cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Characterization of Herpes Simplex Virus-Containing Organelles by Subcellular Fractionation: Role for Organelle Acidification in Assembly of Infectious Particles

The cytoplasmic compartments occupied by exocytosing herpes simplex virus (HSV) are poorly defined. It is unclear which organelles contain the majority of trafficking virions and which are occupied by virions on a productive rather than defective assembly pathway. These problems are compounded by the fact that HSV-infected cells produce virus continuously over many hours. All stages in viral assembly and export therefore coexist, making it impossible to determine the sequence of events and their kinetics. To address these problems, we have established assays to monitor the presence of capsids and enveloped virions in cell extracts and prepared HSV-containing organelles from normally infected cells and from cells undergoing a single synchronized wave of viral egress. We find that, in both cases, HSV particles exit the nucleus and accumulate in organelles which cofractionate with the trans-Golgi network (TGN) and endosomes. In addition to carrying enveloped infectious virions in their lumen, HSV-bearing organelles also displayed nonenveloped capsids attached to their cytoplasmic surface. Neutralization of organellar pH by chloroquine or bafilomycin A resulted in the accumulation of noninfectious enveloped particles. We conclude that the organelles of the TGN/endocytic network play a key role in the assembly and trafficking of infectious HSV.
Some Issues in Graduate Medical Education

First, let me say how pleased I am to be with you today. I am delighted that this distinguished group of neurological surgeons has seen fit to find time on its program to talk about graduate medical education. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is deeply immersed in these issues as a parent of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, and as the home of the Council of Academic Societies, the part of our organization that houses the faculty. Although the AAMC is an organization of institutional rather than individual members, the institutions that the Association represents reflect the faculties that comprise them. The activities that the Association supports in its advocacy role--teaching, research, and patient care--represent the activities of individual faculty members. I believe it is very important for the Association and faculty organizations, such as yours, to work together. Graduate medical education, the training of house staff and fellows, has always been at the heart of the AAMC's faculty activities. In 1967 the Coggeshall report [1], which is the basis on which the modern AAMC was built, made among its recommendations the following: 1. The AAMC should seek positive and active relationships with key organizations interested in all aspects of education for the health sciences. 2. The AAMC should encourage greater participation in its affairs by individual faculty members.
Adoption Cycle of Managerial Innovation: Effects of Innovation Social Status and Transaction Costs

This study introduces the cycle of adoption of innovation focusing on the decisions to adopt an innovation, abandon a previously adopted innovation (de-adoption), and resume use of a discontinued i...
Multiple unit auctions with economies and diseconomies of scale

Abstract This paper discusses multiple unit auctions for industrial procurement where the cost structures of suppliers capture economies and diseconomies of scale caused by the nature of the production cost and the opportunity value of suppliers’ capacities. The problem of winner determination and demand allocation is proven to be NP-complete. We propose a binary tree algorithm with bounds (BTB) which efficiently exploits the model’s optimality properties. BTB outperforms general integer optimization software in computational time, especially with existence of substantial economies and diseconomies of scale. The algorithm complexity is linear in demand volume. This property allows for efficient handling of high volume auctions and thus leads to increased benefit for the overall system. Under the assumption of the myopic best response strategies, we investigate the behavior of suppliers and price dynamics for iterative (multiple round) bidding with appropriate allocation and stopping rules. The allocation rules, featured by several tie breakers for multiple optimal solutions to the allocation model in each round, are proposed to induce suppliers’ dominant strategies and to improve the system’s performance.
Control systems engineering for understanding and optimizing smoking cessation interventions

Cigarette smoking remains a major public health issue. Despite a variety of treatment options, existing intervention protocols intended to support attempts to quit smoking have low success rates. An emerging treatment framework, referred to as adaptive interventions in behavioral health, addresses the chronic, relapsing nature of behavioral health disorders by tailoring the composition and dosage of intervention components to an individual's changing needs over time. An important component of a rapid and effective adaptive smoking intervention is an understanding of the behavior change relationships that govern smoking behavior and an understanding of intervention components' dynamic effects on these behavioral relationships. As traditional behavior models are static in nature, they cannot act as an effective basis for adaptive intervention design. In this article, behavioral data collected daily in a smoking cessation clinical trial is used in development of a dynamical systems model that describes smoking behavior change during cessation as a self-regulatory process. Drawing from control engineering principles, empirical models of smoking behavior are constructed to reflect this behavioral mechanism and help elucidate the case for a control-oriented approach to smoking intervention design.
Asynchronous balanced gates tolerant to interconnect variability

Existing methods for gate level power attack countermeasures depend on exact capacitance matching of the dual-rail data outputs of each gate. Process variability and a lack of design tools make this requirement very difficult to satisfy in practice. We present a novel asynchronous dual-rail gate design which is power balanced, does not require capacitance matching of the data outputs, and is tolerant to process variability on the routed interconnect between gates.
Alternate Promoters in the Rat Aromatic l‐Amino Acid Decarboxylase Gene for Neuronal and Nonneuronal Expression: An In Situ Hybridization Study

: Aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) is found in both neuronal cells and nonneuronal cells, and a single gene encodes rat AADC in both neuronal and nonneuronal tissues. However, two cDNAs for this enzyme have been identified: one from the liver and the other from pheochromocytoma. Exons 1a and 1b are found in the liver cDNA and the pheochromocytoma cDNA, respectively. In the third exon (exon 2), there are two alternatively utilized splicing acceptors specific to these exons, 1a and 1b. Structural analysis of the rat AADC gene showed that both alternative promoter usage and alternative splicing are operative for the differential expression of this gene. To demonstrate whether alternative promoter usage and splicing are tissue specific and whether the exons 1a and 1b are differentially and specifically transcribed in nonneuronal and neuronal cells, respectively, in situ hybridization histochemistry for the rat brain, adrenal gland, liver, and kidney was carried out using these two exon probes. The exon 1a probe specifically identified AADC mRNA only in nonneuronal cells, including the liver and kidney, and the exon 1b probe localized AADC mRNA to monoaminergic neurons in the CNS and the adrenal medulla. Thus, both alternative promoter usage and differential splicing are in fact operative for the tissue-specific expression of the rat AADC gene.
Synthesis and characterization of 6,6'-(2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl)-2,2'-bipyridine (tripbipy) and its complexes of the late first row transition metals.

The synthesis of tripbipy, a new substituted bipyridine ligand (6,6′-(2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl)-2,2′-bipyridine), and the syntheses, structures, and magnetic properties of the first coordination compounds based on this ligand are described. Tripbipy was synthesized by the Suzuki coupling of 2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl boronic acid and 6,6′-dibromo-2,2′-bipyridine. Reported here are the tripbipy complexes of five late first row transition metal chlorides (MCl2; M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn). Four of the complexes MCl2tripbipy (M = Fe, Co, Ni, Zn) crystallize in the space group P21/c and are isomorphous with one solvent molecule of crystallization. The complex CuCl2tripbipy crystallizes in the space group P212121 with two solvent molecules of crystallization. All MCl2tripbipy complexes are four coordinate and contain distorted tetrahedral metal centers. CuCl2tripbipy shows a pseudo Jahn−Teller distortion, and X-band electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) in a toluene glass gives approximate g⊥,∥ values of 2.2 and 2.1...
Expression of Chx10 and Chx10-1 in the developing chicken retina

We have isolated full-length cDNAs of chick Chx10 and Chx10-1, two members of the paired type homeobox/CVC gene family. A comparison of sequences suggests that Chx10 is closely related to Alx/Vsx-2 and Vsx-2 of zebrafish and goldfish, respectively; while Chx10-1 is closely related to Vsx-1 of zebrafish and goldfish. Chx10 and Chx10-1 are expressed in the early retinal neuroepithelium, but not in the pigment epithelium and lens. The expression of Chx10 is present in most retinal neuroblasts, while Chx10-1 exhibits a novel pattern along the nasotemporal border. In the differentiating retina, both Chx10 and Chx10-1 are restricted to bipolar cells and are maintained at a low level in bipolar cells of the mature retina.
Metastatic Melanoma to the Central Nervous System: Case Report and Review of the Literature

An elderly man with multiple hemorrhagic, presumed neoplastic lesions of the brain is described who could not undergo magnetic resonance imaging because of a pacemaker. On autopsy, metastatic melanoma was identified. In this report, we discuss the differential diagnosis of hemorrhagic metastases, the incidence and prognosis of metastatic melanoma to the brain, and the limited therapeutic options for metastatic melanoma.
Skin surface lipids of the mole Scalopus aquaticus.

Abstract 1. 1. Skin surface lipids of the mole Scalopus aquaticus were found to consist principally of squalene (70%), wax esters (15%), and sterol esters (5%), together with small amounts of triglycerides, free fatty acids, free fatty alcohols, and free sterols. 2. 2. Analysis of the fatty acids occurring free and as wax esters and sterol esters showed these to consist of approximately equal amounts of saturated and monounsaturated compounds. 3. 3. The saturated fatty acids consisted predominantly of odd-carbon anteiso and even-carbon straight-chain compounds, with minor amounts of even-carbon iso-branched chains. 4. 4. The unsaturated fatty acids had double bond positions that would have been produced by Δ9-desaturation of C14, C16 and C18 straight chain saturated precursors. 5. 5. Both the free and the esterified fatty alcohols had chain structures corresponding with those of the fatty acids but of somewhat greater average chain length. 6. 6. Discovery of a major proportion of squalene in the sebum of this animal extends the number of non-human species that have this characteristic to four, all of which inhabit a damp environment, suggesting that squalene conveys some biological advantage under these conditions.
Plasma arc welding of ZrB2-20 vol% ZrC ceramics

Zirconium diboride ceramics containing 20 vol% zirconium carbide were preheated to 1450 ◦ C and plasma arc welded to produce continuous joints. Arc welding was completed using a current of 198 A, plasma flow rate of 0.75 l/min, and welding speed of ∼8 cm/min. Two fusion zones, having penetration depths of 4.4 and 2.3 mm, resulted in different microstructures. One fusion zone contained ZrB2 crystals, up to ∼1 mm in length, and a ZrB2–ZrC eutectic. The second fusion zone revealed ZrB2 and ZrC, along with C that was attributed to diffusion from the graphite support used during welding. ZrB2 and ZrC grains in the latter fusion zone were asymmetric, having an average maximum Feret diameter of 52.4 ± 53.2m and 10.8 ± 8.1m, respectively. Hardness, used to identify a heat affected zone for both weldments, increased from 12 GPa at the fusion zone boundary, to the hardness of the parent material, 15.2 ± 0.1 GPa. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Fragmentation of Freezing Drops in Shallow Maritime Frontal Clouds

Images of frozen drops with pieces missing were collected on two days of airborne sampling in shallow supercooled stratiform frontal clouds in the coastal waters of Washington State. In those limited regions where ice appeared to be newly formed, ice fragments with rounded portions accounted for about 5% of the total ice particle concentrations. These results are in rough agreement with the body of literature on laboratory experiments concerning the freezing of drops in free fall that have suggested a modest, though not insignificant, role for the fragmentation of freezing drops on total ice particle concentrations when larger supercooled drops are present.
Emergency department visits and hospitalizations by tube-fed nursing home residents with varying degrees of cognitive impairment: a national study

Numerous studies indicate that the use of feeding tubes (FT) in persons with advanced cognitive impairment (CI) does not improve clinical outcomes or survival, and results in higher rates of hospitalization and emergency department (ED) visits. It is not clear, however, whether such risk varies by resident level of CI and whether these ED visits and hospitalizations are potentially preventable. The objective of this study was to determine the rates of ED visits, hospitalizations and potentially preventable ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) ED visits and ACS hospitalizations for long-stay NH residents with FTs at differing levels of CI. We linked Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services inpatient & outpatient administrative claims and beneficiary eligibility data with Minimum Data Set (MDS) resident assessment data for nursing home residents with feeding tubes in a 5% random sample of Medicare beneficiaries residing in US nursing facilities in 2006 (n = 3479). Severity of CI was measured using the Cognitive Performance Scale (CPS) and categorized into 4 groups: None/Mild (CPS = 0-1, MMSE = 22-25), Moderate (CPS = 2-3, MMSE = 15-19), Severe (CPS = 4-5, MMSE = 5-7) and Very Severe (CPS = 6, MMSE = 0-4). ED visits, hospitalizations, ACS ED visits and ACS hospitalizations were ascertained from inpatient and outpatient administrative claims. We estimated the risk ratio of each outcome by CI level using over-dispersed Poisson models accounting for potential confounding factors. Twenty-nine percent of our cohort was considered “comatose” and “without any discernible consciousness”, suggesting that over 20,000 NH residents in the US with feeding tubes are non-interactive. Approximately 25% of NH residents with FTs required an ED visit or hospitalization, with 44% of hospitalizations and 24% of ED visits being potentially preventable or for an ACS condition. Severity of CI had a significant effect on rates of ACS ED visits, but little effect on ACS hospitalizations. ED visits and hospitalizations are common in cognitively impaired tube-fed nursing home residents and a substantial proportion of ED visits and hospitalizations are potentially preventable due to ACS conditions.
Outdoor sound propagation

The reality of sound propagation outdoors is more complicated than simple geometrical spreading above a flat hard ground. Most common grounds, such as grass covered ground and layers of snow, are acoustically soft. This implies a complex reflection coefficient leading to a measured spectrum that is strongly influenced by the type of ground surface between source and receiver. Grounds may not be flat, leading to shadow zones or alternatively multiple reflections at the ground. Gradients of wind and temperature refract sound either upwards (upwind or in a temperature lapse) or downwards (downwind or in a temperature inversion), also leading to shadow zones or multiple reflections, respectively. Atmospheric turbulence causes fluctuations and scatters sound into acoustical shadow zones. Many of these features mutually interact and accurate predictions of sound transmission from source to receiver must somehow account for all of these phenomena simultaneously. Thus for example, ISO 9613 Part 2 in wide use today, attempts to account for all the phenomena empirically. In recent years the application of numerical techniques has led to significant advances. This plenary will review the various phenomena. Emphasis will be put on field measurements and simple physical interpretations. In a few cases, the predictions of ISO 9613 Part 2 will be compared with physical or numerical models
Translational Genomics for Bioenergy Production from Fuelstock Grasses: Maize as the Model Species

