cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase from Leuconostoc mesenteroides: ligand-induced conformational changes.

Abstract Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase from Leuconostoc mesenteroides is inactivated by trypsin, chymotrypsin, pronase E, thermolysin, 4.0 m urea, and by heating to 49 °C. It is protected, to varying degrees, against all these forms of inactivation by glucose 6-phosphate, NAD + , and NADP + . When these ligands are present at 10 times their respective K D concentrations, protection by NAD + or glucose 6-phosphate is substantially greater than protection by NADP + . A detailed analysis was undertaken of the protective effects of these ligands, at varying concentrations, on proteolysis of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase by thermolysin. This study confirmed the above conclusion and permitted calculation of K D values for NAD + , NADP + , and glucose 6-phosphate that agree with such values determined by independent means. For NADP + , two K D values, 6.1 μ m and 8.0 m m , can be derived, associated with protection against thermolysin by low and high NADP + concentrations, respectively. The former value is in agreement with other determinations of K D and the latter value appears to represent binding of NADP + to a second site which causes inhibition of catalysis. A K i value of 10.5 m m for NADP + was derived from inhibition studies. The principal conclusion from these studies is that NAD + binding to L. mesenteroides glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase results in a larger global conformational change of the enzyme than does NADP + binding. Presumably, a substantially larger proportion of the free energy of binding of NAD + , compared to NADP + , is used to alter the enzyme's conformation, as reflected in a much higher K D value. This may play an important role in enabling this dual nucleotide-specific dehydrogenase to accomodate either NAD + or NADP + at the same binding site.
The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and Surgical Education: What Does Your Society Do for You?

Since its inception in 1899, the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) has been actively providing support for the education of its members specializing in colon and rectal surgery, general surgeons, surgical residents, and medical students. With new developments in surgical education, the ASCRS continues to offer educational tools and activities tailored to meet acquisition of medical knowledge and technical skills in an ongoing fashion throughout surgeons' careers, foster high-quality patient care, and promote the integration of the core competencies of communication skills, professionalism, system-based practice and practice-based learning, and improvement in daily practice. These tools and activities are presented in this article.
The Clergyperson as Counselor: An Inherent Conflict of Interest

Counseling is a function performed by many clergypersons as part of their overall role of minister in a congregational setting. There is an inherent conflict of interest when a clergyperson seeks to be an objective and therapeutic counselor to members of the very group on which he or she depends for both material benefits and volunteer help. The authors provide illustrations of this conflict of interest and then examine it in the light of codes of ethics of several professional counseling organizations. Clergy who do counseling are urged to adopt a professional code of ethics and abide by it, even if this involves cessation of the counseling function.
Towards noun-driven parsing

Natural language understanding systems are increasingly needed for intuitive, efficient interaction with large information stores. The object-centered nature of these stores - that they encode states, attributes, and relationships of objects - may not be best served by the current verb-driven syntactic paradigm. We develop a highly-parallelizable noun-driven syntax in response, and evaluate its performance against that of other syntactic paradigms through a series of search queries rooted in basic processing operations.
The effect of the partially restricted sit-to-stand task on biomechanical variables in subjects with and without Parkinson's disease

The aim of this study was to explore the electromyographic, kinetic and kinematic patterns during a partially restricted sit-to-stand task in subjects with and without Parkinson’s disease (PD). If the trunk is partially restricted, different behavior of torques and muscle activities could be found and it can serve as a reference of the deterioration in the motor performance of subjects with PD. Fifteen subjects participated in this study and electromyography (EMG) activity of the tibialis anterior (TA), soleus (SO), vastus medialis oblique (VMO), biceps femoris (BF) and erector spinae (ES) were recorded and biomechanical variables were calculated during four phases of the movement. Subjects with PD showed more flexion at the ankle, knee and hip joints and increased knee and hip joint torques in comparison to healthy subjects in the final position. However, these joint torques can be explained by the differences in kinematic data. Also, the hip, knee and ankle joint torques were not different in the acceleration phase of movement. The use of a partially restricted sit-to-stand task in PD subjects with moderate involvement leads to the generation of joint torques similar to healthy subjects. This may have important implications for rehabilitation training in PD subjects.
Methods of Measuring Energy Conversion Efficiency in Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

The current–voltage characteristics of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were measured and compared with those of crystalline silicon solar cells. It was found that the energy conversion efficiency of DSCs is dependent on voltage sweep direction and sampling delay time (Td). Measurement of the transient photocurrent revealed that this dependence is due to the longer time constant of DSCs. This dependence was also confirmed in a simulation of current–voltage curves based on an equivalent circuit model of DSCs. Analysis of the current–voltage characteristics of polymer-based bulk heterojunction solar cells (BHSCs) and simulated measurements showed that the longer time constant is due to slow movement of ions in the electrolyte. To improve accuracy, the I–V measurement should be carried out from short circuit to open circuit with Td of 100 ms or longer.
A novel scheme for the compression and classification of hyperspectral images

Since hyperspectral images are very large, it is desirable to compress them before transmission. After receiving the compressed image, decompression is applied before performing image classification and other operations. In this paper, a new processing scheme is proposed, where image transform and quantization are applied for image compression at the transmitter and classification is performed directly on the compressed data at the receiver. The advantage of this scheme is that fewer computations are needed. Computer simulations are performed on hyperspectral imagery.
Is a behavioral measure the best estimate of behavioral parameters? Perhaps not

In many areas of psychological research various measurement procedures are employed in order to obtain estimates of some set of parameter values. A common practice is to validate one measurement device by demonstrating its relationship to some criterion. However, in many cases the measurement of that criterion is less than a perfect estimate of true parameters. Self-report measures are often val idated by comparing them with behavioral mea sures of the dimension of interest. This procedure is only justifiable insofar as the behavioral measure represents an accurate estimate of population parameters. Three studies, dealing with the assess ment of assertiveness, students' in-class verbal and nonverbal behaviors, and a number of teacher-stu dent in-class interactions, tested the adequacy of behavioral versus self-report measures as accurate estimates of behavioral parameters. In Studies 2 and 3 self-reports were found to be as good as be havioral measures as estimates of behavioral pa rameters, while Study 1...
Land cover characterization for hydrological modelling using thermal infrared emissivities

Remote sensing with multispectral thermal infrared can improve regional estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) by providing new constraints on land surface energy balance. Current models use visible and near infrared bands to obtain vegetative cover, and sometimes use thermal infrared data for land surface temperature. Together these can yield good ET estimates. However, it may be possible to do even better by using remotely sensed thermal infrared emissivity, a surface property related to fractional vegetative cover but independent of plant greenness. Emissivities derived from clear-sky Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations obtained in 2007 over the Southern Great Plains (Oklahoma and Kansas), USA, were compared with changes in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for winter wheat and grazing land. Emissivity changes were independent of NDVI and sensitive to standing canopies, regardless of growth stage or senescence. Thus emissivities were seasonally dynamic, able to detect wheat harvest timing, and helpful for modelling ET.
Joint Channel and Symbol Timing Estimation and Data Detection

We consider the problem of data detection in the absence of channel state, symbol timing and noise power information. We propose a system parameter estimation method based on a two-step implementation of the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm. Due to the sampling time offset, the received sequence is correlated. As a result the EM algorithm cannot be directly implemented. We divide the received sequence into two (odd and even) subsequences so that the symbols in each subsequence are independent. The EM algorithm is then devised for each subsequence and is applied iteratively, switching from one subsequence to the other after each iteration. The algorithm estimates the channel coefficient, the noise power, and the sampling time offset from each frame of data. The estimated parameters are used in the (maximum a posteriori) detection of the data sequence using the Viterbi algorithm. Numerical results from the proposed algorithm show a very good match with those for a system that has knowledge of all the system parameters.
Inappropriate use of urinary catheters: A prospective observational study

Background Despite the well-recognized role of urinary catheters in nosocomial urinary tract infections, data on risk factors associated with inappropriate urinary catheter use are scarce. Methods A prospective review of electronic medical records of 436 patients admitted to an adult medical-surgical unit between October and December 2007 was performed to examine the appropriateness of urinary catheter use. Results The use of 157 urinary catheters in 144 patients was observed. A total of 557 urinary catheter-days were recorded in these patients, of which 175 (31.4%) were found to be inappropriate based on the study criteria. The total number of catheters used and the total duration of catheterization were risk factors for inappropriate urinary catheter use ( P Conclusions Significant rates of inappropriate urinary catheter use and a trend toward longer duration of hospitalization with inappropriate catheter use were observed. These findings underscore the importance of establishing guidelines and effective policy implementation for the appropriate use of urinary catheters in hospitalized patients.
Radiative transfer in dusty nebulae. III - The effects of dust albedo

The effects of an albedo of internal dust, such as ionization structure and temperature of dust grain, were studied by the quasi-diffusion method with an iterative technique for solving the radiative heat transfer equations. It was found that the generalized on-the-spot approximation solution is adequate for most astrophysical applications for a zero albedo; for a nonzero albedo, the Eddington approximation is more accurate. The albedo increases the average energy of the diffuse photons, increasing the ionization level of hydrogen and heavy elements if the Eddington approximation is applied; the dust thermal gradient is reduced so that the infrared spectrum approaches blackbody spectrum with an increasing albedo.
Soluble polymeric ligands for metal complexation and catalyst recovery

Soluble polymers that bind metals and that in turn can be separated from other components of a reaction mixture are described. The polymers used include derivatives of acrylamides, acrylates, polystyrene and other polymers. Both sequestration of trace metals and recovery of homogeneous catalysts is discussed. Separation methods using liquid/liquid mixtures that are monophasic during a reaction but biphasic during a separation are emphasized.
A sensitive competitive protein binding assay for vitamin D in plasma.

