cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Solvent isotope-induced equilibrium perturbation for isocitrate lyase.

Isocitrate lyase (ICL) catalyzes the reversible retro-aldol cleavage of isocitrate to generate glyoxylate and succinate. ICL is the first enzyme of the glyoxylate shunt, which allows for the anaplerosis of citric acid cycle intermediates under nutrient limiting conditions. In Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the source of ICL for these studies, ICL is vital for the persistence phase of the bacterium’s life cycle. Solvent kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) in the direction of isocitrate cleavage (D2OV = 2.0 ± 0.1, and D2O[V/Kisocitrate] = 2.2 ± 0.3) arise from the initial deprotonation of the C2 hydroxyl group of isocitrate or the protonation of the aci-acid of the succinate product of the isocitrate aldol cleavage by a solvent-derived proton. This KIE suggested that an equilibrium mixture of all protiated isocitrate, glyoxylate, and succinate prepared in D2O would undergo transient changes in equilibrium concentrations as a result of the solvent KIE and solvent-derived deuterium incorporation into both succinate a...
Black Males and the Community College: Student Perspectives on Faculty and Academic Success

This article highlights findings from a qualitative study of factors affecting the academic success of African American male students in the community college. Data was collected through interviews with 28 Black male students in a midsized institution in the southwestern United States. Findings illuminated four key faculty-initiated elements that serve to create and maintain positive faculty-student relationships: (a) being friendly and caring from the onset; (b) monitoring and proactively addressing students' academic progress; (c) listening to students' concerns; and (d) encouraging students to succeed. The intricate interrelationship of these elements are discussed through the “voices” and first-hand experiences of student participants. Implications for practice are discussed that suggest these four elements as basic components for faculty training and evaluation.
Sorption and diffusivity characteristics of acid‐leached mordenites

The apparent diffusivity for the binary liquid systems benzene-cumene and cyclohexane-cumene in H-mordenite crystals at 25°C to 44°C was increased by an order of magnitude or more after the zeolite was acid-leached to increase the silica-alumina mole ratio from the range of 14 to 18 to the range of 70 to 89. The calculated diffusivities, which range from 10−12 to 10−16 cm2/s, decrease with approach to sorption equilibrium and may be markedly reduced under some circumstances by adsorption of molecules from the bulk liquid, causing blockage of pores. Comparison of sorption capacities as a function of silica-alumina ratio as reported by various investigators indicates that considerable differences exist in the properties of acid-leached mordenites of the same silica-alumina ratio but of different origins.
Lung Cancer Incidence and Mortality Among Hiv-infected and Hiv-uninfected Injection Drug Users

Objectives: To examine the impact of HIV on lung cancer incidence and survival. Design: Prospective study of 2495 HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected injection drug users in Baltimore, MD. Methods: Cancer data were obtained from the Maryland Cancer Registry. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for lung cancer in 2 strata of packs of cigarettes smoked per day by HIV serostatus, and for mortality by HIV serostatus. Results: HIV-infected participants had twice the risk (HR = 2.3; 95% CI: 1.1 to 5.1) of lung cancer. There was no evidence of an interaction between HIV and packs of cigarettes smoked per day (P interaction = 0.18). Compared with participants who smoked < 1.43 packs per day, among HIV-uninfected individuals lung cancer risk was 6 times greater (HR = 5.9; 95% CI: 2.1 to 17) and among HIV-infected individuals lung cancer risk was doubled (HR = 2.1; 95% CI: 0.63 to 6.8) in persons who smoked ≥1.43 per day. Additionally, HIV was associated with 4 times the risk of death (HR = 3.8; 95% CI: 0.92 to 15) in lung cancer cases. Conclusions: HIV was associated with increased risk of lung cancer, after adjusting for smoking. However, no evidence was observed for synergistic effects of HIV and smoking. Further, HIV was associated with poorer lung cancer survival after accounting for cancer stage.
PP6 Regulatory Subunit R1 Is Bidentate Anchor for Targeting Protein Phosphatase-6 to DNA-dependent Protein Kinase *

DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) becomes activated in response to DNA double strand breaks, initiating repair by the non-homologous end joining pathway. DNA·PK complexes with the regulatory subunit SAPSR1 (R1) of protein phosphatase-6 (PP6). Knockdown of either R1 or PP6c prevents DNA-PK activation in response to ionizing radiation-induced DNA damage and radiosensitizes glioblastoma cells. Here, we demonstrate that R1 is necessary for and bridges the interaction between DNA-PK and PP6c. Using R1 deletion mutants, DNA-PK binding was mapped to two distinct regions of R1 spanning residues 1–326 and 522–700. Either region expressed alone was sufficient to bind DNA-PK, but only deletion of residues 1–326, not 522–700, eliminated interaction of R1 with DNA-PK. We assign 1–326 as the dominant domain and 522–700 as the supporting region. These results demonstrate that R1 acts as a bidentate anchor to DNA-PK and recruits PP6c. Targeting the dominant interface with small molecule or peptidomimetic inhibitors could specifically prevent activation of DNA-PK and thereby sensitize cells to ionizing radiation and other genotoxic agents.
Effects of desiccation on survival and hemolymph osmolality of the freshwater snail, Helisoma trivolvis

Abstract 1. 1. The effects of desiccation on survival and hemolymph osmolality of the freshwater snail, Helisoma trivolvis, were studied. 2. 2. The LD50 of desiccated snails at 12–14% r.h. and 20–22°C was 45 hr whereas at 96–98% r.h. and 20–22°C the LD50 was 25 days. 3. 3. The hemolymph osmolality of control snails was 99 ± 1 mOsm/kgH2O, whereas that of pond water was 5–10 mOsm/kgH2O. 4. 4. During desiccation at 12–14% r.h. and 20–22°C for up to 18 hr snails lost about 17% of their body weight and increased hemolymph osmolality to 173 ± 10 mOsm/kgH2O.
Benign ovarian serous tumors: a re-evaluation and proposed reclassification of serous “cystadenomas” and “cystadenofibromas”

Abstract Objective. Serous cystadenomas and cystadenofibromas of the ovaries are currently regarded as neoplasms and are considered the most common ovarian neoplasms. The purpose of this study is to determine what proportion of benign serous tumors contain an epithelial proliferation (the hallmark of a neoplastic process in nearly all other sites) that can be considered neoplastic as opposed to reactive in nature. Methods. An unselected series of 113 ovarian serous tumors (76 serous cystadenomas and 37 serous cystadenofibromas) were histologically evaluated. A 1-mm in diameter area of epithelial proliferation was considered potentially neoplastic. Results. Eight tumors (7%) displayed at least 1 mm of epithelial proliferation (1% of serous cystadenomas and 19% of serous cystadenofibromas). Conclusion. The vast majority of benign serous tumors may not be bona fide epithelial neoplasms, but rather, may represent cystically dilated glandular inclusions (cystadenomas) and fibromas with epithelial inclusions (cystadenofibromas). A recently published study evaluating clonality in serous cystadenomas found that the vast majority are polyclonal and thus supports this hypothesis. These findings have important implications for the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer, for the distribution of ovarian neoplasms, and for the interpretation of molecular biological studies of ovarian tumors.
Catecholamine synthesis regulation in hypothalamic synaptosomes

In order to characterize the properties of synaptosomal catecholamine formation in a predominantly noradrenergic preparation, we have studied catecholamine synthesis in rat brain hypothalamic synaptosomes. Kinetic analysis revealed an apparent Km for tyrosine of 2.5 microM and an apparent Vmax of 2.1 nmol/h/g. In the hypothalamus, norepinephrine-induced synthesis inhibition was completely reversed by preincubation with desipramine, a blocker of catecholamine uptake into noradrenergic tissue. In contrast, desipramine was relatively ineffective in the predominantly dopaminergic striatum, indicating that most of the catecholamine synthesis observed in the hypothalamic synaptosomes was taking place in noradrenergic, as opposed to dopaminergic, terminals. Synthesis was stimulated approximately 30% in the hypothalamus by elevated (55 mM) potassium. This stimulation was markedly antagonized in a calcium-free buffer and by the addition of tetraethylammonium chloride. Phenylethylamine compounds could produce either stimulation (amphetamine) or inhibition (tyramine). The most effective synthesis stimulator was dibutyryl cyclic AMP (80% stimulation at 2 mM). Lowering the pH of the incubation buffer from 7.2 to 6.2 increased the basal rate but decreased the stimulatory response to elevated potassium. These data suggest that synaptosomal preparations from the hypothalamus offer a convenient system for studying drug effects on catecholamine synthesis in noradrenergic terminals.
Inequivalent molecules in a two-dimensional crystal.

Physisorbed monolayers formed at solution−solid interfaces are two-dimensional crystals sharing many structural characteristics, such as packing motifs and reactivity, with their three-dimensional counterparts. Study of these monolayers with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) offers a promising tool for exploring crystallization phenomena. Although the analogy between the structures of two-dimensional and three-dimensional crystals is becoming clearer with the imaging of increasing numbers of molecules with STM, the occurrence of inequivalent molecules in a unit cell has been limited to three-dimensional crystals. We report that the monolayer of 1,3-dinonadecanoyl benzene formed at the solution−HOPG interface possesses a unit cell with 1.5 inequivalent molecules (Z‘ = 1.5) demonstrating that, as in the case of three-dimensional crystals, simple molecules can give rise to inequivalent packing in the solid state.
Treatment of Minor Depression

Minor depression is one of the most common types of depressive disorders, but the benefit of depression-specific treatments for minor depression is less clear than for major depression. The authors reviewed the available evidence-base for the treatment of Minor Depression as conceptualized in DSM-IV or RDC, conducting a computer literature search to identify randomized treatment trials that included minor depression and a control condition, and identifying 10 studies meeting these criteria. Effect sizes, defined as difference in proportions, could be calculated for eight of the studies, and ranged from 0.46 to -0.08. There was no evidence that older persons were less responsive to treatment than younger persons. Few studies have been specifically designed to test treatments for minor depression. The studies are quite variable. Nonspecific treatment factors common to both depression treatments and to active control conditions appear potent and may be of benefit for persons with minor depression.
Modeling Habitat Availability as a Function of Flow Rate for the Pecos River, New Mexico

This study examines the relationship between Pecos River flow rates and in-stream water depth and velocity. Recent studies of the threatened Pecos Bluntnose Shiner Minnow (PBSM) suggest that water depth and water velocity are key parameters in defining minnow habitat preference. However, river flows that provide sufficient preferred habitat to support this species have yet to be determined. This article discusses available biologic data defining PBSM preferred habitat and develops a predictive model that relates river flows to available depths and velocities across the Pecos River. A novel technique is developed to visualize “habitat-availability curves,” which establish available PBSM habitat as a continuous function of river flow according to whether the water depth is less than 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, or 18 in. (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 31, or 46 cm) or for threshold velocity values of 0.10, 0.30, 0.50, 0.70, 0.90, 1.1, 1.3, and 1.5 ft/second (3.0, 9.1, 15, 21, 27, 34, 40, and 46 cm/sec). This model is supported and validated with data collected at 11 permanent transects on weekly to monthly bases for more than 1 year. The data and modeling results demonstrate the potential to optimize river flows that present the PBSM with the most habitat using the least flow.
Iconographic integrated displays of multiparameter spatial distributions

We present a new iconographic technique that can be used to create integrated displays of multiparameter spatial distributions. One specific approach uses color coding to integrate up to three parameters. Geometric codes provide for the display of more parameters than three, with potentially many different forms of coding. Development of these displays requires an appropriately comprehensive and flexible environment, which is provided by the Exvis system we have been developing. Three examples of multipramameter distributions integrated with geometric coding are presented. The complexity and challenge of conducting research to find effective iconographic codings are discussed, and some strategy is suggested.© (1990) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Parkinson's disease brain mitochondria have impaired respirasome assembly, age-related increases in distribution of oxidative damage to mtDNA and no differences in heteroplasmic mtDNA mutation abundance.

Sporadic Parkinson's disease (sPD) is a nervous system-wide disease that presents with a bradykinetic movement disorder and is frequently complicated by depression and cognitive impairment. sPD likely has multiple interacting causes that include increased oxidative stress damage to mitochondrial components and reduced mitochondrial bioenergetic capacity. We analyzed mitochondria from postmortem sPD and CTL brains for evidence of oxidative damage to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), heteroplasmic mtDNA point mutations and levels of electron transport chain proteins. We sought to determine if sPD brains possess any mtDNA genotype-respiratory phenotype relationships. Treatment of sPD brain mtDNA with the mitochondrial base-excision repair enzyme 8-oxyguanosine glycosylase-1 (hOGG1) inhibited, in an age-dependent manner, qPCR amplification of overlapping ~2 kbase products; amplification of CTL brain mtDNA showed moderate sensitivity to hOGG1 not dependent on donor age. hOGG1 mRNA expression was not different between sPD and CTL brains. Heteroplasmy analysis of brain mtDNA using Surveyor nuclease® showed asymmetric distributions and levels of heteroplasmic mutations across mtDNA but no patterns that statistically distinguished sPD from CTL. sPD brain mitochondria displayed reductions of nine respirasome proteins (respiratory complexes I-V). Reduced levels of sPD brain mitochondrial complex II, III and V, but not complex I or IV proteins, correlated closely with rates of NADH-driven electron flow. mtDNA levels and PGC-1α expression did not differ between sPD and CTL brains. PD brain mitochondria have reduced mitochondrial respiratory protein levels in complexes I-V, implying a generalized defect in respirasome assembly. These deficiencies do not appear to arise from altered point mutational burden in mtDNA or reduction of nuclear signaling for mitochondrial biogenesis, implying downstream etiologies. The origin of age-related increases in distribution of oxidative mtDNA damage in sPD but not CTL brains is not clear, tracks with but does not determine the sPD phenotype, and may indicate a unique consequence of aging present in sPD that could contribute to mtDNA deletion generation in addition to mtDNA replication, transcription and sequencing errors. sPD frontal cortex experiences a generalized bioenergetic deficiency above and beyond aging that could contribute to mood disorders and cognitive impairments.
Gauge Groups Without Triangular Anomaly

Suppose that $G$ is a simple gauge group governing a unified gauge theory. We shall then prove that the existence or absence of the triangular anomaly is equivalent to the same question for symmetrized third-order Casimir invariants of $G$. Consequently, we show that the group $\mathrm{SU}(n)$ ($n\ensuremath{\ge}3$) is the only simple Lie group with possible triangular anomaly. For this case, the anomaly coefficient has been explicitly computed in terms of the $n\ensuremath{-}1$ parameters specifying irreducible representations of the group $\mathrm{SU}(n)$. Various anomaly-free groups have been discussed, and it is argued that the best candidates for anomaly-free simple gauge groups are ${\mathrm{E}}_{6}$, $\mathrm{SO}(4n+2)$ ($n\ensuremath{\ge}2$), and the vectorlike $\mathrm{SU}(n)$ ($n\ensuremath{\ge}3$) theories.
A circuit theory of the Kalman filter

This note gives a short heuristic derivation of the discrete Kalman filter by considering simple voltage measurement circuits. The idea is to obtain conclusions about the general estimation problem by reasoning about an electric analog. The usual Kalman filter and the formulation known as the information filter are both quickly derived by this method. A basis for this approach is Nyquist's result (1928) that any resistance R exhibits a thermal noise voltage-the Johnson noise in radio engineering-of constant power spectral density proportional to R. It follows that multivariate white noise may be realized as the thermal noise of a resistive n-port. We model the general noisy measurement problem as a measurement problem on a resistive circuit. Covariance matrices arise in a concrete fashion as resistance matrices. >
A versatile, efficient synthesis of (−)-(2S, 3R, 4S)-2-amino-1-cyclohexyl-3,4-dihydroxy-6-methylheptane, the abbott pseudodipeptidyl insert

Abstract An economic construction (6 steps, 36% yield) of a valuable peptide analog subunit, the Abbott pseudodipeplidyl insert (−)-(2 S , 3 R , 4 S )-2-amino-1-cyclohexyl-3,4-dihydroxy-6-methylheptane (1), has been developed.
Who Are the Spaniards? Nationalism and Identification in Spain

National and ethnic identity are the subject of a wide range of sociological theories. Our analysis focuses on nationalism and identity in Spain. Our data come from a probability sample of respondents in a 1992 survey. We employ measures of individual attachment to Spain that tap two dimensions: sense of belonging to Spqin andfeelings of morale associated with this identity. We estimate a measurement model that substantiates these two dimensions. We also present and test different hypotheses about the roles of ethnic origin, economic development, economic specialization, and education on attachment to Spain. Our statistical analyses reveal that respondent's ethnic origin (birth and residence in a culturally distinct region) and education have the strongest negative influences on attachment. Among the macro structural conditions, economic specialization of a region has the greatest negative impact on attachment. Furthermore, our descriptive analysis of the regional patterns of sense of belonging and feelings of morale with respect to Spain reveal some predictable patterns and some surprises in the regional rankings. Social scientists have proposed a wide range of theories to explain national identity and ethnic or nationalist political mobilization. These efforts respond in part to the intensity that ethnic and nationalist conflict has reached in states that formed at the conclusion of the two world wars (e.g., Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union), in states that emerged out of the decolonization process (e.g., Rwanda), and, more surprisingly, in old Western European states such as Great
Post Metal Etch Treatment for Submicron Applications

Corrosion control and passivation of post metal etch structures are critical for submicron applications and overall yield performance. This study focused on 0.6 micron metal line spaces and the development of a process utilizing an integrated metal etch, photoresist strip and passivation tool. Data collected to characterize the corrosion/passivation mechanism included: veil and photoresist strip chemistries, passivation steps, time delays, subsurface material versus veil formation and electrical and defectivity yield. A post metal etch process was tested and integrated into a manufacturing environment that has provided minimal line loss, complete removal of etch veils, robust corrosion control and substantial reduction of intermetal shorts.
Amino Acids in the Proteins from Aragonite and Calcite in the Shells of Mytilus californianus

Hydroxylysine and hydroxyproline are absent in the calcified proteins of Mytilus. The organic matrices from the calcite layers have a consistently higher ratio of acidic to basic amino acids than the aragonitic shell units. The uncalcified shell units periostracum and outer ligament, have very few acidic residues, which may in part account for the lack of mineralization.
Same places, same things, same people?: mining user similarity on social media

In this work we examine nine different sources for user similarity as reflected by activity in social media applications. We suggest a classification of these sources into three categories: people, things, and places. Lists of similar people returned by the nine sources are found to be highly different from each other as well as from the list of people the user is familiar with, suggesting that aggregation of sources may be valuable. Evaluation of the sources and their aggregates points at their usefulness across different scenarios, such as information discovery and expertise location, and also highlights sources and aggregates that are particularly valuable for inferring user similarity.
Changes in ITCZ location and cross-equatorial heat transport at the Last Glacial Maximum, Heinrich Stadial 1, and the mid-Holocene

Article history: Tropical paleoclimate records provide important insights into the response of precipitation patterns and the Hadley circulation to past climate changes. Paleo-records are commonly interpreted as indicating north-south shifts of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), with the ITCZ's mean position moving toward the warmer hemisphere in response to changes in cross-equatorial temperature gradients. Though a number of records in tropical Central and South America, North Africa, Asia and the Indo-Australian region are consistent with this interpretation, the magnitudes and regional variability of past ITCZ shifts are poorly constrained. Combining estimates of past tropical sea surface temperature (SST) gradients with the strong linear relationship observed between zonally averaged ITCZ position and tropical SST gradients in the modern seasonal cycle and in models of past climates, we quantify past shifts in zonally averaged ITCZ position. We find that mean ITCZ shifts are likely less than 1◦ latitude during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1) and mid-Holocene (6 ka) climates, with the largest shift during HS1. The ITCZ's position is closely tied to heat transport between the hemispheres by the atmosphere and ocean; accordingly, these small mean ITCZ shifts are associated with relatively large (∼0.1-0.4 PW) changes in cross-equatorial atmospheric heat transport (AHTEQ). These AHTEQ changes point to changes in cross-equatorial ocean heat transport or net radiative fluxes of the opposite sign. During HS1, the increase in northward AHTEQ is large enough to compensate for a partial or total shutdown in northward heat transport by the Atlantic Ocean's meridional overturning circulation. The large AHTEQ response for small changes in mean ITCZ position places limits on the magnitude of past shifts in the globally averaged ITCZ. Large (5 ◦ ) meridional displacements of the ITCZ inferred from regional compilations of proxy records must be limited in their zonal extent, and ITCZ shifts at other longitudes must be near zero, for the global mean shift to remain 1 ◦ as suggested by our results. Our examination of model results and modern observations supports variable regional and seasonal changes in ITCZ precipitation. This work thus highlights the importance of a dense network of tropical precipitation reconstructions to document the regional and seasonal heterogeneity of ITCZ responses to past climate changes.
Peer Mentoring: Key to New Music Teacher Educator Success

Research and practice in mentoring preservice music teachers and music teachers during their induction years has flourished in the past 10 years. Mentoring is also essential to the success of new m...
Education of the Emotions in the Classroom Community of Inquiry

In this paper I would like to show how the transformation of traditional classrooms into classrooms of communities of inquiry can bring about not only better thinking on the part of students but al...
Comparing structural perspectives on Medical Informatics: EMBASE vs. MEDLINE.

Previous bibliometric analyses of Medical Informatics’ internal structure used MEDLINE records as the unit of study. EMBASE, a product of Excerpta Medica, carries a wider international scope and offers complementary retrieval results to MEDLINE. Since much medical informatics critical thinking originated abroad and migrated to North America, this difference in coverage may also indicate a different perspective of “what constitutes medical informatics.” Using traditional bibliometric and multivariate data analysis techniques, the present work examines EMBASE indexing records for the same 1995–1999 time frame as earlier MEDLINE studies to identify and compare structural features of the field..
Sam68, RNA helicase A and Tap cooperate in the post-transcriptional regulation of human immunodeficiency virus and type D retroviral mRNA

Unlike cellular mRNA, retroviral mRNA bypasses the tight coupling of the splicing and nuclear export steps to allow the export of intron-containing viral RNA transcripts to the cytoplasm. Two distinct nuclear export pathways for retroviral mRNA have been described: a CRM-1 dependent pathway mediated by the HIV-1 Rev protein and the Rev Response Element (RRE), and a CRM-1 independent pathway mediated by the Constitutive Transport Element (CTE) of type D retroviruses. Two CTE-binding proteins, RNA helicase A (RHA) and Tap, have been implicated in the nuclear export of CTE-containing RNA. Recently, we reported that expression of RRE-containing RNA could also be mediated by a cellular protein, Sam68, independently of Rev. Here we report evidence that Sam68, RHA and Tap cooperate in the nuclear export of both CTE- and RRE-containing RNA. RHA binds to Sam68 and to Tap both in vivo and in vitro. Over-expression of Sam68 activates both RRE- and CTE-regulated reporter gene expression in human cells and in quail cells in the presence of human Tap. This activation was competitively inhibited by the nuclear transport domain (NTD) of RHA and a transdominant negative mutant of Tap. Conversely, the activation of CTE by Tap in quail cells was inhibited by a transdominant mutant of Sam68 and NTD. We propose that both HIV and type D retroviruses may access the same constitutive RNA nuclear export pathway involving RHA, Tap and Sam68, even though HIV also utilizes the Rev protein for more efficient nuclear export. it is likely that this constitutive export pathway is also used by cellular mRNA, but at a different interface with the splicing process.
Elderly patients in surgical workloads: a population-based analysis.

Elderly (80+ year old) individuals are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population. The objective of this study was to use population-based data to examine trends in the number of elderly undergoing major general, vascular, and cardiothoracic surgical procedures. California inpatient data from 1990-2000 was used to identify patients undergoing six procedures: abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (AAA), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), carotid endarterectomy (CEA), colon resections, lung resections, and pancreatic resections. Despite comprising only 2.7 per cent of the California population, elderly patients were a significant percentage (6-22%) of the caseloads for the six procedures examined. For all six procedures, the percentage of patients that were elderly increased during the study period. The age-specific incidence rates for elderly individuals increased significantly for three of these procedures (CABG, CEA, lung resection), remained unchanged for two (AAA, pancreas resection), and decreased for one (colon resection). Elderly patients are a large and growing part of surgical caseloads. In the near future, the number of elderly individuals in the California state and the U.S. populations will increase dramatically (41% and 35% between 2000 and 2020). To provide the best quality of care, surgeons should embrace research, training, and educational opportunities regarding the treatment of elderly patients.
Wahl des Deutschen Bundestages

Die Wahl des Deutschen Bundestages erfolgt durch eine mit der Personenwahl verbundene Verhaltniswahl. Die Ergebnisse der Personenwahl, die Direktmandate, gehen in Form von Mindestbedingungen in die Verhaltnisrechnung ein und fuhren zu einer direktmandatsbedingten Verhaltniswahl. Die Rechnungen beruhen auf der Divisormethode mit Standardrundung sowie auf ihrer direktmandatsbedingten Variante. Um die Direktmandatsbedingungen systemvertraglich berucksichtigen zu konnen, wird die Bundestagsgrose entsprechend angepasst. Das System ist frei von Uberhangmandaten und negativen Stimmgewichten, die im Vorgangersystem irritierten.
A Sampling of Community-Based Housing Efforts at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is in need of several thousand houses to alleviate overcrowding and improve living conditions. The United States government has failed to provide appropriate or sufficient housing and other individuals and organizations that have attempted to build homes for the Lakota have met with widely varying results. This paper documents community-based housing activities of fifteen Pine Ridge residents who attempted to implement a variety of construction techniques. The biggest challenges were obtaining and paying for resources and finding competent, reliable labor. The interviewees used local and salvaged materials extensively and worked within the local, informal economy to meet these challenges and address their dissatisfaction with government cluster housing. Findings suggest that local, community-based construction may provide a successful and culturally sustainable strategy for residential construction because it equips builders with a means to earn a living, develops constructio...
Role of Tumor Stromal Interactions and Proteases in Oral Cancer Metastasis

To metastasize, tumor cells must migrate through the surrounding stroma which is composed of extracellular matrix (ECM) components, fibroblasts, inflammatory cells, and endothelial cells. Tumor-associated matrix permeability to tumor cells is thought to result from complex interactions between the tumor cell and the cellular and acellular components of the stroma. These interactions result in tumor cell changes in substrate adhesion, cell migration, and focused proteolysis of ECM components. Although the process of ECM degradation has been associated with multiple types of proteases including cathepsins, and serine proteases (such as plasmin), it is the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) that are most commonly upregulated and associated with the invasive process. Although tumor cells were originally thought to be the primary source of MMPs within the tumor, it was recently recognized that MMPs are expressed primarily by stromal cells when stimulated by tumor cell derived factors. One mechanism that tumor cells employ to stimulate MMPs from tumor-associated stroma is the expression of ECM metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN). EMMPRIN is a tumor cell expressed protein known to induce growth factors and proteases in the surrounding fibroblasts and endothelial cells. In addition to an analysis of EMMPRIN as a paradigm for tumor–stromal interactions, this chapter will characterize the presence of stromal tissue in head and neck cancer on the basis of histological analysis, the role of proteases in tumor–stromal interactions, and the specific role of membrane type-1 MMP (MT1-MMP) in tumor invasion and metastasis. Furthermore, the clinical trials associated with MMP inhibitors in cancer have been disappointing, and some possible explanations for their failure and future directions are suggested.
Temperature chaos in a Ge:Mn thin-film spin glass

Temperature changes in thin-film Ge:Mn spin-glass dynamics are presented that exhibit temperature chaos (TC) when the spin-glass correlation length $\ensuremath{\xi}(t,T)$ grows to its thickness $\mathcal{L}$. For small $\mathcal{L}\ensuremath{\approx}15.5$ nm, the transition to chaos takes place over a temperature range $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}T$ sufficiently large to exhibit both reversible and chaotic behavior. The value of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}T$ can be related to the critical exponent for TC, $\ensuremath{\zeta}$. Experimentally, $\ensuremath{\zeta}$ is found to be $\ensuremath{\approx}1.06$, in the range of recent simulations. The presence of a specific length scale $\mathcal{L}$ allows the transition to chaos to be examined over measurable laboratory temperature changes. The transition is found to be abrupt. Bulk materials, with a distribution of crystallite sizes, will smear out the transition, resulting in a very slow crossover. The abruptness of the transition and its nature are compared with recent theoretical calculations.
Novel functions for the transcription factor E2F4 in development and disease

The E2F family of transcription factors is a key determinant of cell proliferation in response to extra- and intra-cellular signals. Within this family, E2F4 is a transcriptional repressor whose activity is critical to engage and maintain cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 in conjunction with members of the retinoblastoma (RB) family. However, recent observations challenge this paradigm and indicate that E2F4 has a multitude of functions in cells besides this cell cycle regulatory role, including in embryonic and adult stem cells, during regenerative processes, and in cancer. Some of these new functions are independent of the RB family and involve direct activation of target genes. Here we review the canonical functions of E2F4 and discuss recent evidence expanding the role of this transcription factor, with a focus on cell fate decisions in tissue homeostasis and regeneration.
Sex differences in cortisol's regulation of affiliative behavior.

Abstract A contribution to a special issue on Hormones and Human Competition. A stress perspective is used to illuminate how competitive defeat and victory shape biology and behavior. We report a field study examining how change in cortisol following perceived defeat (vs. victory) in a competition—in this case, a dog agility competition—relates to affiliative behavior. Following competition, we measured cortisol change and the extent to which dog handlers directed affiliative behaviors toward their dogs. We found striking sex differences in affiliation. First, men were more affiliative toward their dogs after victory, whereas women were more affiliative after defeat. Second, the greater a female competitor's increase in cortisol, the more time she spent affiliating with her dog, whereas for men, the pattern was the exact opposite: the greater a male competitor's increase in cortisol, the less time he spent affiliating with his dog. This pattern suggests that, in the wake of competition, men and women's affiliative behavior may serve different functions—shared celebration for men; shared consolation for women. These sex differences show not only that men and women react very differently to victory and defeat, but also that equivalent changes in cortisol across the sexes are associated with strikingly different behavioral consequences for men and women.
Logarithmically efficient simulation for misclassification probabilities in sequential multiple testing

We consider the problem of estimating via Monte Carlo simulation the misclassification probabilities of two sequential multiple testing procedures. The first one stops when all local test statistics exceed simultaneously either a positive or a negative threshold. The second assumes knowledge of the true number of signals, say m, and stops when the gap between the top m test statistics and the remaining ones exceeds a threshold. For each multiple testing procedure, we propose an importance sampling algorithm for the estimation of its misclassification probability. These algorithms are shown to be logarithmically efficient when the data for the various statistical hypotheses are independent, and each testing problem satisfies an asymptotic stability condition and a symmetry condition. Our theoretical results are illustrated by a simulation study in the special case of testing the drifts of Gaussian random walks.
Microplastics in a freshwater environment receiving treated wastewater effluent

Small plastic fragments (microplastics or solid particles <5 mm in size or “microbeads” used in personal care products and cosmetics) may ultimately find their way into aquatic environments. We studied the presence of microplastics (particle sizes 53–105 μm and 106–179 μm) spatially and temporally in 3 connected urban lakes being fed by treated wastewater effluent in Lubbock, Texas. These lakes also serve as drainage during storm events. Water samples from drainage playa wetlands within the city were also collected. Our interest was in determining the presence or absence of microplastics in a freshwater environment as well as the source apportionment between personal care products (via wastewater) and discarded plastics (via runoff). Results showed that average concentrations of microplastics in samples collected from lakes ranged from 0.79 ± 0.88 mg/L to 1.56 ± 1.64 mg/L for the 53–105 μm size fraction and from 0.31 ± 0.72 mg/L to 1.25 ± 1.98 mg/L for the 106–179 μm size fraction. For samples collected from playa wetlands, average microplastic concentrations ranged from 0.64 ± 0.92 mg/L to 5.51 ± 9.09 mg/L for the 53–105 μm size fraction and from nondetectable (ND) to 1.79 ± 3.04 mg/L for the 106–179 μm size fraction. Our results (based on comparison of microplastic masses) suggest that urban runoff also contributes microplastics to surface water in addition to the treated wastewater effluent (in this particular case). The present findings may assist in adopting additional monitoring efforts and provide information on the potential contribution of secondary microplastic input into aquatic environments. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:528–532. © 2017 SETAC
Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology

Kentaro Toyama was a self-described A¢â¬AtechnoholicA¢â¬Â and award-winning computer scientist whose research paved the way for cutting-edge products like MicrosoftA¢â¬â¢s Kinect. In 2004, he co-founded Microsoft Research India, and he set his mind to design electronic inventions to improve education, agriculture, health care, and governance in the developing worldA¢â¬â¢s poorest communities. What Toyama experienced in India, though, shook his faith in technology.AÂ At a school outside Bangalore, Toyama saw computers locked away in a dusty cabinet because teachers didnA¢â¬â¢t know what to do with them. Mobile-phone projects to disseminate health information routinely failed. A¢â¬ATelecentersA¢â¬Â intended to teach rural farmers better agriculture devolved into places for sleazy web surfing. Meanwhile back in the United States, Silicon Valley executives who evangelize novel technologies at work sent their children to Waldorf schools that ban electronics. And, four decades of incredible innovation have done nothing to turn the tide of increasing poverty and inequality. Why then, do we keep hoping that technology will solve our greatest social challenges? In this talk, Toyama inoculates us against the rhetoric of digital utopians and reinvigorates us with a genuinely human paradigm for social change. A heretic among technologists, Toyama is uniquely able to reveal why social progress depends on human changes that gadgets just canA¢â¬â¢t deliver. He provides a fierce critique and a heartwarming reminder that itA¢â¬â¢s human wisdom, not machines, that move our world forward.AÂ
Distribution and Modeled Transport of Plastic Pollution in the Great Lakes, the World's Largest Freshwater Resource

Most plastic pollution originates on land. As such, freshwater bodies serve as conduits for the transport of plastic litter to the ocean. Understanding the concentrations and fluxes of plastic litter in freshwater ecosystems is critical to our understanding of the global plastic litter budget and underpins the success of future management strategies. We conducted a replicated field survey of surface plastic concentrations in four lakes in the North American Great Lakes system, the largest contiguous freshwater system on the planet. We then modeled plastic transport to resolve spatial and temporal variability of plastic distribution in one of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie. Triplicate surface samples were collected at 38 stations in mid-summer of 2014. Plastic particles >106 µm in size were quantified. Concentrations were highest near populated urban areas and their water infrastructure. In the highest concentration trawl, nearly 2 million fragments km-2 were found in the Detroit River—dwarfing previous reports of Great Lakes plastic abundances by over 4-fold. Yet, the accuracy of single trawl counts was challenged: within-station plastic abundances varied 0- to 3-fold between replicate trawls. In the smallest size class (106-1000 µm), false positive rates of 12-24% were determined analytically for plastic versus non-plastic, while false negative rates averaged ~18%. Though predicted to form in summer by the existing Lake Erie circulation model, our transport model did not predict a permanent surface “Lake Erie Garbage Patch” in its central basin—a trend supported by field survey data. Rather, general eastward transport with recirculation in the major basins was predicted. Further, modeled plastic residence times were drastically influenced by plastic buoyancy. Neutrally buoyant plastics—those with the same density as the ambient water—were flushed several times slower than plastics floating at the water’s surface and exceeded the hydraulic residence time of the lake. It is likely that the ecosystem impacts of plastic litter persist in the Great Lakes longer than assumed based on lake flushing rates. This study furthers our understanding of plastic pollution in the Great Lakes, a model freshwater system to study the movement of plastic from anthropogenic sources to environmental sinks.
Induction in Multi-Label Domains

All the techniques discussed in the previous chapters assumed that each example is labeled with one and only one class. In realistic applications, however, this is not always the case. Quite often, an example is known to belong to two or more classes at the same time, sometimes to many classes. For machine learning, this poses certain new problems. After a brief discussion of how to deal with this issue within the framework of classical paradigms, this chapter describes the currently most popular approach: binary relevance.
Composition Operators with Monomial Symbol Acting on Weighted Hardy Spaces

Let $$C_{\varphi }$$ be the composition operator with monomial symbol $$\varphi (z)=z^m$$ , $$z\in \mathbb {D}$$ , for some positive integer m. In this article, we investigate the point spectrum, spectrum, and essential spectrum of the operators $$C_{\varphi }^*C_{\varphi }$$ , $$C_{\varphi }C_{\varphi }^*$$ , self-commutator $$[C_{\varphi }^*,C_{\varphi }]$$ and anti-self-commutator $$\{C_{\varphi }^*,C_{\varphi }\}$$ on weighted Hardy spaces $$H^2(\beta )$$ and recover known results for the classical Hardy, Bergman, and Dirichlet spaces.
EMUDRA: Ensemble of Multiple Drug Repositioning Approaches to improve prediction accuracy

Motivation Availability of large-scale genomic, epigenetic and proteomic data in complex diseases makes it possible to objectively and comprehensively identify the therapeutic targets that can lead to new therapies. The Connectivity Map has been widely used to explore novel indications of existing drugs. However, the prediction accuracy of the existing methods, such as Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic remains low. Here we present a novel high-performance drug repositioning approach that improves over the state-of-the-art methods. Results We first designed an expression weighted cosine (EWCos) method to minimize the influence of the uninformative expression changes and then developed an ensemble approach termed ensemble of multiple drug repositioning approaches (EMUDRA) to integrate EWCos and three existing state-of-the-art methods. EMUDRA significantly outperformed individual drug repositioning methods when applied to simulated and independent evaluation datasets. We predicted using EMUDRA and experimentally validated an antibiotic rifabutin as an inhibitor of cell growth in triple negative breast cancer. EMUDRA can identify drugs that more effectively target disease gene signatures and will thus be a useful tool for identifying novel therapies for complex diseases and predicting new indications for existing drugs. Availability and implementation The EMUDRA R package is available at doi: 10.7303/syn11510888. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Adoption and Antisocial Personality: Genetic and Environmental Factors Associated with Antisocial Outcomes

The present review critically evaluates evidence from adoption studies on the heritability of antisocial personality, interactions between genetic predispositions and the characteristics of adoptive mothers and fathers, and both the methodological and diagnostic shortcomings of existing studies. The article concludes with directions and suggestions for future research and practice.
A Review of Biomarkers Use in Parkinson with Deep Brain Stimulation: A Successful Past Promising a Bright Future.

Background Parkinson disease (PD) remains a common neurodegenerative disorder. Functional neurosurgery largely arose with the introduction of deep brain stimulation (DBS) as a potential option for PD unresponsive to medical management. Biomarkers are clinical and laboratory indicators of therapeutic success or failure. Objective To examine the current and published literature relating to the development and use of biomarkers in monitoring and determining the efficacy of DBS in PD. Methods The PubMed database was systematically searched using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines for systemic reviews. Studies that examined current or potential biomarkers measurable after DBS were included. Articles from 1952 to date were examined. Results The initial search identified 49 articles. Thirty articles met the inclusion criteria. Articles were subdivided into those addressing biomarkers with proven clinical usefulness and potential biomarkers that have future application. Conclusions Biomarkers have been identified that can help to determine the effect of DBS on patients with PD. Current studies show that there are measured differences in electrophysiologic oscillations, gene expression, neuropeptide levels, metabolic function, inflammatory activity, and others in the central nervous system after DBS in PD. Local field potential and β-band analysis stand as the clinically proven biomarkers of choice for DBS in PD. Many of the identified changes noted could be implemented as clinically useful biomarkers through which DBS may be monitored. Future studies are needed to determine which noted physiologic changes are most appropriately used as biomarkers and in which contexts they are most helpful.
In Situ Tissue Engineering

In situ tissue engineering refers to the regeneration of normal tissue, in this case bone, directly at the site that it is required. It is a relatively new and powerful tool that eliminated open bone harvesting from donor sites and therefore the morbidity associated with it.