cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Intraocular viral replication after systemic murine cytomegalovirus infection requires immunosuppression.

Purpose. Human cytomegalovirus retinitis is the most common blinding complication of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. However, the pathogenesis of the disease is poorly understood. The authors sought to characterize intraocular viral replication after systemic murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection in the normal and immunosuppressed Balb/c mouse. Methods. Normal or immunosuppressed mice (400 lads radiation plus antilymphocyte serum) were infected intravenously with a recombinant MCMV (RM408) that carries an MCMV IE1 promoter-LacZ insert. In vivo MCMV replication and its tissue distribution were monitored by β-gal activity with x-gal staining on frozen tissue sections of multiple organs harvested from infected mice at different time points after inoculation. Results. MCMV replication within the eye can be detected in the immunosuppressed Balb/c mouse but not in the normal host. Intraocular viral replication was noted first, and most frequently, in the ciliary body and was mainly restricted to the uveal tract. Intraocular viral replication coincided with the peak of systemic viral replication ; however, the neurosensory retina was spared. In contrast, supraciliary inoculation of MCMV in the immunosuppressed Balb/c mouse resulted in massive viral replication and destruction of the neurosensory retina. Conclusions. This study demonstrated that intraocular MCMV replication after systemic infection requires systemic immunosuppression. Furthermore, the ciliary body is the portal of entry for the virus within the eye. MCMV can replicate in the epithelium of the uvea and retinal pigment epithelium, but it does not replicate within the neurosensory retina. The absence of MCMV replication within the neurosensory retina is not caused by either a defect in the recombinant virus or the inability of the host tissue to support viral replication. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1995 ;36 :2322-2327.
Recombinant Adeno-Associated Viral Vectors for CNS Gene Therapy

Publisher Summary Recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus (rAAV) has become a promising vector for gene therapy and the treatment of neurological disorder. Gene therapy for disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) is a moderately invasive method for delivering large molecules inside the blood–brain barrier (BBB) as compared to mechanical devices such as pumps or reservoirs. The therapy focuses into localized delivery of a given transgene. In particular, disorders where it is beneficial to overexpress or reduce expression of a transgene in a particular anatomical region to the exclusion of global delivery are especially attractive targets. Other disorders that require transduction of the entire brain or spinal cord are at the moment challenges, for which optimization of diffusion of the vector and transduction efficiencies are in the developmental stage. The future of gene therapy will depend on addressing safety issues such as the immune responses to viral delivery and regulation of the transgene in the trial design Abstract Recombinant Adeno–Associated Virus has become a promising vector for gene therapy and the treatment of neurological disorders. The fact that AAV has not been associated with any pathological condition in humans and that the recombinant vector displays widespread cell tropism and stable expression in different tissues have made AAV a favored gene transfer system in recent years. This chapter discusses different aspects of the biology of AAV and the properties of this viral vector in the nervous system. Finally, factors that are important for the safe use of this gene delivery system into humans are discussed.
Integrating sports analytics with financial traders

The goal of this research is to adapt statistics common in sports analytics to assess and classify a group of Foreign Exchange traders. Using the statistics we implemented, we explore ways to identify groups with similar behavior using clustering algorithms. Furthermore, identifying these clusters provides a better understanding of how one performs relatively to another within the same group. We seek to develop a set of metrics that can be understood by both novices and experts in the industry while accurately depicting the trader's trading behavior and performances.
Occipital and Cingulate Hypometabolism are Significantly Under-Reported on 18-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Scans of Patients with Lewy Body Dementia

Objective: To determine whether occipital and cingulate hypometabolism is being under-reported or missed on 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) CT scans in patients with Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB). Background: Recent studies have reported higher sensitivity and specificity for occipital and cingulate hypometabolism on FDG-PET of DLB patients. Methods: This retrospective chart review looked at regions of interest (ROI’s) in FDG-PET CT scan reports in 35 consecutive patients with a clinical diagnosis of probable, possible, or definite DLB as defined by the latest DLB Consortium Report. ROI’s consisting of glucose hypometabolism in frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital, and cingulate areas were tabulated and charted separately by the authors from the reports. A blinded Nuclear medicine physician read the images independently and marked ROI’s separately. A Cohen’s Kappa coefficient statistic was calculated to determine agreement between the reports and the blinded reads. Results: On the radiology reports, 25.71% and 17.14% of patients reported occipital and cingulate hypometabolism respectively. Independent reads demonstrated significant disagreement with the proportion of occipital and cingulate hypometabolism being reported on initial reads: 91.43% and 85.71% respectively. Cohen’s Kappa statistic determinations demonstrated significant agreement only with parietal hypometabolism (p<0.05). Conclusion: Occipital and cingulate hypometabolism is under-reported and missed frequently on clinical interpretations of FDG-PET scans of patients with DLB, but the frequency of hypometabolism is even higher than previously reported. Further studies with more statistical power and receiver operating characteristic analyses are needed to delineate the sensitivity and specificity of these in vivo biomarkers.
Dynamical thermal conductivity of suspended graphene ribbons in the hydrodynamic regime

The steady-state behavior of thermal transport in bulk and nanostructured semiconductors has been widely studied, both theoretically and experimentally. On the other hand, fast transients and frequency dynamics of thermal conduction has been given less attention. The frequency response of thermal conductivity has become more crucial in recent years, especially in light of the constant rise in the clock frequencies in microprocessors and terahertz sensing applications. Thermal conductivity in response to a time-varying temperature field starts decaying when the frequency exceeds a cutoff frequency ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{c}$, which is related to the inverse of phonon relaxation time $\ensuremath{\tau}$, on the order of 2--10 ps in most bulk semiconductors. Phonons in graphene have much longer phonon relaxation times, which we show leads to far lower ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{c}$. Our calculations, based on the phonon Boltzmann equation coupled with first-principles dispersion, show that dynamical thermal conductivity of graphene resembles a low-pass filter that decays beyond an ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{c}$ ranging from 100 MHz to 10 GHz, controlled by temperature and ribbon width. The response parallels the Drude model of electrons, but with far lower cutoff. Moreover, the presence of strong normal processes in graphene results in a complex-valued conductivity and gradual transition around ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{c}$, with the resistive contribution to the heat flux having higher cutoff frequency and smaller phase lag than the hydrodynamic part. The dynamical conductivity will impact dissipation in high-frequency applications of graphene. Our findings also provide a platform for future studies of hydrodynamic transport and wavelike, or second sound, heat transfer by tuning the frequency of the applied temperature field.
Toward a Unified Theory of the Determinants of the Earnings of Artists

Since the inception of the field of cultural economics, researchers have sought to understand the unusual characteristics of the labor market for artists. In this paper, we attempt to reconcile the different explanations of the earnings of artists in the United States that have been advanced over the past fifteen years. As we will show, the differences in their explanations are often based on the use of different data sources. However, alternative theories about the underlying utility maximization process of artists as workers still exist.
Population Dynamics of Forest Insects

Insects do not normally cause serious damage to forests unless their numbers increase, for some reason or another, to very high densities. The area of ecology that deals with changes in the density of organisms over time and that attempts to explain the causes of these changes is known as population dynamics. This chapter explores the concepts of population dynamics as they relate to forest insects, in order to better understand the causes of forest pest outbreaks. This basic understanding is essential for both forest managers and insect pest managers, for without it they will often find themselves groping in the dark for solutions to their pest problems and may even make decisions that compound rather than solve the problems.
A nearly self-sufficient framework for modelling reactive-transport processes in concrete

This paper describes a multi-species and multi-mechanism reactive-transport modelling framework for concrete. This modelling framework has the potential to be used in conjunction with performance specifications currently being developed in the US. The modelling framework is ‘nearly’ self-sufficient as it enables electrical resistivity to be used as the main physically measured input parameter in the simulations. The model uses thermodynamic calculations to predict pore solution composition, pore solution resistivity, pore volumes, and reactions between the solid and ionic components of the cementitious matrix such as chloride binding. The measured electrical resistivity is normalized by the calculated pore solution resistivity to compute the formation factor, which is used to predict transport properties of the ionic species. The framework allows the solution of reactive-transport equations with minimal input data to assess ionic movement, chloride ingress, and time to corrosion.
A Collective of Four Cases Illustrating How Educational Partnerships Help Sustain Regional U.S. Nonprofit Dance Companies

As a result of decades-long dwindling arts funding sources, U.S. nonprofit dance companies struggle to emerge and be sustained. However, mutually beneficial relationships are often developed betwee...
A fluorescent approach for detecting and measuring reduction reaction byproducts near cathodically-biased metallic surfaces: Reactive oxygen species production and quantification.

Abstract During tribocorrosion of biomedical alloys, potentials may shift cathodically across the metal-oxide-electrolyte interface resulting in the increased reduction of local oxygen and water molecules. The products of reduction are thought to include reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as hydroxide ions. Using fluorescent probes, developed for labeling intracellular ROS-based hydroxyl radicals (OH·) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), ROS generation due to reduction reactions at cathodically biased CoCrMo alloy surfaces was measured directly. Using terephthalic acid (TA) and pentafluorosulfonylbenzene-fluorescein (PFF) as fluorescent dosimeters, it was found that OH· and H2O2 concentrations increased up to 16 h and 2 h, respectively. Decreases in fluorescence past these time points were attributed to the continuous onset of reduction reactions consuming both the ROS and/or dosimeter. It was also found that voltages below and including −600 mV (vs. Ag/AgCl) produced measurable quantities of H2O2 after two hours of polarization, with concentrations increasing with decreasing potentials up to −1000 mV. The detection and quantification of ROS in a clinical setting could help us better understand the role of ROS in the inflammatory response as well as their impact on corrosion behavior of biomedical alloys.
Doing theology with children through multimodal narrativity

Doing theology with children, in a systematic and focused way, is a new practice. This article contributes to this theological practice by examining its emergence, nature and mission and proposing multimodal narrativity as a practical theological methodology for doing such theology. The article argues, from a practical theological standpoint, that doing theology with children should be understood as a synodal event – a journeying together with children about their faith; as a way of seeing the mysteries of God through the eyes of the child and of encouraging a robust understanding of God and God’s plan for humanity and the entire creation; and as a way of seeing the faces of children and hearing their voices, thereby accounting for their suffering and hope. Children themselves are sources and disruptors of hope. The use of multimodal narrativity creates space for these narratives and disruptions of hope and encourages children to theologise their experiences in the midst of their different communities.
Predictors of Comfort Level in Speech-Language Pathologists Working With Students With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Purpose Students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often demonstrate language deficits requiring speech-language pathologist (SLP) interventions. With the number of students diag...
FIVE – THE INTEGRAL

Publisher Summary Modern calculus has its origins in two mathematical problems of antiquity. The first of these, the problem of finding the line tangent to a given curve, was not solved until the seventeenth century. Its solution by Newton and Leibniz gave rise to what is known as differential calculus. The second of these problems was to find the area enclosed by a given curve. The solution of this problem led to what is now termed integral calculus. This chapter discusses approximations to area and some techniques used for this and then discusses how these techniques can also be used to solve problems that do not involve areas. It explains the definite and indefinites integrals and shows their calculations. The chapter discusses another kind of integral that seemingly is very different from the definite integral that is the antiderivative and describes the fundamental relationship between the two.
Opioid Use Disorder and COVID-19: Biological Plausibility for Worsened Outcomes.

Alarms have been raised that COVID-19 may disproportionately affect certain populations with substance use disorders, particularly Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), however warnings have largely focused o...
17.3 GCUPS Pruning-Based Pair-Hidden-Markov-Model Accelerator for Next-Generation DNA Sequencing

We present the first ASIC accelerator for pair-Hidden-Markov-Model (Pair-HMM) in DNA variant calling, which conventionally requires ∼250T FLOPs per sequenced human genome. Using a hardware-algorithm co-design, we opportunistically replace floating point (FP) multiplication with 20b log-domain addition while employing bound checks to maintain (provable) correct results in downstream processing. FP computation is reduced by 43× on real human genome data. Implemented in 40nm CMOS, the 5.67 mm2 accelerator demonstrates 17.3G cell updates per second (CUPS) throughput, marking a 6.6× improvement over our baseline ASIC implementation and 355× GCUPS/mm2 improvement over a recent FPGA implementation [2].
Mechanisms of Granuloma Formation

The formation of distinctive tissue masses known as granulomas is a central aspect of a wide range of diseases affecting both animals and man. Many of these diseases have cutaneous involvement or cutaneous manifestations and are of clinical interest to the dermatologist. These diseases have been depicted in great detail in standard dermatology textbooks and their varying histologies have been described in histopathology texts. This chapter will attempt an analysis of basic cellular and molecular processes underlying granuloma formation. It will not attempt to review the clinical and pathological features of individual disease states. Since the processes involved in granuloma formation are common whether the site of involvement is cutaneous or visceral, the discussion will not be restricted to dermatopathies. The reader is referred to complementary chapters in this text which deal with specific aspects of granulomas as they pertain to various disease states such as Chapters 13 and 19 (granulomatous and allergic vasculitis), 22 (rheumatoid nodules), 29 (chronic granulomatous disease), 33 (sarcoidosis), and 34–37 (infectious granulomas). While the chapter will avoid discussion of malignant lesions which have granulomas (e.g., Hodgkin’s disease, mycosis fungoides, Wegener’s and eosinophilic granuloma, Chapter 42), it is relevant to note that the molecular aspects of granuloma formation which will be developed in this chapter pertain to these lymphoproliferative diseases. One need only recognize that when various secretory lymphoid populations undergo malignant clonal expansion they generally continue to secrete those products which characterize them (e.g., immunoglobulins or lymphokines), which may induce other cell populations to participate in what appears to be a chronic inflammatory response. The focus, then, of this chapter will be the basic cellular and molecular events which underlie the formation of granulomas.
Understanding the Unique Effects of Identity in Adjustment Among Veterans

Reintegration to civilian life among service members can be understood through the lens of a transformation in an individual’s identity structure. However, limited research has examined the unique ...
(Invited) Disordered Rock-Salt Li3+XV2O5: A High-Rate Anode for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries with high energy density that can be safely charged and discharged at high rates are desirable for electrified transportation and other applications. However, the sub-optimal intercalation potentials of current anodes result in a trade-off between energy density, power and safety. Here we report that disordered rock salt Li3+xV2O5 can be used as a fast-charging anode that can reversibly cycle two lithium ions at an average voltage of about 0.6 volts versus a Li/Li+ reference electrode. The increased potential compared to graphite reduces the likelihood of lithium metal plating if proper charging controls are used, alleviating a major safety concern (short-circuiting related to Li dendrite growth). In addition, a lithium-ion battery with a disordered rock salt Li3V2O5 anode yields a cell voltage much higher than does a battery using a commercial fast-charging lithium titanate anode or other intercalation anode candidates (Li3VO4 and LiV0.5Ti0.5S2). DFT calculations reveal that lithium is displaced from stable octahedral sites to less stable tetrahedral sites, resulting in a suppression of the voltage. The crystal structure is well maintained throughout the process with a maximum volume change of 5.9%. This gives rise to exceptional cycling stability, with negligible capacity decay after 6000 cycles. Further, the material is shown to have exceptional rate capabilities, delivering over 40 per cent of its capacity in 20 seconds. Theoretical calculations unveil unique lithium redistribution mechanisms that are responsible for the high rate capability. At the beginning of Li insertion into Li3V2O5, diffusion of Li takes place by a concerted t-o-t mechanism where tetrahedral Li pushes its neighboring octahedral Li to another tetrahedral sites. At the end of the insertion process, direct tetrahedron to tetrahedron (t-t) diffusion is preferred. Both of these mechanism feature low activation energy values which result in rapid lithium diffusion and exceptional rate capabilities. This low-potential, high-rate intercalation reaction can be used to identify other metal oxide anodes for fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries.
Race, Ethnicity, and Deviance: A Study of Asian and Non-Asian Adolescents in America

This study shows that Asian American adolescents commit less deviance in the form of school misbehavior than white, black, Hispanic, or Native American adolescents. Social control and social learning theories receive support as the observed differences are explained primarily by race/ethnic differences in family backgrounds and school bonding. These variables' explanatory ability tends to be invariant across four regional groups of Asian Americans. This study applies OLS regression to self-reported data from a nationally representative sample.
Efficient processing of relational queries with sum constraints

In this paper, we consider relational queries involving one or more constraints over the sum of multiple attributes (sum constraint queries). We develop rewriting techniques to transform a sum constraint query in order to enable its efficient processing by conventional relational database engines. We also consider the problem of producing partial results for sum constraint queries. We propose a framework for ranking tuples in a relation according to their likelihood of contributing to a tuple in the result of a sum constraint query. Sorting tuples using this framework provides an alternative to traditional sorting based on single attribute value.
The in vitro interfacial mechanics of a bioactive composite for mandibular construction

We investigated a bioactive composite of hydroxyapatite (HA) and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) as a mandible replacement. We introduced a coupling agent to improve the adhesion properties at the HA/PMMA interface. Via the application of nano-indentation onto various positions of the cross section of composite, we will be able to determine the influence of the coupling agent on the local mechanical properties of the system before and after in vitro immersion conditions. Also under field emission environmental scanning electron microscopy, we analyzed each indent mark at up to 5000x magnification. Coupling the microscopical analysis with the load-displacement curve allowed us a more comprehensive local analysis than has previously been accomplished. The in vitro mechanical properties of the hydroxyapatite particulates showed a reduction of bulk bending properties, local elastic modulus and local hardness with increase of immersion time. While the coupling agent unproved the interfacial mechanical properties up to 24 hours immersion, it did not effect the surface bioactivity of the system.
Applying formal picture languages to procedural content generation

Procedural content generation for games often uses tile sets. Tilings generated with tile sets are equivalent to pictures generated from a fixed alphabet of characters such as those explored in the area of vision. Formal languages over pictures and their methods of definition such as 2D regular expressions, automata, and array grammars are directly applicable to generation of tilings using finite tile sets. Though grammars such as string grammars, L-systems, and graph grammars have been explored and found useful for the definition of certain content, formal methods have mostly been ignored. We introduce 2D regular expressions and array grammars as generators. We reason about the theoretical capability of these constructs and develop some practical use cases for their application in procedural content generation for games. One area lacking with a search based approach to procedural content generation is an enumeration of all possible tilings that can be generated. We show that 2D regular expressions can be used for enumeration.
The sociomateriality of organisational life: considering technology in management research

Drawing on a specific scenario from a contemporary workplace, I review some of the dominant ways that management scholars have addressed technology over the past five decades. I will demonstrate that while materiality is an integral aspect of organisational activity, it has either been ignored by management research or investigated through an ontology of separateness that cannot account for the multiple and dynamic ways in which the social and the material are constitutively entangled in everyday life. I will end by pointing to some possible alternative perspectives that may have the potential to help management scholars take seriously the distributed and complex sociomaterial configurations that form and perform contemporary organisations. Copyright The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.
Studies of synthetic polymers carrying fluorescent labels

