cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
New frontiers in quantum cascade lasers: High performance room temperature terahertz sources

In the last decade quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) have become the most widely used source of mid-infrared radiation, finding large scale applications because of their wide tunability and overall high performance. However far-infrared (terahertz) QCLs have lagged behind in terms of performance and impact due to the inability so far of achieving room temperature operation. Here we review recent research that has led to a new class of QCL light sources that has overcome these limitations leading to room temperature operation in the terahertz spectral range, with nearly 2 mW of optical power and significant tunability, opening up also this region of the spectrum to a wide range of applications.
Bunts, Bloop Singles, Sacrifices, Hard Base Running, and Lots of Luck

Alkin shares stories about his own evaluation life that he prepared for the American Evaluation Association (AEA) 2013 symposium session, based on his responses in interviews conducted by David Williams and on his earlier writings. He briefly mentions his father's influence on his values and extraprofessional evaluations before giving several examples of evaluation experiences he had as a teacher and counselor, as a university student, as a new faculty member, and as a home buyer—all before or while learning about the field of evaluation. He explores how an accumulation of experiences throughout his career and life provided opportunities for him to apply what he learned in his extraprofessional evaluation life to the formal approaches he took in conducting and writing about professional evaluation.
The Effects of Dietary Chicory and Reduced Nutrient Diets on Composition and Odor of Stored Swine Manure11Contribution no. 05-285-J of the Kansas Agric. Exp. Sta., Manhattan 66506.

ABSTRACT Two experiments were conducted to examine the impact of dietary chicory on growth performance and odor of stored swine manure. In Exp. 1, 180 nursery pigs (10.6 ± 2 kg BW) were used in a 21-d experiment to evaluate the effects of replacing corn with chicory (0.5 to 10.0%) on pig performance. Overall, ADG increased (linear; P
Na(+)-Ca2+ exchanger in arteries: identification by immunoblotting and immunofluorescence microscopy

Antibodies raised against dog cardiac Na(+)-Ca2+ exchanger were employed to determine the presence and distribution of the exchanger in arterial smooth muscle (ASM) cells. The antiserum cross-reacted with protein bands of approximately 70, 120, and 150-160 kDa from the membranes of ASM cells, as well as heart sarcolemma. A cardiac Na(+)-Ca2+ exchanger cDNA probe hybridized to 7-kilobase (kb) mRNA from myocytes of the mesenteric artery. Thus ASM cells possess a "cardiac type" Na(+)-Ca2+ exchanger. The relative amounts of 7-kb mRNA and antigen detected on Northern and Western blots, respectively, however, indicate that vascular myocytes contain much less of this transporter than do cardiac myocytes. Immunofluorescence studies on cultured arterial myocytes suggest that the exchanger molecules are organized in reticular patterns over the cell surfaces. A similar pattern is observed when cells are stained for sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca(2+)-ATPase. This raises the possibility that the exchanger in the plasmalemma of arterial myocytes may be associated, perhaps functionally as well as structurally, with the underlying SR. The antiserum also cross-reacted with endothelial cell membranes, but labeling was lighter and more diffuse than in the myocytes.
Simple junction box for rapid acquisition of data during implantation of permanent pacemakers

We have designed a simple junction box to facilitate the measurement of pacing thresholds and the recording of intracardiac electrograms at the time of pacemaker implantation. The junction box combines a standard electrocardiograph and a monitoring oscilloscope in an arrangement that provides a convenient, rapid, and safe way of acquiring implantation data.
“Traitors” to race, “traitors” to nation: Latina/o immigration enforcement agents, identification and the racial state

Latina/o immigration enforcement agents, who represent 52 per cent of all US Border Patrol agents, are often confronted with the accusation “traitor.” Drawing on ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews, I argue that this term reinscribes the boundaries of a normative Latina/o identity constituted, in part, by a transnational racial solidarity. At the level of identification, “traitor” draws at least two responses from Latina/o agents. Some assert that their “connection” to the migrants they police leads them to engage their work more humanely than their fellow agents. Other Latina/o agents, by contrast, profess a primary commitment to the inviolability of US national boundaries. Both approaches, however, buttress the hegemonic racial state. The racial and ethnic diversity of the ranks of US immigration enforcement, combined with the adoption of a more humane approach by some agents, underpins the racial project of immigration enforcement. This study illuminates the multiplicity of Latina/o racial identities and the functioning of the contemporary racial state in a supposedly “post-racial” era of diversity and nominal inclusion.
The Sociolinguistic Context of Singapore and Oak

This chapter explores the complex sociolinguistic landscape into which my focal designer immigrant students stepped. The chapter starts with an introduction to the different official languages of Singapore – English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil – and Singapore’s national bilingual policy. Following this introduction and in keeping with an earlier discussion of how globalization has affected the status of the languages, I examine how linguistic instrumentalism (i.e., how economic value is attached to a language) is conceptualized in Singapore. Particular attention is given to the unequal statuses assigned to Standard English and Singlish (i.e., Singapore Colloquial English). I then turn to the public debate over falling English language standards in Singapore that resulted in the Speak Good English Movement before focusing on the national English language syllabus. By doing so, I move from the official sphere and its influence on languages to the situation on the ground where I examine how languages are actually used in the Singaporean school context. The chapter closes with a consideration of how issues of social class shape the national and school discourse over English language use.
The Potential of Caffeine for the Inhibition of Cognitive Decline in the Aged

Publisher Summary This chapter explores the potential beneficial effects of caffeine in preventing cognition disorder in the elderly. The growing population of older people is likely to bring about an increase in the incidence of age-related cognitive decline and so strategies to prevent it have to be developed. The consumption of caffeine and other stimulants have potentially beneficial effects on cognition, including improved attention and enhanced information processing and improve mental function. An outline of caffeine chemistry is given and the mechanism of its stimulatory action. The effect of caffeine in aging, prevention of diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's is explored. The negative effects of caffeine include its hypertensive and anxiety-producing effects as well as withdrawal symptoms and possible drug interactions. The effect of caffeine on cognition is influenced by a number of dietary and lifestyle factors. It concludes that the small number of studies on older people makes firm conclusions difficult as well as interpretation of data related to the effect of caffeine on cognition due to the variation in assessment tools. It recommends further studies to identify the optimal caffeine dose, or more selective stimulants that can separate the apparent cognitive benefits from its side effects.
Principles of Dietary Management

Common inherited metabolic disorders (IMD) treated by life-long diet therapy are responsible for a collection of diverse clinical conditions. The overall goal of nutritional treatment is to correct the metabolic imbalance whilst providing adequate nutritional support for normal growth and development. Each condition may present at a different age with a spectrum of disease severity and outcome, so designing a diet that has the ‘right balance’ between maintaining metabolic stability but is not unnecessarily ‘over-restrictive’ is challenging. Prescribed diets for IMD are individualised and need to consider the patient’s clinical condition, individual tolerances, metabolic stability, age, developmental ability and expected prognostic outcome. Feeding problems, malnutrition and growth failure are common complications. Systematic and observant nutritional follow-up, with regular monitoring of biochemical control, is essential to avoid nutritional deficiencies and identify early signs of adherence issues. Early counteractive measures can improve diet quality, metabolic control, and long-term outcome.
Featured Article: Pharmacological postconditioning with delta opioid attenuates myocardial reperfusion injury in isolated porcine hearts:

Ischemic preconditioning has been utilized to protect the heart from ischemia prior to ischemia onset, whereas postconditioning is employed to minimize the consequences of ischemia at the onset of ...
Guest Editorial Target and Reverberation Experiment 2013 (TREX13)—Part II

The articles in this special section focus on research and development related to the Target and Reverberation Experiment (TREX13) conducted in the Gulf of Mexico off Panama City, FL, USA, in spring 2013. The primary goal of the experiment was to measure midfrequency (2–10 kHz), shallow-water reverberation with full companion environmental measurements such that models and data could be compared without ambiguity. While a number of other major field efforts, such as the Acoustic Reverberation Special Research Program and the Acoustic Clutter Reconnaissance Experiment, have been conducted to study low- to midfrequency reverberation, it has been difficult to measure and account for all of the relevant reverberation mechanisms in a single experiment.
Importance of light in the treatment of vitiligo with JAK-inhibitors

Dear Editor,Vitiligo is an autoimmune pigmentary disorder characterized by depigmented patches of skin with a selective loss of melanocytes. Given the absence or diminished numbers of melanocytes i...
Themes in community resilience: A meta-synthesis of 16 years of Idaho Community Reviews

AbstractTo address socioeconomic challenges in rural Idaho, some communities have participated in a community review process through Idaho Rural Partnership’s Community Review program. To understand patterns and trends in perceptions of local assets and challenges, we used a mixed-methods approach, including aggregation and statistical analysis of survey data collected over the course of 15 years, and qualitative analysis of open-ended survey questions, focus group data, and assessment reports. Respondents were most dissatisfied with employment and availability of higher education, and most satisfied with items indicative of strengths in bonding social and cultural capital. Satisfaction for some community characteristics was found to vary by time, remoteness, and population size. Results aligned well with other research on rural wellbeing. Findings can help direct community planners and residents addressing local issues to develop response strategies, such as increased focus on infrastructure, health, com...
An Interactive Probability Plotting Program

