cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A graph-oriented mapping strategy for a hypercube

The mapping problem is the problem of implementing a computational task on a target architecture in order to maximize some performance metric. For a hypercube-interconnected multiprocessor, the mapping problem arises when the topology of a task graph is different from a hypercube. It is desirable to find a mapping of tasks to processors that minimizes average path length and hence interprocessor communication. The problem of finding an optimal mapping, however, has been proven to be NP-complete. Several different approaches have been taken to discover suitable mappings for a variety of target architectures. Since the mapping problem is NP-complete, approximation algorithms are used to find good mappings instead of optimal ones. Usually, greedy and/or local search algorithms are introduced to approximate the optimal solutions. This paper presents a greedy mapping algorithm for hypercube interconnection structures, which utilizes the graph-oriented mapping strategy to map a communication graph to a hypercube. The strategy is compared to previous strategies for attacking the mapping problem. A simulation is performed to estimate both the worst-case bounds for the greedy mapping strategy and the average performance.
Determination of Quark - Nucleon Inclusive Cross-Section from Leptoproduction of Hadrons in Nuclear Targets

The $A$ dependence of hadron leptoproduction from nuclear targets is interpreted as a measurement of inclusive inelastic and possibly also quasielastic quark-nucleon cross sections. The formulas which allow us to extract these cross sections from the data are derived and discussed. Numerical estimates indicate that the measurement of the total inelastic quark-nucleon cross section is perfectly feasible. Measurement of differential inclusive cross sections of the reaction quark + nucleon\ensuremath{\rightarrow}quark + anything is possible as well but requires experiments with rather high statistics. Implications of our calculations for the process of heavy-lepton pair production from nuclear targets are also briefly discussed.
Phosphorylation of ATM by Cdk5 mediates DNA damage signalling and regulates neuronal death

The phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase-like kinase ATM (ataxia-telangiectasia mutated) has a central role in coordinating DNA damage responses, including cell-cycle checkpoint control, DNA repair and apoptosis. Mutations of ATM cause a spectrum of defects ranging from neurodegeneration to cancer predisposition. However, the mechanism by which DNA damage activates ATM is poorly understood. Here we show that Cdk5 (cyclin-dependent kinase 5), activated by DNA damage, directly phosphorylates ATM at Ser 794 in post-mitotic neurons. Phosphorylation at Ser 794 precedes, and is required for, ATM autophosphorylation at Ser 1981, and activates ATM kinase activity. The Cdk5-ATM signal regulates phosphorylation and function of the ATM targets p53 and H2AX. Interruption of the Cdk5-ATM pathway attenuates DNA-damage-induced neuronal cell cycle re-entry and expression of the p53 targets PUMA and Bax, protecting neurons from death. Thus, activation of Cdk5 by DNA damage serves as a critical signal to initiate the ATM response and regulate ATM-dependent cellular processes.
Structural Analysis of Conserved Oligomeric Golgi Complex Subunit 2

The conserved oligomeric Golgi (COG) complex is strongly implicated in retrograde vesicular trafficking within the Golgi apparatus. Although its mechanism of action is poorly understood, it has been proposed to function by mediating the initial physical contact between transport vesicles and their membrane targets. An analogous role in tethering vesicles has been suggested for at least six additional large multisubunit complexes, including the exocyst, a complex essential for trafficking to the plasma membrane. Here we report the solution structure of a large portion of yeast Cog2p, one of eight subunits composing the COG complex. The structure reveals a six-helix bundle with few conserved surface features but a general resemblance to recently determined crystal structures of four different exocyst subunits. This finding provides the first structural evidence that COG, like the exocyst and potentially other tethering complexes, is constructed from helical bundles. These structures may represent platforms for interaction with other trafficking proteins including SNAREs (soluble N-ethylmaleimide factor attachment protein receptors) and Rabs.
Active transport in the photosynthetic bacterium Chromatium vinosum.

Abstract Whole cells of Chromatium vinosum show energy-dependent uptake of several amino and organic acids. The energy for metabolite uptake can be provided by light, via cyclic electron flow, or by ATP hydrolysis catalyzed by a N,N′ -dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-sensitive ATPase. Metabolite transport is inhibited by uncouplers known to collapse transmembrane electrochemical proton gradients, suggesting that such a gradient may provide the driving force for transport in C. vinosum .
Bovine leukemia virus: Duration of BLV colostral antibodies in calves from commercial dairy herds

Abstract A study was conducted to determine the duration of colostral antibodies to bovine leukemia virus (BLV) in diary calves from commercial dairy farms. Sera of pregnant dams from four different dairy farms and sera of the calves of these dams were analyzed for BLV antibodies using the agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) test. Precolostral serum samples were collected from the female calves of known BLV serologically positive dams. Postcolostral serum samples of the same calves were collected on Day 2 and biweekly until 2 consecutively negative AGID tests performed 4 weeks apart were obtained. Subsequently, the biweekly serum samples from each calf were analyzed quantitatively for BLV antibodies with the AGID test. End-point titers were determined using phosphate buffered saline to make two-fold dilutions. A logarithmic transformation of the inverse of the end-point titer was used to determine the regression line of antibody decay for each calf. Estimated weighted regression analysis was used to determine the least-squares regression line for 27 of the 38 calves sampled. The duration of colostral antibodies was calculated as 71 days using the prediction equation. The minium and maximum durations of colostral antibodies were 14 days and 147 days, respectively. The half-life of the antibodies was 36.05 days. Factors affecting the duration of BLV colostral antibodies and the practical applicability of this study were discussed.
Interaction between Trunk and Wrist Kinetics and Kinematics during a Simulated Pruning Task

Winegrape vine pruning require repetitive gripping and awkward body postures. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of cutting height and forearm posture on trunk and wrist posture, force production, and muscle activities during simulated vine pruning. Ten healthy subjects (3 female and 7 male) participated in the study. Subjects cut dowels simulating shoots with pruning shears at 5 cutting heights tailored to subject anthropometry at three forearm postures. Trunk and wrist kinematics, force exertion, and forearm EMG were monitored. The results showed significant change in force exertion; and trunk and wrist kinematics in stature and knee cutting heights. The information from this study could assist in ergonomic trellis design, injury prevention, and manual labor work guidelines.
Biorthogonal wavelets for image compression

Biorthogonal wavelets or filterbanks are shown to be superior in coding gain performance than orthogonal ones for logarithmic subband decompositions (limited to iterative decomposition of the downsampled output of the analysis low-pass filter). As a consequence, for logarithmic decompositions, the optimal filter is not an ideal filter. This is shown for maximally regular biorthogonal and orthogonal filters, as well as filters designed to optimize the subband coding grain.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Thermal Conductivity of Selenium at Low Temperatures

Measurements are reported of the thermal conductivity of glassy selenium and polycrystalline metallic (hexagonal) selenium at temperatures from 2\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} to above 100\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K. At the higher temperatures, the heat conductivity, $\ensuremath{\lambda}$, for the glassy solid is about 1 mw/cm deg. If we write $\ensuremath{\lambda}\ensuremath{\approx}\frac{1}{3}\mathrm{lCv}$, then $l$, the mean free path, is of the order of the interatomic distance. On the other hand, for the high-purity metallic samples, $\ensuremath{\lambda}\ensuremath{\cong}\frac{5}{T}$ w/cm deg. At low temperatures in metallic selenium, $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ varies approximately as ${T}^{2}$, while in the glassy modification $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ behaves in a similar fashion to that expected from earlier observations on soft glass and Pyrex.
Experiencing the great books

Should American education focus on “the Great Books?” Neither side in the “canon dispute” looks closely at the relational side of great books teaching. To provide more information to use in judging great books curricula, this article presents a study of relational processes in great books classes. The results show that great books have both strengths and risks. The research focuses on how teachers involve students with the great books by connecting their experiences with the insights presented in the text. Among other devices, teachers use examples to establish these connections: the class explores some aspect of the text by discussing an analogous case from students' experience. This article describes how such examples carry a certain risk. These examples can lead students to experience the text so fully that they act it out. Instead of dispassionately discussing the text, students and teachers enact the roles described in the text and the example, thus creating an analogous interactional event in the cl...
Immediate bone graft following resection of mandibular osteomyelitic lesion

Abstract Chronic osteomyelitis can be treated successfully by total excision of the necrotic bone and accompanying infected granulation tissue, with immediate replacement with bone graft. Intelligent use of antibiotic therapy is also essential. This method prevents facial deformity and eliminates a second procedure of removing the space maintainer and replacing it with a bone graft. Through the use of a prefabricated metal splint, the graft and fragments are maintained in their proper position, enhancing bony union. Lincomycin appears to be an ideal antibiotic, since it reaches the infection rapidly and in sufficient concentration.
Dissecting Homo-Heptamer Thermodynamics by Isothermal Titration Calorimetry: Entropy-Driven Assembly of Co-Chaperonin Protein 10

Normally, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) is used to study binding reactions between two different biomolecules. Self-association processes leading to homo-oligomeric complexes have usually not been studied by ITC; instead, methods such as spectroscopy and analytical ultracentrifugation, which only provide affinity and Gibbs-free energy (i.e., KD and ΔG), are employed. We here demonstrate that complete thermodynamic descriptions (i.e., KD, ΔG, ΔH, and ΔS) for self-associating systems can be obtained by ITC-dilution experiments upon proper analysis. We use this approach to probe the dissociation (and thus association) equilibrium for the heptameric co-chaperonin proteins 10 (cpn10) from Aquifex aeolicus (Aacpn10-del25) and human mitochondria (hmcpn10). We find that the midpoints for the heptamer-monomer equilibrium occur at 0.51 ± 0.03 μM and 3.5 ± 0.1 μM total monomer concentration (25°C), for Aacpn10-del25 and hmcpn10, respectively. For both proteins, association involves endothermic enthalpy and positive entropy changes; thus, the reactions are driven by the entropy increase. This is in accord with the release of ordered water molecules and, for the thermophilic variant, a relaxation of monomer-tertiary structure when the heptamers form.
Molecular packing in a second monoclinic crystal of deoxygenated sickle hemoglobin.

