cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Celebrities as Political Actors and Entertainment as Political Media

This chapter advocates a more inclusive approach to how we define “political actors” and “the media”. The authors highlight the importance of celebrity entertainers as political actors, both within entertainment formats and within the traditional media arena. Additionally, they point to the ways in which entertainment can function as political media. They argue that increasingly blurred boundaries between “entertainment” and “news” have opened pathways for entertainers to enter and shape the political field, and for political actors of all stripes to use (and be used by) entertainment media. They illustrate their argument with the case of Donald Trump, discussing how Trump was able to gain such high public support in part because the media treated him as an entertainer as much as a candidate.
Future of global investing: What is old, what is new, and China's role

The financial crisis was followed by a period of extraordinary monetary policy easing. This period of quantitative easing and zero interest rate policies had significant effects on financial markets and created a global investment environment dominated by a single global factor of central bank policy. Looking forward, â€œnormalâ€ markets should include: (i) higher interest rates, but lower in the steadyâ€ state than preâ€ crisis; (ii) greater crossâ€ country interest differentials; and (iii) lower crossâ€ asset return correlations. In this environment, idiosyncratic macroeconomic differences across countries matter more than a â€œrisk on/offâ€ global factor that dominated in the postâ€ crisis era so that the opportunity set for global macro investors should be better than it has been in the 10â€‰years since the crisis. The future investment environment will not be simply that of the preâ€ crisis era but will reflect the evolution of the world economy. No single country in this evolution is more important than China and the changes ahead in China will create both risks and opportunities for investors.
Critical Opalescent Light Scattering in 3He-4He Mixtures Near the Tricritical Point

Mixtures of the two isotopes 3He-4He display a “tricritical point” at the junction of a “lambda” line of superfluid transitions and the consolute critical point, where a first-order miscibility gap goes continuously into perfect miscibility.1 The simultaneous occurrence of two transitions in this critical region provides particularly stringent tests of theories of critical points.
A method for registering diffusion weighted magnetic resonance images

Diffusion weighted magnetic resonance (DWMR or DW) imaging is a fast evolving technique to investigate the connectivity of brain white matter by measuring the self-diffusion of the water molecules in the tissue. Registration is a key step in group analysis of the DW images that may lead to understanding of functional and structural variability of the normal brain, understanding disease process, and improving neurosurgical planning. In this paper, we present a new method for registering DW images. The method works directly on the diffusion weighted images without using tensor reconstruction, fiber tracking, and fiber clustering. Therefore, the performance of the method does not rely on the accuracy and robustness of these steps. Moreover, since all the information in the original diffusion weighted images is used for registration, the results of the method is robust to imaging noise. We demonstrate the method on intra-subject registration with an affine transform using DW images acquired on the same scanner with the same imaging protocol. Extension to deformable registration for images acquired on different scanners and/or with different imaging protocols is also discussed.
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Weight Status among Adolescents.

Objective To investigate the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and weight status among adolescents. Study design Data were drawn from the Minnesota Student Survey, a large (n = 105 759), statewide, anonymous survey of public school students in eighth, ninth, and eleventh grades. Self-reported height and weight were used to calculate body mass index. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine associations between self-reported ACEs and weight status, controlling for key sociodemographic characteristics. Results ACEs were positively associated with weight status; adolescents with more ACEs were more likely to have overweight, obesity, and severe obesity than adolescents with no ACEs. Adolescents who reported an ACE were 1.2, 1.4, and 1.5 times as likely to have overweight, obesity, and severe obesity, respectively, compared with their peers with no ACEs. There was no relationship between ACEs and underweight. Conclusions The results of this large sample of adolescents with anonymous data support the hypothesis that ACEs and obesity are strongly associated. The directionality of this relationship needs to be understood. Moreover, these findings suggest that child health professionals may need to screen for ACEs as an important aspect of clinical weight management.
Flotation of Chlorella vulgaris with anionic, cationic and amphoteric collectors

The electrokinetic and flotation behavior of the green alga Chlorella vulgaris was studied in the absence and presence of Pb(II), Al(III) and flotation collectors. It was found that the presence of Al(III) is necessary for good flotation of the organism, whether or not Pb(Il) is present, when dodecylammonium chloride or sodium dodecylsulfate is used as collector. Best flotation using dodecylamine is at about pH 8, and best flotation when using sodium dodecylsulfate is at about pH 4. It appears because of the small size of the organisms that the Al(III) is necessary for flocculation to enhance bubble-cell contact and C. vulgaris removal from water. When N-dodecyl-2-aminopropionic acid is used as collector, good flotation occurs at about pH 4 without the addition of Al(III).
Feeling Newton's Second Law

Physics instructors recognize the value of kinesthetic experience in learning fundamental physics concepts. We describe a kinesthetic experiment appropriate for both college and high school physics students. The experiment helps students achieve an intuitive understanding of Newton’s second law in a way they find quite enjoyable. It was devised by one of us over 20 years ago and has been performed by thousands of students at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) and by students at some Los Angeles area high schools. Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) call for high school students to be able to analyze and interpret data and to understand Newton’s second law, which are central to this experiment. The experiment gives students a feel for Newton’s second law by requiring them to adjust their own motion so that they move at constant acceleration in order to maintain a constant force on a cart carrying a second student.
Formations and generalized Davenport-Schinzel sequences

Let $up(r, t) = (a_1 a_2 \dots a_r)^t$. We investigate the problem of determining the maximum possible integer $n(r, t)$ for which there exist $2t-1$ permutations $\pi_1, \pi_2, \dots, \pi_{2t-1}$ of $1, 2, \dots, n(r, t)$ such that the concatenated sequence $\pi_1 \pi_2 \dots \pi_{2t-1}$ has no subsequence isomorphic to $up(r,t)$. This quantity has been used to obtain an upper bound on the maximum number of edges in $k$-quasiplanar graphs. It was proved by (Geneson, Prasad, and Tidor, Electronic Journal of Combinatorics, 2014) that $n(r, t) \le (r-1)^{2^{2t-2}}$. We prove that $n(r,t) = \Theta(r^{2t-1 \choose t})$, where the constant in the bound depends only on $t$. Using our upper bound in the case $t = 2$, we also sharpen an upper bound of (Klazar, Integers, 2002), who proved that $Ex(up(r,2),n) < (2n+1)L$ where $L = Ex(up(r,2),K-1)+1$, $K = (r-1)^4 + 1$, and $Ex(u, n)$ denotes the extremal function for forbidden generalized Davenport-Schinzel sequences. We prove that $K = (r-1)^4 + 1$ in Klazar's bound can be replaced with $K = (r-1) \binom{r}{2}+1$. We also prove a conjecture from (Geneson, Prasad, and Tidor, Electronic Journal of Combinatorics, 2014) by showing for $t \geq 1$ that $Ex(a b c (a c b)^{t} a b c, n) = n 2^{\frac{1}{t!}\alpha(n)^{t} \pm O(\alpha(n)^{t-1})}$. In addition, we prove that $Ex(a b c a c b (a b c)^{t} a c b, n) = n 2^{\frac{1}{(t+1)!}\alpha(n)^{t+1} \pm O(\alpha(n)^{t})}$ for all $t \geq 1$.
Components of the Hepatic System

While appearing to be a homogeneous organ, the liver has a well-defined arrangement centered around 2 structures – the hepatic acinus (or lobule) & the biliary system. Within the former reside the factory cells – the hepatocytes – which are the center of intermediate metabolism. The position of the hepatocytes within the acinus often determines their functional role within the liver. Associated with these cords of cells are vascular sinusoids separating the blood from the hepatocytes by the space of Disse. Associated with these are various cells associated with body defense. These include hepatic macrophages (Kupffer cells), large granular lymphocytes (pit cells) and pericytes (stellate cells).
The inhibition of cellular toxicity of amyloid-β by dissociated transthyretin.

The protective effect of transthyretin (TTR) on cellular toxicity of β-amyloid (Aβ) has been previously reported. TTR is a tetrameric carrier of thyroxine in blood and cerebrospinal fluid, the pathogenic aggregation of which causes systemic amyloidosis. However, studies have documented a protective effect of TTR against cellular toxicity of pathogenic Aβ, a protein associated with Alzheimer's disease. TTR binds Aβ, alters its aggregation, and inhibits its toxicity both in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we investigate whether the amyloidogenic ability of TTR and its antiamyloid inhibitory effect are associated. Using protein aggregation and cytotoxicity assays, we found that the dissociation of the TTR tetramer, required for its amyloid pathogenesis, is also necessary to prevent cellular toxicity from Aβ oligomers. These findings suggest that the Aβ-binding site of TTR may be hidden in its tetrameric form. Aided by computational docking and peptide screening, we identified a TTR segment that is capable of altering Aβ aggregation and toxicity, mimicking TTR cellular protection. EM, immune detection analysis, and assessment of aggregation and cytotoxicity revealed that the TTR segment inhibits Aβ oligomer formation and also promotes the formation of nontoxic, nonamyloid amorphous aggregates, which are more sensitive to protease digestion. Finally, this segment also inhibits seeding of Aβ catalyzed by Aβ fibrils extracted from the brain of an Alzheimer's patient. Together, these findings suggest that mimicking the inhibitory effect of TTR with peptide-based therapeutics represents an additional avenue to explore for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
Designtransformation trifft Realität

Wenn Unternehmen entscheiden, dass ihre Produkte „nutzerfreundlicher“ werden sollen, ist dies oft der Beginn einer grosen transformatorischen Reise. In deren Verlauf zeigen sich verschiedenste Herausforderungen und Themen, die die Zusammenarbeit von Fachdisziplinen genauso betreffen wie die verwendeten Entwicklungsmodelle, die Qualifikation von Mitarbeitern und nicht zuletzt eine in der Organisation verankerte Veranderung des Verstandnisses, wie erfolgreiche Produkte entwickelt werden konnen. Besondere Herausforderungen ergeben sich, wenn die entwickelten Produkte nicht fur Endkunden geschaffen werden, sondern dem internen Gebrauch dienen. Hierbei handelt es sich um Software fur die eigenen Mitarbeiter, die damit die Kernprozesse eines Unternehmens steuern. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt anhand eines konkreten Beispiels, wo die Chancen liegen und welche Hindernisse aus dem Weg geraumt werden mussen, zeigt aber auch, welche Vorteile eine solche Transformation mittel- und langfristig bietet.
3-D Optical Cavities Created using Local Light-Triggered Polymerization on Fiber Tips

This paper presents 3-D optical cavities fabricated directly onto cleaved ends of optical fibers by local light-triggered polymerization. This fabrication technique is quick, simple, and inexpensive compared to standard microfabrication processes.
Bladder Cancer: Muscle-Invasive Disease, Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy, and Radical Cystectomy

Approximately 25% of people diagnosed with bladder cancer have invasion into the muscularis propria. Given its high rate of metastatic spread outside of the bladder, muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) should be treated quickly and aggressively. When all tumor (T) stages are considered, MIBC has a cure rate of only 50% due to micrometastatic disease that is not detected on conventional imaging modalities. Cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) should be offered to patients who are eligible, followed by radical cystectomy (RC). Patients should be counseled on the different types of continent and incontinent urinary diversions. Immediate and long-term complications following treatment for MIBC include chemotherapy side effects (e.g., nausea, vomiting, peripheral neuropathy, tinnitus, myelosuppression) and sequelae of radical cystectomy (e.g., negative body image, sexual dysfunction, postoperative infection, renal dysfunction).
Compressive inverse scattering: II. Multi-shot SISO measurements with born scatterers

Inverse scattering methods capable of compressive imaging are proposed and analyzed. The methods employ randomly and repeatedly (multiple-shot) the single-input–single-output (SISO) measurements in which the probe frequencies, the incident, and the sampling directions are related in a precise way and are capable of recovering exactly scatterers of sufficiently low sparsity. For point targets, various sampling techniques are proposed to transform the scattering matrix into the random Fourier matrix. Two schemes are particularly interesting: the first one employs multiple frequencies with the sampling angle always in the back-scattering direction resembling the synthetic aperture (SA) imaging; the second employs only single frequency with the sampling angle in the (nearly) forward-scattering direction in the high-frequency limit, resembling the setting of x-ray tomography. The results for point targets are then extended to the case of localized extended targets by interpolating from grid points. In particular, an explicit error bound is derived for the piece-wise constant interpolation which is shown to be a practical way of discretizing localized extended targets and enabling the compressed sensing techniques. For distributed extended targets, the Littlewood–Paley basis is used in analysis. A specially designed sampling scheme then transforms the scattering matrix into a block-diagonal matrix with each block being the random Fourier matrix corresponding to one of the multiple dyadic scales of the extended target. In other words, by the Littlewood–Paley basis and the proposed sampling scheme the different dyadic scales of the target are decoupled and therefore can be reconstructed scale-by-scale by the proposed method. Moreover, with probes of any single frequency ω the coefficients in the Littlewood–Paley expansion for scales up to ω/(2π) can be exactly recovered.
Long-term functional alterations following prenatal GLP-1R activation.

Abstract Evidence supporting the use of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogues to pharmacologically treat disorders beyond type 2 diabetes and obesity is increasing. However, little is known about how activation of the GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) during pregnancy affects maternal and offspring outcomes. We treated female C57Bl/6 J mice prior to conception and throughout gestation with a long-lasting GLP-1R agonist, Exendin-4. While GLP-1R activation has significant effects on food and drug reward, depression, locomotor activity, and cognition in adults, we found few changes in these domains in exendin-4-exposed offspring. Repeated injections of Exendin-4 had minimal effects on the dams and may have enhanced maternal care. Offspring exposed to the drug weighed significantly more than their control counterparts during the preweaning period and demonstrated alterations in anxiety-like outcomes, which indicate a developmental role for GLP-1R modulation in the stress response that may be sex-specific.
Social distance integrated gravity model for evacuation destination choice

Evacuation is an effective and commonly taken strategy to minimize death and injuries from an incoming hurricane. For decades, interdisciplinary research has contributed to a better understanding of evacuation behavior. Evacuation destination choice modeling is an essential step for hurricane evacuation transportation planning. Multiple factors are identified associated with evacuation destination choices, in which long-term social factors have been found essential, yet neglected, in most studies due to difficulty in data collection. This study utilized long-term human movement records retrieved from Twitter to (1) reinforce the importance of social factors in evacuation destination choices, (2) quantify individual-level familiarity measurement and its relationship with an individual's destination choice, (3) develop a big data approach for aggregated county-level social distance measurement, and (4) demonstrate how gravity models can be improved by including both social distance and physical distance for evacuation destination choice modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Digital Earth is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Worldwide increases in adolescent loneliness.

Abstract Introduction Several studies have documented increases in adolescent loneliness and depression in the U.S., UK, and Canada after 2012, but it is unknown whether these trends appear worldwide or whether they are linked to factors such as economic conditions, technology use, or changes in family size. Methods The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey of 15- and 16-year-old students around the world included a 6-item measure of school loneliness in 2000, 2003, 2012, 2015, and 2018 (n = 1,049,784, 51% female) across 37 countries. Results School loneliness increased 2012–2018 in 36 out of 37 countries. Worldwide, nearly twice as many adolescents in 2018 (vs. 2012) had elevated levels of school loneliness. Increases in loneliness were larger among girls than among boys and in countries with full measurement invariance. In multi-level modeling analyses, school loneliness was high when smartphone access and internet use were high. In contrast, higher unemployment rates predicted lower school loneliness. Income inequality, GDP, and total fertility rate (family size) were not significantly related to school loneliness when matched by year. School loneliness was positively correlated with negative affect and negatively correlated with positive affect and life satisfaction, suggesting the measure has broad implications for adolescent well-being. Conclusions The psychological well-being of adolescents around the world began to decline after 2012, in conjunction with the rise of smartphone access and increased internet use, though causation cannot be proven and more years of data will provide a more complete picture.
Haptic Guidance to Support Design Education and Collaboration for Blind and Visually Impaired People

Designers create sketches, diagrams, and other visual media to both externalize a specific design concept as well as to explore design spaces. The largely visual and spatial nature of these diagrams used to support design activities poses several challenges for blind and visually impaired (BVI) designers to participate along sighted peers. This challenge includes the creation of tools to support the teaching of tactile graphics and their collaborative use in the context of design education. In efforts to address several of these challenges, we present PantoGuide, a low-cost system that provides audio and haptic guidance, via skin-stretch feedback to the dorsum of a user’s hand while the user explores a tactile graphic overlaid on a touchscreen. This system allows programming of haptic guidance patterns and cues for tactile graphics that can be experienced by students learning remotely or that can be reviewed by a student independently.
Optimal fusion rules for multi-label fusion of independent classification system families

A classification system with M possible output labels (or decisions) will have M(M-1) possible errors. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) manifold was created to quantify all of these errors. When multiple classification systems are fused, the assumption of independence is usually made in order to combine the individual ROC manifolds for each system into one ROC manifold. This paper will investigate the label fusion (also called decision fusion) of multiple classification system families (CSF) that have the same number of output labels. Boolean rules do not exist for multiple symbols, thus, we will derive Boolean-like rules as well as other rules that will yield label fusion rules. An M-label system will have M! consistent rules. The formula for the resultant ROC manifold of the fused classification system family which incorporates the individual classification system families will be derived. Specifically, given a label rule and two classification system families, the ROC manifold for the fused family is produced. We generate the formula for the Boolean-like AND ruled and give the resultant ROC manifold for the fused CSF. We show how the set of permutations of the label set is used to generate all of the consistent rules and how the permutation matrix is incorporated into a single formula for the ROC manifold. Examples will be given that demonstrate how each formula is used.
Brain, Evolution of

The evolution of the human brain has been a largely mosaic affair, in which changes of reorganization of brain components, increases of brain size through both hyperplasia and hypertrophy, underlain by neurogenomic changes, have occurred sometimes independently, sometimes together. The direct evidence for these changes relies on paleoneurology based on endocast studies (where casts are made of the inside of the cranial cavity), which provide the best evidence for volume changes through time and occasionally some convolutional details of the once-pulsating cerebral cortex. Both comparative neuroscience and neurogenomics provide essential information of brain and behavioral variations, which allow more accurate interpretation of the endocasts, which are often poor in detail even though the extant species studied are not direct ancestors to humans. Reorganizational changes include a reduction of primary visual cortex and relative enlargement of posterior association cortex, expanded Broca's regions, as well as cerebral asymmetries. The size of the hominid brain increased from about 450 ml, 3.5 Ma, to our current average volume of 1350 ml. These two changes through time were sometimes gradual but not always.
Collection-distribution network for a metropolitan area optical network testbed

ONRAMP, optical network for regional access using multi-wavelength protocols, is a DARPA sponsored program to design and build a metro area optical network employing WDM and other technologies to enabling Gigabit Ethernet and faster services to the desktop. The ONRAMP testbed consists of a protection switched, bi-directional ring and a prototype collection-distribution network (CDN). A significant component of the CDN is the remotely pumped erbium doped fiber amplifier.
Properties of non-NMDA excitatory amino acid-activated channels in isolated retinal horizontal cells

The excitatory amino acid glutamate is believed to be the neurotransmitter used by some photoreceptors in the teleost retina. Past studies have shown that exogenous glutamate, and its analogs, are capable of affecting second-order retinal neurons in a manner consistent with the action of a photoreceptor transmitter. In an effort to characterize the properties of retinal glutamate channels on second- order neurons, non-NMDA excitatory amino acid-activated channels were studied in single horizontal cells isolated from the retina of the white bass. Using patch-clamp techniques single glutamate, kainate, and quisqualate channels were recorded. Two categories of channels were observed. The first was labeled slow-channels. Single-channel conductances and open times for this channel showed a range of values, but the average for channels activated by glutamate was 12 pS and 5.6 msec; quisqualate, 8.5 pS and 8.8 msec; and kainate, 8.5 pS and 4.5 msec. Openings of slow-channels elicited by the agonists tended to occur in bursts with a mean burst length of 38 msec. The bursts were punctuated by numerous, brief closings. The second channel category was termed fast channels. The agents glutamate, quisqualate, and kainate all activated channels in this category with open times of 1–2 msec and 2 prominent conductances in the range of about 10 and 20–30 pS. Activity of the fast channels tended to be noisy and no bursting behavior was observed.
The JNK and P38 MAP kinase signaling pathways in T cell–mediated immune responses

The mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase family members, which include the extracellular response kinases (ERK), p38, and c-Jun amino terminal kinases (JNK), play a role in mediating signals triggered by cytokines, growth factors, and environmental stress. JNK and p38 MAP kinases have been involved in inflammatory processes induced by a variety of stimuli, such as oxidative stress. Here, we describe the role of the JNK and p38 MAP kinase signaling pathways in the development of T cells in the thymus, and activation and differentiation of T cells in the peripheral immune system.
An Object-Oriented Approach to Incremental Delivery of Software Systems

Object-oriented analysis, usage scenarios, and incremental delivery (ID) all encourage user involvement in the system development process. This paper integrates these three into one unified approach called Object-Oriented Incremental Delivery or OOID. In this paper, we identify an object-oriented analysis approach, three algorithms for choosing deliverable increments, and a method for determining the implementation order for the increments. A simple library system is used to illustrate the approach.
Opportunities for Pervasive Computing in Chronic Cancer Care

While changing from a predominantly terminal to an increasingly chronic condition, cancer is still a growing concern. Accompanying this change are new opportunities for technologies to support patients, their caregivers, and clinicians. In this paper, we present an in-depth study of cancer communities. From this exploration, we define and describe the concept of a personal cancer journey. We examine lessons and design opportunities across this journey for sensing and context-awareness and capture and access applications.
Mapping the cognitive competencies of street vendors and bus conductors: a cross-cultural study of workplace mathematics

This paper explores the mathematical ideas that emerge across two workplace settings, namely street vending and bus conducting. The purpose of this study was to delineate a trajectory describing potential mathematical structures underlying bus conducting and street vending activities and to extract a conceptual model that could explain the nature of the practitioners’ mathematical knowledge and its connection to formal mathematics. We conducted a meta-analysis of the problem solving behavior and narratives of street vendors and bus conductors in two geographic sites in Beirut, Lebanon and Chennai, India. Principled by Vergnaud’s theory of conceptual fields, the researchers examined heuristics-in-action that transpired as a result of practitioners’ engagement in their respective work situations.
Regional Cost Variation for Acute Pancreatitis in the U.S.

Context Acute pancreatitis is one of the most common causes for acute hospitalization related to digestive disease. Objectives This study aimed to examine regional variation in national healthcare expenditure for management of acute pancreatitis. Methods The Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2010 was utilized to examine hospitalizations for acute pancreatitis. Total costs per hospitalization were calculated from charges using a cost-to-charge ratio and adjusted for suspected cost determinants from multivariable regression analysis. States were then ranked by costs and divided into tertiles for evaluation of outcome measures, including in-hospital mortality. Results Acute pancreatitis accounted for 288,597 hospitalizations in 2010. Regional variation was demonstrated after adjustment with a mean cost per hospitalization of $12,446.48. There was a difference of $4,870 per hospitalization between states in low cost and high cost tertiles. High cost states had a greater use of mechanical ventilation and infusion of supplemental nutrition (P<0.0001). Despite these differences, in-hospital mortality remained similar across cost tertiles (P=0.44). Several low-cost states were identified in traditionally high-cost regions. Conclusions Significant regional variation in costs for acute pancreatitis persisted after adjusting for patient demographics, hospital characteristics and case mix variables. This variation suggests opportunities for increasing efficiency without compromising quality of care for acute pancreatitis. Image: Regional variation by post adjustment cost tertiles for acute pancreatitis in 2010.
mTOR activation is a biomarker and a central pathway to autoimmune disorders, cancer, obesity, and aging

The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a ubiquitous serine/threonine kinase, which plays pivotal roles in integrating growth signals on a cellular level. To support proliferation and survival under stress, two interacting complexes that harbor mTOR, mTORC1 and mTORC2, promote the transcription of genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism and lipogenesis, enhance protein translation, and inhibit autophagy. Although rapamycin was originally developed as an inhibitor of T cell proliferation for preventing organ transplant rejection, its molecular target, mTOR, has been subsequently identified as a central regulator of metabolic cues that drive lineage specification in the immune system. Owing to oxidative stress, the activation of mTORC1 has emerged as a central pathway for the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus and other autoimmune diseases. Paradoxically, mTORC1 has also been identified as a mediator of the Warburg effect that allows cell survival under hypoxia. Rapamycin and new classes of mTOR inhibitors are being developed to block not only transplant rejection and autoimmunity but also to treat obesity and various forms of cancer. Through preventing these diseases, personalized mTOR blockade holds promise to extend life span.
Non-ketotic hyperglycemia unmasks hemichorea.

Background : Chorea can be caused by a variety of diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders, vascular events, toxic-metabolic states, and immunologic and infectious diseases. We describe a patient who presented with hemichorea as the initial manifestation of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and responded partially to the glycemic control. Case report : A 63-year-old, healthy Hispanic man with no prior history of medical illness presented with subacute onset, gradually progressive hemichorea of 6 weeks’ duration. On evaluation, he was found to have non-ketotic hyperglycemia with high serum glucose (328 mg/dL), elevated hemoglobin A1C (9.9%), and absent ketones. Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the brain demonstrated hyper intense signals in bilateral basal ganglia on T1W images. He was diagnosed to have DM. Despite optimal glycemic control with insulin, the patient continued to have hemichorea at 3 months follow-up and required haloperidol for control of the involuntary movements. Significance : Involuntary movements, particularly hemichorea, can be a manifestation and rarely be a presenting sign of DM. Keywords: chorea; diabetes mellitus; hemichorea; non-ketotic hyperglycemia; movement disorders (Published: 1 September 2015) Citation: Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives 2015, 5 : 27825 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/jchimp.v5.27825
Pluripotent hemopoietic stem cells give rise to osteoclasts.

Osteopetrosis in the ia (incisors absent) rat is the result of reduced bone resorption due to abnormal osteoclasts. The mutant osteoclasts lack a ruffled border--the membrane specialization involved in osteolysis. Studies in the ia mutant have shown that when pluripotent hemopoietic stem cells from normal littermates are transplanted into ia recipients, normal osteoclasts are formed and the skeletal sclerosis is eventually cured. The present study was conducted to provide evidence for the mechanism of the cure. Do the transplanted stem cells provide a helper function, i.e. secrete soluble factor(s) which transform pre-existing osteoclasts, or do they fuse with each other or pre-existing osteoclasts, or do they fuse with each other or pre-existing osteoclasts to form functional osteoclasts? Using the procedures described by Gold-schneider and co-workers, and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), pluripotent hemopoietic stem cells were isolated from normal rat bone marrow, labeled with saturated FITC, and injected intravenously into irradiated ia rats. After 48 hr, the recipients' long bones were removed and split longitudinally, and the endosteal surface was scraped. The resulting cellular suspension containing osteoclasts was examined by phase contrast and fluorescence microscopy. Fluorescing mononuclear cells of donor origin that had homed to the bone marrow demonstrated moderate cytoplasmic fluorescence. Approximately 30% of the osteoclasts observed demonstrated light cytoplasmic fluorescence. When cellular pools incapable of curing osteopetrosis (thymocytes) were labeled and injected into ia recipients, no labeled osteoclasts were observed. These studies indicated that pluripotent hemopoietic stem cells, when transplanted into ia hosts, fuse with each other and differentiate into osteoclasts or fuse with pre-existing osteoclasts.
Selective incorporation of selenium‐75 into a polypeptide of the rat sperm tail

Selenium is necessary for normal sperm tail development in the rat. The biochemical locus of this requirement was investigated by intratesticular administration of (75Se)Se03−2. Sperm were labeled primarily in tail keratin, a disulfide-stabilized fraction obtained by extracting isolated tails with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). By incubation in 1% SDS−0.2 mM dithiothreitol, followed by sonication and centrifugation, the 75Se was separated from a residue rich in S and Zn, composed of dense fibers and connecting pieces. The extracted 75Se-labeled material was non-dialyzable, sensitive to pronase, retained most of its bound isotope following carboxymethylation, and displayed only one radioactive component, of 17,000 daltons, during SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It is suggested that the labeled moiety is a selenopolypeptide whose function is critical for normal assembly of the sperm tail.
Methods to determine the temperature dependence of the pre-exponential factor of the Arrhenius equation from thermogravimetric data

