cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
TCP for high performance in hybrid fiber coaxial broad-band access networks

Motivated by the phenomenal growth of the Internet in recent years, a number of cable operators are in the process of upgrading their cable networks to offer data services to residential subscribers, providing them direct access to a variety of community content as well as to the Internet. Using cable modems that implement sophisticated modulation-demodulation circuitry, these services promise to offer a several hundredfold increase in access speeds to the home compared to conventional telephone modems. Initial experiences indicate that cable networks are susceptible to a variety of radio-frequency (RF) impairments that can result in significant packet loss during data communication. In the face of such losses, the transmission control protocol (TCP) that is predominantly used by data applications degrades dramatically in performance. Consequently, subscribers of broad-band data services may not perceive the projected hundredfold increase in performance. We analyze the performance of TCP under different network conditions using simulations and propose simple modifications that can offer up to threefold increase in performance in access networks that are prone to losses. These modifications require only minor changes to TCP implementations at the local network servers alone (and not at subscribers' PCs).
Automated Segmentation of the Optic Disc Margin in 3-D Optical Coherence Tomography Images Using a Graph-Theoretic Approach

The optic disc margin is of interest due to its use for detecting and managing glaucoma. We developed a method for segmenting the optic disc margin of the optic nerve head (ONH) in spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) images using a graph-theoretic approach. A small number of slices surrounding the Bruch's membrane opening (BMO) plane was taken and used for creating planar 2-D projection images. An edge-based cost function - more specifically, a signed edge-based term favoring a dark-to-bright transition in the vertical direction of polar projection images (corresponding to the radial direction in Cartesian coordinates) - was obtained. Information from the segmented vessels was used to suppress the vasculature influence by modifying the polar cost function and remedy the segmentation difficulty due to the presence of large vessels. The graph search was performed in the modified edge-based cost images. The algorithm was tested on 22 volumetric OCT scans. The segmentation results were compared with expert segmentations on corresponding stereo fundus disc photographs. We found a signed mean difference of 0.0058 ± 0.0706 mm and an unsigned mean difference of 0.1083 ± 0.0350 mm between the automatic and expert segmentations.
Polymorphisms of antipyrine and theophylline metabolism in man: molecular and clinical implications.

1. In normal subjects under carefully controlled uniform environmental conditions, evidence was obtained for genetically controlled polymorphisms of antipyrine and theophylline metabolism.2. The relationship of these polymorphisms to each other and to previously described polymorphisms is discussed in terms of their molecular and clinical implications.
Method to measure excited-level-to-excited-level branching ratios and atomic transition probabilities by time-resolved laser photoionization spectroscopy

An established photoionization branching-ratio measurement method, in which an excited level of an atom is populated by a pulsed laser from the ground level and repopulation of the ground level is measured by a second laser or lasers, is extended to the case with a finite lower-level lifetime. Two pulsed dye lasers populate the upper and the lower levels of the transition of interest. A third pulsed dye laser probes the time evolution of the lower level by a photoionization process. This measurement, coupled with the upper- and the lower-level lifetimes, permits the determination of the branching ratio and transition probability. Cerium branching ratios obtained are compared with those that we determined from the emission spectrum of cerium. The method is tested for the difficult case in which the lifetimes of the transition levels are nearly equivalent. The effects of magnetic sublevels are investigated in ytterbium.
The Thai Community Curriculum as a Model for Multicultural Education.

The notion of a community curriculum in Thailand comes from widespread recognition that Thai society has been greatly influenced by the west in its development and modernization. According to many Thais, community curricula are needed to encourage young people to preserve Thai culture and revive local ways of thinking about ‘development’ through gaining respect for local culture and history. This paper discusses an active research project through which Northern Thai teachers conducted research about the local histories of three Tai Yai minority communities. Unlike many multicultural education programs, this one was firmly based on activities that required teachers, members of the majority group, to conduct research about the histories of minority group community members, which included their own students. The active participation of both majority and minority group members encouraged cultural learning. This paper describes the research process, summarizes the teacherresearchers’ findings, analyzes participants’ learning and shares lessons learned.
Peripheral Nerve Injuries: Advancing the Field Through Research, Collaboration, and Education

The Andrew J. Weiland Medal is presented each year by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand and the American Foundation for Surgery of the Hand for a body of work related to hand surgery research. This essay, awarded the Weiland Medal in 2013, focuses on advancing the field of peripheral nerve injuries through research, collaboration, and education.
Predicting Local Failure in Lung Cancer Using Bayesian Networks

Despite various efforts to develop new predictive models for early detection of tumor local failure in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), many patients still suffer from a high local failure rate after radiotherapy. Based on recent studies of biomarker proteins’ role in predicting tumor response following radiotherapy, we hypothesize that incorporation of physical and biological factors with a suitable framework could improve the overall prediction. To this end, we propose a graphical Bayesian network framework for predicting local failure in lung cancer. The proposed approach was tested using a dataset of locally advanced NSCLC patients treated with radiotherapy. This dataset was collected prospectively, which consisted of physical variables and blood-based biomarkers. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can be used as an efficient method to develop predictive models of local failure in these patients and to interpret relationships among the different variables. The combined model of physical and biological factors outperformed individual physical and biological models, achieving an accuracy (acc) of 87.78%, Matthew’s correlation coefficient (r) of 0.74, and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (rs) of 0.75 on leave-one-out cross-validation analysis.
Calorimetric Investigation of the Structural Relaxation of Amorphous Materials: Evaluating Validity of the Methodologies

Abstract Although the potential advantages of the amorphous solid state is widely recognized among pharmaceutical researchers, its industrial applications have been mainly limited to freeze-dried injectable formulations where the amorphous form is naturally produced. Applications in oral dosage forms have been limited due, at least in part, to the poor state of knowledge regarding physical properties and stability of amorphous materials. Relaxation behavior is perhaps one of the most important physical characteristics of amorphous materials because relaxation kinetics are closely related to physical and chemical stability. Although recent developments in calorimetry methodology have facilitated detailed characterization of relaxation behavior, some experimental difficulties remain, and quantitative analysis of structural relaxation is still under development. This review focuses on the calorimetric investigation of the structural relaxation of drugs and excipients, and discusses the difficulties in the experimental evaluation of the relaxation time by those methods. We also present an original investigation of the impact of increases in relaxation time during an annealing experiment on the values of relaxation time, τ, and stretched exponential constant, β, obtained from analysis of the experiment according to the Kohlraush-Williams-Watts kinetic model. Using results from a numerical simulation, we find that the values of τ and β obtained from the data analysis are too large and too small, respectively, but the value of stretched relaxation time, τ β , remains reliable. The time dependence of the relaxation time is likely to play an important role in the non-Arrhenius behavior of pharmaceutical glasses. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association
Towards autonomous intelligent control systems

Summary form only given. Autonomous intelligent control systems are designed to perform well under significant uncertainties in the system and environment for extended periods of time, and they must be able to compensate for system failures without external intervention. Such control systems evolve from conventional control systems by adding intelligent components, and their development requires interdisciplinary research. >
The influence of magnetic fields on the paraconductivity due to fluctuations in thin films

Abstract We have recently shown that the Aslamazov-Larkin result for the pair conductivity σ′ above Tc is incomplete and that an additional contribution of the Maki type must be added, resulting in a logarithmic divergence of σ′ for thin films. This divergence can be eliminated by the application of a pair breaking interaction, such as a magnetic field H. For relatively weak H, such that the shift of Tc is of order 10%, the AL result is recovered near the transition for parallel H, whereas eight times AL is obtained for perpendicular H. For relatively strong H, exceeding Hc(T = 0) by a few percent, σ′ is found to increase initially as T is lowered as if a phase transition would occur at negative T, then to reach a maximum, and finally to vanish as T → 0.
Pulmonary Pleomorphic Carcinoma Metastasis to the Midfoot

Metastases to the bones in the foot are extremely uncommon, occurring in approximately 0.01% of all metastatic bone disease. We describe a case of an 82-year-old female with a metastatic pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma lesion to the midfoot. This rare and aggressive pulmonary malignancy has a poor prognosis. The purpose of the present case report was to highlight the key roles that medical history and biopsy, combined with a multispecialty approach, play in accurately diagnosing and appropriately treating a patient with metastatic bone disease.
A novel method for the measurement of in vitro fatty acid 2-hydroxylase activity by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Fatty acid 2-hydroxylase (FA2H), encoded by the FA2H gene, is an enzyme responsible for the de novo synthesis of sphingolipids containing 2-hydroxy fatty acids. 2-Hydroxy sphingolipids are highly abundant in the brain, as major myelin galactolipids (galactosylceramide and sulfatide) contain a uniquely high proportion (∼50%) of 2-hydroxy fatty acids. Other tissues, such as epidermis, epithelia of the digestive tract, and certain cancers, also contain 2-hydroxy sphingolipids. The physiological significance of the 2-hydroxylation on N-acyl chains of subsets of sphingolipids is poorly understood. To study the roles of FA2H and 2-hydroxy sphingolipids in various tissues, we developed a highly sensitive in vitro FA2H assay. FA2H-dependent fatty acid 2-hydroxylation requires an electron transfer system, which was reconstituted in vitro with an NADPH regeneration system and purified NADPH:cytochrome P-450 reductase. A substrate [3,3,5,5-D4]tetracosanoic acid was solubilized in α-cyclodextrin solution, and the 2-hydroxylated product was quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry after conversion to a trimethylsilyl ether derivative. When the microsomes of FA2H-transfected COS7 cells were incubated with the electron transfer system and deuterated tetracosanoic acid, deuterated 2-hydroxy tetracosanoic acid was formed in a time- and protein-dependent manner. With this method, FA2H activities were reproducibly measured in murine brains and tissue culture cell lines.
The role of numeracy on client knowledge in BRCA genetic counseling

Objective To assess the impact of numeracy and health literacy on client's ability to learn information orally communicated during a BRCA 1/2 genetic counseling session.
Isolation and properties of selenomethionine-resistant mutants of Neurospora crassa.

Mutants resistant to selenomethionine were isolated, and their properties studied. Mapping studies indicate that the mutation sites are located near the eth-1r locus in linkage group I, about ten map units away from the mating type locus. The sites of new mutation are either allelic to or very close to eth-1r. They are resistant not only to selenomethionine but also to ethionine, while the ethionine-resistant mutant, eth-1r, is sensitive to selenomethionine. The selenomethionine-resistant mutants are also temperature-sensitive mutants. However, they can grow at higher temperatures in medium containing 1 M glycerol.—It is very unlikely that the resistance is due to a change in the permeability of the membrane. Aryl sulfatase of se-metr mutants is not repressed by a high concentration of methionine (5 mM), although inorganic sulfate (2 mM) still can cause total repression. The γ-cystathionase levels of the mutants are normal, but the S-adenosylmethionine synthetase levels are only one-tenth of that observed in the wild-type strain. The heat-stability of this enzyme in the mutant is also different from that of the wild-type enzyme suggesting that the mutation might affect the structural gene of S-adenosylmethionine synthetase.
A Word of Caution on New and Revolutionary Diagnostic Tests.

Almost all tests proposed over the last 30 years promising to revolutionize early diagnosis of cancer have failed subsequent validations. These reports have a common natural history, which starts with a publication in a top-tier scientific journal, followed by international media releases. In my previous commentaries, I have explained why subsequent validations fail and provided numerous published examples of such tests that follow the same trajectory (Diamandis, 2004, 2010, 2012).
The simultaneous smoothing of phase and group velocities from multi-event surface wave data

For dispersion data that contains both phase and group velocities, the functional relation between these quantities provides a means of simultaneously smoothing the raw data. A procedure for analyzing surface wave data from multiple events is presented that is based on the nonlinear least-squares technique with Chebyshev polynomials as the expansion functions. The degree of the fitting polynomial is determined by the F test, and estimates of the standard errors for the smoothed data are provided. The procedure is illustrated by its application to synthetic and actual data.
Simulated response of the Pacific decadal oscillation to climate change

AbstractThe impact of climate change on the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) is studied using a fully coupled climate model. The model results show that the PDO has a similar spatial pattern in altered climates, but its amplitude and time scale of variability change in response to global warming or cooling. In response to global warming the PDO amplitude is significantly reduced, with a maximum decrease over the Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension (KOE) region. This reduction appears to be associated with a weakened meridional temperature gradient in the KOE region. In addition, reduced variability of North Pacific wind stress, partially due to reduced air–sea feedback, also helps to weaken the PDO amplitude by reducing the meridional displacements of the subtropical and subpolar gyre boundaries. In contrast, the PDO amplitude increases in response to global cooling.In the control simulations the model PDO has an approximately bidecadal peak. In a warmer climate the PDO time scale becomes shorter, changing from ~...
Crystal structure and absolute configuration of preaustinoid A1

The absolute structure of the title compound preaustinoid A1 [systematic name: (5aR,7aS,8R,10S,12R,13aR,13bS)-methyl 10-hy­droxy-5,5,7a,10,12,13b-hexa­methyl-14-methyl­ene-3,9,11-trioxohexa­deca­hydro-8,12-methano­cyclo­octa­[3,4]benzo[1,2-c]oxepine-8-carboxyl­ate], C26H36O7, has been determined by resonant scattering using Cu Kα radiation [Flack parameter = 0.07 (15)]. The structure is consistent with that reported previously [Stierle et al. (2011). J. Nat. Prod. 74, 2272–2277], determined by detailed analysis of MS and NMR data. The mol­ecule consists of a fused four-ring arrangement. The seven-membered oxepan-2-one ring has a chair conformation, as do the central cyclo­hexane rings, while the outer cyclo­hexa-1,3-dione ring has a boat conformation. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked via O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming helical chains propagating along [100].
Role for the Rostromedial Tegmental Nucleus in Signaling the Aversive Properties of Alcohol.

