cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Distinct properties of Ca2+–calmodulin binding to N- and C-terminal regulatory regions of the TRPV1 channel

Transient receptor potential (TRP) vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) is a molecular pain receptor belonging to the TRP superfamily of nonselective cation channels. As a polymodal receptor, TRPV1 responds to heat and a wide range of chemical stimuli. The influx of calcium after channel activation serves as a negative feedback mechanism leading to TRPV1 desensitization. The cellular calcium sensor calmodulin (CaM) likely participates in the desensitization of TRPV1. Two CaM-binding sites are identified in TRPV1: the N-terminal ankyrin repeat domain (ARD) and a short distal C-terminal (CT) segment. Here, we present the crystal structure of calcium-bound CaM (Ca2+–CaM) in complex with the TRPV1-CT segment, determined to 1.95-A resolution. The two lobes of Ca2+–CaM wrap around a helical TRPV1-CT segment in an antiparallel orientation, and two hydrophobic anchors, W787 and L796, contact the C-lobe and N-lobe of Ca2+–CaM, respectively. This structure is similar to canonical Ca2+–CaM-peptide complexes, although TRPV1 contains no classical CaM recognition sequence motif. Using structural and mutational studies, we established the TRPV1 C terminus as a high affinity Ca2+–CaM-binding site in both the isolated TRPV1 C terminus and in full-length TRPV1. Although a ternary complex of CaM, TRPV1-ARD, and TRPV1-CT had previously been postulated, we found no biochemical evidence of such a complex. In electrophysiology studies, mutation of the Ca2+–CaM-binding site on TRPV1-ARD abolished desensitization in response to repeated application of capsaicin, whereas mutation of the Ca2+–CaM-binding site in TRPV1-CT led to a more subtle phenotype of slowed and reduced TRPV1 desensitization. In summary, our results show that the TRPV1-ARD is an important mediator of TRPV1 desensitization, whereas TRPV1-CT has higher affinity for CaM and is likely involved in separate regulatory mechanisms.
Characterization and Evaluation of Hybrid Polarization Observation of Precipitation

Abstract Transmitting an arbitrary state of polarization while receiving horizontal–vertical polarization states is termed the hybrid polarization mode of operation. A theoretical model is developed for hybrid mode dual-polarization measurements in terms of the covariance matrix under linear horizontal–vertical polarization basis. The cross polarization encountered introduces biases in the copolar parameters estimated in the hybrid mode. Such biases are investigated for different precipitation types and propagation effects resulting from hydrometeor orientation and antenna properties. Polarimetric data measured by the Colorado State University–University of Chicago–Illinois State Water Survey (CSU–CHILL) radar transmitting horizontal–vertical polarization states is alternately used to demonstrate the measurement accuracy that would be expected in different storm scenarios observed in the hybrid mode.
Active duodenal ulcer in pregnancy.

Summary Three instances of active duodenal ulcer were detected in one year in a group of 3,849 pregnant women.
Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation: what is the best technique for achieving a high cure rate with acceptable risk?

Since the first report of radiofrequency catheter ablation curing atrial fibrillation (AF) nearly a decade ago [(1)][1], numerous techniques have evolved, from linear ablation to modify the reentrant substrate for AF [(1,2)][1], to electrical isolation of pulmonary vein(s) to eliminate triggers of
Propagation of Pi2 pulsations through the braking region in global MHD simulations

We investigate the propagation of Pi2 period pulsations from their origin in the plasma sheet through the braking region, the region where the fast flows are slowed as they approach the inner edge of the plasma sheet. Our approach is to use both the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry (LFM) global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) computer codes to simulate the Earth's magnetosphere during a substorm that occurred on 14 September 2004 when Pi2 pulsations were observed. We use two different MHD models in order to test the robustness of our conclusions about Pi2. The simulations are then compared with ground-based and satellite data. We find that the propagation of the pulsations in the simulations, especially through the braking region, depends strongly on the ionospheric models used at the inner boundary of the MHD models. With respect to typical observed values, the modeled conductances are high in the UCLA model and low in the LFM model. The different conductances affect the flows, producing stronger line tying that slows the flow in the braking region more in the UCLA model than in the LFM model. Therefore, perturbations are able to propagate much more freely into the inner magnetosphere in the LFM results. However, in both models Pi2 period perturbations travel with the dipolarization front (DF) that forms at the earthward edge of the flow channel, but as the DF slows in the braking region, −8≤x≤−6 RE, the Pi2 period perturbations begin to travel ahead of it into the inner magnetosphere. This indicates that the flow channels generate compressional waves with periods that fall within the Pi2 range and that, as the flows themselves are stopped in the braking region, the compressional wave continues to propagate into the inner magnetosphere.
Phase I Study of Stealth Liposomal Doxorubicin in Combination With Gemcitabine in the Treatment of Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer

PURPOSE: We conducted a single-institution phase I clinical trial to determine the maximum-tolerated dose (MTD) and define the toxic effects of stealth liposomal doxorubicin in combination with gemcitabine in patients with metastatic breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients were eligible if they had disease progression with no limit on prior number of chemotherapy regimens. Prior treatment with liposomal doxorubicin and/or gemcitabine was not allowed. The starting dose of liposomal doxorubicin was 20 mg/m2 on day 1 only with a 20% dose escalation of the previous mg/m2 dose until MTD was reached. Gemcitabine was given as a fixed dose of 800 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8 every 3 weeks. RESULTS: We treated 27 patients of whom six had never received chemotherapy for their disease. Most had had visceral involvement as their dominant site of disease. The dose-limiting toxicity was myelosuppression, which included neutropenia and thrombocytopenia. However, neither neutropenic fever nor episodes of bleeding were maj...
OPEN VERSUS CLOSED TREATMENT OF ACUTE OSTEOMYELITIS

1. A well-planned, useful, supportive routine is necessary for osteomyeitic patients. 2. Staphylococcus toxins can be neutralized in vivo by antitoxin prepared from Burky's Ha strain of hemolytic staphylococcus aureus. 3. The mortality rate in hemolytic staphylococcus aureus osteomyelitis can be lowered by the use of sulfathiazole, sulfadiazine, or both. 4. The morbidity of the disease can be reduced if surgical drainage is not used.
Open-path eddy covariance measurements of ammonia fluxes from a beef cattle feedlot

Abstract Eddy covariance (EC) measurements of NH3 fluxes from a cattle feedlot were made with a high-precision, fast-response (20 Hz) open-path laser-based sensor. The sensor employed a continuous wave, quantum cascade (QC) laser and targeted an isolated absorption feature of NH3 at 9.06 μm. It was deployed on a 5-m tall flux tower beside a 22,000-animal cattle feedlot in Colorado, USA for two weeks. Sensible heat, latent heat, CO2, and CH4 EC fluxes were measured concurrently on the tower. The open-path NH3 sensor showed a comparable time response to well-established commercial open-path sensors for CO2 and H2O. The average high-frequency flux loss over the measurement period was 6.6%, mainly resulting from sample path averaging. The sensor showed significant improvement over NH3 EC fluxes measured by closed-path sensors. The measured NH3 EC fluxes were well-correlated with latent heat EC fluxes. During the measurement period, the average daily NH3 EC flux was 31.7 kg ha−1 d−1. The flux-variance relationship was used to further validate the performance of the NH3 EC flux measurement. A 1σ detection limit of 1.3 ± 0.5 ng m−2 s−1 for NH3 fluxes measured in 30-min intervals was achieved in this field test. This suite of measurements enabled the evaluation of livestock NH3 emissions at unprecedented temporal resolution and accuracy in the context of other important agricultural trace gases.
Mathematical preliminaries to the boundary value problems

In this chapter we summarize the mathematical tools required to tackle the four fundamental problems stated at the end.
Salivary gland function in rats. II. Effect of thyroid function on salivary flow and viscosity.

Summary1) We determined the effects of thyroid gland dysfunction on salivary flow and viscosity in the rat. Results indicate that propylthiouracil and radiothyroidectomy reduced salivary flow and increased salivary viscosity. This can be reversed and function restored by administration of thyroxine. Testosterone partially restores salivary flow. 2) These data provide one explanation for the mechanism of alteration in dental caries incidence in the rat following disturbance in thyroid function, although the relationship is probably far more complex than this.
Sonographic Detection of Skeletal Dysplasia: A Case of Osteogenesis Imperfecta

A case of skeletal dysplasia was sonographically evaluated in the fetus of a 21-year-old patient. The diagnosis of osteogenesis imperfecta type II was suggested during a routine morphological exami...
Epidemiological analysis of cholera cases in the City of Zhangzhou from 1962-2008.

Objective To explore cholera patterns and trends in the City of Zhangzhou in order to provide prevention and control strategies.Methods Data on cholera outbreaks,scientific research,and outdoor environment monitoring were analyzed for Zhangzhou from 1962 to 2008,and statistical analysis was done with descriptive epidemiology.Results Cholera was introduced to the City of Zhangzhou over 40 years age.Since then,its incidence has fluctuated and it has struck three times.In the 17 years prior to the end of 2008,cholera had spread to 11 counties(cities and districts),and there were 3 646 cholera cases,81 deaths,and 1 332 healthy carriers seen during this period.Two strains of cholera became prevalent after the first case of O139 cholera occurred in 1998.Cases were primarily distributed within 50 kilometers of the sea,and vast areas were involved.Those outbreaks of cholera were long-lasting,and most were related to the pH of mud,potassium content,the pH of water,and chloride content.Cholera peaks annually for 7-11 months,and cases increase with a temperature higher than 20 ℃.High-risk populations include people over the age of 60,farmers,and individuals in close contact with cholera patients.There are 3 prevalent strains of cholera,the severity of the disease differs,and different medications have different levels of therapeutic effectiveness.Conclusion The prevalence of cholera is mostly due to natural factors and social factors.Risk factors for its incidence in the City of Zhangzhou remain.
Investigation on the Epidemic Prevention Human Resources in Villages and Towns of Huaian Jiangsu Province

