cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
PrimerSeq: Design and Visualization of RT-PCR Primers for Alternative Splicing Using RNA-seq Data

The vast majority of multi-exon genes in higher eukaryotes are alternatively spliced and changes in alternative splicing (AS) can impact gene function or cause disease. High-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) has become a powerful technology for transcriptome-wide analysis of AS, but RT-PCR still remains the gold-standard approach for quantifying and validating exon splicing levels. We have developed PrimerSeq, a user-friendly software for systematic design and visualization of RT-PCR primers using RNA-seq data. PrimerSeq incorporates user-provided transcriptome profiles (i.e., RNA-seq data) in the design process, and is particularly useful for large-scale quantitative analysis of AS events discovered from RNA-seq experiments. PrimerSeq features a graphical user interface (GUI) that displays the RNA-seq data juxtaposed with the expected RT-PCR results. To enable primer design and visualization on user-provided RNA-seq data and transcript annotations, we have developed PrimerSeq as a stand-alone software that runs on local computers. PrimerSeq is freely available for Windows and Mac OS X along with source code at http://primerseq.sourceforge.net/. With the growing popularity of RNA-seq for transcriptome studies, we expect PrimerSeq to help bridge the gap between high-throughput RNA-seq discovery of AS events and molecular analysis of candidate events by RT-PCR.
Effect of 9-α-Fluorohydrocortisone on Forearm Vascular Responses to Norepinephrine

Vascular responses to norepinephrine were studied in normal subjects during three sessions. The first session took place before steroid treatment. The second session took place 1 week after daily oral administration of 9-α-fluorohydrocortisone. The third session was conducted 3 weeks after stopping treatment. Forearm blood flow decreased and forearm vascular resistance increased more during norepinephrine infusions in the session immediately after the administration of 9-α-fluorohydrocortisone than in either control session. Increases in resistance against the same levels of blood pressure in the session after steroid treatment indicate that the responsiveness of vascular smooth muscle to norepinephrine was augmented after 1 week of treatment with 9-α-fluorohydrocortisone. The data indicate that blood flow to the forearm during norepinephrine infusion is not enhanced by administration of fluorohydrocortisone.
An internally covered (lined) self-expanding metal esophageal stent: tissue response in a porcine model.

Background Self-expandable metal stents (SEMS) palliate malignant dysphagia but may embed in tissue, produce granulation tissue, and prevent removal. Objective Our purpose was to evaluate in a porcine model the tissue response induced by a new esophageal SEMS completely coated internally rather than externally. Design Eight Yucatan pigs were studied. Each animal underwent placement of 2 stents: 1 study stent and 1 control stent. SEMS were placed proximally or distally by random assignment. Follow-up endoscopy was performed 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks after implantation. Ease of stent removal was assessed at 2 weeks and 4 weeks after placement. Setting Animal laboratory. Interventions Endoscopic placement of study stents (Alveolus ES-STS, Alveolus, Inc, Charlotte, NC; 18 mm diameter, fully covered internally) and control stents (Ultraflex stent, Boston Scientific, Natick, Mass; microvasive, 18 mm midbody, subtotally covered externally). Main Outcome Measurements Extent of granulation tissue and stent-induced esophageal injury. Results The tissue hyperplasia response of the study stents was endoscopically graded as mild to moderate. All study stents were endoscopically removed easily and atraumatically. Control stents produced severe granulation tissue formation with complete embedding of the uncovered stent ends; endoscopic removal was possible but resulted in trauma and endoscopically visible bleeding. Histopathologic findings revealed minimal tissue response at the ends of the study stents and severe pseudopolyps in the embedded portion of the control stent. Stent migration occurred in 7 of 8 study stents and 4 of 8 control stents. Limitations Animal model lacks stricture. Conclusions Fully internally lined SEMS may resist tissue embedding and hyperplasia and may be removable. Human studies are needed to assess applicability to treatment of benign and malignant esophageal disease.
Abstract 5186: Lineage tracing of Cytokeratin 19 labels gastric, intestinal and colonic stem cells

