cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Design and construction of an inexpensive homemade plant growth chamber

Plant growth chambers produce controlled environments, which are crucial in making reproducible observations in experimental plant biology research. Commercial plant growth chambers can provide precise controls of environmental parameters, such as temperature, humidity, and light cycle, and the capability via complex programming to regulate these environmental parameters. But they are expensive. The high cost of maintaining a controlled growth environment is often a limiting factor when determining experiment size and feasibility. To overcome the limitation of commercial growth chambers, we designed and constructed an inexpensive plant growth chamber with consumer products for a material cost of $2,300. For a comparable growth space, a commercial plant growth chamber could cost $40,000 or more. Our plant growth chamber had outside dimensions of 1.5 m (W) x 1.8 m (D) x 2 m (H), providing a total growth area of 4.5 m2 with 40-cm high clearance. The dimensions of the growth area and height can be flexibly changed. Fluorescent lights with large reflectors provided a relatively spatially uniform photosynthetically active radiation intensity of 140–250 μmoles/m2/sec. A portable air conditioner provided an ample cooling capacity, and a cooling water mister acted as a powerful humidifier. Temperature, relative humidity, and light cycle inside the chamber were controlled via a z-wave home automation system, which allowed the environmental parameters to be monitored and programmed through the internet. In our setting, the temperature was tightly controlled: 22.2°C±0.8°C. The one-hour average relative humidity was maintained at 75%±7% with short spikes up to ±15%. Using the interaction between Arabidopsis and one of its bacterial pathogens as a test experimental system, we demonstrate that experimental results produced in our chamber were highly comparable to those obtained in a commercial growth chamber. In summary, our design of an inexpensive plant growth chamber will tremendously increase research opportunities in experimental plant biology.
Beyond the Booth: Excimer Laser for Cutaneous Conditions

The excimer laser has emerged as an efficacious treatment modality for many dermatologic diseases. The excimer laser is an alternative to standard narrowband ultraviolet B (NBUVB) phototherapy treatment in patients with limited disease. In comparison to standard NBUVB, the excimer laser requires fewer treatment sessions, has reduced treatment duration, requires a lower cumulative UVB dose, and limits UVB exposure to lesional skin. This review addresses the mechanism, safety, application, and efficacy of the excimer laser for the treatment of these conditions.
Postscript: A Theory of Access Revisited

The articles in this volume conceptually and empirically engage and extend our ‘theory of access’ (Ribot and Peluso 2003) through theoretically informed grounded analysis. The articles nuance our r...
Identifying Different Types of Tax Avoidance: Implications for Empirical Research

We provide a theoretical framework to identify when measures of tax avoidance reflect tax avoidance related to, and unrelated to, earnings management. The influence of earnings management on measur...
Feeling at home in nature: a mixed method study of the impact of visitor activities and preferences in a prison visiting room garden

More than 5 million children will experience parental incarceration at some point in their lives, an adverse childhood event that will impact their relationship with their parents and the trajector...
Nitrate Use And Changes In Functional Status In Black Patients With Chronic Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction: Insights From The HF-ACTION Trial

Introduction Nitrate therapy (in combination with hydralazine) is recommended in black patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and NYHA class III-IV symptoms receiving optimal ACE/ARB and beta-blocker therapy to improve clinical outcomes; yet the effect of nitrates on functional status is not well characterized. Hypothesis We hypothesized that black patients taking nitrates would have greater improvements in measures of functional status over time compared with those not taking nitrates. Methods The HF-ACTION trial randomized 2,331 patients with chronic HFrEF (EF ≤35%) to usual care plus exercise training versus usual care alone. We analyzed data from self-identified black participants stratified by baseline nitrate use. Unadjusted and adjusted hierarchical linear regression models were used to determine the association of nitrate use with changes in functional status (6-minute walk distance [6MWD], and peak VO2) from baseline to 3 months and to explore an interaction with exercise training. Results Among 749 black patients, 198 (26%) were on nitrates at baseline. Patients taking nitrates were older, with worse NYHA class symptoms, more ischemic disease and diabetes and worse renal function than those not on nitrates. Baseline 6MWD and peak VO2 were worse among patients on nitrates than those not on nitrates (median 308 vs. 361 m and 12.4 vs. 13.4 mL/kg/min, respectively). After adjustment, there was no significant association between nitrate use and change in 6MWD or peak VO2 (Table). These results were consistent irrespective of randomization to exercise training or usual care (interaction p-values>0.05). Conclusions In this clinical trial population of self-identified black patients with chronic HFrEF, approximately one-fourth of patients were receiving nitrates at baseline and these patients tended to have worse baseline functional status. After adjustment, nitrate use was not associated with greater improvements in functional status from baseline to 3 months, and findings were consistent irrespective of concurrent exercise training. Further efforts are needed to determine optimal approaches for improving exercise capacity in black patients with HFrEF.
Racial Disparities in Substance Use Treatment Completion Among Older Adults.

