cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Matched Developmental Timing of Donor Cells with the Host Is Crucial for Chimera Formation

Chimeric mice have been generated by injecting pluripotent stem cells into morula-to-blastocyst stage mouse embryo or by introducing more mature cells into later stage embryos that correspond to the differentiation stage of the donor cells. It has not been rigorously tested, however, whether successful chimera formation requires the developmental stage of host embryo and donor cell to be matched. Here, we compared the success of chimera formation following injection of primary neural crest cells (NCCs) into blastocysts or of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into E8.5 embryos (heterochronic injection) with that of injecting ESCs cells into the blastocyst or NCCs into the E8.5 embryos (isochronic injection). Chimera formation was efficient when donor and host were matched, but no functional chimeric contribution was found in heterochronic injections. This suggests that matching the developmental stage of donor cells with the host embryo is crucial for functional engraftment of donor cells into the developing embryo.
Transitions between Housing States among Urban Homeless Adults: a Bayesian Markov Model.

The purpose of this study is to explore how marginalization, substance abuse, and service utilization influence the transitions between streets, shelters, and housed states over the course of 2 years in a population of urban homeless adults. Survey responses from three yearly interviews of 400 homeless adults were matched with administrative services data collected from regional health, mental health, and housing service providers. To estimate the rates of transition between housed, street, and shelter status, a multi-state Markov model was developed within a Bayesian framework. These transition rates were then regressed on a set of independent variables measuring demographics, marginalization, substance abuse, and service utilization. Transitions from housing to shelters or streets were associated with not being from the local area, not having friends or family to count on, and unemployment. Pending charges and a recent history of being robbed were associated with the shelters-to-streets transition. Remaining on the streets was uniquely associated with engagement in “shadow work” and, surprisingly, a high use of routine services. These findings paint a picture of unique and separate processes for different types of housing transitions. These results reinforce the importance of focusing interventions on the needs of these unique housing transitions, paying particular attention to prior housing patterns, substance abuse, and the different ways that homeless adults are marginalized in our society.
Athletics, memory, and community in Hellenistic and Roman Messene

Recent excavations in the site of Messene have unveiled numerous inscriptions from the Hellenistic and Roman imperial periods that significantly increase our understanding of the agonistic life of the city. By utilizing this new set of evidence in this paper I examine patterns of athletic competition by Messenian athletes in panhellenic and local contests. Moreover, I explore victory commemoration practices in the urban landscape of Messene as a means to comprehend how the community acted out, in an institutionalized manner, its collective memory, identity, and historical consciousness
Neuronal responses to static texture patterns in area V1 of the alert macaque monkey

1. We recorded responses from neurons in area V1 of the alert macaque monkey to textured patterns modeled after stimuli used in psychophysical experiments of pop-out. Neuronal responses to a single...
Free Energy Perturbation Calculations within Quantum Mechanical Methodologies

Newly developed techniques for use in quantum free energy perturbation calculations are presented. These techniques represent the first means of performing arbitrary perturbations in quantum mechanical systems. The methods that have been developed include single and dual-toplogy approaches as well as strategies that imploy molecular mechanical intermediates. The theoretical and practical considerations for carrying out the associated molecular dynamics simulations are also discussed. Simulations are presented for systems that are purely quantum mechanical, and for systems that involve a combination of quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical atoms. Preliminary results demonstrate these procedures to constitute a powerful tool in free energy calculations, with the potential to significantly increase the accuracy of simulations on both large-scale and small-scale systems.
Prostatic Ultrasonography: The Prostatic Nodule

Rectal palpation is the single most important step in the physical examination for detecting carcinoma of the prostate and it is well recognized that when done routinely, there is an increased incidence of early disease detection (1). Though small nodular or indurated areas in the prostate may be readily palpable, the differentiation between benign and malignant lesions cannot be made by physical examination alone (2). The present report describes the use of transrectal prostatic ultrasonography as an adjunct in the evaluation and management of patients presenting with prostatic nodules.
Development of normative ambulatory blood pressure data in children. Arbeitsgruppe Pädiatrische Hypertonie.

BACKGROUND Ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) monitoring is used increasingly to evaluate the blood pressure of children and adolescents. Reference values based on a sufficiently high number of healthy children are necessary to estimate the limits of the 'normal' range. OBJECTIVE To begin to define the normal range of values for pediatric ABP. DESIGN In this multicenter trial, we pooled ABP records of 1141 healthy children and adolescents with body heights between 115 and 185 cm. The study was carried out at seven centers, according to a common procedure. Only oscillometric devices (SpaceLab 90207 and Meditech) were included in the evaluation. RESULTS The 50th percentile for 24h systolic ABP increased moderately with height, from 103 mmHg to 113 mmHg in girls and from 105 mmHg to 120 mmHg in boys. The 50th percentile for diastolic 24h means was 66+/-1 mmHg, irrespective of height or sex. Diastolic daytime means were 73+/-1 mmHg, which is remarkably high compared with reference values for casual blood pressure. The mean nocturnal systolic and diastolic ABP values (0000-0600 h) were 13+/-6% and 23+/-9% less than the daytime means (0800-2000h), respectively. DISCUSSION This multicenter study is, to date, the largest descriptive estimation of the normal range of values for pediatric ABP monitoring. Further investigation is needed, to evaluate the influences of genetic and environmental background, and that of the monitoring device, on pediatric ABP measurements. The optimal range for ABP in children as defined by cardiovascular prognosis or end-organ damage remains to be established.
University of Minnesota - Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics (MCT)

