cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
MITOCHONDRIA-TARGETED ANTIOXIDANT AMELIORATES DIET-INDUCED DIABETES AND DIASTOLIC DYSFUNCTION

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) accounts for half the cases of HF with similar mortality to heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Although the mechanism is unknown, high prevalence of obesity and diabetes has been associated with HFpEF. The aim of this study was to
Photolysis of Phloxine B in Water and Aqueous Solutions

Phloxine B (2′,4′,5′,7′-tetrabromo-4,5,6,7-tetrachlorofluorescein disodium salt) as a potential photoactive insecticide was rapidly photodegraded in water under various light sources. Two major photolytic products characterized were 2′,4′,5′-tribromo-4,5,6,7-tetrachlorofluorescein and 4′,5′-dibromo-4,5,6,7-tetrachlorofluorescein. The photolysis rates of phloxine B were influenced by various factors including salts in medium, sample pH, and light sources. Half-lives (t½) of phloxine B spiked in different water samples and 2% NaCl solution at 29 ± 1°C ranged from 0.70 to 1.28, 26.3 to 115, and 14.1 to 46.2 hours under 254 nm, 365 nm, and cool white fluorescent lights, respectively. Half-lives of phloxine B in tap, stream, or seawater in a beaker were from 10 to 13 min under sunlight at ambient air temperature. In a range of buffer pH 6–8 at 29 ± 1°C, phloxine B photodegraded slightly faster in acidic solution than in basic solution. The photolysis t½ of phloxine B at 29 ± 1°C was 25, 32, 128, and 755 min in the buffered NaF, NaCl, NaBr, and NaI solutions, respectively. The t½ of phloxine B was 31 min when phloxine B was dissolved in the sodium phosphate buffer as control. Sodium iodide and ammonium iodide photostabilized phloxine B 24 and 27 folds, respectively, when it was compared with the buffer control.
A small source for multiply charged heavy ions

Abstract A small, compact ion source of the P.I.G. type is described, with a pulsed magnetic field and end extraction. The source has been tested with N, CO, Ne, A, Kr and Xe and ion spectra are presented. Pulsed currents of C 2+ , N 3+ , N 3+ , A 3+ , Kr 3+ and Xe 4+ to Xe 6+ between a few tens and one hundred μA or more were obtained, with an extraction aperture of 0.75 mm diameter. Although the relative yields of multiply charged ions are lower than from ion sources with side extraction, the described source has certain advantages as to its small size and low total power consumption.
Corrosion of type 6061-T6 aluminum in mercury and mercury vapor

Abstract To examine potential corrosion of aluminum maintenance equipment in environments periodically containing mercury vapor and droplets of liquid mercury, c-rings of 6061-T6 aluminum have been exposed to a series of screening tests. The tests included vapor phase exposures as well as immersion of stressed and unstressed c-rings in the as-received condition and with chemical treatments to modify the passive film. Test conditions included the temperature range 0–160 °C, times of 3–30 days and, in addition to liquid Hg, various Hg vapor environments including residual air, residual helium and condensing conditions. The results indicate 6061-T6 is quite susceptible to pitting and cracking when immersed in Hg for even a brief time, but at least one chemical treatment was shown to improve corrosion resistance under immersion conditions. Type 6061-T6 was found to be essentially immune to vapor phase corrosion for the conditions examined, with only very minor development of pits or pit precursors.
Normalization of interface optical phonon modes in cylindrical quantum wires with semiconductor-semiconductor and metal-semiconductor boundary conditions

Abstract In this work, analytical solutions for the interface longitudinal optical (LO) phonons in cylindrical polar-semiconductor quantum wires are normalized by the standard quantization condition. Two cases are considered: polar-semiconductor quantum wires encapsulated in another polar-semiconductor and polar-semiconductor quantum wires encapsulated in metal. For the case of metal encapsulation it is demonstrated that unwanted inelastic interface LO phonon scattering is eliminated since the interface modes do not satisfy the appropriate boundary conditions.
Tracking the errant cell after the atomic bombings: What went wrong?

Epidemiological data collected after the atomic-bomb blasts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have established a link between radiation exposure and human cancer development and are the major source of information for current radiation-induced cancer risk assessment. To determine the mechanistic basis for radiation carcinogenesis, retrospective molecular analyses of archival hepatocellular carcinoma tissues from the atomic-bomb survivors were conducted. The tumor suppressor genes p53 and M6P/IGF2r were examined. HCC cases had either p53 mutations or M6P/IGF2r mutations, but rarely both. Moreover, the frequency of cases with M6P/ IGF2r mutations actually decreased with dose, while those for p53 increased. This implies two independent selection processes leading to liver cancer and that in radiation-induced HCC tumors the spectrum of molecular changes is different from that in background tumors.
Annual and Multi-Year Variability in Ozone Expected Exceedances

Ozone data from 184 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for the time period 1979-1989 were analyzed to: (1) put the large number of O3 exceedances observed in 1988 into perspective, and (2) determine if increasing the averaging time used to calculate the O3 NAAdS violation rate would significantly decrease the number of MSAs that experienced a change in their annual attainment status. The analyses indicate that 1988 had more exceedances in more MSAs than any other year, but 1979-1981 had more O3 NAAQS violations. The analyses also indicate that perceived attainment status flip-flops are significantly reduced by increasing the averaging period from the current three-year period to a longer time period.
Response to Letter Regarding Article, “Statin Use in Patients With Extremely Low Low-Density Lipoprotein Levels Is Associated With Improved Survival”

Anderson and Salgado offer the hypothesis that increases in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol may explain in part the benefit of statins that we observed in patients …
Aircraft parameter estimation in frequency domain

The algorithms for the equation error and output error methods, the two basic procedures for the extraction of aircraft parameters from flight data, are formulated in the frequency domain. The output error method includes the maximum likelihood estimation technique. This is further extended to those cases where the measured data is in the form of frequency response curves and the model of an aircraft includes elastic degrees of freedom and unsteady aerodynamics. Then the generalized maximum likelihood method, which can be applied to the identification of an aircraft subjected to external disturbances, is introduced. Next, all estimation methods mentioned are discussed with emphasis on advantages of the frequency domain analysis. The paper concludes with an example using real flight data.
Heating in Nb edge junctions

Heating in Josephson tunnel junctions fabricated on the edge of a Nb line, and the cooperative heating effects of edge junctions on the same line and on adjacent lines were studied. In one measurement two edge junctions on adjacent parallel lines share a common counter electrode. One junction serves as the heat source and the other as a temperature sensor. The sensor temperature was found to increase linearly with power at the first junction to near the T c (6.8 K) of the counter electrode. In addition, by varying the distance between edge junctions in several test sites the temperature profile was measured and a thermal healing length of 5 μm was determined. In a second geometry two edge junctions share common base and counter electrodes while the width between junctions is varied in different test sites. Critical power levels were measured and again related to a temperature rise. Combining these two results it is predicted that a high current device using multiple edge junctions at a spacing of 2.5 μm and a current density of 4000 A/cm2would have a temperature rise of 150 mK when powered halfway up the current step at the gap voltage.
Feline Idiopathic Hepatic Lipidosis

Feline idiopathic hepatic lipidosis (IHL) is a common hepatopathy that affects adult cats of any breed. This disorder may occur secondary to other systemic diseases that cause anorexia or disrupt normal hepatic metabolic processes, such as pancreatitis, diabetes mellitus, or cholangiohepatitis. IHL occurs primarily in obese, indoor cats subjected to stress, inducing anorexia. Affected cats show clinical and laboratory evidence of progressive cholestasis and liver failure. Treatment is aimed at providing adequate calories and protein by placement of a feeding tube. Some of the theories on the pathogenesis of IHL are presented.
CPCs with segmented absorbers

One of the most promising means of improving the performance of solar thermal collectors is to reduce the energy lost by the hot absorber. One way to do this, not currently part of the technology, is to recognize that since the absorber is usually not irradiated uniformly, it is therefore possible to construct an absorber of thermally isolated segments, circulate the fluid in sequence from low to high irradiance segments, and reduce loss by improving effective concentration. This procedure works even for ideal concentrators, without violating Winston's theorem. Two equivalent CPC collectors with single and segmented absorber were constructed and compared under actual operating conditions. The results showed that the daily thermal efficiency of the collector with segmented absorber is higher (about 13%) than that of the collector with nonsegmented absorber.
An interaction between vertical dimension and age in children's judgments of size.

jects. Size ambiguity was achieved by equating the two members of each stimulus set for volume, each member having different dimensions. To avoid possible biasing effects of position, the lateral positions were reversed, providing sub-displays A and B for each of the pairs. In all A displays the stimulus of the greater vertical dimension appeared to the left of S's visual field, and to the right in the B displays. The objects were constructed of wood, with the pair members of the first set painted white, the second set purple, and the third set green. Dimensions of the displays (in inches) were: I-A and l-B: 6 x 4 X 5 and 10 X 4 X 3; 2-A and 2-B: 10 X 5 X 3 and 15 x 4 X 2.5; and 3-A and 3-B: 9 X 4 X 4and8 X 3 x 6. Experimental sessions were conducted in a room free of distractions at each school. The object pairs were displayed one at a time on large flat surfaces with backgrounds of solid colors. Ss were tested individually while seated approximately 2 ft. from the display, the pair members on display being separated by 4 in. The tops of each display were lower than S's eye level, thereby ensuring that the depth of each stimulus was obvious. Objects not on display were out of S's sight. Display presentation was random for each S. As each stimulus pair was presented, E asked, "Which is bigger?" Results.-The percent of each group choosing as "bigger" the stimulus with the
Preliminary results utilizing high-energy fission product γ-rays to detect fissionable material in cargo

Abstract A concept for detecting the presence of special nuclear material (235U or 239Pu) concealed in intermodal cargo containers is described. It is based on interrogation with a pulsed beam of 7 MeV neutrons that produce fission events and their β-delayed neutron emission or β-delayed high-energy γ radiation between beam pulses provide the detection signature. Fission product β-delayed γ-rays above 3 MeV are nearly 10 times more abundant than β-delayed neutrons and are distinct from natural radioactivity and from nearly all of the induced activity in a normal cargo. Detector backgrounds and potential interferences with the fission signature radiation have been identified and quantified.
Identification and preliminary characterization of novel small molecules that inhibit growth of human lung adenocarcinoma cells.

Drug treatment for human lung cancers remains unsatisfactory, despite the identification of many potential therapeutic targets (such as mutant KRAS protein) and the approval of agents that inhibit ...
Gelation of casein and soybean globulins by transglutaminase

Guinea pig liver transglutaminase is a Ca2+ dependent enzyme which catalyzes the formation of inter- and intramolecular e-(γ-glutamyl)lysyl cross-links between protein molecules. We have found that solutions of several proteins (αs1-casein, and soybean 11S and 7S globulins) were gelatinized firmly by transglutaminase. The gel formation depended on the protein concentration. In the case of αs1-casein, a reaction mixture containing below 2% was incapable of gelation. However, above 3%, a firm gel was formed by transglutaminase. As to soybean 11S and 7S globulins, reaction mixtures containing below 5% did not form gels, while, above 8%, firm gels were formed. The protein solutions in the presence of EDTA, an inhibitor of transglutaminase, were not gelatinized on treatment with transglutaminase. Thus, transglutaminase and a higher concentration of a substrate protein are indispensable for firm gel formation. It is supposed that the protein gels are formed through covalent bonds with transglutaminase.
Text-based video content classification for online video-sharing sites

With the emergence of Web 2.0, sharing personal content, communicating ideas, and interacting with other online users in Web 2.0 communities have become daily routines for online users. User-generated data from Web 2.0 sites provide rich personal information (e.g., personal preferences and interests) and can be utilized to obtain insight about cyber communities and their social networks. Many studies have focused on leveraging user-generated information to analyze blogs and forums, but few studies have applied this approach to video-sharing Web sites. In this study, we propose a text-based framework for video content classification of online-video sharing Web sites. Different types of user-generated data (e.g., titles, descriptions, and comments) were used as proxies for online videos, and three types of text features (lexical, syntactic, and content-specific features) were extracted. Three feature-based classification techniques (C4.5, Naive Bayes, and Support Vector Machine) were used to classify videos. To evaluate the proposed framework, user-generated data from candidate videos, which were identified by searching user-given keywords on YouTube, were first collected. Then, a subset of the collected data was randomly selected and manually tagged by users as our experiment data. The experimental results showed that the proposed approach was able to classify online videos based on users' interests with accuracy rates up to 87.2p, and all three types of text features contributed to discriminating videos. Support Vector Machine outperformed C4.5 and Naive Bayes techniques in our experiments. In addition, our case study further demonstrated that accurate video-classification results are very useful for identifying implicit cyber communities on video-sharing Web sites. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A spectrophotometric assay for dissimilatory nitrite reductases

Abstract A spectrophotometric assay for dissimilatory nitrite reductases has been developed utilizing mammalian cytochrome c (equine heart) as reductant and spectrophotometric agent. The copper-containing nitrite reductase from Achromobacter cycloclastes has been shown to have apparent Km's for reduced cytochrome c and nitrite of 86 ± 5 and 5.63 ± 0.03 μ m , respectively. The heme cd-containing enzyme from Pseudomonas stutzeri was shown to have apparent Km's for reduced cytochrome c and nitrite of 260 ± 60 and 1.8 ± 0.8 μ m , respectively. This assay represents a simple, general method for consistently evaluating the activity of the copper- and heme cd-containing nitrite reductases that are capable of utilizing readily available mammalian cytochrome c as electron donor and should be useful for mechanistic studies of these enzymes.
Using Inquiry to Learn about Soil: A Fourth Grade Experience

ABSTRACTIn this article, we describe a fourth-grade inquiry unit on soil. The unit was designed and taught by preservice elementary teachers as part of a university science methods course. Using a student-driven inquiry approach to designing curriculum, the unit engaged fourth graders in learning about the physical properties soil, erosion, worms, and plants. Hands-on activities, literacy strategies, and informational texts and websites were used to build student learning.
How can more smoking suspension during pregnancy become lifelong abstinence? Lessons learned about predictors, interventions, and gaps in our accumulated knowledge.

Maintenance of abstinence from cigarettes during pregnancy yields important benefits for both women and children, yet only 20%‐30% of pregnancy cessation lasts 1 year postpartum. This paper reviews accumulated knowledge about factors that influence restarting smoking and the effectiveness of interventions to decrease it. Evidence from six trials and six multivariate predictor studies is provided, supplemented by qualitative and more focused quantitative studies. Studies were international, with diverse candidate predictors, intensity and timing of interventions, theory, designs, and measures of quitting and of maintenance postpartum. Recommendations: (a) Partner smoking must be addressed in interventions with cessation messages. (b) Intervention studies should include women of lower socioeconomic status and Black women. (c) Program developers and researchers should adopt a consistent standard for cessation. (d) Communication laboratory methods should test ways to increase intrinsic reasons for abstinence and success attributions to stable, internal causes. (e) Staging for postpartum smoking should supplant relapse prevention alone. (f) Among those whose intention it is to maintain nonsmoking postpartum, standard relapse prevention treatment is insufficient to combat environmental cues that also have been suspended for the pregnancy and typical problems of sleeplessness, stress, depression, and weight concern. (g) Interventions ideally should begin in late pregnancy, when postpartum smoking goals can be revised and plans made to manage postpartum issues. (h) Innovative methods for reducing postpartum problems should be tested. (i) Study of incentives for pregnancy cessation should include varying patterns, carryover to early postpartum months, and focus on their impact on long-term change.
3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase. A role for glutamate 95 in general acid/base catalysis of C-C bond formation.

Replacement of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase's glutamate 95 with alanine diminishes catalytic activity by over 5 orders of magnitude. The structural integrity of E95A enzyme is suggested by the observation that this protein contains a full complement of acyl-CoA binding sites, as indicated by binding studies using a spin-labeled acyl-CoA. Active site integrity is also demonstrated by 13C NMR studies, which indicate that E95A forms an acetyl-S-enzyme reaction intermediate with the same distinctive spectroscopic characteristics measured using wild type enzyme. The initial reaction steps are not disrupted in E95A, which exhibits normal levels of Michaelis complex and acetyl-S-enzyme intermediate. Likewise, E95A is not impaired in catalysis of the terminal reaction step, as indicated by efficient catalysis of a hydrolysis partial reaction. Single turnover experiments indicate defective C–C bond formation. The mechanism-based inhibitor, 3-chloropropionyl-CoA, efficiently alkylates E95A. This is compatible with the presence of a functional general base, raising the possibility that Glu95 functions as a general acid. Demonstration of a significant upfield shift for the methyl protons of HMG-CoA synthase's acetyl-S-enzyme reaction intermediate suggests a hydrophobic active site environment that could elevate the pK a of Glu95 as required to support its function as a general acid.
On the motion of thin vortex tubes

The motion of a tube of vorticity with a cross sectional radius that is everywhere small compared to local radius of curvature of the tube is considered. In particular, we determine the inviscid motion of the 3D space curve that traces the centerline of the tube for an arbitrary distribution of axial vorticity within the core.
Genome sequences from the sea.

Despite their diminutive stature, phytoplankton have a huge global influence. The genomes of four strains of phytoplankton have now been completely sequenced, revealing their genetic adaptations to distinct marine niches.
Protein splicing: self-splicing of genetically mobile elements at the protein level

Protein splicing is a newly discovered process that is the protein equivalent of RNA splicing. Protein splicing proceeds through a branched protein intermediate, and in vitro studies indicate that the reaction is autocatalytic. The excised 'intein' proteins are site-specific DNA endonucleases that catalyse genetic mobility of their DNA coding sequence by an 'intein homing' mechanism.
The Political Development of Mexico

Mexico's political experience over the last fifty years—since the Revolution of 1910—is highly significant, not only for the rest of Latin America, but for much of the rest of the world. For Mexico has accomplished the exceedingly difficult feat of breaking out of the vicious circle of dictatorship, misery, and revolution, and finding a way to a regime that is at once increasingly democratic, stable, and progressive. Despite a relative lack of many of the social, economic, and cultural characteristics which are often treated as prerequisites of stable democracy, Mexico seems to have solved the problem of assuring peaceful succession to leadership positions, while at the same time permitting wide participation in policy formation and allowing full civil freedom.This type of end-result is almost always the conscious goal of political leaders throughout Latin America, Africa, and Asia. While the Mexican road is hardly likely to be followed exactly elsewhere, other countries, to reach the same goal, will have to find equivalents for the solutions that Mexico has devised, for the obstacles in their paths are much the same. A study of the difficulties which Mexico has faced and how they were overcome may therefore have a generic interest, as being suggestive of some broader hypotheses about political development.
Infrared Emissivity of Carbon Dioxide (4.3-μ Band)*

Simplified equations are developed for computing the emissivity of the carbon dioxide 4.3-μ band. The harmonic oscillator model is assumed in computing band intensities, but anharmonicity is considered in computing the spectral distribution of emitted radiation. Calculated values of S¯/d and 2α012S¯12/d are presented for temperatures ranging from 300° to 3000°K, from which emissivities may be readily computed for a given pressure and optical path in both the weak-line and strong-line approximations. In the absence of significant Doppler broadening, both approximations provide upper limits to the emissivity. Emissivities are also computed for the case of a pure Doppler line shape for temperatures ranging from 300° to 1500°K. Doppler broadening is shown to be an important factor in setting a lower limit to the possible values of emissivity obtained at low pressures and long path lengths. Comparisons are made with published experimental data using the weak-line approximation; in several cases, the strong-line approximation as well as a mixed strong-line–weak-line approximation is also shown. The results of the present work are shown to be in good agreement with published experimental data and in definite disagreement with other theoretical calculations.
Identification of nonlinear systems using NARMAX model

Abstract Most systems encountered in the real world are nonlinear in nature, and since linear models cannot capture the rich dynamic behavior of limit cycles, bifurcations, etc. associated with nonlinear systems, it is imperative to have identification techniques which are specific for nonlinear systems. The problem considered in this work is the modeling of nonlinear discrete systems based on the set of input–output data. This is often the only approach to modeling, as in most cases only external (i.e. input–output) data are available. This paper also discusses the practical aspects of identification of nonlinear systems. The NARMAX (Nonlinear AutoRegressive Moving Average with eXogenous input) model provides a unified representation for a wide class of nonlinear systems and has obvious advantages over functional series representations such as Volterra and Wiener series. This model is proven to provide a better parameter estimation and prediction accuracy than the linear model.
Correlation between release of individual free fatty acids and fatty acid composition of adipose tissue.

SummaryRat epididymal fat pads from young and adult rats were incubated for varying lengths of time without addition of glucose or hormones to the incubation medium. Fatty acid composition of medium and adipose tissue was determined and rates of release of the 6 major individual fatty acids were compared to their respective concentrations in the adipose tissue. The rate of release of each individual fatty acid was proportional to the concentration of the same acid in the adipose tissue.
Effects of biglycan on physico-chemical properties of ligament-mineralized tissue attachment sites.

a b s t r a c t Matrix proteoglycans define matrix structure, mineralization, and resulting biomechanics of tissues and their attachment sites. Objective: We therefore investigated physical and (bio)chemical differences in enamel and periodontal tissues/attachment sites from mice that lack a specific nanoscale small leucine
Rapid down‐regulation of tyrosine hydroxylase expression in the olfactory bulb of naris‐occluded adult rats

In most sensory systems, afferent innervation regulates morphological and biochemical characteristics of target cells for a limited time during development. Sensory deprivation experiments in adult rats also have suggested a critical period for afferent influences on olfactory bulb structure and function. Previous odorant deprivation studies that employed unilateral naris closure in neonatal rats demonstrated down-regulation of the catecholamine biosynthetic enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in dopamine neurons intrinsic to the olfactory bulb. Accompanying the altered biochemical parameters was a decrease in bulb size. To distinguish between deprivation-induced alterations in TH expression secondary to developmental sequelae and those occurring in mature neurons, the consequences of unilateral naris closure were assessed in young adult rats. In agreement with previous studies significant postnatal increases occurred in TH expression and total protein, an indication of bulb size. At 30 days post-closure, total protein was unaltered in the ipsilateral olfactory bulb but showed a small (12.9%), significant decline at 60 days. In contrast to the limited morphological consequences of odor deprivation, profound reductions occurred in TH expression. TH activity ipsilateral to the closure decreased significantly by 14 days post-closure and remained depressed for up to 6 months. In parallel with enzyme activity, TH immunoreactivity did not decline in the first few days post-closure. In situ hybridization revealed that TH mRNA levels decreased rapidly, i.e., by 2 days post-closure, reached a nadir at 1 month, and remained depressed for at least 6 months. The capacity of odor deprivation in the adult rat olfactory system to down-regulate TH expression suggests that this phenotypic alteration occurs independently of a presumed critical period.
Refutation of an alleged example of a disordered but centrosymmetric triboluminescent crystal

Abstract The crystal structure of triboluminescent triethylammonium tetrakis(dibenzoylmethide)-europium has been reinvestigated with the result that crystals previously assigned to the centric space group I2/a actually belong to the non-centric space group Ia.
Local-density approximation: Cohesion in the transition metals and s-->d promotion in the transition-metal atoms.

Systematics in cohesive energies ({ital H}{sub coh}) and {ital d}--non-{ital d} atomic promotion energies have been examined for the transition elements treated within the local-density approximation (LDA). Cohesive energies involve the energy of the solid as compared with that of a reference state in the free atom; going from one atomic configuration to another (e.g., {ital d}{sup {ital n}{minus}2}{ital s2}{r arrow}{ital d}{sup {ital n}{minus}1}{ital s}) for that reference state involves a promotion energy. Errors in the LDA's ability to calculate promotion energies are then translated into changes in calculated {ital H}{sub coh}. Employing the local-spin-density approximation (LSDA), scalar-relativistic values of the promotion energies have been obtained for atomic states of maximum spin multiplicity of the neutral atoms in the 3{ital d}, 4{ital d}, and 5{ital d} rows for those configurations for which experimental spectral data are available for comparison. The intent is that by scanning all three rows and those cases for which there are experimental data that those factors contributing to the LDA's shortcomings in describing electron-electron interactions in the transition elements may become better defined.
Statistical Analysis of Some Multi-Category Large Margin Classification Methods

The purpose of this paper is to investigate statistical properties of risk minimization based multi-category classification methods. These methods can be considered as natural extensions of binary large margin classification. We establish conditions that guarantee the consistency of classifiers obtained in the risk minimization framework with respect to the classification error. Examples are provided for four specific forms of the general formulation, which extend a number of known methods. Using these examples, we show that some risk minimization formulations can also be used to obtain conditional probability estimates for the underlying problem. Such conditional probability information can be useful for statistical inferencing tasks beyond classification.
Construction of hybrid gene libraries involving the circular permutation of DNA

The method of incremental truncation for the creation of hybrid enzymes (ITCHY) allows the creation of comprehensive fusion libraries between 5′ and 3′ fragments of two genes in a manner that is independent of DNA sequence homology. A methodology is presented for the creation of ITCHY libraries called circularly permuted ITCHY (CP-ITCHY) that allows the creation of ITCHY libraries in a manner that does not require extensive time point sampling. In addition, CP-ITCHY requires only a single vector and productively biases the library towards those fusions that are approximately the same size as the original genes. In the model system of creating fusions between fragments of the Escherichia coli and human glycinamide ribonucleotide transformylase genes, the CP-ITCHY libraries are shown to contain a diverse set of active fusions including those in regions of low-homology. In addition, a high percentage of active fusions were temperature-sensitive as they complemented an auxotrophic strain of Escherichia coli at 22 °C but not at 37 °C.
Adiponectin and adaptive immunity: linking the bridge from obesity to atherogenesis.

See related article, pages 218–225 Obesity, characterized by an excess of adipose tissue mass, is closely associated with an increase in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality attributable to atherosclerosis.1 Obesity is a major underlying risk factor for atherosclerosis through other well-known risk factors, including the major risk factors (hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, hyperglycemia) and emerging risk factors (atherogenic dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, proinflammatory and prothrombotic state).2 The clinical value of novel risk factors such as high-sensitivity C-reactive protein are currently subject of ongoing discussions.3 The clustering of major and emerging risk factors that is found in most obese patients is defined as the metabolic syndrome.2 Among various cytokine-like hormones secreted by adipose tissue, the most abundant and adipose-specific is adiponectin (Figure).4 Reduced plasma levels of adiponectin, which are found in obese patients, are closely associated with obesity-related diseases, including atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia.4 Emerging experimental evidence indicates that adiponectin mediates antiatherogenic and antithrombotic effects through direct protective actions on endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, macrophages, and platelets.1,5,6 Figure. Antiatherogenic effects of adiponectin. The cytokine-like hormone adiponectin, which is selectively expressed by adipose cells, exhibits antiatherogenic properties through direct and indirect effects on endothelial cells (EC), smooth muscle cells (SMC), platelets, macrophages, and T lymphocytes. IL indicates interleukin; IL-1RA, IL-1 receptor antagonist; NF-κB, nuclear factor κB. …
FluSurge—A Tool to Estimate Demand for Hospital Services during the Next Pandemic Influenza

Purpose. To assess the impact of pandemic influenza on hospital services. Methods. Based on census data and estimates of hospital resources (non-ICU [intensive care unit] beds, ICU beds, and mechanical ventilators) in a given area, FluSurge software estimates the number of hospital admissions and deaths due to pandemic influenza under variable duration and virulence scenarios and compares hospital resources needed during a pandemic with existing hospital resources. Results. Sample results from Metropolitan Atlanta illustrate how the next influenza pandemic may overwhelm existing hospital resources, given that hospitals increasingly operate at nearly full capacity. Conclusions. Hospitals need to consider and plan for a surge in demand for hospital services during the next influenza pandemic.
Neural Networks For Intelligent Vehicles

This paper is a survey of current research in applying artificial neural networks to the domain of intelligent vehicles. It describes work in three areas: video-based traffic monitoring, monitoring and control of onboard systems, and vision-based lateral control.
Strange Bedfellows: Subjectivity, Romance, and Hidden Object Video Games

At first blush, the romance might seem antithetical to gaming. The masculine hegemony of the video game industry creates specific genre expectations about video games. Just as “extending play” is a...
Soil metabolic pulses: water, substrate, and biological regulation

Pulses of metabolic activity are a common ecological response to intermittently available resources, and in soils these pulses often occur in response to wetting. To better understand variation in soil pulses, we conducted a distributed field experiment at seven sites along a 2200-m elevation transect in southern California, USA. Treatments included both water and water + substrate additions and two measurements of soil respiration within one hour. These experiments were repeated 11 times throughout 2009-2010. Additions of substrate led to consistently higher pulse fluxes, exceeding 10 micromol CO2 x m(-2( x s(-1), than additions of water alone. These results support a sequential limitation by two resources where an initial limiting resource acts as a switch and, after activation, processes are regulated by a second resource. In contrast to general expectations of increasing pulses with higher soil organic matter (SOM), pulses exhibited strong scale dependencies. Pulses during the summer period and SOM were correlated positively within sites and negatively between sites. This cross-scale divergence implies that, at low elevations, the proportion of SOM available for pulse metabolism was a much larger fraction than at higher elevations. With expected climate changes leading to more frequent drying-wetting cycles, regulation of metabolic pulses will increasingly influence long-term biogeochemical dynamics.
Ethanol Increases TIEG2–MAO B Cell Death Cascade in the Prefrontal Cortex of Ethanol-Preferring Rats

Brain cell loss has been reported in subjects with alcoholism. However, the molecular mechanisms are unclear. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and monoamine oxidase B (MAO B) reportedly play a role in cellular dysfunction with regards to ethanol exposure. We have recently reported that GAPDH protein expression was increased in the brains of rats fed with ethanol. Furthermore, GAPDH interacts with the transcriptional activator, transforming growth factor-beta-inducible early gene 2 (TIEG2), to augment TIEG2-mediated MAO B activation, resulting in neuronal cell damage due to ethanol exposure. The current study investigates whether the TIEG2–MAO B cascade is also active in the brains of rats fed with ethanol. Ten ethanol-preferring rats were fed with a liquid diet containing ethanol, with increasing amounts of ethanol up to a final concentration of 6.4% representing a final diet containing 36% of calories for 28 days. Ten control rats were fed the liquid diet without ethanol. The expression of TIEG2 protein, MAO B mRNA levels, MAO B catalytic activity, and the levels of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl 2 and apoptotic protein caspase 3 were determined in the prefrontal cortex of the rats. Ethanol significantly increased protein levels of TIEG2, active caspase 3, MAO B mRNA and enzyme activity, but significantly decreased Bcl 2 protein expression compared to control rats. In summary, ethanol increases the TIEG2–MAO B brain cell death cascade in rat brains, suggesting that the TIEG2–MAO B pathway is a novel pathway for brain cell damage resulting from ethanol exposure, and may contribute to chronic alcohol-induced brain damage.
Ability of Candida albicans Mutants To Induce Staphylococcus aureus Vancomycin Resistance during Polymicrobial Biofilm Formation

Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus form vigorous polymicrobial biofilms in serum, which may serve as the source of coinfection in patients. More importantly, S. aureus is highly resistant to vancomycin during polymicrobial biofilm formation, with no decreases in bacterial viability observed with up to 1,600 microg/ml drug. In these mixed-species biofilms, S. aureus preferentially associates with C. albicans hyphae, which express a variety of unique adhesins. We tested C. albicans mutants deficient in transcriptional regulators of morphogenesis (CPH1 and EFG1) and biofilm formation (BCR1) to investigate the role of hyphae in mediating polymicrobial biofilm formation. These mutants also have reduced expression of hypha-specific adhesins. The ability to form polymicrobial biofilms correlated with the ability to form hyphae in these mutants. However, only mutants that could adhere to the abiotic surface could induce S. aureus vancomycin resistance, regardless of the presence of hyphae. In examining factors that may mediate interspecies adhesion, we found that the C. albicans ALS family of adhesins (Als1 to Als7 and Als9) was not involved, and neither was the hypha-specific adhesin Hwp1. Therefore, polymicrobial biofilm formation and subsequent antibiotic resistance is a multifactorial process that may require a unique combination of fungal and/or bacterial adhesins.
Multiple Mechanisms for Elongation Processivity within the Reconstituted Tetrahymena Telomerase Holoenzyme

To maintain telomeres, telomerase evolved a unique biochemical activity: the use of a single-stranded RNA template for the synthesis of single-stranded DNA repeats. High repeat addition processivity (RAP) of the Tetrahymena telomerase holoenzyme requires association of the catalytic core with the telomere adaptor subcomplex (TASC) and an RPA1-related subunit (p82 or Teb1). Here, we used DNA binding and holoenzyme reconstitution assays to investigate the mechanism by which Teb1 and TASC confer high RAP. We show that TASC association with the recombinant telomerase catalytic core increases enzyme activity. Subsequent association of the Teb1 C-terminal domain with TASC confers the capacity for high RAP even though the Teb1 C-terminal domain does not provide a high-affinity DNA interaction site. Efficient RAP also requires suppression of nascent product folding mediated by the central Teb1 DNA-binding domains (DBDs). These sequence-specific high-affinity DBDs of Teb1 can be functionally substituted by the analogous DBDs of Tetrahymena Rpa1 to suppress nascent product folding but only if the Rpa1 high-affinity DBDs are physically tethered into holoenzyme context though the Teb1 C-terminal domain. Overall, our findings reveal multiple mechanisms and multiple surfaces of protein-DNA and protein-protein interaction that give rise to elongation processivity in the synthesis of a single-stranded nucleic acid product.
The geographic distribution of melanoma incidence in Massachusetts, adjusted for covariates

The aims of this study were to determine whether observed geographic variations in melanoma cancer incidence in both gender groups are simply random or are statistically significant, whether statistically significant excesses are temporary or persistent, and whether they can be explained by risk factors such as socioeconomic status (SES) or the percent of the population residing in an urban rather than a rural area. Between 1990 and 1999, 4774 female and 5688 male melanomas were diagnosed in Massachusetts residents. Cases were aggregated to census tracts and analyzed for deviations from random occurrence with respect to both spatial location and time. Thirteen geographic areas that deviated significantly from randomness were uncovered in the age-adjusted analyses of males: five with higher incidence rates than expected and eight lower than expected. In the age-adjusted analyses of females, six areas with higher incidence rates and eight areas with lower than expected incidence rates were found. After adjustment for SES and percent urban, several of these areas were no longer significantly different. These analyses identify geographic areas with invasive melanoma incidence higher or lower than expected, the times of their excess, and whether or not their status is affected when the model is adjusted for risk factors. These surveillance findings can be a sound starting point for the shoe-leather epidemiologist.
Curricular Reforms that Improve Students' Attitudes and Problem-Solving Performance

We present the most recent steps undertaken to reform the introductory algebra-based course at The George Washington University. The reform sought to help students improve their problem-solving performance. Our pedagogy relies on didactic constructs such as the GW-ACCESS problem-solving protocol , instructional sequences and problem classification schemes that we have developed and implemented in our introductory physics course. These tools were designed to help advance students in two specific ways: 1) to improve their problem-solving performance, and 2) to improve their attitudes towards learning physics. We organized traditional and research-based physics problems such that students experienced a gradual increase in complexity related to problem context, problem features and cognitive processes needed to solve the problem. The instructional environment that we created is easily adaptable to any kind of curriculum and can be readily adjusted throughout the semester. To assess the students’ problem-solving performance, we created rubrics that assess key steps of physics problem solving. The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) was administered pre- and post-instruction to determine students’ shift in dispositions towards learning physics. The results show improvements in students’ problem-solving performance and in their attitudes towards learning physics.
Ankylosing spondylitis in a patient referred to physical therapy with low back pain

Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common and costly medical conditions in the United States; various studies have reported up to 80% of the adult population will experience a significant episode of LBP sometime within their lifetime. Although many cases of LBP are related to the musculoskeletal system and appropriate for the care of the physical therapist (PT), some episodes of LBP have a systemic cause. Thus, it is the role of the PT to ensure each patient is appropriate for physical therapy intervention throughout the episode of care. When the patient's condition is not appropriate for physical therapy intervention, it is the PT's responsibility to refer the patient to other medical professions to ensure optimal patient care. The purpose of this case report is to describe a patient referred to PT who was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis. The patient presented initially to physical therapy with a diagnosis of LBP. However, after several visits her symptoms were inconsistent with mechanical LBP and thus required further medical consultation.
There is no “Uspensky's method.”

In this paper an attempt is made to correct the misconception of several authors [1] that there exists a method by Upensky (based on Vincent's theorem) for the isolation of the real roots of a polynomial equation with rational coefficients. Despite Uspensky's claim, in the preface of his book [2], that he invented this method, we show that what Upensky actually did was to take Vincent's method and double its computing time. Upensky must not have understood Vincent's method probably because he was not aware of Budan's theorem [3]. In view of the above, it is historically incorrect to attribute Vincent's method to Upensky.
Adaptive Off-Diagonal MIMO Pre-Coder (ODMP) for Downstream DSL Self FEXT Cancellation

This paper introduces a new family of per frequency linear pre-coders, called off-diagonal MIMO pre-coders (ODMP), for discrete multi-tone (DMT) based digital subscriber line (DSL) systems. ODMP target pre-compensation of the off- diagonal self far-end cross talk (FEXT) terms in the downstream DSL-MIMO channel matrix. We derive a low complexity and adaptive ODMP that simultaneously maximizes the Shannon Capacities per tone, experienced by the (non-cooperative) end-users. The updating scheme makes use of the error samples computed in each receiver. No matrix inversion is required in the algorithm which may be used for learning, tracking, and incrementing the ODMP without any disruption of data service. Finite precision simulation results reveal that coding the complex error with 16 bits allows for the algorithm to reach "self-FEXT free" performance after only 150 iterations in the learning phase and 450 iterations in the incrementing phase.
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INTERMEDIATE GOODS TAXATION

We generalize the Diamond–Mirrlees production efficiency theorem, that there should be no taxes on sectors producing pure intermediate goods, to an environment with political economy constraints. In our economy, allocations and taxation are decided by self-interested politicians without the power to commit to future policies. The Diamond–Mirrlees production efficiency result holds even when political economy constraints introduce distortions on labor supply and capital accumulation. (JEL: H11, H21, E61, P16)
A Microactuator for Tracking Servo

To achieve higher data track density of a hard-disk drive (HDD), a microactuator that is placed between suspension beam and a slider and moves slider relative to suspension was investigated. This paper presents new microactuator design, “bipolar microactuator” and its performance in a hard-disk drive.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Interval estimation of genetic susceptibility for retrospective case-control studies

Background This article describes classical and Bayesian interval estimation of genetic susceptibility based on random samples with pre-specified numbers of unrelated cases and controls.