cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Scanning tunneling microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and surface analysis methods for the investigation of biomolecule structure at a solid surface

We present results of STM and AFM investigations of coated and uncoated samples containing plasmid DNA, chemically modified DNA and tobacco mosaic virus. These specimens were adsorbed by a variety of methods onto low Miller index gold single crystals, co-evaporated films, and mica substrates. Some of the samples were prepared and transferred into an ultrahigh vacuum chamber for further treatment and analysis by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA or XPS) in an effort to investigate various methods for depositing chemically modified DNA onto gold and mica substrates. These results will be discussed in the context of corroborating STM and AFM image results with the established techniques of AES and ESCA. It is potentially beneficial to make certain chemical modifications to the surfaces and the DNA for two purposes: to aid in adsorption of the molecule to the substrate and to provide a label for the electron spectroscopy verification studies. We hope to enhance the molecule-substrate interactions in such a way as to make the imaging of the biomolecules such as DNA more reproducible and less prone to artifacts.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Epidemic of Pulmonary Blastomycosis (Namekagon Fever) in Wisconsin Canoeists

Epidemics of pulmonary blastomycosis have rarely been reported. The following epidemic occurred in a Minnesota family and several of their acquaintances after a canoeing trip in northwestern Wisconsin. The common exposure area was most likely a campsite, located along the upper reaches of the Namekagon River. The Namekagon River Valley is a known endemic area of Namekagon fever (blastomycosis) in dogs. Approximately one month after returning home, five of the eight members of the group had positive direct microscopic examinations and cultures of Blastomyces dermatitidis from their sputa, as well as abnormalities on their chest roentgenograms. Among these five patients, four were symptomatic, with fever, cough, and pleuritic chest pain. Of the three others, one had pleuritic chest pain with a transient lung infiltrate, the second was asymptomatic with a transient lung infiltrate, and the third was asymptomatic with a normal chest roentgenogram. Results of acute serologic tests (complement fixation and immunodiffusion) were negative in all five patients evaluated. None of the patients received antifungal therapy. Follow-up five years after the epidemic revealed that all eight were in excellent health, and none had evidence of continuing pulmonary or extrapulmonary disease.
INVOLVING INSTITUTIONAL STAFF IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF SIGN LANGUAGE SKILLS WITH PROFOUNDLY RETARDED PERSONS

A program to involve institutional staff in developing manual sign language skills with profoundly retarded persons was evaluated. In Experiment 1, six direct care staff, with close supervision, taught a small repertoire of signs to six profoundly retarded residents who had not benefited from previous training in vocal language. Training was conducted in a group format using instructions, modeling, manual guidance, contingent reinforcers, and feedback. During training, all residents learned to identify pictures of objects with manual signs. Generalization observations during unstructured times on the residents' living unit indicated that staff used their signing skills with the residents in addition to their vocal interactions but the residents did not increase their signing or vocalizing. In Experiment 2, the residents' skills in signing with real objects on their living unit as opposed to pictures of objects were evaluated and provided with additional training where necessary. Results indicated that all participating residents learned to communicate with signing during structured interactions on their living unit, and the skills maintained during follow-up assessments ranging from 39 to 49 weeks. Results are discussed regarding the variable generalization effects noted as well as the general benefits and disadvantages of teaching manual signing skills to profoundly retarded persons.
Creating and evaluating entry terms

An indexing language is made more accessible to searchers and indexers by the presence of entry terms or near‐synonyms. This paper first presents an evaluation of existing entry terms and then presents and tests a strategy for creating entry terms. The key tools in the evaluation of the entry terms are documents already indexed into the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and an automatic indexer. If the automatic indexer can better map the title to the index terms with the use of entry terms than without entry terms, then the entry terms have helped. Sensitive assessment of the automatic indexer requires the introduction of measures of conceptual closeness between the computer and human output. With the tools described in this paper, one can systematically demonstrate that certain entry terms have ambiguous meanings. In the selection of new entry terms another controlled vocabulary or thesaurus, called the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED), was consulted. An algorithm for mapping terms from SNOMED to MeSH was implemented and evaluated with the automatic indexer. The new SNOMED‐based entry terms did not help indexing but did show how new concepts might be identified which would constitute meaningful amendments to MeSH. Finally, an improved algorithm for combining two thesauri was applied to the Computing Reviews Classification Structure (CRCS) and MeSH. CRCS plus MeSH supported better indexing than did MeSH alone.
The Identification of Nitric Oxide as Endothelium-Derived Relaxing Factor

The identification of endothelium-derived relaxing factor as nitric oxide (NO) dramatically altered the course of vascular biology, as well as other biomedical disciplines. The ubiquity of this natural product of cell metabolism and the complexity of its biochemistry provide a rich source of molecular mediators of phenotype in health and disease.
Factors governing electronic localization in transition metal clusters and complexes

Small nickel atom clusters exhibit an energetic preference for localized, open 3d-shells. This tendency is attributed to weak 3d-3d overlap and is analyzed in terms of the competition between resonance integrals and screening terms. Analogous competition between resonance and screening leads to (spatially) symmetry-broken charge-localized SCF solutions for 3d ion-hole states in nickel atom clusters. Charge-localized symmetry broken wavefunctions are also employed as initial and final diabatic (nonstationary) states in the electron transfer processes associated with transition metal complexes of the type MX, where M = Fe, Ru; X = H2O; NH3, n = 2, 3. Resonance integrals coupling the initial (reactants) and final (products) states have been calculated for several geometrical structures and electronic states of interest. An important contributor to the screening effects which promote charge localization in these systems is the charge-dependence of metal-ligand bond lengths. The decrease in oxidation-state dependence of metal-ligand bond length in the series Fe2+/3+ (H2O)6 Ru2+/3+ (H2O)6 Ru2+/3+ (NH3)6 is analyzed in terms of ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT), and the trend is attributed to diminished participation of the metal atom in the redox process. The electronic rearrangement upon reduction is dominated by the eg (σ) manifold, even though the reducing electron is added to the t2g (π) manifold.
Sensorineural hearing loss, enamel hypoplasia, and nail abnormalities in sibs

A brother and sister born to normal, nonconsanguineous parents have a syndrome of profound sensorineural hearing deficiency, enamel hypoplasia limited to the permanent dentition, and nail abnormalities. This appears to be a previously unreported inherited syndrome.
Replica voting based architectures for reliable data dissemination in vehicular networks

Vehicular networks often consist of computational devices that collect data representing the external environment (e.g., road traffic volume, terrain conditions, and vehicle tracking). The data collected is prone to errors for two reasons: first, the processing algorithms in devices often have only limited capabilities that result in a fuzzy and imprecise representation of the external datum; second, some of the devices may be maliciously faulty mis-reporting the external datum. In such a setting, replicating the devices and voting on the environment data collected by them enhances the trust-worthiness of data reported to the application. The paper describes a cooperation mechanism that embodies two complementary functions: replication of devices and voting among devices. Device-level cooperation is realized using a tree-structured overlay set up over a vehicular network, in which the root node is attached to a data dissemination station and the leaf nodes are attached to the data collection devices in different geographic regions. Voting among the data collected is carried out at the leaf nodes whereupon a sanitized data propagates up the tree towards the root. An intermediate node may also carry out aggregation functions on the data arriving from its downstream tree segments and then forward the aggregated data upstream. The paper describes the voting-based data collection and dissemination as a middleware service.
Organizational manipulation of gonadal hormones and systemic morphine analgesia in female rats: effects of adult ovariectomy and estradiol replacement.

Abstract Previous research has indicated the importance of sex in mediating the larger magnitude of μ-opioid receptor agonist-induced analgesia in male relative to female rodents. Whereas manipulations involving the adult activational effects of gonadal hormones minimally alter these analgesic sex differences, manipulations involving neonatal organizational effects of gonadal hormones have previously been shown to profoundly affect morphine analgesia. Thus, adult male rats neonatally castrated on the first day after birth displayed reductions in morphine analgesia relative to sham-operated males, and adult female rats neonatally treated with testosterone propionate on the first day after birth displayed enhancements in morphine analgesia relative to vehicle-treated females. Because neonatal androgenization in female rats produces an anovulatory syndrome that could change their adult hormonal milieu, the present study examined whether adult ovariectomy altered the magnitude of systemic morphine analgesia (1–5 mg/kg) in neonatal androgenized female rats relative to neonatal vehicle-treated female rats as well as gonadal steroid hormone replacement with estradiol benzoate. Intact male rats displayed significantly greater magnitudes and potencies (2- to 2.3-fold leftward shift) of systemic morphine analgesia than female rats treated neonatally with either vehicle (1–5 mg/kg) or testosterone (1.7–5 mg/kg). In turn, neonatal androgenized female rats displayed significantly greater magnitudes of systemic morphine (1, 5 mg/kg) analgesia than vehicle-treated female rats accompanied by a smaller 20% leftward shift in potency. Adult ovariectomy minimally affected morphine analgesia in neonatal vehicle-treated females, while significantly reducing the magnitude (1 mg/kg), but not the potency of morphine analgesia in neonatal androgenized female rats. Estradiol replacement therapy significantly increased the magnitude of morphine analgesia in both groups at some doses, but only changed the potency (20–30%) in females treated neonatally with vehicle. Taken together, these data suggest a limited organizational-activational gonadal hormone interaction in the mediation of systemic morphine analgesia in female rats.
Hypochondriasis: The Patient's Perspective

Objective The purpose of this investigation was to learn how patients with hypochondriasis view their physicians and medical care. Method To accomplish this, we identified 20 patients with DSM-III-R hypochondriasis and 26 nonhypochondriacal patients from a general medicine clinic. Using a semistructured interview, we obtained information from patients about their recent health problems and medical care. The investigators then reviewed transcribed interviews and assigned comments to a series of categories. Results Hypochondriacal and non-hypochondriacal patients made equal numbers of positive comments, but hypochondriacal patients made significantly more negative comments about physicians' professional characteristics, characteristics of the patients themselves and total negative comments. Many viewed physicians they had seen as unskilled and uncaring. They indicated that, in many instances, their relationships with physicians had suffered from poor communication and collaboration. Conclusion Since successful management of patients with hypochondriasis rests upon positive relationships, ways must be found to improve the frustrating and costly situation that currently exists.
Sensitization by annular surrounds: temporal (masking) properties.

Abstract Westheimer (1965) has shown that the rod threshold at the center of a 45′ disk of light can be lowered by adding light to the surrounding annular region of the retina. Hence, if the central disk is illuminated steadily, and the illumination on the annular surround is turned on (off) abruptly, the threshold at the center of the disk must fall (rise), with some time course. The present experiments show that there is a minimum in the threshold near the instant of onset of the annulus and a (highly variable) maximum in the threshold near the instant of offset of the annulus. The data do not support the notion of a relative delay in the neural signals generated by light falling on the annular region, nor do they support the notion that the time courses of these threshold changes are similar to those occurring in classical “early” dark and light adaptation.
High temperature microsample tensile testing of γ-TiAl

Abstract Dislocation activity in two-phase commercial TiAl alloys occurs most readily in the γ-TiAl phase, and measurements of the physical and mechanical properties γ-TiAl are needed to provide a solid foundation for modeling the mechanical performance of these alloys. The recent development of elevated temperature microsample tensile testing is outlined and the application of this technique to elevated temperature tensile testing of γ-TiAl described. Microsample single crystal specimens of Ti–55.5% Al have been tested in tension at temperatures ranging from 400 to 1000 °C. Measurements of the Young's modulus, coefficient of thermal expansion, and flow strength have been made as a function of temperature and crystal orientation. The Young's modulus and coefficient of thermal expansion measurements are compared with the limited data set that is available in the literature. The flow strength data evidences a clear violation of Schmid's law and highlights a significant tension/compression asymmetry, both of which appear to be related to the underlying dislocation mechanisms that govern plasticity in γ-TiAl.
MACHAERANTHERA RESTIFORMIS (ASTERACEAE) A BIZARRE NEW GYPSOPHILE FROM NORTHCENTRAL MEXICO

A B S T R A C T A rayless, diploid (n = 4), shrubby, new species of Maclzaeranthera is described from gypsum dunes near Cuatro Cienegas, Coahuila. It is most closely related to M. johnstonii, another rayless, shrubby, endemic gypsophile of this region. Machaeranthera restiformis often occurs with the wide-ranging, white-rayed species, M. gypsophila (n = 4) with which it occasionally hybridizes.
Mechano-active tissue scaffold system based on a magnetic nanoparticle embedded nanofibrous membrane

A mechano-active nanofibrous scaffold system for in vitro active cell culture is fabricated and demonstrated using electrospun nanofibers with magnetic nanoparticles embedded, and an electromagnet. The electrospun nanofiber consists of polycaprolactone and iron oxide nanoparticles. The magnetic nanofibrous membrane is held by micromachined printing circuit board (PCB) O-rings and remotely actuated by an electromagnet, which generates alternating current (AC) magnetic fields. The scaffold provides mechanical stress and strain on culturing cells in response to external AC magnetic fields. The mechanical properties of the magnetic nanoporous membrane including the density, porosity, and effective Young's modulus are characterized. Cell viabilities on the nanofibrous membrane with and without magnetic nanoparticles embedded have been tested.
Premenopausal women with idiopathic low-trauma fractures and/or low bone mineral density.

Introduction In men, idiopathic osteoporosis (IOP) is often associated with low serum insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) and reduced bone formation. The characteristics of premenopausal women with IOP are not well defined. We aimed to define the clinical, reproductive, and biochemical characteristics of premenopausal women with unexplained osteoporosis.
The Fisher-Hartwig Formula and Entanglement Entropy

Toeplitz matrices have applications to different problems of statistical mechanics. Recently it was used for calculation of entanglement entropy in spin chains. In the paper we review these recent developments. We use the Fisher-Hartwig formula, as well as the recent results concerning the asymptotics of the block Toeplitz determinants, to calculate entanglement entropy of large block of spins in the ground state of XY spin chain.
Family resources, sitting at home and democratic choice: investigating determinants of educational attainment in post-Soviet Tajikistan

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, school enrolment, attendance and attainment rates fell across the region. In Tajikistan, there has been a decrease in average completion rates for basic, secondary and higher education, as well as a growing gender gap because girls are much less likely than boys to finish all levels of schooling. Past work on educational stratification in the region has demonstrated similar trends, but not sought to explain the processes generating these patterns. Scholars of educational participation suggest that a variety of family, community and macro-structural factors influence educational attainment. This paper broadens our understanding of the processes generating the decline in educational attainment and widening gender gap by analysing interviews conducted with parents, teachers and university students living in Tajikistan in 2006–2007. Respondents overwhelmingly attribute the drop in educational rates to increased poverty and its effects on family resources. The large decr...
Numerical analysis of back-surface-field silicon solar cells

A proven semiconductor device analysis computer code has been used to numerically simulate back-surface-field silicon solar cells. The insight afforded by the one-dimensional solutions of ca~rrier transport in these cells has enabled the identification of pertinent physics describing the operation of these devices. With this analytical knowledge, discussions concerning the essential properties of an effective BSF solar cell were presented. The practicality of using silicon BSF cells for terrestrial applications, specifically in high-temperature, multiple-sun environments, was examined through the use of the device analysis code. The results of this study are encouraging and suggest that the highest-efficiency, most economical solar cells of the future may well be high-resistivity back-surface-field silicon cells.
Compactons, solitons and periodic solutions for some forms of nonlinear Klein–Gordon equations

Abstract The nonlinear Klein–Gordon equations with power law nonlinearities are studied. The tanh method is used for analytic treatment for these equations. The analysis leads to travelling wave solutions with compactons, solitons, solitary patterns and periodic structures.
Effects of Soldier-Derived Terpenes on Soldier Caste Differentiation in the Termite Reticulitermes flavipes

Primer pheromones play key roles in regulating division of labor, which is a fundamental and defining aspect of insect sociality. Primer pheromones are chemical messengers that transmit hormone-like messages among colony members; in recipients, these messages can either induce or suppress phenotypic caste differentiation. Here, we investigated soldier caste-derived chemicals as possible primer pheromones in the lower termite Reticulitermes flavipes, a species for which no primer pheromones have yet been identified. We determined that soldier head extracts (SHE), when provided to totipotent workers along with the insect morphogenetic juvenile hormone (JH), significantly enhanced soldier caste differentiation. When applied alone, however, SHE had no impacts on caste differentiation, survivorship, or any other aspect of worker biology. These findings support a function of soldier chemicals as primer pheromones that enhance the action of the endogenous JH. In accord with previous studies, γ-cadinene and the corresponding aldehyde, γ-cadinenal, were identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance analyses as the two most abundant components of R. flavipes SHE. Validative bioassays with commercially available cadinene confirmed activity. Several other terpenes, previously identified in R. flavipes soldiers, also were found to be active. These findings reveal a novel primer pheromone-like function for soldier-derived terpenes in termites and further suggest convergent evolution of terpene functions in enhancing JH-dependent soldier caste differentiation.
Distribution of Pink Bollworm Larvae in Crop Residues and Soil in Southern California

Distribution of larvae of Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) in bolls, surface trash, and day-type soil was studied in the Imperial Valley of southern California. Spring emergence of moths in large screen cages indicated that 13.3% of the over wintering population came from bolls, 59.8% from trash and litter, 7.9% from the top 2 in or soil, and 19.0% from below the 2-in, depth. Sampling under various field conditions showed that, with wet soil or heavy debris, larvae and cocoons were found principally in the surface trash and the 1st inch of soil. With dry field conditions or light accumulations of debris, a greater proportion of the population was found in the soil below the depth of 1 in.
Exact ground state of a class of quantum spin systems.

We present some exact results for the ground-state wave function and the energy of disordered quantum-mechanical spin systems in any dimensions. The system contains all nearest- and some of the next-nearest-neighbor interactions. The solution is also available for some range of anisotropy. In all the cases the ground-state wave function is insensitive to the disorder.
Uncoupled skeletal muscle mitochondria contribute to hypermetabolism in severely burned adults

Elevated metabolic rate is a hallmark of the stress response to severe burn injury. This response is mediated in part by adrenergic stress and is responsive to changes in ambient temperature. We hy...
An Ada implementation of Marsaglia's universal random number generator

A useful feature found in most programing languages, but missing from Ada, is a standard predefined (pseudo) random number generator. In this article we present an Ada implementation a "universal" (i.e., portable) random number generator developed by George Marsaglia. This implementation generates real numbers with 24-bit fractions, uniform on the interval (0,1). We also show a sample program along with the resulting random numbers that were generated by executing that program on a Sun workstation under UNIX.
Effects of Orthotropy and Width on the Compression Strength of Graphite-Epoxy Panels with Holes

An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the effect of laminate orthotropic properties and panel width on the compression strength of 48-ply graphite-epoxy laminates with drilled holes. The test results were evaluated on the basis of hole size and specimen width and were used to determine parameters necessary to predict trends using the point-stress failure criterion. Good agreement was obtained between experimental and predicted values of failure for panels fabricated from two quasi-isotropic laminates and one orthotropic laminate. The results indicate that panels of different widths that have large holes in relation to the failure prediction parameter should be included in any test program conducted to develop predictions. Panel failures are shown to have an upper limit given by the reduction in specimen cross-sectional area and a lower limit given by the effect of stress concentration. Limited tests of a quasi-isotropic laminate were conducted on panels with machined cracks and panels with punched holes and the results compared to those with drilled holes. The sequence of events that occurs in the vicinity of a hole during failure was identified and provides insight into the mechanisms associated with failure. a d
Theoretical studies for the care ii rocket experiment to excite plasma waves in the ionosphere by high speed dust injection

Summary form only given. To study the effects of rocket engine burns in the ionosphere, Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) plans to conduct the second Charged Aerosol Release Experiment (CARE II) using a solid rocket motor burning in the ionosphere. The measurements of the rocket includes plume optical emissions with ground cameras, and radio wave scatter with HF, VHF, UHF and higher frequency radars. The exhaust vapors initiate plasma turbulence in the ionosphere that can scatter the radar waves launched from ground transmitters. Hypersonic exhaust flow impacting the ionospheric plasma may yield an electromagnetic pulse that is detectable using electric field booms on an instrumented section of the rocket. If the exhaust cloud itself passes over in situ detectors, increased ion-acoustic wave turbulence, enhanced neutral and plasma densities, enhanced ion temperatures, and magnetic field perturbations are expected to be detected. Plasma theory has been used to predict the nature of the ion waves excited by charged dust beams streaming across or along the geomagnetic field in ionospheric. These waves could be generated by plasma instabilities during the aerosol release experiment. The injection speed of the dust and gas is generally larger than the ion thermal speed in the background ionosphere. Because the dust grains can be charged negatively by plasma collection from the ionosphere, the dust could act like a charged beam that excites instabilities in the background plasma. The theory is applied to relatively early time scales (on the order of 0.1 to 1 seconds) in the dust-gas cloud expansion. Wave frequencies larger than the ion gyro frequency are considered, and collisions with neutrals are included.
Single and Double Deflections of Cracks at the Carbon‐Carbon/BN Coating Interfaces in Ceramic‐Matrix Composites

A finite element technique is used to study the effects of coating properties on the deflection and penetration of cracks which terminate perpendicular to the bimaterial interfaces in SCS6-zircon composites having three coatings (two carbon coatings and one boron nitride) on the fibers. Although, the change in the thickness of coatings has a very small effect on the stress ratio (ratio of hoop stresses along a crack and at the interface) and the energy release rate ratio (ratio of energy release rates for crack penetration and crack deflection), the magnitudes of the stresses and energy release rates change substantially. The finite element results are compared with experimental observations of Kumaria et al. on the nature of crack propagation behavior in these composites. Our finite element results explained the evidence of the doubly deflected cracks at the carbon-carbon interface as experimentally seen by Kumaria et al.
Recent advances in the development of farnesoid X receptor agonists

Farnesoid X receptors (FXRs) are nuclear hormone receptors expressed in high amounts in body tissues that participate in bilirubin metabolism including the liver, intestines, and kidneys. Bile acids (BAs) are the natural ligands of the FXRs. FXRs regulate the expression of the gene encoding for cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase, which is the rate-limiting enzyme in BA synthesis. In addition, FXRs play a critical role in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and regulation of insulin sensitivity. FXRs also modulate live growth and regeneration during liver injury. Preclinical studies have shown that FXR activation protects against cholestasis-induced liver injury. Moreover, FXR activation protects against fatty liver injury in animal models of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and improved hyperlipidemia, glucose intolerance, and insulin sensitivity. Obeticholic acid (OCA), a 6α-ethyl derivative of the natural human BA chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) is the first-in-class selective FXR agonist that is ~100-fold more potent than CDCA. Preliminary human clinical trials have shown that OCA is safe and effective. In a phase II clinical trial, administration of OCA was well-tolerated, increased insulin sensitivity and reduced markers of liver inflammation and fibrosis in patients with type II diabetes mellitus and NAFLD. In two clinical trials of OCA in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), a progressive cholestatic liver disease, OCA significantly reduced serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels, an important disease marker that correlates well with clinical outcomes of patients with PBC. Together, these studies suggest that FXR agonists could potentially be used as therapeutic tools in patients suffering from nonalcoholic fatty and cholestatic liver diseases. Larger and Longer-term studies are currently ongoing.
Failures in prevention. Why we can't prevent the devastating effect of alcoholism and drug abuse.

A review of alcoholism prevention efforts on the federal state and local levels reveals the following: a) Prevention has ranked lowest among all alcoholism and drug dependence funding priorities established by the US government; b) prevention is an infrequent component of employee assistance programs in industry despite its proven favorable cost-benefit ratio; c) prevention activities directed to groups at risk for alcoholism -- among them women youth minority groups and the elderly -- have increased in number but failed to yield reductions in drinking rates by target groups; d) although drunk driving and fetal alcohol syndrome are now recognized as major public health problems and have begun to be serious targets for prevention debilitating disagreement interferes with efforts to prevent drunk driving and the incidence of fetal alcohol syndrome remains unconscionably high. (authors)
Cell and tissue responses to electric shocks.

Aim Existing models of myocardial membrane kinetics have not been able to reproduce the experimentally-observed negative bias in the asymmetry of transmembrane potential changes (DVm) induced by strong electric shocks. The goals of this study are (1) to demonstrate that this negative bias could be reproduced by the addition, to the membrane model, of electroporation and an outward current, Ia, part of the K C flow through the L-type Ca 2C -channel, and (2) to determine how such modifications in the membrane model affect shock-induced break excitation in a 2D preparation. Methods and results We conducted simulations of shocks in bidomain fibres and sheets with membrane dynamics represented by the LuoeRudy dynamic model (LRd'2000), to which electroporation (LRdCEP model) and the outward current, Ia, activated upon strong shock-induced depolarization (aLRd model) was added. Assuming Ia is a part of K C flow through the L-type Ca 2C -channel enabled us to reproduce both the experimentally observed rectangularly-shaped positive DVm and the value of near 2 of the negative-to-positive DVm ratio. In the sheet, Ia not only contributed to the negative bias in DVm asymmetry at sites polarized by physical and virtual electrodes, but also restricted positive DVm. Electroporation, in its turn, was responsible for the decrease in cathode-break excitation threshold in the aLRd sheet, compared with the other two cases, as well as for the occurrence of the excitation after the shock-end rather than during the shock. Conclusions The incorporation of electroporation and Ia in a membrane model ensures match between simulation results and experimental data. The use of the
Post-dural puncture headache: pathophysiology, prevention and treatment.

Abstract Post-dural puncture headache (PDPHA) has been a vexing problem for patients undergoing dural puncture for spinal anaesthesia, as a complication of epidural anaesthesia, and after diagnostic lumbar puncture since Bier reported the first case in 1898. This Chapter discusses the pathophysiology of low-pressure headache resulting from leakage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the subarachnoid to the epidural spaces. Clinical and laboratory research over the last 30 years has shown that use of small-gauge needles, particularly of the pencil-point design, is associated with a lower risk of PDPHA than traditional cutting point needle tips (Quincke-point needles). A careful history can rule out other causes of headache. A positional component of headache is the sine qua non of PDPHA. In high-risk patients (e.g. age
Human Arboviral Encephalitis

Worldwide, arboviral illnesses constitute the most important international infectious threat to human neurological health and welfare. Before the availability of effective immunizations, approximately 50,000 cases of Japanese encephalitis occurred in the world each year, one-fifth of which cases proved lethal and a much larger number were left with severe neurological handicaps. With global climate change and perhaps other factors, the prevalences of some arboviral illnesses appear to be increasing. Arboviral illnesses, including Japanese encephalitis, tick-borne encephalitis, Yellow fever, and others, are emerging as possible global health care threats because of biological warfare. This chapter will review ecology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, management, and outcome of the forms of arboviral encephalitis that are of greatest importance in North America, together with some of the most important arboviral encephalitides prevalent in other parts of the world.
A typology of mid-life career changers

This study examines the motivations for and the outcomes of mid-life career change among a sample of 73 men who had left professional and managerial careers between the ages of 34 and 54. Measures of personal desire for change and external pressure to leave were dichotomized to produce a typology of career changers: Drift-outs, Opt-outs, Force-outs, and Bow-outs. The four types of changers were found to differ on a number of variables, including: amount of education completed, additional schooling undertaken to change careers, time taken to make the change, radicalness of change, and the importance of personal values in deciding to leave their former careers. Overall, respondents were found to be highly satisfied with their career redirection.
Negative Affect Reciprocity as an Explanation of the Correlation between Perpetrating and Being a Victim of Sexual Coercion

The purpose of this research was to test the negative affect reciprocity explanation of the positive correlation between being a victim of and perpetrating sexual coercion. In the first study, 92 participants who were in a romantic relationship filled out measures of sexual coercion and measures of relationship aggression. Supporting the negative affect reciprocity explanation, all of the measures (coercion and aggression) were positively intercorrelated. In the second study, 51 couples filled out the above measures. Supporting the negative affect reciprocity explanation, four of the six sexual coercion measures intercorrelate with themselves and all of the aggression measures intercorrelated. However, only some of the coercion and aggression measures intercorrelated suggesting that negative affect reciprocity in the two areas is to some extent independent. Both studies found that sexual coercion and aggression were to some extent negatively correlated with relationship satisfaction but not probability of marriage.
Fuzzy-trace Theory and Children's False Memories

Fuzzy-trace theory's concepts of identity judgment, nonidentity judgment, and similarity judgment provide a unified account of the false-memory phenomena that have been most commonly studied in children: false-recognition effects and misinformation effects. False-recognition effects (elevated false-alarm rates for unpresented distractors that preserve the meanings of presented targets) are due to increased rates of similarity or false identity judgment about distractors or to decreased rates of nonidentity judgment. Misinformation effects (erroneous acceptance of misleading postevent information and erroneous rejection of actual events) are also due to variability in rates of similarity, identity, and nonidentity judgment. Two experimental paradigms are presented, one for false recognition (conjoint recognition) and one for misinformation (conjoint misinformation), that allow investigators to tease apart the contributions of these processes to children's false-memory reports. Each paradigm is implemented in a mathematical model that provides numerical estimates of the processes.
Programmable ethernet switches and their applications

Simplicity, cost effectiveness, scalability, and economies of scale make Ethernet a popular choice for (a) local area networks (LAN), as well as for (b) storage area networks (SAN), and increasingly (c) metropolitan-area networks (MAN). Applications of Ethernet in the SAN and MAN arena elevate it from a LAN technology to a ubiquitous networking technology. With the expanded applicability of Ethernet there are certain adaptability issues which prompt rethinking of some of its architectural features. The Spanning-Tree based switching mechanism, considered to be very efficient at avoiding loops in LAN environments, is a performance bottleneck in the metro network context. Absence of an explicit switching path selection mechanism prohibits traffic engineering in metro networks. Prolonged spanning tree reconstruction periods after failures make Ethernet unsuitable to support critical applications. Lack of usage regulation mechanisms leads to insufficient isolation between different users, resulting in QoS problems. Modern Ethernet switches support many advanced features which can be controlled through programmable interfaces. These features are VLAN tagging, rate limiting, and status monitoring. Conventionally, these features are mostly used to statically configure an Ethernet switch. This research proposes to use these features as dynamic control mechanisms in the context of metro and cluster networks to: (1) Maximize physical network link resources by enabling MPLS like traffic engineering, (2) Minimize failure recovery time, and (3) Enforce QoS requirements. With these programmatic configurable control mechanisms, standard Ethernet switches can be used as effective building blocks for metropolitan-area Ethernet networks (MEN), storage-area networks (SAN), and computation cluster interconnects. We validated the usefulness of this new level of control over Ethernet switches with a MEN architecture that features multi-fold throughput gains and sub-second failure recovery time. We discuss how a comprehensive resource management system can be devised using these mechanisms that can result in high performance and fault tolerant metro Ethernet, Storage, and Cluster networks. We also discuss how a network topology can be efficiently evolved by correlating the traffic profile characteristics of the end users and the traffic engineering required in the network. We describe a design methodology for Ethernet-based SAN fabrics utilizing this network evolution technique. To this effect, we develop a network topology planning tool to minimize network infrastructure deployment cost. This topology planning work is specifically targeted towards providing automated tools to design Ethernet storage area network and cluster interconnect topologies with redundancy and fault-tolerance support.
The Central Tolerance Response to Male Antigen in Normal Mice Is Deletion and Not Receptor Editing

It is widely accepted that developing T cells can undergo clonal deletion in the thymus in response to a high affinity self-Ag. This is largely based on studies of TCR transgenics. However, encounter with high affinity self-Ag can also result in receptor editing in TCR transgenic models. Because all TCR transgenics display ectopic receptor expression, the tolerance mechanism that predominates in normal mice remains an open question. When self-Ag drives receptor editing during T cell development, one expects to find in-frame, self-reactive TCRα joins on TCR excision circles (TRECs), which are the products of secondary V/J recombination in the TCRα locus. Such joins are not expected if clonal deletion occurs, because the progenitor cell would be eliminated by apoptosis. To test the relative utilization of receptor editing vs clonal deletion, we determined the frequency of in-frame, male-specific joins on TRECs in male and female HYβ transgenic mice. In comparison with female HYβ transgenic mice, our analysis showed a lower frequency of TRECs with male-reactive V17J57 joins in male mice. Thus, it would appear that receptor editing is not a predominant tolerance mechanism for this self-Ag.
Radio Advertising in American Political Campaigns The Persistence, Importance, and Effects of Narrowcasting

Although much research has been done on advertising in American political campaigns, virtually all has focused on the use of television. The dearth of work on radio advertising limits our ability to fully understand American electoral dynamics. More campaigns use radio than television, and there is reason to suspect that the narrowcasting that is possible with highly targeted radio ads may be substantively different from the campaign messages that are broadcast over the television airwaves. In this article, we use data from a survey of registered voters in Arkansas and Missouri during the 2002 election season to explore the dynamics of political advertising on the radio. We focus in particular on factors that influence exposure to radio ads, the public’s perceptions of the importance of these ads, and the impacts of exposure on the public’s perceptions of the quality of the democratic process in the United States.
Marking algorithms for service differentiation of TCP traffic

Class-based service architectures for quality-of-service (QoS) differentiation typically provide loss, throughput, and delay differentiation. However, proposals for class-based service differentiation generally do not account for the needs of TCP traffic, which are characterized by a coupling of packet losses and achievable throughput. Ignoring this coupling may result in poor service differentiation at the microflow level. This paper shows how Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) can be used to achieve service differentiation for TCP traffic classes at the microflow level. We present a traffic-marking algorithm for routers, which, if used in conjunction with ECN, regulates the transmission rate of TCP sources in such a way that packet drops due to buffer overflows are avoided. We demonstrate how the algorithm can be integrated in a service architecture with absolute and proportional QoS guarantees. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the presented algorithms at avoiding packet losses and regulating traffic for meeting service guarantees, and provide a comparison with other algorithms proposed in the literature.
Modified exact sample size for a binomial proportion with special emphasis on diagnostic test parameter estimation

The design of epidemiologic studies for the validation of diagnostic tests necessitates accurate sample size calculations to allow for the estimation of diagnostic sensitivity and specificity within a specified level of precision and with the desired level of confidence. Confidence intervals based on the normal approximation to the binomial do not achieve the specified coverage when the proportion is close to 1. A sample size algorithm based on the exact mid-P method of confidence interval estimation was developed to address the limitations of normal approximation methods. This algorithm resulted in sample sizes that achieved the appropriate confidence interval width even in situations when normal approximation methods performed poorly.
The Catecholestrogen, 2-Hydroxyestradiol-17beta, Acts as a G Protein-Coupled Estrogen Receptor 1 (GPER/GPR30) Antagonist to Promote the Resumption of Meiosis in Zebrafish Oocytes

Estradiol-17beta (E 2 ) maintains high cAMP levels and meiotic arrest in zebrafish oocytes through activation of G proteincoupled estrogen receptor (GPER). The catecholestrogen 2hydroxyestradiol-17beta (2-OHE 2 ) has an opposite effect to that of E 2 on oocyte maturation (OM) and cAMP levels in Indian catfish oocytes. We tested the hypothesis that 2-OHE2 is produced in zebrafish ovaries and promotes the resumption of oocyte meiosis through its action as a GPER antagonist. Ovarian 2-OHE2 production by estrogen-2-hydroxylase (EH) was upregulated by gonadotropin treatment at the onset of OM, consistent with a physiological role for 2-OHE2 in regulating OM. The increases in EH activity and OM were blocked by treatment with CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 inhibitors. Expression of cyp1a, cyp1b1, and cyp1c mRNAs was increased by gonadotropin treatment, further implicating these Cyp1s in 2-OHE 2 synthesis prior to OM. Conversely, aromatase activity and cyp19a1 mRNA expression declined during gonadotropin induction of OM. 2-OHE 2 treatment significantly increased spontaneous OM in defolliculated zebrafish oocytes and reversed the inhibition of OM by E 2 and the GPER agonist G1. 2-OHE 2 was an effective competitor of [ 3 H]-E 2 binding to recombinant zebrafish GPER expressed in HEK-293 cells. 2OHE 2 also antagonized estrogen actions through GPER on cAMP production in zebrafish oocytes, resulting in a reduction in cAMP levels. Stimulation of OM by 2-OHE 2 was blocked by pretreatment of defolliculated oocytes with the GPER antibody. Collectively, the results suggest that 2-OHE2 functions as a GPER antagonist and promotes OM in zebrafish through blocking GPER-dependent E2 inhibition of the resumption of OM. catecholestrogen, GPER, GPER antagonist, GPR30, oocyte maturation, 2-hydroxyestradiol-17b, 2-OHE2, zebrafish
Economic Development, Legality and the Transplant Effect

This paper analyzes the determinants of effective legal institutions (legality) and their impact on economic development today using data from 49 countries. We show that the way the law was initially transplanted and received is a more important determinant than the supply of law from a particular legal family (i.e. English, French, German, or Scandinavian). Countries that have developed legal orders internally, adapted the transplanted law to local conditions, and/or had a population that was already familiar with basic legal principles of the transplanted law have more effective legality than "transplant effect" countries that received foreign law without any similar pre-dispositions. Controlling for the supply of legal families, we find that legality is roughly one third lower in transplant effect countries. While the transplant effect has no direct impact on economic development, it has a strong indirect effect via its impact on legality. The strong path dependence between economic development, legality and the transplant effect helps explain why legal technical assistance projects that focus primarily on improving the laws on the books frequently have so little impact. Finally, our statistical methodology produces a legality index based on observed legality proxies that almost fully captures their interaction with the way in which the law was transplanted, the supply of particular legal families and economic development.