cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Histone Code Modifications Repress Glucose Transporter 4 Expression in the Intrauterine Growth-restricted Offspring

We examined transcriptional and epigenetic mechanism(s) behind diminished skeletal muscle GLUT4 mRNA in intrauterine growth-restricted (IUGR) female rat offspring. An increase in MEF2D (inhibitor) with a decline in MEF2A (activator) and MyoD (co-activator) binding to the glut4 promoter in IUGR versus control was observed. The functional role of MEF2/MyoD-binding sites and neighboring three CpG clusters in glut4 gene transcription was confirmed in C2C12 muscle cells. No differential methylation of these three and other CpG clusters in the glut4 promoter occurred. DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) in postnatal, DNMT3a, and DNMT3b in adult was differentially recruited with increased MeCP2 (methyl CpG-binding protein) concentrations to bind the IUGR glut4 gene. Covalent modifications of the histone (H) code consisted of H3.K14 de-acetylation by recruitment of histone deacetylase (HDAC) 1 and enhanced association of HDAC4 enzymes. This set the stage for Suv39H1 methylase-mediated di-methylation of H3.K9 and increased recruitment of heterochromatin protein 1α, which partially inactivates postnatal and adult IUGR glut4 gene transcription. Further increased interactions in the adult IUGR between DNMT3a/DNMT3b and HDAC1 and MEF2D and HDAC1/HDAC4 and decreased association between MyoD and MEF2A existed. We conclude that epigenetic mechanisms consisting of histone code modifications repress skeletal muscle glut4 transcription in the postnatal period and persist in the adult female IUGR offspring.
Are reproductive tactics determined by local ecology in Romalea microptera (Orthoptera: Acrididae)?

We tested whether reproductive tactics of a univoltine insect can be predicted by local ecology, specifically mean length of the frost free period (FFP) as a measure of the potential active season. We measured reproductive tactics and longevity for populations of the lubber grasshopper Romalea microptera (Beauvois) from Miami, Florida (FL; 365 days FFP), Lydia, Louisiana (LA; 280 days FFP), and Athens, Georgia (GA; 224 days FFP). Differences in local climate led us to predict that GA grasshoppers will have shorter interclutch intervals, fewer clutches, and shorter lifespan than FL grasshoppers, with LA grasshoppers intermediate in these traits. When reared in a common laboratory environment, longevity, total reproductive period, and number of clutches produced were not clearly related to FFP. Longevity and reproductive period of LA grasshoppers were significantly less than those of FL grasshoppers, and number of clutches produced by LA grasshoppers was less than that for the FL or GA grasshoppers. First interclutch interval was significantly greater for LA than for GA grasshoppers. Our data suggest that phylogenetic relationships among populations may be a better predictor of reproductive tactics in this species.
Photochemistry: A coherent picture of vision

Vision is initiated by photoisomerization of 11-cis retinal in the visual pigment rhodopsin — a fast and efficient process. Spectroscopic studies now demonstrate that the transition from the reactant photoexcited-state to the ground-state photoproduct, which mediates this important reaction, occurs on a sub-50-fs timescale and is vibrationally coherent.
Polaris: Lymba's Semantic Parser

Semantic representation of text is key to text understanding and reasoning. In this paper, we present Polaris, Lymba's semantic parser. Polaris is a supervised semantic parser that given text extracts semantic relations. It extracts relations from a wide variety of lexico-syntactic patterns, including verb-argument structures, noun compounds and others. The output can be provided in several formats: XML, RDF triples, logic forms or plain text, facilitating interoperability with other tools. Polaris is implemented using eight separate modules. Each module is explained and a detailed example of processing using a sample sentence is provided. Overall results using a benchmark are discussed. Per module performance, including errors made and pruned by each module are also analyzed.
Chemical Engineering: Energy Balances for Multicomponent Systems

Introduction Most systems of interest to chemical engineers are multicomponent, and a bit of reflection tells us that the internal energy of a multicomponent system must depend on the composition as well as on the temperature and pressure. We know, for example, that the temperature increases without adding any heat when sulfuric acid and water at the same temperature are mixed together. Writing energy balances for multicomponent systems is straightforward, but it is delicate and requires a bit of care. The engineering literature, including textbooks and basic handbooks, abounds with incorrect energy balances, often because of unwarranted shortcuts. I have published a brief catalog of incorrect energy balances elsewhere. Perhaps the most unsettling example on that list is a computer program offered for sale by a leading corporation to model a chemical reactor for converting coal to CO and H 2 . The most important consideration in operating such a reactor is getting the location and magnitude of the highest temperature (the hot spot ) right, because too high a temperature or an incorrect location will affect the structural integrity of the reactor. The model predicted steady-state and transient profiles of solid- and gas-phase temperatures, coal conversion, and the concentrations of many gaseous species, but it contained an error that guaranteed that the hot spot would be computed incorrectly!
Biomolecular Surface Engineering of Materials for Controlling Bone Cell Adhesion and Spreading

Model biomaterial surfaces were modified with a peptide that contained a -RGD- (Arg-GlyAsp) sequence, unique to bone sialoprotein, to determine its effect on strength of adhesion, spreading, and focal contact formation of primary bone-derived cells. Peptide surfaces were fabricated by using a heterobifunctional crosslinker to graft the peptide to surfaces (quartz and silicon). Contact angle measurements, spectroscopic ellipsometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to confirm the chemistry and thickness of the overlayers. Furthermore, spectroscopic ellipsometry was used to estimate the density of immobilized peptide on metal oxide surfaces. A radial flow apparatus was used to measure the strength of adhesion on peptide grafted surfaces. Following 20 min of cell incubation, the strength of cell adhesion was significantly (p<0.05) higher on the -RGD- compared to -RGE- (control) surfaces. The mean area of cells contacting the -RGD- surface was significantly (p<0.05) higher than -RGE- surfaces. Vinculin staining revealed formation of focal contact patches on the periphery of bone cells incubated for 4 hr on the -RGD- surfaces; however, cells seeded on the -RGE- grafted surfaces formed little or no focal contacts. The methods of peptide immobilization utilized in this study can be applied to medical devices, biosensors, and diagnostic assays that require specificity in cell adhesion.
Role of Dendritic Cells in the Adaptive Immune Response

Paul Langerhans described dendritic cells (DCs) in the skin in 1868. He originally considered these parts of the nervous system; their function in the immune system was not recognized for 100 years. In the 1970s, Ralph Steinman, working initially in the laboratory of Zanvil Cohn and subsequently as an independent investigator, described DCs in the peripheral lymphoid tissues and determined that these cells were effective antigen-presenting cells (APCs). In a series of investigations, Steinman and his colleagues demonstrated that these cells are present in various lymphoid organs and the peripheral blood and that they express both class I and class II MHC molecules. They activate both CD4 + and CD8 + T lymphocytes and serve as APCs for mixed leukocyte reactions, allogeneic graft rejection, activation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes, and stimulation of helper cells in antibody responses. Based on these data, Steinman and others developed vaccines to infectious microorganisms and to tumors, one of which has been approved by the FDA. For these studies, Ralph Steinman was awarded a portion of the 2011 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
Invasibility of three major non-native invasive shrubs and associated factors in Upper Midwest U.S. forest lands

Abstract We used non-native invasive plant data from the US Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, spatial statistical methods, and the space (cover class)-for-time approach to quantify the invasion potential and success (“invasibility”) of three major invasive shrubs (multiflora rose, non-native bush honeysuckles, and common buckthorn) in broadly classified forest-type groups in seven Upper Midwest states. Smoothed maps of presence and cover percent showed a strong clustering pattern for all three invasive shrubs despite their different ranges. The species are clustered around major cities or urban areas (e.g., Chicago, Illinois, and Des Moines, Iowa), indicating the potential role humans played in their invasion and spread on the landscape and throughout the Midwest. Conditional inference tree (ctree) models further quantified the significant factors contributing to the observed regional patterns: for distribution of multiflora rose, percentage of forest cover in the county (measuring human disturbance intensity) and stand density index; for distribution of common buckthorn, distance to major highways. Non-native bush honeysuckles were not associated with any disturbance and site/stand variables except for latitude and longitude. The infested FIA plots by cover class were positively associated in space, signifying a concentric-like spread trend from previously infested sites (hot spots) to surrounding areas. By forest-type groups or as a whole, the three species spread slowly at earlier stages, but recently have increased significantly in presence/expansion. Oak/hickory and elm/ash/cottonwood forests were more susceptible to the three invasive shrubs compared to other forests. We recommend that resource managers and planners prescribe control and mitigation treatments for non-native invasive plants by forest types and spatial locations close to highways and residences.
The lower central series of the free nilpotent groups of finite rank

AbstractIn their article, “On the derived subgroup of the free nilpotent groups of finite rank” R. D. Blyth, P. Moravec, and R. F. Morse describe the structure of the derived subgroup of a free nil...
Insights from Global Analyses of Long Noncoding RNAs in Breast Cancer.

The goal of this review was to compare and contrast the results and implications from several recent transcriptomic studies that analyzed the expression of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in breast cancer. How many lncRNAs are dysregulated in breast cancer? Do dysregulated lncRNAs contribute to breast cancer etiology? Are lncRNAs viable biomarkers in breast cancer? Transcriptomic profiling of breast cancer tissues, mostly from The Cancer Genome Atlas, identified thousands of long noncoding RNAs that are expressed and dysregulated in breast cancer. The expression of lncRNAs alone can divide patients into molecular subtypes. Subsequent functional studies demonstrated that several of these lncRNAs have important roles in breast cancer cell biology. Thousands of lncRNAs are dysregulated in breast cancer that can be developed as biomarkers for prognostic or therapeutic purposes. The reviewed reports provide a roadmap to guide functional studies to discover lncRNAs with critical biological functions relating to breast cancer development and progression.
Risk Assessment of Hypervelocity Impact of Saturn Dust on Cassini Sun Sensors

Cassini is one of the most sophisticated interplanetary spacecraft that humans have ever built and launched. Since achieving orbit at Saturn in 2004, Cassini has collected science data throughout i...
A Comparative Biomechanical Analysis of 2 Double-Row, Distal Triceps Tendon Repairs.

