cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exosomes Nanosized Cellular Messages

Nature has designed clever ways for information and material transfer between cells and for intercellular coordination. Mechanisms include direct cell contact, gap junctions, and receptor-ligand signaling. In the past decade, a particular form of exchange has gained increasing attention, and that is intercellular transfer of extracellular vesicles—natural nanocarriers that deliver biological payloads at long range.1 Article, see p 1312 Many terms have been coined for vesicles found in the extracellular space, including matrix vesicles, extracellular membrane vesicles, microparticles,1 microvesicles,1,2 shedding vesicles,3 plasma membrane-derived vesicles,4 ectosomes,5 exovesicles,6 and exosomes.7 Sometimes these terms are used interchangeably, however, some have been assigned specific distinguishing features, such as size, context, or protein markers. Bone biologists showed decades ago that extracellular vesicles of a certain type, matrix vesicles, are central in skeletal mineralization, where they are thought to serve as a nidus for initiation of hydroxyapatite crystal formation.8 The general view is that matrix vesicles are formed by budding off from the plasma membrane. A leader in the field of matrix vesicle biology, Anderson,9 also identified matrix vesicles in human aortic calcification, one of the first demonstrations that vascular and bone mineralization occur by similar mechanisms. Exosomes, which are distinguished by endosomal marker proteins and their origin from a specialized endosomal pathway, arise in a wide variety of cell types, and serve many functions, such as removal of unwanted stress proteins and coordination of membrane biogenesis. They may have a role in disease processes. The payload of exosomes reportedly may include microRNA, proteins, and viral, bacterial, and prion particles.10–13 Matrix vesicles and exosomes are found in other parts of the natural world. As with the hydroxyapatite mineral of bone, the calcium carbonate mineral encasing shellfish was previously thought to …
Multidimensional perceptual development: consistency of responses to frequency and intensity in young chickens

The development of consistent responses to multidimensional acoustic stimuli was investigated in newborn chickens. Young chicks suppress their ongoing peeps when they hear a change in an acoustic stimulus, and the amount of that suppression is related to the amount of change. Durations of suppression can thus be interpreted as perceived differences between pairs of stimuli. The suppressions elicited by all possible transitions between pairs of 5 acoustic stimuli that differed in frequency, intensity, and repetition rate were measured at 2 ages. These data were analyzed with a multidimensional scaling program. Interpretable structure is evident in the results from 4-day-old chicks to a subset of the stimuli that vary in frequency and intensity. Newborn chicks, in contrast, showed inconsistent responses. Neither age group responded with interpretable structure to stimuli that differed in 3 dimensions. Thus, consistent responses to 2-dimensional acoustic stimuli emerge over the first few postnatal days. Perceptual dimensions become associated with the physical dimensions of frequency and intensity as animals mature.
3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (dopa) metabolism and retinoic acid induced differentiation in human neuroblastoma.

In mature cells of the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal gland, the activity of dihydroxyphenylalanine decarboxylase (DDC) is higher than that of tyrosine hydroxylase and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) does not accumulate in the cells. On the other hand, it is known that in some neuroblastoma cells there is a relative deficiency of DDC, resulting in accumulation and secretion of DOPA. Such a relative deficiency of DDC is a characteristic of neural cells at an early stage of neural crest development, suggesting the neuroblastoma are cells arrested in early neural crest development. If this were the case, it is possible that agents such as retinoic acid (RA) could induce neuroblastoma to differentiate into mature cells with respect to their metabolism of catecholamines. We have measured the effect of RA on the metabolism of DOPA and expression of tyrosine hydroxylase and DDC in human neuroblastoma cell lines, CHP-126, CHP-134, IMR-32, NB-59, and LA-N-5. When the cell cultures were treated with RA, they showed wide variations in response as measured by morphological change, growth inhibition, enzyme activities and DDC, but does not increase DDC relative to tyrosine hydroxylase. It is concluded that RA does not induce biochemical differentiation of the neuroblastoma into mature cells even when there are extensive morphological changes and suppression of growth rate.
Investigation on the reduction of electron contamination with a 6-MV x-ray beam.

Experimental investigations have been carried out on the reduction of electron contamination of a 6‐MV x‐ray beam of Clinac model 1800 for square field sizes 5×5 to 30×30 cm2 in steps of 5 cm and for rectangular field sizes 19×7 and 7×19 cm2. The electron contamination of both the open beam and the beam with the tray can be effectively reduced by placing a lead foil filter immediately below the blocking tray. Measurements at 100‐cm source‐skin distance with filter in place showed a reduction in dose in the buildup region and also a displacement of the location of D max to greater depths, even for small field sizes such as 10×10 cm2.
Quadratic Jordan systems of hermitian type

Abstract In this paper, we extend Zel'manov's classification of linear Jordan systems (triple systems and pairs) of hermitian type to quadratic Jordan systems over an arbitrary ring of scalars. Using associative triple systems (of the first kind) for what we believe to be a more natural tool to describe special Jordan triples, we show that an i -special prime quadratic Jordan triple system (the ideals of which remain semiprime) with a nonzero hermitian part lies between an ample subspace of hermitian elements in a ∗ -prime associative triple system and those in its Martindale system of symmetric quotients. Modulo some extra definitions, the structure of strongly prime Jordan pairs of hermitian type follows almost immediately from the Jordan triple result.
Manipulation of the temperature-sensitive interaction between soybean leaves and Pseudomonas syringae pv. glycinea—implications on the nature of determinative events modulating hypersensitive resistance

The interaction between race 1 of Pseudomonas syringae pv. glycinea and cv. Harosoy soybean leaves was temperature sensitive for reaction-type—an incompatible reaction involving hypersensitive host cell death and glyceollin accumulation occurred at 22 °C but a compatible reaction resulted when inoculated plants were incubated at 31 °C However, fully resistant reactions occurred at 31 °C if inoculated plants were previously incubated at 22 °C for 18 h. This and other evidence indicated that the higher temperature did not inhibit resistance expression per se but affected an earlier event, probably the determinative phase specific to this race-cultivar interaction. Intermediate levels of resistance resulted when plants were shifted to 31 °C at 8 or 12 h after inoculation but resistance was not expressed when plants were shifted at 4 h; therefore, the determinative events leading to resistance expression had begun by c. 8 h and were complete by c. 18 h after inoculation. In contrast, resistance was always expressed when inoculated plants were incubated at 31 °C for various time periods and then shifted to 22 °C, even after 96 h when bacterial populations had reached maximum levels. Thus, it was concluded that compatibility was not specified through mechanisms involving induced host susceptibility or suppression of resistance. Instead, the observations confirm other evidence indicating that incompatibility is the specifically determined plant response and that compatibility results from the failure of incompatible recognition to occur. Finally, the results support the role of glyceollin in conferring resistance of soybean leaves to P. syringae pv. glycinea.
Two pion decay modes of the K-mesons

Abstract An absolute determination of the K → 2π decay modes is made on the basis of the algebra of currents, in an attempt to test the current-current weak Hamiltonian and Cabibbo's university for non-leptonic decays.
Molecular evolution of the human Pgk-2 retroposon

The human phosphoglycerate kinase (Pgk) gene family includes the functional, intronless Pgk-2 gene and the intronless psi hPgk-1 pseudogene, both of which are retroposons of the intron-containing Pgk-1 gene. The divergence of the Pgk-2 retroposon from Pgk-1 is compared with that of the psi hPgk-1 retroposon from Pgk-1 to reveal nucleotide characteristics diagnostic of functional genes. A comparison of the human and mouse Pgk genes indicates that Pgk-2 has evolved more rapidly than Pgk-1 since the two genes diverged early in mammalian evolution, but that the lack of introns in Pgk-2 may have diminished inter-exon variation. The hypothesis that codon bias is related to expression level is shown not to hold for the Pgk genes; however, the idea that a deficiency of TA and CG dinucleotides and an excess of TG and CT dinucleotides contributes to codon bias is supported. Finally, the hypothesis that the Pgk-2 retroposon initially included a copy of the Pgk-1 'housekeeping' promoter and subsequently evolved a tissue-specific promoter is examined and supported. It is concluded that this process involved the loss of the 5' CpG island present in the Pgk-1 gene, and that selection for cell type-specific expression of Pgk-2 at high levels has driven the divergence of this retroposon from its progenitor, Pgk-1.
Visual Attention Strategies for Printed Words in Beginning Readers

To investigate beginning readers' multiple and selective attention to letter and configural information in printed words, Garner's speeded classification task was administered to 20 children after one year of formal reading instruction. There were individual differences, but, in general, the beginning readers imposed configural structures (failure in multiple and selective attention) and separable structures (failure in multiple attention only). No one structure was associated with achievement or underachievement in reading, based on standardized tests and teachers' judgment. That 70% of the underachievers and only 20% of the achievers used the same structure for both words (which can be recoded linguistically) and word analogues (which cannot be recoded linguistically), suggests that achievers may be more flexible in allocating visual attention. Another finding, which was replicated, indicates that configural information may be salient for beginning readers who ate learning rules of letter-phoneme corres...
Effect of interface modifications on voltage fade in 0.5Li2MnO3.0.5LiNi0.375Mn0.375Co0.25O2 cathode materials

Abstract The effects of the coatings Al 2 O 3 , LiAlO x , ZrO 2 , TiO 2 , AlPO 4 , and LiPON and of the electrolyte additives 3-hexylthiophene and lithium difluoro (oxalato)borate (LiDFOB) on the voltage fade phenomenon in 0.5Li 2 MnO 3 ·0.5LiNi 0.375 Mn 0.375 Co 0.25 O 2 cathodes were investigated. Cells containing these materials or additives were cycled according to a standard protocol at room temperature between 2.0 and 4.7 V vs. Li + /Li. As expected, the cells containing either an additive or a coated cathode displayed less capacity loss than cells containing an uncoated cathode and no additive. The voltage fade phenomenon was quantified in terms of changes in the average cell voltage (Wh/Ah). The results indicate that, within experimental error, all of the coatings and additives produced little-to-no effect on voltage fade.
Multienzyme complexes of fatty acid oxidation from escherichia coli K-12 and from a mutant with a defective l-3-hydroxyacyl coenzyme a dehydrogenase

Abstract An Escherichia coli mutant (fadB64), with a defective l -3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.35) which is unable to grow on long-chain fatty acids as the sole carbon source, was shown to possess a fatty acid oxidation complex that contains five β-oxidation enzymes, including l -3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase. A comparative study of the complexes from the mutant, from its parental strain and from wild-type E. coli B demonstrated the immunological and gross structural identity of all three fatty acid oxidation complexes. A kinetic evaluation of the complexes led to the suggestion that the mutation may have affected the active site of l -3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase so that it is inactive with acetoacetyl-CoA as a substrate, but exhibits an increasing percentage of the parental dehydrogenase activity with increasing chain length of the substrate.
An Invitation to the Marriage of Metagenomics and Metabolomics

Metagenomics seeks to characterize the composition of microbial communities, their operations, and their dynamically coevolving relationships with the habitats they occupy without having to culture community members. Uniting metagenomics with analyses of the products of microbial community metabolism (metabolomics) will shed light on how microbial communities function in a variety of environments, including the human body.
Scanning compound surfaces with no existing CAD model by using laser probe of a coordinate measuring machine

In recent years, the manufacturing of parts with compound surfaces relies more and more on computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) because of the ever increasing complexity of surface features. For a standard CIM cycle, it starts from a computer aided design (CAD) model which was designed previously be experienced mechanical drafters. The CAD model is then interpreted as numerical controlled (NC) machining codes according to which the part is finally manufactured, this is usually referred to as the normal manufacturing process in Figure 1. However, in many cases, a CAD model of a part is not always readily available to begin the CIM cycle. For instance, in automobile industry, the development of new car models takes a long time from concept to model because of the tedious manual digitization process. Also, in some other cases, the mechanical design of a product may need frequent modification, such as ship hulls, aeroplane fuselages, wings and turbine blades, etc. This was traditionally done by copymilling of a master model. In a computer aided manufacturing (CAM) environment, a mathematical model or representation of a part is required to begin a CIM cycle. The automation of the whole manufacturing system requires a rapid part modeling tool. Fortunately, this becomes possible with the advent of recent development in optical sensing devices and many non-contact sensing techniques. Before a part model is established, surface digitization should first be implemented so that enough measurement points can be fitted later, and this is the most important step of the reverse engineering process as in Figure 1. And also, it is obvious that the efficiency and accuracy of the surface modeling relies heavily on the efficiency and accuracy of the surface digitization. The present paper aims at achieving surface digitization accurately and rapidly with a coordinate measurement machine (CMM) and an inexpensive laser range-finding probe. By making full use of the control system of the CMM and the sensing device, a feed-back control module has been developed to achieve accuracy, speed, and economy at the same time. This economical system can achieve the same or higher level of accuracy than expensive machine vision systems.
Effect of danazol on plasma lipid and lipoprotein levels in normal women

Prior studies of lipid and lipoprotein levels alterations associated with the administration of danazol, a testosterone derivative, in patients treated for endometriosis have been conflicting. We administered danazol to 7 normal menstruating women and measured plasma lipid and lipoprotein cholesterol levels prior to and 2 months after treatment. Small, non-significant decreases in total plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels were seen, largely due to a dramatic decline in one woman with type IV hyperlipoproteinemia. No significant change in low density or very low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels was seen. However, a marked (40%) reduction of high density lipoprotein cholesterol level in the mean was found. These findings have implications for the atherogenic potential of danazol, the treatment of hyperlipidemia, and the relationship between gonadal hormones and lipoprotein levels.
Practical Guidelines on the Use of Insulin Lispro in Elderly Diabetic Patients

Glucose tolerance deteriorates, and the prevalence of diabetes mellitus increases, with advancing age. Most elderly diabetic patients have type 2 (non—insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus, but the prolonged survival of young people with type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus increases the prevalence of type 1 diabetes among the elderly. Approximately 25 to 29% of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus are treated with insulin. Conventional therapy with regular and intermediate-acting insulin preparations does not mimic physiological insulin secretion. Subcutaneous administration of insulin lispro, a recently introduced insulin analogue, more closely mimics the time-action curve of endogenous insulin that is produced in response to meals. Its rapid onset and short duration of action allow for adequate control of postprandial glucose levels while reducing the risk of late postprandial hypoglycaemia. Insulin lispro offers improved glycaemic control, convenience and increased flexibility in insulin-treated patients with diabetes.
Examination of in situ Generation of Hydroxyl Radicals and Ozone in a Flow-through Electrochemical Reactor

Generation of hydroxyl radicals and ozone in a low ionic strength influent (0.001 M Na2SO4) treated in a continuous flow electrochemical (EC) reactor equipped with a cobalt-promoted lead dioxide anode was examined using p-chlorobenzoic acid (pCBA) and indigotrisulfonate (ITS) probes. EC generation of hydroxyl radicals via the oxidation of water was determined to precede that of ozone. OH· current yields were affected virtually solely by the current density, with almost negligible effects of variations of pH and carbonate concentrations. Absolute values of the current yields of EC generated OH· radicals were close to 1.0% for current densities > 30 mA/cm2. The EC generation of ozone was suppressed in the presence of organic species, primarily due to the interception of OH· radicals that react with oxygen to form ozone. Apparent kinetic constants of major reactions associated with the EC generation of ozone were determined based on a steady-state model of an EC-controlled continuous flow reactor.
Activation of p38MAPK signaling cascade in a VSMC injury model: role of p38MAPK inhibitors in limiting VSMC proliferation.

