cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparison of activation requirements and activation phenotype of allogeneic and xenogeneic rodent responses in vivo and in vitro

Background. Both discordant and concordant xenogeneic responses are dominated by humoral immunity. Recent advances in molecular engineering approaches may largely prevent rejection by means of this pathway, leaving the cellular arm of the immune response as the principal remaining barrier to sucessful engraftment. Methods. To characterize further the cellular response to xenogeneic tissues, we used the intracellular fluorescent marker CFSE (5-(and-6)-carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester) to track the mitotic record of T cells (and T cell subsets) after either xenogeneic or allogeneic activation in vitro or in vivo. Activation marker expression was monitored by simultaneous labeling with antibodies for either CD25 or CD134. Results. The in vitro and in vivo responses of Lewis lymphocytes were generally similar in magnitude and timing comparing activation with allogeneic or xenogeneic stimulators. However, the xenogeneic T cell precursor frequency was found to be markedly higher than that previously reported and were comparable to that seen in allogeneic responses. Xenogeneic responses were unique in the continued expression of activation markers in later division cycles. In addition, CD4 and CD8 T-cell proliferation was highly dependent on stimulator class II expression, highlighting the importance of CD4 T cells and the indirent pathway in the xenogeneic response. Conclusion. An unexpectedly high precursor frequency was detected for xenogeneic cellular responses in the rat anti-mouse combination and was comparable to that seen in allogeneic responses. Differences in xenogeneic versus allogeneic activation profiles exist that may result from the cellular pathways used for activation.
Atmospheric Energy Transport Over North America For Three Winter Months

Abstract The excellent North American radiosonde network is used to calculate the poleward energy transport for the continental area during the period January–March 1966. The transport of sensible and latent heat and geopotential and kinetic energy is partitioned according to four circulation modes—mean and transient meridional circulations and stationary and transient eddy circulations. In addition, the roles of various synoptic features in the transient eddy flux are examined. The mean meridional transport was computed in two ways. One involved a calculation of the contribution of the North American sector to the hemispheric mean meridional transport. Because of strong meridional flow at high levels and a lack of compensating flow at low levels, very large transports were obtained. The transports were much greater than the average for the entire hemisphere and point up the helical structure of the meridional cells. To obtain comparisons with other modes of transport, we made another calculation of the m...
8 Configuring and Commoditizing the Archaeological Landscape: Heritage, Identity, and Tourism in the Tuxtla Mountains

This paper explores how the burgeoning tourism economy in the western Tuxtla Mountains is shaping the perception and presentation of archaeological heritage. We compare the divergent motives and representations of three groups: professional archaeologists, municipalities, and private entrepreneurs. A struggling local economy has contributed to inhabitants of the region increasingly perceiving the past as a potential economic stimulus. Narratives of the past, however, are unregulated and diverse, and the translocal politics of heritage management can have unintended by-products, including conflicts between externally represented cultural values and locally imagined meanings and identities. The impact of this representational divergence on community and governmental support for the protection of cultural patrimony and heritage education is uncertain.
Physical controls on dissolved inorganic radiocarbon variability in the California Current

Abstract We present depth profiles of Δ14C and δ13C of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) at Station M in the Eastern North Pacific. Several seasonal profiles are presented for the time period between 1991 and 1996. Comparison with GEOSECS data clearly shows changes in ocean radiocarbon profiles since 1973. The Δ14C of DIC shows the most variability at depths of 450, 85, and 25 m, and the lowest variability at depths of 1600 and 2500 m. The largest variability in DIC Δ14C occurs at 450 m, a depth marked by large fluctuations in the radiocarbon signatures of the source waters. The likely controls of DIC Δ14C variability are physical changes in the circulation of the California Current System. A simple two-box model is used to show the importance of wind driven mixing at the surface. We discuss the likely effects of mesoscale eddies and ENSO on the DIC Δ14C values at this site. We also show that remineralization of organic carbon (dissolved or particulate) is not responsible for the variability in the Δ14C of DIC observed at Station M.
The rising cost of warming waters: effects of temperature on the cost of swimming in fishes.

