Further Experiments on Collaborative Ranking in Community-Based Web Search

As the search engine arms-race continues, search engines are constantly looking for ways to improve the manner in which they respond to user queries. Given the vagueness of Web search queries, recent research has focused on ways to introduce context into the search process as a means of clarifying vague, under-specified or ambiguous query terms. In this paper we describe a novel approach to using context in Web search that seeks to personalize the results of a generic search engine for the needs of a specialist community of users. In particular we describe two separate evaluations in detail that demonstrate how the collaborative search method has the potential to deliver significant search performance benefits to end-users while avoiding many of the privacy and security concerns that are commonly associated with related personalization research.     

Placental Endocrine Activity: Adaptation and Disruption of Maternal Glucose Metabolism in Pregnancy and the Influence of Fetal Sex

The placenta is an endocrine fetal organ, which secretes a plethora of steroid- and proteo-hormones, metabolic proteins, growth factors, and cytokines in order to adapt maternal physiology to pregnancy. Central to the growth of the fetus is the supply with nutrients, foremost with glucose. Therefore, during pregnancy, maternal insulin resistance arises, which elevates maternal blood glucose levels, and consequently ensures an adequate glucose supply for the developing fetus. At the same time, maternal β-cell mass and function increase to compensate for the higher insulin demand. These adaptations are also regulated by the endocrine function of the placenta. Excessive insulin resistance or the inability to increase insulin production accordingly disrupts physiological modulation of pregnancy mediated glucose metabolism and may cause maternal gestational diabetes (GDM). A growing body of evidence suggests that this adaptation of maternal glucose metabolism differs between pregnancies carrying a girl vs. pregnancies carrying a boy. Moreover, the risk of developing GDM differs depending on the sex of the fetus. Sex differences in placenta derived hormones and bioactive proteins, which adapt and modulate maternal glucose metabolism, are likely to contribute to this sexual dimorphism. This review provides an overview on the adaptation and maladaptation of maternal glucose metabolism by placenta-derived factors, and highlights sex differences in this regulatory network.     

Lipids of maturing grain of corn (Zea mays L.):

The polar lipids of a standard corn inbred, H51, were analyzed as the kernels developed. The concentrations of the glycolipids and phospholipids were highest at 30–45 days after pollination and then decreased. Digalactosyl diglyceride was the dominant glycolipid in the maturing grain. Monogalactosyl diglyceride and sulfolipid were also major sugar-containing lipids, but steryl glycoside ester, steryl glycoside and cerebrosides were relatively minor components. Phosphatidyl choline accounted for over 50% of the total phosphorus of the phospholipids at all stages of kernel development. Phosphatidyl ethanolamine and phosphatidyl inositol ranked second and third. Each individual lipid had its own characteristic fatty acid pattern, but the changes in fatty acid composition during development of the corn kernels were similar for all the lipids. The percentages of palmitic acid and linolenic acid decreased while those of oleic acid increased. Contribution from the Department of Agronomy, University of Illinois, and Crops Research Division, ARS, USDA.     

Profile of nutritional risk in pregnant adolescents

A sample of 215 adolescents (16.9 +/- 0.7 y; 13-18 y) from a low socioeconomic level of Valencia, Venezuela, at their first trimester of pregnancy were studied in order to identify nutritional risk. Socioeconomic, anthropometrical, hematological and dietary characteristic were assessed. Pregestational weight, actual weight, height, arm circumference (AC), triceps skin fold (TS), fat and muscle area (FA/MA) and pregestational body mass index (PBMI) were determined. Hemoglobin (Hb) and ferritin were measured by colorimetric and ELISA methods. Two 24 hour recalls were obtained. According to age, two groups were created. Pregnant adolescents were grouped by age: Group 1, 13 to 15 years old and Group 2, 16 to 18 years old. Nutritional risk was defined as: Gynecological age lower than 4 years since menarche. PBMI < 19.8 kg/m2, height below 10th Percentile of reference, Hb below 11 g/dL and ferritin < 12 micrograms/L. Almost all the adolescents (96.3%) were in poverty. 83.3% were single, 83.3% were at elementary school before pregnancy but 84.1% were attending house chores at the time of exam. There were significant differences (p < 0.001) for gynecological age and menarche age, but not for anthropometrical, hematological and dietary variables when Group 1 was compared to group 2. 35.3% of the adolescents had a gynecological age lower than 4 years, 23.3% were below 10th percentile for height, 36.3% had a PBMI lower than 19.8 kg/m2, 26.5% were below 10th percentile for arm circumference, anemia was present in 13.7% and low levels of ferritin in 18.4% of the adolescents. Calorie intake was below recommendation in 87.3% and adequacy for vitamin A and C, calcium and zinc were below 2/3 of recommendation in 36.3%. 25.9%, 88.7% and 73.5% of the adolescents respectively. Studied adolescents had a high prevalence of risk factors for nutritional deficiencies (short age, poverty, low weight, anemia and deficient intake). Early assessment of this conditions allows to identify the risk, to establish interventions and to monitor pregnancy evolution.     

Readability of self-report measures of depression and anxiety.

As the demand for accountability in service provision settings increases, the need for valid methods for assessing clinical outcomes is of particular importance. Self-report measures of functioning are particularly useful in the assessment of psychological functioning, but a vital factor in their validity and transportability is the reading level needed to comprehend them. We evaluated the reading grade levels required to comprehend the instructions and items from 105 evidence-based self-report measures of depression and anxiety. Results indicated substantial variability in readability among measures, with anxiety measures generally requiring a higher reading level relative to depression measures. In some cases, reading levels required for measure instructions were particularly high, and most measures were written at or above the mean reading grade level in the United States. This analysis provides information that may aid in selecting appropriate symptom measures in clinical and research settings. Future directions, including the development of measures for individuals with low levels of literacy, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Text comprehension after brain injury: Left prefrontal lesions affect inference processes.

Comprehending language in context requires inferencing, particularly for the establishment of local coherence. In the neurolinguistic literature, an inference deficit after right hemisphere brain damage has been postulated, but clinical observation and imaging data suggest that left-frontal lesions might also result in inference deficits. In the present experiment, 25 nonaphasic patients performed a coherence judgment task requiring them to indicate a pragmatic connection between 2 successively presented sentences. Patients with left-temporal or right-frontal lesions performed the task well. In contrast, patients with left- and bifrontal lesions exhibited the most severe deficit. Both error rates and response times were elevated for coherent trials as compared with incoherent trials. These results confirm that the left-frontal lobe contributes to inference processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Winged bean lipoxygenase—Part 1: Isolation and purification

Lipoxygenase was isolated and purified from dried winged bean seeds by ammonium sulphate fractionation, gel filtration, DEAE-Sephadex ion exchange chromatography and hydroxyapatite chromatography. Two major isoenzymes, FI and FII, were separated by ion exchange chromatography and were further purified by elution through a hydroxyapatite column. These resulted in a 105- and 171-fold purification and 7% and 9% recovery for FI and FII, respectively. FI and FII had similar Rf values of 0.25 on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. A minor band of Rf 0.01 was detected in ammonium sulphate fractions but was not further enriched and purified in succeeding steps.     

Lipids of maturing grain of corn (Zea mays L.): I. Changes in lipid classes and fatty acid composition

The total lipids of the grain from three strains of corn were compared throughout the growing season. The Illinois High Oil stock and the two inbreds, H51 and K6, represented high, intermediate and low oil-producing lines. In all three strains lipid synthesis was most active between 15 and 45 days after pollination. The lipids were extracted from the grain with a mixture of chloroform, methanol and water and were separated into classes by silicic acid and thin layer chromatography. Triglycerides constituted 10–17% of the total lipids at 10 days after pollination and increased to 75–92% at 75 days. Polar lipids at 10 days represented 70–72% and at 75 days 4–21%. Fatty acid compositions of the triglycerides and polar lipids changed as the grain matured, but the fatty acids of the polar lipids were more saturated than those of the triglycerides throughout the sampling periods. The major polar lipids were digalactosyl diglyceride, monogalactosyl diglyceride, phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl inositol and phosphatidyl ethanolamine. Presented in part at the AOCS-AACC Joint Meeting, Washington, D.C., April 1968.