cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Neuropsychiatric symptoms in severe dementia: Associations with specific cognitive domains the Cache County Dementia Progression Study

Objectives To examine the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) and cognitive correlates in severe dementia. Methods A population-based sample of 56 individuals with severe dementia (85.7% Alzheimer's type; 67.9% female) were assessed with the Severe Cognitive Impairment Profile (SCIP) and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI). Descriptive statistics displayed the frequency of NPS and bivariate and multiple regression analyses examined the associations between cognitive domains on the SCIP and NPS total, domain, and cluster scores. Results NPS were common in severe dementia with 98% of the sample exhibiting at least one symptom. Most common were delusions, apathy, agitation/aggression, and aberrant motor behavior, affecting 50% or more of participants. SCIP comportment was significantly associated with NPI total score and apathy (r = -.350 and -.292, respectively). All SCIP domains except for arithmetic, visuospatial, comportment, and motor behavior were significantly associated with agitation/aggression (r = -.285 to -.350). These associations remained in individual multiple regression models. Conclusion In severe dementia, impairment in specific cognitive domains was associated with more severe NPS. Environmental manipulations to reduce processing demands in persons with severe dementia may be a useful strategy to target agitation and aggressive behaviors.
Thermal Design of Astrobee Perching Arm

This paper presents the thermal design of actuators in the perching arm of Astrobee robot that will operate inside the International Space Station (ISS) in starting 2019. Since the crew's safety is of the utmost importance on the ISS, all materials used in the Astrobee robot should meet the touch temperature requirements according to the ISS safety standards to protect crew from skin burns. The Astrobee perching arm consists of 2-DOF arm servo motors and 1- DOF gripper DC motor, which are capable of overheating when stalled, particularly given the lack of gravity-driven thermal convection in the ISS zero-gee environment. Thermal properties of two types of actuators are verified by monitoring the touch temperature in worst-case operations with no thermal protection. Then, the proper thermal protection designs have been conducted and installed to guarantee the safety in all conditions.
Intratumoral Activity of the CXCR3 Chemokine System Is Required for the Efficacy of Anti-PD-1 Therapy.

Summary Despite compelling rates of durable clinical responses to programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) blockade, advances are needed to extend these benefits to resistant tumors. We found that tumor-bearing mice deficient in the chemokine receptor CXCR3 responded poorly to anti-PD-1 treatment. CXCR3 and its ligand CXCL9 were critical for a productive CD8+ T cell response in tumor-bearing mice treated with anti-PD-1 but were not required for the infiltration of CD8+ T cells into tumors. The anti-PD-1-induced anti-tumor response was facilitated by CXCL9 production from intratumoral CD103+ dendritic cells, suggesting that CXCR3 facilitates dendritic cell-T cell interactions within the tumor microenvironment. CXCR3 ligands in murine tumors and in plasma of melanoma patients were an indicator of clinical response to anti-PD-1, and their induction in non-responsive murine tumors promoted responsiveness to anti-PD-1. Our data suggest that the CXCR3 chemokine system is a biomarker for sensitivity to PD-1 blockade and that augmenting the intratumoral function of this chemokine system could improve clinical outcomes.
Possible Role of Oxygen Vacancies and Excitonic Mechanism in High Tc Superconducting Oxides

Superconductivity with very high transition temperatures, Tc, has been observed in pure and doped La2Cu04-y and cuprate perovskites ABa2Cu307-y recently.1 These materials not only have unprecedented Tcs but also other intriquing properties. For example, undoped La2Cu04-y could be metallic, semimetallic, semiconducting, antiferromagnetic, or superconducting and likewise YBa2Cu307-y could be antiferromagnetic semiconducting, metallic with localized moments and superconducting, depending on how the samples are prepared. The key controlling factor appears to be the oxygen content of the materials. In a systematic investigation of the relationship between physical properties and oxygen vacancies in La2Cu04-y, Johnston etal observed the development of antiferromagnetic ordering from a non-magnetic ground state at y = 0 into a state with a Neel temperature of 290 K at y = 0.03.2 We study here theoretically electronic properties of oxygen vacancies in these cuprates and explore their possible contribution to Tc.
Structure and Thermodynamic Stability of Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework Surfaces

Extensive efforts over the last several decades have focused on the possibility of “crystal engineering” metal–organic framework (MOF) materials with bulk properties tailored toward specific applic...
Systems level profiling of arginine starvation reveals MYC and ERK adaptive metabolic reprogramming

Arginine auxotrophy due to the silencing of argininosuccinate synthetase 1 (ASS1) occurs in many cancers, especially sarcomas. Arginine deiminase (ADI-PEG20) therapy exploits this metabolic vulnerability by depleting extracellular arginine, causing arginine starvation. ASS1-negative cells develop resistance to ADI-PEG20 through a metabolic adaptation that includes re-expressing ASS1. As arginine-based multiagent therapies are being developed, further characterization of the changes induced by arginine starvation is needed. In order to develop a systems-level understanding of these changes, activity-based proteomic profiling (ABPP) and phosphoproteomic profiling were performed before and after ADI-PEG20 treatment in ADI-PEG20-sensitive and resistant sarcoma cells. When integrated with previous metabolomic profiling (Kremer et al, 2017a), this multi-omic analysis reveals that cellular response to arginine starvation is mediated by adaptive ERK signaling, driving a Myc-Max transcriptional network. Concomitantly, these data elucidate proteomic changes that facilitate oxaloacetate production by enhancing glutamine and pyruvate anaplerosis, and altering lipid metabolism to recycle citrate for oxidative glutaminolysis. Based on the complexity of metabolic and cellular signaling interactions, these multi-omic approaches could provide valuable tools for evaluating response to metabolically targeted therapies.
Control of Ice Nucleation for Subzero Food Preservation

Freezing processes have long been employed for the preservation of foods, providing minimum nutrition loss with a long shelf life period. Freezing plays an essential role in ensuring the safety of food products in all regions of the world. Nonetheless, slow freezing rates and frequently freezing/thawing lead to permanent physicochemical changes, damage of structure, degradation of nutrition values, and color changes through the formation of large ice crystals in food matrix during the cold storage. The size of ice crystals is highly related to the duration of phase transition and degree of supercooling. This paper reviews that the degree of supercooling and nucleation temperature can be controlled by positive or negative pressure and vibration of the dipole and dipole rotation water molecule techniques. Controlling nucleation temperature and suppression of ice crystals in the food matrix could not be achieved by current freezing methods such as air blast, contact, and immersion freezing in the food industry. These present freezing methods are especially focused on increasing the heat transfer rate in foods. Rapid freezing technology may depend on the size and shape of food. However, the size of ice crystals and the suppression of nucleation could be achieved by alternative freezing technologies to overcome the drawbacks of current freezing technologies in the food industry. Conventional freezing technologies can be replaced by emerging freezing techniques, ultrasound irradiation, high pressure, electric field, magnetic field, and microwave-assisted freezing to control the properties of the nucleation and degree of supercooling in the food industry.
Therapeutic targeting of the DNA damage response in prostate cancer

Purpose of review The present article highlights the most common DNA repair gene mutations, using specific examples of individual genes or gene classes, and reviews the epidemiology and treatment implications for each one [with particular emphasis on poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibition and PD-1 blockade]. Recent findings Genetic and genomic testing have an increasingly important role in the oncology clinic. For patients with prostate cancer, germline genetic testing is now recommended for all men with high-risk and metastatic disease, and somatic multigene tumor testing is recommended for men with metastatic castration-resistant disease. The most common mutations that are present in men with advanced prostate cancer are in genes coordinating DNA repair and the DNA damage response. Summary Although much of what is discussed currently remains investigational, it is clear that genomically-targeted treatments will become increasingly important for patients with prostate cancer in the near future and beyond.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors to treat cutaneous malignancies.

As the incidence of cutaneous malignancies continues to rise and their treatment with immunotherapy expands, dermatologists and their patients are more likely to encounter immune checkpoint inhibitors. While the blockade of immune checkpoint target proteins (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated protein-4, programmed cell death-1, and programmed cell death ligand-1) generates an antitumor response in a substantial fraction of patients, there is a critical need for reliable predictive biomarkers and approaches to address refractory disease. The first article of this Continuing Medical Education series reviews the indications, efficacy, safety profile, and evidence supporting checkpoint inhibition as therapeutics for metastatic melanoma, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, and Merkel cell carcinoma. Pivotal studies resulting in the approval of ipilimumab, pembrolizumab, nivolumab, cemiplimab, and avelumab by regulatory agencies for various cutaneous malignancies, as well as ongoing clinical research trials, are discussed.
3D CNN-PCA: A deep-learning-based parameterization for complex geomodels

Abstract Geological parameterization enables the representation of geomodels in terms of a relatively small set of variables. Parameterization is therefore very useful in the context of data assimilation and uncertainty quantification. In this study, a deep-learning-based geological parameterization algorithm, CNN-PCA, is developed for complex 3D geomodels. CNN-PCA entails the use of convolutional neural networks as a postprocessor for the low-dimensional principal component analysis representation of a geomodel. The 3D treatments presented here differ somewhat from those used in the 2D CNN-PCA procedure. Specifically, we introduce a new supervised-learning-based reconstruction loss, which is used in combination with style loss and hard data loss. The style loss uses features extracted from a 3D CNN pretrained for video classification. The 3D CNN-PCA algorithm is applied for the generation of conditional 3D realizations, defined on 60 × 60 × 40 grids, for three geological scenarios (binary and bimodal channelized systems, and a three-facies channel-levee-mud system). CNN-PCA realizations are shown to exhibit geological features that are visually consistent with reference models generated using object-based methods. Statistics of flow responses (P10, P50, P90 percentile results) for test sets of 3D CNN-PCA models are shown to be in consistent agreement with those from reference geomodels. Lastly, CNN-PCA is successfully applied for history matching with ESMDA for the bimodal channelized system.
Students’ discursive moves in two distinct literacy modes: Comparing approaches in a grade 10 English classroom:

This exploratory sociolinguistic study examined D/discourses and writing modes in a Grade 10 English literature classroom wherein students answered literature-based questions by means of both tradi...
Geriatric Eustachian tube dysfunction

Otologic complaints are a common reason for the elderly to present to an otolaryngologist. Eustachian tube dysfunction in the geriatric population is a common yet poorly researched and described problem. A thorough understanding of the underlying anatomy and pathophysiology, performance of a careful history and work up, and a sound understanding of the available medical and surgical treatments are vital in the management of Eustachian tube dysfunction in these patients. Here we review the literature regarding the work up and treatment of geriatric patients with Eustachian tube dysfunction. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of literature specific to the geriatric population relative to Eustachian tube dysfunction and further research in the area is needed.
Comparison of IgG and neutralizing antibody responses after one or two doses of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in previously infected and uninfected persons

ObjectiveTo compare anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor binding domain (RBD) IgG antibody concentrations and antibody-mediated neutralization of spike-ACE2 receptor binding in vitro following vaccination of non-hospitalized participants by sero-status and acute virus diagnosis history. MethodsParticipants were studied before and after mRNA vaccination in a community-based, home-collected, longitudinal serosurvey; none reported hospitalization for COVID-19. Prior to vaccination, some reported prior positive acute viral diagnostic testing and were seropositive (COVID-19+). Participants who did not report acute viral diagnostic testing were categorized as seropositive or seronegative based on anti-spike RBD IgG test results. Primary measures were anti-spike RBD IgG concentration and percent antibody-mediated neutralization of spike protein-ACE2 interaction prior to vaccination, and after one or two doses of vaccine. ResultsOf 290 unique vaccine recipients, 42 reported a prior COVID-19 diagnosis and were seropositive (COVID-19+). Of the 248 with no history of acute viral diagnostic testing, 105 were seropositive and 143 seronegative before vaccination. The median age was 38yrs (range 21-83) with 65% female and 35% male; 40% were non-white. Responses were evaluated after one (n=140) or two (n=170) doses of BNT162b2/Pfizer or mRNA-1273/Moderna vaccine. After one dose, median post-vaccine IgG concentration and percent neutralization were each significantly higher among the COVID-19+ group (median 47.7 {micro}g/ml, IgG; >99.9% neutralization) compared to the seropositives (3.4 {micro}g /ml IgG; 62.8% neutralization) and seronegatives (2.2 {micro}g /ml IgG; 39.5% neutralization). The latter two groups reached >95% neutralization after the second vaccine dose. ConclusionsA prior outpatient COVID-19 diagnosis was associated with strong anti-spike RBD IgG and in vitro neutralizing responses after one vaccine dose. Persons seropositive for anti-spike RBD IgG in the absence of acute viral diagnostic testing, and those who were seronegative, required two doses to achieve equivalently high levels of IgG and neutralization activity. One mRNA vaccine dose is not sufficient to generate in vitro evidence of strong protection against COVID-19 among most persons previously infected with SARS-CoV-2, nor among seronegative persons.
Inhibition of PAI-1 Blocks PD-L1 Endocytosis and Improves the Response of Melanoma Cells to Immune Checkpoint Blockade

Immune checkpoint molecules, especially PD-1 and its ligand PD-L1, act as a major mechanism of cancer immune evasion. Although anti–PD-1/PD-L1 monotherapy increases therapeutic efficacy in melanoma treatment, only a subset of patients exhibits long-term tumor remission, and the underlying mechanism of resistance to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that cell surface retention of PD-L1 is inversely correlated with PAI-1 expression in vitro, in vivo, and in clinical specimens. Moreover, extracellular PAI-1 induced the internalization of surface-expressed PD-L1 by triggering clathrin-mediated endocytosis. The endocytosed PD-L1 was transported to lysosomes for degradation by endolysosomal systems, resulting in the reduction of surface PD-L1. Notably, inhibition of PAI-1 by pharmacological inhibitor with tiplaxtinin led to elevated PD-L1 expression on the plasma membrane, both in vitro and in vivo. Strikingly, targeting PAI-1 by tiplaxtinin treatment synergizes with anti–PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockade therapy in a syngeneic murine model of melanoma. Our findings demonstrate a role for PAI-1 activity in immune checkpoint modulation by promoting surface PD-L1 for lysosomal degradation and provides an insight into the combination of PAI-1 inhibition and anti–PD-L1 immunotherapy as a promising therapeutic regimen for melanoma treatment.
IoT based Smart Vest and Helmet for Defence Sector

Technological advancements in the military sector have been phenomenal in the last vicennial. According to an article referred, the total annual global military expenditure rose to $ 1.917 trillion in 2019. The advent of wireless data communication and technologies like Artificial Intelligence and IoT, have transformed and augmented the lives of common civilians. The Air-force and the Naval-force have experienced major transformation in terms of technology. On the other hand, this kind of technology has not yet reached the Land-force department. The military vest as well as the helmet are amongst the most crucial pieces of safety equipment that have undergone no significant upgrade since the last semi-centennial. The main goal of this study is to build and implement a smart system consisting of a smart vest and a smart helmet using sensors, modules, and advanced wireless communication technology to improve the utility and functionality.
Creating a leaner pediatric emergency department: how rapid design and testing of a front-end model led to decreased wait time.