An interactive FORTRAN program is presented which allows the user to produce probability plots (theoretical quantile-quantile plots) for an input data set based on several types of theoretical dist...
Striatin-1 is a B subunit of protein phosphatase PP2A that regulates dendritic arborization and spine development in striatal neurons

Striatin-1, a subunit of the serine/threonine phosphatase PP2A, is preferentially expressed in neurons in the striatum. As a member of the striatin family of B subunits, striatin-1 is a core component together with PP2A of a multiprotein complex called STRIPAK, the striatin-interacting phosphatase and kinase complex. Little is known about the function of striatin-1 or the STRIPAK complex in the mammalian striatum. Here, we identify a selective role for striatin-1 in striatal neuron maturation. Using a small hairpin RNA (shRNA) knockdown approach in primary striatal neuronal cultures, we determined that reduced expression of striatin-1 results in increased dendritic complexity and an increased density of dendritic spines, classified as stubby spines. The dendritic phenotype was rescued by co-expression of a striatin-1 mutant construct insensitive to the knockdown shRNA but was not rescued by co-expression of PP2A- or Mob3-binding deficient striatin-1 constructs. Reduction of striatin-1 did not result in deficits in neuronal connectivity in this knockdown model, as we observed no abnormalities in synapse formation or in spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents. Thus, this study suggests that striatin-1 is a regulator of neuronal development in striatal neurons.
Aspergillus sinusitis in two HIV-infected men.

Richard, a 39-year-old accountant, had experienced many complications of HIV disease when he was diagnosed with aspergillus sinusitis. He had suffered particularly severe CMV retinitis, leading eventually to bilateral retinal detachments and complete blindness. Although he had tried antiretroviral therapy several times, none of the drugs seemed to prevent his CD4 cell count from declining, and in fact he felt better when he and his physician made the decision to stop them. After losing his vision, recurrent sinusitis was his major problem. A CT scan of the sinuses done in May 1995 showed pansinusitis and destruction of the nasal septum. Surgery to drain and debride the sinuses showed invasive fungal forms identified by culture as Aspergillus fumigatus . Over the next three months, the disease seemed to be progressing despite daily infusions of high-dose amphotericin B, and two additional surgeries were required. After receiving a cumulative two grams of amphotericin, Richard was placed on itraconazole, which he took along with his maintenance medications of oral ganciclovir, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, clarithromycin, G-CSF, long-acting morphine, and fluoxetine. On several occasions, the sheer burden of taking all these medications and the chronic pain from his sinusitis led him to consider stopping all his medicines. He discussed this option with his physician, who could understand Richard's frustration and did not actively dissuade him from choosing this course. In December 1995 he was enrolled in an expanded access program of indinavir and began this medication along with stavudine and lamivudine. At the start of the …
A Phase II Study of the Dual mTOR Inhibitor MLN0128 in Patients with Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (mCRPC).

e16529Background: MLN0128 is a first-in-class, dual mTOR inhibitor that has the potential to overcome resistance seen with standard rapalogs through inhibition of both TORC1 and TORC2. This phase I...
Updated diagnostic criteria for neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder: Similar outcomes of previously separate cohorts.

BackgroundThe specificity of the aquaporin-4 antibody to predict recurrent inflammatory central nervous system disease has led to the design of the 2015 neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder crite...
The muddy semiotics of mud

In North Bihar, mud ensures prosperity for farmers, but also materially signals the lower status from which their wives try to raise the family, even at the cost of risking their own and their children's lives. This article provides a semiotic analysis of mud, an ambiguous material in its physical combination of land and water, a substance with specific gendered and class dimensions, and a symbolic marker whose presence on bodies indexes their socio-political identity. The sensuous relationships that revolve around mud and the prejudices it indexes illuminate meanings of dirt within processes of environmental knowledge and risk. By attending to the semiotic processes through which we understand nature, this article suggests that mud naturalizes the discrimination at the origin of dirtiness. Historical and political circumstances, such as the progressive loosening of the links between caste and occupation, show that mud is not dirt, but it becomes dirt when other kinds of dirt lose their meaning.
Institutional Algorithm for the Optimal Treatment Strategy for the Patients with Severe Coronary Artery Disease in Lung Transplantation

Purpose Since we recently yielded and presented our results for concomitant lung transplantation (LTx) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) (LTx/CABG) that showed a 100% 1-year survival, more patients with severe coronary artery disease (CAD) have been referred to us, which has driven us to establish our institution's decision-making algorithm for those with concurrent severe CAD in LTx. Methods Between September 2017 and September 2018, we prospectively evaluated 31 consecutive patients with concurrent severe CAD referred for LTx at our center. Severe CAD is defined as the one with at least one of the main coronary artery branches being angiographically significant (>70% stenosis) or when clinical or physiologic criteria are met. An experienced interventional cardiologist and two cardiac surgeons jointly reviewed the CAD severity of all these patients prior to listing and decided their treatment options following the algorithm below. Patients with clinically significant CAD and unstable clinical trajectories were listed for LTx/CABG (Figure). Results Following joint review, revascularization was deemed unnecessary in 5 patients (16%) who eventually underwent LTx alone. Two patients were scheduled for LTx/CABG but underwent LTx alone based on intraoperative judgement. Nine patients (30%) underwent concomitant LTx/CABG. Six were single and three were double LTx. One case was with ECMO bridged to LTx/CABG. All patients with severe CAD who proceeded to transplant were discharged and clinically stable at the end of the study period. Conclusion While multimorbidity in the elderly now constitutes the greatest present medical burden even in LTx, a well-designed selection algorithm contributes to their optimal treatment options leading to improved outcomes following LTx for those with severe CAD.
Abstract 3452: hnRNPUL1 regulation by ATR in DNA damage response

The DNA damage response (DDR) is a signaling network that recognizes damages to DNA and orchestrates a variety of DNA repair and cell cycle checkpoint pathways. The DDR is pivotal for cancer prevention. Ataxia Telangiectasia And Rad3-Related Protein (ATR), a protein kinase, functions as an essential transducer of the DDR signaling cascade. ATR primarily responds to single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) generated from double-strand break resection or at stalled replication forks. Depletion of ATR leads to cellular senescence and cancer related phenotypes. The mechanisms regarding how the ATR signal pathway is regulated, however, remain elusive. To discover novel DDR proteins regulated by ATR, we performed proteomic analysis to identify proteins that partner with ATR in response to DNA damage in cells. Our analysis revealed a network of proteins as potential ATR substrates, including Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein U-like 1 (hnRPUL1), a protein functions in RNA metabolism. We validated that ATR interacts with hnRNPUL1. In addition, hnRPUL1 is phosphorylated on SQ/TQ sites in response to IR. ATR depletion suppresses the IR induced hnRPUL1 phosphorylation. Our results identify hnRNPUL1 as a novel ATR substrate, critical for the DNA damage response and provide insight into how DDR and RNA metabolism might work synergically in maintaining genomic stability and preventing cancer. Additionally, hnRNPUL1 phosphorylation by ATR may be targeted as an adjunct to improve the efficacy of ionizing radiation for cancer therapy. Citation Format: Hui Zhang, PamelaSara E. Head, Duc M. Duong, Nicholas T. Seyfried, David S. Yu. hnRNPUL1 regulation by ATR in DNA damage response [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3452.
Women’s Access to Credit Increases Women in Bankruptcy: Evidence From Maryland Since 1940

Little is known about women's use of consumer bankruptcy in the US before 1980. We use new data from Maryland to show that women who petitioned for bankruptcy without a spouse were twice as common in the 1970s as they were in the 1950s and 1960s. We explore the extent to which the growing supply of credit to women explains their growing representation in bankruptcy. To do this, we examine the effect of a 1974 federal law that barred sex discrimination in lending, increasing the supply of credit to women relative to men. After the law, the probability that a bankrupt was a woman was 30 percentage points higher. Additionally, while the number of creditors reported by women filers grew to match men's, the amount of debt female filers owed did not grow relative to male filers. Together these results imply that the law increased the supply of credit to women on the extensive margin, that is, it increased the number of women who received credit. The patterns suggest that earlier low rates of bankruptcy among women were largely a result of the low supply of credit to them
Management of hemodialysis patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection: perspective of two nephrologists in the United States

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is unprecedented and information about the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is evolving rapidly. New York is one of the epicenters of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, reporting >1000 confirmed cases as of March 17, 2020, and cases are escalating exponentially. The majority of cases are in Westchester County ( n =220) and New York City (NYC; n =463), which includes Bronx (1). The local index patient case was a Westchester man who became ill on February 22, was not associated with a recent travel exposure to a country on the watch list (China, Iran, South Korea, and Italy), or known to have had direct contact with a COVID-19–confirmed patient. At the present time it is estimated that community-wide transmission accounts for 87% of confirmed cases. Nephrologists in the Bronx have been handicapped in managing patients with ESKD during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic due to the limitations of available rapid testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Montefiore Medical Center, located in the north Bronx in close proximity to Westchester, has been one of the main tertiary care hospitals in NYC caring for persons under investigation (PUIs) and for COVID-19–confirmed patients. Our nephrology division’s clinical faculty care for approximately 850 patients with ESKD (approximately 800 on hemodialysis and approximately 50 on peritoneal dialysis) in 12 outpatient hemodialysis facilities (two Fresenius and 10 DaVita facilities) in the Bronx. We report our experience with caring for the ESKD population and patients who are hospitalized with AKI in the Bronx during the first 3 weeks of the local NYC COVID-19 pandemic. Strategies proposed for the prevention and management of COVID-19 transmission for patients with ESKD in the outpatient dialysis facilities have been dynamic. The American Society of Nephrology’s (ASN’s) Nephrologists Transforming …
Sex differences in response to short-term high fat diet in mice

Background Consumption of high-fat diet (HF) leads to hyperphagia and increased body weight in male rodents. Female rodents are relatively resistant to hyperphagia and weight gain in response to HF, in part via effects of estrogen that suppresses food intake and increases energy expenditure. However, sex differences in energy expenditure and activity levels with HF challenge have not been systemically described. We hypothesized that, in response to short-term HF feeding, female mice will have a higher energy expenditure and be more resistant to HF-induced hyperphagia than male mice. Methods Six-week-old male and female C57BL/6 J mice were fed either low fat (LF, 10% fat) or moderate HF (45% fat) for 5 weeks, and energy expenditure, activity and meal pattern measured using comprehensive laboratory animal monitoring system (CLAMS). Results After 5 weeks, HF-fed male mice had a significant increase in body weight and fat mass, compared with LF-fed male mice. HF-fed female had a significant increase in body weight compared with LF-fed female mice, but there was no significant difference in fat mass. HF-fed male mice had lower energy expenditure compared to HF-fed female mice, likely due in part to reduced physical activity in the light phase. HF-fed male mice also had increased energy intake in the dark phase compared to LF-fed male mice and a reduced response to exogenous cholecystokinin-induced inhibition of food intake. In contrast, there was no difference in energy intake between LF-fed and HF-fed female mice. Conclusions The data show that female mice are generally protected from short-term HF-induced alterations in energy balance, possibly by maintaining higher energy expenditure and an absence of hyperphagia. However, HF-feeding in male mice induced weight and fat mass gain and hyperphagia. These findings suggest that there is a sex difference in the response to short-term HF-feeding in terms of both energy expenditure and control of food intake.
The Influence of Cognitive Learning Objective Domain on Clinical Competence Development Among Clinical Officer Interns in Meru and Tharaka-Nithi Counties

ABSTRACTGlobally, lives of seven billion people lie in the hands of 59 million health workers for care throughout their lifespan. This study purposed to establish the influence of cognitive learning objective domain on clinical competence development among clinical officer interns in Meru and Tharaka-Nithi Counties. The study used a descriptive longitudinal research design, which was necessitated by need for follow-up of respondents. The study had two groups as respondents made of clinical supervisors and clinical officer interns. The study used non-probability sampling method of purposeful for supervisors and probability sampling method of stratification for clinical officer interns. The study targeted 60 supervisors and selected purposefully a sample of 30, plus 150 Clinical officers interns and selected a sample of 109 using formulae by; Glen Israel, (2009). The study employed a semi - structured interview guide instrument on clinical supervisors and a structured questioner instrument on clinical officer interns. The findings of the study indicate that internship improved clinical competence development clinical officer Interns, as evidenced by lower scores before than after internship. Findings suggest that competencies of clinical officer interns are not yet well-developed as they start their internship, but improved at the end of internship. Significant difference was attained during their training on knowledge and skills but not much on attitudes. The study recommends that internship must be emphasized for improvement of cognitive and psychomotor with mentorship program for effective domain competence development among clinical officer interns in Kenya.
Polymicrobial sphenoethmoid sinusitis with orbital apex extension presenting as vision loss

Abstract The orbital apex is a complex region which serves as a craniofacial junction and acts as a conduit for numerous neural and vascular structures. A variety of infection, neoplastic, and inflammatory etiologies can affect this region, and often present with a consolation of neurovascular symptoms. In this article we present an unusual case of a polymicrobial sphenoethmoid sinusitis with extension into the orbital apex that presented as isolated vision loss.
Evaluation of the ideal position of the maxillary incisor relative to upper lip thickness

Introduction The anteroposterior position of the maxillary incisors has been studied since the beginning of cephalometric research. Most reports of ideal position have been based on measurements made on subjects with Class I occlusion without consideration of other facial variables. However, the ideal position is reflected in the soft tissues by the position of the lips. The purpose of this study was to consider the position of the maxillary incisor relative to other factors, including the thickness of the upper lip, and to evaluate its most aesthetic position using profile photographs. Methods The subjects in this study were 130 patients with Class I occlusion; their sex, age, thickness of the upper lip, and angular position of the maxillary incisor were recorded. From these 130 patients, 70 profile photographs that met the inclusion criteria were chosen for further evaluation. A survey was conducted among 60 lay people, 60 dentists, and 60 orthodontists. They were asked to classify the sets of photographs, from the most esthetic position of the upper lip to the least esthetic. Results For patients with thin lips, raters tended to prefer a more protruded position of the incisor than normal or between 8.0 mm and 11.5 mm in front of the Na-B bone and 4 mm in front of the Na-A bone. For patients with thick lips, the position of the incisor did not affect the perception of the profile. Conclusions A correct skeletal scheme or Class I occlusion does not necessarily result in ideal facial harmony. Therefore, it will be necessary to consider all the factors that come into play, especially the lips, which are a key element in facial esthetics.
Correction to: Psychometric Performance of the Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test (M-FAST) in Veteran PTSD Assessment