To investigate the epidemic prevention human resources in villages and towns,32 commune hospitals were selected randomly in 6 districts in Huaia’n City.The result showed that there was only small quantity of epidemic prevention personnel with low quality,low income and weak working enthusiasm.It suggested that the governments and health services at all levels should pay more attention at the epidemic prevention work in villages and towns,strengthen the further education or training and improve the professional quality,increase the health invests,human quantity,income and steady the epidemic prevention team.
Design, Implementation, and Fundamental Limits of Image and RF Based Wireless Capsule Endoscopy Hybrid Localization

Precise localization of Wireless Capsule Endoscopy (WCE) inside the curly, long, and compact small intestine remains a challenging problem facing researchers for more than a decade. Conventional Radio Frequency (RF) localization techniques, commonly used in outdoor and indoor area, have demonstrated a few centimeters accuracy when applying to the inside of human body. In this paper, using 3D Posterior Cramer-Rao Lower Bound (PCRLB) as a framework for performance evaluation, we demonstrated that millimetric accuracy can be achieved using hybrid RF and image processing localization technique. This level of accuracy enables precise simultaneous localization and mapping of the WCE movement path inside the small intestine. Using the PCRLB framework, we provided in-depth analysis on hybrid localization performance regarding the effects of WCE movement estimation, the effects of system bandwidth as well as the effects of on-body sensor numbers and placements.
Organizational Attention and Technological Search in the Multibusiness Firm: Motorola from 1974 to 1997

This study examines the effects of organizational attention on technological search in the multibusiness firm. We argue that attentional specialization and coupling, or (respectively) attention given to problems within and across units, affect a unit’s ability to engage in distant and local search by shaping how problems are perceived and addressed. We test this theory by applying a probabilistic topic model to all Motorola patents issued from 1974 to 1997, thus identifying and measuring attention to technical problems. Our results suggest that (a) subunits with specialized attention are not myopic but instead explore broadly and (b) tight attentional coupling across units increases the breadth of search. This study contributes to attention-based views of the firm and to studies on organizational design and search.
Social Factors, Depression, and Aging

Publisher Summary Depression is the most prevalent psychiatric disorder in the older population. There is scientific consensus that depression results from social, psychological, biological, and genetic causes. This chapter examines the role of social factors in the distribution, antecedents, and consequences of depression in later life. It discusses issues and controversies in defining depression and methods of measuring depression. Mental health professionals and social scientists have different goals. Reflecting the legacy of labeling theory, social scientists also are aware of the stigma associated with mental illness. Many studies of the relationships between social factors and depression are not based on a specific theoretical paradigm. Numerous social factors are established risk and protective factors for depression in later life. They are described in categories that are widely assumed to represent increasingly proximate antecedents of depression. The relationships between several chronic stressors and depression in late life are studied. The fields of medical sociology and social epidemiology rest on the premise that morbidity and mortality are, to a significant degree, a function of individuals' social structural locations, related social advantage or disadvantage, the stressors that they experience, and the social resources with which they confront disadvantage and stressors.
A Cotton Sustainability Learning Circle: Using Interschool Collaboration to Enable Student Success

The purpose of this presentation is to share procedures developed to facilitate inter-university collaboration and to share knowledge and details regarding planning, teaching, research, and outreach activities.
Constrained decoupled power predictive controller for a single-phase grid-tied inverter

This study presents a decoupled active and reactive power control technique, for a single-phase grid-tied inverter, using model predictive control (MPC). The proposed technique does not use conventional phase-locked loop, pulse-width modulation nor a synchronisation transform, which makes the control algorithm well suited for an all-digital implementation. The proposed controller minimises the number of switching state transitions required to control the grid-side current while simultaneously constraining the harmonics distortions and protecting the inverter from overcurrent condition. In this study, the switching frequency is reduced by using a look-up table to minimise the number of switching state transitions, which helps lowering down the switching losses. The proposed technique uses an adaptive weight factor which gives more priority to commanded power tracking during transient, and minimises the tracking error and switching frequency in steady state while constraining the harmonics distortion. This method improves the tracking performance as well as reduces the switching losses by minimising the switching frequency compared to the MPC with fixed weight factor and conventional decoupled power control. Thus, the outcome of proposed controller is a constraint multi-objective optimisation between the switching frequency reduction and grid-side current harmonics in terms of cost function with weighting factor.
A comparison of toxicity profiles between standard and lower dose capecitabine (CAP) in breast cancer (BC): a meta-analysis.

1028 Background: CAP 1,250 mg/m2 BID x 14 days every 21 days (14/21) as monotherapy is the FDA approved dose and schedule for metastatic breast cancer (MBC). In trials of CAP 1,250 mg/m2 BID (14/21...
Mode extraction on wind turbine blades via phase-based video motion estimation

In recent years, image processing techniques are being applied more often for structural dynamics identification, characterization, and structural health monitoring. Although as a non-contact and full-field measurement method, image processing still has a long way to go to outperform other conventional sensing instruments (i.e. accelerometers, strain gauges, laser vibrometers, etc.,). However, the technologies associated with image processing are developing rapidly and gaining more attention in a variety of engineering applications including structural dynamics identification and modal analysis. Among numerous motion estimation and image-processing methods, phase-based video motion estimation is considered as one of the most efficient methods regarding computation consumption and noise robustness. In this paper, phase-based video motion estimation is adopted for structural dynamics characterization on a 2.3-meter long Skystream wind turbine blade, and the modal parameters (natural frequencies, operating deflection shapes) are extracted. Phase-based video processing adopted in this paper provides reliable full-field 2-D motion information, which is beneficial for manufacturing certification and model updating at the design stage. The phase-based video motion estimation approach is demonstrated through processing data on a full-scale commercial structure (i.e. a wind turbine blade) with complex geometry and properties, and the results obtained have a good correlation with the modal parameters extracted from accelerometer measurements, especially for the first four bending modes, which have significant importance in blade characterization.
Predicting the time of the crime: Bloodstain aging estimation for up to two years

Abstract The chemistry of blood and the biomolecular changes that occur as a bloodstain ages are both inherently intricate, but can be monitored using specific analytical techniques. It has been shown that bloodstains are a rich source of information, which can be used to help in solving crimes. Particularly, the time since deposition (TSD) can be estimated by analyzing bloodstains and extracting information related to the natural chemical processes that occur as bloodstains age. This work summarizes a proof-of-concept study demonstrating the effectiveness of using Raman spectroscopy to nondestructively analyze bloodstains, and probe for specific kinetic changes in aged bloodstains for up to two years. As an initial step, bloodstains were identified as blood, and not a different body fluid, using a recently developed classification modeling technique. An overall success rate of 89% was demonstrated for predicting the identity of all stains as blood, with 100% correct blood identification for stains aged up to one month. The observed changes in the spectra over time were consistent with the known biochemical processes occurring as blood ages naturally, and those variations were sufficient enough to allow for differentiation and TSD predictions on the scale of hours to years. Specifically, TSD predictions were performed using partial least squares regression (PLSR) and principal component regression (PCR) analyses; where root mean squared errors of prediction of 0.29 and 0.31, respectively, were obtained. These errors correspond to an overall accuracy of ∼70% for the models to correctly predict the TSD at each time point.
The Ampair 600 Wind Turbine: An In-Context Benchmark System

The Ampair 600 wind turbine is one of the candidate systems for the round-robin for dissipation measurements and prediction challenge. The Ampair 600 wind turbine was the first true benchmark system for the current generation of research challenges as it has been studied widely and shared amongst a number of different institutions. Unlike other proposed benchmark systems, it is not an academic system but rather a real application. Inherent in this is that it contains multiple challenges for the research community. The same system is already being used as the selected test bed for the Dynamics Substructuring Focus Group and is discussed further in this chapter.
Failure of Laser Welded Structures Subjected to Multiaxial Loading: Experimental Development

A unique experimental capability was developed so combined mechanical and thermal loads could be imposed on specimens that are representative of laser welded structures. The apparatus, instrumentation and specimens were designed concurrently to yield the ability to apply a wide range of loading conditions that accurately replicate the multiaxial stress states produced in laser welded, sealed structures during pressurization at high temperatures up to 800 °C. Axial, radial and torsional loads can be applied individually or in combination, by direct or variable loading paths, to eventual failure of laser weld specimens. Several advantages exist for applying equivalent stress states by mechanical means rather than pressurization with gas, including: repeatability, controlled failure, safe experiments, assessment of loading path dependence, experimental efficiency and overall facility. The experimental design and development are described along with resulting measurements and findings from sample experiments.
Factors Affecting the Immunity to Respiratory Syncytial Virus: From Epigenetics to Microbiome.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common pathogen that infects virtually all children by two years of age and is the leading cause of hospitalization of infants worldwide. While most children experience mild symptoms, some children progress to severe lower respiratory tract infection. Those children with severe disease have a much higher risk of developing childhood wheezing later in life. Many risk factors are known to result in exacerbated disease, including premature birth and early age of RSV infection, when the immune system is relatively immature. The development of the immune system before and after birth may be altered by several extrinsic and intrinsic factors that could lead to severe disease predisposition in children who do not exhibit any currently known risk factors. Recently, the role of the microbiome and the resulting metabolite profile has been an area of intense study in the development of lung disease, including viral infection and asthma. This review explores both known risk factors that can lead to severe RSV induced disease as well as emerging topics in the development of immunity to RSV and the long-term consequences of severe infection.
Estimating low-frequency sediment sound speed dispersion from the horizontal coherence of the head wave excited by a light helicopter

A series of shallow-water acoustic experiments has been conducted off the coast of southern California using a Robinson R44 helicopter as a low-frequency (≈ 13–3500 Hz) sound source. The aim of the experiments was to recover the sound speed of a fine to very-fine sand sediment from the horizontal coherence of the head wave excited in the water column by the helicopter. Two hydrophones, separated horizontally by approximately 15 m and situated 0.5 m above the seabed, received the head-wave signals, allowing the coherence function to be formed over the bandwidth of the airborne source. The sediment sound speed was recovered by matching the zero crossings of the measured coherence function to those predicted from a recently developed theory of head-wave generation in shallow water. Using this technique, the dispersion in the sediment sound speed can be estimated over a frequency range extending between 27 Hz, the lowest zero crossing of the coherence function, and 3.5 kHz, the bandwidth of the source. In the middle of the frequency band, the sound speed of the sediment was estimated to be 1682 ± 16 m/s, consistent with the known sediment type. [Research supported by ONR, SMART(DOD), NAVAIR, and SIO.]A series of shallow-water acoustic experiments has been conducted off the coast of southern California using a Robinson R44 helicopter as a low-frequency (≈ 13–3500 Hz) sound source. The aim of the experiments was to recover the sound speed of a fine to very-fine sand sediment from the horizontal coherence of the head wave excited in the water column by the helicopter. Two hydrophones, separated horizontally by approximately 15 m and situated 0.5 m above the seabed, received the head-wave signals, allowing the coherence function to be formed over the bandwidth of the airborne source. The sediment sound speed was recovered by matching the zero crossings of the measured coherence function to those predicted from a recently developed theory of head-wave generation in shallow water. Using this technique, the dispersion in the sediment sound speed can be estimated over a frequency range extending between 27 Hz, the lowest zero crossing of the coherence function, and 3.5 kHz, the bandwidth of the source. In the...
Does the Veterans Affairs depression performance measure predict quality care

Article-at-a-Glance Background In 2000, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) instituted a performance measure to improve the quality of depression care. The measure evaluated adequacy of follow-up for depressed patients but was removed from clinic directors' performance plans in fiscal year (FY) 2009 because it had not been empirically validated. The VA depression performance measure was compared with an empirically validated model for assessing adherence to important depression treatment processes. Methods VA medical centers (VAMCs) whose performance on the VA depression measure was in the top or bottom quartile nationally for all four quarters in FY2008 were selected for inclusion. A blinded interviewer attempted to contact clinical directors of both primary care and mental health at each VAMC and conducted telephone interviews using a protocol designed to employ the 3-Component Model (3CM) fidelity measure, which assesses domains of evidence-based depression care. Results There were 9 sites in the "high-performing" group and 10 sites in the "low-performing" group. At least one interview was completed at 8 of the 9 sites in the high-performing group and 9 of the 10 sites in the low-performing group. There was a significant difference in the percentage of patients meeting the VA depression performance measure between the high- and low-performing groups (47.5% versus 14.7%; χ 2 = 837.5, p z =2.4, p = .018). Conclusions The highest-performing sites on the VA depression performance measure adhered to important care processes more often than did the lowest-performing sites.
MagicLink: Weaving Multi-site Wireless Sensor Networks for Large-Scale Experiments

Despite the promising vision of pervasive sensor networks of thousands of nodes, conducting such large-scale experiments on demand is still far from reality due to the limitations of resources, space, and maintenance. To address such challenges, we propose the MagicLink middleware to “magically” weave geographically distributed sensor networks into a large-scale sensor network testbed. MagicLink is a key part of the OKGems remotely programmable cyber-physical system project under the GENI (Global Environment for Network Innovation) initiative; and MagicLink is designed to enable shared “clouds” of sensors for sensor network research and experiments at scale and on demand. Specifically, MagicLink has the following salient features: (1) seamless integration of multi-site sensor networks offering elastic and scalable testbeds; (2) online adaptive simulation that adopts a realistic radio model making the cross-site Internet connection behave like a one-hop sensor network link in real environment; (3) component-based design allowing easy integration with user applications. To the best of our knowledge, MagicLink is the first solution to enable “almost-real” large-scale sensor network experiments across sites. In this paper, we present MagicLink’s system architecture and subsystem design. We demonstrate the usability and fidelity of MagicLink through experimental results with representative applications on a two-site testbed.
Strategies for Assessing Classroom Teaching: Examining Administrator Thinking as Validity Evidence

All 50 states use observations to evaluate practicing teachers, but we know little about how administrators actually reason when they use those observation protocols. Drawing on think-aloud and stimulated recall data, this study describes the types of strategies and warrants practicing administrators used when rating with their district’s observation protocol. Administrators in a large urban district used an observation protocol aligned to Danielson’s Framework for Teaching to rate a brief lesson clip. Administrators’ thinking was recorded, clarified, and inductively coded. Findings suggest administrator thinking and justification is complex even for short lengths of instruction. Administrators used a range of reasoning strategies, many of which were not sanctioned by their training. Exploratory analyses suggest strategy use was not related to the accuracy of ratings. Implications for the validity of teacher observation scores in high-stakes settings are considered.
Effects of vitellogenin in age polyethism and population dynamics of honeybees

Abstract The complexity of honeybees provides systems to study mechanisms affecting their population dynamics. An essential environmental variable influencing the age-based division of labor of worker honeybees is their nutritional status. We present basic but important assumptions that can help us understand the complexity of honeybee population dynamics given their nutritional status. We propose a non-linear differential equation system that models the population dynamics of brood and worker bees (nurses and foragers) within a colony. The dynamics of these populations are influenced by the available stored pollen in cells and the current levels of vitellogenin (VG), a major storage protein, in the fat body of nurse bees. Our model shows: (a) the importance of pollen collection and consumption rates, adequate feeding rates to the queen, and the impact of good nutrition during the larvae stage for future foraging activity; (b) the size of both the brood and worker populations at equilibrium are directly dependent upon the increase of levels of VG titers in nurse bees; (c) division of labor regulatory effects determined by the VG titers in nurse bees are important for balancing nurse bee and forager populations; (d) coexistence of both brood and worker populations is dependent upon available food for the brood (i.e. pollen collected and converted to VG and available foragers); (e) taking into account seasonal changes in pollen collection improves the prediction of long term consequences.
Use of dietary supplements in relation to urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations: Results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Abstract Background Research suggests that dietary supplements may be a source of exposure to phthalates, given that diethyl phthalate (DEP) or di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) can be components of coatings that facilitate extended release or encapsulate dietary supplements. Methods Using nationally representative data on a population of 12,281 adults ages 20 y + surveyed between 1999 and 2014 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), we evaluated the association between dietary supplement use in relation to urinary phthalate metabolites of DEP (monoethyl phthalate, MEP) and DBP (mono-n-butyl phthalate, MBP). We examined associations pertaining to regular use of multivitamin/multimineral (MVMM) supplements, as well as regular use of any other non-MVMM supplement products, the number of non-MVMM supplement products used, as well as individual supplements potentially containing phthalates (exclusive of MVMM). For each urinary phthalate metabolite, results are presented as the minimally-adjusted and multivariable-adjusted ratio, comparing the geometric mean among users to non-users. Results In multivariable models, we observed a significant positive association between regular use of MVMM use and MEP, with persons using MVMM supplements having 11% higher geometric mean MEP than non-users (Ratio: 1.11; 95% CI: 1.04–1.20); no association was observed for MVMM in relation to MBP. No other significant multivariable-adjusted associations were observed, although power was limited in analyses of individual supplements. Associations did not markedly vary by gender; however, the associations of garlic supplement use with MEP and MBP varied by calendar time, with statistically significant positive associations observed in later years. Conclusions A modest significant association was observed between MVMM use and MEP. No other significant associations were observed in our overall multivariable models. Follow-up on the positive association observed between garlic and urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations observed in later years in a well-powered, prospective study would further clarify study findings.
Clinical outcomes with neoadjuvant versus adjuvant chemotherapy for triple negative breast cancer: A report from the National Cancer Database.

Purpose Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients frequently receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Only 50% will achieve pathological complete response (pCR). In this retrospective study, we evaluated TNBC outcomes with NAC vs. AC. Methods Patients with stages II and III TNBC treated with NAC or AC between 2010 and 2013 were identified from the National Cancer Database. Baseline characteristics were compared with χ2 and two sample t tests. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were computed in patients treated with NAC or AC, and log-rank tests used to examine differences. Unadjusted analyses of trends in proportions over time were performed using Cochran–Armitage tests. Log-binomial models were applied to estimate relative risks of non-pCR following NAC. Results Of 19,151 patients, 5,621 (29.4%) received NAC, 13,530 (70.6%) received AC. NAC treated patients had worse OS compared to AC treated patients (73.4% vs. 76.8%; p<0.0001). pCR rate following NAC was 47.4%, and was associated with improved 5 year OS compared to non-pCR (86.2% vs. 62.3%; p<0.0001). In patients who received NAC, age, black race, clinical stage, diagnosis year, and Charlson-Deyo comorbidity score predicted non-pCR status. Use of NAC increased over the study period from 2010 to 2013 (27.8% - 31.2%; p = 0.0002). Conclusions NAC may be inferior to AC in TNBC, likely related to the high frequency of non-pCR following NAC. It is unclear if removing the primary tumor prior to chemotherapy will have a beneficial biologic impact on therapeutic efficacy. These data should be considered hypothesis-generating as it is possible that the findings are due to selection bias, as physicians may use NAC for TNBC patients with more advanced local disease. Although, NAC still has a role in TNBC, developing biomarkers to identify patients likely to achieve pCR and benefit from NAC is an urgent need.
Quantifying Dermatology: Method and Device for User-Independent Ultrasound Measurement of Skin Thickness

A device and technique to acquire and construct 3D ultrasound volumes of the skin of the hand and arm were developed. The Repeated Skin Thickness Measurement (RSTM) Device moves a high frequency ultrasound probe linearly in 3 axes in a water tank and images a submerged arm. These images are combined into an ultrasound volume, the skin layer segmented, and the thickness extracted. One particular application is measuring progression of scleroderma, a skin thickening disease. The current ultrasound-based scleroderma diagnostic processes assess skin thickness based on a single ultrasound image taken by a clinician holding the ultrasound probe, resulting in low measurement repeatability. The imagery that results from the instrumentation and analysis presented here can be used to create quantitative maps of skin thickness, to monitor the progression of skin-thickening diseases, and to observe the structures of tendons, ligaments, and the other soft tissue of the hand.
Traffic Sign Identification Using Deep Learning

One of the most crucial enabling technologies for automated driving systems is the ability to reliably detect and classify a wide range of traffic signs in various driving conditions at different distances. Due to the complexity and dynamic nature of driving environments, it is difficult to reliably detect traffic signs with conventional image processing methods. Artificial intelligence in combination with image processing has proven to be a great success to address this problem in recent studies. This paper focuses on the selection of Deep Neural Networks (DNN) based on the application-oriented performance by taking into consideration the mean Average Precision (mAP) and Frames Per Second (FPS) as the major evaluation criteria. Faster Region-based Convolutional Neural Network (Faster R-CNN) is a newly proposed DNN in the literature that has proven to exhibit a balanced tradeoff between mAP and FPS performance measures. This paper starts with a DNN transfer learning and then implements the Faster R-CNN algorithm for the real-time detection and classification of traffic signs using the Robot Operating System (ROS). To reduce the errors due to DNN inaccurate detection, Tesseract" is added to detect the text in the identified traffic signs. The German Traffic Sign Detection Benchmark (GTSDB) dataset is used in this paper, and additional dataset are created to solve the lack of certain traffic signs in the GTSDB dataset. Simulation with ROS-Gazebo and real-time trials using the Polaris Gem e2 equipped with NVIDIA Drive PX2 demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed integration of DNN with Tesseract in detecting and classifying a wide range of traffic signs.
Monitoring results of coal-burning-borne endemic fluorosis in Hubei Province from 2012 to 2017

Objective To understand the prevention and control of coal-burning-borne endemic fluorosis in Hubei Province, and to evaluate the effects of prevention and control measures on coal-burning-borne endemic fluorosis. Methods According to the requirements of national "Coal-burning-borne Endemic Fluorosis Monitoring Program", 9 fixed monitoring villages and 15 non-fixed villages in Jianshi, Badong and Zhuxi were selected as the monitoring sites every year from 2012 to 2017, 10 households were selected in each village to carry out the dynamic monitoring of the usage of stove and health behavior related to the corn and pepper for human consumption. At the same time, the monitoring survey of children's dental fluorosis and urinary fluoride were carried out. Results From 2012 to 2017, the residents of the monitoring villages mainly used the improved stoves, the usage rates of the improved stove were all > 96%. There were statistically significant differences in the qualified rate and correct usage rate of the improved stove between each year (fixed monitoring villages: χ2= 48.71, 63.72, P < 0.05; non-fixed monitoring villages: χ2= 74.02, 84.80, P < 0.05). The correct usage rates of the improved stove were all 100.00% from 2015 to 2017. There were statistically significant differences in the correct rate of drying, keeping and washing eating corn and pepper between each year (fixed monitoring villages: χ2= 10.18, 10.41, 4.99, 15.71, 4.67, 6.80, P < 0.05; non-fixed monitoring villages: χ2= 6.22, 6.23, 18.86, 49.90, 23.88, 6.42, P < 0.05). From 2015 to 2017, all the rest rates were 100.00% except for the washing rate of pepper before eating. It showed a significant decline of dental fluorosis detection rate in 8 to 12 years old children annually (χ2=251.89, P < 0.05), from 33.57% (330/983) of 2012 to 10.26% (111/1 082) of 2017. The geometric means of urinary fluoride of children were 0.62, 0.60, 0.54, 0.53, 0.54 and 0.47 mg/L, respectively. There was statistically significant difference between each year (H=56.91, P < 0.05). Conclusions The prevention and control measures on coal-burning-borne endemic fluorosis of the 3 monitoring counties are implemented well in Hubei Province. Health behavior and life style are gradually formed, and the general condition gets better obviously. Key words: Fluorosis, dental; Monitoring; Control effects
The effect of obesity on post-operative complications and functional outcomes after surgical treatment of torsional ankle fracture: A matched cohort study

Abstract Background Obesity is a growing public health concern. While diabetes mellitus is associated with obesity and is a risk for infection and other complications, effects of obesity on outcomes remains less clear. The purpose was to determine effect of obesity on complications, secondary operations, and functional outcomes after surgical treatment of ankle fracture. Methods 955 adult patients treated surgically for torsional ankle injury were reviewed. Obese patients (body mass index (BMI) ≥30), and patients without obesity were matched for age, sex, race, diabetes, and fracture pattern. Patient reported outcomes, measured by Foot Function Index (FFI) and Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment (SMFA), were obtained after 12 months. Results 632 patients (316 obese [mean BMI 36.7] and 316 non-obese [mean BMI 25.5]) with mean age 44.6 years were analyzed. Each group was 52.5% female, and 6.6% had diabetes mellitus. 75.6% of fractures in each group were AO/OTA type 44B and 24.4% were 44C. Non-obese patients were more likely tobacco users (63.3% vs 40.2%, p Conclusions Obesity is associated with worse functional outcomes by FFI and SMFA surveys. Contributions of baseline limitations to these poor scores in obese patients remain unclear. Injury characteristics were similar between obese and non-obese patients, though obese patients may be more prone to dislocations. A trend was noted for obese patients to experience more complications and wound healing issues, although rates of secondary operations were no different. Level of Evidence III
Do Jobs Still Attract People? Spatial and Temporal Changes in Job-Population Relationship in US Metropolitan Areas 1970-2017

Traditional perspectives on projecting metropolitan scale population growth rely on the expectation that people follow jobs. Changes in the nature and duration of employment have led to speculation...
The New Age of Creative Expression: The Effect of Blogging on Emotional Well-Being

Creative expression has been proven to have therapeutic value. While this normally takes place in the form of a journal or diary, blogging has become an increasingly popular venue for expression. T...
A Relearning Approach to Reinforcement Learning for control of Smart Buildings

This paper demonstrates that continual relearning of control policies using incremental deep reinforcement learning (RL) can improve policy learning for non-stationary processes. This approach has been demonstrated in a data-driven “smart building environment” that we use as a test-bed for developing HVAC controllers for reducing energy consumption of large buildings on our university campus. The non-stationarity in building operations and weather patterns makes it imperative to develop control strategies that are adaptive to changing conditions. On-policy RL algorithms, such as Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) represent an approach for addressing this non-stationarity, but they cannot be applied to safety-critical systems. As an alternative, we develop an incremental RL technique that simultaneously reduces building energy consumption without sacrificing overall comfort. We compare the performance of our incremental RL controller to that of a static RL controller that does not implement the relearning function. The performance of the static controller diminishes significantly over time, but the relearning controller adjusts to changing conditions while ensuring comfort and optimal energy performance.
The uncounted: Politics of data in global health: by Sara L. M. Davis, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, 2020, 310 pp., US$35.99 (paperback), ISBN 9781108704830

The politics that shape data creation and utilisation hold the power to construct visibility in global health. This visibility through data – or lack thereof – not only influences what programmes a...
A National Study of Emergency Thoracotomy for Trauma.

Introduction: The role of resuscitative thoracotomy in the emergency department (ED) for patients that have suffered severe thoracoabdominal trauma has been the subject of much debate. Most studies that characterize emergency thoracotomy are from urban, academic, and trauma centers. We sought to describe patient and hospital characteristics of a nationally representative sample of ED thoracotomy (EDT). Methods: The health-care cost and utilization project 2013 National ED Sample (NEDS) and the 2013 National Inpatient Sample (NIS) maintained by the agency for health-care research and quality were used to generate a nationally representative estimate of resuscitative thoracotomies performed in the ED. We obtained patient demographics and clinical characteristics and compared the descriptive statistics of the two datasets. Results: The NEDS dataset identified 124 unsuccessful EDTs, whereas the NIS dataset identified 77 admissions for thoracotomy. When weighted to create a national estimate, these represent 952 emergency thoracotomies performed in the US in 2013. Most were male (82.5% and 88.2% in NEDS and NIS, respectively). In addition, 32.9% and 36.4% in NEDS and NIS, respectively, were between the ages of 20 and 29. The majority of thoracotomies were performed at metropolitan teaching hospitals (64.2% and 75.3%, NEDS and NIS, respectively). The mean total ED charges for patients who had an unsuccessful thoracotomy were $32,664 and the mean total inpatient charges were $141,215. Conclusion: Nearly 1000 thoracotomies are performed annually on the day of presentation to U. S. hospitals. Although emergency thoracotomy for trauma is an infrequently performed procedure, it almost always occurs at an urban, high volume, and level I or level II trauma centers.