cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pituitary function in adult males receiving medroxyprogesterone acetate

The pituitary, adrenal, and gonadal functions of nine males (six XY, two XYY, and one XY/XYY) were studied after at least 6 months of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) therapy for antisocial or sex-offending behavior. Five were studied both before and during therapy, four only during therapy. MPA was effective in decreasing serum gonadotropin and plasma testosterone concentrations. MPA caused no change in the 24-hour rhythm or total integrated concentration of growth hormone. The plasma cortisol circadian rhythm was suppressed but not obliterated by MPA therapy. Although a significant decrease (P
Comments on the Cover Illustration: Torus with Complete 7-Map

(1985). Comments on the Cover Illustration: Torus with Complete 7-Map. Mathematics Magazine: Vol. 58, No. 3, pp. 159-160.
Gene therapy and tissue engineering based on muscle-derived stem cells

Skeletal muscle represents a convenient source of stem cells for cell-based tissue and genetic engineering. Muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) exhibit both multipotentiality and self-renewal capabilities, and are considered to be distinct from the well-studied satellite cell, another type of muscle stem cell that is capable of self-renewal and myogenic lineage differentiation. The MDSC appears to have less restricted differentiation capabilities as compared with the satellite cell, and may be a precursor of the satellite cell. This review considers the evidence for the existence of MDSCs as well as their origin. We will discuss recent investigations highlighting the potential of stem cell transplantation for the treatment of skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle injuries and disease. We will highlight challenges in bridging the gap between understanding basic stem cell biology and clinical utilization for cell therapy.
A Differential Planetary Gear Model with Backlash and Teeth Damage

Planetary gear trains can be more compact and efficient as power transmissions than fixed axis gear trains but are also more complicated and less understood in terms of vibration health monitoring. A practical differential planetary gear train, which combines two inputs and one output, is studied using multi-body dynamics software. Backlash between the sun gear and planet gears are precisely specified to avoid teeth interference and undercut. In order to calculate accurate impact forces, an impact model is chosen. Tooth geometry errors are created on the sun gear. Constraints and contact forces to the model are applied as close as possible to real operating conditions. Torsional vibration induced by backlash and tooth geometry errors is shown to cause teeth separation and double-sided impacts in unloaded and lightly loaded gearing drives. Planetary gears with only backlash errors are compared to those containing both backlash and tooth defects under different kinematic and loading conditions. Time domain results show that the dynamic responses due to the combination of backlash and tooth defects depend on the interaction of many components of the differential planetary system.
A hybrid model for spatially and temporally resolved ozone exposures in the continental United States.

ABSTRACTGround-level ozone is an important atmospheric oxidant, which exhibits considerable spatial and temporal variability in its concentration level. Existing modeling approaches for ground-level ozone include chemical transport models, land-use regression, Kriging, and data fusion of chemical transport models with monitoring data. Each of these methods has both strengths and weaknesses. Combining those complementary approaches could improve model performance. Meanwhile, satellite-based total column ozone, combined with ozone vertical profile, is another potential input. The authors propose a hybrid model that integrates the above variables to achieve spatially and temporally resolved exposure assessments for ground-level ozone. The authors used a neural network for its capacity to model interactions and nonlinearity. Convolutional layers, which use convolution kernels to aggregate nearby information, were added to the neural network to account for spatial and temporal autocorrelation. The authors trai...
The Interpretive Media

In 1987, Gary Hart, a prominent senator from Colorado and presidential candidate considered the likely Democratic nominee, was accused of adultery. It was not exactly news that leading politicians engaged in affairs. A long line of modern American presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to John Kennedy were thought to have done so. However, in regard to Hart, it wasn’t as much the sex that bothered reporters as the risk-taking character represented by the affairs. Journalists believed that this was not an aberration — that Hart repeatedly and routinely had one-night stands with many different women. This, many reporters felt, represented a different type of personality problem. In their eyes, serial affairs arose from a character flaw that revealed a deeply disturbing trait on the part of the candidate. Adulterous sex became a symbol of personal risk-taking that appeared to have important ramifications for presidential performance. The question was, if a man took dangerous risks in his personal life, would he do the same as president?
An Assessment of Changes in Infant and under-Five Mortality in Demographic and Health Survey Data for Madagascar

Repeated rounds of nationally representative surveys are an important source of information on changes in the welfare of the population. In particular, policymakers and donors in many developing countries rely heavily on the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) to provide information on levels and trends in indicators of the health status of the population, including child survival. The reliability of observed trends, however, depends strongly on the comparability across survey rounds of the sampling strategy and of the format of questions and how interviews ask them. In Madagascar, the most recent (2003/4) DHS indicated very sharp declines in rates of infant and under-five mortality compared with the previous survey from 1997. However, retrospective under-one and under-five mortality data in 1997 and 2003/4 for the same calendar years also show large differences, suggesting that this trend may be spurious. We employ a range of descriptive and multivariate approaches to investigate the issue. Despite evidence of significant interviewer recording errors (with respect to date of birth and age at death) in 2003/4, the most likely source of problems is that the two samples differ: comparisons of time-invariant characteristics of households and of women suggests that the later DHS sampled a somewhat wealthier (hence lower mortality) population. Corrections to the data using hazard survival model estimates are discussed. These suggest a much more modest reduction in infant and under-five mortality than indicated by the raw data for the two surveys.
Solar Energy – Water Heating

Solar energy is an abundant and a reliable renewable resource that is sustainable and can be used for multiple purposes. It has been used for centuries to heat water and continues to be an option for water heating today. However, the market for current technologies is limited in some countries due to the high installed cost of solar water heating systems and the low cost of fossil fuels. This chapter introduces basic solar water heater designs, describes the current state of the global market and presents the future potential of this technology and pathways to achieving broad market success.
Cognitive Performance of Dolphins in Visually-Guided Tasks

Sensory systems function to monitor events relevant to an animal’s well-being and success. In some cases, a sensory system also may serve as a valuable interface between the real world and higher cognitive centers that deal with abstractions, knowledge, generalizations, and representations. It is important to distinguish between these two functions--the strict biological and the cognitive--as they separate the relatively rigid, constrained system from the more open, flexible system. There is a difference, for example, between seeing a fish and then beginning a capture strategy, and seeing a television scene of a fish being captured and recognizing it as a representation of a real-world event.
Asymmetry-aware work-stealing runtimes

Amdahl's law provides architects a compelling reason to introduce system asymmetry to optimize for both serial and parallel regions of execution. Asymmetry in a multicore processor can arise statically (e.g., from core microarchitecture) or dynamically (e.g., applying dynamic voltage/frequency scaling). Work stealing is an increasingly popular approach to task distribution that elegantly balances task-based parallelism across multiple worker threads. In this paper, we propose asymmetry-aware work-stealing (AAWS) runtimes, which are carefully designed to exploit both the static and dynamic asymmetry in modern systems. AAWS runtimes use three key hardware/software techniques: work-pacing, work-sprinting, and work-mugging. Work-pacing and work-sprinting are novel techniques that combine a marginal-utility-based approach with integrated voltage regulators to improve performance and energy efficiency in high- and low-parallel regions. Work-mugging is a previously proposed technique that enables a waiting big core to preemptively migrate work from a busy little core. We propose a simple implementation of work-mugging based on lightweight user-level interrupts. We use a vertically integrated research methodology spanning software, architecture, and VLSI to make the case that holistically combining static asymmetry, dynamic asymmetry, and work-stealing runtimes can improve both performance and energy efficiency in future multicore systems.
Implications of Human TRPM8 Channel Gating from Sensing Domain and Menthol Binding Studies

The human transient receptor potential melastatin 8 (hTRPM8) ion channel is a nonselective cation channel involved in human health and disease such as cancer, pain, obesity and diabetes. hTRPM8 has been shown to be gated in a polymodal manner by voltage, cold temperature, lipids, modulatory proteins, and chemical ligands. More specifically, hTRPM8 is activated by a number of cold inducing small molecules, including menthol and icilin. A better understanding of the molecular mechanism of ligand-gated channel activation may prove useful in unlocking the TRPM8 therapeutic potential. The sensing domain (transmembrane helices S1-S4) of TRPM8 has been implicated as the nexus of ligand binding, which is coupled to channel gating. Here, we present the direct binding of menthol to the isolated hTRPM8 sensing domain with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), circular dichroism (CD), and microscale thermophoresis (MST). We then compare the effects of binding to two previously identified residues, Y745 (on S2) and R842 (on S4), that have been shown to abrogate TRPM8 menthol sensitivity. The data presented indicate specific binding of menthol to the wild type as well as Y745H and R842H mutant hTRPM8 sensing domains, suggesting that menthol binding and the subsequent coupling to hTRPM8 channel gating are distinct processes.
Simulation of an IXS imaging analyzer with an extended scattering source

A concept of an inelastic x-ray scattering (IXS) spectrograph with an imaging analyzer was proposed recently and discussed in a number of publications (see e.g. Ref.1). The imaging analyzer as proposed combines x-ray lenses with highly dispersive crystal optics. It allows conversion of the x-ray energy spectrum into a spatial image with very high energy resolution. However, the presented theoretical analysis of the spectrograph did not take into account details of the scattered radiation source, i.e. sample, and its impact on the spectrograph performance. Using numerical simulations we investigated the influence of the finite sample thickness, the scattering angle and the incident energy detuning on the analyzer image and the ultimate resolution.
Incorporating prior biological knowledge for network-based differential gene expression analysis using differentially weighted graphical LASSO.

Conventional differential gene expression analysis by methods such as student’s t-test, SAM, and Empirical Bayes often searches for statistically significant genes without considering the interactions among them. Network-based approaches provide a natural way to study these interactions and to investigate the rewiring interactions in disease versus control groups. In this paper, we apply weighted graphical LASSO (wgLASSO) algorithm to integrate a data-driven network model with prior biological knowledge (i.e., protein-protein interactions) for biological network inference. We propose a novel differentially weighted graphical LASSO (dwgLASSO) algorithm that builds group-specific networks and perform network-based differential gene expression analysis to select biomarker candidates by considering their topological differences between the groups. Through simulation, we showed that wgLASSO can achieve better performance in building biologically relevant networks than purely data-driven models (e.g., neighbor selection, graphical LASSO), even when only a moderate level of information is available as prior biological knowledge. We evaluated the performance of dwgLASSO for survival time prediction using two microarray breast cancer datasets previously reported by Bild et al. and van de Vijver et al. Compared with the top 10 significant genes selected by conventional differential gene expression analysis method, the top 10 significant genes selected by dwgLASSO in the dataset from Bild et al. led to a significantly improved survival time prediction in the independent dataset from van de Vijver et al. Among the 10 genes selected by dwgLASSO, UBE2S, SALL2, XBP1 and KIAA0922 have been confirmed by literature survey to be highly relevant in breast cancer biomarker discovery study. Additionally, we tested dwgLASSO on TCGA RNA-seq data acquired from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) on tumors samples and their corresponding non-tumorous liver tissues. Improved sensitivity, specificity and area under curve (AUC) were observed when comparing dwgLASSO with conventional differential gene expression analysis method. The proposed network-based differential gene expression analysis algorithm dwgLASSO can achieve better performance than conventional differential gene expression analysis methods by integrating information at both gene expression and network topology levels. The incorporation of prior biological knowledge can lead to the identification of biologically meaningful genes in cancer biomarker studies.
The intestinal microbiome and paediatric liver disease

The intestinal microbiome has been the intense focus of recent study, but how the microbiota affects connected organs, such as the liver, has not been fully elucidated. The microbiome regulates intestinal permeability and helps to metabolise the human diet into small molecules, thus directly affecting liver health. Several studies have linked intestinal dysbiosis to the severity and progression of liver diseases, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, total parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease, and cystic fibrosis-associated liver disease. However, there is limited information and interpretation with regard to how the microbiome could contribute to liver disease in the paediatric population. Notably, the gut microbiota is distinct at birth and does not establish an adult profile until the third year of life. Clinical research suggests that paediatric liver disease differs in both severity and rate of progression compared with adult forms, suggesting independent mechanisms of pathogenesis. We discuss data linking the intestinal microbiome to liver disease development and therapeutic efforts to modify the microbiome in children.
The Presidential Life Cycle and the Stock Market

Political science theories suggest that U.S. presidents' tenures in office share distinct phases, which have systematic characteristics, that span party ideologies. However, limited attention has been paid to the relation between the presidential life cycle and financial markets. We document that excess equity returns concavely relate with presidential seniority while volatility displays a convex relation. The nonlinear comovement cannot be explained by economic policy uncertainty, but is linked to time variation in risk appetite and investor sentiment throughout presidents' tenures. Overall, the evidence implies that theories of asset prices and investor behavior may benefit from incorporating aspects of political science.
Open Governance as a Service

This extended abstract discusses how public services can become more open and engage citizens more actively, by providing the local, public administration with the right tools. It calls for public services to think more creatively about how they can collaborate with the public to make better use of the energy and enthusiasm, as well as missing skills that people have and want to offer. It explores the challenges, both in terms of policy and technology, that public services face in mobilizing resources that are by nature voluntary. We intend to provide the governance tools that enable public services to leverage skills coming from the local community, and improve their autonomy, transparency and analytical tools required for true open governance.
115 Prevalence of and barriers to disclosing sexual violence victimisation to healthcare providers

Purpose Preventing sexual assault is a national priority within the United States considering there are approximately 3 21 500 survivors (aged 12 and older) of sexual assault per year. Previous work suggests that one promising measure for early intervention to mitigate the negative sequelae associated with sexual assault is routine screenings by healthcare providers for sexual assault history. Although the potential benefits of disclosing a sexual assault incident to a provider are well understood, much of the previous work in this area has been conducted with clinic-based samples of sexual assault survivors who encounter fewer barriers to accessing necessary healthcare. Less is known about whether sexual assault survivors from a population-based sample disclose sexual assault incidents to providers. In this study, we explore the prevalence of disclosure to healthcare providers and potential barriers to disclosure in a non-clinic sample. Methods A large sample of participants, ages 18–25, is currently being recruited for a survey study via sponsored advertisements appearing on Instagram and Facebook. Eligible participants complete online measures about their demographics, healthcare utilisation, and sexual violence history. Participants are asked about their history of sexual violence victimisation since the age of 16 and whether they have talked to a healthcare provider about the incident. Those who have not talked to a provider are asked to report reasons for not talking to a provider. Significance By highlighting barriers that prevent sexual assault survivors from talking about their victimisation experiences with a healthcare professional, this study can inform treatment and prevention efforts to attenuate the high healthcare costs associated with sexual assault.
Caring Experiences of Nurse Educators

Central to nursing practice today is the theme of caring. Yet nursing faculty are themselves experiencing a lack of caring. Faculty frequently voice the complaint that no one in the school of nursing work environment cares about them as they struggle to balance the demands of work with the demands of a personal life. A descriptive phenomenological approach was used to facilitate understanding of the caring experiences of nurses who teach. The question guiding this study was, "How do nurse educators experience caring in their work situations?" Nomination and purposive sampling techniques were used to select seven nurse faculty as participants. Unstructured interviews, lasting approximately one hour, were audiotaped and transcribed. Colaizzi's (1978) methodology was used to analyze the resulting data. Resulting themes included: 1) Caring is Connection and 2) Caring is a Pattern of Establishing and Maintaining Relationships. The use of narrative, journaling, and dialogue are suggested as techniques that will help nurse educators experience caring in schools of nursing.
Evidence-Based Thresholds for the Volume and Cost Relationship in Total Hip Arthroplasty: Outcomes and Economies of Scale.

Abstract Background High-volume surgeons and hospital systems have been shown to deliver higher-value care in several studies. However, no evidence-based volume thresholds for cost currently exist in total hip arthroplasty (THA). The objective of this study was to establish meaningful thresholds in cost for surgeons and hospitals performing THA. A secondary objective was to analyze the market share of THAs for each surgeon and hospital stratifications. Methods Using a database of 136,501 patients undergoing THA, we used stratum-specific likelihood ratio analysis of a receiver operating characteristic curve to generate volume thresholds based on costs for surgeons and hospitals. In addition, we examined the relative proportion of annual THA cases performed by each surgeon and hospital stratifications. Results Stratum-specific likelihood ratio analysis of cost by annual surgeon THA volume produced stratifications at: 0-73 (low), 74-123 (medium), and 124 or more (high). Analysis by annual hospital THA volume produced stratifications at: 0-121 (low), 122-309 (medium), and 310 or more (high). Hospital costs decreased significantly (P Conclusion Our study establishes economies of scale in THA by demonstrating a direct relationship between volume and cost reduction. High-volume hospitals are performing the greatest proportion of THAs; however, low-volume surgeons perform the largest share of these cases, which highlights a potential area for enhanced value in the care of patients undergoing THA.
Protein cross-linking capillary electrophoresis at increased throughput for a range of protein–protein interactions

Tools for measuring affinities and stoichiometries of protein–protein complexes are valuable for elucidating the role of protein–protein interactions (PPIs) in governing cell functions and screening for PPI modulators. Such measurements can be challenging because PPIs can span a wide range of affinities and include stoichiometries from dimers to high order oligomers. Also, most techniques require large amounts of protein which can hamper research for difficult to obtain proteins. Protein cross-linking capillary electrophoresis (PXCE) has the potential to directly measure PPIs and even resolve multiple PPIs while consuming attomole quantities. Previously PXCE has only been used for high affinity, 1 : 1 complexes; here we expand the utility of PXCE to access a wide range of PPIs including weak and multimeric oligomers. Use of glutaraldehyde as the cross-linking agent was key to advancing the method because of its rapid reaction kinetics. A 10 s reaction time was found to be sufficient for cross-linking and quantification of seven different PPIs with Kd values ranging from low μM to low nM including heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) interacting with heat shock organizing protein (3.8 ± 0.7 μM) and bcl2 associated anthanogene (26 ± 6 nM). Non-specific cross-linking of protein aggregates was found to be minimal at protein concentrations <20 μM as assessed by size exclusion chromatography. PXCE was sensitive enough to measure changes in PPI affinity induced by the protein nucleotide state or point mutations in the protein-binding site. Further, several interactions could be resolved in a single run, including Hsp70 monomer, homodimer and Hsp70 complexed the with c-terminus of Hsp70 interacting protein (CHIP). Finally, the throughput of PXCE was increased to 1 min per sample suggesting potential for utility in screening.
Acute Chest Infections in Adults and Children: Evidence-Based Emergency Imaging

This chapter reviews the evidence base of imaging in acute respiratory illnesses (ARI) in children and adults. Chest radiography is indicated in the very young and in patients older than 40 years with ARI suspected to have community-acquired pneumonia (CAR), especially in those who are ill enough to require hospitalization. In young children, the imaging findings of viral and bacterial lung infections frequently overlap, making their differentiation difficult. Improved communication of the radiographic findings and their limitations can decrease overprescription of antibiotics by referring physicians, when no bacterial cause can be proven. CT adds value to radiography only in pulmonary infections that are complicated, recurrent, or occur in patients with an impaired immune system. Ultrasound is favored over CT to determine the need and feasibility and need for percutaneous drainage of parapneumonic effusions and empyemas in children.
What affects average net price at four-year public and not-for-profit private institutions in the USA?

Higher education costs are rising. The literature points to varying factors for the increases: the lack of efficiency on the instructional side, the growth in administrative expenses as well as the decrease in state appropriations. But do these items impact average net price at four-year public and private not-for-profit institutions? This study looks at the relationship between average net price and these factors considering the fixed effects by state.
PU.1 is required for generating the IL-9-producing Th9 phenotype (99.10)

IL-9 secreting Th9 cells are a newly defined subset of CD4 T cells that differentiate in the presence of TGF-β and IL-4, and that we have found have increased expression of the transcription factor PU.1. In a cohort study on infants with dermatitis, we found cultured PBMCs from atopic patients secreted higher level of IL-9 than non-atopic patients following anti-CD3 stimulation. In addition, specific cat or mite allergen stimulation of these PBMCs resulted in higher IL-9 production in cultures from atopic patients than from non-atopic patients. To investigate the underlying mechanism of IL-9 production and the development of Th9 cells in human allergic disease, we differentiated Th9 cells from naive CD4 T cells isolated from atopic and non-atopic groups. We found that, after differentiation, Th9 cells from atopic patients have higher expression of PU.1 and IL-9 than those from non-atopic patients. Moreover, atopic samples showed increased pSTAT6 levels during differentiation, compared to samples from non-atopic patients. To determine if PU.1 is a regulator of the Th9 phenotype, we transfected Th9 cultures from normal human PBMCs with PU.1-specific siRNA. Our data showed that decreasing PU.1 expression impaired IL-9 production. In conclusion, these data demonstrate a critical role of PU.1 in the regulation of Th9 differentiation and suggest that PU.1-expressing Th9 cells may be involved in human allergic disease.
Transportation of Patients in a Bioemergency

Serious recurrent and emerging communicable diseases, such as novel influenza strains, highly pathogenic viral hemorrhagic fevers, and novel coronaviruses in an era of increased globalization and travel, necessitate heightened vigilance and preparedness. Last year over four billion persons traveled by air. Systems and processes need to be in place to not just recognize and treat individuals, who harbor a serious pathogen, but also to manage and transport them safely while minimizing the risk of transmission to healthcare workers and others in the community. In this chapter, environmental and administrative controls, work practices, and personal protective equipment necessary to prevent transmission are described for the management and transportation of patients in both the out-of-hospital and hospital settings.
Rate Inhibition and Enhancement on Ceria-Promoted Pd Monolith Catalysts: Oxidation of Acetylene, Ethylene, and Propylene and Their Mixtures

The catalytic oxidations of acetylene, ethylene, and propylene under transient and steady-state conditions were studied using model Pd/Al₂O₃ and Pd/CeO₂–ZrO₂ monolith catalysts. Kinetics and light-off measurements highlight the differences between the oxidation of each hydrocarbon. Acetylene is strongly self-inhibiting and −1 order while the reaction order with respect to ethylene is +1, both at temperatures below light-off. Ethylene oxidation is moderately inhibited by oxygen at low temperatures and ethylene at high temperatures. Mixture light-off experiments reveal acetylene inhibits the oxidations of ethylene, propylene, and CO. Light-off of the other species follow acetylene oxidation, which is nearly unaffected by the other species. The Pd/CeO₂–ZrO₂ catalyst gives consistently higher conversion compared with Pd/Al₂O₃ at the same Pd loading for each of the individual oxidation reactions, although the negative-order kinetics of acetylene is sustained. Oxidation of acetylene and mixtures containing acetylene are enhanced with Pd/CeO₂–ZrO₂ compared to Pd/Al₂O₃. The effects of oxidative or reductive pretreatment of the catalysts on species oxidations are also evaluated. Mechanistic implications for the reactions are described to guide kinetic model development. The findings highlight and clarify inhibition effects during single and co-oxidation and offer insights into optimizing the catalyst composition and its operation.
Explaining Landscape Connectivity of Low-cost Solutions for Multilayer Nets

Mode connectivity is a surprising phenomenon in the loss landscape of deep nets. Optima -- at least those discovered by gradient-based optimization -- turn out to be connected by simple paths on which the loss function is almost constant. Often, these paths can be chosen to be piece-wise linear, with as few as two segments. We give mathematical explanations for this phenomenon, assuming generic properties (such as dropout stability and noise stability) of well-trained deep nets, which have previously been identified as part of understanding the generalization properties of deep nets. Our explanation holds for realistic multilayer nets, and experiments are presented to verify the theory.
Is health literacy associated with mental health literacy? Findings from Mental Health Literacy Scale

Purpose This study aims to measure associated factors of Mental Health Literacy (MHL) among Minnesotans by using the Mental Health Literacy Scale and Andersen's Health Behavior Model. Design and methods This study utilized cross-sectional survey data with 732 participants. Findings Participants in higher education groups showed higher MHL levels than those who have less education. Non-Latino Whites had higher MHL levels than any other racial group. Participants who engaged in social groups had higher MHL levels. Interestingly, the relationship between health literacy and MHL was the most substantial factor. Practice implications Interventions aiming to improve health literacy seems beneficial to increase MHL. In addition, a variety of programs should be implemented, such as social programs that target those with less social group interaction.
Attenuation Correction of PET/MR Using Deep Neural Network Based on Dixon and ZTE MR Images

650 Objectives: To obtain meaningful quantitative results from PET images, attenuation correction is necessary during image reconstruction. For PET/MR hybrid systems, attenuation correction is challenging as MR images do not reflect attenuation coefficients directly. To address this issue, we present a deep neural network to derive the continuous attenuation coefficients for brain PET/MR imaging using both Dixon and zero echo time (ZTE) MR images. To make fully use of multiple MR images, a new network structure was proposed to extract the features from Dixon and ZTE images independently at early layers and combine them together at later layers. Methods: Fourteen patients (age 60.3y±10.2, F=6, M=8) who had whole-body PET/CT scan, followed by additional PET/MRI scanning without second tracer administration, were included in this study. Both Dixon and ZTE images were acquired during the PET/MRI scanning with average scan duration of 259.3 ± 94.2 s. The average administered FDG dose was 275.9 ± 60.6 MBq. When preparing the network training pairs, we first registered CT images and ZTE images to the Dixon MR images through rigid transformation using the ANTs software. Then random rotation and permutation was performed on the training pairs to avoid over-fitting. Later quantitative analysis was based on Seven-Fold cross validation. The proposed network structure is shown in Fig. 1(A), which extracts features from different inputs independently and combines them together in later stage. To make full use of the axial information, nine neighboring axial slices were stacked, occupying nine input channels, to reduce the axial aliasing artifacts. The network structures were implemented in TensorFlow 1.1.0. Batch size was set to 30 and 1000 epochs were run. This method is denoted as DixonZTE-CNN. The atlas method based on Dixon MR image (denoted as Dixon-Atlas) and the ZTE segmentation method based on ZTE MR image (denoted as ZTE-Seg) were adopted as baseline methods. Regional as well as global relative PET errors were used to compare the performance of different methods. Results: The proposed DixonZTE-CNN can generate pseudo-CT images with more structure details (as presented in Fig 1). Quantitative analysis (as presented in Table 1) shows that DixonZTE-CNN achieved the lowest whole brain error (2.31% ± 0.60%) compared with Dixon-Atlas (5.50% ± 1.46%) and ZTE-Seg (3.76% ± 1.43%)). Regional analysis in cerebellum, brain lobes and inner regions also demonstrates the improvements by using DixonZTE-CNN. Conclusion: We have proposed a deep neural network to generate continuous attenuation map for brain PET/MR imaging based on both Dixon and ZTE images. Analysis using real data sets shows that the neural network can produce smaller quantification errors in PET image compared to other standard methods, and thus provide a promising new approach for the attenuation correction of PET/MR
Abstract PO-267: Does primary care providers' implicit and explicit bias impact cervical cancer screening recommendations for lesbian women?

Background: Lesbian women are 25% less likely to receive cervical cancer screening than other women which contributes to lesbian women’s higher risk for cervical cancer. The purposes of this study were to measure primary care providers9 (PCPs) bias toward lesbian women and to assess the association of PCPs’ implicit and explicit bias toward lesbian women with PCPs’ recommendations for cervical cancer screening in this population. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 182 PCPs in Kentucky completed a web-based survey that included a clinical vignette, an Implicit Association Test (IAT), and explicit bias measures. PCP’s bias was analyzed descriptively. Two-sample t-tests compared bias scores between PCPs who recommended and did not recommend cervical cancer screening for a lesbian woman. Multiple linear regression determined demographic predictors of implicit and explicit bias. Results: The PCP participants average IAT score (possible score range -2.00 to +2.00) was 0.34 with positive scores indicating preferences for heterosexual women and negative scores indicating preferences for lesbian women. There was no association between IAT scores and PCPs’ cervical cancer screening recommendations for lesbian women (p = .15). PCPs who supported same sex marriage (p Citation Format: Mollie E. Aleshire, Amanda Fallin-Bennett, Mary Kay Rayens, Keisa Fallin-Bennett, Jennifer Hatcher. Does primary care providers9 implicit and explicit bias impact cervical cancer screening recommendations for lesbian women? [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: Thirteenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2020 Oct 2-4. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(12 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-267.
A Review of “Options in Management of Trauma to the Esophagus” (1982) “Submitted for the Literary Festschrift in Honor of J. David Richardson, MD”:

This article is an update of a paper which Dave Richardson and I published in 1982, and serves as both an update of management of esophageal injuries and as a lasting tribute to my mentor and hero ...
”Too old to bank digitally? ”: A Survey of Banking Practices and Challenges Among Older Adults in China

The banking industry has been integrating digital technologies globally. However, accepting new technologies is challenging in particular for older adults. We focus on older adults’ banking experiences in China, where digital transactions have been growing rapidly, to provide a perspective on how they adapt to this trend. We conducted an online survey with 155 older adults who are 60 or above (M = 70, SD = 9) from 18 provinces to explore their banking practices and challenges. Our results show that older adults conduct banking transactions frequently. However, few do so using digital platforms despite long wait times in physical banks. The main concerns reported by them are about security and usability. Nonetheless, they hold a positive attitude towards digital platforms (e.g., apps, virtual banks). Interestingly, age and gender have significant effects on particular banking behaviors. We discuss our findings in the context of prior studies and highlight design opportunities for improving banking accessibility for older adults.
Desarrollo de competencias para emprender: literatura internacional y una experiencia en Cuba: Skillsdevelopment to undertake

Es objetivo del trabajo compartir experiencias sobre desarrollo de competencias para emprender, en cursantes y asesorados por el proyecto INCUBA EMPRESAS, del Centro Loyola Reina, en La Habana, Cuba. Se fundamento, elaboro y valido la primera version de un perfil de competencias; asi como creo un Observatorio, cuyos proyectos sirvieron de base a fin de redisenar entrenamientos, y asesorias del programa, lo cual mejoro sus procesos y desempenos, aunque mitigados por factores contextuales. Se concluye generalizando esos resultados y proponiendo nuevas acciones. AbstractThe goal of this paper is to share experiences on development of competences for entrepreneurship in beneficiaries of training & advisory activities of INCUBA EMPRESAS project, of Queen Loyola Center, of Jesus Society, in La Habana, Cuba. The foundations, devise & validation of the first version of a competences profile is exposed. An Observatory was created, whose projects gave diagnosis & proposals as premises to redesign the abovementioned activities, improving processes & results, although mitigated due to environmental factors. Generalization of such upshots & new recommendations are given.
From 3H to H3: Slide-Based Analyses of the Cell Cycle

The techniques of immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization can supplant the flawed ‘mitotic index’ in providing critical information regarding cell cycle status of human tumors. While methods such as bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation can provide accurate measurements of S phase indices in tissue samples, this method cannot generally be used for routine pathology specimens. Monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies have been developed which can, under appropriate fixation conditions, detect cells in specific phases of the cell cycle, including: the Ki-67-defined nuclear cell proliferation related antigen, expression of which is characteristic of all cycling (non-G0) cells; proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA; a marker of S-phase); and statin, a marker of G0-phase. Antibodies to PCNA however, cannot be employed with reliability in deparaffinized, formalin-fixed tissues owing to the variable retention of non-repliconassociated PCNA in the nucleus in non-S-phase cells; ‘PCNA indices’, however, in methacarn fixed tissue can provide information comparable to that of BrdU incorporation. Statin is a 57kd protein, expression of which is associated with cell senescence and cell quiescence; immunolocalization is possible only in frozen or methacarn-fixed, deparaffinized tissues. Antibodies to PCNA and statin have been applied to a series of 51 methacarn breast specimens, confirming an inverse correlation between statin and PCNA indices; furthermore, a direct relationship between statin index and long term survival was observed. The most recently described marker associated with cell proliferation, in situ hybridization using cDNA probes to histone H3 and/or H4 mRNA, offers the unique feature of identifying a cytoplasmic S-phase marker, permitting double labeling studies with antibodies to nuclear proteins. These methods, in aggregate, represent reasonable alternatives to flow cytometrically determined cell proliferation indices.
Regulation of protein tyrosine phosphatases by insulin and insulin-like growth factor I.

In this study, we have examined the effects of insulin and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I on protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTPase) activity in rat L6 skeletal muscle cells. Under basal conditions, about 85% of total cellular PTPase activity was associated with the particulate (Triton X-100-soluble) fraction. Incubation of the cells with 100 nM insulin or IGF-I significantly increased particulate PTPase activity (p
Plant biology. An unbearable beating by light

Concern over depletion of the ozone layer in part centres on the possible consequences of more ultraviolet radiation reaching Earth’s surface. One such outcome may be increased mutation rates in some species of plants, but the research concerned will need to be followed up with more detailed studies.
Th1 Cell-Mediated Resistance to Cutaneous Infection with Leishmania major Is Independent of P- and E-Selectins

Studies in several models of inflammation have underscored the importance of P- and E-selectins in the migration of T cells to inflamed tissues. However, the role of the endothelial selectins in infection-induced cutaneous inflammation and host-protective immunity has not been investigated. In this study, we demonstrate that CD4(+) T cells recruited to the cutaneous compartment during infection with Leishmania major express P- and E-selectin ligands. Furthermore, expression of P- and E-selectin ligands correlates with activated Leishmania-specific Th1 cells and is dependent upon IL-12. To investigate the functional role of the endothelial selectins during leishmaniasis, we infected mice either singly or doubly deficient in the expression of P- and E- selectins. Mice lacking both P- and E-selectins developed significantly less inflammation at the site of a primary and secondary infection, and exhibited an impaired delayed-type hypersensitivity response. Surprisingly, the absence of the endothelial selectins had no effect on the control of parasite replication or immunity to reinfection. Thus, these data demonstrate that although the endothelial selectins contribute to the inflammatory response, they are not required for protective immunity to L. major. Moreover, these data suggest that by blocking P- and E-selectins, the immune pathology associated with cutaneous leishmaniasis might be ameliorated without compromising immunity to infection.
Developing Multimedia-based Courseware: A Student Team Member's Perspective.

Developing multimedia-based courseware can be a very positive experience for students as members of a student development team. The roles of the student development team would be many. They would develop a contract with the content expert. They would develop a time line of activities and a production finish date. Development activities include organizing, flowcharting, story boarding, and authoring. They would arrange for and produce video, audio, and other forms of media. A learner verification review with potential users of the product is an extremely important and useful step. Multimedia development can be a totally self-directed and problem solving experience for those involved. The role of the facilitator and content expert is to be responsible for determining goals and objectives for the content, and also to oversee the team's progress. The facilitator's responsibility is also to provide equipment and advice for development.
An integrated high efficiency ultra-low power single chip DC/AC inverter for driving liquid crystal electro-optic lenses

An integrated high efficiency, ultra-low power liquid crystal driver for electro-optic diffractive lenses is presented in this paper. The proposed LC driver provides an adjustable 3V to 15V RMS square wave output voltage to drive a liquid crystal in the electro-optic lens, which can be modeled as a 5nF capacitive load. This application is powered by a 3V lithium button cell or energy harvest devices. A reconfigurable hysteretic 2×/3×/4×/5× switched capacitor charge pump is developed for DC-DC conversion to maintain high power efficiency over the entire output power range. An improved H-bridge driving scheme is used to reduce the DC/AC inversion power loss. In addition, an auto-sink scheme is developed to speed up output transaction from high to low in different output modes. Implemented in a 0.25µm 5V V GS , 12-45V V DS BCD technology, the proposed LC driver achieves peak power efficiency of 98%. The transaction time of LC driver output from high to low is 48us, which is 219 times faster than that when auto-sink scheme is disabled.
Designing CBT Systems with Errors in Mind: Avoidance, Seeding, and Tolerance

This study attempts to reconcile viewpoints on the role of errors in the design of computer-based training (CBT) systems. From one perspective, errors are detrimental to learning; from another, they can be beneficial. The results of an experiment are presented and discussed. When a CBT system is designed to allow learners to correct their own errors, they learn significantly more than when errors are prevented. When learners are allowed only to correct errors that others have made, they do not learn significantly more than when errors are prevented. Implications for the design of CBT systems and possibilities for future research are considered.
Baboon Virus Isolate M-7 with Properties Similar to Feline Virus RD-114

A virus (M-7) isolated from baboon placental tissue demonstrates many similarities to endogenous feline virus RD-114. Immunodiffusion analysis shows a group-specific antigen (gs-1) line of identity between M-7 and RD-114. Anti-RD-114 DNA polymerase IgG inhibits M-7 polymerase by 57% compared to 97% for RD-114. M-7 virus has helper activity as demonstrated by rescue of murine sarcoma virus (MSV) from sarcoma-positive leukemia-negative human amnion cells. The host range of the rescued M-7 pseudotype of MSV, MSV (M-7), is similar to that of RD-114 virus. MSV (M-7) is also able to transform baboon cells and causes no detectable transformation of feline cells without addition of helper feline leukemia virus. Interference properties of M-7 and RD-114 virus are identical. Virus-specific neutralizing antisera, although partially cross-reacting, can distinguish MSV (M-7) from MSV (RD-114). These similarities and differences between RD-114 and M-7 viruses are best explained as type-specific differences between two viruses within the same strain.
Lowell Immigrant Communities in the Climate of Deportations

In the climate of increased anti-immigrant sentiment, deportations of immigrants from the United States are on the upsurge. This article begins with a review of current immigration laws enabling detentions and deportations of undocumented immigrants, as well as permanent legal residents with a prior criminal conviction. It then explores how immigrants and refugees interact with this national climate in Lowell, Massachusetts, a traditional immigrant city in the Northeast of the United States. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions have clearly had an impact on Lowell. Our findings indicate that fear and mistrust of local authorities is driving behavior of immigrants, who are reluctant to seek medical services or to report violence to the police, whom they suspect of collaborating with ICE.