cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Activated Carbon Derived from Pyrolyzed Pinewood Char using Elevated Temperature, KOH, H3PO4, and H2O2

Activated carbon was prepared from pyrolyzed pinewood char using KOH, H3PO4, H2O2, and heat-only treatments. Activated carbon prepared by the heat-only treatment had a total surface area of 233.2 m2/g, a total pore volume of 0.138 cm3/g, a microporous surface area of 129.9 m2/g, and a microporous volume of 0.07 cm3/g. The most significant improvement of pore properties for the chemically treated pinewood char was obtained by the KOH treatment, which produced a total surface area of 1124.4 m2/g, a total pore volume of 0.723 cm3/g, a microporous surface area of 923.6 m2/g, and a microporous volume of 0.485 cm3/g. After the H3PO4 treatment, pinewood char had a total surface area of 455.5 m2/g, a total pore volume of 0.251 cm3/g, a microporous surface area of 393.3 m2/g, and a microporous volume of 0.211 cm3/g. The least significant improvement was obtained from the H2O2 treatment, which produced a total surface area of 363.0 m2/g, a total pore volume of 0.202 cm3/g, a microporous surface area of 271.5 m2/g, and a microporous volume of 0.141 cm3/g. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were performed to compare separate treatment stabilities and functional group properties.
BILL E. KUNKLE INTERDISCIPLINARY BEEF SYMPOSIUM: Assessing the mineral supplementation needs in pasture-based beef operations in the Southeastern United States

Macro- and microminerals are required for all physiological processes in beef cattle. When mineral deficiencies occur in pasture-based production systems, a multitude of deficiency symptoms may occur, and most often, these deficiencies result in hidden losses to include reduced production potential, reduced immunity, and reproductive failure. More severe deficiencies will result in specific deficiency symptoms, depending on the specific mineral deficiency. In pasture-based beef operations, specific deficiency symptoms are seldom observed. Forage mineral supply is highly variable and dependent on the forage type, stage of forage growth, and soil fertility. Grazing cattle mineral requirements change throughout the production cycle. With the variability of forage mineral supply and the changing mineral requirements, care must be taken when developing mineral supplementation programs for grazing cattle. The macrominerals function in nerve transmission, bone development, and metabolism and as electrolytes. These are Ca, P, Mg, Na, K, Cl, and S. The microminerals function in various areas of metabolism, immune responsiveness, reproductive efficiency, and many other functions. These minerals are Zn, Cu, Fe, I, Mn, Se, Mo, and Co. Of these macro- and microminerals, those that are important for supplementation to pasture-based cattle include Ca, P, Mg, Na, Cl, Zn, Cu, I, Mn, Se, and Co. However, the amounts to be supplemented will depend on the specific mineral requirements and the forage supply of the minerals. Consequently, the development of free-choice mineral supplementation programs is a moving target. Generally, this entangled mess is sorted by taking one mineral at a time into consideration. However, in doing so, one has to be cognizant of the many interactions that occur when changing intake of just 1 mineral in the supplement with respect to the amount supplied in the base forage. Often times, mineral nutrition problems of one or more minerals are created when trying to correct a deficiency of another mineral. This paper will address specific factors that are important to consider when developing and delivering mineral supplementation programs in pasture-based production systems in the Southeastern United States.
Thrombosis and Inflammation Are Coupled by a Common Thioredoxin Reductase Pathway Downstream of the P2×7 Receptor.

Abstract Abstract 2218 The purinergic P2X7 receptor contributes to thrombosis by promoting tissue factor (TF) activation and the release of prothrombotic microparticles (MP). On primed macrophages, P2X7 stimulation induces the procoagulant activity of cell surface TF and the release of MP that carry TF, integrin β1 and protein disulfide isomerase (PDI). The generation of TF+ MP is dependent on extracellular thiol-disulfide exchange, but intermediates leading to MP generation downstream of P2X7 signaling are incompletely defined. Tracking of cell surface TF by confocal microscopy shows that constitutive internalization of TF is prevented by P2X7 activation. In non-stimulated cells, inhibition of dynamin-dependent endocytosis retains TF on the cell surface, rapidly upregulates TF activity, and releases procoagulant MP carrying TF and integrin β1. Integrin recycling is dependent on the small GTPase ARF6 that is found incorporated into MP released when internalization is blocked. In contrast, activation of P2X7 releases ARF6 into the MP-depleted supernatant rather than associated with MP. Decreased ARF6 GTP loading in P2X7-stimulated cells and additional data in integrin α4 S988A mutant mice with reduced ARF6 activity support the conclusion that P2X7 interrupts constitutive ARF6 recycling to increase cell surface availability of TF-integrin complexes for incorporation into MP. Confocal imaging shows that P2X7 stimulation promotes filopodia formation and the peripheral transport of TF to the tips of filipodia. Proteomics identifies γ-actin as a thiol-regulated MP protein that is released by P2X7 signaling. We show that specific inhibition of thioredoxin reductase attenuates P2X7-induced actin remodeling and filopodia formation, the generation of highly procoagulant MP carrying γ-actin and PDI, and the increased availability of extracellular thioredoxin and free thiols. Importantly, inhibition of thioredoxin reductase also prevented the processing and release of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL1β. Thus, the thioredoxin reductase system is a crucial intermediate downstream of P2X7 activation that may couple coagulation and inflammation in cardiovascular diseases. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Whose Rights? Whose Responsibility? Self-Help in African-American Thought

Though in many respects a quintessentially American idea, "self-help" comes under fire from scholars and critics alike when introduced in debates about race. Self-help, urged by or for African Americans, is seen as "blaming the victim" or as intended to discourage political action to secure protection for individual rights. I argue that we find a richer and more complex understanding of self-help in the history of African-American thought. In an account of the meaning of self-help for Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois, I show that self-help aspires not only to the development of individual capacities, but also to the creation of the social and political conditions under which that development can take place. Those conditions require the universal recognition of individual rights, and a clear link between the responsibilities of black individuals and the responsibility of all American citizens.
Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: The Case Against Palliative Surgery

Robert Hanfland and I have been practicing medicine for the past eight years. We have both served on ethics committees within the medical community as experts on the treatment of congenital heart d...
Resisting oppression: body psychotherapy techniques to empower women

AbstractMany women regularly experience sexist events and are the targets of sexual objectification. Objectification theory claims that repeated exposure to sexual objectification is likely to result in self-objectification, where value is put on external appearance over internal experience. Ambivalent sexism theory explains a two-factor system, made up of hostile sexism and benevolent sexism, which acts to keep women in a marginalised position. Both theories expose a plethora of potential negative consequences, including body shame, self-doubt, and self-harming tendencies. Somatic literature demonstrates that oppression can live in the body and posits that an important path to healing can be through the body. The theoretical model presented here aims to decrease self-objectifying behaviour in women by proposing body psychotherapy techniques intended to increase internal somatic awareness and cultivate greater relationship with the body.
A collaborative digital oral history collection: Building a digital collection of student scholarship documenting Latino Americans in southeast North Carolina

A collaborative oral history project was recently completed at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) by students enrolled in a Spanish seminar course and library faculty and staff members at the University. The course, ‘Hispanics in N.C.: Service Learning and Research,’ was created and offered as one component of a public programming grant awarded to UNCW by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association through these institutions’ initiative called ‘Latino Americans: 500 Years of History.’ The course provided students with an opportunity to interview individuals in the southeastern North Carolina Latino community about their experiences in the United States. Students captured an audio recording of the interview which they later transcribed and provided a photograph of the interviewee. Library faculty and staff members were tasked with creating a digital collection to highlight the oral histories. Working within a limited time frame and with no funding for the project, the planning and implementation for the digital collection was completed by librarians in the library’s Information Technology and Systems, Special Collections, and Technical Services departments. Utilizing technology, systems, and skill sets that were already in place at Randall Library, a final product titled, ‘Somos NC: Voices from North Carolina’s Latino Community,’ was created. This article seeks to provide a practical discussion of the oral history project, outlining the Library’s processes and project workflows as well as assessment and reflections. Synthesizing knowledge gained through the experience, the intent is to provide an example of how, through collaboration and innovation, small to midsized libraries can accomplish similar projects.
Contact Duration-Aware Routing in Delay Tolerant Networks

Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs) are sparse mobile ad-hoc networks in which there is typically no complete path between the source and destination. While much work has been done in the design of forwarding algorithms, little work has focused on studying forwarding under the presence of short contact durations. In this paper, we study a single- copy contact duration-aware (CDA) routing strategy. We address two key issues: (1) to which next hop relay node should messages be forwarded and (2) in which order should messages be forwarded. To reduce the transmission cost, we select relay nodes from both current and past contacts based on the one-hop and two-hop delivery probability, respectively. We derive the delivery probability from the distribution of contact duration time and inter- contact time. For the message scheduling, messages with the highest delivery probability are prioritized to be transmitted first. Extensive simulation results based on the Cabspotting trace show that our scheme can achieve up to 13% higher delivery rate, 12% lower delay, and 23% lower transmission cost compared to other routing strategies.
The effect of chronic alcohol administration on cerulein-induced pancreatitis.

Alcohol consumption is associated with pancreatitis, but the mechanism underlying this injury remains unclear. Alcohol consumption has recently been shown to increase the fragility of both rat pancreatic lysosomes and zymogen granules in vitro, which may predispose to autodigestion via the intracellular activation of digestive enzymes by lysosomal enzymes. Cerulein-induced pancreatitis is also associated with lysosomal fragility. To determine the effect of alcohol consumption on this form of pancreatic injury, the severity of pancreatitis was compared in three groups of rats following iv cerulein infusion: rats fed alcohol in a liquid diet, pair-fed dextrose controls, and chow-fed controls. The histological severity of pancreatitis induced by supramaximal cerulein infusion was not found to be increased by prior alcohol consumption. Since alcohol did not appear to increase the severity of pancreatic injury induced by cerulein, we sought to define biochemical parameters that might precede obvious injury. The subcellular distribution of cathepsin B activity and markers of lysosomal fragility were compared in the same groups of experimental animals. Cerulein infusion led to a marked redistribution of cathepsin B activity from the lysosomal to the zymogen-granule-enriched fractions. For animals killed in the fed state, a redistribution of cathepsin B activity toward the zymogen-granule-enriched fraction was also demonstrated in alcohol-fed animals compared to their pair-fed controls. However, chronic alcohol administration did not influence the effect of cerulein on subcellular cathepsin B distribution or lysosomal fragility. In this rat study, administration of alcohol did not increase the effects of supramaximal doses of cerulein on the pancreas.
Eating performance in relation to intake of solid and liquid food in nursing home residents with dementia: A secondary behavioral analysis of mealtime videos.

Abstract Background Persons with dementia commonly experience low food intake leading to negative nutritional and functional outcomes. While multilevel personal and environmental factors that influence intake are implicated, evidence is lacking on the role of characteristics of dynamic eating performance cycles. An eating performance cycle is defined as the process of getting food from the plate or container, transporting it into the mouth, and chewing and swallowing it. Objective This study aimed to examine the association between intake and characteristics of eating performance cycles among nursing home residents with dementia. Methods A secondary analysis of 111 mealtime video clips from a nursing home communication training study was conducted. The 111 videos involved 25 residents and 29 staff (N = 42 unique staff-resident dyads) in 9 nursing homes. The Cue Utilization and Engagement in Dementia Mealtime video-coding scheme was used to code the characteristics of eating performance cycles, including eating technique (resident-completed, staff-facilitated), type of food (solid, liquid), duration of each eating performance cycle, and intake outcome (intake, no intake). The Generalized Linear Mixed Model was used to examine the interaction effects of eating technique by type of food, eating technique by duration, and type of food by duration on intake outcome. Results Totally 1122 eating performance cycles were coded from 111 video clips. The majority of the cycles (85.7%) resulted in intake. There were significant interactions for eating technique by duration, and type of food by duration. As the duration of the eating performance cycle increased, staff-facilitated cycles resulted in greater odds of intake than resident-completed cycles (OR = 17.80 vs. 2.73); and cycles involving liquid food resulted in greater odds of intake than cycles involving solid food (OR = 15.42 vs. 3.15). Though the interaction between eating technique and type of food was not significant, the odds of intake were greater for resident-completed cycles than for staff-facilitated cycles regardless of the type of food being involved in the cycle (OR = 3.60 for liquid food, OR = 10.69 for solid food). Conclusions The findings pointed out the importance of supporting resident independence in eating performance, providing liquid food when residents struggle with solid food, and provision of longer and continuous facilitation at mealtimes to improve intake. The findings inform the development and implementation of innovative mealtime assistance and staff training to promote eating performance and intake.
A 15-Year Review of Trainee Contributions to the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to quantify trainee contributions to the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (JOMS). Materials and Methods This was retrospective cohort study of research articles published in the JOMS from 2002 to 2016. Predictor variables were the presence and type of trainee author. Outcomes were study topic and design. Comparisons were performed using χ2 tests. To quantify trainee contributions, the 1) number and 2) proportion of articles with a trainee author and 3) the proportion of trainee authors per publication were calculated. The association between time and the number and proportion of trainee articles was determined using simple correlations. The association between time and percentage of trainee authors per publication was determined using analysis of variance. Results Of the 1,455 articles included in this study, 72.0% had at least 1 trainee author and trainees composed 27.6% of all authorships. The number and proportion of trainee articles slowly increased with time, and there was a strong correlation between percentage of trainee articles and publication year (r = 0.86; P Conclusions Trainee authors contributed to most JOMS articles, and an increasing percentage of articles included trainee authors. Efforts should be made to include trainees in studies with higher levels of evidence.
Contemporary Outcomes in Low-Gradient Aortic Stenosis Patients Who Underwent Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography.

Background Detection of flow reserve (FR) by dobutamine stress echocardiography is used for risk stratification in low‐gradient aortic stenosis (AS). Prognostic significance of dobutamine stress ec...
Novel proteomic changes in brain mitochondria provide insights into mitochondrial dysfunction in mouse models of Huntington's disease

Abstract Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive ultimately fatal disorder caused by a glutamine-encoding CAG expansion in the huntingtin (HTT) gene that results in degeneration mainly in striatal and cerebro-cortical brain regions. Mitochondrial dysfunction is one important facet of HD pathogenesis. Here we used R6/2 and YAC128 HD mouse models of human HD, that express different HTT transgenes and have different progression rates, to identify HD brain mitochondrial proteomic signatures. Cerebral cortical mitochondrial preparations from HD and wild-type litter mate mice were compared by two-dimensional SDS-PAGE electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. Proteomic analyses inferred 17 and 12 differentially expressed proteins, respectively in 12 week R6/2 and 15 month YAC128 HD mice, compared to controls. Peroxiredoxin 3, stress-70, DJ-1, isocitrate dehydrogenase [NAD] α subunit and ATP synthase subunit D were differentially expressed in both models. Using the PANTHER (Protein ANalysis THrough Evolutionary Relationships) classification system we show that the inferred proteins are involved in oxidative stress defense, oxidative phosphorylation, the citric acid cycle, pyruvate metabolism, apoptosis, protein folding and iron metabolism. Common mitochondrial proteomic changes are significant in mouse models of middle (YAC128) and advanced (R6/2) HD despite differences in the HTT transgenes, age, genetic background and disease stage. The findings identify a proteomic signature of HD mitochondria in mouse models that includes previously unrecognized proteins.
Extended delivery of vaccines to the skin improves immune responses.

Abstract Vaccines prevent 2–3 million childhood deaths annually; however, low vaccine efficacy and the resulting need for booster doses create gaps in immunization coverage. In this translational study, we explore the benefits of extended release of licensed vaccine antigens into skin to increase immune responses after a single dose in order to design improved vaccine delivery systems. By administering daily intradermal injections of inactivated polio vaccine according to six different delivery profiles, zeroth-order release over 28 days resulted in neutralizing antibody titers equivalent to two bolus vaccinations administered one month apart. Vaccinations following this profile also improved immune responses to tetanus toxoid and subunit influenza vaccine but not a live-attenuated viral vaccine, measles vaccine. Finally, using subunit influenza vaccine, we demonstrated that daily vaccination by microneedle patch induced a potent, balanced humoral immunity with an increased memory response compared to bolus vaccination. We conclude that extended presentation of antigen in skin via intradermal injection or microneedle patch can enhance immune responses and reduce the number of vaccine doses, thereby enabling increased vaccination efficacy.
Adnexectomy at the time of vaginal hysterectomy for pelvic organ prolapse.

Preoperative counseling about salpingectomy with pelvic surgery is recommended by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology for ovarian cancer risk reduction. Our objective was to determine recent practice patterns and patient factors associated with salpingectomy with vaginal hysterectomy (VH) for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) in the USA. We hypothesize that salpingectomy might have become more common in recent years. We queried the 2014–2016 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database for women with a postoperative diagnosis of POP who underwent VH with any combination of pelvic reconstructive procedures. CPT codes do not differentiate salpingectomy from salpingo-oophorectomy, so subjects were stratified by whether concurrent adnexectomy was performed. Chi-squared and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate characteristics associated with adnexectomy. Propensity score matching was utilized when evaluating postoperative complication rates. Of 5,344 women who underwent VH, 2019 (37.8%) had adnexectomy. Adnexectomy rate increased from 34.4% in 2014 to 46.8% in 2016 (p < 0.001). Adnexectomy rates of fellowship-trained urogynecologists and general gynecologists were similar (36.0% vs 38.8%, p = 0.197). On logistic regression analysis, patients more likely to undergo adnexectomy were < 65 years old (OR 0.844, CI 0.75–0.95, p = 0.004), had BMI <30 (OR 0.76, CI 0.68–0.86, p < 0.001), and were non-smokers (OR 0.78, CI 0.64–0.95, p = 0.016). Mean operative time was 17 min longer with adnexectomy (145 vs 128 min, p < 0.001). There were no differences in postoperative complications or reoperation rates between groups. Adnexectomy during VH for POP is safe and increasingly utilized by gynecology surgeons in the USA.
The Spanish disquiet: the biblical natural philosophy of Benito Arias Montano

When I was a graduate student, I was warned about Benito Arias Montano: he was a pit into which I would fall and never come out. One of the great humanists of the sixteenth century and an outstandi...
A Multilevel Model for Examining Perceptions of School Climate, Socioeconomic Status, and Academic Achievement for Secondary School Students

AbstractThis multilevel study examined the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) and student perceptions of school climate on academic achievement at the student and school levels. Data used were f...
Kruppel-Like Factors in Thrombosis and Hemostasis

Abstract Armed with the appreciation that the blood and vascular system share common origins and cooperate to ensure fundamental processes (e.g. blood flow/fluidity, oxygen/nutrient delivery, immunity) essential for organismal survival, we posited that shared molecular pathways may be operative in coordinating the function of both systems. Over the past 2 decades, studies from our group and others have identified a family of transcription factors termed Kruppel-like factors (KLFs) as essential for development, differentiation, and function of cellular constituents of both the hematopoietic and vascular systems. In this presentation, discussion will focus on the role KLFs in control of endothelium and myeloid cell biology in physiology and disease. Specifically, cellular and in vivo evidence will be discussed implicating KLFs as master regulators of all cardinal endothelial functions (permeability, vasoreactivity, blood fluidity, and inflammation). Further, studies demonstrating KLF-control of myeloid cell development, subset specification, and pro-inflammatory activation will be reviewed with particular emphasis on results of efforts altering myeloid KLFs in the context of acute (e.g. bacterial infection, sepsis) and chronic (e.g. atherosclerosis, arterial/venous thrombosis) inflammatory processes. Correlative studies in human subjects will be presented. And finally, insights into how targeting KLFs can be exploited for therapeutic gain will be discussed. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Phase I clinical trials as a therapeutic option for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).

5073Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors, multi-kinase VEGF agents, and mTOR inhibitors are approved for mRCC. Due to the overlapping mechanisms of action of the twelve approved therapies for m...
Antimalarials for COVID-19 Treatment: Rapid Reversal of Oxygen Status Decline with the Nobel Prize-Honored Macrocyclic Lactone Ivermectin

The worldwide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted intense interest among researchers, physicians and patients in viable treatment options Among the fi
Offset analgesia identifies impaired endogenous pain modulation in pediatric chronic pain disorders

Offset analgesia (OA), a psychophysical test of endogenous pain inhibition, is diminished in many adult chronic pain disorders but OA has not been investigated in youth with chronic pain disorders. This study assessed OA responses in 30 youth with chronic primary and secondary pain disorders and 32 healthy controls. The OA, control, and constant thermal tests were evoked with an individualized noxious heat stimulus of approximately 50/100 mm on a visual analogue scale followed by 1°C offset temperature. This study also examined the association of OA responses with 2 self-report measures of pain sensitivity, the Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI) and Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire. Patients exhibited diminished capacity to activate OA with a reduction in ΔeVASc of 53 ± 29% vs controls 74 ± 24% (P = 0.003) even after multivariate regression adjusting for age, sex, and body mass index. Patients also showed decreased ability to habituate to a constant noxious heat stimulus compared to controls (P = 0.021). Central Sensitization Inventory scores showed excellent predictive accuracy in differentiating patients from controls (area under the curve = 0.95; 95% CI: 0.91-0.99) and CSI score ≥30 was identified as an optimal cutoff value. Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire scores did not differentiate patients from controls nor correlate with OA. In this study, 60% of youth with chronic pain showed reduced capacity for endogenous pain inhibition.
Prolonged exposure to stressors suppresses exploratory behavior in zebrafish larvae.

Environmental stressors induce rapid physiological and behavioral shifts in vertebrate animals. However, the neurobiological mechanisms responsible for stress-induced changes in behavior are complex and not well understood. Similar to mammalian vertebrates, zebrafish adults display a preference for dark environments that is associated with predator avoidance, enhanced by stressors, and broadly used in assays for anxiety-like behavior. Although the larvae of zebrafish are a prominent model organism for understanding neural circuits, fewer studies have examined the effects of stressors on their behavior. This study examines the effects of noxious chemical and electric shock stressors on locomotion and light preference in zebrafish larvae. We found that both stressors elicited similar changes in behavior. Acute exposure induced increased swimming activity, while prolonged exposure depressed activity. Neither stressor produced a consistent shift in light/dark preference, but prolonged exposure to these stressors resulted in a pronounced decrease in exploration of different visual environments. We also examined the effects of exposure to a noxious chemical cue using whole-brain calcium imaging, and identified neural correlates in the area postrema, an area of the hindbrain containing noradrenergic and dopaminergic neurons. Pharmaceutical blockade experiments showed that ɑ-adrenergic receptors contribute to the behavioral response to an acute stressor but are not necessary for the response to a prolonged stressor. These results indicate that zebrafish larvae have complex behavioral responses to stressors comparable to those of adult animals, and also suggest that these responses are mediated by similar neural pathways.
Naphthalen-1-yl­methanol

Apart from the OH group, the mol­ecule of the title compound, C11H10O, is almost planar with all carbon atoms located within 0.03 A of their mean plane. In the crystal, the mol­ecules are linked by O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, generating infinite chains running parallel to the [100] direction.
Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin for urinary tract infection and pyelonephritis: a systematic review.

The sensitivity and specificity of the leukocyte esterase test are relatively low for a screening test for urinary tract infection (UTI). More accurate tests could reduce both overtreatment and missed cases. This study aimed to determine whether neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) can replace leukocyte esterase in the diagnosis of UTI and/or whether NGAL accurately identifies children with acute pyelonephritis. Data sources—MEDLINE and EMBASE. We only considered published studies that evaluated the results of an index test (NGAL) against the results of urine culture (for UTI) or against the results of dimercaptosuccinic acid (for acute pyelonephritis) in children aged 0 to 18 years. Two authors independently applied the selection criteria to all citations and independently extracted the data. A total of 12 studies met our inclusion criteria. Four studies (920 children) included data on NGAL for UTI; eight studies (580 children) included data on NGAL for pyelonephritis. We did not pool accuracy values because the included studies used different cutoff values. For the diagnosis of UTI, urinary NGAL appeared to have better accuracy than the leukocyte esterase test in all included studies. For the diagnosis of pyelonephritis, neither plasma NGAL nor urinary NGAL had high sensitivity and/or specificity. The number of studies was the main limitation of this systematic review. Urinary NGAL appears promising for the diagnosis of UTI; however, larger studies are needed to validate this marker as a replacement for leukocyte esterase. The use of NGAL for diagnosing acute pyelonephritis requires further study.
Anti-seizure medications and efficacy against focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizures: A systematic review with relevance for SUDEP prevention.

Abstract We conducted a systematic review of anti-seizure medications (ASMs) and their efficacy for the control of focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizures (FBTCS). FBTCS, especially when nocturnal, are recognized as one of the major risk factors for Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). We searched different online databases for all the randomized, double-blinded, and placebo-controlled clinical trials of ASMs that were FDA-approved after 1990 and that reported specifically on the reduction in FBTCS; when possible, this was compared to reduction in focal impaired awareness (FIA) seizures. The ASMs that yielded the most data (3 or more studies) were topiramate (TPM), followed by tiagabine (TGB), brivaracetam (BRV), and lamotrigine (LTG). TPM trials showed a reduction in FBTCS of 44.8% to 100% (4.5–99% over placebo); TGB 21.8% to 46.7% (21.8–61% over placebo); BRV 33.9% to 82.1% (11.6–57.4% over placebo); and LTG 55.2% (20.3–52% over placebo). Promising results, but with data from only one or two studies, were seen with cenobamate (18–59% efficacy above placebo), lacosamide (45.1–78.7%), levetiracetam (40.1–60.3%), oxcarbazepine (58.5–81.5%), and gabapentin (50–53.8%). Higher responses were often seen at higher doses, including at doses above those currently approved by the FDA. Results specific to nocturnal FBTCS were never reported for any ASM. Moreover, complete freedom from FBTCS specifically was very rarely reported, despite its relevance for SUDEP prevention. In conclusion, there are few data specifically comparing the efficacy of ASMs for prevention of FBTCS despite the known strong association of BTCS with SUDEP. This review was our attempt at filling a gap in the literature and calling for universal reporting of data specific to BTC seizure reduction in all future studies, preferably including specific reporting on nocturnal BTCS. This will help enable rational ASM selection to minimize BTC seizures and thereby decrease the risk of SUDEP.
Relapse Versus Reinfection: A Case of Recurrence of COVID-19 Infection during Pregnancy

Introduction The world has been experiencing a novel COVID-19 pandemic since December 2019. Since that time there has been rapid spread and considerable mortality and morbidity. The immunology of COVID-19 is still being determined in the general population as well as select groups such as pregnant females whose immune response may be altered. Here we present a case of questionable relapse vs reinfection of COVID-19 in a pregnant health care worker. Case description A 32 year old female healthcare worker, with no significant past medical history developed slight shortness of breath and loss of taste and smell soon after she discovered about her first pregnancy. She subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 in April 2020. At that time she was at six weeks gestation. She never developed a fever, cough, GI symptoms, malaise, muscle fatigue or sore throat. Because her symptoms were mild and stable, and she never required oxygen supplements, she was asked to quarantine at home, and to take the needed precautions. Telephone visits have been conducted daily to check on her clinical status and patient had access to pulse oximetry and thermostat and therefore has been keeping track of her vital signs and wellbeing. In May 2020 - one month after initial infection- she reported total clearance of her initial symptoms and she has been preparing to return to work. She however reported that she has had contact COVID-19 positive individuals. Because of that she has been retested prior to returning to work. Nasopharyngeal swab was performed and PCR was negative. Two weeks later, she reported acute onset on dyspnea on exertion, and loss of taste and smell. Nasopharyngeal swab was performed and PCR was positive. She experienced mild symptoms and was quarantined home. One month later, she reported resolution of symptoms and repeat COVID19 testing was negative. Discussion Studies have shown that post infection immunity has conferred for at least 3-6 month. Clinical course and prognosis of COVID19 in pregnancy has been found to be associated with more complications and rapid clinical deterioration. Hence, frequent ICU admissions and need for mechanical ventilation were noticed in pregnant COVID19 infected females, however, limited data is available on post infection immunity in pregnancy. Hence, it remains unknown if this presented patient has experienced relapse of an initial infection or if given her immunosuppressed state in setting of pregnancy she has re-acquired the infection.
Imaging in pediatric bilateral sensorineural hearing loss: Diagnostic yield with computed tomography versus magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the findings and compare the diagnostic yield of computed tomography (CT) versus magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in children with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (BSNHL). Study design Multi-institutional retrospective review. Setting Three tertiary referral centers. Methods A multi-institutional retrospective chart review was performed in patients under the age of 18 years with BSNHL (diagnosis codes 389.00–389.22) who underwent both CT and MRI from 2010 to 2012. An abnormal imaging finding was defined as an abnormality of the cochleovestibular or central nervous system known to directly correlate with sensorineural hearing loss. Diagnostic yield of CT versus MRI was compared by McNemar's test. Results Of 2081 charts reviewed, 313 patients met inclusion criteria. The diagnostic yield of CT and MRI were 25% and 18%, respectively. Approximately one-quarter of patients had an abnormal finding on CT or MRI. The concordance rate was 92%. CT was more likely to yield an abnormal finding versus MRI (p-value = 0.0001). The most common findings on CT were cochlear and semicircular canal abnormalities. On MRI, the most common findings were cochlear nerve aplasia/hypoplasia and semicircular canal abnormalities. Conclusions This study evaluates and directly compares the diagnostic yield of CT versus MRI for pediatric BSNHL. While both modalities have important and often complementary diagnostic utility, CT had superior diagnostic yield in identifying abnormalities associated with BSNHL.
Convention without convening

David K. Lewis published his brilliant PhD dissertation in 1969, Convention; A Philosophical Study. With a lag, scholarship on David Hume has come to elaborate the similitude between Lewis and Hume on convention. Reading Hume along the lines of Lewis gives us a vocabulary with which we can better appreciate and articulate the innovativeness of Hume’s theory of convention. This study contributes to that appreciation and to rearticulates Hume’s innovative analytical framework for thinking about the unformalized duties and obligations—sometimes glossed as institutions or culture—underlying social interaction and economic behavior. After summarizing Lewis, we treat Hume’s account of the emergence of the conventions of language, justice, and political authority in broadly Lewisian terms. Another purpose is to draw on Hume to develop a concept of “natural convention.” A natural convention is a social practice whose concrete form in time and place is conventional in a Lewisian sense, but whose generalized form is necessary, and hence natural, for more advanced social organization. In the final section of the paper, we consider the semantic originality of Hume’s convention talk. Drawing from a largescale textual search, we find scant evidence that the English word “convention” was used in a Lewisian sense—that is, in a sense that did not entail a literal convening—prior to Hume.
Women Are Funny: Influence of Apparent Gender and Embodiment in Robot Comedy

Previous robotics work has identified significant effects of perceived gender and embodiment on human perceptions of robots, but these topics have yet to be investigated in the context of robot comedy. The presented study explored the effects of gender and embodiment on audience members’ perceptions of a robotic comedian. Participants (N = 153) observed either an audio-only clip or a video of a robotic comedian, with either a male or a female voice. We measured self-reported ratings of robot attributes. Results showed that neither gender nor physical form influenced joke humorousness or robot attribute ratings, however those who viewed a video of the robot reported feeling more connected to the comedian. These findings suggest that, unlike in past studies of human comedy to date, gender stereotypes and physical appearance may not affect perceptions of robot comedy performance.
Heat Capacity Measurements on KMnF3 at the Soft Mode and Magnetic Phase Transitions

We made high-resolution heat capacity measurements on a 0.792-g single crystal of KMnF3 between 80 and 200°K. We found four specific heat anomalies in this temperature range, two associated with soft mode structural phase transitions and two with magnetic transitions. These will all be discussed in the following paragraphs, with special emphasis on a detailed study of the 187°K soft mode transition.
Rupture of abdominal aortic aneurysm during exercise: Gated blood pool studies

There is a high prevalence of associated coronary artery disease in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms. Exercise nuclear ventriculography is often used preoperatively to evaluate these patients. A patient who had a rupture of an abdominal aneurysm during exercise ventriculography is described. An instantaneous diagnosis of the acutely ruptured aneurysm was confirmed by blood pool scanning of the abdomen.
Enfermería y la resolución de los dilemas éticos

Inherent to Nursing Care, ethical dimension includes having to decide about the dilemmas that arise in practice. Experience shows that generally we do not have a reference and then sufficient training to judge the ethical quality of our decisions and actions, reason why, in this article some methods are introduced that will facilitate this ethical analysis when faced with a conflict or dilemma that warrants it.
Insulin as a probe of mitochondrial metabolism in situ.

Our previous studies of insulin action have led us to the finding that insulin acts specifically on the mitochondrial Krebs cycle to stimulate, by 30%, the oxidation of carbons 2 and 3 of pyruvate to CO2. Insulin also stimulates the oxidation of both carbons of acetate. These carbons can be converted to CO2 only after passing through all of the reactions of the Krebs cycle more than once. Carboxyl groups, such as number 1 of pyruvate, are oxidized to CO2 without any effect of insulin, and can be converted to CO2 by extramitochondrial enzyme. We conclude that insulin must act on the complete intramitochondrial cycle and not on the four enzymes of the Krebs cycle which are present in the cytoplasm. The path taken by those carbons affected by insulin is traced through the complete Krebs cycle, and the necessity for this effect to be mitochondrial has been verified by demonstration of the same specific effect of insulin on the oxidation of the 2 and 3 carbons of succinate. The use of this phenomenon is proposed for the study not only of human diabetes, but of all mitochondrial disorders, by using 14C specifically labeled tracers in culture or biopsy material, or 13C labeled tracer material in vivo. (Mol Cell Biochem 174: 91–96, 1997)
Teoria e Política nas Relações Internacionais: algumas reflexões pessoais 10.5102/uri.v11i1.2415

O artigo discute as diversas relacoes existentes entre teoria e politica, sobretudo no imbricamento de seus campos profissionais. Analisa o baixo impacto da teoria das Relacoes Internacionais nas decisoes de politica externa, as tensoes metodologicas existentes entre os dois campos e discute os motivos pelos quais estes processos ocorrem. Ao final, propoe solucoes para que haja mais dialogo e interacao entre a academia e os politicos.
Predictive modeling of peak discharge current during charged device model test of microelectronic components

This work presents a computationally efficient methodology to predict the peak CDM discharge current for a given pre-charge voltage. The methodology is applied to a variety of IC components in different types of packages; the peak current values obtained from simulations agree well with those obtained from FICDM measurements.
T1 and T2 values of human neonatal blood at 3 Tesla: Dependence on hematocrit, oxygenation, and temperature.

Purpose Knowledge of blood T1 and T2 is of major importance in many applications of MRI in neonates. However, to date, there has not been a systematic study to examine neonatal blood T1/T2 relaxometry. This present study aims to investigate this topic. Methods Using freshly collected blood samples from human umbilical cord, we performed in vitro experiments under controlled physiological conditions to measure blood T1 and T2 at 3 Tesla (T) and their dependence on several factors, including hematocrit (Hct), oxygenation (Y) and temperature. Results The arterial T1 in neonates was 1825 ± 184 ms (Hct = 0.42 ± 0.08), longer than that of adult blood. Neonatal blood T1 was strongly dependent on Hct (P < 0.001) and Y (P = 0.005), and the dependence of T1 on Y was more prominent at higher Hct. The arterial T2 of neonatal blood was 191 ms at an Hct of 0.42, which was also longer than adult blood. Neonatal blood T2 was positively associated with blood oxygenation and negatively associated with hematocrit level, and can be characterized by an exchange model. Neonatal blood T1 was also positively associated with temperature (P < 0.001). Conclusion The values provided in this report may provide important reference and calibration information for sequence optimization and quantification of in vivo neonatal MRI studies. Magn Reson Med, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A scalable and reliable hybrid scheme for image multicast applications

In real-time multicast communication scalability, reliability, and feedback implosion are of paramount importance. In this work we have developed an efficient feedback-free, entirely receiver-driven, and reliable visual information delivery hybrid scheme (SIGMA-EC) for multicast applications over unreliable communication networks, that requires no per-receiver status at the sender. Efficient bandwidth utilization is achieved by transmitting the parity packets over separate multicast channels, which receivers dynamically join and leave, preventing unnecessary receiver processing overhead and storage requirements for those packets that have already received correctly, and giving rise to a tradeoff between bandwidth and quality. Our XOR-based scheme's encoding and decoding processing time is an order of magnitude faster than conventional RS-based loss recovery schemes. Furthermore, we obtain all these advantages using a remarkably simple structure, both conceptually as well as computationally.
X‐Ray Fiber and Powder Diffraction of PrP Prion Peptides

Abstract A conformational change from the α‐helical, cellular form of prion to the β‐sheet, scrapie (infectious) form is the central event for prion replication. The folding mechanism underlying this conformational change has not yet been deciphered. Here, we review prion pathology and summarize X‐ray fiber and powder diffraction studies on the N‐terminal fragments of prion protein and on short sequences that initiate the β‐assembly for various fibrils, including poly( L ‐alanine) and poly( L ‐glutamine). We discuss how the quarter‐staggered β‐sheet assembly (like in polyalanine) and polar‐zipper β‐sheet formation (like in polyglutamine) may be involved in the formation of the scrapie form of prion.
What Is Video Good for? Examining How Media and Story Genre Interact.

Research suggests that the educational value of a media format depends upon the ways in which its representational affordances interact with complex features of the learning environment, including learner characteristics, content domains, pedagogical strategies, and cognitive and social processes. In the current study, we sought to understand some of these interactions by studying the impact of two different media (video and text) on learners within varied story types (which embody ideas of different content domains and instructional strategies). We studied how equivalent text and video versions of four different stories impacted participants’: interest/engagement, affect/mood, emotional engagement, recall of information, ability to summarize main points, judgments of story quality, and opinions about content matter. Results indicate that while video does not provide an advantage over text on measures of immediate information recall, on other measures of the study there is a more complex interaction between media format, story type, and video style. Explanations and implications of these fi ndings are discussed.
A Uniform Static Magnetic Field in Kaluza-Klein Theory

I shall report about work done with A. Rabinowitz. We studied a homogeneous magnetic field in the Kaluza-Klein theory. The complete five-dimensional manifold is not a direct product of the space-time manifold with a line or circle but has the topological structure of a three-dimensional sphere multiplied with a two-plane. Thus, compactification of the fifth dimension becomes a consequence of completeness. Moreover, the additional symmetries of the five-dimensional metric which are a consequence of the field equations and have not been postulated in advance lead already locally to a quantization of charge without postulating the existence of a magnetic monopole or an ad hoc compactification introduced by Oscar Klein.