cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Next generation amplicon sequencing improves detection of Blastocystis mixed subtype infections

Blastocystis is a highly prevalent enteric protist parasite of humans and animals. Transmission occurs via the fecal-oral route through ingestion of contaminated food or water. Genetic diversity studies have identified numerous subtypes (STs) within the genus Blastocystis based on polymorphism at the SSU rRNA gene. Although there is evidence of frequent mixed subtype infections, the extent of within-host subtype diversity remains largely unexplored. Accurate assessment of Blastocystis ST diversity is crucial to understand epidemiology and sources of Blastocystis transmission to humans. Here, we report the application of next generation sequencing (NGS) for detection and characterization of Blastocystis subtypes to investigate intra-host Blastocystis diversity. A total of 75 specimens obtained from cattle feces, previously identified as Blastocystis positive, were examined using next generation amplicon sequencing. A fragment of the SSU rRNA gene was amplified using Blastocystis-specific primers and resulting amplicons were used for NGS. Comparison of Sanger and NGS results suggest greater sensitivity using the NGS approach. Using Sanger sequencing, mixed infections were suspected in 18 specimens but only confirmed through cloning in three, while NGS identified 49 mixed infections (16 times more). In addition, NGS revealed greater diversity of subtypes with 14 detected compared to 11 by Sanger. Nine more infections with potentially zoonotic STs were detected by NGS than Sanger. Indeed, subtype 3, the most common subtype found in humans, was found in 37% (28) of specimens tested by NGS but in only four specimens using Sanger. Our findings indicate that mixed Blastocystis infections may be far more common than previously thought due to the limitations of current detection methods. This next generation amplicon sequencing strategy improves detection of mixed subtype infections and low abundance subtypes and represents a valuable resource for future Blastocystis studies to improve our understanding of its epidemiology.
Listening to Unaffiliated Users of the Academic Library.

We know that unaffiliated users access books, reference services, and databases at our libraries, but how do they experience this access? The library science literature reveals a range of ethical c...
The Role of Food Retailers in the Promotion of Healthful, Low-Cost Products to WIC Recipients

ABSTRACTThere is a gap in the literature around promotion of healthy and low-cost food options for WIC recipients. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with retailers to explore the challe...
Unbiased Evaluation of Deep Metric Learning Algorithms.

Deep metric learning (DML) is a popular approach for images retrieval, solving verification (same or not) problems and addressing open set classification. Arguably, the most common DML approach is with triplet loss, despite significant advances in the area of DML. Triplet loss suffers from several issues such as collapse of the embeddings, high sensitivity to sampling schemes and more importantly a lack of performance when compared to more modern methods. We attribute this adoption to a lack of fair comparisons between various methods and the difficulty in adopting them for novel problem statements. In this paper, we perform an unbiased comparison of the most popular DML baseline methods under same conditions and more importantly, not obfuscating any hyper parameter tuning or adjustment needed to favor a particular method. We find, that under equal conditions several older methods perform significantly better than previously believed. In fact, our unified implementation of 12 recently introduced DML algorithms achieve state-of-the art performance on CUB200, CAR196, and Stanford Online products datasets which establishes a new set of baselines for future DML research. The codebase and all tuned hyperparameters will be open-sourced for reproducibility and to serve as a source of benchmark.
Impact of risk-factor modification on arrhythmia recurrence among morbidly obese patients undergoing atrial fibrillation ablation.

BACKGROUND Morbid obesity is associated with prohibitively high arrhythmia recurrence rates following atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. DESIGN This was a single-center study comprising 239 patients with morbid obesity and symptomatic paroxysmal or persistent AF undergoing AF ablation compared to 239 patients with a body mass index less than 30 kg/m2 matched based on age, sex, ejection fraction, AF type, presence and type of heart failure, and left atrial volume index. METHODS Our primary outcome of interest was arrhythmia recurrence. RESULTS During a mean follow-up of 29 months, arrhythmia recurrence was observed in 65% of the morbidly obese cohort compared to 27% of the control group (P < .0001). Among those with morbid obesity, sleep apnea screening, and treatment (91% vs 40%; P < .0001), blood pressure control (62% vs 53%; P = .001), glycemic control (85% vs 56%; P = .004), and weight loss more than equal to 5% (33% vs 57% in those who lost less than 5% and 83% in those who gained weight, P < .0001) were associated with lower arrhythmia recurrence. Recurrent arrhythmia was observed in one (4%) patient who accomplished all four goals, compared to 36% who achieved 3 of 4, 85% who modified 2 of 4%, and 97% of those who modified zero or one risk-factor. Risk-factor modification (RFM) was also associated with substantial reductions in the need for repeat ablation or direct-current cardioversion and arrhythmia-related hospitalization (P < .0001). CONCLUSION RFM through pragmatic noninvasive means such as blood pressure and glycemic control, sleep apnea screening and treatment, and weight loss is associated with substantially lower rates of recurrent arrhythmia among morbidly obese patients undergoing AF ablation.
Use of quantitative myometry in the evaluation of myoblast transfer therapy.

