Visualizing the semantic content of large text databases using text maps

A methodology for generating text map representations of the semantic content of text databases is presented. Text maps provide a graphical metaphor for conceptualizing and visualizing the contents and data interrelationships of large text databases. Described are a set of experiments conducted against the TIPSTER corpora of Wall Street Journal articles. These experiments provide an introduction to current work in the representation and visualization of documents by way of their semantic content

Large Text Database Visualization

A system for intuitively visualizing, searching, and querying the contents of large text databases is under development at TASC. This text visualization (TEXTVlZ) system will generate a map-like representation of the contents of a document database which will allow users to visualize how the documents interrelate in terms of their conceptual content. This method of visualizing text databases will allow users to classify documents by the relative similarity of their meaning as well as to discover and to explore conceptual differences between clusters of documents

Civil Aiding and Abetting Liability

Criminal liability for aiding and abetting constitutes an ancient doctrine of criminal law. Commentators describing English law at the beginning of the fourteenth century recognized that the law of homicide is quite wide enough to comprise . . . those who have \u27procured, counseled, commanded or abetted\u27 the felony.. .for it is colloquially said that he sufficiently kills who advises. In 1909, Congress enacted a general aiding and abetting statute applicable to all federal criminal offenses. Civil liability for aiding and abetting, however, represents a very underdeveloped theory within common law tort. Courts have stated, seemingly in jest, that precedents in this area of law are largely confined to isolated acts of adolescents in rural society. Notwithstanding the banter, there is recognition that the implications of tort law in this area as a supplement to the criminal justice process and possibly as a deterrent to criminal activity cannot be casually dismissed.\u27 With continued development, the theory of civil aiding and abetting presents the availability of an improved law of torts, better able to provide justice for private victims of crime and tort. Recent cases illustrate the ability of the civil theory of aiding and abetting to reach conduct that likely would not be privately actionable otherwise. Two such cases are Rice v. Paladin Enterprises, Inc. and Boim v. Quranic Literacy Institute. In Rice, the Fourth Circuit held that the First Amendment does not pose a bar to civil liability for aiding and abetting criminal conduct, specifically murder for hire.\u27 James Perry, a neophyte hit man, brutally murdered Mildred Horn, her eight-year-old quadriplegic on Trevor, and Trevor\u27s nurse, Janice Saunders. Perry shot Mildred Horn and Saunders through the eyes at close range and strangled Trevor Horn. Perry did not know his victims, for Perry acted as a contract killer, or hit man, hired by Mildred Horn\u27s ex-husband, Lawrence Horn. Lawrence Horn\u27s motive for contracting the murder of his family was that he would receive the $2 million that his young son had received in settlement for the injuries that rendered him quadriplegic for life

Who Is Most Vulnerable to Social Rejection? The Toxic Combination of Low Self-Esteem and Lack of Negative Emotion Differentiation on Neural Responses to Rejection

People have a fundamental need to belong that, when satisfied, is associated with mental and physical well-being. The current investigation examined what happens when the need to belong is thwarted—and how individual differences in self-esteem and emotion differentiation modulate neural responses to social rejection. We hypothesized that low self-esteem would predict heightened activation in distress-related neural responses during a social rejection manipulation, but that this relationship would be moderated by negative emotion differentiation—defined as adeptness at using discrete negative emotion categories to capture one\u27s felt experience. Combining daily diary and neuroimaging methodologies, the current study showed that low self-esteem and low negative emotion differentiation represented a toxic combination that was associated with stronger activation during social rejection (versus social inclusion) in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula—two regions previously shown to index social distress. In contrast, individuals with greater negative emotion differentiation did not show stronger activation in these regions, regardless of their level of self-esteem; fitting with prior evidence that negative emotion differentiation confers equanimity in emotionally upsetting situations

Concert recording 2022-10-12

[Track 1]. Sonata for four trombones / Georg Daniel Speer -- [Track 2]. Scarborough fair / traditional ; arr. Bill Reichenbach -- [Track 3]. Quartet for trombones / Leslie Bassett -- [Track 4]. You made me love you / James Monaco ; arr. Bill Holcombe -- [Track 5]. Fanfare for 8 trombones / Michael P. Terry -- [Track 6]. Andante cantabile from Symphony no. 5, Mtv. II / Pyort IIlich Tchaikovsky ; arr. Nolan Miller -- [Track 7]. Rising tide / Jack Wilds

Concert recording 2022-10-12

[Track 1]. Sonata for four trombones / Georg Daniel Speer -- [Track 2]. Scarborough fair / traditional ; arr. Bill Reichenbach -- [Track 3]. Quartet for trombones / Leslie Bassett -- [Track 4]. You made me love you / James Monaco ; arr. Bill Holcombe -- [Track 5]. Fanfare for 8 trombones / Michael P. Terry -- [Track 6]. Andante cantabile from Symphony no. 5, Mtv. II / Pyort IIlich Tchaikovsky ; arr. Nolan Miller -- [Track 7]. Rising tide / Jack Wilds

The Spinal Cord Expression of Neuronal and Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthases and Their Contribution in the Maintenance of Neuropathic Pain in Mice

Background: Nitric oxide generated by neuronal (NOS1), inducible (NOS2) or endothelial (NOS3) nitric oxide synthases contributes to pain processing, but the exact role of NOS1 and NOS2 in the maintenance of chronic peripheral neuropathic pain as well as the possible compensatory changes in their expression in the spinal cord of wild type (WT) and NOS knockout (KO) mice at 21 days after total sciatic nerve ligation remains unknown. Methodology/Principal Findings: The mechanical and thermal allodynia as well as thermal hyperalgesia induced by sciatic nerve injury was evaluated in WT, NOS1-KO and NOS2-KO mice from 1 to 21 days after surgery. The mRNA and protein levels of NOS1, NOS2 and NOS3 in the spinal cord of WT and KO mice, at 21 days after surgery, were also assessed. Sciatic nerve injury led to a neuropathic syndrome in WT mice, in contrast to the abolished mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia as well as the decreased or suppressed thermal allodynia observed in NOS1-KO and NOS2-KO animals, respectively. Sciatic nerve injury also increases the spinal cord expression of NOS1 and NOS2 isoforms, but not of NOS3, in WT and NOS1-KO mice respectively. Moreover, the presence of NOS2 is required to increase the spinal cord expression of NOS1 whereas an increased NOS1 expression might avoid the up-regulation of NOS2 in the spinal cord of nerve injured WT mice. Conclusions/Significance: These data suggest that the increased spinal cord expression of NOS1, regulated by NOS2, might be responsible for the maintenance of chronic peripheral neuropathic pain in mice and propose these enzymes as interesting therapeutic targets for their treatment

Allotransplanted Neurons Used to Repair Peripheral Nerve Injury Do Not Elicit Overt Immunogenicity

A major problem hindering the development of autograft alternatives for repairing peripheral nerve injuries is immunogenicity. We have previously shown successful regeneration in transected rat sciatic nerves using conduits filled with allogeneic dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells without any immunosuppression. In this study, we re-examined the immunogenicity of our DRG neuron implanted conduits as a potential strategy to overcome transplant rejection. A biodegradable NeuraGen® tube was infused with pure DRG neurons or Schwann cells cultured from a rat strain differing from the host rats and used to repair 8 mm gaps in the sciatic nerve. We observed enhanced regeneration with allogeneic cells compared to empty conduits 16 weeks post-surgery, but morphological analyses suggest recovery comparable to the healthy nerves was not achieved. The degree of regeneration was indistinguishable between DRG and Schwann cell allografts although immunogenicity assessments revealed substantially increased presence of Interferon gamma (IFN-γ) in Schwann cell allografts compared to the DRG allografts by two weeks post-surgery. Macrophage infiltration of the regenerated nerve graft in the DRG group 16 weeks post-surgery was below the level of the empty conduit (0.56 fold change from NG; p<0.05) while the Schwann cell group revealed significantly higher counts (1.29 fold change from NG; p<0.001). Major histocompatibility complex I (MHC I) molecules were present in significantly increased levels in the DRG and Schwann cell allograft groups compared to the hollow NG conduit and the Sham healthy nerve. Our results confirmed previous studies that have reported Schwann cells as being immunogenic, likely due to MHC I expression. Nerve gap injuries are difficult to repair; our data suggest that DRG neurons are superior medium to implant inside conduit tubes due to reduced immunogenicity and represent a potential treatment strategy that could be preferable to the current gold standard of autologous nerve transplant

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead