cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Utility of Targeted Sonography in the Evaluation of Focal Breast Pain

Objective To determine the utility of targeted sonography in the evaluation of patients with focal breast pain. Methods From January 1995 through December 1999, 110 targeted sonographic examinations were performed in 99 patients for evaluation of focal breast pain in the absence of an associated palpable mass. The sonographic, mammographic, and clinical findings were reviewed. The hospital pathology database was searched to identify any interval cancers and false-negative interpretations. Results No cancer was identified in any of the 110 examinations. Eighty-five (77.3%) of the examinations had negative findings. Cysts were identified in 15 cases (13.6%), and 3 solid masses (2.7%) were identified. Two of these 3 solid masses had biopsies and were shown to be benign, whereas the third mass was followed for 29 months without change. Most patients were premenopausal, had no family or personal history of breast cancer, and were not taking exogenous hormones. Eighty-five patients (77%) were referred by primary care physicians. Conclusions In patients with focal breast pain without an associated palpable mass, sonography may be more useful for patient reassurance than for cancer detection.
The African Turquoise Killifish: A Model for Exploring Vertebrate Aging and Diseases in the Fast Lane

Why and how organisms age remains a mystery, and it defines one of the biggest challenges in biology. Aging is also the primary risk factor for many human pathologies, such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, manipulating the aging rate and potentially postponing the onset of these devastating diseases could have a tremendous impact on human health. Recent studies, relying primarily on nonvertebrate short-lived model systems, have shown the importance of both genetic and environmental factors in modulating the aging rate. However, relatively little is known about aging in vertebrates or what processes may be unique and specific to these complex organisms. Here we discuss how advances in genomics and genome editing have significantly expanded our ability to probe the aging process in a vertebrate system. We highlight recent findings from a naturally short-lived vertebrate, the African turquoise killifish, which provides an attractive platform for exploring mechanisms underlying vertebrate aging and age-related diseases.
Use of mobile device technology to continuously collect patient-reported symptoms during radiation therapy for head and neck cancer: A prospective feasibility study.

Abstract Purpose Accurate assessment of toxicity allows for timely delivery of supportive measures during radiation therapy for head and neck cancer. The current paradigm requires weekly evaluation of patients by a provider. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of monitoring patient reported symptoms via mobile devices. Methods and materials We developed a mobile application for patients to report symptoms in 5 domains using validated questions. Patients were asked to report symptoms using a mobile device once daily during treatment or more often as needed. Clinicians reviewed patient-reported symptoms during weekly symptom management visits and patients completed surveys regarding perceptions of the utility of the mobile application. The primary outcome measure was patient compliance with mobile device reporting. Compliance is defined as number of days with a symptom report divided by number of days on study. Results There were 921 symptom reports collected from 22 patients during treatment. Median reporting compliance was 71% (interquartile range, 45%-80%). Median number of reports submitted per patient was 34 (interquartile range, 21-53). Median number of reports submitted by patients per week was similar throughout radiation therapy and there was significant reporting during nonclinic hours. Patients reported high satisfaction with the use of mobile devices to report symptoms. Conclusions A substantial percentage of patients used mobile devices to continuously report symptoms throughout a course of radiation therapy for head and neck cancer. Future studies should evaluate the impact of mobile device symptom reporting on improving patient outcomes.
USE OF OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY FOR MANAGEMENT GUIDANCE AFTER ASPIRATION THROMBECTOMY

Aspiration thrombectomy is reasonable in acute coronary syndrome when a high thrombus burden is encountered. Rarely, an angiographic culprit lesion is not seen post thrombectomy. This is usually due to an outward expanding plaque, in situ thrombosis, or embolization. Optical coherence tomography (
Unplanned Extubations in Children: Impact on Hospital Cost and Length of Stay

OBJECTIVE To determine the attributable hospital cost, both operational and departmental, and length of stay associated with unplanned extubations in children admitted to PICU and cardiac ICU. DESIGN Retrospective, matched case-control study. SETTING Forty-four-bed PICU and 26-bed cardiac ICU in a 303-bed tertiary care pediatric hospital. PATIENTS Cases with an unplanned extubation were retrospectively identified from July 2011 to March 2013. Controls were PICU and cardiac ICU patients admitted over the same time period and were matched at a ratio of 2:1 for age and diagnosis. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Forty-eight unplanned extubations were analyzed. There were no differences in patient demographics between the two groups, except the control group had a higher severity of illness as illustrated by a larger Paediatric Index of Mortality II Risk of Mortality. Median total hospital costs were higher in those patients with unplanned extubations as compared with controls ($101,310 vs $64,618; p < 0.001). Patients with an unplanned extubation had longer median ICU length of stay (10 d vs 4.5 d; p < 0.001) and hospital length of stay (16.5 d vs 10 d, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION Pediatric patients with unplanned extubations have an associated increase in hospital costs ($36,692/case) and length of stay (6.5 d/case) as compared with age and diagnosis-matched controls. Further efforts are warranted to establish data-driven benchmarks and establishment of unplanned extubations as a critical metric for ICU quality.
Design and Realization of TV Tracker System Based on ADSP-TS201

This paper discusses the recent development and results of television tracker. The performances of several methods are minutely compared and a system design is given for the television tracker based on ADSP-TS201 and FPGA. Finally, test and verification are given.
Practical Processing of A-15 Multifilamentary Superconducting Wire from Powders: Nb3Al and Nb3Sn

Several approaches to fabricating Nb3Al superconducting wires have been published in the last decade. These processes include: the Swiss roll, rapid quenching, mechanical alloying and powder metallurgy processing. This paper will address powder metallurgy (P/M) processing of Nb3Al and Nb-Sn. The recent measurements of critical current densities at high field for P/M processed Nb-Al gave Jc >10 A/cm2 at 19T and 4.2K. Good strain tolerance, low reaction temperatures, and low ac losses at high field all indicate that the P/M process for multifilamentary Nb-Al should lead to practical, high performance, superconducting wires for high fields. Significant improvements in powder metallurgy processing of Cu-Nb-Sn conductors have also been attained with low areal reductions, extrusion processing and with internal Sn cores. Increased Nb content increased Jc more than proportionally, and Ti additives yield very high Jc ‘s at high field. Thus, powder metallurgically processed Nb3Al and Nb3Sn are promising for high field applications.
Algorithms for Linear Stochastic Delay Differential Equations

Models consisting of linear, N-dimensional stochastic delay differential equations present a particular set of challenges for numerical simulation. While the user often seeks the probability density function of the solution, currently available methods rely on Monte Carlo sampling to generate sample paths, from which a density function must be estimated statistically. In the present work, we derive a new algorithm to compute the density function of the solution with no sampling. By discretizing the stochastic equation in time, we bypass closure issues that prevent a Fokker–Planck approach. We carry out a number of numerical tests to compare the algorithm against Monte Carlo methods, to judge its behavior as the time step decreases, and to check its capabilities of handling fully vectorial systems, both with and without time delays. The results indicate that the algorithm is a fast, accurate alternative to existing methods.
An antithetic coupling approach to multi-chain based CSMA scheduling algorithms

In recent years, a suite of Glauber dynamics-based CSMA algorithms have attracted great attention due to their simple, distributed implementations with guaranteed throughput-optimality. However, these algorithms often suffer from poor delay performance and the starvation problem. Among several attempts to improve the delay performance, a remarkable improvement has recently been made in a class of CSMA algorithms that utilize multiple instances of the algorithm (or Markov chains). In this paper, we develop a new approach via an antithetic coupling (AC) method, which can further improve the delay performance of those that virtually emulate multiple chains. The key enabler of utilizing AC method lies in our skilful choice of manipulating the driving sequences of random variables that govern the evolution of schedule instances, in such a way that those multiple instances of chains become negatively correlated as oppose to having them run independently. This contributes faster change of the link state, rendering it more like a periodic process and thus leading to better queueing performance. We rigorously establish an ordering relationship for the effective bandwidth of each net-input process to the queue, between our proposed algorithm (AC-CSMA) and other state-of-the-art existing algorithms in the literature, under a mild set of assumptions. The proposed algorithm involves very simple modification onto existing CSMA-based algorithms, and can be implemented in a fully distributed manner without any additional message overhead. Our extensive simulation results also confirm that AC-CSMA always delivers better queueing performance over a variety of network scenarios.
Medical Geography and Medical Climatology

A medicine of the environment emerged on the European continent between 1690 and 1710.2 The leading figures in this formative stage, Bernardino Ramazzini, Giovanni Lancisi, and Friedrich Hoffmann, drew on what they knew of British work in medicine, political arithmetic, and the natural sciences in general, and added distinctive elements of their own. This chapter will describe these assimilations and additions, and examine a loop in the road we are following. Whereas in the first phase of environmentalism — the phase of Sydenham and Arbuthnot — the identification of forces and factors deemed relevant to the environment-disease association expanded, ultimately, to the confusion of Short’s unbounded list, continental interest focused on either a medicine of places or a medicine of climates. By specialising, this interest forced the medical effort into a more thorough exploration of central propositions, and away from a mere listing of all the potentially relevant variables. Continental environmentalism sought to record specific symptoms and characteristics of the milieu and to schematise the signs and signals of the milieu about disease.
Spiking neuromorphic networks with metal-oxide memristors

This is a brief review of our recent work on memristor-based spiking neuromorphic networks. We first describe the recent experimental demonstration of several most biology-plausible spike-time-dependent plasticity (STDP) windows in integrated metal-oxide memristors and, for the first time, the observed self-adaptive STDP, which may be crucial for spiking neural network applications. We then discuss recent theoretical work in which an analytical, data-verified STDP model was used to simulate operation of a spiking classifier of spatial-temporal patterns, and the capacity-to-fidelity tradeoff and noise immunity o f spiking spatial-temporal associative memories with local and global recording was evaluated.
What We Educators Get Wrong About 21st-Century Learning: Results of a Survey

Twenty-first-century learning and how it differs from prior conceptions of learning have received significant attention lately. Kereluik, Mishra, Fahnoe, and Terry (2013) offered a synthesis of mul...
Lysophosphatidic Acid (LPA) Signaling in Neurogenesis

LPA is a bioactive phospholipid with a plethora of roles in the developing and adult nervous system. LPA signaling mediates many processes in the brain including survival, development and function of neural progenitor cells, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and microglia. The intricate spatiotemporal pattern of LPA metabolism and receptor expression are critical for normal CNS development; altered LPA signaling underlies fetal lethality, neurodevelopmental deficits, and is associated with neuropsychiatric impairments and cognitive decline. Fetal hypoxic and hemorrhagic injuries are major causes for neurodevelopmental defects and these injury mechanisms are linked to changes in LPA signaling during critical periods of corticogenesis. This chapter will focus on the role of LPA in neurogenesis of the developing brain and the contribution of aberrant LPA signaling and metabolism in the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental diseases.
Lesion detectability in stereoscopically viewed digital breast tomosynthesis projection images: a model observer study with anthropomorphic computational breast phantoms

Stereoscopic views of 3D breast imaging data may better reveal the 3D structures of breasts, and potentially improve the detection of breast lesions. The imaging geometry of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) lends itself naturally to stereo viewing because a stereo pair can be easily formed by two projection images with a reasonable separation angle for perceiving depth. This simulation study attempts to mimic breast lesion detection on stereo viewing of a sequence of stereo pairs of DBT projection images. 3D anthropomorphic computational breast phantoms were scanned by a simulated DBT system, and spherical signals were inserted into different breast regions to imitate the presence of breast lesions. The regions of interest (ROI) had different local anatomical structures and consequently different background statistics. The projection images were combined into a sequence of stereo pairs, and then presented to a stereo matching model observer for determining lesion presence. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was used as the figure of merit in evaluation, and the SNR from the stack of reconstructed slices was considered as the benchmark. We have shown that: 1) incorporating local anatomical backgrounds may improve lesion detectability relative to ignoring location-dependent image characteristics. The SNR was lower for the ROIs with the higher local power-law-noise coefficient β. 2) Lesion detectability may be inferior on stereo viewing of projection images relative to conventional viewing of reconstructed slices, but further studies are needed to confirm this observation.
Cellular phone supported experiential learning activity designed to increase interprofessional provider capacity to assist parents in establishing a pediatric dental home

Abstract Healthcare providers are in a unique position to identify barriers to healthcare for socioeconomically disadvantaged families, provide patient navigation for reducing disparities, and implement system changes for alleviating these barriers. Significant barriers to obtaining pediatric dental care exist for families with young children. This curricular resource describes an interprofessional education program that was conducted with small teams of health science students (nursing, pediatric medicine, dental medicine) at a suburban university. Five objectives were identified to assist students in realizing the barriers faced by socioeconomically disadvantaged families when seeking dental care for their young children. Students were assigned simulated child-patients, along with relevant health, demographic and insurance information and asked to use their cellular smartphones to identify timely and logistically compatible dental care for these simulated patients. Debriefing revealed that students had difficulty identifying appropriate pediatric dental care providers within a wide urban and suburban region. Post-workshop student surveys identified increased awareness of income, care access, and health literacy as factors contributing to health disparities.
Pre-operative Screening and Manual Drilling Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Thermal Injury During Minimally Invasive Cochlear Implantation Surgery

This article presents the development and experimental validation of a methodology to reduce the risk of thermal injury to the facial nerve during minimally invasive cochlear implantation surgery. The first step in this methodology is a pre-operative screening process, in which medical imaging is used to identify those patients that present a significant risk of developing high temperatures at the facial nerve during the drilling phase of the procedure. Such a risk is calculated based on the density of the bone along the drilling path and the thermal conductance between the drilling path and the nerve, and provides a criterion to exclude high-risk patients from receiving the minimally invasive procedure. The second component of the methodology is a drilling strategy for manually-guided drilling near the facial nerve. The strategy utilizes interval drilling and mechanical constraints to enable better control over the procedure and the resulting generation of heat. The approach is tested in fresh cadaver temporal bones using a thermal camera to monitor temperature near the facial nerve. Results indicate that pre-operative screening may successfully exclude high-risk patients and that the proposed drilling strategy enables safe drilling for low-to-moderate risk patients.
A framework for optimizing micro-CT in dual-modality micro-CT/XFCT small-animal imaging system

Dual-modality Computed Tomography (CT)/X-ray Fluorescence Computed Tomography (XFCT) can be a valuable tool for imaging and quantifying the organ and tissue distribution of small concentrations of high atomic number materials in small-animal system. In this work, the framework for optimizing the micro-CT imaging system component of the dual-modality system is described, either when the micro-CT images are concurrently acquired with XFCT and using the x-ray spectral conditions for XFCT, or when the micro-CT images are acquired sequentially and independently of XFCT. This framework utilizes the cascaded systems analysis for task-specific determination of the detectability index using numerical observer models at a given radiation dose, where the radiation dose is determined using Monte Carlo simulations.
Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Efficacy of Chemotherapy with Transurethral Resection of Bladder Tumors as Definitive Therapy for Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer.

Background Bladder-sparing treatment of muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) with systemic chemotherapy plus transurethral resection of bladder tumors (TURBT) is increasingly seen in the literature -both in case series and subanalyses of patients who opt out of or are unfit for radical cystectomy (RC). Survival outcomes among these patients are often impressive, but these are typically small retrospective studies from single institutions and therefore of limited clinical value. Objectives Our aim is to summarize the literature regarding definitive treatment of MIBC with systemic chemotherapy plus TURBT and provide a meta-analysis of survival outcomes for patients who received this treatment. Methods A systematic literature search was performed consistent with the Prisma statement to identify publications reporting the outcomes of patients treated with TURBT and systemic chemotherapy as definitive treatment for locally confined MIBC. Identified studies were screened in a two-stage process: first by title and abstract; then by full-text reading. 18 publications (518 patients) were included in the qualitative systematic review and 10 publications (266 patients) were included in the meta-analysis. The primary objective was overall survival (OS). Results Overall survival ranged from 20% to 87.5% across studies at median follow-up ranging 4 to 120 months. 5-year survival rate for all patients included in the meta-analysis was estimated to be 72% [95% CI: 64%, 82%]. Conclusions Definitive treatment with systemic chemotherapy plus TURBT can lead to favorable survival outcomes in select patients. Further study to improve patient selection for this method of treatment is needed.
Stress–Corrosion Cracking of Surface-Engineered Alloys in a Simulated Boiling-Water Reactor Environment

The potential of surface engineering by concentrated interstitial solute (SECIS) for improved resistance to stress–corrosion cracking (SCC) in a simulated boiling-water reactor (BWR) environment wa...
SpokeIt: A Co-Created Speech Therapy Experience

We present SpokeIt, a novel speech therapy game co-created with users, medical experts, speech pathologists, developmental psychologists, and game designers. Our serious game for health aims is to augment and support in-office speech therapy sessions with an at-home supported speech therapy experience. SpokeIt was co-created using participatory methods involving multiple stakeholders and target users. We describe the technical details of SpokeIt, the process of working with multiple stakeholders, and the methods that allowed us to create medium fidelity prototypes in real-time with players. We share our emerging designs, tools, insights for the broader CHI audience, and plans for future work.
Die Technik als Verantwortungsobjekt

Die Verantwortungsfrage stellt sich, wie gesehen, vieldimensional. Wer ist wem wofur und nach welchen Kriterien verantwortlich? Die Betrachtung der Verantwortungskriterien alleine fuhrt nicht zu einer Verantwortungsgesellschaft.
Optimal Initial Pathologic Mediastinal Staging of Lung Cancer: EUS, EBUS, Mediastinoscopy

Patients with suspected lung cancer require tissue diagnosis and accurate staging to determine optimal treatment. In the absence of distant metastases, mediastinal lymph node staging is an important branch point in deciding therapy. The initial clinical evaluation of patients with suspected lung cancer includes a contrast CT scan of the chest and upper abdomen that provides staging information about the T descriptor and usually leads to a presumptive clinical staging of the mediastinal lymph nodes. Increasingly, this clinical CT assessment is being supplemented or replaced altogether in routine clinical practice with a CT-PET scan. The CT portion of the CT-PET examination is performed without intravenous contrast and is of lower resolution than a dedicated CT scan. One often comes across the caveat describing the CT as “not of diagnostic quality” in the radiologic reports. For the purpose of this discussion, we will assume that the patient has known or suspected lung cancer and has undergone a CT scan and CT-PET examination.
Applications of Transient Infrared Spectroscopy to Coordinatively Unsaturated Metal Carbonyls

Details of the kinetics, bond energies and reactions mechanisms of coordinatively unsaturated metal carbonyls have been investigated in increasing detail. Much of the interest in these species arises from the fact that coordinatively unsaturated metal carbonyls can participate in a wide variety of stoichiometric and catalytic reactions [1]. These catalytic processes include olefin isomerization, hydrogenation, hydrosilation and hydroformylation. Coordinatively unsaturated metal carbonyls can often be readily and efficiently generated by UV photolysis [2].
Fast Liquid Scintillators Based on Organic Dye-Polymer Conjugates

