cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The role of Leukotriene modifiers in the management of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction

Objective: To review the use of leukotriene modifiers in exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB). Data Source: A MEDLINE search (1966-March 2001) identified pertinent English-language publications on EIB in humans. Study Selection: Selection of prospective clinical studies was limited to those that focused on prevention of EIB with leukotriene modifiers, including both leukotriene receptor antagonists and 5-lipoxygenase inhibitors. Data Synthesis: Leukotriene modifiers have been shown to attenuate EIB in patients with mild to intermittent, stable asthma from exacerbations after exercise, especially those with a predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV 1 ) >80% and who did not require corticosteroids. Extrapolation to patients with more severe forms of asthma cannot be made because of the lack of currently available data in these types of patients. Children may benefit from the oral dosage forms of leukotriene modifiers if they have difficulty using a metered-dose inhaler. The current literature supports a lack of a tolerance effect with leukotriene modifiers, as opposed to tachyphylaxis seen with beta 2 -adrenergic drugs after repeated dosing. As many as 25% of EIB patients will not respond to therapy with leukotriene modifiers. Montelukast has the greatest volume of data and the most positive benefits of the available leukotriene modifiers. Conclusions: Evidence supports the use of leukotriene modifiers for protection of EIB in patients with stable, mild to intermittent asthma with a predicted FEV 1 ≥80% if beta-agonists are intolerable or ineffective. Potential benefits include the lack of a tolerance effect, the long duration of action exhibited by some leukotriene modifiers, and the availability of a tablet form. Beta 2 -adrenergic drugs should remain the first-line therapy for EIB; however, leukotriene modifiers may provide a valuable alternative in those few who cannot use short-acting beta-agonists. Long-term safety studies of leukotriene modifiers in children and the elderly with EIB are necessary before widespread use can be advocated in the pediatric and geriatric populations.
Introduction to Kaplan and Meier (1958) Nonparametric Estimation from Incomplete Observations

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, stimulated in part by Sir Bradford Hill’s (1951) advocacy of the randomized clinical trial as a cornerstone of modern scientific medicine, medical research workers began to undertake numerous follow-up studies of patient populations in order to assess the effectiveness of medical treatment. A challenging problem in the analysis of data from such investigations, whose typical endpoint was the death of a patient, stemmed from the fortunate fact that not all the patients had died at the end of the study. Thus, some of the observed lifetimes were censored on the right, meaning simply that they were known only to exceed an observation limit equal to the time interval from the patient’s entry on study to its close or, if follow-up was incomplete, to the time of loss from further observation. This precluded the use of classical statistical procedures based on averages.
Use of a Machine-learning Method for Predicting Highly Cited Articles Within General Radiology Journals

Rationale and Objectives This study aimed to assess the performance of a text classification machine-learning model in predicting highly cited articles within the recent radiological literature and to identify the model's most influential article features. Materials and Methods We downloaded from PubMed the title, abstract, and medical subject heading terms for 10,065 articles published in 25 general radiology journals in 2012 and 2013. Three machine-learning models were applied to predict the top 10% of included articles in terms of the number of citations to the article in 2014 (reflecting the 2-year time window in conventional impact factor calculations). The model having the highest area under the curve was selected to derive a list of article features (words) predicting high citation volume, which was iteratively reduced to identify the smallest possible core feature list maintaining predictive power. Overall themes were qualitatively assigned to the core features. Results The regularized logistic regression (Bayesian binary regression) model had highest performance, achieving an area under the curve of 0.814 in predicting articles in the top 10% of citation volume. We reduced the initial 14,083 features to 210 features that maintain predictivity. These features corresponded with topics relating to various imaging techniques (eg, diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, hyperpolarized magnetic resonance imaging, dual-energy computed tomography, computed tomography reconstruction algorithms, tomosynthesis, elastography, and computer-aided diagnosis), particular pathologies (prostate cancer; thyroid nodules; hepatic adenoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), and other topics (radiation dose, electroporation, education, general oncology, gadolinium, statistics). Conclusions Machine learning can be successfully applied to create specific feature-based models for predicting articles likely to achieve high influence within the radiological literature.
BoostNoC: power efficient network-on-chip architecture for near threshold computing

While near threshold design space provides a promising approach towards energy-efficient computing, it is plagued by sub-optimal performance. Application characteristics and hardware non-idealities of conventional architectures (optimized for the nominal voltage) prevent us from fully leveraging the potential of NTC systems. Further, the popular approach of increasing the computational core count to compensate for the performance loss severely burdens the on-chip communication fabric with an increased communication demand. In this work, we quantitatively analyze the performance bottleneck created by a conventional NoC architecture in many-core NTC systems. To reclaim the performance lost due to a sub-optimal NoC, we propose BoostNoC — a power efficient, multi-layered network-on-chip architecture. BoostNoC improves the system performance by nearly 2× over a conventional NTC system. Further, we improve the energy efficiency by 1.4× with the use of drowsy routers.
Near-infrared on-chip spectroscopy for green-house gas detection

We demonstrated ultra-compact near-infrared on-chip gas spectroscopy using high resolution plasmonic filter array. We experimentally achieved ∼10nm spectral resolution, which successfully resolved the two symmetric vibrational bands of CO 2 at 2.0μm wavelength.
Digital Inequality on the US-Mexico Border: A Multigenerational Case Study in Laredo, Texas

The purpose of the present study is to determine the cultural and social barriers that are preventing Laredoans from accessing the digital world. This multigenerational study examines how three generations within 16 families relate culturally and socially to technology. Three members from the same family were invited to voluntarily participate in the study, with a total of 48 in-depth, face-to-face interviews being conducted. The present study identified several barriers such as low educational level, low income, lack of English language proficiency, lack of relevant content available in other languages besides English, preference to communicate face-to-face, fear of violence, and endless working hours. Laredo is the least connected city in the nation with 40.2% non-connectivity rate. Research is needed to understand this digital inequity situation in this borderland city. The theoretical framework used is rooted on Straubhaar’s concepts of techno-field, techno-disposition, and techno-capital.
High-stakes steeplechase: a behavior-based model to predict individual travel times through diverse migration segments

Many migratory species traverse highly heterogeneous landscapes, often including habitats that have been altered by human activities. Modeling migration dynamics is challenging because individual variability in behavior at multiple spatial and temporal scales can produce complex, multi-modal distributions in migration travel times. Moreover, behavioral responses to conditions encountered en route can affect habitat-specific migration rates which then influence bioenergetic costs and mortality risk over the entire migration. To quantify impacts of conditions within migration corridors, refined analyses of behavior are needed. In this study, we developed a behavior-based simulation model that predicts individual adult salmon migration duration over 24 distinct river reaches totaling 922 km, including eight hydropower dams. The study population, threatened Snake River spring/summer Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), had observed migration durations ranging from 23 to 108 d. In a novel application of N-dimensional mixture models, which can account for subpopulations that behave differently, we simulated “fast” vs. “slow” travel through migration reaches. The proportion of migrants in each category was determined by diel, seasonal, and proximate river conditions, which captured the temporally shifting bimodal patterns in the data. We fit reach-specific models with data from 2188 tagged salmon migrating in 2000–2013 and validated the cumulative model with additional data through 2015. By accounting for multiple behaviors in this way, the model successfully recreated the breadth and variability in total travel times to within 3% of observed durations throughout the 5th–95th quantiles. En route mortality appeared to account for the loss of the slowest fish that encountered record-breaking high temperatures in 2015. For Chinook salmon, this combined reach and cumulative travel-time model provides an opportunity to link high-resolution behavioral data to individual fitness and population-level impacts on viability. More generally, the N-dimensional modeling approach offers a framework for assessing the cumulative impacts of alternative behaviors at small spatial and temporal scales. Improved accounting of changes in migration rate in response to local conditions will aid recovery efforts for species of concern traversing complex migration corridors.
A transfer learning approach to parking lot classification in aerial imagery

The importance of satellite imagery analysis has increased dramatically over the last several years, keeping pace with the rapid improvements seen in both remote sensing platforms and sensors. As this field expands, so too does the interest in using machine learning methods to automate parts of the imagery analyst’s workflow. In this paper we address one aspect of this challenge: the development of a method for the automatic extraction of parking lots from aerial imagery. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no prior work conducted on the development of an end-to-end pipeline for this particular task. Due to the limited size of our dataset and to accommodate the potentially limited size of future datasets, we propose a deep learning approach using transfer learning. This process hinges upon the use of state of the art Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), trained on general image classification datasets. These networks were then fine-tuned on our custom dataset, to establish a comprehensive benchmark for this task. Our method exhibits promising results for automatic parking lot extraction, and is generalizable enough to work with different input types, including high resolution aerial orthoimagery, satellite imagery, full motion video (FMV), and UAV imagery.
Sub-20-nm Electron Devices

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews research and development of ultrasmall electron devices, including nanoscale field effect transistors (FETs), single-electron transistors (SETs), and some other new devices and nanometer-scalable memory cell concepts. It is argued that nanofabrication permitting, silicon FETs can be scaled down to ∼3 nm gate length, although below ∼10 nm the devices would be extremely sensitive to random fabrication spreads, and their power consumption would grow very significantly. So far no other electron device, comparable with the FET in functional universality, has been found for sub-3-nm operation. Shrinking of silicon field effect transistors and the resulting increase of density of complementary metal oxide semiconductor logic circuits and memories are the main engine driving the phenomenal success of semiconductor electronics during the past three decades. The chapter briefly discusses filed effect transistors.
Loss of B-Cell Anergy in Type 1 Diabetes Is Associated With High-Risk HLA and Non-HLA Disease Susceptibility Alleles

