovative Approach for Using Cross-Cultural, Collaborative Simulation during Undergraduate Nursing Study Abroad Exchanges

Abstract Background Simulation can be used as an innovative strategy to develop cross-cultural collaboration during study abroad exchanges. The aims of this paper are to describe the innovative process that occurred between students from two universities in the US and Thailand, lessons learned, and research outcomes from a pilot study for improving confidence and cultural competence to provide care and work with others from another culture. Methods The pre-/post-test design used a 26-item questionnaire with open-ended and closed items to measure confidence, satisfaction, collaboration, role implementation, and communication. Results Students’ confidence increased significantly following the cross-cultural simulation, whether delivered in Thai or English. Findings supported a successful opportunity to collaborate cross-culturally which led to increased knowledge and a foundation for future work. Conclusions Study abroad simulation experiences are an effective pedagogy for bringing culturally different students together to increase knowledge, support confidence, increase cultural competence, and learn to work with others from a different culture. Faculty from other institutions should consider planning similar cross-cultural study abroad experiences based on lessons learned.
We See You! Managing Profiles—about Them, about You

This article details selected platforms and includes advice on what to have in a professional profile. It will touch on a handful of profile products as representatives of a particular profile class, including social, business, and identification profiles, altmetrics, and data storage platforms. Profiles have been created for testing and evaluation when they are free; some tools were not examined when an institutional subscription was not available. Blogs and blogging and image-based platforms are not considered.
Lymph chylomicron size is modified by fat saturation in rats.

Mesenteric lymph chylomicrons were characterized during and after the establishment of steady-state triglyceride transport. Chylomicrons were isolated from lymph at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 h after the start of an 8-h infusion of triglyceride emulsion (prepared using either corn or butter oil) at 160 mumol/(kg.h). Lymph flow was not influenced by triglyceride source. Output of triglyceride, measured both in whole lymph and in the chylomicron fraction, was not significantly affected by triglyceride source. Butter oil infusion produced a higher output of chylomicron phospholipid and unesterified cholesterol than was observed in response to corn oil emulsion. Ratios of transported phospholipid to triglyceride for butter oil chylomicrons were higher (1.3- to 1.7-fold) than those for corn oil chylomicrons at every time point examined after the start of lipid infusion. No other compositional differences in chylomicrons due to triglyceride source were observed. These results support the hypothesis that differences in efficiency of absorption and transport between saturated and unsaturated fat are sufficient to explain size differences in secreted chylomicrons in response to corn and butter oil infusions, and suggest that chylomicron number may be influenced by dietary fat saturation.
Complication of Spice Use in a Deployed Combat Setting - Seizure While on Duty

Abstract : Synthetic cannabinoids, also known as Spice, have become increasingly popular since they went on the public market in 2004. Due to the inability to detect Spice on routine urine drug screens, easy accessibility online and in local stores, and the legal high it provides, it is appealing to military communities. In addition, soldiers and sailors were among the earliest users of Spice in the United States. Reports describing the adverse reactions, clinical effects, and complications of Spice are limited. The normal effects of Spice are generally similar to the euphoria provided by cannabis. Commonly reported adverse reactions to Spice include paranoia, scleral injection, xerostomia, visual persecutory hallucinations, sedation, and agitation. We present a case of a deployed soldier who had a seizure after smoking Spice while on duty, and just after working with heavy machinery.
74 Adsorption of ethylamine on silica-supported nickel phosphide

The adsorption of ethylamine on Ni2P/SiO2 was studied by diffuse-reflectance Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), and ab initio calculations. The FTIR results indicate that ethylamine is adsorbed molecularly on the freshly reduced surface, but in the form of an ethylammonium species on the fresh surface exposed to H2S. The TPD results indicate that ethylamine is held strongly, and decomposes to release ammonia at 500 K and ethylene at 883 K. The ethylammonium species is more reactive and releases ammonia at 634 K and ethylene at 622 K. Molecular orbital calculations for the adsorbed ethylamine give good agreement between experimentally observed vibrational frequencies and calculated values. These results indicate that on the freshly reduced surface ethylamine interacts through its nitrogen lone pair with Ni sites in a Lewis acid-base manner.
Differential translation of the genes encoding the proton-translocating ATPase of Escherichia coli

Translation of the gene for the b subunit of the Escherichia coli proton-translocating ATPase has been examined. Oligonucleotide-directed site-specific mutagenesis was used to mutate certain nucleotides in the intergenic region between uncE (c) and uncF (b). One of the changes was predicted to lower the stability of a proposed stem structure which blocked the ribosome binding site of the uncF mRNA segment. The result of the mutation is a nearly 3-fold increase in the rate of synthesis of the b polypeptide. Another mutation was introduced which changed the initiation codon for uncF from GUG to AUG. This change resulted in an approximately 2-fold increase in the synthesis rate of the b polypeptide. These results suggest that secondary structure in the mRNA and the use of a less efficient initiation codon play a role in restricting translation initiation of the uncF mRNA segment. These mechanisms may, in part, explain how the polypeptides of the ATPase complex are synthesized in approximately the same relative amounts as they appear in the assembled complex.
Characterization of distinct tethering and intracellular targeting domains in AKAP75, a protein that links cAMP-dependent protein kinase II beta to the cytoskeleton.

Cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase II beta (PKAII beta) is the principal mediator of cAMP action in neurons. A Kinase Anchor Proteins (AKAPs) are enriched in forebrain neurons and have distinct high affinity binding domains for the regulatory subunit (RII beta) of PKAII beta and components of the dendritic cytoskeleton. The selective accumulation of AKAP.RII beta complexes near dendritic microtubules tethers PKAII beta in proximity with adenylate cyclase in the synaptic plasma membrane and cytoskeletal proteins that are substrates for the kinase, thereby creating intraneuronal target sites for signals carried by cAMP. We have characterized the targeting (anchoring) and tethering (RII beta binding) domains of a prototypic anchor protein AKAP75. Deletion of N-terminal residues 27-48 generated a truncated RII beta-binding protein that partitions equally between the cytosol and detergent-insoluble fractions of HEK293 cells. Further removal of a non-adjacent sequence (residues 77-91) produced a cytosolic protein with unimpaired RII beta binding activity. Thus, two noncontiguous domains mediate the intracellular localization of AKAP75. Boundaries for the RII beta tethering domain were mapped to residues 392-413 by scanning mutagenesis. Residues containing long aliphatic side chains are essential for the high affinity binding of RII beta by AKAP75. Contributions of hydrophobic amino acids to tethering activity also depend on the position of the residue in the sequence. Certain conservative mutations that should not alter significantly the overall hydrophobicity or helicity of the tethering region (e.g. replacement of Leu with Ala) diminish the RII beta binding activity of AKAP75.
Osteochondroma in long‐term survivors of high‐risk neuroblastoma

BACKGROUND Osteochondromas are benign bony protrusions that can be spontaneous or associated with radiotherapy (RT). Current treatment of high-risk neuroblastoma includes dose-intensive chemotherapy, local RT, an anti-GD2 monoclonal antibody (MoAb), and isotretinoin. Late effects are emerging. METHODS The authors examined osteochondromas in 362 patients who were aged 24 months from the time of the first dose of the MoAb. The incidence rate of osteochondroma was determined using the competing risks approach, in which the primary event was osteochondroma calculated from the date of neuroblastoma diagnosis and the competing event was death without osteochondroma. RESULTS A total of 21 osteochondroma cases were found among 14 patients who were aged 5.7 to 15.3 years (median, 10.4 years) and 3.1 to 11.2 years (median, 8.2 years) from the time of neuroblastoma diagnosis. The cumulative incidence rate was 0.6% at 5 years and 4.9% at 10 years from the neuroblastoma diagnosis. Nine osteochondromas were revealed incidentally during assessments of neuroblastoma disease status or bone age. Thirteen osteochondromas were detected outside RT portals and had characteristics of spontaneous forms. Complications were limited to pain necessitating surgical resection in 3 patients, but follow-up was short at 0.3 to 7.7 years (median, 3.5 years). CONCLUSIONS Osteochondromas in long-term survivors of neuroblastoma should be expected because these benign growths can be related to RT and these patients undergo radiologic studies over years, are monitored for late toxicities through and beyond adolescence, and receive special attention (because of concerns about disease recurrence) if they develop a bony protuberance. A pathogenic role for chemotherapy, anti-GD2 MoAbs, or isotretinoin remains speculative. Cancer 2015. © 2015 American Cancer Society. Cancer 2015;121:2090–2096. © 2015 American Cancer Society.
Strategy and prototype tool for doing fault modeling in a nano-technology

Quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) has been proposed as a replacement for CMOS circuits. The major difference between QCA and CMOS is that electronic charge, not current, is the information carrier. A complete set of logic gates has been created and some have been experimentally tested with metal-dots acting as quantum dots. Molecular implementations are currently being examined. This work examines the possible defects that may occur in the fabrication of both types of QCA systems. Fault models for these defects are developed, and a prototype tool with a strategy for fault modeling is outlined.
A leading order QCD computation of π+π+ → π+π+

Abstract We have developed a general computer algorithm to numerically calculate the large number of tree diagrams associated with elastic hadron scattering. We use this method to calculate the amplitude and cross section for the reaction π+π+ → π+π+. The contrasting behaviors of the hard and pinch contributions to this cross section suggest an attractive interpretation of the data on MN and NN elastic scattering.
Direct-manipulation animation: incorporating the haptic channel in the learning process to support middle school students in science learning and mental model acquisition

The study reported here investigated what learners need to construct and master mental models of systems. To enable learners to perform the cognitive processing needed to understand structure, purposes, and functional relations among system entities, we developed a special form of animation: Direct-manipulation animation. Furthermore, we propose a cognitive processing model that elucidates the process of learning with information presented through auditory, visual, and haptic channels. To answer our research questions, an empirical study was conducted with 157 seventh-grade public school students, who were asked to learn about Newtonian mechanics with narrative-only, narrative-and-static-visuals, or narrative-and-animation. The effect of content complexity on learning with different presentation formats was also examined. Our findings suggest that direct-manipulation animation, incorporating the haptic channel in the learning process, provided learners with proper learning experiences to reason about structural causal interactions and functional relations in systems; this in turn facilitated acquisition of mental models of systems.
Abstract 5474: PD-L1 regulates cisplatin chemoresistance in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA PD-L1 has been known to play a major role in suppressing the immune system. The effect of PD-L1 has been clinically studied by inhibiting PD-L1 in tumor and tumor-infiltrating immune cells, thereby activating anti-tumor T cells and re-establishing anti-tumor immune responses. Little is known about a unique role of PD-L1 in cisplatin chemoresistance of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The aim of the current study is to investigate a novel finding that PD-L1 regulates DNA double strand break (DSB) repairs via the MRE11-RAD50-NBS1 (MRN) complex and contributes to cisplatin chemoresistance in HNSCC. Well-characterized HNSCC tumor cell lines were used for this study. JHU 006 tumor cell line has a cisplatin resistant phenotype whereas JHU 020 is cisplatin sensitive. PD-L1 expression was determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and western blot before and after cisplatin treatment. The interactions between PD-L1 and MRN in DNA DSB mediated chemoresistant pathway were studied. PD-L1 siRNA was used to induce chemosensitization of HNSCC cells to cisplatin. Our study demonstrates that treatment of HNSCC cells with cisplatin resulted in increased expression of PD-L1 in cisplatin resistant tumor cells, whereas chemosensitive tumor cells showed no change in PD-L1 expression. Additionally, knockdown of PD-L1 using siRNA resulted in downregulation of NBS1, a key protein of the MRN DNA DSB repair complex. However, NBS1 was able to modulate the levels of PD-L1 expression as the use of either NBS1 siRNA or cells that had been transfected with a dominant negative NBS1 mutant resulted in increased PD-L1 expression. The experimental data suggest that PD-L1 may act as an upstream regulator of NBS1 and may facilitate formation of the MRN complex, enhancing repair of cisplatin induced DNA damage, thereby increasing the cell's resistance to chemotherapeutics. Decreasing expression of PD-L1 via siRNA leads to increased sensitivity of HNSCC cells to cisplatin. This highlights the importance of PD-L1 in the development of chemoresitance and suggests a potential therapeutic strategy for patients with cisplatin-resistant HNSCC. In conclusion, we have identified a novel role for PD-L1 in the development of chemoresistance through its interaction with the MRN complex, which plays a major role in the repair of chemo-induced DNA DSB. Therapies aimed at blocking PD-L1 show great promise because of their ability to enhance both chemotherapeutics and the anti-tumor immune response. Citation Format: Randall S. Ruffner, Andrew Ramsey, Bert W. O'Malley, Daqing Li. PD-L1 regulates cisplatin chemoresistance in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 5474. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-5474
How Far Did Wii Run

‘Exergaming’ (performing exercise utilizing an interactive video game) has become a popular form of physical activity. Some exergames are specifically aimed at improving or maintaining physical fitness. Yet, there is little information available to describe the accuracy of feedback given to participants. PURPOSE: To examine the reported run distance and exercise intensity elicited by the Wii Fit aerobic free run. METHODS: 500 participants ages 10-49 completed the Wii Fit aerobic free run. Oxygen consumption (VO2) was measured. Relative oxygen consumption values were used to determine estimated run distance based upon American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) metabolic equations. Subjects rated perceived exertion using Borg’s scale at a period of every 5 minutes. RESULTS: The Wii Fit overestimated the distance of the aerobic free run by a percentage difference of 49.9 ± 15.7 percent. The average VO 2 during the free run was 22.3 ± 5.8 ml/kg/min or 6.4 ± 1.7 METs, which is considered vigorous intensity by ACSM standards. The mean Rate of Percieved Exertion (RPE) recorded was 12.43 ± 2.46. CONCLUSIONS: The Wii Fit displays an over-estimated figure for distance when performing the aerobic free run. However, the general level of intensity in this sizeable population shows promise as a method of exercise appropriate to improve or maintain fitness in various populations.
Efficient multivariate linear mixed model algorithms for genome-wide association studies

Multivariate linear mixed models (mvLMMs) are powerful tools for testing associations between single-nucleotide polymorphisms and multiple correlated phenotypes while controlling for population stratification in genome-wide association studies. We present efficient algorithms in the genome-wide efficient mixed model association (GEMMA) software for fitting mvLMMs and computing likelihood ratio tests. These algorithms offer improved computation speed, power and P-value calibration over existing methods, and can deal with more than two phenotypes.
RNA Editing Hints of a Remarkable Diversity in Gene Expression Pathways

The grand prize winner of the 1996 Pharmacia Biotech & Science Prize, Scott Seiwert, describes his work and that of others on RNA editing in trypanosomes.
Gender quotas, democracy, and women's representation in Africa: Some insights from democratic Botswana and autocratic Rwanda

Synopsis The ‘fast track’ approach for increasing women's representation in politics through the adoption of electoral gender quotas has replaced the ‘incremental approach’ (waiting for cultural, political and socioeconomic developments over time) in recent years. Scholars have disagreed whether increasing women's representation in sub-Saharan Africa where legislatures are weak and executives are strong is meaningless or may even undermine democracy; or increasing women's representation results in significant substantive or symbolic representation effects. This article compares two divergent cases: Botswana, a stable multiparty democracy in southern Africa and Rwanda, an increasingly authoritarian single party dominant state in east Africa. In Botswana, gender quota campaigns have raised awareness but have been unsuccessful in achieving quotas, and women's parliamentary representation is low and continues to fall. In Rwanda, a constitutional gender quota, including reserved seats combined with voluntary party quotas for women have resulted in a majority female lower house of parliament—the only such parliament in the world. These cases suggest that a democratic state is not necessarily more likely to adopt gender quotas or have more women in parliament than a less democratic one and that there are other factors that are more important in determining both. Moreover, in single party dominant systems with limited democracy, like Rwanda, elected women are able to represent women's interests, and campaigns to adopt quotas, even when unsuccessful as in democratic Botswana, can contribute to substantive and symbolic representation effects even with only limited descriptive representation. Thus, the conditions under which and the ways in which women's interests are represented must be understood broadly.
Nocturnal emission and masturbatory frequency relationships: A 19th-century account.

that were available aboard ship and learned that masturbation and nocturnal emission had dire results. Among other things, they sapped one's strength, caused innumerable degenerative conditions, were symptoms of moral decay, could prohibit his ever marrying or siring children, and would, in all probabili? ty, bring about seniUty and premature death. He was determined to save himself, and it was to that end that he began a record of his sexual activity. By keeping track of emissions, he hoped to gauge the effectiveness of his methods for controUing and ultimately eUminating both induced and involuntary orgasms. It was to be done through study, will power, and what can only be described as clean Uving. He began recording his
Microwave Heating of Multi-Layered Composites for Bonding

