cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Insights into Diagenesis and Pore Structure of Opalinus Shale Through Comparative Studies of Natural and Reconstituted Materials

Shales have undergone a complex burial diagenesis that involved a severe modification of the pore structure. Reconstituted shales can provide new insights into the nature of the pore structure in natural materials. The effects of diagenesis on the microfabric, pore size distribution, and porosity of Opalinus shale were measured by comparing the behavior of natural and reconstituted specimens. The parent material (Opalinus shale) was reconstituted through multiple grinding operations, sedimentation from a dispersed slurry, and one-dimensional isothermal consolidation. This process produced uniform specimens that were not cemented and had replicable microfabric and engineering properties. The microfabric and mineralogy of the materials were examined using high-resolution scanning/backscattered electron microscopy (SEM/BSEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) for specimens with broken and milled surfaces. Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and N 2 adsorption were used to assess the pore size distributions and specific surface areas of the materials. The microstructure of natural shale was characterized to be highly heterogeneous with significant concentrations of calcareous microfossils, calcite, and quartz particles embedded within the clay matrix. The microfossils were observed to be locally infilled and rimmed by a calcite cement that showed evidence of dissolution. The reconstituted specimens showed a double-structure microfabric that evolved with the level of consolidation stress and converged into a single-structure material (comparable to the natural shale) at a consolidation stress of more than twice the estimated maximum in situ effective stress. The natural shale had a lower specific surface area in comparison to the reconstituted material, which was consolidated at large effective stresses. These differences can be attributed to cementation at a submicron pore scale and highlight chemical diagenesis effects that were not replicated in the reconstituted specimens.
Analyzing Comments in the News

This chapter analyzes 3508 user-generated news site comments to answer one of the over-arching questions of this book: Can incivility and deliberation co-exist in news site comment streams? Findings show that aspects of public deliberation, such as using evidence to support one’s point or asking legitimate questions, were present in 25.9% of comments. In contrast, uncivil attributes—profanity, name-calling, and hate speech—were present in 17.8% of comments. Results suggest strongly that incivility and deliberation can overlap in comments streams, particularly when the incivility is less virulent. Overall, results point to cautious optimism for the potential for deliberative debate in comment streams.
Empowering survivors after colorectal and lung cancer treatment: Pilot study of a Self-Management Survivorship Care Planning intervention.

Abstract Purpose This study evaluates the feasibility and acceptability of a Self-Management Survivorship Care Planning (SM-SCP) intervention in colorectal and lung cancer survivors. Methods This is a single-group, pre- and post-mixed methods study of an advance practice nurse-driven survivorship care intervention that integrates a survivorship care plan with self-management skills coaching. Colorectal and lung cancer survivors with stage I-III disease were enrolled at 3–6 months after completing treatments, and the intervention was administered in one in-person or telephone session. Survivor outcome measures included depression, anxiety, self-efficacy, QOL, and satisfaction. Paired t- tests were used for exploratory evaluations of pre-to post-intervention score changes. Content analysis was conducted to analyze the qualitative data to describe survivors’ experience with the intervention. Results Thirty participants (15 colorectal, 15 lung) enrolled and completed the study (73% retention). It took an average of 40 min to complete the TS/CP and 34.2 min to deliver the intervention. Exploratory analysis revealed significant differences from baseline to post-intervention in depression, anxiety, self-efficacy, physical functioning, role limitations-physical, pain, general health, health transition, physical health summary, and total QOL. Three qualitative themes emerged: 1) Feeling empowered about having a plan; 2) Struggling with psychosocial concerns; and 3) Suggestions for intervention content and delivery. Conclusions The SM-SCP intervention was feasible and acceptable for colorectal and lung cancer survivors after treatment completion. Survivorship care interventions have potential to fulfill the unmet needs of colorectal and lung cancer survivors. Their effectiveness might be greater by integrating conceptually-based models of care, such as self-management skills building.
Novel approach to improve patient satisfaction in the outpatient clinic setting.

Abstract Background With evolving reimbursement patterns and an emphasis on value-based care, patient satisfaction is increasingly becoming a more important metric. However, there remains a dearth of literature examining potential strategies to improve patient satisfaction in the outpatient setting. This study investigates if overall perception of care is influenced by providing biosketch cards to new patients in an outpatient Sports Medicine clinic. Methods 144 new patients were assigned to an intervention group based on the date of visit from 3/2017 to 8/2017. Eligible patients received a treating physician biosketch card (Group A), clinical practice biosketch card (Group B) or no additional literature (Control group) during the clinic check-out process. Via email, patients were asked to rate: 1- quality of care, 2- treated with courtesy and respect, 3- listened to carefully, 4- was explained things in a way you could understand, 5- overall rating, 6- recommend to family and friend? We also collected age, gender, level of education, and response time. The three groups were compared. Results 96 (66.7%) patients responded with 32 patients in each group (physician biosketch, clinic biosketch, no intervention). There were no significant demographic differences between the groups. The average age was 51.8 years with 52% being male. Mean time from visit to response was 1.6 days. The only significant difference occurred for rating “how would you rate your orthopedic doctor with treating you with courtesy and respect?”, however, post hoc analysis failed to reveal a significant difference in response between each study group. There was no statistical difference between the remaining questions on patient satisfaction. Conclusion Increasing a new patient’s awareness, via physician or clinic information sheets, has no added benefit for patient satisfaction in the outpatient sports medicine setting.
Academic biliteracies: multilingual repertoires in higher education

During the past two decades, the majority of academic literacy research has focused on teaching and learning strategies used in order to develop knowledge and literacy skills in the English languag...
Circulating binding proteins for human growth hormone

Growth hormone (GH) promotes a complex array of seemingly unrelated biological effects ultimately leading to somatic growth. Its mechanism(s) of action and biological fate are at best poorly understood. The recent discovery of binding proteins for GH in human plasma has added a new degree of complexity to the physiology of GH. This field is only about two years old, with the first report appearing in 1985 (Baumann et al. 1985a). The information available about GH binding proteins is therefore still limited. It is useful to briefly contemplate the history of their discovery and the reasons for the delay in recognition of GH binding proteins.
Show-Up Procedures, Relevant Policy Standards, and Training Standards

Eyewitness identification has high probative value for the prosecution’s case. One method for obtaining eyewitness identification is the show-up procedure. If the prosecution intends to rely on the show-up identification, then the show-up must not be impermissibly suggestive or prone to error, which can lead to misidentification. The United States Supreme Court resolved some questions about the suggestive nature of eyewitness identifications in United States v. Wade (1967),which implicates fairness and due process, specifically: (1) the manner in which confrontations for identification are typically conducted; (2) the dangers inherent in eyewitness identification and suggestiveness inherent in the context of the confrontation; and (3) because the likelihood that the accused will often be precluded from reconstructing what occurred, a full hearing on the identification issue at trial is warranted.
Pantheon: the training ground for internet congestion-control research

Internet transport algorithms are foundational to the performance of network applications. But a number of practical challenges make it difficult to evaluate new ideas and algorithms in a reproducible manner. We present the Pantheon, a system that addresses this by serving as a community "training ground" for research on Internet transport protocols and congestion control (https://pantheon.stanford.edu). It allows network researchers to benefit from and contribute to a common set of benchmark algorithms, a shared evaluation platform, and a public archive of results. We present three results showing the Pantheon's value as a research tool. First, we describe a measurement study from more than a year of data, indicating that congestion-control schemes vary dramatically in their relative performance as a function of path dynamics. Second, the Pantheon generates calibrated network emulators that capture the diverse performance of real Internet paths. These enable reproducible and rapid experiments that closely approximate real-world results. Finally, we describe the Pantheon's contribution to developing new congestion-control schemes, two of which were published at USENIX NSDI 2018, as well as data-driven neural-network-based congestion-control schemes that can be trained to achieve good performance over the real Internet.
When Winning Is Losing: Why the Nation that Invented the Computer Lost Its Lead

The nation that invented the computer lost its lead by discarding its most plentiful supply of trained technologists: women. This article discusses why failure narratives are as important to understanding the history of computing as success stories, and explains how structural sexism has affected the progress of computing.
Benchmarking Machine Learning Methods for Performance Modeling of Scientific Applications

Performance modeling is an important and active area of research in high-performance computing (HPC). It helps in better job scheduling and also improves overall performance of coupled applications. Sufficiently rich analytical models are challenging to develop, however, because of interactions between different node components, network topologies, job interference, and application complexity. When analytical performance models become restrictive because of application dynamics and/or multicomponent interactions, machine-learning-based performance models can be helpful. While machine learning (ML) methods do not require underlying system or application knowledge, they are efficient in learning the unknown interactions of the application and system parameters empirically using application runs. We present a benchmark study in which we evaluate eleven machine learning methods for modeling the performance of four representative scientific applications that are irregular and with skewed domain configurations on four leadership-class HPC platforms. We assess the impact of feature engineering, size of training set, modern hardware platforms, transfer learning, extrapolation on the prediction accuracy, and training and inference times. We find that bagging, boosting, and deep neural network ML methods are promising approaches with median $R^{2}$ values greater than 0.95 and these methods do not require feature engineering. We demonstrate that cross-platform performance prediction can be improved significantly using transfer learning with deep neural networks.
Sulfonate/Nitro Bearing Methylmalonyl-Thioester Isosteres Applied to Methylmalonyl-CoA Decarboxylase Structure–Function Studies

