cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ionizing Radiation-Mediated Protein Kinase C Activation and Gene Expression

Ionizing radiation-induced neoplastic transformation is postulated to occur as a consequence of an initial common event followed by a rare second event. Genes encoding transcription factors are expressed immediately after x-ray exposure in the absence of de novo protein synthesis. c-jun, c-fos and Egr-1 are expressed following irradiation of human normal tissue cells and tumor cell lines. Radiation-mediated expression of these immediate early genes is attenuated by protein kinase inhibitors and abrogated when protein kinase C (PKC) is down regulated or when PKC-mediated signal transduction is deficient. PKC is the target for the tumor promoter phorbol esters. This enzyme has been implicated to play a role in neoplastic transformation and in cellular proliferation following mitogenic stimulation. PKC is also, activated rapidly following ionizing radiation exposure. Radiation-mediated PKC activation and immediate early gene induction may represent initial common events which are then followed by rare presumably mutational processes which result in neoplastic transformation. The potential importance of this finding is demonstrated by the recent report that PKC inhibitors partially suppress neoplastic transformation following x-irradiation. The production of growth factors and cytokines within irradiated tissues may also contribute to tumor promotion or progression. This discussion addresses the molecular processes that occur within a cell following x-irradiation and their potential role in neoplastic transformation.
Changing threshold for AIS scores of thoracolumbar compression fractures.

ABSTRACTBackground: The Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) is an anatomical-based coding system created by the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, utilized to classify and code injuries resulting from trauma, in order of severity. According to the latest version, all Thoraco-Lumbar Compression Fractures (TLCF), even without injury to other spine components and with >20% loss of height, were branded AIS 3 injuries, reflecting a serious threat to life or permanent disability. Advances in spine imaging, recent biomechanical studies, and long-term outcomes research offer the opportunity to consider these injuries differently.Objective: To re-evaluate the percent compression threshold of TLCF of the spine from motor vehicle crashes (MVC) for serious risk to life identified as surgical treatment, delineating a reliable cut-off for fracture severity and morbidity. Little national data considers degree of compression and provides adequate followup imaging to determine degree of compression, justif...
Understanding and Communicating Medical Risks for Living Kidney Donors: A Matter of Perspective

Communicating the current knowledge of medical outcomes after live kidney donation necessary to support donor candidates in well informed decision-making requires grounding in perspectives of comparison. Baseline risk (without donating), risk attributable to donation, and absolute risk (after donating) need to be considered. Severe perioperative complications and death are rare, but vary by demographic, clinical, and procedure factors. Innovative capture of “healthy” controls designed to simulate donor selection processes has identified higher risk of ESRD attributable to donation in two studies; importantly, however, the absolute 15-year ESRD incidence in donors remains very low (0.3%). In the first decade after donation, the risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events is no higher than in healthy nondonors. Pregnancies in donors may incur attributable risk of gestational hypertension or preeclampsia (11% versus 5% incidence in one study). A modest rise in uric acid levels beginning early after donation, and a small (1.4%) increase in the 8-year incidence of gout, have also been reported in comparisons to healthy nondonors. As in the general population, postdonation outcomes vary by race, sex, and age. Efforts to improve the counseling and selection of living donors should focus on developing tools for tailored risk prediction according to donor characteristics, and ideally, compared with similar healthy nondonors.
The role of mechanistic data in dose-response modeling.

A critical issue in carcinogenic dose-response modeling involves the functional form of the relationship between the two distinct measures of exposure denoted by the terms administered dose and delivered dose. Administered dose refers to the external measures of exposure that are directly controlled in laboratory studies of toxicity. For inhalation studies, it typically denotes the concentration of a test chemical in the inhalation chamber air. In contrast, delivered dose refers to internal measures of exposure, such as the quantity or concentration of the biologically active form of a test chemical that is present in specific target tissue components. It is this latter measure, the delivered dose, that is presumed to be the direct causative variable in mechanistic descriptions of the carcinogenic process at the cellular and molecular levels.
Chapter 3 Regional context of the geology of the Andaman–Nicobar accretionary ridge

Abstract The Andaman–Nicobar accretionary ridge forms the eastern boundary of the Bay of Bengal and is presently being constructed by accretion and underplating of sediments off-scraped from the obliquely colliding Bengal Fan. Net accretion is relatively low ( c. 28%) with the rest subducted mostly into the upper mantle. Although subduction initiated along the margin at c. 95 Ma, large-scale subduction accretion likely accelerated during the Early Miocene by which time wedge top basins had formed. Prior to that time, sediment off-scraped during the Eocene against the ophiolitic backstop was probably derived from the adjacent magmatic arc of Burma. There was also some erosion of continental sources at that time, probably from the Sibumasu Block which forms the western edge of Sundaland. The scale of this accretion was small and potentially interrupted by times of tectonic erosion during the Palaeogene. The influence of continental erosion increased into the Oligocene, potentially accompanied by modest flux from the Indus–Yarlung Suture via the Irrawaddy River. Drainage capture in eastern Tibet in the Early Miocene and opening of the Andaman Sea, probably in the Late Miocene, has removed these source areas to the Andaman Trench.
Protecting Inland Waterways: From the Institutes of Gaius to Magna Carta

