cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Amino-terminal and hydrophobic regions of the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii plastocyanin transit peptide are required for efficient protein accumulation in vivo.

Nucleus-encoded chloroplast proteins of vascular plants are synthesized as precursors and targeted to the chloroplast by stroma-targeting domains in N-terminal transit peptides. Transit peptides in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii are considerably shorter than those in vascular plants, and their stroma-targeting domains have similarities to both mitochondrial and chloroplast targeting sequences. To examine Chlamydomonas transit peptide function in vivo, deletions were introduced into the transit peptide coding region of the petE gene, which encodes the thylakoid lumen protein plastocyanin (PC). The mutant petE genes were introduced into a plastocyanin-deficient Chlamydomonas strain, and transformants that accumulated petE mRNA were analyzed for PC accumulation. The most profound defects were observed with deletions at the N-terminus and those that extended into the hydrophobic region in the C-terminal half of the transit peptide. PC precursors were detected among pulse-labeled proteins in transformants with N-terminal deletions, suggesting that these precursors cannot be imported and are degraded in the cytosol. Intermediate PC species were observed in a transformant deleted for part of the hydrophobic region, suggesting that this protein is defective in lumen translocation and/or processing. Thus, despite its shorter length, the bipartite nature of the Chlamydomonas PC transit peptide appears similar to that of lumen-targeted proteins in vascular plants. Analysis of the synthesis, stability, and accumulation of PC species in transformants bearing deletions in the stroma-targeting domain suggests that specific regions probably have distinct roles in vivo. Abbreviations: cyt, cytochrome; ECL, enhanced chemiluminescence; LSU, large subunit; PC, plastocyanin; TP, transit peptide
Projected clinical benefit of surveillance imaging for early detection and treatment of breast cancer metastases

This article presents current best knowledge to assess the projected outcomes benefit of adding multi-modality surveillance imaging to standard follow-up care for breast cancer patients at high risk (>30%) for developing future metastases. This analysis is motivated by recent preliminary clinical studies that have suggested that augmenting systemic treatment of early-stage metastases with targeted surgery and/or radiosurgery achieves significant overall survival and disease-free survival benefit. Our primary aims are to: (a) describe the clinical motivation and scan parameters needed to identify the early onset of metastatic progression in breast cancer patients for effective surgical or radiosurgical treatment; (b) estimate the anticipated survival benefit for high-risk patients under this recommended protocol; and (c) estimate the radiation risks associated with the repeated body imaging of this protocol.
Effect of Internet Literacy in Understanding Older Adults’ Social Capital and Expected Internet Support

This article investigates whether knowledge of Internet usage among older adults is related to social capital as well as their expectations to obtain social support online. A U.S. national survey o...
Smartphone based Driver-Assistance System for Urban Environments

In the 21st century the number of cars and smart phones increases dynamically. The range of available services embeddable into a car is also wider and wider, although this does not mean that every customer is ready to pay for them. So a portion of the latest cars is not equipped by lane detection systems and this is valid for older models as well. Why not to look for a solution for car owners having a smart phone? The idea itself is trivial: smart phones (that have cameras and some computational capacity) could be used to provide some safety services for the drivers. The real challenges are in data storing and effective computing, since the application needs to process the incoming frames in real-time.In this paper we present a smartphone based driver-assistance system focusing on its two main components, namely a Probabilistic Hough transform based lane detection and a road segmentation solved by deep neural network.
Defining Death: The Case for Choice

In Defining Death (2016), the authors explore the historical concept of death as defined by heart stoppage or the cessation of the circulatory system and the contemporary development of new paramet...
Response to hyperfractionated accelerated radiotherapy in chemotherapy-refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Patients with chemotherapy-refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) have a poor prognosis with a median overall survival (OS) of only 10 months. To investigate the role of radiotherapy (RT) in such pa...
A dual role for Axin in establishing the anterior-posterior axis in the early sea urchin embryo

Abstract The activation of Wnt/β-catenin (cWnt) signaling at the future posterior end of early embryos is a highly conserved mechanism for initiating pattern formation along the anterior-posterior (AP) axis in bilaterians. Moreover, in many bilaterian taxa, in addition, to activation of cWnt signaling at the posterior end, inhibition of cWnt signaling at the anterior end is required for normal development of anterior structures. In most cases, inhibition of cWnt signaling at the anterior end occurs around gastrulation and it is typically mediated by secreted factors that block signal transduction through the cWnt cell surface receptor-ligand complex. This phenomenon has been fairly well characterized, but the emerging role for intracellular inhibition of cWnt signaling in future anterior blastomeres—in cleavage stage embryos—to regulate correct AP patterning is less well understood. To investigate this process in an invertebrate deuterostome embryo we studied the function of Axin, a critical negative regulator of cWnt signaling, during early sea urchin embryogenesis. Sea urchin Axin is ubiquitously expressed in early embryos and by the blastula stage the expression of the gene becomes restricted to the posterior end of the embryo. Strikingly, knockdown of Axin protein levels using antisense Axin morpholinos (MO) led to ectopic nuclearization of β-catenin and activation of endomesoderm gene expression in anterior blastomeres in early embryos. These embryos developed a severely posteriorized phenotype that could be fully rescued by co-injection of Axin MO with wild-type Axin mRNA. Axin is known to negatively regulate cWnt by its role in mediating β-catenin stability within the destruction complex. Consistent with this function overexpression of Axin by mRNA injection led to the downregulation of nuclear β-catenin, inhibition of endomesoderm specification and a strong anteriorization of embryos. Axin has several well-defined domains that regulate its interaction with β-catenin and the key regulators of the destruction complex, Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC), Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3β(GSK-3β), and Dishevelled (Dvl). Using Axin constructs with single deletions of the binding sites for these proteins we showed that only the GSK-3βbinding site on Axin is required for its inhibition of cWnt in the sea urchin embryo. Strikingly, overexpression of the GSK-3β-binding domain alone led to embryos with elevated levels of endomesoderm gene expression and a strongly posteriorized phenotype. These results indicated that Axin has a critical global role in inhibiting cWnt signaling in the early sea urchin embryo, and moreover, that the interaction of Axin with GSK-3βis critical for this inhibition. These results also add to the growing body of evidence that Axin plays a global function in suppressing cWnt signaling in early embryos and indicates that modulation of Axin function may be a critical early step during patterning of the AP axis during bilaterian development
Negative allosteric modulation of GluN1/GluN3 NMDA receptors.

Abstract NMDA receptors are ligand-gated ion channels that mediate excitatory neurotransmission. Most native NMDA receptors are tetrameric assemblies of two glycine-binding GluN1 and two glutamate-binding GluN2 subunits. Co-assembly of the glycine-binding GluN1 with glycine-binding GluN3 subunits (GluN3A-B) creates glycine activated receptors that possess strikingly different functional and pharmacological properties compared to GluN1/GluN2 NMDA receptors. The role of GluN1/GluN3 receptors in neuronal function remains unknown, in part due to lack of pharmacological tools with which to explore their physiological roles. We have identified the negative allosteric modulator EU1180-438, which is selective for GluN1/GluN3 receptors over GluN1/GluN2 NMDA receptors, AMPA, and kainate receptors. EU1180-438 is also inactive at GABA, glycine, and P2X receptors, but displays inhibition of some nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Furthermore, we demonstrate that EU1180-438 produces robust inhibition of glycine-activated current responses mediated by native GluN1/GluN3A receptors in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons. EU1180-438 is a non-competitive antagonist with activity that is independent of membrane potential (i.e. voltage-independent), glycine concentration, and extracellular pH. Non-stationary fluctuation analysis of neuronal current responses provided an estimated weighted mean unitary conductance of 6.1 pS for GluN1/GluN3A channels, and showed that EU1180-438 has no effect on conductance. Site-directed mutagenesis suggests that structural determinants of EU1180-438 activity reside near a short pre-M1 helix that lies parallel to the plane of the membrane below the agonist binding domain. These findings demonstrate that structural differences between GluN3 and other glutamate receptor subunits can be exploited to generate subunit-selective ligands with utility in exploring the roles GluN3 in neuronal function.
Disseminated Sporotrichosis With Brain Abscesses in an HIV-Infected Patient.

Sporotrichosis is a mycotic infection caused by the Sporothrix schenckii species complex. It typically presents as a localized, mostly cutaneous or lymphocutaneous infection, but has been increasingly presenting as a disseminated infection in immunocompromised individuals, especially in HIV/AIDS patients. We also included a literature review of sporotrichosis in this patient population. The aim of this case report is to raise awareness about atypical presentations of sporotrichosis in an attempt to decrease the time to diagnosis, initiate treatment earlier when infection is suspected, and improve overall survival in vulnerable patient populations.
Primary hepatic angiosarcoma: A case-based discussion of unique presentations and extrahepatic manifestations

Abstract Hepatic angiosarcoma is a rare and heterogeneous neoplasm that carries with it an especially poor prognosis. Diagnosis is challenging given that patients often present with vague, nonspecific complaints, and early multiorgan dysfunction has the potential to produce a number of unique clinical syndromes. Here, we present a case of a patient with hepatic angiosarcoma who developed cryptogenic cirrhosis, Kasabach-Merritt Syndrome (consumptive thrombocytopenia), and bone marrow fibrosis as a result of her malignant lesions. While parenchymal biopsy ultimately remains the gold standard for diagnosis, careful review of enhancement patterns on imaging may suggest malignant features in need of further investigation.
Reducing Heavy Episodic Drinking among College Students Using a Combined Web and Interactive Text Messaging Intervention

Heavy episodic drinking (HDE) is associated with numerous negative consequences among US college students. A number of universities have turned to web-based interventions to reduce heavy episodic d...
Modeling Biological Systems

Modeling of biological systems and ecology is a useful exercise, as it allows one to discover and focus on the important aspects of the life-system dynamics. Population dynamics is a good example. Modeling also helps us understand system optimization. With a long span of time, evolution picks out optimal systems. Models of optimization can be revealing by testing the importance of various aspects to be optimized, and their constraints. Metabolic scaling laws come about from such optimization.
Solicitor General Seduction: Influencing Supreme Court Justices to Overcome Their Preferences

Do justices follow Solicitor General recommendations even when they dislike them on policy and legal grounds? We employ archival data and a unique research design which allows us to examine SG influence directly. Our results could not be clearer. We find, first, that Solicitors General strongly influence Supreme Court justices. Even when a justice's prior legal and policy beliefs conflict with the SG's recommendation, she will nevertheless follow that recommendation in a substantial number of cases. Second, we find that Solicitors General cannot favor policy at the expense of law. Justices of all ideological persuasions - even those who are ideologically proximate to the SG - are between 25% and 34% less likely to follow the SG's recommendations when those recommendations contradict the weight of the law. In short, Solicitors General influence Supreme Court justices, but their influence is mitigated by legal considerations.
Economics Won't Save Us: Problems with the Liberal Peace in Asia

The conviction that economic ties will engender peace is a lynchpin of US strategy, but Asian leaders view failure to protect territorial claims as worse than the losses associated with a limited war.
Using machine learning methods to predict nonhome discharge after elective total shoulder arthroplasty.

Background Machine learning has shown potential in accurately predicting outcomes after orthopedic surgery, thereby allowing for improved patient selection, risk stratification, and preoperative planning. This study sought to develop machine learning models to predict nonhome discharge after total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA). Methods The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database was queried for patients who underwent elective TSA from 2012 to 2018. Boosted decision tree and artificial neural networks (ANN) machine learning models were developed to predict non-home discharge and 30-day postoperative complications. Model performance was measured using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and overall accuracy (%). Multivariate binary logistic regression analyses were used to identify variables that were significantly associated with the predicted outcomes. Results There were 21,544 elective TSA cases identified in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program registry from 2012 to 2018 that met inclusion criteria. Multivariate logistic regression identified several variables associated with increased risk of nonhome discharge including female sex (odds ratio [OR] = 2.83; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.53-3.17; P < .001), age older than 70 years (OR = 3.19; 95% CI = 2.86-3.57; P < .001), American Society of Anesthesiologists classification 3 or greater (OR = 2.70; 95% CI = 2.41-2.03; P < .001), prolonged operative time (OR = 1.38; 95% CI = 1.20-1.58; P < .001), as well as history of diabetes (OR = 1.56; 95% CI = 1.38-1.75; P < .001), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR = 1.71; 95% CI = 1.46-2.01; P < .001), congestive heart failure (OR = 2.65; 95% CI = 1.72-4.01; P < .001), hypertension (OR = 1.35; 95% CI = 1.20-1.52; P = .004), dialysis (OR = 3.58; 95% CI = 2.01-6.39; P = .002), wound infection (OR = 5.67; 95% CI = 3.46-9.29; P < .001), steroid use (OR = 1.43; 95% CI = 1.18-1.74; P = .010), and bleeding disorder (OR = 1.84; 95% CI = 1.45-2.34; P < .001). The boosted decision tree model for predicting nonhome discharge had an AUC of 0.788 and an overall accuracy of 90.3%. The ANN model for predicting nonhome discharge had an AUC of 0.851 and an overall accuracy of 89.9%. For predicting the occurrence of 1 or more postoperative complications, the boosted decision tree model had an AUC of 0.795 and an overall accuracy of 95.5%. The ANN model yielded an AUC of 0.788 and an overall accuracy of 92.5%. Conclusions Both the boosted decision tree and ANN models performed well in predicting nonhome discharge with similar overall accuracy, but the ANN had higher discriminative ability. Based on the findings of this study, machine learning has the potential to accurately predict nonhome discharge after elective TSA. Surgeons can use such tools to guide patient expectations and to improve preoperative discharge planning, with the ultimate goal of decreasing hospital length of stay and improving cost-efficiency.
Effects of pollinator related information on consumer preference for neonicotinoid labeling

Despite increasing concerns about the potential negative impacts of neonicotinoid insecticides on pollinator insect health in the regulatory community, public perceptions about the use of such pest...
Impact of the COVID19 pandemic on glaucoma patients: Did delay in elective care lead to progression of disease?

Purpose : The COVID-19 pandemic provided unique insight into delayed glaucoma care, as one of the first events in living memory during which in-person health care services, such as eye care, were abruptly curtailed. In this retrospective cohort study, we tested the hypothesis that among patients with glaucoma, delayed care was associated with increased risk of disease progression necessitating change in clinical management. Methods : Manual chart review was performed for 172 patients with glaucoma at the Veterans Affairs (VA) Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (TVHS) Eye Clinic. The exposure cohort was a random sample of 78 patients who were already established at the VA and had a scheduled outpatient clinic visit during the closure of the clinic between 3/20/2020 and 6/1/2020. The comparator group involved 94 patients with glaucoma who had at least two appointments before COVID (1/1/2018-2/28/2020). Left eyes were analyzed, and demographics, time between recommended and actual follow-up visits, stage of glaucoma, and change in treatment regimen were compared between the 2 cohorts. Fisher's exact test and Pearson's chi-squared test were used to determine whether there were significant differences in disease progression between the groups. Results : In the exposure cohort, 56.4% of patients had postponed appointments, 28.2% never returned to clinic, and 15.4% had no delay compared to 13.8%, 0%, and 86.2% respectively in the comparator cohort with a statistically significant difference in all three categories (p<0.0001). In addition, 37.5% of all patients had disease progression during the pandemic compared to 17.0% in pre-pandemic times. There is evidence to suggest that there is a significant difference in disease progression in the exposure group compared to the comparator group (p<0.0190). A larger sample size is needed to determine significance in progression of disease between the cohorts when stratified by delayed/not delayed. Conclusions : Our results are consistent with our hypothesis that delayed care during the pandemic resulted in a change of clinical management due to an increased risk of disease progression. Moreover, many patients were lost to follow up and did not return for their visit. Further research is needed to determine if disease progression is sustained after multiple appointments.
Subjective social status and physical health: The role of negative affect and reappraisal.

Abstract Rationale Having low subjective social status is associated with an array of negative health outcomes. However, the mechanisms linking subjective social status to health are not yet clear. One candidate mechanism is negative affect. Researchers have proposed that having low subjective social status may be associated with higher levels of negative affect, and these higher levels of negative affect may be associated with poor health. However, research demonstrating that status-related negative affect is prospectively associated with health in humans is limited. Objective We examined whether negative affect prospectively mediates the relationship between subjective social status and physical health. In addition, we tested whether reappraisal – an affect regulation strategy used to downregulate negative affect – moderates the links among subjective social status, negative affect, and physical health. Method We used two-wave longitudinal data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) project to conduct a series of regression, mediation, and moderated mediation analyses to examine the relationships among subjective social status, negative affect, reappraisal, and health (i.e., four outcomes, chronic conditions, somatic symptoms, self-reported health and mortality). Results Negative affect mediates the relationship between status and change in morbidity (n = 3289; i.e., change in number of chronic conditions, somatic symptoms, self-reported health) and mortality (n = 4953), such that subjective social status is inversely associated with negative affect, and negative affect is positively associated with poor health. Reappraisal moderates each of these relationships, such that individuals who are low on subjective social status and have high scores on a novel measure of reappraisal experience lower levels of negative affect and better health than individuals who are low on subjective social status but who have low scores on this measure. Conclusion These results have important implications for our understanding of subjective social status and how it relates to physical health.
Implementing Arbitrary/Common Concurrent Writes of CRCW PRAM

The Parallel Random Access Machines (PRAM) abstraction is the simplest and most elegant algorithmic model for the design and analysis of parallel algorithms. It consists of different models categorized based on the underlying memory access mode used, the most powerful of which is the Concurrent Read Concurrent Write (CRCW) model. A PRAM algorithm describes a series of rounds, each of which consists of a collection of operations that can be executed concurrently within the same time step. However, the lack of support for concurrent memory accesses and the prevalence of asynchronous programming models led to the belief that implementing CRCW PRAM algorithms is unattainable and prompted many to avoid this model except for theoretical studies of optimal performance. In this work, we study the arbitrary and common concurrent writes in the CRCW PRAM model and explore implementation challenges on general-purpose systems. Moreover, we examine current practices for implementing common/arbitrary concurrent writes and propose a new efficient lightweight and thread-safe method to implement concurrent writes through leveraging atomic instructions. To demonstrate the efficacy of our method, we developed OpenMP kernels for classical CRCW PRAM algorithms and provide experimental results and comparisons based on run time performance measured over the x86 multicore architecture. Our results show a performance speedup compared to current practices up to 4.5x across all our benchmarks.
The Borders of AIDS: Race, Quarantine, and Resistance: by Karma R. Chávez, U of Washington P, 2021, 241 pp., $25.00 (paperback). ISBN: 978-0-29-57489-7

In The Borders of AIDS: Race, Quarantine, and Resistance, Karma R. Chavez introduces readers to the “alienizing logic” that arose out of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune d...
Chapter 12. Antimicrobial Drugs – Clinical Problems and Opportunities

Publisher Summary Future opportunities for product development in antimicrobial chemotherapy is guided as much by the economics of therapy as by the perceived need for improved antimicrobial coverage. Current economic trends indicate that incremental improvements in spectrum or potency will not be sufficient to guarantee the profitability of new agents. New antimicrobials will have difficulty getting placed on the hospital formulary unless they demonstrate clear economic and therapeutic advantages. A significant advantage would involve the use of some new compounds as single agents, replacing expensive combination therapy with less potent compounds. To accomplish this, new antimicrobials would have to have an outstanding spectrum, including many of the organisms that have proven difficult to treat with currently available agents. This chapter describes several of these organisms and their mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance where they are known. Effort made to describe new agents that have shown promising activity against these clinical pathogens. The microorganisms reviewed have been chosen based upon the following observed clinical trends: drug-resistant, gram-positive cocci that have made a resurgence in causing nosocomial infections, infections involving enteric bacilli such as Enterobacter, Serratia and froteus that often remain refractory to therapy with broad spectrum drugs, gram-negative non-fermenters such as Pseudornonas and Acinetobacter that remain multi- resistant, and atypical mycobacteria and fungi that are increasing in frequency in infections involving immunocompromised patients. The chapter considers the importance of gram-positive cocci, improved therapy for treating infections with gram-negative bacilli, increased clinical importance of atypical mycobacteria and need for improved antifungal therapy. The chapter explains the features of clinical pathogens often resistant to antimicrobials, activity of antimicrobials against methicillin-resistant S.aureus and mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance among the Enterobacteriaceae.
Seven Questions for Personalized Medicine.

Personalized or precision medicine maintains that medical care and public health will be radically transformed by prevention and treatment programs more closely targeted to the individual patient. These interventions will be developed by sequencing more genomes, creating bigger biobanks, and linking biological information to health data in electronic medical records (EMRs) or obtained by monitoring technologies. Yet the assumptions underpinning personalized medicine have largely escaped questioning. In this Viewpoint, we seek to stimulate a more balanced debate by posing 7 questions for the advocates of personalized medicine.
Immunological Prediction of Sequence Differences among Proteins CHEMICAL COMPARISON OF CHICKEN, QUAIL, AND PHEASANT LYSOZYMES

Abstract Lysozyme was purified from pheasant and quail egg whites by ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration. Each enzyme was shown to be homogeneous by ultracentrifugal, electrophoretic, and immunological criteria. Quail and pheasant lysozymes were similar to chicken lysozyme in specific activity, molecular size, and extinction coefficient. The three enzymes differed from each other in electrophoretic mobility. Quantitative amino acid analysis showed that quail and chicken lysozymes were very similar in composition and that they may differ by only two amino acid interchanges. Pheasant lysozyme, however, differed from the chicken enzyme by possibly seven interchanges. The lysozymes of the three species were reduced and carboxymethylated, treated with trypsin, and subjected to peptide mapping on paper. The peptide maps of the chicken and quail lysozymes were almost indistinguishable. The peptide maps of pheasant lysozyme were, to the contrary, very different from those of the other two species. Immunological experiments with the micro-complement fixation technique were carried out with rabbit antisera directed against quail or pheasant lysozyme. Quail and chicken lysozymes were immunologically almost indistinguishable, while the pheasant enzyme was easily distinguishable from both of them. These immunological results are consistent with those described in a previous publication for antibodies directed against chicken lysozyme. The immunological relationships found among the lysozymes of these three species were unexpected. Indeed, ornithologists agree that, on the basis of nonmolecular evidence, the pheasant is more closely related to the chicken than is the quail. It is therefore especially significant that our chemical findings confirmed the earlier observation that pheasant lysozyme is immunologically less closely related to chicken lysozyme than is quail lysozyme. These data, along with those obtained by other workers on ribonuclease, phage coat protein, hemoglobin, and cytochrome c, support the hypothesis that quantitative complement fixation can be used for predicting the degree of sequence resemblance among naturally occurring proteins.
Thirty Years Later: Internal Labor Markets, Flexibility and the New Economy

This article reviews the relevance of the concept of the Internal Labor Market from the contemporary perspective thirty years after it was originally formulated. The narrow concept of internal labor markets associated with large, bureaucratic enterprises appears to be less relevant in the new economy. But the underlying notion of the labor market as socially embedded remains central to an understanding of the way the economy operates. Several increasingly salient social forms are reviewed.
Brevetoxins and Binding: Sodium Channels Versus Antibodies

The marine dinoflagellate Ptychodiscus brevis is the dinoflagellate responsible for Florida’s red tides (Steidinger and Joyce, 1973). The organism produces potent toxins, both in situ (Gervais and MacLean, 1985; Pierce et al., 1985) and in the laboratory (Shimizu et al., 1986; reviewed in Baden, 1983). To date, seven potent toxins have been described (Shimizu et al., 1986; Figure 1), all of which are based on two multi-ring polyether carbon backbones.
The Moraxella catarrhalis outer membrane protein CD contains two distinct domains specifying adherence to human lung cells

