Tetranorsesquiterpenoids as Attractants of Yucca Moths to Yucca Flowers

Journal of Chemical Ecology - The obligate pollination mutualism between Yucca and yucca moths is a classical example of coevolution. Oviposition and active pollination by female yucca moths occur...     

Design of an Ultrafast G Protein Switch Based on a Mouse Melanopsin Variant

The primary goal of optogenetics is the light-controlled noninvasive and specific manipulation of various cellular processes. Herein, we present a hybrid strategy for targeted protein engineering combining computational techniques with electrophysiological and UV/visible spectroscopic experiments. We validated our concept for channelrhodopsin-2 and applied it to modify the less-well-studied vertebrate opsin melanopsin. Melanopsin is a promising optogenetic tool that functions as a selective molecular light switch for G protein-coupled receptor pathways. Thus, we constructed a model of the melanopsin G_q protein complex and predicted an absorption maximum shift of the Y211F variant. This variant displays a narrow blue-shifted action spectrum and twofold faster deactivation kinetics compared to wild-type melanopsin on G protein-coupled inward rectifying K⁺ (GIRK) channels in HEK293 cells. Furthermore, we verified the in vivo activity and optogenetic potential for the variant in mice. Thus, we propose that our developed concept will be generally applicable to designing optogenetic tools.     

Assessment of dysregulated children using the Child Behavior Checklist: A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.

Disorders of self-regulatory behavior are common reasons for referral to child and adolescent clinicians. Here, the authors sought to compare 2 methods of empirically based assessment of children with problems in self-regulatory behavior. Using parental reports on 2,028 children (53% boys) from a U.S. national probability sample of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; T. M. Achenbach & L. A. Rescorla, 2001), the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was applied to compare scores on the Posttraumatic Stress Problems Scale (PTSP) of the CBCL with the CBCL Dysregulation Profile (DP), identified using latent class analysis of the Attention Problems, Aggressive Behavior, and Anxious/Depressed scales of the CBCL. The CBCL–PTSP score demonstrated an area under the curve of between .88 and .91 for predicting membership in the CBCL–DP profile for boys and for girls. These findings suggest that the CBCL–PTSP, which others have shown does not uniquely identify children who have been traumatized, does identify the same profile of behavior as the CBCL–DP. Therefore, the authors recommend renaming the CBCL–PTSP the Dysregulation Short Scale and provide some guidelines for the use of the CBCL–DP scale and the CBCL–PTSP in clinical practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Local environment effects in the vibrational properties of disordered alloys: An embedded-atom method study of Ni3Al and Cu3Au

Local environment effects are important for providing a framework for understanding the changes in vibrational properties that result from disordering. In the present work the effects of local environments on thermodynamic quantities are examined using the embedded-atom method (EAM) for Ni₃Al and Cu₃Au. Projections of the density of states onto different local environments are performed, and a local cluster expansion is calculated. It is found that the contribution to the entropy from a given atom is primarily determined by the atom and its first few neighbor shells. Relaxations are seen to qualitatively change the dependence of the entropy on local environment, changing the sign of the dominant interactions. Also, relaxations are found to extend the range of point and pair interactions and to increase the importance of multisite interactions. These results suggest that a special quasi-random structure (SQS), a small supercell constructed to approximate the local environments of the disordered phase, might be able to reproduce the disordered phase vibrational thermodynamics. It is found that an eight-atom SQS can accurately represent the vibrational thermodynamic properties of the disordered phase, implying that it could be a powerful tool for firstprinciples vibrational studies.     

Ordering tendencies in alloys and their microscopic origins from a first-principles theory of concentration waves

Compositional, displacement, and magnetic pair-correlation functions in alloys are measured directly by diffuse scattering techniques. A first-principles theory of short-range order in high-temperature, disordered alloys has been developed and implemented that determines these correlation functions from the underlying local-density-functional electronic structure. Features in diffuse scattering experiments may be directly related to their electronic origins. Such a capability is not only important for interpreting experimental results but for understanding the microscopic origin of the system-dependent short-range order. Example applications are discussed in the Cu-Ni-Zn and Cu-Pt alloys, with emphasis on the importance of van-Hove states (i.e., the electronic states that give rise to van Hove singularities in the density of states). As a contrast, the origins for the magnetic and chemical short-range order in paramagnetic Cu-rich, Cu-Mn alloys, which are considered prototypical spin-glass systems, are also briefly discussed.     

Technical responsibility management— an indispensable element of corporate governance

We define technical responsibility management as the organized fulfillment of all the legal and other responsibilities connected with the use of technical means of production and installations in an enterprise. To act legally responsible even under the condition of permanently changing regulations and to produce cost efficiency at the same time, a responsibility management system (RMS) is being presented, a system that, as it were, automatizes and rationalizes the fulfillment of all liabilities valid at the time. All existing installations in the enterprise, as well as all relevant legal provisions, are represented in adequate form by experts and, resulting from this, software determines optimized schedules that also take into account additional secondary operational conditions. Internet/intranet technology even permits complete outsourcing. RMSs heighten the safety level in the enterprise, provide legal security, and open up hitherto inaccessible savings potentials. The author pleads for the OECD principles for good “Corporate Governance Systems (Management and Controlling)” to demand the future introduction of RMSs. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 13: 253–259, 2003.     

Fatal carbon dioxide embolism as a complication of endoscopic interventions

BACKGROUND: There is little information regarding full polysomnographic examination of infants for the evaluation of stridor or stertor. OBJECTIVE: To determine the usefulness of polysomnographic examination in the evaluation of airway disorders in infants. DESIGN: Case review series. SETTING: Tertiary pediatric care center and sleep disorders center. PATIENTS: Younger than 10 months. INTERVENTION: Full polysomnography and treatment with a positive-pressure assistive device or surgery if indicated. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Electroencephalographic findings, amount and length of apnea, percentage of desaturation and carbon dioxide retention, sleep architecture, amount of hypopnea as well as sleep arousals, episodes of gastroesophageal reflux, and clinical follow-up. RESULTS: Of 60 full pediatric polysomnograms performed at our institution each year, only 17 were obtained in children younger than 10 months for determination of symptoms of stridor or stertor over the past 8 years. In several cases, interpretation of 4-channel studies led to the wrong conclusions and inadequate treatment. Diagnoses made using full polysomnography included 3 children with seizure disorders, 1 with disorganized brain activity, 2 with gastroesophageal reflux, and 7 with anatomical obstructions, 3 of whom were successfully treated with a positive-pressure assistive device and 4 of whom were treated surgically. CONCLUSIONS: Full polysomnography provides physiological data that complement anatomical data obtained via endoscopy and is a useful tool for evaluating the significance of airway disorders in infants.     

Spontaneous tumors and common diseases in two colonies of Syrian hamsters. I. Incidence and sites

Syrian hamsters from two colonies [Eppley colony (EC); Hannover colony (HC)] were examined for spontaneous neoplastic and noneoplastic diseases. Significant differences were found in tumor incidence (30%, EC' 42%, HC), occurrence of malignant neoplasms (15%, EC; 32%, HC), appearance of multiple primary tumors in different organs (42%, EC; 30%, HC), average survival rates of tumor-bearing animals, organ distribution and histologic types, and average survival rates of all animals. The frequencies of nonneoplastic diseases also varied between the two colonies. The findings indicated a need for precise histologic evaluation to generate information for comparative purposes regarding the use of hamsters in experimental pathology and carcinogenesis studies.     

Embedded atom method calculations of vibrational thermodynamic properties of ordered and disordered Ni3Al

Recent work had suggested that vibrational effects can play a significant role in determining alloy phase equilibria. In order to better understand these effects, we investigate the vibrational properties of disordered and ordered Ni₃Al using the embedded atom method and calculate vibrational thermodynamic quantities within the quasi-harmonic approximation. The vibrational entropy is found to be strongly dependent on volume. For fully relaxed structures the dependence on lattice decoration of the vibrational entropy is compared to that suggested by recent experimental results.