Although B cells reactive with islet autoantigens are silenced by tolerance mechanisms in healthy individuals, they can become activated and contribute to the development of type 1 diabetes. We previously demonstrated that high-affinity insulin-binding B cells (IBCs) occur exclusively in the anergic (B ND ) compartment in peripheral blood of healthy subjects. Consistent with their activation early in disease development, high-affinity IBCs are absent from the B ND compartment of some first-degree relatives (FDRs) as well as all patients with autoantibody-positive prediabetes and new-onset type 1 diabetes, a time when they are found in pancreatic islets. Loss of B ND IBCs is associated with a loss of the entire B ND B-cell compartment consistent with provocation by an environmental trigger or predisposing genetic factors. To investigate potential mechanisms operative in subversion of B-cell tolerance, we explored associations between HLA and non-HLA type 1 diabetes–associated risk allele genotypes and loss of B ND s in FDRs. We found that high-risk HLA alleles and a subset of non-HLA risk alleles (i.e., PTPN2 [rs1893217], INS [rs689], and IKZF3 [rs2872507]), relevant to B- and T-cell development and function are associated with loss of anergy. Hence, the results suggest a role for risk-conferring alleles in perturbation of B-cell anergy during development of type 1 diabetes.
Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Dense Cyclohexane in Porous Silica

Molecular dynamics simulations at temperature 313 K and pressures up to 4 kbar for six-center Lennard-Jones models of C6H12 in porous medium are reported. Thermodynamic, structural and dynamic properties of molecules confined to the pores are compared with the bulk fluids. It is observed that translational diffusion and reorientational motion of molecules in the pores are much slower than in the bulk phase. The liquid-plastic phase transition of cyclohexane in the pores is shifted toward higher pressures and depends on the pore size.
Discovery and Rule-Books

Discovery, we are often told, is a nonrational affair. Some who speak this way follow Hans Reichenbach in distinguishing the context of discovery from that of justification. In the former, the idea of a new hypothesis first occurs to the scientist. In the latter, the scientist attempts to test an hypothesis that has already occurred to him. The context of justification is, or is supposed to be, teeming with rationality. Not the context of discovery. Instead of being characterized as a context in which logical inferences occur, we are told that it is one permeated with inspiration, hunch, and conjecture. These may have causes deep in the human psyche, but they are not logical inferences of the sort philosophers and logicians can study.
The 36-Nation Survey

Modern genetics is a global enterprise. Although the United States likes to think of itself as the leader in the Human Genome Project (HGP), Britain, Japan, Germany, France, and other nations are also playing major roles. The concept of “genetic disease” has expanded to include not only heart disease, cancer, asthma, and diabetes, but also infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV, and leprosy, which affect millions of people in the developing world. Genetic studies of the immune system may eventually lead to genetically-based vaccines for these and other infectious diseases. Millions of human DNA samples from around the world will be amassed and stored for this researcH. Sample donations from people in one country may help people halfway around the world.
Information Quality and Health Risk Analysis: What is the Impact on Wellness Programs

Companies today are concerned with the escalating costs for employee health insurance. Overall health of employees affects the future cost of health insurance and employee productivity. Research has shown that wellness programs can improve employee health and that health risk assessments (HRAs) are an integral part. While there is no universal HRA questionnaire, they all try to assess the same aspects of individual behavior. Since 2008, a hospital-based wellness program has collected self-entered HRAs. Optical mark HRA forms were used in the first two years and, thereafter, data was collected with an Internet-based system using an equivalent HRA questionnaire. Information quality (IQ) is not a single metric covering only accuracy. The IQ of a HRA can be defined using a PSP/IQ model consisting of sound information, useful information, dependable information, and usable information. This paper describes a preliminary study on the IQ of HRAs and its effect on the value of wellness programs.
Intracameral moxifloxacin for endophthalmitis prophylaxis after cataract surgery: Cost-effectiveness analysis.

Purpose To determine the cost-effectiveness of intracameral moxifloxacin compared with traditional antibiotic prophylaxis in preventing endophthalmitis after cataract surgery. Setting Theoretical surgical center in the United States. Design Evaluation of technology. Methods The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) and incremental cost-utility ratios (ICUR) were calculated for patients having cataract surgery with traditional antibiotic prophylaxis (perioperative topical antibiotics) compared with perioperative topical antibiotics with intracameral moxifloxacin. The base case was a healthy binocular 73-year-old man having first-eye cataract surgery. The incidences and costs were derived from PubMed English literature searches, Medicare reimbursement rates, and average wholesale prices. All costs and benefits were adjusted 3% per annum and for inflation to 2017 United States dollars. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to assess uncertainty. Results Compared with traditional prophylaxis, an adjuvant 500 μg intracameral moxifloxacin (for $20) was cost-saving from a societal perspective in the base case; in probabilistic sensitivity analyses, all the values were within the societal willingness-to-pay threshold of $50 000/quality-adjusted-life-years (QALYs), and 6142 (61%) of 10 000 iterations were cost-saving. From a healthcare sector perspective, intracameral moxifloxacin was cost-effective, with an ICUR of $8275/QALY. In cases with posterior capsule tears, a $20 intracameral moxifloxacin was cost-saving. Conclusions From a societal perspective in the U.S., a topical perioperative antibiotic with a 500 μg intracameral moxifloxacin costing $22 dollars or less was cost-effective and cost-saving. From a healthcare sector perspective, a $20 intracameral moxifloxacin was cost-effective but not cost-saving. Adjuvant intracameral moxifloxacin had greater effectiveness in improving QALYs than topical antibiotics.
Streets, scum and people: Discourses of (in)civility in postwar Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Building on more than ten years of ethnographic research in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina, this article documents discourses and practices of civility as mutuality with limits. This mode of civility ...
Activity Detection using Fusion of Multi-Pressure Sensors in Insoles

Daily monitoring of activities performed by patients is important for remote health monitoring. To identify activities Numerous motion-based activity monitoring systems have been developed using wearable motion sensors, that include an accelerometer and gyroscope. are used to identify human activities. However, such systems are invasive making it unsuited for continuous monitoring. In this paper, we designed and developed a non-invasive way of monitoring and identifying activities. We acquire data from high density pressure sensors that are embedded at 13 different locations of insoles. The insole data is characterized and analyzed to identify different activities including sitting, standing, walking, running, cycling and jumping. In this paper we developed a unique methodology that investigates the discriminative capability of individual pressure sensors and further conducted fusion of multiple pressure sensors for improved activity monitoring. Based on our experimental results, 91.8% activity recognition accuracy was achieved using the best individual insole pressure sensor. We then investigated multi-sensor fusion to capture an improved class discriminative score space using a Multi Layer Neural Network (MLNN), which improved the activity identification accuracy of the system to the promising value of 97.63%.
Anorectal Anatomy and Physiology

In this chapter, the anatomy of the anal canal, rectum and pelvic floor will be reviewed in detail with clinical correlations to the relevant surgical anatomy whenever possible. After a complete discussion of the anatomy, the physiology of anorectum and pelvic floor will be addressed with special attention regarding the physiology of defecation and fecal continence. Colonic motility plays a direct role in the physiology of defecation and will also be covered in this chapter.
Case 20-2019: A 52-Year-Old Woman with Fever and Rash after Heart Transplantation.

A Woman with Fever and Rash after Heart Transplantation A 52-year-old woman who had undergone orthotopic heart transplantation because of dilated cardiomyopathy was admitted to the hospital 40 days...
Project ESTEEM protocol: a randomized controlled trial of an LGBTQ-affirmative treatment for young adult sexual minority men’s mental and sexual health

Young gay and bisexual men disproportionately experience depression, anxiety, and substance use problems and are among the highest risk group for HIV infection in the U.S. Diverse methods locate the source of these health disparities in young gay and bisexual men’s exposure to minority stress. In fact, minority stress, psychiatric morbidity, substance use, and HIV risk fuel each other, forming a synergistic threat to young gay and bisexual men’s health. Yet no known intervention addresses minority stress to improve mental health, substance use problems, or their joint impact on HIV risk in this population. This paper describes the design of a study to test the efficacy of such an intervention, called ESTEEM (Effective Skills to Empower Effective Men), a 10-session skills-building intervention designed to reduce young gay and bisexual men’s co-occurring health risks by addressing the underlying cognitive, affective, and behavioral pathways through which minority stress impairs health. This study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, is a three-arm randomized controlled trial to examine (1) the efficacy of ESTEEM compared to community mental health treatment and HIV counseling and testing and (2) whether ESTEEM works through its hypothesized cognitive, affective, and behavioral minority stress processes. Our primary outcome, measured 8 months after baseline, is condomless anal sex in the absence of PrEP or known undetectable viral load of HIV+ primary partners. Secondary outcomes include depression, anxiety, substance use, sexual compulsivity, and PrEP uptake, also measured 8 months after baseline. Delivering specific stand-alone treatments for specific mental, behavioral, and sexual health problems represents the current state of evidence-based practice. However, dissemination and implementation of this one treatment-one problem approach has not been ideal. A single intervention that reduces young gay and bisexual men’s depression, anxiety, substance use, and HIV risk by reducing the common minority stress pathways across these problems would represent an efficient, cost-effective alternative to currently isolated approaches, and holds great promise for reducing sexual orientation health disparities among young men. Registered October 10, 2016 to ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02929069 .
Prosthetic Septic Arthritis: Etiology, Clinical Aspects, and Management

Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a relatively rare but potentially devastating consequence of total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Patient risk factors include uncontrolled diabetes, morbid obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, cirrhosis, hepatitis C, immunosuppressive medications, smoking, human immunodeficiency virus infection, and alcohol abuse. Perioperative risk factors include use of perioperative antibiotics, surgical site preparation, surgical attire, and operating room conditions. PJI diagnosis should be based on clinical judgement and incorporate information from the patient’s history and physical exam, serological testing, synovial fluid analysis, radiographic assessment, and microbiologic and histopathologic testing. There are four main types of PJI: early postoperative, late chronic, acute hematogenous, and positive intraoperative cultures at the time of revision for presumed aseptic loosening. Treatment depends on the type of infection, with debridement, antibiotics, and implant retention generally recommended for early postoperative and acute hematogenous infections; single- or two-stage revisions for chronic infections; and antimicrobial therapy without revision for unexpectedly positive cultures.
Establishment of wetlands on the southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain: Paleolimnological evidence of a mid-Holocene hydrologic threshold from a South Carolina pond

The series of climatic events affecting landscapes on the southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain over the past several thousand years is poorly understood. This is due, in part, to the paucity of depositional basins in this region containing adequately preserved microfossils for paleoecological analyses. This research reconstructs past hydrologic environments from the microfossil record of Peat Bay, a small, peat-filled pond in south-central South Carolina. We cored the deepest location in the pond and retrieved 120 cm of sediment representing 5200 yr of deposition. Fine clays at the base of the core resembled sediments deposited in abandoned channels of the nearby Savannah River, suggesting the basin may have functioned as an oxbow wetland prone to periodic flooding and drying. Overlying peats containing planktonic diatom assemblages mark the onset of persistent open-water conditions ca. 4600 B.P. These data, in conjunction with a small body of paleoecological evidence from other southeastern wetlands, suggest that a hydrologic 'threshold' was surpassed during the mid-Holocene that resulted in flooding and expansion of low-lying depressions that characterize the regional landscape. This is likely the culmination of long-term hydrologic trends related to glacial retreat, including increased precipitation and a rise in ground water levels corresponding to a global rise in sea level. In Peat Bay, lake-like conditions persisted until about 3800 B.P., after which time aerophilic diatoms and remains of other temporary pond organisms dominated the fossil record. Episodic drying of pond sediments during the late-Holocene may have been a response to decreased precipitation, stabilization of the water table and infilling of the pond by decaying vegetation and terrigenous clastics. The microfossil record indicates that temporary pond conditions persisted until recent years (ca. 1985) when the basin returned to a permanently flooded state due to groundwater connection to a large reservoir constructed nearby.
The Routledge International Companion to Multicultural Education by James A. Banks (Ed.): (2009). New York: Routledge, 592 pp. (hardcover)

The Routledge International Companion to Multicultural Education is a single-volume reference work that gives a comprehensive overview of the theory, research, and practice of multicultural educati...
Bystander Program Effectiveness to Reduce Violence and Violence Acceptance Within Sexual Minority Male and Female High School Students Using a Cluster RCT.

Bystander interventions have been highlighted as promising strategies to reduce sexual violence and sexual harassment, yet their effectiveness for sexual minority youth remains largely unexamined in high schools’ populations. This rigorous cluster randomized control trial addresses this gap by evaluating intervention effectiveness among sexual majority and minority students known be to at increased risk of sexual violence. Kentucky high schools were randomized to intervention or control conditions. In intervention schools, educators provided school-wide Green Dot presentations (phase 1) and intensive bystander training to student popular opinion leaders (phase 2). Each spring from 2010 to 2014, students attending 26 high schools completed anonymous surveys about violence acceptance and violent events. An analytic sample of 74,836 surveys with no missing data over the 5 years was available. Sexual violence acceptance scores declined significantly over time in intervention versus control schools among all but sexual minority males. This intervention was also associated with reductions in both perpetration and victimization of sexual violence, sexual harassment, and physical dating violence among sexual majority yet not sexual minority youth. Both sexual minority and majority youth experienced reductions in stalking victimization and perpetration associated with the intervention. In this large cluster randomized controlled trial, the bystander intervention appears to work best to reduce violence for sexual majority youth. Bystander programs may benefit from explicitly engaging sexual minority youth in intervention efforts or adapting intervention programs to include attitudes that shape the experience of sexual minority high school youth (e.g., homophobic teasing, homonegativity).
Foreign issuers in emerging growth company IPOs

Abstract We examine how the JOBS Act, a regulatory reform that streamlined the process of going public in the US, affected foreign issuers. The reform extended disclosure and offering process accommodations to issuers, including foreign issuers, qualifying as emerging growth companies (EGCs). We find systematic differences in the effects of the shock on foreign issuers, complementing existing evidence on the impact of the JOBS Act. In particular, underpricing of foreign issuer IPOs decreases rather than increases after the shock. Further, greater flexibility in pre-IPO access to potential investors, which is consistent with reduced valuation uncertainty, helps explain the lower underpricing of foreign issuers after the shock. The results are not driven by differences in issuer characteristics, changes in other costs of going public, or other likely sources of confounding. Our findings highlight the differential effects of regulatory shocks on foreign issuers accessing the US market.
Non-neurologic organ dysfunction plays a major role in predicting outcomes in pediatric traumatic brain injury.

Abstract Background Nonneurological organ dysfunction (NNOD) occurs after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and is associated with mortality. The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of NNOD and its association with outcomes in pediatric patients with TBI. We hypothesized that NNOD is associated with worse outcomes in pediatric patients with severe TBI. Methods We performed a 4-year (2013–16) analysis of our prospectively maintained TBI database. All patients (age Results We analyzed 292 patients. Mean age was 11 ± 6 years, 57% were male and the mortality rate was 18.1%. The incidence of NNOD was 35%. The most common dysfunctional organ system was the respiratory (25%) followed by the cardiovascular (12%). On regression analysis, the presence of at least one NNOD was independently associated with in-hospital mortality (OR 2.1 [1.7–2.9]; p Conclusion NNOD develops in one of every three severe TBI pediatric patients and is independently associated with adverse outcomes. Identification of NNOD in pediatric TBI and focusing on management of NNOD could improve outcomes. Level of evidence III Prognostic.
Brugada syndrome unmasked by fever: a comprehensive review of literature

The Brugada pattern is identified on the EKG by a coved ST-segment elevation accompanied by a negative T wave in the early precordial leads in the absence of a cardiac structural abnormality. Bruga...
VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF VIDEO-BASED ANALYSIS OF UPPER TRUNK ROTATION DURING RUNNING.

Background Two-dimensional (2D) video analysis is a practical tool for assessing biomechanical factors that may contribute to running-related injury. Asymmetrical or altered coordination of transverse plane trunk movement has been associated with low back pain, increased vertical and horizontal ground reaction forces, and altered hip abduction torque and strength. However, the reliability and validity of 2D transverse plane upper trunk rotation (UTR) has not been assessed. Study Design Validity and reliability study. Purpose To determine the validity and reliability of 2D video-based, transverse plane UTR measurement during running. Methods Sixteen runners ran at self-selected speed on a treadmill while three-dimensional (3D) and 2D motion capture occurred synchronously. Two raters measured peak UTR for five consecutive strides on two occasions. Interrater and intrarater reliability and the minimum detectable change was calculated for right and left peak 2D UTR measurement. Concurrent validity and agreement between 2D and 3D measures were determined by calculating Pearson Product Correlation Coefficients (r) and Bland-Altman plots, respectively. Results Using a single UTR measure per runner, intrarater and interrater reliability (ICC2,1) was excellent (intrarater ICC2,1 range: 0.989-0.999; interrater ICC2,1 range: 0.990-0.995) and the minimum detectable change was 0.39-1.4 degrees. Measurements in 2D and 3D were significantly correlated for peak UTR (all r ≥ 0.986; all p-values < 0.001) and showed good agreement in Bland-Altman plots. Conclusion Two-dimensional video-based measurement of transverse plane peak UTR is valid and reliable. Clinical Relevance UTR measurement may provide clinical insight into gait deviations in the transverse plane that alter angular momentum and increase risk for running-related injury. Level of Evidence 2B.
COVID-19 and contamination: impact on exposures to alcohol-based hand sanitizers reported to Texas Poison Control Centers, 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers (ABHS), creating shortages leading to additional production by new, non-traditional manufacturers. In June 2020, the Food an...
Automated satellite remote sensing of giant kelp at the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)

Abstract Giant kelp populations support productive and diverse coastal ecosystems in both hemispheres at temperate and subpolar latitudes but are vulnerable to changing climate conditions as well as direct human impacts. Observations of giant kelp forests are spatially and temporally patchy, with disproportionate coverage in the northern hemisphere, despite the size and comparable density of southern hemisphere kelp forests. Satellite imagery enables the mapping of existing and historical giant kelp populations in understudied regions, but automating the detection of giant kelp in large satellite datasets requires approaches that are robust to the optical complexity of the shallow, nearshore environment. We present and compare two approaches for automating the detection of giant kelp in satellite datasets: one based on crowd sourcing of satellite imagery classifications and another based on a decision tree paired with a spectral unmixing algorithm (automated using Google Earth Engine). Both approaches are applied to satellite imagery (Landsat) of the Falkland Islands or Islas Malvinas (FLK), an archipelago in the southern Atlantic Ocean that supports expansive giant kelp ecosystems. The performance of each method is evaluated by comparing the automated classifications with a subset of expert-annotated imagery cumulatively spanning over 2,700km of coastline. Using the remote sensing approaches evaluated herein, we present the first continuous timeseries of giant kelp observations in the FLK region using Landsat imagery spanning over three decades. We do not detect evidence of long-term change in the FLK region, although we observe a recent decline in total canopy area from 2017-2021. Using a nitrate model based on nearby ocean state measurements obtained from ships and incorporating satellite sea surface temperature products, we find that the area of giant kelp forests in the FLK region is positively correlated with the nitrate content observed during the prior year. Our results indicate that giant kelp classifications using citizen science are approximately consistent with classifications based on a state-of-the-art automated spectral approach. Despite differences in accuracy and sensitivity, both approaches find high interannual variability that impedes the detection of potential long-term changes in giant kelp canopy area, although recent canopy area declines are notable and should continue to be monitored carefully.
The [有 yǒu + vp] construction in Singapore Mandarin: Ambiguity and semantic continuity

Abstract As a result of contact between mutually unintelligible Southern Chinese varieties like Hokkien and Cantonese, Colloquial Singapore Mandarin (csm) 有 yǒu ‘have’ has extended its semantic functions to include that of realis modality marker. This paper will demonstrate how a framework of ambiguity and semantic continuity can allow us to determine the associative links between different synchronous functions of the 有 yǒu ‘have’ construction. The ambiguous context that links the existential and realis modality functions of 有 yǒu ‘have’ is [没有 mei yǒu ‘not have’ + vp]. This ambiguous context allows 有 yǒu ‘have’ to be reanalyzed as a realis modality marker with mei ‘not’ as the negator. Additionally, the semantic continuity between the existential and realis modality marker functions further confirms such an association. While [yǒu + np] affirms the existence of someone or something, [yǒu + vp] affirms the existence of an event.
Parallel architectures: Cache memories for dataflow systems

Cache memory — so effective in traditional control-flow architecture — has the potential to enhance dataflow system performance as well. The authors explore the recent trend in combining dataflow and control-flow processing, which offers new alternatives in computer architecture design, and analyze cache memory's application to the dataflow environment.
VHDLStyler - a script-based tool for IP design modification [SoC design]

This paper describes a method to enable the transition from a given design environment to a modern SoC design flow at minimal cost, and with increased productivity for future designs. A Java-based tool is presented that allows the script-based modification of existing VHDL code for a wide range of applications.
Large-scale simulation models of BGP

The complex nature of the border gateway protocol (BGP) is not amenable to analytical modeling, and thus simulation-based analysis methods are needed to understand its behavior. To this end, we investigate techniques that make large-scale BGP simulations feasible. The described techniques partially ameliorate the memory and execution time bottlenecks to yield large-scale BGP simulations. Our focus is cast on efficient sharing of BGP routing tables, execution time optimizations for simulation trials, and proper partitioning of parallel distributed BGP simulations. Moreover, we survey the requirements for realistic, Internet-like BGP simulations and develop a simulation toolset to expedite realistic configuration of a BGP simulator.
Breasts (infants vs. sex objects)

Human females have mammary glands (breasts) to provide a fluid (milk) that is species-specific and necessary for the optimal health and growth of their offspring. Breast size is affected by genetic factors, age, pregnancy/lactation status, and nutritional status. Breasts develop during puberty with the growth of glandular tissue and the deposition of fat. During pregnancy they gain significant additional blood supply and glandular tissue, increasing in size. There is no evidence that larger breasts confer any reproductive advantage to women, as lactational ability is not dependent on breast size. In the vast majority of human cultures, the breasts play no role in sexual attraction or sexual behavior. Defining breasts as sexually erotic, and fondling or manipulating them during sexual activity is best described as a cultural (learned) paraphilia of limited geographic and temporal distribution. Keywords: breasts; mammary glands; paraphilia
Facility dispersion problems under capacity and cost constraints

The MAX-MIN dispersion problem, which arises in the placement of undesirable facilities, involves selecting a specified number of sites among a set of potential sites so as to maximize the minimum distance between any pair of selected sites. We consider different versions of this dispersion problem where each potential site has an associated storage capacity and a storage cost. A typical problem in this context is to choose a subset of potential sites so that the total capacity of the chosen sites is at least a given value, the total storage cost is within the specified budget and the minimum distance between any pair of chosen sites is maximized. Since these constrained optimization problems are NP-hard in general, we consider whether there are efficient approximation algorithms for them with good performance guarantees. Our results include approximation algorithms for some versions, approximation schemes for some geometric versions and polynomial algorithms for special cases. We also present results that bring out the intrinsic difficulty of obtaining near-optimal solutions to some versions.
The consumption function under exponential utility

Abstract A recent article by Cantor derived a closed-form solution for the consumer optimization problem with exponential utility and normal income shocks. This paper derives solutions without imposing the normality assumption, and investigates the effect of risk in this more general setting.
Comparison of effects of ozone, cadmium chloride and carbon tetrachloride on [14C]antipyrine metabolism in conscious rats

Previously, Graham et al. found evidence that pentobarbital-induced sleeping time was enhanced in various animals following exposure to 1 ppm of ozone in air. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether similar ozone exposure would cause inhibition of metabolism of another model drug, [14C]antipyrine, in conscious rats. Furthermore, this study also investigated whether, like that of ozone, other lipid-peroxidizing agents such as cadmium and carbon tetrachloride would affect metabolism of [14C]antipyrine in conscious rats. The results showed no significant effect of ozone exposure on subsequent metabolism of [14C]antipyrine in conscious rats as revealed by very similar 14CO2 exhalation rate (CER)-time profiles before and after ozone treatment under various exposure protocols. Even though the exposure to ozone caused no inhibition of antipyrine metabolism in conscious rats, cadmium and carbon tetrachloride, on the other hand, markedly inhibited metabolism of this model drug. In agreement with the reported sex-difference in toxic effects of cadmium, during the present study the cadmium-induced inhibitory effect on the CER-time profiles was observed in male but not in female rats. In contrast, no clear sex-dependency was noted in the inhibitory effect of carbon tetrachloride on [14C]antipyrine metabolism.
The Audit Risk Model: An Empirical Test for Conditional Dependencies among Assessed Component Risks

Professional standards and prior theoretical research indicate that assessed audit risk components should be conditionally dependent. In an experiment, experienced auditors made the risk assessments that are, in practice, inputs for using the audit risk model for planning the extent of detailed testing. Conditional dependencies were tested using a sequential linear modeling process that added the previously assessed risk components to the model (e.g., inherent risk assessments added to predict subsequent control risk assessments) as the last independent variable. Results showed that the previously assessed risk substantially increased the explanatory power of the models in accounting for variation in the subsequently assessed components. The results support the notion that audit risk components are assessed conditionally. Thus, they provide a defense for practitioners' claims that they are appropriately using the model and give guidance to future research on the audit risk model.
Fluvial response to abrupt global warming at the Palaeocene/Eocene boundary

Climate strongly affects the production of sediment from mountain catchments as well as its transport and deposition within adjacent sedimentary basins. However, identifying climatic influences on basin stratigraphy is complicated by nonlinearities, feedback loops, lag times, buffering and convergence among processes within the sediment routeing system. The Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) arguably represents the most abrupt and dramatic instance of global warming in the Cenozoic era and has been proposed to be a geologic analogue for anthropogenic climate change. Here we evaluate the fluvial response in western Colorado to the PETM. Concomitant with the carbon isotope excursion marking the PETM we document a basin-wide shift to thick, multistoried, sheets of sandstone characterized by variable channel dimensions, dominance of upper flow regime sedimentary structures, and prevalent crevasse splay deposits. This progradation of coarse-grained lithofacies matches model predictions for rapid increases in sediment flux and discharge, instigated by regional vegetation overturn and enhanced monsoon precipitation. Yet the change in fluvial deposition persisted long after the approximately 200,000-year-long PETM with its increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, emphasizing the strong role the protracted transmission of catchment responses to distant depositional systems has in constructing large-scale basin stratigraphy. Our results, combined with evidence for increased dissolved loads and terrestrial clay export to world oceans, indicate that the transient hyper-greenhouse climate of the PETM may represent a major geomorphic 'system-clearing event', involving a global mobilization of dissolved and solid sediment loads on Earth's surface.
A LabVIEW® library for reading HP Chemstation files: Pedagogical tools for GC-MS

A LabVIEW® program library that can access the chromatographic and mass spectrometric data stored in Hewlett-Packard (HP) Chemstation data files is described. The programs in the library can be used to extract total ion chromatograms or selected ion chromatograms. More importantly, a program is provided that will display an intensity graph of all mass values for every time in the chromatogram. This display of the data from a single file is used to illustrate the quantitative and qualitative power of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS, a so-called hyphenated analytical chemistry technique). © 1998 National Instruments. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Lab Robotics and Automation 10: 119–121, 1998
The roots of inequity: Romani cultural rights in their historical and social context

My premise in this article is a simple one: first, that the liberty to maintain one's cultural behaviour is dependent upon one's civil liberties; and second, while not all legal rights are civil, all civil rights are nevertheless legal. Furthermore, if we are to deal with the situation effectively, we must address it not only as a cultural or civil or legal issue, but as one having far‐reaching political ramifications as well.