Facilities must maintain compliance with regulatory standards while maintaining flexibility to manufacture a variety of therapeutic cell types for clinical trials. Careful planning is required when designing a new or modifying an existing facility to maintain compliance with good manufacturing practice/good tissue practice (GMP/GTP) regulations. Likewise, considerable forethought is essential to meet current and anticipate future manufacturing requirements. If these goals are not clearly defined, any new construction or modifications may fail to meet demands. The choice to design a new facility or modify an existing one is often driven by the institutional constraints. There are unique issues associated with both approaches. This chapter focuses on the 36,000 ft2 purpose-built stand-alone facility model in place at the University of Minnesota. This facility currently manufactures a wide range of cellular products that support 80 clinical studies.
Design Process Methods: Discussion

Engineering design is a complex, evolving activity, involving many kinds of processes aimed at turning requirements and ideas into products. Concept development, concept evaluation, system-level integration, detailed design , prototyping, manufacturing, production, and marketing, are all part of an increasingly demanding iterative design cycle. Global competition requires shorter and more efficient design cycles, more systematic evaluation of possible solutions, and a better understanding of the relations between the many factors affecting the final product. Faced with these demands, research in computer-aided design has rapidly expanded its scope from traditional drafting programs to systems capable of supporting many of the diverse activities associated with product design .
Chains of trust: Energy justice, public engagement, and the first offshore wind farm in the United States

Abstract Public acceptance of renewable energy technologies (RETs) is critical to the broader adoption of these technologies and reducing the role of fossil fuels in electricity generation. Recent investigations into the public engagement processes surrounding RET projects reveal certain procedural deficits, especially concerning procedural fairness and stakeholder trust. With this in mind, we analyze two engagement processes that led to the Block Island Wind Farm, the first operational offshore wind farm in the United States. Through semi-structured interviews we identify certain procedural techniques that allowed process leaders to first build public trust in themselves, then in the process, and ultimately in the outcome. This chain of trust was fostered through informal efforts of process leaders to meet stakeholder expectations concerning process leaders’ ability to work for the public interest, provide meaningful engagement opportunities, and to produce non-discriminatory outcomes. This case study highlights the potential of such informal actions to meet stakeholder expectations and build trust, while also empirically demonstrating specific techniques that future process leaders could employ to increase stakeholder acceptance of RETs.
Is Self-Citation Biased? An Investigation via the Lens of Citation Polarity, Density, and Location

Traditional citation analysis methods have been criticized because their theoretical base of statistical counts does not reflect the motive or judgment of citing authors. In particular, self-citations may give undue credits to a cited article or mislead scientific development. This research aims to answer the question of whether self-citation is biased by probing into the motives and context of citations. It takes an integrated and fine-grained view of self-citations by examining them via multiple lenses — polarity, density, and location of citations. In addition, it explores potential moderating effects of citation level and associations among location contexts of citations to the same references for the first time. We analyzed academic publications across different topics and disciplines using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The results provide evidence that self-citations are free of bias in terms of citation density and polarity uncertainty, but they can be biased with respect to positivity and negativity of citations. Furthermore, this study reveals impacts of self-citing behavior on some citation patterns involving citation density, location concentration, and associations. The examination of self-citing behavior from those new perspectives shed new lights on the nature and function of self-citing behavior.
Visual-Spatial Memory Deficits Are Related to Increased Knee Valgus Angle During a Sport-Specific Sidestep Cut.

Background:Identifying athletes at an increased risk of injury is a promising approach to improve the effect of injury prevention interventions; however, it requires first identifying the potential...
Conflict and Communication in Massively-Multiplayer Online Games

Massively-multiplayer online games (MMOGs) can serve as a unique laboratory for studying large-scale human behaviors. However, one question that often arises is whether the observed behavior is specific to the game world and its winning conditions. This paper studies the nature of conflict and communication across two game worlds that have different game objectives. We compare and contrast the structure of attack networks with trade and communication networks. Similar to real-life, social structures play a significant role in the likelihood of inter-player conflict.
Can putative indicator species predict habitat quality for American ginseng

