cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mechanism of ionic exchange with carrier molecules through non-aqueous liquid membranes

Abstract In salt “diffusion” blocked systems, “carrier” transport by ionic amphipathic molecules through nonaqueous liquid membranes is explained by an ionic exchange mechanism. “Carrier” transport versus pH was established for lauric acid, stearic acid, alkyl phosphates, and cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as well as for the phospholipids lecithin and cephalin. The ionic exchange depends upon the state of ionization of these long-chain “carrier” molecules and ion+-ion− and intramolecular ion-dipole associations at the oil-water interface. Potentiometric titration and surface tension measurements on single and dual components were performed in the presence and in the absence of 1-pentanol, and similarities between the titration and the transport curves were found. The marked influence of molecular aggregate surfaces and charged oil-water interfaces on the bulk pH is established.
Therapy of Neutropenic Rats Infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Rats made profoundly neutropenic with cyclophosphamide were injected with 100 or 1,000 50% lethal doses of a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa suspended in mucin. Rats were treated for 24, 48, or 72 hr with thrice daily intramuscular administration of carbenicillin (400 mg/kg), gentamicin (10 mg/kg), both of these agents at the same doses, or saline. One hour after injection of antibiotics, the mean bactericidal titers in serum were 1:4.7, 1:21., and 1:8.6 for rats receiving carbenicillin, gentamicin, and a combination of the two agents, respectively. Combination chemotherapy produced a greater reduction in mortality rate than did either agent alone for both inoculum sizes and for all three durations of therapy. Gentamicin was at least as effective as carbenicillin regardless of inoculum size or duration of therapy. Fourfold or greater increases in minimal inhibitory concentrations of P. aeruginosa were seen in 54% of postmortem blood culture isolates from animals treated with carbenicillin, in 15% from rats treated with gentamicin, and in none from animals receiving both agents.
Thermally Processed Hard Cooked Eggs

Abstract Peeled hard cooked eggs were held in .1 N citric acid containing .2% sodium benzoate at 4 C for 4 days. The eggs were then packed in sealed metal cans and in retortable pouches in a dilute organic acid. They were retorted for 15 min at 121 C. Other eggs in retortable pouches were immersed in boiling water for 15 min. The previously hard cooked eggs endured the stresses of retorting or immersion in boiling water with no detectable changes in sensory characteristics. Microbiological examination of thermally processed eggs after 1 week, 4 weeks, 3 months, and 5 months storage at 4 C or 21 C gave no evidence of growth of microorganisms. Hard cooked eggs can be packaged and thermally processed without harm to sensory qualities. Such eggs could be merchandised with or without refrigeration.
New Compounds Consisting of Turbostratic Intergrowths: Ultra-low Thermal Conductivities and Tunable Electric Properties

A recently discovered synthetic route to new kinetically stable [(MSe) y ] m [TSe2] n layered intergrowths has been applied to prepare several different compositions (M = Pb or Sn, T = Ta, Nb, Mo, or W) with m = n = 1, in thin film form. Scanning transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron X-ray diffraction show the nanostructure of these materials is characterized by a combination of in-plane component crystallinity with misregistration and rotational mis-orientation between adjacent layers. Extremely low cross-plane thermal conductivity as low as 0.1 W m-1 K-1 are attributed to the turbostratic nanostructure. By appropriate choice of M and T, we demonstrate that a range of electrical transport properties are possible, from metallic to semiconducting. Annealing (PbSe)0.99WSe2 and (PbSe)1.00MoSe2 specimens in a controlled atmosphere of PbSe or WSe2 is observed to systematically influence carrier properties, and is interpreted in terms of reduction of the concentration of electrically active defects. Considering these observations and the large composition and structural space that can be explored in such [(MSe) y ] m [TSe2] n intergrowths, these materials are of interest for further investigation as potential thermoelectric materials.
Comparison of 3D-diffusion-prepared segmented steady-state free precession and 2D fast spin echo imaging of femoral artery atherosclerosis

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is a promising modality for the in vivo detection and characterization of atherosclerotic lesions in peripheral arteries. 2D imaging techniques for evaluation of peripheral artery disease (PAD) suffer from poor spatial coverage and have long scan times. The purpose of this study was to compare a diffusion prepared dark blood 3D steady state free precession (3D-DP-SSFP) sequence for evaluating atherosclerotic plaque burden in inguinal and thigh segments of the femoral artery and comparing the results obtained with 2D turbo spin echo (2D-TSE) techniques. A further goal of the study was to examine the inter observer reproducibility of MR plaque burden measures using the 3D DP-SSFP technique. Results of the study indicated higher signal to noise ratios for the 3D-DP-SSFP technique and higher CNR (better vessel-wall delineation) compared to the 2D-TSE technique. Furthermore, a good correlation between 3D-DP-SSFP and 2D-TSE techniques for the inguinal segment but poorer correlation for the thigh segment was observed. Inter-observer reproducibility for the 3D plaque burden measures was excellent. 3D-DP-SSFP may be a useful and reproducible technique for evaluating atherosclerosis in peripheral arteries.
Clandestine Marriage and Frances Burney's Critique of Matrimony in Cecilia

