cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Posttranslational processing of proenkephalin in AtT-20 cells: evidence for cleavage at a Lys-Lys site

Proteolytic processing of proenkephalin was examined in several subclones of AtT-20 cells stably transfected with rat proenkephalin cDNA (AT/PE cells). Proenkephalin is synthesized in both N-glycosylated and unglycosylated forms, as demonstrated by treatment with tunicamycin. RIAs and Western blot studies showed that AT/PE clones process proenkephalin at some, but not all, Lys-Arg sequences in a limited processing profile reminiscent of bovine adrenal chromaffin cells. Pulse-chase studies using Met5-enkephalin-Arg-Gly-Leu antiserum demonstrated that 50% of the precursor is processed within 1 h, and processing is complete after 2.5 h with the production of the 5.3-kilodalton (kDa) peptide. Further cleavage to the octapeptide Met5-enkephalin-Arg-Gly-Leu is minimal. Radiosequencing results verified the efficient cleavage of a Lys-Lys site within proenkephalin that resulted in the production of the 5.3-kDa peptide. Proenkephalin cleavage products stored within cells, which included the 5.3-kDa peptide, could be released upon stimulation of cells with BaCl2 (2-fold above basal levels), 8-bromo-cAMP or CRF (7- and 8-fold above basal levels, respectively), and a mixture of BaCl2 and 8-bromo-cAMP (20-fold above basal levels). An important difference between the processing of proenkephalin and the ACTH/endorphin precursor (POMC) in AtT-20 cells is efficient cleavage of a Lys-Lys site in proenkephalin and not in POMC. The ability of AT/PE to process proenkephalin in a natural manner makes it a suitable model system to investigate elements involved in the processing of proenkephalin at Lys-Lys sites.
Expression microarray analysis identifies novel epithelial-derived protein markers in eosinophilic esophagitis

Gene expression studies in eosinophilic esophagitis support an immune-mediated etiology associated with differential regulation of inflammatory and epithelial-derived genes. We aimed to further characterize epithelial gene expression alterations in eosinophilic esophagitis and to explore the use of immunohistochemistry to identify these alterations. Esophageal biopsies from pediatric patients with eosinophilic esophagitis before and after therapy with topical steroids (N=7) were screened by gene expression microarray and results were validated by RT-PCR. A larger group of eosinophilic esophagitis patients (N=42) was then used to evaluate protein expression by immunohistochemistry compared with reflux patients (N=15) and normal controls (N=17). Microarray and RT-PCR studies identified overexpression of ALOX15 and tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced factor 6 (TNFAIP6) and underexpression of filaggrin (FLG), SLURP1 and cysteine-rich secretory protein 3 (CRISP3) in eosinophilic esophagitis. Immunohistochemistry for ALOX15 was positive in 95% of eosinophilic esophagitis and negative in all controls, all eosinophilic esophagitis after therapy and all reflux biopsies (P<0.001). TNFAIP6 was positive in 88% of eosinophilic esophagitis samples versus 47% of controls, 29% of eosinophilic esophagitis after therapy and 40% of reflux samples (P=0.002). Overexpression of both ALOX15 and TNFAIP6 directly correlated with the degree of eosinophilic infiltration. FLG was positive in 88% of controls and 100% of reflux biopsies, but negative in all eosinophilic esophagitis samples, and its expression was regained in 86% of eosinophilic esophagitis after therapy patients (P<0.001). SLURP1 expression was positive in all controls and reflux samples, but only positive in 5% of eosinophilic esophagitis and was re-expressed to 100% positivity in eosinophilic esophagitis after therapy patients (P<0.001). The majority of controls (89%) and reflux biopsies (100%) were positive for CRISP3 while eosinophilic esophagitis before therapy were positive in 14% of samples (P<0.001) with partial recovery after treatment (43%, P=0.105). This study identified five epithelial-derived markers differentially expressed in eosinophilic esophagitis easily detectable by immunohistochemistry with potential diagnostic utility.
Use of Guided Tissue Regeneration in the Treatment of a Lateral Periodontal Cyst With a 7-Month Reentry

Background: The lateral periodontal cyst (LPC) is an unusual cyst of odontogenic origin, most frequently encountered in the mandible between the roots of canines and premolars. The most common treatment for LPC is surgical enucleation. This article reports a case of an LPC treated with guided tissue regeneration (GTR) and bone allograft.Methods: A 74-year-old woman presented for periodontal examination. Radiographs revealed a cystic lesion with LPC characteristics. After surgical incisions and flap reflection, the cyst was removed and sent for biopsy. Because of the anatomy of the resulting intrabony defect, GTR was considered the ideal treatment.Results: The biopsy revealed the histologic features of an LPC. Radiographs at 7 months post-treatment indicated bone fill of the initial defect. Although some attachment loss occurred, the reentry demonstrated a high percentage of bone fill of the defect after 7 months.Conclusion: Depending on the anatomy of the defect left after the removal of an LPC, GTR, alon...
Effects of cystic fibrosis serum on calcium influx and secretion using isolated tracheal epithelial cells

Hamster trachea epithelial (HTE) cells were shown to respond to 20% cystic fibrosis serum (CFS) by secreting twice as much protein as in the presence of 20% normal human serum (NHS). Serum from obligate heterozygotes (HHS) produced an intermediate effect. A peak of Ca2+ entry into the HTE cells occurred about 30 min after exposure to 20% CFS, followed by a slow decline to basal levels. In contrast, 20% NHS did not cause an influx of Ca2+ and HHS produced an influx to about half that of CFS. Increasing concentrations (5-30%) of pooled NHS had no effect on HTE cell Ca2+ uptake or secretion, but pooled CFS and HHS caused progressive increases in Ca2+ influx and protein secretion from 10 to 25% sera. The CFS-induced Ca2+ influx and secretion were about twice those of HHS throughout the range of serum concentrations tested, suggesting the presence of a modulatory influence in HHS. When EGTA was used to chelate extracellular Ca2+ in the presence of CFS, Ca2+ influx was prevented and there was no stimulation of secretion. Ionophore A23187 allowed Ca2+ entry into HTE cells in the presence or absence of serum and a heightened level of secretory activity followed. The time course of Ca2+ influx under the influence of CFS was shown to correspond to the efflux of Na+ from the cells. Also verapamil, a Ca2+ channel blocking agent, inhibited CFS-induced Ca2+ influx by 50% at 10(-5)M and prevented secretion. Thus, it appears that CFS, but not NHS, contains an agent which stimulates Ca2+ uptake into HTE cells by means of a Ca2+ channel and/or Na+-Ca2+ exchange mechanism, and that increased intracellular Ca2+ levels then trigger secretion. The intermediate HTE cell response to HHS suggests that half of the CFS stimulatory agent is present as would be expected in a gene dose effect, lending support for a genetic basis for CF.
Studies on skeleton formation in reptiles. I. The postembryonic development of the skeleton in Cyrtodactylus pubisulcus (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)

The study of ossification during postembryonic development of the lizard Cyrtodactylus pubisulcus reveals consistent patterns in the skeleton of the body axis and of the limbs. The vertebral column shows a distinct antero-posterior gradient in ossification; the serial homology of sacral ribs and caudal transverse processes with dorsal ribs requires further scrutiny. The sequence of ossification of carpal and tarsal elements is constant, yet different from the pattern of chondrification as described in the literature. The homology of a separate ‘intermedium’ in the ossified lizard carpus requires further discussion. The development of the lizard astragalus is discussed in detail, as is the ossification of epiphyses in the limbs.
Addressing Accuracy Issues in Privacy Preserving Data Mining through Matrix Factorization

Maintaining data mining accuracy on distorted datasets is an important issue in privacy preserving data mining. Using matrix approximation, we propose several efficient and flexible techniques to address this issue, and utilize unique characteristics of matrix factorization to maintain data pattern. We use the support vector machine classification to compare accuracy maintenance after data distortion by different methods. With better performance than some classical data perturbation approaches, nonnegative matrix factorization and singular value decomposition are considered to be promising techniques for privacy preserving data mining. Experimental results demonstrate that mining accuracy on the distorted data used these methods is almost as good as that on the original data, with added property of privacy preservation. It indicates that the matrix factorization-based data distortion schemes perturb only confidential attributes to meet privacy requirements while preserving general data pattern for knowledge extraction.
Early Antiretroviral Therapy for Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Leads to Mucosal CD4+ T-Cell Restoration and Enhanced Gene Expression Regulating Mucosal Repair and Regeneration

Received 10 September 2004/Accepted 10 November 2004 Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections lead to rapid depletion of CD4 T cells from gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). Although the administration of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been shown to increase CD4 T-cell levels in the peripheral blood in both SIV and HIV infections, its efficacy in restoring intestinal mucosal CD4 T cells has not been well investigated. To gain insights into the molecular mechanisms of virally induced disruptions in the mucosal immune system, we have evaluated longitudinal changes in viral burden, T-cell subsets, and mucosal gene expression profiles in SIV-infected rhesus macaques in the absence or presence of ART. Our results demonstrate a dramatic suppression of mucosal viral loads and rapid reconstitution of CD4 T cells in GALT in animals receiving ART that were not observed in untreated SIV-infected animals. DNA microarray-based gene expression profiling indicated that CD4 T-cell restoration in GALT was associated with up regulation of growth factors and genes involved in repair and regeneration of the mucosal epithelium. In contrast, untreated SIV-infected animals increased expression of lymphocyte activation and inflammatory response-associated genes and did not up regulate mucosal growth and repair associated transcription. In conclusion, these data indicate that initiating ART in primary SIV infection may lead to the restoration of the mucosal immune system through reduction of inflammation and promotion of epithelial repair in the intestinal mucosa.
Mapping of Sand Layer Thickness in Deserts Using SAR Interferometry

This paper presents an interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) system to map the bedrock topography underneath the sand in deserts and arid areas. This is anticipated to greatly increase the efficiency of oil field and ground water exploration as well as environmental and archaeological studies. The proposed system consists of two InSAR subsystems, one operating at Ka-band to map the sand topography and the other operates in the VHF band to map the subsurface topography. The different issues associated with InSAR processing for subsurface mapping are discussed. It is shown that conventional InSAR processing produces unacceptable error in height estimation since it does not account for the refraction and the different propagation velocity in the sand. Thus, a new inversion algorithm is developed which can be used to accurately estimate the bedrock topography for arbitrary sand and bedrock geometries. A sensitivity analysis is then presented to show the effect of the different systematic and random errors. The inversion algorithm is verified experimentally for flat sand case using a scaled model that was implemented in the lab.
Distributions of 134Cs and 137Cs in the axial UO2 blankets of irradiated (U,Pu)O2 fuel pins

Abstract The axial distributions of 134Cs and 137Cs in the axial blanket column of uranium-plutonium oxide fuel pins showed that the migration properties of the precursors of these two Cs isotopes were significantly different. The isotopic distributions were directly related to the half-lives of the two principal precursors of each cesium isotope, 133I and 133Xe for 134Cs, and 137I and 137Xe for 137Cs. Both cesium isotopes preferentially collected on natural UO2 blanket pellets having high oxygen content.
PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITION AND WATER SOURCE USE OF SONORAN DESERT RIPARIAN TREES AT THE BILL WILLIAMS RIVER, ARIZONA, USA

We investigated the environmental water sources used in mid-summer by three Sonoran Desert phreatophytic riparian tree species, Salix gooddingii, Populus fremontii, and the exotic Tamarix spp., at sites that differed in water table depth. Salix gooddingii was most sensitive to water table decline, as evidenced by lower predawn water potentials. Although P. fremontii was less sensitive to water table decline than S. gooddingii, its leaf gas exchange was the most responsive to atmospheric water stress imposed by high leaf-to-air vapor pressure deficit. Tamarix spp. was least sensitive to water table decline and showed no reduction of predawn water potential over the measured range of depth to groundwater. Comparison between D/H of xylem and sampled environmental water sources suggest that S. gooddingii and P. fremontii used groundwater at most sites with no change in water source as depth to groundwater varied. In contrast, xylem D/H of Tamarix spp. was depleted in deuterium compared to groundwater at most ...
Bark Beetles, Pityogenes bidentatus, Orienting to Aggregation Pheromone Avoid Conifer Monoterpene Odors When Flying but Not When Walking

Previous studies and data presented here suggest that odors from healthy host Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris) and nonhost Norway spruce (Picea abies), as well as major monoterpenes of these trees at natural release rates, significantly reduce the attraction of flying bark beetles, Pityogenes bidentatus, of both sexes to their aggregation pheromone components grandisol and cis-verbenol in the field, as tested by slow rotation of trap pairs. In contrast, P. bidentatus males and females walking in an open-arena olfactometer in the laboratory did not avoid monoterpene vapors at release rates spanning several orders of magnitude in combination with aggregation pheromone. The bark beetle may avoid monoterpenes when flying as a mechanism for avoiding nonhost species, vigorous and thus unsuitable host trees, as well as harmful resinous areas of hosts. Inhibition of this flight avoidance response in beetles after landing would allow them to initiate, or to find and enter, gallery holes with high monoterpene vapor concentrations in order to feed and reproduce.
Current status of cardiac transplantation and mechanical circulatory support

Cardiac transplantation and mechanical circulatory support are possible options for improving survival and quality of life in patients with isolated cardiac disease and end-stage heart failure. Transplantation is limited by donor availability but has a median survival of 10 years. Post-transplant immunosuppression is often transplant center dependent, but a tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil-based regimen may be preferred. Sirolimus may reduce the progression rate of transplant vasculopathy. There has been a trend toward continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices because of their increased durability and reduced size. A variety of surgical and percutaneous ventricular assist devices may be used as a bridge to decision on a patient’s candidacy for transplantation. Mechanical circulatory support as destination therapy has not been widely implemented because of poor device durability, but this is expected to change with newer devices. Mechanical circulatory support as a bridge to myocardial recovery has been successful only in a few patients.
The small intestinal enterocytes of rats during lead poisoning: the application of the Timm sulphide silver method and an ultrastructural study.

Summary Young male rats were divided into 3 groups which received approximately 100 mg of a lead acetate/kg b.w. per day in their drinking water during 2, 30 and 60 d, respectively. Samples from the jejunum were processed for transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and after 60 d of exposure blocks of tissue were also processed to evaluating the Timm sulphide silver reaction sites in the epithelial absorptive cells in TEM according to Dancher and Zimmer (5). The ultrastructure of enterocytes in poisoned rats at 2 days was similar to the controls. A marked feature of about one third of the rat enterocytes exposed to lead for 30 d was the presence of numerous, small rough-membraned vesicles and prominent, dilated Golgi complexes in their cytoplasm. Most of the enterocytes at the 60th d of lead-exposed rats had a vacuolated cytoplasm associated with the prominent Golgi complexes and vacuoles of various size. They also had pleomorphic rough-membraned vesicles and dilated cisternae of the RER. The presence of the Timm reaction deposits has been observed on the microvillar surface of the brush border in connection with the enterocyte plasma membrane, and in the extracellular space between epithelial cells. Furthermore, Timm precipitates were found in extravascular spaces surrounding capillaries, between endothelial cells, and in the capillary lumen.
The comparative homogeneity of the East Asian NIC exports of similar manufactures

Abstract The “Four Tigers” — South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore serve as a model for successful export driven growth. This paper examines the degree to which their export growth followed similar or divergent patterns in response to income and price changes. Differing responses were found, in general, to characterize export growth of these four countries. However, similar patterns were found to describe the exports of certain sophisticated, research and development (R&D) intensive products. Several explanations are posited and empirically examined.
Dipeptide boronic acid inhibitors of dipeptidyl peptidase IV: Determinants of potency and in vivo efficacy and safety

Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV; E.C. 3.4.14.5), a serine protease that degrades the incretin hormones GLP-1 and GIP, is now a validated target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Dipeptide boronic acids, among the first, and still among the most potent DPP-IV inhibitors known, suffer from a concern over their safety. Here we evaluate the potency, in vivo efficacy, and safety of a selected set of these inhibitors. The adverse effects induced by boronic acid-based DPP-IV inhibitors are essentially limited to what has been observed previously for non-boronic acid inhibitors and attributed to cross-reactivity with DPP8/9. While consistent with the DPP8/9 hypothesis, they are also consistent with cross-reactivity with some other intracellular target. The results further show that the potency of simple dipeptide boronic acid-based inhibitors can be combined with selectivity against DPP8/9 in vivo to produce agents with a relatively wide therapeutic index (>500) in rodents.
DNAse I footprint analysis of nuclear proteins from pituitary and nonpituitary cells that specifically bind to the rat growth hormone promoter and 5'-regulatory region.

Rat (rGH) is expressed exclusively in cells from the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. Using DNAsel footprinting assays, we have examined both pituitary and nonpituitary cell nuclear extracts for proteins which bind specifically to the rGH promoter and 5′-flanking region. In agreement with previous studies, we have located binding sites between −96 and −65, and between −148 and −118 for proteins which have been termed GC1 and GC2, respectively. The GC2 footprint is found using extracts from both pituitary and nonpituitary cells, but GC1 is observed only in pituitary cells. We have also located a binding site for an additional pituitary-specific protein upstream from the GC1 binding site, between −241 and −220. The footprint for this protein, which we call GC3, is found with pituitary extracts, but not with extracts from nine other nonpituitary cell types. Although this pattern of activity is similar to that of GC1, competition experiments with synthetic oligonucleotides show that the two proteins are ...
Microbial sulfur transformations in A-horizon soils of a Missouri Ozark forest managed for timber production by clear-cutting

Abstract Sulfur transformations in A-horizon soils were determined for soils collected from sites managed for timber production by clear cutting between 2–3 or 8–10 y previously, and sites that were last harvested approximately 40 y ago (control sites) in Deer Run State Forest near Ellington, Missouri. Sulfur pools determined included total S, soluble sulfate, adsorbed sulfate and organic S. Sulfur transformations were quantified using trace additions of 35 S-sulfate to aliquots of sieved soils, followed by 48 h aerobic incubations at the temperature of A-horizon soils determined on the date of sample collection. The 35 S recovered from these soils was found in each of the S fractions quantified, with total recovery of radiolabel ranging from 85.6 to 94.6% for all samples. The amount of sulfate incorporated into soil organic matter was calculated using the percent of 35 S-sulfate incorporated into the soil organic S fraction multiplied by the unlabeled adsorbed sulfate pool for that soil to account for isotopic dilution. Organic S production was significantly greater ( P −1 dw d −1 . The short-term production of organic S in A-horizon soils was an aerobic microbial process, as addition of the cytochrome oxidase inhibitor sodium azide significantly reduced the incorporation of 35 S-sulfate into the organic S fraction (1.85 vs 0.21% 35 S-incorporated per 48 h incubation). A-horizon soils from clear-cut sites had approximately 40% less exchangeable K + than the control soils, and from 40 to 70% less exchangeable Mg +2 than the controls. Changes in S transformations observed for A-horizon soils in Deer Run State Forest clear-cut sites appear to be correlated with increased mobility of these cationic nutrients, and may affect the long-term nutrient status of the A-horizon soils of this ecosystem.
Acute toxicity of arsenic to Daphnia pulex: Influence of organic functional groups and oxidation state

Investigations were conducted to determine the influence of organic functional groups (i.e., methyl, phenyl) and valence state (i.e., III, V) on acute (48-h) arsenic toxicity in Daphnia pulex. These included toxicity texts with a suite of inorganic (arsenite, arsenate) and organic arsenicals (trivalent and pentavalent methylated arsenicals, roxarsone, p-arsanilic acid). Toxicity, based on median lethal concentrations (LC50 values), clustered the arsenicals into three groups and followed the order (most toxic to least toxic) of monomethylarsonous acid (MMA(III)), 120 microg/L > inorganic arsenic, 2,500 to 3,900 microg/L > pentavalent methylated arsenicals and phenylarsonic compounds, 13,800 to 15,700 microg/L. Pentavalent organic arsenicals were less toxic than inorganic forms regardless of functional group. In contrast, the trivalent organic species (M MA(III)) was the most toxic arsenical studied. These findings, which are the first to include an aquatic organism, add to the growing body of evidence that find that MMA(III) is an extremely toxic intermediate of arsenic methylation and contradict theories of arsenic toxicity that regard methylation as a detoxication event.
Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 2973, a fast growing cyanobacterial chassis for biosynthesis using light and CO 2

Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 2973, a fast growing cyanobacterial chassis for biosynthesis using light and CO 2
ShareComp: sharing for companionship

We describe our process, findings, and resulting solution for the CHI2005 Student Competition. The design problem was the issue of well-being of persons above the age of 65 years. Loss of a companion can be a primary cause of depression, and decline of social well-being and health for the elderly, so the challenge is to design for "artificial" companionship to support the elderly. We met this challenge by employing extensive research in geriatric psychology, empirical and analytical human-computer interaction methods, interaction design techniques, and technologies currently available or in development. Our solution is a wearable and stationary device that will allow the user to 1) record events through pictures and audio for sharing, 2) gather artifacts of their past such as photographs into a multimedia slideshow format for sharing with others, and 3) allow friends and family to be aware of the user's location for safety purposes.
Genetic consequences of forest population dynamics influenced by historic climatic variability in the western USA

We review recent advances in climate science that show cyclic climatic variation over multiple time scales and give examples of the impacts of this variation on plant populations in the western USA. The paleohistorical reconstructions we review and others indicate that plant species track these cycles in individualistically complex ways. These dynamic histories suggest that genetic structures are in a non-equilibrium state, with populations constantly lagging their environmental optima. Such dynamism may serve to maintain genetic variation in populations, which may be a hedge against rapid environmental change. We also discuss how population history affects the way we analyze and interpret genetic data and, conversely, the way genetic theory affects historical reconstructions.
EMI/EMC Analysis of Printed Circuit Boards Subject to Near-Zone Illuminations

Previously, we proposed a hybrid S-matrix approach for general electromagnetic interference/electromagnetic compatibility (EMI/EMC) analysis of electronic systems. However, that approach was limited to plane wave excitations. In this short paper, we propose a generalization of the hybrid S-matrix approach to near-zone excitations. Such excitations lead to a continuous spectrum of forced modes that are not readily decomposed using the generalized pencil of function method. Herewith, we employ the discrete Fourier transform, with a priori knowledge of the natural transmission line modes, to extract the coefficients of all dominant spectral components. These are subsequently used to generate the hybrid S -matrix entries under near-zone EMI illuminations.
A Case of Fatal Tularemic Pneumonia with Necropsy

1) About 6 per cent of tularemia are typhoidal, and probably half of these have pulmonary involvement. 2) A case of tularemic pneumonia, diagnosed at autopsy, is described. 3) Early inquiry as to possible wild rabbit or tick contacts should be made in all cases of primary atypical pneumonia. 4) In severe cases of primary atypical pneumonia special laboratory technics should be used in an attempt to demonstrate P. tularense, since agglutination tests may remain negative until the fourth week of the disease. 5) In such severe cases a trial of streptomycin is suggested while search for an etiological agent is in process.
The Influence of Short-Term L2 Study Abroad or Home Campus Experience on Speech Intelligibility of Varying Rates in Spanish

Second language (L2) listening is often critical in effective communication, but it is a skill that may be challenged by a number of factors, such as L2 proficiency level, learning environment, and input speech rate. In this preliminary, four-week empirical study, the intelligibility of word-level speech delivered at different rates (normal, moderately fast, and very fast) was examined among adult learners studying Spanish either on their home campus or abroad during a summer mini-semester. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant improvement in decoding speech after four weeks and decreased speech intelligibility as rate increased, but no statistical difference between learning environment groups (i.e., home campus vs. study abroad). An ANCOVA partialling out Spanish oral proficiency as a covariate showed that proficiency surfaced as a mediating variable helping to explain the pre to post gains. Directions for future research will be discussed.
KINETIC THEORY OF FLOW IN STRONGLY INHOMOGENEOUS FLUIDS

Enskog's kinetic theory of dense hard sphere fluids, modified to allow long-ranged attractive interactions in a mean field sense, is solved for the case of slow flow in strongly inhomogeneous fluids, such as fluids near solid surfaces or liquid-vapor interfaces. In the equilibrium limit the theory yields the exact Yvon-Born-Green equation for the density distribution. In the slow flow limit the viscosity is a tensorial functional of the density distribution. Expressions for the velocity profile are derived for plane laminar and Couette flows. The density dependence of the transport coefficients is smoothed once through the angle averaging of the binary collisions of the Enskog theory. In the planar flows the velocity profile obeys a second order differential equation with variable coefficients and so the density dependence is further muted by two successive spatial integrations. The result leads one to expect the velocity profile to depend relatively weakly on density variations. This conclusion is in agr...
THE PHYSIOLOGICAL TRANSITION FROM FASTING TO FEEDING IN WEANED ELEPHANT SEAL PUPS

We studied energetics and food utilization in young elephant seals as they were first introduced to solid food following their long post-weaning fast. Using radioactive tracer techniques, we monitored changes in body composition, protein metabolism, and metabolic rate during fasting and initial feeding. In fasting animals, fat stores supplied nearly all energetic requirements. In feeding animals, 49% of protein ingested was retained as body tissue, allowing protein mass to increase. Body fat was lost at rates comparable to rates in fasting animals and continued to fuel the bulk of metabolism. Weight loss was arrested when animals consumed 786 g/d, or 40 kcal/kg0.75/d, which was far less than their metabolic rates (63–206 kcal/kg0.75/d). Surprisingly, the young seals were able to maintain weight and store protein while energy intake was below metabolic needs. This was possible because animals gained weight as water; they retained wellhydrated proteinaceous tissue while losing poorly-hydrated adipose tissue.
A globally stable high performance adaptive robust control algorithm with input saturation for precision motion control of linear motor drive system

This paper focuses on the synthesis of nonlinear adaptive robust controller with saturated actuator authority for a linear motor drive system, which is subject to parametric uncertainties, unmodeled nonlinearities and input disturbances as well. Global stability is achieved by breaking down the overall uncertainties to state-linearly-dependent uncertainties (such as viscous friction) and bounded nonlinearities (such as coulomb friction, cogging force and etc.) and treating them with different strategies. Furthermore, a guaranteed transient performance and final tracking accuracy can be obtained by incorporating the well-developed adaptive robust controller and effective parameter identifier. Asymptotic output tracking is also achievable in the presence of parametric uncertainties only. Meanwhile, the choice of design parameters is easier to make with the controller designed based on the original states which have physical meanings than the existing control structure with saturation designed in a transformed coordinate
Effect of Intraoperative Hyperglycemia During Liver Transplantation

Background. Intensive blood glucose management has been shown to decrease mortality and infections for intensive care patients. The effect of intraoperative strict glucose control on surgical outcomes, including liver transplantation, has not been well evaluated. Materials and methods. A retrospective review of all adult liver recipients transplanted between January 1, 2004 and July 6, 2006 was performed. Donor and recipient demographics, intraoperative variables, and outcomes were collected. Intraoperative glucose measurements were performed by the anesthesiology team and treated with intravenous insulin bolus or continuous infusion. Patients with strict glycemic control (mean blood glucose <150 mg/dL) were compared with those with poor control (mean blood glucose ≥150 mg/dL). Results. During the study period, a total of 184 patients met criteria for analysis. Recipients with strict glycemic control (n = 60) had a mean glucose of 135 mg/dL compared with 184 mg/dL in the poorly controlled group (n = 124). Other than recipient age (strict versus poor control, 47 ± 2 y versus 53 ± 1 y; P < 0.01), both groups had similar donor and recipient characteristics. Although the incidence of most postoperative complications were similar, poor glycemic control was associated with a significantly increased infection rate at 30 d posttransplant (48% versus 30%; P = 0.02), and also an increased 1 y mortality (21.9% versus 8.8%; P = 0.05). Conclusions. Intraoperative hyperglycemia during liver transplantation was associated with an increased risk of postoperative infection and mortality. Strict intraoperative glycemic control, possibly using insulin infusions, may improve outcomes following liver transplantation.
Cryptic variation in butterfly eyespot development: the importance of sample size in gene expression studies.

SUMMARY Previous studies have shown that development can be robust to variation in parameters such as the timing or level of gene expression. This leads to the prediction that natural populations should be able to host developmental variation that has little phenotypic effect. Cryptic variation is of particular interest because it can result in selectable phenotypes when ‘‘released’’ by environmental or genetic factors. Currently, however, we havelittleidea of howvariation is distributed between genes or over time in pattern formation processes. Here we survey expression of Notch (N), Spalt (Sal), and Engrailed (En) during butterfly eyespot determination to better understand how pattern formation may vary within a population. We observed substantial heterochronic variance in the progress of spatial expression patterns for all three proteins, suggesting some degree of developmental buffering in eyespot development. Peak variance for different proteins was found at both early and late stages of development, contrasting with previous models suggesting that the distribution of variance should be more temporally focused during pattern formation. We speculate that our observations are representative of a standing reservoir of cryptic variation that may contribute to phenotypic evolution under certain circumstances. Our results also provide a strong cautionary message that gene expression studies with limited sample sizes can be positively misleading in terms of inferring expression pattern time series, as well as for making cross-species phylogenetic comparisons.
Quantifying the effects of pesticide exposure on annual reproductive success of birds.

The Markov chain nest productivity model (MCnest) was developed for quantifying the effects of specific pesticide-use scenarios on the annual reproductive success of simulated populations of birds. Each nesting attempt is divided into a series of discrete phases (e.g., egg laying, incubation, nestling rearing), and results from avian toxicity tests are used to represent the types of effects possible in the field during each breeding phase. The expected exposure dose each day throughout the breeding season can be compared to the toxicity thresholds assigned to each breeding phase to determine whether the nest attempt is at risk. The primary output of the model is an estimate of the number of successful nest attempts per female per year, which is multiplied by the number of fledglings per successful nest to estimate the number of fledglings per female per breeding season (i.e., annual reproductive success). In this article, we present a series of MCnest simulations to demonstrate the extent to which the magnitude of change in annual reproductive success can be affected by considering life history attributes and the timing of pesticide applications relative to a species' typical breeding phenology. For a given pesticide-use scenario, MCnest can identify which species are at greatest risk. By allowing multiple species to be run under a single scenario, it can also help to identify the life-history traits that contribute to a species' vulnerability to a given pesticide-use scenario. It also can determine which application dates have the greatest impact and demonstrate the extent to which pesticide characteristics (e.g., residue half-life, mode of action) affect productivity. MCnest goes beyond the current qualitative screening-level assessments of risks to avian reproduction to provide an approach for quantifying the reduction in annual reproductive success by integrating species life history and timing of pesticide exposures, despite limitations in existing information on species life history and toxicity responses from existing laboratory tests. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2013;9:590–599. © 2013 SETAC
Highway Expansion Effects on Urban Racial Redistribution in the Post—Civil Rights Period:

A limited number of historical case studies document that highway construction produced significant consequences on racial relationships and redistribution in the early and mid-20th century. Howev er, little is known about how the expansion of an existing highway system influences urban racial redistribution after the legal bases for social and env ironmental justice in highway construction were established. This research uses census data for 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 to examine the role that highway expansion plays in affecting the redistribution of Blacks and Hispanics at the census tract lev el within the Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis metropolitan area of Wisconsin. The results indicate that the concentration of Blacks and Hispanics in neighborhoods in close proximity to highways that were expanded between 1965 and 1970 increased substantially between 1970 and 2000. Highway expansion promotes Black growth in nearby neighborhoods through its role as an amenity by prov iding easy access to the transportation network. Highway expansion also promotes Hispanic growth but through its role as a disamenity by decreasing housing prices in immediate neighborhoods. The results hav e important policy implications for addressing the issue of racial relationships in urban America.
The County Community in Stuart Historiography

The 1635 ship money writ elicited a “common feeling of dissatisfaction” throughout England. It was the general belief that the tax contravened “fundamental law,” and that in its imposition Charles “had deliberately treated the nation as a stranger to his counsels, and that if his claim to levy money by his own authority were once admitted, the door would be open to other demands of which it was impossible to foresee the limits.” Contrast this account by S.R. Gardiner with a more recent analysis of the response to ship money provided by J.S. Morrill, a scholar who has acknowledged a substantial intellectual debt to Alan Everitt, the progenitor and leading exponent of the concept of the “county community” in seventeenth-century England. “The King's right to levy the rate was rarely questioned in the provinces. Ship money was hated for its costliness and its disruptive effects on the social and political calm of the communities … Above all,” the levy was detested because “it exemplified the government's insensitivity toward localist sentiment and belief.”In these divergent accounts, a fundamental difference emerges between the traditional school of English historians and the county community school of local historians. For Gardiner, seventeenth-century Englishmen were fully aware of and vitally concerned about the actions of their national rulers, actions they evaluated against the touchstone of constitutional principle. Everitt and Morrill insist, by contrast, that even the gentry were “surprisingly ill informed” about “wider political issues”; they were “simply not concerned with affairs of state.”
Low-level determination of six arsenic species in urine by High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS)