Abstract American ginseng, Panax quinquefolius L., is a long-lived medicinal understory herb, which has been heavily harvested since the 1700s. Because of the economic value of the root, and the increasing rarity of this plant, P. quinquefolius is often reintroduced across its range. Land managers and hobby growers recommend using ‘associate species’ as a way to determine ideal site conditions for reintroduction. However, the accuracy of these putative indicator species in identifying sites that will maximize growth of this rare herb has not been tested. Using a long-term ecological dataset of 26 populations, we evaluated if 20 putative indicators (herbs, shrubs, and trees) could predict P. quinquefolius performance, as measured by the relative growth rate of the leaf area, at the population and microsite level. Of the indicators, only one tree species was able to predict positive performance. If a P. quinquefolius was within 10 m of a Liriodendron tulipifera L., the plant would have increased growth, in terms of leaf area, as compared to plants that were not within 10 m of this tree. Surprisingly, the presence of most putative indicator species was found to be unreliable as a site quality measure. At the population level, four putative indicators, Aralia nudicaulis L., Acer rubrum L., Betula lenta L., and Lindera benzoin (L.) Blume, were actually contra-indicators, as their presence at a site implied lower P. quinquefolius performance. If Podophyllum peltatum L. was absent from a site, but B. lenta present, P. quinquefolius had reduced growth as compared to plants present in other combinations of P. peltatum and B. lenta . The results from this study have important implications for in situ conservation strategies of this rare medicinal plant. Planting P. quinquefolius in sites that increase performance can help ensure that reintroduction projects likely have a greater chance of success, effectively reducing the waste of time, money, and resources spent on projects that have lower levels of success.
Review of metallic phase change materials for high heat flux transient thermal management applications

Abstract Metallic phase change materials offer an approach to rapidly transport heat away from a critical device, and to store that heat using the latent heat of fusion, buffering the temperature of a device during periods of transient high-power operation. Despite this interest, thermophysical properties and details of melting behavior of metallic alloys and compounds are scattered across the literature. Here, we critically review metallic phase change materials, and introduce quantitative comparative metrics to evaluate the relative performance of different compounds. This review focuses on (1) discussion of advanced prototype systems based on metallic phase change materials which rapidly absorb heat and buffer temperature rise in different devices and components, (2) historical development and focused applications of these materials by different communities, (3) identification of chemical alloy families with desirable melting characteristics, (4) critically evaluated thermophysical properties of different chemical alloy families, and (5) description of characteristic melting behavior in metallic systems. We focus here on describing different chemical classes of metallic phase change materials with melting points, Tfus, from near room temperature to
Commercial Load Profile Sensitivity Analysis to Electricity Tariffs and Battery Characteristics

The electricity tariff is a powerful tool to encourage customers to modify their electricity consumption behavior. A significant portion of power energy is devoted to the commercial sector which has a notable contribution in the power grid peak load. In this article, we consider a commercial customer equipped with a solar panel and batteries as our case study. We analyze the effects of time of use (TOU) and maximum demand (MD) tariffs on the power exchange. Next, the sensitivity analysis of the load profile to the MD and battery characteristics is performed. Using the optimization and sensitivity analysis information, the optimum MD tariff rates for a group of the commercial customers is calculated to release the maximum network capacity in the power grid. The optimization in this study is formulated such that the interests of both the customers and the utilities are served.
Regulatory Induced Risk Aversion: Coal Procurement at U.S. Power Plants

This paper provides empirical evidence that U.S. power plants exhibit risk aversion when purchasing coal. Specifically, I show that plants facing more spot coal price uncertainty sign longer duration coal contracts, purchase contract coal from a larger number of origin counties, and pay higher contract coal prices. The trade-off between the mean versus standard deviation of coal purchase costs implied by my results is considerably larger than the Sharpe Ratios typically estimated for commodity futures. I posit that power plants exhibit an especially high degree of risk aversion because regulators are less likely to incorporate high fuel cost realizations into the output price they set for these plants. In 2017, U.S. coal-fired plants emitted 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide and 74% of coal-fired electricity production came from price-regulated plants. My results thus underscore the importance of accounting for risk aversion when designing environmental policy aimed at reducing carbon emissions,
Plant-Induced Urticaria

Most plants and plant products are innocuous, but a minority cause a variety of mild to severe adverse skin reactions that include urticaria, irritant contact dermatitis, allergic contact dermatitis, and phototoxic dermatitis. Although irritant contact dermatitis is the most common of these skin manifestations, this chapter focuses on plant-induced urticaria as well as effective treatments and preventive strategies.
O LÍDER ÉTICO DE CONFLITOS NA BUSCA DE INOVAÇÃO E COMPETITIVIDADE NA EDUCAÇÃO

A complexidade e a frequencias dos conflitos no ambiente educacional exigem competencias, conhecimentos e habilidades dos lideres e gestores escolares e professores. Muito presente nas grandes empresas industriais e financeiras, o gerenciamento voltado a resolucao de conflitos ganha cada vez mais espaco no setor educacional, como, por exemplo, entre os gestores das Instituicoes de Ensino Superior nos Estados Unidos e nos debates preliminares da Base Nacional Comum da Formacao Docente no Brasil (BNCC), do qual um dos objetivos principais e estabelecer as bases filo-educacionais para o desenvolvimento integral docente na formacao inicial e continuada dos professores da Educacao Basica, incluindo as dimensoes intelectual, fisica, social, emocional e cultural. Assim, busca-se analisar qual a relacao da formacao docente com a importância do gerenciamento de resolucao de conflitos para as organizacoes que buscam inovacao e competitividade. Nesse caso, se torna imprescindivel debater qual metodo de resolucao de conflitos estamos falando. O Metodo de Negociacao de Harvard recepciona o conflito nas organizacoes e quebra com o paradigma do uso da forca e do pensamento maniqueista no seu gerenciamento atraves dos seguintes debates: problemas e pessoas, interesses e posicoes e pensamento fixo e opcoes. No lugar do reducionismo, procura-se, logo, estabelecer uma postura etica na resolucao de conflitos condizente com o desenvolvimento integral dos gestores escolares e dos professores previsto na BNCC.
Documenting the Challenges (and Documents) As Ohio Courts Respond to COVID-19

As the coronavirus led to the vast majority of Americans living under stay-at-home orders, government institutions confronted a public health imperative to slow the spread of a communicable disease while still maintaining vital services for their constituents. Judicial branches of governments faced particular challenges given the traditional face-to-face and often time-sensitive nature of their work. Further, while governors can generally exercise centralized control over many parts of the executive branch of government, the judicial function in many states does not operate under a single chief administrator. Ohio represents one such non-unified court system, and this research project sought to review and summarize the formal responses of Ohio courts in the weeks during which the state began shutting down non-essential services in response to the COVID pandemic. This review reveals considerable formal action in service of minimizing physical appearances at court, but also highlights that relatively few court orders included express provisions aimed at decreasing the number of people entering prisons or authorizing proactive steps to release people from detention.
Function Approximation via The Subsampled Poincar\' e Inequality

Function approximation and recovery via some sampled data have long been studied in a wide array of applied mathematics and statistics fields. Analytic tools, such as the Poincare inequality, have been handy for estimating the approximation errors in different scales. The purpose of this paper is to study a generalized Poincar\' e inequality, where the measurement function is of subsampled type, with a small but non-zero lengthscale that will be made precise. Our analysis identifies this inequality as a basic tool for function recovery problems. We discuss and demonstrate the optimality of the inequality concerning the subsampled lengthscale, connecting it to existing results in the literature. In application to function approximation problems, the approximation accuracy using different basis functions and under different regularity assumptions is established by using the subsampled Poincare inequality. We observe that the error bound blows up as the subsampled lengthscale approaches zero, due to the fact that the underlying function is not regular enough to have well-defined pointwise values. A weighted version of the Poincar\' e inequality is proposed to address this problem; its optimality is also discussed.
Benefit-Finding Improves Well-Being among Women Who Have Experienced Gender Discrimination

Women experience gender discrimination in numerous important life domains, which can harm psychological well-being. Benefit-finding—identifying the positive implications of having overcome a negative experience—has been theorized as a coping strategy to improve well-being. We experimentally tested whether prompting women, recruited online, to consider the implications of their past experiences of discrimination for themselves in the present—and the benefit-finding that follows—can improve well-being. U.S women (n = 409) were asked to consider a past experience of sexism in three data collections (Studies 1a, 1b, 1c). In each collection, participants were randomly assigned to a benefit-finding condition or a control condition. Those participants in to the benefit-finding condition were asked to write about the implications or lessons of their experience for the present whereas those women randomly assigned to the control condition did not. A meta-analysis based on the three data collections revealed that participants in the benefit-finding condition reported greater well-being than those in the control, which was a moderately strong effect. In a third collection (Study 1c), we included an additional control condition in which participants wrote about known facts of gender discrimination. We also included measures of sexism perceptions and willingness to engage in collective action. Participants who reflected upon the implications of their past experiences of sexism reported the highest intentions to engage in collective action to confront future sexism (relative to both control conditions). For women coping with discrimination, this intervention can help alleviate the harmful consequences of discrimination and motivate support to fight gender inequality.
High Control Authority Three-Dimensional Aircraft Control Surfaces Using Coflow Jet

This paper conducts improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES) to numerically investigate the performance of a three-dimensional (3D) aircraft control surface using coflow jet (CFJ) active f...
Stomas: Parastomal Hernias

Parastomal hernias are common. Large or symptomatic hernias merit repair. A number of repair techniques have been described; unfortunately traditional recurrence rates have been high. The prospective comparative data to date have been insufficient to demonstrate the superiority of the type of mesh or method of repair.
The social justice potential of critical reflection and critical language awareness pedagogies for L2 writers

