cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The effect of the preparation instruction on the functional connectivity between forearm muscles during movement's initiation

This study investigates the effect of preparation warning on the functional connectivity between forearm muscles during movement's initiation. The Normalized Mutual Information (NMI) is the used indicator. It is calculated for muscle pairs activated during a handgrip exercice. They are innervated by the same nerve or by different nerves. Results show that: i) NMI is more important when muscles pairs are stimulated by the same nerve during both preparation and motor activities. ii) NMI is higher during preparation comparing to motor activity. iii) The functional connectivity during contraction's beginning increases when a preparation warning is given. We conclude that muscles put together their effort to initiate the movement especially when participants prepare in advance their activity.
Evidence that loss of consciousness under anesthesia is not associated with impaired stimulus representation in auditory cortex

The mechanism whereby anesthetics cause loss of consciousness (LOC) is poorly understood. Current theories suggest that impaired representation of information in cortico-thalamic networks contributes to LOC under anesthesia. We sought to determine whether such changes are present in auditory cortex using information theoretic analysis of multiunit responses in rats. We tested the effects of three agents with different molecular targets: isoflurane, which acts at multiple pre- and postsynaptic loci, propofol, which acts primarily on GABAA receptors, and dexmedetomidine, an α2 adrenergic agonist. We reasoned that changes in the representation of sensory stimuli causative for LOC would be present regardless of the molecular target of the anesthetic. All three agents caused LOC, as assayed by the loss of righting reflex (LORR). We presented acoustic stimuli that varied across a wide range of temporal and spectral dynamics under control, sub-hypnotic (i.e. dose too low to cause LORR), just-hypnotic (a dose just sufficient to cause LORR) and recovery conditions. Changes in mutual information (MI) between the stimulus and spike responses under anesthesia diverged in two ways from predictions of a model in which stimulus representation is impaired upon LOC. First, the sign of changes in MI was agent-specific: MI increased under dexmedetomidine, while it decreased under isoflurane and propofol. Second, there was no consistent change in MI when transitioning from sub-hypnotic to just-hypnotic doses: for none of the agents did MI decrease at the higher dose, and in some cases MI actually increased relative to the sub-hypnotic dose. Changes in MI under anesthesia were strongly correlated with changes in precision and reliability of spike timing, consistent with the importance of temporal stimulus features in driving auditory cortical activity. These data indicate that primary sensory cortex is not the locus for changes in information representation causative for LOC under anesthesia.
Aggressive squamous cell carcinoma in a patient on the Janus kinase inhibitor ruxolitinib.

Ruxolitinib, an orally administered inhibitor of Janus kinase (JAK) 1 and 2, which are intracellular nonreceptor tyrosine kinases, is used to treat patients with myelofibrosis1 and is found to have significant clinical benefits including reductions in splenomegaly and total symptom score.2 Ruxolitinib is also found to be superior to standard single-agent therapy in controlling hematocrit, reducing the spleen volume, and improving symptoms associated with polycythemia vera.3 The most common adverse events associated with ruxolitinib is anemia and thrombocytopenia, which rarely lead to drug discontinuation.2 Of note, 5-year efficacy data on ruxolitinib showed 17.1% of patients on ruxolitinib went on to have basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) or squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) compared with only 2.7% of patients on best-available therapy.4 Current ruxolitinib prescriber information labels warn of the risk of nonmelanoma skin cancers, and performing periodic skin examinations is recommended.5 Skin cancers occurring in patients treated with ruxolitinib have been reported in the dermatology literature to display more aggressive biological behavior and metastatic potential.6, 7 We present another case of a patient having aggressive cutaneous malignancy after ruxolitinib initiation and urge physicians to be aware of this associated risk.
Mechanism of death: there’s more to it than sudden cardiac arrest

The dying process begins with the loss of function of one or more of the three classic vital organs: heart, brain, lungs. Failure to resuscitate the function of the affected primary organ results in cessation of function of the others.
Immunomodulatory Functions of Cancer Stem Cells

Cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are operationally defined as tumor cell fractions that possess the selective capacity to drive tumorigenesis through self-renewal and differentiation, have been identified in a growing number of tumor entities. Importantly, CSCs have been linked to neoplastic progression and therapy resistance in cancer patients, and proof-of-concept has been established that CSC targeting can inhibit experimental tumor growth. However, the mechanisms by which CSCs fuel the tumorigenic process are only beginning to be unraveled. Recent evidence suggests that CSCs possess immunomodulatory capabilities that may enable them to evade host anticancer immunity to promote tumorigenicity. CSC immunological functions include evasion from immune clearance, induction of clonal anergy or deletion, and activation of regulatory immune cells. Strikingly, such novel CSC properties parallel established immunoregulatory pathways of physiologic stem cells and known mechanisms of tumor immunotherapy resistance. Accordingly, future cancer immunotherapeutic protocols that consider CSCs and their immunomodulatory functions hold the promise to achieve more durable responses in tumor patients.
On-the-fly generalization hierarchies for numerical attributes revisited

Generalization hierarchies are frequently used in computer science, statistics, biology, bioinformatics, and other areas when less specific values are needed for data analysis. Generalization is also one of the most used disclosure control technique for anonymizing data. For numerical attributes, generalization is performed either by using existing predefined generalization hierarchies or a hierarchy-free model. Because hierarchy-free generalization is not suitable for anonymization in all possible scenarios, generalization hierarchies are of particular interest for data anonymization. Traditionally, these hierarchies were created by the data owner with help from the domain experts. But while it is feasible to construct a hierarchy of small size, the effort increases for hierarchies that have many levels. Therefore, new approaches of creating these numerical hierarchies involve their automatic/on-the-fly generation. In this paper we extend an existing method for creating on-the-fly generalization hierarchies, we present several existing information loss measures used to assess the quality of anonymized data, and we run a series of experiments that show that our new method improves over existing methods to automatically generate on-the-fly numerical generalization hierarchies.
Force Generation in the Mitotic Spindle

Mitosis is the process of nuclear division common to all eukaryotic cells. The periods between divisions, the so-called “interphases,” are the times of cell growth and chromosome replication, when mitosis begins, each chromosome has already been duplicated. Individual chromosomes are, however, surprisingly long for cellular structures; in many organisms their lengths exceed a meter while DNA is only about 2 nm thick. A process of compaction is therefore essential for convenient chromosome movement. The first event of mitosis is the condensation of the double strands of DNA into higher and higher orders of organization, ultimately forming the chromosomes visible by light microscopy as discrete objects with dimensions on the order of 1 to 10 μm. The duplicate nature of these chromosomes is often evident in the double- stranded nature of each chromosome. The two parts of a chromosome, the “chromatids,” are genetically identical and are linked together to form one mechanical unit. There is generally at least one constriction on a chromosome, the so- called “centromere,” which will become the site of attachment of the chromosome to the machinery which will move it during mitosis. The period of DNA condensation is called “prophase”.
Constitutive Law for Miniaturized Quantitative Microdialysis

Miniaturized microdialysis, a membrane-sampling technique, is in need for monitoring “tough” molecular substances such as neurotransmitters which exhibit limited diffusivity and fast clearance in synaptic space. This paper uses non-dimensional analysis and combinatorial simulations to predict the sampling performance of miniaturized microdialysis, prior to rigorously prototyping such small devices. As current microdialysis has sampling resolution too rough to meet the needs, one aim of this paper is to understand how best miniaturized microdialysis would improve the sampling performance, and to what degree. Our results of numerical simulations and curve-fitting extrapolation suggest improved temporal resolution (at least ten times better) is achievable, while retaining the relative recovery, a key factor for quantitative microdialysis, at an acceptable level. To the limit of theoretical downscaling in microdialysis, the results also suggest the need for new operation principles for miniaturized microdialysis.
Cytochrome oxidase activity in the fetal sheep retina.

Oxidative metabolism in the retina is dependent upon mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (COX), which is the terminal enzyme in the respiratory chain. Because of its powerful reducing capacity, COX functions as critical antioxidant thereby protecting cell membranes from peroxidative free radical damage by superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical as well as other oxygen species. COX is most abundant in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) but there is also high COX activity ijn the photoreceptor inner segments and lesser activity in the synaptic and ganglion cell layers (1). COX is present in the fetal sheep retina by 120 days gestational age (2; term = 148d). However, the subunit composition, kinetics and activity of fetal COX, as compared to the adult, have not been studied previously (3). This pilot study was undertaken to elucidate some of the potential mechanisms of the retinal pathobiology seen in very low birth weight, premature infants (<1000gm) who are necessarily exposed to an increased PIO2 resulting from air breathing. In about 27% of these infants, the ensuing “Retinopathy of Prematurity” causes varying degrees of visual impairment totaling about 5000 cases per year in the U.S. (4).
On the Equations of State in Many Body Theory

By generalizing formulae previously employed to study the equations of state in the limit of low temperature, I derive expansions for the equations of state which involve products of full, renormalized (in the sense of relativistic field theory) amplitudes. Higher order terms in the expansions are formally associated with higher powers of the temperature, although in general the effects of composite excitations coming from all orders could dominate at low temperature. The sum of a class of terms in the expansions is shown in the narrow resonance approximation to yield the equations of state of an ideal gas composed of the resonant excitations.
Cure Monitoring for Polymer Matrix Composites

Polymer matrix composites are desirable engineering materials owing to their high strength and stiffness as well as corrosion resistance. The strength and stiffness achieved in these materials on a per unit mass basis (specific properties) surpasses that for metals by factors of up to 51. This has led to use of polymer composites in weight sensitive applications ranging from commercial and military aircraft to automobiles. Currently, the wider application of these materials is limited by product variability and the labor intensive, time consuming manufacturing processes. These factors are particularly troublesome in large volume production where the trend is towards more rapid processing that tends to exacerbate the problem of high rejection ratios. Recent advances in automated, computer controlled manufacture have been encouraging, although limited by the lack of suitable process monitoring.
A Conceptual Model for Intelligent Urban Governance: Influencing Energy Behaviour in Cognitive Cities

The premise of a cognitive city is that by having the right information at the right time, citizens, service providers and city government alike will be able to make better decisions that result in increased quality of life for urban residents and the overall sustainability of the city. This chapter explores the influence of governance on sustainability and maps the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the decision-making process by increasing policy effectiveness, accountability, and transparency within urban systems. This chapter further presents conceptual systems models for the cognitive city and energy behaviour including three sub-layers as human-institutional, physical, and data layers. This chapter offers these integrated conceptual models to increase the efficiency of energy systems under complex and uncertainty conditions, facilitate energy consumption problem solving, and support the development of capacities at the individual, social, and technical levels to improve managing energy consumptions in the future. Using a systems methodology, the socio-technical systems models explore how practices of information sharing and different structures of governance and management impact the willingness of individuals and households to adopt sustainable energy practices.
Weighted Composition Operators on Iterated Weighted-Type Banach Spaces of Analytic Functions

We study a class $$\{V_n : n\ge 0\}$$ of iterated weighted-type Banach spaces of analytic functions on the open unit disk of which the Bloch space and the Zygmund space are special cases. We characterize the bounded and the compact weighted composition operators on $$V_n$$ thereby extending several known results in the literature. Lastly, we characterize the invertible weighted composition operators on $$V_n$$ and prove that a composition operator on $$V_n$$ is an isometry if and only if its symbol is a rotation.
Adolescent suicide risk and experiences of dissociation in daily life

Abstract Dissociation is associated with risk for suicide in adults, but this link is not well studied in adolescents, in spite of their marked suicide risk. This study assessed adolescents’ dissociative experiences in daily life and evaluated the association between dissociative experiences and suicide risk, including the independence of this relationship from related affective and clinical states and demographic characteristics. Clinically referred early adolescents (N = 162; aged 11–13) were assessed via multi-informant clinical interview, questionnaires, and 4-day ecological momentary assessment protocol. Adolescents were classified as being at elevated suicide risk using multi-informant, multi-method reports of suicide risk behavior and/or at elevated proximal risk using the 4-day EMA only. Suicide risk was associated with daily dissociative experiences, and this relationship was independent of daily negative and positive affect and co-occurring borderline personality symptoms. Gender differences emerged, such that the relationship between daily dissociative experiences and suicide risk was only significant in adolescent girls. Overall, findings suggest dissociation may be independently relevant to adolescent suicide risk, above and beyond effects of psychopathology and affective disturbance, and especially in girls. Daily dissociative experiences may help understand and detect suicide risk among early adolescents and warrant further research.
Hyper-AP: enhancing associative processing through a full-stack optimization

Associative processing (AP) is a promising PIM paradigm that overcomes the von Neumann bottleneck (memory wall) by virtue of a radically different execution model. By decomposing arbitrary computations into a sequence of primitive memory operations (i.e., search and write), AP’s execution model supports concurrent SIMD computations in-situ in the memory array to eliminate the need for data movement. This execution model also provides a native support for flexible data types and only requires a minimal modification on the existing memory design (low hardware complexity). Despite these advantages, the execution model of AP has two limitations that substantially increase the execution time, i.e., 1) it can only search a single pattern in one search operation and 2) it needs to perform a write operation after each search operation. In this paper, we propose the Highly Performant Associative Processor (Hyper- AP) to fully address the aforementioned limitations. The core of Hyper- AP is an enhanced execution model that reduces the number of search and write operations needed for computations, thereby reducing the execution time. This execution model is generic and improves the performance for both CMOS-based and RRAM-based AP, but it is more beneficial for the RRAMbased AP due to the substantially reduced write operations. We then provide complete architecture and micro-architecture with several optimizations to efficiently implement Hyper-AP. In order to reduce the programming complexity, we also develop a compilation framework so that users can write C-like programs with several constraints to run applications on Hyper- AP. Several optimizations have been applied in the compilation process to exploit the unique properties of Hyper- AP. Our experimental results show that, compared with the recent work IMP, Hyper- AP achieves up to 54×/4.4× better power-/area-efficiency for various representative arithmetic operations. For the evaluated benchmarks, Hyper-AP achieves 3.3× speedup and 23.8× energy reduction on average compared with IMP. Our evaluation also confirms that the proposed execution model is more beneficial for the RRAM-based AP than its CMOS-based counterpart.
3D Kerr Microscopy of Magnetic Vortex States in the Presence and Absence of Uniaxial Anisotropy