Most Moraxella catarrhalis isolates express a highly-conserved outer membrane protein of 453 residues designated OMPCD, which has been previously shown to mediate binding to A549 human lung cells. Here, it is reported that two distinct domains of the M. catarrhalis strain O35E OMPCD protein specify adherence. Truncated proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli to demonstrate that OMPCD residues 1–240 as well as 241–400 are important for attachment to A549 cells, and database searches indicated that amino acids 285–299 resemble an adhesive motif found in eukaryotic proteins termed thrombospondin-type 3 repeat (TT3R). Cellular enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using His-tagged proteins demonstrated that residues 236–300 of OMPCD, containing the TT3R motif, specify adhesive properties. Furthermore, these assays revealed that a purified protein encompassing residues 16–236 binds to A549 cells. The two cell-binding domains of OMPCD were further defined to amino acids 16–150 and 261–300 by utilizing a surface-display system, which was constructed from the M. catarrhalis autotransporter protein McaP, to express foreign peptides on the surface of recombinant bacteria.
The Surgical Implications of Purpura Fulminans

Purpura fulminans is an uncommon catastrophic syndrome that occurs in children, typically one to four weeks after a seemingly benign infectious process. The child usually presents with a high fever, purpuric ecchymosis, hypotension, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and gangrene of the extremities. We have recently treated six children, whose mean age was 22 months; three were male and three were female. Five of the six had a change of mental status upon initial examination. Their mean temperature was 104° F. All six children had purpuric involvement of their extremities; three had involvement of their hands, two had involvement of their faces, and two had involvement of their trunks. All had absent palpable pulses and sluggish capillary refill in the involved hands and feet. Two patients died shortly after admission as a result of severe end-stage sepsis. The platelet counts in these two patients, and the white blood cell counts were markedly depressed. The mean platelet count of the survivors was 370,000 and the mean white blood cell count was 25,000. Lumbar punctures were positive for bacterial meningitis in five patients and viral meningitis in one patient All patients were treated with intravenous heparin. Of the four survivors, two lost significant tissue and required multiple plastic reconstructive procedures, and two Improved on heparin alone with no tissue loss. In addition to systemic support and intravenous antibiotics, the mainstay of treatment is one of immediate heparinization and a continuous heparin drip. Heparin prevents subsequent small vessel thrombosis and limits tissue loss due to ongoing purpura. Conservative management of the purpuric lesions is the treatment of choice until final demarcation occurs.
Theoretical analysis of the effects of viscous losses and abdominal straining on urinary outlet function.

Aims The aim of this study was to theoretically explore the relationship between the tube law (TL) of the urethra and the pressure–flow (p–Q) relationship during micturition. The understanding of this relation is important for the evaluation of outlet obstruction by urodynamic interpretation of p–Q plots. Methods We simulated the outlet function by a lumped theoretical model, and suggested how the TL can be used to quantitatively predict the p–Q relationship of the system. Our analysis considered the relation between the TL and the steady state p–Q plot for various TLs including the hysteresis of the pressure–area relationship. Results and Conclusions The inclusion of pressure losses distal to the flow controlling zone and experimentally measured p–A relations of the urethra in the model lead to the predictions that flow in the flow controlling zone is not always critical but is often in the sub-critical range, that an increase in abdominal pressure can increase the flow under certain conditions, and that hysteresis in the pressure–area relation is correlated to the hysteresis in the p–Q plot. Neurourol. Urodynam. 23:76–85, 2004. Published 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Aerobic and Anaerobic Biodegradation of Aged Pentachlorophenol by Indigenous Microorganisms

Abstract Pentachlorophenol (PCP) use as a general biocide, particularly for treating wood, has led to widespread environmental contamination. Biodegradation has emerged as the main mechanism for PCP degradation in soil and groundwater and a key strategy for remediation. Examining the microbial biodegrading potential for PCP at a contaminated site is crucial in determining its fate. Hundreds of studies have been published on PCP microbial degradation, but few have described the biodegradation of PCP that has been in contact with soils for many years. The bioavailability of “aged” hydrophobic organics is a significant concern. PCP- and 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol (2,3,4,6-TeCP)-contaminated soil samples from several depths at a former wood treatment site were placed under varying conditions in the laboratory to determine the anaerobic and aerobic potential for biodegradation of chlorophenols at the site. PCP biodegradation occurred in both anaerobic and aerobic soil samples. Rapid aerobic degradation occurred...
Traumatic Stress and Gender Differences in Relationship to Substance Abuse, Mental Health, Physical Health, and HIV Risk Behavior in a Sample of Adolescents Enrolled in Drug Treatment

Research on traumatic stress (TS) among adolescent substance users is limited, with research indicating that not all adolescents who experience trauma are substance users and not all adolescent substance users report symptoms of TS. In the general adolescent population, research on TS symptoms indicates gender differences, with more females reporting traumatic life events and more symptoms associated with traumatic stress. A gap in research exists, however, with regard to gender differences among adolescent substance users who report low versus acute levels of TS symptoms. This study included 274 male and 104 female adolescents enrolled in four drug treatment programs in Arizona. Comparisons between males and females and those with low versus acute levels of TS symptoms were examined with regard to substance use, mental health, physical health, and HIV risk-taking behavior. Results indicate significant differences between males and females and between those reporting low versus acute TS. In general, females and those with acute levels of TS symptoms had higher levels of substance use, mental health, and physical health problems as well as greater HIV risk behaviors when compared to males and those with low levels of TS symptoms. Results of this study indicate the need to assess adolescents for TS, including victimization and maltreatment histories, when entering substance abuse treatment and the need to simultaneously address issues of substance use, TS, and related mental health, physical health, and HIV sex risk behavior while in treatment.
Optical emission from a fast shock wave - The remnants of Tycho's supernova and SN 1006

The faint optical filaments in Tycho's supernova remnant appear to be emission from a shock front moving at 5600 km/s. The intensity of the hydrogen lines, the absence of forbidden lines of heavy elements in the spectrum, and the width of the filaments are explained by a model in which a collisionless shock wave is moving into partially neutral gas. The presence of the neutral gas can be used to set an upper limit of approximately 5 x 10 to the 47th power ergs to the energy in ionizing radiation emitted by a Type I supernova. The patchy neutral gas is probably part of the warm neutral component of the interstellar medium. The existing information on the remnant of SN 1006 indicates that its emission is similar in nature to that from Tycho's remnant.
Ameliorating Glycosaminoglycan (GAG) Loss and Cell Death in Articular Cartilage Following Single-Impact Loading

Impact loading of articular cartilage leads to post-traumatic osteoarthritis (OA) through its effects on the cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) of the tissue. Studies have shown the level of impact or injurious compression correlates with increased cell death, degradation of the ECM, and detrimental changes in biomechanical properties [1]. Recently, several bioactive agents, such as P188 and IGF-I, have shown promising results by reducing cell death following injurious compression of cartilage explants [2, 3].Copyright © 2007 by ASME
A comparative study of PVM workstation cluster implementations of a two-phase subsurface flow model

Abstract Four versions of a message-passing, distributed-memory, distributed-disk multicomputer application for simulating two-phase fluid flow in porous media are studied. The FORTRAN 77 finite element code, solved in parallel using an iterative domain-decomposition method, was ported from a shared-memory multiprocessor implementation to a network of heterogeneous computers using the PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine) software system. Issues concerning the calculation of speedups in cluster computing are discussed, and the performance of the four versions is compared. Parallel efficiencies of up to nearly 60% were achieved using 17 homogeneous networked workstations; speedups were comparable to the shared-memory implementation. We conclude that network multicomputing using PVM is an attractive alternative to hardware multiprocessors for large-grained parallel implementations of computationally intensive problems in hydrology.
Protein transport — it's what's up front that counts

There is wide agreement that signal or leader peptides serve to target secretory proteins to the endoplasmic reticulum membrane in eukaryotic cells, to the periplasmic space in bacterial cells, and to direct organelle proteins to various mitochondrial and chloroplast compart- ments. In eukaryotic cells, much less is known about the role of protein sequences beyond the signal in facili- tating transport across a membrane. Experiments carried out with M13 procoat protein ~, an
Dirt bikes injuries in children

Introduction Dirt bike riding is becoming a more popular recreational activity among children. Injuries associated with this recreational activity did not gain attention in the medical literature. The purpose of this study is to assess orthopedic injuries associated with dirt bike riding.
One-Leg Balance Is an Important Predictor of Injurious Falls in Older Persons

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that one-leg balance is a significant predictor of falls and injurious falls. DESIGN: Analysis of data from a longitudinal cohort study. SUBJECTS: Healthy, community-living volunteers older than age 60 enrolled in the Albuquerque Falls Study and followed for 3 years (N = 316; mean age 73 years). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Falls and injurious falls detected via reports every other month. INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Baseline measures of demographics, history, physical examination, Iowa Self Assessment Inventory, balance and gait assesessment, and one-leg balance (ability to stand unassisted for 5 seconds on one leg). RESULTS: At baseline, 84.5% of subjects could perform one-leg balance. (Impairment was associated with older age and gait abnormalities.) Over the 3-year follow-up, 71% experienced a fall and 22% an injurious fall. The only independent significant predictor of all falls using logistic regression was age greater than 73. However, impaired one-leg balance was the only significant independent predictor of injurious falls (relative risk: 2.13; 95% CI: 1.04, 4.34;P = .03). CONCLUSION: One-leg balance appears to be a significant and easy-to-administer predictor of injurious falls, but not of all falls. In our study, it was the strongest individual predictor. However, no single factor seems to be accurate enough to be relied on as a sole predictor of fall risk or fall injury risk because so many diverse factors are involved in falling.
Biogenesis of Polytopic Membrane Proteins: Membrane Segments Assemble within Translocation Channels prior to Membrane Integration

The initial steps in the biogenesis of membrane proteins parallel that of secretory proteins. The translocation of membrane proteins, however, must be interrupted prior to the complete traversal of the membrane. This is followed by their folding and integrating into the lipid bilayer. We have previously shown that as each latent transmembrane segment (TMS) in a polytopic membrane protein emerges from the ribosome, it sequentially translocates across the membrane. Here we demonstrate that these translocated TMSs can be extracted from the membrane with urea. This suggests that nascent TMSs do not integrate into the bilayer as they achieve a transmembrane topography. The integration is delayed until after the protein is synthesized and released from the ribosome. Prior to insertion into the bilayer, these TMSs appear to be stabilized by salt-sensitive electrostatic bonds within an aqueous-accessible compartment.
SU‐E‐T‐123: Understanding the Meaning of IMRT QA Passing Rates with a 2D Diode Array

Purpose: A lower than ideal tolerance limit is used in intensity‐modulated radiation therapyquality assurance(IMRT QA) with a 2D diode array due to passing rate fluctuations. The objective is to identify patterns in the passing rates to predict sources of uncertainty that can affect treatment delivery, for example, the need to re‐calibrate the multileaf collimator when the passing rates start to decrease. Methods: Five complex clinical prostate IMRT plans were evaluated with a 2D diode array. The QA for each plan was repeated five times during one and a half month period. One of the plans was randomly selected and repeated the same day five consecutive times. The planar doses calculated by the treatment planning system were compared to the measurements of the 2D diode array. The individual passing rates per beam per plan were compared. Results: The average passing rate for each plan ranged from 94% to 97%. While the average percent difference of this ranged between −7.67% to 17.61%. Additionally, the minimum and maximum standard deviation among all beams was 0.13% and 9.63% respectively. We also compared the standard deviation of a plan QA repeated during different days versus a plan QA repeated during the same day. For the former the highest standard deviation was 6.05 % while for the later 0.21%. We noticed that the largest discrepancy between the passing rates was for angles at around 155° and 205°. Conclusion: These results show some inconsistency in the IMRT QA passing rates from one day to the next. Moreover, lower passing rates for a specific angle like the ones shown here can represent possible mechanical or tuning problems with the linear accelerator at these specific locations. Early identification of these sources of uncertainty can greatly improve the precision of the treatment delivery.
Influence of sewage sludge soil amendment on various biological components of the corn field ecosystem

Abstract The influence of sewage sludge at rates of 11, 22, and 44 metric tons/ha and dairy manure at 11 metric tons/ha on the soil microflora of a corn field was investigated. Nonfertilized and chemically fertilized plot areas were used for comparison. Sludge or manure treatment did not affect the incidence of Stewart's bacterial wilt. Stalk lodging incidence decreased and Gibberella ear rot incidence increased with increasing sludge applications. There was also a consistent trend to increased ear rot severity with the sludge and manure treatments. The two highest sludge treatments increased algal coverage of the soil surface. With the bryophyte, Bryum capillare , all treatments including chemical fertilizer resulted in a higher soil surface population level of the bryophyte than was present in the check. There were no significant differences or consistent trends in the mean number of algal genera throughout the soil among any of the treatments although there was a general increase in the soil surface algal populations in the sludge treatments. The two highest sludge rates resulted in a pronounced increase in the bacterial and actinomycete population. Chemical fertilizer increased the fungal population. No other treatments resulted in consistent changes. The findings suggest that sludge may be very similar to manure in the effect it has on soil microflora.
A1H NMR Spectroscopic Approach to the Unambiguous Determination of Glycosyl Linkage Positions in Oligosaccharides

A sensitive (<1 mg) and nondestructive method was devised for the unambiguous determination of the glycosyl linkage positions in oligosaccharides using1H NMR spectroscopy. The technique is based on the absence of a hydroxyl group on the carbon atom that participates in the glycosidic linkage. The “missing” hydroxyl group is identified by recording1H NMR spectra of the oligosaccharide in H2O and D2O. The method is illustrated by determining the glycosyl linkage positions of maltose, Glcα1-4Glc, and a branched mannopentaose, Manα1-6(Manα1-3)Manα1-6(Manα1-3)Man.
Cerebellar infarction in children

We report 3 children with posterior circulation strokes. Cerebellar infarction is rare in children; therefore, it was not the clinical diagnosis suspected primarily in 2 of these patients. The diagnostic value and limitations of neuroimaging studies, including computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, in cerebellar infarction in children are discussed. Because 3 patients were examined in a 2 year period in one institution, this entity may be more prevalent than generally believed and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of posterior fossa lesions in children.
Delay-dependent stabilization of a class of nonlinear time-delay systems with time-varying input and state delays

In this paper we provide stabilization criteria for a class of nonlinear systems with time-varying state and input delays. The nonlinear system is assumed to be separable into a nominal linear part and an additive nonlinear perturbation satisfying the linear growth constraint. The time-varying delays as well as their time derivatives are assumed to be bounded above. A linear state-feedback controller is chosen to close the control loop. The validation of this approach is carried out through two simulation examples. The first example uses a theoretical model with all the conditions established in our main result. The second simulation consists of an attitude control problem using Modified Rodrigues Parameters.