Abstract L2 writing pedagogies have traditionally raised students’ language awareness. By drawing attention to the form, structure, and properties of the target language, traditional paradigms foster L2 writers’ language and literacy development, but do not necessarily enhance their capacities for critical reflection on matters of social and linguistic responsibility. This paper explores the social justice potentialities that critical language awareness (CLA; Fairclough, 1992 ) and critical reflection (CR; Mezirow, 1990 ) hold together as pedagogies for the L2 writing classroom. It features the collaborative self-study research of a university developmental English writing instructor who presents three case studies of ESL writers, and reveals how the pedagogical phenomena appear to manifest in each students’ writing. The instructor’s own interpretations are questioned by a “critical friend”, who provides a trusted critique, and supports the instructor in identifying changes to her practice ( Pinnegar & Hamilton, 2009 ). The article concludes with the instructor’s own critical reflection. Ultimately, the article offers further ways that CLA and CR can be fostered together in writing instruction. It proposes that L2 writers may become more socially and linguistically responsible individuals as they write and reflect on their own experiences with language differences.
How Effective is Online Couple Relationship Education? A Systematic Meta-Content Review.

Due to logistical and financial barriers that keep many distressed couples from seeking psychotherapy, online relationship education is a more accessible alternative. In the decade since a web-based program showed equivalent effectiveness to traditional marriage education (Duncan et al., 2009), several fully online programs have been developed and evaluated. We reviewed nine studies of four different programs that sampled 2,000 + couples. Specifically, we rated each study’s experimental rigor and compared research designs, theoretical and empirical grounding, average post-intervention and follow-up effect sizes, and differential effectiveness. Across studies, measured outcomes included relational (improved satisfaction, quality, confidence, commitment, communication; reduced conflict and aggression) and individual functioning on various indices of mental and physical health, emotional expression, and quality of life. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limitations of the research evidence, describe the two most evidence-based programs (ePREP and OurRelationship) in some detail and make recommendations for future study of these promising kinds of interventions.
Impact of Photoreceptor Loss on Retinal Circuitry.

Our sense of sight relies on photoreceptors, which transduce photons into the nervous system's electrochemical interpretation of the visual world. These precious photoreceptors can be disrupted by ...
A mechanistic damage model for solid oxide fuel cell ceramic materials - Part I: Constitutive modeling

Abstract A multiscale mechanistic damage model for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) ceramics that combines micromechanics of stiffness reduction due to material porosity change and microcracking with a continuum damage mechanics (CDM) description for the evolution of microcracks up to fracture is developed in this work. The model also accounts for volumetric swelling of the anode due to redox cycling. Porosity change and swelling during redox combined with normal operating thermomechanical loads could increase the stress, strain and damage distributions in SOFC stacks leading them to failure. The proposed model involves three governing parameters: (i) the porosity in terms of the pore or void volume fraction, (ii) material swelling magnitude prescribed at a given loading step, and (iii) the damage variable that describes microcracking caused by thermomechanical loads and swelling. Pores and microcracks in the ceramics are modeled as randomly distributed ellipsoidal inclusions with negligible stiffness by an Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka formulation combined with an inclusion orientation distribution method. Microcracking damage evolution is described by a CDM formulation. Volumetric swelling is treated in a similar way to thermal expansion in the constitutive relations. After validation and numerical checks, the damage model is used to analyze a simplified SOFC positive-electrode/electrolyte/negative-electrode (PEN) structure subjected to a redox cycle in addition to thermomechanical loads experienced during normal operation of a SOFC stack.
Data-driven regions of interest for longitudinal change in frontotemporal lobar degeneration

Current research is investigating the potential utility of longitudinal measurement of brain structure as a marker of drug effect in clinical trials for neurodegenerative disease. Recent studies in Alzheimer's disease (AD) have shown that measurement of change in empirically derived regions of interest (ROIs) allows more reliable measurement of change over time compared with regions chosen a-priori based on known effects of AD on brain anatomy. Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder for which there are no approved treatments. The goal of this study was to identify an empirical ROI that maximizes the effect size for the annual rate of brain atrophy in FTLD compared with healthy age matched controls, and to estimate the effect size and associated power estimates for a theoretical study that would use change within this ROI as an outcome measure. Eighty six patients with FTLD were studied, including 43 who were imaged twice at 1.5 T and 43 at 3 T, along with 105 controls (37 imaged at 1.5 T and 67 at 3 T). Empirically-derived maps of change were generated separately for each field strength and included the bilateral insula, dorsolateral, medial and orbital frontal, basal ganglia and lateral and inferior temporal regions. The extent of regions included in the 3 T map was larger than that in the 1.5 T map. At both field strengths, the effect sizes for imaging were larger than for any clinical measures. At 3 T, the effect size for longitudinal change measured within the empirically derived ROI was larger than the effect sizes derived from frontal lobe, temporal lobe or whole brain ROIs. The effect size derived from the data-driven 1.5 T map was smaller than at 3 T, and was not larger than the effect size derived from a-priori ROIs. It was estimated that measurement of longitudinal change using 1.5 T MR systems requires approximately a 3-fold increase in sample size to obtain effect sizes equivalent to those seen at 3 T. While the results should be confirmed in additional datasets, these results indicate that empirically derived ROIs can reduce the number of subjects needed for a longitudinal study of drug effects in FTLD compared with a-priori ROIs. Field strength may have a significant impact on the utility of imaging for measuring longitudinal change.
Immunocytochemical localization of insulin-immunoreactive cells in the pancreatic ducts of rats treated with trypsin inhibitor.

