cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Lineages: Detection of Four New Groups and Notes on Consistent Recognition of Ectomycorrhizal Taxa in High-Throughput Sequencing Studies

This review updates the previous information about ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungal lineages. Based on morphological and phylogenetic evidence, we recognize four novel lineages, viz., /leotia, /phaeocollybia, /porpoloma, and /endogone3, that raise the total number of EcM lineages to 82–86. The /leotia, /phaeocollybia, and /porpoloma lineages comprise the entire genera of Leotia, Phaeocollybia, and Porpoloma. The /endogone3 lineage is created to accommodate morphologically, and molecularly well-characterized root tip isolates from Japan that represent a small proportion of the genus Endogone. The /agaricales1 lineage is revised and renamed /guyanagarika because of accommodation of respective specimens in a recently described genus Guyanagarika. Similarly, the /helotiales2 lineage is renamed as /phaeohelotium based description of the genus Phaeohelotium. In light of broader taxon sampling for fungal DNA barcoding, the /agaricomycetes1 lineage is renamed as /tremellodendropsis, with a notion that not all members of the Tremellodendropsidales are EcM. We also reviewed recent literature about the genera within described EcM lineages and documented that ca. 279–284 distinct EcM fungal genera based on current knowledge.
Chapter 5 – Where Do We Go From Here?

The evolution of interlibrary loan to resource sharing has followed the path in many ways of the evolution of the library. The increased emphasis on technology has opened new areas of focus for both the library patrons and the services offered by the library. As technology develops, the way patrons think about the library has changed. They no longer view the library as a corporeal space. The library has a virtual presence, but in many ways the library has an emotional presence as well. The transition to a more emotive interaction with the library will lead to changing expectations. The library of the future and the resource-sharing units need to be ready to address these needs. No more is this evident than within resource sharing itself.
Staying friends with ex‐romantic partners: Predictors, reasons, and outcomes

In two studies, we identified predictors of staying friends with an ex-partner, developed and validated a measure for reasons to stay friends with exes, and examined the outcomes of staying friends. We identified four reasons to stay friends with exes: Security, Practical, Civility, and Unresolved Romantic Desires. Sex, sexual orientation, attachment styles, personality traits, time since breakup, and reasons for breakup all predicted staying friends. Staying friends due to Unresolved Romantic Desires resulted in negative outcomes, whereas staying friends due to Security and Practical reasons resulted in more positive outcomes. Staying friends due to Practical or Civility reasons resulted in the friendship being less likely to last in the long term. Implications for future research and clinical work are discussed.
Repeat expansion diseases.

Abstract More than 40 diseases, most of which primarily affect the nervous system, are caused by expansions of simple sequence repeats dispersed throughout the human genome. Expanded trinucleotide repeat diseases were discovered first and remain the most frequent. More recently tetra-, penta-, hexa-, and even dodeca-nucleotide repeat expansions have been identified as the cause of human disease, including some of the most common genetic disorders seen by neurologists. Repeat expansion diseases include both causes of myotonic dystrophy (DM1 and DM2), the most common genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/frontotemporal dementia (C9ORF72), Huntington disease, and eight other polyglutamine disorders, including the most common forms of dominantly inherited ataxia, the most common recessive ataxia (Friedreich ataxia), and the most common heritable mental retardation (fragile X syndrome). Here I review distinctive features of this group of diseases that stem from the unusual, dynamic nature of the underlying mutations. These features include marked clinical heterogeneity and the phenomenon of clinical anticipation. I then discuss the diverse molecular mechanisms driving disease pathogenesis, which vary depending on the repeat sequence, size, and location within the disease gene, and whether the repeat is translated into protein. I conclude with a brief clinical and genetic description of individual repeat expansion diseases that are most relevant to neurologists.
Unpacking the Role of a Telecommuter’s Job in Their Performance: Examining Job Complexity, Problem Solving, Interdependence, and Social Support

Despite telecommuting’s growing popularity, its implication for telecommuter job performance is a matter of on-going public debate. Moreover, empirical evidence that could address this issue is scarce and conflicting. This study therefore not only examines whether telecommuting impacts job performance, but also investigates characteristics of the telecommuter’s work that might help or hinder their ability to perform their job. Integrating work design research with theorizing about telecommuting, our theoretical framework proposes that two knowledge characteristics, namely job complexity and problem solving, and two social characteristics, specifically interdependence and social support, moderate the extent of telecommuting–job performance relationship. We test our framework using matched data from telecommuters and their supervisors (N = 273) in an organization with a voluntary telecommuting program. Findings indicate that for telecommuters who held complex jobs, for those in jobs involving low levels of interdependence and for those in jobs with low levels of social support, the extent of telecommuting had a positive association with job performance. Across all moderators considered, the extent of telecommuting’s association with job performance ranged from benign to positive; findings did not support negative associations between the extent of telecommuting and job performance regardless of the level of each moderator examined. These results suggest the need to investigate the extent of telecommuting as well as the nature of the telecommuter’s job when studying work outcomes such as job performance, and that more research is needed.
Online Physician Reviews Do Not Reflect Patient Satisfaction Survey Responses

Online physician reviews have become increasingly prevalent and are a common means by which patients explore medical options online. Currently, there are no data comparing physicians with negative online reviews and those without negative reviews. We sought to compare industry-vetted patient satisfaction surveys (PSSs), such as Press Ganey (PG) PSSs, between those physicians with negative online reviews and those without negative reviews. Overall, there were 113 unique individuals with negative online reviews from September 1, 2014, to December 31, 2014, with 8 being nonphysicians. We matched 113 physicians in similar departments/divisions. We obtained PG PSS scores of both groups and compared the mean scores of the 2 groups. Press Ganey PSS scores were available for 98 physicians with negative online reviews compared with 82 matched physicians without negative online reviews. The mean raw PG PSS scores were not different between the 2 groups (4.05; 95% CI, 3.99-4.11 vs 4.04; 95% CI, 3.97-4.11; P=.92). We also noted no difference in mean scores on questions related to physician-patient communication and interaction skills between those with poor online reviews and those without (4.38; 95% CI, 4.32-4.43 vs 4.41; 95% CI, 4.35-4.47; P=.42). However, there was a significantly lower non-physician-specific mean in those with negative online reviews (3.91; 95% CI, 3.84-3.97) vs those without negative online reviews (4.01; 95% CI, 3.95-4.09) (P=.02). Here, we provide data indicating that online physician reviews do not correlate to formal institutional PG PSS. Furthermore, physicians with negative online reviews have lower scores on non-physician-specific variables included in the PG PSSs, emphasizing that these discrepancies can negatively affect overall patient experience, online physician reviews, and physician reputation. It is prudent that an improved mechanism for online ratings be implemented to better inform patients about a physician's online reputation.
Structural Characterization of I-Ab Subsets Using Monoclonal Antibodies

The murine Ia antigens are cell surface glycoproteins composed of two noncovalently linked polypeptide chains with apparent molecular weights of 35,000 (α) and 29,000 (β) respectively (1). Recently, a third chain, an invariant chain of 31,000 MW, has been detected by Jones et al. (2). The expression of Ia antigens are controlled by two distinct loci, called I-A and I-E, that code for distinct subsets of Ia molecules. Previous reports from our laboratory have suggested the existence of more than one Ia molecule encoded by I-A and I-E loci in H-2b and H-2k haplotypes (3,4).
Swarm-Based Morphogenetic Artificial Life

We present a swarm-based framework for designing and implementing morphogenetic artifacts that can grow, self-organize and self-repair in a fully decentralized manner. Artifacts are realized as swarms of multiple types of very simple, kinetically interacting particles with no elaborate sensing, computation, or communication capabilities. The proposed framework is based on our earlier work, Swarm Chemistry, a computational model of particle swarms where mobile particles with different kinetic properties interact with each other to produce dynamic structures and behaviors spontaneously. The features of emergent patterns are implicitly encoded through interactive evolutionary design methods into a set of kinetic parameter values, called a recipe. In this chapter, we summarize several extensions of the model for morphogenetic engineering and demonstrate a variety of morphogenetic processes that can be achieved by using simple particles with minimal capability. Specifically, we show (1) diversity of self-organizing patterns that can be generated by simple particle swarms in our framework, (2) robustness of those patterns against external perturbations, (3) growth and self-assembly by local information transmission between particles and their stochastic differentiation, and (4) self-repair by stochastic re-differentiation of particles.
People in Ecosystems/Watershed Integration: Visualizing ecosystem services tradeoffs in agricultural landscapes

Educational modeling in agricultural and environmental sciences provides access to the scientific knowledge needed to address local and global challenges that affect human wellbeing. Ecosystem services tradeoffs frameworks can enhance wellbeing by facilitating agricultural landscape design to produce multiple ecosystem services while maintaining farmer profitability and mitigating risk to farmers. At present, few broadly accessible tools evaluate how changes to land management affect the types and levels of ecosystem services delivered to humans. I developed a tool, People in Ecosystems/Watershed Integration version 2 (PE/WI or PE/WI v2), to fill this gap and foster multidimensional and integrative landmanagement decisions. PE/WI is an online educational watershed simulation that allows users to design land-use configurations and evaluate ecosystem services tradeoffs. PE/WI creates a novel learning environment with visualizations that simplify complex land-use and ecosystem services relationships. Its ecological modeling framework aims to teach concepts of minimized tradeoffs and maximized co-benefits across spatial and temporal watershed dimensions. This approach allows users to simultaneously consider agricultural land use, climate conditions, production outcomes, and environmental outcomes such as nutrient levels in water, habitat provision for biodiversity, soil erosion, and carbon management.
Economic Inequality and Undernutrition in Women: Multilevel Analysis of Individual, Household, and Community Levels in Cambodia

BackgroundMany people in developing countries are still struggling to emerge from the realm of extreme poverty, where economic improvements tend to benefit a small, affluent group of the population and cause growing inequality in health and nutrition that affects the most vulnerable groups of the population, including women and children.ObjectiveTo examine how household and community economic inequality affects nutritional status in women using information on 6,922 nonpregnant women aged 15 to 49 years included in the 2000 Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey.MethodsNutritional status is defined with the use of the body-mass index (BMI). BMI less than 18.5 kg/m 2 is defined as undernourishment. The household wealth index was calculated from household ownership of durable assets and household characteristics. Community wealth is an average household wealth index at the community level. Household and community economic inequalities were measured by dividing the wealth index into quintiles. The effects of ...
Experimental Basis and Clinical Studies of Brain Protection in Pediatric Heart Surgery

Over the last 20 years, there has been a steady and consistent reduction in mortality for pediatric cardiac surgery. This improvement has occurred in spite of an increase in complexity of cases undertaken as well as a shift to surgery in infants and neonates. At many major pediatric cardiac surgery centers such as Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC, approximately 30% of cardiac surgical patients today are neonates, 30% are infants between 1 month and 1 year of age, and the remaining are older. Even conditions such as hypoplastic left heart syndrome can now be palliated in the newborn period applying the Norwood procedure with a mortality as low as 10-15%.
Aneurysmal degeneration and rupture of deep vein conduit with formation of an arterial-vaginal fistula 13 years after creation of a femoral-femoral bypass.

Abstract The autologous deep vein is a suitable alternative to prosthetic or cadaveric grafts as a bypass conduit because of its superior durability and lower risk of complications. Aneurysmal degeneration of deep vein grafts is rarely seen but can potentially be fatal when it does occur. We describe the case of an 87-year-old woman who presented with acute vaginal bleeding due to the rupture of an aneurysmal femorofemoral bypass vein graft into the vagina. The patient presented 13 years after the initial procedure, highlighting the need for long-term monitoring and the early recognition of this potentially catastrophic complication.
PHYSIOLOGY SYMPOSIUM: Postnatal consequences of in utero heat stress in pigs

Postnatal heat stress negatively impacts pig productivity and well-being as animals attempt to manage the resultant strain response. This is especially true when postnatal heat stress is combined with production stressors (e.g., mixing, weaning, transport, handling, and isolation) that have the potential to increase disease occurrence, morbidity and mortality. While pigs can utilize adaptive physiological mechanisms to compensate, these are often unfavorable to efficient livestock production. Specifically, postnatal heat stress decreases weight gain, reduces growth and production efficiency, alters carcass composition, and increases morbidity and mortality. Consequently, decreased animal performance constrains profitability and affects economic sustainability. In addition to the negative effects of postnatal heat stress, prenatal heat stress has long-term consequences that may compromise future piglet well-being and performance. Pigs gestated under heat stress conditions have an increased postnatal stress response and an increase in maintenance energy requirements. Furthermore, prenatal heat stress decreases swine birth weight, and increases teratogenicity, core body temperature set-point, and alters postnatal body composition (more adipose tissue and less skeletal muscle). Taken together, the effects of heat stress during pre- and postnatal pig development negatively influences productivity and well-being, a scenario that threatens the sustainability of global swine production.
Readability, content, quality and accuracy assessment of internet-based patient education materials relating to labor analgesia

Abstract Background With over 90% of parturients searching the internet for health information, the quality of information is important. Web-based patient education materials (PEMs) related to labor analgesia are frequently of low readability. This study compares the readability, content, quality and accuracy of labor analgesia-related PEMs from relevant healthcare society websites and the top internet search results. Methods The first ten PEMs from Google searches for “labor epidural” and “labor pain relief” were compared with PEMs from North American and United Kingdom anesthesiology, obstetric and medical society websites. Readability was assessed utilizing five validated readability indices. Quality was assessed using Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Print (PEMAT). The PEMs were graded for accuracy by four obstetric anesthesiologists. Readability, quality and accuracy scores were compared using the independent t-test and content using Chi-square analysis. Results Society PEMs were significantly more readable than non-society PEMs for three of five readability indices, though the mean of both groups was at or above an eighth-grade (average age 13–14 years-old) reading level. The PEMAT understandability and accuracy scores were significantly higher for society websites. The most frequently mentioned topics were benefits, effects of epidural analgesia on labor and delivery, definitions, post-dural puncture headache and alternative analgesics. Conclusions Google search results for labor analgesia lead to PEMs of variable quality and readability. For readers to be better informed, web-based PEMs should be improved or women directed to society PEMs. Inaccurate information may lead to incorrect expectations and conflict during labor, with potentially lower maternal satisfaction.
14.01 – Functional Anatomy of the Kidney☆

The kidney is one of the two major excretory organs in the body. It is involved in numerous vital bodily functions, including regulation of acid–base balance; maintenance of blood pressure via regulation of sodium excretion; maintenance of plasma osmolality via regulation of water excretion; regulation of plasma potassium, calcium, and phosphorus; elaboration of erythropoietin to maintain hematocrit; and hydroxylation of vitamin D. This article provides an overview of the functional anatomy of the kidney, with an emphasis upon the major ultrastructural and functional features of each nephron segment in order to provide an anatomical and functional framework for understanding renal function and toxicology. The kidney is composed of a variety of highly specialized nephron segments that are composed of distinct epithelial cell types, which engender specific transport properties to nephron segments where they reside. The kidney is uniquely sensitive to toxins and toxicants because they receive and filter an enormous quantity of blood.
Relationships Between Nitrogen Content and Net Gas Exchange Components of a Cotton Leaf During Ontogeny

Relationships between leaf nitrogen (N) content and leaf gas exchange components of a single cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) leaf subtending the fruit during ontogeny were investigated under field conditions. A 20-d old leaf exhibited the highest physiological activity characterized by net photosynthetic (PN) and transpiration (E) rates, stomatal conductances to CO2 exchange (gsCO2) and water vapor transfer (gsH2O), and nitrogen (N) content. With the advent of leaf senescence, the gas exchange rates declined as exhibited by the 30-, 40-, and 60-d old leaves. Regression analysis indicated close relationships between gsCO2 and PN, and gsH2O and E as the leaves advanced towards senescence. Both PN and gsCO2 were related to N as they declined with leaf age. Thus, the declines in PN were associated with stomatal closure and removal of N during leaf ontogeny.
Scalable ternary hierarchical microspheres composed of PANI/ rGO/CeO2 for high performance supercapacitor applications

Abstract Designing hybrid conductive polymer structures that can effectively mitigate capacitance fade and improve cycle life is critical to developing viable conductive polymer-based supercapacitors. Low cost and high yield synthesis methods that can be easily scaled-up are also crucial for industry-scale production. Herein, we report a highly scalable porous hierarchical microspheres composed of polyaniline nanofibers (PANI), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and cerium oxide nanorods (CNRs) synthesized through a spray drying method. The functional and structural synergistic effect of the three components assembled as a 3D porous hierarchical structure which maximizes ion and charge transport while mitigating restacking and agglomeration of the nanostructures results in a composite supercapacitor material with superior electrochemical properties. The optimized ternary hierarchical microspheres exhibit a high specific capacitance (684 F g−1), good rate capability, excellent cycle life (92% capacitance retention after 6000 cycles at 4 A g−1). Furthermore, an asymmetric device fabricated with the ternary composite exhibits a high specific energy density (46.27 W h kg−1) at a power density of 850 W kg−1 with a very stable cyclic performance and high coulombic efficiency. Thus, we demonstrate, for the first time, a highly scalable method to produce PANI/rGO/CNR based hierarchical microspheres as high-performance supercapacitor material.
A workout plan to prevent metastasis

Stimulating osteocytes with mechanical forces representative of exercise reduces breast cancer extravasation in a microfluidic model.
The end of socialism and the reinvention of the self: A study of the East German psychotherapeutic community in transition

Dans cet article, l'A. se penche sur les conditions sociologiques de la pratique psychologique et psychotherapeutique de l'ancienne Allemagne de l'Est a la chute du mur de Berlin. L'A. revient sur arrangements institutionnels des services psychologiques, la legitimite de certaines theories et pratiques et insiste sur l'identite et la pratique professionnelle des psychotherapeutes
Tinea capitis: A single-institution retrospective review from 2010 to 2015.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE Tinea capitis is a common infection of scalp hair in children. The prevalent etiologic organism has changed significantly over time, which may reflect the complex interaction of environmental factors, genetic predisposition, and movement of populations. We evaluate the prevalence of different infectious organisms causing tinea capitis and describe the clinical characteristics. METHODS A retrospective chart review of patients diagnosed with tinea capitis with tissue culture confirmation, who were seen in pediatric dermatology at a tertiary care center from 2010 to 2015. Patient demographics, culture data, and clinical characteristics were evaluated. Inflammatory pattern, characterized by presence of pustules, bogginess, or lymphadenopathy, was noted. RESULTS Forty-six patients with culture-positive tinea capitis were identified. In the 18 (42.9%) patients who were infected with either Trichophyton violaceum or Trichophyton soudanenese, all were of African ethnicity. In contrast, Trichophyton tonsurans was identified in a minority of African patients (3.8%), revealing a statistically significant difference between ethnicity and infective species (P-value < 0.001). T tonsurans was significantly more likely than T violaceum to exhibit an inflammatory pattern (68% vs 22%, P value < 0.027). CONCLUSIONS While T tonsurans remained the most common cause of tinea capitis, T violaceum and T soudanense have increased in prevalence. As these latter agents are less inflammatory, clinical diagnosis may be delayed. Studying changes in the infectious cause of tinea capitis can help us create a snapshot to better understand the evolution of our population make-up, allowing us to provide crucial quality health care to all.
Placement of C1 Lateral Mass Screw—Alternative Technique: 2-Dimensional Operative Video

This operative video demonstrates a C1 lateral mass instrumentation technique that is an alternative to the traditional Goel and Harms techniques.1,2 The advantages of the alternative technique include minimized blood loss from the rich venous plexus surrounding the C2 dorsal root ganglia (DRG), avoidance and preservation of the C2 DRG, and placement of a robust fully threaded screw without risking neuralgia. These are discussed in detail and presented through a case of atlantoaxial instability. Patient's consent was obtained for creating this surgical video. The patient is a 50-yr-old woman with a 17-yr history of rheumatoid arthritis. She presented with 1 yr of neck pain that failed conservative measures. Flexion-extension radiographs demonstrated an atlantodental index (ADI) that reduced from 7 mm on flexion to 0 mm on extension. The patient underwent a C1-C2 posterior instrumented fusion using the alternative technique of C1 lateral mass instrumentation.2 The steps of this technique are explained in great detail through a microsurgical video. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful. Postoperative radiographs and computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrated reduction of ADI and well-placed instrumentation and fusion construct. Her neck pain was completely resolved by 3 mo following surgical stabilization. In the senior author's experience with placing over 120 C1 lateral mass screws with this alternative technique, there have been no instances of vascular injury, sacrifice of C2 DRG, or instrumentation failure. The alternative technique for placement of C1 lateral mass screw is safe, efficient, and holds certain advantages in comparison to the traditionally described method. Images within the video have been reproduced from AOSpine section of the AO Surgery Reference, www.aosurgery.org, with permission from AO Surgery. Copyright by AOSpine International, Switzerland; and reprinted from World Neurosurgery, 78(1-2), Kang MM et al, C2 Nerve Root Sectioning in Posterior C1-2 Instrumented Fusions, 170-177, Copyright 2012, with permission from Elsevier.
Child Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse encompasses a wide variety of abusive acts or experiences involving children's private body parts. Sexual abuse is associated with a broad spectrum of emotional responses, with some children exhibiting great resilience, while others display varying levels of distress. Effective treatments are available for many of the mental health problems associated with child sexual abuse.
Discrete-Time Repetitive Control with a Range-Based Filter for Dual-Stage Systems

This paper describes a closed-loop implementation of a range-based filter (RBF) augmented by repetitive control (RC) for tracking periodic trajectories in dual-stage nano-positioning devices. Building on the authors’ previous work, which focused on design and development of the RBF, this paper seeks to improve tracking performance by adding RC to the closed-loop control structure. The RBF is designed with the goal of allocating control effort to the individual actuators based on desired motion range. Assuming the reference trajectory is periodic, residual tracking error will persist in each cycle of the trajectory. RC has the ability to reduce the residual error with each operating cycle. The control algorithm is presented and experiments are carried out on a custom serial dual-stage nanopositioner in order to verify the proposed RC-RBF control method. Results show that the root-mean-square (RMS) tracking error can be improved with the addition of RC by up to 40% when compared to the RBF alone.
Preoperative predictive risk to cancer quality in robotic rectal cancer surgery.

Abstract Background Circumferential resection margin (CRM) involvement is widely considered the strongest predictor of local recurrence after TME. This study aimed to determine preoperative factors associated with a higher risk of pathological CRM involvement in robotic rectal cancer surgery. Methods This was a retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database of consecutive adult patients who underwent elective, curative robotic low anterior or abdominoperineal resection with curative intent for primary rectal adenocarcinoma in a tertiary referral cancer center from March 2012 to September 2019. Pretreatment magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reports were reviewed for all the patients. Risk factors for pathological CRM involvement were investigated using Firth’s logistic regression and a predictive model based on preoperative radiological features was formulated. Results A total of 305 patients were included, and 14 (4.6%) had CRM involvement. Multivariable logistic regression found both T3 >5 mm (OR 6.12, CI 1.35–36.44) and threatened or involved mesorectal fascia (OR 4.54, CI 1.33–17.55) on baseline MRI to be preoperative predictors of pathologic CRM positivity, while anterior location (OR 3.44, CI 0.72–33.13) was significant only on univariate analysis. The predictive model showed good discrimination (area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve >0.80) and predicted a 32% risk of positive CRM if all risk factors were present. Conclusion Patients with pre-operatively assessed threatened radiological margin, T3 tumors with greater than 5 mm extension and anterior location are at risk for a positive CRM. The predictive model can preoperatively estimate the CRM positivity risk for each patient, allowing surgeons to tailor management to improve oncological outcomes.
A Critical Race Theory Analysis of Institutional Racial Paralysis in Organizational Culture

This article uses critical race theory (CRT) to explore institutional racial paralysis (IRP) in organizational culture. Utilizing a CRT lens, the authors identify four stages of IRP: idleness, conc...
Polaratio: A magnitude-contingent monotonic correlation metric and its improvements to scRNA-seq clustering

ABSTRACT Motivation Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technologies and analysis tools have allowed researchers to achieve remarkably detailed understandings of the roles and relationships between cells and genes. However, conventional distance metrics, such as Euclidean, Pearson, and Spearman distances, fail to simultaneously take into account the high dimensionality, monotonicity, and magnitude of gene expression data. To address several shortcomings in these commonly used metrics, we present a magnitude-contingent monotonic correlation metric called Polaratio which is designed to enhance the quality of scRNA-seq data analysis. Results We integrate three state-of-the-art interpretable clustering algorithms – Single-Cell Consensus Clustering (SC3), Hierarchical Clustering (HC), and K-Medoids (KM) – through a consensus cell clustering procedure, which we evaluate on various biological datasets to benchmark Polaratio against several well-known metrics. Our results demonstrate Polaratio’s ability to improve the accuracy of cell clustering on 5 out of 7 publicly available datasets. Availability https://github.com/dubai03nsr/Polaratio Contact pcicalese@uh.edu
Introduction: Why Queer Ecopedagogies?

In this introduction, I take steps toward defining, describing, and situating a broad view of queer ecopedagogies as both experientially and politically committed to disrupting and unsettling environmental educational theories and practices that guide us toward a set view of the future. Exploring work on temporalities in queer theory, as well as looking at queer ecology and queer pedagogies, an emergent and evolving vision of queer ecopedagogies as rooted in the tensions of desire, love, loss, and failure is offered as a path forward, not only into the unknown but also potentially to nowhere at all.
Differentiating modern and prebiotic Earth scenarios for TRAPPIST-1e: high-resolution transmission spectra and predictions for JWST

The TRAPPIST-1 system is a priority target for terrestrial exoplanet characterization. TRAPPIST-1e, residing in the habitable zone, will be observed during the JWST GTO Program. Here, we assess the prospects of differentiating between prebiotic and modern Earth scenarios for TRAPPIST-1e via transmission spectroscopy. Using updated TRAPPIST-1 stellar models from the Mega-MUSCLES survey, we compute self-consistent model atmospheres for a 1 bar prebiotic Earth scenario and two modern Earth scenarios (1 and 0.5 bar eroded atmosphere). Our modern and prebiotic high-resolution transmission spectra (0.4 - 20 $\mu$m at $R \sim$ 100,000) are made available online. We conduct a Bayesian atmospheric retrieval analysis to ascertain the molecular detectability, abundance measurements, and temperature constraints achievable for both scenarios with JWST. We demonstrate that JWST can differentiate between our prebiotic and modern Earth scenarios within 20 NIRSpec Prism transits via CH$_4$ abundance measurements. However, JWST will struggle to detect O$_3$ for our modern Earth scenario to $> 2\,\sigma$ confidence within the nominal mission lifetime ($\sim$ 80 transits over 5 years). The agnostic combination of N$_2$O and/or O$_3$ offers better prospects, with a predicted detection significance of $2.7\,\sigma$ with 100 Prism transits. We show that combining MIRI LRS transits with Prism data provides little improvement to atmospheric constraints compared to observing additional Prism transits. Though biosignatures will be challenging to detect for TRAPPIST-1e with JWST, the abundances for several important molecules - CO$_2$, CH$_4$, and H$_2$O - can be measured to a precision of $\lesssim$ 0.7 dex (a factor of 5) within a 20 Prism transit JWST program.
Fundamental Surprises, Market Structure, and Price Formation in Agricultural Commodity Futures Markets

Our study seeks to provide a better understanding of price formation process and determining factors of price volatility in agricultural commodity markets. We focus on corn and soybean futures traded in CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade). We innovatively construct two sets of variables to represent fundamental changes and market structure of the commodity markets. Fundamental changes are captured by the deviations of the supply and demand condition estimates released by USDA from the pre-announcement analysts’ forecasts published by Bloomberg. We employ the transaction databases of CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) to construct the percentage shares of detailed participation group trading in the market. While fundamental changes are based on public observations and analysis, transaction percentage shares of trader groups are private information of individual traders. Both the fundamental surprises and the market structure related variables are found to have statistically significant effects on price and price volatility. Furthermore, the impacts vary across quantiles of the conditional distributions.
Maturation of Thick Human Cardiac Muscle Patches Via Static Stretching and Electrical Stimulation

Human cardiac-muscle patches (hCMPs) constructed from cardiomyocytes (CMs) that have been differentiated from human induced-pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) can fully replicate the genetic background of each individual patient and, consequently, can be used for personalized drug testing, disease modeling, and therapeutic applications. However, hCMPs produced via conventional techniques are relatively thin and typically contain hiPSC-CMs that are structurally and functionally more similar to CMs from fetal and neonatal hearts than from the hearts of adults. Here, we used our layer-by-layer (lbl) fabrication protocol to construct thicker (>2.1 mm), triple-layered hCMPs, and then evaluated hiPSC-CM maturity after ten days of standard culture (Control hCMPs), static stretching (Stretched hCMPs), or static stretching with electrical stimulation at 15 or 22 V (Stretched+15V or Stretched+22V hCMPs, respectively). Qualitative assessments of immunofluorescently stained hCMPs suggested that the expression and alignment of contractile proteins was greater in Stretched+22V hCMPs than in hCMPs from any other group, and measurements of mRNA abundance identified changes in patterns of gene expression that also suggested the Stretched+22V protocol significantly enhanced hCMP maturation. Images obtained via transmission electron microscopy indicated that static stretching and electrical stimulation were associated with dramatic increases in the development of Z-lines and gap junctions, and sarcomeres were significantly longer in hCMPs that underwent any of the maturation protocols than in Control hCMPs. Collectively, these observations confirm that our lbl fabrication protocol can be used to generate hCMPs of >2.1-mm thickness, and that hCMP maturity increased dramatically after just ten days of static stretching and electrical stimulation.
Semantically Diverse Paths with Range and Origin Constraints

One of the most popular applications of Location Based Services (LBS) is recommending a Point of Interest (POI) based on user's preferences and geo-locations. However, the existing approaches have not tackled the problem of jointly determining: (a) a sequence of POIs that can be traversed within certain budget (i.e., limit on distance) and simultaneously provide a high-enough diversity; and (b) recommend the best origin (i.e., the hotel) for a given user, so that the desired route of POIs can be traversed within the specified constraints. In this work, we take a first step towards identifying this new problem and formalizing it as a novel type of a query. Subsequently, we present naive solutions and experimental observations over a real-life datasets, illustrating the trade-offs in terms of (dis)associating the initial location from the rest of the POIs.
Another Cautionary Lesson from COVID Research.

Lynch and colleagues (2021) describe positive and cautionary lessons learned from recent extraordinary research efforts to develop COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics and consider whether some of th...
Mechanisms, Hypotheses and Questions Regarding Prostate Cancer Micrometastases to Bone

The morbidity and mortality associated with prostate cancer can almost universally be attributed to the consequences of metastases to the bone. While clinically there have been descriptive reports of these lesions and their detection by bone scan, there is an embrrassing paucity of reports as to the mechanisms of prostate cancer cell trafficking to the bone, adaptation to the bone environment, pertubation of the normal bone reformation process and the events leading to cachexia and death. In recent years, there have been numerous in vitro studies suggesting that PSA and hK2 may play a significant biological role in these events. Also, recent data generated form reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assays reveal that metastasis to the bone may be an early event which further underscores the need to better understand this complex and critically important process. This commentary highlights several general concepts and a few specific issues related to CaP bone metastasis with the intent of revealing numerous opportunities for further investigation and inquiry.
The kinetic properties of spinach leaf glyoxylic acid reductase.

Abstract The kinetic properties of spinach leaf glyoxylic acid reductase have been evaluated. In the presence of pyridine nucleotides, the enzyme catalyzes the reversible reduction of glyoxylate to glycolate and hydroxypyruvate to d(-)-glycerate. The pH optima of the reductive reactions are between 6.0 and 6.5; the pH optima of the oxidative reactions are at 8.9. The enzyme is competitively inhibited by pyruvate, 3-mercaptopyruvate, and 3-fluoropyruvate and noncompetitively inhibited by dihydroxyfumarate. A spectral shift in protein absorbance, from 280 mµ to 270 mµ, is associated with the dihydroxyfumarate inhibition. Ternary rate equations of the enzyme and a degraded form of the enzyme have been calculated and compared. Specific changes in the Michaelis constant for pyridine nucleotides suggest that the degraded form has undergone structural modifications in the pyridine nucleotide binding site. All forms of the enzyme are anion-regulated in the direction of d(-)-glycerate or glycolate formation. Phosphate stimulates hydroxypyruvate reduction at all anion concentrations; chloride, bromide, sulfate, and nitrate stimulate at low concentrations but inhibit at high. The anion effects are pH-dependent and are competitive with hydroxypyruvate or glyoxylate. They are noncompetitive with reduced pyridine nucleotides. Evidence is presented which suggests that a ligand-induced conformational change is important in the functioning of anion effectors.
Lipoxygenase Pathway of the Arachidonate Cascade

Lipoxygenases (LOXs) are iron-containing enzymes that catalyse the peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids. In mammals, LOX products and their metabolites are potent lipid mediators that provoke diverse biological responses. These eicosanoids, derived from arachidonic acid, play important roles in inflammation and the resolution of inflammation. Moreover, they have been implicated in the development of cardiovascular disease. Although several LOX isoforms are expressed in individual organisms, each generates a specific product. How structurally and mechanistically related enzymes generate different products from a common substrate is not fully understood. In addition, the biological effects of many of the lipid mediators produced through LOX pathways remain to be uncovered. Key Concepts: Arachidonic acid is a substrate for lipoxygenases, iron enzymes that catalyse the peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Mammalian lipoxygenases transform the common substrate (arachidonic acid) to a unique stereo- and regiospecific product. Leukotriene synthesis is initiated by 5-lipoxygenase. Lipoxygenase products and their downstream metabolites are potent signalling molecules, some of which play roles in inflammation or its resolution. Lipoxygenase products are associated with cardiovascular diseases, but their molecular mechanism of action remains unclear. Keywords: eicosanoids; lipoxygenase; leukotriene; lipid signalling; lipoxin; arachidonic acid
Tyrosine phosphorylation in early embryonic growth cones

A large and growing body of evidence suggests that the regulation of tyrosine phosphorylation is important in the induction of axon growth. We have examined the subcellular distribution of enzymes regulating tyrosine phosphorylation in early embryonic brain, employing a preparation of isolated growth cone particles (GCPs). Because of the early developmental age and well-characterized nature of our tissue source, our GCP preparation offers some advantages over those described previously. As was found with other GCPs, our GCPs had relatively high levels of both the growth-associated protein GAP-43 and the intracellular tyrosine kinase pp60c-arc. In addition, we found that both total tyrosine kinase activity and total tyrosine phosphatase activity were concentrated two- to threefold in the GCPs relative to a neuronal membrane fraction. Two other nonreceptor tyrosine kinases, YES and FYN, were concentrated in the GCPs to a similar degree as that seen for SRC. In addition, we examined the developmental expression in brain of the three tyrosine kinases, using both a quantitative ELISA and Western blot analysis. Our results show that FYN, like SRC, reaches a peak of expression early in development, and declines thereafter. In contrast, expression of YES peaks later, and remains high in the adult brain. Immunofluorescence staining suggests that FYN is expressed both by neurons and by glia, and possibly by neuronal precursor cells. Our results implicate multiple tyrosine kinases as well as tyrosine phosphatases in growth cone function. In addition, the concentration of FYN in early embryonic growth cones combined with its early peak of expression suggests an important role for FYN in early neuronal development.
Therapeutic abortions in California. First year's experience under new legislation.

Abstract At the time of this report, over 5,000 abortions will have been performed under California's new abortion law, which became effective November, 1967. The law permits abortion under two general provisions: (1) when “there is substantial risk that continuance of the pregnancy would gravely impair the physical or mental health of the mother”; and (2) when “the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.” Of all applications submitted for abortion 91 per cent were approved. Not surprisingly, more than 88 per cent of the abortions were done under the mental health provision of the law. The ages of the patients ranged from 12 to 46 years, with 29 per cent being under 20 and 26 per cent 30 and over. Nearly 90 per cent of the women were white and 10 per cent were nonwhite; this ratio closely approximates the color distribution of the general population. Although there is no residency requirement in the law, less than 2 per cent of the total patients were out-of-state residents. Over 50 per cent of the abortions were performed on women who had never been married, while only 11 per cent of the state's live births are to unmarried women. Using the number of legal abortions per 1,000 live births as a means of comparison, there are marked geographic differences in the experience of various areas of the state. There is no way of determining what proportion of mothers having therapeutic abortions would have received illegal abortions if the new legislation were not in effect. However, it is estimated that 20,000 to 100,000 California residents seek illegal abortions yearly. If the smaller figure is close to reality, a fair proportion of women who might have sought illegal abortions may now be obtaining care through the provisions of the new abortion act.
The converse of the Inverse-Conjugacy Theorem for unitary operators and ergodic dynamical systems

We show that the converse to the main theorem of Ergodic transformations conjugate to their inverses by involutions, by Goodson et al. (Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems 16 (1996), 97-124), holds in the unitary category. Specifically it is shown that if U is a unitary operator defined on an L2 space which preserves real valued functions, and if U-S = SU implies S2 = I whenever S is another such operator, then U has simple spectrum. The corresponding result for measure preserving transformations is shown to be false. The counter-example we have involves Gaussian automorphisms. We show that a Gaussian automorphism is always conjugate to its inverse, so that the Inverse-Conjugacy Theorem is applicable to such maps having simple spectrum. Furthermore, there are Gaussian automorphisms having non-simple spectrum for which every conjugation of T with T-1 is an involution. ?0. INTRODUCTION Let U: H -* H be a unitary operator defined on a separable Hilbert space H. U is said to have simple spectrum if there exists an h E H for which Z(h) = H, where Z(h) is the closed linear span of the set {UTh: n E Z}. We are mainly interested in the case where the Hilbert space is a function space. Let (X, F, ,u) denote a standard Borel probability space, and let T: X -+ X be an invertible measure preserving transformation (automorphism). To say that the automorphism T has simple spectrum means that the unitary operator UT: L2(X, 1t) -* L2(X, ,u), UTf(x) = f(Tx), induced by T, has simple spectrum. It is known that if T has simple spectrum, then T is ergodic, and that unitary operators preserving real valued functions are conjugate to their inverses. The following theorem and corollary were given in [2] (see also [3] and [4] for related results). We use I to denote both the identity operator, and the identity automorphism. Inverse Conjugacy Theorem. Let U: L2(X, F, 1t) -+ L2(X, F, p) be a unitary operator having simple spectrum and preserving real valued functions. If S is another unitary operator preserving real valued functions and U1S SU, then S2 = J. Received by the editors October 28, 1997 and, in revised form, June 25, 1998. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 28D05; Secondary 47A35. (?2000 American Mathematical Society