cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
DNA STRAND EXCHANGE PROTEINS: A BIOCHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL COMPARISON

Homologous genetic recombination is an essential biological process that involves the pairing and exchange of DNA between two homologous chromosomes or DNA molecules. It is of fundamental importance to the preservation of genomic integrity, the production of genetic diversity, and the proper segregation of chromosomes. In Escherichia coli, the RecA protein is essential to recombination, and biochemical analysis demonstrates that it is responsible for the crucial steps of homologous pairing and DNA strand exchange. The presence of RecA-like proteins, or their functional equivalents, in bacteriophage, other eubacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes, confirms that the mechanism of homologous pairing and DNA strand exchange is conserved throughout all forms of life. This review focuses on the biochemical and physical characteristics of DNA strand exchange proteins from three diverse organisms: RecA protein from E. coli, UvsX protein from Bacteriophage T4, and RAD51 protein from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Venous thromboembolism and oral contraceptives: current status and clinical implications.

Recent studies of currently available oral contraceptives indicate that the risk of major sequelae is low in young women (aged between 20 and 24 years). Venous thromboembolism remains one event that can occur in users independent of the presence of risk factors. However, the attributable risk is small, with a range of approximately 7 to 18 events per 100 000 women annually. This risk is directly proportional to estrogen dosage starting at levels of 30–35βg. The type of progestogen (progestin) may also influence risk, though recent studies are controversial. In particular, there is debate surrounding whether desogestrel and gestodene carry a greater risk of thromboembolism than levonorgestrel. Modifiable risk factors for venous thromboembolism include hemostatic disorders, especially factor V Leiden, and possibly obesity. Cigarette smoking is not a significant risk factor in oral contraceptive users. With the exception of avoiding oral contraceptive use among women with a either a personal history of venous thromboembolism or a strong family history (until evaluated for hemostatic abnormalities), and perhaps limiting the use of desogestrel-or gestodene-containing oral contraceptives, there is little clinicians can do to reduce the risk of this disorder.
Comparison of Upright Digital Breast Tomosynthesis-guided versus Prone Stereotactic Vacuum-assisted Breast Biopsy

Purpose To compare the performance of upright digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT)-guided vacuum-assisted breast biopsy (VABB) with that of prone stereotactic (PS) VABB. Materials and Methods This retrospective review involved consecutive patients who underwent PS VABB from August 2014 to December 2015 and upright DBT-guided VABB from February 2016 to June 2017. Tissue sampling methods were the same for PS and DBT-guided biopsies. Wilcoxon and Pearson χ2 tests were used to compare the groups. Results During the study period, 439 PS VABBs in 408 patients (mean age, 56.5 years; age range, 32-84 years) and 706 DBT-guided VABBs in 682 patients (mean age, 57.9 years; age range, 23-90 years) were recommended. Technical success was achieved for more lesions with DBT-guided VABB versus PS VABB (99.3% [695 of 700] vs 95.1% [410 of 431], respectively; P < .001). Mean procedure time was shorter with DBT-guided VABB versus PS VABB (12 vs 27 minutes, respectively; P < .001), and fewer exposures were acquired with DBT-guided VABB versus PS VABB (three vs 12, respectively; P < .001). A higher percentage of lesions for which DBT-guided VABB was performed were noncalcified lesions (eg, architectural distortion, asymmetry, and mass) than for PS VABB (29.2% [203 of 695] vs 3.4% [14 of 410], respectively; P < .001). There were no differences in the distribution of histologic results (P = .42). No major complications were observed in either group. Conclusion Upright digital breast tomosynthesis-guided vacuum-assisted breast biopsy has a higher rate of technical success than does prone stereotactic vacuum-assisted biopsy and can be performed in less than half the time and with one-fourth of the exposures. In addition, more architectural distortions and asymmetries are amenable to biopsy with digital breast tomosynthesis-guided vacuum-assisted breast biopsy. © RSNA, 2018.
FastLane: test minimization for rapidly deployed large-scale online services

Today, we depend on numerous large-scale services for basic operations such as email. These services, built on the basis of Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) processes, are extremely dynamic: developers continuously commit code and introduce new features, functionality and fixes. Hundreds of commits may enter the code-base in a single day. Therefore one of the most time-critical, yet resource-intensive tasks towards ensuring code-quality is effectively testing such large code-bases. This paper presents FastLane, a system that performs data-driven test minimization. FastLane uses light-weight machine-learning models built upon a rich history of test and commit logs to predict test outcomes. Tests for which we predict outcomes need not be explicitly run, thereby saving us precious test-time and resources. Our evaluation on a large-scale email and collaboration platform service shows that our techniques can save 18.04%, i.e., almost a fifth of test-time while obtaining a test outcome accuracy of 99.99%.
Learning Curve for Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection With an Untutored, Prevalence-Based Approach in the United States

Background & Aims Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is widely used in Asia to resect early-stage gastrointestinal neoplasms, but use of ESD in Western countries is limited. We collected data on the learning curve for ESD at a high-volume referral center in the United States to guide development of training programs in the Americas and Europe. Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of consecutive ESDs performed by a single operator at a high-volume referral center in the United States from 2009 through 2017. ESD was performed in 540 lesions: 449 mucosal (10% esophageal, 13% gastric, 5% duodenal, 62% colonic, and 10% rectal) and 91 submucosal. We estimated case volumes required to achieve accepted proficiency benchmarks (>90% for en bloc resection and >80% for histologic margin-negative (R0) resection) and resection speeds >9cm2/hr. Results Pathology analysis of mucosal lesions identified 95 carcinomas, 346 premalignant lesions, and 8 others; the rate of en bloc resection increased from 76% in block 1 (50 cases) to a plateau of 98% after block 5 (250 cases). The rate of R0 resection improved from 45% in block 1 to >80% after block 5 (250 cases) and ∼95% after block 8 (400 cases). Based on cumulative sum analysis, approximately 170, 150, and 280 ESDs are required to consistently achieve a resection speed >9cm2/hr in esophagus, stomach, and colon, respectively. Conclusions In an analysis of ESDs performed at a large referral center in the United States, we found that an untutored, prevalence-based approach allowed operators to achieve all proficiency benchmarks after ∼250 cases. Compared with Asia, ESD requires more time to learn in the West, where the untutored, prevalence-based approach requires resection of challenging lesions, such as colon lesions and previously manipulated lesions, in early stages of training.
Recursive Linear Smoothing for the 2-D Helmholtz Equation

Abstract A fast algorithm for reconstructing images governed by a 2-D Helmholtz equation is presented. The computational complexity of the algorithm is 0( NM log M ) or O( NM 2 ) depending on boundary conditions, where N and M are the number of spatial grid points in the x and y directions respectively. This problem arises when smoothing a large number of images governed by the 2-D wave equation, because a Fourier transform in time gives a new set of images governed by the Helmholtz equation. When the images come from a scattering process, we show that a linear least-squares Born inversion of the wave field amplitudes can be performed during the smoothing procedure without changing the computational complexity. We also show that the smoothing algorithm is well-posed, and t.hat the sample functions of the smoothed estimate possess smoothness properties consistent with the Helmholtz equation.
Longitudinal Association Between Energy Regulation and Fatigability in Mid-to-Late Life.

BACKGROUND Deficits in energy production and utilization have been linked to higher fatigue and functional decline with aging. Lesser known is whether individuals with a combination of low peak energy capacity and high energy costs for mobility (eg, impaired energy regulation) are more likely to experience the onset and progression of high fatigability with aging. METHODS Participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (n = 651, 49.0% male, mean age 71.9, range 50-94) with ≥2 visits who completed fatigability (Borg rating of perceived exertion [RPE] after a 5-minute 1.5 mph treadmill walk), slow walking energy expenditure (VO2 mL/kg/min), and peak walking energy expenditure (VO2 mL/kg/min), testing between 2007 and 2018. The longitudinal association between each measure of energy expenditure, a ratio of energy cost-to-capacity, and perceived fatigability was modeled using mixed effects models adjusted for age, body composition, and comorbidities. Time to higher perceived fatigability (RPE ≥ 10) was modeled using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS In continuous analyses, higher slow walking energy expenditure (p < .05) and a higher cost ratio (p ≤ .001) were associated with greater perceived fatigability over time. Cox proportional hazards models using tertiles of the cost ratio suggest that, compared to those in the lowest tertile, those in the middle and highest tertiles had 1.89 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.57-5.16) and 2.85 (95% CI: 1.05-3.40) times greater risk of developing higher fatigability, respectively. CONCLUSION Findings suggest that strategies to prevent fatigability should consider methods to improve energy regulation by targeting both the independent and combined effects of declining peak capacity and rising energy costs for mobility with aging.
Physical Activity as Treatment for Depression in Recreation Therapy: Transitioning from Research to Practice

Depression is a common primary and secondary condition among recreational therapy clients, and is a threat to engagement and outcomes of recreational therapy. Recreational therapists are able to respond to depression through physical activity. A substantial amount of recent research has uniformly identified that there exist significant positive effects of physical activity on both clinical depression as well as depression among non-clinical populations. The research evidence in depression treatment and depression prevention supports physical activity as an intervention. This article reports types of exercise known to alleviate depression, the neuroanatomical structures affected by physical activity, and the effects of these structure changes on depressive symptoms. In addition, issues related to motivation regarding physical activity engagement as well as ways to respond to such issues using self-efficacy theory and self-determination theory are discussed. With an awareness of this current information, recreational therapists could integrate physical activity more intentionally into the APIED process to help their clients manage depression.View Shinichi Nagata's video about this articleSubscribe to TRJ
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies

Prion diseases are invariably fatal neurodegenerative diseases of humans and animals which attracted increased worldwide attention after detection of a bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) outbreak and its transmission to humans causing variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. Prion diseases are unique among other infectious diseases because of the unconventional characteristics of the etiologic agent and the biochemical mechanism for its propagation, and because of the sporadic, genetic, and transmissible nature of some of these diseases. The agent causing prion diseases, termed prion, is an abnormal conformer of a host-encoded cellular protein known as the prion protein. The fundamental event in the occurrence of prion diseases appears to be conversion of the cellular prion protein to the pathogenic prion by a poorly understood post-translational process. Transmission of prion diseases within the same species has been extensively documented. The modes of such transmissions include consumption of contaminated feed, accidental inoculation via medical or veterinary interventions, and close animal-to-animal contact. These transmissions result from exposures to secretions or tissues known to harbor the infectious agent, including the brain, spinal cord, and lymphatic tissues. Although cross-species spread of animal prion diseases has long been suspected, strong evidence for such spread is only available for the transmission of BSE to humans, domestic cats, and zoo animals.
An Integrated Review of Uterine Activity Monitoring for Evaluating Labor Dystocia.

Introduction Labor dystocia is the most common cause of cesarean birth in the United States, yet how dystocia develops during labor remains elusive. Uterine activity monitoring has significant potential for advancing our understanding of labor dystocia. While evaluating contraction frequency and amplitude is a common component of labor dystocia management, the literature describing the relationship between measures of uterine activity and labor dystocia is heterogeneous and has not been synthesized to identify the best methods for use in clinical investigation. Methods We conducted a literature search for original research exploring the relationship between uterine activity and labor dystocia published between 2000 and 2019. Included articles were critically reviewed and synthesized. Results Across 11 identified studies, investigators employed 3 different techniques for monitoring uterine activity and 9 different measures were employed. Uterine activity measures, including Montevideo units, uterine electromyography power density spectrum and sample entropy, and the fall-to-rise ratio of contraction shape, detected patterns associated with labor dystocia or cesarean birth. Discussion The use of multiple regression with clinical covariates and a uterine activity measure increased the accuracy of predicting cesarean delivery. Uterine electromyography may be especially useful to evaluate labor dystocia phenotypes to differentiate uterine muscle fatigue from understimulation and lead to algorithms for increased precision in the diagnosis of labor dystocia and innovative approaches to treatment.
fNIRS-based classification of mind-wandering with personalized window selection for multimodal learning interfaces

Automatic detection of an individual’s mind-wandering state has implications for designing and evaluating engaging and effective learning interfaces. While it is difficult to differentiate whether an individual is mind-wandering or focusing on the task only based on externally observable behavior, brain-based sensing offers unique insights to internal states. To explore the feasibility, we conducted a study using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and investigated machine learning classifiers to detect mind-wandering episodes based on fNIRS data, both on an individual level and a group level, specifically focusing on automated window selection to improve classification results. For individual-level classification, by using a moving window method combined with a linear discriminant classifier, we found the best windows for classification and achieved a mean F1-score of 74.8%. For group-level classification, we proposed an individual-based time window selection (ITWS) algorithm to incorporate individual differences in window selection. The algorithm first finds the best window for each individual by using embedded individual-level classifiers and then uses these windows from all participants to build the final classifier. The performance of the ITWS algorithm is evaluated when used with eXtreme gradient boosting, convolutional neural networks, and deep neural networks. Our results show that the proposed algorithm achieved significant improvement compared to the previous state of the art in terms of brain-based classification of mind-wandering, with an average F1-score of 73.2%. This builds a foundation for mind-wandering detection for both the evaluation of multimodal learning interfaces and for future attention-aware systems.
What’s in a name? Simulation and technology enhanced learning uses and opportunities in the era of COVID-19

> 'What's in a name? That which we call a rose / By Any Other Name would smell as sweet.' - Romeo and Juliet , Act-II, Scene-II, Lines 45-46.1 It is an understatement to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life’s normal routine. Worldwide, economies have shut down, leaving millions out of work, governments have ordered their citizens to stay at home and an invisible micro-organism brings death and disease by hopping from one locale to the next in a manner reminiscent of the Black Plague and Spanish Flu. The lay population has learnt and used terms heretofore solely employed by infectious disease and public health specialists. We now practise social distancing trying to flatten the curve through mitigation . Hygiene has taken on a new prominence with soap and sanitisers the weapons of choice in the war to combat the new scourge. Personal protective equipment serve as the defences, and masks are now the focus of fashion trends. The handshake is banned, and social interaction is now limited to teleconferences via software platforms. Going out to eat has become impossible, festivals and concerts no longer receive patrons and the world of sports has taken a hiatus. Without such entertainment, people have turned to online and streaming platforms to watch movies and series, or they have tuned into daily press briefings in which speakers refer to …
Can Public Universities Patent Their Research?: The Tension Between Open Records Laws and Patentability

Under state open records laws, which typically preference public access to governmental records, various documents relating to research can be “public records” accessible to the public through an open records request. In many states, such as Iowa, these laws apply just as much to public universities as they do other governmental units. The accessibility of a public university’s documents under state open records laws presents a particular patentability problem. A public university may not be entitled to a patent on inventions developed by university faculty due to a fundamental rule of patent law—that an invention cannot be patented if it was previously described in a printed publication. Under blackletter patent law, the touchstone for determining whether something is a “printed publication” is whether it was “publicly accessible.” And documents available under a state’s open records law would certainly seem to be “publicly accessible.” This article takes seriously the idea that documents associated with research conducted by faculty and staff of public universities in the United States constitute “printed publications” or are “otherwise available to the public” for purposes of patent law’s novelty requirement. Whether this is actually the case turns out to be surprisingly complex and depends in part on the specifics of each state’s open records laws. This article builds on existing work in this area by rigorously analyzing the Federal Circuit’s law on printed publications, examining the question under post-AIA law, and focusing specifically on Iowa’s open records law, before concluding with a specific recommendation for Iowa.
Dipyridamole, chloroquine, montelukast sodium, candesartan, oxytetracycline, and atazanavir are not SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibitors.

Li et al. (1) recently report the discovery of 16 Food and Drug Administration–approved drugs as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) main protease (Mpro) inhibitors. They were identified from a computational virtual screening approach using the Mpro as the drug target, and their enzymatic inhibition against SARS-CoV-2 Mpro was validated in the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based enzymatic assay (inhibitory constant Ki = 0.04 to 3.27 µM). Among the list of 16 discovered hits, disulfiram was recently proved by us as a nonspecific promiscuous cysteine protease inhibitor that not only inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Mpro but also five other cysteine proteases, and the inhibition was only observed in the absence of reducing reagent, 1,4-dithiothreitol (DTT) (2). As these claimed hits do not share structural similarities with existing Mpro inhibitors (3), we therefore chose the eight most potent compounds, including dipyridamole, candesartan cilexetil, hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, montelukast sodium, atazanavir, candesartan, and … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: junwang{at}pharmacy.arizona.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Romantic (In)Justice: Criminal-Legal System-Impacted Black Women’s Romantic Relationship Status and Quality:

This study of working class, heterosexual, criminal-legal system-impacted Black women described the women’s romantic histories and current romantic relationship statuses in terms of commitment, exc...
The Devastating Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Older Black and Latinx Adults: Implications for Health and Well-Being.

Objectives While disparities in COVID-19 infections and mortality have been documented for older Black and Latinx populations, pandemic-related economic impacts have been less studied for these groups. Minoritized older adults may be particularly vulnerable to financial hardships given their precarious socioeconomic positions. Thus, we aim to highlight the devastating economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic recession on older Black and Latinx adults, with a particular focus on the foreign-born population. Methods This study used data from the 2020 COVID-19 module of the Health and Retirement Study. The sample included adults >50 years of age who were U.S.-born non-Latinx White and Black, U.S.-born Latinx, and foreign-born Latinx (n=2,803). We estimated age-standardized prevalence and means of variables indicating financial impact and economic hardship during the pandemic. We further examined differences in these measures across racial/ethnic and nativity groups. Results Our findings document stark racial/ethnic inequalities in the pandemic's economic impact on older adults. Results show the pandemic has negatively affected older Black and Latinx adults across a host of economic factors (e.g., paying bills, affording health-related needs, or purchasing food), with foreign-born Latinx experiencing greater economic hardships relative to other groups. Discussion During the COVID-19 pandemic, older Black and Latinx adults are experiencing disparate economic effects, including lacking money to cover basic needs, compared to older White adults. The implications of the economic shocks of the pandemic for the health and well-being of older Black and Latinx adults warrant policy-oriented action towards promoting equity.
Virginia Woolf and the Migrations of Language

Introduction 1. Translation and ethnography in 'On Not Knowing Greek' 2. Antigone and the public language 3. Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and the Russian soul 4. Proust and the fictions of the unconscious 5. Translation and iterability 6. Assia Djebar and the poetics of lamentation Conclusion Bibliography Index.
Expedited patient-specific assessment of contact stress exposure in the ankle joint following definitive articular fracture reduction

Acute injury severity, altered joint kinematics, and joint incongruity are three important mechanical factors linked to post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Finite element analysis (FEA) was previously used to assess the influence of increased contact stress due to joint incongruity on PTOA development. While promising agreement with PTOA development was seen, the inherent complexities of contact FEA limited the numbers of subjects that could be analyzed. Discrete element analysis (DEA) is a simplified methodology for contact stress computation, which idealizes contact surfaces as a bed of independent linear springs. In this study, DEA was explored as an expedited alternative to FEA contact stress exposure computation. DEA was compared to FEA using results from a previously completed validation study of two cadaveric human ankles, as well as a previous study of post-operative contact stress exposure in 11 patients with tibial plafond fracture. DEA-computed maximum contact stresses were within 19% of those experimentally measured, with 90% of the contact area having computed contact stress values within 1MPa of those measured. In the 11 fractured ankles, maximum contact stress and contact area differences between DEA and FEA were 0.85 ± 0.64 MPa and 22.5 ± 11.5mm(2). As a predictive measure for PTOA development, both DEA and FEA had 100% concordance with presence of OA (KL grade ≥ 2) and >95% concordance with KL grade at 2 years. These results support DEA as a reasonable alternative to FEA for computing contact stress exposures following surgical reduction of a tibial plafond fracture.
Approximate Solution of Beam-Columns

