cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Operation of the phoneme-to-grapheme conversion mechanism in a brain injured patient

We report the performance of a dysgraphic patient who exhibited impaired ability to spell some words in the face of spared ability to spell nonwords. Word errors generally were phonologically plausible responses. Extensive testing supported the conclusion that the patient used non-lexical processes to spell many words. An examination of the phonologically plausible errors showed that there was a significant correlation between the relative frequency of the patient's choice of phoneme-grapheme mapping options and the relative frequency of use of the same options in the written language. Furthermore, the selection of a specific grapheme option for a given phoneme was determined by the within-syllable position of the phoneme. This result indicates that syllable structure is involved in the process of converting phonology to orthography in non-lexical spelling.
Preliminary characterization of accessory cells in the nonadherent fraction of human blood mononuclear cells

Abstract We investigated why peripheral blood mononuclear cells rigorously depleted of adherent cells by sequential incubation on plastic and nylon wool remained fully responsive to both antigenic and mitogenic signals. Nylon wool nonadherent cells (NWNA) depleted of cells expressing HLA-DR by monoclonal antibody and complement lysis did not respond to tetanus toxoid (TT) or suboptimal concentrations of phytohemagglutinin (PHA). Addition of adherent accessory cells to these NWNA HLA-DR − cells reconstituted the response to stimuli. NWNA, fractionated by discontinuous density gradient centrifugation, contained high density cells which were unresponsive alone to optimal concentrations of both TT and PHA. All the lower density fractions contained cells which were accessory for higher density cell responses to stimuli. The lowest density fraction was approximately 30% monocytes (esterase and peroxidase positive) and ⩽3% B lymphocytes (surface IgG bearing). The other low density fractions contained large granular lymphocytes but rarely monocytes and no B lymphocytes. Depletion of OKT3 + , OKM1 + , and Leu-11 + cells from lower density cells by monoclonal antibody and complement lysis did not abolish their accessory activity, but depletion of HLA-DR + cells or gamma irradiation of these cells decreased their accessory activity for PHA and eradicated accessory activity for TT. Thus, the responsiveness of NWNA to soluble antigenic and mitogenic signals is due, in part, to the presence of low density cells which are radiosensitive and phenotypically HLA-DR + OKT3 − OKM1 − Leu-11 − . Accessory activity in NWNA seems to reside, therefore, in a cell which is not a typical monocyte, natural killer cell, nor B or T lymphocyte.
Jet bias effect due to small detector size

When measuring high- p t jet cross sections, we claim there is a strong bias towards capturing narrower jets. This results from fluctuations in the angular opening of the jets and the steepness of the jet cross section.
Comparative policy analysis: Déjà vu all over again?

During the 1970s and early 1980s, many policy analysts were engaged in comparative policy analysis. For a variety of reasons, the most important of which being a general neglect of the particular policy contexts, the use of comparative policy analysis fell largely into disuse. There are now a number of emerging reasons why a renaissance in comparative policy analysis seems much more propitious: a growing number of transnational policy issues; advances in communication technologies, such that physical distances have been “virtually” eliminated; and new conceptual bases. All of these combine to produce a new demand for comparative policy studies.
Excess enthalpies for (ethanol + water) at 398.15, 423.15, 448.15, and 473.15 K and at pressures of 5 and 15 MPa. Recommendations for choosing (ethanol + water) as an HmE reference mixture

Abstract We report accurate measurements of H m E { x C 2 H 5 OH + (1 − x )H 2 O} at 398.15, 423.15, 448.15, and 473.15 K and at 5 and 15 MPa. This completes our study of this mixture at 25 K temperature intervals from 298.15 to 473.15 K. We propose { x C 2 H 5 OH + (1 − x )H 2 O} as a reference mixture for testing mixing calorimeters. The arguments are as follows. The chemicals are inexpensive, stable, easily purified, non-toxic, and easily disposed of; H m E is relatively insensitive to impurities; H m E is reasonably well behaved as a function of pressure and temperature; and H m E can be accurately represented as a function of x by an equation.
Cell contact mediated differentiation in dictyostelium.

Abstract Major biochemical and ultrastructural changes occur in Dictyostelium discoideum plasma membranes following aggregation of the amoebae. The effects of cyclic AMP, Concanavalin A (Con A), and disruption of cell contacts on membrane particle synthesis and the subsequent differentiation of prespores and mature spores were determined. The results indicated that prespore cell differentiation always failed under conditions in which large particle formation was inhibited or cells bearing particles were restricted in their contacts. Although prespore cells exposed to Con A formed mature spores devoid of prespore vacuoles, the cell walls were defective. The research suggests that the interactions between membrane particles of apposing amoebae may initiate differentiation of prespores and mature spores.
Radiative gauge symmetry breaking in an N = 2 superconformal string compactification

Abstract We study the intermediate scale gauge symmetry breaking in a four-generation heterotic string model based on Gepner's N = 2 superconformal string compactifications. The visible sector gauge group, at the Planck scale, is SU (3) C ⊗SU (2) L ⊗SU (2) R ⊗U (1)′ ⊗U (1)″. Putting in by hand soft supersymmetry breaking terms, we evolve the masses and couplings down from the Planck scale using the renormalization group equations and minimize the effective potential. We find that the U(1)″ gauge group is broken at a scale of approximately 10 15 GeV.
Optimal distributed multicast routing using network coding: theory and applications

Optimal data routing in a network can be often understood as a multicommodity flow problem. Given a network and a set of commodities, i.e., a set of source-destination pairs, one tries to achieve certain optimization goal, such as minimum delay, maximum throughput, while maintaining certain fairness among all commodities. The constraints of such optimization problems are usually network link capacity and traffic demand of each commodity. Multicommodity flow problem has been well studied as a typical linear programming problem. Its distributed solutions have also been proposed[2].
Synthesis and Structure of the (tetrahydroxy)oligosiloxane [(tBuO)3SiOSi(OH)2]2O

The solid-state structure of the (tetrahydroxy)oligosiloxane [(tBuO)3SiOSi(OH)2]2O, synthesized by the hydrolysis of (tBuO)3SiOSiCl3, reveals molecules composed of four vertex-linked SiO4 tetrahedra and containing four SiOH groups involved in both intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen-bonding.
Evaluation of evidence for sufficiency, for necessity, and for necessity-and-sufficiency

We report two experiments with 120 undergraduate subjects. The tasks presented clearly articulated hypotheses concerning necessity, sufficiency, and necessity-and-sufficiency, together with possible combinations of treatment conditions, and required subjects to judge whether, according to the hypotheses, the relevant outcomes will occur, will not occur, or might occur. The patterns of responses reveal how subjects understand the extensions of the concepts, i.e. what each hypothesis permits, requires, and excludes. Only necessity-and-sufficiency hypotheses generally led to logically adequate responses, and the most typical error for both necessity hypotheses and sufficiency hypotheses was to treat them as extensionally equivalent to necessity-and-sufficiency. This error tendency was more evident for necessity than for sufficiency hypotheses. Further, although responses to both necessity hypotheses and sufficiency hypotheses were affected by the complexity of the hypothesized conditions, responses to necess...
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN NEGOTIATION OUTCOME: A META‐ANALYSIS

Studies reporting the objective settlements obtained by men and women in negotiations were reviewed. Differences in outcomes were expected due to differences in perceptions, behaviors, and contextual factors between men and women. In the sample of studies, men negotiated significantly better outcomes than women. Opponent sex, relative power of the negotiator, integrative potential of the task, mode of communication and year of the study were tested as moderators of the effect. Although the overall difference in outcomes between men and women was small, none of these hypothesized moderators or several exploratory moderators reversed or eliminated this effect. The organizational significance of the findings is discussed in terms of the glass ceiling, a gender-based earnings differential and women in negotiation positions. Directions for future research in the laboratory and the field are suggested.
A Cruel but Ancient Subjugation? Understanding Hume's Attack on Slavery

This essay argues that Hume's criticism of slavery in "Of the Populousness of Ancient Nations," despite its contribution to the British En- lightenment's anti-slavery movement, is not truly abolitionist in character. Hume's aim was not to put an end to contemporary slave practices or forestall their expansion. Nonetheless, the criticism of slavery proves significant for reasons that transcend the demographic questions of the essay. It supports an argument that Hume develops throughout the Essays and Political Dis- courses. The conclusion of this argument warns against reverence for either ancient systems or modern progress. Like all forms of factionalism, these divisive tendencies threaten to compromise both our moral sensibility and our rational judgment.
Transcriptional Profiling of Rhesus Monkey Embryonic Stem Cells

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) may be able to cure or alleviate the symptoms of various degenerative diseases. However, unresolved issues regarding survival, functionality, and tumor formation mean a prudent approach should be adopted towards advancing ESCs into human clinical trials. The rhesus monkey provides an ideal model organism for developing strategies to prevent immune rejection and test the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of ESC-based medical treatments. Transcriptional profiling of rhesus monkey ESCs provides a foundation for pre-clinical ESC research in this species. In the present study, we used microarray technology, immunocytochemistry, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) to characterize and transcriptionally profile rhesus monkey ESCs. We identified 367 stemness gene candidates that were highly (>85%) conserved across five different ESC lines. Rhesus monkey ESC lines maintained a pluripotent undifferentiated state over a wide range of POU5F1 (also known as OCT4) expression levels, and comparisons between rhesus monkey, mouse, and human stemness genes revealed five mammalian stemness genes: CCNB1, GDF3, LEFTB, POU5F1, and NANOG. These five mammalian genes are strongly expressed in rhesus monkey, mouse, and human ESCs, albeit only in the undifferentiated state, and represent the core key mammalian stemness factors.
Tracking Pedestrians Using Local Spatio-Temporal Motion Patterns in Extremely Crowded Scenes

Tracking pedestrians is a vital component of many computer vision applications, including surveillance, scene understanding, and behavior analysis. Videos of crowded scenes present significant challenges to tracking due to the large number of pedestrians and the frequent partial occlusions that they produce. The movement of each pedestrian, however, contributes to the overall crowd motion (i.e., the collective motions of the scene's constituents over the entire video) that exhibits an underlying spatially and temporally varying structured pattern. In this paper, we present a novel Bayesian framework for tracking pedestrians in videos of crowded scenes using a space-time model of the crowd motion. We represent the crowd motion with a collection of hidden Markov models trained on local spatio-temporal motion patterns, i.e., the motion patterns exhibited by pedestrians as they move through local space-time regions of the video. Using this unique representation, we predict the next local spatio-temporal motion pattern a tracked pedestrian will exhibit based on the observed frames of the video. We then use this prediction as a prior for tracking the movement of an individual in videos of extremely crowded scenes. We show that our approach of leveraging the crowd motion enables tracking in videos of complex scenes that present unique difficulty to other approaches.
Ray-tracing polymorphic multidomain spectral/hp elements for isosurface rendering

The purpose of this paper is to present a ray-tracing isosurface rendering algorithm for spectral/hp (high-order finite) element methods in which the visualization error is both quantified and minimized. Determination of the ray-isosurface intersection is accomplished by classic polynomial root-finding applied to a polynomial approximation obtained by projecting the finite element solution over element-partitioned segments along the ray. Combining the smoothness properties of spectral/hp elements with classic orthogonal polynomial approximation theory, we devise an adaptive scheme which allows the polynomial approximation along a ray-segment to be arbitrarily close to the true solution. The resulting images converge toward a pixel-exact image at a rate far faster than sampling the spectral/hp element solution and applying classic low-order visualization techniques such as marching cubes.
Timing of cochlear implantation and parents' global ratings of children's health and development

ObjectiveTo assess children’s health-related quality of life (HRQL) and development after cochlear implant (CI) surgery and compare improvements between different age of implantation categories.Study DesignProspective, longitudinal study comparing outcomes of deaf children post-CI with hearing contr
Passive and active imaging of humans for contraband detection at 640 GHz

Submillimeter wave images of a human subject have been obtained at 640 GHz using a scanned single pixel Schottky diode mixer operating at room temperature. A metal object hidden under cotton fabric could be detected passively due to the contrast between the body temperature and the reflections of the environment. Additionally, it was demonstrated that the high receiver sensitivity allows a commercially available ceramic heat lamp to be used as a modulated illumination source, so that reflective materials such as metal can be actively detected. This means that it should be possible to construct an imaging instrument that combines a passive detection mode with an active mode using a thermal emitter in a single instrument. If a large number of channels (pixels) could be included in such an instrument, it could even operate at or near video speed frame rates (30 Hz), which would make it extremely useful for contraband detection.
On a generalization of Jensen's □ κ , and strategic closure of partial orders

Introduction. It is well known that many statements provable from combinatorial principles true in the constructible universe L can also be shown to be consistent with ZFC by forcing. Recent work by Shelah and Stanley [4] and the author [5] has clarified the relationship between the axiom of constructibility and forcing by providing Martin's Axiom-type forcing axioms equivalent to 0 and the existence of morasses. In this paper we continue this line of research by providing a forcing axiom equivalent to ],. The forcing axiom generalizes easily to inaccessible, non-Mahlo cardinals, and provides the motivation for a corresponding generalization of El, In order to state our forcing axiom, we will need to define a strategic closure condition for partial orders. Suppose P = is a partial order. For each ordinal a we will consider a game GP played by two players, GOOD and BAD. 'The players choose, in order, the terms in a descending sequence of conditions . GOOD chooses all terms pA for limit A, and BAD chooses all the others. BAD wins if for some limit j has no lower bound. Otherwise, GOOD wins. Of course, we will be rooting for GOOD. A strategy for GOOD is a function Sa such that for any limit ordinal: , Sa(P) is a (possibly empty) set of lower bounds for n-in other words, a set of possible next moves for GOOD. If P = is a partially completed game of Ga, we say that GOOD has played by Sa if for each limit ordinal 3 in which GOOD has played by Saw Sa(p) # 0. Recall that El, is the statement that there is a sequence such that Ca is c.u.b. in a, if P is a limit point of Ca then CA = CaIn , and if cf(a) I a such that for all limit ordinals a < X: (1) Ca is c.u.b. in a.
Dissociative electron attachment to uracil deuterated at the N1 and N3 positions

Abstract Deuteration at the nitrogen sites of uracil produces a striking change in the dissociative attachment cross-section at electron energies below 3 eV. In particular, sharp structures observed in uracil are absent or too small to observe. This result, as well as theoretical modeling, supports the earlier assignment of the sharp structure to vibrational Feshbach resonances that decay by tunneling of the N 1 hydrogen atom through the barrier created by the avoided crossing of the dipole bound anion potential surface by that of the lowest 2 Σ valence anion state.
Feeding Largemouth Bass during Cool and Cold Weather

Abstract Feeding activity and growth of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) were studied in Colorado and Texas during the fall and winter. In Colorado, four graded groups of fish, initially averaging 1.6, 4.6, 7.2, and 18.2 g, were fed a semimoist pelleted feed until water temperatures were consistently below 10°C. Fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) were then stocked into most ponds for winter food. Largemouth bass in ponds not receiving fathead minnows were either continued on the semimoist pelleted feed or were fasted. In Texas, fish, initially averaging 150 g each, were fasted or, three times per week, fed a semimoist pelleted feed at 1.3% body weight or allowed to feed ad libitum on semimoist pellets up to 2.6% body weight. Water temperature affected the amount of feed consumed by largemouth bass; as temperatures decreased, feed consumption decreased. Feed consumption was also greatly reduced when the fish were subjected to rapid temperature drops. It is recommended that largemouth bass be fed ...
Infection Rates and Healing Using Bone Wax and a Soluble Polymer Material

The effects of using a newly available water-soluble polymer bone hemostatic material in a contaminated environment were assessed in a rabbit tibial defect model. Infection rates and healing of polymer-treated bone were compared with the infection and healing of bone wax-treated bone and untreated controls after a bacterial challenge. Defects created in 24 rabbit tibias were treated with the polymer or bone wax, or left without a hemostatic agent. The defects were inoculated with Staphylococcus aureus ATCC-29213 (2.5 × 104 colony-forming units). After 4 weeks, all defects treated with bone wax were infected and osteomyelitis had developed, and none had evidence of bone healing. In the polymer and control groups, two defects in each group (25%) had osteomyelitis develop. The remaining six defects in each group (75%) showed no osteomyelitis and exhibited normal bone healing. The polymer-treated defects had a considerably lower rate of osteomyelitis and positive bone cultures compared with the bone wax-treated group. There were no differences between the polymer-treated and control groups in the rates of osteomyelitis, positive cultures, or bone healing. The use of a soluble polymer as an alternative to bone wax may decrease the rates of postoperative bone infections.
Accurate data reconstruction through simultaneous application of statistical and physics-based constraints to multiple geophysical data sets

Insufficient sampling is a key problem that affects seismic data-processing techniques. Although existing interpolation methods can fill in large gaps in the data under certain assumptions, their performance degrades as shot and receiver sampling becomes coarser. Most existing data-interpolation techniques overcome insufficient sampling by making assumptions regarding either the statistical properties of the data or the physics that explain the data. Recognizing that statistical and physics-based constraints can be expressed as convex sets, we propose overcoming some of the deficiencies of existing methods by incorporating multiple types of prior information and equations describing the mapping between different types of data into a mathematically consistent framework based on the projection onto convex sets (POCS) methodology. The proposed method is easy to implement in practice because it relies only upon the iterative application of projection operators (e.g., soft thresholding). At the same time, full...
IMMOBILITY IN FIVE SPECIES OF FIDDLER CRABS, GENUS UCA

Abstract Fiddler crabs demonstrate a wide range of simple and complex behaviors in both mating strategies and defense mechanisms. During investigation, five species of fiddler crabs were observed engaging in immobility or catatonic behaviors after being turned upside down. While crabs were observed in a rigid, immobile posture for mean ranges of 45–171 seconds, several crabs were recorded to remain immobile for more than two hours. Fiddler crabs are often preyed upon by birds that use crab movement as a cue. Other crustacean species, such as lobsters, have been observed in this upside-down, immobile position after having their abdomens rubbed. Consequently, immobility may be an anti-predator strategy when escape is not feasible or a byproduct of tactile stimulation.
3-D self-assembly of flower-like particles via microwave irradiation for water treatment

Three-dimensional (3-D) flower-like shape (FLS) Fe3O4 and Fe particles were successfully synthesized using FLS precursor particles that are prepared through a facile microwave-assisted reaction. The mechanism underlying the self-assembly process and shape evolution of FLS particles was systematically investigated by changing reaction parameters such as reaction temperature, reaction time and reaction pressure. During the reaction, iron alkoxide, α-Fe2O3 and FeOOH nanoparticles are formed first and are subsequently transformed to 3-D hierarchical FLS particles by the self-assembly of the primary nanoparticles. Reaction temperature and pressure play critical roles in the formation of the hierarchical flower-like superstructure. There is an optimum window of the reaction temperature (∼180 °C) for the formation of 3-D FLS particles, which is attributed to the competition between the self-assembly process and growth process of the nanoparticles. Also, since FeCl3, ethylene glycol, and urea are used together as raw materials, the appearance of FLS particles is strongly dependent on the reaction pressure. As the reaction pressure becomes larger than 1 MPa, the flake type particles become more thermodynamically favorable than the FLS particles, due to the limited decomposition of urea. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis shows that FLS particles have a large surface area (>40 m2 g−1). Because of their high specific surface area and intrinsic reactivity, FLS particles efficiently remove sulfur ions in aqueous solution. This suggests that these flower-like particles can be promising materials to treat toxic gas such as H2S in an environment-friendly way.
Charles Dickens: A Life Defined by Writing – By Michael Slater

Charles Dickens lived life at full throttle. Boundless in energy and ambition, he produced an enormous body of work. Early in his career he wrote two novels simultaneously while editing the journal...
Randomized, Controlled Trial of an Intervention for Toddlers With Autism: The Early Start Denver Model

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM), a comprehensive developmental behavioral intervention, for improving outcomes of toddlers diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). METHODS: Forty-eight children diagnosed with ASD between 18 and 30 months of age were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: (1) ESDM intervention, which is based on developmental and applied behavioral analytic principles and delivered by trained therapists and parents for 2 years; or (2) referral to community providers for intervention commonly available in the community. RESULTS: Compared with children who received community-intervention, children who received ESDM showed significant improvements in IQ, adaptive behavior, and autism diagnosis. Two years after entering intervention, the ESDM group on average improved 17.6 standard score points (1 SD: 15 points) compared with 7.0 points in the comparison group relative to baseline scores. The ESDM group maintained its rate of growth in adaptive behavior compared with a normative sample of typically developing children. In contrast, over the 2-year span, the comparison group showed greater delays in adaptive behavior. Children who received ESDM also were more likely to experience a change in diagnosis from autism to pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified, than the comparison group. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first randomized, controlled trial to demonstrate the efficacy of a comprehensive developmental behavioral intervention for toddlers with ASD for improving cognitive and adaptive behavior and reducing severity of ASD diagnosis. Results of this study underscore the importance of early detection of and intervention in autism.
The Role Of Earnings Quality In Financial Analyst Forecast Accuracy

This study investigates the impact that the quality of reported earnings has on the accuracy of financial analysts’ earnings forecasts. Extant research indicates that earnings attributes are important considerations to users of accounting information. One such attribute is earnings quality; often measured as the magnitude of accruals that do not convert to cash in a timely manner, where a poor match of cash flows and accruals indicates low earnings quality. Such accruals could reduce the usefulness of financial reports. This study uses two measurements of forecast accuracy to assess the impact that earnings quality has on the forecast accuracy of financial analysts. Following prior research, one measurement considers the environment in which the analyst operates and compares their accuracy to that of their peers. The second compares the individual analyst forecast to the actual reported earnings. For both measurements of accuracy the results show that higher earnings quality is associated with improved forecast accuracy.
Life Prediction and Damage Acceleration Based on the Power Spectral Density of Random Vibration

Fatigue life prediction and accelerated verification tests under a random vibration environment are important tasks for evaluating product reliability. This paper reviews the characteristics of random stress processes, discusses the methodology of life prediction and accelerated testing under various random loadings by using the stress power spectral density (PSD) function obtained from finite element analysis (FEA), and develops an engineering method to determine the acceleration level and test time in reliability verification tests. The discussions cover the narrow-band Gaussian processes, the wide-band Gaussian processes, and the nonGaussian processes. To illustrate the practical procedure of life prediction and accelerated testing based on the damage equivalent technique, the application example of an automotive component is presented.
Do Interruptions Affect Quality of Work

Objective:The aim of this study was to determine if interruptions affect the quality of work.Background:Interruptions are commonplace at home and in the office. Previous research in this area has t...
Climate changes influence free‐living stages of soil‐transmitted parasites of European rabbits

Climate warming has been suggested to augment the risk of infectious disease outbreaks by extending the seasonal window for parasite growth and by increasing the rate of transmission. Understanding how this occurs in parasite-host systems is important for appreciating long-term and seasonal changes in host exposure to infection and to reduce species extinction caused by diseases. We investigated how free-living stages of two soil-transmitted helminths of the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) responded to experimental changes in temperature by performing laboratory experiments with environmental chambers and field manipulations using open-top-chambers. This study was motivated by our previous observations that air temperature has increased over the last 30 years in our field site and that during this period intensity of infection of Graphidium strigosum but not Trichostrongylus retortaeformis was positively associated with this temperature increase. Laboratory and field experiments showed that both parasites accelerated egg development and increased hatching rate and larval survival in response to accumulating thermal energy. Both parasites behaved similarly when exposed to diverse temperature regimes, decadal trends, and monthly fluctuations, however, T. retortaeformis was more successful than G. strigosum by showing higher rates of egg hatching and larval survival. Across the months, the first day of hatching occurred earlier in warmer conditions suggesting that climate warming can lengthen the period of parasite growth and host exposure to infective stages. Also, T. retortaeformis hatched earlier than G. strigosum. These findings showed that seasonal changes in intensity, frequency, and duration of daily temperature are important causes of variability in egg hatching and larva survival. Overall, this study emphasizes the important role of climate warming and seasonality on the dynamics of free-living stages in soil-transmitted helminths and their contribution to enhance host exposure to parasitic infections. Yet, the ability to infect might ultimately depend on how hosts interact with parasites.
The neurofibromatosis type I pre-mRNA is a novel target of CELF protein-mediated splicing regulation.

The CUG-BP and ETR-3 like factors (CELF) are a family of six highly conserved RNA-binding proteins that preferentially bind to UG-rich sequences. One of the key functions of these proteins is to mediate alternative splicing in a number of tissues, including brain, heart and muscle. To fully understand the function of CELF proteins, it is important to identify downstream targets of CELF proteins. In this communication, we report that neurofibromatosis type I (NF1) exon 23a is a novel target of CELF protein-mediated splicing regulation in neuron-like cells. NF1 regulates Ras signaling, and the isoform that excludes exon 23a shows 10 times greater ability to down-regulate Ras signaling than the isoform that includes exon 23a. Five of the six CELF proteins strongly suppress the inclusion of NF1 exon 23a. Over-expression or siRNA knockdown of these proteins in cell transfection experiments altered the levels of NF1 exon 23a inclusion. In vitro binding and splicing analyses demonstrate that CELF proteins block splicing through interfering with binding of U2AF65. These studies, combined with our previous investigations demonstrating a role for Hu proteins and TIA-1/TIAR in controlling NF1 exon 23a inclusion, highlight the complex nature of regulation of this important alternative splicing event.
The site and stoichiometry of the N-phenylmaleimide reaction with myosin when weakly-binding crossbridges are formed in skinned rabbit psoas fibers

Abstract Treatment of relaxed skinned rabbit psoas muscle fibers with 0.1 mM N -phenylmaleimide (NPM) for 1 h locks all of the crossbridges in a weakly-binding state resembling that of the myosin ATP crossbridge. Under these conditions, NPM reacts mainly with myosin heavy chain (Barnett et al. (1992) Biophys. J. 61, 358–367). Here the specific sites for that reaction are explored. Small bundles of rabbit psoas muscle fibers were treated with Triton X-100 to make the fiber sarcolemmas permeable. The bundles were treated with 0.1 mM [ 14 C]NPM for 1 h, and homogenized for SDS-PAGE. 43 ± 2.2% of the muscle fiber protein ran in the myosin heavy chain band, the same as for untreated fibers. An alkylating stoichiometry of 2.2 ± 0.33 moles NPM per mole myosin heavy chain was determined. Exhaustive trypsin digestion followed by two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography and reverse-phase HPLC revealed two major sites on myosin heavy chain for NPM binding. The sites contained about the same amount of linked NPM, suggesting that the reaction stoichiometry of each site under the conditions studied is approx. 1 mol NPM/mol myosin heavy chain. Comparison of the labeled tryptic peptides with NPM-reacted synthetic SH1 and SH2 tryptic peptides and analysis of the treated fiber bundles' ATPase activity suggested that the sites for NPM reaction on myosin heavy chain when it locks crossbridges in a weakly-binding state are Cys-697 (SH2) and Cys-707 (SH1).
Inhibition by propranolol of bile acid stimulation of rabbit colonic adenylate cyclase in vitro.

Bile acids, especially unconjugated deoxycholic acid, cause diarrhea by inducing colonic mucosal secretion of water and electrolytes. This effect has been shown to be mediated by adenylate cyclase (AC). Propranolol, a β-adrenergic blocking agent which inhibits AC, may then prevent this action of bile acids on colonic mucosa. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of bile acids, catecholamines, and propranolol on AC activity in colonic mucosa. The in vitro effects of deoxycholic acid, taurocholic acid, NaF, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and propranolol on AC in rabbit colonic mucosa were determined. NaF, 10−4 M, increased AC activity to 220% of control (P
Role of mast cells in early and delayed radiation injury in rat intestine.

Abstract Zheng, H., Wang, J. and Hauer-Jensen, M. Role of Mast Cells in Early and Delayed Radiation Injury in Rat Intestine. Mast cell hyperplasia is a characteristic feature of many inflammatory and fibrotic conditions, including intestinal radiation injury (radiation enteropathy). This study used mast cell-deficient rats to define the role of mast cells in the mechanisms underlying early radiation-induced mucosal injury and delayed intestinal wall fibrosis. Mast cell-deficient (Ws/Ws) mutant rats and mast cell-competent (+/+) littermates were used. A 4-cm loop of ileum was exposed to 21 Gy single-dose radiation. Irradiated and unirradiated intestine were examined at 2 or 26 weeks using quantitative histology and morphometry. Quantitative immunohistochemistry was used to assess transforming growth factor β (Tgfb), myeloperoxidase, and epithelial and smooth muscle cell proliferation. Collagen content was measured colorimetrically, and steady-state Tgfb1 mRNA was determined with fluorogenic probe RT-PCR. C...
Detection of Growth Hormone Deficiency in Adults with Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract This study examined the prevalence of growth hormone deficiency (GHD) in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) during the post-acute phase of recovery and whether GHD was associated with increased disability, decreased independence, and depression. A secondary objective was to determine the accuracy of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) levels in predicting GHD in patients with TBI. Anterior pituitary function was assessed in 235 adult patients with TBI through evaluation of fasting morning hormone levels. GH levels were assessed through provocative testing, specifically the glucagon stimulation test. GHD was diagnosed in a significant number of patients, with 45% falling into the severe GHD (≤3 μg/L) category. IGF-1 levels were not predictive of GHD. Patients with GHD were more disabled and less independent compared with those patients who were not GHD. Those patients with more severe GHD also showed decreased levels of cortisol and testosterone. Symptoms of depression were also more prev...
Angiogenic Potential of Cryopreserved Amniotic Membrane Is Enhanced Through Retention of All Tissue Components in Their Native State

Objective: Chronic wounds have inadequate microvasculature (or blood vessels), resulting in poor healing. Both fresh human amniotic membrane (hAM) containing viable cells and devitalized hAM have been shown to stimulate angiogenesis in chronic wounds. However, the importance of retaining viable endogenous cells on the angiogenic activity of hAM remains unknown. To understand their role, we compared the angiogenic potential of intact cryopreserved hAM containing viable cells (int-hAM) with devitalized cryopreserved hAM (dev-hAM). Approach: The effects of conditioned medium (CM) derived from int-hAM and dev-hAM on endothelial cell migration and tube formation were compared. Int-hAM and dev-hAM CM and tissues were tested for key angiogenic factors, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), and platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) after 7 days in culture. The role of VEGF in int-hAM-mediated tube formation was analyzed through inhibition of its activity b...
Biotoxin contamination and shellfish safety

Abstract: Some phytoplankton species can produce biotoxins. As molluscan shellfish filter-feed on these toxic species, they bioaccumulate the phycotoxins, which can be transferred to higher trophic levels, resulting in several types of poisoning syndromes. The main shellfish-mediated, phycotoxin-associated, human poisoning syndromes are paralytic, amnesic, neurotoxic, diarrheic and azaspirazid shellfish poisonings; a few other phytoplankton species can also cause harmful effects in humans. This chapter lists the major phycotoxins described, their origins, occurrences, and impact on human health as well as management procedures developed to address them. The trophic dynamics of the phycotoxins are also discussed, as is their bioaccumulation, biotransformation, and detoxification processes.
Prognostic factors and risk stratification in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

There is considerable heterogeneity in the clinical outcome of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). While some patients live for decades without any therapy, others die within years of diagnosis despite multiple treatments. To better counsel newly diagnosed CLL patients about their disease course, the Rai and Binet staging systems were developed four decades ago. A deeper understanding of the biologic and molecular aberrations contributing to the pathogenesis of CLL led to identification of novel prognostic markers such as immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable gene (IGHV) mutation status, leukemia-cell expression of CD38, ZAP-70, and CD49d, and cytogenetic abnormalities detected by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). The advent of next-generation sequencing has provided unprecedented insights into the subclonal architecture of CLL and its impact on disease progression and survival. More recently, integrated prognostic scoring systems that incorporate clinical, biologic and genetic characteristics into a single risk score have been developed and appear to improve the accuracy of prognostication for individual patients. This review summarizes the state-of-the-art prognostic factors and will guide the practicing clinician in their care of patients with CLL.
Participation and Knowledge Exchange in a Hybrid-Economic Software Community

Why and how technology professionals share and exchange knowledge and otherwise participate in peer-production and peer-support communities is an ongoing topic of study. Extant research skews toward online communities and toward open-source software (OSS) communities of developers, limiting what researchers can say about why and how knowledge-sharing and peer-support happens in cases where such practices are conducted beyond these settings. In this paper, I present results from a mixed methods study of the shared cultural knowledge in the Microsoft SharePoint user community, a global knowledge-sharing peer support community with substantial online and offline contexts. Learning, access to experts, and socio-professional motivations drive participation, but how the community provides for its constituents cannot be explain by theorizing the community as strictly a nonmarket institution but as a hybrid-economic institution constituted by interdependent market and nonmarket dynamics. The study also raises questions for future research regarding how the relationship between “online” and “offline” manifestations of community participation are conceptualized.
Is There a Future for Land-Grant College Research and Extension?