This essay argues that Frances Burney in Cecilia; or Memoirs of an Heiress (1782) critiques political debates and literary conventions focused on clandestine marriage. Through two plots of this novel, one economic and one focused on courtship, Burney interprets clandestine marriage as a scapegoat for the deeply flawed institution of marriage itself. The courtship narrative rewrites several aspects of conventional clandestine marriage plots, such as stock male characters, lengthy debates between love and duty, climactic wedding scenes, and punitive conclusions. The economic plot, featuring the stories of Mrs. Hill, Henrietta Belfield, and Priscilla Harrel, undermines Parliament’s claims about the economic outcomes of heiresses’ marital choices. The economic plot eventually usurps the courtship plot, leading to a dystopian conclusion that tacitly argues marriage itself is the problem, not deviations from an idealized norm of parentally approved companionate marriages of choice.
Phylogenetic Relationships of the Liverworts (Hepaticae), a Basal Embryophyte Lineage, Inferred from Nucleotide Sequence Data of the Chloroplast GenerbcL

Sequence data from the chloroplast-encoded gene rbcL were obtained for 24 liverworts, a basal group of embryophytes. Maximum likelihood and parsimony analyses of these data, along with data from other major green plant lineages, confirm hypotheses based on morphological data, such as the paraphyly of bryophytes, and the basal position of liverworts. Molecular data corroborate the deep separation between the complex thalloid and leafy/simple thalloid liverworts implied by morphological data, but the monophyly of liverworts could not be rejected. The effects of accounting for site-to-site rate heterogeneity in these data were examined using maximum likelihood methods. Comparison of trees obtained with and without rate heterogeneity showed that simply allowing for heterogeneity had a greater improvement on likelihood score than optimization of transition/transversion bias. Incorporation of site-to-site rate heterogeneity in the larger analysis, however, did not necessarily change which topology was favored. Properties of rbcL sequences from the two liverwort groups were compared. Significantly different substitution rates were found between leafy/simple thalloid and complex thalloid liverwort taxa, with rates of rbcL sequence evolution in leafy/simple thalloid taxa being higher and more indicative of those of vascular plants, and with those of complex thalloid taxa (such as Marchantia) being slower. Codon usage in rbcL in complex thalloid liverworts was biased toward NNU and NNA, compared to the leafy/simple thalloid liverworts. Although base composition and relative substitution rates differed between the two groups, no significant differences were detected within each of the two groups of liverworts. The signal present in first and second codon sites versus third codon sites was compared. While the third codon positions in rbcL across this taxon sampling are highly variable (with only 15 constant sites of 439), the trees obtained were in general agreement with trees from the entire data set and with trees obtained from independent sources of data. The presence of signal in third codon positions across greater than 400 MY of plant evolution means that definitions of saturation based on pair-wise comparisons of sequences inadequately assess phylogenetic signal.
Proclaiming Peace and Love: A New Role for Churches in African Politics

Guy Hermet observed that in political systems characterized by an "authoritarian exercise of power and . . . refusal to implement a suffi cient and generalized participation of the citizen in the political system . . . religious organizations are the only ones capable of offering host structures, leadership, and means of expression distinct from those controlled by the power dominating oligarchy."1 This has been the case in sub-Saharan Africa in the last four decades. As governance degener ated to authoritarian rule, churches emerged, in most cases, as the only formidable opposition to the state.2 Therefore, churches became one of the significant factors in the ending of apartheid in South Africa and the demise of other forms of repressive governance in the rest of Africa.
Evaluation of Zooplankton in Hatchery Diets for Channel Catfish Fry

Abstract The efficacy of zooplankton as a supplemental hatchery diet for fry of channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus was evaluated. When a commercial diet is used as a reference, fry fed exclusively on zooplankton—either live or dried—performed poorly in their growth rate. However, when live or dried zooplankton were fed to fry in conjunction with the commercial diet, fry weight increased 40–50% over the weight of fry fed the commercial diet alone in a 19-d feeding trial. Data from this study indicate that zooplankton may serve as a sustainable and reliable supplement during hatchery production. These data also reaffirm the importance of zooplankton as a feed source in the growth of channel catfish fry. Zooplankton are important in catfish fry culture, and when zooplankton are present with commercial diets, improved growth results. Based on results of this study, supplemental feeding of zooplankton to hatchery fry and managing fry ponds for increased zooplankton densities should increase fry growth during ...
Inhibition of β-hydroxydecanoyl thioester dehydrase by some allenic acids and their thioesters

Abstract The allenic substrate analogue, 2,3-decadienoyl-N-acetylcys teamine, and free 2,3-decadienoic acid were previously shown to inhibit β-hydroxydecanoyl thioester dehydrase irreversibly. Racemic 2,3-decadienoic acid has now been resolved via its amphetamine salts. The dextrorotatory isomer is found to be twice as potent an inhibitor as the racemic acid, while the levorotatory allene affects enzyme activity only slightly. A series of inhibitors varying in the length of the acyl chain (C8C14) has been prepared. Enzyme inactivation occurs most rapidly with the C10-congener of the acetylenic and allenic thioesters, while the C12 homologue is the most potent of the free allenic acid inhibitors.
Dialkylquinoneimine metabolites of chloroacetanilide herbicides induce sister chromatid exchanges in cultured human lymphocytes.

