cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Constitutive β2‐adrenergic signalling enhances sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ cycling to augment contraction in mouse heart

1. Transgenic overexpression of the beta2-adrenergic receptor (beta2AR) in mouse heart augments baseline cardiac function in a ligand-independent manner, due to the presence of spontaneously active beta2AR (beta2AR*). This study aims to elucidate the mechanism of beta2AR*-mediated modulation of cardiac excitation-contraction (EC) coupling. 2. Confocal imaging was used to analyse Ca2+ sparks and spatially resolve Ca2+ transients in single ventricular myocytes from transgenic (TG4) and non-transgenic (NTG) littermates. Whole-cell voltage- and current-clamp techniques were used to record L-type Ca2+ currents (ICa) and action potentials, respectively. 3. In the absence of any beta2AR ligand, TG4 myocytes had greater contraction amplitudes, larger Ca2+ transients and faster relaxation times than did NTG cells. 4. The action potentials of TG4 and NTG myocytes were similar, except for a prolonged end-stage repolarization in TG4 cells; the ICa density and kinetics were nearly identical. The relationship between peak Ca2+ and contraction, which reflects myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity, was similar. 5. In TG4 cells, the frequency of Ca2+ sparks (spontaneous or evoked at -40 mV) was 2-7 times greater, despite the absence of change in the resting Ca2+, sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ content, and ICa. Individual sparks were brighter, broader and lasted longer, leading to a 2.3-fold greater signal mass. Thus, changes in both spark frequency and size underlie the greater Ca2+ transient in TG4 cells. 6. The inverse agonist ICI 118,551 (ICI, 5 x 10-7 M), which blocks spontaneous beta2AR activation, reversed the aforementioned beta2AR* effects on cardiac EC coupling without affecting the sarcolemmal ICa. However, ICI failed to detect significant constitutive beta2AR activity in NTG cells. 7. We conclude that beta2AR*-mediated signalling enhances SR release channel activity and Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release in TG4 cardiac myocytes, and that beta2AR* enhances EC coupling by reinforcing SR Ca2+ cycling (release and reuptake), but bypassing the sarcolemmal ICa.
Using Evolutionary Programs to Maximize Minimum Temperature Forecast Skill

AbstractEvolutionary program ensembles are developed and tested for minimum temperature forecasts at Chicago, Illinois, at forecast ranges of 36, 60, 84, 108, 132, and 156 h. For all forecast ranges examined, the evolutionary program ensemble outperforms the 21-member GFS model output statistics (MOS) ensemble when considering root-mean-square error and Brier skill score. The relative advantage in root-mean-square error widens with forecast range, from 0.18°F at 36 h to 1.53°F at 156 h while the probabilistic skill remains positive throughout. At all forecast ranges, probabilistic forecasts of abnormal conditions are particularly skillful compared to the raw GFS guidance.The evolutionary program reliance on particular forecast inputs is distinct from that obtained from considering multiple linear regression models, with less reliance on the GFS MOS temperature and more on alternative data such as upstream temperatures at the time of forecast issuance, time of year, and forecasts of wind speed, precipitati...
Unloading induces transcriptional activation of the sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase 1 gene in muscle.

Previous work showed that protein and mRNA levels of the “fast” isoform of the sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA1) are markedly increased in unloaded slow-twitch soleus muscles, sugge...
Critical Border Praxis: Choosing the Path of Critical Border Dialogism

This work examines the intersection of place-based and border pedagogies, including the concepts of heteroglossia, meliorism, critical cosmopolitanism, nepantla, dialogic feminism, and pragmatic hope that form the basis of a new critical border dialogic . Critical border dialogic (Cashman, 2015, in press) resituates teachers, students, cultural workers, decision makers, policymakers, and the larger community. A critical border dialogic draws upon a critical pedagogy of place and border pedagogy. Gruenewald’s (2003) critical, place-based pedagogy influences assumptions, practices, and outcomes. Border pedagogy (Giroux, 2005), in turn, engages a critical pedagogy of place and involves a recognition and understanding of margins as affected by history, power, and difference. A critical border dialogic positions us, as educators, students, cultural workers, and members of the larger community, on the course to critical border praxis . Critical border praxis actively engages us as cross borders in a contemplation of historically and socially constructed limitations.
Design Process of a Goal-Based Scenario on Computing Fundamentals

In this design case, an instructor developed a goal-based scenario (GBS) for undergraduate computer fundamentals students to apply their knowledge of computer equipment and software. The GBS, entitled the MegaTech Project, presented the students with descriptions of the everyday activities of four persons needing to purchase a computer system. The persons varied by ethnicity, age, gender, work or academic needs, and free-time activities. The students needed to select a person to help, assess their computing needs, select corresponding computer equipment and software from the ad of a fictitious MegaTech Store, and write a persuasive essay or spiel about why the person should purchase those items. The instructional materials developed for the MegaTech Project included detailed instructions about the tasks for the project, descriptions of the people to help, the MegaTech Store ad, a submission form, related technology tutorials, and a detailed grading rubric. The purpose of this paper is to describe the instructional materials, as well as the process followed and design decisions made while creating those materials.
Impact of Hydrologic Uncertainties on Flood Insurance

Traditional techniques of flood frequency estimation produce a bias in estimated frequencies such that, on the average in a great many applications, floods will occur far more frequently than estimated. This is particularly critical in flood insurance studies. It appears to be imperative that the principle of expected probability be used in flood frequency studies in order to remove or minimize this bias, both for application in actuarial studies and for flood-plain zoning.
The 3H(d,γ)5He Reaction for Ec.m. ≤ 300 keV

The 3 H(d , γ )5 He reaction has been measured using a 500-keV pulsed deuteron beam incident on a stopping titanium tritide target at Ohio University’s Edwards Accelerator Laboratory. The time-of-flight (TOF) technique has been used to distinguish the γ -rays from neutrons detected in the bismuth germinate (BGO) γ -ray detector. A stilbene scintillator and an NE-213 scintillator have been used to detect the neutrons from the 3 H(d , n )4 He reaction using both the pulse-shape discrimination and TOF techniques. A newly-designed target holder with a silicon surface barrier detector to simultaneously measure α -particles to normalize the neutron count was incorporated for subsequent measurements. The γ -rays have been measured at laboratory angles of 0°, 45°, 90°, and 135°. Information about the γ -ray energy distribution for the unbound ground state and first excited state of 5 He can be obtained experimentally by comparing the BGO data to Monte Carlo simulations. The 3 H(d , γ )/3 H(d , n ) branching ratio has also been determined.
Decline in Prostate Cancer Screening by Primary Care Physicians: An Analysis of Trends in the Use of Digital Rectal Examination and Prostate Specific Antigen Testing

Purpose: Prostate cancer screening by digital rectal examination and prostate specific antigen testing has been routine clinical practice in the United States for the last 25 years. Recent studies have shown a national decline in prostate specific antigen testing following the USPSTF (United States Preventive Services Task Force) recommendation against routine prostate specific antigen screening. However, to our knowledge the effect of this recommendation on digital rectal examination utilization remains unknown.Materials and Methods: We used NAMCS (National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey) to characterize trends in the rate of digital rectal examination and prostate specific antigen testing by primary care physicians in men older than 40 years presenting for preventive care. From 2005 to 2012 NAMCS contained 3,368 such visits (unweighted) for the study of digital rectal examination trends and 4,035 unweighted visits from 2002 to 2012 for the study of prostate specific antigen trends.Results: Following the...
Abstract 2800: BAY 94-9392 – A new derivative of L-glutamate for tumor specific PET imaging

There is a high demand for a tumor specific imaging, staging and therapy monitoring by PET. Currently, FDG (2-[F-18]fluoro-2-deoxyglucose) is the commonly used agent for tumor detection and staging. However, this method cannot differentiate between tumor and inflammatory lesions. In addition, FDG does not accumulate in tumors with low glycolytic activities, such as prostate cancer. It is not optimal for specific detection of brain tumors and metastases due to a high background signal resulting from healthy brain metabolism. The amino acids L-glutamine and L-glutamate as well as their corresponding transporters play a key role in the adapted intermediary metabolism of tumors. We synthesized and evaluated a new PET imaging agent BAY 94-9392, a derivative of L-glutamate. This agent was successfully used for tumor detection with high sensitivity and specificity as demonstrated in various preclinical models. Methods: The radiosynthesis of (4S)-4-(3-[F-18]fluoropropyl)-L-glutamate (BAY 94-9392) was established on a commercial synthesis module. BAY 94-9392 was investigated in a variety of tumor cell lines as well as tumor models for uptake, biodistribution, mode of action, and its potential to differentiate between tumor versus inflammation. Results: BAY 94-9392 is specifically transported by the cystine/glutamate exchanger (xCT, SLC7A11) and it is not metabolized. Compared to FDG, the agent displayed a high accumulation rate in a panel of tumor cells. PET imaging with excellent tumor visualization and high tumor to background ratios was achieved in a variety of preclinical tumor models. BAY 94-9392 did not accumulate in inflammatory lesions, whereas FDG shows a strong uptake in this turpentine oil induced and histopathologically confirmed rat model. Conclusions: BAY 94-9392 is a new, promising tumor specific PET tracer. Both preclinical and clinical studies are in progress for further characterization. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2800. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-2800
Living with L: H-Speakers’ Perceptions of the L-Variety in Northern Germany

Based on two sociolinguistic field studies from 2003 and 2009, this paper discusses the language attitudes of High German speakers (H-speakers) toward Low German (the L-variety) in the county of Bentheim, a diglossic speech community in northwestern Germany. While language attitudinal studies are largely absent from the sociolin-guistic corpus in Germany and from Low German research altogether, diglossic studies largely focus on the L-variety and its speakers and evolution. This paper is one of the first attempts to analyze the H-speakers’ perceptions and evaluations of the L-variety over a longer period of time within the fields of diglossia and Low German.
THE FIRST ISOLATIONS OF POWASSAN VIRUS IN NEW YORK STATE.

SummaryPowassan virus was isolated from 2 pools of ticks (1 unidentified, the other Ixodes cookei) removed from 2 Marmota monax live-trapped in northern St. Lawrence County. Powassan virus was also isolated from tissues taken from the same 2 animals. Another strain of POW virus was recovered from the brain of a sick gray fox found in Broome County 200 miles to the south in New York State. The 2 tick strains were compared antigenically with the proto-type POW strain and were found to be antigenically similar.
Signaling function of dehydroabietinal in plant defense and development

Plants provide the bulk of the nearly 12,000 diterpenoid natural products, which include diterpene resin acids that have important medicinal and industrial applications. However, the biological function of these terpenoids in plants is poorly understood. Here, we highlight recent work that implicates a signaling function in angiosperms for some of these diterpenoids. In particular, this review will focus on the involvement of an abietane diterpenoid, dehydroabietinal, in the activation of systemic acquired resistance, and draw attention to new evidence that supports a role for dehydroabietinal in the transition from the vegetative phase of growth to reproductive development in the crucifer plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
Analysis of food safety risk monitoring result in Xinyang in 2012

Objective To analyze the results of food safety risk monitoring in Xinyang in 2012,and provide the scientific basis for setting up prevention and control measures.Methods The food safety risk monitoring data in Xinyang in 2012 were analyzed by hygienic evaluation according to GB 2762-2005 and GB 2760-2011.Results A total of 755 samples were detected in 2012,and 635 samples were qualified.The total qualified rate was 84.11%.The qualified rates of 5 kinds of food were 97.00%,100.0%,97.30%,77.84% and 29.00% respectively.The qualified rates of different types of food had significant statistical difference( P 0.05).Conclusion Food additives and illegal banned substances was found serious in Xinyang,relevant departments should strengthen supervision of food and take targeted control measures to enable consumers to have safe and health food.
Overview of Integrating Distributed Resources into Power Systems

The distributed resources’ benefits and potential problems are summarized. This paper presents the key technical issues related with integration of distributed resources. The key technical issues include protection, grounding and transformer interface, transmission and distribution support etc. Having recognized the technical challenges, the paper indicates that it is possible to develop technical solutions to facilitate the interconnection of DR. The paper also points out that public policy decisions have significant impact on accelerating the improvement of DR interconnection standards, practices, and products.
CT Scanning in Acute Abdominal Injuries

Abdominal trauma may result in a variety of retroperitoneal and intraperitoneal injuries, ranging in severity from innocuous to life threatening. The detection or exclusion of these injuries is a challenging problem. With proper patient selection and proper technique and interpretation, CT scanning plays an important role in the evaluation of abdominal trauma.
“The Top Priority Is a Healthy Baby”: Narratives of Health, Disability, and Abortion in Online Pregnancy Forum Discussions in the US and China

The introduction of cell-free DNA prenatal genetic screening has rekindled discussion of ethical and social questions surrounding prenatal testing, perceptions of disability, and abortion. The growing use of prenatal genetic screening presents a unique opportunity to assess decision-making around new methods of prenatal testing; especially as there is little available research comparing individual and cultural differences that affect a pregnant woman's decision-making on prenatal testing. We performed a content analysis of online pregnancy forums in the United States and Mainland China. Content from January 2012 to December 2013 was identified through search methodologies and refined to remove duplication. China-based content was translated by a native Mandarin speaker. We used qualitative analysis methods to identify common themes in the dataset. There were 333 English responses and 519 Mandarin responses. Three main themese were identified in the data: decision making factors, attitude towards the pregnancy, and attitudes towards abortion. Women's narratives reflected how broader social forces can have an impact on intimate personal decision-making. Women in the Mandarin dataset evoked stronger narratives of community and/or family decision-making in pregnancy and were more accepting of the possibility of abortion in the event of a finding of fetal abnormality. Narrative in the English dataset more frequently evoked ideas of unconditional love, regardless of fetal diagnosis, but also acknowledged much stronger support services for individuals with disability and less awareness of stigma. These results highlight the necessity of awareness around how broader cultural and social factors can consciously or unconsciously impact women's decisions and highlight potential focus areas for future counseling efforts.
THE EURASIAN ORIGINS OF EMPTY TIME AND SPACE: MODERNITY AS TEMPORALITY RECONSIDERED

Understood as a form of temporality, modernity is seen as consisting of empty time and space. However, careful examination of the origins of modern notions of empty time and space suggest they arose from background assumptions in wide use across Eurasia in the early modern period, and also that they arose prior to, and independent of, the emergence of the modern nation-state. Here, various Eurasian versions of astronomy and philology are examined to show that they relied on such background assumptions and could therefore be readily translated and shared across the boundaries separating quite different cosmologies.
Employee ownership and union labor: the case of United Steel Workers of America

Union–management relations in the U.S. are best described as adversarial. However, under certain circumstances, they can become cooperative. One example of the latter was the role of trade unions i...
Agile Paging for Efficient Memory Virtualization

Virtualization provides benefits for many workloads, but the overheads of virtualizing memory are still high. The cost comes from managing two levels of address translation--one in the guest virtual machine (VM) and the other in the host virtual machine monitor (VMM)--with either nested or shadow paging. This article introduces agile paging, which combines the best of both nested and shadow paging within a page walk and exceeds the performance of both techniques.
Enhanced liver fibrosis test as a reliable tool for assessing fibrosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in a clinical setting

BackgroundLiver fibrosis is the main determinant and predictor of the clinical course of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). To date, a liver biopsy is still considered the gold standard for ...
Liberalism, Civil Marriage, and Amorous Caregiving Dyads

Recently, the US has joined many European jurisdictions in extending civil marriage to same sex as well as different sex dyads. Many liberals regard this as a development worth entrenching. But a prominent recent liberal challenge to civil marriage claims otherwise. According to this challenge, by defining and conferring civil marriage, the state privileges some relationships over others that serve equally well the important liberal goal of fostering effective liberal citizenship, in violation of a prominent interpretation of the doctrine of state neutrality. Theorists who press this challenge, such as Elizabeth Brake and Tamara Metz, argue that it can be met effectively only by dismantling civil marriage and replacing it with more inclusive state-maintained arrangements. So far, prominent responses to this neutralist challenge to civil marriage have focused on the special value of either the relationships to which civil marriage currently extends, or the special value of civil marriage itself. In this article, I develop an alternative reply to this neutralist challenge to civil marriage, one focusing instead on the special vulnerabilities of some of the liberally valuable relationships to which civil marriage currently extends, amorous caregiving dyads.
Prospective prediction of arrests for driving under the influence from relationship patterns with family and friends in adolescence

Driving under the influence (DUI) is dangerous and costly, yet there are few prospective studies on modifiable risk and protective processes that would inform prevention. Middle adolescence, when most individuals are first learning to drive and first using alcohol, may be a particularly salient period for family and friendship influences on DUI risk. In the present study, youth's family and friendship environments were observed and measured at age 16 in a diverse community sample (n=999), and then court records were used to document arrest for DUI through the age of 32years. We first examined the univariate effects of family and friendship variables on later DUI and then fit more comprehensive structural equation models to test predictive effects on the level of construct (e.g., parental monitoring) and environment (e.g., family). Results indicate that parental monitoring (Odds Ratio [OR]=0.77), positive family relations (OR=0.84), prosocial peer affiliation (OR=0.77), and deviant peer affiliation (OR=1.43) at age 16 were individually predictive of arrests for DUI from ages 16 to 32, even after controlling for both teen and parent alcohol use. The comprehensive, multivariate models indicated that the friendship environment was most predictive of arrests for DUI during the follow-up period. Together, these results are consistent with a model in which attenuated family ties contribute to substance-use-based friendships at age 16, which in turn contribute to an increased likelihood of arrest for DUI in later adolescence and early adulthood. Implications for prevention are discussed.
Short and Long-Term Postoperative Complications Following Total Joint Arthroplasty in Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Hepatitis B, or Hepatitis C.

Abstract Introduction Due to advancement in treatment against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV), the prevalence of this patient population electing to undergo total joint arthroplasty (TJA) is increasing. Current literature is scarce and conflicting especially when evaluating long-term surgical complications. The purpose of this study is to assess the postoperative medical and surgical complications following TJA in these patient populations. Methods Using a nationwide database between 2005 and 2012, 4 cohorts were created: patients with HIV, HCV, HBV, and HIV and HBV or HCV who underwent TJA. Cohorts were matched to a control group by age, gender, and Charlson Comorbidity Index. Thirty-day and 90-day medical complications and 90-day and 2-year surgical complications were evaluated using odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Results Following TJA, patients with HCV or HBV had increased risk of pneumonia, sepsis, joint infection, and revision surgery at 90 days and 2 years. Patients with HIV did not have increased risk of infection at 90 days and 2 years but did have increased risk of revision at 90 days (odds ratio 3.21, 95% confidence interval 1.31-7.84) following total hip arthroplasty. Conclusions Patients with HIV, HBV, or HCV have an overall increased risk of postoperative medical and surgical complications following TJA. Patients with HBV or HCV are at risk of more complications than patients with HIV especially for infection within 90 days after TJA. Patients with HIV are at risk of mechanical complications but do not appear to be at significant risk for infection following total hip arthroplasty.
Erratum to: 30 Years of Research on Entry Mode and Performance Relationship: A Meta-Analytical Review

Almost 30 years after Anderson and Gatignon systematically conceptualized various entry modes, the scholarly research on their performance effects has accumulated a large amount of empirical evidence. However, research has progressed in a somewhat fragmented manner where the cumulative impact of entry modes is difficult to discern and the entry-performance relationship still remains a conundrum in IB research.
Effects of Teacher-Student Ethnoracial Matching and Overall Teacher Diversity in Elementary Schools on Educational Outcomes

ABSTRACTThe United States is facing culture gaps between students and teachers in schools. Although the U.S. school-age population is racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse, the teachers ...
Glucocorticoid Regulation of Cell Proliferation

Initiation of DNA replication in non-embryonic cells requires passage through an irreversible step in late Gl that has come to be called the restriction point. The restriction point was originally defined as the point in time beyond which inhibitors of protein synthesis could not prevent serum-stimulated cells from initiating DNA synthesis (Pardee, 1974). Prevailing wisdom defines the restriction point as irreversible activation of the cyclin E/Cdk2 complex at the Gl/S interphase. As discussed in previous chapters and in several excellent review articles (Sherr and Roberts, 1999; Ekholm and Reed, 2000; Vidal and Koff, 2000), activation of cyclin E/Cdk2 in late Gl begins with two events: 1) relief of transcriptional repression of the cyclin E promoter due to Cdk4-dependent phosphorylation of Rb-1, and the resulting dissociation of chromatin remodeling complexes; and 2) sequestration of Cip/Kip type Cdk2 inhibitors, which occurs as a result of accumulation of cyclin D/Cdk4/p27 and/or cyclin D/Cdk4/p21 complexes. Cdk4-dependent induction of cyclin E transcription and sequestration of the Cdk2 inhibitors Cipl and Kipl results in activation of Cdk2, which then promotes degradation of Kip 1 and further relieves Rb-1 dependent repression of the cyclin E and other promoters.
Crones, Dirty Old Men, Sexy Seniors: Representations of the Sexuality of Older Persons

The representations of the sexuality of older persons in American society are neither flattering nor accurate. Often what is presented is filled with confusion, uncertainty, and contradictions. Sexuality of old people, like sexuality of adolescents, frightens most adults in between. Evidence suggests hope that in popular culture, conventional representations of sexless older people are finally undergoing a change. The popular literature aimed at elderly or midlife audiences increasingly portrays older persons as healthy, vigorous, and not unattractive. Since in the popular mind attractiveness and sexuality are believed to be closely linked, this change signals an increased willingness to credit old people who are aging well (i.e., who look and act young) with being sexually interested and probably active.
Using Dependency-Based Annotations for Authorship Identification

Most statistical approaches to stylometry to date have focused on lexical methods, such as relative word frequencies or type-token ratios. Explicit attention to syntactic features has been comparatively rare. Those approaches that have used syntactic features typically either used very shallow features (such as parts of speech) or features based on phrase structure grammars. This paper investigates whether typed dependency grammars might yield useful stylometric features.
Clinical applications of genetic sequencing in lymphoma: A retrospective review.

e23169Background: Personalized therapy through the identification of targetable mutations within individual tumors has increasingly become a focus in the management of patients (pts) with relapsed/...
Research-to-Resource: Developing a Culturally Responsive Mind-Set in Elementary General Music:

The terms culturally responsive teaching and culturally responsive pedagogy have become more common in the vernacular of public-school teaching. However, practical applications of cultural responsi...
The prevalence of antiseptic tolerance genes among staphylococci and enterococci in a pediatric population

Objective:The smr and qacA/B genes in Staphylococcus aureus confer tolerance to antiseptics and are associated with nosocomial acquisition of infection and underlying medical conditions. Such antiseptic tolerance (AT) genes have also been reported in coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) and enterococci, however, few data are available regarding their prevalence. We sought to describe the frequency of AT genes among bloodstream isolates of S. aureus, CoNS and enterococci at Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH).Methods:Banked CoNS, S. aureus and enterococci isolated from blood cultures collected bewteen October 1, 2016, and October 1, 2017, were obtained from the TCH clinical microbiology laboratory. All isolates underwent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the qacA/B and smr genes. Medical records were reviewed for all cases.Results:In total, 103 CoNS, 19 Enterococcus spp, and 119 S. aureus isolates were included in the study, and 80.6% of the CoNS possessed at least 1 AT gene compared to 37% of S. aureus and 43.8% of E. faecalis isolates (P < .001). Among CoNS bloodstream isolates, the presence of either AT gene was strongly associated with nosocomial infection (P < .001). The AT genes in S. aureus were associated with nosocomial infection (P = .025) as well as the diagnosis of central-line–associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI; P = .04) and recent hospitalizations (P < .001). We found no correlation with genotypic AT in E. faecalis and any clinical variable we examined.Conclusions:Antiseptic tolerance is common among bloodstream staphylococci and E. faecalis isolates at TCH. Among CoNS, the presence of AT genes is strongly correlated with nosocomial acquisition of infection, consistent with previous studies in S. aureus. These data suggest that the healthcare environment contributes to AT among staphylococci.
Inciting high fidelity tactile sensations using a single electrotactile electrode pair

This paper investigates the possibility of inducing tactile sensations using electrotactile stimulation. The goal is to create several stimulus pattern feeling distinct enough for humans to differentiate them using only a single electrode. A single electrode is considered so that maximum fidelity of sensation can be achieved on parts of human skin with low receptor density in the dermis layer such as the forearm or abdomen. Two experiments were conducted on eight participants using a custom electrotactile waveform generator, a stimulation circuit, and electrodes. Experiment 1 investigates the possibility of quantifying different sensations induced by an electrotactile electrode. Experiment 2 investigates the ability of humans in identifying a number of different waveforms being sequentially played through a single electrotactile electrode pair. A confusion matrix was formed to analyze the ability of humans in distinguishing different waveforms. The results show an average sensitivity of 93%, specificity of 92%, precision of 98%, and accuracy of 94%. These results demonstrate that it is possible to produce distinguishable sensations using a single electrotactile electrode pair and electrotactile stimulation in general.
Obstructive sleep apnea, sleep symptoms, and their association with cardiovascular disease.

Objectives To determine the frequency of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), insomnia, restless legs, and other sleep symptoms in patients with cardiovascular disease and the association of these sleep disorders with quantitative cardiovascular measures. Methods Study design was a cross-sectional survey and retrospective chart review. A questionnaire containing validated sleep symptoms was distributed to 202 patients with cardiovascular disease at a tertiary referral cardiology clinic. Following a focused review of these patients' medical charts, their questionnaire responses were examined for associations with clinical cardiovascular parameters. Results Twenty-one percent of patients reported a prior diagnosis of OSA. A total of 115 patients (60%) had at least one additional sleep symptom. Clinically significant insomnia was significantly associated with heart disease (relative risk [RR] = 1.5, confidence interval [CI] = 1.1 to 2.1), prior myocardial infarction or cerebrovascular accident (RR = 2.1, CI = 1.2 to 3.6), and heart failure (RR = 2.2, CI = 1.3 to 3.8). Left ventricular ejection fraction was significantly associated with insomnia by Insomnia Severity Index (β = -0.52, CI = -0.89 to -0.13). Conclusion The frequency of OSA in patients in this tertiary cardiology clinic was higher than the general population in the United States, with the majority of patients experiencing at least one sleep symptom. Insomnia symptoms were shown to be associated with multiple cardiovascular measures, including left ventricular ejection fraction. These findings imply an interwoven relationship between cardiovascular and sleep symptoms as captured by validated sleep questionnaires. Level of evidence IV Laryngoscope, 130:1595-1602, 2020.
Study on Propagation Law of Capacitor Audible Noise

With fast development of high-voltage DC( HVDC) transmission system,a large amount of noise is radiated from the ac filter capacitors of converter stations and it is significant to study the propagation law of capacitor audible noise. In this paper,the test platform for the study of capacitor noise characteristics is established. The noise levels radiated from the tested capacitor are measured at several distances and different currents under each frequency,the variation relation of radiation noise of capacitor with distance is analyzed and the propagation mode of capacitor noise is identified based on the theory of sound propagation. It is shown by the result that,in the measurement range of this paper,the radiation of noise from the bottom and top surfaces is obviously a spherical wave mode,whereas the radiation of noise at side is cylindrical wave mode at near distance and is spherical wave mode at remote distance. The total noise level decreases 5. 4 dB as the measurement distance doubled,indicating that the total radiation noise of capacitors propagates closely in the form spherical wave mode.
Foundations of a cross-disciplinary pedagogy for big data

The increasing awareness of "big data" is transforming the academic and business landscape across many disciplines. Yet, big data programming environments are still too complex for non-programmers to utilize. To our knowledge, only computer scientists are ever exposed to big data processing concepts and tools in undergraduate education. Furthermore, non-computer scientists may lack sufficient common ground with computer scientists to explain their specialized big data processing needs. In order to bridge this gap and enhance collaboration among persons with big data processing needs and persons who are trained in programming and system building, we propose the foundations of a cross-disciplinary pedagogy that exposes big data processing paradigms and design decisions at an abstract level. With these tools, students and experts from different disciplines can more effectively collaborate on solving big data problems.
Engaging People in Behavioral Crisis

