cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of ethidium bromide on mitosis and chromosomes: a possible material basis for chromosome stickiness.

When two types of mammalian cells were treated with ethidium bromide for several hours, the mitotic figures showed no chromatid breaks or exchanges but a high incidence of sticky chromosomes. Electron microscopic examinations revealed that many chromosomes are connected by submicroscopic chromatin strands of various widths. Chromosome stickiness, therefore, is interpreted as entanglement of chromatin fibers between unrelated chromosomes, probably caused by abnormal condensation behaviors prior to mitosis. Presumably, chromatin breaks would occur when sticky chromosomes separate during anaphase. Such microscopically undetectable breaks expressed as various kinds of chromosomal aberrations in the next mitosis when the damaged cells were permitted to recover in the absence of ethidium bromide.
Groundwater recharge and agricultural contamination

Agriculture has had direct and indirect effects on the rates and compositions of groundwater recharge and aquifer biogeochemistry. Direct effects include dis- solution and transport of excess quantities of fertilizers and associated materials and hydrologic alterations relat- ed to irrigation and drainage. Some indirect effects in- clude changes in water-rock reactions in soils and aqui- fers caused by increased concentrations of dissolved oxi- dants, protons, and major ions. Agricultural activities have directly or indirectly affected the concentrations of a large number of inorganic chemicals in groundwater, for example NO 3 - , N 2 , Cl, SO 4 2- , H + , P, C, K, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ra, and As, as well as a wide variety of pesti- cides and other organic compounds. For reactive con- taminants like NO 3 - , a combination of chemical, isoto- pic, and environmental-tracer analytical approaches might be required to resolve changing inputs from subse- quent alterations as causes of concentration gradients in groundwater. Groundwater records derived from multi- component hydrostratigraphic data can be used to quan- tify recharge rates and residence times of water and dis- solved contaminants, document past variations in re- charging contaminant loads, and identify natural contam- inant-remediation processes. These data indicate that many of the world's surficial aquifers contain transient records of changing agricultural contamination from the last half of the 20th century. The transient agricultural groundwater signal has important implications for long- term trends and spatial heterogeneity in discharge.
Ultrasound speckle size and lesion signal to noise ratio: verification of theory.

We compare predictions from our published theory of speckle cell size with recently published experimental results and a three dimensional computer simulation for the case of Gaussian pulses from spherically focused transducers in random media. The agreement is very good. We also compare our published theoretical predictions of the signal-to-noise ratio for a circular lesion in a speckle background with published “contrast to speckle ratio” data for anechoic cylindrical lesions in tissue mimicking material. Again, agreement is very good. The verification of these theoretical predictions has important implications for the evaluation of B-scan image quality and the study of tissue characterization.
Transesophageal echocardiography in the awake elderly patient: Its role in the clinical decision-making process

To assess the impact on the management and safety of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in the elderly population, the results and limitations of this technique were retrospectively analyzed in 88 patients. TEE was indicated whenever the transthoracic approach was not diagnostic or was inconsistent with the clinical setting. The most frequent clinical indications were to investigate the source of emboli, assess valvular regurgitation, and identify valvular vegetations. In 72 patients (82%) TEE significantly influenced management decisions. In selected patients TEE avoided the use of more invasive diagnostic procedures. Adverse effects included occasional premature atrial or ventricular beats (11 patients), sinus bradycardia (six patients), and protracted nausea (one patient). We conclude that in elderly patients with cardiovascular diseases, TEE plays a significant role in the decision-making process without adding a significant risk.
Solvent Selectivity Studies Using Isomers of Polystyrene

Abstract The order of elution of isomeric trimers of polystyrene has been found to be independent of the dominant solvent-solute interaction as indicated by the location of the solvent in a Snyder triangle. The pure solvents were nitromethane, propylene carbonate, N-methylformamide, acetonitrile, the mixtures were trifluoroethanol with chloroform, methylene chloride and trichlorotrifluoroethane and also one of 2-me-thoxyethanol with water. Likewise, mixtures of acetonitrile with solvents near each of the corners of that triangle (chloroform, methylene chloride, and trifluoroethanol did not change the order of isomer elution). Substitution of trifluoroethanol for ethanol in mixtures with chloroform, methylene chloride, or trichlorotrifluoroethane led to improved isomer fractionations.
Acoustic and Doppler radar detection of buried land mines using high-pressure water jets

The goal of the waterjet-based mine location and identification project is to find a way to use waterjets to locate and differentiate buried objects. When a buried object is struck with a high-pressure waterjets, the impact will cause characteristic vibrations in the object depending on the object's shape and composition. These vibrations will be transferred to the ground and then to the water stream that is hitting the object. Some of these vibrations will also be transferred to the air via the narrow channel the waterjet cuts in the ground. Currently the ground vibrations are detected with Doppler radar and video camera sensing, while the air vibrations are detected with a directional microphone. Data is collected via a Labview based data acquisition system. This data is then manipulated in Labview to produce the associated power spectrums. These power spectra are fed through various signal processing and recognition routines to determine the probability of there being an object present under the current test location and what that object is likely to be. Our current test area consists of a large X-Y positioning system placed over approximately a five-foot circular test area. The positioning system moves both the waterjet and the sensor package to the test location specified by the Labview control software. Currently we are able to locate buried land mine models at a distance of approximately three inches with a high degree of accuracy.
Exercise following cardiac transplantation. Recommendations for rehabilitation.