Background:Triceps tendon ruptures are rare orthopaedic injuries that almost always require surgical repair. This study tests the biomechanical properties of an original anchorless double-row trice...
A statistical framework for biomedical literature mining

In systems biology, it is of great interest to identify new genes that were not previously reported to be associated with biological pathways related to various functions and diseases. Identification of these new pathway-modulating genes does not only promote understanding of pathway regulation mechanisms but also allow identification of novel targets for therapeutics. Recently, biomedical literature has been considered as a valuable resource to investigate pathway-modulating genes. While the majority of currently available approaches are based on the co-occurrence of genes within an abstract, it has been reported that these approaches show only sub-optimal performances because 70% of abstracts contain information only for a single gene. To overcome such limitation, we propose a novel statistical framework based on the concept of ontology fingerprint that uses gene ontology to extract information from large biomedical literature data. The proposed framework simultaneously identifies pathway-modulating genes and facilitates interpreting functions of these new genes. We also propose a computationally efficient posterior inference procedure based on Metropolis–Hastings within Gibbs sampler for parameter updates and the poor man's reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo approach for model selection. We evaluate the proposed statistical framework with simulation studies, experimental validation, and an application to studies of pathway-modulating genes in yeast. The R implementation of the proposed model is currently available at https://dongjunchung.github.io/bayesGO/. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Rapid Clinical and Radiographic Response With Combined Dabrafenib and Trametinib in Adults With BRAF-Mutated High-Grade Glioma

BRAF V600E mutations have been successfully treated with targeted therapy in melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, and thyroid cancer. Interestingly, these mutations have also been identified in a subset of pediatric and adult brain tumors, with several cases reportedly responding to targeted therapy. However, these reports have been limited to single-agent BRAF inhibitor therapy and recurrent disease. Herein, we report dramatic clinical and radiographic responses to combination dabrafenib (BRAF inhibitor) and trametinib (MEK inhibitor) in 2 adults with high-grade gliomas (HGGs), with 1 patient treated in the first-line setting. These observations, together with prior case reports, advocate for routine screening of BRAF point mutations in adult HGGs, and suggest that treatment with dual-targeted therapy, even in newly diagnosed cases, is safe and effective.
Wearable Sensor-Based Location-Specific Occupancy Detection in Smart Environments

Occupancy detection helps enable various emerging smart environment applications ranging from opportunistic HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning) control, effective meeting management, healthy social gathering, and public event planning and organization. Ubiquitous availability of smartphones and wearable sensors with the users for almost 24 hours helps revitalize a multitude of novel applications. The inbuilt microphone sensor in smartphones plays as an inevitable enabler to help detect the number of people conversing with each other in an event or gathering. A large number of other sensors such as accelerometer and gyroscope help count the number of people based on other signals such as locomotive motion. In this work, we propose multimodal data fusion and deep learning approach relying on the smartphone’s microphone and accelerometer sensors to estimate occupancy. We first demonstrate a novel speaker estimation algorithm for people counting and extend the proposed model using deep nets for handling large-scale fluid scenarios with unlabeled acoustic signals. We augment our occupancy detection model with a magnetometer-dependent fingerprinting-based localization scheme to assimilate the volume of location-specific gathering. We also propose crowdsourcing techniques to annotate the semantic location of the occupant. We evaluate our approach in different contexts: conversational, silence, and mixed scenarios in the presence of 10 people. Our experimental results on real-life data traces in natural settings show that our cross-modal approach can achieve approximately 0.53 error count distance for occupancy detection accuracy on average.
Soft Biomaterial-based Nanocrystal in Pharmaceutical

Background and objective Bio-soft material, a class of derivatives of the natural or synthetic material, is getting more and more prevalent in biomedical researches and applications due to the advantages such as in-vivo biodegradation, good water solubility and designable targeting ability. With the presence of bio-soft materials, the drug nanocrystal can be easily generated and aggregated in a feasible process. Given the promising application of the bio-soft material in biological and chemical research, it is valuable to discuss the crucial step in designing bio-soft materials and analyze the emerging properties of bio-soft materials. Methods A comprehensive literature survey in the field of bio-soft material development and analysis has been conducted. The collected data and figures were meticulously analyzed and interpreted. Results In this review, the details of bio-soft materials based nanocrystal were demonstrated in three sections with respect to different materials. In each section, the pros and cons for each bio-soft material and its derivatives were elaborately listed and discussed. Conclusion The review enables an insightful discussion about the properties and the applications of existing biosoft material. It may contribute to the further researches about bio-soft material development and analysis.
Historical Roots of Contemporary Family Therapy

Can the precise moment of an event, such as the beginning of a scientific discipline or profession, be pinpointed with any degree of accuracy? In the case of the family therapy movement, as in similar situations, probably not. As Mueller (1979) points out, as one attempts to decide which of several persons or which one of several dates seems most appropriate to mark a “beginning,” it becomes apparent that what we gain from such an exercise is found less in understanding “when, where, and who” and more in an appreciation of “what” was begun. Whether in art or literature, in research or professional practice, the traditional inward looking view of Western man began to be viewed as too constricting without a view of the social context in which that person functioned. Typically, that context involved interaction within the family structure. In order to change the maladaptive, problematic, or dysfunctional behavior, some clinicians began to recognize it would be necessary to alter the context in which that behavior occurred. Without necessarily stating it as such—or perhaps without themselves even realizing it—they had adopted a family therapy orientation to therapeutic intervention.
Exploitation, secondary extinction and the altered trophic structure of Jamaican coral reefs

Coral reef communities of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean have a long history of anthropogenic disturbance, driven by the exploitation for food of both vertebrate and invertebrate species. Exploitation, coupled with region wide declines of coral environments has resulted in local and regional vertebrate extinctions. The impact of those extinctions on reef communities, however, remains largely unexplored. Here we show, using a highly resolved model coral reef-seagrass food web, that at least 40 of 188 expected vertebrate species are absent from Jamaican coral reefs. Twenty one of the absent species are of high trophic level and are exploited by humans. The remainder of the absent species are unexploited, and comprises a significantly high proportion of specialized reef foragers. Many of those species are also more trophically specialized than their closest trophic competitors. We conclude that the absence of unexploited species from Jamaica is caused by the overexploitation of high trophic level species, and consequent trophic cascades and secondary extinction among their prey in an increasingly degraded reef environment. The result is a reef community depauperate of both exploited high trophic level predators, and unexploited, specialized lower trophic level reef foragers.
3D Visualization of Class Template Diagrams for Deployed Open Source Applications

The generic programming paradigm is becoming in-creasingly popular as an ancillary tool to object technology,with conferences, seminars and other literature appearing toaddress these growing concerns [3, 6, 11, 32]. Generic pro-gramming deals with ﬁnding abstract representations of ef-ﬁcient algorithms and data structures and expressing thesestructures in an adaptable interoperable manner [11]. Thecanonical example of generic programming is the StandardC
Early Progressive Mobilization of Patients with External Ventricular Drains: Safety and Feasibility.

Early mobilization of critically ill patients has been shown to improve functional outcomes. Neurosurgery patients with an external ventricular drain (EVD) due to increased intracranial pressure often remain on bed rest while EVD remains in place. The prevalence of mobilizing patients with EVD has not been described, and the literature regarding the safety and feasibility of mobilizing patients with EVDs is limited. The aim of our study was to describe the outcomes and adverse events of the first mobilization attempt in neurosurgery patients with EVD who participated in early functional mobilization with physical therapy or occupational therapy. We performed a single-site, retrospective chart review of 153 patients who underwent placement of an EVD. Hemodynamically stable patients deemed appropriate for mobilization by physical or occupational therapy were included. Mobilization and activity details were recorded. The most common principal diagnoses were subarachnoid hemorrhage (61.4%) and intracerebral hemorrhage (17.0%) requiring EVD for symptomatic hydrocephalus. A total of 117 patients were mobilized (76.5%), and the median time to first mobilization after EVD placement in this group of 117 patients was 38 h. Decreased level of consciousness was the most common reason for lack of mobilization. The highest level of mobility on the patient’s first attempt was ambulation (43.6%), followed by sitting on the side of the bed (30.8%), transferring to a bedside chair (17.1%), and standing up from the side of the bed (8.5%). No major safety events, such as EVD dislodgment, occurred in any patient. Transient adverse events with mobilization were infrequent at 6.9% and had no permanent neurological sequelae and were mostly headache, nausea, and transient diastolic blood pressure elevation. Early progressive mobilization of neurosurgical intensive care unit patients with external ventricular drains appears safe and feasible.
Taking the stage: a development programme for women speakers in emergency medicine

Female physicians in the USA achieve associate and full professor rank at numbers disparate to their representation within emergency medicine (EM). The authors describe a novel curriculum aimed at developing women speakers as a step on the journey towards academic recognition. In this pilot programme, four female physicians at a single academic emergency department participated in a year-long Speaker Development Programme (SDP), and all presented in at least one national EM conference at SDP completion. Participants reported improved speaking skills, confidence and drive to present externally. Elements to success were mentor engagement, encouragement by the departmental chair and creation of a growth and belonging mindset within the cohort. Future steps include creating a framework for maintaining the SDP beyond the pilot phase, such as ensuring access to curriculum materials, and retaining an experienced external mentor over time.
Adrenocortical Cancer Treatment