We use a 3D scanning Kerr microscopy technique to resolve the 3D magnetization response in both equilibrium and non-equilibrium regimes for micron-sized permalloy disks. Moreover, we show the effect of uniaxial anisotropy in both regimes.
Writing for Human and Machine Translation: Best Practices for Technical Writers

The Red Hat Localization Services team translates technical product documentation from English to other languages required for Red Hat customers. Translators from Localization Services collaborate with Red Hat technical writers to clarify statements in the documentation and answer technical questions related to the documentation as they translate content. This industry insight report examines the team's translation workflow and explores how the machine translation technology used by the Localization Services team impacts the translation progress, for better and for worse. We take a closer look at how this intersection of technology and design both limits and enhances the documentation design and translation processes. This report also examines the role of the technical writer in the translation process, how the writer's documentation design decisions impact the machine translation process, and how the writer should be influenced by the translation process as a whole. This report discusses several methods that can be used by technical writers to write clear and concise content for both human and machine translation. Taking a proactive approach to writing for a global audience makes the translations process more efficient and increases content quality.
FEEDBACK FROM MASS OUTFLOWS IN NEARBY ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI. II. OUTFLOWS IN THE NARROW-LINE REGION OF NGC 4151

We present a detailed study of active galactic nucleus feedback in the narrow-line region (NLR) of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4151. We illustrate the data and techniques needed to determine the mass outflow rate () and kinetic luminosity (L KE) of the outflowing ionized gas as a function of position in the NLR. We find that peaks at a value of 3.0 M ☉ yr–1 at a distance of 70 pc from the central supermassive black hole (SMBH), which is about 10 times the outflow rate coming from inside 13 pc, and 230 times the mass accretion rate inferred from the bolometric luminosity of NGC 4151. Thus, most of the outflow must arise from in situ acceleration of ambient gas throughout the NLR. L KE peaks at 90 pc and drops rapidly thereafter, indicating that most of the kinetic energy is deposited within about 100 pc from the SMBH. Both values exceed the and L KE determined for the UV/X-ray absorber outflows in NGC 4151, indicating the importance of NLR outflows in providing feedback on scales where circumnuclear star formation and bulge growth occur.
Concomitant tricuspid valve surgery is beneficial at the time of left-sided valve surgery.

BACKGROUND This study evaluates the impact of secondary functional tricuspid regurgitation (TR) and concomitant tricuspid valve repair (TVr) at the time of left-sided valve operations. METHODS Adults undergoing left-sided valve operations between 2010 and 2019 at a multihospital academic institution were included. Patients were stratified into three groups: less-than-moderate TR without TVr (Group 1), moderate-or-greater TR without TVr (Group 2), and moderate-or-greater TR with TVr (Group 3). Primary outcomes included survival and hospital readmissions. Secondary outcomes included major postoperative morbidities. Multivariable logistic regression evaluated risk-adjusted mortality and readmission. RESULTS About 3444 patients were included in the analysis and were stratified into Group 1 (n = 2612, 75.8%), Group 2 (n = 563, 16.3%), and Group 3 (n = 269, 7.8%). Patients with moderate or greater TR (Groups 2 and 3) had higher rates of mortality, hospital readmissions and major postoperative complications including reoperations, renal failure requiring dialysis, blood transfusions, and prolonged ventilation (all, p < .05). When assessed individually, the Group 3 had substantially higher rates of renal failure requiring dialysis, prolonged ventilation, and reoperations, although the Group 2 had higher rates of 30-day mortality (all, p < .05). These findings persisted in risk-adjusted analysis with the highest hazards for mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 1.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.7-2.2) and readmission (HR 1.3, 95% CI 1.2-1.5) appreciated in the Group 2. CONCLUSIONS In this analysis of 3444 patients, those with moderate-to-severe TR who did not undergo a TVr at the time of their left-sided valve operation had substantially higher risks of mortality and hospital readmissions compared with those who did undergo TV surgery.
Integration of flexibility in reverse supply chain planning process

This research formulates reverse supply chain (RSC) flexibility criteria and integrates them in a closed loop supply chain planning model for improving overall business performances and sustainability. Proposed RSC flexibility criteria include: a) channel selection strategy to collect customer returned products (returnable); b) product design and recovery strategy to recover components, modules, and products from returnable; c) product categorisation strategy for marketing new, recovered, and mixed quality level product. Each flexibility criteria is formulated independently to provide options to supply chains (SCs) to incorporate all or select ones in their planning process. The benefits, applicability and integration procedures of proposed flexibility considerations are demonstrated through a numerical example.
Sex Differences in Maternal Restrictive Feeding Practices in the Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories Study

Abstract Background Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories tested an early life responsive parenting (RP) intervention designed for obesity prevention. Body mass index z-score at age 3 years was lower for the RP group versus controls with a larger effect for girls than boys. We sought to determine if child sex was associated with differing maternal feeding practices and whether sex moderated intervention effects on feeding. Design/Methods Mothers (N = 279) completed the Infant Feeding Styles Questionnaire (IFSQ) at 28 weeks, the Structure and Control in Parent Feeding (SCPF) at 1, 2, and 3 years, and the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) at 3 years. Study aims were tested using 2-way analysis of variance and repeated measures. Results Mothers reported greater restriction (limiting food quantity) for boys at 28 weeks (IFSQ: 3.0 ± 1.1 vs 2.8 ± 1.0, P = .07) and across annual measurements from age 1 to 3 years (SCPF: P = .04). At age 3, the intervention group effect on restriction differed by sex (CFQ: P = .047) such that higher restriction was reported by RP group mothers of boys versus girls (3.4 ± 0.7 vs 3.0 ± 0.9, P = .002) with no control group sex difference (3.4 ± 0.8 vs 3.3 ± 0.9, P = .79). There were no sex differences or sex by intervention group interactions in other reported feeding practices at any assessment (ie, structure-based feeding, pressure). Conclusions Mothers of boys used more restrictive feeding through age 3. These findings may be partially explained by previously reported better self-soothing and self-regulation abilities of participating girls.
Membrane-based therapeutic plasma exchange: Hemodynamics and operational characteristics leading to procedure failure.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is a blood purification treatment capable of removing large molecular weight substances from plasma. It is commonly used for the removal of circulating pathogenic immunoglobulins presumed to be the cause of many autoimmune diseases. TPE can be performed with a membrane-based system (mTPE) or a centrifugal-based system (cTPE). When plasma separation is performed with a membrane, filter clotting can lead to longer treatment time, higher cost and can negatively impact patient satisfaction. In this study, we examine the operational characteristics that might influence filter life. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASURES We report on 24 patients, with a total of 135 mTPE treatments in a single tertiary care academic center using the NxStage machine. The study focuses on treatment specific parameters that may lead to procedure failure. The main parameters of interest were transmembrane pressure (TMP) and the filtration fraction as displayed on the machine (FFd) compared to the calculated filtration fraction (FFc). Primary outcome was to measure whether TMP, FFc, and FFd influenced filter survival. Secondary outcomes included factors that might have indirectly resulted in filter failure, including hematocrit (Hct), platelet count, heparin use, and intra-treatment calcium administration. RESULTS In this study, we demonstrated that machine displayed filtration fractions (FFd) were lower than FFc and this difference was significantly larger in TPE sessions that experienced a clotting event (7.58 vs 6.22, P = .031). TPE sessions that clotted had a higher mean TMP (57.48 mmHg vs 44.43 mmHg, P = .001) and clotting events tended to have a lower mean blood flow rate (175.83 mL/min vs 189.55 mL/min, P = .002). In TPE sessions that received prefilter calcium administration, a higher mean dose of calcium gluconate was found in the sessions that experienced clotting (3.27 g vs 2.70 g, P = .013). Patients who experienced at least one clotting event were noted to be heavier than those patients without any clotting events (91.52 kg vs 72.15 kg, P = .040). Prefilter heparin administration was not associated with a lower incidence of filter clotting. We did not find a statistically significant difference in clotting events based upon type of intravenous access, pretreatment hematocrit, or pretreatment platelet counts. CONCLUSION Among patients undergoing mTPE, machine FFd on the NxStage system are consistently lower than FFc. Treatments where there was a greater difference between displayed and FFc had a greater likelihood of filter clotting. Treatments with higher TMP were associated with failed treatments. Prefilter calcium administration during treatment was associated with increased filter clotting. Lower blood flow rates and higher patient weight were also associated with increased filter clotting. Prefilter heparin administration did not reduce the incidence of filter clotting.
The Internet, the Web, and Algorithms

The Internet and the worldwide web, unlike all other computational artifacts, were not deliberately designed by a single entity, but emerged from the complex interactions of many. As a result, they must be approached very much the same way that cells, galaxies or markets are studied in other sciences: By speculative (and falsifiable) theories trying to explain how selfish algorithmic actions could have led to what we observe. I present several instances of recent work on this theme, with several collaborators.
Comparison of hair chromium levels of nulliparous and parous women

Abstract The concentration of chromium in the hair of two groups of young adult women has been determined. The mean hair chromium concentration of 10 nulliparous women was 0.75 μg per gram with a range (mean ± 2 S.D.) of 0.20–2.81 μg per gram, and 11 parous subjects was 0.22 μg per gram with a range of 0.04–1.14 μg per gram. Comparison of the two groups showed a highly significant difference (p
Dessler, Jimenez, Klein, and Nenes Receive 2012 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Awards: Citation for Stephen A. Klein

The Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU awards one of the four Ascent Awards to Dr. Stephen Klein of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The award is made for the substantial contributions Dr. Klein has made toward understanding some of the field's most important problems, the interaction of clouds and climate through (as noted in his nomination) “the careful analysis of observations, the insightful use of models of varying complexity and his ability to synthesize diverse strands of knowledge.”
Computing the Maximum Slope Invariant in Tubular Groups

We show that the maximum slope invariant for tubular groups is easy to calculate, and give an example of two tubular groups that are distinguishable by their maximum slopes but not by edge pattern considerations or isoperimetric function.
Spotting the enemy within: Targeted silencing of foreign DNA in mammalian genomes by the Krüppel-associated box zinc finger protein family

Tandem C2H2-type zinc finger proteins (ZFPs) constitute the largest transcription factor family in animals. Tandem-ZFPs bind DNA in a sequence-specific manner through arrays of multiple zinc finger domains that allow high flexibility and specificity in target recognition. In tetrapods, a large proportion of tandem-ZFPs contain Kruppel-associated-box (KRAB) repression domains, which are able to induce epigenetic silencing through the KAP1 corepressor. The KRAB-ZFP family continuously amplified in tetrapods through segmental gene duplications, often accompanied by deletions, duplications, and mutations of the zinc finger domains. As a result, tetrapod genomes contain unique sets of KRAB-ZFP genes, consisting of ancient and recently evolved family members. Although several hundred human and mouse KRAB-ZFPs have been identified or predicted, the biological functions of most KRAB-ZFP family members have gone unexplored. Furthermore, the evolutionary forces driving the extraordinary KRAB-ZFP expansion and diversification have remained mysterious for decades. In this review, we highlight recent studies that associate KRAB-ZFPs with the repression of parasitic DNA elements in the mammalian germ line and discuss the hypothesis that the KRAB-ZFP family primarily evolved as an adaptive genomic surveillance system against foreign DNA. Finally, we comment on the computational, genetic, and biochemical challenges of studying KRAB-ZFPs and attempt to predict how these challenges may be soon overcome.
Thermodynamic Properties and Kinetics of the Physical Ageing of Amorphous Glucose, Fructose, and Their Mixture

The physical ageing characteristics of glucose, fructose, and their mixtures were studied using standard differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The inflection, onset, midpoint,half-height, and endpoint glass transition temperature (Tg), fictive temperature (Tf), and relaxation enthalpy (ΔH) were measured as a function of ageing time. The relationship between ΔH and Tf was evaluated. The time dependence of ΔH was fit using the Cowie and Ferguson model. The ageing rate was expressed in terms of the average relaxation time ( ) and the entropy production (P). It was found that the fructose component decreased the rate of ageing of the mixtures.
Neoadjuvant Imatinib for Borderline Resectable GIST

A 36-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with black stools and syncope. Her hemoglobin was 7.0 and her red blood cells were microcytic. Upper endoscopy did not identify a clear source of bleeding, but a bulge in the third portion of the duodenum was noted. A CT scan showed a large extraintestinal mass, and follow-up esophagogastroduodenoscopy/endoscopic ultrasound with biopsy revealed a spindle cell neoplasm, consistent with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). Because of the size of the lesion and association with the superior mesenteric vein and common bile duct, she was referred to medical oncology for consideration of neoadjuvant imatinib. Neoadjuvant tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy for GISTs is emerging as a viable treatment strategy for borderline resectable tumors, although the dose, duration, and optimal imaging modalities have not been clearly established. Recent pathologic and radiographic data have provided insight into the mechanism and kinetics of this approach. This case report presents a patient for whom surgery was facilitated using neoadjuvant imatinib.
Developing evaluation capacity while improving evaluation training in public health: the American Cancer Society’s Collaborative Evaluation Fellows Project

Abstract The Collaborative Evaluation Fellows Project (CEFP) is a nationally administered model for the development of program evaluation capacity. It is innovative in that it requires collaboration between the American Cancer Society, Inc. (ACS) offices and faculty and students from local universities. One purpose of the project is to establish stronger links between the ACS and university-based professional training in program evaluation, primarily in schools of public health. Graduate students are selected according to uniform criteria to become CEFP evaluation fellows for 1 year. In the role of evaluation fellows, they design and carry out an actual program evaluation of an agreed-upon ACS program under faculty supervision using the utilization-focused model. During the first 3 years of the five-year grant-funded project, the ACS’s National Home Office and all 17 ACS regional offices (divisions) have developed partnerships and gained experience in using program evaluation data for program improvement and decision-making purposes. In addition, 97 students have gained practical, real-world cancer-focused program evaluation experience. It is anticipated that through the CEFP, program evaluation will be demystified for ACS staff and lead to the hiring of professionals to conduct evaluations of older, new, and modified programs in community cancer control. It is also anticipated that participating schools of public health will enhance their program evaluation courses, especially with a topical focus on community cancer control. In these ways, it is hoped the CEFP will have an impact on a national voluntary health agency, on schools of public health and on cancer control, on how public health professionals are trained, and on others who might adapt and adopt the model.
The Costs and Outcomes of Multifaceted Interventions Designed to Improve the Care of Congestive Heart Failure in the Inpatient Setting: A Review of the Literature

Various multifaceted interventions have been developed in response to the overwhelming burden of congestive heart failure and its costs. These interventions range from improvements in the delivery of inpatient care (e.g., by assigning multidisciplinary teams to the care of a patient or ensuring that clinical practice guidelines are followed) to comprehensive discharge planning that includes home health care. While it is intuitive that such interventions improve care, few have been evaluated in randomized controlled trials and fewer still include data on costs. In this article, the authors review the findings of randomized controlled trials of interventions designed to improve the quality of life, decrease hospital admissions, and decrease costs associated with heart disease. They conclude that inpatient-based multifaceted interventions appear to be effective and inexpensive. Future studies should attempt to tease interventions apart to ascertain which are the most effective. Formal cost-effectiveness anal...
Highly active antiretroviral therapy drugs inhibit in vitro cholesterol efflux from human macrophage-derived foam cells

We previously reported that HIV protease inhibitor, ritonavir, could inhibit cholesterol efflux and induce endothelial dysfunction. In this study, we further determined the effects and molecular mechanisms of a clinically relevant combination of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) drugs on in vitro cholesterol efflux from human macrophage-derived foam cells. Foam cells derived from human monocyte cell line (THP-1) and periphery blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) treated with HAART drugs including stavudine, didanosine and indinavir individually or in combination of three drugs (3-plex), followed by the initiation of cholesterol efflux with apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I). Clinically relevant concentrations of HAART 3-plex significantly reduced cholesterol efflux in foam cells derived from THP-1 and PBMCs. HAART 3-plex significantly reduced the intracellular cholesterol transport molecule caveolin-1, whereas it increased superoxide anion production in THP-1 foam cells as compared with controls. Furthermore, mitochondrial membrane potential was significantly reduced, whereas the expression of NADPH oxidase subunit p67phox was increased in HAART 3-plex-treated macrophages. Consequently, antioxidants including ginsenosides Rb1 and Rg1, S-allyl cysteine sulphoxide (SACS), simvastatin (SVT) and vitamin E significantly abolished HAART 3-plex-induced inhibition of cholesterol efflux. Therefore, HAART drugs significantly inhibit cholesterol efflux from human macrophage-derived foam cells through downregulation of caveolin-1 and increase of oxidative stress.
Assessing views of female patients regarding oral contraceptives for treatment of acne 1

ASSESSING VIEWS OF FEMALE PATIENTS REGARDING ORAL CONTRACEPTIVES FOR TREATMENT OF ACNE Khondker K Islam, MD, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL, United States, Moneera Haque, BS, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL, United States, Rana Sokhi, MD, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL, United States, Ravi Kondaveeti, MD, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL, United States
Demonstration of the Myria big data management service

In this demonstration, we will showcase Myria, our novel cloud service for big data management and analytics designed to improve productivity. Myria's goal is for users to simply upload their data and for the system to help them be self-sufficient data science experts on their data -- self-serve analytics. Using a web browser, Myria users can upload data, author efficient queries to process and explore the data, and debug correctness and performance issues. Myria queries are executed on a scalable, parallel cluster that uses both state-of-the-art and novel methods for distributed query processing. Our interactive demonstration will guide visitors through an exploration of several key Myria features by interfacing with the live system to analyze big datasets over the web.
Immunotactoid microtubular corneal deposits in bilateral paraprotein crystalline keratopathy.

PURPOSE To report an ultrastructurally distinct form of paraprotein crystalline keratopathy. METHODS Three corneas submitted from a single patient including one native cornea from each eye and a failed corneal graft from the right eye. Light microscopy, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and transmission electron microscopic examination were performed. RESULTS The transmission electron microscopy showed "immunotactoid" extracellular microtubular deposits measuring >30 nm in diameter with a central lucent core. CONCLUSIONS Immunotactoid keratopathy is a distinct type of paraprotein crystalline keratopathy associated with a monocolonal immunoglobulin G kappa light chain (IgGk) protein. Larger case series are needed to determine the clinical significance of this entity.
Experiments on the Stability and Response of a Flexible Rotor in Three Types of Journal Bearings

Three sets of bearings were tested on a three-mass flexible rotor: axial-groove, pressure-dam and preloaded three-lobe, and the instability thresholds and unbalance responses were determined. The pressure-dam bearings were designed for maximum rigid rotor stability; the three-lobe bearings had preload factors of approximately 0.75. Rotor first and second critical speeds were observed at 2550 and 9800 rpm, respectively. The instability thresholds and unbalance responses at the first critical speed for the axial-groove and three-lobe bearings were found to be strongly dependent on the load orientation. Maximum stability limits of 6550, 7400 and 10 400 rpm were found for the axial-groove, pressure-dam, and three-lobe bearings, respectively. Thus, the preloaded three-lobe bearings were the only set that allowed this particular rotor to operate above the second critical speed. The experimental data were also compared to theoretical predictions. Differences in instability thresholds of up to 37 percent were rea...
Endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor in the brain: influence of sex, vessel size and disease state

The endothelial layer of cells lining the intimal surface of blood vessels is essential for vascular function. The endothelium releases multiple vasodilator and protective factors, including nitric oxide, prostacyclin and endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor; an imbalance in these factors predisposes individuals to vascular diseases such as stroke. These factors are differentially regulated by vessel size, sex hormones and disease state, therefore playing differential roles in different tissues following vascular injury. In particular, the endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor candidate termed epoxyeicosatrienoic acid, plays a prominent role in microvessel function, especially after ischemia, thereby making this signaling pathway an attractive target for therapy in vascular disease, including stroke.
Governing Codes: Gender, Metaphor, and Political Identity

Governing Codes: Gender, Metaphor, and Political Identity. By Karrin Vasby Anderson and Kristina Horn Sheeler. New York and Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield. 2005. 241 pp. 28.95 paper.Fortunately, in the last 20 years, the scholarship on women in politics has grown considerably, as have the number of women running for office, the number of women holding office, and thus the amount of data, artifacts, contexts, and situations to be analyzed. Karrin Vasby Anderson and Kristina Horn Sheeler, in Governing Codes, offer a solid, interesting, and insightful addition to this growing line of work. With the presentation of four intriguing case studies, the authors provide a rich and informative analysis from a revealing vantage point—the use of metaphor—to uncover what remains the frustrating and challenging language that four credible and politically astute women had to overcome, as well as some of the rhetorical strategies they successfully employed in doing so.
Polymer blends and alloys

The state of thermodynamic miscibility of a polymer blend and its resulting phase behavior and mechanical properties is largely determined by the balance between enthalpic and entropic contributions to the free energy of mixing. Recent applications of this thermodynamic consideration are reviewed for a variety of binary and ternary blends of homopolymers and copolymers. Recent advances in predicting polymer blend miscibility and Lower Critical Solution Temperature behavior from liquid heats of mixing data, through use of a modified Guggenheim quasichemical model combined with the Sanchez lattice fluid model are discussed. Qualitative application of partial miscibility ideas to interfacial adhesion in multiphase polymer blends is also presented.
Inferior vena cava leiomyosarcoma.

Leiomyosarcoma of the inferior vena cava is a rare malignancy, and radical resection with negative margins remains the only hope for cure. In this report we cite four cases of this tumor treated at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center with particular emphasis on the use of preoperative chemotherapy. In our patients, preoperative chemotherapy did not adversely affect operative outcomes or survival. The potential benefits of preoperative chemotherapy include control of micrometastases, reduction in tumor size before resection, and in situ evaluation of tumor response to chemotherapy for postoperative adjuvant therapy.
IMPACT OF PARENTAL TERMINAL CANCER ON LATENCY‐AGE CHILDREN

The underlying psychological and emotional components of distress were examined in 87 children with a parent in the terminal phase of cancer. Common fears, concerns, misperceptions, and behavioral consequences are analyzed, as are more severe psychological and behavioral reactions. Implications for psychoeducational parent-guidance intervention are discussed.
The Relative Importance of Situational and Individual Variables in Predicting Leader Behavior The Surprising Impact of Subordinate Trust

This study assessed the relative influence of personality traits of leaders, job characteristics, expectations of superiors and subordinates, and trust and loyalty upward upon leader behavior. Resu...
Chest port insertion.

Once placed exclusively by surgeons, venous access ports are now commonly placed by interventional radiologists. Overall, as is the case with any central venous access, image-guided procedures have demonstrated clear superiority over more traditional techniques that have relied on anatomic landmarks. Ports are best suited for long-term intermittent access and generally have the lowest rate of infectious complications among central venous catheters because of their nonexposed location. Nonetheless, ∼5% of ports in most series must ultimately be removed prematurely because of infection, which remains the most common complication.
Measuring the importance of attributes in logistics research

Purpose – Traditional methods of capturing and determining logistics attribute importance have serious research limitations. The purpose of this paper is to introduce maximum difference (MD) scaling as a new research methodology that will improve validity in measuring logistics attribute importance, overcoming many of the limitations associated with traditional methods. In addition, this new research method will allow logistics researchers to identify meaningful need‐based segments, an important goal of logistics research.Design/methodology/approach – This paper provides an overview of MD scaling along with important research advantages, limitations, and practical applications. Additionally, a detailed research process is put forth so that this technique can be implemented by logistics researchers. Finally, an application of this technique is presented to illustrate the research method.Findings – The importance of truck driver satisfaction attributes was analyzed using bivariate correlation analysis as we...