cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
N-acetylcysteine for sepsis and systemic inflammatory response in adults.

©2013 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4037/ccn2013699 Study Description and Interventions This is the summary of a Cochrane systematic review. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were eligible for inclusion in the review; cross-over or quasi-randomization designs were excluded. Participants were patients with SIRS or sepsis, irrespective of their underlying illness. SIRS and sepsis were assessed according to the criteria established by Bone et al. Interventions were as follows: N-acetylcysteine in bolus intravenous doses or as a continuous infusion or a combination of both. The review also included studies wherein intravenous N-acetylcysteine was compared with placebo or was used as a standard treatment. The dose of N-acetylcysteine varied from 25 mg/kg to 150 mg/kg across studies, and the timing and duration of N-acetylcysteine treatment varied from a single bolus dose to infusion up to 7 days. The primary outcome of interest was 30-day all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes included length of stay in the ICU, duration of mechanical ventilation, duration of inotropic Review Question How effective is intravenous N-acetylcysteine for treating critically ill patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) or sepsis in the intensive care unit (ICU)?
On the Necking Phenomenon in Pseudo-Semi-Interpenetrating Double-Network Hydrogels

A detailed physical picture of necking phenomenon in semi-interpenetrating double-network (SIDN) hydrogels was developed using the tensile mechanics of DN hydrogels synthesized from 3-sulfopropyl acrylate potassium salt (SAPS) and acrylamide (AAm) with different molecular weights. Uniaxial tensile tests for DN hydrogels already damaged by a compression load demonstrated the necking required a first network with a brittle structure. Although necking originates from the brittle nature of the first network, the molecular weight of polymer chains of the second network is an important factor for neck propagation. The finite deformation of DN hydrogels is characterized by two regimes of deformation: one where the neck initiates and a second where it propagates.
Establishment of Isolated Root Cultures of Brassica Species and Regeneration from Cultured-root Segments of Brassica oleracea var. italica

Isolated root cultures which could be maintained over several months by serial subculture were established from Brassica oleracea var. italica cv. Green Comet Ft. A modified White's medium was found to be the best of several salt compositions tested. The effects on isolated root growth of the following were also examined; nutritional components, culture vessel type and closure, pH of the medium and auxin type and concentration. Using a medium devised for Green Comet, root cultures were established from six other B. oleracea , B. napus and B. campestris cultivars. It was possible to regenerate shoots from segments of cultured roots by incubation on agar-solidified media containing cytokinin and auxin. The effects on regeneration of various auxins and cytokinins were investigated; the combination of Picloram with KN gave the highest frequency of shoot formation. It was demonstrated that isolated roots retained their regenerative ability over a period of 5 months in culture.
Weights of selected organs of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus bairdii) from asymptotic laboratory populations.

Weights of reproductive organs, bacula, adrenal glands, spleens, and thymus glands of deer mice from asymptotic laboratory populations were compared with controls kept as bisexual pairs. The testes, vesicular glands, ovaries, uteri, and bacula of population animals were significantly lighter in weight than those of controls. Weights of adrenal glands and spleens exhibited no consistent differences between population animals and controls, whereas the thymus exhibited weights inversely related to age and unrelated to the experimental situation. These data suggest that reproductive maturation and function are drastically inhibited in each population as a result of some attribute of density and that each population is an independent entity regulating its growth in response to stimuli that are intrinsically developed. Data from natural populations of Peromyscus are likewise indicative of effective population control mechanisms that have not been clarified.
Epidemiological Analysis of Hepatitis B in Children below 15 from 1991 to 2005 in Hefei City

Objective To understand incidence of hepatitis B in children below 15 in Hefei city and its composition ratio in all notifiable infectious disease cases so as to evaluate hepatitis B vaccination and provide scientific basis for hepatitis B control.Methods Data from notifible disease reporting system from 1991 to 2005 and immunization coverage were analyzed with descriptive epidemiological methods.Results A total number of 3156 child cases of Hepatitis B was reported from 1991 to 2005,with an annual average incidence of 20.37/100000.579 cases were reported in 1994,with the highest incidence(56.21/100000).32 cases of Hepatitis B was reported in 2005,with the lowest incidence(3.31/100000).The proportion of Hepatitis B in children below 15 was reducing year by year from 18.23% in 1991 to 2.18% in 2005.Conclusions Incidence of Hepatitis B in children below 15 was decreasing year by year,which meant that the children had got better protection.And the immunization was the most effective measure for Hepatitis B.
Second-Career Entrepreneurs: A Multiple Case Study Analysis of Entrepreneurial Processes and Antecedent Variables

We use open-ended interviews and focus groups to construct a composite model of activities constituting the entrepreneurial process for seven retirees from a Fortune 100 corporation who started sec...
Queer contestation of neoliberal and heteronormative moral geographies during #occupygezi:

During the summer of 2013, Turkey witnessed the largest protest movement in the history of the republic. The protests began with environmentalist concerns to save a public park in central Istanbul,...
The Basics of Statistical Inference

The overarching objective of statistical inference is to draw conclusions (make inferences) based on available sample data. In this chapter we generally assume that data have been acquired by observing the values of a random sample X1, X2, …, X n ; recall from Sect. 4.6 that a random sample consists of rvs that are independent and have the same underlying probability distribution (what we also called iid). For example, highway fuel efficiency of a certain type of vehicle might have a normal distribution with mean μ and standard deviation σ. Then each observed fuel efficiency value would come from this normal distribution, with the various observed values obtained independently of one another—a normal random sample. Or the number of blemishes on a new type of DVD might have a Poisson distribution with mean value μ. If n of these disks were to be randomly selected and the number of blemishes on each one counted, the result would be data from a Poisson random sample. In either example, the values of the parameters would typically not be known to an investigator. The sample data would then be used to draw some type of conclusion about these values.
Abstract 121: Hyperglycemia-induced Prorenin Receptor Abundance on Plasma Membrane of Kidney Collecting Duct Cells: is a Novel Mechanism to Explain Diabetic Nephropathy?

Activation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) leads to nephropathy during Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Prorenin levels are increased in the circulation of DM patients and predict microvascular damage. In streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 DM rats, the collecting duct is the major source of prorenin in the kidney. The prorenin receptor (PRR), a new RAS component, elicits intracellular signals linked to fibrosis upon binding of prorenin at the cell plasma membrane (PM). We propose that PRR may contribute to the development of tubulointerstitial fibrosis by being locally activated by prorenin. To support this concept, we tested the hypothesis that hyperglycemia increases membrane bound PRR to collecting duct cells. To address this hypothesis, we used T1DM rats (N=10) induced with a single STZ injection (ip; 200ng/kg x 7 d) as well as mouse collecting duct M-1 cells, treated at different time intervals 0, 5 min, 1, 12, and 24 h with normal glucose (NG; 5mM glucose+20mM mannitol) and high glucose (HG; 25mM) to assess PRR trafficking alterations induced by glucose. After 7-days induction, STZ-rats showed plasma glucose as 428±13 vs.138±9 gr/dl and plasma insulin as 0.07±0.02 vs 2.42 ng/ml; compared to controls. By immunofluorescence (IF) in rat kidney sections, PRR was mainly localized on the apical aspect of collecting duct cells in STZ-rats, while in controls most of PRR signal was observed intracellularly. Although PRR mRNA levels did not differ in the collecting ducts between groups; its protein levels were augmented in STZ-rats. Importantly, compared with NG-treated cells, PRR protein levels (membrane bound) were significantly higher in PM extracts from M-1 cells treated with HG, and a maximum peak was observed at 1 h. Interestingly, in de-convoluted IF images of M-1 cells, PRR was localized mainly in the perinuclear areas during NG conditions; however, in HG-treated cells, PRR was found toward the cell surface. These data suggest that hyperglycemia induces PRR trafficking alterations of PRR. The present results suggest that hyperglycemia-induced PRR abundance on the PM in the collecting duct might be a novel mechanism underlying the development of diabetic nephropathy, particularly tissue fibrosis in DM. Grant support by the NIH-NIDDK (DK104375-01)
Unsupervised deep learning reveals prognostically relevant subtypes of glioblastoma

One approach to improving the personalized treatment of cancer is to understand the cellular signaling transduction pathways that cause cancer at the level of the individual patient. In this study, we used unsupervised deep learning to learn the hierarchical structure within cancer gene expression data. Deep learning is a group of machine learning algorithms that use multiple layers of hidden units to capture hierarchically related, alternative representations of the input data. We hypothesize that this hierarchical structure learned by deep learning will be related to the cellular signaling system. Robust deep learning model selection identified a network architecture that is biologically plausible. Our model selection results indicated that the 1st hidden layer of our deep learning model should contain about 1300 hidden units to most effectively capture the covariance structure of the input data. This agrees with the estimated number of human transcription factors, which is approximately 1400. This result lends support to our hypothesis that the 1st hidden layer of a deep learning model trained on gene expression data may represent signals related to transcription factor activation. Using the 3rd hidden layer representation of each tumor as learned by our unsupervised deep learning model, we performed consensus clustering on all tumor samples—leading to the discovery of clusters of glioblastoma multiforme with differential survival. One of these clusters contained all of the glioblastoma samples with G-CIMP, a known methylation phenotype driven by the IDH1 mutation and associated with favorable prognosis, suggesting that the hidden units in the 3rd hidden layer representations captured a methylation signal without explicitly using methylation data as input. We also found differentially expressed genes and well-known mutations (NF1, IDH1, EGFR) that were uniquely correlated with each of these clusters. Exploring these unique genes and mutations will allow us to further investigate the disease mechanisms underlying each of these clusters. In summary, we show that a deep learning model can be trained to represent biologically and clinically meaningful abstractions of cancer gene expression data. Understanding what additional relationships these hidden layer abstractions have with the cancer cellular signaling system could have a significant impact on the understanding and treatment of cancer.
From bosonic topological transition to symmetric fermion mass generation

A bosonic topological transition (BTT) is a quantum critical point between the bosonic symmetry-protected topological phase and the trivial phase. In this work, we investigate such a transition in a (2+1)-dimensional lattice model with the maximal microscopic symmetry: an internal $\mathrm{SO}(4)$ symmetry. We derive a description for this transition in terms of compact quantum electrodynamics (QED) with four fermion flavors (${N}_{f}=4$). Within a systematic renormalization group analysis, we identify the critical point with the desired $\mathrm{O}(4)$ emergent symmetry and all expected deformations. By lowering the microscopic symmetry, we recover the previous ${N}_{f}=2$ noncompact QED description of the BTT. Finally, by merging two BTTs we recover a previously discussed theory of symmetric mass generation, as an $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ quantum chromodynamics-Higgs theory with ${N}_{f}=4$ flavors of $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ fundamental fermions and one $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ fundamental Higgs boson. This provides a consistency check on both theories.
A Crystal with Nearly 200% of Its Body Weight in Water

In this issue of Chem , Eddaoudi and coworkers use reticular chemistry to make a chromium metal-organic framework with a record water uptake capacity of 1.95 g/g at 70% relative humidity. Cr-soc-MOF-1 can potentially be used as an indoor humidity controller because of its excellent water sorption properties.
A fast projected conjugate gradient algorithm for training support vector machines

Support Vector Machines (SVMs) are of current interest in the solution of classification problems. However, serious challenges appear in the training problem when the training set is large. Training SVMs involves solving a linearly constrained quadratic programming problem. In this paper, we present a fast and easy-to-implement projected Conjugate Gradient algorithm for solving this quadratic programming problem.Compared with the exiting ones, this algorithm tries to be adaptive to each training problem and each computer's memory hierarchy. Although written in a high-level programming language, numerical experiments show that the performance of its MATLAB implementation is competitive with that of benchmark C/C++ codes such as SVMlight and SvmFu. The parallelism of this algorithm is also discussed in this paper.
Building energy simulation coupled with CFD for indoor environment: A critical review and recent applications

Abstract This paper presents a comprehensive review of the open literature on motivations, methods and applications of linking stratified airflow simulation to building energy simulation (BES). First, we reviewed the motivations for coupling prediction models for building energy and indoor environment. This review classified various exchanged data in different applications as interface data and state data, and found that choosing different data sets may lead to varying performance of stability, convergence, and speed for the co-simulation. Second, our review shows that an external coupling scheme is substantially more popular in implementations of co-simulation than an internal coupling scheme. The external coupling is shown to be generally faster in computational speed, as well as easier to implement, maintain and expand than the internal coupling. Third, the external coupling can be carried out in different data synchronization schemes, including static coupling and dynamic coupling. In comparison, the static coupling that performs data exchange only once is computationally faster and more stable than the dynamic coupling. However, concerning accuracy, the dynamic coupling that requires multiple times of data exchange is more accurate than the static coupling. Furthermore, the review identified that the implementation of the external coupling can be achieved through customized interfaces, middleware, and standard interfaces. The customized interface is straightforward but may be limited to a specific coupling application. The middleware is versatile and user-friendly but usually limited in data synchronization schemes. The standard interface is versatile and promising, but may be difficult to implement. Current applications of the co-simulation are mainly energy performance evaluation and control studies. Finally, we discussed the limitations of the current research and provided an overview for future research.
Augmenting the Past: Historical and Political Consciousness in Vālmīki’s Uttarakāṇḍa:

The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki, although widely renowned as a kāvya, and, indeed, as the very origin and inspiration of the entire genre of poetry, is also understood to be an itihāsa, a history. It share...
Influenza virus infection modulates the death receptor pathway during early stages of infection in human bronchial epithelial cells

Host-viral interaction occurring throughout the infection process between the influenza A virus (IAV) and bronchial cells determines the success of infection. Our previous studies showed that the a...
On-line modeling of NOx formation in a coal boiler

Abstract A dynamic model of a coal fired boiler is proposed to predict the formation of NO x during plant operation. Since evaluation of the model at hand should only take few minutes, computationally expensive CFD simulations are not feasible. Instead, it is proposed to represent the boiler as a network of ideal reactors. Gas phase reactions are modeled using a detailed kinetic mechanism; additional consideration is necessary for the heterogeneous reactions on char particles. In the reported preliminary case studies, radiative heat transfer is not considered.
Graph-Theoretic Analysis of Multistability and Monotonicity for Biochemical Reaction Networks

