Estrogen receptor alpha mediates estrogen-inducible abnormalities in the developing penis

Previously, we reported an association between estrogen receptor-alpha (ERalpha) upregulation and detrimental effects of neonatal diethylstilbestrol (DES) exposure in the rat penis. The objective of this study was to employ the ERalpha knockout (ERalphaKO) mouse model to test the hypothesis that ERalpha mediates DES effects in the developing penis. ERalphaKO and wild-type C57BL/6 mice received oil or DES at a dose of 0.2 microg/pup per day (0.1 mg/kg) on alternate days from postnatal days 2 to 12. Fertility was tested at 80-240 days of age and tissues were examined at 96-255 days of age. DES caused malformation of the os penis, significant reductions in penile length, diameter, and weight, accumulation of fat cells in the corpora cavernosa penis, and significant reductions in weight of the bulbospongiosus and levator ani muscles in wild-type mice. Conversely, ERalphaKO mice treated with DES developed none of the above abnormalities. While nine out of ten male mice sired pups in the wild-type/control group, none did in the wild-type/DES group. ERalphaKO mice, despite normal penile development, are inherently infertile. Both plasma and intratesticular testosterone levels were unaltered in the DES-treated wild-type or DES-treated ERalphaKO mice when compared with controls, although testosterone concentration was much higher in the ERalphaKO mice. Hence, the resistance of ERalphaKO mice to developing penile abnormalities provides unequivocal evidence of an obligatory role for ERalpha in mediating the harmful effects of neonatal DES exposure in the developing penis.     

Controlled self-assembly of organic nanowires and platelets using dipolar and hydrogen-bonding interactions

Synergistic dipole-dipole and hydrogen-bonding interactions are used to assemble nanostructured materials. Precipitation of a hydrogen-bonding donor-acceptor molecule 8-[[p-[bis(ethyl)amino]phenyl]azo]-isobutylflavin (ABFL) yields nanowires approximately 50-150 nm in diameter and lengths of several millimeters. Precipitation of the non-hydrogen-bonding analog, methylated ABFL (MABFL), generates micrometer-sized hexagonal platelets that are 5-10 microm in length, 1-5 microm in width, and 0.1-0.5 microm thick. The structural similarity of the two molecules allows intermediate morphologies to be formed via co-precipitation. Doping experiments demonstrate efficient control over nanowire length and diameter due to the disruption of the hydrogen bonding within the nanowires.     

Mechanisms of arsenic attenuation in acid mine drainage from Mount Bischoff, western Tasmania

There is a dearth of research concerning the geochemistry of arsenic in acid mine drainage (AMD) in western Tasmania. To help address this, the controls on the mobility and fate of arsenic in AMD and its associated sediment at the Mount Bischoff mine site in western Tasmania were investigated. AMD issuing from the adit mouth contained dissolved arsenic and iron concentrations of 2.5 and 800 mg L(-1), respectively. The aqueous concentration of both arsenic and iron decreased markedly over a 150-m stretch from the adit mouth due to precipitation of hydrous ferric oxides (HFO) and jarosite, both of which are effective scavengers of arsenic. Microwave-assisted digestion of the sediment collected at the adit mouth revealed that the arsenic concentration exceeded 1%. Sequential extraction of this sediment showed that the bulk of arsenic was associated with amorphous and crystalline hydrous oxides of Al and/or Fe. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis indicated that the solid phase arsenic exists as As(V). EXAFS data were consistent with arsenate tetrahedra substituting for sulphate in jarosite and with corner-sharing complexes adsorbed on ferric oxyhydroxide octahedra. Erosional transport of AMD sediment downstream to higher pH waters may increase the mobility (and hence bioavailablity) of arsenic through dissolution of As-rich jarosite.     

Crowd out or crowd in?: The effects of common interest developments on political participation in California

Individuals are increasingly opting to contract directly with “private governments,” or common interest developments (CIDs) such as condominiums, cooperatives, and planned developments, for many of the traditional functions of general-purpose local government. Over the past thirty years, CIDs have proliferated throughout the U.S. In 1962, there were fewer than 500 such organizations nationally while today there are an estimated 205,000 CIDs including over 42 million Americans. According to several scholars, the past thirty years have also witnessed declines in civic engagement or “social capital.” This paper investigates links between these trends. In particular, it analyzes the effects of planned developments (PDs) in California on voting behavior in statewide general elections during the 1990s. Results indicate that areas with PDs do not exhibit significantly different voter turnout, registration, and party affiliation once potential selection bias is taken into account. These findings undermine the popular view that private governments crowd out participation in traditional public government. I acknowledge financial support from the National Institute on Aging as well as the Institute for Business and Economic Research and the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley. I am grateful to John Quigley, Steven Raphael, Eugene Smolensky, Alan Auerbach, and seminar participants at UC Berkeley for valuable comments. All remaining errors are my own.     

Distributed BACI: a toolkit for distributed applications

We have built a distributed Ben‐Ari Concurrent Interpreter (distributed BACI), which provides easy‐to‐use commands to implement distributed algorithms. In distributed BACI, a send process, receive process, and interpreter process combine to provide the distributed system functionality necessary to implement distributed algorithms. In this paper, we introduce the distributed BACI toolkit, illustrate the toolkit with a distributed mutual exclusion algorithm, and discuss how the toolkit is implemented. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Automatic parallel control structures in SequenceL

SequenceL is a language that provides declarative constructs for non‐scalar processing. Rather than specifying program control structures that, in turn, imply a data product, the problem solver specifies a data product, and the control structures to produce or process the data product are implied. Although SequenceL has been previously introduced in two papers (Cooke, DE. An Introduction to SequenceL: A language to experiment with constructs for processing nonscalars. Software—Practice and Experience 1996; 26 (11):1205–1246; and Cooke, D. SequenceL Provides a Different way to View Programming. Computer Languages 1998; 24 :1–32), recent improvements to the language have indicated that parallel control structures are also implied by the SequenceL problem solutions. This paper focuses on these recent advances. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Kinetic study of mineral ion extraction from Kenyan Arabica coffee

The rate of infusion into distilled water of caffeine and of Mg, Mn, K and P have been measured. The coffee used was roasted Kenyan Arabica coffee, ground, and sieved to a size range of 1.70–2.00 mm. The analytical techniques employed were HPLC for the analysis of caffeine and ICP‐AES for analysing mineral ions. The kinetic data have been interpreted in terms of a steady‐state theory, and the rate constants of infusion have been calculated. The diffusion coefficients of the various species within the bean were calculated from the resultant rate constants. These values have been compared with the corresponding diffusion coefficients in pure water at 80°C and the hindrance factors in the bean have been determined. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry