cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The uncoupling protein 1 gene, UCP1, is expressed in mammalian islet cells and associated with acute insulin response to glucose in African American families from the IRAS Family Study.

Variants of uncoupling protein genes UCP1 and UCP2 have been associated with a range of traits. We wished to evaluate contributions of known UCP1 and UCP2 variants to metabolic traits in the Insulin Resistance and Atherosclerosis (IRAS) Family Study. We genotyped five promoter or coding single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 239 African American (AA) participants and 583 Hispanic participants from San Antonio (SA) and San Luis Valley. Generalized estimating equations using a sandwich estimator of the variance and exchangeable correlation to account for familial correlation were computed for the test of genotypic association, and dominant, additive and recessive models. Tests were adjusted for age, gender and BMI (glucose homeostasis and lipid traits), or age and gender (obesity traits), and empirical P-values estimated using a gene dropping approach. UCP1 A-3826G was associated with AIRg in AA (P = 0.006) and approached significance in Hispanic families (P = 0.054); and with HDL-C levels in SA families (P = 0.0004). Although UCP1 expression is reported to be restricted to adipose tissue, RT-PCR indicated that UCP1 is expressed in human pancreas and MIN-6 cells, and immunohistochemistry demonstrated co-localization of UCP1 protein with insulin in human islets. UCP2 A55V was associated with waist circumference (P = 0.045) in AA, and BMI in SA (P = 0.018); and UCP2 G-866A with waist-to-hip ratio in AA (P = 0.016). This study suggests a functional variant of UCP1 contributes to the variance of AIRg in an AA population; the plausibility of this unexpected association is supported by the novel finding that UCP1 is expressed in islets.
PRODUCTIVITY OF C3, AND C4, PLANT SPECIES

(1977). PRODUCTIVITY OF C3, AND C4, PLANT SPECIES. Annals of the Association of American Geographers: Vol. 67, No. 4, pp. 639-640.
Confirming Management Earnings Forecasts, Earnings Uncertainty, and Stock Returns

In this study we examine the association among confirming management forecasts, stock prices, and analyst expectations. Confirming management forecasts are voluntary disclosures by management that corroborate existing market expectations about future earnings. This study provides evidence that these voluntary disclosures affect stock prices and the dispersion of analyst expectations. Specifically, we find that the market's reaction to confirming forecasts is significantly positive, indicating that benefits accrue to firms that disclose such forecasts. In addition, although we find no significant change in the mean consensus forecasts (a proxy for earnings expectations) around the confirming forecast date, evidence indicates a significant reduction in the mean and median consensus analyst dispersion (a proxy for earnings uncertainty). Finally, we document a positive association between the reduction of dispersion of analysts' forecasts and the magnitude of the stock market response. Overall, the evidence suggests that confirming forecasts reduce uncertainty about future earnings and that investors price this reduction of uncertainty.
Harnessing Women’s Work: Restructuring Agricultural and Industrial Labor Forces in the Dominican Republic

AbstractThe recent period of crisis and adjustment in Latin America and the Caribbean is fueling a fundamentally gendered process of labor force restructuring in both agriculture and industry. An analysis of ongoing changes in the Dominican Republic finds that one of the most striking shifts in the labor market landscape involves women’s increasing incorporation into nontraditional agriculture and export manufacturing. The Dominican state and corporations collaborate in devaluing and harnessing women’s labor in these sectors, enhancing private profits and the success of exportled development strategies.This study deepens our understanding of gendered labor force restructuring by analyzing the rarely noted, but substantial, incorporation of women in new agro-enterprises and by comparing the ways in which a female labor force has been actively constructed in nontraditional agriculture with more familiar patterns in export manufacturing. Firms in both sectors rely on women to fulfill labor-intensive and exac...
An analytical cache model

Trace-driven simulation and hardware measurement are the techniques most often used to obtain accurate performance figures for caches. The former requires a large amount of simulation time to evaluate each cache configuration while the latter is restricted to measurements of existing caches. An analytical cache model that uses parameters extracted from address traces of programs can efficiently provide estimates of cache performance and show the effects of varying cache parameters. By representing the factors that affect cache performance, we develop an analytical model that gives miss rates for a given trace as a function of cache size, degree of associativity, block size, subblock size, multiprogramming level, task switch interval, and observation interval. The predicted values closely approximate the results of trace-driven simulations, while requiring only a small fraction of the computation cost.
Cold and Cough Medications in Children: Dealing With Parental Expectations: In Reply

Because parents are barraged with marketing by pharmaceutical companies on the benefits of cough and cold medications, it is easy to understand why they might expect their pediatrician to prescribe medications to treat their …
Severely Impaired B Lymphocyte Proliferation, Survival, and Induction of the c-Myc:Cullin 1 Ubiquitin Ligase Pathway Resulting from CD22 Deficiency on the C57BL/6 Genetic Background

Understanding the molecular mechanisms through which CD22 regulates B lymphocyte homeostasis, signal transduction, and tolerance is critical to defining normal B cell function and understanding the role of CD22 in autoimmunity. Therefore, CD22 function was examined in vivo and in vitro using B cells from CD22-deficient (CD22 −/− ) mice. Backcrossing of founder CD22 −/− mice onto the C57BL/6 (B6) genetic background from a B6/129 mixed background resulted in a dramatically reduced B cell proliferative response following IgM ligation, characterized by a paucity of lymphoblasts and augmented apoptosis. Also, the phenotype of splenic B6 CD22 −/− B cells was uniquely HSA high and IgD low /CD21 low with intermediate levels of CD5 expression, although the percentages of mature and transitional B cells were normal. That B6 CD22 −/− B cells predominantly underwent apoptosis following IgM ligation correlated with this unique tolerant phenotype, as well as defective induction of the c-Myc:Cullin 1 (CUL1) ubiquitin ligase pathway that is necessary for progression to the S phase of cell cycle. CD40 ligation compensated for CD22 deficiency by restoring lymphoblast development, proliferation, c-Myc and CUL1 expression, and protein ubiquitination/degradation in IgM-stimulated B6 CD22 −/− B cell cultures. Thereby, this study expands our current understanding of the complex role of CD22 during B cell homeostasis and Ag responsiveness, and reveals that the impact of CD22 deficiency is dictated by the genetic background on which it is rendered. Moreover, this study defines CD22 and CD40 as the first examples of lymphocyte coreceptors that influence induction of the c-Myc:CUL1 ubiquitin ligase pathway.
Automatic time-bound analysis for a higher-order language

Analysis of program running time is important for several applications, including reactive systems, interactive environments, compiler optimizations and performance evaluation. Automatic and efficient prediction of accurate time bounds is particularly important, and being able to do so for high-level languages is particularly desirable. This paper presents a general approach for automatic and accurate time-bound analysis for a functional high-level language, that combines methods and techniques studied in theory, languages, and systems. The approach consists of transformations for building time-bound functions in the presence of partially known input structures, symbolic evaluation of the time-bound function based on input parameters, optimizations to make the analysis efficient as well as accurate, and measurements of primitive parameters, all at the source-language level. To handle higher-order functions, special transformations are needed to build lambda expressions for computing running times, to optimize the construction of the time lambda expressions, and to optimize the symbolic evaluation. It took us several tries to obtain the simple and concise transformations for handling lambda expressions. We describe analysis and transformation algorithms and explain how they work. We have implemented this approach and performed a large number of experiments analyzing Scheme programs. The measured worst-case times are closely bounded by the calculated bounds. We describe our prototype system, ALPA, as well as the analysis and measurement results.
Multiuser reception for trellis-based code division multiple access communications

A code division multiple access (CDMA) system is considered where a trellis-based encoding scheme provides the direct-sequence spread-spectrum modulator with a signature sequence chosen from a bi-orthogonal set. A number of detectors are considered that maximize the likelihood ratio. In addition to the optimum multiuser receiver with very high computational complexity, we present schemes based on a reduced tree search algorithm and a multistage detector. The numerical results show the gain in performance compared to the uncoded transmission and indicate as well the capability of alleviating the near-far problem for all three detectors. >
Tracking mobile nodes using RF Doppler shifts

In this paper, we address the problem of tracking cooperative mobile nodes in wireless sensor networks. Aiming at a resource efficient solution, we advocate the use of sensors that maintain their location information and rely on the tracking service only when their locations change. In the proposed approach, the tracked node transmits a signal and infrastructure nodes measure the Doppler shifts of the transmitted signal. We show that Mica2 motes can measure RF Doppler shifts with 0.2 Hz accuracy corresponding to a 0.14 m/s error in relative speed estimates using radio inter-ferometric technique.The tracking problem is modeled as a non-linear optimization problem and an extended Kalman filter is used to solve it accurately assuming Gaussian measurement errors. However, this approach may fail if the tracked node changes its speed or direction. We propose to update the Kalman filter state by performing constrained least-squares optimization when a maneuver is detected. The combined approach achieves almost a 50% accuracy improvement over the Kalman filter alone when the mobile node changes its direction and speed frequently. We describe our proof-of-concept implementation of the tracking service and evaluate its performance experimentally and in simulation.
Optimal neurocontrollers for discretized distributed parameter systems

