cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Significance of Changes of Serum Levels and Ratios of Matrix Nephritis Metalloproteinase-2,-9 and Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-1 in Children with Henoch-Schonlein Purpura Nephristis

Objective To explore the effect of levels and ratios of matrix nephritis metalloproteinase-2(MMP-2), -9 and inhibitor of metalloproeinase-1(TIMP-1) in the pathogenesis of children with Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis(HSPN),and the correlation between them and urinary micro albumin(MA).Methods Serum levels of MMP-2, -9 and TIMP-1 were determined by double antibody enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA),and urine MA was determined by immune rate nephelometry in 36 children with HSPN,16 children with simple purpura and 30 healthy controls.Results Levels of MMP-2, -9,TIMP-1 and ratios of MMP-2/ TIMP-1,MMP-9/TIMP-1 rose in acute phase of HSPN. The levels and ratios in HSPN group were higher than those in simple purpura group,and those in simple purpura group higher than those in controls (P0.01 or 0.05). Levels of MMP-2, -9,TIMP-1 and ratios of MMP-2/ TIMP-1,MMP-9/ TIMP-1 positively correlated to level of urinary MA.The correlation coefficients(r) were 0.736,0.726 and 0.581,respectively,Pa0.01.The increase in group with abnormal urinary MA was higher than that in group with normal urinary MA.The difference was significant (P0.01 or 0.05).Conclusion The high levels and unbalanced ratios of MMP-2, -9 and TIMP-1 take part in the pathogenesis of HSPN and they positively correlate to level of urinary MA.
High Yield Stability of C815S Hybrid Rice Combinations

According to the datum of multi-location experiments,the high yield stability of C815S hybrid rice combinations was comprehensively analyzed and evaluated by the method of high stability coefficient.The results showed that the yield of eight hybrid combinations,which derived from the C815S,were significantly higher or extremely higher than that of the control;the average yield of Cliangyou1102 and Cliangyou87 all increased by over 9.8% than that of Shanyou63,although the stability of these two combinations was commonly,but the fertility of them was great;the adaptability of each experimental varieties in different experimental locations was significantly different,the high stability coefficient of five combinations was higher than that of control,and the high stability coefficient of Cliangyou343 and Cliangyou1768 were over 90.
Multimodal Magnetic Resonance Neuroimaging and Cognition in Polysubstance Users

Polysubstance users are the largest group of treatment seekers in the United States and Europe. Although polysubstance use disorders (PSUD) constitute an enormous individual and societal burden, little is known about the neuroadaptations and cognitive deficits associated with concurrent chronic misuse of illicit, psychoactive substances and alcohol, their changes with abstinence, and their influence on the ability of individuals to engage in adaptive, pro-health behavior. Recent research demonstrates that magnetic resonance-based neurobiology, cognition, and self-regulation as well as the ethnic breakdown differ substantially between individuals with PSUD and alcohol use disorders (AUD), who have been extensively studied. These groups appear to represent different treatment-seeking populations and therefore may require different treatment approaches. Furthermore, chronic tobacco use appears to affect neurobiology and cognition with a different pattern than in AUD and drug-free controls. We review these PSUD studies in the context of previous work and point out important new avenues for future research.
Food Packaging Potential of Some Novel Degradable Starch-Polyethylene Plastics

The food-packaging potential of 12 degradable starch-polyethylene films containing cornstarch, low- or high-molecular-weight oxidized polyethylene and pro-oxidant was evaluated. Mechanical properties of the films were affected more by acids than by alkali, but the film was stable in paraffin oil. Starch in the films did not impair heat-sealing ability. Water vapor transmission increased with increasing starch content but was not affected by oxidized polyethylene. Oxygen and carbon dioxide permeability were not affected by starch or oxidized polyethylene, but nitrogen permeability was affected by starch. Oil oxidation was stimulated by pro-oxidant and high-molecular-weight oxidized polyethylene in films. Film starch content, oxygen permeability, and water permeability did not accelerate microbial growth, and the mechanical properties of most films were not reduced after use. These results suggest that these degradable starch-polyethylene films have some potential use as primary food containers for some food products and storage requirements.
Advancing Nuclear Breast Imaging with the use of High-Purity Germanium detectors

Nuclear Breast Imaging with specifically designed gamma cameras can improve breast cancer detection. One benefit of semiconductor-based imaging systems is their superior energy resolution (ER) compared to scintillator cameras, which results in better scatter rejection. In this work we conducted simulations to compare the imaging performance of High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) and Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) systems with 1% and 3.8% ER at 140 keV, respectively. The objective was to investigate whether the better ER offered by HPGe would translate into improved imaging performance. Using the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP5) simulation package, we modeled both 5 mm-thick CZT and 10 mm-thick HPGe detectors with the same parallel-hole collimator for the imaging of a breast/torso phantom with three spherical tumors. Simulated energy spectra were generated, and images were created for various energy windows around the 140 keV photopeak. Scatter and torso fractions were calculated along with tumor contrast. Simulations showed that utilizing a ±1.25% energy window with an HPGe system suppressed torso background and small-angle scattered photons better than a comparable CZT system using an −5%/+10% energy window. Higher contrast between tumor signal and background was observed with HPGe with increases in sensitivity for equivalent activity imaged. Thus, further improvements in ER may lead to better tumor detection capabilities with conventional parallel-hole collimation.
Threshold Chloride Concentration for Passivity Breakdown of Mg–Zn–Gd–Nd–Zr Alloy (EV31A) in Basic Solution

Mg–Zn–Gd–Nd–Zr alloy (EV31A) is a heat-treatable magnesium (Mg) cast alloy that can be used up to 200 °C for automobile and aerospace applications. This alloy has excellent mechanical properties (ultimate tensile strength: 280 MPa at room temperature, and ~230 MPa at 200 °C) and improved corrosion resistance. Electrochemical corrosion studies were conducted on this alloy under different heat treatment conditions in 0.1 M NaOH solution with the addition of 0–1000 ppm of chloride. The alloy showed excellent passivity in the 0.1 M NaOH solution. The passive potential range typically extended to more than 1.2 VAg/AgCl. The transpassive potential was observed to be dependent on heat treatment condition of the alloy. More than 80 ppm of chloride was required to induce passivity breakdown in any heat treatment condition. Peak aging at 200 °C for 16 h imparted better resistance for localized corrosion than other heat-treated conditions. The alloy in the as-received condition showed the highest passivation kinetics due to its smaller grain size that possibly increased the diffusion of reactive elements to form protective oxide. The passive film of the EV31A alloy showed n-type semiconductivity with a charge carrier density of ~2 × 1021 cm−3 with no chloride addition. The charge carrier density increased with chloride addition in the electrolyte which could be correlated with the susceptibility to localized corrosion.
Statistical Issues in Price Research

S MR. FOX has suggested, there is great diversity among the procedures currently used or advocated in the analysis of demand. The diversity exists even though all the workers may concur in thinking of the nature of our economic system on the lines of the Walrasian model, consisting of a very large number of simultaneous equations connecting all economic variables. The diversity of procedures appears as soon as the workers try to use their common model for prediction. Unfortunately, the model is only vaguely specified, and is extremely complex. Anyone who wants to use it in clarifying social problems must accept the necessity for simplification. Wherever there is simplification, there are sources of error in prediction. Each worker will choose his own simplification, attempting to avoid the errors that he thinks can be easily avoided, and those that he thinks have serious effects on the appropriateness of social action. Under such conditions, it is not to be expected that there will be any one procedure that ought to be considered the correct one. At least for the present, there seems to be little hope of avoiding a resort to opinion. As price research continues, there may be a consensus among workers to the effect that a certain type of error can be handled conveniently by adopting a specified technique; in such a case, the refinement can be expected to become part of the working knowledge of most researchers. In another case, there may be no feasible way of determining the relative seriousness of a group of errors; in such a case, workers may have to rely on intuition, or on a comparison of computation difficulties. The uncertainty that surrounds our work can be seen by considering the relation between "shock" and "error" models. Assume that one of the equations of a complete economic model is the following:
Spatially-partitioned environmental representation and planning architecture for on-road autonomous driving

Conventional layered planning architecture temporally partitions the spatiotemporal motion planning by the path and speed, which is not suitable for lane change and overtaking scenarios with moving obstacles. In this paper, we propose to spatially partition the motion planning by longitudinal and lateral motions along the rough reference path in the Frenet Frame, which makes it possible to create linearized safety constraints for each layer in a variety of on-road driving scenarios. A generic environmental representation methodology is proposed with three topological elements and corresponding longitudinal constraints to compose all driving scenarios mentioned in this paper according to the overlap between the potential path of the autonomous vehicle and predicted path of other road users. Planners combining A∗ search and quadratic programming (QP) are designed to plan both rough long-term longitudinal motions and short-term trajectories to exploit the advantages of both search-based and optimization-based methods. Limits of vehicle kinematics and dynamics are considered in the planners to handle extreme cases. Simulation results show that the proposed framework can plan collision-free motions with high driving quality under complicated scenarios and emergency situations.
Benefits to Children Who Participate in Family Therapy with their Substance-Using Mother

It is rare that family members other than the identified patient are followed over time in studies of therapy effectiveness. Family therapy is believed to be effective because it targets processes within the system that maintain symptoms. If these processes are changed, then all family members can benefit. Using a sample of 183 mother-child dyads from a study comparing family therapy for adult substance use versus an attention control, change in child's substance use (tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana) was estimated. Children who participated in family therapy with their mothers showed greater decreases in alcohol and tobacco use and were less likely to begin using compared to children whose mothers participated in the attention control condition.
Outcomes after first-time lower extremity revascularization for chronic limb-threatening ischemia in insulin-dependent diabetic patients.

Abstract Objective Historically, open surgical bypass provided a durable repair among diabetic patients with chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI). In the current endovascular era, however, the difference in long-term outcomes between first-time revascularization strategies among patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) is poorly understood. Methods We reviewed the records of all patients with IDDM undergoing a first-time infrainguinal bypass graft (BPG) or percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with or without stenting (PTA/S) for CLTI at our institution from 2005 to 2014. We defined IDDM as use of chronic insulin administration at baseline to control blood glucose levels and recorded the most recent glycated hemoglobin value available within 3 months before the procedure and fasting blood glucose level on the day of the procedure. We compared rates of wound healing, restenosis, reintervention, major amputation, and mortality between BPG and PTA/S in our population using χ2, Kaplan-Meier, and Cox regression analyses. As a sensitivity analysis, we calculated propensity scores and employed inverse probability weighting to account for nonrandom assignment to BPG vs PTA/S. Results Of 2869 infrainguinal revascularizations from 2005 to 2014, 655 limbs (316 BPG, 339 PTA/S) in 580 patients fit our criteria and underwent a first-time revascularization for CLTI. Patients undergoing BPG, compared with PTA/S, were similar in age (69 vs 68 years; P = .55), had similar rates of tissue loss (87% vs 91%; P = .07) and dialysis dependence (26% vs 28%; P = .55), were less likely to be hypertensive (84% vs 92%; P Conclusions Among patients with IDDM and CLTI, a bypass-first strategy is associated with similar 30-day outcomes and lower restenosis and reintervention rates. These data suggest that a bypass-first approach may best serve appropriately selected, anatomically suitable patients with IDDM and pedal ischemia that requires revascularization.
Brown fat necrosis with calcifications in the newborn: Risk factors, radiographic findings, and clinical course.

Objective: To describe the radiographic appearance of subclinical calcified brown fat necrosis and the associated clinical and laboratory findings. Materials and Methods: Picture Archiving and Communications Sytem (PACS) was searched using keywords “soft tissue calcification” and “chest.” The clinical record was searched for prior cardiac surgery, bypass, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygentation (ECMO) and prostaglandin use. Age when calcifications were first detected, location, resolution, and associated laboratory abnormalities were recorded. Results: Nine patients were identified. None had skin lesions. All patients had congenital heart disease and had experienced cardiac/respiratory arrest and/or severe hypotension 1–6 weeks before soft tissue calcifications occurred. Calcifications resolved by 9 weeks to 5 months in 3 patients. The remaining were either deceased or lacked follow-up imaging. Renal ultrasound was performed in all but 1 patient. Nephrocalcinosis was only seen in 1 patient. Conclusion: Brown fat necrosis is subclinical, diagnosed on plain film, and likely self-limited. It occurs in term and preterm infants who have undergone significant systemic stress and carries a poor prognosis.
Where and when is support for vocabulary development occurring in preschool classrooms

This study investigates how eight public, centre-based preschool teachers working with low-income children are using different activity settings and content foci to support one aspect of academic l...
The hindbrain is a site of energy balance action for prolactin-releasing peptide: feeding and thermic effects from GPR10 stimulation of the nucleus tractus solitarius/area postrema

Prolactin-releasing peptide (PrRP) is a neuropeptide that suppresses food intake and increases body temperature when delivered to the forebrain ventricularly or parenchymally. However, PrRP’s receptor GPR10 is widely distributed throughout the brain with particularly high levels found in the dorsomedial hindbrain. Thus, we hypothesized that hindbrain-directed PrRP administration would affect energy balance and motivated feeding behavior. To address this hypothesis, a range of behavioral and physiologic variables were measured in Sprague-Dawley rats that received PrRP delivered to the fourth ventricle (4V) or the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) at the level of the area postrema (AP). 4V PrRP delivery decreased chow intake and body weight, in part, through decreasing meal size in ad libitum maintained rats tested at dark onset. PrRP inhibited feeding when delivered to the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS), but not to more ventral hindbrain structures. In addition, 4V as well as direct NTS administration of PrRP increased core temperature. By contrast, 4V PrRP did not reduce ad libitum intake of highly palatable food or the motivation to work for or seek palatable foods. The dorsomedial hindbrain and NTS/AP, in particular, are sites of action in PrRP/GPR10-mediated control of chow intake, core temperature, and body weight.
Syncope and Headache.

We review the literature on co-occurrence of syncope and headache and share clinical experience. Headache in relation to syncope has been the subject of recent interest. Orthostatic intolerance has an expanding spectrum with three well-defined entities: orthostatic hypotension (OH), neurally mediated hypotension (NMH), and postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS). Syncope occurs in patients with OH as well as in patients with episodically occurring NMH. Headache of OH is called coat-hanger ache (CHA) because it affects the neck and shoulders in a coat-hanger pattern. It can serve as a warning symptom of OH as well as a parameter to gauge the benefit of treatment. Awareness of CHA avoids inappropriate tests. Headache type occurring in NMH has not been fully delineated. A questionnaire-based study describes migraine leading to syncope and treatment of migraine to reduce syncope. Laboratory studies in NMH patients provide evidence for only short-duration headache. The author’s approach to such patients is presented.
Hsp70-Family Proteins and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Neuronal proteostasis is a highly regulated and crucial component of neural function. Unlike other tissues and organ, cell loss due to damage and dysfunctional signaling mechanisms is not an option for the brain. Neurons are thusly dependent on the collective cellular machinery of the molecular chaperones. Hsp70, a molecular chaperone which hydrolyzes ATP to fold proteins into a functional state, has been implicated as both a driver of disease pathogenesis and a therapeutic target for the activities and associations identified in several neurodegenerative diseases. Through interaction studies, genetic models, and small molecule therapeutics which serve as chemical tools, we have gained a greater understanding and appreciation for the role of Hsp70 in several neurodegenerative diseases. This chapter will discuss the studies and tools which elucidated the role of Hsp70 family members in neurodegenerative disorders and will offer perspective into therapeutic interventions which may prove beneficial for treating these diseases.
A cross-cultural review of sudden mass assault by a single individual in the oriental and occidental cultures.

A nonrandom sample of North American cases of sudden mass assault by a single individual (SMASI, n = 30) is compared with a nonrandom sample of Laotian amok cases (n = 18) and other amok studies. Perpetrators in both studies show evidence of social isolation, loss, depression, anger, pathological narcissism, and paranoia, often to a psychotic degree. The term “innovative perpetrator” is reintroduced and expanded upon. Similarities among samples far outweigh differences, leading the authors to conclude that SMASI and its appearance in different cultures is not a culture-bound syndrome.
Cocaine: The American Experience

Cocaine use is not a new phenomenon. Its early use by Andean Indians in South America and its later appearance in Europe during the nineteenth century where pharmacological researchers established its medicinal value have been exhaustively chronicled in the literature (Ellinwood and Kilbey, 1977; Byck, 1975; Mortimer, 1901; Musto, 1973). At least 50 years ago its anaesthetic properties, central nervous system actions, and its cardiovascular effects were known. It was used as an anaesthetic, as treatment for seasonal allergies, and later as a pharmacological adjunct in the treatment of opium, morphine, and alcohol addictions. It had widespread use in the United States and in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as an ingredient in many patent medicines, tonics, and soft drinks.
Early detection of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder using circulating tumor DNA.

7572Background: Diffuse large B cell (DLBCL)-like post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) affects 2-5% of transplant recipients. Although 50% of PTLDs can be related to Epstein-Barr vir...
The Value of Claims-Based Nontraditional Risk Factors in Predicting Long-term Mortality After MitraClip Procedure.

Abstract Background We sought to identify nontraditional risk factors coded in administrative claims data and evaluate their ability to improve prediction of long-term mortality in patients undergoing percutaneous mitral valve repair. Methods Patients undergoing transcatheter mitral valve repair using MitraClip implantation between September 28, 2010, and September 30, 2015 were identified among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. We used nested Cox regression models to identify claims codes predictive of long-term mortality. Four groups of variables were introduced sequentially: cardiac and noncardiac risk factors, presentation characteristics, and nontraditional risk factors. Results A total of 3782 patients from 280 clinical sites received treatment with MitraClip over the study period. During the follow-up period, 1114 (29.5%) patients died with a median follow-up time period of 13.6 (9.6 to 17.3) months. The discrimination of a model to predict long-term mortality including only cardiac risk factors was 0.58 (0.55 to 0.60). Model discrimination improved with the addition of noncardiac risk factors (c = 0.63, 0.61 to 0.65; integrated discrimination improvement [IDI] = 0.038, P Conclusions Risk-prediction models, which include nontraditional risk factors as identified in claims data, can be used to predict long-term mortality risk more accurately in patients who have undergone MitraClip procedures.
Communicating Developmental Science to Nonscientists, or How to Write Something Even Your Family Will Want to Read

Developmental psychologists are increasingly writing articles, columns, books, and blogs for the general public, but this type of writing can be challenging. Here, I provide guidance on how...
Parallel Integration and Chromosomal Expansion of Metabolic Pathways.

Robust fermentation of biomass-derived sugars into bioproducts demands the reliable microbial expression of metabolic pathways. Plasmid-based expression systems may suffer from instability and result in highly variable titers, rates, and yields. An established mitigation approach, chemical induced chromosomal expansion (CIChE), expands a singly integrated pathway to plasmid-like copy numbers while maintaining stability in the absence of antibiotic selection pressure. Here, we report parallel integration and chromosomal expansion (PIACE), extensions to CIChE that enable independent expansions of pathway components across multiple loci, use suicide vectors to achieve high-efficiency site-specific integration of sequence-validated multigene components, and introduce a heat-curable plasmid to obviate recA deletion post pathway expansion. We applied PIACE to stabilize an isopentenol pathway across three loci in E. coli DH1 and then generate libraries of pathway component copy number variants to screen for impr...
Mitohormetic effects of rotenone drastically depend on age

Hormesis refers to a biphasic intensity-dependent response to stressors where low-intensity or short-duration exposure to potentially noxious stressors induces long-lasting adaptations that have positive physiological effects [1]. It was proposed that life-extending interventions, such as calorie restriction, retard aging via their hormetic action [2]. More recently, it was shown that a transient burst of reactive oxygen species is required to induce the effects of calorie restriction [3], physical exercise [4], inhibition of the insulin/IGF-I pathway [5] and metformin [6]. We have previously shown that partial inhibition of complex I of the respiratory chain by a low dose of the poison rotenone (ROT) administered in middle age increases the lifespan and reverts the transcriptomic signature of aging in a vertebrate species [7], an example of a hormetic effect. Here, we asked whether ROT treatment started at young age induces larger effects on life-span and transcriptome.
Variability in daily self-reported emotional symptoms and fatigue measured over eight weeks in community dwelling individuals with traumatic brain injury

Objective: To investigate within-person variability in daily self-reported emotional and fatigue symptoms and factors associated with high within-person variability among individuals with chronic t...
Thermal Decomposition and Crystallization of Aqueous Sol-Gel Derived Zirconium Acetate Gels: Effects of the Additive Anions

Zirconia powders were prepared by forming gels by desiccation of aqueous precursor solutions of zirconium acetate containing nitric or sulfuric acid at pH 2.4 and 1.4 and pyrolyzing the gels to temperatures up to 825°C. The structure development in the gels and solid pyrolysis products was investigated. The crystalline zirconia structures produced monoclinic (m), metastable cubic (c) and tetragonal (t) polymorphs. The structure transition temperatures were strongly dependent on the pH, the anions and the stoichiometry of the zirconium complex in the precursor solution. The monoclinic polymorph fraction in the zirconia formed by pyrolyzing the gel formed from the precursor solution containing sulfuric acid at pH 2.4 to 750°C approaches zero while this ratio in the zirconia formed by pyrolyzing the gel formed from the precursor solution containing nitric acid at pH 1.4 to 825°C is 0.7.
Effects of the Solvent Refractive Index and Its Dispersion on the Radiative Decay Rate and Extinction Coefficient of a Fluorescent Solute

It is well known that the probabilities of radiative transitions in a medium differ from those in vacuum. Excitation of a fluorescent molecule and its radiative decay are examples of radiative transitions. The rates of these processes in solution depend on the optical characteristics of the solvent. In this article the radiative decay rate and the extinction coefficient of a fluorescent molecule in solution are expressed in terms of the intrinsic properties of the fluorescent molecule (electronic transition moments) and the optical characteristics of the solvent (refractive index, group velocity of light). It is shown that the group velocity does not enter in the final expressions for the radiative decay rate and the extinction coefficient; this means that the dispersion of the refractive index has no effect on these quantities. The expressions for both the radiative decay rate and the extinction coefficient contain the refractive index of the solvent and the local field correction factor. The latter depends on the cavity model, and, for some cavity models, on the shape of the cavity. Four types of cavity models are discussed; for each model the limits of applicability are examined. Experimental evidence in support of specific cavity models is reviewed.
Glass Cabinets and Little Black Boxes: The Collections of H. H. Wilder and the Curious Case of His Human-Hair Samples

Harris Hawthorne Wilder, a professor of zoology at Smith College, was trained in anatomy and physical anthropology in Germany at the end of the 19th century. He taught at Smith College, a private liberal-arts college for women, from 1892 to 1927. Not unusual for the times, his interests in archaeology and anthropology were very broad. He excavated sites in what can be considered, at best, dubious ethical circumstances and created a wide-ranging collection of artifacts, human remains, and anatomical specimens. One of the more curious collections was of human-hair samples, which included “specimens” from students at Smith College, his own family members, and a small subcategory he referred to as “ethnics.” We chart his proclivity for collecting many items of an anatomical, archaeological, or anthropological nature, and focus on his human-hair samples to contextualize the nature of these collections in terms of late 19th- and early 20th-century views on race, ethnicity, and gender in anthropology. We take the position that to understand this collection more fully it is essential to know the life and times of its collector, including his role in the academic history of the Connecticut Valley, and we suggest that Wilder himself was conflicted as to its meaning and purpose.
P42 Age and Education are Associated with Fried Fish Consumption in the Stroke Belt

Objective Fish contain polyunsaturated fatty acids which are associated with decreased cardiovascular (CVD) risk. However, frying fish alters the fatty acids. Consumption of fried fish has been linked to increased risk of CVD and stroke, particularly in populations in the South's Stroke Belt. The purpose of this study was to explore characteristics associated with fried vs. non-fried fish consumption in the rural Appalachian region of the Stroke Belt. Study Design, Settings, Participants Volunteers (n = 195) completed demographic and food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) during a community health event in rural Central Appalachia. Measurable Outcome/Analysis Age, gender, education, and income were assessed. Frequency of fried vs. non-fried fish consumption was calculated from the FFQ using DietCalc software. Results Average age was 55 years old (SD = 15.44, range: 19-95). Females comprised 69% (n = 134) of sample. For 41% (n = 79), high school was the highest educational level, and 41.5% (n = 81) had a college degree. Income was Conclusion Fried fish is popular in the South. While non-fried fish is associated with lower CVD and stroke risk, fried fish consumed more than twice weekly increases these risks by 63%. Interventions aimed at increasing the consumption of non-fried fish and reducing fried fish consumption are needed, particularly for older adults and those with lower levels of education.
Compliance with Recommended Follow up Eye Exam After Spot Photoscreening

Purpose: Determine follow up eye exam compliance rate for infants/toddlers referred for eye examinations based on photoscreening failures at well child checks (WCC). Determine factors contributing to compliance by analyzing patient demographics. Methods: Infants/ toddlers (6-35 months of age) were screened using the SPOT- photoscreener (Welch Allyn, Inc.) at a pediatric outpatient clinic as part of their WCC from 7/18/2014 - 2/18/2016. Children who failed the screening were offered a follow-up eye examination at the Visual Development Laboratory (VDL) at no charge, as part of a research study. Parents of …
Humanitarian Encounters: Charity and Gender in Post–World War I Jewish Budapest

Across East Central Europe, World War I and its violent aftermath impacted Jewish perspectives on home and homeland and forced many Jews to reconsider, reformulate, and at times even discard previous beliefs about the idea of national belonging. In Hungary, the White Terror of the early 1920s set off shock waves among the population of mainly urban Hungarian Jews, who until then had imagined themselves relatively safe. As social exclusion entered public and domestic life, it deeply influenced the way Jews imagined themselves at home in postwar Hungary. This article examines the ways in which Jewish women navigated the transitional period between war and peace in Hungary, and asks how the postwar years affected their sense of belonging and notions of home. Apart from being catapulted into public life, how did women navigate the intersection of antisemitism, physical violence, and displacement? How, for instance, did Jewish women react to the influx of Jewish refugees from Galicia, among them many children, who arrived in Budapest in great numbers seeking shelter and aid? Did the displacement of East European Jews affect existing notions of charity and Jewish identity among the women involved in humanitarian aid? And finally, how did war, revolution, and violence change Jewish women’s sense of identity as Hungarian?
Family Perceptions of Quality of Life for Pediatric Home Ventilator Patients

Home mechanical ventilation is an alternative to institutional management for some children with chronic or degenerative respiratory and neuromuscular disorders. Over the past 20 years, Children’s ...
A gated reach-through single-photon avalanche diode detection system capable of 100 million counts per second (Conference Presentation)

Thick reach-through silicon single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) are popular low-noise high efficiency single-photon detectors commonly used in actively quenched detector modules, and are useful at count rates < 10^7 /s. We demonstrate that these devices can achieve significantly higher count rates in a high-speed gating system. With gate durations of approximately 500 ps produced by a 1 GHz sinusoidal bias, we measure a reduction in the average charge per avalanche of more than 100x compared to an actively quenched device, enabling count rates above 10^8 /s without damage. We use a multi-harmonic interferometric readout to detect the minute avalanches at the SPAD anode. In our current setup we observe detection efficiencies above 0.55 (2) at 850 nm at count rates below 10^7 /s, and a count-rate dependent reduction in efficiency at higher rates; at 10^8 /s the efficiency is 0.35 (2). We discuss how to mitigate this effect to achieve higher efficiency at high rates.
Hermeneutics in the Genre of Mukhtaṣar: Civil and Commercial Law in Islamic Law by Husain Kassim

Historically, mukhtaṣar (abridged) works have played a significant role in the Islamic tradition as easy-to-memorize legal manuals. They concisely condense the corpus juris in all its enormous detail and outline the basic structure of the law around legal maxims and principles. In fact, as early as the fourth/tenth century, every school had already selected a mukhtaṣar, not only as a standard pedagogical manual but also as an authoritative survey of its substantive law. Despite its importance as a legal genre, however, few scholars have singled out the mukhtaṣar as a single unit of analysis nor studied its role in shaping and systemizing Islamic law. To read the full book review, download the PDF file on the right.
Impacts of Air Pollution on Epidemiology and Cardiovascular Systems

Our health is closely related to our environment, such that a healthy environment brings healthy living and vice versa. Pollution due to air is a prime environmental aspect contributing to the burden of different diseases in human and also has considerable economic impact. The total air pollution accounts approximately 7 million deaths globally. Pollutants produced as combustion of particulate matter have demonstrated a time-series effect on human health. The size of inhalable particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) affects the mortality and morbidity upon short- and long-term exposure among all population, with highest effect on elderly individuals. Exposure to these pollutants produces the pathological alteration, such as increased inflammatory response, systemic oxidative stress, cardiovascular stress, and change in pulmonary autonomous nervous system activity. These molecular pathological events trigger several pulmonary and cardiovascular manifestations in human. From epidemiology point of view, it has been explored that among different air pollutants, particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide are the major ones. The highest mortality is mainly observed in Asian populations as compared to Europeans and Americans. The top ten countries with the highest mortality are China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, the United States, Russia, Brazil, and Philippines, respectively. In this chapter, we reviewed different PM exposure-based epidemiological studies with more focus on high ambient Total Suspended Particulate (TSP) levels. It has also been found that overall absolute risk for mortality due to PM exposure is higher for cardiovascular compared to pulmonary disorders in case of both acute and chronic exposures.
Structural Transformation and Chemical Stability of a Shock-Compressed Insensitive High Explosive Single Crystal: Time-Resolved Raman Spectroscopy.

Despite the considerable interest in insensitive high explosives (IHE) as a safer alternative to conventional high explosives, a good understanding of the low sensitivity of IHEs to shock initiatio...
Implementation of a pharmacy consult service for evaluation of immune checkpoint inhibitor related adverse events at a large community hospital.

IntroductionImmune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are novel oncolytic therapies associated with various immune related adverse events (irAEs) affecting multiple organ systems, which may have a delayed...
Sixty-Day Outcomes Among Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19

Although characteristics and in-hospital outcomes for persons with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been well described, less is known about the longer-term outcomes of hospitalized patients Although characteristics and in-hospital outcomes for persons with COVID-19 have been well described, less is known about the longer-term outcomes of hospitalized patients Here, a study that aims to describe the 6-day postdischarge clinical, financial, and mental health outcomes of patients with COVID-19 using an observational cohort study is offered
Kicking the Habit: The Opioid Crisis and America's Addiction to Prohibition

There is no single cause of America’s opioid crisis, but overprescription of opioids has undoubtedly contributed. The federal government has responded predictably, criminally prosecuting doctors who prescribe opioids to the drug dependent. The approach may seem sensible, but it is as wrongheaded as our century‐​old drug war. Law enforcement’s recent push for punishment might succeed in limiting opioid prescriptions but only at the cost of driving drug‐​dependent individuals into more dangerous criminal markets and toward adulterated street heroin and fentanyl. For individuals addicted to opioids or suffering from chronic pain, a war on drugs has never been a prescription for improving wellness. This dominant abstinence‐​based policy model is grounded in the logic of prohibition, and it depends not upon healing but upon shame, isolation, prosecution, and penalty. The better model is “harm reduction,” grounded in connection and care, reason and rights, and human dignity and worth. International and historical public health efforts have demonstrated that one of the best ways to confront epidemic drug use is addiction maintenance—that is, establishing medically supervised clinics to provide pharmaceutical‐​grade narcotics (often free of charge) in amounts calibrated to maintain the social and physical well‐​being of the drug dependent. In this policy analysis, we survey these international and historical efforts. We look to our own past to examine the roots of the modern American drug war and describe contemporary reforms both within and beyond the opioid crisis. We explain how meaningful change is likeliest to occur: from the ground up, as a product of underground experimentation initiated by and within the most‐​affected communities. Finally, we offer our own public health prescription: a set of pragmatic harm‐​reduction responses to prohibition and its counterproductive and often deadly effects.
Students' Perceptions of a Token Economy in an Undergraduate Science Flipped Class-Room.

Abstract: Engaging students in higher education is a critical aspect of student learning (Barkley, 2009; Coates, 2005).Flipped classroom are being reported in the literature as a means to engage students in the learning process, compared to traditional lectures (O’Flaherty & Phillips, 2015). However, flipped classrooms are difficult to implement without students taking an active role in the learning process (Long, Cummins, & Waugh, 2017). Token economies, which are widely used in primary school settings but rarely reported in higher educational settings, enable instructors to provide students with rewards to reinforce targeted student behaviors (Hine, Ardoin, & Call, 2018; McClurg & Morris, 2014), and may be useful in the flipped classroom model. In this mixed methods case study, the researchers collected survey and focus group data from 48 undergraduate students who attended a science course with a token economy to determine the students’ perceptions of the token economy and satisfaction of the novel rewards offered. The findings indicated that over 90% of the students participated in the token economy and 74% of students indicated that the reward system reinforced the student behaviors necessary for an effective flipped classroom. The students also discussed how the token economy provided motivation and additional opportunities to master course content, decreased student anxiety, and enhanced the student-teacher relationship.
Using Design Thinking to Explore Rural Experiential Education Barriers and Opportunities.

Introduction:Design thinking is a creative problem-solving framework that can be used to better understand challenges and generate solutions in health professions education, such as the barriers to...
Brain Tumor Segmentation Using Convolutional Neural Networks in MRI Images

Among brain tumors, gliomas are the most common and aggressive, leading to a very short life expectancy in their highest grade. Thus, treatment planning is a key stage to improve the quality of life of oncological patients. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a widely used imaging technique to assess these tumors, but the large amount of data produced by MRI prevents manual segmentation in a reasonable time, limiting the use of precise quantitative measurements in the clinical practice. In this project, Image segmentation is used to cluster the pixels which might be used to classify the disease or to detect a tumor, surgical planning, and image-guided interventions etc. In this work, an efficient MRI image segmentation using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is used to cluster abnormal portion from biomedical images. Kernel-based segmentation technique is employed to extract the portion from the image. The use of small kernels allows designing a deeper architecture, besides having a positive effect against overﬁtting, given the fewer number of weights in the network. Neural network training and testing are performed separately by using small image kernels.Overall this project proposes a novel method of brain MRI image segmentation using the conventional neural network to increase the accuracy compared to the conventional methods.
Retinopathy of prematurity screening and risk mitigation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly disrupted the delivery of healthcare. Although most nonurgent ophthalmology visits at Boston Children's Hospital were canceled, premature infants at risk for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) still required timely, in-person care during the initial 3-month period of the infection surge in Massachusetts. The purpose of the current study was to report our protocols for mitigating risk of exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) between infants and eye care providers and to compare examination rates and results with the same 3-month period in 2019. Methods During the infection surge, we added new infection control measures and strengthened existing ones. Additional personal protective equipment was used, and the number of ophthalmologists rotating in the three high-capacity NICUs we service was limited. Results More infants required ROP examinations during the study period in 2020 than in the same period in 2019, but fewer examinations were performed. There were no cases of missed progression to severe ROP during this time and no known transmission of SARS-CoV-2 between ROP patients and ophthalmology staff. Conclusions Overall, effective ROP care was safely provided during the COVID-19 pandemic, and contact with this vulnerable population was minimized.
Endoscopy on the surgical intensive care unit

Am haufigsten werden Endoskopien auf Intensivstationen im Rahmen gastrointestinaler Blutungen durchgefuhrt. Es gibt aber auch andere Indikationen fur eine Endoskopie auf der „intensive care unit“ (ICU). Der vorliegende Beitrag zeigt diese, die Hintergrunde sowie das peri- und postinterventionelle Management auf. Die endoskopische Anlage einer jejunalen Ernahrungssonde ist ein gut etabliertes Verfahren. Allerdings ist die Medikamentengabe uber jejunale Ernahrungssonden erschwert. Bei Insuffizienzen von Anastomosen in Osophagus und Rektum ist die endoskopische Vakuumtherapie die Therapie der Wahl. Storungen der gastrointestinalen Motilitat sind ein haufiges Phanomen bei kritisch kranken Patienten und mit einer erhohten Mortalitat assoziiert. Bei einem Zokumdurchmesser > 9–12 mm kann eine endoskopische Dekompression durchgefuhrt werden, die allerdings mit einem erhohten Perforationsrisiko assoziiert ist und erst nach Versagen einer konservativen Therapie erfolgen sollte.
Naturalismo na filosofia da mente

The contrast between the space of reasons and the realm of law to which Sellars implicitly appeals was not available before modern times. Ancient philosophers didn’t feel a tension between the idea that knowledge is a normative status and the idea of an exercise of natural powers. Therefore the contrast Sellars draws can set an agenda for philosophy nowadays. I want to distinguish two ways of undertaking such a project. The idea is that the organization of the space of reasons is not, as Sellars suggests, alien to the kind of structure natural science discovers in the world. Thinking and knowing are part of our way of being animals. To show that, I will distinguish between two kinds of naturalism: a restrictive naturalism and liberal naturalism. I want to suggest that Millikan’s argument in favor of a restrictive naturalism when criticizing Frege’s semantic is vitiated by adherence to a residual Cartesianism. This is the result of a familiar trade-off; the price of discarding Cartesian immaterialism, while staying within restrictive naturalism, is that one’s singled-out part of nature is no longer special enough to be credited with powers of thought. I will argue that the proper home of the idea of “grasping senses” is in describing patterns in our lives – our mental lives in this case – that are intelligible only in terms of the relations that structure the space of reasons. This patterning involves genuine rationality, not just “mechanical rationality” (so called). Liberal naturalism needs no more, to make the idea of “grasping senses” unproblematic, than a perfectly reasonable insistence that such patterns really do shape our lives.
Current Concepts of Periapical Surgery

Preoperative decision-making is vital to determine potential success of periapical surgery. Adequate exposure of the root apical region is best approached via a sulcular-type incision. Surgical procedures include resection of 2 to 3 mm of the apical portion along with root end preparation and seal. The surgeon must decide if submission of periapical tissues to pathology is indicated.