cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Binding and mutagenicity studies with 3-nitrosofluorene on Salmonella typhimurium TA98 grown at different temperatures

The growth temperature of the histidine auxotroph Salmonella typhimurium TA98 influences the extent of binding of 2-nitrosofluorene (NOF) to this bacterium as well as the mutagenicity of this chemical carcinogen. Gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) of bacteria grown at 37, 27 and 17 degrees C revealed that the unsaturated (hexadecenoic plus octadecenoic) fatty-acid content increased from 15.0% at 37 degrees C to 20.5% at 27 degrees C and to 22.2% at 17 degrees C. It has been shown using both artificial and natural mammalian membranes that NOF adds to carbon-carbon double bonds in unsaturated fatty acids via an "Alder-ene" type reaction to produce a nitroxyl free radical adduct (N-O-LAF). The same adduct was formed when NOF was incubated with Salmonella typhimurium TA98. There was an increase in N-O-LAF formed in bacteria grown at 27 degrees C as compared to those grown at 37 degrees C, but very little formed in bacteria grown at 17 degrees C. Therefore the amount of N-O-LAF formed did not correlate with unsaturated fatty-acid content. 14C-labeled NOF uptake in bacteria grown at different temperatures showed a good correlation with mutagenicity data.
PERFLUOROCARBON GASES IN THE SUPRACHOROIDAL SPACE OF RABBIT EYES

Four perfluorocarbon gases were injected into the suprachoroidal space of rabbit eyes. Temporary, expanding choroidal detachments were observed in all cases. Depending on the amount of gas injected (0.1 or 0.2 cc, respectively), they lasted 1 or 2 days in the case of perfluoromethane, 4 or 5 days with perfluoroethane, 6 or 8 days with perfluoropropane, and 9 or 11 days with perfluoro-N-butane. Due to its longevity, perfluoro-N-butane appeared to be the most suitable gas for temporary “buckling” of the suprachoroidal space in rabbit eyes.
Reliability of grading lissamine green conjunctival staining.

Purpose:To assess the reliability of a lissamine green grading scale for conjunctival images.Methods:A 20-second video clip of the right eye of 288 contact lens-wearing individuals was recorded using a digital slip-lamp camera after instilling liquid lissamine green. A single nasal and temporal stil
Predicting flotation rates using a rate equation derived from first principles

Abstract A flotation rate equation was derived from first principles by Yoon and Mao (1996) by considering both hydrodynamic and surface forces involved in bubble-particle interactions. In the present communication, the equation is used to predict flotation results as functions of several important parameters such as contact angle, double-layer potentials of air bubbles and particles, and bubble size. The predictions are consistent with experience, and can be explained in view of the various subprocesses considered in the model development. Furthermore, the model suggests optimum conditions for achieving maximum separation efficiency.
Dynamics of Biological Polyelectrolytes

Biological polymers and structures, including proteins and DNAs, can be made in essentially monodisperse form. Proteins usually have well-defined shapes. Duplex oligonucleotides are rigid and rodlike, and longer DNAs are semiflexible coils. The DNAs also constitute a homologous series. The dynamics of both proteins and DNAs can be studied by readily available techniques such as dynamic light scattering (DLS) and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). These systems can thus be used as model systems to elucidate elusive charge effects on the dynamics of macromolecules in solution (polyelectrolyte effects) for both rigid and semiflexible polymers. We present here as examples the results of measurements of mutual and self-diffusion coefficients dynamics of a rodlike oligonucleotide as functions of polymer concentration and the concentration of added salt (which screens the charges).
Behavioral genetic methods

Traditional behavioral genetic methods involve the use primarily of family, twin, and adoption correlations to estimate the relative contributions of genetic and environmental influences in the etiology of individual differences. These methods and representative results for personality are described. However, newer methods are emphasized: structural models and model-fitting, multivariate analysis, genetic change and continuity in development, shared and non-shared components of environmental variance, and genetic components of "environmental" variation. Because most applications of these behavioral genetic methods to the study of personality involve self-report omnibus questionnaires, an important direction for future research in this area is to use these methods to explore new issues and new measures that have emerged from personality theory and research during the past decade.
Children of chronic pain patients: risk factors for maladjustment

Recent research has documented negative effects of chronic pain problems on patients' spouses and children. This study examined the adjustment of children of 35 chronic pain patients, compared with children of 29 healthy controls, and the relationship of specific parental characteristics to child adjustment. Pain group children had significantly more teacher-rated behavior problems and significantly lower teacher-rated social competence than did control group children. Children of male patients were rated by parents as significantly less socially competent than children of female patients. Compared with controls, pain patients and their spouses reported significantly more depression, and pain patients were significantly more disabled. Patient functional disability was significantly associated with parent-rated child behavior problems, but group membership, patient gender, patient depression, and patient marital satisfaction were not. Child social competence was predicted by patient gender, but was not predicted by patient depression or disability, group membership, or by patient marital satisfaction. The results suggest that children of chronic pain patients may be at risk for adjustment problems.
Interpreting changes in the epidemiology of anencephaly and spina bifida following folic acid fortification of the U.S. grain supply in the setting of long‐term trends, Atlanta, Georgia, 1968–2003

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of anencephaly (AN) and spina bifida (SB) was declining long before fortification of enriched grains in the U.S. with folic acid. We examined whether changes in these defects surrounding fortification could be distinguished from preexisting trends. METHODS: We used data from the Metropolitan Atlanta Congenital Defects Program to identify three ascertainment periods: Period 1 (1968–1981), prenatal diagnoses rarely made; Period 2 (1981–1993), prenatal diagnoses made but not ascertained; Period 3 (1994–2003), prenatal diagnoses ascertained. We compared the annual percent change (APC) in AN and SB for each period using Poisson regression, then compared prevalences during each period for categories of pregnancy outcome, sex, race, gravidity, and maternal age. RESULTS: The prevalence of AN (N = 434) and SB (N = 663) declined during 1968–2003. The APCs in Periods 1, 2, and 3, respectively, were −6.9%, −2.9%, and −6.8% for AN, and −7.1%, −7.0%, and −6.2% for SB; 95% confidence intervals around the APCs for Periods 2 and 3 overlapped for both defects. Prevalence ratios (PRs) for females relative to males decreased for AN (2.3 in Period 1; 1.2 in Period 3); PRs for whites relative to blacks or African Americans decreased for both AN (2.7 in Period 1; 1.2 in Period 3) and SB (2.5 in Period 1; 1.1 in Period 3). CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis suggests that changes in AN and SB surrounding folic acid fortification (Period 3) could be part of preexisting trends. This must be considered when evaluating prevention efforts. Birth Defects Research (Part A) 79:730–736, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Defining the principles of musculoskeletal disability and rehabilitation

Disability is strongly associated with musculoskeletal conditions such as arthritis, low back pain and other soft tissue and joint disorders. The burden of these conditions may become exponentially high in the absence of rehabilitation. To understand disability, the ICF (International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health) provides the framework to disentangle the different domains that comprise disability. Disability in ICF term is defined as an impairment of the body functions and body structure and limited activity and restricted participation and can be influenced by environmental and personal factors. The ICF can provide the domains of disability pertinent to individuals with musculoskeletal conditions by using ICF Core Sets. Musculoskeletal-related disability is amenable to rehabilitation and there is evidence to suggest the effectiveness of multidisciplinary forms of rehabilitation programs. Community-based programs as an extension of rehabilitation also have evidence to improve clinical and quality of life outcomes in people with musculoskeletal conditions.
Genetic linkage of familial open angle glaucoma to chromosome 1q21–q31

Glaucoma is a significant cause of blindness world wide. There is evidence to suggest that at least a subset of the disease is determined genetically. We studied 37 members of a family affected with an autosomal dominant form of juvenile open angle glaucoma and 22 were found to be affected. Linkage analysis using short tandem repeat markers mapped the disease–causing gene to chromosome 1q21–q31. Eight markers were significantly linked (Zmax > 3.0) to the disease, with the highest lod score 6.5 (θ=0), provided by D1S212. The atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP)/receptor system has been proposed to have a role in glaucoma and one of the ANP receptor genes maps to chromosome 1q.
Fabrication of large area subwavelength antireflection structures on Si using trilayer resist nanoimprint lithography and liftoff

In this article we report on the fabrication of subwavelength antireflection structures on silicon substrates using a trilayer resist nanoimprint lithography and liftoff process. We have fabricated cone-shaped nanoscale silicon pillars with a continuous effective index gradient, which greatly enhances its antireflective performances. Our measurements show that the two-dimensional subwavelength structure effectively suppresses surface reflection over a wide spectral bandwidth and a large field of view. A reflectivity of 0.3% was measured at 632.8 nm wavelength, which is less than 1% of the flat silicon surface reflectivity.
Evaluating a semisupervised approach to phishing url identification in a realistic scenario

Phishing sites have become a common approach to steal sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details of the internet users. We propose a semisupervised machine learning approach to detect phishing URLs from a set of phishing and spam URLs. Spam emails are the source of these URLs. In reality, the number of phishing URLs received through these spam emails is fewer compared to other URLs. Our study is targeted to detect phishing URLs in a realistic scenario of a highly imbalanced data set containing phishing and spam URLs with 1:654 ratio. To train a learning algorithm labeled URLs are needed, where manual labeling is a common approach. Given that it is not feasible to manually label all the URLs from large data sets, we propose reducing manual intervention by labeling only 10% of the URLs manually and using a semisupervised learning algorithm. We compare the proposed approach with a supervised learning approach. Evaluation results show that our proposal is competitive if it is applied in combination with appropriate feature selection and undersampling techniques.
Lactate reverses insulin-induced hypoglycemic stupor in suckling-weanling mice: biochemical correlates in blood, liver, and brain.