No single factor has had a more significant effect on the ebbs and flows of history than water. Water creates civilizations, and water brings them to extinction. Even today, thousands of years after we learned to harness the power of water, we continue to struggle in determining how to prioritize competing uses of water resources, how to make water available to all who need it, and how to protect it. Yet, these are questions that humans have faced since as long as history dares to recollect. What factors guide civilizations in their decision whether, and to what extent, to regulate and protect inland waterways? This article looks at four legal codes from three distinct civilizations: From the Romans, The Institutes of Gaius and the Corpus Juris Civilis; from the Visigoth Kingdom, the Visigothic Code; and from the English, Magna Carta. This article proposes that, perhaps more so than inherited Roman tradition, two sets of factors influenced the extent to which these codes protected inland waterways: perceptions of water resource abundance and the propensity for navigability and trade of these civilizations’ inland waterways.
A quantitative theory of tax evasion

Abstract I present a simple, unified approach to study the tax evasion practices often observed in developing countries. I develop a general equilibrium model where heterogeneous establishments optimally select themselves into informality, tax compliance, and formal tax evasion. Informal firms evade taxes by staying small, while larger, formal firms can engage in costly tax evasion. In equilibrium, tax revenues rely on medium-sized firms, which are scarce. In a calibration exercise using data from Mexico, I find that reducing the returns to tax evasion by formal firms increases tax revenues by up to 68%. However, economies where such returns are too high face a trade-off between tax collection and aggregate efficiency, as cracking down on formal tax-evading firms pushes some firms into informality. Last, as the economy develops, the informal sector shrinks, while the tax-evading sector expands, thus limiting potential collection. If lower informality is a byproduct of development, and not vice versa, a solid tax base can be achieved by fiscal authorities effectively by focusing on formal tax evasion.
Flat Rate Tuition - Observations and Analysis of Student Persistence and Performance

Facing reduction in public funding and increases in pressure to improve student performance and graduation rates, many public colleges and some state systems have implemented flat rate tuition policies. This study looks at the relationship between such a policy and undergraduate student performance (changes in GPA) and persistence (credits attempted vs. earned) at one public college during four consecutive academic terms. The study reveals a strong correlation between student persistence and performance. Students who persist in completing heavier credit loads are more likely to experience small and diminishing GPA gains; and students who do not persist are more likely to experience GPA losses of significantly lower magnitude. Students who attempt lower course loads are more likely to persist than those who attempt heavier course loads. These correlations are statistically significant so that they may be extrapolated to the whole student population in the college.
NUMERICAL STUDY OF A DELTA PLANFORM WITH MULTIPLE JETS IN GROUND EFFECT

The flow past a 60-deg delta wing equipped with two thrust-reverser jets near the inboard trailing edge has been analyzed by numerical solution of the 3D thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations. An implicit, partially flux-split, approximately-factored Navier-Stokes solver coupled with a multiple grid embedding scheme has been adapted to this problem. Studies of the impact of numerical parameters (e.g., grid refinement and dissipation levels), and flow-field parameters such as the height of the delta wing above the ground plane and the jet size on the solution, were performed. Results of these numerical studies indicate some challenges in the accurate resolution of complex 3D free shear layers and jets. Nevertheless, flow features such as jet deformation and ground vortex formation observed in experimental flow visualizations are captured. Further, comparisons with experimental data confirm the ability to simulate the loss of wing-borne lift, commonly referred to 'suckdown, as the delta planform flies at slow speeds in close proximity to the ground. Detailed analysis of the numerical results has also given additional insight into the structure of the ground vortex and the mechanisms of lift loss.
Capturing endosomal vesicles at the Golgi

Membrane trafficking specificity between distinct compartments ensures that cargo proteins and lipids are delivered to their target organelle. However, accurate recognition of cargo carriers by tethering factors on target membranes is poorly understood. TBC1D23 is now identified as an adaptor that links endosome-derived vesicles with golgins at the trans-Golgi.
Online extremism and the communities that sustain it: Detecting the ISIS supporting community on Twitter.

The Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS) continues to use social media as an essential element of its campaign to motivate support. On Twitter, ISIS’ unique ability to leverage unaffiliated sympathizers that simply retweet propaganda has been identified as a primary mechanism in their success in motivating both recruitment and “lone wolf” attacks. The present work explores a large community of Twitter users whose activity supports ISIS propaganda diffusion in varying degrees. Within this ISIS supporting community, we observe a diverse range of actor types, including fighters, propagandists, recruiters, religious scholars, and unaffiliated sympathizers. The interaction between these users offers unique insight into the people and narratives critical to ISIS’ sustainment. In their entirety, we refer to this diverse set of users as an online extremist community or OEC. We present Iterative Vertex Clustering and Classification (IVCC), a scalable analytic approach for OEC detection in annotated heterogeneous networks, and provide an illustrative case study of an online community of over 22,000 Twitter users whose online behavior directly advocates support for ISIS or contibutes to the group’s propaganda dissemination through retweets.
Intravascular Ultrasound in Venous Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Background Venous thoracic outlet syndrome (vTOS) is a rare disease with no defined guidelines regarding treatment. Patients with first rib resection with anterior scalenectomy (FRRS) often have residual subclavian vein stenosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) in the treatment of vTOS patients who have been surgically decompressed with FRRS. Methods Patients treated with venography after FRRS for vTOS during 2015–2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were included if they received a venogram with IVUS after FRRS. The axillosubclavian vein at the site of the thoracic outlet was imaged using single-plane venography and IVUS. A greater than 50% diameter stenosis on venography or 50% cross-sectional area reduction on IVUS was considered significant and treated with balloon venoplasty. Results During the 2-year period, 14 patients underwent 24 upper extremity venograms performed after surgical decompression for vTOS, 18 of which included IVUS. Of the 18 cases with IVUS, 5 (27.8%) stenoses >50% were detected by IVUS, which were not apparent on venography, leading to intervention. IVUS detected a greater degree of stenosis than venography. Seven patients required repeat venograms. Overall, IVUS detected significant venous stenosis in 94.4% of patients compared with 66.7% of patients with venography after FRRS for vTOS. Conclusions These results suggest that IVUS detected greater levels of stenosis than venography, leading to more interventions. Just as IVUS being ideal for identifying occult iliac venous lesions, it may have a similar role in identifying venous lesions not evident on single-plane venography for postsurgical decompression in vTOS patients. Further studies may show this technique to increase the number of stenoses identified and improve long-term symptom relief.
Unique Factorization in Euclidean Domains

In this chapter we will prove the unsurprising but very important fact that factorization into primes is unique in a Euclidean domain. We start with a few definitions.
Introduction to Efferent Systems

Organisms must learn what representations in the world are important – that is, which sights, smells, and sounds indicate safety, food, or danger. Knowledge of what is and is not important is acquired by information arising from the sensory organs, and this knowledge is then acted upon by the motor system, expressed by approach or avoidance behavior. A loud “Hey you!” will evoke a strikingly different motor and autonomic response compared to that of a sultry “Hello, handsome.” Likewise, a patron can ignore the sounds inside a busy restaurant but not when his name is being called. Stimuli that have no immediate significance become relegated to “background noise” and can be disregarded. During our lifetimes, we learn about stimuli and stimulus context. The sound and sight of gunshots in the street are generally different from those experienced in a movie theater. Stimulus content and context are presumably processed in the cerebral hemispheres, where significance is established.
Understanding Medication Nonadherence from Social Media: A Sentiment-Enriched Deep Learning Approach

Medication nonadherence (MNA) refers to the behavior when patients do not take medications as prescribed. Adverse health outcomes of MNA cost the U.S. healthcare systems $290 billion annually. Understanding patients’ MNA reasons and preventing harmful outcomes are an urgent goal for researchers, practitioners, and the pharmaceutical industry. Past years have witnessed rising patient engagement in social media, making it a cost-efficient and rich information source that can complement surveys and deepen the understanding of MNA. Yet, such a dataset is untapped in existing MNA studies due to technical challenges such as varied patient vocabulary and sparse relevant information. In this work, we develop a Sentiment-Enriched DEep Learning (SEDEL) to address these challenges and extract MNA reasons. We evaluate SEDEL on 53,180 reviews about 180 drugs and achieve a precision of 89.25%, a recall of 88.48%, and an F1 score of 88.86%. SEDEL significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art baseline models. Nine categories of MNA reasons are identified and verified by domain experts. This study contributes to IS research in two aspects. First, we devise a novel deep-learning-based approach for reason mining; second, our results provide direct implications for the health industry and practitioners to design interventions.
Navigating Get-Tough and Support-Oriented Philosophies for Improving School Safety: Insights from School Administrators and School Safety Staff

Schools in the United States are increasingly faced with the challenge of navigating two seemingly contradictory approaches to school safety. On the one hand, they attempt to make schools safer by employing get-tough, punishment-oriented policies. On the other hand, schools promote support-oriented policies that seek to address the root causes of students’ behavioral issues. Despite considerable advances in research on school safety, little is known about how schools balance the implementation of these two approaches. To address this research gap, we present findings from interviews with school principals, assistant principals, discipline coordinators, police, and district leaders to illustrate how schools navigate the implementation of these competing school safety philosophies. Implications for theory, research, and policy are discussed.
An unusual presentation of late-onset Alexander's disease with slow orthostatic tremor and a novel GFAP variant.

Alexander disease (AxD) is a leukodystrophy, described in infantile, juvenile and adult onset forms, due to mutations in the glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) gene. Adult-onset AxD (AOAD) has a ...
When Plea Bargaining Became Normal

Plea bargaining is the criminal justice system, the Supreme Court tells us, but how did it get to be that way? Existing scholarship tells only part of the story. It demonstrates that plea bargaining emerged in the nineteenth century as a response to (depending on one’s theory) increasing caseloads, expanding trial procedures, or professionalizing law enforcement. But in order for plea bargaining to truly become the criminal justice system, the legal profession would have to accept and internalize it. That was not its first reaction. When legal scholars and reformers in the 1920s discovered that bargaining dominated America’s criminal courts, they quickly denounced it as abusive. By the 1960s, only four decades later, the legal profession had learned to love it. This article investigates the process that made plea bargaining the normal way of doing American criminal justice. The story unfolds in three parts — plea bargaining’s discovery by and frosty reception from the “crime commissions” of the 1920s; its rehabilitation by the Legal Realists in the 1930s; and finally its decisive embrace by scholars and judges in the 1950s and ‘60s. The Realists’ starring role is surprising, as they are not usually recognized for contributing to criminal law or procedure. This article shows that they deserve credit (or plausibly blame) for taking the first major steps towards normalization. The article also pays close attention to an objection to plea bargaining that arrived late — that it depends on coercing defendants to plead guilty. By the time this objection emerged in the 1950s, plea bargaining’s momentum was too strong; legal elites, and, ultimately, the Supreme Court, saw no option but to rationalize it away. Above all, this article reveals that normalized plea bargaining is newer and more historically contingent than it seems.
Dispersal and Current Systems

Current systems that deposited ancient elastics can be reconstructed by the mapping of dispersal patterns of clastic particles and unconformities as well as by mapping directional structures.
“I’m a Southerner, Too”: Confederate Monuments and Black Southern Counterpublics in Memphis, Tennessee

ABSTRACTBuilding on a growing body of literature about the historical and contemporary formation of Black Southern identity, this essay studies the rhetoric of a local activist group in Memphis, Te...
Higher Education and Medicaid Spending: Analysis of State Budgetary Trade-offs and the Affordable Care Act

The 2010 health reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, included a provision that would expand eligibility of the public insurance program Medicaid. One concern raised about implementing the Medicaid expansion is that it would lead to reductions in state spending in other policy domains. In this study, we test whether adopting expansion is associated with changes in higher education appropriations. Using a difference-in-difference model, we find no significant changes in higher education appropriations between expansion and non-expansion states. Implications of these findings for universities and state policymakers are discussed.
Patent Law’s Purposeful Ambiguity

The ambiguity of language is an unremarkable, yet persistent force within our legal system. In the context of patent law, ambiguity presents a particularly acute dilemma; namely, while describing technological innovations is a salient feature of the patent system, affecting the validity and scope of one’s property right, the blunt nature of language makes this task particularly difficult. This paper argues to address this vexing fixture, patent doctrine purposely embraces ambiguity as a linguistic accommodation that provides measured flexibility for actors to claim and describe their innovations. It should not be surprising, therefore, that some of patent law’s most venerable doctrines, such as the requirements for enablement and definiteness reflect this form of ambiguity — two doctrines directly tethered to the disclosure function of patent law. At first blush, it may seem ironic that purposeful ambiguity would find a home in patent law, given that patent jurisprudence is a property rights regime so closely related to technological fields steeped in empirical certainty. But from a greater remove, ambiguity has an important role in a well-functioning patent system, providing judges, practitioners, and policymakers with room to lithely navigate the ex ante-ex post incentive continuum.
Analyzing Malicious URLs using a Threat Intelligence System

Threat intelligence and management systems form a vital component of an organization's cybersecurity infrastructure. Threat intelligence, when used with active monitoring of network traffic, can be critical to ensure reliable data communication between endpoints. Threat intelligence systems are well suited for analyzing anomalous behaviors in network traffic and can be employed to assist organizations in identifying and successfully responding to cyber-attacks. In this paper, we present a machine learning approach for clustering malicious uniform resource locators (URLs). We focus on a URL dataset gathered from a threat intelligence feeds framework. We implement a k-means clustering solution for grouping malicious URLs obtained from open source threat intelligence feeds. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our unsupervised learning technique to discover the hidden structures in the malicious URL dataset. Our URL keyword/text clustering solution provides valuable insights about the malicious URLs and aids network operators in policy decisions to mitigate cyber-attacks. The clusters obtained using our approach has a silhouette coefficient of 0.383 for a dataset containing over 11,000 malicious URLs. Lastly, we develop a probabilistic scoring model to calculate the percentage of malicious keywords present in a given URL. After analyzing over 72,000 malicious keywords, our model successfully identifies over 80% of the URLs in a test dataset as malicious.
Powering Bias and Clinically Important Treatment Effects in Randomized Trials of Critical Illness

