cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Health-Related Quality of Life after Pediatric Spinal Cord Injury

Objective To describe health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among youth with spinal cord injury (SCI), examine agreement between child and caregiver report HRQOL, investigate relationships between HRQOL and demographic, injury and psychological variables. Methods Caregivers and youth with SCI completed a pediatric HRQOL measure and mental health measures; injury information was gathered from medical records. Results One hundred and ninety-seven youth with SCI and their caregivers participated. HRQOL was associated with current age, age at injury, level of injury and child and caregiver anxiety/depression. Child mental health significantly predicted child-report HRQOL (p<.001, f 2 ¼1.07), whereas child (p<.001, f 2 ¼0.098) and caregiver (p<.001, f 2 ¼0.277) mental health both significantly predicted caregiver-report HRQOL. Agreement between child-report and caregiver-report was moderate at best, with youth rating their HRQOL as better than their caregivers. Conclusion Mental health of youth and caregivers is critical to HRQOL in pediatric SCI. Interventions to optimize psychological adjustment should be provided to both caregivers and youth.
Managing Ambiguity in Strategic Alliances

Alliances have become a core component of many firms' strategy, but they are often characterized by a high level of instability that can lead to failure. Ambiguity is an intrinsic aspect of strategic alliances and effective management of it determines how well the partners are able to make the alliance work. Alliances are subject to three types of ambiguity—partner, interaction, and evaluative—that are important at different stages of alliance evolution. Partner-related ambiguity is most prevalent at the formation stage of the alliance, interaction ambiguity at the operational stage, and evaluative ambiguity at the outcome stage. This article examines the mechanisms by which firms can best manage these different types of ambiguity to achieve a successful alliance.
The cell periphery.

Publisher Summary All cells from vertebrates so far examined carry a net negative charge at their surfaces. When such cells are suspended in an electrolyte solution, through which a direct current passes, they migrate toward the anode. In an electrophoresis apparatus, the velocity of individual cells located in the “stationary layer” with respect to the walls of the observation chamber in which they migrate may be measured directly. The electrophoretic mobilities of the cells are then expressed in terms of the observed velocity in microns per second per volt per centimeter of potential gradient. A cell is not a spherical particle and the question has repeatedly arisen as to the value for the radius of curvature to be ascribed in electrokinetic studies of cells and the effects of crevices and filaments on the interpretation of mobility measurements. If fluid flows freely through the crevices and round the filaments, then from an electrokinetic standpoint the dimensions of the crevices or pits and the radii of the filaments must be taken into account. In the absence of a heavily filamented surface, and when the cell periphery is regarded as a porous macromolecular assembly, the movements of fluid may be assumed to occur at a plane, but ill-defined, surface, and the radius of curvature considered is that of the whole cell. These considerations present exceptionally difficult hydrodynamic problems which have to be considered for each type of cell surface geometry and appear somewhat intractable. The chapter discusses the peripheries of malignant cells.
"More Than A March in a Circle": Transgressive Protests and the Limits of Negotiated Management

We examine how tactical innovations introduced by transgressive protesters during the Seattle cycle of protests contributed to the end of a long, relatively stable period of detente between police and protesters in the United States. Case studies of the demonstrations staged by the AFL-CIO and the Direct Action Network (DAN) during the 1999 WTO protests are used to reveal the divergent capacity of the negotiated management style of policing protest to control contained and transgressive protesters. We argue that the transgressive protesters' tactics, organizational structure, and decision-making processes all frustrated police attempts to control their demonstrations and contributed to DAN's ability to shut down the opening day of the WTO. We conclude by developing a framework for understanding how police responded in subsequent protests using what we describe as "strategic incapacitation" and by proposing research questions about the impact of this style of policing on subsequent protests in the U.S. and...
FIBER LASER DEPOSITION OF NICKEL-BASED SUPERALLOYS USING FILLER WIRE FEED

In this work, a continuous wave fiber laser welding system was used to deposit nickel-based superalloys Inconel 718 (IN 718) and Waspaloy using filler wire feed sources. The multi-bead and multi-layer deposits that were manufactured were characterized in terms of the macro- and microstructures, defects, and hardness in both the as-deposited and fully heat treated conditions. The tensile properties of the deposits in the heat treated condition were also determined and compared to the existing aerospace materials specifications. Using optimized laser processing parameters, high strength deposits could be manufactured, though minor weld metal liquation cracking for IN718 and strain-age cracking for Waspaloy were present, which compromised slightly the ductility as compared to wrought aerospace specifications for the two alloys. The successful development of the direct laser deposition process using wire feeding indicates the potential of employing the fiber laser technology to manufacture nickel-based superalloy aerospace components.Copyright © 2015 by Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada
Life History and Ecology of Plagithmysus bilineatus, an Endemic Hawaiian Borer Associated with Ohia Lehua (Myrtaceae)

Host selection-oviposition by Plagithmysus bilineatus Sharp on its single host, Metrosideros collina (Forst.) Gray polymorpha (Gaud.) Rock, was a response to damaged or stressed hosts. Larval survival was not significantly higher in stressed hosts, but the number of galleries per host increased as the vigor (crown foliage condition) of the host decreased. Of 34 larvae implanted in healthy hosts, only four completed development; however, initial decline symptoms in these hosts did not appear until 10 to 22 months after adult emergence. Artificially girdled trees were monitored for 3 years, by which time four girdled trees had died, three being heavily attacked by P. bilineatus and one by ambrosia beetles. Harley diet with Bacto-Peptone supplement was tested as a culture medium for P. bilineatus larvae, with moderate (66%) success. The ecological functions of P. bilineatus were considered relative to the extensive decline of hosts in rain forests on the island of Hawaii.
A General Model for Understanding Organizational Buying Behavior

The authors suggest a model of industrial and institutional buying behavior as an organizational decision-making process. The major dimensions of the model are defined and some implications for mar...
A PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF MODERATE ALCOHOL DRINKING AND RISK OF DIABETES IN WOMEN

Abstract Several investigators have observed an association between alcohol consumption and elevated glucose levels, raising the possibility that alcohol may increase the risk of diabetes. This hypothesis was evaluated prospectively among 85,051 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study who were 34 to 59 years of age in 1980 and had no history of cancer, coronary heart disease, or diabetes. At baseline, participants completed an independently validated dietary questionnaire which included information on the consumption of beer, wine, and liquor. Incident cases of non-insulin-dependent diabetes were reported on follow-up questionnaires sent in 1982 and 1984 (98% response to at least one follow-up); 526 cases were confirmed by a supplementary questionnaire regarding symptoms, laboratory values, and treatment. The risk of diabetes decreased monotonically with increasing alcohol consumption (chi trend = -9.4, p less than 0.0001). Compared with nondrinkers, women consuming 5-14.9 g of alcohol per day (about 4-10 drinks per week) had an age-adjusted relative risk of diabetes of 0.4 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.3-0.6); for 15 g or more per day, the relative risk was 0.3 (95% CI 0.2-0.4). However, a strong inverse association between alcohol drinking and body weight explained much of the apparent protective effect of alcohol. After simultaneous adjustment for Quetelet index (weight (kg)/height (m)2), family history of diabetes, total caloric intake, and age, the relative risk of diabetes for consumers of 5-14.9 g per day was 0.8 (95% CI 0.6-1.2), and for women who drank 15+ g per day, the relative risk was 0.6 (95% CI 0.3-0.9). These data provide no support for the hypothesis that moderate alcohol intake increases the risk of non-insulin-dependent diabetes.
H19ICR mediated transcriptional silencing does not require target promoter methylation

Transcription of the reciprocally imprinted genes Insulin-like growth factor 2 (Igf2) and H19 is orchestrated by the 2.4-kb H19 Imprinting Control Region (H19ICR) located upstream of H19. Three known functions are associated with the H19ICR: (1) it is a germline differentially methylated region, (2) it is a transcriptional insulator, and (3) it is a transcriptional silencer. The molecular mechanisms of the DMR and insulator functions have been well characterized but the basis for the ICR’s silencer function is less well understood. In order to study the role the H19ICR intrinsically plays in gene silencing, we transferred the 2.4-kb H19ICR to a heterologous non-imprinted location on chromosome 5, upstream of the alpha fetoprotein (Afp) promoter. Independent of its orientation, the 2.4-kb H19ICR silences transcription from the paternal Afp promoter. Thus silencing is a function intrinsic to this DNA element. Further, ICR mediated silencing is a developmental process that, unexpectedly, does not occur through DNA methylation at the target promoter.
Influence of increased patient age on longitudinal outcomes of root canal treatment: a systematic review

Objectives To conduct a systematic review of longitudinal endodontic outcomes in elders. Background Negative opinions about the prognosis of non-surgical root canal treatment (NSRCT) in elders affect decisions made by patients and dentists. Patient, caregiver and dentist attitudes and behaviours may interact to decrease the provision of NSRCT. Critical examination of the available evidence through systematic review could provide objective data to assist patients, caregivers, healthcare providers and third-party payers in making decisions about the efficacy of NSRCT in elders and provide a robust foundation for the health promotion of NSRCT in elders. Methods Inclusion/exclusion criteria were used for defined searches in MEDLINE and Cochrane CENTRAL. Title lists were scanned, and abstracts read to determine utility; articles meeting inclusion/exclusion criteria were analysed. Data were extracted and compiled into a table of evidence. Results Defined searching produced 3605 titles; 24 articles were included, nine prospective and 15 retrospective. Overall study quality was good. Patient samples mostly represented modern populations from countries with very high human development indices. Over 17 430 teeth were included. Meta-analysis was not attempted due to heterogeneity in reporting. All 24 included papers demonstrated that increased patient age did not decrease the success or survival rates of NSRCT. Conclusions This systematic review of longitudinal NSRCT outcomes demonstrated that increased patient age did not decrease the success of NSRCT. Patient age is not a prognostic factor for NSRCT. Age should not be considered by dentists or patients when making NSRCT decisions.
Nicotine Replacement, Topography, and Smoking Phenotypes of E-cigarettes.

Author(s): Strasser, Andrew A; Souprountchouk, Valentina; Kaufmann, Amanda; Blazekovic, Sonja; Leone, Frank; Benowitz, Neal L; Schnoll, Robert A | Abstract: ObjectivesLittle is known about the degree of nicotine replacement across first-generation e-cigarette brands, how e-cigarettes are used, and if there is variation across brands in relevant smoking phenotypes. The objective of this project was to collect data that are critical to better understanding, use, and exposure when using e-cigarettes, which may then inform clinical trials and tobacco regulatory policy.MethodsTwenty-eight cigarette smokers were randomized to use one of 5 popular brands of e-cigarettes for a 10-day study. Day 1 (own cigarette brand) data established baseline levels for cotinine, carbon monoxide (CO), topography, cigarette liking, withdrawal, and craving. Participants returned on Days 5 and 10 to reassess these measures while exclusively using e-cigarettes.ResultsCompared to cigarette smoking, e-cigarettes provided significantly lower nicotine levels (25%-50%), reduced CO exposure, and lower ratings of liking (p l .05). Topography significantly differed between cigarette and e-cigarette sessions (p l .05). All brands significantly reduced withdrawal and craving (p l .05). There were no significant brand differences in outcome measures associated with exposure or use.ConclusionsE-cigarettes are not liked as much as cigarettes, provide significantly lower nicotine replacement, reduce CO exposure, and mitigate withdrawal and craving. The patterns of use significantly differ compared to cigarette smoking.
Clinical and Cadaveric Accuracy of Patient Specific Guided Glenoid Implant Positioning

Background and Motivation Accurate placement of glenoid components in reverse and total shoulder arthroplasty has been shown to reduce the risk of implant failure (1, 2, 6). Surgical techniques and literature describe methods to determine favorable positions for implant placement (3, 4, 5) but achieving that position surgically remains a challenge. Placement of glenoid components is faced with the challenge of variable glenoid morphology on which conventional instrumentation does not always provide a reliable reference (6, 7, 8). Limited surgical exposure is another challenge since many anatomic landmarks are not visible to the surgeon to use as spacial reference. Anatomic landmarks and angles can be more reliabily selected on CT scans with 3-dimentional reconstruction (9,10) yet few methods allow for the reproducible translation of these plans to surgery. Navigation has produced better accuracy and lower variability than conventional instrumentation (11), yet its regular usage remains limited, especially in the shoulder. Methods A patient specific planning and guiding system has been developed for glenoid implant placement of total and reverse shoulder arthoplasty procedures. This method allows for preoperative planning on a patient specific virtual 3D model of the scapula derived from CT images (Figure 1), and guided placement of a pin which which serves as the central axis for determining proper implant position. An initial implant position was presented on the virtual model based on the methods described by the surgical technique of the corresponding procedure. These plans were either approved or adapted to a desired position within the planning software by the surgeons. Using this planned position as input, patient specific surgical guides were created which fit onto the exposed anatomy and guide the drilling of the pin (Figure 1). This method was tested on 14 cadavers, with attention directed to translation of the starting point from the original plan, the ability to reproduce the intended degree of inferior tilt, and the ability to reproduce the glenoid version angle. Results The ability to reproduce the surgical plan was found to be highly accurate for the 14 cadaveric specimens. Translational accuracy amongst the 14 cadavers was found to be 1.01 ± 0.53 mm, tilt was 0.46 ± 0.53 degrees, and the accuracy of version was found to be 1.16 degrees ± 1.15 degrees. Conclusion Surgical planning on patient specific virtual bone models and the corresponding surface matched drilling guides for glenoid implant positiong provide surgeons with an accurate method to achieve the desired surgical implant position. The measured accuracy compares favorably to both conventional and navigated techniques.
Interim Phase I Results of Recombinant Immunotoxin HA22 in Patients with Hairy Cell and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemias

For the treatment of B cell malignancies, we have developed a high affinity recombinant immunotoxin (HA22), which is composed of the Fv portion of an anti-CD22 antibody fused to a 38 kDa fragment of Pseudomonas exotoxin A. HA22 is an improved form of immunotoxin BL22, which produced a 50–60% complete remission (CR) rate in cladribine-resistant hairy-cell leukemia (HCL). A partial response (PR) rate of 17% was observed with BL22 in chemoresistant chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The higher response rate of BL22 in HCL compared to CLL is related to its higher cytotoxicity for HCL than CLL cells ex vivo (median IC50 4.3 ng/ml in 33 HCL patients vs 430 ng/ml in 70 CLL patients, p
The San Joaquin Valley: Salinity and Drainage Problems and the Framework for a Response

Irrigated crop production has drastically altered the hydrological attributes and groundwater flow patterns of the San Joaquin Valley especially in the Westside. The leaching process flushed out trace elements such as Se, B, As, and U contained in marine sediments from the Jurassic to Miocene periods that were deposited in the surface soil layer. Pumping of groundwater lying deep in confined aquifer resulted in severe land subsidence. Water made available through inter-basin transfer expanded the irrigated acreages. By the time, selenium poisoning of birds and fishes took place at the Kerstersen Reservoir, salinity drainage has become an issue requiring immediate and long term solutions.
Abstract 235: Global RNA Splicing and Regulation in Cardiac Maturation and Diseases

Background: The complexity of transcriptome and proteome is contributed by alternative splicing of mRNA. Altered mRNA splicing is also implicated in many human diseases including cancer. However, the global pattern of alternative mRNA splicing during cardiac development and diseases is unknown, and the regulatory mechanisms remain unexplored. Methods and Results: Using deep RNA-Sequencing, we have identified global alternative splicing changes associated with both cardiac development and pathological remodeling in mouse heart following pressure-overload induced heart failure. The alternative RNA splicing events observed in failing hearts mimics the profile in fetal hearts, suggesting a fetal-like RNA splicing program induced in diseased hearts. Using RNA-Seq database and real-time PCR analysis, we examined the expression profile of a large number of known alternative splicing regulators. Among them, we identified Fox1 as a significantly induced regulator during cardiac development in zebrafish, mouse and human, and down-regulated in both mouse and human failing hearts. Morpholino mediated Fox1 knockdown in zebrafish embryos led to lethal phenotype associated with reduced cardiac function and defects in chamber specificity. This phenotype could be rescued by re-expressing both zebrafish and mouse Fox1 gene, suggesting a highly conserved cardiac function of Fox1 for normal cardiac development and function in vertebrates. Conclusion: Our study provided the first comprehensive analysis of mRNA splicing regulation in heart during post-natal development and heart failure, and identified Fox1 as a key regulator for alternative RNA splicing in heart. This study expands our current understanding to the complexity of cardiac transcriptome, and reveals the functional importance of RNA-splicing in cardiac development and diseases.
Immuno-spin trapping to detect immune-derived free radicals in type 1 diabetes (TECH2P.903)

In autoimmune Type 1 diabetes (T1D), islet-infiltrating leukocytes synthesize noxious free radicals to collectively mediate b-cell lysis and enhance diabetogenic T cell responses as a pro-inflammatory third signal. We recently demonstrated a crucial role for NADPH oxidase (NOX)-dependent superoxide in T1D, as NOX-deficient Non-obese diabetic (NOD. Ncf1 m1J ) mice were highly resistant to autoimmune diabetes due to an enhanced alternatively-activated M2 macrophage phenotype, diminished pro-inflammatory cytokine and Type I interferon synthesis upon Toll-like receptor stimulation, dampened Th1 cytokine responses, and blunted CD8 T cell cytotoxicity. To further define the synergy between free radicals and T1D, we employed a 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline-N-oxide (DMPO) immuno-spin trapping technique to identify the generation of free radicals upon T cell activation and infection with Coxsackie B4 (CB4) virus, a putative diabetogenic enterovirus and hypothesized that NOD. Ncf1 m1J immune cells would exhibit severe reductions in DMPO adducts. In the absence of superoxide, NOD. Ncf1 m1J macrophages and CD4 T cells exhibited a significant decrease in DMPO adducts upon CB4 infection and autoantigen stimulation, respectively, in contrast to wild type cells. Future studies will utilize this technique to visualize the interface between free radicals and immune cells during spontaneous T1D progression and determine if immuno-spin trapping can be used as a biomarker during spontaneous T1D progression.
Abstract P180: Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Phenotypes in Adults With and Without Chronic Kidney Disease Taking Antihypertensive Medication: The Jackson Heart Study

Background: Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) can detect hypertension phenotypes associated with increased risk for chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression. There is a high prevalence of these phenotypes in the general population; however, it is unclear whether they are more common among African Americans (AAs) with versus without CKD. Methods: We examined the prevalence of daytime, nocturnal, white-coat, masked, and sustained hypertension and a non-dipping BP pattern among AAs participating in the Jackson Heart Study. Analyses were restricted to 561 participants taking antihypertensive medication with a complete ABPM recording at baseline (2000-2004). CKD was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate 2 or the presence of kidney damage indicated by the presence of albumin-creatinine ratio ≥30 mg/g. We used log binomial regression models in a multivariable adjusted model to calculate the association between CKD and ABPM phenotypes. Results: The mean age of participants included in the current analysis was 62 years, 72% were female, and 26% had CKD. Daytime, nocturnal, masked, and sustained hypertension and non-dipping were more common, while white-coat hypertension was less common, among participants with versus without CKD (Table 1). The prevalence of sustained hypertension was 1.46-fold (CI 1.03-2.06) greater among those with CKD compare to those without after multivariable adjustment. Conclusions: In a large community-based study of AAs, ABPM phenotypes were common among adults with CKD. Sustained hypertension was statistically significantly higher in those with versus without CKD.
American Redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla) usurp Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea) nest in Southern Indiana

ABSTRACT Documented observations of interspecific nest usurpation are rare and have been observed mostly in cavity-nesting species, where cavities are limiting and competition for them can be strong. We report one of the few known instances of interspecific nest usurpation in the family Parulidae (North American wood-warblers) between the Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea) and American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla). During May and June 2016, we observed a female American Redstart usurp and successfully fledge at least one of its young from a nest built by a female Cerulean Warbler in Yellowwood State Forest, Brown County, Indiana. Based on our field observations, we provide information on nest chronology and describe American Redstart adult behaviors at the usurped nest. We hypothesize that this instance of interspecific nest usurpation may have been a result of high local breeding densities of both Cerulean Warblers and American Redstarts in our study area.
Gas-Phase Acidities of Transition-Metal Carbonyl and Trifluorophosphine Hydrides

The gas-phase acidities of thirteen transition-metal carbonyl and trifluorophosphine complexes have been determined. The complexes are all strong gas-phase acids, with most of the trifluorophosphine complexes comparable in acidity to fluorosulfonic and triflic acids. Acidities increase across a row and decrease down a column in the periodic table. The periodic trends and substituent effects are discussed in view of the dependence of the acidity on the metal—hydrogen bond enthalpies and electron affinities of the resulting metal radicals. Solvation energies are also discussed.
Pharmakokinetik von Isosorbiddinitrat wahrend einer Toleranzentwicklung

Eine der Kernfragen dieses Symposions lautet: „Fuhrt die chronische Anwendung organischer Nitrate im klinischen Gebrauch zu einer Toleranz bezuglich ihrer gunstigen Wirkungen?“. Die einzelnen Kapitel befassen sich mit klinischen Beweisen fur und wider diese Hypothese. Gegenstand dieses Gespraches ist auch, zu klaren, ob die chronische Nitratgabe Veranderungen der Pharmakokinetik bzw. der Schnelligkeit und des Ausmases der Absorption, Verteilung und Elimination des Arzneistoffes bewirkt und zu ermitteln, ob diese pharmakokinetischen Veranderungen, falls vorhanden, mit den verschiedenen Mechanismen, die zur Erklarung einer Nitrattoleranz angefuhrt werden konnten, vereinbar sind.
Fantastic Places, Angelic Spaces

This chapter examines the implications of angelic spaces in the larger literary and ontological framework of Poe’s thought and work. Angels in Poe are not traditional Judeo-Christian sweet-singing seraphs; there are no harps and no hosannas. Instead, they create (and destroy) worlds through words; they guard and they goad; they sigh—and they mature over time. An amalgam of Neoplatonic, Gnostic, and Islamic attributes, angels in Poe bespeak an essential and fundamental place of cosmic wonder rooted squarely at the core of his poetic imagination.
Co-infection of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) with infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus and Flavobacterium psychrophilum.

Co-infection of rainbow trout with infections haematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) and Flavobacterium psychrophilum is known to occur, and it has been speculated that a combined infection can result in dramatic losses. Both pathogens can persist in fish in an asymptomatic carrier state, but the impact of co-infection has not been well characterized or documented. In this study, it was hypothesized that fish co-infected with F. psychrophilum and IHNV would exhibit greater mortality than fish infected with either pathogen alone. To test this, juvenile rainbow trout were co-infected with low doses of either IHNV or F. psychrophilum, and at 2 days post-initial challenge, they were given a low dose of the reciprocal pathogen. This combined infection caused high mortality (76.2%-100%), while mortality from a single pathogen infection with the same respective dose was low (5%-20%). The onset of mortality was earlier in the co-infected group (3-4 days) when compared with fish infected with F. psychrophilum alone (6 days) or IHNV (5 days), confirming the synergistic interaction between both pathogens. Co-infection led to a significant increase in the number of F. psychrophilum colony-forming units and IHNV plaque-forming units within tissues. This finding confirms that when present together in co-infected fish, both pathogens are more efficiently recovered from tissues. Furthermore, pathogen genes were significantly increased in co-infected groups, which parallel the findings of increased systemic pathogen load. Extensive tissue necrosis and abundant pathogen present intracellularly and extracellularly in haematopoietic tissue. This was pronounced in co-infected fish and likely contributed to the exacerbated clinical signs and higher mortality. This study provides novel insight into host-pathogen interactions related to co-infection by aquatic bacterial and viral pathogens and supports our hypothesis. Such findings confirm that mortality in fish exposed to both pathogens is greatly elevated compared to a single pathogen infection.
2019-nCoV - Towards a 4th generation vaccine