A detailed theoretical analysis has been carried out to study selective heating of multilayered dielectric composite under microwave heating by solving an unsteady energy equation with an electric field and frequency dependent heat source term. The source term is computed from simplified Maxwell’s equations under plane wave assumption. Analytical solution obtained from this study is used to understand the effect of layer thickness on temperature distribution in a thin layer of poly-aniline sandwiched between two polymer (PMMA) substrates. It is found that dielectric properties, sample thickness and processing time have significant influence on the microwave heating pattern. The highly dielectric poly-aniline absorbed more microwave power than that of PMMA and attained temperature above the melting point of PMMA in less than 2 minutes. These results show that localized melting of PMMA can be achieved using household microwave. This analytical investigation on multi-layered composites will provide a significant insight to understand and overcome the challenges of selective heating and localized bonding technique.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
“Making Lemonade from Lemons:” Early Childhood Teacher Educators' Programmatic Responses to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

This article describes how early childhood teacher education faculty at one university responded in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and used the disaster to enhance their undergraduate and graduate programs. They explain how they modeled developmentally appropriate practices while responding to community needs. Four companion articles present students' perspectives. Resources and suggestions for teacher educators are included.
Beams steering and diffraction of magnetostatic backward volume waves

This paper reports theoretical calculations of the beam spreading of magnetostatic backward volume waves (MSBVW’s) arising from the finite length of practical transducers. The calculations include the beam steering effects resulting from the pronounced anisotropy of MSBVW propagation. The predicted beam spreading of MSBVW’s is significantly larger than that of SAW’s on YZ LiNbO3. On the other hand, based on comparison with reported experimental results on the beam spreading of magnetostatic surface waves (MSSW’s), it would appear that MSBVW’s suffer smaller beam spreading than MSSW’s.
Synthesis and foaming of water expandable polystyrene-clay nanocomposites

Abstract The typical process used to synthesize water expandable polystyrene (WEPS) was modified and applied to prepare water expandable polystyrene (PS)–clay nanocomposites (WEPSCN). The natural clay can be uniformly dispersed in water due to its hydrophilicity. It can be further carried into the styrene monomer by the formation of water-in-oil inverse emulsion. Via suspension polymerization, spherical PS beads with myriads of water/clay droplets inside were obtained. Upon heating via the hot medium, the PS matrix was expanded to form a cellular structure. Transmission electron microscopy results indicated that nanoclay forms a layer around the cell wall. The presence of nanoclay led to higher water content in the beads and reduced the water loss during storage. Using CO2 as the co-blowing agent, foams with a bi-model structure and lower densities were obtained. Furthermore, CO2 foaming offers an alternative method to utilize dried WEPS/WEPSCN beads. The presence of water cavities significantly enlarges the cell size and leads to a foam product with ultra-low density (∼0.03 g/cc) and low thermal conductivity.
Studies on the flavins in rat liver mitochondrial outer membranes

The incorporation of radioactivity derived from [2-14C] riboflavin into the flavins of rat liver mitochondrial outer membranes was studied. These membranes were found to contain about 0.6 nmol of non-covalently bound flavins per mg protein; the majority is in the form of FAD (73%) and FMN (24%). The membranes also contain about 1.5 nmol per mg of covalently bound flavins. After labeling, radioactive flavins appeared in the non-covalently bound flavins for about 4 h. Most of this radioactivity was in FAC (77%). Neither the rate nor extent of this labeling was affected by cycloheximide (1 mg/kg) administered 30 min prior to the radioactive riboflavin. With the covalently bound flavins, radioactivity was incorporated into the coenzymes for at least 18 h, but the rate of incorporation was much slower. After cycloheximide, radioactive flavins continued to appear in covalently bound flavins for about 2 h, but then stopped. Labeling of both types of flavins after [14C] riboflavin was considerably slower than the incorporation of [3H] leucine into outer membrane proteins. These results suggest that with flavoproteins from the mitochondrial outer membranes, the incorporation of flavins occurs after synthesis of the various apoenzymes is complete.
Microsite Influences on Productivity and Nutrient Circulation Within Two Southeastern Floodplain Forests

At broad spatial scales, floodplain forests of the southeastern USA are often perceived as either nutrient poor or nutrient rich. Perceived differences in nutrient availabilities between oligotrophic blackwater and eutrophic redwater floodplain forests suggest rates of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) are lower on the former. However, for these floodplain types, microsite variation may influence relationships between nutrient circulation and ANPP to a greater extent than landscape position and geomorphology of their associated watershed. Therefore, our objectives were to compare ANPP, nutrient circulation through litterfall and decomposition, and the microbial biomass among microsites that differed in terms of soils and hydrology within two riverine floodplain forests. The two floodplains used in this study were located along the Satilla River, a Coastal Plain blackwater system, and the Altamaha River, a Piedmont redwater system, both of which are located in southeastern Georgia. Microsite influences on ANPP were not significantly different during 1999 and 2000 for the Satilla (SAT) and Altamaha (ALT) floodplains. Litterfall production and patterns of P and Ca circulation on the SAT floodplain were significantly lower for the driest microsite type during both years. Microbial biomass N and P were also lowest for the driest microsite, especially in 2000. Overall, microsites on the SAT displayed greater variation in P and Ca cycling than did those of the ALT. Litterfall production, nutrient circulation in litterfall and decomposition, and the microbial biomass were similar among microsites of the ALT floodplain during both years. These findings suggest that spatial variability in nutrient cycling may be greater for oligotrophic floodplain forests.
Isosingular Sets and Deflation

This article introduces the concept of isosingular sets, which are irreducible algebraic subsets of the set of solutions to a system of polynomial equations constructed by taking the closure of points with a common singularity structure. The definition of these sets depends on deflation, a procedure that uses differentiation to regularize solutions. A weak form of deflation has proven useful in regularizing algebraic sets, making them amenable to treatment by the algorithms of numerical algebraic geometry. We introduce a strong form of deflation and define deflation sequences, which, in a different context, are the sequences arising in Thom---Boardman singularity theory. We then define isosingular sets in terms of deflation sequences. We also define the isosingular local dimension and examine the properties of isosingular sets. While isosingular sets are of theoretical interest as constructs for describing singularity structures of algebraic sets, they also expand the kinds of algebraic set that can be investigated with methods from numerical algebraic geometry.
Inhaled Nitrous Oxide and Cathepsin D Activity in the Lung

Acute exposures of lungs to nitrous oxide in anesthetic concentration results in an initial lowered free activity of cathepsin D. Chronic exposures with either continuous or interrupted anesthetic exposure increases the free activity of this enzyme.
Controlled study of effect psychotherapy on self-reported maladaptive traits, anxiety scores and psychosomatic disease attitudes

IN GENERAL, the evidence for the usefulness of psychologically based treatment of iilness is limited,l and the treatment typically administered is usually rather long. There is hope that newer methods, emphasizing learning principles and cognition, will be more efficient and more acceptable to large numbers of patients. One such method is Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET),2 which is based on the belief that irrational or unrealistic thinking is associated with emotional, behavioral and visceral disturbances. RET consists essentially of efforts to effect emotional and other behavioral changes by teaching patients to perceive themselves and the world more accurately, and to think more rationally about their perceptions. The present paper reports a controlled comparison in a psychiatric out-patient clinic of the course of patients receiving RET with the course of patients receiving no treatment. Our chief interest was in relief of presenting symptoms, but we also observed changes in the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (TMAS) and in the frequency of occurrence of attitudes previously reported to be specifically associated with various psychosomatic diseases.3p4 The “psychosomatic attitudes” were included, even though our patients did not have any of the diseases usually considered psychosomatic, because we were interested in possible future application of RET to those diseases. Change in the attitudes during therapy in the present group of patients might encourage later application of RET to patients with psychosomatic diseases. A related aim of the present work was to discover whether successfully-treated patients, i.e., those whose symptoms were significantly improved during RET, would likewise show improvement in TMAS scores and in the frequency of occurrence of the psychosomatic attitudes. For this purpose, we studied not only successfully-treated patients from the controlled investigation, but also, in order to increase the number available for study, an
Volatility of stock prices and market efficiency

Recently, historical price series along with the dividend series have been used to severely question the Efficient Markets Hypothesis. The literature suggests that the stock prices vary too much to be explained by subsequent changes in dividends. It is argued in this paper that these results require the assumption of stationarity of the price process and that this assumption is not compatible with the random walk model of Efficient Markets. A non-stationary dividend process, which is compatible with the random walk model of Efficient Markets, results in a reversal of earlier results. The new results are shown to be consistent with the empirical findings. Simulations are run to verify the results.
Regeneration and long-term stability of surfactant-modified zeolite for removal of volatile organic compounds from produced water

Abstract We report the results of laboratory-scale evaluation of a produced-water treatment system. The system used surfactant-modified zeolite (SMZ) to strip the volatile organic compounds benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and p -, m - and o -xylene (BTEX) from produced water generated as a byproduct of oil and gas recovery. We used laboratory column studies to (1) investigate how different airflow rates impact regeneration of BTEX-saturated SMZ and (2) perform long-term tests to determine the chemical and physical stability of SMZ in a produced-water treatment system. Varying the airflow rate from 1.3 to 10 pore volumes (PV) per minute did not significantly affect BTEX removal rates. Rather, BTEX removal was controlled by the total number of PV that passed through the SMZ bed, suggesting only minor kinetic effects on regeneration. BTEX sorption and SMZ regeneration profiles varied little over 50 sorption/regeneration cycles. Each cycle consisted of BTEX sorption from 100 PV of produced water followed by regeneration with approximately 2000 PV of air. A weakly decreasing trend was observed for the BTEX distribution coefficients ( K d ), indicating only a small loss in sorption affinity after 50 cycles. The sorption affinity for BTEX was maintained even though 24% of the original surfactant was washed off the SMZ by 5000 PV of produced water. The hydraulic conductivity of the SMZ decreased by roughly 30% after 50 cycles. Most of the hydraulic conductivity loss was likely caused by particle attrition. The results suggest that SMZ is a viable sorbent for removal of volatile organics from oil- and gas-field wastewaters.
838 INCREASED ERYTHROCYTIC CALMODULIN IN HEREDITARY XEROCYTOSIS

Previous studies of the red blood cells of patients with xerocytosis have shown a membrane abnormality with increased permeability to cations with a greater efflux of potassium than of sodium. Consequently these erythrocytes lose potasssium in excess of sodium gained with a decrease in the total cation content in the cells. Osmotically resistant xerocytes are thus formed and are readily identified. Two patients in one family demonstrated abnormal erythrocytic cation content and elevation of calmodulin activity. In these patients calmodulin activity as estimated by stimulation of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity was elevated 3 × above that of normal control erythrocytes and significantly above that found in patients with G-6 PD deficiency. This implies an enhanced exchange of Ca++ between the cytosal and membrane associated sites. Calmodulin controls the location and amount of membrane Ca++−K+ efflux and such a pertubation in Ca++ handling would lead to the type of K+ loss observed in xerocytosis and the resultant morphologic aberrations.
Role of candidate genes in the responses to long-term overfeeding: review of findings.

Summary An overfeeding experiment conducted with 12 pairs of young male identical twins revealed that genetic factors were likely to play an important role in the response to caloric affluence. Significant intrapair resemblance was observed for the overfeeding-induced changes in body weight, fat mass, abdominal fat, fasting insulin, fasting cholesterol and triglycerides. In an attempt to define the molecular basis of these genotype–energy balance interaction effects, a panel of candidate genes has been investigated. Among the most significant findings, an adipsin polymorphism was associated with increases in body weight, total fat mass and subcutaneous fat in response to overfeeding. In addition, the beta2 adrenergic receptor gene Gln27Glu polymorphism showed a strong association with the gains in body weight and subcutaneous fat. Only a few markers were related to abdominal fat changes and, among them, the adipsin Hinc II polymorphism was associated with both computed tomography (CT)-measured abdominal visceral and total fat. The changes in insulin parameters brought about by long-term overfeeding were influenced most consistently by leptin receptor (LEPR) Gln223Arg and insulin-like growth factor-II Apa I polymorphisms. The LEPR Gln223Arg variant was also associated with the changes in plasma total triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations. Further research with larger sample sizes should make it possible to identify the specific contributions of DNA sequence variations at multiple candidate gene loci in the complex response to chronic positive energy balance.
SOME ASTRONOMICAL APPLICATIONS FOR PRECISION HIGH-SPEED COMPUTER INTERFACED MICRODENSITOMETRY.

A representative system description is given and applications of the system to spectral analysis are considered. Applications of the system are related to stellar photometry, astrometry, interferogram analysis, surface brightness photometry, spatial filtering and image enhancement, and aspects of search and detection.
An algorithm for approximate crinkle artifact compensation in pressure-sensitive film recordings

An objective, empirically based image-processing technique was devised to compensate for the presence of crinkle artifact in Pressensor pressure-sensitive film recordings. A spherical indentor was used to produce film stains which deliberately included radially directed artifact streaks, superimposed upon otherwise smooth, nearly axisymmetric stain recordings. An interactive, threshold-based search algorithm was developed to delineate explicitly the perimeters of specific artifacts present within manually (cursor) circumscribed regions where crinkle features were visually apparent. Three mathematical artifact transformation operators were parametrically evaluated in terms of their ability to approximate objectively the corresponding artifact-free axisymmetric pressure fields. All three operators were found to reduce substantially the quantitative deviation from the idealized distributions. When appropriately tuned transformation operators were applied to typical in vitro intraarticular contact stains, the visual prominence of crinkle artifact features was markedly reduced.
The Software Selection Process in Local Governments

This work studies software selection in Illinois police departments to determine what factors are most important in making decisions, these factors' outcomes, and the nature of participation in decision making. The research finds that performance factors are far more important than cost considerations. Those organizations that emphasized performance factors in decision making were more likely to be satisfied, as well as benefit from greater affects of the system. Participation is dominated by the user department with people outside the department playing only a limited role in most cases. The nature of software selection encouraged geographical patterns in software acquisition.
Use of a synthetic adjuvant in an effective vaccination of monkeys against malaria.

Research towards the development of a vaccine against malaria has recently accelerated1, mainly because of a resurgence in the worldwide incidence of the disease2. These investigations have been aided by the use of the owl monkey for direct experimentation with human malaria3–5, techniques for producing Plasmodium falciparum antigen through continuous or shortterm in-vitro cultivation6,7, and the recent demonstration of effective immunization of owl monkeys against P. falciparum 8,9. However, the inclusion of a strong adjuvant in the vaccines seems to be required for the development of protective immunity. Thus, inclusion of the whole mycobacterial cell wall/mineral oil adjuvant (Freund's complete adjuvant: FCA)8,9 or a semi-synthetic derivative of the active component of that cell wall (6-O-stearoyl-N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanyl-D-iso-glutamine: stearoyl-MDP)10,11 has been necessary for the successful immunization of primates against P. falciparum. The use of X-ray irradiated parasites12–14 or substitution of FCA by muramyl-dipeptide15,16 does not result in significant protective immunity. Because the systemic and local toxic responses to the active adjuvants is either unacceptable (as in the case of FCA)10,11, or essentially undescribed (as for stearoyl-MDP), it seemed highly desirable to attempt to identify alternative, well tolerated synthetic compounds with strong adjuvant activity for malarial vaccines. A potential candidate for this role was CP-20,961 (N,N-dioctadecyl-N′,N′-bis (2-hydroxyethyl)-propanediamine), a synthetic lipoidal amine, originally characterized as an interferon inducer17–20, with strong adjuvant activity for humoral and cellular immune responses21,22. We now report that killed P. falciparum merozoite antigen administered with CP-20,961 can effectively immunize owl monkeys against a lethal P. falciparum infection.
Digital elevation maps produce sharper image of Earth's topography

A newly completed global topographic data set—and an even sharper resolution map planned for completion next year—provide substantive refinements over the previously best available elevation map, according to scientists at NASA and the National Imaging and Mapping Agency. The two agencies announced the completion of the new map on 22 August, which they produced from data collected by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). SRTM was the major scientific mission on board Space Shuttle 99 in February 2000.
Towards improvements in the estimation of the coalescent: implications for the most effective use of Y chromosome short tandem repeat mutation rates.

Over the past two decades, many short tandem repeat (STR) microsatellite loci on the human Y chromosome have been identified together with mutation rate estimates for the individual loci. These have been used to estimate the coalescent age, or the time to the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) expressed in generations, in conjunction with the average square difference measure (ASD), an unbiased point estimator of TMRCA based upon the average within-locus allele variance between haplotypes. The ASD estimator, in turn, depends on accurate mutation rate estimates to be able to produce good approximations of the coalescent age of a sample. Here, a comparison is made between three published sets of per locus mutation rate estimates as they are applied to the calculation of the coalescent age for real and simulated population samples. A novel evaluation method is developed for estimating the degree of conformity of any Y chromosome STR locus of interest to the strict stepwise mutation model and specific recommendations are made regarding the suitability of thirty-two commonly used Y-STR loci for the purpose of estimating the coalescent. The use of the geometric mean for averaging ASD and across loci is shown to improve the consistency of the resulting estimates, with decreased sensitivity to outliers and to the number of STR loci compared or the particular set of mutation rates selected.