cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Rediscovery of the holotype of Paeduma cylindraceum (Bell, 1859) and description of a new genus of Hexapodidae (Decapoda, Brachyura)

The hexapodid genus Paeduma Rathbun, 1897 (replacement name tor Amorpho­ pus Bell, 1859) was established without figure for a species from an unknown locality, P. cylindraceum (Bell, 1859) (described as Amorphopus cylindraceus Bell, 1859). Paeduma cylindraceum was never reported ever since, and the holotype was considered lost. The examination of the holotype of Paeduma cylindraceum permits to know its provenance (the Galapagos Islands or alternatively some­ where on American Pacific coast) and the exact nature of the supposedly rudi­ mentary fifth ambulatory leg (P5) described by Bell (1859). The "rudiment" is in fact the external and exposed portion of the apodeme of P4 and not an "aborted" pereopod. The two other species subsequently attributed to Paeduma are referred to Hexalaughlia n. gen. A new diagnosis for Paeduma is provided, and the status of the extant and fossil Stevea Manning & Holthuis, 1981 is re-considered. Evaluation of Paeduma has prompted some new views on the family Hexapodidae, and the presence for the first time of two genera of the family in the Americas, Paeduma and Stevea.
Data-driven reinforcement learning–based real-time energy management system for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) show great promise in reducing transportation-related fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Designing an efficient energy management system (EMS) for PHEVs to achieve better fuel economy has been an active research topic for decades. Most of the advanced systems rely either on a priori knowledge of future driving conditions to achieve the optimal but not real-time solution (e.g., using a dynamic programming strategy) or on only current driving situations to achieve a real-time but nonoptimal solution (e.g., rule-based strategy). This paper proposes a reinforcement learning–based real-time EMS for PHEVs to address the trade-off between real-time performance and optimal energy savings. The proposed model can optimize the power-split control in real time while learning the optimal decisions from historical driving cycles. A case study on a real-world commute trip shows that about a 12% fuel saving can be achieved without considering charging opportunit...
Polarization microscopy with the LC-PolScope

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2003. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Live Cell Imaging : A Laboratory Manual, edited by R. D. Goldman and D. L. Spector, :205-237. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780879696825.
Sampling Epigeal Arthropods: A Permanent, Sheltered, Closeable Pitfall Trapping Station

Abstract Epigeal arthropods constitute the bulk of herbivore, predator, and decomposer species in soil and litter ecosystems. Being small and difficult to observe within these sometimes densely vegetated habitats, they are inherently difficult to sample quantitatively. Further, most methods have inherent taxon, life-stage, and habitat biases, making biodiversity and other community-wide sampling problematic. Quadrat methods can be quantitative but may undercount active taxa and only work in the structurally simplest habitats. Mark-and-recapture and trapping-out methods can yield defensible quantitative estimates but are not practicable for multispecies sampling. This leaves only flooding the habitat and collecting every animal thus dislodged, an expensive and difficult expedient. Pitfall traps are inexpensive and easily deployed, but they are not quantitative. When used intensively for a sufficiently long period of time, however, they can support reliable estimates of the total number of species and othe...
COLOR-PATTERN VARIATION IN LAKE ERIE WATER SNAKES: PREDICTION AND MEASUREMENT OF NATURAL SELECTION.

A classic example of natural selection, that of color-pattern variation in Lake Erie island populations of water snakes, was reexamined to overcome shortcomings resulting from classifi- cation of snakes into discrete color-pattern categories and use of cross-sectional data. Four con- tinuously varying color-pattern components (DB, the number of dorsal blotches; LB, the number of lateral blotches; ROWS, the height of lateral blotches measured in scale rows; and VEXT, the extent of ventral pigmentation) were analyzed. Patterns of natural selection were predicted from the relationship between color-pattern scores and independent measures of relative crypsis. Tests for natural selection were carried out using longitudinal data on neonate to juvenile-aged snakes and cross-sectional data on juvenile to adult-aged snakes. As predicted, the form of selection differed between younger and older age classes of snakes: selection resulted in a reduction in DB and LB among neonate and juvenile snakes but had little influence on color-pattern components in older snakes. The correspondence between observed patterns of natural selection and predictions based on the relationship between color-pattern scores and relative crypsis supports the hypothesis that differential predation by visual predators on younger age classes of snakes is the mechanism of selection. Gene flow from mainland populations or the initial lack of an allele necessary for reduced pattern may explain why selection has not resulted in greater differentiation between island and mainland populations.
The Effects of Ascorbic Acid on Bactericidal Mechanisms of Neutrophils

Ascorbic acid inhibits both of the H202-myeloperoxidase-halide reactions which have been implicated in the bactericidal activity of neutrophils. Both iodination of zymosan in intact neutrophils and the decarboxylation of L-alanine by neutrophil sonicates do not take place in the presence of 0.01 M ascorbic acid. Despite the inhibition of these reactions, the clearance of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli in intact phagocytes is normal. The mechanism by which ascorbic acid inhibits H202-myeloperoxidase-halide reactions is unknown.
Drug treatment in 117 cases of Huntington's disease with special reference to fluphenazine (Prolixin).

Drugs employed in symptomatic treatment of the chorea and/or emotional disorder in 117 verified cases of Huntington's disease in New York State are tabulated and analyzed. The effectiveness of oral fluphenazine is reported, and demonstrated in three case reports. Confirming data are now emerging from a co-operative research effort initiated by this unit, coming from all the New York state hospitals with which contact had been made, and at least one mental hospital out of the state.
Anaerobic Oral and Dental Infection

Anaerobes make up a significant part of the oral and dental indigenous and pathogenic flora. Their role in periodontal disease, root canal infections, infections of the hard and soft oral tissue, as well as their importance as foci for disseminated infectious disease is well established. Despite the ubiquitous involvement of bacteria, significant progress in our understanding of specific microbial etiologies has occurred only in the past decade. Estimates of the number of species recovered from samples of subgingival plaque range from 250 to 400, a large portion made up by anaerobes. Common anaerobic isolates include Fusobacterium, Bacteroides, Actinomyces, Peptococcus, Peptostreptococcus, Selenomonas, Eubacterium, Propionibacterium, and Treponema. Recently, several significant advances in our knowledge have set the stage for future research. First, circulating levels of hormones in pregnant women were shown to be stimulatory to Bacteroides species, which were associated with increased levels of gingival infection. Second, bacterial invasion of the soft and hard periodontal tissues has been documented in gingivitis, advanced periodontitis, and localized juvenile periodontitis. The frequency and identity of invading bacteria will determine the implications for diagnosis and treatment. Third, antibacterial "probes" aimed at anaerobic (and capnophilic) bacteria have had promising results in controlling and arresting oral, dental, and peridontal anaerobic infections.
Effects of Sterol Structure and Sterol Ability to form Ordered Membrane Domains upon Cellular Endocytosis

Ordered membrane domains (lipid rafts) have been hypothesized to participate in many cellular processes, including post-golgi trafficking, endocytosis, membrane protein sorting, cell viability and pathogen infection. In many cases, the evidence consists of an effect of the partial removal or sequestering of cholesterol from plasma membranes, based on the assumption that this disrupts formation of lipid domains. However, partial cholesterol removal does not establish that membrane domains were disrupted, and does not rule out a direct effect of cholesterol not related to domain formation. Thus, to investigate the role of the sterol structure and sterol raft-forming ability upon endocytosis, we used a sterol-substitution strategy. To do this, cyclodextrin-catalyzed lipid exchange was used to replace cholesterol with each of 16 sterols having various raft-forming abilities and variable structures. Endocytosis of two different proteins was studied - clustered placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP)-endocytosis (clathrin-independent) and transferrin endocytosis (clathrin-mediated). Both types of endocytosis were affected similarly by sterol type. The ability to support lipid raft formation was found to be necessary for endocytosis. However, it was not sufficient for endocytosis, because sterols/steroids in which the 3β-OH group of cholesterol was modified did not support endocytosis. The loss of endocytosis could be reversed by a second substitution step that replenished cholesterol, and although some sterols that do not support ordered domain formation altered cell shape, cell shape changes were not found to be closely linked to the loss of endocytosis. This study shows the sterol-substitution method using diverse sterols is a useful approach to study the potential role of rafts and sterols in plasma membrane on cellular functions.
A Combined Boundary and Finite Element Implementation for Axisymmetric Thermoelasticity

The boundary integral equations pertaining to the whole or a portion of an axi-symmetric solid are converted to finite-element-type equations and subsequently assembled into the system stiffness equations along with similar boundary-type elements or axi-symmetric finite elements. The algorithms for incorporating a mixture of both element types were developed and merged into a standard finite element program. The method was implemented so that the usual linear and quadratic finite elements can be arbitrarily intermixed with general shaped, boundary-integral, formulated elements, including exterior or infinite elements. The thermoelastic stresses may be determined within all element types and on the periphery of the boundary elements.
Correlating Titania Nanostructured Morphologies with Performance as Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Titanium oxide is a ubiquitous and commonly used material in the environment. Herein, we have systematically probed the use of various hydrothermally derived titania (TiO2) architectures including zero-dimensional (0D) nanoparticles, one-dimensional (1D) nanowires, and three-dimensional (3D) urchin-like motifs as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. The structure and morphology of these nanomaterials were characterized using electron microscopy. The surface areas of these materials were quantitatively analyzed through Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) adsorption measurements and were found to be relatively similar for both 1D and 3D samples with a slightly higher surface area associated with the 0D nanoparticles. Hence, to normalize for the surface area effect, readily available 0D commercial nanoparticles (Degussa P25), which possessed a similar surface area to that of as-prepared 1D and 3D materials, were also analyzed. Electrochemical analysis revealed a superior performance of hydrothermally derived ...
Developing a sustainable child and family service system after a community tragedy: lessons from Sandy Hook

This article describes a systematic approach to assessing community services post-Sandy Hook shooting. An evaluation team was invited to develop a sustainability plan for community services in Newtown. Service organizations, providers, and families were interviewed. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the range of services; respondent perspectives were coded using content analysis. We found that Newtown has a broad array of community services, but respondent groups varied in their perceptions of service adequacy. Consensus existed about core components of an ideal service system, including centralizing access; coordinating care, personalizing and tailoring services for families, and providing evidence-based care. The strategic community assessment approach developed here may inform how communities examine their service capacity and develop sustainability plans post-disaster.
Erratum: "Electrokinetic detection for x-ray spectra of weakly interacting liquids: n-decane and n-nonane" [J. Chem. Phys. 140, 234202 (2014)]

Author(s): Lam, Royce K; Shih, Orion; Smith, Jacob W; Sheardy, Alex T; Rizzuto, Anthony M; Prendergast, David; Saykally, Richard J
Designing and Developing Cell Phone Applications for Qualitative Research

Recent technological developments have made it feasible for qualitative researchers to develop their own digital tools. As an example, the goal of this article is to explore the design process invo...
Pain Treatments After Hip Fracture Among Older Nursing Home Residents

Abstract Objectives To examine the association between use of opioids versus other analgesics with death and functioning after hip fracture in older nursing home (NH) residents. Design Retrospective cohort using national Medicare fee-for-service claims linked to the Minimum Data Set. Setting US NHs. Participants NH residents aged ≥65 years who became a long-stay resident (>100 days in the NH) between January 2008 and December 2009, had a hospitalized hip fracture, and returned to the NH. Exposure New use of opioid versus nonopioid analgesics (acetaminophen or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) within 14 days post hip fracture. Measurements Follow-up began on the index date and continued until the first occurrence of death, significant functional decline (3-point increase on MDS Activities of Daily Living scale), or 120 days of follow-up. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for outcomes were estimated using inverse probability of treatment–weighted multinomial logistic regression models. Results Among the 2755 NH residents with a hip fracture included in our study, 1155 (41.9%) were opioid users, and 1600 (58.1%) were nonopioid analgesic users. The mean age was 86.3 years, 73.8% were female, and 86.0% were white. Opioid use was associated with a significantly lower likelihood of death (OR = 0.47, 95% CI 0.39-0.56) and a nonsignificant decrease in functional decline (OR = 0.77, 95% CI 0.58-1.03). Conclusion A rigorous study that addresses the limitations of this study is critical to validate our preliminary findings and provide evidence about the effect of using opioid versus nonopioid analgesics to optimize acute pain in NH residents with a hip fracture.
The evaluation and management of urolithiasis in the ED: A review of the literature.

Abstract Background Urolithiasis is a common condition in the U.S. Patients frequently present to the emergency department (ED) for care, including analgesia and treatments to facilitate stone passage. Objective With the new evidence concerning the evaluation and treatment of urolithiasis, this review summarizes current literature regarding the ED management of urolithiasis. Discussion Urolithiasis occurs primarily through supersaturation of urine and commonly presents with flank pain, hematuria, and nausea/vomiting. History, examination, and assessment with several laboratory tests are cornerstones of evaluation. Urinalysis is not diagnostic, but it may be used in association with other assessments. Risk assessment tools and advanced imaging can assist with diagnosis. Computed tomography (CT) is often considered the gold standard. Newer low-dose CT imaging may reduce radiation. Recent studies support ultrasound as an alternate diagnostic modality, especially in pediatric and pregnant patients. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs remain first-line therapy, with opioids or intravenous lidocaine reserved for refractory pain. Tamsulosin can increase passage in larger stones but has not demonstrated benefit in smaller stones. Nifedipine and intravenous fluids are not recommended to facilitate passage. Surgical intervention is based upon stone size, duration, and modifying factors. Patients who are discharged should be advised on dietary changes. Conclusion Urolithiasis is a common disease increasing in prevalence with the potential for significant morbidity. Focused evaluation with history, examination, and testing is important in diagnosis and management. Understanding the clinical features, risk assessment tools, imaging options, and treatment options can assist emergency physicians in the management of urolithiasis.
Real-Time Quantitative PCR Measurements of Fecal Indicator Bacteria and Human-Associated Source Tracking Markers in a Texas River following Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey has caused unprecedented devastation to huge parts of southeastern Texas, particularly damaging the wastewater infrastructure resulting in release of sewage contamination into environmental waters. The purpose of this study was to conduct a preliminary assessment of fecal indicator bacteria (Escherichia coli and enterococci) and human-associated fecal genetic markers (human-associated Bacteroidales), measured using qPCR assays, across a Texas river impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Water samples were collected along the Guadalupe River during September–December 2017. The most heavily flooded sites showed the highest abundance of fecal indicator bacteria and human-associated Bacteroidales markers, indicating that a large number of sewage overflows and stormwater runoff occurred during Harvey flooding. These findings suggest that high levels of human fecal contamination were introduced into waterways draining into the Gulf of Mexico and impaired surface water quality. The human-associated Bacte...
From Fight or Flight, Freeze or Faint, to "Flow": Identifying a Concept to Express a Positive Embodied Outcome of Trauma Recovery