The first report of the unusual manifestation of pneumonia-like symptoms in Wuhan City, China was made on 31 December 2019. Within one week, the Chinese authorities reported that they had identified the causative agent as a new member of the Coronavirus family, the same family of that was responsible for MERS and SARS not so many years ago. The new virus was called Novel Coronavirus 2019 (2019-nCoV). Three weeks later, the World Health Organization declared that 2019-nCoV was capable of direct human-to-human transmission, the virus had spread across several countries in three continents, and had infected close to two thousand people, of whom at least 1 in 5 quite severely. The number of fatalities was fast rising. Yet, the World Health Organization officially announced that there is still at present no recommended anti-nCoV vaccine for subject at-risk, nor treatment for patients with suspected or confirmed nCoV, let alone 2019-nCov. It is therefore timely and critical to propose new possible and practical approaches for preventive interventions for subjects at-risk, and for treatment of patients afflicted with 2019-nCov-induced disease (Corona Virus Disease 2019; COVID-19) before the present situation explodes into a worldwide pandemic. One such potential clinical protocol is proposed as a hypothesis.
African-American men with low-risk prostate cancer treated with radical prostatectomy in an equal-access health care system: implications for active surveillance

There is concern that African-American men (AA) with low-risk prostate cancer may present with more aggressive disease and thus may not be candidates for active surveillance (AS). However, it is uncertain if poorer outcomes are due to disparities in access to medical care rather than true biological differences. Observational cohort study of patients diagnosed with low-risk PC—Gleason score ≤6, clinical tumor stage ≤2A, and prostate specific antigen (PSA) level ≤10—at US Department of Veterans Affairs between January 1, 2001 and October 31, 2015 and treated with radical prostatectomy. Outcomes included upgrading to Gleason Grade Group 2 (GG2), GG ≥ 3, PSA recurrence, pathologic tumor stage ≥3, positive surgical margins, and all-cause mortality. A total of 2857 men (AA: 835 White: 2022) with a median follow-up of 7.1 years. Overall, there was no significant difference between AA and White men in upgrading to GG ≥ 3 (RR = 1.18, p = 0.43), tumor stage ≥3 (RR = 0.95, p = 0.74), positive surgical margins (RR = 1.14, p = 0.20), PSA recurrence (SHR = 1.26, p = 0.06), and all-cause mortality (SHR = 1.26, p = 0.16). However, there was a significant increase in upgrading for AA to GG2 (RR = 1.49, p < 0.01). There was no significant difference in most adverse pathologic outcomes between AA and White patients. However, GG2 upgrading was more common in AA men. The implication is that AA may need to undergo additional evaluation, such as a biopsy MRI, before initiating AS. Whether the increase in GG2 upgrading will lead to poorer long-term clinical outcomes such as metastasis and PCSM also requires further investigation.
13 – Introduction to Power Analysis

Publisher Summary This chapter presents introduction to power analysis. Power is the probability of getting a significant result in a statistical test. Power is equal to 1 — β, where β= the probability of a Type II error. If power is not known, a researcher can waste a great deal of time by conducting an experiment that has little chance to produce significance even if H0 is false. Worse, a promising line of research can be abandoned because the researcher does not know that he should have relatively little confidence concerning his failure to reject H0, that is, the probability of a Type II error is large. The four major parameters of power analysis are: the significance criterion, α; the sample size, N; the population “effect” size, γ; and power, 1 — β. The general procedure for the two most important kinds of power analysis are: power determination and sample size determination.
Prone Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion: Case Report and Technical Note.

Objective The transpsoas lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF) is a commonly used technique to manage various spinal conditions. LLIF is often performed in combination with posterior lumbar instrumentation, which requires patient repositioning or staging of the procedure. Here we present a step-by-step detailed description of a prone LLIF using an intraoperative laser level to guide orthogonal insertion of instrumentation. Methods A 57-year-old man with history of L4-S1 instrumentation, who developed symptomatic adjacent L3L/4 level stenosis and sagittal plane imbalance. The single position prone lateral lumbar interbody fusion with posterior fixation was chosen in order to minimize operative room time and optimize lumbar lordosis (LL) correction. Results The patient was positioned prone on a Jackson table. This position allowed for improved LL correction. A self-leveling laser line ensured ideal orthogonal use of instrumentation. The patient had improvement of symptoms immediately postoperatively and was discharged home on postoperative day 2 without complications. Conclusions The single position prone LLIF with posterior fixation offers a shorter operative room time by eliminating necessity to reposition the patient between stages of operation. The prone position of the patient optimizes LL correction. Further experience with this approach will allow for refining of the technique to overcome its limitations and facilitate its utilization.
A generic economic framework for electric rate design with prosumers

Abstract Location-varying electric rates may incentivize distributed energy resources (DERs) with lower system costs. However, the distributional impact among prosumers versus traditional consumers is not clear. This study presents a generic economic framework for evaluating novel rate designs. The study derives conditions under which large solar systems impose a higher marginal cost on the grid and examines the implication of different rate designs for cross-subsidy. Our findings suggest that location-varying rates remove all cross-subsidy effects except in the case where returns to scale in electricity production are low. In addition, location-varying rates lower the electricity bill of prosumers and consumers. Location-varying rates may better incentivize DER adoption in locations that minimize system-level costs.
Electrooptical Detection of Charged Particles

We have made the first observation of a charged particle beam by means of its electro-optical effect on the polarization of laser light in a LiNbO3 crystal. The modulation of the laser light during the passage of a pulsed electron beam was observed using a fast photodiode and a digital oscilloscope. The fastest rise time measured, 120 ps, was obtained in the single shot mode and was limited by the bandwidth of the oscilloscope and the associated electronics. This technology holds promise for detectors of greatly improved spatial and temporal resolution for single relativistic charged particles as well as particle beams.
SemiFL: Communication Efficient Semi-Supervised Federated Learning with Unlabeled Clients.

Federated Learning allows training machine learning models by using the computation and private data resources of a large number of distributed clients such as smartphones and IoT devices. Most existing works on Federated Learning (FL) assume the clients have ground-truth labels. However, in many practical scenarios, clients may be unable to label task-specific data, e.g., due to lack of expertise. In this work, we consider a server that hosts a labeled dataset, and wishes to leverage clients with unlabeled data for supervised learning. We propose a new Federated Learning framework referred to as SemiFL in order to address the problem of Semi-Supervised Federated Learning (SSFL). In SemiFL, clients have completely unlabeled data, while the server has a small amount of labeled data. SemiFL is communication efficient since it separates the training of server-side supervised data and client-side unsupervised data. We demonstrate various efficient strategies of SemiFL that enhance learning performance. Extensive empirical evaluations demonstrate that our communication efficient method can significantly improve the performance of a labeled server with unlabeled clients. Moreover, we demonstrate that SemiFL can outperform many existing FL results trained with fully supervised data, and perform competitively with the state-of-the-art centralized Semi-Supervised Learning (SSL) methods. For instance, in standard communication efficient scenarios, our method can perform 93% accuracy on the CIFAR10 dataset with only 4000 labeled samples at the server. Such accuracy is only 2% away from the result trained from 50000 fully labeled data, and it improves about 30% upon existing SSFL methods in the communication efficient setting.
America’s housing affordability crisis: perpetuating disparities among people with disability

America’s housing affordability crisis has had various indirect costs on health and safety among people living with disability. The skyrocketing housing prices have exponentially increased with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic leaving many people at risk for eviction after federal and local moratoriums providing protection during the pandemic expire. Americans with disabilities have been particularly affected by the affordability crisis and it is expected that this major public health problem will only grow as government-provided protections and supports wane. It is critical that both government and various housing organizations consider ways to support affordability, quality, and accessibility in this particularly hard-hit population. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Comparing characteristics of prescription painkiller misusers and heroin users in the United States.

Introduction Prescription painkiller misuse (PPM) is a major U.S. public health concern. However, as prescribing practices have tightened and prescription painkillers have become less accessible, many users have turned to heroin as a substitute. This trend suggests the face of heroin users has likely changed over the past several years. Understanding the demographic, socioeconomic, psychosocial, and substance use characteristics of different groups of opiate users is important for properly tailoring interventions.
The fiddler's trance

The air above Vitebsk was filled with Jews gassed green. From the synagogues and orchards, rubble of butcher shops, from crushed forges, charred barns and wooden huts rose the blues and blazing yellows of the world to come. Red footprints racing nowhere across snow were chased by spirals of dark fire that no one saw in time. Every bird was struck dumb by dawn. Chagall remembered the future before ever leaving home. Yet he knew song was possible. Whatever was true about the sound of night, he would picture one lonely fiddler looming and entranced to find himself the center of a dance.
Condensation of Cp2TiCI2 with Tetraamines

Abstract The synthesis of titanium polyamines from tetraamines is general and rapid. Systems utilizing equimolar quantities of reactants produce linear products, whereas tri- and tetra-substitution occurs when excess Cp2TiCl2 is used. The products exhibit moderate high-temperature stability but poor low-temperature stability, with degradation occurring via nonoxidative routes to ca. 200°C, and by oxidative routes in air at higher temperatures.
Towards Diagrammability and Efficiency in Event Sequence Languages

Many industrial verification teams are developing suitable event sequence languages for hardware verification. Such languages must be expressive, designer friendly, and hardware specific, as well as efficient to verify. While the formal verification community has formal models for assessing the efficiency of an event sequence language, none of these models also accounts for designer friendliness. We propose an intermediate language for event sequences that addresses both concerns. The language achieves usability through a correlation to timing diagrams; its efficiency arises from its mapping into deterministic weak automata. We present the language, relate it to existing event sequence languages, and prove its relationship to deterministic weak automata. These results indicate that timing diagrams can become more expressive while remaining more efficient for symbolic model checking than LTL.
Making the Case For Cities

PETER DREIER is E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics and director of the Public Policy Program at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He chairs the American Sociological Association's Spivack Program on Applied Public Policy. From 1984 to 1992, he served as Housing Director for the Boston Redevelopment Authority and senior policy adviser to Mayor Raymond Flynn. urban experts view the recent Republican take-over of Congress as the death knell for urban policy. After all, Speaker Newt Gingrich like most other Republican leaders in the House represents a conservative suburban district. Indeed, the Republicans won, at least in part, by running against "urban" issues welfare, subsidized housing, social programs, crime, and government spending in general. But a fresh debate among urbanists economists, sociologists, political scientists, planners, and others is challenging the takenfor-granted "cities vs. suburbs" paradigm. According to several new books and research studies, the fate of cities and their suburbs is inextricably intertwined. They argue that, just as healthy cities and robust suburbs go hand in hand, urban decay contributes to suburban decline. In other words, the rationale for federal efforts to revitalize cities should not depend on charity, compassion, or even "riot insurance." Instead, it should be recognized that metropolitan regions (cities and suburbs) are critical players in the global economy. Almost like "simultaneous discovery," social scientists and policymakers have begun looking at cities as potent players in national life not as social and economic orphans that need coddling and compassion. Compared with a generation ago, fewer people now live, work, or shop in our cities. But the researchers argue that cities still play a major role in our metropolitan areas one that cannot be replaced by suburbs. In fact, cities perform at least three critical economic func-
Adaptation of Four-Stroke Motorcycle Engine to Continuously Variable Transmission for Snowmobile Application

The successful implementation of a clean, quiet, high-performance four-stroke motorcycle engine into an existing snowmobile chassis has been achieved. The snowmobile is easy to start, easy to drive, and environmentally friendly. The following paper describes the conversion process in detail with actual dynamometer and field test data. The vehicle meets the proposed 2010 EPA snowmobile emissions regulations and is quieter than a stock snowmobile. The snowmobile not only addresses environmental concerns, it is economical as well, with an approximate cost of $5874.
Internal Marketing to Achieve Competitive Advantage

Although their competitors may copy their products and services, companies have found that they may nonetheless maintain competitive advantage by creating difficult-to –duplicate relationships between their employees and their customers (Stershic, 2001, p.42). Although advances in technology have enabled consumers to become informed shoppers and have made it easier to compare providers, products, and prices, discerning consumers are also more able to access the comments and opinions of other customers. Accordingly, organizations have begun to acknowledge that creating strong customer relationships is an important means of differentiating themselves from their competitors. Effective internal marketing strategies can be a vital tool for developing highly committed employees – the key to strengthening relationships with customers and achieving greater customer satisfaction, increased loyalty, and higher long-term profits. In this paper we offer eight propositions about effective internal marketing and suggest that highly committed employees, achieved by intelligent and effective internal marketing, can enable organizations to create the key relationships with customers that allow those organizations to achieve unprecedented excellence and competitive advantage. Key words: Internal marketing; Highly committed employees; Leadership; Competitive advantage; Quality service; Customer satisfaction; Human capital; Employee loyalty; Internal branding; Organizational citizenship behavior
Properties of the Inducible Hydroxyproline Transport System of Pseudomonas putida

Features of the transport system for hydroxyproline in a strain of Pseudomonas putida were studied. A mutant, lacking hydroxyproline-2 epimerase and unable to metabolize hydroxy-l-proline, was shown to transport and accumulate this compound after induction. Both entry and exit rates were examined, and kinetic constants for the reaction were determined. Increasing the induction time from 0.5 to 3 hr increased the entry rate three- to fourfold but had only a small and variable effect on the exit rate. Entry followed saturation kinetics. For hydroxy-l-proline, the Km and Vmax values were found to be 3 × 10−5m and 6 μmoles per g (dry weight) per min, respectively. The Km and Vmax for the epimer allohydroxy-d-proline were 10−3m and 0.1 μmole per g (dry weight) per min. Entry rates into “loaded” and “unloaded” cells were found to be the same. Exit was shown to be first order over the range of internal substrate concentrations measured. Exit rates were measured by several different methods and found to be independent of external substrate concentration. The first-order exit rate constant was computed to be 0.23 min−1. Several metabolic inhibitors were examined for their effect on transport. The inhibitory action of N-ethyl maleimide was shown to be greatly reduced if cells were allowed to accumulate hydroxy-l-proline before exposure to the inhibitor. A number of other amino acids interfered with the transport of hydroxy-l-proline; the greatest effect was produced by l-alanine and l-proline.
Evolution: Reptile sex determination goes wild

Wild populations of an Australian lizard have sex chromosomes and also exhibit temperature-controlled sexual development, providing insight into how these two sex-determining mechanisms may evolve back and forth. See Letter p.79 There have been repeated evolutionary transitions in reptiles between genetic and temperature-dependent sex determination, the regulatory process that initiates differentiation of the gonads in the early embryo to form either testes or ovaries. Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain the transition, including a role for sex reversal. Clare Holleley et al. present the first report of reptile sex reversal in the wild, associated with rapid transition between genetic and environmental sex determination. In a study of the Australian bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps), they observe sex reversal at the warmer end of the animals geographic range. When sex-reversed females mate with normal males, the chromosomal sex determination system is lost and temperature-dependent sex determination is established. It is not known whether climate-induced changes in sex determination are advantageous or detrimental to the process of evolutionary adaptation.