cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dollar Hegemony, Financialization, and the Credit Crisis

Countercyclical private capital flows to emerging markets have acted as a safety valve mechanism preserving the international role of the dollar and at the same time exporting fragility to the periphery. The revival of flows to the developing countries since 2002 has been different in that inflows to the United States have also been increasing. This suggests the emergence of a pattern of recycling that draws from the surplus countries in the periphery and channels these capital flows increasingly towards U.S. markets. The exploding of the bubble with the collapse of the subprime mortgage market is in that sense a result of the same recycling mechanisms that led to the debt crisis in the eighties and the Tequila and Asian crises in the nineties.
The Dubious Spectacle: Extremities of Theater, 1976–2000. By Herbert Blau. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 2002; pp. 328. $49.95 cloth; $19.95 paper.

Herb Blau, reportedly, is writing a memoir. Surely, however, all his books are memoirs—memoirs of “blooded thought,” to use the phrase he has coined for the embodied, materialized process of thinking/experiencing he most prizes in the theatre. Or perhaps I should say “of” the theatre, since he has shown us for fifty years how both making theatre and theorizing theatre can be combined: how they mutually imply each other, neither one much good without the insights provided by the other—which is not to malign either alone, except when one ignores or denigrates the value of the other, as some theorists and practitioners have often been inclined to do. In The Dubious Spectacle , Blau has collected essays and lectures spanning over twenty-five years. They chart the intellectual and artistic preoccupations that he followed, but they also offer a variant of cultural history of a period in American theatre that reaches back into the 1950s and forward toward an “impossible” future (another of his signature terms).
Cardiac motion analysis to improve pacing site selection in CRT.

Rationale and Objectives The aim of the study is to build cardiac wall motion models to characterize mechanical dyssynchrony and predict pacing sites for the left ventricle of the heart in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Materials and Methods Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging data from 20 patients are used, in which half have heart failure problems. We propose two spatio-temporal ventricular motion models to analyze the mechanical dyssynchrony of heart: radial motion series and wall motion series (a time series of radial length or wall thickness change). The hierarchical agglomerative clustering technique is applied to the motion series to find candidate pacing sites. All experiments are performed separately on each ventricular motion model to facilitate performance comparison among models. Results The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed methods perform as well as we expect. Our techniques not only effectively generate the candidate pacing sites list that can help guide CRT, but also derive clustering results that can distinguish the heart conditions between patients and normals perfectly to help medical diagnosis and prognosis. After comparing the results between two different ventricular motion models, the wall motion series model shows a better performance. Conclusion In a traditional CRT device deployment, pacing sites are selected without efficient prediction, which runs the risk of suboptimal benefits. Our techniques can extract useful wall motion information from ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony and identify the candidate pacing sites with maximum contraction delay to assist pacemaker implantation in CRT.
Isolation and characterization of a cholesterol crystallization promoter from human bile.

Abstract Background: Recent studies on the pathogenesis of cholesterol gallstone disease have focused on the potential importance of an imbalance between biliary proteins having either inhibitory or promoting activities on nucleation and/or growth of cholesterol crystals as the initial stage in stone formation. The current study describes the purification and partial characterization of a 42-kilodalton biliary glycoprotein that shows concentration-dependent cholesterol crystallization-promoting activity. Methods: Chromatographie methods were used for separation and purification. Characterization steps included electrophoresis, deglycosylation, amino acid and carbohydrate analysis, and activity analysis by crystal growth assay. Results: The 42-kilodalton purified glycoprotein is an extensively glycosylated (37%) monomer with an acidic isoelectric point (pl N -deglycosylation removes the carbohydrate moiety and inactivates the promoting activity. Furthermore, enzymatic proteolysis results in both its complete structural degradation and functional inactivation. Although the glycoprotein was isolated from normal human gallbladder biles, its presence in gallstone-associated samples is clearly shown. Conclusions: This report outlines biochemical features of a human biliary glycoprotein that may be of major pathophysiological significance in gallstone disease.
Age-associated Inflammatory Changes: Role of Nutritional Intervention

Accumulating evidence suggests that aging is associated with dysregulated immune and inflammatory responses. Investigation into the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon suggests that an up-regulated cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 expression, and resulting increase in production of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), is a critical factor. Macrophages from old mice have significantly higher levels of PGE2 production compared with those from young mice, a result of increased COX-2 expression and protein levels leading to increased COX enzyme activity. Further, it is possible that the age-associated increase in macro-phage PGE2 production is due to ceramide-induced up-regulation of nuclear factor-kappa B activation. Such processes may also occur in cell types other than macrophages, lending further insight into potential mechanisms of age-related disease. More research is necessary to determine the efficacy of nutrient/dietary modifications, such as antioxidants and lipids, for reducing the age-related increase in COX activity and PGE2 production that are associated with several disease states.
COLLAGEN-INDUCED PLATELET AGGREGATION AND RELEASE REACTION: ROLE OF RAS PROTEIN

The relationship between the platelet collagen receptor and ras protein was examined by immunoprecipitation of control and collagen stimulated platelets with both antibodies. Both ras protein and receptor are coprecipitated by both antibodies. The coprecipitated samples contained GTP and GDP which were separated by thin layer chromatography. The effect of guanine nucleotide binding protein (G-protein, 21ras) on platelet aggregation was examined by using a guanine triphosphate analogue (GTP-γ-S). Results of streptolysin O permeabilized experiments show that the addition of the analogue to permeabilized platelet-rich plasma causes platelet aggregation and release of ATP in a dose-dependent fashion. The aggregation induced by GTP-γ-S could not be obtained with GDP, GDP-β-S, or 5′-GMP, suggesting that the effect of GTP-γ-S is specific. The platelet aggregation induced by the analogue was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) but not apyrase. GTP-γ-S induced thromboxane B2 formation was also decreased by PMSF. Formation of thromboxane B2 was also blocked by the addition of PMSF and ethanol suggesting that GTP-γ-S increases arachidonic acid release from permeabilized platelets. These results suggest that both GTP-γ-S and GTP enhance phospholipase A2 activity which releases arachidonic acid in permeabilized platelets and subsequently causes platelets to aggregate Published by Elsevier Science Ltd
Point: developing a curriculum in clinical pathology.

Developing a comprehensive and robust curriculum for residency programs in clinical pathology (CP; 1 also known as laboratory medicine) has been a goal for residency program directors for many years. Although there are many excellent training programs in CP, it is well recognized by faculty and residents that CP training is usually the weakest area of most combined training programs. The proposal by Smith and colleagues on behalf of the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists (ACLPS) addresses some of the major reforms needed to upgrade training in Clinical Pathology (1). Although this proposal attempts to be an all-encompassing roadmap to train clinical pathologists in the 21st century, many issues are still apparent that we would like to address here. The ACLPS proposal is an extensive and detailed document. It is not practical to address the fine details of the proposal; rather, we would like to discuss several issues at the mile-high level. First, what defines a clinical pathologist? The answer to this question provides the foundation for defining residency training goals. Second, what, at a minimum, should be included in the CP residency curriculum? Finally, how should knowledge and technical competence be evaluated as part of a CP residency? One can argue whether clinical pathologists are “clinicians, first and foremost” as promoted by the ACLPS proposal. Clearly, one major role for the clinical pathologist is to serve as a consultant to physicians and other healthcare providers in other medical specialties. Of course, a clinical pathologist should have considerable knowledge of medicine, but in our view, the primary expertise and focus of CP residency training should be on clinical laboratory testing and its integration into the practice of medicine. Clinical pathologists can have direct patient interactions in some …
Control of Terrestrial Stabilization on Late Devonian Palustrine Carbonate Deposition: Catskill Magnafacies, New York, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT Upper Devonian (Frasnian) terrestrial strata of south-central New York contain palustrine and lacustrine carbonate deposited within the well-developed Catskill clastic wedge succession. These nonmarine limestone beds (8-50 cm thick) were repeatedly subaerially exposed and subjected to pedogenic processes. Palustrine features include subaerial exposure surfaces with soil crusts, pseudo-microkarst and microkarst, brecciation, desiccation cracks, horizontal, planar, and circumgranular cracks, and rhizoliths. Lacustrine carbonate sedimentation was derived primarily from biogenically induced precipitation and from degradation of calcified charophyte stems and ostracodes. These deposits accumulated in relatively shallow water depths, probably < 10 m. The results of stable isotope analyses (13C = -4.0 to -4.7o/oo PDB; 18O from -6.8 to -8.7o/oo PDB) reveal covariance between 13C and 18O values. The high degree of covariance (r = 0.75) suggests that these Late Devonian carbonate lakes were hydrologically closed; high rates of surface-water productivity resulted in the heavier 13C values. Late Devonian carbonate lakes developed as a result of landscape stabilization by the developing rhizosphere. In addition, plants of small to moderate stature functioned as clastic filters, trapped terrigenous clastic sediment along lake margins, and thereby permitted carbonate sedimentation to occur in a system otherwise dominated by terrigenous clastics. These Upper Devonian lacustrine deposits contain the oldest recognized occurrence of "palustrine" facies. The temporal distribution of palustrine carbonate deposits therefore appears limited to post-Silurian strata.
Public-Key Locally-Decodable Codes