Introduction: Tissue stem cells, characterized by multipotentiality and self renewing ability, are not readily distinguishable from other resident cells. Tissue stem cells are believed to be present in small numbers that may remain quiescent, or divide frequently as previously shown with Lgr-5+ cells. In the gastric antrum, intestine and colon, epithelial cells derived from the stem cells at the crypt base rapidly migrate up towards to the mucosal surface, whereas in the gastric corpus, stem cells located in the isthmus are believed to give rise to epithelial progenitors that undergo bipolar migration and differentiation into pit and oxyntic cell lineages. Cytokeratin 19 (K19) has been shown to be expressed in cells in the gastric isthmus and colonic and intestinal crypts. Therefore, we aimed to use the K19 gene promoter to drive Cre recombinase expression and to track the lineage of K19+ cells in an inducible fashion. Methods: In order to recapitulate the endogenous expression pattern of K19, we used a BAC strategy and generated a transgenic mouse with a Tamoxifen inducible Cre under the control of the K19 promoter (K19-BAC-Cre-ERTM). K19CreERT2 mice were crossed to ROSA26rLacZ (or GFP) reporter mice, treated the mice with tamoxifen (4 mg/ day p.o. for 3 days) and sacrificed at various time points (3 days, 7 days, 26 weeks and 52 weeks) following tamoxifen induction. Results: Treatment of K19CreERT2/Rosa26r mice with tamoxifen resulted in the selective marking of about 30% of gastric and intestinal glands. Following tamoxifen induction, in the corpus a few gastric pit cells near the isthmus were labeled at 3 days, whereas, all of pit cells within the labeled glands stained positively by 7 days. Consistent with the labeling of progenitor or stem cells, all pit cells within marked glands stained positively even up to 52 weeks following tamoxifen induction. In contrast, in the antrum, intestine and colon nearly all epithelial cells were labeled within 3 days following tamoxifen induction. Once again, lineage tracing of all the epithelial cells within marked glands was observed up to 52 weeks following tamoxifen induction, suggesting that K19 likely marks a common progenitor or stem cell in the antrum, intestine and colon. Interestingly, in the small intestine and antrum K19 positive cells do not overlap with Lgr5-GFP+ cells yet clearly demonstrate stem cell properties. Conclusions. Using K19CreERT2/Rosa26r mice, we show that K19 marks pit progenitors in the gastric corpus, as well as stem cells within the antrum, intestine and colon. These findings identify a novel population of stem cells for the lineage tracing of gastric pit cells following gastric injury or cancer, and for tracing epithelial cells in the development of intestinal or colonic cancer. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5186. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5186
Denitrification mechanisms in the polar stratospheres

Microphysical simulations suggest that the time required for nitric acid particles to sediment from the stratosphere is comparable to the time required for falling ice particles to incorporate nitric acid vapor from the vapor phase. Since nitric acid particles form earlier in the winter than ice particles, these simulations favor denitrification being a separate process from dehydration, with denitrification being due to nitric acid particles and dehydration due to ice particles. In the simulations, the column abundance of nitric acid is only depleted if temperatures low enough for nitric acid particles to exist extend to the altitude above which the column is measured. Such low temperatures are infrequent in the Arctic lower stratosphere, which may be the main reason that the Arctic stratospheric column shows little loss of nitric acid during winter, while the colder Antarctic stratospheric column shows a substantial loss of nitric acid.
Antiinflammatory agents protect opossum esophagus during radiotherapy

Eighteen opossums received 2250 rad60Co to the entire esophagus and lower esophageal sphincter. Animals received treatment with 600 mg aspirin, 25 mg/kg hydrocortisone, or saline before irradiation and twice daily for 1 week after irradiation. At 10 days postirradiation, animals were evaluated for signs of acute esophagitis by esophagoscopy and barium esophagram. Each animal was then killed and the esophagus removed and evaluated histologically. Animals treated with either aspirin or hydrocortisone had significantly milder esophagitis than control irradiated animals.
Transient analysis of packed-bed thermal storage systems

Abstract A model, including longitudinal thermal dispersion and intraparticle conduction, is developed to describe the transient response of a packed column with a time-varying inlet temperature. The model can be applied to a diabatic column with uniform and constant ambient temperature, or to a perfectly insulated system. The expression for the temperature response within the column as a function of time and axial position is obtained by expanding the solution to an impulse of heat at the inlet in terms of either Hermite or Laguerre polynomials. The response to an arbitrary inlet temperature transient, found via a convolution integral, is expressed as a single quadrature. The response to a step input is an algebraic expression.
Shelters for battered women: Social policy response to interpersonal violence

Abstract Shelters for battered women can be divided into four categories: feminist, social service, custodial, and family welfare. Each has a distinctive ideology, social organization, rationale, and procedures. This organizational study involved interviews and participant observation of eleven shelters in two cities.
Optimal gamut volume design for three primary and multiprimary display systems

Primary selection plays a fundamental role in display design. Primaries affect not only the gamut of colors the systems is able to reproduce, but also, they have an impact on the power consumption and other cost related variables. Using more than the traditional three primaries has been shown to be a versatile way of extending the color gamut, widening the angle view of LCD screens and improving power consumption of displays systems. Adequate selection of primaries requires a trade-off between the multiple benefits the system offers, the costs and the complexity it implies, among other design parameters. The purpose of this work is to present a methodology for optimal design for three primary and multiprimary display systems. We consider the gamut in perceptual spaces, which offer the advantage of an evaluation that correlates with human perception, and determine a design that maximize the gamut volume, constrained to a certain power budget, and analyze the benefits of increasing number of primaries, and their effect on other variables of performance like gamut coverage.
Protecting the home: exploring the roles of technology and citizen activism from a burglar's perspective

For decades, HCI scholars have designed technology for the domestic space. Many of these systems aim to protect the home and its residents by requesting help from local authorities during emergency situations. While the use of these systems have been examined, few studies attempt to understand the behavior of potential offenders who can create such emergency situations (e.g., by attempting a burglary). This paper analyzes three panel sessions with 15 people who have been convicted of burglarizing homes, cars, and/or businesses. Participants describe in detail what they looked for when deciding to burglarize a home and what deterred them. Technologies such as security systems, alarms, and cameras do not dissuade burglars. Instead, evidence of neighborhood cohesion was named the strongest deterrent. This paper presents implications for designing technologies that will effectively discourage burglary and support citizen activism.
Depression and negative life events among pregnant african-american and hispanic women

Depression, social support, and life events were assessed in a sample of African-American and Hispanic women (N = 148) with uncomplicated pregnancies. Over half (51%) showed elevated depressive symptoms. Overall, women had fewer social supports and more negative life events than found in previous studies. African-Americans had more practical social support and persons in their support networks than Hispanics. Over a third of the sample (37%) had lost an important person in the past year. Depressed women reported more negative events than nondepressed women. Many negative life events and few social supports place minority women at risk for prenatal depression.
Particle melting behavior during high-velocity oxygen fuel thermal spraying

Particle melting behavior during high-velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) thermal spraying was investigated using Inconel 625 powders. The powder characteristics and coating properties were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray, and microhardness studies. Results indicated that the volume fraction of unmelted particles in the coatings was dependent on the proportion of powder within a specified size range, in these experiments, 30 to 50 µm. This particle size range was primarily determined by the particle temperature, which was measured during spraying. Particle temperature significantly decreased as particle size increased. The microhardness values for the coatings containing unmelted particles were predicted by a simple rule-of-mixtures equation for the case of a low volume fraction of unmelted particles. However, for the condition of high volume fraction of unmelted particles, the measured microhardness values did not compare favorably with the calculated values, probably due to the presence of porosity, which occurred in the form of voids found among unmelted particles. The microstructure and characteristics of the feedstock powder were retained in the corresponding coating under certain spray conditions.
Design of composite laminates by a Monte Carlo method

A Monte Carlo procedure was developed for optimizing symmetric fiber reinforced composite laminates such that the weight is minimum and the Tsai-Wu strength failure criterion is satisfied in each ply. The laminate may consist of several materials in cluding an idealized core, and may be subjected to several sets of combined in-plane and bending loads. The procedure yields the number of plies, the fiber orientation, and the material of each ply and the material and thickness of the core. A user friendly computer code was written for performing the numerical calculations. Laminates optimized by the code were compared to laminates resulting from existing optimization methods. These comparisons showed that the present Monte Carlo procedure is a useful and efficient tool for the design of composite laminates.
Thumb metacarpophalangeal ulnar collateral ligament injuries: a biomechanical simulation study of four static reconstructions.

Purpose To determine the optimal tunnel placement positions for tendon graft reconstruction of chronic thumb metacarpophalangeal (MCP) ulnar collateral ligament injuries that would stabilize the joint while maintaining motion. Methods Four commonly used tunnel placement methods were simulated on a cadaveric model using fresh-frozen thumbs and a suture/screw construct. The methods were as follows: (1) triangular configuration with apex proximal, (2) triangular configuration with apex distal, (3) cruciate configuration, and (4) parallel configuration. Stability was tested by valgus loading at 0° and 30°, and range of motion was tested by loading the thumb tendons. Statistical analysis was performed by 1-way analysis of variance testing. Results Valgus load stability testing at 0° and 30° showed that all 4 reconstruction methods stabilized the MCP joint compared with the fully sectioned state. The amount of stability achieved was not significantly different between the 4 methods. Only the reconstruction method, however, with a triangular configuration with the apex proximal restored flexion/extension range of motion not significantly different from the intact state. The other 3 methods resulted in significantly decreased range of motion. Conclusions The reconstruction tunnel positioning of triangular configuration with apex proximal stabilizes the thumb MCP joint while maintaining flexion/extension range of motion. We recommend this configuration for chronic MCP joint injuries in which the native ulnar collateral ligament is inadequate and tendon graft reconstruction is performed.
Spectrin breakdown products increase with age in telencephalon of mouse brain

Abstract Calcium activated proteolysis of brain spectrin produces characteristic breakdown products (BDPs), the concentrations of which increase markedly in many instances of brain pathology. Results reported here indicate that levels of the BDPs rise with age (3–30 months) in the telencephalon but not in the hindbrain of Balb/c mice. These observations suggest that spectrin breakdown is a pathologic biochemical marker which increases with age in some but not all brain regions.
Immune response to the H-X antigen on P815-X2. I. Recombinant inbred strain analysis and lack of effect of castration.