Background and objectives Racial disparities in substance use among young adults have been well documented in the substance use literature, but little attention has been paid to older adults. While being an older adult is positively associated with substance use treatment completion, racial disparities in treatment completion have yet to be examined. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent racial disparities exist in substance use treatment completion among older adults (65 and older). Research design and methods This cross-sectional study utilized data from the most recent Treatment Episode Data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which documents discharges from a publicly funded substance use treatment program in the United States. A total of 17,942 older adults reported to a substance use treatment program in 2017 and 6,653 met the criteria for the study. Chi-squared tests were used to analyze group differences and a binary logistic regression was used to predict substance use treatment completion. Results Results show that Black older adults were 37% less likely to complete a substance use treatment program than Whites (OR = 0.630) while Hispanic older adults were 26% more likely to complete a substance use treatment program than Whites (OR = 1.26). Discussion and implications These results support the findings from similar studies with younger adults and support the theory that racial disparities are prevalent across the life span. Although Hispanics had a higher treatment completion rate than Whites, this is likely a reflection of familismo, where decisions about health treatments is a group process and a steady network of family members are available to provide advice and encouragement. The significant disparity observed between Black and White older adults suggest a need to consider cultural, historical, and systemic factors that affect voluntary termination of substance use treatment among Black older adults.
Deep Learning Fault Diagnosis for Spacecraft Attitude Determination and Control

The growing numbers, complexity, and data return of space missions are driving a need for automated fault detection and diagnosis. Traditional fault monitoring techniques possess limited ability to...
Recoding the city: cultural mediation of short-term rental platforms in the US

This paper explores the cultural mediation of short-term rental (STR) platforms in US cities. While many STR advocates emphasize ‘authentic’ cultural experiences and the support of local economies,...
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know: Improvements in Investment Efficiency Prior to a Mandated Accounting Change

Theory suggests mandated changes in accounting standards can lead to increases in investment efficiency through two mechanisms: (1) increases in internal information quality (IIQ), or (2) reductions in information asymmetry with external parties. We use the long transition period of the new lease accounting standard to isolate the effects of increases in IIQ on investment efficiency. Using a difference-in-differences design we find that firms affected by the new lease standard experience significant increases in investment efficiency in the year immediately preceding the standards implementation. The improvements in investment efficiency are largest for firms with high lease intensity and multiple operating segments. The increases in investment efficiency are driven by over-investing firms that reduce their capital expenditures and net acquisitions. We contribute to the investment efficiency literature by identifying the effect of IIQ on investment behavior. Further, we document that internal information gathering in anticipation of a new accounting standard can improve managerial decision-making, an explicit goal of the FASB’s post-implementation review of the lease standard.
Properties of the After Kernel.

The Neural Tangent Kernel (NTK) is the wide-network limit of a kernel defined using neural networks at initialization, whose embedding is the gradient of the output of the network with respect to its parameters. We study the "after kernel", which is defined using the same embedding, except after training, for neural networks with standard architectures, on binary classification problems extracted from MNIST and CIFAR-10, trained using SGD in a standard way. For some dataset-architecture pairs, after a few epochs of neural network training, a hard-margin SVM using the network's after kernel is much more accurate than when the network's initial kernel is used. For networks with an architecture similar to VGG, the after kernel is more "global", in the sense that it is less invariant to transformations of input images that disrupt the global structure of the image while leaving the local statistics largely intact. For fully connected networks, the after kernel is less global in this sense. The after kernel tends to be more invariant to small shifts, rotations and zooms; data augmentation does not improve these invariances. The (finite approximation to the) conjugate kernel, obtained using the last layer of hidden nodes, sometimes, but not always, provides a good approximation to the NTK and the after kernel.
Propagation of Input Uncertainties in Numerical Simulations of Laser Powder Bed Fusion

Laser powder bed fusion has the potential of redefining state-of-the-art processing and production methods, but defect formation and inconsistent build quality have limited the implementation of this process. Numerical models are widely used to study this process and predict the formation of these defects. Presently, the uncertainties of model input parameters and thermophysical properties used by these numerical simulations have not been investigated. In the present study, the uncertainty in these input parameters and material properties are quantified for laser powder bed fusion, with and without a simulated powder bed, to determine their influence on the predictive accuracy of an experimentally validated numerical model. Accounting for all possible sources of uncertainty quickly becomes computationally expensive on account of the curse of dimensionality. Uncertainty in laser absorption, solid, and liquid specific heat of the metal were found to have the largest effect on model prediction reliability with or without the use of a powder bed. Results also illustrate that accounting for these three uncertain parameters still captures the majority of model prediction uncertainty. Furthermore, the methodology of this study may be used to understand the uncertainty in as-built microstructure through propagation to microstructure prediction models, or applied under processing conditions where high Peclet numbers are observed and the thermal convection and fluid flow within the molten pool are substantial.
Finding Ways through Eurospace: West African Movers Re-viewing Europe from the Inside

This is a book of stories: stories of people from Africa who have made their way to Europe; stories about how they move, how they make their lives, and how they engage with the spaces and people ar...
Weight Gain during the COVID-19 Pandemic in a High-Risk Cohort of Children in San Francisco, CA.

Pandemic mitigation measures may lead to excess weight gain in children. Our objective was to assess weight gain during the COVID-19 pandemic in children of ages 4-12 years with overweight and obesity in San Francisco, CA. Children with BMI ≥85th percentile measured at a clinic visit from January to March 2020 were recruited. Follow-up BMI measurements were obtained between October 2020 and March 2021 from the electronic medical record or through a video study visit. Pre- and post-BMI measurements were obtained on n = 91 participants. The majority were Latino (85%) and publicly insured (91%). Mean monthly weight gain was 0.73 kg [standard deviation (SD) 0.47], equivalent to yearly weight gain of 8.8 kg. Mean monthly change in BMI z-score was 0.02 (SD 0.04) equivalent to yearly increase in BMI-z of 0.24. Weight gain among children in San Francisco with overweight and obesity during the COVID-19 pandemic far exceeded healthy weight gain for this age group.
Spatial and Time-Resolved Quantification of Plasma-Derived Reactive Species in Liquid Water

Understanding the transport of plasma-derived reactive species is crucial for effective plasma-based liquid activation applications such as cancer treatment and water purification. A 2-D plasma-in-liquid apparatus along with chemical probes and various imaging methods were previously used to study the plasma-liquid interface region.1,2 Surface tension-induced Marangoni flow was modeled in a 1-D geometry and the flow speeds calculated were found to be similar to those observed in experiments.2 While propagation of acidic fronts and reactive oxygen/nitrogen species (RONS) in bulk liquid were also imaged and measured1, their constituents' concentrations were not quantified.
Environmental Fluctuations and Acoustic Data Communications

Abstract : The long-term goal is to couple together analytical and numerical modeling of oceanographic and surface wave processes, acoustic propagation modeling, statistical descriptions of the waveguide impulse response between multiple sources and receivers, and the design and performance characterization of underwater acoustic digital data communication systems in shallow water.
Vector map digital watermarking using angles

In this paper I propose a new digital watermarking method that is robust to the scaling of vector map data. The interior angle can be used in vector digital watermarking because the angle is one of the spatial features which is not changed easily. The experimental results show that the original data are almost unchanged, and then watermarks are extracted after several attacks. Therefore, the proposed method could be used in various fields to protect the copyright of vector map.
NK Cells: Null No More

![Figure][1] Lewis L. Lanier © 2006 Linda Lloyd It has been a privilege and honor serving as the President of The American Association of Immunologists this past year. The Presidential Address at the Annual Meeting provides a rare opportunity to reflect on the science and, more
Intact sheets of fetal retina transplanted to restore damaged rat retinas.

RESULTS. Donor cells were unequivocally identified by the BrdU label. Approximately 25% of transplants in the subretinal space developed parallel layers, with photoreceptor outer segments facing the host pigment epithelium. Transplants developed rosettes if host pigment epithelium had been damaged, if trauma to the donor tissue occurred during preparation or transplantation, and if the donor tissue was misplaced into the choroid or into the epiretinal space on top of the host retina. If the surgery was performed more than 4 weeks after the light damage, continued degeneration of the host retina caused secondary pigment epithelium damage, and transplants did not develop parallel layers of photoreceptor outer segments. CONCLUSIONS. After transplantation to the subretinal space of a degenerated retina, gel-protected fetal retina can develop parallel layers and photoreceptor outer segments in contact with host pigment epithelium. Transplants can develop good fusion with the inner retina of a photoreceptordeficient recipient. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1998;39:2121-2131)
Serum cholesterol response to changes in the diet: I. Iodine value of dietary fat versus 2S-P.

In men in calorie equilibrium, changes in dietary fat produce responses in the serum cholesterol level that, on the average, are predictable from the percentages of total calories provided by saturated (S) and polyunsaturated (P) fatty acid glycerides in the diets concerned. S and P have opposing actions and, in general, Δ Cholesterol (mg./100 ml.) = 2.7ΔS − 1.3ΔP, where Δ refers to the difference between 2 diets. Increasing the number of double bonds beyond 2 in polyunsaturated fatty acids does not result in proportionate increases in serum cholesterol-lowering effect. The mono-enes oleic and erucic acid have little or no effect on the serum cholesterol level when they are exchanged in the diet for equal calories of simple carbohydrate. Changes of fats in the diet produce serum cholesterol responses that are also correlated with the iodine values, or the square-roots of those values, of the fats concerned when the iodine value happens to be highly correlated with 2.7S - 1.3P. When changes in diet fats involve substantial differences in amounts of mono-enes, or of fatty acids containing more than 2 double bonds, the serum cholesterol response has a low or negligible correlation with the iodine value, or its square-root, of the fats.
Lorentzian Noise in Single Gramicidin A Channel Formamidinium Currents

Seoh & Busath (1995) showed that in the presence of formamidinium, single gramicidin A channels were lengthened, had uniformly noisy currents at low voltages and had superlinear current-voltage relationships, all three properties being absent in gramicidin M- channels in which the interfacial tryptophan residues in gramicidin A are all replaced by phenylalanine. We measured the single channel noise power spectra (PSDs) in small monoolein (GMO) bilayers with formamidinium chloride solutions to help identify the mechanism of noise process. PSDs were Lorentzian with characteristic frequencies of 0.1-1.0 kHz in 0.1 and 0.3 M formamidinium chloride solutions, and from. 1-6 kHz in 1 M solution. Si(0), where measurable, ranged from approximately 50-200 fA2/Hz. The time course of the noise process could not be detected in these experiments. The low fc suggests slow motions or rare states of the blocking 'gates' which, judging from the result with gramicidin M-, must be equal to or related to the Trp residues.
Extracellular signal‐regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) signaling in cardiac hypertrophy

Cardiac hypertrophy results from increased mechanical load on the heart and through the action of neurohumoral mediators. ERK1/2 are known to be activated in response to almost every stress- and agonist-induced hypertrophic stimulus examined to date, suggesting the straightforward hypothesis that these kinases are required for promoting the cardiac growth response. However, recent data from genetically modified mouse models suggest a more complicated picture. For example, inducible expression of dual-specificity phosphatase 6, an ERK1/2-inactivating phosphatase, eliminated ERK1/2 phosphorylation in transgenic mice, but it did not diminish the hypertrophic response to pressure overload. Similarly, Erk1-/- and Erk2+/- mice showed no reduction in stimulus-induced cardiac growth in vivo. However, blockade or deletion of cardiac ERK1/2 did predispose the heart to decompensation and failure after long-term pressure overload. Thus, ERK1/2 signaling is not to be absolutely necessary for mediating cardiac hypertrophy, although it does appear to provide critical protective effects/signals during stress-stimulation.
AIDS in black & white: The influence of news coverage of HIV/AIDS on HIV/AIDS testing among African Americans and White Americans, 1993--2007

This study examined the effect of newspaper coverage of HIV/AIDS on HIV testing behavior in a U.S. population. HIV testing data were taken from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's National Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System from 1993 to 2007 (N = 265,557). The authors content-analyzed news stories from 24 daily newspapers and 1 wire service during the same time period. The authors used distributed lagged regression models to estimate how well HIV/AIDS newspaper coverage predicted later HIV testing behavior. Increases in HIV/AIDS newspaper coverage were associated with declines in population-level HIV testing. Each additional 100 HIV/AIDS-related newspaper stories published each month was associated with a 1.7% decline in HIV testing levels in the subsequent month. This effect differed by race, with African Americans exhibiting greater declines in HIV testing subsequent to increased news coverage than did Whites. These results suggest that mainstream newspaper coverage of HIV/AIDS may h...
A COMPUTATIONAL MODEL FOR LESION DYNAMICS IN MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS OF THE BRAIN

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disabling disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that is characterized by lesions with inflammatory cells, axons with the insulating myelin sheath damaged, and axonal loss. The causes of MS are not known and there is as yet no cure. The purpose of this research was to evaluate a physically motivated network model for lesion formation in the brain. The parsimonious network model contained two elements: (i) a spatially spreading pathological process causing cell damage and death leading to neuro-degeneration and, (ii) generation of alarm signals by the damaged cells that lead to activation of programmed death of cells surrounding the lesions in an attempt to contain the spatial spread of the pathologic process. Simulation results with a range of network geometries indicated that the model was capable of describing lesion progression and arrest. The modeling results also demonstrated dynamical complexity with sensitivity to initial conditions.
Report on the Kent study of library use: A university of Pittsburgh reply

AbstractA widely publicized study of library use at the University of Pittsburgh by Professor Allen Kent et al. has generated considerable controversy at Pitt and nationally. The Kent Study (KS) reports that Pitt libraries in particular and research libraries in general are spending too much money on books and periodicals which are little or never used. This assertion, if correct, has important policy implications. Consequently, the Pitt faculty, administration and librarians have repeatedly urged the Senate Library Committee (SLC) to undertake an evaluation of KS. The SLC accepted this charge and is reporting here on the substance of its findings.The SLC criticizes KS on numerous matters, in particular, its structure in text and footnotes, which makes careful investigation and reporting on it a difficult matter, and its experimental design, execution, and manipulation of data, in terms of holdings, use and costs. The SLC reports that KS consistently overestimates the number of books, monographs and journ...
A study of the vertex in Witten's string field theory