The recovery of weanling mice from insulin-induced hypoglycemic stupor–coma after injection of sodium -l(+)-lactate (18 mmol/kg) was as rapid (10 min) as in litter-mates treated with glucose (9 mmo...
A thermal analysis study of long chain fatty acids

The purpose of this study is to examine the thermal behavior of saturated fatty acids [CH3(CH2)nCOOH], where n varies from na 10 to na 16, during heating. The studies were performed over a temperature range of ambient temperature to 3508C in a flowing atmosphere of nitrogen, using a SDT 2960 simultaneous TGA‐DTA unit. The acids showed two endotherms due to melting at a lower temperature and vaporization at the higher temperature, which is a zero order process. The influence of flow rate and heating rate on the melting points is reported. The latent heat (DHevap) of vaporization process is calculated by the Antoine equation and the Clausius‐Clapeyron equation at different temperature ranges. The activation energy (Eact) was calculated from the rising temperature experiments, using the Arrhenius equation. These observations should be of use in the characterization of pharmaceutical excipients. # 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Fibromyalgia syndrome in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus

Abstract purpose: To prospectively assess rheumatic manifestations of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease in a municipal hospital clinic population in which intravenous drug use was the most common risk factor for HIV infection. patients and methods: Patients with documented HIV infection were evaluated for rheumatic disease using a standardized questionnaire and examination. Patients with fibromyalgia were compared with HIV-infected patients without fibromyalgia and with fibromyalgia patients without known risk factors for HIV infection. results: Thirty-seven of 140 patients with HIV infection had muskuloskeletal symptoms. Three of these 37 patients had arthritis, but none had Reiter's syndrome or psoriatic arthritis. Thirty (81%) of 37 patients had chronic musculoskeletal symptoms (for 3 months or longer). Twenty of 30 patients with chronic musculoskeletal symptoms had polyarthralgia, and of those, 15 (75%) were found to have either definite or probable fibromyalgia syndrome. Therefore, fibromyalgia syndrome was found in 41% of HIVinfected patients with musculoskeletal symptoms and in approximately 11% of all HIV-infected patients. Fibromyalgia patients with HIV infection had a longer duration of HIV infection (p = 0.01) and more frequently reported past depressed mood (p = 0.001) than HIV-infected patients without fibromyalgia. Compared with 301 patients with fibromyalgia syndrome and no known risk behavior for HIV, known HIV-infected patients with fibromyalgia were more commonly male (p = 0.001) and reported current depressed mood more frequently (p = 0.0001). conclusion: Few patients with arthritis were noted among HIV-infected patients who had intravenous drug use as risk behavior. By comparison, fibromyalgia syndrome appeared to be a common cause of musculoskeletal symptoms in this patient population.
Word Recognition and Word Recall

by a recall and then a recognition test of the words, did significantly better on the recognition test than on recall-even though the interval berween learning and recognition was grearer than the interval berween learning and recall. 93 females scored somewhat higher on the recall test than did 60 males. No sex differences were apparent on the recognition test. Recall scores were positively and significantly correlated with recognition scores. Such correlational results argue against models in which recall and recognition are characterized as qualitatively distinct processes. The superiority of recognition tests of memory over recall tests has been intuitively acknowledged and experimentally suggested (Tulving, 1974; Tulving & Thomson, 1973). The phenomenon is typically attributed to the notion that less information about an item is required to pass a recognition test than a recall test (Postman, 1963). Partial learning may be sufficient to choose the correct alternative or reject an incorrect alternative in a recognition test but not sufficient to permit correct recall. Explanations as to why recognition is higher than recall lead to theoretical considerations concerning the nature of the underlying psychological processes. A survey of those explanations traces the development of recent theory of recallrecognition memory. The specific question addressed is: Are recognition and recall two different and distinct processes or do recognition and recall represent
Small-Carrion penile prosthesis. New implant for management of impotence.

AbstractThe etiology of impotence and a review of various techniques in treatment are discussed. A perineal surgical approach with a new type of paired sponge-filled silicone prostheses is described. The prostheses are inserted into previously dilated corpora cavernosa. Of the initial 31 patients, excellent results were obtained in 27, and a good result in 1. Of the 3 patients with initial serious complications, adequate functional results were attained in 2. The distinct advantages and potential complications using the Small-Carrion penile prosthesis and surgical technique are discussed.
Use of sparingly soluble salts to prepare oral sustained release suspensions

Abstract The feasibility of preparing oral sustained release suspensions by using sparingly soluble salts of soluble ionic drugs was assessed in this study. Diltiazem was used as a model drug. A less soluble pectate salt of the drug was prepared and encapsulated by a solvent evaporation process. Cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) was used as the coating polymer. Percent drug release from CAB microcapsules was modified by using hydrophilic polymers and varying microcapsule drug load. The release was independent of pH and ionic strength of the dissolution medium, an advantage over the existing ion-exchange resin approach. The release profiles fitted a bi-exponential equation, suggesting a biphasic release mechanism; an initial burst effect was obtained followed by slow diffusion of drug through the polymeric coat. Suspensions of diltiazem pectate-loaded microcapsules were prepared in a preserved medium containing sorbitol, syrup, and methylcellulose. Redispersibility of suspensions was satisfactory at room temperature and 4°C, but poor at 37°C. The suspended microcapsules resulted in 8–12% increase in drug release after 1 week storage at room temperature compared to dry microcapsules; however, the release did not increase any further upon extended storage. The suspensions were unstable at 37°C, but remained relatively stable at or below room temperature for up to 26 weeks.
Factorizable automorphisms in solvable conjoint structures I

ing certain features of physical measurement, we have examined those conjoint structures in which there are non-trivial factorizable automorphisms. One important result is the fact that (0, q> is a factorizable automorphism iff Q = n’&r-’ where n and rr’ are solutions of the structure mapping the first component onto the second and 8 is an isomorphism between induced structures (Theorem 8). It turned out that the conjoint structure is additive iff translations of the identity of the induced concatenation structure form factorizable automorphisms (Theorem 9). And this in turn was shown to be very closely tied in with the concept of a distributive operation on one of the components (Theorem 10). The final sections combine together two additional features of physical measurement, namely, that the structures are Dedekind complete, and so have representations onto real intervals, and that the automorphisms exhibit what we have called component homogeneity and 260 R.D. Lute. M. Cohen uniqueness properties. In case the structure has an intrinsic zero and satisfies component l-point homogeneity and l-point uniqueness on its positive part, then it has a representation that is expressed in terms of unit structures (Theorem 13). The remaining theorems (15, 17, 18, and 19) combine in several ways assumptions about the smoothness of F with properties of the factorizable automorphisms that force F to be additive. In the course of this, we establish a condition for additivity of F which is related to but entails less smoothness on F than the classical result of Scheffe [lo] (Theorem 16). All of these results rest on invoking some degree of component Ior 2-point homogeneity, which has the major effect of allowing one to mix various automorphisms on the components in order to get the same transformation on the structure. There are, however, interesting structures for which the factorizable automorphisms satisfy lor 2-point homogeneity, but not component Ior 2-point homogeneity. For example, FIX, Y) = ax+(l -cr)y, x>y, O<crcl, Px+(l -Lou, XlY, O<Pc 1, has a factorizable automorphism of the form x+rx+s, y-+ry +s, F-rF+s in which exactly the same affine transformation is applied to each component. This suggests working out the theory when only homogeneity, not component homogeneity is assumed. This has been done. As it is intricate, lengthy, and the work of just one of us (Cohen) it will be published separately.
Polyterephthalates of 2,3‐disubstituted butanediols‐1,4: Effect of aliphatic substituents on Tg and Tm of the polyesters

Poly(2,3-dialkylbutanediol-1,4 terephthalates) with the alkyl substituents CH3, C2H5, n-C3H7, iso-C3H7, n-C4H9, and n-C10H21, andn-C16H33 were synthesized from the corresponding 2,3-dialkylbutanediols-1,4 and dimethyl terephthalate or terephthaloyl chloride. The substituents of the butanediol-1,4 portion of the polyterephthalates influence the 13C NMR chemical shifts of the carbon atoms near the branching site, the glass transition (Tg), and the crystallizability. Small alkyl substituents do not change the Tg of the polymers, whereas bulky substituents such as the isopropyl group increase the Tg and long normal alkyl groups as substituents decrease the Tg of the polymers. Crystallinity in these polyterephthalates was found only with CH3 and C16H33 as the 2,3-dialkyl substituents in the butanediol-1,4 portion of the polyester. This crystallinity of polyterephthalate of 2,3-di-C16H33 substituted butanediol-1,4 could be assigned to side-chain crystallization of the paraffinic groups.
The ultraviolet continua of the nuclei of M31 and M81

Ultraviolet measurements of the central 2.5 arcmin of M31 and M81 made with the ANS satellite are reported. A library of standard-star observations is also included for comparison. In agreement with OAO 2 results, it is found that both galaxies exhibit a significant UV excess as compared to expectations for a pure, old metal-rich stellar population including just the main sequence and giant branch. Model calculations show that the excess UV light could be produced either by young stars or by commonly occurring hot stars in an old stellar population. At the present time, several lines of evidence slightly favor old stars. An ultraviolet excess of similar magnitude seems to be common to all early-type galaxies yet observed in the UV and thus may significantly affect the appearance of redshifted galaxies.
The use of laser extensometer to study the behavior of short fatigue cracks

Abstract For short fatigue cracks, the measured compliance based on additional crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) due to the presence of the crack load under linear-elastic conditions is a good measure of the crack tip stress field. This relationship is due to the proximity of the measurement point and the crack tip. In this study, an accurate telemetric laser extensometer (TLE) with a resolution of 1.27 × 10 −4 mm was used to measure CMOD for edge cracks in the range of 0.2 mm to 2 mm deep in uniformly stressed specimens. This paper describes the test set-up and the preliminary test results. The measured CMOD for short cracks ( K- term alone. It is argued that for short cracks, the strain energy release rate, G , is not equal to K 2 /E where, E = elastic modulus. G is proposed as a candidate parameter for characterizing the growth rate of short cracks. It is noted that the rate of growth of short fatigue cracks in mild steel correlate with ΔJ under fully plastic conditions which is consistent with the above proposal.
Family-provider relationships and well-being in families with preterm infants in the NICU.

Abstract Objective: The purposes of this study were the following: (1) to describe maternal perceptions of family-provider relationships in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and (2) to examine associations between maternal perceptions of family-provider relationships in the NICU and well-being in families with preterm infants. Design: The study’s design was descriptive and correlational. Setting: The study took place in 5 NICUs in midwestern United States. Participants: The study included 55 mothers of preterm infants hospitalized in the NICU. Measures: Self-report measures: the Family-Provider Relationships Instrument–NICU, Ryff’s measure of psychologic well-being, and the General Scale of the Family Assessment Measure. Results: Mothers of preterm infants who depicted their family’s relationship with their child’s primary health care providers in the NICU as positive and family-centered reported more satisfaction with the care received. In addition, these mothers expressed a greater willingness to seek help from health care providers. When mothers reported a discrepancy between what they wanted the family-provider relationships to be like and what they believed the relationship was like, they were less satisfied with care received. Mothers who wanted and believed they had positive family-centered relationships with providers were more satisfied with the care received and they reported higher levels of psychologic well-being. Conclusion: The nature of the relationships that families develop with health care providers in the NICU may have a profound influence on how individuals and families respond to the experience of having a preterm infant. Health care providers who incorporate the key elements of family-centered care into their practice can have a positive influence on well-being in families of preterm infants. (Heart Lung ® 2001;30:74-84.)
Cytotoxic evaluation of N-isopropylacrylamide monomers and temperature-sensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) nanoparticles

The objective of this research project is to investigate the biocompatibility of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) monomers and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) nanoparticles in vitro. PNIPAAm nanoparticles of different sizes were synthesized and characterized by transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. Cytotoxicity studies using MTS assays were conducted on fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, and endothelial cells. In addition, the concentration of NIPAAm monomers remaining on PNIPAAm nanoparticles was determined using bromination and spectrophotometry. The cytotoxicity results did not show a significant difference in cell survival when cells were exposed to different particle sizes (100, 300, and 500 nm). Dose studies showed that all three cell types exposed to 100 nm PNIPAAm nanoparticles at concentrations less than or equal to 5 mg/mL were compatible, while cells exposed to NIPAAm monomers exhibited toxicity even at very low concentrations. We also found that 1 mg/mL concentration of 100 nm PNIPAAm nanoparticles was cytocompatible for 4 days, whereas NIPAAm monomers were cytotoxic after 24 h of exposure. Photomicrographs showed altered morphology in cells exposed to NIPAAm monomers, while cells exposed to PNIPAAm nanoparticles maintained their normal morphology. Finally, a very low concentration of NIPAAm monomers remained on the PNIPAAm nanoparticles after synthesis and dialysis. Our results demonstrate that NIPAAm monomers are cytotoxic, whereas PNIPAAm nanoparticles are compatible at 5 mg/mL concentration or below for fibrobasts, smooth muscle cells, and endothelial cells.
What Happened to the Super Bowl Stock Market Predictor

This article re-examines the well-known and publicized Super Bowl Stock Market Predictor, which forecasts the directional change of the U.S. stock market on the basis of the old AFL and NFL affiliation of the Super Bowl winner. Although it continues to outperform a buy-and-hold strategy when used to shift in and out of common stocks, investment performance and prediction accuracy has declined in recent years, including an incorrect prediction in 2008. But, 2009 was its comeback year. The outcome of Super Bowl XLIII predicted an up market, and the S&P 500 was up by 23.45%.
A tale of two macrophages: to Shb or not to Shb

Macrophages play a dual role in angiogenesis. On the one hand, they can assist with revascularization of hypoxic areas, such as ischemic muscle. On the other hand, they can promote inflammation and tumorigenesis. The Jekyll-Hyde nature of macrophages is incompletely understood, and needs further elucidation in order to treat diverse disorders that involve macrophages including muscle ischemia (including coronary artery disease), tumorigenesis (role of M2 macrophages), HIV persistence (may also involve M2 macrophages) and autoimmunity (Herbein & Varin 2010) (Liu et al. 2012) (Stahl et al. 2013). Shb is an adaptor molecule that is involoved in signaling downstream of several receptors, including VEGF. Deficiency of Shb leads to both vascular and immune defects, with Th2 polarization of T lymphocytes and vascular defects (Gustafsson et al. 2011). Given that circulating immune cells are involved in revascularization, Nikpour et al teased apart the relative contribution of myeloid cells versus endothelial cells in modulating the vascular defects (Nikpour et al. 2015). Intraperitonal injection of VEGF, followed by lavage, revealed no difference in neutrophil influx in either wild type or Shb deficient mice. However, the population of CXCR4 positive monocytes/macrophages were reduced in Shb deficient mice compared with wild type mice. This defect appeared specific to VEGF, because when another inflammatory stimulus, tumor necrosis factor alpha, was used, no difference was observed in CXCR4 positive monocytes/macrophages. Finally, in an elegant set of bone marrow experiments, the investigators demonstrated that the poor recovery to hindlimb ischemia is an intrinsic vascular defect rather than due to functional status of the myeloid lineage. What lessons can be learned here? It appears that this study has identified two classes of macrophages, one of which is CXCR4 positive, and requires VEGF for optimal recruitment. On the other hand, Shb deficiency does not affect response to tumor necrosis factor alpha. A major question is what are the role of CXCR4 positive macrophages, since they seem to require Shb for an optimal response to VEGF, but not TNFa? Of interest, CXCR4 is a coreceptor for human immunodeficiency virus, so loss of Shb might affect susceptibility to HIV (Nikpour et al. 2015). CXCR4 has been shown to be important in T cell tropic HIV infection, while CKR-5, also called CC-CKR5 or CCR-5, is thought to be more important in macrophage tropic HIV infection. Of interest, CD34 positive progenitor cells, which can give rise to macrophages as well as endothelial cells, express CXCR4 and can be infected by HIV (Deichmann et al. 1997). Shb may represent a lineage marker in CD34 positive progenitor cells, that when lost, results in a skewing towards VEGFR1+ macrophages (Figure 1). Finally, is there a therapeutic role in targeting Shb as an anti-inflammatory therapeutic? Figure 1 Potential role of Shb as a lineage determinator in macrophages
Longitudinal Changes in Marital Relationships: The Role of Offspring’s Pubertal Development

This study charted the longitudinal trajectories of wives’ and husbands’ reports of marital love, satisfaction, and conflict and explored whether and how first- and second-born offspring’s pubertal development was related to marital changes. Data were drawn from the first 7 years of a longitudinal study of family relationships. Participants included wives, husbands, and first- and second-born children from 188 White, working- and middle-class families. Multilevel models revealed declines over time in wives’ and husbands’ reports of marital love and satisfaction but only small changes in conflict. Offspring’s pubertal development was related to changes in marital qualities; declines in positivity and increases in negativity were most consistently linked to firstborns’ puberty. Overall, the results highlight the interrelatedness of family subsystems.
On 3-transitive graphs of girth 6

Abstract A graph Γ is called ( G , s )-transitive if G is a subgroup of Aut( Γ ) acting transitively on the set of s -paths in Γ , but not on the set of ( s + 1)-paths. The girth of Γ is the length of a shortest circuit in Γ (if Γ contains circuits). This paper gives a classification of ( G , 3)-transitive graphs of girth 6 in which the stabilizer G x in G of a vertex x contains a normal subgroup which induces a permutation group on the set of vertices adjacent to x isomorphic to PSL ( n , q ) with n ≥ 3.
Recovering spectral reflectance under commonly available lighting conditions

Recovering the spectral reflectance of a scene is important for scene understanding. Previous approaches use either specialized filters or controlled illumination where the extra hardware prevents many practical applications. In this paper, we propose a method that accurately recovers spectral reflectance from two images taken with conventional consumer cameras under commonly available lighting conditions, such as daylight at different times over a day, camera flash and ambient light, and fluorescent and tungsten light. Our approach does not require camera spectral sensitivities or the spectra of the illumination, which makes it easy to implement for a variety of practical applications. Based on noise analysis, we also derive theoretical predictors that answer: (1) which two lighting conditions lead to the most accurate spectral recovery overall, and (2) for two given lighting conditions, which spectral reflectance is more likely to be estimated accurately. We implement the method on a variety of cameras from high-end DSLRs to cellphone cameras, and apply the recovered spectral reflectance for several applications such as fine art reproduction, fruit identification, and material classification. Both simulation and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Tighten regulations on deep-sea mining

Extracting minerals from sea-floor vents should not go ahead without a coherent conservation framework, argues Cindy Lee Van Dover.
Group A Beta Hemolytic Streptococci and Rheumatic Fever in Miami, Florida: IV. Correlation Between School Absenteeism, the Isolation of beta Hemolytic Streptococci, and Antistreptolysin O Serum Responses

Streptococcal “infection” in children may be presumed to have occui”red when: (1) there was clinical evidence of the typical iliness syndrome, accompanied (2) by the presence of beta hemolytic streptococci in the throat and (3) by a serological response such as an elevation of 2 tubes or greater in the antistreptolysin 0 titer, in the case of organisms belonging to Lancefleld groups A, G, human C and possibly some F strains.Lz The absence of any one of these three criteria casts doubts on the existence of true “infection.”3 One important reason for determining the presence or absence of streptococcal “infections” lies in the relationship presumed to exist between group A organisms and the etiology of rheumatic fever.4 The isolation of beta hemolytic streptococci from the throats of children has been indicated to be insufficient evidence of itself of “infection,” either overt or occult.’ Furthermore, the presence of antistreptolysin 0 (ASLO) titer elevation in association with recovery of beta hemolytic streptococci from the throat in the absence of clinical findings also is inadequate to provide positive proof of “infection,” and may signify a convalescent carrier state or an “occult” infection. The present report sets forth data on school absences of children, attending the first three grades of public schools in Miami, Florida, who participated in a throat culture study during the school year, October, 1954 - May, 1955.6b0 Absences have been related here to the illnesses diagnosed, to the isolation of beta hemolytic streptococci from the throats of these children, and to the ASLO serum titer changes observed concurrently. Tabulations of our data are presented as comparison of absentee versus non-absentee findings. The non-absentee status refers only to children’s presence in school during the regularly scheduled days for sampling. Therefore, information on non-absentees includes children who were never absent at any time during the school year, as well as those who were present at all culture sessions, but who were absent one or more times between sampling periods (58.3 per cent of the 333 children were in this combined category). The results, therefore, highlight differences between absentees and non-absentees, but the degree of differences may be lessened by the effects of untabulated absenteeism among the nonabsentee children. Throat cultures were taken monthly from the throats of 333 children attending the first three grades of three public schools in Miami, Florida, *Suported in part by funds from the Florida State Board of Health, and the Public
Mechanistic Studies of the Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Methanol Using a Cationic Palladium Complex

The catalytic oxidation of methanol in the presence of the cationic [neocuproinePd(OAc)]2[OTf]2 (OTf = trifluoromethylsulfonate), 1, yields methyl formate. With benzoquinone as a terminal oxidant 4-hydroxyphenyl formate is also formed competitively. Mechanistic and labeling studies implicate formaldehyde and methyl hemiformal as key intermediates. Beta-hydrogen elimination from Pd-OCH3 or Pd-OCH2OCH3 intermediates is proposed as a key step in the generation of formaldehyde and methyl formate, respectively.
Helping Athletes Excel in the Classroom—And on the Field

T here is a program operating in high schools in Northern California that warrants the attention of educators. It is Promoting Achievement in School through Sports (PASS), a project of the American Sports Institute, a nonprofit organization in Mill Valley, California. PASS helps athletes attain greater academic success and at the same time improve their performance on the field. PASS is intriguing not only because it speaks to the need that significant numbers of athletes have to pick up their grades, but also because teachers may learn how to adapt successful methods of learning "on the field" to the classroom. PASS is entering its third year of operation as a yearlong elective physical education class (it could take other forms) at McAteer High School in San Francisco. Although the class is open to all students with an interest in athletics, typical enrollees include those whose academic performance is lagging or who have attitude or attendance problems. Both boys and girls take the class, and a good number of them in the McAteer program are minorities. A second school-Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, just north of San Francisco-has adopted the PASS program, beginning in the 1991-92 school year. The results of the program at McAteer have been encouraging. PASS students' grades and attendance have improved. Parents note greater confidence, personal initiative, and self-discipline in their children. And the athletic director at the school reports that students he thought would never again be eligible to participate in athletics are back on the team. The program has also gotten a good deal of attention, having been featured on ESPN and National Public Radio and been given support by businesses and professional athletes in the Bay Area. PASS grounds itself in what the program developersJoel and Susan Kirsch-consider the self-definitions, personal qualities, and skills requisite to success in sports and, in their view, to success in schoolwork as well. Essentially, students identify these characteristics and abilities, extend them, and then apply them to exceed their current achievement standards in school and in their chosen sport. It should be noted that many athletes already have these qualities and capabilities in good measure-thus their relative success in athletics. They just may not have put a name to them or employed them in the classroom. And also, because these young people usually have lacked an explicit understanding that they possess at least some of these strengths-or even that these qualities are strengths-they haven't known to work on enhancing them.
Two reliable methods for solving variants of the KdV equation with compact and noncompact structures

Abstract In this work we use the sine–cosine and the tanh methods for solving variants of the KdV equation. Compact and noncompact physical solutions for these variants with dispersive effects are formally derived. The study also examines the role of coefficients of the derivatives of the equation and its exponents in affecting the physical structures of the solutions.
Long-term trends in biomass and tree demography in northern hardwoods: an integrated field and simulation study

Long-term trends in forest biomass have important implications for carbon sequestration and storage, but chronosequence field studies and computer simulations have produced differing conclusions about whether biomass declines in older stands. In this paper, the Bormann-Likens hypothesis of a biomass peak followed by a decline to a steady state with zero net growth is tested against alternative hypotheses of asymptotic or increasing trends with positive net growth even at advanced ages. Trends in aboveground live-tree biomass and large tree density in northern hardwoods were examined from chronosequences and 30-year permanent plot data from forests spanning a wide range of developmental stages, as well as multi-century simulations using an intensively-tested individual-tree model (CANOPY). Both field data and simulations indicated an average decline in aboveground live-tree biomass and number of large trees in the later stages of old growth under environmental conditions of the recent past. This decline wa...
Chemistry of condensed thiophenes. V. Sulfonation and sulfonyl bridging of m-terphenyl. Conversion to sulfonamides †

