cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Competence in Program Evaluation and Research Assessed by State School Counselor Licensure Examinations

This study investigated how state licensure examinations address school counseling program evaluation and research. In the 31 states that require them, examinations gave little attention to measuri...
Reducing inappropriate empiric vancomycin use in neutropenic fever.

290Background: Neutropenic fever is an oncologic emergency associated with high morbidity and mortality, requiring prompt antibiotic initiation. National infectious disease and oncology guidelines ...
Knowledge of Persuasion and Writing Goals Predict the Quality of Children's Persuasive Writing.

We assessed the influence of genre-specific discourse knowledge and writing goals on the persuasive writing of 4th and 6th grade students with and without learning disabilities (LD). Students were first interviewed about their knowledge of persuasion and persuasive writing. They then wrote a persuasive essay about a controversial topic after receiving either a general goal to persuade or an elaborated goal that focused on the inclusion of elements of persuasive discourse. Finally, the students were asked to generate ideas to assist a hypothetical student who was struggling to write a persuasive essay. Students in the elaborated goal condition produced higher quality persuasive essays than students in the general goal condition. In addition, students with LD wrote less persuasive essays than students without disabilities. Furthermore, knowledge of persuasion predicted the persuasiveness of students’ essays. However, the number and types of ideas students generated did not predict essay persuasiveness after accounting for the effects of other variables. Finally, the provision of an elaborated goal did not impact the number or type of ideas generated by the students. However, the students’ ideas evidenced considerable sensitivity to possible criticisms that could be leveled by an audience. The implications for argumentative writing are discussed.
Effects of chemical preservation on bulk and amino acid isotope ratios of zooplankton, fish, and squid tissues

Author(s): Hetherington, Elizabeth D; Kurle, Carolyn M; Ohman, Mark D; Popp, Brian N | Abstract: RationaleIt is imperative to understand how chemical preservation alters tissue isotopic compositions before using historical samples in ecological studies. Specifically, although compound-specific isotope analysis of amino acids (CSIA-AA) is becoming a widely used tool, there is little information on how preservation techniques affect amino acid δ15 N values.MethodsWe evaluated the effects of chemical preservatives on bulk tissue δ13 C and δ15 N and amino acid δ15 N values, measured by gas chromatography/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/IRMS), of (a) tuna (Thunnus albacares) and squid (Dosidicus gigas) muscle tissues that were fixed in formaldehyde and stored in ethanol for 2 years and (b) two copepod species, Calanus pacificus and Eucalanus californicus, which were preserved in formaldehyde for 24-25 years.ResultsTissues in formaldehyde-ethanol had higher bulk δ15 N values (+1.4, D. gigas; +1.6‰, T. albacares), higher δ13 C values for D. gigas (+0.5‰), and lower δ13 C values for T. albacares (-0.8‰) than frozen samples. The bulk δ15 N values from copepods were not different those from frozen samples, although the δ13 C values from both species were lower (-1.0‰ for E. californicus and -2.2‰ for C. pacificus) than those from frozen samples. The mean amino acid δ15 N values from chemically preserved tissues were largely within 1‰ of those of frozen tissues, but the phenylalanine δ15 N values were altered to a larger extent (range: 0.5-4.5‰).ConclusionsThe effects of preservation on bulk δ13 C values were variable, where the direction and magnitude of change varied among taxa. The changes in bulk δ15 N values associated with chemical preservation were mostly minimal, suggesting that storage in formaldehyde or ethanol will not affect the interpretation of δ15 N values used in ecological studies. The preservation effects on amino acid δ15 N values were also mostly minimal, mirroring bulk δ15 N trends, which is promising for future CSIA-AA studies of archived specimens. However, there were substantial differences in phenylalanine and valine δ15 N values, which we speculate resulted from interference in the chromatographic resolution of unknown compounds rather than alteration of tissue isotopic composition due to chemical preservation.
Coherence resonances and band gaps in plasmonic hole arrays

We demonstrate theoretically the existence of optical coherence band gaps by performing simulations of partially coherent light incident on a linear array of circular holes in a subwavelength-thickness gold sheet. We use a simple scalar Foldy-Lax system of equations for our model. A possible physical mechanism for the band gaps is discussed.
SORA: Scalable Overlap-graph Reduction Algorithms for Genome Assembly using Apache Spark in the Cloud

The advent of high-throughput DNA sequencing techniques has permitted very high quality de novo assemblies of genomes, but raise an issue of requiring large amounts of computer memory to resolve the large genome graphs generated by most overlap graph de novo assemblers. To address these limitations, we present a novel algorithmic approach; Scalable Overlap-graph Reduction Algorithms (SORA). SORA adapts string graph reduction algorithms for the genome assembly using a distributed computing platform. To efficiently compute coverage for enormous paths in the graphs, SORA uses Apache Spark which is a cluster-based engine designed on top of Hadoop to handle very large datasets in the cloud. The experimental results show that SORA can process a nearly one billion edge graph in a distributed cloud cluster as well as smaller graphs on a local cluster with a short turnaround time. Moreover, our algorithms scale almost linearly with increasing numbers of virtual instances in the cloud. SORA is freely available for download at https://github.com/BioHPC/SORA/.
‘War Cry’ or War Atrocity? A Note on Sinuhe B 140:

Virtually all translators render wd.n=i isnn ḥr i3t=f in Sinuhe B 140 as ‘I raised a/my war/victory cry (isnn) over the back’ of the nḫtw of Retenu. The author argues instead that isnn is an imperf...
Adsorption on transition metal surfaces: Transferability and accuracy of DFT using the ADS41 dataset

We present a benchmarking study of adsorption energies on transition metal surfaces computed with select functionals across different density functional theory codes. In addition to gradient corrected functionals, we evaluate the accuracies of representative metaGGAs, including MS2, SCAN, and $\mathrm{SCAN}+\text{rVV10}$, as well as a short-range screened hybrid functional, HSE06. The study shows that the challenge of finding a functional that can simultaneously capture both covalent and noncovalent molecule-surface interactions persists, with no single functional in the benchmarking study with average errors $l0.2$ eV. We find that HSE06 on average does not improve the accuracy compared to PBE for the surface chemistry of transition metals. The BEEF-vdW dispersion-corrected generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and the MS2 metaGGA yield the lowest errors in both chemisorption and dispersion energies, demonstrating that moving up the Jacob's ladder of functionals to screened hybrids does not necessarily improve the description of transition metal surface chemistry.
Neurocognitive Complications of HIV Infection in Women: Insights from the WIHS Cohort

Although sex differences in brain function and brain disorders are well documented, very few studies have had adequate number of women to address sex-related factors contributing to HIV-associated brain dysfunction. Compared to men living with HIV (MLWH), women living with HIV (WLWH) may be at greater risk for cognitive dysfunction and decline due to biological factors (e.g., hormonal, immunologic) and issues common in underserved communities including poverty, low literacy levels, mental health and substance abuse, barriers to health-care services, and environmental exposures. To address this issue, we review relevant cross-sectional and longitudinal findings from the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), the largest study of the natural and treated history of WLWH, as well as other studies focusing on cognitive complications of HIV in women. We provide evidence that WLWH are more cognitively vulnerable than MLWH and that there are differences in the pattern of cognitive impairment. We next discuss factors that contribute to these differences, including biological factors (e.g., inflammation, hormonal, genetic) as well as common comorbidities (mental health, substance use, vascular and metabolic risk factors, coinfections and liver function, non-antiretroviral medications, and genetic markers). These findings demonstrate the importance of considering sex as a biological factor in studies of cognitive dysfunction and suggest avenues for future research.
Abstract 351: Suppression of Store Operated Ca 2+ Entry Components, dStim and dOrai, Results in Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Cardiac disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the western world with current treatment options limited to palliative pharmacological or invasive therapy. The discovery of...
The Smart Insole: A Pilot Study of Fall Detection

Falls are common events among human beings and raised a global health problem. Wearable sensors can provide quantitative assessments for fall-based movements. Automatic fall detection systems based on the wearable sensors are becoming popular in recent years. This paper proposes a new fall detection system based on the smart insole. Each smart insole contains pressure a pressure sensor array and can provide abundant pressure information during the daily activities. According to such information, the system can successfully distinguish the fall from other activities of daily livings (ADLs) using deep learning algorithms. To reduce the computational complexity through the classifiers, the raw data for each sensor in the time windows are utilized. Furthermore, the deep visualization approach is applied to provide an intuitive explanation of how the deep learning system works on distinguishing the fall events. Both quantitative and qualitative experiments are demonstrated in this paper to prove the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed fall detection system.
Overexpressed miR-200a promotes bladder cancer invasion through direct regulating Dicer/miR-16/JNK2/MMP-2 axis

Invasive bladder cancer (BC) is one of the most lethal malignant urological tumors. Although miR-200a has been reported as an onco-miRNA that targets the PTEN gene in endometrioid carcinoma, its biological significance in BC invasion has been poorly explored. In the current study, we found that miR-200a was markedly overexpressed in both human BC tissues and BBN-induced muscle-invasive BC tissues. We further showed that miR-200a overexpression specifically promoted human BC cell invasion, but not migration, via transcriptional upregulation of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2. Mechanistic studies indicated that the increased phosphorylation of c-Jun mediated the increasing levels of MMP-2 mRNA transcription. Further investigation revealed that Dicer was decreased in miR-200a overexpressed BC cells; this resulted in inhibition of miR-16 maturation and consequently led to increased JNK2 protein translation and c-Jun activation. Taken together, the studies here showed that miR-200a overexpression inhibited Dicer expression, in turn, resulted in inhibition of miR-16 maturation, leading to upregulation of JNK2 expression, c-Jun phosphorylation, MMP-2 transcription and, ultimately, BC invasion. Collectively, these results demonstrate that miR-200a is an onco-miRNA that is a positive regulator for BC invasion. This finding could be very useful in the ongoing development of new strategies to treat invasive BC patients.
Tricuspid Annular Plane of Systolic Excursion (TAPSE) for the Evaluation of Patients with Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock.

Author(s): Lahham, Shadi; Lee, Clifton; Ali, Qumber; Moeller, John; Fischetti, Chanel; Thompson, Maxwell; Saadat, Soheil; Fox, John C. | Abstract: Introduction: Sepsis is a systemic infection that can rapidly progress into multi organ failure and shock if left untreated. Previous studies have demonstrated the utility of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) in the evaluation of patients with sepsis. However, limited data exists on the evaluation of the tricuspid annular plane of systolic excursion (TAPSE) in patients with sepsis.Methods: We prospectively enrolled patients who presented to the emergency department (ED) with concern for severe sepsis or septic shock in a pilot study. In patients that screened positive, the treating physician then performed POCUS to measure the TAPSE value. We compared the intensive care unit (ICU) admission rate, hospital length of stay, and morbidity with their respective TAPSE values.Results: We enrolled 24 patients in the study. Eight patients had TAPSE values less than 16 millimeters (mm), two patients had TAPSE values between 16mm-20mm, and fourteen patients had TAPSE values greater than 20mm. There was no statistically significant association between TAPSE levels and ICU admission (p=0.16), or death (p=0.14). The difference of length of stay (LOS) was not statistically significant in case of hospital LOS (p= 0.72) or ICU LOS.Conclusion: Our pilot data did not demonstrate a correlation between severe sepsis or septic shock and TAPSE values. This may be due to several factors including patient comorbidities, strict definitions of sepsis and septic shock, as well as the absence of septic cardiomyopathy (SCM) in patients with sepsis and septic shock. Future large-scale studies are needed to determine if TAPSE can be beneficial in the ED evaluation of patients with concern for SCM.
Phase Estimation from Noisy Data with Gaps

Determining the phase of a rhythm embedded in a time series is a key step in understanding many oscillatory systems. While existing approaches such as harmonic regression and cross-correlation are effective even when some data are missing, we show that they can produce biased estimates of phase when missing data are consecutive (i.e., there is a gap). We propose a simple modification of the least-squares approach, Gap Orthogonalized Accelerated Least Squares (GOALS), which addresses this issue with a negligible increase in computational expense. We test GOALS against other approaches on a synthetic dataset and on a real-world dataset of activity recorded by an Apple Watch, showing in both cases that GOALS is effective at recovering phase estimates from noisy data with gaps.
A Multiscale Model to Predict Neuronal Cell Deformation with Varying Extracellular Matrix Stiffness and Topography

Neuronal cells are sensitive to mechanical properties of extracellular matrix (ECM) such as stiffness and topography. Cells contract and exert a force on ECM to detect the microenvironment, which activates the signaling pathway to influence the cell functions such as differentiation, migration, and proliferation. There are numerous transmembrane proteins that transmit signals; however, integrin and neural cellular adhesion molecules (NCAM) play an important role in sensing the ECM mechanical properties. Mechanotransduction of cell–ECM is the key to understand the influence of ECM stiffness and topography; therefore, in this study, we develop a multiscale computational model to investigate these properties. This model couples the molecular behavior of integrin and NCAM to microscale interactions of neuronal cell and the ECM. We analyze the atomistic/molecular behavior of integrin and NCAM due to mechanical stimuli using steered molecular dynamics. The microscale properties of the neuronal cell and the ECM are simulated using non-linear finite element analysis by applying cell contractility. We predict that by increasing the ECM stiffness, a neuronal cell exerts greater stress on the ECM. However, this stress reaches a saturation value for a threshold stiffness of ECM, and the saturation value is affected by the ECM thickness, topography, and clustering of integrin and NCAMs. Further, the ECM topography leads to asymmetric stress and deformation in the neuronal cell. Predicted stress distribution in neuronal cell and ECM are consistent with experimental results from the literature. The multiscale computational model will guide in selecting the optimal ECM stiffness and topography range for in vitro studies.
Active disturbance rejection control of metal hydride hydrogen storage

Abstract Metal hydride (MH) hydrogen storage is used in both mobile and stationary applications. MH tanks can connect directly to high-pressure electrolyzers for on-demand charging, saving compression costs. To prevent high hydrogen pressure during charging, hydrogen generation needs to be controlled with consideration for unknown disturbances and time-varying dynamics. This work presents a robust control system to determine the appropriate mass flow rate of hydrogen, which the water electrolyzer should produce, to maintain the gaseous hydrogen pressure in the tank for the hydriding reaction. A control-oriented model is developed for MH hydrogen storage for control system design purposes. A proportional-integral (PI) and an active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) feedback controllers are investigated, and their performance is compared. Simulation results show that both the PI and ADRC controllers can reject both noises from the output measurements and unknown disturbances associated with the heat exchanger. ADRC excels in eliminating disturbances produced by the input mass flow rate, maintaining the pressure of the tank at the charging pressure with little oscillations. Additionally, the parameters estimated by the ADRC's extended state observer was used to predict the state-of-charge (SOC) of the MH.
The Need for a Clinically Useful Schema of Social Communication.

The recent Translations article by Bishop et al.1 draws much-needed attention to social communication (SC) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and to the need in autism research for treatment-sensitive measures of this key domain. In this context, the authors define SC ability as "the appropriate use and modulation of verbal and nonverbal behaviors during interactions with others"1(p. 555). "Appropriate" is defined relative to normative behaviors for developmental age and language level based on parent report. This stirred us to share our concern that clinicians, too, need ways to assess SC. Historically, observation of a patient's SC has not been part of the routine psychiatric mental status examination (MSE); clinicians lack even a common basic vocabulary for describing this vital domain. The DSM-52 does not explicitly define SC or distinguish it from social interaction (SI) or language, important terms also used in the criteria for ASD. All three terms are used interchangeably and inconsistently across the literature. Here we offer a definition of SC, distinguish it from SI and language, and propose a schema, or conceptual model, for observing and documenting an impression of a patient's SC.
Pietaskscapes of halal living: subjectivity, striving, and space-making in Muslim Russia

Drawing on ethnographic research in Tatarstan (Russia) and through an engagement with Foucauldian, phenomenological, and ecological social theories, this paper advances the concept of piety tasksca...
Disfiguring Firearm Injuries in Children in the United States.

Firearms are a leading cause of injury and death among children in the United States. Most gun violence studies highlight mortality, but few have examined the morbidity in disfiguring injuries suff...
The Cuban Revolution and Infant Mortality: A Synthetic Control Approach

The Cuban government often vaunts its accomplishment of a low infant mortality rate post 1959. However, because many Latin American countries experienced similar decreases, and because Cuba has historically enjoyed lower infant mortality rates than the rest of the sub-continent, it is unclear that this effect is government-induced. We use the fact that Cuba underwent momentous and unique political change to consider the legacy of the Fidel Castro regime on infant mortality. We employ a synthetic control method to ascertain the reduction attributable to the regime. We find that in the first years of the regime, infant mortality increased relative to the counterfactual but that---after the introduction of Soviet foreign aid---infant mortality partially reverted to trend. To measure the effects of the subsidies, we run a second synthetic control when the collapse of the Soviet Union ended the subsidies. This second synthetic control allows us to assert that the subsidies played no important role.
Identification of a low-energy metastable 1 T -type phase for monolayer VSe 2

Elucidating the polymorphism of transition metal dichalcogenide layers and the interplay between structure and properties is a key challenge for the application of these materials. We identify a low-energy metastable phase of monolayer $\mathrm{V}{\mathrm{Se}}_{2}$ and elucidate its magnetic and electronic properties. This structure is distinct from the previously identified charge density wave (CDW) phase. However, while having rather distinct properties it is very close in energy to the CDW phase and is likely to be realized in experiments. Importantly, local bonding instabilities, as characterized by reconstruction of the electronic structure over a wide energy range, are important for this distortion, which includes both V off-centering in the octahedral coordination cages and a partial disproportionation into two distinct types of V. The phase does not have a ferromagnetic ground state. The results show that the physics of $1T\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{V}{\mathrm{Se}}_{2}$ are richer than previously known with an interplay of Fermi surface instabilities and local bonding effects.
The spindle cycle in budding yeast

The mitotic spindle of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae will probably be the first such organelle to be understood in molecular detail. Here we describe the mitotic spindle cycle of budding yeast using electron-microscope-derived structures and dynamic live-cell imaging. Recent work has revealed that many general aspects of mitosis are conserved, making budding yeast an excellent model for the study of mitosis.
Augmenting heteronanostructure visualization with haptic feedback

We address the need of researchers in nanotechnology who desire an increased level of perceptualization of their simulation data by adding haptic feedback to existing multidimensional volumetric visualizations. Our approach uses volumetric data from simulation of an LED heteronanostructure, and it translates projected values of amplitude of an electromagnetic field into a force that is delivered interactively to the user. The user can vary the types of forces, and they are then applied to a haptic feedback device with three degrees of freedom. We describe our methods to simulate the heteronanostructure, volume rendering, and generating adequate forces for feedback. A thirty one subject study was performed. Users were asked to identify key areas of the heteronanostructure with only visualization, and then with visualization and the haptic device. Our results favor the usage of haptic devices as a complement to 3-D visualizations of the volumetric data. Test subjects responded that haptic feedback helped them to understand the data. Also, the shape of the structure was better recognized with the use of visuohaptic feedback than with visualization only.
A Theory of Claim Interpretation

This article explores the proper scope of judicial power in patent law by focusing on the Federal Circuit's theories of claim interpretation. A study of the court's claim interpretation jurisprudence reveals two schools of interpretation. I characterize these approaches as (1) hypertextualism, which is the predominant interpretative theory; and (2) pragmatic textualism, which is gradually asserting itself. The hypertextualist judge has an expansive view of judicial power, characterizing claim interpretation as a question of law subject to de novo review. This highly formalistic approach stresses textual fidelity and internal textual coherence, but eschews extrinsic evidence as an interpretive tool, portraying its use as "rarely, if ever," proper. Although hypertextualism posits that expert testimony may be used if the intrinsic record is ambiguous, a hypertextualist judge rarely finds ambiguity. If ambiguity is found, expert testimony may be used to educate the judge in the relevant technology ? not for the purpose of interpreting the ambiguous claim language. On the other hand, the pragmatic textualist approach, while embracing the importance of textual fidelity and internal coherence, also emphasizes the relevance of extrinsic context and industry custom, of which patent law's "person having ordinary skill in the art" is representative. This hypothetical artisan is one of the cynosures of our patent system and is valued by the pragmatic textualist as an interpretive tool because the artisan has knowledge of the underlying assumptions present in his technological community and is sensitive to the facts on the ground. This article asserts that unlike hypertextualism, a pragmatic textualist approach is consistent with legal and hermeneutic philosophy?the work of Posner, Easterbrook, and Wittgenstein, in particular?and is more sensitive to patent law's incentive dynamic and post-innovation practice. Therefore, this article is skeptical of hypertextualism as a theory of claim interpretation and argues that it ultimately cannot deliver on its promise of greater certainty and uniformity. As such, this article urges the Federal Circuit to adopt a pragmatic textualist approach.
Hernia of umbilical cord with congenital short gut.

A 1-day-old male baby, weighing 2kg, presented with bilious vomiting and a mass at umbilicus covered by abnormally thickened base of umbilicus (hernia of umbilical cord). The mother was not on any antenatal follow-up. The delivery was spontaneous vaginal at home. On examination abdomen was scaphoid. Abdominal radiograph showed three air fluid levels indicative of associated small bowel atresia. At operation, two blind ending loops of the bowel were found after removing the sac of the hernia of umbilical cord. Further exploration revealed congenital short gut. There was only 7cm of the jejunum and 6cm of the sigmoid colon present in the abdominal cavity. Jejunocolic anastomosis performed. Patient remained admit for two weeks on TPN and then parents took the child against medical advice.
Appendix H: Formulas Relating to IMs and Harmonics

The various relationships between intercept points and the levels of signals and intermodulation products and harmonics can be expressed in many ways??-??in ratios or dBs, relative to input or output levels??-??and for various intercept points and spurious responses. This chapter is a collection of such formulas.
The Origins of Internationalization

The years 1981–1984 were characterized by the interaction of a number of events in both in the United States and Japan which le to a head-on collision over trade matters between the two nations. Foremost among these events was the rapid increase of Japan’s global trade surpluses while the global balances of the United States deteriorated year by year. Table 2-1 shows these trends.
Degradation of isolated deoxyribonucleic acid mediated by nitroso-chloramphenicol. Possible role in chloramphenicol-induced aplastic anemia.

Abstract Reduction of the nitro group of chloramphenicol (CAP) gives rise to more highly reactive intermediates which may be involved in the aplastic anemia associated with CAP use. One such intermediate, nitroso-chloramphenicol (NO-CAP), has been found to be a potent agent for mediating degradation of isolated DNA. In a reaction mixture containing 100 μM NO-CAP, 100 μM CuCl 2 , and 5 mM NADH, 7 μg of Escherichia coli [ 3 H]DNA was completely degraded to acid-soluble fragments in 30 min. Damage to DNA was in the form of single-stranded scissions. The requirement for copper was specific, and copper chelating reagents blocked the degradation. The need for a reducing agent could be met equally well by NADH or NADPH, but not by sulfhydryl reagents such as glutathione, dithiothreitol and 2-mercaptoethanol. Oxygen was also necessary for the NO-CAP-mediated DNA damage, with reduced forms of oxygen participating in the reaction. A role for H 2 O 2 was indicated by the inhibition of the degradation seen when catalase was included in the mixture. Hydroxyl radicals are known to be produced in the reaction of H 2 O 2 with certain transition metals. Scavangers of hydroxyl radicals also inhibited strand-scission, suggesting that the radicals may be the primary agents in DNA degradation. The importance of the nitroso moiety of NO-CAP was evidenced by the lack of DNA damage seen when NO-CAP was replaced by CAP under the conditions tested.
Ablation of reactive oxygen species intensifies diabetogenic CD4 T cell effector responses in type 1 diabetes. (BA14P.210)

In Type 1 diabetes (T1D), infiltrating leukocytes secrete reactive oxygen species (ROS) and pro-inflammatory cytokines that collectively participate in β-cell destruction and enhance autoreactive T cell responses. Our lab previously demonstrated that superoxide-deficient Non-Obese Diabetic (NOD. Ncf1 m1J ) mice were T1D-resistant due to skewed T cell responses. To dissect the role of ROS on autoreactive T cells, we generated the NOD.BDC-2.5. Ncf1 m1J mouse, possessing diabetogenic, superoxide-deficient CD4 T cells and hypothesized that like NOD. Ncf1 m1J , dampening ROS would diminish autoreactive T cell responses. Surprisingly, IFN-γ was upregulated 2-fold by NOD.BDC-2.5. Ncf1 m1J T cells compared to NOD.BDC-2.5 with polyclonal stimulation ( p =0.0045). Transfer of activated NOD.BDC-2.5. Ncf1 m1J T cells was more diabetogenic, as 63% of NOD. scid recipients (n=11, p=0.0662) by 9 days post transfer were hyperglycemic, in contrast to 17% of wild-type recipients (n=7). To mechanistically explain the exacerbated Th1 cytokine response and diabetogenicity, phosphorylation of lymphocyte-specific protein tyrosine kinase (P-Lck (Y505)) and linker for activation of T cells (P-LAT (Y191)), redox-sensitive T cell receptor (TCR) signaling molecules, was enhanced 2-fold by NOD.BDC-2.5. Ncf1 m1J CD4 T cells compared to NOD.BDC-2.5. Future experiments will dissect the redox-sensitive cues that control TCR adaptor molecule activation, as unraveling these signals may pinpoint novel targets for T1D prevention.
In Situ Studies of the Germinal Center Reaction

Publisher Summary Germinal center (GCs) represents a remarkable lymphoid microenvironment that functions to expand and diversify antigen-reactive lymphocyte clones. Although the GC reaction is antigen dependent, GCs share many of the processes usually thought to occur during primary lymphopoiesis, including positive and negative selection, elimination of self-reactive cells, and enrichment of the repertoire of antigen receptors. The mechanisms that underlie these processes remain unknown, but it is clear that these issues may be approached genetically. Naturally arising mutants, such as lpr or gld, transgenesis, or targeted gene disruption have already proved invaluable in understanding mutation, selection, and memory. The immigrant cells proliferate to form prominent lymphoid follicles and undergo post rearrangement V-region diversification by nonreciprocal incorporation of sequence fragments from un-rearranged V exons (chickens),the introduction of point mutations (sheep), or both (rabbits). If GCs are homologous to the more primitive gut-associated lymphoid follicles of sheep, rabbits, or chickens, phylogenetic studies may also be helpful. In the future, immunologists will face the reconciliation of two views of the immune response-immunity as the interaction of regulating factors within cells and immunity as interacting cell populations. Both views provide unique insights but neither will provide a full understanding in isolation. The ability to study the population genetics of immune responses presents considerable opportunity and should prove widely useful.
A No-hair Theorem for Inhomogeneous Cosmologies

We show that under very general conditions any inhomogeneous cosmological model with a positive cosmological constant, that can be described in a synchronous reference system will tend asymptotically in time towards the de Sitter solution, so making the problem of initial conditions less severe. The implications for inflationary scenarios are examined and it is found that after inflation the universe stays isotropic and homogeneous for a very long time.
Energy requirements from infancy to adulthood

To investigate how age and body composition affect energy requirements, the sedentary daily expenditure (SDE) and basal metabolic rate (BMR) of 101 infants, 82 girls, and 27 adults were measured. Energy expenditure was scaled for differences in body size to test the effects of age and body fatness. A power function was superior to linear models. For all subjects, WT0.63 (where WT is weight) or FFM0.63 (where FFM is fat-free mass) explained 94% of the variability in BMR, and WT0.70 or FFM0.70 explained 97% of the variability in SDE. The effects of height and fat mass (kg or % body wt) on BMR and SDE scaled for weight or fat-free mass were age dependent. Best-fitted exponents relating BMR or SDE to body size differed between children (0.40-0.52) and infants (1.04-1.30) (P = 0.001). Human energy requirements from infancy to adulthood appear to be a power, not a linear, function of body weight and composition.
Backyard Botany: Using GPS Technology in the Science Classroom

Global Positioning System (GPS) technology can be used to connect students to the natural world and improve their skills in observation, identification, and classification. Using GPS devices in the classroom increases student interest in science, encourages team-building skills, and improves biology content knowledge. Additionally, it helps educators meet the ISTE’s Educational Technology Standards and the National Science Education Standards while increasing the environmental literacy of their students. This paper provides suggestions for utilizing GPS technology in student-led explorations of the local flora, as well as other innovative ideas for using these devices in science instruction.
Band structure of a semimetallic HgTe-CdTe superlattice

Abstract The analysis of the electronic structure of the HgTe-CdTe superlattice is complicated by several interacting effects. They include the HgTe-CdTe heterojunction valence band offset, the strain due to lattice mismatch, heavy-hole-light-hole mixing, spin splitting of bands, and the energy splitting of the symmetric and antisymmetric quasi-interface states. The effects can occur on similar energy scales. The results of a tight-binding band structure calculation with and without strain included are reported for the semimetallic case.
Baryon and electric charge fluctuations at crossover

We discuss the higher order cumulants of net-baryon and electric charge fluctuations as a probe of the QCD crossover. The sensitivity of the higher order cumulants in the hadron resonance gas model to an inclusion of repulsive interactions is also considered.
Quantifying insulin receptor isoform expression in FFPE breast tumors

Abstract Background The development of predictive biomarkers for IGF targeted anti-cancer therapeutics remains a critical unmet need. The insulin receptor A isoform (InsR-A) has been identified as a possible biomarker candidate but quantification of InsR-A in widely available formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues is complicated by its similarities with the metabolic signaling insulin receptor isoform B (InsR-B). In the present study, qPCR based assays specific for InsR-A, InsR-B and IGF-1R were developed for use in FFPE tissues and tested for feasible use in clinical archived FFPE estrogen receptor (ER) + and ER − breast cancer tumors. Design FFPE compatible primer sets were designed with amplicon sizes of less than 60 base pairs and validated for target specificity, assay repeatability and amplification efficiency. FFPE tumors from ER+ (n = 83) and ER − (n = 64) primary untreated breast cancers, and ER+ hormone refractory (HR ER+) (n = 61) breast cancers were identified for feasibility testing. The feasible use of InsR-A and InsR-B qPCRs were tested using all tumor groups and the feasibility of IGF-1R qPCR was determined using HR ER+ tumors. Results All qPCR assays were highly reproducible with amplification efficiencies between 96-104% over a 6 log range with limits of detection of 4 or 5 copies per reaction. Greater than 90% of samples were successfully amplified using InsR-A, InsR-B or IGF-1R qPCR primer sets and greater than 88% of samples tested amplified both InsR isoforms or both isoforms and IGF-1R. InsR-A was the predominant isoform in 82% ER+, 68% ER − and 100% HR ER+ breast cancer. Exploratory analyses demonstrated significantly more InsR-A expression in ER+ and HR ER+ groups compared to InsR-B (ER+ p Conclusions The validated, highly sensitive InsR-A and InsR-B qPCR based assays presented here are the first to demonstrate the feasible amplification of InsR isoforms in FFPE tissues. Quantification data generated from this feasibility study indicating InsR-A is more predominant than InsR-B in breast cancer support the use of these assays for further investigation of InsR-A and InsR-B as predictive biomarkers for IGF targeted therapeutics.
Effects of ethanol on urinary acidification and on gluconeogenesis by isolated renal tubules

Class I alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) is present in the kidney of rats. Rats fed an alcohol-containing diet long-term had higher urinary pH and reduced titratable acidity compared with pair-fed controls; rates of ammonium excretion were unchanged. The effects of ethanol on the metabolism of isolated renal tubules were then studied. Gluconeogenesis from lactate, pyruvate, or glutamine was not inhibited by 10 mmol/L ethanol during 30- or 60-minute incubations, although there was a trend toward increased lactate/pyruvate ratios at 30 minutes in the presence of ethanol. When the medium was also supplemented with oleate, glucose synthesis from most substrates was decreased, and the addition of ethanol inhibited glucose synthesis dramatically. This interaction between oleate and ethanol was not abolished by 4-methylpyrazole, an inhibitor of ADH. This effect of ethanol was highly dependent on the concentration of oleate present in the medium and was not observed with palmitate or decanoate; the inhibition was reversed by increasing the medium concentration of albumin. We conclude that ethanol may mildly perturb the redox state of isolated kidney tubules without inhibiting glucose synthesis, and that ethanol and oleate interact to inhibit renal gluconeogenesis by a mechanism highly dependent on the fatty acid concentration. The mechanism by which ethanol in the diet reduces renal acid excretion remains unknown.
Community Discernment: Getting Nonprocedural Documentation Right—A First Step to Exemplary Accreditation

Although the Graduate Medical Educational community has had much experience with procedural case logs, they have had little with nonprocedural case logs. Practical experiences are at the heart of physician development. It is important for residents to reflect on their experiences, for program directors to understand the range of experiences actually achieved by each of their residents, and for regulators including both the residency review committee and the boards to have information to determine whether programs and residents meet standards for accreditation and certification. Although some of the lessons learned from procedural case logs will be helpful in determining how best to implement nonprocedural case logs, in general, new ground is being broken. An opportunity exists for the graduate medical education community to engage in a series of clarifying conversations about how to best capture the authentic experiences of residents and how to use the information to promote improvement. Conditions that will help the community discern the best path forward include: clarity of purpose, commonly agreed-upon principles, and the creation of a reliable structure for communication and feedback—a structure that enables trust and improvement. On June 22, 2006, representatives of the Association of Program Directors in Pediatrics (APPD), the Pediatric Residency Review Committee (RRC), and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) met to have a conversation about how best to proceed with the implementation of the nonprocedural case logs focused on capturing the continuity clinic experience. ACGME’s new mission, vision, values, and strategic priorities guided its perspective. ACGME’s mission is to improve health care by assessing and advancing the quality of resident physicians’ education through accreditation. Its vision is exemplary education. Its values are accountability, excellence, and professionalism. These values constitute principles that could guide ongoing dialogue. By accountability, ACGME requires that its processes are open and transparent; that it is responsive to both the educational community and the health of the public; and that its results are reliable, valid, and consistent. By excellence, it means accreditation that is efficient and effective, outcomes-based, improvement oriented, and innovative. By professionalism, ACGME means that its actions are respectful and collaborative, responsive, ethical, and fair. The ACGME recently completed a self-study that in
Feasibility of ultrasound phase contrast for heating localization.

Ultrasound-based methods for temperature monitoring could greatly assist focused ultrasound visualization and treatment planning based on sound speed-induced change in phase as a function of temperature. A method is presented that uses reflex transmission integration, planar projection, and tomographic reconstruction techniques to visualize phase contrast by measuring the sound field before and after heat deposition. Results from experiments and numerical simulations employing a through-transmission setup are presented to demonstrate feasibility of using phase contrast methods for identifying temperature change. A 1.088-MHz focused transducer was used to interrogate a medium with a phase contrast feature, following measurement of the baseline reference field with a hydrophone. A thermal plume in water and a tissue phantom with multiple water columns was used in separate experiments to produce a phase contrast. The reference and phase contrast field scans were numerically backprojected and the phase differ...
Relationships Among Health-Related Quality of Life, Pulmonary Health, and Newborn Screening for Cystic Fibrosis

Background The objective of this study was to examine relationships between pulmonary health and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) evaluated longitudinally in the Wisconsin Newborn Screening Project. Methods Patients aged 8 to 18 years (mean ± SD, 13.5 ± 2.8) in early diagnosis (n = 45) and control (n = 50) groups completed Cystic Fibrosis Questionnaires (CFQs) to measure HRQOL at three data points over a 2-year period. Pulmonary health was evaluated concurrently by the Wisconsin chest x-ray scoring system (WCXR) and pulmonary function tests (PFTs). Results WCXR showed significant group differences ( P ≤ .023), with the early diagnosis group showing more-severe lung disease. When adjusted for group differences in mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa status and pancreatic status, however, WCXR differences and PFT data were not significant. Most patients (74%) had FEV 1 values ≥ 80% predicted (within normal range). For patients aged P ≤ .007). FEV 1 /FVC showed a positive relationship with the respiratory and physical domains (both P ≤ .006). WCXR scores for patients aged ≥ 14 years were associated with CFQ weight, respiratory, and health domains (all P ≤ .011). FEV 1 was associated with CFQ weight, respiratory, health, and physical domains (all P ≤ .003). Changes in pulmonary health were not associated with changes in CFQ over time. Significant group differences on the CFQ-Child social functioning domain favored the control group. Conclusions To our knowledge, this study is the first to compare pulmonary outcomes with HRQOL indicators assessed by serial, standardized, patient-reported outcome measures for patients with CF identified either through newborn screening or diagnosed by use of traditional methods. This study found no benefits of newborn screening for pulmonary health or HRQOL after controlling for risk factors. Using WCXR and PFT data collectively helped to identify associations between pulmonary health and HRQOL.
Prognostic markers in resectable non-small cell lung cancer.

Non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) comprises approximately four fifths of all primary lung carcinomas in the United States. A greater number of individuals will have succumbed to NSCLC than to colorectal and breast carcinomas combined in 1996. The latter diseases represent the second and third most common causes of cancer mortality in the United States, respectively. 56 Among those with NSCLC, the existence of resectable early-stage disease is the most powerful predictor of outcome, outweighing all other prognostic factors. The presence of advanced-stage disease is invariably fatal in NSCLC. Indeed, even among populations with local or regional disease, only those who have actually undergone complete resection are likely to be among those who achieve long-term survival. For example, among 331 patients with stage I (T1N0M0 or T2N0M0) NSCLC detected in the context of early-detection trials at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, the Mayo Clinic, and Johns Hopkins, actuarial 5-year survival was 70% among those who underwent resection and 10% among those who were treated without surgery. 13 Unfortunately, a high proportion of those with resectable NSCLC have biologically virulent cancers. Among such patients, complete resection is likely to be insufficient to produce a curative outcome. Numerous prognostic factors have been identified among those with resectable NSCLC that may be capable of stratifying patients into subsets indicating risk of recurrence following apparent complete surgical resection. This article reviews a spectrum of prognostic markers in resectable NSCLC including clinicopathologic factors, serum tumor markers, and molecular markers. Considerable selection has been employed in an effort to identify markers that are most likely to be clinically useful. The intent is to consider the data from the perspective of the clinician and clinical investigator, whose focus is to utilize information on prognostic markers to guide postresection management strategies.
The Risks and Returns of Brady Bonds in a Portfolio Framework

This paper examines the risks and returns of Brady bonds for the period 1990–1995 in a Modern Portfolio Theory framework. We find: (1) that the realized returns of Brady bonds are lower than the realized returns of other asset classes such as US stocks or US bonds; and (2) Brady bonds exhibit higher volatility compared to the other asset classes. These findings are largely explained by the influence of Mexico's devaluation of the Peso in December 1994. In addition, Mexico's devaluation is found to have had a strong (adverse) contagion effect on the returns on Brady bonds of other countries. The paper also finds that Brady bonds exhibit low correlations with US stocks and bonds markets. Thus, we find that there are potentially positive diversification gains from including Brady bonds in a domestic (US investor's) portfolio.
dc superconducting quantum interference device based neodymium magnet displacement sensor for superfluid experiments

A new displacement sensor that uses a rare-earth magnet attached to a flexible diaphragm is demonstrated for superfluid experiments. Its construction, calibration, and performance are described.