cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Transmission of donor cancer into cardiothoracic transplant recipients.

Background. The demand for transplantable organs exceeds donor supply. Patients with central nervous system (CNS) or other tumors are controversial donors, and the donor cancer transmission rates in cardiothoracic transplant recipients have not been determined. The Israel Penn International Transplant Tumor Registry (IPITTR) was queried to define the risk of donor cancer transmission in cardiothoracic transplant recipients. Methods. All heart, lung, or heart-lung recipients of organs from donors with a history of malignancy were reviewed. Donor and recipient demographics, histologic findings, and recurrence were reviewed. Results. Twenty-two patients received 17 hearts, 3 lungs, and 2 heart-lung transplants from donors with known CNS or other malignancies. No malignancy transmissions were noted with astrocytomas (n = 3) or glioblastomas (n = 1), except a medulloblastoma that recurred at 6 months. The transmission rate for CNS tumors was 17% (1 of 6), and 1- and 3-year survivals were 67% and 50%, respectively. The most common non-CNS donor cancer was renal cell carcinoma (n = 5). Two renal cell cancer transmissions occurred, both when vascular extension was present. The most aggressive tumor transmission was choriocarcinoma (n = 2) and melanoma (n = 2). Two of 3 choriocarcinomas metastasized with 67% mortality, and both melanomas were transmitted and resulted in death. Other donor cancers included angiosarcoma (n = 2), cervical (n = 1), lung (n = 1), prostate (n = 1), and a liver adenocarcinoma. The transmission rate for all non-CNS groups was 56% (9 of 16) with a 2-year survival of 40%. Conclusions. The IPITTR experience indicates that tumor transmission is high (10 of 22, 45%) in cardiothoracic transplant recipients. Similar to intra-abdominal organ recipients in the IPITTR, (1) renal cell carcinomas without capsular invasion appear safe with no transmission, (2) vascular invasion in renal cell carcinoma appears to result in early tumor transmission, and (3) melanoma and choriocarcinoma have high rates of transmission with early and almost universal death. (Surgery 2001;130:660-8.)
Killer Whale Predation on Sea Otters Linking Oceanic and Nearshore Ecosystems

After nearly a century of recovery from overhunting, sea otter populations are in abrupt decline over large areas of western Alaska. Increased killer whale predation is the likely cause of these declines. Elevated sea urchin density and the consequent deforestation of kelp beds in the nearshore community demonstrate that the otter's keystone role has been reduced or eliminated. This chain of interactions was probably initiated by anthropogenic changes in the offshore oceanic ecosystem.
Electrical performance and reliability improvement by using compositionally varying bi-Layer structure of PVD HfSi/sub x/O/sub y/ dielectric

The effect of a bi-layer structure by varying the Hf composition in Hf-silicate dielectric in improving the electrical performance and reliability of high-/spl kappa/ gate stack n-MOSFETs has been investigated. Introducing Hf-silicate with 19.5% of Hf composition at the bottom layer and 28.5% of Hf on the top of it reduces the leakage current dramatically, while it minimally sacrifices increase in equivalent oxide thickness. Moreover, the structure reduces defect generation rate under gate injection and improves breakdown voltage in comparison to the control samples. Increase in Si-O bonds at the bottom interface, decrease in Coulomb scattering, and increase in dielectric constant in the top layer have been attributed to the overall performance increase of the gate stack.
An Improved Location-Aware Routing Protocol for Mobile Underwater Acoustic Networks

A significant problem in missions employing multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is the difficulty of communicating effectively. This challenging communication problem is best addressed in the realm of mobile, ad hoc networking (MANET). This paper describes work towards improving location-aware source routing (LASR), our modification of the dynamic source routing (DSR) protocol to add location awareness and link quality metrics. Specifically designed for use in underwater acoustic networks, LASR is explained and results of investigations into the sensitivity of LASR to medium-model error, tracking error and compression of communicated routing data are shown.
Autonomous discovery and functional response to topology change in self-reconfigurable robots

The topology of a self-reconfigurable robot can change at anytime. This can be as a result of the failure of some modules of the robot, joining new modules to the robot, displacement of some modules from one location to another caused by the self-reconfiguration task or any combination of these cases. Considering that the process of selecting relevant behaviors to accomplish a given task is based on the current topology of the self-reconfigurable robot, modules must be able to detect and respond to any changes to the robot topology. When changes to the topology of the robot are detected, modules can investigate new ways of accomplishing the given task. This paper presents a distributed solution, FEATURE algorithm, to the problem of autonomous discovery and functional response to topology change. The result is experimentally verified and demonstrated on the CONRO self-reconfigurable robots.
How to Construct a Correct and Scalable iBGP Configuration

The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), the current inter domain routing protocol in the Internet, has two modes of operation: eBGP (External BGP), used to exchange routing information between autonomous systems, and iBGP (Internal BGP), used to propagate that information within an autonomous system (AS). This paper focuses on the construction of an iBGP session configuration that guarantees two correctness properties—loop-free forwarding paths and complete visibility to all eBGP-learned best routes— while attempting to minimize the number of iBGP sessions (for scalability) and ensuring that the constructed configuration guarantees the two correctness properties even in the face of link failures and IGP path changes. Our algorithm constructs an iBGP configuration based on route reflectors [2], a commonly used way to control the number of iBGP sessions. The algorithm, BGPSep, uses the notion of a graph separator, a (small) set of nodes that partition a graph into connected components of roughly equal sizes, recursively applies this idea to the connected components, and produces a route reflector hierarchy and the associated iBGP sessions. We prove that BGPSep guarantees the desired correctness properties, and evaluate an implementation of the BGPSep algorithm on several real-world and simulated network topologies. Across these topologies, we find that the number of iBGP sessions with BGPSep is a factor of 2.5 to 5× smaller than with a “full mesh” iBGP, while guaranteeing the desired correctness properties.
Regular expression-based learning to extract bodyweight values from clinical notes

Example of the creation of a standardized regular expression by REDEx. REDEx accurately extracted weight from outpatient primary care notes.Extracted values were reliable (highly correlated with values from structured field).Unique values (2 per individual per year) were identified.This method can reduce missing/mistimed values in cohort identification.REDEx is flexible and can be retrained to textual expressions. BackgroundBodyweight related measures (weight, height, BMI, abdominal circumference) are extremely important for clinical care, research and quality improvement. These and other vitals signs data are frequently missing from structured tables of electronic health records. However they are often recorded as text within clinical notes. In this project we sought to develop and validate a learning algorithm that would extract bodyweight related measures from clinical notes in the Veterans Administration (VA) Electronic Health Record to complement the structured data used in clinical research. MethodsWe developed the Regular Expression Discovery Extractor (REDEx), a supervised learning algorithm that generates regular expressions from a training set. The regular expressions generated by REDEx were then used to extract the numerical values of interest.To train the algorithm we created a corpus of 268 outpatient primary care notes that were annotated by two annotators. This annotation served to develop the annotation process and identify terms associated with bodyweight related measures for training the supervised learning algorithm. Snippets from an additional 300 outpatient primary care notes were subsequently annotated independently by two reviewers to complete the training set. Inter-annotator agreement was calculated.REDEx was applied to a separate test set of 3561 notes to generate a dataset of weights extracted from text. We estimated the number of unique individuals who would otherwise not have bodyweight related measures recorded in the CDW and the number of additional bodyweight related measures that would be additionally captured. ResultsREDEx's performance was: accuracy=98.3%, precision=98.8%, recall=98.3%, F=98.5%. In the dataset of weights from 3561 notes, 7.7% of notes contained bodyweight related measures that were not available as structured data. In addition 2 additional bodyweight related measures were identified per individual per year. ConclusionBodyweight related measures are frequently stored as text in clinical notes. A supervised learning algorithm can be used to extract this data. Implications for clinical care, epidemiology, and quality improvement efforts are discussed.
How Existing Business Management Concepts Become School Leadership Fashions

Purpose: This article examines the history of three management concepts that originated in the business sector and progressed to the K-12 education sector. Framework: We propose a new conceptual mo...
Solenoid and non-solenoid protein recognition using stationary wavelet packet transform

Motivation: Solenoid proteins are emerging as a protein class with properties intermediate between structured and intrinsically unstructured proteins. Containing repeating structural units, solenoid proteins are expected to share sequence similarities. However, in many cases, the sequence similarities are weak and non-detectable. Moreover, solenoids can be degenerated and widely vary in the number of units. So that it is difficult to detect them. Recently, several solenoid repeats detection methods have been proposed, such as self-alignment of the sequence, spectral analysis and discrete Fourier transform of sequence. Although these methods have shown good performance on certain data sets, they often fail to detect repeats with weak similarities. In this article, we propose a new approach to recognize solenoid repeats and non-solenoid proteins using stationary wavelet packet transform (SWPT). Our method associates with three advantages: (i) naturally representing five main factors of protein structure and properties by wavelet analysis technique; (ii) extracting novel wavelet features that can capture hidden components from solenoid sequence similarities and distinguish them from global proteins; (iii) obtaining statistics features that capture repeating motifs of solenoid proteins. Results: Our method analyzes the characteristics of amino acid sequence in both spectral and temporal domains using SWPT. Both global and local information of proteins are captured by SWPT coefficients. We obtain and integrate wavelet-based features and statistics-based features of amino acid sequence to improve the classification task. Our proposed method is evaluated by comparing to state-of-the-art methods such as HHrepID and REPETITA. The experimental results show that our algorithm consistently outperforms them in areas under ROC curve. At the same false positive rate, the sensitivity of our WAVELET method is higher than other methods. Availability: http://www.naaan.org/anvo/Software/Software.htm Contact: anphuocnhu.vo@mavs.uta.edu
Gen.com: Youth, Civic Engagement, and the New Information Environment

(2000). Gen.com: Youth, Civic Engagement, and the New Information Environment. Political Communication: Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 341-349.
ramosa2 Encodes a LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARY Domain Protein That Determines the Fate of Stem Cells in Branch Meristems of Maize

Genetic control of grass inflorescence architecture is critical given that cereal seeds provide most of the world's food. Seeds are borne on axillary branches, which arise from groups of stem cells in axils of leaves and whose branching patterns dictate most of the variation in plant form. Normal maize (Zea mays) ears are unbranched, and tassels have long branches only at their base. The ramosa2 (ra2) mutant of maize has increased branching with short branches replaced by long, indeterminate ones. ra2 was cloned by chromosome walking and shown to encode a LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARY domain transcription factor. ra2 is transiently expressed in a group of cells that predicts the position of axillary meristem formation in inflorescences. Expression in different mutant backgrounds places ra2 upstream of other genes that regulate branch formation. The early expression of ra2 suggests that it functions in the patterning of stem cells in axillary meristems. Alignment of ra2-like sequences reveals a grass-specific domain in the C terminus that is not found in Arabidopsis thaliana. The ra2-dm allele suggests this domain is required for transcriptional activation of ra1. The ra2 expression pattern is conserved in rice (Oryza sativa), barley (Hordeum vulgare), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and maize, suggesting that ra2 is critical for shaping the initial steps of grass inflorescence architecture.
Reduced-order observer based decentralized controller design: The LMI approach

The robust stabilization problem is considered for a class of nonlinear interconnected systems consisting of linear subsystems coupled by nonlinear interconnections. The interconnections are unknown and quadratically bounded. A novel decentralized dynamic output feedback based linear controller is proposed, which is characterized by the observer-controller separation property. The feedback gain matrices of local controllers are obtained by solving an optimization problem subject to linear matrix inequalities. The local projection operator based reduced-order unknown input observer is employed to asymptotically estimate the states of each subsystem. The closed-loop system driven by the proposed decentralized controller is guaranteed to be connectively stable with maximized interconnection bounds.
Long-term disability due to guinea worm disease

The village-based surveillance system for guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis), which has been established in all endemic villages in Ghana, was used to carry out a retrospective study of long-term disability due to the disease. A sample of 195 cases was interviewed and examined, 12-18 months after emergence of the worm. Currently continuing pain when walking or working, attributable by its location and date of onset to the episode of dracunculiasis, was reported by 55 persons (28.2%). Some difficulty in performing at least one of 6 everyday physical activities, attributable after careful interview to the episode, was reported by 66 respondents (34.0%), of whom 10 (5.1%) were unable to carry out one of the activities. In one case, the disease had caused impairment of movement of the joints of the right thumb. The prevalence of serious permanent physical impairment among the cases in the study was thus 0.5%.
In individuals with schizophrenia, duration and severity of mental illness, health status, mutuality, employment and household income influence quality of life.

Commentary on: Hsiao CY, Hsieh MH, Tseng CJ, et al . Quality of life of individuals with schizophrenia living in the community: relationship to socio-demographic, clinical and psychosocial characteristics J Clin Nurs 2012;21:2367–76.[OpenUrl][1][CrossRef][2][PubMed][3] [1]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DJournal%2Bof%2Bclinical%2Bnursing%26rft.stitle%253DJ%2BClin%2BNurs%26rft.aulast%253DHsiao%26rft.auinit1%253DC.%2BY.%26rft.volume%253D21%26rft.issue%253D15-16%26rft.spage%253D2367%26rft.epage%253D2376%26rft.atitle%253DQuality%2Bof%2Blife%2Bof%2Bindividuals%2Bwith%2Bschizophrenia%2Bliving%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bcommunity%253A%2Brelationship%2Bto%2Bsocio-demographic%252C%2Bclinical%2Band%2Bpsychosocial%2Bcharacteristics.%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1111%252Fj.1365-2702.2012.04067.x%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F22788567%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [2]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1111/j.1365-2702.2012.04067.x&link_type=DOI [3]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=22788567&link_type=MED&atom=%2Febnurs%2F16%2F3%2F79.atom
Observability Analysis for Orthogonal Transformation Based State Estimation

Recently a triangular-factorization based observability analysis has been proposed. The method uses subroutines already existing in a state estimation software using the standard normal equations approach. The normal equations approach works well in most applications. However, occasional numerical ill-conditioning of the gain matrix has been observed in practice. Orthogonal transformation methods have been suggested to alleviate this problem. A hybrid approach combining the sparsity of the normal equations method and the numerical robustness of the orthogonal transformation methods has recently been developed. The method solves the normal equations using the orghogonal transformation of the Jacobian matrix. This paper extends the basic idea of the triangular-factorization based observability analysis to orthogonal transformation and hybrid state estimators. The observability analysis is performed during the process or orthogonal transformation (Householder or Givens) of the Jacobian matrix. The deailed algorithm is given. Test results are presented.
Sintering Behavior of Gehlenite, Part II. Microstructure and Mechanical Properties

