cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
TrkC overexpression enhances survival and migration of neural stem cell transplants in the rat spinal cord

Although CNS axons have the capacity to regenerate after spinal cord injury when provided with a permissive substrate, the lack of appropriate synaptic target sites for regenerating fibers may limit restoration of spinal circuitry. Studies in our laboratory are focused on utilizing neural stem cells to provide new synaptic target sites for regenerating spinal axons following injury. As an initial step, rat neural precursor cells genetically engineered to overexpress the tyrosine kinase C (trkC) neurotrophin receptor were transplanted into the intact rat spinal cord to evaluate their survival and differentiation. Cells were either pretreated in vitro prior to transplantation with trkC ligand neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) to initiate differentiation or exposed to NT-3 in vivo following transplantation via gelfoam or Oxycel. Both treatments enhanced survival of trkC-overexpressing stem cells to nearly 100%, in comparison with approximately 30-50% when either NT-3 or trkC was omitted. In addition, increased migration of trkC-overexpressing cells throughout the spinal gray matter was noted, particularly following in vivo NT-3 exposure. The combined trkC expression and NT-3 treatment appeared to reduce astrocytic differentiation of transplanted neural precursors. Decreased cavitation and increased beta-tubulin fibers were noted in the vicinity of transplanted cells, although the majority of transplanted cells appeared to remain in an undifferentiated state. These findings suggest that genetically engineered neural stem cells in combination with neurotrophin treatment may be a useful addition to strategies for repair of spinal neurocircuitry following injury.
UNDERSTANDING OUR PAST

History tells us where we have been and gives us insight for the future that could lead us to where we want to go.
Validation of KCa3.1 Channel Small Molecules Interaction Sites Predicted by Rosetta

The calcium-activated intermediate-conductance KCa3.1 channel is an effective regulator of intracellular calcium and an attractive pharmacological target for immunosuppression, fibroproliferative disorders, hypertension and various neurological diseases. However, the development of drugs for this medically relevant channel is hindered by the unavailability of a crystal structure useful for structure-guided drug design. Using the Rosetta modeling method we generated a homology model of the KCa3.1 channel transmembrane region using the Kv1.2-Kv2.1 channel structure (pdb id: 2R9R) as a template. Docking of known KCa3.1 small molecule blockers into the KCa3.1 model, identified, surprisingly, two independent sites for the dihydropyridine nifedipine and for its isoster methyl-5-acetyl-4-(4-chloro-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-2,6-dimethyl-4H-pyran-3-carboxylate. While nifedipine is predicted to bind in the fenestration between the pore-lining S5 and S6 segments, the pyran isoster has its lowest energy binding configurations in the inner pore region. We validated these predictions via site-directed mutagenesis and patch-clamp recording. Blocking of KCa3.1 by nifedipine was significantly reduced by replacing the side chains at the fenestration positions L209, T212 and V272 with either alanine or valine. Replacement with bulkier phenylalanines confirmed T212 and V272 as the main interacting sites for nifedipine without compromising the affinity of inner pore blockers like TRAM-34 or the 4-phenyl pyran. In contrast, the inner pore T250S and V275A mutants, which are known to nullify TRAM-34 binding disrupted binding of the 4-phenyl pyran but did not interfere with nifedipine binding. We conclude that the Rosetta modeling approach can be useful to distinguish the molecular mechanisms of action of KCa channel modulators and has promising potential in guiding the development of clinically relevant drugs.
Ribosomal RNA gene detection and targeted culture of novel nitrogen-responsive fungal taxa from temperate pine forest soil.

AbstractSoil fungal communities are responsible for carbon and nitrogen (N) cycling. The high complexity of the soil fungal community and the high proportion of taxonomically unidentifiable sequences confound ecological interpretations in field studies because physiological information is lacking for many organisms known only by their rRNA sequences. This situation forces experimental comparisons to be made at broader taxonomic racks where functions become difficult to infer. The objective of this study was to determine OTU (operational taxonomic units) level responses of the soil fungal community to N enrichment in a temperate pine forest experiment and to use the sequencing data to guide culture efforts of novel N-responsive fungal taxa. Replicate samples from four soil horizons (up to 10 cm depth) were obtained from ambient, enriched CO2 and N-fertilization plots. Through a fungal large subunit rRNA gene (LSU) sequencing survey, we identified two novel fungal clades that were abundant in our soil sampl...
Research in Review: Advancing Critical Care Practice

Research published in 2016 identified strategies to enhance acute and critical care, initiated discussions on professional roles and responsibilities, clarified complex care issues, and led to robust debate. Some of this important work addressed strategies to prevent delirium and pressure ulcers, considerations for pain management within the context of the opioid abuse crisis, strategies to guide fluid resuscitation in patients with sepsis and heart failure, and ways to enhance care for family members of intensive care patients. The new sepsis definitions highlight the importance of detecting and providing care to patients with sepsis outside of critical care areas. Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy is an example of the advancement of research in genomics and personalized medicine and of the need to understand the care implications of these therapies. Other research topics include interprofessional collaboration and shared decision-making as well as nurses' role in family conferences. Resources such as policies related to medical futility and inappropriate care and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses' healthy work environment standards may inform conversations and provide strategies to address these complex issues.
Primordial Black Hole Formation during the QCD Epoch

We consider the formation of horizon-size primordial black holes (PBH{close_quote}s) from pre-existing density fluctuations during cosmic phase transitions. It is pointed out that the formation of PBH{close_quote}s should be particularly efficient during the QCD epoch due to a substantial reduction of pressure forces during adiabatic collapse, or equivalently, a significant decrease in the effective speed of sound during the color-confinement transition. Our considerations imply that for generic initial density perturbation spectra PBH mass functions are expected to exhibit a pronounced peak on the QCD-horizon mass scale {approximately}1M{sub {circle_dot}}. This mass scale is roughly coincident with the estimated masses for compact objects recently observed in our galactic halo by the MACHO Collaboration. Black holes formed during the QCD epoch may offer an attractive explanation for the origin of halo dark matter evading possibly problematic nucleosynthesis and luminosity bounds on baryonic halo dark matter. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}
Nutrition Therapy in End-Stage Lung Disease

This review highlights the importance of nutrition support via counseling and oral nutrition supplements as needed in patients with end-stage lung disease. As chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary fibrosis are the most common chronic lung disease, the review will focus on these disease processes specifically. It will also discuss the role of nutrition in lung infections like tuberculosis, and the importance of nutrition in lung transplant. Recent evidence does indicate that nutritional support is essential in the management of patients with end-stage lung disease. The benefits of nutrition support are greatest when combined with a pulmonary rehabilitation program. Ongoing research, however, is needed to find a solution to weight loss, in particular, the loss of fat-free body mass, as the ideal nutritional regimen for each disease process remains elusive.
Top executive incentives in Germany, Japan and the USA: a comparison

Executive compensation and corporate governance systems have received an increasing amount of attention, from academics, government, the popular press and businesses themselves. Much of this attention has focused on differences between the US system and those of its strongest industrial competitors, Germany and Japan. The US corporate governance system is generally characterized as a market-based system. US capital markets are liquid and company ownership is relatively unconcentrated. Managers are supposedly monitored by an external market for corporate control and by boards of directors usually dominated by outsiders. The German and Japanese governance systems, in contrast, are characterized as relationship-oriented systems. Ownership in Germany and Japan is concentrated and capital markets are relatively illiquid. Managers there are allegedly monitored by a combination of banks, large corporate shareholders, and other intercorporate relationships that are maintained over long periods. An external market for corporate control is small, if not absent. Table 1 summarizes these differences.1
Code-Division Multiple Access

Multiple access is the ability of many users to communicate with each other while sharing a common transmission medium. Wireless multiple-access communications are facilitated if the transmitted signals are orthogonal or separable in some sense. Signals may be separated in time (time-division multiple access or TDMA), frequency (frequency-division multiple access or FDMA), or code (code-division multiple access or CDMA). This chapter presents the general characteristics of direct-sequence CDMA (DS-CDMA) and frequency-hopping CDMA (FH-CDMA) systems. The use of spread-spectrum modulation with CDMA allows the simultaneous transmission of signals from multiple users in the same frequency band. All signals use the entire allocated spectrum, but the spreading sequences or frequency-hopping patterns differ. Information theory indicates that in an isolated cell, CDMA systems achieve the same spectral efficiency as TDMA or FDMA systems only if optimal multiuser detection is used. However, even with single-user detection, CDMA has advantages for mobile communication networks because it eliminates the need for frequency and time-slot coordination, allows carrier-frequency reuse in adjacent cells, imposes no sharp upper bound on the number of users, and provides resistance to interference and interception. In this chapter, the vast potential and practical difficulties of spread-spectrum multiuser detectors, such as optimal, decorrelating, minimum mean-square error, or adaptive detectors, are described and assessed. The tradeoffs and design issues of direct-sequence multiple-input multiple-output with spatial multiplexing or beamforming are determined.
Abstract 17460: Phenotypic Correlates of Incidentally Discovered Pathogenic Variants in Aortopathy Genes

Introduction: The ACMG recommends reporting incidentally discovered pathogenic variants in aortopathy genes. We investigated the electronic health records (EHR) to assess phenotypic correlates of pathogenic/likely pathogenic (P/LP) variants in 10 genes related to hereditary aortopathy. Methods: The 10 aortopathy genes (Table) were sequenced in 2,344 individuals participating in the Mayo Return of Actionable Variants Empirical (RAVE) study. Of 1092 individuals with transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) data in the EHR, 26 were P/LP variant carriers including one with Marfan syndrome (MFS). After excluding this patient, for each P/LP variant carrier, we randomly selected 2 to 5 non-carriers matching by referral diagnoses, sex and age (± 5 years) at most recent TTE evaluation, and compared aortic root dimension, presence of aneurysms and tortuous arteries on imaging reports, and EHR traits between two groups (Table). Results: Participant characteristics and clinical features are summarized in Table. Although none of the P/LP variant carriers had an aortic aneurysm on TTE, they had larger aortic root size, and were more likely to have tortuous arteries, temporomandibular dysfunction, varicose vein, movement disorders than non-carriers (Table). In a separate analysis of all individuals with TTE (1 with MFS excluded), aortic root size was larger in individuals carrying a P/LP variant in 10 genes than in non-carriers during a mean follow- up of 12.8 ±7.8 years [assessed by a mix-effects model, mean difference (95%) in z-score: 0.6 (0.18-1.02) unit]. Conclusions: None of the individuals carrying a P/LP variant in aortopathy genes had an ascending aortic aneurysm or history of aortic dissection. However, P/LP variant carriers were more likely to have clinical features related to hereditary aortopathy than non-carriers. Further work is warranted to determine the clinical implications after such incidental genomic findings returned.
The Intersection of Gender and Race: Exploring Chemical Engineering Students’ Attitudes

We surveyed 342 first-year engineering students at four U.S. institutions interested in a chemical engineering career about their feelings of belonging in engineering, motivation, and STEM identities. We compared these students by both gender and race/ethnicity on these attitudinal factors. We found several significant differences in belongingness, motivation, and physics and engineering identities for both majority and minority women from their peers. We also found significantly higher mathematics identity for majority men than their peers. Our results provide more nuanced implications for how to support diverse students in chemical engineering classrooms.
Book-to-Market as a Predictor of Market Returns

The book-to-market ratio of the Dow Jones Index predicts market returns and small firm excess returns over the period of 1926 to 1992. Book-to-market contains information about future returns that is not captured by other variables that forecast returns such as interest yield spreads and dividend yields. Book-to-market's predictive ability is driven by the pre-1960 subsample. We also document that book-to-market and dividend yield forecast the excess returns of a high book-to-market portfolio minus the returns of a low book-to-market portfolio. The predictive ability of book-to-market appears related to the ability of book value to forecast future earnings.
The Creation of a New Gene from a Redundant Duplicate of an Old Gene

The type of gene duplication which produced the group of isozyme genes contributed greatly to the evolution of increasingly complex organisms. These functionally diverged duplicated genes, however, still specify the same enzyme in that their products act upon the same substrate with the help of the same coenzyme. A, B and C-subunits of LDH of any vertebrate must still maintain either the identical active site sequence of 12 amino acids (— Val-Ile-Ser-Gly-Gly-Cys-Asn-Leu-Asp-Thr-Ala-Arg —), or a sequence very similar to the above, for this is the sequence which binds with NAD and recognizes pyruvate or lactate as the substrate (Kaplan, 1965). Differences in the kinetic property of A, B and C-subunits must reflect amino acid substitutions which affect sites other than the active site of the polypeptide chain.
An evolutionary monotone follower problem in [0, 1]

We consider in this article an evolutionary monotone follower problem in [0,1]. State processes under consideration are controlled diffusion processes , solutions of dyx(t) = g(yx(t), t)dt + σu(yx(t), t) dwt + dυt with yx(0) = x ∈[0, 1], where the control processes υt are increasing, positive, and adapted. The cost functional is of integral type, with certain explicit cost of control action including the cost of jumps. We shall present some analytic results of the value function, mainly its characterisation, by standard dynamic programming arguments.
Studies on the maize Activator (Ac) transposable element in transgenic plants

Aqrobacterium Ti plasmids have been constructed that contain an Activator (Ac) transposable element within the untranslated leader region of a bacterial 6-glucuronidase (GUS) gene driven by a cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. The insertion inactivates the GUS gene, but GUS gene activity is restored after the element excises. In these constructs, GUS gene expression allows easy and sensitive detection of excision events of the maize Ac element in situ in transgenic tobacco tissues. Cell lineages in seedlings from Ac-containing plants can be studied using a histochemical assay for GUS after an excision event. This system will provide a useful method for cell lineage analysis during plant development, transposition mechanisms, as well as for developing a transposon-tagging system in transgenic plants.
Sign Language: History of Research

While signed languages of the deaf have been the subject of learned reflections for centuries, it is only recently that natural signed languages have been the focus of linguistic investigation. The 1960 publication of William C. Stokoe's Sign language structure: an outline of the visual communication systems of the American deaf marks the beginning of sign language linguistics. In the years since Stokoe's pioneering work, an increasing number of scholars have turned their attention to the structure of signed languages. While still a relatively new discipline, the field of sign language linguistics has, over the past 50 years, become quite well established.
Immunohistochemistry: Antibody Specificity

To understand the inherent complexity of tissues and organs, researchers have taken advantage of the specificity of antibodies to perform immunohistochemistry, which enhances the morphological evaluation of tissues by providing spatial and functional information about target molecules. Since its first description in 1942 by Albert Coons, a considerable effort has been made to improve the sensitivity and specificity of immunohistochemistry through the refinement of immunohistochemical protocols. Improvements include the enhancement of detection systems, the use of antigen retrieval to enhance antigenicity in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues, and advances in digital imaging and image analysis software. These improvements have heralded an increased use of immunohistochemistry in biomedical research. With the increased use of immunohistochemistry it is important that investigators take appropriate steps to ensure that the antibodies and protocols used to detect target molecules actually represent what is happening in tissues. Of concern is that the processes used to prepare tissues cause artifacts that may increase nonspecific binding of antibodies in tissues. In addition, not all antibodies are specific for the immunogen used to develop that antibody.
Generating Diversity and Specificity through Developmental Cell Signaling

Abstract Highly conserved cell-cell signaling pathways are used reiteratively during development to instruct cellular proliferation, survival, migration, patterning, and differentiation. Responses to cell-cell signaling are dependent on spatial and temporal context. Related signaling proteins have become functionally specialized during evolution. For instance, members of the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) superfamily transduce distinct signals, and different transforming growth factor (TGF)β family ligands act as activators or inhibitors with distinct diffusion characteristics. Cytoplasmic extensions facilitate some cell-cell signaling interactions during development. In vertebrates, some signals are received and transduced via microtubule-based primary cilia, and in Drosophila , filopodia-like cytonemes bearing receptors extend toward some signaling sources. Extracellular signaling gradients guide cell migration and instruct positional identity or patterning in many developmental contexts. Multiple strategies are employed to establish and/or maintain these gradients, including diffusion of ligands and regulatory proteins, use of accessory proteins for transport and local activation of signaling proteins, regulated secretion, degradation, and recycling of ligands and receptors, and localized stabilization/retention of signals via heparin sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) or membrane localization motifs. Extracellular signaling gradients can generate different cellular responses through specialized signal transduction and transcriptional regulation mechanisms. These include protein modifications and feedback regulation sensitive to different signal thresholds, activation of gene regulatory networks, and the regulation of enhancers with different affinities for signal-activated transcription factors (TFs). Different types of signals coordinately instruct cellular responses in vivo through regulation of signal transduction proteins, feedback regulators, and genes/proteins involved in general cellular processes. In addition, crosstalk between pathways commonly occurs via co-regulation of common target genes. Co-regulation of target genes can be mediated by changes in chromatin, interactions between TFs, coordinate regulation of TF activity (e.g., by phosphorylation or sequestration), or coordinate regulation of enhancer elements.
Coenzyme Q10: A novel bcl-2 drug target for the treatment of melanoma

791 Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer and severely affects quality of life. Drug development in cancer has been hampered by a lack of viable drug targets. However, the bcl-2 protein family has become an attractive target in oncology given that it reduces the efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs by conferring tumor resistance to treatment and preventing apoptosis. Coenzyme Q10 is a naturally occurring molecule mostly resident in the mitochondrial and plasma membranes. Moreover, it is a potent antioxidant, key mediator in oxidative phosphorylation, and stabilizes biological membranes. Recent data from our laboratory has suggested that Coenzyme Q10 selectively induces apoptosis and attenuates tumor angiogenesis in melanoma while leaving normal cells unaffected. Thus, we investigated the effect of Coenzyme Q10 on bcl-2 expression in melanoma using western blot and microarray analysis. The results showed that gene expression of livin and survivin and bcl-2 protein levels were significantly downregulated after 24 hours of treatment with 50μM Coenzyme Q10. In addition, we compared the effect on neonatal fibroblasts. These data revealed that bcl-2 levels were not significantly altered and gene expression of livin and survivin increased in fibroblasts. Taken together, the data suggest that Coenzyme Q10 modulates bcl-2 levels and expression of livin and survivin in a manner that supports the restoration of the apoptotic potential in melanoma whereas it does not negatively impact the metabolism of normal skin cells. Hence, the results herein implies that Coenzyme Q10 induces an anti-oncogenic effect by targeting the bcl-2 protein family and supports its use in the treatment of cutaneous malignacies.
Critical heat flux limiting the effective cooling performance of two-phase cooling with an interlayer microchannel

The cooling problem on integrated circuits (ICs) has emerged as the primary issue for higher performance of modern processors and three-dimensional ICs (3D ICs) in particular. Cooling systems with interlayer microchannels in 3D ICs have been widely studied as a promising cooling system for a high-performance processor. However, two-phase cooling systems for 3D ICs cooling have rarely been studied especially in interlayer microchannel structures. In this paper, we report a comparative study on cooling performance of single-phase cooling with water and two-phase cooling with R134a in an interlayer microchannel. The microfluidic and heat transfer problem was solved by using ANSYS Fluent 16.1. Contrary to the general view that two-phase cooling is better than single-phase cooling, we found that two-phase cooling with R134a is more efficient only in the heat flux of below 12 kW/m2 than single-phase cooling with water. The critical heat flux (CHF) was the main limitation of two-phase cooling to deal with a higher heat flux at a given mass flux.
Telemedicine in the Management of Exudative Age-Related Macular Degeneration within an Integrated health care System.

Purpose To investigate the outcomes of patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treated with intravitreal antivascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) using a telemedicine system. Design Interventional case series. Methods This study examined all patients with exudative AMD who were receiving intravitreal anti-VEGF injections from September 1, 2015, through August 31, 2017, using electronic consultations at a single academic center and health system. Patients were managed initially by a retinal specialist and then allowed to receive further care with their local ophthalmologist. There were 200 electronic consultations placed during this time period for 83 eyes of 59 patients. Data collected included the retina specialist's recommendations: intravitreal agent, interval between injections, number of injections, and when the patient was to follow-up. All occurrences of recommendations that were not completed were reported. Results The mean age of the patients at the time of electronic consultations was 82.3 ± 7.3 years with a mean follow-up time of 2.4 ± 0.81 years. The mean distance from the home of the patient to the retina specialist was 70 ± 44 miles. There were 14 consultations (7.1%) that did not comply with the recommendations of the retina specialist. Most of these were due to other medical comorbidities leading to missed appointments or scheduling errors. Conclusions In an integrated health care setting, 59 patients with exudative AMD were identified who were able to be effectively managed using a telemedicine system. In the appropriate setting, telemedicine may be able to assist in the management of patients with wet AMD.
The effectiveness of written communication for decision support in clinical practice.

Abstract Background The application of various tools suggests limitations in the usage of drug information provided to medical professionals. Concurrent views of utility and suggested improvements for written information by health care practitioners are lacking. Objective This study's objectives were to: (1) assess practice-based perspectives on the relative efficacy and utility of different medication-related written materials for health care practitioners, (2) discern aspects of written communications that are valued for actionable information and merit health care practitioners' attention, (3) determine common or unique themes of clinicians practicing as physicians, pharmacists, physician assistants, and nurses regarding medication-related written information; and (4) organize constructs and themes as a cogent array of current deficiencies in written communications to guide improvements. Methods Two focus group panels (physicians, physician assistants, pharmacists, nurses) were convened to address clinical decisional balance and the utility of written information about medicines in assisting them with those decisions. A facilitated dialogue followed a semi-structured interview guide including overarching questions and tap-root probes derived from the literature. Comparative analyses were used to interpret data. An a priori coding framework informed the interview guide and served as a basis for initial identification of themes. Results Panelists from diverse practices and settings voiced convergent agreement on the limited utility of written materials, attributed primarily to current structure, formatting, content, and design. Recommendations thematically supported the need for greater accuracy, recency, adaptability, sequencing, and accessibility of information in formats more frequently digitalized. Conclusions Focus group panels of practitioners provided rich information on how current written information such as Dear Doctor letters and package inserts could be improved to facilitate real-time decision-making. Overall, improvements could contribute to an improved capacity for efficient, effective, and sustained evidence-based practice behavior.
Multicentered hydrogen bonding in 1-[(1-de-oxy-β-d-fructo-pyranos-1-yl)aza-nium-yl]cyclo-pentane-carboxyl-ate ('d-fructose-cyclo-leucine').

The title compound, C12H21NO7, (I), is conformationally unstable; the predominant form present in its solution is the β-pyran­ose form (74.3%), followed by the β- and α-furan­oses (12.1 and 10.2%, respectively), α-pyran­ose (3.4%), and traces of the acyclic carbohydrate tautomer. In the crystalline state, the carbohydrate part of (I) adopts the 2C5 β-pyran­ose conformation, and the amino acid portion exists as a zwitterion, with the side chain cyclo­pentane ring assuming the E9 envelope conformation. All heteroatoms are involved in hydrogen bonding that forms a system of anti­parallel infinite chains of fused R33(6) and R33(8) rings. The mol­ecule features extensive intra­molecular hydrogen bonding, which is uniquely multicentered and involves the carboxyl­ate, ammonium and carbohydrate hy­droxy groups. In contrast, the contribution of inter­molecular O⋯H/H⋯O contacts to the Hirshfeld surface is relatively low (38.4%), as compared to structures of other d-fructose-amino acids. The 1H NMR data suggest a slow rotation around the C1—C2 bond in (I), indicating that the intra­molecular heteroatom contacts survive in aqueous solution of the mol­ecule as well.
The Relationship of Major Depressive Disorder to Alzheimer’s Disease

MDD and AD, while differing greatly in clinical course and pathophysiology, have important interactions. MDD in late-life appears to be a risk factor for the development of AD for reasons that are not apparent. The prevalence of AD in MDD is probably higher than in the general elderly population, but MDD does not appear to be a frequent complication of AD, However, MDD in AD patients worsens both cognition and function in ADL. MDD appears to be overdiagnosed in AD, especially when the diagnosis is based on caregiver reports. Much of what are thought to be symptoms of MDD are, in fact, direct consequences of AD, such as difficulty with initiating activities and sustaining attention. When MDD occurs in AD, it is treatable by conventional pharmacological means with concomitant simplification of environmental demands and development of a structured routine. The major confound in the scientific investigation of MDD in AD is differentiating between symptoms engendered directly by AD and symptoms of MDD. The omission in DSM-IV of depressed mood as a requisite criterion for the diagnosis of MDD will add still more difficulty. The authors propose an alternative to DSM-IV criteria for MDD for the diagnosis of MDD in persons with dementia. These alternative criteria shorten the period of time during which symptoms must manifest to 1 week, make depressed mood a requirement, allow for lack of initiative, and substitute irritability for sleep disturbance. Finally, given the relatively benign side-effects profile of modern antidepressant agents, it is reasonable that persons with AD whose behavior suggests that they may be depressed be given a trial of antidepressant medication.
But does pikachu love you?: reproductive labor in casual and hardcore games

Since the first Pokemon game launched in Japan in 1996, the series has been a balancing act between casual and hardcore gaming. While the first iteration and "core" series has emphasized a modified, accessible version of traditional JRPG mechanics, other titles have frequently emphasized so-called casual play; most recently, Pokemon Go lured in a new set of players with mobile, locative Pokemon hunting. The 2018 release of a hybrid game, Let's Go, Pikachu! and its sister release Let's Go, Eevee!, has drawn renewed attention to the casual-hardcore dichotomy, meeting considerable resistance and criticism for its perceived casualization of the franchise. Through analyzing the discourse of the new game's reception as demonstrated by a dataset of user reviews on Metacritic alongside published game reviews, the gendered nature of the casual-hardcore dichotomy in the Pokemon franchise becomes clear. Key themes coded from the reviewed data include grinding, difficulty, nostalgia, and "cuteness." Placing this discourse alongside the game's own internal representations of reproductive labor through Pokemon caretaking and the contested definition of "grinding" demonstrates a fundamental resistance from the so-called hardcore game community to what are viewed as feminized play mechanics. The revealed tension is particularly remarkable given the emotional, reproductive labor of training and loving Pokemon that is front-ended in the franchise's overarching narrative and core values-a set of values that inherently conflicts with the "hardcore" gamer mentality of play.
A degradatory fate for CCR4 suggests a primary role in Th2 inflammation

CCR4 is the sole receptor for the chemokines CCL22 and CCL17. Clinical studies of asthmatic airways have shown levels of both ligands and CCR4+ Th2 cells to be elevated, suggestive of a role in disease. Consequently, CCR4 has aroused much interest as a potential therapeutic target and an understanding of how its cell surface expression is regulated is highly desirable. To this end, receptor expression, receptor endocytosis, and chemotaxis were assessed using transfectants expressing CCR4, CCR4+ human T cell lines, and human Th2 cells polarized in vitro. CCL17 and CCL22 drove rapid endocytosis of CCR4 in a dose-dependent manner. Replenishment at the cell surface was slow and sensitive to cycloheximide, suggestive of de novo synthesis of CCR4. Constitutive CCR4 endocytosis was also observed, with the internalized CCR4 found to be significantly degraded over a 6-h incubation. Truncation of the CCR4 C-terminus by 40 amino acids had no effect on cell surface expression, but resulted in significant impairment of ligand-induced endocytosis. Consequently, migration to both CCL17 and CCL22 was significantly enhanced. In contrast, truncation of CCR4 did not impair constitutive endocytosis or degradation, suggesting the use of alternative receptor motifs in these processes. We conclude that CCR4 cell surface levels are tightly regulated, with a degradative fate for endocytosed receptor. We postulate that this strict control is desirable, given that Th2 cells recruited by CCR4 can induce the further expression of CCR4 ligands in a positive feedback loop, thereby enhancing allergic inflammation.
The Balancing of the Sea-Level Budget

The last 5 years have seen continued progress in closing the sea-level budget, the accounting for the contributions of sea-level change, during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Balancing the sea-level budget is critical to understanding recent and future climate change as well as balancing the Earth’s energy budget and water budget. During the last decade, advancements in the ocean observing system—satellite altimeters, hydrographic profiling floats, and space-based gravity missions—have allowed the sea-level budget to be assessed with unprecedented accuracy from direct, rather than inferred, estimates. In particular, several recent studies have used the sea-level budget to bound the rate of deep-ocean warming. Despite the fact that much of the observing system in place before the satellite era was not intended for global climate monitoring, new analyses of the historical record suggest that the twentieth century sea-level budget may be understood.
Identification of antigen-specific TCR sequences using a strategy based on biological and statistical enrichment in unselected subjects

Abstract Recent advances in high-throughput T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing have allowed for new insights into the TCR repertoire. However, methods for capturing antigen-specific repertoires remain an area of development. Here, we describe a novel approach that utilizes both a biological and statistical enrichment to define putatively antigen-specific complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) repertoires in unrelated individuals. The biological enrichment entails fluorescence-activated cell sorting of in vitro antigen-activated memory CD4+ T cells followed by TCRβ sequencing. The resulting TCRβ sequences are then filtered by selecting those that are statistically enriched when compared to their frequency in the autologous resting T cell compartment. Applying this method to define putatively peanut protein-specific repertoires in 27 peanut-allergic individuals resulted in a library of 7345 unique CDR3 amino acid sequences that had similar characteristics to validated antigen-specific repertoires in terms of homology and diversity. In-depth analysis of these CDR3s revealed 36 public sequences that demonstrated high levels of convergent recombination. In a network analysis, the public CDR3s unveiled themselves as core sequences with more edges than their private counterparts. This method has the potential to be applied to a wide range of T cell mediated disorders, and to yield new biomarkers and biological insights.
Privacy Preserving Mining System of Association Rules in OpenStack-Based Cloud.

As an efficient data analysis tool, data mining can discover the potential association and regularity of massive data, and it has been widely used and played an important role in business decision, medical research and so on. However, the data mining technology is also a double-edged sword, in bringing convenience at the same time, will also cause the user’s privacy leak problem. In order to solve the problem, the symmetric searchable encryption technology is introduced into the association rule mining system to protect the privacy, and privacy preserving mining system of s (PP-MSAR) in OpenStack-based Cloud environment is designed. In order to solve the problem that the existing data mining algorithms can’t deal with large-scale data, this paper uses the computational power of Hadoop platform and add the global pruning technique to the existing algorithm based on MapReduce association rules, so that the counting of frequent item sets get reduced. At the same time, this paper add frequent matrix storage method into the distributed association rules algorithm and realize he algorithm of mining association rules for frequent matrix storage based on MapReduce. In addition, the introduction of symmetric searchable encryption technology to support the cloud server-side ciphertext retrieval, on the one hand to ensure that users stored in the database information will not be leaked to the outside for others, on the other hand also to ensure that the user data for the system staff confidential. Finally, we test the system, and the results show that the system can carry out association rules mining under the premise of protecting user privacy, and provide the correlation degree between data, which has certain practical significance and application value.
A Quantitative Analysis of Facial Asymmetry in Torticollis Using 3-Dimensional Photogrammetry

Objective:To assess whether children with torticollis have quantifiably greater facial asymmetry than their age-matched controls using 3-dimensional (3D) photogrammetry.Design:We retrospectively an...
The Impact of Automation in the Post Office

The automation of mail processing involves a contradictory political process with many stakeholders. The primary goals of the postal automation program are to improve service while reducing labor costs. Several obstacles interfere with the achievement of these goals. Federal government demands that the post office contribute money to reduce the federal budget deficit limits the availability of funds to pay for automated technology. Rate incentives that support the privatization of mail processing take work away from the post office, reduce postal revenues, and leave existing automation equipment underutilized. The private presort industry also undercuts the post office since it pays employees much less than postal wages to prepare shipments of mail for distribution and delivery by the Postal Service.
Early Adult Obesity and U.S. Women's Lifetime Childbearing Experiences.

Literature from multiple disciplines suggests that women who are obese during early adulthood may accumulate social and physiological impediments to childbearing across their reproductive lives. This led the authors to investigate whether obese young women have different lifetime childbearing experiences than leaner peers by analyzing data from 1,658 female participants in the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Study sample members were nulliparous women ages 20 – 25 in 1982. The authors examined their childbearing experiences between 1982 and 2006 and found that young women who were obese at baseline had higher odds of remaining childless and increased odds of underachieving fertility intentions than young women who were normal weight at baseline. These results suggest that obesity has long-term ramifications for women’s childbearing experiences, with respect to whether and how many children women have in general and relative to the number of children they want.
Assessment of aged biodegradable polymer‐coated nano‐zero‐valent iron for degradation of hexahydro‐1,3,5‐trinitro‐1,3,5‐triazine (RDX)

BACKGROUND: This study reports on the effects of aging on suspension behavior of biodegradable polymer-coated nano-zero-valent iron (nZVI) and its degradation rates of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) under reductive conditions. The polymers investigated included guar gum, potato starch, alginic acid (AA), and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). Polymer coating was used to mitigate nZVI delivery hindrance for in situ treatment of RDX-contaminated groundwater. RESULTS: The RDX degradation rates by bare nZVI and starch-coated nZVI suspensions were least affected by aging although these suspensions exhibited the least favorable dispersion behavior. CMC, AA, and guar gum coating improved nZVI rates of degradation of RDX but these rates decreased upon aging. The best suspension stability upon aging was achieved by CMC and AA. Guar gum with loadings rates one order of magnitude lower than that of CMC and AA achieved good iron stabilization but significantly higher RDX degradation rates. CONCLUSION: It is demonstrated that both migration and reactivity of polymer-stabilized nZVI should be explicitly evaluated over a long period before application in the field. Guar gum coated nZVI appeared best suited for in situ application because it maintained good suspension stability, with RDX degradation rates least affected by aging compared with the other polymers tested. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry
Environmental Concern of Labor Union Members in the United States

The labor and environmental movements have had a complicated relationship with periods of cooperation as well as conflict, but recently there has been increasing collaboration at the national level...
Public Goods and Externalities Aspects of Internet Security: Modeling the Spill-Over Effects of Interrelated Risks and Solutions

Is Internet security a public good? How should society handle the spill-over effects arising from the interrelatedness of Internet risks? What role, if any, does police enforcement play? What optimal combination of each of these security measures – police enforcement, and individual investments in both private and non-rivalrous security goods – should be used to effectively combat cybercrimes? In this paper, I argue that some, but not all, investments in security have the nature of public goods. Thus, I attempt to model the situation where firms invest in both private and public security goods. Furthermore, I include public enforcement of law in my model. Thus, I study a model where crimes are addressed through a combination of private and public measures. By so doing, I hope to capture the substitutability between the private and public responses, and determine the optimal combination of these approaches. Lastly, my model seeks to capture the interrelatedness of risks in the Internet. In sum, in this paper, I study a model that combines all of these elements: private investments in security; investments in security that have the nature of public goods; externalities; and public enforcement of law. I find that the socially-optimal level of security is achieved by equalizing the marginal-benefit-to-marginal-cost ratios of each of the three alternatives – private security investment, non-rivalrous security investment, and law enforcement measures. Furthermore, the interrelatedness of Internet risks causes individual firms to underinvest in private and public security goods. The government thus decidedly lowers the level of police enforcement expenditures in order to induce firms to invest more in individual precautions. I also find that, under certain conditions, cooperation results in socially-optimal levels of expenditures in private and public security goods expenditures. The Shapley (1953) value can be used as a criterion for allocating the costs and benefits among the members of a security cooperative. Several simulations illustrate the results of the model under several scenarios.
Two-Dimensional Calculation of Sequential Electron Layer Formation by Crossed Microwave Beams in Air at Low Pressure

Laboratory chamber experiments in low-pressure (0.1–10 Torr) air with long-pulse (150–600 ns), 2.856 GHz crossed microwave beams, created by reflection of an incident beam from a metal plate inclined at 45°, have shown that multiple, luminous electron density layers form toward the source of the incident beam.1 Previous two-dimensional calculations2 of microwave air breakdown in a rectangular waveguide with full resolution of each cycle of the driving electric field required Cray 1 computation times of about 0.5 hr/ns for runs of up to 20 ns of simulation time. To simulate chamber experiments with pulses of 150–600 ns duration, computation times with full-cycle resolution must be expected to be 75–300 hours per run. Because these are prohibitive run times, a code, which follows only the pulse envelope, has been developed to reduce computation time. This envelope approximation is an extension of the one-dimensional technique for atmospheric microwave propagation reported previously.3
Further Studies with Seedlings on the Question of Wavelength Dependence of Radiobiological Reactions

The question of whether there is a wavelength dependence among radiobiological reactions when high energy radiations (therapeutic x-rays and gamma rays) are used is not yet settled. Evidence both for and against the idea of differential wavelength effects is available in the literature, which has been reviewed elsewhere (1 and 2), so that the problem at present is one of obtaining more trustworthy evidence. For the past several years, investigations have been carried out in this laboratory on a number of different test objects and what appears to be definite positive evidence was observed in the responses of Lycopersicum and Triticum , seedlings. Three types of experiments were consistent in showing that growth in Lycopersicum was retarded to a greater extent by the harder (shorter wavelength) radiations (Henshaw and Francis, 3) than in Triticum . These experiments consisted of ( a ) direct comparison of the responses of these organisms to 200 kv, x-rays and gamma rays; ( b ) comparison of the amount of back-scattered radiation from a paraffin phantom detected by the two organisms when 200 kv. x-rays were used; and ( c ) comparison of depth dose curves obtained when the organisms were irradiated at various levels in a paraffin phantom using both 200 kv. x-rays and gamma rays.
Supporting mission-critical applications over multi-service networks

Future government IP networks must satisfy mission-critical QoS requirements that are introduced by high-priority customers. A prime example includes the Multi-level Precedence and Preemption (MLPP)-like requirements. This paper will focus on the challenges in satisfying these needs in future government IP networks.