Correction of mistake in the original version of this paper, “Psychometric Performance of the Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test (M-FAST) in Veteran PTSD Assessment”, specifically, in Table 2, the cell for item 13 under the “testing the limits” header should read “0.0” and not “15.8”.
Clinical outcomes of breast cancer patients treated in phase I clinical trials at University of Colorado Cancer Center.

Patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) refractory to standard of care therapies have a poor prognosis. The purpose of this study was to assess patient characteristics and clinical outcomes for patients with MBC treated on phase I clinical trials. We performed a retrospective review of all patients with MBC who were enrolled in phase I clinical trials at the University of Colorado Cancer Center from January 2012 to June 2018. A total of 208 patients were identified. Patients had a mean age of 57 years and received on average 2.1 (range 0-10) prior lines of chemotherapy. The majority of patients had hormone receptor-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer (58.6%) and 30.3% had triple-negative breast cancer. The median progression free survival (PFS) was 2.8 months (95% CI, 2.3-3.9) and median overall survival (OS) was 11.5 months (95% CI, 9.6-13.2). Independent factors associated with longer PFS in multivariable analysis were treatment in a breast cancer-selective trial or cohort (p = 0.016), age >50 years (p = 0.002), and ≤2 prior lines of chemotherapy in the metastatic setting (p = 0.025). Phase I clinical trials remain a valuable option for select patients with MBC and enrollment should be encouraged when available.
Migration Patterns for Revision Total Hip Arthroplasty in the United States as Reported in the American Joint Replacement Registry.

Abstract Background Revision total hip arthroplasty (revTHA) is associated with higher rates of complications and greater costs than primary procedures. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of hospital size, teaching status, and indication for revTHA, on migration patterns in patients older than 65 years old. Methods All THAs and revTHAs reported to the American Joint Replacement Registry from 2012 to 2018 were included and merged with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services database. Migration rate was defined as a patient’s THA and revTHA procedures that were performed at separate institutions by different surgeons. Migratory patterns were recorded based on hospital size, teaching status, and indication for revTHA. Analyses were performed by statisticians. Results The number of linked procedures included was 11,906. Migration rates in revTHA due to infection were higher for small hospitals than large hospitals (46.6% vs 28.6%, P Conclusion Hospital size and teaching status significantly affected migration patterns for revTHA. Migration rates were significantly higher in small non-teaching hospitals in revTHA due to infection, periprosthetic fracture, instability, and mechanical complications. Over 80% of patients migrated to larger teaching hospitals.
Translational Assessments of Reward Responsiveness in the Marmoset.

BACKGROUND Anhedonia, the loss of pleasure in previously rewarding activities, is a prominent feature of major depressive disorder and often resistant to first-line antidepressant treatment. A paucity of translatable cross-species tasks to assess subdomains of anhedonia, including reward learning, presents a major obstacle to the development of effective therapeutics. One assay of reward learning characterized by orderly behavioral and pharmacological findings in both humans and rats is the probabilistic reward task. In this computerized task, subjects make discriminations across numerous trials in which correct responses to one alternative are rewarded more often (rich) than correct responses to the other (lean). Healthy control subjects reliably develop a response bias to the rich alternative. However, participants with major depressive disorder as well as rats exposed to chronic stress typically exhibit a blunted response bias. METHODS The present studies validated a touchscreen-based probabilistic reward task for the marmoset, a small nonhuman primate with considerable translational value. First, probabilistic reinforcement contingencies were parametrically examined. Next, the effects of ketamine (1.0-10.0 mg/kg), a US Food and Drug Administration-approved rapid-acting antidepressant, and phencyclidine (0.01-0.1 mg/kg), a pharmacologically similar N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist with no known antidepressant efficacy, were evaluated. RESULTS Increases in the asymmetry of rich:lean probabilistic contingencies produced orderly increases in response bias. Consistent with their respective clinical profiles, ketamine but not phencyclidine produced dose-related increases in response bias at doses that did not reduce task discriminability. CONCLUSIONS Collectively, these findings confirm task and pharmacological sensitivity in the marmoset, which may be useful in developing medications to counter anhedonia across neuropsychiatric disorders.
Constitutional Separation of Church and State: The Quest for a Coherent Position