In a preceding report, the detection of an H-2-linked immune response to the H-X d antigen on the P815-X2 mastocytoma was demonstrated by the significantly increased survival of (C57BL/6 × DBA/2)F1 (B6D2F1) male hybrids (H-X b ) compared with female siblings (H-Xb/H-X d ) after injection with the histocompatible tumor (H-X d ). This interpretation was supported by the absence of this sex effect in reciprocal D2B6F1 hybrids (H-X d and H-Xd/H-X b ). Additional findings presented in this paper support the conclusion that this sex effect is due to a true immunological response to H-X d : (a) Reciprocal (DBA/2 × C57BL/6 H-2 mutant)F1 hybrids, as well as D2B6F1, failed to exhibit the sex effect: (b) the demonstration of the sex effect in (BALB/c × DBA/2)F1 and (BALB/c-H-2 dm2 × DBA/2)F1 hybrids and in (C57BL/10 × DBA/2)F1 hybrids was consistent with the known H-X incompatibilities between the strains BALB/c and DBA/2 and C57BL/10 and DBA/2, respectively, previously demonstrated by skin grafting; and (c) the sex effect was not abrogated by castration of male B6D2F1 hybrids. Variability in the presence or absence of the sex effect was observed in various [recombinant inbred (RI) × DBA/2]F1 hybrids and may be attributed to the influence of a regulatory non-H-2 gene which is closely linked to the gene coding for mouse kidney-androgen-regulated protein (KAP) but androgen-independent, or to variability in inheritance of the H-X b allele among the RI lines. It is proposed that the P815-X2 model may be utilized to type RI lines derived from a cross between C57BL/6 and DBA/2 for their H-X genotypes.
Holding on to Higher Education's Highest Calling in Hard Times

The unanticipated and unwelcome detour precipitated by the economic recession comes at a time of vulnerability for American higher education. Questions of educational purpose have been raised with increasing urgency over the last quarter century, and they have catalyzed promising new thinking and new experimentation. Recent years have seen encouraging progress in shaping an agenda for undergraduate liberal education that will more effectively produce graduates who are prepared to grapple, imaginatively and responsibly, with complex challenges they will face throughout their lives. Yet progress in disseminating these ideas has been painfully slow. We can hope that the current economic crisis may be the impetus institutions of higher learning have needed to become experiential learning organizations.
Conservation of the influenza virus membrane protein (M1) amino acid sequence and an open reading frame of RNA segment 7 encoding a second protein (M2) in H1N1 and H3N2 strains

Abstract The complete sequence of a full-length cloned DNA copy of the influenza virus A/Udorn/72 (H3N2) RNA segment 7 has been determined. A second open reading frame has been found which overlaps the membrane protein (M 1 ) sequence by 68 nucleotides. This second reading frame could code, in the +1 reading frame, for a protein (M 2 ) with a maximum of 97 amino acids depending on whether there is splicing of the mRNA and the methionine residue used for initiation of protein synthesis. Comparison of the present H3N2 sequence with the previously published sequence ( G. Winter and S. Fields, Nucleic Acids Res. , 8 , 1965–1975, 1980; H. Allen, J. McCauley, M. Waterfield, and M.-J. Gething, Virology , 107 , 548–551, 1980 ) of RNA segment 7 of A/PR/8/34 (H1N1), a strain isolated 38 years earlier, has shown that the amino acid sequence for the M 1 protein has been greatly conserved. In a total of 252 amino acids, only seven amino acid changes have occurred, of which only one results in a change in charge. In the amino acid sequences coded by the second open reading frame, changes were more common between strains, 11 out of a total of 96 amino acids.
Hirsutism, postpartum telogen effluvium, and male pattern alopecia.

Summary This paper reviews the interrelating factors affecting hair growth. It presents current data on the development of alopecia and hirsutism in males and females and the newer approaches to treatment.
Hepatobiliary sarcoidosis presenting as sclerosing cholangitis: long-term follow-up.

Although patients with sarcoidosis present most commonly with pulmonary or constitutional symptoms, liver involvement occurs frequently. Hepatic sarcoidosis is usually characterized by a cholestatic picture, with isolated elevation of serum alkaline phosphatase and normal or minimally abnormal transaminase and bilirubin levels. The liver dysfunction is often asymptomatic, but sarcoidosis rarely can result in significant hepatobiliary disease, including cirrhosis and portal hypertension [1]. We present a patient who developed symptomatic severe cholestasis and imaging findings with the appearance of sclerosing cholangitis, shortly after presenting with biopsyconfirmed hepatic sarcoidosis. For reasons discussed, we believe that this patient did not have a distinct diagnosis of primary sclerosing cholangitis. Although several such cases have been reported previously, none have included long-term clinical follow-up to indicate the natural history and response to treatment. In contrast to those cases, we provide 6 years of follow-up.
Q-bodies monitor the quinary state of the protein fold

Cytoplasmic compartments containing misfolded proteins targeted for degradation, named Q-bodies, have been identified. Q-body formation is a dynamic process that actively manages the metastable state of the protein fold through small heat shock proteins and the Hsp70-Hsp90-Hsp110 proteostasis system to promote cellular fitness under both physiological and stress conditions.
Teacher–Child Interactions During Mealtimes: Observations of Toddlers in High Subsidy Child Care Settings

In the U.S., experiences of infants and toddlers in group care are often overshadowed by the policy and research focus on preschool education just prior to formal school entry. When infant–toddler care is studied, it is often described relative to the global quality of classroom environments. Little research has focused on the day-to-day experiences of very young children in routine situations and contexts in group care. The current study sought to examine the experience of a small group of toddlers (n = 11) in low-income child care centers that were deemed high quality by the state’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). Using a focal observation technique in combination with qualitative methods, young toddlers were observed during a typical mealtime experience in their classroom. Data from this pilot study suggest that minimal teacher–child interactions occurred during observed mealtimes. Of particular concern is the low level of teacher vocalizations and responses to children during meals. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed.
Directionality of phase locking in auditory nerve fibers of the leopard frog Rana pipiens pipiens

A dorsal approach to the eighth nerve and free-field stimulation were used to investigate the effect of sound direction and intensity on phase locking in auditory nerve fibers of the leopard frog Rana pipiens pipiens. Tuning curves of 75 auditory neurons were analyzed (Fig. 2). Amphibian papillar neurons, but not basilar papillar neurons, exhibit significant phase locking to short tone bursts at the characteristic frequency (CF), the degree of phase locking (vector strength) decreasing with the neuron's CF (Figs. 3, 4 and 10E). Vector strength increases with sound pressure level to saturate about 20 dB above threshold, while the preferred firing phase is only slightly affected (Figs. 5 and 6). In contrast, sound direction hardly affects vector strength (Figs. 7, 8, 9A and 10A and C), but has a strong influence on the preferred firing phase (Figs. 7, 8, 9B and C, 10B and D): With respect to anterior tone presentation there are phase lags for ipsilateral and phase leads for posterior and contralateral presentation. Phase differences between both ears show a sinusoidal or cardioid/ovoidal directional characteristic; maximum differences are found with antero-lateral tone presentation (Fig. 11). The directionality of phase locking decreases with the neuron's CF (Fig. 10F) and only slightly changes with sound pressure level (Fig. 12). Thus, phase locking of amphibian papilla neurons can potentially provide intensity-independent information for sound localization.
Defying the speed of light: a spatially-aware compiler for wire-exposed architectures

With the increasing miniaturization of transistors, wire delays are becoming a dominant factor in microprocessor performance. To address this issue, a number of emerging architectures contain replicated processing units with software-exposed communication between one unit and another (e.g., Raw, SmartMemories, TRIPS). However, for them to be effective, it is necessary to use languages that circumvent the von Neumann bottleneck, inherent in current programming languages such as C, C++ and Java.In the first part of the talk, I will introduce StreamIt, a streaming language that is ideally suited for wire-exposed architectures. StreamIt provides novel high-level representations to improve programmer productivity and program robustness within the streaming domain. At the same time, StreamIt exposes the inherent communication pattern of the program, allowing the compiler to aggressively optimize and effectively utilize wire-exposed architectures. .In the second part of the talk, I will describe our compiler from StreamIt to the Raw processor. Though StreamIt exposes the parallelism and communication patterns of stream programs, much analysis is needed to adapt a stream program to a wire-exposed processor. These include fission and fusion transformations that is used to adjust the granularity of a stream graph, a layout algorithm for mapping a stream graph to a given network topology, and a scheduling algorithm for generating a fine-grained static communication pattern for each computational element.
Configuration Coordinate Model for KCl: Tl Including Spin-Orbit Interaction

The effect of the crystalline field on the spin-orbit interaction of the $^{3}P^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ and $^{1}P^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ states of ${\mathrm{Tl}}^{+}$ in KCl has now been included in the configuration coordinate model. The potential energy curves for the pure spin states are required to satisfy the condition that after the application of spin-orbit interaction the resulting crystal states account for the absorption and emission spectra, explained by the earlier model, and for the oscillator strengths of the absorption bands. In accordance with the adiabatic approximation, the potential energy curves for the states involved in absorption and emission do not cross and the electronic matrix elements for radiative transitions depend on the configuration coordinate. The curve for the lower excited state has two minima which account for the 3050 A and the 4750 A emission bands. From the single minimum of the upper excited state an additional emission band near the 2470 A absorption band is predicted. With intense excitation at 77\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K in a narrow spectral range near 1960 A, which corresponds to excitation only to the upper excited state, the predicted emission has been found. The existence and characteristics of the new emission provide confirmation of the model, particularly of the quantitative effect of spin-orbit interaction.
Response of poly(vinyl chloride) electrodes based on the neutral carrier 1,4,7,10-tetraoxacyclododecane

Abstract Ion-selective electrodes based on the neutral carrier, 12-crown-4, in a poly(vinyl chloride) matrix were found to respond ideally, or almost ideally, to potassium, sodium, barium, strontium, magnesium, cobalt(II), nickel(II) and aluminum ions. The electrode showed good selectivity for Al 3+ over Co 2+ and Mg 2+ , and for Co 2+ over Mg 2+ . Little selectivity was found for the other ions tested.
Developmental profile of polyadenylated and non-polyadenylated GABAA receptor subunit mRNAs

Abstract The ratio of mRNA not selected for polyadenylation (non-poly(A)+ selected) to mRNA selected for polyadenylation (poly(A)+) for the β1, α1 and γ2 subunits of the GABAA receptor complex was examined in rats as a function of age. RNA was extracted from whole brain of rats that were either 0, 1, 3, 5 or over 60 days of postnatal age. Poly(A)+ mRNA was purified by oligo(dT)-cellulose chromatography. Non-poly(A)+ selected mRNA and poly(A)+ mRNA for the GABAA receptor β1, α1 and γ2 subunits were examined by Northern blot analysis using cDNA probes specific for these subunits. Levels of GABAA receptor β1 subunit mRNA were also examined by solution hybridization analysis with a β1 riboprobe. Analysis of Northers blots revealed that levels of poly(A)+β1 subunit mRNA were highest to 0 days of age, but decreased and reached adult levels by 5 days of postnatal age. However, levels of the β1 subunit message extracted from non-poly(A)− selected mRNA were not significantly different at any of the ages examined, suggesting the existence of a population of β1 subunit mRNA that is not polyadenylated. The age-related discrepancy between β1 subunit levels measured in non-poly(A)+ selected mRNA and poly(A)− mRNA was also observed using solution hybridization analysis. In contrast, levels of both non-poly(A)+ selected mRNA and poly(A)− mRNA for the α1 subunit of the GABAA complex increased from 0 days of age to adulthood. Similarly, levels of both non-poly(A)− selected mRNA and poly(A)+ mRNA for the GABAA receptor γ2 subunit increased with age. The findings demonstrate that: (1) the polyadenlyated fraction of mRNA for the GABAA receptor β1, α1 and γ2 subunits is developmentally regulated, and (2) polyadenylated mRNA for the β1 subunit is not representative of the entire mRNA population for this subunit, as reflected by the lack of developmental change in levels of β1 subunit message extracted from non-poly(A)+ selected mRNA. While the significance of a non-polyadenylated population of β1 subunit mRNA remains unknown, it is clear that both non-poly(A)+ selected mRNA and poly(A)+ mRNA should be examined when evaluating developmental changes in receptor subunit expression.
Treatment of rheumatic fever.

Abstract 1. (1) The treatment of rheumatic fever may be difficult because of the absence of a definite test for the diagnosis of this disease and for the determination of the cessation of “rheumatic activity.” 2. (2) It is of prime importance to destroy any living group A streptococci in the body and to prevent any reinvasion by these organisms. 3. (3) Rest is an important part of the treatment, but it is very frequently needlessly severe and prolonged. 4. (4) Aspirin, the cortisone group of hormones, and ACTH in adequate dosage are all effective in relieving the clinical symptoms of rheumatic fever and these drugs probably reduce the amount of permanent cardiac damage. Aspirin is less dramatic in its results but important complications are fewer. 5. (5) Congestive heart failure in the presence of active rheumatic carditis calls for special therapeutic measures. 6. (6) It is important to give the patient some insight into his condition to prevent neurotic, invalid, and panic reactions and to help him meet some of the problems of life related to his condition.
Familiarity Breeds Investment: Diaspora Networks and International Investment

What explains cross-national patterns of international portfolio and foreign direct investment (FDI)? While existing explanations focus on the credibility of a policy maker's commitment, we emphasize the role of diaspora networks. We hypothesize that diaspora networks—connections between migrants residing in investing countries and their home country—influence global investment by reducing transaction and information costs. This hypothesis is tested using dyadic cross-sectional data for both portfolio and FDI. The findings indicate that even after controlling for a multitude of factors, disapora networks have both a substantively significant effect and a statistically significant effect on cross-border investment.
The influence of the characteristics of the activating polyelectrolyte in the preparation and on the properties of interpolymer ion exchange membranes. I. The rational principles of membrane preparation and their experimental test