Abstract Introduction P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) has a crucial role in regulating signaling pathways implicated in the cellular events leading to restenosis. We examine p38MAPK activation in response to vascular cell injury, its biological effects and determine whether selective p38MAPK inhibitors, SB220025/SB203580, decrease vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation. Methods Human aortic VSMCs were cultured and wounds made on the monolayers to elicit mitogenic responses and induce p38MAPK activation. P38MAPK inhibitor pretreatment, at varying doses (1–100 μM) and treatment duration was used to block p38MAPK phosphorylation. Cytotoxicity, viability, proliferation and apoptosis were determined and expression of p38MAPK/phospho-p38MAPK was obtained by chemiluminiscent immunoblot analysis. Results Phosphorylation of p38MAPK depended on injury severity and was inhibited by both p38MAPK inhibitors, but not by SB202474, a specific antagonist of p38MAPK inhibitors. VSMCs treated with p38MAPK inhibitors showed a dose-dependent decrease in viable cell number, apoptosis and proliferation, reversing the deleterious effects of p38MAPK activation comparable to controls (p Conclusions This wound injury model activates the p38MAPK-signaling cascade in VSMC and causes cell proliferation that can be abrogated by pre-incubation with p38MAPK selective synthetic inhibitors in a time and dose-dependent manner. SB220025 used here for the first time in VSMC reveals itself to be a stronger p38MAPK inhibitor than SB203580 and being a second generation inhibitor may be the preferred drug for novel therapeutic maneuvers.
Visualizing context through theory deconstruction: A content analysis of three bodies of evaluation theory literature

While the evaluation field collectively agrees that contextual factors bear on evaluation practice and related scholarly endeavors, the discipline does not yet have an explicit framework for understanding evaluation context. To address this gap in the knowledge base, this paper explores the ways in which evaluation context has been addressed in the practical-participatory, values-engaged, and emergent realist evaluation literatures. Five primary dimensions that constitute evaluation context were identified for this purpose: (1) stakeholder; (2) program; (3) organization; (4) historical/political; and (5) evaluator. Journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers rooted in the selected evaluation approaches were compared along these dimensions in order to explore points of convergence and divergence in the theories. Study results suggest that the selected prescriptive theories most clearly explicate stakeholder and evaluator contexts. Programmatic, organizational, and historical/political contexts, on the other hand, require further clarification.
The crystal structure of boleite—A mineral containing silver atom clusters

Abstract The mineral boleite, Pb26Ag9Cu24Cl62(OH)48, is cubic, space group Pm3m, with a = 15.29 A. Lead and silver atoms form a distorted body-centered array leading to octahedral groupings of these atoms. The silver atoms and their coordinating chlorines form Ag6Cl8Cl6 groups similar to those in the metal cluster compounds MoCl2 and WCl2. Lead and copper atoms are in distorted square antiprismatic and tetragonal bipyramidal coordination, respectively.
Mutual impacts of lighting controls and daylighting applications

Abstract Several types of lighting control strategies, techniques, and equipment are examined with respect to cost and performance. Daylighting is found to require the use of sophisticated equipment that can provide more than this one control strategy. Simple control systems can reduce the lighting load by 12 – 50%; implementing four control strategies provides savings of 60 – 79%. The four control strategies are scheduling, tuning, lumen depreciation, and daylighting. The use of daylighting, properly integrated with electric lighting, makes economic sense and will be more commonly practiced in the future.
Construction and oral immunogenicity of a Salmonella typhimurium strain expressing a streptococcal adhesin linked to the A2/B subunits of cholera toxin.

A mafor adhesin from the oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans has been shown to be mucosally immunogenic upon genetic fusion with the cholera toxin A2B subunits. To take advantage of the ability of Salmonella typhimurium to deliver cloned antigens to the mucosal inductive sites that would obviate the need for antigen purification, we expressed this chimeric construct in an attenuated S. typhimurium strain under the control of bacteriophage T7 transcription. Residual expression of the temperature-regulated T7 RNA polymerase at 30°C allowed production of the chimeric protein at 2–3% of the total soluble protein, but it was increased five to six times following induction at 37°C. Oral administration of a single dose of 109 recombinant Salmonella to mice resulted in serum IgG and salivary IgA antibody responses to Salmonella, cholera toxin, and the streptococcal adhesin, which were generally enhanced after a booster immunization.
On the Role of Polyatomic Gases in Fast Counters

The polyatomic gas serves a twofold purpose: (1) to quench ultraviolet photons and (2) to quench secondary emission by positive ions reaching the cathode. The characteristic property of a polyatomic molecule which is of importance for the operation of a fast counter is the large probability of predissociation from excited electronic states. The quenching of ultraviolet photons in the initial avalanche occurs through photo-decomposition of the polyatomic gas. In a fast counter containing a self-quenching mixture the polyatomic gas has invariably a lower ionization potential than the monatomic constituent. The positive ions make ${10}^{5}$ collisions in crossing the counter and the electron transfer probability ensures that the positive ion sheath, when it reaches the cathode, is composed entirely of polyatomic ions. These are neutralized at about ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}7}$ cm from the wall and the excited neutral molecules predissociate in ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}13}$ sec. before they can liberate a secondary electron by an inelastic collision with the wall. With no supply of secondary electrons the discharge terminates. Other features of fast counter behavior are discussed and some of the conclusions reached have been checked experimentally.
The Effect of Grassroots Campaigning on Issue Preferences and Issue Salience

Abstract What effect, if any, do personally delivered campaign messages have on political attitudes? Recent evidence suggests that these messages can affect voting behavior, but not issue opinions (Arceneaux, 2007). We extend this work by considering the effect of electioneering on opinions about contested position issues, and whether the delivery method of the message matters. Drawing on a large scale randomized field experiment, we show that personally delivered campaign messages can influence people’s issue attitudes and issue importance on emerging issues. Furthermore, we find that people are able to resist persuasive messages that are inconsistent with their value preferences.
Configuration management by consensus: an application of law-governed systems

It is self-evident that if one wants to model and control the cooperative process of software development, one must provide for cooperative decision making. In particular, one should be able to base the decision on whether and how to carry out a given operation on the consensus of several, possibly independent, agents. It is important to emphasize that this is not just a matter of computing the conjunction of some set of conditions. One must also provide a mechanism for establishing any desired consensus structure, which would specify who is allowed to state which kinds of concerns regarding this operation, and what the relationship among these concerns should be.In this paper we propose a general framework for such decision making by consensus, which is based on the concept of law-governed software development. As a concrete application domain in which to illustrate this framework, we consider here the issue of configuration binding.
Using polarized variable coherence tomography to estimate polarimetric BRDF from monostatic data

Variable coherence tomography (VCT) was recently developed by Baleine and Dogariu for the purposes of directly sensing the second-order statistical properties of a randomly scattering volume. In this paper we generalize the theory of VCT to include polarized inputs and scatterers. The measurement of the scattered coherency matrix or Stokes vector is not adequate in general to describe the surface, as these quantities depend on the coherence state of the incident beam. However, by controlling the polarized coherence properties of the beam with polarized VCT, we are able to design a method that can measure analogous information to the polarimetric BRDF, but do it from monostatic data. Such a method has potential impact on both polarimetric and scalar active remote sensing.
Effect of estrogen and ovariectomy on response of the female rabbit urinary bladder to two forms of in vitro oxidative stress

There are several lower urinary tract dysfunctions (LUTD) that are more common in women than in men including incontinence, interstitial cystitis, and recurrent urinary tract infection. There is increasing evidence that these dysfunctions are associated with reduced blood flow, ischemia, hypoxia, and reperfusion resulting in free radical generation and oxidative damage. The goal of the current study was to determine if the level of circulating estrogen affects the response of the bladder muscle and mucosa to two in vitro models of oxidative stress: Incubation in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is the first model; the second is ischemia followed by reperfusion which results in the direct production of damaging free radicals. The motivation for this study is the current literature linking female-related LUTD with oxidative stress. Eighteen female New Zealand white rabbits were divided into three groups: control, ovariectomized, and ovariectomized receiving continuous estrogen. Eight bladder strips from each of three rabbits per group were taken for in vitro ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) physiological experiments, while eight strips from the three remaining rabbit bladders per group were taken for in vitro H2O2 experiments. All tissue was analyzed for total antioxidant activity (AA) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. In addition, the organ bath buffer was also analyzed for AA. In vitro H2O2 was found to target the nerve, muscarinic receptor, and membrane equally causing more damage to bladder tissue than in vitro I/R. Ovariectomy resulted in lower contractility and higher lipid peroxidation. However, estrogen supplementation following ovariectomy protected the bladder against both models of oxidative stress by maintaining contractile responses to stimulation and decreasing lipid peroxidation. The primary conclusion from this study is high estrogen protects the bladder from oxidative stress, whereas low estrogen makes the bladder more susceptible.
Use of FloSeal Hemostatic Sealant in Transsphenoidal Pituitary Surgery: Technical Note

OBJECTIVE Bleeding during transsphenoidal pituitary surgery can lead to a variety of operative difficulties. When the endonasal transsphenoidal approach is used, even mild intraoperative hemorrhage can lessen visibility in the confined operative field of view. This technical note describes the use o
An experimental test of the double solubility rule

Vapor pressures, fusion (δHfus), and sublimation (δHs) enthalpies are reported ford, dl-2,3-dibromobutane-1,4-diol, andd,dl-dimethyl 2,3-diacetyltartrate. Values of 8.1, 7.04, 6.9, and 6.6 kcal/mol for δHfus were measured by differential scanning calorimetry and values of 28.4, 27.3, 26.2, and 25.5 kcal/mol (not corrected to 25‡) were calculated for δHs from the temperature dependence of vapor pressure, respectively. The vapor pressure ofdl-2,3-dibromobutane-1,4-diol, which crystallizes as a conglomerate, exceeds the vapor pressure of thed form by more than a factor of 2 over the temperature range studied. The ratio of vapor pressures ofdl- andd-dimethyl 2,3-diacetyltartrate, which crystallizes as a racemic compound, is approximately 1.5.
New oilseed crops on the horizon

Fats and oils for food uses are now plentiful on a worldwide basis. Tallow, lard and fish oils, as well as vegetable oils, such as those derived from soybean, sunflower, palm, rapeseed, peanut and cottonseed, are often overproduced. Although many of these products are also used for industrial chemicals, they often are not of the most favorable composition for nonfood applications. A search for new oil-seed crops with more advantageous oil composition has led to the development of excellent candidates that are now close to commercial acceptance. Among them areCrambe, Limnanthes, Vernonia, Sapium andSimmondsia. Other crops are at a much lower stage of development but also have excellent potential. They includeCuphea, Foeniculum, Stokesia, Lesquerella andLunaria. In this age of searching for renewable resources to replace petrochemicals and imported strategic materials, a well-organized research and development program on new oilseed crops could soon result in American self-sufficiency for industrial oils and fatty acids. Fats and oils for food uses are now plentiful on a worldwide basis. Tallow, lard and fish oils, as well as vegetable oils, such as those derived from soybean, sunflower, palm, rapeseed, peanut and cottonseed, are often overproduced. Although many of these products are also used for industrial chemicals, they often are not of the most favorable composition for nonfood applications. A search for new oilseed crops with more advantageous oil composition has led to the development of excellent candidates that are now close to commercial acceptance. Among them areCrambe, Limnanthes, Vernonia, Sapium andSimmondsia. Other crops are at a much lower stage of development but also have excellent potential. They includeCuphea, Foeniculum, Stokesia, Lesquerella andLunaria. In this age of searching for renewable resources to replace petrochemicals and imported strategic materials, a well-organized research and development program on new oilseed crops could soon result in American self-sufficiency for industrial oils and fatty acids.
Visualizing Georeferenced Data: Representing Reliability of Health Statistics

The power of human vision to synthesize information and recognize pattern is fundamental to the success of visualization as a scientific method. This same power can mislead investigators who use visualization to explore georeferenced data—if data reliability is not addressed directly in the visualization process. Here, we apply an integrated cognitive-semiotic approach to devise and test three methods for depicting reliability of georeferenced health data. The first method makes use of adjacent maps, one for data and one for reliability. This form of paired representation is compared to two methods in which data and reliability are spatially coincident (on a single map). A novel method for coincident visually separable depiction of data and data reliability on mortality maps (using a color fill to represent data and a texture overlay to represent reliability) is found to be effective in allowing map users to recognize unreliable data without interfering with their ability to notice clusters and characteri...
A Statistical Measure for the Stability of Solid State Noise Sources

A statistical measure for the stability of solid state noise sources is discussed. Its applicability is demonstrated. Two independent techniques, a cross correlation technique and a triangulation technique, are employed to estimate the instabilities of individual noise sources. An analysis for the validity of the cross correlation technique for separating the instability of the noise source from that of the measurement system is also given.
Determinants of sum of orbits under compact Lie group

Abstract We study the determinants on the sum of orbits of two elements in the Lie algebra of a compact connected subgroup in the unitary group. As an application, the extremal determinant expressions are obtained for the symplectic group.
The association between elevated EphB4 expression, smoking status, and advanced-stage disease in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Objective To examine the expression of EphB4 in tumor tissue, surrounding normal tissue, and metastatic lymph node in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and to evaluate its association with disease stage and smoking. Design A retrospective study. Setting University of Southern California–University Hospital, University of Southern California and Los Angeles County Medical Center, and Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Patients Forty-eight patients with different stages of HNSCC (I-IV) were enrolled into this study. Staging was based on the staging system of the American Joint Committee on Cancer. Main Outcome Measures EphB4 expression in tumor tissue, surrounding normal tissue, and metastatic lymph node was evaluated by immunohistochemical analysis, Western blot, and real-time polymerase chain reaction. EphB4 expression was then compared between patients based on disease stage and smoking status. Results EphB4 expression was detected in all tumor specimens and metastatic lymph nodes of patients with HNSCC, but expression levels were higher in the metastatic lymph nodes. There was a statistically significantly higher mean EphB4 protein expression and EphB4 gene amplification in patients with advanced disease (stage III or IV) vs patients with initial disease (stage I or II) and in smokers vs nonsmokers. Conclusions Overexpression of EphB4 is associated with advanced stages of HNSCC as well as with patients who smoke. These data are the first to demonstrate the association of EphB4 with advanced stages of disease and smoking in HNSCC and hence provide a strong rationale for targeting EphB4 for HNSCC therapies.
The Rhetoric of American Decline: Paul Kennedy, Conservatives, and the Solvency Debate

HE DEBATE OVER the ascent and decline of an American empire be­ gan in earnest with the 1987 publication of Yale Historian Paul Kennedy's book, The Rise and Fall ofthe Great Powers. This book, cou­ pled with Kennedy's numerous public appearances, editorials and reviews, and an extensive article in TheAtlantic, set forth an extremely volatile argument about the erosion of American power. 1 Kennedy detailed the collapse of societies which, like the United States, assumed the role of a great power among nations and then proceeded to devote more and more of their national treasure to the increase and main­ tenance of their spheres of influence. Kennedy's survey includes the Spanish, French, and British empires; his evidence consists of his own expertise as a historian, analogies between the course of past nations and that of the United States, and vast stores of quantitative data describing what Kennedy purports is the powerful impact of economic force on a nation's historic destiny. The provocative conclusion Kennedy draws from his research, with respect to the United States, is that the nation is experiencing grave and irreversible economic and military "de­ cline"; this decline can only be mitigated by dramatically restructur­ ing America's military and economic affairs. Kennedy's audience included informed members of the public but seemed directed primarily to influential leaders within the foreign policy establishment. In fact, many liberals from both within and outside this establishment applauded Kennedy's thesis. They saw his ideas as provid­ ing a way to reconstitute America's global role in a post Cold War world and to wrench the public from its Reagan inspired, "rose-colored torpor."2 Liberal historians and economists hailed Kennedy's argument as a healthy end of the era perspective and a movement toward "public pur­ pose and idealism, a recoiling against greed."3 In the political arena,
Collaborating to Conquer Cancer: Lessons From Our Children

Welcome to the 48th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). I invite you to share in the exciting findings that will be presented at this year’s meeting and to enjoy the opportunity to connect with current and former colleagues. It has been my great privilege to serve as ASCO president—one of the most exciting years of my professional career. This has been a year of challenges and change—both for those of us who provide cancer care and for the patients we serve. The pace of discovery remains exciting, but our capacity to deliver high-quality care is being challenged as never before. But I believe that we have the opportunity to lead the way forward. Before I begin, I would like to thank my family, who have provided loving support and inspiration throughout my career and who remind me of the importance of family in all of our lives. ASCO is a complex organization that depends heavily on a cadre of enthusiastic volunteers. I have had the privilege to work with a fantastic group of individuals who represent the spectrum of subspecialists in our society as well as patient advocates and others. Their work is critically important to ASCO’s scientific, educational, and policy accomplishments. Special thanks go to Dr Hal Burstein, who chaired the Education Committee, and Dr Ron Levy, who chaired the Scientific Program Committee, and to all their track leaders and subchairs. They have devoted considerable energy to making this a wonderful meeting. My sincere thanks to the ASCO staff. Led by our CEO and former ASCO President Allen Lichter, this is a productive, accomplished, and accommodating group of professionals. It has always been my pleasure to work with them, but in particular over the past year. I dedicate this talk to patients and families I have cared for over the course of my career. As pediatric oncologists and parents know very well, there is nothing more motivating than a sick child, nothing to keep one honest and humble like the probing questions of an adolescent, and no greater pleasure than to have intervened in a child’s life—to have the gratification of seeing that child grow up, realize his or her dreams, and start a family. My patients have been my partners in a wonderful profession and collaborators in my own efforts to advance the field. I am grateful for how much they have enhanced my career and my life.
An iterative refinement algorithm for consistency based multiple structural alignment methods

Motivation: Multiple STructural Alignment (MSTA) provides valuable information for solving problems such as fold recognition. The consistency-based approach tries to find conflict-free subsets of alignments from a pre-computed all-to-all Pairwise Alignment Library (PAL). If large proportions of conflicts exist in the library, consistency can be hard to get. On the other hand, multiple structural superposition has been used in many MSTA methods to refine alignments. However, multiple structural superposition is dependent on alignments, and a superposition generated based on erroneous alignments is not guaranteed to be the optimal superposition. Correcting errors after making errors is not as good as avoiding errors from the beginning. Hence it is important to refine the pairwise library to reduce the number of conflicts before any consistency-based assembly. Results: We present an algorithm, Iterative Refinement of Induced Structural alignment (IRIS), to refine the PAL. A new measurement for the consistency of a library is also proposed. Experiments show that our algorithm can greatly improve T-COFFEE performance for less consistent pairwise alignment libraries. The final multiple alignment outperforms most state-of-the-art MSTA algorithms at assembling 15 transglycosidases. Results on three other benchmarks showed that the algorithm consistently improves multiple alignment performance. Availability: The C++ code of the algorithm is available upon request. Contact: gcrippen@umich.edu
Sensitivity of various bone parameters of laying hens to different daily calcium intakes.

Abstract Experiments were designed to examine file sensitivity of various bone parameters of laying hens to different levels of calcium intake (2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, and 4.5 g/day). All birds were individually fed 85 g of feed daily. Dry femur weight (DW) and absolute ash weight (AW) of the whole bone (WB), cortical bone (CB), or medullary bone (MB) were reliable indicators of bone status affected by changes in calcium intake. Expressing AW as a percentage of fat-free dry matter (AW/FFDM) or a percentage of dry weight (AW/DW) showed no effect due to different levels of calcium intake. The correlations between CB-AW/FFDM or CB-AW/DW with calcium intake were .05 and –.07, respectively. Bone ash concentration and bone ash per unit volume (AW/VOL, mg/mL) was very sensitive to different levels of calcium intake; the values increased linearly as calcium intake increased from 2 to 4.5 g/day (WB = 316 to 403; CB = 479 to 571; MB = 133 to 213). Bone-breaking force (BBF), bone-bending moment (BBM), bone stress, and BBF/100 g body weight were equally sensitive in indicating bone mineral reserves due to different levels of calcium intake. Regression equations showed that AW/VOL alone (true for WB, CB, and MB) was capable of predicting BBM well (all with R2.82). However, AW/FFDM did not have predictive power over BBM (CB-AW/FFDM:R2
Examination of a Theoretical Model for Oral Health–Related Quality of Life Among Youths With Cleft

Objectives. We evaluated relationships among physical and psychological indicators and oral health–related quality of life (OHRQOL) in youths with cleft.Methods. We recruited youths aged 7 to 18 years with cleft palate (n = 282) or cleft lip and palate (n = 918) and their caregivers into a 5-year observational investigation at 6 US treatment centers from 2009 to 2011. At baseline, youths completed surveys to assess psychological status. After clinical evaluation, 433 youths received a recommendation for surgery. We developed structural models from the baseline data incorporating age, gender, race, and cleft diagnosis to examine direct relationships between depressive symptoms and, in separate models, self-concept and sense of mastery and OHRQOL. Subsequent models examined the possible mediating effect of surgical recommendation.Results. Depressive symptoms were negatively and self-concept and self-efficacy were positively associated with OHRQOL. Surgical recommendation appeared to mediate the effect of ps...
There is life left in ASICs

Standardcellshavelongbeenanexcellentabstractionoftechnology. ASIC design styles allowed logic designers toveryrapidlytakeadvantageofmajor advantagesinsilicontechnology. For the last few years however, many peoplehavebeenpredictingthedeathofASICs. Theyarguethatthey are too diﬃcult to design, that the gap between theprocess technology and theASICis growing, andthat thecostwillmakethemeconomicallyinfeasible. Inthispresen-tation we will argue that there is a lot of life left in yourASIC.Speciﬁcally,thereisstillplentyofroomforimprove-mentindesigntoolstoensurewestayclosetoMoore’scurveindesignperformancedespitebaseprocesstechnologyslow-down. Similarly,costcanbeloweredsigniﬁcantlybybetteroptimization,analysisandveriﬁcation.AlternativeslikeFPGAsorfullyprogrammablestandardproducts have been proposed. However, both are signiﬁ-cantly more ineﬃcient in their use of power than ASICs,anddonotmeetperformancerequirementsformanyappli-cations underapowerbudget. Sincefew attractivesiliconimplementationalternativesareavailabletostandardcells,itisimportantthatthedesigntoolswillstepuptothetask.
Properties of Chitosan Films as a Function of pH and Solvent Type

Two different deacetylated chitosans were dissolved in formic, acetic, lactic, or propionic acid to prepare chitosan films. The pH values of the film-forming solutions were adjusted to 3, 4, and 5. Water vapor permeability (WVP), tensile strength (TS), elongation (E), and total soluble mat ter (TSM) were significantly ( P < 0.05) affected by acid type, pH, and degree of deacetylation (DA). Low DA (LDA) chitosan films had lower WVP and TSM, higher TS compared with high DA (HDA) chitosan films. The E values were not affected by DA. As pH increased, WVP and TSM of chi tosan films tended to increase while TS decreased significantly ( P < 0.05). Chitosan films with acetic and propionic acid solvents had low WVP and TSM and high TS, while films with lactic acid solvent had high E and TSM and the lowest TS. Fourier-transform infrared showed peak shifting in the spectra with different solvents and at different pH values. Chitosan films with lactic acid solvent showed a peak shift to a lower frequency range. The NH 3 + band was absent in the pH 5.0 chitosan film spectra.
Microlensing With Binaries and Planets

The ongoing microlensing experiments have now discovered more than 70 candidate events (Alcock et al. 1993, Bennett et al. 1994, Aubourg et al. 1993, Udalski et al. 1994). These experiments have put important constraints on the dark matter content of the Galactic halo (Alcock et al. 1995a) and yielded many interesting results about Galactic structure (Paczynski et al. 1994, Stanek et al. 1994).
Citrate and succinate transport in proximal tubule cells

Urinary citrate, which inhibits calcium nephrolithiasis, is determined by proximal reabsorption via an apical dicarboxylate transporter. Citrate is predominantly trivalent at physiological pH, but ...