Many methods that have been used to speciate arsenic metabolites in urine are unable to adequately resolve the chromatographic peaks for arsenite (As[III]) and arsenobetaine (AsB). We present a High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS) method that has been optimized to reliably measure the following six arsenic species in human urine: As[III], arsenate (As[V]), monomethylarsonous acid (MMA[III]), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA[V]), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA[V]) and AsB. The method was evaluated with regards to changes in mobile phase, accuracy and precision. The ability to quantify the six species in a given sample depended on the low detection limits of the method—0.06 µg L−1 for AsB, 0.11 µg L−1 for As[III], 0.08 µg L−1 for DMA[V], 0.12 µg L−1 for MMA[V] and 0.15 µg L−1 for As[V]. The procedure was used to measure the six arsenic species in urine samples from 387 individuals in southeast Michigan who are chronically exposed to slightly elevated levels of arsenic in their drinking water. The DMA[V] was detected in 99.2% of samples, AsB in 98.2%, MMA[V] in 73.4%, As[III] in 45.0%, and As[V] in 27.1%. No MMA[III] was detected even in samples analyzed within 6 hours after collection. The results raise some doubt as to whether MMA[III] is a significant metabolite in urine of people exposed to arsenic concentrations below 20 µg L−1 in their drinking water.
Recent Approaches in English to Brazilian Racial Ideologies: Ambiguity, Research Methods, and Semiotic Ideologies. A Review Essay

Social scientists usually agree that it is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive of the United States without invoking race. The same is often assumed of the Americas' second most populous nation, Brazil, albeit for different reasons. Throughout much of the twentieth century, debates about Brazil's apparent racial exceptionalism turned on claims about an ostensibly ambiguous blackwhite color line and assertions that its racial ideologies are somehow more mutable, more multifaceted, and hence less riven by descent-based and legallysanctioned distinctions than North American variants. In fact, the twentiethcentury construction of the Brazilian nation has drawn in critical ways on such idealized, often contradictory, engagements with racial mixtures that supposedly gird a hybrid brownness known as "racial democracy." This seductive yet problematic story of a nation made modem through miscegenation has been popularized by a number of influential thinkers, most notably Gilberto Freyre, a Franz Boas-trained public intellectual and scion of a planter family. Freyre, as part of an elite response to European and North American denigrations of Brazil's mixed-race populace, argued famously in his
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in Children

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is typically undifferentiated from many other infections in the first few days of illness. Treatment should not be delayed pending confirmation of infection when Rocky Mountain spotted fever is suspected. Doxycycline is the drug of choice even for infants and children less than 8 years old.
Effect of method of defining the active patient population on measured immunization rates in predominantly Medicaid and non-Medicaid practices.

Objective. To examine the effect of patient selection criteria on immunization practice assessment outcomes. Methods. In 3 high- (50%–85%) and 7 low- ( standard criteria (charts in the active files excluding those that documented the child moved or went elsewhere) with 3 alternative criteria for selecting active patients: 1) follow-up : the chart contained a complete immunization record or the patient was found to be active in the practice through follow-up contact by phone or mail; 2) seen in the past year : the chart indicated that the patient was seen in the practice in the past year; 3) consecutive : patients that were seen consecutively for any reason. Results. Of the 1823 charts assessed in the high- and low-Medicaid practices, follow-up identified 61% and 83% as active patients; 78% and 95% were ever seen in the past year. At 24 months, mean practice immunization rates were lower for standard (70%) than all 3 alternative criteria (78%–86%). Immunization rate differences between standard and alternative criteria were greater in high- (17%–23%) than low-Medicaid practices (5%–13%). Conclusion. The standard for practice assessment should be based on a consistent definition of active patients as the immunization rate denominator.
Summarizing User-Contributed Comments

User-contributed comments are one of the hallmarks of the Social Web, widely adopted across social media sites and mainstream news providers alike. While comments encourage higher-levels of user engagement with online media, their wide success places new burdens on users to process and assimilate the perspectives of a huge number of user-contributed perspectives. Toward overcoming this problem we study in this paper the comment summarization problem: for a set of n usercontributed comments associated with an online resource, select the best top-k comments for summarization. In this paper we propose (i) a clustering-based approach for identifying correlated groups of comments; and (ii) a precedence-based ranking framework for automatically selecting informative user-contributed comments. We find that in combination, these two salient features yield promising results. Concretely, we evaluate the proposed comment summarization algorithm over a collection of YouTube videos and their associated comments, and we find good performance in comparison with traditional document summarization approaches (e.g., LexRank, MEAD).
An effective algorithm for parallelizing sort merge joins in the presence of data skew

Parallel processing of relational queries has received considerable attention of late. However, in the presence of data skew, the speedup from conventional parallel join algorithms can be very limited, due to load imbalances among the various processors. Even a single large skew element can cause a processor to become overloaded. In this paper, we propose a parallel sort merge join algorithm which uses a divide-and-conquer approach to address the data skew problem. The proposed algorithm adds an extra scheduling phase to the usual sort, transfer and join phases. During the scheduling phase, a parallelizable optimization algorithm, using the output of the sort phase, attempts to balance the load across the multiple processors in the subsequent join phase. The algorithm naturally identifies the largest skew elements, and assigns each of them to an optimal number of processors. Assuming a Zipf-like distribution for data skew, the algorithm is demonstrated to achieve very good load balancing for the join phase in a CPU-bound environment, and is shown to be very robust relative to the degree of data skew and the total number of processors.