Abstract A close correspondence has been demonstrated between double filaments of deoxygenated hemoglobin S molecules as found in monoclinic crystals, forms I and II, and in sickle fibers. We have carried out a low resolution study of monoclinic form II by X-ray diffraction analysis. Its structure differs from that of form I solely by a shift along the a-axis of the molecular centers of the asymmetric unit, which forms the double filament. The magnitude of the translation was determined from a minimum residual calculation. The x co-ordinates of the symmetry related molecular centers of antipolar double filaments are approximately the same. This means that the double filaments are nearly in register. A minor component associated with form II crystals proved to be form I. The possible existence of additional forms is discussed. The significance of the molecular arrangement in form II is related to its presence in sickle fibers. We have determined the contacts between antipolar double filaments in this form as well as a number in form I not tabulated previously. These new contacts represent additional stabilizing interactions that might provide targets for the design of stereospecific antisickling agents.
Simulation of dispersion in layered coastal aquifer systems

Abstract A density-dependent solute-transport formulation is used to examine ground-water flow in layered coastal aquifers. The numerical experiments indicate that although the transition zone may be thought of as an impermeable ‘sharp’ interface with freshwater flow parallel to the transition zone in homogeneous aquifers, this is not the case for layered systems. Freshwater can discharge through the transition zone in the confining units. Further, for the best simulation of layered coastal aquifer systems, either a flow-direction-dependent dispersion formulation is required, or the dispersivities must change spatially to reflect the tight thin confining unit.
Individual Differences Underlying the Dwelling Satisfaction of the Elderly

Dwelling satisfaction is identified often as a subjective indicator of a population's quality of life and as a predictor of residential relocation plans and preferences. In old age, the dwelling is an especially important part of the individual's total life situation. Because objective indicators of housing quality incompletely and misleadingly explain the variations in older persons' reported dwelling satisfaction, a set of individual characteristics are proposed as antecedents. Structured interview data were collected from a random sample of 400 persons aged 60 and over living in a midwestern, middle class community. It was found that old people who were more satisfied with their dwellings were less favorably disposed toward stimulating or novel environments, were happier with their lives, traveled less frequently outside their dwellings, lived longer in their present residences, were home owners, and were less likely to report financial difficulties. The findings emphasize the difficulties of interpreting subjective indicators of housing quality for policy and planning purposes.
Excitatory Neuromodulator Reduces Dopamine Release, Enhancing Prolactin Secretion

Hypothalamic dopamine neurons inhibit pituitary prolactin secretion. In this issue of Neuron, Lyons et al. provide evidence for a novel model, whereby the excitatory neuropeptide TRH depolarizes gap-junction-coupled dopamine neurons, leading to a shift in the population pattern of action potentials from phasic burst firing to regular tonic firing, hypothetically reducing dopamine release while increasing total spike number.
Solution-Phase Synthesis of Heteroatom-Substituted Carbon Scaffolds for Hydrogen Storage

This paper reports a bottom-up solution-phase process for the preparation of pristine and heteroatom (boron, phosphorus, or nitrogen)-substituted carbon scaffolds that show good surface areas and enhanced hydrogen adsorption capacities and binding energies. The synthesis method involves heating chlorine-containing small organic molecules with metallic sodium at reflux in high-boiling solvents. For heteroatom incorporation, heteroatomic electrophiles are added to the reaction mixture. Under the reaction conditions, micrometer-sized graphitic sheets assembled by 3−5 nm-sized domains of graphene nanoflakes are formed, and when they are heteroatom-substituted, the heteroatoms are uniformly distributed. The substituted carbon scaffolds enriched with heteroatoms (boron ~7.3%, phosphorus ~8.1%, and nitrogen ~28.1%) had surface areas as high as 900 m^2 g^(−1) and enhanced reversible hydrogen physisorption capacities relative to pristine carbon scaffolds or common carbonaceous materials. In addition, the binding energies of the substituted carbon scaffolds, as measured by adsorption isotherms, were 8.6, 8.3, and 5.6 kJ mol^(−1) for the boron-, phosphorus-, and nitrogen-enriched carbon scaffolds, respectively.
Molecular Studies of Herbig-Haro Objects

Recent ultraviolet, infrared, millimeter and centimeter-wavelength observations have revealed that HH objects are also sources of molecular line emission. Infrared observations have shown that H2 line emission in HH objects presents a wide and complex variety of morphologies, being in most of the cases similar to that observed at optical wavelengths. New high-angular resolution radio observations of molecular lines have revealed that small high-density condensations are frequently found in association with HH objects. Below, a brief review of molecular emission in HH objects is presented.
Enhancing Frequency Shifted Speech Signals in Single Side-Band Communication