Background While the rewarding effects of alcohol contribute significantly to its addictive potential, it is becoming increasingly appreciated that alcohol’s aversive properties also play an important role in the propensity to drink. Despite this, the neurobiological mechanism for alcohol’s aversive actions is not well understood. The rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg) was recently characterized for its involvement in aversive signaling and has been shown to encode the aversive properties of cocaine, yet its involvement in alcohol’s aversive actions have not been elucidated.
An education in geodesign

Abstract The sharing or on-demand economy is a geo-locational one in which navigating the built environment has become fundamental to the delivery of goods and services. Geodesign represents a new field that intersects geography and design to help people thrive in this new economy by enabling them to innovate new and more sustainable ways of living and working. This essay looks at the impact this has had in higher education, assessing the geodesign programs that have emerged in several universities as well as how geodesign methods can inform when, where, and how students learn.
Modeling of Autonomous Vehicle Operation in Intelligent Transportation Systems

The past decade has seen autonomous vehicles become the subject of considerable research and development activity. The majority of these advances have focused on individual vehicles, rather than the interactions that result when autonomous (unmanned) and conventional (manned) vehicles come together in an intelligent transportation system. The robustness of autonomous vehicles to contingencies caused by unpredictable human behavior is a critical safety concern. Assuring the reliability, availability, security, and similar non-functional attributes of autonomous vehicles is just as critical.
Multi-institutional Analysis of Surgical Management and Outcomes of Mandibular Fracture Repair in Adults.

Mandibular fractures are rare, most commonly occurring in young male patients who present with facial trauma. The etiology, incidence, and presentation vary among previous publications depending on...
Biosensors from Neuroreceptors; What Can We Expect to Detect

Neuroreceptors are proteins that are found in the cell membrane and that have unique molecular level recognition capabilities. Recognition of specific compounds is manifest through highly specific binding sites, located on the extracellular side of the receptor. Binding of compounds to these sites leads to opening of ion channels in some receptor systems or to activation or inhibition of an enzyme in other receptors. Recent interest has focused on the incorporation of neuroreceptors into biosensors in order to utilize the binding specificity of these proteins. Little discussion has appeared as to what compounds of practical interest may be detectable with neuroreceptor-based biosensors. The main thrust of this paper is to provide a review of the compounds that in principle may be detectable by use of neuroreceptors in biosensors and to suggest ways in which neuroreceptor-based biosensors may be used.
Acoustic emission sensor effect and waveform evolution during fatigue crack growth in thin metallic plate

In this article, the effect of the acoustic emission sensor on the acoustic emission waveforms from fatigue crack growth in a thin aerospace specimen is presented. In situ acoustic emission fatigue...
A Low-Power Speech Recognizer and Voice Activity Detector Using Deep Neural Networks

This paper describes digital circuit architectures for automatic speech recognition (ASR) and voice activity detection (VAD) with improved accuracy, programmability, and scalability. Our ASR architecture is designed to minimize off-chip memory bandwidth, which is the main driver of system power consumption. A SIMD processor with 32 parallel execution units efficiently evaluates feed-forward deep neural networks (NNs) for ASR, limiting memory usage with a sparse quantized weight matrix format. We argue that VADs should prioritize accuracy over area and power, and introduce a VAD circuit that uses an NN to classify modulation frequency features with 22.3- $\mu \text{W}$ power consumption. The 65-nm test chip is shown to perform a variety of ASR tasks in real time, with vocabularies ranging from 11 words to 145 000 words and full-chip power consumption ranging from 172 $\mu \text{W}$ to 7.78 mW.
Oh the Monstrosity: Vigilante Mobs and Biopolitical Justice in 1930s Film

This article examines how Fritz Lang and Tod Browning use traditional cinematic monster tropes to demonstrate the impossibility of biopolitical classifications of monstrosity. No matter how intense its scrutiny, these directors suggest, biopower cannot accurately assess a group's or an individual's potential danger to society. Lang and Browning point out this inherent failure of absolutist categories through a series of visual parallels, first demonstrating the humanity of groups traditionally deemed abnormal and then revealing “true” monstrosity hidden behind a normal human exterior. The monster, however, contains elements of both the “normal” and “abnormal” groups, making clear the artifice of its label so that subsequent punishment remains morally ambivalent, contrary to monster movie convention.
piRNA Rules of Engagement.

piRNAs are known to silence transposable elements, but not all piRNAs match transposon sequences. Recent studies from Shen et al. (2018) and Zhang et al. (2018) identify rules for piRNA target recognition in Caenorhabditis elegans. Permissive pairing rules allow targeting of essentially all germline mRNAs, while protective mechanisms prevent silencing self-genes.
Retrograde influences of SCG axotomy on uninjured preganglionic neurons.

Abstract There is evidence that neuronal injury can affect uninjured neurons in the same neural circuit. The overall goal of this study was to understand the effects of peripheral nerve injury on uninjured neurons located in the central nervous system (CNS). As a model, we examined whether axotomy (transection of postganglionic axons) of the superior cervical ganglion (SCG) affected the uninjured, preganglionic neurons that innervate the SCG. At 7 days post-injury a reduction in choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and synaptophysin immunoreactivity in the SCG, both markers for preganglionic axons, was observed, and this reduction persisted at 8 and 12 weeks post-injury. No changes were observed in the number or size of the parent cell bodies in the intermediolateral cell column (IML) of the spinal cord, yet synaptic input to the IML neurons was decreased at both 8 and 12 weeks post-injury. In order to understand the mechanisms underlying these changes, protein levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and tyrosine receptor kinase B (TrkB) were examined and reductions were observed at 7 days post-injury in both the SCG and spinal cord. Taken together these results suggest that axotomy of the SCG led to reduced BDNF in the SCG and spinal cord, which in turn influenced ChAT and synaptophysin expression in the SCG and also contributed to the altered synaptic input to the IML neurons. More generally these findings provide evidence that the effects of peripheral injury can cascade into the CNS and affect uninjured neurons.
The Relationship Between Disability Discrimination and Age Discrimination in Workers’ Compensation