The purpose of this paper is to review the acute and chronic physiological adaptations associated with dynamic exercice in the heart transplant patient, and provide guidelines to be used when evaluating and prescribing exercice for rehabilitation and activities of daily living
The Nature of Gas Ions

The mass of gas ions formed in a glow discharge and aged up to ${10}^{5}$ impacts was determined by a Dempster type of mass-spectrograph. In hydrogen it is found that the primary ion, ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}^{+}$, changes within a few thousand collisions to ${\mathrm{H}}_{3}^{+}$, together with small quantities of ${\mathrm{H}}^{+}$. The nitrogen primary ions, ${\mathrm{N}}^{+}$ and ${\mathrm{N}}_{2}^{+}$, attach to neutral molecules in about ${10}^{5}$ impacts to form ${\mathrm{N}}_{3}^{+}$ and ${\mathrm{N}}_{4}^{+}$. In pure oxygen the ions consist almost entirely of ${\mathrm{O}}_{2}^{+}$ with small quantities of ${\mathrm{O}}^{+}$. Air ions include all possible nitrogen and oxygen ions, the aged air ions consisting principally of ${\mathrm{N}}_{3}^{+}$, ${\mathrm{N}}_{4}^{+}$ and ${\mathrm{O}}_{2}^{+}$ together with the oxides of nitrogen. Charges are transferred from ${\mathrm{O}}_{2}^{+}$ to NO, N${\mathrm{O}}_{2}$ and ${\mathrm{N}}_{2}$O. Water vapor is particularly active in acquiring a charge by transfer and ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}$${\mathrm{O}}^{+}$ ions may be most numerous in apparatus not baked out. No heavier clusters than ${\mathrm{N}}_{4}^{+}$ were observed. No negative ions were observed. Some conclusions published in earlier work must be revised.
Motion Planning of Uncertain Under-Actuated Dynamical Systems: A Hybrid Dynamics Formulation

This work presents a novel nonlinear programming based motion planning framework that treats uncertain under-actuated dynamical systems described by ordinary differential equations. Uncertainty in multibody dynamical systems comes from various sources, such as: system parameters, initial conditions, sensor and actuator noise, and external forcing. Treatment of uncertainty in design is of paramount practical importance because all real-life systems are affected by it, and poor robustness and suboptimal performance result if it’s not accounted for in a given design. System uncertainties are modeled using Generalized Polynomial Chaos and are solved quantitatively using a least-square collocation method. The computational efficiencies of this approach enable the inclusion of uncertainty statistics in the nonlinear programming optimization process. As such, new design questions related to uncertain dynamical systems can now be answered through the new framework. Specifically, this work presents the new framework through a hybrid dynamics formulation for under-actuated systems where actuated state and unactuated input trajectories are prescribed and uncertain unactuated states and actuated inputs are quantified. The benefits of the ability to quantify the resulting uncertainties are illustrated in a power optimal motion planning case-study for an inverting double pendulum problem. The resulting design determines a motion plan that minimizes the required input power—subject to actuator and terminal condition variance constraints—for all possible systems within the probability space.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Topological models of document-query sets in retrieval for Enterprise Information Management

The tasks, challenges, and techniques of Information Retrieval (IR) should reflect the structure of the underlying document-query sets, and the needs of the domain. Are document-query sets obtained from the enterprise domain fundamentally different from standard research corpora gathered from the web? In order to identify, understand, and characterize such structural differences, we build a framework using point set topology to analyze document-query sets. Our framework tailors topological notions such as subbasis, cover, compactness, towards IR. Unlike previous topological approaches, we use the reverse of the relevance map to topologize the set of queries, not the set of documents. We show that the topological approach exposes sharp differences between enterprise and web-collected standard research document-query sets. These differences readily motivate research into new retrieval tasks that are of commercial importance in Enterprise Information Management (EIM).
Hepatic α1‐antitrypsin mRNA content in cirrhosis with normal and abnormal protease inhibitor phenotypes