ObjectiveTo use Lean methodologies and the Model for Improvement to rapidly redesign and pilot test a new pediatric emergency department (ED) front-end model that reduces time to a licensed independent provider to 30 minutes or less.MethodsLean improvement methodologies were applied during a 5-day m
Origin of Perceptually Measured Phase Shifts in the Visual System

De Lange (1958) first remarked that a pair of heterochromatic lights in temporal sinusoidal counterphase modulation show residual flicker after adjustment to the minimum flicker percept consistent with equiluminance. He used long wavelength (“red”) and mid wavelength (“green”) lights and suggested that the residual flicker could be cancelled by adjusting the relative physical phase of the “red” and “green” component lights. De Lange ascribed the phenomenon to a latency difference between the cones. The phase adjustment for minimal flicker required that the “green” light lead the “red” light at the heterochromatic transition. De Lange concluded that the long wavelength sensitive (LWS) cones had shorter latencies than the middle wavelength sensitive (MWS) cones. De Lange’s findings and subsequent data of Walraven & Leebeck (1964) and Vos & Walraven (1965) were subsequently attributed to rod intrusion in the flicker match and to a difference between rod and cone latencies rather than to latency differences between LWS and MWS cone types (von Grunau, 1977; van der Berg & Spekreijse, 1977). However, Cushman & Levinson (1983) working at high luminance levels and with high temporal frequencies were able to confirm the existence of residual flicker which could be cancelled by phase adjustment of one of the component lights. Their data also required a phase adjustment to “green” leads “red” at the heterochromatic transition. Thus they established that perceptual phase shifts can be mediated within LWS and MWS cone pathways.
En manos de los tratantes de seres humanos (notas sobre la emigracion irregular durante el franquismo)

In this article it is tried to demonstrate that the irregular or clandestine emigration had a central importance within the phenomenon of the registered outer emigration during pro-Franco Spain, from second half of the Fifties to the crisis of I refuel in 1973. This way, the mechanisms are analyzed that gave rise to the attended or regular emigration. Next one reviews the emigration conducted to the margin of those official channels, as well as the criminal figures associated. Also an approach to the volume of that type of emigration takes place and some of the affected groups more consider. Finally some consequences of the irregular emigration are mentioned and the failure of the regime in its fight is stated to eliminate it.
Vested Rights and Zoning: Avoiding All-or-Nothing Results

In real estate development, courts and legislatures use the vested rights doctrine to determine whether local government should be allowed to enforce newly enacted zoning ordinances against landowners. As real estate development projects continue to increase in scope and expense, and as zoning regulations become more complex and sensitive to environmental awareness, the vested rights debate will remain a contentious issue in land use law. The three dominant vested rights rules in use today generally assume that vested rights protection requires an all-or-nothing result, forcing the debate to revolve almost solely around tuning: should vested rights protection be granted now or later? This outcome affords no compromise; either developers get all the protection from new regulations they want and local governments get no flexibility to adapt projects to evolving public interests, or local governments get all the flexibility they want, and developers risk losing their projects altogether. This Note critiques the three major approaches and suggests that one way to add more flexibility to the current vesting scheme is to expand or contract the scope of protection granted based on the breadth of developers' disclosure.
Wykrywanie uszkodzeń w konstrukcji samolotu w trakcie realizacji pełnoskalowej próby zmęczeniowej z wykorzystaniem czujników zintegrowanych

Opracowanie niezawodnych systemow zautomatyzowanego monitorowania stanu konstrukcji lotniczych (SHM), pozwalających na zdalną ocene stanu danego statku powietrznego oraz obnizenie kosztow jego eksploatacji stanowi jeden z wiodących kierunkow rozwoju technologii w przemyśle lotniczym. Jedną z idei budowy takiego systemu jest wykorzystanie fal Lamba wzbudzonych w danym elemencie konstrukcji przez siec przetwornikow piezoelektrycznych PZT. W artykule przedstawiono holistyczną koncepcje detekcji uszkodzen oraz biezącego monitorowania ich rozwoju w strukturze samolotu. Trzon systemu stanowią czujniki PZT, uzupelnione w wybranych lokalizacjach przez czujniki rezystancyjne oraz prozniowe CVM TM . W artykule poruszono wybrane zagadnienia związane z opracowywanym systemem, w szczegolności dotyczące wnioskowania o obecności oraz rozwoju uszkodzenia, jak rowniez przedstawiono przykladowy wynik dzialania systemu. Damage detection in the aircraft structure during the full scale fatigue test with the use of integrated sensors operated Abstract Providing reliable and universal Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system allowing for remote aircraft inspections and maintenance costs reduction is one of the major issues in the aerospace industry. SHM based on guided Lamb waves is one of the approach able to address the matter and satisfy all the requirements. In the paper a holistic approach for the continous real time damage growth monitoring and early damage detection of the aircraft structure is presented. The main component of the system is piezoelectric transducers (PZT) network. These are complemented by other SHM methods: Comparative Vacuum Monitoring (CVM TM ) and Resistance Gauges at selected aircraft hot-spots. Description of damage detec- tion capabilities are delivered in the paper. In particular some issues concerning the statistical inference about a damage presence and its growth are discussed.
Ras mutation, irrespective of cell type and p53 status, determines a cell's destiny to undergo apoptosis by okadaic acid, an inhibitor of protein phosphatase 1 and 2A.

Okadaic acid (OA), a toxin from the black sponge Halicondria okadai, is a specific inhibitor of serine/threonine protein phosphatases 1 (PP1) and 2A (PP2A). OA is a tumor promoter but also induces apoptosis in some tumor cell lines. In this study, we determined whether ras mutation and/or p53 status are characteristics associated with the cell's sensitivity to the induction of apoptosis by OA. Several cell lines that differed in ras and p53 mutations were treated with OA (10-100 nM). At 24 to 48 h after treatment, the percentage of cells undergoing apoptosis was quantitated. The cell lines with mutations in either H-ras (human bladder carcinoma cell line T24 and mouse keratinocyte cell line 308), or K-ras (human colon carcinoma cell lines DLD-1 and HCT116; human prostate cancer cell lines LNCaP and PC-3; human lung cancer cell lines Calu-6 and SKLU-1; and human pancreatic cancer cell line MIAPaCa2) were more sensitive to OA-induced apoptosis (3- to 10-fold) than the cell lines that lacked the ras mutation (mouse epidermal cell lines C50 and JB6; murine fibroblast cell line NIH3T3; human colon cancer cell line HT29; human kidney epithelial cell line Hs715.K; and human pancreatic cancer cell line Bx-PC3). Similarly, using isogenic cell lines we found that overexpression of mutated H-ras in NIH3T3 and in SV40 immortalized human uroepithelial cells (SVHUC) enhanced their sensitivity to undergo apoptosis in response to OA treatment. The T24, DLD-1, SKLU-1, Calu-6, and MIAPaCa2 cell lines express mutated p53. The SVHUC as well as their ras-transfected counterparts have inactive p53 due to complex formation between large "T" antigen and p53. Taken together, these results imply that OA-induced apoptosis may involve a p53-independent pathway. The transfectants (NIH3T3-ras and SVHUC-ras), which express mutated H-ras, have up-regulated PP2A activity. OA treatment inhibited in vivo the levels of PP1 and PP2A activity, and induced apoptosis in SVHUC-ras and other cell lines. We conclude that OA-induced cell death pathway in ras-activated cell lines may involve a cross talk between PP1 and PP2A and ras signaling pathways. In light of the present results, the current theory that OA promotes mouse skin tumor formation by selective expansion of initiated cells that harbor ras mutations needs reevaluation.
Mechanistic insights into the role of microRNAs in cancer: influence of nutrient crosstalk

A plethora of studies have described the disruption of key cellular regulatory mechanisms involving non-coding RNAs, specifically microRNAs (miRNA) from the let-7 family, the miR-17 family, miR-21, miR-143, and the miR-200 family, which contribute to aberrant signaling and tumor formation. Certain environmental factors, such as bioactive dietary agents, e.g., folate, curcumin, polyunsaturated fatty acids, are also thought to impact the progression and severity of cancer. In terms of the chemoprotective mechanisms of action, these bioactive dietary agents appear to act, in part, by modulating tissue levels of miR-16, miR-17 family, miR-26b, miR-106b, and miR-200 family miRNAs and their target genes. However, the mechanisms of nutrient action are not yet fully understood. Therefore, additional characterization of the putative underlying mechanisms is needed to further our understanding of the biology, early diagnosis, prevention, and the treatment of cancer. For the purpose of elucidating the epigenetic landscape of cancer, this review will summarize the key findings from recent studies detailing the effect of bioactive dietary agents on miRNA regulation in cancer.
Does morphine change the physical examination in patients with acute appendicitis

The objective of this study was to determine if judicious dosing of morphine sulfate can provide pain relief without changing important physical examination findings in patients with acute appendicitis. We conducted a prospective, randomized, double-blind crossover design. Patients scheduled for appendectomy were randomized to two groups. Group A received 0.075 mg/kg intravenous morphine sulfate and 30 minutes later received placebo. The sequence of medication was reversed in group B. Patients were examined by a surgical resident and an EM attending before and after receiving medication. Six explicit physical examination findings were documented as absent, indeterminate, or present. Physicians were also asked if they felt overall examination findings had changed after medication. Patient's visual analog scale (VAS) was recorded before each medication and at study completion. Thirty-four patients were enrolled and full data were available for 22 patients. Neither morphine nor placebo caused a significant change in individual examination findings. Three patients in both groups were judged to have a change in their examination after medication. The median change in VAS was 20 mm after morphine and 0 mm after placebo (P =.01). In this pilot study, patients with clinical signs of appendicitis were treated with morphine and had significant improvement of their pain without changes in their physical examination.
Novel drain-less multi-gate pHEMT for electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection in GaAs technology

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection structures in GaAs HEMT technology are commonly constructed using either stacked Schottky diode or Single-Gate clamp. Dual-gate pHEMT clamp was also recently reported for its better ESD robustness performance. This paper further develops an improved ESD protection clamp based on a novel drainless, multi-gate pHEMT in 0.5um GaAs pHEMT technology. With similar layout area, the proposed ESD protection clamp can carry much higher current handling ability (5.2-A “It2”, roughly 7.8-kV HBM ESD level) than both the conventional single-gate pHEMT clamp and recently reported dual-gate pHEMT clamp under the human body model (HBM) stress.
Thyroidal Action of Synthetic Thyroprotein

DURING the past several years marked progress has been made in the production of synthetic thyroproteins with high physiologic activity. As the result of recent experiments in our laboratory a prodecure has been worked out whereby a product can be obtained which has several-fold the thyroidal activity of desiccated thyroid. While the primary objective of this work was to produce thyroidal material at a cost sufficiently low to warrant its use in feeding domestic animals, it would appear that with the attainment of that objective, a synthetic thyroprotein has been formed which may have important clinical uses not only because of the marked reduction in cost which would be possible, but also because of the uniform potency that would result from standardization of the manufacturing procedure and the biologic assay of large batches of material. The purpose of this paper is to review briefly the history of the progress made in producing synthetic thyroproteins and to call to the attention of experimental clini...
On the barometric pressure coefficient for cosmic-ray neutrons

Abstract From the cosmic-ray neutron intensity recorded at Mount Washington, N.H., during 1954–1955, an accurate determination has been made of the barometric pressure which best measures the average air mass above this mountain, where high wind velocities are prevalent. The results indicate that the existing pitot tube system for compensating for the pressure deficiency produced by the airflow over the mountain is reliable to an estimated standard deviation of ±0.03 in. Hg. It also appears that the barometric pressure correction for the neutron intensity at any location is one of the largest sources of error in studying primary cosmic-ray intensity-time variations from the time variations of the neutron intensity deep within the atmosphere.
The rarer inherited coagulation disorders: A review

Of the inherited bleeding disorders, haemophilia A, haemophilia B and von Willebrand's disease make up together well over 80% of those registered with the UK Haemophilia Centre Directors. The common simple screening tests of coagulation may overlook some of the more rare disorders and it is clearly important that such uncommon bleeding disorders are excluded during the course of the investigation of children considered to be suffering from non-accidental injury. In this article, some of the rare inherited bleeding disorders are considered, including haemophilia B Leyden, deficiencies of factors VII, X, XI, and XII, as well as inherited defects of platelet number and function. Presenting features are described and recommendations regarding appropriate therapy given. In order to assist in advancing understanding of the biochemistry and molecular genetics of these disorders, clinicians are encouraged to share clinical information and, where appropriate, blood samples with interested research workers.
Meeting report for the 4th annual Complex Trait Consortium meeting: from QTLs to systems genetics.

The fourth annual meeting of the Complex Trait Consortium (CTC) was held in Groningen, the Netherlands on June 26–29, 2005. This meeting, which set a new attendance record, followed three previous and highly successful meetings. The focus at this meeting was on continued resource development and the exiting new field of systems genetics, the integration and anchoring of multi-dimensional data-types to underlying genetic variation. A new aspect at the meeting was the three-minute, ‘come see my poster’ presentations that generated significant interaction at the poster sessions. If the 2005 meeting is an indicator of things to come, future meetings promise to offer even more exciting research efforts to integrate high-throughput biological measurements with genetic variation to unravel the mechanisms responsible for inter-individual variation.
Differentiation between Endellite-Halloysite and Kaolinite by Treatment with Potassium Acetate and Ethylene Glycol

Halloysite and endellite yield 10 A basal spacings after grinding with potassium acetate (using a modification of Wada’s procedure) and washing with water and ethylene glycol, whereas the basal spacing of kaolinite, similarly treated, remains at 7 A. The technique applies satisfactorily to sedimentary and hydrothermal halloysites, various commercial kaolins, ball clays, flint and plastic fire clays, and artificially prepared mixtures of halloysite and kaolinite. Similar responses to the treatment by both laboratory-dehydrated endellite (thereby collapsed to 7 A) and naturally occurring halloysite add support to the concept that endellite is a progenitor of halloysite.
Combined use of fluorescence microscopy and micromechanical measurement to assess cell and membrane properties

