bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Trends in participation rates in case–control studies of occupational risk factors 1991–2017
Authors: Sritharan Jeavana , Luo Yang , Harris M Anne
Published: July 2020

Objective

Declining participation has been observed in previous epidemiological studies, could occupational risk factor epidemiology be particularly vulnerable to this trend? The objective of this study was to assess trends of participation rates in occupational case-control studies.

Methods

Five prominent occupational and epidemiological journals were pre-selected and all articles published between 1991 and 2017 were screened for case-control studies of occupational risk factors for chronic disease outcomes. The primary independent variable was median year of data collection, while the primary outcome variable was reported participation rate. We conducted linear regression, adjusting for study characteristics that included study gender mix, location of recruitment, disease outcome, and data collection method.

Results

A total of 180 studies published in the five journals were included in the final analysis. The mean participation was higher for cases (78.9%) than for controls (71.5%). In linear regression, a significant trend of decreasing participation was observed for both cases with a percent change of −0.50 per year (95% CI −0.75 to −0.25) for cases and a percent change of −0.95 per year (95% CI −1.23 to −0.67) for controls. After adjustment for study gender mix, location, disease outcome, and data collection method, the trend remained statistically significant for both case and control groups.

Conclusion

Declining participation rates in case-control studies of occupational risk factors may reflect an overall decline of participation in population-based samples. Lower participation rates introduce the potential for bias and may deter future population-based studies of occupational risk factors.
Bovine cysticercosis outbreak in an indoor beef finisher farm in the North of England
Authors: Macrelli Michele , Brena Camilla , Reichel Rudolf , Boufana Belgees , Mitchell Elizabeth Sian
Published: July 2020

Bovine cysticercosis is a parasitic infection of cattle caused by the human tapeworm Taenia saginata. Bovine cysticercosis was identified by meat inspection in 4.7 per cent (18 out of 380) of the cattle submitted for slaughter, over an 8‐month period, from a beef finisher farm. This value is significantly higher compared with the 2019 annual rate of detection from England meat inspection data, which was 0.018 per cent. Two of the 18 carcases were condemned on the grounds of generalised bovine cysticercosis. Its involvement was investigated by histopathological examination and confirmed using PCR and sequencing. Animal and Plant Health Agency collected data regarding the feed, the source of livestock, the staff sanitary conditions, the husbandry system, management and the farm environment. The results indicated that the permanently housed cattle were most likely infected on the finisher unit by homemade grass silage produced from a field which was crossed by a public footpath and bordered by two camp sites.
Aharonov–Bohm effect for bound states on spin-0 scalar charged particles in a rotating cosmic string space–time with Coulomb potentials
Authors: Ahmed Faizuddin
Published: July 2020

In this paper, we study the relativistic quantum dynamics of spin-0 scalar charged particles with a magnetic quantum flux produced by topological defects in a rotating cosmic string space–time. We solve the Klein–Gordon equation subject to Coulomb-type scalar and vector potentials in the considered framework and obtain the energy eigenvalues and eigenfunctions and analyze the analogue effect to Aharonov–Bohm effect for bound states.
Models nanocomplexes based on C60 fullerene for creation of biologically active agents for medicine
Authors: Repetsky S. P. , Vyshyvana I. G. , Kuznietsova H. M. , Rybalchenko V. K. , Kruchinin S. P. , Tykhoniuk O. I. , Milokhov D. S. , Khilyax O. V. , Melnyk R. M.
Published: July 2020

Complex drugs based on C[Formula: see text] fullerence and pyrrole derivatives are promising for the development of antitumor and anti-inflammatory agents for use in targeted therapy, but have little efficiency in the synthesis of such complexes and have virtually no stable synthesis products with fullerene. The stability of the nanocomplex based on [60] PCBA and the intermediate compound based on “[Formula: see text]-pyrrole-2,5-dione” effective for the synthesis of targeted therapeutic agents was investigated by means of numerical calculations. The application of quantum-chemical methods in the Gaussian package establishes the stability of the nanocomplex at human body temperatures, the possibility of using such complexes for further study of the therapeutic properties of the individual components of the decomposition products of the nanocomplex.
Reduction and analytic solutions of a variable-coefficient Korteweg–de Vries equation in a fluid, crystal or plasma
Authors: Chen Yu-Qi , Tian Bo , Qu Qi-Xing , Li He , Zhao Xue-Hui , Tian He-Yuan , Wang Meng
Published: July 2020

In this paper, a variable-coefficient KdV equation in a fluid, plasma, anharmonic crystal, blood vessel, circulatory system, shallow-water tunnel, lake or relaxation inhomogeneous medium is discussed. We construct the reduction from the original equation to another variable-coefficient KdV equation, and then get the rational, periodic and mixed solutions of the original equation under certain constraint. For the original equation, we obtain that (i) the dispersive coefficient affects the solitonic background, velocity and amplitude; (ii) the perturbed coefficient affects the solitonic velocity, amplitude and background; (iii) the dissipative coefficient affects the solitonic background, and there are different mixed solutions under the same constraint with the dispersive, perturbed and dissipative coefficients changing.
Study on structure and magnetic properties of Cr3+-doped Ni–Cu–Co ferrites prepared by sol–gel method
Authors: Zuo Zhuo , Sun Aimin , Yu Lichao , Suo Nanzhaxi , Zhang Wei , Zhao Xiqian
Published: July 2020

In this paper, nickel nitrate, copper nitrate, cobalt nitrate, ferric nitrate were used as raw materials, citric acid was used as a complexing agent, and chromium nitrate was used as a modifier to synthesize [Formula: see text] by sol–gel method. The sample was characterized. X-ray diffraction (XRD) data on the sample showed that the particle size of the sample was 52.14–54.88 nm. The lattice constant varied from 8.3569 Å to 8.3758 Å. The data of Fourier infrared showed that the sample did not change with the structure of the doped sample of Cr ion and remained as the spinel type. It can be seen by SEM that the sample is irregularly spherical. Due to the doping of chromium ions, it appears agglomerated. Analysis of the elements of the sample by EDAX revealed that the sample contained Ni, Cu, Co, Fe, O and a peak corresponding to the Cr element was found in the sample having crion content of 0.025, 0.050, 0.075 and 0.100. The magnetic properties of the samples were characterized using VSM. The data are processed to obtain magnetic parameters such as saturation magnetization and coercivity.
Sulá Batsú
Authors: Valle Firuzeh Shokooh
Published: July 2020

How can solidarity shape technology? We explore the Costa Rican cooperative Sulá Batsú's feminist vision on technology, rooted in a politics of life based on care and solidarity with each other, our communities, and our planet.
Risks to the Public
Authors: Neumann Peter G.
Published: July 2020

Edited by PGN (Risks Forum Moderator, with contribu- tions by others as indicated. Opinions are individual rather than organizational, with usual disclaimers implied. We ad- dress problems relating to software, hardware, people, and other circumstances relevant to computer systems. Ref- erences (R i j) to the online Risks Forum denote RISKS vol i number j. Cited RISKS items generally identify contributors and sources, together with URLs. Official RISKS archives are available at www.risks.org, with nice html formatting and search engine courtesy of Lindsay Mar- shall at Newcastle:; http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/i.j.html (also ftp://www.sri.com/risks). CACM Inside Risks: http://www.csl.sri.com/neumann/insiderisks.html
Pains and Gains of Peer-Reviewing in Software Engineering (2)
Authors: Soldani Jacopo
Published: July 2020

The standard approach for evaluating scientific contributions by software engineering venues is peer-reviewing. Papers submitted for consideration by a venue are sent to peers (i.e., expert colleagues in the field), who carefully read them and provide corresponding evaluation reports, i.e., the peer reviews. Peer-reviewing comes in various alternative forms, as discussed in the teaser column of this series [1]. The teaser also pointed out some questions currently motivating discussion within the software engineering community: Which is the "best" among currently adopted peer-reviewing alternatives? Would it be better to have zero-blind, single-blind, or double-blind reviews? How many, and which stages should be involved in the process of peer-reviewing? Are currently adopted peer-reviewing processes sustainable in the long run? These are just a few examples of questions setting up the discussion, with many other questions outside there and yet to come.
Dynamic Weighted Fairness with Minimal Disruptions
Authors: Im Sungjin , Moseley Benjamin , Munagala Kamesh , Pruhs Kirk
Published: July 2020

In this paper, we consider the following dynamic fair allocation problem: Given a sequence of job arrivals and departures, the goal is to maintain an approximately fair allocation of the resource against a target fair allocation policy, while minimizing the total number of disruptions, which is the number of times the allocation of any job is changed. We consider a rich class of fair allocation policies that significantly generalize those considered in previous work.
Mechanism Design for Online Resource Allocation
Authors: Tan Xiaoqi , Sun Bo , Leon-Garcia Alberto , Wu Yuan , Tsang Danny H.K.
Published: July 2020

This paper concerns the mechanism design for online resource allocation in a strategic setting. In this setting, a single supplier allocates capacity-limited resources to requests that arrive in a sequential and arbitrary manner. Each request is associated with an agent who may act selfishly to misreport the requirement and valuation of her request. The supplier charges payment from agents whose requests are satisfied, but incurs a load-dependent supply cost. The goal is to design an incentive compatible online mechanism, which determines not only the resource allocation of each request, but also the payment of each agent, so as to (approximately) maximize the social welfare (i.e., aggregate valuations minus supply cost).We study this problem under the framework of competitive analysis. The major contribution of this paper is the development of a unified approach that achieves the best-possible competitive ratios for setups with different supply costs. Specifically, we show that when there is no supply cost or the supply cost function is linear, our model is essentially a standard 0-1 knapsack problem, for which our approach achieves logarithmic competitive ratios that match the state-of-the-art (which is optimal). For the more challenging setup when the supply cost is strictly-convex, we provide online mechanisms, for the first time, that lead to the optimal competitive ratios as well. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first approach that unifies the characterization of optimal competitive ratios in online resource allocation for different setups including zero, linear and strictly-convex supply costs.
Predict and Match
Authors: Alijani Reza , Banerjee Siddhartha , Gollapudi Sreenivas , Munagala Kamesh , Wang Kangning
Published: July 2020

We consider the problem of selling perishable items to a stream of buyers in order to maximize social welfare. A seller starts with a set of identical items, and each arriving buyer wants any one item, and has a valuation drawn i.i.d. from a known distribution. Each item, however, disappears after an a priori unknown amount of time that we term the horizon for that item. The seller knows the (possibly different) distribution of the horizon for each item, but not its realization till the item actually disappears. As with the classic prophet inequalities, the goal is to design an online pricing scheme that competes with the prophet that knows the horizon and extracts full social surplus (or welfare).
Social Learning in Multi Agent Multi Armed Bandits
Authors: Sankararaman Abishek , Ganesh Ayalvadi , Shakkottai Sanjay
Published: July 2020

We introduce a novel decentralized, multi agent version of the classical Multi-Arm Bandit (MAB) problem, consisting of n agents, that collaboratively and simultaneously solve the same instance of K armed MAB to minimize individual regret. The agents can communicate and collaborate among each other only through a pairwise asynchronous gossip based protocol that exchange a limited number of bits. In our model, agents at each point decide on (i) which arm to play, (ii) whether to, and if so (iii) what and whom to communicate with.
vrfinder
Authors: Marder Alexander , Luckie Matthew , Huffaker Bradley , claffy kc
Published: July 2020

Current methods to analyze the Internet's router-level topology with paths collected using traceroute assume that the source address for each router in the path is either an inbound or off-path address on each router. In this work, we show that outbound addresses are common in our Internet-wide traceroute dataset collected by CAIDA's Ark vantage points in January 2020, accounting for 1.7% - 5.8% of the addresses seen at some point before the end of a traceroute. This phenomenon can lead to mistakes in Internet topology analysis, such as inferring router ownership and identifying interdomain links. We hypothesize that the primary contributor to outbound addresses is Layer 3 Virtual Private Networks (L3VPNs), and propose vrfinder, a technique for identifying L3VPN outbound addresses in traceroute collections. We validate vrfinder against ground truth from two large research and education networks, demonstrating high precision (100.0%) and recall (82.1% - 95.3%). We also show the benefit of accounting for L3VPNs in traceroute analysis through extensions to bdrmapIT, increasing the accuracy of its router ownership inferences for L3VPN outbound addresses from 61.5% - 79.4% to 88.9% - 95.5%.
Ludo Hashing
Authors: Shi Shouqian , Qian Chen
Published: July 2020

Ludo Hashing is a key-value lookup design for networked and distributed systems such as packet forwarding and distributed storage. Ludo costs the least space (3.76 + 1.05l bits per key-value item for l -bit values) among known compact lookup solutions and supports fast lookups, fast updates, and concurrent writing/reading. The experimental results show that Ludo Hashing saves 40% to 80%+ memory cost compared to existing dynamic solutions. It costs only a few GB memory for 1 billion key-value items and achieves over 65 million queries per second on a single node with multiple threads.
DSM
Authors: Vakil Ghahani Seyed Armin , Kandemir Mahmut Taylan , Kotra Jagadish B.
Published: July 2020

The number of cores and the capacities of main memory in modern systems have been growing significantly. Specifically, memory scaling, although at a slower pace than computation scaling, provided opportunities for very large DRAMs with Terabytes (TBs) capacity. Consequently, addressing the performance and energy consumption bottlenecks of DRAMs is more important than ever.

DRAM memory refresh operation is one of the main contributing factors to the memory overheads, especially for large capacity DRAMs used in modern servers and emerging large-scale data centers. This paper addresses the memory refresh problem by leveraging the fact that most cloud servers host virtualized systems that use similar kernels, libraries, etc. We propose and experimentally evaluate a novel approach that exploits this observation to address the DRAM refresh overhead in such systems.

More specifically, in this work, we present DSM, a light-weight hardware extension in memory controller to detect the pages with same content in memory and refresh only one of them and redirect the requests to the others to this page. Our detailed experimental analysis shows that the proposed DSM design can reduce 99th percentile memory access latency by up to 2.01x, and it also reduces the overall memory energy consumption by up to 8.5%.
Centaur
Authors: Liu Chun-Yi , Kotra Jagadish , Jung Myoungsoo , Taylan Kandemir Mahmut
Published: July 2020

Due to the high density storage demand coming from applications from different domains, 3D NAND flash is becoming a promising candidate to replace 2D NAND flash as the dominant non-volatile memory. However, denser 3D NAND presents various performance and reliability issues, which can be addressed by the 3D NAND specific full-sequence program (FSP) operation. The FSP programs multiple pages simultaneously to mitigate the performance degradation caused by the long latency 3D NAND baseline program operations. However, the FSP-enabled 3D NAND-based SSDs introduce lifetime degradation due to the larger write granularities accessed by the FSP. To address the lifetime issue, in this paper, we propose and experimentally evaluate Centaur, a heterogeneous 2D/3D NAND heterogeneous SSD, as a solution. Centaur has three main components: a lifetime-aware inter-NAND request dispatcher, a lifetime-aware inter-NAND work stealer, and a data migration strategy from 2D NAND to 3D NAND. We used twelve SSD workloads to compare Centaur against a state-of-the-art 3D NAND-based SSD with the same capacity. Our experimental results indicate that the SSD lifetime and performance are improved by 3.7x and 1.11x, respectively, when using our 2D/3D heterogeneous SSD.
Third-Party Data Providers Ruin Simple Mechanisms
Authors: Cai Yang , Echenique Federico , Fu Hu , Ligett Katrina , Wierman Adam , Ziani Juba
Published: July 2020

Motivated by the growing prominence of third-party data providers in online marketplaces, this paper studies the impact of the presence of third-party data providers on mechanism design. When no data provider is present, it has been shown that simple mechanisms are "good enough" -they can achieve a constant fraction of the revenue of optimal mechanisms. The results in this paper demonstrate that this is no longer true in the presence of a third-party data provider who can provide the bidder with a signal that is correlated with the item type. Specifically, even with a single seller, a single bidder, and a single item of uncertain type for sale, the strategies of pricing each item-type separately (the analog of item pricing for multiitem auctions) and bundling all item-types under a single price (the analog of grand bundling) can both simultaneously be a logarithmic factor worse than the optimal revenue. Further, in the presence of a data provider, item-type partitioning mechanisms-a more general class of mechanisms which divide item-types into disjoint groups and offer prices for each group-still cannot achieve within a log log factor of the optimal revenue. Thus, our results highlight that the presence of a data-provider forces the use of more complicated mechanisms in order to achieve a constant fraction of the optimal revenue.
Edward F. Adolph Distinguished Lecture. Skeletal muscle atrophy: Multiple pathways leading to a common outcome
Authors: Bodine Sue C.
Published: July 2020

Skeletal muscle atrophy continues to be a serious consequence of many diseases and conditions for which there is no treatment. Our understanding of the mechanisms regulating skeletal muscle mass has improved considerably over the past two decades. For many years it was known that skeletal muscle atrophy resulted from an imbalance between protein synthesis and protein breakdown, with the net balance shifting toward protein breakdown. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the increased breakdown of myofibrils was unknown. Over the past two decades, numerous reports have identified novel genes and signaling pathways that are upregulated and activated in response to stimuli such as disuse, inflammation, metabolic stress, starvation and others that induce muscle atrophy. This review summarizes the discovery efforts performed in the identification of several pathways involved in the regulation of skeletal muscle mass: the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTORC1) and the ubiquitin proteasome pathway and the E3 ligases, MuRF1 and MAFbx. While muscle atrophy is a common outcome of many diseases, it is doubtful that a single gene or pathway initiates or mediates the breakdown of myofibrils. Interestingly, however, is the observation that upregulation of the E3 ligases, MuRF1 and MAFbx, is a common feature of many divergent atrophy conditions. The challenge for the field of muscle biology is to understand how all of the various molecules, transcription factors, and signaling pathways interact to produce muscle atrophy and to identify the critical factors for intervention.
OSCC Exosomes Regulate miR‐210‐3p Targeting EFNA3 to Promote Oral Cancer Angiogenesis through the PI3K/AKT Pathway
Authors: Wang Hui , Wang Lin , Zhou Xiaocheng , Luo Xinyue , Liu Ke , Jiang Erhui , Chen Yang , Shao Zhe , Shang Zhengjun
Published: July 2020

This study is aimed at determining how oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) regulates the angiogenesis of HUVECs through miR‐210‐3p expression and exploring the relationship among miR‐210‐3p, its target protein, and the possible mechanism of angiogenesis regulation. miR‐210‐3p expression was detected in OSCC tissues and juxta cancerous tissues (JCT), and the relationship among miR‐210‐3p, microvessel density (MVD), and histopathologic features was analyzed. A conditioned medium (CM) of the OSCC cell line CAL27 was collected to stimulate human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and the miR‐210‐3p levels and tube formation capability of HUVECs were measured. The target protein level of miR‐210‐3p was altered; then, PI3K/AKT pathway activation in HUVECs was detected. miR‐210‐3p was tested in exosomes separated from CAL27 CM, and the transfer of miR‐210‐3p from OSCC exosomes to HUVECs was verified. Then, we found that the OSCC tissues had higher miR‐210‐3p levels than the JCT, and miR‐210‐3p level was positively correlated with MVD and tumor grade. CAL27 CM was able to elevate miR‐210‐3p levels in HUVECs and promoted tube formation. EFNA3 was the target gene of miR‐210‐3p, and ephrinA3 protein level was able to influence the migration and proliferation of HUVECs. The levels of phosphorylated AKT in the HUVECs increased when ephrinA3 was downregulated, and the upregulation of ephrinA3 resulted in the suppression of the PI3K/AKT pathway. miR‐210‐3p was detected in exosomes isolated from the CM of CAL27 cells, and miR‐210‐3p level in the HUVECs was elevated after absorbing the OSCC exosomes. In conclusion, miR‐210‐3p was more overexpressed in OSCC tissues than in the JCT. The exosomes secreted by OSCC cells were able to upregulate miR‐210‐3p expression and reduce ephrinA3 expression in HUVECs and promoted tube formation through the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.
Multiple Positive Solutions for Fractional Three-Point Boundary Value Problem with p-Laplacian Operator
Authors: Li Dong , Liu Yang , Wang Chunli
Published: July 2020

In this paper, we investigate the existence of multiple positive solutions or at least one positive solution for fractional three-point boundary value problem with p-Laplacian operator. Our approach relies on the fixed point theorem on cones. The results obtained in this paper essentially improve and generalize some well-known results.
Tyrosine Kinase Receptors Axl and MerTK Mediate the Beneficial Effect of Electroacupuncture in a Cuprizone‐Induced Demyelinating Model
Authors: Zou Zaofeng , Sun Jingxian , Kang Zheng , Wang Yumeng , Zhao Hui , Zhu Keying , Wang Jun
Published: July 2020

Electroacupuncture has been shown to promote remyelination in a demyelinating model of multiple sclerosis (MS) through enhanced microglial clearance of degraded myelin debris. However, the mechanisms involved in this process are yet to be clearly elucidated. It has been revealed that TAM receptor tyrosine kinases (Tyro3, Axl, and MerTK) play pivotal roles in regulating multiple features of microglia, including the phagocytic function and myelin clearance. Therefore, the aim of this study is to further confirm whether electroacupuncture improves functional recovery in this model and to characterise the involvement of the TAM receptor during this process. In addition to naive control mice, a cuprizone‐induced demyelinating model was established, and long‐term electroacupuncture treatment was administrated. To evaluate the efficiency of functional recovery following demyelination, we performed beam‐walking test and rotarod performance test; to objectify the degree of remyelination, we performed transmission electron microscopy and protein quantification of mature oligodendrocyte markers. Oil Red O staining was used to evaluate the deposit of myelin debris. We confirmed that, in cuprizone‐treated mice, electroacupuncture significantly ameliorates motor‐coordinative dysfunction and counteracts demyelinating processes, with less deposit of myelin debris accumulating in the corpus callosum. Surprisingly, mRNA expression of TAM receptors was significantly upregulated after electroacupuncture treatment, and we further confirmed an increased protein expression of Axl and MerTK after electroacupuncture treatment, indicating their involvement during electroacupuncture treatment. Finally, LDC1267, a selective TAM kinase inhibitor, abolished the therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture on motor‐coordinative dysfunction. Overall, our data demonstrate that electroacupuncture could mitigate the progression of demyelination by enhancing the TAM receptor expression to facilitate the clearance of myelin debris. Our results also suggest that electroacupuncture may be a potential curative treatment for MS patients.
Effectiveness of Gelatin‐Thrombin Matrix Sealants (Floseal®) on Postoperative Spinal Epidural Hematoma during Single‐Level Lumbar Decompression Using Biportal Endoscopic Spine Surgery: Clinical and Magnetic Resonance Image Study
Authors: Kim Ju-Eun , Yoo Hyun-Seung , Choi Dae-Jung , Park Eugene J. , Hwang Jin-Ho , Suh Jeong-Duk , Yoo Jun-Hyug
Published: July 2020

Background. Symptomatic postoperative spinal epidural hematoma (PSEH) is a devastating complication that could develop after lumbar decompression surgery. PSEH can also develop after biportal endoscopic spine surgery (BESS), one of the recently introduced minimally invasive spine surgery techniques. Gelatin‐thrombin matrix sealant (GTMS) is commonly used to prevent PSEH. This study aimed at analyzing the clinical and radiological effects of GTMS use during BESS. Methods. A total of 206 patients with spinal stenosis who underwent decompression by BESS through a posterior interlaminar approach from October 2015 to September 2018 were enrolled in this study. Postoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed in all patients for evaluation of PSEH. Patients in whom GTMS was not used during surgery were assigned to Group A, and those in whom GTMS was used were classified as Group B. In the clinical evaluation, the visual analog scale (VAS) of the leg and back, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and modified MacNab criteria were used. The incidence rate and degree of dural compression of PSEH on postoperative MRI were measured. Results. The average age of the patients was 68.1 ± 11.2 (42–89) years. The overall incidence rate of PSEH was 20.9% (43/206). The incidence rates in Groups A and B were 26.4% and 13.6%, respectively, showing a significant difference (p = 0.023). The VAS‐leg and ODI improvement was significantly different depending on the intraoperative use of GTMS. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of the VAS‐back improvement. Groups A and B showed “good” and “excellent” rates according to the modified MacNab criteria in 79.4% and 87.6% of patients, respectively, showing statistically significant difference (p = 0.049). In Group A, two patients underwent revision surgery due to PSEH, while none in Group B had such event. Conclusion. Intraoperative use of GTMS during BESS may be related to reduction in the occurrence rate of PSEH. Specifically, patients with GTMS appliance showed marked decrease in the occurrence of PSEH and had better clinical outcomes.
Physical Activity Does Not Lower the Risk of Lung Cancer
Authors: Baumeister Sebastian-Edgar , Leitzmann Michael F. , Bahls Martin , Meisinger Christa , Amos Christopher I. , Hung Rayjean J. , Teumer Alexander , Baurecht Hansjörg
Published: July 2020

Observational studies have suggested that physical activity might lower the risk of lung cancer in former and current smokers, but not in never-smokers. Using genetic instruments for self-reported and accelerometer-measured physical activity traits implemented through two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR), we sought to strengthen the evidence for causality. We used 18 genome-wide significant (P < 5 × 10−8) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) for self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and seven SNP for accelerometer-measured (“average acceleration”) physical activity from up to 377,234 UK Biobank participants and evaluated these in relation to risk using 29,266 lung cancer cases (including 11,273 adenocarcinomas, 7,426 squamous cell carcinoma, and 2,664 small-cell carcinoma cases) and 56,450 controls. MR analysis suggested no effect of self-reported physical activity [OR (95% confidence interval (CI)) = 0.67 (0.42–1.05); P = 0.081; Q-value = 0.243] and accelerometer-measured activity [OR (95% CI) = 0.98 (0.93–1.03); P = 0.372; Q-value = 0.562] on lung cancer. There was no evidence for associations of physical activity with histologic types and lung cancer in ever and never smokers. Replication analysis using genetic instruments from a different genome-wide study and sensitivity analysis to address potential pleiotropic effects led to no substantive change in estimates. Collectively, these findings do not support a protective relationship between physical activity and the risk of lung cancer.

Significance:

A new genetic study provides little evidence that recommending physical activity would help prevent lung cancer.
Low-Dose Metformin Reprograms the Tumor Immune Microenvironment in Human Esophageal Cancer: Results of a Phase II Clinical Trial
Authors: Wang Shuhong , Lin Yusheng , Xiong Xiao , Wang Lu , Guo Yi , Chen Yuping , Chen Shaobin , Wang Geng , Lin Peng , Chen Hongcai , Yeung Sai-Ching Jim , Bremer Edwin , Zhang Hao
Published: July 2020

Purpose:

The tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) has an important impact on response to cancer immunotherapy using immune checkpoint inhibitors. Specifically, an “infiltrated-excluded”/“cold” TIME is predictive of poor response. The antidiabetic agent metformin may influence anticancer immunity in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Experimental Design:

We analyzed matched pre- and posttreatment ESCC specimens in a phase II clinical trial of low-dose metformin treatment (250 mg/day) to evaluate direct anti-ESCC activity and TIME reprogramming. Follow-up correlative studies using a carcinogen-induced ESCC mouse model were performed with short-term (1 week) or long-term (12 weeks) low-dose metformin (50 mg/kg/day) treatment.

Results:

In the clinical trial, low-dose metformin did not affect proliferation or apoptosis in ESCC tumors as assayed by Ki67 and cleaved caspase-3 immunostaining. However, metformin reprogrammed the TIME toward “infiltrated-inflamed” and increased the numbers of infiltrated CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte and CD20+ B lymphocyte. Further, an increase in tumor-suppressive (CD11c+) and a decrease in tumor-promoting (CD163+) macrophages were observed. Metformin augmented macrophage-mediated phagocytosis of ESCC cells in vitro. In the ESCC mouse model, short-term metformin treatment reprogrammed the TIME in a similar fashion to humans, whereas long-term treatment further shifted the TIME toward an active state (e.g., reduction in CD4+ FoxP3+ regulatory T cells) and inhibited ESCC growth. In both humans and mice, metformin triggered AMPK activation and STAT3 inactivation, and altered the production of effector cytokines (i.e., TNFα, IFNγ, and IL10) in the immune cells.

Conclusions:

Low-dose metformin reprograms the TIME to an activated status and may be a suitable immune response modifier for further investigation in patients with ESCC.
Molecular Complexity of Lymphovascular Invasion: The Role of Cell Migration in Breast Cancer as a Prototype
Authors: Kariri Yousif A. , Aleskandarany Mohammed A. , Joseph Chitra , Kurozumi Sasagu , Mohammed Omar J. , Toss Michael S. , Green Andrew R. , Rakha Emad A.
Published: July 2020

Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) is associated with poor outcome in breast cancer (BC); however, its underlying mechanisms remain ill-defined. LVI in BC develops through complex molecular pathways involving not only the interplay with the surrounding microenvironment along with endothelial cells lining the lymphovascular spaces but also changes in the malignant epithelial cells with the acquisition of more invasive and migration abilities. In this review, we focus on the key features that enable tumour cell detachment from the primary niche, their migration and interaction with the surrounding microenvironment as well as the crosstalk with the vascular endothelial cells, which eventually lead to intravasation of tumour cells and LVI. Intravascular tumour cell survival and migration, their distant site extravasation, stromal invasion and growth are part of the metastatic cascade. Cancer cell migration commences with loss of tumour cells’ cohesion initiating the invasion and migration processes which are usually accompanied by the accumulation of specific cellular and molecular changes that enable tumour cells to overcome the blockades of the extracellular matrix, spread into surrounding tissues and interact with stromal cells and immune cells. Thereafter, tumour cells migrate further via interacting with lymphovascular endothelial cells to penetrate the vessel wall leading ultimately to intravasation of cancer cells. Exploring the potential factors influencing cell migration in LVI can help in understanding the underlying mechanisms of LVI to identify targeted therapy in BC.
Disentangling Sex Differences in Use of Reperfusion Therapy in Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke
Authors: Mainz Jeppe , Andersen Grethe , Valentin Jan Brink , Gude Martin Faurholdt , Johnsen Søren Paaske
Published: July 2020

Background and Purpose:

Previous studies from local settings have reported that women with acute ischemic stroke have a lower chance of receiving reperfusion therapy treatment, including intravenous thrombolysis and thrombectomy, than men, but the underlying mechanisms of this disparity have not been identified. We aimed to examine sex differences in the utilization of reperfusion therapy focusing on all the phases of pre- and in-hospital time delay in a nationwide population-based cohort.

Methods:

This study was based on data from nationwide public registries. The study population included patients aged at least 18 years admitted with acute ischemic stroke using emergency medical services in Denmark dispatched after an emergency call in the period 2016 to 2017. Study outcomes included time delays from symptom onset to start of reperfusion therapy and use of reperfusion therapy. Data were analyzed using multivariable quantile regression and logistic regression.

Results:

A total of 5356 stroke events fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Women (26.6%) were less likely to receive intravenous thrombolysis than men (30.2 %), corresponding to an unadjusted odds ratio of 0.84 (95% CI, 0.74–0.95). In addition, women experienced a 20 minutes longer median time delay from stroke symptom onset to stroke unit arrival than men. Adjusting for onset-to-door time only appeared to have a limited effect on the sex differences in use of intravenous thrombolysis, whereas the odds ratio was 1.06 (95% CI, 0.93–1.21) when adjusting for age at stroke, stroke severity, and cohabitation status. No sex difference was observed for the use of thrombectomy.

Conclusions:

Women received less reperfusion therapy than men and had a longer time delay from symptom onset to stroke unit arrival, primarily due to a longer delay from symptom onset to emergency medical services call. These differences appeared to be due to the higher age and the higher proportion of women living alone at the time of the stroke.
Self-Knowledge, Elenchus and Authority in Early Plato
Authors: Leigh Fiona
Published: July 2020

In some of Plato’s early dialogues we find a concern with correctly ascertaining the contents of a particular kind of one’s own psychological states, cognitive states. Indeed, one of the achievements of the elenctic method is to facilitate cognitive self-knowledge. In the Alcibiades, moreover, Plato interprets the Delphic injunction, ‘know yourself’, as crucially requiring cognitive self-knowledge, and ending in knowing oneself as subject to particular epistemic norms. Epistemic authority for self-knowledge is, for Plato, conferred on the basis of correct application of norms to cognitive self-ascriptions, and not confined to the first-personal perspective. This implies first-personal plural epistemic authority for self-knowledge.
The Comparative Method in the Study of Religion and Race: a Reflection on Lincoln and Freiberger
Authors: Prentiss Craig R.
Published: July 2020

This essay compares Bruce Lincoln’s Apples and Oranges with Oliver Freiberger’s Considering Comparison and applies lessons derived from these works to my own research in the fields of religion and race. Attention to both authors’ concerns with the relationship between definitions and theories, as well as positionality and scope, result in my confusion as to whether the categories of “religion” and “race” can be profitably compared without being trapped in a world of tautology. Yet their shared emphases on comparison as a heuristic enterprise may open a path for making useful claims in this area of research by means of comparative method.
Observations on the Habilitation of Children with Cortical Visual Impairment
Authors: Groenveld M. , Jan J.E. , Leader P.
Published: July 2020

There is a radical difference between the visual habilitation of children with cortical visual impairment (CVI) and those with ocular visual loss. This article presents the experiences of a developmental psychologist, a child neurologist, and a teacher of the visually impaired who worked with CVI children for a number of years.
Perceptual Training and Figure-Ground Performance in Low Vision
Authors: Trudeau M. , Overbury O. , Conrod B.
Published: July 2020

This study examined the utility of perceptual training with specific emphasis on figure-ground discrimination. Study participants had low vision which was caused by age-related macular degeneration. The authors studied the relative effectiveness of in-clinic and at-home training in comparison with a no-training condition. The results supported the hypothesis that perceptual skills, such as figure-ground discrimination, can be improved by practice and instruction. The need for task-specific training is also discussed.
Educational Placement Decision-Making: An Ecological Model
Authors: Bishop V.E.
Published: July 2020

Placement decisions affect children's lives and should be made as a result of a careful analysis of all factors related to the child. This paper examines the process of accumulating such information and the types of data that are relevant. The decision-making process is also discussed, with emphasis on the analysis of all data and exploration of all possible placement options on the complete continuum of service delivery models. Creative programming is encouraged and appropriateness is emphasized. The role of the teacher of visually handicapped students in the data collection process is clarified.
Family Concerns and Older People who are Blind
Authors: Crews J.E. , Frey W.D.
Published: July 2020

This article presents the demographic characteristics of a large group of older people who are blind, briefly reviews the literature on caregiving to aging persons, and presents the concerns reported by 47 family members who have a spouse or parent who is blind. Changes in the reported concerns were measured before and after blind rehabilitation services were provided to the older persons.
Visual Behaviors and Adaptations Associated with Cortical and Ocular Impairment in Children
Authors: Jan J.E. , Groenveld M.
Published: July 2020

Visual loss leads to visual behaviors and adaptations that tend to reflect the onset, severity, and types of visual impairment. In this article, the characteristic behaviors associated with different degrees of visual loss and their importance in the diagnosis of cortical versus ocular visual impairment are discussed.
A Personal Odyssey on Schools for Blind Children
Authors: Hatlen P.H.
Published: July 2020

The evolution of schools for the blind over the past 30 years has been dramatic. Sometimes changes have been self-initiated, and sometimes these schools have been forced into different roles and expectations. This article traces both the recent history of schools for the blind and how one observer learned and matured from his experiences.
Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe and the Family Tree of Residential Schools
Authors: Bledsoe C.W.
Published: July 2020

This article discusses the roots of mainstreaming and residential schools within the context of Howe's legacy.
A Model Assessment Program
Authors: Curry S.A.
Published: July 2020

The Assessment Program of the California School for the Blind is designed to assist local education agencies (LEAs) to identify the educational needs of students with visual impairments. Students who are referred to the program undergo a week-long assessment with their parents at the school, the report of which is forwarded to the LEA and their parents, so the children can be placed in an appropriate educational setting. This article describes the philosophy and program model and discusses the value of the model and how it can be replicated.
The Ability of Children with Low Vision to Recall Pictures
Authors: Corley G. , Pring L.
Published: July 2020

This article reports three experiments that tested the ability of 11 6–10-year-old children with low vision to recall black-and-white line drawings. Unlike the 22 fully sighted children who were also tested, the children with low vision recalled best when they were left to study the pictures without verbal intervention. Compared with the fully sighted children, the children with low vision named significantly fewer of the remembered pictures correctly.
Blind and Partially Sighted Students’ Access to Mathematics and Computer Technology in Ireland and Belgium
Authors: Cahill H. , Linehan C. , McCarthy J. , Bormans G. , Engelen J.
Published: July 2020

This article presents the results of a survey that investigated two related issues for blind and partially sighted students: (1) mathematical-access difficulties and (2) general experiences using computer technology. The survey was part of the formative evaluation of a workstation for Mathematic Access to Technology and Science (commonly called MATHS). The participants included teachers and blind, partially sighted, and sighted students from a range of special, integrated, and mainstream Irish and Belgian schools.
The Evolution of Video Magnification Technology
Authors: Uslan M.M. , Shen R. , Shragai Y.
Published: July 2020

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems are the product of a long line of technological advances in several fields, including optics, electrical signal processing, and video display technology. Many different models are now on the market, and more advanced ones are frequently introduced. This article traces the development of early CCTV systems, examines CCTVs that are on the market today, and speculates on video magnification technology of the future, which will make extensive use of computer-related technology.
Identification of Characters with Shared Representations: Decoding Musical and Literary Braille
Authors: Boyer A.S.
Published: July 2020

This study investigated the degree to which code switching was operative in the performances of skilled and less skilled readers of musical and literary braille on two tasks that required the identification of characters shared by the two codes in the auditory and tactile modalities. In both modalities, skilled readers were significantly faster and more accurate than less skilled readers. The results suggest that the less skilled readers’ inferior performances on tasks of code switching may have been due to inefficient verbal processing.
Nielsen's Little Room: Its Use with a Young Blind and Physically Disabled Girl
Authors: Dunnett J.
Published: July 2020

Recent investigations of remedies for the extreme passivity shown by some blind children with other impairments have been undertaken by the Danish teacher-therapist Lilli Nielsen. This article presents an account of the use of one of Nielsen's pieces of equipment with a totally blind child who, at age 3, was showing no sign of independent spontaneous movement while at nursery school.
Career Advancement for Young Women with Visual Impairments
Authors: Hutto M.D. , Hare D.
Published: July 2020

Young women with visual impairments need to learn strategies for both acquiring and advancing in careers. This article presents a qualitative research study of six successful female college graduates who are legally blind and suggests interventions for maximizing the career potential of female adolescents with visual impairments.
The Role of Education and Rehabilitation Specialists in the Comprehensive Low Vision Care Process
Authors: Lueck A.H.
Published: July 2020

Within the framework of the comprehensive low vision care process, the overall goals of education and rehabilitation specialists are to maximize the specific skills, self-esteem, and quality of life of individuals with low vision. These specialists are involved in evaluating functional vision, teaching methods to compensate for impaired vision, and addressing psychosocial concerns to meet the needs of individuals in their homes, workplaces, schools, and communities.
Attitudes of Visually Impaired Persons toward the Use of Public Transportation
Authors: Golledge R.G. , Marston J.R. , Costanzo C.M.
Published: July 2020

This article reports on a survey of the use of buses in Santa Barbara, California, by 55 persons who are visually impaired (including those who are blind and those who have low vision). Findings on users’ frustrations, potential use of technological aids for travel, and perceptions of and attitudes toward the characteristics of bus services are presented. In addition, differences in the responses of those to whom household cars were and were not available are analyzed, and suggestions for dealing with the participants’ major concerns are provided.
Teachers’ Perspectives on Selecting Literacy Media for Children with Visual Impairments
Authors: Craig C.J. , DePriest L. , Harnack K.
Published: July 2020

Teachers from a residential school and a public school district that serve children with visual impairments read scenarios of five children with various eye conditions and ability levels, chose a primary literacy medium for each child, and presented rationales for their decisions. Although all the teachers cited child-related factors more than mechanical or social factors, the two groups of teachers differed in the weight they placed on different subcategories of these factors and their attitudes toward the use of braille.