cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Uncertainty Quantification Methods for Model Calibration Validation and Risk Analysis.

The NASA Langley Multidisciplinary Uncertainty Quantification Challenge1 presents several questions, formulated around computer models that describe realistic aeronautical applications. These models are presented in a “blackbox” formulation to encourage discipline-independent approaches. The schematic in Fig. 1 illustrates the general structure of the model inputs, outputs, and quantities of interest.
Microarthropods associated with insecticide-treated and untreated artichoke fields in California

Samples of microarthropods from artichoke leaves, flower heads, and soil debris were taken from fields where growing conditions were similar except for insecticide treatment; fields were treated in Castroville and untreated in Carmel Valley, Calif. Methyl parathion and methidathion were applied every 2 wk for the control of the artichoke plume moth, Platyptilia carduidactyla (Riley), the major pest of artichoke. Pesticide-treated fields had eight fewer predatory and phytophagous microarthropod species. Anystis sp. Was absent; numbers of Parasitus bituberosus Karg and Pergamasus quisquiliarum Canestrini were reduced in treated fields. These mites are important predators of artichoke pests including first-and second-instar artichoke plume moth, thrips, aphids, and mites. A secondary outbreak of Tetranychus urticae Koch was observed in methyl parathion-treated fields. These factors should be considered in an IPM program for artichoke.
Elucidating driving forces for liposome rupture: external perturbations and chemical affinity.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies under aqueous buffer probed the role of chemical affinity between liposomes, consisting of large unilamellar vesicles, and substrate surfaces in driving vesicl...
Modeling Polycystic Kidney Disease Cystogenesis with Genome-Modified Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) can self-renew extensively and differentiate into diverse tissues, including tubular organoids expressing kidney markers. However, no study has demonstrated a phenotype in these tubules relevant to kidney disease. Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is an extremely common, life-threatening Mendelian disorder in which balloon-like cysts arise from kidney tubules. Using the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system, we tested the ability of hPSCs and derived kidney organoids to model PKD cystogenesis in vitro.To generate PKD hPSCs, Cas9 nuclease and guide RNAs targeting the disease-causative genes, PKD1 or PKD2, were transfected into hPSCs. hPSCs in 3D cultures were treated with specific growth factors to direct stepwise differentiation into kidney progenitor cells (SIX2+PAX2+) and subsequently proximal tubules (LTL+LRP2+). Phenotypically, PKD hPSCs exhibited self-renewal and pluripotency characteristics comparable to isogenic controls, and differentiated into tubular organoids with similar efficiencies. Interestingly, in PKD hPSC cultures, we observed formation of large, translucent, cyst-like structures alongside tubules. Confocal microscopy revealed that cyst-lining epithelia reacted strongly with LTL, were highly proliferative, and surrounded hollow interior compartments devoid of cells. Time-lapse imaging revealed that cysts arose from tubular structures. Importantly, isogenic control hPSCs plated and differentiated side-by-side did not form cysts. PKD mutations did not augment the size of cavitated spheroids of undifferentiated (epiblast-stage) hPSCs, a tissue not known to be affected in PKD patients.Our findings suggest that PKD-specific cyst formation from tubules can be reproducibly modeled in a minimal system in vitro. Cysts arise from both PKD1 and PKD2 mutants, but not in healthy controls. They are furthermore specific to the kidney lineage. These findings support the identification of hPSC-derived tubules as kidney nephron structures. Genome-modified hPSCs represent a new, pre-clinical model in which to investigate PKD pathophysiology and evaluate candidate therapeutics.
Life with Habit and Expectation: A New Explanation of the Equity Premium Puzzle

Previous writers have attempted to resolve the equity premium puzzle by employing a utility function that depends on current consumption minus (or relative to) past habit consumption. This paper points out that an individual’s current utility may also depend upon how well off in the recent past he or she had expected to be today. Hence we add the concept "expectation formation" to the utility modification term in a model with a habit-formation utility function. We apply the model to the equity premium puzzle and find that it is able to fit the data with a relatively low coefficient of relative risk aversion. Furthermore we fit the model to 40-year rolling samples and find that the estimated coefficient of risk aversion does not vary much as the sample changes. Hence we conclude that the model is able to resolve the equity premium puzzle.
Making Old Brands New

Burma Shave, Brylcreem, Pepsodent, Ovaltine, William’s Lectric Shave, RC Cola, Barbasol, Hi Karate cologne, Black Jack Gum. At one point, these brands all enjoyed wide name recognition and impressive market shares. Many have now faded and become “ghosts” of their once former selves. Their numbers are legion -- in 1993, Nabisco reported 29 ghost brands; Shering-Plough 17; and Smith-Kline 14.While some of these brands are dying because of shifting consumer needs, heavy competition, or lost awareness, others are suffering from marketing malpractice. Many well-trained brand managers believe that brands -- like people -- follow predictable, irreversible life cycles: They grow, they mature, they decline, and they die. As a result, when sales fall, the euthanistic response is to cut back on marketing activities and reallocate funds to new brands. Without any further investment of time, thought, or money, this brand’s sales will continue to drop, thereby strengthening the original prognosis and justifying even fewer resources. While some brands have been nurtured back to health at this point (see Figure 1), many die a lingering death as a heavily discounted or as a regionalized brand.Lately, however, the $75-100 million cost of launching a new brand is redirecting interest toward the less costly option of revitalizing old brands. Nevertheless, while some brands are worthy of revitalization, others should be divested or milked with benign neglect. This raises two key questions: (1) Which brands can be revitalized? and (2) How should they be revitalized?
Regression of C6 rat brain tumors by cells expressing an antisense insulin-like growth factor I receptor RNA

