cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Detection of molecular binding via charge-induced mechanical response of optical fibers

We report a charge sensitive optical detection technique for the label-free study of molecular interactions. Traditional label-free optical detection techniques largely rely on the detection of the mass of a molecule, and are insensitive to small molecules. In contrast, the present technique detects the charge of a molecule, where the signal does not diminish with the size of the molecule, thus making it capable for studying small molecules. In addition, the technique is compatible with the standard microplate platform, making it suitable for high-throughput screening of drug candidates. Using this technique, we have detected 0.2 nM anti-BSA and 15 μM anti-cancer drug (imatinib) with an enzyme modified surface. The achieved effective charge detection limit is ∼0.25 electron charge per μm2, corresponding to ∼0.3 fg mm−2 for imatinib, which is orders of magnitude better than the traditional label-free optical detection methods.
Architectural Modeling from Sparsely Scanned Range Data

We present a pipeline to reconstruct complete geometry of architectural buildings from point clouds obtained by sparse range laser scanning. Due to limited accessibility of outdoor environments, complete and sufficient scanning of every face of an architectural building is often impossible. Our pipeline deals with architectures that are made of planar faces and faithfully constructs a polyhedron of low complexity based on the incomplete scans. The pipeline first recognizes planar regions based on point clouds, then proceeds to compute plane intersections and corners (in this paper, we use the informal terms corner or vertex corner to stand for a polyhedron vertex. See the Overview section for notation declarations), and finally produces a complete polyhedron. Within the pipeline, several algorithms based on the polyhedron geometry assumption are designed to perform data clustering, boundary detection, and face extraction. Our system offers a convenient user interface but minimizes the necessity of user intervention. We demonstrate the capability and advantage of our system by modeling real-life buildings.
Development of porosity during coal char combustion

A detailed study has been conducted on the nature of porosity developed during the combustion of coal chars. This information is used to provide information on the mode of char combustion in full-scale pulverized coal boilers. Both laboratory-prepared and actual commercial boiler chars have been examined. The characterization of porosity involved the use of nitrogen and carbon dioxide adsorption. Porosity development in the laboratory chars, in air under zone I reaction conditions, followed a trend dictated by rank. Porosity generally increases with decreasing rank. The development of porosity under zone II conditions was also explored and found to follow a different course than that under zone I burning: significantly less microporosity was developed under these conditions. It can be inferred from the development of porosity in commercial chars, when burned under laboratory zone I conditions, that the utility boilers were operating under zone II conditions. Comparison of the laboratory chars with the commercial chars also supports this conclusion. The conclusion that nitrogen is a better general probe of commercial (high burnoff) char than carbon dioxide receives further support. A hypothesis is advanced regarding the origin of the very steep increase in apparent nitrogen-accessible porosity at low burnoffs.
The Use and Promise of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Epilepsy

Summary: The revolutionary influence of X-ray computerized tomography (CT) on neurodiagnosis will be considerably extended by a newer imaging probe using magnetic fields. This form of imaging uses nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) as the probe-tissue interaction to make many regional measurements of tissue in a short time, thus allowing an image to be computer-reconstructed. The nuclei of about 100 nuclides have significant magnetic properties, behaving like small permanent bar magnets. The most interesting of these in brain tissue are ordinary hydrogen, sodium, and phosphorus. Placed in a strong magnetic field, they partially align themselves with the field. They can then absorb energy which will subsequently be reradiated. Since the resonant frequency of each nucleus is proportional to the magnetic field in which it finds itself, producing fields which change predictably in strength with position, it becomes possible to localize the activated nuclei. Images of hydrogen density and relaxation times can be made and offer considerable tissue characterization. Bone is nearly invisible and considerable gray-white matter contrast is seen. Factors altering water-binding in tissues affect the image. Malignant tissue usually is seen in contrast to adjacent healthy tissue. Movement of blood is visible. By measuring energy-rich phosphorus, energy stores can be determined. There is no tissue ionization, no injected contrast materials are needed, and there are no radioactive materials involved. NMR scanners probably will replace CT within the next decade for most brain scanning purposes and will offer considerably greater tissue characterization which surely will influence studies of human epilepsy
Scoping Review of Common Secondary Conditions After Stroke and Their Associations with Age and Time Post Stroke

AbstractBackground: Health care providers need to be alert to secondary conditions that might develop after stroke so that these conditions can be prevented or treated early to reduce further deterioration of health and quality of life. Objectives: To review and describe the prevalence of secondary conditions after stroke and to summarize associations between secondary conditions and age and time post stroke. Methods: A scoping review of studies pertaining to secondary conditions after stroke published between 1986 and 2011 was conducted. Results: Seventy-six articles provided information regarding 6 secondary conditions: depression, pain, falls, fatigue, bowel/bladder problems, and sleep difficulties. Prevalence varied widely across studies for each condition. The limited repeated-measures evidence suggests that secondary conditions tend to occur in the first weeks or months post stroke and may remain relatively stable over time. Other evidence from regression analyses suggests either no significant asso...
Experimentally and Theoretically Narrowing Carpal Arch Width to Increase the Area Formed by the Transverse Carpal Ligament

Carpal tunnel syndrome is conventionally treated by open and endoscopic release surgeries in which transecting the transverse carpal ligament (TCL) relieves mechanical insults around the median nerve. The TCL release surgeries yield an increase in the tunnel cross-sectional area particularly within the volar aspect of the tunnel, the arch area, where the median nerve is located. As a result of increased arch area, post-operative follow-up studies using MRI confirmed a significant volar migration of the median nerve [1]. However, transecting the TCL compromises critical biomechanical roles of the carpal tunnel [2], and therefore, it is imperative to investigate an alternative method for treating carpal tunnel syndrome patients while preserving the TCL. Li et al. suggested that increasing the TCL length and narrowing the carpal arch width (CAW) as potential alternatives for increasing the arch area [3]. However, the data from their application of palmarly directed forces to the TCL from inside of the tunnel showed that the TCL length remained relatively constant while the carpal bones were mobilized to increase the arch area [3]. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between CAW narrowing and the TCL-formed arch area by experimental and geometrical modeling.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Changes and roles of secondary structures of whey protein for the formation of protein membrane at soy oil/water interface under high-pressure homogenization

The conformational changes of whey proteins upon adsorption at the soy oil/water interface were investigated using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Significant changes were observed in the bands assigned to beta-sheets and alpha-helix structures following the adsorption of proteins at the oil/water interface. The remaining interfacial proteins after Tween 20 desorption revealed small changes in beta-sheet and alpha-helical structures, whereas in the desorbed whey proteins the unordered structures largely increased, and beta-sheet structures almost disappeared. These FT-IR results provide important knowledge about the conformational modifications in whey proteins occurring upon adsorption at the oil/water interface. Finally, specific conformational changes are necessary to stabilize emulsions: adsorption-induced unfolding, increase in alpha-helical structures to establish interactions with the oil phase, and aggregation between adsorbed whey proteins to form protein membranes. Moreover, the structural changes in whey protein adsorbed at the oil/water interface under high-pressure homogenization are irreversible.
Activists in office: Pro-Kurdish contentious politics in Turkey

Abstract This paper contends that in some semi-democratic regimes the participation in electoral politics of ethnopolitical activists does not end overt conflict between the state and challengers. Instead, this activity, here called ‘representative contention’, in some cases constitutes an important form of social movement activism and can help explain how movements in semi-democratic regimes survive, consolidate and advance their agendas. As an example, the paper argues that pro-Kurdish participation in national and local politics between 1990 and 2005 provided the movement with a new institutional basis for public gathering, legal protection from prosecution, new access to domestic and international audiences, and new symbolic resources. Cumulatively, this consolidated the movement in relatively stable arenas and helped sustain it when the movement's armed flank was weak.
“This Enormous Army”: The Mutual Aid Tradition of American Fraternal Societies before the Twentieth Century

The social-welfare world of the poor has changed considerably since the turn of the century. It is not difficult to find dramatic evidence of progress. Most obviously, there has been a substantial reduction in the percentage of Americans who are poor. Even in 1929, about 40 percent of the population still lived in poverty. The corresponding figure for 1993 was 15.1 percent. The poor have also enjoyed notable material and physical gains in terms of income, diet, health, and housing conditions.
Effects of Contingency Management and Bupropion on Cigarette Smoking in Smokers with Schizophrenia

Rationale Individuals with schizophrenia have high smoking-related morbidity and mortality rates and need powerful and innovative smoking cessation interventions.
Modulation of calcium current, intracellular calcium levels and cell survival by glucose deprivation and growth factors in hippocampal neurons

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and nerve growth factor (NGF) can protect CNS neurons against ischemic/excitotoxic insults, but the mechanism of action is unknown. Imaging of the calcium indicator dye fura-3 and whole-cell patch clamp recordings of calcium currents were used to examine the mechanisms whereby hypoglycemia damages and growth factors protect cultured rat hippocampal neurons. When cultures were deprived of glucose, massive neuronal death occured 16–24 h following the onset of hypoglycemia. Early hypoglycemia-induced changes included calcium current inhibition and a reduction in intracellular free calcium levels ([Ca2+]i) without morphological signs of neuronal damage. Later changes included a large elevation of [Ca2+]i which was causally involved in neuronal damage. NGF and bFGF prevented or reduced both early and later responses to hypoglycemia. The growth factors increased calcium (barium) current and [Ca2+]i to normal limits during the early stages of hypoglycemia and prevented the later elevation in [Ca2+]i and neuronal damage. Nifedipine, but not omega-conotoxin, blocked calcium currents. The increased calcium current caused by the growth factors was apparently not sufficient to protect neurons against hypoglycemic damage since K+ depolarization during the early stages of hypoglycemia did not prevent and, in fact exacerbated, the subsequent neuronal damage. In addition, exposure of neurons to K+, NGF or bFGF only during the first 1 h of hypoglycemia did not protect against hypoglycemic damage. Taken together, the data suggest that neurons initially respond to hypoglycemia with a reduction in calcium currents which may provide a means to maintain [Ca2+]i within a concentration range conducive to cell survival. Prolonged energy deprivation eventually results in a failure of calcium extrusion systems, glutamate receptor activation and a loss of neuronal calcium homeostasis. Taken together, the data indicate that the mechanism of growth factor protection against energydeprivation involves of the late prevention rise in [Ca2+]i.
Kaitoku Seamount and the Mystery Cloud of 9 April 1984

On 9 April 1984, commercial airlines enroute from Tokyo, Japan, to Anchorage, Alaska, reported an unusual mushroom-shaped cloud at about 38.5°N, 146.0°E. On 8 and 9 April the intensity of volcanism from Kaitoku Seamount (26.0°N, 140.8°E), as indicated by T-phase recordings on an array of ocean bottom hydrophones, reached a maximum level and then declined rapidly. An examination was made of the possible relation of the cloud to eruptions of Kaitoku through an analysis of pilot depositions, satellite photos, wind charts, signal strengths and spectra of known man-made underwater explosions, as well as ascent rates of volcanic plumes and cumulonimbus clouds.
High blood pressure and associated symptoms were reduced by massage therapy

Abstract High blood pressure is associated with elevated anxiety, stress and stress hormones, hostility, depression and catecholamines. Massage therapy and progressive muscle relaxation were evaluated as treatments for reducing blood pressure and these associated symptoms. Adults who had been diagnosed as hypertensive received ten 30 min massage sessions over five weeks or they were given progressive muscle relaxation instructions (control group). Sitting diastolic blood pressure decreased after the first and last massage therapy sessions and reclining diastolic blood pressure decreased from the first to the last day of the study. Although both groups reported less anxiety, only the massage therapy group reported less depression and hostility and showed decreased urinary and salivary stress hormone levels (cortisol). Massage therapy may be effective in reducing diastolic blood pressure and symptoms associated with hypertension.
The origin of phase-modified Reggeon-Pomeron cuts in meson-baryon scattering

Abstract The origin of phase-modified Reggeon-Pomeron cuts in meson-baryon scattering is explained via duality diagrams and unitarity for the Pomeron. A phenomenological analysis by Sadoulet and a recent unitarity calculation by Chan et al. lend strong support to the argument.
Sense and preference

Abstract Semantic networks have shown considerable utility as a knowledge representation for Natural Language Processing (NLP). This paper describes a system for automatically deriving network structures from machine-readable dictionary text. This strategy helps to solve the problem of vocabulary acquisition for large-scale parsing systems, but also introduces an extra level of difficulty in terms of word-sense ambiguity. A Preference Semantics parsing system that operates over this network is discussed, in particular as regards its mechanism for using the network for lexical selection.
Neuromodulator-mediated phosphorylation of specific proteins in a neurotumor hybrid cell line (NCB-20).

: Mouse neuroblastoma X embryonic Chinese hamster brain explant hybrid cell line (NCB-20) forms functional synapses when intracellular cyclic AMP levels are elevated for a prolonged period of time. NCB-20 cells were labeled with [32P]orthophosphate under conditions where 2-chloroadenosine gave maximum increases of 32P incorporation into tyrosine hydroxylase in nerve growth factor dibutyryl cyclic AMP-differentiated PC12 (pheochromocytoma) cells. When NCB-20 cells were exposed to activators [5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), prostaglandin E1, or forskolin], resulting in activation of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase, increased 32P incorporation into two major proteins [130 kilodaltons (kDa) and 90 kDa] occurred. 5-HT (in the presence of phosphodiesterase inhibitor, isobutylmethylxanthine) gave a three- to fourfold increase, and forskolin a four- to sevenfold increase in 32P incorporation into the 90-kDa protein. [D-Ala2,d-Leu5]-enkephalin, which decreased cyclic AMP levels and reversed the 2-chloroadenosine-stimulated phosphorylation of tyrosine hydroxylase in differentiated PC12 cells, also reversed the stimulation of phosphorylation of the 90-kDa protein in NCB-20 cells. Pretreatment of NCB-20 cells with a calcium ionophore, A23187, gave increased phosphorylation of the 90– and 130-kDa proteins, but phorbol esters such as 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (tumor promoting agent), cell depolarization with high K+, or pretreatment with dibutyryl cyclic GMP had no effect on phosphorylation of these proteins. In contrast, phosphorylation of an 80-kDa protein was decreased by forskolin, but increased following activation of the calcium/phospholipid-dependent kinase with tumor promoting agent. Neither the 90-kDa nor the 80-kDa protein showed any immu-nological cross-reactivity with synapsin, a major synaptic protein known to be phosphorylated by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase and calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase, but not calcium/phospholipid-dependent protein kinase. This suggests that in NCB-20 cells, several unique proteins can be phosphorylated by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase in response to hormonal elevation of cyclic AMP levels. In contrast, an 80-kDa protein is the primary substrate for calcium/phospholipid-dependent protein kinase, and its phosphorylation is inhibited by agents that elevate cyclic AMP levels and thereby activate cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase.
Aeromonas caviae strain induces Th1 cytokine response in mouse intestinal tract.