We propose to use the framework of backpropagation through time (BPTT) to create optimal feedback neurocontrollers for distributed parameter systems (DPS). DPS are systems distributed in space while evolving in time. Unlike the lumped parameter systems, DPS are represented by a set of partial differential equations in the state space. Our neurocontrollers obtained for discretized DPS in the infinite-horizon regulator setting are applicable to a broad set of initial states (an envelope of initial state profiles). We compare our technique and results with another approach to synthesizing optimal DPS neurocontrollers introduced.
Seeking the New Biotechnological Fix? Public Health Genetics and Environmental Justice Policy in the United States

This paper analyzes the Environmental Genome Project (EGP), a new public health research initiative of the US National Institutes of Health that focuses on the role that gene-environment interactions play in disease causation. The public health goal of the EGP is to identify populations that may be genetically predisposed to contracting environmental illnesses such as cancer, asthma, and heart disease. This information about potential genetic susceptibility to disease is intended to be used to design public health policies to protect ‘vulnerable’ populations, i.e., lowincome and poor communities of color who display disproportionately high rates of environmental illnesses. In this paper, I use a feminist-environmental justice lens to analyze the extent to which the EGP signifies the practice of biotechnology in ‘the public interest’ and whether it supports its stated goals of developing a progressive genetics/genomics tool to serve the aims of environmental justice. Based on interviews with scientists and activists, I discuss what many critics have identified as the genetic reductionism underlying the project. This critique by public interest scientists and women environmental justice activists argues that the EGP focuses more attention on discovering ‘susceptibility genes’ in ‘vulnerable subpopulations’ and less attention on the social, political, economic, and environmental factors that are productive of environmental health and illness.
Production of plasma esterified cholesterol in lean, normotriglyceridemic humans

The rate of production of plasma esterified cholesterol was measured both in vivo and in vitro in seven subjects and in vivo alone in eight subjects. All subjects were lean, clinically healthy, and had triglyceride concentrations
Globalization: Legal Aspects

This article is a revision of the previous edition article by B. De Sousa Santos, volume 9, pp. 6277–6284, © 2001, Elsevier Ltd.
Glutamate transport and cellular glutamine metabolism: regulation in LLC-PK1 vs. LLC-PK1-F+cell lines

The glutamate (Glu) transporter may modulate cellular glutamine (Gln) metabolism by regulating both the rates of hydrolysis and subsequent conversion of Glu to α-ketoglutarate and NH 4 + . By deliv...
PERCEPTION OF FABRICS

The texturalcentric model of non‐attribute‐based visual and tactile response to textural fabric surfaces was used to elicit definitive qualities or dimensions of textural fabric surfaces. Multidimensional scaling analysis permitted subjects to provide numeric judgements of fabrics rather than using words with individuals' historic definitions of those terms, or without understanding some terms. Objectives of the study included validating the attributes identified by college students, and ascertaining the persistence of attributes that contribute to visual and tactile perception of adult women (25–45 years of age) and older women (60 years of age and older). One‐hundred‐and‐twenty subjects (50 per cent adult, 50 per cent older) provided visual or tactile ratings of the similarities of 30 fabrics. Data were subjected to multidimensional scaling analysis and coefficients of congruence were calculated. Dimensions or characteristics of fabrics were named using bipolar adjectives: rough to smooth, plane to dept...
The genetic associate: a career option in genetic counseling

Eleven training programs designed to prepare genetic associates (genetic counselors) at the master's degree level are compared and contrasted. Sarah Lawrence College developed the first such program in 1969; currently, most genetic associate programs are housed in medical schools in major universities across the nation. The newest program (at the University of South Carolina) accepted its first class in the fall of 1985. Data provided herein will enable college and university faculty to advise interested students about this viable career option.
EEG-based Secondary Task Detection in a Multiple Objective Operational Environment

Real world operational environments often require the integration of complex multiple-objective tasks that necessitate split attention and individual prioritization in human operators. This study examines the effect of secondary task presence on operator electroencephalogram (EEG) activity in two different multiple-objective remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) simulations. Eight participants completed simulated aerial reconnaissance tasks of varying difficulties, while continuously monitoring and responding to radio traffic requesting distance, speed, and elevation calculations that required expedient mathematical reasoning. In these realistic dynamic task scenarios, balanced random forest and binary logistic regression classifiers are used to measure the effectiveness of 35 physiological markers in detecting operator workload changes. Results suggest that within-subject random forest models perform reasonably well even when trained using alternative primary tasks. Additionally, novel evidence supporting the importance of delta band (1-3Hz) brain activity for task detection is reported.
Extending satellite longevity and life-cycle effectiveness through dynamically reconfigurable communications systems