Malonyl-thioesters are reactive centers of malonyl-CoA and malonyl- S-acyl carrier protein, essential to fatty acid, polyketide and various specialized metabolite biosynthesis. Enzymes that create or use malonyl-thioesters spontaneously hydrolyze or decarboxylate reactants on the crystallographic time frame preventing determination of structure-function relationships. To address this problem, we have synthesized a panel of methylmalonyl-CoA analogs with the carboxylate represented by a sulfonate or nitro and the thioester retained or represented by an ester or amide. Structures of Escherichia coli methylmalonyl-CoA decarboxylase in complex with our analogs affords insight into substrate binding and the catalytic mechanism. Counterintuitively, the negatively charged sulfonate and nitronate functional groups of our analogs bind in an active site hydrophobic pocket. Upon decarboxylation the enolate intermediate is protonated by a histidine preventing CO2-enolate recombination, yielding propionyl-CoA. Activity assays support a histidine catalytic acid and reveal the enzyme displays significant hydrolysis activity. Our structures also provide insight into this hydrolysis activity. Our analogs inhibit decarboxylation/hydrolysis activity with low micromolar Ki values. This study sets precedents for using malonyl-CoA analogs with carboxyate isosteres to study the complicated structure-function relationships of acyl-CoA carboxylases, trans-carboxytransferases, malonyltransferases and β-ketoacylsynthases.
Review of Ilana Löwy, Imperfect Pregnancies: A History of Birth Defects & Prenatal Diagnosis

Ilana Lowy’s recent monograph, Imperfect Pregnancies: A History of Birth Defects & Prenatal Diagnosis, is a timely and informative historical overview tracing the fascination of “monstrous births” ...
Synthesis of Oligosaccharides Using Glycosyltransferases

Development of cloning techniques have made several glycosyltransferases available for organic chemists. Enzymatic synthesis of oligosaccharides using glycosyltransferases show, high regio- and stereospecific glycosidic bond formations without protecting groups of hydroxyl groups. In this review, we describe recent developments in oligosaccharide synthesis employing sialyl-, galactosyl- and fucosyltransferase, which are necessary for the synthesis of sialyl Lewis X tetrasaccharide. Application of in situ cofactor regeneration systems avoids the tedious separate preparation of sugar nucleotide, and inhibition caused by the released nucleoside mono- or diphosphates.
Urban Legends and Rumors Concerning the September 11 Attacks

This chapter provides an extended case study of the legends and rumors surrounding the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001. The chapter draws upon existing scholarship about the cultural meaning of urban legends to explain how these legends are coping mechanisms for dealing with a complex, dangerous world in which the rules of life are changed. Based on a detailed analysis of the hundreds of stories about 9/11 on snopes and the thousands of posting on alt.folklore.urban about 9/11, the authors categorize the many types of urban legends associated with this event and give illustrations of each. The chapter also considers the role of conspiracy theories associated with these terrorist attacks and in particular looks at the 9/11 Truth Movement, which denies the accepted story of what happened on September 11. This case study enables us to look in depth at the working style used by snopes. The response on AFU to the terrorist attacks is compared to the response on two other Usenet newsgroups. The chapter also looks in particular at mercantile legends and how companies are harmed by urban legends – with a particular look at one restaurant, The Sheikh in suburban Detroit, which was harmed by false claims that its Arab workers celebrated the terrorist attacks. While most urban legends are textual, the chapter closes with a discussion of visual versions using photoshopping techniques.
Hybrid Neural Networks for Mortality Prediction from LDCT Images

Known for its high morbidity and mortality rates, lung cancer poses a significant threat to human health and well-being. However, the same population is also at high risk for other deadly diseases, such as cardiovascular disease. Since Low-Dose CT (LDCT) has been shown to significantly improve the lung cancer diagnosis accuracy, it will be very useful for clinical practice to predict the all-cause mortality for lung cancer patients to take corresponding actions. In this paper, we propose a deep learning based method, which takes both chest LDCT image patches and coronary artery calcification risk scores as input to predict the mortality risk of lung cancer subjects. The proposed method is called Hybrid Risk Network (HyRiskNet) for mortality risk prediction, which is an end-to-end framework utilizing hybrid imaging features, instead of completely relying on automatic feature extraction. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of using deep learning techniques for all-cause lung cancer mortality prediction from chest LDCT images. The experimental results show that HyRiskNet can achieve superior performance compared with the neural networks with only image input and with other traditional semi-automatic scoring methods. The study also indicates that radiologist defined features can well complement convolutional neural networks for more comprehensive feature extraction.
Two Dimensional Image Formation with Passive Radar Using the Sun for Echo Detection

Recent work has demonstrated a passive radio sounding approach using the Sun as a source for echo detection [1]. We expand on our passive autocorrelation-based technique by demonstrating its potential to map topography as the Sun moves throughout the entire day. Here, we show with synthetic data and our experimental results of passive radar testing with the Sun at Dante’s View, Death Valley, our approach to implementing two dimensional image formation with passive radar. We also determine the critical signal to noise ratio (SNR) required to reliably observe a Sun echo with our passive instrument. Finally, we show that our autocorrelation-based technique can obtain changes in range, reflectivity, and phase, which are measurements normally acquired with traditional active radar systems. Demonstrating that our technique can acquire these changes is the first step to developing passive SAR processing using the Sun.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation tracks subminute changes in cortical excitability during propofol anesthesia.

Automated anesthesia systems that continuously monitor cortical excitability (CE) changes to govern drug infusion rates, are desirable. Paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (ppTMS), with electromyography (EMG), provides noninvasive CE measures. We tested whether, and with what temporal resolution, ppTMS-EMG detects dose-dependent CE in rats anesthetized with continuous intravenous propofol. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded every 20 seconds as either propofol bolus or change in infusion rate was applied. ppTMS-derived measures varied in direct proportion to propofol dose with subminute temporal resolution. We conclude that ppTMS-EMG enables real-time markers of target engagement by anesthetics that may be incorporated into an automated device.
Coinage metal tris(dialkylamido)imidophosphorane complexes as transmetallation reagents for cerium complexes

We report the synthesis of tetrameric Cu(i) and Ag(i) homoleptic complexes supported by the tris(piperidinyl)imidophosphorane [NP(pip)3]1- and [NP(1,2-bis-tBu-diamidoethane)(NEt2)]1- ligands. These complexes demonstrate the redox stability of the imidophosphorane ligands to oxidizing salts, and the silver complexes can, in turn, serve as oxidative transmetallation reagents for the isolation of tetravalent cerium complexes from cerium metal or trivalent cerium precursors.
A matter of timing: is there a role for radiation in locally advanced pancreatic cancer, and if so, when?

Overview:The role of radiation therapy in the management of locally advanced pancreatic cancer is controversial. Despite its localized presentation, locally advanced pancreatic cancer is characteri...
Assessment of reproductive and developmental effects of graphene oxide on Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes).

Abstract Due to its unique properties, graphene oxide (GO) has potential for biomedical and electronic applications, however environmental contamination including aquatic ecosystem is inevitable. Moreover, potential risks of GO in aquatic life are inadequately explored. Present study was designed to evaluate GO as an endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) using the model Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes). GO was injected intraperitoneally (25–200 μg/g) once to breeding pairs and continued pair breeding an additional 21 days. Eggs laid were analyzed for fecundity and the fertilized eggs were evaluated for developmental abnormalities including hatching. Histopathological evaluation of gonads, liver, and kidneys was made 21 days post-injection. LD50 was found to be sex-dependent. Fecundity tended to reduce in a dose-dependent manner during early post-injection days; however, the overall evaluation showed no significant difference. The hatchability of embryos was reduced significantly in the 200 μg/g group; edema (yolk and cardiovascular) and embryo-mortality remained unaltered. Histopathological assessment identified black particles, probably agglomerated GO, in the gonads of GO-treated fish. However, folliculogenesis in stromal compartments of ovary and the composition of germinal elements in testis remained almost unaltered. Moreover, granulosa and Leydig cells morphology did not indicate any significant EDC-related effects. Although liver and kidney histopathology did not show GO as an EDC, some GO-treated fish accumulated proteinaceous fluid in hepatic vessels and induced hyperplasia in interstitial lymphoid cells (HIL) located in kidneys. GO agglomerated in medaka gonads after 21-days post-injection. However, gonad histopathology including granulosa and Leydig cells alterations were associated with GO toxicity rather than EDC effects.
STUDY OF ACTIVE FARMLAND USE TO SUPPORT AGENT-BASED MODELING OF FOOD DESERTS

Abstract. Food desert (FD) is the area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious foods such as fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods. FDs are important socio-economic problems in North Carolina (NC), potentially contributing to obesity in low-income areas. If farmland is available, local vegetable production could potentially help alleviate FDs. However, little is known about land use and land-use transitions (LUTs) in the vicinity of FDs. To fill this knowledge gap, we study the farmland use in three NC counties, Bladen, Guilford and, Rutherford, located in Coastal, Piedmont, and, Mountain regions of the state, respectively. The analysis combines the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 2015 FD/NFD delineation of census tracts, and geospatial soil productivity and 2008–2019 land cover data. The understanding of farmland use is expected to contribute to the development of LUT components of FD Agent-Based Models (ABM).
Dynamics of Low-Dimensional Quadratic Families

This paper studies the low-dimensional complex quadratic maps under holomorphic and nonholomorphic singular perturbations and reviews the topological and statistical properties of low-dimensional real quadratic maps.
Design of a Highly-Maneuverable Pneumatic Soft Actuator Driven by Intrinsic SMA Coils (PneuSMA Actuator) *

This paper presents the design of a new soft pneumatic actuator whose direction and magnitude of bending may be precisely controlled via activation of different shape memory alloy (SMA) springs within the actuator, in conjunction with pneumatic actuation. This design is inspired by examples seen in nature such as the human tongue, where the combination of hydrostatic pressure and contraction of intrinsic muscle groups enables precise maneuverability and morphing capabilities. Here, SMA springs are embedded in the walls of the actuator, serving as intrinsic muscles that may be selectively activated to constrain the device. The pneumatic SMA (PneuSMA) actuator demonstrates remarkable spatial controllability evidenced by testing under different pressures and SMA activation combinations. A baseline finite element model is also developed to predict the actuator deformation under different pressure and activation conditions.
Cemented Vs Cementless Femoral Fixation for Total Hip Arthroplasty After Displaced Femoral Neck Fracture: A Nationwide Analysis of Short-Term Complications and Readmission Rates.

Abstract Background Active patients with displaced femoral neck fractures are often treated with total hip arthroplasty (THA). However, optimal femoral fixation in these patients is controversial. The purpose of this study was to compare early complication and readmission rates in patients with hip fracture treated with THA receiving cemented vs cementless femoral fixation. Methods The National Readmissions Database was queried to identify patients undergoing primary THA for femoral neck fracture from 2016 to 2017. Postoperative complications and unplanned readmissions at 30, 90, and 180 days were compared between patients treated with cemented and cementless THA. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to compare differences between groups and account for confounding variables. Results Of 17,491 patients identified, 4427 (25.3%) received cemented femoral fixation and 13,064 (74.7%) cementless. The cemented group was significantly older (77.2 vs 71.1, P .05) postoperatively compared with cementless fixation. Cemented fixation was associated with greater odds of medical complications at 180 days postoperatively (odds ratio:: 1.393, 95% confidence interval: 1.042-1.862, P = .025). Conclusion Cemented femoral fixation was associated with a lower short-term incidence of periprosthetic fractures, higher incidence of medical complications, and equivalent unplanned readmission rates within 180 days postoperatively compared with cementless fixation in patients undergoing THA for femoral neck fracture. Level of Evidence Level III.
Evaluation of a leach bed reactor for the anaerobic digestion of drylot collected cattle manure

Abstract Conventional anaerobic digestion (AD) technologies are not appropriate for processing drylot collected manure without excessive water addition. An alternative AD approach, the leach bed reactor (LBR), may facilitate the digestion of drylot manures with minimal water use but leach bed reactors (LBRs) are known to experience hydraulic failures with manure wastes. The addition of a top sand layer to LBRs is investigated to facilitate the processing of drylot cattle manure containing up to 90% total solids (TS) without hydraulic failure. Here, LBRs were operated to overcome clogging issues and assess the extent of hydrolysis of organic matter in the manure. The system was operated as a batch process with a digestion time of 42 days. The LBRs showed a mean total chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction of 51.6% and a total volatile solids reduction of 44.7% in manure. Biochemical methane potential tests on leachate indicated a mean methane yield of 0.13 L CH4/g COD leached. The appropriate operational time for the system was found to be 14 days.
A Critical Analysis of Research Utilizing the Prisoner's Dilemma Paradigm for the Study of Bargaining

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews and compares the significance of research utilizing a Prisoner's Dilemma game with reference to variables intrinsic to the Prisoner's Dilemma paradigm. Uncertainty about the meaning of the responses, the difficulty of assessing the motives behind particular strategies, the barriers against conveying or interpreting preferences or acceptable solutions, the lack of incentive for maximizing gains or perhaps even for taking the task seriously, and the absence of interaction with another human being all tend to make this a situation of possible irrelevance, certain ambiguity, and perhaps even incomprehensibility for the subject. Not only do these variables generally make concepts like reciprocity irrelevant, they tend to draw into question what is actually being studied in the Prisoner's Dilemma game. It appears that research on the Prisoner's Dilemma game may have little transferability to a naturally occurring bargaining situation. This is not because it is too simple or too minimal a situation to be relevant to the complex situations that one might wish to comprehend. Rather, the Prisoner's Dilemma game is not really a simulation of even a very simple bargaining situation. The chapter highlights the historical perspectives of the Prisoner's Dilemma.
Realization and kinematic analysis of a bionic hopping robot

Inspired by grasshoppers' and crickets' hopping characteristics, a bionic cricket hopping robot, with its hinder leg actuated mainly by Shape Memory Alloy (for short: SMA) and capable of realizing its self-righting during its landing and adjusting its hopping angle before hopping, is designed and implemented in this paper, which will enhance the existing hopping robots' adaptability in increasingly complicated environment. The hopping robot compromises four working circles, i.e. reset, cocking, energy storage and triggering. The bionic hopping robot's mechanical and and its control system's design and implementation are presented, and the relevant kinematics analysis of its hopping process is conducted in this paper as well.
Autologous Platelet‐Based Therapies

Healing and fusion in challenging bone grafting procedures is not guaranteed using the gold standard of autogenous iliac crest bone, and clinicians are increasingly interested in tissue engineering solutions using cells and signaling factors to enhance both overall success rate and time to fusion. The potential role in wound repair from application of cytokines contained in platelets was initially described more than 20 years ago. A rapid, simple preparation method to perioperatively separate and collect the platelet-rich fraction was developed a decade later, expanding the potential range of clinical applications. Numerous additional point-of-care techniques have since been introduced, potentially providing a cost-effective alternative to single recombinant proteins. As with many emerging technologies, clinicians are confronted with a frequently conflicting array of largely anecdotal claims for clinical utility. With a focus on structural bone graft repair, this chapter will present the therapeutic basis for clinical use of topically applied autogenous growth factor preparations and summarize existing experimental and application-specific clinical outcomes reports. Keywords: blood separation; platelets; growth factors; tissue regeneration; orthopedics
Isolation and characterization of C-reactive protein (CRP) cDNA and genomic DNA from Xenopus laevis. A species representing an intermediate stage in CRP evolution.

Abstract C-reactive protein (CRP) is a prototypic acute phase protein in human and rabbit. Although it is structurally and functionally conserved from invertebrate to human, there are species-specific differences in patterns of expression and putative function. To further investigate the biological significance, regulation, and evolution of CRP, we isolated Xenopus CRP and subsequently derived and sequenced corresponding cDNA and the genomic clones. The structure and expression of Xenopus CRP were also compared to those of the other CRPs. Analyses of the amino acid sequence and the nucleotide sequence reveal that the mature Xenopus CRP is a 222-amino acid protein preceded by a 16-residue signal peptide. During development, Xenopus CRP is expressed, only when the liver appears, and therefore is not likely to play a role in early embryonic development. Compared to other species, Xenopus CRP is present at an intermediate low level of < 1 microgram/ml in the normal serum. Unlike human and rabbit CRP, Xenopus CRP is not induced by turpentine or heatshock treatment. The heatshock consensus sequence (Woo, P., Korenberg, J. R., and Whitehead, A. S. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 4136-4142) are not present in the Xenopus CRP gene. It is suggested that Xenopus CRP represents a transitional period in CRP evolution when host defenses switched from primitive innate immunity to a much more complex immune system. The constitutive functions of CRP gradually became less essential as the result of the development of a complex immune system.
Transcarboxylase. V. The presence of bound zinc and cobalt.

Abstract Transcarboxylase has been isolated from Propionibacterium shermanii grown in the presence of either 60Co or 65Zn, and it has been shown that there is good correlation between radioactivity and enzymatic activity during the final stages of purification. Quantitative determinations of the metal content by atomic absorption analyses indicate that approximately 2 moles of cobalt and 4 moles of zinc are usually present per mole of enzyme (molecular weight 670,000), giving a total metal content which is equimolar with the biotin content of the enzyme. Although the sum of the cobalt and zinc content is constant, the ratio between the two metals has been found to vary. The enzyme causes a substantial broadening of the nuclear magnetic signal arising from the methyl protons of pyruvate. The broadening effect is reversed by increasing concentrations of oxalate. It is proposed that cobalt and zine function at the active site for pyruvate. Radioactivity of 60Co-labeled transcarboxylase is primarily associated with a subunit of the enzyme with a sedimentation constant of 6S that contains little or no biotin.
Density functional theory: Further applications

Summary Density functional techniques are available for the calculation of the molecular and electronic structures of ground state systems. Techniques of this kind are also applied extensively in the study of classical liquids, where applications cover a broad spectrum ranging from fluids at interfaces to theories of freezing and nucleation. The area of nuclear physics is still in a very early stage of development in the use of DFT, mainly because there is not yet a complete theory, as there is in the molecular and atomic cases. This chapter has focused on the theoretical aspects of other applications not related to the use of the Kohn-Sham procedure for electronic systems, with the hope that a better understanding of the problems and successes in the respective areas would help in the development of improved functionals.
Manage people, not Userids

Despite the title, this is not about managing people, but rather managing the enterprise data about the people, especially in defining the relationship between a person and the organisation and controlling functions based on that relationship, or what some people might refer to as identity management. Single sign-on is an attractive goal for many organisations. When you include parking gates and badge readers on building entrances, the problem gets even more interesting. As we expand our deployment of wireless access points and publically accessible network jacks, the need to require authentication for access to our virtual world grows stronger. With the need for authentication, so grows the demands on the systems that provide authentication and authorisation, especially in the area of managing who gets access and revoking that access at the appropriate time. Concurrently, with the rising interest in physical security of our facilities, the need for authentication and controlling access to our physical world is also growing. This also requires tools and systems to manage the people and their status and privileges. Both of these issues share many common attributes and can be well addressed by merging them into a single system to manage people information, and from that, access to the virtual (network) world as well as the physical world. By combining these projects, we are able to take advantage of the mandate (and administrative support) to identify all of the people on our campus to provide physical access control, and so, manage our virtual world. We will also attempt to define a somewhat generic or standard methodology for doing this with our particular business rules and requirements confined to a few limited and specific areas. While the technical issues are challenging, the more daunting task comes with negotiating the institutional politics and getting adequate "buy in" from the appropriate departments to provide the people and resources willing to operate and use the eventual technical solutions. This paper discusses both the social and technical aspects of those solutions.
Impact of inverter configuration on PV system reliability and energy production

The loss of potential revenues due to PV system failures should be taken into consideration when the system's life cycle cost predictions are calculated. We demonstrate a procedure for quantifying the effects of inverter failures (as most dominant) on total lifetime PV system energy production, and investigate the suitability of several inverter configurations based on criteria of total lifetime energy output and life cycle costs. The overall PV system performance penalty due to inverter failures depends on several factors, such as the reliability characteristics of the inverter, inverter configuration and repair time. Using the Monte Carlo analysis, a performance-adjusting coefficient that accounts for these factors is proposed, and a straightforward analysis for determining the optimal inverter configuration is described.
Conflict monitoring versus selection-for-action in anterior cingulate cortex

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), on the medial surface of the frontal lobes of the brain, is widely believed to be involved in the regulation of attention. Beyond this, however, its specific contribution to cognition remains uncertain. One influential theory has interpreted activation within the ACC as reflecting 'selection-for-action', a set of processes that guide the selection of environmental objects as triggers of or targets for action. We have proposed an alternative hypothesis, in which the ACC serves not to exert top-down attentional control but instead to detect and signal the occurrence of conflicts in information processing. Here, to test this theory against the selection-for-action theory, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain activation during performance of a task where, for a particular subset of trials, the strength of selection-for-action is inversely related to the degree of response conflict. Activity within the ACC was greater during trials featuring high levels of conflict (and weak selection-for-action) than during trials with low levels of conflict (and strong selection-for-action), providing evidence in favour of the conflict-monitoring account of ACC function.
Adenovirus-mediated transfer of a gene encoding acyloxyacyl hydrolase (AOAH) into mice increases tissue and plasma AOAH activity.

Although the host response to gram-negative bacterial infection follows largely from the interactions of bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS or endotoxin) with host cells, little information is available concerning the mechanisms by which the host eliminates or detoxifies LPS. Acyloxyacyl hydrolase (AOAH) is an enzyme, found in phagocytic cells, that catalyzes the enzymatic deacylation of the lipid A moiety of LPS. Enzymatically deacylated LPS is much less potent than LPS at inducing responses in human cells, and it can antagonize the ability of LPS to activate human macrophages, neutrophils, and endothelial cells. Despite these observations, the physiologic role of LPS deacylation remains undefined. To investigate the ability of AOAH to carry out LPS deacylation in vivo, we produced a recombinant adenovirus carrying a gene encoding (AOAH) (Ad.CMV-AOAH) and employed this vector to elicit transient overexpression of AOAH in mice. Mice infected with Ad.CMV-AOAH expressed high levels of the enzyme in plasma, liver, spleen, and kidney. Although adenovirus-induced hepatitis reduced hepatic uptake of intravenously injected [3H]LPS, animals expressing the transgene deacylated a larger fraction of the [3H]LPS taken up by their livers than did mice infected with a control adenovirus. These studies indicate that AOAH can catalyze the deacylation of LPS in vivo, and they provide evidence that the rates of hepatic LPS uptake and deacylation are not closely linked.
Internal fixation of transverse acetabular fractures

It has been shown that fixation of transverse acetabular fractures with a posterior plate and either an anterior column plate or screw provides adequate stability (see T. Sawaguchi et al., Acta Orthop. Scand., vol. 55, p. 601-5, 1984). The hypothesis tested in the current study is that simple transverse acetabular fractures can be fixed by posterior plating alone without the need for anterior column plating or screw fixation. If so, this would reduce operative time and eliminate the difficult task of anterior screw placement or dissection for anterior plating. So the objective of this study was to compare the stability of transverse acetabular fractures fixed with posterior plating alone versus posterior plating and anterior column screw fixation, at both zero and 90/spl deg/ of hip flexion. The authors conclude that: 1. The simple transverse acetabular fractures are "stable" when loaded at 0/spl deg/ of hip flexion and "unstable" when loaded at 90/spl deg/ of hip flexion. 2. There was a statistically significant difference in the axial stiffness and the posterior displacement at the fracture site when comparing no fixation versus fixation only at 90/spl deg/ hip flexion. But there was no significant difference when comparing posterior plating alone versus posterior plate and anterior column screw fixation at both 0/spl deg/ and 90/spl deg/ of hip flexion.
Absolute motion parallax weakly determines visual scale in real and virtual environments

The determinants of visual scale (size and distance) under monocular viewing are still largely unknown. The problem of visual scale under monocular viewing becomes readily apparent when one moves about within a virtual environment. It might be thought that the absolute motion parallax of stationary objects (both in real and virtual environments), under the assumption of the stationarity, would immediately determine their apparent size and distance for an observer who is walking about. We sought to assess the effectiveness of observer- produced motion parallax in scaling apparent size and distance within near space. We had subjects judge the apparent size and distance of real and virtual objects under closely matched conditions Real and virtual targets were 4 spheres seen in darkness at eye level. the targets ranges in diameter from 3.7 cm to 14.8 cm and were viewed monocularly from difference distances, with a subset of the size/distance combinations resulting in projectively equivalent stimuli at the viewing origin. subjects moved laterally plus and minus 1 m to produce large amounts of motion parallax. when angular size was held constant and motion parallax acted as a differential cue to target size and distance, judged size varied by a facto or 1.67 and 1.18 for the real and virtual environments, respectively, well short of the fourfold change in distal size. Similarly, distance judgments varied by factors of only 1.74 and 1.07 respectively. We conclude that absolute motion parallax only weakly determines the visual scale of nearby objects varying over a fourfold range in size.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Prototype acetylcholine channel geometry

The acetylcholine (ACh) receptor channel is one of the most important membranepores that assist in two key physiological functions in the nervous system: muscle contraction and neuronal communication. In this paper, a realistic channel geometry is utilized to calculate the electrostatic potential in the ACh channel. The ACh channel has been modeled as an oversimplified cylindrical pore or as a toroidal catenary. However, various degrees of uncertainty associated with using those models have been well documented. Using the channel geometry, we calculate the electrostatic potential in the ACh channel and study its ramifications. Our model mimics the essential biological features of the ACh channel and provides valuable insights into the selectivity properties of the channel.
Press and politics in pre-revolutionary France

(1988). Press and politics in pre-revolutionary France. History of European Ideas: Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 367-368.
Abstract 2051: Hypoxia-induced triple suicide gene TK/CD/UPRT expression enhances cytotoxicity to GCV and 5-FC and radiosensitization in human colorectal cancer cells

The hypoxic microenvironment, an important feature of human solid tumors but absent in normal tissues, may provide an opportunity for cancer-specific gene theapy. We constructed two vectors, both under the control of nine copies of hypoxia responsive element (HRE): (1) a herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase (TK) and enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) fusion gene, and (2) a triple-fusion-gene, cytosine deaminase (CD), uracil phosphoribosyltransferase (UPRT) and monomeric DsRed (mDsRed). Human colorectal cancer cells (HCT8) were transfected with these plasmids, singly or in combination. Stable HCT8-HRE cells were established that contained and expressed the hypoxia-inducible vectors (i.e. HRE-TK/eGFP, HRE-CD/UPRT/mDsRed, or both HRE-TK/eGFP and HRE-CD/UPRT/mDsRed), as assessed by RT-PCR, Western blots and fluorescence microscopy analysis. In in vitro studies, we showed that hypoxia-induced TK/eGFP and CD/UPRT/mDsRed expression not only increased cytotoxicity to GCV and 5-FC, but also led to significant radiosensitization. In HCT8-HRE tumors transplanted in athymic mice, the distribution of TK/eGFP and CD/UPRT/mDsRed co-localized with that of the hypoxia marker pimonidazole. In addition, the administration of GCV and 5-FC in combination with local irradiation resulted in significant tumor regression, greater than that observed with drug or radiation treatment alone. Our data suggest that the hypoxia-inducible TK/GCV+CDUPRT/5-FC triple gene therapy has the ability to specifically target hypoxic cancer cells and significantly improve tumor control in combination with radiotherapy. This novel model is a valuable tool for studying tumor hypoxia and hypoxia-targeted radio-gene therapy. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2051. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-2051