Mathematical models of biochemical reaction networks are usually high dimensional, nonlinear, and have many unknown parameters, such as reaction rate constants, or unspecified types of chemical kinetics (such as mass-action, Michaelis-Menten, or Hill kinetics). On the other hand, important properties of these dynamical systems are often determined by the network structure, and do not depend on the unknown parameter values or kinetics. For example, some reaction networks may give rise to multiple equilibria (i.e., they may function as a biochemical switch) while other networks have unique equilibria for any parameter values. Or, some reaction networks may give rise to monotone systems, which renders their dynamics especially stable. We describe how the species-reaction graph (SR graph) can be used to analyze both multistability and monotonicity of networks.
Stimulated-Desorption of Hydrogen from Water on Transition Metal Surfaces

There continues to be a strong interest in both the applications and fundamental research relating to stimulated-desorption of ionic, atomic, and molecular species from solid surfaces. New areas of research in this field are becoming increasingly diverse and complex[1]. This paper summarizes recent work relating to the study of the stimulated-desorption of protons arising from electron bombardment of water adsorbed on transition metal surfaces. This work includes both theoretical and experimental results relating to several diverse aspects of proton desorption; a) the evolution of ionic character during desorption, b) comparison of ion kinetic energy distributions with those associated with metastable neutral hydrogen, c) the correlation between angular distributions of ions and their kinetic energies, and d) observations of fine-structure in ESDIAD.
Composable Flexible Real-time Packet Scheduling for Networks on-Chip

Abstract : Network on chip is an emerging interconnection paradigm to address the scalability of traditional bus architecture. Time-critical systems need the capability to control packet delays in a network on-chip. The inflexibility and/or non-composability reduce the scalability of several proposed real-time service approaches for hard real-time networks onchip. In the era of dark silicon when large portions of multicore chips are turned off to save energy and control temperature, the incremental deployment capability of applications is crucial. In incremental deployment application components are turned on and off. For time-critical applications, these components need to be composable in the sense that new incoming applications should not affect the behaviors of existing applications. In this paper, we propose a composable and flexible work-conserving packet scheduling discipline for hard real-time networks on chip. Our scheduling discipline employs an earliest deadline first (EDF) scheduler which reduces average packet delays by 80% in comparison with a previous non-work-conserving EDF scheduling discipline running on the same 8 8 network with various popular traffic patterns. Our proposed scheduling discipline provides guaranteed service without sacrificing high consistent average performance. We also derive sufficient buffer sizes for our scheduling discipline. However, our scheduling discipline incurs a reasonable communication overhead.
Icefin: Redesign and 2017 Antarctic Field Deployment

Icefin is a custom remotely or autonomously operated vehicle (ROV/AUV) designed for sub-ice deployments in Antarctica with a focus on portability for remote field deployments and modularity to accommodate various payloads to characterize the under-ice environment. A prototype iteration of the vehicle was deployed in McMurdo, Antarctica in 2014 and provided data as well as valuable lessons learned. Since then the vehicle has been refined significantly into a more capable and reliable platform that was deployed during the 2017 austral summer Antarctic season (October 2017 - December 2017). Presented here is an overview of the design updates, including mechanical, electrical and software changes that were incorporated in developing the baseline Icefin platform. Also presented are lessons learned and early results from the 2017 deployment of the redesigned vehicle, as well as changes integrated into the vehicle for its 2018 field season.
Phase-Agile Dual-Resonance Single Linearly Polarized Antenna Element for Reconfigurable Reflectarray Applications

A single-layer dual-resonance tunable reflectarray unit cell supporting a single linear polarization and operating at ${X}$ -band is presented in this paper. The unit cell is composed of a cross element and a ring element, both capacitively loaded with varactors, enabling reconfigurability. An equivalent circuit is developed and verified to demonstrate the dual-resonant operational theory and aid in the design of the dual-resonant unit cell. The equivalent circuit is used to demonstrate the underlying physics of dual-resonant reflectarray antennas and provides a systematic design procedure. The proposed design is evaluated using both full-wave simulations and measurements. The effects of external and mutual coupling and frequency tuning range on the loss and fractional bandwidth of the unit cell are presented. A continuous phase range of 375° with a peak and average loss of 4.78 and 3.09 dB at 10.0 GHz, respectively, is measured. The presented analysis provides guidelines for optimizing the unit cell performance required for high-efficiency beam-scanning reflectarray antennas.
Shape and Temperature Dependence of Hot Carrier Relaxation Dynamics in Spherical and Elongated CdSe Quantum Dots

Time-domain nonadiabatic ab initio simulations are performed to study the phonon-assisted hot electron relaxation dynamics in a CdSe spherical quantum dot (QD) and an elongated quantum dot (EQD) with the same diameter. The band gap is smaller, and the electron and hole states are denser in the EQD than in the QD. Also, the band gap shows a stronger negative temperature dependence in the EQD than in the QD. Higher frequency phonons are excited and scattered with electrons at higher temperatures for both QD and EQD. The electron―phonon coupling is generally stronger in the EQD than in the QD. The hot electron decay rates calculated from nonadiabatic molecular dynamics show a weaker temperature dependence than the T ―1 trend in both QD and EQD, which is attributed to the thermal expansion effect. Furthermore, the relaxation of hot electrons proceeds faster and shows stronger temperature dependence in the EQD than in the QD. Our work demonstrates that the shape of quantum dots has a strong impact on the electron decay dynamics.
Counterbalancing the Uncertainties of Medical Nutrition Education with Effective Online Instruction.

Practicing physicians need to recognize nutrition problems in their patients and know what to do about them. It takes at least 25-30 h of medical school instruction to achieve just basic nutrition competencies. Because most medical students get significantly less than this minimum, they are not adequately prepared to deal with common nutrition-related challenges in practice. The majority of all accredited US medical schools require 20 countries, has demonstrated that computer-based nutrition instruction is effective and efficient, particularly as an integral component of clinical training. Interactive components, skill-building exercises, and practice challenges with video-realistic patients allow learners to progress at their own pace and ensure that all of them learn what they need to know.
Electroretinographic Abnormalities and Sex Differences Detected with Mesopic Adaptation in a Mouse Model of Schizophrenia: A and B Wave Analysis.

Purpose Mesopic flash electroretinography (fERG) as a tool to identify N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) hypofunction in subjects with schizophrenia shows great potential. We report the first fERG study in a genetic mouse model of schizophrenia characterized by NMDAR hypofunction from gene silencing of serine racemase (SR) expression (SR-/-), an established risk gene for schizophrenia. We analyzed fERG parameters under various background light adaptations to determine the most significant variables to allow for early identification of people at risk for schizophrenia, prior to onset of psychosis. SR is a risk gene for schizophrenia, and negative and cognitive symptoms antedate the onset of psychosis that is required for diagnosis. Methods The scotopic, photopic, and mesopic fERGs were analyzed in male and female mice in both SR-/- and wild-type (WT) mice and also analyzed for sex differences. Amplitude and implicit time of the a- and b-wave components, b-/a-wave ratio, and Fourier transform analysis were analyzed. Results Mesopic a- and b-wave implicit times were significantly delayed, and b-wave amplitudes, b/a ratios, and Fourier transform were significantly decreased in the male SR-/- mice compared to WT, but not in female SR-/- mice. No significant differences were observed in photopic or scotopic fERGs between genotype. Conclusions The fERG prognostic capability may be improved by examination of background light adaptation, a larger array of light intensities, considering sex as a variable, and performing Fourier transform analyses of all waveforms. This should improve the ability to differentiate between controls and subjects with schizophrenia characterized by NMDAR hypofunction.
Can the Theory of Algorithms Ratify the “Invisible Hand of the Market”?

”It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard for their own interest.” Each participant in a competitive economy is ”led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.”
Chapter Thirty Eight – Encapsulation by Film Deposition

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the various methods for encapsulating MEMS with film deposition along with their respective advantages and limitations. Encapsulation by deposition of a thin film is an attractive alternative to wafer bonding due to the possibility of reduced thickness and area of a packaged device, as well as elimination of the need for a capping wafer. The primary benefit film deposition has over wafer bonding is reduced area and height of the packaged device. Despite the limitations of wafer bonding, it is a more mature technology than encapsulation by thin film deposition, and many products packaged with wafer bonding are successful in the market. Recent applications that have cost and size reduction available with encapsulation by thin-film deposition are beginning to come to market. This chapter discusses the packaging needs, technologies, and methods in detail. All methods described for thin-film encapsulation begin with definition of the MEMS device on top of a sacrificial layer followed by covering of the device with another sacrificial layer. The method of access can be from the side, top, or through the material, with trade-offs existing between release time and deposition on the structure. Encapsulation via deposition of a thin film has seen many forms, with encapsulation materials varying from silicon to dielectrics, metals, and polymers. Overall the variety of techniques for encapsulation with a thin film has covered a range of devices including pressure sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes, resonators, and RF switches.
Respiratory Fluctuation of Peak Systolic Velocities in the Carotid Doppler Waveforms of Patients With Obstructive Airway Disease: Evidence of Pulsus Paradoxus With Experimental Validation.

Objectives To characterize fluctuations in peak systolic velocities (PSVs) in Doppler waveforms of the carotid artery in patients with and without obstructive airway disease and in volunteers subjected to incremental levels of airway resistance in an experimental model. Methods The PSV variation in common carotid waveforms was measured in 100 patients who had had a carotid ultrasound examination and no respiratory or carotid disease. This was compared to that of patients who had this study during an admission for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The PSV variation was correlated with pulmonary function testing. In addition, 14 healthy volunteers were asked to breathe through 5 resistors. Simultaneous recordings were made of Doppler waveforms in the common carotid artery, cardiac activity, and respiration. Peak systolic velocity changes from inspiration to expiration were calculated. Results Of the 100 patients without respiratory disease, the magnitude of the PSV variation averaged 6.3 cm/s. Of the 33 patients with COPD, the PSV variation averaged 16.5 cm/s. Nineteen of the 33 patients with COPD had concurrent pulmonary function testing; there was a statistically significant correlation between the PSV variation and forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume indices. For the volunteers, mean velocity changes were 7.1, 6.6, 8.3, 15.1, and 16.1 cm/s for 0.00-, 2.15-, 3.27-, 3.58-, and 5.77-cm H2 O/L/s levels of breathing resistance, respectively. There was a statistically significant relationship between an increasing airway load and the decline in PSV during inspiration (P = .02). Conclusions The PSV variation is greater in patients with increased airway resistance. Similar changes are evident in volunteers breathing into resistors. These findings likely reflect pulsus paradoxus.
The Role of Host Calcium Signaling in Toxoplasma gondii egress

Toxoplasma gondii , an obligate intracellular parasite, is capable of invading virtually any nucleated cell. Active invasion by the parasite is a precise process and intracellular parasites reside and replicate inside a parasitophorous vacuole (PV). The membrane of the PV functions as a molecular sieve allowing for its ionic milieu to be in equilibrium with the host cytosol. The parasite would thus be exposed to the ionic fluctuations of the host cytoplasm, such as increases in host cytosolic Ca2+ during Ca2+ signaling events. Ca2+ is a universal signaling molecule and both the host cell and T. gondii will utilize Ca2+ signaling to stimulate diverse cellular functions. Using T. gondii tachyzoites and host cells expressing genetically encoded Ca2+ indicators, we demonstrate that host Ca2+ signaling impacts intracellular Ca2+ levels of the parasite. We propose that Ca2+ influx derived from host Ca2+ signaling into the parasite is utilized to maintain the intracellular Ca2+ stores replenished as the parasite replicates within the low Ca2+ environment of the host cell. Intracellular Ca2+ store(s) release is needed to reach the initiation spike in Ca2+ that meets the threshold of Ca2+ needed to initiate the tightly coordinated process of egress. Post activation of the signal and subsequent microneme secretion, would cause breakdown of the host cell and allow for extracellular Ca2+ influx, causing a second, larger spike in Ca2+ and activation of the glideosome, the main motility machinery. To directly deliver precise concentrations of ions needed for egress, we used patch-clamped infected host cells and monitored parasite egress. In doing so, we discovered an alternative role for K+ in timing parasite egress. This is the first study using whole-cell patch clamp to study the role of ions such as K+ and Ca2+ in T. gondii egress.
Rituximab-associated hypogammaglobulinemia in autoimmune rheumatic diseases: a single-center retrospective cohort study

B-cell targeted therapies, such as rituximab (RTX), are used widely in autoimmune rheumatic diseases (AIRD). RTX can cause hypogammaglobulinemia and predispose patients to infections. Herein, we asked whether the underlying diagnosis influences the risk for hypogammaglobulinemia in patients treated with RTX. All patients who received RTX infusions and carried a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), or connective tissue disease (CTD) were included in this single-center retrospective cohort study. We used STATA® for analysis: Chi-square test was used for comparing categorical variables. Based on distribution, continuous variables were compared using the t test/ANOVA or the Wilcoxon/Kruskal–Wallis tests. Of the 163 patients who received RTX for an AIRD, 60 with pre- and post- RTX immunoglobulins were analyzed. A higher incidence of post-treatment hypogammaglobulinemia was seen in AAV (45%) compared to RA (22%) and CTD (9.1%) groups (p = 0.03). Glucocorticoid exposure of 10 mg or more was identified as a significant risk factor for hypogammaglobulinemia. Finally, we observed a higher number of clinically significant infections per person in the AAV group than in the RA and CTD groups. We observed an increased incidence of hypogammaglobulinemia in the RTX-treated AAV group, with almost half of patients developing post-RTX hypogammaglobulinemia. The rate of infections per person was highest in the AAV group. Screening immunoglobulins were not consistently measured pre- and post-RTX. Results highlight a need for increased awareness of the role of immunoglobulin measurement before maintenance doses of RTX, especially in patients with AAV and steroid exposure.
Lower-body dynamic exercise reduces wave reflection in healthy young adults.

NEW FINDINGS What is the central question of this study? There is a paradoxical reduction in augmentation index during lower-body dynamic (LBD) exercise in the face of an increase in central pressure. To determine causality, the amplitudes of forward and backward pressure waves were assessed separately using wave separation analysis. What is the main finding and its importance? Reflection magnitude decreased during LBD exercise in healthy young adults and was attributable to an increased forward pressure wave amplitude and decreased backward pressure wave amplitude. This vasoactive response might limit the adverse effects of wave reflection during LBD exercise, optimizing ventricular-arterial interactions. ABSTRACT Acute lower-body dynamic (LBD) exercise decreases surrogate measures of wave reflection, such as the augmentation index. However, the augmentation index is influenced by the combined effects of wave reflection timing, magnitude and other confounding factors external to wave reflection, which make it difficult to discern the origin of changes in surrogate measures. The relative contributions of forward (Pf) and backward (Pb) pressure wave amplitudes to central pressure can be determined by wave separation analysis. Reflection magnitude (RM = Pb/Pf) and the timing of apparent wave reflection return can also be determined. We tested the hypothesis that acute LBD exercise decreases RM and reflected wave transit time (RWTT). Applanation tonometry was used to record radial artery pressure waveforms in 25 adults (24 ± 4 years of age) at baseline and during light-, moderate- and vigorous-intensity exercise. Wave separation analysis was conducted offline using a personalized physiological flow wave to determine Pf, Pb, RM and RWTT. The RM decreased during all intensities of exercise compared with baseline (all P < 0.001; baseline, 43 ± 5%; light, 33 ± 6%; moderate, 23 ± 7%; vigorous, 17 ± 5%). The reduction in RM was attributable to the combined effect of increased Pf and decreased Pb during exercise. The RWTT decreased during all intensities of exercise compared with baseline (all P < 0.04; baseline, 156 ± 17 ms; light, 144 ± 15 ms; moderate, 129 ± 16 ms; vigorous, 121 ± 17 ms). Lastly, in a stepwise multilinear regression, Pf, but not Pb and RWTT, contributed to increased central pulse pressure during LBD exercise. These data show that wave reflection decreased and that central pulse pressure is most influenced by Pf during LBD exercise.
Multi-Class Text Classification Using Machine Learning Models for Online Drug Reviews

The reviews that are present in different forms on the Internet can provide valuable insights into the opinions of the users that are spread across a wide range of geographical space in the most time and cost-efficient manner. This information can be used to improve the quality or assess the efficiency of a product over any given domain. In this research, analysis of the users' online reviews within the field of pharmaceuticals is presented. These reviews consist primarily of the information regarding the usefulness of drugs or the side effects they have caused. As much as it is important to find a measure of the efficiency of a drug, it is also essential to determine the medical condition for which the drug is manifesting its effects, be it positive or negative. In this research, six different supervised machine learning classifiers are deployed to find the most efficient model to predict the medical condition based on the users' reviews. The classifiers used are as follows: Multinomial Naive Bayes, Multinomial Logistic Regression, Linear Support Vector Classifier (SVC), Decision Trees, Extra Trees, and Random Forests. The results demonstrate that among all the classifiers used, Linear SVC proved to be the most efficient when considering its Precision, Recall, F 1 score and the time it takes to train and test on the given data.
Voting Against Autocracy

When and how do voters punish politicians for subverting democracy? In order to investigate the role of the public in democratic backsliding, we develop a conceptual framework that differentiates between three mechanisms: vote switching, backlash, and disenchantment. The first mechanism entails defection by voters from a party that undermines democracy to one that does not; the latter two mechanisms entail transitions between voting and abstention. We estimate the magnitude of each mechanism by combining evidence from a series of original survey experiments, traditional surveys, and a quasi-experiment afforded by the re-run of the 2019 Istanbul mayoral election, in which the governing party attempted to overturn the result of an election that it lost. We find that backlash and disenchantment serve as a democratic check as much as does vote switching, with each mechanism arising from a different segment of the electorate. Both persuasion and mobilization are viable tools for curbing the authoritarian tendencies of elected politicians.
SU-E-J-242: Volume-Dependence of Quantitative Imaging Features From CT and CE-CT Images of NSCLC

Purpose: To determine whether tumor volume plays a significant role in the values obtained for texture features when they are extracted from computed tomography (CT) images of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We also sought to identify whether features can be reliably measured at all volumes or if a minimum volume threshold should be recommended. Methods: Eleven features were measured on 40 CT and 32 contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) patient images for this study. Features were selected for their prognostic/diagnostic value in previous publications. Direct correlations between these textures and volume were evaluated using the Spearman correlation coefficient. Any texture that the Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare the variation above and below a volume cutoff. Four different volume thresholds (5, 10, 15, and 20 cm{sup 3}) were tested. Results: Four textures were found to be significantly correlated with volume in both the CT and CE-CT images. These were busyness, coarseness, gray-level nonuniformity, and run-length nonuniformity with correlation coefficients of 0.92, −0.96, 0.94, and 0.98 for the CT images and 0.95, −0.97, 0.98, and 0.98 for the CE-CT images. After volume normalization, the correlation coefficients decreased substantially. For the data obtained from the CT images, the results of the Wilcoxonmore » rank-sum test were significant when volume thresholds of 5–15 cm3 were used. No volume threshold was shown to be significant for the CE-CT data. Conclusion: Equations for four features that have been used in several published studies were found to be volume-dependent. Future studies should consider implementing normalization factors or removing these features entirely to prevent this potential source of redundancy or bias. This work was supported in part by National Cancer Institute grant R03CA178495-01. Xenia Fave is a recipient of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Graduate Fellowship.« less
The structure of small, vapor-deposited particles: II. Experimental study of particles with hexagonal profile

'Multiply-twinned' gold particles with hexagonal bright field TEM profile were determined to be icosahedra composed of 20 identical and twin-related tetrahedral building units that do not have an fcc structure. The crystal structure of these slightly deformed tetrahedra is rhombohedral. Experimental evidence supporting this particle model was obtained by selected-zone dark field and weak beam dark field electron microscopy. In conjunction with the results of part I, it has been concluded that multiply-twinned gold particles of pentagonal or hexagonal profile that are found during the early stages of the vapor deposition growth process on alkali halide surfaces do not have an fcc crystal structure, which is in obvious contrast to the structure of bulk gold.
Economic Effects of Reductions in Defense Outlays (Executive Summary)

This study examines the prospective economic effects of a reduction below the current baseline in defense outlays of $100 billion per year over 10 years. Several recent studies have attempted to estimate the supposedly adverse economic and employment effects of reductions in government spending generally, and defense outlays in particular. Such studies have tended to exaggerate the harmful effects of spending cuts and have ignored or understated the beneficial effects associated with redirecting resources to more productive uses. A reduction in defense consumption and investment shifts resources among economic sectors and thus has economic effects analogous to those caused by changes in demand and supply in any industry. The unemployment (or underemployment) of labor and other resources during the adjustment process can be politically significant but has only temporary economic effects; however painful for some, this process of resource reallocation is economically beneficial in the aggregate over time. Moreover, the data suggest strongly that the adverse effects of spending cuts would be small in the aggregate because defense spending is a small component of GDP (less than 5 percent), and because estimates of the multiplier effects of defense expenditures reported in the scholarly literature are relatively low. The reduction in defense spending — and thus in federal spending in total — would reduce as well the economic costs of the excess burden that the tax system imposes upon the economy, in the form of distortions that reduce aggregate output. A conservative estimate of that effect is 35 percent of the reduction in defense spending. Accordingly, a reduction in defense outlays of $100 billion per year can be predicted, conservatively, to reduce economic costs by a total of $135 billion per year. These potential savings in real resources are sufficiently large to justify a detailed analysis of U.S. national security needs and the outlays required to defend them.
Outline of alternative approaches to particle solutions obeying Einstein's gravitation theory

Two general approaches to a classical theory of charged particles are presented to emphasize the meaning of gravitation as geometry in a classical theory of charged systems. One approach is due to Wheeler's attempt to construct charge and mass without introducing sources anywhere. This so-called geometrodynamical aspect leads to a departure from Euclidean topology. The other approach, following Euclidean topology in a Riemannian space-time, constructs particle models having sources of charge and mass. Point particles of Born-Infeld type and particles with finite size are discussed. The influence of an empty space of constant curvature on charge and mass of an embedded charged particle is investigated. The aim of this paper is twofold; namely first to show that the Einstein-Maxwell theory admits various solutions describing classical charged particles and second to stress Einstein's point of view of identifying gravitation with geometry in contrast to the usual field theory (flat space-time approach), which is concerned with approximations. Particle models can be constructed only from the full nonlinearity of the theory. To this end the common statement that gravitation behaves like a weakly interacting field is found to be unsubstantiated.
How to Do Human-Subjects Research If You Do Not Have an Institutional Review Board

Biomedical research with human subjects has expanded outside of traditional medical centers and hospitals into other health care entities, such as rehabilitation facilities, free-standing out-patient treatment centers, and even home-health agencies. Regardless of the location, federal regulations mandate that all human-subjects research must be overseen by an institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee to ensure the research abides by the Code of Federal Regulations. Consequently, all human-subjects research must be reviewed and approved by an IRB prior to initiation of any research procedures. Unfortunately, many of these nontraditional research facilities do not have easy access to an IRB. This does not render such research exempt from federal oversight. Clinicians at these facilities have viable options for obtaining IRB approval and legally conducting such research. This paper outlines the available options and their pros and cons.
Low-Complexity Spacecraft Guidance Using Artificial Potential Functions

An inspection mission of a non-maneuvering target in circular Earth orbit by a chase vehicle (the "Inspector") using potential function guidance (PFG) is considered. A simulation of obstacle avoidance by the Inspector are first shown to demonstrate the method. Simulations of the Inspector approaching the target from a stand-off waiting point to close-in inspections and target fly-arounds are then shown. The chaser is assumed to be a constrained vehicle limited to COTS components with parameters similar to that of SNAP-1, a successful demonstrator of a target rendezvous and inspection by a nanosatellite. Navigation inaccuracies, actuation limits and uncertainties are incorporated into the mathematical model to examine the robustness of PFG for this application. It is shown that PFG is robust to these uncertainties while also providing the agility required for such missions using a very simple guidance philosophy.