We quantitated α1-antitrypsin mRNA in normal, α1-antitrypsin-deficient cirrhotic and biliary cirrhotic livers using two-dimensional electrophoretograms of [35S] methionine-labeled translational products of total hepatic RNA and RNA/DNA hybridization. α1-antitrypsin precursor product was identified by immunoprecipitation. The relative abundance of α1-antitrypsin product from normal (0.989 ± 0.197), cirrhotic (0.956 ± 0.062) and α1-antitrypsin deficient (0.818 ± 0.12) livers was not significantly different. Although (RNA/DNA) was decreased in the PiZZ cirrhotic livers compared to normal (0.56 ± 0.045 vs. 0.95 ± 0.225), it equaled that found in the PiM cirrhotic livers (0.56 ± 0.055). The concentration of α1-antitrypsin mRNA [relative abundance × (RNA/DNA)], while decreased in PiZZ compared to normal liver, is thus no different in PiZZ cirrhotics than in PiM cirrhotics. We confirmed this observation by quantitation of the α1-antitrypsin mRNA using an α1-antitrypsin genomic probe. By RNA/DNA hybridization, α1-antitrypsin mRNA was equal in PiM cirrhotic and PiZZ cirrhotic (38.48 ± 4.5 vs. 31.93 ± 2.1), but significantly decreased from noncirrhotic PiM liver (58.36 ± 12.7). We conclude that α1-antitrypsin mRNA is decreased in cirrhosis of any etiology, and this decrease appears to represent a general response of the liver to injury. Since the decreased α1-antitrypsin mRNA in PiM cirrhotics is associated with normal serum α1-antitrypsin levels, it is unlikely that the decreased α1-antitrypsin mRNA in PiZZ cirrhotics accounts for their decreased serum levels.
Accounting for Self‐Destruction: Morselli, Moral Statistics and the Modernity of Suicide

The presence of suicide – that willful, persistent, and interpretively elusive abandonment of life – ranks among the most unsettling facts of modern life. For this reason, the subject of self‐destr...
The Spread of Infectious Sinusitis of Turkeys to Chickens by Natural Means

Abstract DELAPLANE (1949) suggested that the virus of a chronic respiratory disease of chickens and the virus of infectious sinusitis of turkeys were identical. Johnson (1951) reported the isolation of an agent from so-called “air sac colds” of chickens that could not be differentiated from the virus of infectious sinusitis of turkeys. Working with infectious sinusitis of turkeys in California, Hinshaw (1943) stated that he could not produce the disease in chickens but was successful in transmitting the disease back to turkeys by injection of saline washings removed from the sinuses of chickens given intrasinal injections one week previously. This did not indicate that chickens were susceptible to, or became carriers of, infectious sinusitis. Rather it indicated that the agent of infectious sinusitis could survive in the sinus of the chicken for one week. Hinshaw and Rosenwald (1951) stated that the disease in turkeys in California appeared distinct from the disease . . .
A characterization of the smallest eigenvalue of a graph

It is well known that the smallest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix of a connected d-regular graph is at least − d and is strictly greater than − d if the graph is not bipartite. More generally, for any connected graph G = (V, E), consider the matrix Q = D + A where D is the diagonal matrix of degrees in the graph G and A is the adjacency matrix of G. Then Q is positive semidefinite, and the smallest eigenvalue of Q is 0 if and only if G is bipartite. We will study the separation of this eigenvalue from 0 in terms of the following measure of nonbipartiteness of G. For any S ⊆ V, we denote by emin(S) the minimum number of edges that need to be removed from the induced subgraph on S to make it bipartite. Also, we denote by cut(S) the set of edges with one end in S and the other in V − S. We define the parameter Ψ as ***image*** The parameter Ψ is a measure of the nonbipartiteness of the graph G. We will show that the smallest eigenvalue of Q is bounded above and below by functions of Ψ. For d-regular graphs, this characterizes the separation of the smallest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix from −d. These results can be easily extended to weighted graphs. © 1994 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Dampening Enthusiasm for Circulating MicroRNA in Breast Cancer

Genome-wide platforms for high-throughput profiling of circulating miRNA (oligoarray or miR-Seq) offer enormous promise for agnostic discovery of circulating miRNA biomarkers as a pathway for development in breast cancer detection. By harmonizing data from 15 previous reports, we found widespread inconsistencies across prior studies. Whether this arises from differences in study design, such as sample source or profiling platform, is unclear. As a reproducibility experiment, we generated a genome-wide plasma miRNA dataset using the Illumina oligoarray and compared this to a publically available dataset generated using an identical sample size, substrate and profiling platform. Samples from 20 breast cancer patients, 20 mammography-screened controls, as well as 20 breast cancer patients after surgical resection and 10 female lung or colorectal cancer patients were included. After filtering for miRNAs derived from blood cells, and for low abundance miRNAs (non-detectable in over 10% of samples), a set of 522 plasma miRNAs remained, of which 46 were found to be differentially expressed between breast cancer patients and healthy controls (p<0.05), of which only 3 normalized to baseline levels in post-resection cases and were unique to breast cancer vs. lung or colorectal cancer (miR-708*, miR-92b* and miR-568, none previously reported). We were unable to demonstrate reproducibility by various measures between the two datasets. This finding, along with widespread inconsistencies across prior studies, highlight the need for better understanding of factors influencing circulating miRNA levels as prerequisites to progress in this area of translational research.
BugNet: Recording Application-Level Execution for Deterministic Replay Debugging

With software's increasing complexity, providing efficient hardware support for software debugging is critical. Hardware support is necessary to observe and capture, with little or no overhead, the exact execution of a program. Providing this ability to developers will allow them to deterministically replay and debug an application to pin-point the root cause of a bug
Acid hydrolysis of fibers from dairy manure

