cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Trichrome Stain in Glycol Methacrylate That Works

A staining technique for a trichrome stain is described for discriminating muscle fibers from collagen in plastic-embedded tissue using high-resolution light microscopy. With this stain, a brighter and better contrast is seen as compared with other trichrome methods in glycol methacrylate. This technique employs a microwave oven, which markedly reduces staining time, decreases background staining, and improves adherence of sections to slides.
Association of perioperative venous thromboembolism with long-term oncologic outcomes following radical cystectomy.

364Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) has been reported to occur in 2-5% of patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RC). While VTE is an important cause of perioperative morbidity, the association of these events with long-term cancer prognosis has not been established. Herein, we evaluated the association of perioperative VTE with patients’ risk of subsequent disease recurrence and mortality. Methods: We reviewed 2889 patients undergoing RC between 1980−2009 at the Mayo Clinic to identify patients diagnosed with a VTE within 90 days of RC. These cases were then matched in a 1:2 fashion to control patients undergoing RC who did not develop VTE. Matching was performed on the basis of age, BMI, receipt of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and pathologic T and N stages. Recurrence-free (RFS), cancer-specific (CSS), and overall survival (OS) were estimated utilizing the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the log-rank test. Results: A total of 132 patients with a VTE within 90 days of RC were identified, acco...
The efficacy of targeted next-generation sequencing for detection of clinically actionable mutations in cancer.

10598 Background: The emergence of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies has significantly accelerated the identification of cancer-causing mutations and the development of personalized can...
Old and New on the Schwarzian Derivative

Let f be an analytic function. We define its Schwarzian derivative to be $$Sf = {{\left( {\frac{{f''}}{{f'}}} \right)}^{{\prime \prime }}} - \frac{1}{2}{{\left( {\frac{{f''}}{{f'}}} \right)}^{2}} = \frac{{f'''}}{{f'}} - \frac{3}{2}{{\left( {\frac{{f''}}{{f'}}} \right)}^{2}}. $$ (1.1) The classical notation is {f, z}, or{w, z}if we write w= f(z), and is due to Cayley in an 1880 paper [19]. Cayley was also the one to honor Schwarz with the appellation.
P093 Graft vs host disease (GVHD) in hematopoetic stem cell transplants (HSCT): Effect of donor gender

Aim Despite HLA matching at A, B, C, DR, DQ loci and in many cases DP locus by high resolution sequence based typing, GVHD occurs in ∼20% of the cases at our center. Minor histocompatibility antigen (mHA) differences are not routinely assessed in HSCT. We analyzed the GVHD pattern in our HSCT recipients to assess the impact of male-specific mHA, H-Y by using gender-based recipient/donor HSCT pairs. Previous reports have implicated H-Y antigen in antibody-mediated chronic GVHD and T cell mediated GVL. Methods Retrospective analysis of 281 HSCT recipients consisting of AML ( n = 104), ALL ( n = 36), NHL ( n = 29), MDS ( n = 24), CLL ( n = 19), HD ( n = 15) CML ( n = 12) and other ( n = 42) was done. Occurrence and grade of GVHD were assessed as outcome in specific recipient/donor HSCT pairs: Female/Female [F/F] ( n = 56), Female/Male [F/M] ( n = 48), Male/Male [M/M] ( n = 98), and Male/Female [M/F] ( n = 61). Transplants included matched related and unrelated and haploidentical recipient/donor pairs. Chi-square analysis was performed using SPSS. Results GVHD data was available in 264 HSCT recipients and 55 (21%) developed GVHD. Occurrence of GVHD Grades I-IV was observed in 10 F/F (17.85%), 10 F/M (21%), 22 M/M (22.4%) and 13 M/F (22.4%) HSCT pairs which was not significantly different ( p > 0.05). Individual grades of GVHD did not show any significant difference among the specific gender recipient/donor pairs ( p > 0.05). Conclusions Increased GVHD due to H-Y antigens were noted in previous reports, but the level of HLA matching was limited to A, B, DR or A, B, C, DR. In 10/12 or 12/12 matched HSCT, mHA consisting of ∼30 different antigens may trigger GVHD. While H-Y mHA can evoke a T cell response in Male recipients receiving HSCT from a Female donor, our data indicates that the occurrence or grade of GVHD was not significantly higher among any gender pairs. Impact of age and disease types, were not considered in this analysis. We also did not analyse the data for certain HLA genes in female donors based on their ability to process H-Y antigen. Lack of H-Y effect has also been shown in zero mismatched renal transplantation. While, our results indicate that male H-Y antigen does not have a significant role in inducing GVHD, the evaluation of other mHA and MHC gamma region SNPS are warranted considering that GVHD occurs in ∼25% of HSCT recipients with fully matched HLA donors.
Hidden Privacy Risks in Sharing Pictures on Social Media

Abstract Shared pictures, videos and more constitute as shared media in today’s world of social networks. Each piece of media shared has hidden privacy violations stored in their metadata. Over the past two decades, social media sites, and shared media on them, have grown exponentially. People are sharing more data, and with more people, such unknowing users easily become the victims of numerous types of privacy attacks. By creating a GUI based metadata reader and editor, much of this security risk can be alleviated for common users. By bringing the capability to view and change metadata to different platforms, the true risk, hidden in all shared media, can be brought outright and mitigated. Much of the important data that can be exposed deals with geotags for locations, as well as camera identification numbers, and time stamps. In this work, we discuss the importance of having control of this type of information and share a model application that can be used to help resolve privacy breaches of this type.
Immunity to lysostaphin and its therapeutic value for ocular MRSA infections in the rabbit.