The combined use of fluorescence microscopy and micromanipulation provides a powerful approach for understanding the mechanochemistry of cell membranes. Fluorescent labeling of erythrocytes has been used to identify particular populations of cells to assess the effects of abnormal deformability on cell survival. It was found that cells deprived of surface area are either eliminated rapidly from the circulation or undergo a reduction in volume to improve cellular deformability. Fluorescence microscopy can also be used to assess the distribution of specific membrane components during mechanical deformation and fragmentation of cell membranes and so lead to more fundamental understanding of the physical association between the membrane bilayer and the underlying membrane cytoskeleton.
Monophosphoryl lipid A is an lipopolysaccharide-derived Toll-like receptor 4 agonist which may improve Alzheimer's disease pathology

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is partly characterized by the formation of plaques composed of β-amyloid (Aβ) as a result of excessive accumulation of Aβ. Monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) is a Toll-like receptor 4 agonist commonly used as a nontoxic, FDA-approved adjuvant in viral vaccines. Areas covered: Previous reports had shown MPL as an effective adjuvant for Aβ vaccinations to decrease Aβ deposition. Recently, it was discovered that MPL monotherapy in APP/PS1 transgenic AD mice had beneficial effects, such as decreasing the number and size of deposits, decreasing soluble Aβ monomers and improving cognition through phagocytic activation of microglia. Unlike the parental endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS), MPL stimulated microglial phagocytosis of Aβ, while only minimally increasing a proinflammatory response. Expert opinion: MPL is a promising therapeutic option for AD treatment due to its ability to promote Aβ clearance without eliciting a strong adverse inflammatory response. Since MPL is alrea...
Block scale dispersivity for heterogeneous porous media characterized by stochastic fractals

It is well known that subsurface contaminant transport is significantly influenced by heterogeneous distributions of the relevant hydraulic properties. A practical scheme to deal with these heterogeneous distributions may be the combination of the two commonly used approaches, the so-called equivalent homogeneous and heterogeneous approaches. As an important step to establish such a hybrid approach, this brief communication is devoted to determining block scale dispersivity in porous media characterized by Gaussian stochastic fractals. Sensitivity analyses indicate that block scale dispersivity is a strong function of block size and anisotropy in K.
Age of ovary determines remaining life expectancy in old ovariectomized mice

We investigated the capacity of young ovaries, transplanted into old ovariectomized CBA mice, to improve remaining life expectancy of the hosts. Donor females were sexually mature 2-month-olds; recipients were prepubertally ovariectomized at 3 weeks and received transplants at 5, 8 or 11 months of age. Relative to ovariectomized control females, life expectancy at 11 months was increased by 60% in 11-month recipient females and by 40% relative to intact control females. Only 20% of the 11-month transplant females died in the 300-day period following ovarian transplantation, whereas nearly 65% of the ovariectomized control females died during this same period. The 11-month-old recipient females resumed oestrus and continued to cycle up to several months beyond the age of control female reproductive senescence. Across the three recipient age groups, transplantation of young ovaries increased life expectancy in proportion to the relative youth of the ovary. Our results relate to recent findings on the gonadal input upon aging in Caenorhabditis elegans and may suggest how the mammalian gonad, including that of humans, could regulate aging and determine longevity.
Human Nature and Politics

The iron curtain across Central Europe was drawn by power politics and not by political theory, though ideology has played its part in justifying it. Ideology from dynamic red to dynamic white does not fall by any means evenly on each side of this line, for theoretical breaks and shadings pervade societies as corpuscles pervade the-circulatory system. Political theorists are, ultimately, in search of central issues. They want to find the issues that most effectively divide and most surely avoid the greatest amount of overlapping. The search for such issues is not, however, a simple taxonomic exercise, for implications flow in action in a continuous stream from both articulate and inarticulate premises. These issues are issues of thought; they are appreciations of man in the cosmos. They deal with universals and with traits of thought that have endured through long periods of intellectual effort in clarifying social metaphysics. In the embittered debates of contemporary politics in Europe, as well as in the United States, the fundamental and dividing issues often fail to come to the surface. Our concern with men and the immediate symbols of politics forces us toward the superficial, and we may follow like avid sport fans the changes of tactical line and the zigzags of ideology. Thus epithet is often the summation of the fluid and superficial drift of political symbolism. It avoids the difficult task, the larger intellectual enterprise, of putting the narrow controversy into a larger context. Ideological argument is, quite frankly, the emphasized vice of modern politics, and we must separate this form of discussion from the true philosophical climate of thought. Ideology was, in origin, a term of contempt; it was a word used to describe the superficial, the doctrinaire, remoteness from experience, and sandy philosophical foundations. Napoleon is said to have introduced the word into
Probing the temporal world of the elderly

This paper reviews the literature on subjective time experience, especially as it relates to the elderly; comments on the problems associated with measuring such experience; describes a study to explore temporality in older women; provides speculations concerning the meaning and impact of time on the life and health of the aged; and notes nursing implications. Findings from the study of elderly women suggest that successful aging may be linked to a feeling of timelessness, and furthermore, that a search for the meaning of temporality in old age may add to an understanding of physical and mental health, well-being and longevity.
Ontogenetic and interspecific organ weight allometry in Old World monkeys