A self-toughened gehlenite (2CaO·Al2O3·SiO2 or “C2AS”) ceramic with randomly distributed platelet grains was prepared by the organic steric entrapment (PVA) route. The gehlenite ceramic had a density of 2.698–2.875 g/cm3, corresponding to a relative density of 90%–96%. The platelet gehlenite grains had an average thickness of 3.6±0.8 μm and a width of 12.9±3.7 μm, respectively, with an average aspect ratio of 3.6. The three-point bending strength, fracture toughness, and Young's modulus attained were 142.1±12.1 MPa, 2.32±0.12 MPa·m1/2, and 108±6.8 GPa, respectively. Fractography as well as Vickers indentation crack propagation profiles showed that crack deflection, crack blunting, and pinning effects due to the randomly distributed platelet grains were considered to be responsible for the good mechanical properties of the gehlenite ceramic.
Follicular neoplasm of the thyroid gland: unique cytologic appearances in a fine-needle aspiration biopsy.

Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy has become a standard first-line diagnostic procedure for palpable and nonpalpable nodules of the thyroid gland. Six cytologic diagnostic categories have recently been proposed to unify the terminology that is linked to proper clinical management. We report a case of follicular neoplasm diagnosed on FNA specimen that had a very artistic appearance of the microfollicle formation on both Diff-Quik and Papanicolaou-stained slides. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2010;38:660–662. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Evaluation of a region on chromosome 1p in ovarian serous carcinoma that is frequently deleted in uterine papillary serous carcinoma.

Abstract Objective. The goal of this study was to assess the involvement of chromosome 1p deletion in ovarian papillary serous carcinoma (OPSC) via high-resolution physical mapping to detect a candidate tumor suppressor gene previously implicated in uterine papillary serous carcinoma (UPSC) tumorigenesis. Methods. Previous studies have demonstrated a high rate of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) within a critical region of chromosome 1p in UPSC, suggesting the presence of a putative tumor suppressor gene important in the development of UPSC. To compare the genetic changes in OPSC with those in UPSC, seven microsatellite repeat polymorphisms were used to evaluate LOH in primary OPSC specimens. Allelic intensity was compared between normal and tumor DNA from microdissected, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens. In addition to the same seven 1p markers used for UPSC, three additional non-1p markers for chromosomes 1q, 11q, and 2p were tested to determine a baseline rate of LOH. Results. Overall, 26.6% (8/30) of OPSC (vs 63.2% of UPSC) were characterized by loss at either of the two loci that define the critical region for UPSC. Rates of LOH at each of the 1p loci in the OPSC tumors ranged from 5.6 to 38.9%, which are compatible with background rates of loss for OPSC. LOH at non-1p loci was 29.2%. Conclusion. While a tumor suppressor gene on 1p appears to be an important genetic event in the development of UPSC, a similar rate and pattern of loss on 1p are not identified in OPSC. Thus, despite the striking clinical similarities between UPSC and OPSC, tumorigenesis in these carcinomas appears to occur via distinctly different pathways.
Ionic strength dependence of protein retention on Superose 12 in SEC-IEC mixed mode chromatography

Abstract Protein retention was studied on Superose 12 in SEC-IEC mixed mode, over a wide range of ionic strength (16.8 mM to 500 mM). A new SEC parameter, Kint, which is analogous to the capacity factor k′ in IEC was defined. The effect of ionic strength on Kint was compared to predictions from two previous models, that of Kopaciewicz et al. [1] and that of Stahlberg et al. [2]. The ionic strength dependence of Kint more closely fits the second model, and the stationary phase surface charge density calculated from the model agrees well with the experimental value.
US Television Travels Abroad: Global TV and the Formatting Trend

From a global perspective, the US, or “Hollywood,” has long dominated the entertainment industry. As early as 1939, an estimated 65 % of films shown worldwide had a US origin and today, Hollywood blockbusters routinely gross just as much or more from international distribution as they do from domestic receipts (Miller et al. 2005). Television, often thought to be the domain of mostly national audiences, is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon as well. A recent development along these lines is that of “formatting;” it has become quite common for the format, or concept, of a popular television program, to be sold overseas and remade for local audiences. It is this formatting trend that is the primary focus of this chapter. Formatting raises several intriguing issues, including the sustained US dominance of the medium, whether formats promote or counter cultural homogenization, and questions about the transferability of the unique sense of place that characterizes certain television series. It is important to first establish the historic hegemony of US television in the global marketplace, as well as to provide a brief history of formats and a description of the top players in this industry, before exploring how these questions might be answered.
Microstructure and activity of thin films for a microelectronic gas sensor