BACKGROUND: The lifespan effects of adverse childhood experiences and their complex posttraumatic sequelae include early physical morbidity and mortality. Attention to physical sequelae and recover...
The source of proteins in the aqueous humor of the normal rabbit.

Aqueous fluorophotometric, tracer localization and modeling methods were combined to document the existence of a pathway in the normal rabbit for the diffusion of proteins from the ciliary and iridial process stromas through the iris stroma into the aqueous humor of the anterior chamber. A new custom-conjugated tracer, fluoresceinated horseradish peroxidase (F-HRP), was used. Anesthetized rabbits were injected intravenously with F-HRP (250 mg/kg). In some animals, aqueous fluorophotometric and tracer localization studies were performed on the same eyes. Anterior chamber fluorescence was detected 2-10 min post-injection and rose to concentrations of 0.01-0.05 mg/ml 60 min post-injection. Subsequent tracer localization studies of these eyes revealed that the morphologic components of the blood-aqueous barrier were intact, that is, no leakage of F-HRP from the iris vasculature or across the ciliary epithelium was observed. Separate tracer localization studies were performed to examine the time course of the route(s) by which tracer entered the anterior chamber. These studies revealed a "wave" of tracer that migrated from the ciliary and iridial process stromas, through the iris, and arrived at the anterior iris surface approximately 8 min post-injection. A pharmacokinetic model based on the difTusional pathway was developed to describe the time course of the concentration of plasma macromolecules in the ciliary body, iris and anterior chamber. Model predictions were consistent with aqueous fluorophotometric and tracer localization results. The diffusion model can account for a major fraction of protein entering the aqueous humor of normal rabbit eyes. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 31:125-137,1990 Although the blood-aqueous barrier in the anterior segment of the normal eye prevents the free exchange of plasma proteins between the bloodstream and the aqueous humor, protein concentration in the aqueous humor is maintained at a level about 1% of that in plasma.' The known anatomical components of this barrier are zonulae occludentes that interconnect adjacent nonpigmented ciliary epithelial cells 2 and adjacent iridial vascular endothelial cells. 3 It is clear, however, that no epithelial or endothelial barrier exists between the ciliary body stroma and the anterior chamber. Given that the protein concentration in posterior regions of ciliary process stroma is
Mercury Contamination: Review of a Residential Response.

A residential elemental mercury contamination incident in Rhode Island resulted in the evacuation of an entire apartment complex, temporary relocation of 140 residents and subsequent investigation of 130 additional sites in 15 cities across two states. This study was undertaken to develop evidencebased recommendations for responding to future incidents, thereby increasing the efficiency and expediency of response and remediation processes; minimizing secondary contamination of evacuation sites; facilitating a more timely return of residents to their homes; and assuring residents that their homes are safe once again. The first step involved a review of scientific literature (see “Hazards of Mercury” sidebar on p. 52). In addition, the author examined all response-related documents, interviewed key government and contract personnel involved in response, reviewed and evaluated national and state regulatory policies and procedures, and extracted and compiled large amounts of environmental monitoring data collected during specific phases of the response. Residents were not interviewed due to pending litigation. There were no records of any meetings with the residents.
Behavioral Models of Decision Making Under Risk

This chapter reviews experiments testing theories of how people make choices between risky prospects, gambles in which the consequences and their probabilities are specified. When people prefer a small amount of cash to the expected value of a gamble, they are said to be risk averse. The St. Petersburg paradox is an extreme case of risk aversion in which people prefer a small cash payment rather than one chance to play a gamble of infinite expected value. Expected utility theory was proposed to explain this paradox by allowing that the utility of money is not a linear function of its cash value but instead shows diminishing marginal returns. Allais proposed two paradoxes that contradicted expected utility theory, and a number of modern theories have been proposed to explain the Allais paradoxes. Among these are original and cumulative prospect theory, configural weighting theory, the priority heuristic, and others. The chapter notes that some decisions are based on experience, where consequences and their probabilities are learned. The chapter also considers models of the variability in decision behavior. New critical tests and their results are reviewed that conclude that neither version of prospect theory can be retained as accurate descriptions of choice behavior and that tests of the heuristic models have yielded data that systematically violate the predictions of those models. The configural weight models remain the best description of the evidence so far accumulated.
A measurements laboratory built around a digitally-sampled microphone circuit

In Fall of 2017, a series of measurement laboratory exercises, built around a microphone preamplifier and filter, were used in teaching an engineering measurement techniques course. The microphone circuit included a preamplifier that introduced JFETs, a virtual ground and buffer to illustrate loading effects, a high pass filter and a low pass filter, and a zener-diode-based limiter. The data were sampled using a beaglebone microcontroller's built-in analog-to-digital converter. The data was transmitted to matlab for post-processing and analysis. The microphone was then used in the Spring 2018 acoustics class. A variety of projects, including a Kundt’s tube, a driven closed-open pipe, a 3D printed horn for a blue-tooth speaker, and an absorptivity measurement for a restaurant’s wall treatment tiles, were completed in the course. It was observed that students showed improved interest in the material (increased in-class and out-of-class questions about specifics of the course material related to the project, increased exploration of material outside the provided course materials, full participation by all members of the class in the project) and learning (improved test scores after the project began relative to scores before the project began) relative to earlier classes where no experimental component was included.
Cultural Aspects of Transplantation

With population growth globally and greater access to more sophisticated medical procedures, such as organ transplantation, it is of particular importance to factor the cultural components of health and how they may impact transplant outcomes. Culture may be defined in different ways but generally includes the values and behaviors of a particular social group. Other determinants of culture include race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. Understanding the complex interplay of these components of culture may inform clinical decision making in transplantation, allow providers to provide more nuanced and individualized care to their patients, and contribute to better transplant outcomes.
Dietary emulsifiers consumption alters anxiety-like and social-related behaviors in mice in a sex-dependent manner

Dietary emulsifiers carboxylmethylcellulose (CMC) and polysorbate 80 (P80) alter the composition of the intestinal microbiota and induce chronic low-grade inflammation, ultimately leading to metabolic dysregulations in mice. As both gut microbiota and intestinal health can influence social and anxiety-like behaviors, we investigated whether emulsifier consumption would detrimentally influence behavior. We confirmed that emulsifier exposure induced chronic intestinal inflammation, increased adiposity, and altered gut microbiota composition in both male and female mice, although the specific microboal taxa altered following emulsifier consumption occurred in a sex-dependent manner. Importantly, emulsifier treatment altered anxiety-like behaviors in males and reduced social behavior in females. It also changed expression of neuropeptides implicated in the modulation of feeding as well as social and anxiety-related behaviors. Multivariate analyses revealed that CMC and P80 produced distinct clustering of physiological, neural, and behavioral effects in male and female mice, suggesting that emulsifier treatment leads to a syndrome of sex-dependent changes in microbiota, physiology, and behavior. This study reveals that these commonly used food additives may potentially negatively impact anxiety-related and social behaviors and may do so via different mechanisms in males and females.
Infection Prevention: Unique Aspects of Burn Units

Abstract Background: Infection is a common complication of burn injury caused by the loss of skin (the primary defense against micro-organisms) as well as burn-induced immunosuppression. Essentiall...
Pitfalls in Analyzing Release from Chitosan/Tripolyphosphate Micro- and Nanoparticles

Submicron particles prepared by complexing chitosan with tripolyphosphate (TPP) attract widespread interest as potential drug, gene and vaccine delivery vehicles, and many published studies examine their release properties. Despite these sustained efforts, however, literature on the release performance of chitosan/TPP micro- and nanoparticles is filled with conflicting results, with some reporting nearly instantaneous release, while others showing the release to be sustained for up to multiple days. To resolve these opposing findings, we recently postulated that the in vitro release profiles obtained from chitosan/TPP particles by the standard "sample and separate" or "solvent replacement" method (where the solvent was periodically replaced with fresh buffer and analyzed for the released bioactive molecule content) may have been subject to strong experimental artifacts and not have reflected their true release behavior. To explore this possibility, here we examine several experimental artifacts that may arise during such in vitro experiments and show that conflicting findings on release from chitosan/TPP particles can arise from: (1) incomplete particle separation from the release media upon centrifugation; (2) irreversible particle coagulation; and (3) failure to maintain sink conditions. Moreover, we show that some of the longer-lasting release profiles may reflect the use of physiologically irrelevant (low-ionic-strength) release media. By analyzing and discussing these effects, this article provides guidelines for obtaining more reliable release profiles for chitosan/TPP micro- and nanoparticles and other/related colloidal carriers.
Prenatal Dietary Exposures and Offspring Body Size from 6 Months to 18 Years: A Systematic Review (P11-019-19)

In utero dietary exposures may influence childhood obesity. Current research on the relationship between prenatal food and beverage intakes and offspring obesity has yielded mixed results. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the relationship between prenatal dietary exposures and offspring body size from 6 months to 18 years. A systematic review of English articles using PubMed and Web of Science (January 2010- March 2018) was conducted using the PRISMA guidelines. Additional studies were identified through a reference review of articles that met the inclusion criteria and related review articles. Longitudinal observational studies that assessed dietary patterns, food(s) and/or macronutrients(s), or beverage(s) consumption during healthy pregnancy and evaluated offspring body size between the ages of 6 months and 18 years were included in the review. Twenty studies evaluating dietary patterns (n = 6), macronutrient(s) and/or food(s) (n = 11), and beverages (n = 3) met inclusion criteria. Consumption of a Mediterranean dietary pattern during pregnancy was associated with lower anthropometric measures in offspring, while sugars and refined carbohydrates were associated with offspring obesity. Mixed results were observed for n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, protein, sugar-sweetened beverages, and artificially sweetened beverages. These findings suggest that following a Mediterranean diet and limiting sugar intake during pregnancy may make small but significant contributions to preventing childhood overweight and obesity. Future research should focus on prenatal diet quality to better communicate the information to health practitioners. None.
Characterizing the link between glial activation and changed functional connectivity in national football league players using multimodal neuroimaging

Objective:The primary objective of this preliminary study was to examine the impact of NFL play on interregional functional connectivity between two brain regions, the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and...
Banach spaces in which weakly p-Dunford–Pettis sets are relatively compact

In this paper we introduce p-Dunford–Pettis completely continuous operators and study Banach spaces with the wp-Dunford–Pettis relative compact property (wp-DPrcP). We study the behaviour of p-Dunford–Pettis completely operators on spaces with this property. We give sufficient conditions for spaces of operators to have the wp-DPrcP.
Effect of public transit on crime: evidence from SEPTA strikes in Philadelphia

We use the temporary closings of subway stations in Philadelphia to examine the effects of public transit on crime in the nearby communities. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), a regional public transportation authority in Philadelphia, has experienced two labor strikes occurring in 2009 and 2016. During these two strikes, public transit was disrupted for nearly 1 week. We used the closings of 47 subway stations during strikes to evaluate the place-based effect of public transit on crime. We also examined whether these effects varied with the ridership level in each station. Total crime decreased by 38% within 100 m of the stations when subway stations were closed due to the strike and by 10% within 500 m. The primary drivers of the decrease were violent crimes, including assault and robbery. However, there is no obvious relationship between the closings of stations and the change in property crimes and mischief. In addition, crimes in stations with higher ridership declined less than those in stations with medium ridership when strikes occurred. Public transit in Philadelphia appears to be associated with elevated violent crime in the surrounding community. Areas around subway stations may require greater security to control crime during its operational hours. Passengers may serve as guardians to deter some crimes when the public transit is operational.
Physician Prices And The Cost And Quality Of Care For Commercially Insured Patients.

We analyzed the relationship between prices paid to 30,549 general internal medicine physicians and the cost and quality of care for 769,281 commercially insured adults. The highest-price physician...
The Material Imperialism of the Home in Paule Marshall’s The Chosen Place, The Timeless People

“The Material Imperialism of the Home” in Paule Marshall’s The Chosen Place, The Timeless People argues that in the fictional Caribbean country Bourne Island, where this novel about post-World War ...
Cognitive Maps Reveal Diverse Perceptions of How Prescribed Fire Affects Forests and Communities

The potential for prescribed fire to address fuel management and forest restoration goals has received considerable attention. However, many wildfire risk mitigation practitioners and researchers consider prescribed fire to be an underutilized tool for forest and fire management. Prescribed fire can affect a broad range of values (e.g., air quality, wildlife habitat, timber, protection of homes) and these effects, which we term valued outcomes, may result from complex dynamics operating within fire-prone social-ecological systems. Increasing the effective use of prescribed fire requires a better understanding of how these dynamics are perceived by stakeholders, whose support is crucial for forest and fire management initiatives that affect diverse groups of people. We evaluated perceptions of the effects of prescribed fire on valued outcomes using data from 111 cognitive maps elicited from stakeholders in the wildfire-prone Eastern Cascades Ecoregion of central Oregon. As representations of relationships among biological, physical, social, political, and other factors that structure individuals’ understanding of a system, cognitive maps are ideal for analyzing perceptions of dynamics in complex social-ecological systems. We found that prescribed fire was perceived to positively affect valued outcomes in individuals’ cognitive maps. However, when we aggregated individuals’ cognitive maps to evaluate perceptions of prescribed fire at varying stakeholder group sizes, we found that perception of desirable effects declined with group size. Additionally, representatives of fire response and non-governmental organizations tended to perceive prescribed fire more favorably, while private citizens and representatives of private businesses emphasized adverse effects. Finally, we measured how the perceptions of the effects of prescribed fire varied across 15 distinct valued outcomes and found that air quality, aesthetic values, and wildlife habitat were perceived to be most negatively affected by prescribed fire, while cultural and historical values, protection of flora, water quality, and firefighter safety were perceived to be most positively affected. Taken together, our results help to explain the challenge of scaling up the use of prescribed fire and highlight the need for policy processes that account for stakeholders’ views of the multiple—and potentially opposing—effects of prescribed fire on different valued outcomes.
Establishing a pharmacist-managed outreach clinic at a day shelter for homeless veterans.

Introduction The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has developed a homeless patient aligned care team (H-PACT) model to provide clinical outreach to homeless veterans. This model has not been implemented by the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System; however, a day shelter for homeless veterans does exist. Currently, clinical staff at the shelter consists of licensed clinical social workers. Methods A half day per week pharmacy clinic was established and managed by a postgraduate year-2 psychiatric pharmacy resident. Data regarding provider and emergency department (ED) visits, psychotropic medication adherence, and interventions made during visits were collected and analyzed to provide support for need of additional clinical staff and the establishment of an H-PACT at the Reno VA. Results Over 5 months, 52 veterans were seen, including some over multiple visits, with a total of 77 encounters. There were an average of 4 visits per clinic day. Total interventions equaled 205 and included medication review, patient education, and adverse drug reaction detection among other interventions. Provider visits and psychotropic medication possession prior to and following clinic visits were tracked. Discussion This pharmacist-managed outpatient clinic provided a comfortable walk-in environment for homeless veterans. The difference in provider visits, medication possession, and ED visits before and after walk-in clinic visits provided clinical significance with 205 documented interventions, and the clinic was well received by veterans.
Racial and ethnic disparities among participants in US-based phase 3 randomized cancer clinical trials

Although improving representation of racial and ethnic groups in United States clinical trials has been a focus of federal initiatives for nearly 3 decades, the status of racial and ethnic minority enrollment on cancer trials is largely unknown. We used a broad collection of phase 3 cancer trials derived from ClinicalTrials.gov to evaluate racial and ethnic enrollment among US cancer trials. The difference in incidence by race and ethnicity was the median absolute difference between trial and corresponding Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data. All statistical tests were 2-sided. Using a cohort of 168 eligible trials, median difference in incidence by race and ethnicity was +6.8% for Whites (interquartile range [IQR] = +1.8% to +10.1%; P < .001 by Wilcoxon signed-rank test comparing median difference in incidence by race and ethnicity to a value of 0), -2.6% for Blacks (IQR = -5.1% to +1.2%; P = .004), -4.7% for Hispanics (IQR = -7.5% to -0.3%; P < .001), and -4.7% for Asians (IQR = -5.7% to -3.3%; P < .001). These data demonstrate overrepresentation of Whites, with continued underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minority subgroups.
Changes in Serum Myostatin Levels in Alcoholic Hepatitis Correlate with Improvement in MELD

Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) is a serious clinical syndrome often associated with muscle wasting. Myostatin, a member of the transforming growth factor-β superfamily, has been studied in diseases with muscle wasting; however, the role of myostatin in AH is unknown. To investigate the association between myostatin, clinical variables, and outcomes in AH. We analyzed data for cases of AH and controls of heavy drinkers (HD) in TREAT001 (NCT02172898) with serum myostatin levels (AH: n = 131, HD: n = 124). We compared characteristics between the two groups at baseline, 30, and 90 days and explored correlations between myostatin and clinical variables. We then modeled the relationship of myostatin to other variables, including mortality. Baseline median myostatin was lower in AH compared to HD (males: 1.58 vs 3.06 ng/ml, p < 0.001; females: 0.84 vs 2.01 ng/ml, p < 0.001). In multivariable linear regression, bilirubin, WBC, and platelet count remained negatively correlated with myostatin in AH. AH females who died at 90 days had significantly lower myostatin, but in a multivariable logistic model with MELD and myostatin, only MELD remained significantly associated with 90-day mortality. During 1-year follow-up, AH cases (n = 30) demonstrated an increase in myostatin (mean, 1.73 ng/ml) which correlated with decreasing MELD scores (ρ = − 0.42, p = 0.01). Myostatin levels are significantly lower in AH compared to HD and are negatively correlated with total bilirubin, WBC, and platelet count. Myostatin increased as patients experienced decreases in MELD. Overall, myostatin demonstrated a dynamic relationship with AH outcomes and future studies are needed to understand the prognostic role of myostatin in AH.
Challenges estimating distributed solar potential with utilization factors: California universities case study

Abstract Utilization factors are a popular method to identify distributed solar photovoltaic potential in many scopes. Though not the most accurate method, it is computationally inexpensive. In this work, Google’s Project Sunroof is reverse engineered to produce an image analysis model capable of predicting photovoltaic capacity for user-defined volumes. The developed model is tuned with a set of reference zip codes and applied to an adjacent set of zip codes, resulting in an error range from as small as 1% to as great as 30%. This analysis guides an investigation of how rooftop utilization factors vary across adjacent zip codes and building types. The findings provide the basis to question the accuracy of similar current and future analyses that extrapolate using fixed utilization factors to identify distributed solar photovoltaic potential between similar settings (e.g. one residential area to another). Sensitivity of these results are established by referring to actual and modeled installations’ utilization factors ranging from 0.28 to 0.89. Such variance suggests upmost caution or necessitates strong justification when assuming a utilization factor for distributed solar potential quantification. The range of utilization factors can be effectively reduced when considering multiple similar samples (e.g. several multi-functional higher education campuses). The results from the model are used to guide the justification of a utilization factor to determine the combined distributed photovoltaic capacities of University of California campuses. A total of 471 MW when liberally installing solar parking canopies and 345 MW when conservatively anticipating building development on parking lots is found.
Chronic Pain and Mental Health Co-Morbidity in Adolescents: An Urgent Call for Assessment and Evidence-Based Intervention.

Abstract Background Nearly 30% of children are affected by chronic pain which puts a significant burden on the child's family and society with estimated cost of over $19.5 billion each year. Children and adolescent's quality of life is often impacted leading to physical disability, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, school stress or decreased performance, insomnia, and fatigue. The purposes of this paper are to: 1) provide an overview of chronic pain in children and adolescents; 2) describe findings from a quality improvement project that assessed the prevalence of negative mood, quality of life, functional disability, and coping with pain in teens with chronic pain, and 3) discuss screening, assessment and evidence-based management of co-morbid chronic pain and mental health problems in children and teens. Findings Findings for a quality improvement project indicated that 16.8% of the adolescents scored high risk for depression, which was higher than the national average. Approximately 57% of adolescents were screened as high risk on the Pediatric Quality of Life inventory (PedsQL™). One in four adolescents showed poor functioning on the Functional Disability Inventory and nearly one-third of the adolescents reported poor coping with pain on the Pain Coping Questionnaire. This project indicates that adolescents with chronic pain are at high risk for mental health problems. The outcomes suggest the mental health needs of adolescents with chronic pain need to be identified and addressed to help improve outcomes. Discussion Children and youth with chronic pain need to be routinely screened and assessed for mental health problems, especially anxiety and depression. The use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or CBT-skills building for children and youth with anxiety and depressive disorders has been widely studied and are helpful for children with chronic pain include psychoeducation, which helps the child to learn age and developmental specific information on chronic pain. Evidence-based manualized and internet-based CBT programs should be scaled rapidly to decrease depression and anxiety in children and youth with chronic pain.
A control method of an additional damper for hydro turbine speed governor system in hydro-dominant power system

With the rapid development of the national inter-connected power grid, the fast automatic excitation regulators and fast turbine governor have been widely used. In the current system, some power plants adjust the response of turbine governor system to a very sensitive level to meet the primary frequency regulation assessment index, which, however, brings the negative damping intensively. Under the circumstances, the ultralow frequency oscillation (ULFO) phenomenon emerged in hydro-dominant power system. In order to solve the problem of ULFO, the hydro-turbine Governor Additional Damper (GAD) based on the phase compensation which adapt to the ULFO is developed. It is improved on the basis of traditional PSS and the design of the control system is relatively simple. As phase compensation based on the field testing and modeling of turbine governor, GAD can provide the power system with the positive damping, which contributes to improving the stability and security of the system. According to the impact of the mechanism of turbine governor on the dynamic stability of the power system and the research of modeling and parametric test, the proposed method not only supports positive damping, but also eliminates the negative damping of the speed governing system, which can significantly suppress the ultralow frequency oscillation and make it feasible to configure the GAD parameters accoraing to field test.