cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Calibration of the calcium dissociation constant of Rhod(2)in the perfused mouse heart using manganese quenching.

Both theoretical and experimental results are presented for in vivo calibration of the dissociation constant KCadof the calcium-sensitive fluorescent dye Rhod2in the perfused mouse heart, using manganese quenching of fluorescence transients. An analytical model is derived, based on the biochemical equilibrium of manganese competition with calcium for Rhod2binding. Expressing the differential of the changes between systole and diastole in fluorescence transient (δΔ Fsys-dia). δΔFsys-diain a beating heart as a function of the perfusate manganese concentration [Mn2+]pallows correlation of the measured differential transient changes δΔ Fsys-diawith the calcium dissociation constant KCadof Rhod2and the calcium concentration in the heart. Numerical modeling indicates that the KCadpredominantly affects the asymptotic slope of the δΔ Fsys-diaversus [Mn2+]pcurve at certain manganese concentrations, which suggests that the KCadcan be inversely calculated by partially fitting the δΔ Fsys-diadistribution as a function of the perfusate manganese concentration. The feasibility of this approach is confirmed by quenching of calcium transients by manganese infusion into isolated perfused beating mouse hearts. The resulting calculated dissociation constant KCadof Rhod2is 720nM. Using the same approach, we are able to also estimate intracellular calcium concentrations of 700nM at peak systole and 300nM in diastole. This is in good agreement with values obtained by calibration of fluorescence values with a calcium saturation tetanization procedure in the same perfused mouse heart model.
A grouping genetic algorithm for registration area planning

The enormous increase in wireless customers in recent years has taxed wireless network resources, in particular, the bandwidth available. The scarce bandwidth is not only consumed by placing and receiving calls on a portable, but by performing routine control functions to ensure universal service and increased quality of service. Among the control functions performed by a wireless network is finding the location of called mobiles. The registration area planning problem attempts to achieve this with minimal impact on the network's bandwidth. In this paper, we develop a grouping genetic algorithm to efficiently solve the registration area planning problem. The problem is NP-complete, therefore the literature has concentrated on heuristics to find good solutions in an acceptable time. The goal of registration area planning is to group wireless network cells into contiguous areas to minimize location update costs subject to paging bound and preset constraints. Therefore, the registration area planning problem is a grouping problem and grouping genetic algorithms, which have been shown to be a useful tool in solving these types of problems, are an applicable solution methodology. The proposed grouping genetic algorithm, GGARAP, has been extensively tested. Our results indicate that GGARAP is robust and finds good solutions for the registration area planning problem for a wide range of network situations. Furthermore, the computational effort involved in running GGARAP is minimal.
Language Planning and Planned Languages: How Can Planned Languages Inform Language Planning?

The field of language planning (LP) has largely ignored planned languages. Of classic descriptions of LP processes, only Tauli (preceded by Wuster) suggests that planned languages (what Wuster calls Plansprache) might bear on LP theory and practice. If LP aims “to modify the linguistic behaviour of some community for some reason,” as Kaplan and Baldauf put it, creating a language de novo is little different. Language policy and planning are increasingly seen as more local and less official, and occasionally more international and cosmopolitan. Zamenhof’s work on Esperanto provides extensive material, little studied, documenting the formation of the language and linking it particularly to issues of supranational LP. Defining LP decision-making, Kaplan & Baldauf begin with context and target population. Zamenhof’s Esperanto came shortly before Ben-Yehuda’s revived Hebrew. His target community was (mostly) the world’s educated elite; Ben-Yehuda’s was worldwide Jewry. Both planners were driven not by linguistic interest but by sociopolitical ideology rooted in reaction to antiSemitism and imbued with the idea of progress. Their territories had no boundaries, but were not imaginary. Function mattered as much as form (Haugen’s terms), status as much as corpus. For Zamenhof, status planning involved emphasis on Esperanto’s ownership by its community – a collective planning process embracing all speakers (cf. Hebrew). Corpus planning included a standardized European semantics, lexical selectivity based not simply on standardization but on representation, and the development of written, and literary, style. Esperanto was successful as linguistic system and community language, less as generally accepted lingua franca. Its terminology development and language cultivation offers a model for language revival, but Zamenhof’s somewhat limited analysis of language economy left him unprepared to deal with language as power.
Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis Causes Artificially Elevated Lumbar Bone Mineral Density Measured by Dual X-ray Absorptiometry

Abstract A 76-yr-old man with bilateral total hip arthroplasties was referred for a baseline bone mineral density (BMD) measurement. The L1–L4 lumbar bone density revealed a density above the upper expected value for a young individual (i.e., T-score > 2.5) with large intervertebral variation, while the forearm study revealed an osteoporotic measurement. Lumbar spine radiographs demonstrated abundant, flowing ossification of the anterior spinal ligament, predominately at L3, consistent with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, which accounted for the increased BMD.
Uptake of dietary PCB by pregnant big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) and their fetuses.

In a previous study (CLARK and LAMONT 1976), 26 pregnant big brown bats were captured, caged, and fed uncontaminated mealworms until their litters were born. Immediately after parturition, female bats and litters were frozen. Five litters included at least one dead young, and these five litters contained significantly more of the PCB, Aroclor 1260, than did the 21 litters with only living young. The present study attempted to verify that Aroclor 1260 could cause stillbirths. I fed 18 of 36 pregnant big brown bats mealworms containing 6.36 ppm of Aroclor 1260 prior to birth of their litters. Both carcasses and litters of dosed females contained approximately 10 times more PCB than their respective controls, but no additional stillbirths resulted. Three of 18 control litters included dead young, whereas the comparable ratio among litters from dosed females was one of 18. Additional comparisons involving means of litter weight, adult female weight, parturition date, days in captivity, tooth wear, and percentage fat also failed to show any effect of the PCB. The association found earlier between PCB and dead young (CLARK and LAMONT 1976) was not one of cause and effect. In both studies, bats that had not been dosed showed greater PCB residues among younger females. Among control bats in the present series, females that produced dead young were significantly younger (that is, showed significantly less tooth wear) than other females. In sum, whereas dead young seemed to have been caused by greater residues, these two factors were actually independent of each other but associated with a third factor--age of the female parent bat.
Fluid dynamics of venous valve closure

In vitro experiment was performed on a stended bovine jugular vein valve (VV, 14 mm I.D.×2 cm long) and a stentless bovine jugular vein valve conduit (10 mm I.D.×6 cm long) in a hydraulic flow loop with a downstream oscillatory pressure source to mimic respiratory changes. Simultaneous measurements were made on the valve opening area, conduit and sinus diameter changes using a specially designed laser optic system. Visualization of flow fields both proximal and distal to the venous valve, and the valve opening area were simultaneously recorded by using two video cameras. Laser Doppler anemometer surveys were made at three cross sections: the valve inlet, the valve exist, and 2 cm downstream of the venous valve to quantity flow reflux at valve closure. The experiment confirmed that the VV is a pressure-operated rather than a flowdriven device and that little or no reflux is needed to close the valve completely. The experiment further demonstrated that the VV sinus expands rapidly against back pressure, a critical character to consider in venous prosthesis design.
Morphological and behavioral effects of perinatal exposure to aspartame (Nutrasweet®) on rat pups

Possible side effects of perinatal exposure to L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester (aspar­ tame) were studied by providing aspartame-containing water to female rats from 30 days before conception until the pups were 30 days of age . Compared with rat pups of mothers who drank plain water, aspartame-exposed pups were not different in morphological (i.e., pinnae detach­ ment, eye opening, incisor eruption, and body weight) and reflex (i.e., surface righting and nega­ tive geotaxis) development. Additionally, no difference was found in the time taken by mothers to retrieve their litters. At 30 days of age, performance in a radial-arm maze of aspartame-exposed rats differed from that of rats not exposed to aspartame. Entries prior to repeat-that is, the number of arms chosen until an arm was reentered-was higher for the aspartame-exposed rats. Maze performance of rats exposed to aspartame for 30 days as adults did not differ from that of rats exposed only to water. These results suggest that aspartame may either facilitate the develop­ ment of components involved in this procedure or reduce factors that interfere with this task. L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester (aspartame) has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but several questions regarding the safety of this nonnutri­ tive sweetener still exist. Central to these questions is the effect of aspartame on fetal and child development. Aspartame is quickly metabolized into phenylalanine and aspartic acid , which make up roughly 50% and 40% of aspartame by weight, respectively (Opperman, 1984). The risk of aspartame may be greater in the fetus because the placenta can concentrate amino acids in fetal plasma (Ranney , Mares, Schroeder, Hustsell, & Radzialowski, 1975). Children may also be at an increased risk to poten­ tial side-effects of aspartame because they have much lower body mass than adults , and thus dose levels in chil­ dren, relative to body weight, would be greater than in adults consuming equal amounts of aspartame-containing foods (Partridge, 1986). Several studies of the effects of aspartame and its con­ stituent amino acids on infant development have been reported. Increased levels of phenylalanine have been shown to reduce protein synthesis in the brains of neonate rats (Siegel , Aoki , & Colwell, 1971) and mice (Taub & Johnson, 1975), but not in older animals (Taub & John­ son , 1975). Moreover, during brain development, hyper­ phenylalanemia can inhibit myelin formation and reduce
The Debate Over Time-Limited Treatment in College Counseling Centers

Abstract The use of time limits in psychotherapy with college students has become a commonly used strategy in counseling centers that are faced with increased demand for services and decreasing resources. However, this has been a controversial issue and there is no consensus at present as to whether or not the use of time limits with college students is clinically justified. This article explores the debate over the use of time limits by examining questions related to the role of counseling centers, the definition of psychotherapy, and the advantages and disadvantages of employing a time-limited model of treatment with college students. A case vignette is included. The author concludes that decisions about the kind of services a counseling center wants to provide must be made only after thoughtful deliberation of these issues by clinicians and through negotiation with the institution.
Introduction: Labor in a Changing China

The experiences of the Chinese workers illustrate most dramatically the profound changes taking place in contemporary China. No longer the “leading class” in a socialist country, as proclaimed in the Constitution, many of them, especially the migrant workers from rural areas and the retired, the laid-off, the new urban poor, and farmers, are now reduced to being “the weak groups.” They are voiceless and defenseless, the most vulnerable and desperate people in a society that is rapidly transforming itself through marketization and globalization.
Contragredient Transformations Applied to the Optimal Projection Equations

The optimal projection approach to solving the H2 reduced order model problem produces two coupled, highly nonlinear matrix equations with rank conditions as constraints. It is not obvious from their original form how they can be differentiated and how some algorithm for solving nonlinear equations can be applied to them. A contragredient transformation, a transformation which simultaneously diagonalizes two symmetric positive semi-definite matrices, is used to transform the equations into forms suitable for algorithms for solving nonlinear problems. Three different forms of the equations obtained using contragredient transformations are given. An SVD-based algorithm for the contragredient transformation and a homotopy algorithm for the transformed equations are given, together with a numerical example.
Is the energy homeostasis system inherently biased toward weight gain

We describe a model of energy homeostasis to better understand neuronal pathways that control energy balance and their regulation by hormonal signals such as insulin and leptin. Catabolic neuronal pathways are those that both reduce food intake and increase energy expenditure (e.g., melanocortin neurons in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus) and are stimulated by input from insulin and leptin. We propose that in the basal state, catabolic effectors are activated in response to physiological concentrations of leptin and insulin, and that this activation is essential to prevent excessive weight gain. In contrast, anabolic pathways (e.g., neurons containing neuropeptide Y) are those that stimulate food intake and decrease energy expenditure and are strongly inhibited by these same basal concentrations of insulin and leptin. In the basal state, therefore, catabolic effector pathways are activated while anabolic effector pathways are largely inhibited. The response to weight loss includes both activation of anabolic and inhibition of catabolic pathways and is, thus, inherently more vigorous than the response to weight gain (stimulation of already-activated catabolic pathways and inhibition of already-suppressed anabolic pathways). Teleological, molecular, physiological, and clinical aspects of this hypothesis are presented, along with a discussion of currently available supporting evidence.
Encapsidation of DNA, a protein and a fluorophore into virus-like particles by the capsid protein of cucumber mosaic virus

An important property of some spherical plant viruses is their ability to reassemble in vitro from native capsid protein (CP) and RNA into infectious virus-like particles (VLPs). Virions of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) are stabilized by protein–RNA interactions and the nucleic acid is essential for assembly. This study demonstrated that VLPs will form in the presence of both ssDNA and dsDNA oligonucleotides, and with a lower size limit of 20 nt. Based on urea disruption assays, assembled VLPs from CMV CP and RNA (termed ReCMV) exhibited a level of stability similar to that of virions purified from plants, whilst VLPs from CMV CP and a 20mer exhibited comparable or greater stability. Fluorescent labelling of VLPs was achieved by the encapsidation of an Alexa Fluor 488-labelled 45mer oligonucleotide (ReCMV-Alexa488-45) and confirmed by transmission electron and confocal microscopy. Using ssDNA as a nucleating factor, encapsidation of fluorescently labelled streptavidin (53 kDa) conjugated to a biotinylated oligonucleotide was observed. The biological activity and stability of ReCMV and ReCMV-Alexa488-45 was confirmed in infectivity assays and insect vector feeding assays. This work demonstrates the utility of CMV CP as a protein cage for use in the growing repertoire of nanotechnological applications.
The Effect of Temporal Frame on Information Considered in New Product Evaluation: The Role of Uncertainty

Three experiments explore how presenting a new product launch as occurring in the future versus the past affects the information used to evaluate the product. When a launch is described as a future event, marketplace conditions and characteristics of the sponsoring company receive consideration, and both types of information influence evaluations. However, with a past launch, only sponsor information receives consideration and guides evaluations (experiments 1 and 2). This temporal frame effect is attenuated when certainty is primed, implying that the uncertainty associated with the future versus the past motivates more comprehensive use of available information in the future (experiment 3).
Fifth generation telepathology systems. Workflow analysis of the robotic dynamic telepathology Component

Telepathology is the practice of pathology over distances using video-imaging equipment and a telecommunications network. Two workflow paradigms for telepathology practice are a subspecialty pathology practice (SPP) model and a case triage practice (CTP) model. With the CTP model, developed at the University of Arizona, the telepathologist on call can render a diagnosis independently or, regardless of its subspecialty category, has the option of referring the case to a subspecialty pathologist as needed.
Diagnostic Yield of Catheter Angiography in Patients with Subarachnoid Hemorrhage and Negative Initial Noninvasive Neurovascular Examinations

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The yield of DSA in patients with SAH and negative initial noninvasive neurovascular examinations (CTA or MRA) is not well-understood. This study aimed to determine the yield of DSA for the detection of causative vascular lesions in this clinical scenario. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We examined the yield of DSA for the detection of causative vascular lesions in a cohort of patients presenting to our institution with SAH and negative initial noninvasive neurovascular examinations during a 5-year period. Two experienced neuroradiologists independently evaluated the NCCT to determine the SAH pattern (diffuse, perimesencephalic, or peripheral sulcal) and the catheter angiograms to assess the presence of a causative vascular lesion. RESULTS: Fifty-five patients were included in the study, with a mean age of 58.2 years (median, 58 years; range, 25–88 years). Twenty-eight patients were men (50.9%), and 27 were women (49.1%). The initial noninvasive examination was a CTA in 47 patients (85.5%) and an MRA in 8 patients (14.5%). Thirty-three patients had diffuse SAH (60%); 11, perimesencephalic SAH (20%); and 11, peripheral sulcal SAH (20%). DSA demonstrated a causative vascular lesion in 6 patients (10.9%), 5 of whom had diffuse SAH (yield of 15.2%) and 1 of whom had peripheral sulcal SAH (yield of 9.1%). No causative vascular lesions were found in patients with perimesencephalic SAH. CONCLUSIONS: DSA is a valuable tool in the evaluation of patients with diffuse and peripheral sulcal SAH who have negative initial noninvasive neurovascular examinations, demonstrating a causative vascular lesion in 15.2% and 9.1% of patients, respectively.
Anthropogenic N deposition and the fate of 15 NO 3 − in a northern hardwood ecosystem

Human activity has substantially increased atmospheric NO 3 − deposition in many regions of the Earth, which could lead to the N saturation of terrestrial ecosystems. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) dominated northern hardwood forests in the Upper Great Lakes region may be particularly sensitive to chronic NO 3 − deposition, because relatively moderate experimental increases (three times ambient) have resulted in substantial N leaching over a relatively short duration (5–7 years). Although microbial immobilization is an initial sink (i.e., within 1–2 days) for anthropogenic NO 3 − in this ecosystem, we have an incomplete understanding of the processes controlling the longer-term (i.e., after 1 year) retention and flow of anthropogenic N. Our objectives were to determine: (i) whether chronic NO 3 − additions have altered the N content of major ecosystem pools, and (ii) the longer-term fate of 15NO 3 − in plots receiving chronic NO 3 − addition. We addressed these objectives using a field experiment in which three northern hardwood plots receive ambient atmospheric N deposition (ca. 0.9 g N m−2 year−1) and three plots which receive ambient plus experimental N deposition (3.0 g NO3 −-N m−2 year−1). Chronic NO 3 − deposition significantly increased the N concentration and content (g N/m2) of canopy leaves, which contained 72% more N than the control treatment. However, chronic NO 3 − deposition did not significantly alter the biomass, N concentration or N content of any other ecosystem pool. The largest portion of 15N recovered after 1 year occurred in overstory leaves and branches (10%). In contrast, we recovered virtually none of the isotope in soil organic matter (SOM), indicating that SOM was not a sink for anthropogenic NO 3 − over a 1 year duration. Our results indicate that anthropogenic NO 3 − initially assimilated by the microbial community is released into soil solution where it is subsequently taken up by overstory trees and allocated to the canopy. Anthropogenic N appears to be incorporated into SOM only after it is returned to the forest floor and soil via leaf litter fall. Short- and long-term isotope tracing studies provided very different results and illustrate the need to understand the physiological processes controlling the flow of anthropogenic N in terrestrial ecosystems and the specific time steps over which they operate.
An improved approach for remotely sensing water stress impacts on forest C uptake

Given that forests represent the primary terrestrial sink for atmospheric CO2 , projections of future carbon (C) storage hinge on forest responses to climate variation. Models of gross primary production (GPP) responses to water stress are commonly based on remotely sensed changes in canopy 'greenness' (e.g., normalized difference vegetation index; NDVI). However, many forests have low spectral sensitivity to water stress (SSWS) - defined here as drought-induced decline in GPP without a change in greenness. Current satellite-derived estimates of GPP use a vapor pressure deficit (VPD) scalar to account for the low SWSS of forests, but fail to capture their responses to water stress. Our objectives were to characterize differences in SSWS among forested and nonforested ecosystems, and to develop an improved framework for predicting the impacts of water stress on GPP in forests with low SSWS. First, we paired two independent drought indices with NDVI data for the conterminous US from 2000 to 2011, and examined the relationship between water stress and NDVI. We found that forests had lower SSWS than nonforests regardless of drought index or duration. We then compared satellite-derived estimates of GPP with eddy-covariance observations of GPP in two deciduous broadleaf forests with low SSWS: the Missouri Ozark (MO) and Morgan Monroe State Forest (MMSF) AmeriFlux sites. Model estimates of GPP that used VPD scalars were poorly correlated with observations of GPP at MO (r(2) = 0.09) and MMSF (r(2) = 0.38). When we included the NDVI responses to water stress of adjacent ecosystems with high SSWS into a model based solely on temperature and greenness, we substantially improved predictions of GPP at MO (r(2) = 0.83) and for a severe drought year at the MMSF (r(2) = 0.82). Collectively, our results suggest that large-scale estimates of GPP that capture variation in SSWS among ecosystems could improve predictions of C uptake by forests under drought.
Fatty-acid composition of polar lipids in fruit and leaf chloroplasts of 16:3- and 18:3-plant species

