cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 093: Adrenergic Stimulation Induces Mitochondrial Fragmentation and Cell Injury through PKD1-dependent Phosphorylation of DLP1 in H9c2 Cardiac Myoblasts.

Introduction: Regulation of mitochondrial morphology and dynamics is crucial for the maintenance of various cellular functions in cardiac myocytes. Abnormal mitochondrial morphologies concomitant with mitochondrial dysfunction are frequently observed in various pathophysiological states of human heart such as heart failure, where the catecholamine level is elevated. However, it is still unclear what kinds of cardiac signaling pathways regulate mitochondrial morphology and function under pathophysiological conditions. Hypothesis: Adrenergic signaling induces cardiac mitochondrial morphology changes and mitochondrial dysfunction, which simultaneously contribute to cardiac injury. Methods: H9c2 cardiac myoblasts were stimulated by α 1 -adrenoceptor (α 1 -AR) agonist phenylephrine and mitochondrial morphology was monitored by confocal microscopy. Translocation and phosphorylation of a mitochondrial fission protein, dynamin-like protein 1 (DLP1) was observed from whole cell lysates, cytosolic proteins and mitochondrial proteins by western blotting. Results: We found that persistent α 1 -AR stimulation induced mitochondrial fragmentation, followed by an increase in the production of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to the cytosol in H9c2 cardiac myoblasts. These effects were abolished by the treatment of α 1 -AR antagonist, prazosin. Further, mitochondrial fragmentation by α 1 -AR stimulation was inhibited by expression of the dominant-negative fission mutant DLP1-K38A, suggesting that the mitochondrial fission is required for mitochondrial fragmentation observed in α 1 -AR stimulation. We also found that DLP1 was translocated from cytosol to mitochondria under α 1 -AR stimulation. In addition, activation of protein kinase D1 (PKD1), a protein kinase downstream of α 1 -AR signaling, led to the phosphorylation of DLP1 at serine 637 which lies within a putative PKD phosphorylation consensus motif. Conclusion: α 1 -AR signaling induces mitochondrial fragmentation and cell injury, possibly through PKD1-dependent phosphorylation of DLP1.
Mixed Gauginos Sending Mixed Messages to the LHC

Supersymmetric models with a Dirac gluino have been shown to be considerably less constrained from LHC searches than models with a Majorana gluino. In this paper, we generalize this discussion to models with a `mixed gluino,'' that acquires both Dirac and Majorana masses, as well as models in which electroweak gauginos contribute to squark production. Our primary interest is the degree of suppression of the cross section for first generation squarks compared with a gluino with a pure Majorana mass. We find that not all Majorana masses are alike---a Majorana mass for the gluino can suppress the squark production cross section, whereas a Majorana mass for the adjoint fermion partner leads to an increased cross section, compared with a pure Dirac gluino. In the presence of electroweak gauginos, squark production can increase by at most a factor of a few above the pure Dirac gluino case when the electroweak gauginos have purely Majorana masses near to the squark masses. This unusual set of gaugino masses is interesting since the usual Higgs quartic coupling would not be suppressed. When the electroweak gaugino masses are much lighter than the squarks, there is a negligible change to the squark production cross section. We explain both of these cases in detail by considering the various subprocesses for squark production at the LHC. Continued searches for squark production with cross sections much smaller than expected in the minimal supersymmetric standard model are absolutely warranted, and we suggest new simplified models to fully characterize the collider constraints.
Organizational Scope and Innovation Performance: Evidence from the US Semiconductor Industry

While the knowledge-based view highlights the advantages of vertical integration for internal knowledge sharing, less is known about whether such advantages also extend to the leveraging of external knowledge spillovers for innovation performance. We study how a firm’s vertical scope affects its ability to leverage external knowledge spillovers associated with geographic clusters for innovation performance. Building on knowledge-based arguments we suggest that whether vertically specialized firms or vertically integrated firms benefit more from external knowledge spillovers in geographic clusters may depend on the cluster’s characteristics. Using a sample of 247 firms in the semiconductor industry between 1989 and 2002, we find that vertically specialized design firms are better than vertically integrated firms (design and fabrication) at leveraging external knowledge spillovers in clusters for innovation performance. We find that while vertically integrated firms benefit from the presence of other vertic...
Studies on the intestinal absorption of bovine xanthine oxidase.

