cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Measurement of In-Vivo Pulmonary Vascular Impedance in Two Animal Models of Pulmonary Hypertension

Pulmonary vascular input impedance has been increasingly promoted as an important diagnostic for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) [1,2]. The gold-standard clinical diagnostic for the disease, pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), quantifies only the mean resistance to flow but ignores the impact of vascular stiffness and flow pulsatility, which in PAH can represent up to 40% of the total load presented to the right ventricle. PVR has also been found to be only a moderate predictor of PAH outcomes [3]. The first of these deficiencies is not present in impedance; clinical studies have found the sum of its 1st and 2nd harmonic moduli to have good correlation (r2 = 0.812) with global pulmonary vascular stiffness (PVS) [2], a hemodynamically-measured quantifier of vascular stiffness. Additionally, the 0th harmonic modulus of impedance has excellent correlation to PVR (r2 = 0.974); thus, it also quantifies the resistive load. Moreover, because PVS has recently been found as a valuable determinant of mortality in PAH [4], we believe that impedance, as a combined measure of PVR and PVS, might be an excellent predictor of disease outcomes.© 2007 ASME
Independent and Redundant Information in Nearby Cortical Neurons

In the primary visual cortex (V1), nearby neurons are tuned to similar stimulus features, and, depending on the manner and time scale over which neuronal signals are analyzed, the resulting redundancy may mitigate deleterious effects of response variability. We estimated information rates in the short-time scale responses of clusters of up to six simultaneously recorded nearby neurons in monkey V1. Responses were almost independent if we kept track of which neuron fired each spike but were redundant if we summed responses over the cluster. Redundancy was independent of cluster size. Summing neuronal responses to reduce variability discards potentially useful information, and the discarded information increases with cluster size.
Inhibition of CMP-N-acetylneuraminic acid:lactosylceramide sialyltransferase by nucleotides, nucleotide sugars and nucleotide dialdehydes.

Abstract The effects of nucleotides, nucleotide sugars and nucleotide dialdehydes on the activity and kinetics of cytidine 5′-monophospho-N-acetylneuraminic acid : lactosylceramide (α2→3) sialyltransferase (SAT-1) in microsomes derived from embryonic chick brain were investigated. Although under physiological conditions this enzyme utilizes a CMP-sugar as substrate, it was found that UDP-dialdehyde was an effective inhibitor of SAT-1 activity. CMP-dialdehyde was only slightly more efficient at inhibiting SAT-1 activity. Similar findings were found for the inhibitory effects of UDP versus CMP. In addition, two UDP-sugars (UDP-Gal and UDP-GalNAc) were also slightly inhibitory. Kinetic analyses demonstrate that both UDP- and CMP-dialdehydes are competitive inhibitors of SAT-1 activity. The data suggests that the substrate specificity of microsomal SAT-1 resides more in the sugar moiety, rather than in the nucleotide portion of the substrate.
In vivo determination of endogenous biogenic amines in rat brain using HPLC and push-pull cannula.

Abstract Combining the methods of push-pull cannulation with those of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), we have measured the content of a number of biogenic amines in the perfusate of freely moving rats. In an initial study, the lateral hypothalamus (LH) was chronically implanted with a push-pull cannula and was perfused with 0.9% NaCl. Fifteen minute samples were collected through the push-pull cannula (flow rate: 25 μl/min) and aliquots of 200 μl were injected into the HPLC without any extraction or prepurification procedure. Simultaneous determination of the levels of 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), norepinephrine (NE) and dopamine (DA) in the perfusate was accomplished by means of HPLC with electrochemical detection. The HPLC system utilized a C-18 reverse phase column coupled with a glassy carbon detector. Results indicate that this combination of push-pull perfusions and HPLC assay can provide a simple, rapid, and sensitive technique for the in vivo simultaneous determination of the compounds released in discrete brain areas. In preliminary studies in which these methods were used, 50 mg/kg D,L-5-HTP was injected subcutaneously (SC) into rats implanted with push-pull cannulae and working on a variable interval (VI 1) schedule of reinforcement. Increases in 5-HTP, 5-HT and 5-HIAA were measured during the period of behavioral depression following 5-HTP administration. This technique could provide a useful tool in the assessment of neurochemical changes in brain during ongoing steady-state behaviors or during the disruption of behavior following administration of drugs, precursors, or other perturbations.
XXXVII. The band spectrum of mercury and the dissociation of hydrogen molecules by excited mercury atoms

1. 1. The band spectrum of mercury, the heads of the three strongest bands of which are of wave-lengths 4219, 4017, and 3728, is developed strongly in a Geissler discharge in a tube containing a mi...
Slicer and the Argonautes

Though they started out as somewhat mysterious components of the RNAi effector complexes, Argonaute proteins have since taken center stage in RNAi gene silencing. They interact with small RNAs to effect gene silencing in all RNAi-related pathways known so far. We will review the dramatic advances in our understanding of the role of the Argonautes in RNAi through studies of their structure and function.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research and Academic Promise

All indications are that child and adolescent psychiatrists are more involved in research than they were in 1980, but significant obstacles continue to make it difficult to make research attractive to young child psychiatrists eager to begin clinical careers. Nevertheless, generating sound, applicable research must be one of the field’s top priorities. The author describes several strategies for improving the research involvement of child and adolescent psychiatry, including developing productive relationships with basic researchers in psychiatry, actively seeking out federal and private research funds, and carving out room in the child and adolescent psychiatry curriculum to expose residents to basic scientific methods and exciting developmental issues.
Differential metabolism of the enantiomers of primaquine.

Abstract When racemic primaquine was administered to rats, the majority of the residual primaquine excreted in urine was found to be the (+)‐isomer. Using a liver microsome preparation, there was no selectivity in the metabolism of the (+)‐ and (−)‐isomers; however, a liver fraction containing mitochondria and microsomes did show selectivity. In the latter preparation, there was a marked preference for the conversion of (−)‐primaquine to (−)‐carboxyprimaquine.
Dominant connexin26 mutants associated with human hearing loss have trans-dominant effects on connexin30

Dominant mutations in GJB2, the gene encoding the human gap junction protein connexin26 (Cx26), cause hearing loss. We investigated whether dominant Cx26 mutants interact directly with Cx30. HeLa cells stably expressing nine dominant Cx26 mutants, six associated with non-syndromic hearing loss (W44C, W44S, R143Q, D179N, R184Q and C202F) and three associated with hearing loss and palmoplantar keratoderma (G59A, R75Q and R75W), individually or together with Cx30, were analyzed by immunocytochemistry, co-immunoprecipitation, and functional assays (scrape-loading and/or fluorescence recovery after photobleaching). When expressed alone, all mutants formed gap junction plaques, but with impaired intercellular dye transfer. When expressed with Cx30, all mutants co-localized and co-immunoprecipitated with Cx30, indicating they likely co-assembled into heteromers. Furthermore, 8/9 Cx26 mutants inhibited the transfer of neurobiotin or calcein, indicating that these Cx26 mutants have trans-dominant effects on Cx30, an effect that may contribute to the pathogenesis of hearing loss.
Use of technology with health care providers: perspectives from urban youth.

Objective To evaluate urban youths’ use of and access to technology and solicit their opinions about using technology with healthcare providers. Study design Urban youth (aged 14-24 years) were invited to participate in focus groups in which a trained focus group facilitator used a survey and a structured guide to elicit responses regarding the foregoing objective. All sessions were audiotaped and transcribed. Emergent themes were determined with the assistance of Atlas TI. Survey data were analyzed in SPSS (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Illinois). Results Eight focus groups including 82 primarily low-income urban African-American adolescents and young adults (mean age, 18.5 years) were completed. The participants reported fairly high access to and use of technology. However, they expressed some concerns regarding the use of technology with healthcare providers. Many worried about the confidentiality of conversations conducted using technology. Face-to-face meetings with a healthcare provider were preferred by most participants, who felt that the information provided would be better tailored to their individual needs and more credible. Conclusion Although urban youth were high users of technology, they expressed reservations about using technology with health care providers. When developing new technology communication and information dissemination strategies, it is critical to understand and address these concerns while involving young people in the research and development process.
Electronic structure and bonding at SiC/AlN and SiC/BP interfaces.

The (110) interfaces SiC/AlN and SiC/BP between the cubic (sphalerite) crystals of these semiconductors are studied within the local-density-functional framework using the linear muffin-tin orbital method and the supercell approach. The preferred bonding configurations are found to be Si-N and C-Al for the former and Si-B and C-P for the latter. Both correspond to cation-anion bonding when the anomalous ion character of BP is taken into account. The latter is independently confirmed by our calculations. The interface energies are calculated as the limits of half the superlattice energies of formation and are found to be 0.45 and 0.50 eV for SiC/AlN and SiC/BP, respectively. Combined with a simple bond-breaking model for the surface energies they are used to estimate the adhesion energies, which are shown to be comparable in magnitude to the surface energies of the individual materials. The energy of formation of the 1+1 superlattices, which is effectively a 50% mixed compoud, is calculated and used to make a crude estimate of the energy of formation and the maximum miscibility-gap temperature of the solid solutions. The band structures of the bulk compounds are presented, including an approximate correction of the band gap. The band alignment is found to be of type I for SiC/AlN and of type II for SiC/BP with the higher valence-band maximum in BP. Strain effects in the case of SiC/BP are briefly discussed. The interface electronic structures including interface states and resonances are analyzed in terms of the local densities of states.
Evaluation of the sensitivity of rapid toxicity tests relative to daphnid acute lethality tests.

Acute bioassays are well developed and widely used test methods for toxicity assessment of chemicals and effluents. Although these tests are robust and typically provide very definitive results, they can be very time consuming, some requiring 48 to 96 hours to complete. New and revised commercial test methods are being developed, many of these with the goal of increased test rapidity. Some of these tests have as endpoints measurements of enzymatic activity or amount of bioluminescence instead of mortality. Presently, many tests are available that take 24 hours or less to complete. We compared several of these newer commercial tests with the standard 48-hour Ceriodaphnia dubia mortality test. One of our main interests in these tests is as a tool for adding toxicity data to biological field surveys of aquatic systems. The ability to perform tests in a motel room, field office, or other remote location in a short time would make it much easier to make toxicity information part of the field survey package.
Two-color quantitative multiplex methylation-specific PCR

In recent years, several methylation-specific PCR-based techniques have been developed to identify and characterize hypermethylation of CpG dinucleotides with the primary goal of elucidating a bett...
The SIR-C Education Program (SIR-CED)

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has produced an educational package entitled 'The SIR-C Education Program' (SIR-CED), designed as a two- to three-week module for Middle School and High School students. SIR-C stands for Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and is the acronym used for a radar instrument flown on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in April of 1994 and scheduled for second flight in August. This paper gives a brief introduction to the SIR-CED program. The SIR-CED package consists of: a Teachers' Resource Guide (180 pages); presentation materials; lesson guides, including activities for students; a CD-ROM containing radar images, shuttle hand-held photographs taken by the astronauts, digitized location and topographic maps, ground photos, easy-to-use software for image display and analysis on Macintosh, SUN, and IBM PC computers; documentation; a selection of videos about imaging radar; and teacher workshops for training. The Teachers' Resource Guide contains a basic introduction to NASA's Mission to Planet Earth, how imaging radar and SIR-C fit into that program and how they work, and how scientists use imaging radar data in their studies of the Earth's environment. Also included in the package are easy-to-use software to display the images provided. The comprehensive data set incorporated into the SIR-CED CD-ROM may also be useful for some engineers and scientists, who wish to explore the potential of radar observation. >
Propensity for participative decision making: a cross-cultural investigation

This study seeks to validate Parnell and Bell's propensity for participative decision making (PPDM) scale and assess similarities and differences with regard to PPDM among management students in China, Mexico and the USA. Empirical results provide support for the scale, but the findings are not conclusive. Conclusions and recommendations for future research are provided.
Autologous blood use in percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

Objectives. Preoperative autologous blood (AUB) donation has decreased patient exposure to allogenic blood (ALB) products and associated infectious risk. The risk of contracting hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus is 1 in 103,000 and 1 in 678,000, respectively, after receiving 1 U ALB. Elective surgical procedures require surgeons to offer preoperative AUB donation in California. Unused AUB is discarded. We report our use of AUB obtained for percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Methods. A retrospective study of 144 consecutive patients who underwent 193 percutaneous nephrolithotomies between January 1994 and April 1998 at one of four teaching hospitals at the University of California, San Francisco was performed. Preoperative AUB donation, transfusion rates, hemoglobin levels, blood use, and costs were analyzed. Results. Ninety-six units of blood were collected from 63 patients (44%) and were available for 70 procedures (36%). The overall transfusion rate per procedure was 7%, with 13 patients receiving a total of 24 U, 7 AUB and 17 ALB. Eighty-nine units (92.7%) of AUB were discarded, and the transfusion rate in donors and nondonors was similar. There was no significant difference in preoperative hemoglobin or operative blood loss between donors and nondonors. The 13 transfused patients had a lower preoperative hemoglobin (11.5 versus 12.8 g/dL; P = 0.029) and higher operative blood loss as measured by hemoglobin level (3.2 versus 1.6 g/dL; P <0.001). Blood bank charges for ALB and AUB were $119/U and $244 to $498/U, respectively, depending on transportation and thawing charges. Conclusions. Routine preoperative blood donation adds substantial cost for minimal benefit, given the low infectious risk of ALB and the two- to fourfold higher cost of AUB. In our series, women had an increased incidence of blood transfusion compared with men. AUB donation may provide peace of mind but is rarely used and is discarded 93% of the time.
Termination and pausing of RNA polymerase II downstream of yeast polyadenylation sites.

Abstract Little is known about the transcriptional events which occur downstream of polyadenylation sites. Although the polyadenylation site of a gene can be easily identified, it has been difficult to determine the site of transcription termination in vivo because of the rapid processing of pre-mRNAs. Using an in vitro approach, we have shown that sequences from the 3' ends of two different Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes, ADH2 and GAL7, direct transcription termination and/or polymerase pausing in yeast nuclear extracts. In the case of the ADH2 sequence, the RNA synthesized in vitro ends approximately 50 to 150 nucleotides downstream of the poly(A) site. This RNA is not polyadenylated and may represent the primary transcript. A similarly sized nonpolyadenylated [poly(A)-] transcript can be detected in vivo from the same transcriptional template. A GAL7 template also directs the in vitro synthesis of an RNA which extends a short distance past the poly(A) site. However, a significant amount of the GAL7 RNA is polyadenylated at or close to the in vivo poly(A) site. Mutations of GAL7 or ADH2 poly(A) signals prevent polyadenylation but do not affect the in vitro synthesis of the extended poly(A)- transcript. Since transcription of the mutant template continues through this region in vivo, it is likely that a strong RNA polymerase II pause site lies within the 3'-end sequences. Our data support the hypothesis that the coupling of this pause site to a functional polyadenylation signal results in transcription termination.
Evolution of the Internet QoS and support for soft real-time applications