Some of the most widely-used herbicides are the chloroacetanilides exemplified by alachlor and butachlor (derived from 2,6-diethylaniline) and metolachlor and acetochlor (synthesized from 2-ethyl-6-methylaniline). This investigation tests the hypothesis that the previously-observed oncogenicity of these herbicides is due to genotoxic intermediates such as diethylbenzoquinoneimine, a purported alachlor metabolite. Syntheses are reported here for the corresponding 2,6-dialkylbenzoquinoneimines, selected chloroacetyldialkylbenzoquinoneimines and several other candidate or known metabolites. The possible mutagenicity of diethylbenzoquinoneimine was tested in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100 with a weakly-positive response in the TA100 strain indicating induction of base-pair substitution mutations. The frequency of sister chromatid exchange (SCE) in Chinese hamster ovary cells was increased by alachlor at 10 μM and diethylaniline but not ethylmethylaniline at 30 and 3 μM. Isolated and cultured peripheral lymphocytes (mostly T cells) were used from two human donors to study the effects of the chloroacetanilides and their metabolites on primary human cells. In tests at 10 μM, the SCE frequency was increased by alachlor and possibly acetochlor but not by butachlor, metolachlor, dimethachlor (a 2,6-dimethyl analog) and dimethenamid (an analog based on 2,4-dimethyl-3-thienylamine). At 0.3 μM in cultured human lymphocytes, alachlor, the corresponding chloroacetanilide (N-dealkyl-alachlor) and aniline metabolites (and their 4-hydroxy derivatives), and diethylbenzoquinone were inactive or active in only one of the two donors whereas at 0.1–0.3 μM the SCE ratio for treated cells divided by the controls was always higher for diethylbenzoquinoneimine than for ethylmethyl- and dimethylbenzoquinoneimines. All the tested compounds were toxic to lymphocytes, but the depression of the mitotic index and increased duration of the cell cycle were not directly linked with SCE induction. Previous investigations have suggested that chloroacetanilide herbicides such as alachlor derived from 2,6-dialkylanilines are metabolized to 2,6-dialkylbenzoquinoneimines and the present study provides the first direct evidence that these metabolites are genotoxic in human lymphocytes.
Semantic similarity measures in ontology alignment

Numerous ontological or semantic similarity measures have been proposed to determine how similar one concept is to another within the context of an ontology. These measures are shown to have as their basis fuzzy set compatibility measures and have been used in a variety of biomedical and bioinformatics applications. In this paper a new matcher, the mediating matcher with semantic similarity (MMSS), has been designed in an adaptable manner and added to an existing OA system. Experiments are performed to compare the performance of several semantic similarity measures with different domain reference ontologies when used in the task of ontology alignment.
The Effect of HAART on HIV RNA Trajectory Among Treatment Naïve Men and Women: a Segmental Bernoulli/Lognormal Random Effects Model with Left Censoring

Background: Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) rapidly suppresses human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viral replication and reduces circulating viral load, but the long-term effects of HAART on viral load remain unclear. Methods: We evaluated HIV viral load trajectories over 8 years following HAART initiation in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study and the Women's Interagency HIV Study. The study included 157 HIV-infected men and 199 HIV-infected women who were antiretroviral naive and contributed 1311 and 1837 semiannual person-visits post-HAART, respectively. To account for within-subject correlation and the high proportion of left-censored viral loads, we used a segmental Bernoulli/lognormal random effects model. Results: Approximately 3 months (0.30 years for men and 0.22 years for women) after HAART initiation, HIV viral loads were optimally suppressed (ie, with very low HIV RNA) for 44% (95% confidence interval = 39%–49%) of men and 43% (38%–47%) of women, whereas the other 56% of men and 57% of women had on average 2.1 (1.5–2.6) and 3.0 (2.7–3.2) log10 copies/mL, respectively. Conclusion: After 8 years on HAART, 75% of men and 80% of women had optimal suppression, whereas the rest of the men and women had suboptimal suppression with a median HIV RNA of 3.1 and 3.7 log10 copies/mL, respectively.
Surface stress effect on bending resonance of nanowires with different boundary conditions

The influence of surface stress on the resonance frequencies of bending nanowires was studied by incorporating the generalized Young–Laplace equation into Euler–Bernoulli beam theory. Theoretical solutions are presented for three different boundary conditions. The overall Young’s modulus was used to study the surface stress influenced mechanical behavior of bending nanowires and a comparison was made for the overall Young’s modulus calculated from nanowires in resonance and static bending. It was found that the overall Young’s modulus can be simply related to a nondimensional surface effect factor via empirical formulae.
Proteomic analysis of extracellular matrix and vesicles

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is the connective tissue component generated and secreted by cells to provide structural and functional support, while extracellular vesicles are distinct membrane-enclosed structures present outside of eucaryotic cells that carry out distinct biological functions. Different cell types release distinct populations of vesicles that fulfill various functions. Exosomes are vesicles commonly secreted by a variety of cells, whereas matrix vesicles (MVs) are specifically produced and secreted by bone cells to facilitate the formation of the ECM. This article focuses on the characteristics of the ECM and extracellular vesicles, and reviews the latest progress in applying proteomic technologies to analyze these features. The findings and implications in developmental biology, tumor biology, immunology, biomarker discovery, and vaccine research are also discussed.
Interrelationships between certain physical and chemical properties of dry bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

The interrelationships among certain physical and chemical properties of ten cultivars of dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) were investigated. The length/breadth ratio was similar (1.51–1.65) except for kidney beans (>2.0) and sanilac (1.37) cultivars. The breadth/thickness ratio ranged from 1.17–1.65. The 100-bean weight indicated a wide variation of 15.03–50.33 g. The density, bulk density, and porosity characteristics were within a narrow range of 1.18–1.36 g/cc, 68–75 g/100 cc, and 40.7–48.5%, respectively. Water uptake rates during the first 6 h of soaking at room temperature (21 °C) were characteristic of the cultivar. At the end of 24-h soaking, however, all cultivars had absorbed similar amounts of water (approximately 1 g/g bean). Leaching losses (g solids leached/100 g beans) had characteristic trends and ranged from 0.54 for cranberry to 3.46 for sanilac cultivars after 24-h soaking. Most correlations between selected chemical constituents and physical characteristics of the dry bean were relatively low.
Name entities made obvious: the participation in the ERD 2014 evaluation

The paper describes NEMO, a system for extracting entity mentions from text and linking them to Wikipedia (and Freebase), which participated in the ERD 2014 challenge. The model employed by the system allows a seamless use of traditional priors and lexical features in conjunction with various types of latent features, which are computed based on the attributes associated with all extractions of entity mentions from an input text and their possible linkage to Wikipedia. Additionally, it allows a unified approach for handling both features computed globally, at document level, and features computed based on the local context, such as syntactic patterns, of each hypothesized entity mention. The model is trained on a large dataset derived from Wikipedia, and achieves state-of-the-art results on the datasets in the ERD evaluation without employing explicitly ERD-specific training data.
Immunologic Studies in Cow's Milk-induced Pulmonary Hemosiderosis

Antibodies to cow's milk proteins (CMP) were studied by radioallergosorbent tests to determine the quantity and immunoglobulin class of these antibodies in nine patients with precipitins to cow's milk. Three of these patients had pulmonary hemosiderosis (PH); in one other patient pulmonary hemosiderosis was suspected, but not proven. Three patients had nonhemosiderosis chronic lung disease and two had other diseases. Age-matched control subjects were also studied. The quantity and immunoglobulin class distribution of antibodies to CMP were similar in all patients; the quantity of anti-CMP antibody was significantly greater in patients than in control subjects (P less than 0.001). In addition, complement-fixing antibody to CMP was not detected in either patients' or controls' sera. Lymphocyte responses to CMP were studied in three patients with PH, three individuals with other manifestations of milk hypersensitivity (positive controls), and nine negative control subjects. Patients and positive control subjects responded to CMP with greater tritiated thymidine incorporation than the negative control subjects (P less than 0.05). However, no significant difference in response to CMP was observed between the PH patients and the positive control subjects. Antibodies to human lung tissue were studied in the sera of all patients with PH and two negative control subjects. Antibodies to human lung and rat lung were detected in one patient with PH.
Automated analysis of echocardiographic apical four-chamber images

A fully automated algorithm is presented that computes the epicardial and endocaridal borders of the left ventricle of the heat for an echocardiographic image sequence acquired from the apical 4-chamber view. The method is tested for agreement against borders drawn by an expert on a prospective patient database of 68 patients. Since two cycles were acquired for all but 1 patient, a total of 135 image sequences were considered. The mean differences bewteen expert and computer generated endocardial borders were 5.13mm and 5.81mm at the end diastole and end systole, respectively. The mean differences between the epicardial borders at the end diastole and end systole were 5.09mm and 5.22mm respectively.© (2000) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Protection against hyperbaric oxygen toxicity after feedingN,N-diphenyl-p-phenylene diamine

Des souris adultes traites au prealable par duN,N-diphenyl-p-phenylene diamine sont proteges contre la toxicite du oxygene hyperbarie. La protection est dependente du dosage. Le mechanisme est inconnu.
Pioneers in police research: William A. Westley

The tension between order and change corrodes and destroys many people and their ways, while blowing life into others. It has a vortex of anxiety, excitement, fear, and perhaps of madness. In the c...
The effects of the presence of stored product pests on the microfauna of a flour community.

Aims: To determine the effect that the presence of some beetles have on the species of bacteria found in their flour. Methods and Results: Bacteria were isolated from flour that either did not contain beetles, contained Tribolium beetles in different environments, or contained either Stegobium paniceum or Lasioderma serricorne. These bacteria were tentatively identified by both the gas chromatography-fatty acid methyl esters (GC-FAME) method and partial sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. All samples contained Bacillus species including the controls, but the non-Tribolium beetles and a Tribolium beetle line known to have low benzoquinones also contained Enterococcus and Enterobacter species. Additionally an unidentified bacteria isolate in the Enterobacteriaceae was also found in the L. serricorne sample. Our results also suggest incongruent identifications when using the GC-FAME method vs sequencing. Conclusions: Certain species of bacteria can be introduced by the presence of insect pests, but the diversity of species is far less in stocks of Tribolium beetles. Significance and Impact of the Study: Stored product pests can alter the bacterial community. Isolated species from this study show a strong genetic relationship to each other, suggesting an isolated evolving system. A unique bacteria was also isolated. GC and sequencing methods of identification are compared.
Sparing of the native right ventricle for heart transplantation: Reply

Ann Thorac Surg 2001;72:319 John A. Elefteriades, Gary S. Kopf and Constantinos J. Lovoulos Sparing of the native right ventricle for heart transplantation: Reply http://ats.ctsnetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/72/1/319-a on the World Wide Web at: The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is located
Political-Economic Factors Influencing State Medicaid Policy

A political-economic theory is developed to explain the formation of public policy in the American states; here, I focus specifically on states' Medicaid policy decisions. I analyze three dimensions of Medicaid policy-financial eligibility, categorical eligibility, and benefit coverage-and argue that each dimension represents a different political process. My theory assumes that state politicians maximize their political utility by attempting to satisfy the preferences of voters, interest groups and their own ideology, while at the same time they minimize their political disutility by attempting to keep the political costs of their actions as low as possible However, I postulate further that the political process varies according to the degree to which consti tuents are interested in the policy, the strength of interest groups, and poli ticians' political ideology. To test this theory, I use a heteroskedastic, timewise autoregressive model for panel data. My theory is fairly well supported by the empirica...
Selling Strategies: The Effects of Suggesting a Decision Structure to Novice and Expert Buyers

This research investigates the impact of selling strategies on selling effectiveness. The authors compare two selling strategies: (1) an agenda strategy, in which a salesperson attempts to influence the structure of the buyer’s decision by suggesting constraints that eliminate competitive products from consideration, and (2) a more typical selling strategy that summarizes the target product’s benefits. The results show that when sellers use an agenda selling strategy, target products receive higher evaluations and have higher probabilities of being considered and chosen. Buyer expertise moderates this effect, with the agenda strategy in most cases having more impact on novice buyers than on expert buyers. These findings demonstrate the importance of selling strategy to selling effectiveness, suggest the potential benefit for sellers of using selling strategies that attempt to influence the structure of the buyer’s decision, and provide support for the contingent nature of selling effectiveness.
Transforming growth factor-?2 selectively alters the developmental expression of the fast transient A-current in cultured rat superior cervical ganglion neurons

Cultures of neonatal rat superior cervical ganglion (SCG) were utilized to examine the ability of transforming growth factor-β2 (TGFβ2) to alter voltage-gated K+ channel development. Whole-cell patch clamp recordings were used to monitor changes in three separate K+ currents: A rapidly inactivating A-current (IAf), a slowly inactivating A-current (IAs), and a non-inactivating current (IK). Continuous TGFβ2 (10 ng/ml) treatment selectively altered the normal developmental decrease in IAf expression in SCG neurons, but did not significantly change IAs or IK expression. After 2 weeks of treatment, the mean IAf current density in control cultures had decreased 67%, while the IAf current density in TGFβ2 treated cultures remained near initial values (∼2.7-fold higher than control). This difference remained even after 4 weeks of exposure. TGFβ2 did not appear to change the activation kinetics or voltage-dependence of IAf. These findings indicate that TGFβ2 may play an important role in modulating the development of neuronal excitability by regulating the expression of voltage-gated K+ channels. J. Neurosci. Res. 49:475–484, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
A time-of-flight quadrupole mass spectrometer system for measurements of thermal decomposition

Abstract A system utilizing the combination of time of flight and quadrupole mass spectrometery is described. The system is used to determine if a mass peak in the spectrum resulting from mass analyis of a molecular beam is due to the breakup of a molecule in the ionizer of the mass spectrometer or is a mass existing in the molecular beam itself. The preliminary results of a study of the thermal decomposition of malonic acid is used to demonstrate the usefulness of the technique.
Alarm substance induces convulsions in imipramine-treated rats.

Abstract Male rats were injectted with imipramine (0–30 mg/kg) and subsequently tested in the forced-swim test in either fresh water or water soiled by other rats, which presumably contains an alarm substance. Imipramine did not affect the behavior of rats in fresh water. More than half the animals given the combination of imipramine (30 mg/kg) and stress from alarm substance had clonic convulsions. Adrenalectomy did not affect this relationship. This is the first study demonstrating the potential of an alarm substance for inducing convulsions.
Localized membrane depolarizations and localized calcium influx during electric field-guided neurite growth

Our study explores the mechanisms behind neurite galvanotropism. Using phase, differential interference contrast and ratiometric fluorescence microscopy, we reveal four responses of N1E-115 mouse neuroblastoma cells to 0.1-1.0 mV/microns uniform DC electric fields: cathode-directed neurite initiation and elongation, cathode-biased growth cone filopodial protrusions, transient cathode-localized calcium increases, and persistent cathode-localized membrane depolarizations. These newly demonstrated events are temporally and spatially correlated, suggesting that they are causally related. The calcium increases are prevented by calcium channel blockers and by the removal of extracellular calcium. We therefore propose that the observed field-induced membrane depolarizations activate voltage-dependent calcium channels, resulting in cathode-localized calcium influx. This, in turn, may initiate the observed cathode-biased growth cone filopodial protrusions, followed by the cathode-directed neurite elongation.
The nucleoside analog sangivamycin induces apoptotic cell death in breast carcinoma MCF7/adriamycin-resistant cells via protein kinase Cδ and JNK activation

Sangivamycin has shown a potent antiproliferative activity against a variety of human cancers. However, little is known about the mechanism of action underlying its antitumor activity. Here we demonstrate that sangivamycin has differential antitumor effects in drug-sensitive MCF7/wild type (WT) cells, causing growth arrest, and in multidrug-resistant MCF7/adriamycin-resistant (ADR) human breast carcinoma cells, causing massive apoptotic cell death. Comparisons between the effects of sangivamycin on these two cell lines allowed us to identify the mechanism underlying the apoptotic antitumor effect. Fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis indicated that sangivamycin induced cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase in MCF7/ADR cells. A marked induction of c-Jun expression as well as phosphorylation of c-Jun and JNK was observed after sangivamycin treatment of MCF7/ADR cells but not MCF7/WT cells. Sangivamycin also induced cleavage of lamin A and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) in MCF7/ADR cells, probably via activation of caspase-6, -7, and -9. Pretreatment with a caspase-9-specific inhibitor or pan-caspase inhibitor abolished sangivamycin-induced cleavage of lamin A and PARP but not sangivamycin induction of c-Jun expression and phosphorylation. Pretreatment of MCF7/ADR cells with SP600125, a specific inhibitor of JNK, or with rottlerin, a specific inhibitor of protein kinase Cδ (PKCδ), significantly reduced the sangivamycin-induced apoptosis and almost completely abolished sangivamycin-induced phosphorylation of c-Jun and cleavage of lamin A and PARP. Transfection of MCF7/ADR cells with PKCδ small interfering RNAs or PKCδ antibody or rottlerin pretreatment significantly suppressed the phosphorylation of JNK. Taken together, our data suggest that sangivamycin induces mitochondria-mediated apoptotic cell death of MCF7/ADR cells via activation of JNK in a protein kinase Cδ-dependent manner.
Vitamin Deficiency as One Explanation for Inhibition of Protozoan Growth by Conditioned Medium

Accelerative effects of biologically conditioned casein-peptone medium, when added to fresh medium in proportions of 1-5 parts in 10, have been reported previously for Colpidium campylum.1 Subsequently, it has been found that an increase in the proportion of conditioned medium induces inhibitory effects on the growth of Colpidium campylum and Glaucoma piriformis.∗ Observations on the latter are presented below.Series I and II. A culture filtrate was prepared from 96-day flask-cultures of G. piriformis in casein-peptone (Difco “tryptone”) medium containing KH2PO4 (1.0 g per 1). The cultures were filtered through paper (Whatman No. 12), as previously described by Hall and Loefer,1 and the filtrate was divided into two portions. One portion (Series I) served as the control medium. To the other (Series II), the following growth-factors were added: Merck's thiamine hydrochloride (1 × 10-6 g per cc), Merck's riboflavin (1 × 10-7 g per cc), and S. M. A. Corporation's nicotinic acid amide (1 × 10-7 g per cc). Eac...
Pharmacological Rescue of Mutant p53 Conformation and Function

Compounds that stabilize the DNA binding domain of p53 in the active conformation were identified. These small synthetic molecules not only promoted the stability of wild-type p53 but also allowed mutant p53 to maintain an active conformation. A prototype compound caused the accumulation of conformationally active p53 in cells with mutant p53, enabling it to activate transcription and to slow tumor growth in mice. With further work aimed at improving potency, this class of compounds may be developed into anticancer drugs of broad utility.
Three Thinkers on Television, Schools, the Family, and Public Discourse.

The authors examine the conceptual frameworks and substantive ideas of three authors, Lawrence Cremin, Neil Postman and Christopher Lasch, all of whom view technologies as educators. The authors focus on the television as educator and exposit these thinkers' views about relations between television's education and the education of schools, families and communities. The broader social significance involves an examination of the extent to which television's education impoverishes public discourse, the lifeblood of democracy; and the extent to which television's education weakens parents' efforts to educate their children. Cremin and Postman lead the way in respectively providing a framework of analysis and identifying the problems but Cremin fails to recognize the severity of the problems and Postman does not adequately address them. Lasch's work is most promising, his formu lations fit neatly within Cremin's framework but address the problems in a way that improves upon Postman.
The Sidewalks of St. Louis: Places, People, and Politics in an American City

In twenty-seven vignettes, Lipsitz explores the lives of oddballs and outcasts, immigrants and artists, those whose stories are often left out of traditional history books, but whose labor and imagination made St. Louis the city it is today.
Quantum-engineered interband cascade photovoltaic devices

Quantum-engineered multiple stage photovoltaic (PV) devices are explored based on InAs/GaSb/AlSb interband cascade (IC) structures. These ICPV devices employ multiple discrete absorbers that are connected in series by widebandgap unipolar barriers using type-II heterostructure interfaces for facilitating carrier transport between cascade stages similar to IC lasers. The discrete architecture is beneficial for improving the collection efficiency and for spectral splitting by utilizing absorbers with different bandgaps. As such, the photo-voltages from each individual cascade stage in an ICPV device add together, creating a high overall open-circuit voltage, similar to conventional multi-junction tandem solar cells. Furthermore, photo-generated carriers can be collected with nearly 100% efficiency in each stage. This is because the carriers travel over only a single cascade stage, designed to be shorter than a typical diffusion length. The approach is of significant importance for operation at high temperatures where the diffusion length is reduced. Here, we will present our recent progress in the study of ICPV devices, which includes the demonstration of ICPV devices at room temperature and above with narrow bandgaps (e.g. 0.23 eV) and high open-circuit voltages.
Faultless disagreement, cognitive command, and epistemic peers

Relativism and contextualism are the most popular accounts of faultless disagreement, but Crispin Wright once argued for an account I call divergentism. According to divergentism, parties who possess all relevant information and use the same standards of assessment in the same context of utterance can disagree about the same proposition without either party being in epistemic fault, yet only one of them is right. This view is an alternative to relativism, indexical contextualism, and nonindexical contextualism, and has advantages over those views. Wright eventually abandoned this view in favor of relativism for reasons related to a conciliationist view of disagreement between epistemic peers. I argue that he gave up on divergentism too soon.
Distributed snow process modelling: An image processing approach

An approach to spatially distribute a snow process model by segmenting images of land cover, terrain and snow properties is reported. A small 1.7 ha study area with an existing database was selected for this preliminary evaluation. The methodology was carried out over a relatively flat valley bottom at Camp Grayling, Michigan. Meteorological measurements on two sides of the area showed only small differences, so uniform meteorological variables were assumed over the site. Initial snow cover conditions were reconstructed and were distributed over the area using snow maps and sparse snow pit measurements. One metre resolution terrain, soil, vegetation and snow type maps were individually processed into class maps. These layers were then combined to produce a segmented class map, where the attributes from the data layers were known for each class. A one-dimensional model of snow processes was run for each class. then the results were mapped back into images. Shallow snow conditions provided high sensitivity of ablation patterns to meteorological conditions over a 72 h period. The model performance was assessed by comparing predicted and observed ablation patterns. The error in total snow-covered area was less than 9%. However, the location errors were greater (predicted snow where no snow was observed and observed snow where no snow was predicted). Extensive error analysis was not justified because of the lack of multiple point measurements of snow properties.
Parents' Religious Heterogamy and Children's Well-Being

This study considers the impact of having parents of dissimilar faiths on children's well-being. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, we examine the hypothesis that parents' religious heterogamy has both direct and indirect negative effects on children's well-being. First, we find evidence that religious heterogamy is positively associated with marital conflict and negatively associated with religious participation. Second, our results suggest that children with religiously heterogamous parents are more likely to engage in marijuana use and underage drinking than children with religiously homogamous parents. However, these associations occur only in families where parents' religious heterogamy is a product of greater religious distance (e.g., one parent is not religious or both parents identify with different religions). Religiously heterogamous parents who affiliate with different Protestant groups report similar levels of marital conflict and religious participation as same-faith parents. In addition, the children of these parents report similar levels of delinquency as children of same-faith parents. We find no evidence that religious heterogamy is associated with children's self-esteem, life satisfaction, or grades in school.
Language Placement Tests in Ohio Colleges

Author's summary.— For graded language courses, student placement devices are used; questionnaire results in Ohio; one-fourth of colleges use Placement Tests. Diversified educational procedure makes traditional placement procedures less satisfactory.)
Estradiol fatty acid esters occur naturally in human blood

Treatment of nonpolar ether extracts of human female blood with mild alkali produced more immunoassayable estradiol than the unhydrolyzed extract. Analysis of the serum extracts showed that the substance which released immunoreactive estradiol after hydrolysis has chromatographic properties identical to those of fatty acid esters of estradiol esterified at carbon 17. The physiological role of these previously unknown endogenous esters might be inferred from their structural similarity to synthetic drugs used therapeutically for their prolonged estrogenic action.
An interesting rash: leucocytoclastic vasculitis with type 2 cryoglobulinaemia.

Cryoglobulinaemia is exceedingly difficult to manage and an appreciation of its insidious presentation is key for diagnosis and early intervention.
Genetic basis of abnormal B cell development.

Abstract A susceptibility gene in the MHC class III region may underlie the defective B-cell differentiation in familial IgA deficiency and common variable immunodeficiency. Mutations in Bruton's tyrosine kinase, immunoglobulin heavy chain and δ5/14.1 surrogate light chain loci disrupt B-cell development to cause profound antibody deficiency. Mutational, biochemical and transgenic studies offer insight into the function of these and other ‘antibody deficiency genes’.
Life events, war and adjustment: Lessons for the middle east

This article focused on traumatic stress and adjustment in the Middle East. Conservation of Resources (COR) stress theory was proposed as a template to explain the relationship between traumatic circumstances and subsequent adjustment. According to COR theory, moderate and major life events produce negative psychological, functional, and health sequelae to the extent that resource loss is experienced. Resource loss that is developmentally overwhelming, or chronic, or a threat to survival was proposed to produce extreme or prolonged adjustment difficulties. Conversely, the replenishment of resources was seen as alleviating psychological suffering. COR theory was applied broadly to children, adults, civilians, and military personnel.
Toxoplasma pneumonia in a cat with incongruous serological test results

A 12-year-old neutered male domestic short-haired cat was presented for rapid breathing, lethargy of two weeks duration and chronic weight loss. A diagnosis of toxoplasma-induced pneumonia was made based on clinical signs, laboratory data, radiology, immunoglobulin M (IgM) serology and isolation of the organism from a lung aspirate. A passive haemagglutination test to measure immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels against toxoplasma was negative. The reliability of agglutination tests, to accurately diagnose an acute toxoplasma infection is questioned. In acute infections the use of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for IgM may be more specific.
The LuxR-Type Regulator VpsT Negatively Controls the Transcription of rpoS, Encoding the General Stress Response Regulator, in Vibrio cholerae Biofilms

Cholera is a waterborne diarrheal disease caused by Vibrio cholerae strains of serogroups O1 and O139. Expression of the general stress response regulator RpoS and formation of biofilm communities enhance the capacity of V. cholerae to persist in aquatic environments. The transition of V. cholerae between free-swimming (planktonic) and biofilm life-styles is regulated by the second messenger cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP). We previously reported that increasing the c-di-GMP pool by overexpression of a diguanylate cyclase diminished RpoS expression. Here we show that c-di-GMP repression of RpoS expression is eliminated by deletion of the genes vpsR and vpsT, encoding positive regulators of biofilm development. To determine the mechanism of this regulation, we constructed a strain expressing a vpsT-FLAG allele from native transcription and translation signals. Increasing the c-di-GMP pool induced vpsT-FLAG expression. The interaction between VpsT-FLAG and the rpoS promoter was demonstrated by chromatin immunoprecipitation. Furthermore, purified VpsT interacted with the rpoS promoter in a c-di-GMP-dependent manner. Primer extension analysis identified two rpoS transcription initiation sites located 43 bp (P1) and 63 bp (P2) upstream of the rpoS start codon. DNase I footprinting showed that the VpsT binding site at the rpoS promoter overlaps the primary P1 transcriptional start site. Deletion of vpsT significantly enhanced rpoS expression in V. cholerae biofilms that do not make HapR. This result suggests that VpsT and c-di-GMP contribute to the transcriptional silencing of rpoS in biofilms prior to cells entering the quorum-sensing mode.
Plasmablastic lymphoma of the oral cavity: a rapidly progressive lymphoma associated with HIV infection

Plasmablastic lymphoma of the oral cavity is a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and was first described in 1997. We describe a case of plasmablastic lymphoma in an HIV-infected patient who presented with an expanding oral lesion and symptoms of a toothache. We review all cases of plasmablastic lymphoma that have been reported in the literature. Plasmablastic lymphoma is strongly associated with immunodeficiency, and most particularly, with HIV infection. The pathophysiological origin of plasmablastic lymphoma has not been fully characterised, but the presence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has often been documented in biopsy specimens, supporting a role for EBV in the pathogenesis of this lymphoma. The differential diagnosis for an expanding oral lesion includes both infectious and malignant processes. Biopsy is essential for making a correct and prompt diagnosis. Treatment usually involves chemotherapy, but antiretroviral therapy may also have an important role. Infectious disease clinicians should be aware of this newly described and increasingly encountered lymphoma, since it is prominently associated with immunosuppression and may be mistaken for other entities.