The importance of allometry as an analytic tool is well recognized in the literature of primate morphology. However, a number of recent studies have illustrated how interpretive difficulties can arise when researchers confound different types of allometric data. Such confusion is due less to carelessness than to uncertainty about how different types of allometry are related. The present study examines the relationship between two types--ontogenetic and interspecific allometry--in the case of organ weight scaling in six species of Old World monkeys. Accepting the interpretation of interspecific allometry as a reflection of functional scaling constraints, the results of this analysis indicate how ontogenetic patterns have been modified in different-sized species to maintain compliance with these constraints. Specifically, for the heart and lungs it appears that vertical transpositions of individual species' ontogenies are dictated by isometric interspecific allometry, while in the case of the kidneys and liver, the relation of negative allometry across species entails alteration of the relative growth coefficients of the individual species. While these conclusions can at present only be applied to organ weight scaling, the approach of examining interspecific patterns in light of developmental differences between species should prove very helpful in our efforts to understand the phenomena of size and scaling.
Parathyroid hormone fragments may stimulate bone growth in ovariectomized rats by activating adenylyl cyclase

PTH is regarded conventionally as a catabolic hormone that stimulates osteoclastic resorption of bone. However, it has been known since 1932 that intermittent pulses of PTH stimulate bone formation in animals and humans. PTH independently activates two signal mechanisms: one that stimulates adenylyl cyclase and one that stimulates protein kinase C (PKC). The goal of this study was to use the 3- to 5-month-old ovariectomized (OVX) rat model to determine which of the two signal mechanisms is responsible for the anabolic action of PTH on bone. OVX triggered a large loss of trabecular bone without significantly affecting the normal slow growth of cortical bone in the distal halves of the femora. Daily injections of human hPTH(1–34) fragment (1 nmol/100 g body weight), which stimulated both adenylyl cyclase and membrane-associated PKC activity in osteoblast-like ROS 17/2 rat osteosarcoma cells, stimulated the growth of both cortical and trabecular bone in the OVX rats. Daily injections of the same dose of hPTH(1–31), which stimulated adenylyl cyclase but not PKC in ROS 17/2 cells, stimulated trabecular bone growth in the OVX rats less effectively than hPTH(1–34), but it stimulated cortical bone growth as rapidly and as dramatically as hPTH(1–34). Injections of equimolar amounts of desamino-hPTH(1–34) [N-propionyl(2–3)hPTH-amide], which stimulated PKC as strongly as hPTH(1–34) in ROS 17/2 cells but had a drastically reduced ability to stimulate adenylyl cyclase, or injections of recombinant hPTH(8–84) which stimulated PKC only in the ROS 17/2 cells, did not stimulate cortical or trabecular bone growth in the OVX animals. Thus, cyclic AMP and cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinases may be the primary mediators of the anabolic action of intermittent pulses of PTH on bone in OVX rats.
Nafion®/(SiO2, ORMOSIL, and dimethylsiloxane) hybrids via in situ sol–gel reactions: Characterization of fundamental properties

Nafion®/SiO2, Nafion®/[ORganically MOdified SILicate (ORMOSIL)] and Nafion®/dimethylsiloxane hybrids were created via in situ sol–gel reactions for tetraethoxysilane, diethoxydimethylsilane, and their mixtures. Differential scanning calorimetry studies showed a broad endotherm for unfilled Nafion®-H+ at Tα ≈ 215°C that shifts upward for the Q : D = 1 : 0 (mol : mol) [Q = Si(O1/2)4, D = (O1/2)2Si(CH3)2] hybrid, then shifts downward with decreasing Q : D. This endotherm likely arises from release of H2O molecules bound to ≡Si—OH groups and condensation reactions among silanol groups. The decrease in Tα is rationalized in terms of an increasing fraction of flexible D units that disrupt hydrophilic Q structures. Tm shifts to lower temperatures with decreasing Q : D, and it is suggested that main chains are restricted by side chains embedded in silicon oxide nanoparticles, but D unit insertion causes side chains to be anchored less strongly. Thermal gravimetric analysis indicates that the first mass loss step for Nafion®-H+ shifts to higher temperatures as D : Q increases; an increase in D unit fraction inhibits Q unit degradation by evolved HF. A dynamic mechanical transition at Tα may arise from side chain motions, and the increase in Tα in passing from unfilled Nafio®-H+ to the 1 : 0 hybrid is due to side chain immobilization by their entrapment in silicon oxide domains. The progression 0 : 1 1 : 2 1 : 1 2 : 1 generates increasing mechanical tensile strength and decreasing ductility; strength enhancement might be due to entanglements between ORMOSIL and pure silicon oxide phases and side chains. Liquid sorption experiments quantified the affinity of these hybrids for solvents of varying polarity. A dielectric relaxation for the 0 : 1 hybrid at about 1.5 kHz might be related to side chain mobility. A weaker relaxation in the range 104–105 Hz exists for the 0 : 1 and 1 : 1 hybrids and Nafion®-H+, but not for the 1 : 0 hybrid that exhibits the behavior e′ ∼ f−n over a broad frequency (f) range, suggestive of intercluster proton hopping. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 68:747–763, 1998