Concentrated acid hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials is a conventional treatment process for the production of mono-sugars. However, this method has been proved ineffective and undesirable for the treatment of dairy manure due to the high nitrogen content of dairy manure and the environmental issues caused by the use of highly concentrated acid solution. In an effort to overcome these barriers, a modified acid hydrolysis process with short reaction time was introduced that involved a nitrogen-removing pretreatment followed by decrystallization with concentrated acid and then hydrolysis using dilute acid. The effects of nitrogen, acid concentration, reaction time, and temperature were investigated. A pretreated manure with a low nitrogen content of 1.3% was used as the substrate. The results indicated that the optimal conditions for fiber decrystallization were 75% acid concentration, 3:5 sample to acid ratio (weight basis), and 30 min of reaction time; while the optimal conditions for acid hydrolysis were 12.5% acid and 10% dry sample at 135 degrees C for 10 min. These conditions produced 26 g/L glucose at a yield of 84% and 11 g/L hemicellulose-sugars at a yield of 80%.
The effects of acute exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin on glioma-specific cytotoxic T-cell activity in Fischer 344 rats

Abstract 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo- p -dioxin (TCDD) is one of the most potent environmental immunomodulating agents identified so far. Historically, mice have been used to model mammalian immunobiology and most of the data gathered on the immunotoxicity of TCDD has been obtained from studies with mice. However, rats have been used more extensively in lexicological research to establish human risk assessment criteria. A need exists, therefore, to develop a database using the rat model in immunotoxicology so that complete animal toxicity studies can be conducted. We have treated female Fischer 344 rats with a single i.p. dose of 0.3,3.0, or 30.0 μ/kg TCDD or corn oil vehicle and examined cytotoxic T-cell (CTL) activities 24 days following treatment. Syngeneic in vivo tumor-specific CTLs were generated that model cell-mediated immune reactions against neoplastically transformed self antigens. RT2, a virally-induced Fischer 344 rat glioma, and D74, a ethylnitrosurea-induced Fischer 344 rat glioma were used as targets. This immunological parameter was compared to body, thymic, and liver weights as well as liver ethoxyresorufin deethylase (EROD) activity on day 24 post-TCDD treatment. The results indicate that Fischer 344 rats are very sensitive to TCDD as indicated by severe thymic atrophy and EROD induction at all three doses. In contrast, CTL activity was only marginally affected by these same doses of TCDD with only a modest suppression noted at the highest dose. These results indicate that the CTL response in rats may not be useful in characterizing the effects of this xenobiotic on immunocompetence in the rat.
Forest floor microbial biomass across a northern hardwood successional sequence

Abstract Microbial dynamics partially control forest productivity, yet are poorly understood in the northern hardwood forest. Following forest cutting, microbial biomass may reflect changes in the forest floor environment. Using direct counts, forest floor microbial biomass was studied in a sequence of northern hardwood forest stands ranging in age since clearcutting from 3 to more than 120 yr. The organic horizon was collected 3 times in each of 1994 and 1995, in June, August and October. Samples were analyzed for active fungi, active bacteria, pH, forest floor moisture content and organic fraction. Forest floor temperature was measured in the field with each collection; forest floor mass was measured once in each stand. In 1995, forest floor samples were also analyzed for total N, nitrate and ammonium. Amounts of active microbial biomass (fungi plus bacteria) ranged from 38 to 103 μg g−1 organic matter; active microbial biomass per unit area ranged from 40 to 800 mg m−2 forest floor organic matter. Microbial biomass varied significantly among sampling periods in 1994, but not in 1995, and was greater in early- and late-successional stands than in mid-successional stands. Microbial biomass was not very responsive to the environmental factors measured in this study. Moisture content was the environmental variable that most often contributed to variation in microbial biomass, and together with additional factors explained only 23% of the variation in 1994, and only 27% in 1995. Lower microbial biomass in mid-successional stands suggests that microbial dynamics in this forest are not controlled by factors directly related to forest harvesting.
MIGRATION OF POLYMER BLEND COMPONENTS DURING MELT COMPOUNDING

In this paper it is shown that a core-shell impact modifier which is predispersed in one phase of a complex blend may migrate to another phase during melt compounding. The migration process appears to be driven by differences in the spreading behavior of the individual blend components. The details of the migration are analyzed by electron microscopy studies of partially compounded samples which were quenched, extracted, and separated from the extruder screw.
Clinical evaluation of erectile dysfunction in the era of PDE-5 inhibitors.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a multifactorial disorder that is receiving greater attention from patients and their sexual partners, the medical community, industry, popular culture, and society at-large. ED is the consistent or recurrent inability to attain or maintain penile erection adequate for sexual intercourse [4]. The introduction of relatively safe and effective oral therapy in the form of selective phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) inhibitors has heightened patient and physician interest in the evaluation and treatment of this disorder. The incidence of ED has been quantified by population-based cohort studies in the United States, Brazil, and Europe [1–3]. In the Massachusetts Male Aging Study (MMAS), a community-based survey of men between 40 and 70 years of age, 52% of all respondents reported some degree of ED: 17% mild, 25% moderate, and 10% complete [1]. The MMAS described a crude incidence rate of 25.9 cases per 1000 man-years (95% confidence interval 22.9–29.9) with a mean follow-up of 8.8 years. As expected, incidence rates (cases per 1000 man-years) increased with patient age, with an incidence of 12.4 for men aged 40 to 49 years, 29.8 for men aged 50 to 59 years, and 46.4 for men aged 60 to 69 years. Diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, hypertension, decreased high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels, and lower education were factors that increased the age-adjusted risk for ED [1]. A 3-month minimum duration is accepted for establishment of the diagnosis, although in certain cases of trauma or surgically induced ED, a 3month minimum may not be necessary. Although objective testing or partner reports may be used to support the diagnosis of ED, these cannot replace the patient’s self-report in classifying the dysfunction or establishing the diagnosis [5].
Modeling of indoor airflow and dispersion of aerosols using immersed boundary and random flow generation methods