Because time is so limited, I’ve decided to present my conclusions to you first and then afterwards to present as much supporting data as time allows.
Sex Differences in Age Patterns of Delinquent/Criminal Careers: Results from Poisson Latent Class Analyses of the Philadelphia Cohort Study

Applications of latent class analyses to the study of criminal careers have yielded results with implications for criminological theory. Distinct latent classes of individuals within various samples have been identified based upon the similarity of individuals with respect to their rate of offending across the teen and adult years, net of the effects of other regressors. In previous research on samples of males taken from the cities of London and Philadelphia, four and five such categories have been identified respectively, ranging from a group of nonoffenders to a group of chronic offenders. However, the question of whether similar findings hold for females has not been adequately addressed, in part due to the scarcity of longitudinal samples with sizable female populations. Data from the Second Philadelphia Cohort are used to address this and related questions. First, are there latent classes of female offenders? Second, if such categories do exist, how do they compare? Third, how do classes of male and female offenders compare on key measures of criminal careers? Analyses of the samples yield differing numbers of classes for males and females. Gender invariances as well as differences in patterns of offending are also found and are discussed.
Formal erfolgreich — aber wie wohl fühlen sich Mädchen in ihren Schulen?

In verschiedenen wahrend der vergangenen Dekade durchgefuhrten Studien zum Befinden in Schule und Unterricht wurden beim Vergleich von Jungen und Madchen Unterschiede zuungunsten adoleszenter Schulerinnen nachgewiesen. Die vorliegende Untersuchung fragt, ob Madchenschulen im Vergleich mit koedukativen Einrichtungen ein unterstutzenderes Umfeld bereitstellen und damit zusammenhangend das Wohlbefinden der weiblichen Jugendlichen in diesen geschlechtersegregierten Lernumgebungen auf einem hoheren Niveau liegt. Es wurden Schulerinnen der 8. und 11. Jahrgangsstufe von sechs bayerischen Gymnasien (drei private Madchenschulen sowie zwei koedukative Privatgymnasien und eine offentliche koedukative Schule) zum Sozialen Schulklima, zur Lehrer-Schuler-Beziehung sowie ihrer Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung befragt. Bezuglich des Wohlbefindens in der Schule zeigt sich eine Widerspruchlichkeit des Madchenschulkontextes: In den Bereichen des Sozialen Schulklimas und der Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung werden einige Aspekte von monoedukativ und andere von koedukativ unterrichteten Schulerinnen positiver bewertet, z.T. traten keine Effekte auf. Bei der Bewertung der Lehrer-Schuler-Beziehung zeigten sich keine Unterschiede.
The Snobbery Slander: The Most Outrageous and Ironic Attacks on Oxfordians and Other Shakespeare Authorship Doubters

Class-based feelings have played an important role in the Shakespeare Authorship Question (SAQ), though not in quite the same way that traditionalists think. The most perennial and damaging (and speciously false) criticism long made against those who embrace the "Oxfordian" theory (or other non-Stratfordian theories) of Shakespeare authorship, is that they were or are motivated mainly by "snobbery" or class bias. This essay explores various aspects and ironies of this "snobbery slander," as well as the conspiracy canard, accusations of mental illness, and the most outrageous accusation of all against authorship doubters: the Holocaust denial comparison. The snobbery slander is grossly inaccurate and unfair as applied to virtually all Oxfordians and other doubters, past and present. There is ample evidence that class-based bias is actually more significant as a motivating factor for many people who adhere to the traditional Stratfordian authorship view. The snobbery slander is also deeply ironic because the Shakespearean works themselves display profound aristocratic bias. There are innumerable indications in the plays and poems that the author almost certainly must have been a highly educated and privileged aristocrat. This paper was first posted on SSRN on July 24, 2018. Much of it appears in somewhat different form in Part V (Conclusion) of the author's book "Early Shakespeare Authorship Doubts" published in June 2019. The paper was revised and published on the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship Website on July 15, 2019. Free excerpts of the book (including Part V) have also been separately posted on SSRN, as TJSL Research Paper No. 3007393 (originally posted July 26, 2017). Just type in the usual SSRN URL: "ssrn" forward-slash "abstract" equal-sign 3007393.
Dynamic Routing with Tree Based Value Function Approximations

This paper is motivated from a collaboration with a start-up delivering on-demand health care services. In this setting, nurse practitioners need to be dynamically routed to patients' houses as service requests are received. We solve this problem using approximate dynamic programming and machine learning techniques. At every stage, an optimization problem needs to be solved to assign nurse practitioners to patients. We capture the future cost of having nurse practitioners positioned at certain locations around the city by estimating a cost-to-go function. Many previous approaches treat the cost-to-go function as a black box, which requires the enumeration of all possible actions to make a routing decision at each stage. This is an intractable problem in the reoptimization setting. Our approach overcomes this issue by approximating the cost-to-go function using a tree or tree ensemble, and leverages formulation techniques from Mixed Integer Optimization to solve the optimization problem at each stage sufficiently fast. Furthermore, this approach has the advantage of being more accurate relative to separable approximations used in the literature. We also apply this approach to several other online optimization problems in operations management which can be modeled through an underlying optimization formulation that needs to be solved at each stage, and show improvements relative to state-of-the-art methods.
Research on the Diversified Development of Energy System in China