PURPOSE. To determine the effects of immunization against lysostaphin on the bactericidal action of lysostaphin in ocular tissue and the possible induction of allergic reactions. METHODS. Rabbits were immunized against lysostaphin by subcutaneous, intranasal, or topical routes. Anti-lysostaphin antibody titers were determined by ELISA and by neutralization of lysostaphin. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was intrastromally or intravitreously injected into rabbit eyes. Eyes were treated either topically with drops of lysostaphin (0.3%) or with a single intravitreous injection (0.1 mL) of lysostaphin (0.1%). At the time of death, corneas or vitreous humors were cultured to determine the number of colony forming units (CFU). RESULTS. Rabbits in keratitis experiments that were immunized subcutaneously, intranasally, or topically had serum antibody titers of 10,240, 187, and 1,867, respectively, and neutralization titers of 8 or less. In both normal and immunized rabbits with keratitis, lysostaphin significantly reduced the log CFU to less than 1 log, whereas the untreated eyes contained more than 10 6 CFU/cornea (P 0.0001). Rabbits that were subcutaneously or topically immunized for endophthalmitis experiments had serum antibody titers of 1636 or 137, respectively, and neutralization titers of 2 or less. A single intravitreous injection of lysostaphin (0.1%) sterilized all eyes of immunized and nonimmune rabbits with endophthalmitis. No adverse effects were observed with the administration of lysostaphin to either normal or immunized rabbit eyes. CONCLUSIONS. Lysostaphin treatment of immunized rabbits was effective in treating S. aureus‐infected eyes, despite the presence of anti-lysostaphin antibody. No adverse reactions were produced by administration of lysostaphin to immunized rabbits. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2002;43:3712‐3716) Staphylococcus aureus is a major cause of bacterial ocular infections in the United States. 1‐5 S. aureus is a leading cause of bacterial keratitis and patients with epithelial trauma caused by contact lens wear or foreign bodies are susceptible to S. aureus keratitis. 6,7 S. aureus keratitis can cause severe inflammation, pain, corneal perforation, scarring, and loss of visual acuity. 6 Staphylococcus epidermidis and S. aureus are respon
Structure and Function of the Pilosebaceous Follicle

Sebaceous glands cover the skin with an oily film, and they are the seat of comedones and acne lesions. They are an integral part of the pilary system and mostly accompany hair follicles. Their anatomy, physiologic development, and function are discussed.
Therapy and Prevention of Cytomegalovirus Infections

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. Effective means of prevention now exist in certain groups of patients. Suppressive therapy is available for several CMV-related syndromes. This chapter will review the in-vitro, animal, and human data which suggest present indications for prophylaxis and therapy of CMV infections. Additional studies are needed to further delineate and extend present indications to other patient populations. Also needed are new agents with greater activity against CMV which also have enhanced oral bioavailability, thus making long term suppressive therapy more satisfactory.
Electrical Polarizability of Phonon Scattering States in Glasses

Tunneling states1 in glasses should be electrically polarizable. Hence one might expect that the thermal conductivity would change in an electric field. In two previous studies, no effect was seen2,3. In the first experiment, however, the dielectric polarizability of the glass was not known, and the sensitivity of the experiment was reduced because of the relatively high temperatures used, T > 2° K. In the second experiment, the experiment was performed at lower temperatures (T > 0.15°K), and the polarizability was measured. The latter, however, was found to be quite small, which again should decrease the sensitivity of the experiment. In the present experiment, we have chosen a glass of very high polarizability, and have also measured as low as 0.2° K. The experimental technique was the same as that used by Stephens3. The soda-silica glass sample had the composition 75 wt% SiO2, 12 wt% Na2O, with the remainder B2O3, K2O, and Al2O3. The relative change in thermal conductivity, defined as Δ Λ/Λ = (Λ(E,T) - Λ (O,T) ) /Λ(O,T) in an applied field as high as 53 kV/cm, is shown in Fig. 1. As in the previous studies, no systematic change was detectable. In zero field, the thermal conductivity was found to scatter within the range indicated by the two curves in Fig. 1, arising mostly due to thermal drift.
Confidence banking and strategic default

Abstract Securitization relies on confidence. As securities are tied to a particular asset (or pool of assets), and investors lose when the asset defaults, the security issuer usually provides further coverage by promising to use the proceedings from other, non-securitized, assets. Although these promises are difficult to enforce, the issuer may still have incentives to strategically avoid default in order to build a reputation of holding high-quality assets. Confidence makes securitization more dependent on the issuer’s reputation than other forms of financing and more volatile to forces behind reputation concerns, such as expectations about future profits.
A Content-Addressable DNA Database with Learned Sequence Encodings