A new family of organic photopolymers is proposed for use in liquid scintillators to be deployed in SSC radiation detectors. The polymers are based on simple derivatives of polymethacrylic acid (PMAA) which are conjugated to a primary chromophore such as pterphenyl (PTP). Electronic excitation energy resulting from particle bombardment of solvent molecules is harvested by the photopolymers through energy transfer. Excitation is subsequently entrained along polymer backbones via PTP groups and deposited in traps which consist of a second fluorophore which is also polymer bound as a minority species. The energy transfer concept is also applied to fluorophores used in combination (co-bound) with hydrophobic domains of the polyelectrolyte PMAA in water. Primary and secondary fluorophores can be freely substituted in order to select wavelengths of light appropriate for visible detectors (500–750 nm). The photopolymers are to take advantage of the following unique features: (1) the selection of organic polymers which adopt highly ordered, helical conformations for efficient longitudinal energy transfer to trap sites, (2) large frequency shift capabilities associated with energy transfer from PTP moieties to co-bound dye, utilizing the upper (second electronic state) of the dye, (3) the photochemical stability (radiation hardness) associated with the very fast removal of excitation energy through non-radiative decay of upper electronic states.
Osteomyelitis associated with sickle-cell anemia: Report of a case

Abstract Although osteomyelitis seldom occurs following severe periodontal disease in healthy persons, it may develop in patients with certain resistance-lowering diseases. One of these diseases is sickle-cell anemia, in which the red blood cells are unable to perform their normal functions and thus blood-borne antibiotics cannot reach the area of infection.
Bioenergetics: General Definition of Principles

Bioenergetics is the study of the molecular mechanisms by which energy, made available by catabolic metabolic pathways or by light capture in photosynthesis, is transformed and made available for cellular processes of growth, motility, and survival. Traditionally, the field has largely focused on studies of bacteria, mitochondria, and chloroplasts, although the principles, largely involving the generation and utilization of ion gradients across membranes, are much more generally applicable.
Sequential Methods for Vaccine Safety Evaluation and Surveillance in Public Health

In this chapter we describe the applications of sequential testing methodology to the problem of testing the incidence rates of adverse events in vaccine clinical trials and post-marketing safety evaluation. Section 5.1 describes typical design considerations for vaccine safety evaluation and the application of the SPRT and its other sequential tests that have been applied to test vaccine safety.
On the estimation of ARIMA Models with Missing Values

The problem of defining a likelihood for a nonstationary ARIMA process is discussed, and several alternative approaches are shown to be equivalent. A new algorithm based on a modification of the Kalman filter is developed to compute the likelihood recursively under any pattern of missing data, including missing starting values. A new state space representation is developed which exploits the covariance structure more efficiently than other representations that have been proposed in the literature.
The contribution of TRPC1 and STIM1 to capacitative Ca(2+) entry in pulmonary artery.

Capacitative calcium entry (CCE) through store-operated channels (SOCs) has been shown to contribute to the rise in intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) and mediate pulmonary artery smooth muscle contraction. CCE is activated as a result of depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores but there is a great deal of controversy surrounding the underlying signal that active CCE and the molecular makeup of SOCs. The discovery of canonical subgroup of transient receptor potential channels (TRPC) and recent identification of stromal-interacting molecule 1 (STIM1) protein have opened a door to the study of the identity of SOCs and the signal that activates these channels. Among all the TRPC channels, TRPC1 is widely studied in many cell types and shown to be part of SOCs components, whereas STIM1 protein is found to act as a Ca2+ sensor in the intracellular Ca2+ stores and activates SOCs. However, there is very little evidence for the roles of TRPC1 and STIM1 in the contribution of CCE in pulmonary artery. This chapter outlines the roles of TRPC1 and STIM1 in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells and discusses our recent findings that TRPC1 and STIM1 are functionally interact with each other to mediate CCE in these cells. We also propose a model for the molecular makeup of SOCs formed by TRPC1 and STIM1 in pulmonary artery.
Impact in Highway Bridges

In the United States of America, a considerable amount of experimental work has been done on impact in highway bridges but no investigation of sufficient magnitude has been carried out to deduce satisfactory laws of a general nature.
Perception scores of siblings and parents of children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

OBJECTIVES Siblings of children with chronic medical conditions endorse a lower quality of life compared to age-matched peers. Caregiver and sibling-self report of adjustment are often discordant. Congenital heart disease significantly affects family life. To date, there have been no studies addressing the functioning of siblings of children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, one of the most severe forms of congenital heart disease. The goal of this study was to assess the impact of hypoplastic left heart syndrome on sibling's quality of life as well as the caregiver's perception of this effect. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional study using a web-based survey distributed via various listservs targeted towards families of children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Employed the Sibling Perception Questionnaire, designed to assess sibling and caregiver perceptions of adjustment to chronic illness. A Negative Adjustment Composite Score was calculated for each respondent, with higher values representing more negative adjustment. RESULTS Thirty-five caregivers responded. Majority of caregivers were female (74%), white (86%) and college educated (54%). Thirty-two siblings participated, ranging in age from 7 to 30 years of age (12.5 ± 6.3). Most children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (73%) had undergone the third stage of palliation. Forty-two caregiver-sibling pairs were examined. Caregiver Negative Adjustment Composite Scores were significantly higher than sibling scores, with caregivers reporting more adjustment problems (2.4 ± 0.4) than siblings (2.3 ± 0.3, P < .05). Sibling age was correlated with worse caregiver and sibling scores (r 0.35, P < .05). CONCLUSIONS Caregivers of children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome perceive their siblings as struggling more than the children self-report. Siblings tend to report worse adjustment as they get older. These data suggest that programs should include support for the entire family through all ages to optimize quality of life.
Interactional stancetaking in online forums

Language is shaped by the relationships between the speaker/writer and the audience, the object of discussion, and the talk itself. In turn, language is used to reshape these relationships over the...
Yet Another Pathway to College Completion: CLEP Exams

ABSTRACTThis article highlights the College Level Examination Program – or CLEP – from the College Board, as another pathway for students to earn college credits toward degree completion. The renew...
Manipulation of Microstrip Antenna Directivity and Radiation Pattern using Negative Index Metamaterials

Metamaterials designed to generate multi- negative low-loss passbands are placed at various distances from an X-band patch antenna to examine their effects on the antenna directivity and radiation pattern. The metamaterials being placed half a wavelength away from the antenna, not only improve directivity, but also lower side lobe levels.
Synthesis and evaluation of new 4-peptidamido-2-fluorobenzyl phosphoramide mustard conjugates as prodrugs activated by prostate-specific antigen

In our continued efforts to develop targeted prodrugs activated by prostate-specific antigen (PSA), we designed and synthesized novel phosphoramide mustard peptide conjugates using previously optimized PSA substrates. Initial Nu/Nu mouse PK studies indicated that prodrug I (glutaryl-Hyp-Ala-Ser-Chg-Gln-NH-2-F-Bn-phosphoramide mustard) exhibits high clearance with significant extrahepatic metabolism in vivo. Substrate optimization studies were thus carried out to further improve PSA specificity and enable the design of prodrugs with reduced in vivo clearance and enhanced tumor selectivity. To assess the utility of the newly optimized sequences as promoieties, they were coupled to phosphoramide mustard using a 4-amino-2-fluorobenzyl alcohol linker akin to prodrug I. In the presence of human PSA, prodrug I was rapidly cleaved with a half-life (t1/2) of 35 min. Prodrugs II (glutaryl-Ser-Ala-Ser-Chg-Gln-NH-2-F-Bn-phosphoramide mustard) and III (GABA ← mGly-Ala-Ser-Chg-Gln-NH-2-F-Bn-phosphoramide mustard) were hydrolyzed at slower rates with t1/2 values of 80 and 107 min, respectively. These results we observed here are different from our previously reported data but may be explained by the fact that PSA-activated release of phosphoramide mustard and reactive quinonimine methides resulted in mechanism-based inhibition of PSA, thereby preventing further hydrolysis of prodrugs I–III. Prodrug I was cytotoxic to PSA-producing LNCaP cells with an IC50 value of 7.3 μM and demonstrated 14-fold selectivity over the non-PSA-producing DU145. Despite its poor in vitro antiproliferative activity (IC50 = 30 µM), prodrug III was found to be more stable against non-PSA-mediated hydrolysis compared with prodrug I as revealed by metabolite profiling studies, which was in agreement with its improved stability in human hepatocyte cultures. These results suggested that a combination of the peptide sequence GABA ← mGly-Ala-Ser-Chg-Gln with optimal linkers and/or other cytotoxic agents can help achieve an adequate balance between PSA cleavage rate and enhanced resistance to non-PSA-mediated hydrolysis.
Laboratory synthesis of pure methane hydrate suitable for measurement of physical properties and decomposition behavior

Gas hydrates are an intriguing class of nonstoichiometric compounds that have significant commercial and scientific applications both as an energy resource and as a manufactured material. The last half-century has witnessed a marked escalation in the scope of experimental research on gas hydrates, particularly directed towards the determination of their phase equilibria, formation kinetics, crystallographic and structural properties, transport and thermal properties, effects of inhibitors, and a number of related geochemical topics.
Resolving atomic site interactions of the Y. pestis outer membrane protein Ail with human serum in the bacterial cell envelope

Understanding microbe-host interactions at the molecular level is a major goal of fundamental biology and therapeutic drug development. Structural biology efforts strive to capture biomolecular structures in action, but the samples are often highly simplified versions of the complex native environment. Here we present an E. coli model system that allows us to probe the structure and function of Ail, the major surface protein of the deadly pathogen Yersinia pestis. Cell surface expression of Ail produces Y. pestis virulence phenotypes in E. coli, including resistance to human serum, pellicle formation and vitronectin co-sedimentation. Using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) with isolated bacterial cell envelopes, encompassing inner and outer membranes, we identify Ail sites that are sensitive to the bacterial membrane environment and involved in interactions with human serum components. The data capture the structure and function of Ail in a bacterial outer membrane and set the stage for probing its interactions with the complex milieu of immune response proteins present in human serum.
The detection of sub-solar mass dark matter halos

Dark matter halos of sub-solar mass are the first bound objects to form in cold dark matter theories. In this article, I discuss the present understanding of "microhalos'', their role in structure formation, and the implications of their potential presence, in the interpretation of dark matter experiments.
T cell–depleted cultured pediatric thymus tissue as a model for some aspects of human age-related thymus involution

Human age-related thymus involution is characterized by loss of developing thymocytes and the thymic epithelial network that supports them, with replacement by adipose tissue. The mechanisms that drive these changes are difficult to study in vivo due to constant trafficking to and from the thymus. We hypothesized that the loss of thymocytes that occurs during human thymic organ cultures could model some aspects of thymus involution and begin to identify mechanisms that drive age-related changes in the thymic microenvironment. Potential mechanistically important candidate molecules were initially identified by screening conditioned media from human thymus organ cultures using antibody microarrays. These candidates were further validated using cultured tissue extracts and conditioned media. Results were compared with gene expression studies from a panel of well-characterized (non-cultured) human thymus tissues from human donors aged 5 days to 78 years. L-selectin released into conditioned media was identified as a biomarker for the content of viable thymocytes within the cultured thymus. Levels of the chemokines CCL21 and CXCL12, likely produced by surviving thymic epithelial cells, increased markedly in conditioned media as thymocytes were lost during culture. Native non-cultured thymus from adults older than 18 years also showed a strong trend toward increased CCL21 expression, in conjunction with significant decreases in thymocyte-related mRNAs compared with thymus from subjects younger than 18 years. Together, these findings demonstrate that use of postnatal human thymus organ cultures can model some aspects of human age-related thymic involution.
Perspectives on Transitioning Step 1 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination to a Pass/Fail Scoring Model: Defining New Frameworks for Medical Students Applying for Residency

For years, the USMLE Step 1 has acted as an unofficial "concours" for medical students applying to residency positions in the United States. The three-digit numeric score has been used to rank thousands of applicants without any evidence of validity. The USMLE will soon change score reporting to a pass/fail outcome. The main reason given was to address the concerns about its effects on the well-being of the students and medical education. It is argued that time for change has come. The authors discuss the various viewpoints of the stakeholders and the effects of this change on applicants and potential changes on the undergraduate medical curriculum. Furthermore, this article discusses several metrics that can be utilized in the application process in lieu of the USMLE Step 1. Additionally, some novel key metrics in the application process are identified, and their unique dynamic and adaptive characteristics are deliberated. Finally, the benefits of a transparent and holistic process are strongly advocated.
Volatile oils ofIlucium floridanum andI. parviflorum (Illiciaceae) of the southeastern United States and their potential economic utilization

The essential oil from leaves and branches of cultivatedIllicium floridanum is dominated by 22.53 ± 2.23% linalool and 13.93 ± 1.61% linalyl acetate. The essential oil from leaves and branches of cultivated I. parviflorum is dominated by 68.14 ± 0.88% safrole, 13.18 ± 1.01% linalool, and 11.89 ± 0.87% methyl eugenol. Besides the Lauraceae and Piperaceae, the Illiciaceae is another natural source of safrole.
Processing of Speech in the Peripheral Auditory System

Publisher Summary The first step in the auditory processing of speech is conversion of the acoustic speech signal into patterns of activity in the neurons of the auditory nerve. Ideally, this transduction process would provide the central nervous system with complete information about the acoustic speech signal. This chapter considers some aspects of the internal representation of speech at the level of the auditory nerve; in particular, the chapter shows how information about the spectrum of a complex acoustic signal like a vowel is encoded and how the physiological properties of the cochlea affect the representation. The results to be described were obtained in experiments in which responses to steady-state synthetic vowels were recorded from large populations of single auditory-nerve fibers in anesthetized cats. This technique, introduced by Pfeiffer and Kim, allows a direct estimate of the population response of the entire ensemble of auditory-nerve fibers to be obtained. The synthetic vowel stimuli used were perfectly periodic with steady formant frequencies. They are a considerable simplification of natural speech, but by simplifying the stimuli in this way, attention is focused on fundamental questions that otherwise would have been obscured by complexities in the stimulus.
Ammonia Toxicity, Animal Cells

Introduction Sources of Ammonia Accumulation Generation of Ammonia Caused by Glutamine Degradation Generation of Ammonia Caused by Cell Metabolism Effects of Ammonia on Cell Physiology Effects of Ammonia on Cell Growth Effects of Ammonia on Cell Death Effects of Ammonia on Cell Metabolism Effects of Ammonia on Energy Metabolism Effects of Ammonia on Product Expression Effect of Ammonia on Product Quality Mechanism for Ammonia Inhibition Intracellular pH Membrane Potential Alteration of Metabolic Pathways Alteration of Ribonucleotide Pools Control of Ammonia Inhibition Minimization of Ammonia Generation Removal of Ammonia Conclusions Bibliography Keywords: ammonia; ammonium; cell culture; fermentation; inhibition; ion exchange; toxicity
Mouse CD300b (CLM-7) regulates the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells via phosphatidylserine recognition. (BA4P.215)

The CD300 receptor family emerges as group of important molecules that modulate a variety of immune cell processes.We show that mouse CD300b (CLM7/LMIR5), expressed by myeloid cells, recognizes outer membrane-exposed phosphatidylserine (PS) and does not, as previously reported, directly recognize TIM1 or TIM4. CD300b conveys activation signals through its association with adaptor molecules, like DAP12, and accumulates in the phagocytic cups at apoptotic cell contact sites, thereby facilitating the engulfment of such cells. Engulfment requires a functional DAP12 ITAM motif. Importantly, silencing CD300b expression by macrophages diminishes Syk, PI3K and Akt phosphorylation in the presence of apoptotic cells and impairs phagocytosis of these cells. Collectively, our data shows that CD300b recognizes PS as a ligand, and regulates the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells via the DAP12 signaling pathway.
Book Review Essays

Amerindian Constructions of Otherness: From, the Enemy's Point of View: Humanity and Divinity in an Amazonian Society. Eduardo Viveiros de Castro. Amerindian Constructions of Otherness: La memoria rituale: Follia e immagine del Bianco in una tradizione sciamanica amerindiana. Carlo Severi.
The Older Woman

Interviews were conducted with 302 elderly persons residing in two ethnic urban communities to determine their problems as well as their needs for diverse community services. Sex and living arrangements were found to be critical mediators of the demand for and use of various services. A greater proportion of women than men (particularly women living alone) reported needs for household, self-maintenance, and community services. Older women living alone were also more likely to report that they had experienced neighborhood problems. Implications for designing community-based services to better meet the needs of older persons in diverse living situations are discussed.
Role of a phase: Change Moho in stabilization and preservation of the Southern Uralide orogen, Russia

Geophysical (URSEIS experiment) and geological data from the Southern Uralides of central Russia provide the basis for a geodynamic model involving eclogitization of the Uralian crustal root in Late Triassic to Early Jurassic time as a mechanism for stabilization and preservation of this Paleozoic orogen. The crustal structure of the orogen implies eastward subduction of the East European continental crust, and balanced restoration implies a significant volume of crust (comprised of ∼70% European crust, and ∼30% accreted terranes) was carried to sub-Moho depths of up to 70 km. The lack of a clearly defined near-vertical incidence reflection Moho corroborated by coincident wide-angle reflection data suggest that the Moho is a sub-horizontal gradational boundary at ∼50-53 km depth beneath the axis of the Southern Uralides. Previous modeling of a subdued (-50 mgal) regional Bouguer gravity minimum across the orogen suggests a subsurface load that is interpreted here as substantiation for a metamorphic phase-change of the lower crust to mantle-like eclogite facies rocks. Timing of eclogitization appears to be constrained by (1) superposition of a nearly flat Moho across the Paleozoic Uralian orogenic fabric, and (2) zircon and apatite fission-track minimum ages of 180-200 Ma, marking an upper age limit to cooling of rocks exposed at the surface, and, implicitly, to significant uplift and erosion in the Southern Uralides. The proposed eclogitization of the Southern Uralian root zone may have led to an isostatically balanced system with subdued topography, and thereby presumably served to stabilize and preserve the orogenic structure.
The Challenge of Temporary Work In Twenty-First Century Labor Markets: Flexibility with Fairness for the Low-Wage Temporary Workforce

As the Commonwealth wrestles with the social and economic aftershocks of the worst economic recession in 80 years, the widespread use of temporary staffing arrangements is a sober reminder that the “standard” employment relationship, a cornerstone of the prosperity of the post-­World War II era, is no longer available to a large segment of the American workforce. “Job ladders” have disintegrated, depriving capable and dedicated workers of predictable promotions. Regular step increases in pay and cost-­of-­living adjustments are in many occupational categories a thing of the past. Simply put, the “good jobs” working people need to support families, pay the mortgage and finance a college education are far too scarce.This report provides policy-makers an assessment of temporary low-wage work in Massachusetts as it affects workers, businesses, and the growth of the Massachusetts economy. Each day, about 25,000 temporary staffing agency workers toil in low-­wage industrial and service jobs in the Commonwealth. These workers, like hundreds of thousands of Americans, hold down precarious staffing jobs characterized by erratic schedules, poverty wages, hazardous conditions and demeaning treatment.
The radiobiological implications of statistical variations in energy deposition by ionizing radiations

Traditional approaches to microdosimetry, the fundamental physics of energy deposition, the importance of statistical processes, an illustration of possible radiobiological interpretation, and modeling based on microdosimetric concepts are discussed. Emphasis is on the inadequacies in linear energy transfer (LET) theory. For many reasons, concepts based on averaging may not be applicable to ionizing radiation absorption by and damage to small biological targets.