Abstract I CONSIDER it a real privilege to have the opportunity to appear before your organization. Although I have never worked directly in poultry science myself, I have worked closely for many years with colleagues who were poultry scientists. Needless to say, anyone in the field of animal science has tremendous respect for the accomplishments in poultry science whether we think of physiology, nutrition, genetics or management. Your program planners, however, did not ask me to extol the virtues of poultry science. They said they wanted me to discuss the broader picture of research and extension, particularly as it relates to the future. Before we proceed very far with this discussion, I’d like to make a couple of major revisions in its title and content. One of the revisions is to get rid of that question mark. To ask about the future of research and extension is to imply that some . . .
An assessment of transport property methodologies for hypersonic flows

Three different methods of computing mixture viscosity and thermal conductivity are presented and compared under equilibrium and nonequilibrium flow conditions. The three methods are (1) species summation, (2) Wilke's mixing rule, and (3) collision integrals. Under chemical equilibrium conditions at temperatures below 6000 K, the simple species summation method computed essentially identical values of mixture viscosity and thermal conductivity as the other two methods. When the species summation method was incorporated into a Navier-Stokes analysis of a forebody along a descent trajectory, essentially identical stagnation line and surface temperature profiles were produced as when the other two methods were used at a CPU time reduction of up to 63.8%. is included in the physical model, the determination of viscosity and thermal conductivity can become CPU intensive. This paper presents a new method for computing mixutre viscosity and thermal conductivity, called species summation, that maintains the accuracy of more rigorous methods at a significant reduction in computational expense. The species summation method is compared against two popular methods for calculating viscosity and thermal conductivity under both equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions.
Peer Review Privilege in Its Last Throes

In Virginia v. Reinhard , 568 F.3d 110 (4th Cir. 2009), the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed a decision by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia that denied state officials' motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Virginia Office for
Using Audio Cues to Support Motion Gesture Interaction on Mobile Devices

Motion gestures are an underutilized input modality for mobile interaction despite numerous potential advantages. Negulescu et al. found that the lack of feedback on attempted motion gestures made it difficult for participants to diagnose and correct errors, resulting in poor recognition performance and user frustration. In this article, we describe and evaluate a training and feedback technique, Glissando, which uses audio characteristics to provide feedback on the system’s interpretation of user input. This technique enables feedback by verbally confirming correct gestures and notifying users of errors in addition to providing continuous feedback by manipulating the pitch of distinct musical notes mapped to each of three dimensional axes in order to provide both spatial and temporal information.
Objective testing and quality-of-life evaluation in surgical candidates with chronic rhinosinusitis.

Background Discordance has been reported between patient symptoms and objective measures of disease in chronic sinusitis, such as radiographic evaluation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between presurgical objective studies and presurgical quality of life (QOL). This work was designed as a cross-sectional study of 90 consecutive patients presenting to a tertiary rhinology practice for surgical management of sinonasal disease. Methods QOL assessment was performed using disease-specific instruments (Chronic Sinusitis Survey and Rhinosinusitis Disability Index). Computed tomography (CT) scans were scored according to the Lund-Mackay CT scoring system and endoscopy evaluation was scored by the system proposed by Lund and Kennedy. Results Ninety surgical candidates were enrolled and included in the analysis. Correlation between the QOL total scores and subscale scores was excellent (r = 0.39; p = 0.0001) as was the correlation between CT and endoscopy scores (r = 0.59; p = 0.0001). In contrast, correlation between QOL and objective measures was poor. These results were not significantly influenced by subgroup analysis by diagnosis, comorbidity, and other patient factors. Conclusion Preoperative objective measures of CRS disease show little, if any, correlation with disease-specific QOL measures in surgical candidates. It is likely that CT and endoscopy are measuring a different aspect of CRS disease than the QOL measures. In addition, it is possible that preoperative QOL, either alone or in combination with CT and endoscopy, may prove important in selecting patients most likely to benefit from surgery.
Alcohol and Its Measurement

Ethyl alcohol (ethanol) is a key component of beer. The use of alcohol and its consumption in the form of malt-based alcoholic beverages has grown with the rise of civilization. Brewers and chemists have worked to measure the content of ethanol, or alcohol strength, in brewer's fermenting wort and finished beer for at least 180 years. As a key parameter, it is required to determine brewhouse efficiency, inform consumers of alcohol levels for caloric information and responsibility purposes, as well as act as a guide for taxation implemented by regulatory agencies. A brief review of the multitude of methods which have been used to determine alcohol content is presented, followed by a more in depth look at how brewers today determine, with suitable accuracy and precision, the alcohol content of their beers.