With faster industrial development, the demand for energy increases dramatically. As demand rises, the supply of energy grows a lot. Although with new technologies, traditional energy, such as burning coal, is still the main way of producing energy. Traditional production has a huge and irreversible hurt to the environment, which should be substituted by new clean energy. Finding out the new resources and making them work in the real energy market is the primary goal of energy development. This article mainly describes the current status of China’s natural clean energy, and then combines the advantages and disadvantages of many aspects and proposes several methods suitable for the multiple development of energy. Comprehensively considering the clean and high-efficiency characteristics of future energy development, a circular model of energy consumption and production capacity has been formed in all aspects, reducing energy waste and increasing energy consumption restrictions due to instability. In view of the development characteristics of China’s existing vast land and resources, and the huge energy demand groups, small-quantity, multi-site and diverse energy development is the future trend of China’s energy development. However, the existing utilization and utilization rate of these natural resources are very low, and although a large number of traditional production capacity industries can meet the energy supply demand, they have a great impact on the environment. President Xi once said that green waters and green mountains are our golden and silver mountains. Such environmentally friendly energy development is the ultimate goal we want to achieve.
Targeting gut dysbiosis as a means to enhance recovery from surgical brain injury.

Background Surgical brain injury (SBI) impacts roughly 800,000 people who undergo neurosurgical procedures each year. SBI is the result of unavoidable parenchymal damage, vessel disruption, and thermal injury that is an inherent part of all neurosurgical procedures. Clinically, SBI has been associated with postoperative seizures and long-term neurobehavioral deficits. Current therapies are aimed at providing symptom relief by reducing swelling and preventing seizures. However, there are no therapies aimed at reducing the extent of SBI preoperatively. The microbiome-gut-brain axis may serve as a potential target for the development of new preventative therapies due to its extensive involvement in central nervous system function. Methods An extensive literature review was conducted to determine whether there is a potential role for dysbiosis treatment in reducing the extent of SBI. Results Treatment of gut dysbiosis deserves further exploration as a potential means of reducing the extent of unavoidable SBI. Dysbiosis has been correlated with increased neuroinflammation through impaired immune regulation, increased blood-brain barrier permeability, and increased production of reactive metabolites. Recently, dysbiosis has also been linked to acute neurological dysfunction in the postoperative state. Importantly, treatment of dysbiosis has been correlated with better patient outcomes and decreased length of stay in surgical patients. Conclusion Current literature supports the role of dysbiosis treatment in the preoperative setting as a means of optimizing neurological recovery following unavoidable SBI that results from all neurosurgical procedures.
Institutional Support and Black Women Resident Assistants across Environments

Resident assistants are unique among undergraduate leaders since they straddle the roles of student and university employee simultaneously. Through a phenomenographic approach, this study examines ...
Effect of slip on vortex shedding from a circular cylinder in a gas flow

Most studies of vortex shedding from a circular cylinder in a gas flow have assumed the no-slip condition on the cylinder surface. To investigate the effect of slip, we simulate vortex shedding using molecular gas dynamics (direct simulation Monte Carlo method) and computational fluid dynamics (incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with a slip boundary condition) and find the results of both methods to be in reasonable agreement. The critical accommodation coefficient below which vortex shedding ceases is found for Reynolds numbers of 60-100 at a Mach number of 0.3. Conditions to observe the effect of slip on vortex shedding appear to be experimentally realizable, although challenging.
Identification of Smyd4 by chromosome rearrangement as a potential tumor suppressor gene involved in breast cancer development

184 Aberrant gene function and altered patterns of gene expression are key features of cancer. The identification of genes involved in tumorigenesis is pivotal for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. To identify the potential tumor suppressor genes, we applied the retroviral Loxp-Cre system to a non-tumorigenic mouse mammary epithelial cell line NOG8 to create random chromosome deletion/translocation. The cells were injected into nude mice for tumor formation. By inverse -PCR and sequencing, we identified the disruption of Smyd4 gene in one tumor. Re-expression of Smyd4 resulted in the growth suppression of tumor cells and the inhibition of tumor formation in nude mice. Microarray studies revealed that Pdgfra expression (platelet derived growth factor receptor alpha polypeptide) was increased in cancer cells compared to the non-tumorigenic mammary epithelial cells. Re-expression of smyd4 reduced the expression of Pdgfra in cancer cells. In human cancers, RT-PCR results revealed that Smyd4 expressions were totally silenced in 1 of 10 breast cancers and 2 of 7 colon cancers. Reduced expression of smyd4 was also found in 7 of the 10 breast cancers cells. These results indicate that smyd4 plays a critical role in breast carcinogenesis at least partly through inhibiting the expression of Pdgfra, and could be a novel target for understanding the initiation, progression, as well as improving treatment of breast cancer.
Vascular Malformations of the Brain—Overview and Classification

Vascular malformations of the brain are an important cause of stroke and early morbidity and mortality in children and young adults. AVMs and CMs are the most common vascular malformations in children. While many are benign, patients may be symptomatic or at high risk of hemorrhage. Treatment is safe, effective, and curative in appropriately selected patients.
GRASP55 regulates mutant huntingtin unconventional secretion and aggregation

Abstract Recent studies demonstrated that the Golgi stacking proteins, GRASPs, especially GRASP55, regulate Golgi-independent unconventional secretion, but the underlying mechanism remains unknown. Here, we used mutant huntingtin (Htt-Q74) as a model system to address this question. Our results demonstrate that Htt secretion is GRASP55- and autophagy-dependent, and is enhanced under stress conditions such as starvation and ER stress. Mechanistically, GRASP55 facilitates Htt secretion by tethering autophagosomes to lysosomes to promote autophagosome maturation and by stabilizing p23/TMED10, a channel for translocation of cytoplasmic proteins into the ERGIC lumen. Moreover, GRASP55 level is upregulated by various stresses to facilitate unconventional secretion, while inhibition of Htt-Q74 secretion by GRASP55 knockout enhances Htt aggregation and toxicity. Lastly, comprehensive secretomic analysis identified novel cargoes secreted by the same unconventional pathway, such as TAGLN, PAICS and PRDX1. This study provides important information on the role of GRASP55 in unconventional protein secretion and Huntington’s disease progression.
The Laboratory Small Ruminant

Important Biological Features Husbandry Management Veterinary Care Experimental Methodology Resources References
Personality and Aging

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the stability-change issue in personality, as well as the organization of personality variables and their utility in predicting mortality among older adults. Scholars are using personality variables to predict important outcomes in older adulthood, particularly mortality. With respect to the former, intriguing new findings have permitted a deeper and more complex understanding of personality development in older adulthood, which is especially true with respect to stability and change in personality traits over long-term periods. The Hooker–McAdams model is important for the field of personality psychology in general because it provides a broader framework than that of the big five, which is too strongly attached to structure approaches, particularly the trait approach. The effects of change in personality and health may work both ways. A change in personality may also have a protective effect on health. People who increase in conscientiousness or decrease in neuroticism may enjoy a concomitant increase in physical health or, more likely, stability in his or her good health trajectory.
Teaching Using Mediated Communication at a University

Keywords AAC, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, University, Teaching, Institute for Human Development-NAU. Abstract This article will discuss teaching using mediated communication and the advantages to students of this experience in their initial exposure to disability studies. I am an instructor for an Introduction to Disability Studies class at Northern Arizona University (NAU). Given my speech disability, I'm not your average instructor; I use an alternative mode of communication, or mediated communication, to communicate and, so, to teach at the university level. My two main communication methods include a letter board (accessed with a head-pointer and the use of an interpreter), and a speech device. The letter board is an array of letters, numbers and most frequently used words. My interpreter re-voices the letters or words that I indicate using a pointer attached to a bicycle helmet that I wear. My speech device, the ECOpoint™, is an eye-gaze system; the letter or word on the display screen upon which I focus is selected and spoken aloud. With this form of mediated communication, I do not require an interpreter. I use both methods of communication in class. This article will include the perspectives of my co-teacher, several students and my interpreter about the use of mediated communication to teach the introductory course of the new Disability Studies Minor at NAU. A co-teaching arrangement has allowed me to take a direct role in creating and delivering content foundational to disability studies. Also discussed will be the advantages of one–to-one interviews that I conduct with each of my students, as well as the overall instructional value of utilizing mediated communication in university classrooms, particularly in the disability studies field. Before proceeding, please click here: Wangeman and Mahosky Interview
Miniature low power network nodes for undersea systems and sensor networks

This paper provides an overview of a new low-power undersea telemetry network. The discussion includes telemetry architecture, design strategies that emphasize small size and low power consumption, as well as system design aspects such as fault tolerance and legacy system interoperability. Distance versus bandwidth for various transport media is also discussed. Key technology enablers are identified such as a reconfigurable network processors and low-power design techniques.
Caveman Executive Leadership: Evolved Leadership Preferences and Biological Sex

There is increasing recognition that human behavior in general, and business behavior in particular, is subject to social and biological effects. This research investigates the well-known but unsatisfactorily explained advantage that males have over females in obtaining executive leadership. We argue that environmental-cultural explanations are incomplete and propose an explanation that adds to the emerging evidence that behavior is subject to evolutionary effects. More specifically, we take the perspective of evolutionary psychology in this research. The explanation presented here is grounded in the evolutionary theory of natural selection such that a psychological adaptation adaptation for a preference for male leaders evolved to promote individual survivability in the violent ancestral history of humans. We present convergent interdisciplinary findings as well as supporting evidence from three studies with distinct research designs, domains, and perspectives of analysis to strengthen the validity of our argument. In all, this research offers a more complete theoretical explanation for male predominance in executive leadership and provides an additional theoretical approach to the investigation of modern biases that have been costly to the business community.
In pursuit of the divine functional

Density functional theory (DFT) has become an invaluable tool for calculating the properties of chemical and physical systems such as metallic catalysts. In her Perspective, Mattsson charts the history of the field and reports from a recent workshop aimed at improving the so-called "exchange-correlation" functionals used in these calculations. She concludes that at least a factor of 10 improvement in calculated energy differences can be expected from DFT. It remains unknown, however, which strategy will be most successful in reaching this goal.
Fine Structure of Fruiting Bodies of Stigmatella aurantiaca (Myxobacterales)

The fruiting body of Stigmatella aurantiaca consists of a thick stalk supporting a number of individual cysts. The stalk is made of discontinuous tubules, of dimensions known for vegetative cells, which are oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis of the stalk. The red-brown cysts contain numerous, randomly oriented myxospores which are surrounded by thick, fibrous capsules. Their cell walls are wavy or ruffled and exhibit fewer budlike infoldings than reported for myxospores induced in liquid. We suggest that the extended time period available for metabolic and regulatory adjustments by the cell during morphogenesis within cysts accounts for the presence of considerably fewer deep cell wall infoldings than in glycerol-induced myxospores. Images
Exploring Instructional Design Factors Prompting Reflective Thinking in Young Adolescents

Reflective thinking is important to young adolescents as they develop their thinking skills. Various instructional methods have been recommended to support reflective thinking, yet the nature of the underlying factors in these methods is unclear. Exploratory factor analysis was used to determine the factors prompting reflective thinking. Results of this study suggest that young students perceived three clusters of methods as supporting their reflection: reflective learning environments, reflective teaching methods, and reflective scaffolding tools. A one-way within subjects ANOVA showed that the most helpful factor was the reflective learning environment, with the most helpful elements being freedom and collaboration. Students’ perceptions of concept mapping and reflective question prompts were found to differ significantly across gender. Recommendations are provided for designing learning environments that prompt reflective thinking.
Reversible regulation of SHP-1 tyrosine phosphatase activity by oxidation

Increasing evidence indicates that redox regulation is an important signaling mechanism. Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPases) are sensitive to oxidative inactivation and are potential targets of redox regulation. In this study, we analyzed the reversibility of oxidative inactivation of the PTPase SHP-1, which negatively regulates protein tyrosine kinase signaling. H2O2 inactivated SHP-1 in vitro. Incubation of the H2O2-inactivated SHP-1 with dithiothreitol recovered 44-99% of the PTPase activity, depending on the H2O2 concentrations used to inactivate SHP-1. Glutathione and N-acetylcysteine also reactivated H2O2-treated SHP-1. Stimulation of SHP-1-transfected HeLa cells with H2O2 rapidly decreased SHP-1 activity, which was completely reversed within 15 min. Thus, oxidative inactivation of SHP-1 is a reversible process.
Dynamics of coronal transients - Two-dimensional non-plane MHD models

Numerical results are obtained for non-plane MHD responses to a sudden energy release in a stratified model atmosphere. In agreement with observations, it is shown that after the energy release, the magnetic field affected by the energy release relaxes toward the potential configuration while the outer atmospheric fields increase its shear. Additional results suggest a new way of interpreting the energy storage and release in repeated flares.
ATYPICAL MEASLES IN CHILDREN PREVIOUSLY IMMUNIZED WITH ATTENUATED MEASLES VIRUS VACCINES

During the winter and spring of 1970 to 1971, an epidemic of measles occurred in the St. Louis area. During a study of this epidemic, 12 children had clinical illnesses suggesting the "atypical measles" syndrome, but six of these children had received only live attenauted measles vaccines. The illnesses in these six children were qualitatively similar to those in the six children who had been immunized with killed measles vaccines, but they were quantitatively less severe. Acute-phase measles HAI antibody titers in the recipients of live vaccines were greater than those of killed vaccine recipients, whereas the converse was true of the convalescent-phase serum titers.
Rubber latex tubing as a vascular prosthesis

Abstract Rubber latex tubing was implanted into the abdominal aorta in twenty dogs and into the inferior vena cava in eight dogs. All survivors were sacrificed at various lengths of time and the degree and extent of elasticity, clot formation, neo-intima formation, host reactivity and fatigability were studied. The proper elastic substance can be found in latex rubber, but certain liabilities are also concomitant. The rubber was found to be a poor support for neo-intima, to allow for clot formation and to have too short a fatigue life for practical application. A discussion and comparison with other presently used materials is included. Although rubber latex is not the ideal substance many of its properties will most certainly be found in the ideal vascular substitute of the future.
Pseudoenergies for simulations on metallic systems.