This clause of the First Amendment, recently applied by the Supreme Court to invalidate certain religious practices in the public schools, has called down a new storm over the Supreme Court. The storm has not consisted merely of the political bombast of predictable critics. Rather, it has included Dean Griswold of the Harvard Law School who perceived in the first school prayer case an unyielding and unwarranted absolutism in the position of the Court. It includes also highly regarded church figures, such as Episcopal Bishop Pike, who has called for a constitutional amendment to alter the Court's mandates. It has percolated within the law schools, and within the Court itself where lengthy separate opinions were composed to clarify what has and what has not been done. Yet, even within the Court, as within the larger academic and public forums, wide disagreement remains as to the applied meaning of the opaque language of the religion clause.This article cannot quiet the storm over the Supreme Court, but it can make clear which parts of the storm are entitled to be taken seriously and which are merely bluster. Beyond this, there are more significant purposes to be served. The first of these is to make sense of existing cases in terms of some coherent doctrine, responsive to the First Amendment and possessing substantial predictive value: to describe the standard of church-state separation which the Supreme Court applies in fact. The second is to demonstrate that a number of open questions remain to be answered before a more precise boundary of church-state separation can be known.
A participatory systems mapping approach for sustainability transitions: Insights from an experience in the tourism sector in Portugal

Abstract The use of participatory modelling approaches in sustainability transition studies has been limited despite its potential contributions to transitions research. In this article, a methodological framework was designed based on a Participatory Systems Mapping (PSM) approach to structure and frame sustainability problems in transition management processes. The framework comprises three phases: 1) transition framing and actor selection, 2) PSM transition workshop, and 3) synthesis and evaluation. In a case study of the Portuguese tourism sector, participants created a shared systems view of tourism sustainability issues, based on the development of causal loop diagrams. Transition concepts, such as landscape-regime and niche-regime interactions, are specified in the diagrams. The PSM approach also provided a collaborative platform for co-creation of shared sustainability visions, thus fostering formalisation of a broad roadmap for desired transition pathways.
Burden and Unmet Needs with Portable Oxygen in Patients on Long-Term Oxygen Therapy.

Rationale: Over 1.5 million Americans receive long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) for the treatment of chronic hypoxemia to optimize functional status and quality of life. However, current portable oxy...
Response by Bohula et al to Letters Regarding Article, "Prevention of Stroke With the Addition of Ezetimibe to Statin Therapy in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome in IMPROVE-IT (Improved Reduction of Outcomes: Vytorin Efficacy International Trial)".

In response to Thomopoulous and Michalopoulou, we agree that hypertension is a well-described risk factor for stroke and is reasonable to consider when assessing the potential mechanism of benefit for ezetimibe on the risk of ischemic stroke. It is important to note that blood pressure was well controlled in this population after acute coronary syndrome with a median baseline blood pressure of 123/72 mm Hg (interquartile range of 110–136/65–80). There was a small change over time, with no clinically significant difference between randomized treatment (median blood pressure at 12 months for ezetimibe/simvastatin 130/78 mm Hg [119–140/70–83] and simvastatin alone 130/78 mm Hg [120–141/70–83]). Although we cannot rule out other mechanisms for the benefit of ezetimibe for ischemic stroke, we suspect that it is related primarily to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol reduction given the consistency of our findings with that of the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ meta-analysis.1,2 In addition, an anti-inflammatory effect, as reflected in reductions in high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, may also contribute to benefit for the reduction in atherothrombotic events.3 With regard to the comments by Del Pinto et al, although a clinical history of hypertension was a …
A meta-analysis of the virtual reality problem: Unequal effects of virtual reality sickness across individual differences

Practical applications of virtual reality (VR), defined as a three-dimensional digital representation of a real or imagined space, have become increasingly popular and are now applied in workplace training, physical rehabilitation, psychological therapy, and many other settings. Feelings akin to motion sickness, called VR sickness, can arise from interacting with VR programs, and researchers have shown that certain aspects of the user, such as gender and age, may predict the occurrence of VR sickness. The unequal effects of VR sickness are a dire concern and the application of VR is unfair to certain users if they are prone to sickness. For instance, a workplace VR training program could result in disparate treatment if women experience more VR sickness than men. To investigate this notion, we perform a meta-analysis on the relationship between VR sickness and a wide array of potential antecedents. The results demonstrate that motion sickness susceptibility, gender, real-world experience, technological experience, possessing a neurological disorder, and possessing a relevant phobia all significantly relate to VR sickness; however, no moderating effects produced recurrent significant results. These results were partially explained by the current dominant framework for VR sickness, postural instability theory, but some findings were not predicted by the theory. Therefore, we support that (a) VR sickness produces unequal effects across multiple individual differences; (b) these effects appear resilient across applications of VR programs, and (c) further research is needed to develop theory and identify explanatory mechanisms that detail these relationships.
The impact of self-help groups on successful substance use treatment completion for opioid use: An intersectional analysis of race/ethnicity and sex.

Introduction Race/ethnicity and sex disparities in substance use and substance use treatment completion are well documented in the literature. Previous literature has shown that participation in self-help groups is associated with higher rates of substance use treatment completion. While most of this research has focused on the completion of treatment for alcohol and stimulant use, research examining this relationship using an intersectional approach for individuals in treatment for opioid use is limited. Methods Thus, the current study utilized responses from the Treatment Episodes Data Set-Discharges, 2015-2017 to examine disparities in the relationship between participation in self-help groups and substance use treatment completion for individuals undergoing treatment for opioid use based on sex, race, and ethnicity. Results Results revealed a positive association between participation in self-help groups and treatment completion among those in treatment for opioid use across race, ethnicity, and sex. Further, the study found several differences in this association based on one's race, ethnicity, and sex. When compared to men of other races/ethnicities, the association between self-help group participation and treatment completion was highest among Black men. Conclusions The results of the current study extend the knowledge-base about self-help participation's role in promoting successful substance use treatment completion to individuals in treatment for opioid use. Results also highlight the need to examine treatment outcomes with an intersectional lens.
INFORMAS (International Network for Food and Obesity/non-communicable diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support): summary and future directions

This supplement presents the foundational elements for INFORMAS (International Network for Food and Obesity/non-communicable diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support). As explained in the overview article by Swinburn and colleagues, INFORMAS has a compelling rationale and has set forth clear objectives, outcomes, principles and frameworks for monitoring and benchmarking key aspects of food environments and the policies and actions that influence the healthiness of food environments. This summary highlights the proposed monitoring approaches for the 10 interrelated INFORMAS modules: public and private sector policies and actions; key aspects of food environments (food composition, labelling, promotion, provision, retail, prices, and trade and investment) and population outcomes (diet quality). This ambitious effort should be feasible when approached in a step-wise manner, taking into account existing monitoring efforts, data sources, country contexts and capacity, and when adequately resourced. After protocol development and pilot testing of the modules, INFORMAS aims to be a sustainable, low-cost monitoring framework. Future directions relate to institutionalization, implementation and, ultimately, to leveraging INFORMAS data in ways that will bring key drivers of food environments into alignment with public health goals.
On the declarative semantics of logic programs with negation

Abstract A logic program can be viewed as a set of predicate formulas, and its declarative meaning can be defined by specifying a certain Herbrand model of that set. For programs without negation, this model is defined either as the Herbrand model with the minimal set of positive ground atoms, or, equivalently, as the minimal fixed point of a certain operator associated with the program (van Emden and Kowalski). These solutions do not apply to general logic programs, because a program with negation may have many minimal Herbrand models, and the corresponding operator may have many minimal fixed points. Apt, Blair, and Walker and, independently, Van Gelder, introduced a class of stratified programs which disallows certain combinations of recursion and negation and showed how to use the fixed point approach to define a declarative semantics for such programs. Using the concept of circumscription, we extend the minimal model approach to stratified programs and show that it leads to the same semantics.
Developing the pre‐employment schema: The significance of information about the workplace and emotional support from friends and family

Purpose – Economic insecurity has had a major impact on employees; however, much less is known about its relationship to the expectations of individuals as they prepare to enter the full‐time professional workplace. This study aims to focuss on relationships between negative workplace information and emotional support communicated by social networks and the development of undergraduates' pre‐employment schemas.Design/methodology/approach – A survey of university upperclassman was conducted, resulting in a sample of 153 participants. Correlations and linear regressions were used to test hypotheses.Findings – Results indicated that the emotional support undergraduates receive from parents and employed friends is more strongly related to their workplace expectations than the specific information they receive regarding downsizing, the faltering economy, and job insecurity.Research limitations/implications – Data were collected using self‐report surveys. Future research should examine “non‐traditional” undergr...
Who Will Use Our Electronic Teacher’s Guide? A Preliminary Analysis of Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge of and Attitudes Toward Issues Surrounding the Holocaust

To ascertain the current status of Holocaust knowledge and attitudes of prospective teachers and to inform the development of a web-based educational resource for teachers of the Holocaust, an exploratory analysis was conducted at a public university in Florida. Data were obtained from prospective teachers (N = 464) who completed a knowledge test, a survey related to bias toward traditionally marginalized groups, and a multicultural affinity scale. Statistical analyses were conducted to examine potential group differences for gender, race, age, and college major. No statistically significant differences were found for the knowledge test or students’ bias toward marginalized groups. On the multicultural affinity scale, statistically significant results were obtained for gender and race. Results from this study can serve to guide the curriculum of teacher education programs as well as the development of resources such as the website, Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust.