cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Do Patient Characteristics, Prenatal Care Setting, and Method of Payment Matter When it Comes to Provider-Patient Conversations on Perinatal Mood?

To examine factors associated with provider-patient conversations regarding prenatal and postpartum depressed mood. This study included 3,597 White, African American, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander NYC resident women who completed the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) survey from 2004–2007, a population-based assessment of patient and health care characteristics. Social determinants including race, nativity, maternal age, prenatal health care setting, and payment type were associated with patient report of having had a conversation about perinatal mood with their provider. Compared to Whites, Asian/Pacific Islanders were less likely to have this conversation (OR = 0.7, CI = 0.5–0.9). Older (OR = 0.6, CI = 0.4–0.9), non-US born (OR = 0.6, CI = 0.5–0.8), and women receiving care from a private doctor or HMO clinic (OR = 0.7, CI = 0.6–0.9) were less likely to have this conversation compared to their respective counterparts. Those who paid for their prenatal care primarily through personal income or through an expanded Medicaid program for prenatal care compared to those who did not were more likely to have had a conversation about mood with their providers. Health care providers and public health advocates should be aware that non-US born women were less likely to have conversations about mood than US born women. However, young mothers shown to be at risk for perinatal depression were more likely to have these conversations compared to older women. Protocols for assessing and educating patients about perinatal mood should be evaluated to improve conversation rates for those receiving care through private doctors and managed care organizations. Income and prenatal care assistance funds may play separate and important roles in provider-patient conversations.
In vivo biodistribution and accumulation of 89Zr in mice.

Abstract Introduction The present investigation focuses on the chemical and biological fate of 89 Zr in mice. Electrophoreses of 89 Zr solvated or chelated in different conditions are here presented. The biological fate of mice injected with [ 89 Zr]Zr-oxalate, [ 89 Zr]Zr-chloride, [ 89 Zr]Zr-phosphate, [ 89 Zr]Zr-desferrioxamine and [ 89 Zr]Zr-citrate is studied with the biodistribution, the clearances and positron emission tomography images. A special focus is also given regarding the quality of 89 Zr bone accumulation. Methods Electrophoreses were carried out on chromatography paper and read by gamma counting. Then, the solutions were intravenously injected in mice, imaged at different time points and sacrificed. The bones, the epiphysis and the marrow substance were separated and evaluated with gamma counts. Results The clearances of [ 89 Zr]Zr-chloride and [ 89 Zr]Zr-oxalate reached 20% of injected dose (ID) after 6 days whereas [ 89 Zr]Zr-phosphate was only 5% of ID. [ 89 Zr]Zr-citrate and [ 89 Zr]Zr-DFO were noticeably excreted after the first day postinjection (p.i.). [ 89 Zr]Zr-chloride and [ 89 Zr]Zr-oxalate resulted in a respective bone uptake of ∼15% ID/g and∼20% ID/g at 8 h p.i. with minor losses after 6 days. [ 89 Zr]Zr-citrate bone uptake was also observed, but [ 89 Zr]Zr-phosphate was absorbed in high amounts in the liver and the spleen. The marrow cells were insignificantly radioactive in comparison to the calcified tissues. Conclusion Despite the complexity of Zr coordination, the electrophoretic analyses provided detailed evidences of Zr charges either as salts or as complexes. This study also shows that weakly chelated, 89 Zr is a bone seeker and has a strong affinity for phosphate.
Channel estimation in fast fading mobile coded OFDM

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems suffer performance degradation in fast fading channels due to intercarrier interference (ICI). Combining frequency domain equalization and bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM), the iterative receiver is able to harvest both temporal and frequency diversity. In order to perform coherent detection and estimation, channel state information (CSI) is indispensable. Being able to accurately and effectively acquire CSI in the fast time-varying channel is critical. Conventional frequency domain channel estimation (CE) methods have an irreducible error floor at high normalized Doppler frequency fdTs, since ICI corrupts the orthogonality among subcarriers. Considering that the fast time-varying channel is also a source of temporal diversity, CE ought to take place in the pre-FFT time domain. Realizing channel variations in time are often smooth, this paper proposes a time domain channel estimator using pilot symbol assisted modulation (PSAM) with complexity O(N), where N is the FFT size. Simulation results demonstrate that a PSAM system with channel estimation provides excellent trade-off between performance, complexity and spectral efficiency.
Address Space Layout Permutation (ASLP): Towards Fine-Grained Randomization of Commodity Software

Address space randomization is an emerging and promising method for stopping a broad range of memory corruption attacks. By randomly shifting critical memory regions at process initialization time, address space randomization converts an otherwise successful malicious attack into a benign process crash. However, existing approaches either introduce insufficient randomness, or require source code modification. While insufficient randomness allows successful brute-force attacks, as shown in recent studies, the required source code modification prevents this effective method from being used for commodity software, which is the major source of exploited vulnerabilities on the Internet. We propose Address Space Layout Permutation (ASLP) that introduces high degree of randomness (or high entropy) with minimal performance overhead. Essential to ASLP is a novel binary rewriting tool that can place the static code and data segments of a compiled executable to a randomly specified location and performs fine-grained permutation of procedure bodies in the code segment as well as static data objects in the data segment. We have also modified the Linux operating system kernel to permute stack, heap, and memory mapped regions. Together, ASLP completely permutes memory regions in an application. Our security and performance evaluation shows minimal performance overhead with orders of magnitude improvement in randomness (e.g., up to 29 bits of randomness on a 32-bit architecture).
Nuclear magnetic resonance study of synthetic polynucleotides and transfer RNA

High resolution proton spectra in D2O solutions have been measured as functions of temperature for the following polynucleotides: Poly A, Poly U, Poly A and Poly U, Poly I, Poly C, Poly I and Poly C, and Transfer UNA from E. coli (strain B), and from yeast. At denaturation, peaks characteristic of the mononucleotide protons appear. Areas under the peaks can be used as a direct measure of denaturation. The sharpness of the spectral lines indicates that in the denatured form internal rotation about the ribose-phosphate and the ribose-base links is relatively free. Linewidths also show that monomer units remain in either the ordered or freely rotating state for at least 10−4sec.
The behavior of magnetic systems with dilution

Abstract The Bethe-Peierls-Weiss method is generalized so that it is applicable to alloys and solid solutions. The method is then used to study the effects of magnetic dilution on a classical Heisenberg ferromagnet with nearest-neighbor interactions only. The results are qualitatively and quantitatively similar to those obtained by S ato , et al. using an Ising model. In particular, the limiting concentration for ferromagnetism is found to be P0 = (z−1) −1 where z is the number of nearest neighbors.
Doing Less Is Sometimes Enough.

There is increasingconcern thatphysiciansarepracticing toomuch medicine. For instance, statinswere originally intended to treat patients with the most significant risk factors for cardiovascular disease, but new criteriawill result in treatment of substantially larger numbers of adults. Likewise, the number of women screened with mammograms, and then receiving invasive surgery, seems to have increased.1 Accordingly, it is encouraging thatwitha commondisorder like appendicitis, that trendmay be reversing. Before the 1990s,when computed tomographic (CT) scanning began to be considered as a diagnostic aid for appendicitis, surgeons tended to be relatively aggressive in their treatment, especially in children. Diagnosing appendicitis in children can be difficult, and the risksof anappendectomywere considered tobemuch less concerning thandelayinganoperationand increasing the riskof appendix rupture. Physicians were willing to accept a noninsignificant number of operative procedures performed on childrenwhowere foundnot tohaveappendicitis, termednegative appendectomies, to avoid a complicated case. Avoiding a worse outcome has contributed to a significant amount of care in children. Newborns with fever are often hospitalized, and sometimes treated empirically with antibiotics, because of the concern that a small percentageof these infantsmight have a serious bacterial infection. When CT was studied for use in appendicitis, it was hoped that its use would help avoid undesired outcomes, by reducing the rates of perforated appendices in children. However, that reduction did not clearly occur2; what did occur was a decrease in the rate of negative appendectomies.3 Because of its high sensitivity, use of CTwas considered effective to ruleout appendicitis to anextent that left surgeons comfortable watching more children with symptoms while not operating. But this avoidance of surgery came with a cost: the ionizing radiation associated with an abdominal CT has been of increasing concern.4 Ultrasound, on the other hand, does not involve use of radiation but does have other limitations. It is user dependent and requires a trained technician at the bedside to achieve high levels of diagnostic accuracy.Even inoptimal cases, the sensitivity andspecificity of ultrasound are not as good as those of CT scans.5 Despite thesedeficiencies,ultrasoundhasbecomethepreferred imagingmoRelated article at jamapediatrics.com JAMAPEDIATRICS
Contemporary Deposition and Long-Term Accumulation of Sediment and Nutrients by Tidal Freshwater Forested Wetlands Impacted by Sea Level Rise

Contemporary deposition (artificial marker horizon, 3.5 years) and long-term accumulation rates (210Pb profiles, ~150 years) of sediment and associated carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) were measured in wetlands along the tidal Savannah and Waccamaw rivers in the southeastern USA. Four sites along each river spanned an upstream-to-downstream salinification gradient, from upriver tidal freshwater forested wetland (TFFW), through moderately and highly salt-impacted forested wetlands, to oligohaline marsh downriver. Contemporary deposition rates (sediment, C, N, and P) were greatest in oligohaline marsh and lowest in TFFW along both rivers. Greater rates of deposition in oligohaline and salt-stressed forested wetlands were associated with a shift to greater clay and metal content that is likely associated with a change from low availability of watershed-derived sediment to TFFW and to greater availability of a coastal sediment source to oligohaline wetlands. Long-term accumulation rates along the Waccamaw River had the opposite spatial pattern compared to contemporary deposition, with greater rates in TFFW that declined to oligohaline marsh. Long-term sediment and elemental mass accumulation rates also were 3–9× lower than contemporary deposition rates. In comparison to other studies, sediment and associated nutrient accumulation in TFFW are lower than downriver/estuarine freshwater, oligohaline, and salt marshes, suggesting a reduced capacity for surface sedimentation (short-term) as well as shallow soil processes (long-term sedimentation) to offset sea level rise in TFFW. Nonetheless, their potentially large spatial extent suggests that TFFW have a large impact on the transport and fate of sediment and nutrients in tidal rivers and estuaries.
Decoder Integration and Expected BLEU Training for Recurrent Neural Network Language Models

Neural network language models are often trained by optimizing likelihood, but we would prefer to optimize for a task specific metric, such as BLEU in machine translation. We show how a recurrent neural network language model can be optimized towards an expected BLEU loss instead of the usual cross-entropy criterion. Furthermore, we tackle the issue of directly integrating a recurrent network into firstpass decoding under an efficient approximation. Our best results improve a phrasebased statistical machine translation system trained on WMT 2012 French-English data by up to 2.0 BLEU, and the expected BLEU objective improves over a crossentropy trained model by up to 0.6 BLEU in a single reference setup.
Dr. Warren, Section 107, and Texas Monthly: A Reply

In this report, Professor Zelinsky responds to a critique of his earlier article on Warren v. Commissioner, a case in which a panel of the Ninth Circuit has sua sponte questioned the constitutionality of section 107(2) and its exclusion from gross income of parsonage allowances. In that earlier article, Professor Zelinsky argued that as a matter of positive law, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock indicates that section 107 is an unconstitutional subsidization of religion. However, the Court's prior decision in Walz v. Tax Commission suggests that section 107 is constitutional as a permissible accommodation of religion that disentangles church and state. Professor Zelinsky now responds to criticisms advanced by Professor Eric Rakowski. In particular, Professor Zelinsky argues that Texas Monthly does not definitively settle the constitutional status of tax deductions, exemptions, and exclusions for religious persons and institutions, nor does Texas Monthly foreclose normative debate about the proper application of the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses in this area. Professor Zelinsky further maintains that there are sound reasons for preferring Walz over Texas Monthly and that Walz indicates that section 107(2) is constitutional. Professor Zelinsky contends that Texas Monthly rests on an erroneous premise - that all tax deductions, exclusions and exemptions are subsidies. He further contends that history suggests that the founding generation viewed tax exemptions as a means of separating church and state and that the realistic choice today is an imperfect trade-off between the costs and benefits of taxing religious institutions and the costs and benefits of exempting them.
Tack and Green Strength of NR, SBR and NR/SBR Blends

Abstract 1. A simple NR compound has superior tack compared to an SBR stock because of its greater ability to flow under compressive load and its higher green strength. The difference becomes greater as surface roughness is increased or test rate decreased. Tack differences between the two stocks can be quantitatively explained without assuming differences in the interdiffusion rate of SBR and NR molecules. NR is an “ideal” material for developing high tack. It can be processed to a low viscosity and still maintain high green strength. Furthermore, the mechanism responsible for the high green strength (strain crystallization) is not active in the bond formation step, hence does not interfere with contact and interdiffusion, but rather develops upon stressing. SBR, on the other hand, depends on entanglements, which tend to inhibit flow, to achieve green strength. Thus, if the molecular weight of the SBR is raised to enhance green strength to the level of NR, the stock will flow very poorly. Likewise, if SB...
A Philosopher in his Closet: Reflexivity and Justification Hume's Moral Theory

When a man of business enters into life and action, he is more apt to consider the characters of men, as they have relation to his interest, than as they stand in themselves; and has his judgement warped on every occasion by the violence of his passion. When a philosopher contemplates characters and manners in his closet, the general abstract view of the objects leaves the mind so cold and unmoved, that the sentiments of nature have no room to play, and he scarce feels the difference between vice and virtue. History keeps in a just medium betwixt these extremes, and places the objects in their true point of view. The writers of history, as well as the readers, are sufficiently interested in the characters and events, to have a lively sentiment of blame or praise; and, at the same time, have no particular interest or concern to pervert their judgment.
Efficacy and safety of using L-cysteine as a catheter-clearing agent for nonthrombotic occlusions of central venous catheters in children.

Critically ill pediatric patients, especially in the intensive care unit, receive multiple medications and have a higher risk of central venous catheter (CVC) occlusion. If an occlusion occurs immediately after the administration of multiple medications or incompatible medications, either an acidic solution such as 0.1 N hydrochloric acid (HCl) or a basic solution of 1 mEq/mL sodium bicarbonate or 0.1 N sodium hydroxide can be used. However, compounding and storing of 0.1 N HCl has become more complex due to USP guidelines for sterile compounding, and an alternative is needed. We report a series of cases in which L-cysteine was used instead of HCl to clear CVCs occluded due to administration of multiple medications. L-cysteine is a commercially available, sterile solution with a pH of 1–2.5. CVC occlusion was resolved in 10 of the 16 episodes in 13 patients. Two of the 16 occlusions were phenytoin related and would not have responded. An L-cysteine dose of 50 mg was used during 10 of the 16 episodes, 100 mg during 5 episodes, and 25 mg during 1 episode. A correlation between catheter clearance and dose was not observed. Occlusion resolution due to L-cysteine was not correlated to the prior use of tissue plasminogen activator. Metabolic acidosis, adverse effects, or damage to the catheters due to L-cysteine were not observed. On the basis of this limited experience, we propose L-cysteine as an effective alternative to 0.1 N HCl for clearing CVC occlusions caused by drugs with an acidic pKa.
A rare combination of undiagnosed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy revealed by intraoperative anaphylaxis resulting in acute left ventricular outflow obstruction and cardiac arrest

A 75-year-old female presented for left total hip reimplantation and suffered pulseless electrical activity arrest upon lateral positioning and administering vancomycin. Resuscitation was achieved according to Advanced Cardiac Life Support protocol. Post-event echocardiography showed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with asymmetrical septal thickening, an under-filled left ventricle, dynamic left ventricular outflow obstruction, and severe mitral regurgitation related to systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve. Laboratory analysis showed a tryptase level of 209 ng/mL. After multispecialty evaluation, it was concluded that the patient's arrest was due to vancomycin anaphylaxis in the setting of previously undiagnosed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy leading to acute left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. After medical optimization of the patient's cardiomyopathy and an evaluation of potential intraoperative allergic triggers, the patient underwent a successful hip reimplantation without incident. This case presents a novel combination of events leading to intraoperative cardiac arrest. Rapid identification and an understanding of the cause(s) of cardiac arrest in this setting are critical for effective perioperative care.
Research of Hepatogenous Diabetic Foot by NPWT

Objective: To observe the efficacy of local treatment on hepatogenous diabetic ulcer by using Negative pressure wound therapy(NPWT) way.Methods: 30 patients with Hepatogenous diabetic foot were randomized into experimental and control group,using Negative pressure wound therapy and common gauze dressing therapy.Results: After treatment,the bacteria cells of NPWT group was lower than that in common gauze dressing group(P0.01).The blood flow of NPWT group was higher than that in common gauze dress-ing group(P0.01).Conclusion: Negative pressure wound therapy is a good treatment to promote hepatogenous diabetic ulcer healing.
Audit Partner Identification and Audit Quality

This paper studies the effect of identifying the engagement partner of an audit on audit quality using an analytical model that focuses on individual partners' incentives and the partnership's choice of internal quality control. The model evaluates two distinct information settings: one where clients can observe only the partnership's past audit performance and the other where clients can also observe individual partners' past performances. Comparing the model outcomes between the two settings, the analysis shows that while partner identification increases individual partners' incentives to provide high quality audits for a given level of internal quality control within the partnership, it may also decrease the partnership's incentives to maintain good internal controls that actual audit quality suffers. This paper also shows that the level of external audit oversight is critical in determining whether partner identification enhances audit quality.
An Improved BPR Approach Based on Process Algebra and Its Application

To overcome the weakness,that is,the complex process can't be adequately represented and analyzed by the use of the business process reengineering(BPR) approach based on process algebra,firstly,an improved BPR approach based on process algebra is proposed in this paper.Then,the proposed approach is applied to represent and analyze the traditional logistics distribution process.Thirdly,we reengineer the traditional process and construct the new process in e-commerce environment according to the principles of BPR and the characteristics of logistics distribution in e-commerce environment.Finally,the evaluation criterions before and after reengineering have been computed by the proposed approach,and the satisfactory results have been achieved.
How will my wine purchase decision be viewed by others

A person’s self-image can be a strong motivator for influencing marketplace decisions, particularly if the consequences of a purchase decision have financial or social risk. A model is suggested that defines how self-esteem, considered as a mediator between self-efficacy and sources of information, influences the selection of an information source during wine buying situations. Search engine marketing was used to recruit individuals. An AdWords campaign was created using text ads under specific keywords. Results indicate that self-esteem has a significant impact on the value placed on different information sources, mainly given the extent of perceived social risk and the impact on self-image. The study provides wine marketing professionals with new insights to develop better communication strategies. In addition to product characteristics, customers’ purchasing decisions may be driven by less obvious factors such as their perceptions of how others will view them and the information selected during a wine purchase situation.
Toxicities of Parenteral Nutrition in the Critically Ill patient

Parenteral nutrition is an important therapeutic or supportive modality in selected critically ill patients who are unable to be fed through the gastrointestinal tract. An understanding of the potential toxicities associated with the administration of parenteral nutrition is important, both because many of the toxicities are preventable and because the parenteral nutrition-related toxicity must be differentiated from progression or exacerbation of the underlying disease.
The Crystallization Behaviour of Blends of Low Density Polyethylene and Poly (∈ -Caprolactone)

The term alloy, often used to describe blends of polymers, originated in metallurgy and is generally associated with a mixture of two or more metals. Structurally, there are two classes of alloys: (a) solid solutions, in which the atoms of one element may replace, in a random manner, the atoms in the crystal of the second and (b) multiphase alloys, in which one phase may be pure element and the second an intermetallic compound of specific composition (1–3).
The role of NAC-1 in the development of taxol-resistant ovarian cancers

A201 Ovarian cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers in women. The majority of ovarian cancer patients are diagnosed at late stages and they are usually treated with cytoreductive surgery followed by chemotherapy with carboplatin and taxol. Although ovarian cancer is initially responsive to chemotherapeutic agents, most patients eventually develop chemoresistant tumors and succumb to their recurrent diseases. We have previously identified NAC-1 as a tumor recurrence-associated gene in ovarian serous carcinomas. NAC-1 is a transcription repressor belonging to the BTB/POZ family which participates in a variety of biological activities including regulation of transcription and maintenance of stem cell phenotype. Our previous studies demonstrated that NAC-1 was highly expressed in recurrent ovarian carcinomas and its expression in primary tumors predicts early tumor recurrence (PNAS 2006, 103:18739; Hum Pathol 2007, 38:1030). In this study, we determine whether NAC-1 expression contributes to chemoresistance in ovarian cancer. Firstly, we showed that NIH3T3 cells over-expressing NAC-1 either by stable transfection or by retroviral delivery of an NAC-1 expression cassette are more resistance to taxol but not to carboplatin as compared to their control cells without NAC-1 expression (IC50 = 5000 nM and 100 nM, respectively). Secondly, we demonstrate that NAC-1 is upregulated in SKOV3taxol cells that have been induced to become taxol resistant in culture and in post taxol-treated SKOV3 xenografts in nude mice as compared to control naive cells based on real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Thirdly, using immunohistochemistry on 160 ovarian cancer specimens in which their in vitro drug resistance status is available, we found that NAC-1 immunointensity correlates with the most taxol resistant status with a p-value of 0.05 (Fisher’s Exact test). Lastly, down-regulation of NAC-1 by NAC-1 specific shRNA sensitizes SKOV3taxol cells to taxol killing. In summary, we provide new evidence that NAC-1 overexpression contributes to tumor recurrence by equipping cancer cells with taxol-resistant phenotypes in ovarian carcinomas. Furthermore, NAC-1 might be considered as a molecular target for future development of novel therapeutic reagents to sensitize the anti-tumor effect of taxol in recurrent ovarian carcinomas overexpressing NAC-1.
Phase I evaluation of abiraterone acetate (CB7630), a 17 alpha hydroxylase C17,20-Lyase inhibitor in androgen-independent prostate cancer (AiPC)

5064 Background: Abiraterone acetate (Ab) is an oral inhibitor of 17 alpha hydroxylase and C17,20-Lyase, which are important in adrenal androgen synthesis. A phase I study was undertaken to define ...
Information theory and coding problems in genetics

The aim of this paper is to describe a new class of problems and some new results in coding theory arising from the analysis of the composition and functionality of the genetic code. The major goal of the proposed work is to initiate research on investigating possible connections between the regulatory network of gene interactions (RNGI) and the proofreading (error-control) mechanism of the processes of the central dogma of genetics. New results include establishing a direct relationship between Boolean network (BN) models of RNGI and Gallager's LDPC decoding algorithms. The proposed research topics and described results are expected to have a two-fold impact on coding theory and genetics research. Firstly, they may provide a different setting in which to analyze standard LDPC decoding algorithms, by using dynamical systems and Boolean function theory. Secondly, they may be of use in establishing deeper relationships between the DNA proofreading mechanism, RNGI, and their joint influence on the development and possible treatment of genetic diseases like cancer.
Computer simulations of the analysis of equilibrium, steady-state, correction for nonspecific binding, and receptor and delivery sensitivity for the in vivo quantification of a neuroreceptor-binding radioligand

The quantitative potential of PET or SPECT for imaging neuroreceptors is degraded by inaccuracies in kinetic modeling. The authors have simulated the pharmacokinetics for the in vivo binding of carfentanil to the mu opiate receptor in both normal and epileptic human brain. Brain regions within transverse slices through hippo/amyg/cereb and basal ganglia/occ ctx in the mathematical Hoffman 3D brain model were assigned realistic mu concentrations, with 20% elevation in left post temp ctx and hippo for the epileptic brain. Radioligand time-courses, simulated using published plasma curves and rate constants, were used to determine: (1) when equilibrium or state-state exist so that modeling and data analysis might be simplified; (2) when the radioactivity in a control region can be subtracted from the radioactivity in a region of interest as a measure of nonspecific binding; and (3) whether the receptor (delivery) sensitivity is too low (high) to permit accurate estimation of changes in pharmacokinetic parameters in a disease state. These results indicate the caution required for interpretation of clinical data. >
Staged Excision Techniques

Lentigo maligna (LM) and lentigo maligna melanoma (LMM) are associated with variable asymmetric subclinical extension. Consequently, standard excision methods may be associated with a higher risk of local recurrence. Staged excision techniques using permanent sections with more comprehensive margin evaluation may be preferred for treating LM and LMM particularly in sun damaged skin on the head and neck. Herein we discuss reported variations of staged excision techniques, advantages and disadvantages, and reported local recurrence rates.
“Turning Out the Grassroots”: Refining Public Feedback in Environmental Policy Making

How can the average person influence environmental policy making? To answer this question, we draw on 21 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with environmental activists, lobbyists, and legislativ...
Brain State Dependence of Hippocampal Subthreshold Activity in Awake Mice

Monitoring the membrane potential of individual neurons has uncovered how single-cell properties contribute to network processing across different brain states in neocortex. In contrast, the subthreshold modulation of hippocampal neurons by brain state has not been systematically characterized. To address this, we combined whole-cell recordings from dentate granule cells and CA1 pyramidal neurons with multisite extracellular recordings and behavioral measurements in awake mice. We show that the average membrane potential, amplitude of subthreshold fluctuations, and distance to spike threshold are all modulated by brain state. Furthermore, even within individual states, rapid variations in arousal are reflected in membrane potential fluctuations. These factors produce depolarizing ramps in the membrane potential of hippocampal neurons that precede ripples and mirror transitions to a network regime conducive for ripple generation. These results suggest that there are coordinated shifts in the subthreshold dynamics of individual neurons that underlie the transitions between distinct modes of hippocampal processing.
Vibro-Acoustic Modulation of a Spinning Apparatus for Nondestructive Evaluation

As the cost and complexity of equipment used in fields such as aerospace and defense has increased, so has the value of methods known as nondestructive evaluation (NDE), which can detect faults without damaging or disassembling the equipment. Air bearing spin-down testing is a form of NDE that detects minute amounts of damage by rotating the entire assembly and measuring energy dissipation as it decelerates. While this method is highly sensitive to determining the existence of damage, it cannot determine the location or type of the damage. The proposed method merges spin-down testing with vibro-acoustic modulation (VAM) to locate simulated damage in a test piece mounted on a test bed featuring conventional rolling bearings and an electric motor to control the spin-down rate. VAM utilizes a high-frequency probing signal modulated by a low-frequency pumping signal to excite non-linearities caused by damage. In this case, the pumping signal is provided by the rotation of the sample and the resulting gravitational and inertial forces. A piezoelectric actuator provides the probing signal and an acoustic emission sensor detects variations in the signal response. This work explores combining acoustic, angular velocity and position signal analysis to locate the source of the damage.
Assessment of resident training and preparedness for cataract surgery.

Purpose To assess which surgical teaching methods are used for residency surgical training and which methods residents find most useful. Setting Wilmer Eye Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Design Retrospective observational cross-sectional study. Methods A survey was developed and sent to residents at accredited ophthalmology training programs in the United States. The survey asked about demographics, program characteristics, surgical training methods, perceived initial preparedness, eventual competence, and difficulty with the steps of cataract surgery. The correlation between surgical training methods was compared with perceived preparedness, competence, and difficulty. Results One hundred sixteen residents completed the survey. Discussing surgical procedures with senior surgeons or using surgical simulators preoperatively improved resident-perceived surgical competency in several areas, such as paracentesis. Residents who had preoperative discussions with senior surgeons were statistically less likely to report difficulty with surgical procedures, such as performing a clear corneal incision. The presence of a supervised wet lab or surgical simulator in a residency was also associated with improved resident-perceived surgical competency. Conclusion Educational resources, such as surgical simulators and supervised wet labs, tended to be associated with greater resident-perceived competency for steps in cataract surgery.
Healthcare Data Mining, Association Rule Mining, and Applications