It is well known that soybean trypsin inhibitor exerts trophic effects on the exocrine pancreas, resulting in the hypertrophy of acinar cells. Some evidence also exists for hyperplasia in acinar tissue, the ductal epithelium and islet tissue. Rats maintained for 3 weeks on an oral administration of soybean trypsin inhibitor (200 mg/50 ml drinking water) were compared with untreated animals. Significant changes were noted in treated animals (p<0.01). Trypsin inhibitor-treated rats showed an increase in pancreatic weight (2.33±0.46 g). The volume ratio of acinar, islet and connective tissue as measured by the stereology point-count technique remained the same in both groups. Ductal tissue, however, exhibited an increase in volume ratio, 3.77±4.38% per 2714 μm2 area of tissue, in trypsin inhibitor-treated animals. All tissue components showed an increase in the experimental animals: acinar (125%), islet (144%), ductal (325%) and connective tissue (94%). Increased size of acinar cell nuclei, as measured by average cord length, 6.20±0.13 μm, and a decreased nuclear density of acinar cells, 28±4.74 per 150 μm2 area of tissue, indicated hypertrophic changes in these cells of the experimental animals. Using immunohistochemical localization and the point-count technique, a significant fraction of the total pancreatic volume in experimental animals was represented by ducts containing immunoreactive cells. The percent of volume ratio, 0.42±0.15% per 2714 μm2 area of tissue, was calculated for ducts containing insulin-immunoreactive cells within their epithelium.
Tulsa Reparations: The Survivors' Story

This Article explores the ability of reparations litigation to transform the American debate about race by promoting "interest convergence" between reparations advocates and the majority population. As Professor Derrick Bell has argued, only when the interests of the majority converge with those of the minority will the minority achieve its goals. Reparations lawsuits-especially those framed as traditional civil rights claims. as in the ongoing litigation seeking reparations for the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot-can begin to promote the convergence of interests between reparationists and the reluctant majority population by forcing the majority population to confront past and present injustices against African Americans. The Article concludes that litigative reparations are a promising first step toward insuring justice for those who were sacrificed during slavery and Jim Crow oppression.
On Transaction Processing for Multilevel Secure Replicated Databases

Transaction scheduling in MultiLevel Secure (MLS) replicated databases has received much attention recently. However, several proposed protocols exhibit subtle flaws which can result in schedules which are not serializable. In this paper, we explain the problem and present a transaction scheduling protocol for MLS replicated databases free from this problem. We also show the protocol is one-copy serializable and demonstrate that it is secure. In addition, our protocol requires only a small trusted portion and it accepts a larger class of transactions (those that can “write-up”) than previous protocols. It is interesting that the protocol can be adopted for use with heterogeneous databases because it does not require an atomic commitment protocol, and does not assume homogeneous concurrency control and recovery algorithms in local databases.
Nucleosome remodeling at the IL-12 p40 promoter is a TLR-dependent, Rel-independent event.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induction of the gene encoding interleukin 12 p40 requires remodeling of a promoter-encompassing nucleosome and the Toll-like receptor (TLR)−mediated activation of a c-Rel−containing complex. Analysis of TLR4-mutant mice revealed that remodeling requires TLR signaling. However, Rel proteins and other proteins required for transcription of an integrated p40 promoter were insufficient for remodeling. c-Rel was also unnecessary for remodeling, as remodeling was observed in c-Rel^(-/-) macrophages, which lack p40 transcripts. These results suggest that remodeling requires TLR signaling pathways that diverge from the c-Rel activation pathways. The factors that stimulate remodeling may represent, therefore, newly identified targets of TLR signaling and of agents that regulate inflammatory responses and T_H1 development.
Efficacy of a Buffered 4% Lidocaine Formulation for Incision and Drainage: A Prospective, Randomized, Double-blind Study

Abstract Introduction Incision and drainage of symptomatic emergency patients with facial swelling is painful even after local anesthetics are administered. The purpose of this prospective, randomized, double-blind study was to compare the pain of infiltration and the pain of an incision and drainage procedure of a buffered versus a nonbuffered 4% lidocaine formulation in symptomatic emergency patients presenting with a diagnosis of pulpal necrosis, associated periapical area, and an acute clinical swelling. Methods Eighty-eight emergency patients were randomly divided into 2 groups to receive 2 intraoral infiltration injections (mesial and distal to the swelling) of either 4% lidocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine buffered with 0.18 mL 8.4% sodium bicarbonate using the Onpharma (Los Gatos, CA) buffering system or 4% lidocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine. Subjects rated the pain of needle insertion, needle placement, and solution deposition for each injection using a 170-mm visual analog scale. An incision and drainage procedure was performed, and subjects rated the pain of incision, drainage, and dissection on a 170-mm visual analog scale. Results No significant differences between the buffered and nonbuffered 4% lidocaine formulations were found for needle insertion, placement, and solution deposition of the infiltration injections or for the treatment phases of incision, drainage, and dissection. Conclusions Buffering a 4% lidocaine formulation did not significantly decrease the pain of infiltrations or significantly decrease the pain of the incision and drainage procedure when compared with a nonbuffered 4% lidocaine formulation in symptomatic patients with a diagnosis of pulpal necrosis and associated acute swelling.
Middle-down and Top-down mass spectrometric analysis of co-occurring histone modifications

Histones are chromatin proteins that are highly modified with many different types of post-translational modifications. These modifications act in concert to regulate a number of chromatin-related processes. However, identification and quantification of co-occurring histone post-translational modifications is challenging because there are many potential combinations of modifications and because the commonly used strategy of fragmenting proteins using trypsin or an alternative protease prior to LC-MS/MS analysis results in the loss of connectivity between modifications on different peptides. In this unit, mass spectrometric methods to analyze combinatorial histone modifications on histone tails (middle-down mass spectrometry) and on intact histones (top-down mass spectrometry) are described.
Intellectual Humility: Owning Our Limitations

. . .the usual manner of presenting philosophical work puzzles me. Works of philosophy are written as though their authors believe them to be the absolutely final word on their subject. But it’s not, surely, that each philosopher thinks that he finally, thank God, has found the truth and built an impregnable fortress around it. We are all actually much more modest than that. For good reason. Having thought long and hard about the view he proposes, a philosopher has a reasonably good idea about its weak points; the places where great intellectual weight is placed upon something perhaps too fragile to bear it, the places where the unraveling of the view might begin, the unprobed assumptions he feels uneasy about.
A note on optimal algorithms for reserve site selection

A recent note by Underhill (Biol. Conserv., 70, 85-7, 1994) points out the need for the use of optimization models and a closer working relationship with mathematicians for the solution of biological management problems such as the reserve site selection problem. In this note we give the mathematical formulation of what he terms ‘the more realistic’ version of the reserve selection problem, namely, the problem of maximizing the number of species preserved given a fixed budget for reserve sites. We also discuss some straight-forward data reduction schemes which may reduce the solution time for these problems when they are solved using general off-the-shelf optimization code as mentioned by Underhill.
Shallow ground water nitrate-N and ammonium-N in cropland and riparian buffers

Abstract The extent of nutrient reduction in shallow ground water flow between cropland and riparian buffers in the Northeast is not well established, yet there is an increasing need to quantify such reductions. A four-year project was initiated in 2002 to determine the relative effectiveness of riparian buffers on reducing nutrients in soil water and shallow ground water flow from adjacent cropland. The main objective of this study was to determine if shallow ground water nitrate nitrogen (NO3–N) and ammonium nitrogen (NH4–N) concentrations differed among cropland (hay or corn), restored riparian buffers (grass and Salix-grass), and established forested riparian buffers. Sixteen paired ground water monitoring wells were established in cropland and riparian buffers at two agricultural research sites during July 2002 and July 2003. Samples of ground water, tile drainage water, and stream water were collected approximately monthly over the 2003 field season and analyzed for NO3–N and NH4–N concentration. Average NO3–N concentration across sites was significantly lower in buffers for each sampling. Average NH4–N concentration was consistently higher beneath buffers, and decreased markedly over the sampling period. Soil drainage, as indexed by depth to water table, was significantly correlated with NO3–N concentrations among cropland and buffer wells at individual sites. We hypothesize that this reflects the relationship between soil drainage and its direct impact on both NO3–N leaching and denitrification potentials across the landscape. Forested buffers had the lowest average NO3–N, highest NH4–N, and the highest water table. Cropland soils with appreciable NO3–N in ground water adjoining riparian buffers on outwash deposits were ineffective at reducing NO3–N. Consistent NO3–N reductions occurred between cropland and buffers where ground water flowed from moderately well and well drained cropland to poorly drained riparian buffer soils.
Control solutions to tame mechanical resonant loads: Part 1

The primary objective of this paper is to investigate three distinct solutions to stabilize performance of a mechanical load that has resonance. In this case, the load inertia varies from 0.25 PU to 2.0 PU of the motor inertia.
Insolubility of lipids in Triton X-100: physical origin and relationship to sphingolipid/cholesterol membrane domains (rafts)

The insolubility of lipids in detergents is a useful method for probing the structure of biological membranes. Insolubility in detergents like Triton X-100 is observed in lipid bilayers that exist in physical states in which lipid packing is tight. The Triton X-100-insoluble lipid fraction obtained after detergent extraction of eukaryotic cells is composed of detergent-insoluble membranes rich in sphingolipids and cholesterol. These insoluble membranes appear to arise from sphingolipid- and cholesterol-rich membrane domains (rafts) in the tightly packed liquid ordered state. Because the degree of lipid insolubility depends on the stability of lipid-lipid interactions relative to lipid-detergent interactions, the quantitative relationship between rafts and detergent-insoluble membranes is complex, and can depend on lipid composition, detergent and temperature. Nevertheless, when used conservatively detergent insolubility is an invaluable tool for studying cellular rafts and characterizing their composition.
Some consequences ofThe New Rhetoric: A critical study

This review article examines some aspects of the legacy of Perelman'sThe New Rhetoric as reflected in two volumes of his collected essays in the new edition of his Works as well as in a memorial volume edited by Michel Meyer and the acts of a colloquium sponsored by Meyer's Center for Argumentation.
Limbic Activation and Psychophysiologic Responses to Aversive Visual Stimuli: Interaction with Cognitive Task

We mapped regional brain activity and peripheral psychophysiologic responses, occurring in response to evocative emotional stimuli, and examined whether task instructions could modulate limbic activation. Ten subjects viewed pictures with neutral or aversive emotional content during simultaneous measurement of peripheral psychophysiology and brain activity with [15O]water positron emission tomography (PET). Cognitive task was manipulated by having the subjects rate the pictures or perform a recognition memory task. Aversive pictures, relative to neutral pictures, increased cerebral activity in bilateral amygdala, thalamic/hypothalamic area, midbrain, and left lateral prefrontal cortex, along with greater skin conductance responses (SCR). Voxel-by-voxel correlation coefficients between regional brain activity and SCR showed significant positive correlation peaks in the thalamus and right amygdala. Limbic activation was significantly greater during the rating condition compared to the recognition condition, suggesting that when task demands modify emotional responses, this modulation can occur at the level of limbic activity.
Feeding by Korscheltellus gracilis (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae) Larvae on Roots of Spruce and Fir

Feeding habits of Korscheltellus gracilis (Grote) were determined in the laboratory and field in Vermont. Gymnospenn and angiosperm seedlings and one fern were exposed to larvae. Significant reductions in root length or volume occurred in all three taxa. Larvae removed root bark and phloem and often girdled stem bases. Feeding damage was similar to that found in high elevation spruce-fir forests on Camels Hump Mountain, VT. The feeding experiments suggest that this insect may have a negative effect on regeneration and contribute to red spruce ( Picea rubens ) and balsam fir ( Abies balsamea ) decline in the northeastern United States.
Fetal echogenic bowel: parameters to be considered in differential diagnosis

Objectives To evaluate the extent that associated findings aid in the differential diagnosis and/or prognosis of fetal echogenic bowel. Methods Medical history, obstetric records and outcome details were examined for 131 consecutive pregnancies with fetal hyperechogenic bowel. Results In 62 (47%) cases, there were no visible anomalies other than hyperechogenic bowel and no evidence of growth restriction. This group included four (7%) pregnancies with Down syndrome, 15 (24%) with infection or a recent episode of influenza and eight (13%) with blood staining of amniotic fluid. In the remaining 69 (53%) cases, hyperechogenic bowel was accompanied by hydrops or nuchal edema (n = 16, 12.2%), growth restriction (n = 9, 6.9%), other markers for chromosome anomalies (n = 33, 25.2%) or multiple structural anomalies (n = 11, 8.4%). In this group, the prevalence of Down syndrome was 12%, infection or influenza was reported in 14 (20%) cases and there was blood staining of amniotic fluid in seven (10%). Cystic fibrosis screening was performed in 65 (50%) pregnancies; the results were negative in all cases and clinical assessment did not indicate cystic fibrosis in any of the 91 infants who were born alive. Maternal serum screening was performed in 41 (31%) pregnancies. High alpha‒fetoprotein levels were associated with multiple abnormalities or severe growth restriction. Conclusions In many pregnancies with fetal hyperechogenic bowel, there are multiple factors that may explain these findings. Thus identification of one potential underlying cause should not preclude further testing. Once chromosome defects, cystic fibrosis, structural abnormalities, infection and growth restriction have been excluded, parents can be counseled that the prognosis is good, irrespective of the presence or absence of blood stained amniotic fluid. Copyright © 2000 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology