cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
ASD and Genetic Associations with Receptors for Oxytocin and Vasopressin—AVPR1A, AVPR1B, and OXTR

Background: There are limited treatments available for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Studies have reported significant associations between the receptor genes of oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) and ASD diagnosis, as well as, ASD-related phenotypes. Researchers have also found the manipulation of these systems affect social and repetitive behaviors, core characteristics of ASD. Consequently, research involving the oxytocin/vasopressin pathways as intervention targets has increased. Therefore, further examination into the relationship between these neuropeptides and ASD was undertaken. In this study, we examined associations between variants in the receptor genes of vasopressin (AVPR1A, AVPR1B), oxytocin (OXTR) and ASD diagnosis along with related subphenotypes. Methods: Probands were assessed using Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, and clinical DSM-IV-TR criteria. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in AVPR1B and OXTR, and microsatellites in AVPR1A were genotyped in ~200 families with a proband with ASD. Family-based association testing (FBAT) was utilized to determine associations between variants and ASD. Haplotypes composed of OXTR SNPs (i.e. rs53576-rs2254298-rs2268493) were also analyzed due to previously published associations. Results: Using the additive inheritance model in FBAT we found associations between AVPR1B SNPs (rs28632197, p=0.005, rs35369693, p=0.025) and diagnosis. As in other studies, OXTR rs2268493 (p=0.050) was associated with diagnosis. rs2268493 was also associated with ASD subphenotypes of social withdrawal (p=0.013) and insistence on sameness (p=0.039). Further analyses demonstrated that the haplotype, rs2254298-rs2268493 was found to be significantly associated with diagnosis (A-T; p=0.026). FBAT was also used to analyze AVPR1A microsatellites (RS1 and RS3). Both length variants were found to be associated with restrictive, repetitive behaviors, but not overall diagnosis. Correction for multiple comparisons was performed for SNPs tested in each gene region, only AVPR1B SNPs remained significantly associated with ASD diagnosis. Conclusions: Autism is a heterogeneous disorder with many genes and pathways that contribute to its development. SNPs and microsatellites in the receptor genes of OT and AVP are associated with ASD diagnosis and measures of social behavior as well as restricted repetitive behaviors. We reported a novel association with ASD and AVPR1B SNPs. Understanding of genotype-phenotype relationships may be helpful in the development of pharmacological interventions for the OT/AVP system.
Comparison of Stain Resistance Property for Nurseâ€™s Scrub Jacket

The purposes of this study are to (1) examine the current scrub jacket fabrics’ resistance to coffee and ballpoint pen ink stains and (2) investigate possibly more stain-resistant fabrics for use in future scrub jacket prototypes.
Disorders of the Esophagus

The term functional has two specific definitions. One usage implies that a drsor-der is not physical and to many people this means that the disorder is illusionary or “only in one’s head.” However, to those who are involved in physiological investigations the term functional implies that there is no detectable primary structural abnormality and the problem is, therefore, physiological.
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research and Patient-Centered Care for Older Adults: A Perspective

Patient-centered care that reflects consumer-driven health care decision of an individual as opposed to collective or social choice-based health decision has many implications for clinical decision and resource allocation. With possession of required information and faced with appropriate assessment of preferences, older adults make better choices for their own health. However, one must acknowledge that patient-centered approach for older adults should effectively integrate tenets of value-based care to improve overall quality of care and societal well-being. In this perspective, I present the importance and challenges of patient-centered care and patient-centered outcomes research among older adults.
A new (multi-reference configuration interaction) potential energy surface for H2CO and preliminary studies of roaming.

We report a new global potential energy surface (PES) for H2CO, based on precise fitting of roughly 67000 MRCI/cc-pVTZ energies. This PES describes the global minimum, the cis- and trans-HCOH isome...
High-Throughput Computing for Accelerated Materials Discovery

The design of effective high-throughput computing systems based on first-principles calculations for accelerated materials development is discussed in the chapter. With balanced throughput and accuracy, high-throughput first-principles calculations provide a practical approach to screening materials for desired properties. The development of high-throughput workflows is examined in terms of the applications in rapid predictions of material properties. We will present three case studies of the applications of high-throughput calculations in accelerated computational materials discoveries for the piezoelectric, elastic, and thermoelectric properties.
The Role of Discretion in the Legal and Social Service Systems

New legislation regulating social services is based on judicial models of fairness and due process. These models are, however, inadequate because they are founded on a misleading analogy between di...
Percutaneous Spinal Facet and Sacroiliac Joint Injection

Back pain is a major cause of patient-related primary care visits in the United States. Facet and sacroiliac joint disease have been recognized as an important cause of back pain for nearly a century. The development of percutaneous spine procedures has enabled not only the diagnostic evaluation of this patient population but also, in specific instances, therapeutic intervention.
Background Error Correlation Modeling with Diffusion Operators

Many background error correlation (BEC) models in data assimilation are formulated in terms of a positive-definite smoothing operator B that is employed to simulate the action of correlation matrix on a vector in state space. In this chapter, a general procedure for constructing a BEC model as a rational function of the diffusion operator D is presented and analytic expressions for the respective correlation functions in the homogeneous case are obtained. It is shown that this class of BEC models can describe multi-scale stochastic fields whose characteristic scales can be expressed in terms of the polynomial coefficients of the model. In particular, the connection between the inverse binomial model and the well-known Gaussian model \(\mathbf{\mathsf{B}}_{g} =\exp \mathbf{\mathsf{D}}\) is established and the relationships between the respective decorrelation scales are derived.By its definition, the BEC operator has to have a unit diagonal and requires appropriate renormalization by rescaling. The exact computation of the rescaling factors (diagonal elements of B) is a computationally expensive procedure, therefore an efficient numerical approximation is needed. Under the assumption of local homogeneity of D, a heuristic method for computing the diagonal elements of B is proposed. It is shown that the method is sufficiently accurate for realistic applications, and requires 102 times less computational resources than other methods of diagonal estimation that do not take into account prior information on the structure of B.
Potassium Activation of Pyruvic Kinase

Lucanus in 1865 and Birner and Lucanus in 1866 first provided conclusive evidence that potassium (K) is essential for oat plants (Avena sativa). Since that important discovery, K has been proven to be required by a wide variety of higher plants and other organisms, and it can be confidently concluded that the element is generally indispensable for all living organisms.
Analysis of Covariance Structures Applied to Family Research and Theory

Family research uses an increasing storehouse of multivariate methods. A major stream in these developments involves the analysis of covariance structures (ACS). ACS subsumes a variety of seemingly distinct procedures including exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, measurement models, path analysis, regression analysis, some panel designs, multiple population comparisons, and structural equation modeling. During the 1980s, family scholars learned that multiple regression is only a special case of ACS.1 The 1990s should see a rapid increase in the use of ACS across a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives.
Experimental considerations to observe two ionizing fronts in systems with a sharp absorption edge.

This paper examines the experimental requirements to observe two shock fronts driven by a single x-ray source in systems with a sharp absorption edge. We consider systems where the peak of the x-ray radiation drive coincides with the K-edge of the carbon, which occurs at a photon energy of 284 eV, causing photons to be deposited in two regions. The low-energy photons (E 284 eV) are absorbed in the ablated plasma. These higher-energy photons create an ionization front, which then produces a second shock, termed an edge-shock. Using a different radiation-hydrodynamics code and different opacity and equation of state tables, we replicate the previous work and build upon them to explore the conditions required to form the edge shock. We find that having the material K-edge coincide with the spectral domain of the radiation source is necessary but not sufficient on its own to drive the edge-shock.
Changes in the mercury isotopic composition of sediments from a remote alpine lake in Wyoming, USA.

Abstract Mercury (Hg) deposition from the atmosphere has increased dramatically since 1850 and Hg isotope records in lake sediments can be used to identify changes in the sources and cycling of Hg. We collected a sediment core from a remote lake (Lost Lake, Wyoming, USA) and measured vertical variation of Hg concentration and isotopic composition as well as 210Pb and 137Cs activities to establish a chronology. We also analyzed vegetation and soil samples from the watershed which has a small ratio of watershed area to lake surface area (2.06). The Hg flux remains constant from ~1350 to 1850 before increasing steadily to modern values that are approximately four times pre-1850 values. The modern Hg isotopic composition preserved in the sediments is distinct from the Hg isotopic composition of pre-1850 samples with both δ202Hg and Δ199Hg becoming progressively more positive through time, with shifts of +0.37‰ and +0.23‰ respectively. To explain temporal changes in δ202Hg, Δ199Hg, and Hg concentration in the core segments, we estimated a present-day atmospheric endmember based on precipitation and snow samples collected near Lost Lake. The observed change in Hg isotopic values through time cannot be explained solely by addition of anthropogenic Hg with the isotopic composition that has been estimated by others for global anthropogenic emissions. Instead, the isotope variation suggests that the relative importance of redox transformations, whether in the atmosphere, within the lake, or both, have changed since 1850.
Multifaceted Quality Improvement Initiative Improves Retention in Treatment for Youth with Opioid Use Disorder.

Introduction There is a critical need to develop interventions that help adolescents and young adults with opioid use disorders (OUDs) connect with, engage in, and remain consistent with the treatment given that patients who develop long-term OUDs experience long-term medical and mental health sequelae. Methods We implemented quality improvement (QI) processes to increase early engagement and 6-month retention within a medication-assisted treatment clinic for youth with OUDs. QI interventions included motivational interviewing (MI) staff training, implementation of reduced initial treatment requirements, reduction of access barriers to treatment, and enhancement of patient treatment motivation. We monitored the impact of the interventions via a p-chart. Results A statistically significant shift was seen in the 6-month retention rate following both MI staff training and the use of reduced initial treatment requirements. Second visit return rate also experienced a statistically significant shift following transportation support and an incentive program. Discussion Our data demonstrate that following MI staff training, reduced initial clinic requirements, transportation support, and utilization of an incentive program, the second visit return rate, and 6-month retention rate improved within an outpatient medication-assisted treatment clinic for youth with OUDs.
Interpretable ICD Code Embeddings with Self- and Mutual-Attention Mechanisms.

We propose a novel and interpretable embedding method to represent the international statistical classification codes of diseases and related health problems (i.e., ICD codes). This method considers a self-attention mechanism within the disease domain and a mutual-attention mechanism jointly between diseases and procedures. This framework captures the clinical relationships between the disease codes and procedures associated with hospital admissions, and it predicts procedures according to diagnosed diseases. A self-attention network is learned to fuse the embeddings of the diseases for each admission. The similarities between the fused disease embedding and the procedure embeddings indicate which procedure should potentially be recommended. Additionally, when learning the embeddings of the ICD codes, the optimal transport between the diseases and the procedures within each admission is calculated as a regularizer of the embeddings. The optimal transport provides a mutual-attention map between diseases and the procedures, which suppresses the ambiguity within their clinical relationships. The proposed method achieves clinically-interpretable embeddings of ICD codes, and outperforms state-of-the-art embedding methods in procedure recommendation.
A Multi-faceted Educational Approach for Pain Metric Recording Prior to Knee and Hip Arthroplasty: Effects on Documentation by an Acute Pain Service.

Background Despite the increased use of electronic medical records (EMRs) in past years, the recording of clinically useful baseline pain information may still be lacking. An educational effort targeted at the acute pain service and reinforced by electronic prompting may be an effective way to promote electronic documentation of relevant pain metrics. The objective of this study was to assess whether an educational effort with electronic prompting in the EMR promotes the documentation of baseline pain scores and preoperative opioid use by an acute pain service (APS). Methods A total of 98 patients were included in this study: 49 in the study group and 49 in the control group. The study group consisted of patients who underwent knee and hip arthroplasties after the institution of a multimodal analgesia educational program that also incorporated an electronic prompt to promote behavior change. Primary outcomes were the frequency of documentation of baseline pain scores and preoperative opioid use. Results After the implementation of the education initiative, 67% of the patients had baseline pain scores recorded in the preoperative APS documentation, compared to 20% in the control group (p = 0.0001). Preoperative opioid use was recorded in 24% of APS documentation within the control group, but this increased to 73% after the educational intervention (p = 0.0001). Documentation of resting pain scores on the day of surgery also increased from 59% to 87% (p = 0.0014). Conclusions The introduction of a multi-dimensional educational effort focused on baseline pain metric recording within the context of an analgesic change of practice increased assessment of both baseline pain and preoperative opioid use by APS. These results can be applied to other settings in which a focused change of practice is required and an electronic medical record already utilized.
Adjuvants: What a Difference 15 Years Makes!

Vaccination is a critical tool in modern animal production and key to maintaining animal health. Adjuvants affect the immune response by increasing the rate, quantity, or quality of the protective response generated by the target antigens. Although adjuvant technology dates back to the nineteenth century, there was relatively little improvement in adjuvant technology before the late twentieth century. With the discovery of molecular pathways that regulate the timing, quantity, and quality of the immune response, new technologies are focused on bringing safer, more effective, and inexpensive adjuvants to commercial use.
Music and Measuring

The evolution of both science and engineering related to mechanics was profoundly influenced by music. In particular, musical instruments evolved dramatically during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including pipe organs, harpsichords, pianofortes, and violins. In turn, the evolution of these instruments helped to pave the way for an understanding of the production and propagation of sound, a problem in mechanics. During the same period of time, the accurate measurements of both distance and time became important. For example, in order to measure longitude on the Earth’s surface, it was necessary to develop a device for measuring time that was not affected by inertial effects onboard a ship. These two problems in mechanics were resolved during this period of time.
System-Level Analysis of Lignin Valorization in Lignocellulosic Biorefineries.