We have previously shown that C6 cells expressing an antisense insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-IR) RNA are no longer tumorigenic in syngeneic rats, protecting them from subsequent subcutaneous tumor challenge and causing regression of established subcutaneous tumors. In the present study, we have investigated the efficacy of this strategy on intracerebrally implanted C6 rat glioblastoma cells. We demonstrate that C6 cells expressing an antisense IGF-IR RNA implanted for 24 h in the subcutaneous tissue of the rats are able to elicit an anti-tumor response in the brain, leading to complete brain tumor regression and long-term survival of the rats. These findings suggest the possibility of therapeutic intervention in human gliomas.
Antiviral Hammerhead Ribozymes Are Effective for Developing Transgenic Suppression of Chikungunya Virus in Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes

The chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an emerging pathogen with widespread distribution in regions of Africa, India, and Asia that threatens to spread into temperate climates with the introduction of its major vector, Aedes albopictus. CHIKV causes a disease frequently misdiagnosed as dengue fever, with potentially life-threatening symptoms that can result in a longer-term debilitating arthritis. The increasing risk of spread from endemic regions via human travel and commerce and the current absence of a vaccine put a significant proportion of the world population at risk for this disease. In this study we designed and tested hammerhead ribozymes (hRzs) targeting CHIKV structural protein genes of the RNA genome as potential antivirals both at the cellular and in vivo level. We employed the CHIKV strain 181/25, which exhibits similar infectivity rates in both Vero cell cultures and mosquitoes. Virus suppression assay performed on transformed Vero cell clones of all seven hRzs demonstrated that all are effective at inhibiting CHIKV in Vero cells, with hRz #9 and #14 being the most effective. piggyBac transformation vectors were constructed using the Ae. aegypti t-RNAval Pol III promoted hRz #9 and #14 effector genes to establish a total of nine unique transgenic Higgs White Eye (HWE) Ae. aegypti lines. Following confirmation of transgene expression by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), comparative TCID50-IFA analysis, in situ Immuno-fluorescent Assays (IFA) and analysis of salivary CHIKV titers demonstrated effective suppression of virus replication at 7 dpi in heterozygous females of each of these transgenic lines compared with control HWE mosquitoes. This report provides a proof that appropriately engineered hRzs are powerful antiviral effector genes suitable for population replacement strategies
The Vagueness of Sentences in Isolation

Many fully grammatical sentences are vague, in that they give too little information for complete semantic interpretation. However, speakers appear to have no difficulty interpreting such sentences. When they appear in a context, information from neighboring sentences allows complete interpretation. When vague sentences are presented in isolation they are interpreted with great consistency, a striking fact since no completing information is available. This consistency is due, I shall argue, to a general strategy for maximizing available information rather than to the linguistic properties of the sentences in question.
A Cross-National Investigation of Deforestation, Debt, State Fiscal Capacity, and the Environmental Kuznets Curve

Recent international conferences and policy initiatives demonstrate a far-reaching interest in global environmental concerns. This research explores relationships among debt levels, states, and deforestation. Dependency, ecological modernization, and statist perspectives are employed. The models investigate the influence of escalating debt levels of the 1980s on deforestation from 1990 to 1995. Measures of state fiscal capacity and regime type are included to support the contention that states should be more explicitly accounted for in deforestation research. Briefly, there is evidence in support of ecological modernization and statist perspectives, and mixed results with respect to dependency perspectives. The models presented in this research suggest support for hypotheses of an environmental Kuznets curve, and that levels of debt, state fiscal capacity, and regime type influence deforestation rates.
Abstract 32: Adverse Outcomes among Patients with End Stage Liver Disease who undergo Cardiac Catheterization

Introduction End stage liver disease (ESLD) is a highly morbid condition. While awaiting liver transplantation, many patients experience adverse events including cardiovascular events. Performing invasive cardiac procedures is a precarious undertaking given abnormal bleeding profiles that are common in this patient population. Revascularization options are challenging due to a need a potentially life changing operation, inability to tolerate dual antiplatelet therapy, and other comorbidities. Objective To examine the characteristics and outcomes of patients who are awaiting a liver transplant with ESLD who undergo cardiac catheterization at a University Medical Center. Methods We reviewed the medical records of all patients awaiting liver transplantation that were referred for cardiac catheterization between March 2006 and December 2010. We recorded demographic data, cardiac risk factors, relevant laboratories, results of their catheterization procedure and adverse events for the following year. Death from any cause within one year of the procedure, myocardial infarction, stroke, repeat revascularization, cardiac re-hospitalization and periprocedural bleeding were recorded as adverse events. Only patients with complete follow-up records were included. The MELD score, a common measurement of liver disease severity, was calculated at the time of initial referral Results Of the 440 charts reviewed, 18% (78) patients had a left heart catheterization. The demographics of the patients who had a left heart catheterization were women 35% (n=28), 50% (39) Caucasian, 21% (16) Black, 23% (18) Hispanic and 6% other. The average MELD score at the time of the procedure was 17, with the average platelet count 101. Cardiac risk factors were diabetes 59% (46), hyperlipidemia 13% (10) and hypertension. 30% (23) had radial access, while 70% (55) had femoral. 14% (n=11) underwent revascularization (7 PCI and 4 CABG). Complications for all patients undergoing cardiac catheterization included bleeding 26% (20) and death within one year 28% (22). Conclusion Patient with ESLD undergoing a cardiac catheterization have a higher rate of bleeding complications and death than patients who don’t have ESLD (26% versus <1%). Opportunities to decrease complications and mortality need to be further investigated in this patient population.
Synthesis and characterization of the neutral three-coordinate thiolate complexes Al[S(2,4,6-t-Bu3C6H2)]3 and Ga[S(2,4,6-t-Bu3C6H2)]3

The first monomeric, three-coordinate aluminum and gallium thiolate compounds have been synthesized and structurally characterized. The compounds were prepared by the reaction of the corresponding metal halide with 2 equiv of LiSMes* (Mes*=2,4,6-t-Bu 3 C 6 H 2 ) to give the aluminum derivative Al(SMes*) 3 (1) or with 3 equiv of the lithium thiolate to give the gallium species Ga(SMes*) 3 (2). The compounds were characterized by 1 H NMR and infrared spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. Crystal data with Mo Kα (λ=0.71069 A) radiation at 130 K: 1, Al(SMes*) 3 , C 54 H 87 AlS 3 , a=10.229 (5) A, b=26.137 (7) A, C=19.908 (5) A, β=91.260 (3)°, Z=4, monoclinic, space group P2 1 /n
Efficient 2-Body Statistics Computation on GPUs: Parallelization aamp; Beyond

Various types of two-body statistics (2-BS) are regarded as essential components of data analysis in many scientific and computing domains. Due to the quadratic time complexity, use of modern parallel hardware has become an obvious direction for research and practice in 2-BS computation. This paper presents our recent work in designing and optimizing parallel algorithms for 2-BS computation on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). First, we classify 2-body applications into three groups based on their data output pattern. Then, we introduce a straightforward parallel algorithm under the CUDA framework. To that end, we split the algorithm into two stages: pairwise distance function computation and writing output. Then, we present modifications to the basic algorithm by integrating various techniques at each stage. Our algorithms design focuses on effective use of hardware/software features that are unique in GPU platforms. Experiments run on modern GPU hardware show that our GPU algorithms outperform the best known CPU program by at least an order of magnitude in various applications. Furthermore, our implementation achieves very high level of GPU resource utilization, indicating near-optimal performance. This work builds a solid foundation towards realizing our vision of a framework that can automatically generate optimized code for any new 2-BS problems.
Anthropogenic noise reduces approach of Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) and Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) to Tufted Titmouse mobbing calls

ABSTRACT Successful communication between a sender and a receiver is critical for coordinating behaviors between organisms. This coordination can be disturbed by anthropogenic noise, which has been shown to alter vocal signal production in many species of birds. In addition to affecting senders, noise may also alter reception and behavioral response. Here we investigated the effects of anthropogenic noise on behavioral response to acoustic signals in mixed-species flocks of songbirds. We used playbacks of Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) chick-a-dee calls and local anthropogenic noise to determine how receivers respond to calls with and without added noise. We found that the addition of noise caused a significant decrease of ∼80% in the number of birds that approached the speaker during a chick-a-dee call playback; however, we saw no effect of noise on feeding behavior. Our data support the hypothesis that anthropogenic noise can alter behavioral responses to chick-a-dee calls. This finding is of part...
Baseline characteristics from two ongoing phase III trials for the prevention and treatment of muscle wasting in NSCLC.

e19100 Background: Although muscle wasting and cancer cachexia occur in > 80% of patients with advanced cancer, few well-powered scientifically-based trials have been conducted. Using enobosarm, a ...
The Influence of Psychosocial and Cognitive Factors on Perceived Threat of Alzheimer's Disease

This study explored psychosocial and cognitive predictors of perceived threat of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Respondents were 1641 adults (mean age: 64.4; 54% female; 82% white) who completed a module in the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative survey of adults aged ≥50. Findings show that perceived threat was significantly higher for those aged 50 to 64 ( P < .001) and 65 to 74 ( P < .05) than for those ≥75. Respondents with a family history of AD had significantly greater perceived threat ( P < .001) than those with no experience. Stronger endorsement of the beliefs that stress ( P < .01) or genetics ( P < .01) are important AD risk factors was significantly associated with greater perceived threat, as was having more depressive symptoms ( P < .01), poorer self-rated memory ( P < .01), and lower cognitive function ( P < .01). Personal experience moderated the relationship between perceived threat and 2 variables: age and self-rated memory. Understanding perceived AD threat may inform practice and policies centered on early and accurate diagnosis.
Abstract NS12: Effective Reduction of Stroke Readmissions Through Nurse Practitioner Initiated Follow -up Calls in a Comprehensive Stroke Center

Issue: The Affordable Care Act, ACA Section III, encourages development of new transitional care models linking hospital reimbursements to improved quality, efficiency, and transparency in care del...
Machine Learning Methods for Strategy Research

Numerous applications of machine learning have gained acceptance in the field of strategy and management research only during the last few years. Established uses span such diverse problems as strategic foreign investments, strategic resource allocation, systemic risk analysis, and customer relationship management. This survey article covers natural language processing methods focused on text analytics and machine learning methods with their applications to management research and strategic practice. The methods are presented accessibly, with directly applicable examples, supplemented by a rich set of references crossing multiple subfields of management science. The intended audience is the strategy and management researcher with an interest in understanding the concepts, the recently established applications, and the trends of machine learning for strategy research.
In situ biobutanol recovery from clostridial fermentations: a critical review

Butanol is a precursor of many industrial chemicals, and a fuel that is more energetic, safer and easier to handle than ethanol. Fermentative biobutanol can be produced using renewable carbon sources such as agro-industrial residues and lignocellulosic biomass. Solventogenic clostridia are known as the most preeminent biobutanol producers. However, until now, solvent production through the fermentative routes is still not economically competitive compared to the petrochemical approaches, because the butanol is toxic to their own producer bacteria, and thus, the production capability is limited by the butanol tolerance of producing cells. In order to relieve butanol toxicity to the cells and improve the butanol production, many recovery strategies (either in situ or downstream of the fermentation) have been attempted by many researchers and varied success has been achieved. In this article, we summarize in situ recovery techniques that have been applied to butanol production through Clostridium fermentation, including liquid-liquid extraction, perstraction, reactive extraction, adsorption, pervaporation, vacuum fermentation, flash fermentation and gas stripping. We offer a prospective and an opinion about the past, present and the future of these techniques, such as the application of advanced membrane technology and use of recent extractants, including polymer solutions and ionic liquids, as well as the application of these techniques to assist the in situ synthesis of butanol derivatives.
Autoimmune diseases and breast cancer risk by tumor hormone-receptor status among elderly women.

The female preponderance of many autoimmune diseases suggests a possible hormonal etiology. Little research exists on systemic and organ-specific autoimmune diseases and risk of breast cancer by tumor estrogen receptor (ER)- and progesterone receptor (PR)- status. Here we evaluate associations between selected systemic and organ-specific autoimmune diseases and breast cancer risk overall and by tumor ER- and PR-status. We used linked Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare data, with first female breast cancer cases ages ≥66 years identified by SEER registries (years 1992-2011) (N = 209,929). We selected female controls (N = 200,000) from a stratified 5% random sample of Medicare recipients who were alive and breast cancer-free. We assessed exposures until 12 months before breast cancer diagnosis/selection using Medicare claims data. We estimated odds ratios (OR) and 99.9% confidence intervals (CI) using unconditional and multinomial logistic regression. We found reduced breast cancer risk among those with rheumatoid arthritis (OR=0.84; 99.9% CI 0.79-0.89), systemic lupus erythematosus (OR=0.82; 99.9% CI 0.70-0.97), and pernicious anemia (OR=0.90; 99.9% CI 0.83-0.97), and increased risk among those with psoriasis (OR=1.16; 99.9% CI 1.06-1.27). Statistically significant alterations in risk for rheumatoid arthritis were limited to ER-positive (+) breast cancer, whereas those for the other three conditions were further limited to ER+/PR+ breast cancer. However, only differences for rheumatoid arthritis by ER-status were statistically significant (p-heterogeneity=.0001). The reasons for these associations need to be investigated in future studies accounting for host characteristics and autoimmune disease treatment. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
The principles and practice of open fracture care, 2018.

Abstract The principles of open fracture management are to manage the overall injury and specifically prevent primary contamination becoming frank infection. The surgical management of these complex injuries includes debridement & lavage of the open wound with combined bony and soft tissue reconstruction. Good results depend on early high quality definitive surgery usually with early stable internal fixation and associated soft tissue repair. While all elements of the surgical principles are very important and depend on each other for overall success the most critical element appears to be achieving very early healthy soft tissue cover. As the injuries become more complex this involves progressively more complex soft tissue reconstruction and may even requiring urgent free tissue transfer requiring close co-operative care between orthopaedic and plastic surgeons. Data suggests that the best results are obtained when the whole surgical reconstruction is completed within 48–72 h.
Crime, Media, and Reality: Examining Mixed Messages About Crime and Justice in Popular Media, by Venessa Garcia and Samantha G. Arkerson

The authors of Crime, Media, and Reality: Examining Mixed Messages About Crime and Justice in Popular Media set out to examine the effects of popular media—almost exclusively movies and television ...
Fields in Flux: Post-socialist Reorganization of Property and Power

This chapter explores how institutional shocks in the last years of Soviet socialism opened up the environment of institutional fields to reconstruction. This opened the door for confusion and contention over what the operative logics of organizational strategies and structures, the nature of property, and the basis of authority should be. Key actors’ Soviet experiences and knowledge (embedded in habitus) shaped how different actors perceived risks and a normal economy; this provided some path dependency. However, the Soviet experience was not uniform and from that past came three competing “new classes”: Soviet-era managers (Red Directors), financial entrepreneurs (paradoxically), and state cadres, especially form the massive security apparatus. As these classes set about organizing and defending field rules and boundaries, they came into conflict over whose conceptions of normality would predominate. That conflict was at the heart of the drama of the 1990s and the rise of Vladimir Putin.
Basic Properties of Knowledge Base Systems

We consider rule-structured knowledge bases and investigate some of their basic properties. We propose an algorithm for the investigation of completeness and consistency of rule represented knowledge bases. We study some aspects of incomplete information in such systems.
Islam and Customary Law in the Malaysian Legal Context

The Malays in Malaya did not become Muslims until comparatively recent times and it is generally accepted that the Malays were not Muslims at the time when they migrated from Sumatra. When they came to Malaya they brought with them and preserved much of their ancient customary law. Muslim law has been superimposed on this. Although the Malays are generally strict Muslims they have never adopted the whole of the Muslim law, and the Muslim law which is applied in Malaya is Muslim law varied by Malay custom.
United States Federalism: Harmony Without Unity

American efforts to achieve unification within federalism are many. But unification does not well describe the legal system of the United States. Unification is found only when law is exclusively federal. In most areas of the law there are significant non-uniformities between state and federal law and among laws of states and of municipalities. The government presents the people not with one law, but with a multitude of laws. Yet if law in the United States is not often uniform, it is mostly harmonized. Although there are numerous inconsistencies in law, only rarely are these inconsistencies substantive at a societal level (e.g., death penalty in some states). Usually inconsistencies are matters of detail. These details can, however, be extremely important in individual cases (e.g., death penalty, statutes of limitation). The people are left to sort out the various laws at their peril. The inconveniences and inefficiencies are many.
Uric Acid Control in Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease in a Southeastern US Urban Cohort.

OBJECTIVES Uric acid (UA) control may be insufficient in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients in the current era. It is unclear, however, whether this is the result of environmental effects, patient anthropometrics or insufficient dosing of medical therapy (allopurinol). METHODS We have collected data on multiple clinical and laboratory parameters of 114 CKD clinic patients attending the nephrology clinic of the University of Mississippi Medical Center with an estimated glomerular filtration rate <45 mL · min-1 · 1.73 m2. We assessed the correlates of UA levels and the allopurinol doses along with achieved serum UA and urine pH. RESULTS The cohort consisted of middle-aged to elderly patients with a mean (± standard deviation) age of 62.1 (11.6) years; 45.6% were female, 68.4% were African American and 47.4% had a history of gout. The mean UA level was 7.7 (2.49) mg/dL (range 3.1-16), allopurinol dose was 192 (99) mg/day (range 50-450) and estimated glomerular filtration rate was 23.8 (11.3) mL · min-1 · 1.73 m2. While the overall serum bicarbonate level was 25 (3.2) mEq/L, urine pH was <6 in 60.5% of the cohort. Significant univariate correlates of the administered doses of allopurinol were weight (r 0.317, P = 0.001), body mass index (BMI; r 0.313, P = 0.001), and female sex (r -0.198; P = 0.035). Achieved UA levels correlated directly with BMI (r 0.201, r = 0.036) but inversely with the allopurinol dose (r -0.196; P = 0.036). During logistic regression analysis with stepwise selection, only weight (β 0.313, P = 0.001) and sex (β -0.190, P = 0.039) proved to be predictive of the allopurinol dose; as for the achieved UA level, only BMI (β 0.271, P = 0.006) and the allopurinol dose (β -0.258; P = 0.009) had a significant effect. CONCLUSIONS In patients with advanced CKD, conventional dosing recommendations for allopurinol are unlikely to suffice in reaching target serum UA goals. In our cohort, larger-than-usual allopurinol doses were well tolerated.
Magnetic resonance fingerprinting with quadratic RF phase for measurement of T2* simultaneously with δf, T1, and T2

Purpose This study explores the possibility of using a gradient moment balanced sequence with a quadratically varied RF excitation phase in the magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) framework to quantify T2 * in addition to δ f , T1 , and T2 tissue properties. Methods The proposed quadratic RF phase-based MRF method (qRF-MRF) combined a varied RF excitation phase with the existing balanced SSFP (bSSFP)-based MRF method to generate signals that were uniquely sensitive to δ f , T1 , T2 , as well as the distribution width of intravoxel frequency dispersion, Γ . A dictionary, generated through Bloch simulation, containing possible signal evolutions within the physiological range of δ f , T1 , T2 , and Γ , was used to perform parameter estimation. The estimated T2 and Γ were subsequently used to estimate T2 * . The proposed method was evaluated in phantom experiments and healthy volunteers (N = 5). Results The T1 and T2 values from the phantom by qRF-MRF demonstrated good agreement with values obtained by traditional gold standard methods (r2 = 0.995 and 0.997, respectively; concordance correlation coefficient = 0.978 and 0.995, respectively). The T2 * values from the phantom demonstrated good agreement with values obtained through the multi-echo gradient-echo method (r2 = 0.972, concordance correlation coefficient = 0.983). In vivo qRF-MRF-measured T1 , T2 , and T2 * values were compared with measurements by existing methods and literature values. Conclusion The proposed qRF-MRF method demonstrated the potential for simultaneous quantification of δ f , T1 , T2 , and T2 * tissue properties.
Amatoxin Mushroom Toxicity

Amatoxin containing mushrooms are a rare but significant cause of acute fulminant liver failure. However, not all Amanita species have this toxin, and other mushroom species besides Amanita have the amatoxin. (Table) Ninety-five percent of deaths from mushroom ingestions worldwide are from amatoxin-containing mushrooms.Amatoxin containing mushroom speciesAmanita group:Lepiota group: Miscellaneous:Certain mushrooms frequently are mistaken for an edible mushroom when people are foraging. Amanita phalloides (Death cap), the species associated with the most fatalities, often are mistaken for the paddy straw mushroom.Both Agaricus volvacea, and Amanita bisporigera may be mistaken for edible, non-toxic Lepiota naucina.
Management of the Exposed or Perforated Midurethral Sling.

The synthetic midurethral sling has become the gold standard for treatment of stress urinary incontinence since its introduction more than 20 years ago. With its utilization, the incidence of mesh-related complications has also increased. Mesh exposure and perforation are 2 common mesh complication scenarios that pelvic floor surgeons should be prepared to treat. This article highlights preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative factors to minimize the chance of vaginal wall mesh exposure or perforation of mesh into the lower urinary tract. It also summarizes common presenting symptoms, suggested evaluation and a range of treatment options.
VISIONE at VBS2019

This paper presents VISIONE, a tool for large–scale video search. The tool can be used for both known-item and ad-hoc video search tasks since it integrates several content-based analysis and retrieval modules, including a keyword search, a spatial object-based search, and a visual similarity search. Our implementation is based on state-of-the-art deep learning approaches for the content analysis and leverages highly efficient indexing techniques to ensure scalability. Specifically, we encode all the visual and textual descriptors extracted from the videos into (surrogate) textual representations that are then efficiently indexed and searched using an off-the-shelf text search engine.
Upgrading Bio-oil: Catalysis and Refinery

Concerns over climate change coupled with the desire to develop an economy based on renewable and sustainable feedstocks have catalyzed interest in developing pathways and technologies for production of bio-based energy and bio-based products. Biomass utilization plays an important role in this picture since biomass is the only renewable energy source that can offer a direct (e.g., drop-in) replacement for fossil-based transportation fuels in the near to mid term. The United States alone has the capacity to produce more than one billion tons of sustainable biomass, which can be used to produce transportation fuels with dramatically reduced carbon footprints, bio-based chemicals to replace petroleum-derived analogs, and renewable electrical power. A bio-based economy can serve to create new economic opportunities and jobs while simultaneously reducing future climate impacts.
Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome

Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome is a ventricular pre-excitation syndrome affecting approximately 1–3 in 1000 individuals and carries a low, but clinically important, risk of sudden cardiac death. The clinical presentation can vary from asymptomatic WPW to cardiac arrest as the sentinel event. Practice guidelines have been developed for the management of patients with asymptomatic WPW. These guidelines include noninvasive and invasive testing and have ascribed an important role to exercise testing.
A 28-Year-Old Woman with Proximal Limb Weakness and Scapular Winging

Limb girdle muscular dystrophy type 2A (LGMD2A) is an autosomal recessive condition characterized by progressive proximal weakness in adolescents and young adults. This condition is caused by mutation in the CAPN3 gene that encodes for calpain-3, a muscle-specific protein that is involved in sarcomere remodeling. Diagnosis is made by genetic testing and can be supplemented by muscle biopsy. Treatment is supportive.
Robust Freeform Metasurface Design Based on Progressively Growing Generative Networks

A longstanding objective of machine learning-enabled inverse design is the realization of inverse neural networks that can instantaneously output a device given a desired optical function. For comp...
Sum index and difference index of graphs

