cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Is postmortem examination useful in paedlatrlc oncology

With new, more accurate imaging techniques and clinical investigations currently available, it may appear that post mortem examination (PME) provides little information that is not already available during life regarding disease processes. This is especially the case where the cause of death appears self-evident, as in patients suffering from malignancy. To determine whether PME in such patients does provide new information regarding disease, a review was conducted of PMEs conducted at the ACH during the ten year period 1982-1991. During this period 67 patients under the care of the Oncology Department died within the hospital, and 31 (47.8%l underwent PME. During the same period 602 non-oncology patients died in the ACH and 454 (75.4%) underwent PME. There were significant new pathological findings in 10 (32%) of the 31 PMEs undertaken on oncology patients. Had the findings been known during life in 5 cases, treatment would probably have been altered. This group includes: 3 patients with leukaemia dying of sepsis in whom the infective agent was only identified at PME; 1 patient with Ewing's sarcoma dying suddenly at home from treatment-related renal failure and another patient with Ewing's sarcoma and treatment-related cardiomyopathy dying from cardiac failure, with numerous clinically-occult pulmonary emboli. In 5 patients, the new pathologic findings would not have influenced treatment had they been known during life. In one case PME did show that complications that were suspected clinically to be related to treatment, were instead due to leukaemic infiltration and in one patient with metastatic osteosarcoma and a presumed bacterial endocarditis, PME found a sinus tract leading from the oesophagus into a large intra-atrial tumour mass. PME In this paediatric oncology patient population, although less frequent than in non- oncology patients, had a high yield of significant findings that provided information both on the disease process and on treatment responses and complications. The benefits of PME are thus clear, and to highlight these factors and to help parents in making their decision regarding consent for autopsy, a pamphlet explaining the process of autopsy and detailing its advantages has been recently developed at the ACH for distribution to clinical services.
Effect of High-Amylose Field Corn on Larval Growth and Survival of Five Species of Stored-Grain Insects

Five species of stored-grain insects were reared on field corn seed averaging 60, 70, and 25% amylose (normal corn). The effect of amylose on larval survival was determined by the total number of adults produced. The effect on larval nutrition was ascertained by the average adult weights. The amylose content of corn did not affect either larval nutrition or survival of the lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), or the red flour beetle, Tribolium caslaneum (Herbst). High-amylose corn adversely affected larval nutrition of the granary weevil, Sitophilus granarius (L.); the rice weevil, S. oryzae (L.); and the An-gonmois grain moth, Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier). Larval survival on 70% amylose corn was disproportionately low for the granary weevil and disproportionately high for the rice weevil and the Angoumois grain moth. Because the 60 and 70% amylose corn varieties were developed under different breeding programs, larval survival may have been influenced by resistance factors other than the amylose content of the corn seed. Whether the granary weevil, rice weevil, and the Angoumois grain moth may possibly be used in selecting high-amylose field corn seed for a high-amylose cornbreeding program may depend upon the homogeneity of resistance factors, other than amylose content, of the corn seed itself.
EXAFS characterization of Ti/Al2O3 supports and Co/Ti/Al2O3 catalysts

The structure of Ti/Al2O3 supports (0–14 wt% Ti) and Co/Ti/Al2O3 catalysts (3 wt% Co) was examined by EXAFS. The results indicated that the Ti was present primarily as a highly dispersed surface phase. The Ti EXAFS results indicated that the Ti species were octahedrally coordinated. Evidence of Ti—Ti interactions was found for all loadings (2–14 wt% Ti) suggesting that the Ti surface species are present as small clusters of TiO2. The Co EXAFS results showed evidence for several structurally different Co surface phases as a function of Ti loading. Evidence of a Co species interacting with the Ti surface phase was observed for the 3% Co/2% Ti-3%Co/6%Ti catalysts. At the highest loadings studied, 3%Co/8%Ti and 3%Co/14%Ti, evidence was found for a CoTiO3-like phase.
Multiphoton manipulations of enzymatic photoactivity in aspartate aminotransferase.

The aspartate aminotransferase (AAT) enzyme utilizes the chromophoric pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (PLP) cofactor to facilitate the transamination of amino acids. Recently, we demonstrated that, upon exp...
Comparison of Three Techniques to Evaluate Advanced Breeding Lines of Soybean for Leaf-Feeding Resistance to Corn Earworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Advanced breeding lines of soybean (GLycine max (L.) Merr.) were evaluated for resistance to leaf-feeding by corn earworm (CEW) (Heliothis zea (Boddie)) using three screening techniques. The conservative method of testing larval growth on intact leaves was compared with two techniques commonly used for preliminary screening of CEW resistance-measurement of larval growth on excised leaves and field evaluation of CEW leaffeeding damage to small plots. The parental lines ‘Forrest,’ ‘Bragg,’ and the CEW-resistant plant introduction PI229358 served as checks for the experiments. Mean weights of 14-d-old larvae reared on intact leaves of greenhouse-grown plants were positively correlated with the weights of 14-d-old larvae reared on excised leaves taken from the same plants. Mean weights of larvae fed the intact leaves, however, differentiated resistance better than weights of larvae fed the excised leaves. Mean weights of larvae (14 d old) reared on intact leaves were positively correlated with mean leaf damage by CEW to naturally infested one- and three-row plots in 1980 and 1983 field tests. Although ratings of resistance were similar for test of larval growth on intact leaves and evaluation of leaf damage by CEW in small field plots, we recommend repeated testing or combined use of both methods to distinguish highly resistant lines from lines with intermediate levels of resistance.
Estimating head pose orientation using extremely low resolution images

