cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Diapause in Aedes triseriatus (Diptera: Culicidae) Larvae Terminated by Molting Hormones

Aedes triseriatus (Say) is a tree-hole-breeding mosquito which is multivoltine, and it has a facultative diapause in either the egg stage or the 4th larval stage. In our laboratory, 2 geographical strains have been studied, a southern strain from Alabama and a northern strain from Ohio. Kappus and Venard (1967) reported that egg diapause is induced by short-day (L:D, 10:14) photo-periodic treatment of the egg itself; they also noted that a small percent of short-day-treated eggs of the Alabama strain do not enter diapause and the resulting larvae, if continued on short days, will enter diapause as 4th instars. In studying Alabama larvae obtained from shortday- treated eggs, Wright (1966) found photoperiod to be the primary factor for larval diapause induction, and low temperatures to increase its duration. Recently it has been found that the larvae from long-day-treated eggs of both the Alabama and the Ohio strains can be induced to enter diapause as 4th instars by retarding larval development with a low-quantity diet or low temperature long enough to allow the short day to exert a visible effect (Clay and Venard, in manuscript).
Warehouse Location With Concave Costs

AbstractThis paper presents an improved solution procedure for the warehouse location problem where continuous economies of scale are present. The improvement is achieved by an effective combination of two heuristic methods presented recently by Drysdale and Sandiford, and Khumawala. The solution procedure first focuses on reducing the potential warehouse set using Khumawala’s method. An iterative technique is then used to optimally allocate customers to these warehouses, taking into account their diminishing marginal costs. As demonstrated in this paper, the procedure converges rapidly to a “good” solution. The efficiency of the procedure is compared with another solution method and the results are quite promising.
ID 225 – Stimulating the operculo-insular cortex for pain modulation: Crossed evidence from tDCS and intra-cranial stimulation

Motor cortex stimulation for pain relief has shown its usefulness but also its limits. In the search for new targets, one can stimulate relatively high (e.g. DLPFC) or low level cortical areas. The posterior insula-medial operculum is one of the earliest areas to process nociceptive information but is a difficult target. We addressed its stimulation along two experimental lines: tDCS and intra-cranial stimulation. Methods (a) 10 epileptic patients, implanted with intra-cranial electrodes, received high-frequency stimulation at operculo-insular contacts. 10 supra-threshold peripheral painful electrical stimuli were delivered before, during and after low-frequency cortical stimulation between two neighboring contacts. (b) A multi-polar tDCS montage was used to deliver anodal and cathodal stimulation to the right operculum-insula of 10 healthy participants, in a double-blind cross-over design. Subjective pain threshold and tolerance to a Cold Pressor Test, vegetative responses and EEG were compared before, during and after the application of tDCS. Results (a) Neither perception nor intracranially-recorded evoked potentials to a nociceptive stimulus were significantly altered by low-frequency, low-intensity intracranial stimulation of operculum-insula. (b) While pain thresholds were not significantly modulated by multi-polar tDCS, there was a differential effect of polarity on pain tolerance, with cathodal stimulation leading to faster hand withdrawal. Work carries on!
Studying Neutrophil Migration In Vivo Using Adoptive Cell Transfer

Adoptive cell transfer experiments can be used to study the roles of cell trafficking molecules on the migratory behavior of specific immune cell populations in vivo. Chemoattractants and their G protein-coupled seven-transmembrane-spanning receptors regulate migration of cells in vivo, and dysregulated expression of chemoattractants and their receptors is implicated in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Inflammatory arthritides, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), are characterized by the recruitment of inflammatory cells into joints. The K/BxN serum transfer mouse model of inflammatory arthritis shares many similar features with RA. In this autoantibody-induced model of arthritis, neutrophils are the critical immune cells necessary for the development of joint inflammation and damage. We have used adoptive neutrophil transfer to define the contributions of chemoattractant receptors, cytokines, and activation receptors expressed on neutrophils that critically regulate their entry into the inflamed joint. In this review, we describe the procedure of neutrophil adoptive transfer to study the influence of neutrophil-specific receptors or mediators upon the their recruitment into the joint using the K/BxN model of inflammatory arthritis as a model of how adoptive cell transfer studies can be used to study immune cell migration in vivo.
Knowledge Management in Hospitals

The medical field in recent years has been facing increasing pressures for lower cost and increased quality of healthcare. These two pressures are forcing dramatic changes throughout the industry. Managing knowledge in healthcare enterprises is hence crucial for optimal achievement of lowered cost of services with higher quality. The following paper focuses on developing and fostering a knowledge management process model. The process is then viewed through the lenses of various strategic management and competitive frameworks.
Application of an Artificial Neural Network to Predict Graduation Success at the United States Military Academy

Abstract This paper presents a neural network approach to classify student graduation status based upon selected academic, demographic, and other indicators. A multi-layer feedforward network with backpropagation learning is used as the model framework. The model is trained, tested, and validated using 5100 student samples with data compiled from admissions records and institutional research databases. Nine input variables consist of categorical and numeric data elements including: high school rank, high school quality, standardized test scores, high school faculty assessments, extra-curricular activity score, parent's education status, and time since high school graduation. These inputs and the multi-layer neural network model are used to classify students as: graduates, late graduates, or non-graduates. Several neural network architectures are examined and compared by run time, minimum mean square error achieved (MSE), mean correct classification rate, precision, recall, and specificity. A multi-layer neural network with 50 hidden neurons, momentum value of 0.8, and learning rate of 0.1, with hyperbolic tangent hidden neuron activation functions was able to accurately predict graduation success and achieved the best performance with classification accuracy exceeding 95%, high recall, high precision, and high specificity. This prediction model may be used to inform admission decisions and identify opportunities for required remediation with the potential to improve graduation rates, increase student retention, reduce late graduation, and reduce first-term course failures.
Abstract 495: MicroRNA-155 Modulates Endothelial Intracellular Adhesion Molecule-1 Expression

The endothelium is essential in maintaining vascular tone, thrombosis, vascular remodeling, signal transduction, and inflammation by directly producing cytokines and chemokines which act in cell signaling and the recruitment of lymphocytes. In addition, the up-regulation of adhesion molecules such as vascular adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), E-selectin, and P-selectin aid in leukocyte adherence and diapedesis. This collective alteration in the physiological characteristics of endothelial cells is commonly referred to as endothelial activation. Currently, microRNA regulation of endothelial cell activation remains poorly characterized. Specifically, microRNA-155 (miR-155) has been found to play an important role in the development and function of several immune cell types such as dendritic cells, macrophages, B-cells, and T-cells. However, the capacity of miR-155 to participate in a phenotypic change in non-traditional immune cells to a pro-inflammatory state has yet to be examined. In order to address this short-coming, our research focuses on whether the expression miR-155, affects endothelial activation. Thus far, we have determined that the expression of miR-155 can be modulated by pro-inflammatory mediators traditionally associated with endothelial activation such as disturbed flow, TNF-α, IL-1β and lipopolysaccharide. In addition to its inducible expression within endothelial cells, we have found that miR-155 can specifically alter ICAM-1 expression. Western blots with protein from excised aortas of miR-155 -/- mice reveal significantly reduced ICAM-1 expression when compared to WT mice. This data was further confirmed in vitro with protein gathered from cultured mouse aortic endothelial cells. Additionally, in accordance with the modulated ICAM-1 expression, we found monocyte adhesion to endothelial cells over-expressing miR-155 to be increased. In conclusion, these preliminary findings suggest that miR-155 plays a major role in endothelial activation, and therefore regulation of miR-155 expression holds significant therapeutic potential in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
Limb Position Tolerant Pattern Recognition for Myoelectric Prosthesis Control with Adaptive Sparse Representations From Extreme Learning

Myoelectric signals can be used to predict the intended movements of an amputee for prosthesis control. However, untrained effects like limb position changes influence myoelectric signal characteristics, hindering the ability of pattern recognition algorithms to discriminate among motion classes. Despite frequent and long training sessions, these deleterious conditional influences may result in poor performance and device abandonment. Goal: We present a robust sparsity-based adaptive classification method that is significantly less sensitive to signal deviations resulting from untrained conditions. Methods: We compare this approach in the offline and online contexts of untrained upper-limb positions for amputee and able-bodied subjects to demonstrate its robustness compared against other myoelectric classification methods. Results: We report significant performance improvements ( $p ) in untrained limb positions across all subject groups. Significance: The robustness of our suggested approach helps to ensure better untrained condition performance from fewer training conditions. Conclusions: This method of prosthesis control has the potential to deliver real-world clinical benefits to amputees: better condition-tolerant performance, reduced training burden in terms of frequency and duration, and increased adoption of myoelectric prostheses.
The counterpublic of the J(ewish) Blogosphere: gendered language and the mediation of religious doubt among ultra-Orthodox Jews in New York

While there have always been doubters and heretics among ultra-Orthodox Jews, access to the Internet over the past fifteen years has amplified opportunities for anonymous expression and connection. An early key platform was the Jblogosphere (Jewish Blogosphere), which flourished between 2003 and 2009. This article focuses on four Hasidic bloggers (three men and a woman) who were part of a growing counterpublic of secret religious doubters. I trace how this counterpublic challenged the authority of the ultra-Orthodox religious public sphere through gendered digital writing and reading in varieties of Yiddish and English. Linguistic resources for those engaging with the new medium of the blog became proxies for bodies that could not change without risk of expulsion. However, the counterpublic remained almost exclusively for men, reproducing the exclusion of women from the ultra-Orthodox public sphere. The analysis focuses on dynamics between gendered languages and media/semiotic ideologies in order to highlight a historical moment when the mediation of religious doubt became publicly legible, with implications for religious change for individuals and their wider communities.
What's in a teacher test? Assessing the relationship between teacher licensure test scores and student STEM achievement and course-taking

Abstract We investigate the relationship between teacher licensure test scores and student test achievement and high school course-taking. We focus on three subject/grade combinations—middle school math, ninth-grade algebra and geometry, and ninth-grade biology—and find evidence that a teacher's basic skills test scores are modestly predictive of student achievement in middle school math and highly predictive of student achievement in high school biology. A teacher's subject-specific licensure test scores are a consistent and statistically significant predictor of student achievement only in high school biology. Finally, we find little evidence that students assigned to middle school teachers with higher basic-skills test scores are more likely to take advanced math and science courses in high school.
Planning Challenges and the Challenges of Planning

In this chapter, we look at the multifaceted nature of planning in the public realm. The chapter presents a thumbnail sketch of planning history and identifies three major global trends: urbanization, changing sociodemographic characteristics, and climate change that affect every aspect of planning. These trends will manifest differently across geographic regions, and the chapter argues that planners must think critically about how their projects or programs may be impacted by these trends. For example, American planners must address sprawl, crumbling infrastructure, declining investments in public transportation, an aging population, diversity, environmental quality challenges, and consequences of climate change. In addition, planners must confront societal shifts such as the devaluation of their professional expertise, societal polarization, and lack of a commitment to civic obligations. The chapter then discusses the role that technologies have played in shaping and informing planning practices. The chapter concludes by drawing attention to the persistent challenges of social inequality and poverty that severely limits the potential of good planning. The chapter is the gateway to the discussion of our case studies in Chapter 3 and methods in Chapters 4 and 5.
Evolution of amorphous carbon across densities: An inferential study

Abstract In this paper, we offer large and realistic models of amorphous carbon spanning densities from 0.95 g / c m 3 to 3.5 g / c m 3 . The models are designed to agree as closely as possible with experimental diffraction data while simultaneously attaining a local energy minimum of a density functional Hamiltonian. The structure varies dramatically from interconnected wrapped and defective s p 2 sheets at 0.95 g / c m 3 to a nearly perfect tetrahedral topology at 3.5 g / c m 3 . Force Enhanced Atomic Refinement (FEAR) was used and is shown here to be advantageous relative to conventional ab initio melt quench methods. We thoroughly characterize our models by computing structural, electronic and vibrational properties. The vibrational density of states of the 0.95 g / c m 3 model is strikingly similar to monolayer amorphous graphene. Our s p 2 / s p 3 ratios are close to experimental predictions where available.
Fear of Eros and the Fragmentation of Consciousness

Individual differences in the way eros develops, or fails to develop, reflect both personality differences and differences in the structure of the social community which provides a fertile or barren soil to nourish and sustain eros. These two factors are not completely separable. When we consider the various ways in which a stream of experiences can be organized to form a self, we find that eros is an experience that cannot thrive if there is too much fragmentation in the long-term motivational continuity of this organization. Yet some forms of society by their very nature fragment the stream of consciousness in such ways as to transform eros into almost unrecognizable (were they not so familiar) contortions. Typical examples of a partial or equivocal ability to love may manifest themselves as coquetry, insensitive reductivism, sado-masochism, and ‘non-voluptuous’ or ‘non-physical’ eros (which may be manifested in some cases as a form of ‘impotence’ or ‘frigidity’). Under the surface of these recognizable syndromes are structures of self-disorganization which also tend to permeate in varying degrees the ‘normal’ self in modern forms of culture. ‘Typical’ or ‘average’ love relationships thus show many of the same problems as the ‘dysfunctional’ types just listed.
Out of the Mouths of Babes: Links Between Linguistic Structure of Loss Narratives and Psychosocial Functioning in Parentally Bereaved Children

This study examined links between the language bereaved children use to describe the death of their caregiver and children's psychological/behavioral functioning and coping strategies. Participants included 44 children (54.5% male) aged 7 to 12 (M = 9.05) years who were bereaved by the death of a caregiver. Children were assessed via self- and caregiver-report measures and an in-person interview regarding the loss of their caregiver. Children's loss narratives gathered through in-person interviews were transcribed and subjected to textual analysis. Linguistic categories included pronouns and verb tense. Drawing from linguistic and self-distancing theories, we hypothesized that children's use of language reflecting self-distancing (third-person pronouns and past tense) or social connectedness (first-person plural pronouns) would be negatively associated with psychological/behavioral distress and avoidant coping. Similarly, we expected that children's use of self-focused language (first-person singular pronouns and present tense) would be positively associated with psychological/behavioral distress and avoidant coping. As hypothesized, preliminary findings suggest that children who employed more self-distancing language and used more social connectedness words reported less avoidant coping, rs = .40-.42. Also as hypothesized, children who employed more self-focused language had higher levels of self-reported posttraumatic stress symptoms, r = .54, and avoidant coping, r = .54, and higher parent-reported psychological/behavioral distress, r = .43. Implications for theory-building, risk screening, and directions for future research with bereaved youth are discussed.
Srinivasa Ramanujan: The Role of Amateurs

Ramanujan was no “amateur”, but he shared with many the lack of formal training in mathematics when he began his research. The chapter discusses traits he shared with amateurs, including difficulty writing proofs, and gives famous historical contributions by amateurs.
Antagonism of the Lethal Effects of Cyanide with Resealed Erythrocytes Containing Rhodanese and Thiosulfate

These studies are concerned with the application of resealed erythrocytes containing rhodanese (Cyanide: Thiosulfate Sulfurtransferase, E.C.2.8.1.1.) in cyanide antagonism. In earlier studies, we reported that resealed murine erythrocytes containing rhodanese and sodium thiosulfate were able to convert cyanide to the less toxic thiocyanate in vitro,.1 Subsequently, it was reported that these resealed erythrocytes retained their cyanide detoxifying properties in the intact animal.2 When mice received these resealed erythrocytes containing rhodanese and thiosulfate, they demonstrated decreased blood cyanide concentrations, and increased thiocyanate formation. Moreover, rhodanese activity within these resealed erythrocytes appears to be unaltered by the intracellular RBC environment. Although it is possible to demonstrate the disappearance of blood cyanide, increased formation of thiocyanate, reversal of cytochrome oxidase inhibition, and methemoglobin sequestion of cyanide as cyanmethemoglobin, these biochemical parameters, which have been used in the past as predictive models, do not always correlate well with the antagonism of the lethal effect of cyanide.
Biophysical Methods for Assessing Plant Responses to Nanoparticle Exposure

As nanotechnology rapidly emerges into a new industry - driven by its enormous potential to revolutionize electronics, materials, and medicine - exposure of living species to discharged nanoparticles has become inevitable. Despite the increased effort on elucidating the environmental impact of nanotechnology, literature on higher plants exposure to nanoparticles remains scarce and often contradictory. Here we present our biophysical methodologies for the study of carbon nanoparticle uptake by Allium cepa cells and rice plants. We address the three essential aspects for such studies: identification of carbon nanoparticles in the plant species, quantification of nanotransport and aggregation in the plant compartments, and evaluation of plant responses to nanoparticle exposure on the cellular and organism level. Considering the close connection between plant and mammalian species in ecological systems especially in the food chain, we draw a direct comparison on the uptake of carbon nanoparticles in plant and mammalian cells. In addition to the above studies, we present methods for assessing the effects of quantum dot adsorption on algal photosynthesis.
Effect of Particulate Benzo(a)pyrene Carrier on Carcinogenesis in the Respiratory Tract of Hamsters

A series of experiments was designed with the objectives: (1) to determine if particle size is a factor in the carcinogenic response of the respiratory tract of hamsters exposed to benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) adsorbed to particles of ferric oxide, aluminum oxide, or carbon; and (2) to determine the relationship of particle size to the degree of carcinogenic response at different levels of the respiratory tract.
Deploying end-of-life utilization measures for oncology patients to assess hospital care quality and value.

106Background: Addressing utilization near the end of life (EOL) for cancer patients is critical to enhance the value of cancer care. Cancer EOL utilization measures have been widely endorsed, including by the National Quality Forum (chemotherapy in the last 14 days; ICU in the last 30 days; not admitted to hospice; admitted to hospice for < 3 days). However, efforts to use these measures to assess hospital quality and value have been constrained, in part because currently endorsed specifications do not provide a claims-based approach to cohort identification, and do not include a hospital attribution methodology. Methods: Using Medicare fee-for-service claims for adults ≥65 years, and through an iterative process informed by an expert panel, we developed extensible claims-based algorithms to a) identify patients who were deceased from cancer; b) attribute each patient to a responsible hospital; and c) derive hospital-level performance measures. We sought to ensure that these algorithms had strong face va...
Cellular pathways in the development of human and murine innate lymphoid cells

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are critical to effective immune surveillance against pathogens, have malignant counterparts, and contribute to disease. Thus, it is important to understand ILC development. All ILCs are derived from the common lymphoid progenitor cell; however, the exact mechanisms and signals that initiate their divergence from T cells, B cells and one and other are incompletely understood. Evidence now supports a stepwise developmental process that includes distinct cellular intermediates, progressively narrowed differentiation, and some plasticity. While the current models of human and murine ILC development share many similarities, they also include some distinct differences. Together these findings have established a working dynamic model of ILC development.
Computers Are Syntax All the Way Down: Reply to Bozşahin

A response to a recent critique by Cem Bozsahin of the theory of syntactic semantics as it applies to Helen Keller, and some applications of the theory to the philosophy of computer science.
HOST RESTRICTION OF FRIEND LEUKEMIA VIRUS: PROTEINS AND MESSENGER RNA

ABSTRACT. Host restriction of murine oncornaviruses is multigenic, but one host gene, Fv-1 , determines the ability of certain oncornaviruses to replicate in tissue culture, or to cause leukemia in the mouse. We have investigated aspects of the late phase of viral replication to ascertain whether host restriction is mediated through an effect of the host cell on viral assembly, or on the translation of viral messenger RNA.
Sufficient conditions for local equivalence of mappings

Let $$f,g:({\mathbb {R}}^n,0)\rightarrow ({\mathbb {R}}^m,0)$$ be $$C^{r+1}$$ mappings and let $$Z=\{x\in \mathbf {\mathbb {R}}^n:\nu (df (x))=0\}$$ , $$0\in Z$$ , $$m\le n$$ . We will show that if there exist a neighbourhood U of $$0\in {\mathbb {R}}^n$$ and constants $$C,C'>0$$ and $$k>1$$ such that for $$x\in U$$ $$\begin{aligned}&\nu (df(x))\ge C{\text {dist}}(x,Z)^{k-1}, \\&\left| \partial ^{s} (f_i-g_i)(x) \right| \le C'\nu (df(x))^{r+k-|s|}, \end{aligned}$$ for any $$i\in \{1,\dots , m\}$$ and for any $$s \in \mathbf {\mathbb {N}}^n_0$$ such that $$|s|\le r$$ , then there exists a $$C^r$$ diffeomorphism $$\varphi :({\mathbb {R}}^n,0)\rightarrow ({\mathbb {R}}^n,0)$$ such that $$f=g\circ \varphi $$ in a neighbourhood of $$0\in {\mathbb {R}}^n$$ . By $$\nu (df)$$ we denote the Rabier function.
Spatial variability in pollen and resource limitation for fruit production of two species in interior Alaska: Vaccinium uliginosum and V. vitis-idaea

Abstract Many recent studies assessing fruit productivity of plants in the boreal forest focus on interannual variability across a forested region, rather than on environmental variability within the forest. Frequency and severity of wildfires in the boreal forest affect soil moisture, canopy, and community structure at the landscape level, all of which may influence overall fruit production at a site directly (through resource availability) or indirectly (through impacts on pollinators). We evaluated how fruit production in two boreal shrubs, Vaccinium uliginosum (blueberry) and V. vitis-idaea (lingonberry), was explained by factors associated with resource availability (such as canopy cover and soil conditions) and pollen limitation (such as floral resources for pollinators and pollen deposition) across boreal forest sites of Interior Alaska. We classified our study sites into upland and lowland sites, which differed in elevation, soil moisture (lower in upland sites), and active layer (deeper in upland sites). We found that resource and pollen limitation differed between the two species and between uplands and lowlands. Lingonberry was more pollen limited than blueberry, and plants in lowland sites were more pollen limited relative to other sites while plants in upland sites were relatively more resource limited. Additionally, canopy cover had a significant negative effect in upland sites on a ramet’s investment in reproductive tissues and leaves versus structural growth, but little effect in lowland sites. These results point to importance of including pollinator abundance as well as resource availability in predictions for changes in berry abundance.
Structural and construct validity of the Czech version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index in chronic insomnia

Objectives The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) is one of the widely used and recommended measures of assessing sleep quality in chronic insomnia; however certain psychometric properties of the questionnaire are still unknown in this group of patients. The present study aimed to examine the internal consistency, and structural and convergent validity of the Czech version of the PSQI in chronic insomnia patients. The usefulness of the standard and alternative scoring systems was also investigated in relation to symptoms of sleepiness, insomnia, depression, and anxiety. Methods In our study, 105 participants filled out a series of questionnaires including PSQI, Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories (BDI, BAI). Results The internal consistency of the questionnaire using Cronbach's alpha was 0.608. A series of confirmatory factor analyses revealed adequate fit for three structures. A three-factor model descriptively stood out among the rest but subsequent correlational analyses did not provide sufficient support for accepting an alternative scoring model. Conclusions The results highlight the issue of structural variance of the PSQI and in chronic insomnia point to the important role of the PSQI components of daytime dysfunction and sleep disturbances in showing comorbid symptoms with daytime sleepiness and psychopathology.
Exploring Early Childhood Factors as an Avenue to Address Chronic Peer Victimization

Most youth experience peer victimization, and when chronic, it can lead to problems related to social-emotional development,1 peer relationships,1 and school engagement.2 In their study, “Early Childhood Factors Associated With Peer Victimization Trajectories from 6 to 17 Years of Age,” Oncioiu et al3 investigate peer victimization over time, beginning with the first years of school. This study is one of the largest and most extensive studies ever conducted on this topic. The authors use a repeated-measure, person-centered approach that allows for the comparison of personal trajectories over time and for causal inferences to be drawn. Four developmental trajectories of peer victimization are uncovered. Approximately one-third of children are in the low-victimization trajectory. The remaining two-thirds of children are in either the high-chronic (11%) trajectory, in which victimization is persistently higher than peers; the childhood-limited (26%) trajectory, in which early childhood victimization decreases by adolescence; or the moderate-emerging (30%) trajectory, in which victimization levels are moderate, remaining relatively steady and above normative levels, compared with those in the low-victimization trajectory across childhood and adolescence. Given that nearly two-thirds of school-aged youth in the current study report peer victimization during elementary and/or middle school, … Address correspondence to Stephen S. Leff, PhD, Violence Prevention Initiative, Roberts Center for Pediatric Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 8th floor – 8323, 2716 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19146. E-mail: leff{at}email.chop.edu
ACE (Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme) Inhibition Reverses Vasoconstriction and Impaired Dilation of Pial Collaterals in Chronic Hypertension.

Leptomeningeal anastomoses (LMAs) are pial collaterals that perfuse the penumbra and important for stroke outcome. We previously showed LMAs from SHRs (spontaneously hypertensive rats) were vasoconstricted compared with normotensive Wistar rats. Here, we investigated mechanisms by which hypertension causes LMA vasoconstriction. SHRs were treated with the ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitor captopril, an Ang II (angiotensin II)-independent antihypertensive agent hydralazine, or vehicle for 5 weeks in drinking water (n=8/group). A group of Wistar rats (n=8) had regular drinking water served as controls. Blood pressure was measured twice weekly by tail-cuff. LMAs were isolated and studied under pressurized conditions. Vasoreactivity of LMAs, including myogenic responses, reactivity to Rho-kinase inhibitor Y-27632, and nitric oxide were measured. Both captopril and hydralazine lowered blood pressure in SHRs similar to Wistar. However, only captopril normalized LMA increased tone compared with untreated SHRs (15±2% versus 50±3%; P 0.05). Vasodilatory response of LMAs to Y-27632 was impaired in SHRs compared with Wistar (28±3% versus 81±4%; P 0.05). These results suggest that ACE inhibition during chronic hypertension reversed vascular dysfunction and hyperconstriction of LMAs that could improve stroke outcome by increasing collateral perfusion.
Early data from a phase II trial investigating the combination of pembrolizumab (PEM) and entinostat (ENT) in relapsed and refractory (R/R) Hodgkin lymphoma (HL).

e20018Background: Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors have single agent activity in various types of lymphoma. They have been shown to restore antigen-specific immune recognition in cancer cells ...
The Musnad of al-Shāfiʿī

A collection of hadith called Musnad al-Shāfiʿī is associated with the Nishapuran traditionist Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Aṣamm (d. Nishapur, 346/957). It was apparently assembled by students from what al-Aṣamm had heard from al-Rabīʿ ibn Sulaymān al-Murādī (d. 270/884) in his youth. Around 40 percent of the hadith in the Umm of al-Shāfiʿī (d. 204/820) shows up also in the Musnad of al-Aṣamm. Comparisons between the Musnad and the Umm can tell us something of the state of the Umm as al-Rabīʿ dictated it near the end of his life. Books in the Musnad correspond only roughly to books in the Umm, so there was still some fluidity of organization. There are also many minor differences of wording, especially to isnāds. However, the order of hadith within books of the Musnad agrees well with their order in the Umm, confirming that the Umm as we have it is close to the state in which al-Rabīʿ left it.
Ultrasound of Musculoskeletal Hematomas: Relationship of Sonographic Appearance to Age and Ease of Aspiration.

Please see the Editorial Comment by Corrie Yablon discussing this article. OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ultrasound-guided aspiration of musculoske...
A general solution to the preferential selection model

We provide a general analytic solution to Herbert Simon's 1955 model for time-evolving novelty functions. This has far-reaching consequences: Simon's is a pre-cursor model for Barabasi's 1999 preferential attachment model for growing social networks, and our general abstraction of it more considers attachment to be a form of link selection. We show that any system which can be modeled as instances of types---i.e., occurrence data (frequencies)---can be generatively modeled (and simulated) from a distributional perspective with an exceptionally high-degree of accuracy.
What’s Testosterone Got to Do with It? A Critical Assessment of the Contribution of Testosterone to Gender Disparities in COVID-19 Infections and Deaths

In the short time since severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (henceforth referred to as coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19]) appeared, numerous articles have suggested that testosterone ...
In-Hospital Utilization and Outcomes of Palliative Care Consultation in Patients With Advanced Heart Failure Complicated by Cardiogenic Shock Requiring Mechanical Circulatory Support.

Prior studies have shown that the early inclusion of palliative care (PC) specialist is associated with better end-of-life experiences. The National Inpatient Sample Database was queried from 2012 to 2017 for relevant of ICD)-9 and -10 procedural and diagnostic codes to identify patients above 18 years with advanced heart failure (HF) admitted with cardiogenic shock (CS) requiring mechanical circulatory support (MCS). Baseline characteristics, utilization trends and invasive procedures and complications were compared among patients evaluated by PC and those who were not. There were 65,230 patients hospitalized for advanced HF complicated by CS requiring MCS, of these a PC consult was placed in in 9,200 patients (14.1%) and trended upward from 9.4 to 16.8%, between 2012 to 2017. The majority of patients, (37.3%) from the total population died in hospital. In reference to patients who were discharged alive, PC consultation was associated with a lower incidence of invasive procedures such as mechanical ventilation, pacemaker implantation, defibrillator implantation, insertion of percutaneous feeding tubes and tracheostomies performed (p
Analysis on monitoring results of individual dose of occupational external radiation among radiation workers in Lanzhou in 2019

Objective: To analyze the individual dose level of occupational external radiation of radiation workers in Lanzhou in 2019, so as to provide reference for radiation protection and occupational health management. Methods: In April 2020, a total of 1460 radiation workers in Gansu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2019 were selected as the research objects. The unit nature, hospital level and occupational category of the monitored workers were collected, and the monitoring results of external radiation personal dose in 2019 were analyzed and compared. Results: In the occupational external radiation monitoring of radiation workers in Lanzhou in 2019, the effective dose of 48 persons was 1.0~<5.0 mSv, the effective dose of 2 persons was 5.0~<10.0 mSv, the annual collective effective dose was 308.21 people·mSv, and the average annual effective dose of monitored persons was 0.21 mSv/a. There was significant difference in the distribution of annual effective dose per capita among different occupational groups (H=34.43, P<0.05) . The annual effective dose per capita of nuclear medicine personnel was higher (0.56 mSv/a) , followed by interventional radiology (0.33 mSv/a) . The ratio of annual collective dose to total annual collective dose with annual individual dose more than 5 mSv (SR(5)) and the ratio of the number of staff with annual individual dose more than 1mSv to the total number of monitored personnel (NR(1)) were higher in nuclear medicine and interventional radiology personnel. The average annual effective dose distribution of diagnostic radiologists in different level hospitals was statistically significant (H=16.46, P<0.05) . The average annual effective dose in private hospitals, community hospitals and health centers was higher (0.32 mSv) , followed by county hospitals (0.23 mSv) . Conclusion: The individual dose of occupational external radiation of radiation workers in Lanzhou is generally low, and the annual effective dose of nuclear medicine and interventional radiology workers is high. The management of radiation protection should be emphasis on this people. And it is suggested to strengthen the supervision of private hospitals and update and maintain the equipment of community health centers.
The Thread of Imagination in Heidegger’s Retrieval of Kant: The Play of a Double Hermeneutic

Throughout his career, Heidegger undertakes a dialogue with Kant. That dialogue casts new light on Kant’s transcendental philosophy and also serves as a leaping-off point to radicalize Heidegger’s fundamental ontology. The chapter argues that Heidegger’s interpretation of Kant plays out on two fronts. First, Heidegger dismantles extraneous aspects of Kant’s philosophy that remain mired in rationalism; secondly, Heidegger retrieves those elements of transcendental philosophy that align with his attempt to re-ask the question of being and to ground that inquiry upon temporality. Ultimately, my argument shows that the key to Heidegger’s interpretation lies in a thread interwoven into his writings, namely the imagination.
Defensive hypervariable regions confer superinfection exclusion in microviruses

Single-stranded DNA phages of the family Microviridae have fundamentally different evolutionary origins and dynamics than the more frequently studied double-stranded DNA phages. Despite their small size (around 5 kb), which imposes extreme constraints on genomic innovation, they have adapted to become prominent members of viromes in numerous ecosystems and hold a dominant position among viruses in the human gut. We show that multiple, divergent lineages in the family Microviridae have independently become capable of lysogenizing hosts and have convergently developed hypervariable regions in their DNA pilot protein, which is responsible for injecting the phage genome into the host. By creating microviruses with combinations of genomic segments from different phages and infecting Escherichia coli as a model system, we demonstrate that this hypervariable region confers the ability of temperate Microviridae to prevent DNA injection and infection by other microviruses. The DNA pilot protein is present in most microviruses, but has been recruited repeatedly into this additional role as microviruses altered their lifestyle by evolving the ability to integrate in bacterial genomes, which linked their survival to that of their hosts. Our results emphasize that competition between viruses is a considerable and often overlooked source of selective pressure, and by producing similar evolutionary outcomes in distinct lineages, it underlies the prevalence of hypervariable regions in the genomes of microviruses and perhaps beyond.
Strategic Topics and Strategic Changes: From the Perspective of Attentional Engagement

Strategic topics communicated by executives have been less studied in the area of attentional engagement. Understanding strategic topics consisting of vocabularies is crucial to exploring attention...
Assessing firms' financing constraints in Brazil

Firm surveys often indicate that firms complain a lot about lack of access to financial services, but financing constraints are difficult to identify, given demand and supply considerations and with only surveys based on firms' perceptions. Specifically, it is difficult to separate demand for access to finance of viable firms with good growth opportunities from that of firms that are not creditworthy and should not deserve financing. In Brazil, one of the main constraints to finance is related to the high level of interest rates, which affects both bank funding costs as well as bank intermediation spreads and, as such, the cost of finance and hence the demand and supply of bank financing. This paper analyzes a unique loan level data set that covers almost a decade of monthly firm bank information from credit registry information that is not publicly available as well as two cross-sections of Brazil's Investment Climate Assessment surveys in 2004 and 2008 that provide detailed information on firms' micro characteristics as well as perceptions of credit. The data allow identification of how firms' characteristics, banks' characteristics, and macro variables affect firms' demand for credit, banks' supply of credit, and access to credit. The paper finds first that access to finance for firms has improved over the decade for small firms, reflecting the deepening of the credit markets. However, access to credit depends strongly on information availability captured in the positive influence of collateral and credit history. Banks perceive that it is less risky to lend to firms that the banks know or that other banks know. Second, firms' loan demand is inelastic to the interest rate at the individual loan category level, possibly reflecting some screening and pricing; however, when the loans are aggregated, the effect of interest rates becomes significant and negative as expected. Third, firms loan demand and loan supply are affected by the availability of collateral and, in the case of loan demand, longer maturity. Policy implications point to the importance of reducing asymmetric information between lenders and borrowers and on collateral to alleviate financing constraints for small firms.
Does Child Sponsorship Pay Off In Adulthood? An International Study of Impacts on Income and Wealth.

This research estimates the impact of international child sponsorship on adult income and wealth of formerly sponsored children using data on 10,144 individuals in six countries. To identify causal effects, an age-eligibility rule followed from 1980 to 1992 is utilized that limited sponsorship to children twelve years old or younger when the program was introduced in a village, allowing comparisons of sponsored children with older siblings who were slightly too old to be sponsored. Estimations indicate that international child sponsorship increased monthly income by $13–17 over an untreated baseline of $75, principally from inducing higher future labor market participation. Results show evidence for positive impacts on dwelling quality in adulthood and modest evidence of impacts on ownership of consumer durables in adulthood, limited to increased ownership of mobile phones. Finally, results point to modest effects of child sponsorship on childbearing in adulthood.
PIRMAP: Efficient Private Information Retrieval for MapReduce

Private Information Retrieval (PIR) allows a user to retrieve bits from a database while hiding the user’s access pattern. However, the practicality of PIR in a real-world cloud computing setting has recently been questioned. In such a setting, PIR’s enormous computation and communication overhead is expected to outweigh the cost saving advantages of cloud computing. In this paper, we first examine existing PIR protocols, analyzing their efficiency and practicality in realistic cloud settings. We identify shortcomings and, subsequently, present an efficient protocol (PIRMAP) that is particularly suited to MapReduce, a widely used cloud computing paradigm. PIRMAP focuses especially on the retrieval of large files from the cloud, where it achieves good communication complexity with query times significantly faster than previous schemes. To achieve this, PIRMAP enhance related work to allow for optimal parallel computation during the “Map” phase of MapReduce, and homomorphic aggregation in the “Reduce” phase. To improve computational cost, we also employ a new, faster “somewhat homomorphic” encryption, making our scheme practical for databases of useful size while still keeping communication costs low. PIRMAP has been implemented and tested in Amazon’s public cloud with database sizes of up to 1 TByte. Our evaluation shows that non-trivial PIR such as PIRMAP can be more than one order of magnitude cheaper and faster than trivial PIR in the real-world.
COULOMB-RECOIL-IMPLANTATION MOESSBAUER EXPERIMENTS WITH $sup 73$Ge.

The 67.03-keV state of $^{73}\mathrm{Ge}$ has been populated by Coulomb excitation and the recoiling excited nuclei implanted into Cr, Fe, and Cu backings. Nuclear and solid-state properties of $^{73}\mathrm{Ge}$ have been determined by studying the de-excitation $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ rays by M\"ossbauer techniques. The present measurements yield a lifetime of (2.68\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.14)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}9}$ sec, and favor a spin of $\frac{7}{2}$ for the 67.03-keV excited state. The measured isomer shift between pure germanium and Ge${\mathrm{O}}_{2}$ is + 1.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.1 mm/sec, and electron densities calculated for these two cases imply that the radius of the excited state is larger than that of the ground state, and $\frac{\ensuremath{\Delta}R}{R}=+0.9\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ in reasonable agreement with calculations based on the pairing-plus-quadrupole model. To calculate the recoilless fraction $f$ of an impurity atom, a simple model with spring forces between nearest neighbors is introduced. In each case the effective spring constant for the impurity, as derived from the observed $f$ value, is weaker than that of the host lattice. A remarkable difference was found between $f$ values for tetragonal and hexagonal Ge${\mathrm{O}}_{2}$, namely $f(\mathrm{tetr})\ensuremath{\sim}5f(\mathrm{hex})$.
Ring Opening Reactions of Fullerenes: Designed Approaches to Endohedral Metal Complexes

Endohedral complexes of fullerenes are some of the most attractive targets of research in fullerene chemistry and physics. An overview of the field is provided with a focus on endohedral complexes incorporating lanthanide metals, noble gases, and atomic nitrogen. Although the present approaches have been successful in providing the first members of this class of fullerenes, their preparation is still difficult and limited to a few elements. It is argued that ring opening reactions within fullerene shells have the potential to provide easy access to endohedral metallofullerenes on a large scale, including those with transition metals which are potentially the most interesting elements in regard to their materials properties. Current ring opening reactions within fullerene shells are reviewed. An outlook on ring opening reactions leading to effectively large apertures is presented.