cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Growth and Development of the Banana Plant I. The Growing Regions of the Vegetative Shoot

This is a study of the vegetative growth of the banana plant, with special reference to the structure of the shoot apex, the origin of the leaf primordia and buds, and the growth of the leaf base into the pseudostem. The various regions in which intercalary growth contributes to the vegetative plant body are described. The anatomical structures observed are illustrated by photomicrographs. Binucleate cells are conspicuous in the leaf bases and in cells produced by intercalary men-stems. The formation of the air chambers which are characteristic of the mature leaf and of the septa, which are formed as persistent sheets of cells which bound these chambers, is described. The cell divisions which build the septa, and also those which cause the eccentric growth of the midrib are noted, and their proximity to adjacent vascular strands is stressed. Other marginal meristems build the lamina of the leaf. The function of the central apical meristem of the shoot is not to create a massive axis which grows in length, for this vegetative function is taken over by the lateral organs, the growth of which greatly overshadows that in the main axis. However, as the vegetative shoot grows older, its central mass of meristem does become progressively larger. Cell divisions in this central area are sparse, though sufficient to increase its bulk slowly, while the main organ-building and cell-multiplying functions are delegated to the lateral organs. This condition changes on flowering when a massive, true, erect stem forms. Axillary buds do not occur in the vegetative shoot, but adventitious buds appear in an anomalous situation. The vegetative shoot behaves as though there is an extremely strong apical dominance, which suppresses all buds and growth in the axis itself. But an elusive question is the mechanism which stimulates, or controls, the behaviour of so many dividing cells, distributed so widely, through so many discrete areas of cell division or intercalary meristematic activity. The frequent proximity of vascular strands, as probable sources of both nutrients and stimuli to cell division, is suggestive here.
Mutual Interaction of Discourse Structures and Relational Pragmatics in Conversational Influence Attempts.

Relational communication scholars have assumed that participant discourse formulates human relationships, but little attention has been given to the mutual interaction of conversational structures and relational pragmatics. This study presents a model of relational influence attempts (RIAs) in dating and marital couples’ conversations, giving particular insight into the role tacit relational knowledge plays in shaping talk. RIAs are conversational influence attempts (CIAs) of relational import. While RIAs often are organized around requests and other request‐relevant discourse found in CIAs (e.g., pre‐requests, hints, and prompts), these influence attempts pertain to relational assertions. The assertive adjacency pair, declaration of love—reciprocation of love, formulates the prototypical speech act analyzed in this study. Variations in this conventional pair are given to support the claim that knowledge of relational pragmatics is required to make sense of conversational influence attempts.
Clostridium botulinum Exoenzyme C3 ADP-Ribosylates and Functionally Modifies p21.bot in PC12 Cells Without Affecting Neurosecretion

Many strains of Clostridium botulinum synthesize an exoenzyme (C3) which catalyzes the specific ADP-ribosylation of a 21 kilodalton substrate (1). All C3-producing strains also make either C1 or D neurotoxins. Botulinal neurotoxins block the release of neurotransmitters from nerve terminals and at the start of our work the C1 and D neurotoxins had been reported to be ADP-ribosyl transferases (2, 3). Hence we decided to determine if there was any relationship between C3-catalyzed ADP- ribosylation and neurosecretion. Here we show that when C3 is introduced into the cytosol of PC12 cells it induces a morphological differentiation but does not alter secretion of a neurotransmitter. By contrast the introduction of a neurotoxin into the cytosol of PC12 cells does block secretion but causes no shape change.
Learned inequality: Racial labels in the biology curriculum can affect the development of racial prejudice

For over a century, genetic arguments for the existence of racial inequality have been used to oppose policies that promote social equality. And, over that same time period, American biology textbooks have repeatedly discussed genetic differences between races. This experiment tests whether racial terminology in the biology curriculum causes adolescents to develop genetic beliefs about racial difference, thereby affecting prejudice. Individual students (N = 135, grades 7–9) were randomly assigned within their classrooms to learn either from: (i) four text-based lessons discussing racial differences in skeletal structure and the prevalence of genetic disease (racial condition); or (ii) an identical curriculum lacking racial terminology (nonracial condition). Over 3-months that coincided with this learning, students in the racial condition grew significantly more in their perception of the amount of genetic variation between races relative to students in the nonracial condition. Furthermore, those in the racial condition grew in their belief that races differ in intelligence for genetic reasons significantly more than those in the nonracial condition. And, compared to the nonracial condition, students in the racial condition became significantly less interested in socializing across racial lines and less supportive of policies that reduce racial inequality in education. These findings show how biology education sustains racial inequality, and conversely, how human genetic variation education could be designed to reduce genetically based racism. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach
Whither delete-k jackknifing for smooth statistical functionals?

