cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
ATF6α induces XBP1-independent expansion of the endoplasmic reticulum

A link exists between endoplasmic reticulum (ER) biogenesis and the unfolded protein response (UPR), a complex set of signaling mechanisms triggered by increased demands on the protein folding capacity of the ER. The UPR transcriptional activator X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1) regulates the expression of proteins that function throughout the secretory pathway and is necessary for development of an expansive ER network. We previously demonstrated that overexpression of XBP1(S), the active form of XBP1 generated by UPR-mediated splicing of Xbp1 mRNA, augments the activity of the cytidine diphosphocholine (CDP-choline) pathway for biosynthesis of phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho) and induces ER biogenesis. Another UPR transcriptional activator, activating transcription factor 6α (ATF6α), primarily regulates expression of ER resident proteins involved in the maturation and degradation of ER client proteins. Here, we demonstrate that enforced expression of a constitutively active form of ATF6α drives ER expansion and can do so in the absence of XBP1(S). Overexpression of active ATF6α induces PtdCho biosynthesis and modulates the CDP-choline pathway differently than does enforced expression of XBP1(S). These data indicate that ATF6α and XBP1(S) have the ability to regulate lipid biosynthesis and ER expansion by mechanisms that are at least partially distinct. These studies reveal further complexity in the potential relationships between UPR pathways, lipid production and ER biogenesis.
Actions physiologiques du glucagon

Le glucagon joue un role crucial dans la regulation du metabolisme glucidique in vivo . Sa secretion repond a des modifications des concentrations sanguines de substrats, du niveau d’insuline present dans l’ilot et des influx nerveux recus par les cellules α. Le glucagon stimule la production de glucose (glycogenolyse et gluconeogenese), permettant ainsi de maintenir un taux de production correspondant au besoin de l’organisme en glucose. Le foie est la principale cible d’action du glucagon, mais des recepteurs du glucagon se trouvent egalement au niveau des reins et des tissus adipeux, ou, dans des conditions extremes, il peut stimuler la lipolyse. Le glucagon est un regulateur important lors de conditions physiologiques comme le jeune, l’exercice physique et l’hypoglycemie. Les concentrations plasmatiques de glucagon sont elevees chez les personnes atteintes de diabete et cette hormone semble contribuer a l’etat catabolique induit par la resistance a l’insuline. Par consequent, les firmes pharmaceutiques essayent de diminuer les concentrations de glucagon circulant ou de reduire les effets du glucagon comme un moyen de traiter le diabete.
Incorporating Service Learning Into Your Special Education Classroom

In service learning, students learn skills and apply their knowledge while addressing an identified community need. Service learning is especially powerful in special education as students with disabilities are allowed the opportunity to give, instead of receive, help and support, and therefore gain independence and self-esteem. This article outlines the steps involved in implementing a service learning project within a special education classroom.
A Systematic Review of Clinical Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Meniscectomy

Knee meniscectomy is the most common procedure performed by orthopaedic surgeons. While it is generally believed that loss of meniscal tissue leads to osteoarthritis and poor knee function, many variables may significantly influence this outcome. Through literature search engines including PubMed and Ovid, 4 randomized controlled trials, 2 prospective cohorts, and 23 retrospective cohorts that fit the criteria for level I, II, and III level of evidence were included in this systematic review. For the level III evidence studies, follow-up of 5 years or more was required. Preoperative and intraoperative predictors of poor clinical or radiographic outcomes included total meniscectomy or removal of the peripheral meniscal rim, lateral meniscectomy, degenerative meniscal tears, presence of chondral damage, presence of hand osteoarthritis suggestive of genetic predisposition, and increased body mass index. Variables that were not predictive of outcome or were inconclusive or had mixed results included meniscal tear pattern, age, mechanical alignment, sex of patient, activity level, and meniscal tears associated with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. While an intact meniscus or meniscal repair was generally favorable in the ACL-reconstructed knees, meniscal repair of degenerative meniscal tissue was not favorable. There is a lack of uniformity in the literature on this subject with a preponderance of lower level evidence. Although randomized controlled trials are considered to be the gold standard in medical research, a multicenter prospective cohort design may be more appropriate in assessing the long-term outcome of meniscal surgery and the role that multiple preoperative and intraoperative variables may play in clinical outcomes. In addition, future studies should include factors not assessed or adequately evaluated by several of the included studies, such as meniscal tear pattern, age, mechanical alignment, sex of the patient, activity level, meniscal tears associated with other injuries such as the ACL, smoking, and the effect of previous surgery.
Suppression of Antiviral Silencing by Cucumber Mosaic Virus 2b Protein in Arabidopsis Is Associated with Drastically Reduced Accumulation of Three Classes of Viral Small Interfering RNAs

We investigated the genetic pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana targeted during infection by cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) 2b protein, known to suppress non-cell-autonomous transgene silencing and salicylic acid (SA)–mediated virus resistance. We show that 2b expressed from the CMV genome drastically reduced the accumulation of 21-, 22-, and 24-nucleotide classes of viral small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) produced by Dicer-like4 (DCL4), DCL2, and DCL3, respectively. The defect of a CMV 2b–deletion mutant (CMV-Δ2b) in plant infection was efficiently rescued in Arabidopsis mutants producing neither 21- nor 22-nucleotide viral siRNAs. Since genetic analysis further identifies a unique antiviral role for DCL3 upstream of DCL4, our data indicate that inhibition of the accumulation of distinct viral siRNAs plays a key role in 2b suppression of antiviral silencing. Strikingly, disease symptoms caused by CMV-Δ2b in Arabidopsis mutants defective in antiviral silencing were as severe as those caused by CMV, demonstrating an indirect role for the silencing suppressor activity in virus virulence. We found that production of CMV siRNAs without 2b interference depended largely on RNA-dependent RNA polymerase 1 (RDR1) inducible by SA. Given the known role of RDR6-dependent transgene siRNAs in non-cell-autonomous silencing, our results suggest a model in which 2b inhibits the production of RDR1-dependent viral siRNAs that confer SA-dependent virus resistance by directing non-cell-autonomous antiviral silencing.
Semi-supervised multi-task learning for predicting interactions between HIV-1 and human proteins

Motivation: Protein–protein interactions (PPIs) are critical for virtually every biological function. Recently, researchers suggested to use supervised learning for the task of classifying pairs of proteins as interacting or not. However, its performance is largely restricted by the availability of truly interacting proteins (labeled). Meanwhile, there exists a considerable amount of protein pairs where an association appears between two partners, but not enough experimental evidence to support it as a direct interaction (partially labeled). Results: We propose a semi-supervised multi-task framework for predicting PPIs from not only labeled, but also partially labeled reference sets. The basic idea is to perform multi-task learning on a supervised classification task and a semi-supervised auxiliary task. The supervised classifier trains a multi-layer perceptron network for PPI predictions from labeled examples. The semi-supervised auxiliary task shares network layers of the supervised classifier and trains with partially labeled examples. Semi-supervision could be utilized in multiple ways. We tried three approaches in this article, (i) classification (to distinguish partial positives with negatives); (ii) ranking (to rate partial positive more likely than negatives); (iii) embedding (to make data clusters get similar labels). We applied this framework to improve the identification of interacting pairs between HIV-1 and human proteins. Our method improved upon the state-of-the-art method for this task indicating the benefits of semi-supervised multi-task learning using auxiliary information. Availability: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~qyj/HIVsemi Contact: qyj@cs.cmu.edu
Hospital Report Cards for Hospital-Acquired Pressure Ulcers: How Good Are the Grades?

Value-based purchasing programs use administrative data to compare rates of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers among hospitals for public reporting and financial penalties, but validation of these d...
Validation of convection-limited cooling of samples for freeze-fracture electron microscopy.

SUMMARY Rapid freezing is the most important step in sample preparation for freeze-fracture and other cryotechniques for electron microscopy. A simple heat transfer model is experimentally validated to show that convection from the cryogen to the specimen is the limiting step in rapid freezing of small samples [Biot modulus, (hd/k) < 1] by measuring cooling rates in a variety of samples, materials, and cryogens. In comparison to the commonly accepted conduction-limited model, the convection-limited model predicts, and our experiments show, that cooling rates are proportional to the surface area to volume ratio, independent of the sample thermal conductivity, and inversely proportional to the product of sample density and heat capacity. We show that almost any material can be frozen at similar rates if the sample thickness, the cryogen, and the method and velocity of contact with cryogen are similar. Liquid ethane or propane cooled to liquid nitrogen temperature are shown to give the best results.
Human Service Nonprofit Agencies Studying the Impact of Policy Changes

• Summary: Human service nonprofit agencies exist within a turbulent environment. Recent developments and social policy changes have impacted upon nonprofit agencies and transformed services, there...
Retention Probability Varies with Cull Ring Size in Traps Fished for Blue Crab

AbstractThe blue crab Callinectes sapidus is a commercially important crustacean species fished along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines. Cull rings on traps are required to allow for egress of sublegal blue crabs in commercial and recreational fisheries in this region. We undertook a study to estimate contact selectivity (retention probability) of traps with different cull-ring sizes fished for male crabs. We estimated retention probability using logistic models and catch data from 38.1-mm square mesh traps, each affixed with one size of cull rings (58.7, 60.3, or 61.9 mm internal diameter), and fished along with control traps (no cull rings). Each experimental trap type displayed relatively steep retention around its l50, the carapace width at which 50% of individuals are selected. The l50 for traps with 58.7-mm cull rings was less than the minimum legal crab size in North Carolina (127 mm carapace width) while the l50 for traps with 60.3-mm or 61.9-mm cull rings was greater than the minimum leg...
McCracken, T. O., and R. A. Kainer. 2008. COLOR ATLAS OF SMALL ANIMAL ANATOMY: THE ESSENTIALS. Blackwell Publishing, Ames, Iowa, 138 pp. ISBN-13:978-0-78 17-4391-4, price (alkaline paper), $59.99.