Aeromonas caviae has been associated with human gastrointestinal disease. Strains of this species typically lack virulence factors (VFs) such as enterotoxins and hemolysins that are produced by other human pathogens of the Aeromonas genus. Microarray profiling of murine small intestinal extracts, 24 h after oral infection with an A. caviae strain, provides evidence of a Th1 type immune response. A large number of gamma-interferon (γ-IFN) induced genes are up-regulated as well as several tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) transcripts. Aeromonas caviae has always been considered an opportunistic pathogen because it lacks obvious virulence factors. This current effort suggests that an A. caviae strain can colonize the murine intestinal tract and cause what has been described by others as a dysregulatory cytokine response. This response could explain why a number of diarrheal waterborne disease cases have been attributed to A. caviae even though it lacks obvious enteropathogenic properties.
Would direct realism resolve the classical problem of induction

Recently, there has been a modest resurgence of interest in the ‘‘Humean’’ problem of induction. For several decades following the recognized failure of Strawsonian ‘‘ordinary-language’’ dissolutions and of Wesley Salmon’s elaboration of Reichenbach’s pragmatic vindication of induction, work on the problem of induction languished. Attention turned instead toward confirmation theory, as philosophers sensibly tried to understand precisely what it is that a justification of induction should aim to justify. Now, however, in light of Bayesian confirmation theory and other developments in epistemology, several philosophers have begun to reconsider the classical problem of induction. In section 2, I shall review a few of these developments. Though some of them will turn out to be unilluminating, others will profitably suggest that we not meet inductive scepticism by trying to justify some alleged general principle of ampliative reasoning. Accordingly, in section 3, I shall examine how the problem of induction arises in the context of one particular ‘‘inductive leap’’: the confirmation, most famously by Henrietta Leavitt and Harlow Shapley about a century ago, that a period-luminosity relation governs all Cepheid variable stars. This is a good example for the inductive sceptic’s purposes, since it is difficult to see how the sparse background knowledge available at the time could have entitled stellar astronomers to regard their observations as justifying this grand inductive generalization. I shall argue that the observation reports that confirmed the Cepheid periodluminosity law were themselves ‘‘thick’’ with expectations regarding as yet unknown laws of nature. The observations that confirmed the Cepheid law could not have been made without being fortified by these expectations, and
Viral nanoparticles and virus‐like particles: platforms for contemporary vaccine design

Current vaccines that provide protection against infectious diseases have primarily relied on attenuated or inactivated pathogens. Virus-like particles (VLPs), comprised of capsid proteins that can initiate an immune response but do not include the genetic material required for replication, promote immunogenicity and have been developed and approved as vaccines in some cases. In addition, many of these VLPs can be used as molecular platforms for genetic fusion or chemical attachment of heterologous antigenic epitopes. This approach has been shown to provide protective immunity against the foreign epitopes in many cases. A variety of VLPs and virus-based nanoparticles are being developed for use as vaccines and epitope platforms. These particles have the potential to increase efficacy of current vaccines as well as treat diseases for which no effective vaccines are available.
Identification and Evaluation of Cognitive Affect-Regulation Strategies: Development of a Self-Report Measure

The ability to regulate emotions is important to mental health and well-being. However, relatively little is known about the cognitive strategies people use when faced with negative affect and the extent to which these strategies reduce such affect. This may be due, in part, to the lack of a comprehensive measure of cognitive affect-regulation strategies. Three studies were conducted to develop a broad-based self-report inventory of 15 specific strategies, called the Inventory of Cognitive Affect Regulation Strategies (ICARUS). This instrument assesses strategies that are oriented toward avoidance of the feelings (e.g., mental disengagement, thoughts of suicide) or diverting attention (e.g., self-criticism/self-blame, blaming others), as well as strategies that are oriented toward approach or engagement (e.g., reframing and growth, acceptance, mindful observation). Results provide preliminary support for the internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and convergent validity of the measure.
Covalent Reactions of Wortmannin under Physiological Conditions