Adrenocortical cancer is a rare disease. Prognosis remains poor but is improving. In this article, initial presentation, biochemical and imaging evaluation, surgical approach to resection, and postoperative care are reviewed. Prognosis, patterns of recurrence, treatment of metastatic disease using medical therapy and other surgical and nonsurgical therapies are discussed.
2489. Adverse Events with Biktarvy: Post-Marketing Study

Background Bictegravir (BIC)/emtricitabine (FTC)/tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) was FDA approved in February 2018. There are no published post-marketing data evaluating safety and efficacy. After large uptake of BIC/FTC/TAF at our institution, reports of rash prompted a real-world review. The purpose of this study was to assess one year post-marketing safety and tolerability of BIC/FTC/TAF.
Development of an automated micropipette coating method for drug-coated balloons.

Drug-coated balloons (DCBs) are a recent technology developed to treat peripheral artery disease (PAD). Along with a suitable formulation of antiproliferative drug and excipient, coating method is an important aspect of a DCB as these factors affect coating characteristics and drug delivery to the treatment site. The multiple release tailored medical devices DCB (MR-TMD-DCB), designed to achieve multiple inflations to treat complex PAD, contains paclitaxel (PAT) as the antiproliferative drug and polyethylene oxide (PEO) as the excipient. In our previous studies, the MR-TMD-DCB was coated using a manual dip coating method. In this study, an automated micropipette coating method was developed using a modified spray coating instrument to coat the MR-TMD-DCB. First, the coating formulation and strategy was optimized. A drug formulation of 16 wt% PAT and 4% wt/vol PEO, a polymer formulation of 2.5% wt/vol PEO, and a total of two drug layers produced a mostly uniform and thin coating with no defects and acceptable drug load. The balloon also had optimal drug uptake in arterial tissue in an in vitro flow model. Next, the reproducibility of the coating strategy was improved by optimizing the instrument parameters. The optimized instrument parameters (translational speed = 0.150 in/s, revolution rate = 100 rpm, flow rate = 0.6 ml/min) resulted in improved reproducibility of the drug load and similar coating properties as the DCB. This study demonstrated the ability to automate the micropipette process to obtain a balloon with optimal coating properties and drug tissue uptake.
P129 Web-Based Nutrition Education Module for Health Professions Students

Objective To demonstrate efficacy of a web-based intervention on nutritional counseling for medical, nursing, and health professions students in improvement in 2 areas: objective nutrition knowledge and self-reported confidence in providing nutrition counseling. Use of Theory or Research Chronic diseases affect most of the US population and are linked to dietary risk factors, making it crucial for future cohorts of health professionals to provide quality nutritional counseling for patients. Target Audience Health professions students from the following schools at The University of Texas Health San Antonio (UTHSA): School of Medicine, Nursing, Health Professions. Program Description A 45-minute online lecture on nutritional counseling was created with principles from the USDA Dietary Guidelines, MyPlate, and DHHS Physical Activity Guidelines, and advised by MD and RD/LD faculty at UTHSA, and University of Texas San Antonio, respectively. Evaluation Methods Pre-post surveys composed of a 14-question knowledge assessment (KA) based on the lecture intervention and a 15-question self-reported confidence assessment (CA) were administered. CA questions were formatted on a 7-point Likert scale, and confidence was assessed in 4 areas: providing nutrition counseling to others, using nutrition guidelines (USDA, DHHS), counseling evidenced-based diets (DASH, Mediterranean), and satisfaction with current nutrition knowledge. Paired t test and 95% confidence intervals were used to assess improvement in nutritional counseling knowledge and confidence. Results Twenty-six health professions students fully completed the pre-post survey and lecture intervention. Fifty-four percent were medical students, 27% nursing students, and 15% health professions students. KA score significantly improved from 9.8 baseline to 12 post-intervention (P Conclusions Results indicate that health professional students significantly improved their nutritional counseling knowledge and confidence after the intervention, which can simulate more nutritional counseling conversations with patients.
Testosterone Decreases Placental Mitochondrial Content and Cellular Bioenergetics