OBJECTIVES Recurring issues in clinical trial design may bias results toward the null, yielding findings inconclusive for treatment effects. This study evaluated for powering bias among high-impact critical care trials and the associated risk of masking clinically important treatment effects. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS Secondary analysis of multicenter randomized trials of critically ill adults in which mortality was the main endpoint. Trials were eligible for inclusion if published between 2008 and 2018 in leading journals. Analyses evaluated for accuracy of estimated control group mortality, adaptive sample size strategy, plausibility of predicted treatment effect, and results relative to the minimal clinically important difference. The main outcome was the mortality risk difference at the study-specific follow-up interval. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Of 101 included trials, 12 met statistical significance for their main endpoint, five for increased intervention-associated mortality. Most trials (77.3%) overestimated control group mortality in power calculations (observed minus predicted difference, -6.7% ± 9.8%; p < 0.01). Due to this misestimation of control group mortality, in 14 trials, the intervention would have had to prevent at least half of all deaths to achieve the hypothesized treatment effect. Seven trials prespecified adaptive sample size strategies that might have mitigated this issue. The observed risk difference for mortality fell within 5% of predicted in 20 trials, of which 16 did not reach statistical significance. Half of trials (47.0%) were powered for an absolute risk reduction greater than or equal to 10%, but this effect size was observed in only three trials with a statistically significant treatment benefit. Most trials (67.3%) could not exclude clinically important treatment benefit or harm. CONCLUSIONS The design of most high-impact critical care trials biased results toward the null by overestimating control group mortality and powering for unrealistic treatment effects. Clinically important treatment effects often cannot be excluded.
amPEPpy 1.0: a portable and accurate antimicrobial peptide prediction tool.

Summary Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising alternative antimicrobial agents. Currently, however, portable, user-friendly and efficient methods for predicting AMP sequences from genome-scale data are not readily available. Here we present amPEPpy, an open-source, multi-threaded command-line application for predicting AMP sequences using a random forest classifier. Availability and implementation amPEPpy is implemented in Python 3 and is freely available through GitHub (https://github.com/tlawrence3/amPEPpy). Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
The alternative distribution of the non parametric extended median test CUSUM chart for multiple stream processes

When monitoring a multiple stream process (MSP) where multiple processes which are assumed to be identical are being simultaneously monitored, but the assumption of normality cannot be reasonably b...
One State Reality: Space and mobility in Palestine, by J. Peteet, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2017, $30 (paperback), ISBN-978-0-25302-493-0

In Space and Mobility in Palestine, Julia Peteet provides a rich ethnography of the most salient component of Israeli occupation and control of Palestinian life. Peteet's focus is the restructuring...
Staging hydrophilic encounters – experiential methods for creating dialogic listening space

This article explores hydrophilia, humans’ affective ties with water, through the development of a public storytelling methodology for exploring fluvial senses of place and expanding the fluvial im...
Nmp4, a Regulator of Induced Osteoanabolism, Also Influences Insulin Secretion and Sensitivity.

A bidirectional and complex relationship exists between bone and glycemia. Persons with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are at risk for bone loss and fracture, however, heightened osteoanabolism may ameliorate T2D-induced deficits in glycemia as bone-forming osteoblasts contribute to energy metabolism via increased glucose uptake and cellular glycolysis. Mice globally lacking nuclear matrix protein 4 (Nmp4), a transcription factor expressed in all tissues and conserved between humans and rodents, are healthy and exhibit enhanced bone formation in response to anabolic osteoporosis therapies. To test whether loss of Nmp4 similarly impacted bone deficits caused by diet-induced obesity, male wild-type and Nmp4−/− mice (8 weeks) were fed either low-fat diet or high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks. Endpoint parameters included bone architecture, structural and estimated tissue-level mechanical properties, body weight/composition, glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, glucose tolerance, insulin tolerance, and metabolic cage analysis. HFD diminished bone architecture and ultimate force and stiffness equally in both genotypes. Unexpectedly, the Nmp4−/− mice exhibited deficits in pancreatic β-cell function and were modestly glucose intolerant under normal diet conditions. Despite the β-cell deficits, the Nmp4−/− mice were less sensitive to HFD-induced weight gain, increases in % fat mass, and decreases in glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. We conclude that Nmp4 supports pancreatic β-cell function but suppresses peripheral glucose utilization, perhaps contributing to its suppression of induced skeletal anabolism. Selective disruption of Nmp4 in peripheral tissues may provide a strategy for improving both induced osteoanabolism and energy metabolism in comorbid patients.
Small RNA Cloning

The next generation sequencing technologies have made the exhaustive sequencing of all small RNA species within a small RNA library possible. Thus, comparative studies on changes in small RNA transcriptome between two biological samples represent a powerful means of revealing the functions of small RNAs in physiological and pathophysiological processes. Here, we describe a small RNA cloning method that can be used to generate small RNA cDNA libraries for both conventional and next generation (deep) sequencing. It can also be used for detection and quantitative analyses of small RNAs using PCR.
Exact Partition Function for the Potts Model with Next-Nearest Neighbor Couplings on Strips of the Square Lattice