Abstract We consider Witten's formulation of the interacting open bosonic string field theory. In particular, we study the Fock space representation of the vertex, including the fields associated with the bosonized two-dimensional ghost oscillators. We calculate the vertex using conformal mapping techniques, and also via a decomposition of the constraints implied by the string overlap. The conformal mapping takes the overlap world sheet to an anticone, where the Neumann function may be found. We show how this is related to the mappings with branch cut singularities, which take this world sheet to the upper half plane.
Imaging Radar Observations of Frozen Arctic Lakes

A synthetic aperture imaging L-band radar flown aboard the NASA CV-990 remotely sensed a number of ice-covered lakes about 48 km northwest of Bethel, Alaska. The image obtained is a high resolution, two-dimensional representation of the surface backscatter cross section, and large differences in backscatter returns are observed: homogeneous low returns, homogeneous high returns and/or low returns near lake borders, and high returns from central areas. It is suggested that a low return indicates that the lake is frozen completely to the bottom, while a high return indicates the presence of fresh water between the ice cover and the lake bed.
Microtubules of frog olfactory axons: their length and number/axon.

Abstract Counts of the number of microtubule profiles in cross-sections of axons of bullfrog olfactory nerves indicates that about 80% of them have 2 or 3 microtubules, regardless of whether one samples axons in the proximal or distal ends of the nerve. In the olfactory lobe of the brain, however, only 50% of the axon profiles showed 2 or 3 microtubules. In the brain, 30% of the olfactory axons showed 4 or more microtubule profiles, compared with only 4% in axons sampled from the nerve proper. By following microtubule profiles in sets of serial cross-sections of frog olfactory axons, data were obtained indicating that, in the olfactory nerve proper, the average length of the microtubules is about 400 μm. In olfactory axons sampled in the brain, however, the average microtubule length is about 5-fold less than that found for microtubules in the nerve proper. The evidence suggests that as the olfactory axons approach their synaptic terminations in the brain, the microtubules become fragmented into shorter segments which may reflect their depolymerization.
Inhibition of human neuroblastoma cell growth by CAY10404, a highly selective Cox-2 inhibitor

Neuroblastomas constitute about 10% of childhood cancers and are responsible for 15% of pediatric cancer mortality. We evaluated the efficacy and the mechanism of cell death induced by CAY10404, a selective cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) inhibitor in four human neuroblastoma cell lines (SH-EP, SH-SY5Y, SK-N-MC and MSN). Treatment with CAY10404 in the range of 15–115 μM revealed a dose-dependent decrease in cell number and an average IC50 (inhibitory concentration 50%) of 60 μM. About 20–30% of the cells were terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated UTP nick-end-labeling (TUNEL) positive 48 h after treatment. Western blot analysis of CAY10404-treated cells showed poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage and cleaved caspase-3 signifying caspase activity and apoptotic cell death. Inhibitor-of-apoptosis proteins including X-linked inhibitor-of-apoptosis protein (XIAP) and survivin did not change significantly after CAY10404 treatment. Fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis performed in two different cell lines 48 h following CAY10404 treatment showed a reduction in the number of cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle and an increase in the number of cells in the G2 phase. When radioresistant SH-EP cells were treated with CAY10404, a 49% decrease in cell viability was observed relative to DMSO-treated cells; pretreatment with CAY10404 followed by ortho-voltage irradiation further enhanced cell death (58%) suggesting radiosensitization by CAY10404.
How to Explain Oppression: Criteria of Adequacy for Normative Explanatory Theories

This article discusses explanatory theories of normative concepts and argues for a set of criteria of adequacy by which such theories may be evaluated. The criteria offered fall into four categories: ontological, theoretical, pragmatic, and moral. After defending the criteria and discussing their relative weighting, this article uses them to prune the set of available explanatory theories of oppression. Functionalist theories, including Hegelian recognition theory and Foucauldian social theory, are rejected, as are psychoanalytic theory and social dominance theory. Finally, the article defends structural rational choice theory as the most promising methodology for explaining oppression.
Plastic transformations: a method for building dependable distributed applications

Distributed algorithms and the heuristics used by program derivation methods represent a large repository of fundamental knowledge that has been acquired over the years by the distributed computing community. Attempts to make this body of knowledge available to the broader community have been frustrating to say the least. The main thesis of the paper is that plastic transformations (a specialisation of standard program derivation techniques) are a viable mechanism by which distributed computing know-how can impact the practical development of dependability-minded distributed applications. However, to do so, application design must be viewed in a new perspective, more formal in style but intuitive in its application. This paper provides a possible characterisation of the notion of a plastic transformation and discusses ways in which well-established, correct distributed algorithms can be transformed into specific applications. An airport baggage delivery system with distributed control is used for illustration purposes.
In vivo and in vitro effects of X-irradiation and histamine-PO4 on rat and bovine pineal hiomt activity and melatonin synthesis