Wortmannin (Wm), a steroid-like molecule of 428.4 Da, appears to be unstable in biological fluids (apparent chemical instability), yet it exhibits an antiproliferative activity in assays employing a 48 hr incubation period (prolonged bioactivity), a situation we refer to as the "wortmannin paradox." Under physiological conditions, Wm covalently reacts with nucleophiles such as the side chains of cysteine, N-methyl hexanoic acid, lysine, or proline at the C20 position on the furan ring. Like Wm, WmC20 amino acid derivatives had significant antiproliferative activities. Three Wm derivatives, WmC20-proline, WmC20-cysteine, and a WmC20-N-methyl hexanoic acid, generated Wm that then reacted with lysine in an exchange-type reaction. This unusual, reversible, covalent reaction of Wm with nucleophiles under physiological conditions provides an explanation for the wortmannin paradox.
Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) inhibition induces neurotoxicity via dysregulation of glutamate/calcium signaling and hyperexcitability

Aberrant glutamate and calcium signalings are neurotoxic to specific neuronal populations. Calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII), a multifunctional serine/threonine protein kinase in neurons, is believed to regulate neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity in response to calcium signaling produced by neuronal activity. Importantly, several CaMKII substrates control neuronal structure, excitability, and plasticity. Here, we demonstrate that CaMKII inhibition for >4 h using small molecule and peptide inhibitors induces apoptosis in cultured cortical neurons. The neuronal death produced by prolonged CaMKII inhibition is associated with an increase in TUNEL staining and caspase-3 cleavage and is blocked with the translation inhibitor cycloheximide. Thus, this neurotoxicity is consistent with apoptotic mechanisms, a conclusion that is further supported by dysregulated calcium signaling with CaMKII inhibition. CaMKII inhibitory peptides also enhance the number of action potentials generated by a ramp depolarization, suggesting increased neuronal excitability with a loss of CaMKII activity. Extracellular glutamate concentrations are augmented with prolonged inhibition of CaMKII. Enzymatic buffering of extracellular glutamate and antagonism of the NMDA subtype of glutamate receptors prevent the calcium dysregulation and neurotoxicity associated with prolonged CaMKII inhibition. However, in the absence of CaMKII inhibition, elevated glutamate levels do not induce neurotoxicity, suggesting that a combination of CaMKII inhibition and elevated extracellular glutamate levels results in neuronal death. In sum, the loss of CaMKII observed with multiple pathological states in the central nervous system, including epilepsy, brain trauma, and ischemia, likely exacerbates programmed cell death by sensitizing vulnerable neuronal populations to excitotoxic glutamate signaling and inducing an excitotoxic insult itself.
Label-free visualization of microfluidic mixture concentration fields using a surface plasmon resonance (spr) reflectance imaging

A label-free visualization technique based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) illumination sensing is applied for the nonintrusive and real-time mapping of microscale mixture concentration fields. The key idea is that the SPR reflectance sensitively varies with the refractive index of the near-wall region of the test mixture fluid contacting the metal (Au) layer, of tuned 47.5 nm thickness. The Fresnel equation, based on Kretschmann’s theory, correlates the SPR reflectance with the refractive index, or dielectric constant, of the test medium, and then, the measured refractive index correlates with the mixture concentration. An example application is presented for the case of ethanol penetrating into water contained in a micro-channel with a rectangular cross-section of 91 μm wide and 50 μm high. The measurement sensitivity, uncertainties and detection limitations of the implemented SPR imaging sensor are carefully examined for its potential as a nonintrusive means of microscale concentration field mapping.
Rediscounting under aggregate risk

Abstract This paper compares three institutions that offer an elastic currency – open market operations, a discount window, and a private, banknote-issuing clearinghouse – in an economy with financial markets otherwise hampered by a lack of liquidity. When this economy is subject to aggregate financial shocks, these alternative forms of central banking are shown to differ in their implications for risk-sharing. Interesting implications include (i) central bank losses and monetary innovations that are part of an efficient equilibrium; and (ii) desirable quantity restrictions at the discount window.
Intravascular Ultrasound Estimation of Arterial Stenosis

The evaluation of the degree of reduction in the cross-sectional area of an artery has important pathophysiologic and therapeutic implications. Currently, no technique can easily provide this information. In this in vitro study we evaluated the potential of a new imaging technique, intravascular high frequency ultrasound angioscopy, in the estimation of percentage of cross-sectional area stenosis of an artery. To do this, we compared intravascular high frequency ultrasound to previously-validated external high frequency ultrasound and to anatomic estimation of arterial stenosis. Using a prototype intraluminal imaging catheter with a 20 MHz ultrasound transducer at its tip, we imaged 20 arterial segments of various size (15 to 90 mm 2 lumen area by anatomy) in the control state and after experimental stenosis. These arterial segments were also imaged by external high frequency ultrasound. Lumen areas were measured from calibrated ultrasound images in the control state and after stenosis, and percentage of cross-sectional area stenosis was calculated. These data were compared to the percentage of area stenosis derived from calibrated anatomic photographs of the arteries taken in the control state and after stenosis. Both intravascular ultrasound angioscopy and external high frequency ultrasound yielded high-resolution, two-dimensional, circumferential images of the arteries. Alterations in vessel area and shape were apparent after creation of stenosis. Intravascular ultrasound had excellent correlations, both with external ultrasound and with anatomic measurements, in the assessment of luminal area ( r = 0.98, p r = 0.98, p r = 0.86, p r = 0.92, p
Less power = less human? Effects of power differentials on dehumanization

Abstract Two experiments demonstrated that power leads to dehumanizing others, adding to our understanding of how power affects interpersonal perception. Undergraduate participants in dyads were assigned to unequal power roles before interacting cooperatively in a mock hiring-task for Experiment 1 and competitively in a game for Experiment 2. After interacting, participants rated each other on personality traits that vary in how much they are a uniquely human trait (UH; e.g. a trait that typically distinguishes humans from animals). In both experiments, high-power participants attributed fewer uniquely human traits to low-power participants than vice versa, meaning they animalistically dehumanized a fellow student from the same university. This dehumanization occurred even while high-power participants did not evaluatively derogate low-power participants. We argue that power differences can result in perceived disparities in humanity, perhaps because UH can both express and justify power.
Social problem solving training: a follow-up study of cognitive and behavioral effects.

The long term effects of Spivack and Shures' social problem-solving training were assessed and compared to an attention-placebo control. Thirty-seven preschool age children were involved in this year's long intervention project and six month follow-up. All subjects received 46 sessions of intervention by specially trained assistants. Support was found for the cognitive effectiveness of social problem-solving training with aberrant children at post test in that they gained significantly in their ability to generate alternative solutions to interpersonal problems. This differential effect was not sustained at follow-up. Blind teacher ratings of behavioral adjustment and independent observers' ratings of behavior (using a naturalistic observation scale developed for this study) revealed no significant behavioral training effects at post test or at follow-up. Findings are discussed with the suggestion that behavior change in young children may not be mediated through a strictly cognitive intervention, and may more logically require an integration of behavioral and cognitve techniques.
Innovation of a reinforcer preference assessment with the difficult to test

In this study, we continued evaluation of a two-choice preference assessment aimed at identifying a hierarchy of reinforcers for individuals with only one voluntary motor sequence-closing and releasing an adaptive switch. We assessed preferences among types of sensory stimulation in 6 adults with multiple profound impairments using concurrent synchronous reinforcement contingencies. Pre-experimental assessments with various types of stimulation led to the selection of music (A), vibration (B), and either olfactory or visual stimulation (C) as the 3 modalities for continued testing. Each participant received opportunities for familiarization with each type of stimulation in blocks of six 20-min sessions in which the closure of an adaptive switch produced the stimulation for as long as the switch remained closed. Next, participants could choose between pairs of types of stimulation in blocks of 12 sessions. In the first 6 of the 12 sessions, switch closure activated one type (e.g., A) and switch release activated the contrasted type (e.g., B). In the second 6 sessions, the contingencies were reversed. Two additional 12-session blocks completed all possible contrasts (AB, BC and AC). Four of the 6 participants showed distinct preferences in these two-choice tests with indications of preference hierarchies. The results demonstrate a method for obtaining indications of relative preference for potentially reinforcing stimuli from individuals without communication and without the abilities to act on more than one switch.
The incredible fungal genus —Drechslera — and its phytotoxic ophiobolins

ManyDrechslera species that haveCochliobolus sp. as a perfect stage produce a related group of ophiobolins, sesterterpenoids (C-25’s), which are phytotoxic to a wide range of plants. One of the most toxic ophiobolins is 6-epiophiobolin A and it is produced by all of theDrechslera species thus far studied. On the other hand, some novel ophiobolins have been found inD. oryzae: ophiobolin J, 6-epiophiobolin I, and 8-deoxyophiobolin J. Potentially, genetic crosses made between these fungi could yield novel organisms, producing novel combinations of the ophiobolins, and thus new pathotypes. Ophiobolins are being used in tissue culture systems to screen plants for sensitivity to these toxins.
Arenethiolate Monolayer-Protected Gold Clusters

Nanometer-sized gold clusters stabilized by monolayers of arenethiolates prepared using the Brust reaction are somewhat larger (by TEM) and less thermally stable (by TGA) than those prepared under similar conditions and stabilized by alkanethiolates. Like the latter, the mean core size decreases for synthetic conditions based on larger thiol/Au ratios. The differential pulse voltammetry of the arenethiolates was especially interesting by displaying electrochemical ensemble Coulomb staircase features analogous to those recently reported, even in unfractionated cluster preparations, consistent with a smaller dispersity of core sizes than usual for alkanethiolate-protected clusters. The spacings between quantized capacitance charging features on the potential axis decrease with decreasing methylene linker chain length. TEM studies show chain/ring self-organization features. The UV−vis spectral surface plasmon bands of the arenethiolate clusters are virtually independent of the specific aryl ligands for small...
Helper T-cell lines specific for the acetylcholine receptor: induction, characterization, and in vitro effects.

Abstract A strong immune response to the acetylcholine receptor (AChR), involving both cell-mediated and humoral immunity, underlies both myasthenia gravis and its experimental models. A central cell in this response and in its regulation is the helper-proliferative T-cell specific for the AChR. We have produced long-lived lines of these cells derived from mice immunized with AChR. These cells proliferate in an antigen-specific manner to the AChR, bear the Ly1 and Thy markers, and lack the Ly23 antigen. Finally, these cells and their supernatants help primed B cells make anti-AChR antibody. These cells will provide us with a necessary tool for the dissection of mechanisms regulating the immune response to the AChR.
The state of technological and social change: Impressions

Abstract As the long-wave theory has predicted, we are seeing a period of consolidation in which the pace of radical technological innovation seems exceeded by the pace of social change. Peter Drucker's dictum, that technology changes faster than society, appears now to have been reversed. The article offers research and anecdotal support for these assertions, linking them to specific trends and trend interactions, including patents and intellectual property litigation, new product development, and politics and revolution.
The role of prefrontal cortex in sensory memory and motor preparation: an event-related fMRI study.

Abstract Delayed-response tasks are behavioral paradigms in which subjects must remember stimulus attributes across a delay to subsequently perform the appropriate motor response. Quintana and Fuster (1992), reported that there exist subpopulations of neurons in monkey lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) whose firing rates during the delay are tuned to either sensorial attributes of the stimulus (i.e., involved in sensory memory) or the direction of a postdelay motor response associated with the stimulus (i.e., involved in motor preparation). We studied human subjects with an event-related fMRI method that would allow us to test the hypothesis that there are regions within the PFC that are recruited during both motor preparation and sensory memory. Subjects performed a delayed-response task with two types of trials that either (1) allowed subjects to prepare during a delay period for a specific motor response or (2) required that subjects maintain a sensory attribute (specifically, color) during a delay period for correct performance postdelay. It was assumed that during the delay periods, the delayed-response trials would engage motor preparation while delayed-match trials would engage sensory memory. Behavioral data supported this assumption. Imaging results support the hypothesis that the PFC is involved in both motor preparation and sensory memory. Furthermore, no selectivity (in terms of intensity of neural representation on the spatial scale of the voxel size 3 ) for motor preparation over sensory memory (or vice-versa) was detected within the PFC. This latter result fails to support a gross anatomical segregation within the PFC with respect to involvement in these two cognitive processes.
Tectonic evolution of the Pacific Ocean since 74 ma

Abstract A recent re-evaluation of the Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic sea-floor spreading data in the eastern Pacific has allowed us to make a new interpretation of the timing and sequence of the tectonic events which produced the present configuration of the plates (Whitman and Harrison, 1981; Whitman, 1981). Rotation parameters specifying the relative motion between all pairs of plates in the ocean basin have been calculated from the best fit of oceanic magnetic anomalies, with additional input from bathymetry and crustal ages of the Deep Sea Drilling Project sites. The rotation parameters for the relative motion between the Pacific and Antarctic plates are taken from Weissel et al. (1977) and the continental rotation parameters are from Barron et al. (1981). Plate motions have been determined back to 74 Ma. This time marks the initiation of spreading at the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge which caused the separation of the Campbell Plateau from Antarctica (Barron et al., 1981). Thus, this time is the earliest fix on the position of the Pacific plate relative to the continents surrounding the Pacific Ocean basin using sea-floor spreading. Since it is not possible to derive quantitative information about the relative motion between two plates separated by a trench, all rotations for the oceanic plates of the Pacific basin have been calculated relative to the Pacific plate and then relative to North America through the plate circuit: Pacific-Antarctica-Africa-North America Since we also know the relative position of North America with respect to the other continents, we can show the relative position of the Pacific plate and the other oceanic plates with respect to all of the continental plates surrounding the Pacific Ocean basin.
Digital health, microfluidics, and bedside genetic testing

Decentralized, bedside, or point of care analysis of nucleic acids (DNA/RNA/mRNA/microRNA)-based markers is expected to be a key component of digital healthcare. Nucleic acids-based approaches allow for screening of disease and pathogens, disease surveillance, selection of treatment, treatment effectiveness, differential diagnosis, risk assessment, staging, and prognosis. Hand-held genetic analysis systems have the potential to provide all these capabilities in a simple, affordable, field deployable, rapid, multiplexed, and robust manner without the need for electrical power or refrigerated reagents. Even the need for specific language can be eliminated by translatable or visual graphical user interface truly integrating the analytical system with the communication network. The presentation will introduce Gene-Z and iDx, two networkable platforms that are developed to provide simplified analysis of genetic markers. Gene-Z has Android/iPod based operation using BluetoothTM and capable of carrying out quantitative isothermal amplification for 64 reactions in a disposable microfluidic chip. The device is battery operated and can be charged by solar panels integrated at the top of the device. A smaller version (iDx) working as an attachment to cell phones, also with real time amplification and quantification capabilities, allows 8 reactions in parallel. Both these devices are networkable and currently being validated for a number of key applications important to human and animal health, plant safety, industrial microbiology, and environmental protection. Simplification, reliability, and cost-effectiveness are key factors ensuring successful implementation of such approaches. Business model for adoption of such low cost approaches, however, is still evolving and major challenges need to be addressed about how to sustain a business that is built on small margins usually by small companies engaged in biomedical research.
Association of insulin-like growth factor 2 with the insulin-linked polymorphic region in cultured fetal thymus cells