T. O. McCracken, R. A. Kainer 2008. Color Atlas of Small Animal Anatomy: The Essentials. Blackwell Publishing, Ames, Iowa, 138 pp. ISBN-13:978-0-7817-4391-4, price (alkaline paper), $59.99. The 9 × 11½-inch format of the book invites the experienced anatomical inquisitor to flip through the pages of this text. The color cover demonstrates that a range of small animals will be presented from beagle to guinea pig to rabbit. McCracken and Kainer are professors of anatomy at Robert Ross International University of Nursing and Colorado State University, respectively. Kainer also is a DVM. They were assisted by David Carlson, who is an illustrator. The stated goal of the text on p. xii of the introduction is “… for use by individuals at …
Comparative plasma levels of mephenesin, mephenesin carbamate and methocarbamol.

SummaryTen normal subjects ingested equimolar amounts of mephenesin, mephenesin carbamate and methocarbamol, with intervals of at least one week between medications. Blood levels of drugs were followed for 4 hours, and in one case for 7 1/2 hours. In all subjects mephenesin carbamate gave higher peak values than mephenesin. Methocarbamol exceeded the other 2 drugs significantly in this regard.
Collodion Bag: A Cell Block Technique for Enhanced Cell Collection

Laboratorians have used various techniques to concentrate cells in an increasing number and variety of cytologic specimens. These techniques include cytospins, filters, and cell blocks. We describe a technique in which cells are effectively concentrated from effusion and fine-needle aspirate samples by sedimenting the cell pellet into a small collodion bag. Laboratorians can obtain a sufficient amount of undiluted specimen by placing these bags in a routine histology cassette.
Evidence for a Role of Arachidonic Acid in Glucocorticoid-Induced Cleft Palate in Rats:

AbstractWe have shown that arachidonic acid significantly reduces the production of cleft palate in rats by dexamethasone and that this corrective effect of arachidonic acid is blocked by indomethacin, an inhibitor of cyclooxygenase. Moreover, by using [3H]-arachidonic acid as a tracer we have shown that dexamethasone treatment depresses significantly the free [3H]arachidonic acid available to the microsomal cyclooxygenase in the fetal upper and lower jaws including the palate at the critical period of development. These observations suggest that glucocorticoids produce their palatal teratogenicity by limiting the release and consequently the availability of arachidonic acid at the critical period of development.
Fiber optic temperature sensor using a Y 2 O 2 S:Eu thermographic phosphor

Y2O&Euthermographic phosphorTodd V. SmithDepartment of Physics, Bethel College3900 Bethel Drive, St. Paul, Minnesota 55112D. Barton SmithEngineering Technology Division, Oak Ridge National LaboratoryP.O. Box 2003, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831728OABSTRACTThis report details the development and testing of a thermographic-phosphor-based fiber-optictemperature sensor. The sensor is constructed by removing a region of the fiber jacket and cladding, thencoating the exposed core with yttrium oxysulfide doped with a europium activator (Y2OS:Eu). Whenphotoexcited, the europium in the host lattice emits a sharp-line fluorescence spectrum that is characteristicof the temperature of the host crystal lattice. By measuring fluorescence lifetimes, we can deduce thetemperature of an optical fiber that is in thermal contact with the fiber. Two different distributions ofY2O,S:Eu in the cladding region were evaluated with regard to light coupling efficiency. Theoreticalwaveguide calculations indicate that a thin core/cladding boundary distribution of Y2OS:Eu couples lightmore efficiently into the cores guided modes than does a bulk distribution of phosphor in the cladding. Thesensor tests showed reproducible response from 20 to 180 degrees Celsius. This technique has several
39 – Small Intestine and Colonic Diseases

This chapter discusses various small and large intestinal diseases focusing on gender differences in epidemiology, screening, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment. In addition, the relationship between the disease and pregnancy or the menstrual cycle is discussed. Both female and male fertility are adversely affected by celiac sprue. The gender differences in celiac sprue show a female predominance except for dermatitis herpetiformis where there is a male predominance. For unknown reasons, it takes longer to diagnose celiac sprue in women than men. Groin hernias are more common in men than in women because of a combination of anatomic, congenital, and acquired factors. The diagnosis, pathology, and surgical repair are also different because of pelvic and groin anatomic differences between men and women. Meckel's diverticulum occurs equally commonly in males and females, but males have a 3:1 increased incidence of complications. Acute appendicitis is more common in males, but appendectomies occur more frequently in females. The diagnosis in women can be more difficult because of diseases in other structures in the right lower quadrant that can mimic acute appendicitis.
Printable optically transparent adhesive processing for bonding of LED chips to packages

Abstract Die bonding is the first step in the packaging of light-emitting diodes and its role in lumen output performance and consistency of the packaged LED emitters has recently been investigated: there is an optimal range of bond-line thickness (BLT) and the fillet coverage has to be minimized. One method which can accurately control the BLT and fillet coverage is to employ the pre-made die attach adhesive (DAA) films, which cost more than the use of conventional DAA pastes. However it is difficult to control BLT as well as fillet by using conventional DAA pastes. In this work, a silicone-based transparent DAA is used for LED chip bonding. DAA layers are formed by using stencil printing, as an alternative method for LED die bonding with an objective of exploring a cost-effective method for LED die bonding with the controlled DAA BLT and fillet coverage. It is demonstrated that with other conditions being the same, a low BLT value of 3.9 µm could be achieved by stencil printing. The lumen output of the packaged white LED emitters using printed DAAs with no fillet coverage, is found to be 3.5% higher than using the conventional pin-transferred DAA pastes with 33% fillet coverage, while the reliability of the packaged white LEDs is found not to be altered. The method of printable DAAs for LED die bonding is thus a cost-effective alternative to the one using pre-made DAA films.
A Ghost on the Water? Understanding an Absurdity in Mark 6:49-50

In Mark 6:49-50, the author dramatically defines the disciples miscompre hension of Jesus through the insertion of the absurd: the belief that a ghost could walk on water.1 Exegesis of the pericope of Jesus walking on the water is enhanced by an understanding of ancient beliefs about ghosts, as described in tales of haunt ings and similar phenomena in Jewish, Greek, and Roman sources. By identifying in this ancient literature characteristics common to the Markan account, one may detect how Mark initially establishes the expectation for a phantasmic appearance and then diverges significantly to emphasize the disciples' misconstrual of Jesus' messiahship. There is currently a near consensus that the pericope that encompasses Mark 6:49-50 represents, at least in part, an epiphany.2 This categorization has much to
Making the internet-of-things a reality: from smart models, sensing and actuation to energy-efficient architectures

Advances in the physical sciences and engineering enable the development of internet-of-things (IoT) to understand, interface / interact and engineer physical world (systems). However, the deployment of multitude of wireless sensors and agents spanning many application domains (e.g., environmental, healthcare, smart interconnected vehicles and trucks, smart buildings) leads not only to tremendous requirements for communicating massive amounts of multiscale heterogeneous data, but also calls for developing efficient strategies for mathematical modeling of the sensed data while overcoming the energy wall. To address these outstanding challenges, out-of-the-box approaches need to be explored. In this tutorial paper, we discuss these outstanding problems and describe a few far-reaching design methodologies that achieve the most sought after features in autonomous IoT, viz. intelligent mining, smart trustworthy sensing, closed-loop (networked) control, and energy efficiency. Internet-of-things, autonomy, compact yet accurate models, network control, networks-on-chip, manycore.
Effects of Filament Size on Critical Current Density in Overpressure Processed Bi-2212 Round Wire

Bi2Sr2CaCu2Ox (Bi-2212) conductor is the only high-temperature superconductor manufactured as a round wire and is a very promising conductor for very high field applications. One of the key design parameters of Bi-2212 wire is its filament size, which has been previously reported to affect the critical current density ( Jc ) and ac losses. Work with 1 bar heat treatment showed that the optimal filament diameter was about 15 μ m, but it was not well understood at that time, that gas bubbles were the main current limiting mechanism. Here, we investigated a recent Bi-2212 wire with a 121 × 18 filament architecture with varying wire diameter (1.0–1.5 mm) using 50 bar overpressure processing. This wire is part of a 1.2 km piece length of 1.0 mm diameter made by Oxford Superconducting Technology. We found that Jc is independent of the filament size in the range from 9 to 14 μ m, although the n value increased with increasing filament size. A new record Jc ( 4.2 K, 15 T ) of 4200 A/mm2 and JE ( 4.2 K, 15 T ) of 830 A/mm2 were achieved.
Effect of Internal Jugular Vein Compression on Intracranial Hemorrhage in a Porcine Controlled Cortical Impact Model.

Abstract Internal jugular vein (IJV) compression has been shown to reduce axonal injury in pre-clinical traumatic brain injury (TBI) models and clinical concussion studies. However, this novel approach to prophylactically mitigating TBI through venous congestion raises concerns of increasing the propensity for hemorrhage and hemorrhagic propagation. This study aims to test the safety of IJV compression in a large animal controlled cortical impact (CCI) injury model and the resultant effects on hemorrhage. Twelve swine were randomized to placement of a bilateral IJV compression collar (CCI+collar) or control/no collar (CCI) prior to CCI injury. A histological grading of the extent of hemorrhage, both subarachnoid (SAH) and intraparenchymal (IPH), was conducted in a blinded manner by two neuropathologists. Other various measures of TBI histology were also analyzed including: β-amyloid precursor protein (β-APP) expression, presence of degenerating neurons, extent of cerebral edema, and inflammatory infiltrat...
Self-Stabilizing Computation of Perfect Neighborhood Set in Large Network Graphs

Given a graph G = (V, E), a node is called perfect (with respect to a set S ⊆ V) if its closed neighborhood contains exactly one node in set S, a node is called nearly perfect if it is not perfect but is adjacent to a perfect node. S is called a perfect neighborhood set if each node is either perfect or nearly perfect. We present the first self-stabilizing algorithm for computing a perfect neighborhood set in an arbitrary graph. This anonymous, constant space algorithm terminates in O(n2) steps using an unfair central daemon, where n is the number of nodes in the graph.
The Indispensability Argument for Platonism

Quine’s indispensability argument, the fount of the most important contemporary arguments in support of Platonism, is expounded and its four central theses explored. A taxonomy of anti-Platonist responses, both realist and anti-realist, to generic indispensability arguments is provided. Arealism is ruled out as a theistic response.
Social Health Records: Gaining Insights into Public Health Behaviors, Emotions, and Disease Trajectories

Social media and personal health monitoring devices (e.g., Fitbit) provide abundant patient-generated health-related data. These open health data, generated via patient engagement and sharing, are referred to as Social Health Records (SHR) as opposed to the EHR (Electronic Health Records) that are created and entered by clinicians. SHRs are changing the healthcare paradigm from the authoritative provider-centric model to a collaborative and patient-oriented healthcare framework. This chapter proposes an SHR Integration and Analytics Framework to leverage Social Health Records for gaining insights into population-level and individual-level healthcare practices and behaviors, as well as emotions. The framework defines a pipeline for generating knowledge from the social health data sources to the end users, including the patients themselves, public health officials, and healthcare providers. The SHR integration and analytics framework build a coherent knowledge base, linking the Social Health Records that are “spilled” in distributed online social media, with other online health information sources, such as results from authoritative medical research. The semantic integration model of heterogeneous health data sources provides population-level health analytics and reasoning capabilities to gain intelligence on public healthcare issues and practices. The SHR is shown to be a valuable resource for epidemic surveillance systems with real-time monitoring. We focus on an approach to quantifying the SHR-based public emotions for measuring health concern levels and for tracking them, and propose SHR-based predictive models to infer individual-level and population-level comorbidity predictions and comorbidity progression trajectories.
Comparison of Natural Products for Effects on Bone Balance

Dietary compounds from natural products are the subject of investigation for their beneficial effects on bone. Natural products may be safer and better tolerated by consumers than current therapies for treatment of osteoporosis. Soy isoflavones have been the most studied but results are mixed. Whole soy food consumption in Asian women is associated with reduced fracture incidence in observational studies. However, purified isolated soy isoflavones in randomized controlled trials in postmenopausal Western women are not protective of bone loss. Polyphenolic compounds in plum and berries have both anabolic effects and the ability to suppress bone resorption. These effects occur through antioxidation and anti-inflammatory cell signaling pathways. Rapid screening approaches using urinary excretion of calcium tracers from labeled bone can be used to compare doses and types of natural products for their effect on bone calcium balance.
Experimental Orbital Dynamics in Superfluid 3He

The principles and methods of producing dynamic orbital response in 3He-A are discussed. Experiments and their interpretation are also presented for sudden magnetic field rotations and persistent orbital motions.
Fine Structural Changes of Neurites in Alzheimer’s Disease

Neurites in senile plaques of Alzheimer’s disease show a variety of changes which in order of frequency consist of 1. accumulation of membrane-bounded, floccular dense bodies; 2. interlacing bundles of twisted tubules; 3. aggregates of mitochondria usually associated with membranous dense bodies; 4. arrays of irregular vesicular profiles, and 5. granular and vacuolar disintegration. A relationship between amyloid deposits and abnormal neurites in senile plaques could not be established. Except for the accumulation of twisted tubules similar axonal changes are observed in animals in peritraumatic regions and in dying back neuropathies. The theory (Terry and Wisniewski, 1970) that neurofibrillar tangles in nerve cell bodies produce axoplasmic stasis and subsequent accumulation of organelles in the terminal arborization of neurites is discussed.
Choosing children over career? Changes in the postpartum labor force behavior of professional women.

In recent years, the popular press in the U.S. hasrepeatedly profiled professionalwomen who have elected to leave the labor force inorder to devote their full-timeenergies to child rearing. The conclusion of thesearticles is often that mothers havetired of trying to be ‘superwomen’ and have decidedthat high achievement in thelabor force is not compatible with a successful homelife. The purpose of this paperis to explore whether this impression is, in fact,based in truth. Using a sample ofprofessional women drawn from the PSID during theyears 1968–1992, we estimatethe probability of withdrawing from the labor forceat one, two and five year intervalsafter the birth of a child. We use several differentmeasures of labor force withdrawaland find that women who gave birth in recent years aremore likely to report zero hoursof work two years after the birth of a child when comparedto women who gave birthearlier in the sample period. Thus, we find some supportfor the conjecture that moreprofessional women are opting to stay home and raisechildren in lieu of aggressivelypursuing their careers. We do not find any differencesby cohort, indicating that thisphenomenon cuts across women of all childbearingages. However, our results are notrobust across different measures of labor forcewithdrawal, nor are they consistent acrosspostpartum time intervals.
Ice–Liquid Oscillations in Nanoconfined Water

Nanoscale confinement has a strong effect on the phase behavior of water. Studies in the last two decades have revealed a wealth of novel crystalline and quasicrystalline structures for water confined in nanoslits. Less is known, however, about the nature of ice–liquid coexistence in extremely nanoconfined systems. Here, we use molecular simulations to investigate the ice–liquid equilibrium for water confined between two nanoscopic disks. We find that the nature of ice–liquid phase coexistence in nanoconfined water is different from coexistence in both bulk water and extended nanoslits. In highly nanoconfined systems, liquid water and ice do not coexist in space because the two-phase states are unstable. The confined ice and liquid phases coexist in time, through oscillations between all-liquid and all-crystalline states. The avoidance of spatial coexistence of ice and liquid originates on the non-negligible cost of the interface between confined ice and liquid in a small system. It is the result of the s...
Chromatographic studies of chlorpropamide interactions with normal and glycated human serum albumin based on affinity microcolumns.

Abstract Sulfonylurea drugs have significant binding to proteins in blood, with most of this binding believed to occur with human serum albumin (HSA). High performance affinity chromatography and affinity microcolumns containing immobilized HSA were used to investigate binding by the sulfonylurea drug chlorpropamide to normal HSA and glycated HSA, which is a modified form of HSA that has an increased serum concentration in diabetes. Experiments employing frontal analysis indicated that the binding by chlorpropamide gave a good fit to a two-site model for both normal HSA and glycated HSA samples that were representative of controlled or advanced diabetes. These interactions involved a set of moderate-to-high affinity sites and a set of lower affinity sites, with binding constants in the range of 6.2–9.9 × 104 M−1 and 0.18–0.57 × 104 M−1, respectively, at pH 7.4 and 37 °C. Competition studies utilizing a zonal elution format demonstrated that chlorpropamide could interact at both Sudlow sites I and II of HSA, with affinities in the range expected for the moderate-to-high affinity sites of this drug. The affinity of chlorpropamide at Sudlow site I had a small increase of up to 1.2-fold when comparing the normal HSA and glycated HSA samples. Chlorpropamide gave a larger 1.4- to over 1.5-fold increase at Sudlow site II when the affinity of this drug was compared between normal HSA and the same samples of glycated HSA. These results were compared to those obtained previously with other sulfonylurea drugs to help determine how glycation can change the overall and site-selective binding strength of these drugs with HSA at levels of protein modification that are seen in patients with diabetes.
Seminal plasma modulates expression of endometrial inflammatory meditators in the bovine

Seminal plasma has conventionally been viewed as a transport and survival medium for mammalian sperm; however, its role now extends beyond this process to actively targeting female tissues. Studies in rodents, swine, and humans demonstrate that seminal plasma induces molecular and cellular changes within the endometrium or cervix following insemination. Seminal-plasmainduced alterations to the maternal environment have been theorized to facilitate embryo development, modulate maternal immunity toward the conceptus, and potentially improve pregnancy success. It is unknown if bovine seminal plasma modulates the uterine environment following insemination in the cow, where routine use of artificial insemination reduces maternal exposure to seminal plasma. We hypothesize that seminal plasma modulates the expression of inflammatory mediators in the endometrium, altering the maternal environment of early pregnancy. In vitro, seminal plasma altered intact endometrial explant expression of CSF2, IL1B, IL6, IL17A, TGFB1, IFNE, PTGS2, and AKR1C4. Furthermore, endometrial epithelial cell CSF2, CXCL8, TGFB1, PTGS2, and AKR1C4 expression were increased after seminal plasma exposure, while endometrial stromal cell CSF2, IL1B, IL6, CXCL8, IL17A, TGFB1, PTGS2, and AKR1C4 expression were increased following seminal plasma exposure. Endometrial expression of IL1B was increased in the cow 24 h after uterine infusion of seminal plasma, while other evaluated inflammatory mediators remained unchanged. These data indicate that seminal plasma may induce changes in the bovine endometrium in a temporal manner. Understanding the role of seminal plasma in modulating the maternal environment may aid in improving pregnancy success in cattle.Summary SentenceExposure of endometrial cells to seminal plasma alters gene expression of inflammatory mediators, reminiscent of the postcoital inflammatory response in other species.
Subtype-Specific Breast Cancer Incidence Rates in Black versus White Men in the United States.

Compared with white women, black women have higher incidence rates for triple-negative breast cancer but lower rates for hormone receptor (HR)-positive cancers in the United States. Whether similar racial difference occurs in male breast cancer is unclear. We examined racial differences in incidence rates of breast cancer subtypes defined by HR and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) by sex using nationwide data from 2010 to 2016. Among men, rates were higher in blacks than whites for all subtypes, with the black-to-white incidence rate ratios of 1.41 (95% confidence interval [CI ]= 1.32 to 1.50) for HR+/HER-, 1.65 (95% CI = 1.40 to 1.93) for HR+/HER2+, 2.62 (95% CI = 1.48 to 4.43) for HR-/HER2+, and 2.27 (95% CI = 1.67 to 3.03) for triple-negative subtype. Conversely, among women, rates in blacks were 21% lower for HR+/HER2- and comparable for HR+/HER2+ but 29% and 93% higher for HR-/HER2+ and triple-negative subtypes, respectively. Future studies are needed to identify contributing factors to the dissimilar racial patterns in breast cancer subtype incidence between men and women.
The Effect of Food Composition and Behavior on Neurobiological Response to Food: a Review of Recent Research.

Controversy surrounds the construct of food addiction. The current review examines neurobiological evidence for the existence of food addiction as a valid diagnosis. Recent neuroimaging studies suggest significant overlap in the areas of the brain that are activated in relation to both food and drug addiction. Specifically, areas of the brain implicated in executive functioning (e.g., attention, planning, decision-making, inhibition), pleasure and the experience of reward, and sensory input and motor functioning display increased activation among individuals with symptoms of both food and drug addiction. Proposed symptoms of food addiction mirror those comprising other substance use disorder diagnoses, with similar psychological and behavioral sequelae. Results of neuroimaging studies suggest significant overlap in the areas of the brain that are activated in relation to both food and drug addiction, providing support for continued research into the construct of food addiction.
Tivozanib in renal cell carcinoma: a new approach to previously treated disease:

Targeted therapies have been a mainstay of the renal cell carcinoma (RCC) treatment paradigm for the better part of two decades. Multikinase inhibitors of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinases (VEGF-TKIs) comprise nearly all targeted therapies in RCC, having been prospectively tested through large, multi-institutional phase III trials. Tivozanib is a VEGF-TKI with high selectivity for VEGF receptors 1-3. Tivozanib has been under investigation for nearly 15 years, with a robust portfolio of preclinical and clinical data. This review seeks to characterize tivozanib within the context of RCC by highlighting preclinical and early clinical trials alongside the phase III trials in RCC, TIVO-1, and TIVO-3. We also aim to explore further trials of tivozanib, whether in combination with other agents and/or in differing disease settings, while providing insight into the utility of tivozanib as a clinical tool for the management of RCC.
Functional Effects of Intervening Illnesses and Injuries After Hospitalization for Major Surgery in Community-living Older Persons.

Objective To evaluate the functional effects of intervening illnesses and injuries, that is, events, in the year after major surgery. Background Intervening events have pronounced deleterious effects on functional status in older persons, but have not been carefully evaluated after major surgery. Methods From a cohort of 754 community-living persons, aged 70+ years, 317 admissions for major surgery were identified from 244 participants who were discharged from the hospital. Functional status (13 activities) and exposure to intervening hospitalizations, emergency department (ED) visits, and restricted activity were assessed each month. Comprehensive assessments (for covariates) were completed every 18 months. Results In the year after major surgery, exposure rates (95% CI) per 100-person months to hospitalizations, ED visits, and restricted activity were 10.0 (8.0-12.5), 3.9 (2.8-5.4), and 12.3 (10.2-14.8) for functional recovery and 7.2 (6.1-8.5), 2.5 (1.9-3.2), 11.2 (9.8-12.9) for functional decline. Each of the 3 intervening events were independently associated with reduced recovery, with adjusted hazard ratios (95% CI) of 0.20 (0.09-0.47), 0.35 (0.15-0.81), and 0.57 (0.36-0.90) for hospitalizations, ED visits, and restricted activity. For functional decline, the corresponding odds ratios (95% CI) were 5.68 (3.87-8.33), 1.90 (1.13-3.20), and 1.30 (0.96-1.75). The effect sizes for hospitalizations and ED visits were larger than those for the covariates. Conclusions Intervening illnesses/injuries are common in the year after major surgery, and those leading to hospitalization and ED visit are strongly associated with adverse functional outcomes, with effect sizes larger than those of traditional risk factors.
Bridging Breiman's Brook: From Algorithmic Modeling to Statistical Learning

In 2001, Leo Breiman wrote of a divide between "data modeling" and "algorithmic modeling" cultures. Twenty years later this division feels far more ephemeral, both in terms of assigning individuals to camps, and in terms of intellectual boundaries. We argue that this is largely due to the "data modelers" incorporating algorithmic methods into their toolbox, particularly driven by recent developments in the statistical understanding of Breiman's own Random Forest methods. While this can be simplistically described as "Breiman won", these same developments also expose the limitations of the prediction-first philosophy that he espoused, making careful statistical analysis all the more important. This paper outlines these exciting recent developments in the random forest literature which, in our view, occurred as a result of a necessary blending of the two ways of thinking Breiman originally described. We also ask what areas statistics and statisticians might currently overlook.
Associations Between Structural and Social Determinants of Health With COVID Infection Rates at a Safety Net Hospital.

Background: The reported disproportionate impact of COVID-19 infections on minority populations may be due to living in disinvested communities with a high level of poverty, pollution, inadequate unsafe employment, and overcrowded housing. Objective: To determine the association of county, city, and individual risk factors with COVID-19 infection rates. Methods: Retrospective chart review on COVID-19 tests performed from March through July 2020 at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC), Colton, California. Results: A total of 7104 tests were performed with 69% in the drive-through testing center. The mean duration of test-to-results time was 2.36 (+0.02) days. COVID-19 positive tests occurred in 1095 (15.4%). At least one symptom occurred in 414 (33%) with a sensitivity of 37.8, specificity of 86.02, a positive predictive value of 33.01, and a negative predictive value of 72.76. Individual factors significantly associated with testing positive for COVID-19 were diabetes, Hispanic ethnicity, and male gender. Younger age was significantly associated with testing COVID positive with the highest risk in children <10 years. COVID-19 positive persons significantly resided in cities with higher population density, household members, poverty, non-English speaking homes, disability, lower median household income, lack of health insurance and decreased access to a computer and Wi-Fi services. County health rankings showed a significant positive association between testing positive for COVID-19 with increased smoking, air pollution, violent crimes, physical inactivity, decreased education, and access to exercise. Conclusion: Adverse county health rankings, socially and economically disadvantaged cities are associated with an increased risk of testing positive for COVD-19. This information can be used in strategic planning and invention mitigation.
Application of machine learning approaches to administrative claims data to predict clinical outcomes in medical and surgical patient populations.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to develop and validate a claims-based, machine learning algorithm to predict clinical outcomes across both medical and surgical patient populations. METHODS This retrospective, observational cohort study, used a random 5% sample of 770,777 fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries with an inpatient hospitalization between 2009-2011. The machine learning algorithms tested included: support vector machine, random forest, multilayer perceptron, extreme gradient boosted tree, and logistic regression. The extreme gradient boosted tree algorithm outperformed the alternatives and was the machine learning method used for the final risk model. Primary outcome was 30-day mortality. Secondary outcomes were: rehospitalization, and any of 23 adverse clinical events occurring within 30 days of the index admission date. RESULTS The machine learning algorithm performance was evaluated by both the area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC) and Brier Score. The risk model demonstrated high performance for prediction of: 30-day mortality (AUROC = 0.88; Brier Score = 0.06), and 17 of the 23 adverse events (AUROC range: 0.80-0.86; Brier Score range: 0.01-0.05). The risk model demonstrated moderate performance for prediction of: rehospitalization within 30 days (AUROC = 0.73; Brier Score: = 0.07) and six of the 23 adverse events (AUROC range: 0.74-0.79; Brier Score range: 0.01-0.02). The machine learning risk model performed comparably on a second, independent validation dataset, confirming that the risk model was not overfit. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE We have developed and validated a robust, claims-based, machine learning risk model that is applicable to both medical and surgical patient populations and demonstrates comparable predictive accuracy to existing risk models.
Blended Finance for State-Led Decarbonization

Blended finance has gained traction in recent years as a promising solution to bridge the funding gap in transitioning to a decarbonized economy. Yet, there exists little guidance and knowledge on the “how” of this approach, especially in specific country contexts. This chapter examines the Republic of Korea as a case study and the government’s efforts to trigger the introduction and institutionalization of green finance for decarbonizing its economy. Focusing on the design of incentives and institutions by the public sector to manage risks and catalyze private capital, we highlight necessary conditions for the successful application of blended finance. First, consensus building between public and private investors can facilitate harmonizing and internalizing the concept and practice of green finance. Second, designating a dedicated coordinating agency for green finance activities can reduce fragmentation and promote the efficient allocation of capital in the economy. Third, instituting stringent reporting standards and monitoring and evaluation frameworks can ensure climate finance is allocated to impactful projects and sectors. Lastly, climate-related sectors, such as energy, should be structurally conducive to private investment and activities. A state-led approach may be rapid in execution, but it should also be accompanied by these four measures to direct private finance towards green investments and to scale its impact.
The Superhero with a Thousand Faces

In Chapter Two: The Superhero with a Thousand Faces, our study explores the origins of cinematic superhero fantasy from antecedents in myth and religion, to twentieth-century comic book, to the cinematic beginning with Richard Donner’s Superman (1978). Donner’s Superman represents the primary example of the origin and development of restorative superhero fantasy as a function of late twentieth-century cinematic social practice. The chapter takes up the iterative nature of the cinematic superhero genre and the problem of adaptation and the reboot phenomenon both as it relates to Superman and to the cinematic superhero as a whole. We include discussions of Superman’s sequels and various reboots throughout the years—including Superman Returns (2006), Man of Steel (2013), and Batman v Superman (2016). As part of the unconscious symbolic order as well as mainstream, popular entertainment, Superman fantasy represents a defining moment for restorative superhero fantasy as a champion of “law and order.”
Synthesis and Mechanical Properties of sub 5-µm PolyUiO-66 Thin Films on Gold Surfaces.

Metal-organic framework (MOF) thin films currently lack the mechanical stability needed for electronic device applications. Polymer-based metal-organic frameworks (polyMOFs) have been suggested to provide mechanical advantages over MOFs, however, the mechanical properties of polyMOFs have not yet been characterized. In this work, we developed a method to synthesize continuous sub-5 µm polyUiO-66(Zr) films on Au substrates, which allowed us to undertake initial mechanical property investigations. Comparisons between polyUiO-66 and UiO-66 thin films determined polyUiO-66 thin films exhibit a lower modulus but similar hardness to UiO-66 thin films. The initial mechanical characterization indicates that further development is needed to leverage the mechanical property advantages of polyMOFs over MOFs. Additionally, the demonstration in this work of a continuous surface-supported polyUiO-66 thin film also enables utilization of the emerging class of polyMOF materials in sensors and devices applications.