73-year-old man with gait disturbance and imbalance

We compared the efficacy of three antibiotics (ceftriaxone, erythromycin and clarithromycin) against Borrelia garinii infection in mice. The nymphal ticks of Ixodes persulcatus infected with the strain JEM6 of Japanese B. garinii were allowed to feed on female C3H mice. The mice were treated with each of the antibiotics for 5 consecutive days 1, 3, or 7 weeks after tick detachment. The doses of antibiotics per day were as follows: 5 mg intraperitoneal injection of ceftriaxone, 2 mg intraperitoneal injection of erythromycin and 1 mg peroral administration of clarithromycin. The infection status in treated mice was monitored by culturing their earlobes, hearts and urinary bladders in BSK II medium. Ceftriaxone eliminated borreliae completely; however, a recurrence of infection was observed in mice treated with erythromycin and clarithromycin.     

An autoantibody to C1-inhibitor recognizes the reactive center of the inhibitor

Immunohistochemistry was applied to AMeX-fixed sections of twelve cases of gastric carcinoma obtained at surgical resection to explore the occurrence and distribution of fibrin deposits in situ. Fibrinogen was distributed in abundance throughout perivascular zones and in the connective tissue of the tumor stroma. Fibrin II (des-fibrinopeptide B-type fibrin) was easily identified in a direct apposition to the surface membranes of viable carcinoma cells, predominantly at the host-tumor interface and in the regions immediately adjacent to the zones of angiogenesis. Further studies are required to identify the triggers of the coagulation reactions as well as fibrinolytic system components in the gastric cancer tissue.     

Neocortical ectopias in BXSB mice: effects upon reference and working memory systems

BXSB mice have an approximately 40-60% incidence of neocortical ectopias in layer I of the prefrontal/motor cortex. Prior studies have found major behavioral differences between those with ectopias and their non-ectopic littermates. Some of these findings indicate that the two groups differ with respect to spatial reference and working memory. The purpose of this study was to measure reference and working memory in the same animals to test the hypothesis that the ectopics would have better reference memory but less effective working memory. The Lashley III maze has cul-de-sacs which must be eliminated, and T-choices where the animal has to decide whether to go left or right. Ectopic and non-ectopic mice were equally able to learn the maze and did not differ on cul-entry or T-choice errors. Then the maze was inverted and the animals were retested. Turning the maze upside down did not change the relative status of the blind alleys. Therefore, the reference memory knowledge from the prior week's training could be used to avoid entering the culs. However, inverting the maze caused a left-right mirror image reversal of the T-choices. Therefore, prior reference memory information would interfere with learning the new path through the maze, whereas working memory would enable the mouse to eliminate T-choice errors. Ectopic mice made less cul-entry errors and more T-choice errors than their non-ectopic littermates, as predicted.     

Mathematical determination of feeding patterns and its consequence on correlational studies

The cell cycle regulatory proteins, which include cyclin-dependent kinases (cdks), cdk inhibitors (CKIs), cyclins, and the pRB, and E2F families of proteins, constitute a network of interacting factors which govern exit from or passage through the mammalian cell cycle. While the proteins within these families have similar structural characteristics, each family member exhibits distinct expression patterns during embryogenesis and distinct biological activities. In order to begin to understand the tissue-specific roles of these interacting factors, we determined the expression pattern and activity of the pRB, E2F, cyclin, cdk, and CKI families of cell cycle regulatory proteins during retinoic acid-induced (neuronal pathway) and DMSO-induced (cardiac muscle pathway) differentiation of the pluripotent murine embryonal carcinoma cell line, P19. We demonstrate here that P19 terminal differentiation causes lineage-specific changes in the expression and activity of distinct members of the E2F, pRB, cyclin, and CKI families. Furthermore, dynamic changes in the activities of these cell cycle regulatory proteins occur through several overlapping mechanisms, culminating in repression of DNA-binding activity by all of the E2F family members as cells terminally differentiate.     

