Absorption spectrum of (H2O)-O-18 in the range 12 400-14 520 cm(-1)

Fourier transform spectra recorded using (a) natural abundance water vapor, (b) (H2O)-O-18-enriched water vapor, and (c) (H2O)-O-17-enriched water vapor are analyzed. The ratio of intensities in three spectra is used to identify 927 lines due to absorption by (H2O)-O-18. Intensities and self-broadening parameters are derived for these lines. Using theoretical linelists, comparisons with previously assigned (H2O)-O-16 spectra, and automatic searches for combination differences, 747 lines are assigned. These lines belong to 14 vibrational states in the 3nu + delta and 4nu polyads. Newly determined (H2O)-O-18 vibrational band origins include 4nu(1) at 13 793.09 cm(-1), 3nu(1) + nu(3) at 13 795.40 cm(-1), 2nu(1) + 2nu(3) at 14 188.82 cm(-1), nu(1) + 3nu(3) at 14 276.34 cm(-1), and 2nu(2) + 2nu(2) + nu(3) at 13 612.71 cm(-1). These results are compared with data in HITRAN. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA)

Fourier transform absorption spectra of (H2O)-O-18 and (H2O)-O-17 in the 3v plus delta and 4v polyad region

Fourier transform absorption spectra of (H2O)-O-18-enriched and (H2O)-O-17-enriched water vapor in the 3v + delta and 4v polyad region have been analyzed. With the aid of theoretically calculated linelists, we have assigned 1014 lines attributed to (H2O)-O-18 and 836 lines of 855 attributed to (H2O)-O-17. Seven new band origins are found for (H2O)-O-17 and one for (H2O)-O-18. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

Arboviral Etiologies of Acute Febrile Illnesses in Western South America, 2000–2007

Over recent decades, the variety and quantity of diseases caused by viruses transmitted to humans by mosquitoes and other arthropods (also known as arboviruses) have increased around the world. One difficulty in studying these diseases is the fact that the symptoms are often non-descript, with patients reporting such symptoms as low-grade fever and headache. Our goal in this study was to use laboratory tests to determine the causes of such non-descript illnesses in sites in four countries in South America, focusing on arboviruses. We established a surveillance network in 13 locations in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay, where patient samples were collected and then sent to a central laboratory for testing. Between May 2000 and December 2007, blood serum samples were collected from more than 20,000 participants with fever, and recent arbovirus infection was detected for nearly one third of them. The most common viruses were dengue viruses (genera Flavivirus). We also detected infection by viruses from other genera, including Alphavirus and Orthobunyavirus. This data is important for understanding how such viruses might emerge as significant human pathogens

Hypoxia Potentiates Glioma-Mediated Immunosuppression

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a lethal cancer that exerts potent immune suppression. Hypoxia is a predominant feature of GBM, but it is unclear to the degree in which tumor hypoxia contributes to this tumor-mediated immunosuppression. Utilizing GBM associated cancer stem cells (gCSCs) as a treatment resistant population that has been shown to inhibit both innate and adaptive immune responses, we compared immunosuppressive properties under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Functional immunosuppression was characterized based on production of immunosuppressive cytokines and chemokines, the inhibition of T cell proliferation and effector responses, induction of FoxP3+ regulatory T cells, effect on macrophage phagocytosis, and skewing to the immunosuppressive M2 phenotype. We found that hypoxia potentiated the gCSC-mediated inhibition of T cell proliferation and activation and especially the induction of FoxP3+T cells, and further inhibited macrophage phagocytosis compared to normoxia condition. These immunosuppressive hypoxic effects were mediated by signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and its transcriptionally regulated products such as hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Inhibitors of STAT3 and HIF-1α down modulated the gCSCs' hypoxia-induced immunosuppressive effects. Thus, hypoxia further enhances GBM-mediated immunosuppression, which can be reversed with therapeutic inhibition of STAT3 and HIF-1α and also helps to reconcile the disparate findings that immune therapeutic approaches can be used successfully in model systems but have yet to achieve generalized successful responses in the vast majority of GBM patients by demonstrating the importance of the tumor hypoxic environment

Current perspectives of the signaling pathways directing neural crest induction

The neural crest is a migratory population of embryonic cells with a tremendous potential to differentiate and contribute to nearly every organ system in the adult body. Over the past two decades, an incredible amount of research has given us a reasonable understanding of how these cells are generated. Neural crest induction involves the combinatorial input of multiple signaling pathways and transcription factors, and is thought to occur in two phases from gastrulation to neurulation. In the first phase, FGF and Wnt signaling induce NC progenitors at the border of the neural plate, activating the expression of members of the Msx, Pax, and Zic families, among others. In the second phase, BMP, Wnt, and Notch signaling maintain these progenitors and bring about the expression of definitive NC markers including Snail2, FoxD3, and Sox9/10. In recent years, additional signaling molecules and modulators of these pathways have been uncovered, creating an increasingly complex regulatory network. In this work, we provide a comprehensive review of the major signaling pathways that participate in neural crest induction, with a focus on recent developments and current perspectives. We provide a simplified model of early neural crest development and stress similarities and differences between four major model organisms: Xenopus, chick, zebrafish, and mouse

Structure and line strengths in extreme jK coupling: an experimental and theoretical study in Ni ii

The spectrum emitted from a nickel hollow cathode has been recorded with a Fourier transform spectrometer. Two dense groups of lines just above 18 000 Å have been identified as the transitions 3d8 (3F)5f-3d8 (3F)6g and 3d8 (3F)5g-3d8 (3F)6h in Ni II. The level structure of the configurations involved in these transitions has been studied by fitting the Slater parameters of the energy matrices to the observations. The fitted parameters have been used for calculating the relative line strengths in the transition arrays. Comparisons with the observed intensities show very good agreement