SummaryCertain aspects of the xanthine oxidase hypothesis of atherosclerosis were studied. Xanthine oxidase activity was determined by liquid scintillation counting of [14C]uric acid formed by the action of the enzyme on [14C]xanthine. Results show that the proposal that xanthine oxidase passes through the stomach and is absorbed intact by the small intestine is implausible. The treatment of milk with a low pH buffer resulted in irreversible loss of xanthine oxidase activity. The incubation of everted rat intestine in buffer and in buffer-milk mixtures showed no difference in enzyme activity in serosal fluid or in intestinal homoge-nates.
The Error of Determination of the Erythrocyte Count

In a previous study we made an examination of certain errors inherent in the enumeration of erythrocytes as made by the standard methods used in clinical laboratories. That study consisted in a statistical analysis of the variability of enumerations made in such a way that the personal error of the enumerator was eliminated. All the counts with which we were there concerned were effected by photographing the hemocytometer field and pricking through each cell on the photograph with a stylus connected to an electrical counter. For the details of the statistical methodology of analysis, the study referred to should be consulted. Since we are concerned in the present paper primarily with presenting some new experiments, we shall review only in brief outline our previous procedures and results. We examined first the distribution of cells as they arrange themselves in the counting chamber. Theoretically, the counts in any subdivision of the chamber field should follow the Poisson series, and the variability measured as standard deviation should be given by a = V m , where a is the standard deviationf and
From Resting State to the Steady State: Mechanistic Studies of Ene-Yne Metathesis Promoted by the Hoveyda Complex.

The kinetics of intermolecular ene–yne metathesis (EYM) with the Hoveyda precatalyst (Ru1) has been studied. For 1-hexene metathesis with 2-benzoyloxy-3-butyne, the experimental rate law was determined to be first-order in 1-hexene (0.3–4 M), first-order in initial catalyst concentration, and zero-order for the terminal alkyne. At low catalyst concentrations (0.1 mM), the rate of precatalyst initiation was observed by UV–vis and the alkyne disappearance was observed by in situ FT-IR. Comparison of the rate of precatalyst initiation and the rate of EYM shows that a low, steady-state concentration of active catalyst is rapidly produced. Application of steady-state conditions to the carbene intermediates provided a rate treatment that fit the experimental rate law. Starting from a ruthenium alkylidene complex, competition between 2-isopropoxystyrene and 1-hexene gave a mixture of 2-isopropoxyarylidene and pentylidene species, which were trappable by the Buchner reaction. By varying the relative concentration...
Tor and Circumvention: Lessons Learned - (Abstract to Go with Invited Talk).

Tor is a free-software anonymizing overlay network that helps people around the world use the Internet in safety. Tor’s 2500 volunteer relays carry almost 10Gb/s of traffic for several hundred thousand users each day. While many in the research community know Tor as the primary fielded system in the anonymous communications literature [2], Tor has also played a central role in recent research on blocking resistance. That is, even if an anonymity system provides great anonymity, a government censor can render it moot by simply blocking the relays. In recent years we streamlined Tor’s network communications to look more like ordinary SSL, and we introduced “bridge relays” that are harder for an attacker to find and block than Tor’s public relays [1]. Tor played a key role in several Middle Eastern countries in early 2011. In this talk I’ll walk the audience through how Iran used its Nokia DPI boxes to filter SSL flows that used Tor’s original Diffie-Hellman parameter p; the surge in Tor traffic when Egypt blocked Facebook and the flatline when they unplugged the net; the continued bad news for Libya’s Internet; and an intriguing trend in Saudi Arabia. I’ll also cover current trends in China and Tunisia (not pictured).
Unmet palliative care needs in elderly trauma patients: can the Palliative Performance Scale help close the gap?

Abstract Background The elderly injured have significant palliative care (PC) needs due to increased mortality and poor functional outcomes. We hypothesized the Palliative Performance Scale (PPS) could be predictive of poor outcomes in elderly trauma patients. Methods Retrospective study of trauma patients 55 years or older admitted to the surgical intensive care unit. Using logistic regression, PPS was assessed as a predictor of mortality, Glasgow Outcome Scale, and discharge destination. Results Out of 153 patients, 28 died; 28% of the survivors had a Glasgow Outcome Scale 3 or less and 13% were discharged to dependent care. PPS score of 80 or less was an independent predictor of mortality (odds ratio [OR]: 2.97 [1.08 to 8.66]), poor functional outcome (OR: 12.59 [4.81 to 37.07]), and discharge to dependent care (OR: 8.13 [2.64 to 30.09]), yet only 52% of the patients with PPS of 80 or less received PC. Conclusions Admission PPS can predict mortality and poor functional outcomes in elderly trauma patients, and has potential as a trigger for delivery of PC in this vulnerable population.
MCM OFDM using sparse signals

We describe our initial approach to MCM OFDM that uses entropy-based signal models to provide a sparse, efficient set of codes. Specifically, we consider applying a set of sparse orthogonal signals developed precisely to solve the space-time uncertainty of the Hirschman Uncertainty (itself a generalization of the Heisenberg Uncertainty) for finite-duration discrete time signals. These signals were in part developed by one of the authors, and primarily used in both linear and non-linear adaptive filtering. Recently, that author has begun to use those elements to develop high-resolution spectral estimation methods for the stationary environment. In this paper, we begin to apply these results to one of the most basic communications strategies.
Ruminal escape protein for lightweight feedlot calves.

Effects of supplemental ruminal escape protein (REP) were evaluated in an 84-d growth study involving 140 feedlot steers (198 kg) and in a site of digestion study involving four steers (149 kg). Dietary treatments were as follows: 1) basal diet; 2) basal diet plus 2% of a REP blend (1/3 blood meal, 1/3 meat and bone meal, and 1/3 feather meal); 3) basal diet plus 4% REP; and 4) basal diet plus 6% REP. The basal diet contained 18% alfalfa hay, 10% sudangrass hay, 61% steam-flaked corn, 2.5% yellow grease, 6% molasses, and 2.5% supplement. The basal diet contained 12.2% CP, and urea was the sole source of supplemental N. There was a quadratic effect (P < .05) of REP supplementation on rate and efficiency of gain. The greatest response was with 2% REP, which increased rate and efficiency of gain by 13.4 and 8.4%, respectively, over that of the basal diet. Protein supplementation had a quadratic effect (P < .05) on the NE value of the diet. The addition of 2% supplemental REP increased the NE of the diet by 6.6%. In the site of digestion trial, supplemental REP linearly increased (P < .01) passage of nonammonia and amino acid N to the small intestine. Compared with estimated amino acid requirements and with muscle composition, postruminal supplies of arginine, histidine, lysine, methionine, and phenylalanine were the limiting amino acids in the basal diet. Excess bypass protein, by placing an additional demand on arginine for detoxification of ammonia, may limit growth and performance.
On Crater Verification Using Mislocalized Crater Regions

Automatic crater detection in planetary images is an important task with many applications in planetary science, spacecraft navigation, landing, and control. Typically, crater detection algorithms consist of two main steps: candidate crater region extraction and crater verification. Various methods have been proposed for extracting candidate crater regions, ranging from detecting circular/elliptical regions to detecting highlight and shadow regions. For crater verification, powerful feature extraction and machine learning techniques have been employed. While this two-step approach can be efficient and robust, inaccuracies in the candidate crater region extraction step can result in mislocalized crater regions which could affect verification performance. In this paper, we investigate the robustness of various feature extraction methods to mislocalized crater regions. Using features which are robust to localization errors but also choosing a more representative training set has yielded significant performance improvements on an extensive dataset from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).
Romney, Obama, and the 47%: gaffes and representative anecdotes in the 2012 presidential campaign

ABSTRACTThis article uses the vocabulary provided by scholarship on gaffes, narrative paradigm, and representative anecdote to suggest that both the Obama and Romney campaigns employed Mitt Romney'...
The encoding of wind forcing into the Pacific-Arctic pressure head, Chukchi Sea ice retreat and late-summer Barrow Canyon water masses

Abstract Barrow Canyon, which incises the northeast corner of the Chukchi Sea shelf, is a major conduit through which Pacific-origin waters carrying nutrients, biota, freshwater, and heat enter the Arctic Ocean. As such, Barrow Canyon was adopted as a long-term monitoring site for the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) in 2010. However, annual hydrographic surveys across Barrow Canyon, conducted during late August 2005–2015 along a location near what is the Barrow Canyon DBO survey line and in support of other research programs, extend and complement the DBO hydrographic record. These complementary hydrographic surveys show that volumes of Pacific-origin and melt water masses in Barrow Canyon are significantly-correlated with daily sea ice areas in the eastern Chukchi Sea for most of the May-August ice retreat season. Year-to-year differences in the timing and pattern of sea ice retreat across the Chukchi Sea are also shown to be well-correlated with changes in seasonally-averaged regional winds particularly as defined by the strength and longitudinal location of the Beaufort Sea High pressure cell. These interdependent wind-ice retreat-water mass relationships are largely predicated on wind stress curl-driven changes to sea level in the East Siberian Sea/northwestern Chukchi Sea. Statistically-significant correlations among wind-forced sea surface heights, ice areas, and water mass volumes suggest that, during the ice retreat season, the East Siberian Sea/western Chukchi Sea region serves as the Arctic terminus for the Pacific-Arctic pressure head.
Quantification of microenvironmental metabolites in murine cancer models reveals determinants of tumor nutrient availability

Cancer cell metabolism is heavily influenced by microenvironmental factors, including nutrient availability. Therefore, knowledge of microenvironmental nutrient levels is essential to understand tumor metabolism. To measure the extracellular nutrient levels available to tumors, we developed a quantitative metabolomics method to measure the absolute concentrations of >118 metabolites in plasma and tumor interstitial fluid, the extracellular fluid that perfuses tumors. Comparison of nutrient levels in tumor interstitial fluid and plasma revealed that the nutrients available to tumors differ from those present in circulation. Further, by comparing interstitial fluid nutrient levels between autochthonous and transplant models of murine pancreatic and lung adenocarcinoma, we found that tumor type, anatomical location and animal diet affect local nutrient availability. These data provide a comprehensive characterization of the nutrients present in the tumor microenvironment of widely used models of lung and pancreatic cancer and identify factors that influence metabolite levels in tumors.
Comparison of National and Local Approaches to Detecting Suicides in Healthcare Settings.

Introduction In order to address the problem of suicide, healthcare providers and researchers must be able to accurately identify suicide deaths. Common approaches to detecting suicide in the healthcare setting include the National Death Index (NDI) and Root-Cause Analysis (RCA) methodology. No study has directly compared these two methods. Materials and methods Suicide reporting was evaluated within the Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system. All suicides were included that occurred within 7 days of discharge from an inpatient mental health unit and were reported to the VA through the NDI record linkage and/or RCA database between 2002 and 2014. The proportion of suicide deaths that were identified by NDI and found in the RCA database were calculated. Potential misclassification by the NDI was evaluated, whereby the RCA database identified a suicide case, but the NDI classified the death as a non-suicide. Results In the study period, the NDI identified 222 patients who died by suicide within 7 days of discharge, while the RCA database only detected 95 reports of suicide. A comparison of cases across the two methods indicated that the RCA database identified only 35% (N = 78) of NDI detected suicides (N = 222). Conversely, the RCA database detected 13 suicide cases that the NDI had coded as deaths due to accidental poisoning or other causes. Importantly, RCA accounted for 13% (N = 7) of overdose suicides identified in all databases (N = 52). Conclusions Combining national and local approaches to detect suicide may help to improve the classification of suicide deaths in the healthcare setting.
Optimal timing of endoscopic sinus surgery for odontogenic sinusitis.

Objectives Odontogenic sinusitis (ODS) is more common than historically reported, and management recommendations are limited in the literature. Although ODS case series have shown successful outcomes with dental treatment and endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS), no studies have considered the optimal timing of these treatments. The purpose of this study was to analyze times to ODS resolution after primary dental treatment and ESS based on symptom, 22-item sinonasal outcome test (SNOT-22), and endoscopic outcomes. Study design Prospective cohort study. Methods Thirty-seven symptomatic ODS patients who failed medical management were offered primary dental treatment or ESS. Eleven patients selected primary dental treatment, and 26 patients selected ESS. The following variables were collected prospectively at every office visit before and after dental treatment or ESS: SNOT-22, presence or absence of cardinal sinusitis symptoms, and presence or absence of middle meatal endoscopy findings (edema, polyps, purulence). Times to resolution of these clinical variables were analyzed with t test, chi-square test, Fisher exact test, McNemar test, and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Results Patients in the dental treatment and ESS groups showed no significant differences in preoperative sinusitis disease burdens based on symptoms, SNOT-22, endoscopy, and computed tomography. The ESS group experienced faster and more significant improvement in nearly all symptom, SNOT-22, and endoscopic outcomes. Conclusions For symptomatic ODS, primary ESS resulted in faster resolution of SNOT-22, sinusitis symptoms, and endoscopic findings in ODS patients compared with primary dental treatment. ESS can be considered first-line therapy for symptomatic ODS, followed by dental treatment when necessary. Level of evidence 2b Laryngoscope, 129:1976-1983, 2019.
Raman-guided subcellular pharmaco-metabolomics for metastatic melanoma cells

Non-invasively probing metabolites within single live cells is highly desired but challenging. Here we utilize Raman spectro-microscopy for spatial mapping of metabolites within single cells, with the specific goal of identifying druggable metabolic susceptibilities from a series of patient-derived melanoma cell lines. Each cell line represents a different characteristic level of cancer cell de-differentiation. First, with Raman spectroscopy, followed by stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy and transcriptomics analysis, we identify the fatty acid synthesis pathway as a druggable susceptibility for differentiated melanocytic cells. We then utilize hyperspectral-SRS imaging of intracellular lipid droplets to identify a previously unknown susceptibility of lipid mono-unsaturation within de-differentiated mesenchymal cells with innate resistance to BRAF inhibition. Drugging this target leads to cellular apoptosis accompanied by the formation of phase-separated intracellular membrane domains. The integration of subcellular Raman spectro-microscopy with lipidomics and transcriptomics suggests possible lipid regulatory mechanisms underlying this pharmacological treatment. Our method should provide a general approach in spatially-resolved single cell metabolomics studies.
Conditional learning through causal models

Conditional learning, where agents learn a conditional sentence ‘If A, then B,’ is difficult to incorporate into existing Bayesian models of learning. This is because conditional learning is not uniform: in some cases, learning a conditional requires decreasing the probability of the antecedent, while in other cases, the antecedent probability stays constant or increases. I argue that how one learns a conditional depends on the causal structure relating the antecedent and the consequent, leading to a causal model of conditional learning. This model extends traditional Bayesian learning by incorporating causal models into agents’ epistemic states. On this theory, conditional learning proceeds in two steps. First, an agent learns a new causal model with the appropriate relationship between the antecedent and the consequent. Then, the agent narrows down the set of possible worlds to include only those which make the conditional proposition true. This model of learning can incorporate both standard cases of Bayesian learning and the non-uniform learning required to learn conditional information.
Industry-Sponsored Research Payments in Neurosurgery-Analysis of the Open Payments Database From 2014 to 2018.

BACKGROUND The Open Payments Database (OPD) started in 2013 to combat financial conflicts of interest between physicians and medical industry. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the first 5 yr of the OPD regarding industry-sponsored research funding (ISRF) in neurosurgery. METHODS The Open Payments Research Payments dataset was examined from 2014 to 2018 for payments where the clinical primary investigator identified their specialty as neurosurgery. RESULTS Between 2014 and 2018, a $106.77 million in ISRF was made to 731 neurosurgeons. Fewer than 11% of neurosurgeons received ISRF yearly. The average received $140 000 in total but the median received $30,000. This was because the highest paid neurosurgeon received $3.56 million. A greater proportion ISRF was made to neurosurgeons affiliated with teaching institutions when compared to other specialties (26.74% vs 20.89%, P = .0021). The proportion of the total value of ISRF distributed to neurosurgery declined from 0.43% of payments to all specialties in 2014 to 0.37% in 2018 (P < .001), but no steady decline was observed from year to year. CONCLUSION ISRF to neurosurgeons comprises a small percentage of research payments made to medical research by industry sponsors. Although a greater percentage of payments are made to neurosurgeons in teaching institutions compared to other specialties, the majority is given to neurosurgeons not affiliated with a teaching institution. A significant percentage of ISRF is given to a small percentage of neurosurgeons. There may be opportunities for more neurosurgeons to engage in industry-sponsored research to advance our field as long as full and complete disclosures can always be made.
First-Order Open Loop VCO-Based ADC with XOR Gates as Differentiator

In this paper, detail analysis for an open loop Voltage-Controlled Oscillator (VCO)-based ADC is discussed. The ADC includes a ring oscillator with several inverters to extract the phases. The circuit uses the VCO as an integrator in time domain and it uses the inverters in the VCO to perform multi-bit quantization. XOR gates are used to operate as differentiators and all the circuit is done through CMOS transistors. Mathematical analysis has been included to prove the ADC topology. Behavioral simulations have been added to validate the proposed architecture.
Clamp Assisted Reduction of the Transverse Acetabular Fracture With Anterior Column Screw Fixation and Posterior Plating: A Technical Trick and Case Series.

SUMMARY Displaced transverse acetabular fractures are unstable injuries that frequently require repair. Although multiple approaches, techniques, and fixation constructs have been described to treat this pattern, achieving an anatomical reduction and applying fixation to maintain this until union remains the goal of treatment. We present a surgical technique for transverse or transverse/posterior wall acetabular fractures repaired using a clamp-assisted reduction through the sciatic notch, followed by anterior column screw fixation and subsequent posterior column plating through a Kocher-Langenbeck exposure. We review a case series of 55 patients treated with this technique and evaluate reduction quality using postoperative computed tomogram scans to assess for any residual step-off.
Implementation of the Optimal Polarization Contrast Enhancement Concept in Ultrawideband (Multispectral) POL-SAR Image Analysis

It is often desirable to select antenna polarizations that maximize the contrast in received powers from two classes of scatterers. A terrain-mapping radar may use polarization to maximize the contrast between forested areas and farmland. Alternatively, it may be desirable to choose polarizations to maximize received power or target-clutter ratio.
Right Hemisphere and Pain

If the basic property of protoplasm is irritability, then the basic sensory modality critical to our survival may well be pain. Surely, it is fundamental to the human condition. The arrival and interpretation of these signals are intimate to defensive and offensive gestures, emotionality, and deeply pervasive memories to insure that we minimize the creation or replication of this consequence which results from many ill-conceived activities and pursuits. Failures are evident, though, in the public media in the stiff human competition for the “Darwin Awards” and for “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” We simply do not do many of the activities that gave us pain when we last tried them. Nature simply has an effective parenting style to promote rapid acquisition of emotional responses to pain and their associated contingencies along with long duration and persistent memories. If you touch a hot stone and get burned, you may indeed be less likely to touch it the next time when the opportunity knocks.
Heritage in the Dynamic City: The Politics and Practice of Urban Conservation on the Swahili Coast

This study presents a series of everyday spaces in Swahili cities in order to problematize current urban heritage practices and to call for a more critical approach to conservation. Efforts to save elements of the Swahili built environment are hampered by colonial legacies that frame conservation in terms of pure archetypes, static taxonomies, and racially distinct building cultures. Conservationists draw on these legacies in defining particular architectural and landscape forms as 'traditional', and therefore worthy of protection. Ironically, these 'traditional' forms emerged within the crucible of an ever-changing urban condition where the 'tradition' was innovation. The question thus arises as to the ultimate object of conservation practice: select buildings or the cultural processes that produced them? Through a careful reading of the Swahili built environment, this article examines key locations where urban spaces are formed, contested, and remade. The study concludes that to reflect the dynamic, multifaceted and cosmopolitan character of Swahili cities, conservationists must pay close attention to the ill-fitting spaces where landscape innovations arise. Not only will this approach augur a more socially just organization of urban cultural resources, it will more accurately reflect the lived realities of Swahili cities in a global age.
Tribo-oxidative degradation of polished polycrystalline diamond films in 0.2 Torr partial pressure of oxygen

Polished, mainly C(100)-textured polycrystalline diamond [PCDC(100)] films previously examined by SEM tribometry in ~ 1.33 × 10− 3 Pa ≅ 1 × 10− 5 Torr vacuum and various partial pressures of hydrogen P H 2 ranging from 13 to 40 Pa (0.1 to 0.3 Torr) at temperatures to 950 °C were retested repeatedly in 26 Pa (0.2 Torr) oxygen in the same temperature range. The progressively reduced values of the coefficient of friction (COF) on heating to as low as 0.04 to 0.05 prior to mass desorption of the surface-bonded oxygen are best interpreted in terms of progressively more stable oxygenated surface moieties developing on repeated heating and sliding. This COF reduction is presumed to be the signature of generating reactive oxygen intermediates similar to the friction-reducing effects of hydride, hydroxide and other gaseous and/or solid surface species active in dry and wet P H 2 . The stability of the oxygenated surface moieties manifests itself by their progressively increasing desorption temperature (extending the lubricative region to higher temperatures) after repeated testing on the same wear track without breaking the P O 2 atmosphere. The wear rate is about the same as measured in vacuum and P H 2 . The results indicate that at low P O 2 oxygen is not only less harmful to PCDC(100) than previously believed, but that its excited species are possibly even better in passivating the high friction-causing dangling surface bonds than H2. Testing is now being conducted in 440 Pa ≅ 3.4 Torr P O 2 to see if the increased oxygen activity (via a higher Pgas) can further improve the lubricating ability of O2 without an undue increase in the wear rate.
Do the Distributional Characteristics of Corporate Bonds Predict Their Future Returns

We find a significantly positive (negative) relation between volatility (skewness) and the cross-section of corporate bond returns, whereas kurtosis does not make a robust incremental contribution to the predictability of future bond returns. The risk-adjusted return spreads in volatility (skewness) sorted portfolios represent compensation for differences in the level of idiosyncratic volatility (idiosyncratic skewness) and differential exposure to the common idiosyncratic volatility factor in the bond market. We also show that the new risk factors based on the distributional moments of bond returns represent an important source of common return variation missing from the long-established stock and bond market factors.
Evidence that tryptophan is not a direct biosynthetic intermediate of camalexin in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Abstract Camalexin, a phytoalexin produced by Arabidopsis thaliana , is an indole compound substituted at the C-3 position with a thiazole. As part of a program to determine the camalexin biosynthetic pathway, the ability of tryptophan to serve as a precursor of camalexin was tested. Two complementary methods were employed—the analysis of camalexin accumulation in tryptophan-deficient mutants and the incorporation of radiolabelled compounds into camalexin. Both sets of experiments indicate that anthranilate but not tryptophan served as a biochemical precursor of camalexin. Therefore, we concluded that the camalexin biosynthetic pathway originates with an intermediate of the tryptophan pathway that lies between anthranilate and indole.
Reflections on the radio astronomy explorer program of the 1960s and 70s

The Radio Astronomy Explorer (RAE) program of the late 1960s and early 1970s is, to date, the only totally dedicated radio astronomy mission to have flown. However, only some of the prelaunch goals were achieved due to the unexpectedly high levels of interference from the earth in the form of both naturally occurring and man-made noise. Some important lessons in receiver design were learned which could and should be applied to any future radio astronomy missions.
Twenty-four-hour profiles of plasma glucose, insulin, C-peptide and free fatty acid in subjects with varying degrees of glucose tolerance following short-term, medium-dose prednisone (20 mg/day) treatment: evidence for differing effects on insulin secretion and action.

Summary Objective To determine the time course and prandial effects of short-term, medium-dose prednisone on 24-h metabolic patterns under standardized conditions. Context Glucocorticoids (GCs) adversely affect glucose homoeostasis but 24-h profiles of glucose, insulin, C-peptide and free fatty acids (FFAs) following short-term, medium-dose prednisone treatment in persons with varying degrees of glucose tolerance are not well defined. Design An open-label cross-sectional interventional study. Subjects Three groups were prospectively studied: persons with type 2 diabetes (T2DM; n = 7), persons ‘at risk’ for T2DM (AR; n = 8) and persons with normal glucose tolerance (NGT; n = 5). Methods Before and after 3-day treatment with prednisone 20 mg each morning, subjects underwent 24-h frequent blood sampling. Eucaloric mixed meals were provided at 08:00, 12:00 and 18:00 h. Insulin/glucose ratio provided an estimate of β-cell response to meal stimuli. Measurements Plasma glucose, insulin, C-peptide, haemoglobin A1c and FFA. Results Prednisone induced greater increases in glucose levels from midday (P = 0·001) to midnight (P = 0·02) in the T2DM than the AR and NGT groups. In contrast, insulin (P = 0·03) and C-peptide (P = 0·04) levels decreased postbreakfast in the T2DM group, whereas no changes in the morning but higher C-peptide levels (P = 0·03) from midday to midnight were observed in the AR group. In the T2DM group, insulin/glucose ratio decreased postbreakfast (P = 0·04) and increased postdinner (P = 0·03). Fasting glucose, insulin and C-peptide levels were unchanged in all groups, and FFA levels modestly increased postdinner (P = 0·03) in the NGT group. Conclusion Short-term, medium-dose prednisone treatment induces postprandial hyperglycaemia in T2DM and AR predominantly from midday to midnight because of suppression of insulin secretion followed by decreased insulin action that dissipates overnight. Effective treatment of prednisone-induced hyperglycaemia should target both rapid onset relative insulin deficiency and a less than 24-h total duration of effect.
LEARNING TO BE BAD: ADVERSE SOCIAL CONDITIONS, SOCIAL SCHEMAS, AND CRIME*

In this paper we develop and test a new approach to explain the link between social factors and individual offending. We argue that seemingly disparate family, peer, and community conditions lead to crime because the lessons communicated by these events are similar and promote social schemas involving a hostile view of people and relationships, a preference for immediate rewards, and a cynical view of conventional norms. Further, we posit that these three schemas are interconnected and combine to form a criminogenic knowledge structure that gives rise to situational interpretations legitimating criminal behavior. Structural equation modeling with a sample of roughly 700 hundred African American teens provided strong support for the model. The findings indicated that persistent exposure to adverse conditions such as community crime, discrimination, harsh parenting, deviant peers and low neighborhood collective efficacy increased commitment to the three social schemas. The three schemas were highly intercorrelated and combined to form a latent construct that strongly predicted increases in crime. Further, in large measure the effect of the various adverse conditions on increases in crime was indirect through their impact on this latent construct. We discuss the extent to which the social schematic model presented in the paper might be used to integrate concepts and findings from several of the major theories of criminal behavior.
Use and Impact of COACH with Students Who Are Deaf-Blind.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use and impact of COACH (Choosing Options and Accommodations for Children: A Guide to Planning Inclusive Education) with 30 students with deaf-blindnes...
Economic soil treatment of iron chlorosis in grain sorghum grown on a gypsum affected soil

Abstract Field studies in 1980, 1981 and 1982 were used to evaluate the effectiveness and economic feasibility of FeEDDHA, Fe‐lignosulfonate, acidified mining residue, and Eagle Iron for correction of iron chlorosis in grain sorghum grown on a gypsum affected soil. Treatments were applied as a band in the seed furrow at planting. Rates of Fe included 0.13 kg Fe/ha as FeEDDHA; 0.25, 0.49, 1.23, 1.48, 1.97, 2.46, and 3.70 kg Fe/ha as Fe‐lignosulfonate; 8.96, 11.2, and 17–9 kg Fe/ha as acidified mining residue; and 1.34 and 2.80 kg Fe/ha as Eagle Iron. Treatments of 0.31 kg Zn/ha as Zn‐lignosulfonate were also included with Fe‐lignosulfonate as complimentary treatments in 1980 and 1981. All treatments were selected based on their potential cost‐effectiveness to provide correction of iron chlorosis in grain sorghum. All treatments gave some degree of increase in grain or stover yield, with the exception of the 0.49 and 1.48 Fe/ha and 8.96 kg Fe/ha rates of Fe‐lignosulfonate and acidified mining residue, respe...
Closing the Fairness‐Practice Gap

“My argument in this essay is that the fairness principle can be justified on the basis of an ethical perspective that stresses the importance of consequences in judging human action, and that it has far-reaching implications not just for evaluating state policy but for the design of international institutions.” Keohane's utilitarian perspective seeks to establish generalizable principles of morality for a framework of normative moral rules by which to construct a foreign policy for international cooperation. The author argues that all governments are morally obliged to support international institutions that advocate crosscultural and global public goods to advance the fairness principle. The international community is bound by Western understandings of distributive justice, universal human rights, and indisputable national sovereignty.
A Note on Verification of Prognostic Charts

In recent forecasting experiments it has been customary to verify the prognostic charts by computing the correlation coefficients between the observed and redicted pressure changes. The justification has been that correlations between predicted and observed pressures would not correctly reflect skill, since in many cases high correlations would result from persistence. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1957.tb01887.x
Spectrophotometric assay for d-(−)-lactate in plasma

Abstract The optimal conditions of pH and temperature for quantitative measurement of d -(−)-lactate (not the l -(+)-lactate of glycolysis) were determined. The procedure used a glycine-hydrazine buffer at pH 9.5 and 25°C. The assay was based on the enzymatic oxidation of d -lactate with a specific d -lactic dehydrogenase coupled to reduction of NAD+ with the spectrophotometric measurement of NADH at 340 nm. Intermediates of the glycolytic pathway and several other potentially interfering compounds were tested and found not to give significant absorbance at concentrations greater than those expected in blood. Analyses of protein-free filtrates from plasma of human blood collected in heparinized tubes were performed. The mean plasma concentration for seven normal males of d -lactate was 0.21 mg 100 ml ± 0.014 SEM (0.023 m m ± 0.002) which was 1.5% of the l -(+)-lactate concentration found for these subjects. The assay is suitable for routine determination of d -lactate in plasma.
Computing in pervasive cyberspace

Freed from the temporal constraints of hardware, software could be the ultimate cyberorganism---a mind taking a body as needed to fulfill a particular function or mission.
Sensitivity analysis of a single-port vector reflectometer with a wideband phase-shifter