The Estimation of the Molecular Weight of Polytetrafluoroethylene Based on the Heat of Crystallisation. A Comment on Suwa's Equation

Summary: The influence of number‐average molecular weight ranging from 1.4 · 10⁴ to 1.2 · 10⁶ g/mol on the thermal behaviour of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) has been studied. Samples have been prepared by radiation‐induced degradation of commercial PTFE. The molecular weight has been calculated using end‐group concentration determined by infrared (IR) spectroscopy and ¹⁹F solid‐state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Melting and crystallisation heats were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results have been discussed with respect to quantitative relationships between number‐average molecular weight and heat of crystallisation of PTFE described in the literature. The molecular weight calculated from Suwa's equation, which is often used in the literature, has been found to be too low.

Concentration of end‐groups and the molecular weight of PTFE versus the irradiation dose.     

Relationship between Creativity, Imitation, and Cultural Diversity

There are both benefits and drawbacks to cultural diversity. It can lead to friction and exacerbate differences. However, as with biological diversity, cultural diversity is valuable in times of upheaval; if a previously effective solution no longer works, it is good to have alternatives available. What factors give rise to cultural diversity? This paper describes a preliminary investigation of this question using a computational model of cultural evolution. The model is composed of neural network based agents that evolve fitter ideas for actions by (1) inventing new ideas through modification of existing ones, and (2) imitating neighbors'' ideas. Numerical simulations indicate that the diversity of ideas in a population is positively correlated with both the proportion of creators to imitators in the population, and the rate at which creators create. This is the case for both minimum and peak diversity of actions over the duration of a run.     

Incorporating characteristics of human creativity into an evolutionary art algorithm

A perceived limitation of evolutionary art and design algorithms is that they rely on human intervention; the artist selects the most aesthetically pleasing variants of one generation to produce the next. This paper discusses how computer generated art and design can become more creatively human-like with respect to both process and outcome. As an example of a step in this direction, we present an algorithm that overcomes the above limitation by employing an automatic fitness function. The goal is to evolve abstract portraits of Darwin, using our 2nd generation fitness function which rewards genomes that not just produce a likeness of Darwin but exhibit certain strategies characteristic of human artists. We note that in human creativity, change is less choosing amongst randomly generated variants and more capitalizing on the associative structure of a conceptual network to hone in on a vision. We discuss how to achieve this fluidity algorithmically.

Shear‐induced shish‐kebab structures in isotactic polypropylene using acicular precipitated calcium carbonate as whisker

It has been reported in the technical literature that whiskers of rodlike single crystals can be used in order to generate shish‐kebab structures or other different lamellae morphologies during isothermal or dynamic crystallization of sheared or presheared polymer melts. The expected advantage of the changed crystalline structure is a reinforcing effect of the composite. A lot of papers reported about the application of inorganic and organic whiskers such as cellulose and chitin whiskers. This study reports on an attempt to use acicular PCC as appropriate whisker for improving mechanical properties of polypropylene. In this article special attention is given to demonstrate the effect of flow induced crystallization under varying shear conditions in order to improve the mechanical properties. The effects were demonstrated using rheology, thermal analysis, tensile testing, and transmission electron microscopy. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:2057–2063, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

“美无非是一个关于幸福的承诺”——RCR建筑事务所的贡献

<正>("美无非是一个关于幸福的承诺"——司汤达,《论爱情》,第17章,1822年)对于建筑界的大奖——普利茨克奖在2017年花落RCR建筑事务所的消息,世界各地的出版物不约而同地评论:实乃意外。此前,媒体大多预测着一个闪亮的大师名号摘得荣耀,却只获知了一个干巴巴的首字母缩略词——RCR——一个低调的加泰罗尼亚建筑事务所。该事务所由三名建筑师所组成:拉法尔·阿兰达(Rafael Aranda).