First responders and clinicians often must engage individuals who are experiencing some form of behavioral crisis. The nature and origins of behavioral crises vary widely; the causes of such crises include severe mental illness, acute alcohol intoxication, and intellectual or developmental disabilities, among others. This chapter explores the challenges faced by first responders in responding to behavioral crises. We begin by describing the tragedy that befell Robert Ethan Saylor, who died after a confrontation with police over a $12 movie ticket. We then describe crisis intervention team (CIT) approaches to serving individuals in behavioral crisis more effectively and safely. Finally, we draw on our work and the work of others in the City of Chicago to explore organizational and policy obstacles to more effective interventions for individuals who experience behavioral crisis.
Changing the World from “Below”: U.S. Peace Activists and the Transnational Struggle for Peace and Détente in the 1980s

Much more so than previous works in the field of U.S. foreign relations, this article explores the relationship between the Helsinki Accords and peace activism in the United States. The article exp...
Policing Chronic and Temporary Hot Spots of Violent Crime: A Controlled Field Experiment.

Hot-spot-based policing programs aim to deter crime through increased proactive patrols at high-crime locations. While most hot spot programs target easily identified chronic hot spots, we introduce models for predicting temporary hot spots to address effectiveness and equity objectives for crime prevention, and present findings from a crossover experiment evaluating application of hot spot predictions to prevent serious violent crime in Pittsburgh, PA. Over a 12-month experimental period, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police assigned uniformed patrol officers to weekly predicted chronic and temporary hot spots of serious violent crimes comprising 0.5 percent of the city's area. We find statistically and practically significant reductions in serious violent crime counts within treatment hot spots as compared to control hot spots, with an overall reduction of 25.3 percent in the FBI-classified Part 1 Violent (P1V) crimes of homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, and a 39.7 percent reduction of African-American and other non-white victims of P1V crimes. We find that temporary hot spots increase spatial dispersion of patrols and have a greater percentage reduction in P1V crimes than chronic hot spots but fewer total number of crimes prevented. Only foot patrols, not car patrols, had statistically significant crime reductions in hot spots. We find no evidence of crime displacement; instead, we find weakly statistically significant spillover of crime prevention benefits to adjacent areas. In addition, we find no evidence that the community-oriented hot spot patrols produced over-policing arrests of minority or other populations.
Passages and Afterworlds: Anthropological Perspectives on Death in the Caribbean: edited by Maarit Forde and Yanique Hume, Durham, Duke University Press, 2018, x + 297., $26.95 (paper), ISBN 978 1 4780 0014 3

In the Caribbean, afterworlds are very much connected to the worlds of the living, and for most Caribbean people, death is understood as a multi-stage process – not a one-time event. Spirits of the...
Barking Up the Wrong Tree: Why Bo Didn't Fetch Many Votes for Barack Obama in 2012

In “The Dog that Didn't Bark: The Role of Canines in the 2008 Campaign,” Diana Mutz (2010) argues that dog ownership made voters significantly less likely to vote for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. We examine this claim further. Although President Obama has owned a dog since shortly after his 2008 election, we argue that Bo's presence most likely did little to improve his owner's chances of being reelected in 2012. Rather, the apparent significance of dog ownership uncovered by Mutz is due largely to key variables being omitted from the analysis. Using the same data, we show that Obama didn't so much have trouble with dog owners in 2008 as he had trouble with conservative, rural, Southern whites, who, for reasons we examine, are more likely than other Americans to own dogs. Accordingly, we suspect that Bo failed to boost Obama's vote tally in 2012. While we recognize the tongue-in-jowl tone of portions of Mutz's article, this tale is an important one, and is consistent with recent research linking racial attitudes to levels of support for Barack Obama. We also argue that while scholars are often wise to include control variables such as “South” in studies of political attitudes and behavior, it is important to consider the variety of politically relevant characteristics that such variables may be capturing.
COVID-19 and the Long Revolution

Recent events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed deeply embedded structural inequities within the United States, triggering national dialogues around institutional racism, carcerality, and the logic of neoliberalism. While our reckoning with these structures continues to unfold and remix in unpredictable ways, we offer a theoretical lens for understanding this moment. Using the concept of liminality , we argue that a long revolution has been activated through a state of suspended order; specifically, with our routines disrupted to mitigate fallout from COVID-19, we have been afforded limited space for recognizing these structures and the linkages among them. Here, we engage with carceral capitalism to make sense of present conditions. As we move through the long duree , forging new structures and patterns, it is crucial to remember that which we must abandon: the systems and tools of subjugation that remain inconsistent with how we live and, more importantly, how we want to live.
Early Evidence of the Effect of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine at One Medical Center.

Effect of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine at a Medical Center With the rollout of mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccines under emergency use authorization, dramatic decreases in the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections were se...
At the Intersection of Institutional Identity and Type

Positive public perceptions of academic quality and professional ethics are critical to the long-term legitimacy of American colleges and universities. Faculty codes of conduct are one mechanism whereby the professoriate can define acceptable practice, exercise social control, and maintain public confidence in higher education, yet the drivers of their adoption are not well understood. Building upon previous research into such organizational behavior by institutional type, this study examined the prevalence and content of publicly posted faculty codes of conduct within an organizational field of institutions that share a common religious identity but differ in their institutional types and employment structures. Faculty handbooks from American member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU), an international association of faith-based institutions, were gathered and analyzed. Although only 27% of CCCU member institutions in the U.S. (36/135) publicly posted faculty codes of conduct, the average number of tenets present in each code (n = 7.5) was higher than suggested by previous research. Study findings also revealed that membership category, institutional type, and employment structures influence the content of faculty codes of conduct, indicating that isomorphic pressures operate within this particular organizational field. The piece concludes by commending publicly posted codes of conduct as an affirmation of the personal responsibility, fairness, and care exercised by ethical professionals in the academy.
Building mean field ODE models using the generalized linear chain trick & Markov chain theory.

The well known linear chain trick (LCT) allows modellers to derive mean field ODEs that assume gamma (Erlang) distributed passage times, by transitioning individuals sequentially through a chain of...
Combination therapy with tocilizumab and dexamethasone cost-effectively reduces Coronavirus disease 2019 mortality.

Recent randomized trials suggest that interleukin-6 inhibitors like tocilizumab have mortality benefit for patients with severe coronavirus disease-2019. We employed a decision tree to investigate their cost-effectiveness and found that tocilizumab is cost-effective with an estimated incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $16520 per quality-adjusted life year gained (95% credible interval 10760-51530).
Glucocorticoid-mediated induction of caveolin-1 disrupts cytoskeletal organization, inhibits cell migration and re-epithelialization of non-healing wounds

Although impaired keratinocyte migration is a recognized hallmark of chronic wounds, the molecular mechanisms underpinning impaired cell movement are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that both diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) and venous leg ulcers (VLUs) exhibit global deregulation of cytoskeletal organization in genomic comparison to normal skin and acute wounds. Interestingly, we found that DFUs and VLUs exhibited downregulation of ArhGAP35, which serves both as an inactivator of RhoA and as a glucocorticoid repressor. Since chronic wounds exhibit elevated levels of cortisol and caveolin-1 (Cav1), we posited that observed elevation of Cav1 expression may contribute to impaired actin-cytoskeletal signaling, manifesting in aberrant keratinocyte migration. We showed that Cav1 indeed antagonizes ArhGAP35, resulting in increased activation of RhoA and diminished activation of Cdc42, which can be rescued by Cav1 disruption. Furthermore, we demonstrate that both inducible keratinocyte specific Cav1 knockout mice, and MβCD treated diabetic mice, exhibit accelerated wound closure. Taken together, our findings provide a previously unreported mechanism by which Cav1-mediated cytoskeletal organization prevents wound closure in patients with chronic wounds.
Travel Time of Waves in Backwaters

Time of travel of elementary waves in prismatic channels with gradually varied flow is expressed by two parametric equations. The first of these equations gives the travel time over a reach. The second equation, which is analogous to Bakhmeteff’s backwater function, gives the appropriate flow parameters of the reach. Parameters are the actual and normal Froude numbers. The simultaneous solution of the two equations furnishes the initial conditions for flood routing computations using the method of characteristics.
A Model Predicting Stomatal Conductance and its Contribution to the Control of Photosynthesis under Different Environmental Conditions

In the past, stomatal responses have generally been considered in relation to single environmental variables in part because the interactions between factors have appeared difficult to quantify in a simple way. A linear correlation between stomatal conductance (g) and CO2 assimilation rate (A) has been reported when photon fluence was varied and when the photosynthetic capacity of leaves was altered by growth conditions, provided CO2, air humidity and leaf temperature were constant (1). Temperature and humidity are, however, not consistent in nature. Lack of a concise description of stomatal responses to combinations of environmental factors has limited attempts to integrate these responses into quantitative models of leaf energy balance, photosynthesis, and transpiration. Moreover, this lack has hindered progress toward understanding the stomatal mechanism. We have taken a multi-variant approach to the study of stomatal conductance and we show that under many conditions the responses of stornata can be described by a set of linear relationships. This model can be linked to models of leaf carbon metabolism and the environment to predict fluxes of CO2, H2O and energy. In this paper, we show how the model of conductance can be linked to a description of CO2 assimilation as a function of intercellular CO2 (whether empirical or the output of a model) to predict the distribution of flux control between the stornata and leaf “biochemistry” under conditions in a gas-exchange cuvette.