Scanning force microscopy is used to study the structure of various sensing films after chemical and thermal treatments. An example chemical modification of the sensing film can be achieved by heating a Pt/Ti sensing film in an oxygen environment.1 With Pt acting as a catalyst, the Ti can become partially oxidized, resulting in a Pt/TiOx film which has different electronic properties than a metallic film. By further oxidizing the film, an insulating layer of TiO2 may be achieved. Or as in the case of hydrogen sensing, the Pt/TiOx film may revert to a more metallic state via the reduction of TiOx. The chemical interactions of these sensing films may be associated with large scale microstructural changes. The sensing activity and the structure of Ti, Pt/Ti, and Au/Ti films to gases such as hydrogen, and propylene has been studied. These chemical and morphological changes can be monitored by measuring the resistance of the thin sensing films. Pt/Ti films were found to have the best response to hydrogen (200 ppm) and propylene (150 ppm), while Au/Ti films showed weaker response to propylene (500 ppm) and CO (1000 ppm). The Pt/Ti films also showed shifts in temperature with changing propylene concentration possibly due to catalytic combustion.
Study of the Thermophysical Properties and Combustion Behavior of Metal-Based Solid Fuels

The combustion behavior and thermophysical p r o p e r t i e s of magnesiumand boron-based so l i d fue ls have been i n v e s t i g a t e d us ing a windowed st rand burner and a CO2 l a s e r t e s t f a c i l i t y , as w e l l as var ious d i a g n o s t i c and measurement techniques. The s t rand burn ing r a t e f o r t h e magnesium-based (Mg/PTFE/Viton A) s o l i d fue l increases monoton ica l l y w i t h ambient pressure i n both a i r and n i t r o g e n environments, and f o l l o w s c l o s e l y t h e Sa in t Rober t 's law. fue l s t rand burns 10% fas ter i n n i t r o g e n than i n a i r . A hypothes is t o e x p l a i n t h i s phenomenon has been made, based on t h e measured subsurface temperature p r o f i l e s , high-speed v i s u a l i z a t i o n data, and X-ray d i f f r a c t i o n a n a l y s i s of combustion residues. The i g n i t i o n and combustion c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the E/po ly (BAMOINMMO) f u e l s were a l s o s tud ied i n d e t a i l . Resul ts i n d i c a t e t h a t the h igh energy re lease from t h e burn ing o f po ly (BAMWNMMO) may s i g n i f i c a n t l y enhance t h e combustion e f f i c i e n c y of boron. I n a d d i t i o n , an approach t o deduce the thermophysical p r o p e r t i e s " & the f y e l samples has been es tab l i shed. However, t h e
Surgical Treatment of Idiopathic Thoracolumbar and Lumbar Scoliosis in Adolescent Patients

The surgical management of idiopathic thoracolumbar and lumbar scoliosis is complex because of the surgeon's desire to achieve curve correction while maintaining normal lumbar lordosis with as many distal mobile lumbar segments as possible. By doing so, the surgeon is able to maintain normal sagittal alignment and decrease the chance of degenerative lumbar spine disease below the scoliosis fusion. This article discusses the surgical treatment of the thoracolumbar and lumbar curve, and, it is hoped, provides a better understanding of this complex problem.
A new approach for detecting and monitoring of selective forwarding attack in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are susceptible to most security attacks. There are some limitations such as reliability, energy efficiency, and scalability, which affect sensor nodes. These limitations mostly affect the security of wireless networks. Also, limited capacity of sensor nodes accounts for the security attacks on WSNs. Applications such as military surveillance, traffic surveillance, healthcare, and environmental monitoring are impacted by security attacks. Hence, researchers have created various types of detection approaches against such attacks. Selective forwarding attack is an example of an attack that is not easily detected particularly in the networks layer. In this type of attack, malicious nodes function in the same way as other nodes in the networks. However, it tries to drops the sensitive information prior to transferring the packet to other sensor node. In this paper, we proposed a new approach for detecting and monitoring selective forwarding attacks in wireless sensor networks. The new approach guaranteed to keep the data transferring between nodes safely.
A computational concept generation method for a modular vehicle fleet design

Modularity for ground vehicle systems has been viewed as a potential solution for the military to meet a variety of changing mission demands without keeping a large inventory of vehicles in a fleet. Defining the module concepts is a significant challenge that impacts the effectiveness of the modularity solution. In this paper, we propose a functional synthesis method to design a set of modules comprising a modular ground vehicle fleet according to overall fleet-level objectives. We start with a functional decomposition of a baseline conventional fleet capable of performing a given fleet mission. We then formulate a functional synthesis problem to draw the boundaries that define modules for a modular fleet having the same mission capability with maximum fleet performance defined by average weight of the fleet performing the required operations and personnel time to reconfigure and maintain the fleet. An example problem is included to illustrate the approach. Results show a trade-off between two fleet-level objectives with respect to the degree of modularity.
Antibody Binding Specificity for Kappa (Vκ) Light Chain-containing Human (IgM) Antibodies: Polysialic Acid (PSA) Attached to NCAM as a Case Study

Antibodies of the IgM isotype are often neglected as potential therapeutics in human trials, animal models of human diseases as well as detecting agents in standard laboratory techniques. In contrast, several human IgMs demonstrated proof of efficacy in cancer models and models of CNS disorders including multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Reasons for their lack of consideration include difficulties to express, purify and stabilize IgM antibodies, challenge to identify (non-protein) antigens, low affinity binding and fundamental knowledge gaps in carbohydrate and lipid research. This manuscript uses HIgM12 as an example to provide a detailed protocol to detect antigens by Western blotting, immunoprecipitations and immunocytochemistry. HIgM12 targets polysialic acid (PSA) attached to the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM). Early postnatal mouse brain tissue from wild type (WT) and NCAM knockout (KO) mice lacking the three major central nervous system (CNS) splice variants NCAM180, 140 and 120 was used to evaluate the importance of NCAM for binding to HIgM12. Further enzymatic digestion of CNS tissue and cultured CNS cells using endoneuraminidases led us to identify PSA as the specific binding epitope for HIgM12.
Incidence and Outcomes of Central Nervous System Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis Relapse after Reduced-Intensity Conditioning Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Abstract Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is an immune regulatory disorder that commonly presents with central nervous system (CNS) involvement. The only cure for genetic HLH is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), typically treated with reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) regimens. We sought to estimate the incidence of CNS relapse after RIC HSCT, determine risk factors, and evaluate outcomes. We performed a retrospective chart review of 94 consecutive children and young adults with primary HLH who received RIC HSCT. CNS relapse within 1 year after transplantation was diagnosed by review of clinical symptoms, cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), and radiologic findings. Four (4.25%) patients developed symptoms of possible CNS HLH after HSCT and 3 patients were diagnosed. Eight patients underwent screening lumbar puncture because of history of active CNS disease at the onset of the conditioning regimen and 4 had evidence of continued disease. The overall incidence of CNS relapse and continued CNS disease after RIC HSCT was 8%. All patients with CNS disease after HSCT responded to CNS-directed therapy. Whole blood donor chimerism at the time of CNS relapse was low at 1% to 34%, but it remained high at 88% to 100% for patients with continued CNS disease. Overall survival for patients with CNS relapse was 50%, compared with 75% for patients without CNS disease (P = .079). Our data suggest that a low level of donor chimerism or active CNS disease at the time of transplantation increase the risk of CNS HLH after HSCT. Surveillance CSF evaluation after allogeneic RIC HSCT should be considered in patients with risk factors and CNS-directed treatment should be initiated if appropriate.
The Relationship Between Direct Violence Victimization and Arrest History: The Mediating Role of Aggression

ABSTRACTThis study sought to determine whether emerging adults with a history of arrest differed on reported experiences of direct violence victimization (DVV), as well as measures of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and aggression. We administered self-report measures to 535 diverse college students. Results revealed that 64 participants reported a history of arrest. Participants with a history of arrest reported significantly higher scores on measures of aggression, as well as a greater number of DVV experiences, when compared to a comparable random sample of participants with no history of arrest. When the total sample was examined, there was no direct relationship between DVV and history of arrest. However, we found evidence for the mediating effect of aggression between the two variables. Our findings suggest that, among emerging adults who have experienced DVV, high levels of aggression may play a role in criminal justice involvement.
High burden of metabolic comorbidities in a citywide cohort of HIV outpatients: evolving health care needs of people aging with HIV in Washington, DC.

Objectives With the increasing impact of cardiovascular disease among populations aging with HIV, contemporary prevalence estimates for predisposing metabolic comorbidities will be important for guiding the provision of relevant lifestyle and pharmacological interventions. We estimated the citywide prevalence of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidaemia, and obesity; examined differences by demographic subgroups; and assessed clinical correlates. Methods Utilizing an electronic medical record (EMR) database from the DC Cohort study – a multicentre prospective cohort study of HIV-infected outpatients – we assessed the period prevalence of metabolic comorbidities between 2011 and 2015 using composite definitions that incorporated diagnoses, pharmacy records, and clinical/laboratory results. Results Of 7018 adult patients (median age 50 years; 77% black), 50% [95% confidence interval (CI) 49–51] had hypertension, 13% (95% CI: 12–14) had diabetes, 48% (95% CI: 47–49) had dyslipidaemia, and 35% (95% CI: 34–36) had obesity. Hypertension was more prevalent among black patients, diabetes and obesity were more prevalent among female and black patients, dyslipidaemia was more prevalent among male and white patients, and comorbidities were more prevalent among older patients (all P < 0.001). For many patients, evidence of treatment for these comorbidities was not available in the EMR. Longer time since HIV diagnosis, greater duration of antiretroviral treatment, and having controlled immunovirological parameters were associated with metabolic comorbidities. Conclusions These findings underscore the pervasive burden of metabolic comorbidities among HIV-infected persons, serve as the basis for future analyses characterizing their impact on subsequent adverse cardiovascular outcomes, and highlight the need for an increased focus on the prevention and control of comorbid complications in this population.
Rebuilding in the face of climate change

Decadal-scale climate variability and change can cause trends in oceanographic conditions that impact demographic rates. Rebuilding scenarios, therefore, developed assuming constant demographic rat...
Selecting Optimal Subset to Release Under Differentially Private M-Estimators from Hybrid Datasets

Privacy concern in data sharing especially for health data gains particularly increasing attention nowadays. Now, some patients agree to open their information for research use, which gives rise to a new question of how to effectively use the public information to better understand the private dataset without breaching privacy. In this paper, we specialize this question as selecting an optimal subset of the public dataset for M-estimators in the framework of differential privacy (DP) in [1] . From a perspective of non-interactive learning, we first construct the weighted private density estimation from the hybrid datasets under DP. Along the same line as [2] , we analyze the accuracy of the DP M-estimators based on the hybrid datasets. Our main contributions are (i) we find that the bias-variance tradeoff in the performance of our M-estimators can be characterized in the sample size of the released dataset; (ii) based on this finding, we develop an algorithm to select the optimal subset of the public dataset to release under DP. Our simulation studies and application to the real datasets confirm our findings and set a guideline in the real application.
Online Review Analysis by Visual Feature Selection

The purpose of this work is to show that feature selection through visualization is at least as powerful as the best automatic feature selection algorithms. This is proved by applying our visualization technique on the online review analysis. Opinion spamming is a reality, and it can have unpleasant consequences in the retail industry. While there are, several promising research works done on identifying the fake online reviews from genuine online reviews, there have been few involving visualization and visual analytics. This is achieved by applying radial chart visualization technique to the online review classification into fake and genuine reviews. Radial chart and the color overlaps are used to explore the best feature selection through visualization for classification. The system gives a structure to each text review based on certain attributes, compares how different or similar the structure of the different or same categories are, and highlights the key features that contribute to the classification the most. Our visualization technique helps the user get insights into the high dimensional data by providing means to eliminate the worst features right away, pick some best features without statistical aids, understand the behavior of the dimensions in different combinations.
Updates in Immune Thrombocytopenia: Terminology, Immunomodulation and Platelet Stimulation, and Clinical Guidelines and Management

ITP results from antibody-mediated platelet destruction as well as decreased production. Recently our understanding of the pathophysiology of ITP has expanded, increasing therapeutic options. This section will outline new terminology, describe the pathophysiology, and highlight treatment options and guidelines for management.
1682f Partnerships to expand occupational safety and health content in wikipedia

Introduction Wikipedia is accessed by hundreds of millions around the world and that makes Wikipedia one of the most powerful platforms for the dissemination of science information. While Wikipedia offers high-quality content about certain topics, a large proportion of articles are insufficiently developed. The Wikimedia Foundation has engaged in partnerships with scientific and academic institutions to improve the coverage and communication of science to the public. These efforts are beneficial to professional and academic associations interested in sharing reliable, vetted information about their discipline with the world. Methods The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is one of the research agencies engaged in this effort. NIOSH developed and manages the WikiProject Occupational Safety and Health. NIOSH also participates in a classroom program (where students write Wikipedia articles) to expand and improve Wikipedia’s content on public and occupational health. The evaluation of their efforts is conducted using an Altmetrics platform that tracks alternative metrics for information products located on the web that have a persistent tracking number, such as an ISBN or DOI. Result Metrics on these efforts are publicly available thru Wikipedia, the Wiki Education Foundation and Altmetric so reach can be evaluated continuously by the number of views and quality of entries. Discussion Several mechanisms exists to motivate researchers to get involved and to evaluate the impact of the efforts in Wikipedia. Throughout these initiatives, new scientific content related to acoustics was successfully added to Wikipedia, and the quality of the entries were improved.
Cooperative emission mediated by cooperative energy transfer to a plasmonic antenna

We develop a theory of cooperative emission mediated by cooperative energy transfer (CET) from an ensemble of quantum emitters (QEs) to plasmonic antenna at a rate equal to the sum of individual QE-plasmon energy transfer rates. If the antenna radiation efficiency is sufficiently high, the transferred energy is radiated away at approximately the same cooperative rate that scales with the ensemble size. We derive explicit expressions, in terms of local fields, for cooperative Purcell factor and enhancement factor for power spectrum valid for plasmonic structures of any shape with characteristic sizes smaller than the radiation wavelength. The radiated power spectrum retains the plasmon resonance lineshape with overall amplitude scaling with the ensemble size. If QEs are located in a region with nearly constant plasmon local density of states (LDOS), e.g., inside a plasmonic nanocavity, we demonstrate that the CET rate scales linearly with the number of excited QEs, consistent with the experiment, and can be tuned in a wide range by varying the excitation power. For QEs distributed in an extended region saturating the plasmon mode volume, we show that the cooperative Purcell factor has universal form independent of the system size. The CET mechanism incorporates the plasmon LDOS enhancement as well, giving rise to possibilities of controlling the emission rate beyond field enhancement limits.
Injury and Repair: Light Damage

Photic injury or light damage in albino rodents is one of the classic models to study photoreceptor cell death and repair. Exposure to environmental light also plays a role in advancing and aggravating retinal degeneration in human and in animal models. Interestingly, the same spectrum of light that causes visual responses can cause light damage of the visual cells if the exposure is prolonged or repeated. However, we are protected from daily exposure to light by an intrinsic adaptive mechanism developed by regular exposure to light in a cyclic manner. The focus of this review is an update in our understanding of molecular mechanisms that lead to photoreceptor cell death and adaptive responses from light damage.
How Enlarging the Classroom Makes Room for Variation in Cognitive Capacities

This chapter begins Part III of the book. In Part I, we developed an understanding of largely unconscious organizing processes that are essential to learning. In Part II, we considered what this understanding means for classroom teaching. Here in Part III, we will reflect on the material covered so far, with the goal of gaining a deeper appreciation of the perspective we have developed.
Functionalized Poly(Alkyl/Arlyphosphazenes)

Poly(methylphenylphosphazene) can be derivatized through either deprotonation/substitution reactions at the methyl group or electrophilic aromatic substitution of the phenyl group. These reactions have been used to prepare a variety of new polyphosphazenes with all functional groups attached to the polymer backbone by direct P-C bonds.
Simple Models for the Stratum Corneum Lipids

Models for stratum corneum lipids using lipid combinations were prepared in which ceramides were replaced by lecithin. All the combinations including the one with a composition identical to that of intact stratum comeum were lamellar liquid crystals
Using deep-learning radiomics to predict lung cancer histology.

8545Background: Histologic phenotype is an important predictor of clinical outcomes in lung cancer. Tissue diagnosis is the most definitive approach to categorization, however, this is often techni...
Liberation Through Law

In Black Natural Law, Vincent W. Lloyd mines the writings of four prominent African-American scholar-activists from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries: Frederick Douglass, Anna Julia...
A contribution to the biology, distribution and immature stages of the Pachygronthinae of South Africa (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae)

This paper presents data on the distribution, host plants and immature stages of all the known South African species of the lygaeid subfamily Pachygronthinae. Four faunal components are apparent, namely Cape, forest, tropical and savannah elements. Host plant data emphasizes the distinctiveness of the two tribes of this subfamily: the Pachygronthini feed on the seeds of sedges, whereas all of the Teracriini are grass-feeders.
A Brief Prehistory of Huntington's Disease

Physicians and family members alike have long been curious about the historical origins of Huntington’s disease. Despite the fact that families with “hereditary chorea” were described in medical literature for the first time in the 1840s, most authors agree that the genetic abnormality and most likely the panoply of symptoms we know today as Huntington’s disease were present centuries earlier in Europe and the Americas, and probably in other parts of the world as well. Twentieth century medical writers have tried to link modern Huntington’s disease with the great European dance epidemics of the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries known as St. Vitus’s dance or danse de St. Guy. They have cited as possible precedents the descriptions of chorea Sancti Viti by the Renaissance physician Paracelsus of Basel, the witch trials of the 17th century in northern Europe and New England, and the accounts of post-rheumatic chorea in children in the late 17th and 18th centuries, written by the English physician Thomas Sydenham and others. They have
P78. The true penalty of the waiting room: the role of wait time in patient satisfaction in a busy spine practice

BACKGROUND CONTEXT Most clinics collect routine data on performance metrics on physicians for outpatient visits. However, the relationship between them and the patient experience is vague. PURPOSE The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Clinician and Group Survey (CG-CAHPS), the current standard evaluation of the patient experience, and new performance metrics we collected in order to understand the determinants of patient satisfaction and identify targets for improving the patient experience. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING Retrospective cohort study, single academic health system. OUTCOME MEASURES CG-CAHPS scores in 3 domains – global, access and communication. METHODS All spine surgeons in our academic health system were included and the following were retrospectively reviewed from a 15-month period: demographic data, average cycle times (time in minutes from check-in to check-out), waiting-room times (check-in to being roomed), in-room times (room placement to check-out), lead times (time in days from scheduling phone call to appointment), timely note closure, timely response to patient questions and patient volume (number of new and total patients per month). Kruskal Wallis tests and univariate and multivariate mixed model regression were used to determine the relationships between these covariates and the patient-reported outcomes as measured by CG-CAHPS in 3 domains – global, access and communication. RESULTS Twenty-two surgeons were included in the study. There were 27,090 visits. Male gender and no fellowship were independently associated with higher satisfaction in global ratings (p CONCLUSIONS Excessive waiting room time affects not only access scores but also significantly colors other dimensions of the patient experience and impacts perceived communication between patients and doctors. Understanding the complex relationship between the factors that inform the patient experience will help to target effective interventions to improve clinic efficiency and patient satisfaction. FDA DEVICE/DRUG STATUS This abstract does not discuss or include any applicable devices or drugs.