The insulin-linked polymorphic region (ILPR) is a regulatory sequence in the promoter region upstream of the human insulin gene and is widely recognized as a locus of type 1 diabetes susceptibility. Polymorphism of the ILPR sequence can affect expression of both insulin and the adjacent insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF-2) gene. Several ILPR variants form G-quadruplex DNA structures in vitro that exhibit affinity binding to insulin and IGF-2. It has been suggested that the ILPR may form G-quadruplexes in vivo as well, raising the possibility that insulin and IGF-2 may bind to these structures in the ILPR in chromatin of live cells. This work establishes the presence of IGF-2 in the nucleus of cells cultured from human fetal thymus and its association with the ILPR in the chromatin of these cells. In vitro experiments support the involvement of G-quadruplex DNA in the binding interaction.
Out-of-plane conductivity in single-crystal YBa2Cu

The resistivity anisotropy has been measured in seven single crystals of ${\mathrm{YBa}}_{2}$${\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}$${\mathrm{O}}_{7}$. We find that the anisotropy is between 56 and 110 at 290 K, increasing to \ensuremath{\sim}250 just above ${T}_{c}$ (90--93 K). While the out-of-plane resistivity ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{c}$ is close to the Mott limit, the large in-plane resistivity ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{\mathrm{ab}}$ (120--150 \ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\Omega} cm at 290 K) implies a large metallic parameter (${k}_{F}$l\ensuremath{\sim}31) and long electronic mean free path (67 A\r{} at 100 K). Both ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{c}$ and ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{\mathrm{ab}}$ are well described by the equation \ensuremath{\rho}=A/T+BT recently proposed by Anderson and Zou.
Diagnostics for fuel sprays as applied to emulsified fuels

Measurements of drop-size distributions and vaporized fuel concentrations have been combined with a spray model in the comparative study of the evaporation of sprays of mulsified and non-emulsified (neat) fuels at elevated temperatures and pressures. The fuel spray was generated by a pressure jet atomizer and was polydisperse; the air stream was approximately fully-developed turbulent flow in a constant area duct. Diagnostic techniques have been adapted or developed which allow rapid measurements of overall drop-size distributions in the presence of evaporation in high-temperature high-pressure air, and also the fuel vapor concentration distribution within sprays. It was concluded that even in conditions of turbulence and high Reynolds number for drop motion relative to the air, some emulsified fuel drops apparently undergo microexplosions. Further, it was determined that the initial atomization quality depends on the air conditions, with better atomization at higher air densities. This implies that spray drop-size measurements performed at atmospheric conditions need to be corrected for air density and temperature effects to predict atomization quality for altitude relight or high-pressure combustion. A spray model has been developed which represents the spray being studied and provides data in a form comparable to the experimental diagnostics. Comparisons are provided between the predicted and measured drop-size distribution and fuel-vapor concentrations during the evaporation process. Trends for changes in drop-size distribution (both average size and width of the distribution) with distance from the nozzle are predicted fairly well by the model except close (
Meeting Synopsis: Advances in Skeletal Muscle Biology in Health and Disease (Gainesville, Florida, February 22nd to 24th 2012) – Day 2: “Muscle Diseases and Regeneration” and “Clinical/Translational Research”

This is a very exciting time for researchers of adult skeletal muscle as we learn more about the incredibly plastic nature of skeletal muscle and begin to understand the signaling pathways regulating that plasticity. Moreover, the translation of skeletal muscle bench work to bedside is now an ongoing reality rather than just a buzz phrase. Despite this, adult skeletal muscle adaptations in health and disease have traditionally received largely peripheral attention in the context of both research and patient care. Therefore one of the primary purposes of this meeting was to bring together leading researchers that share a passion for adult skeletal muscle plasticity, with the aim of stimulating innovative and new directions that will advance this important field. We hope the interactive and friendly environment facilitated the attainment of this goal. Thanks to the efforts of the participants and organizers alike, we are confident that new collaborations will stem from, and ongoing collaborations were solidified at, this meeting. Finally, we expect this meeting will take place again in 2014 and hope it will be as fruitful and well-received as it was this year.