There is increasing worldwide economic interest and scientific focus on developing biofuel crops. Historically, biofuels were plant materials, such as grasses and wood, that could be burned to generate heat, which can be used directly or converted into electricity. Today, biofuel connotes conversion
An eddy resolving global 1/10° ocean simulation

Abstract Initial results are presented from a global eddy resolving simulation using the Parallel Ocean Program (POP) general circulation model. The model has 1/10° horizontal spacing at the equator, employs a displaced pole grid in the Northern Hemisphere to allow the inclusion of the Arctic Ocean, and uses 40 vertical levels. The simulation was spun up from rest using a combination of daily NCEP/NCAR reanalysis and monthly observational data products for the period 1979–1993 as surface forcing. As expected, the simulation exhibits extremely turbulent behavior, with eddy energy agreeing well with satellite altimetry in both location and magnitude in most high-activity areas. However, significant problems exist in the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Current region, and relatively minor discrepancies occur elsewhere. Overall, the general circulation is well represented, with acceptable values for overturning mass and heat transports, and good agreement with transport estimates of the major current systems. This simulation represents a major step forward in high resolution ocean modeling, with applications to prediction, climate, and general ocean science.
Seasonal and spatial dispersal patterns of select ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) from forest habitats into production nurseries

Abstract Exotic ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) are important pests of ornamental tree nurseries. Although these beetles reportedly disperse in early spring from peripheral forested areas into nurseries, few studies have determined how far they fly to infest new host trees, or whether a masstrapping strategy can adequately protect a nursery crop. Field monitoring with ethanol baits in South Carolina (2011–2012), Mississippi (2013–2014), and Louisiana (2013–2014), USA, determined the timing of peak ambrosia beetle flights, dispersal distance, and optimal trap location. In addition to the well-documented spring flight peak, southeastern nursery managers may need to be aware of a second, late-summer flight. Captures from traps placed in a nursery at various distances (−25 to 200 m) from the forest—nursery interface showed a significant linear and quadratic trend in decreasing numbers of beetles captured with increasing distance from the forest in South Carolina, whereas significant linear, quadr...
A puzzle about de rebus beliefs

and he found that their logic cannot be adequately formalized within the first-order predicate calculus. If we try to formalize the sentence by a paraphrase using individual variables that range over critics, or over sets or collections or fusions of critics, we misrepresent its logical structure. To represent plural quantification adequately requires the logical resources of the full second-order predicate calculus.1 The thoughts expressed by plurally quantified statements can be objects of belief, consternation, wonder, puzzlement, and desire, just as other thoughts can, but, when we try to describe the propositions such sentences express, a curious puzzle arises. There is a de dicto reading of ‘Ralph believes there are critics who admire only one another’, according to which Ralph believes the proposition that is expressed by the Geach-Kaplan sentence; that reading is unproblematic. The puzzle comes when we turn to what we may call the de rebus reading, according to which there are some critics of whom Ralph believes that they admire only one another.2 The standard theory of propositions accounts for the distinction between de dicto or notional3 propositional attitude reports and de re or relational propositional attitude reports by proposing that the two kinds of reports describe two kinds of propositions. The de dicto reading of ‘Ralph believes someone is a spy’ attributes to Ralph the belief in an existential proposition that can be symbolized ‘$x x is a spy’. The de re reading avows that Ralph believes one of the de re or singular propositions in the range of the propositional function defined by the English open sentence ‘that he is a spy’; for some individual x, Ralph believes of x that he is a spy. Analogously, we may understand the de rebus reading of ‘Ralph believes there ANALYSIS 60.4 October 2000
TRANSDUCERS, CABLES AND KELP: ACOUSTIC MAPPING OF SHALLOW WATER ROCKFISH HABITAT IN CALIFORNIA KELP FORESTS

Recent interest in the quantification of critical fisheries habitats has lead to an increase in the application of acoustic remote sensing techniques for this purpose. The transducers for acoustic instrumentation (such as side scan sonar, single and multibeam bathymetry), however, must generally be deployed and towed via a cable or arm which is subject to entanglement from floating material. This constraint poses special problems for mapping the sea floor within kelp forests; habitats which are being increasingly targeted by the rockfish fishery and therefore of special concern to resource managers. Here we present our solution to the problem of transducer/kelp entanglement which enabled us to map the shallow water rockfish habitat within the Big Creek Marine Reserve along the California Big Sur coast.
Cellular correlates of anxiety in CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cells of 5-HT1A receptor knockout mice

5-HT1A receptor knockout (1AKO) mice have a robust anxiety phenotype. Tissue-specific “rescue” strategies and electrophysiology have implicated a critical role for postsynaptic 5-HT1A receptors, particularly in the CA1 region of the hippocampus. In this study, we evaluated differences in membrane properties and synaptic activity in CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cells between 1AKOs and wild-type (WT) controls to better understand the cellular correlates of anxiety in this mouse model. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings were conducted in CA1 pyramidal cells in hippocampal brain slices from 1AKOs and WTs that had previously been screened for anxiety with the elevated-plus maze. Spontaneous miniature inhibitory and excitatory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs and EPSCs) and stimulus-evoked eIPSCs and eEPSCs were recorded in addition to the effect of the benzodiazepine agonist diazepam or the inverse agonist FG 7142 on γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic eIPSCs. Evoked EPSC amplitude was greater in 1AKOs than WTs. When subjects were pooled across genotypes, anxiety measures correlated with eEPSC amplitude, indicating enhanced postsynaptic glutamate synaptic activity under conditions of synaptic activation in anxious subjects. While GABA synaptic activity and sensitivity to diazepam were not affected by genotype or correlated with anxiety, sensitivity to the anxiogenic FG 7142 was smaller in anxious subjects. These data indicate enhanced postsynaptic glutamate receptor sensitivity and decreased GABAergic inhibition by a benzodiazepine inverse agonist in CA1 hippocampal neurons of anxious mice are produced by deletion of the 5-HT1A receptor. These data provide new information about interactions between 5-HT, GABA, and glutamate systems during the expression of chronic anxiety.
Delay testing and failure analysis of ECL logic with embedded memories

Two delay testing techniques, 'weighted random pattern' (WRP) test for logic and 'algorithmic pattern generation at the tester' (APG @ TT) for embedded memories are discussed. Several performance fails detected with these test techniques, escaping prior tests, are presented and potential failure modes predicted. AC probing techniques used to replicate the fails during failure analysis are featured. >
Stopping by the Woods: Classic American Poems in Yiddish

This essay interprets and analyzes in detail the Yiddish versions of great American poems: Poe's "The Raven," Longfellow's "Hiawatha," Whitman's "Song of Myself" and Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." An attempt has been made to relate all cross-linguistic data to cultural and social ideologies like Poetic Professionalism, Americanization, Socialism, Preservation of Ethnic Identity and Personal/Communal Expressiveness. In other words, the main intent of the essay has been to "explicate" a text by reference to its cultural context, whether American or Jewish.
Structures of RNA complexes with the Escherichia coli RNA pyrophosphohydrolase RppH unveil the basis for specific 5'-end-dependent mRNA decay.

5′-End-dependent RNA degradation impacts virulence, stress responses, and DNA repair in bacteria by controlling the decay of hundreds of mRNAs. The RNA pyrophosphohydrolase RppH, a member of the Nudix hydrolase superfamily, triggers this degradation pathway by removing pyrophosphate from the triphosphorylated RNA 5′ terminus. Here, we report the x-ray structures of Escherichia coli RppH (EcRppH) in apo- and RNA-bound forms. These structures show distinct conformations of EcRppH·RNA complexes on the catalytic pathway and suggest a common catalytic mechanism for Nudix hydrolases. EcRppH interacts with RNA by a bipartite mechanism involving specific recognition of the 5′-terminal triphosphate and the second nucleotide, thus enabling discrimination against mononucleotides as substrates. The structures also reveal the molecular basis for the preference of the enzyme for RNA substrates bearing guanine in the second position by identifying a protein cleft in which guanine interacts with EcRppH side chains via cation-π contacts and hydrogen bonds. These interactions explain the modest specificity of EcRppH at the 5′ terminus and distinguish the enzyme from the highly selective RppH present in Bacillus subtilis. The divergent means by which RNA is recognized by these two functionally and structurally analogous enzymes have important implications for mRNA decay and the regulation of protein biosynthesis in bacteria.
Discussing animal rights and animal research in the classroom.

There is growing controversy over the ethics of using animals in biomedical and behavioral research. This article reviews two prominent philosophical justifications for animal liberation and describes an exercise that facilitates class discussion of animal research issues. Students simulate participation on an institutional animal care committee and decide whether a series of hypothetical experiments will be allowed. Students reported that the exercise sharpened their awareness of this issue and of the complexity of making ethical decisions.
The diagnosis and treatment of individuals with mental illness and developmental disabilities: an overview.

Background The assessment and treatment psychiatric disorders among individuals with developmental disorders is in a state of flux. Clinicians working in this field confront two heterogeneous conditions based on separate but overlapping biopsychosocial bodies of scientific and clinical experiences. Methods The paper is a review of the relevant literature and an effort to synthesize sokme of the major problem areas in differential diagnosis and treatment planning. Results There are many genetic, metabolic and neurobehavioral factors that influence both challenging behaviors and the emergence, recognition, and clinical course of mental disorders in people with developmental disorders. As such, clinicians need to redefine dichotomous thinking about boundaries between psychiatrics, neurologic, and behavioral disorders and therapies. Discussion Even though there are efforts to adapt our various systems of nomenclature for individuals with developmental disorders, most still rely on descriptive and categorical models. It may be time to reconsider models that incorporate etiological factors in the process of differential diagnosis and classification. By doing so, clinicians may enhance their capacity to match individuals with more finely tuned treatment plans.
Class IV Semaphorins Promote Angiogenesis by Stimulating Rho-Initiated Pathways through Plexin-B

The semaphorins are a large family of secreted and cell surface proteins that provide attractive and repulsive cues for axon guidance during neuronal development. Semaphorins share a conserved NH(2)-terminal Sema domain with their receptors, the plexins, which mediate neuronal cell adhesion, axon guidance, and maintenance of established neuronal pathways in the adult. Both semaphorins and plexins share structural homology with the extracellular domain of c-Met, a member of the scatter factor family of receptors. However, the highly conserved cytoplasmic region of plexins has no homology with the c-Met tyrosine kinase or with any other known protein. Using a recently developed antibody and RNA analysis, we found that high levels of plexin-B1 are expressed in endothelial cells. Whereas c-Met, with which plexin-B1 can interact, is known to be a potent promoter of angiogenesis, the effects of semaphorin-mediated plexin activation in endothelial cells are still poorly understood. Here, we examined the role of plexin-B1 activation in angiogenesis using a purified, secreted form of its ligand, Semaphorin 4D (Sema4D). Sema4D potently induced chemotaxis and tubulogenesis in endothelial cells and enhanced blood vessel formation in an in vivo mouse model. Interestingly, responses to Sema4D did not require c-Met activation. Instead, the use of chimeric plexin-B1 receptors, Rho inhibitors, and lentiviral gene delivery of interfering molecules revealed that these proangiogenic effects are dependent on a COOH-terminal PDZ-binding motif of plexin-B1, which binds two guanine nucleotide exchange factors for the small GTPase Rho, PDZ-RhoGEF and LARG, and are mediated by the activation of Rho-initiated pathways.
Universal background model based speech recognition

The universal background model (UBM) is an effective framework widely used in speaker recognition. But so far it has received little attention from the speech recognition field. In this work, we make a first attempt to apply the UBM to acoustic modeling in ASR. We propose a tree-based parameter estimation technique for UBMs, and describe a set of smoothing and pruning methods to facilitate learning. The proposed UBM approach is benchmarked on a state-of-the-art large-vocabulary continuous speech recognition platform on a broadcast transcription task. Preliminary experiments reported in this paper already show very exciting results.
Acute appendicitis during pregnancy: diagnosis and management

• Twelve patients underwent appendectomy during pregnancy or in the puerperium. The clinical presentation of acute appendicitis is altered during gestation, and diagnosis becomes increasingly difficult when close to term. Abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting are important symptoms. Peritoneal signs occur in the right lower quadrant early in pregnancy, but the upper quadrant or entire right side are more common locations, as the appendix is displaced upward by the enlarging uterus. Delay in treatment is common because of uncertainty in making the diagnosis and hesitancy to proceed with surgery. In the group of six patients with perforation, there was one maternal death and a loss of three fetuses. There were no complications in the absence of perforation. Prompt diagnosis is the cornerstone of a good outcome, and early surgical intervention is indicated if acute appendicitis is suspected. Pregnancy is not a reason to delay surgery. We review the literature on this topic and present and analyze principles of management. ( Arch Surg 1985;120:1362-1367)
Fresnel analysis of effective mirror reflectivity in folded-cavity in-plane surface-emitting lasers

Inside-cavity diffraction loss resulting from unguided regions and 45 degrees internal total reflection mirror(s) is an important issue for fabricating folded-cavity in-plane surface-emitting lasers. A Fresnel plane-wave decomposition method was applied to analyze this problem. The effective reflectivity of an angle-etched mirror was calculated for deviation of the etched angle and different lengths of the unguided region. The results offer design criteria for fabricating folded-cavity surface-emitting lasers as well as other devices with angle-etched facet(s) for surface normal light coupling. >
High levels of aggrecan aggregate components are present in synovial fluids from human knee joints with chronic injury or osteoarthrosis

One new approach which has considerable potential for use in the diagnosis and prognosis of osteoarthrosis (OA) is the determination of biochemical markers in body fluids, and aggrecan, the major proteoglycan of articular cartilage, has been identified as a candidate marker (Israel et al. 1991, Lohmander et al. 1989, 1993. Ratcliffe et al. 1992, Saxne et al. 1985, 1986). In the matrix the aggrecan molecules form large aggregates by binding to hyaluronan, and this interaction is stabilized by a separate link protein. Catabolism of the aggrecan aggregates results in cleavage of the aggrecan protein core and link protein at specific sites, and the fragments are released from the cartilage into the synovial fluid. In normal tissue these are events of maintenance, but in degenerative cartilage proteoglycan catabolism occurs at accelerated rates. Previous studies have shown that the levels of specific components of the aggrecan aggregate, including the sulfated glycosaminoglycan (S-GAG). keratan sulfate (KS) an...
Probing the bonding and structures of metal-organic radicals with zero energy electrons

Metal-organic radicals are reactive and transient because of the existence of unpaired valence electrons, and thus the characterization of these open-shell systems is challenging. In our work, the radicals are synthesized by the reaction of bare metal atoms and organic ligands in a laser-vaporization supersonic molecular beam source and characterized with pulsed-field ionization zero electron kinetic energy (ZEKE) spectroscopy. The molecular beam ZEKE technique routinely yields sub-meV spectral resolution and is a powerful means to study the molecular bonding and structures. This account presents several examples of single-photon ZEKE spectroscopic applications in determining metal binding modes and molecular conformations.
Polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation reverses cystic fibrosis-related fatty acid abnormalities in CFTR−/− mice by suppressing fatty acid desaturases

Cystic fibrosis patients and model systems exhibit consistent abnormalities in metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acids that appear to play a role in disease pathophysiology. Recent in vitro studies have suggested that these changes are due to overexpression of fatty acid desaturases that can be reversed by supplementation with the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids docosahexaenoate and eicosapentaenoate. However, these findings have not been tested in vivo. The current study aimed to test these results in an in vivo model system, the CFTR(-/-) knockout mouse. When compared with wild-type mice, the knockout mice exhibited fatty acid abnormalities similar to those seen in cystic fibrosis patients and other model systems. The abnormalities were confined to lung, ileum and pancreas, tissues that are affected by the disease. Similar to in vitro models, these fatty acid changes correlated with increased expression of Δ5- and Δ6-desaturases and elongase 5. Dietary supplementation with high-dose free docosahexaenoate or a combination of lower-dose docosahexaenoate and eicosapentaenoate in triglyceride form corrected the fatty acid abnormalities and reduced expression of the desaturase and elongase genes in the ileum and liver of knockout mice. Only the high-dose docosahexaenoate reduced histologic evidence of disease, reducing mucus accumulation in ileal sections. These results provide in vivo support for the hypothesis that fatty acid abnormalities in cystic fibrosis result from abnormal expression and activity of metabolic enzymes in affected cell types. They further demonstrate that these changes can be reversed by dietary n-3 fatty acid supplementation, highlighting the potential therapeutic benefit for cystic fibrosis patients.
Twitter opinion mining for adverse drug reactions

Although rigorous clinical studies are required before a drug is placed on the market, it is impossible to predict all side effects for the approved medication. The United States Food and Drug Administration actively monitors approved drugs to identify adverse events. The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) contains a database of adverse drug events reported by the healthcare providers and consumers. The ubiquitous online social networks, such as Twitter, can provide complementary information about adverse drug events. Short Twitter postings, or tweets, are often used to express an opinion about drugs, as well as solicit and receive feedback from consumers of a drug. Thus, adverse drug events can be discovered by extracting from tweets users' opinions about drugs. Here, we developed a computational pipeline for collecting, processing, and analyzing tweets to find signals about adverse drug reactions, defined as drug side effects caused by a drug at a normal dose during normal use. Manual examination of processed tweets identified several known side effects of four drugs.
Political ideology and American intergroup discrimination: A patriotism perspective.

ABSTRACTIn this research we demonstrate the powerful role of ingroup favoritism, rather than hostility, in American intergroup biases. Specifically, we take a novel perspective to understanding the relationship between political ideology and discrimination against ethnic-minority Americans by focusing on the role of patriotism. Across three studies, we show that political ideology is a strong predictor of resource allocation biases, and this effect is mediated by American patriotism and not by prejudice or nationalism. Conservatives report greater levels of patriotism than liberals, and patriotism is associated with donating more to American, as opposed to ethnic-minority American, organizations. We further show that the link between patriotism and partiality to the national group is mediated by stronger “American = White” associations. These findings have important implications for intergroup relations and diversity-related policy issues in the United States.
Structural and functional studies of protein kinase C.

It has now become clear that protein kinase C (PKC) plays a fundamental role in cellular growth control in higher eukaryotes. In addition, since PKC has also been shown to be the high-affinity intracellular receptor for several classes of tumor promoters, the study of PKC has also become a central focus of current work in cancer research. We have isolated cDNA clones encoding several forms of this enzyme, and we have used these clones to begin to study in detail the role of PKC in growth control and tumor promotion. The complete primary structure of one of these forms, designated PKC β 1, exhibits structural and functional characteristics which are shared among all of the currently identified forms of PKC. These include an amino terminal cysteine-rich domain which mediates Ca2+ and phospholipid binding, tumor promoter binding, and membrane association, and a carboxy terminal catalytic domain which possesses serine/threonine protein kinase activity. To further characterize the function of PKC, we have generated a series of rat fibroblast cell lines which stably overexpress a full-length cDNA encoding the β1 form of this enzyme. These cell lines contain a 20- to 53-fold increase in PKC activity, and also have an increase in high affinity phorbol ester receptors, relative to control cells. They also exhibit dramatically enhanced morphologic changes in response to treatment with the tumor promoter 12-0-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate (TPA). These cell lines grow to a higher saturation density in monolayer culture and, when maintained at post-confluence, develop small, dense foci. In contrast to the control cells, which display complete anchorage dependence, the cell lines that overproduce PKC form small colonies in soft agar in the absence of TPA, and larger colonies in the presence of TPA. Thus, the mere overproduction of a single form of PKC is sufficient to confer anchorage independent growth and other growth abnormalities in rat fibroblasts. Taken together, these results provide direct evidence that PKC plays a critical role in normal cellular growth control and that it mediates several, and perhaps all of the cellular effects of the phorbol ester tumor promoters.
Insulin Infusion Pumps for Diabetes Mellitus Treatment

Portable insulin pumps have been used for the treatment of diabetes mellitus since the mid 1970s and are available from two manufacturers. Both are programmable syringe pumps and sell for about $3,600. Portable pumps can be a powerful tool for achieving and maintaining precise control of glycemia, but are most likely to improve quality of life in settings where paitents collaborate closely with medical professionals in the management of their disease. Implantable insulin delivery pumps are not yet FDA approved but are available in clinical trial. Decisions regarding which type I diabetic patients are suitable candidates for treatment by implantable pump cannot be meaningfully addressed at this time. Implantable pump therapy is clearly the most expensive therapeutic option; portable pump therapy is intermediate in expense, and conventional therapy is least expensive. Continuous intravenous or intraperitoneal delivery by implantable pump may provide superior metabolic control with fewer episodes of hypoglycemia. If such control retards the development of late complications, the additional cost of pump therapy will provide a favorable benefit-tocost ratio when weighed against the economic impact of diabetic complications.
The Challenges of Realization in a Global Civilization

The contemporary historical situation suggests fascinating parallels with that period of the 13th/7th century when the massive destruction of the Mongol invasions opened the way for popular new forms of Islamic life and practice that eventually spread Islam throughout Asia. Today, as in earlier periods of dramatic upheaval, we can witness those processes of inspiration and awakening that give rise to the spiritual pathways of future centuries, through each soul’s gradual discovery of its unique challenges and demands of ihsan. One way of describing this transformation, to use the Qur’anic language adapted by Ibn ‘Arabi, is in the terms of the process of spiritual realization (tahqīq) by which people discover their guiding inner relationship to those divine qualities or “Names” that eventually come to deﬁne the meaning and purpose of their lives. Through our life long movement of service (‘ibda) to the “Lord” (rabb) constituted by each divine Name, the transformation of the soul follows a familiar, naturally ascending trajectory. It begins with a curiosity drawing us toward some particular dimension of the Real (al-Haqq); then a compelling striving leading to heightened discipline and awareness; and ultimately to the creative manifestation of that devotion through the appropriate means of teaching, communication, and new communities of fellow- seekers—the Qur’anic “servants of the All-Merciful”—that slowly emerge from this shared spiritual work of devotion, discovery and creative response. Here we point to some ways this process of civilizational renewal is unfolding around the world, focusing on three of the most far-reaching of those divine Names: the “servants of the All-Wise” (al-Hakīm), in their exploring and deciphering the inﬁnite Signs of God’s Wisdom “on the horizons”, in all of the sciences of nature and society; to those muhsinūn and “servants of the Beautiful” (al-Jamīl) whose creative acts of beauty help awaken that love and awe which mark the beginnings of each spiritual journey; or to those “servants of the Subtly-Gracious” (al-Latīf) whose lives are dedicated to deepening our understanding of the presence and meaning of each of the divine Signs “in our souls,” in the emerging science of spirituality. These “servants of the all- Merciful” and their communities are themselves the ﬁrst seeds of an emerging global civilization.
Red Blood Cell Transfusion in the Emergency Department

Abstract Background Transfusion of red blood cells (RBCs) is the primary management of anemia, which affects 90% of critically ill patients. Anemia has been associated with a poor prognosis in various settings, including critical illness. Recent literature has shown a hemoglobin transfusion threshold of 7 g/dL to be safe. This review examines several aspects of transfusion. Objective We sought to provide emergency physicians with an updated review of indications for RBC transfusion in the emergency department. Discussion The standard hemoglobin transfusion threshold was 10 g/dL. However, the body shows physiologic compensatory adaptations to chronic anemia. Transfusion reactions and infections are rare but can have significant morbidity and mortality. Products stored for Conclusions RBC transfusion is not without risks, including transfusion reaction, infection, and potentially increased mortality. The age of transfusion products likely has no effect on products before 21 days of storage. A hemoglobin level of 7 g/dL is safe in the setting of critical illness, sepsis, gastrointestinal bleeding, and trauma. The clinician must evaluate and transfuse based on the clinical setting and patient hemodynamic status rather than using a specific threshold.