In this chapter, we first introduce data mining in general by summarizing popular data mining algorithms and their applications demonstrated in real healthcare settings. Afterward, we move our focus on a mining technique called association rule mining that can provide a more flexible data mining solution for personalized and evidence-based clinical decision support. Feasibility on how to use association rule mining is offered along with one example. The chapter concludes with a discussion of challenges that hamper the clinical use of conventional association rule mining and a few point-by-point solutions are provided.
How Does Mandatory Energy Efficiency Disclosure Affect Housing Prices

Since 2012, the United States has witnessed explosive growth in mandatory energy efficiency disclosure policies, which aim to address market failures in housing. I examine one such policy, comparing prices before and after the policy’s introduction for homes with different levels of energy efficiency features. I find increased capitalization of energy efficiency features. Effects are larger for difficult-to-observe features, suggesting the results are driven by information and not changing preferences for energy efficiency over time. This highlights the potential for disclosure policies to promote long-run energy efficiency investment by increasing the returns homeowners expect on these investments when they sell.
Evidence of noise-induced subclinical hearing loss using auditory brainstem responses and objective measures of noise exposure in humans

Exposure to loud sound places the auditory system at considerable risk, especially when the exposure is routine. The current study examined the impact of routine auditory overexposure in young human adults with clinically-normal audiometric thresholds by measuring the auditory brainstem response (ABR), an electrophysiological measure of peripheral and central auditory processing. Sound exposure was measured objectively with body-worn noise dosimeters over a week. Participants were divided into low-exposure and high-exposure groups, with the low-exposure group having an average daily noise exposure dose of ∼11% of the recommended exposure limit compared to the high-exposure group average of nearly 500%. Compared to the low-exposure group, the high-exposure group had delayed ABRs to suprathreshold click stimuli and this prolongation was evident at ABR waves I and III but strongest for V. When peripheral differences were corrected using the I-V interpeak latency, the high-exposure group showed greater taxation at faster stimulus presentation rates than the low-exposure group, suggestive of neural conduction inefficiencies within central auditory structures. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that auditory overexposure affects peripheral and central auditory structures even before changes are evident on standard audiometry. We discuss our findings within the context of the larger debate on the mechanisms and manifestations of subclinical hearing loss.
Open Data in Developing Economies: Toward Building an Evidence Base on What Works and How

In essence, the book seeks to answer the following key questions: • What makes open data uniquely relevant to developing economies? • How can the impact of open data in developing economies be captured and evidence be developed? • How can open data be leveraged as a new asset for development? Toward that end the book begins, in Part I, by providing examining the use of open data for development. This includes a brief assessment on the theories and narratives of open data in development; a change theory and a logic model to capture and develop evidence on open data in developing economies; and an examination of open data’s impacts across various development sectors. In Part II, we present the 12 open data in developing countries case studies, organized according to the four different types of open data impacts. The book concludes in Part III with a set of key takeaways and recommendations for aid organizations, governments, private sector entities, and others that are considering replicating or using open data as an asset for development.
The impact of PTSD clusters on cannabis use in a racially diverse trauma-exposed sample: An analysis from ecological momentary assessment

Background: Accumulating evidence indicates a link between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and cannabis use and suggests that this link may vary as a function of the PTSD symptom cluster type...
Cooperative Interference Control in Neighboring Passive Scattering Antennas

Passive backscattering links in scattering sensor arrays suffer from mutual coupling among closely spaced neighbor antennas. This effect results in an unmatched circuitry at input ports of antennas causing poor power harvesting, weak backscattering, overall low read rates. In this paper, a model for mutual coupling in a $N$ by $N$ scattering antenna arrays is discussed. We show by simulations and measurements that in a two scatterer system (one target and one neighbor antennas) the mutual coupling effect from the neighbor to the target varies depending on its load and also its location with respect to the target and the incident wave. We show that by load switching at neighbor antenna mutual coupling effect can be controlled to produce constructive interference at target antenna. Next, cooperative interference control by load switching is examined in a scattering antenna arrays. Simulation results show that by load switching at neighboring scatterers in a 3 by 3 scattering array the signal of a target antenna—which is proportional to its induced current—in the back row can be improved by ~21 dB.
Increasing Legitimacy and Donations: A Call to Apply Institutional Theory to Nonprofit Fundraising

Why do people donate to some organizations but not others? Why do different countries consider different causes to be worthy of their philanthropy? In the United States, donations from individuals sum up to 71% of total philanthropic contributions to nonprofit organizations. Research on strategies to increase individual giving has identified techniques that provide incremental growth, but do not explain the large differences in support to different types of nonprofits or specific programs within nonprofits (i.e., educational vs. religious, established vs. startup, unrestricted vs. restricted support). While the link between legitimacy and fundraising results is widely acknowledged (Fogal, 2005; Gronbjerg, 1993). Understanding nonprofit funding. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass), the study of legitimacy by institutional theory scholars provides a promising framework from which to study these differences and posit interventions to increase legitimacy. Conversely, nonprofit fundraising presents an ideal field in which to test some of the assumptions of legitimacy theory. This essay is meant as a call to action for cross-pollination among researchers in both fields.
Additional Case Studies

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A Parallel Adaptive Physics-Based Non-rigid Registration Framework for Brain Tumor Resection

We present a Parallel Adaptive Physics-Based Non-Rigid Registration (PAPBNRR) framework for warping pre-operative to intra-operative brain Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) of patients who have undergone a tumor resection. This method extends our previous APBNRR framework based on ITK and contributes three new parallel modules: A Finite Element Method (FEM) Solver for assembling the system matrices of a heterogeneous biomechanical model, rejecting the feature outliers and estimating the model deformations; two correction modules, the first for the warped pre-operative segmented MRI and the second for the produced image deformation field, which take into account the tissue removal depicted in the iMRI. As a result, PAPBNRR not only accurately captures the large intra-operative deformations associated with the resection, but also further reduces the overheads due to the inherited -from APBNRR- adaptivity and brings the end-to-end execution within the time constraints imposed by the neurosurgical procedure. Our evaluation is based on 6 clinical volume MRI cases including: (i) partial and complete tumor resections, (ii) isotropic and anisotropic image spacings. In all the case studies, the PAPBNRR framework shows promising results. In a Linux Dell workstation with 12 Intel Xeon 3.47 GHz CPU cores and 96GB of RAM, it reduces the registration time from about 10 minutes to less than 140 seconds for the anisotropic data and from 2 minutes to less than 45 seconds for the isotropic data.
Benefits and Risks of Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs: Methodologic Limitations Lead to Clinical Uncertainties:

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) include traditional (tNSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, naproxen, and diclofenac, as well as selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors (COXIBs), principally celecoxib. COXIBs were developed to decrease gastrointestinal side effects. Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration strengthened its warning about the risks of non-aspirin NSAIDs on myocardial infarction and stroke. The Cyclooxygenase 2 and Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug Trialist collaboration conducted a comprehensive worldwide meta-analysis using individual patient data exploring the risks of various COXIBs and NSAIDs on cardiovascular disease (CVD). Recently, the results of the Prospective Randomized Evaluation of Celecoxib Integrated Safety versus Ibuprofen or Naproxen (PRECISION) trial were published that tested risks of COXIBs and NSAIDs on CVD. Generally, data from meta-analyses of trials not designed a priori to test hypotheses are less reliable than large-scale randomized trials to test small to moderate benefits or harm. When the sample size is large, randomization provides control of confounding not possible to achieve in any observational study. Further, observational studies, and especially claims data, have inherent confounding by indication larger than the effects being sought. Nonetheless, trials must be of sufficient size and duration and achieve high compliance and follow-up to avoid bias and confounding. In this regard, PRECISION has high rates of nonadherence and losses to follow-up that may have introduced bias and confounding. At present, therefore, it may be most prudent for clinicians to remain uncertain about benefits and risks of these drugs and make individual clinical judgments for each of their patients.
Road Pothole Detection System Based on Stereo Vision

In this paper, we propose a stereo vision system which detects potholes during driving. The objective is to benefit drivers to react to potholes in advance. This system contains two USB cameras taking photo simultaneously. We use parameters obtained from camera calibration with checkerboard to calculate the disparity map. 2-dimensional image points can be projected to 3-dimensional world points using the disparity map. With all the 3-dimensional points, we use the bi-square weighted robust least-squares approximation for road surface fitting. All points below the road surface model can be detected as pothole region. The size and depth of each pothole can be obtained as well. The experiments we conducted show robust detection of potholes in different road and light conditions.
Successful Reduction in Electrode-Related Pressure Ulcers During EEG Monitoring in Critically Ill Neonates.

Background:Neonates are at a high risk for pressure ulcers (PU) due to skin immaturity and exposure to various medical devices. The prevalence of PU in the neonatal intensive care unit is estimated to be 23%, with 80% of those being related to medical devices, including electroencephalographic (EEG)
Neonatal sepsis calculator in reduction of Antibiotics use in EOS (Early onset sepsis)

Background: CDC guidelines for EOS evaluation based on maternal risk factors are not clear and leads to increased laboratory workup and initiation of antibiotics. Increased antibiotics use leads to separation of mother and the baby, decreases breast feeding rates, increases antibiotic resistance and ultimately increases health care costs. Neonatal sepsis calculator published by Kaiser Permanente group based on a large multicenter study is being used at several Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) nationwide. This freely available online tool can be used in assessment of EOS in newborn based on maternal and neonatal risk …