The spectral quality of speech signals communicated over high-frequency single side band (HF-SSB) radio channels is affected by acoustic artifacts like linear frequency transpositions. In this letter, we propose an approach to automatically estimate and correct for the frequency shift given the degraded signal at the SSB receiver. The proposed method utilizes the harmonic nature of the speech signal in the voiced regions. The fundamental harmonic frequency, obtained from an autoregressive model of the spectrum, is used to estimate the offset value for the current frame. The offset values from the adjacent frames are pooled together to provide the most likely estimate for the received signal. Various experiments are performed on frequency shifted degraded speech signals received from the HF-SSB channel. The enhanced speech signal is also applied for a language identification task (LID) where the models are trained on speech data without any frequency shift. In these experiments, the proposed algorithm provides significant improvements over other baseline offset estimation methods in terms of accuracy of offset estimation as well as the LID system performance (with relative improvements of about 10-25%).
Early Intervention Approaches to Enhance the Peer-Related Social Competence of Young Children With Developmental Delays: A Historical Perspective

This article presents a framework for future research and program development designed to support children’s peer-related social competence. Intervention research is examined within a historical perspective culminating with a discussion of contemporary translational approaches capable of integrating models of normative development, developmental models of risk and disability, and intervention science.
Assessing the impacts of job and worker relocation policies on commuting

This paper assesses the impacts of multiple job and worker relocation policies on commuting by predicting average minimum commutes by worker type. Each relocation policy contains a set of policy constraints including the worker shift ratio as a measure of jobs-housing balance. The objectives are: (1) to develop a disaggregated linear program measuring the minimum commutes under different relocation policy scenarios, (2) to examine the impacts of worker shift ratio on commuting by worker type, and (3) to identify the effect of occupational heterogeneity on the average minimum commute. Census Transportation Planning Package data are used for the analysis of a tri-state area including Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. The empirical results suggest that the worker shift ratio has impacts on the minimum commutes and varying levels of minimum commutes are found across occupational groups.
Physics of the Glassy State. I. Constitution and Structure

Modern views of the constitution and structure of inorganic glasses are outlined. Materials used in glass making are classified according to their role as network formers and network modifiers. Evidence of structure from x-ray scattering is reviewed. Examples of linear and nonlinear dependence of specific volume on composition are presented, and the classical factors for composition dependence of heat capacity are related to quantum theory of specific heat.
An attribution retraining program to reduce aggression in elementary school students

The BrainPower Program, an attribution retraining intervention to reduce peer directed aggression, was implemented in four elementary schools in Southern California. We collected measures of children's behavior and self-reports of attributions for 12 months following the intervention to assess changes in social cognition and social behavior. Results suggest that improvements in behavior are related to changes in subjects' attributions. The intervention effects are moderate to strong for many students but not evident at all for some students. Further, treatment effects diminished over time. Results are discussed in terms of the role of psychological theory in intervention research. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
A selective gas chromatographic detector for polynuclear aromatics based on ultraviolet fluorescence

Abstract A vapor-phase fluorescence detector for the analysis of mixtures of polynuclear aromatic ring systems has been developed. This system utilizes wide bandpass excitation and wide band emission filters, thus increasing sensitivity and decreasing the complexity of previously designed instruments. The sensitivity of the detector has been demonstrated to be at the nanogram level with reasonable precision.
Maintenance of glucagon-stimulated system A amino acid transport activity in rat liver plasma membrane vesicles.

Abstract Plasma membrane vesicles prepared from intact rat liver or isolated hepatocytes retain transport activity by systems A, ASC, N, and Gly. Selective substrates for these systems showed a Na+-dependent overshoot indicative of energy-dependent transport, in this instance, driven by an artificially-imposed Na+ gradient. Greater than 85% of Na+-dependent 2-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) uptake was blocked by an excess of 2-(methylamino)isobutyric acid (MeAIB) with an apparent Ki of 0.6 mM. Intact hepatocytes obtained from glucagon-treated rats exhibited a stimulation of system A activity and plasma membrane vesicles isolated from those same cells partially retained the elevated activity. Transport activity induced by substrate starvation of cultured hepatocytes was also evident in membrane vesicles prepared from those cells. The membrane-bound glucagon-stimulated system A activity decays rapidly during incubation of vesicles at 4°C ( t 1 2 = 13 h ), but not at −75°C. Several different inhibitors of proteolysis were ineffective in blocking the decay of transport activity. Hepatic system N transport activity was also elevated in plasma membrane vesicles from glucagon-treated rats, whereas system ASC was essentially unchanged. The results indicate that both glucagon and adaptive regulation cause an induction of amino acid transport through a plasma membrane-associated protein.
A multiple-baseline evaluation of the treatment of food phobia in a young boy.

A multiple-baseline design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a behavioral treatment program using modeling, graduated exposure, and contingency management to treat food phobia in a 4-year-old boy. In addition, a treatment component involving time-out and re-introduction of the initial request to consume the target food was added to reduce vomiting behavior that developed during the course of treatment. The volume and range of foods consumed by the participant increased, and observer-rated anxiety and vomiting decreased over the course of treatment. The results of this controlled evaluation suggest that this treatment program was responsible for the observed changes, which were maintained at 6-month follow-up.
Act locally, think globally.

Locally growing malignant brain tumors provide a reasonable starting point for developing targeted strategies of anti-cancer therapy (pages 1354–1368).
Quantum mechanical calculations on the decomposition of H2O2

Abstract We have calculated the transition probability for dissociation in overtone-excited H2O2. The probability of direct dissociation from the vibrationally excited OH mode to the continuum of the OO mode is very small; but the relatively highly excited OO mode has a large dissociation probability. IVR processes following local-mode excitation play a very important role in inducing the dissociation; consequently we investigated the roles of the other vibrational mode and possible reaction paths which deposit energy to the reaction coordinate. Applying the density matrix method, we studied the time evolution of the overtone excited state, and obtained a time-resolved spectrum.
DCM-Linked D230N Tropomyosin Mutation Results in Early Dilatation and Systolic Dysfunction in Mice

Recently, a study in two large multi-generational families described a familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) caused by a single amino acid substitution Asp230Asn (D230N) in tropomyosin. These families demonstrated a unique bimodal disease distribution in which infants presented with a severe form of DCM, while adults presented with a mild to moderate clinical phenotype. To determine the biophysical consequences of this mutation on tropomyosin and its effects on regulatory function in the sarcomere, we employed circular dichroism and the regulated in vitro motility assay. We found that while this mutation does not affect overall thermal stability of tropomyosin, it has a profound effect on regulatory function. As previously shown in solution, the presence of the D230N mutation decreases the maximal velocity of filament sliding and calcium sensitivity of thin filament activation compared to wild type filaments. Additionally, the D230N mutation increases the cooperativity of myofilament activation. In order to further explore our biophysical observations and the physiologic effects of the D230N mutation, we created a transgenic murine model. In mice carrying the D230N tropomyosin mutation we found evidence of early dilatation and systolic dysfunction by echocardiogram in the absence of histological changes such as fibrosis or inflammatory cell invasion. Ultrastructural analysis of transgenic left ventricular tissue demonstrated z-disk alterations. Finally, preliminary studies on isolated myocytes from transgenic mice loaded with fura-2AM demonstrate no discernible differences in calcium transients compared to non-transgenic siblings suggesting that functional impairments are not due to calcium handling defects. Collectively, these studies suggest that the D230N mutation in tropomyosin is responsible for alterations in structure and function of the thin filament that result in a primary dilatation of the cardiac left ventricle. This work is supported by funding from the Children's Cardiomyopathy Foundation.
Using the SCL-90-R to Assess Distress in African Americans and Caucasian Americans

This study is the first to evaluate the appropriateness of the use of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) with African American college students. Two types of racial group differences on the SCL-90-R subscales are evaluated: (a) differences in symptom report for reasons unrelated to the severity of the subscale pathology and (b) differences in how the symptom is related to the subscale pathology. The sample consists of 70 African American and 66 Caucasian American students. On five items distributed across three subscales, there are group differences in how the symptom is related to the severity of the subscale, suggesting that the constructs of subscale pathology differ across groups. On one item, symptom severity differs across groups, for reasons unrelated to the severity of the specific subscale and, therefore, resulting in test bias. Findings support the use of the SCL-90-R with African American college students.
Incidence and outcomes of uveitis in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, a synthesis of the literature

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) is the most common systemic cause of pediatric uveitis in Europe and North America. Uveitis is commonly perceived as a frequent sequela of JRA and JRA-associated uveitis is commonly considered to have a complicated course with frequent adverse visual outcomes. We performed a systematic literature search for series of consecutive patients with JRA (as defined by the American College of Rheumatology criteria) reporting on the frequency of uveitis and/or complications of uveitis, published between January 1980 and December 2004. The main outcome measures were: the cumulative incidence of uveitis in JRA, the cumulative incidence of adverse visual outcome and that of complications in JRA-associated uveitis. Additionally, the influence of gender, presence of antinuclear antibody (ANA) and disease onset subtype to the likelihood of developing uveitis were examined. Analysis of pooled data from the 26 eligible series suggested a cumulative incidence of uveitis in JRA of 8.3% [95% confidence intervals (CI), 7.5–9.1%]. The cumulative incidence of uveitis varied according to geographic location, being highest in Scandinavia, then the US, then Asia and lowest in India. JRA-associated uveitis was more common in pauciarticular than polyarticular onset patients [odds ratio (OR)=3.2, 95% CI, 2.33–4.36] and in ANA-positive than ANA-negative patients (OR=3.18, 95% CI, 2.22–4.54). Female gender was only a weak risk factor for the development of uveitis in JRA patients (OR=1.69, 95% CI 1.09–2.62) and was not statistically significant after considering disease onset subtypes. In JRA-associated uveitis the cumulative incidence of cumulative incidence of adverse outcome (visual acuity <20/40 OU) was 9.2% (95% CI: 4.7–15.8) of cataracts 20.5% (95% CI: 15.5–26.3), of glaucoma 18.9% (95% CI: 14.4–24.2) and of band keratopathy 15.7% (95% CI: 10.9–21.7). The cumulative incidence of uveitis in JRA varies according to geographic location, presence of ANA, type of JRA onset and gender. Uveitis, adverse visual outcome, and complications in JRA are less frequent than commonly accepted.
Biochemical events associated with inhibition of B-cell proliferation by phorbol diesters

Abstract Phorbol myristate acelate (PMA), a potent tumor promoter, has a variety of effects on cells of the immune system resulting in altered patterns of cell proliferation and differentiation. Although PMA is mitogenic or co-mitogenic for human lymphocytes and murine T-cells, it inhibits proliferation of murine B-cells stimulated by LPS or anti-Ig. PMA, however, does not inhibit the ability of LPS or anti-Ig to activate B-cells, as evidence by increased Ia antigen expression and RNA synthesis. In the present studies it was shown that inhibition of DNA synthesis by PMA coincided with qualitative and quantitative changes in phosphorylated proteins. In particular, PMA treatment resulted in a unique profile of phosphoproteins independent of LPS or anti-Ig treatment. Inhibition of DNA synthesis occurred over a wide range of PMA concentrations. At concentrations up to 10 −9 M, inhibition of proliferation correlated with decreased phosphatidylinositol turnover and decreased intracellular Ca 2+ levels, suggesting that PMA affects the phosphoinositide signal transduction pathway. However, at PMA concentrations less than 10 −10 M, inhibition of anti-Ig- and LPS-mediated proliferation occurred without inhibition of the phosphoinositide transduction signal. At these concentrations, PMA-induced inhibition of DNA synthesis was highly sensitive to recombinant IL-2. These data suggest that the antiproliferative effects of PMA on B-cells stimulated by LPS or anti-Ig may be mediated by two mechanisms. At high concentrations, PMA causes a feedback regulation of the phosphoinositide-dependent messenger system, while at lower concentrations, PMA alters the response to specific growth factors. Since PMA induces unique phosphoproteins and both of these events can be regulated by protein phosphorylation, it is possible that these unique phosphoproteins are responsible for the antiproliferative effects of PMA.
Infrared spectrum of thallium chloride at 450°C

Abstract The high-resolution spectrum of the 283 cm −1 fundamental band of thallium chloride has been measured in the gas phase at a temperature of 450°C. The Δ v = 1 transitions of 205 Tl 35 Cl have been identified for transitions coming from the six lowest vibrational states. Many transitions also have been identified for the molecules 203 Tl 35 Cl and 205 Tl 37 Cl. Dunham constants are given for all four isotopic species of thallium chloride. As expected, the Born-Oppenheimer vibrational correction term for the thallium atom is found to be unusually large and negative.
A COMPARISON OF THE ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS WITH MULTIATTRIBUTE UTILITY THEORY: A CASE STUDY

This paper presents the results of a study in which two prominent multicritena methodologies were used to evaluate a discrete set of technological alternatives. The first is Saaty's Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and the second is Keeney and Raiffa's Multiattribute Utility Theory (MAUT). A case study designed to select the next generation of rough terrain cargo handlers for the U.S. Army provided the backdrop. Three alternatives were identified and ultimately ranked using the two methodologies. The intent was to detennine the strengths and weaknesses of each, and to characterize the conditions under which one might be more appropriate than the other. The evaluation team consisted of five program managers and engineers from the Belvoir Research, Development & Engineering Center. The objective hierarchy used in both cases contained twelve attributes. In general, the AHP was found to be more accessible and conducive to consensus building. Once the attributes were defined, the decision makers had little di...
Posterior surgical approaches and outcomes in metastatic spine-disease

Spinal cord compression represents a major cause of morbidity and suffering in cancer patients. Surgery should be considered a form of primary therapy in many of these patients. The goals of surgery and the approach used are functions of a number of variables, including the surgeon's preference, the location of disease within the spine (cervical, thoracic, or lumbar),the extent of disease within each vertebra, the number of levels affected, and the patient's medical health and overall prognosis. Currently,the goals of any major debulking surgery are to decompress the spinal cord, prevent local recurrence, reconstruct the spine, and provide immediate stabilization with the use of fixation devices. Posterior approaches, starting with the decompressive laminectomy, have traditionally been the most common surgical procedures for metastatic spine disease. The laminectomy should only be used for disease isolated to the dorsal spine without evidence of concomitant instability. A laminectomy combined with instrumentation has been shown to provide superior results but should be reserved for those patients who cannot tolerate or would not benefit from more aggressive surgery. Various posterolateral approaches have been devised to access more ventrally placed lesions. These include the transpedicular approach, the costotransversectomy, and the lateral extracavitary/parascapular approach. Each of these allows adequate spinal cord decompression anteriorly and posteriorly and the ability to reconstruct and stabilize with acceptable peri-operative risk. It must be remembered that surgery for this disease is almost always palliative.Thus, surgery should be a means to maximize the patient's quality of life while minimizing the risk of suffering surgical complications.
Enzyme specific activation of benzoquinone ansamycin prodrugs using HuCC49ΔCH2-β-galactosidase conjugates

To activate prodrugs for cancer treatment, an anti-TAG-72 antibody (HuCC49DeltaCH2) was used for delivery of an activation enzyme (beta-galactosidase) to specifically activate a geldanamycin prodrug (17-AG-C2-Gal) against colon cancer. The geldanamycin prodrug 17-AG-C2-Gal was synthesized by coupling a galactose-amine derivative with geldanamycin at the C-17 position. Molecular docking with two different programs (Affinity and Autodock) showed that the prodrug (17-AG-C2-Gal) was unable to bind to Hsp90; however, the product (17-AG-C2), enzymatically cleaved by beta-galactosidase conjugate, bound to Hsp90 in a similar way as geldanamycin and 17-AG. The computational docking results were further confirmed in experimental testing by the tetrazolium [3-(4,5-dimethythiazol-2-yl)]-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium assay and mass spectrometry. HuCC49DeltaCH2 was chemically conjugated to beta-galactosidase. The antibody-enzyme conjugate was able to target tumor antigen TAG-72 with the well-preserved enzymatic activity to activate 17-AG-C2-Gal prodrug. The released active drug 17-AG-C2 was demonstrated to induce up to 70% AKT degradation and enhance anticancer activity by more than 25-fold compared to the prodrug.
Do We Know Which Interventions are Effective for Disruptive and Delinquent Girls

Disruptive and delinquent girls are not well served by the mental health and juvenile justice systems. Interventions that have been developed for the behavior problems of boys are frequently applied to girls despite growing evidence for a female-specific phenotype, developmental course, and set of risk factors from middle childhood onwards. The current review demonstrates that evidence of the effectiveness of treatments for girls with disruptive and delinquent behaviors is extremely limited, with relatively few studies including sufficient numbers of females or reporting on treatment effects by gender. However, a small body of evidence suggests that interventions specifically designed to address female behavior problems or risk factors can be effective in ameliorating disruptive and delinquent behaviors in both pre-adolescence and adolescence. Multi-modal interventions that target interacting domains of risk also show promise. Methodological issues are discussed and recommendations are made for the development and evaluation of future interventions to prevent and reduce girls’ disruptive and delinquent behavior.
Unions in the next century: An exploratory essay

This essay explores the prospects for unionism throughout the world in the next century. It begins by examining the prospects for democracy and presupposes that employee organizations will emerge in democratic societies. Although there seems to be little chance that many nondemocratic countries will embrace democracy, some form of worker organization may emerge in some of these countries. Unionism in many democratic countries, however, is waning, so the prospects for unionism throughout the world are not very good.
Immunochemically detectable lipid-free apo(a) in plasma and in human atherosclerotic lesions.

Abstract Although Lp(a) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases in humans, the precise pathogenetic mechanisms are still unknown. We have shown that Lp(a) accumulates in human atherosclerotic lesions, and some particles undergo oxidation. Since, following agarose electrophoresis of both plaque extracts and plasma, a region close to the origin immunostained intensely for apo(a) but was lipid-free, we sought to identify whether such samples contained lipid-free apo(a), as previously reported to occur in plaque extracts. Immunochemically identifiable apo(a) was found following density-gradient ultracentrifugation both in the 1.05 1.21 density fraction from both plasma and plaque extracts. However, because in a competitive binding RIA, displacement curves of apo(a) in plasma and the d > 1.21 were not parallel, it is premature to ascribe a relative amount of total apo(a) to this fraction. Whereas apo(a) immunoblots of SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions of the d > 1.21 fraction of a plaque extract with high apo(a) content showed high molecular weight bands consistent with apo(a) isoforms, the corresponding d > 1.21 fraction showed multiple low molecular weight bands characteristic of fragmentation. Since the d > 1.21 of arterial extracts contained all the material immunostaining for apo(a) migrating towards the cathode, characteristic of immunoglobulins (IgG), we asked whether fragments of apo(a) might have associated with human IgG both in plasma and tissue extracts, or whether our anti-apo(a) reacted with epitopes on human IgG. Immunoblotting with our antiapo(a) of samples of plasma and plaque extracts run on agarose electrophoresis or SDS-PAGE further demonstrated intense staining of multiple bands in the molecular weight range of human IgG. Furthermore, a fraction of plasma and tissue extracts that bound to a protein G affinity column demonstrated immunostaining for apo(a) and was in the size range of IgG. Although one polyclonal anti-apo(a) provided by another laboratory showed the same findings as our antibody, two other polyclonal anti-apo(a) failed to demonstrate immunostaining of human IgG, either on agarose electrophoresis or SDS-PAGE. We speculate that the Lp(a) immunogen used to prepare our anti-apo(a) may have undergone modest oxidation, thus exposing epitopes not normally expressed on apo(a) in native Lp(a). Either antibodies to these epitopes could be recognizing apo(a) fragments, possibly released during oxidation, which are then covalently bound to IgG, or oxidation of apo(a) creates epitopes on apo(a) that are homologous with IgG, thereby leading to cross-reactivity with IgG. Such a scenario could be consistent with recently published studies showing recognition of oxidized LDL by the Fc receptor on macrophages.
Innate recognition of intracellular bacteria.

The molecular repertoire for innate recognition of bacterial pathogens has expanded rapidly in the past decade. These immunosensors include Toll-like receptors and the more recently defined NOD-like receptors (NLRs): NODs, NALPs, NAIP and IPAF. Toll-like receptors signal from the cell surface or endosome upon ligand binding, whereas NLRs are activated by characteristic bacterially derived molecules, such as peptidoglycan, RNA, toxins and flagellin, in the cytosol. Studies using animal and culture models of bacterial infection indicate a pro-inflammatory role for NLRs, mediated by signaling through nuclear transcription factor κB and activation of caspase-1 by the inflammasome. These data also support a synergistic role for extracellular and intracellular bacterial sensing in regulating inflammation. In humans, NLR mutations are often associated with autoinflammatory syndromes, suggesting a complex role for cytosolic surveillance in systemic innate immunity.
MACHINE APPROACHES TO PROTEIN FEATURE PREDICTION

Knowledge-based approaches are being increasingly used in predicting protein structure and motifs. Machine learning techniques such as neural networks and decision-trees have become invaluable tools for these approaches. This paper describes the use of machine learning in predicting sequence-based motifs in antibody fragments. Given the limited number of three dimensional structures and the plethora of sequences, this technique is useful for homology modeling of three dimensional structures of antibody fragments.
The palatability of five colonic lavage solutions.

Background: Many patients dislike the taste and saltiness of polyethylene glycol–electrolyte colonic lavage solutions. Several commercially available lavage solutions have been introduced with reduced salt content or flavouring added in an attempt to improve palatability and to encourage patient compliance. Aim: To determine which of the commercially available lavage solutions are the most palatable. Methods: A taste test of the five commercially available lavage solutions was performed by two groups of subjects: (a) adult patients scheduled to undergo colonoscopy (n=50) and (b) adult family members of patients scheduled to undergo colonoscopy and hospital volunteers (n=50). Subjects sampled all five products and were asked to grade the taste and saltiness, and to rank them in their overall order of preference. Results: Similar findings were observed in the two groups of subjects. Colyte-Flavored, Cherry-NuLytely, NuLytely and GoLytely had similar median taste scores and a similar frequency of taste scores labelled as ‘unacceptable’ (8–11%); these four products ranked ahead of plain Colyte (which had a 25% frequency of taste scores labelled as ‘unacceptable’). However, in the ranking phase of the study, about three-quarters of the subjects preferred a flavoured lavage solution to an unflavoured one. Colyte-Flavored and Cherry-NuLytely rated almost equal. Twenty-two per cent of subjects rated an unflavoured lavage solution (generally NuLytely or GoLytely) as their first choice. This included a subset of subjects who disliked the flavoured solutions and greatly preferred an unflavoured product. Conclusions: Four of the five commercially available products studied received similar taste scores. However, in the direct comparison phase of the study, a majority of subjects expressed a preference for a flavoured lavage solution. On the other hand, about one in five subjects expressed a dislike for the available flavoured solutions and preferred an unflavoured one.
Visual loop closing using multi-resolution SIFT grids in metric-topological SLAM

We present an image based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) framework with online, appearance only loop closing. We adopt a layered approach with metric maps over small areas at the local level and a global, graph based abstract topological framework to build consistent maps over large distances. Rao-Blackwellised particle filtering and sparse bundle adjustment are efficiently coupled with a stereo vision based odometry module to construct conditionally independent `submaps' using SIFT features. By extracting keyframes from these submaps, a multiresolution dictionary of distinct features is built online to learn a generative model of appearance and perform loop closure. Creating such a dictionary also enables the system to distinguish between similar regions during loop closure without requiring any offline training, as has been described in other approaches. Furthermore, instead of occupancy or grid maps, we build 3D reconstructions of the world; a model we plan to use as input to a scene interpretation module for providing navigational cues to the visually impaired. We demonstrate the robustness of our SLAM system with indoor and outdoor experiments for full 6 degrees of freedom motion using only a stereo camera in hand, running at 1 Hz on a standard PC.
Coupling analysis of through-silicon via (TSV) arrays in silicon interposers for 3D systems

This paper investigates the coupling effect between through-silicon vias (TSVs) in large TSV array structures. A coupling analysis method for large TSV arrays is proposed. Using this method the importance of coupling between TSVs for low resistivity silicon substrates is quantified both in the frequency and time domain. This has been compared with high resistivity silicon substrates. The comparison between the two indicates the importance of jitter and voltage analysis in TSV arrays for low resistivity silicon substrates due to enhanced coupling.