The following applications of polymers carrying fluorescent labels are described: (1) Intramolecular excimer formation was used to show that conformational transitions take place at similar rates in polymer backbones and in analogous small molecules. (2) Nonradiative energy transfer between donor and acceptor labeled molecules was used to characterize polymer compatibility, chain entanglement in solution and the self-diffusion of polymers. (3) The solvent dependence of the emission characteristics of the dansyl groups was used to study the equilibrium and kinetics of the association of dansyl-labeled poly(acrylic acid) with polyoxyethylene.
Dynamic adaptation policies to improve quality of service of real-time multimedia applications in IEEE 802.11e WLAN networks

With the increased popularity of wireless broad-band networks and the growing demand for multimedia applications, such as streaming video and teleconferencing, there is a need to support diverse multimedia services over the wireless medium. In order to efficiently address these diverse needs, efforts have been pursued to provide Quality of Service (QoS) mechanisms for medium access, resulting in a standard called IEEE 802.11e. One of the enhancements proposed in IEEE 802.11e is a polling-based access mechanism, which is targeted for real-time multimedia flows. In this polling-based scheme, scheduling and time allocation are based on flow reservations. Hence, the effectiveness of the mechanism is heavily dependent on the accuracy of the flow requirements in the reservation. Flow requirements, however, can vary over time and an allocation based on fixed reservations cannot address this variability. This limitation, which is present in the reference scheduler of IEEE 802.11e, leads to degraded multimedia quality for flows with variable requirements, even when channel resources are available. In order to address the above limitation, we present an adaptation framework that dynamically adjusts the polling-based access mechanism and associates flows to different modes of access (polling-based/contention-based), according to the current needs of the application, as opposed to solely relying on the reservation parameters. We demonstrate that with our adaptation, the achieved QoS for real-time multimedia streams, in terms of delay and throughput metrics, can be significantly improved compared to other known mechanisms. Additionally, we show the benefits of our adaptation framework on overall multimedia quality and system capacity.
Attribution of Earth-reflected Hyperspectral Data using Bayesian Positive Source Separation

We treat Earth-reflected radiation as mixtures of spectra unique to sources of scattering and absorption in Earth’s atmosphere and surface. We identify the signals and quantify their mixtures using source separation in a Bayesian framework.
Enabling the transition to the mobile web with WebSieve

Web access on mobile platforms already constitutes a significant (> 20%) share of web traffic [3]. Furthermore, this share is projected to even surpass access from laptops and desktops [11]. In conjunction with this growth, user expectations for the performance of mobile applications and websites is also growing rapidly [15]. Surveys show that 71% of users expect websites to load almost as quickly as their desktops and 33% of annoyed users are likely to go to a competitor's site leading to loss of ad- and click-based revenue streams [1].
Lack of induction of dominant lethals in mice by orally administered AF-2.

Abstract In a series of toxicity tests, male mice of three inbred strains were exposed to several doses of orally administered furylfuramide (AF-2). Subsequent to these tests the effects of AF-2, as measured by induced dominant lethals, were tested in strain DBA/2J mice. AF-2 at the doses used in this study was relatively non-toxic to the strains of mice tested. No indication of AF-2 induced dominant lethality was observed.
On the 1-factors of a non-separable graph

Abstract The main result presented is that every 2-connected graph with a 1-factor has more than one. Furthermore, any graph with a 1-factor has more than one if and only if there is a cycle of even length whose edges are alternately in and not in the given 1-factor. A simple extension of the main result to n-connected graphs is also provided.
Nurturing Genius: Positive Psychology as a Framework for Organization and Practice

Virginia M. Ambler, R. Kelly Crace, and Jodi Fisler, of the College of William & Mary, describe the process of imagining and implementing a student affairs division intentionally structured to supp...
Fiddler crabs accurately measure two-dimensional distance over three-dimensional terrain.

SUMMARY Foraging fiddler crabs ( Uca spp.) monitor the location of, and are able to return to, their burrows by employing path integration. This requires them to accurately measure both the directions and distances of their locomotory movements. Even though most fiddler crabs inhabit relatively flat terrain, they must cope with vertical features of their environment, such as sloping beaches, mounds and shells, which may represent significant obstacles. To determine whether fiddler crabs can successfully perform path integration among such three-dimensional obstacles, we tested their ability to measure distance while we imposed a vertical detour. By inserting a large hill in the homeward path of foraging crabs we show that fiddler crabs can cope with vertical detours: they accurately travel the correct horizontal distance, despite the fact that the shape of the hill forces them to change their gait from what would be used on flat ground. Our results demonstrate a flexible path integrator capable of measuring, and either integrating or discarding, the vertical dimension.
Characterization of opioid peptides from maternal and fetal sheep adrenal glands