Workers’ compensation programs provide cash benefits, medical care, and rehabilitation services to workers who are temporarily or permanently disabled by work-related injuries or diseases.In workers’ compensation, a worker is disabled if he or she experiences an actual loss of earnings or a loss of earning capacity as a result of a work-related injury or disease.In 2007, the national total of $55.4 billion of workers’ compensation benefits included $28.3 billion of cash benefits and $27.2 billion of medical benefits, while the costs to employers were $85.0 billion. (Sengupta, Reno, & Burton, 2009, Table 1).The $29.6 billion difference between the $85.0 billion in workers’ compensation costs for employers and the $55.4 billion of benefits paid to workers includes (1) for self-insuring employers, the administrative costs of providing the benefits, and (2) for employers who purchase insurance, the difference between premiums paid to the insurance carrier and the benefits paid to the employees these employers. These costs of the workers’ compensation delivery systems are examined in Sengupta et al., 2009, p. 30).Only Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Medicare provide more support to disabled workers.
Process Typology of Mass Customizers

Traditional manufacturing practices required a choice between providing low cost products with mass production or custom products with craft manufacturing methods. Mass customization resolved this trade-off by providing both low cost and customization. Today, mass customization is no longer a new phenomenon but a realistic strategic choice for many manufacturers. As mass customization becomes more commonplace in practice, academia needs to update the traditional models to incorporate this new competitive form. This chapter takes a look at the traditional process tradeoff models and develops a new process model to incorporate the practice of mass customization.
Differentiation, Derivatives, and Differentials

We shall now meet one of the subtlest and most beautiful concepts the human mind has yet created, the derivative. Since Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) and Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646–1716) first taught this idea, it has given us immeasurably valuable insight into change and the way our universe unfolds in time. It has been used to predict the future configurations of stars and planets, moving rocks and rockets, the stock market and housing costs, bacterial growth and radioactive decay.
The measurement of pyridine nucleotides by enzymatic cycling.

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the measurement of pyridine nucleotides by enzymatic cycling. The coenzyme to be determined is made to catalyze an enzymatic dismutation between two substrates. After several thousand cycles, one of the products is measured. The nucleotides during cycling are used at concentrations well below their Michaelis constants and consequently, reaction rates are proportional to nucleotide concentrations. It is found that as pyruvate formation during cycling is not strictly linear with DPN concentration, standards of DPN + are included which increase in steps of two to cover the range of assay. Blanks and standards are carried through the entire procedure and are treated as nearly as possible to the samples being analyzed. The cycling procedure is not as flexible as that for TPN, owing primarily to a fall-off in rate as pyruvate accumulates. The TPN cycle is proportional within a 100-fold range of coenzymes with the same cycling reagent. It is found that the DPN cycle is proportional without too much departure from linearity over a 20-fold range.
First-principles insights on phase stability of titanium interstitial alloys

Titanium can dissolve unusually high concentrations of interstitial elements such as carbon and nitrogen to form a rich variety of compounds with beneficial structural and functional properties. A first-principles statistical mechanics study was performed to predict phase stability in the Ti-C and Ti-N binaries. Density functional theory calculations were combined with the cluster-expansion approach to determine ground-state carbon-vacancy and nitrogen-vacancy orderings over the octahedral sites of hcp and fcc Ti. A large number of vacancy-ordered rocksalt phases were found to be stable at low temperature. Monte Carlo simulations showed that the ordered rocksalts transform to a disordered rocksalt that can tolerate high vacancy concentrations at intermediate to high temperatures. Clear trends in phase stability, rooted in electronic structure, are revealed upon a comparison of the calculated Ti-C and Ti-N phase diagrams with the Ti-O phase diagrams from a previous study [N. S. H. Gunda et al., Phys. Rev. Mater. 2, 033604 (2018)].
Inconclusive Diagnosis of a Lymphoid Neoplasm

OBJECTIVE: This case study outlines the diagnostic schema employed at our facility to accurately identify a patient9s hematological condition to facilitate optimal treatment. BACKGROUND: A 71 year old male patient presented to our hospital with complete blood count (CBC) data that was suggestive of a lymphoid malignancy due to a critically low leukocyte count coupled with a predominance of lymphocytes displaying abnormal morphology. METHOD: Immunophenotyping studies carried out on the bone marrow indicated that the patient had a B lymphocyte malignancy, although a T cell neoplasm could not be ruled out. Karyotyping on this patient revealed a complex karyotype which supported the conclusion that this patient suffered from a malignant condition. Finally, molecular diagnostics testing was employed to specifically identify the disease state. CONCLUSION: While the testing results are suggestive of a lymphoid malignancy, the patient9s diagnosis remains unclearly defined.
Time-resolved compound repositioning predictions on a texted-mined knowledge network

Abstract Background Computational compound repositioning has the potential for identifying new uses for existing drugs, and new algorithms and data source aggregation strategies provide ever-improving results via in silico metrics. However, even with these advances, the number of compounds successfully repositioned via computational screening remains low. New strategies for algorithm evaluation that more accurately reflect the repositioning potential of a compound could provide a better target for future optimizations. Results Using a text-mined database, we applied a previously described network-based computational repositioning algorithm, yielding strong results via cross-validation, averaging 0.95 AUROC on test-set indications. The text-mined data was then used to build networks corresponding to different time-points in biomedical knowledge. Training the algorithm on contemporary indications and testing on future showed a marked reduction in performance, peaking in performance metrics with the 1985 network at an AUROC of .797. Examining performance reductions due to removal of specific types of relationships highlighted the importance of drug-drug and disease-disease similarity metrics. Using data from future timepoints, we demonstrate that further acquisition of these kinds of data may help improve computational results. Conclusions Evaluating a repositioning algorithm using indications unknown to input network better tunes its ability to find emerging drug indications, rather than finding those which have been withheld. Focusing efforts on improving algorithmic performance in a time-resolved paradigm may further improve computational repositioning predictions.
This Way to the Ovens, Señoras y Señores: Holocaust Cartoons in Latin America

ABSTRACTAn exploration of the world of syndicated cartoons, comics, and other ‘humor’ illustrations that address the Holocaust and fall within the purview of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism from the...
Tristable capacitive microcantilever switches: Measurements and simulations

Abstract Multistability is a ubiquitous utilization of nonlinear behavior; light switches, retractable pens, and ratchets are just a few everyday examples. Today, micro- and nanomechanical devices exploit mechanical multistability in circuitry elements to benefit electrical signal manipulation. Multistability at these small scales arises from a competition of elastic, surface, and electrostatic forces. For capacitive microcantilever switches, bistable operation is already commonplace, but inherent tristability expands opportunities for switching, memory, and mechanism applications. Herein, tristability is demonstrated experimentally for 20 capacitive microcantilever switches, while measurement-enhanced simulations quantitatively capture switching thresholds. This work goes beyond prior literature theoretically predicting the tristability in switches to experimentally characterize this behavior in real microcantilever devices, and also to present ways to better validate theoretical predictions with experimental results.
Semiconductor Quantum Dots Are Efficient and Recyclable Photocatalysts for Aqueous PET-RAFT Polymerization

This Letter describes the use of CdSe quantum dots (QDs) as photocatalysts for photoinduced electron transfer reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (PET-RAFT) polymerization of a series ...
Complication of vasopressor infusion through peripheral venous catheter: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract Background Vasopressors are mainstay treatment for patients in shock and are usually infused through central venous catheters (CVCs). However, CVCs are associated with risk of infection or delay from the needs of confirmation of placement. Infusing vasopressor through peripheral venous catheter (PIVs) could be an alternative in the Emergency Departments (ED) but data regarding complications is inconclusive. We performed a random-effects meta-analysis to assess literature involving prevalence of complications from infusing vasopressors via PIVs. Methods We searched PubMed, EMBASE and Scopus databases from beginnings to 02/02/2020 to identify relevant randomized control trials, cohort, case-control studies. We excluded case reports. Authors assessed studies' quality with Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Kappa score was used to assess interrater agreement. Outcome was complications as direct results from infusing vasopressors through PIVs. Results We identified 325 articles and included 9 studies after reviewing 16 full text articles. Our analysis included 1835 patients whose mean age was 63 (Standard Deviation 12) years and 48% was female. There were 122 (7%) complications, of which 117 (96%) were minor. The meta-analysis with random effects showed the pooled prevalence of complications as 0.086 (95%CI 0.031–0.21). Studies reporting infusion safety guidelines had significantly lower prevalence of complications (0.029, 95%CI 0.018–0.045), compared to those not reporting a safety guideline (0.12, 95%CI 0.038–0.30, p = 0.024). Conclusion There was low prevalence of complications as a direct result from infusing vasopressors through PIVs. Studies with safety guidelines were associated with significantly lower prevalence of complications. Further studies are needed to confirm our observations.
Albumin influences the inhibitory effect exerted by celecoxib on cellular viability in WiDR and CAOV3 cancer cell lines

6083 Background: Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) is the most common component used in cell culture medium allowing cells a supply of nutrients for growth. FBS is a complex mix of albumins and growth factors. Nevertheless, the albumin concentration of serum can impair some cytotoxicity experiments linking it with drugs and involving a cellular response. Objetive: Our study examines the cellular viability of two different carcinoma cells lines exposed to celecoxib using 8 different media conditions containing diverse albumin concentrations. Methods: WiDR colon and OVCAR ovarian carcinoma cell lines were obtained from ATCC and maintained in DMEM medium containing 10% FBS, 2mM L-Glutamine, antibiotic-antimycotic solution, and MEM vitamin solution and placed in a humidified atmosphere containing 5% CO2 at 37°C. After each cell line reached a confluency of 70-80%, 5000 cells/well were seeded on flat bottomed 96 well plates in 100 μl media/per well for 24 hrs in 8 different conditions: DMEM+10% FBS, DMEM+FBS+ITS 100X (insulin-transferrin-selenium), DMEM+ITS 100X, DMEM+Albumin 1% (AlbuMax I (Lipid-Rich Bovine Serum Albumin), DMEM+Albumin 2%, DMEM+Albumin 3%, DMEM+Albumin 4% and DMEM+BSA 10%. A stock solution of COX-2 inhibitor, Celecoxib (Celebrex ®), dissolved in ethanol was prepared at various concentrations (0, 10, 30, 50, 70 and 100 μM) for each different media condition. Each cell line was exposed to celecoxib for 72 Hrs. Cellular proliferation was performed using a Tetrazolium Conversion Assay (Promega Corporation) according to manufacturer’s instructions. Results: A significant decrease in the cell viability compared with controls was observed in both carcinoma cells lines exposed to celecoxib at 50, 70 and 100 μM for 72 hrs with DMEM+FBS10%. When the cells lines were exposed to different concentrations of Celecoxib in DMEM media containing 1, 2, 3, 4 and 10% albumin, the inhibitory effect of celecoxib observed before with DMEM+FBS 10% was absent. In contrast, when the cell lines were exposed to DMEM+ITS without serum, the cells were more sensitive to an inhibitory effect exerted by celecoxib in cellular viability. Conclusions: Our data shows that Celecoxib affects cellular viability in vitro in a dose-dependent manner in two different carcinoma cell lines. However, when we increased the concentration of albumin in culture media, the inhibitory effect in cellular viability exerted by Celecoxib was lost. This observation supports the interaction between Celecoxib and albumin that has been described in in vivo studies indicating that celecoxib is highly protein bound. Our results indicate that the inhibitory effect of celecoxib in cellular viability may be affected by the concentration of albumin in culture media; hence, these data may have implications when cytotoxicity studies are planned.
Sublingual Microcirculatory Characteristics of a Case of Profound Chemotherapy-Induced Anemia Treated With a Hemoglobin-Based Oxygen Carrier.

Handheld vital microscopy (HVM) can deepen our understanding of hematologic diseases and therapeutics. However, limited reports have assessed human microcirculation during profound anemia, and response to hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs). A 58-year-old woman presented with constitutional symptoms and was diagnosed with acute myeloblastic leukemia. Subsequently, the patient clinically decompensated and was found to have a hemoglobin of 1.9 g/dL. Human blood product administration was not consistent with her beliefs, and she received supportive care with HBOC-201. Concomitantly, her sublingual microcirculation revealed a markedly low microvascular flow index (2.59±0.26), proportion perfused vessels (66.8±18.8%), perfused vessel density (4.41±0.56 mm/mm2), and total vessel density (6.93±1.91 mm/mm2). HVM imaging is a promising point-of-care device for various hematologic conditions, with the potential to understand tissue-level perfusion in novel clinical scenarios, including profound anemia and HBOC administration, as illustrated in this case report.
Class Absence, Instructor Lecture Notes, Intellectual Styles, and Learning Outcomes

At many universities, undergraduate introductory economics courses are taught in large lecture halls. Casual empiricism suggests that rates of student absenteeism are significantly greater in the large lecture format compared to the smaller classroom format. There is also the compounding factor that numerous empirical studies have identified a statistically significant negative relationship between absenteeism and student performance. Using panel data, it is estimated that the average student with less than perfect attendance is better off attending the lecture, but studying from instructor-provided lecture notes can significantly reduce the negative effect of absence on exam performance. Additional estimates of the differential effects of intellectual styles show the notes were the least beneficial for the auditory intellectual style.
Alternative technologies for US residential water heating

Abstract This article evaluates the energy savings and direct economic benefits of introducing heat pump and solar water heaters to the US residential market and the effects of a tax credit for solar installations. Energy savings are estimated for ten regions of the USA, as well as for the country as a whole, over the period 1977–2000. Changes in annual fuel bills and capital costs for water heaters are also computed. The results suggest that heat pump water heaters are likely to offer much larger benefits than solar heaters, even with tax credits. This is because heat pumps provide the same electricity savings (about 50%), but at a much lower capital cost.
Representationally Faithful Disclosures, Organizational Design and Managers' Segment Reporting Decisions

By prescribing a management approach, SFAS No. 131 calls for segmentation that more faithfully reflects firms' organizational design. This study evaluates the success of SFAS No. 131 in inducing firms to disclose more about their organizational design. We find that firms that changed their segment disaggregation in response to SFAS No. 131 increased the relatedness of operations combined in segments suggesting that their external reporting is more aligned with their internal organizational structures. We also find that firms reporting a single segment under SFAS No. 14 but multiple segments under SFAS No. 131 tended to hide certain operations under SFAS No. 14. Finally, we provide evidence that firms that did not change their segment definitions in response to SFAS No. 131, combine more dissimilar operations that likely deviate from their internal organizational structures to a greater extent than firms that changed their segment definitions in response to SFAS No. 131.
Theory of Moves and the Persian Gulf War

The behavior of Saddam Hussein is one of the more puzzling aspects of the 1990-91 Persian Gulf war. Key officials within and outside the Bush administration believed that once Hussein saw the overwhelming military force assembled against him, he would leave Kuwait and save his army and country from destruction. Prior to the doubling of U.S. forces, which began on November 8, a plausible interpretation of the goal of the United States might have been simply to defend Saudi Arabia and deter further Iraqi aggression. After that date, the elements of coercive diplomacy which the U.S.-led U.N. coalition implemented, obviously aimed to force Iraq to withdraw completely. Why did Hussein not withdraw from Kuwait before the January 15 deadline? Why, after witnessing the destruction caused by the five weeks of air war, did he choose to stay in Kuwait and face the invading armies of the U.N. force?
Perioperative Medication Management

Every year millions of patients undergo surgery, and most of them take one or more prescriptions or over-the-counter medications. The number of medications increases with age and in patients undergoing major surgical procedures.
Electric Fish as a Tool for Water Quality Assessment

Abstract The temporal pattern of electric organ discharges emitted by a mormyrid fish, Brienomyrus niger, was affected by two broad spectrum insecticides, dieldrin and malathion, in concentrations of 1 μg/liter. Such discharge patterns have potential as a sensitive and convenient bioassay tool.
Functionalized de Novo Designed Proteins: Mechanism of Proton Coupling to Oxidation/Reduction in Heme Protein Maquettes†

Proton exchange with aqueous media coupled to heme oxidation/reduction is commonly seen but not understood in natural cytochromes. Our synthetic tetrahelix bundle heme protein maquettes successfull...
Natural variations of δ30Si ratios during progressive basalt weathering, Hawaiian Islands

Abstract Silicon stable isotopes can be used to trace the biogeochemical pathways of Si as it moves from its continental sources to its sink in ocean sediments. Along the way, Si is incorporated into clay minerals, taken up by plants where it forms plant opal, and leached into rivers, the major land-to-ocean conduit. Compared to igneous rocks, the waters that drain continents are enriched in heavy Si isotopes, but the mechanisms that control fractionation have not been elucidated. We studied Si isotope fractionation along a 4 million yr basaltic soil chronosequence on the Hawaiian Islands. Using the natural context of these samples in combination with laboratory experiments, we demonstrate that the isotopic composition of dissolved Si in weathering systems is determined by the combined effects of rock disintegration, clay mineral neosynthesis, and Si biocycling. Weathering preferentially releases 28Si into solution, whereas secondary mineral formation preferentially removes 28Si from solution. In humid environments, leached soils have lost large amounts of this soluble Si, thus creating a net loss of 30Si from the entire soil system. As soils develop and greater fractions of Si reside in neoformed clay minerals, δ30Sibulk soil values change progressively toward more negative values; basalt δ30Si values are about −0.5‰, but older soils have δ30Si values up to −2.5‰. The difference between the solid and solution δ30Si values remains more or less constant with progressive weathering, and therefore, soil water from older soils has a more negative δ30Si composition. In the upper horizons of the Hawaiian soils, this weathering-driven δ30Si shift is modified by the addition of unweathered primary minerals via dust, carrying δ30Si values of about −0.5‰, and by biocycling of Si via plants, producing negative δ30Si values in phytoliths and positive δ30Si values in soil solutions derived from upper horizons. Due to the high concentrations of dissolved Si in these near-surface layers, rivers have more positive δ30Si values than predicted based on the weathering status of the lower horizons. When combined with published δ30Si values from large rivers worldwide, we find that the results from Hawaii point to weathering control of Si isotopes delivered to the oceans, and thus, to an important continent-ocean linkage that warrants further investigation.
The Role of Big Data in the Social Sciences

Big Data is an increasingly popular term across scholarly and popular literature but lacks a formal definition (Lohr 2012). This is beneficial in that it keeps the term flexible. But it can be frus...
Nothing typical about HIT.

In this issue of Blood, 2 articles describe the evolution of the PF4/heparin immune response and provide further proof that the HIT immune response is anything but tyrpical.