cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Perinatal Gonadectomy Exerts Regionally Selective, Lateralized Effects on the Density of Axons Immunoreactive for Tyrosine Hydroxylase in the Cerebral Cortex of Adult Male Rats

The catecholamine innervation of the cerebral cortex is essential for its normal operations and is implicated in cortical dysfunction in mental illness. Previous studies in rats have shown that the maturational tempo of these afferents is highly responsive to changes in gonadal hormones. The present findings show that perinatal hormone manipulation also has striking, region- and hemisphere-specific consequences for cortical catecholamines in adulthood. The effect of perinatal gonadectomy on catecholamines was examined in representative sensory, motor, and association cortices of adult male rats by combining hormone manipulation with immunocytochemistry for tyrosine hydroxylase, a rate-limiting enzyme in catecholamine biosynthesis. Qualitative and quantitative comparison of immunoreactivity in rats perinatally gonadectomized or sham-operated revealed complex changes in gonadectomized subjects; in cingulate cortex, TH immunoreactivity was strongly and bilaterally diminished, in sensory and motor cortices, axon density was decreased in left hemispheres, but was minimally affected on the right, and in a premotor cortex, gonadectomy was without significant effect in either hemisphere. Corresponding analyses in gonadectomized rats supplemented with testosterone revealed a protective influence, albeit one in which TH immunoreactivity so showed regional and hemispheric variability in responsiveness to hormone replacement. These complex patterns of TH sensitivity suggest highly asymmetric hormone stimulation of cortical catecholamines. Such discriminative action may contribute to sex differences in the functional maturation and lateralization of the cortex and may also have bearing on disorders such as dyslexia, which show sexual dimorphisms, and in which functional laterality of the cortex may be particularly at issue.
IMMIGRANT SETTLEMENT PATTERNS: THE ROLE OF METROPOLITAN CHARACTERISTICS*

Immigration continues to change the social, economic, and political landscapes of urban America. Consequently, scholars, as well as the general public, are interested in the internal migration patterns of immigrants. In this research, we identify and explain the characteristics of metropolitan areas that have the strongest effects on the percentage change in the foreign-born population between 1990 and 2000. Using lagged independent variables and a sample of 150 metropolitan areas, we find that settlement patterns among immigrants are diverging from traditional patterns. That is, those metropolitan areas that had moderately high levels of globalization and lower costs of living as well as lower disadvantage indicators (e.g., percentage poverty) in 1990, had larger increases in percentage foreign-born between 1990 and 2000 compared to areas with lower levels of globalization and higher costs of living and disadvantage. These trends suggest the increasing importance of second-tier metropolises such as Atlanta, Phoenix, and Las Vegas in understanding where immigrants settle.
Gestational bleeding, bacterial vaginosis, and common reproductive tract infections: risk for preterm birth and benefit of treatment.

Abstract Objective: To examine associations between bacterial vaginosis and other prevalent lower genital tract infections and clinically recognized first-trimester bleeding; possible independent and joint effects of gestational bleeding and bacterial vaginosis or other prevalent infections on preterm birth and premature rupture of membranes; and effects of antimicrobial treatment on reducing risks of preterm birth among these women. Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted of 1100 pregnant women enrolled in a prospective observational study that examined the effects of standardized diagnosis and treatment of lower genital tract infections to prevent preterm birth. Results: Sixty percent of women with first-trimester bleeding had one or more study infections detected at the initial examination. First-trimester bleeding was associated independently with the presence of bacterial vaginosis (odds ratio [OR] 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.0, 2.3), Trichomonas vaginalis (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.3, 4.2), and Chlamydia trachomatis (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.4, 5.1). Preterm birth was increased among women with first-trimester bleeding and bacterial vaginosis (relative risk [RR] 4.4, 95% CI 2.0, 9.5) and bacterial vaginosis and T vaginalis (RR 3.0, 95% CI 1.0, 8.8). Systemic antimicrobial treatment reduced the rate of preterm birth among women with bacterial vaginosis without first-trimester bleeding (RR 0.37, 95% CI 0.16, 0.88). Treatment of women with both first-trimester bleeding and bacterial vaginosis reduced preterm birth (RR 0.52, 95% CI 0.18, 1.55), but not significantly. Conclusion: First-trimester bleeding was increased among women with bacterial vaginosis, T vaginalis, C trachomatis, and combinations of these infections. Women with bacterial vaginosis who also experienced first-trimester bleeding were at heightened risk for preterm birth. Treatment of studied infections reduced significantly the risks of preterm birth among women without first-trimester bleeding.
Design Strategy from the Population Perspective

The population perspective on organizational change downplays the consequences of managerial action and focuses on populations rather than on single organizations as evolving units. The population perspective is useful in suggesting broad classes of design strategies. Using this perspective, we argue that models of organizational change must accurately represent the diversity of units studied, be based on tests of alternative explanations, and explicitly incorporate organizational dynamics. Moreover, designs must take account of five empirical generalizations about organizations: individuals' intentions are not a good guide to organizational outcomes, environments are difficult to describe with typologies of a few attributes, designs are a joint product of organizational forms and environmental characteristics, population effects are as important as individual intentions, and environmental trends are increasingly short-lived. We present a simple classification of four categories of macro environments and ...
Transcsophageal Echocardiographic Demonstration of Right Coronary Artery—to—Coronary Sinus Fistula in a Heart Transplant Recipient

A fistula between the distal right coronary artery and coronary sinus was detected by transesophageal echocardiography in a heart transplant recipient. Cineangiograms confirmed this finding to be new since the time of angiography one year earlier. Although coronary artery—to—right ventricular fistulas are not an uncommon complication of endomyocardial. biopsy, the echocardiography findings of a fistula involving the coronary sinus have not been previously described.
Time-Domain Reflectometry Measurements of Surface Soil Water Content

Surface soil water content is an important parameter influencing such processes as residue decomposition, nutrient cycling, microbial activity, and weed seed germination and emergence. This experiment was conducted to determine if time-domain reflectometry (TDR) could be used to measure water content in the 0- to 50-mm soil layer. Wave guides were installed horizontally at a depth of 25 mm below the soil surface in field plots differing in current crop-tillage history. The TDR system was interrogated hourly by a data logger. Daily average soil water contents from TDR were computed and compared with water contents obtained from gravimetric soil sampling. The TDR values were linearly related (r 2 =0.84) with gravimetric samples of soil water content when wave guides were at a depth of 25 mm, but not when wave guides were at a depth of 13 mm. Continuous measurements of surface soil water content can be obtained from an automated TDR system
Variation in venom yield and protein concentration of the centipedes Scolopendra polymorpha and Scolopendra subspinipes

Venom generally comprises a complex mixture of compounds representing a non-trivial metabolic expense. Accordingly, natural selection should fine-tune the amount of venom carried within an animal's venom gland(s). The venom supply of scolopendromorph centipedes likely influences their venom use and has implications for the severity of human envenomations, yet we understand very little about their venom yields and the factors influencing them. We investigated how size, specifically body length, influenced volume yield and protein concentration of electrically extracted venom in Scolopendra polymorpha and Scolopendra subspinipes. We also examined additional potential influences on yield in S. polymorpha, including relative forcipule size, relative mass, geographic origin (Arizona vs. California), sex, time in captivity, and milking history. Volume yield was linearly related to body length, and S. subspinipes yielded a larger length-specific volume than S. polymorpha. Body length and protein concentration were uncorrelated. When considering multiple influences on volume yield in S. polymorpha, the most important factor was body length, but yield was also positively associated with relative forcipule length and relative body mass. S. polymorpha from California yielded a greater volume of venom with a higher protein concentration than conspecifics from Arizona, all else being equal. Previously milked animals yielded less venom with a lower protein concentration. For both species, approximately two-thirds of extractable venom was expressed in the first two pulses, with remaining pulses yielding declining amounts, but venom protein concentration did not vary across pulses. Further study is necessary to ascertain the ecological significance of the factors influencing venom yield and how availability may influence venom use.
Severe Arteriosclerosis in the Kidney of a Cocaine Addict

Cocaine abuse has been associated with sudden cardiac death with coronary artery thrombosis with or without underlying vessel disease. Additional vascular beds thus far implicated in cocaine-associated arteriopathy include thoracic and abdominal aorta, and pulmonary, cerebral, and placental vessels; abnormalities include vasospasm, thrombosis, and accelerated atherosclerosis. We report the case of an adult male cocaine user with severe arteriosclerosis of renal vessels, and suggest that cocaine may also affect the renal vasculature.
Effects of blinding on the ultrastructure of mouse pinealocytes with particular emphasis on the dense-cored vesicles.

The mammalian pineal is thought to produce an antigonadotropic principle under conditions of reduced photoperiod, constant darkness or blinding by optic enucleation. A number of previous studies on mammalian pineals have suggested that the dense-cored vesicles present in pinealocytes may represent morphological evidence of secretory activity. In the present study the ultrastructure of pinealocytes was studied in adult Charles River CD-1 mice blinded by optical enucleation. By one month following optic enucleation the mean number of dense-cored vesicles in the cytoplasm of pinealocytes adjacent to pericapillary spaces had significantly decreased by 55% when compared with intact controls, and remained at this low level at two months and six months. A relative increase in the proportion of large agranular vesicles and an increased number of large, irregular vacuoles was observed also in the pinealocytic polar processes of blinded mice. When compared to control mice the pinealocytic Golgi regions appeared to be hypertrophied in blinded mice. The apparent stimulation of pinealocytic organelles coupled with the observed decrease in dense-cored vesicles suggest an increased synthesis and release of secretory product.
A calorimetric study of the influence of calcium on the stability of bovine α-lactalbumin.

Bovine alpha-lactalbumin has been studied by differential scanning calorimetry with various concentrations of calcium to elucidate the effect of this ligand on its thermal properties. In the presence of excess calcium, alpha-lactalbumin unfolds upon heating with a single heat-absorption peak and a significant increase of heat capacity. Analysis of the observed heat effect shows that this temperature-induced process closely approximates a two-state transition. The transition temperature increases in proportion with the logarithm of the calcium concentration, which results in an increase in the transition enthalpy as expected from the observed heat capacity increment of denaturation. As the total concentration of free calcium in solution is decreased below that of the proteins, there are two temperature-induced heat absorption peaks whose relative area depends on the calcium concentration, such that further decrease of calcium concentration results in a increase of the low-temperature peak and a decrease of the high-temperature one. The high-temperature peak occurs at the same temperature as the unfolding of the holo-protein, while the low-temperature peak is within the temperature range associated with the unfolding of the apo-protein. Statistical thermodynamic modeling of this process shows that the bimodal character of the thermal denaturation of bovine alpha-lactalbumin at non-saturated calcium concentrations is due to a high affinity of Ca2+ for alpha-lactalbumin and a low rate of calcium exchange between the holo- and apo-forms of this protein. Using calorimetric data, the calcium-binding constant for alpha-lactalbumin has been determined to be 2.9 x 10(8) M-1.
The relative importance of wife abuse as a risk factor for violence against children

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relative importance of wife abuse as a risk factor for physical child abuse, physical punishment, and verbal child abuse. The study explored the importance of wife abuse relative to blocks of parent, child, and family characteristics and also relative to specific risk factors. METHOD: This study re-analyzed a sub-sample (N = 2,733) of data from the 1985 National Family Violence Survey. Hierarchical logistic regressions were conducted, using five different criterion variables measuring physical child abuse, physical punishment, and verbal abuse separately and in combination. RESULTS: Blocks of parent, child, and family characteristics were more important predictors of violence towards children than was wife abuse, though the presence of wife abuse in the home was a consistently significant specific risk factor for all forms of violence against children. Of specific risk factors, a respondent's history of having been hit as an adolescent was a larger risk factor for physical child abuse than was wife abuse. Wife abuse was an important predictor of physical punishment. Non-violent marital discord was a greater factor in predicting likelihood of verbal child abuse than was wife abuse. CONCLUSIONS: Though this study confirms the association between wife abuse and violence towards children, it cautions us not to overlook the contribution of other factors in our attempts to understand the increased risk attributed to wife abuse. Language: en
Influence of grain shape on properties of tarred dolomite products

The hydration capacity of crushed fired dolomite with an apparent density of more than 2.90 g/cm3 is higher than that of uncrushed. However, even after storage for 30 days the weight increase resulting from hydration does not exceed 0.95%. The crushed grain of dolomite is more thoroughly impregnated with tar and this favorably affects the properties of the products. The use of crushed grains of dolomite for making tarred dolomite articles confers on them a better structure than with the use of rolled (uncrushed) grains. This increases the products' strength. For the production of dolomite refractories with tarred bonds it is desirable to use highly sintered crushed dolomite. When calcined dolomite is stored for long periods before use, it should be used in the granular (uncrushed) form.
Spin-triplet p -wave pairing in a three-orbital model for iron pnictide superconductors

We examine the possibility that the superconductivity in the newly discovered FeAs materials may be caused by the Coulomb interaction between d-electrons of the iron atoms. We find that when the Hund's rule ferromagnetic interaction is strong enough, the leading pairing instability is in spin-triplet p-wave channel in the weak coupling limit. The resulting superconducting gap has nodal lines on the 3D Fermi surfaces. The k dependent hybridization of several orbitals around a Fermi pocket is the key for the appearance of the spin-triplet p-wave pairing.
The pharmacology of insect visceral muscle

Abstract 1. 1. At least five sites-of-action must be considered in most visceral nerve-muscle preparations. 2. 2. L -Glutamate is perhaps the excitatory neuromuscular transmitter in some organs of the viscera but not others. Proctolin is probably a neuromuscular transmitter in some organs of the viscera defined criteria for rapid chemical transmission. 3. 3. Although 5-HT and certain catecholamines are present in insects and have a pronounced effect on visceral muscle no functional roles has been established for them. 4. 4. Various peptides released from neuroendocrine organs probably regulate visceral muscle function. Moreover such hormonal actions seem to be mediated by cyclic AMP in some cases. 5. 5. Recent developments in methods for detecting peptides and prospective transmitters have increased the possibility of rapid progress in insect nerve-muscle pharmacology.
Methotrexate patient education: A quality improvement study

Objective. To determine patients' knowledge of the safe use and toxicity of methotrexate (MTX) and to define educational interventions implemented by a rheumatology nurse that improved patients' understanding of MTX therapy. Methods. One hundred eighty-three patients from a university-based rheumatology clinic who were taking MTX completed an initial knowledge questionnaire concerning the proper use and possible toxicity of MTX. Following completion, a nurse reviewed the correct answers with each patient and provided written information on MTX. One hundred thirty-eight of these patients completed a followup questionnaire at the next visit or by mail. The questionnaires were analyzed, and a total MTX knowledge score was calculated. Results. MTX knowledge improved significantly between questionnaires; mean total score (±SD) increased from 7.32 ± 3.99 to 10.23 ± 3.29 (P < 0.001). After accounting for a person's initial questionnaire score, the addition of a supplemental “MTX pocketcard” was associated with a higher score on the followup questionnaire (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.37; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14, 4.95; P = 0.021). Patients over age 55 were 4 times more likely to have a poorer score compared with patients under age 45 (adjusted OR = 0.23; 95% CI 0.07, 0.73; P = 0.013). Conclusion. Knowledge of the toxicity and safe use of MTX was significantly improved by a patient education program utilizing a rheumatology nurse. Older individuals appear to be at higher risk for knowledge deficits. A supplemental MTX pocket-card proved to be a simple but beneficial addition to our MTX educational program.
Stopping power of a nonequilibrium plasma

An expression which includes the effects of departures from local equilibrium due to gradients in the plasma is derived for the energy loss of a beam of particles passing through an inhomogeneous plasma. A combination of the test-particle approximation with the Lenard-Balescu collision term and the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK) approximation for the plasma kinetic equations is used. The occurrence of microinstabilities in the BGK model is discussed, and it is found that they do not contribute to the plasma stopping power for the cases of interest here. Calculations for an ..cap alpha..-particle beam with energies from 0.5 to 4.5 MeV in a fully ionized hydrogen plasma are presented. The effects of flow-velocity gradients are small, whereas those due to temperature gradients may produce a sizeable change in the plasma stopping power. The largest changes are found at high temperatures (> or approx. = 1 keV) and at low energies (< or approx. = 1 MeV). These nonequilibrium contributions can be directly observed if the energy loss of a probe beam is measured at various angles with respect to the plasma gradients.
Diversity in the US Federal Government: Diversity Management and Employee Turnover in Federal Agencies

Diversity scholars have argued that demographic heterogeneity in work groups is associated with decreased job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employees. As a result, employees in the diverse work groups tend to show higher probability of turnover. I examine how diversity affects job satisfaction and turnover intention of employees by analyzing the sample drawn from the Central Personnel Data File and the 2004 Federal Human Capital Survey. More specifically, the study focuses on the moderating and mediating effects of contextual factors on turnover intention of employees. To test models, I used the hierarchical regression analysis methods. The results show that job satisfaction partially mediates the moderating effects of diversity management and demographic context on turnover intention of employees. The findings of the moderating effects of contextual factors are somewhat mixed. Although effective management of diversity positively moderated job satisfaction in racially heterogeneous groups, it did not significantly affect turnover intention. In addition, ineffective management of diversity decreased turnover intention in racially diverse agencies, countering my expectation. The results suggest that more variables should be controlled to achieve an accurate pattern of the effects of diversity and contextual factors on turnover.
Mixing properties of coaxial jets with large velocity ratios and large inverse density ratios

An experimental study was conducted to better understand the mixing properties of coaxial jets as several parameters were systematically varied, including the velocity ratio, density ratio, and the Reynolds number. Diameters of the inner and outer jet were also varied. Coaxial jets are commonly used to mix fluids due to the simplicity of their geometry and the rapid mixing that they provide. A measure of the overall mixing efficiency is the stoichiometric mixing length (Ls), which is the distance along the jet centerline where the two fluids have mixed to some desired concentration, which was selected to be the stoichiometric concentration for H2/O2 and CH4/O2 in this case. For 56 cases, the profiles of mean mixture fraction, rms mixture fraction fluctuations (unmixedness), and Ls were measured using acetone planar laser induced fluorescence diagnostics. Results were compared to three mixing models. The entrainment model of Villermaux and Rehab showed good agreement with the data, indicating that the prop...
Bitterness in Celerya,b

SUMMARY The bitter principle of celery was isolated by successive solvent extraction, paper chromatography and curtain electrophoresis. It is a colorless crystalline non-flavonoid D-glucoside with mp of 159°C. It is cationic at pH greater than 7, soluble in polar solvents, and fluorescent under ultraviolet light. Electrophoresis is introduced as a new technique in the isolation of a bitter principle from a vegetable. A new conception of bitterness in plants is introduced.
Rationale and Considerations for Proposed Near-Death Research in the Hospital Setting

Abstract: Further research into the question of veridical perception during the "naturalistic" near-death out-of-body experience (nND OBE), that phase of the near-death experience in which the experiencer seems to be perceiving a normal earthly realm, would be of value to NDErs, their caregivers, and humanity in general. I propose a research procedure that targets visual perception during nND OBEs that occur in the hospital setting. I discuss unresolved issues in the design and implementation of such a procedure, and identify further areas of research.
Integration Experiences and Performance Studies of A COTS Parallel Archive System

Present and future Archive Storage Systems have been challenged to (a) scale to very high bandwidths, (b) scale in metadata performance, (c) support policy-based hierarchical storage management capability, (d) scale in supporting changing needs of very large data sets, (e) support standard interface, and (f) utilize commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. Parallel file systems have also been demanded to perform the same manner but at one or more orders of magnitude faster in performance. Archive systems continue to improve substantially comparable to file systems in their design due to the need for speed and bandwidth, especially metadata searching speeds such as more caching and less robust semantics. Currently, the number of extreme highly scalable parallel archive solutions is very limited especially for moving a single large striped parallel disk file onto many tapes in parallel. We believe that a hybrid storage approach of using COTS components and an innovative software technology can bring new capabilities into a production environment for the HPC community. This solution is much faster than the approach of creating and maintaining a complete end-to-end unique parallel archive software solution. We relay our experience of integrating a global parallel file system and a standard backup/archive product with an innovative parallel software code to construct a scalable and parallel archive storage system. Our solution has a high degree of overlap with current parallel archive products including (a) doing parallel movement to/from tape for a single large parallel file, (b) hierarchical storage management, (c) ILM features, (d) high volume (non-single parallel file) archives for backup/archive/content management, and (e) leveraging all free file movement tools in Linux such as copy, move, ls, tar, etc. We have successfully applied our working COTS Parallel Archive System to the current world’s first petaflop/s computing system, LANL’s Roadrunner machine, and demonstrated its capability to address requirements of future archival storage systems. Now this new Parallel Archive System is used on the LANL’s Turquoise Network
The midstream order deficit.

The relative order of an auditory sequence can be more difficult to apprehend when it is presented repeatedly without pause (i.e., cycling) than when it is presented only once (Warren, Obusek, Farmer, & Warren, 1969). We find that this phenomenon, referred to as themidstream order deficit (MOD), can also occur with visual stimuli. The stimuli need not form separate perceptual “streams,” and the effect can occur with presentation rates as slow as five items per second, even though the identification of individual letters is very accurate at this rate. However, if the first item of the sequence is visually very distinct from the preceding items, relative order reports can be as accurate in the cycling condition as in the single-presentation condition. Our results suggest that the MOD is not due to masking, attentional blink, repetition blindness, Reeves and Sperling’s (1986) order illusion, memory limitations, or decision criteria. The MOD may reflect an attentional cost to the initiation of order encoding, which is distinct from the allocation of attention is required in order to detect and identify individual items. To initiate order encoding successfully, one’s attention must be set for, or captured by, an initial salient event.
Modeling the Neuroprotective Role of Enhanced Astrocyte Mitochondrial Metabolism during Stroke

A mathematical model that integrates the dynamics of cell membrane potential, ion homeostasis, cell volume, mitochondrial ATP production, mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ handling, IP3 production, and GTP-binding protein-coupled receptor signaling was developed. Simulations with this model support recent experimental data showing a protective effect of stimulating an astrocytic GTP-binding protein-coupled receptor (P2Y1Rs) following cerebral ischemic stroke. The model was analyzed to better understand the mathematical behavior of the equations and to provide insights into the underlying biological data. This approach yielded explicit formulas determining how changes in IP3-mediated Ca2+ release, under varying conditions of oxygen and the energy substrate pyruvate, affected mitochondrial ATP production, and was utilized to predict rate-limiting variables in P2Y1R-enhanced astrocyte protection after cerebral ischemic stroke.
FORMAL AND INFORMAL MENTORSHIPS: A COMPARISON ON MENTORING FUNCTIONS AND CONTRAST WITH NONMENTORED COUNTERPARTS

Research on mentorships has suffered from fragmentation of key issues; specifically, type of mentoring relationship, functions served by the mentor, and outcomes of the mentoring relationship. A field study was conducted comparing 212 proteges who were involved in informally developed mentorships, 53 proteges involved in formal mentor-ship programs, and 284 individuals who did not have mentors. Individuals in informal and formal mentorships were compared along two mentoring dimensions: psychosocial and career-related functions. All groups were compared on three outcome measures: organizational socialization, job satisfaction, and salary. Results indicated proteges in informal mentorships reported more career-related support from their mentors and higher salaries than proteges in formal mentorships. For all outcome variables, proteges in informal mentorships also reported more favorable outcomes than nonmentored individuals. However, outcomes from proteges in formal mentorships were generally not significant from the other two groups. Implications for mentorship practices and research are discussed.
Better Tissue Engineering Materials through the Use of Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is defined as the use of materials with at least one dimension less than 100 nm. Although nanotechnology has revolutionized many fields to date, it use in medical applications remains at it infancy. This manuscript describes recent promising studies made towards increasing tissue regeneration through the use of nano compared to conventional materials.
A comparative study of African American and European American ethnic identity

Abstract Differences between African Americans and European Americans were examined to find how ethnic identity salience was enacted in interethnic conversations, A sample of 126 African Americans and 78 European Americans was recruited from the community using a snowball sampling method. First, different factor structures for the two groups indicated that African Americans conceptualize sociocultural and political identity as separate constructs while European Americans express a singular and social definition of ethnic identity and experience less identity salience than African Americans. Secondly, although our sample is small, those who used the label “African American” expressed greater political ethnic identity salience than those who used the label “Black”. This finding is consistent with others' research indicating a continuing trend toward a positive political posture for African Americans. Third, ethnic identity was found to be negatively related to interethnic communication satisfaction for European Americans. Stronger European American ethnic identity was related to less satisfying interethnic conversational outcomes in less intimate relationships. Ethnic identity salience showed no significant relationship to interethnic conversational outcomes for European Americans communicating with friends nor for African Americans no matter the relational distance.
On foundations of radar polarimetry

Polarization aspects of the radar target scattering problem are reexamined. The optimization problem of radar polarimetry is formulated and Kennaugh's method of finding optimal polarizations is modified and extended to nonreciprocal and bistatic cases. Our approach does not necessitate diagonalization of the target scattering operator and therefore, a change-of-basis is not required. The change-of-polarization-basis is motivated by the comparison of experimental data taken with different antenna sets. Unitary matrix algebra is used to derive proper transformation formulas for scattering operators and bilinear voltage forms.
Comments on the Search for Electrostatic Discharges on Mars

Ruf et al. used the Deep Space Network (DSN) to search for the emission of non-thermal radiation by martian dust storms, theoretically predicted by Renno et al. They detected the emission of non-thermal radiation that they were searching for, but were surprised that it contained spectral peaks suggesting modulation at various frequencies and their harmonics. Ruf et al. hypothesized that the emission of non-thermal radiation was caused by electric discharges in a deep convective dust storm, modulated by Schumann resonances (SRs). Anderson et al. used the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) to search for similar emissions. They stated that they found only radio frequency interference (RFI) during their search for non-thermal emission by martian dust storms and implicitly suggested that the signal detected by Ruf et al. was also RFI. However, their search was not conducted during the dust storm season when deep convective storms are most likely to occur. Here, we show that the ubiquitous dust devils and small-scale dust storms that were instead likely present during their observations are too shallow to excite SRs and produce the signals detected by Ruf et al. We also show that the spectral and temporal behavior of the signals detected by Anderson et al. corroborates the idea that they originated from man-made pulse-modulated telecommunication signals rather than martian electric discharges. In contrast, an identical presentation of the signals detected by Ruf et al. demonstrates that they do not resemble man-made signals. The presentation indicates that the DSN signals were consistent with modulation by martian SRs, as originally hypothesized by Ruf et al. We propose that a more comprehensive search for electrostatic discharges be conducted with either the ATA or DSN during a future martian dust storm season to test the hypothesis proposed by Ruf et al.
Flurothyl seizure susceptibility in rats following prenatal methylazoxymethanol treatment

Methylazoxymethanol acetate (MAMac) is a potent teratogenic agent which can produce ectopic cell placement in developing rat brains. In the present study, we evaluated (i) whether prenatal exposure to MAMac results in a lowered seizure threshold to flurothyl and (ii) if there is a correlation between the number of ectopic cells in MAMac-exposed hippocampus and flurothyl-induced seizure latency. In 60 day old (P60) rats exposed to MAMac in utero, the latencies to myoclonic jerk (173 +/- 2.3 s) and forelimb clonus (215 +/- 4.6 s) were significantly shorter than those of controls (200 +/- 6.9 s and 238 +/- 8.8 s, respectively). MAMac also increased the proportion of flurothyl-treated rats that progressed from bilateral forelimb clonus to generalized tonic-clonic seizures (control: 33%; MAMac: 91%). Shorter seizure latencies were associated with an increased number of ectopic pyramidal cells in region CA1/CA2. These results suggest seizure susceptibility is enhanced in an animal model (MAMac) characterized by abnormal neuronal migration.
Accurate calculation of radiation lengths

Abstract Using recent precise calculations of the total cross section for pair production, values for the radiation lengths of elements Z = 2, 6, 13, 29 and 82 are given to an accuracy of 0.1% and for Z = 1, an accuracy of 0.5%. In addition, a formula is given which predicts the radiation length for any other element Z ≧ 6 to 1% . The present values represent an improvement over commonly used tables because of the precision of the present prediction, the knowledge of its uncertainty, as well as the extended range of elements included.
The Food of Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the Western North Atlantic Ocean

Abstract The stomach contents of 250 bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, captured in the western North Atlantic from 1965 to 1966 by longline, purse seine, and trolling, were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. A large percentage (65%) of stomachs were empty. The food of bluefin tuna consisted of 22 taxa of fish, 10 of mollusks, and 8 of crustaceans. Salps were also present. By volume, fishes accounted for 76.9% of the stomach contents; mollusks, 18.1%; crustaceans, 4.2%; and unidentified invertebrates and salps, 0.7%. All food organisms were pelagic. The data do not show a clear relation between size of tuna and size of food. Differences were marked between composition of forage found in deep-swimming tunas caught by longline and that in tunas caught at the surface by purse seine or trolling.
Emissions control and reduction

A brief review of the information available on technological means for reducing anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases is provided. No assessment of economic or institutional difficulties for their implementation is attempted. A few cost figures are quoted where available, usually at the single-unit, microeconomic level, and further aggregation of the data is required to estimate global costs. Considerable additional analysis is required to do the latter, since simple summation of micro-level figures will in general not correctly yield macro level costs. It follows that no conclusions can be drawn from the information provided in this paper as to the preferred, most effective strategies for abating emission growths. The review should be viewed as providing a snap-shot picture of the data available as of today that is needed as input to an analysis of means and costs for achieving global scale reduction in emissions levels.
Electron microscopy of functional ribosome complexes

Cryoelectron microscopy has made a number of significant contributions to our understanding of the translation process. The method of single-particle reconstruction is particularly well suited for the study of the dynamics of ribosome-ligand interactions. This review follows the events of the functional cycle and discusses the findings in the context provided by the recently published x-ray structures.
Comparison of the In Vitro Activity of BL-P1654 with Gentamicin and Carbenicillin Against Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The in vitro activity of 6-[d-alpha-(3 guanylureido)-phenylacetamido]-penicillanic acid (BL-P1654) was evaluated against 117 clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, many of which were known to be resistant to both gentamicin and carbenicillin. BL-P1654 was two to eight times more active than carbenicillin against P. aeruginosa. However, all 28 highly carbenicillin-resistant isolates (minimal inhibitory concentration [MIC] > 500 mug/ml) were also highly resistant to BL-P1654. When an MIC of 32 mug/ml or less and a zone of inhibition of 12 mm or more by a 10-mug disk were used as criteria indicating susceptibility to BL-P1654, the false-resistance rate by the disk test was 10.6% and the false-susceptibility rate was 4.2%. The combination of BL-P1654 and gentamicin was synergistic against 45 of 70 isolates of P. aeruginosa tested, but synergism was demonstrated against only 4 of 24 highly gentamicin-resistant (MIC > 63 mug/ml), 1 of 12 highly BL-P1654-resistant (MIC > 250 mug/ml) isolates, and none of nine isolates highly resistant to both of these antibiotics.
Computed Tomography (CT) And Picture Archiving And Communication Systems (PACS)

The Computed Tomography System is aimed at availing the doctor of a non-invasive diagnostic tool to project an image of the patient's anatomy on a interactive display monitor. The total speed of data acquisition to first image is generally the perceived highest system requirement. The System need for archival storage of the images does produce a time limiting restraint on this need. The opportunity for advanced image analysis is at times ignored in deference to film due to the data acquisition impacts on the analysis within a single computer and the clinical needs of the attending physician. The presentation will address the benefits of film, tape and local area networking in the total picture of task distribution, archival storage, and improved analysis availability. It will delve into the dataset sizes and required technology in use within the CT system today. The concepts of multiscanner rooms feeding to a central archival storage facility and/or satellite image analysis stations will be analyzed as to the benefits, costs, and image analysis impacts. Then the projection toward the multi modality analysis system will be visited for benefits and needs. The question of wide area network access needs must ultimately be projected.© (1982) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Hypoglycemia: still the limiting factor in the glycemic management of diabetes.

ABSTRACT Objective To review the prevalence of, risk factors for, and prevention of hypoglycemia from the perspective of the pathophysiologic aspects of glucose counterregulation in diabetes. Methods This review is based on personal experience and research and the relevant literature. Results Although it can result from insulin excess alone, iatrogenic hypoglycemia is generally the result of the interplay of therapeutic insulin excess and compromised defenses against declining plasma glucose concentrations. Failure of β-cells of the pancreas—early in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus but later in those with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)—causes loss of the first 2 physiologic defenses: a decrease in insulin and an increase in glucagon. Such patients are critically dependent on epinephrine, the third physiologic defense, and neurogenic symptoms that prompt the behavioral defense (carbohydrate ingestion). An attenuated sympathoadrenal response to declining glucose levels—caused by recent antecedent hypoglycemia, prior exercise, or sleep—causes hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure (HAAF) and thus a vicious cycle of recurrent hypoglycemia. Accordingly, hypoglycemia is infrequent early in T2DM but becomes increasingly more frequent in advanced (absolutely endogenous insulin-deficient) T2DM, and risk factors for HAAF include absolute endogenous insulin deficiency; a history of severe hypoglycemia, hypoglycemia unawareness, or both; and aggressive glycemic therapy per se. Conclusion By practicing hypoglycemia risk reduction— addressing the issue, applying the principles of aggressive glycemic therapy, and considering both the conventional risk factors and those indicative of HAAF— it is possible both to improve glycemic control and to minimize the risk of hypoglycemia in many patients. (Endocr Pract. 2008;14:750-756)
Product of lattice-valued measures on topological spaces

X1 and X2 are completely regular Hausdorff spaces, E1, E2 and F are Dedekind complete Banach lattices, 〈·,·〉: E1 × E2 → F is a bilinear mapping, and μ1 and μ2 are, respectively, E1 and E2 valued positive, countably additive Baire or Borel measures (countable additivity relative to order convergence) on X1 and X2. Under certain conditions the existence and uniqueness of the F-valued, positive, product measure is proved.
Abstract 5250: The effect of introducing a C118S mutation into the endogenous Kras gene on early tumorigenesis

The Ras family of small GTPase, comprised of HRAS, NRAS, and KRAS, have been found mutated to remain in an active oncogenic state in many different human cancers, which is well established to promote tumorigenesis. All three RAS isoforms contain a conserved C 118 , of which the thiol group can be post-translationally modified by processes such as S-nitrosylation, which have been reported to promote RAS activation. To investigate the effect of blocking such modifications on RAS function in vivo, a C118S mutation, which lacks the reactive thiol group, was knocked into the endogenous Kras gene in mice. We now report that Kras C118S/C118S mice were born at the expected ratio with no overt phenotypes. To explore the effect of this mutation on early tumorigenesis, Kras +/+ , Kras C118S/+ , and Kras C118S/C118S mice were treated with the carcinogen urethane to induce oncogenic mutations in Kras and lung lesions. Interestingly, both Kras C118S/+ and Kras C118S/C118S mice developed fewer and smaller lung tumors than control Kras +/+ mice, suggesting that Kras C118S impairs lung tumorigenesis. Such a reduction in tumorigenesis could be the consequence of the C118S mutation on either the unaffected Kras allele or the Kras allele with the oncogenic mutation. To evaluate the first possibility, we tested and found that mice harboring a Cre-activated LSL-Kras G12D allele formed a similar number and size of lung tumors after activation of this allele when the remaining Kras allele was wild-type or C118S mutant. These data indicate that the reduction in tumor lesions observed in Kras C118S/+ and Kras C118S/C118S mice treated with urethane was unlikely to be the consequence of the C118S mutation on the non-oncogenic Kras allele. To evaluate the second possibility, we tested and found that oncogenic mutations occurred preferentially in the native compared to the C118S mutant Kras allele in Kras C118S/+ mice treated with urethane, suggesting a selection against oncogenic mutations on the Kras C118S allele. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that post-translational modifications such as S-nitrosylation on C118 enhance the oncogenic activity of Kras in vivo, and demonstrate for the first time that blocking the ability of a protein to be modified by processes like S-nitrosylation has a biological consequence in vivo. Citation Format: Lu Huang, Christopher M. Counter. The effect of introducing a C118S mutation into the endogenous Kras gene on early tumorigenesis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 5250. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-5250
Using the natural evolution of a rotavirus-specific human monoclonal antibody to predict the complex topography of a viral antigenic site

Background: Understanding the interaction between viral proteins and neutralizing antibodies at atomic resolution is hindered by a lack of experimentally solved complexes. Progress in computational docking has led to the prediction of increasingly high-quality model antibody-antigen complexes. The accuracy of atomic-level docking predictions is improved when integrated with experimental information and expert knowledge. Methods: Binding affinity data associated with somatic mutations of a rotavirus-specific human adult antibody (RV6-26) are used to filter potential docking orientations of an antibody homology model with respect to the rotavirus VP6 crystal structure. The antibody structure is used to probe the VP6 trimer for candidate interface residues. Results: Three conformational epitopes are proposed. These epitopes are candidate antigenic regions for site-directed mutagenesis of VP6, which will help further elucidate antigenic function. A pseudo-atomic resolution RV6-26 antibody-VP6 complex is proposed consistent with current experimental information. Conclusion: The use of mutagenesis constraints in docking calculations allows for the identification of a small number of alternative arrangements of the antigen-antibody interface. The mutagenesis information from the natural evolution of a neutralizing antibody can be used to discriminate between residue-scale models and create distance constraints for atomic-resolution docking. The integration of binding affinity data or other information with computation may be an advantageous approach to assist peptide engineering or therapeutic antibody design.
Convergent synthesis of alternating fluorene-p-xylene oligomers and delineation of the (silver) cation-induced folding.

Convergent synthetic routes for the preparation of hitherto unknown fluorene-p-xylene oligomers (containing up to 10 fluorene moieties) from readily available starting materials are described. The ...