cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract A16: Defining the essential in vivo oncogenic function of p63 in squamous cell carcinoma.

The p63 transcription factor controls diverse functional programs within the epithelium. Despite its essential developmental role, however, the precise contribution of p63 in cancer remains controversial, and the relevant p63-dependent pathways remain poorly understood. Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) is a common and treatment-refractory form of human cancer that can arise in various epithelial tissues including the lungs, skin, and head and neck region. In SCC, the p63 locus is frequently targeted for genomic amplification and/or overexpression, leading to tumor-specific up-regulation of ΔNp63α. In vitro studies point to a role for ΔNp63α in survival of SCC cells, yet such models are unlikely to fully reflect the contribution of p63 in squamous cancers. We therefore developed an in vivo model in order to address in a definitive manner the role of p63 in progression and maintenance of this disease. We generated a murine model of SCC that faithfully recapitulates the molecular and pathological features of human SCC, including high-level expression of p63, invasion and metastasis. We crossed this model to a conditional p63-null allele (p63flox) and a tamoxifen-inducible Cre transgene, K14-CreER. Remarkably, we find that genetic excision of endogenous p63 in SCC-bearing mice results in rapid, dramatic, and sustained regression of tumors. This effect is due in large part to increased tumor-specific apoptosis, and is associated with no appreciable effects on normal p63-expressing tissues. We then performed global gene expression profiling and extensive validation in order to uncover the key transcriptional programs mediating this survival effect. Unlike previous in vitro work which defined a predominant role for pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members in p63-dependent tumor cell survival, our in vivo studies have uncovered a key role for growth factor receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) downstream of p63. We find that p63 is a direct transcriptional regulator of these RTK genes, and we support the relevance of these findings to human disease by showing a strong correlation between p63 and these essential p63-regulated genes in human head and neck SCC tumors. Collectively, these studies have established the oncogenic function of p63 in SCC, and they have uncovered a novel and essential pathway mediating p63-dependent tumor maintenance. Ongoing work to be presented seeks to validate this RTK pathway as a potentially important therapeutic target in SCCs which overexpress p63. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2011 Nov 12-16; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2011;10(11 Suppl):Abstract nr A16.
Supporting Students’ Constructions of the Splitting Operation

Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of particular instructional practices that support students’ constructions of the partitive unit fraction scheme and measurement concepts for fractions. Another body of research has demonstrated the power of a particular mental operation—the splitting operation—in supporting students’ development of advanced fractional knowledge and algebraic reasoning. Steffe (2010) has hypothesized that students construct splitting through the unification of partitioning and iterating operations contained within the partitive unit fraction scheme. We used written assessments of 49 students, across sixth and seventh grades, to test this hypothesis. Our results show that students who have constructed a partitive unit fraction scheme go on to construct splitting within a relatively short period of time. Conversely, students who have not constructed a partitive unit fraction scheme generally do not construct splitting. We discuss these results and their implications for d...
Thermodynamic length and dissipated availability

New expressions for the availability dissipated in a finite-time endoreversible process are found by use of Weinhold's metric on equilibrium states of a thermodynamic system. In particular, the dissipated availability is given by the square of the length of the corresponding curve, times a mean relaxation time, divided by the total time of the process. The results extend to local thermodynamic equilibrium if instead of length one uses distance (length of the shortest curve) between initial and final states.
A Simple Continuation Method for the Solution of Optimal Control Problems With State Variable Inequality Constraints

This paper develops a simple continuation method for the approximate solution of optimal control problems with pure state variable inequality constraints. The method is based on transforming the inequality constraints into equality constraints using nonnegative slack variables. The resultant equality constraints are satisfied approximately using a quadratic loss penalty function. The solution of the original problem is obtained by solving the transformed problem with a sequence of penalty weights that tends to zero. The penalty weight is treated as the continuation parameter. The necessary conditions for a minimum are written as a boundary value problem involving index-1 differential-algebraic equations (BVP-DAE). The BVP-DAE include the complementarity conditions associated with the inequality constraints. The paper shows that the necessary conditions for optimality of the original problem and the transformed problems are remarkably similar. In particular, the BVP-DAE for each problem differ by a linear term related to the Lagrange multipliers associated with the state variable inequality constraints. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the efficacy of the proposed technique. Specifically, the paper presents results for; (1) the optimal control of a simplified model of a gantry crane system, (2) the optimal control of a rigid body moving in the vertical plane, and (3) the trajectory optimization of a planar two-link robot. All problems include pure state variable inequality constraints.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
A Simplified Procedure for Constructing Probabilistic Response Spectra

Abstract This paper provides a simplified procedure for computing the probabilistic maximum response of a linear single‐degree‐of‐freedom system subjected to earthquake ground motion. The formulation uses the root‐mean‐square (rms) response of the system and a probabilistic peak factor which is modified to account for the wide‐band characteristics. The modification uses a set of damping‐dependent coefficients obtained from correlating the peak factor with the ratio of the maximum response to the rms response from accelerograms recorded on alluvium and rock. The procedure incorporates the influence of soil condition and the strong motion duration as parameters in computing response spectra.
Acceptor excitation spectra in InSb

Abstract Optical excitation spectra of Zn, Cd and Ag acceptors in InSb have been measured. Excited state energies deduced from the spectra are in good agreement with effective mass theoretical predictions. Zeeman splitting of the spectra is consistent with the identification of the excitations, and strongly resembles the results obtained for acceptors in Ge.
Labor analgesia practices for the new mellennium

E BOR AND DELIVERY are very different from any other physiological condition. Not only these are associated with changed physiological parameters, but it is indeed the only physiological state that is painful. It is perhaps the only pain condition that is always temporary, even without treatment, and usually associated with a wonderful outcome. Despite the finite nature of the pain, labor has been described as more painful than most clinical pain syndromes and pain resulting from chronic as well as accidental injury. Indeed only causalgia in chronic-pain patients and the tranmatlc amputation of a digit have been associated with more pain than labor. 1 For this reason, it is no surprise that long before the era of modern anesthesia attempts were made to relieve labor pain.
A new methodology for targeting drug-aerosols in the human respiratory system

Inhalation of medicine for the treatment of lung and other diseases is becoming more and more a preferred option when compared to injection or oral intake. Unfortunately, existing devices such as the popular pressurized metered dose inhalers and dry powder inhalers have rather low deposition efficiencies and their drug-aerosol deliveries are non-directional. This is acceptable when the medicine is inexpensive and does not cause systemic side effects, as it may be the case for patients with mild asthma. However, the delivery of aggressive chemicals, or expensive insulin, vaccines and genetic material embedded in porous particles or droplets requires optimal targeting of such inhaled drug-aerosols to predetermined lung areas. The new methodology introduces the idea of a controlled air-particle stream which provides maximum, patient-specific drug-aerosol deposition based on optimal particle diameter and density, inhalation waveform, and particle-release position. The efficacy of the new methodology is demonstrated with experimentally validated computer simulations of two-phase flow in a human oral airway model with two different sets of tracheobronchial airways. Physical insight to the dynamics of the controlled air-particle stream is provided as well.
Gastrocnemius Muscle Fascicle Behavior Explored With a 3D Muscle Model

The gastrocnemius muscles are important for support and forward progression of movement [1], and they are commonly impaired in neurological disorders, such as stroke and cerebral palsy [2]. Currently, lumped-parameter representations [3] are used to model the gastrocnemius muscles in simulations of human movement. These representations simplify muscle architecture by assuming that all fibers are the same length, that aponeuroses behave as if they are in series with muscle fibers, and that fibers have a simple geometric arrangement. Previous studies have suggested that these simplifications may result in an overestimation of fiber length changes during movement and therefore predict that too much variation in force with joint angle (e.g., [4]).Copyright © 2009 by ASME
American Association of Nurse Anesthetists: Update on HCFA’s Proposal to Remove Supervision Requirement for Nurse Anesthetists

For more than 2 years, the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) and the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) have been at odds over a proposed rule by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) that would defer to state law on the issue of physician supervision of nurse anesthetists. Both organizations have aggressively lobbied Congress to support their position and made extensive use of the media to educate and persuade the public relative to supervision. Since March 9, 2000, when HCFA informed AANA and ASA that it intends to implement its proposed rule and publish it in the Federal Register in June, the conflict between the two organizations has escalated. This article discusses the events that have occurred since the March 9th notification by HCFA.
Summer blooms of diatom‐diazotroph assemblages and surface chlorophyll in the North Pacific gyre: A disconnect

[1] The discovery of large summer chlorophyll blooms in oligotrophic regions of the ocean has led to questions about the relationship between these blooms and the frequently cooccurring outburst of nitrogen‐fixing phytoplankton. We compared diatom‐diazotroph assemblage (DDA) abundance to size‐fractionated chlorophyll (chl) and satellite ocean color chlorophyll estimates to evaluate how DDAs affected ocean color estimates in the eastern and central North Pacific gyre at 28–30°N. DDA blooms were dominated by either Hemiaulus hauckii (in the central Pacific in 2003 and the eastern Pacific in 2002) or by Rhizosolenia (eastern Pacific in 2002), both with nitrogen‐fixing Richelia symbionts. The 2002 DDA bloom was measured a week prior to the development of a satellite‐ observed chlorophyll bloom at the same location. In contrast, the 2003 Hemiaulus bloom was not within a clearly defined satellite feature. Although DDA abundance increased 10 4 –10 5 ‐fold relative to the background and they dominated the net plankton (≥5 m mo r >10 mm chl size) fraction, the in situ chl (maximum ≤0.11 mg m −3 ) never reached the 0.15 mg m −3 threshold used to define satellite‐observed chlorophyll blooms in oligotrophic waters. The DDA blooms were not evident in the in situ fluorometer data; however, the blooms occurred within high beam attenuation features observed in the transmissometer data. Trichodesmium was not a component of either diatom bloom although elevated levels of Trichodesmium were observed at two stations where DDAs were not abundant. While DDA blooms and satellite ocean chlorophyll blooms are sometimes coincident, our data do not support that DDAs are the sole source of the satellite‐observed chlorophyll in summertime blooms. DDA blooms are likely underreported in the North Pacific, particularly in the waters west of Hawaii, due to their frequent lack of distinctive ocean color, fluorescence, and chlorophyll signatures. The source of the ocean color signature in the blooms remains elusive, but scattered literature observations suggest that cooccurring members of the near‐surface flora such as the small pennate diatom Mastogloia may play an important role.
Broadcast Routing with Minimum Wavelength Conversion in WDM Optical Networks

We consider dynamic routing of broadcast connections in WDM optical networks. Given the current network state, we want to find a minimum set of network nodes S such that a broadcast routing using only the nodes in S as wavelength conversion nodes can be found. This ensures that the average conversion delay from the source to all destinations is minimized. We refer to the problem as Broadcast Conversion Node Selection (BCNS) problem. We prove that BCNS has no polynomial-time approximation with performance ratio ρ ln n for ρ < 1 unless NP⊂DTIME(nO(log log n)) where n is the number of vertices in the input graph. We present a greedy approximation algorithm for BCNS that achieves approximation ratio 2+ln n. Simulation results show that the algorithm performs very well in practice, obtaining optimal solutions in most of the cases.
Synthesis and thermal properties of a new styryl-functionalized pentafulvene glassy carbon precursor

Abstract The first preparation of a styryl-functionalized aryl pentafulvene 4 was carried out. In the crystal structure of 4 , the packing of fulvene molecules results in the shortest intermolecular contacts between aligned vinyl groups. Thermal reactivity studies of 4 (DSC and TGA, under N 2 ) revealed a small difference between the melting point (120 °C) and the T onset for cross-linking (125 °C), and provided strong evidence for the production of a network material ( net4 ) due to reactivity of the attached styryl group. Pyrolysis of net4 under N 2 gave a glassy carbon product in low yield as revealed by powder X-ray and TGA analyses (carbon yield (TGA) of 38% (900 °C)).
ESCA surface characterization of four IUPAC reference polymers

Four reference polymers studied by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry working party on interactions of polymers with living systems were characterized by electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis. The surface of a polyethylene specimen was found to consist of only hydrocarbon (-CH2-) groups, as expected. Similarly, the surface of a poly(dimethyl siloxane) was found to be in close agreement with the expected stoichiometry of this polymer. The surface of the PVC sample showed a high surface concentration of hydrocarbon-rich plasticizer. Also, Si, O and Zn were detected. Cellulose coil specimens were heavily silicone contaminated. A 24 h rinse of this material in water reduced the Si level to 5%, and produced a surface spectrum closer to that expected for cellulose.
The effects of age, education, and treatment on physical, sexual and body concern symptoms among multimorbid, colorectal cancer survivors

Objective Less is known about longitudinal changes in quality of life between treatment completion and early survivorship among multimorbid cancer survivors. The current study describes longitudinal changes in quality of life among a multimorbid cohort of US Veterans diagnosed and treated for colorectal cancer.
Psychologists' contribution to the prevention of youth violence

Psychologists began their scientific study of violence and aggression during the first half of last century. Since then, much psychological knowledge has been assembled regarding the causes of violence as well as its prevention. This paper will provide an overview of the contribution of psychology to our present understanding of the causes of youth violence as well the contribution of this discipline to the development of effective prevention strategies. The first section will briefly review current epidemiological data regarding youth violence in the U.S. and the consequences of such violence for the individual and society. The second section will address the major psychological theories of youth violence, as well as provide an overview of the various individual and contextual factors that may influence the expression of violence. A third segment of the article will review some promising and effective preventive interventions emanating from the psychological research literature. In addition, we will provide a brief overview of our own applied research and discuss how these studies contribute to the gradually increasing armamentarium of effective solutions to this hugely significant societal problem.
Subdiaphragmatic vagotomy does not attenuate c-Fos induction in the nucleus of the solitary tract after conditioned taste aversion expression

Abstract After acquisition of a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) against sucrose, intraoral infusions of sucrose induce c-Fos-like immunoreactivity (c-FLI) in the medial intermediate nucleus of the solitary tract (iNTS) of the rat. In order to determine if c-FLI expression in the iNTS depends on subdiaphragmatic vagal afferent input to the NTS secondary to gastrointestinal symptoms during CTA expression (e.g. diarrhea), we quantified the induction of c-FLI in the iNTS by sucrose infusions after total subdiaphragmatic vagotomy in rats with a previously acquired CTA against sucrose. Rats were conditioned against intraoral infusions of sucrose by pairing sucrose infusions with toxic LiCl injections. After CTA acquisition, rats underwent bilateral subdiaphragmatic vagotomy or were sham-vagotomized. One week after surgery, rats received an intraoral infusion of sucrose. One hour after the test infusion, rats were perfused and processed for c-FLI. Vagotomy had no apparent effect on the behavioral expression of the previously acquired CTA, because both vagotomized and sham-vagotomized rats rejected all of the test intraoral infusion of sucrose. There was also no significant difference between vagotomized and sham-vagotomized rats in the number of c-FLI-positive cells in the iNTS after CTA expression. We conclude that c-FLI induction correlated with CTA expression is not dependent on subdiaphragmatic vagal efferent output or afferent input.
Computation of the outage probability due to the polarization effects using importance sampling

A fundamental problem in the design of optical communication systems is to minimize channel outages due to the polarization effects. System designers commonly allocate a prescribed margin to polarization effects, such as 2 dB, with a certain probability that the margin will be exceeded, such as 10/sup -6/. When this margin is exceeded an outage is said to occur. Because outages are so rare, it has been difficult to obtain them from experiments or from standard Monte Carlo simulations.
Components of Nuclear Domain 10 Bodies Regulate Varicella-Zoster Virus Replication

PML, Sp100, and Daxx are proteins that normally reside within nuclear domains 10 (ND10s). They associate with DNA virus genomes and repress the very early stages of the DNA virus replication cycle. Virus-encoded proteins counteract this innate antiviral response. ICP0, a herpes simplex virus (HSV) immediate-early protein, is necessary and sufficient to dissociate ND10s and target their two major components, PML and Sp100, for proteasomal degradation. In this report, we show that ORF61p, the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) ortholog of ICP0, does not degrade PML and alters Sp100 levels only slightly. Furthermore, we demonstrate that other virus proteins cannot substitute for this lack of function during infection. By using short interfering RNAs, we depleted PML, Sp100, and Daxx and studied their roles in plaquing efficiency, virus protein accumulation, infectious-center titer, and virus spread. The results of these studies show that components of ND10s can accelerate VZV replication but do not ultimately control cell-associated virus titers. We conclude that while both ICP0 and ORF61p activate virus gene expression, they modulate host innate repression mechanisms in two different ways. As a result, HSV and VZV commandeer their host cells by distinct mechanisms to ensure their replication and spread.
Nutrient distributions in baroclinic eddies of the oligotrophic North Atlantic and inferred impacts on biology

Abstract High-sensitivity (nanomolar) techniques for nitrate and phosphate were applied to study nutrient patterns in the euphotic zone of mesoscale eddies in the Sargasso Sea during the EDDIES project. Surface concentrations of nitrate plus nitrite (DNN) and phosphate (DIP) were found in the range of 1–20 nM with substantial spatial variability in the eddies, with resulting mean N:P molar ratios of ⩽2.1. Chlorophyll biomass was well correlated with DNN but not DIP in the upper euphotic zone, suggesting N-limitation of marine phytoplankton at this time of year. Within the upper 140 m, the water column experienced a transition from a P-enriched (relative to Redfield ratio) shallow layer to a N-enriched deep layer, which may suggest downward transport and subsequent remineralization of high N/P biogenic products presumably originating from N2 fixation. Chlorophyll biomass in the deep chlorophyll maximum of eddies was found to be tightly related to eddy–induced variability in major nutrients (N, P, Si) and nutrient stoichiometry, suggesting that the impact of eddies on biology is through control of nutrient availability. Because the eddies were likely to be in various phases of development (different degrees of both biological and physical maturity), full interpretation of eddy data and dynamics will require better coverage of a full eddy life cycle.
Vascular Assessment and Reconstruction of the Ischemic Diabetic Limb

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a common finding among diabetic patients and is usually secondary to atherosclerosis. PAD in diabetic patients tends to be more malignant, presenting with diffuse involvement and more complications. Unless the ischemia is addressed concomitantly with local problems in the foot, resulting problems can lead to extensive tissue loss and major amputation. Lower extremity atherosclerotic complications in diabetic patients require considerable dedication and aggressiveness if limb loss is to be avoided.
A New Approach for Spatio-Spectral Feature Selection for Sensors with Noisy and Overlapping Spectral Bands

This paper extends a recently developed canonical-correlation feature-selection (CCFS) approach to a collective spatio-spectral feature-selection and classification framework for hyperspectral imagers. The work utilizes the concept of spectrally enhanced spatial features by integration of pixels' spatial and spectral information. In order to determine the most informative features, the proposed methodology employs a sequential spatio-spectral feature-selection approach that consists of two distinct stages: a spatially independent spectral feature extraction, based on the CCFS, followed by a spatially enhanced classification. The performance of the new methodology is tested on target detection and classification applications using remotely sensed imagery collected by the Air-borne Hyperspectral Imager (AHI). Sensitivity of the spatio-spectral feature-selection approach with respect to the initial set of sensor bands and with respect to the number and types of spatial features utilized during the classification stage is also studied.
The contribution of the magnetic medium to phase shift and resolution in magnetic recording

Phase shift in a 16-bit 3200 flux-change-per-inch (fci) coded pattern was studied. The pattern was written on thick particulate γ-Fe 2 O 3 tapes, and statistical data were accumulated with a measurement accuracy of about one tenth of one percent. All tapes were unoriented, with remanent moments ranging from 5 to 70 EMU/cm3, coercivities between 200 and 360 Oe, and coating thicknesses between 160 and 700 μin. The position of a peak in time (its phase information) affects recording resolution. To date, most definitions of recording resolution have concerned the properties of isolated pulses such as the half pulsewidth. It is clear that the isolated pulsewidth conveys no information on the timing of the pulse. Resolution, in the context of isolated pulses, is expected to increase as the ratio H_{c}/I_{r} increases. Our results show that phase shift is not minimized, in general, for the medium with maximum H_{c}/I_{r} . In addition, asymmetric phase shifts in a coded pattern were observed, and these cannot be explained by time-independent linear superposition of fundamental pulses. It is suggested that such phase shift studies are a necessary addition to isolated pulsewidth studies if recording resolution and reliability are to be better understood.
Gubernatorial Crime Control Rhetoric A Study in Symbolic Politics

Past research on presidential rhetoric about crime shows that presidents use crime rhetoric in a specific manner. When talking about crime, they are most likely to use symbolic statements that are designed to make people feel satisfied about government action. To date, no research has analyzed how governors employ political language related to crime. The current study draws on hypotheses derived from research related to the federal executive and applies them to the 50 state executives. A content analysis of 7 years (2002-2008) of governors’ State of the State speeches was conducted to assess how governors employ the issue of crime in their political communication. Overall, the results show that governors rarely follow the same patterns as presidents when speaking to their constituents about crime.
Temporal Order and Nonlinearity in the Relationship Between Lung Cancer Resection Volume and In-Hospital Mortality

This study evaluates the statistical relationship between hospital lung cancer surgery volume and mortality among 14,456 lung cancer resection patients in 330 California hospitals from 1996–1999. The actual volume of lung cancer surgery performed in each hospital during the 12 months before a patient’s surgery is compared to average annual volume, which is a measure of volume commonly used in prior studies. Multivariable logistic regression with restricted cubic splines is used to model nonlinearity using highly flexible functional forms for the volume-outcome relationship. Prior 12 month volume and average annual volume had nearly equivalent relationships to mortality. The non-linear components of these relationships were not statistically significant. This study provides additional evidence for a statistically significant inverse relationship between hospital lung cancer resection volume and patient mortality, using methods that correctly account for temporal order and that more precisely address the potential for nonlinearity. Though statistically significant, very large decreases in hospital surgical volume were associated with small absolute increases in mortality risk.
The Influence of Working-Memory Demand and Subject Performance on Prefrontal Cortical Activity

Brain imaging and behavioral studies of working memory (WM) converge to suggest that the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) mediates a capacity-limited storage buffer and that the dorsolateral PFC mediates memory organization processes that support supracapacity memory storage. Previous research from our laboratory has shown that the extent to which such memory organization processes are required depends on both task factors (i.e., memory load) and subject factors (i.e., response speed). Task factors exert their effects mainly during WM encoding while subject factors exert their effects mainly during WM retrieval. In this study, we sought to test the generalizability of these phenomena under more difficult memory-demand conditions than have been used previously. During scanning, subjects performed a WM task in which they were required to maintain between 1 and 8 letters over a brief delay. Neural activity was measured during encoding, maintenance, and retrieval task periods using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. With increasing memory load, there were reaction time increases and accuracy rate decreases, ventrolateral PFC activation decreases during encoding, and dorsolateral PFC activation increases during maintenance and retrieval. These results suggest that the ventrolateral PFC mediates WM storage and that the dorsolateral PFC mediates strategic memory organization processes that facilitate supracapacity WM storage. Additionally, high-performing subjects showed overall less activation than low-performing subjects, but activation increases with increasing memory load in the lateral PFC during maintenance and retrieval. Low-performing subjects showed overall more activation than high-performing subjects, but minimal activation increases in the dorsolateral PFC with increasing memory load. These results suggest that individual differences in both neural efficiency and cognitive strategy underlie individual differences in the quality of subjects' WM performance.
Characterization of muscarinic cholinergic receptor subtypes in human peripheral lung.

