cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Resource availability modulates above‐ and below‐ground competitive interactions between genotypes of a dominant C4 grass

Summary The well-described pattern of a few common and many rare species in plant communities (dominance-diversity curves) also has been documented within populations of dominant plant species. Understanding how these common genotypes coexist has implications for how genotype richness of a dominant species may impact community and ecosystem processes. Some studies have shown that increased genotype richness of a dominant species leads to an increase in above-ground productivity, suggesting niche complementarity between genotypes. However, mechanistic understanding of how genotypes may complement one another is lacking. We conducted a pairwise competition experiment between four common and naturally co-occurring genotypes of a dominant C4 grass species, Andropogon gerardii, in tallgrass prairie of the central United States. The genotypes were grown under both intra- and intergenotypic competition with different combinations of resources (low and high light, water, and nitrogen) in the greenhouse. We determined that there were above- and below-ground phenotypic differences between genotypes which results in altered competitive interactions depending on resource conditions. Different genotypes were competitively dominant under low- and high-light conditions and low and high N and water availability. Moreover, relative yield total values (RYT) for each genotype pairwise combination indicated that all four genotypes make demands on different resources, providing evidence for niche complementarity. Finally, we found that differential success in resource acquisition, biomass accumulation, and subsequent competitive ability translated to variation in vegetative reproductive success of the genotypes, which has implications for the population dynamics of this primarily asexually reproducing perennial grass. Our results suggest that naturally co-occurring genotypes coexist because they are competitively dominant under different environmental conditions, providing insight into how genetic diversity within dominant plant species is maintained and may potentially affect important ecosystem processes.
Exciton transport in molecular aggregates probed by time and frequency gated optical spectroscopy

The signatures of exciton relaxation in time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy of molecular aggregates excited by a short pulse are expressed as an overlap of a Doorway wavepacket representing the exciton density matrix with a Window wavepacket which describes the time and frequency resolved detection. Transport and relaxation of the excitons are accounted for using the Redfield equations for the density matrix, and the complete temporal and spectral profiles of the excitation pulse and detection gate are incorporated using Wigner spectrograms. The spread in the off diagonal elements of the density matrix in the chromophore (real space) representation provides a natural measure of the relevant exciton coherence size.
Location, location, location: B-cell differentiation in the gut lamina propria

The intestinal immune system includes an immunoglobulin (Ig)A-inductive site represented by Peyer's patches (PPs) and an IgA effector site represented by the lamina propria (LP). This canonical map of intestinal IgA production has been blurred recently by studies showing the presence of active IgA class switching in the LP. Here we discuss the functional implications and controversial nature of these findings.
Structure and Substrate Binding Properties of cobB, a Sir2 Homolog Protein Deacetylase from Escherichia coli

Abstract Sirtuins are NAD + -dependent protein deacetylase enzymes that are broadly conserved from bacteria to human, and have been implicated to play important roles in gene regulation, metabolism and longevity. cobB is a bacterial sirtuin that deacetylates acetyl-CoA synthetase (Acs) at an active site lysine to stimulate its enzymatic activity. Here, we report the structure of cobB bound to an acetyl-lysine containing non-cognate histone H4 substrate. A comparison with the previously reported archaeal and eukaryotic sirtuin structures reveals the greatest variability in a small zinc-binding domain implicated to play a particularly important role in substrate-specific binding by the sirtuin proteins. Comparison of the cobB/histone H4 complex with other sirtuin proteins in complex with acetyl-lysine containing substrates, further suggests that contacts to the acetyl-lysine side-chain and β-sheet interactions with residues directly C-terminal to the acetyl-lysine represent conserved features of sirtuin-substrate recognition. Isothermal titration calorimetry studies were used to compare the affinity of cobB for a variety of cognate and non-cognate acetyl-lysine-bearing peptides revealing an exothermic reaction with relatively little discrimination between substrates. In contrast, similar studies employing intact acetylated Acs protein as a substrate reveal a binding reaction that is endothermic, suggesting that cobB recognition of substrate involves a burial of hydrophobic surface and/or structural rearrangement involving substrate regions distal to the acetyl-lysine-binding site. Together, these studies suggest that substrate-specific binding by sirtuin proteins involves contributions from the zinc-binding domain of the enzyme and substrate regions distal to the acetyl-lysine-binding site.
Countervailing Forces: Religiosity and Paranormal Belief in Italy

Due to the unique cultural niche inhabited by “paranormal” beliefs and experiences, social scientists have struggled to understand the relationship between religion and the paranormal. Complicating matters is the fact that extant research has primarily focused upon North America, leaving open the possible relationship between these two spheres of the supernatural in less religiously pluralistic contexts. Using data from a random, national survey of Italian citizens, we examine the nature of the relationship between religiosity and paranormal beliefs in a largely Catholic context. We find a curvilinear relationship between religiosity and paranormal beliefs among Italians, with those at the lowest and highest levels of religious participation holding lower average levels of “paranormal” belief than those with moderate religious participation. This pattern reflects how two influential social institutions, religion and science, simultaneously define the paranormal as outside of acceptable realms of inquiry and belief.
Chemoconvulsant seizures: Advantages of focally-evoked seizure models

Studies of short and long-term changes in regional metabolism, blood flow, gene expression (including immediate early genes and genes for neurotrophic factors), sprouting and cell death following seizures are pivotal to an under-standing of the neural networks responsible for the generation of seizures. At the same time, this information forms a basis for understanding the pathophysiology associated with chronic, recurrent seizures. Systemic chemoconvulsant seizure models, produced by systemically administered chemoconvulsant agents, although convenient, are plagued with difficulties which confound the interpretation of their effects on the nervous system. These difficulties include widespread direct cellular and physiological effects of the chemoconvulsant drugs, most of which are independent of seizures. In addition, numerous physiological changes occur as a secondary consequence of, or ancillary to, seizures, and it can be especially difficult to separate these effects from the direct effects of the propagated seizure discharge itself. Some of these difficulties can be overcome by the use of focally-evoked seizure models. Such models avoid the diffuse presence of drug throughout the CNS and thereby eliminate most of the direct cellular and physiologic actions of the drug apart from seizure-induction. Large regions of the brain distant from the focal site of drug application then can be examined for molecular, structural and physiologic changes uncomplicated by the presence of drug. Moreover, different focal sites of drug application can be compared to evaluate the specificity of the molecular changes to the neural network engaged in the seizure discharge. For example, limbic seizures, evoked by chemoconvulsant application into area tempestas, can be compared with brainstem convulsions evoked by chemoconvulsant application into inferior colliculus. Studies using focal drug application have also been successful in producing distant damage following status epilepticus and in demonstrating “distant neuroprotection”. The importance of identifying seizure-specific pathophysiological alterations is discussed in the context of focal vs. systemic chemoconvulsant seizure models.
Transesophageal echocardiographic diagnosis of right-sided cardiac masses in patients with central lines.

Abstract Transesophageal echocardiography provides excellent images of intracardiac masses; however, its use among a series of patients with central venous lines has not been fully described. Nineteen patients (aged 52 ± 16 years; 10 women) had masses detected by transesophageal echocardiography in the presence of a permanent (0.2 to 16 years) pacing wire (n = 8), and a current (n = 9) or recent (n = 2) (1 to 281 days) indwelling catheter. Transthoracic echocardiography suggested the presence of a mass in S patients (26%), although in only 2 cases were its findings consistent with transesophageal findings. Transesophageal echocardiography indicated the presence of a mass in or near the superior vena cava in 13 patients, in the right atrium in 6, and adjacent to the tricuspid valve in 3. Discrete masses measured 1.6 ± 2.1 cm 2 in area during transesophageal echocardiography. Eleven patients had positive Mood cultures, 7 with staphylococcal species. Mass size was not significantly altered by the type of line or sepsis, but showed a weak correlation with line age (r = 0.56). Transesophageal echocardiography altered the management of 9 patients, prompting surgery (n = 3) and line removal (n = 3), and antibiotic (n = 2) or anticoagulation (n = 3) therapy.
The impact of chronic hepatitis C on health-related quality of life in homeless and marginally housed individuals with HIV

Although infection with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) frequently co-exist, there has been little research to determine the effects of HIV/HCV co-infection on health-related quality of life (HRQOL). We performed a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from 216 participants enrolled in a community based study of HIV-infected homeless and marginally housed individuals, using multivariable linear regression analysis to determine if co-infection with HCV was independently associated with lower short-form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire scores. We found that individuals with HCV had significantly lower mean SF-36 scores in the domains of physical functioning, bodily pain, social functioning and role limitation due to emotional health, and that HIV/HCV co-infection was independently associated with a lower physical component score but not a lower mental component score after controlling for numerous covariates. These results suggest that co-infection with HCV may have an adverse effect on HRQOL among homeless and marginally housed individuals with HIV.
New species of Hydrellia reared from aquatic macrophytes in Pakistan (Diptera: Ephydridae)

Five new species of Hydrellia are described and illustrated from adult specimens which were reared from aquatic macrophytes at the Commonwealth Inst. of Biol. Control in Pakistan. Hydrellia ghanii, new species, reared from Potamogeton crispus Linn., P. perfoliatus Linn., and Vallisneria spiralis Linn., is similar in its wide genae to H. argyrogenis Becker. Hydrellia laffooni, new species, reared from P. perfoliatus Linn., and H. pakistanae, new species, reared from Hydrilla verticillata (Linn.) Royle have uncertain affinities. The new species H. indicae and H. warsakensis, reared respectively from Potamogeton indicus Roxb. and Vallisneria spiralis Linn., are in the H. geniculata species group.
Cell-specific, spike timing–dependent plasticities in the dorsal cochlear nucleus

In the dorsal cochlear nucleus, long-term synaptic plasticity can be induced at the parallel fiber inputs that synapse onto both fusiform principal neurons and cartwheel feedforward inhibitory interneurons. Here we report that in mouse fusiform cells, spikes evoked 5 ms after parallel-fiber excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) led to long-term potentiation (LTP), whereas spikes evoked 5 ms before EPSPs led to long-term depression (LTD) of the synapse. The EPSP-spike protocol led to LTD in cartwheel cells, but no synaptic changes resulted from the reverse sequence (spike-EPSP). Plasticity in fusiform and cartwheel cells therefore followed Hebbian and anti-Hebbian learning rules, respectively. Similarly, spikes generated by summing EPSPs from different groups of parallel fibers produced LTP in fusiform cells, and LTD in cartwheel cells. LTD could also be induced in glutamatergic inputs of cartwheel cells by pairing parallel-fiber EPSPs with depolarizing glycinergic PSPs from neighboring cartwheel cells. Thus, synaptic learning rules vary with the postsynaptic cell, and may require the interaction of different transmitter systems.
Conductive properties of ferrocenyl-derivatized polyaniline films

Abstract Novel conducting polymer films based on poly( m -aminoanilinomethylferrocene) were evaluated and evidence is provided which shows that these films have both redox and electronic conduction mechanisms under acidic, aqueous conditions. Cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, UV-Vis and transient emission spectroscopy experiments all show phenomena that indicate a conducting poly(aniline) backbone as well as active ferrocenyl moieties within a metallopolymer film. The results suggest that polyaniline conducting polymers may be prepared which feature two conduits for electron transfer between the solution and an electrode surface.
Computer simulation of displacement energies for several ceramic materials

Abstract Displacement energies ( E d ) are fundamental parameters controlling the production of radiation damage in materials, and as such, are useful for understanding and modeling the effects of radiation on materials. These energies are not easily determined experimentally for many ceramic materials. However, advances in computational methodologies and their application to ceramic materials provide a means to determine these energies in a number of materials of interest. Although computationally intensive molecular dynamics methods can be used to determine E d for the various cations and anions, energy minimization methods can also provide a more expedient means to obtain reasonable estimates of these energies. In this paper, the energy minimization code General Utility Lattice Program (GULP), which uses a Mott–Littleton approximation to simulate isolated defects in extended solids, is used to calculate displacement energies. The validity of using this code for these computations is established by calculating E d for several ceramics for which these energies are known. Computational results are in good agreement with the experimental values for alumina, MgO, and ZnO. Results are also presented for two ceramic materials, zircon and spinel, for which there are little or no experimental values yet available.
Monte Carlo simulation of vibrational relaxation in nitrogen

Monte Carlo simulation of nonequilibrium vibrational relaxation of (rotationless) N2 using transition probabilities form an extended SSH theory is presented. For the range of temperatures considered, 4000-8000 K, the vibrational levels were found to be reasonably close to an equilibrium distribution at an average vibrational temperature based on the vibrational energy of the gas. As a result, they do not show any statistically significant evidence of the bottleneck observed in earlier studies of N2. Based on this finding, it appears that, for the temperature range considered, dissociation commences after all vibrational levels equilibrate at the translational temperature.
Coordination of thumb joints during opposition

Thumb opposition plays a vital role in hand function. Kinematically, thumb opposition results from composite movements from multiple joints moving in multiple directions. The purpose of this study was to examine the coordination of thumb joints during opposition tasks. A total of 15 female subjects with asymptomatic hands were studied. Three-dimensional angular kinematics of the carpometacarpal (CMC), metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and interphalangeal (IP) joints were obtained by a marker-based motion analysis system. Thumb opposition revealed coordination among joints in a specific direction (inter-joint coordination) and among different directions within a joint (intra-joint coordination). In particular, linear couplings existed between the flexion and pronation at the CMC joint, and between the flexion of the CMC joint and flexion of the MCP joint. Principal component analysis showed that only two principal components adequately represented the thumb opposition data of seven movement directions. A term functional degrees of freedom by virtue of principal component analysis was proposed to uncover the extent of movement coordination in functional tasks.
Compression of motion capture databases

We present a lossy compression algorithm for large databases of motion capture data. We approximate short clips of motion using Bezier curves and clustered principal component analysis. This approximation has a smoothing effect on the motion. Contacts with the environment (such as foot strikes) have important detail that needs to be maintained. We compress these environmental contacts using a separate, JPEG like compression algorithm and ensure these contacts are maintained during decompression.Our method can compress 6 hours 34 minutes of human motion capture from 1080 MB data into 35.5 MB with little visible degradation. Compression and decompression is fast: our research implementation can decompress at about 1.2 milliseconds/frame, 7 times faster than real-time (for 120 frames per second animation). Our method also yields smaller compressed representation for the same error or produces smaller error for the same compressed size.
Coding sequence composition flanking either signal element alters V(D)J recombination efficiency.

Abstract Lymphoid V(D)J rearrangement is targeted by recombination signal sequences (RSS) bordering V, D or J exons. We demonstrate that the DNA composition of flanking coding positions, particularly poly(A) or poly(T) stretches at one or both RSS, diminishes V(D)J recombination up to 100-fold. Positionally correct cleavages occur in the inhibited reactions, since the junctions formed show the same frequency of precision as uninhibited reactions. Open/shut cleavage/rejoining is not increased at a normal RSS in substrates containing inhibitory A/T homopolymers versus random sequence at a second RSS. Thus recombinase action at both cleavage sites is severely disrupted by modified coding sequences.
Improving cotton embryo culture by simulating in ovulo nutrient and hormone levels

Plant ovules provide zygotes with a physicochemical environment that supports embryo differentiation, growth, and maturation. The exact nature of this embryogenesis-enabling environment is not well characterized, as evidenced by failed attempts to induce normal embryony from zygotes or proembryos (precotyledonary) on defined media. To identify factors required for cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) zygotic embryony in vitro, we previously performed chemical and dissolved oxygen tension analyses of cotton ovule fluids and tissues at multiple stages of embryony in situ. Based on these analyses, we report herein the development of procedures that normalize embryo differentiation, growth, maturation, and germination in vitro, starting with proembryos. Our medium differed from Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium as follows (percentage of MS): N (30%, mostly from ten amino acids), P (815%), K (237%), Mg (85%), Ca (267%), S (506%), Fe (88%), and myoinositol (883%). Levels of other MS nutrients and vitamins, except sucrose, were kept at MS levels. Additionally, we included 100 mg L−1 casein hydrolysate plus the following (mmol L−1): d-glucose (1.8), fructose (4.7), sucrose (62.0), arabinose (7.1), melibiose (3.5), malic acid (11.6), and citric acid (3.8). Mannitol was added to achieve a medium osmotic potential of −1.10 MPa, and an atmospheric O2 tension of 3.3 mol m−3 at the surface of embryos was maintained during culture. When cultured on medium containing 8.0 μmol L−1 indole-3-acetic acid, 80–90% of proembryos (as small as 100 cells) of cultivars HS-26 and B-27 increased four- to eightfold in surface area during the first 18 d in culture and germinated thereafter to produce viable plants. Increases in surface area of proembryos cultured on a modified MS medium previously used for somatic embryogenesis were from 0.2- to 0.6-fold. The described embryo culture medium should be useful for studying nutritional and molecular aspects of early embryony and possibly for plant zygote transformation protocols.
Optically synchronized MIMO interconnects for 3D HPC memory access systems using radio-over-fiber technology

A novel analog MIMO multiplexing scheme is proposed to realize a low-latency MIMO subsystem for a paradigm-shift 3D large-memory interconnect architecture. System complexity, latency, and throughput are greatly improved by radio-over-fiber synchronization.
Thermal bending of plates with circular holes

Abstract The thermoelastic problem of a simply supported rectangular thin elastic plate with a circular hole and subjected to heat flow is solved by the method of point matching. The heat flow consists of an arbitrary temperature variation across the thickness of the plate but with no variation over the plate surfaces. The solution is derived in form of an infinite series in terms of circular cylindrical coordinates. Deflection and moment curves for various ratios of the diameter of the hole to the size of the plate are presented for the case of Poisson's ratio v = 0.3 .
Data driven suppression rule for speech enhancement

Audio signal enhancement often involves the application of a time-varying filter, or suppression rule, to the frequency-domain transform of a corrupted signal. Classic approaches use rules derived under Gaussian models and interpret them as spectral estimators in a Bayesian statistical framework. This mathematical approach provides rules that satisfy certain optimization criteria — maximum likelihood, mean square error, etc. In this paper we propose to learn the suppression rule from a representative training corpus and make it optimal in the sense of best perceived quality. This can be measured, for example, with the wideband PESQ algorithm, for which we cannot derive an analytic estimator. The proposed suppression rule is evaluated in controlled environment and shows improvements in the range of 0.1–0.2 PESQ points on a data corpus with SNRs ranging from −10 to +50 dB.
Reversible inhibition of intercellular communication among cardiac myocytes by halogenated hydrocarbons.

Abstract We examined the effect of 11 aliphatic halogenated hydrocarbons on the transfer of microinjected dye among cardiac myocytes from neonatal rats. Myocytes were suffused with increasing concentrations of halocarbon added as a 0.2% solution of dimethyl sulfoxide to M199 containing 1.8 m m Ca and 5% serum. Single cells were microinjected with the fluorescent probe Lucifer yellow (5% in 0.1 m m LiCl) and dye coupling to adjacent cells was monitored. All of the halocarbons tested exhibited a concentration-dependent inhibitory effect on intercellular communication that was reversible following washout of the compounds. Intercellular communication was blocked within 1 min of exposure to an effective concentration, and recovery of communication occured even after 2 hr of exposure. Pretreatment of cells with SKF 525-A (25 μM) did not prevent the inhibition of intercellular communication by carbon tetrachloride suggesting an absence of P-450 involvement. EC50s were calculated for each chemical using probit analysis. A log-log comparison of the EC50s and the physicochemical properties of the chemicals demonstrated a high correlation ( R 2 = 0.933) between the EC50s and the octanol/water partition coefficients of the halocarbons. This suggests that incorporation of halocarbons in the membrane may block intercellular communication though modification of the immediate environment of the gap junctions. The results are in agreement with the hypothesis that inhibition of gap junctional communication is a factor in the arrhythmogenic effects of acute halocarbon exposure.
Children with chronic conditions: educators' views.

Abstract The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory study was to identify the concerns and resource needs of educators for effectively teaching children with chronic health conditions. Semistructured audiotaped telephone interviews were conducted with 23 teachers and six principals from urban and rural public schools, grades K-12. The interview included questions in four areas: (a) experiences with children with chronic health conditions, (b) concerns in providing educational services to these children, (c) resources used by educators, and (d) recommendations regarding how information and services can best be provided to educators. The most common concerns were unanticipated medical emergencies and increased absence rates. The major resource for these educators was the school nurse. Educators preferred information specific to a child in their class, provided to them by the school nurse. Results suggest that interventions for teachers are more likely to be effective when they are coordinated with the school nurse and focus on the impact of the condition on a child's ability to function in the classroom. Subsequent research is necessitated to determine effective strategies for specialty nurses to aid school nurses in providing optimum care for these children.
Bijective matrix algebra

If A and B are square matrices such that AB = I, then BA = I automatically follows. We prove a combinatorial version of this result in the case where the entries of A and B count collections of signed, weighted objects. Specifically, we give an algorithm that transforms any given bijective proof of the identity AB = I into an explicit bijective proof of the identity BA = I. Letting A and B be the Kostka matrix and its inverse, this settles an open problem posed by Egecioglu and Remmel in 1990.
A Course in the Teaching of Intermediate Foreign Language.

sity. Those who were teaching beginning classes were enthusiastic and thriving on the experience. On the other hand, the poor unfortunates in intermediate classes were at a loss as they tried to work with students coming from different schools, different teachers, and different backgrounds. A lock-step approach was obviously not the answer; ways had to be found to meet the problems, needs and interests of all the students, regardless of their reasons for taking the course. The first remark that all our student teachers uttered was, "These kids don't know anything; they forgot all they learned last year." Others, less secure, were quick to blame the first-year teacher for the incompetence of their students. What made the situation worse was the fact
Theory and methods for supporting high-level decision making

High-level decision makers face complex strategic issues and decision support for such individuals needs to be topdown, and to use representations natural to their level and particular styles. Decision support should focus on objectives; uncertainties, which are often both large and deep; risks; and how to do well despite the uncertainties and risks. This implies that decision support should help identify flexible, adaptive, and robust strategies (FAR strategies), not strategies tuned to particular assumptions. Decision support should also have built-in zoom capability, since decision makers sometimes need to know the underlying basis for assessments in order to review and alter assumptions, and to communicate a concern about details that encourages careful work. These requirements apply to both strategic planning (e.g., force planning in DoD or the Services) and operations planning (e.g., a commander's war planning). This paper discusses how to meet the requirements and implications for further research and enabling technology.
“AIDS IS IN THE FOOD”: ZIMBABWEANS’ ASSOCIATION BETWEEN NUTRITION AND HIV/AIDS AND THEIR POTENTIAL FOR ADDRESSING FOOD INSECURITY AND HIV/AIDS

This article discusses the shift in Zimbabwe from the traditionally broad and diversified diet, consisting of a variety of wild plants and animals, to the current diet, based on a few cash crops. The narrowing of the food base is not only problematic in terms of nutrition but has been increasing vulnerability to weather-related food shortages. Zimbabweans are aware of these risks and conclude that the lack of sufficient and healthy nutrition triggers the development of full-blown AIDS in the bodies of HIV positive individuals. In other words, HIV/AIDS is a result of food shortages, at least to some extent. Such views are encouraged by media reports arguing that AIDS is not triggered by HIV but by malnourishment. Food shortages are, according to informants, aggravated by the desperate political situation in the country. The extent of the AIDS epidemic is explained through the political context in which food shortages occur. This article also highlights the importance of integrating cultural understandings of food and nutrition into programs aiming at raising awareness of the AIDS epidemic, preventing new HIV infections, and improving care for those suffering of the disease.
A Note on a Subset Selection Procedure for the Most Probable Multinomial Event

Abstract Panchapakesan (1971) proposed and investigated a subset selection procedure for selecting the most probable cell in a multinomial distribution on k (≥2) cells. He showed that the least favorable configuration (LFC) for the probability of a correct selection (PCS) is that of equal cell-probabilities. He showed that this result holds exactly for k = 2 and asymptotically for k ≥ 3. Later, Chen (1986) and Liu and Lin (1991) showed that the result holds exactly for k ≥ 3. Their proofs involve differentiation of type-2 Dirichlet integrals with the restriction that the cell-probabilities add up to unity. We now give a fairly simple proof of this result by obtaining the PCS as a single integral involving the gamma distribution. This was the proof behind the claim of the LFC result made without details in the abstract by Panchapakesan (1973). Recommended by N. Mukhopadhyay
Epidemiology and Pathophysiology of Prostate Cancer in African-American Men

Purpose: Along with increasing age and a positive family history subSaharan African ancestry has long been recognized as an important risk factor for prostate cancer. In the United States the incidence of prostate cancer is approximately 60% higher in African-American than in European-American men and the mortality rate from the disease is more than twice as high. The purpose of this review article is to examine specific reports highlighting racial disparity and its possible causes.Materials and Methods: The reports chosen for review of this epidemiology and pathophysiology study were included to demonstrate conditions in which racial differences as well as similarities exist in African-American and European-American men. Reports also include autopsy, biological and clinical studies, and early and late stage prostate cancer.Results: From the 1970s to the current statistical analysis of the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program African-American men have continued to ...
Masonry wall frame design and performance

Tall masonry building in active seismic or severe wind regions have typically been designed as shear wall buildings. This paper presents an alternative lateral force resisting system cailed a wall frame. This new masonry system is particularly advantageous for seismic and windy regions because it utilizes the nonlinear inelastic load deformation characteristics of the masonry beams and is thus a ductile system. Basic design assumptions and experimental test data are presented.
Immunocytochemical localization of nerve growth factor in mouse kidney.

The presence of NGF in mouse kidney was investigated using immunocytochemical methods. Female and male adult Swiss-Webster mouse kidneys were fixed by perfusion with 4% paraformaldehyde or Zamboni's fixative. The kidneys were forzen, and serial sections were prepared. Rabbit NGF antiserum was used for the primary incubation, and the avidin-biotin complex immunoperoxidase procedure was utilized for immunostaining. NGF immunorectivity was localized in the apical and perinuclear cytoplasm of cells linig the late is distal nephorn, in a portion that corresponds to the connecting tubule. This portion of the nephron has been consistently observed in close anatomical to relationship with arterioles, which are known to be richly innervated. Some cells of the connecting tubule, correspondind to intercalated cells, lacked NGF immunoreactivity.
Adaptive level of detail technique for real-time display in virtual reality

Highly detailed polygonal surface data can prove difficult to handle and display in a real-time visualization/simulation environment. Level-of-detail techniques are still necessary with today's graphics workstations. An implementation of a quadtree-like recursive subdivision algorithm that divides a rectangular area into sixteen (four by four) areas is described. Continuity of a resulting polygonal mesh is ensured by a traversal step that explicitly joins the edges of regions of different resolution. Similar continuity is also ensured for color and normal vectors associated with each elevation grid point. The result is an unbroken surface with no appreciable discontinuities in color or shading, but increased detail in certain areas selectable by the user (such as target areas, mountains, or areas with less elevation change). This method is specialized for rectangular grid elevation data, but is fast enough to be performed dynamically based on distance of the observer from the terrain. The use of a hextree allows greater decimation for a given number of resolution levels compared to a quadtree, and minimizes the overhead associated with changing resolution levels during traversal for display. Examples shown include a virtual reality fly-over of terrain with a small proportion of mountains (at original full resolution) but a polygon count reduction of 98% overall, yielding more than an order of magnitude frame rate increase.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Some experiments with Zeeman shifted levels

Abstract A review of some applications of the Zeeman effect to studies of the resonance line of mercury. Techniques discussed include Zeeman scanning of an atomic beam, double resonance, level crossing and the Zeeman filter. Examples are drawn in large part from the work of Dr. Bitter's group at MIT and of the author and his colleagues at NBS. Fundamental data obtained in these studies include the hyperfine structure, isotope shifts and Zeeman splitting, in both naturally occurring and short-lived isotopes, the Lande g -factor and the lifetime of the 3 P 0 1 states.
Impact of sharing-based thread placement on multithreaded architectures

Multithreaded architectures context switch between instruction streams to hide memory access latency. Although this improves processor utilization, it can increase cache interference and degrade overall performance. One technique to reduce the interconnect traffic is to co-locate threads that share data on the same processor. Multiple threads sharing in the cache should reduce compulsory and invalidation misses, thereby improving execution time.To test this hypothesis, we compared a variety of thread placement algorithms via trace-driven simulation of fourteen coarse- and medium-grain parallel applications on several multithreaded architectures. Our results contradict the hypothesis. Rather than decreasing, compulsory and invalidation misses remained nearly constant across all placement algorithms, for all processor configurations, even with an infinite cache. That is, sharing-based placement had no (positive) effect on execution time. Instead, load balancing was the critical factor that affected performance. Our results were due to one or both of the following reasons: (1) the sequential and uniform access of shared data by the application's threads and (2) the insignificant number of data references that require interconnect access, relative to the total number of instructions.
EVIDENCE FOR REPEATED ACQUISITION AND LOSS OF COMPLEX BODY-FORM CHARACTERS IN AN INSULAR CLADE OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN SEMI-FOSSORIAL SKINKS

Evolutionary simplification, or loss of complex characters, is a major theme in studies of body-form evolution. The apparently infrequent evolutionary reacquisition of complex characters has led to the assertion (Dollo's Law) that once lost, complex characters may be impossible to re-evolve, at least via the exact same evolutionary process. Here, we provide one of the most comprehensive, fine-scale analyses of squamate body-form evolution to date, introducing a new model system of closely related, morphologically variable, lizards. Our phylogenetic results support independent instances of complete limb loss as well as multiple instances of digit and external ear opening loss and re-acquisition. Even more striking, we find strong statistical support for the re-acquisition of a pentadactyl body form from a digit-reduced ancestor. Our study reveals that species of the genus Brachymeles exemplify regions of morphospace (body plans) previously undocumented in squamates. Our findings have broad, general implications for body-form evolution in burrowing vertebrates: whatever constraints have shaped trends in morphological evolution among other squamate groups (excluding Bipes) have been lost in this one exemplary clade. The results of our study join a nascent body of literature showing strong statistical support for character loss, followed by evolutionary re-acquisition of complex structures associated with a generalized pentadactyl body form.
Outcome Following Detorsion of Torsed Adnexa in Children

Abstract Study Objective To examine the postoperative course and outcomes of young females with ovarian torsion treated with detorsion and ovarian preservation. The secondary objective was to determine which operative findings correlated with higher follicular counts following detorsion. Design Retrospective chart review. Setting Tertiary academic center. Participants 29 females (mean age 10.3 ± 4.9 y) who underwent surgery for ovarian torsion with detorsion and ovarian preservation at our institution between July 2007 and July 2010 and who had follow-up pelvic ultrasonography available for review. Interventions None. Main Outcome Measures Surgical findings, postoperative complications, and follicular counts on follow-up ultrasonography. Results Mean duration of abdominal pain on presentation was 77.5 ± 78.8 h. The detorsed ovary was described as “dusky/purple” in 21 cases (72.4%), “normal” in 1 (3.4%), “necrotic” in 1 (3.4%), and not described in 6 (20.7%). All pubertal patients resumed menstrual function. No patients required reoperation for removal of the salvaged ovary. There were no instances of postoperative fever or concern for ovarian venous thrombosis. Average timing of follow-up ultrasonography was 8.1 ± 6.7 months, with 28 patients (96.6%) showing ovarian follicles on the affected side (mean 4.6 ± 1.9 and 4.7 ± 3.3 follicles on the right and left ovary, respectively). No correlation was found between the side affected, gross appearance of the torsed ovary or the number of follicles found on follow-up ultrasonography. Conclusions Detorsion with ovarian preservation is a safe and effective treatment, and should be considered the primary treatment for girls with ovarian torsion, even for those with ovaries that appear necrotic.
Cutting Edge: Mast Cells Regulate Disease Severity in a Relapsing–Remitting Model of Multiple Sclerosis

Mast cells (MCs) exert a significant pathologic influence on disease severity in C57BL/6 (B6) strain-dependent experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model of primary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). However, relapsing-remitting MS, which is modeled in SJL mice, is the more prevalent form. Given genetically determined heterogeneity in numbers and responsiveness of MCs from various strains of mice, we asked whether these cells also influence this more clinically relevant MS model using SJL-Kit(W/W-v) mice. Similar to the commercially available WBB6F(1)-Kit(W/W-v) mice, SJL-Kit(W/W-v) mice are MC-deficient, anemic, and neutropenic and have normal T cell compartments. They exhibit significantly reduced disease severity, but retain the relapsing-remitting course, a phenotype reversed by selective MC reconstitution. These data confirm that MC influence is not confined to an isolated model of EAE and reveal a new system to study the effects of MC heterogeneity on relapsing-remitting EAE and other SJL strain-specific diseases.
THE ROLE OF DELETERIOUS MUTATIONS IN ALLOPATRIC SPECIATION

Allopatric speciation is often assumed to occur as a consequence of adaptive divergence between two isolated populations. However, there are some scenarios in which reproductive isolation can be favored due to accumulated unconditionally deleterious mutations. If deleterious mutations have synergistic epistatic effects, it is shown here that the average fitness of recombinants between two parental lines with a given number of fixed mutations is lower than that of the parents in both the F1 and F2 generations. If individual mutations are only slightly deleterious, then they will tend to fixation at a high enough rate to cause lower hybrid fitness. If the fitness effects of mutation give rise to antagonistic epistasis, the hybrids tend to have a higher average fitness than the parental lines, suggesting a possible scenario for the origin of hybrid vigor. The other model of deleterious mutations investigated is the accumulation of knockout mutants in a duplicated gene family. While neutral in the parental lines, upon contact the F1 and later generations have a significant probability of carrying double knockouts. Under this scenario, selection may also favor reproductive isolation between the two lines. Even when the selection coefficients generated are too low to drive speciation, epistatic interactions between deleterious mutations offer a possible explanation for both outbreeding depression and hybrid vigor.
Computation of stability robustness bounds for state-space models with structured uncertainty

This paper makes two contributions related to computing a bound on the size of structured real parameter perturbations under which a nominally stable matrix remains stable. First, a more efficient method is presented for computing existing bounds, requiring less time and storage than other methods. The second contribution is a means of computing tighter bounds, although at a higher computational cost.
psychological, semantic, and structural aspects of American English kinship terms1

Three componential analyses of American kin terms—Wallace and Atkins' (1960), Romney and D'Andrade‘s (1964), and Goodenough's (1965)—are a principal focus of an investigation of American kinship semantics and of an enquiry into the epistemological foundation of semantic analysis in general. The psychological, semantic, and structural implications of these analyses are explored in terms of the distinction between necessary and contingent facts. These analyses are determined contingent upon individual interpretation of genealogical facts and consequently relate to individual or “private” meaning. Relational analyses such as those of Burling (1970) and Wallace (1970) are necessarily real, relating to the ordinary use of American kin terms rather than to the objects designated by them and therefore are more in line with Wittgenstein's definition of meaning as linguistic use of words. In this regard, the latter analyses are “better” accounts of the meaning of terms. An additional analysis of American terminology is derived, focusing upon reciprocal usage of terms and their ordinary use in connection with bound forms such as great- and step-. This analysis corresponds to the structural principle related to the definition of “family” in American society as described by Schneider (1968) and others. This is in accordance with the hypothesis that necessarily real analyses complement structural reality because such solutions and structural principles are of the same logical order.
Hepatic Stellate Cells Preferentially Induce Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells by Production of Retinoic Acid

The liver has long been described as immunosuppressive, although the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are incompletely understood. Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), a population of liver nonparenchymal cells, are potent producers of the regulatory T cell (Treg)–polarizing molecules TGF-β1 and all-trans retinoic acid, particularly during states of inflammation. HSCs are activated during hepatitis C virus infection and may therefore play a role in the enrichment of Tregs during infection. We hypothesized that Ag presentation in the context of HSC activation will induce naive T cells to differentiate into Foxp3+ Tregs. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the molecular interactions between murine HSCs, dendritic cells, and naive CD4+ T cells. We found that HSCs alone do not present Ag to naive CD4+ T cells, but in the presence of dendritic cells and TGF-β1, preferentially induce functional Tregs. This Treg induction was associated with retinoid metabolism by HSCs and was dependent on all-trans retinoic acid. Thus, we conclude that HSCs preferentially generate Foxp3+ Tregs and, therefore, may play a role in the tolerogenic nature of the liver.
Morphology, Ultrastructure, and Mode of Division of Mycoplasma fermentans, Mycoplasma hominis, Mycoplasma orale, and Mycoplasma salivarium

The morphology of viable Mycoplasma fermentans, Mycoplasma hominis, Mycoplasma orale types 1 and 2, and Mycoplasma salivarium was studied in broth cultures by interference microscopy and in thin sections by electron microscopy. Only spherical cells were seen by interference microscopy. M. hominis had a capsule-like outer layer. Except for M. orale type 1, mycoplasmas in thin sections were 0.3-1 [tm in diameter, with a bounding trilaminar membrane 7.5-10 nm thick. The mycoplasmas contained DNA fibrils and randomly distributed ribosomes. No polyribosomes were seen. Dividing mycoplasmas elongated slightly; the membrane invaginated, forming one bud. Sometimes M. hominis and M. salivarium produced one bud by elongation, and the bud was attached by a tube. This method of division is not considered as characteristic but rather as due to centrifugal force separating unfixed cells during preparation for electron microscopy. Cross-septa were never observed. In thin sections M. orale type 1 was elongated and without buds, an observation which suggested that preparation for electron microscopy distorted the mycoplasmas.