cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Utility of DNA Sequences of an Intron from the β-Fibrinogen Gene in Phylogenetic Analysis of Woodpeckers (Aves: Picidae)

Estimating phylogenies from DNA sequence data has become the major methodology of molecular phylogenetics. To date, molecular phylogenetics of the vertebrates has been very dependent on mtDNA, but studies involving mtDNA are limited because the several genes comprising the mt-genome are inherited as a single linkage group. The only apparent solution to this problem is to sequence additional genes, each representing a distinct linkage group, so that the resultant gene trees provide independent estimates of the species tree. There exists the need to find novel gene sequences which contain enough phylogenetic information to resolve relationships between closely related species. A possible source is the nuclear-encoded introns, because they evolve more rapidly than exons. We designed primers to amplify and sequence the 7 intron from the beta-fibrinogen gene for a recently evolved group, the woodpeckers. We sequenced the entire intron for 10 specimens representing five species. Nucleotide substitutions are randomly distributed along the length of the intron, suggesting selective neutrality. A preliminary analysis indicates that the phylogenetic signal in the intron is as strong as that in the mitochondrial encoded cytochrome b (cyt b) gene. The topology of the beta-fibrinogen tree is identical to that of the cyt b tree. This analysis demonstrates the ability of the 7 intron of beta-fibrinogen to provide well resolved, independent gene trees for recently evolved groups and establishes it as a source of sequences to be used in other phylogenetic studies.
Comparison of patient- and clinician-collected anal cytology samples to screen for human papillomavirus-associated anal intraepithelial neoplasia in men who have sex with men.

Self-collected samples may increase adherence to anal cancer screening guidelines. This study compared the sensitivity and specificity of patient-collected and physician-collected cytology samples,...
1997 SAEM Presidential Address

I As my term as SAEM President comes to a close, I would like to thank everyone who contributed their time and talent to help make this a successful year. I will begin with the Committee and Task Force chairs who do most of the work of the Society, without much fanfare or recognition. I have been privileged to work with a superb Board of Directors, including Lew Goldfrank, Marcus Martin, John Marx, Ed Bernstein, Michelle Biros, Sandy Schneider, Steve Stapczynski, Scott Syverud, and Brian Zink. My thanks to all of you, and especially to Lew Goldfrank and John Marx, the immediate past and future presidents of the organization who worked closely with me during the course of the year and contributed to smooth transitions at the beginning and end of my term. Lew will be stepping off the Board this year, and I can tell you that his contributions will be missed tremendously. Whatever issue the Board was confronting, Lew always kept us on track, reminding us to be compassionate, altruistic, and principled in our deliberation and activities. Lew, thanks for being there and making my job much easier. I also want to thank the residents and faculty at the University of Michigan for their support and for putting up with my preoccupation with the Society and with a fax machine that was always busy with SAEM correspondence. Finally, thanks to Mary Ann Schropp and her staff. I am not sure how many of you realize the extent to which we are all dependent upon Mary Ann to keep this organization running smoothly. It simply would not be the same organization without her. Before I turn over the reigns of the presidency, I would like to make a few remarks about a topic upon which I have tried to focus the organizations energies and resources this past year, namely, the academic development of our residents and faculty. As I look to the future, I believe that academic development will continue to be one of the biggest challenges that emergency medicine (EM) faces. There is no doubt that at the present time we have our hands full with other important issues such as graduate medical education funding cutbacks, managed care, and an increasing competitive clinical environment. I am not suggesting that any of these are unimportant, but even as we face these issues, academic development remains a premiere challenge for one simple reason. We are all academicians and we are all involved in the growth and maturation of an ac-
Editorial comment: symposium: complex issues in glenohumeral instability.

In the past several years, our understanding of shoulder instability has evolved and our surgical approaches have correspondingly developed. Our contemporary approaches seek to marry the benefits of a minimally invasive, arthroscopic approach with long-term restoration of shoulder function and a low-risk of recurrence. Despite this evolution, the rate of failure after arthroscopic surgery for shoulder instability remains substantial, and new challenges in the management of failed arthroscopic stabilization surgeries have ascended, including glenohumeral bone loss. Additionally, the expectations regarding out surgical treatments have grown to not just achieve stability for the joint, but to also restore normal or near-normal kinematics and contact mechanics of the shoulder joint. In this regard, understanding the subjective and objective efficacy and complications of both our nonoperative and surgical approaches for primary and revision instability surgery is critical. In this issue, we present a number of primary research articles that address many of the current challenges in complex glenohumeral instability. These include studies evaluating the role of immobilization in external rotation on clinical outcomes and anteroposterior stability, the impact of complex, bipolar bone loss on shoulder stability, and the efficacy of remplissage or Latarjet on restoring function and stability, among many other important topics. This collection of well-designed and insightful manuscripts not only offers us novel considerations as shoulder surgeons, but also serves as a humble reminder of “what we don’t know.” Future studies must work to fill these gaps, and help us to accomplish both shoulder stability and joint preservation with normal preinjury kinematics and function.
Spin relaxation of rubidium atoms in sudden and quasimolecular collisions with light-noble-gas atoms

Spin relaxation of optically pumped ${\mathrm{Rb}}^{85}$ and ${\mathrm{Rb}}^{87}$ atoms colliding with light-noble-gas atoms is shown to be strongly influenced by an anomalous relaxation process which we attribute to the formation and destruction of bound and quasibound Van der Waals molecules. The anomalous relaxation rate has been measured and analyzed in Ne, complementing an earlier study in He. Relative rates of formation of complexes in two- and three-body collisions have been determined. The correlation time for the quasimolecular interaction in Rb-Ne has been found to be 6.7 \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}10}$ ${p}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ sec, where $p$ is the Ne pressure in Torr. Nuclear-spin-independent cross sections for the relaxation of $〈{S}_{z}〉$ in sudden binary collisions of Rb atoms with noble-gas atoms have been measured to be (units of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}24}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$: $\ensuremath{\sigma}(\mathrm{Rb}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{He})=3.1$ $\ensuremath{\sigma}(\mathrm{Rb}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{Ne})=19$ $\ensuremath{\sigma}(\mathrm{Rb}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{Ar})=630$ $\ensuremath{\sigma}(\mathrm{Rb}\ensuremath{-}{\mathrm{N}}_{2})=83$. Relaxation in sudden binary collisions is shown to follow the theoretically expected nuclear spin dynamics: two relaxation rates in the ratios 8:1 for ${\mathrm{Rb}}^{87}$ and 18:1 for ${\mathrm{Rb}}^{85}$ have been measured. Diffusion coefficients of Rb in the various buffer gases have been measured to be (units of ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$/ sec, at 305\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K): ${D}_{0}(\mathrm{Rb}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{He})=0.42$, ${D}_{0}(\mathrm{Rb}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{Ne})=0.235$, ${D}_{0}(\mathrm{Rb}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{Ar})=0.16$, ${D}_{0}(\mathrm{Rb}\ensuremath{-}{\mathrm{N}}_{2})=0.16$. Nuclear-spin-independent cross sections for the relaxation of $〈{J}_{z}〉$ in the $5^{2}P_{\frac{1}{2}}$ state of Rb have been measured to be 3.4 \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}16}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ for Rb-He, and 5.9 \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}16}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ for Rb-Ne. Anomalies, disagreements, and puzzles occurring in earlier measurements of ground-state relaxation in Rb are shown to be largely resolved when considered in the light of the new results.
3D Micromechanical modeling of packed beds

A new 3D numerical model has been developed to simulate the thermal and mechanical characteristics of packed beds used in fusion reactor blankets and other applications. This method is based on an explicit numerical scheme which monitors the interaction of the particles contact by contact and their motion particle by particle. In this paper, a mathematical formulation as well as a model which predicts the packed bed thermomechanical states under imposed and induced loads are presented. The model is validated by comparing the numerical simulations with thermal expansion and uniaxial compression experiments of packed beds. The results of the calculated bed effective modulus compares reasonably well with the experimental data.
Dominant male red junglefowl ( Gallus gallus ) test the dominance status of other males

In sexual selection, honest signals are maintained by a variety of mechanisms. In red junglefowl (Gallus gallus), health, condition and social status affect comb size, a well-documented predictor of female choice. The comb size of subordinate male junglefowl appears to be suppressed when in the company of other males. One hypothesis for how social status could affect ornament expression in this way involves punishment of cheaters. Under this scenario, dominant males periodically challenge similar males signalling putative high status. For subordinate males, the risk of fighting a high-ranked male could make it prohibitively costly to develop ornamentation signalling dominance. We asked if dominance signals influenced the direction of aggression by dominant males. To address this issue, we conducted experiments in which 19 dominant-acting, large-combed male junglefowl were allowed to choose to fight one of two opponents. The two potential fight opponents differed in comb size, dominance behaviour, or in both traits. In 15 of 19 trials, dominant-acting males chose to fight large-combed, dominant-acting opponents rather than small-combed, subordinate-acting opponents. This is the first demonstration that aggression of dominant male birds is directed at other males based on the display of an ornament known to be attractive to females. However, males did not discriminate between fight opponents when potential opponents differed in only one of the two status indicators (large-combed males chosen in 11 of 19 trials, dominant-acting males chosen in 10 of 19 trials).
Denaturation of Heterogeneous DNA

The effect of heterogeneous sequence composition on the denaturation of double-stranded DNA is investigated. The resulting pair-binding energy variation is found to have a negligible effect on the critical properties of the smooth second-order melting transition in the simplest (Peyrard-Bishop) model. However, sequence heterogeneity is dramatically amplified upon adopting a more realistic treatment of the backbone stiffness. The model yields features of ``multistep melting'' similar to those observed in experiments.
Stereochemical analysis of (hydroxyethyl)urea peptidomimetic inhibitors of gamma-secretase.

(Hydroxyethyl)urea peptidomimetics systematically altered at positions P2−P3‘ with hydrophobic d-amino acids were synthesized. An all d-amino acid containing analogue was identified that effectively blocked γ-secretase activity in a cell-free system (IC50 = 30 nM). Systematic alteration of the stereocenters of a potent compound revealed interdependence between the various positions. Although typically less potent than their l-peptidomimetic counterparts, selected all d-amino acid containing analogues were equipotent to their counterparts in a cell-based assay when incubated for extended times.
The generalized genetic code. A note on order‐isomorphism/order‐equivalence relations

Constructive and combinatorial relationships between order-isomorphisms and order-equivalence classes within the generalized genetic code are presented, not only for the biologically relevant groups of order 4, but also for finite groups of arbitrary order. The main result is the derivation of the number (and types) or order-equivalence classes for a group of order n. Finally, an extension of this work to all biologically admissible alternative codes is discussed.
Fine structural localization of connexin-36 immunoreactivity in mouse cerebral cortex and thalamus

The mounting physiological evidence for low-resistance electrical coupling between thalamic and cortical neurons contrasts with a lack of morphological data on gap junctions in thalamus and cortex. Connexin-36 is a neuronally specific protein associated with low-resistance gap junctions in the central nervous system. Connexin-36 localization was studied in the mouse somatosensory cortex and thalamus by using immunocytochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy. Expression of connexin-36 immunoreactivity is widespread in the forebrain and significantly enhanced in the barrel cortex and thalamic reticular nucleus during the second postnatal week, but it extends to other thalamic nuclei as well. At the electron microscopic level, pre- and postembedding immunogold labeling revealed that 70-76% of connexin-36-immunolabeled particles were localized at focal sites on apposed plasma membranes of cortical and thalamic dendrites; approximately 5% of the particles were associated with parasynaptic membranes; but on no occasion could overt, morphologically identifiable gap junctions be demonstrated in association with connexin-36 immunoreactivity. The widespread distribution of focal concentrations of connexin-36 subunits could provide a basis for the electrical coupling that exists between cortical and reticular thalamic neurons, but morphologically definable gap junctions may be too small to be adequately visualized by conventional immunoelectron microscopy.
Evaluation of multi-attribute decision making systems applied during the concept design of new microplasma devices

Various multi-attribute decision making (MADM) systems can be implemented to narrow a field of new concept designs down to those with high likelihoods of surpassing state-of-the-art technologies. This research investigated the conceptual design phase of new microplasma devices in order to create metrics that evaluate the efficiency, effectiveness, and overall utility of representative MADM systems studied in previous engineering design applications. Device attributes and concept alternatives for the microplasma devices were identified from open-ended expert surveys. Efficiency metrics were defined based on the number of manual user inputs. Published device literature and testing were used to gauge how closely device concepts satisfied multi-attribute criteria, forming the basis of an effectiveness metric. A weighted average of the efficiency and effectiveness defined a MADM system's overall utility. Varying the effectiveness weight provided further insight into the conditions under which particular MADM approaches exhibited higher utility values. The MADM systems found to possess the highest overall quantified utilities were based on Pugh's controlled convergence, Utility Based Axiomatic Framework, and Grey Relational Analysis. The MADM method with the lowest overall utility was the analytical hierarchy process. These findings indicate that consensus building and utility-based MADM systems are especially helpful to engineering design teams during the early design phases of novel technologies when resources are constrained or historical data is limited.
EEG and behavioral profile of flutroline (CP-36,584), a novel antipsychotic drug

The pharmacologic profile of flutroline, a tetrahydro-γ-carboline compound, predicts and antipsychotic compound with greater potency and longer duration than established clinical antipsychotic compounds. In normal male volunteers, it elicited EEG, behavioral, and plasma prolactin release profiles similar to established antipsychotic compounds. Peak activity occurred in 4–5 h. But the clinical activity projected from these studies is one-fifth that of haloperidol. In relation to the available clinical findings, the pharmaco-EEG data are better predictors of the clinical activity of flutroline than its preclinical profile.
Aβ42 Is Essential for Parenchymal and Vascular Amyloid Deposition in Mice

Summary Considerable circumstantial evidence suggests that Aβ42 is the initiating molecule in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis. However, the absolute requirement for Aβ42 for amyloid deposition has never been demonstrated in vivo. We have addressed this by developing transgenic models that express Aβ1-40 or Aβ1-42 in the absence of human amyloid β protein precursor (APP) overexpression. Mice expressing high levels of Aβ1-40 do not develop overt amyloid pathology. In contrast, mice expressing lower levels of Aβ1-42 accumulate insoluble Aβ1-42 and develop compact amyloid plaques, congophilic amyloid angiopathy (CAA), and diffuse Aβ deposits. When mice expressing Aβ1-42 are crossed with mutant APP (Tg2576) mice, there is also a massive increase in amyloid deposition. These data establish that Aβ1-42 is essential for amyloid deposition in the parenchyma and also in vessels.
Vibrations of Completely Free Rounded Rectangular Plates

The natural vibration of rectangular plates with rounded corners is studied by using a family of homotopy shapes and an efficient Ritz method.
PATHOLOGY OF DISEASES IN WILD DESERT TORTOISES FROM CALIFORNIA

Twenty-four ill or dead desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) were received between March 1992 and July 1995 for necropsies from the Mojave and Colorado deserts of California (USA). Diseases observed in these animals included cutaneous dyskeratosis (n = 7); shell necrosis (n = 2); respiratory diseases (n = 7); urolithiasis (n = 3); and trauma (n = 5). In tortoises with cutaneous dyskeratosis the horn layer of shell was disrupted by multiple crevices and fissures and, in the most severe lesions, dermal bone showed osteoclastic resorption, remodeling, and osteopenia. In tortoises with shell necrosis, multiple foci of necrotic cell debris and heterophilic inflammation within the epidermal horn layer were subtended by necrotic dermal bone colonized by bacteria and fungi. Of the seven tortoises with respiratory disease, five were diagnosed with mycoplasmosis. The diagnosis of mycoplasmosis was based on the presence of chronic proliferative rhinitis and positive serologic tests and/or isolation of Mycoplasma sp...
The Special Needs of Homeless Children Early Intervention at a Welfare Hotel

Homelessness is the most obvious manifestation of the unavailability of affordable housing for low income families. This study describes the demographic characteristics of 72 homeless families, and 87 homeless preschool children, in day care at a large welfare hotel. Economic conditions most frequently led to loss of housing. Asthma and other chronic illnesses were prevalent. Three-fourths of the children initially presented with developmental delays and deviations, primarily impulsivity and speech delay. Early intervention restored age level functioning for most children. Disruptions in service for relocated families jeopardizes gains. Recidivism is an emerging problem.
Toxicity of atrazine to the estuarine phytoplankter Pavlova sp. (Prymnesiophyceae): increased sensitivity after long-term, low-level population exposure.

Phytoplankton are potentially more at risk to the adverse effects of herbicides than many other organisms in estuarine ecosystems. The focus of this study was to characterize the toxicity of a widely used herbicide, atrazine, to a single species of phytoplankton. The nanoplankter Pavlova sp. was grown under controlled laboratory conditions and was used to elucidate short-term, high-level population effects of atrazine. Secondly, a long-term, multigenerational population exposure was performed with a low level of atrazine followed by an additional short-term, high-level exposure on the same population with no recovery period. The 96–h growth rate of 50% effective concentration (EC50) for Pavlova sp. was 147 μg/L (95% CI = 116.4–178.7 μg/L). Long-term exposure at 20 μg/L for four (batch culture) growth cycles (∼20 generations) had no significant effect on the growth rate of Pavlova sp. except during the fourth growth cycle. However, a subsequent short-term, high-level 96–h exposure inoculated from the long-term, low-level exposed population showed increased sensitivity to atrazine (96–h growth rate EC50 = 96.0 μg/L, 95% CI = 90.2–103.7 μg/L). Multigenerational exposure to atrazine appeared to render phytoplankton significantly more sensitive (35%) to atrazine effects. Given the documented persistence of atrazine in surface waters, long-term exposure to low levels of atrazine without recovery may lead to shifts in species sensitivity and potential alterations in phytoplankton population dynamics.
Business Planning for Climate Change: Identifying Vulnerabilities and Planning for Changes in Water, Temperature, Sea Level, Natural Resources, Health Effects, and Extreme Events

The ability to predict the timing and magnitude of future climate and temperature changes at a regional level has become increasingly important for corporate decision making and enterprise risk management. In the short term, companies could face decisions about acquisitions of water-dependent companies and natural resources or might be planning facilities or operations in communities vulnerable to erosion and flooding, changes in water supplies, and increasing health-care costs. In the intermediate term, companies need to assess these vulnerabilities to determine appropriate insurance coverage, plan for new infrastructure, implement preventative health-care programs, or protect natural resources. A technical approach needs to involve predictive tools that can provide bounding estimates at regional scales. The implications of those changes need to be translated to consequences that can affect specific businesses. Corporations must be cognizant of the uncertainties in this forecasting process and for that r...
Increased cerebellar thymidine kinase and DNA during early postnatal development of diethylstilbestrol-treated rats

Abstract Thymidine kinase activity and DNA content were determined in the cerebellum after the administration of diethylstilbestrol (DES) to neonatal female rats. Rats were injected s.c. with either 30 μg DES or vehicle 48 h after birth. DNA and thymidine kinase were measured in the cerebellum at 3, 7, 10, 18, 21, 26, and 60 days of age. Thymidine kinase activity and DNA content in the DES-treated littermates were significantly increased between ages 3 to 21 days and ages 3 to 26 days, respectively. The data suggest diethylstilbestrol-induced relationships between thymidine kinase activity and DNA synthesis during the period of rapid cerebellar development.
The emergence of service operations management as an academic discipline

Abstract During the latter part of the 20th century, the service sector grew significantly in virtually every developed country, with the United States taking the lead. By 2000, services comprised almost 80% of U.S. employment. This rapid growth was caused by several factors including changing population lifestyles, deregulation, and new and improved infrastructure including the widespread availability of new technologies. With the service sector surpassing 50% of the U.S. economy in the 1950s, researchers – especially economists – began to examine the characteristics of services and attempt to apply some of the concepts that were developed and proven in manufacturing. From these early efforts there emerged a growing demand for business schools to develop both research agendas and courses in service operations. Beginning at the Harvard Business School in the early 1970s, and continuing through to the present, research and courses in service operations have evolved from simply applying basic manufacturing concepts in a service environment to recognizing the need for a trans-disciplinary approach appropriately suited to the particular characteristics of service operations. This article traces the evolution of service operations from its immediate pre-business school days through its early years as an academic discipline in business schools to the present, identifying “pioneers” in service operations who truly blazed a previously unmarked trail that many have since followed.
Risk and the Demand for Supplemental Irrigation: A Case Study in the Corn Belt

Rapid increases in irrigated acreage in the Corn Belt states during recent years have renewed interest in the associated questions of water resource management and the economic feasibility of supplemental irrigation. Corn plant growth and the associated grain yield is particularly sensitive to moisture stress during pollination (June or July), when soil moisture is especially variable. By reducing moisture stress in these periods, supplemental irrigation can increase and stabilize corn yields. The focus of most economic feasibility studies of irrigation has been to compare the increases in crop revenues to the costs of irrigating-a cost-benefit approach. It has been suggested, however, that stability of yields, and thus the reduction of risk, should be considered among the benefits from irrigation (Carson, Wheaton, Mannering). Although cost-benefit studies have been used to explain the rapid adoption of irrigation in humid areas by exploring the impacts of prices, costs, and technology changes; no thorough analysis has been made of the impact of risk aversion on the demand by farm firms for supplemental irrigation. This study evaluates the implications of risk aversion for the derived demand for supplemental irrigation of corn using a case study approach.
Cytochrome a3: destruction by light.

Spectroscopic measurements on cultures of Prototheca zopfii irradiated with blue light revealed that inhibition of respiration was accompanied by destruction of cytochrome a 3 . One of the three b-type cytochromes and one of the two c-type cytochromes of this organism were also affected. Cytochrome oxidase of yeast (not resolved into the a and a 3 components) and cytochrome a 3 of beef-heart mitochondria were also destroyed by blue light.
An ion microprobe study of the microchemistry of Ni-base superalloy-Al2O3 metal-matrix composites

SUMMARY The chemical microstructure of Ni-base superalloy/Al2O3 metal-matrix composites (MMCs) has been studied by scanning ion microprobe microanalysis, using the secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) technique. The MMCs were fabricated using the transient-liquid-phase bonding (TLP) process, with B-doped superalloy powder as an interlayer. Boron was found to diffuse rapidly throughout the matrix to form boride phases, mostly at the grain boundaries in the matrix. These borides contain excess Cr (also Mo, Si, W) in comparison with the Ni alloy-matrix, but are depleted in Ni (also in Al and Co). Carbides form at the grain boundaries as thin platelets and inside the grains as fine particles. Chemical reaction occurs between the sapphire fibre and the matrix; formation of NiAl2O4 spinel at the interface is suggested. This interface reaction layer is friable and parts of it peel off during consolidation to become inclusions in the matrix near the fibre/matrix interface.
Mechanical, Thermal, and Oxidation Properties of Refractory Hafnium and zirconium Compounds

Abstract The thermal conductivity, thermal expansion, Youngs Modulus, flexural strength, and brittle–plastic deformation transition temperature were determined for HfB2, HfC0·98, HfC0·67, and HfN0·92 ceramics. The oxidation resistance of ceramics in the ZrB2–ZrC–SiC system was characterized as a function of composition and processing technique. The thermal conductivity of HfB2 exceeded that of the other materials by a factor of 5 at room temperature and by a factor of 2·5 at 820°C. The transition temperature of HfC exhibited a strong stoichiometry dependence, decreasing from 2200°C for HfC0·98 to 1100°C for HfC0·67 ceramics. The transition temperature of HfB2 was 1100°C. The ZrB2/ZrC/SiC ceramics were prepared from mixtures of Zr (or ZrC), SiB4, and C using displacement reactions. The ceramics with ZrB2 as a predominant phase had high oxidation resistance up to 1500°C compared to pure ZrB2 and ZrC ceramics. The ceramics with ZrB2/SiC molar ratio of 2 (25 vol% SiC), containing little or no ZrC, were the most oxidation resistant.
Heritability of Expression of the 70kd Heat-shock Protein in Drosophila melanogaster and its Relevance to the Evolution of Thermotolerance

The principle inducible heat-shock protein of Drosophila melanogaster, Hsp70, contributes to thermotolerance throughout the entire life cycle of the species but may also reduce fitness in some life stages. In principle, selection might maximize the benefits of Hsp70 expression relative to its costs by adjusting the magnitude of Hsp70 expression for each life-cycle stage independently. Therefore we examined whether the magnitude of Hsp70 expression varied during the life cycle and the relationship of this variation to several life-history traits. For 28 isofemale lines derived from a single natural population, estimates of heritable variation in Hsp70 expression ranged between 0.25 and 0.49, and the association among variation in first- and third-instar larvae and in adults correlated highly. Thus, Hsp70 expression is genetically coupled at these developmental stages. A line engineered with extra copies of the hsp70 gene produced more Hsp70 and survived heat shock much better than did a control strain. Among natural lines, Hsp70 expression was only weakly related to tolerance of heat shock and to larva-to-adult survival and developmental time at permissive temperatures. Additionally, lines with high adult survival developed slowly as larvae, which is a possible trade-off. These and other findings suggest that trade-offs may maintain quantitative variation both in heat-shock protein expression and in life-history traits that associate with thermotolerance.
A New Comparison Between Conventional Indexing (MEDLARS) and Automatic Text Processing (SMART).

A new testing process is described designed to compare conventional retrieval (MEDLARS) and automatic text analysis methods (SMART). The results obtained with a collection of documents chosen independently of either SMART or MEDLARS indicate that a simple automatic extraction of keywords from document abstracts produces a 30 to 40 percent loss compared with MEDLARS indexing. A replacement of the unranked Boolean searches used in MEDLARS by the standard ranked output normally provided by SMART reduces the loss to between 15 and 20 percent. When an automatically generated word control list or a thesaurus is used as part of the SMART analysis, the results are comparable in effectiveness to those obtained by the intellectual MEDLARS indexing. Finally, the incorporation of user feedback procedures into SMART furnishes an improvement over the normal MEDLARS output of 15 to 30 percent. One concludes again that no technical justification exists for maintaining controlled, manual indexing in operational retrieval environments.
The Fate Diversity of Mesodermal Cells within the Heart Field during Chicken Early Embryogenesis

In gastrulation stage embryos of birds and mammals, the heart field is established as mesodermal crescents flanking the area rostrolateral to Hensen's node. Subsequent fusion of the bilateral heart primordia gives rise to a single tubular heart consisting of two epithelial layers: an outer myocardium and an inner endocardium. To date, it is uncertain whether these two distinct cell types of the heart arise from common or separate progenitor populations of mesodermal cells within the heart field. By retroviral single cell marking and tracking, we examined the diversity of cell populations present in the heart field of stage 4 chicken embryos. Here we demonstrate that individual mesodermal cells in the heart field gave rise to a clone consisting only of one cell type, either endocardial or myocardial cells; i.e., 95.1% of the mesoderm-derived clones were localized in the myocardium, while 4.9% of them were found in endocardium. No clones containing both of these two cell types were detected. The results suggest that the heart field mesoderm at stage 4 consists of at least two distinct subpopulations, containing more premyocardial cells than preendocardial cells. If there exists a common precursor of both myocardial and endocardial cells, the lineage diversification must occur at or prior to the arrival of mesodermal cells to the heart field.
Native and foreign born as predictors of pediatric asthma in an Asian immigrant population: a cross sectional survey.

Background Asthma prevalence is lower in less developed countries and among some recent immigrant populations in the US, but the reasons for this are not clear. One possibility is that early childhood infections are protective against asthma.
The effect of arc parameters on the growth of carbon nanotubes

The influence of starting carbon material on the generation of carbon nanotubes is investigated. Comparisons are made between oriented graphite, randomly oriented graphite, carbon black, and a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon as carbon sources in helium and hydrogen arcs. Transmission electron microscopy investigation of the redeposited rod formed on the cathode and the soot from the chamber walls provides evidence for the building blocks that lead to the nanostructures formed. It is postulated that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are precursors for carbon nanotube growth in a hydrogen arc. While, in the case of helium, low molecular weight carbon ions and molecules have been previously hypothesized by others to be the building blocks for nanotube growth.
Arterial blood pressure in the unanaesthetized fetal lamb after changes in fetal blood volume and haematocrit.

Fourteen sheep fetuses in the third trimester of gestation were surgically prepared with intravascular catheters and five were nephrectomized. All experiments were done on unanaesthetized fetuses in utero, 3 to 9 days after surgery. Mean arterial blood pressure was recorded while fetal blood volume was changed by injection or withdrawal of blood, or infusion of Ringer's or dextran solutions. Fetal arterial blood gases and pH changed little during the experiments and were shown not to have affected the results. Arterial blood pressure was strongly influenced by changes in fetal blood volume and was also found to depend on haematocrit. There were no detectable differences between the responses of normal and nephrectomized fetuses or between normal fetuses and fetuses treated with hexamethonium. In all preparations central venous pressure depended on blood volume. Heart rate did not depend on blood volume in normal fetuses, but an increase in heart rate with an increase in blood volume was seen after hexamethonium. The open loop gain of baroceptor control of arterial blood pressure could not be proved to differ significantly from zero. Venoconstrictor responses and heart rate responses of reflex origin did not occur when arterial blood pressure was changed. The absence of detectable baroceptor control appears to explain the great sensitivity of arterial blood pressure to blood volume in the unanaesthetized fetal lamb.
Sources of Growth Variation Among Individual Black Bullheads, Ictalurus melas, and Channel Catfish, Ictalurus punctatus

Abstract Fingerling black bullheads and subadult channel catfish were given various amounts of feed in different sections of earthen ponds subdivided with hardware cloth. A number of factors were investigated to determine their effects on gains in weight of individual fish. Both species made greater gains at higher rates of supplemental feeding, but gains were not directly proportional to the amount of feed used. Gains of male black bullheads relative to those of females varied with food supply. In groups having the least food, males and females made similar gains; in groups having the most food, the gains of males were far greater than those of females. Differences in initial weight had little effect on gains made by male bull-heads, but gains by females were highly correlated with initial weight. Gains were more highly correlated with initial weight for channel catfish than for black bullheads. The relation of gain to sex in channel catfish was not determined. The relationship of gain to initial weight ...
MORTALITY OF THIRD-INSTAR CARIBBEAN FRUIT FLY (DIPTERA: TEPHRITIDAE) REARED AT THREE TEMPERATURES AND EXPOSED TO HOT WATER IMMERSION OR COLD STORAGE

Caribbean fruit flies, Anastrepha suspense (Loew), were reared from egg to third instar at 20, 25, or 30 + 0.3°C in a semiartficial diet, carambolas, and guavas, then exposed to hot water immersion (43–46°C) and cold storage (1°C) quarantine treatments. Caribbean fruit flies were more tolerant of heat when reared at higher temperatures than low temperatures inside the range of 20–30°C. Third instars reared on semi artificial diet at 30°Chad significantly less mortality (49.0%) than those reared at 20°C(94.2%) when insects reared at both temperatures were immersed in water at 43°C for 21 min. In tests with large numbers of third instars reared on semi artificial diet, mortality was 100. 99.9909. and 99.926% for larvae reared at 20, 25, and 30°C, respectively, and immersed in water at 43°C for 43 min. Mortality of Caribbean fruit fly larvae reared inside guavas at 20, 25, and 30°C immersed in hot water at 46°C for 25 min was 100, 99.917, and 99.40%, respectively. This information should be considered when heat quarantine treatments and models of Caribbean fruit fly mortality to heat are designed. Rearing temperature (20–30°C) did not affect tolerance to 1°C cold storage.
The Burlington Community Land Trust: A Socialist Approach to Affordable Housing?

Shortly after Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980, Bernard Sanders, a socialist, became mayor of Burlington, Vermont. The Burlington Community Land Trust (BCLT), one of many policy initiatives under t...
Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations

On 13 September 1759, General James Wolfe, having led the British troops up the St Lawrence to victory in the Battle of Quebec, died on the Heights of Abraham. Schama examines this death, and how Wolfe was made to die again - through the spectacular painting by Benjamin West, and through the writings of the 19th-century historian Francis Parkman. Schama's second death concerns Parkman's uncle, George Parkman of Harvard Medical College, who disappeared in 1849 in mysterious circumstances and who was rumoured to have been murdered by a colleague. Through these incidents, Schama sheds light on the writing of history, the history of history, and the relationship of 'story' to 'history'.
Covenants Without Swords: Idealist Liberalism and the Spirit of Empire

Covenants Without Swords: Idealist Liberalism and the Spirit of Empire. By Jeanne Morefield. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005. 280p. $39.50. The entanglement of liberal political thought and European imperial expansion has received increasing attention in recent years, in work by David Armitage, Barbara Arneil, Uday Mehta, Richard Tuck, and James Tully, among others. Yet the phenomenon remains puzzling, for while many European liberals, especially from the mid–nineteenth century through the interwar period, enthusiastically promoted imperial rule, the reasons for their support varied widely: There is no single or consistent liberal imperialism. Jeanne Morefield has enriched this story considerably with her closely argued and elegantly written account of a hitherto largely neglected episode, which she calls “one of the most philosophically interesting moments when liberal thinkers and activists engaged in the politics of hierarchy and paternalism” (p. 2). Although Morefield's protagonists, Gilbert Murray and Alfred Zimmern, have not received much attention in previous scholarship, her narrative impressively complements the account in Martti Koskenniemi's recent book The Gentle Civiliser of Nations (2002). Both chronicle the activities and ideas of visionary internationalists who aspired to end the barbarities of war and erect a humane international system, but who also keenly supported European imperial expansion during its heyday.
The economic impact of engineering research centers: preliminary results of a pilot study

This article describes the results of a pilot study that tested the feasibility of estimating quantitatively the regional and economic impacts of NSF-supported Engineering Research centers. For regional impacts, we combined estimates of the direct plus indirect and induced economic impacts of ERC expenditures generated from a regional input–output model with estimates of the additional impact on the state due to center-based start-up companies, licensing income from intellectual property produced by the center, the cost savings enjoyed by local firms that had hired center graduates, and advice and consulting to local firms by center faculty. For national economic impact, a suitably modified version of the regional approach was employed, supplemented by use of a consumer surplus model to estimate the net public benefits of newly commercialized technologies based in center research. As the project proceeded, it became clear that efforts to focus solely on economic impacts that could be quantified relatively easily would greatly underestimate the actual national economic impact of ERCs. The types of impacts included and the kinds of data collected from centers and their collaborating companies were therefore expanded in the later case studies. Results of the first three cases are described here; findings from the remaining two studies did not change our overall results or conclusions. The profile of regional and, especially, national economic impact estimates varied widely across the centers studied. Only some of these variations could be attributed to ERC characteristics; most were the result of variations in the amount and type of data that could be obtained from the centers involved and the companies they worked with. We concluded that even the most conscientious and costly data collection efforts would be unlikely to yield comparable data across centers because the accessibility of key data, especially proprietary data, will differ unpredictably from center to center. Further, focusing on narrowly-conceived, quantifiable economic data alone should be avoided in these kinds of impact studies. Doing so distorts the amount and characteristics of actual impacts, many of which—perhaps most of which—cannot feasibly be converted to monetary terms. Such a narrow focus will greatly underestimate the impact of ERC-like centers, masking the much broader and, based on our findings, larger and more significant impacts on society.
Charge transfer in thunderstorms and the surface melting of ice

Abstract A mechanism is proposed for the electrification of thunderclouds, whereby charge separation in ice-hail collisions is a consequence of mass transfer between the particles due to size and growth effects in surface melting. The theoretical trends and magnitudes are consistent with laboratory observations of charging.
‘We Are Mothers First’: Localocentric Articulation of Sex Worker Identity as a Key in HIV/AIDS Communication

The connection between identity and health communication has been amply documented in communication research. How an individual frames oneself with respect to and in conjunction with one's interpersonal relationships and material and communicative structures shapes one's identity. This in turn shapes how one enacts the self, given the relationships and available contexts one is embedded in, all of which have a significant influence on how one communicates about and negotiates health and illness. This study reports the results of an ethnographic field study conducted during two periods—June and August 2007 and July and August 2009, which examined, chiefly through interviews of 46 participants, how members of a community of sex workers in Kalighat, in the city of Kolkata in India, communicatively constructed their selves with respect to their prevalent cultural indices and available structures, and how enunciations and enactments of sex worker selves as “mothers first” influenced localized patterns of HIV/A...
Clinical Pharmacokinetics of Zidovudine: An Update

The battle against the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is now into its second decade, and substantial advancements have been made in our understanding of the complex life cycle of, and the immunopathology associated with, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, as well as of the drugs used to modify the course of disease. Zidovudine was the first agent approved for treatment of HIV disease, and since its widespread availability in 1987 the pharmacokinetic disposition and clinical effects of zidovudine have been extensively evaluated. This article reviews the absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination characteristics of zidovudine, focusing on more recent information. In addition, factors that may or may not affect zidovudine disposition are discussed. These include selected drug interactions and concomitant disease states such as renal and hepatic insufficiency. Issues such as bodyweight normalisation, maternal-fetal transfer, pregnancy and intracellular phosphorylation are discussed in relation to the pharmacokinetics and clinical efficacy of zidovudine. Finally, information regarding the clinical pharmacodynamics of zidovudine is presented. This includes possible relationships between zidovudine pharmacokinetics and markers of efficacy and toxicity, and the significance of linking pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic information.
A thermodynamic property formulation for air

Abstract A thermodynamic property formulation for air based upon new experimental P-ϱ-T, isochoric heat capacity and velocity of sound data has been developed. This model treats air as a pseudo-pure fluid for a wide-range of temperatures and pressures and provides for calculation of energy, heat capacity, entropy and velocity of sound in addition to pressure, density and temperature. This new formulation is valid for temperatures from 60 to 873 K at pressures to 70 MPa and is based on new measurements of the properties of liquid air recently completed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado. The accuracies of properties calculated using the new thermodynamic property formulation are established by comparison to available experimental data.