A variational treatment of the occupation numbers in the local-density approximation that incorporates variable pseudoenergies, rather than the Kohn-Sham eigenvalues, into the Fermi-Dirac distribution function is introduced. Iterative gradient algorithms are used for direct variation of the pseudoenergies. Static and quasidynamical simulations on ${\mathrm{C}}_{2}$, ${\mathrm{Al}}_{4}$, and ${\mathrm{Al}}_{12}$Mn are presented.
SU‐D‐108‐05: Constraints On Focal Brachytherapy Treatments for Early Stage Prostate Cancer: A Comparison of Isotopes

Purpose: Patients with favorable‐risk prostate cancer may be attracted to focal therapy aimed at the dominant intraprostatic lesion as a middle ground between the morbidity of full gland treatment and the uncertainty of observation. The various approaches involve isotopes having different energies implying different dosimetric characteristics. This work seeks to determine if choice of isotope makes a substantial difference in the fraction of prostate that may be implanted as a function of implant volume and rectal dose limit. Methods: Representations of prostate, urethra and rectum were generated from MR scans as part of an IRB approved medical record review of patients with confirmed low risk prostate cancer. Anatomic structures were digitized on a 2.5 × 2.5 × 5.0 mm grid. Focal implants were simulated by placement of a single source. All prostate points 5 mm or further from a sensitive structure were considered as potential implant location. Dose distributions were calculated for implants of 125I, 109Pd and 192Ir. The fraction of potential implant locations that respected normal tissue constraints (rectum: 10–100% of Rx, urethra 100–200% of Rx) as a function of prescription radius was recorded. Results: The fraction of the prostate implantable for a given prescription radius primarily depends on the normal tissue dose limits that are to be respected with a secondary dependence on isotope. Prescription radius less than 1 cm and rectal dose constraints greater than 50% of prescription dose allow a substantial portion of the gland to be considered for a focal implant. Detailed results are presented as a function of normal tissue constraints and prescription radius. Conclusion: While isotope choice does affect the implantable volume, the effect is secondary to the choice of prescription parameters. Choice of focal brachytherapy approach may be made based on consideration of duration of irradiation or clinical concerns. NIH P41 EB015898
The language of appearances and things in themselves

The essay that follows takes some preliminary steps towards yet another contemporary reading of Kant's transcendental idealism and the allied notions. I will interpret Kant's idealism along the lines of a modern, non-reductive antirealism. Specifically, I will liken the dis pute between the transcendental idealist and realist to a debate about the correct theory of meaning and hence the correct semantics for the class of empirical judgments. I number among the advantages of this approach the fact that transcendental idealism is depicted as an ontologically neutral philosophical theory and not as a Berkeleyan idealism. Moreover, the rival realism, which is also independent of ontological doctrines (and indeed of doctrines about reference), turns out to be neither an empty nor an incoherent theory. Every philosophical epoch since Kant's own has reconstructed the main themes of the critical philosophy in terms characteristic of that epoch. It may well be that the readings are all equally valid, and that the mere fact of the perennial reinterpretation indicates the profun dity of Kant's thought. Nevertheless I believe there are standards for these interpretative enterprises. Every such rereading must account for the actual course of Kant's arguments as well as interpret his general themes. Each must offer a systematic reading of the text in addition to being philosophically viable in its own terms. Thus we might speak of a progression of "theories of Kant", each guided by its own philoso phical criteria and taking Kant's arguments as its raw data. There is an exegetical advantage to these standards. A new reading geared to the text may illuminate some of the twists and turns of one or another perplexing Kantian argument. But even more importantly, these standards force us to use Kant as a tool in fashioning a
Measuring labor trafficking: a research note

This paper reviews major challenges in the conceptual clarification and empirical inquiry of labor trafficking. Much of current literature on human trafficking in the U.S. has focused on the sexual exploitation of women and children. As a result, government funding has mostly gone to law enforcement agencies and rescue agencies home and abroad to find these victims. International organizations believe labor trafficking is perhaps far more prevalent than sex trafficking. But empirical research on labor trafficking remains rare. Wild claims have instead taken place of rigorous empirical research in advocacy activities and policy making. This paper calls for greater efforts on primary data collection that measures the incidence and prevalence of labor trafficking activities in the U.S. Campaigns against human trafficking cannot be sustained or even remain credible without sound empirical research.
Urea‐induced contraction–relaxation of rat tail tendons

A contraction and relaxation of rat tail tensons that can be induced by aqueous urea solutions is described in this report. Studies with 2–10M urea at pH 7.0 and 37°C. showed that the length–time curves could be divided into five periods: (1) lag period, (2) contraction, (3) point of maximum contraction, (4) relaxation, and finally (5) rupture. An empirical analysis of the rate showed that (dL/dt)c, the initial velocity of contraction. (dL/dt)r, the terminal velocity of relaxation, and dL/dt, the velocity at any time (t), could be related with a specific rate constant, Kcr, by log [dL/dt − (dL/dt)r] = log [(dL/dt)c − (dL/dt)r] − Kcrt. (dL/dt)c was related linearly (positive slope) with Kcr whereas (dL/dt)r was independent of (dL/dt)c and Kcr. The rate constant Kcr obeyed the usual Arrhenius temperature equation on the basis of linearity between log Kcr and 1/T. Dilute solutions (2M) required a long period (tB) before rupture occured and no change in length ΔLmax/L0 was observed. Concentrated solutions (10M) had much shorter tB and elevated ΔLmax/L0. At a fixed concentration of urea tB and ΔLmax/L0 were dependent upon tendon size (W0 = area × density). Induction of the contraction–relaxation process appears to be due to melting of crystalline regions in the collagenmucopolysaccharides structure of the tendon.
High-resolution sequence stratigraphy in Tertiary carbonate-rich sections by thin-sectioned well cuttings