The estimation of human head pose is of interest in some surveillance and human-computer interaction scenarios. Traditionally, this is not a difficult task if high- or even standard-definition video cameras are used. However, such cameras cannot be used in scenarios requiring privacy protection. In this paper, we propose a non-linear regression method for the estimation of human head pose from extremely low resolution images captured by a monocular RGB camera. We evaluate the common histogram of oriented gradients (HoG) feature, propose a new gradient-based feature, and use Support Vector Regression (SVR) to estimate head pose. We evaluate our algorithm on the Biwi Kinect Head Pose Dataset by re-sizing full-resolution RGB images to extremely low resolutions. The results are promising. At 10×10-pixel resolution, we achieve 6.95, 9.92 and 12.88 degree mean-absolute errors (MAE) for roll, yaw and pitch angles, respectively. These errors are very close to state-of-the-art results for full-resolution images.
Analysis of the Utilization of Drugs in 26 Hospitals in Hangzhou from 2009 to 2011

Objective: To assess the utilization and tendency of drugs in Hangzhou Area during 2009～2011.Methods: The utilization data of drugs from 16 Three-A class hospitals and 9 Two-A class hospital in Hangzhou were statistically analyzed by consumption analysis and data pooling method.Results: The total consumption of drugs in Hangzhou area showed an uptrend over the 3 years,The top 5 drug classes in the list of consumption sum were anti-infectives,cardiovascular drugs,anti-cancer drugs,nervous and digestive drugs.Anti-infective class was negative growth in 2011.The fastest of degree of increase in sales sum was anti-cancer drug;The fastest of degree of decrease in sales sum was diuretic and dehydrants.In the top 20 manufacturers in the list of consumption sum,foreign investment and joint ventures accounted for the majority.The market share of state-owned enterprise decreased year by year.Conclusion: The degree of increase in consumption sum of drugs in Hangzhou area decreased in ladder year by year.Structure of drug use had some changes during 2009～2011.The products of top quality of state-owned enterprise have a bright future.
Towards understanding the molecular mechanism of cardiolipin transport in Salmonella typhimurium : interactions between an essential inner membrane protein YejM and its newly found ligand, YejL

Salmonella typhimurium is responsible for over 35% of all foodborne illness related hospitalizations in the United States. This Gram-negative bacterium possesses an inner and an outer membrane (OM), the latter allowing its survival and replication within host tissues. During infection, OM is remodeled by transport of glycerophospholipids across the periplasm and into the OM. Increased levels of cardiolipin in the OM were observed upon PhoPQ activation and led to the discovery of YejM; an inner membrane protein essential for cell growth involved in cardiolipin binding and transport to the OM. Another protein that might be playing a role in cardiolipin transport is YejL, as its gene is localized upstream of yejm on the same operon. Here we report how YejM was engineered to facilitate crystal growth and X-ray diffraction analysis. Furthermore, we present for the first time that YejL is a ligand for YejM. Successful structure determination of YejM and YejL will help us understand how they interact and how YejM facilitates cardiolipin transport to the OM. Ultimately, yejm , being an essential gene, may lead to new drug targets inhibiting the pathogenic properties of S. typhimurium .
Limitations of Oil Production to the IPCC Scenarios: The New Realities of US and Global Oil Production

Many of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report for Emission Scenarios and Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) projections (especially RCP 8.5 and 6) project CO2 emissions due to oil consumption from now to 2100 to be in the range of 32–57 Gb/yr (87–156 mb/d) or (195–349 EJ/yr). World oil production (crude plus condensate) was almost constant from 2002 to 2011 at about 74 ± 1 million barrels per day (mb/d) (US Energy Institute Agency, US EIA). There was an increase in world oil production after January 2011 that was mostly due to a surge of about 6 mb/d in light tight oil (LTO) production in the USA. This increased global oil production to just above 80 mb/d. Meanwhile, production in the rest of the world remained constant. The surge in the USA resulted in a sustained situation where supply was greater than demand globally, and this initiated a crash in the price of oil. The price of oil decreased from about $100 per barrel in mid-2014 to less than $30 per barrel in early 2016. Once the oil price declined, it was further enhanced and sustained by a decrease in demand due to a slowdown in the global economy. Because LTO is expensive to produce and was unprofitable after the price crash for the exploration and production companies, the surge in US production ended in about April 2015. Now, production of LTO in the USA is declining and global oil production is as well. New oil discoveries have reached a 70-year low, which does not bode well for future production. If the present patterns persist, it is unlikely that world oil production will exceed present US EIA oil production values of about 27–29 Gb/yr (equivalent to 75–80 mb/d) or (171–182 EJ/yr). It is unlikely that the demand for oil production required for CO2 emissions in RCP8.5 and RCP6 will be met.
Ocular hypotensive efficacy and safety of a combined formulation of betaxolol and pilocarpine.

Abstract PURPOSE: To evaluate the ocular hypotensive efficacy and safety of a fixed combination of betaxolol (0.25%) and pilocarpine (1.75%). METHODS: Three multicenter, double-masked, parallel trials were completed in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension of 3 months' treatment duration. Studies 1 and 2 were three-arm comparisons of betaxolol, pilocarpine, and a fixed combination, each used 3 times daily. Study 3 was a two-arm study of the fixed combination with and without a surfactant, used twice daily. In all studies, there was a 1-month runin period with betaxolol 0.25% suspension given twice daily. There were 182 patients in Study 1, 186 patients in Study 2, and 166 patients in Study 3. RESULTS: In all 3 studies, approximately 10% to 15% of patients treated with pilocarpine or the combination therapy were terminated from further participation because of typical pilocarpine side effects (eg, blurred vision, headache). In studies 1 and 2, there was a mean reduction in intraocular pressure from a betaxolol baseline of approximately 3 to 4 mmHg. Patients continuing on betaxolol alone or randomly assigned to pilocarpine alone experienced a mean reduction of 1 to 2 mm Hg. Overall, the combination was approximately 2 mmHg more effective than either betaxolol or pilocarpine alone. In Study 3, the two betaxolol combinations had equivalent efficacy. CONCLUSION: In patients requiring more than one ocular hypotensive agent, the combination of betaxolol and pilocarpine in a single formulation appears to be an effective and relatively safe agent. The use of this combination agent promises the potential for enhanced patient convenience.
Background Material and Notation

This chapter provides an overview of the background material assumed in the remainder of the book. We state major results and provide sketches of the less technical proofs, particularly where the ideas presented are instrumental in subsequent constructions. The first topic is the theory of linear systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Much of this material is standard for first-year graduate courses in ODEs, such as presented in Hartman [114], Perko [234]. This is followed by a review of the basic theory of functional analysis as applied to linear partial differential equations; further details can be found in the standard references Evans [81], Kato [162]. We finish the general overview by discussing the point spectrum in the context of the Sturm–Liouville theory for second-order operators. These operators have a one-to-one relationship between the ordering of the eigenvalues and the number of zeros for the associated eigenfunctions, which is extremely useful in applications.
Google Docs in the Classroom: A District-Wide Case Study

Background/ContextSuccessful integration of educational technology is a complicated process that is influenced by multiple factors. Recently, both within and across schools, educators have been sea...
Speaking My Mind: In Defense of the Five-Paragraph Essay.

Last spring, at the same time that English professors across the country were suffering the every-semester hell of grading final papers, high school juniors were receiving scores for the first SAT writing section essay. Immediately, there were complaints: No one can write well in twenty-five minutes! The scorers reward length! What kind of message does this send kids about good writing? At the height of the furor, on May 7, I heard MIT's Les Perelman on NPR's Weekend Edition join the chorus against the SAT essay, intimating that since the College Board readers favor the style of the five-paragraph essay, high schoolers are going to have to learn to write fiveparagraph essays for the test and for few other good reasons. He claimed that most college professors want to "deprogram" the five-paragraph essay out of students. This is a myth. In fact, many professors would like nothing more than to help students build on this foundational form. As a professor of first-year composition, I would be thrilled if, every September, more students could put their ideas together in the coherent fashion demanded by this underappreciated form because, almost without exception, students who know the five-paragraph essay intimately are more prepared to take on the challenge of college-level writing. The tragedy happens when students can't organize their thoughts at all, and I applaud the efforts of the University of California system (whose complaints about the irrelevance of the old verbal section are behind the new SAT writ-
Using Screening Tests to Predict Aberrant Use of Opioids in Chronic Pain Patients: Caveat Emptor.

Abstract Screening tests represent a critical tool in chronic pain treatment for predicting aberrant opioid use, which has emerged as a significant public health issue. Nevertheless, there remains a significant potential for the misapplication of screeners in this context. The potential difficulties in evaluating the diagnostic efficiency of screeners have been well established, particularly with regard to the effect that the prevalence of a disorder has on predictive value. The wide range in the reported prevalence of aberrant opioid use behaviors makes it difficult to interpret data obtained from popular screeners for assessing the potential for the aberrant use of opioids. Given the prevalence of opioid problems, however, formulating clear clinical guidelines on such screeners appears highly important. The aims of the present report include: 1) providing a review of the salient issues necessary for interpreting diagnostic efficiency statistics of screening tests, 2) identifying the critical differences between sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value, and 3) discussing the characteristic effects that disease prevalence has on statistical prediction. The article also reviews key processes in screening measure development and highlights several key considerations relevant to their appropriate use in clinical decision-making. Perspective This article highlights common metrics for evaluating the clinical utility of screening tests in predicting aberrant opioid use. In addition, it explores a series of considerations key to developing clinical guidelines for interpreting the results of screeners in this context.
Insect Resistance in Vegetable and Tofu Soybeans

Ten tofu and 14 green-vegetable soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merrill, genotypes were evaluated over 3 yrs for resistance to defoliation by the corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), and seed damage by a hemipteran complex. Petri-dish assays were used to determine foliar antibiosis to corn earworm. Larvae were weighed after feeding for 10 d on excised soybean leaves. Hemipteran damage was determined at harvest by individually rating 300 randomly sampled seeds from each subplot for severity of damage and calculating a weighted damage index. The specialty soybeans most resistant to corn earworm defoliation were Tousan 122, Guanyun da hei dun, and Enrei; whereas, those with the least seed damage were Barc-8 and Houjaku. There was no significant (F = 1.193; df = 1,300; P < 0.276) correlation of larval weight with seed damage index. It is likely that different mechanisms are responsible for seed and foliage resistance. There was a small but significant correlation (F = 40; df = 1,300); P < 0.001, R2 = 0.12) of se...
On Solving the Fundamental Control Problem in the Presence of Uncertainty: A Mathematical Programming Approach

The use of linear step response models and quadratic objectives for the Fundamental Control Problem provides a ready extension to questions of uncertainty in assessing the performance of a controller. In designing a controller under the presence of uncertainty one is especially interested in the “worst case” performance of the controller, both in terms of the performance criterion as well as the control trajectory.
On Reading Practices: Where Pragmatism and Queer Meet

In this chapter, Greteman seriously considers the work of reading. While reading is often taken for granted, this chapter argues that how and what we read matter in the work of becoming queer. In becoming queer, the task of reading is centralized. Greteman comments on reading as it is informed by pragmatism—a form of reading that looks forward to conceivable consequences—and Eve Sedgwick’s work on reparative reading. Drawn together, these two approaches provide a foundation for the remaining chapters of the book and lessons in understanding the art of queer reading.
Intergenerational Ministry: A Review of Selected Publications since 2001:

This review highlights ten publications that focus on intergenerational ministry which have been published in the last decade. Books from North American and British authors from a variety of Christ...
Statistical Aspects of Analytical Determinations

The detection and correction of sources of error in analytical procedures is a major concern of analytical chemists. The efficiency of the search for the sources of analytical errors can be increased by scheduling the order of making the determinations so that the determinations fall into rational groupings. Two new types of groupings are presented. These groupings have features that are expected to make them more useful to investigators than groupings previously available.
Involute (Rosette) Bodies

Involute construction is a popular approach that has been used for the past twenty years in the rocket motor industry for the fabrication of exit cones and other bodies of revolution by lamination of composite layers along curved trajectories, called involute surfaces. The approach was initially developed for use in ablative plastic liners where structural capability was only a minor issue. Consequently, no disciplined efforts were undertaken to examine the relationship between the mechanical response and the known properties of the basic composite material. In the 1970’s however, involute construction became predominant in the fabrication of carbon-carbon structural bodies so that mechanical response characteristics assumed critical importance.
Compiler-Driven Dependence Profiling to Guide Program Parallelization

As hardware systems move toward multicore and multithreaded architectures, programmers increasingly rely on automated tools to help with both the parallelization of legacy codes and effective exploitation of all available hardware resources. Thread-level speculation (TLS) has been proposed as a technique to parallelize the execution of serial codes or serial sections of parallel codes. One of the key aspects of TLS is task selection for speculative execution. In this paper we propose a cost model for compiler-driven task selection for TLS. The model employs profile-based analysis of may -dependences to estimate the probability of successful speculation. We discuss two techniques to eliminate potential inter-task dependences, thereby improving the rate of successful speculation. We also present a profiling tool, DProf, that is used to provide run-time information about may -dependences to the compiler and map dynamic dependences to the source code. This information is also made available to the programmer to assist in code rewriting and/or algorithm redesign. We used DProf to quantify the potential of this approach and we present results on selected applications from the SPEC CPU2006 and SEQUOIA benchmarks.
Abstract 3236: Lung epithelium DNA methylation: Electronic cigarette users, smokers, and never-smokers