The past few years have witnessed the emergence of many real-time networked applications on the Internet. These types of applications require special support from the underlying network such as reliability, timeliness, and guaranteed delivery, as well as different levels of service quality. Unfortunately, this support is not available within the current "best-effort" Internet architecture. In this paper, we review several mechanisms and frameworks proposed to provide network- and application-level quality of service (QoS) in the next-generation Internet. We first discuss the QoS requirements of many of the above-mentioned real-time applications, and then we categorize them according to the required service levels. We also describe the various building blocks often used in QoS approaches. We briefly present asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and Internet Protocol precedence. Then, we present and compare two service architectures recently adopted by the Internet Engineering Task Force, called integrated services (IntServ) and differentiated services (DiffServ), for providing per-flow and aggregated-flow service guarantees, respectively. We focus on DiffServ because it is a candidate QoS framework to be used in next-generation Internet along with multiprotocol label switching and traffic engineering. We also examine several operational and research issues that need to be resolved before such frameworks can be put in practice.
The preparation of [15N]- and [1-13C]-2-naphthylamine and their conversions into [15N, 15N′]- and [1,1′-13C2]-2,2′-azonaphthalene

Specifically labelled [15N]-2-naphthylamine and [1-13C]-2-naphthylamine have been synthesized with approx. 99% label abundance. The correspondingly highly-enriched, doubly-labelled 2,2′-azonaphthalenes have been made.
Friendship and fighting: A developmental approach to the study of risk and prevention of violence

This article describes the evolution of a psychosocial intervention, pairing, from its initial utilization as an interpersonally oriented therapy for severely emotionally disturbed pre- and early adolescents in a special needs school, to its current usage as a public school prevention technique for at-risk youngsters, both aggressive and withdrawn, who are living under conditions of poverty and limited community supports. The evolution of the intervention is described parallel to both the evolution of its theoretical foundations and its associated empirical analysis and evaluation. Given that our approach to both intervention and basic research is clinical-developmental (each part of the discipline influencing the other), the facilitation of greater social competence through the intervention provides the impetus for our research inquiry into the nature of psychosocial development. A generic evaluation model that integrates both outcome behavior and psychosocial development is described as it is applied to the evaluation of this specific intervention's effectiveness.
The treatment of mitochondrial myopathies and encephalomyopathies

This paper briefly summarizes the results of a long-term, open pharmacotherapy trial in 16 patients with well-characterized mitochondrial disease. Outcome measures included repeated clinical evaluation, 31P-NMR spectroscopy and near-infrared spectroscopy. Treated patients appeared to survive longer with less functional disability and medical complications than typically seen in clinical practice.
Interior Duct Wall Pressure Downstream of a Low-Speed Rotor

The region downstream of a ducted rotor has been experimentally investigated in terms of its wake characteristics and the duct wall pressure fluctuations. The motivation for the measurements was to document and understand the sources of structural excitation that would lead to shell vibration. The wake measurements indicated a swirling hydrodynamic flow field that decayed rapidly in the streamwise direction. The interior duct wall pressure similarly indicated strong decay in the fluctuation levels in the streamwise direction. The spectral features of the wall pressure at various speeds and axial positions were described, and found to be influenced by the relative interactions of the blade rate harmonics and the duct cut-on modes. A circumferential modal analysis was used to describe the specific features of the hydrodynamic and acoustic pressure components. I. Introduction HE prediction of sound generated by turbomachines operating within a cylindrical duct represents one of the canonical aeroacoustic problems. A significant source of radiated sound can be structure-borne when the duct material is elastic. Direct mechanical forces as well as fluid pressure at the wall can lead to excitation of the structure. The unsteady surface pressure can be characterized in terms of both acoustic pressure and the convected, or hydrodynamic, pressure fluctuations. Prediction of the shell motion and sound radiated through the duct walls can only be made if an adequate space-time (alternatively, wavenumber-frequency) description of the wall pressure is known 1 . T
Spreading Code Design of Adaptive Non-Contiguous SOFDM for Dynamic Spectrum Access

In a dynamic spectrum access (DSA) network, multi-carrier-based cognitive radio transceivers need to deactivate some of their subcarriers to avoid interference to primary users. In a mobile environment, the spread orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (SOFDM) system has demonstrated excellent performance in multipath fading channels, outperforming the traditional OFDM system due to the diversity gain. The traditional SOFDM uses Hadamard-Walsh code as the spreading code set, in which case, when deactivating subcarriers, orthogonality among different spreading codes will be lost, leading to poor bit error ratio (BER) performance. The performance of the SOFDM system can be improved by using adaptive spreading code adjustment to compensate for the loss of orthogonality. Because Hadamard-Walsh codes only exist for certain code length, in many cases, the SOFDM system based on Hadamard-Walsh code set needs to deactivate more subcarriers. Otherwise, loss of orthogonality cannot be eliminated. Instead, it can only be minimized. Moreover, deactivating more subcarriers will force the system to reduce the data rate. By treating the system as subsystems, we can generate binary orthogonal code set based on Hadamard-Walsh code to maintain the data rate. On the other hand, if the spreading code is not limited to be binary, orthogonal carrier interferometry (CI) codes exist for code length of any integer. Hence, by applying non-contiguous SOFDM (NC-SOFDM) with CI code to DSA, the loss of orthogonality among spreading codes caused by deactivating subcarriers can be eliminated. In this paper, we propose two novel spread coding schemes for NC-SOFDM for cognitive radio in a DSA network. The new spreading code sets help the system to maintain the same data rate as that of the traditional OFDM and improve the performance by exploiting the diversity gain and eliminating the orthogonality loss. The NC-SOFDM with the proposed spreading code outperforms the traditional NC-OFDM and the adaptive NC-SOFDM with Hadamard-Walsh code.
ESTIMATING THREE‐DIMENSIONAL ENERGY TRANSFER IN ISOTROPIC TURBULENCE*

To obtain an estimate of the spectral transfer function that indicates the rate of decay of energy, an x-wire probe was set at a fixed position, and two single wire probes were set at a number of locations in the same plane perpendicular to the mean flow in the wind tunnel. The locations of the single wire probes are determined by pseudo-random numbers (Monte Carlo). Second order spectra and cross spectra are estimated. The assumption of isotropy relative to second order spectra is examined. Third order spectra are also estimated corresponding to the positions specified. A Monte Carlo Fourier transformation of the downstream bispectra corresponding to integration across the plane perpendicular to the flow is carried out assuming isotropy. Further integration is carried out over spherical energy shells.
Implementing Curricular Change

Analytical skills provide the theoretical framework for much of physics. In the real world, however, solutions to problems typically require creative combinations of analytic, experimental, and computational techniques. Recognizing this need, the physics department at the University of St. Thomas developed an integrated physics curriculum emphasizing analytical, computational, experimental, and communication skills
A new hypothesis on the simultaneous direct and indirect proton pump mechanisms in NADH-quinone oxidoreductase (complex I).

Recently, Sazanov’s group reported the X-ray structure of whole complex I [Nature, 465, 441 (2010)], which presented a strong clue for a “piston-like” structure as a key element in an “indirect” proton pump. We have studied the NuoL subunit which has a high sequence similarity to Na+/H+ antiporters, as do the NuoM and N subunits. We constructed 27 site-directed NuoL mutants. Our data suggest that the H+/e− stoichiometry seems to have decreased from (4H+/2e−) in the wild-type to approximately (3H+/2e−) in NuoL mutants. We propose a revised hypothesis that each of the “direct” and the “indirect” proton pumps transports 2H+ per 2e−.
Bacteriophage T4 mutants deficient in alteration and modification of the Escherichia coli RNA polymerase

Abstract An extensive screening of coliphage T4 mutants has revealed two distinct classes defective, respectively, in the two sequential phage-induced phosphorylations of the host RNA polymerase, alteration and modification. The existence of these mutants proves that T4-specified functions are involved in both processes. The viabilities of these mutants demonstrate that neither alteration nor modification is essential for growth in Escherichia coli B/r. Physiological studies after infection of E. coli B/r have failed to reveal any abnormalities of phage deficient in alteration or modification. Both mutants normally inhibit host protein and stable RNA synthesis and normally express all classes of T4 genes. Thus, these specific phage-induced structural changes in the host RNA polymerase are not fundamental to the control of gene expression during T4 development. Alteration and modification may be required for growth in some strains of E. coli and hence be selectively advantageous because they extend the normal host range of the phage. Alteration appears to be catalyzed by a T4 function injected with the DNA. A polypeptide of molecular weight 61,000, which is probably cleaved during morphogenesis from a precursor of molecular weight 79,000, is missing in phage particles of alteration-deficient strains and may be the phage activity so injected. The T4 gene involved in alteration is named alt . Modification is controlled by a T4-replicative gene that has been mapped into a region of about 500 base-pairs between genes 39 and 56. These mapping data show that the defect in α modification defines a new T4 gene, named mod .
The Three-Dimensional Structure of Pectate Lyase E, a Plant Virulence Factor from Erwinia chrysanthemi

The three-dimensional structure of pectate lyase E (PelE) has been determined by crystallographic techniques at a resolution of 2.2 A. The model includes all 355 amino acids but no solvent, and refines to a crystallographic refinement factor of 20.6%. The polypeptide backbone folds into a large right-handed cylinder, termed a parallel [beta] helix. Loops of various sizes and conformations protrude from the central helix and probably confer function. A putative Ca2+-binding site as well as two cationic sites have been deduced from the location of heavy atom derivatives. Comparison of the PelE and recently determined pectate lyase C (PelC) structures has led to identification of a putative polygalacturonate-binding region in PelE. Structural differences relevant to differences in the enzymatic mechanism and maceration properties of PelE and PelC have been identified. The comparative analysis also reveals a large degree of structural conservation of surface loops in one region as well as an apparent aromatic specificity pocket in the amino-terminal branch. Also discussed is the sequence and possible functional relationship of the pectate lyases with pollen and style plant proteins.
A Scientific Methodology for Investigation of a Lithium Ion Battery Failure

Lithium-ion (rechargeable) batteries of various capacities and form factors appear in increasing varieties of consumer products including laptop computers, cellular telephones, digital cameras, portable music players, mini DVD players, children's toys, and cordless power tools. On occasion, the batteries in these products fail in a manner that includes overheating, case rupture, and even flaming combustion. Exponent has developed a systematic approach to lithium-ion battery failure investigations that has proven useful in identifying the root cause(s) of these failures. This approach includes collecting information about the incident, dissecting the remains of the incident device and battery pack, conducting visual, X-ray, and scanning electron-microscope examinations of failed and exemplar cells, and electrical testing of charging and battery protection system components. In this paper, we discuss the general approach developed, and provide examples of its application.
Prognosis of congestive heart failure in patients with normal versus reduced ejection fractions: Results from a cohort of 2,258 hospitalized patients

Background: Patients with congestive heart failure have an annual mortality of 10% to 20% depending on disease severity. Though one third of these patients have normal left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF), their natural history is poorly defined. Small population-based studies have suggested a more benign prognosis for patients with preserved LVEF. However, prognosis in hospitalized patients, who form a higher risk group, is not known. Methods: We investigated the survival patterns of 2,258 patients with a primary hospital discharge diagnosis of congestive heart failure between 1990 and 1999. Survival was analyzed and patients with normal and reduced LVEF were compared. Results: Their age was 71 ± 11 years, and 97% were men. There were 1,535 deaths over a mean follow up of 786 days. Of these, 963 (43%) patients had a normal LVEF (≥55%). Patients with normal LVEF were of the same age as those with reduced LVEF, but had a lower prevalence of atrial fibrillation (20 versus 26%, P =.03), left bundle branch block (2 versus 12%, P <.0001), significant mitral regurgitation (5 versus 31%, P <.0001) and electrocardiographic evidence of myocardial infarction (38 versus 60%, P <.0001). Despite lesser comorbidities, they had a higher mortality hazard, with a 5-year survival of 22% compared with 28% for those with systolic heart failure (P =.007). Proportional hazards model showed presence of normal EF as a categoric variable to be an independent predictor of mortality in those with heart failure after correcting for age and rhythm. Conclusions: Prognosis of hospitalized patients with congestive heart failure and normal LVEF is worse than those with reduced EF despite lesser comorbidities. Studies addressing optimal management of these patients are warranted.
Ocular manifestations of feline herpesvirus.

Feline herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1) infection is ubiquitous in the domestic cat population worldwide. The most common clinical ocular manifestations of infection with FHV-1 are conjunctivitis and keratitis. This paper reviews the pathogenesis of feline herpesvirus-1 and discusses the various clinical ocular manifestations, diagnostic techniques and treatment of FHV-1-induced diseases. Ocular manifestations include: conjunctivitis, keratitis, stromal keratitis, keratoconjunctivitis sicca, ophthalmia neonatorium, symblepharon, corneal sequestrum, eosinophilic keratitis and anterior uveitis. Diagnostic techniques discussed include: virus isolation, fluorescent antibody testing, serum neutralising titers, ELISA and polymerase chain reaction. Various therapies are also discussed.
Decreased Spontaneous Attention to Social Scenes in 6-Month-Old Infants Later Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Background The ability to spontaneously attend to the social overtures and activities of others is essential for the development of social cognition and communication. This ability is critically impaired in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD); however, it is not clear if prodromal symptoms in this area are already present in the first year of life of those affected by the disorder. Methods To examine whether 6-month-old infants later diagnosed with ASD exhibit atypical spontaneous social monitoring skills, visual responses of 67 infants at high-risk and 50 at low-risk for ASD were studied using an eye-tracking task. Based on their clinical presentation in the third year, infants were divided into those with ASD, those exhibiting atypical development, and those developing typically. Results Compared with the control groups, 6-month-old infants later diagnosed with ASD attended less to the social scene, and when they did look at the scene, they spent less time monitoring the actress in general and her face in particular. Limited attention to the actress and her activities was not accompanied by enhanced attention to objects. Conclusions Prodromal symptoms of ASD at 6 months include a diminished ability to attend spontaneously to people and their activities. A limited attentional bias toward people early in development is likely to have a detrimental impact on the specialization of social brain networks and the emergence of social interaction patterns. Further investigation into its underlying mechanisms and role in psychopathology of ASD in the first year is warranted.
CMOS impedance biosensor array with active tone cancellation for simultaneous impedance and nonlinearity measurement

We present a 6×6 array of impedance biosensor circuits implemented in 0.18 µm CMOS. Each pixel contains impedance-measuring circuitry plus tone cancellation circuitry to enable simultaneous measurement of the impedance's dependence on DC bias point. Changes in both impedance and nonlinearity of the electrode-solution interface can indicate binding of the biomolecule of interest. Our measurement scheme uses a large-amplitude low-frequency tone superimposed on the traditional small-signal excitation. The weakly nonlinear nature of the electrode-solution interface generates intermodulation tones which can be used to quantify the amount of nonlinearity. To avoid the large-amplitude signal saturating the amplifier output, a digital feedback loop actively cancels the low-frequency component by injecting an antiphase current at the summing node of the transimpedance amplifier, so that only the small-signal tone and intermodulation tones remain. Impedance changes of 0.2% can be detected. Each measurement pixel occupies 0.14 mm2 and consumes 1.9 mW.
Receptor-mediated methylprednisolone pharmacodynamics in rats: Steroid-induced receptor down-regulation

Several approaches to receptor down-regulation were examined to extend previous receptor/gene-mediated pharmacokinetic/dynamic models of corticosteroids. Down-regulation of the glucocorticoid receptor was considered as an instantaneous event or as a gradual steroid-receptor-mediated process. Concentrations of plasma methylprednisolone, free hepatic cytosolic receptors, and the activity of hepatic tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) enzyme were measured for 16 hr following administration of 0, 10, and 50 mg/kg methylprednisolone sodium succinate to 93 adrenalectomized rats. Receptor down-regulation was best described by a fractional decrement in the rate of return of free cytosolic glucocorticoid receptor. Predicted values for free receptor, bound receptor, nuclear bound receptor, and transfer compartments were in accord with the expected rank order values based on the high and low steroid doses. Model parameter estimates were independent of dose and described the rapid depletion of free cytosolic receptor, late-phase return of cytosolic receptor to a new baseline level that was 20-40% lower than control, and the TAT induction/dissipation pattern following steroid dosing. The microscopic association and dissociation constants describing the steroid-receptor interaction were 0.23 L/nmole per hr (k(on)) and 4.74 hr-1 (k(off)) for methylprednisolone compared to previously obtained values of 0.20 L/nmole per hr and 15.7 hr-1 for the related steroid prednisolone. The time course of TAT induction was similar to that observed previously for prednisolone. Efficiency of TAT induction was more closely related to steroid receptor occupancy than plasma methylprednisolone concentrations due to receptor saturability and receptor recycling.
Family of pH (low) insertion peptides for tumor targeting

Cancer is a complex disease with a range of genetic and biochemical markers within and among tumors, but a general tumor characteristic is extracellular acidity, which is associated with tumor growth and development. Acidosis could be a universal marker for cancer imaging and the delivery of therapeutic molecules, but its promise as a cancer biomarker has not been fully realized in the clinic. We have discovered a unique approach for the targeting of acidic tissue using the pH-sensitive folding and transmembrane insertion of pH (low) insertion peptide (pHLIP). The essence of the molecular mechanism has been elucidated, but the principles of design need to be understood for optimal clinical applications. Here, we report on a library of 16 rationally designed pHLIP variants. We show how the tuning of the biophysical properties of peptide–lipid bilayer interactions alters tumor targeting, distribution in organs, and blood clearance. Lead compounds for PET/single photon emission computed tomography and fluorescence imaging/MRI were identified, and targeting specificity was shown by use of noninserting variants. Finally, we present our current understanding of the main principles of pHLIP design.
Structural face encoding: How task affects the N170’s sensitivity to race

The N170 event-related potential (ERP) component differentiates faces from non-faces, but studies aimed at investigating whether the processing indexed by this component is also sensitive to racial differences among faces have garnered conflicting results. Here, we explore how task affects the influence of race on the N170 among White participants. N170s were larger to ingroup White faces than outgroup Black faces, but only for those required to attend to race, suggesting that attention to race can result in deeper levels of processing for ingroup members. Conversely, N170s were larger to Black faces than White faces for participants who attended to the unique identity of the faces, suggesting that attention to identity can result in preferential recruitment of cognitive resources for outgroup members. Taken together, these findings suggest that race can differentially impact face
Skeletal Muscle Insulin Resistance Promotes Increased Hepatic De Novo Lipogenesis, Hyperlipidemia, and Hepatic Steatosis in the Elderly