Summary We study the economics and energy efficiency of biorefineries employing lignin valorization. We use superstructure-based process synthesis to study different configurations under different types of constraints. Using optimization, we examine the impact of various parameters for lignin valorization such as bioproduct selling price, production cost, conversion coefficient, and energy requirement. The results show that the optimal strategy leading to a minimum ethanol selling price (MESP) of $3.44/GGE does not include lignin valorization. Results indicate that under certain scenarios, the optimal biorefinery strategies with lignin valorization tend to be energy deficient, and thus the optimal pretreatment technology may switch from γ-valerolactone-based deconstruction to ammonia fiber expansion. Further analysis is performed to study how improvements in combinations of selected parameters can lead to lower cost for a thermal-neural biorefinery.
Global health-care perspective of Dengue viral disease

Abstract Dengue viral illness is one of the most important arthropod-borne viral infections of humans. In the recent years, incidence of dengue viral illness has tremendously increased, expanding beyond tropical areas. This chapter sheds light on the global epidemiology, disease burden, and global impact on the population, both in terms of health and economy. It also highlights measures taken in the past and its effect, challenges faced globally, and steps taken in the present scenario to overcome the hurdles. This chapter talks about methods that can be used by community health workers in the field to identify the disease and respond rapidly. The chapter identifies the global key measures that the World Health Organization and other international organizations are trying to establish to prevent and control the epidemic along with emphasis on the latest research involved in developing various dengue viral illness vaccines around the world.
Information Reuse for Importance Sampling in Reliability-Based Design Optimization

Abstract This paper introduces a new approach for importance-sampling-based reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) that reuses information from past optimization iterations to reduce computational effort. RBDO is a two-loop process—an uncertainty quantification loop embedded within an optimization loop—that can be computationally prohibitive due to the numerous evaluations of expensive high-fidelity models to estimate the probability of failure in each optimization iteration. In this work, we use the existing information from past optimization iterations to create efficient biasing densities for importance sampling estimates of probability of failure. The method involves two levels of information reuse: (1) reusing the current batch of samples to construct an a posteriori biasing density with optimal parameters, and (2) reusing the a posteriori biasing densities of the designs visited in past optimization iterations to construct the biasing density for the current design. We demonstrate for the RBDO of a benchmark speed reducer problem and a combustion engine problem that the proposed method leads to computational savings in the range of 51% to 76%, compared to building biasing densities with no reuse in each iteration.
Evidence of vasculature and chondrocyte to osteoblast transdifferentiation in craniofacial synovial joints: Implications for osteoarthritis diagnosis and therapy.

Temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJ OA) leads to permanent cartilage destruction, jaw dysfunction, and compromises the quality of life. However, the pathological mechanisms governing TMJ OA are poorly understood. Unlike appendicular articular cartilage, the TMJ has two distinct functions as the synovial joint of the craniofacial complex and also as the site for endochondral jaw bone growth. The established dogma of endochondral bone ossification is that hypertrophic chondrocytes undergo apoptosis, while invading vasculature with osteoprogenitors replace cartilage with bone. However, contemporary murine genetic studies support the direct differentiation of chondrocytes into osteoblasts and osteocytes in the TMJ. Here we sought to characterize putative vasculature and cartilage to bone transdifferentiation using healthy and diseased TMJ tissues from miniature pigs and humans. During endochondral ossification, the presence of fully formed vasculature expressing CD31+ endothelial cells and α-SMA+ vascular smooth muscle cells were detected within all cellular zones in growing miniature pigs. Arterial, endothelial, venous, angiogenic, and mural cell markers were significantly upregulated in miniature pig TMJ tissues relative to donor matched knee meniscus fibrocartilage tissue. Upon surgically creating TMJ OA in miniature pigs, we discovered increased vasculature and putative chondrocyte to osteoblast transformation dually marked by COL2 and BSP or RUNX2 within the vascular bundles. Pathological human TMJ tissues also exhibited increased vasculature, while isolated diseased human TMJ cells exhibited marked increased in vasculature markers relative to control 293T cells. Our study provides evidence to suggest that the TMJ in higher order species are in fact vascularized. There have been no reports of cartilage to bone transdifferentiation or vasculature in human-relevant TMJ OA large animal models or in human TMJ tissues and cells. Therefore, these findings may potentially alter the clinical management of TMJ OA by defining new drugs that target angiogenesis or block the cartilage to bone transformation.
A New Analytical Model Based on Diffraction Theory for Predicting Cross-polar Patterns of Antenna Elements in a Finite Phased Array

This paper presents a mathematical model based on diffraction theory to predict the co- and cross-polar patterns of phased array antenna elements. The technique provided is used on the theoretical model of a monopole antenna and is supported by simulated and measured values of the radiating element in different locations of a ground plane. An extension of diffraction theory based on the equivalent current model is used to estimate the cross-polarization patterns of the monopole. This proposed method proves as an accurate representation of the radiating characteristics of the isolated and embedded element patterns in a finite array antenna. Good agreements were found between results of the proposed method, numerical simulations, and measurements.
Comparative Genomic Analysis of Fifty-Two Staphylococcus aureus Isolates Identified from Uncharacterized Staphylococcus Genomes in the NCBI database

Background: Staphylococcus aureus is a major bacterial pathogen that causes a variety of diseases, ranging from wound infections to severe bacteremia or food poisoning. The course and severity of the disease are mainly dependent on the bacterium genotype as well as host factors. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) is currently the most extensive genotyping method available, followed by bioinformatic sequence analysis. Methods: A total of 253 uncharacterized staphylococcus genome sequences were downloaded from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) (August 2012 to March 2020) from different studies. Samples were clustered based on core and accessory pairwise distances between isolates and then analyzed by multilocus sequence typing tool (MLST). Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome mec (SCCmec), spa typing, variant calling, core genome alignment, and recombination sites prediction were performed on detected S. aureus isolates. S. aureus isolates were also analyzed for the presence of genes coding for virulence factors and antibiotic resistance. Results and conclusion: Uncategorized genome sequences were clustered into 24 groups. About 182 uncharacterized Staphylococcus genomes were identified at the species level based on MLST, including 32 S. lugdunensis genome sequence, thus doubling the number of the publicly accessible S. lugdunensis genome sequence in Genbank. MLST identified another four species (S. epidermidis (33/253), S. lugdunensis (32/253), S. haemolyticus (41/253), S. hominis (24/253) and S. aureus (52/253)). Among the 52 S. aureus isolates, 21 (40.38%) isolates carried mecA gene, with 57.14% classified as SCCmec IV. The results of this study provide knowledge that facilitates evolutionary studies of staphylococcal species and other bacteria at the genome level.
Estimation of cBN grinding wheel condition using image sensor

Abstract The tool condition used in machining process is generally determined by the wear status, which is an important factor of resulting in the machining efficiency of the manufacturing processes. This paper presents a method to estimate the tool condition of grinding wheel using an image sensor with machine learning techniques. Statistical features, mean, standard deviation, and entropy were selected from the simplified wear model. The selected features were extracted from the wheel surface images of an electroplated cubic Boron Nitride (cBN) wheel on a commercial CNC machine, and compared to the tool condition represented by the number of grinding passes. Finally, the statistical features were fused by machine learning techniques to estimate the wear condition of the grinding wheel. Results show a sufficient correspondence between the estimated and true tool condition with 0.9590 of the coefficient of determination (R2) based on support vector regression model.
Embodied Genres, Typified Performances, and the Engineering Design Process:

Using rhetorical genre theory, the authors theorize the engineering design process as a type of embodied genre enacted through typified performances of bodies engaged with discourses, texts, and ob...
Deletion of muscle Igf1 exacerbates disuse atrophy weakness in mice.

A mouse model with skeletal muscle-specific inducible deletion of Igf1 was used to address the importance of this growth factor for the consequences of disuse atrophy. Rapid and equivalent loss of ...
Predicting next-day discharge via electronic health record access logs.

Objective Hospital capacity management depends on accurate real-time estimates of hospital-wide discharges. Estimation by a clinician requires an excessively large amount of effort and, even when attempted, accuracy in forecasting next-day patient-level discharge is poor. This study aims to support next-day discharge predictions with machine learning by incorporating electronic health record (EHR) audit log data, a resource that captures EHR users' granular interactions with patients' records by communicating various semantics and has been neglected in outcome predictions. Materials and methods This study focused on the EHR data for all adults admitted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2019. We learned multiple advanced models to assess the value that EHR audit log data adds to the daily prediction of discharge likelihood within 24 h and to compare different representation strategies. We applied Shapley additive explanations to identify the most influential types of user-EHR interactions for discharge prediction. Results The data include 26 283 inpatient stays, 133 398 patient-day observations, and 819 types of user-EHR interactions. The model using the count of each type of interaction in the recent 24 h and other commonly used features, including demographics and admission diagnoses, achieved the highest area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) curve of 0.921 (95% CI: 0.919-0.923). By contrast, the model lacking user-EHR interactions achieved a worse AUROC of 0.862 (0.860-0.865). In addition, 10 of the 20 (50%) most influential factors were user-EHR interaction features. Conclusion EHR audit log data contain rich information such that it can improve hospital-wide discharge predictions.
Fluoromaticity: The Molecular Orbital Contributions of Fluorine Substituents to the π-Systems of Aromatic Rings

The addition of fluorine atoms to an aromatic ring brings about an additional set of π-bonding and antibonding orbitals culminating after the addition of the sixth fluorine with a new set of π-arom...
Polychlorinated biphenyls (Aroclors® 1016 and 1242): Effect on hepatic microsomal mixed function oxidases in mink and ferrets

A comparison was made of the induction responses of two PCBs (Aroclors 1016 and 1242) on the hepatic microsomal mixed function oxidase (MFO) system in two genetically similar species, mink and European ferrets, previously shown to differ significantly in sensitivity to these same Aroclors. Feeding Aroclors for 28 days at a subtoxic level (20 ppm) resulted in weak induction of the MFO system. Aroclor 1242 was a more potent inducer than Aroclor 1016. Using a dosing regime which resulted in toxic effects in mink but not in ferrets, greater induction was noted in ferrets compared to mink. Furthermore, only 3-methyl-cholanthrene (MC)-type induction was observed. Phenobarbital (PB) inducible enzymes were either not affected or were inhibited by Aroclor treatment. The results suggest an inverse relationship between extent of MC-type induction and toxicity in these species.
The Histochemical Localization of Choline Acetyltransferase

Publisher Summary The role of acetylcholine in nervous transmission and in membrane excitation has been the focal point of numerous studies in the field of neurobiology for many years. These procedures have been based upon the precipitation of coenzyme A (CoA) as a lead mercaptide and the subsequent conversion of this mercaptide to the visible PbS. Basic histochemical procedures for the localization of choline acetyltransferase activity, based upon the precipitation of a lead mercaptide, are applicable to both light and electron microscopic studies. The inherent weakness of these procedures resides in the lack of specificity in the reaction for the localization of only choline acetyltransferase activity. A number of observations, including parallel analytical studies, indicate that much of the nonspecific activity can be eliminated and that one is indeed localizing the activity of choline acetyltransferase. However, specific inhibitors of choline acetyltransferase activity, which are suitable for the histochemical conditions, are needed for the improvement of these procedures. The application of these procedures to the study of the central nervous system (CNS) will provide further insight into the organization and distribution of cholinergic and cholinoceptive neurons.
Public Universities and Regional Development

Book review of Public Universities and Regional Development by Kathryn Mohrman, Jian Shi, Sharon E. Feinblatt, and King W. Chow (eds.)
Computer Games for Learning: An Evidence-Based Approach

Many strong claims are made for the educational value of computer games, but there is a need for systematic examination of the research evidence that might support such claims. This book fills that need by providing, a comprehensive and up-to-date investigation of what research shows about learning with computer games. Computer Games for Learning describes three genres of game research: the value-added approach, which compares the learning outcomes of students who learn with a base version of a game to those of students who learn with the base version plus an additional feature; the cognitive consequences approach, which compares learning outcomes of students who play an off-the-shelf computer game for extended periods to those of students who do not; and the media comparative approach, which compares the learning outcomes of students who learn material by playing a game to those of students who learn the same material using conventional media. After introductory chapters that describe the rationale and goals of learning game research as well as the relevance of cognitive science to learning with games, the book offers examples of research in all three genres conducted by the author and his colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara; meta-analyses of published research; and suggestions for future research in the field. The book is essential reading for researchers and students of educational games, instructional designers, learning-game developers, and anyone who wants to know what the research has to say about the educational effectiveness of computer games.
Autoimmunity: apoptotic fats grease transcription.

Transcription factors known for handling the body's response to lipids promote clearance of apoptotic cells by macrophages, according to new research (pages 1266–1272). When this process goes awry, autoimmunity can result.
How Robust Are Burn Severity Indices When Applied in a New Region? Evaluation of Alternate Field-Based and Remote-Sensing Methods

Remotely sensed indices of burn severity are now commonly used by researchers and land managers to assess fire effects, but their relationship to field-based assessments of burn severity has been evaluated only in a few ecosystems. This analysis illustrates two cases in which methodological refinements to field-based and remotely sensed indices of burn severity developed in one location did not show the same improvement when used in a new location. We evaluated three methods of assessing burn severity in the field: the Composite Burn Index (CBI)—a standardized method of assessing burn severity that combines ecologically significant variables related to burn severity into one numeric site index—and two modifications of the CBI that weight the plot CBI score by the percentage cover of each stratum. Unexpectedly, models using the CBI had higher R2 and better classification accuracy than models using the weighted versions of the CBI. We suggest that the weighted versions of the CBI have lower accuracies because weighting by percentage cover decreases the influence of the dominant tree stratum, which should have the strongest relationship to optically sensed reflectance, and increases the influence of the substrates strata, which should have the weakest relationship with optically sensed reflectance in forested ecosystems. Using a large data set of CBI plots (n = 251) from four fires and CBI scores derived from additional field-based assessments of burn severity (n = 388), we predicted two metrics of image-based burn severity, the Relative differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (RdNBR) and the differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR). Predictive models for RdNBR showed slightly better classification accuracy than for dNBR (overall accuracy = 62%, Kappa = 0.40, and overall accuracy = 59%, Kappa= 0.36, respectively), whereas dNBR had slightly better explanatory power, but strong differences were not apparent. RdNBR may provide little or no improvement over dNBR in systems where pre-fire reflectance is not highly variable, but may be more appropriate for comparing burn severity among regions.
Solving criterion-referenced measurement problems with item response models

Abstract Item response theory models appear to provide an excellent measurement framework for addressing technical matters associated with criterion-referenced testing. The primary purpose of this chapter is to describe our efforts to apply IRT models to the problems of determining test lengths, selecting items, and reporting scores. In addition, because of the importance of model fit to the viability of results, approaches to assessing the fit of IRT models to criterion-referenced test results are considered.
EMSY, a BRCA-2 partner in crime

Sporadic breast cancers only rarely contain BRCA2 or BRCA1 mutations, despite the presence of such mutations in inherited breast and ovarian cancers. The identification of a new binding partner for BRCA-2 sheds light on this incongruity.
Black english, diverging or converging?: The view from the national assessment of educational progress 1

Abstract Writing by seventeen‐year‐old African American students in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is analysed for the frequency and distribution of Black English Vernacular (BEV) and the co‐variance of BEV with rater scores. NAEP is a Federally‐funded decennial programme, mandated by the US Congress and initiated in 1969, which assesses national, representative groups of elementary and secondary school students in ten subject areas. NAEP's writing tasks are assessed by trained teacher‐raters, using numerical scales. This study involves 2, 764 essays beginning with NAEP's inception, and concluding with the most recent assessment in 1988/89. BEV is examined from the vantage point of William Labov's mid‐1980s Divergence Hypothesis. The study proposes that in the past 20 years, BEV has converged with, not diverged from, Edited American/Standard English, as reflected in this demo‐graphically representative group of Black students. Analysis of the correlation between rater scores and BE...
Apparent changes in water storage during floods at Peoria, Illinois

The effect which three floods of the Illinois River at Peoria had on water levels and apparent storage of ground water in a glacial drift aquifer was studied. Continuous water-level records from many wells were utilized to map the ground-water surfaces before, during, and after the floods. These maps, together with a map of the top of the impervious bedrock, allow fairly accurate calculation of the quantity of ground water in storage and of the changes therein. It is shown that the apparent increase in storage is lost immediately with the passage of the flood, although the ground-water levels are always below river stage. Several possible explanations are discussed. The one favored is that which ascribes the rise of the water levels to a pressure effect due to the load of the flood waters, causing only an apparent (not an actual) increase in the amount of water in storage.
Heterogeneous electron-transfer rate constants for M2(O2CR)4(0)/+, where M = Mo, W, Ru, or Rh and R = alkyl or aryl.

By the use of Nicholson's method, the heterogeneous electron-transfer rate constants (ks) for the oxidation of a series of M2(O2CR)4 complexes have been determined in benzonitrile, where the metal M = Mo, W, Ru, or Rh and R = alkyl or aryl. For R = tBu, the values of ks follow the order M = Mo > W > Ru > Rh. No simple influence of R on ks was observed, although added ligands that are known to reversibly bind to the dinuclear center were shown to influence the E1/2 values in order of their basicity and to suppress the rate of electron transfer. The reported data are compared with those obtained for Cp2Fe0/+, Cp2*Fe0/+, and Ru(bpy)22+/3+ and with earlier work on dirhenium multiply bonded compounds.
Duality for nonlinear fractional programs

This paper develops duality results for nonlinear fractional programming problems. This is accomplished by using some known results connecting the solutions of a nonlinear fractional program with those of a suitably defined parametric convex program.
Tracheal ligation increases cell proliferation but decreases surfactant protein in fetal murine lungs in vitro

Abstract Tracheal occlusion affects both fetal lung growth and maturation. The authors used a murine in vitro whole organ culture model to investigate these effects. The authors hypothesized that tracheal ligation would increase lung growth by increasing cell proliferation and would change surfactant protein synthesis in this system. Lungs were removed from day 14 gestation murine fetuses (term, 21 days). Tracheas were ligated and explants cultured in chemically defined, serum-free media for 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, or 14 days. DNA synthesis and cell division were assessed using a 5-bromo-2′-deoxy-uridine (BrdU) incorporation assay. Surfactant proteins A and B, markers of lung maturity, were detected using immunohistochemistry. Ligated lungs showed more BrdU-labeled cells per 1,000 × field (cells/hpf) at every time point. Ligated lungs on day 1 showed 27% more cells/hpf than unligated, on day 3, 21% more, on day 5, 54% more, on day 7, 60% more, and on day 14, 123% more ( P
Fluid flow along a strike-slip fault at the toe of the Oregon accretionary prism: Implications for the geometry of frontal accretion

Sediment offscraping and accretion takes place predominantly by landward-vergent thrusting along most of the Oregon accretionary prism north of latitude 44°50'N. This indicates very low basal shear stress, probably due to near-lithostatic fluid pressure on the decollement horizon. Recent multichannel seismic and sidescan sonar studies have demonstrated the existence of an oblique, basement-involved, left-lateral strike-slip fault, termed the Wecoma fault. It cuts abyssal plain sediments and oceanic basement of the subducting plate. Where the Wecoma fault intersects the wedge thrust front at 45°09'N, accretion to the wedge occurs through an anomalous seaward-vergent thrust. Linear, fault-parallel erosional gullies, which trend obliquely across the slope on the seaward flank of the frontal anticline in the accretionary wedge, are interpreted as marking the surface traces of splays of the Wecoma fault. Data collected during six Alvin dives on and around these gullies demonstrate that fluid expulsion from the deforming sediments is preferentially concentrated along the fault traces. Evidence includes the presence of chemosynthetic biological communities, pervasive veining and fracturing of the rock, and extensive carbonate cementation, all forming preferentially within the gullies. This strike-slip fault apparently acts as a high-angle fluid escape conduit, channeling fluids from deep within the wedge to the surface. We propose that this fluid conduit causes the local inversion of thrusting to seaward vergence by allowing the escape of highly overpressured fluids from the incipient decollement horizon. The consequent increase in basal effective normal stress favors the development of a seaward-vergent thrust. The discovery of this strike-slip fault acting as an efficient fluid conduit to the surface of the wedge emphasizes the generally unappreciated importance of strike-slip (and normal) faults in dewatering accretionary prisms. Such dewatering features may significantly influence the development of large-scale structures, and they have broad applicability to other tectonic settings, including collision zones and continental fold-and-thrust belts.
Effects of arousal and credibility on learning and persuasion

This study explored the joint effects of extraneous arousal and communicator credibility on acceptance and learning of a persuasive communication. Ss listened to a taped speech under either average volume (low arousal) or very high volume (high arousal). The speaker was either high or low in credibility. Males and females reacted very differently to the situation. Females were more persuaded under low arousal than under high arousal, but there were no differences for males. Credibility had no effect. An unusual learning effect emerged. There was a Credibility by Arousal interaction that had the same form for both sexes. The attitude results were given a dissonance interpretation.
Changes in ovine erythrocyte morphology due to sphingomyelin degradation by Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis phospholipase D.

Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis produces a sphingomyelin-specific phospholipase D exotoxin that is a major determinant in the pathogenesis of caseous lymphadenitis. We assessed the changes induced in the morphology and sphingomyelin concentration of ovine erythrocytes after incubation with broth culture filtrates or purified exotoxin. Sphingomyelin was hydrolysed nearly in parallel with shape change. Morphologically, spherostomatocytes were seen initially, and later these contained numerous vacuoles at the periphery. Vacuoles seen in thin sections with transmission electron microscopy appeared as pits with scanning electron microscopy. Pitting became progressively worse with time, leading to extensive scalloping of the membrane surface. Chemically, significant decreases (P less than or equal to 0.05) in erythrocyte membrane sphingomyelin content and significant increases (P less than or equal to 0.05) in the content of glycerophospholipids (i.e. phosphatidylglycerol) were observed in erythrocytes incubated with broth culture filtrates or purified exotoxin. These alterations may contribute to the pathophysiology of acute infections induced by C. pseudotuberculosis.
Deficiency in cells expressing terminal transferase in autoimmune (motheaten) mice

The extensive breakdown of immune homeostasis in the motheaten mouse (me/me) has been ascribed to a single gene defect on chromosome 6 (ref. 1). These mice develop skin lesions within the first week of life, do not thrive, and die within the first 3–8 weeks2. There is severe hypergamma-globulinaemia3 with multiple species of circulating autoanti-body3–5 and deposition of immune complexes in the thymus, skin, lungs and kidneys1,3. A single gene defect producing such catastrophic results may provide an important model for understanding autoimmune phenomena. We report here a virtual absence of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-positive (TdT+) cells in the bone marrow, thymus and spleen of motheaten mice. TdT is a DNA polymerase which has the unique capacity to polymerize nucleotides in the absence of template direction6. Although no in vivo biological function of this enzyme has been established, its unique appearance in the bone marrow and thymus of adult mammals and its in vitro biochemical activity6 have led to a proposed role for TdT in the somatic diversification of lymphocytes7. Bone marrow TdT+ cells have been shown to belong to both T8 and B9,10 cell populations and may also include precursor cells common to these lineages11. Although the role of TdT in the acquisition of appropriate T- and B-cell specificities is not known, our results are the first to correlate the virtual absence of TdT+ cells with a severe autoimmune syndrome. We investigated the level of TdT+ cells in neonatal me/me mice and their normal littermates and the susceptibility of TdT+ cells to circulating autoantibody in motheaten mouse serum.
Synchronization and voting

This is an elaboration of the paper `Synchronization and matching in redundant systems' by Davies and Wakerly (ibid., vol.27, p.531-9, 1978). The design of voters for synchronization is strongly dependent on the signaling convention used. This correspondence presents voter designs for three different signaling conventions (transition, level, and pulse). The issue of improved voter performance is also addressed.