Background: The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) among smokers and never-smokers is increasing, and is considered to be less harmful than cigarettes. However, this has not been studied in target organs for smoking-related diseases, especially the lung. Altered DNA methylation is seen in smokers and contributes to lung carcinogenesis. However, it is not known how e-cigs affect methylation in the lung or whether smoking-induced DNA methylation changes can be reversed in former smokers who switch to e-cigs. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional bronchoscopy study of e-cig users (n=12), cigarette smokers (n=10), and never-smokers (n=10) (age 21-30, 84% European-American, 66% male). Bisulfite-converted DNA extracted from lung epithelium collected by bronchial brushing was analyzed for 865,859 CpGs with the llumina Infinium Methylation EPIC Chip in a single batch. Probes were filtered out if on sex chromosomes, cross-reactive, or SNP associated, leaving 735,317 CpGs for analysis. One-way analysis of covariance using M-values was used to identify CpGs differentially methylated for the three groups. False Discovery Rate (FDR) of q Results: Smokers averaged 18 cigarettes/day (SD: 4.2) and 6 years of smoking (SD: 4.5). E-cig users vaped an average e-liquid nicotine content of 10 mg/mL (SD: 11) and 8 mL/day (SD: 4), for an average of three years (SD: 1). Mean time since smoking among the e-cig users was 31 months (SD: 15); 3 were never-smokers. We identified 517 differentially methylated CpGs among the three groups (FDR q Discussion: DNA methylation differed for never-smokers and smokers, with e-cig users9 methylation intermediate, consistent with the hypothesis that e-cigs are less harmful than smoking; whether e-cig use is more harmful than never-smoking needs to be studied. Because this study is cross-sectional, association, and not causation, is indicated. Additional observational studies and randomized trials are warranted to understand biologic changes in the lung for smokers and never-smokers using e-cigs. Citation Format: Min-Ae Song, Dominic J. Smiraglia, Theodore M. Brasky, Daniel Y. Weng, Joseph P. McElroy, Sarah A. Reisinger, Kevin L. Ying, Quentin A. Nickerson, Mark D. Wewers, Peter G. Shields, Jo L. Freudenheim. Lung epithelium DNA methylation: Electronic cigarette users, smokers, and never-smokers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3236.
Effects of exercise on cancer-related fatigue and muscular strength in patients with breast cancer.

11507Background: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a persistent daily lack of energy commonly experienced by breast cancer (BC) patients. Due to CRF, BC patients have difficulties carrying out daily ...
Arginine Therapy Decreases Oxidative Stress and Attenuates Leukocyte Recruitment in Transgenic and Knockout Sickle Mice Resulting in Improved Microvascular Flow and Reduced Vaso-Occlusion.

In sickle cell disease (SCD), increased oxidant generation and cell-free plasma hemoglobin may result in destruction of nitric oxide (NO) (Reiter et al 2002; Kaul et al. 2004). The reduced NO bioavailability may contribute to increased expression of endothelial adhesion molecules (Gladwin et al. 2003), resulting in enhanced leukocyte recruitment in the microcirculation. Accumulating evidence shows that arginine levels in sickle cell disease and transgenic mouse models are depleted (Morris et al. 2000; Romero et al. 2002). However, no direct evaluation of the effect of arginine therapy on oxidative stress and microvascular flow has been carried out in SCD. We hypothesize that the reduced NO bioavailability in SCD will result in increased oxidative stress, enhanced leukocyte recruitment and increased likelihood of vaso-occlusion, and that arginine supplementation will tend to ameliorate this condition. To this end, we have measured lipid peroxidation (LPO), endothelial oxidant generation, microvascular flow dynamics, leukocyte adhesion and vaso-occlusive episodes in transgenic (NY1DD) and knockout (BERK) sickle mice with and without arginine supplementation. In our studies, measurements of lipid peroxidation (TBARS method) revealed that the muscle tissue LPO in BERK mice was almost 6-fold elevated as compared with C57BL/6J controls and 2.3-fold as compared with NY1DD mice (p 2 , followed by 2 hr of reoxygenation) and examined the cremaster muscle microcirculation. H/R caused ~25% decline in wall shear rates in control and NY1DD mice. In contrast, arginine supplementation in NY1DD mice resulted in a marked 2.8-fold increase in wall shear rates after H/R, while controls showed 1.5-fold increase under similar conditions. We did not subject the severe BERK model to H/R because of their low tolerance and high mortality to hypoxia. Arginine treatment in normoxic BERK mice caused a 2-fold increase in wall shear rates. In NY1DD mice, H/R caused almost 3-fold increase in leukocyte adhesion in cremasteric venules as compared with control C57 mice subjected to H/R (p
Implementation of a patient-specific cardiac model

Abstract This chapter describes a possible implementation of a comprehensive model of heart function. The presentation follows the same organization of the previous chapter. We first illustrate how the anatomical model can be build starting from medical images, and enriched with semantic information based on shape analysis. We then discuss efficient computational techniques for the electrophysiology model, based on Lattice–Boltzmann method for the approximation of the monodomain problem and on a graph-based solution of the Eikonal equation. The computation of surface electrical potential and ECG signals on the torso is also addressed, in particular based on the boundary element method. For the solution of the electromechanics problem we consider an efficient GPU-based implementation of the TLED method, discussing how to couple the biomechanics solver with the electrophysiology solver through the active force term, computed as a function of the electrical potential. Heart function depends critically on the interaction between heart tissue and blood: we dedicate specific attention to the implementation of boundary conditions for the electromechanics problem, including the coupling with models of the valves, pericardium bag and circulatory system. Finally, a section is devoted to computational models for hemodynamics, focusing in particular on techniques to solve the coupled fluid-structure interaction problem in the cardiac chambers.
Mast cell activation in the context of elevated basal serum tryptase: genetics and presentations

To describe inherited and acquired genetic variants and clinical entities associated with increased basal serum tryptase (BST), distinguish these levels from those which acutely rise due to mast cell activation, and finally to characterize the association between chronically elevated basal serum tryptase and episodic mast cell activation. Hereditary alpha-tryptasemia is a commonly inherited genetic cause for basally elevated serum tryptase and explains elevated BST in many individuals who do not have evidence of clonal myeloid or mast cell disease. When clonal myeloid disease is present, BST may be elevated and can be a biomarker of a number of disparate disorders of the myeloid compartment. Elevated BST is most commonly caused by hereditary alpha tryptasemia but may also be indicative of clonal myeloid disease. Clinical reports suggest that elevated BST is associated with increased risk for more severe systemic allergic reactions to a number of eliciting agents and exposures. Additional studies are needed to determine the role that inherited or acquired genetic variants associated with elevated BST and clonal or non-clonal myeloid diseases may play in these reactions.
Photodynamic Therapy for the Treatment of Basal Cell Carcinoma

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 2018 Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for basal cell carcinoma (BCC) identifies risks factors for recurrence of BCCs and classifies tumors as high, medium, or low risk based on tumor characteristics such as location, histologic subtype, size, and prior treatment (see section “Introduction” in Chap. 4). Based on the NCCN recommendations, superficial therapies such as topical therapies, cryotherapy (CT), and photodynamic therapy (PDT) should be considered in low-risk, superficial BCCs in patients where surgical therapy (ST) and radiotherapy (RT) are contraindicated or impractical. In this chapter, PDT will be discussed as a nonsurgical treatment option for BCC. Additional nonsurgical treatment options including topical therapies, CT, electrodesiccation and curettage (ED&C), laser therapy (LT), RT, intralesional therapy, and systemic therapy such as targeted therapy and immunotherapy will be discussed in other chapters (see Chaps. 4, 6, 12, 10, 5, 13, and 14).
Coupling between lipid miscibility and phosphotyrosine driven protein condensation at the membrane

Abstract Lipid miscibility phase separation has long been considered to be a central element of cell membrane organization. More recently, protein condensation phase transitions, into three-dimensional droplets or in two-dimensional lattices on membrane surfaces, have emerged as another important organizational principle within cells. Here, we reconstitute the LAT:Grb2:SOS protein condensation on the surface of giant unilamellar vesicles capable of undergoing lipid phase separations. Our results indicate that assembly of the protein condensate on the membrane surface can drive lipid phase separation. This phase transition occurs isothermally and is governed by tyrosine phosphorylation on LAT. Furthermore, we observe that the induced lipid phase separation drives localization of the SOS substrate, K-Ras, into the LAT:Grb2:SOS protein condensate. Statement of Significance Protein condensation phase transitions are emerging as an important organizing principles in cells. One such condensate plays a key role in T cell receptor signaling. Immediately after receptor activation, multivalent phosphorylation of the adaptor protein LAT at the plasma membrane leads to networked assembly of a number of signaling proteins into a two-dimensional condensate on the membrane surface. In this study, we demonstrate that LAT condensates in reconstituted vesicles are sufficient to drive lipid phase separation. This lipid reorganization drives another key downstream signaling molecule, Ras, into the LAT condensates. These results show that the LAT condensation phase transition, which is actively controlled by phosphorylation reactions, extends its influence to control lipid phase separation in the underlying membrane.
How Self-Employed Older Adults Differ by Age: Evidence and Implications From the Health and Retirement Study.

Background and objectives There has been increased attention in recent years on self-employment in later life, with about one in five workers past of the age of 50 working for themselves. This study aims to build upon previous documentation of the characteristics of self-employed older adults by estimating how these characteristics vary by age. Research design and methods Using seven waves of the Health and Retirement Study with a sample of more than 12,000 working older adults, this study considers how the association between self-employment and sociodemographic characteristics; indicators of human, social, and financial capital; and risk tolerance differ between adults aged 50 to 61 and 62 years and older. Binary logistic regression and seemingly unrelated estimation are used to estimate and compare the characteristics by age group. Results Compared to wage-and-salary work and controlling for all other factors in the models, the oldest self-employed group was more likely to identify as Black, report lower health, and receive health insurance from several sources than the younger group. Further, the older group reported lower individual earnings from work yet higher total household income (less individual earnings) and was also less likely to formally volunteer at the highest commitment levels. Discussion and implications With some exceptions, these results indicate that the diversity of self-employed older adults within traditional retirement age is greater than among those before this age. Implications regarding how access to key safety net programs, such as Social Security retirement benefits and Medicare, may lead to this finding are discussed.
Developing Data-Driven Approaches for Traffic Density Estimation Using Connected Vehicle Data

This paper introduces novel approaches for the estimation of the traffic stream density. First, an artificial neural network (ANN) data-driven approach is developed to estimate the level of market penetration (LMP) of connected vehicles at two fixed locations. Then, the estimated values are used as inputs to a Kalman filter (KF) approach to estimate the vehicle count between these two locations. Second, three data-driven approaches are developed to directly estimate the vehicle count using only connected vehicle data, an ANN, a k-nearest neighbor (k-NN), and a random forest (RF). A congested signalized roadway in downtown Blacksburg, Virginia, is used to test and compare the performance of the estimation approaches. Results demonstrate that the ANN approach produces reasonable errors in estimating the LMPs; however, integrating the ANN with the KF results in larger errors than the errors produced from using the KF with a predefined fixed average value obtained from historical data. The results also demonstrate that the data-driven approaches provide accurate vehicle count estimates, with the ANN being the most accurate of the three approaches. Lastly, the paper compares the three developed data-driven approaches with model-driven approaches (i.e., KF), showing that the ANN outperforms all other approaches. However, taking into consideration that the difference is not large, the computational time needed to train the ANN, the large amount of data needed, and the uncertainty in the performance when new traffic behaviors are observed (e.g., incidents), the use of the KF approach is recommended in the estimation of traffic stream density due to its simplicity and applicability in the field.
Getting to the source: how inmates and other staff contribute to correctional officer stress

The purpose of this study was to determine whether inmate-related stressors and lack of support from other staff correlated with concurrent physical and psychological symptoms of dysphoria in a lar...
Die Struktur von Raum und Zeit

Einsteins Spezielle Relativitatstheorie war ein groser Durchbruch fur unser Verstandnis der physikalischen Welt, aber sie stellte ein Problem dar: Sie war mit dem Newton’schen Gravitationsgesetz unvereinbar. Newton selbst und etwa zehn Generationen von Physikern und Astronomen, die nach ihm folgten, verwendeten dieses Gesetz, um die Bewegung der Planeten mit bemerkenswerter Genauigkeit zu beschreiben. Zugegeben, es gab eine winzige Diskrepanz in der berechneten Prazessionsrate der Merkur-Umlaufbahn, aber sie schien keinen Anlass zur Sorge zu geben. Schlieslich stimmen Theorien selten mit allen Daten zu einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt uberein. Einige der Daten konnen einfach falsch sein, und einige Diskrepanzen werden spater mit einer sorgfaltigeren theoretischen Analyse wegerklart. So erschien Newtons Theorie felsenfest. Sie passte jedoch nicht in den Rahmen der Speziellen Relativitatstheorie.
Resource Allocation in Annual Plants

Abstract The fitness of an annual plant can be thought of as how much fruit is produced by the end of its growing season. Under the assumption that annual plants grow to maximize fitness, we can use techniques from optimal control theory to understand this process. We introduce a model for resource allocation in annual plants which extends classical work by Iwasa and Roughgarden to a case where both carbohydrates and mineral nutrients are allocated to shoots, roots, and fruits in annual plants. We use optimal control theory to determine the optimal resource allocation strategy for the plant throughout its growing season as well as develop a numerical scheme to implement the model in MATLAB. Our results suggest that what is optimal for an individual plant is highly dependent on initial conditions, and optimal growth has the effect of driving a wide range of initial conditions toward common configurations of biomass by the end of a growing season.
Prospects for a Prigogine alliance between economics and engineering

Epistemological advocates of transdisciplinarity have done a poor job of defining its distinction from interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity, cross-disciplinarity, and other such related concepts; and of constructing a clear path to implementation of their preferred approach. Historical examples of cross-fertilization between economics and engineering have shown demonstrable promise, but the supposed advantages of a transdisciplinary approach to economics and engineering designed to combat the increased technological complexity of artificial intelligence remain speculative.
The Lewis Smith Rockfill Dam

The design and construction of a 300-ft high sloping-core rockfill dam is described. The bulk of the rock in the dam was placed in 18-in. lifts, sluiced lightly and compacted with four coverages of a 50-ton rubber-tired roller. The high density obtained by this method of construction has resulted in extremely low settlements. To date (1965) the settlement has only totaled 0.4 ft under the 300-ft maximum section. This is 0.14% of the height. Methods of producing and handling finer sized quarry rock suitable for roller compaction are examined. By efficient quarrying methods, the contractor was able to place the rolled rock in the embankment for $0.62 per cu yd. This compares with $0.65 per cu yd cost for the conventionally dumped and sluiced big rock in the outer shell of the embankment.
The Relationship Between Addictions and Bariatric Surgery for Nurses in Recovery

PURPOSE: Determinants of morbid obesity are complex and numerous, yet understanding the neurobiological underpinnings improves our knowledge of this serious issue. Emerging science supports a comparison of disordered eating with other addictive substances. DESIGN AND METHODS: The study used a sub-analysis of a cross-sectional study of nurses in a state-monitoring program. FINDINGS: A study of 173 participants in a state-monitoring program for impaired nurses revealed that 14% (n= 25) had undergone bariatric surgery. Of these, 17 developed an addiction after surgery. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Evidence suggests that some individuals may require additional treatment, similar to those with pharmacological addictions.
Methane transport through submarine groundwater discharge to the North Pacific and Arctic Ocean at two Alaskan sites

Here, we quantify the flux of methane to the coastal Arctic and North Pacific Oceans via submarine groundwater discharge (SGD), by use of naturally occurring radium isotopes as groundwater tracers, combined with methane concentration measurements of coastal groundwater. Our findings indicate the flux of methane through this process is much greater in the coastal North Pacific (35 6 27 mg m 21 d 21 ) than the Arctic Ocean (4.1 6 0.6 to 11.8 6 3.9 mg m 21 d 21 ). The dominant controls on methane flux through SGD were not methane concentrations in the aquifer but rather the hydrologic characteristics of each site that mitigated or intensified the SGD water volume flux (120 6 50 m 3 m 21 d 21 in the North Pacific compared to 12 6 4m 3 m 21 d 21 in the Arctic). Tidal pumping was observed to be an especially important control on SGD flux at the North Pacific site.
In Vivo Treg Suppression Assays

Determining the activity of a regulatory T-cell population in vitro is often the first step in analyzing its function. To obtain reliable and reproducible results, it is critical to follow the protocol that is most applicable to your experimental question. We have outlined below a basic in vitro suppression assay as well as a variety of alternative/additional protocols that can be utilized alone or in combination as desired.
Teaching German declension as meaning: a concept-based approach

In this paper, we explore the results of a short-term concept-based pedagogical intervention on the learning of declension as a meaning-making resource among US university learners of German. The pedagogical approached derived its principles from Vygotskian sociocultural psychology, namely the role of explicit, scientific (i.e., abstract and holistic) concepts in promoting development. The pedagogical approach centered on the teaching of the concept of focus, which was supported with lessons on word movement and its functions in German in comparison to English, as well as the role of morphology (i.e., declension) in assigning roles to determiner phrases in German. Results show that students made significant gains in their ability to interpret the roles of determiner phrases in German sentences by attending to morphology, and they began to attempt to mark determiner phrases at a significantly higher rate following the intervention in a writing task. We discuss the results in relation to pedagogical and the...
A TEST OF ASSET FIXITY IN SOUTHEASTERN U.S. AGRICULTURE

A test for static equilibrium developed by Schankerman and Nadiri is used to evaluate the hypothesis that land and capital in aggregate south-eastern U.S. agriculture behave as fixed inputs. Empirical results reject the hypothesis that these two inputs are at their long-run equilibrium levels implied by observed prices. Thus, some degree of asset fixity may be concluded.
Room temperature deposition of gold onto the diffuse and sharp diffraction spot Si(111)-(3 × 3)R30° Au surfaces

Abstract Room temperature gold depositions onto Si (111)-( 3 × 3 ) R 30° Au surfaces with diffuse and sharp diffraction spots [Surf. Sci. 242 (1991) 73] (diffuse and sharp 3 × 3 Au hereafter) under UHV conditions has been monitored using transmission electron diffraction (TED). Both systems display an increase in surface structure diffraction spot intensities up to the completion of 1.0 monolayer (ML) after which the surface beams display an exponential decrease in intensity with coverage. The exponential decay rate decreases after roughly 1.33 ML. These results can be attributed to gold initially diffusing to and filling 3 × 3 Au gold trimer sites in vacancy type surface domain walls [Surf. Sci. 342 (1995) 233], then filling one of three possible sites on the 3 × 3 Au structure with essentially no surface diffusion, disrupting nearby gold trimers. Gold deposition onto the diffuse type structure caused the formation and expansion of satellite arcs around the strongest 3 × 3 beams similar to those seen by others [Surf. Sci. 242 (1991) 73; Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 16 (1977) 891; J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 10 (1992) 3486] at elevated temperatures while the sharp structure displayed only a modest shoulder formation near the strongest 3 × 3 beams.
Vacuum Bubble Instantons

In these remarks, we discuss the existence of certain instanton solutions occurring in both non-gauge and gauge field theories. They are not associated with the mapping of a non-Abelian gauge group on S3, have no conserved topological charge and are hence unstable. They provide probably the principal decay mechanism of an unstable vacuum and standard instanton methods2–4 can be exploited to estimate such a vacuum decay lifetime.
Why Does Teacher-Led Small Group Literacy Instruction Matter?

Why does teacher-led small group literacy instruction matter? Elementary reading teachers can use teacher-led small group literacy instruction to assist students. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine why teacher-led small group literacy instruction matters. Data were collected from 5 elementary teachers. Findings revealed that teacher-led small group literacy instruction can improve students’ reading fluency.