We present exact calculations of partition function $Z$ of the $q$-state Potts model with next-nearest-neighbor spin-spin couplings, both for the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic case, for arbitrary temperature, on $n$-vertex strip graphs of width $L_y=2$ of the square lattice with free, cyclic, and Mobius longitudinal boundary conditions. The free energy is calculated exactly for the infinite-length limit of these strip graphs and the thermodynamics is discussed. Considering the full generalization to arbitrary complex $q$ and temperature, we determine the singular locus ${\cal B}$ in the corresponding ${\mathbb C}^2$ space, arising as the accumulation set of partition function zeros as $n \to \infty$.
The mental health status of Latino children in the public child welfare system: a look at the role of generation and origin

As the number of Latino children in public child welfare continues to grow, it is necessary to understand how their mental health is faring. The paper examines emotional and behavioural needs among Latino children who had contact with the public child welfare system. The purpose of this longitudinal study was twofold: to examine the severity of emotional and behavioural problems, and to assess the predictive role of generation status and Latino origin. Latent growth models were completed using the National Survey on Children and Adolescent Well-Being. The predictive model for the externalizing CBCL scale revealed that generation status and Latino origin were significant predictors. At baseline, Puerto Rican children exhibited higher rates of externalizing problems compared with Mexican children. Over time children who were first/second generation tended to have lower scores compared with the third-plus generation children. Implications for practise are discussed.
Conjugative Plasmid in Corynebacterium flaccumfaciens subsp. oortii That Confers Resistance to Arsenite, Arsenate, and Antimony(III)

Gene transfer systems for phytopathogenic corynebacteria have not been reported previously. In this paper we describe a conjugative 46-megadalton plasmid (pDG101) found in Corynebacterium flaccumfaciens subsp. oortii CO101 that mediates resistance to arsenite, arsenate, and antimony(III). Transfer of the plasmid from CO101 to four other strains from the C. flaccumfaciens group occurred between cells immobilized on nitrocellulose filters or on agar surfaces. Transconjugant strains expressed the same levels of metal resistance as the donor strain and were able to act as donor strains in subsequent matings. The physical presence of the plasmid was detected by agarose gel electrophoresis. Arsenite-sensitive derivatives of the donor and transconjugant strains were obtained after heat treatment; these were cured of pDG101.
DNA amplification in Streptomyces achromogenes subsp. rubradiris is accompanied by a deletion, and the amplified sequences are conditionally stable and can be eliminated by two pathways.

Abstract Southern blot analysis of BglII-digested DNA isolated from wild-type Streptomyces achromogenes, which harbors the 8.8-kilobase amplifiable unit of DNA, AUD-Sar 1, and of similarly digested DNA from 12 strains carrying an array of 200 to 300 tandem copies of a specific AUD-Sar 1-derived 8.0-kilobase DNA sequence, ADS-Sar 1, revealed the absence of the 12.4-kilobase BglII AUD-Sar 1-chromosome right junction band in the latter strains, whereas the corresponding 26.0-kilobase left junction band remained unaltered. Further Southern analyses indicated in all of the seven amplified strains tested the occurrence of a deletion of at least 10 kilobases of the DNA adjacent to the right side of the AUD. The deletion has one endpoint in the vicinity of the ADS array. Corroborating and expanding upon previously reported results, we found that the amplified DNA of strain C010 was stably maintained for at least 20 transfers when the transfers involved mycelia propagated in spectinomycin-free liquid medium. In contrast, when strain C010 was subjected separately to one cycle of protoplast formation and regeneration or to three cycles of spore germination, aerial mycelium formation, and sporulation on spectinomycin-free media, only approximately 20% of the protoplast regenerants and spores retained the reiterated DNA sequences and the ability subsequently to form colonies on media containing high levels of spectinomycin. Approximately 80% of these units completely deleted the reiterated DNA and left adjacent sequences and exhibited sensitivity to 25 micrograms of spectinomycin per ml. One among 24 protoplast-derived deletants apparently retained the left portion of the AUD-ADS left direct repeat plus left adjacent sequences.
Collision or coexistence? Copyright law in the digital environment

SUMMARY Digital technology and global economic trends present fundamental challenges to copyright law in the twenty-first century. On a practical level, librarians need to understand the particulars of current laws in order to make responsible decisions and to utilize to the fullest extent the possibilities that copyright law affords them in their missions. This article will identify the major copyright issues associated with library digital activities, and will discuss copyright protection in the digital environment of material originating in the Slavic, East European, and Eurasian nations. It covers use of Slavic and East European material in the U.S. in various contexts, including Internet activity, preservation and replacement, interlibrary loan, electronic reserves, classroom and educational use, text encoding, digitization of print and microform materials, and creation of digital content and databases.
A technique to reduce the apparent noise floor of emissions measurements

The noise floor of emissions measurements is clearly important in defining the usefulness of test results as this defines the lowest possible value that can be measured. Even in a (semi) anechoic chamber with no ambient signals thermal noise provides a lower bound on signal measurements. This paper describes a new technique that can allow EMI measurements to be made below the apparent noise floor. It also allows accuracy limits to be placed on these measurements. This approach can allow a significant speedup in EMI testing.
Influerce of chemical structure of nitroxyl spin labels on their reduction by ascorbic acid

Abstract The Influence of structure on the reduction of nitroxyl spin labels by ascorbic acid was examined using both piperidine and pyrrolidine nitroxyls. A five-fold molar excess of ascorbic acid and pH of 7.4 were used. The nitroxyl concentration was measured by electron spin resonance spectrometry. The five-membered (pyrrolidine) nitroxyls were more stable than the six-meabered derivatives. Ring substituents also influenced the reaction. The anionic derivatives were more stable than the unionized compounds which, in turn, were more stable than the amines (cations at pH 7.4).
Suppressing the suppressor

In this issue of Blood , Brockman and colleagues demonstrate that active HIV replication rapidly triggers production of the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10 and that IL-10 reversibly inhibits HIV-directed T-cell activity.[1][1] Application of these findings may ultimately lead to therapies that
Excitatory amino-acid receptors contribute to carotid sinus and vagus nerve evoked excitation of neurons in the nucleus of the tractus solitarius.

Abstract To determine the role of excitatory amino-acid (EAA) receptors in afferent evoked excitation of neurons in the nucleus of the solitarius (NTS), responses of NTS neurons to activation of visceral afferent inputs were examined before and during iontophoretic application of the broad spectrum EAA receptor antagonist kynurenate (KYN). Iontophoretic application of KYN, at doses which attenuated glutamate but not substance P or acetylcholine evoked discharge, inhibited carotid sinus nerve (CSN) and vagus nerve evoked discharge. KYN attenuation of evoked responses was similar whether the evoked input was monosynaptic (CSN evoked discharge reduced by 50 ± 6% (mean ± SE; n = 5); vagus nerve evoked discharge reduced by 45 ± 4%, n = 6) or polysynaptic (CSN evoked discharge reduced by 48 ± 6%, n = 6; vagus nerve evoked discharge reduced by 45 ± 4%, n = 8). Spontaneous action potential discharge rate was reduced during KYN iontophoresis in 6 cells (1.8 ± 0.4 spikes/s vs. 0.7 ± 0.2 spikes/s). Iontophoretic application of a structural analogue of KYN which has no EAA receptor antagonist properties, xanthurenic acid, had no effect on glutamate, CSN or vagus nerve evoked discharge. Iontophoretic application of KYN reduced the action potential discharge evoked by activation of the carotid body chemoreceptors by 52 ± 2% in 5 cells tested. The results demonstrate that excitatory amino-acid receptors are involved in visceral afferent evoked activation of NTS neurons. Furthermore, since both mono- and poly-synaptic inputs were attenuated, these receptors appear to be utilized at multiple levels of afferent integration within NTS.
Strained organosilacyclic compounds: synthesis of anti-Bredt olefins and trans-dioxasilacyclooctenes

Insertions of silylenes into the allylic carbon–oxygen bond of vinyl epoxides was shown to generate 1,2-silaoxetanes. These intermediates undergo highly diastereoselective additions to aldehydes to form anti-Bredt olefins and trans-dioxasilacyclooctenes. Additions of electrophiles could be performed selectively on the outside face of these strained trans-cycloalkenes to provide valuable functionalized compounds.
Metabolic risk factors in U.S. youth with low relative muscle mass

Summary Aims To examine the association between relative muscle mass (RMM) and nine risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes (CVD/DM) in U.S. youth. Methods We used a sample representative of the U.S. population of youth, aged 8–20 years (NHANES 1999–2004). We compared the prevalence of adverse levels of nine CVD/DM risk factors between youths in the lowest quartile of RMM and their peers in the remaining quartiles, controlling for age, sex, and race/ethnicity. We also examined variations in the adjusted prevalence of these risk factors along the entire range of RMM. Results The adjusted prevalence of adverse levels of risk factors among youths in the lowest quartile of RMM was significantly higher for seven of the nine risk factors examined compared with their peers in the other quartiles. Over the entire range of RMM, the adjusted prevalence of adverse levels of each of these seven risk factors decreased gradually with increasing RMM values (all p for trend Conclusions RMM and prevalence of adverse risk factors for CVD/DM are highly and inversely associated in U.S. youth. Among youth with low RMM, the risk of these chronic diseases could be significantly high later in life.
SOLUTION STRUCTURE OF THE DNA-BINDING DOMAIN OF NTRC WITH THREE ALANINE SUBSTITUTIONS