Abstract Enkephalin immunoreactive material from adrenal glands was characterized both in maternal and fetal sheep at various gestational ages. Whole gland extracts from both maternal and fetal sheep contained three major peaks of Enk immunoreactivity corresponding to apparent molecular weights of 10,000, 2800, and less than 1200 daltons. The majority of maternal adrenal Enk immunoreactivity was found in medullary tissue, although cortex also contained low but detectable amounts. This was also the case in newborn lambs and 139 day fetuses, where adrenal cortex was sufficiently developed to allow extraction and quantitation of opioid material. In fetuses at mid-gestation (70–80 days), adrenal medullary Enk immunoreactivity was approximately 75% of maternal values. Met-Enk and Leu-Enk content in 139 day fetal medulla were 70 and 76% of maternal values respectively, while newborn Met- and Leu-Enk medullary content were similar to maternal values. The molar ratio of Met-Enk to Leu-Enk was approximately 4:1 in both maternal and fetal adrenal medulla, and 2:1 in adrenal cortex, suggesting different synthetic processing of opioid peptides in the two tissues. The early appearance of significant levels of adrenal medullary Enk immunoreactivity and subsequent development paralleling that of catecholamines suggest a predominant role for adrenal enkephalins in regulation of fetal cardiovascular function early in gestation.
Regeneration ofSolanum tuberosum cv. Katahdin from leaf expiantsin vitro

A previously published medium has been found to be effective for plant regeneration from leaf expiants ofSolanum tuberosum cv. Katahdin. A number of combinations of thidiazuron and naphthaleneacetic acid, along with a medium previously published for shoot regeneration from protoplast-derived calli ofSolanum phureja, which contained zeatin, indoleacetic acid and gibberellic acid (ZIG), were tested for callus induction, and all calli were transferred to ZIG for shoot induction. We conclude that leaf expiants cultured on ZIG medium at all stages of culture were the most effective at shoot production. A mean of over six shoots were produced per expiant after four months in culture.
Specific recognition of flavin in a sol-gel matrix

A wide variety of biomolecules have been incorporated into sol-gel matrices, retaining their ability to function once immobilized. The interactions required for their activity occur within the macromolecular structure of these dopants. As a result, there is relatively little known about impact of the silicate matrix on fundamental recognition events. To investigate thai effects of the silicate matrix upon the specific hydrogen bond recognition between an immobilized species and a substrate at the molecular level, we have incorporated the biological cofactor flavin mononucleotide (FMN) into a silicate matrix. Molecular recognition of the flavin isoalloxazine unit immobilized within the gel cybotactic regions has been investigated via co-doping with a synthetic diaminopyridine receptor. The presence and specificity of the host-guest interaction was established via quenching of the flavin fluorophore by the receptor, and complete absence of quenching by a non-hydrogen bonding control. The degree of recognition achieved was quantified via fluorescence titration, demonstrating significantly enhanced binding relative to methanolic solution. Investigations into this recognition proces are discussed.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Hemodilution perfusion of cyanotic dogs--physiological studies.

Abstract 1. 1. Fifteen cyanotic dogs and five normal dogs were subjected to two-hour, closed-chest, partial cardiopulmonary bypass using a disposable bag oxygenator primed with Ringer's lactate solution, with or without an additive. 2. 2. The cyanotic dogs had a mild metabolic acidosis and this remained unchanged during the perfusion. Therefore, the addition of sodium bicarbonate or THAM to the priming solution may be recommended in the presence of severe cyanosis. 3. 3. The high hematocrit in cyanotic dogs decreased after anesthesia. 4. 4. Hemolysis was greater in the polycythemic cyanotic dogs than in the normals. 5. 5. Hemolysis resulting from the perfusion was markedly reduced by the use of Pluronic F68. 6. 6. Mannitol prevented hemolysis minimally. The mannitol-induced diuresis diminished the total perfusion volume rapidly and induced hyponatremia. 7. 7. Lower plasma fibronogen levels and higher disappearance rates of fibrinogen were found in cyanotic dogs: these were not changed by the additives. 8. 8. Gross pathological changes were found to be more frequent in the lungs and kidneys of cyanotic dogs than in normal dogs.
Effects of a policy-induced income shock on forest-dependent households in the Peruvian Amazon

Abstract This paper describes how forest-dependent communities in the Peruvian Amazon responded to forest policy changes meant to improve sustainability. These new laws emphasized block-based, collectivized extraction — a strategy incompatible with local communities' logging traditions and technical capacity. Field surveys before and after the policy change revealed a drastic reduction in local logging activities for households at all income levels. Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) subsequently became more important to household cash incomes. However, only some households were able to shift to a more intensive and far-ranging pattern of NTFP harvest, particularly households with boats and motors. Others lost income from both logging and NTFP extraction because for many households, these income sources were interdependent. An increasing Gini coefficient signals potentially escalating household income inequality. Key lessons for biodiversity and forest–carbon interventions in tropical forests include 1) regulations designed to control large-scale extraction can lead to unnecessarily restricted access for small-scale extractors, and 2) potential shifts in extractive pressure should be taken into account when access to forest resources is curtailed.
Self-adhesive monitor/defibrillation pads improve prehospital defibrillation success

We compared self-adhesive, dual-function monitor/defibrillation electrode pads to standard chest monitoring leads and hand-held electrode paddles in the management of prehospital ventricular fibrillation in a single urban paramedic service. Shocks were delivered more quickly following paramedic arrival with self-adhesive pads than with hand-held paddles (1.6 vs 2.5 min; P P P P P
Active site occupancy required for catalytic cooperativity by Escherichia coli transcription termination factor Rho.

Escherichia coli transcription termination factor Rho exhibits the phenomenon of catalytic cooperativity. The catalytic rate per site is 30-fold faster when all three sites are filled with substrate ATP than when only a single site is occupied (Stitt, B. L., and Xu, Y. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 26477–26486). Experiments presented here investigate whether all three active sites must be filled or whether only two occupied sites are required for catalytic cooperativity. The results indicate that all three Rho catalytic sites must be filled with substrate to achieve the enhanced catalytic rate, both in pre-steady-state and in steady-state hydrolysis. They further suggest that, once the enzyme is saturated with ATP, a Vmax enzyme conformation is achieved that is stable for at least three catalytic cycles.
An estimate of the heat balance of a nesting hummingbird in a chilling climate

Abstract 1. 1. The microclimate was analyzed in a field study of thermoregulatory problems during nesting of broad-tailed hummingbirds in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. 2. 2. Air, nest and body surface temperatures, air velocity, and hemispherical radiation data were used with published values for evaporation and metabolism to estimate the total heat loss of the incubating female when air temperatures were 0–4·6°C. 3. 3. Radiative heat loss was 8·7–35 per cent of total heat loss, while convection contributed another 43·5–46 per cent. 4. 4. Results are compared to predictions from air temperature and based on laboratory metabolic data in litt. 5. 5. The significances of the nest as insulation and of the choice of microclimates are discussed.
Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trials of Antidepressants for Acute Major Depression: Thirty-Year Meta-Analytic Review

Antidepressant–placebo response-differences (RDs) in controlled trials have been declining, potentially confounding comparisons among older and newer drugs. For clinically employed antidepressants, we carried out a meta-analytic review of placebo-controlled trials in acute, unipolar, major depressive episodes reported over the past three decades to compare efficacy (drug–placebo RDs) of individual antidepressants and classes, and to consider factors associated with year-of-reporting by bivariate and multivariate regression modeling. Observed drug–placebo differences were moderate and generally similar among specific drugs, but larger among older antidepressants, notably tricyclics, than most newer agents. This outcome parallels selective increases in placebo-associated responses as trial-size has increased in recent years. Study findings generally support moderate efficacy of clinically employed antidepressants for acute major depression, but underscore limitations of meta-analyses of controlled trials for ranking drugs by efficacy. We suggest that efficiency and drug–placebo differences may be improved with fewer sites and subjects, and better quality-control of diagnostic and clinical assessments.
The Africa–Madagascar connection and mammalian migrations

Abstract Madagascar separated from Africa in the Middle–Late Jurassic and has been in its present position relative to Africa since the Early Cretaceous (∼120–130 my). Several Early Eocene to Late Oligocene (∼50–26 my) terrestrial mammalian groups are observed on Madagascar that have a similar ancestral lineage to those found in Africa. These mammalian groups means of transport across the Mozambique Channel from Africa to Madagascar was either by traversing on exposed land masses across a land bridge or by swimming/rafting, since (1) Madagascar has been separated from mainland Africa for at least 70 my before their arrival, and (2) it is unlikely that similar ancestral lineage’s evolved simultaneously in separated regions. No evidence has been found for a land bridge across the Mozambique Channel. The mammals thus either swam or have been swept away on vegetation mats from rivers flowing out of Mozambique or Tanzania.
Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans and Small Bowel Adenocarcinoma: Coincidental Occurrence or Genetic Association?

A case of multiple malignancies in a 41 year old African American man is described. After surgical excision and radiotherapy of dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, the patient developed small bowel adenocarcinoma. We propose a common etiology to these canceres via tumor suppressor gene p53.
Lockean and logical truth conditions

1. In ‘A problem for expressivism’ Frank Jackson and Philip Pettit argue ‘that expressivists do not have a persuasive story to tell about how ethical sentences can express attitudes without reporting them and, in particular, without being true or false’ (1998: 240). Briefly: expressivists say that ethical sentences serve to express non-cognitive attitudes, but that these sentences do not report non-cognitive attitudes. The view that ethical sentences do report non-cognitive attitudes is not Expressivism (and not non-cognitivism), but rather a version of cognitivism. According to (what we’ll call) Subjectivism, a typical ethical sentence like ‘Abortion is wrong’ reports the speaker’s non-cognitive attitude toward abortion; it says, in effect, that abortion is the object of some attitude of the speaker’s. Expressivists, by contrast, say that the sentence expresses a non-cognitive attitude toward abortion, but does not say that the speaker has it. Ayer put it this way: I can say that I am bored by uttering the sentence ‘I am bored’, but I can express boredom, without saying that I am bored, by yawning (Ayer 1952: 109). As Jackson and Pettit see it, a certain plausible Lockean story about how sentences come to express beliefs, and so how they come to have truth conditions and truth values, will cast serious doubt on the Expressivist claim that some sentences express attitudes without reporting them. The main Lockean idea starts from the uncontroversial point that bits of language get their meaning from conventions. What conventional facts give a sentence of the form ‘x is square’ its meaning? The fact that we have (implicitly) agreed ‘to use “x is square” as a way of conveying our taking it to be the case that x is square’ (Jackson and Pettit 2003: 86). Distinguish the assertibility conditions of a sentence from its success conditions. (For ordinary declarative sentences, the success conditions will be the truth conditions, but we want to allow the possibility of success conditions for sentences that lack truth conditions.) The conventions that give sentences meanings had better be conventions governing their assertibility
Effect of ambient levels of power-line-frequency electric fields on a developing vertebrate.

Fertilized eggs of Gallus domesticus were exposed continuously during their 21-day incubation period to either 50- or 60-Hz sinusoidal electric fields at an average intensity of 10 Vrms/m. The exposure apparatus was housed in an environmental room maintained at 37 degrees C and 55-60% relative humidity (RH). Within 1.5 days after hatching, the chickens were removed from the apparatus and tested. The test consisted of examining the effect of 50- or 60-Hz electromagnetic fields at 15.9 Vrms/m and 73 nTrms (in a local geomagnetic field of 38 microT, 85 degrees N) on efflux of calcium ions from the chicken brain. For eggs exposed to 60-Hz electric fields during incubation, the chicken brains demonstrated a significant response to 50-Hz fields but not to 60-Hz fields, in agreement with the results from commercially incubated eggs. In contrast, the brains from chicks exposed during incubation to 50-Hz fields were not affected by either 50- or 60-Hz fields. These results demonstrate that exposure of a developing organism to ambient power-line-frequency electric fields at levels typically found inside buildings can alter the response of brain tissue to field-induced calcium-ion efflux. The physiological significance of this finding has yet to be established.
Nutritional Condition of Patients with Short Bowel Syndrome in the Post Parenteral Nutrition Period

AIM: To evaluate the anthropometric, iron, B12 Vitamin and folate nutritional condition in patients with short bowel syndrome (SBS) after suspending parenteral nutrition (PN) for no less than 2 years. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied 10 pediatric patients with SBS. Anthropometric parameters evaluated: weight, height, brachial perimeter, and width of subscapular, suprailiac, bicipital and tricipital cutaneous folds with Lange caliper. Waterlow′s classification of nutritional condition was used according to weight/height (W/H) and height/age (H/A) fitting percentages, usinge NCHS reference tables. Values, volume and concentration of hemoglobin were assessed, as well as those of ferritin, transferrin, ferremia and percent saturation of transferrin, folic acid, and B12 vitamin. A nutritional survey was also performed. RESULTS: The age range of the patients was 3.3 - 12.9 yrs. The mean of residual bowel was 46.3 cm (range:20–70), jejunum: 30.4 (10–60), ileum 17.9 cm (0–60). The average time of PN dependence was 378.5 days (range:70 – 900). W/H was normal in 8 patients, with a Score I deficit in 2 patients and a low percent of fatty and lean body mass in 1 patient. H/A was abnormally low in 5 patients: 3 Score 1, and 2 Score II. Height was already affected during the PN period The percent of adipose mass was low in 5 patients. Three patients presented anemia, two of which also developed macrocytosis. Such alteration in MCV was also found in two cases where anemia was absent. The levels of B12 vitamin (1 patient) and serum folates (4 patients) were low. The nutritional survey showed that the average daily intake of B12 vitamin and folic acid was adequate, while 50% of patients could not adapt to the intake of iron. Caloric and protein intakes were 110 (range: 67–238) and 326 (r:122–684), respectively. CONCLUSION: Malabsorption of macro and micronutrients can manifest subtly and late. Height in 50% of patients was affected since they were receiving PN. Despite the protein intake fitting percent was well above 100% in all patients, they would apparently not be able to develop a compensatory growth capacity in the post-PN period. Both nutritional control and long-term clinical-biological follow-up should be very strict in SBS patients after PN retrieval.