Sensitivity analysis is presented for wideband single-port vector reflectometers designed based on a noncoherent detection scheme. Simulations are performed to obtain the sensitivity of the systems to noise associated with the measured standing-wave voltage. The effect of insertion loss in phase-shifter, total phase shift and error in detector characterization on the accuracy of measuring the reflection coefficient of a device under test (DUT) is investigated. Results of this analysis are validated using measurements performed by custom-designed single-port reflectometer systems at X-band (8.2 - 12.4 GHz) and Ka-band (26.5 - 40 GHz).
Structure-Based Simulations of the Translocation Mechanism of the Hepatitis C Virus NS3 Helicase along Single-Stranded Nucleic Acid

The NS3 helicase of Hepatitis C virus is an ATP-fueled molecular motor that can translocate along single-stranded (ss) nucleic acid, and unwind double-stranded nucleic acids. It makes a promising antiviral target and an important prototype system for helicase research. Despite recent progress, the detailed mechanism of NS3 helicase remains unknown. In this study, we have combined coarse-grained (CG) and atomistic simulations to probe the translocation mechanism of NS3 helicase along ssDNA. At the residue level of detail, our CG simulations have captured functionally important interdomain motions of NS3 helicase and reproduced single-base translocation of NS3 helicase along ssDNA in the 3′–5′ direction, which is in good agreement with experimental data and the inchworm model. By combining the CG simulations with residue-specific perturbations to protein-DNA interactions, we have identified a number of key residues important to the translocation machinery that agree with previous structural and mutational studies. Additionally, our atomistic simulations with targeted molecular dynamics have corroborated the findings of CG simulations and further revealed key protein-DNA hydrogen bonds that break/form during the transitions. This study offers, to our knowledge, the most detailed and realistic simulations of translocation mechanism of NS3 helicase. The simulation protocol established in this study will be useful for designing inhibitors that target the translocation machinery of NS3 helicase, and for simulations of a variety of nucleic-acid-based molecular motors.
Electron Tomography of Cryo-Immobilized Plant Tissue: A Novel Approach to Studying 3D Macromolecular Architecture of Mature Plant Cell Walls In Situ

Cost-effective production of lignocellulosic biofuel requires efficient breakdown of cell walls present in plant biomass to retrieve the wall polysaccharides for fermentation. In-depth knowledge of plant cell wall composition is therefore essential for improving the fuel production process. The precise spatial three-dimensional (3D) organization of cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin and lignin within plant cell walls remains unclear to date since the microscopy techniques used so far have been limited to two-dimensional, topographic or low-resolution imaging, or required isolation or chemical extraction of the cell walls. In this paper we demonstrate that by cryo-immobilizing fresh tissue, then either cryo-sectioning or freeze-substituting and resin embedding, followed by cryo- or room temperature (RT) electron tomography, respectively, we can visualize previously unseen details of plant cell wall architecture in 3D, at macromolecular resolution (~2 nm), and in near-native state. Qualitative and quantitative analyses showed that wall organization of cryo-immobilized samples were preserved remarkably better than conventionally prepared samples that suffer substantial extraction. Lignin-less primary cell walls were well preserved in both self-pressurized rapidly frozen (SPRF), cryo-sectioned samples as well as high-pressure frozen, freeze-substituted and resin embedded (HPF-FS-resin) samples. Lignin-rich secondary cell walls appeared featureless in HPF-FS-resin sections presumably due to poor stain penetration, but their macromolecular features could be visualized in unprecedented details in our cryo-sections. While cryo-tomography of vitreous tissue sections is currently proving to be instrumental in developing 3D models of lignin-rich secondary cell walls, here we confirm that the technically easier method of RT-tomography of HPF-FS-resin sections could be used immediately for routine study of low-lignin cell walls. As a proof of principle, we characterized the primary cell walls of a mutant (cob-6) and wild type Arabidopsis hypocotyl parenchyma cells by RT-tomography of HPF-FS-resin sections, and detected a small but significant difference in spatial organization of cellulose microfibrils in the mutant walls.
Characterization of a Bacterial β-1,3-Galactosyltransferase with Application in the Synthesis of Tumor-Associated T-Antigen Mimics†

T-Antigen (Gal-β1,3-GalNAc-α-O-Ser/Thr) is an important precursor of mucin-type O-glycans. T-Antigen is found to be closely associated with cancer progression and metastasis and has been used to develop carbohydrate-based anticancer vaccines. Enzymatic synthesis of T-antigen disaccharides have relied on the use of β-1,3-galactosyltransferases recently cloned and characterized from several eukaryotic organisms. However, its application is limited by the difficulty of obtaining homogeneous enzymes and the strict substrate specificity of enzymes. Recently, a number of bacteria have been found to express carbohydrate structures that mimic host glycans. The corresponding glycosyltransferases have been exploited in the facile synthesis of a number of clinically important glycoconjugate mimics. In this study, we biochemically characterized a bacterial β-1,3-galactosyltransferase (WbiP) from Escherichia coli O127, which expresses a T-antigen mimic in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) structure. Substrate study showed ...