Tribute to John Pickering

This is my homage to John. I ask you to summon up in your imagination today a grand circus, a sort of Cirque du Soleil of lawyers: full of shining talents performing legal feats of wonder, but presided over by a grand ringmaster. This ringmaster knows his performers very well. He knows how to train and stroke them to high achievement. He knows how to groom the younger workers. He can keep his stars in check. He knows when to sit back with a smile, letting his charges perform and claim the applause, even when the applause rightfully belongs to him. When his performers bicker, as they often do, he cajoles them back into their act. When they sulk, he cheers them up. John Pickering is this ringmaster. In my judgment, he was the but-for cause of the firm\u27s great success. Without John, I do not think the firm could have made it past its heady early days. He embodied the firm\u27s conscience, and I hope he still does. Even far beyond the firm, John stood as a model for all lawyers to emulate. I hope he still does

The Distribution Of Chlorine And Iodine In Soil In The Vicinity Of Lead Mining And Smelting Operations, Bixby Area, S.E. Missouri, U.S.A.

Iodine and Cl are enriched in soils in the vicinity of the Magmont and Buick lead mines near Bixby, southeastern Missouri. The enrichments, up to 5.6 ppm I and 305 ppm Cl, are against regional background of 1.26 ppm I and 41 ppm Cl. The area of highest I and Cl is thought to reflect a zone of base metal sulphide mineralization occurring about 400 m below the surface. Iodine and Cl are also enriched in soils immediately adjacent to a tailings pond, hence these elements would appear to be leached from this source. A zone of enhanced I values (up to 2.65 ppm I) to the north of a lead smelter is superimposed on a much larger zone of lead enrichment (up to 12,000 ppm Pb) and is thought to represent I released from sulphide ores on smelting. © 1988

Growth Factor Binding Peptides in Poly (Ethylene Glycol) Diacrylate (PEGDA)-Based Hydrogels for an Improved Healing Response of Human Dermal Fibroblasts

Growth factors (GF) are critical cytokines in wound healing. However, the direct delivery of these biochemical cues into a wound site significantly increases the cost of wound dressings and can lead to a strong immunological response due to the introduction of a foreign source of GFs. To overcome this challenge, we designed a poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogel with the potential capacity to sequester autologous GFs directly from the wound site. We demonstrated that synthetic peptide sequences covalently tethered to PEGDA hydrogels physically retained human transforming growth factor beta 1 (hTGFβ1) and human vascular endothelial growth factor (hVEGF) at 3.2 and 0.6 ng/mm2, respectively. In addition, we demonstrated that retained hTGFβ1 and hVEGF enhanced human dermal fibroblasts (HDFa) average cell surface area and proliferation, respectively, and that exposure to both GFs resulted in up to 1.9-fold higher fraction of area covered relative to the control. After five days in culture, relative to the control surface, non-covalently bound hTGFβ1 significantly increased the expression of collagen type I and hTGFβ1 and downregulated vimentin and matrix metalloproteinase 1 expression. Cumulatively, the response of HDFa to hTGFβ1 aligns well with the expected response of fibroblasts during the early stages of wound healing

Aerodynamics of the Large-Volume, Flow-Through Detector System. Final report

The Large-Volume Flow-Through Detector System (LVFTDS) was designed to monitor alpha radiation from Pu, U, and Am in mixed-waste incinerator offgases; however, it can be adapted to other important monitoring uses that span a number of potential markets, including site remediation, indoor air quality, radon testing, and mine shaft monitoring. Goal of this effort was to provide mechanical design information for installation of LVFTDS in an incinerator, with emphasis on ability to withstand the high temperatures and high flow rates expected. The work was successfully carried out in three stages: calculation of pressure drop through the system, materials testing to determine surrogate materials for wind-tunnel testing, and wind-tunnel testing of an actual configuration

Nuclear localization and function of polypeptide ligands and their receptors: a new paradigm for hormone specificity within the mammary gland?

The specific effects triggered by polypeptide hormone/growth factor stimulation of mammary cells were considered mediated solely by receptor-associated signaling networks. A compelling body of new data, however, clearly indicates that polypeptide ligands and/or their receptors are transported into the nucleus, where they function directly to regulate the expression of specific transcription factors and gene loci. The intranuclear function of these complexes may contribute to the explicit functions associated with a given ligand, and may serve as new targets for pharmacologic intervention

Effect of sampling rate on acceleration and counts of hip- and wrist-worn ActiGraph accelerometers in children

Sampling rate (Hz) of ActiGraph accelerometers may affect processing of acceleration to activity counts when using a hip-worn monitor, but research is needed to quantify if sampling rate affects actual acceleration (mg's), when using wrist-worn accelerometers and during non-locomotive activities. Objective: To assess the effect of ActiGraph sampling rate on total counts/15-sec and mean acceleration and to compare differences due to sampling rate between accelerometer wear locations and across different types of activities. Approach: Children (n=29) wore a hip- and wrist-worn accelerometer (sampled at 100 Hz, downsampled in MATLAB to 30 Hz) during rest/transition periods, active video games, and a treadmill test to volitional exhaustion. Mean acceleration and counts/15-sec were computed for each axis and as vector magnitude. Main Results: There were mostly no significant differences in mean acceleration. However, 100 Hz data resulted in significantly more total counts/15-sec (mean bias 4-43 counts/15-sec across axes) for both the hip- and wrist-worn monitor when compared to 30 Hz data. Absolute differences increased with activity intensity (hip: r=0.46-0.63; wrist: r=0.26-0.55) and were greater for hip- versus wrist-worn monitors. Percent agreement between 100 and 30 Hz data was high (97.4-99.7%) when cut-points or machine learning algorithms were used to classify activity intensity. Significance: Our findings support that sampling rate affects the generation of counts but adds that differences increase with intensity and when using hip-worn monitors. We recommend researchers be consistent and vigilantly report the sampling rate used, but note that classifying data into activity intensities resulted in agreement despite differences in sampling rate

The relationship between city “greenness” and homicide in the US : evidence over a 30-year period

Residents in US cities are exposed to high levels of stress and violent crime. At the same time, a number of cities have put forward “greening” efforts which may promote nature’s calming effects and reduce stressful stimuli. Previous research has shown that greening may lower aggressive behaviors and violent crime. In this study we examined, for the first time, the longitudinal effects over a 30-year period of average city greenness on homicide rates across 290 major cities in the US, using multilevel linear growth curve modeling. Overall, homicide rates in US cities decreased over this time-period (52.1–33.5 per 100,000 population) while the average greenness increased slightly (0.41–0.43 NDVI). Change in average city greenness was negatively associated with homicide, controlling for a range of variables (β = −.30, p-value = .02). The results of this study suggest that efforts to increase urban greenness may have small but significant violence-reduction benefits.https://journals.sagepub.com/home/EABhj2023Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorolog