cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fish oil (n-3 fatty acids) in drug resistant epilepsy: a randomised placebo-controlled crossover study.

Background n-3 fatty acids inhibit neuronal excitability and reduce seizures in animal models. High-dose fish oil has been explored in two randomised trials in drug resistant epilepsy with negative results. We performed a phase II randomised controlled crossover trial of lowdose and high-dose fish oil in participants with drug resistant epilepsy to explore whether low-dose or highdose fish oil reduces seizures or improves cardiovascular health. Methods Randomised placebo-controlled trial of lowdose and high-dose fish oil versus placebo (corn oil, linoleic acid) in 24 participants with drug resistant epilepsy. A three-period crossover design was utilised lasting 42 weeks, with three 10-week treatment periods and two 6-week washout periods. All participants were randomised in double-blind fashion to receive placebo, high dose or low dose in different sequences. The primary outcome was per cent change in total seizure frequency. Findings Low-dose fish oil (3 capsules/day, 1080 mg eicosapentaenoic acid+docosahexaenoic acid) was associated with a 33.6% reduction in seizure frequency compared with placebo. Low-dose fish oil was also associated with a mild but significant reduction in blood pressure. High-dose fish oil was no different than placebo in reducing seizures or improving cardiac risk factors. Interpretation In this phase II randomised crossover trial, low-dose fish oil was effective in reducing seizures compared with placebo. The magnitude of improvement is similar to that of recent antiepileptic drug trials in drug resistant epilepsy (DRE). The results indicate that low-dose fish oil may reduce seizures and improve the health of people with epilepsy. These findings justify a large multicentre randomised trial of low-dose fish oil (n-3 fatty acids <1080 mg/day) in drug resistant epilepsy. Trial registration number NCT00871377.
Astrue v. Capato Argument Preview: Who is a Decedent's 'Child'?

In this SCOTUSblog posting, Professor Knaplund provides a preview of the oral arguments in the Supreme Court case of Astrue v. Capato. This case involves the determination of whether a "postmortem conception" child - that is, a child conceived and implanted after a parent's death - is the late parent's child for the purpose of awarding Social Security survivor's benefits. The key question in the case is whether an application for benefits who is the biological or undisputed child of a deceased wage earner must also establish that he is entitled to inherit in intestacy from the decedent under state law.
Multicollinearity in regression: Review and examples

When building regression models for forecasting, analysts often encounter the problem of multicollinearity or illconditioning in their data sets. In such cases, large variances and covariances can make subset selection and parameter estimation difficult to impossible. In this paper, we suggest several approaches for extending estimation results to forecasting and review theoretical results useful for forecasting with multicollinearity. Several examples are provided.
Feedback-stabilized minimum distance maintenance for convex parametric surfaces

A new minimum-distance tracking algorithm is presented for moving convex bodies represented using tiled-together parametric surface patches. The algorithm is formulated by differentiating the geometric minimization problem with respect to time. This produces a hybrid dynamical system that incorporates dependence on rigid body motion, surface shape, and surface boundary interconnectedness. The minimum distance between a pair of previously identified closest features is found by feedback stabilizing the dynamical equations and numerically solving the resulting closed-loop system equations. Maintenance of the minimum distance and the associated closest points during motion is achieved through the action of a feedforward controller and a switching algorithm. The feedforward controller simultaneously accounts for surface shape and motion while the switching controller triggers updates to the extremal feature pair when extremal points on one body cross between Voronoi regions of the other body. In contrast to previously available minimum distance determination algorithms, attractive properties of the new algorithm include a means of determining the highest gain K that maintains stability under a given discretization scheme and a large and easily characterized basin of attraction of the stabilized closest points. These properties may be used to achieve higher computational efficiency. Simulation results are presented for various planar and spatial systems composed of a body and point or composed of two bodies.
Quantitative phosphoproteomic analysis of early seed development in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) seed serves as a major food source for over half of the global population. Though it has been long recognized that phosphorylation plays an essential role in rice seed development, the phosphorylation events and dynamics in this process remain largely unknown so far. Here, we report the first large scale identification of rice seed phosphoproteins and phosphosites by using a quantitative phosphoproteomic approach. Thorough proteomic studies in pistils and seeds at 3, 7 days after pollination resulted in the successful identification of 3885, 4313 and 4135 phosphopeptides respectively. A total of 2487 proteins were differentially phosphorylated among the three stages, including Kip related protein 1, Rice basic leucine zipper factor 1, Rice prolamin box binding factor and numerous other master regulators of rice seed development. Moreover, differentially phosphorylated proteins may be extensively involved in the biosynthesis and signaling pathways of phytohormones such as auxin, gibberellin, abscisic acid and brassinosteroid. Our results strongly indicated that protein phosphorylation is a key mechanism regulating cell proliferation and enlargement, phytohormone biosynthesis and signaling, grain filling and grain quality during rice seed development. Overall, the current study enhanced our understanding of the rice phosphoproteome and shed novel insight into the regulatory mechanism of rice seed development.
(Z)-3-[2-(2,4-Di­nitro­phen­yl)hydrazin-1-yl­idene]isobenzo­furan-1(3H)-one di­chloro­methane hemisolvate

In the title compound, 2C14H8N4O6·CH2Cl2, the di­chloro­methane solvent mol­ecule resides on a crystallographic twofold axis. The mean plane of the phthaliso­imide ring is oriented at a dihedral angle of 32.93 (12)° with respect to the nitro-substituted benzene ring. An intra­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bond occurs. The crystal packing features a short Cl⋯O halogen-bond inter­action [3.093 (3) A].
Evidence: General Economic Analysis

The economic analysis of evidence law is relatively less developed than other areas of the law and economics literature, notwithstanding this subject's close relationship to other well-developed areas, most notably the economic analysis of procedural rules. This chapter first will develop some of the general issues raised by the economic analysis of evidence within the Anglo-American tradition of adversarial presentation. We will then proceed to consider the existing literature on specific topics in the law of evidence and related problems of pre-trial discovery and trial error.
The Problem of Immediate Awareness

This book addresses fundamental issues regarding the nature of the most intractable kind of consciousness called ‘immediate awareness’. It also addresses the issue of whether or not immediate awareness, when it is found within the structures of knowing how, is computable [decidable] on the standard von Neumann computer. The term ‘immediate’ (sometimes the term ‘direct’ is used) is not intended to mean meaningless awareness, as some recent theorists assume.2 Nor does immediate awareness mean “awareness that,” “conscious awareness that” or “consciousness that” such and such is the case, where a subject who is aware must know that they are aware in the sense of stating or otherwise indicating in language that they are aware. Nor does it mean that their awareness is necessarily accurate in some sense. Immediate awareness in the sense I am focusing upon here does not require that the one who is aware must be able to comment or reflect upon it or be right about it. Thus immediate awareness here also does not refer to “self-awareness,” as some have recently defined the term ‘consciousness’ or ‘conscious awareness’. Nonetheless, the sense of immediate awareness of concern here is cognitive; it is the most fundamental and pervasive faculty of human knowing underlying all natural intelligence.
The New Era of Public Sector Management: Impact of Employee Perceptions of Managers on Managerial Effectiveness

Contemporary public sector managers are forced to develop a myriad of skills in order to effectively pursue and achieve organization objectives. The art of effective public sector management requires public managers to be cognizant of the cultural, social, systemic and institutional barriers which profoundly influence their level of effectiveness. Contemporary public sector managers are asked to do more than simply mobilize resources aimed at achieving specific organizational goals and objectives. They are asked to work smarter rather than harder and to take steps to ensure they are getting the most out of public resource investments. They are asked to embrace new technologies which may improve the quality of service delivery and assists them in managing numerous employees working on multiple, varied and diverse projects. While these skills may be crucial to the overall effectiveness of contemporary public sector managers and ultimately, to the organizations they work for, it may not be enough. With the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 came major changes in the way public managers' function within organizations. Public sector employees are smarter, better educated and demand to be managed by people who are professionals and by managers who value them. With the inherent understanding that an organization is only as good as its employees, public managers are forced to address the complex human factors which influence overall productivity levels. They are asked to manage people in a way which takes into account the inherent need and utility in securing the respect of their employees. The fact is, in the contemporary perspective, employees can help or impede the success of public sector managers and organizations and their morale and commitment to mangers and an organization is profoundly influenced by the perception and relationship they have with mangers. This paper examines the impact of manager and employee relations on managerial success and overall organization effectiveness.
Negotiation and the Global Information Economy: Infrastructure pricing negotiations: evaluating alternatives when facing a significant market power

A price that blocks exchange among willing exchangers is clearly not an efficiency price, but which of the various prices that do not block it is the efficiency price? An answer sufficient for all purposes at this point is that the efficiency price is the price that would be established if the sellers and buyers became so numerous that no single buyer or seller could manipulate the price. Charles E. Lindblom Politics and Markets In an increasingly interconnected global economy, the assumption is too often made that countries will abide by written and unwritten rules backed by a majority of global actors. When we come across cases that go against these established rules, then consideration needs to be given to how the country or coalition was able to pull off such a feat. This chapter discusses two cases where the US did not change its position against pressures from the rest of the world; in both cases the concentration of power, namely market power, advantaged the US in the negotiations. The international telecommunications pricing regime changed very little since multilateral coordination began in the mid nineteenth century until the 1990s (see Chapter 4). The cartel of monopoly carriers and PTTs worked hard to maintain high profits from international calls. Change was only supposed to occur when there was a general consensus in the cartel.
Crabro Davidsoni Sandh., a Wasp Predacious on Adult Leafhoppers

Specimens of a crabronid wasp reared from an old peach stump collected at Greenville, Ohio, April 1, 1934; from a rotting fence post near Columbus, Ohio, during the summer of 1935[1][1] and from a porch near Wooster, Ohio, during the summer of 1936[2][2] were described by Grace Sandhouse as Crabro (Blepharipus) davidsoni in the preceding article (p. 1). [1]: #fn-1 [2]: #fn-2
Efferent and afferent control of fast and slow arm movements.

The “outflow” hypothesis suggests that subjects can monitor the efferent activity effecting movements and can be aware of the course of movements independent of proprioception. To test the outflow hypothesis eight subjects were trained to make a simple arm movement and to subjectively estimate its extent. Following training, the extent of the movement was experimentally manipulated by introducing or omitting a small unperceived mechanical resistance, and subjective estimates of movement extent were evaluated. The presence of a shift in subjective movement extent would suggest a proprioceptive dependency, while the absense of a shift would suggest efference monitoring. Clear evidence for efference monitoring was not found, although subjective movement extent was found not to vary as would be expected from purely proprioceptive feedback monitoring suggesting other (possibly feedforward) mechanisms.
Holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency pre and post newborn screening

Holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency is an autosomal recessive disorder of biotin metabolism resulting in multiple carboxylase deficiency. The typical presentation described in the medical literature is of neonatal onset within hours to weeks of birth with emesis, hypotonia, lethargy, seizures, metabolic ketolactic acidosis, hyperammonemia, developmental delay, skin rash and alopecia. The condition is screened for by newborn screening (NBS) tandem mass spectroscopy by elevated hydroxypentanoylcarnitine on dried blood spots. Urine organic acid profile may demonstrate elevated lactic, 3-OH isovaleric, 3-OH propionic, 3-MCC, methylcitric acids, and tiglylglycine consistent with loss of function of the above carboxylases. Here we describe a cohort of patients, 2 diagnosed pre-NBS and 3 post-NBS with broad differences in initial presentation and phenotype. In addition, prior to the advent of NBS, there are isolated reports of late-onset holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency in the medical literature, which describe patients diagnosed between 1 and 8 years of life, however to our knowledge there are no reports of late-onset HCLS being missed by NBS. Also we report two cases, each with novel pathogenic variants HCLS, diagnosed at age 3 years and 21 months respectively. The first patient had a normal newborn screen whilst the second had an abnormal newborn screen but was misdiagnosed as 3-methylcrotonylcarboxylase (3-MCC) deficiency and subsequently lost to follow-up until they presented again with severe metabolic acidosis.
Linear Free Energy Correlations for Fission Product Release from the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Accident

This paper extends the preliminary linear free energy correlations for radionuclide release performed by Schwantes et al., following the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Through evaluations of the molar fractionations of radionuclides deposited in the soil relative to modeled radionuclide inventories, we confirm the initial source of the radionuclides to the environment to be from active reactors rather than the spent fuel pool. Linear correlations of the form In χ = −α ((ΔGrxn°(TC))/(RTC)) + β were obtained between the deposited concentrations, and the reduction potentials of the fission product oxide species using multiple reduction schemes to calculate ΔG°rxn (TC). These models allowed an estimate of the upper bound for the reactor temperatures of TC between 2015 and 2060 K, providing insight into the limiting factors to vaporization and release of fission products during the reactor accident. Estimates of the release of medium-lived fission products 90Sr, 121mSn, 147Pm, 144Ce, 152Eu, 154Eu, 155Eu, and 151Sm through atmospheric venting during the first month following the accident were obtained, indicating that large quantities of 90Sr and radioactive lanthanides were likely to remain in the damaged reactor cores.
Political Science as Psychology

â€œSuppose,â€ wrote William James in A Pluralistic Universe, â€œthat a philosopher believes in what is called free-will. That a common man alongside of him should also share that belief, possessing it by a sort of inborn intuition, does not endear the man to the philosopher at allâ€”he may even be ashamed to be associated with such a man. What interests the philosopher is the particular premises on which the free-will he believes in is established, the sense in which it is taken, the objections it eludes, the difficulties it takes account of, in short the whole form and temper and manner and technical apparatus that goes with the belief in question. A philosopher across the way who should use the same technical apparatus, making the same distinctions but drawing opposite conclusions and denying free-will entirely, would fascinate the first philosopher far more than the naif co-believer. Their common technical interests would unite them more than their opposite conclusions separate them. Each would feel an essential consanguinity in the other, would think of him, write at him, care for his good opinion. The simple-minded believer in free-will would be disregarded by either. Neither as ally nor as opponent would his vote be counted.â€
Inhibition of Platelet Serotonin Transport by Propranolol

Transport of serotonin into human platelets is inhibited by the beta-adrenergic blocking agent, propranolol. Both D- and DL-propranolol, at a concentration of 1 µM, inhibit the initial rate of serotonin transport by approximately 50%, but do not affect the steady-state level of accumulation. Although most of the serotonin accumulated by intact platelets is stored in intracellular dense granules, this reserpine-sensitive component of platelet serotonin transport is not inhibited by propranolol. In isolated porcine platelet plasma membrane vesicles, DL-propranolol is a competitive inhibitor of serotonin transport with a KI of 1.03 ± 0.27 µM. Moreover, propranolol displaces imipramine bound to the plasma membrane serotonin transporter. In contrast, propranolol does not inhibit transport of serotonin into membrane vesicles derived from platelet dense granules. These results indicate that propranolol inhibits platelet serotonin transport at the level of the plasma membrane.
Risks and Benefits of Simultaneous Bilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Critical Analysis Review.

As the annual number of total knee arthroplasties has continued to increase, a concomitant increase in the number of bilateral total knee arthroplasties has occurred. Approximately 6% of primary total knee arthroplasties performed each year in the United States are performed on both knees as a single procedure with the patient under anesthesia (simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty). This rate represents an almost twofold increase compared with the rate in the 1990s, when approximately 3.7% of all total knee arthroplasty operations were performed as a simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty1. Because the fastest increase in total knee arthroplasty is occurring among younger people, a continued increase in the performance of simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty is possible2. The identification of patients of all ages with symptomatic bilateral knee arthritis who are appropriate candidates for simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty can be difficult. A major deficiency of the current orthopaedic literature is the absence of any adequately powered, prospective, controlled clinical trials that have directly compared simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty with two total …
Research on an End-to-End IPTV QoS Implement Mechanism in Wireless Environment

A four-tied Internet protocol television(IPTV) quality of service(QoS) implementing architecture is presented in wireless environment.By collaborating compression encoding,content distribution network(CDN),multicast,peer-to-peer((P2P),cache,reshape,etc,in dynamic and bursting IP traffic environment,end-to-end QoS transport for user IP TV service application will be assured.Simulation result shows that,by rationally provisioning and adapting,it can provide the bandwidth required by standard-definition TV(SDTV) in real Internet.
Formic acid oxidation on Pd/TiO_2/C catalyst

The carbon supported Pd -TiO2/C and Pd/C catalysts were prepared with liquid phase reduction method.The catalysts have been characterized by cyclic voltammetry(CV),linear sweep voltammetry(LSV)and Amperometric i-t techniques.It was found that the electrocatalystic activity of Pd-TiO2/C catalyst was higher than that of Pd/C catalyst for the synergistic effect of TiO2.This is also attributed to the larger electrochemical specific surface area of Pd-TiO2/C.
The way of suicide, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or Evangelium Vitae's way of mercy and compassion?

(2003). The Way of Suicide, Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, or Evangelium Vitae’s Way of Mercy and Compassion? The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 70, No. 4, pp. 301-315.
Campus Strategic Action in the "Fisher" Case: Organizational Stakeholder Advocacy across the Field of Higher Education.

Using a census sampling, this analysis evaluates the campus structures and practices that are predictive of a campus being affiliated with stakeholder legal advocacy regarding the Fisher Supreme Court affirmative action case of 2013. Findings reveal that a campus utilizing selective admissions operated as a sufficient, but not a necessary, requirement to prompt stakeholders to take a legal position in the case. Also, campuses that enrolled and graduated the largest percentages of nonwhite students were inclined to have stakeholders submit amicus briefs advocating support for UT-Austin and the use of race in selective college admissions.
The Association of Celiac Disease and Eosinophilic Esophagitis in Pediatric Patients

Celiac disease (CD) and eosinophilic esophagitis (EOE) are two distinct disease entities affecting the gastrointestinal tract of pediatric patients. Recently it has been suggested that eosinophilic esophagitis is more prevalent in patients with celiac disease than the general population. We studied the association between these two disease entities in our pediatric population. We reviewed our …
An experimental and numerical study of refrigerator heat leakage at the gasket region.

Abstract A combined experimental and computational approach was developed to measure the heat leakage through the refrigerator gasket region. The experiment was carried out by measuring the heat flux through the door gasket by Reverse Heat Load Method (RHLM). The experimental point measurements lie near to the continuous curve from Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation, which makes it reasonable to provide a dimensionless shape profile by CFD to fill in the missing information between experimental measurement points in order to provide the actual effective heat leakage. The average effective heat leakage on the door gasket surface is determined as 0.2 W m − 1 K − 1 comprising 17% and 14% heat leakage of the total load in the fresh-food and freezer compartments, respectively. The electric fan and the hot pipe along the perimeter of the door contribute to an increase of 20% and 10% in the effective heat leakage on the door surface of the freezer, respectively.
Incorporating an Early Detection System Into Routine Clinical Practice in Two Community Hospitals

Efforts to improve outcomes of patients who deteriorate outside the intensive care unit have included the use of rapid response teams (RRTs) as well as manual and automated prognostic scores. Although automated early warning systems (EWSs) are starting to enter clinical practice, there are few reports describing implementation and the processes required to integrate early warning approaches into hospitalists' workflows. We describe the implementation process at 2 community hospitals that deployed an EWS. We employed the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's iterative Plan-Do-Study-Act approach. Our basic workflow, which relies on having an RRT nurse and the EWS's 12-hour outcome time frame, has been accepted by clinicians and has not been associated with patient complaints. Whereas our main objective was to develop a set of workflows for integrating the electronic medical record EWS into clinical practice, we also uncovered issues that must be addressed prior to disseminating this intervention to other hospitals. One problematic area is that of documentation following an alert. Other areas that must be addressed prior to disseminating the intervention include the need for educating clinicians on the rationale for deploying the EWS, careful consideration of interdepartment service agreements, clear definition of clinician responsibilities, pragmatic documentation standards, and how to communicate with patients. In addition to the deployment of the EWS to other hospitals, a future direction for our teams will be to characterize process-outcomes relationships in the clinical response itself. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2016;11:S25-S31. © 2016 Society of Hospital Medicine.
On positivity of spectral shift functions

Abstract We show that every spectral shift function of an even order η 2 k is nonnegative outside the convex hull of the spectrum of an initial operator cvh σ ( H ) ; every spectral shift function of an odd order η 2 k − 1 is nonnegative (respectively, nonpositive) outside cvh σ ( H ) whenever a perturbation is nonnegative (respectively, nonpositive). We also derive several sufficient conditions for positivity of η 2 k and η 2 k − 1 on the whole real line.
Making sense of a complex system: empirical studies of employment-based health insurance.

The studies reported in this project investigate some aspects of how employment-based health insurance works. Compared to most other kinds of insurance, the great bulk of people obtain their health insurance in a complex way; they must choose their job and their health insurance as a joint product. These studies look at different data sets and employ different methods to address some key and fundamental policy questions about this unusual institutional arrangement. Even when they address the same or similar questions, they often arrive at different conclusions. How then should we interpret these results, and what do they add to our understanding? I think it is fair to say that there is a conventional wisdom or model, among both health and labor economists, about the reason why employers offer health (and other non-mandated) benefits. This view is largely driven by theoretical models (rather than direct empirical estimation), although those models themselves have been strongly supported by empirical work in other contexts.
Species, Descriptive Efficiency, and Progress in Systematics

The nature of species represents an area of confusion and controversy for many evolutionary biologists. Almost always the questions posed are whether such things exist, what properties they might have, and how to recognize them effectively, efficiently, and consistently. These questions, while easy to frame, are not easy to answer, especially without making serious logical errors, and therefore this area of discussion has become dominated by philosophers and systematists with strong philosophical leanings. Unfortunately, the language of philosophy is not immediately accessible to most biologists, who, after all, almost never get training in the structure of scientific reasoning, the pitfalls of reductionism, and the economics of efficient description. On the other side, few philosophers have any obvious feeling for evolutionary biology and therefore tend to make simplistic assumptions about how biological populations are structured and distributed geographically and what and how evidence comes to bear on evolutionary questions. Therefore, my purpose in this paper is not to break new ground, but rather to provide an oversimplified essay on how systematists got to where they are in this discussion, with reference to the philosophical, biological, and political issues that have shaped it.
Proof-of concept phase I study of everolimus, letrozole and trastuzumab in hormone receptor-positive, HER2-positive/amplified or mutant metastatic breast cancer or other solid tumors: Evaluating synergy and overcoming resistance.

2583Background: Preclinical models suggested synergistic antineoplastic activity of anti-estrogen therapy with HER2 and mTOR inhibitors. Methods: We designed a 3+3 dose escalation phase I study of the aromatase inhibitor letrozole 2.5mg PO daily, mTOR inhibitor everolimus 2.5-10mg PO daily and HER2 antibody trastuzumab 4-8mg loading dose followed by 2-4mg maintenance dose IV on day 1 of 21-day cycle in patients with hormone-receptor positive, HER2-positive/amplified or mutant advanced cancers (confirmed by immunohistochemistry and/or FISH and/or next-generation sequencing). The primary objectives were to determine maximum tolerated dose (MTD), dose limiting toxicities (DLT), overall safety and response. Results: A total of 18 patients (men, 1; women, 17; HER2 amplification, 14; HER2 mutation, 4; breast cancer, 15; ovarian cancer, 1; cervical cancer, 1; gastroesophageal junction cancer, 1), median age 56 years, median of 6 prior therapies (including letrozole [9] or other aromatase inhibitor [8]; everolimu...
Quasiharmonic calculations of thermodynamic properties for La3−xTe4 system

Abstract An extensive first-principles quasiharmonic phonon calculation was carried out for the thermoelectric material La3−xTe4 at the compositions of x = 0.0, 0.25 and 0.33, focusing at the La site vacancy effects on the thermodynamic properties. The calculated quantities include the 0 K static total energy curves and electronic band structures as well as density-of-states, the phonon density-of-states, together with the linear thermal expansion coefficients, the entropies, the enthalpies, the heat capacities, the bulk moduli, and the Debye temperature as functions of temperature up to 1200 K. Both the standard Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) and the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof revised for solids (PBEsol) exchange-correlational functionals were examined and it was found that the PBEsol functional was generally better than the PBE functional in describing both the crystal and electronic properties for the La3−xTe4.
Computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation in persons with multiple sclerosis: Results of a multi-site randomized controlled trial with six month follow-up.

Abstract Background The effects of multiple sclerosis (MS) on cognition have gained increasing recognition as one of the major disabling symptoms of the disease. Despite the prevalence of these symptoms and their impact on quality of life, limited attention has been given to strategies that might help manage the cognitive changes commonly experienced by persons with MS. Objective The primary purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a novel computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation intervention MAPSS-MS (Memory, Attention, Problem Solving Skills in MS) in a multi-site trial with persons with MS. Methods Persons with MS (N = 183) with cognitive concerns were randomly assigned to either the 8-week MAPSS-MS intervention or usual care plus freely available computer games. Participants completed self-report and performance measures of cognitive functioning, compensatory strategies and depression at baseline, immediately after the MAPSS-MS intervention, and three and six months post-intervention. Changes in study outcomes were analyzed using intention to treat methodology, ANOVA with repeated measures, and ANCOVA. Results Both groups improved significantly on all outcome measures. The intervention group outperformed the comparison group on all measures, and there were statistically significant differences on selected measures. Conclusion Findings suggest that MAPSS-MS is a feasible intervention that could be broadly implemented in community settings. It has been shown to be modestly successful in improving cognitive functioning.
Real-time Video Quality of Experience Monitoring for HTTPS and QUIC

The widespread deployment of end-to-end encryption protocols such as HTTPS and QUIC has reduced the visibility for operators into traffic on their networks. Network operators need the visibility to monitor and mitigate Quality of Experience (QoE) impairments in popular applications such as video streaming. To address this problem, we propose a machine learning based approach to monitor QoE metrics for encrypted video traffic. We leverage network and transport layer information as features to train machine learning classifiers for inferring video QoE metrics such as startup delay and rebuffering events. Using our proposed approach, network operators can detect and react to encrypted video QoE impairments in real-time. We evaluate our approach for YouTube adaptive video streams using HTTPS and QUIC. The experimental evaluations show that our approach achieves up to 90% classification accuracy for HTTPS and up to 85 % classification accuracy for QUIC.
Avicta and Clariva Affect the Biology of the Soybean Cyst Nematode, Heterodera glycines

Nematicidal seed treatments are a relatively new strategy for managing plant-parasitic nematodes in row crops. Two such seed treatments, Avicta (abamectin) and Clariva (Pasteuria nishizawae), are marketed by Syngenta for use against Heterodera glycines in soybean production in the upper Midwest. The specific effects of these seed treatments on the biology of the nematode have not been previously reported. The effects of Avicta and Clariva on H. glycines hatching, movement, attraction, penetration, development, and reproduction were determined in controlled-environment experiments. Avicta inhibited juvenile movement and penetration at the seed depth and 3 cm below the seed. Clariva inhibited juvenile movement and penetration 3 and 5 cm below the seed and nematode development within the roots of young plants. Both seed treatments affected nematodes in 10- and 20-day-old plants, but effects were not detected on nematodes developing in older plants (30 and 60 days) with larger root systems. These results provide details of the specific mechanisms of early-season protection provided by Avicta and Clariva seed treatments.
Three-Dimensional, Quantitative in vitro Assays of Wound Healing Behavior

Publisher Summary This chapter describes several assays that allow quantitative evaluation of fundamental aspects of cell behavior involved in the wound healing response in controlled environments with improved physiological relevance. Collagen gels are prepared by neutralizing stock type I collagen solution and raising the temperature to facilitate self-assembly of monomeric collagen into fibrils and forming an entangled network of fibrils with interstitial medium. Disrupting forming gels can affect structural and rheological properties that are important for cell behavior assays. Take care when handling the gels during and after formation. The key is to maintain tight control over cell populations and the cell density used in the assays, as cell behavior can vary widely from passage to passage, and cell density dramatically affects the potential for cell–cell signaling, which, if not accounted for, can cloud results. For each cell, using standard image analysis packages, draw a line segment representing the prevailing orientation of the cell.
Soul Glow: An Application for Helping to Understand and Improve Mental Health Care of HBCU Students

Mental healthcare within African American communities is often misunderstood due to lack of awareness and stigmas surrounding needing counseling services. In communities of color, barriers often exist to seek aid for mental health services due to scarce resources of trained professionals and high health care costs. Young people that matriculate into college from these communities may experience increased anxiety and depression when faced with the pressures of higher education. This research studied 92 students from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to determine the difficulties they encounter with obtaining preventative mental health services at their institutions. Feedback from participants was used to create a community environment for HBCU students wishing to maintain their mental health and help others around them endure the unique pressures of higher education at minority-serving institutions. This application, called Soul Glow, will be used in a future study to determine its effects of lessening the pressures on already overburdened counseling services at HBCUs.
C-Reactive Protein Level Predicts Survival Outcomes in Rectal Cancer Patients Undergoing Total Mesorectal Excision After Preoperative Chemoradiation Therapy

Systemic inflammatory response, as measured by C-reactive protein (CRP), is associated with prognosis in various types of human malignancies. However, to the best of our knowledge, the clinical significance of CRP in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer that undergo preoperative chemoradiation has not been investigated in detail. This retrospective study validates CRP as a potential predictive marker for survival outcomes in rectal cancer patients. In this study, we enrolled 125 patients that received total mesorectal excision after preoperative chemoradiation for rectal cancer between January 2003 and December 2010. We investigated the association between preoperative CRP and clinicopathological characteristics and assessed the prognostic value of CRP. The median follow-up was 41 months. Elevated CRP showed significant correlation with high histological grade (P = 0.009) and cancer recurrence (P = 0.027). The 5-year disease-free survival and cancer-specific survival were significantly lower in the elevated CRP group (P = 0.001). Moreover, CRP was the strongest predictive factor for cancer-specific survival in multivariate analysis (P = 0.001). In the subgroup analysis, elevated CRP was a significant prognostic factor in patients with node-positive disease (P = 0.025) and was associated with poorer tumor regression (TRG4–5; P = 0.011). The results of our study suggest that preoperative CRP level shows prognostic significance in rectal cancer patients that have undergone chemoradiation. Therefore, preoperative CRP may help clinicians to identify patients that need additional therapy to reduce systemic failure.
Cancer Immunosurveillance by T Cells

Cancer immunotherapy is based on the ability of the immune system to recognize tumors as foreign tissue. The idea of cancer immunosurveillance was first conceived over a century ago but remained controversial through much of the 20th century. In the past few decades, however, the field has progressed rapidly, and the concept of tumor immunosurveillance is now well established. With this chapter, we provide a historical background of immunosurveillance, the concept of immunoediting, and the role of different T-cell subsets in the tumor microenvironment. We also discuss the relationship between immune checkpoints, tumor antigens, T cell receptor repertoire, and immunosurveillance. Finally, we comment on the future of immunotherapy as it relates to T cell immunosurveillance.
Tweety Holmes: A Browser Extension for Abusive Twitter Profile Detection

Online harassment on social media platforms is a pressing matter for which users are not well equipped to handle or avoid. Twitter users can take advantage of third-party websites to get more detailed metrics about the health of another users account, or they can make reports to Twitter after experiencing abuse, but neither option easily allows them to avoid abusive users. We present Tweety Holmes, which analyzes the word usage of Twitter profiles, detects potentially abusive behavior and then warns users visually. It follows principles of algorithmic transparency by visually indicating which words or tweets flagged the profile as abusive so users can better understand the context and also alerts users when they are mentioned or messages by a potentially abusive user with the hopes that this early warning can prevent unhealthy interactions from taking place in the future.
Homeless With Cancer: An Unrecognized Problem in the United States

Homelessness is a national problem that is worsening. Some challenges the homeless face-lack of shelter, food, health care, support, and opportunities-are well known. Cancer, an unrecognized problem among the homeless, is a leading cause of their deaths.
Validity and Reliability of Standing Posture Measurements Using a Mobile Application.

Abstract Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of standing posture assessments in asymptomatic men using the PostureScreen Mobile (PSM) iOS application. Methods The standing posture of 50 asymptomatic male participants (24.04 ± 1.81 years) was measured during 3 trials on the same day. The following 10 measurements using the PSM app were compared to the criterion VICON 3-dimensional analysis: from the frontal plane, shift and tilt of the head, shoulders, and hips; and from the sagittal plane, shift of the head, shoulders, hips, and knees. We used Bayesian methods to analyze the data. Results Compared with the VICON measurements, PSM assessments of head tilt, shoulder tilt and shift, and hip tilt and shift in the frontal plane were biased. In the sagittal plane, PSM measurements of shoulder, hip, and knee shift were biased. Only head shift in the frontal and sagittal planes were comparable between the VICON and the PSM. The VICON and PSM had similar intraclass correlations in 6 of 10 measurements. The PSM assessments of head shift and tilt and shoulder tilt in the sagittal plane were significantly less reliable than with VICON. Conclusion The use of the PSM app introduced significant bias in postural measurements in the frontal and sagittal plane. Until further research reports additional validity and reliability data of the PSM app, we suggest caution in the use of PSM app when highly accurate postural assessments are necessary.
Evaluation of the United Kingdom‐primary biliary cholangitis and global primary biliary cholangitis group prognostic models for primary biliary cholangitis patients treated with ursodeoxycholic acid in the U.S. population

Background and Aim The United Kingdom-primary biliary cholangitis (UK-PBC) and global primary biliary cholangitis group (GLOBE) prognostic models have been recently developed to predict long-term outcomes in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). However, these predictive scores have not yet been well evaluated in the U.S. population. Methods We retrospectively reviewed newly diagnosed PBC patients at the Cleveland Clinic between November 1998 and February 2017. Adverse events were defined as liver transplantation, liver-related mortality, and all-cause mortality. Transplant-free survival (TFS) was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Predictive performances of all prognostic models were evaluated using the C-statistic. Results We identified 352 patients who used ursodeoxycholic acid therapy. Of them, 311 (88.4%) only had PBC, while 41 (11.6%) were diagnosed with PBC-autoimmune hepatitis overlap. A total of 22 (6%), 47 (13%), and 55 (16%) patients had adverse events within 5, 10, and 15 years after diagnosis, respectively. In patients with PBC only, the C-statistic in predicting 15-year adverse events was 0.75 per GLOBE compared to 0.74 per UK-PBC (P = 0.94), 0.73 per Rotterdam (P = 0.44), 0.66 per Barcelona (P = 0.004), 0.65 per Paris 1 (P = 0.005), 0.62 per Paris 2 (P < 0.0001), 0.60 per Toronto (P < 0.0001), and 0.60 per Mayo (P < 0.0001) scores. Median follow-up was 9.2 years. Ten-year TFS for patients who had optimal versus suboptimal treatment response was 92 versus 74% per Paris 1 (P < 0.0001), 95 versus 79% per Paris 2 (P = 0.0002), 93 versus 65% per Barcelona (P < 0.0001), and 96 versus 68% per Rotterdam (P < 0.0001) risk scores, respectively. Conclusion In our cohort of PBC patients, the UK-PBC and GLOBE scores were both accurate and reasonably valid prognostic models in the U.S. population.
Is yoga cultural appropriation

Introduction: Yoga was originally founded in South Asia and it was practiced by various South Asian individuals. It is a spiritual practice about the mind and body, as well as the meaning of life and the nature of the universe. The intended belief was yoga assist with self-development believed to reduce stress, increase beauty, strength, and muscle flexibility. Aim and Objective: The main objective of this article is to highlight how yoga has transformed into controversial, elite, counter cultural and pop culture varieties with undertones of cultural appropriation. Argument: The case of yoga and its appropriation by the Western culture creates a paradoxical situation. In this situation, approval and adoption of yoga in the West has made the practice more trendy and popular among middle-class urban Indian consumers and helped re-brand the practice. Such re-marketing has allowed to make yoga more appealing to the modern consumer and more concerned with the aspects related to physical performance, health and scientific explanation. Conclusion: Although the notion of cultural appropriation can be discussed in the negative light, the article explores how yoga has transformed from a sacred practice to cultural appropriation by Western culture.
Interobserver variability in breast carcinoma grading results in prognostic stage differences.

Summary The AJCC Cancer Staging Manual 8th edition included tumor grade in the pathologic prognostic stage for breast carcinomas. Due to the known subjectivity of tumor grading, we aimed to assess the degree of interobserver agreement for invasive carcinoma grade among pathologists and determine its effect on pathologic prognostic stage. One hundred consecutive cases of invasive stage II carcinomas were independently graded twice, with an 4-week intervening wash-out period, by 6 breast pathologists utilizing established Nottingham grading criteria. Inter- and intra-observer variability was determined for overall grade and for each of the 3 scoring components. Interobserver variability was good to very good (κ range = 0.582–0.850) with even better intra-observer variability (mean κ = 0.766). Tubule score was the most reproducible element (κ = 0.588). Complete concordance was reached in 54 cases and 58 cases in rounds 1 and 2 respectively. In round 1 this resulted in different pathologic prognostic stage in only 25 of discordant cases, 18 of which were stage IA versus IB. In conclusion, grading agreement between pathologists was good to very good and discordant grades resulted in small changes to pathologic prognostic stage.