Let $G$ be a nonempty simple graph with a vertex set $V(G)$ and an edge set $E(G)$. For every injective vertex labeling $f:V(G)\to\mathbb{Z}$, there are two induced edge labelings, namely $f^+:E(G)\to\mathbb{Z}$ defined by $f^+(uv)=f(u)+f(v)$, and $f^-:E(G)\to\mathbb{Z}$ defined by $f^-(uv)=|f(u)-f(v)|$. The sum index and the difference index are the minimum cardinalities of the ranges of $f^+$ and $f^-$, respectively. We provide upper and lower bounds on the sum index and difference index, and determine the sum index and difference index of various families of graphs. We also provide an interesting conjecture relating the sum index and the difference index of graphs.
Effects of Asherman Syndrome on Maternal and Neonatal Morbidity with Evaluation by Conception Method.

ABSTRACT Study Objective Create a comprehensive summary of maternal and neonatal morbidities from patients previously treated for Asherman syndrome and evaluate for differences in perinatal outcomes based on conception method. Design Retrospective cohort. Setting Community teaching hospital affiliated with a large academic medical center. Patients Total of 43 singleton births identified from 40 patients previously treated at our institution for Asherman syndrome. Interventions Review of fertility and obstetric data to summarize the maternal and neonatal outcomes in singleton births from patients with Asherman syndrome who had been treated with hysteroscopic adhesiolysis. Measurements and Main Results Primary outcomes of maternal morbidity (i.e., hypertensive disease, gestational diabetes, ruptured membranes, postpartum hemorrhage, morbidly adherent placenta [MAP]) and secondary outcomes of neonatal morbidity (i.e., gestational age at birth, method of delivery, weight, length, 1- and 5-minute Apgar score oxygen requirement, anatomic malformations, length of neonatal admission) were evaluated. We identified 40 patients who completed successful treatment of Asherman syndrome and went on to carry a singleton gestation within our institution: 20 (50%) with mild disease, 18 (45%) with moderate disease, and 2 (5%) with severe disease under the March classification system. In total, 43 singleton births were examined, with 27 of 43 (62.8%) conceived without in vitro fertilization (IVF) (group A: non-IVF conception) and 16 of 43 (37.2%) conceived through IVF (group B: IVF conception). The overall rate of preterm birth in Asherman pregnancies was 11.6%, with no difference between the 2 conception groups. We documented 9.3% cases with intrauterine growth restriction, with no difference based on conception groups. The rate of MAP in patients with Asherman syndrome was 14.0%, and the rate of postpartum hemorrhage was 32.6%, with no differences between the conception groups. Newborn anatomic malformations of any cause were documented in 18.6% of all singleton births, with no difference between the conception groups. Conclusion Our series indicates a higher incidence of intrauterine growth restriction, MAP, postpartum hemorrhage, and newborn anatomic malformations in Asherman syndrome pregnancies than that reported in pregnancies within the general population. However, we found no significant differences in the maternal and neonatal outcomes of patients with Asherman syndrome who conceived with or without IVF after being treated with hysteroscopic adhesiolysis.
Characterization of a Metal-Resistant Bacillus Strain With a High Molybdate Affinity ModA From Contaminated Sediments at the Oak Ridge Reservation.

A nitrate- and metal-contaminated site at the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) was previously shown to contain the metal molybdenum (Mo) at picomolar concentrations. This potentially limits microbial nitrate reduction, as Mo is required by the enzyme nitrate reductase, which catalyzes the first step of nitrate removal. Enrichment for anaerobic nitrate-reducing microbes from contaminated sediment at the ORR yielded Bacillus strain EB106-08-02-XG196. This bacterium grows in the presence of multiple metals (Cd, Ni, Cu, Co, Mn, and U) but also exhibits better growth compared to control strains, including Pseudomonas fluorescens N2E2 isolated from a pristine ORR environment under low molybdate concentrations (<1 nM). Molybdate is taken up by the molybdate binding protein, ModA, of the molybdate ATP-binding cassette transporter. ModA of XG196 is phylogenetically distinct from those of other characterized ModA proteins. The genes encoding ModA from XG196, P. fluorescens N2E2 and Escherichia coli K12 were expressed in E. coli and the recombinant proteins were purified. Isothermal titration calorimetry analysis showed that XG196 ModA has a higher affinity for molybdate than other ModA proteins with a molybdate binding constant (K D ) of 2.2 nM, about one order of magnitude lower than those of P. fluorescens N2E2 (27.0 nM) and E. coli K12 (25.0 nM). XG196 ModA also showed a fivefold higher affinity for molybdate than for tungstate (11 nM), whereas the ModA proteins from P. fluorescens N2E2 [K D (Mo) 27.0 nM, K D (W) 26.7 nM] and E. coli K12[(K D (Mo) 25.0 nM, K D (W) 23.8 nM] had similar affinities for the two oxyanions. We propose that high molybdate affinity coupled with resistance to multiple metals gives strain XG196 a competitive advantage in Mo-limited environments contaminated with high concentrations of metals and nitrate, as found at ORR.
Pilot Trial of a Sleep-Promoting Intervention for Children With Type 1 Diabetes.

Objective To assess the feasibility and acceptability of an educational sleep-promoting intervention (Sleep Coach Jr.) for school-aged children (ages 5-9) with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and their parents. Methods Parents and children (N = 39 dyads, mean child age = 8 years, 64% girls,) were randomized to either the Sleep Coach Jr. intervention, consisting of educational materials and three individual phone calls (N = 20), or the Standard Care condition (N = 19). Data were collected at enrollment and 3 months later. Children and parents wore actigraphy devices to obtain an objective measure of sleep characteristics, and parents completed questionnaire measures of sleep quality and psychosocial outcomes. Clinical data (i.e., hemoglobin A1c, glucose data) were obtained from children's medical records. Results Feasibility and acceptability of the study were demonstrated to be high; all three sessions were completed by 80% of parents randomized to the Sleep Coach Jr. intervention, and 90% of parents completed follow-up data at 3 months. Parents reported high levels of satisfaction with the study and identified barriers to participation. No changes were observed in children's sleep or diabetes outcomes, but parental sleep quality and well-being improved. Conclusions A brief, behavioral sleep-promoting intervention is feasible and acceptable for school-aged children with T1D and their parents. A larger trial is needed to evaluate efficacy of the intervention.
Pathways from Immune Profiling to Therapies for Rare Diseases

Single-cell transcriptomic profiling has enhanced the description of several diseases. Beyond improving our understanding of the pathophysiology of these diseases, these approaches can lead to clues about therapeutic approaches. In a recent issue of Cell, Wang et al. describe immune perturbations in livers of biliary atresia patients that implicate specific autoimmune pathways of disease. 1
Globalization and its Effects: Introduction and Overview

In 1997-98 Thailand, Korea, and Indonesia were attacked by international financial interests convinced that the countries were not running their economies properly. The trio had borrowed heavily in hard currency, and were unable to repay their debts, at least in the short term. Money flowed out of Bangkok, Seoul, and Jakarta; currencies plummeted in value and interest rates went sky-high; unemployment spurted upward. The Indonesian government fell, and the others barely averted collapse. The IMF insisted on draconian measures before providing financial assistance. With much greater reserves, even China and Japan skated near financial peril. The lesson was clear: no country is large enough to withstand huge financial drains imposed by the globalization of the world economy. To paraphrase the English poet, John Donne: No country is an island entire unto itself. Each is part of the main. Globalization has the effect of incapacitating states as autonomous units. Under its influence, states have come to rely on distant markets for raw materials, production, and finance, and have thereby become dependent on economic forces they do not control. In a globalized world, national governments are not able to insulate their citizens from the effects of world inflation and depression, causing unemployment and low growth.
One-pass Stochastic Gradient Descent in Overparametrized Two-layer Neural Networks

There has been a recent surge of interest in understanding the convergence of gradient descent (GD) and stochastic gradient descent (SGD) in overparameterized neural networks. Most previous works assume that the training data is provided a priori in a batch, while less attention has been paid to the important setting where the training data arrives in a stream. In this paper, we study the streaming data setup and show that with overparamterization and random initialization, the prediction error of two-layer neural networks under one-pass SGD converges in expectation. The convergence rate depends on the eigen-decomposition of the integral operator associated with the so-called neural tangent kernel (NTK). A key step of our analysis is to show a random kernel function converges to the NTK with high probability using the VC dimension and McDiarmid's inequality.
Differences in Healthcare Expenditures, Visits, and Prescriptions by Race for Common Benign Urologic Conditions.

Abstract Objective To identify differences in healthcare expenditures and utilization by race in patients treated for common benign urologic conditions. Materials and Methods A retrospective secondary data analysis was conducted of patients with common benign urologic conditions using 2016-2018 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data. Benign conditions included urolithiasis, cystitis, erectile dysfunction (ED), pelvic organ prolapse (POP), urinary incontinence (UI), and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Generalized linear models were used to evaluate the relationship between total healthcare expenditures and utilization and race for each condition. Adjusted analyses accounted for age, sex, number of chronic conditions, poverty status, self-reported health status, marital status, highest degree of educational attainment, and insurance status. Results The weighted analysis sample consisted of 27,110,416 patients, of whom 80.9% were Non-Hispanic white, 6.9% Non-Hispanic black, and 12.2% other minority races. After adjustment, total healthcare expenditures were significantly lower for Non-Hispanic blacks (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 0.19, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.06-0.61) and other minority races (IRR = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.10-0.88) compared to Non-Hispanic whites treated for ED. Similarly, compared to Non-Hispanic whites, healthcare expenditures were significantly lower for Non-Hispanic blacks treated for UI (IRR = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.35-0.90). Conclusion Healthcare expenditures are significantly lower for Non-Hispanic black patients treated for ED and UI in the US Future research is needed to determine if these differences represent an inequality in the delivery of urologic care for patients with these conditions.