Aging is closely associated with muscle insulin resistance, hyperlipidemia, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and type 2 diabetes. We examined the hypothesis that muscle insulin resistance in healthy aging promotes increased hepatic de novo lipogenesis (DNL) and hyperlipidemia by altering the distribution pattern of postprandial energy storage. Healthy, normal weight, sedentary elderly subjects pair-matched to young subjects were given two high-carbohydrate meals followed by 13 C/ 1 H magnetic resonance spectroscopy measurements of postprandial changes in muscle and liver glycogen and lipid content, and assessment of DNL using 2 H 2 O. Net muscle glycogen synthesis was reduced by 45% ( P P = NS). Hepatic DNL was more than twofold higher in the elderly than in the young subjects (elderly, 14.5 ± 1.4% vs. young, 6.9 ± 0.7%; P = 0.00015) and was associated with approximately threefold higher postprandial hepatic triglyceride (TG) content ( P P = 0.02). These results strongly support the hypothesis that muscle insulin resistance in aging promotes hyperlipidemia and NAFLD by altering the pattern of postprandial carbohydrate storage away from muscle glycogen and into hepatic DNL.
A high throughput screen for 17 Dermorphin peptides in equine and human urine and equine plasma

The Dermorphins are a family of peptides that act as potent agonists of the opioid μ receptor. Originally identified as a seven amino acid peptide on the skin of the South American Phyllomedusa frog, peptide chemists have since developed a large number of Dermorphin variants, many with superior opioid activity to the original peptide. Dermorphins are unique among the peptide opioid agonists as they appear to have a limited ability to cross the blood brain barrier, producing effects on both the central and peripheral nervous systems. It is this ability of Dermorphins to provide central anaesthesia after intravenous or subcutaneous administration that allows their use as analogues of the opioid class of drugs. Recently, illicit use of the Dermorphin peptide in the racing industry has shown the need for an analytical method to control the use of these peptides. We present a high-throughput liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry screen for 17 Dermorphin peptides in equine urine and plasma with limits of detection down to 5 pg/mL. The peptide extraction technique is also suitable for use in human urine.
Oxidative Pathways for Catecholamines in the Genesis of Neuromelanin and Cytotoxic Quinones

The autoxidation, periodate oxidation, and tyrosinase-mediated oxidation of 6-hydroxydopamine, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine were studied by absorption spectroscopy. Autoxidation and tyrosinase-mediated oxidation of the three catecholamines resulted in dopachrome analogues—aminochrome from dopamine, noradrenochrome from norepinephrine, and adrenochrome from epinephrine—without evidence for the expected intermediates, the o-quinones and the corresponding leukochromes. The use of periodate as an oxidant, on the other hand, allowed visualization of the o-quinone intermediates and the subsequent conversion to the dopachrome analogues. Cyclization of the o-quinones appeared to occur in the order epinephrine > norepinephrine > dopamine, while the rate of autoxidation occurred in the reverse order. The oxidation of 6-hydroxydopamine to its p-quinone was visualized under all three oxidizing conditions. However, the oxidation of 6-hydroxydopamine by periodate gave evidence for a transient intermediate, the o-quinone, which rapidly tautomerized to the p-quinone. The p-quinone product of 6-hydroxydopamine was seen to undergo cyclization to aminochrome, with subsequent polymerization.
Overlapping Functions for Two G Protein α Subunits in Neurospora crassa

Heterotrimeric G proteins, consisting of α, β and γ subunits, mediate a variety of signaling pathways in eukaryotes. We have previously identified two genes, gna-1 and gna-2, that encode G protein α subunits in the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. Mutation of gna-1 results in female infertility and sensitivity to hyperosmotic media. In this study, we investigate the expression and functions of gna-2. Results from Western analysis and measurements of gna-2 promoter-lacZ fusion activity indicate that gna-2 is expressed during the vegetative and sexual cycle of N. crassa in both A and a mating types. Activating mutations predicted to abolish the GTPase activity of GNA-2 cause subtle defects in aerial hyphae formation and conidial germination. Extensive phenotypic analysis of Δgna-2 strains did not reveal abnormalities during vegetative or sexual development. In contrast, deletion of gna-2 in a Δgna-1 strain accentuates the Δgna-1 phenotypes. Δgna-1 Δgna-2 strains have a slower rate of hyphal apical extension than Δgna-1 strains on hyperosmotic media. Moreover, Δgna-1 Δgna-2 mutants have more pronounced defects in female fertility than Δgna-1 strains. We propose that gna-1 and gna-2 have overlapping functions and may constitute a gene family. This is the first report of G protein α subunits with overlapping functions in eukaryotic microbes.
Agentivity and experiencer verbs in Catalan and Mayangna and the roles of ‘little v’

Using Catalan and Mayangna data as evidence, I claim that experiencer predicates are drawn from a universal structure, headed by the functional projection v EXP P. According to this structure, an experience-denoting N is merged with a V-head to obtain an experience predication, which may take a source of experience phrase as its specifier. The experiencer, introduced by the v EXP head, c-commands the source of experience allowing for a ‘parasitic’ possession relationship. Additionally, the data presented here show that a limited subset of experience phrases allow an agentive reading. I argue that such agentive interpretation is the result of the merging in the structure of an agentive functional head, v AG , generated above v EXP P. In turn, this agentive functional head is responsible for the introduction of the agentive, external argument.