cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Biological Investigation of Wing Motion of the Manduca Sexta

An investigation was conducted assessing the feasibility of reproducing the biological flapping motion of the wings of the hawkmoth, Manduca sexta (M.sexta) by artificially stimulating the flight muscles for Micro Air Vehicle research. Electromyographical signals were collected using bipolar intramuscular fine wire electrodes inserted into the primary flight muscles, the dorsal longitudinal and dorsal ventral muscles, of the adult M.sexta. These signals were recorded and associated with wing movement using high speed video. The signals were reapplied into the corresponding muscle groups with the intention of reproducing similar flapping motion. A series of impulse signals were also directed into the primary flight muscles as a means of observing muscle response through measured forewing angles. This study pioneered electromyographic research on M.sexta at the Air Force Institute of Technology with tests conducted with fine wire electrodes. Through this process, the research showed the deformational struct...
EXPLANATORY FLEXIBILITY AND NEGATIVE LIFE EVENTS INTERACT TO PREDICT DEPRESSION SYMPTOMS

This study examined how explanatory flexibility and explanatory style, two indices derived from the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ), were related to each other and to symptoms of depression. At Time 1, seventy–three college students completed the ASQ and a self–report measure of depression, and at Time 2, approximately eight weeks later, completed the depression measure once again as well as a self–report measure of negative life events. Explanatory flexibility demonstrated relative independence from explanatory style. Additionally, explanatory flexibility, but not explanatory style, interacted with negative life events to predict change in depression symptoms such that rigidity was associated with higher levels of depression in the face of negative life events. These findings add to research suggesting that explanatory flexibility is distinct from, but related to, explanatory style and that both constructs add to our understanding of depression.
Translation and Replication of Human Rhinovirus Type 14 and Mengovirus in Xenopus Oocytes

We have previously shown that Xenopus oocytes require coinjection of both poliovirus RNA and HeLa cell extracts to support a complete cycle of viral replication yielding high levels of infectious viral particles. This novel system provides a tool for identifying host factors and for biochemically dissect individual steps that lead to virus production. Here we demonstrate that Xenopus oocytes are able to support replication of other picornaviruses such as human rhinovirus 14 and mengovirus. Unlike poliovirus, microinjection of mengovirus RNA yields high viral titers (about 107 PFU/oocyte) without the need for coinjection of additional cell extracts. In contrast, formation of infectious rhinovirus particles requires coinjection of human cell extracts. We found that one of these human factors is required for efficient rhinovirus translation. Our findings uncover differences in the host factor requirements among members of the picornavirus family and provide the means to identify the human protein(s) involved in rhinovirus production.
Thermotolerant Hydrogenases: Biological Diversity, Properties, and Biotechnological Applications

Hydrogenases are metalloproteins that catalyze the oxidation and reduction of molecular hydrogen and play a crucial role in many microbial metabolic processes. A subset of hydrogenases capable of functioning at temperatures from 50 to 125 degrees C is found in thermophilic microorganisms. Most known thermotolerant hydrogenases contain a [NiFe] active site and are either bidirectional or uptake type. Although no exhaustive survey has been done of the ecological diversity of thermophilic hydrogen-reducing or oxidizing bacteria, they appear to exist in virtually every thermophilic environment examined to date. Thermotolerant hydrogenases share many similarities with their mesophilic counterparts, but they have several features in addition to thermotolerance that make them especially well suited for biotechnological applications. Ongoing research is focused on potential applications of thermotolerant H2 ases in biosynthesis, H2 production, bioremediation, and biosensors.
Body Posture and Religious Attitudes

One hundred and twenty-seven college students were recruited for an experimental investigation of the effect of body posture on religious attitudes. Roughly half of the participants were placed in lower, contractive body postures while the other half were placed in higher, expansive body postures. After five minutes in these postures, all were asked to fill out a measure of religious attitudes. As expected, participants in the lower, contractive positions expressed more agreement with conventional religious beliefs than those in the higher, expansive positions.
Stress in Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Exploration of Demands and Resources

We applied the ABCX model of stress and coping to assess the association between child and family demands, school-based resources (i.e., parent-teacher alliance and COMPASS, a consultation intervention), and two measures of parent stress: perceptions of the demands of raising a child (Child domain) and reactions to those demands (Parent domain). Data were analyzed from seventy-nine parents of children ages 3-9 with ASD participating in two randomized controlled trials of COMPASS. Stronger parent-teacher alliance correlated with decreased Parent domain stress and participation in COMPASS correlated with decreased Child domain stress after controlling for baseline stress. The study indicates that school-based resources can help reduce parent stress.
Blood pressure during routine activity, stress, and feeding in black racer snakes (Coluber constrictor)

The pressor response to normal daily behaviors and acute stress was studied in black racer snakes (Coluber constrictor) at 30 degrees C. In addition, hematological changes during the stress response were assessed. Mean nighttime systemic arterial blood pressure (SABP) in undisturbed snakes was lower than daytime pressure (26 +/- 3 vs. 32 +/- 9 mmHg, P < 0.001). When snakes were fed mice, SABP increased 3.5- to 4-fold and heart rate increased approximately 3-fold above resting values within approximately 30 s (peak SABP, 99 +/- 18 mmHg; peak heart rate, 99 +/- 12 beats/min). Killing and ingesting the mice required 6-15 min, during which time mean SABP and heart rate were 84 +/- 16 mmHg and 92 +/- 12 beats/min. Pulmonary blood pressure also increased but remained 40-50 mmHg lower than SABP. During stress elicited by tapping the snakes for 5-8 min, heart rate was 94 +/- 6 beats/min but SABP averaged only 44 +/- 11 mmHg. Plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine increased 51- and 26-fold. Plasma glucose increased 58%, hematocrit increased 19%, and plasma volume decreased 19%. It is concluded that blood pressure is markedly affected by behavior and that the sympathetic nervous system appears to play a key role.
Predicting twitter user demographics using distant supervision from website traffic data

Understanding the demographics of users of online social networks has important applications for health, marketing, and public messaging. Whereas most prior approaches rely on a supervised learning approach, in which individual users are labeled with demographics for training, we instead create a distantly labeled dataset by collecting audience measurement data for 1,500 websites (e.g., 50% of visitors to gizmodo.com are estimated to have a bachelor's degree). We then fit a regression model to predict these demographics from information about the followers of each website on Twitter. Using patterns derived both from textual content and the social network of each user, our final model produces an average held-out correlation of .77 across seven different variables (age, gender, education, ethnicity, income, parental status, and political preference). We then apply this model to classify individual Twitter users by ethnicity, gender, and political preference, finding performance that is surprisingly competitive with a fully supervised approach.
Neural-networks-aided fault diagnosis in supervisory control of advanced manufacturing systems

Fault diagnosis presents considerable difficulty to human operators in supervisory control of advanced manufacturing systems. A neural network which employs a symptomatic search strategy by pattern recognition has been developed to aid human operators in supervisory control of a simulated advanced manufacturing system. The abilities of learning-by-example, knowledge generalisation, and parallel processing of neural networks were examined, resulting in the superior performance of neural networks in comparison to expert systems and humans in terms of training, knowledge generalisation, knowledge updating, and taks performance. A more complex system of neural-networks-aided fault diagnosis, employing symptomatic search by hypothesis and test has been designed for the economy of collecting and using symptomatic information. Finally, it is suggested that an integrated supervisory control system with computer-aided fault detection and neural-networks-aided fault diagnosis will make advanced manufacturing systems more attractive in terms of increased productivity as well as improved human jobs.
Functional Support of the Nasal Tip

Surgery of the nasal tip is among the most challenging aspects of rhinoplasty. Abnormalities of the nasal tip, whether primary or iatrogenic, have both functional and aesthetic consequences. This review focuses on the functional support of the nasal tip, surgical techniques commonly used to improve nasal tip support and function, and the effects of these techniques on the appearance of the nose.
Subgoal induction

A proof method, subgoal induction, is presented as an alternative or supplement to the commonly used inductive assertion method. Its major virtue is that it can often be used to prove a loop's correctness directly from its input-output specification without the use of an invariant. The relation between subgoal induction and other commonly used induction rules is explored and, in particular, it is shown that subgoal induction can be viewed as a specialized form of computation induction. A set of sufficient conditions are presented which guarantee that an input-output specification is strong enough for the induction step of a proof by subgoal induction to be valid.
Human junction adhesion molecule regulates tight junction resealing in epithelia.

Epithelial cells form a highly selective barrier and line many organs. The epithelial barrier is maintained by closely apposed cell-cell contacts containing tight junctions, the regulation of which is incompletely understood. Here we report the cloning, tissue localization and evidence for a role in epithelial barrier regulation of an immunoglobulin superfamily member that likely represents the human homolog of murine junction adhesion molecule (JAM). Analysis of the primary structure of human JAM, cloned from T84 epithelial cells, predicts a transmembrane protein with an extracellular domain that contains two IgV loops. Monoclonal antibodies generated against the putative extracellular domain were reactive with a 35–39 kDa protein from both T84 epithelial cells and human neutrophils. By immunofluorescence, JAM mAbs labeled epithelial cells from intestine, lung, and kidney, prominently in the region of tight junctions (co-localization with occludin) and also along lateral cell membranes below the tight junctions. Flow cytometric studies confirmed predominant JAM expression in epithelial cells but also revealed expression on endothelial and hematopoietic cells of all lineages. Functional studies demonstrated that JAM specific mAbs markedly inhibited transepithelial resistance recovery of T84 monolayers after disruption of intercellular junctions (including tight junctions) by transient calcium depletion. Morphologic analysis revealed that, after disassembly of cell-cell junctions, anti-JAM inhibition of barrier function recovery correlated with a loss of both occludin and JAM, but not ZO-1, in reassembling tight junction structure. Reassembly of the major adherens junction component E-cadherin was not affected by JAM specific mAbs. Our findings suggest that JAM plays an important role in the regulation of tight junction assembly in epithelia. Furthermore, these JAM-mediated effects may occur by either direct, or indirect interactions with occludin.
Parameter Studies on Tube-Gusset Plate Connections of Transmission Towers

Based on methods of finite element numerical analysis, several finite element models about different parameters are calculated, including sizes of gusset plates, ratios of diameter and thickness for chords, angles for chords and bracing members and loads of chords, etc. Corresponding effect rules on ultimate strength of tube-gusset plate connections are concluded, and some practical advices are provided.
LEARNET - A Location-based Social Networking Methodology for Learner Group Forming

The benefits of collaboration in learning have widely been discussed in the literature. Our position is that location-based social networks can facilitate location-based group formation for learners and support face-to-face collaboration. In this paper, we present a methodology (LearNet) that is focused on the learner's past and current location(s) as a key criterion for recommending peers for collaboration. LearNet is a component of OnLocEd, a location-based social networking model for online learners that can help learners discover content, events, and people in proximity to their current location. LearNet utilizes OnLocEd's location-based features to recommend learner group forming in the social navigation network system (SoNavNet).
The biosynthetic pathway of coenzyme F430 in methanogenic and methanotrophic archaea

Methyl-coenzyme M reductase (MCR) is the key enzyme of methanogenesis and anaerobic methane oxidation. The activity of MCR is dependent on the unique nickel-containing tetrapyrrole known as coenzyme F430. We used comparative genomics to identify the coenzyme F430 biosynthesis (cfb) genes and characterized the encoded enzymes from Methanosarcina acetivorans C2A. The pathway involves nickelochelation by a nickel-specific chelatase, followed by amidation to form Ni-sirohydrochlorin a,c-diamide. Next, a primitive homolog of nitrogenase mediates a six-electron reduction and γ-lactamization reaction before a Mur ligase homolog forms the six-membered carbocyclic ring in the final step of the pathway. These data show that coenzyme F430 can be synthesized from sirohydrochlorin using Cfb enzymes produced heterologously in a nonmethanogen host and identify several targets for inhibitors of biological methane formation.
Effect of temperature and radiation damage on the local atomic structure of metallic plutonium and related compounds

This focused review provides an overview and a framework for understanding local structure in metallic plutonium (especially the metastable fcc -phase alloyed with Ga) as it relates to self-irradia...
The Effect of Regulation on Broadband Markets: Evaluating the Empirical Evidence in the FCC’s 2015 “Open Internet” Order

In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) imposed common carriage regulation—so-called Title II requirements—on previously unregulated broadband Internet service providers. The regime shift was premised on the FCC’s findings that such rules had demonstrably yielded economic gains. This paper evaluates the FCC’s empirical arguments and finds them uncompelling. Adjustments for inflation or general economic trends eliminate the effects cited by the FCC. Moreover, contrary to the Commission’s assessment, mobile services and broadband markets have shown notable growth in response to deregulatory events that reduce Title II requirements.
ISMAILAOCCULTA, A NEW SPECIES OF POECILOSTOMATOID COPEPOD PARASITIC IN A DENDRONOTID NUDIBRANCH FROM CALIFORNIA

ABSTRACT Ismaila occulta, new species, a poecilostomatoid copepod of the family Splanchnotrophidae, is described based on specimens recovered within the cerata of a giant red nudibranch, Dendronotus iris Cooper, collected from Alamitos Bay in Long Beach, California. Problems in uniting Ismaila. Micrallecto, Nannnallecto and Splanchnotrophus under the Splanchnotrophidae and the systematic status of the family are discussed.
Using active colloids as machines to weave and braid on the micrometer scale

Controlling motion at the microscopic scale is a fundamental goal in the development of biologically inspired systems. We show that the motion of active, self-propelled colloids can be sufficiently controlled for use as a tool to assemble complex structures such as braids and weaves out of microscopic filaments. Unlike typical self-assembly paradigms, these structures are held together by geometric constraints rather than adhesive bonds. The out-of-equilibrium assembly that we propose involves precisely controlling the 2D motion of active colloids so that their path has a nontrivial topology. We demonstrate with proof-of-principle Brownian dynamics simulations that, when the colloids are attached to long semiflexible filaments, this motion causes the filaments to braid. The ability of the active particles to provide sufficient force necessary to bend the filaments into a braid depends on a number of factors, including the self-propulsion mechanism, the properties of the filament, and the maximum curvature in the braid. Our work demonstrates that nonequilibrium assembly pathways can be designed using active particles.
Adaptive Control of Plants with Unknown Output Dead-zones

Abstract For plants with unknown dead-zones at output we propose a new controller structure with an adaptive dead-zone inverse. We consider two control problems: one when only the dead-zone is unknown and the other when the whole plant is unknown. We allow the dead-zone to be with unequal slopes. The proposed controller structure results in a linear parametrization which is crucial for developing adaptive update laws. We prove the signal boundedness for the closed-loop system, and for a special case we establish asymptotic tracking. Simulation results show that our adaptive control schemes improve system performance.
The Case for Investor Ordering

Whether corporate arrangements should be mandated by public law or “privately ordered” by corporations themselves has been a foundational question in corporate law scholarship. State corporation laws are generally privately ordered. But a significant and growing number of arrangements are governed by “corporate regulations” created by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). SEC corporate regulations are invariably mandatory. Whether they should be is the focus of this Article. This Article contributes to the ongoing debate by showing that whether mandatory or privately-ordered rules are optimal depends on the nature of investors, and their incentives in choosing corporate arrangements. The rise of institutional investors means that investors can now be relied on to choose optimal arrangements, because institutional investors will make informed decisions about corporate arrangements and will internalize their effects on the capital markets. This Article thus makes the case for a third alternative: “investor ordering.” For all but a few corporate regulations, investor ordering will result in the same or greater aggregate net benefit as mandatory regulations. The optimality of investor ordering of SEC corporate regulations has important implications. First, the D.C. Circuit’s jurisprudence on cost-benefit analysis will require the SEC to consider investor ordering. In the many cases where investor ordering would be superior to mandatory regulation, were the SEC to nevertheless implement a mandatory regulation, it would be susceptible to invalidation by the D.C. Circuit under the Administrative Procedure Act. Second, investor ordering substantially reduces the burden of the D.C. Circuit’s recent requirements for SEC cost-benefit analysis. This reduces the overall cost of SEC rule making, or permits the SEC to promulgate more regulations on its fixed budget. It also sidesteps the considerable academic debate about the value of cost-benefit analysis for corporate regulations. Third, investor ordering reduces the need for retrospective analysis. To the extent retrospective analysis remains necessary, investor ordering makes it more straightforward and also permits lower-cost regulatory experimentation. Investor ordering therefore allows for a more dynamic regulatory system. These benefits mean that the SEC should implement investor ordering as its default approach for new regulation and for deregulation. This Article considers a number of promising candidates for investor ordering among potential and proposed SEC regulations, and for deregulation of contentious existing SEC regulations. Investor ordering also has important implications for state corporation laws and for federal legislation.
Calculation of linear and nonlinear optical properties of azobenzene derivatives with Kohn-Sham and coupled-cluster methods.

Linear polarizabilities (α) and second hyperpolarizabilities (γ) of unsubstituted azobenzenes and ‘push–pull’ azobenzene derivatives are investigated using Kohn–Sham theory (KST) and coupled-cluster (CC) approaches. Various standard exchange–correlation functionals as well as a non-empirically ‘tuned’ long-range corrected (LC) functional with range-separated exchange are used in the KST calculations. When compared to correlated ab initio calculations and measurements, the tuned functional gives accurate low-energy excitation energies, especially for charge transfer (CT) transitions, and performs well for α. Basis set and solvent effects are also studied. In contrast to expectations, but in agreement with a prior study of π-conjugated systems that do not have low-energy CT excitations, the improvements of the CT excitation energies for the push–pull π-chromophores due to tuning do not go along with clear improvements of γ toward the CC reference data, likely due to the importance of the dynamic electron correlation for this property.
Trump, Trade and National Security -- Blowing Up the WTO?

The Trump administration’s reliance on a national security provision in the recent Department of Commerce report and the president's proclamations on new tariffs of steel and aluminum will lead to serious challenges by countries in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The administration is relying upon the rarely used Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The most likely defense by the United States (US) in the WTO would be to rely on the rarely raised and never-decided WTO “security exception” provided in Article XXI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). This litigation would most likely lead to the disintegration of the WTO. The federal courts have the constitutional right to declare presidential actions unconstitutional if these actions are not within the congressional delegation of authority or the president’s inherent authority. Federal judges have very closely scrutinized the president’s inherent authority regarding trade powers. This includes claims that the president makes while acting as commander in chief. The Trump administration’s decision to use national security concerns or to declare a national emergency (under Section 232 or the IEEPA) as justification for imposing trade restrictions on steel and aluminum imports or on the transfer of intellectual property rights could lead to a trade disaster of the first order. Such a situation has not occurred in U.S. trade diplomacy since the founding of the postwar international economic order.
Deep-Sky Perfectionists

When CCD cameras first appeared on the amateur astronomy scene they were extensively used for taking monochrome images of 60 seconds duration, to capture star and galaxy fields as deep as 10 or 20 minute exposures would reach on photographic film, i.e., down to rag 17 at best. At last, there was no need to guide an exposure, as long as your drive could occasionally track for 60 seconds! Needless to say, amateurs soon got used to the new technology and wanted to get more out of it. Just how deep could you get with really sensitive CCDs? What if you used longer focal lengths and very long exposures from a dark site? What if you used a second CCD to guide the telescope? And what would a deep tri-color amateur CCD image look like?
Making Evidence Visible: Using Mock-ups in Healthcare Design

While the healthcare design community has increasingly focused on using research evidence in design decision-making and on using collaborative practices, there has been very little research into how interdisciplinary design teams operate in the real world and especially how they communicate and attempt to integrate evidence from different sources into architectural practice. This paper reports on one focus within along term ethnographic study of the design of a community hospital. It explores how physical mock-ups allowed multidisciplinary teams to collectively experiment and to gain shared understanding of affordances and constraints within the design of the patient room, and particularly how the teams explored the impact ofdesign on visibility within the patient room within the context of new models of distributed nursing. In our systematic observations, mock-ups emerged as key media to represent actual spaces to facilitate andsupport interdisciplinary decision-making. The ‘interactional expertise’ of project architects combined with interactive properties of mock-up rooms, which acted as ‘boundary objects’ among participants with different disciplinary backgrounds, helped this particular community to conduct a local research activity in order to generate first-hand evidence with regards to the design of patient rooms.
Comparison of Task Performance by Students with Autism and Moderate Intellectual Disabilities when Presenting Video Models on Large and Small Screen Sizes

This investigation compared the ability of students with disabilities to complete fine motor tasks when presented with video models on a small personal digital assistant (PDA) screen and a traditio...
Increased Prevalence of Colorectal Adenomas in Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disorder worldwide. Previous studies have suggested an association between colorectal adenomas and NAFLD but are limited by a lack of biopsy-proven NAFLD or comparison with matched controls. Objectives We aimed to determine whether histologically demonstrated NAFLD is an independent risk factor for colorectal adenomas. Methods Patients who underwent liver biopsy showing steatosis who had also undergone screening or surveillance colonoscopy in 2007-2017 were retrospectively studied by manual chart review, excluding patients with liver disease other than NAFLD. Adenoma detection rates and characteristics such as location, histologic type, and size were compared in the resulting 123 NAFLD patients against controls without liver disease matched by age, gender, and endoscopist. Results Adenoma prevalence was significantly higher in the NAFLD group at 40.7 versus 28.1% in controls (OR 1.87, 95% CI 1.15-3.03, p = 0.01) and remained significant on multivariable analysis controlling for rates of hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and obesity (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.05-2.88, p = 0.032). Comparing NAFLD patients with advanced fibrosis to those with simple steatosis, there was a trend toward higher adenoma prevalence in advanced fibrosis (50.0 vs. 36.8%; OR 1.84, 95% CI 0.50-6.70, p = 0.36). Conclusions Patients with histologically demonstrated NAFLD had a significantly higher adenoma prevalence on colonoscopy compared to matched controls, which remained significant after adjusting for rates of diabetes, obesity, and hyperlipidemia. NAFLD should be investigated further as an independent risk factor for colorectal neoplasia.
Design, synthesis and identification of novel, orally bioavailable non-covalent Nrf2 activators

Nrf2 is a transcription factor regulating expression of the Phase II Antioxidant Response and plays an important role in neuroprotection and detoxification. Nrf2 activation is inhibited by interaction with Keap1. Covalent Keap1 inhibitors such as dimethyl fumarate (DMF) and RTA-408 are either on the market or in late stage clinical trials which implies potential benefit of Nrf2 activation. Activation of Nrf2 by disrupting Nrf2-Keap1 interaction through a non-covalent small molecule is an attractive approach with the promise of greater selectivity. However, there are no known non-covalent Nrf2 activators with acceptable pharmacokinetic properties to test the hypothesis in vivo. Based on our early reported work, using structural-based design, followed by extensive SAR exploration, we have identified a novel series of non-covalent Nrf2 activators, with sub-nanomolar binding affinity on Keap1 and single digit nanomolar activity in an astrocyte assay. A representative analog shows excellent oral PK and good Nrf2-dependent gene inductions in kidney. These results provide a peripheral in vivo tool compound to validate the biology of non-covalent activation of Nrf2.
Trends of survival based on race and ethnicity in gastrointestinal tract neuroendocrine tumor.

607Background: There is paucity of data about racial/ethnic disparities in gastrointestinal tract neuroendocrine tumors (GiNET). We aimed to study the race/ethnic differences in disease characteris...
Pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma with bone marrow metastasis.

Background Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma of adolescence and childhood. Although most patients with localized RMS are cured, outcome of those with metastatic disease remains unsatisfactory. RMS with bone marrow (BM) metastasis accounts for approximately 6% of all cases with RMS and has a 3-year event-free survival of 14%. Our study aims to describe our institution's experience of patients with metastatic RMS with BM involvement. Methods This was a single-institution retrospective study from Memorial Sloan Kettering Kids, a tertiary pediatric oncology center. Patients with RMS who were diagnosed with BM metastasis between 1998 and 2018 were identified from pathology reports. Results For patients with RMS and BM positivity at diagnosis (N = 27), the median survival was 1.5 years. The 1-, 2-, and 3-year overall survival (OS) were 81%, 32%, and 20%, respectively. There is one long-term (defined as >4 year) survivor who is still alive 14.9 years after diagnosis despite two metastatic recurrences. An Oberlin status of 4 that included BM metastasis portended a 3-year OS of 0%. Conclusions Although most patients will respond to initial therapy, BM metastasis at the time of diagnosis lends a near-fatal diagnosis in pediatric patients with RMS. Novel therapies are desperately needed to consolidate their initial remission.
Analysis of chaotic FM system synchronization for bistatic radar

We propose a scheme for bistatic radar that uses a chaotic system to generate a wideband FM signal that is reconstructed at the receiver via a conventional phase lock loop. The setup for the bistatic radar includes a 3 state variable drive oscillator at the transmitter and a response oscillator at the receiver. The challenge is in synchronizing the response oscillator of the radar receiver utilizing a scaled version of the transmitted signal s r (t, x) = αs t (t, x) where x is one of three driver oscillator state variables and α is the scaling factor that accounts for antenna gain, system losses, and space propagation. For FM, we also assume that the instantaneous frequency of the received signal, x s , is a scaled version of the Lorenz variable x. Since this additional scaling factor may not be known a priori , the response oscillator must be able to accept the scaled version of x as an input. Thus, to achieve synchronization we utilize a generalized projective synchronization technique that introduces a controller term –μe where μ is a control factor and e is the difference between the response state variable x s and a scaled x. Since demodulation of s r (t) is required to reconstruct the chaotic state variable x, the phase lock loop imposes a limit on the minimum error e. We verify through simulations that, once synchronization is achieved, the short-time correlation of x and x s is high and that the self-noise in the correlation is negligible over long periods of time.
An institutional analysis of graduate outcomes reveals a contemporary workforce footprint for biomedical master’s degrees

There is continued growth in the number of master’s degrees awarded in the life sciences to address the evolving needs of the biomedical workforce. Academic medical centers leverage the expertise of their faculty and industry partners to develop one to two year intensive and multidisciplinary master’s programs that equip students with advanced scientific skills and practical training experiences. However, there is little data published on the outcomes of these graduates to evaluate the effectiveness of these programs and to inform the return on investment of students. Here, the authors show the first five-year career outlook for master of science graduates from programs housed at an academic medical center. Georgetown University Biomedical Graduate Education researchers analyzed the placement outcomes of 1,204 graduates from 2014–2018, and the two-year outcomes of 412 graduates from 2016 and 2017. From the 15 M.S. programs analyzed, they found that 69% of graduates entered the workforce, while 28% entered an advanced degree program such as a Ph.D., allopathic or osteopathic medicine (M.D. or D.O.), or health professions degree. International students who pursue advanced degrees largely pursued Ph.D. degrees, while domestic students represent the majority of students entering into medical programs. Researchers found that a majority of the alumni that entered the workforce pursue research-based work, with 59% of graduates conducting research-based job functions across industries. Forty-nine percent of employed graduates analyzed from 2016 and 2017 changed employment positions, while 15% entered advanced degree programs. Alumni that changed positions changed companies in the same job function, changed to a position of increasing responsibility in the same or different organization, or changed to a different job function in the same or different company. Overall, standalone master’s programs equip graduates with research skills, analytical prowess, and content expertise, strengthening the talent pipeline of the biomedical workforce.
Personality of place: Regional psychosocial characteristics of economic activity

Increasingly, social scientists are recognizing the limitations of traditional measures (e.g., geographic, demographic, economic) when trying to explain differing regional prosperity outcomes. This...
The use of mechanical assist devices in the pediatric population.

Abstract The last two decades have witnessed an expansion in the devices, support strategies, and outcomes for pediatric patients who require mechanical circulatory support. The use of large registries that house data on these devices and the development of shared learning networks have provided clinicians with the ability to critically assess outcomes for emerging and existing technology. The purpose of this review is to provide the reader with perspective on the most contemporary devices utilized for pediatric mechanical circulatory support. It will examine existing support strategies and the most contemporary outcomes regarding these devices including those in high risk patients.
Single season re-injury risk after concussion and lower extremity injury among male, collision sport, high school athletes.

Abstract Objectives Research suggests that a recent concussion increases subsequent lower extremity injury risk; however, data in high school athletes is limited. This study evaluates the association between concussion and subsequent injury risk among male, collision sport, high school athletes over a single season. Design Retrospective cohort study. Methods Data were obtained from 2005/06–2014/15 in the High School Reporting Information Online database. A two stage, multi-method matching process was used to identify athletes who suffered multiple injuries over a single athletic season. Demographics and injury characteristics were compared with Chi square and Student's t-tests. Multiple Cox Proportional Hazards regression analysis was used to test whether index injury type was associated with hazard of subsequent injury following return to play from index injury. Results Overall 1364 HS athletes sustained 2 injuries over a single athletic season (subsequent injury within 45 days of the index injury). Index injuries included 686 (50.2%) lower extremity injuries, 417 (30.6%) upper extremity injuries, and 261 (19.1%) concussions. Hazard of subsequent concussion was increased in the index concussion group relative to the index lower extremity injury group [hazard ratio (HR): 1.60, 95% CI: 1.15–2.23, p = 0.0052]. Hazard of a subsequent lower extremity injury was not significantly different for the index lower extremity injury group relative to the index concussion group [HR: 1.27, 95% CI: 0.98–1.65, p = 0.0728]. Conclusions History of recent concussion or recent lower extremity injury are both risk factors for subsequent lower extremity injury in male, collision sport, high school athletes.
Addressing Women's Health Care Needs During Pediatric Care.

Objective: To determine if the use of a simple self-administered Postpartum Questionnaire for Mothers (PQM) at the well-baby visit (WBV) increased the proportion of women who received health care a...
New dopaminergic therapies for PD motor complications.

Abstract Background Motor complications, characterized by “off” periods – when anti-parkinsonian medications are ineffective – and dyskinesia, are the hallmark of advanced Parkinson's disease (PD). While levodopa is the gold standard PD medication in terms of efficacy, its short duration of effect coupled with progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons leads to motor complications and fails to treat off periods. Purpose of review This review focuses on novel dopaminergic therapies that were recently made clinically available or are currently in development for the treatment of motor complications. First, it will discuss rescue therapies for the treatment of off episodes, including novel apomorphine and levodopa formulations. Second, it will highlight adjunctive dopaminergic medications approved to reduce total daily off time. Third, it will discuss longer-acting levodopa formulations in development and introduce a novel selective dopamine agonist under study. Finally, it will cover novel dopaminergic delivery mechanisms, with specific focus on continuous subcutaneous infusions in development. Summary The breadth of dopaminergic therapies recently approved or in development for motor complications, and specifically off time reduction, evokes cautious optimism. Gains in reducing off time with rescue therapies, adjunctive medications or longer-acting levodopa formulations are modest, and underscore the need for more continuous dopaminergic delivery to address the underlying pathophysiology and translate to clinically meaningful improvement in motor complications.
A Model to Support E-Catalog Integration

As a result of the explosive growth of the Internet in the recent years, the number of vendors offering online storefronts has grown tremendously. All these vendors offer potential buyers the ability to browse their online catalogs, identify items to purchase, and then complete the purchase transaction. A relatively new phenomenon in e-commerce is the need to integrate multiple individual e-catalogs into a single, unified catalog. This need is driven by the recent proliferation of online malls, business-to-business exchanges, and mergers and acquisitions. The integration of e-catalogs presents a variety of problems, such as resolving semantic conflicts between catalogs dealing with a variety of product structures and classifications, etc. In this paper, we lay the fundamental groundwork required for solving the e-catalog integration problem by proposing a model to support e-catalog integration. A model is developed to formally define a single e-catalog. It is then extended to model an integrated view over a number of vendor catalogs. The paper lays an infrastructure and suggests an approach to deal with the important practical problem of integrating existing e-catalogs.
Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE)

Correlated datasets arise from repeated measures studies where multiple observations are collected from a specific sampling unit (a specific patient's status over time), or from grouped or clustered data where observations are grouped based on sharing some common characteristic (animals in a specific litter). When measurements are collected over time, the term longitudinal or panel data is preferred. Generalized estimating equations provide a framework for analyzing correlated data. This framework extends the generalized linear models methodology, which assumes independent data. We discuss the estimation of model parameters and associated variances via generalized estimating equation methodology. Keywords: estimating equation; generalized estimating equations; generalized linear models; independence working model; marginal models; population-averaged models; sandwich estimate of variance; subject-specific models; working correlation matrix
Talabostat augments IL-1β and IL-1α production from peripheral blood monocytes isolated from healthy donors.

A8 Talabostat (L-valine-L-boroproline), an orally active, potent inhibitor of dipeptidyl peptidases, is in clinical trials for treating non-small lung cancer, metastatic melanoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and pancreatic cancer. In a mouse model of melanoma using the B16-FO line, the anti-tumor effect of Talabostat is diminished in mice deficient for the type I IL-1 receptor. One mechanism for IL-1-dependent anti-tumor activity of Talabostat is to increase infiltrating inflammatory cells into the tumor. This mechanism also includes increased activity of immunological competent cells and the induction of anti-tumor immunity. In the present study, we hypothesized that macrophages and other IL-1-producing cells in the tumor are partially activated due to hypoxic changes or necrotic tissues. Furthermore, Talabostat would then augment the production and release of IL-1β and IL-1β would increase local IL-1α production. Local IL-1α production would also be primarily membrane IL-1α, which in animal studies induces anti-tumor immunity. In order to mimic the partially activated macrophage in the tumor, we used peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy human subjects and stimulated these cells with very low concentrations of endotoxin (0.1 ng/mL) and measured the release of IL-1β from the culture and the content of cell-associated IL-1α. Using clinically relevant concentrations of Talabostat (1 M;M;) and 0.1 ng/mL of endotoxin, we observed a three-fold increase in IL-1β release, and a two-fold increase in IL-1α. A similar augmentation of IL-1β was observed when peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors were stimulated with the Toll-like receptor agonist peptidoglycan isolated from Staphylococcus epidermidis. TNFα production by LPS at 0.1 ng/mL was inhibited by 1 M;M Talabostat (85% reduction). In some donors, we observed that Talabostat (1 M;M;) increased IL-1β production directly (without the presence of endotoxin) and attribute those who respond to Talabostat alone to have pre-activated monocytes.
Earnings Quality and Strategic Disclosure: An Empirical Examination of 'Pro Forma' Earnings

This paper provides evidence on the characteristics of firms that include pro forma earnings information in their press releases and on whether the usefulness of pro forma earnings to investors varies systematically with these characteristics. Using a sample of 249 press releases from 1997-99, we find that firms with low GAAP earnings quality, as measured by the earnings-return correlation and its related R2, are more likely to disclose pro forma earnings than other firms. In addition, firms that engage in pro forma reporting are concentrated in high-technology industries, have greater sales growth and greater earnings variability, and are more likely to have negative earnings surprises than other firms. We also report significantly greater relative and incremental information content of pro forma earnings over GAAP earnings when GAAP earnings quality is low and when strategic considerations (as measured by the direction of the earnings surprise) are absent. Pro forma earnings also have significant predictive ability for future operating performance and returns in these instances, which is consistent with the view that managers are releasing pro forma figures in order to enhance the information environment in these particular cases. The paper contributes to the growing literature on pro forma earnings and more generally to the literature on voluntary and strategic disclosure.
Abstract 910: NOTCH3 expression is predictive of efficacy in pancreas tumor models treated with OMP-59R5, a monoclonal antibody targeting the NOTCH2 and NOTCH3 receptors

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA The Notch signaling pathway regulates key functions during embryonic development, stem cell maintenance and differentiation in adult tissues, and is implicated in many human cancers. OMP-59R5 is a ligand-blocking antibody targeting both the NOTCH2 and NOTCH3 receptors. We have developed a series of primary human xenograft models from patients with pancreatic cancer and used these models to examine efficacy response to OMP-59R5. We found that anti-NOTCH2/3, either as a single agent or in combination with chemotherapeutic agents, was efficacious in pancreatic tumor models. Expression of NOTCH3 mRNA by next-generation sequencing in ten baseline pancreatic tumors correlates with response to OMP-59R5, where growth of tumors with moderate to high expression of NOTCH3 was significantly reduced compared to tumors with low expression. We developed a Research-Use-Only (RUO) qPCR assay for measuring NOTCH3 mRNA expression using Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) samples. This assay shows consistent NOTCH3 expression data with the next-generation sequencing data in the ten pancreatic xenograft tumors. Expression levels of NOTCH3 were also examined in ∼120 human metastatic pancreatic specimens to determine the reportable range of the assay and to identify association with clinical factors. This analysis showed that NOTCH3 gene expression maintained the same distribution across different specimen types, such as biopsy, surgical biopsy and surgical resection, etc. Samples with clinically relevant sites of recurrence also showed a similar range in NOTCH3 gene expression. Moreover, we developed an immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay for NOTCH3 protein expression. The correlation between the IHC assay and the qPCR assay was examined in both the metastatic pancreatic human specimens and the primary human pancreatic xenograft models. A significant correlation was found between the gene and protein levels, suggesting that both NOTCH3 gene expression and protein expression may predict the response to OMP-59R5 in pancreatic cancer. We are evaluating NOTCH3 levels and patient response in ALPINE, a Ph1b/2 Anti-NOTCH2/3 trial in first-line advanced pancreatic cancer patients. Citation Format: Belinda Cancilla, Wan-Ching Yen, Chun Zhang, Marcus M. Fischer, May Ji, Tracy Tang, Yu-Wang Liu, Raymond S. Tam, Min Wang, Austin Gurney, Timothy Hoey, John Lewicki, Ann M. Kapoun. NOTCH3 expression is predictive of efficacy in pancreas tumor models treated with OMP-59R5, a monoclonal antibody targeting the NOTCH2 and NOTCH3 receptors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 910. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-910