The year of 2005 marks the 75th anniversary since Trumpler (1930) provided the first definitive proof of interstellar grains by demonstrating the existence of general absorption and reddening of starlight in the galactic plane. This article reviews our progressive understanding of the nature of interstellar dust.

Synaptogenesis requires orchestrated intercellular communication between synaptic partners, with trans-synaptic signals necessarily traversing the extracellular synaptomatrix separating presynaptic and postsynaptic cells. Extracellular matrix metalloproteinases (Mmps) regulated by secreted tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (Timps), cleave secreted and membrane-associated targets to sculpt...

Migration of labor in response to structural changes in the U.S. economy is explored. An empirical study of the migration decision and wage determination is used to evaluate: 1) whether unemployment plays a larger role in motivating the decision to migrate than spatial wage differences and 2) whether the population can be characterized as homogeneous regarding migration and wage determination. ...

planned pregnancy among these countries is strikingly reflected in the disparity in abortion rates. The overall U. S. abortion rate (25.9 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44) is 1.7 times that of Canada (15.3 per 1,000) and more than four times that of the Netherlands (6.0 per 1,000).5 Differences in pregnancy rates, however, are not so marked. Again, the United States reports the highest rate...

The neuromuscular blocking agent cisatracurium is frequently used adjunctively in anesthesia to facilitate endotracheal intubation and to provide muscle relaxation during surgery. We aimed to determine the pharmacokinetics (PK)/pharmacodynamics (PD) of cisatracurium in patients with congenital heart defects (CHDs), such as ventricular septal defects and atrial septal defects, and to assess the ...