The authors have characterized the muscarinic cholinergic receptor subtypes in human peripheral lung membranes using the selective muscarinic antagonist \[3H]pirenzepine [( 3H]PZ) and the classical muscarinic antagonist [3H\](-)-quinuclidinyl benzilate. High-affinity binding with pharmacologic specificity was demonstrated for both radioligands. The high affinity Kd for \[3H]PZ binding determined from saturation isotherms was 5.6 nM, and the Kd for [3H\](-)-quinuclidinyl benzilate binding was 14.3 pM. Approximately 62% of the total muscarinic binding sites in human peripheral lung bind \[3H]PZ with high affinity. There was no significant effect of the guanine nucleotide, guanyl-5'-yl imidodiphosphate, on the inhibition of [3H\](-)-quinyclidinyl benzilate binding by the muscarinic agonist carbachol in peripheral lung membranes. If the muscarinic receptor with high affinity for PZ has an important role in bronchoconstriction, its characterization could result in the development of more selective bronchodilators.
Transparent dynamic instrumentation

Process virtualization provides a virtual execution environment within which an unmodified application can be monitored and controlled while it executes. The provided layer of control can be used for purposes ranging from sandboxing to compatibility to profiling. The additional operations required for this layer are performed clandestinely alongside regular program execution. Software dynamic instrumentation is one method for implementing process virtualization which dynamically instruments an application such that the application's code and the inserted code are interleaved together. DynamoRIO is a process virtualization system implemented using software code cache techniques that allows users to build customized dynamic instrumentation tools. There are many challenges to building such a runtime system. One major obstacle is transparency. In order to support executing arbitrary applications, DynamoRIO must be fully transparent so that an application cannot distinguish between running inside the virtual environment and native execution. In addition, any desired extra operations for a particular tool must avoid interfering with the behavior of the application.Transparency has historically been provided on an ad-hoc basis, as a reaction to observed problems in target applications. This paper identifies a necessary set of transparency requirements for running mainstream Windows and Linux applications. We discuss possible solutions to each transparency issue, evaluate tradeoffs between different choices, and identify cases where maintaining transparency is not practically solvable. We believe this will provide a guideline for better design and implementation of transparent dynamic instrumentation, as well as other similar process virtualization systems using software code caches.
Background Subtraction on Distributions

Environmental monitoring applications present a challenge to current background subtraction algorithms that analyze the temporal variability of pixel intensities, due to the complex texture and motion of the scene. They also present a challenge to segmentation algorithms that compare intensity or color distributions between the foreground and the background in each image independently, because objects of interest such as animals have adapted to blend in. Therefore, we have developed a background modeling and subtraction scheme that analyzes the temporal variation of intensity or color distributions, instead of either looking at temporal variation of point statistics, or the spatial variation of region statistics in isolation. Distributional signatures are less sensitive to movements of the textured background, and at the same time they are more robust than individual pixel statistics in detecting foreground objects. They also enable slow background update, which is crucial in monitoring applications where processing power comes at a premium, and where foreground objects, when present, may move less than the background and therefore disappear into it when a fast update scheme is used. Our approach compares favorably with the state of the art both in generic low-level detection metrics, as well as in application-dependent criteria.
Effect of Hyperthermia and Chemotherapeutic Agents on TRAIL-Induced Cell Death in Human Colon Cancer Cells

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a promising cancer therapeutic agent because of its tumor selectivity. TRAIL is known to induce apoptosis in cancer cells but spare most normal cells. In the previous study [Yoo and Lee, 2007], we have reported that hyperthermia could enhance the cytotoxicity of TRAIL-induced apoptosis. We observed in human colorectal cancer cell line CX-1 that TRAIL-induced apoptotic death and also that mild hyperthermia promoted TRAIL-induced apoptotic death through caspase activation and cytochrome-c release. Although its effects in vivo are not clear, hyperthermia has been used as an adjunctive therapy for cancer. Hyperthermia is often accompanied by chemotherapy to enhance its effect. In this study, CX-1 colorectal adenocarcinoma cells were treated with TRAIL concurrently with hyperthermia and oxaliplatin or melphalan. To evaluate the cell death effects on tumor cells via hyperthermia and TRAIL and chemotherapeutic agents, FACS analysis, DNA fragmentation, and immunoblottings for PARP-1 and several caspases and antiapoptotic proteins were performed. Activities of casapse-8, caspase-9, and caspase-3 were also measured in hyperthermic condition. Interestingly, when analyzed with Western blot, we detected little change in the intracellular levels of proteins related to apoptosis. Clonogenic assay shows, however, that chemotherapeutic agents will trigger cancer cell death, either apoptotic or non-apoptotic, more efficiently. We demonstrate here that CX-1 cells exposed to 42 degrees C and chemotherapeutic agents were sensitized and died by apoptotic and non-apoptotic cell death even in low concentration (10 ng/ml) of TRAIL.
Inheritance of Susceptibility to Induced Escherichia coli Bladder and Kidney Infections in Female C3H/HeJ Mice