Thin-sectioned well cuttings provide a low-cost yet widely available and underused source of subsurface data that can be used to generate high-resolution sequence stratigraphic frameworks in variably consolidated carbonate-prone units in basins that lack cores or high-quality suites of wire-line logs. Because of the shallow (<1 km) depths of many Cenozoic basins, there is limited downhole mixing of cuttings. Although these carbonate-prone basins are widespread globally, they generally have not been subject to analyses of high-resolution sequence stratigraphy because of the sparsity of outcrop and core data. We used plastic-impregnated thin sections of unwashed well cuttings from a Paleogene carbonate-prone succession from the coastal plain of North Carolina to define the stacking patterns of the facies in the subsurface. This data set, along with biostratigraphic, wire-line log, and seismic data, was used to generate the framework of regional, lithology-based sequence stratigraphy. Systems tracts were determined by correlating vertical changes in the percentages of rock types in the well cuttings. Sequence boundaries were picked beneath units having the maximum abundance of quartz sandstone cuttings; maximum flooding surfaces were picked beneath the units having the most abundant cuttings of deepest marine facies. Thus, despite some downhole mixing, thin-sectioned well cuttings can be used to generate lithology-based sequence stratigraphic frameworks for shallow, carbonate-prone sedimentary basins, which previously were inaccessible except by expensive deep-coring programs.
Visualization of steam displacement of heavy oils in a hele-shaw cell

Abstract Experimental visualization of steam injection was performed at low pressure in a transparent Hele-Shaw cell. Synthetic (Dutrex 739) and natural heavy oils were displaced by steam under a variety of conditions. The results demonstrate the significant interplay between steam injection, steam condensation, viscous fingering, heat transfer, gravity and steam distillation effects. The experiments reveal that steam fronts may be neither smooth nor flat, but undergo constant rearrangements as a result of condensation and injection. These dynamics are substantially different from typical immiscible displacement processes. The injected steam was generally found to follow the path of the condensed water. The latter set the general displacement pattern, which was highly fingered. Also identified was a rather unusual viscoelastic response of the displaced heavy oils. Although novel and interesting, these results should be extrapolated with care to account properly for field effects of heat losses.
Electroinitiated Polymerization and Copolymerization of Phenylacetylene

SUMMARY A linear conjugated polymer~(C6Hs)C=CH~ n, with a trans - h rich, cis-trans copolymer structure results from t e e]ectropo]ymerization of phenylacetylene.
Modeling the costs and benefits of manufacturing expedient milling tools

It is often assumed that use-surfaces on informal or expedient milling tools were formed strictly through use. Informal or expedient milling tools lack clear evidence of exterior shaping and are often associated with short-term occupations or temporary, task-specific sites. Here, a simple model of technological intensification outlined in Bettinger et al. (2006) is adapted to predict minimum use times necessary to profit from time spent improving the use-surface of milling tools. The costs and benefits of making and using improved milling surfaces for two types of raw material (sandstone and granite) are compared using experimentally derived estimates of grinding rates and manufacturing costs. Experiments indicate that shaping a milling surface increases seed-grinding efficiency. Modeling these data along with manufacturing costs predicts that manufacturing effort should be expected sooner than often assumed—in fact, little more than one and a half hours of seed grinding are necessary to profit from time spent manufacturing a shallow basin in sandstone. It also predicts that sandstone should be selected over granite for short-term seed grinding due to its ease of shaping. These results imply that there are many cases where mobile hunter–gatherers who processed seed resources could have reduced their overall handling time by selecting certain materials and investing time in shaping milling surfaces. This highlights the need for greater attention to physical evidence of manufacturing among expedient milling tools. Documenting raw material selection and degree of manufacturing effort expended on such tools can increase the visibility of gendered economic decisions among prehistoric hunter–gatherers.
Fast and Accurate Quantum Molecular Dynamics of Dense Plasmas Across Temperature Regimes

We develop and implement a new quantum molecular dynamics approximation that allows fast and accurate simulations of dense plasmas from cold to hot conditions. The method is based on a carefully designed orbital-free implementation of density functional theory. The results for hydrogen and aluminum are in very good agreement with Kohn-Sham (orbital-based) density functional theory and path integral Monte Carlo calculations for microscopic features such as the electron density as well as the equation of state. The present approach does not scale with temperature and hence extends to higher temperatures than is accessible in the Kohn-Sham method and lower temperatures than is accessible by path integral Monte Carlo calculations, while being significantly less computationally expensive than either of those two methods.
An Analysis of Vita Cypriani 3.6-10 and the Attribution of Ad Quirinum to Cyprian of Carthage

Une analyse du « De vita Cypriani » 3,6-10 montre que ce passage suppose la connaissance du « De Mortalitate » et du « Ad Quirinum ». Il est clair que Pontius connaissait et s'est servi du recueil biblique que nous connnaissons comme « Ad Quirinum ». Il n'a pourtant pas fait entrer ce livre dans la liste des traites qu'il attribue a Cyprien au ch. 7 de la « Vita ». Le doute jete ainsi sur l'authenticite du traite est corrobore par les donnees de la tradition textuelle et par son aptitude a expliquer la constance de l'attitude de Cyprien a l'egard des lapsi
Kinetic characterization of the inhibition of acyl coenzyme A: steroid acyltransferases by tributyltin in the eastern mud snail (Ilyanassa obsoleta).

Abstract Exposure to tributyltin (TBT) has been causally associated with the global occurrence of a pseudohermaphroditic condition called imposex in neogastropod species. TBT elevates free testosterone levels in these organisms, and this upsurge in testosterone may be involved in the development of imposex. We investigated the ability of TBT to inhibit acyl coenzyme A:testosterone acyltransferase (ATAT) activity as well as microsomal acyl-coenzyme A:17β-estradiol acyltransferase (AEAT) in a neogastropod, the eastern mud snail Ilyanassa obsoleta as a mechanism by which TBT elevates free testosterone. TBT significantly inhibited both ATAT and AEAT activities in vitro at toxicologically relevant in vivo concentrations. Kinetic analyses revealed that TBT is a competitive inhibitor of ATAT (Ki = ∼9 μM) and is a weaker, noncompetitive inhibitor of AEAT (Ki = ∼31 μM). ATAT and AEAT activities associated with different microsome preparations were significantly correlated, and 17β-estradiol competitively inhibited the fatty acid esterification of testosterone suggesting that one enzyme is responsible for biotransforming both testosterone and 17β-estradiol to their corresponding fatty acid esters. Overall, the results of this study supply the much-needed mechanistic support for the hypothesis that TBT elevates free testosterone in neogastropods by inhibiting their major regulatory process for maintaining free testosterone homeostasis—the fatty acid esterification of testosterone.
Numerical simulation and physical aspects of supersonic vortex breakdown

Existing numerical simulations and physical aspects of subsonic and supersonic vortex-breakdown modes are reviewed. The solution to the problem of supersonic vortex breakdown is emphasized in this paper and carried out with the full Navier-Stokes equations for compressible flows. Numerical simulations of vortex-breakdown modes are presented in bounded and unbounded domains. The effects of different types of downstream-exit boundary conditions are studied and discussed.
Increased 9-aminocamptothecin dose requirements in patients on anticonvulsants

Background: High grade astrocytomas remain uniformly fatal despite aggressive surgery and radiotherapy. As existing chemotherapeutic agents are of limited benefit, clinical trials are underway to screen new drugs, such as 9-aminocamptothecin (9-AC), for activity in high grade astrocytomas. Purpose: This study was designed to estimate the efficacy of 9-AC in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme and recurrent high grade astrocytomas. The planned dose of 9-AC for this trial was 850 μg/m2 per 24 h as a 72-h continuous intravenous infusion every 2 weeks. This was the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) on this schedule in multiple phase I studies in patients with systemic malignancies. However, we found this dose subtherapeutic in our patient population. As a result, the purpose of the study was altered to determine the MTD. Methods: A group of 32 patients were studied using 850 μg/m2 per 24 h with a provision to escalate to 1000 μg/m2 per 24 h if the first three cycles of 9-AC were without significant hematologic toxicity. Once it was determined that myelosuppression did not occur in patients on anticonvulsants, dose escalations were initiated using the continual reassessment method. Dose escalations were conducted independently in newly diagnosed and recurrent patients and in those taking and not taking hepatic enzyme-inducing anticonvulsants. Pharmacologic studies were conducted during the first cycle of 9-AC. Toxicity was determined using the NCI common toxicity criteria and efficacy was assessed using serial volumetric brain scans. Results: 9-AC was administered to 59 patients, 31 with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme and 28 with recurrent high grade astrocytomas. No grade III–IV myelosuppression was noted in the 29 patients (128 cycles) on phenytoin, carbamazepine, phenobarbital, and/or valproic acid who received 850 μg/m2 per 24 h. In contrast, two of three patients (five cycles) who were not taking anticonvulsants developed grade IV myelosuppression. Steady-state total 9-AC plasma levels were lower in patients on anticonvulsants (median 25.3 nM ) than in patients who were not taking anticonvulsants (median 76.5 nM ). Dose escalations performed in 27 additional patients determined the MTD in patients taking anticonvulsants to be 1776 μg/m2 per 24 h for patients with newly diagnosed tumors and 1611 μg/m2 per 24 h for patients with recurrent disease. Conclusions: We describe a new and unexpected drug interaction between 9-AC and anticonvulsants. This is similar to recent findings with paclitaxel, and suggests that higher than “usual” doses of some chemotherapeutic agents are required in patients on anticonvulsants. Prospectively defined dose escalations and pharmacologic studies are essential for the careful evaluation of new chemotherapeutic agents in patients with brain tumors.