The ability to support multiple mission objectives increases the longevity, mission life, flexibility, and cost effectiveness of satellite communications systems. One key technology area that helps achieve these goals is reconfigurable, software-based radio systems. While the application of this technology to ground based systems has evolved and proven valuable over the past several decades, the application of software-based configuration of digital signal processing technology in the communications satellite domain has been very limited. This is due to a number of reasons, including; survivability in the space environment, limited power, reconfiguration requirements, and the complexity of managing software deployment and configuration. This paper presents current work on a new family of space- qualified communications systems based on a hardware architecture that supports complete or partial reconfiguration of the communications processing elements. The approach utilises recent advances in radio management software, signal processing hardware, and adaptable systems. The processing elements support multiple communications links and modulation techniques concurrently. (6 pages)
a-(Si,Ge):H,F Alloys Prepared from SiH4 and GeF4

The properties of a-(Si,Ge):H,F alloys prepared by glow discharge deposition from SiH4 and GeF4 are described. The measured IR absorption spectra, sub-gap absorption spectra, dark conduction activation energies, carrier drift mobilities and deep trapping lifetimes of these alloys are similar to those of alloys prepared from SiF4, GeF4, and H2. However, they have over an order of magnitude lower photoconductivity over most of the composition range. Infrared absorption measurements indicate that these alloys have a fluorine content less than 1.5 at.% and a Si-H2 content that increases with germanium concentration.
Speaker and noise independent voice activity detection.

Voice activity detection (VAD) in the presence of heavy, nonstationary noise is a challenging problem that has attracted attention in recent years. Most modern VAD systems require training on highly specialized data: either labeled mixtures of speech and noise that are matched to the application, or, at the very least, noise data similar to that encountered in the application. Because obtaining labeled data can be a laborious task in practical applications, it is desirable for a voice activity detector to be able to perform well in the presence of any type of noise without the need for matched training data. In this paper, we propose a VAD method based on non-negative matrix factorization. We train a universal speech model from a corpus of clean speech but do not train a noise model. Rather, the universal speech model is sufficient to detect the presence of speech in noisy signals. Our experimental results show that our technique is robust to a variety of non-stationary noises mixed at a wide range of signal-to-noise ratios and significantly outperforms baseline algorithms.
Clinical validation of a real-time applicator position monitoring system for gynecologic intracavitary brachytherapy

Purpose: To validate the clinical feasibility and efficacy of a real-time applicator position monitoring system (RAPS) through a phantom study and a prospective clinical trial. Methods and materials: The RAPS measures the brachytherapy applicator displacement in real-time by computing the relative displacement between two infrared reflective targets, one attached to the applicator and the other to the patient's skin. A phantom study was performed to compare RAPS measurements with the ground truth. Six cervical cancer patients were enrolled in the clinical trial using MRI-based high-dose-rate brachytherapy with a Tandem-and-Ovoids applicator. The results from the RAPS are compared with the clinical method. Results: In the phantom study, an average difference between RAPS measurements and known displacements was 0.02 ± 0.01 mm in the superior-inferior direction, 0.02 ± 0.02 mm in the lateral direction, and 0.11 ± 0.06 mm in the anterior-posterior direction. In the clinical trial, the absolute difference in applicator displacement between the RAPS and the clinical method was 1.46 ± 1.13 mm. In all patient cases, a maximum applicator displacement of 6.66 mm (2.0 ± 1.5 mm) was observed using the RAPS. Conclusions: This work demonstrates the clinical efficacy of RAPS to measure applicator displacement.
On-Chip Temperature Distribution of Josephson Voltage Standard Devices

A substrate surface temperature characterization for the National Institute of Standards and Technology Josephson voltage standard has been performed by fabricating and measuring Josephson junction arrays with on-chip thermometry. Circuits were designed with a single voltage standard style array consisting of 12 810 junctions. 31 banks of thermometer junctions were placed around the array and microwave termination resistor to monitor temperature via a junction critical current measurement. Temperature rise in devices with on-chip termination resistors were compared to that of devices terminated off-chip. The thermal profiles on several different substrates were measured and compared to determine which substrate exhibited the best thermal transport. Finally, the thermal properties of junctions deposited directly on silicon were compared to those of the junctions deposited on an interface layer. We found that devices with off-chip terminations had half the temperature rise compared to the devices with on-chip termination, and the devices with remotely located terminations exhibited larger constant-voltage steps over a larger frequency/power range than the devices with termination resistors very close to array junctions. Comparing substrates, we found that sapphire was best for transporting heat from voltage standard circuits and that an interface layer did not affect heat transport in the substrate.
Launching Medical Foster Home Programs: Key Components to Growing This Alternative to Nursing Home Placement.

ABSTRACTObjective: The objective of this research was to examine and explain elements that enhanced or thwarted program growth of the United States Veterans Health Administration Medical Foster Home program. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted nationally through individual interviews over the phone and in-person (n = 22) with coordinators (n = 15 at slow-growth programs; n = 6 at fast-growth programs), program support assistants (PSAs) (n = 1 at slow-growth program), and home-based primary care team members (n = 3), as well as three in-person focus groups (n = 28 total participants) with home-based primary care team members. All participants (N = 53) were involved with programs in existence for at least two years. Results: Facilitators and barriers that enhanced or thwarted program growth emerged around four themes: A full-time coordinator; Unmitigated home-based primary care team engagement; Pursuit and receipt of appropriate referrals; and Match between caregiver, home, and Veteran. Conclusion...
Blurring the boundaries: Using Gamergate to examine “real” and symbolic violence against women in contemporary gaming culture

Recent controversies in gaming culture (i.e., Gamergate) highlight the lack of attention devoted to discussions of actual violence women experience in gaming. Rather, the focus is often situated on in-game violence; however, we must extend discussions of in-game violence and increased aggression to account for the “real world,” violent, realities of women as gamers, developers, and even critics of the medium. As such, we provide context with a brief introduction to the events of Gamergate. We then discuss the connections between the continued marginalization of women both in video games and in “real life.” Drawing from a range of sociological and ludological research, especially Bourdieu and Wacquant's conceptualization of symbolic violence, we examine the normalization of violence towards women in gaming culture. We conclude with considerations for future work involving symbolic violence and other conceptualizations of violence. This focus allows for a more impactful consideration as to why and how codified simulated violence affects marginalized members of communities. Using symbolic violence to connect trends within games to the lived experiences of women in gaming communities binds virtual experiences to “real” ones.
Facilitation of mossy fibre-driven spiking in the cerebellar nuclei by the synchrony of inhibition.

KEY POINTS Large premotor neurons of the cerebellar nuclei (CbN cells) integrate synaptic inhibition from Purkinje neurons and synaptic excitation from mossy fibres to generate cerebellar output. We find that mossy fibre inputs to CbN cells generate unitary AMPA receptor EPSCs of ∼1 nS that decay in ∼1 ms and mildly voltage-dependent NMDA receptor EPSCs of ∼0.6 nS that decay in ∼7 ms. A few hundred mossy fibres active at a few tens of spikes s-1 must converge on CbN cells to generate physiological CbN spike rates (∼60 spikes s-1 ) during convergent inhibition from spontaneously active Purkinje cells. Dynamic clamp studies in cerebellar slices from weanling mice demonstrate that synaptic excitation from mossy fibres becomes more effective at increasing the rate of CbN cell spiking when the coherence (synchrony) of convergent inhibition is increased. ABSTRACT Large projection neurons of the cerebellar nuclei (CbN cells), whose activity generates movement, are inhibited by Purkinje cells and excited by mossy fibres. The high convergence, firing rates and strength of Purkinje inputs predict powerful suppression of CbN cell spiking, raising the question of what activity patterns favour excitation over inhibition. Recording from CbN cells at near-physiological temperatures in cerebellar slices from weanling mice, we measured the amplitude, kinetics, voltage dependence and short-term plasticity of mossy fibre-mediated EPSCs. Unitary EPSCs were small and brief (AMPA receptor, ∼1 nS, ∼1 ms; NMDA receptor, ∼0.6 nS, ∼7 ms) and depressed moderately. Using these experimentally measured parameters, we applied combinations of excitation and inhibition to CbN cells with dynamic clamp. Because Purkinje cells can fire coincident simple spikes during cerebellar behaviours, we varied the proportion (0-20 of 40) and precision (0-4 ms jitter) of synchrony of inhibitory inputs, along with the rates (0-100 spikes s-1 ) and number (0-800) of excitatory inputs. Even with inhibition constant, when inhibitory synchrony was higher, excitation increased CbN cell firing rates more effectively. Partial inhibitory synchrony also dictated CbN cell spike timing, even with physiological rates of excitation. These effects were present with ≥10 inhibitory inputs active within 2-4 ms of each other. Conversely, spiking was most effectively suppressed when inhibition was maximally asynchronous. Thus, the rate and relative timing of Purkinje-mediated inhibition set the rate and timing of cerebellar output. The results suggest that increased coherence of Purkinje cell activity can facilitate mossy fibre-driven spiking by CbN cells, in turn driving movements.
Monotonicity Types for Distributed Dataflow

The Lasp [2] programming language provides combinator functions such as Union and Intersection for combining set CRDTs. When designing a CRDT combinator, care must be taken to ensure that the combinator is monotone separately in each of its arguments, so that applying it to a tuple of increasing input streams yields an increasing output stream. We consider designing a type system which can prove the monotonicity of CRDT combinators.
Electromagnetic source imaging using simultaneous scalp EEG and intracranial EEG: An emerging tool for interacting with pathological brain networks.

Abstract Objective The goal of this study is to investigate the performance, merits and limitations of source imaging using intracranial EEG (iEEG) recordings and to compare its accuracy to the results of EEG source imaging. Accuracy in this study, is measured both by determining the location and inter-nodal connectivity of underlying brain networks. Methods Systematic computer simulation studies are conducted to evaluate iEEG-based source imaging vs. EEG-based source imaging, and source imaging using both EEG and iEEG. To test the source imaging models, networks of inter-connected nodes (in terms of activity) are simulated. The location of the network nodes is randomly selected within a realistic geometry head model and a connectivity link is created among these nodes based on a multi-variate auto-regressive (MVAR) model. Then the forward problem is solved to calculate the potentials at the electrodes and noise (white and correlated) is added to these simulated potentials to simulate realistic measurements. Subsequently, the inverse problem is solved and an algorithm based on principle component analysis is performed on the estimated source activities to determine the location of the simulated network nodes. The activity of these nodes (over time), is then extracted, and used to estimate the connectivity links among the mentioned nodes using Granger causality analysis. Results Source imaging based on iEEG recordings may or may not improve the accuracy in localization, depending on the number and location of active nodes relative to iEEG electrodes and to other nodes within the network. However, our simulation results suggest that combining EEG and iEEG modalities (simultaneous scalp and intracranial recordings) can improve the imaging accuracy significantly. Conclusions While iEEG source imaging is useful in estimating the exact location of sources near the iEEG electrodes, combining EEG and iEEG recordings can achieve a more accurate imaging due to the high spatial coverage of the scalp electrodes and the added near field information provided by the iEEG electrodes. Significance The present results suggest the feasibility of localizing brain electrical sources from iEEG recordings and improving EEG source localization using simultaneous EEG and iEEG recordings to cover the whole brain. The hybrid EEG and iEEG source imaging can assist the clinicians when unequivocal decisions about determining the epileptogenic zone cannot be reached using a single modality.
Ethics Transplants? Addressing the Risks and Benefits of Guiding International Biomedicine

In agreement with Wolpe (2017), we cannot find that the planned body-to-head transplant (B-H-T) procedure meets key standards of research ethics. Ren and Canavero (2017) argue that the extraordinar...
Detecting Research Trends in Digital Library Readership

The research interests and preferences of the reader communities associated to any given digital library may change over the course of years. It is vital for digital library services and collection management to be informed of such changes, and to determine how they may point to future trends. We propose the Impact Discrepancy Ratio metric for the detection of research trends in a large digital library by comparing a reader-defined metric of journal impact to the Institute for Scientific Information Impact Factor (ISI IF) over the course of three years. An analysis for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Research Library (RL) comparing reader impact to the ISI IF for 1998 and 2001 indicates journals relating to climatology have undergone a sharp increase in local impact. This evolution pinpoints specific shifts in the local strategies and reader interests of the LANL RL which were qualitatively validated by LANL RL management.
In Situ Hybridization to Cellular RNAs

A decade has passed since the first report of the detection of an mRNA by in situ hybridization (1, 2). In the past five years progress in two areas has greatly increased the utility of this technique. First, the technology of molecular genetics has made available a large number of gene sequences for use as probes for specific cellular and viral mRNAs. Second, work by a number of different investigators has led to the development of in situ hybridization techniques for an increasing variety of biological materials. These efforts have provided characterizations of the technique with respect to important experimental variables, increased the sensitivity of detection, and documented the specificity of the method. In situ hybridization is one of few methods which permit examination of gene expression at the resolution of single cells. It has demonstrated or potential applications ranging from basic problems in molecular genetics and developmental biology to use in diagnostic medicine.
Magnetic excitations in12C by inelastic electron scattering at 180

Nuclear excitations in12C have been investigated by inelastic scattering of 50, 65 and 70 MeV primary electrons at 180°. Cross sections were measured of the inelastic peaks observed between 15 and 20 MeV. The behaviour of the corresponding transverse form factor as a function of momentum transfer is compared with theoretical predictions and other experimental12C (e, e′) results.
Foldovers of 2k-p Resolution IV Experimental Designs

Two simple rules are used to develop foldovers for 2k-p fractional factorial designs. Although the rules are general, our focus is on foldovers for resolution IV designs. Foldovers that sign-reverse more than one factor can generate alias sets that cann..
Consensus: How much can We Hope for?

A Conceptual Exploration Illustrated by Recent Debates Regarding the Use of Human Reproductive Technologies Discussions of the moral and political significance of consensus go aground on the difference between consensus in small face-to-face communities such as families, clubs, and clans on the one hand, and large-scale states on the other. Lewis and Short translate the Latin consensus as “agreement, accordance, unanimity, and concord” ([17], p. 428). The Oxford English Dictionary defines the English word consensus as “agreement in opinion” or “collective unanimous opinion of a number of persons.” As we will see, the difficulty is that consensus as unanimity of opinion or agreement is possible in families, clubs, clans, and small-scale organizations. It is not possible, or it is at least highly unlikely, in large-scale states as we know them. It is possible in churches where dissent entails ipso facto excommunication. However, the life of large-scale, peaceable, democratic states is one marked by minority opinion, dissent, and lack of consensus as unanimity. Consensus in the case of large-scale, peaceable, democratic states can only mean the existence of a preponderant and overwhelming majority view in a particular matter.
Beyond the Shadow of a Trait: Understanding Discounting Through Item-Level Analysis of Personality Scales

Temporal discounting, the loss in perceived value associated with delayed outcomes, correlates with a number of personality measures, suggesting that an item-level analysis of trait measures might provide a more detailed understanding of discounting. The current report details two studies that investigate the utility of such an item-level analysis. Study 1 demonstrates that discount rates correlate with the overall score as well as with 11 individual items on the Total SelfControl Scale (TSCS). Study 2 demonstrates a correlation between discount rates and the Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC) scale, but not with a measure of general self-efficacy. An item-level analysis of the CFC found that the CFC-Immediate subscale and four individual items correlated with discount rates. Overall, these two studies sketch an initial picture of how item-level analyses of existing trait measures can better inform our understanding of discounting.
Risk factors and genetic susceptibility

Upper aerodigestive tract (oral cavity, pharyngeal, and laryngeal) cancers are sentinel diseases of exposure to tobacco and alcohol, and thus can be considered the paradigm of environmentally induced disease. The fact that only a fraction of exposed individuals develop these cancers suggests interindividual differences in susceptibility to these environmental insults. In fact, heritable differences in susceptibility may be identified at almost every phase of carcinogenesis, for example, in the ability to metabolize carcinogens, DNA repair capability, genomic instability, and altered protooncogene and tumor suppressor gene expression [1]. This chapter will review briefly the environmental contribution to the incidence of upper aerodigestive tract cancers and will explore some of the host factors that modify genetic damage from these and other carcinogenic exposures.
We Believe What Protects Us and Our Tribe

We wish to see ourselves as rational beings, not blind to our emotions and prejudices. We see ourselves as having clear and even brilliant insights into ourselves, politics, the economy, raising our children, handling our love lives, and determining how our favorite sports teams ought to be managed. That our “brilliance” only increases with liquor should have been a warning, but our biases are deeply camouflaged in our need to see ourselves as correct and justified.
Calibration and initial validation of a general self-efficacy item bank and short form for the NIH PROMIS®

General self-efficacy is associated with adaptive coping and positive health outcomes. The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) has developed self-efficacy item banks for managing chronic conditions, but lacks a general self-efficacy measure. We sought to refine and validate an item-response theory (IRT)-based measure of general self-efficacy for PROMIS®. Ten items were modified from the NIH Toolbox® Self-Efficacy Item Bank by creating “confidence” response options, and administered to a general population sample (n = 1000) with the Toolbox® Self-Efficacy Item Bank, Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R), and Generalized Expectancy for Success Scale (GESS). We split the sample in half for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). IRT analyses included evaluation of differential item functioning (DIF). Participants had a mean age of 47.8 years and 50.3% were male. EFA showed all items loaded onto one dominant factor and CFA yielded a good fitting model for a general self-efficacy bank with confidence response options (CFI = 0.987, TLI = 0.984, RMSEA = 0.090). Items showed no evidence of DIF by gender, age, education, or race. Internal consistency reliability was α = .94 and .88 for a new 10-item general self-efficacy bank and 4-item short form, respectively. The new bank was correlated with the LOT-R (r = .58), the GESS (r = .55), and the Toolbox® Self-Efficacy Item Bank (r = .87). The PROMIS® General Self-Efficacy measure demonstrated sufficient unidimensionality and displayed good internal consistency reliability, model fit, and convergent validity. Further psychometric testing of the PROMIS® General Self-Efficacy Item Bank and Short Form can evaluate its utility in people with chronic health conditions.
Point of care functional cardiac scanning

Patients in the neonatal intensive care often demonstrate clinical situations where hemodynamic compromise is common. Birth itself is the complex transition from placental blood flow to pulmonary blood flow as predominant provider of preload to the left heart, with redirection of blood flow over the foramen ovale and ductus arteriosus. Added pathology such as birth asphyxia, pulmonary hypertension, septic shock, a patent ductus arteriosus, or hypoxia can make it difficult if not impossible for a bedside clinical to estimate a critically ill infants’ blood flow and cardiac function without adding longitudinal measurements of cardiovascular function. The understanding of the need for hemodynamic assessment in the neonatal intensive care setting and the evolution of point of care functional cardiac scanning has led to changing indications for cardiac ultrasounds, now with more emphasis on function instead of structure. With a self-directed training program and supervision, the bedside clinician will be able to provide a detailed assessment of cardiovascular function, shunts and shunt direction, and exclude most structural cardiac abnormalities. By embracing this new skill set, the clinician can target treatments to the actual pathophysiology and monitor response, and adjust treatments if needed, and thus offer advanced care for any sick newborn.
LONG TERM QUALITY OF LIFE HEALTH OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS RECEIVING ULTRASOUND GUIDED INJECTIONS: PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS:

BACKGROUND: Hip pain is a common complaint in athletes of all ages. Hip pathology includes both intra- and peri-articular pain generators. Ultrasound (US) evaluation and guided injections are used in the clinical setting for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. However, evidence regarding the impact of US-guided injections on quality of life (QoL) health outcomes in patients with hip pain and injury is understudied.
Interactions between opioids and cannabinoids: Economic demand for opioid/cannabinoid mixtures.

Abstract Background Opioid abuse remains a significant public health challenge. With continuing emergence of novel psychoactive substances (e.g., synthetic cannabinoids found in “K2” or “spice” preparations), the co-administration of opioids and other novel drugs is likely to become more prevalent, which might increase the risk for abuse and other adverse effects. This study examined whether the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist JWH-018 alters the reinforcing effectiveness of the mu opioid receptor agonist remifentanil in rhesus monkeys (n = 4) using economic demand analyses. Methods Lever presses delivered intravenous infusions of a drug or drug mixture according to a fixed-ratio schedule. For each condition, the ratio progressively increased in quarter-log unit steps across sessions yielding a demand curve: consumption (infusions obtained) was plotted as a function of price (fixed-ratio value). Results When available alone, remifentanil (0.00032 mg/kg/infusion) occasioned the highest consumption at the lowest cost and highest essential value, while JWH-018 (0.0032 mg/kg/infusion) alone occasioned lower unconstrained demand and essential value. Unconstrained demand for a mixture of remifentanil and JWH-018 was lower than for remifentanil alone, but essential value of the mixture was not significantly different from that of remifentanil alone. Conclusion These data indicate that synthetic cannabinoids such as JWH-018 might alter some aspects of opioid self-administration (i.e., decreased consumption at the lowest price) but do not enhance reinforcing effectiveness as measured by sensitivity of consumption to increasing costs. Opioid/cannabinoid mixtures do not appear to have greater or lesser abuse potential compared with opioids alone.
Enhancement of bone marrow aspirate concentrate with local self-healing corticotomies

Bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) is a potentially useful biological product for bone regeneration. This study investigated whether BMAC can be enriched by local minor corticotomies. Five 4-month-old domestic pigs were used with each pig undergoing two minor corticotomies at one randomly-selected tibia. Two weeks after the operation, bone marrow was aspirated from both tibiae and processed into BMAC samples. The amount of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and the concentration of several regenerative growth factors contained in BMAC, as well as the proliferative and osteogenic differentiation capacity of MSCs, were compared between the corticotomy and the control sides. Another four weeks later, healing of the corticotomies was evaluated by radiographic and histological methods. The results demonstrated that BMAC from the corticotomy side contained significantly more MSCs than the control side. MSCs from the corticotomy side also proliferated significantly faster and tended to have stronger osteogenic differentiation than those from the control side. In contrast, the protein concentration of TGF-β, BMP-2 and PDGF contained in BMAC was only minimally changed by the corticotomies. The corticotomies in all pigs healed uneventfully, showing complete obliteration of the corticotomy gaps on CT images. Comparison between the two sides showed that the corticotomy side had thicker and denser cortical bone and more abundant osteogenic cell differentiation than the control side. These findings suggest that the quantity and proliferative/osteogenic differentiation capacity of MSCs contained in local BMAC can be enhanced by minor corticotomies, and spontaneous healing of the corticotomy can be completed within 6 weeks of the operation.
Dual trigger protocol is an effective IVF strategy in both normal and high responders without compromising pregnancy outcomes

To compare pregnancy outcomes between normal versus high responders after dual trigger of final oocyte maturation with gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in fresh in-vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles, where ovarian stimulation was achieved by a flexible GnRH antagonist protocol.
Disorders of myelin

Abstract Glia are increasingly appreciated for the varied and critical roles they play in the health and disease of the nervous system. Damage or dysfunction of myelinating glia, oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system and Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system, is the underlying cause of numerous neurological disorders. In this chapter, we highlight the variety of insults—inflammatory, genetic, and environmental—which lead to disorders of myelin and describe the current clinical understanding of the major myelin diseases. We also highlight the current advances in myelin disease research that are moving us steadily closer to meaningful therapies for patients.