Abstract Localized irradiation to the heads of adult male rats with 450 R increased pineal gland HIOMT activity while the same amount of irradiation restricted to the body diminished the activity of the enzyme. Anesthesia had no effect on this enzyme. Extremely high doses of irradiation were required (3,870 R) to inhibit HIOMT activity of bovine enzyme preparations in vitro . Localized irradaition of the head of rats with 450 R increased melatonin biosynthesis from tryptophan-3- 14 C, but irradiation of the body only had no such an effect. Injections of histamine-PO 4 into rats or the addition of it to the incubation media of bovine enzyme preparations inhibited melatonin synthesis and bovine HIOMT activity, respectively.
Reactive oxygen species regulate nucleostemin oligomerization and protein degradation

Nucleostemin (NS) is a nucleolar-nucleoplasmic shuttle protein that regulates cell proliferation, binds p53 and Mdm2, and is highly expressed in tumor cells. We have identified NS as a target of oxidative regulation in transformed hematopoietic cells. NS oligomerization occurs in HL-60 leukemic cells and Raji B lymphoblasts that express high levels of c-Myc and have high intrinsic levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS); reducing agents dissociate NS into monomers and dimers. Exposure of U2OS osteosarcoma cells with low levels of intrinsic ROS to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) induces thiol-reversible disulfide bond-mediated oligomerization of NS. Increased exposure to H2O2 impairs NS degradation, immobilizes the protein within the nucleolus, and results in detergent-insoluble NS. The regulation of NS by ROS was validated in a murine lymphoma tumor model in which c-Myc is overexpressed and in CD34+ cells from patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast crisis. In both instances, increased ROS levels were associated with markedly increased expression of NS protein and thiol-reversible oligomerization. Site-directed mutagenesis of critical cysteine-containing regions of nucleostemin altered both its intracellular localization and its stability. MG132, a potent proteasome inhibitor and activator of ROS, markedly decreased degradation and increased nucleolar retention of NS mutants, whereas N-acetyl-l-cysteine largely prevented the effects of MG132. These results indicate that NS is a highly redox-sensitive protein. Increased intracellular ROS levels, such as those that result from oncogenic transformation in hematopoietic malignancies, regulate the ability of NS to oligomerize, prevent its degradation, and may alter its ability to regulate cell proliferation.
The relative phospholamban and SERCA2 ratio: a critical determinant of myocardial contractility

Phospholamban is a regulatory phosphoprotein which modulates the active transport of Ca2+ by the cardiac sarcoplasmic reticular Ca2+-ATPase enzyme (SERCA2) into the lumen of the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Phospholamban, which is a reversible inhibitor of SERCA2, represses the enzyme’s activity, and this inhibition is relieved upon phosphorylation of phospholamban in response to β-adrenergic stimulation. In this way, phospholamban is an important regulator of SERCA2-mediated myocardial relaxation during diastole. This report centers on the hypothesis that the relative levels of phospholamban: SERCA2 in cardiac muscle plays an important role in the muscle’s overall contractility status. This hypothesis was tested by comparing the contractile parameters of: a) murine atrial and ventricular muscles, which differentially express phospholamban, and b) murine wild-type and phospholamban knock-out hearts. These comparisons revealed that atrial muscles, which have a 4.2-fold lower phospholamban: SERCA2 ratio than ventricular muscles, exhibited rates of force development and relaxation of tension, which were three-fold faster that these parameters for ventricular muscles. Similar comparisons were made via analyses of left-ventricular pressure development recorded for isolated, work-performing hearts from wild-type and phospholamban knock-out mice. In these studies, hearts from phospholamban knock-out mice, which were devoid of phospholamban, exhibited enhanced parameters of left-ventricular contractility in comparison to wild-type hearts. These results suggest that the relative phospholamban: SERCA2 ratio is critical in the regulation of myocardial contractility and alterations in this ratio may contribute to the functional deterioration observed during heart failure.
Controlled immobilization of peptide nanotube-templated metallic wires on Au surfaces

Peptide nanotubes were immobilized on Au substrates functionalized with self-assembled monolayers of 4-mercaptobenzoic acid in a pH 6 citric acid solution via hydrogen bonds between the peptide nanotubes and the monolayers. Subsequently, the immobilized nanotubes were metallized by nickel via the electroless coating process.
Targeting the poor using community information

Abstract Governments and aid agencies target transfers to the poor, but audits to deter the rich are costly. This paper analyzes how community information can improve targeting. If each community is given a hard budget constraint, then targeting costs can be substantially reduced by asking recipients to make reports about each other. Audits are threatened in the event of a disagreement but never carried out in equilibrium. This scheme is immune to collusion.
Quantity, type, and correlates of physical activity among American Middle Eastern university students.

