cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Altered hamstring-quadriceps muscle balance in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Abstract Background. To compare hamstring to quadriceps muscle coactivity during level walking, stair ascent, and stair decent between individuals with and without knee osteoarthritis. Methods. In a cross-sectional study, subjects with grade II knee osteoarthritis ( n = 26), healthy age- and gender-matched ( n = 20) and healthy, young adults ( n = 20) performed three activities of daily living. During the stance phase of these activities surface electromyography was measured. Two coactivity ratios were computed, the biceps femoris to vastus lateralis ratio and the ratio of the biceps femoris EMG activity relative to the EMG activity measured during contraction- and velocity-specific maximal voluntary biceps femoris contraction, i.e., biceps femoris to maximal biceps femoris activity. Findings. Subjects with knee osteoarthritis had significantly higher coactivity than age-matched healthy adults and young adults and healthy adults had more coactivity than young adults regardless the type of coactivity ratio. The biceps femoris to vastus lateralis ratio yielded 25% higher coactivity value than the biceps femoris to maximal biceps femoris ratio ( P P Interpretation. Patients with knee osteoarthritis revealed increased hamstring muscle activation while executing activities of daily living. Altered muscle activation at the knee may interfere with normal load distribution in the knee and facilitate disease progression. Therapeutic interventions should focus not only on quadriceps strengthening but also on improving muscle balance at the knee.
Modern Spectroscopy, 4th ed. J. Michael Hollas. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004, 428 pp., $45.00, paperback. ISBN 0-470-84416-7.

As with many books like this, each chapter could be expanded into a book on its own, and there is always a struggle between what to include and what to exclude. In most cases, the author struck a good balance, making this book a fine addition to an experimentalist’s library. The book starts with a necessary review of quantum mechanics (on which all spectroscopy is based), then discusses the nature of light. The third chapter, one of the few that are more instrumentation than theory, …
The Orthogonality of Praise and Condemnation in Moral Judgment

The present studies examined whether the tendency to praise others for positive (i.e., moral) behaviors correlates with the tendency to condemn others for negative (i.e., immoral) behaviors. Across three studies, factor analyses revealed that these tendencies are orthogonal. The results refute the hypothesis that simply caring deeply about morality leads individuals to praise moral behaviors and condemn immoral ones. The research instead suggests that individuals who are most praising of positive behavior are not necessarily those who are most condemning of negative behavior, because orthogonal conceptions of morality influence each type of judgment. Although the tendency to condemn depends on how much one personally cares about morality (internalization), the tendency to praise seems to depend on one’s public moral persona (symbolization).
Effectiveness of a Brief Intervention on Latino Children's Social Acceptance of Peers with Special Needs.

Abstract Limited research has been conducted on effective school interventions that facilitate acceptance and promote friendships among typically developing peers and children with special needs. Moreover, less has been written about Latino/a children's friendships and attitudes toward peers with disabilities. We report here a multi-method study about the impact of a brief readaloud intervention on Latino/a children's attitudes and intentions to befriend peers with special needs. Data are presented for 78 Latino/a children recruited from seven 3rd and 4th grade classrooms at one urban elementary school in the Southwest. The effects of the intervention reached statistical significance and revealed a large effect size (ES = .82). Additionally, quantitative and qualitative findings support the hypothesis that, when compared with boys, Latina girls were more favorable toward children with disabilities before and after the intervention. Implications and recommendations for practice and future research are disc...
Restoration of Th1 Cytokine Synthesis by T Cells of Patients with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia in Cytogenetic and Hematologic Remission with Interferon-α

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a disorder of the hematopoietic stem cell that results in malignant expansion of myeloid cells with a cytogenetic abnormality, the translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22 known as the Philadelphia chromosome. Treatment with IFN-α has proven to be an effective therapy, inducing cytogenetic remission in CML patients. However, it is unknown whether IFN-α can restore normal immune function for patients who achieve a complete cytogenetic remission. To address this question, we used a method of intracellular staining and flow cytometric analysis to ascribe the syntheses of Th1 or Th2 cytokines to T-cell subsets of patients in chronic, in accelerated, and in blast crisis phases as well as patients who had achieved a complete cytogenetic remission with IFN-α. We assessed the cytoplasmic synthesis of cytokine in phorbol ester (phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate)-activated CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell subsets of 81 patients with various stages of CML and 21 normal controls. The percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from patients in chronic, in accelerated, and in blast crisis phases that synthesized Th1 cytokines interleukin (IL)-2, IFN-γ, and tumor necrosis factor-α were significantly lower than those of remission patients and normal controls. Conversely, the percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells of patients in chronic, in accelerated, and in blast crisis phases of CML preferentially synthesized the Th2 cytokine IL-10. Patients who achieved a durable complete cytogenetic remission for >2 years without maintenance IFN-α therapy restored their preference for a Th1 cytokine profile that is necessary for efficient cytotoxic T-cell function.
STAT5B deficiency: Impacts on human growth and immunity

Growth hormone (GH) promotes postnatal human growth primarily by regulating insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I production through activation of the GH receptor (GHR)-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)-5B signaling cascade. The critical importance of STAT5B in human IGF-I production was confirmed with the identification of the first homozygous, autosomal recessive, STAT5B mutation in a young female patient who phenotypically resembled patients with classical growth hormone insensitivity (GHI) syndrome (Laron syndrome) due to mutations in the GHR gene, presenting with severe postnatal growth failure and marked IGF-I deficiency. Of note, the closely related STAT5A, which shares >95% amino acid identity with STAT5B, could not compensate for loss of functional STAT5B. To date, 7 homozygous, inactivating, STAT5B mutations in 10 patients have been reported. STAT5B deficient patients, unlike patients deficient in GHR, can also present with a novel, potentially fatal, primary immunodeficiency, which can manifest as chronic pulmonary disease. STAT5B deficiency may be underestimated in endocrine, immunology and pulmonary clinics.
T-Cell Lymphoma

A 51-year-old female came to the dermatology clinic with a 20 year history of a rash on her trunk and inner arms that had previously been diagnosed as chronic dermatitis. Physical exam revealed that approximately 10% of her body surface was involved by red to brown scaly patches. No lymphadenopathy or hepatosplenomegaly was present. A biopsy of the involved skin was obtained. Complete blood count and peripheral blood flow cytometry were within normal limits.
CBT in Schools

As early as 1984, the ideal school psychologist was described as a “scientist practitioner” (Barlow, Hayes, & Nelson, 1984). The importance of science applied to practice has become part of the thinking of practitioners and it has become a critical component of the role of school psychologists outlined in the description of competencies found in School Psychology: A Blueprint for Training and Practice III in the following domains: Data-Based Decision Making and Accountability, and Enhancing the Development of Cognitive and Academic Skills (Tilly, 2008). Today, under the added impetus of No Child Left Behind 2001 (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA), there is a strong push to implement academic, behavioral, and social–emotional interventions that are supported by quality research. The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities has posted “Ten Parent & Educator-Friendly Educational Research Sites to Inform Evidence-Based Practice”(http://www.nichcy.org/blog/Lists/Categories/Category.aspx?Name=evidence-based%20practice). This site along with others assists practitioners in locating evidence-based interventions and programs.
The Changing Standard of Care Owed Licensees, Invitees and Trespassers: Mounsey v. Ellard

The courts had previously followed a strict regiment of analyzing what the status of a visitor to property was when determining the duty owed for injuries sustained there. Changing circumstances moved court to re-think this approach and use a more realistic one, such that someone like a firefighter responding to a fire on a premises who was injured could recover even though he may not fit the traditional status of an invitee.
More Tales Out of School: A Reply to Professor Griffin

In an earlier article, Talking Out of School, I considered what standards academics should follow in signing their names to briefs, submissions to legislatures, and other such public documents.The article was criticized by professor Stephen Griffin. This is a reply to Griffin's arguments.
Orbital effects in rare earth magnetism

Abstract Rare earth materials show a fascinating variety of magnetic behavior. This is true for the elemental metals, their alloys, and compounds. These lectures will emphasize those aspects of rare earth magnetic behavior in which the crystallattice acting through the large orbital contribution to the rare earth moments significantly affects the nature of the magnetic behavior. In addition to the rare earth elemental metals, certain rare earth intermetallic compounds where the cry s t al-ele c t ric-field profoundly alters the magnetic behavior will be discussed.
Evaluation of various antisera and gels for detection of hepatitis-associated antigen by immunodiffusion and immunoelectroosmophoresis tests.

Six antisera to hepatitis-associated antigen (HAA) were compared for sensitivity in detecting the antigen in gel diffusion and immunoelectroosmophoresis(IEOP) tests; these included three human antisera, two guinea pigantisera, and one horse antiserum. Gels and reagents from three commercial sources (Courtland, Hyland, and Spectra) and from this laboratory were compared for reliability in detecting HAA by gel diffusion and IEOP tests. In gel diffusion tests two human antisera, one distributed by the National Institutes of Health and one from this laboratory, were the most sensitive, detecting antigen in 83% of the sera positive by complement fixation (CF). Gels from Courtland Laboratories and this laboratory gave the greatest numbers of positive immunodiffusion reactions. The use of an enhancement pattern (testing each serum adjacent to a positive antigen) increased the sensitivity of the gel diffusion test for detecting HAA-positive sera from 57 to 83%. In IEOP tests, the three human antisera detected HAA in 91 to 95% of the sera positive by CF, and the animal antisera in only 83 to 84%. The importance of careful reading of tests was emphasized by the fact that the antiserum which gave the greatest number of positive reactions in both test systems showed the weakest lines of precipitate.
Serum lipids studied by electrophoresis on paper.

SummarySerum was subjected to electrophoresis on filter paper and the distribution of lipid studied by application to the paper strips of Sudan stains, the Schultz test, and other histochemical procedures. Two principal lipid bands, probably corresponding toβ andα lipoproteins, were recognized, the larger being in theβ-globulin region, and the smaller in the albumin zone. In some cases lipid apparently associated with little protein was also found at the point of application of the serum. The administration of heparin to human subjects, or its addition to serum, rapidly produced a change in the distribution of sudanophilic and Schultz-reacting lipid.
PRELIMINARY NUMERICAL SIMULATION FOR ARCTIC ATMOSPHERE BOUNDARY LAYER

The characteristics of polar atmosphere boundary layer have remarkable response to the flux variation at ocean-air interface in polar region.Both Ocean-Atmosphere-Ice Interactions (OAII)research and the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean(SHEBA)project show that the study of structure and physical characteristics of polar atmosphere boundary layer is very im- portant for learning ocean-air interface flux and polar environmental change.The research on the polar ocean-air interface flux and the polar atmosphere boundary layer is briefly introduced in this paper and the preliminary numerical simulations are carried out by using a simple one- dimensional K-closure model and an Arctic single-column model,respectively.The output data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast(ECMWF)model are used as the lateral forcing in the simulation and the results from the simulation are analyzed and com- pared with the SHEBA data in the paper.
Michigan dentists' attitudes toward Medicaid and an alternative public dental insurance system for children.

PURPOSE: Healthy Kids Dental (HKD) was created as a pilot program of the Michigan State Medicaid program to increase access to care for Medicaid-eligible children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate dentist's attitudes toward Healthy Kids Dental and Medicaid in Michigan. METHODS: An online survey was sent to practitioners with an e-mail address registered with the Michigan Dental Association (N=4,285). RESULTS: Surveys were returned from 965 practitioners (~23 percent). Although practitioners were not fully satisfied with the HKD, their satisfaction with the program was significantly higher than their satisfaction with the traditional Medicaid program (P<.001). Sixty-four percent of providers that accept Medicaid limit the number of children seen in some manner, while 28 percent of providers that accept HKD limit the number of children seen. Families with traditional Medicaid who contact an office are significantly less likely to receive treatment for their child than families with HKD insurance who contact the same office (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Practitioners were more satisfied with programmatic and patient-related factors of the Healthy Kids Dental program than they were with Medicaid. Dentists were more likely to treat children with HKD than children with Medicaid when the parent contacts a dentist in Michigan.
Developing research skills for medical school faculty.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The growth of family medicine as an academic discipline is closely linked to its capacity to generate new knowledge and research. Unfortunately, family medicine faculty report that they are unprepared and lack support to pursue research. This paper reviews what is known about preparing faculty for research roles and suggests steps that the profession and individuals can take to strengthen our research capacity.
Determination of Aflatoxin B1 in Smokeless Tobacco Products by Use of UHPLC-MS/MS

This work developed a UHPLC-MS/MS method for the detection and quantitation of aflatoxins in smokeless tobacco products, which was then used to determine aflatoxin B1 concentrations in 32 smokeless tobacco products commercially available in the United States. Smokeless tobacco products were dried, milled, and amended with (13)C17-labeled internal standards, extracted in water/methanol solution in the presence of a surfactant, isolated through use of immunoaffinity column chromatography, and reconstituted in mobile phase prior to UHPLC-MS/MS analysis. The method was capable of baseline separation of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2 in a 2.5 min run by use of a fused core C18 column and a water/methanol gradient. MS/MS transition (m/z) 313.3 → 241.2 was used for aflatoxin B1 quantitation, with 313.3 → 285.1 used for confirmation. The limit of detection (LOD) for aflatoxin B1 was 0.007 parts per billion (ppb). Method imprecision for aflatoxin B1 (expressed as coefficient of variation) ranged from 5.5 to 9.4%. Spike recoveries were 105-111%. Aflatoxin B1 concentrations in the smokeless tobacco products analyzed ranged from <LOD to 0.271 ppb (dry mass). Aflatoxin B1 was most frequently detected in dry snuffs and chews, whereas all moist snuff products tested were below LOD. The amounts of aflatoxin B1 detected were low relative to the 20 ppb regulatory limit established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for foods and feeds.
Movement rehabilitation: are the principles of re-learning in the recovery of function the same as those of original learning?

AbstractThis paper addresses the change in movement dynamics in rehabilitation through discussing issues that pertain to the question as to whether the principles of re-learning in functional recovery are the same as those of original learning. The many varieties of disease and injury states lead to significant differences in the constraints to action and these impairments in turn influence the pathway of change in re-learning and/or recovery of function. These altered constraints channel the effectiveness of many conditions and strategies of practice that influence learning and performance. Nevertheless, it is proposed that there is a small set of principles for the change in dynamics of motor learning, which drive the continuously evolving stability and instability of movement forms through the lifespan. However, this common set of dynamical principles is realized in individual pathways of change in the movement dynamics of learning, re-learning and recovery of function. The inherent individual differen...
Chapter 1 Neuromodulation and the hippocampus: memory function and dysfunction in a network simulation

Publisher Summary Neuromodulators, such as acetylcholine, norepinephrine and serotonin, alter the functional state of cortical networks by changing the processing characteristics of cortical neurons. This chapter presents the evidences for the functioning of the neuromodulatory changes. Computational modeling of the cellular effects of modulators suggests a behavioral role for the state changes. The changes in acetylcholine levels are particularly relevant to a current theory of memory involving two functional stages of memory formation. In the first stage, during active waking, information processed according to existing cortical representations is rapidly encoded in the hippocampus in an intermediate term episodic representation. This involves a strong feed forward influence of neocortex on hippocampus, with weaker feedback for the ongoing retrieval during waking (stored memories are only evoked by new afferent input). In the second stage, during quiet waking and slow-wave sleep, there is stronger feedback influence of hippocampus on neocortex, and spontaneous reactivation of stored memory representations even without afferent input. Activity then spreads from the hippocampus back to the neocortex, mediating a gradual consolidation of memories, (formation of semantic or long-term episodic memory in the neocortex).
Preservation of gonadal function in women undergoing chemotherapy: a review of the potential role for gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists

A cancer diagnosis in women of reproductive age has unique medical and psychosocial ramifications, especially with treatments that are known to cause gonadal toxicity. For patients who undergo chemotherapy, a multidisciplinary team approach is essential to ensure that the patients' reproductive wishes are addressed. Currently, embryo and oocyte cryopreservation are the standard of care for those who wish to preserve their fertility. The use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists has been a source of debate with numerous studies that have investigated the efficacy on both fertility and ovarian function preservation. This review evaluates the current literature on the use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists for preservation of gonadal function. Assisted reproductive technology is excellent for preservation of fertility but will not protect gonadal function. Protection of gonadal function is critical for the broader issues of health and quality of life as a result of a hypogonadal state. At this moment, gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists are the only drug class available to protect gonadal function.
Risk factors for failure to detect a cancer during clinical breast examinations (United States).

Background: Although clinical breast examinations (CBEs) provide important opportunities to detect breast cancer, little is known about factors that affect cancer detection during CBEs performed in community settings. To evaluate several potential factors, we analyzed data from 1,056,153 cancer screening records reported to the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP). Methods: Using case-series methods, we compared 2159 cancers missed during CBEs with 3161 cancers detected during CBEs. Cancers missed during CBE were found by mammography and confirmed by biopsy or fine needle aspiration. Results: After controling for cancer stage, tumor size, and breast symptoms at time of CBE, we found that patient age and CBE history were significantly associated with the likelihood of cancer detection. Compared to women 50–59, women 40–49 were more likely to have their cancer detected during CBE (odds ratio (OR) = 1.84, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.47–2.29), while women 70 and older were less likely to have it detected (OR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.55–1.00). Among women receiving their first NBCCEDP-funded CBE, 67.5% had their cancer detected by CBE. Among women receiving their second or third CBE, the values were 59.3 and 48.8%, respectively. In an adjusted logistic model, a significant inverse relationship was observed between number of prior CBEs and percent of cancers detected in the index CBE (OR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.72–0.88). Conclusions: Among women diagnosed with breast cancer, older women and those who have had multiple CBEs were more likely to have their cancer missed during CBE.
Capacity and delay aware routing in Hybrid Wireless-Optical Broadband Access Network

Hybrid wireless-optical broadband access network (WOBAN) optimizes the cost and performance of an access network. We design a capacity and delay aware routing scheme, CaDAR, that can support much higher load and has lower system delay than other approaches because of better load balanced routing.
Ethical, Legal, and Professional Issues in Marriage and Family Therapy

In order to study ethics in marriage and family therapy, we do not stray from family systems theory (see Chapter 2 ). Our understanding of therapeutic situations must look at the whole situation, as well as the parts and stakeholders in each situation. Meanings and values are part and parcel of ethical clinical practice and lead us toward our vision of what healing should look like in family therapy. In this chapter, we will focus on how ethics and legal issues affect the practice and profession of marriage and family therapy. As you learn about ethics, you will begin to understand about the pieces of ethical decision making, but also the whole of how these decisions can affect clinical work.
Critical Material Attributes of Strip Films Loaded With Poorly Water-Soluble Drug Nanoparticles: II. Impact of Polymer Molecular Weight

Recent work established polymer strip films as a robust platform for delivery of poorly water-soluble drug particles. However, a simple means of manipulating rate of drug release from films with minimal impact on film mechanical properties has yet to be demonstrated. This study explores the impact of film-forming polymer molecular weight (MW) and concentration on properties of polymer films loaded with poorly water-soluble drug nanoparticles. Nanoparticles of griseofulvin, a model Biopharmaceutics Classification System class II drug, were prepared in aqueous suspension via wet stirred media milling. Aqueous solutions of 3 viscosity grades of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (14, 21, and 88 kDa) at 3 viscosity levels (∼9500, ∼12,000, and ∼22,000 cP) were mixed with drug suspension, cast, and dried to produce films containing griseofulvin nanoparticles. Few differences in film tensile strength or elongation at break were observed between films within each viscosity level regardless of polymer MW despite requiring up to double the time to achieve 100% drug release. This suggests film-forming polymer MW can be used to manipulate drug release with little impact on film mechanical properties by matching polymer solution viscosity. In addition, changing polymer MW and concentration had no negative impact on drug content uniformity or nanoparticle redispersibility.
Identification of Differentially Expressed Genes in Mice with Nutritional or Genetic Causes of Iron Overload

Iron overload causes the generation of reactive oxygen species, which can lead to lasting organ damage, particularly to the liver. In patients with hereditary hemochromatosis, transfusion-dependent anemias, and hemoglobinopathies, iron overload is a major cause of mortality. A deeper understanding of iron regulation and the biological pathways involved in maintaining homeostasis may reveal new therapeutic targets for patients with iron overload disorders. We designed this study to discover genes that are differentially expressed in nutritional and genetic models of iron overload. For the nutritional iron overload study, 5-week old male C57BL/6 mice were placed on a soy-free diet (AIN-93G) containing different amounts of iron per kilogram of food: iron-deficient (2.5 mg/kg, n=3), iron-sufficient (37.5 mg/kg, n=3), and iron-excess (750 mg/kg, n=3). In the second study, 5-week old male C57BL/6 mice that were either wild type or HJV knockout mice that exhibited severe early onset iron overload secondary to homozygous deficiency of the bone morphogenic protein coreceptor, hemojuvelin ( HJV ), were maintained on the iron-deficient (2.5 mg/kg iron) diet (n=2 per group). For both studies animals were sacrificed after 50 days and liver RNA was extracted and sequenced at 40-50 million reads per sample. The RNA integrity number (RIN) for each sample was >6 and assessments of read duplication, base call frequency, and read quality indicated excellent quality of the data. For the HJV knockout mice, we used a false discovery rate 2, to reveal genes that were differentially expressed compared to wild type mice. For the dietary iron study, genes were grouped by self-organizing maps to identify transcripts whose level of expression trended with increased or decreased dietary iron intake. The resulting analysis identified 148 genes in nutritionally iron-overloaded mice and 688 genes in HJV knockout mice that exhibited significant changes in expression. Of these, 28 genes were differentially regulated in both nutritionally iron overloaded and HJV knockout mice, including expected genes, such as transferrin receptor , HAMP ( hepcidin ), and bone morphogenic protein 6 , and unexpected genes such as cytochrome P450 17a1 ( cyp17a1 ), an enzyme that catalyzes critical steps in steroid synthesis, and nicotinomide N-methyltransferase ( nnmt ), an enzyme that regulates drug metabolism and DNA methylation. We clustered the 688 differentially expressed genes from the HJV knockout mice into functional pathways using the Functional Analysis tool from DAVID Bioinformatics Resources 6.7 (NIAID). Clusters were considered significant if there were >2 genes in the pathway and the Benjamini-Hochberg P-value was HJV knockout mice compared to wild-type mice. Our RNA sequencing analysis identified a variety of novel pathways that were differentially regulated in dietary and genetic models of iron overload. Further studies are underway to characterize the potential roles of these genes in iron homeostasis. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Model Order Reduction of Large-Scale Metasurfaces Using a Hierarchical Dipole Approximation

Advances in the field of metasurfaces require simulation of large-scale metasurfaces that extend over many light wavelengths. Adopting standard numerical methods leads to models featuring a large number of degrees of freedom, which are prohibitive to solve within a time window compatible with the design workflow. Therefore, this demands developing the techniques to replace large-scale computational models with simpler ones, still capable of capturing the essential features but imposing a fraction of the initial computational costs. In this work, we present a simulation approach in order to handle reduced order analyses of large-scale metasurfaces of arbitrary elements. We use the discrete dipole approximation in conjunction with the discrete complex image method and hierarchical matrix construction as a common theoretical framework for dipole approximation in the hierarchy of individual elements and the array scale. We extract the contributions of multipoles in the scattering spectra of the nanoantennas f...
Religiosity, religious acceptance, social interaction, and satisfaction with university experience:

We tested a mediated moderation model with the interaction of students’ degree of religiosity and perception of the university environment as accepting of one’s religion predicting satisfaction with the university mediated by positive social relations. When the university was perceived as accepting of one’s religion (vs less accepting), greater religiosity predicted more positive relations with other students and greater university satisfaction. The model was supported with social interactions mediating the relationship between the interaction of religiosity and perceived environment and satisfaction with one’s university experience.
Topsoil removal through scarification improves natural regeneration in high‐graded Nothofagus old‐growth forests

1.High grading by removing the majority of trees with superior timber quality has led to loss of productivity and biodiversity in forests. Typically, after high grading, little attention is given to tree regeneration. Thus, undesirable understory vegetation often dominates for a long time, leading to stagnation in forest recovery and so-called arrested succession. In such settings, managing understory vegetation using topsoil removal through scarification has been proposed as a restoration tool to encourage tree regeneration. 2.We investigated the effectiveness of topsoil removal as a restoration technique in high-graded Nothofagus old-growth forests in the Chilean Andes. In these forests, high grading often leads to understories being dominated by dense thickets of native bamboo, Chusquea culeou. These understory conditions typically delay succession by preventing tree regeneration. 3.T-tests were used to compare vegetation development in areas with topsoil removal against those without. Non-parametric multiplicative regression (NPMR) was used to investigate which environmental variables were mainly related to regeneration of different plant groups (short and long-lived early and late-seral tree species) and C. culeou abundance in areas with and without topsoil removal. 4.Topsoil removal improved the regeneration of early-seral tree species and constrained C. culeou. In areas without topsoil scarification, higher abundances of C. culeou were reflected in a higher transmitted radiation and litter cover. In these areas, the presence of early-seral tree species was related to higher soil water content and transmitted radiation. However, topsoil removal altered these response patterns for early-seral trees. For instance, the interaction between higher soil water content and more exposed mineral soil was reflected in a higher likelihood of finding early-seral tree seedlings. 5.Synthesis and applications. Topsoil removal was a successful restoration tool for overcoming arrested succession in Nothofagus old-growth forests in the Chilean Andes by encouraging the regeneration of early-seral trees in high-graded forests. Contrasting environmental conditions of pre- and post-topsoil removal allowed insights into the processes and mechanisms responsible for forests with arrested succession and for succession progression. This understanding provides guidance regarding the range of conditions under which topsoil removal can be used as a successful restoration practice. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Social Influence and the Creation of New Markets for Information Goods: A DynamicNetwork Perspective

Given that tastes differ in different markets, how do producers in one market begin to export to other markets? Is it better to be insulated from or influenced by products from outside? I seek an answer to this question by modeling international trade in music recordings as a macroscopic communication network and study its evolution between 1976 and 2006. I find that being influenced by imports does increase the probability of successfully developing new export markets, but only to other countries that have also been influenced by the same imports. I argue that selling in a market changes what is valued in that market, and that new market development can be seen as a consequence of having social influences in common.
Psychostimulants As Cognitive Enhancers in Adolescents: More Risk than Reward?

Methylphenidate and other psychostimulants, originally developed to treat ADHD, are increasingly abused by healthy adolescents and adults seeking an advantage in scholastic performance and work productivity. However, how these drugs may affect cognitive performance, especially in the young brain, remains unclear. Here we review recent literature and emphasize the risks of abuse of psychostimulants in healthy adolescents and young adults. We conclude that while the desire for cognitive enhancement, particularly with rising costs of education and increasingly competitive nature of scholarship programs, is unlikely to diminish in the near future, it is crucial for the scientific community to thoroughly examine the efficacy and safety of these stimulants in healthy populations across development. The current dearth of knowledge on the dose-response curve, metabolism, and cognitive outcomes in adolescents following methylphenidate or other psychostimulant exposure may be perpetuating a perception of these drugs as “safe” when that might not be true for developing brains.
Fly-by-logic: control of multi-drone fleets with temporal logic objectives

The problem of safe planning and control for multi-drone systems across a variety of missions is of critical importance, as the scope of tasks assigned to such systems increases. In this paper, we present an approach to solve this problem for multi-quadrotor missions. Given a mission expressed in Signal Temporal Logic (STL), our controller maximizes robustness to generate trajectories for the quadrotors that satisfy the STL specification in continuous-time. We also show that the constraints on our optimization guarantees that these trajectories can be tracked nearly perfectly by lower level off-the-shelf position and attitude controllers. Our approach avoids the oversimplifying abstractions found in many planning methods, while retaining the expressiveness of missions encoded in STL allowing us to handle complex spatial, temporal and reactive requirements. Through experiments, both in simulation and on actual quadrotors, we show the performance, scalability and real-time applicability of our method.
Comparison of background normalization methods for text-independent speaker verification.

This paper compares two approaches to background model representation for a text-independent speaker verification task using Gaussian mixture models. We compare speaker-dependent background speaker sets to the use of a universal, speaker-independent background model (UBM). For the UBM, we describe how Bayesian adaptation can be used to derive claimant speaker models, providing a structure leading to significant computational savings during recognition. Experiments are conducted on the 1996 NIST Speaker Recognition Evaluation corpus and it is clearly shown that a system using a UBM and Bayesian adaptation of claimant models produces superior performance compared to speaker-dependent background sets or the UBM with independent claimant models. In addition, the creation and use of a telephone handset-type detector and a procedure called hnorm is also described which shows further, large improvements in verification performance, especially under the difficult mismatched handset conditions. This is believed to be the first use of applying a handset-type detector and explicit handset-type normalization for the speaker verification task.
Polymer coated gold-ferric oxide superparamagnetic nanoparticles for theranostic applications

Engineered inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) are essential components in the development of nanotechnologies. For applications in nanomedicine, particles need to be functionalized to ensure a good dispersibility in biological fluids. In many cases however, functionalization is not sufficient: the particles become either coated by a corona of serum proteins or precipitate out of the solvent. We show that by changing the coating of magnetic iron oxide NPs using poly-l-lysine (PLL) polymer the colloidal stability of the dispersion is improved in aqueous solutions including water, phosphate buffered saline (PBS), PBS with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and cell culture medium, and the internalization of the NPs toward living mammalian cells is profoundly affected. A multifunctional magnetic NP is designed to perform a near-infrared (NIR)-responsive remote control photothermal ablation for the treatment of breast cancer. In contrast to the previously reported studies of gold (Au) magnetic (Fe3O4) core–shell NPs, a Janus-like nanostructure is synthesized with Fe3O4 NPs decorated with Au resulting in an approximate size of 60 nm mean diameter. The surface of trisoctahedral Au–Fe3O4 NPs was coated with a positively charged polymer, PLL to deliver the NPs inside cells. The PLL–Au–Fe3O4 NPs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), XRD, FT-IR and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The unique properties of both Au surface plasmon resonance and superparamagnetic moment result in a multimodal platform for use as a nanothermal ablator and also as a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent, respectively. Taking advantage of the photothermal therapy, PLL–Au–Fe3O4 NPs were incubated with BT-474 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, investigated for the cytotoxicity and intracellular uptake, and remotely triggered by a NIR laser of ~ 808 nm (1 W/cm2 for 10 min). The PLL coating increased the colloidal stability and robustness of Au–Fe3O4 NPs (PLL–Au–Fe3O4) in biological media including cell culture medium, PBS and PBS with 10% fetal bovine serum. It is revealed that no significant (< 10%) cytotoxicity was induced by PLL–Au–Fe3O4 NPs itself in BT-474 and MDA-MB-231 cells at concentrations up to 100 μg/ml. Brightfield microscopy, fluorescence microscopy and TEM showed significant uptake of PLL–Au–Fe3O4 NPs by BT-474 and MDA-MB-231 cells. The cells exhibited 40 and 60% inhibition in BT-474 and MDA-MB-231 cell growth, respectively following the internalized NPs were triggered by a photothermal laser using 100 μg/ml PLL–Au–Fe3O4 NPs. The control cells treated with NPs but without laser showed < 10% cell death compared to no laser treatment control Combined together, the results demonstrate a new polymer gold superparamagnetic nanostructure that integrates both diagnostics function and photothermal ablation of tumors into a single multimodal nanoplatform exhibiting a significant cancer cell death.
Acute Sport Concussion Assessment Optimization: A Prospective Assessment from the CARE Consortium.

Numerous medical organizations recommend a multifaceted approach to the assessment of concussion occurring during sporting events. A number of tools are available to clinicians, with a wide breadth of sensitivity and specificity; however, little work has been done to evaluate the combined efficiency of these tools in concussed male and female athletes from a broad array of collegiate sports and with variable time from the pre-season baseline evaluation. The aim of this study was to optimize the concussion assessment battery for application within the first 72 h of injury, and to identify the necessary baseline retesting frequency. Between 2014 and 2017, a total of 1458 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes sustaining 1640 diagnosed concussions completed a baseline assessment each year of the investigation and were evaluated up to three times within the first 72 h of injury using a standardized assessment protocol. Classification and regression tree analyses were implemented to identify the most efficient multifaceted assessment pathway to quantify concussion-related outcomes. Results were optimized for assessments occurring within 1 h post-injury, 1–24 h post-injury, and 24–72 h post-injury when using the raw post-injury assessment performance, difference scores from baseline evaluations occurring in the same year, and difference scores from baseline evaluations occurring the year prior. At each of the assessment time points, the analyses indicated that alone or in combination, a symptom evaluation, Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) scores collected on the firm surface, and Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC) total score offered the best overall performance when compared with pre-morbid performance captured in the same season. Optimized sensitivity of the multifaceted approach was 61% within 1 h of injury, 67% at the 1–24 h interval, and 55% at the 24–72 h interval when difference scores from the same-season baseline were available. This investigation identified key concussion assessments in quantifying post-concussion performance among student athletes, that were maximized when same-season pre-morbid evaluations were available. Consistent with clinical recommendations, medical professionals should continue to focus on symptom reporting, postural control, and neurocognitive screening to support the clinical examination when making a concussion diagnosis.
Comparative Effectiveness of Chemotherapy, Rituximab, and Bendamustine in Medicare Beneficiaries With Mantle-Cell Lymphoma.

Abstract Background Over the past 2 decades, rituximab, bortezomib, and bendamustine have been approved to treat mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL). To date, few studies have evaluated the comparative effectiveness of these novel agents. Therefore, this study evaluated the comparative effectiveness of those novel agents in elderly patients newly diagnosed with MCL. Patients and Methods All newly diagnosed MCL patients aged 66 or older were identified from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER)-Medicare databases from 1999 to 2013. Patients were categorized into 4 groups on the basis of their first-line treatment regimens: chemotherapy alone, rituximab ± chemotherapy, bortezomib ± chemotherapy, and bendamustine ± chemotherapy. Multivariable proportional hazard regressions with 1-year follow-up from treatment were performed to compare the all-cause, MCL-specific, and noncancer mortality rates. Sensitivity analyses using propensity score–adjusted and instrumental variable–adjusted regressions were also conducted. Results A total of 1215 MCL patients were included. The bortezomib group was not included in the primary analyses because of the small sample size (n = 24). On multivariable analyses, the rituximab group showed significant decrease in both 1-year all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.38, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.25-0.59) and MCL-specific mortality (HR = 0.38; 95% CI, 0.24-0.60) compared to the chemotherapy-alone group. The bendamustine group showed significant decrease in 1-year MCL-specific mortality (HR = 0.49; 95% CI, 0.24-0.99) compared to the chemotherapy-alone group. The results from sensitivity analyses were similar to those from primary analyses. Conclusion For elderly patients with newly diagnosed MCL, rituximab-based regimen and bendamustine-based regimen as first-line treatment significantly decreased 1-year mortality rates compared to chemotherapy alone.
On the perturbation of an L2-orthogonal projection

Abstract The L 2 -orthogonal projection onto a subspace is an important mathematical tool, which has been widely applied in many fields such as linear least squares problems, eigenvalue problems, ill-posed problems, and randomized algorithms. In some numerical applications, the entries of a matrix will seldom be known exactly, so it is necessary to develop some bounds to characterize the effects of the uncertainties caused by matrix perturbation. In this paper, we establish new perturbation bounds for the L 2 -orthogonal projection onto the column space of a matrix, which involve upper (lower) bounds and combined upper (lower) bounds. The new bounds contain some sharper counterparts of the existing ones. Numerical examples are also given to illustrate our theoretical results.
Exploring heterogeneous pedestrian stream characteristics at walking facilities with different angle intersections

Abstract While individuals with disabilities constitute a significant portion of the population in the United States, they are often neglected in pedestrian studies due to lack of available data. Understanding the relationships among heterogeneous pedestrian flow characteristics involving individuals with and without disabilities can improve the design and planning for walking facilities. The objective of this research is to propose a density–speed model for a bidirectional pedestrian stream and examine it for various walking environments with different intersecting angles (90°, 135°, and 180°). To calibrate the proposed model, a set of large-scale controlled walking experiments was conducted at Utah State University and various one-directional and bi-directional flow combinations were examined. The properties of the calibrated model indicated that interaction effects drop with increases in walking facility angle. Moreover, the capacity of walking facilities is reduced with increases in the structure angle. Specifically, the results revealed that 180°, 135°, and 90°operate at 78%, 79%, and 82% of maximum capacity under a balanced bi-directional flow.
(Hydr)oxo-bridged heme complexes: From structure to reactivity

Iron–porphyrins (i.e., hemes) are present throughout the biosphere and perform a wide range of functions, particularly those that involve complex multiple-electron redox processes. Some common heme...
Multidisciplinary approach to management of severe lymphedema with one-stage radical excision and split-thickness skin grafting: Report of two cases

Abstract Surgical intervention for severe lymphedema is reserved for failure of conservative management. The reductive approach aims to remove fibrosclerotic tissue acquired from prolonged lymphatic stasis. One such reductive approach is the modified Charles procedure, direct circumferential excision down to fascia followed by split-thickness skin graft application. The 1-year outcomes in our patients suggest that a multidisciplinary approach to the modified Charles procedure is an effective management option for severe lymphedema refractory to conservative therapy.
RECURRENT CHYLOPERICARDIUM FOLLOWING SVC LACERATION: A UNIQUE LOCATION OF LYMPHATIC INJURY

Chylopericardium is a rare cause of pericardial effusion secondary to lymphatic injury or obstruction, usually involving the thoracic duct. A 57 year-old female presented with acute dyspnea. She was hypotensive and tachycardic with a lactate of 3.2 mmol/L. She has a history of idiopathic VT with