Numerical modeling of environmental flows involves complex geometry, moving bodies, multi-phase flow, and buoyant jet effects. An in-house CFD code has been developed using finite volume and immersed boundary methods. The transport and dispersion of virus-laden aerosols in a ventilated room is investigated by this numerical code. The uniqueness of this numerical code is that it can efficiently compute small-scale turbulent flow in which most commercial CFD software will suffer from large numerical error. Random flow generation (RFG) [33] is an ideal choice for small-scale turbulence for low-Reynolds number flow in a ventilated room. In addition, Lagrangian stochastic (LS) walk model is applied to directly compute probability density function (PDF) of aerosols and estimate the risk factor of aerosol dispersion from a point source. The present study focuses on aerosols with small diameter (<10 μm) in which the effects of evaporation on the dispersion of aerosols could be neglected. Different location of aerosol sources and a typical ventilation layout are discussed in detail. The numerical results with PDF yield more useful quantitative information to assess the risk area of virus transport in a ventilated room than that shown in random trajectories of particles as widely reported in the literature. This study provides valuable information for ventilation control strategies with respiratory protection, such as enhanced air exchange, air filtration rate, and improved airflow patterns to reduce indoor infection risk via airborne virus laden droplets.
The Election Timing Effect: Evidence from a Policy Intervention in Texas

Recent studies have argued that the low voter turnout that accompanies off-cycle elections could create an advantage for interest groups. However, the endogeneity of election timing makes it difficult to estimate its causal effect on political outcomes. In this paper, I examine the effects of a 2006 Texas law that forced approximately 20 percent of the state"s school districts to move their elections to the same day as national elections. Using matching as well as district fixed effects regression, I estimate the causal effect of the switch to on-cycle election timing on average district teacher salary, since teachers and their unions tend to be the dominant interest group in school board elections. I find that school districts that were forced to switch to on-cycle elections responded by granting significantly lower salary raises to teachers, supporting the hypothesis that school trustees were less responsive to the dominant interest group after the switch.
High Polar Content of Long Buried Blocks of Sequence in Protein Domains Suggests Selection Against Amyloidogenic Non-polar Sequences

Native protein structures achieve stability in part by burying hydrophobic side-chains. About 75% of all amino acid residues buried in protein interiors are non-polar. Buried residues are not uniformly distributed in protein sequences, but sometimes cluster as contiguous polypeptide stretches that run through the interior of protein domain structures. Such regions have an intrinsically high local sequence density of non-polar residues, creating a potential problem: local non-polar sequences also promote protein misfolding and aggregation into non-native structures such as the amyloid fibrils in Alzheimer's disease. Here we show that long buried blocks of sequence in protein domains of known structure have, on average, a lower content of non-polar amino acids (about 70%) than do isolated buried residues (about 80%). This trend is observed both in small and in large protein domains and is independent of secondary structure. Long, completely non-polar buried stretches containing many large side-chains are particularly avoided. Aspartate residues that are incorporated in long buried stretches were found to make fewer polar interactions than those in short stretches, hinting that they may be destabilizing to the native state. We suggest that evolutionary pressure is acting on non-native properties, causing buried polar residues to be placed at positions where they would break up aggregation-prone non-polar sequences, perhaps even at some cost to native state stability.
Fracture of Fiberglass Reinforced Composites

This paper describes and discusses experiments on the fracture strengths of some aligned fiber-reinforced materials and also on plexiglass. A strain gauge technique was used to determine the strains at crack initiation. The recorded strain curves for different fiber orientations and the various types of crack propagation are compared with those observed with plexiglass. The concepts of fracture mechanics are applied to evaluate fracture toughness based on the observed data with the compact specimens.
Biologic and clinical significance of HER-2/neu (cerbB-2) in breast cancer.