A sensitive protein binding assay for vitamin D is described. The vitamin D3 was extracted from plasma with diethyl ether and methylene chloride. The lipid extract was purified in Sephadex LH-20 followed by Lipidex 5000 and finally by high pressure liquid chromatography on a Zorbax Sil column (0.79 x 25 cm) developed in 0.25:99.75 isopropanol: methylene chloride. The vitamin D fraction was collected and quantitated by competitive protein binding assay with a 1/50,000 dilution of sheep plasma in 0.05 M potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) containing 0.01% gelatin. [H3]-25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 was used as a radioactive tracer in the assay. We found that under these conditions, sheep plasma had equal affinity for vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 and could detect as little as 0.1 ng of vitamin D. When rat, cow, or human plasma was substituted for the sheep plasma, the decline in sensitivity to vitamin D2 was fivefold to tenfold. With this assay, we found excellent agreement (r = 0.98) between the results obtained by competitive protein binding analysis and direct U.V. absorbance analysis by high pressure liquid chromatography.
Chemokine receptors and molecular mimicry.

Abstract Chemokines are small pro-inflammatory peptides that are best known for their leukocyte-chemoattractant activity. The cloned leukocyte chemokine receptors, interleukin 8 receptor (IL-8R) types A and B and the macrophage inflammatory protein 1α (MIP-1α/RANTES receptor, are related by sequence and chemokine binding to two herpesvirus products, and to the Duffy antigen that mediates erythrocyte invasion by the malaria-causingg parasite H smodium vivax . Here, Sunil Abuja, Ji-Liang Gao and Philip Murphy suggest that in addition to the activation of leukocytes, chemokines may be important in the function of erythrocytes and, through molecular mimicry, in microbial pathogenesis.
Thermomechanical behavior of dry contacts in disc brake rotor with a grey cast iron composition

The main purpose of this study is to analysis the thermomechanical behavior of the dry contact between the brake disc and pads during the braking phase. The simulation strategy is based on the calculation code ANSYS11. The modeling of transient temperature in the disk is actually used to identify the factor of geometric design of the disk to install the ventilation system in vehicles. The thermal-structural analysis is then used coupling to determine the deformation established and the Von Mises stresses in the disk, the contact pressure distribution in pads. The results are satisfactory compared to those found in the literature.
Flexible Dynamic Task Allocation in Cooperative Mission-Based Robotic Systems

Mission-based multi-robot systems (MRS) require the ability to quickly adapt to different missions while maintaining the innate advantages of cooperation and fault tolerance. This requires a flexible architecture capable of adapting to real-time changes in the system while dynamically assigning tasks to available drones. The provided mobile agent-based dynamic task allocation architecture enables non-centralized methods for allocating tasks to a heterogeneous system of mobile robots. The architecture utilizes three types of intelligent software agents including a mobile task agent, stationary control agent, and a mobile behavior agent. A mobile task agent is used to automatically collect the next available task and communicates with the on-board stationary control agent in order to complete the desired task. A mobile behavior agent is used to automatically gather the robot specific behaviors necessary to execute the low-level reactive control system required for the task. A case study involving border patrolling demonstrates the feasibility of the dynamic task allocation architecture. A simple yet effective wall-following behavior algorithm is given.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
On theq-Analogue of the Pair Correlation Conjecture

Let[formula]where the inner-most sum runs over the imaginary partsγof zeros of DirichletL-functionsL(s,χ) and where[formula]andK(s) is a suitably chosen “kernel.” Under the assumption of the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis we estimate the asymptotic size ofFK(α,Q) asQ→+∞ in the range ∣α∣<2. This is used to prove that the proportion of simple zeros of all DirichletL-functions is greater than or equal to1112in the sense of the inequality[formula]asQ→+∞.
Gene trap screening using negative selection: Identification of two tandem, differentially expressed loci with potential hematopoietic function

A fusion gene between Escherichia coli lacZ and herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) was constructed and used in a gene trap screen for hematopoietic loci in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. This gene, galtek, allowed both convenient histochemical detection of expression as well as ablation of expressing cells under 1-(2-deoxy-2-fluoro-β-d-arabinofuranosyl)-5-iodouracil (FIAU) selection. Individual ES cell clones bearing gene trap insertions were differentiated in the presence of FIAU and scored for erythropoietic activity at day 9 of differentiation. Screening of a total of 235 independent gene trap lines identified one clone, F3, which consistently demonstrated FIAU-sensitive erythropoiesis during in vitro differentiation. Cloning of endogenous transcribed sequences from the F3 insertion site identified two distinct transcription units, F3-1 and F3-2, encoding mRNAs of approximately 1.3 kb and 3.35 kb, respectively. The transcripts were unrelated and did not exhibit similarity to known sequences. Both loci demonstrated similar relative levels of expression in the heart, testis, kidney, and lung as assessed by Northern blot hybridization. Whole-mount in situ hybridization detected F3-2 expression at multiple sites in embryonic day (E) 10.5 embryos, including the genital ridges, the aortic endothelium, and endothelium-associated cell clusters within the aortic lumen. Expression of F3-2 in the aortic endothelium and endothelium-associated clusters overlapped that of gata-2, a gene required for hematopoietic development. The FIAU sensitivity of hematopoiesis in F3 embryoid bodies may result from expression of galtek during the formation of early hematopoietic cells, directed by regulatory signals from one or both of these endogenous loci. Dev. Genet. 25:49–63, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Rapid percutaneous cervical esophagostomy

Our technique of percutaneously inserting a No. 16 gauge long Bard Angiocath when performing a cervical esophagostomy is described. This has been a safe and rapid technique, and its only disadvantage is the inability to adequately suction the stomach immediately after the procedure.
Alterations in Fibroblast α1β1 Integrin Collagen Receptor Expression in Keloids and Hypertrophic Scars

Keloids and hypertrophic scars are significant symptomatic clinical problems characterized by excess collagen. Although extensive research has focused on fibroblasts and collagen turnover in these aberrant scars, little work has been done on the expression of integrins (cell membrane structures that link cells to extracellular matrix) within these lesions. Integrin-mediated regulation of collagen synthesis has previously been observed in explanted fibroblasts from normal and fibrotic dermis, and integrin α1 knockout mice maintain increased collagen synthesis consistent with a role for α1β1 in providing negative feedback on collagen synthesis. These findings suggested the need to evaluate integrin roles in keloids and hypertrophic scars. In this study we examined integrin expression in keloids (n = 11), hypertrophic scars (n = 5), radiation ulcers (n = 2), and normal skin specimens (n = 8). We used a novel approach to analysis by isolating dermal fibroblasts directly from tissue (without explant culture) and determining surface integrin expression by flow cytometry. We found that keloids and hypertrophic scars have marked alterations in fibroblast integrin expression and contain several distinct populations of fibroblasts. One of these populations expresses high levels of α1 integrin, and the proportion of these cells is higher in keloids (63% ± 3.6% SEM) and hypertrophic scars (45% ± 2.7% SEM) than in normal skin tissues (28% ± 4.7% SEM). The different populations of fibroblasts defined by integrin expression merge, however, when the cells are serially cultured, suggesting that there may be aspects of the dermal microenvironment that maintain the integrin phenotypic heterogeneity in dermal fibroblasts.
Immunohistochemical expression of SALL4 in hepatocellular carcinoma, a potential pitfall in the differential diagnosis of yolk sac tumors

SALL4 is a transcription factor that serves as a marker of yolk sac tumor. Yolk sac tumor and hepatocellular carcinoma share histologic, serologic, and immunohistochemical features. Previous studies have shown lack of SALL4 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma, suggesting utility in this differential diagnosis. Sixty-nine samples of hepatocellular carcinoma were retrieved from surgical pathology archives and used to construct 9 tissue microarrays. A germ cell tumor tissue microarray containing 10 yolk sac tumors was used for comparison. Extent, intensity, and pattern of nuclear SALL4 expression were assessed in each spot. Mean percentage of expression was calculated for each tumor and used during analysis. Optimal discriminatory extent of expression cutoff was determined by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Other potential discriminatory markers including Hep Par1 were also evaluated. Forty-six percent (32/69) of hepatocellular carcinoma and all yolk sac tumors revealed at least focal expression of SALL4. A unique punctuate/clumped pattern of nuclear staining was present in 94% (30/32) of hepatocellular carcinoma, whereas all yolk sac tumors displayed a diffuse finely granular nuclear staining pattern. A 25% extent of SALL4 expression cutoff was found to be optimal for the distinction of yolk sac tumor from hepatocellular carcinoma yielding a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 92.8%, and a positive predictive value of 66.6% for yolk sac tumor diagnosis. The addition of Hep Par1 increased the specificity (99%) and positive predictive value (90%). This is the first report of SALL4 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma. Our finding should be taken into consideration in the differential diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma and yolk sac tumor. The unique punctuate/clumped pattern seen in hepatocellular carcinoma cases could be of further discriminatory value.
Optical Properties of Sputtered SnS Thin Films for Photovoltaic Absorbers

Tin monusulfide (SnS) is an absorber with promising optoelectronic properties and low environmental constraints of interest for high-efficiency solar cells. The optical properties of SnS thin films are investigated to assess their compatibility with the solar spectrum. SnS thin films were RF magnetron sputter-deposited at target powers of 105-155 W and total pressures of 5 to 60 mtorr in argon at room temperature. X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed a dominant tin monosulfide herzenbergite phase. The absorption coefficient was determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry and unpolarized spectrophotometry measurements. Both methods show that the films have absorption coefficients above the band gap in the range of 105 -106 cm-1. The direct gap, indirect gap, and forbidden direct gap for the films were found to be in the range of 1.2-1.6 eV, indicating a strong match with the solar irradiance spectrum.
Intramural fibroma of the heart

Abstract A case of intramural fibroma of the heart, diagnosed by left ventricular cineangiography, confirmed by biopsy and followed-up for one and a half years after thoracotomy is presented. This case is of special interest inasmuch as in all previous cases except one, the diagnosis was not established before death. The intramural fibroma is a rare cardiac lesion, this case being only the twenty-ninth reported. Intramural fibromas of the heart are probably congenital, benign, slow-growing tumors, often leading to sudden death in infancy or early childhood, but also compatible with long life expectancy. Symptoms, physical findings, chest roentgenograms and electrocardiograms may mimic various forms of congenital or acquired heart disease, particularly hypertrophic subaortic stenosis, endocardial fibroelastosis and anomalous coronary arteries. Angiography is the definitive diagnostic procedure and may reveal a mass in the ventricular wall. The vectorcardiogram reported here for the first time reveals a focal loss of myocardial tissue and may be a valuable asset in the diagnosis of intramural fibroma.
Semi-empirical likelihood inference for the ROC curve with missing data

Abstract The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve is one of the most commonly used methods to compare the diagnostic performance of two or more laboratory or diagnostic tests. In this paper, we propose semi-empirical likelihood based confidence intervals for ROC curves of two populations, where one population is parametric and the other one is non-parametric and both have missing data. After imputing missing values, we derive the semi-empirical likelihood ratio statistic and the corresponding likelihood equations. It is shown that the log-semi-empirical likelihood ratio statistic is asymptotically scaled chi-squared. The estimating equations are solved simultaneously to obtain the estimated lower and upper bounds of semi-empirical likelihood confidence intervals. We conduct extensive simulation studies to evaluate the finite sample performance of the proposed empirical likelihood confidence intervals with various sample sizes and different missing probabilities.
Equivariant Moore spaces II. The low-dimensional case

The multiplicative component of the obstruction is shown to be non-zero in its own right, and in the two-dimensional case it is shown that this obstruction can be cancelled by the introduction of a suitable first k-invariant in the topological spaces, in certain cases. As in the general case, the non-realizability results in the present .7 net can be phrased in terms of spaces that are not equivariant Moore spaces. A
Burn time of aluminum nanoparticles: Strong effect of the heating rate and melt-dispersion mechanism

Abstract A puzzling results were reported for burn time of Al nanoparticles at T = 1100 ° C . At a heating rate of 103 C/s, the burn time exceeds 1 s [K. Park, D. Lee, A. Rai, D. Mukherjee, M. Zachariah, J. Phys. Chem. B 109 (2005) 7290–7299; M. Zachariah, private communication], while after fast heating (107 C/s), the burn time was only 500 μs [T. Bazyn, H. Krier, N. Glumac, Combust. Flame 145 (4) (2006) 703–713; T. Bazyn, H. Krier, N. Glumac, Proc. Combust. Inst. 31 (2007) 2021–2028]. This result is explained by the melt dispersion oxidation mechanism that operates for rapid heating only. Some characteristic parameters of this mechanism (critical heating rate, characteristic cluster size) are estimated.
Review of Being and Event

In 1929, Gilbert Ryle published in Mind a mildly critical review of the then‐recent masterpiece of the new “phenomenological method,” Heidegger's Being and Time. 1 Displaying both his characteristi...
A modeling methodology for conflict control in multi-agent systems

Multi-agent systems (MASs) have become an important topic in distributed systems research. These distributed multi-agent systems call for special software modeling methods that explicitly support key system properties such as resource constraints and control of conflicts. Although there have been some system modeling techniques to support MASs design and automatic analysis, most state-of-the-art techniques have not distinguished potential conflicts from real conflicts during the design stage. To solve this problem, we define a new concept, called "potential arcs," which is integrated into colored Petri net modeling to support the modeling of MASs. We present a modeling methodology based on the potential arc concept and illustrate the methodology with a case study, including some associated model analysis.
Automatic inspection of pavement cracking distress

This paper presents the image-processing algorithm customized for high-speed, real-time inspection of pavement cracking. In the algorithm, a pavement image is divided into grid cells of 8x8 pixels and each cell is classified as a non-crack or crack cell using the grayscale information of the border pixels. Whether a crack cell can be regarded as a basic element (or seed) depends on its contrast to the neighboring cells. A number of crack seeds can be called a crack cluster if they fall on a linear string. A crack cluster corresponds to a dark strip in the original image that may or may not be a section of a real crack. Additional conditions to verify a crack cluster include the requirements in the contrast, width and length of the strip. If verified crack clusters are oriented in similar directions, they will be joined to become one crack. Because many operations are performed on crack seeds rather than on the original image, crack detection can be executed simultaneously when the frame grabber is forming a new image, permitting real-time, online pavement survey. The trial test results show a good repeatability and accuracy when multiple surveys were conducted at different driving conditions.
Characterization of a Discrete Degradation Product of the Human Chorionic Gonadotropin β-Subunit in Humans

We have investigated the different forms of immunoreactive hCGβ excreted in the urine of normal volunteers after iv administration of highly purified hCG β-subunit. Chromatography of urine on Sephadex G-100 revealed two discrete peaks ofhCGβ immunoreactivity as measured with antiserum to hCGβ (SB6). The material of larger apparent molecular weight appeared to be hCGβ itself, since it eluted from the column in the same position as authentic hCGβ, contained full hCGβ carboxy-terminal peptide immunoreactivity, adsorbed to Concanavalin A, and gave a dose-response curve parallel to hCGβ in the hCGβ RIA. The other form of immunoreactive hCGβ eluted from the column as a separate, discrete peak in a positioncorresponding to a molecular weight about 25% that of authentic hCGβ. This hCGβ fragment gave a dose-response curve parallel to hCGβ in the hCGβ RIAand adsorbed to Concanavalin A but appeared to lack an intact hCGβ carboxyterminal peptide immunological determinant. After a single iv injection of hCGβ, the time...
Exact and approximate distributions for the product of inverted Dirichlet components

It is well known that X/(X+Y) has the beta distribution when X and Y follow the inverted Dirichlet distribution. In this paper, we derive the exact distribution of the product P=XY (involving the Gauss hypergeometric function) and the corresponding moment properties. We also propose two approximations and show evidence of their goodness of fit. The work is motivated by real-life examples.
Measurement of genetical differentiation among subpopulations.

The basis for measuring differentiation among subpopulations is discussed and a number of conditions formulated that are desirable for an appropriate measure. These conditions imply that each subpopulation is characterized by the difference in genetic composition between it and its complement. A direct method of determining this difference is described and shown to result from a known measure of genetic distance between populations. The weighted average of the genetic distances between subpopulations and their complements constitutes a measure of differentiation among subpopulations which fulfills all of the desirable conditions and has the additional advantage that its values are directly interpretable. This measure (δ) is equally applicable to gene (δge), gametic (δga) or genotypic (δgo) frequencies, which guarantees an unequivocal multilocus treatment, provided that the sets of genetic entities to which the frequencies refer are properly defined. The general relationship δge ≤ δga ≤ δgo is consistent with the principle that increasing complexity of organization of genetic material results in increased opportunity for differentiation. It is demonstrated that Wright's Fst (GST in Nei's notation), which is often used to measure subpopulation differentiation, meets some but not all of the conditions formulated for a desirable measure.
Transforming growth factor‐β1 is a heparin‐binding protein: Identification of putative heparin‐binding regions and isolation of heparins with varying affinity for TGF‐β1

Previous studies indicated that a major factor in heparin's ability to suppress the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells is an interaction with transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1). Heparin appeared to bind directly to TGF-beta 1 and to prevent the association of TGF-beta 1 with alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2-M). The present studies indicate that 20-70% of iodinated TGF-beta 1 binds to heparin-Sepharose and the retained fraction is eluted with approximately 0.37 M NaCl. Native, unlabelled platelet TGF-beta 1, however, is completely retained by heparin-Sepharose and eluted with 0.9-1.2 M NaCl. Using synthetic peptides, the regions of TGF-beta 1 that might be involved in the binding of heparin and other polyanions were examined. Sequence analysis of TGF-beta 1 indicated three regions with a high concentration of basic residues. Two of these regions had the basic residues arranged in a pattern homologous to reported consensus heparin-binding regions of other proteins. The third constituted a structurally novel pattern of basic residues. Synthetic peptides homologous to these three regions, but not to other regions of TGF-beta 1, were found to bind to heparin-Sepharose and were eluted with 0.15 M-0.30 M NaCl. Only two of these regions were capable of blocking the binding of heparin to 125I-TGF-beta. Immobilization of these peptides, followed by affinity purification of heparin, indicated that one peptide was capable of isolating subspecies of heparin with high and low affinity for authentic TGF-beta 1. The ability of TGF-beta 1 to bind to heparin or related proteoglycans under physiological conditions may be useful in understanding the biology of this pluripotent growth and metabolic signal. Conversely, a subspecies of heparin molecules with high affinity for TGF-beta 1 may be a factor in some of the diverse biological actions of heparin.
Voice recognition interface for a radiology information system

We have implemented a voice recognition interface using a Dragon Systems VoiceScribe-1000 Speech Recognition system installed on an AT&T 6310 personal computer. The Dragon Systems DragonKey software allows the user to emulate keyboard functions using the speech recognition system and replaces the presently used bar code system. The software supports user voice training, grammar design and compilation, as well as speech recognition. We have successfully integrated this voice interface in the clinical report generation system for most standard mammography studies. We have found that the voice system provides a simple, user-friendly interface which is more widely accepted in a medical environment because of its similarities to tradition dictation. Although the system requires some initial time for voice training, it avoids potential delays in transcription and proofreading. This paper describes the design and implementation of this voice recognition interface in our department.© (1990) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
On the existence of generators for certain AFL

Abstract It is shown that under mild conditions on a tape function f, the AFL generated by the languages accepted by f-tape-bounded (deterministic) Turing acceptors is generated by a single language i.e., is principal. The same result holds for the AFL generated by the languages accepted by f-tape-bounded Turing acceptors with a (possibly unbounded) pushdown tape. From these results it follows that the AFL generated by writing pushdown-acceptor languages and the AFL generated by the two-way (deterministic) (nonerasing) stack-acceptor languages are principal. A modification of the main argument shows that the AFL generated by the two-way pushdown-acceptor languages is also principal.
Birth prevalence of omphalocele/gastroschisis in relation to maternal age and race/ethnicity † 448

Birth prevalence of omphalocele/gastroschisis in relation to maternal age and race/ethnicity † 448
The gasdynamics of fission-fragment heating

The transient motion of a gas heated in a spatially nonuniform fashion by fission fragments is considered. Comparisons of an analytical solution for the one-dimensional Cartesian problem and numerical simulations of the Euler equations using the Flux-Corrected Transport (FCT) method indicate that the choices of the diffusion coefficients which yield sixth-order- or fourth-order-accurate versions of FCT are not optimal for this problem. A hybrid method using diffusion coefficients lying between the values of the above versions requires an order-of-magnitude fewer grid points to reproduce the analytical solution. Representative numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the different effects that Cartesian and axisymmetric geometries have on the gas motion. Numerical simulations of experiments with two-dimensional effects are compared to experimental pressure measurements.
Myotatic Reflexes in Sympathectomised Muscle

As a result of their experiments on normal, spinal and decerebrate animals Hunter and Royle (1924) concluded that the post-ganglionic fibres of the sympathetic nervous system constituted the efferent limb of the reflex arc subserving postural contraction in skeletal muscle. In a recent article (1931) the present author described a series of experiments on decerebrate cats in which Royle’s observation of diminished resistance to passive flexion in a sympathectomised “decerebrate” extensor muscle was confirmed, but the hypothesis that this was due to a “tonic” nervous influence of sympathetic axones on skeletal muscle fibres was denied. This denial was based on the fact that postural contraction was modified but not abolished by sympathectomy, and that the operation actually enhanced such proprioceptive reflexes as the shortening reaction and the crossed extensor reflex of Philippson (1905). Finally it was suggested that the diminished resistance of the extended “decerebrate” limb to passive flexion and the enhancement of those proprioceptive reflexes which, could be elicited by stretching the sympathectomised muscle were produced by a disturbance of the excitability of its proprioceptive end-organs. Denny-Brown (1928), after studying postural reflexes, has stated that the sympathetic nervous system is not essential to the stretch reflex, but he further stated that he was unable to discover any effect on general posture by excision of the sympathetic.
Optical study of a 2-dimensional laminar flame: Relation between temperature and flow-velocity fields

This paper describes the mapping of temperature and velocity fields in two-dimensional (2-D), stable, lean, laminar, methane-air premixed flames. The measurements are performed using optical techniques: coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) of N 2 to obtain temperature and direct recording laser interferometric anemometry to obtain the 2-D vector velocity field. The flame is stabilized in a rectangular channel by a flame-holding rod normal to the average flow direction. Isotherms and flow lines are deduced from the experimental data which in turn are used to calculate local flame propagation velocities at different points of the flame front by two different methods. The results are self-consistent and not inconsistent with those already in the literature. It is also found that the unstable wake clearly present in the cold flow essentially disappears when the flame is established, the flow being steady laminar throughout the channel.
Alain Locke on Race Relations: Some Political Implications of His Thought

Although Alain Locke’s works are well known, they have rarely been assessed for their direct significance as political theory. In this article, the author undertakes such an assessment by exposing the political implications of Locke’s formulations on race in a number of lectures he conducted in 1916. Specifically, this article shows that although Locke’s works have been interpreted as advocating a critical pragmatism on race, they put forth a new kind of racialism that is neither critical nor conservative, although decidedly radical. Exposing this makes it easier to see the connection between Locke’s works and the earlier thinkers on race before the European Enlightenment as well as ways in which they anticipate important trends in contemporary political thought.
Assimilation of Stratospheric Chemical Tracer Observations Using a Kalman Filter. Part I: Formulation

Abstract The first part of this two-part article describes the formulation of a Kalman filter system for assimilating limb-sounding observations of stratospheric chemical constituents into a tracer transport model. The system is based on a two-dimensional isentropic approximation, permitting a full Kalman filter implementation and a thorough study of its behavior in a real-data environment. Datasets from two instruments on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite with very different viewing geometries are used in the assimilation experiments. A robust chi-squared diagnostic, which compares statistics of the observed-minus-forecast residuals with those calculated by the filter algorithm, is used to help formulate the statistical inputs to the filter, as well as to tune covariance parameters and to validate the assimilation results. Two significant departures from the standard (discrete) Kalman filter formulation were found to be important in this study. First, it was discovered that the standard Kalman filt...
Test of crossover scaling in the two-dimensional random-field Ising model

The random-field-induced rounding of the specific-heat singularity observed in transfer-matrix calculations of two-dimensional Ising models by Morgenstern, Binder, and Hornreich is interpreted in terms of the Fishman-Aharony scaling theory. Results qualitatively similar to recent experimental work on ${\mathrm{Rb}}_{2}$${\mathrm{Co}}_{0.85}$${\mathrm{Mg}}_{0.15}$${\mathrm{F}}_{4}$ are obtained.
21 SELF IMAGE OF ADOLESCENTS WITH SHORT STATURE AS MEASURED BY HUMAN FIGURE DRAWINGS

Delayed pubertal development and short stature are potential sources of dissatisfaction with body image during adolescence. Human figure drawings were studied to assess the emotional impact of delayed growth and development. Drawings of 54 boys who complained of short stature between the ages of 12 and 18 and whose height fell below the third percentile were analyzed. A control group was selected and matched for age and absence of pathology. Both male (first) and female (second) drawings were analyzed qualitatively and given a rating of normal, immature or disturbed. Quantitive analysis consisted of measurement of the height of the first and second figure drawings from shoulders to feet. The data was subjected to an analysis of variance. Qualitatively both short stature patients and controls produced similar numbers of normal drawings. However, immature or disturbed drawings predominated for both groups. Chi square analysis (< .02 level) indicated that short stature subjects drew more disturbed figures while controls drew immature ones. No significant differences were noted in quantitative evaluation. It is our impression that short stature is not always reflected in drawings. The deviance from normal in drawings of short stature patients is reflected by disturbed rather than immature drawings which are frequently seen in normal adolescents.
Aluminum speciation and equilibria in aqueous solution: IV. A potentiometric study of aluminum acetate complexation in acidic NaCl brines to 150° C

Abstract The molal formation quotients for Al(Ac)3−nn were measured potentiometrically from 25 to 150°C at ionic strengths of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.6, and 1.0 mol · kg−1 in an aqueous NaCl medium. The titrations were carried out over the pH range 1.9 to 3.1 in a hydrogen-electrode, concentration cell. Aluminum acetate species with values of ligand number, n , from one to three were detected, although the stability fields in which they represented a significant fraction of the total aluminum were limited to restricted conditions of temperature and ionic strength. Two empirical equations were formulated containing four adjustable parameters to describe the temperature and ionic strength dependencies of the formation equilibrium quotients for Al(Ac)2+ and Al(Ac)+2. Limited thermodynamic data are presented for the Al(Ac)o3 species. Comparisons are made with the limited thermodynamic information available in the literature.
Prevalence, symptoms and outcome of constipation in infants and toddlers

Objective To determine the prevalence of constipation in children ≤2 years, describe the symptoms of constipation, and review how often specific interventions were effective. Study design Retrospective chart review. Results Of 4,157 children Conclusions Dietary changes, corn syrup, or both resolved constipation in 25% of children, and laxatives resolved constipation in 92% of children. Both milk of magnesia and polyethylene glycol were efficient and safe in infants and toddlers.
Research in Marine Aquaculture at the Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Miami

Abstract Within very recent times there has been an increase in attention paid to the possibility of culturing commercially valuable marine animals. The Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Miami has embarked on a research program to show feasibility of culturing shrimp and pompano. The basic initial assumption of the program is that profit must be the underlying stimulus for research and development of a new industry hence the concentration of effort on animals of high market value. A second assumption is that such culture, to be truly successful, must be intensive in character and divorced from the changeable marine environment where man is unable to control the host of limiting factors. The life history of the pink shrimp, Penaeus duorarum, and biological data on pompano, Trachinotus carolinus are briefly outlined. The research facility which consists of 7 elevated growing ponds, 16 20 ton capacity hatchery tanks and a hatchery-laboratory building is described. A brief discussion of limiting fac...