cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 1699: Differential aggregation rates and therapeutic response of pancreatic cancer cell lines to sigma-2 receptor activation in 3D culture

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly forms of cancer, with overall 5-year survival rates under 20%. The only cure for this type of cancer is surgical, however this option is rarely available due in part to detection that is typically late in the progression of the disease. The aim of this study was to understand the differences in progression between L3.6, PANC-1, and M1A-PaCa-2 cells as representatives of varied levels of metastatic character through aggregation analysis in 3D cell culture. It is well established that 3D culture more closely mimics the in vivo condition, as the cells adhere to each other forming “microtumors” as opposed to being attached to a plastic substratum as is the case with standard 2D cell culture. We also examined the effectiveness of a novel target for chemotherapeutic intervention in these cell lines in 3D culture. The sigma-2 receptor is highly upregulated in rapidly proliferating cancer tissues as compared to non-cancerous tissue, and induces apoptosis when activated. We previously reported the ability of the sigma-2 receptor partial agonist CM572 (sigma-2 Ki = 14.7 nM) to induce apoptosis in PANC-1 pancreatic carcinoma cells in standard 2D culture (Nicholson et al., Proc. Amer. Assoc. Cancer Res. 74: #3237, 2014). Here, we measured the aggregation rate and sigma-2 agonist sensitivity of L3.6, a highly metastatic cell line, in comparison to M1A-PaCa-2 and PANC-1 cells, which are both significantly less aggressive. The sigma-2 receptor agonist siramesine (Ki = 0.12nM) was found to induce cell death in 3D tumor cell culture in all three pancreatic cancer cell lines. However, the potency was 30-50% of the potency observed in traditional 2D cultured cells. Interestingly, in 3D culture, L3.6 and PANC-1 cells both exhibited ∼45% of the maximal cell death that was achieved in 2D culture using the same dose of siramesine, and M1A-PaCa-2 cells exhibited ∼25% of the maximal 2D toxicity at this dose. Additionally, both siramesine and CM572 were able to slow aggregation of the pancreatic cancer cells. This data indicates that the sigma-2 receptor may provide a novel target for therapeutic intervention in pancreatic cancer, both for slowing progression of the disease and as a chemotherapeutic target. The data also indicate that cell-cell contact in 3D culture either modifies the sigma-2 receptor signaling process or that cells in 3D culture present more of a barrier for drug access to the tumor cells. Further studies are needed to examine these possibilities. Citation Format: Timothy Chou, Michaela Jacobs, Hilary Nicholson, Wayne D. Bowen. Differential aggregation rates and therapeutic response of pancreatic cancer cell lines to sigma-2 receptor activation in 3D culture. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 1699. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-1699
Noncompetitive Active Transport Exploiting Intestinal Transferrin Receptors for Oral Delivery of Proteins by Tunable Nanoplatform

Here we present a “thinking-outside-the-box”, tunable nanoplatform for oral delivery of proteins using insulin as a model protein. These nanosystems offer noncompetitive active transport exploiting transferrin receptors present in the intestine and permit tailored release in vivo. Such delivery approaches have the potential to individualize insulin therapy to a regimen that is compatible with the patient’s glucose profile.
Action Tremor Asymmetry Profile Does Not Aggregate in Families with Essential Tremor.

Background: Action tremor is the hallmark feature of essential tremor (ET). While the tremor typically is mildly asymmetric, in some patients, it is markedly asymmetric. There are few data on factors that influence this asymmetry. ET is also a highly familial disease. Whether the tremor asymmetry profile (i.e., differential expression of tremor in each arm in a given patient) is similar across family members is not known. The alternative possibility is that this feature is not heritable. There are no published data addressing this issue. The aim of this study was to determine whether the extent of action tremor asymmetry ran in ET families. Methods: ET probands and relatives were enrolled in a genetic study at Yale and Columbia Universities. An in-person evaluation included a videotaped neurological examination, including a detailed assessment of tremors. A senior movement disorders neurologist reviewed all videotaped examinations, and the severity of postural and kinetic arm tremors was rated on 12 examination items using a reliable rating scale. The tremor asymmetry index = right arm tremor score – left arm tremor score. We used a bivariate linear regression model to assess the predictors of the tremor asymmetry index in relatives; this model used the tremor asymmetry index in the proband as a primary predictor of interest. In an analysis of variance (ANOVA), we tested for heterogeneity across families in the tremor asymmetry index (i.e., to see whether there was a significant family effect). Results: There were 187 enrollees (59 probands, 128 affected relatives). In a bivariate linear regression model, the tremor asymmetry index in the proband was not a predictor of the tremor asymmetry index in their relatives (p = 0.66). In an ANOVA, family grouping did not explain a significant proportion of the total variance in the tremor asymmetry index (p = 0.56). Conclusions: Tremor asymmetry did not aggregate in families with ET. Therefore, this does not seem to be a disease feature that is heritable. These data will provide added value to the clinical dialogue, giving patients one more piece of information about the way the disease manifests within families.
Model-based analysis of the impact of diffuse radiation on CO2 exchange in a temperate deciduous forest

Abstract Clouds and aerosols increase the fraction of global solar irradiance that is diffuse light. This phenomenon is known to increase the photosynthetic light use efficiency (LUE) of closed-canopy vegetation by redistributing photosynthetic photon flux density (400–700 nm) from saturated, sunlit leaves at the top of the canopy, to shaded leaves deeper in the canopy. We combined a process-based carbon cycle model with 10 years of eddy covariance carbon flux measurements and other ancillary data sets to assess 1) how this LUE enhancement influences interannual variation in carbon uptake, and 2) how errors in modeling diffuse fraction affect predictions of carbon uptake. Modeled annual gross primary productivity (GPP) increased by ≈0.94% when observed levels of diffuse fraction were increased by 0.01 (holding total irradiance constant). The sensitivity of GPP to increases in diffuse fraction was highest when the diffuse fraction was low to begin with, and lowest when the diffuse fraction was already high. Diffuse fraction also explained significantly more of the interannual variability of modeled net ecosystem exchange (NEE), than did total irradiance. Two tested radiation partitioning models yielded over- and underestimates of diffuse fraction at our site, which propagated to over- and underestimates of annual NEE, respectively. Our findings highlight the importance of incorporating LUE enhancement under diffuse light into models of global primary production, and improving models of diffuse fraction.
Predicting neighborhood racial change in large US metropolitan areas, 1990–2010:

Neighborhoods in US metropolitan areas experienced dramatic changes in racial composition during the 1990s and again during the 2000s. We ask to what extent does the recent period of neighborhood r...
Cancer statistics, 2018

Each year, the American Cancer Society estimates the numbers of new cancer cases and deaths that will occur in the United States and compiles the most recent data on cancer incidence, mortality, and survival. Incidence data, available through 2014, were collected by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program; the National Program of Cancer Registries; and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. Mortality data, available through 2015, were collected by the National Center for Health Statistics. In 2018, 1,735,350 new cancer cases and 609,640 cancer deaths are projected to occur in the United States. Over the past decade of data, the cancer incidence rate (2005-2014) was stable in women and declined by approximately 2% annually in men, while the cancer death rate (2006-2015) declined by about 1.5% annually in both men and women. The combined cancer death rate dropped continuously from 1991 to 2015 by a total of 26%, translating to approximately 2,378,600 fewer cancer deaths than would have been expected if death rates had remained at their peak. Of the 10 leading causes of death, only cancer declined from 2014 to 2015. In 2015, the cancer death rate was 14% higher in non-Hispanic blacks (NHBs) than non-Hispanic whites (NHWs) overall (death rate ratio [DRR], 1.14; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.13-1.15), but the racial disparity was much larger for individuals aged <65 years (DRR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.29-1.32) compared with those aged ≥65 years (DRR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.06-1.09) and varied substantially by state. For example, the cancer death rate was lower in NHBs than NHWs in Massachusetts for all ages and in New York for individuals aged ≥65 years, whereas for those aged <65 years, it was 3 times higher in NHBs in the District of Columbia (DRR, 2.89; 95% CI, 2.16-3.91) and about 50% higher in Wisconsin (DRR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.56-2.02), Kansas (DRR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.25-1.81), Louisiana (DRR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.38-1.60), Illinois (DRR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.39-1.57), and California (DRR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.38-1.54). Larger racial inequalities in young and middle-aged adults probably partly reflect less access to high-quality health care. CA Cancer J Clin 2018;68:7-30. © 2018 American Cancer Society.
Prospective study comparing Xalatan® eye drops and two similar generics as to the efficacy and safety profile.

Purpose:To evaluate the efficacy and safety between two generic prostaglandins Lataz–Xalaprost (Greece) and the corresponding original drops (Xalatan®).Material and methods:In this prospective rand...
Dysfunctional Reactions to Unethical Behavior

This symposium examines reactions to unethical behavior. Four papers describe dysfunctional reactions of those who act unethically, those who are targets of unethical action, and those who observe ...
The Individual Good

In the first section of this chapter I will introduce the good in connection with organic human needs, and in the second section I will argue that there is an autonomous level of the human individual, whereby his needs require no justification beyond his efforts at their reduction. In a third section I shall try to show that what is peculiarly human is the continuance of the drives to reduce the needs long after they have in fact been effectively reduced, the source of human achievements but also of bad behavior. Then in a fourth section I will try to show that the attempts to reduce the needs involve the individual together with his fellows and their tools in a society. In a fifth section I will argue that the content of the individual conscience is a product of the disapproval by society of the excesses of individual need-reduction.
Steroid-induced, steroid-producing, and steroid-responsive tumors.

As an introduction to the chapters to follow, this report will aim to present certain hopefully provocative observations on the nature of steroid-related tumors in man and animals.
Neurological Impairment and Driving Ability

Determining when a patient is unfit to drive an automobile because of a neurological defect or disease is a difficult problem both for physicians and for the neuropsychologists they may consult. Driving has symbolic functions that far surpass the utilitarian value of the act itself; for example, it may represent independence, freedom, or masculinity. In addition, the blanket assertion that a patient should no longer drive, albeit a simple decision rule, may fail to address the varied situational demands of driving: the patient who cannot make the rapid decisions required for freeway driving during heavy traffic periods may well retain the capacity for driving to the grocery using-well known and little-traveled streets. Yet one always has lingering doubts—the situational demands of driving to the grocery increase dramatically when a neighborhood child chases a ball in front of an oncoming car.
Changes in soil microtopography by tillage with a cultivator sweep

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of sweep rake angle, speed, and operating depth on changes in microtopography. Such information is useful in sweep design and operation for ridge tillage. Parameters describing microtopography changes.are lateral soil shift, ridge height and change in mean surface height. A factorial arrangement of three pairs of sweeps operated at three speeds (5, 7 and 9 km/hr) and two depths (50 and 100 mm) were used to form ridges in five field blocks of varying moisture and soil type. Soil shift and ridge height were affected by both speed and tool geometry (a = .01). Higher speeds moved more soil into the ridges. A modified sweep with rake angle of 44° produced greater soil shift and higher ridges than the commercial sweeps with rake angles of 13.5° and 16° (a = .01). Comparing commercial sweeps, the 16° sweep produced a higher ridge (a = .05) and greater soil shift (a = .10) than did the 13.5° sweep. Change in surface height was significantly affected by tool depth (0£ = .01) and speed (a = .05) but not by tool geometry. Deeper operation created a higher soil surface. The relationship of change in surface height to speed was quadratic (a = .01).
Windows on the workplace : computers, jobs, and the organization of office work in the late twentieth century

In this eye-opening book, Joan Greenbaum tells the story of changes in management policies, work organization, and the design of office information systems from the 1950s to the present.Windows on the Workplacetakes us behind the news stories of the highly efficient, high-tech workplace and shows us the ways in which technologies computers, mobile phones, the internet have been adapted by management to reshape the way work is done. In tracing the introduction of new technologies, Greenbaum reveals how organizations use them to benefit from both increased profits and more intense control over the workforce.Windows on the Workplacetakes as its starting-point the experience of office workers and their own accounts of work. The book includes interviews with a wide range of workers, including young people entering workplaces in which the expectation of stable, long-term employment is no longer the norm. Greenbaum s approach is to locate their experiences and expectations within broader social and economic patterns, and to show how these patterns are constantly changing. The book traces the ways that freelance, part-time, and temporary work is created, and the form it takes as management outsources jobs around the world.This book also exposes the myth that technology alone determines the way work is organized and outsourced. Greenbaum s rapid-paced prose highlights how all office work, including programming and web development, is being divided up into smaller parcels so that organizations can outsource the divided jobs out to new sources of cheaper labor. In exposing the myths about how technologies are really created, she gives readers some insight into alternatives. This updated edition offers ample evidence about how internet related jobs, skills and pay scales are not increasing as the media claims, as well as how work-time has expanded to fill work/commuting/entertainment and home life."
The measurement of sleep by actigraphy: Direct comparison of 2 commercially available actigraphs in a nonclinical population

Study Objectives: To compare 2 commercially available actigraphs. Design: Subjects wore the Actiwatch® L and the Basic Mini-Motionlogger® for 2 nights. Setting: Naturalistic. Participants: 20 healthcare workers aged 24 to 64 years. Measurements: Measures included sleep latency, total sleep time, wake after sleep onset, and sleep efficiency. Actiwatch® L data were analyzed at 3 sensitivity settings. Results: The Mini-Motionlogger® reported more total sleep time, less wake after sleep onset, and greater sleep efficiency than the Actiwatch® L set at high sensitivity. It also reported more wake after sleep onset than the Actiwatch® L set at low sensitivity. Conclusions: Both devices achieved similar overall performance when the Actiwatch® L was set at medium sensitivity.
The cationic plastoquinone radical of the chloroplast water splitting complex: hyperfine splitting from a single methyl group determines the EPR spectral shape of signal II