In this paper we introduce the notion of a Public-Key Encryption Scheme that is also a Locally-Decodable Error-Correcting Code (PKLDC). In particular, we allow any polynomial-time adversary to read the entire ciphertext, and corrupt a constant fraction of the bits of the entireciphertext. Nevertheless, the decoding algorithm can recover any bit of the plaintext with all but negligible probability by reading only a sublinear number of bits of the (corrupted) ciphertext. We give a general construction of a PKLDC from any Semantically-Secure Public Key Encryption (SS-PKE) and any Private Information Retrieval (PIR) protocol. Since Homomorphic encryption implies PIR, we also show a reduction from any Homomorphic encryption protocol to PKLDC. Applying our construction to the best known PIR protocol (that of Gentry and Ramzan), we obtain a PKLDC, which for messages of size nand security parameter kachieves ciphertexts of size $\mathcal{O}(n)$, public key of size $\mathcal{O}(n+k)$, and locality of size $\mathcal{O}(k^2)$. This means that for messages of length n= i¾?(k2 + i¾?), we can decode a bit of the plaintext from a corrupted ciphertext while doing computation sublinear in n.
Latent cytomegalovirus infection exacerbates experimental colitis.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) severity is positively correlated with cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. This may reflect CMV triggering and/or exacerbating flares of IBD and/or IBD or immunosuppressive drugs administered to patients with IBD increasing susceptibility to CMV infection. Herein, we performed studies in mice to investigate these possibilities. Mice administered murine CMV (MCMV) developed signs of acute viral infection (malaise and weight loss) and had MCMV loads that were readily detected in numerous organs including the intestine. By 4 weeks, these mice manifested a “latent” infection in which MCMV levels were low but detectable by PCR. Such MCMV infection did not induce acute colitis in either wild-type mice or IL-10−/− mice, which are highly prone to developing colitis. However, underlying MCMV infection in an acute or latent state exacerbated the severity of colitis induced by dextran sodium sulfate (DSS). Such potentiation of DSS colitis by latent MCMV infection seemed to occur without viral reactivation. Whereas initial MCMV infection induced acute alterations in serum and intestinal cytokines, such cytokine levels returned to baseline before administration of DSS. However, the initial infection resulted in lasting elevation of antibodies to commensal bacterial antigens, suggesting that MCMV infection may have potentiated colitis via priming of the intestinal immune response to gut microbiota. Thus, underlying CMV infection can alter mucosal immunity, potentially increasing the tendency of CMV-infected hosts to develop colitis.
Observation of suppressed Auger mechanism in type-I quantum well structures with delocalized electron-hole wavefunctions

We report the first observation of non-threshold Auger mechanism for a quantum well structure with Type-I band alignment. Excitation-dependent photoluminescence measurements were used to extract the Auger recombination coefficients from 77 K up to room temperature. The results verify the role of interface mediated momentum exchange as well as suppression of Auger recombination for delocalized electron-hole wavefunctions.
ITCH: Individual Testing of Computer Homework for Scratch Assignments

In this paper, we describe ITCH, an automatic testing system for projects in the Scratch programming language. While Scratch lacks traditional input/output mechanisms, ITCH overcomes this by exploiting the persistent saved project state to embed ITCH-specific lists that retain project output. In addition, the ITCH system replaces Scratch user input commands with automatically assigned test values. ITCH can gather variable state from running code, redirect output to a file, and capture drawings done by a Scratch project to save in a report format. The ITCH system has been successfully used in a large computer science explorations class where small practice code questions are assigned before extending work to larger, more creative projects without further burdening course graders. Examples of course projects and the ITCH-tested practice questions are given.
Scalability of optical circuit switches using 2×2 Mach-Zehnder switches as a building block

Crosstalk may limit the Mach-Zehnder switch's scalability and bandwidth, particularly when used in low-margin links. We show that crosstalk better than −35dB, control of noise contributors and larger power budget may be required.
The Best Way Out is Always Through: Changing the Employment At-Will Default to Protect Personal Autonomy

Employment at-will is the default rule of termination for the vast majority of American employment relationships. The rule creates a presumption — a strong one — that the contract for employment allows either party to terminate the contract at any point in time. Since its inception, this bright line rule has given way to carefully curated exceptions, primarily to protect against discrimination and retaliation. This Article proposes that state courts create a new exception to the at-will rule — or, perhaps more accurately, acknowledge an intricacy within the existing default. The personal-autonomy presumption would modify at-will to make clear that employers will not take any action against an employee based on the employee’s personal autonomy, so long as that autonomy does not interfere with the employer’s business or reputation. Employee personal autonomy would be defined to include political affiliations, religious observance, and recreational activities. The default rule would hold that, as part of the bargain between employer and employee, the employer agrees not to leverage the power that it exercises in the work realm to influence employees improperly in the personal realm. In order to change the default autonomy rule, employers would need to further develop their expectations as to off-duty conduct and communicate those expectations to employees. As a result, the employment contract would provide both employers and employees with a better understanding of performance requirements and of the boundaries of their relationship.
Pervasive Food [Guest editors' introduction]

Pervasive technologies are finding their way into every aspect of our lives, including the production, delivery, preparation, and consumption of food. The articles in this special issue describe technologies and studies that illustrate just how valuable such pervasive systems can be in the domains of agriculture and food. In the future, it is expected that such technologies will significantly impact the way that people interact with their food.
Telemedicine Use in Rural Native American Communities in the Era of the ACA: a Systematic Literature Review

Native American communities face serious health disparities and, living in rural areas, often lack regular access to healthcare services as compared to other Americans. Since the early 1970's, telecommunication technology has been explored as a means to address the cost and quality of, as well as access to, healthcare on rural reservations. This systematic review seeks to explore the use of telemedicine in rural Native American communities using the framework of cost, quality, and access as promulgated by the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and urge additional legislation to increase its use in this vulnerable population. As a systematic literature review, this study analyzes 15 peer-reviewed articles from four databases using the themes of cost, quality, and access. The theme of access was referenced most frequently in the reviewed literature, indicating that access to healthcare may be the biggest obstacle facing widespread adoption of telemedicine programs on rural Native American reservations. The use of telemedicine mitigates the costs of healthcare, which impede access to high-quality care delivery and, in some cases, deters prospective patients from accessing healthcare at all. Telemedicine offers rural Native American communities a means of accessing healthcare without incurring high costs. With attention to reimbursement policies, educational services, technological infrastructure, and culturally competent care, telemedicine has the potential to decrease costs, increase quality, and increase access to healthcare for rural Native American patients. While challenges facing the implementation of telemedicine programs exist, there is great potential for it to improve healthcare delivery in rural Native American communities. Public policy that increases funding for programs that help to expand access to healthcare for Native Americans will improve outcomes because of the increase in access.
From data to processes — Use of modeling and simulation in healthcare

Widespread adoption of HealthIT and eHealth systems has resulted in exponential growth of health related data that can be computationally processed and analyzed. Many healthcare organizations are adopting computational data analysis techniques and integrating results into Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems for improving care delivery. However, data analysis alone cannot give insight into healthcare systems that are rapidly evolving into complex and dynamic system of systems. Every data is produced and/or consumed by an underlying process. Thus, to improve healthcare from the perspective of cost and patient safety, we also need approaches for modeling and analyzing possibly concurrent processes with constraints on resources and exhibiting synchronous and asynchronous interactions. This paper focuses on the use of Colored Petri Nets (CPNs) for healthcare process modeling and analysis.
The comparison of immediate pain when children get Shanghai MMR triple vaccine and MMR-II in Quzhou

Objective:When children of 18-24 months got Shanghai MMR triple vaccine,we wanted to know whether theire pain response was lighter than MMR-Ⅱ.Methods: According to the principle of random and double-blind,the subjects were randomly divided into two groups(Shanghai MMR triple vaccine and MMR-Ⅱ),the pain response of getting Vaccine was evaluated according to VAS and the pain grade form of young Children in Children′s Hospital.Results: This study observed 295 children.The average score of Shanghai MMR triple vaccine was 2.3 according to VAS,while the MMR-Ⅱ group′s score was 5.2(P0.001).Shanghai MMR triple vaccine and the MMR-Ⅱ group got the average score of 1 and 2 respectively,according to the pain grade form of Young Children in Children′s Hospital.Conclusion: When children got Shanghai MMR triple vaccine,theire pain response was lighter than MMR-Ⅱ.
Case report of atypical Still’s disease: a diagnosis of exclusion

Introduction We present an unusual presentation of a 39-year-old man with myalgias and shortness of breath. Chief complaints The patient presented to the emergency department with complaints of myalgias, shortness of breath and palpitations. During this hospitalization, he had multiple episodes of tachycardia and desaturation. The patient had elevated troponins and creatinine kinase. Differential diagnosis included pericarditis, pneumonia and malignancy. Investigations The patient had elevated ferritin and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Outcome The patient had adult Still's disease. Lesson This case shows how the presentation and symptom complex of Still's disease together with the lack of specific serological markers can misguide the diagnosis.
Role of Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1) In Runx1 Mediated Gene Regulation

Abstract 3863 The transcription factor Runx1 is required for the generation of all definitive hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), and for normal megakaryocyte, lymphocyte and granulocyte terminal maturation. Runx1 and its cofactor CBF-β are also the most common targets of chromosomal translocations in human leukemias. Somatic and germline point mutations in Runx1 occur in myelodysplastic syndrome and undifferentiated leukemias, and are associated with a poor prognosis. Despite the key roles that Runx1 plays in normal and malignant hematopoiesis, its transcriptional mechanisms remain incompletely understood. In this study, we purified Runx1 containing multiprotein complexes from megakaryocytic cells and identified several associated chromatin-remodeling complexes, including Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1), NuRD, SWI/SNF and MLL/TrxG. Interactions were validated by independent biochemical assays and demonstrate a direct interaction between Runx1 and the PRC1 component Bmi1. ChIP-seq studies identified a large overlap between Runx1/CBF-β and Ring1b (another PRC1 core component) occupied sites, with 45% of the peaks at these genes Disclosures: Zon:FATE, Inc.: Consultancy, Equity Ownership, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees, Patents & Royalties; Stemgent: Consultancy, Equity Ownership, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees. Cantor:Amgen, Inc: Consultancy.
The Interaction between Transmembrane Domains of Glycoprotein Ibα and Ibβ Is Critical to Efficient Expression and Assembly of the Glycoprotein Ib-IX Complex.

Platelet glycoprotein (GP) Ib-IX-V complex is critically involved in the early steps of platelet adhesion and activation at sites of vessel wall injury. A functional GP Ib-IX complex comprising GP Ibα, GP Ibβ, and GP IX can be expressed in transfected cells, with efficient expression on the cell surface requiring all of its three subunits. As a first step to elucidate the 3-dimensional organizing principle of this receptor complex, we probed the interactions of its transmembrane (TM) domains. Replacement of the TM domains of either GP Ibα or GP Ibβ with poly-Leu or poly-Leu-Ala sequences markedly diminished cell surface expression of the complex, as assessed by flow cytometry and western blotting of transiently transfected CHO cells. Similar replacements of the GP IX TM domain had little effect on complex expression. TM replacements in GP Ibα or GP Ibβ also affected formation of the membrane-proximal inter-subunit disulfide bond between the two subunits. A thiol-disulfide exchange assay with the TM-containing peptides dispersed in dodecylphosphocholine micelles demonstrated a direct and specific interaction between the Ibα and Ibβ TM peptides, as the peptides preferentially formed a disulfide-linked αβ hetero-dimer rather than αα or ββ homo-dimers. Replacement mutations in the Ibα TM peptide abolished formation of the hetero-dimer. Further mutagenesis studies produced several single-site mutations within the TM domains of GP Ibα and GP Ibβ that drastically lowered the level of surface expression of the GP Ib-IX complex. These mutations also disrupted formation of the inter-subunit disulfide bond in the transfected GP Ib-IX complex as well as in the context of isolated TM peptides. These results demonstrate a specific interaction between the TM domains of GP Ibα and GP Ibβ, which can be abolished by whole-domain replacement or site-specific mutations, significantly diminishing assembly and cell-surface expression of the GP Ib-IX complex.
Sensitivity of Campylobacter jejuni to Drying.

Several factors were shown to influence the rate of inactivation of Campylobacter sp. when dried on a glass surface. These included strain, temperature and humidity, and medium used to suspend the organism. Of the strains evaluated, all of three isolates of Campylobacter jejuni exhibited greater tolerance to drying than did a strain of nalidixic acid resistant, thermophilic Campylobacter . Inconsistent results were obtained when organisms were dried and maintained at 25 C. Viable cells from two of four strains having an initial population of >107 were not recovered after 24 h in an anhydrous environment at 25 C. Under comparable conditions, drying C. jejuni FRI-CF8 in the presence of skim milk at 25 C resulted in a >107 log10 reduction of cells within 1 day in one instance; a 5 log10 decline after 7 days in another; and inactivation at an intermediate rate on a third occasion. Rates of death were greatly reduced when cells were dried and held at 4 C. At this temperature and in the presence of skim milk and an anhydrous environment, a 5 log10 reduction of CF8 occurred after 6 weeks. In all instances, greater survival occurred when organisms were dried in the presence of Brucella broth than in skim milk. When held in environments of different relative humidities (RH), survival was greatest in the presence of 14% or less RH. Results suggest that C. jejuni is generally quite sensitive to drying and storage at room temperature, but, at refrigeration temperature and the appropriate humidity, large numbers may survive drying and remain viable for several weeks.
Implications for the North Korean Economy of Moving Toward New Modalities for Northeast Asian Security

The prospect that a Northeast Asian Security Community might provide a stable long-term foundation for peace and prosperity in this critically important region is a goal worth pursuing, despite the formidable obstacles that persist. The epicenter of uncertainty is the DPRK’s problematic political and economic system that in its current form is geared to isolation and confrontation and not regionalism. For the DPRK to become an integral part of any regional security community, transformative change inside the DPRK will be necessary. Since transformative change is already underway – in an unplanned and unregulated process – the stakes are high as to whether this change will evolve in ways that are compatible or antithetical to enhanced regional cooperation. Engagement with the DPRK with an objective of helping to guide the transformations down a path compatible with regional cooperation and mutual benefit with neighboring countries is a policy worth pursuing, regardless of the priority given to the nuclear proliferation issues that have global not just regional significance. This broad agenda of engagement with the DPRK underlies the September 19, 2005 Joint Agreement negotiated in the auspices of the Six-Party Talks process, which remains valid as a framework to pursue long-term regional security cooperation goals as well as nuclear nonproliferation goals.
New Media Tools Impact on Online, Health Science Students’ Academic Persistence and Support: Lessons Learned from Two Pilot Studies

New media communication tools used in health science education may help enhance student engagement and sense of community, improve retention and persistence, and provide a richer academic experience, but the research is limited on non-traditional online learners. The studies described here therefore, focus on fully online, undergraduate health science students. Study 1 examined if the use of new media tools - EZ Texting, Adobe Connect, and an eCampus community - had a significant effect on students’ persistence/retention, importance to being connected to faculty and other students, sense of community, and satisfaction with the program and the university. Study 2 evaluated if the use of the communication technology, Celly, increased online undergraduate health science students’ feelings of connectedness with the instructor. Study 1 was a pre-test, post-test quasi-experimental design with a volunteer sample of 15 students. In Study 2, ninety students received Celly communication throughout a six week course while the control group (n = 338) did not receive any text communication. Both groups received a pre-test and post-test. In Study 1, the use of EZ Texting, Adobe Connect, and eCampus did not have any statistically significant results due to a combination of factors; however, in the experimental group there was an increase in participants’ belief that the new media tools can create a sense of community and foster an increase in the feeling of closeness to other students and faculty. In Study 2, feelings of connectedness to the instructor varied over time with no statistically significant results, but valuable insight was gained through qualitative feedback. Although new media tools did not have any statistically significant results, students did feel more connected and supported in an online learning environment.
The Predictive Validity of Physical Performance Measures in Determining Markers of Preclinical Disability in Community-Dwelling Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A Systematic Review.

Background Identification of preclinical disability in middle-aged and older adults might allow early identification of and treatment for functional mobility deficits. Purpose This study aimed to determine which physical performance measures (PPMs) were effective in identifying preclinical disability in individuals at risk for future disability. Data sources CINHAL, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched until September 2017 using key words. Study selection Two individuals screened peer-reviewed prospective longitudinal studies that assessed healthy individuals > 45 years old using PPMs at baseline. Eight studies met inclusion criteria. Data extraction Two individuals extracted data on participant demographics, PPMs, predictive validity effect size, and disability outcomes. Risk of bias was assessed using the Quality Assessment Tool for Cohort Studies II (Q-Coh II). Data synthesis Four constructs were used to guide data synthesis: functional mobility, activities of daily living disability, fall(s), and hospitalization. Multiple sit-to-stands from a chair, standing balance, and gait speed were found to have some merit in identifying preclinical disability across all 4 disability constructs. All studies were scored as good-quality studies using the Q-Coh II. Limitations The heterogeneity in follow-up times and reporting of risk prediction statistics made it difficult to compare results across studies, PPMs, and constructs. The 4 constructs used as markers of preclinical disability potentially do not fully capture the progression of disability. Conclusions Physical therapists should consider using PPMs on healthy adult populations to gather baseline data during annual health screens for use in identifying preclinical disability.
Preterm birth in relation to the bisphenol A replacement, bisphenol S, and other phenols and parabens.

Abstract Introduction Preterm birth continues to be a significant public heath concern and is a leading cause of perinatal and infant mortality. Environmental exposures to phenols and parabens are suspected to potentially contribute to the pathology of preterm birth, yet limited human studies have characterized the extent to which these toxicants are associated with birth outcomes. Methods We examined the associations between phenols, parabens, and preterm birth, within pregnant women who were recruited early in gestation into the LIFECODES cohort at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Urine samples were collected at up to 4 time points in pregnancy and analyzed for phenols and parabens. We selected 130 cases of preterm birth (defined as delivery before 37 weeks gestation), and 350 random controls. We categorized preterm birth subtypes based on clinical presentation and identified 75 cases of spontaneous preterm birth (characterized by spontaneous preterm labor and/or preterm premature rupture of membranes), and 37 cases of placental preterm birth (characterized by preeclampsia and/or intrauterine growth restriction). We used multivariate logistic regression with visit specific and geometric averages of phenols and parabens to determine associations with preterm birth. Results We observed moderate variability in urinary phenol and paraben concentrations over pregnancy with intraclass correlation coefficients ranging between 0.45 and 0.68. Regression analyses indicated mostly null associations. We observed inverse associations, notably between 2,5-dichlorophenol and overall preterm birth (adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval, CI]: 0.79 [0.67 – 0.94]), and this relationship was consistent by study visit. Conversely, ethyl paraben was associated with increased risk for placental preterm birth (adjusted odds ratio [95% CI]: 1.47 [1.14 – 1.91]). Bisphenol-S detection at visit 4 was associated with overall preterm birth (adjusted odds ratio [95% CI]: 2.05 [1.09, 3.89]). Conclusions While the findings from this study largely indicate null associations, we observed some relationships between select phenols, parabens and preterm birth, which warrants further investigation of these toxicants and birth outcomes.
The Case of Bianca Cring: Professional Loyalty and Personal Infidelity

Depression is relatively common among medical trainees, and the demanding nature of the physician training can exacerbate depression. Despite one’s own education related to psychiatric care, beliefs commonly held by residents as well as stigma attached to mental health care can prevent them from seeking treatment. Untreated depression can lead to poor judgment and a sense of disconnect from loved ones. Busy schedules and singular dedication to one’s work can inhibit trainees from seeking treatment and from exploring difficulties in their personal lives. Psychiatrists working with trainees must pay close attention to trainees’ interpersonal difficulties and lives outside of their careers. By helping trainees become more conscious of their internal conflicts, psychiatrists can help trainees decrease maladaptive thoughts and behaviors.
Motion of level sets by mean curvature III

We continue our investigation [6,7] (see also [4], etc.) of the generalized motion of sets via mean curvature by the level set method. We study more carefully the fine properties of the mean curvature PDE, to obtain Hausdorff measure estimates of level sets and smoothness whenever the level sets are graphs.
Metric methods for estimating sex utilizing the pelvis

Abstract The innominate is commonly viewed as the best skeletal element used in the estimation of sex of an unknown individual, and non-metric methods have dominated. However, metric methods can provide a more objective means of estimation. Previous metric studies cite accuracy rates of at least 90% range—though many of these methods use measurements based on landmarks that are difficult to find and nearly impossible to replicate, leading to high interobserver error rates—and, in many cases, must be used on complete innominates in addition to the proximal femur. Recently, several new metric sex estimation methods have been published that attempt to remedy the issues with traditional metric methods. These studies are promising, with many claiming accuracy rates of at least 95% in diverse samples from around the world, avoiding bias in sex classification due to ancestry.
Logistic Regression Models with Unspecified Low Dose-Response Relationships and Experimental Designs for Hormesis Studies.

Hormesis refers to a nonmonotonic (biphasic) dose-response relationship in toxicology, environmental science, and related fields. In the presence of hormesis, a low dose of a toxic agent may have a lower risk than the risk at the control dose, and the risk may increase at high doses. When the sample size is small due to practical, logistic, and ethical considerations, a parametric model may provide an efficient approach to hypothesis testing at the cost of adopting a strong assumption, which is not guaranteed to be true. In this article, we first consider alternative parameterizations based on the traditional three-parameter logistic regression. The new parameterizations attempt to provide robustness to model misspecification by allowing an unspecified dose-response relationship between the control dose and the first nonzero experimental dose. We then consider experimental designs including the uniform design (the same sample size per dose group) and the c -optimal design (minimizing the standard error of an estimator for a parameter of interest). Our simulation studies showed that (1) the c -optimal design under the traditional three-parameter logistic regression does not help reducing an inflated Type I error rate due to model misspecification, (2) it is helpful under the new parameterization with three parameters (Type I error rate is close to a fixed significance level), and (3) the new parameterization with four parameters and the c -optimal design does not reduce statistical power much while preserving the Type I error rate at a fixed significance level.
Abstract PO-072: Control of inter- and intra-patient cancer heterogeneity is a predictively accurate explanation for the success of many combination therapies for solid and hematological cancers

Developing optimal drug combinations is one of the central challenges of cancer treatment research: drug combinations are used to treat most types of cancer, and are almost exclusively responsible for cures of advanced cancers. However, historically successful combination therapies were developed empirically, and the mechanistic basis for their efficacy has been largely speculative. I will present experiments, models, and computational analyses of clinical trial data, to investigate the mechanistic basis of clinically successful combination therapies across 12 types of cancer and 30 different therapies. These studies consistently identify the control of cancer heterogeneity between-patients (inter-tumor) and within-patients (intra-tumor) by independently active drugs as critical contributors to the efficacy of combination therapies in human patients. The key approaches for data analysis and modeling in these studies consist of adapting classical pharmacological concepts to the complex situation of populations of cancers with heterogeneous drug sensitivity. Synergistic drug interactions in humans appears uncommon among approved combination therapies, and even curative regimens exhibit drug additivity in experimental measurements and in clinical outcomes. Mathematical descriptions of heterogeneity in cellular or patient populations, and quantitative experimental measurements of how drug combinations address heterogeneity, lead to accurate predictions of clinical trial results for a diverse range of combination therapies, including those with immune checkpoint inhibitors (correlation between observed and expected Progression Free Survival in 14 trials, Pearson r = 0.98, P Citation Format: Adam C. Palmer, Ben Izar, Haeun Hwangbo, Peter K. Sorger. Control of inter- and intra-patient cancer heterogeneity is a predictively accurate explanation for the success of many combination therapies for solid and hematological cancers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Special Conference on Tumor Heterogeneity: From Single Cells to Clinical Impact; 2020 Sep 17-18. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(21 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-072.
Werkgruppe V.C: Kammermusik ohne Klavier: Quartette und Quintett mit Bläsern

Sei Quartetti per flauto, violino, viola e basso: libro 1. e 2. ǀ composti dal signor de Beecke ǀ Spira: alle spese del signor consigliario Brandenb.
HIV-based lentiviral vectors: origin and sequence differences.

Three gene therapy strategies have received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval; one includes HIV-1-based lentiviral vectors. These vectors incorporate features to provide long-term gene transfer and expression while minimizing generation of a replication-competent virus or pathogenicity. Importantly, the coding regions of viral proteins were deleted, and the cis-acting regulatory elements were retained. With the use of representative vectors developed for clinical/commercial applications, we compared the vector backbone sequences to the initial sources of the HIV-1. All vectors included required elements: 5′ long terminal repeat (LTR) through the Ψ packaging signal, central polypurine tract/chain termination sequence (cPPT/CTS), Rev responsive element (RRE), and 3′ LTR, including a poly(A) signal. The Ψ signaling sequence demonstrated the greatest similarity between all vectors with only minor changes. The 3′ LTR was the most divergent sequence with a range of deletions. The RRE length varied between vectors. Phylogenetic analysis of the cPPT/CTS indicated multiple sources, perhaps because of its later inclusion into lentiviral vector systems, whereas other regions revealed node clusters around the HIV-1 reference genomes HXB2 and NL4-3. We examine the function of each region in a lentiviral vector, the molecular differences between vectors, and where optimization may guide development of the lentiviral delivery systems.
Identification of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria That Improve the Performance of Greenhouse-Grown Petunias under Low Fertility Conditions

The production of greenhouse ornamentals relies on high fertilizer inputs to meet scheduling deadlines and quality standards, but overfertilization has negative environmental impacts. The goals of this study were to identify plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) that can improve greenhouse ornamental crop performance with reduced fertilizer inputs, and to identify the best measurements of plant performance for assessing the beneficial impact of PGPR on ornamentals. A high-throughput greenhouse trial was used to identify 14 PGPR isolates that improved the flower/bud number and shoot dry weight of Petunia × hybrida ‘Picobella Blue’ grown under low fertility conditions in peat-based media. These 14 PGPR were then applied to petunias grown under low fertility conditions (25 mg L−1 N). PGPR-treated plants were compared to negative (untreated at 25 mg L−1 N) and positive (untreated at 50, 75, 100, and 150 mg L−1 N) controls. Multiple parameters were measured in the categories of flowering, vegetative growth, and vegetative quality to determine the best measurements to assess improvements in ornamental plant performance. Caballeronia zhejiangensis C7B12-treated plants performed better in almost all parameters and were comparable to untreated plants fertilized with 50 mg L−1 N. Genomic analysis identified genes that were potentially involved in plant growth promotion. Our study identified potential PGPR that can be used as biostimulants to produce high-quality greenhouse ornamentals with lower fertilizer inputs.
IMPLICATIONS OF CHILD ABDUCTION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND CHILD WELFARE SYSTEMS: A CONSTRUCTIVIST INQUIRY OF THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF GUATEMALAN MOTHERS PUBLICALLY REPORTING CHILD ABDUCTION FOR INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION

IMPLICATIONS OF CHILD ABDUCTION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND CHILD WELFARE SYSTEMS: A CONSTRUCTIVIST INQUIRY OF THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF GUATEMALAN MOTHERS PUBLICALLY REPORTING CHILD ABDUCTION FOR INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION By: Carmen C. Monico, Ph.D. A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2013 Director: Humberto Fabelo, Ph.D., L.C. S.W. Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs and Associate Professor School of Social Work Abstract The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption was agreed upon in 1993 at the Hague Conference on Private International Law to address growing allegations of abduction, sale, and trafficking of children around the world. The Hague Convention guides countries to attend to the “best interest of the child” in making decisions on intercountry adoptions, and to apply the “principle ofThe Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption was agreed upon in 1993 at the Hague Conference on Private International Law to address growing allegations of abduction, sale, and trafficking of children around the world. The Hague Convention guides countries to attend to the “best interest of the child” in making decisions on intercountry adoptions, and to apply the “principle of subsidiarity,” which calls for the consideration of family and kinship placement and national adoption prior to the consideration of intercountry adoption. This dissertation research focused on the experience of Guatemalan mothers reporting the abduction of their children for intercountry adoption. It examines implications for human rights and the child welfare system.