Understanding the effects of water temperature on the swimming performance of fishes is central in understanding how fish species will respond to global climate change. Metabolic cost of transport (COT)—a measure of the energy required to swim a given distance—is a key performance parameter linked to many aspects of fish life history. We develop a quantitative model to predict the effect of water temperature on COT. The model facilitates comparisons among species that differ in body size by incorporating the body mass-dependence of COT. Data from 22 fish species support the temperature and mass dependencies of COT predicted by our model, and demonstrate that modest differences in water temperature can result in substantial differences in the energetic cost of swimming.
Real-Time Transient Instability Detection Based on Decision Trees

This paper proposes a concept for transient instability detection as the trigger for adaptive Remedial Action Schemes. With Phasor Measurement Units measurements as input, a decision tree technique is applied to detect system transient instability. The effects of the time delay and the synchronization of the sampling are investigated. Also studied include the effects of different locations of PMU and different input features of the decision trees, such as phasor angle and magnitude, pre-fault transfer power, and discrete system events. The IEEE 39-bus is used to illustrate and evaluate the proposed methods. Index Terms-- Decision tree (DT), phasor measurement unit (PMU), remedial action scheme (RAS), transient instability
The political economy of insider trading laws and enforcement: law vs. politics? International evidence

This article investigates the determinants of insider trading regulation across countries. The main finding, based on data from a cross section of countries between 1980 and 1999, is that a country’s political system – not its legal or financial system – provides the first-order explanation of its proclivity to regulate insider trading. Specifically, more democratic political systems enacted and enforced insider trading laws earlier than less democratic political systems, controlling for wealth, financial development, legal origin, and other relevant factors. In addition, left-leaning governments were relative latecomers to insider trading legislation and enforcement relative to right-leaning and centrist governments, controlling for the same factors. The article’s findings are consistent with the political theory of capital market development and inconsistent with the legal origins theory of capital market development. They also challenge theoretical claims that insider trading restrictions are market-inhibiting because the kinds of governments that appear more prone to regulate insider trading are precisely the governments that are generally thought to pursue market-promoting policies.
An anisotropic ocean surface emissivity model based on a two-scale code tuned to WindSat polarimetric brightness observations

A full-Stokes vector model for the microwave emissivity of an anisotropic wind driven ocean surface based on measured satellite data and using a two-scale model for surface emission is being developed for the purpose of assimilation of satellite microwave radiances. The model is based on the Ohio State University two-scale code and tuned to WindSat full-Stokes emissivity data as analyzed by Meissner and Wentz. Several physical inconsistencies were corrected in the model. The tuned model results over a range of wind speeds from 0-20 m/sec show good agreement in the 0th, 1st, and 2nd azimuthal brightness temperature harmonics. A bias model for the tuned code was developed to account for residual discrepancies.
Metabolic control of Clostridium thermocellum via inhibition of hydrogenase activity and the glucose transport rate.

Clostridium thermocellum has the ability to catabolize cellulosic biomass into ethanol, but acetic acid, lactic acid, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen gas (H2) are also produced. The effect of hydrogenase inhibitors (H2, carbon monoxide (CO), and methyl viologen) on product selectivity was investigated. The anticipated effect of these hydrogenase inhibitors was to decrease acetate production. However, shifts to ethanol and lactate production are also observed as a function of cultivation conditions. When the sparge gas of cellobiose-limited chemostat cultures was switched from N2 to H2, acetate declined, and ethanol production increased 350%. In resting cell suspensions, lactate increased when H2 or CO was the inhibitor or when the cells were held at elevated hyperbaric pressure (6.8 atm). In contrast, methyl-viologen-treated resting cells produced twice as much ethanol as the other treatments. The relationship of chemostat physiology to methyl viologen inhibition was revealed by glucose transport experiments, in which methyl viologen decreased the rate of glucose transport by 90%. C. thermocellum produces NAD+ from NADH by H2, lactate, and ethanol production. When the hydrogenases were inhibited, the latter two products increased. However, excess substrate availability causes fructose 1,6-diphosphate, the glycolytic intermediate that triggers lactate production, to increase. Compensatory ethanol production was observed when the chemostat fluid dilution rate or methyl viologen decreased substrate transport. This research highlights the complex effects of high concentrations of dissolved gases in fermentation, which are increasingly envisioned in microbial applications of H2 production for the conversion of synthetic gases to chemicals.
Automated gust front detection using knowledge-based signal processing

The latest airport surveillance radar, enhanced with a wind shear processor (ASR-9 WSP), is being developed as a less expensive alternative weather radar. Although gust fronts are visible to human observers in ASR-9 WSP imagery, the lower sensitivity and less reliable Doppler measurements of this radar make automated gust front detection a much more challenging problem. Using machine intelligence and knowledge-based signal processing techniques developed in the context of automatic target recognition, a machine intelligent gust front algorithm (MIGFA) is constructed that is radically different from previous algorithms. Developed initially for use with ASR-9 WSP data, MIGFA substantially outperforms a state-of-the-art gust from detection algorithm based on earlier approaches. These results also indirectly suggest that MIGFA performance may be nearly as good as human performance. Preliminary results of an operational test period (two months, approximately 15000 scans processed) are presented. >
Predictors of ethanol consumption in adult Sprague-Dawley rats: Relation to hypothalamic peptides that stimulate ethanol intake

To investigate mechanisms in outbred animals that increase the propensity to consume ethanol, it is important to identify and characterize these animals before or at early stages in their exposure to ethanol. In the present study, different measures were examined in adult SpragueeDawley rats to determine whether they can predict long-term propensity to overconsume ethanol. Before consuming 9% ethanol with a two-bottle choice paradigm, rats were examined with the commonly used behavioral measures of novelty-induced locomotor activity and anxiety, as assessed during 15 min in an open-field activity chamber. Two additional measures, intake of a low 2% ethanol concentration or circulating triglyceride (TG) levels after a meal, were also examined with respect to their ability to predict chronic 9% ethanol consumption. The results revealed significant positive correlations across individual rats between the amount of 9% ethanol ultimately consumed and three of these different measures, with high scores for activity, 2% ethanol intake, and TGs identifying rats that consume 150% more ethanol than rats with low scores. Measurements of hypothalamic peptides that stimulate ethanol intake suggest that they contribute early to the greater ethanol consumption predicted by these high scores. Rats with high 2% ethanol intake or high TGs, two measures found to be closely related, had significantly elevated expression of enkephalin (ENK) and galanin (GAL) in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) but no change in neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the arcuate nucleus (ARC). This is in contrast to rats with high activity scores, which in addition to elevated PVN ENK expression showed enhanced NPY in the ARC but no change in GAL. Elevated ENK is a common characteristic related to all three predictors of chronic ethanol intake, whereas the other peptides differentiate these predictors, with GAL enhanced with high 2% ethanol intake and TG measures but NPY related to activity. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Air pollution and early deaths in the United States. Part I: Quantifying the impact of major sectors in 2005

Combustion emissions adversely impact air quality and human health. A multiscale air quality model is applied to assess the health impacts of major emissions sectors in United States. Emissions are classified according to six different sources: electric power generation, industry, commercial and residential sources, road transportation, marine transportation and rail transportation. Epidemiological evidence is used to relate long-term population exposure to sector-induced changes in the concentrations of PM2.5 and ozone to incidences of premature death. Total combustion emissions in the U.S. account for about 200,000 (90% CI: 90,000e362,000) premature deaths per year in the U.S. due to changes in PM2.5 concentrations, and about 10,000 (90% CI: " 1000 to 21,000) deaths due to changes in ozone concentrations. The largest contributors for both pollutant-related mortalities are road transportation, causing w53,000 (90% CI: 24,000e95,000) PM2.5-related deaths and w5000 (90% CI: " 900 to 11,000) ozonerelated early deaths per year, and power generation, causing w52,000 (90% CI: 23,000e94,000) PM2.5related and w2000 (90% CI: " 300 to 4000) ozone-related premature mortalities per year. Industrial emissions contribute to w41,000 (90% CI: 18,000e74,000) early deaths from PM2.5 and w2000 (90% CI: 0 e4000) early deaths from ozone. The results are indicative of the extent to which policy measures could be undertaken in order to mitigate the impact of specific emissions from different sectors d in particular black carbon emissions from road transportation and sulfur dioxide emissions from power generation.
Dynamic Verification of Sequential Consistency

In this paper, we develop the first feasibly implementable scheme for end-to-end dynamic verification of multithreaded memory systems. For multithreaded (including multiprocessor) memory systems, end-to-end correctness is defined by its memory consistency model. One such consistency model is sequential consistency (SC), which specifies that all loads and stores appear to execute in a total order that respects program order for each thread. Our design, DVSC-Indirect, performs dynamic verification of SC (DVSC) by dynamically verifying a set of sub-invariants that, when taken together, have been proven equivalent to SC. We evaluate DVSC-Indirect with full-system simulation and commercial workloads. Our results for multiprocessor systems with both directory and snooping cache coherence show that DVSC-Indirect detects all injected errors that affect system correctness (i.e., SC). We show that it uses only a small amount more bandwidth (less than 25%) than an unprotected system and thus can achieve comparable performance when provided with only modest additional link bandwidth.
Function approximation using backpropagation and general regression neural networks

The approximation capabilities of backpropagation (BP) neural networks and D. Specht's (1991) general regression neural network (GRNN) are compared using data generated from 14 functions under three levels of random noise. The results show that the BP approach provides significantly more accurate estimates than the GRNN approach, especially when the level of random noise in the data is low. >
Prospective Study of Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Dementia in Older Adults

ContextAlcohol consumption has been associated with complex changes in cerebral vasculature and structure in older adults. How alcohol consumption affects the incidence of dementia is less clear.ObjectiveTo determine the prospective relationship of alcohol consumption and risk of dementia among older adults.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsNested case-control study of 373 cases with incident dementia and 373 controls who were among 5888 adults aged 65 years and older who participated in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a prospective, population-based cohort study in 4 US communities. The controls were frequency-matched on age, death before 1999, and their attendance of a 1998-1999 clinic. Participants in this study underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain and cognitive testing between 1992 and 1994 and were followed up until 1999.Main Outcome MeasuresOdds of incident dementia, ascertained by detailed neurological and neuropsychological examinations according to average alcohol consumption, assessed by self-reported intake of beer, wine, and liquor at 2 visits prior to the date of the MRI.ResultsCompared with abstention, the adjusted odds for dementia among those whose weekly alcohol consumption was less than 1 drink were 0.65 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.41-1.02); 1 to 6 drinks, 0.46 (95% CI, 0.27-0.77); 7 to 13 drinks, 0.69 (95% CI, 0.37-1.31); and 14 or more drinks, 1.22 (95% CI, 0.60-2.49; P for quadratic term = .001). A trend toward greater odds of dementia associated with heavier alcohol consumption was most apparent among men and participants with an apolipoprotein E ∊4 allele. We found generally similar relationships of alcohol use with Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia.ConclusionsCompared with abstention, consumption of 1 to 6 drinks weekly is associated with a lower risk of incident dementia among older adults.
An operator splitting algorithm for Tikhonov-regularized topology optimization

In this work, we investigate a Tikhonov-type regularization scheme to address the ill-posedness of the classical compliance minimization problem. We observe that a semi-implicit discretization of the gradient descent flow for minimization of the regularized objective function leads to a convolution of the original gradient descent step with the Green’s function associated with the modified Helmholtz equation. The appearance of ‘‘filtering’’ in this update scheme is different from the current density and sensitivity filtering techniques in the literature. The next iterate is defined as the projection of this provisional density onto the space of admissible density functions. For a particular choice of projection mapping, we show that the algorithm is identical to the well-known forward–backward splitting algorithm, an insight that can be further explored for topology optimization. Also of interest is that with an appropriate choice of the projection parameter, nearly all intermediate densities are eliminated in the optimal solution using the common density material models. We show examples of near binary solutions even for large values of the regularization parameter.
Organ transplantation, organ donation and mental retardation

We reviewed the literature on accessibility and outcomes of organ transplantation in individuals with mental retardation (MR) and on the prevalence of organ donation in this population. Six centers have published outcome data on renal transplantation in 34 individuals with MR. The one- and three-yr patient survival rates were 100% and 90%, respectively. The studies reported good compliance with post-transplant medications due to consistent support from family members or caregivers. The outcome studies for liver and heart transplantation among these individuals are limited. The literature on organ donation in individuals with MR is mostly concerned with legal issues. The courts generally permit organ donations when such is in the best interests of the donor.
Toxoplasma gondii Infections Alter GABAergic Synapses and Signaling in the Central Nervous System

ABSTRACT During infections with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is utilized as a carbon source for parasite metabolism and also to facilitate parasite dissemination by stimulating dendritic-cell motility. The best-recognized function for GABA, however, is its role in the nervous system as an inhibitory neurotransmitter that regulates the flow and timing of excitatory neurotransmission. When this pathway is altered, seizures develop. Human toxoplasmosis patients suffer from seizures, suggesting that Toxoplasma interferes with GABA signaling in the brain. Here, we show that while excitatory glutamatergic presynaptic proteins appeared normal, infection with type II ME49 Toxoplasma tissue cysts led to global changes in the distribution of glutamic acid decarboxylase 67 (GAD67), a key enzyme that catalyzes GABA synthesis in the brain. Alterations in GAD67 staining were not due to decreased expression but rather to a change from GAD67 clustering at presynaptic termini to a more diffuse localization throughout the neuropil. Consistent with a loss of GAD67 from the synaptic terminals, Toxoplasma -infected mice develop spontaneous seizures and are more susceptible to drugs that induce seizures by antagonizing GABA receptors. Interestingly, GABAergic protein mislocalization and the response to seizure-inducing drugs were observed in mice infected with type II ME49 but not type III CEP strain parasites, indicating a role for a polymorphic parasite factor(s) in regulating GABAergic synapses. Taken together, these data support a model in which seizures and other neurological complications seen in Toxoplasma -infected individuals are due, at least in part, to changes in GABAergic signaling. IMPORTANCE Infections of the central nervous system can cause seizures. While inflammation in the brain has been proposed to initiate the onset of the seizures, relatively little is known about how inflammation impacts the structure and function of the neurons. Here we used a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii that infects the brain and showed that seizures arise due to a defect in signaling of GABA, which is the neurotransmitter primarily responsible for preventing the onset of seizures.
On the use of discrimination of level differences as a diagnostic test procedure as suggested by Fastl and Schorn (1981)

