cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Spheroid growth in ovarian cancer alters transcriptome responses for stress pathways and epigenetic responses

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecological cancer, with over 200,000 women diagnosed each year and over half of those cases leading to death. These poor statistics are related to a lack of early symptoms and inadequate screening techniques. This results in the cancer going undetected until later stages when the tumor has metastasized through a process that requires the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). In lieu of traditional monolayer cell culture, EMT and cancer progression in general is best characterized through the use of 3D spheroid models. In this study, we examine gene expression changes through microarray analysis in spheroid versus monolayer ovarian cancer cells treated with TGFβ to induce EMT. Transcripts that included Coiled-Coil Domain Containing 80 (CCDC80), Solute Carrier Family 6 (Neutral Amino Acid Transporter), Member 15 (SLC6A15), Semaphorin 3E (SEMA3E) and PIF1 5'-To-3' DNA Helicase (PIF1) were downregulated more than 10-fold in the 3D cells while Inhibitor Of DNA Binding 2, HLH Protein (ID2), Regulator Of Cell Cycle (RGCC), Protease, Serine 35 (PRSS35), and Aldo-Keto Reductase Family 1, Member C1 (AKR1C1) were increased more than 50-fold. Interestingly, EMT factors, stress responses and epigenetic processes were significantly affected by 3D growth. The heat shock response and the oxidative stress response were also identified as transcriptome responses that showed significant changes upon 3D growth. Subnetwork enrichment analysis revealed that DNA integrity (e.g. DNA damage, genetic instability, nucleotide excision repair, and the DNA damage checkpoint pathway) were altered in the 3D spheroid model. In addition, two epigenetic processes, DNA methylation and histone acetylation, were increased with 3D growth. These findings support the hypothesis that three dimensional ovarian cell culturing is physiologically different from its monolayer counterpart.
Numerical study of variable density turbulence interaction with a normal shock wave

Accurate numerical simulations of shock–turbulence interaction (STI) are conducted with a hybrid monotonicity-preserving–compact-finite-difference scheme for a detailed study of STI in variable density flows. Theoretical and numerical assessments of data confirm that all turbulence scales as well as the STI are well captured by the computational method. Linear interaction approximation (LIA) convergence tests conducted with the shock-capturing simulations exhibit a similar trend of converging to LIA predictions to shock-resolving direct numerical simulations (DNS). The effects of density variations on STI are studied by comparing the results corresponding to an upstream multi-fluid mixture with the single-fluid case. The results show that for the current parameter ranges, the turbulence amplification by the normal shock wave is much higher and the reduction in turbulence length scales is more significant when strong density variations exist. Turbulent mixing enhancement by the shock is also increased and stronger mixing asymmetry in the postshock region is observed when there is significant density variation. The turbulence structure is strongly modified by the shock wave, with a differential distribution of turbulent statistics in regions having different densities. The dominant mechanisms behind the variable density STI are identified by analysing the transport equations for the Reynolds stresses, vorticity, normalized mass flux and density specific volume covariance.
FINITE AND DISCONNECTED SUBGROUPS AND ELEMENTARY PARTICLE SYMMETRIES

The subgroups of the SU3 group are investigated in connection with elementary particle physics. It is found that the finite and disconnected subgroups of SU3 cannot account for the elementary particle spectrum.
Abstract 1638: Is short interval colonoscopy at the discretion of the gastroenterologist

BACKGROUND: Gastroenterologists do not always follow guidelines for performing colonoscopies. Short interval colonoscopies are recommended at the discretion of gastroenterologists depending on various factors. We here evaluated such factors in an African American patient population. AIM: To assess factors contributing to short interval (within 3 months) colonoscopies. METHODS: Data was retrieved retrospectively from Howard University Hospital database (Jan. 2010 to Dec. 2016). African American patients who had repeated colonoscopies within a period of 3 months were selected for this study. We analyzed patients9 demographics, family history, polyp characteristics, and reasons for repeat colonoscopy along with latest follow-up findings. RESULTS: There were 36 patients who underwent two colonoscopies within 3 months, 13 females and 23 males with mean age of 61 years. Out of these, 7 patients (19.4%) had poor bowel preparation. For the remaining 29 patients, the reason for second colonoscopy were partial removal and suspicion of partial removal (61.1%), difficult access (16.7%), and follow-up for Crohn9s disease (2.8%). Follow-up of these 36 patients after their last colonoscopy revealed that 8 patients (22.2%) had colon cancer/resection, 4 other patients (11.1%) had cancer of other organs. Of the remaining, 6 (16.6%) had future colon polyp resection, 3 (8.3%) had normal screening colonoscopy and 4 (11.1%) visited the hospital for reasons unrelated to gastroenterology while 11 patients (30.6%) had no follow up. CONCLUSION: Even though there are no recommendations to repeat colonoscopy within 3 months, endoscopists perform such colonoscopies at their own discretion based on factors like high risk individuals, poor bowel preparation, multiple lesions, type of lesions and resection clearance. Of interest, a significant number of patients in our study had colon cancer/resection on eventual follow-ups. Citation Format: Hassan Brim, Abhimanyu Tushir, Shashidhar Manchegowda, Negin Farsi, Edward L. Lee, Laiyemo O. Adeyinka, Seyed M. Nouraie, Hassan Ashktorab. Is short interval colonoscopy at the discretion of the gastroenterologist [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1638.
Propagation of a Front by Kink Motion

There are numerous problems in which an interface propagates through a body as it is loaded, where, when a material particle crosses this moving interface, it transforms from a metastable state to a more stable state. Examples of this include twin boundary and phase boundary motion in solids. Typically, such an interface propagates in a direction normal to itself at a speed, which in continuum theory, is determined by a kinetic law. The kinetic law is viewed as providing a continuum-scale description of the micromechanical processes underlying the front motion. In this paper we use a simple mechanical analog to illustrate how the kinetic law can be calculated by modeling the microscale mechanisms.
Penile basal cell carcinoma in a black kidney transplant recipient

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is uncommon in the black population with a reported incidence of 9 cases per 100,000 persons per year. Penile BCC is rare with only 27 cases described in the literature. When compared with immunocompetent patients, BCC is 3 times less frequently diagnosed than squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in organ transplant recipients (OTRs). The ratio of BCC to SCC in nonwhite OTRs is reported to be even lower at 1:4.5.1 We present a case of BCC on the penile shaft in a black male kidney transplant recipient (KTR). To our knowledge, this is the second reported case of penile BCC in a black patient and the first in an immunosuppressed organ transplant patient.
How do natural hazards affect participation in voluntary association? The social impacts of disasters in Japanese society

Abstract This study focused on the way individuals’ past experiences with disasters and their perceived risks of disasters affect their involvement in voluntary associations, which are important indicators of social capital. Moreover, as recent social capital studies have examined the different types of associations that contribute to the formation of social capital in various ways, for this present study, associations were categorized as civic, reward-based, and social/recreational. The results indicate that both respondents’ experiences with disasters and their perceived risks of disasters tend to increase both the number of associations in which they participate and their degree of involvement. However, experiences related to disasters had a higher impact on the number of associations in which residents participate than on their degree of involvement. Individuals’ experiences with disasters also increased their tendency to join civic associations, whereas their perceived risks of disasters increased participation in both civic and reward-based associations. Social/recreational associations were not significantly affected by either disaster experiences or the perceived risks of a disaster.
Framework for assessing pharmacy value

Abstract Introduction Excess spending and poor quality in the US healthcare system has led to proliferation of performance-based payment models. These models have the potential to enhance value by creating a meritocratic system whereby providers delivering the best patient care are rewarded, while providers failing to provide such care are given incentives to improve. However, early experience suggests that unless these systems are appropriately designed, payments can be withheld from high performers, bonuses paid to low performers, and health disparities can be worsened. Performance-based payments are new to community pharmacies, and opportunity exists to strengthen pharmacy value measurement and potentially avoid problems observed with other performance-based payment models. Model construction and application This article describes the process by which a framework to assess community pharmacy value was developed, then applies the framework to produce a draft composite pharmacy performance measure. The pharmacy value framework addresses potential shortcomings of existing community pharmacy performance measures through four key principles: 1) theory-based quality and spending measures, 2) scoring which accounts for measure reliability, 3) full risk-adjustment, and 4) a value matrix to identify high and low value pharmacies. Based on these principles, a draft community pharmacy composite performance measure was developed, and was successful in dividing community pharmacies into high, typical, and low value categories. Conclusion By using this framework to develop future composite measures, payers may find closer alignment between performance-based payments and actual pharmacy performance. This early work is intended to encourage further research into the establishment of a scientifically firm foundation for pharmacy performance measurement. More testing is needed to determine reliability, validity, and comparative superiority of any composite measure derived from this framework before it is used to support performance-based pharmacy payment models.
Automated Labeling for Robotic Autonomous Navigation Through Multi-Sensory Semi-Supervised Learning on Big Data

Imitation learning holds the promise to address challenging robotic tasks such as autonomous navigation. It however requires a human supervisor to oversee the training process and send correct control commands to robots without feedback, which is always prone to error and expensive. To minimize human involvement and avoid manual labeling of data in the robotic autonomous navigation with imitation learning, this paper proposes a novel semi-supervised imitation learning solution based on a multi-sensory design. This solution includes a suboptimal sensor policy based on sensor fusion to automatically label states encountered by a robot to avoid human supervision during training. In addition, a recording policy is developed to throttle the adversarial affect of learning too much from the suboptimal sensor policy. As a result, this solution allows the robot to learn a navigation policy in a self-supervised manner without human intervention after the initial data collection. With extensive experiments in indoor environments, this solution can achieve near human performance in most of the tasks and even surpasses human performance in case of unexpected events such as hardware failures or human operation errors. To best of our knowledge, this is the first work that synthesizes sensor fusion and imitation learning to enable robotic autonomous navigation in the real world without human supervision.
Percutaneous left ventricular assist device support during ablation of ventricular tachycardia: A meta-analysis of current evidence.

Introduction Catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia (VT) can be an effective therapy to reduce VT burden, but often it is limited by the potential for hemodynamic instability. Percutaneous left ventricular assist devices (pLVADs) have been used to maintain hemodynamic support during VT ablation but the evidence regarding its clinical impact has been inconclusive. Methods and results We sought to assess the clinical impact of pLVAD when used in VT ablation by conducting a meta-analysis of the current evidence. We searched Pubmed and found nine observational studies that compared clinical outcomes of VT ablation in patients with pLVAD support to controls with no pLVAD support. The pooled data did not show a significant difference in mortality between both groups, nor a difference in acute procedural success or in recurrence of VT. There was also no difference in the number of patients receiving a cardiac transplant or being enrolled in the transplant list. Although there was no difference in the ablation time between the groups, patients in the pLVAD group had a longer total procedural time and more procedure-related adverse effects. Conclusion This meta-analysis did not show clinical benefits from using pLVAD support during VT ablation, whereas it was associated with longer procedure times and more complications. This study was, however, limited by the observational nature of the data. In view of these data, the risk and benefit of pLVAD support during VT ablation should be considered on an individual basis.
Video counseling about emergency contraception: an observational study

Abstract Objective This study assesses emergency contraception (EC) dispensed before and after a 3-min video counseling intervention on EC. Methods We used a quasi-experimental design and two data sources to assess the impact of offering the video counseling intervention. We used electronic health records from six Planned Parenthood Association of Utah health centers with onsite oral EC dispensing to determine pre- and postintervention EC distribution. Beginning July 2015, three participating locations offered the video counseling intervention to English-speaking EC clients. These clients completed a brief survey assessing EC knowledge and uptake, providing a patient-level data source. We used a difference-in-difference analysis of the clinic-level data to assess the effect of the video counseling intervention. This analysis compares the variation in oral EC distribution between clinics offering the video intervention and clinics not offering the video counseling before and after the video counseling was introduced. Multivariable logistic regression assessed client characteristics associated with receiving ulipristal. Results The six health centers served 8269 English-language EC clients during 2015. At participating sites, provision of ulipristal increased from 12% (269/2315) preintervention to 28% (627/2266) postintervention (p Conclusions Exposure to video counseling increased use of more effective oral EC and increased knowledge about all EC options. Implications Use of a brief informational video about EC options at family planning clinics may increase the proportion of EC clients receiving more effective EC methods.
Long-Term Cardiovascular Risks Associated With Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes: JACC Review Topic of the Week

AbstractAdverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs)—including pre-term birth, pre-eclampsia, and intrauterine growth restriction—are common interrelated disorders caused by placental dysfunction and maternal...
Investigating the influence of student–teacher Facebook interaction in Thailand

In Thailand, older individuals or ‘Phu Yai’ are people with higher social status and power as compared to younger people or ‘Phu Noi’ (Komolsevin & Knutson, 2010). In the realm of education, teache...
The branched chain aminotransferase IlvE promotes growth, stress resistance and pathogenesis of Listeria monocytogenes

The bacterial plasma membrane is a key interface during pathogen-host interactions, and membrane composition enhances resistance against host antimicrobial defenses. Branched chain fatty acids (BCFAs) are the major plasma membrane component in the intracellular Gram-positive pathogen Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) and BCFA metabolism is essential for Lm growth and virulence. BCFA synthesis requires branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), and the BCAA Isoleucine (Ile) is a necessary substrate for the predominant membrane anteiso-BCFAs (ai-BCFAs) as well as an environmental signal for virulence regulation in Lm. In this study, we explored how two proteins that metabolize or sense Ile contribute to Lm growth, BCFA metabolism, and virulence. The IlvE aminotransferase incorporates Ile into ai-BCFAs, while CodY is an Ile-sensing regulator that coordinates BCAA synthesis and virulence gene expression. Analysis of deletion mutants lacking IlvE ({Delta}ilvE) or CodY ({Delta}codY) revealed a major role for IlvE under nutrient restriction and stress conditions. Cultures of the {Delta}ilvE mutant contained proportionally less ai-BCFAs relative to wild type, while of the {Delta}codY mutant had a lower proportion of ai-BCFAs in stationary phase, despite containing more cell-associated Ile. Both {Delta}ilvE and {Delta}codY mutants required exogenous Ile for optimal growth, but the {Delta}ilvE mutant had an absolute requirement for Valine and Leucine when Ile was absent. IlvE was also necessary for resistance to membrane stress, cell-to-cell spread, infection of primary macrophages, and virulence in mice. Our findings implicate IlvE as an integral aspect of Lm stress resistance and emphasize the central importance of Ile in Lm growth and virulence.
Implementation of a motivational interviewing-based decision tool to improve childhood vaccination rates: Pilot study protocol

Abstract Background Parental concerns regarding the safety and efficacy of vaccines have been on the rise over the past decade, resulting in a decline in comprehensive vaccine coverage in children. Healthcare practitioners face many challenges when recommending childhood vaccinations, with many parents refusing vaccination due to these and other concerns. Effective communication strategies and tools can equip providers to communicate with vaccine hesitant parents, but validated tools are currently lacking. Objectives This study aims to develop a validated parental communication tool utilizing motivational interviewing to increase vaccination adherence in children ages 6 years and younger. Methods The MOTIVE (Motivational Interviewing Tool to Improve Vaccination Adherence) tool will first be developed based on the most recent literature regarding vaccine hesitancy and related health beliefs. Following tool development, the tool will be reviewed via an external review process to ensure practicality of the tool for use in clinical practice. In implementing the MOTIVE tool, providers and clinic staff will be trained regarding vaccine hesitancy and motivational interviewing. The tool will then be implemented in routine well-child appointments. The primary outcome of this study is the percentage of children 0–6 years of age completing all recommended doses of the core vaccine series after implementation of the MOTIVE tool as compared to prior vaccination years. Secondary outcomes will also include parental attitudes towards vaccines and provider knowledge regarding motivational interviewing components and vaccine hesitancy. Project impact Following completion of this study, the MOTIVE tool will be made available for other providers for use in their own clinical practice. The availability of effective communication tools will allow healthcare providers to engage in productive conversations regarding vaccination, aiming to increase vaccine uptake.
Palivizumab compliance in congenital heart disease patients: factors related to compliance and altered lower respiratory tract infection viruses after palivizumab prophylaxis.

Background Lower respiratory tract infections caused by respiratory syncytial virus can be severe during infancy, which requires admission to the hospital. These infections may be more severe especially in patients with congenital heart disease. Passive immunisation with palivizumab, a monoclonal antibody, is recommended in high-risk infants. We tried to determine the compliance rates, factors affecting compliance, and also other microorganisms responsible for lower respiratory tract infections after palivizumab prophylaxis in these patients. Methods We evaluated patients' compliance to prophylaxis with palivizumab in two consecutive respiratory syncytial virus seasons from pharmacy records. We also investigated factors affecting compliance and the frequency of hospitalisations for lower respiratory tract infections. We investigated the causative microorganisms detected in hospitalised patients. Results In this study, 86.7% of the desired number of injections was achieved in 176 patients in two seasons. Out of these, 117 patients (66.4%) received all the doses they were prescribed. Although not statistically significant, compliance to prophylaxis was higher in male patients, cyanotic patients, those who started under 1 year old, and who lived in the city centre. Human metapneumovirus, parainfluenza type 3, and bocavirus were detected in the hospitalised patients. Conclusion Patients with congenital heart disease can survive the period of infancy with less problem by making palivizumab prophylaxis more effective, and awareness about non- respiratory syncytial virus factors may be a guide for the development of new treatments.
Sparring with patriarchy: the rise of female boxers in the Global South

Over the last 50 years the participation rates of women and girls in sport have soared, challenging sport as a male preserve. Participation rates of female athletes in most low to middle-income cou...
Receipt of and Spending on Cessation Medication Among US Adults With Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance, 2010 and 2017:

ObjectiveStudies examining the use of smoking cessation treatment and related spending among enrollees with employer-sponsored health insurance are dated and limited in scope. We assessed changes i...
Robust Model Predictive Control for Nonlinear Systems Using Convex Restriction

We present an algorithm for robust model predictive control with consideration of uncertainty and safety constraints. Our framework considers a nonlinear dynamical system subject to disturbances from an unknown but bounded uncertainty set. By viewing the system as a fixed point of an operator acting over trajectories, we propose a convex condition on control actions that guarantee safety against the uncertainty set. The proposed condition guarantees that all realizations of the state trajectories satisfy safety constraints. Our algorithm solves a sequence of convex quadratic constrained optimization problems of size n*N, where n is the number of states, and N is the prediction horizon in the model predictive control problem. Compared to existing methods, our approach solves convex problems while guaranteeing that all realizations of uncertainty set do not violate safety constraints. Moreover, we consider the implicit time-discretization of system dynamics to increase the prediction horizon and enhance computational accuracy. Numerical simulations for vehicle navigation demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.
Plasma trial: Pilot randomized clinical trial to determine safety and efficacy of plasma transfusions.

BACKGROUND Plasma is frequently administered to patients with prolonged INR prior to invasive procedures. However, there is limited evidence evaluating efficacy and safety. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS We performed a pilot trial in hospitalized patients with INR between 1.5 and 2.5 undergoing procedures conducted outside the operating room. We excluded patients undergoing procedures proximal to the central nervous system, platelet counts <40,000/μl, or congenital or acquired coagulation disorders unresponsive to plasma. We randomly allocated patients stratified by hospital and history of cirrhosis to receive plasma transfusion (10-15 cc/kg) or no transfusion. The primary outcome was change in hemoglobin concentration within 2 days of procedure. RESULTS We enrolled 57 patients, mean age 56.0, 34 (59.6%) with cirrhosis, and mean INR 1.92 (SD = 0.27). In the intention to treat analysis, there were 10 of 27 (38.5%) participants in the plasma arm with a post procedure INR <1.5 and one of 30 (3.6%) in the no treatment arm (p < .01). The mean INR after receiving plasma transfusion was -0.24 (SD 0.26) lower than baseline. The change from pre-procedure hemoglobin level to lowest level within 2 days was -0.6 (SD = 1.0) in the plasma transfusion arm and -0.4 (SD = 0.6) in the no transfusion arm (p = .29). Adverse outcomes were uncommon. DISCUSSION We found no differences in change in hemoglobin concentration in those treated with plasma compared to no treatment. The change in INR was small and corrected to less than 1.5 in minority of patients. Large trials are required to establish if plasma is safe and efficacious.
Safety Impacts of Transit Signal Priority Using a Full Bayesian Approach

Transit signal priority (TSP) is a strategy that prioritizes the movement of transit vehicles through a signalized intersection to provide better transit travel time reliability and minimize transi...
Exploiting the Innate Potential of Sorghum/Sorghum-Sudangrass Cover Crops to Improve Soil Microbial Profile That Can Lead to Suppression of Plant-Parasitic Nematodes.

Sorghum/sorghum–sudangrass hybrids (SSgH) have been used as a cover crop to improve soil health by adding soil organic matter, enhancing microbial activities, and suppressing soil-borne pathogens in various cropping systems. A series of SSgH were screened for (1) allelopathic suppression and (2) improvement of soil edaphic factors and soil microbial profile against plant-parasitic nematode (PPNs). The allelopathic potential of SSgH against PPNs is hypothesized to vary by variety and age. In two greenhouse bioassays, ‘NX-D-61′ sorghum and the ‘Latte’ SSgH amendment provided the most suppressive allelopathic effect against the female formation of Meloidogyne incognita on mustard green seedlings when using 1-, 2-, or 3-month-old SSgH tissue, though most varieties showed a decrease in allelopathic effect as SSgH mature. A field trial was conducted where seven SSgH varieties were grown for 2.5 months and terminated using a flail mower, and eggplant was planted in a no-till system. Multivariate analysis of measured parameters revealed that increase in soil moisture, microbial biomass, respiration rate, nematode enrichment index, and sorghum biomass were negatively related to the initial abundance of PPNs and the root-gall index at 5 months after planting eggplant in a no-till system. These results suggested that improvement of soil health by SSgH could lead to suppression of PPN infection.
Pathways of drug metabolism

Abstract The major routes of drug elimination are metabolism in the liver, and excretion by the kidneys into urine and by the liver into bile. In addition, drugs can be metabolized to some degree in other organs such as the intestines, lungs, and kidneys. As drug metabolism and excretion are the two processes that together define the clearance of drugs from the body, they are of major interest in assessing dose–exposure relationships and duration of action of medicinal compounds. Differences in drug metabolism between patients are a main contributor to interindividual variability in drug exposures and ultimately clinical response. Therefore understanding the processes that contribute to drug metabolism is of utmost importance to clinical pharmacologists.
Dielectric properties and high tunability of Ba(Ti0.7Zr0.3)O3 ceramics under dc electric field

The effect of dc electric field (E) on the dielectric properties of Ba(Ti0.7Zr0.3)O3 ceramics with an obvious ferroelectric-relaxor behavior (Tm∼229 K, 10 kHz) is reported. The dielectric constant is greatly suppressed and a low loss is obtained under dc electric fields (⩽40 kV/cm). The low loss (tan δ∼0.002) and high tunability (∼45%) were obtained for the Ba(Ti0.7Zr0.3)O3 ceramics around 300 K, indicating that it is a promising candidate for tunable materials at room temperature. The field dependence of the temperature (Tm) of the dielectric constant maximum follows the ΔTm∼E2/3 relation, indicating a second-order phase-transition-like behavior.
Business Process Change and the Role of the Management Accountant

The role if the management accountant (MA) is undergoing a transition from that if a "numbercrunching" preparer of financial statements and cost reports to that if a business partner. The MA is increasingly expected to analyze and explain the business implications if financial information and is becoming more involved in strategic planning, performance evaluation, and business process reengineering. Changes in the business environment have caused many companies to modify their strategic objectives and redesign their existing business processes. Firms can initiate and manage business process change (BPC) using different approaches. This article identifies the particular management accounting activities and skills required to support different approaches to BPC.
Generating Factor Variables for Asymmetry, Non-independence and Skew-symmetry Models in Square Contingency Tables using SAS

In this paper, a SAS program (macro) is written to generate factor and regression variables required for implementing asymmetry, non-independence, non-symmetry + independence models as well as skew-symmetry models in discussed in square a x a contingency tables having nominal or ordinal categories. While several authors have developed similar factor variables for use with GLIM, we have extended this to the non-independence and the non-symmetry+independence models. The former includes both the fixed and variable distance models as well as the quasi-ordinal symmetry model. Further, our implementation of the asymmetry model in terms of the required factor variable is different from those defined for implementation of same in GLIM. Most of the models described in this paper however assume ordinal categories for the contingency table. The SAS macro developed can be applied to any square table of dimension a. We apply the models discussed in this paper to the 5 x 5 Danish mobility data that have been widely analyzed in various literatures.
Mistakes, Changed Circumstances and Intent

A party to a contract may be allowed to escape contractual liability by resorting to one of several "contract defenses." In this Article, I limit my discussion of contract defenses to those where there has been an error in a "basic assumption" material to the transaction. Basic assumption defenses include mutual mistake, unilateral mistake, impossibility, frustration of purpose, and commercial impracticability. Several prevailing rationales explain why a party should be allowed to escape contractual liability despite the sufficiency of consideration where there has been a basic assumption error. No rationale or principle, however, unifies all basic assumption contract defenses. Further complicating matters, similar fact patterns applying a given doctrine often yield inconsistent results. This Article proposes that basic assumption contract defenses can best be explained and analyzed through the prism of contractual intent. Although typically discussed in terms of a singular concept, contractual intent in fact comprises various facets, which I refer to as volitional intent, cognitive intent, and contextual purposive intent. Volitional intent considers whether the party wanted to enter into the transaction. Cognitive intent captures whether the party understood what she or he was doing. Cognitive purposive intent reveals the party's reason or motive for entering into the transaction. This Article concludes that a dynamic approach applying this expanded intent analysis has several advantages over the existing basic assumption doctrines. First and foremost, it directly addresses contract law's two primary objectives, which are furthering autonomy and facilitating transactions. Second, because it removes artificial doctrinal distinctions, it simplifies analysis by focusing on what really matters in contract law ? the intent of the parties. Furthermore, it provides for greater consistency in judicial decisions. Finally, the approach is flexible and better accommodates technological advancements in the marketplace, such as Internet transactions where the buyer does not have the opportunity to meet the seller or physically examine a product prior to purchase.
Menopause and metabolic syndrome in obese individuals with binge eating disorder.

Abstract Menopausal transition has been associated with the emergence of metabolic abnormalities, which may increase risk for chronic medical conditions in women. This study compared metabolic function between premenopausal women (n = 152), postmenopausal women (n = 88), and men (n = 98) recruited for treatment studies for obesity co-occurring with binge eating disorder (BED), a high-risk population for developing metabolic syndrome (MetS). Postmenopausal women were more likely than premenopausal women to show elevated total cholesterol (OR = 2.75; 95% CI = 1.56–4.80) and poor glycemic control (OR = 2.92; 95% CI = 1.32–6.33) but were more likely to have lower HDL levels (OR = 0.36; 95% CI = 0.19–0.68). These became non-significant after adjusting for age. Both pre- and postmenopausal women were less likely than age-matched men to show elevated levels of triglycerides (OR = 0.27; 95% CI = 0.13–0.53 [postmenopausal], OR = 0.29; 95% CI = 0.16–0.53 [premenopausal]), blood pressure (OR = 0.48; 95% CI = 0.25–0.91 [postmenopausal], OR = 0.40; 95% CI = 0.23–0.69 [premenopausal]), and less likely to have MetS (OR = 0.41; 95% CI = 0.21–0.78 [postmenopausal], OR = 0.46; 95% CI = 0.27–0.79 [premenopausal]). Premenopausal women were also less likely to have elevated fasting glucose level (OR = 0.50; 95% CI = 0.26–0.97) than age-matched men. Among obese women with BED, aging may have a more profound impact on metabolic abnormalities than menopause, suggesting the importance of early intervention of obesity and symptoms of BED. The active monitoring of metabolic function in obese men with BED may also be critical.
Labor Market Effects of Pensions and Implications for Teachers

Abstract While the retirement security landscape has changed drastically for most workers over the last twenty years, traditional defined benefit (DB) pension plans remain the overwhelming norm for K–12 teachers. Because DB plans pay off fully with a fixed income after retirement only if a teacher stays in the profession for decades and yield little or nothing if a teacher leaves early, DB plans induce a strong, nonlinear relationship between years of tenure and benefit accrual. One implication is that as many current teachers approach eligibility for full pensions, there are strong incentives for retirement and associated consequences in the teacher labor market. In this article, we assess the key features of DB plans, discuss the general incentive effects, and consider the application to the particular case of teachers. This work highlights the importance of assessing the characteristics of teachers who respond most to the retirement timing incentives.
Time dependence of recruitment and derecruitment in the lung: a theoretical model

Recruitment and derecruitment (R/D) of air spaces within the lung is greatly enhanced in lung injury and is thought to be responsible for exacerbating injury during mechanical ventilation. There is evidence to suggest that R/D is a time-dependent phenomenon. We have developed a computer model of the lung consisting of a parallel arrangement of airways and alveolar units. Each airway has a critical pressure (Pcrit) above which it tends to open and below which it tends to close but at a rate determined by how far pressure is from Pcrit. With an appropriate distribution of Pcrit and R/D velocity characteristics, the model able to produce realistic first and second pressure-volume curves of a lung inflated from an initially degassed state. The model also predicts that lung elastance will increase transiently after a deep inflation to a degree that increases as lung volume decreases and as the lung becomes injured. We conclude that our model captures the time-dependent mechanical behavior of the lung due to gradual R/D of lung units.
Light distribution in the optical image.

A method is proposed for obtaining information about the light distribution in an optical image. The characteristic function of the optical system is approximated by a polynomial, containing terms up to the fifth or seventh order. The coefficients of this function having been found, a large number (about 100) of rays from an object point are chosen, so that they are evenly spaced in the aperture of the system. By means of the function, the intersection points of the rays can be calculated in any desired image plane, to a close approximation. The intersection points were plotted, representing each ray by a small dot. The figures show that these plots are very similar to photographs of the image of a point light source. The image of a line element can be obtained by integration of a series of such figures.
Alteration of intracellular traffic by monensin; mechanism, specificity and relationship to toxicity

Monensin, a monovalent ion-selective ionophore, facilitates the transmembrane exchange of principally sodium ions for protons. The outer surface of the ionophore-ion complex is composed largely of nonpolar hydrocarbon, which imparts a high solubility to the complexes in nonpolar solvents. In biological systems, these complexes are freely soluble in the lipid components of membranes and, presumably, diffuse or shuttle through the membranes from one aqueous membrane interface to the other. The net effect for monensin is a trans-membrane exchange of sodium ions for protons. However, the interaction of an ionophore with biological membranes, and its ionophoric expression, is highly dependent on the biochemical configuration of the membrane itself. One apparent consequence of this exchange is the neutralization of acidic intracellular compartments such as the trans Golgi apparatus cisternae and associated elements, lysosomes, and certain endosomes. This is accompanied by a disruption of trans Golgi apparatus cisternae and of lysosome and acidic endosome function. At the same time, Golgi apparatus cisternae appear to swell, presumably due to osmotic uptake of water resulting from the inward movement of ions. Monensin effects on Golgi apparatus are observed in cells from a wide range of plant and animal species. The action of monensin is most often exerted on the trans half of the stacked cisternae, often near the point of exit of secretory vesicles at the trans face of the stacked cisternae, or, especially at low monensin concentrations or short exposure times, near the middle of the stacked cisternae. The effects of monensin are quite rapid in both animal and plant cells; i.e., changes in Golgi apparatus may be observed after only 2-5 min of exposure. It is implicit in these observations that the uptake of osmotically active cations is accompanied by a concomitant efflux of H+ and that a net influx of protons would be required to sustain the ionic exchange long enough to account for the swelling of cisternae observed in electron micrographs. In the Golgi apparatus, late processing events such as terminal glycosylation and proteolytic cleavages are most susceptible to inhibition by monensin. Yet, many incompletely processed molecules may still be secreted via yet poorly understood mechanisms that appear to bypass the Golgi apparatus. In endocytosis, monensin does not prevent internalization. However, intracellular degradation of internalized ligands may be prevented.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Tactical Military Leader Requisite Complexity: Toward a Referent Structure

The U.S. Army has focused on developing leader competencies in order to promote adaptability for asymmetric warfare. Expanding leader adaptive capacity, however, requires integrating competencies w...
A DVR based time-dependent wave packet treatment for reactive scattering

Abstract A time-dependent wave packet method using a DVR (discrete variable representation) is shown to provide an efficient approach to reactive scattering calculations. The DVR basis contraction method ensures that basis functions are not “wasted” in regions of highly repulsive potential surface which would otherwise occur in a standard direct-product basis expansion method. The efficacy of this method for reactive scattering is illustrated by a numerical calculation for 2D dissociative adsorption of H 2 on a metal surface and a substantial reduction in the total number of basis functions is achieved in this example.
Racemic and chiral expanded salen-type complexes derived from biphenol and binaphthol: Salbip and salbin

Abstract The reaction of 2-fluoronitrobenzene with 2,2′-biphenol or ( R )-binaphthol, followed by reduction and subsequent reaction of the resulting diamine with two equivalents of a salicylaldehyde, affords expanded salen-type ligands having backbones based on biphenol or binaphthol: salbipH 2 , ( R )-salbinH 2 and ( R )-salbin( t -Bu) 4 H 2 . Deprotonation of these ligands with sodium methoxide or potassium hydride, followed by metallation with M(OAc) 2 (M = Mn, Co, Ni, or Cu), affords the corresponding metal complexes in good yield (61–85%). The species containing Mn, Co, and Ni all have distorted octahedral geometry, as determined by X-ray crystallography. The ethereal oxygen atoms occupy two coordination sites with metal–oxygen distances ranging from 2.19 to 2.36 A. The imine nitrogen atoms are trans to each other in the solid state, an impossible geometry in traditional salen-type complexes. The species containing Cu are distorted square planar and show much longer metal–ethereal oxygen distances ranging from 2.79 to 3.22 A. The manganese complexes are competent catalysts for the epoxidation of olefins.
Abstract LB-50: TRIM3, the human homolog of Drosophila Brat, is a tumor suppressor that regulates asymmetric cell division (ACD) in glioblastoma stem cells

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA Cancer stem cells, capable of self-renewal and multipotent differentiation, influence tumor behavior through a complex balance of symmetric and asymmetric cell divisions. Mechanisms regulating the dynamics of stem cell and their progeny in human cancer are poorly understood. In Drosophila, mutation of brain tumor (brat) leads to loss of normal asymmetric cell division by developing neural cells and results in a massively enlarged brain composed of neuroblasts with neoplastic properties. Brat promotes asymmetric cell division and directs neural differentiation at least partially through its suppression on Myc. We identified TRIM3 (11p15.5) as a human ortholog of Drosophila brat and demonstrate its regulation of asymmetric cell division and stem cell properties of glioblastoma (GBM), a highly malignant human brain tumor. TRIM3 gene expression is markedly reduced in human GBM samples, neurosphere cultures and cell lines and its reconstitution impairs growth properties in vitro and in vivo. TRIM3 expression attenuates stem-like qualities of primary GBM cultures, including neurosphere formation and the expression of stem cell markers CD133, Nestin and Nanog. In GBM stem cells, TRIM3 expression leads to a greater percentage dividing asymmetrically rather than symmetrically. As with Brat in Drosophila, TRIM3 suppresses c-Myc expression and activity in human glioma cell lines. We also demonstrate a strong regulation of Musashi-Notch signaling by TRIM3 in GBM neurospheres and neural stem cells that may better explain its effect on stem cell dynamics. We conclude that TRIM3 acts as a tumor suppressor in GBM by restoring asymmetric cell division. Citation Format: Subhas Mukherjee, Gang Chen, Monika Anand, Jun Kong, Carol Tucker-Burden, Yuan Rong, Fahmia Rahman, Carlos Moreno, Erwin Van Meir, Constantinos Hadjipanayis, Daniel Brat. TRIM3, the human homolog of Drosophila Brat, is a tumor suppressor that regulates asymmetric cell division (ACD) in glioblastoma stem cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-50. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-LB-50
Quantifiable architecting of dependable systems of embedded systems

Architecture is a critical aspect in the successful development and evolution of dependable systems of embedded systems (SoES). Quantifiably architecting such systems involves establishing consensus from the particular perspectives of quality attributes. Unfortunately, there are few established approaches for rapidly prototyping architecture to identify key architectural artifacts that carry quantifiable constraints throughout the software development processes. This paper presents a quantifiable architectural approach for dependable SoES using rapid prototyping. The approach provides a set of rules (patterns) governing system composition. With quantifiable constraints attached to compositional patterns, the approach also establishes mappings between perspective modeling of dependability acquisition, constraint attachment, and property monitoring. Finally, it provides a rationale for translating timing and synchronous constraints into monitored properties attached to the auto-generated quantifiable architectural framework as an architectural context for quantifiable assessment and architectural evolution. Thus these properties are effectively and practically computable for dynamic monitoring at runtime.