cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Inward Rectifier K+ Channels

Inward rectifier K+ channels (Kirs) act as a valve or a diode, allowing an inward current upon hyperpolarization but not allowing exit of K+ ions upon depolarization. The degree of rectification in the Kir channels is correlated with the binding affinity of the channel for blocking cations. Kir channels thus serve diverse and important roles throughout the human body and pose major challenges in the recognition of the molecular basis of Kir-mediated channelopathies. The genes for this family of potassium channels encode proteins ranging from ~360 to 500 amino acids. A comprehensive sequence analysis of K+ channels in Caenorhabditis elegans (CE), Drosophila melanogaster (DM), and mammalian genomes has been performed. Although the fundamental pore structure is the same in all members of the K+ channel family, other parts of the sequence indicate significant structural diversity. Phylogenetic analysis of the Kir genes grouped CE together, excluding the genes from the other two species, indicating that gene duplication occurred after the divergence of CE from the lineage-leading mammals and DM. Plants possess K+ channels that conduct primarily at negative voltages. The inward rectification of these K+ channels in plants is independent of intracellular magnesium, thus differing mechanistically from gating of Kir channels in the animal kingdom. Moreover, chimeras of plant and animal Kirs that contain the S1 to S4 segments of plants are activated by hyperpolarization, suggesting that plant Kirs have a membrane topology similar to that of eukaryotic Kv channels.
Investigating proximity-mediated catalysis by a protein kinase: how docking affects MAPK specificity and processivity (802.16)

To understand how MAP kinases phosphorylate their substrates we previously investigated the mechanism of Ets-1 phosphorylation by ERK2. Using pre-steady state kinetic approaches we showed that the ...
The Interaction of Spacecraft Cabin Atmospheric Quality and Water Processing System Performance

Although designed to remove organic contaminants from a variety of waste water streams, the planned U.S.- and present Russian-provided water processing systems onboard the International Space Station (ISS) have capacity limits for some of the more common volatile cleaning solvents used for housekeeping purposes. Using large quantities of volatile cleaning solvents during the ground processing and in-flight operational phases of a crewed spacecraft such as the ISS can lead to significant challenges to the water processing systems. To understand the challenges facing the management of water processing capacity, the relationship between cabin atmospheric quality and humidity condensate loading is presented. This relationship is developed as a tool to determine the cabin atmospheric loading that may compromise water processing system performance. A comparison of cabin atmospheric loading with volatile cleaning solvents from ISS, Mir, and Shuttle are presented to predict acceptable limits to maintain optimal water processing system performance.
The Value of Story Theory in Providing Culturally Sensitive Advanced Practice Nursing in Rural Appalachia

This paper is based on the premise that nurses come to terms with the realities of patients by forming an understanding of their cultural viewpoints through embracing the person’s story. The author presents her journey in coming to understand the importance of attending to the patient’s story in the delivery of advanced practice nursing. Highlights of the journey include: a reconstructed story of a women deeply immersed in the cultural and religious traditions of Appalachia; literature on Appalachian culture, religious practices, and beliefs; and story theory as a theoretical approach to guide culturally sensitive nursing practice.
Overexpression of the novel gene CIA7 in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (995.3)

Heavy metal pollution has become a significant environmental and public health problem that the world faces. C. reinhardtii is an excellent model organism that has often been used in studies of heavy metal tolerance. This alga contains the novel gene CIA7 that possibly encodes a protein that may play a role in metal binding. This gene was isolated from inorganic carbon acquisition mutants. By cloning and overexpressing CIA7 in C. reinhardtii, it can be determined if CIA7 is critical in C. reinhardtii’s metal toxicity tolerance. This gene of interest was first extracted from the alga and then amplified using PCR. Vectors pENTR™/D-TOPO® (Invitrogen) and psL72 plasmids were used for cloning CIA7 in E.coli. C.reinhardtii cells were then transformed through electroporation. Growth analysis between wild type C.reinhardtii D66 and transformants at different metal concentrations were done to determine the effect of CIA7 on C.reinhardtii under metal stress. If a link between this protein and heavy metal tolerance ...
Interactions of steroids with human placental cytochrome P-450 in the presence of carbon monoxide.

Abstract Spectral analyses of the carbon monoxide (CO) complex of human placental microsomal cytochrome P-450 revealed absorption maxima at 426 and 450 nm when NADPH (2×10 −4 M) was utilized as a reducing agent. Additional NADPH or NADH did not produce any further increases in the absorption maximum at 450 nm. A period of 10–15 minutes was required for the complete reduction. Various steroids were added to both sample and reference cuvettes to examine their interactions with the CO-cytochrome P-450 complex. The resulting spectral changes indicated that low concentrations of steroids (≃10 −7 M) such as androstenedione, 19-hydroxyandrostenedione, 19-oxoandrostenedione and testosterone completely eliminated the absorbance maxima at 450 nm while 19-norandrostenedione, 19-nortestosterone, pregnenolone and benzo[a]-pyrene did not eliminate this peak. Since ample time was allowed to reduce the cytochrome P-450 with NADPH, the observed interaction of steroids with cytochrome P-450 in the presence of CO does not represent an effect on reductase activity, but on the formation of the CO-cytochrome P-450 complex.
The race may be close but my horse is going to win: Wish fulfillment in the 1980 presidential election

Using data from the 1980 U.S. presidential election, we investigate the extent to which voter expectations about candidate electoral success and margin of victory are subject to systematic biases. In particular, we examine the extent to which candidate supporters overestimate their choice's likelihood of success. After finding a rather dramatic bias in the direction of “wishful thinking,” we review alternative explanations of this phenomenon, including a model based on nonrandom contact networks and one based on preference-related differences in expectations about exogenous variables that could affect the election outcome.
Rapid synthesis of fatty acid esters for use as potential food flavors

Lipase-catalyzed esterification has been performed in hexane to generate novel mixtures of fatty acid esters from specially chosen combinations of fatty acids and alcohols. By varying the alcohol and enzyme compositions in the enzymatic reactions, different ester mixtures were produced, which were further purified and analyzed for ester composition by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Depending on the combination of alcohols and enzymes used, the final ester mixture exhibited significant compositional variation. These mixtures could be manipulated at the synthesis step, thereby enabling a high degree of product control. Such manipulation over enzyme-catalyzed ester synthesis in mixtures may be useful in the preparation of ester flavors for use in the food industry.
The life and works of Giovanni Fontana.

title RIASSUNTO /title L'autore apporta un'ampia documentazione sulla vita ed opere dello scienziato veneziano del '400 Giovanni Fontana. Segue un catalogo di venti scritti a lui attribuiti, basato sull'esame dei manoscritti noti. Gli scritti sono classificati in tre sezioni: 1) nove opere esistenti, 2) nove opere menzionate dal Fontana, 3) due lavori di cui dubbia l'attribuzione al Fontana. Nel descrivere questi lavori, l'autore ha avuto cura di ordinarli e datarli.
Inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis by oleanane triterpenoid (CDDO-Me) in pancreatic cancer cells is associated with the suppression of hTERT gene expression and its telomerase activity

Methyl-2-cyano-3,12-dioxooleana-1,9(11)-dien-28-oate (CDDO-Me) is a multifunctional oleanane synthetic triterpenoid with potent anti-inflammatory and antitumorigenic properties. The mechanisms of the antisurvival and apoptosis-inducing activities of CDDO-Me and related derivatives of oleanolic acid have been defined; however, to date, no study has been carried out on the effect of CDDOs on human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene or telomerase activity. Here we report for the first time that inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis by CDDO-Me in pancreatic cancer cell lines is associated with the inhibition of hTERT gene expression, hTERT telomerase activity and a number of proteins that regulate hTERT expression and activity. Furthermore, abrogation or overexpression of hTERT protein altered the susceptibility of tumor cells to CDDO-Me. These findings suggest that telomerase (hTERT) is a relevant target of CDDO-Me in pancreatic cancer cells.
Homology and Divergence in Genetic Material of Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli

This chapter discusses the work that is being done on the problems related to evolution in bacteria—one concerned with similarities and the other with divergences in structure between the genetic materials of Salmonella typhimurium ( S . typhimurium ) and Escherichia coli ( E . coli ). Taxonomists classify Salmonella and Escherichia not only as different genera but as members of different tribes of the enteric family of bacteria. Therefore, if evolutionary differentiation in these bacteria was related to chromosomal rearrangements, as in Drosophila , rearrangements should be found frequently. It has been assumed that a lack of homology is responsible for the observed failures of incorporation of E . coli material into the S . typhimurium chromosome. The high degree of homology of gene arrangement observed in the two species can be explained by assuming that a common progenitor also had clusters that were responsible for retention of its gene arrangement in species derived from it.
Low-field critical current density in porous MgB2 powders

Abstract Porous MgB2 powders are comprised of an ensemble of irregularly shaped constituents. In this work we introduce a model for the critical current density in such powders in the presence of a low external field H (H 0.5 ⩽ n ⩽ 1.0 , where the limiting exponents n = 0.5 and n = 1.0 correspond to vortex configurations within a powder-constituent of a linear array and a two-dimensional lattice, respectively. For the calculations, we assume for the powder constituent shape a cylinder of arbitrary height and radius, where an external field and a single pinned vortex are aligned in parallel to the cylinder’s axis. The exact fields of this configuration are derived. The size-parameters dependence implies enhanced critical current density for a cigar-like shape powder-constituent aligned with the field, and of radius smaller than about three times the penetration depth. These conclusions are consistent with pertaining data.
The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia

Michael J. Benton, Mikhail A. Shishkin, David M. Unwin, and Evgenii N. Kurochkin (Editors), 2000, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 696 p. (Hardcover $140.00) ISBN: 0-521-555476-4. This is a weighty and fairly valuable book. Rather, I would say, it is two books, either of which could, and perhaps should, stand alone. The first book, the more modest of the two, with 11 chapters and 210 pages, deals with the Permo-Triassic sediments of the Ural Mountains and their vertebrate fauna. These deposits have been known for the better part of two centuries. The second book is much the larger of the two, comprising 19 chapters and 440 pages. This part deals with the Cretaceous faunas of Mongolia, the Republics of the Former Soviet Union (FSU; also designated in the book as Middle Asia), and Siberia. Sadly, Russia itself nearly lacks dinosaurs, the two exceptions being the poorly known hadrosaurs, Nipponosaurus from Sakhalin Island and Mandschurosaurus from the Amur River region of Siberia. Modest dinosaurian remains are known from several of the republics of the FSU (especially Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan). Dinosaurs were discovered in Mongolia by the American Museum of Natural History expeditions beginning in the early 1920s. The book is ambitious on several accounts. There are 40 authors, 22 of whom are Russian or Mongolian, and only four of whom are American. Two of the editors (Mikhail Shishkin, Evgenii Kurochkin) are Russian, and the two Brits, the ubiquitous Michael Benton, and David Unwin, are both Russian speaking and thorough-going habitues of Moscow and the FSU. The enterprise has a decidedly Russian flavor to it. This has the benefit of making a very important body of literature known to an all-too-ignorant readership in North America (starting with me). There is extremely valuable introductory material by Michael Benton that includes a proposed transliteration of …
Development and clinical application of COX-2-selective inhibitors for the treatment of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are among the most prevalent chronic illnesses and leading causes of disability in the United States. The clinical symptoms of OA and RA, pain and inflammation, are biologic processes mediated in part by prostanoids-prostaglandins, prostacyclin, and thromboxanes. The intermediate enzymes responsible for prostaglandin biosynthesis, cyclooxygenase (COX)-1 and COX-2, have been the target of arthritis therapy using nonselective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). An understanding of the biochemistry and molecular pharmacology of COX enzymes has allowed for the development of agents that specifically inhibit COX-2. COX-2-selective inhibitors have efficacy in OA and RA that is similar to that of NSAIDs but with a lower potential for upper gastrointestinal injury, a serious side effect of nonselective NSAIDs. COX-2-selective inhibitors have been increasingly used in the treatment of OA and RA as well as other inflammatory arthropathies including ankylosing spondylitis and gout. Clinical trials with two currently available drugs, rofecoxib and celecoxib, have demonstrated efficacy comparable to nonselective NSAIDs but with a lower risk of gastrointestinal side effects. In general, these drugs are well tolerated in patients with aspirin-sensitive asthma. Rofecoxib is well tolerated in patients with sulfonamide sensitivities; further studies are needed to fully characterize the utility of celecoxib in these patients. Clinical experience shows that because of their improved GI safety, rofecoxib and celecoxib, and newer COX-2-selective inhibitors (valdecoxib, etoricoxib, parecoxib), represent a significant advance in the treatment of arthritis and other related inflammatory conditions.
Outcome after hypogastric artery bypass and embolization during endovascular aneurysm repair

Background Multiple strategies have been devised to extend the applicability of endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) in patients with common iliac artery (CIA) aneurysms. This study was designed to examine outcome in patients undergoing EVAR with either hypogastric artery embolization or common iliac artery bifurcation advancement by hypogastric bypass. Methods A retrospective review of all patients undergoing EVAR since the inception of our program (1997-2006) was performed. Data were prospectively collected in an EVAR registry. Patients with large common iliac artery aneurysms (≥20 mm) and patent hypogastric arteries not amenable to a cuff or "bell bottom" technique were treated with coil embolization (EMBO) and/or hypogastric revascularization (BYPASS). The perioperative and mid-term outcomes were compared with the larger group of patients undergoing EVAR that did not require either treatment (CTRL). Bilateral common iliac artery aneurysms were treated with unilateral coil embolization and contralateral bypass. Results Common iliac artery aneurysms were present in 137 (31%) of the 444 patients undergoing EVAR, but only 57 (42%) of 137 required direct management. This included hypogastric artery embolization alone (EMBO) in 31 or hypogastric artery revascularization (BYPASS) in 26, with and without contralateral embolization (both revascularization/embolization in 46%). The procedure length (CTRL, 159 ± 72 minutes; EMBO, 153 ± 39 minutes; BYPASS, 283 ± 75 minutes) and estimated blood loss (CTRL, 251 ± 313 mL; EMBO, 233 ± 158 mL; BYPASS, 400 ± 287 mL) were significantly greater ( P Conclusions Despite its increased complexity, hypogastric artery bypass is an excellent alternative to embolization in terms of patency and freedom from ischemic symptoms for patients with large common iliac artery aneurysms undergoing EVAR.
P2-355: Trimer Aβ42 gene vaccine elicits a high level of antibody production when delivered with the GAL4-UAS system and the gene gun

micromolar concentrations. Immunization of young adult mice with hIVIG at 1g/kg i.p. or i.v. resulted in the formation of neutralizing cross-species antibodies as expected, but tolerance developed after both ways of administration in 4-6 weeks. Intraperitoneal administration of hIVIG once weekly for 14 weeks resulted in significant accumulation of human IgG immunoreactivity in the hippocampus of APP/PS1 mice and in some cases opsonization of amyloid plaques. Conclusions: The data suggest that hIVIG contains antibodies that are able to bind Abeta and induce amyloid degradation if provided at high enough concentrations. Development of crossspecies immune response and blood-brain barrier do not prevent testing these effects in transgenic amyloid producing mice also in vivo.
Endogenous codeine: Autocrine regulator of catecholamine release from chromaffin cells

In addition to the catecholamines (CAs) dopamine (DA), norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E), perifused chromaffin cells of the eel secrete codeine and morphine. In controls, the release of NE and E is strongly correlated, while there is no correlation with DA. Low, physiological concentrations of codeine (500 pg/ml) reduce the release of NE and E, while 8-fold higher concentrations stimulate an instant, transitory release of all three CAs. Much higher concentration of codeine (100 ng/ml), corresponding to the therapeutically effective range in the human, again reduce the release of NE and E. Physiological and very high concentrations of morphine have no clear effect on CA release, while an intermediate concentration (38 ng/ml) increases the secretion of all three CAs. The opiate antagonist naloxone lowers the basal CA secretion and prevents the morphine-induced CA increase. During naloxone perifusion, a normally non-effective concentration (40 ng/ml) of codeine reduces the CA release. It appears that codeine is an autocrine regulator which suppresses CA release via naloxone-insensitive receptors, and stimulates CA release via opiate receptor(s). Co-released morphine may modulate the action of codeine.
Emotion Work, Feeling Rules, and Social Structure

This essay proposes an emotion-management perspective as a lens through which to inspect the self, interaction, and structure. Emotion, it is argued, can be and ofter is subject to acts of management. The individual often works on inducing or inhibiting feelings so as to render them "appropriate" to a situation. The emotion-management perspective draws on an interactive account of emotion. It differs from the dramaturgical perspective on the one hand and the psychoanalytic perspective on the other. It allows us to inspect at closer range than either of those perspectives the relation among emotive experience, emotion management, feeling rules, and ideology. Feeling rules are seen as the side of ideology that deals with emotion and feeling. Emotion management is the type of work it takes to cope with feeling rules. Meaning-making jobs, more common in the middle class, put more premium on the individual's capacity to do emotion work. A reexamination of class differences in child rearing suggest that middle-...
Evolvability of the Primate Pelvic Girdle

The ilium and ischiopubic bones of the pelvis arise from different regulatory pathways, and as a result, they may be modular in their organization such that features on one bone may be morphologically integrated with each other, but not with features on the other pelvic bone. Modularity at this gross level of organization can act to increase the ability of these structures to respond to selection pressures (i.e., their evolvability). Furthermore, recent work has suggested that the evolution of the human pelvis was facilitated by low levels of integration and high levels of evolvability relative to other African apes. However, the extent of morphological integration and modularity of the bones of the pelvic girdle is not well understood, especially across the entire order of primates. Therefore, the hypothesis that the ilium and ischiopubis constitute separate modules was tested using three-dimensional landmark data that were collected from 752 pelves from 35 primate species. In addition, the hypothesis that the human pelvis demonstrates greatest evolvability was tested by comparing it to all other primates. The results demonstrate that regardless of phylogeny and locomotor function, the primate pelvis as a whole is characterized by low levels of overall integration and high levels of evolvability. In addition, the results support the developmental hypothesis of separate ilium and ischiopubis modular units. Finally, all primates, including humans, apparently share a common pattern of integration, modularity, and evolvability in the pelvis.
Evidence of deontic reasoning in 3- and 4-year-old children.

Deontic reasoning is reasoning about what one may, ought, or ought not do in a given set of circumstances. Virtually all of our social institutions and child-rearing practices presume the capacity to reason about deontic concepts, such as what is permitted, obligated, or prohibited. Despite this, very little is known about the development of deontic reasoning. Two experiments were conducted that contrasted children’s reasoning performance on deontic and indicative reasoning tasks (i.e., the reduced array selection version of the Wason card selection task). Like adults, children as young as 3 years of age were found to adopt a violation-detecting strategy more often when reasoning about the deontic case than when reasoning about the indicative case. These results indicate that violation detection emerges as an effective deontic reasoning very early in human development.
Computerphobia: Causes and Cures

(1983). Computerphobia: Causes and Cures. Action in Teacher Education: Vol. 5, Technological Literacy, pp. 23-26.
Two-Part Reconstruction With Noisy-Sudocodes

We develop a two-part reconstruction framework for signal recovery in compressed sensing (CS), where a fast algorithm is applied to provide partial recovery in Part 1, and a CS algorithm is applied to complete the residual problem in Part 2. Partitioning the reconstruction process into two complementary parts provides a natural trade-off between runtime and reconstruction quality. To exploit the advantages of the two-part framework, we propose a Noisy-Sudocodes algorithm that performs two-part reconstruction of sparse signals in the presence of measurement noise. Specifically, we design a fast algorithm for Part 1 of Noisy-Sudocodes that identifies the zero coefficients of the input signal from its noisy measurements. Many existing CS algorithms could be applied to Part 2, and we investigate approximate message passing (AMP) and binary iterative hard thresholding (BIHT). For Noisy-Sudocodes with AMP in Part 2, we provide a theoretical analysis that characterizes the trade-off between runtime and reconstruction quality. In a 1-bit CS setting where a new 1-bit quantizer is constructed for Part 1 and BIHT is applied to Part 2, numerical results show that the Noisy-Sudocodes algorithm improves over BIHT in both runtime and reconstruction quality.
Coalition Strategy and the Pirates of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea

The April 2009 seizure of the U.S.-flagged Motor Vessel Maersk Alabama and its twenty American crew members off the coast of Somalia should signal a change in counterpiracy strategy, away from a focus on major warship deployments by distant state major maritime powers, and toward development of a regional maritime security force constructed around numerous smaller patrol craft. Outside powers should focus on further advancing new international law and policy frameworks, which have become the most significant force multipliers for developing maritime security and offer the most effective approach to counterpiracy in the Horn of Africa. Complementing this effort will require a long-term program of regional maritime-security capacity building to support implementation of the new law and policy approaches. Piracy flourishes at the seams of globalization because jurisdiction is unclear and pirates exploit the inherent isolation of individual vessels and nations. Regional powers in the Horn of Africa have under...
Metal-molecule contacts

Metal-molecule contacts play a key role in determining the current-voltage ( I - V ) characteristics of a molecular junction. This article reviews specific ways that metal-molecule contacts can be controlled to impart a desired functionality, and highlights some unanswered questions.
Noise in Neural Populations Accounts for Errors in Working Memory

Errors in short-term memory increase with the quantity of information stored, limiting the complexity of cognition and behavior. In visual memory, attempts to account for errors in terms of allocation of a limited pool of working memory resources have met with some success, but the biological basis for this cognitive architecture is unclear. An alternative perspective attributes recall errors to noise in tuned populations of neurons that encode stimulus features in spiking activity. I show that errors associated with decreasing signal strength in probabilistically spiking neurons reproduce the pattern of failures in human recall under increasing memory load. In particular, deviations from the normal distribution that are characteristic of working memory errors and have been attributed previously to guesses or variability in precision are shown to arise as a natural consequence of decoding populations of tuned neurons. Observers possess fine control over memory representations and prioritize accurate storage of behaviorally relevant information, at a cost to lower priority stimuli. I show that changing the input drive to neurons encoding a prioritized stimulus biases population activity in a manner that reproduces this empirical tradeoff in memory precision. In a task in which predictive cues indicate stimuli most probable for test, human observers use the cues in an optimal manner to maximize performance, within the constraints imposed by neural noise.
RECEPTIVITY TO RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIVERSITY

This paper describes a study of receptivity to diversity suggesting that in three groups (ns = 9, 10, and 6) the graduate students who showed more receptive behavioral patterns tended to take more initiative and to be more engaged in networking relationships and also may show more empathetic behavior and more self-control. Opportunities for education and training programs are suggested if data from larger samples are consistent.
Building the web server for a web systems class

One major element in IT education is teaching many students how to develop and maintain Web applications, which presents a sizable challenge for universities that standard business environments do not encounter. Each student must have a separate place for storing HTML, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, MySQL, and JSP web systems on the server. As a result, multiple programs must be able to run with separate user spaces. This paper discusses how to design and build a single server to solve this unique problem.The proposed solution uses the Linux operating system to host the server environment, with Apache 1.3 as the base web server and Tomcat as the JSP solution. The paper describes the details of installing the web server and allocating space for each user to store their web pages. In particular, this paper demonstrates the methods and challenges associated with multi-user MySQL and Tomcat installations. The server is designed to let the students design and build web systems without the equipment and administrative overhead of maintaining separate servers for each student. It also gives the students a secure place to develop web applications as part of their IT education. The paper also discusses the administration of the server including adding users to the system.
Handwritten document image database construction and retrieval system

This paper describes an off-line handwritten document data collection effort conducted at CEDAR and discusses systems that manage the document image data. We introduce the CEDAR letter, discuss its completeness and then describe the specification of the CEDAR letter image database consisting of writer data and features obtained from a handwriting sample, statistically representative of the U.S. population. We divide the document image and information management system into four systems: (1) acquisition, (2) archiving, (3) indexing and retrieval and (4) display systems. This paper discusses the issues raised by constructing the CEDAR letter database and by its potential usefulness to document image analysis, recognition, and identification fields.© (2000) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Water-soluble copolymers: 21. Copolymers of acrylamide with 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanedimethylammonium chloride: Synthesis and characterization

Abstract The copolymerization of acrylamide (AM) with 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanedimethylammonium chloride (AMPDAC) has been studied in the range from 40 to 90% AM in the feed. The value of r 1 r 2 has been determined to be 0.19 for the AM-AMPDAC pair. The copolymer compositions have been determined from elemental analysis and 13 C n.m.r. The molecular weights of the copolymers were measured by low-angle laser light scattering, and ranged from 1.7–3.6 × 10 6 . Furthermore, the molecular weights were found to be relatively unaffected by monomer feed ratios. The copolymer microstructures, including run numbers and sequence distributions, were calculated from the reactivity ratios. These model structures are utilized for assessment of structure/dilute solution property relationships reported in a subsequent paper in this series.
Ethiopia in the World Economy: Trade, Private Capital Flows, and Migration

Economic globalization can be evaluated with reference to at least three dimensions: trade, private capital flows, and migration. For each of these dimensions, pathways through which economic globalization can alleviate or contribute to poverty can be identified. This paper makes a preliminary examination of globalization and poverty in Ethiopia, one of the world's poorest countries. Ethiopia's integration with the world economy has specific features: Ethiopia is highly dependent on the exports of a few goods, imports many armaments, is largely excluded from global foreign direct investment flows, benefits from large inflows of remittances, and derives few benefits from the evolving global regime of intellectual property. Despite a number of negative trends with regard to globalization and poverty, there is room for small-win policies that would enhance the role of globalization in supporting poverty alleviation.
Ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery and the risk of shunt infection in patients with hydrocephalus: long-term single institution experience.

Objective Infection remains the most significant complication of ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery and the reported rates of cerebrospinal fluid shunt infection vary widely across studies in patients with hydrocephalus. The objective of this study is to review and evaluate the infections complicating ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery in patients with hydrocephalus. Methods Patients who underwent ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery for hydrocephalus between 1961 and 2010 were included. Medical charts, operative reports, imaging studies, and clinical follow-up evaluations were reviewed and analyzed retrospectively. Results A total of 1015 patients with hydrocephalus who underwent ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery were included. The mean and median follow-up was 9.2 and 6.5 years, respectively. The median age of the patients at the time of ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement was 41.6 years. Pediatric patients ( P Conclusions Infection remains the most serious complication of ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery. The findings of this retrospective study show that gender, age, and etiology of hydrocephalus significantly correlated independently with the incidence of infection. Prospective studies are needed to assess the observed associations between the risk factors and incidence of infection in hydrocephalus patients treated with ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery.
Life stage and motives for television use

Do motives for using TV vary by viewer's age? Mass communication literature suggests that TV plays an important role in the life of younger and older persons in American society, but has not investigated how motives for viewing vary by age of the viewer or what needs are satisfied by viewing. A systematic random sample of telephone households in the Carbondale, DeSoto, and Murphysboro area of Southern Illinois provided 140 interviews with adults aged eighteen to eighty-seven. Life stage was related to five motives for using TV (to learn things, to forget, to overcome loneliness, to pass time when bored, and to find something to talk about). All but the forget/bored motive were positively correlated with age.
Growth and morphological response of cucumber seedlings to supplemental red and blue photon flux ratios under varied solar daily light integrals

Abstract High intensity light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have the potential to be used as supplemental lighting technology in greenhouses. However, LED light quality requirements of greenhouse crops grown when supplementing the solar spectrum are unknown. In this study, to find the requirements, cucumber ( Cucumis sativus L. cv. Cumlaude) seedlings were grown in a greenhouse with and without supplemental LED lighting (PPF: 54 ± 1.1 μmol m −2 s −1 ) at varied blue (400–500 nm with the peak at 455 nm) and red (600–700 nm with the peak at 661 nm) photon flux (PF) ratios (B:R ratios) under different solar daily light integrals (DLI). The treatments were 0B:100R% (54 μmol m −2 s −1 red PF), 4B:96R% (2.3 and 52 μmol m −2 s −1 blue and red PF, respectively), 16B:84R% (8.5 and 46.2 μmol m −2 s −1 blue and red PF, respectively), and a control without supplemental lighting. The solar DLIs during the experiment were 5.2 ± 1.2 and 16.2 ± 5.3 mol m −2 d −1 created inside a greenhouse using shade screen. Regardless of B:R ratio, morphological and growth parameters of the seedlings were all improved under supplemental LED lighting compared to the no-supplemental-light control. Under high DLI conditions, no significant differences were found for any parameters between the different B:R ratios. Under low DLI, chlorophyll concentration increased with increasing B:R ratio (i.e., increasing blue PF without increasing photosynthetic photon flux, PPF) of the supplemental lighting. Dry mass, leaf number, and leaf area decreased with increasing B:R ratio under low DLI conditions. The reduction in dry mass and leaf number were attributed to the reduction in leaf area. Leaf net photosynthetic rate measured under ambient CO 2 , ambient temperature, and 1000 μmol m −2 s −1 PPF (light source: tungsten halogen lamp) also showed no difference among treatments of B:R ratios, indicating that B:R ratio treatments did not cause any changes in plant photosynthetic apparatus. When used for supplemental lighting in the greenhouse, use of 100% red LED is preferred for cucumber seedlings, and additional blue LED was not beneficial.
1913 Russian National Income—Some Insights into Russian Economic Development

Despite the considerable research devoted to laying the empirical foundations of the pre-Soviet (Russian) and Soviet economies, little is known about the distribution of national income by end use during the former period. Rather, attention has been centered on measuring the magnitudes and rates of growth of Russian GNP and its subsectors, especially industry, by sector of origin.' Such research has established that industrial growth after 1885 was quite rapid both relative to past performance and by international standards, that GNP growth was seriously retarded by the stagnation of the agricultural sector, and that the Russian industrial structure still possessed most of the typical features of an underdeveloped and backward economy as late as 1913. Left unanswered by extant research, however, are many issues of Russian development strategy and the role of foreign capital, which cannot be dealt with unless the distribution of national income by final expenditure is known. This paper reports on the author's estimates of 1913 Russian net national product and national income by end use for empire and U.S.S.R. territory in current market prices and attempts to draw some conclusions concerning Russian industrialization policy. The details of my calculations are described in an unpublished appendix (available upon request from the author),2 which should provide some feel
DNA sequences repaired at pachytene exhibit strong homology among distantly related higher plants

Moderately repetitive DNA sequences in Lilium (cv Enchantment) which undergo a meiotic-specific repair synthesis during pachytene (P-DNA) were previously shown to exist as families of very low internal sequence divergence. The present study concerns P-DNA sequence preservation among higher plants. The relative abundance of these sequences in a variety of plant species and their divergence relative to Enchantment P-DNA was determined through C0t analysis and thermal denaturation of hybrid duplexes. Nearly all of the P-DNA sequence families of Enchantment were found to be present in the genomes of a number of monocot species and the dicot Vicia faba. Sequence content is highly conserved, with less than 6% divergence between Lilium and distantly related species such as Zea mays and Secale cereale. However, the number of repeats per P-DNA family varies considerably in different species, being particularly low among the Poales. P-DNA differs from most high thermal stability (HTS) sequence families of Enchantment which, although exhibiting a high degree of internal homology, are not present as repetitive DNA in the genomes of the other species examined. For most HTS families, the lack of internal divergence probably reflects their fairly recent introduction into the moderately repetitive DNA class, while P-DNA sequences represent evolutionarily ancient families which are the products of strong selective pressure for an indispensable meiotic function.
A local network of mini and microcomputers for experiment support

Abstract A network of mini and microcomputers has been constructed and put into service (at the Iowa State Computation Center) to support the use of personal and microcomputers in experiment control and data acquisition. The communication for the network is provided by a recirculating loop operating at an effective bit rate of 3.088 × 10 6 bits/sec. Two modes of communication are supported by the loop. Communication can be from dispersed stations to a central station or from one general purpose station to another. The existing central facility consists of an interfaced PDP 11/34 with a UNIX operating system and 120 × 10 6 bytes of disk storage. Each centrally communicating station supports eight Commodore PETs which serve as stand-alone personal computers, as terminals on the UNIX system, or as personal computers with extended disk storage provided via the net. The central facility provides compilers, cross assemblers, language, and other support in addition to disk storage.
Identification and Characterization of the Pectic Enzymes of the McFarlin Cranberry

SUMMARY Endo-polygalacturonase activity was found in cranberry proteins. Viscosity measurements showed that the hydrolysis of pectins with both high and low methoxyl content occurred on addition of a protein dialysate to pectin solutions. The use of a phenol binding agent in the enzyme preparation was necessary to obtain a high hydrolytic activity. Higher activity was noted with citrus pectins than cranberry pectins. Optimum activity was found at pH 5.0 for cranberry polygalacturonase. Activity was destroyed after 35 min of heating at 100°C. Up to 0.6 M NaCl gave no significant effect on cranberry polygalacturonase activity at pH 5.0. Cranberry pectin esterase activity was low when compared to strawberry and tomato pectin esterase. The optimum pH value for pectin esterase was 7.5, and the enzyme was inactivated when heated for 5 min at 100°C. When pectin solutions were treated with NaCl, optimum pectin esterase activity occurred at 0.15 M concentration.
Treating open space as an urban amenity

Abstract In “the welfare economics of city bigness”, George Tolley asserts that the virtual price of amenities can be used to judge the efficiency of a urban spatial land use patterns. Expanding this test to open space amenities is not straightforward because those amenities are especially difficult to characterize. Bockstael and Irwin [Economics and the land use—environment link. In: Tietenberg, T., Folmer, H. (Eds.), International Yearbook of Environmental and Resource Economics, 2000/2001. Edward Edgar, Cheltenhan, UK, 2000] suggest that open space amenities and their virtual prices depend on whether surrounding land uses are fixed or adjustable. This paper estimates hedonic price functions over nearly 30 years to evaluate, whether the distinctions between fixed and adjustable land uses help in measuring the value of open space amenities.
High linoleic acid diets ameliorate diabetic nephropathy in rats.

The value of high polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) diets in preventing diabetic nephropathy in rats was studied. Diabetes was induced by intravenous injection of streptozotocin (SZ), 65 mg/kg. Rats were divided in four groups fed diets containing 11 % fat for 38 weeks. Dietary fat derived from four sources: beef tallow (BT; rich in saturated fatty acids), evening primrose oil (EPO; rich in gammalinolenic [GLA] and linoleic acids [LA]), safflower oil (SO; rich in LA), and fish oil (F0; rich in eicosapentaenoic [EPA] and docosahexaenoic [DHA] acids). Ultralente insulin was administered every other day to maintain the blood glucose levels between 11.1 and 22.2 mmol/L (200 and 400 mg/dL). The diets prepared with EPO and SO had a clear beneficial effect on proteinuria, glomerular sclerosis, and tubular abnormalities, as compared with BT. Both diets also increased the ratio of renal cortical production of 6-keto-PGF,a to thromboxane B 2 (TXB 2 ), the stable metabolites of PGI 2 and TXA 2 , respectively. They did not induce significant changes in plasma lipid composition. The FO diet did not have an effect on renal disease, but decreased plasma lipids and inhibited eicosanoid synthesis by platelets and kidney cortex. FO feeding was associated with a lowered 6-keto-PGF 1α /TXB 2 ratio. It is concluded that high LA diets are protective in this model of diabetic nephropathy. The effect may be secondary to modifications of the eicosanoid balance. Diets containing FO have a beneficial effect on plasma lipids in this model.
The present status of the IgM fluorescent antibody technique in the diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis

The IgM fluorescent toxoplasma antibody test was positive in 11 cases of suspect congenital toxoplasmosis. The diagnosis was established by findings at autopsy or by demonstration of persistence of toxoplasma antibodies. IgM antibodies were also demonstrable in infants with asymptomatic congenital toxoplasmosis in whom this infection would not ordinarily be suspected. The problem of positive IgM fluorescent antibody titers in infants who in later life do not have serologic evidence of congenital toxoplasmosis is discussed, as is the problem of obtaining sufficient volumes of a fluorescein-tagged antiserum to human IgM to allow for ready availability of this method. Automation of the fluorescent antibody test has been successful and should allow for the development of a screening program to detect congenital infections in the newborn.
Endowing human pancreatic ribonuclease with toxicity for cancer cells.

Onconase® is an amphibian protein that is now in Phase III clinical trials as a cancer chemotherapeutic. Human pancreatic ribonuclease (RNase 1) is homologous to Onconase® but is not cytotoxic. Here, ERDD RNase 1, which is the L86E/N88R/G89D/R91D variant of RNase 1, is shown to have conformational stability and ribonucleolytic activity similar to that of the wild-type enzyme but >103-fold less affinity for the endogenous cytosolic ribonuclease inhibitor protein. Most significantly, ERDD RNase 1 is toxic to human leukemia cells. The addition of a non-native disulfide bond to ERDD RNase 1 not only increases the conformational stability of the enzyme but also increases its cytotoxicity such that its IC50 value is only 8-fold greater than that of Onconase®. Thus, only a few amino acid substitutions are necessary to make a human protein toxic to human cancer cells. This finding has significant implications for human cancer chemotherapy.
SOME ANTAGONISTIC EFFECTS OF "HEMATOPORPHYRIN" AND PROTOPORPHYRIN IN MICE.

SummaryOf 18 compounds studied, only protoporphyrin significantly protected mice injected with lethal doses of “hematoporphyrin.” Results of separate experiments with 277 mice showed (a) 14% survival in 76 mice which received “Hp” and vehicle alone, (b) 47% survival in 90 mice injected with protoporphyrin in addition to the “Hp” and kept in the dark, and (c) 30% survival in 109 mice injected with both porphyrins and kept in a room illuminated with fluorescent lights. The marked fall in total body oxygen uptake associated with “Hp” administration was decreased considerably by administration of protoporphyrin.
Have hybrid procedures replaced open aortic arch reconstruction in high-risk patients? A comparative study of elective open arch debranching with endovascular stent graft placement and conventional elective open total and distal aortic arch reconstruction.

Objective Open total arch procedures have been associated with significant morbidity and mortality in patients with multiple comorbidities. Aortic arch debranching with endovascular graft placement, the hybrid arch procedure, has emerged as a surgical option in this patient population. This study evaluates the outcomes of a contemporary comparative series from one institution of open total arch and hybrid arch procedures for extensive aortic arch pathology. Methods From July 2000 to March 2009, 1196 open arch procedures were performed, including 45 elective and 7 emergency open total arch procedures. From 2005 to 2009, 64 hybrid arch procedures were performed: 37 emergency type A dissections and 27 elective open arch debranchings. Hemiarch procedures were excluded. Results The hybrid arch cohort was significantly older ( P = .008) and had greater predominance of atherosclerotic pathophysiology ( P P = .05). Conclusions Hybrid arch procedures provide a safe alternative to open repair. This study suggests the hybrid arch approach has a lower mortality for high-risk patients aged more than 75 years. This extends the indication for the hybrid arch approach in patients with complex aortic arch pathology previously considered prohibitively high risk for conventional open total arch repair.