The prevalence of hypokinetic disease among persons of Middle Eastern heritage is higher than whites and research on American young adults of this population is limited. Therefore 214 tertiary students of Middle Eastern descent self-reported their physical activity (PA) over a 1-week monitoring period using pedometers and daily activity logs. Daily step count averaged 9,256 (SD = 3,084) steps, while daily energy expenditure averaged 6.26 kcal/kg (SD = 4.92). Most participants reported no weekly engagement in sport (69.2%) and walk/run (52.8%) activities, and at least once-weekly engagement in conditioning (68.7%) activities. Moderately religious and highly acculturated men, and Muslims, and moderately/highly acculturated persons were more likely to average ≥ = 10,000 steps/day and engage in at least one sport activity per week, respectively. These findings may be related to religious and cultural issues unique to Middle Eastern American college students whose collectivist social affiliations with family a...
Extended interval aminoglycoside dosing: from concept to clinic

Extended-interval aminoglycoside dosing (EIAD), while a relatively recent concept in mainstream clinical practice, actually has its roots in the mid 1970s. Early trial and error approaches of manipulating the dosage regimen to avoid toxicity and improve efficacy have helped to characterize the pharmacodynamic properties of these drugs. The increasing successful use of EIAD and improved understanding of pharmacodynamics has helped this dosing regimen gain acceptance into routine clinical practice. A 1998 United States survey demonstrated that approximately 75% of hospitals have adopted EIAD into routine patient care. However, controversy still exists regarding some aspects of infrequent aminoglycoside administration, such as length of the drug-free interval and patient exclusion criteria. After more than 50 years of experience with the aminoglycosides we continue to learn how to most appropriately use these drugs.
Multiple Cardiac Myxomas with Multiple Recurrences: Unusual Presentation of a “Benign” Tumor

A 20-year-old woman with a two-week history of palpitations and constitutional symptoms was found to have right atrial and left ventricular myxomas. The myxomas were excised, but the patient had two recurrences of the tumor in the left atrium four and a half years after the initial presentation. The recurrent myxoma was locally aggressive, and removal required excision of the aortic valve. This patient demonstrates the need for careful follow-up for recurrences of myxoma.
Section 2 ‘Brufen’ in the treatment of rheumatoid disease in patients with gastric intolerance

SummaryIbuprofen was administered to 64 patients with known peptic ulceration and to 42 patients with gastric intolerance of other antirheumatic drugs for periods up to 5 years. Twenty-six patients are continuing therapy and in a further 23, treatment was maintained long enough for remission to occur, either medically or surgically induced. Only 13 (12.3 %) of this specially selected, difficult group of patients withdrew because of gastric side-effects. This compares favourably with the reported incidence of similar side-effects produced by other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents.
Analysis of the Interest Rate Sensitivity of Common Stocks

The association between interest rate changes and stock returns has long been of interest to investors, all the more so recently as investors and the financial and popular press have zeroed in on the effect of Federal Reserve actions on interest rates. The interest rate sensitivity of common stocks can be measured using an alternative specification of duration, empirical duration, a measure that has become accepted by fixed-income analysts and portfolio managers. Analysis of the interest rate sensitivity of the aggregate stock market considers alternative economic sectors and many industries and stock indexes that reflect different sizes and investment styles. Five important results are documented: 1) dramatic changes over time in the empirical duration of common stocks; 2) substantial differences in the total-period empirical duration for different economic sectors and different industries; 3) a significant negative relation between market risk and interest rate risk for different industries; 4) significantly different patterns of empirical duration over time for different sectors and industries; and 5) differences in interest rate sensitivity for various economic sectors, industries, and investment styles that are generally consistent with economic expectations.
Selective action of 6-hydroxydopa on noradrenergic terminals: Mapping of preterminal axons of the brain

Abstract 6-Hydroxydopa (i.v.) caused a marked reduction in mouse brain norepinephrine in 24 hours which remained reduced by 30% after 2 months. Fluorescence histochemical studies showed that there was a reduction in the number of noradrenergic terminals after 24 hours, in addition to an accumulation of intensely fluorescent noradrenergic preterminal axons, which suggests that degeneration of many of the noradrenergic terminals may have occurred. The noradrenergic cell bodies appeared normal and the dopaminergic neurons were unchanged. The appearance of catecholamine in the axons provides a method for mapping out the noradrenergic preterminal processes of the brain. The prominent tract of noradrenergic neurons was contained in the reticular formation from which smaller trunks emanate and ascend through the median forebrain bundle and internal capsule to innervate the forebrain. After 2–3 weeks norepinephrine-containing terminals reappeared in all areas except the cortex, cerebellum and hippocampus. It is suggested that 6-hydroxydopa has the ability to cause selective destruction and/or marked impairment of noradrenergic terminals, which in the brainstem, are capable of regeneration or replenishment of the neurotransmitter.
Irradiation sources for fusion materials development