The classical jackknifing based on a (without replacement) resampling scheme with deletion of one observation at a time serves the dual purpose of bias reduction and variance estimation. Delete-k jackknifing, for some k > 1, is a variant of this scheme. For not so smooth functionals, such delete-k jackknifing schemes may provide a consistent variance estimator while the classical jackknifing may fail to do so. On the other hand, in delete-k jackknifing, there may be a far greater computational complication. For these reasons, it is quite natural to inquire whether for a smooth statistical functionals, delete-k jackknifing is that desirable or not? In the light of second order asymptotic distributional representations, it is shown that for second order (compact) differentiable statistical functionals, for any k, small compared to n (the sample size), delete-k jackknifing behaves very similar to the classical one. Thus, for smooth functionals there may not be any incentive for delete-k jackknifing.
(792): Pain medication use in older patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy in the Veterans Health Administration

Pain-related medication use over time in patients 65 years or older with Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN) were examined and compared to younger patients using Veteran’s Health Administration (VA) claims for fiscal 2002, 2003, and 2004. Patients with DPN (ICD-9-CM codes 357.2 and 250.6) and at least one claim for a pain-related medication were included in the study. While there were no FDA-approved pharmaceutical agents for managing pain associated with DPN during the study period, a variety of medications are commonly used for this purpose. Pain-related medication utilization included pharmaceutical agents from any of the following five categories anticonvulsants, antidepressants, short-acting narcotics, long-acting narcotics, or non-narcotic analgesics. We excluded patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar or depressive disorder, or anxiety. An average of 33,180 older and 20,687 younger patients per year were available for study purposes. Most patients were men (older cohort: 98.3%; younger cohort 97.1%). While agents from the non-narcotic analgesic category were the most frequently used pain-related medications in both older (67.7%) and younger (78.0%) patients over the study period, utilization of Cox-II Inhibitors only declined significantly for older patients from 2002 (65.7%) to 2004 (45.5%). Utilization of gabapentin and tramadol increased substantially among both cohorts, but by a lesser percentage among older patients (gabapentin: 24.4% to 30.5%; tramadol: 2.4% to 7.5%) than younger (gabapentin: 29.4% to 41.8%; tramadol: 3.4% to 11.1%). Utilization of agents from more than one category of painrelated medication was common, but less so among older than younger patients (48.7% versus 60.0%; p .01). Differing patterns of use between age cohorts may reflect different strategies for managing pain in older DPN patients as a result of greater concerns about drug tolerability, differences in the manifestations of pain associated with DPN as the condition progresses, and/or changes in patient perceptions of pain as they age.
TiO2−X based thermoelectric generators enabled by additive and layered manufacturing

Abstract Traditional thermoelectric modules are acquired as separate components and then integrated by mechanical attachment into the engineering systems. There is, however, an interest and opportunity to manufacture thermoelectric device and basic electronics directly onto engineering structures. Recent studies have shown that plasma spray synthesized sub-stoichiometric titanium oxide (TiO 2−x ) deposits show reasonable thermoelectric figure-of-merit, are capable of operating at relatively high temperatures (∼500 °C), and can be easily and cost effectively deposited onto both planar and cylindrical substrates over large areas with the capability to produce patterned and multilayer assemblies to optimize the power harvesting. This study demonstrates the fabrication and performance of such thermoelectric generators based on n -type TiO 2−x and Ni as the surrogate p -type and interconnect structures embedded within ceramic deposits. Up to 72 thermocouple modules were prepared incorporating both series and parallel connections to augment the performance resulting in a max efficiency of 0.85% for the couple and electric power of 2.43 mW at temperature of 723 K. Preliminary experiments were conducted with Li:Co 3 O 4 as the p -type material with significant performance improvement. The methodologies described in this paper represents a potential pathway for large scale synthesis and fabrication of thermoelectric system directly in waste heat systems over large areas.
MOLECULAR ASPECTS OF BLADDER OUTLET OBSTRUCTION

Lower urinary tract obstruction is a complex disease process wherein interactions between the partially obstructed urethra, detrusor, and central nervous system leads to a constellation of bladder function abnormalities that may not be totally reversible after relief of the obstruction. Although the precise molecular pathophysiology of obstruction-induced bladder dysfunction is still somewhat uncertain, obstruction of the urethra induces gross anatomical, histological, cellular, and molecular alterations in the bladder wall which impairs both bladder storage and emptying.73,38,9,19,42
Trusting Relationships and the Ethics of Interpersonal Action

Trust has generally been understood as an intentional mental phenomenon that one party (the truster) has towards another party (the trusted) with respect to some object of value for the truster. In...
Color, Transparency, and Light in Aristotle

Aristotle says that it is in the nature of color to impart movement to transparent media. Typically this is interpreted as implying that these media must be transparent (in fulfillment) before color moves them. I argue that this is a mistake.
Nineteenth Century Ireland

Within the United Kingdom Ireland’s 32 counties in four provinces, Ulster, Leinster, Munster, and Connacht, held an anomalous position. In the sixteenth century, Henry VIII declared that his kingdom included Ireland. Elizabeth conducted ineffective campaigns against uprisings, and James VI and I settled his fellow Scots in Ireland’s northeastern province, Ulster. There, Scottish Presbyterians displaced Gaelic Catholics and precipitated tensions still burning today. The nineteenth century’s early decades saw Daniel O’Connell’s efforts to repeal the earlier Act of Union, and his successful campaign for Catholic emancipation. The subsequent decades leading to the events of 1916 were plagued by British politicians’ ambivalence about Ireland. It was viewed simultaneously as “the sister island”—to use nineteenth century idiom—and also as an alien place full of dangerous people.
The role of pitch and harmonic cancellation when listening to speech in harmonic background sounds.