In the present study, the inheritance of resistance and susceptibility to bladder and kidney infections in BALB/c, C3H/HeJ, F(1), and backcross mice was investigated, and the number of genes contributing to the phenotypes was estimated. Infections were induced in female mice by intravesical inoculation with Escherichia coli, and the number of bacteria in bladder and kidneys was quantified at 10 days. The (BALB/c x C3H/HeJ) F(1) mice had bladder and kidney infection intensities equivalent to those observed in the resistant BALB/c parents. Twelve percent of the (F(1) x C3H/HeJ) backcross mice had severe bladder infections, similar to the susceptible C3H/HeJ parents. Kidney infections ranging in intensity between those observed in BALB/c and C3H/HeJ parents were present in one-half of the backcross mice. Statistical analyses indicated that >/=1 gene is responsible for the increased susceptibility of C3H/HeJ mice and that the trait appears to be recessive.
Micro-heterogeneity of flow in a mouse model of chronic cerebral hypoperfusion revealed by longitudinal Doppler optical coherence tomography and angiography

Although microvascular dysfunction accompanies cognitive decline in aging, vascular dementia, and Alzheimer's disease, tools to study microvasculature longitudinally in vivo are lacking. Here, we u...
Does Racial Balance in Workforce Representation Yield Equal Justice? Race Relations of Sentencing in Federal Court Organizations*

Increasing racial and ethnic group representation in justice-related occupations is considered a potential remedy to racial inequality in justice administration, including sentencing disparity. Studies to date yield little evidence of such an effect; however, research limitations may account for the mixed and limited evidence of the significance of justice workforce racial diversity. Specifically, few studies consider group-level dynamics of race and representation, thus failing to contextualize racial group power relations in justice administration. To consider these contextual dynamics we combine court organizational and case-level data from 89 federal districts and use hierarchical models to assess whether variably "representative" work groups relate to district-level differences in sentencing. Using district-specific indexes of population and work group dissimilarity to define representation, we find no relationships between black judge representation and sentencing in general across districts, but that districts with more black representation among prosecutors are significantly less likely to sentence defendants to terms of imprisonment. We also find in districts with increased black representation among prosecutors, and to a lesser degree among judges, that black defendants are less likely to be imprisoned and white defendants are more likely to be imprisoned, with the effect of narrowing black-white disparities in sentencing. Consistent with the "power-threat" perspective, and perhaps "implicit racial bias" research, findings encourage modeling diversity to account for relative racial group power in processes of social control and suggest that racial justice may be moderately advanced by equal representation among authorities.
1,8-Naphthyridine-2,7-diamine: a potential universal reader of Watson–Crick base pairs for DNA sequencing by electron tunneling

With the aid of Density Functional Theory (DFT), we designed 1,8-naphthyridine-2,7-diamine as a recognition molecule to read DNA base pairs for genomic sequencing by electron tunneling. NMR studies show that it can form stable triplets with both A : T and G : C base pairs through hydrogen bonding. Our results suggest that the naphthyridine molecule should be able to function as a universal base pair reader in a tunneling gap, generating distinguishable signatures under electrical bias for each of DNA base pairs.
Acute viral infection results in a PD-1-dependent loss of anti-tumor CD8+ T cell responses: implications for tumor immunotherapy

Meeting abstracts Oncolytic viruses are gaining acceptance as a method of tumor immunotherapy, and some studies have reported improved anti-tumor T cell responses after acute pyretic non-oncolytic infections. Therefore, we hypothesized that viral infections may aid in the immunotherapy of cancer.
Laccases Involved in 1,8-Dihydroxynaphthalene Melanin Biosynthesis in Aspergillus fumigatus Are Regulated by Developmental Factors and Copper Homeostasis

ABSTRACT Aspergillus fumigatus produces heavily melanized infectious conidia. The conidial melanin is associated with fungal virulence and resistance to various environmental stresses. This 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN) melanin is synthesized by enzymes encoded in a gene cluster in A. fumigatus, including two laccases, Abr1 and Abr2. Although this gene cluster is not conserved in all aspergilli, laccases are critical for melanization in all species examined. Here we show that the expression of A. fumigatus laccases Abr1/2 is upregulated upon hyphal competency and drastically increased during conidiation. The Abr1 protein is localized at the surface of stalks and conidiophores, but not in young hyphae, consistent with the gene expression pattern and its predicted role. The induction of Abr1/2 upon hyphal competency is controlled by BrlA, the master regulator of conidiophore development, and is responsive to the copper level in the medium. We identified a developmentally regulated putative copper transporter, CtpA, and found that CtpA is critical for conidial melanization under copper-limiting conditions. Accordingly, disruption of CtpA enhanced the induction of abr1 and abr2, a response similar to that induced by copper starvation. Furthermore, nonpigmented ctpAΔ conidia elicited much stronger immune responses from the infected invertebrate host Galleria mellonella than the pigmented ctpAΔ or wild-type conidia. Such enhancement in eliciting Galleria immune responses was independent of the ctpAΔ conidial viability, as previously observed for the DHN melanin mutants. Taken together, our findings indicate that both copper homeostasis and developmental regulators control melanin biosynthesis, which affects conidial surface properties that shape the interaction between this pathogen and its host.
Stochastic Iterative Alignment for Machine Translation Evaluation

A number of metrics for automatic evaluation of machine translation have been proposed in recent years, with some metrics focusing on measuring the adequacy of MT output, and other metrics focusing on fluency. Adequacy-oriented metrics such as BLEU measure η-gram overlap of MT outputs and their references, but do not represent sentence-level information. In contrast, fluency-oriented metrics such as ROUGE-W compute longest common subsequences, but ignore words not aligned by the LCS. We propose a metric based on stochastic iterative string alignment (SIA), which aims to combine the strengths of both approaches. We compare SIA with existing metrics, and find that it outperforms them in overall evaluation, and works specially well in fluency evaluation.
Power Efficient Analog Forwarding for Correlated Data Fusion in Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper we consider the problem of optimal power allocation for fusion of a deterministic signal in an inhomogeneous wireless sensor network (WSN) with correlated observations. We assume that each distributed node performs analog-relay amplifier local processing on its observation and transmits locally processed data to the fusion center over a wireless channel. We also assume that the channel between the fusion center and sensors undergoes fading and the fading coefficients are assumed to be known to the transmitter. We derive exact fusion error probability and an easy to optimize upper bound for the fusion error probability that is valid for sufficiently small correlations. The transmit power is allocated to sensor nodes to keep the fusion error probability bound under a required threshold while minimizing the total power spent by the network. It is shown that the optimal scheme inactivates the sensor nodes with poor observation quality and low fading coefficients. For the remaining active sensors the transmit power is determined by the individual channel gains, local observation quality, required fusion error probability bound and the correlation coefficient. From numerical results we see that this optimal scheme has a significant gain over the uniform power allocation scheme when either local observations are good or the number of sensors is large and the correlation coefficient is sufficiently small. It is also shown that the optimal power allocation scheme can be implemented distributively with a minimal feedback from the fusion center.
Itinerant scenario for Fe pnictides: Comparison with quantum Monte Carlo

Recent applications of quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) technique to Fe-based superconductors opened a way to directly verify the applicability of the itinerant scenario for these systems. Fe-based superconductors undergo various instabilities upon lowering temperature (magnetism, superconductivity, nematicity/orbital order), and one can check whether the hierarchy of instabilities obtained within the itinerant approach is the same as in unbiased QMC simulations. In a recent paper [arXiv:1512.08523] the authors considered the simplest two-band model with interaction tailored to favor orbital order. The type of the orbital order found in QMC is different from the one found in earlier itinerant analysis. We report the results of our calculations within the itinerant scenario and argue that they are in perfect agreement with QMC.
Late-onset pericardial tamponade, bilateral pleural effusions and recurrent immune monoarthritis induced by ipilimumab use for metastatic melanoma:

While an important agent in the contemporary anti-melanoma armamentarium, ipilimumab is associated with serious immune reactions including late immune-mediated side effects. Recently, a case of late-onset acute pericarditis with tamponade was reported at 12 weeks after the last dose of ipilimumab. While polyarthralgia rheumatica has been previously documented with ipilimumab, we were not able to find any reports of recurrent monoarthritis with the use of this agent. Therefore, we present herein a unique case featuring a patient with late-onset autoimmune pleuropericarditis leading to cardiac tamponade at 24 weeks post-ipilimumab and recurrent late immune knee arthritis at 8 and 32 weeks, respectively. Furthermore, this late-onset toxicity seen with ipilimumab might also be expected with the PD1 inhibitors currently in clinical use. Timely diagnosis and prompt steroid use are crucial to ensure favorable clinical outcomes in these patients.