The well-known methods of Coats-Redfern, Freeman-Carroll, and Achar et al. are modified to include the temperature dependence of the pre-exponential factor in the Arrhenius expression for the rate constant. These modifications serve to cast these methods into their most general Arrhenius form. Suggestions are given regarding various numerical methods for extracting the temperature dependence of the preexponential factor from thermogravimetric and derivative thermogravimetric data.
Radio wavelength observations of magnetic fields on active dwarf M, RS CVn and magnetic stars

The dwarf M stars, YZ Canis Minoris and AD Leonis, exhibit narrow-band, slowly varying (hours) microwave emission that cannot be explained by conventional thermal radiation mechanisms. The dwarf M stars, AD Leonis and Wolf 424, emit rapid spikes whose high brightness temperatures similarly require a nonthermal radiation process. They are attributed to coherent mechanisms such as an electron-cyclotron maser or coherent plasma radiation. If the electron-cyclotron maser emits at the second or third harmonic gyrofrequency, the coronal magnetic field strength equals 250 G or 167 G, and constraints on the plasma frequency imply an electron density of 6 x 10 to the 9th/cu cm. Radio spikes from AD Leonis and Wolf 424 have rise times less than or equal to 5 ms, indicating a linear size of less than or equal to 1.5 x 10 to the 8th cm, or less than 0.005 of the stellar radius. Although Ap magnetic stars have strong dipole magnetic fields, they exhibit no detectable gyroresonant radiation, suggesting that these stars do not have hot, dense coronae. The binary RS CVn star UX Arietis exhibits variable emission at 6 cm wavelength on time scales ranging from 30 s to more than one hour.
Comparison of statistical pattern-recognition algorithms for hybrid processing. II: Eigenvector-based algorithm

The pattern-recognition algorithms based on eigenvector analysis (group 2) are theoretically and experimentally compared. Group 2 consists of Foley–Sammon (F-S) transform, Hotelling trace criterion (HTC), Fukunaga–Koontz (F-K) transform, linear discriminant function (LDF), and generalized matched filter (GMF) algorithms. It is shown that all eigenvector-based algorithms can be represented in a generalized eigenvector form. However, the calculations of the discriminant vectors are different for different algorithms. Summaries of methods of calculating the discriminant functions for the F-S, HTC, and F-K transforms are provided. Especially for the more practical, underdetermined case, where the number of training images is less than the number of pixels in each image, the calculations usually require the inversion of a large, singular pixel correlation (or covariance) matrix. We suggest solving this problem by finding its pseudoinverse, which requires inverting only the smaller, nonsingular image-correction (or covariance) matrix plus multiplying several nonsingular matrices. We also compare theoretically the classification performance with discriminant functions of the F-S, HTC, and F-K with the LDF and GMF algorithms and the linear-mapping-based algorithms with the eigenvector-based algorithms. Experimentally, we compare the eigenvector-based algorithms, using two sets of image data bases with each image consisting of 64 × 64 pixels.
Drosophila mutations at the mei-9 and mus(2)201 loci which block excision of thymine dimers also block induction of unscheduled DNA synthesis by methyl methanesulfonate, ethyl methanesulfonate, N-methyl-N-nitrosourea, UV light and X-rays.

Abstract The mei-9 and mus(2)201 mutants of Drosophila melanogaster were identified as mutagen-sensitive mutants on the basis of larval hypersensitivity to methyl methanesulfonate and characterized as excision repair-deficient on the basis of a greatly reduced capacity to excise thymine dimers from cellular DNA. The high degree of larval cytotoxicity observed with a variety of other chemical and physical agents indicated that these mutants may be unable to excise other important classes of DNA adducts. We have measured the ability of the single mutants and the double mutant combination mei-9;mus(2)201 to perform the resynthesis step in excision repair by means of an autoradiographic analysis of unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) induced in a mixed population of primary cells in culture. The 3 strains exhibit no detectable UDS activity in response to applied doses of 1.5–6.0 mM methyl methanesulfonate, 1.0–4.5 mM N-methyl-N-nitrosourea or 10–40 J/m2 254-nm UV light, dose ranges in which control cells exhibit a strong dose-dependent UDS response. The mei-9 and mei-9;mus(2)201 mutants also have no detectable UDS response to X-ray doses of 300–1800 rad, whereas the mus(2)201 mutant exhibits a reduced, but dose-dependent, response over this range. These data correlated well with the degree of larval hypersensitivity of the strains and suggest that mutations at both loci block the excision repair of a wide variety of DNA damage prior to the resynthesis step.
Ground state correlations and mean field in 16 O

We use the coupled cluster expansion $[\mathrm{exp}(S)$ method] to generate the complete ground state correlations due to the $\mathrm{NN}$ interaction. Part of this procedure is the calculation of the two-body $\mathbf{G}$ matrix inside the nucleus in which it is being used. This formalism is being applied to ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}$ in a configuration space of $50\ensuremath{\Elzxh}\ensuremath{\omega}.$ The resulting ground state wave function is used to calculate the binding energy and one- and two-body densities for the ground state of ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}.$
K-Scale Correction and Percentile Norms for MMPI-168 Factor Scores.

Appropriate K-corrections for MMPI-168 factor scales and for a general psychopathology screening scale (PSY) were derived empiricaily. Percentile distributions of the K-corrected scales in a large normal sample (N = 1438) were determined, and a percentile profile sheet was constructed to facilitate clinical use (N = 1048). The validity of the K-corrected scales in distinguishing psychiatric patients from normals is examined.
Voltage shifts and defect-dipoles in ferroelectric capacitors

We review the processes and mechanisms by which voltage offsets occur in the hysteresis loop of ferroelectric materials. Simply stated, voltage shifts arise from near-interfacial charge trapping in the ferroelectric. We show that the impetus behind voltage shifts in ferroelectric capacitors is the net polarization, with the net polarization being determined by the perovskite and the aligned defect-dipole components. Some common defect-dipoles in the PZT system are lead vacancy-oxygen vacancy complexes. One way to change the net polarization in the ferroelectric is to subject the PZT capacitor to a dc bias at elevated temperature; this process is spectroscopically shown to align defect-dipoles along the direction of the applied electric field. The alignment of defect-dipoles can strongly impact several material properties. One such impact is that it can lead to enhanced voltage shifts (imprint). It is proposed that the net polarization determines the spatial location of the asymmetrically trapped charge that are the cause for the voltage shifts. An enhanced polarization at one electrode interface can lead to larger voltage shifts since it lowers the electrostatic potential well for electron trapping, i.e., more electron trapping can occur. Defect-dipole alignment is also shown to increase the UV sensitivity of the ferroelectric.
Maintenance of respiratory control in mitochondria after rate zonal centrifugation.

The respiratory control of rat liver mitochondria is lost when they are subjected to rate zonal centrifugation in a sucrose gradient (8.0% to 46.6%, w/w) at values for ω2t necessary for resolution. High sucrose concentration and high ω2t are both responsible. Respiratory control can be maintained in iso-osmotic Ficoll + 8.3% sucrose media, and after zonal centrifugation in such media at values of ω2t sufficient for resolution.
In Memoriam Vladimir Prelog (1906–1998): Some Personal Reminiscences

Some persons, by virtue of the classic status of their achievements and the lengthy duration of their careers, become ‘legends in their own time’ and are often incorrectly believed to be no longer with us. As a case in point, in the early 1980s Charles Scribner’s Sons invited me to write an article on the American organic chemist Carl Shipp (‘Speed’) Marvel for its Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Because one of the criteria for inclusion in DSB was that the subject be deceased, I informed the publisher that Marvel was very much alive (After Marvel had died at the age of 93 in 1988, I wrote the previously requested DSB article).
Firstborn offspring sex ratio is skewed towards female offspring in anesthesia care providers: A questionnaire-based nationwide study from United States

Background: A parental occupation such as anesthesia care provider can involve exposure of the parent to various chemicals in the work environment and has been correlated to skewed offspring sex ratios. Objectives: The objective was to conduct a nation-wide survey to observe (a) whether firstborn offspring sex ratio (OSR) in anesthesia providers is skewed towards increased female offspring, and (b) to identify potential factors influencing firstborn OSR, particularly those relating to the peri-conceptional practice of inhalational anesthesia induction among anesthesia providers. Materials and Methods: After institutional review board approval, a questionnaire was uploaded on SurveyMonkey and sent to anesthesia providers through their program coordinators in United States (US) to complete the survey. Results: The current US national total-population sex ratio is 0.97 male (s)/female with an at-birth sex ratio of 1.05 male (s)/female; comparatively, the results from anesthesia providers' survey respondents (n = 314) were a total OSR of 0.93 male (s)/female ( P = 0.61) with firstborn OSR 0.82 male (s)/female (a 6% increase in female offspring; P = 0.03), respectively. The only significant peri-conceptional factor related to anesthesia providers' firstborn OSR's skew was inhalational induction practice by anesthesia care provider favoring female offspring ( P Conclusion: Based on the results of this limited survey, it can be concluded that anesthesia care providers who practice inhalation induction of anesthesia during the peri-conceptional period are significantly more likely to have firstborn female offspring.