We present strand and codeword design schemes for a DNA database capable of approximate similarity search over a multidimensional dataset of content-rich media. Our strand designs address cross-talk in associative DNA databases, and we demonstrate a novel method for learning DNA sequence encodings from data, applying it to a dataset of tens of thousands of images. We test our design in the wetlab using one hundred target images and ten query images, and show that our database is capable of performing similarity-based enrichment: on average, visually similar images account for 30% of the sequencing reads for each query, despite making up only 10% of the database.
Comparison of the demographic characteristics of pediatric and adult colorectal cancer patients: a national inpatient sample based analysis.

Colorectal cancer in children is rare, but characterized by late presentation, unfavorable histology and poor prognosis. Risk factors for colorectal cancer in children overlap with those for adults with greater influence of hereditary syndromes. The epidemiology of colon cancer in children is poorly understood; the aim of this study was to characterize and compare the demographics and relevant clinical characteristics of pediatric and adult colon cancer, using a national inpatient sample. The AHRQ online resource HCUPnet/KID database was queried for children, under the age of 18 admitted with ICD 9 CM diagnoses relating to colorectal cancer, at the time of discharge. For comparison, the corresponding diagnoses in adult patients were queried for each successive year. Patient demographics including residential type and median income by zip-code, tumor localization; if recorded, and mean hospital charges were all accrued and analyzed. Inpatient admissions for pediatric colorectal cancer were more likely male (54%), in the 15–17 years age bracket (57%). They were significantly more likely from Southwestern regions of the Unites States, and were significantly more likely from residential zip-codes identified as at or below the lowest income quartile than adult CRC patients or pediatric patients as a whole. Hospital charges have more than quadrupled over the time period studied (1997–2012). Pediatric colorectal cancer is the most common primary gastrointestinal malignancy in children. Better understanding associated risk factors including those associated with gender, geographic region and social economic status may contribute to future prevention or early detection strategies.
Palliative Care Clinician Overestimation of Survival in Advanced Cancer: Disparities and Association With End-of-Life Care.

Abstract Context Clinicians frequently overestimate survival time in serious illness. Objective The objective of this study was to understand the frequency of overestimation in palliative care (PC) and the relation with end-of-life (EOL) treatment. Methods This is a multisite cohort study of 230 hospitalized patients with advanced cancer who consulted with PC between 2013 and 2016. We asked the consulting PC clinician to make their “best guess” about the patients' “most likely survival time, assuming that their illnesses are allowed to take their natural course” ( Results Median survival was 37 days (interquartile range: 12 days, 97 days) and 186/230 (81%) died during the follow-up period. Forty-one percent of clinicians' predictions were accurate. Among inaccurate prognoses, 85% were overestimates. Among those who died, overestimates were substantially associated with less hospice use (ORadj: 0.40; 95% CI: 0.16–0.99) and later hospice enrollment (within 72 hours of death ORadj: 0.33; 95% CI: 0.15–0.74). PC clinicians were substantially more likely to overestimate survival for patients who identified as Black or Latino compared to others (ORadj: 3.89; 95% CI: 1.64–9.22). EOL treatment preferences did not explain either of these findings. Conclusion Overestimation is common in PC, associated with lower hospice use and a potentially mutable source of racial/ethnic disparity in EOL care.
Marketing Preventive Health to Baby Boomers: What if Unhealthy Lifestyles are Attributable to the Counterculture?:

The boom generation is aging. Research has found that aging boomers are more vulnerable to mental and physical health problems and that adoption of healthy lifestyles may be a game changer for prev...
Comparing Parents’ and Teachers’ Rank-Ordered Importance of Early School Readiness Characteristics

As the pressure to succeed academically is imposed on children earlier than ever before, it is essential to understand what characteristics are most important to parents and teachers in order to be school ready. While formally readiness is typically measured using chronological age and mastery of cognitive skills, it also involves physical, behavioral and social-emotional development. Variability exists culturally as to the importance of these various early school readiness characteristics. Moreover, while parents and teachers generally agree, discrepancies between parents and teachers on the importance of specific components for early school readiness arise. In the current study, we examined which characteristics of early school readiness were deemed most and least important according to parents and teachers of 30–42 months old children. Our findings indicate that teachers and parents agreed upon the relative importance of early school readiness components. For both groups, being healthy, happy, and socially skilled were generally ranked as more important than cognitive abilities in the preschool aged child. These conclusions are promising because children’s success is facilitated when parents and teachers share beliefs on which skills children need to successfully transition into the classroom environment.
Transradial renal salvage after complex endovascular aneurysm repair complicated by left renal artery thrombosis.

Abstract Transradial access has been used for percutaneous coronary interventions with success; however, there is limited literature on its use for visceral stenting in the setting of complex endovascular aneurysm repair. We present a case of transradial left renal salvage after renal artery thrombosis in the setting of complex endovascular aneurysm repair.
Reply To: Molecular Brightness analysis of GPCR oligomerization in the presence of spatial heterogeneity

Annibale and Lohse have recently suggested a way in which the two-dimensional fluorescence intensity fluctuation (2D FIF) spectrometry may be further refined. Their main suggestion is to include a step in the analysis process where a case-by-case inspection of individual regions of interest of a membrane allows for selection of portions of the membrane which are as homogenous as possible and thereby exclude intensity spots potentially related to other sub-cellular structures. By incorporating that proposal into an objective and reproducible algorithm, here we show that 2D FIF has a built-in capability to automatically filter out such contributions, and that further removal of inhomogeneities does not alter the final results.
Effects of Lasmiditan on Cardiovascular Parameters and Pharmacokinetics in Healthy Subjects Receiving Oral Doses of Propranolol

Lasmiditan (LY573144/COL-144) is a high-affinity, centrally penetrant, selective 5-HT1F receptor agonist currently under investigation for acute treatment of migraine. Although lasmiditan is not known to induce vasoconstriction, it remains important to understand its effect on cardiovascular parameters because it is likely to be coadministered with β-adrenergic receptor antagonists used for migraine prophylaxis, such as propranolol. This phase 1, single-center, open-label, fixed-sequence study evaluated the cardiovascular and pharmacokinetic effects of 200 mg lasmiditan in 44 healthy subjects receiving repeated oral doses of twice-daily 80 mg propranolol under fasting conditions. Coadministration caused statistically significant decreases in mean hourly heart rate relative to propranolol alone, but the maximum magnitude of this effect was -6.5 bpm and recovered to predose levels by 3 to 4 hours before stabilizing. Additionally, short-lived (≤2.5 hours) statistically significant increases in systolic blood pressure (8.3 mm Hg) and diastolic blood pressure (6.4 mm Hg) were observed following coadministration. Consistent with the largely nonoverlapping metabolic pathways of lasmiditan and propranolol, exposure to either drug was not affected by coadministration. Overall, compared with administration of either drug alone, coadministration was generally well tolerated.
Reduction in Healthcare Utilization With Transition to Peptide‐Based Diets in Intolerant Home Enteral Nutrition Patients

BACKGROUND Since the introduction of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in the 1980s, the prevalence of home enteral nutrition (HEN) support has increased significantly. Despite these increases, many patients are unable to tolerate standard polymeric formulas (SPFs), resulting in significant healthcare resource utilization. Peptide-based diets (PBDs) have emerged as a viable option in SPF-intolerant patients; however, data in the HEN population are lacking. METHODS Retrospective review of our prospectively maintained HEN database was conducted to assess tolerance, efficacy, and impact on healthcare utilization in patients on PBDs. RESULTS From January 1, 2016, to May 1, 2018, 95 patients were placed on PBDs, with 53 patients being started directly and 42 patients being transitioned from SPFs. In patients transitioned to PBDs, symptoms of nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and distention improved significantly. Healthcare utilization also declined significantly, including mean number of phone calls (1.8 ± 1.6 to 1.1 ± 0.9, P = 0.006), mean number of emergency room visits (0.3 ± 0.6 to 0.09 ± 0.3, P = 0.015), and mean number of provider visits (1.3 ± 1.3 to 0.3 ± 0.5, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS Overall, PBDs were well tolerated and resulted in significant improvements in symptoms of gastrointestinal distress and healthcare utilization in patients intolerant to SPFs.
The International Conference on Intelligent Biology and Medicine 2019: computational methods for drug interactions

In this editorial, we briefly summarize the International Conference on Intelligent Biology and Medicine 2019 (ICIBM 2019) that was held on June 9–11, 2019 at Columbus, Ohio, USA. Then, we introduce the two research articles included in this supplement issue. These two research articles were selected after careful review of 105 articles that were submitted to the conference, and cover topics on deep learning for drug-target interaction prediction and data mining and visualization of high-order drug-drug interactions.
User exemplar-based building element retrieval from raw point clouds using deep point-level features

Abstract 3D point cloud data can be utilized for site inspection and reverse engineering of building models. However, conventional methods for building element retrieval require a database of 3D CAD or BIM models which are unsuitable for the case of historical buildings without as-planned models or temporary structures that are not in the pre-built model. Thus, this paper proposes a semi-automated method to efficiently retrieve duplicate building elements without these constraints. First, the point cloud is processed with a pre-trained deep feature extractor to generate a 50-dimensional feature vector for each point. Next, the point cloud is segmented through feature clustering and region-growing algorithms, then displayed on a user interface for selection. Lastly, the selected exemplar is provided as input to a peak-finding algorithm to determine positive matches. Experimental results on five different datasets show that the proposed method obtains average rates above 90% for precision and recall.
Model-Based Geostatistics for Global Public Health: Methods and Applications

Global health has been and will continue to be a vital area of study for researchers. To address malnutrition in Ghana or reduce malaria prevalence in Senegal, it is necessary to know where the aff...
Illusion electromagnetics for free-standing objects using passive lossless metasurfaces

An electromagnetic illusion technique for free-standing objects for far-field observation using passive lossless metasurfaces is presented. Over a closed surface, the electric and magnetic surface currents needed for generating the scattered fields associated with a given physical scatterer are obtained using the surface equivalence principle. The closed surface defines an impenetrable metasurface characterized by surface impedance. A set of auxiliary evanescent surface waves are introduced and optimized over the entire surface to make the metasurface pointwise passive and lossless. Example 2D designs in TE polarization show that desired scattered fields are established immediately away from the illusion device surface. The illusion metasurfaces may be realized as tensor gradient metasurfaces.
Self-healing of asphalt binder with cohesive failure: Insights from molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract Self-healing behavior of asphalt binder is of great interest for development of high performance material. This study presented a novel method to investigate intrinsic self-healing behavior of asphalt binder through molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The proposed method provided the insights on crack development and strength recovery during the failure-healing-failure process of asphalt binder. The cohesive failure trend obtained from the tensile test simulation was consistent with the findings from macroscopic experiments. Through the observation of cracked surfaces and tensile strength over healing time, the self-healing process were described as two separate phases that were consistent with previous experimental findings: (1) a rapid recovery phase with short duration, namely the surface wetting stage; and (2) a slow recovery phase, representing the surface diffusion stage. The strength of asphalt binder may not be fully recovered with the disappearance of nano-crack and the restoration of density at the end of surface wetting stage. The healing ratio was found significantly affected by the initial damage of asphalt binder. The effect of temperature on self-healing of asphalt binder was observed with variations. The proposed method shows the potential to investigate the chemo-mechanical relationship of asphalt binder regarding cohesive failure and self-healing behavior.
The 90-Day Reoperations and Readmissions in Complex Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery.

Study Design:Retrospective review.Objective:Identify surgical complex adult spine deformity patients who are at increased risk for an unplanned postoperative 90-day readmission and/or reoperation.M...
Cost Minimization of Battery-Supercapacitor Hybrid Energy Storage for Hourly Dispatching Wind-Solar Hybrid Power System

This study demonstrates a dispatching scheme of wind-solar hybrid power system (WSHPS) for a one-hour dispatching period for an entire day utilizing battery and supercapacitor hybrid energy storage subsystem (HESS). A frequency management approach is deployed to extend the longevity of the batteries through extensively utilizing the high energy density property of batteries and the high power density property of supercapacitors in the HESS framework. A low-pass filter (LPF) is employed to decouple the power between a battery and a supercapacitor (SC). The cost optimization of the HESS is computed based on the time constant of the LPF through extensive simulations in MATLAB/SIMULINK platform. The curve fitting and Particle Swarm Optimization approaches are applied to seek the optimum value of the LPF time constant. Several control algorithms as a function of the battery state of charge are developed to achieve accurate estimation of the grid reference power for each one-hour dispatching period. This estimation helps to minimize the energy storage cost, in addition to ensuring that the HESS has sufficient capacity for next-day operation. The optimum value of depth of discharge for HESS considering both cycling and calendar expenses has also been investigated for the best competitive energy storage cost for hourly dispatching the power of the WSHPS. This research also presents an economic comparison to investigate the significance of using different types of energy storage for hourly dispatching the WSHPS. The simulation results show that the presented HESS is superior to battery or SC-only operation.
855 Cutaneous adverse events of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy: incidence and types of reactive dermatoses

Background Cutaneous toxicities are a common and potentially serious complication of programmed cell death receptor PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor (anti-PD-1 ICI) therapy. These cutaneous immune-related adverse events (irAEs) have been reported in up to one-third of treated patients, and are usually the first adverse event to occur with immune checkpoint inhibitor use. Due to non-specific reporting in many anti-PD-1 clinical trials, little data is available on the real-world incidence and morphology of cutaneous irAEs. Understanding the spectrum of cutaneous adverse events in real-world clinical environments is necessary to support clinical awareness, diagnosis, and management when undergoing anti-PD-1 therapy. We aimed to describe the incidence of a known spectrum of skin dermatoses in the setting of ICI, and also identify the risk of these adverse events compared with the general population. Methods This was a cross-sectional study of anti-PD-1 (pembrolizumab or nivolumab) treated patients at a tertiary healthcare institution from September 2014 to November 2018. Inflammatory dermatoses occurring in the setting of anti-PD-1 therapy (pembrolizumab or nivolumab) was compiled using our institutional experience with ICIs and case studies and reports on PUBMED. Selected dermatologic events following immunotherapy were identified in the electronic medical record. Unadjusted odds ratios (OR) for the development of a given cutaneous event was calculated by comparison to the non-ICI general population. Results Of the 1,857 patients treated with anti-PD-1 ICIs, there were 1,079 patients treated with nivolumab, 821 patients treated with pembrolizumab, and 43 patients treated with both pembrolizumab and nivolumab. There were 254/1857 (13.7%) patients that developed one of the 28 different dermatoses identified from literature review following anti-PD-1 ICIs. Compared with the general population, patients treated with anti-PD-1 had a greater risk for development of mucositis (OR 65.7, 95% CI 35.0-123.3), xerostomia (OR 11.9, 95% CI 8.4-16.8), pruritus (11.3, 95% CI 8.9-14.3), and lichen planus/lichenoid dermatitis (OR 10.7, 95% CI 5.6-20.7) compared to the control group. Conclusions We report the frequency of dermatoses encountered in the setting of ICI therapy, both commonly (pruritus, rash, vitiligo) and more rarely reported (scleroderma, urticaria). As nivolumab and pembrolizumab currently make the bulk of approvals for ICI therapy, this analysis of real-world irAE incidence will be of use to treatment teams to improve quality of life and ensure ICI therapy adherence. Furthermore, this analysis sets the stage for future in-depth investigation of these cutaneous toxicities, including dose-response relationships, prognostic information from cutaneous events, and optimal treatment strategies. Ethics Approval This study did not require IRB approval, due to the use of anonymized and de-identified aggregate-level data.
Involvement of Sigma Receptor-1 in Lymphatic Endothelial Barrier Integrity and Bioenergetic Regulation

Background: Lymphatic endothelium plays significant roles in lymph transport and maintaining a barrier between the lymph and interstitial compartments. Lymphatic endothelial dysfunction is suspected to be a key factor in the pathogenesis of lymphatic diseases such as lymphedema. Sigma receptor-1 (σ1) was recently identified to promote endothelial-dependent production of nitric oxide and relaxation of collecting lymphatic vessels. In this study, we investigated the potential role of σ1 in lymphatic endothelial barrier function. Methods and Results: Cultured adult human dermal lymphatic endothelial cells (HDLEC) were grown into confluent monolayers. Transendothelial electrical resistance (TER) served as an index of barrier function. Glycolytic rate of HDLEC was determined with the Agilent Seahorse system. The σ1-selective agonist PRE-084 was used to test the impact of σ1 on HDLEC monolayer barrier function and endothelial bioenergetics, whereas the contribution of basal σ1 activity was assessed with small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown of σ1 expression. The ability of σ1 activation to counteract interleukin (IL)-1β-induced barrier dysfunction was also tested. The results show that PRE-084 increases HDLEC TER in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas reducing σ1 expression with siRNA decreases HDLEC TER. PRE-084 also enhances glycolytic rate parameters in HDLEC. Moreover, PRE-084 treatment partially counteracts IL-1β-induced HDLEC monolayer barrier dysfunction. Conclusions: Collectively, the results suggest that σ1 contributes to basal lymphatic endothelial barrier function, potentially through its ability to enhance glycolytic energy production. Our work also highlights the therapeutic potential of σ1 agonists for preventing lymphatic barrier dysfunction caused by inflammatory mediators.
MYSTAT: A compact potentiostat/galvanostat for general electrochemistry measurements

Abstract An open-source potentiostat/galvanostat instrument design is introduced that provides the ability to take accurate measurements over a current range of ±200 mA and a potential range of ±12 V. The improved capability of the instrument compared to the previously published design upon which it is based makes it suitable for performing a wider range of electrochemical measurements including the ability to use larger working electrodes, study of high current density processes, study of electrochemistry in nonaqueous solutions and use in high voltage processes such as electrophoretic deposition. The instrument can be controlled from any computer capable of running the Python programming language, including a low-cost Raspberry Pi. Unlike many commercial potentiostat designs, the instrument is completely open-source, giving researchers the ability to modify the hardware and software as needed for custom measurement techniques. The low cost makes the instrument attractive for research and teaching laboratories in which multiple electrochemical measurements need to be carried out in parallel.
A dual U-Net algorithm for automating feature extraction from satellite imagery:

Quick identification of building and roads is critical for execution of tactical US military operations in an urban environment. To this end, a gridded, referenced, satellite images of an objective...
Rural residency as a risk factor for severe maternal morbidity.

Purpose The goal of this study was to evaluate how rural/urban status and other risk factors alter women's odds of severe maternal morbidity (SMM) at delivery. Methods This study used 48,608 Kentucky resident delivery hospitalization records from 2017. We used multiple logistic regression with interaction terms to evaluate the moderating effect of rural/urban residence with other risk factors. We reported adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) as measures for association with the outcome of SMM at delivery. Findings The percentage of delivery hospitalizations with SMM was higher for women with rural (2.4%) versus metro (1.1%) or metro-adjacent (1.5%) residence (p Conclusion Rural women in Kentucky are at an increased risk for SMM. Quality and safety programming should specifically address the needs of isolated subpopulations. Women living in rural areas are more likely to experience SMM given an anemia diagnosis. The underlying cause and clinical management of anemia may differ between rural and urban areas.
Everyday Discrimination and Mental Health Symptoms Among Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Students of Color Attending a Hispanic Serving Institution

Purpose: Discrimination—as a unique psychosocial stressor—disproportionately affects the mental health of communities of color as a function of systems of power and oppression. The increasing popul...
Trends in breast cancer survival by race-ethnicity in Florida.

e18556Background: Considerable efforts to improve disparities in breast cancer outcomes for underserved women have occurred over the past 3 decades. This study was conducted to evaluate trends in s...
Craniopharyngioma: history

One of the most challenging parasellar tumors, the craniopharyngioma was first described by Friedrich Albert von Zenker in 1857. Following improved understanding of pituitary gland physiology and development, Jakob Erdheim became the first to accurately describe the histopathological characteristics of a craniopharyngioma. Babinski’s described the clinical presentation of these patients, with “sexual infantilism and dystrophic adiposity.” The first successful surgical resection of a craniopharyngioma was performed by A. E. Halstead of Chicago of July 21st, 1909. Harvey Cushing embraced the transsphenoidal approach for the majority of his pituitary operations, but favored the transcranial approach for craniopharyngiomas. The introduction of antibiotics, corticosteroids, and microscopy significantly improved surgical outcomes. As technology improved, trans-cranial and transsphenoidal approaches were implemented depending on tumor characteristics. Adjuvant therapy, such as stereotactic radiosurgery, radioisotope brachytherapy, and intracapsular chemotherapy have improved overall tumor control rates and decreased the incidence of complications. Building on over 100 years of surgery for “the most formidable of intracranial tumors,” results continue to improve. Regardless, challenges continue to remain requiring surgical insight and innovation.
Vapor-phase conversion of aqueous 3-hydroxybutyric acid and crotonic acid to propylene over solid acid catalysts

Diverse sources of wastewater organic carbon can be microbially funneled into biopolymers like polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) that can be further valorized by conversion to hydrocarbon fuels and industrial chemicals. We report the vapor-phase dehydration and decarboxylation of PHB-derived monomer acids, 3-hydroxybutyric acid (3HB) and crotonic acid (CA), in water to propylene over solid acid catalysts using a packed-bed continuous-flow reactor. Propylene yields increase with increased Bronsted acidity of catalysts, with amorphous silica–alumina and niobium phosphate yielding 52 and 60 %C (percent feedstock carbon, max 75 %C) of feedstock 3HB and CA, respectively; additional products include CO2 and retro-aldol products (acetaldehyde and acetic acid). Deactivation studies indicate progressive and permanent steam deactivation of amorphous silica–alumina, while re-calcination partially recovers niobium phosphate activity. Experiments demonstrating sustained reactor operation over niobium phosphate provide a promising technology pathway for increasing valorization of organic-rich wastewater.
Fluorescein and Poly(Ethylene Oxide) Hose Stream Additives for Improved Firefighting Effectiveness

A novel technique has been developed to accurately monitor levels of hose stream additives by adding a fluorescein tracer. A fluorescent agent system is proposed to control and monitor additives into hose streams. Fluorescent water streams also have the advantage of improved nighttime and low-light visibility. Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) was shown in the 1960s to be very effective in fire hose streams, providing dramatic increases in hose stream pressure, reach, and volume. As is discussed in this paper, however, PEO fell into disrepute for firefighting operations. A reexamination strongly indicates the inaccuracy of previous misperceptions and indicates that PEO deserves reconsideration as being potentially powerful for greatly enhanced petroleum, ordnance, high-rise and impeded access firefighting, in which increased stand-off distances are desirable.
Empirical Magnetic Field Models for the Space Weather Program

A brief review is presented of the recent progress and the current state of the data-based modeling of the magnetospheric magnetic field. Combining the wealth of the observational data with flexible and realistic models advances our understanding of the dynamics of Earth's magnetic environment. The empirical approach to the modeling not only makes it possible to quantitatively represent the variable magnetosphere, but helps derive from data valuable information on its response to variations in interplanetary conditions. The cornerstones of the empirical modeling are (1) large sets of magnetic field and plasma data, (2) mathematical methods, allowing one to flexibly represent the B-field on a global scale, and (3) parameterization of magnetospheric field sources by the solar wind state variables and ground activity indices. This paper overviews most recent accomplishments made along these lines and discusses ongoing efforts to improve the data-based models; in particular, replicating the highly variable configuration of the magnetotail, introducing more flexible and realistic ring current model, and taking into account the variable shape and size of the magnetopause. Of special importance is the need to develop an improved representation of the high-latitude magnetosphere, including the dynamical large-scale Birkeland currents. Most of these problems can now be tackled, owing to recently devised powerful mathematical techniques, and a large amount of data obtained during several decades of spaceflight.
Oligodendrocyte precursor quantitation and localization in perinatal brain using a retrospective bioassay

Several late stages of the oligodendrocyte (OL) developmental lineage can be identified immunologically in the newborn rat brain. However, OL lineage-specific markers are not available for the detection of the less mature, yet determined, OL precursors. We have developed a retrospective bioassay, combining limiting dilution analysis with a novel culture system, that quantitatively assesses the developmental potential in vivo of phenotypically undefined OL precursors in order to (1) demonstrate their existence, (2) estimate their total number in the premyelinated rat brain, and (3) demonstrate their presence in regions distal to germinal zones at times previously predicted to be devoid of such cells. Between embryonic day (E) 21 and postnatal day (P) 0, cells determined to become oligodendrocytes increase in frequency approximately 5-fold in the whole brain (from one precursor for every 365 cells to 1 in 74), and approximately 2.5-fold in the telencephalon (from 1 in 298 to 1 in 115). From these data it is calculated that a pool of approximately 10(6) phenotypically undefined cells are present in the newborn brain that are able to differentiate into OL in vitro. Further, by applying this assay to tissue samples of subdomains of the developing cerebellum, we have demonstrated that such cells are present in large numbers as early as E20 in regions sparsely populated with cells expressing the blastic neural cell marker ganglioside GD3, suggesting that they migrated to this position as a pre-GD3-expressing cell. These results significantly change the predicted ontogeny of the oligodendrocyte lineage and should fuel the ongoing search for these early OL precursors.
Modeling molybdenum carbide-based hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts using carbon-modified Mo(110) surfaces

Abstract Transition metal carbides, such as Mo 2 C, have been proposed as substitutes for group VIII metal catalysts, since they exhibit similar catalytic properties in some applications. Mo 2 C catalysts have shown potential for commercial use in hydrodesulfurization (HDS) processes and tend to resist sulfur poisoning better than platinum group metals. Although these molybdenum carbide catalysts look encouraging as replacements for MoS 2 -based catalysts, questions remain regarding the fundamental surface chemistry associated with the HDS of organosulfur molecules on carbided and sulfided molybdenum catalyst surfaces. To further investigate the suitability of Mo 2 C for HDS applications, the interaction of sulfur-containing molecules with molybdenum surfaces was examined by utilizing carbon-modified Mo(110) single crystals as model catalysts. Specifically, the reactivity of ethanethiol and 1,2-ethanedithiol were studied on the clean Mo(110), defective p(4×4)-C/Mo(110), and p(4×4)-C/Mo(110) surfaces using temperature programmed desorption (TPD), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), and low energy electron diffraction (LEED). Ethanethiol and 1,2-ethanedithiol TPD experiments demonstrated that the presence of multiple sulfhydryl (SH) groups influences surface chemistry, given the differences observed in product distribution. Ethanethiol experiments performed on clean Mo(110) surfaces yielded ethane and ethylene as reaction products, while 1,2-ethanedithiol TPD experiments produced acetylene, ethylene, vinyl thiol, and ethanethiol. Ethanethiol TPD experiments showed that no significant differences in reactivity, selectivity, or reaction pathways exist between clean Mo(110) and the defective p(4×4) surfaces. 1,2-Ethanedithiol TPD experiments performed on the clean Mo(110) and p(4×4)-C/Mo(110) surfaces produced similar reaction products, although significant changes were observed in selectivity. On the clean surface, the major desorption products were acetylene, ethylene, vinyl thiol, and ethanethiol. However, the reaction of 1,2-ethanedithiol on the p(4×4)-C/Mo(110) surface produced only acetylene and ethylene. Thus, complete desulfurization of 1,2-ethanedithiol occurs on the p(4×4) surface upon decomposition, yielding only hydrocarbon products.
X inactivation in mouse ES cells: histone modifications and FISH.

Publisher Summary In mammals, X inactivation is used to equalize X-linked gene dosage between females, with two X chromosomes, and males, with only one, and it provides a particularly dramatic example of gene regulation by alterations in chromatin structure. X inactivation can be divided into several phases which includes choice, initiation, spread, and maintenance. Thus, the study of X inactivation addresses two equally interesting issues in the study of gene expression. First, what activities are used to alter chromatin structure, and how are these activities restricted to particular portions of the genome? Second, how are different chromatin states stably maintained through cell division? The fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) procedure involves generating a labeled probe, hybridizing the probe to the fixed and immunostained sample, and then detection of the labeled probe. The specific activity of RNA probes is maximum, and since the immunostaining may cause a slight reduction in the amount of RNA in the sample, using high specific activity probe generates the best results with FISH.
Terminative joint sequential object detection and tracking based on fused test statistics

Joint object detection and tracking is a powerful approach to significantly improve the detection of extremely weak targets or phenomena in surveillance systems. Since the Kalman filter is an optimal estimator for object tracking problems under certain conditions and the Wald's sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) requires fewer samples in average than the fixed-sample-size procedure when solving object detection problems, it is beneficial to apply the Kalman filter and the Wald's SPRT to design joint object detection and tracking algorithm. However, the Wald's SPRT cannot be rigorously proved to eventually terminate if the observations are dependent. In this paper, a terminative joint sequential detection and tracking approach is proposed by fusing two test statistics: one is derived in our previous work, and the other is based on independent observations obtained by linearly combining a group of adjacent measurements. The proposed approach takes advantage of both statistics in that it is guaranteed to terminate and it requires on the average a small number of measurements. Numerical results show that the average sample number required by the proposed approach is very small under low signal-to-noise ratio conditions and the actual probabilities of errors are smaller than the nominal probabilities of errors.