cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
High-temperature creep and the interfacial mechanical response of a ceramic matrix composite

Abstract The high-temperature mechanical response of the fiber-matrix interface of a continuous ceramic fiber-ceramic matrix composite is evaluated and quantified by a new approach in which experiments are compared to an analytical simulation of bulk composite rheology. A calcium aluminosilicate matrix/SiC fiber composite (unidirectionally reinforced, 30 vol.% fibers) is deformed in “off-axis” compressional creep and load-relaxation experiments in an anaerobic environment at T ∼ 1300°C and σ1 ∼ −35 MPa. Comparison of the model with the experimental results indicates that full debonding and interface slip characterize the composite flow under these conditions. Further, the interface slip is revealed to be highly temperature sensitive, inconsistent with the typical rheologic description of Coulombic friction applied to such interfaces. The results suggest that flow of the thin, amorphous SiO2 layer, which makes up a part of the fiber-matrix interface in this material, may be primarily responsible for the high-temperature interface response. The composite rheology is additionally affected by cavitation at the interface, which is both predicted and well-characterized by the analytical model.
In vivo effects of locally secreted IL-10 on the murine antitumor immune response

Background: Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a cytokine secreted by the TH2 class of murine lymphocytes that suppresses the secretion of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) by TH1 lymphocytes and inhibits macrophage-mediated T-cell stimulation and cytotoxicity. The observation that IL-10 is produced by human carcinomas in vitro and in vivo led to the hypothesis that this cytokine plays a role in the suppression of the human anti-tumor immune response. We tested this hypothesis in a murine model.
Natural dissolved organic matter affects electrospray ionization during analysis of emerging contaminants by mass spectrometry

Abstract Dissolved organic matter (DOM), present in many forms in water, can interfere with analysis of organic contaminants by atmospheric pressure ionization–mass spectrometry. A quantitative analysis of this interference, or matrix effect, on organic contaminant target analyte measurements was carried out using un-fractionated and fractionated dissolved natural organic matter from the Suwannee River, GA (SROM), a standard reference material, that was directly infused into the tandem mass spectrometer during multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) of a suite of endocrine disrupting compounds–pharmaceuticals and personal care products (EDC/PPCPs). Most target analytes suffered signal suppression in the presence of both fractionated and un-fractionated SROM, however greater interferences were measured with fractionated relative to bulk SROM. This finding is consistent with the view of organic matter as a supramolecular association of low molecular mass components having separate charged and structural features revealed only after dissociation.
Aromaticities of various coals measured by reaction with fluorine and TGA-DTA studies of the reaction products

Abstract The previously described method for estimating aromaticity by fluorination has been applied to coals of various ranks and used to compare the aromaticity of a solvent-refined coal with that of the feed coal from which it was derived. Coals of various degrees of fluorination were also studied by thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis.
Analysis of Difference Between Direct and Geodetic Mass Balance Measurements at South Cascade Glacier, Washington

Net mass balance has been measured since 1958 at South Cascade Glacier using the ‘direct method,’ e.g. area averages of snow gain and firn and ice loss at stakes. Analysis of cartographic vertical photography has allowed measurement of mass balance using the ‘geodetic method’ in 1970, 1975, 1977, 1979–80, and 1985–97. Water equivalent change as measured by these nearly independent methods should give similar results. During 1970–97, the direct method shows a cumulative balance of about −15 m, and the geodetic method shows a cumulative balance of about −22 m. The deviation between the two methods is fairly consistent, suggesting no gross errors in either, but rather a cumulative systematic error. It is suspected that the cumulative error is in the direct method because the geodetic method is based on a non-changing reference, the bedrock control, whereas the direct method is measured with reference to only the previous year's summer surface. Possible sources of mass loss that are missing from the direct method are basal melt, internal melt, and ablation on crevasse walls. Possible systematic measurement errors include under-estimation of the density of lost material, sinking stakes, or poorly represented areas.
1541 EXAMPLE OF THE EFFICACY OF PREDNISONE IN THE CONTROL OF TYPE I MEMBRANOPROLIFERATIVE GLOMERULONEPHRITIS

1541 EXAMPLE OF THE EFFICACY OF PREDNISONE IN THE CONTROL OF TYPE I MEMBRANOPROLIFERATIVE GLOMERULONEPHRITIS
Matched pursuits analysis of synthetic aperture radar images in the digital spatial domain

The method of matched pursuits is used to analyze two- dimensional digitized SAR images generated by XPATCH in the digital spatial domain. Several algorithms for employing matched pursuits to the problem of detection and recognition of targets in the digital spatial domain are presented. These algorithms are then demonstrated through application to SAR images of four American military aircraft: the F-15, the T-38, the V-218, and the X-29. Several chip dictionaries are proposed and evaluated. A performance comparison between the method of matched pursuits and the M-ary optimum detector is provided. The degradation of performance in the presence of noise and computational complexity issues are addressed.
A high pressure search for K′-bands in KBr and KI†

The optical F-band in KBr has been studied at pressures up to 11 kbar and in KI up to 9 kbar. No new absorption bands were found to appear nor was any other anomalous behavior observed. It is thus shown that so-called K′-bands observed by previous investigators and the K′-center to which they were attributed do not in fact exist in crystals subjected to hydrostatic pressure. Die optische F-Bande von KBr wurde bei Druck bis zn 11 kbar untersucht, und von KJ bis zu 9 kbar. Es zeigten sich keine neuen Absorptionsbanden, noch wurde irgendein anderes anomales Verhalten beobachtet. Somit ist bewiesen, das die sogenannte von fruiheren Autoren beobachtete K′-Bande und das ihnen zugeschriebeneK′-Zentrum nicht existieren in Kristallen, welche hydrostatischem Druck ausgesetzt werden.
MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND CLASSIFICATION OF LATENT PROSTATE CANCER USING A 3-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTER ALGORITHM: ANALYSIS OF TUMOR VOLUME, GRADE, TUMOR DOUBLING TIME AND LIFE EXPECTANCY

AbstractPurpose: We estimate the potential clinical significance of prostate cancers found at autopsy provided the individual had lived to the projected lifespan based on life expectancy tables.Materials and Methods: We used 3-dimensional computer models of 59 autopsy prostates that contained clinically undetected carcinoma to determine tumor volumes. Using doubling times of 2, 3, 4 and 6 years, carcinoma volumes at autopsy were extrapolated through patient projected lifespans. The carcinomas were then classified as clinically insignificant or significant according to Mayo Clinic criteria.Results: In 13 patients less than 60 years old, using doubling times of 2, 3, 4 and 6 years, clinically significant tumors were identified in 13 (100%), 10 (77%), 7 (54%) and 7 (54%), respectively. In 46 patients 60 years old or greater significant tumors were identified in 32 (70%), 22 (48%), 21 (46%) and 18 (39%), respectively. A statistical difference (p <0.0001) was found between the mean tumor volume (0.20 +/− 0.10 ...
Results of a research study evaluating WebEase, an online epilepsy self-management program

WebEase (Epilepsy Awareness, Support, and Education) is an online epilepsy self-management program to assist people with taking medication, managing stress, and improving sleep quality. The primary study aims were to determine if those who participated in WebEase demonstrated improvements in medication adherence, perceived stress, and sleep quality. Participants were randomized to a treatment (T) or waitlist control (WCL) group (n=148). At follow-up, participants in the T group reported higher levels of medication adherence than those in the WLC group. Analyses were also conducted comparing those who had completed WebEase modules with those who had not. Those who had completed at least some modules within the WebEase program reported higher levels of self-efficacy and a trend toward significance was observed for the group×time interactions for medication adherence, perceived stress, self-management, and knowledge. The results highlight the usefulness of online tools to support self-management among people with epilepsy.
Self-report of indifference and anxiety among persons with right hemisphere stroke.

A sample of persons with a single ischemic cerebral stroke was used to elucidate and quantify the indifference associated with right hemisphere stroke. Seven persons with right hemisphere stroke were compared with 10 persons with left hemisphere stroke on two aspects of indifference (social indifference and lack of anxiety). Persons with right hemisphere stroke reported themselves as being substantially less anxious (p = 0.025) and somewhat more socially indifferent (p = 0.081) than did those with left hemisphere stroke. Lack of appropriate anxiety may contribute to the clinical descriptions of indifference, failure to make expected recovery, and difficulty in relationships with others.
Sonography of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts

Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunting (TIPS) is an effective procedure for relieving portal hypertension. Sonography can usefully assist portal vein puncture. Color and duplex sonography after TIPS demonstrates changes in hepatic vascular hemodynamics, detects complications, and confirms shunt patency. A large proportion of shunts will develop progressive stenosis over 12 months. Stenosis occurs because of pseudointimal hyperplasia in the stent or in the hepatic vein. Patent shunts are characterized by velocities in excess of 70 cm/s and hepatofugal flow in the portal circulation distal to the shunt. Although the cause of the stenosis can rarely be seen, velocities of less than 50 cm/s indicate shunt stenosis. Loss of cardiac pulsatility is another useful sign of shunt stenosis. Regular sonographic monitoring reliably detects stenosis, allowing stent revision and preventing recurrence of bleeding.
Human Genomics: Challenges for African Americans and Policy Implications for Direct Social Work Practice

Recent advancements in the scientific study of the human genome may benefit African Americans through increased knowledge of the causes and cures for diseases that disproportionately affect them. Other potential benefits are far reaching and include legal and socioeconomic importance for the African American community. Although these benefits have tremendous appeal, advancements in genomic science pose significant social issues for African Americans. Disparities in access, insensitive and discriminatory programming, a lack of appreciation of environmental factors, and misuse of genetic databases are among the challenges for African Americans. This article identifies the major benefits and challenges of human genomics cited in literature from various disciplines and discusses policy implications for direct social work practice. The author explains the importance of social work involvement in shaping genetic policies and outlines traditional roles social workers may play in establishing ethnic-sensitive public policies and agency practices to protect the interests of African Americans who interface with the rapidly expanding field of human genomics.
The Impact of Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors on Major Salivary Gland Cancer Survival

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the impact of demographic and socioeconomic factors on survival in patients with major salivary gland malignancies.Study DesignPopulation-based study using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer database.Subject and MethodsThe study cohort consisted of 10,735 men and women ages 20 and older who were diagnosed with major salivary gland carcinoma from 1973 to 2009.ResultsKaplan–Meier analysis revealed that the overall and disease-specific survival was higher for women than for men (P < .001). Overall and disease-specific survival decreased with increasing age (P < .001) and differed by race (P < .001) and marital status (P < .001). Patients residing in counties with higher rates of high school completion had higher overall and disease-specific survival (P < .001). Patients residing in counties with higher median household incomes had better overall and disease-specific survival than patients from lower income counties (P < .001). On multivariab...
Endovascular Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair: Emerging Developments and Anesthetic Considerations

c a d fl a g a a r a ( BDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSMS (AAAs) continue to be a major source of morbidity and mortality accountng for more than 15,000 deaths annually in the United States.1 onventional open repair remains the gold standard of treatent to prevent rupture.2 Despite advances in anesthesia and erioperative care, mortality rates for the open surgical repair f nonruptured aneurysms range from 1.4% to 6.5% and 23% o 69% for ruptured aneurysms.3 Endovascular AAA repair EVAR), first described in 1991, offers a less invasive techique for the treatment of AAAs, avoiding the associated orbidity and mortality of major abdominal surgery.4 Of note, VAR may be safely performed using regional or even local nesthesia, allowing for patients who were previously considred to have prohibitive comorbidities to undergo repair of AAs. The technology of EVAR along with the anesthetic anagement of patients undergoing EVAR have rapidly proressed to further broaden the spectrum of patients who are andidates for the technique. However, EVAR is an evolving ew technique, and its long-term outcomes need to be defined.
Nonparametric Importance Sampling

Abstract Importance sampling is a widely used variance reduction simulation technique for the evaluation of high-dimensional integrals. A key step in the implementation of importance sampling is to choose a proper distribution function from which pseudorandom numbers are generated. Parametric sampling distributions, if available at all, are often inadequate for high-dimensional integrals over irregular regions. One possible remedy is to use a nonparametric method to estimate the unknown optimal sampling function. We show that the nonparametric approach yields integral estimates that converge faster than estimates obtained from parametric approaches. We also demonstrate that an adaptive method, which has been used successfully in parametric settings, does not yield better results than simple one-step methods in the nonparametric setting.
Are government employees more likely to vote?: An analysis of turnout in the 1996 U.S. National Election ∗

In this paper we develop and test a model of voter turnoutthat permits us to differentiate turnout rates for governmentemployees and other citizens, controlling for the effects of awide range of other variables relating to turnout. Using 1996ANES data, we find that there is a significant difference inturnout rates for bureaucrats and nonbureaucrats, both insimple bivariate analyses and in a full multivariate model.The magnitude and significance of the coefficient forgovernment employment, even in the face of controls, suggeststhere is something about government employment per sethat has an effect on turnout.
Activation of the Neuroprotective Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 in Rat Ischemic Stroke

The angiotensin-converting enzyme 2/angiotensin-(1-7)/Mas axis represents a promising target for inducing stroke neuroprotection. Here, we explored stroke-induced changes in expression and activity of endogenous angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 and other system components in Sprague-Dawley rats. To evaluate the clinical feasibility of treatments that target this axis and that may act in synergy with stroke-induced changes, we also tested the neuroprotective effects of diminazene aceturate, an angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 activator, administered systemically post stroke. Among rats that underwent experimental endothelin-1-induced ischemic stroke, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 activity in the cerebral cortex and striatum increased in the 24 hours after stroke. Serum angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 activity was decreased within 4 hours post stroke, but rebounded to reach higher than baseline levels 3 days post stroke. Treatment after stroke with systemically applied diminazene resulted in decreased infarct volume and improved neurological function without apparent increases in cerebral blood flow. Central infusion of A-779, a Mas receptor antagonist, resulted in larger infarct volumes in diminazene-treated rats, and central infusion of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 inhibitor MLN-4760 alone worsened neurological function. The dynamic alterations of the protective angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 pathway after stroke suggest that it may be a favorable therapeutic target. Indeed, significant neuroprotection resulted from poststroke angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 activation, likely via Mas signaling in a blood flow-independent manner. Our findings suggest that stroke therapeutics that target the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2/angiotensin-(1-7)/Mas axis may interact cooperatively with endogenous stroke-induced changes, lending promise to their further study as neuroprotective agents.
Neural regulation of slow-wave frequency in the murine gastric antrum.

Gastric peristaltic contractions are driven by electrical slow waves modulated by neural and humoral inputs. Excitatory neural input comes primarily from cholinergic motor neurons, but ACh causes d...
The Participatory Effects of Redistricting

While the effects of legal and institutional arrangements on political participation are well documented, little attention has been given to the potential participatory effects of one of the United States’ most important electoral laws: constitutionally mandated reapportionment. By severing the ties between constituents and their incumbents, we argue, redistricting raises information costs, leading to increased levels of nonvoting in U.S. House contests. Survey data from the 1992 American National Election Studies show that redrawn citizens are half as likely to know their incumbent’s name as citizens who remain in afamiliar incumbent’s districtand,consequently, significantly more likelyto roll off,or abstain from voting in the House election after having cast a presidential vote. We also show that participation rates in the 2002–2006 House elections in Texas—each of which followed a redistricting—match these patterns, with roll-off increasing 3% to 8% in portions of the state that were redrawn, controlling for other factors. The findings demonstrate that scholars and policy makers ought to be concerned with the extent to which the redrawing of congressional lines affects citizens’ exercise of political voice.
The Omnitest system: a no-generate, no-compile, interactive test methodology

The authors present executable VLSI test software which reads a digital device specification file and dynamically reconfigures the tester at run time. The Omnitest concept has been demonstrated on the Megatest MegaOne VLSI tester. Complete device description files have gone from data manual to error-free-testing in under an hour. The Omnitest program completely masks the detailed operation of the MegaOne, yet allows the user to take advantage of all the tester's sophisticated features. Engineers who have had no previous exposure to test have been able to comprehend and utilize the input language after merely reviewing an example. Besides shortening development times and enabling a high-level approach to digital test, the Omnitest system also frees tester resources, standardizes test-related operations, and provides ample means to revise and amend. >
Predictors of Organizational Commitment Among Staff in Assisted Living

Purpose: This study examines the role of organizational culture, job satisfaction, and sociodemographic characteristics as predictors of organizational commitment among staff in assisted living. It is particularly important to examine organizational commitment, because of its close links to staff turnover. Design and Methods: Data were collected from 317 staff members in 61 facilities, using self-administered questionnaires. The facilities were selected from licensed assisted living programs and were stratified into small, traditional, and new-model homes. Staff questionnaires were distributed by a researcher during 1-day visits to each facility. Organizational commitment was measured by the extent of staff identification, involvement, and loyalty to the organization. Results: Organizational culture, job satisfaction, and education were strong predictors of commitment, together explaining 58% of the total variance in the dependent variable. Higher levels of organizational commitment were associated with more favorable staff perceptions of organizational culture and greater job satisfaction. In addition, more educated staff members tended to report higher levels of organizational commitment. Other than education, sociodemographic characteristics failed to account for a significant amount of variance in organizational commitment. Implications: Because job satisfaction and organizational culture were strong predictors of commitment, interventions aimed at increasing job satisfaction and creating an organizational culture that values and respects staff members could be most effective in producing higher levels of organizational commitment.
Pushing the acquisition time limit of magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging

Magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging is a powerful tool and increasingly used to characterize the microstructure of ordered tissues such as the brain white matter and myocardium. However, its practical applications have been hampered by low SNR and long scan time. The current paper describes techniques combining reduced encoding imaging and constrained reconstruction that are greatly promising for breaking through these limitations.
Concept analysis of interdisciplinary collaboration.

PURPOSE. The study aims to explore the meaning of interdisciplinary collaboration within the context of health care. ORGANIZING FRAMEWORK. Rodgers' Evolutionary View of Concept Analysis was employed to identify attributes, antecedents, and consequences of interdisciplinary collaboration. METHODS. Utilizing an inductive approach, a systematic review of the literature was undertaken in August 2007 to clarify the current use of interdisciplinary collaboration in health care. FINDINGS. Interdisciplinary collaboration is commonly described using the terms problem-focused process, sharing, and working together. The elements that must be in place before interdisciplinary collaboration can be successful are interprofessional education, role awareness, interpersonal relationship skills, deliberate action, and support. Consequences of interdisciplinary collaboration are beneficial for the patient, the organization, and the healthcare provider. CONCLUSIONS. A comprehensive definition of interdisciplinary collaboration within the context of health care is presented as an outcome of this analysis. It is recommended that further inquiry in this area focus on the development of valid measures to accurately evaluate interdisciplinary collaboration in health care.
Wnt5a is required for proper mammary gland development and TGF-β-mediated inhibition of ductal growth

Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) plays an essential role in growth and patterning of the mammary gland, and alterations in its signaling have been shown to illicit biphasic effects on tumor progression and metastasis. We demonstrate in mice that TGF-β (Tgfβ) regulates the expression of a non-canonical signaling member of the wingless-related protein family, Wnt5a. Loss of Wnt5a expression has been associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients; however, data are lacking with regard to a functional role for Wnt5a in mammary gland development. We show that Wnt5a is capable of inhibiting ductal extension and lateral branching in the mammary gland. Furthermore, Wnt5a -/- mammary tissue exhibits an accelerated developmental capacity compared with wild-type tissue, marked by larger terminal end buds, rapid ductal elongation, increased lateral branching and increased proliferation. Additionally, dominant-negative interference of TGF-β signaling impacts not only the expression of Wnt5a, but also the phosphorylation of discoidin domain receptor 1 (Ddr1), a receptor for collagen and downstream target of Wnt5a implicated in cell adhesion/migration. Lastly, we show that Wnt5a is required for TGF-β-mediated inhibition of ductal extension in vivo and branching in culture. This study is the first to show a requirement for Wnt5a in normal mammary development and its functional connection to TGF-β.
Mining Internet-Scale Software Repositories

Large repositories of source code create new challenges and opportunities for statistical machine learning. Here we first develop Sourcerer, an infrastructure for the automated crawling, parsing, and database storage of open source software. Sourcerer allows us to gather Internet-scale source code. For instance, in one experiment, we gather 4,632 java projects from SourceForge and Apache totaling over 38 million lines of code from 9,250 developers. Simple statistical analyses of the data first reveal robust power-law behavior for package, SLOC, and lexical containment distributions. We then develop and apply unsupervised author-topic, probabilistic models to automatically discover the topics embedded in the code and extract topic-word and author-topic distributions. In addition to serving as a convenient summary for program function and developer activities, these and other related distributions provide a statistical and information-theoretic basis for quantifying and analyzing developer similarity and competence, topic scattering, and document tangling, with direct applications to software engineering. Finally, by combining software textual content with structural information captured by our CodeRank approach, we are able to significantly improve software retrieval performance, increasing the AUC metric to 0.84- roughly 10-30% better than previous approaches based on text alone. Supplementary material may be found at: http://sourcerer.ics.uci.edu/nips2007/nips07.html.
Clonal expansion of infiltrating T cells in the spinal cords of SJL/J mice infected with Theiler's virus.

Intracerebral infection of susceptible mice with Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus results in immune-mediated inflammatory demyelination in the white matter and consequent clinical symptoms. This system has been utilized as an important virus model for human multiple sclerosis. Although the potential involvement of virus-specific Th cells has been studied extensively, very little is known about the nature of T cells infiltrating the CNS during viral infection and their role in the development of demyelinating disease. In this study, the clonal nature of T cells in the spinal cord during the disease course was analyzed using size spectratyping and sequencing of the TCR β-chain CDR3 region. These studies clearly indicate that T cells are clonally expanded in the CNS after viral infection, although the overall TCR repertoire appears to be diverse. The clonal expansion appears to be Ag-driven in that it includes Th cells specific for known viral epitopes. Interestingly, such restricted accumulation of T cells was not detectable in the infiltrates of mice with proteolipid protein peptide-induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. The initial T cell repertoire (7–9 days postinfection) seems to be more diverse than that observed in the later stage (65 days) of virally induced demyelination, despite the more restricted utilization of Vβ subfamilies. These results strongly suggest continuous stimulation and clonal expansion of virus-specific T cells in the CNS of Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus-infected mice during the entire course of demyelinating disease.
That is your evidence?: Classifying stance in online political debate

A growing body of work has highlighted the challenges of identifying the stance that a speaker holds towards a particular topic, a task that involves identifying a holistic subjective disposition. We examine stance classification on a corpus of 4731 posts from the debate website ConvinceMe.net, for 14 topics ranging from the playful to the ideological. We show that ideological debates feature a greater share of rebuttal posts, and that rebuttal posts are significantly harder to classify for stance, for both humans and trained classifiers. We also demonstrate that the number of subjective expressions varies across debates, a fact correlated with the performance of systems sensitive to sentiment-bearing terms. We present results for classifying stance on a per topic basis that range from 60% to 75%, as compared to unigram baselines that vary between 47% and 66%. Our results suggest that features and methods that take into account the dialogic context of such posts improve accuracy.
Enhanced Hamiltonian Cycle Protection Algorithm in Survivable Networks

This paper studies the protection with Hamiltonian Cycle in mesh survivable backbone networks, and proposes a new heuristic routing algorithm called Enhanced Hamiltonian Cycle Protection (EHCP) to tolerate single failure. Simulation results show that, compared with conventional HCP algorithm, EHCP can obtain significant improvement in resource utilization ratio.
Measurement of sulfur-containing compounds involved in the metabolism and transport of cysteamine and cystamine. Regional differences in cerebral metabolism

An HPLC method with coulometric detection is presented for the quantitation of cysteamine, cystamine, thialysine, glutathione, glutathione disulfide and an oxidized metabolite of thialysine [S-(2-aminoethyl)-l-cysteine ketimine decarboxylated dimer (AECK-DD)]. The advantage of coulometric detection is that derivatization is unnecessary if the analyte is redox sensitive. The method was used to quantitate several sulfur-containing compounds in plasma and brain following gavage feeding of cysteamine to rats. Cysteamine, cystamine, thialysine and AECK-DD were detected in the brains of these animals. Interestingly, cysteamine treatment resulted in greatly elevated levels of cerebral methionine, despite the fact that cysteamine is not a precursor of methionine.
Microcirculation in the Cardiomyopathic Syrian Hamster and in Human Congestive Cardiomyopathy

The inbred cardiomyopathic Syrian hamster (CSH) is an excellent model of human congestive cardiomyopathy, with well-characterized pathological features. Since its original description by Homburger et al. [19], the hamster has provided insight into the pathogenesis of myocardial injury common to many other animal models of cardiomyopathy, as well as that characteristic of human disease. The CSH develops cardiomyopathy and skeletal myopathy as a result of an autosomal recessive trait that is phenotypically expressed in 100% of affected animals [33]. Although the specific genetic defect remains undefined (and it is generally assumed that most human congestive cardiomyopathy is not genetically determined), the fact that the CSH develops cardiac damage in a predictable sequence has permitted extrapolation to human disease.
Acceptability of Couples' Voluntary HIV Testing Among HIV-infected Patients in Care and Their HIV-negative Partners in the United States.

INTRODUCTION Couples' voluntary HIV counseling and testing (CHTC) is an HIV risk reduction strategy not widely available in the US. METHODS We assessed willingness to participate in CHTC among US HIV-infected clinic patients via tablet-based survey and among HIV-negative persons with HIV-infected partners in care via mixed-method phone interviews. RESULTS Most of the N=64 HIV-infected partners surveyed were men (89%), on antiretroviral treatment (ART) (92%), and many self-identified homosexual (62%). We observed high levels of willingness to participate in CHTC (64%) among HIV-infected partners. Reasons for not wanting to participate included perceived lack of need (26%), desire to self-disclose their status (26%), and fear of being asked sensitive questions with their partner present (17%). HIV-infected partners were interested in discussing ART (48%), other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) (44%), and relationship agreements like monogamy (31%) during CHTC sessions. All N=15 HIV-negative partners interviewed were men, most identified as homosexual (73%), and about half (54%) reported consistent condom use with HIV-infected partners. We observed high levels of willingness to participate in CHTC (87%) among HIV-negative partners, who were also interested in discussing ART (47%), other STIs (47%), mental health services (40%), and relationship agreements (33%). Most negative partners (93%) indicated that they believed their HIV-infected partner was virally suppressed, but in the event that they were not, many (73%) were willing to take pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). CONCLUSION These results indicate that CHTC for serodiscordant couples is acceptable and should emphasize aspects most pertinent to these couples, such as discussion of ART/PrEP, STIs, and relationship agreements.
INSTABILITIES IN NANOSTRUCTURED MATERIALS

We present results on (a) relatively new “nano-micro” composites that are consciously developed by controlling structure at two different length scales, and (b) on metallic glasses (which may be viewed as an extreme case of “nanostructure”).
Social Responsibility for Faculty: An Example of Faculty Involvement--Part I.

Social responsibility is a concept often used to describe how large corporations, or even small businesses, should “give back” something to the communities that they serve. We feel the same is true when it comes to faculty members. Oftentimes, the greatest expertise in a given subject area in a community is housed within the confines of the faculty members of the local college or university and such knowledge and expertise can be shared in a plethora of venues as part of the “service” component of their annual evaluation. Our paper sets forth an example of such faculty involvement in an attempt to improve the decision-making of our incoming students and, as a result, the overall community by providing a presentation to our Freshman Seminar courses on the legal ramifications of poor decision-making as they begin to manage their newfound freedom of choices. In our paper, we point out the pedagological system that we use to emphasize the importance of making the right choices for now, which will clearly have a direct effect upon their future.
Abstract 777: TAp73 depletion unleashes p53-mediated apoptotic response to lethal DNA damage.

DNA damage response is essential for maintenance of genomic integrity and functions as a guardian against oncogenic transformation. Ionizing radiation and chemotherapeutic drugs used in anticancer therapies often incur DNA damage in killing of tumor cells. The central regulator of DNA damage response is the tumor suppressor p53, which inhibits cell cycle progression by activating p21 and other cell cycle regulators, or induces apoptosis through proapoptotic targets such as PUMA and Bax. In addition to p53, other p53 family members, such as p73 and p63, also play a significant role in DNA damage response. However, it has remained unclear how coordination of different p53 family members modulates DNA damage response. In this study, we found that sub-lethal levels of DNA damage up-regulated TAp73, the transcriptionally active form of p73, whereas lethal doses of DNA damage triggered TAp73 depletion. In response to mild DNA damage, TAp73 occupied p53 responsive elements in the promoters of p53 target genes to keep the transcriptional activity of p53 in check, which resulted in cell cycle arrest. Following excessive DNA damage, the depletion of TAp73 resulted in enhanced induction of p53 target genes such as PUMA, Noxa and Bax, leading to apoptosis initiation. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that TAp73 depletion after excessive DNA damage was caused by ubiquitin/proteasome-mediated degradation of E2F1, which activates TAp73 expression to maintain cell survival. Collectively, our results suggest that modulation of p53 activity by TAp73 mediates differential responses to genotoxic stress. Citation Format: Dongshi Chen, Lihua Ming, Fangdong Zou, Jian Yu, Lin Zhang. TAp73 depletion unleashes p53-mediated apoptotic response to lethal DNA damage. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 777. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-777
Selective recovery of volatile products from house flies treated with radioactive insecticide chemicals and synergists.

The use of a simple trapping arrangement makes possible the selective recovery of expired C14O2, and of radio labeled, volatile organic compounds from house flies, Musca domestica L., injected with C14-labeled insecticide chemicals and synergists. From experiments using this approach, it is known that the following products are given off by living house flies receiving the indicated, respective chemical: acetone-C14 from o -isoprop-C14-oxyphenyl methylcarbamate (Baygon®); C14O2 and the unmodified chemical from methylene-C14-dioxyphenyl-labeled samples of Dihydrosafrole, myristicin, and safrole. Thus, the assumption that C14O2 is the only labeled material volatilizing from insects treated with simple C14-labeled organic compounds is not always valid.
Effect of chronic hypoxia on angiotensin-induced pulmonary vasoconstriction and converting enzyme activity in the rat.

AbstractRats were exposed to high-altitude (5500 m) hypoxia for 2 weeks. On examination 1-3 days after return to sea level and compared with control rats, they exhibited pulmonary hypertension, reduced angiotensin-converting enzyme activity, greater vascular responsiveness to angiotensin II (AII), and resistance to blockade of AII pulmonary pressor responses by the AII antagonist, saralasin.
Students Ask the Darnedest Things: A Result in Elementary Group Theory

Introduction In most elementary group theory courses, students are introduced to the Fundamental Theorem of Finite Abelian Groups (FT), which states that every finite abelian group is isomorphic to exactly one direct product of cyclic groups of prime power order. (These cyclic groups are called invariant factors.) As every cyclic group of order k is isomorphic to Zk, the additive group of integers mod k, FT asserts that every abelian group of order 12 is isomorphic either to Z4 X Z3 or to Z2 X Z2 X Z3. (I'll use the common abbreviation Zk to denote Z/kZ, with apologies to my fellow number theorists, who usually use this notation to denote the k-adic integers.) A standard exercise is to determine whether a given abelian group G of order 12 is isomorphic to Z4 X Z3 or Z2 X Z2 x Z3 by computing the orders of the elements of G. For instance, if G contains an element of order 12 (or 4, for that matter), it must be isomorphic to the cyclic group Z4 X Z3, and if G has more than 1 element of order 2, then it is isomorphic to Z2 X Z2 X Z3. Notice, however that every abelian group of order 12 contains exactly two elements of order 3. An important concept reinforced through such an exercise is that isomorphisms preserve order. Specifically, if f: G -> G' is a group isomorphism, then g and f(g) have the same order in their respective groups. Thus if two finite groups G and G' are isomorphic, they must have identical order structure (the same number of elements of each order). This article examines the converse question, posed by a student in a group theory course:
343 A Case-Control Study of Mesothelioma in Minnesota Iron Ore Miners

Objectives An excess of mesothelioma has been found in iron ore miners in northeastern Minnesota. Miners of taconite, the current form of ore mined, face a number of potentially hazardous exposures. The intensive processing of taconite ore combined with the unique and variable geology of the Mesabi Iron Range create the potential for exposure to natural amphibole fibres, cleavage fragments, and respirable dust. Exposure differed in natural ore (hematite) mining where minimal processing was required. We performed a case-control study to evaluate the risk of mesothelioma associated with taconite mining employment. Methods Mesothelioma cases were identified through the Minnesota Cancer Surveillance System (MCSS) and death certificates from a cohort of 68,737 miners employed between the 1930s and 1982. Four controls of similar age were selected from the mining cohort for each case using an incidence density sampling protocol. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated with conditional logistic regression for years employed in all iron ore mining, taconite mining, and the earlier natural ore mining. Results Eighty cases of mesothelioma were identified in this cohort. There is a slight elevation of mesothelioma risk for each additional year of work in iron ore mining (OR = 1.02, 95%CI 1.00–1.04) and taconite mining (OR = 1.03, 95%CI 1.00–1.07). No association was observed for years of employment in natural ore mining. Conclusion These initial findings indicate a potential relationship between mesothelioma and employment in taconite mining and processing. The extent to which these cases are caused by exposure to taconite dust components, including cleavage fragments and non-fibrous amphiboles found in some zones of the Mesabi Range, or commercial asbestos will be explored in future analyses.
Beneficial Effects of Dry Needling for Treatment of Chronic Myofascial Pain Persist for 6 Weeks After Treatment Completion

Abstract Background Dry needling is an effective treatment for reducing pain associated with active myofascial trigger points (a-MTrPs) in the short term. The duration of the benefits of this treatment have not been fully assessed. Objective To determine whether the benefits of dry needling (DN) of a-MTrPs are sustained 6 weeks posttreatment. Design Follow-up of a prospective study. Setting University. Participants A total of 45 patients (13 male and 32 female) with cervical pain >3 months and a-MTrPs in the upper trapezius who completed 3 DN treatments and who were evaluated 6 weeks posttreatment. Interventions None. Main Outcome Measures Primary outcomes were changes from baseline to follow-up in scores for the verbal analogue scale (VAS), Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), and MTrP status. MTrPs were rated as active (spontaneously painful), latent (painful only on compression), and nonpalpable nodule. Responders were patients whose MTrP status changed from active to latent or nonpalpable nodule (resolved). Secondary outcomes were pain pressure threshold (PPT), Profile of Mood States, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), MOS 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), and cervical range of motion. Results Pain measures remained significantly improved 6 weeks posttreatment ( P P = .002). Side bending and PPT for subjects with unilateral MTrPs had sustained improvement ( P = .002). The number of subjects with sustained MTrP response at 6 weeks was significant ( P P = .006, P = .03) but the change in PPT was not. Patients with higher baseline VAS scores had a higher risk of not responding to DN; those with a greater drop in VAS score from baseline had a higher probability of sustained response. A 1-unit decrease in VAS at baseline resulted in a 6.3-fold increase in the odds of being a responder versus a nonresponder ( P = .008). Conclusions In this study, there was sustained reduction of pain scores after completion of DN, which is more likely with a greater drop in VAS score. Patients with higher baseline VAS scores are less likely to respond to DN. Early intervention toward significant pain reduction is likely to be associated with sustained clinical response. Level of Evidence IV
Analytical Model for Segmented Pipe Response to Tensile Ground Strain

Seismic fragility relations for segmented buried pipelines have, up to this point, been based almost exclusively upon empirical observations. There are drawbacks with the purely empirical approach,...
Education for Ethical Leadership: Social Responsibility and Public Deliberation

The pragmatic pursuit of the good in business operations and outcomes entails a social responsibility to serve the general welfare as a matter of justice. Reflections on matters of justice currently occur in legislative and judicial forums, but government and law are not adequate to address and resolve the many considerations of justice involving business activities. In order to meet their social responsibilities, business leaders must be prepared to engage in public ethical reflection that distinguishes public accountability on matters of justice from personal moral accountability to one’s conscience, and be prepared as well to convene and lead public deliberations to determine the legitimacy, priority, and just resolution of social claims. Drawing upon the extensive experience and literature of deliberative democracy, these deliberations can take a variety of forms and function at different scales, depending on the parties and concerns involved. In all cases, deliberations must proceed under the standards of public reason and be informed by objective evidence and reasonable argument. An important component of these deliberations is therefore a process of social analysis that can uncover personal and organizational biases and capabilities.
Irrealis and emphatic: A corpus study of the bee copula in Belizean Kriol

This paper presents the first in-depth account of the bee copula form found in Belizean Kriol, which appears to be a copular development not found in other Caribbean English Creoles. Based on approximately 500 tokens of bee from Di Nyoo Testiment (2012), we argue that bee must appear in irrealis contexts. It is frequently used to mark a potential change of state, though this is not a conventional aspect of bee ’s meaning. We also show that while bee seems to be emphatic, this aspect of bee ’s meaning is best understood as derived via Gricean (1975) reasoning.
The Deep Psychology of Eudaimonia and Virtue: Belonging, Loyalty and the Anterior Cingulate Cortex

Aristotle’s function argument suggests that the human good is found in the excellent expression of natural human functions and that virtues are the character strengths that make it possible to fulfill those functions. An evolutionary understanding of human nature recognizes humans as an ultrasocial species that features group living, cooperation, and profound interdependence. Group inclusion was essential to survival and reproduction during human evolution. Therefore, a social exclusion detector is an extremely important adaptation that enables the individual to monitor the threat of ostracism. Social exclusion activates a key part of the neural network that registers physical pain, the anterior cingulate cortex, making social exclusion literally painful. The human function of group living is fulfilled by activities that promote belonging, a central human good. Extensive research documents the essential role of belonging in human flourishing. The primary virtue associated with belonging is loyalty, and belonging is the direct, everyday expression of group membership.