Placental mitochondrial dysfunction plays a central role in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. Since preeclampsia is a hyperandrogenic state, we hypothesized that elevated maternal testosterone levels induce damage to placental mitochondria and decrease bioenergetic profiles. To test this hypothesis, pregnant Sprague–Dawley rats were injected with vehicle or testosterone propionate (0.5 mg/kg/day) from gestation day (GD) 15 to 19. On GD20, the placentas were isolated to assess mitochondrial structure, copy number, ATP/ADP ratio, and biogenesis (Pgc-1α and Nrf1). In addition, in vitro cultures of human trophoblasts (HTR-8/SVneo) were treated with dihydrotestosterone (0.3, 1.0, and 3.0 nM), and bioenergetic profiles using seahorse analyzer were assessed. Testosterone exposure in pregnant rats led to a 2-fold increase in plasma testosterone levels with an associated decrease in placental and fetal weights compared with controls. Elevated maternal testosterone levels induced structural damage to the placental mitochondria and decreased mitochondrial copy number. The ATP/ADP ratio was reduced with a parallel decrease in the mRNA and protein expression of Pgc-1α and Nrf1 in the placenta of testosterone-treated rats compared with controls. In cultured trophoblasts, dihydrotestosterone decreased the mitochondrial copy number and reduced PGC-1α, NRF1 mRNA, and protein levels without altering the expression of mitochondrial fission/fusion genes. Dihydrotestosterone exposure induced significant mitochondrial energy deficits with a dose-dependent decrease in basal respiration, ATP-linked respiration, maximal respiration, and spare respiratory capacity. In summary, our study suggests that the placental mitochondrial dysfunction induced by elevated maternal testosterone might be a potential mechanism linking preeclampsia to feto-placental growth restriction.
Severe low back pain with mild leg symptoms due to lumbar spine stenosis.

Some patients with lumbar spine stenosis (LSS) have severe low back pain (LBP) with only mild leg symptoms. The effects of decompression surgery for such patients remain unknown. Of 818 patients wi...
Analysis of time-dependent strain heterogeneity in shales using X-ray microscopy and digital volume correlation

Abstract In this article, we report the results of a 4-dimensional (3 spatial dimensions plus time) in-situ creep experiment on a milli-core shale plug from Barnett formation in Texas. An outstanding challenge in shale mechanics is connecting observable characteristics to predictable mechanical and hydraulic behavior. We employ novel imaging and analysis techniques to statistically link sample mineralogy and structure to observed deformation. In particular, we focus on mechanisms of porosity reduction during transient response to step changes in stress, analogous to the aseismic deformation that occurs after an episode of fracturing. Our main goal in this study is to take the first steps to visualize and capture the small-scale deformation mechanisms involved in creep of shales, using imaging techniques. To do so, we conducted a uniaxial creep experiment inside an Xradia Versa 520 micro-CT system for 12 h at room temperature under a constant uniaxial stress of 25 MPa. We employed a Digital Volume Correlation (DVC) method to measure micro-scale deforspmation of the sample by comparing the resulting volumetric images with a high-resolution scan of the sample obtained prior to the creep experiment. The results indicate that the time-dependent deformation in the compliant clay plus kerogen matrix constituents facilitates rigid grain rotation and compaction of intergranular porosity at the boundary between rigid grains and matrix.
Influence of tibial tuberosity position and trochlear depth on patellar tracking in patellar instability: Variations with Patella Alta.

Abstract Background Patella alta reduces articular constraints acting on the patella from the trochlear groove with the knee extended. The current study was performed to address how patella alta alters the influence of tibial tuberosity position and trochlear depth on patellar tracking in patients being treated for patellar instability. Methods Fifteen subjects with recurrent patellar instability participated in knee extension within a dynamic CT scanner. Computational models were reconstructed from the motions to characterize patellar lateral shift, patellar tilt, patellar height, trochlear depth and lateral position of the tibial tuberosity at 0° and 30° of knee flexion. Linear regressions were used to correlate patellar tracking with anatomy for an alta group (7 knees, Caton-Deschamps index > 1.2) and a non-alta group. Findings For the alta group, lateral patellar shift and tilt increased with increasing lateral position of the tibial tuberosity at 0° (r2 > 0.8, P 0.8, P = 0.001). Lateral patellar tilt also increased with increasing lateral position of the tibial tuberosity at 30° for the non-alta group (r2 = 0.55, P = 0.04). Interpretation For patients with patellar instability, lateral patellar maltracking with the knee extended can be largely attributed to either a shallow trochlear groove or a combination of patella alta and a lateral position of the tibial tuberosity. These relationships should be considered in both conservative and surgical treatment planning.
Preferences Toward COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing Features: Results From a National Cross-Sectional Survey.

Purpose:Describe preferences toward COVID-19 testing features (method, location, hypothetical monetary incentive) and simulate the effect of monetary incentives on willingness to test.Design:Online...
Complementarity in daily marijuana and alcohol among emerging adults.

Objective: The relationship between marijuana and alcohol use among late adolescents was examined as whether marijuana use was related to quantity of alcohol consumed that day, and whether changes in marijuana and alcohol use frequency over 3 years were related. Method: College students (n = 375) reported marijuana and alcohol use for 28 days over 3 years. Results: Within-day analyses showed that more alcohol was consumed on days on which marijuana was used. Co-use varied by alcohol use problems, day of week, and year in study; the relation between marijuana and alcohol use was stronger among those who reported less problematic alcohol use, on weekdays, and as time increased. Daily level co-use relations also differed marginally by gender. At the annual level, there was a marginal relation between changes in use such that increasing use of one substance over time was weakly associated with increased use of the other substance over the same time period. Conclusions: Results add to the emerging conclusion of complementary marijuana and alcohol co-use within a single day, showing it occurs for both women and men, across a full range of marijuana use, and increases with time while being affected by alcohol use problems and day of week. The overall strong co-use relationship highlights risky behavior among late adolescents and supports an emphasis on common underlying substance use causes. However, the different pattern when assessed yearly demonstrates the importance of tailoring the timescale of analysis to the specific substance use question. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Estimation of forced vital capacity using speech acoustics in patients with ALS.

In this study, we present and provide validation data for a tool that predicts forced vital capacity (FVC) from speech acoustics collected remotely via a mobile app without the need for any additional equipment (e.g. a spirometer). We trained a machine learning model on a sample of healthy participants and participants with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to learn a mapping from speech acoustics to FVC and used this model to predict FVC values in a new sample from a different study of participants with ALS. We further evaluated the cross-sectional accuracy of the model and its sensitivity to within-subject change in FVC. We found that the predicted and observed FVC values in the test sample had a correlation coefficient of .80 and mean absolute error between .54 L and .58 L (18.5% to 19.5%). In addition, we found that the model was able to detect longitudinal decline in FVC in the test sample, although to a lesser extent than the observed FVC values measured using a spirometer, and was highly repeatable (ICC = 0.92-0.94), although to a lesser extent than the actual FVC (ICC = .97). These results suggest that sustained phonation may be a useful surrogate for VC in both research and clinical environments.
A Cautionary Note on Measuring the Duration of FDA Drug and Device Reviews

The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) created rewards for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) if it can meet goals related to the duration of the 'formal review stage' of the drug development process. Later, the Medical Device User Fee and Modernization Act (MDUFMA) set up a similar scheme for medical devices. This short note assembles some evidence showing that FDA has in recent years changed its patterns of interaction with drug and device sponsors: Some interactions or steps that previously would have been carried out during the formal review stage are now very often carried out prior to that stage. In light of these changes, it could well be that the main driver causing shorter durations of the formal review stage is not an increase in review efficiency, but rather that sponsor submission of the formal application — which is the marker in time identifying the start of the formal review stage — is happening later in the new-product development process. Sponsors are likely quite willing to submit their formal applications later so long as the development process ends no later, and indeed a sponsor may be very happy to do so if it means that its product will undergo only one 'cycle' of FDA review, since a sponsor's reputation in the medical marketplace can be damaged whenever a product does not succeed on the first cycle of FDA review. The FDA's increased interaction with sponsors prior to application submission thus may have caused a real gain in reducing needless negative shocks to sponsor reputations, but it may also mean that the much-touted success of PDUFA and MDUFMA in increasing the speed with which drugs secure FDA approval has become partially illusory or false; both of these effects, however, would be difficult to verify through observation. In the limit, continued changes in the pattern of FDA-sponsor interaction could turn the formal review stage into something of a formality, with measurements of FDA's performance during the formal review stage in turn becoming mostly meaningless.
In Vitro Colony-Forming Cells in the Bone Marrow of Germfree Mice

Using the semi-solid agar culture system (Bradley and Metcalf, 1966; Robinson et al, 1967; Metcalf and Foster, 1967) it has been shown that certain cells in the bone marrow are capable of proliferation in vitro with the formation of colonies of granulocytic and mononuclear cells (Metcalf et al, 1967). Indirect evidence suggests that the in vitro colony-forming cells are actively dividing in vivo (Fox, M. and Lajtha, L., personal communication) and are probably primitive members of the granulocytic series, sharing a common ancestor with red cell precursors (Bradley et al, 1967; Metcalf 1968).
ErbB3 upregulation by the HNSCC 3D microenvironment modulates cell survival and growth

Head and neck squamous carcinomas (HNSCC) present as dense epithelioid three-dimensional (3D) tumor nests that can mediate signals via the human epidermal growth factor receptor (ErbB) tyrosine kinase family to promote intratumoral survival and growth. We examined the role of the tumor microenvironment on ErbB receptor family expression and found that the status of intercellular organization altered the receptor profile. We showed that HNSCC cells forced into tumor island-like 3D aggregates strongly upregulated ErbB3 at the level of transcription. Not only was the elevated ErbB3 responsive to HRG-β1-induced enhanced signaling mechanism, but also analysis by siRNA-knockdown and kinase inhibitor strategies revealed that the ErbB3/AKT signaling pathway was sufficient to enhance tumor cell survival and growth potential. Elevated ErbB3 expression in the high-density 3D culture system was strongly associated with hypoxia-induced HIF-1α. Hypoxia-regulated ErbB3 expression was mediated by the HIF-1α-binding consensus sequence in the ErbB3 proximal promoter. The findings show that the local 3D tumor microenvironment can trigger reprograming and switching of ErbB family members and thereby influence ErbB3-driven tumor growth.
Helen Taft: Our Musical First Lady – By Lewis L. Gould

In his account of Helen Taft's role as first lady, the author of this study reveals a character whose contributions and complexities have largely been overlooked. Unlike other twentieth‐century wiv...
Phrase-Level Phonology in Speech Production Planning: Evidence for the Role of Prosodic Structure

It has long been recognized that speakers (and speech synthesizers) cannot produce well-formed multi-word utterances by simply stringing together word forms retrieved from long-term storage. Two kinds of phenomena compellingly illustrate the need for more complex processing for the production of fluent conversational speech: phrase-level prosody, such as intonation and timing, and the pervasive phonetic modification of word forms in context, such as distinctive feature assimilation and segmental reduction. Although both of these phenomena involve the phonetic shape of a word in an utterance, neither can be predicted from the lexical forms of the words in a sentence, and they have often been ascribed to higher level structures such as the phrase.
Spectral and Compositional Characteristics of Gradual and Impulsive Solar Energetic Particle Events

The spectral and compositional characteristics of solar energetic particles (SEPs) reflect a number of factors, including the nature of the acceleration process and the accessible seed population. We review recent discoveries about these issues and discuss current hypotheses about the relationship between flares and CME-driven shocks in producing SEPs above a few tens of MeV/nucleon in large, gradual events. We also briefly review recent results on spectra and composition in impulsive events. We particularly emphasize how significant correlations among spectral and compositional characteristics serve to constrain models of SEP production.
The early and late phases of preconditioning against myocardial stunning and the essential role of oxyradicals in the late phase: An overview

Although ischemic preconditioning is remarkably powerful in protecting the myocardium against cell death (1), its effects on myocardial stunning are less clear and somewhat controversial. The purpose of this essay is to succinctly review the existing knowledge regarding the influence of preconditioning on myocardial stunning and to reconcile apparently conflicting results into a coherent paradigm. It has recently become apparent that ischemic preconditioning against stunning includes an early phase (which becomes manifest within minutes) and a late phase (which becomes manifest ≤ 12 h after the preconditioning ischemia). Accordingly, the early and the late phases will be discussed separately.
Romancing the Reader

ABSTRACT Publishing over 80 novels in the late 19th century, Laura Jean Libbey produced melodramatic romances of innocent young heroines beset by dangers which are far removed from the sexually explicit encounters of adult women characters in contemporary romances. The decades have changed-and brought changes in the heroes, the heroines, and the perils they confront. But the publication history of Libbey's romances, the host of titles in the numerous series of contemporary romances, and recent signs of the main-streaming of romance by successful writers like Jayne Ann Krentz suggest a continuing focus within the evolution of mass-circulation publishing on a dream of romance fulfilled, even as images of that dream have altered in ways reflecting their eras.
Photoionization, Recombination, and Radiative Transitions of Atoms and Ions

Physical properties such as temperature, density of stars and their chemical compositions can be obtained from detail analysis of their spectra at various wavelengths. Ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths are particularly important as the chromosphere surrounding a star is rich in UV radiation generated by collisional and radiative atomic processes, such as photoionization, electron-ion recombination and bound-bound radiative transitions in the plasma. For both precise diagnostics and astrophysical modelings, accurate atomic parameters for these processes are essential. I report the latest developments in theoretical quantum mechanical calculations, especially under the two international collaborations known as the Opacity Project (OP, The Opacity Project Team 1995, 1996) and the Iron Project (IP, series in A&A 1993-), that have yielded accurate and large-scale atomic data for photoionization cross sections, oscillator strengths, and collision strengths for electron impact excitation of the most astrophysically abundant atoms and ions, and the extension, total and level-specific electron-ion recombination cross sections and rates. The calculations are carried out in anab initio manner using the accurate and powerful R-matrix method, including relativistic fine structure effects for many ions, in the close-coupling approximation.
Reconstruction of discrete-time signals from a subset of weighted DFT outputs

An algorithm is presented for combining the output of r DFT bins to produce a single discrete-time signal, where r , the DFT size. The technique described compensates for the effect of any weighting function used in the original DFT, as well as any DFT overlap fraction. The output sampling rate can be selected appropriate to the bandwidth of the resulting signal. The procedure reconstructs the minimum-energy signal which would produce the observed r DFT outputs, knowing the weighting function and overlap fraction. Implementation of the algorithm requires multiplication of a complex r -vector (the bin outputs) by an rxr complex matrix, to produce r discrete-time samples for a single input DFT. This multiplication is performed on successive DFT's to produce the output sequence, with sampling rate r times that of each DFT bin.