Abstract Two methods for the preparation of polyelectrolyte-activated ionic membranes, “interpolymer” ion exchange membranes, are discussed. The dissolution method consists in casting membranes from a mixed solution of a polyelectrolyte and an inert polymeric matrix material. It has severe inherent limitations due to the incompatibility in solution of most polymeric materials, and the concomitant phase separations. The latter, under many conditions of loading with polyelectrolyte, prevent the formation of membranes of high ionic selectivity whose resistance can be adjusted at will. This situation arises, e.g., with polyacrylic acid collodion-matrix membranes. The sorption method , used heretofore only on a strictly empirical basis, makes use of the sorption of polyelectrolyte from aqueous solution into highly porous membranes made of an inert matrix material, such as collodion. The porosity of these membranes may later be reduced by drying in order to produce dense membranes of highest ionic selectivities. A rational basis for the preparation of “permselective” sorption-type membranes is developed from a systematic consideration of the charge and of the contractility of polyelectrolytes in the impregnating solutions. To test this concept, the sorption of the weak acid polyacrylic acid and of the strong acid polystyrene sulfonic acid by collodion-matrix membranes was studied systematically, using in the sorption step of membrane preparation polyelectrolyte solutions of varying ionic strength and degrees of neutralization. The electrical resistances of the permselective sorption-type membranes produced in this manner increase with increasing ionization of the polyelectrolyte molecules in the impregnating solutions and with the extent to which they uncoil. Membranes of highest ionic selectivity were obtained regularly and reproducibly in a range of resistances from less than 10 Ω cm 2 to more than 200,000 Ω cm 2 ; they were all of excellent stability. This seems to prove that the reported ideas and observations form a firm general basis for the preparation of polyelectrolyte-activated sorption-type membranes in general. However, the question of the relative importance of adsorbability and of steric factors in the loading of such membranes with polyelectrolytes is still open. It will be taken up in the subsequent paper.
Conciliarism at the Fifth Lateran Council

Conciliarism at the Fifth Lateran Council? Despite the current interest in things conciliar this is a strange and, no doubt to some, a rather forced juxta position. For what, after all, is there to be said about it? The council may indeed have been a great non-event in the religious history of the sixteenth century but it was surely a highly papalist non-event. Was it not, in form and procedure, a faithful copy of the papal general councils of the pre-Conciliar era—of Lateran IV (1215), of Lyons (1274), of Vienne (1311)? To what did it owe its convocation if not the desire of Julius II to cut the ground from under the feet of the dissident conciliabulum of Pisa (1511–12)—itself, of course, summoned by the cardinals of the opposition with the support of the French king and very much a conciliarist's council? Were not the first half-dozen sessions occupied almost exclusively with the condemnation of the activities of that council, the proscription of those who persisted in adhering to it and the reconciliation of those who had abandoned it? Did not the eleventh session witness the definitive rejection of the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, the base from which for so long conciliarist thinkers had been able to operate with impunity? Did it not witness also the unambiguous assertion of the superiority of pope to council, and was not this principle underlined in practice by the craven responsiveness of the council fathers to papal demands? And so on. It is easy enough to envisage the questions, the queries, the dissents.1
ISAs and the dwarf content of the inner nuclear regions of M31

We have augmented and reanalyzed the Spinrad-Taylor scanner data for M31 in order to see whether any stellar mix can reproduce both these data and observed CO and Wing-Ford band indices. We have also tried to clarify the status of the anomalous strengths (''ISAa'') of certain spectral features which Spinrad and Taylor found; a reanalysis published by Faber had left their status uncertain. Our reanalysis yields the following conclusions:1. The Spinrad-Taylor data display large strength excesses in the b triplet and D lines, smaller strength excesses in a red CN band and some TiO bands, and marginal or definite strength deficiencies in the G band, the blue CN band, Ca I lambda4227, and Fe I lambda4384. Low microturbulence (compared to solar-neighborhood stars) may account for the strength deficiencies. Both excesses and deficiencies can inflate a model's summed squared residuals, and large excesses can bias the operation of model-building algorithms.2. There is no clearly satisfactory way to account simultaneously for the CO and Wing-Ford bands and Spinrad and Taylor's lambda8190 index. Moreover, no model quite reproduces Spinrad and Taylor's 1 ..mu..m colors. This problem also appears: but not decisively: in data published by O'Connell.3. Spinrad and Taylor's conclusions were influenced bymore » certain key assumptions which have since been improved, or which can now be shown to be incorrect.4. The combined data of Wood and McClure and van den Bergh do not require strong CN stars to reproduce them, and thus are not necessarily in conflict with Spinrad and Taylor's data.« less
Global Imperatives of the 21st Century: The Academy’s Response

AbstractOur twenty-first century world deteriorates socially, biologically, and physically while we in the Academy blindly pursue our “disciplinary truths.” As responsible members of the Academy and as interdisciplinary global studies specialists, we have an obligation to educate our students and colleagues by providing fundamental knowledge, tools, training, and hopefully passion to become interculturally competent and authentic global citizens. As a Coordinator of a Global Studies Program at a Land-Grant University, I would like to discuss specific strategies on how to motivate students, faculty members, and administrators alike in order to confront and resolve widespread problems in global social injustice and the ominously declining biological and physical states of our Earth. Most critically, we in the Academy, our honored and treasured professoriate, are obliged to provide the knowledge, tools, and leadership to engage the world and work toward resolution of our twenty-first century global imperatives.
Secret Key Extraction from Wireless Signal Strength in Real Environments

