cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Advertising as Monopolization in the Information Age

Economists have long recognized that advertising has two main functions: to inform and to persuade. In the information age, the information function is obsolete, because consumers can get all the product information they want from a quick Google search. That makes virtually all advertising today purely persuasive in function. The courts have long recognized that purely persuasive advertising is anticompetitive, because it induces consumers to buy products that they do not really prefer, harming consumers and placing sellers of consumers’ preferred products at a competitive disadvantage. Antitrust enforcers must respond to the obsolescence of the information function of advertising by treating advertising as a per se illegal form of monopolization under the Sherman Act.
14 Sleeve Gastrectomy: Technique, Pearls, and Pitfalls

Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) has become one of the most popular bariatric procedures worldwide. The procedure is technically easier than a laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass with good outcomes and excellent weight loss. The LSG maintains the anatomy of the gastrointestinal tract, still allowing for further revisional bariatric procedures if necessary at a later time. Moreover, the entire upper gastrointestinal tract remains available for endoscopic therapies. The purpose of our chapter is to discuss in detail the steps required to properly and safely perform an LSG. Patient positioning, anesthetic considerations, surgical technique, and postoperative management will be reviewed. We will focus on important operative and postoperative pearls to maximize potential for technical success and sustained weight loss.
Emotions, Creativity, and the Arts: Evaluating a Course for Children:

Art-based programming has been proposed to be one of the most promising approaches for teaching creativity because it provides meaningful learning through a pleasurable activity. We describe a cour...
Timing of Endoscopy in Patients Hospitalized with Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Gastrointestinal bleeding is the most common gastrointestinal diagnosis among patients hospitalized in the United States.1 Most patients who are hospitalized with upper gastrointestinal bleeding un...
Time-Varying Effect Modeling with Longitudinal Data Truncated by Death: Conditional Models, Interpretations and Inference

Recent studies found that infection-related hospitalization was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) events, such as myocardial infarction and stroke in the dialysis population. In this work, we develop time-varying effects modeling tools in order to examine the CV outcome risk trajectories during the time periods before and after an initial infection-related hospitalization. For this, we propose partly conditional and fully conditional partially linear generalized varying coefficient models (PL-GVCMs) for modeling time-varying effects in longitudinal data with substantial follow-up truncation by death. Unconditional models that implicitly target an immortal population is not a relevant target of inference in applications involving a population with high mortality, like the dialysis population. A partly conditional model characterizes the outcome trajectory for the dynamic cohort of survivors, where each point in the longitudinal trajectory represents a snapshot of the population relationships among subjects who are alive at that time point. In contrast, a fully conditional approach models the time-varying effects of the population stratified by the actual time of death, where the mean response characterizes individual trends in each cohort stratum. We compare and contrast partly and fully conditional PL-GVCMs in our aforementioned application using hospitalization data from the United States Renal Data System. For inference, we develop generalized likelihood ratio tests. Simulation studies examine the efficacy of estimation and inference procedures.
Evolving Trends in Adult Heart Transplant With the 2018 Heart Allocation Policy Change.

Importance The US heart allocation policy was changed on October 18, 2018. The association of this change with recipient and donor selection and outcomes remains to be elucidated. Objective To evaluate changes in patient characteristics, wait list outcomes, and posttransplant outcomes after the recent allocation policy change in heart transplant. Design, Setting, and Participants In this cohort study, all 15 631 adults undergoing heart transplants, excluding multiorgan transplants, in the US as identified by the United Network for Organ Sharing multicenter, national registry were reviewed. Patients were stratified according to prepolicy change (October 1, 2015, to October 1, 2018) and postpolicy change (October 18, 2018 or after). Follow-up data were available through March 31, 2020. Exposures Heart transplants after the policy change. Main Outcomes and Measures Competing risk regression for wait list outcomes was performed. Posttransplant survival was compared using the Kaplan-Meier method, and risk adjustment was performed using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Results In this cohort study, of the 15 631 patients undergoing transplant, 10 671 (mean [SD] age, 53.1 [12.7] years; 7823 [73.3%] male) were wait listed before and 4960 (mean [SD] age, 52.7 [13.0] years; 3610 [72.8%] male) were wait listed after the policy change. Competing risk regression demonstrated reduced likelihood of mortality or deterioration (subhazard ratio [SHR], 0.60; 95% CI, 0.52-0.69;P Conclusions and Relevance Substantial changes have occurred in adult heart transplant in the US after the policy change in October 2018. Wait list outcomes have improved, although posttransplant survival has decreased. These data confirm findings from earlier preliminary analyses and demonstrate that these trends have persisted to 1-year follow-up, underscoring the importance of continued reevaluation of the new heart allocation policy.
Considerations When Applying the Consumer Functional Response Measured Under Artificial Conditions

Since its creation, considerable effort has been given to improving the utility of the consumer functional response. To date, the majority of efforts have focused on improving mathematical formulation in order to include additional ecological processes and constraints, or have focused on improving the statistical analysis of the functional response to enhance rigor and to more accurately match experimental designs used to measure the functional response. In contrast, relatively little attention has been given to improving the interpretation of functional response empirical results, or to clarifying the implementation and extrapolation of empirical measurements to more realistic field conditions. In this paper I explore three concepts related to the interpretation and extrapolation of empirically measured functional responses. First, I highlight the need for a mechanistic understanding when interpreting foraging patterns and highlight pitfalls that can occur when we lack understanding between the shape of the functional response curve and the mechanisms that give rise to that shape. Second, I discuss differences between experimental and real-world field conditions that must be considered when trying to extrapolate measured functional responses to more natural conditions. Third, I examine the importance of the time scale of empirical measurements, and the need to consider tradeoffs that alter or limit foraging decisions under natural conditions. Clearly accounting for these three conceptual areas when measuring functional responses and when interpreting and attempting to extrapolate empirically-measured functional responses will lead to more accurate estimates of consumer impacts under natural field conditions, and will improve the utility of the functional response a heuristic tool in ecology.
Utility, Maximizing, and the Satisficing Concept: A Historical Approach at Reconciliation

Utility is used in both economic and business theories of decision-making. The tradition utility approach using maximizing concepts seems at odds with the concept of satisficing behavior. The relation between utility and the satisficing concept is suggested to be that satisficing refers to a process of adaptive behavior by which an economic unit strives to attain a satisfactory level of utility for higher ranking objectives before turning to lower-ranking objectives. There is no necessary inconsistency between utility and satisficing, although the assumption of maximization must be replaced, in positive analysis, by that of satisficing since the scope referred to by each of the concepts, positive and normative, is quite different. This paper uses historical material to develop a model, which is then used to analyze those relations.
Confronting Evils: Terrorism, Torture, Genocide

Part I. The Concept of Evil: 1. Inexcusable wrongs 2. Between good and evil 3. Complicity in structural evils 4. To whom (or to what?) can evils be done? Part II. Terrorism, Torture, Genocide: 5. Counterterrorism 6. Low-profile terrorism 7. Conscientious torture? 8. Ordinary torture 9. Genocide is social death 10. Genocide by forced impregnation Bibliography Filmography Websites Index.
DNase I Footprinting as an Assay for Mammalian Gene Regulatory Proteins

The DNase I footprinting method was first described by Galas and Schmitz (1). The technique remains unsurpassed as a way of gaining direct and immediate information about the location of a protein binding site in the DNA sequence. In addition, the footprinting method provides a way of studying specific binding in the presence of a high nonspecific background, a common situation when working with rare proteins that have been only partially purified. So effective is the footprinting method in discriminating between specific and nonspecific binding that it is often possible to visualize specific protein-DNA interactions with entirely unfractionated protein extracts from mammalian nuclei.
Bioreactors for Tissue Engineering

A variety of bioreactor designs exist today as a result of previous efforts by engineers and researchers to construct optimal systems for a particular tissue engineering application. The primary purpose of any bioreactor is to provide a sterile cell culture environment that can be tightly controlled. A bioreactor can be as simple as a petri dish and as complex as an automatically controlled, cyclically loaded three-dimensional biochamber. A number of laboratories have designed custom bioreactors that apply mechanical stimuli to cells grown in monolayer or three-dimensional culture conditions. Varying levels of bioreactor complexity exist; typically, the systems incorporate at least one of five common loading regimens, including perfusion fluid flow, hydrostatic pressure, uniaxial displacement, biaxial displacement, or microgravity (Fig. 10.1) [10]. Bioreactors can be used to provide an in vitro environment more similar to the in vivo condition; dynamic culture systems are necessary to provide an appropriate, physiologically relevant environment [1].
The Barnes Case: Taking Difficult Futility Cases Public

Futility disputes are increasing and courts are slowly abandoning their historical reluctance to engage these contentious issues, particularly when confronted with inappropriate surrogate demands for aggressive treatment. Use of the judicial system to resolve futility disputes inevitably brings media attention and requires clinicians, hospitals, and families to debate these deep moral conflicts in the public eye. A recent case in Minnesota, In re Emergency Guardianship of Albert Barnes, explores this emerging trend and the complex responsibilities of clinicians and hospital administrators seeking to replace an unfaithful surrogate demanding aggressive therapy. Use of the courts requires the coordinated commitment of significant institutional resources, management of intense media scrutiny and individual and organizational courage to enter the unpredictable world of litigation. Given the dearth of legislative guidance on medical futility, individual clinicians and institutions will continue to bear the difficult responsibility for resolution of individual futility disputes. The Barnes case illustrates how one institution successfully used the judicial system to replace an unfaithful surrogate, cease the provision of inappropriate aggressive care, and stimulate a community dialogue about appropriate care at the end of life.
A REVIEW OF U.S INDIAN POLICY: A UNIQUE CHAPTER IN U.S. HISTORY

American Indian policy is a complex subject that does not easily lend itself to a brief analysis yet is a manageable task if the focus is placed upon major policy decisions. This focus needs to be tempered by two set of considerations: the Harmony Ethos versus the Protestant Ethic and physical versus cultural genocide. The Harmony Ethos reflects the generic world view (epistemological methodology) of North American (U.S./Canadian) Indian and Native Alaskan traditionalism. Here, the traditional world view sees harmony between Father Sky, Mother Earth and all life and inert matter. Man is seen as but one element on earth and not necessarily the most significant one. Intragroup cooperation, a self-image rooted in a larger collectivity (dan, extended family ... ), and intergroup conflict (intertribal wars and raids) comprised the basis of aboriginal (pre-Columbian) traditionalism (French 1982; Gearing 1962; Mooney 1972; Reid 1970). This contrasts with the secular version of the Protestant Ethic, that which drives the Western enculturation and its focus on individual culpability, competition and sense of superiority over nature. The concept of Manifest Destiny became the rallying call and justification for exploitation of both natural resources and the American Indians who resided on these lands.
Momentum in Futures Markets

Momentum has been examined extensively in equity markets, but little studied outside them. I document the existence of momentum and reversals in futures markets including commodity and financial futures contracts traded in the US and overseas. Futures momentum portfolios earn positive average returns even after adjusting for risk using canonical pricing models including the CAPM and Fama-French three factor models. If futures momentum portfolios are formed based on standardized performance, they earn positive average returns even after a momentum factor is included in the Fama-French model, although the momentum factor is statistically significant. Thus, futures momentum is related to, but not subsumed by, equity momentum. Non-parametric risk adjustment reduces momentum returns, but momentum portfolios formed based on standardized historical returns exhibit abnormal performance even allowing for time varying, non-parametric risk adjustment.
Options in topical therapies in the management of patients with acute pain.

AbstractThe traditional cornerstones of analgesic therapy for patients with acute pain have been oral therapies; however, all oral agents exhibit a variety of potentially dose-limiting or intolerable adverse effects in patients. Elderly patients and those with concomitant conditions already being managed with multiple systemic drugs may be particularly susceptible to systemic toxicities with oral analgesic therapies. Topical agents offer an alternative to oral modalities and can effectively treat patients with acute pain while offering lower systemic absorption and conferring little risk of systemic toxicity. The objective of this article is to review the therapeutic usefulness of available topical therapies in their most thoroughly investigated applications, the treatment of patients with acute musculoskeletal and herpetic pain. For example, although heating pads/wraps and cold packs are widely used to alleviate pain associated with sprains, strains, and contusions, evidence of the effectiveness of these...
Fabrication of High-Resolution Nuclear Detectors Using 4H-SiC n-type Epitaxial Layers

High resolution Schottky barrier detectors for alpha particles have been fabricated on 20 μm n-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layers. Schottky barrier contact structure was accomplished by deposition of 10 nm nickel on the Si face of the epilayers. The detectors were characterized for structural, electrical, and spectroscopic properties. Scanning electron microscopy and Nomarski optical microscopy revealed a micropipe density lower than 1 cm-2. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the device exhibited very low leakage current of the order of 6.5 pA at an operating bias of 90 V. C-V measurements revealed a typical effective doping concentrations of 2.4 × 1014 cm-3 in these epilayers. The detectors were evaluated for alpha particles detection using a 241Am source. An energy resolution of ∼0.98% for 5.48 MeV alpha particles was observed. The separate contribution of charge carrier drift and diffusion to the total charge collection efficiency has been calculated in these detectors following a drift-diffusion model. Detailed electronic noise analysis in terms of equivalent noise charge (ENC) was carried out to study the effect of various noise components that contribute to the total electronic noise in the detection system. Effect of shaping time, presence of source and bias on the ENC has been studied in details.
Arsenic alters vascular smooth muscle cell focal adhesion complexes leading to activation of FAK-src mediated pathways.

Abstract Chronic exposure to arsenic has been linked to tumorigenesis, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and peripheral vascular disease; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying its pathological effects remain elusive. In this study, we investigated arsenic-induced alteration of focal adhesion protein complexes in normal, primary vascular smooth muscle cells. We demonstrate that exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of arsenic (50 ppb As 3+ ) can alter focal adhesion protein co-association leading to activation of downstream pathways. Co-associated proteins were identified and quantitated via co-immunoprecipitation, SDS-PAGE, and Western blot analysis followed by scanning densitometry. Activation of MAPK pathways in total cell lysates was evaluated using phosphor-specific antibodies. In our model, arsenic treatment caused a sustained increase in FAK–src association and activation, and induced the formation of unique signaling complexes (beginning after 3-hour As 3+ exposure and continuing throughout the 12-hour time course studied). The effects of these alterations were manifested as chronic stimulation of downstream PAK, ERK and JNK pathways. Past studies have demonstrated that these pathways are involved in cellular survival, growth, proliferation, and migration in VSMCs.
Emotional and psychological impact of delayed craniosynostosis repair

Among children with craniosynostosis, there exists an interesting dynamic involving parents’ preconceptions of craniosynostosis and its repair, influenced in large part by differing cultural perspectives. In a time in which we are understanding how critical a child’s early formative years are in influencing his/her emotional and psychological development, the authors describe one medical aspect involved in that dynamic process. The authors reviewed their cumulative experience at the Children’s Hospital San Diego between January 2000 and June 2004 and identified nine children with significant craniofacial deformities and, for one reason or another, had delayed surgical repair. The authors have found that by age 6, parents will often bring their children back to their physician and insist on surgical correction. The significant motivating factor in most of these cases stems from teasing by classmates with respect to head shape. In this manuscript, we report and discuss some of the emotional and psychological issues associated with delayed craniosynostosis repair. Often times, these issues are overlooked or underemphasized in the overall surgical care of such patients.
Dynamics of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) secretion in cyclic Cushing's syndrome: evidence for more than one abnormal ACTH biorhythm.

We have studied a 57-yr-old woman with cyclic Cushing's syndrome of apparent pituitary origin who had a predominant cycle of 2–6 days. The patient also demonstrated an abnormal circadian rhythm, with afternoon peaks of plasma ACTH and plasma cortisol. In addition to these abnormal biorhythms, Fourier analysis showed what appeared to be a separate 35-day cycle. After 35 days of consecutive urinary free cortisol measurement, the patient was given cyproheptadine. During therapy with this agent, the urinary free cortisol levels fell dramatically, but cyclic secretion continued, albeit with a diminished amplitude. During general anesthesia for a bilateral adrenalectomy, there was a striking increase in the plasma ACTH level, and the ACTH concentration remained high in both the immediate and late postoperative periods. These observations indicated that stress could overcome cyclic ACTH secretion and that cortisol exerted feedback suppression on ACTH secretion. Although this is the predictable response for class...
Exploring the corporate ecosystem with a semi-supervised entity graph

Investment decisions in the financial markets require careful analysis of information available from multiple data sources. In this paper, we present Atlas, a novel entity-based information analysis and content aggregation platform that uses heterogeneous data sources to construct and maintain the "ecosystem" around tangible and logical entities such as organizations, products, industries, geographies, commodities and macroeconomic indicators. Entities are represented as vertices in a directed graph, and edges are generated using entity co-occurrences in unstructured documents and supervised information from structured data sources. Significance scores for the edges are computed using a method that combines supervised, unsupervised and temporal factors into a single score. Important entity attributes from the structured content and the entity neighborhood in the graph are automatically summarized as the entity "fingerprint". A highly interactive user interface provides exploratory access to the graph and supports common business use cases. We present results of experiments performed on five years of news and broker research data, and show that Atlas is able to accurately identify important and interesting connections in real-world entities. We also demonstrate that Atlas entity fingerprints are particularly useful in entity similarity queries, with a quality that rivals existing human maintained databases.
The Nuclei Mass Range Most Efficient for the Initiation of Warm Cloud Showers

Abstract The nuclei mass range and optimum number concentration most efficient for warm rain development around Hawaii were studied in a modified cylindrical shallow cloud model. A new calculation scheme was developed for condensation growth in the nuclei mass range. It is shown that nuclei of mm about 10−15 g are the most efficient, and the nuclei mass distribution usually observed around Hawaii is the optimum distribution of nuclei for warm rain development.
Cultured astrocytes do not release adenosine during hypoxic conditions

Recent reports based on a chemiluminescent enzymatic assay for detection of adenosine conclude that cultured astrocytes release adenosine during mildly hypoxic conditions. If so, astrocytes may suppress neural activity in early stages of hypoxia. The aim of this study was to reevaluate the observation using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The HPLC analysis showed that exposure to 20 or 120 minutes of mild hypoxia failed to increase release of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), adenosine diphosphate (ADP), adenosine monophosphate (AMP), and adenosine from cultured astrocytes. Similar results were obtained using a chemiluminescent enzymatic assay. Moreover, since the chemiluminescent enzymatic assay relies on hydrogen peroxide generation, release of free-radical scavengers from hypoxic cells can interfere with the assay. Accordingly, adenosine added to samples collected from hypoxic cultures could not be detected using the chemiluminescent enzymatic assay. Furthermore, addition of free-radical scavengers sharply reduced the sensitivity of adenosine detection. Conversely, use of a single-step assay inflated measured values due to the inability of the assay to distinguish adenosine and its metabolite inosine. These results show that cultured astrocytes do not release adenosine during mild hypoxia, an observation consistent with their high resistance to hypoxia.
A critique of a recent zone model for the origin of grain structure in thin films

In a recent paper, Smith et al. proposed a model for the origin of the grain structure found in the various zones first defined by Movchan and Demchishin for thin films deposited from thermal vapors and modified later by Thornton for films deposited from hyperthermal vapors. This subject is considered in a new book, where a different interpretation of the data on grain structure and texture is suggested. The objective of this paper is to set down in detail the objections to the interpretation of Smith et al. and the reasons for these objections.
Performance of Genotype Imputation for Rare Variants Identified in Exons and Flanking Regions of Genes

: Genotype imputation has the potential to assess human genetic variation at a lower cost than assaying the variants using laboratory techniques. The performance of imputation for rare variants has not been comprehensively studied. We utilized 8865 human samples with high depth resequencing data for the exons and flanking regions of 202 genes and Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) data to characterize the performance of genotype imputation for rare variants. We evaluated reference sets ranging from 100 to 3713 subjects for imputing into samples typed for the Affymetrix (500K and 6.0) and Illumina 550K GWAS panels. The proportion of variants that could be well imputed (true r(2)>0.7) with a reference panel of 3713 individuals was: 31% (Illumina 550K) or 25% (Affymetrix 500K) with MAF (Minor Allele Frequency) less than or equal 0.001, 48% or 35% with 0.001 0.05. The performance for common SNPs (MAF>0.05) within exons and flanking regions is comparable to imputation of more uniformly distributed SNPs. The performance for rare SNPs (0.01<MAF<?=?0.05) was much more dependent on the GWAS panel and the number of reference samples. These results suggest routine use of genotype imputation for extending the assessment of common variants identified in humans via targeted exon resequencing into additional samples with GWAS data, but imputation of very rare variants (MAF<?=?0.005) will require reference panels with thousands of subjects.
Genetic and Physical Linkage of Exogenous Sequences in Transformed-Cells

The calcium phosphate precipitation method of Graham and van der Eb (1973) is an efficient means of introducing DNA into cultured animal cells. Cells which incorporate one selectable marker are also likely to incorporate sequences from the carrier DNA. Both selected and unselected markers are found integrated in the high molecular weight nuclear DNA of the host. In the present study, we demonstrate that exogenously acquired sequences are gentically linked, segregating and amplifying coordinately, and that their flanking sequences derive primarily from the carrier species rather than the host species. Based on these results, we propose that, upon transformation, the host cell ligates incorporated DNA into a large concatameric structure which may at times be as large as 2000 kilobases. From blotting data alone we cannot determine whether this structure is chromosomal or extrachromosomal in location.
A novel combination of withaferin A and sorafenib shows synergistic efficacy against both papillary and anaplastic thyroid cancers

Abstract Background Sorafenib (SO), a multikinase-targeted inhibitor in clinical trials for papillary and anaplastic cancers, shows limited efficacy with moderate toxicity. Withaferin A (WA), a natural withanolide, shows potent preclinical anticancer activity in thyroid cancers through multiple cytotoxic mechanisms including heat-shock protein inhibition. We hypothesized that combination therapy (WA + SO) would have a synergistic effect against anaplastic and papillary carcinoma cells at lower sorafenib doses. Methods Human papillary (BCPAP) and anaplastic (SW1736) thyroid cancer cell lines were evaluated after treatment with SO, WA, or their combination at different doses. Proliferation was measured by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium and trypan blue exclusion; apoptosis and cell-cycle arrest was measured by flow cytometry. Western analysis confirmed apoptosis (Poly ADP ribose polymerase [PARP] and caspase-3 cleavage) and Raf inhibition. Experiments were repeated in triplicate and were evaluated statistically with significance set at a P value of less than .05. Results The concentration of drug at which 50% of the cells are inhibited (IC 50 ) in BCPAP were 6.3 μmol/L (SO), .155 μmol/L (WA), and .055 μmol/L (IC 50 WA + 50% IC 50 SO), whereas in SW1736 cells the concentration was 7.6 μmol/L (SO), 2.5 μmol/L (WA), and 1.4 μmol/L (IC 50 WA + 50% IC 50 SO). Combination (WA + SO) at IC 50 decreased cell viability to 19% (from 50% individually). Apoptosis levels on flow cytometry in anaplastic cells increased significantly from 0% to 2% (SO or WA alone) to 89% (combo at IC 50 , P 50 levels. Cell-cycle modulation was significant with combination treatment (35% increase in G2 arrest at 50% IC 50 SO + WA and 70% increase at 75% IC 50 SO + WA; P Conclusions Combination therapy with sorafenib + withaferin showed synergistic efficacy in papillary and anaplastic cancers in vitro with significant induction of apoptosis. This combination achieved potent anticancer activity with lower overall doses of sorafenib, indicating a potential strategy to decrease sorafenib toxicity in future translational studies.
Smoothing of likelihood ratio statistic for equiprobable multinomial goodness-of-fit

The likelihood ratio chi-square criterion for testing goodness-of-fit in k cell multinomials is known to overestimate significance for small and moderate sample sizes (see, e.g., Larntz (1978)). Therefore, the usual chi-square approximation to the upper tail of the likelihood ratio statistic G2, is not satisfactory. Several authors have derived adjustments (e.g., Williams (1976), Smith et al. (1981), Hosmane (1987b)), so that the asymptotic mean of G2 matches the mean of the asymptotic chi-square distribution in the hope that the distribution of G2 would improve. In this paper, a new adjustment to G2 is determined on the basis of the n-1-order term (n being the total number) of the Edgeworth expansion of the distribution of smoothed G2. Monte Carlo results indicate that the modified G2 outperforms the unadjusted G2.
The 3D Patellar Tendon Moment Arm: Quantified In vivo During Volitional Activity

The patellar tendon moment arm is a critical quantity in that it defines the quadriceps ability to generate a moment on the tibia. Thus, the primary purpose of this study was to establish the first in vivo three-dimensional measures of the patellar tendon moment arm, measured non-invasively and in vivo during dynamic activity in a large normative population (n=34) using a dynamic MRI technique (fast-PC MRI). The magnitude of the moment arm was defined as the shortest distance between the finite helical axis and the patellar tendon line of action. Using these data, the hypothesis that the patellar tendon moment arm is independent of gender was tested. In general, the moment arm increased from 20 to 50 mm during knee extension. There were significant differences (P<0.05) in the moment arm between gender, but these differences were eliminated when the moment arm was scaled by the femoral epicondylar width. This study took a large step forward towards the ultimate goal of defining how pathology may alter joint dynamics through alteration in moment arms by establishing the first in vivo normative data base for the patellar tendon moment arm using non-invasive measures during volitional activity in a relatively large population (n=34). The fact that the scaled moment arm was independent of gender may lend insights into impairments that tend to be gender specific, such as patellar maltracking. The next steps will be to quantify the patellar tendon moment arm in populations with specific pathologies.
A graphical method for constructing coherent phase diagrams

Abstract The equilibrium conditions for a stressed two-phase coherent solid are employed to develop a graphical construction for coherent equilibrium. We show that in certain cases when the stress is generated by a misfit between the precipitate and matrix, the equilibrium coherent phase compositions can be found drawing parallel tangents to the molar free energy curves of the phases measured in the absence of stress. Total energy diagrams and phase stability diagrams can be constructed to determine the combinations of phase compositions and volume fractions which yield unstable, metastable, and stable states. Through these constructions it is possible to show that elastic stress can result in the appearance of cusps on a total energy plot, indicating the presence of an nonanalytic total free energy of the system as a function of alloy composition. Finally, we show how a stable and metastable coherent phase diagram can be determined qualitatively using these constructions.
Role of nucleosomal cores and histone H1 in regulation of transcription by RNA polymerase II

The relation between chromatin structure and transcriptional activity was examined by in vitro transcription analysis of chromatin reconstituted in the absence or presence of histone H1. To maintain well-defined template DNA, purified components were used in the reconstitution of chromatin. Reconstitution of nucleosomal cores to an average density of 1 nucleosome per 200 base pairs of DNA resulted in a mild reduction of basal RNA polymerase II transcription to 25 to 50 percent of that obtained with naked DNA templates. This nucleosome-mediated repression was due to nucleosomal cores located at the RNA start site and could not be counteracted by the sequence-specific transcription activators Sp1 and GAL4-VP16. When H1 was incorporated into the chromatin at 0.5 to 1.0 molecule per nucleosome (200 base pairs of DNA), RNA synthesis was reduced to 1 to 4 percent of that observed with chromatin containing only nucleosomal cores, and this H1-mediated repression could be counteracted by the addition of Sp1 or GAL4-VP16 (antirepression). With naked DNA templates, transcription was increased by a factor of 3 and 8 by Sp1 and GAL4-VP-16, respectively (true activation). With H1-repressed chromatin templates, however, the magnitude of transcriptional activation mediated by Sp1 and GAL4-VP16 was 90 and more than 200 times higher, respectively, because of the combined effects of true activation and antirepression. The data provide direct biochemical evidence that support and clarify previously proposed models in which there is depletion or reconfiguration of nucleosomal cores and histone H1 at the promoter regions of active genes.
Carbon dioxide snow storms during the polar night on Mars

The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) detected clouds associated with topographic features during the polar night on Mars. While uplift generated from flow over mountains initiates clouds on both Earth and Mars, we suggest that the Martian clouds differ greatly from terrestrial mountain wave clouds. Terrestrial wave clouds are generally compact features with sharp edges due to the relatively small particles in them. However, we find that the large mass of condensible carbon dioxide on Mars leads to clouds with snow tails that may extend many kilometers down wind from the mountain and even reach the surface. Both the observations and the simulations suggest substantial carbon dioxide snow precipitation in association with the underlying topography. This precipitation deposits CO2, dust and water ice to the polar caps, and may lead to propagating geologic features in the Martian polar regions.
The validity of cognitive distance in oral and written discourse

Oral and written discourse samples of adolescents with closed head injury (CHI) and controls were analyzed to determine if efficiency and coherence measures changed as the length of their picture descriptions increased. The hypothesis was that as ideas were elaborated, the number of words used to express an idea would increase and the conceptual connectedness of ideas would decrease. This research study supported this expectation for efficiency in normal oral and written discourse but not for the discourse of participants with CHI. Further, the efficiency measure significantly differentiated the writing and speaking of the two groups as the picture descriptions were elaborated. Coherence ratings did not distinguish the development of discourse within or between groups.
Asymmetry in Active SETI: A case for transmissions from Earth

Abstract The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) typically presupposes contact with extraterrestrial civilizations much longer lived than humanity. Many have argued that given humanity's “youth,” the burden of transmitting should be placed on the extraterrestrial civilizations, which presumably possess more advanced technologies. These assumptions have contributed to the current emphasis on Passive SETI. Complementing this existing stress on Passive SETI with an additional commitment to Active SETI, in which humankind transmits messages to other civilizations, would have several advantages, including (1) addressing the reality that regardless of whether older civilizations should be transmitting , they may not be transmitting ; (2) placing the burden of decoding and interpreting messages on advanced extraterrestrials, which may facilitate mutual comprehension; and (3) signaling a move toward an intergenerational model of science with a long-term vision for benefiting other civilizations as well as future generations of humans. Technological requirements for Active SETI are considered, and a case is made for Active SETI as a means for experimentally testing variants of the Zoo Hypothesis. Recommendations are provided for sustaining Passive and Active SETI and the communities that conduct these searches.
Detection of reaction intermediates during human cystathionine β-synthase-monitored turnover and H2S production.

Human cystathionine β-synthase (CBS), a novel heme-containing pyridoxal 5′-phosphate enzyme, catalyzes the condensation of homocysteine and serine or cysteine to produce cystathionine and H2O or H2S, respectively. The presence of heme in CBS has limited spectrophotometric characterization of reaction intermediates by masking the absorption of the pyridoxal 5′-phosphate cofactor. In this study, we employed difference stopped-flow spectroscopy to characterize reaction intermediates formed under catalytic turnover conditions. The reactions of l-serine and l-cysteine with CBS resulted in the formation of a common aminoacrylate intermediate (kobs = 0.96 ± 0.02 and 0.38 ± 0.01 mm−1 s−1, respectively, at 24 °C) with concomitant loss of H2O and H2S and without detectable accumulation of the external aldimine or other intermediates. Homocysteine reacted with the aminoacrylate intermediate with kobs = 40.6 ± 3.8 s−1 and re-formed the internal aldimine. In the reverse direction, CBS reacted with cystathionine, forming the aminoacrylate intermediate with kobs = 0.38 ± 0.01 mm−1 s−1. This study provides the first insights into the pre-steady-state kinetic mechanism of human CBS and indicates that the reaction is likely to be limited by a conformational change leading to product release.
Comparison of soil respiration methods in a mid-latitude deciduous forest

In forest ecosystems the single largest respiratory flux influencing net ecosystem productivity (NEP) is the total soil CO2 efflux; however, it is difficult to make measurements of this flux that are accurate at the ecosystem scale. We examined patterns of soil CO2 efflux using five different methods: auto-chambers, portable gas analyzers, eddy covariance along and two models parameterized with the observed data. The relation between soil temperature and soil moisture with soil CO2 effluxes are also investigated, both inter-annually and seasonally, using these observations/results. Soil respiration rates (Rsoil) are greatest during the growing season when soil temperatures are between 15 and 25 °C, but some soil CO2 efflux occurs throughout the year. Measured soil respiration was sensitive to soil temperature, particularly during the spring and fall. All measurement methods produced similar annual estimates. Depending on the time of the year, the eddy covariance (flux tower) estimate for ecosystem respiration is similar to or slightly lower than estimates of annual soil CO2 efflux from the other methods. As the eddy covariance estimate includes foliar and stem respiration which the other methods do not; it was expected to be larger (perhaps 15–30%). The auto-chamber system continuously measuring soil CO2 efflux rates provides a level of temporal resolution that permits investigation of short- to longer term influences of factors on these efflux rates. The expense of building and maintaining an auto chamber system may not be necessary for those researchers interested in estimating Rsoil annually, but auto-chambers do allow the capture of data from all seasons needed for model parameterization.
Repeated restraint stress alters sensitivity to the social consequences of ethanol differentially in early and late adolescent rats.

Abstract In rats, considerable differences in the social consequences of acute ethanol are seen across ontogeny, with adolescents being more sensitive to low dose ethanol-induced social facilitation and less sensitive to the social inhibition evident at higher ethanol doses relative to adults. Stressor exposure induces social anxiety-like behavior, indexed via decreases in social preference, and alters responsiveness to the social consequences of acute ethanol by enhancing ethanol-associated social facilitation and anxiolysis regardless of age. Given that substantial ontogenetic differences in the social consequences of ethanol are evident even within the adolescent period, the present study was designed to investigate whether similar stress-associated alterations in social behavior and ethanol responsiveness are evident in early and late adolescents. Juvenile–early adolescent [postnatal days (P) 24–28] and mid–late adolescent (P38–42) male and female Sprague–Dawley rats were repeatedly restrained (90 min/day) for 5 days, followed by examination of ethanol-induced (0, 0.25, 0.5, or 1.0 g/kg) alterations in social behaviors on the last day. Responsiveness to restraint stress in terms of both stress-induced behavioral alterations and stress-associated changes in sensitivity to the social consequences of acute ethanol challenge differed drastically at the two ages. Repeated restraint increased anxiety-like behavior in a social context in older adolescents, whereas previously stressed young adolescent males showed substantial increases in play fighting — an effect of stress not evident in P28 females or P42 adolescents of either sex. Unexpectedly, repeated restraint eliminated sensitivity to ethanol-induced social facilitation in P28 adolescent males and made their female counterparts less sensitive to this effect. In contrast, previously stressed late adolescents became sensitive to the socially facilitating and anxiolytic effects of acute ethanol.
Dopamine induces light-adaptive retinomotor movements in bullfrog cones via D2 receptors and in retinal pigment epithelium via D1 receptors.

In the eyes of lower vertebrates, retinal photoreceptors and melanin pigment granules of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) exhibit characteristic retinomotor movements in response to changes in ambient illumination and to signals from an endogenous circadian clock. We previously reported that 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethylamine (dopamine) mimicked the effect of light on these movements in photo-receptors and RPE cells of green sunfish, Lepomis cyanellus, by interacting with D2 dopaminergic receptors. Here, we report that dopamine also mimics the effect of light on cone and RPE retinomotor movements in bullfrogs, Rana catesbeiana, i.e., dopamine induces cone contraction and RPE pigment dispersion. Dopamine induced cone contraction in isolated dark-adapted bullfrog retinas incubated in constant darkness in the presence of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX). This effect of dopamine was inhibited by a D2 but not a D1 antagonist and mimicked by a D2 but not a D1 agonist. These results suggest that induction of cone contraction by dopamine is mediated by D2 dopaminergic receptors and that cone adenylate cyclase activity is inhibited. Thus, dopamine acts via the same type of receptor in both bullfrog and green sunfish retinas to induce cone contraction. In contrast, dopamine influences RPE retinomotor movement via different receptors in fish and bullfrog. Dopamine induced light-adaptive pigment dispersion in isolated dark-adapted bullfrog RPE-eyecups incubated in constant darkness in normal Ringer's solution. Because the retina was not present, these experiments demonstrate a direct effect of dopamine on bullfrog RPE. This effect of dopamine on bullfrog RPE was inhibited by a D1 but not a D2 antagonist and mimicked by a D1 but not a D2 agonist. Furthermore, agents that increase the concentration of intracellular cyclic AMP also induced pigment dispersion in dark-adapted bullfrog RPE-eyecups incubated in the dark. These results suggest that dopamine induces pigment dispersion in bullfrog RPE via D1 dopaminergic receptors. Thus, dopamine acts via different receptors on bullfrog (D1) versus green sunfish (D2) RPE to induce pigment dispersion. In addition, inhibitor studies indicate that pigment dispersion is actin dependent in teleost but not in bullfrog RPE. Dopamine-induced pigment dispersion was inhibited by cytochalasin D in isolated RPE sheets of green sunfish but not in RPE-eyecups of bullfrogs. Together, these observations indicate that dopamine mimics the effect of light on cone and RPE retinomotor movements in both fish and bullfrogs. However, in the RPE, different receptors mediate the effect of dopamine, and different cytoskeletal mechanisms are used to affect pigment transport.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Neuronal/glial plasticity in the supraoptic dendritic zone in response to acute and chronic dehydration.

Abstract The magnocellular neurosecretory cells of the supraoptic nucleus increase production and secretion of oxytocin and/or vasopressin in response to dehydration, gestation and lactation. Dynamic neuronal/glial interactions have also been shown to occur in response to these stimuli, resulting in a reversible increase in soma-somatic direct membrane apposition at these times. Chronic (lactation, 10 days of saline drinking) but not acute stimuli (4–24 h water deprivation) are further accompanied by the reversible formation of axo-somatic double synapses (one presynaptic terminal contacting two postsynaptic elements), which are virtually absent in control animals. The dendrites of these cells course ventrolaterally toward the ventral glial lamina, and have also been shown to be involved in this plasticity: dendro-dendritic direct membrane apposition and axo-somatic double synapses significantly vary with gestation and parturition. The present study investigated the dendritic zone response to both chronic and acute dehydration and rehydration. Increased dendro-dendritic membrane contacts resulted from both stimuli. Rehydration following acute dehydration resulted in a dose-dependent return to control levels, while rehydrated chronic dehydrates did not show such a return until 35 days of rehydration. The percentage of dendrites contacted by double synapses did not vary with treatment, and there were no sex differences. The recalcitrance on the part of the dendrites to return to normal following chronic dehydration may reflect a readiness to respond to renewed hormone demand.