Summary:HER-2/neu (also known as c-erbB-2) oncogene is a member of the epidermal growth factor receptor family and its amplification is one of the most common genetic alterations associated with human breast cancer. Preclinical studies have suggested that HER-2/neu overexpression enhances metastatic
Enhancer of RNA polymerase III gene transcription

A protein responsible for enhanced transcription by RNA polymerase III was identified in extracts from Xenopus oocytes. This protein, called EP3, interacts with a specific DNA sequence adjacent to the 3'-end of a Xenopus somatic 5S RNA gene and forms a distinct band shift complex with a unique DNase I footprint. Enhanced transcription was observed from both 5S RNA and tRNA reporter genes when EP3 binding sites were inserted at different locations and orientations. Removal of the EP3 protein from an oocyte extract abolished this enhanced transcription. In addition, EP3 was shown to stimulate transcription by increasing the rate of transcription complex assembly. EP3 directly discriminates between the somatic and oocyte 5S RNA gene families and may play a significant role in their differential expression during early Xenopus development.
Novel Adaptive Receiver for Multilevel Quadrature Amplitude Modulated Signals

The paper presents a novel and robust adaptive receiver that jointly estimates the fading amplitude distortion induced by Rayleigh fading channels, as well as the carrier phase noise that is contributed by the receiver local oscillator (LO) and the fading channel. The amplitude fading estimate is used by a novel phase estimator which also involves data detection. The phase noise estimate is input to a Kalman filter which then provides the predicted phase to the reference carrier oscillator such that the carrier phase estimation error remains small even in the presence of fading and channel phase noise impairments. The amplitude and final phase estimates are then used to detect the data symbols. The paper presents detailed results on both the tracking phase error variance and bit error rate results when the proposed method is applied to the case of QPSK modulation. However, the proposed method is applicable to most of the other digital modulation techniques unlike some other phase tracking techniques of the literature.
Genetic Models for the Study of Luteinizing Hormone Receptor Function

The luteinizing hormone/chorionic gonadotropin receptor (LHCGR) is essential for fertility in men and women. LHCGR binds luteinizing hormone (LH) as well as the highly homologous chorionic gonadotropin. Signaling from LHCGR is required for steroidogenesis and gametogenesis in males and females and for sexual differentiation in the male. The importance of LHCGR in reproductive physiology is underscored by the large number of naturally occurring inactivating and activating mutations in the receptor that result in reproductive disorders. Consequently, several genetically modified mouse models have been developed for the study of LHCGR function. They include targeted deletion of LH and LHCGR that mimic inactivating mutations in hormone and receptor, expression of a constitutively active mutant in LHCGR that mimics activating mutations associated with familial male-limited precocious puberty and transgenic models of LH and hCG overexpression. This review summarizes the salient findings from these models and their utility in understanding the physiological and pathological consequences of loss and gain of function in LHCGR signaling.
Leukocyte Adhesion Molecules

Recruitment of leukocytes is critical to many of the processes studied in oral biology. With the development of new tools such as monoclonal antibody production and transgenic mice, the specific adhesion molecules thought to be important in leukocyte recruitment have been identified and their function examined. These molecules can be divided into three major classes: selectins, members of the immunoglobulin superfamily, and integrins. They mediate interactions between leukocytes and endothelial cells, facilitating the initial process of leukocyte rolling, firm attachment to endothelium, transendothelial migration, diapedesis, and migration along connective tissue. The goal of this paper is to provide an understanding of which molecules are involved in the above processes by discussing their cellular distribution, counter-receptors, and physiologic function.
Discontinuity preserving surface reconstruction through global optimization

We address the problem of reconstructing a surface from sparse and noisy depth data while concurrently identifying and preserving the significant discontinuities in depth. It is well known that, starting from either the probabilistic Markov random field model or the mechanical membrane or thin plate model for the surface, the solution of the reconstruction problem eventually reduces to the global minimization of a certain "energy" function. Requiring the preservation of depth discontinuities makes the energy function nonconvex and replete with multiple local minima. We present a new method for obtaining discontinuity-preserving reconstruction based on the numerical solution of an appropriate vector stochastic differential equation.
Improved survival and reduced myocardial necrosis with cardiopulmonary bypass reperfusion in a canine model of coronary occlusion and cardiac arrest

Study question: Does cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) improve resuscitation rates and limit infarct size after cardiac arrest and acute myocardial infarction? Design: Controlled randomized trial with all animals undergoing left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion and subsequent ventricular fibrillation and resuscitation. All animals were supported for four hours after resuscitation in an intensive care setting. Intervention: Group 1 (eight) was resuscitated with standard external CPR and advanced life support. Group 2 (eight) was resuscitated with CPB. Measurements and main results: Group hemodynamic, resuscitation variables, number resuscitated, and number of four-hour survivors were compared. Ischemic and necrotic myocardial weights were determined with histochemical staining techniques in four-hour survivors. Infarct size was measured as the ratio of necrotic weight to ischemic weight. Significantly fewer dogs were resuscitated in group 1 (four of eight) than in group 2 (eight of eight) ( P P P P Conclusion: This pilot study further substantiates the improvement in resuscitation rates obtainable with CPB. CPB may also limit infarct size during the postresuscitation period and requires further study.
Recurrence of preterm birth in twin pregnancies in the presence of a prior singleton preterm birth.

Objective. We examined recurrence of preterm birth in twin pregnancy in the presence of a previous singleton preterm pregnancy, and assessed if these recurrence risks differed for medically indicated and spontaneous preterm birth.Methods. A retrospective cohort study was designed using the maternally-linked data of women who delivered a first singleton live birth followed by a twin birth in the second pregnancy (n = 2329) in Missouri (1989–97). We examined preterm birth recurrence at <37 in the second twin pregnancy among women with a prior singleton preterm birth. Recurrence risks were based on hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) estimated from Cox proportional hazards models after adjusting for potential confounders.Results. Preterm birth rates in the second twin pregnancy were 69.0% and 49.9% among women who had a previous preterm and term singleton birth, respectively (HR 1.8, 95% CI 1.6−2.1). The preterm birth rate in the second pregnancy was about 95% when the first singleton pregna...
Electroacupuncture accelerates gastric emptying in association with changes in vagal activity

Gastroparesis is a disorder with a lack of treatment options and this study investigated the effect of electroacupuncture on gastric emptying and involved mechanisms. Dogs implanted with a duodenal cannula and serosal electrodes were fed with Ensure mixed with phenol red, and the gastric effluent was collected. Electroacupuncture was performed from 30 min before until 45 min after the meal. Gastric myoelectrical activity and electrocardiogram were recorded. Gastric emptying was significantly improved with electroacupuncture. Vagal activity assessed from the spectral analysis of heart rate variability was markedly increased with electroacupuncture. Electroacupuncture increased the regularity of gastric slow waves in both the proximal and distal stomach. It also increased the number of spike bursts in the distal but not proximal stomach. Electroacupuncture accelerates gastric emptying of liquid in dogs and its potential for treating gastroparesis may be explored. The effect may be attributed to improvement in gastric slow-wave rhythmicity and antral contractile (spike) activity and may possibly involve the vagal pathway.
The Effects of Imagery and Language Cognitive Strategies on Dietary Intake, Weight Loss, and Perception of Food

Two forms of suggestion were practiced by a randomly assigned experimental group of twenty-seven volunteers, over a six week period, to determine the effects of suggestion on dietary intake, weight loss, and perception of food. One form of suggestion entailed reading a variety of written suggestions every time before eating and/or drinking. The other form was auditory; subjects listened to a fifteen minute cassette tape which led them through a variety of imagery suggestions. ANOVA, analysis of variance, was used to determine that the experimental group (n = 27) experienced a significant average weight loss of 4.963 pounds (p > .001) and decreased total daily caloric intake by approximately 200 calories per day; the control group (n = 21) gained an average of one pound with a slight increase in daily caloric intake. Experimental subjects indicated that they were less anxious, less frustrated, and less depressed before eating a favorite food. They reported a lessening of liking foods that were harmful to t...
Transcriptional regulation of methionine adenosyltransferase 2A by peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptors in rat hepatic stellate cells

Background and rationale Methionine adenosyltransferases (MAT) are critical enzymes that catalyze the formation of the methyl donor, S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe). The MAT2A gene, which encodes the catalytic subunit α2, is induced in de-differentiated liver. We previously demonstrated that MAT2A expression is enhanced in activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and silencing this gene reduces HSC activation. In this study we examined the molecular mechanisms responsible for the transcriptional regulation of the MAT2A gene in HSCs.
Tin oxide nanowire sensor with integrated temperature and gate control for multi-gas recognition.

The selectivity of a chemiresistive gas sensor comprising an array of single-crystalline tin oxide nanowires (NWs) is shown to be greatly enhanced by combined temperature and gate voltage modulation. This dual modulation was effected by a novel microsensor platform that consisted of a suspended nitride membrane embedded with independently addressable platinum heater and back-gate structures. The sensor was evaluated in a chemical vapor exposure test consisting of three volatile organic compound (VOC) analytes in an air background; VOC concentrations ranged from 20 μmol/mol to 80 μmol/mol. During the exposure test, the temperature and gating conditions of the NW sensor were modulated in order to induce variations in the sensor's analyte response behavior. By treating these temperature- and gate-dependent analyte response variations as an identifying “fingerprint,” analyte identification was achieved using a statistical pattern recognition procedure, linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Through optimization of this pattern recognition procedure, a VOC recognition rate of 98% was obtained. An analysis of the recognition results revealed that this high recognition rate could only be achieved through the combined modulation of temperature and gate bias as compared to either parameter alone. Overall, the highly accurate VOC analyte discrimination that was achieved here confirms the selectivity benefits provided by the utilized dual modulation approach and demonstrates the suitability of miniature nanowire sensors in real-world, multi-chemical detection problems.
Effect of Raw Potato Composition on Acrylamide Formation in Potato Chips

Recent studies have shown that subjecting foods to high temperatures during cooking processes such as frying gives rise to the formation of acrylamide. Several factors including product composition and processing conditions affect the rate of formation of this chemical in starch-rich foods. Low reducing sugar and the amino acid asparagine content is desired when cooking because the formation of acrylamide is attributed to the Maillard reaction that occurs between these food components. The cultivar ‘Atlantic’ was used to determine the effect of potato components (reducing sugars and asparagine) on acrylamide content during frying in a traditional fryer. A model system was developed by infusing leached potato slices with predetermined amounts of glucose and asparagine. Increasing glucose and asparagine content in the slices increased the acrylamide content in the potato chips. Color could not be used as an indication of acrylamide content because potato chips with similar color had very different acrylamide concentrations.
Using web science to understand and enable 21st century multidimensional networks

Recent advances in Web Science provide comprehensive digital traces of social actions, interactions, and transactions. These data provide an unprecedented exploratorium to model the socio-technical motivations for creating, maintaining, dissolving, and reconstituting multidimensional social networks. Multidimensional networks include multiple types of nodes (people, documents, datasets, tags, etc.) and multiple types of relationships (co-authorship, citation, web links, etc). Using examples from research in a wide range of activities such as disaster response, public health and massively multiplayer online games, Contractor will argue that Web Science serves as the foundation for the development of social network theories and methods to help advance our ability to understand and enable multidimensional networks.
Increased risk for the development of preeclampsia in obese pregnancies: Weighing in on the mechanisms

Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy-specific disorder typically presenting as new-onset hypertension and proteinuria. While numerous epidemiological studies have demonstrated that obesity increases th...
Abstract 632: Does Cardiac Ang-(1-12) Have A Role In Sex-specific Heart Disease?

Cardiovascular diseases affect women and men differently and large clinical trials suggest ACE inhibitors may be less effective in women than men receiving treatment for hypertension and heart failure. The discovery that chymase forms Ang II directly from Ang-(1-12) independent of ACE and renin in human hearts, prompted the characterization of sex differences in the cardiac expression of Ang-(1-12) and chymase in the heart of subjects undergoing cardiac surgery. Therefore, the objective of this pilot study is to determine whether the expression and activity of Ang-(1-12) and chymase in the human heart are associated with cardiovascular phenotypes in a sex-specific manner. The portions of left (LA) and right (RA) atrial appendages were obtained from male (LA =13 and RA=9) and female (LA=3 and RA=5) patients undergoing heart surgery. A high affinity purified antibody directed to the COOH-terminus of the full length of human Ang-(1-12) was used to detect immunoreactive Ang-(1-12) in all samples (LA: male=13 and female=3; RA: male=9 and female=5) while control sections were treated with the primary antibody preincubated with 0.115 μM of the Ang-(1-12) peptide to which the antibody was directed. Quantitative analysis was performed with Image J software. Native plasma membranes from LA (males=7 and females=3) and RA (males=7 and females=3) were prepared for chymase activity determination by HPLC. Quantitative analysis of Ang-(1-12) expression revealed significantly higher Ang-(1-12) expression in LA appendages of females (Intensity: 61.41±13.43 units, P=0.04) versus males (29.36±6.07 units) while no sex differences were observed in the RA. Chymase activity also tended to be lower in the LA of females (40.22±9.80 fmol/mg/min) vs. males (57.08±5.48), but values were similar between sexes in the RA. These sex-specific differences in the noncanonical RAS may provide important insight into sex-dependent pathophysiology underlying heart disease in women and in therapeutic decisions in the future.
Orexin Receptor Antagonism Improves Sleep and Reduces Seizures in Kcna1-null Mice.

Study objective Comorbid sleep disorders occur in approximately one-third of people with epilepsy. Seizures and sleep disorders have an interdependent relationship where the occurrence of one can exacerbate the other. Orexin, a wake-promoting neuropeptide, is associated with sleep disorder symptoms. Here, we tested the hypothesis that orexin dysregulation plays a role in the comorbid sleep disorder symptoms in the Kcna1-null mouse model of temporal lobe epilepsy. Methods Rest-activity was assessed using infrared beam actigraphy. Sleep architecture and seizures were assessed using continuous video-electroencephalography-electromyography recordings in Kcna1-null mice treated with vehicle or the dual orexin receptor antagonist, almorexant (100 mg/kg, intraperitoneally). Orexin levels in the lateral hypothalamus/perifornical region (LH/P) and hypothalamic pathology were assessed with immunohistochemistry and oxygen polarography. Results Kcna1-null mice have increased latency to rapid eye movement (REM) sleep onset, sleep fragmentation, and number of wake epochs. The numbers of REM and non-REM (NREM) sleep epochs are significantly reduced in Kcna1-null mice. Severe seizures propagate to the wake-promoting LH/P where injury is apparent (indicated by astrogliosis, blood-brain barrier permeability, and impaired mitochondrial function). The number of orexin-positive neurons is increased in the LH/P compared to wild-type LH/P. Treatment with a dual orexin receptor antagonist significantly increases the number and duration of NREM sleep epochs and reduces the latency to REM sleep onset. Further, almorexant treatment reduces the incidence of severe seizures and overall seizure burden. Interestingly, we report a significant positive correlation between latency to REM onset and seizure burden in Kcna1-null mice. Conclusion Dual orexin receptor antagonists may be an effective sleeping aid in epilepsy, and warrants further study on their somnogenic and ant-seizure effects in other epilepsy models.