cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Misappropriation of Teleonomy

The word “teleonomy” has been proposed to refer to the study of goal-directed processes without the encumbrances of teleological explanations. Those who have proposed the new term have disagreed about which of the encumbrances of teleological thought they were seeking to avoid. Various biological authors have sought to attach the concept of teleonomy to particular explanatory systems, such as natural selection or cybernetics. But in so doing they have reinstituted the most crippling weakness of teleological thought: the failure to provide a definition independent of explanation by which goal-directed processes may be identified. Any attempt to attach teleonomy to a particular explanatory system prevents its use for a more important purpose, to provide a concept by which to refer to organization in nature without prejudice to the manner in which that organization is to be explained. The availability of such a concept would be useful in avoiding patterns of circular thought, which are all too familiar in the behavioral and biological sciences.
Elementary Theory of Manifolds

The theory of manifolds is basic for the theory of Lie groups and Riemannian and Einsteinian geometries. The introduction of the manifold concept into general relativity around 1960, mainly by Martin Kruskal, put a new light on that subject and clarified the topological properties, both local and global, of space-time models. Statistical mechanics deals with flows on manifolds. Other applications of manifolds to physics appear from time to time, because of their basic geometric nature. Only finite-dimensional manifolds will be discussed. For more general manifolds, see Lang 1962.
Nursing Issues in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Migraines

Nurses can play at least five key roles in headache management: history documentation, patient education, participation in follow-up visits and phone calls, leading groups, and directing patients to headache resources .
Development policy, Western Europe and the question of specificity:

In the Anglophone literature on local and regional development policy there are tendencies to overextension of claims from one side of the Atlantic to the other, or there is no comparative framing ...
Abstract WP512: Leisure-time Physical Activity Reduces the Risk for Stroke in Adults: A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies

Introduction: The magnitude of the association between physical activity and stroke in adults has not been firmly established. Hypothesis: Physical activity is associated with a reduction in the ri...
The relative importance of queen and king initial weights in termite colony foundation success

In termites, primary reproductives proceed through dispersal flight with finite metabolic reserves. During colony foundation, the mated pair requires just enough resources to produce the first few workers, through biparental care. When alloparental care is established, the primary reproductives are fully supported by their own offspring. It was, therefore, argued that the pressure to accumulate large quantities of metabolic reserves in termite imagoes was relaxed over evolutionary time, which resulted in a progressive reduction in alate size compared to ancestral wood roaches. However, such directional reduction in size may partially be countered if mated pairs with relatively large internal metabolic resources are more successful than mated pairs with relatively low internal resources. This hypothesis was tested with Coptotermes gestroi by establishing incipient termite colonies with a wide range of combinations of female and male initial weights in laboratory conditions. Both females and males depleted most of their internal resources within 9 months, and the combined initial weight of female and male explained 27% of the variation in incipient colony growth. Mature colonies that can invest into high-quality alates may have a slight fitness advantage; however, this advantage may be secondary to other environmental factors, as during large Coptotermes dispersal flights, a vast majority of alates die within the first few days, which would increase the fitness of colonies that invested in quantity over quality. Within a given termite species, the relative size of imagoes may, therefore, reflect a reproductive strategy trade-off emerging from the life history of the species.
Palliative Radiation Therapy for Bone Metastases in Neuroendocrine Neoplasms.

Abstract Purpose Bone metastases are reported in 10% to 12% of patients with neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) and can lead to pain and skeletal-related events (SREs), resulting in diminished quality of life and functional status. In other solid tumors with bone metastases, radiation therapy (RT) is an established treatment approach for SREs, yet few data are available in NENs historically considered to be radioresistant. We hypothesize that RT is effective for pain and other SREs in NENs and aimed to delineate any differences in pain palliation and time until progression of pain between different fractionation and dosing schedules of RT. Methods and Materials We retrospectively reviewed 686 records of patients with NENs treated at the institution between 2011 and 2018 and identified 28 (4.1%) patients treated with RT for 61 cases of SREs. The primary endpoint was change in patient reported pain scores after RT. Results All 28 patients experienced bone pain. Nineteen sites were treated with a single fraction (doses of 800-1800 cGy) and 42 sites with fractionated regimens (doses of 900-3750 cGy over 3-15 fractions). In 55 of 61 cases (90%), patients experienced improvement in pain after RT. The median time to recurrence or progression of pain was 3.5 months. Significant differences were found between primary site and change in performance status (P = .024), sex, and reported magnitude of pain score decrease after RT (P = .025). There were no differences in the time to the progression of pain, change in performance status, and degree of improvement in pain based on age, chemotherapy received during RT, or radiation site. Outcomes were similar for patients who received single-fraction versus fractionated regimens (P = .545) and between those receiving palliative versus ablative RT regimens (P = .812). Conclusions Although the majority of cases in this NEN cohort benefited from RT, additional studies on the use of RT in the treatment of painful bone metastases are warranted.
The Wisdom of Germline Editing: An Ethical Analysis of the Use of CRISPR-Cas9 to Edit Human Embryos

With recent reports that a Chinese scientist used CRISPR-Cas9 to heritably edit the genomes of human embryos (i.e., germline editing) brought to term, discussions regarding the ethics of the technology are urgently needed. Although certain applications of germline editing have been endorsed by both the National Academy of Sciences (US) and the Nuffield Council (UK), this paper explores the ethical concerns related even to such therapeutic uses of the technology. Additionally, this paper questions whether the technology could ever feasibly be contained to the therapeutic realm. Consequently, this paper necessarily considers the ethical concerns related to enhancement uses of the technology even if only therapeutic applications are initially considered. In light of the concomitant risks, this paper assesses the technology's countervailing benefits to conclude they do not prevail given that similar outcomes can largely be achieved with existing technologies. Consequently, this paper recommends an international ban on germline editing.
Neonatal and pediatric platelet transfusions: current concepts and controversies.

Purpose of reviewIn this review, we focus on three specific concepts related to platelet transfusion in the neonatal and pediatric population: choice of transfusion threshold; use of ABO-mismatched platelets; transfusion of pathogen-reduced or inactivated platelets.Recent findingsRecent trials suppo
Green Cartoons: Toward a Pedagogy of the Animated Parable:

The use of short animated films to address important social issues and societal needs has a rich tradition. These cartoons follow a stream of ecological propaganda in a variety of films that promot...
Purchasing power parity and uncovered interest parity: another look using stable law econometrics

In this study, we will re-examine the long-run PPP and UIP relationships by using standard cointegration test procedures but with critical values that are appropriate under infinite variance errors. These tests are performed using monthly observations over the period January 1973 December 1999 for Belgium, Canada, Deimiark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom against the United States. Finite variance errors are a basic assumption for the distribution theory used to evaluate test statistics for the analysis of cointegration in PPP and UIP. But some recent studies have suggested that many financial variables, such as exchange rate returns, stock market returns, interest rate movements and commodity price movements, may have infinite variance. In this study we estimate the stability indices of the exchange rate, price index, and nominal interest rate series, and find evidence that most of them have an index of stability a less than 2. That is, it appears fi-om the evidence that a stable nonGaussian model may be more appropriate for these series in our data. Phillips-Perron unit root tests, along with the critical values in Caner (1998), implemented for determining the order of integration of those series generally cannot reject the null of a unit root. The finding of the non-Gaussian stable errors and the unit root in those series provide the motivation for re-doing the cointegration tests for the PPP and UIP relationships. For the PPP hypothesis, the results obtained by the multivariate likelihood-based cointegration tests demonstrate that while with the normal error assimiption the results show some evidence of supporting the weak-form PPP relationship with the United States, weak-form PPP with the stable error assumption receives stronger support from the data. However, the restrictions for strong-form PPP are rejected. For the UIP hypothesis, the uru-estricted cointegration results are consistent and strongly supportive of long-run UIP relationship with the United States under the assumption of stable errors. However, like PPP, the restrictions for strict UIP relationship are rejected.
Provocation and related subjective experiences along the dark tourism spectrum

We examined relations between ‘darkness’ of dark tourism sites, provocation, and select indicators of the quality of visitors’ immediate subjective experiences. Experience observations (N = 101) we...
Climatology and Variability of Warm and Cold Fronts over North America from 1979 to 2018

AbstractThis paper describes the development and analysis of an objective climatology of warm and cold fronts over North America from 1979-2018. Fronts are detected by a convolutional neural networ...
Measurements and modeling of infrared reflectance signatures of microparticle traces on surfaces

Standoff detection of hazardous materials using infrared backscattering spectroscopy shows promise due to its speed of detection, sensitivity, chemical specificity, eye safety, and the ability to perform detection in a stealthy manner. However, infrared diffuse reflectance spectra of trace particles on substrates exhibit a strong dependence on substrate type, particle size, and mass loading. This has a negative impact on the performance of detection algorithms and false alarm rates when using commercially available spectral databases. We present two models that are quickly computed yet capture most of the observed spectral features. Model I is best suited for calculating the diffuse reflectance spectra of trace amounts of particles on relatively smooth substrates, while model II extends the applicability of model I to particles on very rough substrates. The models can be used for algorithm development and training. The main inputs to the models are the analyte and substrate optical constants as a function of wavelength, and the particle size distribution and average mass loading. The accuracy of the models was checked by comparing to experimentally measured diffuse reflectance spectra of several carefully prepared samples.
Do Pandemics Shape Elections? Retrospective voting in the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic in the United States

In 2020, many observers were surprised that the COVID-19 outbreak did not appear to have swung the election. Early returns showed little indication that harder-hit areas swung away from the incumbent GOP. In 1918, however, the United States also held an election in the middle of a devastating pandemic. Using county-level epidemiological, electoral, and documentary evidence from 1918-20 we find that flu mortality had a statistically-significant negative effect on the Congressional or gubernatorial vote. The swing, while precise however, was relatively small and not enough to determine the results. We find no effect from flu mortality on turnout rates or on the 1920 presidential election. Our results hold using overall mortality in 1917 and distance to military camps as instruments for 1918 flu deaths. They also withstand tests of coefficient stability and alternative specifications. Considering that the 1918 flu was much more severe than the 2020 COVID pandemic, the historical evidence implies that surprised observers of the 2020 election should not have been so surprised.
Resolving the Precipitation Microphysical Variability Induced by Orographic Enhancement in Complex Terrain Over the San Francisco Bay Area

Radar quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) and forecast (QPF) over the coastal mountain area in Northern California can be very challenging due to the complex precipitation microphysics induced by land-ocean interaction in the coastal regions and orographic enhancement in the mountainous areas. A number of previous studies have documented the precipitation characteristics in this complex domain using data collected from remote sensors such as S-band profiling radar (S-PROF) and/or in situ measurements of raindrop size distributions (DSD) at the surface. This study extends the earlier work by including new DSD measurements both from the valley (Santa Rosa) and the mountain (Middletown), to characterize the orographic enhancement of precipitation and diagnose the bulk microphysical properties of rainfall. Two major rainfall types in this area, namely, non-bright band and bright band rain, are identified based on the observations from S-PROF. Several DSD and rainfall parameters are derived from the measured raindrop spectra, and the microphysical characteristics are investigated for different rainfall types and terrains (i.e., valley vs mountain).
Fluid Restriction After Transsphenoidal Surgery for the Prevention of Delayed Hyponatremia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Abstract Objective Delayed hyponatremia is the primary cause of readmission after transsphenoidal surgery, with a reported incidence of 9% to 30.7%. Studies have failed to identify consistent predictive factors for postoperative hyponatremia; thus, it is difficult to determine patients that are at a high risk. Fluid restriction is one approach for the prevention of hyponatremia. We have performed a meta-analysis and systematic review of the literature to evaluate the impact of fluid restriction on hyponatremia and hospital readmissions. Methods Ovid EMBASE, PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane were searched from inception to May 2021, using the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, and Study question format: Do patients who underwent transsphenoidal surgery and followed a postoperative fluid restriction regimen differ in terms of hyponatremia and readmission rates? Studies that implemented fluid restriction and reported hyponatremia and/or readmission rates were included for analysis. Data were pooled by meta-analysis and analyzed using fixed effect and random effect models. Results A total of 143 manuscripts representing 103 unique studies were identified, with 5 studies included for analysis, yielding a pooled cohort of 1586 patients: 594 on fluid restriction protocols and 992 control patients. Fluid restriction protocols ranged from 1.0 to 2.5 L and varied in the length time between postoperative days 1 to 15. Patients on fluid restriction had a decreased risk of hyponatremia (risk ratio: 0.34; 95% CI, 0.21-0.57; P Conclusion Postoperative fluid restriction after transsphenoidal surgery represents an effective method for the prevention of hyponatremia and hospital readmission and has the potential to decrease health care costs.
Outcomes with CD34-Selected Stem Cell Boost for Poor Graft Function after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

ABSTRACT Poor graft function (PGF) is a life-threatening complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) characterized by multilineage cytopenia in the absence of mixed donor chimerism ( © 2021 American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Increased Incidence of Thrombosis in a Cohort of Cancer Patients with COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: Increased rates of thromboembolism (TE) have been reported in patients with COVID-19, even without prior predisposition to thrombosis. Cancer patients are already predisposed to a hypercoagulable state. This study was designed to assess the TE incidence in COVID-19+ patients with active cancer and its impact on survival. METHODS: Data from cancer patients with documented COVID-19 during the dates March 15th-April 10th, 2020, were retrospectively reviewed. Active cancer was defined as disease treated within the past year. Diagnosis and evaluation of thrombosis were done at the clinicians' discretion. All imaging studies' reports within 30 days of the COVID-19 positive test were reviewed for identification of new arterial and/or venous TE. Patients were followed for 30 days from the date of COVID-19+ test for development of TE, hospital length of stay (LOS), and mortality. RESULTS: Of 90 patients, 11 (12.2%) were found to have 13 new TE within 30 days of COVID-19+ test: 8 (8.9%) arterial and 5 (5.6%) venous. Arterial TE was primarily new strokes and/or microvascular cerebral disease (7) with 1 splenic infarct. Venous TE was superficial (1) and deep (3) venous thromboses with 1 pulmonary embolism. Peak D-dimer (DD) values were numerically higher in the TE group versus those with no TE, median peak DD, 7.7 versus 3.2 µg/mL, p = 0.25. Kidney disease was more frequent among patients with TE (72.7%) versus those without TE (31.6%), p = 0.02. Prophylactic or therapeutic anticoagulation (AC) in the inpatient setting was more common among those without TE, any AC, TE versus no TE, 9.1% versus 79.0%, p < 0.0001. Only 1 patient on enoxaparin prophylaxis developed TE. Mortality was higher in the TE group than in those without TE (hazard ratio: 2.6; 95% CI [1.2-5.6], p = 0.009). Cancer type, presence of metastases, administration of prior chemotherapy, patient setting (inpatient, intensive care unit, outpatient, emergency department visit), LOS, and ventilation did not correlate with increased incidence of TE. CONCLUSION: Cancer patients with COVID-19 have high overall TE rates with a significant incidence of arterial events. TE was associated with worse survival outcomes.
Glutamatergic agents for OCD and related disorders

Pharmacotherapy remains inadequate for many patients with OCD; there is an urgent need for alternative pharmacological strategies. Convergent evidence suggests imbalance in glutamate, the brain's primary excitatory neurotransmitter, in some patients. This has motivated interest in glutamate modulators in patients who are unresponsive to standard pharmacotherapeutic approaches. While no glutamate modulator can be considered proven as an efficacious treatment of OCD, promising suggestions of benefit have been reported for memantine and riluzole. The evidence is thinner for N-acetylcysteine, but this agent's low cost and benign side effect profile make it a reasonable consideration in certain patients. Intriguing research on D-cycloserine and ketamine suggest potential benefit as well. It is notable that these agents all work by different, and in some cases opposite, mechanisms; this suggests that we have much to learn about the role of glutamate dysregulation in the etiology of OCD, and of glutamate modulators in its treatment.
Preparing for politics: Judith Butler's ethical dispositions

The question of Judith Butler's ‘politics’ and their normative justification has been raised by critics and supporters alike for some time. The number of recent texts dedicated to this topic suggests that it remains an unresolved and still pressing question. I argue that in order to identify and evaluate the political implications of Butler's work, we must first recognize the relationship and distinction between four vectors of her thinking: her diagnosis of the human condition, her expression of specific normative aspirations, her defense of a distinct ethical comportment and finally her theory of political engagement. I conclude that Butler implicitly counsels the cultivation of certain ethical dispositions, including generosity, humility, patience and restraint, as part of a practice of preparing to engage in a kind of politics that breaks radically with the mastery- and sovereignty-seeking variety all too familiar to us in contemporary times.
GeneX Va: VBC open source microarray database and analysis software.

Developed by the Virginia Bioinformatics Consortium (VBC), GeneX Va is an open source, freeware database and bioinformatics analysis software for archiving and analyzing Affymetrix GeneChip®data. I...
Change in Methylation of Salmonella Bacteriophage P3 Deoxyribonucleic Acid with Host-Controlled Modification by Escherichia coli

Modification of bacteriophage P3 by passage through Escherichia coli K was correlated with a 54% decrease in the content of 6-methylaminopurine in the phage deoxyribonucleic acid.
Record of Prehistoric Debris Avalanches on the North Flank of Mount St. Helens Volcano, Washington

In the crater walls and deep canyons on the north flank of Mount St. Helens, dacitic volcaniclastic rocks and domes of Pine Creek age (2.5-3.0 ka and possibly older) are pervasively deformed and contain deposits of possibly two debris avalanches. The base of the younger avalanche deposit contains numerous logs, one of which yielded an age of 2590±120 14C years B.P. The Pine Creek section is capped by slightly faulted andesite and basalt of Castle Creek age (1.7-2.2 ka). In the northeast and northwest walls of the crater, dacite domes of Pine Creek age and older are pervasively fractured. North-dipping normal faults and low-angle thrusts cut the domes. We postulate that forceful intrusion caused the deformation and slope failure in late Pine Creek time, in a manner similar to emplacement of the bulging cryptodome in 1980.
Umbilical venous catheter vs umbilical artery catheter.

In their commentary,1 Drs Dudell, Cornish, and Bartlett note that the measurement of mixed venous saturation (SVo2) is routine for infants receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; in such infants, SVo2 can be measured easily without further invasive procedures. The authors recommend that clinicians use SVo2 measurements "more routinely" in other sick newborn infants and state that the measurement can be made with "relative ease" by inserting an umbilical venous catheter into the right atrium. This recommendation raises some concerns:
Monte Carlo Analysis of the Effects of a Blanket-Shield Penetration on the Performance of a Tokamak Fusion Reactor

Adjoint Monte Carlo calculations have been carried out using the three-dimensional radiation transport code, MORSE, to estimate the nuclear heating and radiation damage in the toroidal field (TF) coils adjacent to a 28 x 68 cm/sup 2/ rectangular neutral beam injector duct that passes through the blanket and shield of a D-T burning Tokamak reactor. The plasma region, blanket, shield, and TF coils were represented in cylindrical geometry using the same dimensions and compositions as those of the Experimental Power Reactor. The radiation transport was accomplished using coupled 35-group neutron, 21-group gamma-ray cross sections obtained by collapsing the DLC-37 cross-section library. Nuclear heating and radiation damage rates were estimated using the latest available nuclear response functions. The presence of the neutral beam injector duct leads to increases in the nuclear heating rates in the TF coils ranging from a factor of 3 to a factor of 196 depending on the location. Increases in the radiation damage also result in the TF coils. The atomic displacement rates increase from factors of 2 to 138 and the hydrogen and helium gas production rates increase from factors of 11 to 7600 and from 15 to 9700, respectively.
Trust in science and scientists and the acceptance of evolution

Accepting the concept of evolution is important for the advancement of biological science and has many implications for daily life. However, a large portion of the general public does not currently accept biological evolution. Therefore, it is important to understand what factors are associated with a decline in the acceptance of evolution. Of particular interest for us is the relationship of individuals’ sense of trust in science in relationship to evolution acceptance. Using the Trust in Science and Scientists and Inventory of Student Evolution Acceptance we surveyed 159 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory psychology course. Additionally, we also asked the students questions regarding their religious commitment and political orientation. To analyze the data we calculated correlations, regressions, and conducted a path analysis. We found that lower levels of trust in science and scientists, stronger religious commitment, and more conservative political orientations were associated with a decrease in the acceptance of evolution in an undergraduate sample. We also found that the results shifted as the contexts for evolution changed. While religious commitment has been previously studied, when combined with levels of both trust in science and scientists and political orientation we gain new insight into how different factors combine to influence evolution acceptance, particularly as the evolution context changes. By understanding how these factors are linked to acceptance of evolution, we may be able to start developing strategies for increasing the acceptance of evolution that are consistent with a range of worldviews.
Laparoscopic insufflation with room air causes exaggerated interleukin-6 response.

Background: The gut is a central organ in the postoperative stress reaction. We previously reported that measuring gut-mucosal cytokines may more accurately reflect the response to operative stress. Additionally, we have shown that the gut demonstrates a blunted cytokine response after laparoscopy as compared with laparotomy.
13 Role of local progenitors in the sustenance of networks of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) in the murine stomach

Depletion of ICC networks and consequent changes in electrical slow wave activity and neuromuscular neurotransmission play important roles in diabetic and idiopathic gastroparesis. We have shown that reduced insulin/IGF-I signaling and consequent decrease in stem cell factor (SCF) production underlie the ICC depletion of diabetic gastroparesis. It is, however, unclear whether the ICC loss is caused primarily by the accelerated attrition of mature cells or their impaired regeneration. In this study we identified local ICC progenitors and studied their role in the sustenance of gastric ICC networks. We investigated the expression of CD34, a putative marker for ICC precursors, and receptors for SCF (Kit), insulin, and IGF-I in murine gastric muscles by flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. In freshly dissected tissues, CD34 was not detected in KitBright ICC but a small population of KitLow cells expressed high levels of CD34. These cells were oval-shaped, had no processes, and occurred in small clusters on the serosal and submucosal surfaces of the gastric musculature and in the myenteric region. Unlike mature ICC, they expressed insulin and IGF-I receptors. KitLowCD34+ cells were undetectable and Kit+ ICC were profoundly reduced in gastric muscles cultured in the absence of growth factors for up to 85 days. Soluble SCF added to the culture media for 32–85 days rescued KitLowCD34+ cells and caused their growth into densely packed clusters in the myenteric region or thick chords containing bipolar cells within the muscle layers. These cells had elevated Kit and reduced CD34 expression. Cultures treated in a similar manner with IGF-I to stimulate both soluble and membrane-bound SCF were dominated by normal, Kit+CD34– ICC networks. IGF-I treatments were only effective when initiated within the first 2–4 weeks of culturing, although mature, Kit+ ICC were able to survive longer. In adult H-2Kb-tsA58 mice harbouring the temperature-sensitive large tumour antigen encoded by a mutant strain of simian virus 40, stimulating cell proliferation by culturing at 33°C prevented the decline of gastric ICC even in the absence of exogenous growth factors. We conclude that maintenance of gastric ICC probably involves their regeneration from rare KitLowCD34+ precursors that depend on a nearly uninterrupted supply of insulin or IGF-I. While the development of these cells into ICC can be initiated with soluble SCF, their expansion and conversion into mature, CD34– ICC also requires membrane-bound SCF. Supported by NIH Grants DK58185 and RR16464.
Characterization of a Ranked-Set Sample with Application to Estimating Distribution Functions

Abstract Ranked-set sampling has been shown to provide improved estimators of the mean and variance when actual measurement of the observations is difficult but ranking of the elements in a sample is relatively easy. This result holds even if the ranking is imperfect. In this article, we provide a characterization of a ranked-set sample that makes the source of this additional information intuitively clear. It is applied to show that the empirical distribution function of a ranked-set sample is unbiased and has greater precision than that from a random sample. The null distribution of a Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic based on this empirical distribution function is derived for the case in which perfect ranking is possible. It is seen to be stochastically smaller than the usual Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic based on a simple random sample, resulting in a smaller simultaneous confidence interval for the cumulative distribution function.
The contribution of oxidation and deacetylation to acetaminophen nephrotoxicity in female Sprague-Dawley rats

Young adult female rats are more susceptible to acetaminophen (APAP) induced nephrotoxicity than are male rats. The purpose of the present study was to assess the contribution of oxidation and deacetylation to the expression of APAP nephrotoxicity. Male and female rats received APAP (1100 mg kg(-1) i.p.) alone or following pretreatment with 1-aminobenzotriazole (ABT), a suicide inhibitor of cytochromes P450, or tri-o-tolylphosphate (TOTP), an irreversible carboxyesterase inhibitor. Rats were sacrificed 6 or 24 h following administration of 1100 mg APAP kg(-1) containing [ring-14C]APAP. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) concentration was used as an index of nephrotoxicity. Renal and hepatic non-protein sulfhydryl (NPSH) contents and covalent binding of radiolabel derived from APAP were determined 6 h following APAP administration. Pretreating female rats with ABT, TOTP, or both compounds prevented the APAP-induced elevation in BUN concentration at 24 h. Pretreatment with ABT or ABT plus TOTP prevented APAP-induced depletion of both hepatic and renal NPSH content at 6 h in female rats. In male rats, APAP treatment did not significantly affect hepatic NPSH content. However, renal NPSH content in males was significantly decreased following APAP treatment and the decrease was prevented when rats were pretreated with ABT or ABT plus TOTP. Covalent binding of radiolabel derived from APAP was significantly greater in female kidney as compared to male kidney. Further, covalent binding in female kidney was significantly decreased when rats were pretreated with ABT, TOTP or both. These data suggest that both oxidative metabolism and deacetylation may contribute to APAP-induced nephrotoxicity in rats.
Lipoxygenase catalyzed hydroperoxide formation in microemulsions containing nonionic surfactant

Nearly quantitative conversion of linoleic acid to its hydroperoxide was achieved at room temperature (∼24°C) in microemulsions containing surfactant, water, and organic solvent, using air as the oxygen source, and lipoxygenase from soybeans as the catalyst, providing an excellent route to this strategic intermediate in the synthesis of important industrial products.
The photodisintegration of bismuth and the lead isotopes

The photodisintegration of bismuth and the lead isotopes is studied by measuring the neutron emission cross sections. The lead targets are enriched in Pb/sup 206/, Pb/sup 207/, and Pb/sup 208/. The cross sections obtarned for all four isotopes are very similar. They peak near 13.8 Mev, have cross sections integrated to 18.5 Mev of 3.93 Mev x b and display some structure. The structure is shown to agree with the results of calculation. Below the ( gamma ,n) threshold the elastic scatterrng cross sections are measured for lead, radio- lead, and brsmuth. Self-absorption experiments are also performed. The analysis of these data shows that the participating levels have widths of a few volts. An experiment at liquid nitrogen temperature indicated that the levels in Pb/sup 206/ are narrower than those in the other two target materials. (auth)
Effects of short-term gamma irradiation on an old field*

Abstract A 12-year-old field that had been planted in longleaf pine 5 years previously was exposed for 400 hr to a 9200 c Cs137 irradiator in May 1965. Exposure for 400 hr was not sufficient to establish vegetation zones corresponding to different radiation levels, however, Fimbristylis autumnalis did invade the 160 kR zone following exposure. Changes in floristic composition along a radiation gradient exhibited a 50 per cent reduction in similarity and diversity at 530 and 750 R/day respectively. Root biomass production decreased with increased radiation. The reduction was related to direct radiation damage and to indirect damage through the death of shoots followed by root degradation. Terminal stem elongation in longleaf pine was reduced to 50 per cent by 1 R/day. At the end of the 1965 growing season, mortality resulted in all pine that received 9000 R.
Ion-exclusion chromatography of condensed phosphates on a cation-exchange resin

The ion-exclusion chromatography of orthophosphate (PO43−) and several condensed phosphates (P2O74−, P3O105− and P3O92−) was investigated using a cation-exchange resin column in the H+ form. The phosphates eluting from the column were monitored as the corresponding acids with flow coulometric and conductometric detectors. The retention volumes of the phosphates increased with increase in the concentration of organic solvents (acetone and dioxane) in the eluent, and the increases were greater in water-dioxane than in water-acetone. A good separation of the phosphates from each other could be achieved by gradient elution with 80% dioxanewater.
Character tables and Sylow normalizers

Let $ \mathcal{Q} \in \mathrm{Syl}_q (G) $ , where G is a p-solvable group. We show that $ \mathbf{N}_{G}(\mathcal{Q}) $ is a p′-group if and only if each irreducible character of G of q′-degree is Brauer irreducible at the prime p. This result is generalized to $ \pi $ -separable groups, and one consequence, which can also be proved directly, is that the character table of a finite solvable group determines the set of prime divisors of the normalizer of a Sylow q-subgroup.
COWRI: Critical Ocean Wildlife Recovery Initiative

COWRI, the Critical Ocean Wildlife Recovery Initiative has been developed by the Wildlife Conservation Society, New York, through the Aquarium for Wildlife Conservation and the Osborn Laboratories of Marine Science, with three major objectives: basic and applied research; public awareness and conservation education; marine conservation policy. The authors introduce the concept of COWRI and report on the current progress of the three programme areas.
Understanding the Relationship Between Communication and Political Knowledge: A Model Comparison Approach Using Panel Data

The purpose of this study was to examine more closely the assumptions of causality in research on communication and political knowledge. Although most communication theory suggests that communication causes learning, some have argued for the reverse causal direction or reciprocal causality. Others have confounded these concepts—in conjunction with political interest—in measures of political “sophistication” or “expertise.” We collected panel data (N = 1,109) on a national sample in June and November 2000. We employed a model comparison approach to identify the best fitting model among alternatives that included models of unidirectional and reciprocal causality in both lagged and synchronous models, controlling for prior political interest and various demographic factors. The data are most consistent with a model of causality that is unidirectional running from Time 2 measures of news use and political discussion to Time 2 political knowledge.
Synthesis and characterization of cell-permeant 6-nitrodibenzofuranyl-caged IP3

We have synthesized in a 6-nitrodibenzofuranyl (NDBF) derivative of inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) for efficient two-photon uncaging in living cells. As its hexakis acetoxymethyl ester, this caged compound may be applied at low concentration to the extracellular milieu to load the intact astrocytes in acutely isolated brain slices from the mouse cortex. Two-photon irradiation of single astrocytes evoked intracellular calcium signals that required 10% of the energy dosage compared to nitroveratyl (NV)-IP3. Since NDBF-IP3 has a 5-fold higher quantum yield than NV-IP3, these data imply that photolysis of the new NDBF caged compound mobilized intracellular calcium about twice as efficiently as the NV cage.
Tools for Enabling Automatic Validation of Large-Scale Parallel Application Simulations

Validation is highly important in parallel application simulations with a large number of parameters, a process that can vary depending on the structure of the simulator and the granularity of the models used. Common practice involves calculating the percentage error between the projected and the real execution time of a benchmark program. However, this coarse-grained approach often suffers from a parameter insensitivity problem in regions of high-dimensional parameter space. In this work we demonstrate the use of our fine-grained validation toolset to capture and compare the statistical characteristics of a parallel application's execution. It is the first toolset to apply fine-grained statistics to large-scale simulation validation, and our experimental evaluation shows that it offers a significant improvement in fidelity when compared to validation using total execution time.
Selections from Current Literature: Using Aspirin for Primary or Secondary Prevention

It seems evident that low doses (75 mg/day) of aspirin are adequate for attempts to prevent thrombotic occlusion of blood vessels. There are no data to suggest that different doses should be used based on whether primary or secondary prophylaxis is planned. However, even low doses of aspirin are associated with relatively small numbers of serious haemorrhagic complications. These complications are outweighed by the benefits of therapy in many examples of secondary prevention in high-risk groups that have already experienced an event or symptoms because of underlying vascular disease. Primary prophylaxis is a more controversial area. There is generally less to gain, and more to lose, when measures are applied to large numbers of asymptomatic people. Based on the available data, the conservative approach for aspirin use will be to reserve primary prophylaxis for those people with the highest estimated risk.
Narration and Identity in Iberian Galician Literature

In her article, "Narration and Identity in Iberian Galician Literature" Dolores Vilavedra discusses the contribution made by Galician narratives to the process of codifying models of a supposedly Galician identity. She shows how the development of literary narration has not always been gradual and that it has undergone stages of stagnation. Further, Vilavedra discusses how the narrative genre itself has gradually altered the prime objectives of its own development according to the apparent need to impose certain paradigms. She proposes that this process is closely linked, on the one hand to the process of language standardization and, on the other, to the gradual consolidation of an autonomous literary system. Dolores Vilavedra, "Narration and Identity in Iberian Galician Literature" page 2 of 8 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 13.5 (2011): Special issue New Trends in Iberian Galician Comparative Literature. Ed. M.T. Vilarino Picos and A. Abuin Gonzalez
Atomic charges for DNA constituents derived from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data.

Abstract We have derived a complete set of atomic charges for DNA from very high resolution, low temperature, single-crystal X-ray diffraction data, collected for a variety of nucleosides and nucleotides: cytidine; deoxycytidine 5′-monophosphate; deoxythymidine; guanosine 5′-monophosphate; deoxyadenosine; adenosine. This set of charges represents the first experimentally based parameterization of an important term in the energy function used in most modeling of DNA. The resulting charges are in good agreement with chemical intuition and experimental observations. They also agree qualitatively with the theoretically derived values now commonly used, but numerous and significant quantitative differences are observed. Possible reasons for the quantitative disagreement are discussed. An averaged set of charges (derived from the experimental results), which can be used in DNA modeling calculations, is presented.
Putative Autocleavage of Reovirus μ1 Protein in Concert with Outer-capsid Disassembly and Activation for Membrane Permeabilization

Capsid proteins of several different families of non-enveloped animal viruses with single-stranded RNA genomes undergo autocatalytic cleavage (autocleavage) as a maturation step in assembly. Similarly, the 76 kDa major outer-capsid protein mu1 of mammalian orthoreoviruses (reoviruses), which are non-enveloped and have double-stranded RNA genomes, undergoes putative autocleavage between residues 42 and 43, yielding N-terminal N-myristoylated fragment mu1N and C-terminal fragment mu1C. Cleavage at this site allows release of mu1N, which is thought to be critical for penetration of the host-cell membrane during cell entry. Most previous studies have suggested that cleavage at the mu1N/mu1C junction precedes addition to the outer capsid during virion assembly, such that only a small number of the mu1 subunits in mature virions remain uncleaved at that site (approximately 5%). In this study, we varied the conditions for disruption of virions before running the proteins on denaturing gels and in several circumstances recovered much higher levels of uncleaved mu1 (up to approximately 60%). Elements of the disruption conditions that allowed greater recovery of uncleaved protein were increased pH, absence of reducing agent, and decreased temperature. These same elements allowed comparably higher levels of the mu1delta protein, in which cleavage at the mu1N/delta junction has not occurred, to be recovered from particle uncoating intermediates in which mu1 had been previously cleaved by chymotrypsin in a distinct protease-sensitive region near residue 580. The capacity to recover higher levels of mu1delta following disruption of these particles for electrophoresis was lost, however, in concert with a series of structural changes that activate the particles for membrane permeabilization, suggesting that the putative autocleavage is itself one of these changes.
Quantal and classical differential-scattering calculations for the electron-impact excitation of argon ions

Electron-scattering cross sections for the 3s\ensuremath{\rightarrow}3p dipole transition in ${\mathrm{Ar}}^{7+}$ are calculated in both the quantal distorted-wave approximation and the classical-trajectory Monte Carlo method. The two approaches are in substantial agreement for the angular differential cross section at 20-, 50-, and 100-eV incident electron energy. This result indicates the degree to which classical scattering influences the dipole excitation. Further distorted-wave calculations are made for the 3s\ensuremath{\rightarrow}3d and 3s\ensuremath{\rightarrow}4s transitions in ${\mathrm{Ar}}^{7+}$ and the 3${\mathit{s}}^{2}$ $^{1}$S\ensuremath{\rightarrow}3s3p $^{3,1}$P transitions in ${\mathrm{Ar}}^{6+}$. The forward-backward asymmetry in the angular distribution of scattered electrons is examined for each transition. All transitions exhibit strong backward scattering at energies near the excitation threshold.
Froth‐frothate concentration relations in foam fractionation

Concentration relations between foams and their residual liquids (frothates) have been examined. Clean air streams of 88, 91, and 96% water saturation were bubbled into aqueous solutions of isobutyl alcohol. The concentration of the alcohol in the collected and collapsed foam was plotted against its concentration in the bulk liquid. Varying the saturation of the air stream resulted in both positive and negative enrichment of the foam with the surface-active alcohol. This suggests that where froth-frothate-concentration relations are unfavorable, a change in operating conditions may advantageously affect these relations and allow the mixture to be foam separated.
Study of hole transport through minibands in symmetrically strained GexSi1-x/Si superlattices

Abstract The hole transport through the minibands of symmetrically strained GexSi1−x/Si superlattices is observed. The superlattices are grown on unstrained Ge x 2 Si 1− x 2 /Si buffer layers. Two peaks are observed from the current-voltage (I–V) and conductance-voltage (dI/dV) measurements, which are due to conduction of light holes through minibands in the superlattice. The second peak shows a negative differential resistance (NDR) region below 100 K. The energies of the minibands are estimated by thermionic emission analysis of current-voltage-temperature (I-V-T) data. Also, we have studied the long wavelength (10 μm) infrared absorption of these superlattice samples by photocurrent measurement. The measured photocurrent as a function of bias shows characteristics similar to the I–V characteristics. The preliminary data on polarization dependence of the photocurrent suggest that the infrared absorption occurs between lighth hole minibands.
Summing over a network without revealing summands

Consider a network in which each node possesses a secret member of a finite abelian group. In this paper we present a protocol by which the nodes can compute the sums of their secret elements without revealing them to each other. The security against discovery of the secret values as a result of conspiracies among nodes or compromise of channels between nodes is shown to depend on the connectivity of the graph defined by the network. Moreover, we are able to quantify exactly the amount of information revealed as a result of a conspiracy of a given set of nodes or compromise of a given set of channels.