The present article examines critically the recent claim of Fasti and Schorn [Audiology 20: 488-502, 1981] that their proposed test of discrimination of level differences is a powerful diagnostic tool in the assessment of cochlear and retrochlear lesions. Although group differences exist, their individual data would appear to overlap considerably for both types of patient. The audiologist is forced to deal with individual data in assisting in the establishment of a diagnosis. The proposed test, therefore, does not appear to be a powerful diagnostic tool.Nous apportons ici la critique du test de Fasti et Schorn concernant son interět comme moyen de diagnostic differentiel entre les lesions cochleaires et retro-cochleaires. Bien que nous reconnaissions l'existence de differences entre les groupes, il nous semble que dans certains cas individuels des chevauchements considerables existent; or, l'audiologiste doit se baser sur le cas individuel lorsqu'il pose un diagnostic; de ce fait, le test propose ne nous ...
Deterministic process groups in dOS

Current multiprocessor systems execute parallel and concurrent software nondeterministically: even when given precisely the same input, two executions of the same program may produce different output. This severely complicates debugging, testing, and automatic replication for fault-tolerance. Previous efforts to address this issue have focused primarily on record and replay, but making execution actually deterministic would address the problem at the root.Our goals in this work are twofold: (1) to provide fully deterministic execution of arbitrary, unmodified, multithreaded programs as an OS service; and (2) to make all sources of intentional nondeterminism, such as network I/O, be explicit and controllable. To this end we propose a new OS abstraction, the Deterministic Process Group (DPG). All communication between threads and processes internal to a DPG happens deterministically, including implicit communication via shared-memory accesses, as well as communication via OS channels such as pipes, signals, and the filesystem. To deal with fundamentally nondeterministic external events, our abstraction includes the shim layer, a programmable interface that interposes on all interaction between a DPG and the external world, making determinism useful even for reactive applications.We implemented the DPG abstraction as an extension to Linux and demonstrate its benefits with three use cases: plain deterministic execution; replicated execution; and record and replay by logging just external input. We evaluated our implementation on both parallel and reactive workloads, including Apache, Chromium, and PARSEC.
Using Privatization Theory to Analyze Economic Development Projects: Promise and Performance

The heightened interest in economic development as a policy option for local governments has brought into focus the need to better understand the design and administration of economic development p...
A kinetic method for determination of plasma renin activity using radioassay of Angiotensin I.

A kinetic method for determination of plasma renin activity using radioimmunoassay of angiotensin I as the indicator system is presented. Angiotensin I is generated at 37 C. in plasma with the pH adjusted to 6.0 with maleic acid and ammonium maleate buffer. Chelating agents prevent the degradation of the angiotensin I product. Plasma samples from a small series of subjects on unrestricted sodium diets were analyzed with three replicate determinations. The mean values of 2.40 m μ g. and 5.38 m μ g. of angiotensin I per ml. per hr. were obtained after recumbency overnight and following 4 hours of activity, respectively. Run-to-run coefficient of variation was approximately 10%.
Applying Bayesian parameter estimation to relativistic heavy-ion collisions: simultaneous characterization of the initial state and quark-gluon plasma medium

We quantitatively estimate properties of the quark-gluon plasma created in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions utilizing Bayesian statistics and a multiparameter model-to-data comparison. The study is performed using a recently developed parametric initial condition model, ${\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{R}}\text{ENTo}$, which interpolates among a general class of particle production schemes, and a modern hybrid model which couples viscous hydrodynamics to a hadronic cascade. We calibrate the model to multiplicity, transverse momentum, and flow data and report constraints on the parametrized initial conditions and the temperature-dependent transport coefficients of the quark-gluon plasma. We show that initial entropy deposition is consistent with a saturation-based picture, extract a relation between the minimum value and slope of the temperature-dependent specific shear viscosity, and find a clear signal for a nonzero bulk viscosity.
Analysis of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157︰H7 surveillance data in Dongtai City in 2012

Objective To understand the presence and virulence genes of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coil(EHEC)O157︰H7 in host animals and diarrhea patients in Dongtai City,and to understand its drug resistance. Methods During the EHEC O157︰H7 infective period in Dongtai,Animal and diarrhea patient stool samples,various pood samples and fly samples were collected in surveillance spots in 2012.The samples were respectively cultured in mEc broth,amassed with immunomagnetic sepanation,and isolated in CHROMAGAR O157︰H7 culture medium.Purified isolates were biochemically identified,serotyped.The drug susceptibility was tested by K-B method.The uida gene and the virulence genes of stx1,stx2,eaeA and hly were detected by PCR. Results 35 strains of EHEC O157︰H7 were separated from 683samples(5.12%).The detection rate in animal stool samples was 10.59%(34/321)(26.92% for cows,7.50% for gosts and 7.32%for pigs);meanwhile the rate of diarrhea patients was 0.39%.PCR results showed that eaeA and hly were positive in all isolates,but it was 12.82% that stx2,eaeA and hly in cows stool samples.35 stains sensitive to ampicillin was 14.3%,on the remaining 17 species of antibiotic susceptibility rates were greater than 90%. Conclusion The carrying case with EHEC O157︰H7 exists in varying degrees among host animals and diarrhea patients.There is a potential rick of epidemic of EHEC O157︰H7 infection in Dongtai City.
Epidemiology of GIST in the Era of Histology Codes—Letter

We read with great interest the excellent article by Ma and colleagues ([1][1]) on the epidemiology of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). Analyzing data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, the authors observed an increase in age-adjusted incidence from 0.55 per
BASE MISPAIRING AND NEAREST-NEIGHBOR EFFECTS IN TRANSITION MUTATIONS

ABSTRACT Using ultraviolet spectral techniques, the hydrogen bonding schemes have been determined for the A·C and I·U (as analogue of G·T) base mispairs in heli-ces dominated by the Watson-Crick pairs A·U or I·C. Each mispair contains one of its bases in the unfavored tauto-meric form (enol or imino), while the other base is in the favored tautomeric form (keto or amino). This per-mits mispairs with hydrogen bonding schemes that are fully compatible with the stereochemical constraints of a Watson-Crick helix. Which of the bases in a mispair assumes the unfavored tautomeric form depends upon the resultant stacking interactions of the bases of the mis-pair with their nearest neighbor Watson-Crick pairs. Thus, when the A-C mispair is surrounded by A·U nearest neighbors in the pair sequence A·U, A·C, A·U, the un-favored tautomeric form is assumed by the C residue; and when surrounded by I·C in the pair sequence I·C, A·C, I·C, it is the A residue that assumes the unfavored tautomeric form. The unfavored tautomer in an I·U mispair also changes from U enol to I enol as the nearest neighbors are varied from I·C to A·U. Such changes in the tautomeric components of the mispairs can be rational-ized by recognizing that the favored and unfavored tauto-mers of each of the bases have different tendencies to stack with particular nearest neighbors. Apparently, favorable stacking interactions provide sufficient ener-gy to overcome the cost of stabilizing an unfavored tautomer in a base pair. These findings indicate that the A·C and G·T pairs have the energetic and stereochem-ical characteristics necessary for them to serve as the mispairs leading to transition mutations during DNA rep-lication; and sequence, by way of local stacking inter-actions, is seen to have an important role in determining a differential in mutation frequencies at different sites in a genome.
China’s Superbank: Debt, Oil and Influence - How China Development Bank is Rewriting the Rules of Finance

As China has increased its aid, trade, investments, market share, and influence in the countries of Africa, there has been scant attention paid to the role of Chinese financial institutions. When a major China-Africa deal is announced, in which a generalized "China" has an agreement with an African country for a stupendous amount of money, the particulars of that deal are seldom revealed. For example, when the Financial Times reports on April 28, 2015 that "China rail group signs $5.5bn in Africa deals", it is only in the sixth paragraph that the reader learns that "[China Railway Construction Corp] said financing for its rail project had not been finalised." China is not making these deals but rather Chinese companies and individuals are; they are able to do so because of Chinese financing and Chinese policy banks. However, there is not as much literature specifically on these policy banks and how they relate to Africa-China relations. Thankfully, veteran reporters Henry Sanderson and Michael Forsythe have given readers an incredible resource in China's Superbank: Debt, Oil and Influence - How China Development Bank is Rewriting the Rules of Finance, which offers a detailed and insightful look at one of the most powerful financial institutions in the world: the Chinese Development Bank (CDB).
Role for dithiolopyrrolones in disrupting bacterial metal homeostasis

Natural products harbor unique and complex structures that provide valuable antibiotic scaffolds. With an increase in antibiotic resistance, natural products once again hold promise for new antimicrobial therapies, especially those with unique scaffolds that have been overlooked due to a lack of understanding of how they function. Dithiolopyrrolones (DTPs) are an underexplored class of disulfide-containing natural products, which exhibit potent antimicrobial activities against multidrug-resistant pathogens. DTPs were thought to target RNA polymerase, but conflicting observations leave the mechanisms elusive. Using a chemical genomics screen in Escherichia coli, we uncover a mode of action for DTPs—the disruption of metal homeostasis. We show that holomycin, a prototypical DTP, is reductively activated, and reduced holomycin chelates zinc with high affinity. Examination of reduced holomycin against zinc-dependent metalloenzymes revealed that it inhibits E. coli class II fructose bisphosphate aldolase, but not RNA polymerase. Reduced holomycin also strongly inhibits metallo–β-lactamases in vitro, major contributors to clinical carbapenem resistance, by removing active site zinc. These results indicate that holomycin is an intracellular metal-chelating antibiotic that inhibits a subset of metalloenzymes and that RNA polymerase is unlikely to be the primary target. Our work establishes a link between the chemical structures of DTPs and their antimicrobial action; the ene-dithiol group of DTPs enables high-affinity metal binding as a central mechanism to inhibit metabolic processes. Our study also validates the use of chemical genomics in characterizing modes of actions of antibiotics and emphasizes the potential of metal-chelating natural products in antimicrobial therapy.
Moonlighting GAPDH and the Transcriptional Regulation of Gene Expression: Multiprotein Complex Formation and Mechanisms of Nuclear Translocation

The distinction between genotype and phenotype may be the most critical step in determining organism structure and function. For that reason, at its simplest and at its most complex mechanisms, which underlie transcriptional expression and control are a priori requirement for ensuring not only “appropriate” gene expression but also the temporal sequence in which that expression occurs. Recent evidence indicates that moonlighting GAPDH is an essential component in both general mechanisms of transcriptional expression and the specific mechanisms through which individual genes are regulated. With respect to the former, GAPDH is associated both with the RNA polymerase II transcription complex and with the intranuclear structure known as promyelocytic leukemia bodies. With respect to the latter, GAPDH is an essential component of the histone multiprotein transcription complex and facilitates androgen-specific gene expression in prostate cells. In toto, these findings highlight the significant role of moonlighting GAPDH in the regulation and control of gene transcription.
Longitudinal Relations of Economic Hardship and Effortful Control to Active Coping in Latino Youth.

How Latino youth cope with stressors may have implications for their adjustment. We examined how a temperamental characteristic (effortful control) and a contextual factor (economic hardship) were associated with Latino youth's coping. Individual differences in effortful control, a core facet of self-regulation, may contribute to coping as effortful control is consistently linked to adaptive behaviors during adolescence. We examined relations of effortful control and economic hardship to active coping in a sample of Mexican-origin youth (N = 674) across three time points (fifth to ninth grades). Although economic hardship negatively predicted coping and effortful control, effortful control positively predicted coping (controlling for prior levels). Findings support a resilience perspective by suggesting that effortful control may contribute to coping and thus counteract the negative effects of economic hardship.
Emotional and behavioral problems in children and adolescents with neurofibromatosis type 1

To assess emotional and behavioral problems in children and adolescents with neurofibromatosis type 1,parents of 183 individuals aged 10.8 ± 3.1 years (range 6-17) completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Also, 173 teachers completed the Teacher's Report Form (TRF), and 88 adolescents (children from 11 to 17 years) completed the Youth Self-Report (YSR). According to parental ratings, 32% scored in the clinical range (above the 90th percentile). This percentage was much lower when rated by teachers or adolescents themselves. Scores from all informants on scales for Somatic complaints, Social problems, and Attention problems were significantly different from normative scores. Attentional problems were associated with lower verbal IQ, male gender, younger age, and ADHD-symptoms. Disease-related factors did not predict behavioral problems scores. Substantial emotional and behavioral problems were reported by parents, teachers, and to a lesser extent by adolescents with NF1 themselves. Possibly, a positive illusory bias affects the observation of behavioral problems by adolescents with NF1.
Association between cadmium and androgen receptor protein expression differs in prostate tumors of African American and European American men.

Abstract Cadmium is a known carcinogen that has been implicated in prostate cancer, but how it affects prostate carcinogenesis in humans remains unclear. Evidence from basic science suggests that cadmium can bind to the androgen receptor causing endocrine disruption. The androgen receptor is required for normal prostate development and is the key driver of prostate cancer progression. In this study, we examined the association between cadmium content and androgen receptor protein expression in prostate cancer tissue of African American (N = 22) and European American (N = 30) men. Although neither overall tumor cadmium content (log transformed) nor androgen receptor protein expression level differed by race, we observed a race-cadmium interaction with regard to androgen receptor expression ( P = 0.003) even after accounting for age at prostatectomy, smoking history, and Gleason score. African American men had a significant positive correlation between tumor tissue cadmium content and androgen receptor expression (Pearson correlation = 0.52, P = 0.013), while European Americans showed a non-significant negative correlation between the two (Pearson correlation = −0.19, P = 0.31). These results were unchanged after further accounting for tissue zinc content or dietary zinc or selenium intake. African American cases with high-cadmium content (>median) in tumor tissue had more than double the androgen receptor expression (0.021 vs. 0.008, P = 0.014) of African American men with low-cadmium level. No difference in androgen receptor expression was observed in European Americans by cadmium level (high 0.015 vs. low 0.011, P = 0.30). Larger studies are needed to confirm these results and if upheld, determine the biologic mechanism by which cadmium increases androgen receptor protein expression in a race-dependent manner. Our results suggest that cadmium may play a role in race disparities observed in prostate cancer.
Exposure of laboratory animals to small air ions: a systematic review of biological and behavioral studies

Air ions are molecules of air that have become ionized—that is, they have either lost or gained an electrical charge. Past speculation has suggested that exposure to positive air ions may be harmful to one’s health, while exposure to negative air ions may be associated with beneficial health effects. Air ions arise from natural sources as well as direct-current transmission lines and commercial ionizers. Several recent clinical studies have suggested therapeutic effects of air ions on various types of depression at exposure levels 10- to 1000-fold higher than most previous human studies. The aim of this study was to assess the evidence from studies of laboratory animals for beneficial or adverse effects of air ions on health. Sixty-two studies (1935–2015) in nine topics areas were evaluated for quality and potential systematic bias by ARRIVE guidelines. Standardized mean differences or proportional differences between exposed and control groups were computed for 44 studies to quantitatively assess the strength of the evidence for exposure-related effects. Many of the studies were conducted before 1990 and exhibited various reporting and methodological deficiencies, including small sample size, failure to control for the influence of potential confounding variables, lack of randomized assignment to treatment groups and blinded analyses, and statistical errors relating to treating group-exposed animals as individuals. The highest quality studies consistently reported no effects of exposure on any of the endpoints examined. There were no evident dose–response relationships within or across studies. Experimental studies of laboratory animals exposed to positive and negative air ions for minutes to years over a five-log unit range of intensities did not suggest any consistent or reliable effects on measures of behavior, learning and memory, neurotransmitters, tracheal function, respiratory infection, cardiovascular function, reproduction and growth, carcinogenesis, or other health endpoints. These data do not provide evidence of adverse or beneficial effects of air ion exposure on health, and did not suggest any biological mechanism of interaction, except perhaps for mechanosensory stimulation of body surfaces by static electric fields at high air ion concentrations.
High Efficiency Blue Perovskite Nanocrystal LEDs

Blue perovskite nanocrystal LEDs have typically lagged far behind their red and green cousins yet are essential for commercial applications. I will discuss the reasons for this lag and demonstrate solutions to mitigate it.
Load Modulated Balanced Amplifier with Reconfigurable Phase Control for Extended Dynamic Range

This paper presents a RF-input load-modulated balanced amplifier (LMBA) with reconfigurable phase shifting circuit at the control path. With an integrated varactor-based phasing shifter, the control signal from RF input can offer concurrent amplitude and phase manipulations. Together with Doherty-like design of the main balanced amplifiers and control amplifier, this hybrid load modulation technique achieves optimal dynamic impedance trajectory, high back-off efficiency, and extended dynamic power range. A demonstration LMBA is designed 2.4 GHz using GaN transistors. The fabricated prototype achieves 69% of efficiency at peak output power of 43 dBm, and it maintains >50% efficiency down to 12-dB power back-off.
Pedagogy Training for Teaching an Online MBA Course: "The BRICS Nations".

This study is a road map for effectively teaching online MBA courses. Using a case study approach, the authors describe the process in detail, in an online MBA course, titled, “Business in a Global...
Bitbow: a digital format of Brainbow enables highly efficient neuronal lineage tracing and morphology reconstruction in single brains

Identifying the cellular origins and mapping the dendritic and axonal arbors of neurons have been century old quests to understand the heterogeneity among these brain cells. Classical chemical and genetic methods take advantage of light microscopy and sparse labeling to unambiguously, albeit inefficiently, trace a few neuronal lineages or reconstruct their morphologies in each sampled brain. To improve the analysis throughput, we designed Bitbow, a digital format of Brainbow which exponentially expands the color palette to provide tens of thousands of spectrally resolved unique labels. We generated transgenic Bitbow Drosophila lines, established statistical tools, and streamlined sample preparation, image processing and data analysis pipelines to allow conveniently mapping neural lineages, studying neuronal morphology and revealing neural network patterns with an unprecedented speed, scale and resolution.
Case Article—Suncrest AgriBusiness Company: Exploiting the Flexibility of Backup Capacity

The primary objective of the case study is to help students understand, model, and solve capacity planning problems (i) when the production yield is uncertain and (ii) if the yield of first product...
Ecofeminist manifestos: Resources for feminist perspectives on the environment

Abstract We walk on new terrain by treating feminist manifestos as original sources worthy of the kind of careful exegetical analysis political theorists generally bring to original political texts, and we read them in light of one another on the topic of environmentalism. These group-authored documents develop and argue for a distinctive feminist approach to the environment. They offer their views as expert testimony, knowledge grounded in material experiences in particular places and communities. The manifestos effectively broaden environmentalism by insisting that understandings of the problems and development of solutions recognize the expertise of Indigenous women and peasant food producers, hear the stories of those experiencing the worst effects of environmental degradation, and build on those who are already developing adaptive measures.