Cellular distribution and amount of chromogranin A in bovine endocrine pancreas

We determined the cellular distribution and the amount of chromogranin A in endocrine cells of bovine pancreas using a polyclonal antibody against bovine adrenomedullary chromogranin A. The relative amounts of chromogranin A in the different cells of the endocrine pancreas were determined by computer-assisted analyses of the optical densities of the immunoreactivities in the stained sections. More than 80% of the immunoreactive chromogranin A was located in the pancreatic B-cells. In immunoblots of acid tissue extracts, only one chromogranin A band (MW 74 KD) was observed. Quantification of the immunoblots revealed that 3 micrograms of chromogranin A and 918 micrograms of insulin were present per gram pancreas (wet weight), equivalent to a molar ratio of 460 mumol chromogranin A per mol insulin

Validation of the Implementation Climate Scale (ICS) in substance use disorder treatment organizations.

BackgroundOne critical factor in the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) in substance use disorder treatment organizations is an inner organizational context that clearly supports implementation efforts. The Implementation Climate Scale (ICS) has been developed to allow researchers and organizations to assess climate for EBP implementation in health and allied health service organizations. The ICS consists of 18 items and measures six dimensions of implementation climate: focus on EBP, educational support for EBP, recognition for EBP, rewards for EBP, selection for EBP, and selection for openness. The ICS was initially developed in a mental health context; thus, the goal of this study was to provide initial validation of the ICS in substance use disorder (SUD) treatment settings.MethodsConfirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to assess the psychometric functioning of the ICS using survey data from 326 providers in 65 teams in SUD treatment programs. Cronbach's alpha was examined to assess internal consistency of the ICS, and individual and team level construct-based validity was examined by comparing its correlations with service climate, molar climate, and organizational change.ResultsWe found evidence for the reliability, factor structure, and validity of the ICS in SUD services. The psychometric functioning of the ICS in SUD treatment settings was comparable to that found in mental health contexts.ConclusionsThe ICS is a brief and pragmatic tool for researchers to better understand a critical antecedent for implementation effectiveness in SUD treatment and for organizational leaders in SUD treatment organizations to evaluate the extent to which providers perceive that their organization supports EBP implementation

Chromogranin A in the pancreatic islet

Chromogranin A (CGA) is the major soluble protein within secretory vesicles of chromaffin cells. A polyclonal antiserum was raised against bovine CGA and characterized in two-dimensional immunoblots. Cellular and subcellular distribution of CGA in bovine pancreatic islet was investigated by immunocytochemistry. At the light microscopic level, CGA-like immunoreactivity was found in the same cells that react with antibodies against insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin. A minority of cells containing pancreatic polypeptide also showed faint immunostaining. At the ultrastructural level (protein A-gold technique), CGA-like immunoreactivity was confined exclusively to the secretory vesicles. Whereas the hormones were localized mainly in the central part of the secretory vesicles, CGA was present predominantly in the periphery. These findings indicate that a CGA-like protein is a regular constituent of the matrix of secretory vesicles in pancreatic endocrine cells

Inclusive leadership : realizing positive outcomes through belongingness and being valued for uniqueness

We introduce a theoretically-grounded conceptualization of inclusive leadership and present a framework for understanding factors that contribute to and follow from inclusive leadership within work groups. We conceptualize inclusive leadership as a set of positive leader behaviors that facilitate group members perceiving belongingness in the work group while maintaining their uniqueness within the group as they fully contribute to group processes and outcomes. We propose that leader pro-diversity beliefs, humility, and cognitive complexity increase the propensity of inclusive leader behaviors. We identify five categories of inclusive leadership behaviors that facilitate group members' perceptions of inclusion, which in turn lead to member work group identification, psychological empowerment, and behavioral outcomes (creativity, job performance, and reduced turnover) in the pursuit of group goals. This framework provides theoretical grounding for the construct of inclusive leadership while advancing our understanding of how leaders can increase diverse work group effectiveness

Roots of Ehrhart Polynomials of Smooth Fano Polytopes

V. Golyshev conjectured that for any smooth polytope P of dimension at most five, the roots z\in\C of the Ehrhart polynomial for P have real part equal to -1/2. An elementary proof is given, and in each dimension the roots are described explicitly. We also present examples which demonstrate that this result cannot be extended to dimension six.Comment: 10 page

Diffusion and jump-length distribution in liquid and amorphous Cu33_{33}Zr67_{67}

Using molecular dynamics simulation, we calculate the distribution of atomic jum ps in Cu$_{33}$Zr$_{67}$ in the liquid and glassy states. In both states the distribution of jump lengths can be described by a temperature independent exponential of the length and an effective activation energy plus a contribution of elastic displacements at short distances. Upon cooling the contribution of shorter jumps dominates. No indication of an enhanced probability to jump over a nearest neighbor distance was found. We find a smooth transition from flow in the liquid to jumps in the g lass. The correlation factor of the diffusion constant decreases with decreasing temperature, causing a drop of diffusion below the Arrhenius value, despite an apparent Arrhenius law for the jump probability

Exploiting Polyhedral Symmetries in Social Choice

A large amount of literature in social choice theory deals with quantifying the probability of certain election outcomes. One way of computing the probability of a specific voting situation under the Impartial Anonymous Culture assumption is via counting integral points in polyhedra. Here, Ehrhart theory can help, but unfortunately the dimension and complexity of the involved polyhedra grows rapidly with the number of candidates. However, if we exploit available polyhedral symmetries, some computations become possible that previously were infeasible. We show this in three well known examples: Condorcet's paradox, Condorcet efficiency of plurality voting and in Plurality voting vs Plurality Runoff.Comment: 14 pages; with minor improvements; to be published in Social Choice and Welfar

Mononuclear precursor for MOCVD of HfO2 thin films

We report the precursor characteristics of a novel mononuclear mixed alkoxide compound [Hf(O(i)Pr)2(tbaoac)2] and its application towards MOCVD of HfO2 thin films in a production tool CVD reactor

A Generating Function for all Semi-Magic Squares and the Volume of the Birkhoff Polytope

We present a multivariate generating function for all n x n nonnegative integral matrices with all row and column sums equal to a positive integer t, the so called semi-magic squares. As a consequence we obtain formulas for all coefficients of the Ehrhart polynomial of the polytope B_n of n x n doubly-stochastic matrices, also known as the Birkhoff polytope. In particular we derive formulas for the volumes of B_n and any of its faces.Comment: 24 pages, 1 figure. To appear in Journal of Algebraic Combinatoric