The fatty-acid composition of polar lip- ids from fruit and leaf chloroplasts was compared in five Solanaceous and two cucurbit species. The acylated fatty acids in monogalactosyl diglycerides (MGDG) from leaf chloroplasts of all five Solana- ceous species included substantial amounts of A7'l~ acid (16: 3). In contrast, the MGDG from fruit chloroplasts of the Solana- ceae contained very little of this plastid-specific polyunsaturate, and instead included a proportion- ately greater percentage of linoleic acid (18:2). In MGDG from leaf chloroplasts of two cucurbits, ~-linolenic acid (18:3) constituted 94-95% of the acylated fatty acids. Fruit-chloroplast galactolipids of the cucurbits had a greater abundance of 18 : 2, and hence a higher 18:2/18:3 ratio, than found in the corresponding leaf lipids. Among the phos- phoglycerides, the unusual fatty acid A3-trans-hex- adecenoate (trans-16:l) constituted from 15 to 24% of the acylated fatty acids in phosphatidyl glycerol (PG) from leaf chloroplasts (all species). In sharp contrast, trans-16:1 was virtually absent in PG from fruit chloroplasts of both Solanaceous and cucurbit species, and was replaced by a pro- portionate increase in the content of palmitate (16: 0). The observed differences in the polar lipid fatty-acid composition of fruit and leaf chloro- plasts are discussed in terms of the relative activity of several intrachloroplastic enzymes involved in lipid synthesis and fatty-acyl desaturation.
Partially reconfigurable multihop lightwave networks

Within the multihop architecture, each network node is equipped with some small number of transmitters and receivers, each of which can communicate on one wavelength. Transmitters and receivers are connected to an optical medium, which is physical configured in such a way that the entire spectrum of wavelengths in use is potentially accessible by each node. Then, an assignment of transmit and receive wavelengths to each node defines the logical connectivity among nodes. The use of partially agile transceivers provides some ability to update the logical connectivity in response to changing traffic patterns and failure/recovery of nodal transmitters and receivers. The flow and wavelength assignment problem is studied, and solutions are sought which flow the traffic over a derived connectivity diagram such that the largest flow on any link is minimized. Examples of the resulting connectivity diagram and traffic flow are presented for selected nonuniform point to point traffic matrices, and for different ranges of transmitter/receiver tunability. >
Detecting data races on weak memory systems

For shared-memory systems, the most commonly assumed programmer’s model of memory is sequential consistency. The weaker models of weak ordering, release consistency with sequentially consistent synchronization operations, data-race-free-O, and data-race-free-1 provide higher performance by guaranteeing sequential consistency to only a restricted class of programs - mainly programs that do not exhibit data races. To allow programmers to use the intuition and algorithms already developed for sequentially consistent systems, it is impontant to determine when a program written for a weak system exhibits no data races. In this paper, we investigate the extension of dynamic data race detection techniques developed for sequentially consistent systems to weak systems. A potential problem is that in the presence of a data race, weak systems fail to guarantee sequential consistency and therefore dynamic techniques may not give meaningful results. However, we reason that in practice a weak system will preserve sequential consistency at least until the “first” data races since it cannot predict if a data race will occur. We formalize this condition and show that it allows data races to be dynamically detected. Further, since this condition is already obeyed by all proposed implementations of weak systems, the full performance of weak systems can be exploited.
Ecohydrology of arid and semiarid ecosystems: An introduction

Ecohydrology has been defined as “the science, which seeks to describe the hydrologic mechanisms that underlie ecologic patterns and processes” (Rodriguez-Iturbe 2000, p. 1). This type of inquiry is fundamental to the understanding of the coupling existing between ecosystem dynamics and the water cycle, in particular in arid and semiarid environments, where water is an important limiting resource not only for its scarcity but also for its intermittency and unpredictable presence (Porporato and Rodriguez-Iturbe 2002; Rodriguez-Iturbe and Porporato 2005). The biogeoscience community has recently been trying to establish stronger connections between research in the physical and the natural sciences to provide a process-based understanding of the interactions existing between the hydrosphere and the biosphere. Thus, the research area at the confluence between hydrology and ecology has received considerable attention. The term “ecohydrology,” itself, has become increasingly popular in the scientific literature. Initially used to denote an integrated study of ecological and hydrological processes in wetlands (Ingram 1987; Zalewski et al. 1997), this designation was later extended to all terrestrial ecosystems (Vertessy et al. 1996; Baird and Wilby 1999; Rodriguez-Iturbe 2000) and to the interaction between freshwater and ecosystem services (Gordon and Folke 2000).
Selective Presynaptic Propagation of Long-Term Potentiation in Defined Neural Networks

Induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) of the synaptic connection between two hippocampal glutamatergic neurons in a neural network formed in cell culture resulted in a specific pattern of potentiation at other connections within the network. We found that potentiation propagated from the site of induction retrogradely to glutamatergic or GABAergic synapses received by the dendrites of the presynaptic neuron and laterally to those made by its axonal collaterals onto other glutamatergic cells. In contrast, synapses made by the same presynaptic neuron onto GABAergic cells were not affected, and there was no postsynaptic lateral or forward propagation to other synapses received or made by the postsynaptic neuron. In addition, there was no secondary propagation to synapses not directly associated with the presynaptic neuron. Both induction and propagation of LTP required correlated spiking of the postsynaptic cell as well as the activation of the NMDA subtype of glutamate receptors. Such selective propagation suggests the existence of a long-range cytoplasmic signaling within the presynaptic neuron, leading to a specific pattern of coordinated potentiation along excitatory pathways in a neural network.
Fabrication and characterization of a compressive-sampling multispectral imaging system

We describe the fabrication and characterization of a compressive-sampling multispectral imaging (CS-MSI) system that uses single-pixel detectors to capture multiple spectral images concurrently, without mechanical scanning. In particular, we pay special attention to the hardware/software characterization of the CS-MSI system, wherein we discuss the optical realization of the proposed system, measure the effective sensitivity range, and investigate the relationship between the digital micromirror device frame rate and the reconstruction quality. We also compare the imaging performance of the Hadamard-pace variable-density sampling method, which is the CS method implemented with our hardware architecture, with the conventional random sampling method. We propose a compressive-sampling modulation transfer function (CS-MTF) to measure the amplitude response of different spatial frequencies by using different CS methods.
Knowledge management in collaborative design

To enhance the product development ability of enterprise, collaborative design is applied to new product development. Knowledge management among designers is an important problem for collaborative design. A computerized knowledge management system for collaborative product development is present to solve the problem. A framework of knowledge management based on ontology is present. The collaborative knowledge is introduced to assist to acknowledge the process of collaborative design. Knowledge based on ontology is constructed, which is the critical part of system. It can solve the problem of the knowledge sharing and knowledge application. At last, the framework of knowledge management system is constructed, which integrate the knowledge management with collaborative design process. The framework can realize the knowledge capture and reuse to enhance the efficiency of design.
SSRI-induced sexual dysfunction successfully treated with amantadine

Sexual side effects are fairly common in patients treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The authors describe five patients with sexual side effects successfully treated with amantadine. Depression 2:319–321 (1994/1995). © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Strategic Interdependence in Organizations: Deconglomeration and Marketing Strategy

Abstract Although strategy exists at multiple levels in a firm (corporate, business, and functional), there is a dearth of research in marketing literature that focuses on the dependency among strategy at different levels. The authors address this issue by examining the relationship between deconglomeration and marketing strategy. Deconglomeration refers to the divestiture behavior of a conglomerate firm and the transformation of its business portfolio from one that is largely composed of several unrelated businesses to one composed of fewer and related businesses. Drawing on multiple theoretical perspectives, the authors propose a conceptual model delineating the environmental and organizational drivers of deconglomeration and its outcomes for marketing. The authors suggest that after deconglomeration, (1) a firm can be expected to be more competitor and customer oriented, (2) multimarket contact with competing firms and seller concentration will increase, (3) businesses retained by the firm will be more...
Herpesvirus gB: A Finely Tuned Fusion Machine

Enveloped viruses employ a class of proteins known as fusogens to orchestrate the merger of their surrounding envelope and a target cell membrane. Most fusogens accomplish this task alone, by binding cellular receptors and subsequently catalyzing the membrane fusion process. Surprisingly, in herpesviruses, these functions are distributed among multiple proteins: the conserved fusogen gB, the conserved gH/gL heterodimer of poorly defined function, and various non-conserved receptor-binding proteins. We summarize what is currently known about gB from two closely related herpesviruses, HSV-1 and HSV-2, with emphasis on the structure of the largely uncharted membrane interacting regions of this fusogen. We propose that the unusual mechanism of herpesvirus fusion could be linked to the unique architecture of gB.
A Battle Without Sides: Balancing the Standing Circle of Style

For you and me—right now—style is everywhere, thrust upon you in different mediums and modes. Style is about getting your point across in an effective way to your audience. It is about selling. Politicians sell their images, corporate executives sell their proposals, interviewees sell their resumes, advertising firms sell their products, and they do it all through a complicated combination of word choice, rhetoric, and sentence fluency taking into account audience, voice, and presentation. All of which are included in style. According to Stendhal, “Style is this: to add to a given thought all the circumstances fitted to produce the whole effect which the thought is intended to produce.” Style is inextricably connected to effect, which is also intrinsically connected to meaning. When our writing lacks style it “falls flat”— losing effect and lessening meaning.
Regulation of phospholipase D by sphingosine involves both protein kinase C-dependent and -independent mechanisms in NIH 3T3 fibroblasts

Previously, the protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor sphingosine was found to stimulate phospholipase D (PLD)-mediated hydrolysis of both phosphatidylethanolamine (PtdEtn) and phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho) in NIH 3T3 fibroblasts [Kiss & Anderson (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 7345-7350]. Here we examined the possible relationship between the opposite effects of sphingosine on PKC-mediated protein phosphorylation and PLD activation. After treatments for 3-5 min, sphingosine (25 microM) and the PKC activators phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) (100 nM), bryostatin (100 nM) or platelet-derived growth factor (50 ng/ml) synergistically stimulated the hydrolysis of both PtdEtn and PtdCho in NIH 3T3 fibroblasts prelabelled with [14C]ethanolamine or [14C]choline. Inhibition of PMA-induced phospholipid hydrolysis could also be elicited by sphingosine, but this process required prolonged (60 min) treatments of fibroblasts with 40-60 microM-sphingosine. Similarly to sphingosine, the protein phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid also had either potentiating or inhibitory effects on PMA-stimulated PLD activity, depending on the length of incubation time and the concentration of PMA. Consistent with the presence of an inhibitory component in the overall action of PKC, the PKC inhibitor staurosporine and down-regulation of PKC activity by prolonged (24 h) treatment with PMA similarly enhanced PLD activity. Data suggest that (a) sphingosine may enhance PMA-mediated phospholipid hydrolysis by neutralizing the action of an inhibitory PKC isoform, and that (b) the stimulatory PKC isoform is less sensitive to the inhibitory action of sphingosine.
Water-Repellent Slippery Surfaces for HVAC&R Systems

Minimizing water retention on the air side of aluminum surfaces is important in the design and operation of efficient heat exchangers for heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) systems. Accumulation of water degrades the performance of heat exchangers by lowering the heat transfer rate and increasing the pressure drop. As a result, power consumption in such systems increases. In this work, a method of fabricating liquid-infused slippery surfaces with honeycomb-like superhydrophobic micro-/nano-structure substrate via an anodization process is developed. The slippery surface exhibits superhydrophobicity with a contact angle of 155° and a sliding angle smaller than 5°. The delay of ice formation is observed during condensation/frosting experiment. Frost-melt retention experiments show that the liquid-infused slippery surface reduces the water retention by 90% compared to an untreated specimen. The longevity of the slippery surface is also explored. The water retention ratio does not show a significant change after 60 frosting/defrosting cycles, and is still only one third that of the baseline. The slippery surface has potential in HVAC&R applications.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Forecasting turbulent modes with nonparametric diffusion models: Learning from noisy data

Abstract In this paper, we apply a recently developed nonparametric modeling approach, the “diffusion forecast”, to predict the time-evolution of Fourier modes of turbulent dynamical systems. While the diffusion forecasting method assumes the availability of a noise-free training data set observing the full state space of the dynamics, in real applications we often have only partial observations which are corrupted by noise. To alleviate these practical issues, following the theory of embedology, the diffusion model is built using the delay-embedding coordinates of the data. We show that this delay embedding biases the geometry of the data in a way which extracts the most stable component of the dynamics and reduces the influence of independent additive observation noise. The resulting diffusion forecast model approximates the semigroup solutions of the generator of the underlying dynamics in the limit of large data and when the observation noise vanishes. As in any standard forecasting problem, the forecasting skill depends crucially on the accuracy of the initial conditions. We introduce a novel Bayesian method for filtering the discrete-time noisy observations which works with the diffusion forecast to determine the forecast initial densities. Numerically, we compare this nonparametric approach with standard stochastic parametric models on a wide-range of well-studied turbulent modes, including the Lorenz-96 model in weakly chaotic to fully turbulent regimes and the barotropic modes of a quasi-geostrophic model with baroclinic instabilities. We show that when the only available data is the low-dimensional set of noisy modes that are being modeled, the diffusion forecast is indeed competitive to the perfect model.
Furosemide disposition in normal and proteinuric rats: urinary drug-protein binding as a determinant of drug excretion.

We have demonstrated recently that the binding of furosemide (FSM) to urinary proteins causes a decrease in the diuretic response that is proportional to the degree of proteinuria. Further studies were conducted to determine whether urinary drug-protein interactions also altered the renal excretion of FSM. Rats were treated with puromycin aminonucleoside to produce proteinuria. Renal FSM clearance was directly related to urinary protein excretion rate (r = 0.550, P less than .005), a relationship that was more striking when FSM clearance was normalized to glomerular filtration rate (r = 0.781, P less than .001). This relationship was not explained by changes in serum protein concentration or glomerular filtration rate. In order to understand the mechanism of this relationship, normal and nephrotic rats were studied during experimental conditions designed to alter urinary pH. In normal animals urinary acidification induced by HCl infusion produced a profound decrease in renal FSM clearance compared to animals with the more alkaline urine that followed NaHCO2 or acetazolamide pretreatment. This alteration in renal FSM clearance during urinary acidification was not observed in nephrotic animals, despite comparable changes in urinary pH. The diuretic response to FSM did not differ among the normal animals despite the alteration in renal FSM clearance, indicating that the reduction of renal FSM clearance was due to tubular reabsorption of FSM distal to its site of action. These data suggest that urinary drug protein binding may impair the tubular reabsorption of drugs and thereby enhance their renal clearance.
A Feasibility Study to Determine Whether Clinical Contrast Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging can Detect Increased Bladder Permeability in Patients with Interstitial Cystitis

Purpose: Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome is a bladder pain disorder associated with voiding symptomatology and other systemic chronic pain disorders. Currently diagnosing interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome is complicated as patients present with a wide range of symptoms, physical examination findings and clinical test responses. One hypothesis is that interstitial cystitis symptoms arise from increased bladder permeability to urine solutes. This study establishes the feasibility of using contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging to quantify bladder permeability in patients with interstitial cystitis.Materials and Methods: Permeability alterations in bladder urothelium were assessed by intravesical administration of the magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent Gd-DTPA (Gd-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid) in a small cohort of patients. Magnetic resonance imaging signal intensity in patient and control bladders was compared regionally and for entire bladders.Results: Quantitative ...
Preparation and Assay of Inhibitor of Gastric Secretion and Motility from Normal Human Urine

SummaryMethod of extraction and assay of a substance from normal human urine are described. The substance is non-toxic and depresses or abolishes gastric secretion and motility in doses of 1-4 mg. The same chemical substance seems to inhibit both functions.
For experts only? Access to hospital ethics committees.

How closely involved with hospital ethics committees should patients and their families become? Should they routinely have access to committees, or be empowered to initiate consultations? To what extent should they be informed of the content or outcome of committee deliberations? Seeing ethics committees as the locus of competing responsibilities allows us to respond to the questions posed by a patient rights model and to acknowledge more fully the complex moral dynamics of clinical medicine.
Patient-Specific Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Cardiac Myocytes as Predictors of Sudep Risk

Dravet syndrome (DS) is a severe and intractable pediatric epileptic encephalopathy that is largely caused by de novo loss-of-function mutations in the voltage-gated sodium channel SCN1A. Approximately 15% of DS patients undergo Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). A growing body of evidence suggests that cardiac arrhythmia may precede SUDEP in DS. Previous work in DS mouse cardiomyocytes (CMs) demonstrated increased transient and persistent TTX-resistent sodium current (INa), action potential excitability, and incidence of early afterdepolarizations.To test whether cardiac excitability is altered in DS patients, we differentiated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from two control and four SCN1A-linked DS patients into CMs. iPSC neurons tested from one of these DS patients was found to be hyperexcitable with increased INa density.Confluent iPSC-CMs from all DS patients had an increased intrinsic beating rate compared to controls (P<0.05, N≥8 per group). Multi-electrode array analysis of iPSC-CMs from DS4 confirmed that beating rate was increased in DS. Consistent with our previous studies in DS mice, we observed a ∼two-fold increase in peak INa in iPSC-CMs from 3 of the 4 DS patients (P<0.05, N≥9 per group). INa density from the remaining patient (DS5) was ∼3 fold higher than control. Due to the high level of INa density, the patient was recommended for a cardiac consultation. The patient presented with sinus tachycardia and repolarization abnormalities that are now being closely monitored.Taken together, our data suggest that alterations in cardiac excitability contribute to the mechanism of SUDEP in DS via increased INa density, which may underlie arrhythmia in DS patients. DS patient-derived iPSC-CMs provide a valuable model for advancing our knowledge of how cardiac arrhythmias contribute to the mechanism of SUDEP and may provide novel biomarkers for SUDEP risk.
Research and Application of DR Algorithm in Heading-off Strategy

In robot soccer competition,effective heading-off against the opponent's aggression or defense is a key tactics.Dead Reckoning(DR) algorithm is applied to research heading-off policy,to estimate the trends of the ball and the opponent robots,and then implement effective heading-off action.The threshold value setting in DR algorithm is analyzed and improved.A criterion function is put forward to solve the threshold value-selection problem,and time-lapse equalization attributed to calculation and network has been solved.DR algorithm is used to reckon the moving trends of the ball and the players,to support the decision-making system with guidance on their actions and locations.Experiments data indicates that the method above is effective.