Abstract Development of irradiation resistant alloys for fusion application must initially proceed using non-fusion irradiation sources. Neutron sources appropriate for fusion research are described and their relative roles are discussed. While no single source is sufficient to conduct the programs required, all components of first wall damage can be represented if the various sources are used judiciously.
A study of PVD coatings and die materials for extended die-casting die life

Abstract There have been some applications of PVD coatings to extend die-casting die life, mainly by reducing molten metal corrosion and erosion to the die. However, die steel heat checking (or thermal cycling induced cracking) resistance is affected significantly by the PVD coatings. This paper presents the results of a systematic study involving three H series and two maraging hot work tool steels with and without TiN, TiAlN and CrN PVD coatings, in terms of heat checking resistance, hardness and impact toughness changes, as well as molten aluminum corrosion resistance. TiN, TiAlN, and CrN PVD coatings can provide significant corrosion and erosion resistance to molten aluminum. However, TiN coating does not last long because of its lower oxidation temperature. The influence of a coating on heat checking resistance is determined by the substrate material and coating variables. Of H10, H13, H19, Marlok and HWM steels, only H19 steel has a significant reduction in heat checking resistance because of the coatings. H19 and HWM steels have much lower impact toughness than H10, H13 and Marlok steels. However, HWM and uncoated H19 steels have much higher heat checking resistance than other steels. HWM has the smallest change in impact toughness and hardness after thermal cycling. The applications of a specific die steel in combination with a PVD coating to address specific problems are also discussed. This die-life extension and cost saving approach is very important because different failure mechanisms occur in different areas in the same die cavity. It is especially true for large and complex automotive dies.
Valles Marineris dune sediment provenance and pathways

Abstract Although low-albedo sand is a prevalent component of the martian surface, sources and pathways of the sands are uncertain. As one of the principal present-day martian sediment sinks, the Valles Marineris (VM) rift system hosts a diversity of dune field populations associated with a variety of landforms that serve as potential sediment sources, including spur-and-gully walls, interior layered deposits (ILDs), and landslides. Here, we test the hypothesis that VM dune fields are largely derived from a variety of local and regional (intra-rift) sediment sources. Results show several dune fields are superposed on ancient wall massifs and ILDs that are topographically isolated from extra-rift sand sources. Spectral analysis of dune sand reveals compositional heterogeneity at the basinal-, dune field-, and dune-scales, arguing for discrete, relatively unmixed sediment sources. In Coprates and Melas chasmata, mapping is consistent with the principle sand source for dunes being Noachian-aged upper and lower wall materials composed of primary (igneous) minerals and glasses, some of which show evidence for alteration. In contrast, dune fields in Capri, Juventae, and Ganges chasmata show evidence for partial sediment derivation from adjacent Early Hesperian-aged hydrated sulfate-bearing ILD units. This finding indicates that these ILDs act as secondary sand sources. Dunes containing “soft” secondary minerals (e.g., monohydrated sulfate) are unlikely to have been derived from distant sources due to the physical weathering of sand grains during transport. Isolated extra-rift dune fields, sand sheets, and sand patches are located on the plateaus surrounding VM and the adjoining areas, but do not form interconnected networks of sand pathways into the rift. If past wind regimes (with respect to directionality and seasonality) were consistent with more recent regimes inferred from morphological analysis (i.e., dune slip faces, wind streaks), and were sufficient in strength and duration, small dune populations within Aurorae Chaos and north of eastern VM might have resulted from extended sand pathways into VM. However, we favor local and regional derivation of dune sand from a variety of intra-rift lithologic sources for most cases. Dune sand sources and the mechanism by which the sand is liberated are discussed in the context of findings described herein, but are broadly applicable to analysis of sediment production elsewhere on Mars.
Spirals on the sea

Spiral eddies were first seen in the sunglitter on the Apollo Mission 30 years ago; they have since been recorded on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and in the infrared. We present a small sample of images. The spirals are broadly distributed over the world's oceans, 10–25 km in size and overwhelmingly cyclonic. Under light winds favourable to visualization, linear surface features with high surfactant density and low surface roughness are of common occurrence. The linear features are wound into spirals in vortices associated with horizontal shear instability, modified by rotation, in regions where the shear is comparable with the Coriolis frequency. Two models for concentrating shear are presented: a softened version of the classical sharp Margules front, and the time–dependent Lagrangian model of Hoskins & Bretherton. Horizontal shear instabilities and both frontal models favour cyclonic shear and cyclonic spirals, but for different reasons.
Supercells in Environments with Atypical Hodographs

AbstractAn unusual severe weather event with supercell thunderstorms developed across portions of northern Arizona in the midst of the warm-season North American monsoon—a regime characteristically dominated by a subtropical upper-level high over the southwestern United States. The approach of a midlatitude, cold-core, upper-level low brought an environment of enhanced shear and increased instability supportive of supercells. This atypical system is described and how a correct interpretation of the winds and hodograph would allow a forecaster to maintain situational awareness is discussed.