Abstract The structure of the 20 kDa C-terminal DNA-binding domain of NtrC from Salmonella typhimurium (residues Asp380-Glu469) with alanine replacing Arg456, Asn457, and Arg461, was determined by NMR spectroscopy. NtrC is a homodimeric enhancer-binding protein that activates the transcription of genes whose products are required for nitrogen metabolism. The 91-residue C-terminal domain contains the determinants necessary for dimerization and DNA-binding of the full length protein. The mutant protein does not bind to DNA but retains many characteristics of the wild-type protein, and the mutant domain expresses at high yield (20 mg/l) in minimal medium. Three-dimensional 1 H/ 13 C/ 15 N triple-resonance, 1 H- 13 C- 13 C- 1 H correlation and 15 N-separated nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) spectroscopy experiments were used to make backbone and side-chain 1 H, 15 N, and 13 C assignments. The structures were calculated using a total of 1580 intra and inter-monomer distance and hydrogen bond restraints (88 hydrogen bonds; 44 hydrogen bond restraints), and 88 φ dihedral restraints for residues Asp400 through Glu469 in both monomers. A total of 54 ambiguous restraints (intra or inter-monomer) involving residues close to the 2-fold symmetry axis were also included. Each monomer consists of four helical segments. Helices A (Trp402-Leu414) and B (Leu421-His440) join with those of another monomer to form an antiparallel four-helix bundle. Helices C (Gln446-Leu451) and D (Ala456-Met468) of each monomer adopt a classic helix-turn-helix DNA-binding fold at either end of the protein. The backbone rms deviation for the 28 best of 40 starting structures is 0.6(±0.2) A. Structural differences between the C-terminal domain of NtrC and the homologous Factor for Inversion Stimulation are discussed.
Pleas, priors, and prison: Racial/ethnic differences in sentencing

Final case disposition and sentencing decisions for whites, blacks, and Chicanos are modeled with event-history data from the State of California. Dynamic analyses are used to link processing models and theories. The three-way interaction of (1) pleading guilty × (2) racial/ethnic group membership × (3) the extent of prior court experience on rates of moving through the legal system is assessed, controlling for other legitimate and nonlegitimate influences. In a jurisdiction handling large numbers of defendants representing diverse racial/ethnic and cultural groups under determinate sentencing, the timing of legal processing is shown to be critical. Results demonstrate that pleading guilty increases the speed of processing most when sentences do not involve incarceration, though this effect is not found for second or later arrests of Chicanos. Generally, theories of resource mobilization receive greater support than cultural stereotyping.
Iron distributions in surface waters of the south Atlantic

Total dissolvable iron in surface waters of the south Atlantic was measured using a flow injection analytical system with chemiluminescent detection and preconcentration onto 8-hydroxyquinoline resin. Surface water iron concentrations range from less than 0.5 nM to 10 nM. Results indicate that very high iron concentrations in the surface seawater are possible due to high atmospheric input and upwelling. The dual input mechanism is supported by correlations with Al, particulate matter and nutrients.
Considerations for Patients Who Have Eating Disorders

NOVEMBER 2008, VOL 88, NO 5 • AORN JOURNAL •807 mericans have a love affair with food—plain and simple. We think about it, read magazines about it, watch television shows about how to prepare it, watch other television shows about how to grow it, count its calories, and worry about who might not have enough of it. We even build shrines to it. Consider the display for the world’s largest potato chip at the World Potato Expo in Blackfoot, Idaho, or the golden arches that rise above the American highway landscape every three to four miles. We need food to survive and to thrive, and our bodies require consistent nourishment in order to function properly. When psychological needs or stress are not managed in an effective manner, however, food can take a maladaptive place in a person’s life. “Comfort foods”—those types of hot, gooey, calorie-laden foods that usually are introduced to us by an early caregiver—bring comfort in the face of duress. While temporarily effective to ease stress, using food as a coping mechanism in the long term does not address the underlying problem and can lead to other problems such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, or hyperlipidemia. Although the hypothalamus controls the appetite in the brain, environment and culture can influence eating habits. For example, the preparation and eating of meals in many cultures is considered a social or family event, and a society may define how its members should look in relation to body shape and weight. Some societies, such as in the United States, tend to define the ideal body shape and weight as thin, although others across the globe have different perspectives. Regardless of cultural norms, the use of food to address stressful life events or psychological issues can lead to serious eating disorders. Patients with eating disorders must be treated with special considerations in the OR environment. This column explores the treatment of patients with the eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, as well as those who are obese.
The New Age movement and its societal implications

This article examines the essence of the New Age movement: its reservations about the Judaic‐Christian heritage, its pantheistic/monistic orientation, its individualism, its search for the mystical experience, its skepticism of modern science and technology, its openness to androgyny, its ecumenicalism, and its prediction of a new dispensation. The article traces the New Age predecessors and influences: gnosticism, the Catholic potpourri, romanticism, the writings of C.G. Jung, and Theosophy. It speculates that the movement’s influence – given its individualism, skepticism of structure and organization, and hostility toward modern methodology – will be implicit and indirect. Finally, it notes the ambivalence of the core ideology, lending itself to both “progressive” and “non‐progressive” interpretation.