Reaction of m-terphenyl with 20% oleum at 100° gives both disulfonation and double sulfonyl bridging to yield benzo[1]thieno[2,3- b]dibenzothiophene-3,9-disulfonic acid 5,5,7,7-tetraoxide, isolated as the disodium salt (24%) and convertible (via the disulfonyl chloride) to the bis- sulfonanilide (44%) and the bis-N-butylsulfonamide (40%). Analogously, reaction of m-terphenyl with chlorosulfonic acid at 100° gives disulfonation plus only single sulfonyl bridging to produce 2-(4-chlorosulfonyl)-7- chlorosulfonyldibenzothiophene 5,5-dioxide (80%), convertible to the corresponding bis-sulfonanilide (63%) and the bis-N-butylsulfonamide (45%)
Three-Dimensional Characterization of Lumbar Lordosis in Torsion

The curvature of the lumbar spine has been extensively studied, mostly in relation to scoliosis.1 Previous three-dimensional models of scoliosis allowed for the characterization of specific abnormalities in the sagittal, coronal and axial planes. Recent research has shown that these same spinal structure abnormalities (including facet joint orientation) may also be associated with spondylolisthesis,2 aging, and the onset of lower back pain, among other potential etiologies.3 Newer imaging technologies allow for more precise determination of the spinal curvature4 with all of these studies typically carried out in the neutral position (standing or supine). To the best of the author’s knowledge, there is no study of the behavior of the spinal curvature with axial torsion in vivo. We hypothesized that the spinal curvature when experiencing torsion will deviate significantly from the neutral position due to the complex coupled motions in the spine. The objective of this study is to characterize in vivo the change in lumbar segmental lordosis of the asymptomatic spine during torsion.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Cumulative Number of Cell Divisions as a Meaningful Timescale for Adaptive Laboratory Evolution of Escherichia coli

Adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) under controlled conditions has become a valuable approach for the study of the genetic and biochemical basis for microbial adaptation under a given selection pressure. Conventionally, the timescale in ALE experiments has been set in terms of number of generations. As mutations are believed to occur primarily during cell division in growing cultures, the cumulative number of cell divisions (CCD) would be an alternative way to set the timescale for ALE. Here we show that in short-term ALE (up to 40–50 days), Escherichia coli, under growth rate selection pressure, was found to undergo approximately 1011.2 total cumulative cell divisions in the population to produce a new stable growth phenotype that results from 2 to 8 mutations. Continuous exposure to a low level of the mutagen N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine was found to accelerate this timescale and led to a superior growth rate phenotype with a much larger number of mutations as determined with whole-genome sequencing. These results would be useful for the fundamental kinetics of the ALE process in designing ALE experiments and provide a basis for its quantitative description.
Chromosome-based method for rapid computer simulation in human genetic linkage analysis

Computer-based simulation has been an important method in human linkage analysis for a long time. Typically, such analyses have been performed by simulating a set of linked markers according to the intermarker recombination fractions, under the assumption of no genetic interference. A novel approach is proposed in which such simulations can be performed using chromosome-based methods, rather than traditional recombination fraction-based methods. We propose simulating pedigree data using a crossover formation (CF) process to generate the number of crossovers and their locations in Morgans along the entire length of a chromosome. By this method, one can generate simulated multilocus data for any number of loci on a chromosome much more efficiently than with the currently available methods like those used in the SLINK or SIMLINK programs. Further, interference can be incorporated directly in this method, which is not possible with existing packages.
Comparative Efficacy of Yohimbine Against Pyridostigmine for the Treatment of Orthostatic Hypotension in Autonomic Failure

Orthostatic hypotension affects patients with autonomic failure producing considerable disability because of presyncopal symptoms. Severely affected patients may have residual sympathetic tone that can be engaged to increase blood pressure (BP) with the α-2 adrenergic antagonist yohimbine. This medication activates sympathetic outflow centrally and unrestrains norepinephrine release from noradrenergic neurons. Alternatively, the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, pyridostigmine, can increase sympathetic tone by improving ganglionic cholinergic neurotransmission. Our purpose was to compare these complementary approaches and to explore whether the combination would lead to synergistic increases in BP. We compared the effects of 60 mg of pyridostigmine and 5.4 mg of yohimbine in a single-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover fashion. In a subset of patients we tested the combination of pyridostigmine and yohimbine. Our primary outcome was the change in standing diastolic BP 60 minutes after drug administration from baseline. We studied a total of 31 patients with severe autonomic failure. Yohimbine significantly improved standing diastolic BP as compared with placebo (11±3 mm Hg [95% CI: 6 to 16 mm Hg]; P<0.001). On the contrary, pyridostigmine did not increase the standing diastolic BP (0.6±3 mm Hg [95% CI: -5 to 5 mm Hg]; P=0.823). Only yohimbine showed a significant improvement in presyncopal symptoms. Sixteen patients received the combination of pyridostigmine and yohimbine, but no evidence of synergistic pressor effect was found. Engaging residual sympathetic tone with yohimbine is a more effective approach to improve orthostatic hypotension as compared with pyridostigmine in patients with severe orthostatic hypotension.