We evaluate the effectiveness of secret key extraction, for private communication between two wireless devices, from the received signal strength (RSS) variations on the wireless channel between the two devices. We use real world measurements of RSS in a variety of environments and settings. The results from our experiments with 802.11-based laptops show that in certain environments, due to lack of variations in the wireless channel, the extracted bits have very low entropy making these bits unsuitable for a secret key, an adversary can cause predictable key generation in these static environments, and in dynamic scenarios where the two devices are mobile, and/or where there is a significant movement in the environment, high entropy bits are obtained fairly quickly. Building on the strengths of existing secret key extraction approaches, we develop an environment adaptive secret key generation scheme that uses an adaptive lossy quantizer in conjunction with Cascade-based information reconciliation and privacy amplification. Our measurements show that our scheme, in comparison to the existing ones that we evaluate, performs the best in terms of generating high entropy bits at a high bit rate. The secret key bit streams generated by our scheme also pass the randomness tests of the NIST test suite that we conduct. We also build and evaluate the performance of secret key extraction using small, low-power, hand-held devices-Google Nexus One phones-that are equipped 802.11 wireless network cards. Last, we evaluate secret key extraction in a multiple input multiple output (MIMO)-like sensor network testbed that we create using multiple TelosB sensor nodes. We find that our MIMO-like sensor environment produces prohibitively high bit mismatch, which we address using an iterative distillation stage that we add to the key extraction process. Ultimately, we show that the secret key generation rate is increased when multiple sensors are involved in the key extraction process.
Modeling photon propagation in biological tissues using a generalized Delta-Eddington phase function

Photon propagation in biological tissue is commonly described by the radiative transfer equation, while the phase function in the equation represents the scattering characteristics of the medium and has significant influence on the precision of solution and the efficiency of computation. In this work, we present a generalized Delta-Eddington phase function to simplify the radiative transfer equation to an integral equation with respect to photon fluence rate. Comparing to the popular diffusion approximation model, the solution of the integral equation is highly accurate to model photon propagation in the biological tissue over a broad range of optical parameters. This methodology is validated by Monte Carlo simulation.
Target Localization and Autonomous Navigation Using Wireless Sensor Networks—A Pseudogradient Algorithm Approach

Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) operating in unknown environments face twin challenges: 1) localization and 2) efficient directed navigation. This paper describes a two-tiered approach to solving these challenges: 1) by developing novel wireless-sensor-network (WSN)-based localization methods and 2) by using WSN-AMR interaction for navigation. The goal is to have an AMR travel from any point within a WSN-covered region to an identified target location without the aid of global sensing and position information. In this research, the target is reached as follows: 1) by producing a magnitude distribution within the WSN region that has a target-directed pseudogradient (PG) and 2) by having the WSN efficiently navigate the AMRs using the PG. This approach utilizes only the topology of the network and the received signal strength (RSS) among the sensor nodes to create the PG. This research shows that, even in the absence of global positioning information, AMRs can successfully navigate toward a target location using only the RSS in their local neighborhood to compute an optimal path. The utility of the proposed scheme is proved through extensive simulation and hardware experiments.
Low shot noise in high-speed resonant-tunneling diodes

Summary form only given. Experimental and theoretical results are presented on microwave shot noise in high-speed double-barrier resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs). It is found that the room-temperature shot noise per unit current can be more than a factor of two lower than in single-barrier structures (e.g. p-n junctions) when the RTD is biased into the positive differential resistance (PDR) region below the current peak, but that it is increased when biased into the negative differential resistance (NDR) region. The analysis suggests that the reduced shot noise could also be obtained in other double-barrier resonant-tunneling devices that operate in the PDR region, such as resonant-tunneling transistors and the quantum-well injection and transit time oscillator. >
Nonlinear Robust Control Design for Levitation and Propulsion of a MagLev System in the Presence of Uncertain System Dynamics 1

This paper presents a nonlinear robust control design for the levitation and propulsion of a magnetic levitation (Maglev) system. The Maglev dynamics under consideration are nonlinear and contain uncertain dynamics including the negative damping due to eddy currents. The proposed recursive controller is designed using nonlinear state transformation and Lyapunov’s direct method in order to guarantee global stability for the nonlinear Maglev system. Simulation results are provided to show the eectiveness of the proposed control design.
Individuality in songs of Acadian flycatchers and recognition of neighbours

Acadian flycatchers, Empidonax virescens , like many other tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae), sing complex songs with little variation among individuals. Measurements of frequency and timing revealed that individuals' songs included consistent but slight individual differences. A comparison of differences between songs of territorial neighbours and between more distant males revealed no evidence that neighbours learn the features of each other's songs. Playbacks of neighbours' and strangers' songs for 30 min at predetermined distances from singing subjects provided marginal evidence that territorial birds recognize these differences. Playbacks for only 2 min provided no such evidence, although similar experiments with hooded warblers, Wilsonia citrina , and Kentucky warblers, Oporornis formosa , in the same forest had provided clear evidence for recognition of individual neighbours. The slight differences in individuals' songs and the degradation of songs during propagation in a forest must make this discrimination difficult for Acadian flycatchers. In tyrant flycatchers, complex songs with innate developmental constraints might evolve by sexual selection for species recognition despite disadvantages for individual recognition.