cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An experimentally calibrated thermobarometric solubility model for titanium in coesite (TitaniC)

Experiments were conducted to quantify the temperature and pressure effects on the solubility of titanium in coesite. Powdered amorphous silica, titania (anatase), zirconia, and water were added to silver capsules and run in the coesite stability field (at 32, 35, and 40 kbar) from 700 to 1050 °C using a piston–cylinder apparatus. Crystallization of coesite, rutile, and zircon from silica-, titania-, and zircon-saturated aqueous fluids was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. Cathodoluminescence images and electron microprobe measurements showed that coesite crystals are relatively homogenous. The Ti concentrations of coesite crystals are significantly higher than concentrations predicted using the Ti-in-quartz calibration (Wark and Watson in Contrib Mineral Petrol 152:743–754, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-006-0132-1 ; Thomas et al. in Contrib Mineral Petrol 160:743–759, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-010-0505-3 ). Titanium K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) measurements demonstrate that Ti4+ substitutes for Si4+ on fourfold tetrahedral sites in coesite at all conditions studied. A model was calibrated to describe the effects of pressure and temperature on the solubility of titanium in coesite by using a least-squares method to fit Ti concentrations in coesite to the simple expression: $$RT\ln X_{{{\text{TiO}}_{2} }}^{\text{coesite}} = - 55.068 + 0.00195 \times T\;({\text{K}}) - 1.234 \times P\;({\text{kbar}}) + RT\ln a_{{{\text{TiO}}_{2} }}^{\text{rutile}} ,$$ where R is the gas constant 8.3145 × 10−3 kJ/K, P is pressure in kbar, T is temperature in kelvin, $$X_{{{\text{TiO}}_{2} }}^{\text{coesite}}$$ is the mole fraction of TiO2 in coesite, and $$a_{{{\text{TiO}}_{2} }}^{\text{rutile}}$$ is the activity of TiO2 in the system referenced to rutile. Ti-in-coesite solubility can be used as a thermobarometer for natural samples when used in combination with another indicator of temperature or pressure, such as another thermobarometer in a cogenetic mineral (e.g. rutile) or other phase equilibria (e.g. graphite = diamond). Applications of the Ti-in-coesite thermobarometer to samples from the western Alps and Papua New Guinea are presented.
Elevated lung volumes in neonates with bronchopulmonary dysplasia measured via MRI.

BACKGROUND Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a chronic lung disease of prematurity defined by requirement for respiratory support at 36 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA), but structural sequelae like lung hyperinflation are often not quantified. Quiet-breathing, nonsedated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows tomographic quantification of lung volumes and densities. We hypothesized that functional residual capacity (FRC) and intrapleural volume (IV) are increased in BPD and correlate with qualitative radiological scoring of hyperinflation. METHODS Ultrashort echo time (UTE) MRI of 17 neonates (acquired at ~39 weeks PMA) were reconstructed at end-expiration and end-inspiration via the time course of the k0 point in k-space. Images were segmented to determine total lung, tidal, parenchymal tissue, and vascular tissue volumes. FRC was calculated by subtracting parenchymal and vascular tissue volumes from IV. Respiratory rate (RR) was calculated via the UTE respiratory waveform, yielding estimates of minute ventilation when combined with tidal volumes (TVs). Two radiologists scored hyperinflation on the MR images. RESULTS IV at FRC increased in BPD: for control, mild, and severe (patients the median volumes were 32.8, 33.5, and 50.9 mL/kg, respectively. TV (medians: 2.21, 3.64, and 4.84 mL/kg) and minute ventilation (medians: 493, 750, and 991 mL/min) increased with increasing severity of BPD (despite decreasing RR, medians: 75.6, 63.0, and 56.1 breaths/min). FRC increased with increasing severity of BPD (39.3, 38.3, and 56.0 mL, respectively). Findings were consistent with increased hyperinflation scored by radiologists. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that UTE MRI can quantify hyperinflation in neonatal BPD and that lung volumes significantly increase with disease severity.
Biological control of the twospotted spider mite (Trombidiformes: Tetranychidae) with the predatory mite Neoseiulus californicus (Mesotigmata: Phytoseiidae) in blackberries.

The twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), is a key mite pest affecting blackberry production worldwide. Tetranychus urticae feeds on the underside of leaves, extracts chlorophyll, and reduces crop yield. Amblyseius (Neoseiulus) californicus (McGregor) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) has been identified as a potential predator of T. urticae. We conducted a greenhouse and a field experiment to evaluate the potential of N. californicus as a biological control agent for T. urticae on ‘Arapaho,’ ‘Navaho,’ and ‘Quachita’ blackberry varieties. Research on N. californicus-based biological control has not been conducted previously in blackberries because the crop matures during the summer when temperatures are high, and there are concerns whether N. californicus can control T. urticae populations during these high temperatures. The experimental design was a completely randomized block, and treatments included the following: (1) abamectin, (2) N. californicus, and (3) untreated blackberry plants. Abamectin was effective, but mite populations were cyclic and additional applications were needed. The study demonstrated that N. californicus provided the most effective and sustained control for T. urticae on blackberry plants under hot and humid conditions. A good assessment of local phytoseiids and other predators is needed before releasing N. californicus into blackberry plantings.
Health Monitoring with Low Power IoT Devices using Anomaly Detection Algorithm

The healthcare industry is rapidly adopting new technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), which are dropping costs and improving healthcare outcomes. Such IoT systems typically include edge devices (glucose monitors, ventilators, pacemakers), gateway devices that aggregate the data from the edge devices and transmit it to the cloud, and cloud-based systems which analyze the device data to draw conclusions, display information, or direct the connected devices to take action. This process can lead to communication lags and delayed responses to patient conditions/treatment. The aim of this proposal is to overcome these delays with IoT technology and allow for prompt urgent treatment to patients. The solution proposed includes a model to monitor and process the data disseminated by wearable devices related to the patients’ health issues and connect the data to IoT cloud platforms. Analysis of the patients’ health data to identify anomalies will be performed at the device level by developing an offline machine learning model using specific algorithms for anomaly detection and deploying them on the IoT devices or IoT gateway. Processing of the real-time health data will be performed at the device level and the prediction of anomalous data will be sent to the third-party cloud for implementing any necessary actions.
Ethical and Legal Issues

The development of ethics as a form of professional self-regulation has a history as long as that of medicine itself. The best known example of an early ethical code is the Hippocratic oath, which dates back to the fourth or fifth century B.C. Similar codes were established elsewhere. In ancient India, for instance, the code forbade physicians to treat certain classes of individuals or diseases with a poor prognosis.
The sociopolitical context of the COVID-19 response in South Korea.

### Summary box The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in South Korea on 20 January 2020. The epidemic reached a plateau by 12 March.1 The WHO and others have praised Korea’s COVID-19 control and attributed Korea’s success mainly to two factors: (1) extensive testing using the latest molecular diagnostic kits and innovative testing strategies (eg, drive-thru and walk-thru testing) and (2) contact tracing to support effective epidemiological investigations.2 These strategies undoubtedly contributed to Korea’s COVID-19 control.3 4 However, the publicised ‘lessons from Korea’ overlook the sociopolitical context and treat these policy interventions as if they operate as depoliticised variables disconnected from the surrounding social and political processes. In other words, there is a prevailing tendency to sanitise the lessons of their political dimension and to reduce them to a matter of developing and …
Frontal asymmetry: A novel biomarker for physical activity and sedentary behavior.

Past research has demonstrated that regular physical activity provides a myriad of physical, mental, and emotional benefits. The decision of whether to partake in physical activity (PA) or remain sedentary appears to be partially influenced by motivational and emotional systems. Research suggests left frontal alpha asymmetry is a neural marker of approach motivation. However, studies have not explored whether habitual levels of PA and sedentary behavior relate to this neurophysiological signal. Across two studies, individuals completed measures of habitual PA and sedentary behavior using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form. Then, resting electroencephalography activity was recorded. Results of Study 1 (N = 32, 72% women) indicated that more time spent sitting on both weekdays and weekend days were associated with less left frontal asymmetry (r = -.45, p = .027, and r = -.55, p = .005, respectively). Study 2 recruited a larger sample (N = 96, 31% women) and investigated moderators. Greater levels of moderate (r = .27) and total (r = .29) PA were associated with greater left frontal asymmetry (ps < .05), and the relationship between sedentary behavior and less left frontal asymmetry was moderated by sex (weekday: β = .62, p = .011; weekend day: β = .41, p = .034). Our results suggest that left frontal asymmetry may be a novel neurophysiological marker for PA and sedentary behavior.
Merged minds: Generalized shared reality in dyadic relationships.

Many everyday conversations, whether between close partners or strangers interacting for the first time, are about the world external to their relationship, such as music, food, or current events. Yet, the focus of most research on interpersonal relationships to date has been on the ways in which partners perceive each other and their relationship. We propose that one critical aspect of interpersonal interactions is developing a sense of dyadic, generalized shared reality—the subjective experience of sharing a set of inner states (e.g., thoughts, feelings, or beliefs) in common with a particular interaction partner about the world in general, including the world external to the relationship. Across 9 studies, we use mixed methods to investigate the unique role of generalized shared reality in interpersonal interactions, both between close partners and strangers. We hypothesize that generalized shared reality predicts how people connect with each other and perceive the world around them. We also investigate the observable, dyadic behavioral signatures of generalized shared reality in interpersonal interactions. Finally, we examine the motivation to uphold an existing sense of generalized shared reality. We hypothesize that couples high on baseline generalized shared reality exhibit motivated, dyadic interaction behaviors to reaffirm their generalized shared reality in the face of experimentally manipulated threat. By identifying a unique dimension of everyday interactions, these studies aim to capture a critical aspect of the lived subjective experience of human relationships that has not been captured before. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
NEON Crowns: a remote sensing derived dataset of 100 million individual tree crowns

Forests provide essential biodiversity, ecosystem and economic services. Information on individual trees is important for understanding the state of forest ecosystems but obtaining individual-level data at broad scales is challenging due to the costs and logistics of data collection. While advances in remote sensing techniques allow surveys of individual trees at unprecedented extents, there remain significant technical and computational challenges in turning sensor data into tangible information. Using deep learning methods, we produced an open-source dataset of individual-level crown estimates for 100 million trees at 37 sites across the United States surveyed by the National Ecological Observatory Networks Airborne Observation Platform. Each canopy tree crown is represented by a rectangular bounding box and includes information on the height, crown area, and spatial location of the tree. Tree crowns identified using this technique correspond well with hand-labeled crowns, exhibiting both high levels of overlap and good correspondence in height estimates. These data have the potential to drive significant expansion of individual-level research on trees by facilitating both regional analyses at scales of 10,000 ha and cross-region comparisons encompassing forest types from most of the United States.
Young adults' intention to quit using JUUL.

Abstract Background With research indicating some young audiences may desire to quit using JUUL, a high-nicotine e-cigarette, we sought to explore factors that may motivate them to quit. Methods This sequential, mixed methods study included a cross-sectional online survey of college students (n = 631) followed by in-person interviews (n = 51) with survey participants. Data were collected March-April 2019. The survey asked about intention to quit using JUUL. A latent class analysis (LCA) identified participant groups who would quit for various reasons. Participants were also asked ‘Can you be too old to JUUL?’ during the survey. During the interviews, participants were provided preliminary survey findings and asked about their perceptions of the data. Interview participants were also asked about their expectations for future use of JUUL. Results Four classes emerged from the LCA, indicating costs to self (i.e., harm to lungs/brain, price; 46.8%), financial costs (36.6%), all costs (e.g., social, monetary, health; 9.3%), and harm to self (7.3%) may have influenced our sample’s decision to quit using JUUL. Interviewees affirmed desires to quit using JUUL, especially after leaving college. Only 27.19% of survey participants reported an age threshold for using JUUL (M = 31.8 years, SD = 10.0); however, several interviewees explained that although someone could not be too old to JUUL, it would be ‘immature’ or ‘childish’ for adults who were not trying to quit smoking to use JUUL socially. Discussion Comprehensive tobacco control strategies such as taxing e-cigarettes, marketing campaigns, and nicotine cessation programs are needed to help nicotine dependent young adults quit using high-nicotine e-cigarettes.
Communicating quality: a unified model of disclosure and signalling

Firms communicate product quality to consumers through a variety of channels. Economic models of such communication take two alternative forms when quality is exogenous: (i) disclosure of quality through a credible direct claim; or (ii) signalling of quality via producer actions that influence buyers' beliefs about quality. In general, these two literatures have ignored one another. We argue that firms should be viewed as choosing which means of communication they will employ. We show that integration of these two alternatives leads to new implications about disclosure, signalling, firm preferences over type, and the social efficiency of the channel of communication employed.
Guidance on the treatment of antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia when switching the antipsychotic is not an option.

Purpose This article aims to evaluate management options for antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia and associated treatment considerations such as efficacy, tolerability, drug interactions, contraindications, and dosing regimens. Summary Hyperprolactinemia is a common adverse effect of antipsychotics. First-line management includes reducing the dose of the offending antipsychotic, discontinuing the antipsychotic, or switching to another antipsychotic associated with a lower risk of hyperprolactinemia. However, these options are not always practical and are associated with a risk of relapse of the psychiatric illness. Other management options include adjunctive aripiprazole, dopamine agonists (cabergoline and bromocriptine), metformin, and herbal supplements. A search of Embase, PubMed, and Google Scholar using key terms such as hyperprolactinemia, prolactin, antipsychotic, treatment guidelines, aripiprazole, dopamine agonist, cabergoline, bromocriptine, metformin, herbals, supplements, and medications was conducted for literature retrieval. Upon evaluation of the available literature we found the following: (1) aripiprazole is safe and effective in lowering prolactin levels within normal limits; (2) adjunctive cabergoline and bromocriptine decrease elevated prolactin levels, while cabergoline may be more effective in reducing prolactin but can also be associated with a more serious adverse effect of cardiac valvular abnormalities; (3) metformin causes a mild reduction of prolactin levels; and (4) there are limited data to support use of herbal medications (chamomile, Peony-Glycyrrhiza decoction, and shakuyaku-kanzo-to) in antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia. Conclusion There are treatments available for antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia in patients who are unable to alter their current antipsychotic regimen. However, there remains a need for additional short- and long-term studies to determine the efficacy and safety of these treatment strategies, given that patients taking antipsychotics typically require chronic, life-long treatment for their illnesses.
Co-created health education intervention among older African American women living with hypertension.

ABSTRACT Introduction African Americans over the age of 60 years face disproportionate risk of developing hypertension, which can be mitigated with lifestyle changes. This study examines the acceptability and cost of a patient-centered, co-created health education intervention with older African Americans living with hypertension. Methods Twenty women participated in this study that included four weekly, two-hour group sessions centered on hypertension knowledge and calibration of home blood pressure monitors, stress and interpersonal relationship management, sleep and pain management, and healthy eating. The study took place in the Midwest United States. Results Descriptive statistics were used to analyze acceptability data that included attendance and a brief investigator-generated questionnaire. Twenty women were enrolled. Sixteen participants attended all four sessions, all reported they intended to continue using the intervention and felt it fit within their culture, routine, and self-care practices. The estimated cost of conducting the intervention was $227.00 (U.S. dollars) per participant. Conclusions The co-created health education intervention was acceptable. Given the dire need for cost-effective interventions to improve the adoption of health promoting self-care management behavior, to reduce the prevalence of hypertension in older African Americans, the results of this study have implications for future research and practice.
Software Patents: Need for Abolishing the Patent Cover

The paper begins with a review of the legal rationale for non-protection of software by patents. This is followed by the analysis of the question whether problems may come up if software patents are categorically discriminated from patents in other fields of technology. Special emphasis is made on the post grant review under the new “America Invents Act” and whether it presents a problem against non-recognition of software patents. The paper critically analyses the landmark case laws against software patents, patentability and other scholarly writings with similar analysis and discussions and conclude with the strong observations that software patents produce more problems than they solve.
Heterogeneity in How Investors Respond to Disputes: Greenfield Foreign Direct Investment and Coindustrial Disputes

Do investment disputes reduce foreign direct investment (FDI)? Investors may perceive host governments involved in arbitration as riskier. Yet a dispute may also signal new economic opportunities f...
Measuring the Citizen Effect: What Does Good Citizen Involvement Look Like?

Measuring the quality of citizen participation in watershed projects provides a way to track and evaluate citizen involvement over time. Technical watershed specialists and citizen groups can use indicators of citizen participation to adapt their processes to achieve the kinds of citizen involvement most appropriate to the project phase as well provide accountable documentation to funding sources.
The discovery of a class of high-temperature superconductors

The exceptional interest in the new class of oxide superconductors and the importance of these materials are discussed together with the concepts that led to their discovery. The discovery itself and its early confirmation are summarized, including the work until the beginning of 1987. The observation of a superconductive glass state in percolative samples is also discussed.
Glutamate in thalamic fibers terminating in layer IV of primary sensory cortex

Biochemical and pharmacological experiments support glutamate (Glu) as a thalamocortical transmitter, but do not distinguish direct from indirect effects (via excitation of glutamergic corticocortical fibers); anatomical studies to date have yielded variable results. We identified thalamocortical terminals in layer IV of primary somatic sensory, auditory, and visual cortex by injecting WGA-HRP in the corresponding thalamic sensory relay nuclei of rats. Terminals from each thalamic nucleus were similar, containing abundant mitochondria and loosely packed clear vesicles; they made asymmetric synaptic contacts mainly with dendritic spines. After tracer injections into nearby regions of cortex, most terminals also made asymmetric contacts mainly onto spines, but these corticocortical terminals were smaller, containing sparse mitochondria and densely packed clear vesicles. GABAergic terminals (identified by postembedding immunogold staining) made symmetric synapses mainly onto dendritic shafts; those terminating near thalamocortical terminals were also large and contained abundant mitochondria. To determine whether Glu is enriched in thalamocortical terminals, we performed postembedding double-labeling immunocytochemistry for Glu and GABA, using different gold particle sizes. The density of particles coding for Glu was significantly enriched over identified thalamocortical terminals, in comparison to nearby dendrites, astrocytes, and GABAergic terminals, and this enrichment was similar for all three sensory areas. The degree of enrichment in thalamocortical terminals, but not in GABAergic terminals, was linearly related to vesicle density. We conclude that Glu is likely to be a neurotransmitter for thalamocortical relay neurons.
Postpartum intestinal obstruction

Abstract A case of a 26-year-old multiparous woman who had had two previous laparotomies, and who gradually developed small bowel obstruction during the first five postpartum days is presented. Laparotomy was necessary, and the ileum was found twisted around au adhesive band. The adhesion was divided and the patient recovered.
Vaccination as a Public Health Measure: Challenges

Despite the widespread availability of safe and effective vaccines, population-level vaccine coverage rates lag far behind ideal levels. The result is continued outbreaks of disease, epidemics, and substantial morbidity and mortality. While multiple causes for this state of affairs are discernible, three major issues are challenges associated with developing, promulgating, and implementing vaccine recommendations; challenges with educating health care providers and the populace on the need for recommended vaccines; and challenges with the provision of vaccines. In this entry we discuss each of these challenges, and offer both illustrations and feasible solutions. Keywords: belief; decision-making; vaccination
Advanced CMOS/SOS LSI rad hard 1750 A/B processor

Development of an advanced processor, the RI 1750AB, that utilizes the benefits of the 3 mu m CMOS/SOS technology and is intended for strategic-level radiation-hard guidance computers is reported. The RI 1750AB contains many special features enhancing its use in a real-time-control/radiation-tolerant system. These include trap and patch registers which allow changes in ROM memory in the field without having to replace the ROM chips. For most applications the CPU will operate through, in the true sense, without radiation upset. However, where extremely high transient levels may be encountered, the CPU supports both software and hardware circumvention. The CPU has an optional snapshot mode of operation which allows hardware-controlled, instead of software-controlled, program restart after radiation upset. To support circumvention, the CPU has several control lines that enable it to distinguish between a power turn-on and a radiation restart. >
Guidelines vs the Legal Standard of Care and Screening for Polycythemia

To the Editor.— Dr David Reynolds1 appropriately applauds policy of the American Academy of Pediatrics to accompany committee statements with a paragraph recognizing that alternative strategies may be appropriate and that the opinions expressed do not constitute standards of medical care. He states that he was unable to find a similar statement in the second edition of Guidelines for Perinatal Care.2 Both the second and third editions1 contain such a statement which says, in part, on page ii:
Amplification and analysis of specific DNA and RNA sequences of bovine leukemia virus from infected cows by polymerase chain reaction.

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is the etiologic agent of leukemia in cattle and is believed to cause decreases in milk productivity, fertility, and life span in infected cows. BLV is a type C retrovirus in the Oncovirinae subfamily. It is most closely related to human T-cell lymphoma/leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) and type II (HTLV-II). Since the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) provides rapid and efficient amplification of DNA sequences, primers were designed to amplify regions of the polymerase (pol) and pX genes specific for BLV targets. These sets of primers consistently amplified as few as 10 copies of BLV DNA contained in a plasmid in the background of 1 microgram of either human or bovine chromosomal DNA. In addition, no amplification products were detected from cell lines infected with HTLV-I, HTLV-II, or human immunodeficiency virus type 1 or 2 by the BLV PCR systems. Samples of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 18 cows, previously determined to be serologically positive or negative, were correctly identified in a blind study as containing proviral DNA by use of the BLV primers and probes. Cloning and sequencing of amplified products revealed finite sequence variations among a previously cloned BLV isolate, the wild-type virus, and the published genome. Reverse transcriptase-directed PCR with the primers for both BLV pol and BLV pX was performed on plasma from a BLV-infected cow and detected in vivo BLV RNA expression. In summary, we have developed a specific and sensitive assay using PCR for the detection and identification of BLV infections; this assay can now be applied to clinical and basic research questions in veterinary medicine. Images
Phobic Anxiety and Plasma Levels of Global Oxidative Stress in Women.

Background and Objectives: Psychological distress has been hypothe- sized to be associated with adverse biologic states such as higher oxidative stress and in- flammation. Yet, little is known about associations between a common form of distress –phobic anxiety– and global oxidative stress. Thus, we related phobic anxiety to plasma fluorescent oxidation products (FlOPs), a global oxidative stress marker. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis among 1,325 women (aged 43-70 years) from the Nurses’ Health Study. Phobic anxiety was measured using the Crown-Crisp Index (CCI). Adjusted least-squares mean log-transformed FlOPs were calculated across phobic categories. Logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios (OR) com- paring the highest CCI category ( ≥ 6 points) vs. lower scores, across FlOPs quartiles. Results : No association was found between phobic anxiety categories and mean FlOP levels in multivariable adjusted linear models. Similarly, in multivariable logistic regres- sion models there were no associations between FlOPs quartiles and likelihood of being in the highest phobic category. Comparing women in the highest vs. lowest FlOPs quartiles: FlOP_360: OR = 0.68 (95% CI: 0.40 – 1.15); FlOP_320: OR = 0.99 (95% CI: 0.61 – 1.61); FlOP_400: OR = 0.92 (95% CI: 0.52, 1.63). Conclusions: No cross-sectional association was found between phobic anxiety and a plasma measure of global oxidative stress in this sample of middle-aged and older women
A Restart of What Language Arts Is: Bringing Multimodal Assignments into Secondary Language Arts.

Multimodal assignments in language arts involve student learning through not only print and verbal language activities but also visual, kinesthetic, aural, and spatial activities. Language arts teachers can use these elements as a means of developing stronger critical thinking among their students. Traditionally, in language arts classrooms, print media has been at the top of the media hierarchy. Multimodality instead posits print texts as part of a wider range of communication options. Students who participate in multimodal activities fall into one of three groups: students who struggle to connect the multimodal course activities with what they see as real language arts and literacy work; students who connect quite actively and dramatically with multimodal course activities and see them as highly relevant to language arts; and students who are not certain how nonprint and print texts are connected but who start to accept such connections as important over time. These contradictions within student experie...
Ras-association domain family 1C protein promotes breast cancer cell migration and attenuates apoptosis.

Background: The Ras association domain family 1 (RASSF1) gene is a Ras effector encoding two major mRNA forms, RASSF1A and RASSF1C, derived by alternative promoter selection and alternative mRNA splicing. RASSF1A is a tumor suppressor gene. However, very little is known about the function of RASSF1C both in normal and transformed cells. Methods: Gene silencing and over-expression techniques were used to modulate RASSF1C expression in human breast cancer cells. Affymetrix-microarray analysis was performed using T47D cells over-expressing RASSF1C to identify RASSF1C target genes. RT-PCR and western blot techniques were used to validate target gene expression. Cell invasion and apoptosis assays were also performed. Results: In this article, we report the effects of altering RASSF1C expression in human breast cancer cells. We found that silencing RASSF1C mRNA in breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB231 and T47D) caused a small but significant decrease in cell proliferation. Conversely, inducible over-expression of RASSF1C in breast cancer cells (MDA-MB231 and T47D) resulted in a small increase in cell proliferation. We also report on the identification of novel RASSF1C target genes. RASSF1C down-regulates several pro-apoptotic and tumor suppressor genes and upregulates several growth promoting genes in breast cancer cells. We further show that down-regulation of caspase 3 via overexpression of RASSF1C reduces breast cancer cells’ sensitivity to the apoptosis inducing agent, etoposide. Furthermore, we found that RASSF1C over-expression enhances T47D cell invasion/migration in vitro.
Substring selection for biomedical document classification

Motivation: Attribute selection is a critical step in development of document classification systems. As a standard practice, words are stemmed and the most informative ones are used as attributes in classification. Owing to high complexity of biomedical terminology, general-purpose stemming algorithms are often conservative and could also remove informative stems. This can lead to accuracy reduction, especially when the number of labeled documents is small. To address this issue, we propose an algorithm that omits stemming and, instead, uses the most discriminative substrings as attributes. Results: The approach was tested on five annotated sets of abstracts from iProLINK that report on the experimental evidence about five types of protein post-translational modifications. The experiments showed that Naive Bayes and support vector machine classifiers perform consistently better [with area under the ROC curve (AUC) accuracy in range 0.92--0.97] when using the proposed attribute selection than when using attributes obtained by the Porter stemmer algorithm (AUC in 0.86--0.93 range). The proposed approach is particularly useful when labeled datasets are small. Contact: vucetic@ist.temple.edu Supplementary Information: The supplementary data are available from www.ist.temple.edu/PIRsupplement
Meeting zeros in on past global change in western North America

A major effort is under way to reconstruct past changes in climate in western North America to address uncertainties in predicting physical and biologic responses to climate change at societal timescales. Sixty scientists from an array of disciplines recently met in Albuquerque to explore the reconstruction and modeling methods that can maximize the scientific return of this effort. Paleoclimate transects are one strategy for organizing climate-related research. Past Global Changes (PAGES), a core projectof the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program, is using several paleoclimate transects which will eventually comprise a global network of paleoclimatological sites. PEP-I—which this article discusses—is comprised of North and South America, PEP-II covers Australia and Asia, and PEP-III includes Africa and Europe.
Naloxone potentiates the disruptive effects of mescaline on operant responding in the rat.

Abstract Food-deprived male rats were trained to press a lever on a fixed ratio-40 (FR-40) operant schedule for food reinforcement. Administration of mescaline (4.0–10.0 mg/kg) immediately before the start of the operant session resulted in a cessation of responding for some portion of the 40-min period (“hallucinatory pause”). The duration of this pause was found to be dose-dependent. Although administration of naloxone alone (1.0–8.0 mg/kg, five minutes prior to start of the session) had no effect on FR-40 responding per se, pretreatment with this agent significantly potentiated the disruptive effects of mescaline. This potentiation by naloxone was further shown to be dose-dependent. These data suggest that the effects of the phenethylamine hallucinogen mescaline are potentiated by pretreatment with the narcotic antagonist naloxone.
Development of bidirectional operant modification of the cephalic vasomotor response employing a positive reinforcer

The purpose of the present investigation was to assess the effectiveness ofa positive reinforcer in the bidirectional operant conditioning of the cephalic vasomotor response and to study the development, across sessions, of operant control over this response. To this end, 24 male, Caucasian subjects participated in five daily sessions (two shaping sessions and three operant control sessions) during which they were reinforced for producing either vasodilations (N = 12) or vasoconstrictions (N = 12) of the temporal artery. The results clearly demonstrated that the cephalic vascular responses can be brought under some degree of operant control employing a positive reinforcement paradigm and further that such control over cephalic vasoconstriction developed more rapidly than did operant control of cephalic vasodilation. Some evidence is presented to support a cognitive mediation effect.
Is severity of obesity associated with diagnosis or health education practices

To assess the association of the severity of obesity with diagnosis and health education, and to identify any differences within demographic or other subgroups. Clinician visits for 2–18 year olds from the 2005–2008 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey were combined. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to compare diagnosis of obesity and health education (nutrition, exercise and weight reduction) across elevated body mass index (BMI) groups (overweight, obese and extreme or very obese, defined as >120% of the 95th percentile for age and gender), patient socio-demographic characteristics, physician specialty and type of visit (well child visits (WCV) versus non-well child visits (non-WCV). A total of 17 808 visits had a calculated BMI, of which 5.8% were extremely obese, 13% were obese and 15.2% were overweight, with the highest percentages among older children, blacks and Hispanics. Diagnosis and weight reduction education were higher among children with an extreme BMI. Nutrition and exercise education were not correlated with severity of obesity. Race, ethnicity or gender biases were not identified. Severity of obesity was significantly associated with presentation to a non-WCV rather than a WCV. Extremely obese children have higher, but still insufficient, rates of diagnosis and health education. Nutrition and exercise education are not prevalent throughout all age groups. Providers may be relying inconsistently and insufficiently on visual cues to drive their obesity prevention practices. Furthermore, lower rates of diagnosis and education at non-WCV may result in a missed opportunity to prevent comorbidities. This is of particular concern as overweight children are less likely to be seen at WCV than non-WCV.
The Herpes Simplex Virus 1 UL17 Gene Is Required for Localization of Capsids and Major and Minor Capsid Proteins to Intranuclear Sites Where Viral DNA Is Cleaved and Packaged

In nuclei of cells infected with herpes simplex virus (HSV), synthesized viral DNA accumulates as concatamers that are cleaved into genomic lengths and inserted into preformed capsids. Whereas newly replicated DNA and enzymes required for DNA synthesis accumulate in sites of infected cell nuclei termed replication compartments, the intranuclear site of DNA cleavage and packaging is currently controversial. DNA packaging requires the UL6, UL15, UL17, UL25, UL28, UL32, and UL33 genes in addition to the major capsid proteins. Using confocal immunofluorescence microscopy, it was observed that in > 95% of HEp-2 cells fixed at late times after infection with wild-type HSV-1, capsids, major capsid proteins ICP5 and ICP35, and the UL6-encoded minor capsid protein localized in DNA replication compartments. These data support the hypothesis that capsid assembly and DNA cleavage/packaging normally occur in HEp-2 cell replication compartments. In contrast, cells infected with a viral mutant lacking functional UL17 contained antigenically dense nuclear aggregates that stained with ICP35, ICP5, and capsid specific antibodies. Cells infected with the UL17 mutant virus also displayed UL6-specific fluorescence in a diffuse pattern at the nuclear periphery in regions not containing ICP35 and ICP5. Displacement of ICP35 from replication compartments was not observed in cells infected with cleavage/packaging mutants lacking UL28 and UL33. We conclude that the UL17 gene is required for correct targeting of capsids and major and minor capsid proteins to the DNA replication compartment of HEp-2 cells and deduce that this targeting reflects one functional role of UL17 in viral DNA cleavage and packaging.
Human paranasal sinuses and selective brain cooling: A ventilation system activated by yawning?

The function of the paranasal sinuses has been a controversial subject since the time of Galen, with many different theories advanced about their biological significance. For one, the paranasal sinuses have been regarded as warmers of respiratory air, when in actuality these structures appear to function in cooling the blood. In fact, human paranasal sinuses have been shown to have higher volumes in individuals living in warmer climates, and thus may be considered radiators of the brain. The literature suggests that the transfer of cool venous blood from the paranasal sinuses to the dura mater may provide a mechanism for the convection process of cooling produced by the evaporation of mucus within human sinuses. In turn, the dura mater may transmit these temperature changes, initiated by the cool venous blood from the heat-dissipating surfaces of the sinuses, to the cerebrospinal fluid compartments. Furthermore, it has recently been demonstrated in cadaveric dissections that the thin bony posterior wall of the maxillary sinus serves as an origin for both medial and lateral pterygoid muscle segments, an anatomic finding that had been previously underappreciated in the literature. The present authors hypothesize that the thin posterior wall of the maxillary sinus may flex during yawning, operating like a bellows pump, actively ventilating the sinus system, and thus facilitating brain cooling. Such a powered ventilation system has not previously been described in humans, although an analogous system has been reported in birds.
Criteria air pollution and marginalized populations : Environmental inequity in Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona

Objectives. Our objective is to examine spatial relationships between modeled criteria air pollutants (i.e., nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide, and ozone) and sociodemographics in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. Modeled air pollution offers environmental justice researchers a new and robust data source for representing chronic environmental hazards. Methods. We used multiple regression equations to predict criteria pollution levels using sociodemographic variables at the Census block group level. Results. We find that Census block groups with lower neighborhood socioeconomic status, higher proportions of Latino immigrants, and higher proportions of renters are exposed to higher levels of criteria air pollutants. Proportion African American, however, is not a significant predictor of criteria air pollution in the Phoenix metro area. Conclusions. These findings demonstrate clear social-class and ethnic-based environmental injustices in the distribution of air pollution. We attribute these patterns to the role of white privilege in the historical and contemporary development of industrial and transportation corridors in Phoenix in relation to racially segregated neighborhoods. Although all people are implicated in the production of criteria pollutants, lower-income and ethnic-minority residents are disproportionately exposed in metropolitan Phoenix.
Proneural and abdominal Hox inputs synergize to promote sensory organ formation in the Drosophila abdomen

The atonal (ato) proneural gene specifies a stereotypic number of sensory organ precursors (SOP) within each body segment of the Drosophila ectoderm. Surprisingly, the broad expression of Ato within the ectoderm results in only a modest increase in SOP formation, suggesting many cells are incompetent to become SOPs. Here, we show that the SOP promoting activity of Ato can be greatly enhanced by three factors: the Senseless (Sens) zinc finger protein, the Abdominal-A (Abd-A) Hox factor, and the epidermal growth factor (EGF) pathway. First, we show that expression of either Ato alone or with Sens induces twice as many SOPs in the abdomen as in the thorax, and do so at the expense of an abdomen-specific cell fate: the larval oenocytes. Second, we demonstrate that Ato stimulates abdominal SOP formation by synergizing with Abd-A to promote EGF ligand (Spitz) secretion and secondary SOP recruitment. However, we also found that Ato and Sens selectively enhance abdominal SOP development in a Spitz-independent manner, suggesting additional genetic interactions between this proneural pathway and Abd-A. Altogether, these experiments reveal that genetic interactions between EGF-signaling, Abd-A, and Sens enhance the SOP-promoting activity of Ato to stimulate region-specific neurogenesis in the Drosophila abdomen.
Role of insulin resistance and hyperglycemia in the development of atherosclerosis.

Insulin resistance (IR) is the underlying defect in >90% of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and the major pathologic mechanism for the associated susceptibility to premature cardiovascular disease (CVD). The progression of IR to diabetes parallels the progression of endothelial dysfunction to atherosclerosis. The downregulation of the antiatherogenic phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase–mediated insulin receptor–signaling pathway, and maintained activity of the proatherogenic mitogenic-activated protein kinase pathway in insulin-resistant states, leads to accelerated atherosclerosis. Efforts to prevent or slow the epidemic of atherothrombotic CVD must focus on the reversal of the disturbances in glucose and lipid homeostasis through the amelioration of IR.
Antipsychotic Drugs Exacerbate Impairment on a Working Memory Task in First-Episode Schizophrenia

Background This study sought to replicate previous findings of worsened performance on a translational spatial working memory task among antipsychotic-naive first-episode schizophrenia patients after antipsychotic treatment and to extend these findings by examining whether changes in the allocation of covert attention contribute to this effect. Methods Fourteen antipsychotic-naive schizophrenia patients performed an oculomotor delayed response task before and 6 weeks after antipsychotic treatment (risperidone n = 11; olanzapine n = 3). Fifteen matched healthy individuals were studied in parallel. Results Patients’ pretreatment deficit in accurately remembering spatial locations was exacerbated by antipsychotic treatment, consistent with previous findings; however, this occurred only when covert attention was directed away from remembered locations during delay periods. Conclusions Disruption in the allocation of covert attention might contribute to patients’ decline in spatial working memory after antipsychotic treatment. Alterations in prefrontal dopaminergic systems or reduced thalamocortical drive might account for this apparent adverse cognitive effect of antipsychotic treatment.
Stewart's pivoted QLP decomposition for low‐rank matrices

The pivoted QLP decomposition, introduced by Stewart, represents the first two steps in an algorithm which approximates the SVD. If A is an m-by-n matrix, the matrix A∏0 is first factored as A∏0 = QR, and then the matrix RT∏1 is factored as RT∏1 = PLT, resulting in A = Q∏1LPT∏, with Q and P orthogonal, L lower-triangular, and ∏0 and ∏1 permutation matrices. The Q and P matrices provide approximations of the left and right singular subspaces, and the diagonal elements of L are excellent approximations of the singular values of A. Stewart observed that pivoting is not necessary in the second step, allowing one to efficiently truncate the decomposition, computing only the first few columns of R and L and choosing the stopping point dynamically. In this paper, we demonstrate that this truncating actually works by extending our theory for the complete pivoted QLP decomposition (UCLA CAM Report # 02-29, 2002). In particular, say there is a gap between σk and σk+1, and partition the matrix L into diagonal blocks L11 and L22 and off-diagonal block L21, where L11 is k-by-k. If we compute only the block L11, the convergence of (σj(L11)−1 − σ)/σ for j = 1,…,k are all quadratic in the gap ratio σk+1/σk. Hence, if the gap ratio is small, as it usually is when A has numerical rank k (independent of m and n), then all of the singular values are likely to be well approximated. This truncated pivoted QLP decomposition can be computed in (mnk) time, making it ideal for accurate SVD approximations of low-rank matrices. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.