Abstract The proposal that EPR Signal II in spinach chloroplasts is due to a plastoquinone cation radical (O'Malley, P.J. and Babcock, G.T. (1983) Biophys. J. 41, 315a) has been investigated in further detail. The similarity in spectral shape between Signal II and the 2-methyl-5-isopropylhydroquinone cation radical is shown to arise from hyperfine coupling to one methyl group for both radicals. A well-resolved four line EPR spectrum of approximate relative intensity 1:3:3:1 for membrane orientation parallel and perpendicular to the applied magnetic field direction also indicates that the partially resolved structure of Signal II is due to hyperfine interaction with one methyl group, i.e., the 2-CH3 group of the plastoquinone cation radical. The ENDOR band observed for this coupling is similar to that observed for methyl group bands of model quinone radicals. The principal hyperfine tensor values obtained for the methyl group interactions are A⊥ = 27.2 MHz and A  = 31.4 MHz . The large isotropic coupling value (28.6 MHz) of the plastoquinone cation radical's 2-methyl group in vivo indicates that the antisymmetric orbital is the sole contributor to the spin-density distribution of Signal II. The orientation data also suggest that the plastoquinone cation radical is oriented such that the C-CH3 bond direction, and hence the aromatic ring plane, lies perpendicular to the membrane plane.
Routine DFT testing in patients undergoing ICD implantation does not improve mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Defibrillation threshold (DFT) testing has been an integral part of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantation to confirm appropriate sensing of ventricular fibrillation and to establish an adequate safety margin for defibrillation. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding benefits of routine DFT testing. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to assess its mortality benefit. We searched MEDLINE for studies comparing mortality outcomes in ICD recipients who underwent DFT testing to those who did not. For the second analysis, studies comparing outcomes in patients with high- vs low-energy DFT were included. Odds ratio and standard errors were calculated, and inverse variance method in a random-effect model was used to combine effect sizes. Fifteen studies with 10,975 subjects comparing outcomes in patients who underwent routine DFT testing during ICD implantation and those who did not were included. There was no difference in the group that did not undergo DFT testing with regards to all-cause mortality (OR 0.935; CI 0.725-1.207; P = 0.606), cardiac mortality (OR 0.709; CI 0.385-1.307; P = 0.271), noncardiac mortality (OR 0.921; CI 0.701-1.210; P = 0.554), and arrhythmic mortality (OR 1.152; CI 0.831-1.596; P = 0.396). Percentage of successful appropriate first shocks among the two groups showed no difference. Five studies with 2278 subjects were included in the second analysis comparing patients with low DFT vs high DFT. Patients with high DFT had no significant increase in all-cause mortality compared to patients with low DFT (OR 0.527; CI 0.034-8.107; P = 0.646). Patients requiring higher DFT had no increased all-cause mortality compared to patients with lower DFT. Routine DFT testing during ICD implantation does not confer any significant benefit.
Using ring-recovery and within-season recapture data to estimate fecundity and population growth.

Tag-recovery data from organisms captured and marked post breeding are commonly used to estimate juvenile and adult survival. If annual fecundity could also be estimated, tagging studies such as European and North American bird-ringing schemes could provide all parameters needed to estimate population growth. I modified existing tag-recovery models to allow estimation of annual fecundity using age composition and recapture probabilities obtained during routine banding operations of northern pintails (Anas acuta) and dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis), and I conducted simulations to assess estimator performance in relation to sample size. For pintails, population growth rate from band-recovery data (λ = 0.93, SD: 0.06) was similar but less precise than count-based estimates from the Waterfowl Breeding Pair and Habitat Survey (λ: 0.945, SE: 0.001). Models with temporal variation in vital rates indicated that annual population growth in pintails was driven primarily by variation in fecundity. Juncos had lower survival but greater fecundity, and their estimated population growth rate (λ: 1.01, SD: 0.19) was consistent with count-based surveys (λ: 0.986). Simulations indicated that reliable (CV 1,000 within-season live encounters. Although precision of survival estimates depended primarily on numbers of adult recoveries, estimates of fecundity and population growth were most sensitive to total number of live encounters. Synthesis and applications: Large-scale ring-recovery programs could be used to estimate annual fecundity in many species of birds, but the approach requires better data curation, including accurate assessment of age, better reporting of banding totals, and greater emphasis on obtaining and reporting within-season live encounters.
Commercializing science and promoting academic innovation

This commentary reviews the scholarly contributions of the several authors to the pre-history of industrial research, a subject that has been largely ignored in previous works in the field. While f...
Topological Approaches to Deep Learning

In this work we introduce an algebraic formalism to describe and construct deep learning architectures as well as actions on them. We show how our algebraic formalism in conjunction with topological data analysis enables the construction of neural network architectures from a priori geometries, geometries obtained from data analysis, and purely data driven geometries. We also demonstrate how these techniques can improve the transparency and performance of deep neural networks.
Data Dreaming for Object Detection: Learning Object-Centric State Representations for Visual Imitation

We present a visual imitation learning method that enables robots to imitate demonstrated skills by learning a perceptual reward function based on object-centric feature representations. Our method uses the background configuration of the scene to compute object masks for the objects present. The robotic agent then trains a detector for the relevant objects in the scene via a process we call data dreaming, generating a synthetic dataset of images of various object occlusion configurations using only a small amount of background-subtracted ground truth images. We use the output of the object detector to learn an object-centric visual feature representation. We show that the resulting factorized feature representation comprised of per-object appearance features and cross-object relative locations enables efficient real world reinforcement learning that can teach a robot a policy based on a single demonstration after few minutes of training.
Effects Of Alternative Food Voucher Delivery Strategies On Nutrition Among Low-Income Adults

Nutrition assistance programs are the subject of ongoing policy debates. Two proposals remain uninformed by existing evidence: whether restricting benefits to allow only fruit and vegetable purchas...
Visualizing Filamentous Actin in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

This protocol aims to visualize the filamentous actin network in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. We improved fixed-cell labeling conditions using the F-actin probe, phalloidin. We created a Chlamydomonas-optimized protocol by halving the phalloidin incubation time, electing for optimal fixation conditions, and selecting for a healthy cell population. This phalloidin protocol is quick, effective, and is the only labeling method to date that allows for reliable actin filament detection in fixed vegetative Chlamydomonas cells. This method reveals previously unidentified actin structures in Chlamydomonas and novel insights into cytoskeletal dynamics.
The biological response of rodent kidneys to low frequency, full volume diagnostic contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging: Pilot data.

Abstract With the growth of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) clinically, there are concerns about histologic bioeffects in regards to the implementation of high mechanical index (MI) imaging, such as the imaging sequence used for a specific CEUS technique known as flash-replenishment. The data presented are results from a pilot study, which explored flash-replenishment with high and moderate MI imaging sequences at time points of 24 hours and 2 weeks post imaging. This pilot study was followed by a larger study, which can be found in a journal article entitled “Histological and Blood Chemistry Examination of the Rodent Kidney After Exposure to Flash-Replenishment Ultrasound Contrast Imaging” Nyankima et al., 2019.
Spies, Sailors, and Revolutionaries: Bengal Revolutionaries, Indian Political Intelligence, and International Arms Smuggling

This chapter focuses on the issue of arms smuggling, a primary objective of the Bengal revolutionaries and a continual source of anxiety to the Government of Bengal throughout the history of the revolutionary movement. While revolutionaries’ attempts to import large-scale arms shipments repeatedly failed, they were able to accumulate an arsenal of imported firearms through numerous, small-scale instances of arms smuggling. Bengali revolutionaries relied primarily on networks of maritime workers, which included not only European sailors but also Indian seamen known as lascars. This chapter explores the motivations of lascars and their relationships with Indian revolutionary movements, and the efforts of imperial authorities in London, New Delhi, Calcutta, and elsewhere in the British Empire to prevent the flow of arms to Bengali revolutionaries. These efforts involved coordination and conflict between Indian Political Intelligence in London, the Intelligence Bureau in New Delhi, and intelligence officers in Bengal and other Indian provinces. Imperial authorities also attempted to utilize both colonial legislation designed to control Indian criminality and the efforts of the League of Nations to craft international treaties on terrorism.
Computing critical energy release rates for fracture in atomistic simulations

Abstract We describe a method for computing critical energy release rates for crack propagation in atomistic models and apply it to simulations of fracture in Ni. Our method relies on independent calculations of crack surface area and energy dissipated during fracture. We show that the critical energy release rate for fracture in Ni increases linearly with model size due to increasing energy dissipated through plastic deformation. We conclude with a discussion of prospects for direct comparisons of critical energy release rates computed from atomistic simulations to ones obtained from experiments.
The Behavior of Same-Race Others and Its Effects on Black Patients' Attention to Publicly Presented HIV-Prevention Information.

Black Americans make up 13% of the U.S. population, yet account for 54% of HIV deaths and 44% of new HIV diagnoses. Why do Black Americans die from HIV at such a disproportionate rate? In the curre...
Using Debiasing Strategies to Manage Cognitive Biases in Construction Risk Management: Recommendations for Practice and Future Research

AbstractConstruction risk management processes necessarily rely on subjective assessments and heuristic rules. Historic data are desirable, but rarely are available due to the unique nature of indi...
Information scrambling vs. decoherence -- two competing sinks for entropy

A possible solution of the information paradox can be sought in quantum information scrambling. In this paradigm, it is postulated that all information entering a black hole is rapidly and chaotically distributed across the event horizon making it impossible to reconstruct the information by means of any local measurement. However, in this scenario the effects of decoherence are typically ignored, which may render information scrambling moot in cosmological settings. In this work, we develop key steps towards a thermodynamic description of information scrambling in open quantum systems. In particular, we separate the entropy production into contributions arising from scrambling and decoherence, for which we derive statements of the second law. This is complemented with a numerical study of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev, Maldacena-Qi, XXX, mixed field Ising, Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick models in the presence of decoherence in energy or computational basis.
Two Japanese patients with stage G3b chronic kidney disease and impaired glucose metabolism after renal transplantation successfully treated with empagliflozin

Renal transplant recipients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) often develop abnormal glucose metabolism. Although recent studies have reported the protective effects of sodium-glucose transport protein 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors on the heart and kidneys, few have assessed their effect in renal transplant patients. Moreover, to our knowledge, there have been no studies on the effects of SGLT2 inhibitors in renal transplant recipients in Japan. Case 1 was a 67-year-old male renal transplant recipient with post-transplant diabetes mellitus. He was administered empagliflozin 10 mg once a day for 9 months. Over time, his HbA1c levels decreased from 6.8 to 6.0%. Case 2 was a 56-year-old male renal transplant recipient with fatty liver disease. He was administered empagliflozin 10 mg once a day for 9 months. His ALT, γ-GTP, and LDL-cholesterol levels all decreased. In both patients, body weight and the urine albumin to creatinine ratio (UACR) decreased after empagliflozin administration, but there were no changes in the estimated glomerular filtration rate. No adverse events occurred in either case. Administration of empagliflozin had favorable outcomes in two patients with stage G3b CKD and abnormal glucose metabolism after renal transplantation. Further studies will be required to clarify the efficacy and safety of SGLT2 inhibitors in a larger population of patients with similar medical conditions.
Iowa State University’s English placement test of oral communication in times of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the Iowa State University administration to impose face coverings and other safety regulations across the university campus. To comply with these safety measures, sever...
Oral Health of African Immigrants: A participatory approach to needs assessment

Objective Dental care service use is lower in the immigrant population in the US, with the African immigrant population increasing at a much higher rate. We aimed to evaluate the barriers faced by the African immigrant community through a participatory needs assessment approach. Methods Photovoice, a qualitative research method was used to collect the data. Thirty participants were recruited from community events, churches, and African community-serving organizations. Participants took photographs related to oral health research questions. Focus groups were conducted with the participants to discuss the clicked pictures. The focus group data were transcribed and analyzed using an inductive and thematic approach using Atlas Ti®. Results The response rate was 90% and six focus groups were conducted. Focus group data demonstrated participants' knowledge of good oral health and preventive oral behaviors; physical, financial and psychosocial barriers to accessing dental care; and cultural and social beliefs of the community. The participants had good knowledge about oral hygiene habits and dietary factors impacting the oral health of their community. Several barriers including, lack of perceived oral health needs, transportation, time, insurance, fear, and trust were identified that prevent them to access dental care. Conclusion Further research is warranted to understand the cultural norms and perceived needs of the African immigrant community. Increasing our understanding of such knowledge can support in improving the cultural competency of the oral health workforce.
Transient receptor potential polycystin-2 (TRPP2) regulates motility and intracellular calcium of porcine sperm.

Polycystin-2, also known as transient receptor potential polycystin-2 (TRPP2), is a membrane protein that regulates calcium homeostasis in renal epithelial cells. Mutations in PKD2, the gene encoding human TRPP2, cause enlarged cystic kidneys and contribute to polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Male Drosophila melanogaster with mutations in amo, the homolog of PKD2, display a mild decrease in sperm motility but have a drastic reduction in fertility due to failed sperm migration and storage within the female tract. Although TRPP2 has critical roles for Drosophila sperm function, the protein has not been described in mammalian sperm. Herein, we report the localization of TRPP2 in porcine sperm and identify functions of TRPP2 in regulating intracellular Ca2+ and motility. Porcine sperm treated with an antibody to TRPP2 in capacitating medium had reduced average path velocity and curvilinear velocity (p < .05). Blocking TRPP2 also increased sperm tail beat-cross frequency (p < .05). After 90 min of capacitation, sperm incubated with TRPP2 antibody had decreased intracellular Ca2+ concentration compared to controls (p < .05), consistent with TRPP2 function as a plasma membrane cation channel. This is the first report that mammalian sperm contain TRPP2, which appears to regulate intracellular Ca2+ and motility patterns in porcine sperm.
Livelihood strategies in a marine extractive reserve: Implications for conservation interventions

Abstract The marine extractive reserve (RESEX), a sustainable use and co-management conservation instrument, is increasingly being established in coastal Brazil because of international and national pressure to protect coastal–marine environments. RESEX establishment is producing ambiguous outcomes despite claims of protecting rural livelihoods. This paper presents the case of the Cassuruba RESEX and demonstrates that a recent fishery agreement contradicts with fisherfolk livelihood diversification strategies and produces differentiated impacts on households. The findings are drawn from mixed methods adapting a household livelihoods approach to develop household typologies. Three household typologies emerged: (1) high market orientation, high income, (2) low market orientation, low income, and (3) high market orientation, low income. Low income households are the most impacted by new institutions that contradict with temporal and spatial livelihood diversification strategies of resource users. Also, they have lost fishing grounds, material assets (gear), and access to subsistence farmland. These findings support claims that sustainable use conservation agendas need to better consider the differential livelihood strategies of fisherfolk, and other resource users, or efforts for livelihood protection and improvement will be undermined.
Women, Property, and Confucian Reaction in Sung and Yüan China (960–1368): Women and Property before the Sung: Evolution and Continuity

From earliest times for which records survive, we find a remarkable continuity of concepts and practices that governed women's relations to property over the centuries. Sung practices, discussed in the next chapter, must be understood within this long tradition. In essence, the bonds of blood for daughters as well as sons carried with them a certain expectation of material support, commensurate with the wealth of the parents. Thus despite long-term political and social evolution that dictated considerable changes in forms of property, marriage laws, and inheritance patterns, certain basic contours of women's property rights can be discerned in almost every age before the Sung. Sung laws also, while new in many respects, did not contradict these. These contours included several key points: (1) A woman of nonservile status could expect to marry with dowry property attached to her. (2) A married daughter might receive additional property from her parents sometime after the marriage on top of her previous dowry portion. (3) Within marriage, a wife's property was conceptually distinct from that of her husband. Although the husband or his family invariably benefited directly or indirectly from the wife's property, it was her own in that she could take it with her out of the marriage in case of divorce or widowhood. (4) In the absence of sons, daughters married or unmarried, stood to inherit all of their parents' estate.
Expression of CC chemokines and their receptors in the eye in autoimmune anterior uveitis associated with EAE.

PURPOSE. To determine the pattern of expression of CC chemokines and their receptors in the eyes of Lewis rats and to establish their role in autoimmune anterior uveitis (AU) associated with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). METHODS. EAE/AU was induced in Lewis rats with myelin basic protein in complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA). The rats were scored for the development of clinical EAE and AU. The expression of CCL5/regulated on activation normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES), CCL2/monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1, CCL3/macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1a, and CCL4/MIP-1b and their receptors was examined at the preclinical stage, onset, peak, and recovery by RT-PCR and ELISA. EAE/AU rats were treated with neutralizing polyclonal antibodies against CCL3/MIP-1a, CCL4/MIP-1b, CCL2/ MCP-1, and CCL5/RANTES and tested for the suppression of onset of clinical AU and EAE. The control group received normal rabbit IgG at the same dose. RESULTS. The gene expression of those chemokines was upregulated concurrently with symptom onset of EAE/AU and correlated with the intensity of inflammatory changes in the eye and central nervous system (CNS). The highest expression of CCL4/RANTES, CCL2/MCP-1, and CCL3/MIP-1a in the eye was detected at onset of clinical uveitis, whereas CCL4/MIP-1b was elevated at the peak of AU. The expression of chemokine receptors associated with T-helper (Th)1-type response, CCR1 and CCR5, correlated with their appropriate ligands and was the highest at the peak of AU, whereas CCR2, the receptor for CCL2/MCP-1, was present before the onset of the disease. Treatment of anti-MIP-1b and anti-MCP-1 significantly delayed the onset and shortened the duration of AU and EAE. AntiMIP-1a treatment had no effect on clinical EAE but inhibited the clinical signs of AU. Although CCL5/RANTES expression was observed during the entire course of the disease, antiRANTES treatment had no effect on clinical disease progression. CONCLUSIONS. The data suggest that CCL2/MCP-1, CCL3/MIP-1a, and CCL4/MIP-b contribute to the recruitment of inflammatory cells into the eye and CNS and to disease activity. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2001;42:2894 ‐2903)
Identification of Stochastic Sequential Bargaining Models, Second Version

Stochastic sequential bargaining games (Merlo and Wilson (1995, 1998)) have found wide applications in various fields including political economy and macroeconomics due to their flexibility in explaining delays in reaching an agreement. In this paper, we present new results in nonparametric identification of such models under different scenarios of data availability. First, we give conditions for an observed distribution of players’ decisions and agreed allocations of the surplus, or the "cake", to be rationalized by a sequential bargaining model. We show the common discount rate is identified, provided the surplus is monotonic in unobservable states (USV) given observed ones (OSV). Then the mapping from states to surplus, or the "cake function", is also recovered under appropriate normalizations. Second, when the cake is only observed under agreements, the discount rate and the impact of observable states on the cake can be identified, if the distribution of USV satisfies some exclusion restrictions and the cake is additively separable in OSV and USV. Third, if data only report when an agreement is reached but never report the size of the cake, we propose a simple algorithm that exploits shape restrictions on the cake function and the independence of USV to recover all rationalizable probabilities for agreements under counterfactual state transitions. Numerical examples show the set of rationalizable counterfactual outcomes so recovered can be informative.
Die kontinuierliche Fließbett‐Sprüh‐Granulation

Etude de la granulation avec jet binaire. Application a la granulation d'alumine, d'herbicide, d'oxyde de zinc, de wolfram et de vitamine
Mechanisms and cross sections for water desorption from a lunar impact melt breccia

Desorption of H2O (ν = 0) following 157-nm irradiation of amorphous solid water on a lunar impact melt breccia was measured with resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization. Photofragments of vibrationally excited water were detected with nonresonant ionization. The average cross section for H2O (ν = 0) removal and destruction at 0.1 Langmuir (1 L = 10−6 Torr∙s) H2O exposure was measured to be (7.1 ± 1.9) × 10−19 cm2. Cross sections were also measured at 0.3, 1, 5, and 10 L exposures. Because these cross sections increase drastically with decreasing water coverage, water is not expected to remain intact as H2O on the sunlit lunar surface. Instead, photons are likely to cause H2O to desorb or dissociate. The OH+ fragment of H2O (ν*) increased in intensity with increasing irradiation as hydroxyl groups built up on the surface and then recombined. The OH+ signal eventually began to decrease after a dose of 5 × 1018 photons cm−2. Under these conditions, the cross section for H2O (ν*) photodesorption was measured to be 6.4 × 10−20 cm2 for an initial exposure of 5 L H2O.
The L 2 anti-winup problem: Its definition and solution

The problems of ‘windup’ (linear closed-loop systems not behaving as they should due to input saturation) and synthesizing ‘anti-windup’ compensator modifications have been studied for a long time. Unfortunately, the anti-windup problem has never been adequately formalized mathematically and almost all existing solutions are heuristic in nature. In this work, we formalize the goal of anti-windup synthesis in a natural way and we provide an algorithm that achieves this goal. We demonstrate our algorithm's robustness properties and its relationship to optimal anti-windup. A simple numerical example is provided to illustrate our technique.
Conceptual framework for evaluating laboratory tests: case-finding in ambulatory patients

In response to concerns about inappropriate testing and healthcare costs, clinicians and laboratorians should work together to evaluate laboratory tests. Studies of routine laboratory tests ordered for screening and case-finding in the preoperative setting, at hospital admission, and in the ambulatory setting have not provided sufficient evidence of the benefits of case-finding when evaluated against commonly used criteria for screening procedures. We adapt a conceptual framework developed from radiology for evaluating imaging technologies to evaluate laboratory tests. The framework addresses diagnostic efficacy (whether the test correctly identifies abnormalities), diagnostic effectiveness (whether the test changes the physician's diagnoses), therapeutic efficacy (whether the test changes patient management), and therapeutic effectiveness (whether the test changes patients' outcomes). We propose that clinicians and laboratorians use this framework to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy, diagnostic effectiveness, therapeutic efficacy, and therapeutic effectiveness of laboratory tests in the ambulatory setting and in other settings.
Aerosol particulate matter in the Baltimore metropolitan area: Temporal variation over a six-year period.

This study investigates the sources of fine particulate matter (aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm; PM2.5) composition for the Baltimore, Maryland, metropolitan area, covering a 6-year period (2008–2013). Data obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality System (AQS) were used for the identification of eight chemical speciation clusters (factors), which, as a percentage of the average concentration, were identified as secondary sulfate (31.9%), secondary nitrate (14.3%), gasoline (17.4%), diesel (10.1%), soil (4.0%), biomass burning (11%), marine aerosol (4.1%), and industrial processing (7.2%). The results show predominant influence from vehicle emissions transiting major highways I-695 and I-95 located in the vicinity of the sampling site. Strong influence on PM2.5 mass from biomass burning was found in the first 2 years (2008–2009) due to particulate matter remnants from forest fire events in North Carolina and a strong contribution in 2013 that was due mainly to wood burning duri...
Indications for external frontal sinus procedures for inflammatory sinus disease

BackgroundIn the modern age of endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS), there is an undefined role for external approaches in the treatment of inflammatory disease. This study examines the frontal sinus sur...
An overview of energy sources in clinical use for the ablation of atrial fibrillation

Recent years have seen many developments in the field of alternative energy sources for arrhythmia surgery. The impetus behind these advances is to replace the traditional, "cut-and-sew" Cox maze III procedure with lesion sets that are simpler, shorter, and safer but just as effective. There is demand for technology to make continuous, linear, transmural ablations reliably with a versatile energy source via an epicardial approach. This would make minimally invasive endoscopic surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) without cardiopulmonary bypass and with a closed chest feasible. These advances would shorten cardio-pulmonary bypass and improve outcomes in patients having surgical ablation and concomitant cardiac surgery. This review summarizes the technology behind alternative energy sources used to treat AF. Alternative energy sources include hypothermic sources (cryoablation) and hyperthermic sources (radiofrequency, microwave, laser, ultrasound). For each source, the biophysical background, mode of tissue injury, factors affecting lesion size, and advantages and complications are discussed.
Synthesis and investigation of novel spiro-isoxazolines as anti-cancer agents

A series of structurally diverse 4-bromo spiro-isoxazolines possessing a variety of aromatic and aliphatic substituents at the 3 position, were synthesized through a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition followed by intramolecular cyclization of a pendant hydroxyl or carboxylic acid group. The biochemical antiproliferative activity was evaluated in vitro by using two breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) and two prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3 and DU-145) using the MTT viability assay, and the IC50 values were obtained. Spiro-isoxazoline derivatives bearing a p-chloro or an o-dichloro aromatic substituent at the 3-position of the isoxazoline showed considerable antitumor activities in all four cell lines with IC50 value ranging from 43μM to 56μM.