Fundamental frequency differences (ΔF0) between competing talkers aid in the perceptual segregation of the talkers (ΔF0 benefit), but the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. A model of ΔF0 benefit based on harmonic cancellation proposes that a masker's periodicity can be used to cancel (i.e., filter out) its neural representation. Earlier work suggested that an octave ΔF0 provided little benefit, an effect predicted by harmonic cancellation due to the shared periodicity of masker and target. Alternatively, this effect can be explained by spectral overlap between the harmonic components of the target and masker. To assess these competing explanations, speech intelligibility of a monotonized target talker, masked by a speech-shaped harmonic complex tone, was measured as a function of ΔF0, masker spectrum (all harmonics or odd harmonics only), and masker temporal envelope (amplitude modulated or unmodulated). Removal of the masker's even harmonics when the target was one octave above the masker improved speech reception thresholds by about 5 dB. Because this manipulation eliminated spectral overlap between target and masker components but preserved shared periodicity, the finding is consistent with the explanation for the lack of ΔF0 benefit at the octave based on spectral overlap, but not with the explanation based on harmonic cancellation.
Comparison of platelet activation through hinge vs bulk flow in bileaflet mechanical heart valves.

Abstract Bileaflet mechanical heart valves (BMHVs) are prone to thromboembolic complications which are believed to be initiated by platelet activation. Platelets are activated by non-physiologic shear stresses in the bulk flow or the leakage/hinge flow, whose contributions has yet to be quantified. Here, the contribution of bulk and hinge flows to the activation of platelets in BMHVs is quantified for the first time by performing simulations of the flow through a BMHV and resolving the hinge by overset grids (one grid for the bulk flow and two for the hinge regions coupled together using one-way and two-way interpolation). It was found that two-way coupling is essential to obtain correct hinge flow features. The platelet activation through the hinge for two gap sizes (250 and 150 μm) is compared to the activation in the bulk flow using two platelet activation models to ensure the consistency of the observed trends. The larger gap has a higher total activation, but a better washout ability due to higher velocities. The maximum shear stress observed in the bulk flow (∼ 320 dyne / cm 2 ) is much smaller than the hinge (∼ 1000 dyne / cm 2 ). However, the total activation by the bulk flow is found to be several folds higher than by the hinge/leakage flow. This is mainly due to the higher flow rate of the bulk flow which exposes much more platelets to shear stress than the leakage flow.
Discrepancies in the Mohs Micrographic Surgery appropriate use criteria

Abstract A previously unreported guideline discrepancy in the Mohs Micrographic Surgery Appropriate Use Criteria highlights the importance of the report’s disclaimer that the ultimate judgment of appropriateness must be made by the physician and the patient. Furthermore, it emphasizes the potential for future revisions in light of emerging data.
Inferring critical transitions in paleoecological time series with irregular sampling and variable time-averaging

Abstract Many ecosystems have abruptly changed in the past and may again in the future, yet prediction and inference of mechanisms causing abrupt changes remains challenging. Critical transitions are one such mechanism, occurring when systems with alternative states cross a threshold. Such transitions are associated with a loss of resilience, often signaled by increasing variability or autocorrelation over time. However, critical transitions are difficult to distinguish from other causal mechanisms, and detection of resilience loss in sedimentary archives can be confounded by time-averaging and discontinuous sampling. Here, we simulate woodland-grassland regime shifts resulting from critical transitions and other mechanisms. We then test the diagnostic ability of two widely-used resilience indicators, standard deviation and autocorrelation time, after alterations common in sedimentary records: time averaging, discontinuous sampling, and varying sedimentation rates. Standard deviation—but not autocorrelation time—still distinguishes gradually forced critical transitions from other regime shifts when sedimentation rates are constant, and can be robust to abrupt changes in sedimentation rate. Unfortunately, shifts in standard deviation alone are rarely definitive evidence of critical transitions. Under exponential sedimentation regimes, which are common in younger upper-column sediments, neither resilience indicator is effective. Discontinuous sampling weakened the strength of resilience indicators. A demonstrative analysis of abrupt early Holocene deforestation recorded at Steel Lake, Minnesota showed signals consistent with resilience loss during early Holocene aridification. Hence, signals of resilience loss can be recovered from sedimentary archives, but efficacy varies among indicators and sedimentation regime. High-resolution and multi-proxy records remain essential to inferring causes, while process-based time series modeling such as this can be calibrated to systems of interest to explicitly test hypotheses about abrupt change causes.
Macrophage colony-stimulating factor pretreatment of bone marrow progenitor cells regulates osteoclast differentiation based upon the stage of myeloid development

Osteoclasts (OCs) are large, multinucleated bone resorbing cells originating from the bone marrow myeloid lineage, and share a common progenitor with macrophages and dendritic cells. Bone marrow cells (BMCs) are a common source for in vitro osteoclastogenesis assays but are a highly heterogeneous mixture of cells. Protocols for in vitro osteoclastogenesis vary considerably thus hindering interpretation and comparison of results between studies. Macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) pretreatment is commonly used to expand OC progenitors (OCPs) in BMC cultures before in vitro differentiation. However, the failure of osteoclastogenesis of M-CSF primed bone marrow myeloid blasts has been reported. In this study, we used a simple method of differential adherence to plastic to enrich OCP from mouse BMCs. We found that M-CSF pretreatment of plastic-adherent BMCs (adBMCs) increased the number of CD11b-F4/80+ macrophages and decreased the number of CD11b+ monocytes resulting in decreased OC formation. M-CSF pretreatment of purified c-Kit+ progenitors weakly inhibited OC formation, whereas M-CSF pretreatment of purified c-Kit-CD11b+ progenitors promoted the formation of large OC. M-CSF pretreatment increased the proliferation of both purified c-Kit+ and c-Kit-CD11b+ cells and increased the percentage of CD11b-F4/80+ cells from c-Kit+ progenitors. In addition, M-CSF pretreatment increased the percentage of CD11b+ F4/80- cells from purified c-Kit-CD11b+ cells. M-CSF pretreatment increased the percentage of CD14 + CD16 + intermediate monocytes and subsequent OC formation from human 2adBMCs, and increased OC formation of purified CD14 + cells. Together, these results indicate that in vitro OCP expansion in the presence of M-CSF and bone marrow stromal cells is dependent upon the developmental stage of myeloid cells, in which M-CSF favors macrophage differentiation of multipotent progenitors, promotes monocyte maturation and supports differentiation of late-stage OCP cells.
Zinc diffusion induced precipitation of σ-phase in austenitic stainless steel

Zinc diffusion-induced degradation of AISI 316LN austenitic stainless steel pot equipment used in 55%Al-Zn and Zn-Al-Mg coating metal baths is described. SEM/EDS analyses results showed that the diffused zinc reacts with nickel from the austenite matrix and results in the formation of Ni-Zn intermetallic compounds. The Ni-Zn intermetallic phase and the nickel depleted zones form a periodic and alternating layered structure and a mechanism for its formation is proposed. The role of cavities and interconnected porosity in zinc vapour diffusion-induced degradation and formation of Ni-Zn intermediate phases is also discussed. The formation of Ni-Zn intermediate phases and the depletion of nickel in the austenite matrix results in the precipitation of σ-phase and α-ferrite in the nickel depleted regions of the matrix. This reaction will lead to increased susceptibility to intergranular cracking and accelerated corrosion of immersed pot equipment in the coating bath. Zinc diffusion induced precipitation of σ-phase in austenitic stainless steels that we are reporting in this work is a new insight with important implications for the performance of austenitic stainless steels in zinc containing metal coating baths and other process industries. This new insight will further lead to improved understanding of the role of substitutional diffusion and the redistribution of alloying elements in the precipitation of σ-phase in austenitic stainless steels.
Phosphorylation and Regulation of Contractile Proteins

SUMMARY Phosphorylation of myofibrillar proteins may play an important role in regulating contractile events similar to the regulatory role of protein phosphorylation in metabolic processes. Specific proteins in thin and thick filaments have been purified from muscles and have been shown to exist as phosphoproteins. Purified cardiac troponin is readily phosphorylated by cAMP-dependent protein kinase and in perfused hearts in response to stimuli which increase cAMP. Although skeletal muscle troponin is a phosphoprotein, it is not readily phosphorylated by cAMP-dependent protein kinase nor is it phosphorylated in response to increases in cAMP or contractile activity. The phosphorylation of cardiac troponin appears to be restricted to beta-adrenergic stimulation and is associated with the positive inotropic effect. However, no biochemical effect of the phosphorylation has been provided to explain the positive inotropic response. Myosin is also a phosphoprotein. A specific light chain subunit of myosin is phosphorylated by a myosin light chain kinase. The kinetic properties of three muscle kinases were determined using purified myosin light chain subunits and myosins from cardiac, skeletal and tracheal smooth muscle. Significant quantitative differences in the kinetic properties suggested that each of these muscles contains a catalytically distinct myosin light chain kinase. These myosin light chain kinases were all Ca 2+ -dependent enzymes. The Ca 2+ concentration required for half-maximal activation of myosin light chain kinase from heart is about 1 μM which is similar to the concentrations required for activation of myofibrillar ATPase activity. During electrical stimulation of skeletal muscle, myosin light chain is phosphorylated, presumably due to Ca 2+ stimulation of the contractile and phosphorylation processes. Although it is not clear what role myosin phosphorylation may play in cardiac and skeletal muscle contraction, it has been suggested that phosphorylation of smooth muscle myosin may be essential for actin activation. These results would indicate that myosin phosphorylation may be essential for smooth muscle contraction.
The Search for a Great, Big, Beautiful Tomorrow: Performing Utopia with Non-Human Bodies in the Hall of Presidents

The Magic Kingdom’s Hall of Presidents is steeped in Walt Disney’s vision of a utopian society, a framework that inspired plans for Disney parks worldwide. This patriotic spectacle about the American presidency provides its viewers a vision of a faultless American past using lifelike Audio-Animatronic performers. D’Ambrosi’s essay interrogates the form and function of utopia within the Hall of Presidents through the role of these Audio-Animatronics and the alterations made after the politically divisive 2016 presidential election. Given the behavior of then-candidate Trump during the campaign, many guests protested the inclusion of an Audio-Animatronic Trump in the attraction, citing his “Un-Presidential” behavior. The company’s approach to his script strives to present an inclusive, conflict-free atmosphere that idealizes American identity arguing that Audio-Animatronics can be better model citizens than real people.
A new correlation coefficient for comparing and aggregating non-strict and incomplete rankings

Abstract We introduce a correlation coefficient that is designed to deal with a variety of ranking formats including those containing non-strict (i.e., with-ties) and incomplete (i.e., unknown) preferences. The correlation coefficient is designed to enforce a neutral treatment of incompleteness whereby no assumptions are made about individual preferences involving unranked objects. The new measure, which can be regarded as a generalization of the seminal Kendall tau correlation coefficient, is proven to satisfy a set of metric-like axioms and to be equivalent to a recently developed ranking distance function associated with Kemeny aggregation. In an effort to further unify and enhance both robust ranking methodologies, this work proves the equivalence of an additional distance and correlation-coefficient pairing in the space of non-strict incomplete rankings. These connections induce new exact optimization methodologies: a specialized branch and bound algorithm and an exact integer programming formulation. Moreover, the bridging of these complementary theories reinforces the singular suitability of the featured correlation coefficient to solve the general consensus ranking problem. The latter premise is bolstered by an accompanying set of experiments on random instances, which are generated via a herein developed sampling technique connected with the classic Mallows distribution of ranking data. Associated experiments with the branch and bound algorithm demonstrate that, as data becomes noisier, the featured correlation coefficient yields relatively fewer alternative optimal solutions and that the aggregate rankings tend to be closer to an underlying ground truth shared by a majority.
Analysis of Greenhouse Gases.

Climate change is a result of a complex system of interactions of greenhouse gases (GHG), the ocean, land, ice, and clouds. Large climate change models use several computers and solve several equations to predict the future climate. The equations may include simple polynomials to partial differential equations. Because of the uptake mechanism of the land and ocean, greenhouse gas emissions can take a while to affect the climate. The IPCC has published reports on how greenhouse gas emissions may affect the average temperature of the troposphere and the predictions show that by the end of the century, we can expect a temperature increase from 0.8 C to 5 C. In this article, I use Linear Regression (LM), Quadratic Regression and Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) on monthly GHG data going back several years and try to predict the temperature anomalies based on extrapolation. The results are quite similar to the IPCC reports.
The Paramount Decrees: Lessons for the Future

There are some striking similarities between the tech giants of the 21st century and the powerful Hollywood studios in the second quarter of the 20th century. In their respective eras, each group of companies symbolized the acquisition of economic power by innovative firms and inspired calls to use antitrust law to break up large corporations, deconcentrate the economy, and protect small businesses. In their pursuit of growth, each group of companies harnessed efficiencies and acted aggressively to exclude competition. The studios developed supply chains for mass production and mass distribution of entertainment products. Their success devastated less efficient entertainment industries, such as the “legitimate theater,” vaudevilles, and nickelodeons. They also acted to eliminate competition from rivals in the motion picture industry. The tech giants developed digital platforms, whose success devastated brick-and-mortar industries. They have also acted to eliminate competition from other tech companies. The studios were the target of the most ambitious campaign to reform markets through antitrust enforcement. The story of this campaign could benefit contemporary debates about the future of antitrust law, including assessments of antitrust policy in periods of rapid technological change, vertical arrangements, conspiracy inference, divestitures, and behavioral remedies. This paper summarizes this episode in antitrust history and lessons that it offers.
Inhibitory effect of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) against Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Objective To investigate inhibitory effect of the human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) on the growth of imipenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (IRPA). Methods IRPA added into hUCMSCs were collected as the experimental group; while the IRPA co-cultured with fibroblast were taken as the control group. After 6 hours of co-cultivation, colony forming units (CFUs) of IRPA were counted in each group using plate counting method. Then the levels of Cathelicidin/LL-37 and human β-defensin 2 (HBD-2) in cultured medium were detected by Western-blot and ELISA. Results The CFUs of IRPA in experimental group were less than those in control groups, with significant differences (2.63 ± 0.58) × 106 CFU/ml vs. (3.69 ± 0.91) × 106 CFU/ml; t = 19.93, P < 0.05). Cathelicidin/LL-37 and hBD2 in experimental group were higher than those of experimental group [Cathelicidin/LL-37: (7.99 ± 0.45) ng/ml vs. (0.18 ± 0.04) ng/ml; t = 78.30, P = 0.007; HBD-2: (249.38 ± 14.19) pg/ml vs. (1.00 ± 0.58) pg/ml; t = 78.23, P = 0.009]. Conclusions hUCMSCs plays an inhibitory role on the growth of IRPA. The possible mechanism is that hUCMSCs could produce antimicrobial peptide: Cathelicidin/LL-37 and hBD2. Key words: Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells; Imipenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Cathelicidin/LL-37; Human β-defensin 2
Multi-Period Optimization Model for Siting Capacitated Intermodal Facilities:

The objective of this study is to design an intermodal transport network considering multiple planning periods and accounting for product volume, mode, budget, and inventory at intermodal terminals...
Enhancing agency in career development via cognitive information processing theory

The interconnected aspects of career and mental health posit career as a central feature of human functioning. A perceived lack of control within career and work exacerbates existing challenges ass...
The Limits of Democracy and the Postcolonial Nation State: Mali's Democratic Experiment Falters, while Jihad and Terrorism Grow in the Sahara (Summary and Final Chapter)

The legitimacy of not just “democracy” but of the African State itself, is challenged by the crisis in Mali, The crisis provoked by the coup d’etat of March 2012, led to the collapse of the democratic Malian state, a jihadist Al Qaida take-over of North Mali, and the return of the French Foreign Legion to the Sahara after 54 years of Malian Independence. Why did the Malian State collapse in 2012? Were the various Tuareg "revolts" in North Mali a symptom of State failure, rather than its cause? What were the causes and sources of the jihadi take-over of North Mali in 2012, led by Algerian drug smugglers and Pakistani preachers? Why did the French intervene militarily in January 2013 and will they now stay? What chance has Mali of determining its own future, confronted by the power of international corporations: extractive corporations, criminal mafia corporations, and religious corporations? With 12,000 UN peacekeepers (MINUSMA) and the election of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2013, what now are the prospects for peace and democracy on Mali? What mechanisms exist within Malian society, that might build a sustainable peace economy? How can women mobilize family networks to promote peace and to create employment? Will their efforts avert another round of civil war in 2030?
How Not to Read Nietzsche's Ethics: The Case of Thomas Stern

The essay examines Thomas Stern's NIETZSCHE'S ETHICS (Cambridge, 2020), which purports to offer an account of Nietzsche's "late" ethics as involving what Stern calls a "Life Theory" according to which all living things seek power and it is "ethical" to support this effort. I show that, throughout the volume, Stern either makes claims unsupported by textual evidence or misreads the textual evidence in flat-footed ways. The result is a volume that is both superficial and highly misleading about Nietzsche's work.
Hydrochlorothiazide vs. Chlorthalidone for the Treatment of Hypertension.

Chlorthalidone reduces systolic blood pressure by 10 mm Hg more than hydrochlorothiazide at equal dosages in patients using monotherapy. Low-dose chlorthalidone and controlled-release hydrochlorothiazide reduce 24-hour ambulatory systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure, whereas immediate-release hydrochlorothiazide may only reduce daytime systolic blood pressure.
A Circular Gradient-Width Crossflow Microfluidic Platform for High-Efficiency Blood Plasma Separation

Abstract Separation and collection of blood plasma are required steps for broad ranges of clinical diagnostic assays. Here, we introduce a continuous-flow blood plasma separation microfluidic device based on size exclusion cell separation in crossflow microchannels. A gradient-width structure is utilized to minimize blood cell leakage into the plasma collection channel while maximizing the flow rate for higher throughput. Additionally, the crossflow channels are placed at the corner of the blood channel to enhance Fahraeus effects to reduce the concentration of blood cells around the entrance of the crossflow channels. Combined with a circular geometry that minimizes the footprint of the device for point-of-care diagnosis applications, the developed device significantly improves the performance of blood plasma separation in terms of separation efficiency, degree of hemolysis, and microchannel clogging by blood cells. At a relatively high flow rate of 2,000 µl/h for a passive blood separation device, a plasma extraction ratio of 22% and red blood cell separation efficiency of 97% could be achieved using undiluted whole human blood, which is about 28% higher compared with the conventional crossflow design. The effect of channel height and flow rate on the degree of hemolysis was also investigated, where the optimized device could achieve very little hemolysis (0.01% to 0.5%), demonstrating that the device can produce high-quality blood plasma. Integration of this high-performance, compact, and passive blood plasma separation microdevice with on-chip blood biomarker sensing elements can create a point-of-care diagnosis system with reduced cost, test time, and sample/reagent volume.
Teacher Perceptions of and Experiences with Student Menstruation in the School Setting.

BACKGROUND Menstrual hygiene management is an important public health issue for adolescents. The objective of this study was to explore teacher perceptions and experiences addressing adolescent menstruation experiences at school and examine their perception of the impact of menstruation on student learning. METHODS Teachers in a Midwest school district participated in an online survey about their perceptions of adolescent school-based menstruation experiences, including: experience and comfort-level with providing menstruation assistance, presence of menstrual products in classroom/office for students, perceptions about adolescent school-based menstruation experiences, and perceptions on the impact of menstruation on student learning. RESULTS Two hundred and nine teachers participated in this study. Teachers perceived students' school-based menstruation experiences to be mostly negative, stressful, embarrassing, and focused on concealment. Teachers described school-based menstruation events as a distraction to learning and responded by offering emotional support and menstrual products, typically purchased by teachers. CONCLUSION Teachers' negative perception of about menstruation and distractions in the classroom are amplified by social norms associated with overall menstruation-related stigma. Findings emphasize the importance of educating teachers on how to more positively address student menstruation experiences to foster a more supportive environment conducive to learning for these students.
Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of hepatic lesions: computerized tomographic-guided versus endoscopic ultrasound-guided FNA.

BACKGROUND Computerized tomographic (CT)-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology is a well-established tool in the diagnosis of hepatic lesions. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided FNA (EUS-FNA), developed recently and used predominantly in evaluating mediastinal and pancreatic lesions, provides access to a significant portion of the liver and to perihepatic structures not readily accessible by a percutaneous approach. METHODS A recent experience (1997-2002) with CT-guided FNA of liver lesions at the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) was compared with the first 2.5 years of EUS-FNA experience (2000-2002). Cases were identified using a SNOMED search and all reports and cytologic slides were retrieved for review. RESULTS In 6 years, 34 percutaneous CT-FNA liver biopsies were performed at UAB; in approximately 2.5 years, 16 EUS-FNA liver biopsies were done. In both groups the primary clinical indication was suspected metastatic carcinoma (CT, 41% of cases vs. EUS, 56%). The 2 techniques yielded a similar range of benign, atypical, and malignant diagnoses (CT: 26%, 18%, and 56% vs. EUS: 19%, 25%, and 56%). Because of the clinical setting in which EUS-FNA is usually performed, a much narrower range of neoplasms was sampled by EUS-FNA. Benign gastrointestinal epithelial cells were identified in 60% of the EUS-FNA specimens. CONCLUSIONS Early experience suggests EUS-FNA is comparable to CT-FNA in terms of diagnostic utility for hepatic lesions. Anatomy limits EUS-FNA to only a fraction of the hepatic parenchyma, but that fraction includes the hilum and left lobe of the liver and the proximal biliary tract. The gallbladder, extrahepatic biliary system, and perihilar lymph nodes are readily accessible. Proximate high-resolution ultrasound imaging and cytopathologist involvement in the EUS-FNA process are further advantages. Awareness of artifacts inherent in EUS-FNA sampling (i.e., gut epithelial cells) can minimize a potential diagnostic pitfall. Cancer (Cancer Cytopathol) 2006. © 2006 American Cancer Society.
Real connective K-theory and the quaternion group

Let ko be the real connective K-theory spectrum. We compute ko*BG and ko*BG for groups G whose Sylow 2-subgroup is quaternion of order 8. Using this we compute the coefficients t(ko)G of the G fixed points of the Tate spectrum t(ko) for G = S12 (3) and G = Q8. The results provide a counterexample to the optimistic conjecture of Greenlees and May [9, Conj. 13.4], by showing, in particular, that t(ko)G is not a wedge of Eilenberg-Mac Lane spectra, as occurs for groups of prime order.
Glutathione depletion enforces the mitochondrial permeability transition and causes cell death in Bcl-2 overexpressing HL60 cells

SPECIFIC AIMBcl-2, a protein that blocks apoptosis by inhibiting the mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) and release of cytochrome c, appears to affect normal mitochondrial function by altering electron flow and increasing rates of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. The aim of this study was to investigate the control of Bcl-2 function by glutathione (GSH). HL60 cells were depleted of GSH using L-buthionine S,R- sulfoximine (BSO) or diethyl maleate (DEM). BSO inhibits the rate-controlling enzyme for GSH synthesis, γ-glutamyl cysteine synthetase (γGCS), and DEM is a GSH-depleting agent. The effects of GSH depletion on apoptotic potential in HL60 overexpressing Bcl-2 and neo vector control cells were investigated by determining biochemical indices of apoptosis including ROS production, mitochondrial membrane potential (mtΔψ), mitochondrial cytochrome c release, caspase 3 activation, and DNA fragmentation. The mitochondrial site of ROS production was determined using site-specific inhibitors o...
Constant-time triangulation problems on reconfigurable meshes

Triangulating a set of points in the plane is a central theme in computer-aided manufacturing, robotics, CAD, VLSI design, geographic data processing, and computer graphics. Even more challenging are constrained triangulations, where a triangulation is sought in the presence of a number of constraints such as prescribed edges and/or forbidden areas. In this paper, we show that the flexibility of the reconfigurable mesh architecture can be exploited to obtain constant-time algorithms for a number of triangulation problems. These include triangulating an arbitrary set of points in the plane, a convex planar region with a convex hole, and a convex planar region in the presence of rectangular holes. Specifically, with a collection of O(n) such constraints as input, our algorithms run in O(1) time on a reconfigurable mesh of size n/spl times/n. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first constant time solutions to constrained triangulations reported on this architecture. >
Women and Mass Consumer Society in Postwar France: “Can a Man with a Refrigerator Make a Revolution?”

In March 1957, as the Salon des arts menagers hosted its annual exhibition of home appliances, domestic arts, and national reconstruction plans, the journal L'Express gathered four scholars and intellectuals to discuss the future of France in light of the great demand for consumer durables. With all of the needs facing France, the L'Express host wondered, was it really healthy to turn production toward home appliances? Was perhaps a bit of “austerity” preferable? And what did this mean for working-class demands, he wondered, asking, “can a man with a refrigerator make a revolution?” The possible effects of mass consumption, credit, and comfort on the French class system were open to debate in the 1950s and 1960s. During the interwar period, economic conditions in France had made household technology and home modernization virtually unattainable for working-class families, and this had enabled socialists and intellectuals to insist that needs were class based: a worker with the same amount of money as a member of the bourgeoisie would spend it in different ways. Both socialists and elite intellectuals clung to this belief, as discarding it would entail modifying their notions of bourgeois taste or working-class radicalism.
Thurstonian-type representations for same-different discriminations: probabilistic decisions and interdependent images

A discrimination probability function Φ(x, y) obtained in the "same-different" paradigm assigns to every ordered pair of stimuli (x, y) the probability with which they are judged to be different. This function is said to possess the regular minimality property if, for any stimulus pair (a, b), arg miny Φ(a,y) = b ↔ arg minx Φ(x,b) = a. That is, b is the point of subjective equality for a if and only if a is the point of subjective equality for b. If the value of Φ(a, b) across all such pairs (a, b) is not constant, the function is said to possess the nonconstant self-similarity property. A Thurstonian-type representation for Φ(x, y) (with independent images and deterministic decisions) is a model in which the two stimuli are mapped into two independent random variables P(x) and Q(y) taking on their values in some "perceptual" space; and the decision whether the two stimuli are different is determined by the realizations of the two random variables in a given trial. Thurstonian-type representations can also be called "random utility" ones, provided one imposes no a priori restrictions on the structure of the perceptual space, the distributions of P(x) and Q(y), or the decision rules used. It is shown that (A) any Φ(x, y) has a Thurstonian-type representation; but (B) if Φ(x, y) possesses the regular minimality and nonconstant self-similarity properties, it cannot have a "well-behaved" Thurstonian-type representation, in which the probability with which P(x), or Q(y), falls within a given subset of the perceptual space has appropriately defined bounded directional derivatives with respect to x (respectively, y). This regularity feature is likely to be found in most conceivable Thurstonian-type models constructed to fit empirical data.
Chemical dependence treatment review guidelines.

Abstract During the last decade, there has been an explosive increase in the development of chemical dependence (CD) inpatient/freestanding units (Yahr: J Stud Alcohol 49: 233–239, 1988) to the point that fully one third of all mental health admissions reviewed involve chemical dependence (L. Goldstein, personal communication; APA, Office of Quality Assurance, unpublished data). This dramatic increase has raised serious concerns among clinicians about the quality and appropriateness of treatment programs and among third-party payors about the cost of care. Five major categories should be considered when reviewing CD cases: (1) patient characteristics, including age, gender, severity of illness, course, past treatments, and impact of an intervention; (2) level of care, including outpatient, day treatment, freestanding units, hospital, and detoxification units; (3) match of services appropriate to patient's needs; (4) treatment program, including level of staff involvement, program elements, and planning for patient transition; and (5) peer review, including reviewing with a peer, being a patient advocate, and being a consultant. If these elements in these five categories are considered, a competent review is accomplished.
Temperature anisotropy stabilization of ion temperature gradient instabilities

Abstract The effect of ion temperature anisotropies on the ion temperature gradient instability (“ion mixing mode”) is investigated in a shearless slab geometry. The roles played by the parallel and perpendicular (to the equilibrium magnetic field) components of the temperature are described and modified stability diagrams are presented.