K Jezek, in his paper Naherungsberechnung der Tragkraft Exzentrisch Gedruckter Stahlastabe (Stahlbau, vol.8, p.89, 1935), approximates interaction equations of an eccentrically loaded column of rectangular cross section. Herein the same idea will be extended to eccentrically as well as laterally loaded beam-columns with more complicated shapes of cross section.
Chapter 18 – Principles of Holography

This chapter discusses the holography technique. It is a method of lensless three-dimensional photography, and preserves both the amplitude and phase of the light. It involves a two-step process: recording of a complex interference pattern that is produced by the superposition of two light waves, and reconstruction of an image from the interference pattern. Holograms may be made in a wide variety of configurations, with parallel, diverging, or converging beams. A Fresnel hologram is formed when the recording medium is relatively near the object, or in the near field of the diffraction pattern of the object. In addition to Fresnel holograms, there are a variety of types of holography. The Fourier transform hologram is of utmost importance. Such holograms generate plane wave amplitudes at the hologram, which is the Fourier transform of the object. It is restricted by the requirement that the object must lie within a single plane. Thus, the objects for Fourier transform holograms tend to be photographic transparencies. The Fourier transform holograms are useful in optical pattern recognition and for optical computer memories.
A Regulatory-Based Approach to Safety Analysis of Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), the new frontier in civil aviation, add another dimension to the ever-increasing complexity of the current National Airspace System (NAS) in the United States. The future inclusion of private and commercial operations of the UAS into the NAS, unavoidably, raises safety concerns. As the NAS becomes increasingly more complex and constrained, the associated hazard and safety risk modeling must also mature in sophistication. Thus, there is a need for advanced studies focusing on risk-based system safety analysis of emergent UAS operations. This paper presents a regulatory-based integrated approach to system safety and risk analysis of the UAS operations and their interaction with the current NAS and the future Next Generation (NextGen) Airspace.
Collaboration and Teacher Change in the Middle School

Imagine you are a veteran teacher who has taught for ten years in an elementary school classroom. You move to a new district and find yourself the reading teacher on an interdisciplinary team of middle school teachers responsible for 150 sixth graders. Your new school has just converted from a traditional junior high to a middle school, embracing fully the middle school concept. On your team is a first-year English language arts teacher fresh from student teaching; the two of you meet daily in a team planning period with the social studies and mathematics teachers, working to forge an effective relationship as all of you embark on a new approach to teaching. Bobbie, a reading teacher, and Cindy, an English teacher, were in exactly this situation. They found themselves in the midst of dramatic change when their junior high school, a grades six-through-eight suburban school in the desert southwest, became a middle school. Their relationships as interdisciplinary team members, as students in university courses, and as participants in a university research project served as catalysts for change.
Inhibition of Angiogenesis by Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-3

Purpose. It has been established that Sorsby's fundus dystrophy, a dominantly inherited form of blindness, is caused by mutations in the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-3 (TIMP-3) gene. Because choroidal neovascularization is a prominent feature of Sorsby's fundus dystrophy, the authors have examined whether TIMP-3 protein plays a role in the regulation of angiogenesis. Methods. Chemotaxis of endothelial cells toward vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was examined using a modified Boyden chamber assay. Endothelial cells placed in the upper chamber were allowed to migrate through a polycarbonate membrane with 8 pm pores toward VEGF or bFGF present in the lower chamber. Next, the ability of TIMP-3 to inhibit chemotaxis was studied by incubating the cells with varying amounts of TIMP-3 during the assay. Finally, an in vitro angiogenesis assay was performed on collagen gels. Endothelial cells were seeded onto three-dimensional collagen gels. Treatment with bFGF and VEGF induced invasion of the gel and the formation of tube-like structures. TIMPs (1, 2, and 3) were added to the cultures to determine their effect on invasion. An in vivo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay was performed using methylcellulose discs containing bFGF with or without TIMP-3. Induction of new blood vessels was observed with a stereomicroscope. Results. TIMP-3 inhibits chemotaxis of vascular endothelial cells toward VEGF and bFGF, inhibits collagen gel invasion and capillary morphogenesis in vitro, and inhibits bFGF-induced angiogenesis in the CAM assay in vivo. Conclusions. TIMP-3 has the potential to inhibit angiogenesis. These results allow us to speculate on a possible mechanism by which mutant TIMP-3 protein might contribute to the Sorsby fundus dystrophy phenotype. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1997; 38:817-823.
Nanotechnology, Sensors, and Rights to Privacy

A suite of technological advances based on nanotechnology has received substantial attention for its potential to affect privacy. Reports of the National Nanotechnology Initiative have recognized that the societal implications of nanotechnology will include better surveillance and information gathering technologies, and there are a variety of academic and popular publications explaining potential effects of nanotechnology on privacy. My focus in this paper is on the privacy effects of one potential application of nanotechnology, sensors capable of detecting weapons agents or drugs- - "nanosensors" or "sensors" for short. Nanotechnology may make possible small, accurate, and easy-to-use sensors to detect a variety of substances, including chemical, biological, radiological, and explosive agents, as well as drugs. I argue that if sensors fulfill their technological promise, there will be few legal barriers to use and the relevant Constitutional law makes it likely that police sensor use will become pervasive. More importantly, I use the possibility of pervasive sensing to analyze the nature of privacy rights. I set forth the Legitimate Interest Argument, according to which one has no right to privacy regarding information with respect to the state if, and only if (a) the state has a legitimate interest in the information, and (b) the state does not garner the information arbitrarily. On this view, pervasive use would not impinge rights to privacy. Rather, it presents an opportunity to protect privacy rights.
Consistent reconstruction of cortical surfaces from longitudinal brain MR images

Accurate and consistent reconstruction of cortical surfaces from longitudinal human brain MR images is of great importance in studying subtle morphological changes of the cerebral cortex. This paper presents a new deformable surface method for consistent and accurate reconstruction of inner, central and outer cortical surfaces from longitudinal MR images. Specifically, the cortical surfaces of the group-mean image of all aligned longitudinal images of the same subject are first reconstructed by a deformable surface method driven by a force derived from the Laplace's equation. And then the longitudinal cortical surfaces are consistently reconstructed by jointly deforming the cortical surfaces from the group-mean image to all longitudinal images. The proposed method has been successfully applied to both simulated and real longitudinal images, demonstrating its validity.
A spectral approach to nonlocal mesh editing

Mesh editing is a time-consuming and error prone process when changes must be manually applied to repeated structures in the mesh. Since mesh design is a major bottleneck in the creation of computer games and animation, simplifying the process of mesh editing is an important problem. We propose a fast and accurate method for performing region matching which is based on the manifold harmonics transform. We then demonstrate this matching method in the context of nonlocal mesh editing - propagating mesh editing operations from a single source region to multiple target regions which may be arbitrarily far away. This contribution will lead to more efficient methods of mesh editing and character design.
China and India in the Age of Globalization: China and India Embrace Globalization

This chapter provides a broad analysis of how and why China and India opened themselves to the global economy. It provides a comprehensive review of the various policies and programs that were put in place to facilitate each country's integration into the international economic system. The following pages explore not only the politics behind the policy making and how this has influenced and determined the nature, substance, and depth of the various pro-market policies, but also why and how the various policies and programs have evolved or been revised to meet the changing political and economic circumstances. The chapter shows that whereas China – following Deng's famous maxim, “crossing the river by groping for stones” – gradually and sequentially adapted its reform policies to the fast-changing domestic and global political economy and seized opportunities as they arose, India's liberalization program, literally forced on the country's political elites by a fast hemorrhaging economy, was hastily introduced. After the initial burst, pro-market policies have followed a seemingly meandering path – more a reflection of the contingencies of the country's democratic politics than economic prudence. Moreover, the chapter sheds insight on the perennial political economy question: why was a certain approach to global economic integration – namely, “gradualism” – privileged over “shock therapy”? Why, unlike the former Soviet Union and its Eastern bloc, did market reforms and global economic integration in China not result in economic and political implosion, but rather political stability and unprecedented economic growth?
DIY Citizenship: Critical Making and Social Media, edited by Matt Ratto and Megan Boler. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2014. 450 pp. $30.00 paper. ISBN 9780262525527 paper.

DIY Citizenship: Critical Making and Social Media, edited by Matt Ratto and Megan Boler, explores the diverse forms of civic engagement and political participation in a wide range of digitally enab...
A 114 dB 68 mW chopper-stabilized stereo multi-bit audio A/D converter

A fifth-order single-loop seventeen level /spl Sigma//spl Delta/ modulator with an input feed-forward gain stage and second-order mismatch shaping logic achieves 114 dB dynamic range and -105 dB THD over the 20 kHz audio band. This stereo ADC occupies 5.62 mm/sup 2/ active area in a 0.35 /spl mu/m 2P 3M CMOS process and dissipates only 55 mW power in the analog circuits.
Global Auroral Response to Interplanetary Media with Emphasis on Solar Wind Dynamic Pressure Enhancements

This paper reviews some important progress made on large-scale auroral dynamics under a variety of interplanetary conditions with emphasis on solar wind dynamic pressure increases. In the last decade, the availability of high time and spatial resolution far-ultraviolet auroral images from Polar has allowed such work to be performed statistically. Like geomagnetic disturbances, the southward component of interplanetary magnetic fields (IMFs) and the solar wind velocity are the major contributors to the hemispheric auroral power through magnetic merging/ reconnection and solar wind viscous processes, respectively. Global auroral imaging from Polar has also demonstrated the importance of sudden increases in the solar wind dynamic pressure. When the magnetosphere is compressed, auroral transients (<10-20 min) are produced first on the dayside and then on the nightside of the oval. The dayside auroral transient is associated mainly with enhancements in both energy and energy flux of precipitating electrons from the plasma sheet. On the nightside the compression-induced aurora is more intense, especially during southward IMF, and often leads to widening of the oval and the closure of the polar cap. Observations seem to suggest an increased efficiency in the solar wind-magnetosphere coupling and an enhancement in the convection-related DP 2 current system by shocks, but whether or not the magnetospheric compression can enhance dayside merging/nightside reconnection and/or viscous processes remains uncertain. To evaluate the importance of magnetospheric compression on large-scale aurora, 27 co-rotating interaction region (CIR) events, which are an important source of high solar wind plasma density in the solar wind, are studied. A superposed epoch analysis of the solar wind plasma data and auroral power during the 27 CIR events indicates a modest increase (80%) in the global auroral power across the CIRs. Global auroral power is also more intense in a high-speed stream than in a low-speed stream. When these results and a high recurrent rate are combined, the CIR and its high-speed downstream region are an important interplanetary event that can exert a profound impact on the auroral ionosphere.
Architectural Optimization Methods for Control-Dominated Machines

We are building the Princeton University Behavioral Synthesis System (PUBSS) as a testbed for high-level synthesis methods. Our research in high-level synthesis is guided by two principles: concentration on control-dominated machines and development of optimization methods for partially-specified architectures.
Evidence for interaction of an aminoacyl transfer RNA synthetase with a region important for the identity of its cognate transfer RNA.

Abstract Recent experiments showed that a single base pair (G3:U70) in the amino acid acceptor helix is a major determinant for the identity of Escherichia coli alanine transfer RNA. Experiments reported here show that bound alanine tRNA synthetase protects (from ribonuclease attack) seven consecutive phosphodiester linkages on the 3'-side of the acceptor-T psi C helix (phosphates 65-71) and a few additional sites that are in scattered locations. There is no evidence for interaction of the enzyme with the anticodon, a sequence which can be varied without effect on recognition by alanine tRNA synthetase.
Superconductivity of Rhenium

Measurements have been made in the liquid helium temperature region of the magnetic threshold curve of rhenium by observations of the magnetic moment of a powdered sample. The transition temperature ${T}_{c}$ in zero magnetic field was found to be 2.42\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K, and the observed slope of the threshold curve at $T={T}_{c}$ was 235 gauss per degree. Assuming a reversible transition, the value of the normal electronic specific heat coefficient $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ obtained from the magnetic data is 4.6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${101}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ calories per mole per ${\mathrm{degree}}^{2}$, a value which would be expected from the correlation between $\frac{\ensuremath{\gamma}}{V}$ and ${T}_{c}$ previously proposed.
Choices for infertility and impotence

(2002). Choices for Infertility and Impotence. Health Care on the Internet: Vol. 6, No. 1-2, pp. 115-120.
Artifact reduction in lenticular multiscopic 3D displays by means of anti-alias filtering

This paper addresses the issue of artifact visibility in automultiscopic 3-D lenticular displays. A straightforward extension of the two-view lenticular autostereoscopic principle to M views results in an M-fold loss of horizontal resolution due to the subsampling needed to properly multiplex the views. In order to circumvent the imbalance between the horizontal and vertical resolution, a tilt can be applied to the lenticules to orient them at a small angle to the vertical direction, as is done in the SynthaGram display from Stereographics Corp. In either case, to avoid aliasing the subsampling should be preceded by suitable lowpass pre-filtering. Although for purely vertical lenticules a sufficiently narrowband lowpass horizontal filtering suffices, the situation is more complicated for diagonal lenticules; the subsampling of each view is no more orthogonal, and more complex sampling models need to be considered. Based on multidimensional sampling theory, we have studied multiview sampling models based on lattices. These models approximate pixel positions on a lenticular automultiscopic display and lead to optimal anti-alias filters. In this paper, we report results for a separable approximation to non-separable 2-D anti-alias filters based on the assumption that the lenticule slant is small. We have carried out experiments on a variety of images, and different filter bandwidths. We have observed that the theoretically-optimal bandwidth is too restrictive; aliasing artifacts disappear, but some image details are lost as well. Somewhat wider bandwidths result in images with almost no aliasing and largely preserved detail. For subjectively-optimized filters, the improvements, although localized, are clear and enhance the 3-D viewing experience.
Inelastic scattering of low energy electrons from surfaces

Abstract The method of energy analysis of back-scattered electrons has been applied in studies of single crystal surfaces of tungsten, graphite and copper for primary electrons in the range of 30–350 eV. The information that is obtained by this method on the various inelastic processes, coupled with LEED patterns from the same surfaces, provides additional understanding of the scattering of electrons in the low energy range. The identification of peaks in energy distribution curves due to the excitation of bulk and surface plasma resonances in tungsten is made. The energy distributions for all three materials show additional features attributable to single electron interband transitions and Auger transitions. For copper the energy loss measurements are correlated with the optical reflectivity data of Ehrenreich and Philipp.
Superselective intra-arterial chemotherapy of advanced paranasal sinus tumors

• Twenty-four patients with advanced paranasal sinus tumors were treated with combined superselective intra-arterial and systemic chemotherapy, yielding an immediate satisfactory tumor response rate of 91%, significantly better than previously reported. Eight patients had craniofacial surgery circumvented because of complete or near complete response. Repetitive uncomplicated catheterization of the pterygoid segment of the internal maxillary artery using a coaxial system is the cornerstone of successful induction chemotherapy. Strenuous screening of medical status is mandatory for this aggressive introduction chemotherapy. ( Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1989;115:503-511)
Incorporating genetic potential when evaluating stature in children with cystic fibrosis

Objective The 2002 Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) practice guidelines recommend adjusting for genetic potential when evaluating height status in children with CF. However, there is paucity of data to support this recommendation. We compared three methods of classifying short stature: unadjusted height percentile < 10th, Himes adjusted height percentile < 10th, and unadjusted height below the CFF target height lower bound.
pH influences the postpulse permeability state of skin after electroporation

The pH dependence of porcine epidermis permeability and the influence of pH on the electroporation transport of molecules were studied. The resistance was maximum at pH 5 and decreased with an increase or decrease in the pH of the donor medium. The permeability coefficient of glucose was significantly higher at pH 7.5, compared to pH 5. On electroporation, the resistance recovery rate of porcine epidermis was rapid below pH 5 and slower at above pH 7.5. The transport studies revealed that a donor medium pH above 7.5 helps to maintain the postpulse permeability state of the skin. By changing the donor medium pH from 5 to 7.5, the postpulse transport of glucose and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled dextran (MW 10 kDa) (FD10K) was enhanced by about threefold. The lipids extracted from porcine epidermis showed pI values of 4.3 and 5.9. Vesicles of these lipids fused more rapidly at pH 5 than at pH 3, 7, and 10. The results imply that pH-sensitive postpulse resistance recovery and molecular transport are due to the charge states of epidermal lipids.
Negative ion photoelectron spectroscopy of copper hydrides

Abstract We report photoelectron imaging spectra of CuH− and CuH 2 - and their deuterated analogs. The CuH− photoelectron spectrum exhibits transitions to the ground (X 1Σ+) and lowest excited triplet (a 3Σ+) and singlet (A 1Σ+) states, with EA(CuH) 0.444(6) eV. The photoelectron spectrum of linear X 1 Σ g + HCuH− is dominated by a transition to the linear excited A 2 Σ g + state with a 2.853 eV binding energy. It is accompanied by an extended unresolved vibrational progression involving the bent CuH2X 2B2 ground state. Ab initio calculations show a 0.255 eV energy difference between these two states allow determination of EA(CuH2), 2.60(5) eV.
Mapping the mutation causing the X-linked lymphoproliferative syndrome in relation to restriction fragment length polymorphisms on Xq

The X-linked lymphoproliferative syndrome (XLP) results in fatal infectious mononucleosis, hypogammaglobulinemia, and malignant lymphoma. The mutation has been mapped relative to several restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers in the X121-Xq27 vicinity. The DXS37 locus was found to be near both the DXS42 and XLP loci.
Investigation of Restriction enzyme cofactor requirements: A relationship between metal ion properties and sequence specificity

Restriction enzymes are important model systems for understanding the mechanistic contributions of metal ions to nuclease activity. These systems are unique in that they combine distinct functions which have been shown to depend on metal ions: high-affinity DNA binding, sequence-specific recognition of DNA, and Mg(II)-dependent phosphodiester cleavage. While Ca(II) and Mn(II) are commonly used to promote DNA binding and cleavage, respectively, the metal ion properties that are critical to the support of these functions are not clear. To address this question, we assessed the abilities of a series of metal ions to promote DNA binding, sequence specificity, and cleavage in the representative PvuII endonuclease. Among the metal ions tested [Ca(II), Sr(II), Ba(II), Eu(III), Tb(III), Cd(II), Mn(II), Co(II), and Zn(II)], only Mn(II) and Co(II) were similar enough to Mg(II) to support detectable cleavage activity. Interestingly, cofactor requirements for the support of DNA binding are much more permissive; the ...